[Editor’s Note: This is part 5 of a series of articles on the Grant County Commission work session on July 18, 2023 and regular meeting on July 20, 2023. This article begins the review of the regular meeting agenda.)

By Mary Alice Murphy

At the July 18 work session, County Manager Charlene Webb began the review of the July 20, 2023 regular meeting agenda. The first item was public input followed by an executive session, where commissioners would discuss two items, the progress of the collective bargaining negotiations and a real property issue.

During public input at the regular meeting, Glenn Griffin continued his opposition to the way the Wildlife Services contract with the county was worded. He added to his previous public input at the work session, that he would ask that the commissioners ask Wildlife Services if they give M-44s and other lethal methods to the ranchers to use. “The county is paying $9,500 of taxpayer dollars to subsidize ranchers. The number of lethal killings is percentage-wise above the past year,” he alleged.

The commissioners at the regular meeting went into executive session. When they returned to regular session, District 1 Commissioner and Chair Chris Ponce said they had not taken any action on the items discussed. 

The following item in the regular meeting agenda had Gila Regional Medical Center Chief Financial Officer Patrick Banks giving a brief report on behalf of the Interim Chief Executive Officer Margie Molitor, who was out-of-town. He noted that at the end of May, which was the last month’s report approved by the board, the hospital had 109 days of cash and an $877,000 surplus for the month. “Year-to-date, we are at a negative $600,000. We don’t know how we will do for the end of the fiscal year, but we think we will be close to break even.”

He reported that Molitor has been busy with interviewing four candidates for the chief nursing officer position. “We have had an incredible participation of hospital staff with the interviews. I think Margie will make an offer and we may know if it was accepted by the end of the month. We have onboarded the new board of trustees, and we will continue the orientation efforts. They are a very experienced group. The cardiology department needs help. It is a clear need of the community to have the cardiology nurse practitioner position filled, so we hired a recruiter to help us fill the position.”

Ponce said: “I’ve been asking for the hospital 5-year plan. I get questions from constituents about our need for a new hospital facility. Yes, we do need a new one, but this is the one we have. I’ve been speaking to legislators and the Congressional delegation about funding. I’m going to ask you for an estimate of how much a new facility will cost.”

Banks noted the hospital is aware of the need for a new facility. “We have gotten an extension on our ICIP (infrastructure capital improvement plan) so the trustees have input as they come on board. We have to keep the hospital we have running, while looking to the future.”

Ponce reiterated: “I’m looking for a plan. I know we had a problem with the boiler and had to take equipment to other hospitals for sterilization. We’ve had problems with the coolers and the humidity in the operating room. I want a comparison of what we’re spending now to keep this one up and how much it would cost for a new facility.”

The following agenda item addressed elected officials’ reports. 

The first to speak was Treasurer Patrick Cohn. He reported collections for the month of June 2023 at $27,030.37 for a total year-to-date of $12,281,586.29, leaving an uncollected $1,009,897.94 bringing the percentage collected to 92.4 percent. 

For the 10-year report, the percentage collected is 95.55, with $121,768,289.00 collected and uncollected standing at $5,415,525.52.

Cohn submitted 63 property tax delinquencies to the state Property Tax Division. The delinquent taxes total about $52,000, plus interest of $7,000, penalty of $3,000 and the cost to the state $7,000 for a total of $70,051.00. “We will not receive the interest back from the state. The Property Tax Division began red-tagging structures for potential addition to the auction. 105 properties have the potential to be put up for auction this year.”

He thanked IT’s Director Adam Baca and Robert Hall for help in installing the new GovPro software. “I am looking forward to this. Tyler has been a problem. With GovPro, property owners can choose to receive e-statements, which they will be able to get the week before we mail out the notices on Nov. 1. Call the Treasurer’s Office and we can give them the code. The Assessor’s Office can also do that. I want to make the public aware that there is always someone in the Treasurer’s Office who can help you. Our help is not automated.”

Deputy Assessor Raul Turrieta said he is working with the treasurer to put out e-notices. “It makes it easier for us and for the public. Hopefully, we can get the majority of the community to accept e-notices. It will save the county a lot of postage costs. We just finished certification with the Property Tax Division. We will receive the new rates in September for your approval. We have three employees going to Socorro for classes to become New Mexico certified assessors. It’s a whole semester of classes in one week, with a four-hour test. I want to recognize Kristen Cohn, who is just out of high school and working with us this summer. She is a joy to work with and a big asset.”

He noted that his assessors are in the field doing a complete re-appraisal in Bayard. “They are reassessing every property, just as we did for Santa Clara and for Hurley.”

Sheriff Raul Villanueva presented his department report. He reported a total of 1,278 calls for the month of June, which included 780 self-initiated calls. They included 15 crashes, 20 domestic violence calls, 81 animal complaints, 16 agency assists and 25 calls to Bayard.

