By Lynn Janes

The town of Bayard held a regular meeting March 18, 2026. Attendance included Mayor John L. Ojinaga, Mayor Pro Tem Eloy Gonzales, and Councilors Eloy Medina, , Gilbert Ortiz and Charles Gray. Martha Salas, city clerk, also attended.

The council approved the agenda.

Public input none currently.

The council approved the consent agenda that included minutes from two meetings, accounts payable and department head reports. It also included the city clerk attending a regional housing forum, annual spring certification meeting for the clerk, deputy clerk and finance officers. The consent agenda also included for wastewater employees to attend a rural water association conference.

Planning and zoning

Cordell Jones, planning and zoning chair, had two recommendations to present to the council.

Thomas Smorra at 404 Diamond street wants to add a carport over his entryway where he currently parks. They had opened it up for the public to comment and only one person had come forward and had been in favor of allowing the carport. He also wants to add a covering over his concrete patio in the back of the house. It would encroach on the side yard setback. No one opposed this action. Both would be improvements to the property and planning and zoning have recommended the variances. The council approved the variance.

Corey White at 303 Empire Street wants to bring in two storage containers and put them at the back part of his property. He does not have neighbors behind him to object. The city does not have any code stipulation regarding the usage of storage containers, shipping containers on personal property. Jones said the city might want to address this at some point because they could end up with people bringing them on to the property and having neighbors that object. The committee had only required him to have the containers brought in by a licensed driver company so it would be done properly. Because of the nature of the building the state does not require any foundation.

The council had some discussion on the allowance of a storage containers. Ojinaga said Silver City has been having the same problem with people wanting to bring in storage containers. He expressed concern over many will want to do this and people will start complaining it will bring down the property values. He didn't think they should allow it.

Jones suggested that they alter their ordinances, so they have some control, but at this time they do not have a restriction. Based on that they do not have an ordinance and no neighbors to complain so they had recommended approval. Ojinaga said they needed written approval from neighbors and not verbal. Jones said if he had been asking for a variance they would have sent out, as required, notification by certified mail. Ojinaga said they do have an ordinance, section 1636, requiring permission for something unsightly.

Jones read the section, "Unsightly premises prohibited. Every person owning or managing or having charge, control, or occupancy of any real property in the state shall not allow any part of such property visible from the street or adjoining premises to become so unsightly or untidy as to substantially detract from the appearance of the immediate neighborhood or tend to threaten the safety and welfare of the immediate neighborhood." Ojinaga thought that would fall under that section. Some debate went on over this for a while.

Yvonne Gonzales, city attorney, said they had applied under the current ordinance and would not be subject to a new one. "I think that it's appropriate to postpone the decision on this, pending a complete review of the ordinances that would maybe be applicable to this. I know it's everywhere. Everybody wants to pay for their own storage on their own property and not pay other people."

The applicant would be subject to the current ordinance. "I think we need to examine whether the current applicant is in compliance with the current ordinances and that we can make a decision under the current ordinances pursuant to the application. I agree that we should postpone until the next meeting."

Medina said saying something would be unsightly will be subjective. He also spoke to them being more secure than a regular woodshed. If they put junk cars and garbage around the container it would be unsightly. Many in the community have purchased these because of being a good way to secure their property.

The council voted to table at the recommendation of the attorney.

New business

The council voted to table the fire department certifications. Some had been out on a call.

Ordinances and resolutions

The council voted to postpone the intent to adopt an ordinance amending a section on emergency abatement. Yvonne Gonzales asked that they have more review on the process involved. They had a workshop on the wording already. The review of the process had come from the workshop they held. She also wanted to schedule another workshop between now and the next meeting. They will be having the judge involved in the discussion. Yvonne Gonzales said, "We must, because I don't know at this point in time if we can require him to act as sort of the neutral third party that will issue the permission to emergency abate a project. Because remember, you are like the U.S. government. We're free to speak of issues or departments here. We have the executive branch, which is you. We have the judicial branch, which is the court. And we also have the legislative branch, which is you also. You act as the administrative or executive branch in certain aspects and as the legislative branch when you're enacting ordinances and things. I do not think at this point in time that you can require the administrative judge in his duties to be an arbitrator of whether an emergency abatement should issue."

Medina had spoken to the judge and asked if he had been part of the discussion and what he thought. He had not been part of the discussion and had some hard questions that need to be answered before they can move forward. Yvonne Gonzales agreed and spoke to due process requirements if he becomes involved and continued to explain the processes and what they must address.

Salas said, "I just wanted to reiterate what she just said about researching other cities, villages, the big ones, the smaller ones, and nowhere in their emergency abatement is there a judge mentioned to do that. We've been researching, she researched and that was my goal at our last meeting that we discussed it. At that workshop we're going to provide you guys samples of other municipalities and nowhere in there does it ever say about a judge."

Department head reports

Gabriel Gonzales, fire chief, went over his report. They had two fire calls in February. The first one had been a structure fire, and the second one had been an abandoned home, and they had been asked to do a smoke check. They had some burning inside that they extinguished and educated the person. A total of 24 EMS calls had been answered. Most in Bayard but some in Hurley. The department had done three fire trainings and one EMS. He continued with a report on all equipment.

Sam Arellano, public works director, said they had been busy with a lot of projects and dealing with the chlorination system that still needs some electrical work. He will be meeting with Stantec concerning the roads that they talked about at the last meeting. The department had been working a lot on the little league field for the upcoming season and the parks. The sprinkler systems have all been working along with the drip systems for the new trees. He went over all the work they had done on the parks and will continue to do.

