[Editor's Note: The Grant County Commission held a work session on Dec. 12, 2023. This part 4 continues with county director reports and gets into the regular meeting agenda review and decisions made.]

By Mary Alice Murphy

Internet Technology Director Adam Baca was unavailable to attend the the Grant County Commission work session on Dec. 12, 2023, but his report in the commissioners' packet noted that the new website is due to go live in mid-January. It also said that the Incode Cloud migration was complete and the network vulnerability management is in place. Infrastructure installs continue at the Grant County Airport.

Randy Hernandez, Planning and Community Development Department director, gave his report.

[Editor's Note: Because of the speed at which he speaks, it is impossible to take notes.This is taken directly from the work session packet. The capitalized names, such as Colonias and NM Department of Transportation are the funders of the projects listed underneath them.]

Current Projects include:
COLONIAS:
• Arenas Valley Road (Design): Design is 95% complete. BOP/EOP (beginning of project/end of project): Entire Road, 2.56 Miles
• Little Walnut Road Phase 1 (Const.): Construction at 75% completion and set to achieve substantial completion by January 6, 2024. BOP: Trail Ridge, EOP: Tanglewood Circle.
Crum Road (Design): Pending final closeout documents.
Franks Road (Design): Pending final closeout documents
North Hurley Road Phase 3 (Const.): Pending final closeout documents. Begin working on obtaining work permits from property owners.
DEPT. OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION:
Bataan Park Veterans Memorial Walking Path: Design is 98% complete. Anticipated bid by January 2024.
• Hamilton Bridge Replacement (Design): Design and permitting in progress. Anticipated completion by June 2024.
NM DEPT. OF TRANSPORTATION:
Fleming Tank Road Improvements: Construction began on December 4, 2023.
Truck Bypass Road (Const.): Construction at 65% completion and set to achieve substantial completion by February 2024 BOP/EOP: Entire Road
OTHER
Bataan Park Veterans Memorial Access Road: Easement agreement in place. County Road Department may begin construction.
Courthouse Needs Assessment: Preliminary design plans in review. Planning presentation to District Court Judges and County Commission thereafter.
Upper Mimbres VFD Water Storage Tanks: Design plans are complete and bidding documents are being updated. Anticipated bid release in January 2024.

Future projects include:
• DFA: Economic Recovery Funding for Mineral and Energy Development Communities – CONTINGENT AWARD
• Conference Center. Computer Lab and A/V Equipment ($100K)
• DFA: Regional Recreation Centers/Quality of Life Grant – AWARDED • Small Field Turf Replacement ($480K)
DFA: Local Emergency Infrastructure Fund – IN REVIEW
• Public Safety Building Acquisition/Renovations ($600K)
NMDOT:
Highway Infra Off-System Bridge Fund – IN REVIEW • Hamilton Bridge Constriction ($3M)

District 1 Commissioner and Chair Chris Ponce asked Hernandez to make sure that the veterans agree with what is planned for Bataan Memorial Park walking trail.

"We're using their design," Hernandez said. "The only changes will be because of slopes."

District 3 Commissioner Alicia Edwards said she has been receiving a lot of calls from people excited by the Little Walnut Project.

Road Superintendent Joe Grijalva gave his report. He said the blade men are doing routine maintenance, and the road crews continue to address complaints as they come in. "The Road Department will be using special project funding from 2022 on Little Walnut and SP funding from 2023 on Noonday Canyon Road. I'm looking to wrap up the SP22 and SP23 funding by the end of of the year before we start on the 2024 LGRF (local government road fund) monies."

He said he had sent three employees to training in Albuquerque to get certified on traffic control. "We expect two new blades to arrive within the next few days. As always, we ask for patience and understanding from the public as we work to address work orders."

Next on the agenda was review of the regular meeting agenda, which will also include decisions made at the Dec. 14, 2023 regular meeting.

County Manager Charlene Webb said the first main item of business was a public hearing to address Ordinance No. O-23-08. the second ordinance amending and restating Ordinance No. O-18-01 and also amending and restating Ordinance No. O-22-01, relating to the issuance and sale of Grant County, New Mexico Taxable Industrial Revenue Bonds for the Great Divide Wind Farm LLC Project.

Luis Carrasco of Rodey Law Firm and county bond counsel attended by telephone. "This ordinance may look familiar. It's a reiteration of the same ordinance you've seen twice before. At the last meeting when we discussed this it was explained that due to legislative changes and supply chain issues, the company had not been able to issue the bonds before the end of December 2023. They have asked for an extension to the end of 2026. This ordinance allows the extension and it reflects the recent changes in legislation on the formula for the payments the schools and the county will get from the project. This ordinance also has a stipulation that the county will have a chance to approve the final terms of the documents by resolution. Once the resolution is passed, it starts the 30-day notice before issuance of the bonds."

With no questions at the work session, Scout Energy. the company promoting the project, had Project Manager Bob Karsted give testimony at the regular meeting.

"Thank you for considering this extension to Dec. 31, 2026," Karsted said. "These industrial revenue bonds are critical to the economies of the project. This extension will allow us to continue development and provide long lead out items that are taking from three to four years, an unheard amount of time in the post-pandemic inflationary time we are in. It will also give clients time to buy the power. We've been spending time on securing these long lead out items, such as high voltage circuit breakers and main power transformers. We thank you for your commitment to Great Divide and Scout places great value on our partnership with Grant County to make Great Divide a real project, so thank you."

Carrasco also attended the regular meeting via telephone and said he left off one important detail during his Tuesday call with the commissioners. "We have increased the bonds from $500 million to $600 million, because of inflated project construction costs."

Webb said although the increase had been mentioned before, Carrasco simply failed to highlight it on Tuesday.

District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne asked if the PILT (payment in lieu of taxes) is dependent on the amount of the bond.

Webb explained that the PILT is determined by the change in legislation. "We don't have the same flexibility any more."

Carrasco said the amount is in the documents, "but the only way it changes is the way it will be distributed to the school districts. Some amount will be designated to the Cobre Consolidated School District as well as to the Silver Schools."

Browne said he didn't read the documents again because he didn't know about the increase. "It's from $500 million to $600 million now?"

Webb said it was originally for $400 million, but the second amendment took it to $500 million and this amendment to $600 million, due to supply chain issues and increased costs.

Browne noted that county expenses have gone up, too, and it seems like the PILT should be proportionate to the amount of investment the county is putting into it being paid through gross receipts taxes.

Webb said in the document, the PILT payment is based on the size of the facility.

Carrasco said the PILT was negotiated based on the megawatt capacity of the project.

Webb read from the document that "the PILT shall be $1750 per megawatt of capacity, but is, in no event to be less than $280,000. to be paid on a project of a 180-megawatt generating capacity, and such PILTs shall be distributed among the school districts and the county as determined by the state statute."

Browne said it seemed odd that the property tax to be received is not based on the investment but on the generation capacity. "But maybe that's just a cautionary note for future negotiations."

Webb said in her experience doing these in other counties, they were done the same way.

Commissioners closed the public hearing at the regular meeting and voted unanimously by individual voice vote to approve Ordinance No. O-23-08.

Th next article will get into the public input at the regular meeting.

To read the prior articles, please visit https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/81832-grant-county-commission-held-work-session-121223-part-1; https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/81852-grant-county-commission-held-work-session-121223-part-2  ; and https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/81868-grant-county-commission-held-work-session-121223-part-3 .