loves energy
jet.
[Music]
Oh,
what do you do?
I'm sorry. No, the tone is the same.
It's just one makes it one makes it seem
more like a police officer and the other
one looks more like
[Music]
somebody else. I change
They they say that the limit came with
the public.
[Music]
No, from eight.
No.
from the desk is here.
[Music]
You have Sublu,
but she goes by Jack.
Okay. Is that how she wants? Cuz I can.
That's her governing.
Oh my goodness.
Okay.
I'm going to use 10.
I just I hate to rush. I hate rushing.
It's not just
How are you?
I uh
I uh talked about well not directly but
we were talking about
like every time we
know
they want to vify the house issues. So
we said you know our crisis center may
have been offline for 9 months but now
it's back and it's winning the new
community. We've done our part what can
you as a business community do?
I know. Well, I told I did push 98.
Scott,
otherwise it looks like you're in
distress and the security guard's going
to come get you.
I don't I don't have anything
actually. No,
no, she's not here.
We'll catch
and we are here in the BOCC chambers and
I'm going to go ahead and call this
meeting to order. First up, we do have
our invocation by Diana Starbucks.
Diane Starbucks. But that was close
enough.
Please join me in a moment of silence
where we all have the choice to decide
how we reflect.
Thank you.
Next up, we do have the pledge of
allegiance. If you are able to stand,
please join me.
I pledge algiance 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.
Okay.
Next up is the determination of quorum
by roll call. Randy,
Commissioner Gomedos
here.
Commissioner Reynolds
here.
If you do it slowly, you'll catch
Commissioner Sanchez.
We see Commissioner Sanchez walking in
right now.
Intro music was on Q.
Vice Chair Chapato,
she is on via WebEx. Commissioner
Tabato, can you hear us?
She is on WebEx.
Got it. Thank you.
We'll call her.
And
Chair Shell Jordan on this.
I'm here. We do have quorum.
So, the commission convenes as the board
of county commissioners and the county
board of finance in open session. County
Manager Andrews, do we have any changes
to the agenda this morning?
Good morning, sir. Good morning,
everyone. No changes to the agenda
today.
Okay, seeing none, at this time I
I do want to take a moment to reflect on
um
a tragedy that we had here in Donana
County um where Doniani County Sheriff's
Deputy uh Antonio Alivan passed away.
Um, so if you can please just take a
moment of silence and remember the life
of one of our own.
Thank you.
Okay, commissioners. First up, we do
have the consent agenda where the
commission will be asked to
approve by one motion the following
items of reoccurring or routine
business. And we do have items number
one through 10 today on that consent
agenda. At this time we would entertain
a motion.
So move.
Second.
We have a motion by Commissioner
Reynolds and a second by Commissioner
Chapado or Commissioner Gomedos. Um I
apologize. Any discussion?
Okay, seeing none. Brandy, if you'll
roll call us, please.
Commissioner Gomedos. Yes, Commissioner
Reynolds.
Yes,
Commissioner Sanchez.
Yes,
Vice Chair Chaparo.
Yes.
There we go.
Shortn.
Yes. Motion does carry. Brandy, if
you'll go ahead with those resolution
numbers, please.
Item number three, 2025-81.
Item number four, 2022-82.
Item number 52025-83.
Item number 62025-84.
Item number 102025-85.
Wonderful. Thank you, Brandy.
Next up, we do have our employee
recognition portion of our agenda today.
And we do have our assistant county
manager MSAS presenting where the
commission will recognize Donana County
employees for their years years of
service to Donana County.
Uh oh.
Okay. Well, we may be low on battery. I
I did just want to recognize that we
have two people here uh from the
sheriff's office with first Jackie Vovas
with 10 years of service and of course
Captain Sanchez with 20 years of
service. So if you would please stand so
we could recognize you
[Applause]
and then I'll turn to the control room
to see if we have any video or
presentation.
Thank you. And one more person that we'd
like to acknowledge who could not be
here with us today and it's going to be
Remma Perez. Although she could not be
here with us here today, we are thrilled
to take a moment to celebrate someone
who has been a rock in the Donana County
government for the past 18 years. that
being Remma Perez as she will start her
next chapter here as she continues and
goes on to retirement. Let's take a
moment to look back on Remma's amazing
journey as reported by some of her
colleagues. She kicked off her career in
February of 2007 as an accountant one
bringing with her a quiet determination,
sharp attention to detail, and rockolid
integrity. It didn't take long for those
qualities to shine. After her eight
years of steady outstanding service,
Reema was promoted to accountant too in
May of 2015, which was a clear
reflection of her growth, growing
expertise, and leadership in our
financial operations. You fast forward
to November of 2023, which for those of
you that may remember is post pandemic,
and that's when she and the county faced
one of the biggest transformations as we
adopted the new workday platform or our
financial system. While some might have
been daunted by the challenge, Rema
jumped in head first. As a workday
workstream lead, she brought structure,
clarity, and calm in every step of the
way, helping guide a smooth and
successful roll out. Then came January
of 28 28th of 2024 when Remma reached
the height of her county career with the
promotion to accountant 3, which was a
well-deserved recognition of nearly two
decades of excellence, trust, and
dedication. So today, though she's not
with us here physically, we give her a
huge round of applause and a heartfelt
thanks for her 18 years of service to
the county. Thank you, Reema.
Okay, moving
moving on. And congratulations to all of
our employee recognitions
today as well as our retirements. Next
up, we do have the public input portion
of our agenda. If you can please um join
us up front at the podium. We'll have
three minutes on the mic. The book to
your left, the white binder, if you can
please sign in. Now, there is a caveat.
If you are speaking on any agenda item
further in the agenda, if you can please
wait until that agenda item to speak,
but if you're here for general public
input, if you'll please come up to the
podium and join us.
Well, that's a first.
Okay,
moving on to commission.
Are you speaking of general comment?
Sure. Join us up front and please sign
the book.
I would just like to take a minute that
um the lady that was praying in silence,
I just want to my comment today is that
um Lord, we just thank you that you're
giving the commissioners wisdom today to
make rightful decisions and we just
thank you for what you were doing in
this county and in the public. And we
thank you. God bless.
Morning.
Name is Jim Hurst.
Um, I want to speak about separation of
church and state.
Hello. Is this on? I want to speak about
separation of church and state.
Oklahoma just passed a declaration
saying Christ is king.
That is a clear violation of separation
of church and state.
And it's a cautionary tale to all that
unless we protect separation of church
and state, we will lose it. And if we
lose separation of church and state, we
lose religious freedom.
The biggest threat to religious freedom
is our government.
Politicians have reason to separate us
based on religion. We cannot allow them
to do that.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Okay. Any other public comment general?
Seeing none, we will move on to
commission input if any member of the
commission would like to give comment
today. If not, you'll have a chance at
the end of the meeting.
Mr. Chair.
Yes, Commissioner Reynolds.
