GRANTS, NM – This Month’s Coffee with the Managers was held on Thursday, August 3. The meeting focused on projects and budgets. Also, during the meeting, the termination of Donald Jaramillo was briefly discussed.
The meeting began with City Treasurer Victor Villalobos and City Clerk Frances Salas going over the budget. They spoke about how they sent their budget in to the Department of Finance and Administration, and the interim budget looked healthy and there were very few changes. Villalobos said it is a healthy budget, it is balanced and that they are good for this fiscal year. He also mentioned that the biggest change in the budget was giving increases to their personnel and continuing benefits. They then spoke about the Community Pantry and the situation regarding the back tax lien on the building.
Cibola County Manager Kate Fletcher then spoke about the county. She began by speaking about the traffic counts that were calculated through studies. She said, “What we are trying to do is prioritize and [use] data to show what roads need to be upgraded.” Fletcher said that they have hired engineers to do studies and traffic plans to figure out which roads they need to prioritize. Before they can be approved to maintain a road the road being constructed needs to be up to code. Fletcher said that there is a long process in order to begin construction and fix a road. Fletcher began speaking about the roads they had looked at. She said that they have looked at six or seven roads to determine how much they have spent to continue having the road. She said the outside areas are way busier than in town, through studies people are moving more in the rural areas than in town.
Cibola County Road Superintendent Edward Salazar spoke more about the roads and the process to upgrade them. He said that the process to upgrade starts with infrastructure, they started with cattle guards and replacing or cleaning out culverts. Following this they sit down with the road review board and determine which roads will be addressed first. He said the studies also helped the sheriff’s office with knowing how many people are out on the county roads. He ended his statement off saying that there are policies and procedures for the roads and that they are going to abide by them.
Fletcher said that the county approved for all county employees to receive 100 percent paid health insurance. She said that they want to retain their employees working in the area, they want them to work for the career. For this decision, they looked at how this would affect the budget of the county, according to a study conducted by the county, the cost to the county was an extra $98,000 a year for the 100 paid insurances. Fletcher said the insurances that the county has are Blue Cross Blue Shield, Presbyterian, dental, and vision. She said that the county is also working to get all the equipment for the Sheriff’s department. She said, “Public safety is one of our main [concerns], we are the umbrella, so they are working on it.”
Village Manager Linda Cooke then spoke about her updates regarding the village of Milan. She began with saying that they have finally finished Airport Road, but they are waiting on the final things for phase two and three. She also said that it will be a little difficult considering that it will be right by the animal clinic, but they are making sure that there will still be access to the clinic as well as other businesses while they are completing construction. The swimming pool is open, sometimes the pool needs to be closed due to aged equipment. They are working on replacing the aged equipment but also communications, three lifeguards are waiting to get trained. The pool has two full-time employees, one currently has a broken foot. On October 14 the village will be doing an event for the eclipse, they are currently still planning on what they want to do. She said the other day at the new Village Hall they didn’t have air conditioning, so employees had to use fans, but according to Cooke the employees were great and didn’t complain. They are also still working on the visitor’s center; it is coming along according to Cooke. The village is also trying to get more involved in outdoor recreation.
Grants City Councilmen George Garcia and Fred Rodarte were present at the meeting to answer questions regarding the termination of the City Manager’s contract. Garcia said that the comments regarding the charter were an error. He said that there were misquotes that people can read from themselves. According to Garcia they were bound in executive session which prohibited them from speaking about anything. He said that there were a lot of issues, but the one main issue was financial errors. He said with the community pantry error someone had to be held accountable. Garcia said that it wasn’t an easy decision, that anyone who has been in management or supervisory positions knows that sometimes you need to put friendships aside and do what’s best for the people.
Rodarte said he spent a lot of time thinking about the decision, and the decision was not something they just arrived at. He said the attorney advised them to limit what they say. He said that he believed that the council was united about the decision and that the citizens should respect the decision of the council. He also said that the council made the decision with full understanding of how it’s going to affect the city. Rodarte said, “It’s going to be difficult to make that transition, but I personally believe that our city is going to move forward.” He ended by saying that they are going to be very careful picking a new manager.