Town of Silver City awards Jerry O'Neal

SILVER CITY WEATHER

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: Category: Front Page News; 25 March 2025

By Lynn Janes

The Silver City Town Council held a regular meeting March 11, 2025. Attendance to the meeting included Mayor Ken Ladner, Mayor Pro Tem Guadalupe Cano, and Councilors Nicholas Prince, Rudy Bencomo and Stan Snider.

Ceremonies

Aaron Seavers, Silver City fire department, presented the employee of the month to Jerry O'Neal. He said he would be proud to present the award. Fire Chief, Milo Lambert had written a letter on O'Neal's behalf.

Lambert wrote that O'Neal had been returning from a doctor's appointment in Albuquerque for his wife and they had been driving over the Black Range at night. It had been snowing. When he topped the hill at Emory Pass, he had seen headlights pointing into the sky. He stopped his vehicle and hiked down the side of the ravine finding a passenger vehicle that had lost control and become lodged in some trees. The vehicle had been heavily damaged, and the lone driver injured. O'Neal had helped the driver out and up the ravine. He provided him care and took him the Gila Regional Medical Center for evaluation. The driver had a head injury and had been extremely incoherent. O'Neal had performed admirably with lifesaving skills, while off duty in a situation that potentially endangered him and his spouse. "This level of dedication to moral values and community service is admirable and I believe needs to be recognized." Lambert pointed out that these actions would be exactly the kind of behavior the town aspires to.

O'Neal said he didn't believe his actions would be any different from what anybody else would have done if physically able to climb down and help them. "I appreciate the recognition, but I do believe anybody would have helped in whatever way they could."

Bencomo said if people didn't know he had been O'Neal's fire chief and had the pleasure of hiring him. "He was a great employee." This had not been the only time he had performed a heroic act. There had been a structure fire and when Bencomo arrived O'Neal and another firefighter had been pulling out an unconscious man from the structure fire. He had awarded both of them the medal of gallantry. "I am really proud of you, Jerry."

Ladner thanked the town for bringing the program back for presenting awards to employees.

Council comments

Since the last meeting Cano had participated in the New Mexico Municipal League Day at the legislature. She had been there for several days and had attended hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate Finance Committee. She went over some of the changes that had been discussed.

The Senate Judiciary had talked about changes to the training that will be required for law enforcement. The senator proposing the bill had never spoken to a law enforcement officer. Some giggled about that, but it had made her think. "Some of the things that we had been talking about lately and the fact that perhaps we haven't listened to law enforcement as much as we need to. By we I mean some people. I am thankful for the law enforcement in this community who have reached out to me and given me their opinions on different matters." She hoped they would continue to do that because she didn't know what they did, and it would be good to hear their experiences before decisions would be made.

Cano spoke on the Warming Center. It has still remained open, because of the cold, but probably not much longer. They will continue to work on what the future will be for the Warming Center and other possibilities for the community. She thanked Bencomo and Snider for spending a decent amount of time at the Warming Center learning about it and making donations. She also thanked the sheriff, under sheriff and a deputy that have come to learn about the Warming Center and what they could do to help. She invited all elected officials in Grant County to come and spend some time there.

A few meetings previously, she thanked Seargent Larimore and Officer Singleton. They had helped with a situation a few weeks ago at the Warming Center and the day before that had been involved in helping with another situation that will be ongoing and involve a continued effort to investigate the situation. 'I am just so impressed by their professionalism. They are just two of the kindest people." The situation has been a unique one they have been dealing with, and they had handled it with the upmost care and concern. "I really appreciated and want to thank them again."

Bencomo didn't have any comments.

Snider wanted to thank all the people behind the scenes that make the town run efficiently. If the water is turned on, it comes out. The town has employees that sweep the streets, fill potholes, keep the parks clean and numerous other departments that do a good job. "I want to thank all the employees for their hard work to keep the town operating at peak performance."

Prince said, as a whirlwind of the legislative season keeps the days, nights and weekends busy, he looks forward to this year's final votes and spending to help improve Silver City and neighboring communities. "With any luck we will see support beyond just unfunded mandates. I want to first thank Cano and the board of the New Mexico Municipal League for another successful lobbying year." Prince continued to speak to the myriad of changes to the state statues, especially regarding appointment and replacement of absent elected officials. "It has been a long time coming and addresses the procedural ways we see our democratic bodies disempowered. Dealing with the challenges we face up here on this council, I will continue to boost the efforts of the Municipal League Self-Insurers Fund."