No, I would like to uh let everyone know
that I had the opportunity and the
privilege to attend a ceremony for our
executive director for MVDA this past
week. And uh she took a national class
for national certification for um
emergency
emergency um technicians or you know
actually what they do for 911 service
and it took her 12 months to do it. uh
she spent she did uh worked every week
uh remotely and then for the last two
weeks she actually had to go out to
Daytona Beach in order to complete her
certification and uh because I was on
that board I've been on that board for
six almost seven years and uh vice chair
for two years chair for two years uh she
asked that someone that had some
experience and time working with that
board to come out and represent the
county on her behalf.
And I was honored to do that as she is
now only one of two in the state that
have the uh the certification and she's
only one of 245 in the nation that
actually have achieved the
certification. The certification she's
she's achieved actually makes her
qualified to become a executive director
of the 911 service any place in the
United States including New York City,
Cal Los Angeles, California or pretty
much anywhere anywhere. I think we are
privileged to actually have um her uh
represent Jennifer Gorum. We're we're
we should be proud to have her
representing us in this county. She's
actually taken the helm uh over the last
three years and really made a difference
in the organization and put us on the
map. You may or may not know that she
also now is qualified and has already
held at least one class of training
class of 911 uh operatives. And she's
also got the qualification and the
approval now from the state to hold a
series of classes here and be the only
other location besides Santa Fe that can
actually train 911 operations ser uh
people. So, uh she's done some amazing
stuff. I think if you get a chance to
see her or get to talk to her or send
her an email, please let Jennifer Gorum,
our executive director of MV to know
that we are all proud of her and the
excellence and leadership that she's
brought to this community and she's just
changed the 911 service completely in
the last three years. So, thank you.
Thank you.
Any other commissioner?
Mr. Chair.
Yes, vice chair. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman. I just wanted to thank um the
people that reached out to me regarding
Officer Aliman.
Um his passing was a loss for the
sheriff's department, a loss for this
county.
Um, what I've just said is that my
blessings and my prayers are with the
family. I know that they a lot of his
family is from Mexico
and I was very saddened, but I thank the
sheriff and the deputies who called and
or took my call. I know it's hits the
department very very hard. So, just
wanted to recognize him once more.
Thank you, Vice Chair.
Okay, seeing none others, we'll move on
to county elected official input.
Is it the weather? I'm guessing it's
weather today. Moving on to staff input.
Morning
everyone. We will have two inputs today.
We're going to kick off with Denise, our
interim economic development director.
There you are. I was looking for you.
After that, we'll have an update from
Jamie Michael from Health and Human
Services.
Morning, Denise. Morning. Morning,
commissioners.
Joseph, can you pull up the
presentation, please?
Thank you. Good morning, Commissioners.
Nace Carter, interim economic
development director. A couple of uh
meetings ago, I mentioned that I was
going to be traveling to Great Falls,
Montana to attend a rural retreat
organized by IEDC.
So there was about 400 of us that
attended that retreat from all over the
US and Canada. We were very eager to
learn what other rural communities were
doing as far as economic development
entails.
The retreat incorporated interactive
hands-on tours and and workshops and
provided tools and ideas on how do we
foster resilience rural communities
within our region.
There were two full days. Um I chose to
travel to Conrad Montana and Shoto
Montana. On the first day I went to this
they were calling it the small town
started with Global Spark and this was a
tiny little town of less than 1500
people. Um they took us to uh a
familyowned soap business and the family
shared the story about how they got
their business started. They were very
aware that their economic development
entity didn't necessarily have financial
incentives that they could provide. So
they bootstrapped the whole operation.
However, where the economic development
entity came in was in the technical
support and the collaboration aspect,
connecting them with the partners so
that they could learn how to create a
website where they could learn how to
market their products, where they could
learn how to do all of the marketing
materials. The company itself is called
Windrift Hill and they are now a
success. uh they have a fabulous website
and that's how they've been able to
increase the foot traffic or the virtual
foot traffic and they've been able to
showcase and promote all of their
products.
On the following day, we visited Shoto
and Binham Montana. Again, very small
community, less than a thousand
visitors. One of the issues that they're
facing is an aging population. The
majority of the young people have left
the nest. They don't want to come back
home. So, they're trying to figure out
who's going to take over those
businesses. How are we going to continue
growing our population? Their economic
development looks a little bit different
than ours here in the county. So,
they're using their historical museum
and their
dinosaur center to promote economic
development and attract visitors into
the region. They initially started the
dinosaur center taking reservations over
the phone. They reached out to their
economic development entity and they
were able to help them take some IT
courses so that someone could design an
online booking system and that's how
they were able to increase their
revenue.
So the key takeaways,
know your economic development
ecosystem. I know we did an exercise on
our last retreat where we all divided
and conquer and came up with a list of
who were our community partners, who are
our economic development partners.
Understand the important of
collaboration. We have to collaborate
when we don't necessarily have the
financial resources to offer. And more
than anything, share the story, talk
about the county, share the success
so that the community can get to know
us. Thank you.
Thank you. Um,
thank you for the presentation. I like
that it was short and sweet. So, I just
have a quick question and commissioners,
please join in if you have any questions
as well. How can we take what we what
you learned especially in the smaller
rural areas and implement it here in our
county to help those in you know the
little merkantiel in La Mesa or the
little store in Mosquite or anything
like that. How can we implement
something similar here in Donia?
So one of the things that we're doing as
far know your economic development
ecosystem there's an economic
development roundt coming up August 13.
You all will be receiving the invitation
so you can join us. Understanding the
importance of collaboration. Again,
we're all going to be sitting at a a
round table so we can talk about
projects and how do we support one
another, share the story, storytelling.
We're going to be taking a trip across
the border. So, now we're taking our
message internationally. So, I am going
to try and implement a lot of the things
that I learned so that we can do that
here at the county.
Awesome. Thank you. Commissioners, any
other thoughts, questions?
Mr. Chairman.
Yes, Commissioner Sanchez.
Just one I miss. Carter, I I appreciate
the uh the presentation and I think even
just the updates from uh the recent uh
conferences you've had the the chance to
go through. I I actually would love if
you know where where it makes sense, you
know, for the commission when we have
other team members that go to
conferences representing Donana County
to have maybe a short presentation
because I think it's um I I'd love to
see how we can, as I think the chairman
had said, it's like with with Miss
Carter, how do we take what we learn
from best practices and try to bring
them into what we do as well? we start
uh working on implementing our strategic
plan because I think it's um my my hope
is is that let's let's take some uh do
some things that are different than
we've done in the past and I think going
and being exposed and like they said
seeing what other people are doing is an
excellent opportunity uh for us to learn
and maybe try and figure out um here if
it doesn't work then we take the lessons
learned and try again and and do
something slightly different but I I
love the opportunity to be able to um
cross-pollinate so to speak with some of
the other uh municipalities andor uh
experts across the the nation. So, thank
you so much for the presentation.
