By Lynn Janes

The Village of Santa Clara held a regular meeting July 24, 2025. Mayor Arnold Lopez called the meeting to order. Mayor Pro Tem Albert Esparza, trustees, Peter Erickson and Ralph Trujillo attended. Olga Amador did not attend.

The council approved the agenda and past meeting minutes.

Mayors report

Lopez said they had a productive week, and two employees had some training. Sheila Hudman, village administrator, and Leandra Esparza, village clerk, had attended a comprehensive economic development course. Freeport McMoRan had been part of making it possible for them to attend.

Lopez had attended the events the previous week that the governor had been involved in. She had come for the groundbreaking of the new rec center and then she and her cabinet had a public meeting at the convention center and DFA (Department of Finance and Administration) had also been there to answer questions. They had come to Santa Clara the next day and made themselves available. Freeport McMoRan provided snacks for the meeting that lasted about three hours. The group had helped with a lot of information that will be useful in the future. All their questions had been answered.

The Bradley Hotel stucco has been finished and now they will need to put some color on it. Next year they hope to find some funding to start working on the inside.

The transition at the senior center has been moving forward. Lopez had met with people in Santa Fe and the governor on this. The state will be backing up everyone that will be taking on the senior center programs. The council had elected to take on the senior center and continuing to serve meals to the mining district people. Many people served do not just come from Santa Clare but also Hurley, Bayard, Hanover and Arenas Valley. Santa Clara took it over August 8, 2025. It will continue to be a safe place to come eat and hang out for senior citizens. They will be working hand-in-hand with the county to make it work out. The HMS (Hildalgo Medical Services) employees will become employees of Santa Clara. The director has left to work in the school at Mimbres closer to home. They have another person there that has worked for some time and will be taking that position over. If Santa Clara had not taken it over it would have closed.

Music in the park will be over after the weekend and school will be starting. The splash park will close the end of August but continue for a while to be open on the weekends.

Lopez said he had done a radio show with Raul Turrieta and had been nervous but by the end felt like he had just been in a basement talking to friends. A lot of good ideas had been shared, and Turrieta asked a lot of questions about the infrastructure and what Santa Clara had planned.

Public comments

Lopez said some people from Albuquerque had come to provide some information.

Linda Melendrez, Melendrez and Melendrez Law Firm, had come to bring the council an election resolution to review. Under election law the first thing they would have to do would be to pass a resolution that includes the ballot question. This will be for the general obligation question for street improvement. they will be looking for $700,000 which will be the bond capacity. It will allow the question to be on the November 4, 2025, ballot for the voters to vote for or against. These bonds will be repaid with property taxes.

Nathaniel Gomez-Valenzuela, Bosque Advisors, said they would need to put in 2-4 mills to pay for the bonds and explained how they came to that amount. The bonds would produce $60,000 to $66,000 in revenue. For a home that has a market value of $100,000 the homeowner would be paying an extra $135 per year, $11 per month. The property tax will be evaluated on the properties value. They take the market value and divide that by three and that would be the assessed value. The four mills translate into $4 per $1,000 assessed value.

Lopez asked if the property tax would only go up once. Valenzuela said yes. They will be having town hall meetings to address the residents' questions. Bosque Advisors will also be making a brochure to explain everything also.

Melendrez said they will have a deadline to have the question for the ballot and resolution to the county clerk so they can pass it on the Secretary of State. The deadline will be August 26, 2025. Lopez thanked them for coming down from Albuquerque to explain everything. He felt comfortable with the resolution.

Melendrez went over the process of what would happen when it had been approved in the election and timelines. It would close out about February, March or April of 2026 and at that time the fees for their services would come out. The village general fund would never see any of their professional fees.

Resolutions

The council approved resolution 2025-23 that calls for a bond election to be held in the village of Santa Clara on November 4, 2025, in conjunction with the general election. It will be for the issuance of general obligation bonds in the amount of $700,000. Lopez felt this would be a really good thing for the village.

The council tabled resolution 2025-24. Leandra Esparza said they have been waiting on information from Priscilla Lucero, Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments director. This had to do with the ICIP (infrastructure capital improvement plan)

The council tabled resolution 2025-25. Leandra Esparza said they have been waiting on information from Lucero. This had to do with the Santa Clara Comprehensive Plan.

The council passed the next four resolutions having to do with fourth quarter transfers, fourth quarter budget adjustments, fourth quarter report and final budget for fiscal year 2025-2026. Leandra Esparza went through each one and explained them and noted this would close out last fiscal year. The largest item in that budget had been water and sewer due to repairs and wells that had to be replaced. Lopez said next year they would be trying to take care of many repairs themselves and not using contractors. It will be less expensive.

Lopez thanked the council for approving everything and said, "I think we took a big step today on the bond." Lopez continued saying the only way they could move forward with road improvement and providing more curbs and gutters would be with the bond. He thanked Hudman and Leandra Esparza for the hard work on the budget.

The next day Lopez and the maintenance department would be heading to Hurley for their town clean up. They had come and helped Santa Clara with theirs.

First regular meeting to be held Thursday August 14, 2025, at 6:00 pm
Second regular meeting to be held Thursday August 28, 2025, at 6:00 pm

Meeting Adjourned