Silver City council proclaims June 22 James William Harrison Day

By Lynn Janes

The Silver City Town Council held a regular meeting June 9, 2026. Attendance to the meeting included Mayor Simon Wheaton-Smith, Nicholas Prince, Stan Snider, Victor Nanez and Angela Salaiz.

The council approved the agenda.

Ceremonies

The employee of the month had been submitted by Ken Dayer, director Silver City Public Library. Lorraine Runnels had done an outstanding job with dedication and has been an exceptional worker. She has a positive attitude and commitment that has made a significant impact. Dayer said they had been undergoing a renovation project and as part of the planning process Lorraine had worked with him to ensure minimal impact on the public and staffing during the process. She had picked up this responsibility and still continued her normal job responsibilities.

Proclamations

The town proclaimed June 22, 2026, James William (Bill) Harrison Day. Harrison will celebrate his 104th birthday on June 22. He served in the Navy during World War II, as Silver City town manager 1969-1976 and twashe first director of the Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments. Harrison also served as a Grant County commissioner 1993-1994 and taught business law at WNMU (Western New Mexico University). He had not been able to attend but his church family had come to accept the honor for him and said they would pass it to him.

Council comments

Prince thanked the fire department and said they had three fires in the last two weeks. He thanked all those involved in putting together the MOU (memorandum of understanding) with the department of transportation. He said they had three accidents on Hudson street in the past few weeks. "I am confident that the improvements that they are going to make would have prevented those accidents."

Prince asked all the other council members to check and see if they have childcare providers in their district because of the new universal childcare program starting July 1, 2026. He said it will be a fantastic resource for all childcare providers. A summer meal program had started for people 18 years and under and will run through July 24, 2026, and will be served at Gough Park. He continued to list a number of programs available to the public.

The New Mexico Livestock board had issued an emergency animal health declaration having to do with the screwworm in Lea County. Last thing he wanted to let people know was that they could obtain Narcan at HMS (Hildalgo Medical Services) on Pope Street. Many updates would be coming concerning the impact of first responders and responses to drug overdoses.

Snider did not have any comment currently.

Nanez wanted to thank and recognize Mario Quintana for being the senior Olympics coordinator for the area, because he has done a fantastic job. He also wanted the thank Julian Madrid, new recreation center director, for accommodating all the events. He encouraged people to check out the new recreation center and make use of the facility.

Salaiz thanked the police department for another great meeting. They have been meeting once a month, and it has been a great back and forth between citizens and leadership of the police department. She realized they had been short staffed and wanted to let them know that they really appreciate their hard work and included the fire department.

Wheaton-Smith thanked Prince for bringing up the screwworm. He remembered it as a teen and thought it had been irradicated back then. He went over all the events he had been attending. He encouraged people to attend the advisory and planning committees. "If you don't tell us what you want, you're going to get what we think, and it is your town and your government."

The council approved the minutes for May 26, 2026

Public input.

Mark Donnell said he has been a 30-year resident of Silver City and retired as a doctor. He apologized for only coming when he saw a problem but thanked the council for what they do. He had come to speak about an accident between a Silver City police officer and bicyclist on May 14, 2026, around 6:30 in the morning. It had occurred on highway 90. The cyclist, a retired doctor and 65 years old had been critically injured and had to be flown out to a trauma center in El Paso. Donnell had worked with him for years and is a good friend. Although in rehab, the cyclist will make a full recovery. It has been almost a month no story coming out in the Silver City Daily Press and only a brief one in the Grant County Beat, regarding the accident. Many feel this has been suppressed because it involves a law enforcement officer. He cited the rumors he had heard about the situation. The officer had been on his way home to Lordsburg after a 12-hour shift, but he could not verify the rumors. He had requested a state police report two weeks earlier and still had not received it. It also had not been part of the police log as published by the Grant County Beat. "Undoubtedly there will be a major lawsuit against the city as a result of this accident." He wanted to know why it had not been reported and had many questions.

William Woodward had come to speak on this matter several times. This summer would be the 81st anniversary of the town of Silver City developing the well field at the Franks Ranch. The original contract had a minimum payment of $150 a month, which at the time was very lucrative in 1945 and a good contract. The contract did not have an escalation clause, so it still pays $150 a month. His family had been coerced on their contract because the city would just do a contract with the next ranch over and they would deplete their well. Because of an incorrect land description, they had been able to amend their contract in 1967 so had been able to change it to $300 a month and they still receive $300 a month. They have never had an increase for inflation. He said this would be a moral issue and said he would see them again soon.

Reports

Manager's report

Jacqui Olea, interim town manager, said they had been working with the public works department to clean up the cemetery. The ICIP (infrastructure capital improvement plan) wouldl be on the next agenda for the council meeting along with the comprehensive plan. She thanked the first responders for all the calls they have had since the start of summer. Phase one of the site grading for Vista De Plata has been completed and the YCC (youth conservation corps) will be working on the Martinez Park next to The Commons. The YCC will also be working on trails to connect some areas.

