[Editor's Note: Grant County commissioners held a short special meeting right before a long work session on Nov. 14, 2023. This is the third of a series of articles covering the work session. it continues with county director reports.]
By Mary Alice Murphy
Following the first county reports from the Detention Center, the Finance director and the Planning director, Emergency Manager Scot Fuller presented his report at the Grant County Commission work session on Nov. 14, 2023.
Fuller said he had completed the memorandum of agreement with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) but said he had not yet submitted the additional paperwork the agency had requested for IPAWS (Integrated Public Alert and Warning System) so the county could get access to Code Red for testing. He said, as of the end of October, all wireless providers are required to submit everything in 13 languages for alert transmission. "Also each county will be allowed two tests a year without FCC permission."
He said his department had received funding from FEMA for the Hazard Mitigation Plan and is awaiting the award from the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security to get it started so the county can find a vendor. "This time I want to make sure it is approved all the way through as a FEMA-approved plan, because that opens doors for much bigger funding opportunities."
For future projects, he said he had submitted, on Nov. 3, a request for $185,000 to update the Community Wildfire Protection Plan. "If we get it updated, with some specific projects, we can submit for other funding to get them done. I had a conversation with a young woman with the New Mexico Energy and Minerals Department. She is one of the reviewers and said we had a very strong application. I hope to hear on the award in February. She said if we get it there are a number of multi-million dollar projects that we can submit for funding."
On the public safety building, he said that usually about March a notice of funding opportunities goes out for emergency operation centers. "I'm looking forward to submitting to dovetail with the purchase of the public safety building."
He said he has submitted the paperwork for himself to be designated the organization manager for the New Mexico Resource Qualification System (NMRQS). "It all ties in with the national Natural Resource Management. It dovetails with NIMS (National Incident Management System). It is required to submit grant requests from the New Mexico Emergency Management Department for State Homeland Security grants, which I'm looking for to update our emergency management plan. We meet all the qualifications for the grant."
Fuller reported he attended the Red Cross sheltering class and did a tabletop exercise with Freeport-McMoran.
District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne asked if the Community Wildfire Plan allows prescribed burns.
Fuller said it does, because fuels reduction is a big part of the plan. "The Community Wildfire Defense grant is where the money comes from to update our plan. The last one, done 15 years ago, was done on a $15,000 grant. This one will be a federal grant of $185,000, so we will get a lot more bang for the buck This plan goes into the fuels reduction, but also an evacuation center, as well as evacuation corridors and if the main route is blocked, it goes through alternate evacuation corridors."
Browne said although it is a long way off, "I encourage you to put a lot of effort into community education, so we don't surprise them with some projects."
Fuller agreed and said: "We want input from the residents, especially property owners in other parts of the county They know the landscape."
District 3 Commissioner Alicia Edwards said as a follow up on what Mr. Browne said, "it has been my experience that when you have more money, it gives you more time and it's easier to get public input and because the input is better, the final outcome is better. I just want to say that however I can help, I will be happy to make sure people from my district turn out."
Fuller said he would gladly accept the help.
Edwards also asked how the Firewise program fit in with the community wildlife plan."
Fuller said he isn't sure how it fits in and will get an answer to her.
Edwards said she knows that the county has let residents use the county chipper. To her question about whether Fuller will work with the town of Silver City, too, on the plan, he said yes.
"How does Firewise fit in with the town, too?" Edwards asked.
Fuller said he had received a call from a resident looking for funding to finish a Firewise project. "I didn't know the answer, so I contacted Pinos Altos Volunteer Fire Department Chief Ed Downward, and he helped the individual."
Downward said : "We have three Firewise communities in the county—Rocky Point, Wind Canyon and Dos Griegos. Once a year, they do a clean up project, and submit their hours to keep their certification. We've used the chipper a lot. We support their effort. As far as I know you can get a few neighbors together to form a Firewise community or it can be as big as Dos Griegos."
Fuller said he would get with the Silver City Fire Department chief and discuss Firewise with him.
The next presentation came from Maintenance Department Supervisor Jason Lockett.
"I'll cover the airport report, too, under the General Services report," Lockett said. "At the airport, we will be moving into the new administration office later this month. The AWAS (automated weather advisory station) is also being moved. We are having some electrical work done out there right now, putting in lines for the emergency generator. Mike Aguilar and Larry Port have completed the ARFF (airport rescue and firefighter) training and are now certified. Last week they attended live fire training at DFW (Dallas Fort Worth international airport) to complete their certification. Carlos Grado has been promoted to the position of Airfield Supervisor. He has been with the airport since July of 2015 and has long provided leadership and training to new employees."
With no questions on the airport report, he continued with the maintenance report. Lockett said the Detention Center door sliders are on order and will likely be installed in January. The Tu Casa life station rehab will likely also be done in January when the parts come in. "We are just about ready to initiate the old Bataan Memorial Park restroom demolition. We're prepping that and getting ready to put in the new vault toilets. Also at Bataan Park, we're also getting ready to do two 12X12-foot shade structures for the horseshoe pit after the trees died. The security glass for three parts of the Detention Center should be arriving in the next couple of weeks. We will start painting these Commission Chambers. We completed the Manager's office break room."
On future projects, he said the department is still working on the three-phase electrical installation of large fans in select areas of the Fairgounds. "We are also going to do a laundry and washer upgrade at the Detention Center and the electrical service upgrade to the Bataan Park pavilion."
Lockett said the install of a fire alarm system at the courthouse began the previous week, "bringing us up to code and fire compliance." He also reported the Silver City Toss no Mas will hold a pickup campaign and will use the northwest side of the county administration parking lot as a center point on Nov. 18, which will be over by noon.
