Grant County commissioners heard a report from Serenity Acres and addressed the Thursday meeting regular agenda, as well as hearing county reports.

Juanita Escobedo, Serenity Acres volunteer, said the group has been a 501c3 organization since 2004.

“They have placed more than 400 horses,” Escobedo said. “With the downturn in the economy, we are focused on the local area, where we take in horses for people who cannot afford to feed their animals.”

A Mariachi fundraiser for the facility and its horses will be held Dec. 10. Details will be posted in a news release.

Becky Ferranti and her husband Larry Hyde formed the organization and began taking in horses.

She presented a PowerPoint with photos of their earliest horses and some of their most recent. Serenity Acres provides community service for people charged in the municipal courts and the DWI Programs, as well as receiving volunteers from AmeriCorps and youths from the Juvenile Probation and Parole Office and Kids In need of Supportive Services.

“It is so important for children to learn to be kind to animals,” Ferranti said. “It is proven that when a child hurts animals, he or she is more likely to be an abuser when he or she grows up.”

Serenity Acres offers a Horse Camp, especially for children to learn how to take care of horses. Big Brothers and Big Sisters members out of Las Cruces have visited the facility.

“Serenity Acres is run solely by volunteers,” Ferranti said. “We run on donations, fundraisers and a few grants that come our way. We hope you will be able to help us with funding.”

Commissioner Christy Miller asked if the facility had rescued horses from the Quail Ridge Fire.

“No, but we fed and watered the horses that were at Southwest Horseman's Arena after the fire,” Ferranti said.

During Thursday's regular meeting, County Manager Jon Paul Saari will give the financial report, which will show expenditures of $997,575.05. About $78,000 was for insurance for the Rural Transit District, and $95,000 was spent for a volunteer fire department truck.

Saari said he had been asked about a payment in a past financial report that was for President Joe Shepard's residence at Western New Mexico University.

“The county paid nothing for the president's house,” Saari explained. “The project was for us by the same contractor, and it was an error in language.”

Saari mentioned a “dip” behind the new detention center. “We are following through with fixing the area, as well as with a punch list, and we will do a thorough walk through and shakedown before we take possession of the facility.

An agenda item requested by Jeff Rudolf addressing the tobacco-free policies at the Senior Center will likely be removed. Saari said the county addressed the issue by changing the signs to say no smoking or use of tobacco products, and removed language about tobacco alternatives, which could include chewing gum.

Commission Chairman Brett Kasten urged Saari to look at the school policies on tobacco-free campuses. Saari said the policy would be looked at for all county facilities, including Gila Regional Medical Center.

Lucy Whitmarsh, Silver City MainStreet board president, requested from the county $2,500 for books and prizes to involve students in the Voices of New Mexico stories part of the January 6 Centennial Day celebrations.

Saari explained that the county, due to the anti-donation state statute, could not donate for prizes.

Kasten said the town of Silver City, because, long before statehood, it was formed under a territorial charter and remains with that status, it has more lenient anti-donation rules.

Saari suggested MainStreet request lodgers' tax funding to offset advertising.

At Thursday's meeting, commissioners will likely approve a project agreement with the New Mexico Department of Transportation Aviation Division to fill cracks, enhance taxiway centerline markings and install painted hold signs at the Grant County Airport.

“We have to do it if we want to continue to fly,” Saari said. “This is a grant application for $84,000 from the state and we will match with $36,000. Our match will come out of the airport budget and construction funds.”

Commissioners will also consider an agreement for professional services with New Mexico Clerks LLC for technical assistance to the Clerk's Office on voting and election issues. Clerk Robert Zamarripa said the assistance has been very helpful, and the funding comes out of the office's recording fees. “We are very happy with the services,” Zamarripa said. “I budget for this every year. It's a lot of service for $5,000.”

A resolution revising the Pinos Altos Fire Department districts to match what is being used at present will be considered. “The redistricting never went before the Commission,” Saari said. “We'll put together the maps for Thursday.”

As the Grant County Indigent and Health Care Claims Board, the commissioners will consider 275 indigent claims for the IPA physicians for $31,125.19.

During county reports, Public Works Director Justin Reese said his staff has been installing carpeting in the clerk's offices, as well as painting the offices on the east side of the Administration Center. Next, carpet will be installed in the new business office and then in the back section, and next month into the District Attorney's office.

Terry Trujillo, Senior Services director, had no report.

