By Lynn Janes

The Silver City Town Council held a regualar meeting February 25, 2025. Attendance to the meeting included Mayor Ken Ladner, Mayor Pro Tem Guadalupe Cano, and Councilors Nicholas Prince, Rudy Bencomo and Stan Snider.

Council comments

Bencomo said he had taken a walk between Fowler Street and 32nd Street and had seen a lot of trash and asked people to refrain from throwing trash out. He had also noticed some trash bins with no lids or broken lids. He asked the public to contact the company contracted to pick up the trash and have them replaced. He suggested it might be a good area for the Toss No Mas to look at doing.

Snider said he had toured the Future Forge Makerspace and had been very impressed with the number of tools and machinery. He went over all the items they had available for use. If someone became a member they would have full use of the equipment. He thanked them for what they do.

Prince thanked city management and planning a zoning for the efforts in the strategic housing draft presentation. "It confirmed to me how severe the housing crisis is, and it is going to take a while to digest all of the data and ensure various corrections before full submission. It lines up with the stresses I have heard." It will set big targets to close gaps for especially working families, single parents and people on fixed incomes. He said he would be excited to see the rapidly developing effort by the city.

Prince said he had attended an event at the Open Space Brewery that convened to support the recently laid off parks and forest service personnel. He saw a trails and open spaces meeting well attended. He thanked the governor's office for expanding the state department of workforce solutions to help with the challenges faced filling local positions.

Prince received a call and said, "I am deeply disturbed by a call received by a local nonprofit that had been visited by Homeland Security and then visited a restaurant to search for a person of interest. It is part of a more aggressive federal strategy." He recommended the efforts of Somos Un Pueblo Unido for having concise information regarding rights of undocumented individuals and how to safely respond to an unwarranted approach or interrogation.

Cano had also attended the five-year anniversary celebration of Future Forge Makerspace. She congratulated Stephen Lindsey, Mary Stone, Dena Quintanar and Gabe Farley. "It is an amazing place." She suggested if you had not toured the facility, you should.

She thanked the Silver City Fire Department for the invitation to the awards banquet and congratulated Eddie James Mendoza for receiving the firefighter of the year award. He has been on the department for a while and also the president of the union.

Cano wanted to let people know that if they would be interested in volunteering or donating to the Warming Center they would be closed that week due to the weather being warmer but would reopen when it became colder again. She appreciated everyone involved

The council approved the minutes from February 11, 2025

No public input currently

Reports

Manager's report

Alex Brown, town manager, said he wanted to address a fire that had recently happened near the Warming Center. It had been a small campfire started by some homeless and nothing had spread. They had vandalized the fence at the recreation center by dismantling it and had put up a tent. The city had taken the tent down and put the fence back up. "It was very minor."

New business

The council approved the reappointment of John Balas for planning and zoning. The chairman had recommended him.

The council approved resolution 2025-06 to support the application for Colonias funding to renovate the last water tank to be renovated at Chloride Flats. They renovate the tanks every 20 years. Match will be paid from the water-sewer fund.

The council approved resolution 2025-07 to support the application for Colonias funding to do construction on Swan Street to put in gutters, sidewalks and bike lanes. Brown said it will begin at 32nd Street and extend north and end at 41st Street. It will begin spring of next year. Bencomo said he had residents that had been asking about when that would be done.

The council approved resolution 2025-08 to support the application for Colonias funding on behalf of the Grant County Water Commission. Brown said it would renovate the well at Santa Clara donated by Freeport McMoRan. The match will be paid for by the Grant County Water Commission with funds received from ISC (Interstate Stream Commission) in the amount of $1.3 million and the debt service that remains after the construction Grant County Water Commission will be paying.

Prince asked about the Grant County Water Commission and debt burden being shared by the regional water project. Brown said they have been in the process of bringing the board together in a way they can receive funding and pay expenditures. One of the communities will have to be the final fiscal agent. To date the only debt in place has been from the construction of the wells in Hurley, transmission lines and design. At this time the estimated total for each customer across the entire region will be just over $2 a month.

Meeting adjourned