CIBOLA COUNTY N.M. – On Thursday, October 28, the Cibola County Board of Commissioners held a regular meeting at 5 p.m. in the commission chamber located at 700 E. Roosevelt Avenue. All commissioners were present, and a lengthy agenda was approved as presented. Public comment was made by a Paul Spencer, who brought a nationwide issue to the board’s attention, regarding constantly changing EPA policies and engineers’ struggles to keep up. Spencer was not able to finish his comment within the allotted threeminute time limit, so he said he would be back at the next meeting to finish his point. The board approved minutes from a September 23 regular commission meeting, and then moved on to finance reports.
Finance reports presented at commission meetings can be found on the Cibola County website. First, Cibola County Finance Director Paul Ludi reported that $175,000 was made at the recent county auction. Next, Ludi stated that all financial accounts are reconciled and that the county’s finances continue to be in good shape. Ludi also discussed two 10- year loan options for $1.6 million that the county has to consider regarding the installment of a new HVAC system. Ludi recommended the second option, which includes payoff at any time, total interest of $177,967.02, and an average coupon rate of 1.599485 percent. Ludi closed by encouraging the board to always check his work and make sure everything looks good to them as well.
Next, Cibola County Manager Kate Fletcher provided the board with an update regarding a situation that occurred the Tuesday leading up to the Oct. 28 meeting. According to Fletcher, the county received an alarming call from Cubero Elementary School asking if a bridge in Cubero was safe for the school bus to travel over. After workers from the Road Department inspected the bridge further, they found major structural issues beneath and shut down access to the bridge immediately. According to Fletcher, the bridge’s underbelly structure was “deteriorated” and unsafe. Fletcher thanked county and City of Grants crews, who combined their efforts to construct a temporary bypass road on the side of the bridge for Cubero citizens to travel on until further notice.
According to Road Dept. employee Edward Sandoval, this is not an isolated situation. Sandoval has been doing studies on the existing culverts and infrastructure in Cibola County, and he has found that Cibola County has very aged infrastructure. According to Projects Coordinator Judy Horacek, this specific bridge has been a priority on the Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan list for a while, but with recent events, it can be moved up as a top priority. Fletcher and Horacek said they would be seeking emergency funding for the project as soon as possible. Until then, the temporary bypass road will be the point of access through that area. Commissioner Ralph Lucero expressed concerns that the temporary road would not be able to withstand possible harsh weather, which Sandoval agreed that it would not. Sandoval said he would be doing a weekly inspection on the temporary road for the foreseeable future until the situation can be resolved.
Commissioners then heard from new IT Dept. employee Jessie Carlile, who presented a plan in which Red Bolt internet services installed at the new public safety building would assist with establishing a failsafe for the county’s database. Currently, the only failsafe exists at the county building, so if that system were to go down, they would lose everything. Adding an additional failsafe system at the upcoming public safety building will strengthen cyber security for the county. Following Carlile were representatives from Red Bolt/Continental Divide. Red Bolt, powered by CDEC has been serving the Grants/Milan area since 2017, and they are excited to provide broadband services to the greater Cibola County area. The presenters went through their designs for expanding their services throughout Cibola, and the millions of dollars that it will cost for each community and area. Fiber optic technology will be the premise of the expansion, which the representatives stated is a reliable technology that comes with a 20-year life span. Red Bolt has sought and will continue seeking federal, state, and local funding to support this project. “I think this is great. I think it’s important,” said Commissioner Robert Windhorst, who also said it would be essential for the county’s students to ensure they do not fall behind in school and for the county’s economic development.