He addressed the concerns from the state municipalities on fire, flood and violence that take up so much time. "Seeing business ranchers in 10-gallon hats express urgency for post-traumatic stress care was surprisingly refreshing." Seeing behavioral health services so normalized in the other cities around the state gave him hope for Silver City. Prince went on to address the affordable housing issues. The present housing plan had not been revised since 2010. He felt they still had a lot to address in the new draft plan. He said the threatened closure of Jose Barrios and Sixth Street Elementary would be two huge black eyes to the community. He then referred to Superintendent William Hawkins and his comments to the lower enrollment of the schools in New Mexico put out by the New Mexico Department of Health statistics statewide. Prince said, "I can confidently point to the lack of affordable housing for parents contributing to our schools' declining enrollment rates."

Ladner wanted to acknowledge and give his appreciation to all that had attended the community functions because of volunteers. The town has many events through the year, and they contribute to the culture of Silver City but also contribute to the gross receipts tax. It also contributes to lodgers' tax, which allows them to market Silver City. He thanked the Silver City Daily Press and Grant County Beat for their efforts.

The council approved the minutes from February 25, 2025.

No public input currently

Reports

Heidi Ogas, High Desert Humane Society, attended to provide an annual report. She had copies of her report for each council member. They had impounded 148 dogs. Stray dogs had been 83, owner turn ins were 103 and 62 dogs had been returned to the owners. They had impounded 128 cats. Stray cats had been 206 and owner turn ins were 124 and 15 had been returned to the owners.

They had taken in $2,255 in impound fees and $5,543.25 in licensing and adoptions. When compared to past years it has been steady. She wanted to see intake drop but didn't know how they could do that.

Prince asked if people had been taking advantage of the discounted or free spay/neuter. Ogas said they had provided 1,137 spay/neuter coupons. She went over the program and what would be available to people. A household can qualify for four coupons a year and it will pay about two thirds of the cost regardless of income. If a person has proof of limited income the coupon can be doubled and will pay 100 percent of the cost with most of the veterinarians in the area.

Ogas said the problem has been making people understand they need to use the coupons. Recently they had four different litters of puppies come in. "This is what needs to stop."

Ogas wanted to add a few things. As a whole the shelter took in 1,724 total animals not counting the few bunnies, rats, and guinea pigs that occasionally come in. Out of that number 634 had been adopted, placed in sanctuaries or rescues, and 178 had been returned to the owners. They had 719 animals deemed unadoptable and 137 adoptable that had to be euthanized due to overcrowding or at the owner's request. Compared to other shelters their euthanized numbers had been low.

Currently the shelter has four positions open. They need an animal care giver, crematory operator, administration assistant and assistant manager. The thrift shop has done exceptionally well. It funds the spay/neuter program 100 percent. The thrift shop has also shared a lot with the community by donating items to different organizations in need. The income from the thrift shop has also allowed the shelter to build a completely new laundry room with three industrial washing machines and two industrial dryers, all brand new. They also had been able to rebuild the puppy room. Ogas said in the future they hoped to build an adoption center. Some logistics need to be worked out with the water lines so they would have plenty of water flow. Also being close to Boston Hill mine shafts have to be considered. The recent hole has been addressed and fixed to still allow bats to come and go.

Ogas wanted to remind people they do pet cremation. She said they had done guinea pigs to a mini horse. Bencomo asked how much the fee would be. Ogas said it would be anywhere between $70 to $180 and depended on the size of the animal.

Ladner asked Ogas if volunteers had been important, and she said very important. The thrift story has 51 volunteers, and without them they could not run it. Volunteers also come up to the shelter to walk the dogs and play with the cats and she said that has been instrumental in being able to adopt out the animals. It helps socialize them. They have community service workers but because of liability issues they can only do certain things. Ladner thanked code enforcement for enforcing the leash ordinance.

Simon Wheaton-Smith, planning and zoning chair, came for a presentation on the land use code. In 2010, he had been on the council and that was the last time the land use code had an update. Now looking at the code he didn't feel they did a good job, and some things had been missed. Nick Seibel who had been a previous chair suggested having public meetings to see what people thought of the code. It does affect anyone that does anything with building. Wheaton-Smith went on to list a number of other things.

