Silver City town council receives updates on the legislative session

By Lynn Janes

The Silver City Town Council held a regular meeting March 24, 2026. Attendance to the meeting included Mayor Simon Wheaton-Smith and Councilors Nicholas Prince, Stan Snider, Victor Nanez and Angela Salaiz.

The council approved the agenda.

Council comments

Salaiz and Nanez did not have any comments.

Snider spoke to the newly formed reuse and recycle committee. They had their first meeting the past Friday. One of the goals proposed by the committee had been to analyze the refuge stream, direct recyclables and the landfill. By diverting recyclables from the landfill space would be saved and extend the life of the landfill. He mentioned some other ideas. The next meeting they will be electing a chair, secretary and review grant opportunities. It will be held March 27, 2026, at the Little Toad Brewery.

Prince wanted to echo the efforts from the recycling committee and spoke to an article in the Press about it. He thanked the newspapers for keeping the public engaged. He had recently come from attending a region six behavioral health conference in Deming. He said the public would be seeing significant information dumps in the next few weeks on the subject. It will be coming from the New Mexico Health Council. They will be coordinating all of the regions, and each one will have their own specific plan.

Prince encouraged everyone to view the past week's fire safety presentation from Deputy Chief Eloy Vasquez and continued with a long list of events coming up for the public to attend.

Wheaton-Smith said the council had been active passing ordinances and resolutions. He had picked up trash mostly on Cooper Street for Toss No Mas and drove by recently and a bunch more trash had been thrown out.

He had scheduled a coffee with the mayor and when they got there the place was closed so they had the meeting on the sidewalk. The next one will be April 20, 2026, and it will be at the Grinder Mill, a different location and will be held at 2:00 pm.

Wheaton-Smith wanted to hold a special meeting with the finance team to educate the council and allow the council to provide feedback.

Wheaton-Smith brought up the open meetings act and because of all the committees they would need to be sensitive to rolling quorums and explained what that meant.

The council approved the minutes from March 10, 2026.

Public input.

Deanna Hankins said she had lived in Silver City for many years and had come to express her deepest disappointment for the lack of care, pride, stature and historical value the Town of Silver City has shown to the Memorial Lane Cemetery. She had brought photos for them to review. The photos showed eroded walkways and ruts. Not only will the town be possibly facing lawsuits for people falling but all erosion and weeds look deplorable. Trash can be found all over along with trimmed foliage laying around. The workers continually run backhoes over plots. Name plates have been separated from where they should be located. Many gravestones have been ruined due to erosion. "Every one of these plots is a family member and a citizen of this town you serve. Each one of those means something to somebody." She has called Peter Pena, maintenance director, and he never seems to be available. Hankins asked the question of the 13-20 employees in parks and maintenance why every single one had to work together. They needed to be separated and work.

Reports

Representative Luis Terrazas and Senator Gabriel Ramos had come to provide an update on the recent legislative session.

Terrazas pointed out referring to Hankins concerns that a few years previously they had invested capital outlay dollars to the town to address the needs at the Memory Lane Cemetery. He would love to continue that if the town lists it on the priority list.

Terrazas thanked them for the opportunity to provide an update. It had only been a 30-day session so hard to accomplish a lot. One big success had been HB99, medical malpractice. It will keep good doctors and attract new doctors. A previous bill in 2021 it had devastated the medical profession causing many doctors to leave the state. The other major accomplishment they had been able to make happen for Grant Couty was the medical equipment for Gila Regional Medical Center cancer center. They had secured $5.5 million for the medical equipement. This will serve all the citizens of southwest New Mexico.

Through capital outlay they had been able to fund 27 projects in Grant County that brought in about $15 million. He and Ramos will have grow funds that they can work with. Representatives receive $2.5 million, and Senators receive $4.2 million. These funds must be spread out between three counties. He, Ramos and Senator Crystal Brantley had been having conversations with the police chief and Jacqui Olea, interim town manager, to see how they could help the best but have been talking to the rest of Grant County, Hildalgo County and Luna County.

Some legislation had been introduced that would have devasted Grant County and really increased the cost of living but had not passed. SB18 would have also caused the loss of jobs. Another bill that would have been problematic to the second amendment rights because of the way it had been written it would have caused hardship on law abiding citizens rather than addressing public safety concerns.

