Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Okay, we're going to call this meeting to order. Good morning, everybody, and thank you for joining us today. We are going to be, we're going to have an invocation, and we have a special guest for that, and then we're going to have a pledge. from some special young ladies. So if you don't mind, would you step up to the podium and tell us who you are? And if you don't mind, would you please bless us with prayer this morning?

Yes. Good morning. I'm Deacon Steve Garcia from Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. But this morning, my wife and I, Francine, we're here as sponsors with the students from the Arts Academy of Bella Vista who are going to do the pledge. So let us pray. Good and gracious Father, Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. Heavenly Father, we thank you for our community, for our county. On this morning, Lord God, we ask you to bless this commission meeting. We ask you to guide us. We ask you for your wisdom and your guidance. and all the decisions that need to be made. We ask all this in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus. Amen. Amen.

Thank you so much, D.C. I appreciate that. All right, now I have some students with us that are going to come help us with the pledge, right? All right, if y'all don't mind, come up here to the very front, these two microphones right up here. Ah, what an awesome bunch. Are y'all supposed to be in school right now?

Yes.

Okay, so you want this to go really slow and drag out? Are you ready to get back to school? Okay, well, just so you know, we have an awesome Commissioner Martin here, and he buys y'all a bag of donuts every time. So when you leave, make sure you get a bag of donuts from Commissioner Martin. He does that every week. If you don't mind, I'm going to start with you. If you would tell us who you are. and what grade you're in and who your teacher is.

My name's Grace, and I am in fifth grade, and my teacher's name is Ms. Greenlee. I'm Rowan Cathy. I'm in fifth grade, and my teacher is Ms. Greenlee. My name is Aizen Gallegos, and I'm in fifth grade, and my teacher's name is Mr. Gentile. My name's Titus Hennessy. I'm in fifth grade, and my teacher's name is Miss Greenlee. My name is Andrew Bjorklund, and I'm in fifth grade, and my teacher's name is Mr. Gentile.

Awesome. Thank you all so much for being with us. So whenever you're ready, well, I mean, before we do the pledge, is there something else? Do you all want to perform any kind of skit, dance, song? Or do you all just want to do the pledge? You're thinking about it.

Okay.

I'll let you all go to the pledge. So what we're going to do is we're all going to turn around, and whenever you're ready to start the pledge, we're all going to join in with you, okay? So whenever you're ready.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I salute the flag of the state of New Mexico as the symbol of perfect friendship among united cultures.

Y'all did awesome. I'm going to come down there with you, and we're going to take a picture, okay? okay if y'all are expecting something cooler than that for this meeting you're going to be sadly disappointed um but uh we are going to start with a roll call please chairman bender here vice chairman leatherwood commissioner madrid commissioner martin here commissioner kane here okay at this time approval of agenda any changes to the agenda

Chairman Bender and Commission, under indigent board meeting item number four, we need to change the dollar amount to $294.45. The information in your packet is correct, but the agenda did not get updated. So $294.45. Okay.

Move to approve as amended. Second.

We got a motion by Commissioner Martin, second by Commissioner Cain. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed, say nay.

Minutes approval. Any changes to the minutes? Chairman and Commission, no changes to minutes July 18th for regular or independent.

Second. A motion by Commissioner Martin, second by Commissioner Kane. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed say nay. Okay. Minutes are adopted. At this time, we will have recognition of visitors and public input for which no action will be taken. Is there anybody here that would like to address the commission this morning? Seeing none, we will move in to our first proclamation. This was a proclamation declaring August 31, 2026 International Overdose Awareness Day. And we have Curry County Youth Committee here with us today. So if y'all don't mind, would you please come up here to the microphone and we'll allow you to, are y'all planning to read this proclamation? All right, if y'all will come up to the microphone. We had an opportunity to meet several of these young ladies a few weeks ago, and they're working very hard to adopt a lot of policies and things within the local schools and trying to find things for young adults to do, keeping people occupied and out of trouble, right? Yes, sir. And y'all have been really strong in it. I saw y'all at the fair booth, and you've remained dedicated and committed. So thank you for doing that and holding up to that.

urge you to continue the fight is there anything you'd like to to say or would you mind introducing us introduce yourself to us so good morning chairman vendor and members of the Commission where we are Curry County Youth Committee my name is Abigail Williams and I go to the early college high school I'm really on a Villarreal and I go to Texaco high school

My name is Destiny Madrid Silva and I go to Clovis High School.

All right. Well, thank you all so much. And again, appreciate all you're doing. Whenever y'all are ready, if you want to, however you've broken this out, y'all are welcome to start reading however you want to.

Thank you. Today, we're going to read the proclamation for the International Overdose Awareness Day, whereas August 31st, 2026 marks the 25th Annual International Overdose Awareness Day, a global campaign to remember those whose lives have been lost to overdose, support grieving families and friends, and reduce the stigma surrounding substance use and misuse and overdose awareness. and whereas overdose can affect individuals and families in every community, including Curry County, regardless of age, background, or circumstances, making prevention and education essential to protecting the health and well-being of our community and

Whereas evidence-based prevention efforts, harm reduction strategies, and life-saving tools such as Naloxone can reduce overdose deaths and connect individuals to hope and support. And whereas the color purple represents remembrance, compassion, hope, and support for our individuals, families, and communities affected by overdose. The Substance Use and Behavioral Health Program and the Curry County Youth Committee invite all residents to wear purple on August 31st to honor those who we have lost. Support those seeking help and join the conversation by sharing messages of hope using hashtag and overdose on social media and...

Whereas the Curry County Substance Use and Behavioral Health Program and the Curry County Youth Committee remain committed to strengthening prevention efforts, increasing awareness, expanding education, and supporting those affected by substance use, misuse, and overdose. With the continued support of Curry County elected officials, Curry County, oops. organizations, schools, health care providers, first responders, law enforcement, local leaders, and all residents of Curry County.

Now, therefore, be it resolved. On behalf of the Board of Curry County Commissioners, I, Brad Bender, Chairman, do hereby proclaim August 31, 2026 as International Overdose Awareness Day in Curry County, New Mexico, and encourage all residents to learn how to recognize and respond to an overdose, carry and know how to use naloxone, When appropriate, support prevention efforts, wear purple in remembrance and solidarity, and help build a community where every person knows they are not alone. Done this 18th day of August 2026. Thank you all very much for doing this. Y'all's courage is great. You do a phenomenal job speaking and addressing. I know it's not easy. I think I told y'all that the last time, but you did a great job. So I'm going to come down there. We're going to do a picture, okay?

Thank you.

Purple is awesome.

Thank you all again. That was great. Our second proclamation, declaring September 8, 2026 as 988 Day, we have Magali Gonzalez here to help us read that.

