By Roger Lanse

The Silver City Town Council approved an ordinance at its Oct. 13, 2020 meeting permitting the transfer of a parcel of town-owned land on Grandview Drive in Silver Acres in exchange for privately-owned property commonly known as the "Hearst Millsite." The millsite is between Pine and Silver streets, near where the fire occurred earlier this year, while the Grandview property is at the north end of Grandview Drive and consists of two lots, Assistant Town Manager James Marshall told the Beat.

Marshall told council, "The property on Grandview is a little over one acre, and is not in the town's possession for any reason that is essential. We are trading for a little over 3.5 acres of land located within the town limits, and would become part of our trail system. The discussion about this exchange started over 10 years ago. We have concluded negotiations, we have the surveys, and we have the fair market values which are in our favor. We have a contract as well with both parties which will go into effect if you approve the ordinance. It is my recommendation to proceed and add this to the town's assets for trails and open space."

In answer to a question from District 2 Councilor Lynda Aiman-Smith, Marshall added that a Phase 1 cleanup has been done and tens of thousands of tons of soil were removed and disposed of in accordance with the EPA and that, literally, tens of thousands of documents were examined in the last year to determine "where we're at" on this issue. He stated the town is currently doing a Phase 2 assessment and has spoken with EPA and the NM Environment Department about what was lacking to get the Phase 2 clean-up done. The state has some funds the town can use, once the town has ownership, to get some final testing done on possible contaminants at the site to enable the town to begin Phase 2. However, Marshal said, if the town leaves the site as open space it is probable no more clean-up will be needed.

Councilors Cynthia Bettison (District 1), Guadalupe Cano (District 4), and Aiman-Smith were concerned about the number of people they encounter in town and at events who are not wearing masks and that the mask-wearing ordinance recently passed by the town is not being enforced.

Mayor Ken Ladner thought town residents should follow the governor's recent outline about how to enjoy Hallowe'en without putting people at risk. He also read a letter from a resident commending the town's public works department for quickly repairing potholes.

Town Manager Alex Brown told council that water consumption so far this calendar year is 17 percent higher than in the same period last year, and attributed the increase to hot weather and no rain. He also said the town has about 80 delinquent water accounts each month, which isn't as bad as it sounds, as that is only one-half of one percent of all accounts. He said,

"We're going to try to help them." According to Brown, there will soon be a phone number to call to discuss remedies if a resident is having financial issues.

Council held a moment of silence to honor former mayor Ken Havens (1989-1992) who passed away recently.