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Grant County Commission holds joint work session and regular meeting 090921, part 1
[Editor's Note: This is likely to be a multi-part series of articles for the 3.5-hour meeting.]
Two proclamations were approved at the meeting.
The first proclaimed Sept. 11, 2021, as Patriot Day and National Day of Service. Jason Quimby, WNMU veterans' affairs officer, accepted the proclamation. From left are Commission Chair Chris Ponce, presenting the signed proclamation to Quimby, third from right, with Commissioners Alicia Edwards, Harry Browne, Billy Billings and Javier Salas looking on.
The second proclaimed October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Rachel Sierra, El Refugio Inc. director, third from right, accepted it from Ponce, Edwards, Browne, Salas and Billings.
Photos and article by Mary Alice Murphy
The combined work session and regular meeting, which took place Sept. 9, 2021, began with District 1 Commissioner and Chair Chris Ponce thanking county staff for the preparations for the Meet and Greet the previous evening to welcome County Manager Tim Zamora.
Readers can view the photos and article at https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/67296-meet-and-greet-with-county-manager-tim-zamora-090821.
La Esperanza Winery and Vineyard celebrated 12 anniversary with wine stomping 091821
Photos Courtesy of Diane Schaefer
La Esperanza Winery 12th anniversary 091821
La Esperanza Winery 12th anniversary 091821
The set up for the grape stomping
La Esperanza Winery 12th anniversary 091821
Stompers
La Esperanza Winery 12th anniversary 091821
Another batch of stompers
La Esperanza Winery 12th anniversary 091821
The yield of one batch
La Esperanza Winery 12th anniversary 091821
Straining the juice
La Esperanza Winery 12th anniversary 091821
Squeezing out every last drop
La Esperanza Winery 12th anniversary 091821
David Gurule measuring the output of juice
La Esperanza Winery 12th anniversary 091821
Rinsing off purple feet
La Esperanza Winery 12th anniversary 091821
Gurule gives first place winner Peter Tha of Tucson a certificate for wine.
La Esperanza Winery 12th anniversary 091821
Carlton Thompson of Silver City receives the second prize certificate
La Esperanza Winery 12th anniversary 091821
Lenin Beltran of Juarez received one of third prize certificates from Gurule.
La Esperanza Winery 12th anniversary 091821
Jamie Wilder of Silver City tied for third place and also received a wine certificate from Gurule
La Esperanza Vineyard and Winery celebrated its 12th anniversary on Saturday, September 18, 2021.
After music by Brandon Perrault and family, grape stomping brought out folks wanting to win bottles of La Esperanza wine. A portion of the cover charge went to the Mimbres Cultural Heritage Site.
Bayard beautification in full swing
By Lynn Janes
The town of Bayard held its regular town meeting September 13, 2021. The meeting started with a short work session discussing the new cannabis ordinance stemming from the new state regulations passed allowing both medical and recreational use of cannabis. Town Clerk Kristy Ortiz gave the council the proposed ordinance and the NM regulations to compare. Ortiz said the density restrictions really were not important to the town because they had such a small business district. The location gave them the ability to restrict any cannabis business to be at least 300 feet from a school or daycare. Both schools are right next to the business district and that would not work for the town. Operating times were set the same as liquor laws. The council wanted to keep in line with what the other communities were doing. The only one that has passed an ordinance so far is Santa Clara.
The regular meeting started with Mayor Pro Tem Raul Villanueva calling the meeting to order and leading the Pledge of Allegiance.
Attendance at the meeting included Mayor Pro tem Raul Villanueva, and councilors Charles Kelly and Adrian Ortiz. Mayor Chon Fierro and councilor Eloy Medina were not in attendance.
Grant County Commission holds special meeting 090721, part 5
[Editor's Note: As a result of the more than 5-hour special meeting on Sept. 7, 2021, this is the fifth and final of a multi-part series of articles and will cover the 2021 property tax mill report.]
By Mary Alice Murphy
The Grant County Commission had on its special meeting agenda of Sept. 7, 2021 a resolution on the 2021 property tax mill and comments by Assessor Raul Turrieta and Treasurer Patrick Cohn.
To read the preceding articles about the ICIP and ARPA decisions by commissioners, please visit the first four installments of this series of articles at https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/67319-grant-county-commission-holds-special-meeting-to-address-icip-and-arpa-priorities-090721-part-1, https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/67408-grant-county-commission-holds-special-meeting-to-address-icip-and-arpa-priorities-090721-part-2 , https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/67424-grant-county-commission-holds-special-meeting-to-address-icip-and-arpa-priorities-090721-part-3 and https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/67463-grant-county-commission-holds-special-meeting-to-address-icip-and-arpa-priorities-090721-part-4 .
Turrieta handed out the rate sheets, which indicated the rates would rise slightly at a rate of 0.1 percent for 2021 for operational residential taxpayers. Operational non-residential rates would remain the same and debt service would drop by 10.5 percent.
Grant County Commission holds special meeting to address ICIP and ARPA priorities 090721, part 4
[Editor's Note: As a result of the more than 5-hour special meeting on Sept. 7, 2021, this is the fourth of a multi-part series of articles and covers the ARPA discussion]
By Mary Alice Murphy
The special meeting of the Grant County Commission on Sept. 7, 2021 took place to discuss how to prioritize the ICIP (Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan) and how to expend the ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funding the county has received and will receive. In this article, they discussed the ARPA funding.
You can read the first three installments at https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/67319-grant-county-commission-holds-special-meeting-to-address-icip-and-arpa-priorities-090721-part-1, https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/67408-grant-county-commission-holds-special-meeting-to-address-icip-and-arpa-priorities-090721-part-2 and https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/67424-grant-county-commission-holds-special-meeting-to-address-icip-and-arpa-priorities-090721-part-3 .
Planning and Community Development Director Priscilla Shoup began with the list of items proposed for ARPA funding. "Some were proposed by the public, some by county staff and some by commissioners."
Hurley improvements on the horizon
By Lynn Janes
The town of Hurley held its regular town meeting September 14, 2021.beginning with the call to order and the Pledge of Allegiance.
Attendance at the meeting included Mayor Ed Stevens, Mayor Pro Tem Richard Maynes, and Councilors Freddie Rodriguez and Mateo Madrid.
Councilors approved the agenda for the meeting.
Public Input
Dan Clark asked about the speed bump that had been requested previously. Mayor Stevens said it had been ordered and installation would begin when received.