By Lynn Janes

The town of Bayard held a regular meeting January 21, 2026. Attendance included Mayor John L. Ojinaga, Eloy Medina (phone), Eloy Gonzales, Gilbert Ortiz and Charles Gray. Martha Salas, city clerk, also attended.

The council approved the agenda.

The mayor made his appointments for the next year with the approval of the council on all.

Mayor pro tem would be Eloy Gonzales this year. Ojinaga said he had made the change from Medina because Medina has so many other boards and commission responsibilities. He also serves as the EMS supervisor. Ojinaga felt he needed someone that would be available at a moment's notice. Gonzales had been on the council for three years and is retired so he had a lot more availability. Gonzales abstained from the vote.

Salas will remain city clerk/treasurer. Ojinaga said she had done a good job and fixed a problem with the audit

Hector Carrillo will remain police chief. Ojinaga said he had made sure all officers had the qualifications and training needed.

Stephen Estrada will remain wastewater director. Ojinaga said he had picked up the department, and the crew has done a great job.

Sam Arellano will remain public works director. Ojinaga said he has done a lot for the city, and many people are calling him to say the town had been looking good.

Gabriel Gonzales will remain fire chief. Ojinaga said he had also picked up the department and has made sure all had been trained and having everything up to par.

Ojinaga appointed Gray to the beautification committee, Medina to planning and zoning, Eloy Gonzales to little league, Otiz to the housing committee and Gray to the library committee.

Public input none currently.

The council approved the consent agenda that included minutes from December 17, 2025, accounts payable and department head reports. It also included the municipal judge attendance to a judges' conference in Albuquerque.

Planning and Zoning

Cordell Jones, planning and zoning chair, came to present a request they had approved and would be asking for the council approval. Margaret Humble and Angela Trujillo would like to divide 406 Chino Street. They have no use for the back part of a large piece of property, and it is not useable for them. They want to sell it to someone that can put a home on it or build one. The committee had reviewed the request and have let her know she will have to do several things to do what they want. Specifically, the property would be land locked and water accessibility would have to be found. They would have to have a variance for gas and water to be brought to the property through the existing property. They will also need an official survey. They have agreed to all the terms. The lot size would be adequate for the city ordinance requirements. Jones continued with some other things that would need to be done. The council approved the request to divide the property.

New business

Melissa Rackel had come to address something with code enforcement. She had come before on this issue about the sidewalk improvements Bayard had made that had caused her property to be flooded. The contractors had destroyed her survey monuments, pillaged aggregates and scraped the property down two feet. It had become a flooding hazard. She had previously provided video for the council. "The city continues to protect the contractors. Destruction of the survey monuments is a criminal act." She continued to accuse them of theft by taking the soil and stored aggregates. "I sent a notice of tort, and I received no response." She said her concerns had not been addressed on any level.

She has 11 citations from code enforcement from last year. Now she has a second set of citations for the same violations. She has called code enforcement, and she does not respond and called out the police chief saying she had tried to talk to him on another issue regarding criminal charges. Carrillo said her issues had been addressed with the filing of criminal charges for the theft of property. She and Carrillo had exchanges for a while.

Carrillo noted the municipal judge had left the meeting when Rackel started to speak so he will not have any information since he has not heard the cases yet. Code enforcement had prepared a packet for the council, concerning the events of this issue. Rackel owns three properties in Bayard and pictures had been provided in the packet. "All she has been asked to do is clean her yards for four years. The weeds are pretty tall." None of the homes have utilities hooked up to them. Rackel had left the meeting. She had not been approachable, and when she came to talk to the code enforcement officer, she accused her of driving for the president of the United States. Carrillo didn't know what she meant by that. They had tried numerous times to work with her. She has not been the only one to be cited. "We are not targeting Rackel or harassing her in any way. We are focusing on getting the city cleaned up."

Salas wanted to address her comment on not having any response to her tort claim. She had filed a tort claim, Salas submitted it to the insurance company. It had been when she first started working for the city. The insurance came back and denied her. The process had taken place. The tort had been about her property that had flooded, and she has said it happened due to the construction. The contractors had brought in dirt and gravel for her.

