By Lynn Janes
The town of Bayard held a special meeting April 3, 2025. Attendance included Mayor John L. Ojinaga, councilors, Frances Gonzales (phone), Eloy Gonzales and Gilbert Ortiz. Martha Salas, city clerk, also attended. Mayor Pro Tem Eloy Medina didn’t attend.
New business
The council approved the video surveillance and access control improvements for the public safety building and community center to be done by APIC Solutions. Salas said she would be presenting projects that have funding that will expire in June 2025. She wanted to have these moving forward right away so the funding would not be lost.
The state has approved APIC Solutions. Currently this would be the same company used at Cobre Consolidated Schools. Hector Carrillo, police chief, has been working with the schools and this system so he has seen how it works. She noted the cost of the cameras would be high, but they will be a good quality. The access control uses PIN numbers and so the system tracks who comes in and out of the building. The video surveillance system will be $58,939.04 and the access control will be $29,332.95. This system will be needed because the current system does not do what they need. Recently a CYFD federal compliance officer had reviewed the current system, and it did not meet the standards necessary. The compliance officer had come because of all the juvenile arrests that have been made recently. Western New Mexico University also uses the same system. The grant money left would cover the system, and it had been approved by the finance authority.
The community center would be considerably less at $35,786 and the grant would cover the cost. Both systems will start installing the end of April 2025.
Currently Salas has been looking at a surveillance system for city hall, maintenance department and the water tanks. The water tanks will be a requirement of the federal government.
Eloy Gonzales asked what the rent would be for the Community Center. Salas said for residents it would be $200, $200 deposit and nonresidents it would be $250, $250 deposit. Funerals $10 an hour up to four hours and a $25 deposit.
The council tabled the repair of the old fire station door by Benny’s Garage Door LLC. Recently something happened with the ambulance, and it hit it. They had received two quotes, one at $24,971.33 and Benny’s Garage Door LLC for $13,028.01. The city had only been able to obtain two quotes because no one else in the area does this kind of work. They did contact someone else that has not returned calls. Salas had hoped Medina would be at the meeting and see if the ambulance company would pay part of the bill.
Benny’s Garage Door LLC has done work for Bayard a number of times. They agreed it needed to be fixed but would wait to act after speaking to Medina about the sharing of the cost due to it being the fault of the EMS truck backing up. The cost would be coming out of the general fund.
The council didn’t take any action on the next item due to no bids being received. An RFP (request for proposal) had been sent out for a capacitor bank for the reactors project. Salas said she would just be providing an update. She had spoken to Mr. Trumm the engineer and it will be going out for bid again and hope to have bids by April 17, 2025. She hoped to have an award for the council to approve at the next meeting so they can move forward. This would also be grant money that needed to be used from capital outlay.
Ortiz spoke to a gate at the wastewater department that needed to be fixed, and they agreed to see if it could be done in house. Salas had not been aware of the issue, and they would talk to the wastewater department director.
Ortiz wanted to know if Trumm had control over the grant money. Salas explained to him only the city of Bayard did.
The council approved a cement project at the little league field done by CES (cooperative educational services)- Gordian. They have wanted to have the bottom field fixed. The big problem at the bottomed field has been the dugouts after it rains it makes a lot of mud. They have been leveling out the field and will be determining which sprinklers need replacement. The plan will be not to use the field until the field has been leveled, sprinklers replaced and reseeded. By next year they will have a nice field.
Ojinaga and Michael Paez, maintenance director, discussed the need to fix one of the gates and the fence behind the dugouts. Currently the kids have been entering the area with their four wheelers and tearing it up.
The bid they received through CES, and they take care of the procurement process. The company that provided this service for CES is Gordian, and they found GM Builders out of Las Cruces in the bidding process. Salas said the reason for using them would be they take care of the procurement requirement and have been very professional. They can do this much faster, and the city has limited time left to be able to use the funds. It will be scheduled right away.
Salas explained that she had asked for the special meeting because of the limited time to use the funds or lose them. She has also reached out to a new person at PNM to see what they can do about putting lights in the park. She hoped they had a program to put the lights in for them at no cost.
The council approved the purchase of the materials to repair the dugouts for $1,216.75. The maintenance department will do the repairs after the cement has been done. Grant money will cover the cost of the materials.
The council approved the project for the community center parking lot, ADA ramp and drainage to be done by CES Gordian. This project had never been brought before the council by the previous clerk. The vendor hired had not worked out. They had $42,000 left on that grant that expires June 2025 and will have a $305,000 grant that will be coming for the community center that will cover the rest. Although this quote had been more than the original, Paez had done some research, and this quote came in closer to what it should have been. It has been procured through CES. Paez explained everything this would cover. Ortiz wanted to know who would be in charge of the projects to make sure they would be done correctly. Salas said for the projects that Gordian would be doing they will be acting as the project managers in charge of GM Builders. The billing will be done on a progress basis and at the end the city will have approval on the project.
Action for personnel
The council approved a part-time maintenance employee. One of the full-time maintenance employees will be leaving for military deployment for 11 months with the National Guard on May 15, 2025. They have just hired the part-time animal control employee to work part time with maintenance. The approval will allow for him to take the part-time position and be treated as a full-time employee with the benefits.
Eloy Gonzales asked Paez how many maintenance employees he had. Paez said seven but could use one more. Salas said they would be looking at the budget and bring the request forward to the council.
Next regular meeting will be held April 23, 2025.
Two budget work sessions April 30, 2025, and May 6, 2025
Meeting adjourned.
