By Lynn Janes

The Village of Santa Clara held its regular meeting July 28, 2022. Mayor Richard Bauch called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance, Mayor Pro Tem Albert Esparza, trustees, Olga Amador, Peter Erickson and Arnold Lopez also attended. 

The council approved the agenda for the meeting .

The council approved the minutes from the July 14, 2022, meeting.

The council approved the June 2022 department reports after receiving some information. The safety committee reported a minor fender bender. The action committee said they have been in the process of planning the Tamale Festival happening November 19, 2022. They reported this year the event would have pinatas for the kids. The cemetery committee said they have had problems with people dumping trash and Bauch said he would see about getting the gates closed at night to hopefully eliminate the problem. The mercado will continue to be closed due to some underground tanks that need to be removed. The senior advisory committee did not have anything to report. 

Mayor’s report.

Bauch said the bridge looks almost done. Sheila Hudman, village administrator, said they just needed to do some paving but have been held up by the rain. 

Bauch said he had gone to the highway 180 groundbreaking ceremony in Hurley, and the communities will benefit from a great project. The governor and lieutenant governor came to announce it. 

Bauch brought up the village’s work at getting rid of derelict vacant buildings. They had taken care of 14-15 already and 6-8 remained on the list. A resident asked how they went about that process. Hudman explained how the city went about the removal starting with contacting the owner. 

New business 

Hudman gave the council an update on the library initiative status. The problem currently has been lacking people for the board. They need people for the board, and no one has stepped up. Bauch asked the number of board members needed. Hudman said at this time they need six people. This is important so they can keep the library. 

The board approved speed bumps for Oak and Bellm in both directions after some discussion. Bauch brought up that they had a car crash into a mobile home and two poles taken down by speeding drivers. The council talked about waiting for all the construction coming up but decided the village needed them now. 

Bauch asked the council to consider the creation of a new position in the maintenance department—maintenance manager/clerk. He explained to them that currently the maintenance supervisor is trying to work in the field and keep up with all the paperwork needed and keep up with scheduling maintenance of equipment, etc. He explained this person would have to have knowledge of maintenance and the equipment. He said currently the office staff has tried to help but they don’t have the knowledge or time needed to do much of the needed duties. He said it would make the department more efficient. Hudman said it would help them be proactive with the equipment instead of reactive for upkeep. A lot of discussion went on around the duties and responsibilities. The council approved adding the new position and they will first advertise it in house and then if no one shows interest it will be advertised publicly. 

Old business none currently.

Resolutions

All the resolutions had to do with budget and finance. Hudman explained each one to the council and they approved all of them.

Resolution 2022-16 final quarter financial report for 2021-2022. Hudman explained some of the transfers and why they had been done. She said the ending balance was $926,288.86 and pointed out how well the village has been doing and she had seen some years when the ending balance had only been $78,000. She did point out there would be a few large expenditures coming up. She did recommend that the village pay off a few loans, one for $84,000 and two small ones totaling $10,000 since they had the funds. It will save them a lot on interest. 

Resolution 2022-17 quarter 4 budget adjustments. Hudman had the council refer to the documents she provided and explained all the adjustments and why. 

Resolution 2022-18 budget transfers for quarter 4.

Resolution 2022-19 adoption of budget for 2022-2023 fiscal year. Hudman explained to the council some of the entries. 

Proclamations none currently.

Ordinances none currently.

Public comments

Samuel Oakley a resident at 803 Latham Street addressed the council. He had a complaint about excessive criminal activity. He said they had stolen off his property, threatened him and his wife and trespassed. He commented, “they are just a bunch of druggies.” He said he had called both the Santa Clara police and the sheriff’s department and nothing has happened. He said he understood they have been evicted. “I will not put up with it.” Bauch asked if the police had helped, and he said they had refused to do a report. Oakley went on to give a rendition of all the things that had happened. He said one time they even entered the house while he had left, and his wife was sleeping. The rental property location is on Cleveland and Jaden. Oakley also pointed out that they need a speed bump in that area. Bauch said he sympathized with his problem. The council asked him several questions. They discussed finding a different way the approach the problem. Oakley said he would call the sheriff again because they seemed to be more active on these matters. Bauch explained the village has a shortage of officers and had really been trying to recruit more but would get with the chief and see what could be done to help him. Bauch said the officers make arrests and before they even have the report done the person is back out on the street. 

A man spoke up introducing himself as the son of Arlene Crespin the owners of the rental property with the druggie being discussed. He said he had come down here from Nevada just to try and take care of this problem. His mother had tried to evict him but had met with threats and intimidation. He said when he gave him an eviction notice the guy had tried to assault him and then later came back accusing him of assault. He agreed with Oakley about the man and added he sleeps all day and is up all night. Oakley said he is cooking drugs at night because he can smell it. They had the water and gas shut off and he said he has done all he can at this point and must wait for the process. The eviction notice says he must be out by August 5, 2022. The son said he did not feel the man had taken the eviction seriously and commented he is drugged out and doesn’t have the mental capacity to comprehend. They had discussion around the amount of traffic in the area in the middle of the night. Bauch said it seems these people have more rights. They suggested Oakley put no trespass signs on his property and then have him charged with criminal trespass when he comes on to the property. 

Bauch said he would do a follow up with the police chief and see what could be done. He commented on a similar situation the village had in the past and what a problem it had been. He said in the end they had prosecuted, and he thought that person was now in rehab. 

Thomas Caddel addressed the council concerning the road he needed to get to his property and why had it not been done. Bauch said it had been too wet because of the rain and maintenance could get their equipment stuck. A lot of discussion went around about the issue. Bauch assured him as soon as they could get the equipment in it would be done. 

Caddel announced that the administrator had told him Santa Clara is a junk yard. Hudman corrected him right away saying she had actually said the village has been doing everything they can to keep it from becoming a junk yard. 

Bauch said they had been working with code enforcement to solve these problems. 

Caddel said they had been overzealous trying to fix it. He said in the past this had been done and then someone came in and got the property very cheap. Bauch assured him that has not been the case. Caddel went on to accuse them of RICO (racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations act) violations and called it extortion. 

Bauch explained why the village had been trying to have the owners improve the properties. He said some of the abandoned homes could be fire hazards as well as potentially causing some other issues. 

Closed session did not take place.

Hiring, raises, terminations 

The mayor had several recommendations.

The council approved David Valles as maintenance supervisor with a $1 hour raise. 

The council approved the removal of probation for Rebeka Russell with a step raise. 

The council approved the removal of probation for Debra Jasso with a step raise

Bauch said they had a few interviews for the open maintenance position and next meeting would have someone. 

Next meeting.

Regular meeting to be held August 11, 2022, at 6:00 pm  

Regular meeting to be held August 25, 2022, at 6:00 pm 

Meeting Adjourned

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