Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce hears about Girl Scouts and Grant County at monthly luncheon

Annette Toney, at right,  spoke about the Girl Scout program, and below, County Manager Charlene Webb talked about Grant County

By Mary Alice Murphy

Dave Thomas, as the new Chamber of Commerce Board chairman, served as moderator.

Pat Hunt of the Natural Resources Conservation Services announced that, with the plentiful moisture this year, which will cause grasses to grow well and be a fire danger once they dry out in late spring, the NRCS could help with wildland-urban interface issues and property protection.

The first featured speaker was Annette Toney, membership manager in Grant County for the Girl Scouts of the Desert Southwest Council.

"The question I most often get from people is: 'When is cookie season?'" Toney said. "It begins Jan. 16 and ends March 1."

She said the first cookies sold as a service project and as a way to finance troop activities began in 1917, when a troop baked cookies and sold them in its high school cafeteria in Muskogee, Okla. Other troops picked up the recipe and through the 1920s and into the 1930s continued to sell them. In 1935, the first commercially baked cookies became available and by 1948, a total of 29 bakers were licensed to bake Girl Scout cookies. For the complete history of the cookies, visit http://www.girlscouts.org/en/cookies/all-about-cookies/Cookie-History.html

Toney said this was her 16th year as staff after being a volunteer for 10 years.

"I cover Grant County and have just added Hidalgo County," Toney said. "We have 13 troops and serve 186 girls. My goal is 230 girls served by the end of next year."

She listed some of the activities the troops participate in each year: a father-daughter Pinewood Derby; a mother-daughter tea party; singing at Christmas at Fort Bayard Medical Center; camping each summer at the Southwest Christian Center; a Girl Scout sleep over; celebrating the Girl Scout Birthday, each March 12; celebrating Thinking Day on Feb. 22, when the girls think about Girl Scout and Girl Guides worldwide; a Halloween Party; Fit 'n' Fun to learn about nutrition and exercise; anti-bullying programs; and a financial program, called Power of the Penny.

"I'm getting certified as an archery instructor, so I can teach the girls that," Toney said. "We also have a program on Netiquette, to show the girls how to be safe on the Internet. If you want to help with any of these programs or share a craft, please call me.

"If you want a girl to come sell cookies at your office, call me," she continued. "In 2014, the council sold 12,345 boxes of cookies; in 2015, more than 13,000. In Grant Cou0nty alone, we sold close to 1,000 boxes."

She encouraged people to buy boxes of cookies to ship to military troops overseas. The boxes are sent to bases all over the world.

Bruce Ashburn of PNM, who was once a business advisor at the Small Business Development Center, said he had developed a simple business plan for girls getting ready to sell cookies.

Toney said the girls also do community service for their badges. "I developed an energy awareness badge and its requirements, and we toured several energy facilities for the badge. We can create badges and have requirements that the girls must fulfill.

"Sixty percent of our budget is from cookie sales. Each troop chooses what they want to do with their money," Toney said.

She described the levels of Girl Scouting from Daisy to Brownie to Junior to Cadette to Senior and Ambassador. Each level represents the school grades of the girls.

Cynthia Bettison, Silver City mayor pro tem, said all three girls in her family were Girl Scouts. "I have a Ph.D. in anthropology; my sister has a Ph.D. in geology and has been a college president; my third sister is a retired civil engineer. Science, technology and math ran deeply through the veins of us girls and my family. I think Girl Scouts had a great part in encouraging us."

Toney said Girl Scouts also participate in the annual Expanding Your Horizons, which serves only girls with female instructors in different fields.

Paul Leetmae and Trent Bohl of Lawley Toyota invited Girl Scout to come to the facility to work on the automotive badge.

The next featured speaker was Charlene Webb, Grant County manager.

"Tomorrow is my 15th month anniversary as Grant County manager," Webb said. "It has been a true blessing to be back home. I grew up in Cliff and spent 22 years away.

"We have great elected officials, of whom Assessor Raul Turrieta and Treasurer Steve Armendariz are here today," Webb said. "This is a great community to be part of. I've been busy with several ongoing projects and new ones.