Absolutely. And then also just to kind
of bounce off of what Commissioner
Sanchez said, um, and because I wore my
creative industry shirt the other day,
uh, I think that if we do get more
funding or we choose to fund creative
industries again, that that would be a
really great focus for them would be to
help small businesses in our rural
communities learn how to storytell
properly and maybe create something here
that kind of takes their story and gets
it into the network of like what's going
on in that community. You know, make it
a day trip and go down south to
Lamestead, go have lunch, um go
shopping, do all that kind of stuff. So,
that would be like a really great thing
for creative industries to help with.
So, it's great you're mentioning that
because we do have funding and we're
starting phase two of creative
industries.
Perfect.
And we are planning a lot of events
also. Uh the city of El Paso invited
Donana County to be part of Startup Week
this year. So we are planning an event
uh September 26th. It's a Friday. Again,
you all will receive the details where
we're bringing a lot of the regional
partners to talk about the different
programs and the different type of
technical assistance that our
entrepreneurs and small businesses can
receive.
Beautiful. Thank you. Thank you. And uh
Mr. I I was going to say I think it's I
think that's an excellent idea because
I've just just from personal experience
I think um I I think from other cities
other places we've been I know there's
you call them social media influencers
whatever it may be but I think is as you
get into those algorithms I think
there's been even places in El Paso that
I wasn't even aware of and when I go
visit family sometimes I'll go and stop
and be like oh check this this place out
I wasn't aware of because you know it
was just happened to be highlighted um
on social media And I think as he's as
as the chairman is saying, I think it'd
be awesome to be able to find a way and
how we u whether that's us or we find
other local um
influencers, accounts, whatever you may
be that can help us highlight some of
these small businesses that are located
within our amazing communities. I think
that would um be, you know, I think it
definitely helps bring because we know I
I know how many people from from El Paso
love to come up whether it's on their
their motorcycle or just the drive um
especially in the summer through Highway
28 going up north all the way to Hatch
or however far they go. But if you know
if you highlight those things along the
way, they will stop and they will go and
see and I think we see the thriving um
wineries for example that are along
Highway 28. I think those are the things
that it'd be amazing to see how we can
continue to help those small businesses
here.
So, coupled with our our second phase of
creative industries, we are going to do
the wayfinding. We are developing an
online um creative industries directory
of all of our entrepreneurs and all of
our small businesses that fall within
the 13 sectors of creative industries.
So, there is a lot of stuff in the works
and I will bring you in so that you
learn and I can also want to hear your
ideas. Awesome.
Thank you.
Okay, I think that's it.
Thank you.
Good morning, commissioners. Uh, Donana
County Health and Human Services
Director Jamie Michael. I have two uh
items to provide a brief update for you
today. One is the um pilot project that
we did with contractors for youth
activities and I do have a presentation.
So, while they're pulling that
presentation up, I will share my second
update, which is next steps for the
opioid settlement uh recommendations. As
you remembered, several months ago,
there was a work session with the city.
You all received the recommendation for
strategies and examples of activities
related to each of those strategies. Um,
it seemed like everyone was in agreement
to move forward. So from there, I sent
you some communication that further
narrowed those strategies and listed the
populations that we want were
recommending focusing on and the setting
to deliver these programs. So, you
received that information um probably
just over a month ago. And the next step
is to bring a resolution to both city
and county um city council and county
commissioners for your consideration
that um outlines the recommendations,
the setting, and the population so we
can move forward with determining the
actual scopes of work and activities for
those um opioid settlement funds. We
will also be bringing um some
recommendations for what percent of
funds to spend in the first two years um
and be able to answer questions about
the trust that um you all uh discussed
as well. So between now and August 26th,
if you have any questions, please let me
know. Um and I'm happy to visit with
you, but we intend on bringing that
resolution to you all um for your second
meeting in August. And now I'd like to
to share with you some highlights from
the first year of the contracts with
four different um entities. We spent in
last fiscal year we spent just under
$380,000.
We provided services. Initially we were
in six community resource centers, but
we did have a difficult time in La Mesa
um recruiting young people. So the the
solution this year is to come into that
area. But what I have for you is some
photos to show um what went on during
the the past year with different
contractors. So you can see they did a
lot of uh fun activities last summer and
this summer uh with water. It's good way
to to stay cool in the the summer. It's
very nice in Chaparel because there's
the park area around the the community
center. So it um helps. One of the uh
other most popular activities especially
in Chaparel was the afterchool tutoring
and snacks. So kids would come um
directly from school YMCA would provide
them with a snack and they had young
people there to help tutor which is nice
to have that neareer mentorship. Um,
again, nice playground areas, other
types of physical activities to get the
kids up and moving,
trying to build their core strength
there. All those kiddos excited about
that.
They had different, this is a photo from
Boys and Girls Club. just bringing in
different opportunities for them to try
out different skills um both academic
and recreation skills. A lot of artwork.
Good time there in uh
Butterfield.
This is another contractor, Dava, and
some of the young people they worked
with.
They have a skate park up there in
Radium Springs. So, they were able to do
some activities uh with the children
around that. And this is just a brief
summary. So, we did have those are the
four contractors, Community Action
Agency. They hosted a one-week um class
about entrepreneurship at each of the
the community centers. Each day there
were about 10 children participating.
The Boys and Girls Club worked in Vado
and Butterfield community centers each
day. They had about three children um um
participating in the activities and they
held these activities five days a week
after school at both of those sites.
Dolores Wright is where YMCA was. They
had an average of six kids per day and
again they were there five days a week
after school for several hours. and Dava
had about two kids per day at both
Donana and Radium and they were at each
of those um facilities twice uh a week
during the uh the fiscal year. So in
total there were just under 4,000
encounters for the fiscal year. Um these
children that participated probably had
very little access to any other type of
afterchool activity because of the
location of where they live. There not a
lot of other opportunities. So, we're
grateful for the contractors. We have
continued to contract with them again
this fiscal year, making a few changes.
We had a workshop with them and talked
about uh strengths and weaknesses and
trying to remove some of the barriers
and help them just continue to um be a
positive
uh resource in each of these
communities. We also have staff at each
of these community centers that are
doing a lot of activities over the
summer, including summer meals. So, next
meeting I will provide you with an
update and some examples of what the HHS
employees did in conjunction with the
summer lunches. Thank you.
Awesome. Thank you. Any comments or
questions, commissioners?
Seeing none.
Yes. Have one question. Commissioner,
I I don't know if uh all the audience
recognized the one picture where the
kids were planking. Did everybody
recognize that? Do you know that most
people can't plank for uh like 30
seconds? So, I recommend you all go home
and try it today.
Good luck. A
Thank you.
Thanks, Jamie. That's all we have for
staff input today, sir.
Wonderful. Thank you. Moving on to
commission appointed board report backs.
Commissioners, any
report backs? I'll go first really
quick. We did have our South Central
Solid Waste Authority meeting. It was
our first board meeting with our new
executive director. Um, it was short and
sweet, but it was really good. It's good
to have uh him in position now. Uh, so
I'm really excited for that and what's
to come and his ideas and goals. And we
were asking a lot of questions. He was
learning off of our questions, which was
really nice. So that's my board report
back for South Central Solid Wasteway
Authority.
