By Lynn Janes

The Silver City Town Council held a regular meeting October 10, 2023. Attendance to the meeting included Mayor Ken Ladner, council members included Jose Ray, Nicholas Prince, Guadalupe Cano, and Rudy Bencomo.

Council comments

Prince encouraged everyone to take advantage of the High Desert Humane Society low cost vaccinations that would be held October 12, 2023. He looked forward to seeing his fellow councilors at the upcoming conference (Outdoor Economics Conference & Expo)
and said he has been proud to serve with them.

Bencomo asked everyone to vote. Early voting will continue until November 4, 2023, and the Election Day is November 7, 2023

Cano brought up they had appointed a committee to come up with a job description for the new town manager and they had started meeting three months ago. At that time, she asked that they have something put together by November and asked that it be put on the agenda for the following month's meeting.

October 28, 2023, they would hold a Halloween Market Festival by Q's Southern Bistro and Cano encouraged everyone to attend. It will be family friendly and no alcohol except in the restaurant. Halloween night they will hold a block fiesta at 401 Bullard and will have food and music.

Cano wanted to address some inaccurate messages by some of the candidates. She had received several calls and watched the Silver City Daily Press forums. The first one had to do with the task force for housing and behavioral health. It had been started by Patricia Cano. Cano said, "That is my mother if people don't know." She started the task force because her neighborhood has been going through some serious issues with the homeless. The task force has some great people with a lot of knowledge. "They are all equals, no one is in charge, and no one is doing it alone."

The next inaccuracy she has been made aware of that she wanted to make the public aware of had to do with the job description committee. "It is an advisory committee just as the housing and behavioral task force. That means they give the advice but that does not mean the council will take it. They are also not on the search committee that will pick the town manager. That will be a process yet to be determined."

Cano attended the Octoaderfest at the Little Toad Creek. She had the same problems as the last year. When they came and asked for the permit, she had specifically asked that it be handicap accessible. "It was not handicap accessible." They had to move a gate for her to get in and out along with a number of other problems and obstacles. They had allowed cannabis smoking and alcohol on the premises. "It is a state law you cannot have both in the same place." Cano requested after the request for the permit that day that no more be given until the owner comes and addresses the problems.

Ray said he had enjoyed the forum with the two other candidates the past week. They had gotten some tough questions. He reflected that in his tenure first he lost his father, two years later his son killed himself, a few years after that his father's only sister died, a few years after that his mother's sister, and now his mother. "My apologies that I have not been knocking on your doors."

Public input

Patricia Cano said she enjoyed being a guest at the Municipal League Conference. On November 2, 2023, at the Grant County Veterans Memorail Busines and Conference Center they will have some of the people from Farmington come to give a presentation on what they have done with behavior health, housing, and substance abuse in their community that has been working. They had given this presentation at the conference she referenced. They will be sharing their innovative approach to dealing with these complex issues. She told them they would be receiving a letter and flyers to give out. She added she hoped everyone would attend.

Delfina Jimenez said she lived on Mountain View Road. She thanked the police and sheriff for the additional patrols to the south side of town. "It has helped us a lot." At the town council candidate forum held recently they brought up restoration of historical buildings and other buildings. She asked that the candidates reveal any and all buildings they own in town to make sure they do not have a conflict. She said she had heard a 30-unit affordable housing complex would be going in and added she hoped it would be put on the north, east or west side of town. "We have enough problems on the south side."

Mark VanBuskirk said he had come forward reluctantly because he had only a few hours to prepare. He said he had been born and raised in Silver City and was third generation. He left in 1980 to work. Three years ago, he bought a house downtown. Recently they had a break in at the Silver City Food Coop and the Mint Chip Creamery. "This is the livelihood of these businesses, and they are trying to make downtown a better place." Many times, when he is outside working, tourists stop and ask him if the town is safe. A couple stopped to talk to him that have been coming to the area for twenty years and said the last few years the town had gone downhill. They had planned to retire in Silver City but will now be going to Ruidoso. "I have been an attorney in my career. I went to your court website and looked at the dockets." He urged the council to meet with the district attorney because they had some real problems. He brought up two individuals in particular to use as examples that their cases had been dismissed because the district attorney had not shown up. One of the individuals in the past 13 months has had 21 criminal charges, 27 charges total and 5 of those felonies. "None of those incidents were prosecuted." The other person in the past 12 months had 25 charges and 6 felonies, none prosecuted. The District Attorney abandoned the cases, and five had been felonies. One had been battery to a police officer. "Your district attorney does not seem to prosecute. I lived in Detroit and New Orleans, and I never had as much contact with the police as I have here." He wanted to point out that the police department has been responsive and professional and have been doing a great job. He urged the council to allocate additional funds to the police department to help. He pointed out the additional patrols that had been happening but stopped due to lack of funds.

