By Lynn Janes
Before the meeting started a brief work session took place to address items on the agenda. Mayor Chon Fierro called the session to order. Also, in attendance were Mayor Pro Tem Raul Villanueva and councilors Eloy Medina, Jose Diaz and Frances Gonzales.
Kristina Ortiz, city clerk, started the discussion with the document of the minutes provided to the council from the last meeting. She explained they had used software to transcribe the whole meeting, but it does not come out correctly and had to be fixed to be readable. She said she had spent most of the previous Friday on it and part of Monday. The other girls in the office had worked on it also and it still needs worked on. The version the council received is a draft version.
Gonzales said she had spent time with the girls in the office and this would be too much for them with all the other duties they have.
Diaz said he understood but the public input part is very important. He acknowledged what Ortiz had said before that the original document consisted of 87 pages, and they had broken it down to 42 pages and that would be too long.
Ortiz said she had looked at other transcription services but the cost for each meeting would be around $200.
Mayor Fierro said they needed to keep things the way they are. Villanueva said he would be good with how they had been doing the minutes previously. Medina said it would be a waste of resources to continue the long transcribing. The council decided to table the approval of the last meeting's minutes.
Jason Jaeger said the parts they had been waiting for finally came in. Ortiz added that they had waited sixteen weeks to get them.
The consent agenda had training for some of the office staff and Ortiz explained this would be to have them trained in different areas not just their current jobs.
Police Chief Hector Carrillo expanded on the consent agenda item pertaining to his going to a job fair in Las Cruces. He told the council there would be 52 agencies there, and he hoped to recruit officers.
Ortiz talked about the current water proposal from Freeport McMoRan. Freeport will be giving Hurley 200-acre feet of water rights and easements to access them. Santa Clara will be getting similar. The plan will be to hook all the mining district together, Bayard, Santa Clara, Hurley, and Hanover. The benefit to Bayard would concern the wastewater.
Fierro said the mayors had been meeting for three months on this issue. The agreement would give fresh water to all the municipalities. Jaeger asked who would be responsible to upkeep the waterlines outside of city limits. Fierro said this project is a work in progress.
Gonzales asked why they are doing this now.
Ortiz said Freeport wants to help. The intent of the projects would be to create an entity to manage the portion of the system that is county. The rates would be set by the board to better spread out the costs. She said the town would only be charged if they used the water.
Fierro said originally the plan would run the wastewater up to Fort Bayard and discharge it there. The original cost give had been $5 million and now it had gone to $15 million. He explained the process and meetings are still ongoing.
Diaz asked Anthony Aveles, public works department, how many wells the city had. He said they have seven active wells. Aveles said he didn't have any concerns at this time.
Villanueva pointed out that moving the treated wastewater to near Fort Bayard would help the aquifer. However, they had been told they could not do that, and he didn't know what had changed. Jaeger explained that additional treatment would be added, and it could then be done.
Ortiz said all the projects proposed would be good for Bayard, but it would all come down to cost to the citizens. She also pointed out that all of them depended on grant funds and a lot of details had to be worked out.
The town of Bayard held a regular town meeting June 13, 2022. The meeting started with Mayor Chon Fierro calling the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance. Attendance at the meeting included Mayor Chone Fierro, Mayor Pro tem Raul Villanueva and councilors Eloy Medina, Jose Diaz and Frances Gonzales.
The council approved the agenda
Public input
Mr. Garcia, a resident, asked the council about some old issues that still had not been resolved concerning the railroad, streets, and lights. Ortiz gave him an update. The railroad repairs were in the hands of the DOT, and it has been scheduled for August. The streetlights had been delivered and should be started next week. Mr. Aveles addressed the streets. He said getting the equipment needed for some of the areas has been the problem. He also said a lot of time has had to be spent on the water system and he apologized. He did point out that they had been patching the streets all over town.
Diaz said he had talked to other municipalities, and everyone has been having a hard time getting parts and equipment.
Aveles said some areas are past being patched and need assessment for being replaced. The council discussed for a while the patching issue and areas needing attention.
Gonzales said this had been discussed in January and it still has not been done and needs to be a priority.
Mr. Garcia pointed out he had been talking to the mayor for a year and still no action with the same problems.
A local resident addressed the council about the union hall museum. She said she had a friend, Noel Iniguez, who had a lot of items from her father she would like to have included. Ortiz told her to have Iniguez contact her. This resident also wanted to know about the lawsuit and what has been going on. She said no one had talked to her and what is Bayard doing about it. She said this man needs to be punished. Ortiz told her they could not comment on this because of it being an ongoing case.
The council approved the consent agenda except for the minutes from the previous meeting May 23, 2022, which will be tabled for the next meeting. The items on the agenda approved included accounts payable report June 13, 2022, fire report May 2022, and wastewater treatment plant report May 2022. Also in the consent agenda, Robert Terrazas attending training for renewal credits, Training for the office staff, Marlena Valenzuela, Michelle Holguin, and Tanya Ortiz at NM chief procurement office training and testing, and Chief of Police Hector Carrillo to attend a job fair in Las Cruces.
