VILLAGE OF MILAN, N.M. – The Village of Milan Board of Trustees held a regular meeting on Thursday, October 21, at 5:30 p.m. The meeting lasted about two hours due to the lengthy agenda and an executive session. Trustee Christopher Archuleta was absent because of a family emergency, said Mayor Felix Gonzales. The agenda was approved as presented, and the board approved meeting minutes for a September 8 workshop and special meeting, a September 16 regular meeting, and a September 28 special meeting.
The trustees also approved the budget report and municipal court cash journal for the month of September, during which Village of Milan Finance Director Candi Williams said that the transfers in/transfers out account was balanced, and that the village would begin the conversion to a pooled cash system in November. “We’re right on track,” said Williams.
Next, the board proceeded forward to the action/discussion items of the agenda. First, the board directed the village staff to move forward with publishing the proposed cannabis ordinance. Once the ordinance has been published, the trustees will have a meeting in November to approve the ordinance. Second, Village Clerk Denise Baca explained to the board that she would like to update the village’s pawn shop ordinance because there is a citizen who plans to open one in a few months and according to Baca, the current ordinance is “redundant”. The board said Baca could move forward with drafting a new one.
Next, the trustees discussed an item that has been in the works for a while: a consideration to accept donated property from TBK Bank. According to Clerk Baca, TBK Bank has donated their bank building residing in Milan to the village, with the agreement that TBK could continue operating the ATM on the property. Baca said the village plans to move the village hall to the TBK donated property once renovations have been completed. The board happily approved the donation, while thanking former NM senator and TBK Bank Senior Vice President/Senior Banking Officer Clemente Sanchez and others for making this happen.
The board of trustees then approved an amendment to resolution 2021- 001, titled the Open Meeting Resolution, which moved workshop meeting days to the second Thursday of the month. Then, resolution 2021-032 was approved, delegating authority to new Village Manager Linda Cooke so that she may have the ability to sign settlements, contracts, and other legal documents on behalf of the Village of Milan. Cooke reassured the board that she would notify them before signing anything. Resolution 2021-030, the Election Resolution, was also approved, which Clerk Baca said notifies the state of New Mexico which positions will appear on ballots in March. Baca said these positions for the Village of Milan will include two trustee positions and the mayor position.
Next, resolution 2021- 031 was passed, which is related to the recent NMFA Water Preliminary Engineering Report accepted by the board and required the board to simply approve the dollar amounts that came with that report. Then, the board approved a first amendment match waiver for the soccer field parking lot, for the amount of $189,577.00. The board then approved a Transportation Project Fund agreement for the Airport Road project including a $3,311,149.18 grant, and subsequently approved resolution 2021-028, which gave them the authority to enter into the agreement.
Next, the board approved resolution 2021-029, a budget adjustment to the project funds; resolution 2021-033, a budget adjustment to the cash balances; and resolution 2021-034, the quarterly report. The first budget adjustment is in response to the soccer field and Airport Road project progressions, and the second is in response to the expected discrepancies found in the audit, which is currently being approved by the state. When going over the quarterly report, Finance Director Candi Williams said that all of the funds are balanced. “I’m glad everything’s balanced,” said Trustee Roseanne Lopez, to which Trustee Ellen Baca responded, “Finally.”
Clerk Baca then gave an update on the lift station. According to Baca, the lift station is holding in there, but not for much longer. Village staff is looking to apply for a USDA grant to rebuild the station, but the process to build the new station will take about two years, and the current one is only expected to last for about six more months. Therefore, Baca said they need someone to come in and repair what is wrong with this one first so they can even reach the point of building a new one. Baca and Williams said that American Rescue Plan funding could be used towards that urgent repair. The board approved this plan.
Finally, the trustees approved adding two policies to Milan Police Department’s policy manual. The first policy was to implement a drug recognition expert program. According to MPD Chief Carl Ustupski, Milan has never had such a program, and Ustupski is one of 12 instructors for the program in the state of New Mexico – the only instructor/expert in Cibola County. Ustupski said this was because of the difficulty of the course to be certified. With the legalization of marijuana, Ustupski said there was going to be a greater need for something like this. The policy addition was approved. The second policy seeks to implement a chaplain program. Village manager Cooke opened up by saying that the officers “have to see things that nobody wants to see.” Ustupski agreed, saying that it was a really beneficial program and that he saw the benefits immediately after the program was implemented where he used to work at a department in Wisconsin. The second policy addition was approved.
The board went into executive session to discuss Cooke’s contract, and reconvened much later, stating that no decisions were made while in the closed session. Next, the board heard updates from village departments. First, Cooke said she went through all of the department reports, said everything looks good, and that she did not have anything else to add besides, “The staff is great.”
Milan Fire Department Chief Daniel Urioste said MFD had 106 calls and 11 fires for the month of September, and a lot of those fires were the results of accidents on Interstate 40. Urioste said annual pump testing across the county started the week prior to the Oct. 21 meeting week, and only one GFD truck failed by that point and has already been fixed. MFD is helping with COVID testing sites twice a week, and Urioste said at the Oct. 21 meeting that there were 45 positive cases per 100,000 in Cibola County and a 0.6 death rate. “The schools are bad,” the chief added. “COVID cases daily.” Finally, the MFD chief said he hired Michael Rivera as his assistant fire chief, and that he and MFD were preparing for the Oct. 23 pumpkin patch by creating plaques for the firefighter obstacle course.
Next, Milan Police Department Chief Ustupski said that calls for service were increasing, with 18 calls in August and 44 calls in September. Ustupski said total incidents were increasing, but that being fully staffed has helped with response times, knocking off about two seconds compared to the department’s fastest time from 2020. MPD did receive two resignations, both citing reasons having to do with being offered better pay, retirement, and insurance benefits elsewhere. Ustupski said MPD’s retirement benefits are often what keeps prospective officers away, and that it’s “something we got to look into.” The trustees agreed. Finally, Ustupski added that shots fired calls have been decreasing, recent MPD checkpoints have been successful, the department’s eight free laptops should be arriving soon, and joint operations with other local departments focusing on narcotics have been a success as well.
Manager Cooke announced village employee Antionette “Peaches” Castillo, who does the paperwork and secretary work for MPD, as the employee of the month. The board concluded the meeting with board comments, all welcoming Linda Cooke, congratulating Castillo, acknowledging October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and expressing their excitement for the car show and pumpkin patch held on Saturday, Oct. 23. Trustee Lopez, being a breast cancer survivor herself, gave a shout out to all other survivors as well as encouragement to those still battling and honor to those who have passed from it. Mayor Gonzales wished everyone a happy upcoming Halloween and reminded parents to check their kids’ goodies to make sure they are safe.
There will be a Village of Milan Planning and Zoning Board meeting on November 4, a Board of Trustees Workshop meeting on November 11, and a Board of Trustees regular meeting on November 18 at 5:30 p.m.