Mr. Chairman,
yes.
Might I
did you No, go ahead.
Um I I did want to piggyback on uh the
uh South Central Solid Waste Authority.
Uh one thing that was uh excited that
exciting to that I wanted to highlight
is the uh um Solid Waste Authority was a
recipient of a uh was it nine or $10
million? nine
$9 million grant from the Colonial's
Infrastructure Fund that'll be used for
the uh the Homeman Transfer Station
that's in uh in process at the moment.
It's going to be out on the East Mesa.
Um and so this will help along with
going on to the next steps of
construction. I believe the design uh is
done and complete and I think they're
continuing to work through all of the
processes before they begin
construction. So, um I'm excited as that
will bring um another facility that will
help the residents here in um in in
Donana County uh to to be able to
hopefully uh have more options for uh
disposing of waste and um and having
more options across the county. So, but
I think it was exciting that that we
were able to get that um that grant that
grant award
commissioners. Yes, Mr.
Chair, I also wanted to follow up with
the meeting to say that tomorrow morning
we have a MVA meeting at nine o'clock in
the building right next door and it is a
open to the public if anybody's
interested. Um something else I can I
forgot to say about the MVDA when I
joined the organization I think the
staffing was about 55 to 60%
and now because of the classes we've
been able to hold here and recruit other
people and raise a little bit of the pay
I think we're now getting closer to like
90% staffing over there which which
equates to a much safer community in
case you didn't know that. Uh, another
thing that we're well on our way to
doing is uh changing the cell service or
the the radio service to 700 system
which is the same as the uh state police
which will eliminate all the dead spots
in the county. So now when somebody goes
out to the northeast part of the county
has a call they get there if they find
out that there they need backup they'll
be able to call for it. And that's
something else that we're working on.
It's almost completely done for the
county. So thank you Mr. Chair. We don't
have a vice chair, do we?
The vice chair is on uh currently on
WebEx. And so I I guess if there are no
objections, I'll I'll just take the
reigns for a moment here. Um if there
are no other corn uh commission
appointed board report backs, uh then
we'll move on to presentations. Under
item 11, it's the fiscal year 2025
internal audits update uh given by Mr.
Ernest Button.
Good morning, Mr. Button.
Good morning, county commissioners.
Ernest, internal audits.
And so, this is your uh the annual
presentation just to kind of give the uh
board of county commissioners uh feel
the pulse of what's uh what's happened
for the last fiscal year and what's
coming up for the next fiscal year and
any trends or anything I I'd like to
highlight that I would like the board to
to be aware of.
So what I'll go over is I'll briefly
mention the the different uh departments
or audits that I've conducted over the
the past fiscal year and after that I'll
go ahead and go go into some details
about the findings as well as some
recommendations and then we'll talk
about some some other other things
that's been that's been going on. Yeah,
as you can see, we did uh started off
the fiscal year with when it was still
facilities and parks. Um, we looked at
the community centers. This was an this
was a follow-up audit uh from audits
that were conducted earlier. I was asked
to look at the detention center to do a
financial assessments audit to look at
their their services and some of the
numbers able to get that done. It's also
asked to look at the uh do a timekeeping
review of some of the alternative work
schedules.
Did updates to the audit charter and
operating procedures for internal audits
and also did an audit assessment for
county manager uh run departments and
finished off with facilities and
services again doing the project
management and and grants audits. So
they probably won't be seeing me for a
while.
facilities and parks. So, this was an
area uh where we did a followup. We've
done audits before. We wanted to see the
follow-up audits. Once we do an initial
audit, we like to give the uh the
entity, the client some time to make
some improvements, maybe enforce some of
the recommendations uh that they
accepted or actions that they said they
would conduct and follow up and see how
they're doing. Kind of give them
feedback on there.
And we had about three findings on that
follow-up audit. So our findings are
either high level, moderate level or
low. And so we only had one moderate
level finding. And this was um
pertaining to inventory accountability
as I will mention later. That's one of
the areas that the county could could
use some improvement on. So uh
facilities and parks would not be the
should not be the whipping boy of the
county, but that was one of the things
that we found. a couple of lower levels
was um fire extinguisher maintenance and
then um uh smoking no smoking signs. So
I understand that some of their signs
have been taken down by other people. So
um in the the management gives feedback
on what they plan to do to address
things. So
I have a quick question in the community
centers since uh many of our community
centers actually have both Spanish and
and English spoken there. Do we have
bilingual signs at most of the community
centers?
Uh Mr. Chairman, uh, Commissioner
Reynolds, I do believe I saw signage
that actually had not no smoking
necessarily, but just signage, but how
to get in touch with them that were both
English and Spanish.
Yeah.
Okay. I think that's something we want
to at least have a report on even if we
don't have to even if we don't change
it.
Very good, sir.
Thank you.
Miss Ben.
Uhhuh.
I'm just curious on the lack of
inventory. Are you talking on uh assets
that we have located within or at least
that are like stored or within the
facilities or are we talking larger
um I guess larger larger investments
that we need to be keeping better track
of.
All right. So, Mr. Chairman,
Commissioner Sanchez. So, one thing that
the I've noticed in the county and area
that we can improve upon is just uh
keeping keeping up with what we have in
those community centers or even having
the assets tagged. Um, of course, people
go in and out of them on a daily basis.
And this is anywhere in the county, not
just community centers. And so, they
kind of take those things for granted,
but here I am and I check the letter of
the law and say, "Hey, that should have
a tag on it. This uh fixed asset list
should be turned into the fixed assets
accountant." So they have an
accountability. So it's some of the
things that I kind of asked them to
sharpen up on. And of course we have uh
standards for that. And so we asked them
to to take a look at that and better
enforce. But they know what they have.
So it's not like, oh, we're missing a
truck. We had no idea. So it's nothing
like that.
Okay. Thank you.
Are we really missing a truck?
No, we're not missing a truck.
We're not We're not missing a truck.
You might you might want to lower back
it down. Maybe a computer or chair or
something.
Very good, sir. Very good. Thank you.
Other thing I was asked to look at was a
doing a financial assessment uh with the
detention center. So, one of the things
that the the detention center the staff
that let me know and they work worked
very well with the staff. I didn't get
uh grief from the staff of any of the of
the audits that I've conducted. Um they
were sure to let me know that look we
are revenue uh producing department but
not a profit producing department. And
that made sense. So what I when I looked
at this department, we were looking to
see how we could narrow the gap,
anything that we could do to narrow the
gap between our expenditures and the
revenues that were coming in. So we
considered the three budget model that
they currently have versus maybe using a
one budget model. We looked at annual
revenues and expenditures to include
salaries and overtime. And to get a a
true estimate of the costs and
expenditures, we looked at auxiliary
departments that support the detention
center. Uh we did comp comps on the
starting salaries of detention center
officers as well as hiring incentives
and we looked at our pdium rates.
