By Mary Alice Murphy

The first items on the regular agenda for Thursday's meeting at 9 a.m., after public input, were mentioned briefly at the Tuesday, Aug. 25, Grant County Commission work session. They are the last public hearing for and a vote on a proposed ordinance to increase the commission to five members.

Following that vote, commissioners will hear the financial report, which was previewed at the work session. Financial Officer Linda Vasquez reported the expenditure total for the month ending Aug. 24 was $3,129,666.17. It included three pay periods and an academic incentive for a total of $616,324.02.

Checks in the amount of $2,513,342.15 included payments of about $18,000 to the New Mexico Association of Counties; $110,669 to Timberland Construction for the Sheriff's Office vault; an amount paid for oil for road work; $907,892 for general obligation bonds debt service; about $14,000 for medical management at the Detention Center; $39,810.40 for food service at the Detention Center for May and June; $17,079 for aviation fuel; about $20,000 for General Services Department unemployment payments; and about $45,000 for tipping fees to Southwest Solid Waste Authority.

Commissioners will approve or disapprove two changes to the Detention Center Policies and Procedures. The first, according to Detention Center Administrator Mike Carillo, brings into compliance the requirement by a grant for body armor to be worn any time anyone goes into the secure area. The second addresses the inmate rights and the inmate grievance procedure policy. "We are completely revising this part, bringing us up to date," County Manager Charlene Webb said. Carillo explained it made the policy more specific on the grievance process by defining grievances.

Also to be approved are the bylaws recently completed by the County Public Shooting Range Advisory Board.

A new member of the Parks and Recreation Committee will be Fredrick S. Grahn.

For the Sheriff's Department, Sheriff Raul Villanueva said a change in field interviews and pat down searches policy makes it more cautious for the safety of the suspect and the officer.

Eight public transportation vehicles that are no longer in service and taking up space at the Road Department will be deleted from the inventory and sent to auction.

Two fire protection grant applications will be approved. Santa Rita Volunteer Fire Department requests money to construct an additional station. Tyrone Volunteer Fire Department Chief Roger Groves said his department had made application for the purchase of a new engine. "We need $100,000 with a 10 percent match for the down payment. The total cost will be in the ballpark of about $350,000 to replace a 1985 truck."

Under contracts and agreements, commissioners will likely approve a Federal Aviation Administration application grant contract with consultants Bohannon Huston for work at the Grant County Airport. Justin Reese, Public Works director, said Phase 1 of the runway milling operation would cost about $150,00 for which the county match of 2.5 percent would be about $3,700. Completion of a four-inch overlay of the entire runway would cost about $4.9 million.

A revised agreement with the USDA work and financial plan for the integrated wildlife damage management program will meet what the county had in the budget for the program—$21,989.

Two resolutions will address the repealing of outdated ordinances. County Attorney Abigail Robinson said the first resolution would repeal the 1984 employee relations ordinance. "Our plan is to clean up old policies. This one was a labor ordinance, but what it addresses is already covered in the union agreement under the Public Employee Bargaining Authority. I notified the union and haven't heard any objection to our repealing this one. The ordinance is actually less favorable to the union."

To a question from Commission Chairman Brett Kasten that the county ordinance was stricter, Robinson said it was more general, but the contract the county has with the union is more detailed. "And we’re not using the old ordinance."

The second resolution would repeal the 1978 personnel ordinance. "It is outdated. Since then we have the employee manual and the union contract, so we don't use the old ordinance. I recommend we repeal it. We are working on revising the employee manuals and policies."

The third resolution under consideration by the commissioners is the Infrastructure Capital Improvements Plan (ICIP). County Planner Anthony Gutierrez said he had made some changes. "Through a public hearing we had in Cliff for the Community Block Development Grants program, we heard requests for a baseball park for Cliff. I will be updating this for Thursday with airport numbers from Justin. He sent me the five-year plan for the airport."

As the Grant County Indigent and Health Plan Claims Board, commissioners will consider 64 claims for $45,950.96, two of which are ambulance claims in July.

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

"Gila Regional finances showed a bottom line of $175,000 at the end of June," Cunningham said. "However, at the end of the fiscal year, we had a negative $1.3 million. These are unaudited finances, but things are already shifting around during the audit process. We were reserving $1.9 million related to what we expect to have to pay back for the Safety Net Care Pool, because it was only an estimate. We personally feel we will be break even after the audit.

"On the positive side, we have 145 days in cash," he continued. "This was a rebuilding year. The first year was recovery, this year rebuilding, and next year will be building into the community. Our big project is the Clinically Integrated Network. The Affordable Care Act is pushing the changes. The formal entity will allow the hospital and providers to work together. We will be able to do joint negotiation for insurance, for information systems and will have interoperability to improve the quality of care, decrease the costs of care and improve the health of the population. In September, we will have formal meetings to form the entity. I'm really talking about sustainability of health care in the community. It is primarily a sustainable model for physicians and the hospital."

Cunningham said the hospital continues to recruit for a chief financial officer. He also said Pat Sheyka, chief nursing officer would retire this week after 53 years of nursing. "We have already hired Peggy White to replace her, and they are working together on the transition."

He also said the hospital is kicking off with the county manager and law enforcement a "deep dive on health care billing for inmates."

"We are moving forward with an assessment of the labor and delivery area in the hospital," Cunningham said. "This next phase is architectural design, and we will talk about the financing options."

