By Lynn Janes

The town of Bayard held a regular meeting May 28, 2024. Attendance included Mayor John L. Ojinaga, Mayor Pro Tem Eloy Medina, Councilors Eloy Gonzales, and Gilbert Ortiz. Frances Gonzales didn't attend. Martha Salas, city clerk/treasurer also attended.

The council approved the consent agenda that include the April police report, meeting minutes May 13, 2024, and May 23, 2024, and accounts payable.

Old business

The council approved the general contract for services between Bayard and Ideum master plan for the Mine Mill Hall. This had been talked about in the last meeting and the funds needed to be used by June 30, 2024. They thought they would lose them. Salas said Priscilla Lucero, director, Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments, reached out to the Department of Tourism, from which they had obtained the grant and had been able to secure it by the stipulation of the money being obligated by June 30, 2024. The grant had been for $50,000 and would be used to create a master plan for the Mine Mill Hall.

Ojinaga asked Salas what she knew about the Terrazas building that The Commons had been supposed to purchase. He had heard they backed out. Salas said she had heard they backed out also and it had something to do with the appraisal. She will be meeting with them and will know later what happened. Gilbert Ortiz said he knew the building had some major problems and had a fire in the past.

New business

The council approved the new budget. Salas had provided the budget to the council and a recap page for reference. She cautioned the cash account really had only $187,000 and the rest would be in and out for grants. She had added the utility increases as spoken about in the budget meeting. Although $6 million looked good they had to realize most of that goes to projects or in funds that cannot be used on anything different. "Many of the funds are restricted like the police and fire fund or must be used for salaries."

The council wanted to know what the increase for the utility bill would be for the average customer. Salas said over $5, and it would include the water, trash, wastewater, and trash. She added that the residents had not had an increase in two years.

Salas had not included the items in the budget that they would be asking for with the ICIP (infrastructure capital improvement plan). The ICIP will be due in July. In the past it did not need to be turned in until Septemberr, but they changed the due date this year.

Medina talked about the DFA (department of finance authority) fund for firefighters, and Salas said she would look into applying for it. She cautioned that the grant would not last, and they had to consider how they would pay for the firefighters after the grant ran out. She will investigate it more.

Resolutions

The council approved resolution 9-2024 for correction fees. Salas had spoken to the attorney for Santa Clara, and they will be doing this also. In July the court fees will not come to the city any longer due to changes in the state laws passed. The municipal judge for Bayard had come to Salas on this matter and said he would be requesting that the fines be doubled to make up for the loss of that income. Currently the fund has $18,199 approximately, and this resolution would allow for it to be moved to general funds.

The council discussed the loss of the funds and the need to watch the court closely. In the past they had to support it but now will be the sole support. Hector Carrillo, police chief, reminded them that when they have someone incarcerated the jail charges Bayard $130 a day and they will need to monitor that closely, also.

The council went into closed session

The council came back into open session and said no action had taken place

Mayor and councilor reports

Ojinaga asked about the Alta Vista Street project.

Michael Paez, maintenance director, said they had to break a lot of rock but have been making progress.

The next regular meeting will be held June 10, 2024

Meeting adjourned.