And so we had a couple of areas here. We
looked at uh moderate level findings, no
high level findings. We we wanted to we
looked at the cost versus the uh pdeium
rates, what we're charging to have to to
house and feed the the the detainees on
a daily basis. And this was something
that management said they would go back
and take a look at and see where we have
room to improve where how do we compare
to other counties for example and if
this is something that we could actually
take steps um without uh losing the
clientele.
Another area was um recruiting vacancy
rates, high attrition rates. So, some of
the recommendations put forth was maybe
looking at um bringing in an assistant
recruiter to help out the current
recruiter, especially when it comes to
going to job fairs and having a face for
the county. U we looked at attrition
rates. What were your do we have any
incentives for hiring incentives that we
offer? And they do. uh and just getting
the word out, working more with their
their human resources counterpart to get
the word out more. Uh grant
administrations. Uh we looked at I asked
management to consider
is it worth having a grant administrator
perhaps to cover some of the maintenance
costs of the facilities. Maybe that was
something they could weigh the cost
benefits of as well as um and we looked
at contractor payout reconciliations.
make sure we were dotting our eyes and
crossing our tees.
I have a question,
Mr. Chairman. Uh, Commissioner
Reynolds. Yes.
Uh, I noticed an article this past week
uh from New Mexico Association of
Counties, Grace Phillips, actually
stated that uh we have spent something
like $14 million more than we've been
able to collect in fees from the state
for state held prisoners. It said that
even though we had spent I think it's 14
million maybe 23 million that we'd only
collected like less than 10% of that. Is
this something that we are experiencing
here and what are we doing about it?
So um Mr. Chairman uh Commissioner
Reynolds what we looked at FY24
and we looked at our detention center we
were very near uh $11 million as for a
deficit. And so the things we were
looking at was our PDM rates. how are
they comparing to uh other counties as
for are we charging the right rates? Uh
what is our what our contract state is
when we can ask for a little more? And
so this was something that management um
you know committed to taking a look at
and doing a deep dive into to see if we
kind of lower the that deficit. I'm not
sure if I addressed your question.
So are we are we in fact in deficit with
the state prisoners that we're holding
and how much is that deficit? So, the
particulars of that would take me a
little time. I do have some particulars
in the report. That one in uh in
particular I don't have right off hand,
but I will be getting those reports
posted and I can get back to you on that
one.
I think it would be good for you to come
to the board with a recommendation on
what we can do in order to close that
gap and reduce our risk there.
If you can help us with that, I
appreciate it.
Very good, sir.
Thank you,
Mr. Chairman.
Yes, Commissioner Sanchez.
I I just curious and I I don't want to
necessarily I understand where where uh
Commissioner Reynolds is coming from,
but I I don't know that it's necessarily
the the role of the auditor to provide
uh resolution recom I think there could
be recommendations to maybe look at
certain areas, but I think it really
falls upon the department and uh county
management to bring forth those
recommendations. I mean, I think that's
um just in terms of auditing, I I I at
least I could be wrong, Mr. Button, but
correct me if I'm wrong, but the way
that I've always understood when when
I've performed audits myself, I can give
recommendations, but I can't tell or an
organization, a department or anything
like that how they should correct the
issue.
So, other than that, the standard they
need to meet,
right, Mr. Chairman or Commissioner
Sanchez? So yes um we I do give
recommendations as for hey this is
something that management I would I
would ask you to consider I would
recommend you take a look at this but it
is does come down to management to see
if uh lack of better terminology if the
juice is worth the squeeze and they'll
make the determination or they may take
my recommendation or they may say you
know what we're going to go a different
direction and do something else to to
address the issue. So it is up to
management ultimately.
Thank you.
I could see Commissioner Reynolds
looking at me. We made eye contact so
I'm on it.
Thank you. No, and I like I said I just
think I wanted to make that distinction
only because I said I think it's the the
role of the auditor is always to
identify, you know, they're looking to
see if we're meeting the standard or
not. If we're not, then we recommend
potential, you know, ways to meet that.
Then of course then there can be a re
audit or review to see when you go in. I
I don't know. Will you review these
after to see what corrective actions
were put in place?
So, Mr. Chairman, Commissioner Sanchez.
Yes, there's a follow-up audit. Uh we
give the client at least three months
and depending on how busy I am at the
time. We do a follow-up on them and say,
"Hey, how are we doing on those
particular findings?" Especially
moderate level or high level findings.
Uh low level, we'll just talk to them,
say, "Hey, what have you done?"
Moderate, high, I can do some limited
testing to say, "Hey, uh what have you
done? Okay, well, let me see your
documentation. Let's take a look at that
and see what's going on." And then the
county manager of course is made aware
of uh of my audit reports and
Okay. Thank you.
All right. So asked to take a look at
the alternative work schedules of some
of the officers. So uh looked at what
they had with the some of the staff had
within HR and also look at their
timekeeping records. And so of course
all the findings were low. We were
asking the different departments when I
talked to the leadership of the
different departments, direct
supervision of the uh some of these in
staff were asking to either go back and
and actually make sure that they're
adhering to the schedule or update their
alternative work schedules and and most
of the feedback was positive. Um just
taking taking a look at and let them
know that there someone is looking at
that and um so I got some pretty good
feedback.
Mr. Chairman, Commissioner Reynolds,
Mr. chair. Yes. When you talk about
alternate work schedules, are you
talking about 410s? You talking about
312s? I mean, are you talking about the
ability for us to have a flexible work
schedule?
So, yes. Um, Commissioner Reynolds,
those flexible work schedules. And so, I
would commit to maybe I need to work 7
to 4 because I need to get off early uh
to pick up my kid from school or from
daycare. And so, the supervisor,
management, and HR, they all sign off on
that. And then when I'm taking a look as
the auditor, I'm looking to see, hey, is
Commissioner Reynolds actually working
seven to four as his alternate work
schedule actually states
or has that changed?
Okay. So, you're not looking at the
feasibility of possibly changing our
work sess schedules to be more flexible.
You're not looking at that.
That's exactly what it's for, Mr.
Commissioner. Be more flexible so that
you know someone can actually come in
early and leave a little bit earlier or
come in later, leave a little bit later.
And that's up to the supervisor to
actually sign off on and then it goes up
and it's recorded in HR. And so when the
auditor was asked to take a look at it,
I was just looking to see, hey, is that
person or are these staff adhering to
that schedule? Has something changed? If
they have not, if they are not uh
adhering to that schedule, do they need
an updated one? Did you look at anything
that would suggest that we could
actually expand the hours for some of
our services like uh the um assessor's
office being open until 5:00 or 6
o'clock 6 o'clock at night or maybe on
half day on weekends. Did you look at
anything like that?
Wow. So, Mr. Chairman, Commissioner
Reynolds. So, that that was beyond the
scope of the audit because I was only
looking at the the approved alternative
work schedules. Um that is something
that's not not beyond the purview of an
audit. We could definitely weigh
something like that if the county
manager would have
have the internal office of the internal
audit take on that endeavor.
Thank you.
Any other commissioner comments,
questions?
