City Council Discusses Ordinances to Increase GRT and Commits to Vision Zero to Minimize Vehicular Deaths and Injuries

GRANTS, NM – March’s Grants City Council Meeting included many discussions ranging from public safety, a code of ethics ordinance and a Gross Receipts Tax ordinance, multiple resolutions were also approved including amendments to the Wilson & Co. task order for the water and sewer construction project.

Jennifer Meador’s appointment to the Animal Care Board for a two-year term was approved. Meador has been a member of the Animal Care Center for one year and she has assisted in amendments to the current Animal Care Ordinance.

Police Chief Maxine Monte was not present at the meeting, but other officers gave the public safety report in her absence. Grants Police Department has been doing more community events to educate residents on various topics, one of the topics that was covered recently was general first aid which included tourniquet training and was held at The Way, The Truth, and The Life Ministries.

The police department is looking revive the public service aid program, with the service aid program they are hoping that it will assist with arrests and the time in between taking individuals to the jail. The police department is looking to have two positions open for this program and they have begun testing for the positions. The police department is also looking to hold an event in the coming weeks to test individuals who are interested in applying for the service aid position.

Fire Chief Mike Maes gave updates regarding the Grants Fire Department. Since the last City Council Meeting the Fire Department has had 230 hours of training. Maes took a two-day National Fire Academy class on Health and Wellness that was sponsored by the Cibola County Fire Marshal’s Office in conjunction with the New Mexico Fire Academy. The department has had two trainings with their medical director in reference with basic life support. Every month they will have training set up with their medical director and every other month they will have training set up with their pharmacist. The department has received their PRC transport license and will be soon going through an inspection to make sure their ambulance is fully stocked and correctly set up.

There was a discussion held regarding an update on the Geotech survey that the city is considering, this program would map out the city’s pipe system. Projects Coordinator Nadine Jiron said that the council needs to discuss what they want the Geotech to cover and how broad they want to be. Councilor Beverly Michael said that she had spoken with the pipes department and that there is a need for mapping the pipes, water and sewer, manholes, lift stations, and pressure valves so the construction crews and departments don’t go digging into a location without knowing where things are located.

The City Land Use Ordinance was discussed, and why it was put in place. City Manager Andrew Valencia spoke about how through the land use code, the fire department and police department have the ability to inspect and cite buildings that are not following the land use ordinance. Valencia said that the problem with the land use code is that when it was adopted there was no one on the ground to specify where things were identified as. Valencia said that in order for the city to get better at the ordinances that they follow they need to update their city land use ordinance because it is very vague and a lot of it has misinformation.

A GRT Ordinance was discussed, the council heard that GRT is decreasing due to state legislation that was passed. The proposed ordinance is for a Municipal Local Option Gross Receipts Taxes Ordinance. The ordinance overall proposed to increase the local option GRT by a .125 percent that has been decreased over the past two years by the state legislation. The increased GRT would go towards water and sewage infrastructure and EMS. During the pursuant discussion it was proposed by Michael that the GRT should also go towards road infrastructure as well. Councilor George Garcia said that he believes that they should look at what funding that they could receive from grants and other capital outlay funding before raising taxes again.

A Code of Ethics ordinance was discussed to address concerns regarding the ordinance which put the manager in the position to investigate complaints by members of the governing body relating to conduct. The new ordinance was proposed that would change this from having the city manager being in charge of investigating complaints, to hiring a third-party individual to investigate the complaints.

Vice President for Grants MainStreet Project William Yarborough gave a 2nd Quarterly Report on Grants Main-Street. For Quarter two revitalization statistics seven private buildings have been rehabilitated in the amount of $406,500, there is one new business providing one new job, one closed business with one lost job, zero business expansions and zero net new jobs. One building has been purchased in the amount of $278,000, there has been one public sector improvements, one grant has been applied for in the amount of $800, two events were held with $2,900 in profits, one promotion was given with a $50 profit and 30 volunteers over 240.5 hours volunteered in the amount of $4,810.

A Grants and Milan Safety Action Plan was presented by Paige Wolfrom from Wilson & Co. The safety plan is a Vision Zero action plan, the goal of Vision Zero is to take in consideration human failures and the human aspect when designing a roadway. The safety plan will also take in recommendations for all safety improvements within the city. The council approved a resolution of Vision Zero Pledge Commitment to mitigate the high rate of pedestrian and vehicular fatalities and injuries.

Les Gaines with Cibola Outdoors Recreation gave a presentation on what they are focusing on and the plans for the future which includes a pump park. Cibola Outdoors Recreation was also requesting the council to approve a resolution to support Cibola Outdoor Recreation so they can apply for grants. The council approved the resolution.

The council approved the cost of an emergency repair at or around 1323 Johnson St. On March 1, Grants Public Works received a call about a sink hole due to a collapsed sewer line, the costs for repairing the sink hole and repairing the sewer line by Compass engineering totals $35,798.32 including NMGRT.

Now that the construction for the Old Grants Water System Improvements is in progress, all funds that were previously awarded for planning and design have nearly been completely spent. Special Projects requested that the council approve an amendment to increase the current PO in place for the construction in the amount of $61,425. The amount of PO awarded for the Old Grants Sewer Project is also nearly expended and the Special Projects department requested the council to approve an amendment to increase the current PO in the amount of $50,277.24. The council approved both amendments.

The council approved the purchase of a new 2023 Dodge Durango Pursuit vehicle from Melloy Dodge to be used by Grants Police Department. The amount of the purchase is $43,247 and will come out of the police department’s budget.