[Editor's Note: This is part 3 of a series of article addressing the Grant County Commission work session of June 16 and the regular meeting June 18, 2020. This article will cover the new business items. Articles approved at the regular meeting will be so noted in this article.]

By Mary Alice Murphy

Grant County commissioners continued with a review of new business items at the work session on June 16, 2020.

In the first item in new business, at the work session, County Manager Charlene Webb said one applicant for renewal to the County Shooting Range Advisory Board had been received. "I recommend you re-appoint Milo Lambert to the board." Commissioners concurred by approving his application at the regular meeting.

Tu Casa, the support facility for drug addicts, which is managed by Hidalgo Medical Services, requested the approval of Dr. Teresa Arizaga to the Tu Casa Advisory Board.

At the work session, District 3 Commissioner Alicia Edwards said part of the agreement with HMS and the county, which owns the facility, was that HMS have a member on the board. "Dr. Teresa Arizaga is the applicant they would like to see us appoint."

District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne asked if that would be a conflict of interest for her. "Will she be overseeing her own work?"

Edwards said Arizaga is not the director of the facility. She is the HMS Mental Health Officer of the entire HMS organization.

Commissioners approved the appointment of Arizaga to the Tu Casa Advisory Board.

At the work session, Ted Martinez of the Treasurer's Office, presented the request for approval of the delinquent solid waste accounts subject to lien. Webb said often people who are notified of the possibility of a lien come in and pay their debts before the lien is placed on their property. Martinez at the work session said of the 180 letters he had sent out, most had already paid their debts, with 69 left that are subject to lien.

At the regular session, commissioners approved the list subject to lien.

The following agenda item considered a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation regarding comments for Essential Air Service (EAS) proposals.

At the work session, Airport Manager Rebekah Wenger said the county needed to write a letter in support of their choice of airline. "We received three proposals, one from Boutique, which, as we discovered had questionable service and route issues at the end of their contract before we signed on with Advanced Air. I recommend we choose to renew the contract with Advanced Air. They are asking for additional funding from EAS so they can reduce fares. They put in the most realistic bid, because we believe we are looking at a two-year recovery back to pre-pandemic levels of flying. The third proposal was from Denver Air Connect. We have issues with them because they usually work beyond the TSA procedures, which would mean we would need to develop a TSA process and that isn't practical for us. We had only 40 people flying this month. Denver Connect airplanes are 30-passenger, which just isn't reasonable for us."

Browne asked if Advanced Air was proposing any change in flights.

"Right now, they are flying three fewer than pre-Covid through the end of September, with permission from the DOT, but they want to get back to the regular 24 flights a week," Wenger said. "We don't want to give them up, because it would be very hard to get them back."

Browne strongly supported Advanced Air and asked if negotiations with DOT could maybe cut back on flights temporarily.

Wenger said it could be a point of negotiation. She noted she had read an article that compared this year with the same period last year, and flights were down across the country about 80 percent.

Edwards also expressed her full support for Advanced Air and commended Wenger for the complete information.

Wenger said Advanced Air was continuing to evaluate its Covid-safe protocols. "We have extreme cleaning procedures between flights, and we have face coverings for passengers, as we only allow passengers with masks."

District 4 Commissioner Billy Billings said he also supports Advanced Air.

Webb said she would have a letter for the commissioners before the Thursday meeting. "I didn't create a draft in case you changed your mind."

Edwards pointed out that another piece of the question is the fact that Advanced Air is purchasing a huge amount of fuel from Grant County's fuel farm.

"They are still purchasing almost the same number of gallons as before," Wenger said. "When they do charter flights from California to Texas, they are using us as a fuel stop. Clearly Advanced Air has made a commitment to us."

District 1 Commissioner and Chairman Chris Ponce commended Advanced Air's "great customer service."

The next article will get into a long discussion about the Wildlife Services contract.