“About to go septic”

CITY OF GRANTS, N.M. – The City of Grants reported at a special meeting on July 12 that the wastewater treatment facility in Grants is about to go septic. The facility – located at 5001 George Hanosh Boulevard in the City of Grants – services the Grants/Milan area and cost nearly $18 million to construct. After construction, the facility was expected to exist for 20 years without any major issues, but on July 12 the city reported that due to a failure from contractors, the facility was not receiving the maintenance it required, and as such, all five blowers on the facility stopped working. The city also doled out lodger’s tax money to non-profits at this special meeting.

Septic

The City of Grants Wastewater Treatment Plant cost the city roughly $17 million to construct, according to City of Grants Mayor Martin “Modey” Hicks. The facility was built with four blowers which help to separate solids from liquids and are integral in the disinfection process.

Because of a failure from contractors to conduct the proper maintenance on the facility, the blowers are no longer useable. According to information given at the July 12 meeting, the cost of fixing the now-broken blowers will range around $200,000.

With the city’s financial problems becoming clearer, Cibola County is transferring $200,000 to the City of Grants. The Grants City Council voted unanimously to accept the money and put it toward the facility.

“This is why we’re getting rid of Jacobs, you guys,” Mayor Hicks said.

“There are some improvements that we need to make at the plant. The estimate is around $200,000, it may be a little less, may be a little more. These are emergency needs at the plant in order to help the plant live a longer life. We just spent $15 million on the plant, but we have issues and if we don’t address them, this 25–30-year plant will last us 10 years. You guys don’t want that,” Special Projects Coordinator Donald Jaramillo told the council.

The council asked Jaramillo what happened, and why this event occurred. Before Jaramillo could respond, Mayor Hicks said, “Let’s do that – let’s talk about that in closed session – well, let’s not beat around the bush. This is why, we’re getting rid of Jacobs, guys, because of what’s been going on at that plant. Not only that but we can’t afford to pay them anymore, that’s the main reason.”

City of Grants Manager Vanessa Chavez said, “I just want to thank the county for hearing our emergency and for helping us with this funding. Our wastewater treatment plant was about to go septic – all four blowers were down; these blowers are supposed to have a life of 20-years. In three years’ time, they’re not functional. There is clearly some preventative maintenance that’s not happening, and I’ll just stop there.”

Funding nonprofits

Depending on the amount of money that comes into the city from people staying at area hotels, the city may have additional money which it can grant to area non-profits, this money has a series of stipulations on its use and is intended to draw in new and extra people to the city. This fund is known as lodger’s tax and is meant to be used for advertising the City of Grants.

• The Grants/Cibola County Chamber of Commerce requested $95,000.

“What happened to our partnership?” Mayor pro tem Rick Lucero asked after Mayor Hicks said that the chamber is looking to stop hosting the Fourth of July Parade, an event owned by the Grants Rodeo Association, according to historical records, that the chamber puts on to help the rodeo association.

Mayor Hicks protested that members of the chamber board called him a narcissist because of a meme on Facebook depicting the mayor welcoming people to the parade, “Is Mayor Tim Keller a narcissist for welcoming people to Albuquerque?” The mayor asked, explaining that the Sunport in Albuquerque, New Mexico has a sign with Mayor Keller welcoming travelers to the city.

Around the 30-minute mark of the meeting, Mayor Hicks said, “But, I know for a fact, they have a guy that put in for this job who has two master’s degrees, one in marketing and one in gentrification – how to take care of towns. If they hire that guy, I don’t have a problem giving them that $95,000. Because he’ll bring [Grants Mainstreet Project Inc.] online, he’ll unscrew that building over there and take care of it, unlike what we’ve had these last five years where we’ve had a director who shows up and works eight to four.” The councilors asked the mayor if the new chamber director has been hired yet and he responded, “No, it’s not a done deal yet. There had been three interviews there, I looked at all of them. In my opinion, if they [the hiring committee for both the chamber and New Mexico Mining Museum, who share a director.] don’t hire the one with degrees, with paper work – they’re fools. I’m saying this up-front guys, because we have been through this with the chamber, we have had directors [at the chamber and mining museum] who don’t even have a [General Equivalency Diploma].” The mayor continued, “We now have a person with beaucoup experience, beaucoup paperwork – that’s who they need to hire, and if they don’t, we might want to be looking at that.” The mayor said that this candidate, whom he didn’t name, asked for a $40,000 starting salary.

“We need that partnership back,” Pro tem Lucero asked.

The city council approved the full funding request of the chamber, with stipulations so that the city can see how the money is being spent by requiring reports from the chamber. The chamber already sends similar reports to the lodger’s tax committee on a monthly basis, along with all other entities that receive lodger’s tax funding.

The council agreed that if the chamber doesn’t show significant change or start bringing more money into the city, they will look at cutting the chamber’s budget the next time they request money.

• The New Mexico Mining Museum requested $75,000

Recognizing that the chamber and mining museum share a director, the city council agreed that more oversight was necessary to ensuring that the mining museum – which is tied to the chamber – is completing its mission and general scope of work.

Mayor Hicks announced that between the chamber and mining museum, the director is in charge of $170,000, the city council agreed that they have not seen any substantial return on this investment from either board.

The mining museum’s full requested amount was approved, with the same oversight required of the chamber.

• Grants MainStreet Project Inc. requested $9,000

The council discussed funding this program, explaining that if the city agrees to fund Grants MainStreet Project Inc., the village and county will also fund the program. The mayor explained that the mainstreet program is important because it has acquired grants for the city and helped beautify the area.

“That’s actually the only reason I haven’t cut their throat, guys, is because they actually do get us a little bit of cash,” Mayor Hicks said. The rest of the council agreed that mainstreet was important to the community. Mayor Hicks said that he would like to see the candidate he was speaking about during the chamber portion of the meeting become the executive director, Grants Main-Street does not share the chamber’s director.

The council agreed to fund mainstreet in the full amount.

• Mount Taylor Quadrathlon requested $20,000

“This one here, I’d actually like to give them money because they do things for the town,” Mayor Hicks said, “We’ll look at them again next year, and if they – or the rodeo association – need more money, we can look at it.”

The council approved the Mount Taylor Quadrathlon’s full funding request.

• Cibola Trail Alliance requested $10,000

The council agreed that the trail alliance has “done a real good job,” and explained that the work the alliance has done has been nice enough that the federal government has tried to take credit for the work the alliance has done.

The council approved the trail alliance’s funding request in full.

• Cibola Arts Council requested $5,000

There was no debate over funding the arts council, but the city councilors agreed that the arts council contracted should be reviewed as the city does not feel they are upholding their part of the agreement to bring arts and culture to Grants.

“I would look at axing this thing, okay? Give them money to cover their rent and let them come up with money to fund their own thing,” Mayor Hicks said.

The arts council was funded in their full amount but their contract with the city will be reviewed.

• Grants Rodeo Association requested $27,500

“I would like to give them an additional $5,000 tonight,” Councilor Fred Padilla said, a statement which rose eyebrows from the council.

“Make that motion then,” Mayor Hicks beckoned. The council agreed that the rodeo association is “always doing something” that brings people into the community.

The Grants Rodeo Association received a total of $32,000. This was the only entity to see extra money given to them.

With no debate the council passed the full funding of the below agencies:

• Historical Society Museum requested $5,000

• Cibola County Aviation Museum requested $3,500

The council agreed with Mayor Hicks as he said, “We need to do what’s right, not just for the chamber, not just for mainstreet, not just for the hospital, but for everyone.”