[Editor's Note: This is the sixth of a multi-part series of articles on the Grant County Commission's work session on May 9, 2023 and regular meeting on May 11, 2023. This article continues with a review of the regular meeting agenda at the work session and includes the proclamations and their photos.]
Photos and article by Mary Alice Murphy
After presentations and commission updates at the May 9, 2023 Grant County Commission work session, County Manager Charlene Webb began the review of the May 11, 2023 regular meeting agenda.
The first item was a public hearing authorizing the execution and delivery of a loan agreement and intercept agreement by and between Grant County, and the New Mexico Finance Authority to pay a principal amount of $1,084,911 for the purpose of constructing a pre-engineered metal building to serve as a new fire station in the Dos Griegos Subdivision for the Pinos Altos Volunteer Fire Department.
At the regular meeting Luis Carrasco of Rodey Law Firm, loan counsel for the county, explained the intercept agreement would allow the loan to be paid for through state fire funds, which would transfer the payments from the State Treasury to the NMFA. "There is no ability to impose requirement on the county to pay back this loan. It will go directly to the NMFA from state fire funds. The interest rate is 3.25 percent on a 30-year loan."
District 1 Commissioner and Chair Chris Ponce asked how responsible the county would be if state funding should stop.
Carrasco said the loan agreement would allow renegotiation, "but the pledged amounts should be available at the state level. The Finance Authority did an analysis."
With no testimony on the ordinance, the commissioners approved the ordinance at the regular meeting.
The next item on the agenda was public input at the regular meeting. James Baldwin, county resident, talked again about the name of a road. "Two agencies, the New Mexico Atlas and Gazeteer and the state name the road the Bear Mountain Road. On another matter, when I paid my taxes, I wanted to speak to the manager, but she was otherwise occupied. 911 and today, which is 511, are somewhat connected. Both are destructive to the country. A staff person promised I would get a call. We have Caller ID, and we have had no call from the county. I wanted to find out what Grant County is doing to prevent illegal migrants from coming through. Two big white buses have been observed driving through town on highway 180. I hope the county is doing something to protect the residents from illegals."
The next item on the agenda addressed three proclamations, put on the agenda by District 2 Commissioner Eloy Medina.
The first proclamation announced National Hospital Week; the second was Grant County Nurses Recognition Month proclamation; and the third National EMS Week proclamation.
[Author's apology: I received a list of all those in the three photographs, but other than the five commissioners, Chris Ponce, Eloy Medina, District 3 Commissioner Alicia Edwards, District 4 Commissioner Billy Billings and District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne and a few of the individuals that I personally know. I'm not at all sure who is who in each of the photos. As the names were handwritten, I also may have misspelled a few. I will do my best to guess and would appreciate if any correction be sent to editor@grantcountybeat.com. Thanks in advance.]
For National Hospital Week, in no particular order are the five commissioners, plus Pharmacy Director Pedram Ghafourifar, Quality Department Director Ramona Wilson, Amanda Mondello, Gwen Burns, Shaydle Mendoza-Casaus, Julissa Alaniz, Aimee Summers, Roberta "Bertie" Berry, Mike Stone, and Facilities Director Nicholas Dacus.
For Grant County Nurses Recognition Month, pictured in no particular order, are the five commissioners, Wilson, Burns, Mondello, Berry, Jessica Escobar, Kimberly Barragan and Interim Chief Nursing Officer Cynthia Lewis.
For Grant County Nurses Recognition Month, pictured in no particular order, are the five commissioners, Wilson, Burns, Mondello, Berry, Jessica Escobar, Kimberly Barragan and Interim Chief Nursing Officer Cynthia Lewis.
Ponce told each group how much he appreciated their work for the community. "As a former law enforcement officer, I know that law enforcement appreciates all you do, too."
The following agenda item addressed the annual audit report, presented by Debbie Gray of Krieger, Gray and Shaw. She went through almost every page of a long audit, including the financial statement, which listed county assets at $153 million, a statement of activities, county and Gila Regional Medical Center expenditures, general revenues, the general fund and corrections as major funds, smaller funds and statements of each, reconciliation, income statement, custodial funds where the county acts as fiduciary, retirement, as well as entities for which the county collects and then disburses the funds, internal control and compliance report, federal government funding, and notes.
"You stayed within your budget," Gray noted. "The county had one finding in regard to cash reconciliation. The county has an old system, which is different from what the state uses. I recommend the county get an update to its software and additional training to reconcile the process. There were no findings on the federal government funding. In summary, you received an unmodified opinion, with no non-compliance issues and only one material deficiency. You had one finding on a component, and the audit report was late. That was also due to our having staffing issues."
District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne noted that the firm was at the end of its contract to do the annual audit.
Gray confirmed they were at the end, "but we're merging with another firm, so we will provide a proposal, which might make us eligible for another eight years."
Browne also pointed out that several funds ended up in the negative.
"We don't want to see that, but a lot of times, it is because funding is on a reimbursement basis and the funds had not been received in time for the end of year," Gray said. "No funds were not covered by reimbursements as far as we know."
Browne said: "We were hoping the late audit from the hospital would not affect us. Maybe next year it won't?"
Gray said she had no idea as her firm does not do the hospital audit. "We did do an extensive reconciliation process."
Edwards said the GRMC audit was late because of reconciliation of the critical access designation. "It relies on CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid) over which we have no control." She also asked: "What about the $10 million in uninsured funds?"
Gray said that insurance covers up to $250,000 per bank account. "You have $9.8 million uninsured. The county has collateralized about 50 percent of it, but it should be 100 percent."
The next report in the next article will address the monthly GRMC report.
For the previous articles, visit https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/78186-grant-county-commissioners-choose-new-grmc-board-of-trustees-members-051123; https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/78245-grant-county-commission-holds-work-session-050923-part-2; https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/78277-grant-county-commission-holds-work-session-050923-part-3; https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/78350-grant-county-commission-holds-work-session-050923-part-4; and https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/78369-grant-county-commission-holds-work-session-050923-part-5.