By Mary Alice Murphy

Santa Clara Mayor Richard Bauch told the Beat that the village is working on an agreement with the New Mexico General Services Department and the NM Department of Health.

"We are developing a memorandum of understanding for the village to do emergency stabilization and repair projects at Fort Bayard," Bauch said. "We plan to also provide police patrols and security on the campus. We hope the agreement will be in place by the end of March."

He said he wanted to give Rep. John Zimmerman credit for "being the catalyst behind the scenes to get things going. We've been working on Fort Bayard for years, but this is the first time we seem to be on the same page as the state."

Bauch noted that he had also met with Sen. Howie Morales and he and Zimmerman are working on other possible funding sources for the efforts at Fort Bayard, as well as on other projects that will benefit the Mining District.