Grant County to take over management of conference center

Grant County to take over management of conference center

By Mary Alice Murphy

At Tuesday's Grant County Commission work session on Sept. 8, 2026, during the review of the regular meeting agenda, Deputy Manager Andrea Montoya gave the history of the request for proposal (RFP) for  Grant County Veterans Memorial Business and Conference Center property management.

"On September 19, 2025, Grant County released a request for proposal 26-02 for conference center property management services," Montoya said."The purpose of the solicitation was to obtain qualified property management services for the Grant County Conference Center. Grant County received one proposal in this response from the Silver City Grant County Chamber of Commerce [which has been managing the conference center since 2016]. The evaluation committee completed evaluation of the proposal on November 10, 2025. The original cost of this proposal came in at $266,000. Following the evaluation and subsequent discussions regarding the proposed services, the Silver City Chamber of Commerce submitted a best and final offer in the amount of $230,000. The best and final offer is being presented to the Board of County Commissioners for consideration. The Board may approve or reject the best and final offer submitted by the Silver City Chamber of Commerce."

District 5 Commissioner Tom Shelley said he had questions. 

"Are we going to hear from the Chamber of Commerce as part of this discussion on this agreement, or if I have questions of them, do I need to call Sharon Offutt [Silver-City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce Board president] personally and ask these questions?" 

District 1 Commissioner and Chair Chris Ponce suggested Shelley call the chamber board president. He continued that he knew the county staff had put in a lot of work in making the recommendation and he would go with that. 

Ponce also noted that the chamber was not invited to present at Thursday's regular meeting nor at this work session.

Shelley questioned that and was told that because it was an PRFP process, it was to the point where the commissioners would approve or disapprove the staff's recommended decision not to award the facility management to the chamber.

Shelley then asked if the county had ever managed the conference center before.

County Manager Charlene Webb replied that yes, the county had managed the conference center prior to the full renovation. After the remodeling, the county went out to RFP and awarded the management to the chamber. She also noted that the only reply to the RFP this time was from the chamber, although two had been received on the first RFP. 

Shelley asked if the county could really do the job for less, although he agreed that, to be fiscally responsible, if the county can do an equal job or better than the chamber it made sense to take it over. 

Montoya replied that she was confident the county has done its due diligence and "we have a really good foundation of how it's operated currently. We'll mirror that in our information given to you. I think we can operate it more efficiently than it currently is at a lower cost. I'm sure there's hiccups here and there that will come in while we're learning the whole process from end to end, but I am confident that we can can run the center. We're not in the business of making money, so we're not trying to do anything but provide assistance to our community, and I think that we can do that."

Shelley said it led to his next question. "Even with our projection, which is the cost to hire staff to run it, but then in your memo you also had a lot of other costs that we're already dealing with as a county. This conference center isn't anywhere close to even breaking even right now. It is a great asset. So we don't envision that there's any way we're going to raise the cost or fees or anything and it's still wouldn't bring us to the point where we could break even on managing this?"

Montoya replied that it would be up to the commissioners to raise the rates and to approve them. "I do agree that the rates do need to be raised because the rates we're currently charging are very, very low in comparison to the rest of the state. I think they do need to be increased, and that will come at the commissioners' level."

"I guess I don't know what those rates would be, but do you have an estimate of how much revenue would be reasonable to expect in a year if we raise the rates?" Shelley asked.

Montoya said she would estimate that the revenue would increase by 15 percent or more. She said emergency events such as the Trout Fire would bring in more revenue, but it was hard to be 100 percent sure when forecasting. 

Shelley thanked her for all the work put into it, and Ponce said: "I have every bit of confidence and trust that if you guys come to us and tell us it will work, that it will work, and I appreciate everything you've done to do this, and you've done it open-minded, and I appreciate that. I think it'd be great for us to take it back in. I don't think we need to look at this as so much a money maker, but I think we need to look at this as something our community is very proud of. I think the level of work the chamber has done is going to continue, and we need to make it work. And I think they do have staff that you know hopefully our administration can look at bringing over. Thank you. "

District 3 Commissioner Nancy Stephens said she would do her usual summary to make sure she understood what has gone on. "It seems to me like in the RFP process, as commissioners we stay out of it, and we generally are involved when the staff has a recommendation and we approve. In this case, it sounds like this RFP process. The recommendation is not to renew or enter into contract with the chamber because the assessment is that the cost is not good use of taxpayers' money. In other words, we could provide the same service for less money and save the taxpayers' money. I also really value the convention center. I think it's a huge asset to our community. I think the chamber of commerce is an asset to our community. I don't want to burn bridges or damage relationships, but I also understand that we have to be fiscally responsible. And if the same service can be provided for significantly less money, then we have to look at that. And it's unfortunate that the contract could not have been successfully negotiated, but I do believe that staff has tried. It seems like this process has been going on a long time-several months, maybe even close to a year, eight months. Thank you." 

[Editor's Note: Closer to 17 months, as to my knowledge, the last contract expired around April 2025.]

At the regular session on Thursday, when RFP 26-02 came up, Chairman Ponce moved to not accept the contract given to them by the Chamber of Commerce. "I'd like to do that motion that Grant County start taking over the Conference Center and looking at running the center. On a side note, we looked at every legally possible way to bring in some of their employees into our county to help us do this in transition." After receiving a second to the motion, Ponce asked if there was any discussion.

 Shelley said: "My only discussion is I just want to thank the Chamber of Commerce for the years of operating the center, and from my perspective, they've done a great job, and hopefully we can, too."

Commissioners approved the motion and moved to the next item on the agenda.