Solid Waste Ordinance
Before this month’s county commission meeting a public hearing was held to allow public input regarding an ordinance to deal with solid waste disposal in the county. The new ordinance, as described by attorney Dave Pato, was written to combine preexisting ordinances for solid waste disposal and illegal dumping of solid waste. With the new ordinance, the county gets out of the business of solid waste disposal by contracting with a franchisee to provide the service. The ordinance is available here.
In the ordinance it is stated “the Sierra County Commission has found and determined that Solid Waste Management and Disposal procedures as established and practiced to date in the County have proven economically unviable”. However, no information about the economics of solid waste management was made available to the public and there was no discussion of alternatives that were considered.
Usually these hearings are unattended by the public so it was surprising to hear two residents, Robin Tuttle (Berrenda Creek Ranch) and Kathleen Blair (Hillsboro), voice their concerns about certain aspects of the ordinance.
Both Tuttle and Blair were worried about privatizing solid waste disposal. The idea of transferring solid waste management from “a presumably citizen responsive county” government to a profit margin company was troublesome to Blair.
The fee schedule the franchisee may set can “change from time to time”, said Tuttle, but it wasn’t clear how and when the fees could change, or if the community would have a voice in the changes and in selection of the franchisee.
Pato suggested that the fees could be tied to the consumer price index for solid waste. He said that Valencia county has used the CPI to determine a maximum charge their hauler can set and automatically impose. The CPI for solid waste has been steadily increasing and has nearly doubled since 2004.
Blair was concerned that prices will be subject to the franchisee’s profit margin and will end up priced beyond the ability of residents to pay. She was afraid that when that happens, people will cease to use the facilities. “They will burn” she said, and that would be a safety risk in local communities not only for fire hazards but also health risks due to burning plastics and other chemicals.
Open burning of household waste is prohibited in New Mexico. Vegetative burning is allowed without a permit but does require notification of the local fire department and must be performed at a minimum distance of 300 ft from a neighbor.
A practical concern of Tuttle was the county’s switch from cash payments to electronic cards. Residents would put money on a card to pay for waste disposal. “If a resident arrives” to a transfer station and “needs to add money”, they can’t do so in Hillsboro. There is no cell phone service in the area. Sierra County has two other transfer stations, in Arrey and Winston. Arrey, according to Tuttle has cell service but no electricity. Winston also does not have cell service, Dan Warren in the Winston area told the Citizen.
Commissioner Jim Paxon proposed that the broadband being installed in the county by Ethos could include the transfer stations thus allowing internet access. According to county manager Amber Vaughn, Ethos has been working in Hillsboro but but she does not have a timetable for when the service will be available. Winston is not yet on any timetable for broadband access.
Tuttle asked that the commission table their decision on the ordinance until they’ve had an opportunity to meet in Hillsboro with residents and hear local concerns. Paxon asked that the commission table the vote on the ordinance after confirming that it would not delay implementation. Its “worth going to their back yard to hear from the folks up there”, he said. The meeting date and time are not yet scheduled.
Sheriff’s department pay scale to increase
Sheriff Joshua Baker presented the commission with a resolution to increase the pay scale of his department. Competition for law enforcement officers between different agencies in the state is high. Sierra county is currently seeking two applicants and most months the Sheriff reports that he is looking for new hires. To be able to recruit and retain officers, pay and benefits need to be competitive with other area departments.
Baker performed a thorough comparison of law enforcement pay scales throughout the area and presented the information to the commission. He included pay scales for the State Police, sheriff’s departments in Doña Ana and Socorro counties, and police stations in Silver City, Alamogordo, Las Cruces, Socorro and Hatch. “We are lowest in the southwest corner of the state”, Baker concluded. Additionally, Baker calculated the costs to the department for the next five years and determined that the department can stay within its budget with the changes.
There will be different pay scales for each of the classes of officers in the department: deputy, investigator, sergeant and captain. There will also be fifteen lateral steps in each class that will allow new hires to be paid appropriately and provide incentives to current officers. Those lateral steps will be based on years of law enforcement experience, advanced training, and educational degrees. Uncertified deputies will earn $19.50 per hour until they earn certification.
|
Class | Current Pay Scale | New Pay Scale |
|
Deputy |
$19.67-21.71 |
$22.68-34.30 |
|
Investigator |
$21.68 |
$23.94-36.20 |
|
Sergeant |
$23.90 |
$25.66-38.02 |
| Captain | $26.36 |
$27.86-42.15 |
In discussion before approving the resolution, Paxon said “It’s an excellent step in a positive direction” and said that he was surprised to see that even the Hatch police department was paying better than Sierra county.
Day said he was “amenable to it” if the increases could be implemented with no increase in the Sheriff’s department budget. “I know the last Sheriff was trying to compete with state police and I appreciate you saying we are never going to be able to because that is just the reality”, said Day, “but we can be competitive with other local P[olice] D[epartments]”. Day continued, “my ask going forward is that we see some consistency and allow this new scale to work awhile” and not change it three times in a year.
Fairground Improvement Priorities
Sierra County has $1.75 million available to upgrade and improve the fairgrounds. However the wishlist of the fairground committee is greater than the available funds. According to commissioner Hank Hopkins, who is on that committee, a new multipurpose building is what they most want but the funds would be insufficient to complete it let alone a number of other projects they wish to include.
The commission discussed what they thought was most needed and could be accomplished with the available funds. The first priority of the commission is to complete space for recreation vehicle parking. The surface has been graded and, according to Paxon “was really well done” and had been used recently.
The second priority is to upgrade the existing structure especially the kitchen and bathrooms. Commissioner Day described the current bathrooms as “an embarrassment”. Paxon said that they would “not make code” and “public safety needs to be the highest priority”.
Third, since a new building is not feasible, the commission recommends the fairground committee work to add on to the existing pavilion to provide the extra rooms and needs that are desired.