By Alexis Rico
The Town of Hurley met for a regular session meeting on August 11, 2020, via Zoom at 5 p.m. Present for the meeting were Mayor Ed Stevens, Mayor Pro Tem Richard Maynes, Councilor Esther Gil, Councilor Mateo Madrid, and Councilor Freddie Rodriguez.
The first item approved at the meeting was the agenda. The Council then approved the Consent Agenda which consisted of the minutes for the regular meeting held on July 28, 2020, the maintenance department report, the fire department report, the animal control report, the code enforcer report, the police department report, the judges' report, and the clerk's report consisting of financial statements, Colonias Award (a street improvement plans) and the ICIP Review. The Hurley Code Enforcer was present for the meeting and stated that it had been a slow month for his cite as there were not many citations issued in the past month.
The next item on the agenda was the discussion of project updates with Stantec Consulting Inc. Present for the meeting was Ramses Ortega representing Stantec. Ortega discussed with the Council approval of amendment #3 for additional engineering services about the hydrological study for a possible third well.
"Amendment is going through the approval," Ortega stated. "Only USDA has received the approval, but the town will need to provide more documentation in order to continue with the study of the well."
Ortega stated that he is requesting an extension through August 31st for an extension line. The second item brought up was the request for a meeting with Stantec to gain the necessary steps for well number 3 and well number 4 completion.
"Item number 3 was the Town's requested quote for the study of the well and that is what we are including in this amendment," Ortega stated. "Item 4 is that the USDA is requesting a new waiver from the Town. Stantec will help with the waiver. Items 5 and Item 6 and the review of diction from construction observation and management. The project is almost complete, but we used more construction management than anticipated in the project. The Town will still have 300,000.48 once the project and appeal are complete. We can use this to continue with the study of the well."
The Council approved this item with a vote of 2-1. Councilors Freddie Rodriguez and Matteo Madrid were in favor while Esther Gil was against the approval.
The next item that the Council approved was the purchase order to J & S Plumbing for repairs on the North Hurley water meter vault.
Mayor Ed Stevens explained to the Council about what recently happened to the water meter vault.
"They were working on the water line in North Hurley when they compromised the waterline," Mayor Steven began. "So what happened was that maintenance went out to look at the water line to turn it off. They are not able to turn off the waterline. The line was corroded and was not maintained properly over the years so it exploded in a sense. The Town will need to buy a valve to repair the line. This is a problem that will need to be fixed as soon as possible."
Water was still running at the time of the meeting, but North Hurley still had water available for them to use. Mayor Stevens stated that this is the fourth line that has been compromised.
"Once Blas is ready to fix the valve will need to make an announcement on the radio as the water for both North Hurley and Hurley will need to be shut off during the time of the repair," Town Clerk Lori Ortiz added.
Next, the Council approved the business license application for Ropin' Monkey.
"It will be a saddle shop on the same location," Town Clerk Ortiz stated. "They are going to continue the business that they have done before but will break them up into two businesses. There will be a renovation of the property. This is something that is happening within the resident's property. There is nothing that will disturb the neighbors."
The Council then discussed the possible approval for Kirk Scott to move to in storage containers at 511 D St. to be used as a residence.
"I am going to fix them up on the inside and the outside," Scott stated "The outside will look nice with stucco. I have got insurance on everything. Will take from 6 weeks to 2 months to fix up everything on the inside and outside. I will use air conditioning and electric heat for the containers. Eventually, I would like to put up a solar panel. They will be used for retirement."
Mayor Stevens shared with the Council about his concerns for the project.
"The Council needs to keep in mind that if this project fails there could be a multitude of things that can happen," Mayor Stevens stated. "I think that if this item is to be passed, there needs to be specific things that need to be put in place in case the project is not completed or Mr. Scott does not do as he says. I caution the Council on this particular thing that we need to cover all of the bases. There is a high probability that if this project is not finished that it will become a problem for the Town."
Mayor Pro-Tem Richard Maynes asked if Scott could send in some blueprints of what the project is going to look like.
"I know that this is unique and I just hope that it will be aesthetically pleasing," Mayor Pro-Tem Maynes stated. "I would like to see more information that reassures me of what your final project is going to look like. I need a better understanding of what the finished project will look like so that it does not hinder the buildings around you."
After the discussion, the Council agreed to table the item so that they could receive more information on the project along with the blueprints of what it will look like when completed.
The Council discussed the possible approval of a contract with Axon Enterprise, Inc. for the purchase of tasers for the police department. This item was tabled at the last regular meeting to allow more time for the police department to be able to do more research on prices.
"The chief did not have enough time to call and make the changes," Town Clerk Ortiz stated "We are looking into lowering the price and take off one of the tasers. We will order 5 tasers due to the fact the code enforcer would not need a taser. I do not know the exact amount, but it will not be more than the $21,000 budget that he had requested. He is trying to see if they can get a better deal and only order 5 tasers. The police department does need them as soon as possible."
"We want to be able to get out into the streets in a less lethal way," Hurley Police Chief Jaime Serrano. "The old tasers are not working so we need new tasers. He (Axon representative) should get back to me soon. I would like to get Delilah certified to use the taser because the dogs do get vicious. It would be effective in helping with handling some of the more aggressive dogs."
The item was tabled again until Council receives an accurate price for the tasers.
Mayor Stevens discussed with the Council during his report that Hurley Pride was wanting to take away their responsibility of the library. He explained to the Council that the children's books from the library would go to the thrift store in Hurley. The Council would then need to decide what to do with the leftover books, whether they wanted to donate them to the Bayard Public Library or somewhere else.
"We are getting closer on the train depo.," Mayor Stevens stated. "A group called Americore that comes in will give us a little bit of time. They will paint the train depo. Hurley Pride has come up with $1,600 to help with the painting of the train depo. They would like to see the old Santa Fe type yellow for the trim – Southwest railroad colors. I will know more about the budget tomorrow after the meeting. They may need more than what is available or they may be under the budget."
Mayor Stevens then updated the Council on the Freeport property
"The attorney is not able to look at the property, but will get back to us by the time of the next meeting with the decision," Mayor Stevens said.
The meeting adjourned at 6:11 p.m.
The next regular session will be held on September 8, 2020, at 5 p.m. via Zoom.