Medina wanted to thank Arellano and Salas for what they had done to help a family. "It was good customer service."

Stephen Estrada, wastewater director, said they had several meetings with the engineer to review project designs and current task orders. The site had been assessed for valve replacements, infill and lift station repairs. They now have just been waiting on the quotes to come in. Freeport McMoRan had come to look at diverting storm water from highway 180 helping in brush cleanup. Estrada continued with a full explanation of all equipment, maintenance and repairs being planned and what had already taken place.

Medina had a question for Estrada. They had the vision meeting the previous day and wanted to know if he knew how their system could handle anther 80-100 connections. Do they need to do anything to the system to handle that increased load?

Estrada said currently the system has been designed to handle a flow of about 600,000 gallons per day comfortably. At this time, they have been bringing in about 250,000 gallons. The max capacity for the system runs a million gallons but they don't want to max it out but keep it at 600,000. He thought an extra 80 homes would not be a lot more than the 250,000 gallons.

Renee Provencio, librarian, updated the council on the strategic planning process. They had done a community survey, and it will be reviewed by the strategic planning committee. After that Provencio will draft a plan based on the feedback from the committee. The council will have time to review before it has to be sent to the state. Currently an artist has been displaying their art in the library. Ortiz had concerns they had to pay for it, and Provencio said they just display.

At that point a suggestion to have them paint a mural on the car wash came up. Salas said they can't do that because the city didn't own the property. The property owner had said they would be okay having a mural. Salas asked that they contact ed the people doing the mural projects in Silver City directly and they can set it up; the city could not.

Salas said it would be time for them to start planning projects for the ICIP (infrastructure capital improvement plan). Usually, they have been due in September but now must be in by July 1, 2026. She thought the vision workshop the day before had gone well, and they had 21 people attend. Better Cities will be providing the council with a presentation once they have gathered all the information. The mining district had received a grant to hire someone to help coordinate clean ups through the summer and will be using different ideas. Salas had put in a grant to FEMA to have backup generators for the police department, community center and all of the wells. They have had to provide a lot of information and don't know if they have the grant at this time.

Salas said she would be attending the housing conference that they had just approved. It had been recommended by Priscilla Lucero, Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments executive director, and the other clerks will be attending. It will help them with ideas to start up better housing in the area. She and Tanya Ortiz, deputy clerk, will be attending the annual spring conference for clerks.

Salas had put out an RFP for engineering services at the wastewater treatment plant. She hoped next month they would have proposals to present to the council.

Medina wanted to know what had been happening with the miner memorial statue.

Ojinaga said the governor had signed off on it and the man will be starting on the statue. Medina wanted to know where it would be located and Ojinaga said he thought they had all agreed on the Mine Mill or community center.

The full fire department had all been able to attend and be recognized for their certifications. Ojinaga said it had been a journey, and he had been waiting for this.

Gabriel Gonzales appreciated the opportunity to present the newly licensed EMS providers that will be serving the community and the importance of having them cannot be overstated.

When someone in Bayard dials 911, whether for a cardiac event, trauma injury, a stroke, or other critical emergency, one of the EMS providers will often be the first medical professionals to arrive. They bring skills, training, and decision-making ability that often means the difference between life and death. Their work stabilizes patients long before they reach the hospital and early intervention is a key factor in improving survival rates and patient outcomes. Their dedication to public service enhances not only the city emergency readiness but the region's overall resilience. Their roles will extend beyond the city limits to the county.

Laura Laney has been with the department for a little over a year and in that time had achieved her national registry EMS responder certification and as a first responder.

Paul Laney has obtained national registry EMS responder certification and as a first responder. He had also been with the department for a little over a year.

Jamahl Chavarria, although a member of the department, is also in junior high school. He has been with them for about one year and in that time, he had obtained national registry EMS responder certification and as a first responder, a huge achievement at his age.

Andrea Carbajal had obtained national registry EMT responder certification and as a first responder. She will be one of the few EMTs within the city. She obtained this within a year while being a full-time mom.

He wanted to mention Elizabeth Barber who works as a full-time firefighter in Silver City but volunteers with Bayard in her off time. She has been with the Bayard fire department for two years and has her EMT basic and has been working on her EMT intermediate.

Mayor and council reports

Eloy Gonzales said he had attended the vision meeting at the community center the day before. He said so far, the number one thing people want to see had been outdoor recreation, number two entertainment and number three restaurants and coffee shops. The previous week they had a baseball tournament in Bayard in which people came from Las Cruces, El Paso and the Mescalero Reservation. The thing that bothered him was that people had looked for places to eat and stay and "We didn't have anything". He hoped they could have the project moving with the new property so people visiting would have choices.

Medina jokingly asked Eloy Gonzales if he had any questions about Blake's and he replied it had been on his mind. Medina said he didn't have anything to report.

Gray said, as the liaison for the beautification committee, he reported they will have their first quarter fundraiser, and it will be a Bingo on March 29, 2026. He had gone around town and said everything had been looking good. He wanted to point out that the leadership in the departments have been very conscientious and he really appreciated them and have set Bayard apart from the others.

Gilbert Ortiz had attended the housing authority meeting and they had done the yearly audit and did not have any findings.

Ojinaga said all the departments have been doing well and he especially liked how the maintenance and wastewater departments have been working together. He also felt the city had been looking good and said he has been proud of everyone that works for the city.

Salas said the next meeting had been scheduled for April 15, 2026, but they will be gone to the clerks' conference. She asked the council if they could change the meeting to April 23, 2026, and the council agreed to move the date.

Meeting adjourned.