"The 30-day legislative session starts Jan. 19," she said. "The focus of the 30-day session is the budget, bills from the governor and bills vetoed last year."

She said the most recent report of the amount of "new money" available for capital outlay shows that it will be very limited this year. "The state has a tight budget, as well as local government."

The Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan, which must be updated annually by local governments, lists each entity's top priorities.

"Our top priority this year is Tu Casa, the substance abuse treatment facility that Commissioner Ron Hall has been championing for years," Webb said. "Hidalgo Medical Services will be the provider for the facility. We have selected the site. The town of Silver City has been instrumental in helping us get the site, which is on the 32nd Street Bypass. We are finalizing the lease. The provider will be involved with the design of the building. In addition to capital outlay, we are exploring other funding sources. We expect to open the facility by late spring 2017."

The second priority is a new chip spreader for the Road Department. "We are still using our 1956 model," Webb said. "We manage about 80 miles of chip-sealed roads and provide services with chip sealing to Silver City, Santa Clara, Bayard and Hurley."

"For our third priority, we are seeking additional funding for the Business and Conference Center," she continued. "Stoven Construction, out of Albuquerque, is about 75 percent to 80 percent done with the interior demolition. We want to make it a multiple use facility, with a large ballroom; a small ballroom; numerous meetings rooms with sliding partitions; a catering kitchen; and management office space. We hope to have it complete by March 2017.

"We are also asking for new buses for Corre Caminos," Webb said. "We are the fiscal agent and serve more then 110,000 riders annually."

Grant County is also a member of the New Mexico Association of Counties and is especially promoting two of the four NMAC priorities. "The first is restoration of full funding for local detention centers. We house state prisoners. The actual cost statewide to house state prisoners is $5.5 million. We've had a 20 percent decrease this year. Counties last year got $2.9 million. We got $95,000 here. The detention center here is one third of our budget. We want the state to pay us for holding their prisoners until they are transported to a state facility."

The second NMAC priority the county supports is gross receipts tax reform. She explained that at the local level, counties have a choice of 23 different tax increments. "We want to be at the table when reform is discussed. We would like to be more like the municipalities, which have fewer and better, less confusing options."

The other two NMAC priorities would also have benefits for the county, but are not as urgent. One is funding for a needs assessment for Emergency Medical Services. "We have a couple of volunteer fire departments that don't provide EMS."

The final is to pay for LiDAR, a remote sensing technology that shows elevations, trees, mountains, the general landscape to create high-resolution maps that can be used by the assessor and treasurer.

"We monitor pre-filed bills, of which there are already 163," Webb said. "We advocate for pertinent ones, whether they are positive or negative."

Webb said counties offer a lot of services that people may not know about. They run all elections; do the assessing and collection of property taxes; and provide marriage licenses, among many other services.

She noted it is difficult for the counties to meet all their infrastructure needs.

"We work hard for each one of you," she concluded.

Tom Vaughan of FeVa Fotos asked why the county was demolishing what was never finished in the Business and Conference Center.

"It was finished, but not really usable," Webb said.

Scott Terry, Chamber director, gave an example. If someone wanted to have a meeting in one of the smaller rooms, they could, but the county could not rent out the large room, because one had to walk through the large room to access the small room.

Members heard a few announcements at the end of the meeting.

Turrieta said January and February are the rendition period for people to report their mobile homes, livestock and personal property.

He also announced the next two hikes for Grant County Trails. This Sunday is a hike out of the Bataan Memorial Park. On Feb. 21, people will hike to the Big Tree from Fort Bayard.

Ashburn said Prospectors would hold Grant County Day at the Legislature on Feb. 3.

Terry said he would be participating in an event to promote Grant County at the Santa Fe Convention Center Jan. 23 or 24.

WNMU President Joseph Shepard announced classes would begin next Monday.

Lucy Whitmarsh of Silver City MainStreet Project said the Silco Theater is still under construction, with no final occupancy permit. "The board selected a theater operatorG