Following this presentation, commissioners approved a consideration to use $1.2 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds to support the expansion and installation of broadband services in the unincorporated areas of Cibola County. The board also approved a consideration of a Fence Lake, N.M. annual performance review, pursuant to Cibola County Ordinance 2017-04 7.1-7.3; a consideration of JPA between Cibola County and the Village of Milan for the Rockin’ 66 Express public transit service; a consideration of Floodplain Development Permit 2021- 04 for a mobile home at Cowboy Road; a consideration of direction staff to accept lowest bid from a company willing to evaluate the redistricting of Cibola County for the federal census; a consideration of Resolution 2021-51 FY22 Budget Adjustment No. 1; and a consideration of Resolution 2021-52 FY22 1st Quarter Report. The board also approved Resolution 2021-60, authorizing and approving the submission of a completed application for financial assistance and project approval to the New Mexico Finance Authority (NMFA) for two emergency service vehicles for the Cibola County Fire Marshall, and Resolution 2021-61, authorizing and approving submission of a completed application for financial assistance and project approval to the New Mexico Finance Authority (NMFA) for the HVAC Loan and reconsider investing $1.6 million to LGIP. The 1/16 percent GRT increment of $268,185.32 was approved for the loan, and the board approved a recommendation from the Advisory Investment Committee not to invest. Next, commissioners discussed Resolution 2021- 53 Establishing the 2022/2023 Holiday Schedule. The event that prompted this consideration was President Joe Biden’s declaration making Juneteenth a federal holiday, “commemorating the emancipation of African-American slaves… also often observed for celebrating African-American culture,” according to online sources. As the county’s holiday schedule currently exists, there are 14 days total that county employees receive off for holidays. Commissioner Lucero stated that he felt that the county already has enough holidays off. Commissioner Christine Lowery agreed, saying that two weeks was a lot of time off. Chairman Daniel Urioste, initially unsure of what the holiday was even about, suggested tabling the item so the commissioners could think about it further and review the holiday schedule themselves to see if there were any others they thought were unnecessary to the schedule.
Commissioner Martha Garcia offered another perspective, saying that she felt the board should consider the meaning behind the holiday. Lucero adamantly propositioned that he did not want to add anymore holidays because they already had enough, and that the cycle would never end, suggesting that soon enough every culture would be receiving a holiday with a day off. Lowery, hearing Garcia, added that she appreciated the meaning behind the holiday but did not support the time off for it. Windhorst agreed with Lowery. “We’re not dishonoring it, we’re just not celebrating it with a day off,” said Chairman Torrez, to which Commissioner Lowery affirmed, “You can honor it, but no day off.” With that, the board approved a motion to limit the days off for holidays to 14 days a year and established that Juneteenth could be observed on another day already off for a holiday.
Next, commissioners discussed Resolution 2021-54 A Change to the Public Employees Retirement Association of New Mexico (PERA) Return to Work Provisions. Prompted by worker shortages across New Mexico, the resolution requests of the New Mexico Legislature to pass a five-year moratorium on the “double dipping policy” regarding workers coming back to work after retiring. Commissioner Lucero said that he was in support of the request but that he would like to add a stipulation that retired workers not be able to return to a supervisor position. Lucero said this creates problems for promotion within an organization and is unfair to lower level workers trying to climb the latter of promotion. An example Lucero gave was that a retired prison warden should not be allowed to return to the position of warden, because it would be unfair to correctional officers already there. County Attorney Dave Pieto said he saw Lucero’s point, but said that it would be unreasonable to expect someone like a retired sheriff to return as a low rank officer. In the end, a motion to approve the resolution as presented was passed 4-1, with Lucero voting no because of the lack of his proposed stipulation.
Finally, the following were approved: a consideration of Resolution 2021-55 Grant Agreement for Transportation Project Funds (TPF) for County Road 1; a consideration of Resolution 2021-59 Extension Request for NMDOT Local Government Transportation Project Fund (LGTPF) Grant Agreement Contract# D18387 Control# LP60001 for CR-18b; a consideration of Resolutions For Extension Requests for NMDOT LGRF CO-OP Agreement: 1. Resolution 21-56-Contract# D18618 Control #L600179, 2. Resolution 21-57-Contract# D18619 Control #L600176, 3. Resolution 21-58-Contract# D18631 Control #L600168; and a consideration to approve requisitions over $20,000: a. 2021 (3) F-250 Crew Cab 4x4 LWB with accessories-Power Ford-Road Dept.-$149,585, b. 2021 (1) Ford Explorer 4wd with accessories-Power Ford-Manager’s Dept.-$43,376.00, c. 2021 Dodge Durango Pursuit-Melloy Dodge-Sheriff’s Dept.-$44,353.00, d. Cibola County Admin Building 700 E. Roosevelt Suite 50-Core IT Upgrades-IT-$96,568.98, e. Public Safety Building 2001 Clif Lear Road-Core IT Upgrades-American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funds-$103,298.14. The money earned from the recent county auction will assist the county in making these many vehicle purchases.
The next regular commission meeting will be held Thursday, November 18 at 5 p.m. The Cibola County Offices will be closed Thursday, November 11 in observation of the Veteran’s Day holiday.