Public unhappy about commission fairground improvement priorities
At the June meeting the county commission set its priorities for spending $1.75 million in funds for upgrading the Sierra County fairgrounds. Their first priority was to complete parking for recreational vehicles followed by upgrades to the existing structure, especially the bathrooms and kitchen, and a recommendation to add on to the existing structure.
During the public comment segment of the July meeting, the commission heard many complaints about setting the RV lot as the first priority and instead given specific needs required at the fairgrounds to make the space safer for humans and animals.
Former county commissioner Ken Lyons started off the public comments by calling on the current commission, composed of Travis Day, Jim Paxon and Hank Hopkins, to step up and be leaders. “If you can’t get people together to get something going, that’s a huge problem”, Lyons roared, “Spend the money on an RV park? Are you kidding me? That’s the least important of our priorities”.
Lyons admitted that a new 150 foot square building would be a reach with the available funds but to replace the pig facilities with a 30 by 60 building would be easy. Those facilities are, hot, over 50 years old and low ceilinged, he said. Lyons went on to say that there are a lot of ideas out there but a lack of leadership. “If you’ve exhausted all opportunities to spend the money, I will thank you for trying. If you are just giving up and saying let’s get it (the available funds) spent, then you are not really looking at how to build what the community and kids need, that’s on you”.
Fair board member Summer Woods said that they had a meeting and all agreed that they didn’t want the funds to go to an RV park and that it was a very low priority. She went on to describe many issues that need addressing in the facilities including their fears that pigs and rabbits might die from overheating. “Two years ago we had a $750,000 bid from (local construction company) Smithco”, Woods informed the commission, “even if the costs were doubled, we’d still be able to do it” she continued asking if it was necessary to use the firm Wilson and Wilson to have the work done. She ended her time at the podium requesting that the commission please prioritize.
Before the start of public comment, Day let those who wished to make comment know that it is not the commission’s policy to respond to public comment. However “everything said is taken into account by commission”. In spite of the policy, Hopkins did respond to the first two commentors and said “I hear you 100%” and described the RV park he envisioned as just electricity and water hookups and nothing more. “All this money is not to be thrown at an RV park”, said Hopkins.
Day followed up with some historical context, stating “when we first met with Senator Diamond, the initial intent was just to upgrade” the facilities. There has been “miscommunication between the county and the fair board” Day continued, the RV park is “just hookups to allow for camping. Not to be in competition with RV park businesses”.
There were three other members of the public who gave testament to the poor state of the fairground facilities. Becky Bartoo stressed the importance of focussing on children and youths in the county and region. “We sent too big a dream (to the county)” said Bartoo, but we “were told to dream big”. She was okay with scaling down the projects but stated the needs for a plan and to remember the number one reason is the children.
Jenny Neeley, a fair board member and county extension employee agreed with the commissions thoughts and volunteered to give a tour of the facilities to point out its needs. Norman Carter, a former fair board member volunteered his services to be on an advisory board and emphasized the need to “take care of what we have” and not make an RV park the number one priority.
Commissioner Day invited the speakers to stay for the rest of the meeting since the annual Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan was on the itinerary and the fairgrounds were to be included.
The ICIP is for local governments to prioritize infrastructure projects needed in their jurisdictions. County manager Amber Vaughn explained that at this meeting the commission was to adopt their priorities. The next steps will be taken in August and September to work out details of the projects so there was still time to “look at numbers and confirm priorities”.
This year the commission listed 10 projects to be scheduled for fiscal years 2025-2029 at a cost of over $15 million. Projects given the highest priority are most likely to be funded by the state legislature.
The number one project on the ICIP is for $2 million for fairground improvements. That was followed up by a $175,000 project to renovate the Hillsboro Community Center kitchen and $100,000 for county fleet vehicles. All other projects address road, bridge, and drainage projects throughout the county.
Deputies to investigate wolf depredations
The commission also discussed and approved the use of county deputies to help in wolf depredation investigations. “This has been talked about for a long time”, said Day. Sheriff Baker added that it has been discussed since the ordinance (15-004 , approved in 2015, the Wolf Human Incident Emergency Protective Measures Ordinance) was signed.
With the commission approval, deputies (two of whom have already volunteered according to Baker) can undergo the training and certification needed to investigate potential wolf depredations of livestock. The county would not want deputies to do investigations if “they were not approved for funding”, said Day.
When asked by email if the deputies will be doing investigations during off-duty times or during their normal shifts he replied that investigations would take place while on duty and they would be paid according to their normal pay schedule. The current plan is for the deputies to work depredations in Sierra County after they have been certified.
That training availability is “very limited” according to Baker, so it may take awhile to complete. By email Baker explained that the training will involve going to depredation sites to train hands on with a certified investigator. This “is important to the ranching community” and the department is “happy to support” it Baker told the commission
Paxon, a member of the County Livestock Loss Authority, said that in a meeting which included state legislators Armstrong and Jaramillo, there was a lot of support from those elected officials as well as Senator Crystal Diamond. Something that will be needed since, according to attorney Dave Pato, “there will be a shift from livestock grant to state funding”.
“Last year there were 320 depredations in New Mexico”, said Paxon, “an astounding number”. He continued “we are going to need $900,000 per year to pay for depredations” as the wolf populations increase. The CLLA is also working to develop a formula and process to be able to pay for indirect impacts of wolves on livestock, which, according to Paxon, would cost an addition $1 million per year.
According to the Mexican wolf recovery program quarterly report there have been 63 confirmed and 8 probable wolf depredations in New Mexico through June this year. In that same time frame there have been 5 wolf mortalities in the state.
The CLLA has “a consideration with (US representative) Vasquez to get something in the farm bill” to further compensate western ranchers for losses due to predators, said Paxon. “They are still paying eastern livestock values” but the cost out here “is double. It’s harder to find a loss on 20,000 acres where you may not see an animal for months” as opposed to in the east where the animal is on 200 acres and “you see it every day” Paxon elaborated. We are “trying to level the playing field” Paxon concluded.