A preview of the county commission meeting 8/16/22

The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. The agenda and its accompanying packet are available online.  Items that might be of interest and their corresponding pages in the packet are described.

New Business: The commission will hear an update on the Ethos Broadband Project. This is a project to bring broadband to the county in several phases. The first phase is the southern portion of the county. To date the county has provided about a million dollars in funding to help update infrastructure.

The commission will also publish two ordinances to be considered in the future. The first is ordinance 22-005 to repeal an existing ordinance for county planning. The second ordinance, 22-006, is to clarify issues in road naming and rural addressing. The wording of neither proposed ordinance is currently available.

Contracts, agreements, procurement: There are three agreements and resolutions with the New Mexico department of transportation the commission will sign (p.141). This will earmark $580,767 for improvements and maintenance of roads throughout the county. The county is responsible for 25% of these costs but will request two match waivers for hardship bringing the total cost to the county to $45,217.

The county will accept from the Department of Finance and Administration $70,000 for maintenance of the Hillsboro Community Center, $75,000 for the road department blade truck, and $60,000 for equipment for the Sheriff’s department (p172). These monies all come from what is known as the Junior Appropriation. These are projects that have been earmarked by state legislators to help fund community projects. Most recently each senator had $600,000 and each representative $360,000 to designate to projects.

The commission will sign a new contract with the board of the Hillsboro community center (p.181) to outline the roles of the county and the board in maintaining the building.

The commission will discuss a contract bid (p.191) with Highland Park Enterprises to begin construction of the baseball complex in Arrey. This project has long been a desire of the Arrey community and getting it started is important for securing additional funding.

The county will enter into a memorandum of understanding with the office of the secretary of state (p.199) to provide up to $17,400 to fund  the costs of running the 2022 general election. 

The county will sign an agreement (p.210) with Doña Ana county to house  adults in their detention center at a minimum cost of $120 per detainee per day. Medium security ($25), maximum security ($55) and detainees with mental health issues ($50) have additional daily fees. Sierra county currently houses detainees in both Socorro and Luna counties. 

Executive Session: Sale of the county owned building at 855 Van Patten, which previously housed the county administration will be discussed as will personnel issues.

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Debora Nicoll
Debora Nicoll

Debora Nicoll, a member of the board of the Sierra County Public-Interest Journalism Project, will cover the Sierra County Commission for the Citizen, as she did for the Sierra County Sun, capitalizing on her past regular attendance at its monthly meetings as a concerned citizen and champion of responsive government. Nicoll was born and raised in the midwest but is a southwesterner by choice, calling Sierra County home since 2010, when she retired from a 22-year career as a research scientist.

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