By Lynn Janes

The Village of Santa Clara held a meeting August 8, 2024. Mayor Arnold Lopez called the meeting to order. Mayor Pro Tem Albert Esparza, trustees, Olga Amador, Peter Erickson and Ralph Trujillo attended.

Mayor’s report

Lopez apologized for not being at the last meeting and thanked everyone for stepping in. He had been asked to be the safety officer in Missoula, Montana. He said it had been a good refresher for him.

The sidewalks looked good, and Lopez said he had gone around to check on the other projects and how they had been going. Music in the park will continue until the end of August. He told everyone to enjoy the new lawn at the city office. It never has to be watered and stays green all winter. They will have trees coming in to be planted and that would help provide shade for many areas.

New business

Erin Meeks, Community Partnership for Children, attended to let the council know about the upcoming event in Fort Bayard on Sept. 14, 2024. It will be the second annual event and this year’s theme will be September's Spectacular Superhero Family Fit Fest and will be a fundraiser for the organization. This nonprofit organization provides early childhood education in Grant County and many other programs. They will have a 10K and 5K run, photo booth, information booths and a corn hole tournament. Last year they had done a family color run, and it was successful. They will be asking businesses for sponsorships to help families participate in the fundraising events. She encouraged everyone to check out their website, https://www.grantcountycpc.com/ , because it had all the information. Lopez told her they would help in any way they could.

Representative Luis Terrazas had been on the agenda but could not attend due to a family event. His daughter would be getting married. Lopez asked him what the project was about. Terrazas has asked to purchase the one acre lot the village owns just north of Beehive retirement home. It will need to be surveyed again. Terrazas told Lopez it would benefit the residents and gross receipts tax. They had spoken about $5,000 purchase price starting with a rent to own due to the length of time it would take to have a survey done. As soon as the survey had been done, he would purchase the property in full. He had been planning the project for some time and would like to use Conex boxes to store materials for construction to get started right away.

Yvone Gonzales, village attorney, said they had questions about the property lines. She remembered them differently from what Sheila Hudman, village administrator, said. The $5,000 purchase price had come from the assessor. The property will be landlocked and does not have any frontage. Gonzales said whatever he builds must meet code for the village and county. The survey will take approximately six months. “The surveyor the village used to use has passed away and surveyors are hard to find, and they are always busy.” The contract will be straight forward, rent with option to purchase. Terrazas would like to move forward quickly. She will be meeting with him the following week and they will also look at the $5,000 purchase price to see that it will be fair to both. Since the project will bring in gross receipts tax and provide jobs the village can sell below appraised price. Gonzales will include an escape clause for both parties. Lopez said he wanted it to be a good thing for both. The council would be voting on a rental contract and the purchase would come later. She said Terrazas has access to the property from his, but she would be looking for the old survey over the weekend. The council said they would like to know more about the project before they vote so they tabled the vote until a special meeting they would hold August 15, 2024.

Resolutions.

The council approved resolution 2024-26. This has been done yearly to participate in the local government road fund administered by the DOT (Department of transportation) The village had used it for chip seal and small road repairs.

The council tabled resolution 2024-27. Gonzales had requested the tabling due to not having all the information needed by her. It had to do with the polices and procedures manual that addressed the volunteer fire and rescue department use of on-call emergency vehicles.

The council approved resolution 2024-28. This allows the acceptance of a $25,000 grant from the state fire marshal to use for stipends. It can also be used for prevention equipment. Once it has been used, they will not receive any more payments and only the volunteers will be eligible for the stipends.

The council went into closed session

The council came back from closed session and reported that no decisions had been made.

Hiring, raises, terminations, etc.

Gonzales recommended a pay raise for Hudman to make her position more equitable to what other clerks make referring to Bayard and Hurley. Her position with the village is a higher position than clerk. She has been offered jobs other places that would pay her more. They proposed her salary to increase to $87,818 (gross). Chief Larry Sandoval agreed she deserved more but questioned how the village could pay for it. He had recently asked for a 5 percent raise for his officers and had been told the village could not afford it. This would roughly mean about a $5 an hour raise for Hudman.

The council discussed the issue and acknowledged Hudman deserved it but also understood the police chief’s side of the issue. Sandoval said, “We need her but how do we afford to pay the increase, and it will cause a problem with his officers.” Lopez pointed out that the officers all received substantial retention bonuses. Sandoval said they would be providing her with a 10 percent raise when they said they could not do a 5 percent raise for the officers. Leandra Esparza, village clerk, said some things had not been fair to the girls in the office and referred to them being told they can’t have overtime because of the budget. She added that Hudman always has 10 hours overtime each pay period.

Lopez said Hudman had reached out to him and said she understands if this can’t happen. Leandra Esparza said Hudman does a lot, and she has been waiting for her to teach her more. Lopez said he thought she might go to Bayard or Hurley. “I think she will leave if she does not receive this and I am prepared to look for another village administrator. I respect the chief's and Leandra’s points and glad they brought them to our attention.” Leandra Esparza said the other clerks do make more. The council voted to give the recommended raise to Hudman.

Second regular meeting will be held Thursday August 22, at 6:00 pm

First regular meeting will be held Thursday September 12, 2024, at 6:00 pm

Meeting Adjourned