Good morning, Chairman Bender and members of the commission. I'm Melissa Gomez-Williams, the Substance Use and Behavioral Health Program Manager. Magali was our summer intern, and unfortunately, she had a family emergency, but she wrote this proclamation, and I would like to read it to you guys. Fantastic. Thank you. All right, so the proclamation for 988 Day, September 8th of 2026. Whereas the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline was initially created in 2005 as a toll-free 10-digit number, on July 16th, 2022, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline transitioned from the 10-digit number to a new, memorable, and simplified three-digit number known as 988. And whereas this free and confidential resource connects callers seeking emotional, mental, or substance use support with one-on-one help from skilled professionals, 988 is available 24-7, offering quality support in English and Spanish with three different ways to connect via call, text, or online chat. And whereas on February 6, 2024, the US Department of Health and Human Services approved the state of New Mexico's request to expand access to critical behavioral health services for those in mental health distress through community-based mobile crisis intervention teams. And whereas mental health affects every member of our community, 988 is a reliable and easily accessible resource for individuals struggling with depression, anxiety, or any challenges that life presents. 988 allows individuals to have a confidential and understanding conversation with a nonjudgmental trained professional because no one is meant to face mental health challenges or crises alone. And whereas from its launch four years ago, 988NM.org states over 262,398 New Mexicans have used 988. And in the calendar year of 2025, the New Mexico Crisis Line reports 988 answered 409 calls from Curry County residents seeking support. And, whereas, with this in mind, the Curry County Substance Use and Behavioral Health Program is committed to increasing awareness and utilization of New Mexico's 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and its capacity-building resources with the continued support of Curry County elected officials, Curry County Behavioral Health and grants departments, and vital community partners.

now therefore be it resolved on behalf of the board of curry county commissioners i brad bender chairman do hereby proclaim september 8 2026 as 988 day in recognition of national suicide prevention awareness month in curry county and encourage all citizens to seek support by connecting with 988 if you have or if you or a loved one is experiencing mental health distress hope is only three numbers away call text or chat 988 Thank you so much. I appreciate that. I'm going to come down there for one more picture with you. I'm just trying to get my steps in. All right. All right, moving into consent agenda. Items listed below are recommended by the county manager for placement on the consent agenda. These items are placed on the agenda so that the commission, by unanimous consent, can designate those routine agenda items that they wish to be approved or acknowledged by one motion. If any proposal does not meet with the approval of all the commission members or if a citizen so requests that that item will be heard when reached under the regular agenda, Any changes to the consent agenda?

Mr. Chairman, I move to place items one through six on consent. I really wanted to pull six until I read it. And, you know, just because it says Biden, it's not a bad thing.

I will second that. So with that, we'll have a roll call, please.

Commissioner Madrid. Yes. Commissioner Martin? Yes. Commissioner Cain? Yes. Chairman Bender? Yes. Move to approve. Second.

Motion by Commissioner Martin, second by Commissioner Cain. Roll call, please.

Commissioner Martin? Yes. Commissioner Madrid? Yes. Commissioner Cain? Yes. Chairman Bender?

Yes.

All right.

Moving on to presentations. We have an annual presentation of the Substance Use and Behavioral Health Program. And again, we have Melissa Gomez-Williams and Shannon Morrison here with us to help present that.

OK. Hello again. Melissa Gomez-Williams. I am the program manager for the Substance Use and Behavioral Health Program. And with me today, I have Shannon Morrison. She is our program evaluator. Today we're going to talk a little bit about our program and what we're doing in the community every day. We're out there a lot. All right, so we are the Substance Use and Behavioral Health Program. We are currently in our third year of a five-year grant that was provided by SAMHSA. We did receive our notice of award for year four, and we will be entering that on September 30th of 2026. So we work in prevention. So prevention is acting early before substance use or any other challenges become larger problems. Our goal is to give young people, families, and the community the information and skills that they need to make healthier choices for themselves. but we don't want to assume what Curry County needs. We use this local data and thoughtful input from our stakeholders to help us determine where to focus our efforts and what messages are needed and where we may need to address our strategies. And so we have here on the board here some of the ways that we do that. And so with that, I will pass this to Shannon so that she can discuss the data itself.

Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Commissioners. Thanks for having me here. I've been here before and you'll be happy to know that I don't have 20 pages of graphs for you to look at today. We've narrowed it down a little bit just to make it more palatable. So I'm going to present on the community survey findings for this year. Probably most of you know what the community survey is. It's a statewide sponsored survey that is done in all of the counties it's done every year and this year we had 547 respondents so the Curry County for Curry County this really helps us track the outcomes related to substance use to youth access to substances mental health indicators community perceptions around substances in the community, and also drinking or using other substances while driving.

Can you tell me real quick, I'm sorry, how many respondents did you say?

547, which is a lot just by the way. We actually, we collected too many. But that's, we are overachievers, so that's a good thing. Okay, so this is just a snapshot of some of the findings that are very related to the work that is done on the sub-project program as well as the DWI prevention program. So the percentage of respondents reporting drinking and driving was 2%, which was the same in 2024 and 2025, so that didn't go up or down. The percentage of people reporting underage drinking, this is people aged 18 to 25, was 17%, which was a drastic reduction or a significant reduction than from last year, which was 30%. So that's a really promising finding. The percentage of people reporting binge drinking was 12%, and this was the same in 2025. And then both marijuana use and marijuana use while driving slightly increased by 1% from last year, but it still remains lower than 2024. So in 2024, 25% reported using marijuana and 8% reported driving after using marijuana. So it has gone down in the last two years. We also asked a few mental health questions. These were added a couple of years ago. And so 16% of the respondents said they had experienced anxiety in the past 30 days, and this was just down by one percentage point from 2025. And then we also asked the question, in the past year, have you felt so low at times that you thought about committing suicide? 9% of respondents said that they had thought about suicide, and this was up from 7%. but it's down from 14% in 2024. And we also asked about suicide attempts in the past year as well, and 2% said that they had attempted, and this is down from 7% last year. Ready for the next one. All right, so we do ask questions about opioid use. These are new questions, again, that we added a couple of years ago. These data really help guide the sub-priorities in programming. So naloxone, also known as Narcan, as most of you know, it's a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses. So the community survey asks respondents about their familiarity with it. Familiarity with naloxone has gone up since 2025. Only 58% were not familiar with it this year compared to 61% in 2025. Probably the biggest jump, however, was in knowing how to get it. In 2025, it was only 9%, and this year it's 19%, and that is something that we like to see. And then 24% knew how to use it compared to 21% last year. And 40% said they store their prescription medications in a lockbox compared to 38% in 2025, so that just went up a couple of percentage points. And then 5% of respondents reported past 30-day prescription painkiller misuse compared to 3% in 2025. So it did go up a couple of percentage points. And about 30% of people said that they had access to naloxone when having used pain medication in the past 30 days.

