By Lynn Janes
The town of Hurley had a regular meeting October 13, 2026. Reynaldo Maynes, Ester Gil, and Robert Candelaria attended. Jason Cox did not attend. Aron Phillips attended by phone at different times in the meeting.
Public input - none currently.
The council approved a proclamation naming October domestic awareness month. Many American families may be tarnished with violence and fear. Approximately 95 percent of the victims of domestic violence have been women and nationally four million women have been assaulted by their partners and at least four will be murdered by their perpetrator. Approximately 70 percent of the men that batter their partners also abuse the children. They continued with a long list of statistics—one being the use of weapons, 2 percent had been with a gun, 5 percent with a knife and 93 percent had been other weapons.
Dolores Charon thanked the council for the proclamation and participation.
Kendra Milligan, Tree New Mexico, had come to provide a presentation to the council. Tree New Mexico is connected to the urban forestry program out of Albuquerque. They had recently planted 50 trees in Bayard and gave away 50 more. They will be doing the same in Hurley October 17, 2026, and asked for people to come help. They need volunteers, and they will receive free trees. She said they had 34 homeowners that would be adopting 50 trees. Chili Charm would be providing lunch to the volunteers that day. On Monday, October 19, 2026, they would be handing out the free trees to the general public, but volunteers would have first pick. They would also have a free tree care class on October 23, 2026.
Milligan thanked the council for their support. She did ask for a patrol because they had a volunteer chased by a loose dog and she wanted to make sure the volunteers would be safe. They had made sure all volunteers had dog deterrent spray.
The trees planted in Hurley would be an almost $6,000 donation from Tree New Mexico funded by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). Hurley has the highest heat index of any municipality in Grant County because of being on the edge of the Deming plains. They hoped the trees would help lower the temperatures.
Maynes asked about the 34 trees, and Milligan said it would be 34 residences but 50 trees altogether.
Police Chief Lonnie Sandoval had met with Maynes about a MOU with Santa Clara. Maynes said the town needed coverage and only had one certified officer. Currently the officers in Santa Clara have three days off and on one of those days they could come and work in Hurley. Hurley would pay their overtime, and they would use a Hurley police vehicle and uniform. It would be a ten-hour shift. The only cost to the town would be their wages.
Maynes asked Darlene McBride, town clerk, if the attorney had read over it. She said he had not but told her if the council wanted to accept it contingent upon his review and approval it would be fine. Any citations would be turned into Hurley and stay in Hurley. The MOU may be terminated at any time with a 30-day notice. The council approved the MOU contingent upon the town attorney approval.
The council tabled the business license application approval for KTD Autoworks. No one had attended to answer questions.
Officer Aaron Ordonez addressed the hire of Isiah Vega as an uncertified police officer. They had interviewed him, and he had been very respectful and comes from a law enforcement family. He has had eight months of experience and will be attending the Western New Mexico University police academy. He will be using financial aid and other assistance to pay the fees. The council approved the hiring of Vega.
The council approved the attendance of Ordonez to the New Mexico Law Enforcement Conference. Ordonez had provided the flyer for the conference, and it would also include training and some pertaining to schools that would be critical.
The council tabled the purchase of a Ford Explorer police unit for $80,150 and a trade in of the old for $5,000. Ordonez had several other options they went over. They will be doing more research to see if a better deal could be found. They also postponed the purchase order to equip the new police unit.
The council approved looking further into a potential sign-on bonus for certified officers. Ordonez said being a small municipality they could not afford a large sign-on bonus like some larger ones, but a little incentive may go a long way. His first initial thought had been a $5,000 sign-on bonus with half when hired and the other half after the first year. McBride said they did have some grow funds they could use and law enforcement funds. They brainstormed some ideas and agreed it would be a good idea to look into it more.
The council approved the consent agenda that included the September 8, 2026, meeting minutes and department head reports.
McBride reported on the cleanup and said it had gone well, and they had a lot of help including from municipalities.
Mayor and council reports
Phillips had left the meeting.
Gill did not have anything to report currently.
Candelaria asked people to reach out to McBride if they want to be involved in the trick-or-treat event. They will be trying to bring back the door-to-door trick-or-treating.
Maynes said he had helped out with the trash clean up, and they had a great turn out and it had been a great community event. He had attended the Santa Clara council meeting the week before, and they had passed the MOU presented to Hurley for police protection. The one with Bayard had fallen through.
The next regular meeting will be November 10, 2026, at 5:00 pm
Meeting adjourned.
