By Lynn Janes
Before the meeting started a brief work session took place to address enacting a new fireworks ordinance. Mayor Pro Tem Raul Villanueva called the session to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Villanueva asked if anyone had any public input on the fireworks ordinance and no one spoke out.
Kristina Ortiz, city clerk, started the discussion by explaining what the council could and could not do in accordance with state statues. Last meeting May 9, 2022, the council approved the no open fire ordinance. The state limits the scope of what can and cannot be limited or excluded. She said you can outlaw stick type ariel spinners, or missile types. The city can require that water be close and fireworks can only be used in paved or barren areas. Someone present said all needed to be banned. Fire Chief Euphemio Gonzalez said they had already had one fire due to fireworks recently.
Villanueva said the city can’t outlaw the sale within the city limits because by law they can’t discriminate and could be sued. He also pointed out that people would just go to Silver or Deming and get them anyway.
Councilor José Diaz proposed the idea of having some of the fire department and maintenance department patrolling during the fireworks time period. He noted that he knew that would create overtime, but it needed to be considered. Villanueva agreed with the idea of patrols.
Councilor Eloy Medina suggested an ad in the paper to remind people of the ordinance and the $300 fine.
Councilor Frances Gonzales commented on how much people spend on fireworks. She said every year they worry about fires being started.
Diaz asked the fire chief to come up with a plan that would help alleviate any problems by the next meeting.
Villanueva commented on how clear the state statues said about what they could and could not do. He said he had no problem approving the ordinance at this meeting.
Medina said they needed to take a proactive approach and maybe get a task force together. The fire chief said he could shut it down (businesses that sold fireworks). Medina cautioned him on that action. Medina suggested that on the ad to give the fire department phone number so the chief could help people know what fireworks would be legal or illegal.
Villanueva asked again if the public had any input, and no one came forward.
Diaz had a comment to make on a different subject concerning the minutes the council receives and what gets printed in the Grant County Beat. He said the Beat has everything that is said whereas the minutes the council receives has only a fraction of the information. He asked that from now on they receive an expanded version that includes everything.
A representative from HMS wanted to make a quick announcement. He said he realized he was not on the agenda but wanted the people to know something. He said they now offered mental health services and suicide prevention free to the public. He left information with the council, Police Chief Hector Carrillo and Ortiz.
The town of Bayard held a regular town meeting May 23, 2022. The meeting started with Mayor Pro tem Raul Villanueva calling the meeting to order. Attendance at the meeting included Mayor Pro tem Raul Villanueva and councilors Eloy Medina, Jose Diaz and Frances Gonzales. Mayor Chon Fierro did not attend.
Ortiz wanted to make some changes on the agenda for the meeting. She asked that two things be removed from the agenda and the wording be changed on another. The two removed, approval of the fiscal year 2023 budget and approval of utility rate increases intent to adopt. The one to reword, adoption of healthy workplace policy to a notice of intent to adopt healthy workplace policy.
The council approved the agenda for the meeting with the changes Ortiz requested.
Public input
Mr. Gabaree addressed the council. He said he is here again, still having problems after three years and still nothing has been done. M and M continues to bring in more cars yet nothing ever happens. Medina asked about the cars on the street and if they ran. Ortiz said the city has an ordinance about non-running cars on the street. Diaz asked police chief Carrillo if he had met with Mr. Gabaree. Carrillo said he had and had also gotten all the files on the matter together. Carrillo said he had found citations and a bench trial had been set for September 27, 2022, at 10am. He said he had talked to the state attorney and asked the sheriff to patrol the property. He went on to say he knows that it’s not the answer they wanted but “at least he knows we all are watching.”
Diaz gave the chief a similar example he saw and asked what would be done. The example he gave as: “if someone ran a stop sign and you gave him a ticket and he ran it over and over should it not be cited over and over?”
Carrillo answered yes but the situation is not the same, M and M citation is for non-adherence to an ordinance.
Carrillo went on to explain the code officer had not even had a uniform until he recently got him one. The code enforcement officer/animal control didn’t even have a radio. He said he had not been equipped to go every day and cite this man.