Thank you. So we are taking all this data that we get and we are using it locally. And if you followed the Curry County Grants Facebook page and Instagram this past week, we've really highlighted why we're using data. And so we take this data and this is where we start putting it into action. So when the surveys show us that medication and cannabis were not being stored securely, we started distributing safe storage tools. And so from April 2025 to July of 2026, We had 265 safe storage lockbox surveys completed with at least that many either lockbox or fingerprint cabinet locks distributed. And then when we saw the gaps in safe medication disposal, we started providing RX destroyers. And so from June 2025 to July of 2026, We had 208 RX destroyers that were distributed to promote safe disposal of unused medication and reduce youth access to any leftover prescription drugs. And some of that was in partnership with local pharmacies as well as different events we worked. And when we see the limited awareness of access to naloxone or Narcan, we provide overdose prevention training and Narcan directly into our community. From July 2025 to June of 2026, 53 Curry County residents were trained in overdose prevention, and they learned how to recognize and respond to an opioid overdose, and learned how to administer naloxone, which is the medication that will temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. which means that we're buying some precious time to save someone's life until medical services can arrive. With that said, we gave out 180 doses of naloxone that were given to community members and community partners to include the military members who came to our trainings, local schools, hotels that requested trainings for their staff, government agencies, and local organizations. So these are not standalone activities that we do, but rather prevention strategies tied directly to the needs that we're seeing here in Curry County. So on the screen here, this slide highlights some of the things that we're doing and we're showing up here in the community. So whether that's through prevention education and harm reduction, our works that include mental health first aid training for adult supporting adults and adult supporting youth. The Hidden in Plain Sight trailer that we have now brought into the commission chambers as well, the experience has been brought into the chambers and will be brought back again this week so that people can come in and learn those warning signs of risky behavior when it comes to substances. Safe storage and RX destroyer initiatives to safely lock away and destroy unused medication from youth hands. And then that overdose prevention training. We also do work with our teen court to provide safety first classes, which is substance use and mental health classes for our youth. And any youth in the community can participate. They do not have to be part of the teen court program to participate in that class. But each of these efforts help us meet people where they are and provide practical tools and support, safer choices for the youth, family, and the community members that we have here in Curry County. We often work with partnerships, and our biggest partner is our DWI program, which Ms. Sandy is here with us today, supporting, again, as always. They are our biggest partners that we have with them, and with them, we collect a lot of that data. So, as Shannon said, that NMCS survey isn't just the Substance Use and Behavioral Health Program, but also the DWI program. We collect this data so that we can help drive our grant programming and allow us to build programs and education that support and help make our communities safer and stronger. We also work together and we host the Communities Talk event during the summer, which we saw 1,314 people visit Hillcrest Zoo to learn more about prevention and how to start those safe conversations at home when it comes to substances, mental health, and alcohol use. We do offer a safe senior send-off for graduating high school seniors to allow space for open prevention focused conversations at a very pivotal moment as they're getting ready to leave home and go off into college or into the workforce or even into the military. This is a very big pivotal transition into adulthood and so we want to answer those questions as frankly as possible so that they have all the education to make safer choices for themselves. We create prevention-focused education to support messages of healthy choices, awareness, and support for our communities to bring to their organizations, schools, or workplaces. And Cannon Air Force Base has been a great partner in bringing these to the base. We support their prevention messaging, and we provide them with education for their airmen, as well as their key support liaisons. which means that they can then turn around and support the families at Cannon Air Force Base, especially when most of these families coming in may not be aware of what it means to live in a cannabis-legalized state. So we are currently in the rural schools with the DWI program, offering driver's education and health class support by visiting the campus three times a semester to bring the fun and interactive education surrounding alcohol and substance use awareness. We talk about how to make healthier choices for themselves and also talk to them about another pivotal life change as they are becoming licensed drivers. So what does that mean for them? We do hope to expand this into Clovis schools in the near future, but right now we do have a really great relationship with all of our rural schools. These endeavors are a joint effort and make both of our programs, substance use and behavioral health, and the DWI program successful in reducing youth substance and alcohol use by giving evidence-based prevention, education, and supporting our youth by meeting them where they're at in the schools and in the community. And this isn't a way to lecture them or to scare them or use fear tactics. It is a way to educate them so that they're making choices that are relevant to them. However, we have tons of partners across the community. This slide highlights just a few of our Curry County partners. However, none of this work happens in isolation. Prevention is strongest when the entire community has a role in it, and our prevention continues to grow across the schools, healthcare, pharmacy, local businesses, cannon air force base community organizations and other community programs these relationships also help make our work sustainable and it becomes prevention then just becomes a part of the community and what the community is doing together and it's not something that belongs to just one program as we've seen with the curry county youth committee it impacts more than just the curry county offices it hits everyone in the community So as we close, I want to leave you guys with a very simple message. Prevention is something all of us can do and be a part of, whether that means helping us connect with the schools and organizations, sharing prevention resources, supporting community events, or simply continuing to have conversations about healthy choices and even making connections with other people. This really helps drive home that prevention messaging. And our goal is going to continue to be building a prevention network across the county so that youth and families know where to find education and support and resources when they need them. So I thank you for your time. And with that, we will stand for any questions you may have.

Thank you very much for the presentation. I want to go back, and it was a lot to take in, and obviously there's a lot to this, but I want to go back to the 547. I know you said overachievers, but wouldn't you say that's more like feeling that you have filled a need, like that this is working in all the hard work that you're putting in? Obviously, we want that number low, but at the same time, you're there to answer that call. And so just curious if anything, did you have any stories out of that? Not saying you have to go into detail, but did you have some really good moments out of some of those responses?

You mean the responses to the surveys? Yeah. Yeah. So the number is, for us, good. Statewide, we're making the other counties look bad. So it's like they have to kind of weight the other numbers because We collected a lot of surveys because they're really good at it. And we got great data. And for us, to have a bigger sample size is great because then we also like to look at, well, what do the findings look by age group or by gender or by ethnicity? And so we can see if there are differences in the... if we need to target programming in such a way. So for us, we like having that large sample size.

And as far as stories and stuff, when we're out in the community, we hear stories of people's personal lives, their struggles, their own experiences, their perception. And their perception really is their reality. And so when we're out there and we're talking about the importance of the surveys and the data that we're collecting, people naturally just share that with us. And they share with us their stories. And we take those stories back. And it really drives the work that we're doing. And it really gives us that motivation to say, OK, You know, we may have got 10 nos this week, but we got a really great story from someone, and it really gives us that motivation to keep going.

Great. Awesome. Thank you for that. Commission, do you all have any questions? All right. Thank you so much. Thank you guys so much. Appreciate you. Okay. We are moving to reports. and for committees, departments, and presentations. Our first one is Detention Center Report for July 2026, and we have Mr. Alaniz here with us.

Good morning, Chair Medner, Commissioners. July report for 2026 on staffing, we had zero hires, zero promotions, and we have seven vacancies for detention officers. The population data, Our average daily population was 142. Total bookings, 157. New bookings, 47. Previous bookings, 110. Males booked, 109. Released males, 106. Total females booked, 48. Release females, 55. Total male felonies, 378. Female felonies, 181. Male misdemeanors, 384. Female misdemeanors, 281. Sentenced detainees to the facility, 18 out-of-state fugitives. We had six for the month of July. Operational highlights. In July, the Curry County Reach intervened, supported, and engaged, known as the RISE program, served eight active participants and celebrated two successful community releases following completion of 13-week House of Healing curriculum. Participants also completed the overdose prevention of naloxone training led by the Curry County Substance Use and Behavioral Health Program Manager. Additionally, clients also finished their first patchwork teddy bears building sewing skills while strengthening teamwork, patience, active listening, and community service. A special thanks to the entire programs team for their dedication, leadership, and continued support of the RISE program. Their commitment to provide meaningful opportunity and growth has a long-lasting impact on their participants and play a vital role in programming and ongoing success. July 26th events in the facility. The Curry County Adult Detention Center continues to coordinate and manage approved scheduled attorney access with our clients. In July, we had 84 attorney phone calls, 23 on-site attorney visits, We had three rehabilitation calls. One detainee was transported to a rehabilitation program. The volunteer program continues to offer a wide range of faith-based personal growth opportunities to support individuals in their spiritual journey, including baptism services In July, we had four baptisms that were performed at the facility. Facility staff also remain committed in managing and distributing religious materials and other resources to enable detainees to practice their respective faiths. And we do have a volunteer training coming up. Roadrunner Health Services administers the Detainee Medication Assisted Treatment, known as MAT, Curry County Adult Detention Center. In July, we had 13 participants that were approved to receive substance use disorder medication. Our Edovo learning program for 2026, you can see that pie chart, the key highlights. We had 84 learners completing 481 hours of education, averaging six hours per learner. The strongest areas of engagement were health and recovery, spirituality, reentry, and community. which together accounts for 72% of the courses completed. Learners completed 24 courses across multiple personal development, wellness, and re-engaging focus and categories. Employee development in the facility, online training with the New Mexico County's Insurance Authority Health and Safety Institute, HSI platform. that continues on a regular basis. Our long-range training for facility staff inside for in-service training, it consisted of radio and telephone use. July 2026 juvenile billing, a total of $60,050. We had, at Lee County, six juveniles for a total of 178 days, totaling 53,400. Bernalillo County, we had one juvenile for 11 days at 5,225. Dona Ana, we had three juveniles for one thousand four hundred and twenty five dollars our overtime report for pay period july 5th through july 18 2026 time and a half over above 86 hours we had 73 hour 73.88 hours July adult detention billing, we billed $34,596. New Mexico Department of Corrections, $522. Adult probation and parole, $21,924. Guadalupe County, $7,050. Quay County, $5,100. And that is the report for July 2026.

