Santa Clara hires city clerk-treasurer

Category: Front Page News Front Page News
Published: 31 August 2023 31 August 2023

By Lynn Janes

The Village of Santa Clara held its regular meeting August 24, 2023.

Mayor's report

Mayor Richard Bauch said the regional water commission had met that day and they will finish the PER (preliminary engineering report) by December. The plan creates a good strategy for the mining district.

New Business

Mayor Pro Tem Albert Esparza and Trustees Arnold Lopez, Olga Amador, and Peter Erickson unanimously approved the amendment to the employee contract for Police Chief Leonel Sandoval.

The council approved the amendment to the employee contract for Village Administrator Sheila Hudman.

In the February 2023 council meeting, they had approved the contracts for Sandoval and Hudman. This would not change the contract, just the salaries. The council had approved the salary changes in a past meeting and this reflected the change in their contracts.

The council approved the appointment of Leandra Esparza from deputy clerk to clerk / treasurer with a salary of $19 an hour. Bauch commented that Hudman had been doing that job and hers, and this will be very helpful taking some of the responsibility off her.

The council approved the recommendation to post in house the deputy clerk position. It will be posted for five days before being advertised to everyone.

Resolutions

The council approved resolution 2023-17 adopting the ICIP (infrastructure capital improvement plan). The village does this plan every year. The state requires it, and it will be used for project funding and is a requirement for grants. Hudman said that they have 24 items on the list numbered in the order of importance. Several had been added this year from last year. The regional water project was added. They had also added a mower so they would have two, each one equipped for different jobs. WNM Communication had received a $10 million USDA grant to expand broadband service from Kirkland Road to Bayard. Santa Clara can have it brought into the village for $600,000. The line will run on the north side of the highway and give service to the hospital, armory, and Dollar General Store. Xfinity has a line on the south side of the highway that goes as far as the armory.

The council tabled resolution 202318 adopting section 01-E of the Village of Santa Clara policies and procedures manual titled Procurements, Travel, Accounting. Bauch said he still had work to do on it.

Public comments

Tome Caddel wanted to know when the potholes would be fixed. He had brought it up at the last meeting and it still had not been done and now he had identified more. He added that they have a water leak also. Bauch explained to him they have had a backlog on work due to not being able to get parts. They had divided the village up in sections and have been trying to get it caught up by doing a section a week. Hudman said they have a 28-week backorder on parts but the supplier told her municipalities would have priority.

Caddel wanted to know what they would be doing about the chile roaster that had sold at the auction and had not been picked up. Hudman said they had it as a consignment piece, and if it did not get picked up, Jim Lane, consignee, would be called to come get it. Even though it had been paid for it would revert back to him.

Hiring, raises, terminations, etc.

The village had received three resignations and the mayor had two recommendations for hiring.

The council approve the resignation of Desirae Castanon, clerk for the court, effective August 31, 2023.

The council approved the resignation of Judge Alonso Romo effective August 25, 2023.

The council approved the resignation of Officer Christopher Key, effective September 4, 2023.

The council approved the hiring of Bianca Martinez for court clerk at $15 an hour. The judge had recommended her, and the job will be part time. She will be trained by Castanon.

The council approved the hiring of Steven Edwards for labor maintenance at $15 an hour. It will be a full time position and he must give notice with current employer and will start September 11, 2023.

Next meetings

First regular meeting will be held Thursday September 14, 2023, at 6:00 pm

Second regular meeting will be held Thursday September 28, 2023, at 6:00 pm

Meeting Adjourned

Content on the Beat

WARNING: All articles and photos with a byline or photo credit are copyrighted to the author or photographer. You may not use any information found within the articles without asking permission AND giving attribution to the source. Photos can be requested and may incur a nominal fee for use personally or commercially.

Disclaimer: If you find errors in articles not written by the Beat team but sent to us from other content providers, please contact the writer, not the Beat. For example, obituaries are always provided by the funeral home or a family member. We can fix errors, but please give details on where the error is so we can find it. News releases from government and non-profit entities are posted generally without change, except for legal notices, which incur a small charge.

NOTE: If an article does not have a byline, it was written by someone not affiliated with the Beat and then sent to the Beat for posting.

Images: We have received complaints about large images blocking parts of other articles. If you encounter this problem, click on the title of the article you want to read and it will take you to that article's page, which shows only that article without any intruders. 

New Columnists: The Beat continues to bring you new columnists. And check out the old faithfuls who continue to provide content.

Newsletter: If you opt in to the Join GCB Three Times Weekly Updates option above this to the right, you will be subscribed to email notifications with links to recently posted articles.

Submitting to the Beat

Those new to providing news releases to the Beat are asked to please check out submission guidelines at https://www.grantcountybeat.com/about/submissions. They are for your information to make life easier on the readers, as well as for the editor.

Advertising: Don't forget to tell advertisers that you saw their ads on the Beat.

Classifieds: We have changed Classifieds to a simpler option. Check periodically to see if any new ones have popped up. Send your information to editor@grantcountybeat.com and we will post it as soon as we can. Instructions and prices are on the page.

Editor's Notes

It has come to this editor's attention that people are sending information to the Grant County Beat Facebook page. Please be aware that the editor does not regularly monitor the page. If you have items you want to send to the editor, please send them to editor@grantcountybeat.com. Thanks!

Here for YOU: Consider the Beat your DAILY newspaper for up-to-date information about Grant County. It's at your fingertips! One Click to Local News. Thanks for your support for and your readership of Grant County's online news source—www.grantcountybeat.com

Feel free to notify editor@grantcountybeat.com if you notice any technical problems on the site. Your convenience is my desire for the Beat.  The Beat totally appreciates its readers and subscribers!  

Compliance: Because you are an esteemed member of The Grant County Beat readership, be assured that we at the Beat continue to do everything we can to be in full compliance with GDPR and pertinent US law, so that the information you have chosen to give to us cannot be compromised.