Commissioners take care of housekeeping and consider new Grants MainStreet Project initiative

CIBOLA COUNTY, N.M. – The Cibola County Board of Commissioners recently held a special meeting on Tuesday, January 11 at 5 p.m., and a regular meeting on Thursday, January 27 at 5 p.m. The Jan. 11 special meeting was the first commission meeting of the year – a meeting that those in government refer to as a “housekeeping” meeting. This meeting allows a governing body to approve and update all of the necessary resolutions and policies heading into the new year. At this meeting, the board also voted on nominations for Chairman, 1st Vice Chairman, and 2nd Vice Chairman, keeping the positions the same as before with Commissioner Daniel Torrez as Chairman, Commissioner Martha Garcia as 1st Vice Chairman, and Commissioner Christine Lowery as 2nd Vice Chairman. As for the Jan. 27 regular meeting, all commissioners were present; however, two commissioners, Garcia and Lowery, were present via Zoom due to the ongoing surge of COVID. After removing an executive session and tabling two financial items at the end of the action portion of the agenda, the agenda was approved. The minutes for a December 16 regular commission meeting were approved, and then the board moved on to reports. According to County Manager Kate Fletcher, a financial report given by herself and Finance Director Paul Ludi, as well as a Cibola General Hospital report given by Chief Executive Officer Thomas Whelan, both indicated that everything was in order. “All departments are under fifty percent, which is fantastic, so that means they’re in control of their budgets,” said Manager Fletcher, noting a positive note from the report. Fletcher said that herself and Cibola County Procurement Officer Wendy Self wanted to reiterate to all departments how important it was to pay attention to detail when filing purchase orders, making sure to obtain three quotes for the orders because it saves a lot more money. According to Fletcher, the county does not have to pay if a purchase order is not filed correctly before ordering items, so Fletcher and Self just wanted to remind everyone of how important the procurement policies, codes, and processes are. As for Whelan’s report, the purpose was to inform the Board of Commissioners that “Cibola General Hospital Corporation’s Board of Director approved the designation of the Mill Levy fund towards the Emergency Department (ED) physician compensation.”Next, the board heard a presentation from Grants Main-Street Project, Inc. regarding a proposal that would cost $213,000.00 in ARPA funds. According to the presentation, the Cibola County unemployment rate was at 6.7 percent in January of 2020 and was then at a peak of 14 percent in July of 2021. The proposal seeks to address the negative impact of the pandemic on local businesses by “implement[ing] an incubator project which will conduct business trainings for these individuals and businesses to respond to the negative economic impacts of the public health emergency... by providing technical assistance, counseling, or other services to assist with business planning needs.” There are various other parts of the plan that can be found by visiting the Cibola County website and heading to the ‘Review Documents’ option under the ‘I Want To...’ dropdown menu. The Grants Main-Street Project ARPA fund request was tabled by the commission for further review and discussion, so that the commissioners could take a deeper look into the plan before signing off on the money for it. “That’s not a no,” Manager Fletcher clarified. “I’m really excited about this project. I think it’s a really good thing that another organization is willing to step up to do this, but I’m just having to answer some questions that some commissioners have. I’m sure that will be on the next commission meeting.” The board moved on to approve Resolution 2022-16 FY22 Budget Adjustment Number 3 and Resolution 2022-17 FY22 2nd Quarter Report. The commission then approved all of the following items: 10.d. Consideration of Professional Services Contract with SCRAM Systems for Cibola County DWI Program; 10.e. Consideration of Resolution 2022-14 Authorizing Auction and Disposal of Cibola County Computer Equipment; 10.f. Consideration of Selection of Contractor for Consulting Services for Multi–Hazard Mitigation Plan Per RFP No. 2022-001; 10.g. Consideration of Resolution 2022-15 Designating the Location of Election Day Polling Places For All Statewide Elections Conducted in 2022 and 2023; 10.h. Consideration to approve requisitions over $20,000 – a. 2021 Dodge Durango-Melloy Dodge-Manager’s Dept.-$32,480; b. 2021 Dodge Durango-Melloy Dodge-Sheriff’s Office-$47,316; c. Data Switches for Core Network-SHI Int’l-Public Safety Building-$28,429.66; d. Battery Backup For OEM & Dispatch Network-SHI Int’l-Public Safety Bldg. $40, 950.33 – 10.i. Consideration to Procure Road Equipment for the FY23 Budget; and 10.j. Consideration of Resolution 2022-18 Authorizing and Approving Submission of a Completed Application for Financial Assistance and Project Approval to the New Mexico Finance Authority (NMFA)-2 Emergency Vehicles for Cibola County Fire Marshall. The next regular commission meeting will be Thursday, February 24 at 5:00 p.m., and the Cibola County offices will be closed on Monday, February 21, in observation of the Presidents’ Day holiday.