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Category: Front Page News Front Page News
Published: 26 January 2020 26 January 2020

[Editor's Note: This portion covers the county and elected officials reports, as usually given at the work session and regular meeting at the beginning.]

By Mary Alice Murphy

The January combined work session and regular meeting of the Grant County Commission took place on Jan. 9, 2020 and began with two presentations—the annual one from the New Mexico State University Grant County Extension Office, viewable at https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/55343-grant-county-commission-holds-combined-work-and-regular-sessions-010920-part-1 and the monthly update from Gila Regional Medical Center, which you can read at https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/55427-grant-county-commission-holds-combined-work-and-regular-sessions-010920-part-2 .

No one came forward to give public input. County reports came next.

Grant County Detention Center Administrator Mike Carillo said he had reported at the prior meeting that the jail had three staff vacancies. "Currently, we have no vacancies."

He reported he had attended meetings on Tu Casa and the Stepping Up Program. "Since Dec. 16, we have had 47 inmates taking part in the discharge program of Stepping Up. Some went to HMS, and one to Silver Health Care. We gave them resources and had three walk-ins come to our group therapy services."

As of Jan 2, the jail had 60 inmates. On the day of the meeting, the population was 67, with that number having been the average population for December.

Road Superintendent Earl Moore said because of all the recent snow and rain, the roads were so muddy that blading the roads was impossible, so "we are out of routine. We are getting complaints from residents at Lake Robert. Residents on Mulberry are asking for salt on the hill, but we can't get a blade up that hill even with chains. We can't get a truck up there."

General Services Director Randy Villa said a public meeting for the Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) had taken place, followed by a core team meeting. "We are refining it before bringing it to you for approval."

"With all the moisture we've had, it's pointing to an active fire season," Villa said. "I would like to introduce Ed Downard of the Pinos Altos Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department. He is taking over as chief of the department. We have 241 calls last year just for the PA VFD. Pinos Altos and Tyrone have the highest volumes, with 267 for EMS services. I think Grant County is doing its part on EMS (referring to an earlier report from GRMC about EMS services, which suggested the county might not be willing to subsidize EMS). The volume keeps growing, with EMS calls starting to be the high volume calls for VFDs."

He reported the airport terminal construction is ongoing. He also noted that New Year's Eve saw 108 riders on Corre Cantinas. Villa said the Maintenance Department was putting in an energy-efficient lighting system at the Road Department.

District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne asked: "I've never asked about the EMS services from the VFDs. Do you charge? How do you decide if the ambulance is coming from GRMC or the VFD?"

"It's totally geographic," Villa said. "The closer one goes to the call."

Browne asked: "How do the volumes compare?"

"It depends on where it is," Villa replied. "We don't have the numbers. The Silver City Fire Department will respond in the ETJ (extra-territorial jurisdiction). It's collaborative. We at the VFDs are getting the exact same training as GRMC and Silver."

Browne said it seemed like the cost impact would be much less if the VFD answers.

Villa agreed.

District 3 Commissioner Alicia Edwards congratulated Downard for being named chief of the PAVFD.

"One thing mentioned in the CWPP as a deficiency is homes being difficult to access, like on Mulberry," Edwards said. "Are you looking at our asset management plan on this, if the wildfire management plan is addressing it?"

Villa replied: "Yes, all that is in the plan. We are working to address them along with the asset management plan."

Community Development and Planning Director Michael "Mischa" Larisch said the asset management plan is new in comparison to the CWPP. "We look at all the Tier 1 criteria so the contractor can put it in the asset management plan. Yes, we need to identify those roads and address those deficiencies."

Edwards asked who was on the core team. Villa replied that it included Grant County, the Gila National Forest and Wilderness, the state Land Office, BLM and all the VFDs. "Everybody has a piece. If it's in the WUI (wildland urban interface), some of the property owners are right up against the forest, BLM, state or county property."

Edwards said she is still learning about the program. "I was really struck by a couple of things at the meeting. I was disappointed that not more community people were there. It was really eye-opening to me. I hadn't really looked at the impact of wildfire. I know there was a lot of work after the Quail Ridge Fire. I urge everyone to think about the importance and wildfire in the WUI."

Villa thanked her for her support of the program. She replied that she didn't realize how much the volunteer fire departments do.

Larisch in his report said the Tyrone ADA project is ongoing. "The administration center parking lot curbs are being done. As soon as the concrete is complete, we will be repaving in two stages, half at a time, so it will limit parking."

He is working on a grant application for the Colonias Infrastructure Fund for trails. "We are also continuing to work on the census. January starts the motivation stage. I would like all the commissioners to work with SkyWest Media to make videos and audios. Please reach out to Sabrina Pack to get recorded. We are ramping up to the activation stage, which starts in March. And I will discuss several items when we get to them on the agenda today."

Sheriff Frank Gomez said he gave a graph on domestic violence and the trends to the commissioners. He said several stolen vehicles have been reported and the department is still doing driving tests for the Department of Motor Vehicles. "This is the first anniversary of this administration. We're working on where we've been and where we hope to be next year. We have 17,489 calls in 2019, with more than 5,000 of them being Dispatch calls. My staff and I work hard. Thank you to the commissioners and our county manager for your support."

