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Published: 22 November 2020 22 November 2020

[Editor's Note: This is part 3 and the final part of the November County Commission work session and regular meeting.]

By Mary Alice Murphy

The review of the Grant County Commission regular meeting agenda for Nov. 19, 2020, was reviewed during the work session on Nov. 17, 2020.

The monthly expenditure report was the first action item on the agenda.

County Financial Officer Linda Vasquez presented the report telephonically at the work session. For the period ending Nov. 12, 2020, expenditures totaled $5,436,098.51. It included three payroll periods for a total of $650,897.51. Extraordinary expenses above $10,000 can be read in the chart below.

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Vasquez also gave the quarterly financial report ending Sept. 30, 2020.

[Editor's Note: She was on the telephone and spoke extremely rapidly, so the numbers may not be complete but are approximations.]

She began with the General Fund. It started the first quarter of fiscal year 2021 with $4,479,226, revenues received $1,308,131, transfers out of $691,285, and expenditures of $1,382,551, leaving a cash balance of $11.4 million, including $8 million in investments.

The Road Fund began with $288,000, revenues received $131,000, transfers in of $125,000 and expenditures of $394,000 leaving a cash balance of $156,000.

The Detention Fund began with a zero balance, revenues of $186,000, transfers in of $705,000 and expenditures of $891,000, leaving a balance of $43.35.

District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne asked where the funding for North Hurley and Airport roads was in the report. Vasquez said the funding came from bonds and this was for the month ending in September, so more money will be spent out of the bonds in the current quarter.

The first item under new business elicited a consideration amount of discussion. District 2 Commissioner Javier "Harvey" Salas asked for the item to be included. It read: Consideration of County Operational Assessment.

"I want to make sure we have no disconnects," Salas said.

County Manager Charlene Webb said she needed a better understanding of "what we were assessing. I don't know anyone in the state that has done this sort of assessment. Send me some more information on what you want, so I can reach out to others."

Salas said he thought Silver City had done such an assessment. Webb explained that when she asked City Manager Alex Brown about an assessment, he said they had only done it for the Police Department.

District 3 Commissioner Alicia Edwards asked Webb if she had talked to anyone at New Mexico Counties about it.

"I was unclear about the scope," Webb said. "I reached out to six or seven county managers and they had not done any such assessments."

Edwards asked Salas if he wanted to look at specific departments or what he was seeking.

Salas said: "I'll use the hospital as an example. I thought everything was going great. I didn't know about the disconnect between the management and the work force. I want to make sure we don't have such disconnects. I want to make sure we're doing what we need to."

District 1 Commissioner and Chair Chris Ponce suggested the county do a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis throughout the county departments to see what "we can improve. It's almost the same thing as an assessment."

Browne said he and Salas came up with 11 questions that "we thought were ready to be given to staff members. A more general survey not involving those who directly report to the manager. We reported back what we did. I think it's the proper place to start."

Edwards said: "So we're ready to do with what you guys did. We could put it in SurveyMonkey and go."

Webb said the county no longer has a SurveyMonkey subscription, because it was expensive.

Ponce said he would agree to a survey, "but a SWOT brings out a lot of positives, too. I'm looking at what we're doing right and how to improve and to help employees be successful."

District 4 Commissioner Billings asked if Ponce knew anyone who does SWOT analyses.

Ponce said: "No, but I remember at the Silver City Police Department we had SWOTs whenever we got a new chief. I would always ask the chief to tell us about where we could improve."

Browne said the first time they did such a survey it was for the manager's office, not other employees or other departments.

Discussion continued, but it was determined that the evaluation of the manager was overdue and needed to be done again.

Salas brought up that it was one more thing that fell through the cracks. "We need a formalized list on what is pending. We have great ideas, but they get lost in the shuffle."

Edwards suggested a "commission station on a white board," but Billings noted that could be construed as a rolling quorum.

"Did we ever follow up with the manager on the results of the first survey?" Billings asked.

"What you presented to me was a synopsis overview of my reports. There was no formal follow up," Webb said.

"We need to do that," Edwards said.

At the regular session, the commissioners decided to go forward with the manager's evaluation, but they tabled the operational assessment.

The next item of business was whether to choose a lobbyist for the upcoming legislative session.

