By Mary Alice Murphy

County Commission Chairman, at the Tuesday County work session, apologized for not earlier recognizing Sen. Howie Morales, who was in attendance.

"I want to request to be on your next meeting agenda in April to present on this year's legislative session," Morales said.

Gila Regional Medical Center Chief Executive Officer Brian Cunningham gave the first county report.

"Our finances are two months back, because we will approve February's finances at this Friday's Board of Trustees meeting," Cunningham said. "At the end of January, we had a bottom line of $1.1 million and 136 days of cash."

He talked about the hospital and its partnership with a Family Practice under Dr. John Stanley and Certified Nurse Practitioner Cindy Moreno. "The practice opened March 2, and they are already at 90 percent capacity. This partnership is an important step to comply with the Affordable Care Act."

Cunningham said the hospital was going through a request for proposal process for Cancer Center providers. "We plan to stay with New Mexico Oncology and New Mexico Hematology. We have worked with them for years and have been very pleased with their services."

He announced the GRMC Foundation's annual golf tournament for June 13. "We are looking for teams. The proceeds bring us needed funds for equipment."

Cunningham also recognized the efforts of the Mental Health Task Force, organized by Sen. Morales and former Rep. Rodolpho "Rudy" Martinez. "The task force is making sure the pieces are in place if or when La Frontera pulls out. Hidalgo Medical Services is stepping forward to provide more services, if needed."

"I also want to thank the commission for naming Dr. Victor Nwachuku to the Board of Trustees," Cunningham said. "He was chief of staff for the hospital, so he is familiar with the workings of the board."

He said during the past legislative session, Morales was the point man and "we had Susie Trujillo helping out. Gila Regional and the county stood together and we departed from the New Mexico Hospital Association stance on Senate Bill 117. It was never heard on the floor."

Commissioner Ron Hall said he had been visiting a friend in the hospital. "I was so impressed. From the janitors to the doctors, it felt like everyone feels like they are part of a team."

Cunningham thanked him for his comment and recognized Chief Administrative Officer Dan Otero, who was present, for his pulling together the Family Practice in three months.

Commissioner Gabriel Ramos said he attended a rural fire chiefs' meeting the evening before at Western New Mexico University, which brought together the Forest Service and the fire chiefs trying to get classes on Firefighter 1 and EMS classes at Western. Cunningham said the classes would be appreciated and utilized.

Hall also gave kudos to Morales and Martinez for getting the Mental Health Task Force together. "It is rewarding to see so many people working together."

Margaret Begay gave a report on the surveillance program using GPS ankle bracelets for juveniles and adults to keep offenders out of jail. In January of this year, the program was doing surveillance on 29 juveniles, with 22 formal-adjudicated- six informal and 1 in counseling. August had the highest number with 35, 26 of whom were formal and seven informal. The average length of days with the bracelet for Jan was 202 days. The average cost of the program is $29,000.

Hall said he would like a copy of the statistics. "Anytime you can keep a child out of detention, it's a win-win."

Begay said the Magistrate and District courts began using the program for adults in July. "We have had 17 referrals to the program. They pay fees, and it keeps them out of jail. I ask you to re-fund this program."

Detention Center Administrator Mike Carillo said the jail had filled one vacancy. "The inmate support program progressed in the legislature, thanks to Senator Morales. Our average daily population this month has been 59, fewer than last month. The average length of stay was 8.18 days. However, recidivism is alive and well. We had 12 reoffend in a three-month period for an 8 percent recidivism rate."

Kasten asked if the recidivism was tied to alcohol and drugs.

"Yes, both," Carillo said. "Substance abuse is high right now."

Kasten asked if the new facility for substance abuse treatment would slow down the issue.

"That's the whole idea," Hall said. "We need to treat substance abuse. Almost everyone incarcerated or arrested has issues with substances. Now there's a new dangerous drug."

Carillo said both programs, the inmate support program and the upcoming substance abuse treatment facility, are addressing the problem. Then, once the inmates are out of the program, they will need after care, which presents them with education and a career track. They have to address the issue for the rest of their lives. "I gather information and intelligence. They tell me what they are struggling with. There's a national trend with heroin being mixed with fentanyl. It becomes 100 percent more powerful than meth and 50 percent more powerful than cocaine. It's the worst I've seen in a long time. I'm gathering intelligence in Mexico, too, because it's coming across the border."

County Planner Anthony Gutierrez said he had sent the application to the Economic Development Administration for $750,000 for the Business and Conference Center. "We may not qualify for that much, but I hope we get $500,000 to $600,000."

He said he had Ray Castillo working on the Loma Verde road assessment district. "Next he will work on Wind Canyon. He is learning as he goes."

"I met with ASA Architects for the Veterans' Bataan Park and courthouse projects," Gutierrez said. "They will give us preliminary estimates on costs."

He said the county is having right-of-way issues with sales of property where the rights-of-way were not properly done. "We are working through those."

Engineers Inc. is working on additional North Hurley water projects. "With the left-over money, we are putting 10 more residences on the system."