District 1 Commissioner and Chair Chris Ponce asked about the old restroom demolition at Bataan Park.
Lockett said they would be getting rid of the old cargo containers, which were an eyesore. "We're trying to decide whether to put in one or two restrooms. A company will give us a whole packet on the vault toilet installation. They are really nice restrooms with solar lighting. We are planning how to prevent vandalism. They will be vault because the sewer is kind of run down."
Edwards asked about the Tu Casa lift station.
Lockett said because Tu Casa is kind of down in a bowl, it lifts the waste up into a gravity-fed sewer system.
Edwards asked how long Tu Casa had been there.
Lockett said since about 2018ish.
"With a building that new, why are we already having to do lift station rehab?" Edwards asked.
Lockett explained it as "value engineered."
Edwards asked if "value engineered means we did it on the cheap and now we're paying?"
"Correct," Lockett said. "With my education on lift stations, they just did not put in the right stuff in the beginning. The fittings are just starting to fail, so we're trying to get ahead of it. We're going to get the enclosure and the pump rails up to par and there will be maintenance and we may have to replace the pumps in the future. It's very similar to what we did with the Conference Center roof. We did it kind of cheap and after five years the warranties are gone, and it's in our laps."
Browne said the repaving project at the Silver Street parking lot reminded him that the day before he was out on a watershed restoration project on Pinos Altos Creek. "The goal of that project and all watershed projects is to stop erosion and build up soil, so that water can percolate into the aquifer. There are a couple of issues at that parking lot. It looks like water has been flowing down into the creek, and it may not be our problem, but there's a large head cut there and a lot of erosion, so I wanted to call your attention to that."
Lockett said the berm the county had put in was so people could not drive into the parking lot from the Fowler property, and also to keep water from the creek from coming in the parking lot. "It even washed our dumpster down once, so much water was flowing. So we have kind of a natural arroyo coming through there to keep the water from coming into the parking lot. I'll go look at the head cut."
Browne said he thought some well-placed boulders might stop the erosion. "And the second thing is a large culvert that looks like it goes under the parking lot all the way to the tennis courts. Are you aware of that?"
Lockett said he would take a look, but he didn't think the culvert was under the parking lot.
Browne said it might be belong to the town or the school district.
Edwards asked for an explanation of the "enormous amount of concrete used for the handicapped ramp to the public health office."
Lockett said: "We had to build it to be ADA compliant. As soon as the rest of the paving is done it will look better."
The last report came from the IT (internet technology) Director Adam Baca.
"The website redesign is on track," Baca said. "I expect to see and new design reveal the first week of December, which will give me an idea of how the website will look, and we'll do modifications as they come up and likely it will be mid-January for the final reveal and to make it public.
"The Incode cloud migration has been completed," he continued. "Incode is where we have our financial and human resource operations. Robert (Hall) and I have been working on the implementation and helping users navigate the new system. Now that these records are in the cloud, it's slightly different, but we were able to work through that. It's the beginning stage of our cloud migration. We will consider the other modules we have, such as for the clerk's, assessor's and the treasurer's offices. Next week, we will meet with a group that will help us with network vulnerability. It's one of the future projects that I've been referencing quite some time. It will deploy an agent in all our computers and then run an assessment of all of them. We will hope to meet several security standards to help us secure our environment a bit more. This will be an ongoing process. We will run it monthly or quarterly to make sure we keep our network as tight as possible."
From the IT perspective, he said they are working at the airport. "Now that all the equipment is in, we are working with WNM Communications to get the internet connected. It just requires coordinating everything to get the system up and running as soon as possible, so they can occupy the building. We were also able to work with WNM to update the whole telephone system at the Detention Center. It definitely was an effort, although business was interrupted for most of the day, we replaced a very antiquated phone system and now we're on a modern VOIP (voice over internet) system. It allows them to take and make calls. Typical maintenance will be between us and WNM Communications."
As for future projects, Baca said he and Robert are working on the beginnings of being able to ultimately replace the existing server with a virtual system. "It's an effort, we've been able to add for quite some time. I expect it to happen in early to mid-December."
With the cloud migration, "we were able to provide support for the elections. We expected to take training on the TraCS system for the Sheriff's office, but it had to be rescheduled to early December. This week, we will be assisting with asset inventory."
Ponce asked if the HR department has the capability to keep up with the salary schedule and any items that need to be part of how much employees are paid.
Baca said they have the capability, but certifications, disciplinary actions, and driver's licenses for new hires, will become smoother with content management, so they can be uploaded. "They will have the capability of uploading any document, similar to attaching an electronic document to an email. That is basically a second phase of this cloud migration. Now we can leverage some of the tools that come with that."
Edwards said she had noticed a slight hesitation when someone calls from outside the county, because of the VOIP. "It makes it kind of challenging to have a telephone conversation, because what tends to happen is you tend to talk over one another. Personally, I find it incredibly annoying. It seems to me that from a customer service viewpoint, it could be a challenge. Can anything be done about that?"
Baca said he will ask the provider if there is any way to fix the hesitation. He noted that he and Robert do not have access to the internal phone system. "I have great communication with the technician who works on the phone systems, and in this recent upgrade at the Detention Center, their efforts were fantastic, so I have no issues reaching out with why there are hesitations on calls and can it be improved. Maybe it can be a slight change."
Next item on the agenda will begin the review of the regular meeting agenda.
For previous articles, please visit https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/81381-grant-county-commission-held-work-session-111423-part-1 ; and https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/81427-grant-county-commission-held-work-session-111423-part-2 .