Planner Anthony Gutierrez said he would be meeting Wednesday with Steve Vierck of Angelou Economics to discuss the economic development plan the group will be creating for the county.

“He wanted to know what we had in mind,” Gutierrez said. “We will set up meetings for the public and special interest groups.”

Gutierrez is also working on getting a Community Development Block Grant for planning and another to update the county's comprehensive plan.

He said the county's reservoir plan has been submitted to the evaluation panel for preliminary evaluation of the Tier-2 proposal to use water and funding from the Arizona Water Settlements Act. The town of Silver City has indicated interest in helping with the project.

Gutierrez also will put in for a colonias grant to alleviate drainage problems in North Hurley.

Kasten said it is urgent that the electrical system at the Grant County Courthouse be updated. “They still have screw-in fuses. There will be no more renovations until the electrical system is fixed.”

Gutierrez said he had also received notice from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation about the availability of a water efficiency grant.

He said the Tier-2 AWSA final applications are due Dec. 14, with decisions being made by the panel by the second week in January. In mid-February, a New Mexico First Town Hall will be held. An appeals process will be available at the same time.

“I suggested to New Mexico First that they go to the groups involved in the process, including farmers and ranchers, municipal entities and environmental groups for them to make recommendations about who should attend the town hall,” Gutierrez said.

Road Superintendent Earl Moore said his department is doing a lot of patching and had fog sealed the Bayard streets and the landfill road.

“We will move the dumpster in Mule Creek tomorrow (Wednesday),” Moore said. “We are having to haul hot mix from Deming for patching, so we have to watch the weather and only do it on warm days.”

Saari said the jail construction area has a lot of seed, some of which may be used to reseed the former Mule Creek Transfer Station site to restore it.

Sheriff Raul Villanueva said his department had dealt with a homicide Monday afternoon that involved three people being shot, with one deceased. The department made an arrest in the incident. He said his department would do a news release about the shooting.

Assessor Randy Villa reminded the public that tax bills had gone out. “Values were set and certified by the state in June,” he said. “The rates increased by about $1.33 per $1,000 valuation, because of House Bill 33. The rates are set by Santa Fe. It is not us raising the taxes.

“If owners don't understand their bills, they should ask questions,” Villa said.

Treasurer Alfred Sedillo said people were coming in to pay their taxes. Due to a larger than normal mail return, he advised property owners that if they had not received their bills, they should come to the office to see if the bill had been returned. He also cautioned people who used post office boxes instead of street addresses to make sure their addresses were correct in the clerk's office, as well as in the assessor's and treasurer's offices.

Kasten said he had received a letter from Senator Jeff Bingaman about the closing of post offices in the county, saying, although he was trying, there was not much he could do to save the facilities.

Zamarripa said he had received no response from the company who was going to do the redistricting of the county, so he would contact another company.

Saari announced a job fair, hosted by Congressman Steve Pearce on Thursday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Saari also talked about the changes to the Commissioners' meeting room. A new bench serves the commissioners as well as the town councilors.

He plans monitors for the members, as well a televisions for the audience.

“Justin and I went to supervisor training in El Paso, Texas,” Saari said. “It was excellent. With the training, we will receive more training free for a year for webinars. We want to get the directors to take them without having to travel.”

He hopes the detention center will be open by the first part of December. Miller requested the commissioners visit the facility after the December work session.

Commissioner Gabriel Ramos asked if information, which would be visible to the commissioners, could be put on iPads or other tablets.

Saari said it was not possible to transfer it to the tablets.

Kasten pointed out the public address system should be improved, so the public could hear what was going on.

Ramos thanked Gutierrez and Dave Maxwell of Engineers Inc. for their water project work. He announced a 4 p.m. Wednesday afternoon meeting for the public to find out how to get roads to become county-maintained.

The Parks and Recreation Committee will meet next Wednesday, in hopes of a quorum.

Miller said she had met with the Bicycle Advocacy Group, and bicycle symbols will be painted on Cottage San and Ridge roads to indicate where bicyclists should ride. She congratulated the Silver High School football team for winning district, and also congratulated the Silver Schools and Western New Mexico University volleyball teams for their success.

Kasten appreciated the bit of moisture the areas has received and said fire resolutions would be brought up soon. He asked for input.

“We will also be advertising two GRMC trustee openings,” he said.

The regular meeting for November will be held Thursday, Nov. 10, at 9 a.m. at the Grant County Administration Center.