By Mary Alice Murphy

[Editor's Note: This is the fifth and final 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. It will cover the commissioners' reports from both sessions. For previous articles, see the links at the bottom of this article.]

At the Grant County Commission work session on Dec. 7, 2021, District 3 Commissioner Alicia Edwards spoke first.

"I want to talk about the (legislative) special session and ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funding," Edwards said. "I don't agree with House Bill 2 and its contents. It's all a surprise to everyone that the legislators are discussing this. I don't see adequate input from counties or the public."

District 1 Commissioner and Chair Chris Ponce said it seemed that the money was being allocated to state agencies. "How do we reach out to the legislators? How do we advocate for this money?"

Edwards said that some appropriations seem to be money for routine operations. "For instance, why are they giving money to Game and Fish to acquire private property?"

District 2 Commissioner Javier "Harvey" Salas asked if the state is using money for things that "we in the county think are ineligible?"

District 4 Commissioner Billy Billings said he wonders if some of these are the governor's priorities. "Obviously somebody did a lot of work."

Edwards noted that Rep. Luis Terrazas didn't know the preceding week that this was going to be part of the special session and neither did Sen. Siah Hemphill.

Billings said the Rep. Rebecca Dow didn't know about it either.

Edwards said if it was a surprise, maybe it was the court decision that made the decision to put it into the special session. "If so, they are certainly not being transparent."

District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne said: "And now they are not communicating."

Edwards said: "It certainly builds distrust."

Browne commented on Salas's comment and said that states may be able to do things that counties cannot.

Salas said maybe the county can learn how to lobby for the money.

Edwards said: "We want to communicate that this is not the way we would have allocated, especially with some requiring a 100 percent match."

Salas said it seems like it's already meeting someone's agenda.

Edwards said $5 million for food insecurity and food banks is clearly not enough, as there is no infrastructure at local distribution centers. "We have to have a plan for how to advocate at the session. This is only about one-third of the money so far allocated. We need to make a statement about the way this has been handled."

Salas noted that some of the funding was for broadband and for schools.

County Manager Tim Zamora said he had recently spoken with U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Lujan asking if federal rights-of-way could be used to bring broadband to rural areas.

Ponce said smoke was coming out of his ears trying to make sense of the bill. "Counties got some ARPA money, and the state had no option on how to disburse it. I wish the public could go to and talk to the legislators. The public was going to be allowed to attend if they were vaccinated, but no, now they won't be allowed."

Edwards said the bill allocated $110 million to broadband. "That's $3.3 million per county. You can't do much with that. We do need public access to the session, and I don't agree with the priorities."

Billings said he feels like "we just got to the game and it's almost over. Maybe we need a resolution to tell them to let the people have access either through Zoom or in person."

Edwards pointed out that the state didn't tell the counties what to do with "our money, so you can't tell us, but that's not appropriate. We should have input. We are all their constituents. What about all the unfunded mandates?"

Browne asked if "we have any update on our lack of a cannabis ordinance affecting citizens? I've only heard from a few. I told them the state rules are in effect in the county."

Billings said the Gila National Forest Silver Ranger District Ranger Beth Ilhe had brought a stack of information and it is in the administrative office. "I noted that the state highway 180 project had been changed to four lanes."

Priscilla Lucero, Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments executive director, came on the telephone line to answer questions about the special session and ARPA funding.

Ponce told her the commissioners have questions.

Edwards said: "Our concerns are a multitude. 1) I feel like it's a done deal with no input; 2) I have concerns about it all going to state agencies; and 3) how can counties advocate? And what is the $5 million to Game and Fish to acquire property? That's doesn't seem like it would be ARPA eligible. And $20 million for the homeless with a 100 percent match? $5 million for food insecurity doesn't address food distribution. $123 million for broadband, making it $3.75 million per county? That's not enough. We would like to communicate that we are not happy. Should we go up there to communicate our displeasure?"