Carrillo said Rackel did not live at any of the three properties, not that it mattered. Carrillo added they have the option of citing her daily but have only done it weekly. Code enforcement had been able to have others cleaned up by citing people weekly.

The council approved the sale of the fire department rescue truck. They had received it a while back and must eject it about twice a month and have to take it almost to Deming each time because it has been the only place they can have the truck running fast enough to clear out the filter. Gabriel Gonzales said they had begun talking to the fire marshal to see what options they had. They needed something that would fit their needs better. The department has approval to sell the truck at the appraised value of $179,000. Another department had reached out and wants to purchase it. They will be replacing the rescue truck with a gas-powered SUV. In selling the truck, it will allow them to purchase another command unit to replace the current command unit. He will keep the council updated.

The council approved the purchase of Firstdue Software. This software would be able to be an all-in-one solution by having the capability to do reporting, asset tracking and money management. The state fire marshal uses this software and will allow them to drop a few systems, saving money. It will also integrate with the central dispatch system. Gabriel Gonzales continued to review all the software capabilities. The initial fee will be $10,000 and every year after being $8,000 with 24/7 support. It will be paid out of the fire fund.

The council approved the purchase of two vehicles with the funds from the sale of the rescue truck. This had been discussed earlier, and they will have money left over.

The council approved the contract with Yvonne Gonzales to be the city attorney for Bayard after her presentation. She had already been working with Bayard on some things since July 2025. She has represented Santa Clara as their legal counsel for thirteen years. Before that she had worked with Jim Foy and his law firm. She had come from out of state and because of no reciprocity had to take the New Mexico BAR exam in 2009. She has been a member of the BAR in Connecticut and Massachusetts and had also been on the appeals court in New York. She had worked exclusively with ten municipalities in Massachusetts. In addition to her  law degree, Yvonne Gonzales has a master's degree from Yale in environmental science, and her undergraduate degree  isfrom the University of Texas in El Paso where she grew up. 

She has enjoyed working with Salas and the mayor. She had outlined her hourly fees for the council in the contract. If a conflict arose between Santa Clara and Bayard, her loyalties would be with Santa Clara but in the thirteen years she had not seen, when they would have had a conflict. She continued for some time highlighting all her services and how things would be handled. Using some of the past situations in Santa Clara, she had examples of how she could help Bayard where they had not had help previously.

Salas said Yvonne Gonzales had been very helpful with some issues that an attorney had been needed. The attorney they had contracted either would never return calls or said he had a conflict. "I needed an answer, and she had helped and was easy to work with. I asked her to submit a contract for the council to review." Carrillo said he had been waiting to have a city attorney that he could talk to. He had to always contact Albuquerque if he needed legal advice and it always took days. "This will be a real benefit to the police department." He had been on the council in Santa Clara, and he remembered she always came to the meetings and answered questions. He recommended the council bring her on board. Ojinaga commented he had come to the council meetings for a few years before and had never seen the city attorney. Yvonne Gonzales has helped Bayard a lot recently, and she had not even been under contract.

Yvonne Gonzles had Steven Crawford from Comcast speak to the franchise agreement. He has worked with multiple franchises around the western states, and he had worked with Yvonne Gonzales on the Santa Clara agreement. The council had received a copy of the agreement before the meeting. This will be a cable franchise and not exclusive, so any other provider could come in and have a franchise issued. For exchange of right-of-way, the city will collect five percent of gross revenues. She had worked to tighten up the agreement to cover all aspects, and she went over everything. The previous agreement had expired in 2013, and it had been operating on a month-to-month basis under the old agreement. It will be a ten-year contract and, the council approved the agreement.

Ordinances and resolutions

The council approved resolution 1-2026 for participation in the Que Linda Program administered by the New Mexico Department of Transportation. Salas said this was for a grant received for the tri-city area and Bayard will be the fiscal agent for $86,400. This resolution accepts the grant. They have rules that must be followed, but it will be to hire a full-time person, contracted until June 2026 that will plan events for Santa Clara, Hurley and Bayard to do cleanup projects and events. It will be what Freeport McMoRan had been doing previously. Salas said in the past the beautification committee had some of their fundraising to be used in the cleanups. A discussion about the alleyways came up, and a certain portion of those will be the responsibility of the homeowners. Salas said they will be helping the elderly that cannot do their portions. Ortiz said the alleyways needed to be cleaned up because that has been the reason for rattlesnakes and recently, he had spotted two Gila monsters and others had seen them, also. They will be looking into how to handle the Gila monsters.