Thank you very much, Mr. Alnese. Any questions from the Commission? Thank you. Thank you very much, sir. Okay. Next, we have the Road Department for July 2026. Mr. Wayland-Jones.

morning chairman bender and commission uh update for july uh crew is processed in lane caliche on 14 from new york mexico 311 the t3 mile project tpf 2024 will be completed this week we also started building on cr19 from d to e in preparation cleachy build which is commission allocation uh special project crew is currently working on cleaning roadway curb and gutter on cr9 which is west brady uh our lgrf cap and co-op agreements have been received we're currently working on clear working on environmental clearances we're still waiting school bus agreements for those projects still waiting on tpf ratings and rankings nmdot to release that information on tpf capital la still no updates hoping we see those funds in september Maintenance bladed 196 miles of road, patched four miles of road edges, and we shredded 63 miles. Maintenance is currently working on the bony cap, which is CRI, and we completed working on the rust cap, CRH.5, after receiving heavy rainfall. So we received about four and a half inches of rain in about 45 minutes on those two caps about a week ago. When I talk washes, it's not, we're talking big giant holes, you know, three and four foot washes on that cap rock. So currently working on that. It's currently passable and open to the public. I have one employee starting CDL training at the Clovis Community College on August 30th. And then lastly, I attended the Western Gateway meeting introduction last week with Commissioner Kane. That'll stand for any questions.

Thank you very much, Mr. Jones. I want to point out a couple things. First and foremost, I had somebody come and speak to me the other day, and they appreciated your explanation on the the bus route the bus route road fund and how difficult that is and just make sure that everybody knows it's not not for a lack of trying it's just a lack of funding that goes into that and so it was somebody had been persistent and they said hey you know you took the time to speak to them and give a full detail of how that process works and so I do appreciate you doing that yes sir it's good to hear that that side of it and one other question CR 6 is there anything scheduled I had received a call on that yesterday in fact this morning and asking about CR 6 is there anything that you know like coming up on that or anything as far as project money yeah no sir okay it's on five-year but there's no project money for that currently okay perfect any other questions from Commission 348 south of Mexico state line yes

If somebody's wanting to get a turn into a piece of property, is that you they contact the state or Texas?

If it's on the Mexico sign, it'd be DOT. Texas side would be Texas. Thank you. Yes, sir.

Okay. Thank you very much. Okay, our third report is Department of Finance Administration, Amendment to Rule 3.6.50. Mr. Kelly.

Chairman Bender, Commissioners, on July 28th, the Department of Finance Administration passed an amendment to Rule 3.6.50, the effect of which would have been to force county assessors to set the tax rates, verify the tax rates, and to certify the tax rates. This set off a firestorm across the state. Beginning on page 135 of your packet, I've included correspondence between various agencies with DFA. Suffice it to say, the more people told DFA they were wrong, the harder they dug their heels in. And though it's only been three weeks, we've even gotten to the point where some county attorneys were threatening legal action. And then last Wednesday, August the 12th, Dan Slagle, the governor's chief of staff, sent out an email stating that DFA did not have the authorization to enforce their new provision and stating he wanted all stakeholders to get together and find a solution. And since that time, things seem to have been frozen. I haven't heard anything else good or bad. And so the hope right now is things will be solved amicably between the stakeholders. But you needed to be informed of where we were at and kept in the loop in case bad goes to worse. And so with that, I'll stand for any questions you have for me, and I'll allow Mr. Pyle and Mr. Mackey to cover anything I might have missed or glossed over.

And I know Mr. Mackey's kind of been involved on some of the emails that I've seen. So at this time, do we know if there's any lawsuits that have been filed or just threatened?

Just threatened right now. As far as I know, Mr. Mackey can probably answer that.

Mr. Mackey, do you know anything more about it? Chairman Bender, members of the commission, the last I knew Sandoval County was preparing a lawsuit, had one drafted, was requesting input from the affiliate and requesting whether anybody wanted to join in the lawsuit. I think since getting communication from the governor's office that the rule had been suspended, they've backed off of that. From our perspective, I was contemplating whether or not to join it, provided Sandoval County took the lead, but I think that's moot at this point.

All right, thank you. Any questions?

And I know New Mexico Association of Counties have been very involved, and I saw Joy, I think it was last Wednesday, at a deal in Roswell, and they were pretty, she was pretty sure this has halted it, and there would be an announcement, I think, from the governor's office to address this issue. So I do like you believe it got out of hand real quick, and they overstepped. And it's being corrected. But there was, I think, Chavis County, he was asking about whether to join the lawsuit. And they said not at this time. Just kind of wait and see what happens. So every once in a while, things work out. Yes, sir.

Thank you. Any other questions? All right. Mr. Kelly, thank you so much for the update. Thank you, sir. Number four is a presentation and update on status of energy conservation and efficiency block grant for the energy efficiency and conservation plan, Christian Price.

Chairman Bender and Commission, I just wanted to give you a brief update on the Energy Efficiency, Energy Conservation Efficiency Block Grant that the county received earlier this year. And I also wanted to give you guys one of these really quickly. So what I've just given you, this is a energy saving practices. This is one of the deliverables that we're required to complete through the block grant that we've received. And we did provide these pasties out at the fair last week, just sharing this with some residents. And I actually received a phone call from one resident asking how they can participate in the program. So I gave them a little bit of an update of where we're at, that we're working on the plan, and what the next steps would be if we choose to move forward applying for the seed grant funding. So I just wanted to share this with you to let you know where that is. The draft plan was submitted prior to the June 30th deadline, and so was invoice number two. the final plan is still in process we're working on making those updates to the final plan and then it will be uh brought back before you on the september 15th commission agenda for final of review and approval before final submission back to the m nerd and ecamm team for their approval and then we will also submit invoice number three which will close out that grant So the next step is applying for the SEED grant opportunity, and the SEED grant opportunity is Community Energy Efficiency Development. And so it is a law grant for eligible applicants, which would be us, a local government, to fund energy efficiency upgrades in residential buildings in underserved communities. The outcomes include to reduce low-income household energy bills and energy usage, improve comfort, health, and safety in low-income households, and to lower greenhouse emissions. What we plan to do is we plan to partner with a third-party contractor to handle the energy audits and to handle the rollout of the seed program because it would have to involve someone who knows how to do the energy audits, how to make those specific type of retrofits in the home, whereas I just don't know that we're suited to do that. So we'll partner with the third party. And in that contract with them, we will also develop an application for people to apply through. And we will also provide qualification elements to the application, similar to how the county handles indigent funds. There is a ordinance that is required to apply for the seed grant opportunity. The ordinance is just formal approval of grant acceptance and understanding the energy efficiency improvements that we will be making, quality of life enhancements, and then just the legal compliance and administration. There are... some concerns that I have with it which I will address with attorney Mackey when the time comes should we choose to move forward with the seed grant opportunity to ensure that there's no restrictions on any of our residents in the outer line communities as well as ensuring that it is in alignment with the anti-donation clause and I'll stand for any questions all right thank you very much Mr. Price any questions from permission Mr. Martin and just to be clear this is voluntary this is nothing the county's putting on people absolutely

Thank you.

