By Mary Alice Murphy

Grant County Commission Chairman Brett Kasten, at the beginning of the work session on Tuesday, Dec. 8, at the Administration Center, asked for a moment of silence for the San Bernadino, Calif., terrorism incident victims and their families and for the family of Assessor Raul Turrieta, who lost his father last week.

After approval of the work session agenda, County Manager Charlene Webb asked that two additions be made to the regular meeting agenda.

The first is a resolution for an agreement with the New Mexico Finance Authority for a loan for the construction of Santa Rita Volunteer Fire Department substation. The second addition was a resolution authorizing to NMFA to authorize financial assistance for the Loma Verde Road Assessment District for road construction. County Planner Anthony Gutierrez said the reason for the second resolution was in hopes of having the funding by February, when assessments for the road construction could begin to pay off the loan.

 

Later in the meeting, Gutierrez said the public hearing for the Loma Verde assessment district was originally set for Dec. 8, but had to be put off because he found out the county had to give notice to each individual resident prior to the hearing.

Financial Officer Linda Vasquez gave the financial report, which will be approved at the regular session on Thursday. (Ed: All numbers are approximate) Included in the check payments are engineering services for North Hurley for about $6,000; Wright Express for $22,000; Stoven Construction for the Business and Conference Center for $89,000; Fowler Brothers for base course for $20,000; Ascent Aviation for $34,000; a bus for $18,000; handheld radios for Whiskey Creek VFD for $10,000; tipping fees to Southwest Solid Waste Authority for $50,000; a reversion of Grant County Community Health Council funding to the GRMC Foundation for $24,000; and credit cards and purchase order payments to Well Fargo for about $17,000. Payroll checks for two pay periods were for $469,442.91, with expenditures for the month totaling $1,711,010.46.

In new business, commissioners will approve a new member to the Gila Regional Medical Center Board of Trustees, with only one applicant, Rudy Martinez.

"I think participation in boards such as GRMC is a privilege and an honor," Martinez said. "I am participating in it to continue to provide services to our community and expand the hospital to better serve our residents."

Sheriff Raul Villanueva will honor DARE graduates from the Cobre School District at the regular session.

Under consideration will be the transfer of a 2010 Dodge Ram ST 4X4 from Fire Management to the Public Works Department.

Two PERA adjusted qualification reports and record forms will be discussed. The Santa Rita VFD report impacts the following firefighters: Randy Teague, Lonnie Bauernfeind, Mark Standard and Judith Standard. The Pinos Altos VFR firefighters are Susan Austin, Ernest Booth, Philip Clark, Ellen Cline, Ryan Coleman, Linda Davila, Amos England, Art Falkler, Robert Gosney, James Kane, Tyrell Lane, David Montz, Michael Moorman, Pamela Moorman, Donald Perkins, Stephen White and Lucy Whitmarsh.

To be removed from the agenda after discussion at the work session is an agreement with the NMFA for construction of LS Mesa sub-station. Because it is one of many steps, it was decided by commissioners that the items be together on the January agenda.

Randy Villa, General Service Director, agreed and said it would be better to do the steps together.

Under contracts and agreements, commissioners will approve or disapprove an agreement from the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration for a capital appropriation grant agreement to GRMC.

Webb said the item for $200,000 came through in the name of Grant County. "To prevent a hold up, we will serve as the fiscal agent for the funding."

GRMC Chief Executive Officer Brian Cunningham said the funding was for a nuclear medicine imaging gamma camera to replace the present one, which is at the end of its life. He explained the patient is injected with a small amount of material that will target a specific area. It can detect all sorts of cancers and lesions, he said. "It can find almost anything."

Commissioners will approve or disapprove a DWI grant amendment for an increase of $115,000.

Also to be discussed is an amendment to the Detention Center contract with McKinley County Juvenile Detention Center to raise the daily rate for juveniles transported from Grant County to McKinley County to $175 a day, from an estimated $100 a day. "It's the only long-term option we have," Webb said. "We have a short-term option of less than four days with the Luna County Detention Center and a short-term option of less than four days, but longer if the Doña Ana Detention Center has room."

Commissioner Ron Hall noted that the issue has been discussed for years to develop regional juvenile detention centers across the state. "The Band-Aid approach is not working. "

Martinez noted that legislative work had been done on the issue, but it hadn't made it through the session.

"The state also needs to quit raiding the Detention Center funding," Kasten said.

Commissioner Gabriel Ramos said the Southwest Alliance of County Commissioners has been pushing to get a regional juvenile center in Hidalgo County.

Detention Center Administrator Mike Carillo said he thinks the Legislature needs to review the standards set by Children, Youth and Families Department, which requires twice the number of detention officers for juveniles as for adults.

"I think it will take multiple years to get there," Hall said.

Webb noted that often McKinley County meets the Grant Count transport halfway. "Sometimes," Villanueva said.

Commissioners will approve or disapprove a NMDOT aviation grant agreement for the Grant County Airport for $90,000 with a $9,000 county match to replace the AWAS (Automated Airport Weather Station) system, which needs to be replaced.

A bid was let and the recommendation to upgrade the electrical system at the Grant County Courthouse was made. ASA Architects recommended the low bid of $118, 977, including GRT, be awarded to Lynco Electrical.

Under the agenda item—resolutions—commissioners will approve or disapprove support for the New Mexico Association of Counties 2016 legislative priorities.

Hall said NMAC has four priorities, the first of which is restoration of the Detention Center funding. Kasten noted that the funding was won in a lawsuit and should not be being raided by the state for other purposes.

The second priority is to support funding for a statewide emergency medical services assessment to develop recommendations for appropriate funding.

Third is funding for New Mexico 3-D Elevation program to develop Light Detection and Ranging Technology (LiDAR), whose applications include watershed and water resource management, infrastructure planning and development and precision agriculture and forestry management.

The fourth priority is gross receipts tax restructuring and reform. Webb said the counties want to be at the table on this issue. "The County GRT structure is convoluted, unused and unusable. I brought up the issue to the legislators at the Prospectors Forum."

Commissioners will approve or disapprove two resolutions authorizing the execution and delivery of a colonias infrastructure project loan/grant agreement and an intercept agreement each for the community of North Hurley and for the community of Tyrone.

Also under consideration will be to adopt the Grant County Airport action plan to submit to the Federal Aviation Administration.

A notice of intent will be considered to an ordinance amending the dedication of a county local option gross receipts tax. Webb explained that the second and third 1/8th increments currently go into the Indigent Fund, which has more money than the county needs in it at present. "We are amending the ordinance for the third increment to go into the General Fund and the second increment will continue to go to the Indigent Fund."

She also noted that the current forecast for the state is that it will receive $62 million less from oil and gas revenues than projected. "We need to take care of ourselves. If we need the money for the Indigent Fund we can do a budget adjustment."

Kasten explained that the GRT increments from 1/32nd up to ¼ of a percent are earmarked for specific uses. "For counties, there are 37 different increments for specific funds. Municipalities don't have those limitations and can use the GRT where needed. We can fix that with reform, which is why NMAC is pushing for it next session."

The next two items on the agenda are additions, as explained at the beginning of this article.

The commissioners will recess and convene as the Grant County Indigent and Health Plan Claims Board to address 35 claims from October 2015 for $29,943, and 42 claims, of which one is for GRMC ambulance, from November for a total of $46,613.15.

A later article will cover county reports.

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