‘You need to know, it’s working’

GRANTS, N.M. – On Thursday, September 2, Grants City Manager Vanessa Chavez and Cibola County Manager Kate Fletcher met with the public to provide updates and discuss subjects concerning the area. Other public officials that attended the meeting include City of Grants Projects Coordinator Donald Jaramillo, Cibola County Projects Coordinator Judy Horacek, Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments Executive Director Evan Williams, and NWNMCOG Planner Brandon Howe. The gathering took place at the Coyote Del Malpais Golf Course clubhouse at 8 a.m.

First, Manager Chavez gave a quick update on the work of the water department, now taking on more responsibilities since parting ways with Jacobs. According to Chavez, the city has asked the Grants Fire Department to help the water department as much as they can during this time. Chavez also spoke about a recent conference that both her and City Councilor Erik Garcia attended in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Chavez and Garcia got to meet with other New Mexico municipality leaders, which Chavez said was a very eye-opening experience. Chavez heard from other city managers who are lacking employees, help, and are just truly struggling. Chavez said this experience made her grateful because, compared to other municipalities, “We are doing very well,” the city manager said. Chavez, who has now been city manager for a little over three months, said she tries to start each day with the attitude of, “What is good about today?” and she tries to approach every government decision with the thought, “How will this affect the city?” She is encouraging her fellow employees to do the same.

Manager Fletcher also acknowledged the work and efforts of county departments to respond to flooding and road issues. Fletcher also acknowledged a health department worker named Vanessa and Cibola County Emergency Manager Dustin Middleton for driving all the way to Albuquerque during the August 31 power outages in order to save hundreds of vaccines that needed to be refrigerated. Fletcher then passed attention over to City of Grants Projects Manager Don Jaramillo so that he could give a presentation on the city’s ICIP. County Projects Manager Judy Horacek gave the county’s ICIP presentation at the last ‘Coffee with the Managers’.

According to Jaramillo, who managed the Cibola Beacon newspaper for about 20 years before closing and has now been with the city for over three years, the city’s ICIP (Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan) is not due for approval until the city’s next meeting, landing on the week of September 12- 18. According to Jaramillo, the ICIP serves as a source of accountability for governments so that all financial requests are official and reflect their priorities. Jaramillo said he develops the ICIP list every year by listening to and absorbing what the community voices is important to them, collecting information, advice, and feedback from the water department, the city manager, and the public works director, and then he finalizes the list as the deadline nears and he has considered what is feasible and what is not. With every possible ICIP option, Jaramillo asks himself, “Which one’s [going to] be the most impactful?”

Jaramillo said even over three years into it, he still enjoys the job and becomes excited about the projects and making a “long-term impact” in the community. To give an idea of past priorities, Jaramillo listed some of the items on the high-end of the list in 2020, including Well #3 repairs and First Street construction. One project that carried over from the 2020 ICIP to the 2021 ICIP is a multipurpose arena, and this is because the city only received enough funding for Phase I of the project, so now they have ‘Multipurpose Arena Phase II’ listed on the 2021 ICIP. One thing that both Jaramillo and Horacek have pointed out is that they never take items off of the ICIP list until funding is official.

Another project that has been considered highpriority for the 2021 ICIP includes a 25-year-old Coyote Del Malpais Golf Course pump replacement. The life-expectancy for that pump was about 20 years, so the project is long overdue. According to Jaramillo, most of the highpriority projects are not the “bright and shiny ones,” but rather the “underground” ones that are away from the public eye but still very critical. The city will also be looking to fund plans for trails around the area.

As for projects that have been funded and that Jaramillo is excited about, he provided updates on those too. The city was awarded $3 million for the Roosevelt Avenue bridge, which Jaramillo said is going to be a brick bridge. The amount of funding awarded for the project allows the city to “get a little fancy” and truly make this bridge a landmark for Grants, said Jaramillo. The city was also awarded $2 million for Washington Avenue, which will fix the flooding problem in that area and around Mesa View Elementary, which will also be rebuilt soon. Jaramillo added that drainage has been added to First Street, from Adams Street to Roosevelt Avenue, which it did not have before. Finally, the city was also awarded $600,000 to begin planning for the Sakalares Boulevard project. According to Jaramillo, they are going to take their time to make sure that the plans are full proof because it is going to be a large-scale project that they plan on making a source of growth for the Grants area.

Manager Fletcher asked NWNMCOG Executive Director Williams if he had any thoughts, to which he responded, “We love it when there’s a plan that links to the projects, that are anticipating or echoing what the community wants…. We love it even more when things are coming off the list. We have a lot of communities where the list stays the same for many, many years and so they’re doing the ICIP process but they’re not getting it done. That’s not what’s happening here. Here, it’s very exciting because you’re just knocking things off that list, and so it’s great to be able to see that progress, that work, and the plan. It’s not just sitting on the shelves. So like, Donald [Jaramillo], he’s moving projects onto the list and then getting them done and moving them off. That should tell the community the success that’s happening.”

Williams continued, “What we call it is projecttiering. These are the project tiers, from soup to nuts, they’re doing everything. They’re connecting all those dots, getting everybody marshaled to be a team to get projects done for the community. They’re also finding the resources and the different paths. I always tell people, it’s actually easier to get the money than it is to spend it, and that doesn’t sound right, but it is, because there’s a lot of regulations, like Kate [Fletcher] said. So the more success they have, actually the more work they’re doing to manage all that. So that’s telling me that they’re very excited to move their community ahead because they’re willing to take the challenge and they’re willing to do the work. We don’t see that everywhere we go so I just want to recognize that this morning. There’s other communities getting jealous of what’s happening and the collaboration across the county and the different municipalities, and you need to know, it’s working.”

County Projects Coordinator Horacek added onto that line of thought, saying that this year’s county ICIP “speaks of collaboration in the community” because of how long it is and how the items reflect not only the county’s priorities but also the county’s support of the local municipalities. Horacek also acknowledged the NWNMCOG for their help in being able to see beyond the county, see what funding is available, and assisting with project ideas.