Ms. Price, thank you so much. Thank you. Okay, number five, presentation of event center and fairgrounds financial statements ending June 30th, 2026. And I believe we have Jorge Mazzari with us.

Good morning Chairman Bender, Commissioners, and everyone in the room. June performance, I'm here to present the June financials. June performance was below event volume expectations with revenue being well below budgeted expectations. This was due to a combination of high labor costs and low billed expenses. Indirect expenses came in better than budget, thanks to salary savings from the vacant GM position and a refund for finance salaries billed from FY25 in the amount of $33,238.09 credited to the county. These savings were partially offset by a large bill for dirt for the Kevin Roberts Arena in the amount of $40,508.94. We held six events for the month of June with seven budgeted. Monthly gross profit $16,277 versus a budget of $26,032. Unfavorable variance of $9,755. Monthly direct expenses, indirect expenses were $91,838 versus a budget of $95,269. Favorable variance of $3,430. Monthly net income loss, 75,561 versus a budget of 69,237. Unfavorable variance of 6,324. Year-to-date events, 59 events held versus 59 events budgeted. Year-to-date gross profit, $288,228 versus a budget of $373,966. Unfavorable variance of $85,738. The year-to-date indirect expenses of $938,383 versus a budget of $1,142,344, favorable variance of $203,962. The year-to-date net income loss of $650,154 versus the budget of $768,378. favorable variance of 118,224. The total events, again, hosted for the month were six. We had the Pig Jackpot PRMC Cardiac Rodeo, Clovis Dragon Maine, Montoya Quinceanera, True Roping 2026, and the Dairy Consortium. Other payroll costs contracted services supplies, non-labor indirect costs were $46,000 higher than budget for the month and are $89,000 higher than budget year-to-date. Utilities finance systems upgrades, R&M supplies, and the large dirt purchase listed under landscaping service are the main driving factors for this overage year-to-date and are slightly offset by savings in other categories. operating expenses, net income. Overall operating expenses remained in line with budget for the month. The large dirt purchase and underperforming events were slightly offset by staffing savings, which led to an overall monthly net loss higher than budget. And that is it that I have right now.

Thank you, Mr. Mazzari. Any questions from the Commission? Yes, sir.

George, I'll just... Thanks for giving that report. That was all prior to you. I guess what I was going to say has nothing to do with this, but I see you're not on the agenda anywhere else. I thought I'd just say it right now. I appreciate all your help at the fair this last week. In my opinion, from when I was around, you were very helpful, so I appreciate that. There was a lot of stuff that you're getting thrown into the mix being early, and... Got to learn some things. Maybe not the way you wanted to learn them, but I appreciate it. From my perspective, you were awesome. When I called you, you were there. So I just wanted to tell you I appreciate it.

Thank you. And I also want to credit the operations staff, too, that was involved. So they were on it.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Zari. Appreciate it. All right, action item number one, request action authorizing the United States Air Force to drill an exploratory well on the property currently leased, Curry Road R, to the government as part of the alternative water supply project. We have Greg Shuler with us.

Good morning, Chairman Bender and members of the commission. I appreciate you allowing us to be here. My name is Greg Schuller. I am the energy manager at the Cannon Air Force Base. And so I am here today on behalf of Cannon to request the approval to drill a single exploratory well on the Reeves property. which is Curry Road R, the west side adjacent to Cannon Air Force Base, which we lease from Curry County. So if you're tracking, there's a project right now, an alternate water source project from Headquarters Air Force. It's a funded project to address the challenge that affects all of us here in eastern New Mexico with our water and the water supply that we have with the Ogallala Aquifer. As we're all tracking this precious and it's depleting resource. And so to ensure the resilience of our community and the longevity of our mission at Cannon Air Force Base and Eastern New Mexico region, we're proactively seeking sustainable alternative water sources. And so to be clear, just a caveat, this project will not draw any water from the Ogallala Aquifer and our exploratory well. It has to actually drill much deeper, which is actually what I provided to you in those packets. There is a draft. of our well casing and kind of shows the feet below the surface. It shows the Ogallala Ogifer in the top, roughly 375 feet, and then down to the Redonda, the upper shell, Trujillo, and then the lower shell. And so our goal is actually to drill down into the Dockum group, which is roughly 1,100 feet to 1,300 feet. And so to tap into specifically brackish water as an alternative water source is what the goal is. This is more than just a project just for the Air Force. This is a scientific study for the benefit of the entire region as a whole. So Curry County, Roosevelt County, City of Clovis, and Portales and the areas being a stakeholder in this project as well. And so by exploring this alternate water source, such as brackish water in this area, we can reduce our collective reliance on the Ogallala, helping to preserve the water that we need for this area. And so I'm seeking approval today as the next administrative step in this process to allow the New Mexico Office of State Engineer to process our drilling permits for this exploratory well to enable this initiative to move forward. And so that is why I'm here today is just to seek approval to drill on this lease property, pending any questions.

Okay, thank you very much for the presentation and the information on this. I had a chance to read that in the back there. Any questions from the commission at this time? Mr. Martin?

Morning.

I'm somewhat familiar, and I talked to another individual this morning, and he drilled down 1,000 foot here north of town about 10 years ago. I discussed with him the flow and everything. In his first well, he did the artesian, which is an expensive process, and what you have to do to secure the Ogallala. His production is minimal. Right now, it's falling off to about 30 gallons a minute. And cost of production is based on depth and all that. And I understand that we need to explore all these options. At that level, you're kind of in that chin-lee, I think is what they call it, before you get down to the Santa Rosa. He did say that he wished he had gone deeper. you know, 1,250 to 1,500 to get into the actual Santa Rosa. And that water down there, the brackish, basically means it's metallic. Not really suitable for drinking, but they mix it with clean water there to up their production. I think it's good to explore options. I like that you're going through the proper procedure to do so. And just go all the way. Yes, sir. Don't stop too soon. Make sure you get in there deep enough that you can really feel around and find out what's going on. With that, I do know that Cannon has four deep wells already. I believe they're set at about 750 gallons or 750 foot. Or do you know if those are still in production or if they still use those at all?

I am not tracking the exact depth of our wells right now. Definitely something I can look back and get an answer for you, yes, sir.

And since you will be, whereabouts to the home itself will you all be drilling?

So it is on the western side of Cannon Air Force Base where it's at. I am here to tell you what, I do have, let me provide this to you right here, sir.

The drilling gives you the actual location, but that's hard. So you will be drilling at that property?

Yes, sir. So the plan is to drill in the northwestern portion of that property in the backyard, yes, sir.

And could I request something that may be doable, it may not? Yes, sir. When you do, as you go through the Ogallala, have a sample of the water brought and tested for PFAS?

