By Lynn Janes

The Village of Santa Clara held a special meeting November 20, 2023. Mayor Richard Bauch called the meeting to order. Mayor Pro Tem Albert Esparza, trustees, Olga Amador, Peter Erickson, and Arnold Lopez attended.

New Business

The council approved the rental of a small space at the armory for $100 a month to the National Center for Frontier Communities to put in two small chest freezers for food distribution. This has been an office and equipment room in the past and is only about 12' x 14'. Dave Chandler with the Commons Center in Silver City had attended and said they work with this company and rent them warehouse space in Silver City. Frontier Communities acts as a middle person for local farmers and has been a quality group to work with. Yvonne Gonzales, village attorney, will write up a rental agreement with them.

The council agreed to table a request by a resident to place boulders in front of his fence. He has had his fence taken out by cars twice recently. The maintenance department will look at it and take photos for the council to review and will decide at a future meeting.

The council approved the purchase of new radars for the police department in the amount of $11,980 to be paid out of the LEF (law enforcement funds) funds and not the general fund. Sheila Hudman, village administrator, said the LEF funds can only be used for equipment and uniforms. The request for the radars came from the police chief. Hudman said the current radars need replacement and probably have been used for twelve or more years.

The council approved the new lease agreement with Spectrum Copiers for a new copy machine for the administrative department at $125 a month. Hudman said the current lease will be up at the end of the year and have been paying $157 a month. This will be a better price and a new machine. The five year lease includes free servicing and free ink.

Resolutions

The council approved resolution 2023-32. This would amend the ICIP (infrastructure capital improvement plan). Hudman said they had previously approved the ICIP and after speaking with the Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments they felt they needed to put them in a different order. Some of the items could be funding through other sources. The legislature and governor only look at the first three.

The council approved resolution 2023-33. This resolution sets aside a property on the corner of Oak Street and Fort Bayard Street for the possible future of construction of a food distribution for The Commons for food security and sustainability. Bauch said this had been talked about for some time, but the board of the Commons wanted some assurance of the village moving forward with the process. Currently they need to remove the old tanks and remove some of the soil from the leakage of the gas tanks. Chandler explained to the council the plans they have for the property and what they have been doing. They will be building a warehouse and gardens in phases. The plan will be to have the same facility that they have in Silver City. The warehouse would have a commercial kitchen, room for meetings and classes. They used to distribute 80-90 boxes of food in the mining district and now do 200 a month. By having a warehouse, it will enable them to serve families throughout the month and provide emergency boxes. It will also help with the traffic congestion. Chandler said that the local people have really helped them with donations.

The council went into closed session.

The council came back into open session.

Hiring, Raises, Terminations, etc.

Bauch recommended the elimination of two positions and reallocating those salaries to raises for current employees. The council approved the elimination of one administrative position (utility clerk) and a maintenance position. They allocated those savings to each of those departments giving raises of $1 - $3 an hour to four people in each department. Bauch said he thought this would help in retention of good employees.

First regular meeting will be held Thursday December 14, 2023, at 6pm

Bauch commented that some have seen the allowance of the brewery and the non-allowance of alcohol for the rental space to be a contradiction. He explained that the brewery has a license and is for tasting only. They have rules and regulations they must follow. The rental space does not have any controls, and anything (beer, wine, hard liquor) could be brought in, and anybody could be consuming the alcohol.

Meeting Adjourned