Diaz asked if they could do anything else as this has gone on for so long. Carrillo said, as he suggested at the last meeting, the city needs to get the town attorney and sue M and M through the district court, not the magistrate.
Someone pointed out that the business owner’s attorney and the towns’ are the same person.
Carrillo said he had talked to him and just that day had said he would recuse himself.
Villanueva asked Carrillo if anyone had reached out to this man and tried to communicate. Carrillo said he has been cited and appealed it, so at this point, he didn’t want to taint the process. He said they have been patrolling the property to make themselves known. Carrillo didn’t know why the bench trial got put so far out in the calendar.
Villanueva said the city needed to proceed with legal action. He asked Ortiz and Carrillo to contact the attorney.
Gonzales said to make sure if he has stepped back as attorney for M and M. Ortiz said the attorney said he would take care of it. Gonzales said she wanted it in writing. Gonzales brought up his business license and when would the hearing be. Ortiz said she needed to set it up. Diaz suggested that the city attorney be present at that hearing.
Consent agenda
The council approved the consent agenda which included the minutes from the regular meeting May 9, 2022, the May 23, 2022, accounts payable report, police report from April 2022, and wastewater report from April 2022. Also included on the consent agenda, attendance of Carrillo to police chief meeting May 6, 2022, and attendance of Jesus Lopez to Pat McCarthy’s tactical street crimes training June 27-29, 2022, in Ruidoso.
Diaz added in again that the minutes reflect exactly what was said. He said the recording would not do it. They discussed software that would record and then print out the meeting word for word.
Old business
Reyna Maynes Garay with the nonprofit Divine Mercy Charity has requested permission to create an access road to the shrine of our lady of Guadalupe. Garay did not attend again to explain exactly what she wanted to do. Ortiz had called her and asked her to attend. Some discussion took place on where they thought she wanted access. Medina said the council could not approve it if the city didn’t own the property. Ortiz said maintenance had gone out and said the area had a lot of rocks. No one knew who would be doing the work. They discussed if Freeport had been contacted and Ortiz said they told Garay that they didn’t get involved in any religious activities. The council voted to postpone the request indefinitely.
The council approved the wastewater influent and entrance works project construction. Ortiz explained the project and costs. The city got two bids, both over budget. She said she had started looking for additional funding and gave the council what she had found. The Santa Fe state board of finance told jer they could secure $100,000 - $120,000. New Mexico Environmental Program Department said they could secure a loan for up to $500,000. The loan would cost the city $40,000 a year for 20 years ($350,000). The colonias option had already closed for the year. The lowest bid (Spartan) didn’t meet the requirements for the engineers so the higher bid would have to be taken. The bid required references for similar projects and Spartan only had building references. The two bids had only been $24,000 apart. Ortiz stressed that the project had to start as soon as possible for several reasons. The need for the repairs has gotten worse and the funding being held will expire by the end of the year. Ortiz said she didn’t want to risk putting it out for bid in case the prices went up yet again. Currently the city has a shortage for the project of $125,000 without contingencies. She said an additional $70,000 would be needed to complete connections, programing and electric components. She said she had been seeking $350,000 to complete the project but didn’t want to use the loan option.
Villanueva asked Ortiz how long before she knew if she had gotten the extra funding. She replied three months.
Gonzales asked when she would be going to Santa Fe and told her she would also like to go. She said she has been dealing with the legislature and can maybe get the help that they need. Ortiz said sometime the end of June. However, she didn’t know how many people could go, if it is two or three. She said the engineer had to be one, but she would check and see. Diaz told Ortiz to take Gonzales if possible.
Ortiz said the wastewater department had $600,000 in reserves and that could also be used as a last resort.
New business
Ortiz gave an update on the projects with Stantec. The lighting project will move forward next month. The lights should be here on the June 16, 2022, and will be installed June 20, 2022.
