Roosevelt approves extreme drought designation

Editor’s note: The News could not cover this meeting as of press time for the Nov. 11 edition due to issues in the meeting livestream.

PORTALES — The Roosevelt County Commission approved a declaration designating extreme drought at its Monday meeting.

An inquiry into changing the county’s drought and fire danger level came after Commissioner Shane Lee was approached by board members of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NCCS) and other members of the agriculture community, who said they were unable to file for financial assistance from damages caused by the drought.

“This will open up programs for our farmers and ranchers to get assistance for feed, fuel, things that the drought has affected,” Lee said.

The meeting was primarily called for the canvassing of the general election. Interim County Clerk Nathalia Baca said Roosevelt County saw 6,627 total ballots cast out of their 10,800 eligible voters, resulting in a 61% voter turnout rate. Baca noted that it was not a record breaking turnout overall, but it was for early voting.

During early voting at the Portales Court House 3,607 votes were cast while their alternate site saw 516 votes cast. There were 1,382 requests for mail-in ballots, of which 1,121 were cast.

Out of the total number of votes cast 55 ballots were declared “spoiled” or invalid. A dozen provisional ballots were issued, two of which were emergency COVID ballots for a couple who were quarantined. The county also had 127 same day registrations take place throughout the voting period.

Baca said that from machine malfunctions to issuing replacement ballots for the first time that “this was one of the roughest elections that I’ve ever been through.”

Other issues covered at the Commission meeting include:

• Detention Center Administrator Justin Porter, said that the facility count is currently 65 with 14 detainees from other counties. Updates have been taking place in the facilities with maintenance repainting the main hallways and five day rooms. Upcoming renovations include plumbing and shower improvements.

Porter also said the staff began testing tables for detainee use.

“I’m optimistic that we’ll be rolling out and ready to be used by the detainees rather shortly,” Porter said. “We’ve tested out wifi connections and everything so now we’re trying to make sure that all of the apps there on the tablets that the detainees will have access to will be functioning,” Porter said.

• Road Superintendent Ricky Lovato asked for patience while the department is short handed.

“We continue to do maintenance,” Lovato said. “We’re having to be really creative with being short a couple of guys; (we’ve) got some in and out with COVID. We’re trying to get things done, so if you all do have any complaints or anything if you could ask them to be patient we’ll get there as soon as possible.

• Treasurer Layle Sanchez said ongoing collection of taxes is going smoothly as they got tax bills out earlier this year. The department has so far collected $486,000 in property taxes, up significantly from the 2018 collection count of $86,000 at the same point.

“That’s a very positive note with how things are looking in the times that we are in,” she said.

• During an update on the 2020 Census County Manager Amber Hamilton addressed some concerns commissioners had shared about uninhabitable structures in the community being counted on the list of residences to canvas.

“They (the state) had it adjusted to where there were almost to have been an extra million people in New Mexico with all of the abandoned structures and lack of updating on the list,” Hamilton said. “So the state of New Mexico actually sent out an updated census complete count with the projected adjusted self-response rates based upon this information, and we are actually sitting at 72.87% with that adjustment. I think that’s very encouraging news at this point.”

Prior to that adjustment Roosevelt County was reporting a 54.1% self-response rate.

• Sheriff Malin Parker requested lifting the hiring freeze for a vacancy in his department. Parker said officers were taking on extra duties such as transfers that took time from their main jobs. The department has two vacancies it can fill, but Parker said there haven’t been qualified applicants.

The commission decided to wait a few more weeks and check on property tax collections before making changes to the organizational chart and frozen position. The commission also pointed out that filling two open deputy positions before unfreezing the other might help alleviate the extra work current deputies are having to perform.

• The commission opposed a recommendation from the New Mexico Civil Rights Commission to eliminate qualified immunity for law enforcement, and decided to urge the Legislature to provide resources to address the root causes of civil rights claims against local governments.

Qualified immunity, Hamilton said, equates to good faith and if, “we believe in good faith that if our law enforcement officers are operating in that good faith and within the scope of their job descriptions that they should be afforded some basic legal protections.”

• An additional 11.5 miles were added to the county’s transportation, road use, and road maintenance agreement. This includes section of South Roosevelt Roads J, K, and L. Repair costs will be covered by the Sagamore Wind Farm due to wear and tear on the roads caused by its vehicles.

• The first round of small business grant awards from the CARES Act were ratified by the commission. A total of $59,996.68 was granted to the Holiday Inn, Super 8, Best Western, Sands Motel, the Food Bank, and the Dawg House Bar. The county has 10 applicants for the second round, and the applicants could see up to $100,000 with grants capped at $10,000.