By Lynn Janes

The town of Hurley held a regular meeting February 13, 2024. Attendance to the meeting included Mayor Ed Stevens, councilors Nanette Day, Reynaldo Maynes, Keana Huerta, and newly appointed James Langley.

The council approved the consent agenda which included department reports and regular meeting minutes.

Lori Ortiz, city clerk, reported they had a lot of projects they will be working on. They have sent out two bids and will have awards to be approved by the next regular council meeting for those projects. One will be for the emergency lift station repair and the A Street project.

The other departments gave brief reports. Day asked animal control when they would be able to have heat installed in the building for holding the dogs. They have been calling trying to obtain bids and have not been able to get anyone to come out. They will continue to try.

Police Chief Christian McGuinness thanked all the people that helped recently in the past situation with the shooting in Hurley.

Day said the Library had a total of 80 volunteer hours and 34 visits. Donations will still be accepted. They had their first community event in January and had 21 people attend. The next event will be March 3, 2024.

Richard Maynes had been the mayor pro tem before his resignation. Stevens wanted to appoint Day to that position and the council approved.

Frontier Food Hub had asked to be on the agenda but had not attended.

The council approved the business license for Dolgencorp, LLC dba Dollar General Store #24720. They had met all the requirements of town ordinances.

The council approved the hiring of Austin Whitehead for police officer. He will be uncertified but will attend the academy by next year.

The council approved the hiring of Doug Miranda for code enforcement officer pending necessary background checks. He had applied for the position several months before but had to decline but now could accept the position.

The council tabled the intent to adopt ordinance 4-S regarding increases in garbage collection and landfill fees for residents living within the city limits. Ortiz said she had not had enough information needed to make the changes.

Mayor and councilors reports.

Day thanked Ortiz and her staff for helping her at the legislature in Santa Fe.

Huerta suggested doing a benefit to raise money for the library.

Langley thanked everyone for being so welcoming to him. He had volunteered at the library and said he would do whatever he could to help the town.

Stevens suggested they have a work session for the planning of the Big Muddy. They needed to analyze it and decide what they wanted to do and where they wanted to locate the things within it. He also said they needed to discuss the Train Depot and if that would still be something they wanted or could do.

Stevens said they have been working on a welcome sheet for new residents to let them know the information they might need.

The council approved a special meeting for February 27, 2024, at 5:00 pm

Next regular meeting will be March 12, 2024, at 5:00 pm

Meeting adjourned.