Reports: Manager

Alex Brown, town manager, turned the report over to Jim Reynolds, town attorney. Reynolds brought up the challenges with the nuisance ordinance. In March of 2022 the council approved an amendment to the ordinance that needed to be done because it didn't include adequate procedural due process. It failed to inform violators how to come before the council or that they would be entitled to. He brought up 209 Mountain View Road. The owner had been cited in 2022. He had a fire that took his mobile home and 30 vehicles in 2021. Code enforcement worked with him for a year to try and get the property cleaned up. He had a council hearing on August 9, 2022, and they found the charges were constituted but had been given twenty weeks to do the cleanup and at the end of that time he had not. They tried to find him, and it took the city a number of weeks. He would not allow them to go on the property to clean it. In March of 2023 the city filed an injunctive relief. It took three months to find him and serve him. He had been served in June 2023 and they had a hearing. The judge approved the injunction but gave him 30 days. He did not do the cleanup in that time. The city will now be looking for bids to do the cleanup. "It was a long process, but we stuck with it."

Cano thanked him for staying on it.

New business

The council approved the public celebration permit for the Gila Regional Medical Center Foundation Gala. The liquor license holder will be Little Toad Creek. The event would be held at the Murray Hotel ballroom on Oct. 27, 2023. Cano reiterated that next time the owner must come to ask for the permit and answer some questions.

Southwest Word Fiesta representative Ted Presler gave the council a presentation on the upcoming events. He pointed out that the town and WNMU (Western New Mexico University) had helped sponsor the event. The fiesta started in 2008 and had only 35 people attend. When the pandemic happened in 2020, they didn't know what to do but decided to do it online. They ended up with 23 states attending and 7 countries. The website has recently with funding been made proactive and bilingual. The theme this year for the word fiesta will be "We Are All Connected." They have started giving awards. This year a film has been made in honor of Bonnie Buckley Maldonado. They now have a contributary section for haikus. John Burnett, retired NPR (national public radio) national correspondent, will be the keynote speaker. He will also be playing harmonica with the Blues Dawg band.

William Hawkins, Silver Consolidated School superintendent, gave the council a presentation "State of Facilities and Finance." He has been going around the community to give this presentation while nothing would be on the ballot and hoped to have some honest conversations. He went over the past three years he had been here and what he had concentrated on in those years and the accomplishments made. He went on to explain the mill levy and the bond capacity of the district. They have three projects they need to do but can't do them all with the funds they will have available. Only one or two can be done.

Hawkins said, "The goal of the presentation is to ask advice on how to address the challenges and the upcoming 2024 legislative session." Currently the schools have been paying off four $5 million bonds (incurred 2017-2022) with an outstanding debt of approximately $15 million.

He explained school funding and sources. One of the sources came from property taxes. "The property taxes in this area are the twentieth lowest in 89 school districts. This is problematic when trying to maintain facilities." He said enrollment has been decreasing as it has all across the state.

Prince said he understood the property taxes are low, but they needed to keep in mind the low income and maybe prioritize the residents.

Hawkins, "This is not a suggestion to raise taxes, just open the conversation."

Bencomo asked Hawkins what rate they should be at. Hawkins said he could not answer that and gave some reasons why.

Cano commented that this had been the first time a superintendent has wanted to talk to the council.

The council approved resolution 2023-23. Brown said this allowed the town to accept the funding to continue to work on Little Walnut Road and this would get them to Jack Frost Road. The total will be $1.95 million, and the town match will be $103,000.

The council approved resolution 2023-24. This resolution will be for Title IV Civil Rights Act compliance. Brown said they had to do this every two years to be eligible for any funding.

The council approved the appointment of Amy McLean to the Trails and Open Spaces Committee. They had received two applications and the chair recommended McLean.

The council approved the appointment of Simon Wheaton Smith to the Planning and Zoning Commission. He currently sits on the commission, and they received only his application.

The council approved the canceling of the October 24, 2023, council meeting due to everyone attending a conference.

Meeting adjourned.