Seeing none. Thank you, Ernest.
We're we're almost there.
We're almost there. Okay.
Okay. We we finished up the year with uh
looking at facilities and service, their
products and grants management. This was
interesting because of of course we have
a um a new director down there, fairly
new on the ground. So we of of course we
look at standard operating procedures.
Um they've had some staffing changes
down there. We look at their grants.
They got quite a few grants going
through. We look at their workflow, have
new project managers on board. Uh once
again, cooperation uh from staff and
management. No problem there. Uh we had
some areas we believe they could improve
upon. uh when it comes to policies
policy directives that's stating that
this department uh should go through uh
facilities and service when they want a
building whether they have budget for it
their own budget or not and so that's
something that we ask them to actually
deal with the departments or get put in
writing so that that's actually a
directive now most uh departments will
do that but there's nothing that's
stating that they have to do so. Uh we
looked at grant operating procedures.
Although the the staff was very
proficient at what they did, a lot of
times this is not written down. So in
case that staff person leaves, uh I
believe we have quite a bit of um we had
about three retirements we're looking at
today. That's a lot of operational
knowledge and institutional knowledge
that's leaving with the staff. So I hope
they've got up-to-date SOPs before they
leave. Hint hint. Uh lack of inventory
accountability. Looked at some pieces at
the fairground. um grants accountability
and followup as well. Audit delays that
was because of the the staff changes and
whatnot, but uh nothing major there.
Management committed to each one to
taking a look at them, making some
corrective actions, gave me some time
frames that they would have that taken
care of. So,
okay, some things I did within the
department, we updated the internal
audit charter. And since I'm always
getting um talking to people about their
SOPs, the internal audit advisory
committee talked to me about my SOPs. So
I had to update mine as well. Um
and also we did a multi-year audit plan
so we will know uh what departments are
having an audit when we can give them a
heads up and we did that assessment
based on the feedback that I got from
the individual departments and also your
internal auditor is going to take on the
uh take a break from school from the
doctorate degree and start studying so I
could get ready for uh certified fraud
examiners we examination that's coming
up a lot a lot I notice in training And
so it's something I'd like to specialize
a little bit more in that area and
become a little bit more knowledgeable
in
trends items of note. Uh no push backs
from the departments. Uh we have a full
internal audit activity committee. Um
county managers aware of my audit. So I
don't just go in the county manager the
ACMS. So I don't just go into an area
say hey I'm getting ready to do an
audit. I actually do confer with their
with the leadership uh areas of
improvement, standard operating
procedures. We have the knowledge. We
need to chronicle it and keep those SOPs
updated just for the next um people that
are coming in to stem that learning
curve. When it comes to inventory
accountability, make sure we're getting
that turned in by the deadline date. I
think it's the end of June um and mid
July at the latest. So that the the
people up here the fixed assets account
has um has that as well. When it came to
workday, people knew their jobs. They
had gone through the learning curves.
What I hear most when it comes to
workday is I don't know all the bells
and whistles that it can do. So it's
functionality training that people have
desired, but they actually do know how
to do their jobs on it. They become
proficient with that. Uh the audit does
consider software when I'm going into an
area there's one or two people in the
military we would call it a forces
multiplier but how can we augment and
help that position okay and uh we also
looking at asking them to write down
their key performance indicators and
that would help me also uh when I'm
coming in to see hey what are you what
standards are you judging by
upcoming audit surprise guys I haven't
gotten in touch with these departments
yet but uh Actually, I'm dealing with an
audit is in roads right now. I have
consorted with the ACM and so we're
looking at roads, engineering, um maybe
utilities, we have to see where that is.
Community developments coming up,
airport, uh places that are grantheavy.
Uh and we we are looking at doing our
followup after a few months with
facilities and services um in the
certification I mentioned. And at this
time, since we're keeping it short, Mr.
Chairman, I'll stand for the questions.
Thank you. Commissioners, any follow-up
questions?
Ernest, I just want to thank you. You uh
walk a very fine line of being easy to
get along with, very involved and social
with the team, but also holding people
accountable. So, really appreciate all
your hard work and great job today.
Thank you, sir.
Okay,
next up we do have item number 12, which
is a presentation from Rodney Crane from
MGT.
Welcome, sir.
Good morning.
Um,
I'm hoping my presentation is there
loaded.
Commissioners, it's a pleasure to be
here today. As mentioned, my name is Rod
Crane. I represent MGT Consulting and we
are partnering with the county on the
review and revision of your human
resources policies and procedures uh as
well as a few other deliverables. And uh
as we begin, I'd like to uh note
certainly you can ask questions during
the presentation or we will also have
time at the end.
Our brief uh agenda today will cover uh
the team that's working on this from uh
our side as well as the uh an overview
of the methodology that we're using.
then we'll talk about an update on the
actual findings we have at this point
and then we'll have a discussion on next
steps.
So in addition to myself uh I've been in
the human resources world for over 40
years uh both private and public sector
um currently with MGT I've been
consulting for four years uh and I'm
also a certified executive coach. The
director for this uh activity is
responsible for a multitude of studies
and management consulting events. She's
also responsible for executive
recruiting Mary Jacobs and she is
responsible for our supervisory training
initiative. And then finally on our team
we also have Annne Everheart who is
responsible for assisting me in this
process. She has a background in human
resources that covers a myriad of areas
um professionally uh both in leadership
as well as individual contributors.
She's focused on areas associated with
uh general HR as well as issues
associated with diversity, equity,
inclusion, uh labor relations uh and
training and development.
So the methodology that we have engaged
for this particular uh engagement
focuses on three key areas uh we're
looking at uh internally and we've been
reviewing a number of forms documents
and processes that exist already at the
county making sure we understand those.
Uh we've also had the opportunity to um
have interviews and discussions with a
number of leadership team members. uh we
did an online survey that was sent out
to the entire leadership team and then
we also have had individual interviews
with a number of the leaders as well
trying to gather as much information as
possible on things that they feel are
going well and things that need to be
focused on. Then we have been looking
externally and you'll see some of that
information here shortly. But trying to
get information from comparator
organizations and how they are utilizing
their policies and procedures documents
as well as best practices potentially
from some of those documents. And then
finally looking at the opportunity for
uh what's existing in the marketplace
and making sure of course that we are
covering all the legal aspects
associated with the policies document
itself.
As we look at the key uh uh findings, uh
the first thing here is identifying the
research that we've done associated,
excuse me, with uh some comparator
organizations. Uh this chart does show
that we've uh reviewed six. We've
actually talked with other folks, but
these are the ones we had formal
documents for.
Um this process is ongoing. Um, but
you'll see here there's quite a bit of
variety in the feedback that we received
from those organizations in terms of
both the structure and the uh tone if
you will of their individual
organizations documents uh length as
well. Some of them are only um excuse me
handbooks and not defined as a policies
document uh but they do cover the
policies as well.
You'll also see that um some of the
organizations have a variety of dates
and so it couldn't identify when it was
last updated, but it does cover back to
as far as 2012.