Lucero said HB 2 had been introduced the day before, with one-third of the ARPA funds allocated in it. "That's about all I know. There were questions from the House Appropriations Committee about getting funds to rural communities, but I don't have a lot of answers. I think it's best to contact your legislators. I haven't been able to contact them. And I haven't been able to watch what's happening this morning. Highway 180 is included under the Department of Transportation allocation. I'm wondering whether the food insecurity funding involves the COG to distribute. I'm not sure it will be."

Edwards said: "We would like to know if it makes sense for us to go to the session."

Lucero said again that the commissioners should talk to the legislators. "I know we're slated to go up there on Dec. 16 to talk about the annexation of Fort Bayard by Santa Clara."

To a question about how long the special session would last, Lucero said they had a hard stop of Dec. 19, because of the holiday vacation, but "they likely will continue to work until then."

To a question about more allocations, Lucero said that with only about one-third allocated so far, she expected the rest to be discussed in the regular session. "Other than that, I don't have any helpful information."

Edwards said: "The fact that you can't answer questions is one of our concerns. There is not enough information coming from the state on the super important portion of the session."

Lucero said she didn't know if the agencies will have an application process. "I think we will have to reach out to our local legislators."

Edwards said so far, she had noticed that only the homeless allocation has a 100 percent match, but "there may be considerable other matches."

Lucero said she would try to find out how disadvantaged communities access the funding. "I will see if I can find out from any of my colleagues and I will share the information with you."

It was at this point in the work session that the commissioners decided to invite the area legislators to participate in the elected officials' reports during the regular meeting. Rep. Luis Terrazas and Sen. Siah Hemphill did participate, as reported in a prior article.

Billings noted that he had received a text from Rep. Rebecca Dow, and she said she had been unable to even get into the gallery, but she would love to see constituents up there at the session.

Edwards suggested that as many of the commissioners as possible could maybe attend on Dec. 15 and 16.

Browne asked if this is an effort to smooth over the Supreme Court decision "or was it as much of a surprise as we see it?" He concurred that it made sense to meet with the legislators.

Salas asked if the county could use its ARPA money as a match to state ARPA funding. No one could give him an answer. He also asked about Corre Caminos funding.

Zamora explained that the DWI Program and Corre Caminos are grant funded, DWI by the state and Corre Caminos by the federal government, although the county has oversight on personnel and the structure of the agencies.

Salas asked: "With the new legality of cannabis, where does it put the county on compliance? If there is an accident caused by someone high on the substance, is there any need for us to address the issue with personnel?"

Zamora said: "Yes, the county needs to address the issue. If one of our staff is driving and comes back with a cannabis charge, we need to look at policies for recreational use. We will dig into it."

Edwards said: "We want to keep in mind when you're digging into it, two meetings ago, New Mexico Counties did a workshop on the potential of legalizing cannabis. One of the issues was a delay in testing. There can be a 90 to 100 days delay in testing in some states."

Ponce said: "If you're drunk today on alcohol, but THC is in your system or if you are impaired at the time, what is the cost of tests? There's a lot of work still to be done."

The work session adjourned.

The commissioners' reports at the regular meeting covered other issues, as well as the same ones as at the work session.

Billings said that he had met the preceding week with Don Turner on the Bataan Memorial project. "We met with (Planning and Community Development Director) Priscilla Shoup and discussed changes in the plans. Let me back up and express my displeasure with the process. It may be my fault, but only a small portion of the population will actually know those who served. The ramp and the handrails will still go in, but they do not honor the ones who died and the ones who survived. What we are doing is the groundwork for the Memorial. There will be a little bit of stuff in the boxcar that honor the ones who participated in the Bataan Death March. At some point, we have to actually honor them. We have to get a committee, with one of us commissioners and/or county staff. There will be another phase of this project. Hopefully, we will have something there for the anniversary."

Zamora said he agreed. "The base bid will be the basic groundwork for what the memorial will end up as."

Billings said Shoup is busy with a lot of county projects. "This memorial seems out of the scope of what county government should do. I don't think she is responsible for what has happened. I have an interest in working with a committee to make decisions about the future of the memorial"

Zamora said he would like to be on the committee to show county support.

