[Editor's Note: This is part 4 of a series of articles on the Grant County Commission work session on Dec 6, 2022 and the regular meeting on Dec. 8, 2022. This article continues county reports at the work session.]

By Mary Alice Murphy

To continue work session county reports, IT Director Adam Baca said they continue implementing additional cyber security through firewalls and increasing wireless presence at the Detention Center in the administration and medical areas. "We are continuing with infrastructure replacement at the Conference Center and looking for an audio/visual contractor for maintenance at the Conference Center. We are researching a network vulnerability scanning partnership, as well as applying more security on quarantined emails. Quarantines sometimes catch legitimate emails."

For future projects, he listed beginning the architecting and designing of a managed network switching environment, as well as starting a review of a CIS-CAT assessor for the county desktop fleet.

District 3 Commissioner Alicia Edwards asked if this was ARPA funding being used internally.

Planning Director Randy Villa confirmed that it was, and that Baca has already completed the form and it was on file.

District 4 Commissioner asked about the legitimate items that go into quarantine. "Can you flag them, so the system learns?"

Baca said it was necessary for the recipient to whitelist them.

Billings noted than an item for the regular meeting would address using ARPA funding for new servers.

The next report came from Emergency Manager Justin Gojkovich. On the topic of flooding damages, he said the New Mexico Department of Transportation has agreed to a contract with a vendor to remove debris from acequias, and Trent Doolittle of NMDOT District 1 said the contractor would be sub-contracting. "We have well over $1 million in damages in just one area. It will get assessed and be sent to NM Homeland Security and the state emergency manager and it will go to the governor. The funding will not come from the $750,000 allocation that we have to address flooding issues. By the way, Doolittle is now the NM DOT Deputy Secretary."

Edwards asked who would pay the contracting team.

"We're sure the state will pay them, but I don't know exactly where it's coming from," Gojkovich said. "The subcontractors have been out and have assessed the damage. We are hoping the money will come from the federal side of things, but we do know it will not come from our allocation. Twelve counties applied for the funding and Grant County was one of three to receive funding."

"Can we go back to FEMA and tell them that it is actually $1 million in damages," District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne asked.

Gojkovich said FEMA hopes to get the re-evaluations back to the state. "I hear the state is not interested in re-applying for funding. It has to go through the state homeland security."

Browne said it was hard to keep track of the funding and where it was coming from. "It seems to me that the 12 counties had challenges and just this one area in Cliff is being addressed by the state. Clearly there is $3.4 million in damages. What do we need to do to request an appeal?"

Gojkovich said he is still hearing from the acequias and they recognize "that you are flummoxed about why there isn't more money coming in."

Edwards asked if rural communities had the capacity to put together the information needed. "After sitting through the Prospectors' meeting, it was very clear that time continues to pass without solutions as the farmers prepare to plant in February. We have to move someone at the state level."

Gojkovich said the removal of debris will help.

Edwards noted that sub-contractors will want to know if they are going to get paid.

District 1 Commissioner and Chair Chris Ponce said removing sediment will take a while. "I'm frustrated. Before things are fixed, there will be other problems."

Gojkovich agreed. "Yes, its frustrating. The funding is only allowed if people stay within the scope of the direct damage and return it to the way it was. If it is deemed an upgrade, they will not be eligible for funding."

"People need help now," Edwards said. "And we're going to be up against the wall again with winter floods I heard at Prospectors. "I have land on an acequia in Mimbres. I talked to Priscilla (Lucero, Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments executive director) and she said the acequias can write their own ICIPs (infrastructure capital improvement plans), and we did that in May. We asked for $1.1 million for maintenance. We're probably the smallest acequia in Mimbres and much smaller than anything in Gila. They've been maintained by the ditch and acequia owners. Just my share would be well over $100,000. We need millions of dollars for maintenance and improvements on the agricultural economy. We will all be faced with serious challenges if we don't fix the damage. "

Gojkovich said with the recent rains, it has made it more difficult for owners to get in to fix issues, because their equipment will sink.

To continue his report, he said that he is looking into trainings to receive train-the trainer and for defensive driving and CPR.

As a future project, he said he would like to get grant funding for radios, so his team can stay in communication. "We heard we had 8 handheld radios. We found two. We don't know where the rest went. We need radios. I am also asking for your support in talking to the state and federal governments on the flooding issues."

Edwards said: "We really, really appreciate everything you have done and are doing in emergency management. I think we should consider taking formal action around these issues, maybe a letter to someone or a resolution. I want to get these issues on the radar for the Water Trust Board and the Interstate Stream Commission. We have to have our voices be heard."

County Manager Charlene Webb said: "You do not have a better voice than Justin's. He's making sure to show how skewed the estimates and assessments were. If you're as passionate as he is, they need to see your face. A resolution goes into a pile, but it will take effort from you and me to get in front of them. Our legislators are feeling the same frustrations."

Gojkovich said he had not asked homeland security if the county could help individuals with loans. "It may be anti-donation."

Edwards said: "New Mexico is always in the bottom five on food security. Now they are messing with our ability to provide food."

Ponce asked if one emergency manager is enough. "There are a lot of things in this county we need to do. This is really hurting our community."

Billings asked: "Whose door to we need to knock on?"

Webb replied that there would be discussion in the legislative session on funding. "The CAP Entity money is just sitting there. Different sub accounts may be available. Twelve counties applied and they only funded three. I just came from one of the three (Sierra County) and it was the same thing all over again. People would be in committee hearings and not be heard, and our senator and representative would express the same frustration, I suspect."

Browne noted that some counties did not even do assessments. "Can we do anything to help them?"

Webb replied: "It is not our place. We did it in Sierra County with drones. I think Homeland Security should be advising the other counties, but they aren't doing it."

Gojkovich said that other counties not declaring emergencies "is costing us and them money. "

Webb said each county has it own set of issues that prevent getting things done.

Billings asked: "Wasn't there a lot of concern in Catron County?"

Gojkovich said he has gotten outreach from Catron and Luna counties. "I continue to attend New Mexico Acequia Association meetings every Thursday where we continue to discuss avenues of help."

Ponce said he sees all this red tape and the "bill's going to hit these counties."

Webb had a couple of things to report. "We plan a survey on benefits and salaries and assessments with department heads. We need to know where our needs are. We need a plan around future ARPA dollars and recommendations on the bond funds. We are gathering information to upgrade our financial software, because I feel it is out-of-date and working on filling Kevin's (administrative assistant) position and getting another human resources person. For the future, I've been meeting with various community leaders to get myself up to speed and to learn if we are doing a good job collaborating on community projects. I will be working with Randy (Hernandez) on various ordinances on cell towers, solar and wind, and toying with that because we have nothing in this county for future development. And we will be looking at our comprehensive plan in the first quarter of next year. I await a report on our needs, so we can make sure to have a better environment for department heads and staff."

District 2 Commissioner Javier "Harvey" Salas asked if the commissioners would get a job description from Webb.

"Yes, I said I would get it to you," Webb said. "I would be happy to discuss it with you before you leave office."

The next article will begin with public input and reports from the regular meeting.

For the previous articles, please visit: For the previous articles, please visit: https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/75687-grant-county-commission-holds-work-session-120622-part-1; https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/75720-grant-county-commission-holds-work-session-120622-part-2 ; and https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/75796-grant-county-commission-holds-work-session-120622-part-3.