With the holidays behind us and 2023 laying ahead, Cibola County Manager Kate Fletcher met with citizens at Coffee with the Managers which takes place the first Thursday of every month at Coyote Del Malpais Golf Course in Grants, N.M. Also attending was Sherriff Larry Diaz, Undersheriff Jeff Marez, Cibola County Commissioner Ralph Lucero, and Grants Police Chief Maxine Monte. Not in attendance were Grants City Manager Donald Jaramillo and Village of Milan Manager Linda Cooke.
Kate Fletcher started the meeting by reiterating the lingering issues left by the pandemic. She stated the county is still waiting on vehicles for the Sheriff’s Office ordered a year and a half ago, and some of the existing vehicles have over 250,000 miles on them. At this point, vehicle manufacturers are still backlogged on orders concerning various types of fleet vehicles. A stroke of luck happened recently when four fully outfitted law enforcement trucks were found at a dealership in Albuquerque. The county manager made individual calls to each county commissioner to receive approval for purchase. These trucks were not invoiced to any agency and were up for grabs. Rather than going to other govenrments, Cibola County officials were able to secure these vehicles.
Another issue concerned job and pay competitiveness in Cibola County. One year ago, the county was competitive but is now at the bottom. Although Inflation is a major contributor, pay, sign-on bonuses, insurance packages and other benefits are keeping potential officers and other job seekers from taking jobs with the county. Four Sheriff deputies are still needed and the Road Department just lost three CDL drives in a three-week period. It was stated a salary plan is in the works to make Cibola County more competitive and proactive measures are needed.
Cibola County has renewed their contract for emergency services provided by PHI Helicopter Company. This program is to cover rural areas concerning emergencies and accidents. PHI won the contract due to the statistical data of response times and PHI is the first to fly into and out of the county most frequently.
Roads in Cibola County are also in need of repairs. There are 343 miles of county roads and at least 100 miles of these roads need upgrading. Data is needed to determine which of these roads need attention. The problems concerning many county roads were inherited when Cibola County was created in 1981 from Valencia County. There is little to no record of these roads and bridges.
Newly elected Cibola County Sheriff Larry Diaz addressed issues concerning crime in the county and accidents on I-40. He also spoke about the creation of an interagency task force to help with crime and the problem with I-40. Accidents on the interstate take time away from calls for service within the county. Sheriff Diaz is looking to have the New Mexico State Police give more attention to I-40 which would alleviate the burden on Sheriff Deputies.
Sheriff Diaz is looking for solutions to keep repeat offenders from returning to victimize the community and victims. Currently, the system in place looks at criminals being potential flight risks, and not their criminal history. Sheriff Diaz is looking for a better means of communication between law enforcement and the District Attorney’s Office to help keep repeat offenders from revictimizing the community. Sheriff Diaz stated he will start monitoring these issues and enhance communications.