By Mary Alice Murphy

Members of the Silver City Town Council met in regular session Tuesday, March 21, 2017. With no public input, councilor comments took place after the usual opening items.

Councilor Cynthia Bettison said she had returned the previous week from Washington D.C. where she attended, along with other New Mexico Municipal League executive committee members, the National League of Cities congressional event. The purpose of the event is to have members meet with their congressional delegations. A priority of this year's event was to have congressional delegations aware of the importance to retain the Community Block Development Grant monies, 10 percent of which is reserved for the Colonias Infrastructure Fund.

"We need these grants and loans for projects we could not do without these funding sources," Bettison said. "We use them for many infrastructure projects. We also receive federal money for energy efficiency audits. One of the chiefs of staff of a member of our congressional delegation told us a leak of President Trump's proposed budget showed that it would cut $3 billion from CDBG, and would also eliminate essential air service, which provides air service to us here, as well as Clovis, Alamogordo and other rural towns in New Mexico.

"Our three representatives and two senators are well aware how critical these fundings are to our rural areas," Bettison said.

Councilor Guadalupe "Lupe" Cano said constituents and town employees had approached her telling her that since the president was elected, they have been told they are not allowed to speak Spanish. While tearing up, she said, in Spanish, that the language is part of the local culture and no statute tells people they cannot speak Spanish.

Councilor Jos+