By Mary Alice Murphy

The agenda item at the Grant County Commission meeting on May 22, 2025, under new business had the title of FY25-26 Non-Metro New Mexico Area on Aging (NMAA) Funds Commitment.

County Manager Charlene Webb said she had received the letter from Hidalgo Medical Services, dated May 13, 2025, RE: Local Fund Commitment FY 25-26.

"As part of our contract with HMS to provide senior services, we have allocated $50,000 as our match," Webb said.

The letter requests that the county complete the Local Funds Commitment form provided by the NMAAA, as a required part of submitting the FY 25-26 budget to NMAAA, and it helps ensure that senior services in Grant County are funded.

The letter continues: "Based on the state and federal funds we anticipate receiving for YF [sic] 25-26, we are projecting a $88,205.49 budget deficit for the Mimbres Senior Center and a $121,990.92 budget deficit for the Gila Senior Center. We respectfully request that you consider a funding commitment beyond historical levels to help provide these vital services to seniors in need."

Signed by HMS Chief Executive Officer Dan Otero, it asks: "Please complete this form and return it to us no later than Thursday, May 22nd."

District 2 Commissioner Eloy Medina clarified: "They are asking for an extra $200,000 beyond our regular budget?"

Webb replied in the affirmative.

Medina noted that it said for the Mimbres senior centers they have cooks, assistants, transporters. He said according the the conversation he had they have one full-time, and two that work part-time. "Are they including someone else at HMS as part of their request? I want an open book. Yesterday at our quarterly meeting in Mimbres at the senior center, we heard an earful about the services, and no one from HMS was there. I have problems with this. I support seniors, but we need more transparency."

Webb said she thinks the funding also pays for an administrative assistant and the director of senior services.

District 1 Commissioner and Chair Chris Ponce had a lot of questions. He said he too supports the senior centers, as seniors, veterans and kids are his priorities, but "there needs to be transparency. We have no transparency on what we would be paying for. I'm not good with that. I understand the deficits, but if we say no, HMS or their board will then come at us and say we didn't support this and it would give them an excuse to blame someone else."

Planning and Community Development Director Joseph Holguin noted that they also had two ICIP (infrastructure capital improvement plan) requests for state funding, one each from the Gila and Mimbres senior centers. These are separate from the county's ICIP. He noted that he had talked to the Public Works Director Jason Lockett and the HMS senior centers manager Aaron Holmes, and learned that the Cliff needs new flooring, as there are tripping hazards and a new range, as well as parking lot improvements because of tripping hazards, LED lighting, and fencing for security, as well as mini-splits to maintain a temperature for the food storage, and improvements to the restroom. The Mimbres Center has similar requests, and a request for a Hotshot vehicle for delivery of food.

Medina said he had talked to Lt. Gov. Howie Morales who said funding for senior services was going well on the state level.
"Yesterday I heard from seniors about the importance of having the meals. They come to the center to eat and to have conversations with others, and then go back home to be by themselves. Many have lost their spouses and the only time they see other people is at the senior center. I heard some heart-breaking stories."

District 4 Commissioner Eddie Flores said he echoes both Ponce and Medina. 'But we hare here to be stewards of taxpayer money. I just heard from a constituent that he had lost his primary physician because the doctor had left HMS. Who knows what they are doing. Maybe I need to meet with the seniors in Cliff to find out what's happening."

District 5 Commissioner Tom Shelley said it seems they have some of the information needed, but it also seems premature to approve this increase in funding, especially since it is not in the preliminary budget. He said pages in the document had a breakdown of who was paid what, " but what is 'other?' It just seems like we don't have enough time to make a decision."

District 3 Commissioner Nancy Stephen said she, too, had questions. The county has already allocated $50,000, but HMS wants almost $200,000 more to cover their shortfall. "It doesn't feel good being over a barrel. 'Give us $200,000 or the seniors will suffer.' If we table this, how long do we need to work on it. If we say senior services will not stop, there needs to be a timeline and a plan."

Ponce made the motion to table the issue, and Flores seconded it.

The next item addressed by county contract attorney Ben Young noted the county has three contracts with HMS, the two senior centers in Gila and Mimbres and the Tu Casa facility for behavioral health. He said the contracts provide for an exchange of services in lieu of rent.

"Part of that exchange requires regular accounting and documentation that's submitted by the contractor to the county for review," Young continued. "It's pretty detailed in each of these leases about what is required in there. This would give an opportunity for the county to request all of those documents to be provided. I think that that would actually provide some of the backup information that is being talked about right now. The agreements provide a number of different options. If, based on what has been discussed, the county can absolutely decide that it wants to cease doing business at all with HMS. That is an option that would be a termination for cause. There are provisions in the agreements that would require certain types of notice and opportunity secured with that. And there are other provisions. There are terminations for no cause that are allowed within there. And then there's also the the opportunity to basically request an audit for us to inspect records, to receive records, and to make an informed decision one way or the other down the line. My suggestion, based on what has been discussed today in previous interactions, has been to pursue the kind of the requesting documents route, to receive those as soon as possible in order to make a decision."

Ponce said the taxpayer monies are going to a 501c3, so the public needs to know how the money is sourced. "We have these contracts with HMS. This is why the Grant County Commission is involved.We can put aside the other stuff that's gone on, like the providers and all their business. But to me, HMS needs to go back to the basics. On Tu Casa and where it was, and we as commission need to be leaders and start providing and looking at other avenues to oversee Tu Casa so it provides the services that our community deserves. You know, HMS also seems like it is not doing very well. So where do we, as a Board of Commissioners, come up and help our constituents, help these services, make sure that these services are given to our community? So I think, you know, instead of me, you know, jumping in, I think we need to go with the attorney recommendation and get these documents that are required by the contracts."

Young noted that the contracts exist as they were written, but addendums could open the door to negotiations.

Medina said he had heard a lot at the meeting the prior day. HMS has an accountability to provide the services that are scheduled that the seniors expect when they go to the center on Tuesday and Wednesday for actives. " I think within that contract, I think we need to put some parameters that say we're going to have a board that's going to help move this process along, but we're going to have to be able to do some different things within the contract, not just when we give you this, it has to be a little bit more."

Young noted that no action needed to be taken on the contracts, because it seemed the commission had a consensus on gathering information.