So absolutely. So PFAS was obviously a heavy concern for us in conversation with this contractor. And so if you actually look at that draft that I provided you of the well diagram, there is a cement bentonite seal right there at the Ogallala Aquifer. And then the perforated casing is right below that, just to ensure that nothing is affecting the Ogallala Aquifer. And going all the way down and so that has been a heavy concern of mine and so For the whole drilling process included in this they have actually been in talks with EPCOR and EPCOR has a couple wells out there that have historically tested non-detect for PFAS that they're actually going to be utilizing that for drilling and to avoid any type of PFAS concerns, as well as the liquids included in drilling. It has been in conversation as well to ensure that there's no PFAS detect in those as well. Any drilling casings that comes up for there to, the contractors require to sample that waste determination and dispose of that accordingly. So that is, I understand it's a heavy, heavy topic that we're addressing. As far as your question,

um i just want to be clear on your request do you want um a sample from whenever they get down to the oval aquifer the drillers usually take samples as they go down okay because they have to report the formation as they go deeper um but i'm not sure that we've actually tested pfos in this area the flow of water it should not be there but since you are drilling in there if it would be possible just to test in the Ogallala before you break through just to see if there is any type of contamination. Yes, sir. Not saying that y'all will contaminate during the drilling, just if there's pre-existing.

Okay, yes, absolutely. I'll touch base with the contractor and we'll request that. Thank you very much. Yes, sir.

But overall, everybody thought I was going to throw a big fit of this, and not the case. I do think the water is valuable, and I think seeing the Air Force take this direction, it shows us just how...

dire the need is yes sir and i look forward to finding out what you can bring to us in the future absolutely we're very excited about it so looking forward to the future for this thank you all right thank you any other questions all right with that i'm going to make a motion that we approve the action to drill exploratory well on the property leased for curry road r Thank you very much. Motion. Second by Commissioner Cain. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed, say nay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Have a good day. All right, number two, request action on the proposed closure of the Curry Road 5 BNSF Railroad Crossing and associated incentives offered by BNSF Railway and Mexico Department of Transportation Rail Division, including a $100,000 BNSF incentive. We have Mr. Wyden-Jones here with us to go over that.

Chairman Bender and Commission, it's been several months back I was contacted by BNSF and the MDOT rail about the Carlsbad rail. They were doing a study on that on different crossings and so forth and so on. About a month ago they come back. Mr. Roberts and I had a meeting with them and in your packet you should see their proposal that they presented to us at that meeting. We then there had a follow-up meeting with the road committee and those folks and went a little more into detail, them explaining explaining what they're finding and so forth and so on. Also, I believe in your packet is a memo that's attached that I wrote back to them after we had that meeting, and I have not had anything back on that. With that information, I can go more into detail on what they're wanting us to look at closing CR-5, in turn, they will put gates at six and seven um cr six and six and seven they also will give us a bnsf will give us a cash incentive of a hundred thousand and dot will give us a hundred thousand incentive match to utilize on road projects throughout the county um that is that's what they're offering for the closure of cr5 Attached in this, there's also the data, the traffic counts, things like that. It was pointed out in our meeting that we had with them that the ADTs that were brought to us were, I believe, a couple years back on them ADT traffic counts. I believe in my memo, I can read through that memo again. I believe I pointed that out, and I believe it was asked that if they did this again, they would actually get traffic counts that were more recent on that. With that, I'll stand for any questions.

So you stated they would give us crossings or gates at 6 and 7, so they don't want to just do that anyways? So if we close 5, they'll give us 6 and 7? Why don't they just do 6 and 7 to begin with, or do you know the answer on that?

To a point, we do. It's all versus safety. That's what we were told at this meeting, that the reason was for safety. The reason a closure of five was due to safety. I did bring that up. I think several of us brought that up on that meeting, that six and seven. So they have a list. They did share that list with us. Six and seven, all these are way down the list on it. If I remember correctly, Whoever was there, correct me if I'm wrong. I think there was only a certain amount of money. They were allocated a year. I can't remember that. I know it was around a million dollars, I believe, that was allocated a year for increasing safety at crossings. but that these two crossings don't rate or rank high enough right now to get that done at them crossings. Because I believe it was Ben or Manager Powell that had asked that question, you know, how if these are needing it now, these gates, why are we not getting it? And that was the information they provided us.

Well, and before I turn this over, I know a couple of commissioners probably sat on those meetings, but from my perspective, I'm going to give my personal perspective on this because where this brings a little frustration to me is I've asked multiple questions many times and I've gotten no response from BNSF. And I still take field complaints constantly about the crossing at Norris. I mean, there's a timeline. there's a time limit that you're supposed to and they break that daily and i hear about it all the time and so um i just i i've this is way that was way down those are way down the list i find this way down on my list and that's just my personal opinion i think there's other uh bigger fish to fry for the lack of better terminology so that i'll turn that over to any other commissioners that have questions how do you want to go first uh commissioner bender i i uh

I'll echo that, and when you said in that meeting it was pretty evident that, to me anyway, that the safety concerns are only a safety concern if it benefits them, to a large degree anyway. I don't see no sense in moving forward with this. just voiced my opinion I'm against it I didn't think that they were very well prepared this is kind of a buyout to get what they want and but if we don't go this direction that those safety concerns for those other two crossings are not ranked high enough so I'll just be quiet before I say something I don't need to say and the other that there's a resident that is just

less than probably a quarter of a mile just to the west of this crossing. And they explained to us that a lot of people enjoyed their crossings closed. That way they can make a three-mile track to get back in. But I think we came to a conclusion in the road department very quickly, and I think we should proceed that way. Fidel, would you like to speak?

You know, I think I'd go with the recommendation from that committee. I'm not closing that road now for now because we have all the information and all those studies are two or three years old. And I think I just, I wouldn't go for closing it right now.

I'll second that.

All right, so if there's no motion, it'll fail in lack of motion. Does anybody want to make a motion to approve this? I believe Commissioner Madrid just... You know what?

I apologize. Yeah, action on...

deny deny yes okay and a second from okay so we have a motion from uh commissioner uh madrid and a second for commissioner martin to deny this proposal all those in favor signify by saying aye aye those opposed same sign okay thank you mr jones number three discussion and request direction on fiscal year 27 outdoor recreation trails and grant project miss christian price

Chairman Bender and Commission. So annually, the New Mexico Outdoor Recreation Division opens up a grant program called the Outdoor Recreation Trails Plus. And we have applied multiple years. We have been funded one time through the program. It is very, very heavily targeted towards trails. and outdoor recreation so we do struggle to come up with some projects that would be eligible for this funding the one that we have actually gotten through though is for the recycled wind turbine benches and tables over at the courtyard so we did get that through back in 2024 in the amount of 25 000 So I am coming to you this morning to see if you have any thoughts, ideas for this grant opportunity. It closes on September 30th. And from what I understand, this is the only cycle that will be available or open for FY27. There should not, typically there's two. It appears that for FY27, there's just going to be the one cycle. And so if that changes, obviously I will come back and I will let you all know that. For rural communities, we are required to provide a minimum of one to two match. So that's basically half of what our grant request is. There's three different funding tiers. So tier one is any amount between $25,000 and $99,999. Tier two is between $100,000 and $499,999. And then tier three is between $500,000 and $1 million. Past project highlights do include multi-mobility trails and ADA-accessible visitor infrastructure, partnerships connecting local youth to paid restoration work, paid trail restoration work, a tribal-led destination recreation center with guided cultural experiences, just additional trails active transportation paths to connect communities to schools and different projects like that some thoughts ideas that would be eligible that we may be able to do would be it just depends on land acquisition is not an eligible activity under this grant funding so that also really shrinks or we could do because we cannot buy land to then create a walking path or create a walking trail we have to either buy land and then use this funding to implement that walking trail or we have to make do with what we already have and so walking past trails those are eligible horse trails bike trails things like that it's very very heavily outdoor recreation and trails was looking a little bit more into it this morning there may be some eligibility with the mounted patrol arena with accessibility there might be a little bit of wiggle room there and I would like to investigate that a little bit further with the outdoor recreation division if that's a project that we wanted to move forward with before we put a stamp of approval on that one and actually move forward Another thought that I had was looking into the Vision Zero Action Plan for 2025 that was created or developed by Pettigrew Associates for road departments, the Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program we received. There was, through a community survey, it was identified as a top priority and a travel challenges was there was limited routes for bike riders, other wheeled options and pedestrians in the county. And one of the... The main road that was identified for this was CRK from Llano to Wilhite. And speaking with Waylon, there would be, we would have to work with the city because the county owns a portion of that, and then the city owns a portion of that and manages that. So we own Llano, too, and we maintain Llano to Wilhite. And then from Wilhite to... think the end of uh gaddis middle school's property um that would be the city's responsibility so we could if that's a project we want to look at it may be eligible i want to do some further investigation on that as well um then we would want to invite the city of clovis as a co-collaborator on that project so i will stand for any questions thoughts ideas that you may have

