By Lynn Janes

The Village of Santa Clara held its regular meeting February 16, 2023. Mayor Richard Bauch called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance. Mayor Pro Tem Albert Esparza, trustees, Olga Amador, Arnold Lopez, and Peter Erickson attended.

The council approved the agenda for the meeting.

The council approved the minutes from the January 26, 2023, meeting.

The council approved the January 2023 department reports.

Mayors report

Bauch said "We received the new police units, and they are very nice." They had gotten two, but they are black. "I was concerned originally because they are the SUV type, and I was concerned about the access to the officer, but I saw it was done well." Each unit has four-wheel drive.

He said they needed to make some changes to the Open Meetings Act resolution. He wanted to include some additional posting. He asked that maybe it be on the agenda for the next council meeting.

Bauch said he has been very happy with how well the maintenance renovations have been going. They will now have separate offices and a breakroom. "It looks like a professional office." He thanked Sheila Hudman, village administrator, for all she had done to bring it together. It will be done in a week or two.

New Business

The council approved the four-way stop sign for Oak Street and Cleveland Street. This has been requested by Police Chief Lonnie Sandoval due to poor visibility and a recent car accident.

The council approved the purchase of the Bradley Hotel for $120,000 after some discussion. Bauch went over the particulars of the purchase. They had gone over this in depth during the work session held February 14, 2023. Bauch said they had an architect come look at it and he had said it could be saved. The building has 4,000 square feet and has two stories. A few people have contacted them regarding leasing office space. The village has funds that will not ever be available again. They came from a grant to help communities renovate after covid. He said the property includes six lots and the building sits on two of those. Each lot is 150 feet by 25 feet. "It is an historic adobe and is close to being lost." It has been marked as one of the projects on the Five Points project. "It is feasible and would be nice to save the building. In a few years we won't be able to save it. I recommend the purchase." It could be a very marketable commercial building for the village and has a lot of potential.

The council approved the JPA (joint powers agreement) for the Grant County Water Commission. This had been gone over during the work session. The agreement has been done to give them the possibility to acquire funding to do the project. They had to have a central organization to make them eligible. Bauch said they had worked on this for several years but only recently had been able to move forward with it. They will have 5 voting members—the municipalities and the county. For the normal day-to-day operation, decisions will just require a majority but for anything that requires contracts, legalities, and financial will have to have all five votes to approve. If all five entities approve it will go to Santa Fe, Department of Finance for approval and at that point can move forward.

The council approved the contracts for the village administrator and police chief after explanation of the changes. Both positions are "at will." At will refers to if a new mayor comes in, they can be without a job overnight with no reason. This would give them protection. It also changes their vacation. The vacation has been based on years of service. Two weeks plus one week for position and another week for tenure. Both village administrator and police chief have tenure currently. The contract also allows for being paid out up to two weeks vacation pay if they have not been able to take their vacation. They do have to show they made every attempt to take that time. This will be a two-year contract. Yvonne Gonzales, village attorney, said this would give them security and show their value. She explained the difference between a regular employee and an "at will." She pointed out that both work many hours that they are not paid for.

The council approved the employee vacation calculations. Hudman said the current way to calculate can be confusing. Gonzales currently said the employee manual is an ordinance, so it must go before the council for any changes. They have been in the process of changing it to put it in policies and procedures. She said next meeting they would have the proposed changes to the policies and procedures. By changing the employee manual to policies and procedures , they will be able to save the village money. The council will still have complete transparency.

Old business.

On January 12, 2023, the council let the vote stand denying the zoning change for the area known as the industrial park owned by the village. The council disapproved the reconsideration of the request. They had received a letter from Ameresco Solar Land Holdings LLC. Gonzales read part of the letter that she thought pertinent for the record. Esparza added that he had heard from a few residents, and they had had concerns.

Resolutions

The council removed resolution 2023-02. This had to do with the support of the Local Choice Energy Act.

Proclamations none currently.

Ordinances none currently.

Public comments

Bruce Ashburn with PNM asked the council to please read the Local Choice Energy bill before they considered it.

The council went into closed session.

The council came back to open session and Bauch said no decisions had been made and only legal matters discussed.

Hiring, raises, terminations, etc.

The council approved all the following recommendations Bauch made.

The position of maintenance supervisor had been open because of David Valles taking another position in the village. Bauch recommended Angel Granadino at a pay rate of $18 an hour. Bauch added he had done great when he took over for Valles while he had been out on medical leave.

The maintenance foreman position would be left open, and Bauch recommended Jay Madrid at a pay rate of $16 an hour.

Missed vacation pay for Officer Kevin Vigil due to his not being able to take it because of being in the police academy. Currently the village has a policy of use it or lose it. Bauch said he would like to see them pay him out the two weeks or carry it over. They decided to pay it out.

Hudman lost 32 hours of vacation pay due to several issues happening in the village that she had to be present for. She had tried three different times. Bauch recommended paying that time out to her.

Next meetings

First regular meeting to be held Thursday March 9, 2023

Meeting Adjourned