"If you're interested, I think we should do an RFP," Webb said. "We have had interest from two, ours from last year and another one who called me. It's not a sole source, because there are too many that could do it. For transparency purposes to be fair we need to put out an RFP."

Edwards said she has heard talk that the session may not begin in January, so as not to have to do it on Zoom. "The thought of doing a 60-day session on Zoom makes my brain stop. If we do the process now, what if we decide we don't want to continue?"

Webb said she did not think it would be appropriate after going through the process. "If there will be no public allowed in the Roundhouse, a lobbyist is public. It would be good to know if there's interest. But a lobbyist would know who to call and how to find out what was going on."

Salas asked how much it would cost and if it would require the RFP process.

"About $12,000," Webb said. "If multiple parties are interested, it would be fairer."

Browne said he couldn't envision any sort of session where a lobbyist wouldn't be helpful. "If it's all on Zoom or phone calls, it might be even more important to have a professional who knows what's happening and who to call. None of us has time or connections to know what's going on up there. It would no longer be staking out a hearing room, but it would be someone who knows how things work. I think it would be more beneficial."

Webb said the county didn't have to award a contract.

Ponce said he would like to see a weekly email on what they're working on and what they're doing. "We all have different ideas on issues and individual commissioners can speak to the lobbyist."

At the regular meeting, Webb said she had spoken with Randy Hernandez, procurement officer, and he said the county could do a notice of intent to request quotes, based on experience. "This would be a shorter time frame, about two weeks, so it would give us more time to see what the Legislature will do, and to see if the NOI generates interest."

Browne said he was quite comfortable with Webb and staff to make the determination on who would be best suited to lobby on behalf of the county. Other commissioners agreed. Billings said that it seems to him the county would want someone with extensive experience.

Webb agreed and said it would need to be someone who also has experience with local governments, because it's not just the ability to chase capital outlay dollars, but to understand how local governments can be affected by items other than capital outlay.

Next was consideration of an appointment to the Tu Casa Advisory Board. Webb said there are two openings and one application, from Christina Wolford, was received.

Edwards, who serves on the advisory team, said they would appreciate the commissioners approving Wolford's application, which they did at the regular meeting.

Next was the CARES community business awards. Each of the three approved applicants would receive $8,169, which exhausts the county's share of the funding. The recipients, approved at the regular meeting are Bear Mountain Lodge, lodging; Melanie Zipin, an event coordinator; and Mis Amigos, which provides pet care.

The next agenda item addressed the Economic Development Administration grant award for Grant County Economic Recovery and Resilience.

Webb explained the grant project has been underway since Better Cities has been working with the Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments, Silver City, the county and Western New Mexico University. It was behind the establishment of the Community Work Force Alliance and the hiring of a certified economic development specialist to come in and create economic development opportunities and expansion. The joint application between the Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce and the county received an award for $500,000, which has a match of $126, 562, to be provided through in kind services from each of the participating entities, in the case of the award, the chamber, the county and WNMU.

Webb said the application included not only COVID-related impacts, but also the impacts of COVID on Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc.'s reduction in force.

"There is no county financial match," Webb continued. "We're the lead agency to get the alliance stood up and moving forward."

County Planning and Community Development Director Michael "Mischa" Larisch, who has taken part in the task force, said part of the in kind services would be a lease agreement offering office and meeting space, which is set aside for business incubation, at the County Veterans Memorial Business and Conference Center for about $11,000.

Webb said the in kind would also be the time from personnel, such as Larisch and herself.

Browne asked what the alliance would look like. Webb said Better Cities would come to present to the commission. "It will be an economic development organization of partners within the community that will need to help create a group to sustain and grow the community. It's about revitalizing and how we can expand the businesses we have. Where I came from, we had a successful organization of members of the city, the county, and various businesses within the community. Organizations can pay a fee to be part of the group or a gross receipts tax increment can be used. Raton has a very successful program. Their economic development specialist has brought millions into the community and would be a good case study for you to look at. The structure varies depending on what a community needs. To be successful, it can't be targeted just to big entities, but to everyone, from agriculture to mining, to non-profits to banking. We want someone who is already in the community. The board hires an economic development specialist, and everyone on the board has a voice."

Edwards concurred: "We need to support and help grow what we have, and we need to diversify."