Fire chief

Milo Lambert, fire chief, had two items to discuss with the council. The first was for the town to move to Stage 2 fire restrictions. He said he had been washing his car daily to bring on the rains and encouraged others to do so. The town has had rain but not enough. It will be very much the same as Stage 1 with a few additions. They don't want vehicles running parked on natural vegetation. Smoking outdoors in a nonresidential, unpaved or non-barren area will now be restricted. The sale and use of fireworks will be restricted to the full extent of the state law, which doesn't disallow all fireworks. State law prohibits them from banning all fireworks; however some will be banned.

The second thing Lambert wanted to address was the increase in unknown substances exposure. Recently one had been confirmed as fentanyl and the other remains unknown. They have been having extensive meetings with employees, the interim town manager and chief of police. Protocols will be changed to match the current state when responding to calls. When responding to unconscious or unresponsive patients, they will at all times be wearing N95 masks along with eye protection at a higher grade of particulate filter. He reminded them that on May 29, 2026, 10 of their first responders had been sent to the emergency room. All of them had not been severely injured or endangered, but one had been a close call. The patient in this call had been deceased. They will be increasing protective gear.

Any call they receive for unconscious and unresponsive they will treat as a hazmat scene for the safety of the first responder. The patient will be removed from the environment, taken out of the home, to a less confined space in case of any unknown substances that could be toxic. He had spent a lot of time speaking with the state fire marshal's office, New Mexico OSHA and several others to be consistent statewide. The following week he and the police chief would be meeting with all the leaders of the first responder agencies in Grant County to work with them to all be on the same page.

Salaiz commending him for his diligence in protecting everybody and included the chief of police also. She asked them to put out a public service announcement because she had noticed on Facebook some people didn't even know what fentanyl was.

Committee reports

Brent Steinberg, Downtown Action Committee chair, said they had had their second meeting and it had been mainly housekeeping, picking people and a little brainstorming. Most of them own businesses downtown and will be trying to figure out what actions to take to fix some issues. He said "just because you have a committee does not always mean you have a problem; Silver City has a lot of positive things downtown." One goal they have will be how to bring more people downtown. Someone brought up that they have a stigma downtown that a lot of buildings were empty, and he said that was not true. Recently they have had more restaurants and shops open. He reminded the locals if they want restaurants and retail business, they have to support them.

Steinberg continued with some of the things he had heard about crime downtown and felt most had been petty things such as broken windows, graffiti and a little bit of burglary. They discussed how they could fix that and going to the police would not be the solution but an end thing. What can they do as business owners and citizens? He said the police had issues way more important. They talked about looking for funding to purchase cameras. He continued with other issues brought up and his views. One had to do with more lighting and how that could be accomplished.

The council members and mayor commended them on all their efforts. Wheaton-Smith spoke to the current art tour booklet for downtown put out by the Silver City Art Association. They have added a restaurant guide, and it lists 35 of them. The publication had been very well done on nice quality paper.

Kitty Clements, chair Lodgers Tax committee, reported they had their first meeting June 1, 2026. They had elected officers and discussed a lot of things including the data they needed to have answers to make recommendations to the council. They will be reaching out to other communities to find best practices for evaluating requests for events and sponsorships. The committee will be meeting monthly and will be trying to pick a standing day that works well for the business owners. In July because of the holiday, they will meet July 1, 2026, and thereafter it will be the first Monday of every month.

Clements said they will need to find outstanding agreements for advertising and media placement and how effective it had been. They would want to figure out if they had received a return on their investment.

Nanez wanted to add that the Downtown Action committee will be meeting monthly and it will be the second Tuesday of each month.

Wheaton-Smith said lodgers tax is something near and dear to his heart. Gross receipts lets him know how the economy has been doing. They have data about tourism and contractors with short term rentals. He had received emails from Clements, and they want to look at how the lodgers tax has been spent. He didn't have a problem with New Mexico True because he sees it everywhere. They do need to look at the other spending and if it has been being done wisely. Clements said they will also be addressing compulsory lodgers tax on all the online platforms that do bookings and explained how it would work. It will put everyone on a level playing field in the area.

Public hearings

The board approved the first offsite brewer permit for offsite with an on-premises consumption and package sale with patio service. Olea said Steinberg presented on behalf of his business, Seedboat Collective, and Open Space Brewery after being sworn in by the clerk. Open Space Brewery had been brewing beer in Santa Clara since 2023. The council had previously approved special permits for them several times at Seedboat Collective. It has been hard to plan far enough time ahead to bring it to the council each time. They had gone through the necessary steps with the state alcohol and beverage control and have come to this part of the step.

Snider said he thought it would be a good partnership that they have developed. Steinberg said he would be glad to bring more options of things to do downtown. Prince said they had identified four new businesses downtown from the downtown action committee that had opened within the last thirty days and this would make five. Wheaton-Smith asked if they had addressed ADA compliance. Lambert said yes, they had already done it, and they are in full compliance.

New business

The council approved the expenditure report for period ending May 31, 2026. Wheaton-Smith said this would be the third one they had received and moving forward would like the income report. He wanted to remind everyone how hard the finance department had been working and at time on the weekends. "We are doing our best to improve transparency."

The council approved the annual recommendation to appoint a town member to the local labor management relations board. That person will be Terry Fortenberry. He had been the president of the state police officers association and a representative for the police union

The council went into executive session to discuss pending or threatened litigation.

The council came back into open session and said they had only discussed pending or threatened litigation and no decisions had been made.

Meeting adjourned