VILLAGE OF MILAN, N.M. – The Village of Milan Board of Trustees held a regular meeting on Thursday, April 21, at 5:30 p.m. All trustees were present, including Trustee Chris Archuleta and Trustee Roseanne Lopez who were present via phone call. The agenda was approved as presented, there were no public comments, and the board approved meeting minutes from a March 10 Board of Trustees workshop and a March 17 Board of Trustees regular meeting.
Next, community member and Mt. Taylor Quad board member Les Gaines gave a presentation to the trustees regarding a Rural Communities Recreation Grant opportunity. According to Gaines, a committee he is a part of called the Recreational Economy for Rural Communities Committee wrote a grant in 2019 which is dedicated to developing communities into an “outdoor recreation destination.”
There were 170 grant applicants nationwide, and the Rural Economy for Rural Communities committee, partnered with the Grants/Milan/Cibola County area, ended up as a top-ten finalist for the grant. After going through an interview process, Cibola County’s application made it to the top three and received funding through the grant.
Through this process, Gaines said quite a bit of research was completed, recreational assets were identified, research was compared with other popular recreation destination communities, and action plans were developed. Gaines mentioned GIS mapping, Strava mapping, and motorized recreation as ideas that were being explored. Gaines also said a focus of the grant was marketing and rebranding. Gaines mentioned the communities of Roswell, NM, and Moab, UT, as examples of the kind of rebranding and outdooractivity generation that the Cibola County area should be aiming for.
“So now what do we have to do now? We’re kind of at a crossroads. We have all this research done, we have this wonderful document, and we’ve been stagnant for a year and a half… We need someone to jump on board and say, ‘This is the most exciting thing.’ We need to pursue some of these goals. We have hundreds of hours of research in it, we have lots of time involved, it has been paid for, we have a map of where to go, we need someone to jump on board and help us move that direction… That’s what we’re looking for. The state, the federal government has already recognized us as we’re above and beyond all those other communities. So, what we need is your support,” concluded Gaines.
Next, Cibola Communities Economic Development Foundation Director Eileen Yarborough gave a presentation in which she talked about her recent travels, her job, and what she is working on for Milan and Cibola County. The CCEDF Director clarified that her travels are solely business-focused, describing them and her job as a “card-collecting mission and a relationship-building process.” For Milan, Yarborough has been working on generating interest in the upcoming Milan Industrial Park, highlighting railroad access and potential interstate access, considering she is in communication with legislators about possibly adding a new interstate exit that will extend directly to the industrial park.
A pattern Yarborough has noticed throughout her business travels is that many people forget about New Mexico; they remember the surrounding states but forget about the state right next to them. However, Yarborough said those people are also very pleasantly surprised when they hear about the New Mexico area, what it looks like, what resources and assets it has, and then their interests are suddenly piqued. Yarborough concluded by adding that her focus lately is “expanding and relocating companies,” and that her job is basically to “sell my community.”
Following presentations, the Board of Trustees heard from Village Finance Director Candi Williams and approved Acceptance of the Municipal Court Cash Journal for March 2022, the Finance Report, Resolution 2022-012 Bar #9, and the 2022-013 Quarter 3 Budget Report.
Next, the Board of Trustees discussed Resolution 2022-014 Salary Schedule. According to Finance Director Williams, the salary schedule is a projection of how village employees’ salaries will change over the next nine years, and that it was created by comparing the Village of Milan, its positions and corresponding salaries to municipalities of a similar size with similar positions, as well as collecting input from the trustees separately before the regular meeting. Williams said that the purpose of the document was so that employee salaries would be based on an objective guideline, and not based on subjective negotiations between the village and employees/crews. Williams emphasized that years of service could be taken into account, and that the document was merely a guideline, not a set-in-stone list of salaries.
Mayor Felix Gonzales provided feedback on the salary schedule, explaining that he did not think it was fair because, without mentioning names, he saw positions of people who have had less time with the village earning more than positions of people who have been with the village for years. Gonzales said he thought the village needed to be “more fair” than that, and that the board needed more time to consider and discuss the matter. Williams responded by explaining that she has looked at and compared all of the positions that Gonzales was referring to and that those positions were actually already earning more than the average salary suggested by the Department of Labor for those positions.
Mayor Pro Tem Vivian Brumbelow said she thought they should table the item and discuss it in executive session at a later date, but the village attorney interjected and said that they could not discuss the salary schedule in closed session. The attorney said that it was a matter to be discussed in open session because closed session is not for policy. The board could discuss the salaries of an individual or set of specific individuals in closed session, but not an overall salary schedule policy. Finally, everyone agreed to set up a special meeting in a couple of weeks so that they could have more time to mull it over, and a motion was made and ap proved by all.
Next, the board approved the following items: an Airport Road Construction Task Order with Wilson & Co. in the amount of $253,026.72, an MOU for Flood Plain Management Training, a direction for village staff to publish a flood plain ordinance, a contract with two on-call electric companies, Electrical Security Systems and Wizards Electric, a bid for the Roofing of Future Village Hall with concealed fastener in the amount $68,950.44, a Conflict of Interest Statements form for the Village of Milan Governing Body, and a Fire Protection Fund Distribution document for Milan Fire Department.
Upcoming Village of Milan meetings include a May 4 special meeting to discuss the salary schedule at 9:30 a.m., a May 5 Planning & Zoning meeting at 4:30 p.m., a May 12 Board of Trustees workshop at 5:30 p.m., and a May 17 Board of Trustee regular meeting at 5:30 p.m.