"Yes, it will support the existing businesses and bring in new ones that complement the existing business, not compete with them," Webb said.

Salas asked what the length of the funding is. Webb replied that it is a three-year grant. "So, we'll look at how to sustain it. There are ways to do that through membership, taxes, LEDA. We don't want it to dry up and go away."

Edwards said she had a 30,000-foot question. "We have all these things we want to fund, the Five Points thing, the trails, Bataan Memorial, and we have to fund this alliance. I'm interested in communities that have used a tax increment to develop their communities. Is there an increment that is appropriate and available that we could do all this under to develop everything we're planning?"

Webb said the task force is exploring the use of a GRT increment. "There are some decommissioned increments and with the changes in GRT this summer, Linda and I are meeting with David Moncrief this week to get an idea of the decommissioned increments. We use some for debt service. David will provide analysis if we have any increments that you can enact by ordinance or if it requires voter referendum. We're working with Better Cities. We want to put it in front of you in one big package."

Edwards noted that if the county wants to do all these things, "we need a 25-to-30-year funding plan. You're doing a great job. This is really exciting."

Commissioners at the regular meeting approved the grant agreement.

Item L on the agenda addressed additional funding available to the DWI program through funding reversions. DWI Program Coordinator Cindy Blackman applied for the additional funding and was awarded it. The funding is a bit shy of $31,000 and will be added to the DWI Program. It was approved at the regular meeting.

Vasquez presented an extensive list of budget adjustments, most because of grant agreements or amendments to them. The adjustments were approved at the regular meeting.

Item N was a resolution to extend the termination date of the Local Government Road Fund County Arterial Program Cooperative agreement from Dec. 31, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2021.

Webb said it was a precaution, because as weather gets cooler, "we may not be able to get all the work done before the end of the year."

Commissioners approved the resolution at the regular meeting.

Under bids and requests for proposal, Hernandez presented the evaluation review of the three applications to provide the computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system for the Regional Dispatch Authority. The three were from Smartcom, Central Square Technologies and Hexagon Technologies. The committee's recommendation for the award is to Central Square Technology, which scored highest in the review. "We received the best and final award and they also gave us a presentation. After the presentation, we decided to award it to Central Square Technologies."

In answer to a question from Browne about the committee, Hernandez said it consisted of Central Dispatch Executive Director Barb Schalkofski, Silver City Police Chief Freddie Portillo, Grant County Sheriff's Office Lt. Mike Burns, Silver City IT Director Bob Hagens, and Bayard Police Chief Lee Alirez.

Commissioners approved the recommendation and award at the regular meeting.

As the Grant County Health Care Claims Board, commissioners approved an indigent burial at Bright Funeral Home for $600. They also approved indigent claims, one of which was disallowed and another denied because the patient was not incarcerated at the time of service. The amount recommended for payment was $3,844.59 out of the $16,311.31 billed.

Under final reports at the work session, Webb said in answer to a question about how the public was handling the reopening and reclosing of the county that she had heard nothing negative from the public or staff, but that some staff felt more comfortable with the shutdown.

Ponce again stressed that everyone should wear their masks when they leave their homes before the work session adjourned.

At the regular meeting, Browne said during his commissioner report that he had written several versions of something to say about what he heard at the work session. "Our Planning director informed us he has been receiving notices for proposals for the trail and open spaces RFP. This is an issue I have a great interest in. His comment was very surprising to me. We've mentioned the need for more communications. I thought I could depend on the usually very competent staff to know that I wanted to be kept in the communications on this issue. I resented not having enough time to be able to look at the contract. So, for this potential contract, we need to slow down. It is super important not to blow this effort. It needs to include public input, which I don't see in the RFP. I was not aware that this was on our website. If it's up for approval at this time, I would not be in support."

Salas said the Master Plan is completely connected to what the commission wants to do. "I thought it was dependent on funding. I still would like a parking lot for those issues that we have talked about and to have regular reports on them."

Webb said she wanted to clarify. "In this RFP is a notice of intent to request proposals. We haven't even gotten the grant agreement. We will try to do a better job letting you know. We are still in the process. I have to emphasize we are nowhere near a contract. The RFP has been issued, but we are soliciting notices of intent, so the minute the funding arrived we could go to work. We were trying to be proactive."