They had secured funding for Scott Park and Gough Park in the amount of $500,000 with capital outlay. He continued to list some of the other projects they had been able to fund throughout the district. Another project they had worked hard on had to do with making sure Sixth Street Elementary and Jose Barrios Elementary would be repurposed and worked to make sure the names would be repurposed in some form.

Terrazas wanted to make sure everyone knew he and Ramos had an office now at First American Bank located at 1609 Swan Street suite E. The office hours will be Tuesday 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm and Wednesday 8:00 am to 12:00 pm. He said many times his assistant Bruce Ashburn will be there at 8:00 am. People may call 575-287-0130 and make an appointment at any time.

Terrazas added they had a great team of legislators working together in southwest New Mexico  to support the needs of the area.

Prince thanked Terrazas for his efforts particularly for Western New Mexico University's allocation of Sixth Street Elementary School. It will continue its use as an educational facility. He also thanked him for the work for Jose Barrios.

Prince wanted to point out that they had the Memory Lane Cemetery drainage improvements on the ICIP (infrastructure capital improvement plan) as number eight and hoped to see that funding. Terrazas said it would need to be in their top three. During a meeting done by the Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments because of the great needs they had all been asked to prioritize the top three projects. Terrazas said they had planned for three phases of the project at Memory Lane Cemetery and the first phase had been done and he would love to see the rest of the phases done.

Prince said in their top three one had been the Silver City Annex renovation and had received $1.5 million for the interior but nothing for the exterior. Terrazas said he had to spread out the funding with the other counties. He continued to explain they only have about a dollar for every hundred dollars of requests.

Nanez thanked Terrazas for all the work in the medical field. "It will be enormous for our county. I appreciate you guys."

Terrazas attributed the success because of the support of Prospectors. In the 33 counties they have the best and most successful team. "You all go and support us in our efforts, and we work together."

Wheaton-Smith thanked him for the cancer center and said unfortunately he has been more familiar with it than he liked. The radiation machine had been down off and on. He said he had mentioned in his campaign that one of his major cancers had come back. "The prognosis is excellent. That cancer center is incredible because I have been to other ones and that machine, although it's old, it's more up to date than three of the clinics I checked out in Phoenix. I will not hear a bad word about our cancer center. The staff is amazing, and they make life easy. It's very difficult when you have cancer coming back." He continued that most cancer centers you have to schedule all your scans but the one here does everything for the patient. "I'm very pleased and thank you very much for that money towards the cancer center."

Ramos thanked the council for having them and it has been an honor to represent the area. He spoke to the same thing as Terrazas concerning how great it had been to have so many be there for Grant County Day. He felt it had helped to receive more funding because they saw so many people from Grant County cared about the facilities and cancer center.

Ramos said he thought it would be important for the council to travel and attend different meetings because they would learn so much. In his past positions he had learned a lot from different meetings and been able to utilize that information. He offered to help them fill that obligation.

He thought they had a productive session, but it had been 6:00-7:00 am to 1:00-2:00 am. He and Terrazas take a recreational vehicle (RV) and live in an RV park, so they don't have to spend $3,000 a month on lodging. "I think we are really frugal." That has been the reason to spread out the funding as much as possible because they know the hardships that their municipalities, counties and school districts have. He said he had seven municipalities, five school districts and three counties he has to cover. Although $4.2 million sounds like a lot of money, it must be spread out between the entities.

The medical malpractice bill had been very important because when the caps had been removed in 2024 the state lost 30-40 percent of the doctors withing six months. It will take years to recover from this but now the state has moved in the right direction. Another important bill had been passed to increase the penalties to the states most dangerous criminals. "We have to keep supporting law enforcement."

He continued to speak to the bills they had been able to pass, and the ones stopped. The green energy bill would have caused the state and area a lot of problems and killed oil, gas and chili. Zero emissions would be impossible. It would cause the loss of jobs and taxes ending in simple services not being available.