The council will be the zoning authority but asked them to review the documents he had provided. He wanted to know what they thought and if planning and zoning is on course or should they be focusing on other areas.

At that point he turned the presentation over to Carlos Gemora. He spoke to the proposition of what has been called mixed use zoning. He also brought up the idea of the land use tables and reviewing them since they had been created in 1999. He asked the council if they really reflected what they wanted to see for the future.

Gemora suggested that fire mitigation might be considered to be part of the land use code. Silver City has been rated extremely high, and some people have had insurance canceled or nonrenewable. He went over some of the things that could be done for mitigation.

Another issue that had arisen had to do with mobile homes. The area has a lot of mobile home parks. He had learned many people own their mobile homes but rent the land. If someone else buys that land two things can happen rents increase, or they can be evicted. It can be very costly to move a mobile home, possibly thousands of dollars.

Wheaton-Smith brought up tiny homes. He addressed the problems in the code that would make this difficult and gave the council examples. He suggested doing an annual review of the previous year's issues so they could do continuous improvement. Instead of waiting fifteen years for a massive rewrite they could do annual refinements.

Gemora said they had started the rewrite process for some of the land use code to make it work a little more efficiently for staff and private property owners. The intention of the presentation had been to make the council aware of the process they have started and the other would be to ask the council to start thinking about the code and development issues and ask how they want to see the town grow and how to regulate the development. He asked if the council had any immediate concerns, suggestions or directions on how they want planning and zoning to move forward.

It will be a long process, and it will have to go through legal processes, stakeholder review, technical revisions, etc. They will be working closely with the council and the community.

Eloy Vasquez, fire marshal, came to speak on the Stage 1 fire restrictions. He and Lambert had been monitoring the weather and fire conditions. Due to the lack of precipitation in 2024 up to now the vegetation has remained dry and is becoming dryer. With the windy season, it presents a strong concern for fire danger. This has been the reason the two had made the decision to enact the Stage 1 fire restrictions.

Vasquez read the letter that had been sent out. It had gone to all the departments, social media, radio stations, newspapers and any place they could find to engage with the public. The letter outlined what the restrictions would be. No burning or maintaining of campfires. No burning of yard waste, tree limbs or weeds. No burn permits would be issued. Any outdoor wood or charcoal burning device shall have protective fire screens and must be approved by the fire department. He described several other fire pits and the need for approval. The restrictions became effective March 12, 2025, and will remain until conditions improve. Anyone caught in violations will be subject to a fine of not less than $100 or more than $500. It could result in imprisonment up to 30 days.

If conditions worsen, they could move to Stage 2 restrictions. Vasquez briefly went over what that would entail.

Prince asked if they would offer free debris pick up. Alex Brown, town manager, said the town still offered pick up once a year for free. They could call the public works department at 575-388-4640.

Brown didn't have a manger's report currently

New business

The council approved the public celebration permit for Little Toad Creek Brewery and Distillery for the Tour of the Gila VIP beer garden. It will take place April 26, 2025, on 601 North Bullard Street from 1:00 to 6:30 pm.

Bobby Shaw attended to make a presentation to the council concerning SPIN (supporting people in need). He had provided some figures for the council to review. The organization wanted to let everyone know they have expanded to being more than just a shelter. He went over some of the programs that they offered. He named a life skills program that works in partnership with New Mexico Sentencing Commission. SPIN administers the housing piece of the Linkages Program in partnership with the New Mexico Mortgage and Finance Authority and HMS (Hildalgo Medical Services).

They have certified case managers who assist in coordinating care for the clients but also provide rides and set up appointments. Now they have a representative payee program to assist people to help manage their money.

They now have three recovery homes in the region. Two of those are located in Silver City and have a three-month waiting list. SPIN provides 65 meals a day and requires $1,500 a day to run. The $1,500 includes staff wages, insurance, rent and utilities. They have about 45 people every night. In January 2025, they provided 1,222 beds and that makes an average of about 39 people. On the nights the Warming Center had been open it dropped by about 10 people. Shaw said that about two-thirds of the people also engage in other services offered.

Shaw continued with a number of statistics of what other services they provide to people, some not using the night shelter. At the shelter they provide medication management. This includes being licensed by the state board of pharmacy to dispense medication and coordinating with doctors with about 20 people. Controlled substances can't be dispensed.

