By Lynn Janes

The Silver City Town Council held a regular meeting April 9, 2024. Attendance to the meeting included Mayor Ken Ladner, Mayor Pro Tem Guadalupe Cano, Rudy Bencomo, Nicholas Prince, and Stan Snider.

Council comments

Cano said she had attended trail days, and they had a lot of hikers that attended. "It was a great experience. This was the 10th anniversary, and we were the first gateway community." She cautioned everyone that Tour of the Gila would be coming up and to watch out for bike riders. Cano had received a lot of phone calls about the problems downtown and many people have been concerned. "We are concerned also and are trying to figure out ways to legally deal with it." She wanted people to know they have a process and sometimes it takes time, but they will be working on it and to please be patient.

Snider just wanted to encourage everyone to get out and watch the Tour of the Gila.

Bencomo welcomed Ladner back. He had attended his first code enforcement meeting and had been surprised by the long list of things they had to go over and said they had a hard job. He had attended and participated in the senior Olympics. A lot of people had participated. He also attended the block party at Q's Southern Bistro. Bencomo reminded everyone that May 2, 2024, would be National Day of Prayer and asked people to attend. "Our country needs a lot of prayer."

Cano announced the state championship disc golf at Fort Bayard the coming Saturday.

Ladner thanked Cano for conducting the last meeting in his absence.

Public input

Ladner wanted to remind everyone giving public input they only had five minutes per person and referred to a resolution posted In 2015-2016.

Raul Turrieta thanked the council for their attendance to many of the local events. On May 18, 2024, they will be having the Burlesque Baseball tournament at James Stadium. They had wanted to do it during the Territorial Charter Days in February but it had been too cold. It will take place 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm and they will have rides for the kids, old buggy for pictures, music, and more. "We will have something for everyone." It won't be a serious game, but they will have many prizes. They also hope to have a beer garden. Silver City Museum will be the sponsor.

Amanda Rotert spoke to the council concerning the dog ordinance. "I am one of the people that has had the police and animal control call on. I have also been harassed by these neighbors." She added it had not been fair that they pick and choose who they call and complain about. These people come from other places and then want to change things. "It is not fair to us that have roots here." Dogs bark for a reason and pointed out that when her dogs barked to let everyone know they had a 6-foot bear in the yard no one complained. "These people complain because they have nothing better to do and it is not fair to my kids that are afraid to play in the back yard because someone might call and complain they are making too much noise." She said her kids didn't feel safe in their own yard. She had not known this discussion had been going on and said she would have come before to voice her input. Her family had been living in the area since her great-grandfather. Now she has been raising her kids here and said, "It just is not fair that these people come from other places and think it is ok to change things just because they don't like dogs."

Joseph Kennedy wanted to let the council know he would be available for questions. His appointment to the planning and zoning commission would be coming up on the agenda. He has been treasurer of the Silver City Art Association and does a show on the local radio station. He also has a background in architecture both as an architect and professor of architecture. He said he recently moved to Silver City but also serves on the Main Street Board

Richard Grossman came to speak about the 1327 ordinance again. He had spoken at the last council meeting. He said he had given the council 22 videos last time and had 18 more to give them. The 10 minute and 30 minute issue will not solve anything. He went over what he had said last time. "The dogs were barking at 96 decimals and that is the dog I am complaining about. The ordinance could be fixed with a few words and does not need to be deleted. This change needs to be tabled until the wording has been fixed. Dog owners need be responsible for the dogs and train them."

Doreen Bushan addressed the board again. She had spoken at the last council meeting. "I am a fan of dogs and love them. I had dogs long ago but took them for obedience training." The dogs barking have not been receiving enough attention. Some people have too many dogs. "You already have a law on the books from 2011 and just need to enforce it. I do not like being barked at."

Robert Adams said he lives on Georgia Street and chose this town consciously five years ago. "I love it here and I am not leaving, and I did come from out of state." He had looked up the ordinances before they moved here and said he thought they would be protected. He had called police and animal control concerning barking dogs. He had dogs in the past, but he would not have allowed them to bark.

Reports

Alex Brown, town manager, gave the council an update on the 32nd Street project. They have had a lot of problems with fiber cables and telephone lines. Many of these had been unknown and then when they broke those lines, they had to wait for the utility companies to come in and fix them. They had also had a very wet winter that slowed progress. "Anything that could go wrong went wrong." It has been set to now finish the third week in May.