And so the fact that the uh county is
looking at doing a revision here, uh it
has been six years. Um but certainly
it's important that to note that there
can be a wide variety and when these
documents do get updated. Uh you'll also
see that the most recent one was uh in
in terms of full personal policies or HR
policies document and then 25 in terms
of a handbook that was in uh the city of
El Paso.
So, as we looked at um the information
we had so far, here's some of the
information that we were finding that we
believe need to be addressed. Uh first
of all, the tone of the document that
exists currently uh can be viewed as a
little bit harsh. Uh and certainly it's
important and we did find in other
documents that we reviewed that the tone
is a reflection of the culture or at
least can be viewed that way. And if
that's not the culture, then it's
important to make the revisions to make
it reflect the culture. Uh in this case,
there were certainly things that if not
harsh, probably regulatory would be a
good word to use for the way things are
written in the document. And certainly
it's important that employees know and
the organization know what is expected
and required, but how that's stated
certainly can have a big impact. Uh one
example of that was in the section
regarding supervisory training where it
talked about the expectation that the uh
supervisors would attend training and
then went on to say that it would be
reported to management if they didn't
attend training and that it could be
grounds for termination. Uh it's not to
say that those things are not
necessarily true or possible. Um, but
you would expect that an M supervisor
would understand that if their manager
is expecting and the organization is
expecting them to go to training, it
wouldn't necessarily have to be stated
in a policy document that they could be
disciplined for that. And certainly the
organization could move forward based
upon a supervisor's directive to take
whatever actions was necessary if their
employee uh was not performing in a way
that was deemed appropriate. Another
example of some of the things that we s
found was related to the whole category
of policies versus procedures and
clarity around those. Uh in some cases
it was specifically identified if the
part of the uh document was stating was
that was being stated was a policy or a
procedure as noted here with the
discrimination and harassment procedure
versus the reasonable accommodation
policy. Uh but we do find that it's
important to be clear on these policies
obviously are those parts of an a
document that represent the rules and
principles that are used for management
decision making versus a procedure which
is a method and way of doing it has
steps, dates, times, u maybe forms and
the amount of change that happens in a
procedure uh typically greatly exceeds
what's required for just the policy and
unless they are clearly defined and
separated then you end up having more
adjustments to your document than are
necessary uh based on the fact that
they're both included there and kind of
co-mingled.
Uh we also found that there were uh
occasions in the document where similar
topics were mentioned more than once and
that might create some confusion. uh for
example related to fraud. Uh it was
identified in terms of misconduct. It
was identified in terms of standards. Um
and in se several se several separate
sections and so being able to combine
those and still make the the point clear
around the expectation uh is an
opportunity that exists. We also saw
that there was some inconsistency in
wording where maybe there were different
authors that had created some updates
and had stated a little bit differently.
This is makes it difficult for the
reader to be clear about the document
itself. Uh and then also just the fact
that sometimes the language was not
concise and again it's not to indicate
that the language was wrong or illegal.
um we did not find indications of major
concerns in the area of of document
legality. It was more around again the
way words were things were stated and
how they were combined to make the
point.
One example that we looked at as a
possible way of revising um a statement
to have the same impact but a different
feel and uh potentially uh culture would
be the current version which states each
member of the county has a
responsibility to treat others fairly
without unlawful discrimination or
retaliation. and then to revise that to
say everyone in the organization has a
responsibility to treat others fairly
and with respect. And so you can see
they're both asking for the same
expectation at the end of the day. Uh
however, one is taking the approach of
don't do this and this is what will
happen versus do this and this is what
we expect and we need for our
environment.
Uh some reason the uh
slide is not advancing.
Thank you. Uh and one more please.
So the last part of this is our next
step. We have discussed with the
leadership team with county manager his
team um what we are viewing in terms of
the changes we'd like to see related to
the document the structure and and the
um um phrasing. Uh we do believe that it
would be um a positive move forward to
look at having the document um more
flexible uh the sections identified
individually and available online so
that when updates are needed they can be
done um u more efficiently. Uh we also
do believe that a statement that kind of
confirms the county's expectation around
behaviors uh to establish the cultural
expectations is something that could be
easily identified and added. Um many of
the documents that we saw as well as the
one for your county have a introductory
statement. I think the one for yours is
called general p uh provisions, but
something that says introduction or
overview and really makes it clear how
the employees will be viewed and the
organization views employees
interactions and requirements is one
that could be easily added to the
document to help establish that and set
the the um framework for that
expectation going forward.
Um, as you see from this next steps,
we're going to be doing some additional
revisions. We'll be finalizing the
document. Um, once it is finalized and
has been approved, uh, then we will be
moving forward to assist the county in
the communication and training for the
changes that have been, uh, made.
And that is our last slide. If you have
any questions, uh, we, uh, I'd be happy
to take them at this point.
Thank you. Commissioners, questions,
comments? Can you go back to the
schedule slide really quick? Just so
it's up there for us.
Thank you.
Anything? Commissioners?
Oh, yes. I would like to say something.
Please do.
Mr. um Kane, I think you've done an
excellent job of reviewing these
documents and putting together a
presentation that pretty much summarizes
where we are and gives us a good idea of
where we need to go. So, I enjoyed your
presentation very much. Thank you.
Appreciate it. Thank you.
Um, I would like to say thank you for
putting this together as well. Thanks
for giving that, you know, 30,000 foot
overview of what you already see within
the documents. Um, so I think this is a
really good start and I'm excited to see
where we end up in September.
Thank you.
Appreciate it.
Yes. Okay. Thank you, sir.
Next up, we have item number 13, which
is Donana Countyy's cyber security
posture, current state risks, and the
road ahead.
Welcome, sir. How are you doing today?
Good morning.
Get set up here a little bit.
So, I am Anthony Dose and I am your DAC
uh cyber security administrator. I
started here around in January. I have
over 30 years experience working with
both the federal and state governments
with various cyber security uh
activities. So I'm here to uh provide
you a bit of a update on the cyber
security state for the county and what
is our road forward and how we're
addressing risk.
So a little bit about the team. We are a
team of one. So, uh, so I met
and so, um, in that we are, um, and
we're responsible for enforcing policies
and responding to threats for the
county.
Our mission is simple. It's to safeguard
the county's information assets by
managing risk, threats, and compliance.
Even though it's a simple task of a
mission, it is very
orderous. It's very hard to do. There's
a lot going on. Our landscape is
constantly changing. So, we're really
working hard to keep ahead of the game
and I will talk to you about that a
little bit as well.
So, I report to the director, which is
uh my boss here, Kent, and we work
together very close together to make
sure that we are doing everything we can
to protect the county.
So, here are some of the primary
responsibilities we have. Our team is
responsible for governance, risk and
compliance for security operations and
operations and monitoring, incident
response and threat management and EPA
requirries and internal investigations.
We have been doing a very good job right
now of managing the EPA requirements
inquiries because before I came aboard
there was a few challenges. So we've
been trying to address those as well.
