By Mary Alice Murphy

After hearing from the owners of two local businesses, participants at the Gila Economic Development Alliance monthly Roundtable heard announcements and networked after the meeting.

Mike Trujillo, Gila EDA Board member and AmBank president, announced that, as of Nov. 7, AmBank would be changing its name to First American Bank. "We have been associated together under First American Bancshares. First American has been a bank since 1903 and has 18 branches in New Mexico."

He said the new logo of the bank would be a mustang. "Signs are going up Nov. 7, but the staff will remain the same, and so will our community service."

An attendee noted how glad she was she didn't have to change checks until the ones on hand expired.

Faye McCalmont, Mimbres Region Arts Council executive director, said the Las Cruces Symphony would be playing Friday evening, with an excellent violin soloist. Thanks to AmBank's sponsorship, 800 students would hear the symphony play that afternoon.

Jeremy Lewis of the Furniture Gallery said he would be losing his neighbor, the Rexall drugstore, but the staff would be moving to the CVS Pharmacy.

"We have reached agreement with America's Mattress Store to move into the space," Lewis said. "It will be a state-of-the-art sleep shop, locally owned with a corporate design. Jamie, my wife, will be a part-time manager at the store. It will be a collaboration for the two of us, and the spot won't be vacant."

Linda Brewer of Bear Mountain Lodge said she picked up a herd of cows on Monday, which would provide beef and milk to the lodge. "We also have received permission to have the endangered Chiricahua leopard frog in our pond. We reopened Blue Dome Gallery downtown, and when construction is finished, we will have Silver City's largest hotel room for rent."

She said to Western New Mexico University President Joe Shepard: "Joe, if your are serious about collaboration at Watts Hall, you should have an eco-tourism office there, too. We have a new forest ranger coming to town, who wants to work on the human use of the forest."

Diane Barrett said the rumors of her bakery closing were false. "The bakery will move into a building I own so that we are all together as a group."

L.J. Lundy, area Realtor, asked Brewer about the café hours at Bear Mountain. Brewer replied that very often the venue is booked for groups, so she requested 24-hours notice. "We also hold cooking lessons."

Kim Clark, Prospector, said Jan. 28 is Grant County Day at the legislative session. "We will have a capital outlay workshop Oct. 22 at the Council of Governments office, which is geared to those applying for capital outlay. That day applications will be available for entities wishing to speak at the legislative forum. The deadline for applications is Nov. 18. The forum will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 2, but we're not sure where yet. It's an all day event. On Grant County Day, we meet with cabinet secretaries and hopefully, the governor, then end the evening with a great reception."

She also announced a Freeport McMoRan Community Investment Fund workshop that Friday afternoon from 1-4 p.m. at the WNMU Besse-Forward Global Resource Center. "It helps local organizations know what to put on their applications."

Shepard noted that the legislative forum could be held at the Light Hall Theater, where the presentations could be streamed onto the Internet.

Dave Thomas of WNM Communications said he is working on preparing the budget for next year. "We are putting in $300,000 to build more fiber optic network, but we are facing regulatory challenges, such as losing $600,000 in subsidies."

Nick Seibel of the Silver City Daily Press said Arlene Schadel was doing advertising sales for the Press. "We added a new editor this week—Avelino Maestas. We are looking at revamping the website and ramping up news coverage."

Michelle Nice of Wells Fargo said things were going well.

Sean Ormand of 1st New Mexico Bank said the bank has had a stellar year and is seeing a turn in the economy. "The New Mexico Partnership does outreach to the rest of the world promoting New Mexico. There are two representatives from each of the seven economic development districts in New Mexico. We make efforts to bring jobs to rural areas. Our goal is to have 60 percent of new jobs to be in rural areas. We met in Grants last time. I was challenged about what we're doing in Silver City. I see public/private business collaborations in other communities. We are working here to bring people in for all of us. I appreciate the concept of collaboration. Around the state, we are seeing synergy. Grants is working with BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) to bring in opportunities. Gallup, Thoreau, Los Lunas and Grants are being looked at a potential inland port. Instead of products waiting so long at seaports, they could be shipped to an inland port, creating jobs. We must look at our assets and develop them."

Ron Hall, Grant County commissioner, said the county has a new manager, who "came back home."

"We have a lot of issues, but I'm most excited about the Adult Substance Abuse Continuum of Care," Hall said. "I know we have substance abuse underlying a lot of our issues. The county has stepped up. We have done the first phase of planning. You need help, you walk in the door, you are assessed and put where you need to be. Everything will be under the one roof, whether an inpatient, an outpatient, long-term or in need of life skills training. We are about 18 months away from having the facility. It's really important, too, that we renovate the conference center, so that many venues can be available for meetings. Because of the age of the courthouse, items are red-tagged. Those items will be addressed. The substance abuse continuum of care is my baby. Lots of exciting things are happening." To a question about where it would be, Hall said the county is looking at sites.

Sandy Feutz of FeVa Fotos and the Grant County Art Guild said the organization is collaborating with the Red Barn to hold Art in the Barn, beginning Oct. 25. "We also have a Youth Art exhibit and a silent auction of art work to provide funds to school art programs."

McCalmont said the Las Cruces Symphony would be playing that Friday night, and Saturday night would be the kickoff for the Indie Folk Series at the Buckhorn.

Arlene Schadel said competing events would be on Saturday night, with Theater Group New Mexico holding Broadway Night.

Tom Vaughan, also of FeVa Fotos and the GCAG, said Hidalgo Medical Services has agreed to hang art. "We will have a hanging party Saturday."

Lillian Galloway of the Silver City Public Library said the Oct. 30 Digital Computer Lab open house would be from 4:30-6:30 p.m.

Gila EDA Roundtable moderator Jeremiah Garcia said the Roundtable would not be held for the next two months because of the holidays, but the group would continue meeting and working on issues.

Clark said she found the Roundtable meetings invaluable, so "I ask you to please keep the Roundtables. I always get so much information from them."