By Mary Alice Murphy

[Editor's Note: This is the second in a multi-part series of articles on the Grant County Commission work session on Dec. 7, 2021, and the regular meeting on Dec. 9, 2021.]

At the Grant County Commission regular meeting on Dec. 9, 2021, commissioners heard from the new Gila Regional Medical Center Chief Executive Officer Kathleen Cahill and Interim Chief Financial Officer Greg Brickner.

At that point in the meeting, a tech problem occurred with some microphones not working, including the one at the podium. Cahill took off her mask and talked loudly enough for everyone to hear.

Cahill introduced herself and said it was the 8th day she has been on the job in Silver City. "I'm absolutely thrilled to be here. I grew up here, and I'm grateful to give back to the community that means so much to me."

She noted the hospital that day had 19 in the hospital and six on gurneys in the emergency department waiting on admission. "We opened three beds in the ICU (intensive care unit) two weeks ago. We did not open all of them due to staff shortages."

Cahill said Gila Regional has 21 opening in nursing, so "they are not able to cover about a quarter of the shifts. Nurses are taking on extra shifts. I give kudos to our doctors and nurses who are taking care of those extra shifts. I don't think our health care workers get the acknowledgement they deserve. Imagine having to take 5 12-hour shifts a week. My fear is burnout. We are initiating an aggressive recruitment plan, but the problem is that it takes time."

She turned the podium over to Brickner, who gave the October report. "On Monday, at the governing board meeting, you will hear how November has gone."

He said emergency department numbers were about the same as in 2019 before Covid hit. "We also have growth in outpatient numbers. In October, we had a $375,000 profit versus a loss of $791,000 the prior year. We are ahead of our plan by about $194,000. For the fiscal year, we are positive at $544,000, compared to a loss of $3.8 million last year. And we're ahead of plan by $1.1 million. We knew some good things would happen, but we didn't know the timing. Some of those good things are happening faster than we planned, so that is driving our profitability right now."

Administrative Assistant Kevin Hubbs requested a five-minute recess to address the technical issues.

The long desk where the county manager sits, as well as other county officials, had to be turned almost on its side, with someone having to crawl under it to reconnect a line that had become disconnected. About five or six people were holding the heavy wooden structure until the connection could be put back together. It was great teamwork.

District 38 Rep. Luis Terrazas then came online to talk about the feed bill brought up in the special session.

[Editor's Note: See part 1 of this series for an introduction to the feed bill issue at https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/68999-grant-county-commissioners-hear-health-council-update-and-county-reports-at-work-session-12072-part-1 ]

As part of elected official's reports, Terrazas talked about the feed bill. "I've been on the phone making calls trying to get details about the FIR (fiscal impact report). Everything is changing as we speak. I've seen some good things in it for Grant County."

He said the state had received a bit more than $1 billion and about a third of it was being addressed at the legislative special session. He said he had a lot of questions that so far had been unanswered.

Terrazas gave a bit of history about why the issue is being addressed at least partially at the special session. A recent New Mexico Supreme Court decision said that the executive branch—the governor—could not allocate the American Rescue Plan Act funds by herself, which she had been doing. The decision was that the Legislature, which has fiscal responsibility for the state, had to be the entity making the decisions on disbursements.

He noted that one issue in the feed bill is broadband across the state. "My question is whether we will receive any funding for broadband or if it will all end up in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. There is a generalized discussion about some funding going to state parks, and about $10 million has been allocated to airports, as well as $10 million for beautification of roadways. The Department of Transportation has been a big winner, so far, with $172 million going to DOT. Our highway 180 is in the bill, but it has gone back to having just a passing lane. I would prefer four lanes. In this bill there is $5 million to purchase private property. That is causing a lot of trouble up here. What is it for? No one could answer the question. There are a lot of electric-charging stations, and $15 million to expand nursing programs. Again, I have questions. Is it going to the universities or where and will there be incentives for people to go into nursing? I want a conversation on helping rural hospitals. There is still a nursing shortage, and that's an evolving issue. The rest of the funding will be expended during the 30-day session. Hopefully we spend it the right way to benefit the citizens of New Mexico."

District 3 Commissioner Alicia Edwards said her first question is about the two big winners, broadband and transportation. "Was there separate funding for those two coming out of D.C.?"

Terrazas said he couldn't answer that question.

Edwards asked if it would help if the commissioners texted him questions and he would answer them when he could. With his agreement, she said that is what they would do.

District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne thanked Terrazas for joining during the meeting. "This feed bill caught us all by surprise. Can you explain how it was drafted and developed, and why the amount of $329 million was chosen?"

Terrazas emphasized that what he was going to say was speculation. "We all got the wrong version to start with. We had a lot of questions. We don't know who decided what went where. Even one on the committee that drafted it had questions. In my opinion, there is collateral damage from the governor going outside the constitution. While the chile farmers in Hatch were getting help, with the court decision, the funding was abruptly cut off. Call and text me your questions."

Browne asked: "If we want to follow the proceedings, can we tune into the committee hearings, especially of the house appropriation and finance committee. Let me look. Right now, it's only call of the committee with no particular time."

The next article will get into elected officials' reports.