Cano said she found the 45 people a night interesting. At the warming center they have had about 50 a night. "Does that mean we have about 100 people unhoused?" Another thing he had talked about earlier in his statistics had been not being able to keep track of the police and EMS calls. Cano said all they needed would be a piece of paper and a check mark when those calls had been made. "I want to see that on your next report." It's important to see how the services of the community have been depleted by SPIN. She asked if they serve three meals a day. Shaw said yes. If someone came in at 9 pm, would they have a meal served.

Shaw had said they have a license with the state board of pharmacy to dispense medications. Recently they had an incident at the warming center, in which a member of the SPIN staff took medications that belonged to a patient to the warming center.

Cano asked him about the meals and Shaw said, "When the kitchen is closed, the kitchen is closed."

Prince thanked them for the work they do and said he knew it came with a lot of time and effort being put in. He hoped to see more support and spoke to some of the bills that had passed concerning behavioral health in Santa Fe. He had many conversations with constituents about the inequality and how difficult it has been for many people when it comes to housing and how quickly they can end up on the streets.

Shaw added a side note, "The clientele at SPIN is much more than just the homeless. They are people a little delayed and need some extra help." Shaw continued, they have a wide range of clients at the shelter that they help.

Bencomo had a question for Shaw. Shaw had said two-thirds of those who stay at the shelter have engaged in other services. Bencomo asked about the other services.

Shaw said they have a representative payee program, which he has been a part of. They have roughly 30 clients in Silver City and Deming that categorize as delayed. Through social security they have been awarded to manage their money. They meet with the client and find out what bills they have and what needs to be paid and try to build an account for them. Another service has been life-building skills that help them navigate through different difficulties of everyday life. Other services will be coordinated with other businesses in the community.

Bencomo said he agreed with Cano on the council having the information on the police, fire and EMS calls to the SPIN center.

Shaw agreed that they needed that information, and it has been something he has been pushing. "I want to get out in front of these things and report them out, so we are not reacting, but we're being proactive with incidents. SPIN can take steps to take care of those issues and show what has been done."

Snider wanted to commend them for all they have been doing. He had heard very positive feedback on a recent training they had done on how to communicate with people that have mental health problems.

Cano wanted to address some questions with the payee program Shaw spoke about. She asked if they work with the clients until they would be able to take over the responsibility themselves. The other question had to do if they have been made payee, and the client decides they want maybe their mother to do it how easy it would be for them to switch.

Shaw said that because they work with a bureaucracy it would not be easy at all. The request has to be made through the social security disability, and it would be a full process and has taken a long time to process paperwork.

Cano asked if they would help that person in the process and Shaw said yes.

Ladner asked what region he referred to and what would be the area. Shaw said Grant, Luna and Hidalgo counties.
He asked if they had a SPIN center in Deming why they have transported people to Silver City. Shaw spoke to services available here and not in Deming. Ladner pointed out that as mayor when things have not been going well, he receives the phone calls. SPIN has created a lot of problems for people in the area.

Ladner brought up an incident. He had been called to look at a streetlight that had gone out on Gold Street. A person from the SPIN center had been looking directly into the kitchen window of a single woman who was in her kitchen. "You can imagine how that would freak out someone who would feel vulnerable to that and not knowing what would come next." Ladner asked if they had any kind of program to teach about maintaining decorum. Shaw said yes and that all clients have been met with on a regular basis and reminded that they have standards that need to be kept for living in a community.

The council took a ten-minute break.

Kevin Cardoza, local government and community manager for PNM in the southern region of New Mexico, addressed the council. He thanked the fire department for partnering with them concerning weather conditions and fire concerns. He introduced Westley Gray, executive director of field operations for PNM. Gray would be doing a presentation on the public safety power shut off. He would be providing an update on PNM's wildfire prevention program and public safety power shut off.

They had been doing a lot more than vegetation management in the county. Currently they have a big project in the Gila National Forest expanding rights of way. The wildfire program has ramped up to provide safety in the communities for the citizens. In 2022 and 2023 they had done aerial patrols of the system to identify areas to harden the electric system and had done many repairs associated with that. In 2024 they replaced about 200 poles that didn't meet strength requirements. The repairs will continue in 2025.

Where they can they have started putting infrastructure underground. It has been an expensive proposition especially when digging into rock.

