GRANTS, N.M. – Fire mitigation, flood control, overgrown properties and the need for more activities for local youth took center stage at the April 2 Coffee with the Managers meeting, where much of the discussion focused on the City of Grants and its efforts to address long-standing maintenance and safety concerns.
Cibola County Manager Kate Fletcher was not present for this month’s meeting. Much of the morning’s presentation and questioning centered on Grants City Manager Andrew Valencia, with Village of Milan Manager Candi Williams also weighing in during the discussion. Cibola County Fire Marshal Dustin Middleton also spoke about wildfire preparedness, Firewise planning and evacuation readiness.
Valencia opened the meeting by highlighting work the City of Grants has been doing with the county and village on fire mitigation and cleanup, especially in arroyos and areas with heavy overgrowth.
He said the city recently obtained state funding for equipment aimed at flood and fire mitigation, including a specialized machine being used to clear vegetation and sediment from drainage channels. Valencia showed photos and videos of cleanup work underway in the arroyo between First and Second streets, where crews have been trying to remove overgrowth, improve drainage and reduce fire risk along the trail corridor.
He said the city has also been using a property-maintenance- task-force to address heavily overgrown properties and fields where fire could easily spread to nearby homes.
“This is kind of stuff that people don’t see unless you’re walking the trail or walking the arroyo,” Valencia said. “Out of sight is not out of mind for us.”
City officials said one major goal is creating firebreaks between open fields and adjacent properties, especially in places where trash, wood piles and thick brush have built up over many years. Grants fire personnel said those kinds of fuel sources can quickly intensify a brush fire and make it much harder for firefighters to control.
A Grants Fire Lieutenant said the department is working with streets and parks crews on several locations, including behind the police department, near Roosevelt and O’Kelley, and around San Jose Drive.
“When we say clean your properties, it’s not necessarily just pulling weeds,” the official said. “It’s all the stuff that becomes fuel in an emergency.”
Questions from the public quickly turned to the city’s cleanup of arroyos, drainage areas and the large pond near the trail system. One resident noted that after the screen covers were removed in one section under Santa Fe Avenue, water had been collecting on the sidewalks and creating standing water.
Valencia said the city expects water flow to improve once cleanup and sediment removal are finished and the aeration system is back in operation. He said cleanup at the larger pond is expected to begin in early May, with the goal of keeping water moving and reducing stagnation and mosquitoes.
One of the more talkedabout pieces of equipment at the meeting was the city’s newly acquired remote-operated slope mower, which Valencia called a “Spider”-type machine designed for steep and uneven terrain. He said the equipment cost about $700,000 and was purchased using state flood-control funding rather than local tax dollars.
Valencia said the machine came from overseas and took several months to arrive. He added that Grants is one of only a handful of municipalities in the country with this type of equipment.
Residents also asked about the long-term plan for arroyos that require repeated annual clearing. Valencia acknowledged the concern and said the city is seeking funding for lining portions of the drainage system to reduce buildup and make maintenance easier. He said some of the current conditions reflect years of deferred maintenance rather than a recurring oneyear problem.
“The sad part is it has not been cleaned over here like this in about 10 years,” he said.
Another resident raised concerns about salt cedar growth in the arroyos, asking whether the city intends to remove the invasive vegetation. Valencia said the city’s immediate focus is year-round cleanup and maintenance, though he acknowledged salt cedar remains part of the broader problem.
The discussion also turned to code enforcement and what authority the city has over unsafe or neglected private properties. Valencia said the process is often slow because the city must follow state law, beginning with notices and escalating to citations and possible cleanup with a lien placed on the property if the owner fails to act.
He said the city recently hired a new code enforcement officer who has already been actively working cases. Valencia added that when a fire occurs on a property, the city gains additional authority to secure the site and move through the cleanup process.
Residents were told the city is currently working through several nuisance-property cases under that process.
Another topic that drew attention was the relocation of one of Grants’ veteran memorials. A resident questioned why the memorial had been removed and said many veterans did not know what had happened to it.
Officials explained that veterans had previously asked to have all memorials grouped together at Veterans Park, and that the relocated memorial is being moved there as part of broader beautification and revitalization work in that area.
The city also gave a brief update on fire facilities.
Valencia said the city previously completed an addition to Station 1 and has received about $4.5 million for a new fire station at El Park. He said the existing station will continue to operate.
