Cibola County’s Newly Elected Officials

GRANTS N.M. – At the regular commission meeting on December 15, the Board of Commissioners witnessed as the Honorable Amanda Villalobos swore in the newly elected officials. The first to be sworn in was Probate Judge Marie Garcia, followed by County Commissioner Ralph Lucero, Assessor Dolores Vallejos, County Commissioner Christine Lowery, Sheriff Larry Diaz, Magistrate Judge Tony Mace, and Magistrate Judge Johnny Valdez. Sheriff Diaz then continued on to swear in the deputies and staff of the Sheriff’s office. All of them were congratulated and thanked for the service that they provide for the community. Following this came three presentations. The first of them was to recognize Cibola County’s COVID-19 Task Force for winning the 2022 Community Stars award in New Mexico. The members that could make it were brought up before the Commissioners, recognized for their efforts, and thanked for their service to the community. The second presentation was done by Julie Halbig on behalf of New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority to discuss the Affordable Housing Act. The Affordable Housing Act was created by the state legislature and was made with flexibility to help work around obstacles such as the antidonation clause. This presentation went through a few of the projects they are currently working on as an example and went into other examples of the lack of affordable housing in Cibola County. With the Affordable Housing Act, the goal is to bring balance to the market by increasing the number of available homes as well as reducing costs. They believe that the more that everyone regionally involved can work together, the more successful the project will be. The third and final presentation was the Managers Report done by Kate Fletcher. She gave a brief overview of the costs and budget related to continuing to work with the Solid Waste Authority as well as other organizations.

Next on the agenda was new business to be reviewed by the Board. a. Consideration of Resolution 2022-59; Budget Adjustment #4 with Attachment 2022-59A was fully approved by the Board. b. Consideration of Agreement for PHI Cares Memberships for Cibola County, NM was fully approved by the Board. c. Consideration of Summary Review Plat for Lot 36 McGaffey Pines Subdivision was fully approved by the Board. d. Consideration to give directive to County Manager to make determination for layoffs of Voting Rights Coordinators within the County Clerk’s Department due to reorganization of the voting rights program and lack of work for full-time employees pursuant to Cibola County Personnel Policy Section 1.28 and 5.6 was fully approved by the Board. e. Economic Development Foundation Appointment was motioned for by the Board for the County Manager to Publish when she gets it and was fully approved by the Board. f. Consideration of requisitions over $20,000 dollars.

All purchases were fully approved by the board. These included: 1. Artesia Fire Equipment, Inc.; purchase of Safety Equipment, State Fire Marshal Grant, $105,410.00 2. Melloy Dodge, Purchase of four 2022 Dodge Durango for Sheriff’s Department. Capital Outlay, $151,304.00.

3. WAC Upfitters, LLC, Upfitting new police vehicles. Law Enforcement Protection Fund and ARPA Funds $73,748.96 4. WAC Upfitters, LLC, Purchase of 20 Band Radar detectors for Sheriffs Dept.; ARPA Funds $56,790.00.

The next Regular Commission Meeting will be on January 19, 2023.