He said Cpl. Cesar Torres and Dep. Ray Lewis have attended and completed the field training officer program, and they are a “great addition to the existing FTO program as new cadets graduated from the Police Academy. I also attended the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy Certification by Waiver Class, and I am once again a certified law enforcement officer for the state of New Mexico.”

Villanueva noted that due to staff shortages, advanced training remains on hold, because of not having the manpower to cover shifts while others receive training. Four cadet hires, Joshua Reaser, Alejandro Gomez, Ventura Salas and Genario Marin have successfully graduated the Western New Mexico University Police Academy and once they complete the FTO program will be out on patrol. Two new hires, Brett Beatty and Sam Garcia will attend the Santa Fe Police Academy in July.

He discussed cases of interest, four of which occurred on June 10, 2023. The first was early morning in reference to a vehicle being at the bottom of the canyon in the Black Range. On scene, they spoke to a hiker who had reported the vehicle and he told them a body was about 15 feet from the vehicle. GCSO and New Mexico State Police assisted in regards to this turning into a fatal vehicle crash. During investigation, it was determined that the driver was partially ejected through the passenger window and then drug out of the vehicle possibly by a bear, as there were bear paw impressions near the vehicle. Later they discovered the driver was a reported as a missing person with some medical conditions from the area of Santa Clara about a week before the finding of the crash.

Also on June 10, near noon, deputies were dispatched in regards to a suicide. While on scene, deputies met with the reporting party who stated his son was inside the home. Once deputies entered they found the subject had taken his life by hanging. GCSO detectives and the Office of the Medical Investigators were notified.

Late afternoon in June 10, deputies were dispatched to Hurley in reference to a domestic disturbance that had occurred at a different location. Two juvenile females were taken to the Hurley Police department where deputies learned the girls did not want to return home because their father had been arguing with his girlfriend and had made threatening comments toward them that he was going to hurt them. He had hit them and injured them in the past. The most recent had been about two weeks before when he hit one of the juvenile’s head on a door because he was upset that she had not done something correctly. Deputies have responded to this address previously in the past for domestic violence. For the safety of the juveniles, deputies took them into protective custody and called CYFD and turned them over to the on-call social worker. It is still an ongoing investigation. 

Also, the afternoon of June 10, deputies were dispatched to Summit Road on a structure fire. They discovered a camper trailer parked in front of the residence engulfed in flames. The homeowner arrived and stated he had been there about two hours before. When he left to pick up his son everything was okay. The owner mentioned that he was having issues with a male subject making threats against him that he was going to kill him or “you’ll see what happens.” But he had heard the male was in jail. While the fire department was putting out the fire, they noticed a gas can next to the trailer, which the owner had said was not there when he left. The GCSO detectives are looking into the incident.

Other cases included an unattended death on June 11, where the wife told deputies her husband had been working on the well pump house and when she went out to see if he wanted lunch, she found him unresponsive. There were several exposed wires coming from the well house. This continues as an open investigation. 

In addition, an active investigation on Old Arenas Valley Road addressed a male subject causing problems at the residence. The subject started a structure fire and threatened the caller that he was going to harm him. Subject grabbed a butcher knife inside the residence. Caller advised he smelled gasoline as the fire started and engulfed the residence. When GSCO deputies arrived on scene a male as lying on the floor with multiple stab wounds. Deputies and first responders began performing CPR but were unsuccessful. Suspect was severely burned and transported for medical attention. Detectives are treating this as an active investigation.

Villanueva provided a TRAX system report to commissioners as requested at the prior meeting. He noted that a grant was on the agenda for consideration. He said he had only two people working on Civil Process. “Our priority is keeping the community safe, but we currently have seven vacancies.”

Ponce said New Mexico Counties is advocating for retired law enforcement to be able to return to work. “One problem New Mexico Counties is having is that there are other counties that are not providing information to the state. I know Grant County is doing it, but all counties need to get their reporting to the state. Please talk to your colleagues and get them to respond to requests for information.”

Villanueva said the Sheriffs’ conference would take place in August and he would bring the issue up. “I agree that a lot don’t respond. We will address it at the conference.”

He said he wanted to thank the commission and the community for supporting the Sheriff’s Office. “Deputies are dealing with horrible crises.”

The next article will continue with the review of the regular agenda and decisions made.

To read the previous articles, please visit: https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/79377-grant-county-commission-holds-work-session-071823-part-1 ; https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/79415-grant-county-commission-holds-work-session-071823-part-2 https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/79433-grant-county-commission-holds-work-session-071823-part-3 ; and https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/79449-grant-county-commission-holds-work-session-071823-part-4 .