By Lynn Janes
The town of Hurley had a workshop and regular meeting May 12, 2026. Reynaldo Maynes, Ester Gil and Robert Candelaria attended. Aron Phillips and Jason Cox did not attend.
The council held a workshop to review the 2026-2027 budget. Darlene McBride, town clerk, provided them with the current budget and the proposed budget for the next fiscal year. She had included requests from the different departments. Kevin Vigil presented the requests he had for the police department. It had included increases in pay and clothing allowance. He went over the requests in detail. Maynes had some questions Vigil answered and clarified.
Workshop meeting adjourned
Regular meeting
Phillips joined the meeting online.
Public input
Archi Padilla thanked the council for all the work done on the animal ordinance and was glad to see it on the agenda.
A local resident thanked the council for the work done on the animal ordinance and told them to be proud of being on the forefront of some progressive action.
A local resident said they had just retired and had some questions she hoped they could answer at some time. She wanted to know if more trees would be planted. She also had questions about the cameras on utility poles. Another question put forward had been if they had police patrols at night and was told until 2:00 am. She wanted to know if the old cemetery markers that had been taken down would be put back.
Dezinae Salas, deputy clerk, said the tree referred to had been donated by Carol and Dennis Moradi, planted by the maintenance department and been in honor of Ed Stevens.
The council approved the intent to adopt animal ordinance 11-L. All voted yes except Phillips. McBride said the town attorney would be online to answer any question the council may have. The copy they had highlighted the changes which mostly had been language, and the discussions had started back in November 2025. The attorney had gone by language used at the Las Cruces shelter that had worked. The town would not be responsible for the cats that have been fixed and released. Ben Young, town attorney, said he had looked at Las Cruces that has provided these same services for several years and rather than reinvent the wheel he had recommended using the program parameters they have in place. It will give the town flexibility to work with different agencies. If one agency ceases to exist, the town may work with another and not have to adopt another ordinance. He continued to review some other changes. The public will have a month to review, and final adoption would happen at the next meeting.
Gil had concerns over the liability to the town with a community cat. Young said just because they offer a service or treat a feral cat in the community it would not impose any ownership responsibilities on the town. It will actually be something they would be required to do by law to minimize issues that occur with the result from having large groups of feral cats that have not been spayed or neutered. Phillips still had concerns about the town's liability with feral cats and felt the cats would attract predators that would be a danger to the residents. The cats would also be spreading disease and continued with how it should be handled.
The council went into closed session to discuss personnel matters related to the police department.
The council came back into open session.
Maynes recommended the termination of Vigil from the police department. The council all voted yes.
The council approved the consent agenda that included meeting minutes and department reports except for the library.
Mayor and council reports
No one had anything to report currently.
The next regular meeting will be June 9, 2026, at 5:00 pm
Meeting adjourned.