New business

Holly Noonan and Mick Smith addressed the council to let them know about the upcoming Give Grandly event. Noonan said it will be held May 4, 2022, from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. They will have live music and many activities for everyone. Smith said this will be the eleventh year they have had the event, and, in that time, they have brought in $1.6 million for these nonprofit organizations. Last year they had 63 organizations and they had received $235,000 for the nonprofit organizations that had been involved. The event will be a way to find out about each organization and find volunteers willing to help. Grant County has more nonprofit organization per capita than any other county in the state.

Smith went over the sponsors that would be providing matching funds. People can give online if they don't want to attend and they will be accepting donations until May 20, 2024. They can go to www.givegrandly.org . Smith said, as the organizer, that the event takes a lot of work to put together.

Along with the events they will have demonstrations and a scavenger hunt. Smith added that they had a form online that could be downloaded listing all the organizations and a place to put in the donation a person wants to make. All the donations, 100 percent, goes to the nonprofit organizations. Their office location is in the old gas station across from the HMS office on Pope Street.

The council approved two public celebration permits for Open Space Brewery. One will be for the Burlesque Baseball game on May 18, 2024, at James Stadium 1:00 – 3:00 pm and the other will be Bike Works / Silver City Cycles anniversary on May 25, 2024, at 914 Pope Street 11:00 am to 9:00 pm

The council passed an ordinance amending ordinance 1327. All approved, except for Prince, who abstained after some discussion and information from Jim Reynolds, city attorney.

Reynolds said this amendment strengthens the 10-minute and 30-minute rule and eliminates paragraph 14A. Paragraph 14 has never been used because it has vague language and covers things already in place in the ordinance. He went over all the words used that have not ever been used in animal codes around the state such as molest and harass. "The vagueness is a problem and renders it unconstitutional there by making it unenforceable." Bad behavior has been addressed in other parts of the code. He went over the other parts and pointed out where barking had been addressed already. He said it had been brought up this would gut the animal ordinance. Animal Control has used this to cite many people. He said people had expressed to keep it but change the language. Someone said that if a person walks by a property and a dog barks more than two times it will be a violation of the ordinance. "If that is the standard the town wants to enforce the question that needs to be asked, how many hundreds of dog owners do you want to haul into municipal court."

Reynolds said he had a personal reference. He walks 8-9 blocks to work every day. He passes four homes with a dog in nice fences. The dogs come out and bark until he passes. He said if it bothered him, he would walk on the other side of the street but does not. "As a society we have emphasized pets are important to people and society. I think there needs to be a give and take. Dogs do bark."

Code enforcement had reviewed the 22 videos referred to earlier. "They don't believe the behavior of the animals are in violation of the current ordinance or the one being passed now. I don't know what dog would not bark when someone is standing there filming them." Reynolds summed it up and said, "It is important for the ordinance to be clear and use specific language and eliminate vague language." Many other municipalities use the 10/30 minute rule.

Bencomo thanked him for explaining and making it simple. He also thanked him for the time he spent on the research.

Cano thanked him and said she has heard a lot of comments on both sides. "I don't see how people can think we can stop dogs from barking. I know we need a measurable way to enforce things. I am sad we even have to go here. I hope this stops people from videotaping their neighbors' dogs without their permission. I think it is insanity to provoke your neighbors' dogs, so they bark." She supported the change. Some people in attendance spoke out about her comments, without following protocol.

Prince had concerns to address to Reynolds. "I know we cannot resolve all issues with neighbors." He went over the past ordinance and the amendment. "This does not resolve anything." He told Reynolds the sidewalk is a public throughfare and people had the right to pass undisturbed. He and Reynolds went back and forth on the meaning of public throughfare, and Prince kept disagreeing. Reynolds said he had explained and had no other comment after some time. Prince said he had sent emails to Reynolds, city manager and others on this issue and had never received any feedback. He continued with the issues he had on the ordinance. He then demanded Reynolds tell him what the process would be when people had problems. "I am not involved in the process," and he turned it over the Vicki Toney, code enforcement. Toney gave Prince the process if someone had a complaint. They would call dispatch and if code enforcement had been on duty they would respond, if not the police department would respond. She went over some of the possible scenarios and how it would be handled. Prince still wanted to discuss the definition of unprovoked and said he had a different definition.

Snider wanted to know how they handled a dog trespassing. Toney said they would either catch the dog or follow it home. The procedures already exist in the ordinance. Reynolds said they already have a trespass ordinance in the code.

After the discussion and vote, a person in attendance made a threat to a dog owner in attendance and Cano asked that it be made part of the record.

The council approved the appointment of Joseph Kennedy to the planning and zoning commission. Ladner said he had 35 years experience and had been recommended by the current chair.

Meeting adjourned.