By Alexis Rico

Grant County Beat Intern

The Town of Hurley held its regular meeting on Tuesday, June 13, 2017, at 5 p.m. All members of the council were present for the meeting.

After the agenda for the meeting was approved, Raul Salcido gave a few comments and suggestions to the council during the public input section of the meeting.

Salcido suggested the council be careful in the ordinances that the council will be passing later on in the year. He said the council should consider a raise for the mayor as an incentive for good upcoming candidates for the mayor of the town in the future. Salcido said the mayor position was very demanding and required a lot of outside work.

Occam Engineers Inc. gave project updates. Gary Berg, P.E., stated the hydrologists have been working on the test report for the well. Once Occam receives the report with the recommendations, they can then either have the layout ready or ideally they can get everything ready for the project. Berg also summited comments concerning the well that he had received from Robert Garcia on the PBR (polished bore receptacle) submitted to RUS (Rural Utilities Services). Adjustments were suggested for the price of the well drilling because it was stated that the current price was too high. Negative comments were received for the cost of the water tank. Berg would like to focus on the longevity of the tank. A steel tank could cost up to half its price just to rehab and may be down for three months. The council then discussed with Berg the differences in costs of water tanks and costs of rehabilitations.

Another representative of Occam, George Esqueda, EI, talked with the council about the Hurley Cemetery project. Esqueda had given the Council images of the cemetery along with the image of how the ceremony area will look. Occam is currently looking at designs and prices for the ceremony area of the cemetery, which will be located from N. South Road. The numbers for the area would be available later in the week. Earlier in the year, the funding had been frozen. Currently, the money was safe and the project is moving forward. Occam is also looking to use the remainder of the funding —$100,000 the town has been granted for the project is to continue to make more fencing repairs/replacements. Forty percent of the money was used to fence in the cemetery last year. The remainder of the money can be used for any construction items. Occam has looked into staking out more plots for the cemetery and water lines. It was determined that extending the water lines would exceed the funds.

The next project Esqueda discussed was the Cortez Avenue project. There is to be no construction on the project within the remainder of the year. There is some money left over from the phase one portion of the project that could be transferred to the phase two portion. Esqueda stated he would work with the Town Clerk Lori Ortiz to get the readiness to proceed with items submitted to the New Mexico Finance Authority to get the proper paperwork and grant agreements to move forward with the phase two portion of the project. It is proposed that phase two will begin in early 2018. There is $138,483 in grant funding for the project. The town would then need to get a ten percent loan in the amount of $15,387 to be awarded the entirety of the funding. The money from the phase one project will be combined with the grant funding to complete the remainder of the Cortez Avenue project.

For future projects, the town was awarded for 2017/2018 LGRF (Local Government Road Fund) funding and $30,000 grant from the DOT (Department of Transportation) with a ten percent match. The funding can be used on roadways which include; E Street from Diaz to 5th, A Street from Diaz to 1st, Anza from Diaz east to the end of Anza, and Cortez from Diaz to 3rd. Ortiz said action will be taken on the resolution for next month for the agreement to start the project. The funding should be available in October 2017 according to Esqueda.

The council approved for Patrolman Rafael Parra and Patrolman Johnny Haynes to attend the Writing Search Warrants training in Las Cruces, New Mexico on Thursday, June 15, 2017, through Friday, June 16, 2017.

The council approved for Judge David Ramos to attend the Municipal Judges Conferences in Ruidoso, New Mexico to be held on Wednesday, July 12, 2017, through Friday, July 14, 2017, and for Court Clerk Sonia Valerio to attend the Municipal Court Clerk Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Wednesday, July 19, 2017, through Friday, July 21, 2017.

During the meeting, the council approved Resolution Number 24-2016/2017 – Fiscal
Year 2016/17 Budget Adjustments due to the water province/water meter grant money recently being added to the fiscal year 2016/17 budget.

The council went into closed session at 5:55 p.m. to discuss the approval of the hiring of a maintenance position. The council came back into open session at 6:06 p.m. and approved to hire Elijah Hines for the maintenance department position.

Town Clerk Lori Ortiz stated she was still working on a few projects for the town. Ortiz stated the water meter project should be starting up soon. Ferguson Waterworks set up a meeting with Maintenance Supervisor Blas Rodriguez, Ortiz and Town of Hurley Administrative Assistant Violet Chavarria on Tuesday, June 20, and Wednesday, June 21, for the training of the software and training the maintenance workers on setting up the meters. Ferguson also wanted to see if they would be able to test out a couple of water meters during this time. Ortiz has also been working with Sandra Alarcon with USDA to get the finalized paperwork for the town’s loan.

The Consent Agenda was approved with the exception of the police department report and the Judges’ report. There were a few questions among the Council for Chief of Police Mike Zamora about the numbers on the citation violations. It was determined it may be due to software issues. The council decided to wait to approve the reports until they were corrected and clarifications were made.

The consent agenda included the minutes of the regular meeting of Tuesday, May 9, 2017; the minutes of the ordinance workshop held on Thursday, May 11, 2017; the budget workshop minutes held on Tuesday, May 16, 2017; the minutes of the special meeting held on Tuesday, May 30, 2017; the minutes of the special meeting held on Thursday, June 8, 2017; the maintenance department report; the clerk’s report; the fire department report; and the animal control report.

Mayor Fernando Martinez, under his report, stated Delilah Huerta would be working part-time until the Hurley ACO position could be filled. Martinez “commended her” for helping the Town of Hurley in this way. Martinez also stated in his report that the pool had officially opened on Tuesday, June 6, 2017.Martinez went on to say that “they were fortunate to have four lifeguards for the pool” and that everything seemed to be in a “good position”. Martinez also commended Peter Peña for helping with the cost of the training of the lifeguards. Peña had informed Martinez that there would be another training set up at the end of the season for any lifeguard that may need to get recertified. Any concerns with the swimming pool should be brought to Mayor Pro-Tem Freddie Rodriguez.

Martinez advised the council that the new police unit had just been repaired. The estimate of the repair was for $1,800 and it was discovered the housing unit was damaged and would be another $1,500 to repair. Martinez signed off for the cost of the repairs. The warranty would not cover the damage because, according to Zamora, the dealership stated the damage of the unit was caused by it not being operated properly.

Mayor Pro-Tem Freddie Rodriguez, under his report, stated he had attended the Freeport Community Partnership Panel quarterly meeting on behalf of the town.

Councilor Ester Gil stated she did not have a report, but that she had received a nice comment on the maintenance department.

Councilor Ed Stevens, under his report, stated he would be attending a solid waste meeting in the next week.

Councilor Richard Maynes stated he also did not have anything to report to the council.

The next regular meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 11, 2017, at 5 p.m.