The council approved resolution 2-2026 budget adjustment. Salas said Medina had to leave the meeting due to another meeting in Santa Fe. The adjustment had been for money awarded by Freeport McMoRan in the amount of $58,000 for their master plan.

Department head reports

Salas said her office had been working on quarterly reports due January 31, 2026. They will have them done before they leave for Santa Fe. She, deputy clerk, mayor and council would be attending the legislature and have a lot of meetings lined up for Santa Fe and went over the things they would be advocating for to benefit Bayard.

Carrillo thanked them for another year of employment and said they had just been working on day-to-day operations. The department had 192 calls and 36 generated offense incident reports. The Grant County sheriff's department had responded to 17 calls for Bayard, a significant decrease. The department had been assisting the schools with security and the games.

Salas had forgotten something she needs the residents to be aware of. They have been closer to the new 911 addressing that will make changes in people's addresses. Public input meetings would begin to provide information on the process and how it will transpire. Most addresses would change. None of the addresses match with utilities, delivery services and ambulances. She knew people had their addresses for many years and they would be upset. It will happen within the year.

Estrada said recently they had an electrical failure. Dement Electric had come out and a motor had failed. They can't obtain replacement parts due to its age, so have ordered a replacement. For the time being another motor had been retrofitted for the interim. He continued with a comprehensive report on everything that had been happening and other repairs that had been done. Salas said they had capital outlay grants and funding from Freeport McMoRan that would cover all the repairs. Ortiz offered his assistance because he had done some of these projects in his career.

The staff had been doing well and being cross trained with maintenance.

The discussion went to Trumm Engineering and what he had and had not done. They will be going out for an RFP (request for proposal) for an engineer but must follow procurement rules and requirements.

Arellano said they had been checking wells, pumps, etc. They had started fixing the alleys as far as erosion because of some big rainstorms. A plan for clearing vegetation had been made. The crew had done some work at the dog pound both inside and outside. A speed bump had been installed, and they will be painting the others. He had a list of a lot of other projects they had been working on that included the little league field and structures. Ortiz again offered his assistance because he had done some of these projects in his career.

Renee Provincio, librarian, said she had passed her certification and now will be a certified librarian. She had a long list of all the events happening at the library and had been happy to report she would have AARP free tax help starting February 9, 2026. A summer reading program will be offered through the New Mexico public education department (PED). The instructors and leaders will be paid by the PED. She had put together a strategic planning committee to help draft a plan that will guide the direction of the library for the next several years.

A representative from the beautification committee had come to provide a report. They had met and discussed doing a memorial for Vern Cravens at the park. They had discussed several options and settled on a sign of some kind. They have $9,000 raised from doing fundraisers and talked about helping do the alleyways.

Salas remembered something she wanted to report. She had met with Cindy Sanchez, who volunteers at the animal shelter. They had not received as much funding as requested but did receive $85,000. Sanchez will be putting together a plan for the best use of the funding and Salas would email it to the council to review. Sanchez thanked them for how great they had been to work with. She said she was a transplant from California. "I am excited about Bayard." She said they listened and had good solid questions that had value. They have been working with the dogs and Sanchez has an apprentice trainer to help, and they have taken dogs up to Albuquerque where they have been able to be adopted quickly.

Mayor and council reports

Eloy Gonzales thanked the mayor for his trust to make him mayor pro tem. "If anything comes up, I will be available." He welcomed Gray and said Medina would be a tough act to follow. "He was very knowledgeable. I will do the best I can."

Gray said this was his first meeting. "I can only improve from here." He felt they had excellent leadership and fsaid he was ortunate to come in on an upswing in the town.

Ortiz congratulated Gray and added the new Gila monster neighbors would be a problem.

Ojinaga said he had been there three years and the first year had been a battle, but everything had started to look good, and it made him look good.

Next regular meeting will be held February 18, 2026.

Meeting adjourned.