PNM has implemented software to do fire modeling and fire risk management. It looks at temperature, wind speed, gust of wind forecast, fuel moistures relative to humidity, and modeling four times a day. They will use the National Weather Services' forecast and plug that into the software. The winds had started earlier so they have had to ramp up the program early. If conditions become extreme, they may do a public power shut off. This would mean shutting off the power for a period of time that the conditions have been identified as extreme.

Catastrophic fires can be devastating to a community, and they want to remove powerlines as a possible cause. "We acknowledge it is an inconvenience to lose power for any reason whether intentional or an actual outage." PNM has been trying to change the mindset of consumers to be more wildfire aware and be prepared for what might happen. "We have become a little bit complacent as a society and we're trying to really drive that in."

The challenge will be once the lines have been shut down, they will have to inspect each of the line miles, and they have 900 miles of lines. At that time, they would bring crews in from other areas to speed up the process. Gray said all of New Mexico has been considered a high fire risk area. Resources could be stretched thin. They have talked about bringing in flying operations and drones to inspect the lines. Some terrain will require walking because it would be too rough to access with an ATV. They will try and notify customers of the estimated time for restoration. PNM has done some exercises on how long different areas would take and what resources would be needed.

Ideally, they will have an idea of a possible shut off two to three days out using the weather modeling software. This way people have time to prepare. Gray said they knew people obtained their news from different sources so they would be using newspapers, radio, and social media. PNM will send out field personnel to make sure the weather forecast matches up with what is happening in real time. "This is going to become the new normal for everybody."

PNM has already sent out flyers and will be sending information in bills and emails. They will be trying to hit people multiple times, so they receive the information. PNM reinstated a program called LifeWatch for people with adaptive needs. He referred to people on oxygen or had dialysis needs. This they sign up for and receive alerts through whatever communication method they prefer. The alert can be for up to two persons such as the customer and caregiver.

Cano said he had mentioned dialysis, "It is near and dear to me since I am a dialysis patient." She said no one at her clinic has any knowledge of this. "You are not reaching the people that need to know." They needed to reach out to the people that need oxygen and dialysis. Cano pointed out that telling them the power would be shut off how would that help. They needed to provide a place people could get oxygen, dialysis and other lifesaving needs that require electricity. "Or is it hey your power is going to go out? Sorry about that."

Gray said they will be going door to door and taking them through how to be signed up for the alerts. They started this two weeks ago. He thanked Cano for her feedback, and they wanted that.

Bencomo thanked the PNM crews that came out and restored electricity when the truck had hit a pole near Walmart.

Prince had some questions about the LifeWatch and how the decisions would be made. Gray addressed the shut offs could be done because of wind speeds of 25 miles an hour and gusts of 35 miles an hour. They would also be looking at the humidity and if it fell below 15 percent and the National Weather Service red flag warnings. It will also have to do with the changes in wind speed and direction.

Prince asked about the lengths of time. Gray said Grant County has 750 miles and most would be back on within 4-5 hours, but the outlying areas could take three to four days worst case scenario. Prince asked if the PNM outage map would designate the outages as opposed to the public safety power shut off. Gray said it would be designated differently.

The council approved resolution 2025-09 for the capital outlay public infrastructure funding for Silver City Main Street Great Blocks Project. Sharla Lefkowitz-Oberg, Main Street Project executive director, said they have been accredited with the Main Street America, so they had been eligible to apply for the Great Blocks Funding from New Mexico Main Street.

They applied and have been awarded $300,000 for phase one of the project. The project will be to improve pedestrian safety and ADA accessibility downtown in the areas of Bullard, Texas and Yankie Streets. It will be a two-phase project. Phase one will be the planning to be construction ready. This part of the project will allow them to identify exactly what will best serve the community.

Cano said she had two things that came to mind when looking at the plans for Yankie Street. First when the water runs it will go up the ramp. Second thing she pointed out that they have plans to put a ramp in an area where none of the businesses would be accessible to someone in a wheelchair. She suggested that should be reconsidered.

Lefkowitz-Oberg said that everything she had before her had just been done on a walkthrough and she said she would note that.

The council approved resolution 2025-10 that authorized the grant application for emergency funds of the New Mexico Board of Finance for the Henry V. "La Burra" Morales Recreation Center. The state had originally awarded the town $12 million for the project but had given some of it away, so the town needed to obtain $1.5 million that they had been shorted. The project has actually come in at half million under budget so the application will be for $1 million.

The council went into closed session

The council came back into open session and no action had taken place.

Meeting adjourned