Commissioner Ron Hall said he was pleased with the integrated network plan. "When we did the Tu Casa assessment, we found services for drug abuse treatment were fragmented and siloed. We need to work together."

Cunningham agreed and said laws and regulations were forcing entities to work together.

Commissioner Gabriel Ramos said he had heard the hospital was changing the PSA (Prostate-Specific Antigen) testing.

"We have run into complications, including anti-donation, by giving out free PSAs," Cunningham confirmed. "If it's not in conjunction with physician orders, what do we do with the results? What is our legal responsibility? We're still working on it, but it has gotten more complicated to give back to the community."

Kasten asked about payables to which Cunningham said they remain at about 30-40 days, and Kasten said: "It's never been an easy fix." Cunningham expressed confidence in addressing it. Kasten also noted a resignation from the Board of Trustees, and the hospital will need a financial person to replace him.

Carillo reported the jail has two part-time and one full-time vacancy. Training will be provided by New Mexico State Police. He said the Inmate Support Group continues to work on hiring a coordinator. The average population at the jail for the past month has been 64, with 63 being the high population males and seven the high population females. The average stay is 8.42 days.

Gutierrez said he had met with ASA Architects, which have put a plan together to update the courthouse electrical system, including the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning, for less than anticipated.

Engineers Inc. is working on the North Hurley project, which will be paid for with Colonias funding. "I will bring next month, the potential right-of-way easement for the project and the potential issues with the railroad right-of-way. The bids are completed for the water line improvement on Rosedale Road. They have been sent to the New Mexico Environment Department for approval."

"We had two CDBG hearings in Silver City, one in Mimbres and one in Cliff," Gutierrez said. "Potentially five proposals will qualify. I will send them to the commissioners to prioritize for the ICIP. We had a request in Cliff for a health and wellness facility and a request for a swimming pool. We had the most I've even seen, probably 20 to 25, in Cliff. They were talking about therapeutic services, with perhaps someone coming out to the area a couple of times a week."

On road assessment districts, Gutierrez said the county is in the bid process for Loma Verde subdivision roads, which should leave about 90-120 days left for Loma Verde to be completed and set for improvements. Wind Canyon is taking longer, probably four to six more months, because of the public notices and 30-day waiting periods. "We have to give public notice to each individual landowner. We are doing the deed research, using old descriptions and then we have to hand deliver to each owner or mail if they do not live in the area." He said he plans to develop timelines to give to the homeowners of each assessment district.

Road Superintendent Earl Moore reported the department was mostly "business as usual. We will finish up Red Rock area. We received lots of call on the big rain Saturday night. We ask for patience."

Randy Villa, General Services director, said he was still working on the runway lights. "We are trying to keep up with weeds at Bataan Memorial Park, which is now our conference center and being used daily. We are also working on a path from the new Fort Bayard Medical Center to Bataan Park for emergencies. We will help with in-kind services, and FBMC will pay for it."

He said maintenance on buildings continues. "We will be bringing in a new person at the airport. We had a structure fire in Hurley. Some of the volunteer fire departments are going to an expo in Socorro. We are trying to wrap up the Corre Caminos fiscal year, which is federal, at the end of September."

Hall said the Tyrone VFD held a "good show" at the opening of its expanded station.

"As the Fire Management Officer, one of my goals is to lower departments ISOs to benefit their residents," Villa said. "We are also addressing a water line break in the Hanover area and working with the VFDs to put in a drop tank for flushing toilets, but it won't be potable water."

Villanueva said it has been steady for his department, with monitoring traffic on school bus routes. "Dispatch lost its phone lines on Saturday night, but 911 continued working."

"How is our radio system?" Ramos asked. "I hear that in some areas it is not good."

"We have been working with the Forest Service, which donated space on Signal Peak for a repeater," Villanueva replied. "It should improve communications in Mimbres and Cliff. Hopefully it will soon be operational."

Deputy Treasurer Alfred Sedillo said the Property and Tax Division representatives are in the office getting ready for the Oct. 13 tax sale. "Please come in and pay your delinquent taxes. We sent 340 accounts to the state. Some back to 2005. We also encourage you to tell us when you have any address change. Plus, if you pay off your mortgage, you need to let us know, so that we know where to send tax bills. Otherwise they will go to the mortgage company and you may become delinquent. Let us and the clerk know when you change addresses."

Clerk Robert Zamarripa said the bank usually sends the information to the clerk's office, but not to the treasurer.

Sedillo said the list of delinquent properties would be in the paper. "If you are interested in participating in the auction, you must register one hour before. Be sure to research the property you are interested in, because if you buy it, you will be responsible for liens. Delinquent payments may be made up to that one hour before."

Hall commented that with computers, it "seems like there should be a computer connection between offices, where one action can automatically go to the other offices."

Zamarripa said in November, his office would be setting up polling places for the 2016 elections.

"We will have one meeting in September on Sept. 10," Webb said. "We couldn't find a day where all three commissioners could be here, so that's the one day we could get two.

"We will be cleaning up old policies and revising some," she continued. "We are waiting on the final budget and hope to begin the year-end audit next month."

Kasten asked about the sheriff's vault. Webb said: "We had problems with the rain, but we are still a bit ahead of schedule. The sideways rain was bad. We will have to replace one portion of sheetrock, and we will continue to do moisture readings to find other possible places that were impacted. They're on top of it."