The North Hurley drainage plan is complete, and application has been made for construction funds.

"This afternoon at the Gila/San Francisco Water Commission meeting, we will discuss a joint powers agreement with the Interstate Stream Commission for the Gila/San Francisco to be the CAP (Central Arizona Project) Entity for the AWSA (Arizona Water Settlements Act) water," Gutierrez, who serves as chairman of the GSFWC, said. "Grant County would be part of the CAP Entity."

He said the Road Department faces troubles with its budget. "And the structural integrity of some of our paved roads is failing. We may have to look at county money, because the feds and the state are not sending enough money. It's getting serious. We need capital for materials."

Road Superintendent Earl Moore said his department is bringing in chips for sealing roads over the next couple of months. "We are pouring the low-water crossing at Hanover next week."

General Services Director Randy Villa said the county has already seen several small fires. "Saturday was one on private property as a result of a lightning strike. And another was near Bypass and Highway 90. We will have Gabe Holguin from the Forest Service on Thursday to talk to us about the outlook."

Villa said the pilots' lounge at the airport was done. "We are putting out a request for proposal for consultants for the airport runway, which will be redone next year. We passed the environmental inspection on the fuel farm at the airport. We will receive an aviation gas refueler next Monday."

Public Works personnel are starting to clean up Bataan Park for the season. "We ask the public to respect their park," Villa continued. "We are getting the restrooms cemented in. We will jump on the process for summer more quickly this year. We will paint the parking lot lines at the courthouse and here at the administration center. I thank Earl for working with us to get it all done."

He announced a wildland-urban interface conference for April 8 and 9, which will be all about fire safety. "We look for about 180 participants. We will take trips to look at federal and state boundaries of land that abut private property. We will look at projects that have been done to alleviate the fire danger."

Villa said Corre Caminos is trying to become more efficient. "We had a meeting last night with rural fire chiefs looking for new Western New Mexico University curriculum to provide training for firefighters and emergency medical service providers."

Kasten said, in reference to Corre Caminos: "We won't be looking at van body buses that are worn out at 160,000 miles. We want to get truck chassis buses which get more than 400,000 miles."

Kevin Flamm, undersheriff, presented for Sheriff Raul Villanueva, who came in late. "We did interviews for another deputy, and we are working on possible probes to attack larceny and burglary problems."

Assessor Raul Turrieta said the rendition period resolved 2,100 accounts. "We contracted out to our retired mapper to help process a three-month backlog of deeds. All 2014 backlogged deeds are processed. We hope to finish all 2015 deeds by the end of the year. We filed for and received an extension to send out the notice of valuation to May 1."

As part of the Trails Association, Turrieta invited the commissioners to take part in the county Trails Month by hiking with the group at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 12, at Gomez Peak.

Treasurer Steve Armendariz said the county has collected almost $3.7 million with $1.7 million outstanding for 2014 taxes, which are due by May 10. "We are working closely with the assessor on mobile homes. We're building a list of ones in question. We are also working on delinquents over two years old. We are making phone calls. It's been a big issue getting correct mailing addresses. We will send out courtesy letters before July 1, when we will send the delinquent tax list to the state."

He said Silver City was happy to report it bought a property for $10, until "we told them it had a $21,000 tax lien on it. Alex (Brown, town manager) said he was expecting the call. The city does get a portion back."

"We are working with Linda (Vasquez, financial officer) on checkbook reconciliation," Armendariz said. "I am taking more initiative and will take back the reconciliation of the checkbook. I have trained everyone in the office to do that, so Linda can have information on a daily basis."

County Manager Charlene Webb said she would soon get with the elected officials and department heads to work on the budget. "We want to bring it to the Commission by the end of April. Everyone will have to tighten their belts. It's a very light year."

She said she and County Attorney Abigail Robinson have been working on airport leases. "Jon Saari before he left had the plats surveyed. We have two existing hangars and four plats for extra hangars. It's a battle with the current tenants, who want to pay for only the building, not for the plats. I took the Las Cruces Airport leases to show them, but they are still complaining about the insurance, but we're not budging."

Kasten clarified the issue by saying that the people who own or lease the building do not want to lease the platted land, "but they use the land around the hangars."

Ramos said the biggest issue seems to be the five-year lease and the amount of property they are responsible for.

"I have clarified it to them," Webb said. "We have to have the leases signed for the Finance Authority." Robinson clarified further said the five-year lease is not an arbitrary length. "It's by state statute and case law is clear on what the county can enter into. They want long-term leases, but they can renew the five-year leases over and over. Right now they are in there for free. If they want a long-term lease, we can submit them to the Finance authority. We've been reasonable listening to them."

Webb said one lease had been received, which had not been paid for "I don't know how long. One has cooperated, but the other two are not as cooperative."

Kasten said the Public Regulation Commission would be holding a hearing on a PNM proposal on Thursday at 2 p.m. in the Commissioners' Chambers.

Ramos requested certificates for those student athletes receiving proclamations on Thursday morning at the regular meeting.

The meeting will take place at 9 a.m. Thursday, March 26, at the Grant County Administration Center.

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