Billings said he and Shoup made it clear that Turner's voice would be important.

Salas said he would like to see things added, with more pictures and more information on those who served. "One of my concepts is like the bronze plaques you see at Fort Bayard. I want to make Bataan Memorial a draw to bring people in to support local businesses."

On another topic, Salas said: "We're wondering how the legislators are deciding how to spend the ARPA money. I would like to know more and have clarity in how much we can get to the county. Could we add some of our ARPA funding to the state funding? Mental health issues and domestic violence always seem to get worse during the holidays. We need to make decisions and stop the rhetoric."

Browne said on the ARPA issues, "I'm sensing we no longer have a belief that we, as commissioners, can be effective by attending the session. I intend to follow the proceeding. If Sen. Hemphill is correct that maybe months of work have gone into this, we can't do much."

Billings said he thinks Lucero is "our key. I've heard from many that she is the most effective COG director in the state."

Browne agreed. "I also agree on the mental health topic. It's time to make something happen. I went to the meeting with the health council and others on the homeless issue. I thought the meeting had a lack of focus. If you focus on housing first, other things become easier to address. I know there are mental health issues among the inmates at the Detention Center. Secure housing seems to me to be the lynchpin we should focus on. I want to be part of making sure that secure housing happens."

Edwards said there has been a lot of conversation. "Enlightening to me are the results of work with the legislative finance committee. Our COG director is key to getting funding to Grant County. It brings up two things to me for us as a body. What is our involvement with our senator and her participation on the finance committee? Long-term, I think it applies to the LFC and the COG. I wish there was a conversation at the state level. There seems to be confusion about this money. How much is coming from the infrastructure bill and how much from the broadband bill. Is it part of this funding or separate? The ARPA money should give us the opportunity to address things we've articulated."

She presented some statistics, such as New Mexico having the third highest poverty rate, NM being in the top 3 for alcohol deaths, in the top 12 for drug deaths and the top 5 for suicide. "We need to focus on nutrition, housing and hope. Otherwise, I see an exacerbation of the problems, with greatly increased numbers of substance abuse, mental health issues and on and on. There is a tremendous body of research showing that housing is the best way to meet these needs. But only $20 million plus a 100 percent match is set aside for housing. I'm not about having more but being more. I appreciate Lt. Gov. Howie Morales paying attention to the nursing shortage. I appreciate Rep. Terrazas also paying attention to it. It's a lack of understanding. We are 6,200 nurses short in New Mexico. We have to think about this in a different way. This is a Band-aid of $2,400 per nurse. We have to address the root causes."

Salas asked where the money for nursing is going. "I fear it will go to the institutions and not trickle down to the students."

Ponce said in the meeting on the homeless, he thought it was pretty good the way ideas were tossed around. "There are different kinds of homelessness. We have programs, but how are we reaching out to the homeless? Some don't want help. The meeting gave us some ideas of where to head. Maybe we can come up with a resolution to address homelessness and substance abuse. I would love to continue down this road. My biggest concern with House Bill 2 (the feed bill for ARPA funding) is where do the matches come from." He noted that Rep. Rebecca Dow had wanted to come into the meeting, but technical problems prevented it.

The commissioners moved into an emergency executive session and said there would be action.

After the executive session, Ponce said that no action would be necessary, because "we will let the county manager review the settlement with the attorneys and do whatever is required and decide the best course of action."

The regular meeting adjourned.

Links to previous meeting articles: https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/68999-grant-county-commissioners-hear-health-council-update-and-county-reports-at-work-session-12072-part-1 ,
https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/69034-grant-county-commissioners-hear-grmc-update-and-from-rep-terrazas-120921-part-2, https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/69061-grant-county-commissioners-hear-elected-officials-reports120921-part-3 and https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/69081-grant-county-commissioners-review-agenda-for-120921-at-work-session-on-120721and-make-decisions-at-the-regular-meeting-part-4