A lengthy stretch of the meeting focused on youth needs, recreation and the lack of things for children and teenagers to do in Grants.
One resident expressed frustration about closures and delays involving youth spaces and asked what the city is doing to build for the future. Officials responded that the city is working to replace an unsafe basketball court and hopes to have a new court in place by sometime in June. They also said new playground equipment is being pursued, including a fire-themed play area near the location of the future fire station.
Representatives also discussed efforts tied to the library area, where the city has been asking what kinds of educational and recreational amenities could be added for youth.
Denise Hanson, speaking during the discussion, said a recent T-Mobile grant award of $50,000 will support revitalization in the Fire and Ice Park area. She said the long-term vision includes bringing back movies in the park, music performances and other activities. Hanson also said she has been in conversations with Grants High School and that officials are looking at a possible pump track and RC park through future grant opportunities.
Several speakers stressed that youth engagement is directly tied to broader concerns about fire-setting, graffiti, drugs and crime.
“If you don’t keep them occupied -- wandering minds and wandering hands,” one resident commented.
Hanson said the city’s beautification grant has already created opportunities to employ local youth in cleanup work, and that officials have been using that experience to better understand what young people want and what might keep them engaged in more positive activities.
The broader question of communication also surfaced repeatedly. One resident argued that many people in town do not know what projects are underway and said positive developments are not always being communicated clearly enough, especially to residents who do not use social media.
Valencia agreed that communication can be improved. Williams said the village has been posting summaries of meetings online, though she acknowledged that more should be done to reach the public through additional channels, including the newspaper.
“We do have some really good things happening,” Valencia said. “Maybe we’re not sharing it.”
He said local government processes are often slow and complicated by funding rules, staffing shortages and longterm neglect that cannot be fixed overnight. Williams echoed that point from Milan’s perspective, saying local governments are trying to address core needs while navigating state requirements, reimbursement systems, workforce shortages and limited private investment.
Williams pointed to Milan’s industrial park work as an example of how long economic development can take, saying major progress often follows years of planning and study. She said the village is trying to build up jobs and infrastructure in a way that increases gross receipts and avoids raising taxes. Throughout the meeting, officials repeatedly returned to the theme that current administrations are trying to reverse years of neglect in a short amount of time.
“We can’t undo 20 years of mismanagement and nonsense in two years,” Williams said. “We’re trying, and we’re making good progress, but it takes time.”
The meeting also included a presentation from County Fire Marshal Dustin Middleton on wildfire preparedness, Firewise participation and structure triage.
Middleton said Firewise is a community-based program designed to reduce wildfire risk, especially in wildland-urban interface areas where homes and vegetation mix closely together. He said homeowners should focus on the “home ignition zone,” especially the first 100 feet around structures, by removing fuel sources, spacing vegetation and maintaining defensible space.
He also explained structure triage, the process firefighters use during active wildfire situations to determine which homes can be safely defended with available resources and which cannot.
“We avoid committing crews to non-defendable or high-risk situations,” Middleton said.
Middleton also spoke about the “Ready, Set, Go” system used during wildfire and flood events. He said residents should always be prepared, pay attention when alerts escalate, and leave if they feel unsafe rather than waiting for a final order.
He said notifications can be sent through emergency alert systems and mass-notification platforms used by local governments.
When asked about the possibility of establishing a volunteer fire station in the Zuni Mountains area, Middleton said staffing remains a major obstacle. He said volunteer participation has declined significantly, not just locally but across the country, making it difficult to support new stations without enough personnel.
Appreciation for City and Village Employees
By the end of the meeting, officials acknowledged both the frustration and passion coming from the public. They defended the work of city employees while also conceding that the public wants to see faster progress and better communication.
Valencia said the criticism can be exhausting, but he stressed that City of Grants employees - and especially city labor staff - are putting in hard effort and that many of them do so for modest pay because they care about the community.
“We have a lot of good people,” he said.
In a phone call after the meeting, Village Manager Williams expressed her appreciation for village crews. She said the village cares for over 400 acres of property and only have approximately 18 members of staff for the entirety of land.
Editor’s Note: The April meeting reflected both the tension and purpose of Coffee with the Managers.
Cibola County is a unique place where residents can meet and speak directly with their officials. It is a place where the value of the First Amendment is celebrated, public frustration is allowed to be aired, and local government explains what it is doing, allowing residents to press for change and help steer the direction of the communities they call home.