By Roger Lanse

Residents of Silver Heights came before the Silver City Town Council at its Tuesday, May 22 meeting to voice their concerns over drug activity and drug-related robberies in their neighborhood.

One resident stated the neighborhood had a recent robbery and she was there to talk about crime and the drug problems in their neighborhood. She stated she had lived there for about 21 years and there has always been a drug house within four blocks. They have had meetings with the police and she said they get the same answers – it takes a long time, put bars on your windows, get alarms, or develop a community watch group. The first three, she said, just means we are giving up, and the last is next to impossible to do as many residents are older single ladies who don’t feel comfortable doing that and others work and can’t be up all night patrolling.

The same resident said she wants the new chief of police to aggressively go after drug crimes, make it a priority, and be willing to ask for outside help. “We’ve had one house in our neighborhood for four years and there’s another house for at least six years. I think that should be enough time to handle it,” she said.

Another Silver Heights resident stated she has had a robbery and lives across the street from one of the houses referred to earlier. Shortly after the robbery the offender was apprehended, the resident stated, and her stolen property was delivered to the drug house across the street. The offender was arrested and then released, according to the resident. She continued that there is no justice given to the victims – they never hear about where their property went – nothing changes – the business continues across the street.

Capt. Freddie Portillo, who has been named to the position of Acting Chief, when Chief Ed Reynolds retires in a few days, stated, “We’re aware of the issues in that area and I understand the frustration of these individuals, I understand the frustration with the justice system, sometimes we get frustrated with it as well.

“We’re trying to be proactive in resolving these issues. I met with an (unclear) officer this morning. I gathered updated information for that area. We’re still going to currently explore more options to resolve this issue, but I do have already something in place for this. I can’t go into specifics because of some sensitive information. What I wanted to do is encourage citizens to please come forward with any information because that helps us greatly.” Portillo stated residents could call the nonemergency number at the Grant County Regional Dispatch Authority, 388-8840, or, if needed, the emergency number, 911.

Town Manager Alex Brown stated, “There’s another side to this picture. For instance ,one lady (who spoke to council) said they arrested somebody and he was out the next day. That wasn’t the police’s fault. That’s the court’s. Last year the chief of police presented me with one person who was arrested 120 times in one year and served no time.”

Mayor Ken Ladner said he had heard from six residents who had been burglarized and thought a formal system had been developed where the investigating officer would follow-up with the victim as a matter of course, as part of the police report.

Portillo answered he remembers that directive and said he needs to go back and follow-up on that for the mayor.

District 1 Councilor Cynthia Bettison reminded residents of the District 1 Territorial Charter volunteer work day at Hidden Park between 38th and 41st streets on Saturday, June 9, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Brown said that water, Gator-Ade, and snacks would be available.

A member of the Silver City Museum Board came before council and stated that a crisis was developing between the Board and the Museum Director. She said the museum’s bylaws state the museum’s focus should be Southwest New Mexico culture and history, but that hasn’t been the case recently, and “half of our board has resigned because of this. We want some direction and we want some clarification.”

In other action, council approved endorsing Bettison’s candidacy for the position of president-elect of the New Mexico Municipal League, approved Stantec Consulting Services as general engineering support, approved the preliminary budget for FY 2018-2019, and reappointed Linda Nunez to the Cemetery Board.