I do like the accessibility options that we know we have some issues with at the Mounted Patrol Arena. There's also some more opportunity at the actual fairgrounds with ADA accessible concrete paths for a lot of people that cannot utilize the rocks for wheelchairs or whatever the case may be. We have two wide concrete paths out there, but you could actually create a walking trail, per se, inside that area to a degree, too, and potentially get some more

accessibility to that um and so that's that would be my only two suggestions but i do appreciate you taking the lead on this any any questions or comments from commission lance does the county own any more property on main street that north of the detention center i know we got the printing business but we don't own the one right on main street next to it

No, sir. We own, of course, the Ruben Nieves Courtyard, and then we own that corner of 7th and Mitchell.

I was going to say, because that accessible playground at the fairgrounds is highly used, and that would be a project to look at if the county had something that we could put that in. But I like the Mounted Patrol accessibility. We're trying to figure out a way to fix all that concrete work there anyway. And if we could do the two in conjunction, it'd be a great project.

Vice Chairman Leather would be so proud to hear us talk about improvements at the fairgrounds in his absence. And as I do like that you said, the the playground out there because that thing all week was, it never stopped. Y'all probably saw it, and I don't remember if you were involved in something like that with dating that, right? Just a little bit. Just a little bit, yeah. So kudos to you on that. It was great. All right, any other questions or comments? All right. Which direction do y'all want to go with this? What is your suggestion as far as how do you want us to...

think I can tell you that the ADA playground will not be eligible through this funding but that's something knowing that that is something that we want to look into you know create building another one another part of town I can put that on my list but for different concrete paths at the fairgrounds and then also I'll get with Ben on the amount of patrol improvements in the ADA necessities over there we'll see what we can do and what i'll do is i'll get with ben on it and then i'll contact ord and make sure that it's eligible um and that it would be a competitive project and if it is then i will bring back the match request on september 15th okay i will formulate that into a motion uh adrian do you have all that i don't want to repeat that so i will formulate that into a motion that we approve that direction thank you second

We have a motion and a second. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed, same time. Thank you, Mrs. Price. Number four, request action to participate as a cooperating agency in the NEPA process with the Bureau of Land Management application from Phillips 66 for a new 24-inch diameter liquid product pipeline across federal, state, and private lands between Borger, Texas, and Phoenix, Arizona. We have Commissioner Martin here to deliver that.

I forget which day it was last week, but Kyle was on, I know, was it Thursday? Manager Powell was there, Ben was there, Waylon was there. There was a large crowd because they covered all of New Mexico that's going to be affected by this. And Vice Chairman Leatherwood will be on the meeting tomorrow. And I think that's great because hopefully we can announce that we are going to partner with them. If we do not join this, we have no voice. You don't know what's going to come of it. They may not need anything from us, but if we can't voice a concern, it leaves us completely out. So I think it is very vital that Curry County participates in this process.

Any questions from Commission?

I'll just echo that and I I think the difference in this and the other project that tried to come through not long ago is the fact that These they seem to be very transparent. They're trying to communicate ahead of time they're trying to have these meetings instead of just sneak something by and I'm sure y'all been reached out to by Mr.

Woolley out of Roswell and that's that's the second or third time that he's called me over the last few months and so I agree with Seth I think that we need to be cooperating with this deal I think those are great points because I did I received I received communication multiple times and then obviously the first one that brought up there was no communication from anybody just snuck right in but that's that's very admirable so So based on recommendation, did you have anything, Commissioner Madrid? Okay. Based on what I heard from our other commissioners, I will make a motion that we proceed with participation in this process. Motion and a second by Commissioner Cain. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed, same sign. Okay.

chairman bender commission um it's my understanding we got to put forward a name for a representative and an alternate can y'all make that appointment as well okay thank you for that manager paul i'd like to nominate dusty since he's not here now um kyle kane is the point on this I may have a conflict, and the only reason I do that is because this will go across a lot of my property out west of town, and I think it'd be more suiting that somebody not in that position be the...

I know I missed a meeting once, and I was nominated for something, and so it would be fair, but I will second since Commissioner Kane's been involved. I will second that. We'll put Dusty as alternate. We'll put Dusty as alternate. Okay. I'll Do we need to vote on that? Okay. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, same sign. Okay, congratulations, Commissioner Kane, Vice Chairman Leatherwood. All right, I'll make a motion that we enter public hearing. Okay. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Roll call, please.

Commissioner Martin? Yes. Commissioner Cain? Yes. Chairman Bender?

Yes.

Commissioner Madrid?

Yes.

Okay.

We're now in public hearing. Mr. Hall? Good morning, Chairman Bender and Commissioners. At your July 21st meeting, you approved the notice of intent to consider for adoption ordinance 2026-02 authorizing the execution and delivery of a loan agreement and intercept agreement between the county and the New Mexico Finance Authority for the purchase of three motor graders. Since that time, we have published notice of this public hearing in the Eastern New Mexico News and have received the final loan agreement and closing documents. Pursuant to the term sheet, the loan principal amount is $1,323,663 at a blended interest rate of 2.69,4481%. The closing is scheduled for September 25th, 2026. The first payment will be due in May of 2027 with the final payment due in May of 2023. As security for the loan, the county has pledged one-eighth of 1% of its maximum rate of gross receipts tax that is currently enacted. And I would also like to clarify for the record that this financing does not involve a tax increase. Rather, it's an obligation of a portion of the gross receipts tax that is already currently enacted. And at this time, and unless you have any questions, I would like to request that the Commission open the floor for public comment regarding Ordinance 2026-02.

Okay, any questions or comments from the public? Any questions or comments from Commission?

I think Ben is addressing it right now. He said the final payment will be in 23. And Troy, when, what actual?

If I can reiterate the term, first payments due May of 2027 with final payment May of 2033. Oh, I was kind of on board with the 2023.

Like we were, we were much better shaped. All right. Any other comments from commission? Okay. And with that, I will make a motion that we exit a public hearing.

Okay.

A motion and a second. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed, same sign. Okay. Action on Ordinance 2026-02, authorizing the execution and delivery of the loan agreement between Curry County and New Mexico Finance Authority. Move to approve. Second. Motion by Commissioner Martin, second by Commissioner Cain. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed, same sign. Okay. County commissioners report. That was an ordinance. It's a roll call. It is. I apologize. Thank you for that, Mr. Adrian. Roll call, please.

Commissioner Kane? Yes. Chairman Bender? Yes. Commissioner Madrid? Yes. Commissioner Martin? Yes.

Okay. County commissioners report. Let's start with Commissioner Martin.