Old business none currently
New business
The discussion about Freeport McMoRan water proposal took place earlier in the work session.
The council approved the policy for recruitment and retention of employees with discussion and some adjustments. Carrillo gave the council a presentation on what he wanted to do and gave them a draft to view. He said he had two experienced officers he would be interviewing. He pointed out that the city had a budget for six officers. He proposed bringing on five and taking that extra and using it for sign on bonuses ($2,000) and retention bonuses. He included the code enforcement / animal control officer and secretary ($1500).
Gonzales said she thought the secretary and code enforcement / animal control should be at least $1000. They explained to her the $1500 meant each person. She also wanted to give back the $250 allotted to the council. They brought up that the council cannot get a bonus but thanked Carrillo for including them anyway. They discussed how long the officer would have to stay to receive the $2,000. They discussed that half would be upfront and the other half after two years. Medina said they would have to sign on for at least two years and Diaz agreed. Villanueva said they needed to look at all the employees to be fair.
Ortiz pointed out that the proposal is a draft, and they would need to talk with the city attorney before it could be completed.
Carrillo said he would be going to the job fair and needed to know what to say to any possible recruits.
Villanueva suggested he take someone from human resources to explain the benefits and pay. He also complimented him on putting the presentation together and moving forward.
Diaz pointed out they needed to give him something for the job fair coming up. Ortiz said they could move forward on the preliminary for the police sign on bonus and retention policy and get it completely done and have it for final approval by the council.
Gonzales asked about part time and Ortiz said they only had two. Gonzales said it needed to be the same straight across the board.
Diaz told Carrillo to get them some numbers and they would deal with what they had.
The council approved the notice to adopt personnel policy. Ortiz said this is from the discussion in the last meeting about sick leave, on call, and compensation. Last meeting Ortiz had been under the assumption the city would have to comply with the new requirements for employers passed by the state legislature. Since that time, she found out they didn't have to. Ortiz broke it down both ways and the new requirements passed by the state would clearly hurt the town. Instead, a combination of both would be adopted. They went over it all and a few minor changes will be made and some language adjustments.
Gonzales addressed that people on call needed a phone paid for by the city and told Ortiz to look at Xfinity because it would be affordable. Ortiz said they have Firstnet that is dedicated to law enforcement. Aveles said laptops or tablets would be helpful for his people on call so they could access the system to see what was happening.
Actions for personnel none currently.
Mayor and councilors reports
Villanueva said he didn't have anything at this time.
Medina said he had some concerning phone calls from businesses with applications from Bayard employees looking for other jobs. He said he has always advocated for the employees and believed a happy employee gives happy service. He said he reached out to those employees, and they said it is just a different place. Medina added these are key people and this concerns him. He said other words used had been hostile, angry, and upset. "The employees make us and this needs to be addressed."
Gonzales said she had heard the same thing about the employees and the council needs to figure it out. Every employee has importance. She said she now holds the seat of Democratic party vice chair. She congratulated Villanueva for winning as sheriff since there no one is running against him in November and Medina's win for district 2 county commissioner to run in November unchallenged. She said she had spent a lot of time with the girls in the office and they are doing an incredible job.
Diaz said he wanted to go back to what had been said by Medina in relation to the employees. He said he had experienced a lot of resistance from the employees with just questions. "If someone says they are leaving because of us it needs to stop. If there has been a problem we go to the mayor or department head not the employee." He thanked Aveles for fixing the water leak that had happened late at night. They worked all night to fix it.
Fierro said the problems with the employees has been news to him. He said he knew of one and he talked to them, and everything seemed to be fine at that time. "If something is wrong, I need to be told and it hurts me to hear this. Many of the employees have been with us for years. Every week I visit the department heads and ask if there is anything they need or if I can help in any way. I don't get any answers. Sad some employees are not happy." Fierro thanked the maintenance department for fixing the water leak. He knew they had been on it all night. He pointed out that in many places that would not happen. Ortiz said that would not happen where she lives.
A resident addressed the council wanting a sign to slow people down on the curve and Ortiz told her to they could do a formal work order after she got a petition signed by the residents in the area.
Fierro thanked Carrillo for a great job and said they had the best fire department in the county.
Carrillo had a letter of commendation he wanted to present. He presented the letter to officer Jessie Lopez. The commendation had to do with a break in he worked on in Bayard that led to the apprehension of the two responsible.
Carrillo add in he had been working with the M and M Garage and the owner has been cooperating. He has moved the vehicles off the street. He said he has also been communicating with Mr. Gabaree. Mr. Gabaree has been to numerous council meetings concerning the problem.
Next regular meeting will be June 27, 2022, at 5:30 pm
Meeting adjourned.