Browne said: "That's not what it felt like. It felt like an end run around the Commission. But if the RFP doesn't include the critical components, that's an issue. It's important to start with everything you want in the RFP. I don't think it's inappropriate for the deciding body to help with setting up the criteria."

"It was our intent to have respondents present to you," Webb said. "We can issue an addendum. Please email Randy and me the language you want in it."

Ponce said: "We have to have forms of communication. I think this board has been open-minded."

Webb said the issue was in her recent long report and she got no feedback on the issue, so she didn't know it was a problem that they were trying to be ahead of the game.

Billings said he remembers a mention of it at a work session. "What is the RFP for?"

Webb said it was for a Trails Master Plan for the entire county.

Browne said it was like the cart before the horse, but "it is the cart without our input. Usually this is normal business, but sometimes we have professed a specific interest in an issue. This Trails Master Plan, I think is central to providing outdoor recreation opportunities for everyone."

He said an engineering firm would likely just say this many miles of paved and dirt trails, while a community-oriented group would have lots of input from users. "We have to get it right from the beginning."

Edwards said she is in agreement that "we want to be involved. After my conversation with Manager Webb, it was in her mind that we wanted to be involved. I've been very involved and interested in the master plan. Too often these things are underfunded. I pushed for an enormous amount for the plan. It was funded at a quarter of a million dollars. If we look at Bataan and all the projects in dreams that are related to economic diversification, we probably have $150 million of dreams out there. We have to have significant plans in place. I hope there's a tax increment to pay for these dreams, whether they are in the County Comprehensive Plan or this Trails Master Plan. To get buy in, we have to have community conversations to meet everyone's needs."

She said she came up with language for the addendum and would send it to Webb and Larisch. "We have points that show how important it is to the entity. I suggest 250 points for community feedback."

Salas suggested tagging the criteria, "so we can say what we want in the plan. They're all intertwined. Let's tag them so they don't come as surprises."

Billings in his report said he wanted to thank those who accomplished getting the $500,000 EDA grant. "Hopefully we can expand our economy. I want to thank Randy for his help on the health care claims. They continue to surprise me that they don't go up to former levels. Congratulations to the staff for watching them and getting them to these levels."

Salas in his report said he wanted to express his appreciation of the county employees. "We are seeing everyone cooperating. I see road crews out working on the roads and wearing masks. I hate wearing this mask, but they don't seem to be bothered. My question is if there is any way to show them appreciation, such as a gift certificate or at least spoken appreciation?"

Edwards said she also wanted to thank the county manager and her staff and everyone working on the EDA grant, which has been a long time coming. "It's a big thing to get a half a million dollars. That's a big enough chunk of money to get some things done and figure out how to keep it going. So many times, we get these grants and when it's gone, the program just dies. I think some of us have made some radio ads about wearing masks, staying home, washing hands and staying home for the holidays. I was a little surprised at the earlier comment about the lack of surge in our community. We have had a big surge in our community. We don't know what we're facing over the next three or four months, but I think it's really important for everyone to do everything they can. We talk about how wearing masks and social distancing affects us, our families and friends, but we haven't talked much about how it affects our health care workers, who are exposing themselves to extreme personal risk in order to take care of the rest of us. If you need some inspiration to put on the mask, think about the health care workers and what they are dealing with right now. I have a lot of confidence that the hospital is doing the best it can to prepare. But there isn't much our hospital or any other hospital can do if our area is overwhelmed with COVID cases. That is happening around our country. I don't think any one of us wants to get to the point of deciding who gets health care and who doesn't. One of the ways to prevent overwhelming our health care system is to wear masks."

Ponce said that one of the biggest things "I've seen is, being in law enforcement many years, is you get this thing, machismo. In my career I've never been through a pandemic where I was scared to walk into a hospital for fear of catching something. Our health care workers and first responders every day are going through the stress. uncertainty, and their families experience it through them. Right now, the state is doing things, so they can get help. It's not an embarrassment to ask for help. Ask for it. For those who are staying home, the elders, don't be afraid to call for help. You're not alone. We talk about masks, social distancing, but what's scary to me is the mental anguish. It's starting to come up more often. Make sure that you're supportive. Call, it's not a sign of weakness. To me, it's a sign of strength."

The commissioners went into executive session to address threatened or pending litigation. They adjourned from the executive session without taking action on any items.