The council approved the intent to adopt the healthy workplace policy. Ortiz explained the policy that came down from the state. All employees shall be provided one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. The policy would not just be for salaried employees. This policy covers salaried, hourly, part time, seasonal, and temporary. The city would remove the current policy and implement this new one. The accrual period would stay the same January – December. She explained that full time has been this way already. The 30 hours will be actual work time. Diaz pointed out that the law says private employers, and they are not private. Ortiz said the state has directed them to do it, but she would double check. She also said the Municipal League had also told them they had to implement it. Villanueva said the legislation is not final yet. Ortiz said in June the final wording would be available.
The council approved the public safety building improvements contract award. The first bid had been way over budget. The bid presented to the council totaled $248,766.22 from City General Contractors. They will start in thirty days depending on availability of supplies.
The council approved the wastewater influent and entrance works project construction award. This project had been discussed earlier in the meeting. The project came in at $2,415,792.67 from Marrow Construction. Currently the city has $2,087842.82 for the project. That leaves the city short $194,568 but does not include contingencies and extra needed for connections, etc. Ortiz said that she had been looking for the $350,000 to finish the project.
Ordinances and resolutions
The council approved the proclamation for fireworks restrictions. Diaz did ask for Carrillo and Gonzalez to come up with a plan to present at the next meeting. Medina told them to keep them updated on any needs or problems.
Actions for personnel
The council approved removing Officer Louis Gomez from the introductory period and placed him on full time as of June 4, 2022. They also approved a wage increase to $14.75. Carrillo commented on what a great job he had been doing and said he had gone out on several calls, and he worked well with the people. Gomez, since January had issued 47 citations. Diaz said Gomez had done a good job and had been doing two jobs and he had seen a lot of improvements.
Mayor and councilors reports
Diaz didn’t have anything except to thank everyone who had attended the meeting.
Gonzales said the library park looked great and the work had been done fast. She thanked the library staff and beautification committee for helping. She expressed disappointment with maintenance. She felt that they should pick up trash and weeds when they are driving around. She said she had gone out and done some herself. She also expressed concern about Dayhill potholes not being done yet, maintenance has been promised since January. She asked if maintenance had finished the projects at the little league field and no one knew. She brought up that she had been at M and A restaurant recently and had been approached by three residents. They had been unhappy about an incident at the little league field. Adrian Ortiz had been approved by the council to have a tournament there. The residents told Gonzales there had been alcohol, trash and people smoking pot. The Lavatos had cleaned up the trash and hauled it off. Gonzales said we must require people be put their requests on the agenda that want to use the little league field. It needs to be treated the same as the community center and a contract signed. They need to follow the rules like everyone else. Ortiz said she had been working on a contract for the little league field. Diaz said he got calls about the same thing and added fighting took place after that game.
Medina thanked Carrillo and told the fire chief they needed more fire fighters.
Gonzales wanted to remind everyone to vote. The last day for early voting will be June 4, 2022, and election day would be June 7, 2022
Ortiz said they had been updating all the computers and they had used some of the CARES funding to replace them. Diaz asked about the extra computers and Ortiz said she will be reassigning them.
Carrillo said he had a request for a stop sign on Royal and Steyskal and wanted to know how that should be handled. Diaz said they needed a petition from the residents in the area and then present it to the council. Ortiz said they had a request for a speed bump at Taylor and Royal and some didn’t want it, finally a stop sign had been put in as a resolution. Carrillo had another concern about the one-way signs near the school that didn’t match with the times for the one way. Ortiz told him to get with maintenance to get it resolved.
Villanueva said June 23, 2022, would be a career day sponsored by Air Methods and would be held in Dona Ana. He said it had grown considerably. It started with 6 departments and now has 35 participating. He told everyone that it would be a great place for recruitment for police officers, EMT, fire department, etc. He asked that Bayard put up a table and he would send all the department heads the information to participate.
Villanueva told Carrillo to move forward on the interviews. Carrillo said the ones he would be interviewing already prequalified for the academy.
Villanueva thanked all the staff for their hard work and expressed his appreciation.
Upcoming special meeting with executive session will be May 31, 2022, at 5:30 pm
Next regular meeting will be June 13, 2022, at 5:30 pm
Meeting adjourned.