By Mary Alice Murphy

The Grant County Commission, at its regular meeting on Oct. 24, 2019, had no public input. It went straight to elected official's reports.

Undersheriff Jess Watkins:
The Sheriff's Office has hired seven new deputies. Three are certified, with the four uncertified hoping to attend the Police Academy in January.

District 3 Commissioner Alicia Edwards:
Where do you stand in staff with seven new ones hired?

Watkins:
We had 11 vacancies. We have hired seven. We lost a detective to the Attorney General's office, which is great for him to continue his career path. So that leaves us with four vacancies.

Deputy Treasurer Veronica Rodriguez:
Tax bills will go out on October 25.

Probate Judge Mary Ann Sedillo:
Since January, I have worked with 75 docket cases. I am always on the same page with the clerk and treasurer. We are working on the website, so that people will be able to print out the forms.

I am on the Education Committee of the Probate Judge Affiliate of New Mexico Counties. I plan to do education workshops about probate, probably after the first of the year.

Clerk Marisa Castrillo:
Early voting has been steady, with about 40 a day. We have had 783 who have already voted.

In New Business, commissioners heard a proposal from the New Mexico Supreme Court, the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) and the Sixth Judicial District Court request for assistance and partnership with Grant County for the Silver City Magistrate Court Facility.

Chief Justice Judith K. Nakamura:
I would like to introduce Magistrate Judge Maurine Laney, whom you already know, Administrative Office of the Courts Director Arthur W. Pepin, AOC Facilities Manager Luis Campos, Trish Medina and Melissa Frost of the Silver City Magistrate Court.

Our goal is to provide for the courts to expeditiously resolve cases. For the Silver City Magistrate Court, we need a safer facility for citizen cases, law enforcement and residents. We would like for it to be situated closer to the District Court.

We are offering a simple proposal. We want to move the Magistrate Court to a temporary facility at 289 Black Street by the time the lease on the current building expires in June 2021, or before.

Step 2 will be to construct a new Magistrate Court on land owned by the county. A bond that we will pay for the construction will likely be for 30 years. We will do a lease and pay for all operating expenses. After the debt is paid, the building will belong to you, but we will pay the lease and operating costs.

The current Magistrate Court in Silver City is way too small. Judge Laney carries the largest case load in the state, about 5,400 cases last year. The average is about 2,500 to 3000 cases. She has a lot of traffic cases here, as well as civil and criminal cases. The Bayard Magistrate Judge Grijalva is willing to help, but the current court has no room for him. Besides the volume of cases, we looked at security and there are a number of problems for employees. There is no separation between inmates, law enforcement, residents and judges. It's too small; it's not ADA compliant; and because of occasional flooding, we can't overcome maintenance issues.

I want to emphasize that the Bayard Magistrate Court will not close. It deals with about 2,000 cases a year.

We want to help build a judicial complex near your courthouse. It will help transportation from the Detention Center, because they will be required to take inmates to only one place. The District Court and the Magistrate Court can be consolidated administratively, sharing employees and spaces.

I think this partnership is a benefit to us and to the county. We want to take the steps necessary to move these conversations along.

Pepin:
You have a packet of what we are proposing. We're looking at constructing a first-class facility. You already have a mandate to provide for the District Court, which you do. We need the two courts close together. The county will own the building after we pay the debt. We have done several similar co-locations in the state. We pay for the space. We would like to get out of the current leased space sooner rather than later.

One of the things when we look at the current site is safety. Prisoners are mingling with residents. The Magistrate Court sets felon hearings for up to murder. She helps set hearings at the District Court. It is important to us and I'm sure to you to have a secure facility. The current building takes on water.

For the temporary building, we will pay the rent. It is about 4,000 square feet, but we will build a facility of about 10,000 square feet. We can manage in the smaller building temporarily. We would pay about $350,000 a year. We want a partnership with the county.

We estimate it will cost about $5 million to build a new facility, plus a reserve, so we would need a loan of about $5.5 million. If we can, we want to put your land to good use.

You have preliminary drawings. You're the landowner. We hope you would welcome the state as a partner. I think it's a good value for your citizens. We would rather return some of your taxpayer money back to you. We will work with the county manager on a resolution.

Edwards:
I am definitely in favor of this proposal. How do we help Judge Laney?

Pepin:
We just did a study on the need for magistrate and district court judges. We will bring the district court needs to the Legislature in the upcoming session. We plan to bring the need for magistrate judges to the 2021 legislative session.

District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne:
I, too, am very supportive of this proposal. It's the easiest issue that has been brought to this body. Is it likely we will have a second magistrate judge in Silver City or more likely that Grijalva can help?

Pepin:
Note that the drawing you have has one courtroom. There may be the ability to use a courtroom in the District Court facility. There are a number of options. Now that legislation has the district courts managing the magistrate courts, it's much easier for them to work together.

Browne:
What about parking? Will there be enough room?

Pepin:
With the old jail gone, yes, there will be enough space.

Browne:
In the visioning meeting we held about what to do with the old jail, only one person didn't want to raze the old detention center.

Will there be room to increase the loan amount to pay for the demolition of the old jail?

Pepin:
Rather than putting it into the loan, it would be better to go after a one-time expenditure. They are easier to get. We'll work on it. I think it's an appropriate request.

If this proposal is something you are interested in, we will work with you to get the old building razed.

District 1 Commissioner and Chairman Chris Ponce:
I, too, am in favor of this partnership. I want to ask County Manager (Charlene) Webb: What is the status of the Black Street building?

Pepin:
We want the magistrate court out of their current building as soon as possible.

Webb:
It is vacant. I don't know what renovations are needed. You are willing to pay for them, right?

Pepin:
Yes, we can probably directly fund renovations. It's only temporary, so we will do as little as possible. If we sign the documents on a new facility at the end of the 2020 legislative session, we could open the new facility by June 2021.

Nakamura:
Yes, we want to spend as little money as possible, in order to put more money toward the new facility.

Webb:
It is a secure building because the Sheriff's office used to be in there. And it has no leaks. And I know that walls have been moved.

Nakamura:
We can maybe pay rent in part of the district court building. We have a lot of options.

District 4 Commissioner Billy Billings:
I also support this effort. It's long been an issue with the present building. You gave us a good presentation. Our manager is fully capable of working out the details.

Salas:
Make it unanimous in support. What would be the footprint of the new building?

Campos:
I suggest 16,000 square feet can probably be built within the 12,000 square foot footprint of the old jail and create a judicial complex.

Edwards:
I want to reiterate that we know the District Court is also looking at renovations. We would want to include them in the discussion. Did I hear 16,000 square feet?

Campos:
It would provide two courtrooms.

Nakamura:
I need to come down here more often.

Edwards:
I suggest we approve this and have our county manager move forward with the project.

Commissioners approved it unanimously.

Pepin:
I will return with a resolution.

Commissioners approved or rejected the rest of the items listed in the agenda, as noted in the last work session article, which can be read at http://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/54222-grant-county-commission-work-session-102219-final-article

None of the commissioners had reports.

Webb:
I will have a conversation with the Administrative Office of the Courts on funding for razing the old jail.

To give an update on the Courthouse, it has a new roof, and they are working on the HVAC and electrical systems. They have addressed the leaks. We had some capital funding for it, and we are using bond money for energy efficiency in all our buildings.

The commissioners went into executive session and adjourned out of the session.