By Roger Lanse

A Notice of Intent to amend sections of the Town €™s Municipal Code dealing with animals running at large and failing to properly care and maintain animals, sponsored by District 1 Councilor Cynthia Bettison, was approved at Tuesday €™s Silver City Town Council meeting.

€œThis is a roadmap of our expectations, € Bettison said. €œThere €™s guidelines in here that will set the standard of care and provide our animal control officer with guidance, and after discussion, at the end of August, we will revisit this. €

“There’s been some discussion and comments regarding the lack of a more specific description of ‘adequate shelter,’ Bettison stated. “Accordingly, in the final version of the NOI, we will come up with a more detailed description of how animals shall be adequately protected from the elements.”

The question of being specific, especially in describing what constitutes “adequate shelter.” Was addressed with some advocating more specificity. Scavron, however, pointed out dangers of being too specific for fear of creating loopholes when something isn’t specifically mentioned.

Silver City Police Chief Ed Reynolds said: “this is a good document, a valuable document.” Reynolds indicated that the NOI would give his officers more guidelines for proper enforcement, although some might be a little difficult. He said that education is important.

According to Bettison, for the ordinance to be successful, “Someone will have to stand up and say, ‘I witnessed this and I’m willing to go to a court of law to say that I’ve witnessed this.’”

Several attending the meeting spoke to the council in support of the amendments, including members of the Animal Advocates Committee.

Bettison said that residents who are found to be in violation of the ordinance would be given a reasonable time to take corrective action.

Town Attorney Robert Scavron offered that there is already a provision for the animal control officer to work with the violator to correct the situation in a reasonable amount of time, and said: "some people you can't teach anything to." Scavron proposed that if corrective action is not taken in a short time the resident be cited to municipal court.

Reynolds said that his department plans to do appropriate follow-up to ensure compliance.

Mayor Michael Morones said that he has witnessed many attempts to deal with the uncared- for pet issue, but has yet to see an ordinance able to effect significant change. “This document is an improvement to what we have,” Morones said, “and I don’t expect a backlash. I fully support this NOI."

Council approved the NOI.

Vivian Flores told the council that a Labor Day Festival would be held at Gough Park on September 4-6.

Two residents expressed their concern to the council regarding possible deleterious effects from the small amount of radiation expected to be emitted from the automatic water meters planned for installation in the future.

Town Manager Alex Brown told the council that several different communities were visited to see their automatic water meter setup. Brown said that he realized there may be some problems with the automatic water meters and compared the water meter signals to cell phone signals. Brown said: “There was very minimal impact with the smart meters to get a lot of information” and encouraged residents to call 534-6358 to get the facts the town has.

District 2 Lynda Aiman-Smith acknowledged the increase in pickleball players in town from 40 about six months ago to over 100 now.

District 3 Councilor Jose Ray was critical of the way the Silver City Daily Press covered the last council meeting “saying that ‘we were in a very heated discussion.’” “I don’t think it was a heated discussion, I don’t think so,” Ray said. “Although it was a discussion that needed to be said and was well done. In my opinion, I didn’t like the language of the Daily Press. It made us look like we’re against one another. We’re not.”

“There was another article in the Daily Press, which I think we should follow up,” Ray continued. “This person wrote that if there is going to be a diversion (Gila River) why not let the people vote for it. I think that’s a good idea.”

Regarding the noisy traffic on Cooper Street since the bridge closure, Ray asked residents to “Please bear with us.”

Breann Davalos, director of the Grant County Regional Dispatch Authority, told the council that the 911 emergency number is being abused a lot and reminded residents to call 388-8840 for non-emergency calls. Davalos stated that from July 2014 through June 2015, GCRDA handled 3,341 non-violent and 12,676 violent 911 calls and 80,707 non-emergency calls.

According to Davalos, two dispatchers are normally on duty at any one time not only to take calls but to dispatch officers and emergency personnel, including folks from Silver City Police Department; Grant County Sheriff’s Department; Hurley, Santa Clara and Bayard police departments; New Mexico State Police; 12 volunteer fire departments; U.S. Forest Service; WNMU Campus Police; New Mexico Game and Fish department; among others. She stressed that occasionally there might be a short wait while dispatchers handle more pressing calls and to please be patient.

Reynolds reported that June 2015 saw about 550 traffic citations, compared to almost double that figure in June 2014. He attributed the decrease to a change in enforcement philosophy.

Council approved two public celebration permit applications for the Western New Mexico University’s “Bash on Broadway” event to be held on Aug. 15 from 5-10 p.m., and also approved two additional public celebration permit applications for the Mimbres Region Arts Council’s 7th Annual Pickamania Festival scheduled for Sept. 12 and 13.

The final quarter financial report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015, presented by Brown, showed $932,509, plus $218,780 in reimbursable grant money, totaling $1,151,289, remaining to start the new fiscal year. Council approved the report.

Council also approved the fiscal year 2016 budget of $36,766,852, with a projected ending balance of $2,268,642,

In a final action, Morones was named voting delegate and Brown, alternate, to the New Mexico Municipal League’s annual conference.