Ramos added that once elected they work for the people and not red or blue. "We are here to help everyone in the district." When it comes to green energy, they need to hit a happy medium. When Ramos had been on the County Commission, they came up with the most stringent copper rules in the United States, the toughest rules for the copper industry. They participated in this amongst other green groups and came up with tough rules. Now they produced the cleanest copper in the United States because of these rules, which means they produce the cleanest copper in the world.

The same goes for oil and gas. "Every time they passed bills that hurt oil and gas, they've been really good about coming back and continuing to produce in the state of New Mexico. Green energy would have killed them." It would have killed a little more than half of the budget because they would leave. "I think we need to find that happy medium when it comes to green energy, because I do believe in clean energy." Ramos added that had been the reason to fund $55,000 to the local landfill for recycling. That had been all they asked for.

Ramos thanked Priscilla Lucero, Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments director and Prospectors for helping with the capital outlay. Lucero makes sure everything has been organized for them. He also thanked Brantley because she has a small portion of Grant County but provides so much. She has six counties and really has to spread her funding thing but always comes through.

Ramos went over some of the capital outlay funding Terrazas went over. He had been happy they could support Aldo Leopold and mentioned they fall in the top three charter schools in New Mexico. They have continued to work hard trying to make sure they can purchase Jose Barrios Elementary and thought they had come up with a happy medium. Although the building needs a lot of upgrades, it's a solid building.

"We are really blessed to get the $5.5 million for the hospital. They actually needed $5.7 million but the hospital said they would come up with the $200,000.

Ramos hoped that the conversations and grow funds they have some that could be used to help retain police officers in Silver City.

He thanked the mayor, council members and Olea for all they do.

Prince thanked him for all he had done particularly towards education. "For every dollar that goes into it we get it back tenfold." He also asked him to reconsider his support of oil and gas and commit to green energy.

Ramos said many conversations have been about energy and nuclear energy has been brought up. "It's the cleanest energy you can produce." People talk about the risk, but it has become so much smaller today. A nuclear energy plant will take up one square mile versus the alternative of ten square miles. He did say wind turbines and solar energy would be important. He had tried to pass a bill and will try again to make sure that these wind turbines and solar arrays will be bonded so when new technologies come, they will be taken down.

A project for Swan Street in the amount of $2.3 million had been funded.

Nanez thanked Ramos for his hard work and dedication to the community. Snider and Salaiz also thanked him. Ramos welcomed Salaiz to the council and thanked her for stepping up and wanting to serve. "I've known you for a very long time. I know you are going to do it with all your heart."

Managers report

Fire Chief Milo Lambert came to the meeting to implement Stage 1 fire restrictions. He said it had been hot, dry and windy. They have been in constant contact with the Forest Service and county fire chief, all of which have gone into fire restrictions.

Lambert said what that meant no campfires would be allowed or the burning of materials within the city limits. Gas and propane grills may still be used as long as they have a lid. Outdoor wood or charcoal burning devices need to have protective screens and have prior approval of the fire department. Underground fire pits must have appropriate covers and have a five foot clearance around them and will also require special permits. These restrictions will remain in effect until conditions improve. Lambert said he actually thought they would have to put in more restrictive restrictions.

Olea wanted to remind the public that they would be updating the comprehensive plan that guides the town for the next five years. They will have a link on the town website to view the plan, and it will also be on Facebook. She encouraged the public to provide their input because of its importance. It allows the public to be engaged in local government and policy-making procedures. They will also be providing expenditure reports beginning the first meeting of the month of the council to keep them and the public updated.

Wheaton-Smith said this would be the time to complain about ordinances and not during public hearings. The input on the comprehensive plan would be the place.

Unfinished business

The council approved resolution 2026-09, a resolution requesting transparency and detailed information from the New Mexico Department of Transportation regarding the proposed project at the intersection of highway 180, 90 and Juniper Street. It will be part of the highway 180 safety corridor project. This item had been tabled in the last meeting to clarify some information. Nanez said they had met with all the parties involved and had not found any contradictions. Some confusion about how they needed to approve it came up due to Roberts Rules of Order. They had to approve bringing it back off the table and then a separate vote to approve.

The council will be holding off on the appointment to the economic development and research committee.

The council approved the appointment of Daniel Joseph Tobin to the reuse and recycle committee.

Meeting adjourned