New city manager, admin assistant, new city clerk
GRANTS, N.M. – The new City of Grants clerk, Marissa Montoya, and Jessi Ward, the new administrative assistant for City Manager Vanessa Chavez, were introduced at Monday night’s meeting. The council discussed charter compliance but was not able to approve previous meeting minutes because only Mayor Martin “Modey” Hicks and Councilors Fred Rodarte and Fred Padilla were present at the May 24 meeting; the mayor had not attended the previous meeting.
They tabled agenda item 3: city Lodgers Tax Board recommendations. The council heard presentations from Smith Engineering about Well 3 and Grants Municipal Judge Elise Larsen.
Well No. 3 Rehabilitation Project update
Cody Sipes, Smith Engineering, provided an update that included an agenda memo, “Sipes planned and designed the rehabilitation of Well No. 3 project and is now providing construction management.”
Sipes briefed the council on the different problems that have occurred throughout the rehabilitation process including most recently a sinkhole. The sinkhole has posed a problem for the project and has forced workers to reevaluate the current plan while halting construction. The well is still functional according to Sipes. The council voted to suspend work on the project for up to 90 days, during which the contract with the workers will expire, while a new safety plan is made.
Municipal judge salary
Municipal Judge Elise Larsen provided information that councilors had been requested during the previous meeting. Judge Larsen asked for a salary increase for the municipal judge position.
The mayor repeatedly interrupted the judge’s presentation.
“Elise, we have no money. We have no money. Okay, you want money; [Grants] MainStreet [Project, Inc.] wants money; [Grants-Cibola County] Chamber [of Commerce] wants money; [Cibola Communities] Economic Development Foundation wants money; and we’re broke. Okay, we’re talking about cutting positions here at the city. That’s how bad it is. Period. We got the preliminary budget coming here Thursday at one o’clock, and at that point then we’re gonna make some hard decisions, because the 11.50 [dollars] an hour has kicked in. And nobody wanted to do it the way I wanted to do it and now we’re paying for it. And I don’t know what to tell anybody out there. That’s one of the reasons that we tabled the lodger’s taxes tonight. Okay, we’ve got no money. Let me make that perfectly clear,” said the mayor at one point.
Judge Larsen continued and said that she believes a higher salary is needed to attract qualified individuals to the position, and she also pointed out that the municipal court has come in under budget for the last 11 years, therefore saving approximately $14,000 in the current budget.
“There’s money in the court’s budget to be able to support a raise for the municipal judge so that the judge can be fairly compensated, adequate to other municipal judges throughout our state,” she said.
Riverwalk Park graffiti
Community member Diane Rowe informed the council about graffiti at the River Walk. She said that many of the “taggers” identified themselves in the graffiti. Rowe asked that the area be cleaned before Memorial Day for a 2 p.m. event at the River Walk.
Visit cityofgrants.net or call 505-287-7927 for more information.
“Okay, we’re talking about cutting positions here at the city.”
– Martin “Modey” Hicks, Grants Mayor