County Commission to Establish and Affordable Housing Plan

GRANTS, NM – A special commission meeting was held on December 21, during this meeting there were discussions regarding an affordable housing plan, a mutual aid agreement between Superior Ambulance and Cibola County Fire & Emergency Services, and an intergovernmental Agreement with the District Attorney’s Office to fund warrant round-ups.

County Manager Kate Fletcher and Finance Director Paul Ludi gave a budget a finance report. Ludi began with saying that their reports are in budget. Their county is reconciled through November 30, 2023 for the main operating account. The treasurer’s office is reconciled through October 31, 2023 for the tax operating account. The county had their audit exit conference on November 30, according to Ludi everything went well during the audit. For the Gross Receipts Tax, the county is right in line with 2022 and 2021’s GRT and so far, their projection is looking good. For the December 2024 year to date actual GRT they received $530,938. They had two deficits for the month of November, the road department which has corrected itself, and its detention department.

Sheriff Larry Diaz gave a report for the Sheriff’s Department. For 2023, staffing was up to 24 with one vacant SRO position. Eight deputies resigned during 2023 and the Sheriff’s Department hired 13 new deputies throughout the county. They have six deputies stationed near the South Pine Hill area, two or three in the East Cubero Area, one on the west and all other deputies located in Grants. They also have one new deputy who is expected to go to the academy soon. In 2023 they have purchased eight new units throughout the year. The Sheriff’s Department has also moved to the new Public Safety Building located where the old National Guard Armory used to be. According to Sheriff Larry Diaz, “We have established a task force that involves all agencies, including first responders. And that is to help with intelligence and also special events.” The sheriff’s department has also purchased new weapons, Axon body cameras, GPS capabilities for their units, portable radios, and new computers.

Calls for service during the year 2023 for the Sheriff’s Department is 16,892 calls compared to 2022’s calls which was 14,721 calls. These calls include 1,023 traffic stop calls, 54 stolen vehicles, 112 domestic violence calls, 227 crashes, 9,248 area checks, 180 civil service calls/subpoenas/ civil paperwork, 131 other agency assists, 220 school zone patrols, 3 homicides. Sheriff Diaz ended off their yearly report by giving plaques to both the County Commission as well as to the County Manager’s Office for their support of the Sheriff’s Department and working with them to purchase new equipment, units, and their new building.

The Commission approved Budget Adjustment 3 which included adjustments for the Fire Marshal, Cubero Volunteer Fire Department, and El Morro Volunteer Fire Department for the State Fire Marshal Grant that they all received. There were also multiple adjustments from the General Fund and the E911 to repay the General Fund. The Sheriff’s Department also had an adjustment for expenditure for an increase for Sep, BuckleUp, and the ENDDWI grants.

There was a consideration of an Intergovernmental Agreement with the District Attorney’s Office to fund warrant roundups. At the time of this meeting the number of warrants was around 1,425. The reason for this agreement is due to the massive amounts of warrants because of this the DA requested that the Sheriff’s Department assist in serving these warrants.

The Commission approved the annual renewal of agreement for the PHI Cares Membership for Cibola County. This renewal will cover the memberships of all Cibola County citizens for PHI for the 2024 year. During the 2023 year there were 63 flights that their membership paid for. This membership covers the transportation costs of being flown to another area, the costs of medical care during the flight and following the flight are not covered by the membership and are billed to that individual or their insurance.

The Commission approved to establish an affordable housing plan. Fletcher said, “This is something that MFA has worked closely with us, with our statistics. This is a tool for us to assist to help with the developing of future projects. If we have this, we’ve got more options. If we don’t there’s really nothing we can do.”

A Mutual Aid Agreement between Superior Ambulance and Cibola County Fire & Emergency Services for transport services was on the agenda. Fletcher said, “Superior Ambulance is an ambulance service that gets called out for emergencies. I do not believe that they are leaving anytime soon. There have been requests to PRC for this change, that’s one. Two, this is not anything about money, this is about Tommy and Dustin because they have experience and they do get pulled out for emergencies. This is our MOU, if they need help Superior helps, if Superior needs help, they help.” The Commission approved the Mutual Aid Agreement.

The final new business item was requisitions over $20,000. The first requisition was a F-150 Crew Cab 4x4-Power Ford for the Manager’s Office in the amount of $45,013. The second requisition was a 400 Gallon Brush Truck F-550 Chassis 4x4 for Midwest Fire in the amount of $242,733. Both of these requisitions were approved.