We did a lot. One of the best things I did last week is attended the presentation from the Department of Energy down in Ross. The Assistant Secretary of Energy was down there. The room was real quiet, wondering what was fixing to happen. And he quickly advised the group that the corridor is off, completely killed, and we don't have to worry about it. There's no funding for it, so there's no way for this to move forward until possibly in three years when they reevaluate the corridors again. But that's a sign of relief that we don't have to worry about that. Up till now, it's always been a wondering game whether or not they could utilize that corridor. I missed a meeting yesterday. The breakfast, Kyle, you should have came, is actually good. Well done. I'll say that OVG did a great job cooking the breakfast that day. It was well received. Anytime you can spend time serving the older generation, which I slightly edge in there every day, it was a great time. And they were so appreciative. They bussed in people from rest homes just for that event. Overall, I didn't spend a lot of time at the fair, but was well pleased to see George so active. Outside of that, I finished my art review for the courthouse. That was interesting. They had 83 applicants that applied their skills and artistic value to be featured in the entry there at the courthouse. And I guess that'll be coming up soon when we make our final decision. Is there a Zoom meeting again?

In person or in the admin conference room tomorrow. What time? 1.30.

Okay. See, I didn't know about that one. All right. That's all for me.

The only thing I got is that the city's having a meeting on the 19th at 5 o'clock and it pertains to a number pass over MLK and it's in my district. So I want to attend that meeting and see what's going on with that. And that's all I have.

Um Last week, we've already talked about it, but attended the team's meeting with several of y'all regarding the pipeline project coming through, which I'm now a part of. And at Ogallala meeting, it's been a few weeks ago now. Other than that, all I can really remember is the fair for last week. So it's been a lot of time up there.

Yes, you were very engaged in the fair. Uh, so I had, uh, last Friday, uh, manager Powell and I were at, uh, Clovis high school or Clovis schools, uh, convocation. They did a phenomenal job with that. Um, it committee, uh, last or two weeks ago. Uh, let's see. And then of course, uh, last week, obviously the fair, and I would echo what these, uh, the commissioner said, uh, Jorge, thank you very much for all of your assistance. You've done a phenomenal job out there. The old-timers breakfast was great. Enjoyed serving breakfast to everybody. It was a great time. And, man, how about the commercial barn, though? The commercial barn was so nice. In fact, we had a complaint. We were Tuesday night, Mr. McDaniel and myself, and we had a complaint from a lady that said it was too cold. And she said, and I'm not, she said, it's a complaint, but it's not a complaint. I don't want you to change a thing. She said, I just want to go out to my car, get my sweater. And I said, we've never had a situation like that ever before. So what a great opportunity we've had out there. So thank you for all your hard work and getting that piece together. So with that, I will turn that over to Manager Pyle.

Can I say one more thing real quick? Yeah. Also wanted to tell Todd thank you because Todd got a phone call from me Monday morning at 6 a.m. Also a text message on Sunday night at 11 p.m. because we were having internet issues out there and we needed it for unloading stuff, animals Monday morning. So Todd showed up out there like 6.20 Monday morning and He didn't get to sleep in. And also throughout the week, sent a few text messages, and Mr. Roberts showed up out there pretty often and was actually out there last Saturday climbing a ladder up and down doing some stuff. So there was a lot of hands helping make this work. And so I just wanted to tell you all thank you. Hey, guys. There's Bob.

Chairman Bender and Commission, just a few things to mention for the record. In your packet, there are some letters. First one is a letter from the Department of Finance and Administration. It's pertaining to our local driving while intoxicated. grant project number 26DD06. We received $249,719. We spent last fiscal year $243,264.63. We're reverting back $6,454.37. At your September meeting, we'll have approval to reapply for those funds. Next is another letter from DFA pertaining to the local driving while intoxicated. This is the grant. We received $125,214.91 and will be reverting back $3,178.19. The last letter from DFA is pertaining to our juvenile adjudication fund. We received $2,839.84 and reverted back $1,160.16. Few other things to mention. Last week, our regional behavioral health program manager, our administrator, presented our behavioral health plan to the state executive committee. Bethany did an outstanding job. They unanimously approved our plan. So now we are just waiting on how they're going to distribute those funds down here. But the plan that y'all approved, they approved it with no changes. We wanted to share that. Also, at your next Commission meeting, we will have the holiday schedule for you to consider for 2027. We sent that out with three different options, offered and 81 county employees to vote on it. And we received, I believe we had 88 employees that actually took advantage and voted. The option is next year is to take President's Day off as a holiday. So that will be the recommendation that we bring forward. President's Day received 38.6% of the votes. The next option was Juneteenth. adding that or an extra Veterans Day holiday. And those are both tied at 30.7. So we will bring that forward to you at the next meeting. Also, at your next commission meeting in September, we will be presenting some capital outlay items that we would like y'all to go ahead and add to the budget that we don't feel like we can get grants on. So I know I sent information out, but if you have any ideas for anything, if you can get with Mr. Roberts, myself, so we can make sure we have cost estimates. But we're going to ask you to allocate those probably in the range of around $4 million at your September commission meeting. Another thing I wanted to mention, we hired an employee back in the assessor's office. He used to work for the county and he's here with us today. Tyler White, I think you've been back about a month. Is that correct? Two months. And I want to brag on him for a second. I think you may have seen it in the IT director's report that I sent out. But Mr. White caught an error that has been going on for 10 years. We had a piece of property valued at $325,302 that was not on the tax roll. Individual has not paid taxes in 10 years and he caught it. So I wanted to brag on him. That's an employee going above and beyond. So Tyler, thank you for that. Don't know if Assessor Kelly or Chief Deputy London has anything to add, but sir, you did a great job and we appreciate you. And that's all I have, unless you have any questions for me.

I would echo that. Thank you very much, Tyler. And it's great to have you back on board with us.

If I could, has a property owner been contacted? That'll be an interesting conversation.

Can you send us recordings of this?

Talking about a little over $25,000 in property tax.

It's not Kyle Kane, is it? okay there you go all right i'll make a motion we enter indigent board thank you motion uh second by commissioner kane roll call please chairman bender yes commissioner madrid yeah commissioner martin commissioner kane yes okay uh manager pile how do you want to handle these chairman bender we can do all these five items as one motion

First is La Casa second partial for the month of November 2025. One claim at amount of $173 recommending approval at $112.45. The delay is due to a billing issue that we were having to get that corrected. Next is La Casa medical claim for the month of January 2026. One claim at amount of $105 recommending approval at the amount of $68.25. Next we have La Casa Dental Claims second partial for the month of January 2026. One claim $199 recommending approval at $129.35. Next we have is the La Casa Dental Claims fourth partial for the month of April 2026. two claims for two patients, $453, recommending approval at 294.45. And the final ones, LaCosta medical claims for the month of May 2026, four claims for three patients, $709 billed, recommending approval at $460.85.

Move to approve items one through five. I'll second that. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed, same sign. Move to exit. Move to motion. In a second, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed, same sign. Okay. Future agenda items. Anything anybody would like to have added to our next commission meeting? Hearing none. Seeing none. Make a motion that we enter executive session. Motion is seconded by Commissioner Madrid. Roll call, please.

Commissioner Madrid. Commissioner Martin. Commissioner Kane. Yes. Chairman Bender.

Yes. All right. We are in executive session. Okay, we are back from executive session. to which we discussed limited personnel matters in which no action was taken. With that, I will make a motion that we exit the executive session. Second. Motion and a second. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed, same sign. Okay. We are officially adjourned.