By Lynn Janes

The town of Bayard held a regular meeting January 22, 2024. Attendance included Mayor John L. Ojinaga, Mayor Pro Tem Eloy Medina (phone), Councilors Frances Gonzales, Eloy Gonzales, and Jose Diaz. Gabriel Ramos, city clerk, also attended.

The council approved the MOU (memorandum of understanding) for the Fort Bayard residential evacuation mutual agreement. Ramos explained they do this every year, and the agreement says in the case that Fort Bayard cannot be used in an emergency Bayard would open the community center.

The council approved the police reports for November and December 2023.

The council approved the accounts payable report as of January 22, 2024. Frances Gonzales asked what the $669.92 to Ace Hardware had been for. Ramos said they have an account, and this included paint, cleaning supplies, and miscellaneous items. Another question had been about the fire fund and Ramos said he would check into it and get them the information.

Chuck Gray, chairman, of the beautification committee, gave the council an update. They had their first meeting of the year and he had been voted the new chairman. They would not be changing anything. He did ask the council for paint to help clean up some graffiti.

Frances Gonzales said the Planning and Zoning committee has changed the day they will meet. Instead of Wednesday it will be the first Thursday of the month at 4:00 pm

Old business

The council discussed the allowance of using and having comp time. Ramos said currently they have a total of 120 hours. Diaz said he did not see how this would jeopardize the city in any way and suggested they look at it again in six months. Ramos said he could give them a total every quarter.

New business

Kristina Ortiz, Rural Partners Network, has been working with Andy Gomez, G-Boyz, on a federal grant to expand the business. They have run into a problem. The grant requires the money go through a 501c3 or a government entity. Ortiz explained the application would be made by Bayard and they would receive the funds and pay for the purchases of equipment. The city would receive 10 percent for administrative costs. She went over the full process and requirements of Bayard. Diaz said they had worked with the business before and worked will with them and felt they should approve it. The council all agreed. Gomez had purchased the old laundry building to expand the business and needed the equipment, but the retail location will continue.

The mayor appointed city council members to boards and committees and the council approved. Most will be continuations. Diaz will be on the beautification committee; Frances Gonzales will be on the planning and zoning and housing authority. Eloy Gonzales will be on the library and little league. Alternates for the little league will be Ojinaga and Medina. Ojinaga and Ramos will be on the Grant County Water Commission, SW Council of Governments, Regional Dispatch and Regional Transportation.

Robert Terrazas, wastewater director, gave the council a list of needed projects for the plant. Joe Trumm, engineer, had done an inspection and compiled the list. Trumm said this list compiles all the repairs and renovations needed on the plant. They do need to do a professional document. "This is just to get the information to you. This list has not changed since November of 2022." He went over some of the items and explained them. Some would need to be upgrades and some need to be repairs. He approximated that $3-$5 million would cover it all. He told them what he felt would be the priorities in the list. "Some of the equipment is from the 1980s and is no longer made." The council discussed his list and priorities mentioned that could not wait. Diaz said, "We need to be proactive on this." After the legislature they will put all the funding they have received together and move forward on these projects. Ramos thanked Trumm for the work he had done. He said he had been working at this facility in some capacity for 25 years. Ramos said they had requested $1.3 million for capital outlay funds. He asked if they could use the list when they went to the legislature. Trumm said it might help so they can see the importance of the projects.

Eloy Gonzales said he wanted to tour the facility and Ojinaga agreed they all should. Medina said the list needed to be taken to the other mayors in the mining district and get them involved. They should know the costs being faced. He included them because the facility servers the whole mining district.

Trumm said these issues need to be faced before they have a catastrophic failure and have to spend $30 million to replace it.

Ojinaga had talked to Terrazas and Trumm about a request from Freeport McMoRan to put in a dump station and both had agreed it would not be a good idea. He wanted them to explain to the council why. Trumm said they had a good process, not the best but very sophisticated. A dump station could introduce problems and disrupt the system. Currently it is permitted to reuse the water at the cemetery and school fields. Deming, where Freeport McMoRan dumps is a pond, and they need to continue to use it. The council thanked him for his information.

The next item had been the approval of resolution 2-2024. Ramos said they didn't need to do a resolution because they didn't have any adjustments. He added that the next meeting he would have a budget for them to review. Frances Gonzales wanted to know how much the city had in reserves. Ramos said they meet state requirements. She wanted to know how much, and Ramos said he would be glad to meet with her.

The council went into closed session

The council came back into open session

Action for personnel

The council approved the appointments of Ramos as clerk/treasurer, Hector Carrillo, police chief, Cody Dove, fire chief, Michael Paez, public works superintendent and Robert Terrazas, wastewater director. They also approved the removal of Trevor Jenson from the introductory period with a 5 percent increase in his wage.

Mayor and councilors reports.

Ojinaga and Ramos will meet with each department head after they return from the legislature in Santa Fe.

Carrillo thanked the mayor and council for the appointment. One of the officers will be gone in February to the academy but will return certified. They have had to increase patrols at Snell Middle School due to the incident that happened in Hurley a few weeks previously. They had a connection to the school. All the officers have a card to enter the school at any time if needed.

Paez thanked the mayor and council for the appointment. He said this would be the first time in eight years he had seen his department fully staffed. They have three projects being worked on currently.

Terrazas thanked the mayor and council for the appointment. He said right now they have been waiting for parts to come in to do some repairs and quotes to order parts.

Dove said they have been working on training and certifications. Diaz thanked him for his very well done report.

Ramos thanked the mayor and council for the appointment. Comcast will be doing the movement of services so the project can move forward for the highway 356 sidewalk project. They have not received any letters of intent for the judge open position. The administrative office has been working on the budget and said they all work well together, and the new utility clerk has been learning fast. The meeting with the Interstate Stream Commission (ISC) concerning the Grant County Water Commission had gone well and they will be getting $3.3 million. They had met a lot of people in Santa Fe. "The mayor represented Bayard well."

Eloy Gonzales congratulated the staff and thanked them all. He said he had heard the police department would be getting new radios and asked if the council could get them and use them to keep in touch. Carrillo wanted to know what the intent would be. "I want to know what is happening." Some discussion about it took place.

Diaz wanted the council and public to know it might be a possibility they would have to shut down the magistrate court. He referred to the news and suspicious packages being found. He will keep them apprised.

The next regular meeting will be held February 12, 2024

Meeting adjourned.