By Lynn Janes

The town of Hurley held a special meeting May 24, 2023, beginning with the roll call and the Pledge of Allegiance. Attendance to the meeting included Mayor Ed Stevens, Mayor pro tem Richard Maynes and councilors Nanette Day and Keana Huerta. Reynaldo Maynes didn’t attend.

The council approved the agenda.

The council continued the discussion concerning the plans for the Big Muddy property.

In previous meetings they had gone over a preliminary sketch done by an architect showing the location of the train depot that would be moved from its current location to the Big Muddy and the sketch also included walking paths, theater area, basketball courts, etc. 

Huerta thought they should look at the placement of the bike area and maybe it should be moved to the northeast corner. She also thought combining the skate park and bike trail would be a good idea. 

Day said Reynaldo Maynes had suggested a skate trail instead of park in an earlier conversation they had. She thought still doing a skate park would be a good idea along with the skate trail. 

Huerta said in Albuquerque they have elderly work out areas along the bike trails. Day said she had suggested that previously.  She had suggested outdoor exercise equipment for along the trail. 

Stevens brought up the performance stage that had been put near the train depot and having seating and a dance area. They all discussed if it should be concrete or artificial grass. 

Day brought up her concern for the residents because of the noise. They talked about how to move it around so it would be less of a concern. Day said sound travels and the placement of speakers would be important. Stevens said most parks have areas for music. Huerta said Santa Clara has a place for music. 

Day said they needed to keep the depot in the same area as the sketch had it placed. They should look at planting trees and shrubs to help minimize the noise. They should not have concrete and put in artificial grass instead. By doing that they would not have to deal with the goat heads anymore. 

Huerta suggested an area for tether ball. She also suggested a meditation labyrinth and butterfly garden. The kids she had talked to had requested a wall ball court.

Stevens brought up the suggestion of a splash park and asked how they felt about putting it by the swimming pool instead. They would move the tennis courts and basketball courts to the Big Muddy. 

Day suggested a community garden. She wanted them to consider when doing the landscaping planting trees and plants that would be edible. The only issue would be having animals come in to eat them. Day suggested a life-sized checkerboard and chess board. 

Stevens said they had plenty of room for these suggestions. 

Day suggested a camping area. Stevens said they would need to look at who would use it and misuse it. 

Maynes suggested fencing the whole recreational area to dress it up. 

Day said they needed to have the restrooms closer to the music area and suggested maybe they needed two areas with restrooms. 

Huerta had to leave the meeting. 

Stevens asked the council if they wanted to move forward or wait for Reynaldo Maynes and his suggestions. He also asked Lori Ortiz, city clerk, if they could move forward on the splash park plans. Ortiz said she would need to have an architect do a preliminary design. 

Day wanted to know if they could find a way to recycle the water from the splash park. Stevens and Ortiz both brought up that the splash park would be at a lower elevation than the Big Muddy and it could not go there but it could be used for other areas. 

Stevens brought up that maybe the expense to move and reassemble the train depot would be too expensive and they would not be able to do it. 

Ortiz asked if the council wanted her to go back to the architect with the new ideas. Stevens asked her to work with Reynaldo Maynes, so she had his ideas. 

Stevens said they had a lot of good ideas for the new park, and they had some time. 

The council went into closed session to discuss personnel matters relating to the police department. 

The council came back into open session. 

The council approved the hiring of Albert Dominguez as a police officer. 

Next regular meeting June 13, 2023, at 5:00 pm

Meeting adjourned.