He reported the confiscation of 15 grams of marijuana, 15 grams of methamphetamine and two grams of heroin.

"We've been active at Bataan Park and we continue to patrol there," Gomez said.

Edwards said she liked the truck wrap for the D.A.R.E. program. "Thank you for what I perceive as a year of improvements."

District 2 Commission Javier "Harvey" Salas said the previous day he was returning from Reserve when he came upon an accident. To Gomez he said: "Your staff acted with professionalism and with compassion to the accident victims, one of whom I found out when I got home happened to be a family member."

Treasurer Steve Armendariz thanked his staff and temporary worker for their dedication to the jobs. "We have collected 61.65 percent of the total taxes just for the county portion."

"I will give a breakdown on the investment accounts after the legislative session," he said. "The manager and I will sit down and talk about the investment policy. It's been working well, but there are little intricacies in the policy itself that we weren’t really aware of that we're not sure where they're coming from. When I really read it, the policy said that I'm supposed to give an investment report every month. But state statute gives exemptions to financial reports. We will make some changes. If anyone has suggestions, please let me know. We've been successful, I see a lot of fluctuation. We had a big increase in our investment balance. It's a seasonal temporary increase that comes with the first half collected. It's in a money market account, so from day to day we can pull it back into the general fund. Three of us in the office keep tabs on it. Liz Hernandez has been very diligent in keeping tabs on the daily reports from the bank. I keep tabs, too. We invest as quickly as we can."

He noted the county does not pay fees for investments. "It's strictly self-directed by the county. It's a matter of controlling cash flow and maximizing investments.

District 4 Commissioner Billy Billings said he was looking at the list of CDs and the amounts, as well as the money market account. "My biggest question is what are the interest rates on the CDs?"

Armendariz replied that they are various rates and various maturity dates. "We are working with a company recommended by the state investment fund—Morton. We receive suggestions from them, and we review them. We have some CDs that are close to 4 percent. It depends on the timing. Three to four weeks before maturity, we get suggestions. Right now, we have told our adviser that we don't want to go long-term, so, overall, they have to be three years or less to maturity. Right now, our farthest out is October 2024, because it has a higher interest rate. I don't want to leave investments in place for new bills coming in in 2021."

"I appreciate your sitting down with the manager on the policy," Billings said. "The Board of Commissioners also serves as the Board of Finance. It has the ability to approve investment policy. I also understand that larger counties have greater opportunities for investment and that you have limits on where you can invest."

Armendariz agreed.

Ponce said he had questions, and he hoped the treasurer would give the commissioners direction on how to go forward.

Salas said: "To be simplistic, for operating expenses, you are investing so it makes money in the money market account and such. The rest of the money is in reserve in the CDs."

Armendariz said: "Yes, with CDs there is a guarantee of return. Some of them are callable, some mature and get a percentage above what we paid for them. We buy at a variable principal, but we are never at risk. They are always covered by the FDIC."

Salas asked if he was correct in saying the grand total is $10 million to $11 million invested.

Armendariz said that was correct and about $3.75 million is in the money market account.

The treasurer also noted that he would prefer to give quarterly reports because it would be difficult to do a monthly report because everything fluctuates so much. "When the county needs money, the total goes down and then it builds back up. It's closer to $8 million what we've built it up to since 2011."

Salas asked what reserve amount is required. County Manager Charlene Webb said it was 3/12ths for the general fund and 1/12th for the road fund.

Browne noted that a close figure would be about $2.8 million for the general fund. "This report is all of our resources."

Armendariz said when a CD matures, "we look for the best place to put it. Sometimes it goes into the money market, and we can pull it out if we find a CD with a better rate."

He explained that at one time the county had Wells Fargo doing the investment accounts, but when the bank changed policy, it would no longer accept investment accounts under $50 million. That's when Armendariz got suggestions from the state treasurer, who suggested a person, who had left Wells Fargo and went to work for Morton. "I felt comfortable with him, and so do about 16 to 18 counties which use the same company. The adviser has to realize that we're not a normal investor. We are handling public funds, so we cannot take risks in what we're doing. It has been suggested that we not report our investments to the public."

Browne said he strongly disagrees with that stand. "We should report to the public to allay concerns. I do have a few requests. I would like to see the CDs ordered by maturity dates. I would also like to see a column to show the nominal interest rate and maybe a column to yield, but only if the CDs are purchased at a value different from book values, at which point you could bag the nominal interest and put the yield."

Armendariz said the report the commissioners were reading was a report for the state finance department. "I can report it to you by maturity or purchase price."

Browne said he preferred maturity. "Why is there only $99,000 in the state local government investment pool (LGIP)?"

Armendariz said it was $100,000, but it lost some and the state had to prorate what counties got back in earnings. "That was before I came into office. We had to pay $4,000 for losses in the LGIP, but the LGIP was amortizing the loss to bring it back to $100,000. They said we had to declare our loss. We decided we'll keep what we have in it. Our money market has out produced the LGIP, which just gives us another vehicle for investment."

Edwards said when the commissioners receive the quarterly reports, "I would like for us to meet as the Grant County Investment Board."

Clerk Marisa Castrillo had no report.

Ponce noted that a busy year was coming up for the clerk's office, because it is an election year. "Reach out to us if you need support."

The next article will address the rest of the agenda.