The other things we're responsible for
is we're responsible for the security
architecture and technical controls for
the county awareness training and
culture change uh uh addressing culture
uh changes project leadership and
strategic planning and continuous
improvement in intelligence.
So the team goals of our the team goals
that we have they align very close to
what the county alignment is. As you can
see in this chart, we are really uh
trying our best to uh make sure that we
advance threat resilience, transparency,
asset protection, infrastructure
security, and dig digital literacy to
support the county's mission.
So with that in mind, let's see what
what we've done so far this year.
IT goals and team initiatives are are
been the the ones that you see here. I'm
avoiding to try to read all these slides
because there's a lot of content here
that I put together and this is only
half of what I wanted there. So bear
with us. So here we have the um the
initials for the broader IT goals by
strengthening uh IT goals by
strengthening the security
protecting infrastructure, securing data
transmissions, and enabling AI uh driven
information uh transformation.
And we'll be talking about AI quite a
bit as well because that's near and dear
to my heart, something that I'm
concerned with.
So, our major accomplishments for this
year
have been one is establishing a
framework. Now, a framework is something
that's really pushed by the federal
government as well as local as well as
well as state. What it is is a framework
of considering all the different
components of your of your of your
environment and trying to put it
together into a constant continuous
repeatable process. So what we have here
is
the uh we have established a former
country countywide cyber security
framework to uni to unify and strengthen
our overall defense posture by
integrating key security tools. We've
improved coordination, protection, and
our ability to respond to emerging
threats, and that's ongoing as well.
The other thing we've done is we've
strengthened our email security posture,
streamlined the processing of public
records request, DPAS, and improved our
day-to-day operations by boosting both
protection and efficiency across county
departments.
In modernization, what we've done is
we've updated county security policies
to meet all governing of all governing
standards, improving compliance and
reducing risk. The process now includes
clear accountability, covers new
challenges like cloud security,
removable storage, AI, and data handling
and internal threats.
Now, why that matters to us is the fact
that we have all these these efforts
going on and they're constantly changing
and they're constantly causing us to
have to redirect our our efforts to
protect us. And so what we're doing with
that is we have these risk and
challenges that are following up are
following that. The transition of of
reactive to proactive is one of the key
uh factors that we're looking at to try
to address this because so many
organizations in in that right now are
really having to struggle with AI and
reacting to it. They're not being able
to be proactive whatsoever. They can't
move fast enough. And so that's one
thing we're trying to address. We also
are experiencing key cyber security
skill gaps and we're li and our limited
staff capability is a as a
responsibilities expand beyond it
because in the past it security was just
simply worrying about systems. It's not
the culture. It's the behavior of your
users. It's everything. It's a never
ending work uh work task. So that's the
other thing here. And legacy behaviors
and outdated systems continue to pose
obstacles for us as well.
as does a evolving regulatory landscape.
The reg the landscape has changed so
much even from last year that's creating
challenges for us. Now for the team
performance we have uh our team has
delivered uh results uh for FY25 so far
improving security response and and
support across the county.
We've managed over 80 80 uh over 80 EPO
request and 300 security related tickets
just this year alone since I've been
here and more coming. And that's okay
because the more we have the better we
can ensure we're protecting the system.
A lot of those requests for security is
to protect by opening up ports, closing
ports, opening up URLs, closing URLs,
blocking emails, opening up emails, and
it's ongoing. I I actually see well over
a thousand attempted scans an hour just
on our sides because it's there's that
much going on at this time. So now we
have the strength weaknesses
uh opportunities and threat analysis.
Now that is where we have strong frame
we have a strong framework which is good
layered defense and committed leadership
most important and the weaknesses are
the limited staffing outdated technology
and AI USB control gaps that's something
we're having to work on because we have
a lot of issues there that we're having
to deal with opportunities for ex for
improvement is expanding awareness
growing our partnerships and aligning
and aligning ourselves with AI
governance AI governance and at the same
one of the things about the growing
partnership I want to just mention is we
having a part we have a partnership with
infra guard that's the FBI CISA is also
one of our partners but also we're
trying to open it up to us the community
try to become more of a collaborative
partner with the community especially
with like senior citizen things of that
nature to help collaborate with them to
help them understand the cyber threats
that are face they're facing
now improvement plan is simply this we
plan to have uh to address key gaps by
growing uh to address key gaps by uh
growing staff expertise,
expanding the team, improving threat
intelligence and partnerships and
modernizing our systems, focusing on
securing AI usage, resilience and
proactive risk management. Uh along with
that we really are wanting to try to
expand the experience of the end users
to grow their expertise because every
single person in this room and and
watching this uh presentation need to be
aware of you have to become your own
cyber security resource nowadays because
it's so dynamic that you're going to
have to protect yourself as well.
So future goals we the future goals we
have are focusing on the security
awareness program GRC framework and
security posture. So let's talk about
the first one develop security awareness
awareness program right now we're using
wiser and it's been used quite a bit to
help us to communicate and to help
people understand what are the security
threats that are out there. Well the
plan is to expand that. So you going to
get a lot more of those coming where you
going to get these little test in your
emails testing your skill set and seeing
if you can recognize the various email
threats. Also we're working on the fact
that we're going to try to do deep fake
threat uh testing as well to help
educate people how deep fake can be
impacted on them as well. And so that's
one of the things we're doing with
security web awareness and we're going
to have that be become very shortly uh a
constant process that we're working on.
The next thing we're working on is the
GRC framework. That's something that's
the government risk compliance
framework. It's really important. It's
something that's established by the
federal government. It's being used by
almost any agency that's doing anything
with compliance and governance. And it's
a very useful methodology to use to
protect your systems. It highlights the
um the ability to support cyber security
goals by defining clear roles, strength,
you know, strengthen your process. also
making sure that you're doing the same
thing that everybody else is doing
within within the the what you're you're
what you're involved with and making
sure your regulatory processes are
compliant.
The other thing we're doing is improving
cyber security posture. Here we here is
where we uh have a uh we're addressing
network devices and enhancing threat uh
detection and response uh capabilities
and aligning security practices in
national frameworks ensuring more
resilient risk informed AI ready
environment. There's a lot of stuff
coming out of the federal government as
well for AI and we're trying to make
sure we're we're compliant with that as
well.
So with that to say we have a cyber
security milestone road map. It doesn't
have any dates on it yet because we're
still working on the process. But these
are the key steps that we're making.
We're put we're putting in place right
now as we speak and have been already
starting and this is how we're trying to
get there. We're we're looking at
subject of cyber security governance
conducting current state assessment.
That's what we're going to be doing
shortly here. And then defining
requirements and regulatory landscape
develop risk and compliance
architecture.
Standardize security policy and
procedures. design and launch security
awareness programs and strengthen
security operations infrastructure,
enhance incident response and threat
intelligence. Measure the and optimize
the performance and what just like uh
was being said earlier KPIs. We're going
to become really heavy in KPIs making
sure that we are meeting our standards
and our needs and then conduct a
governance review and strategic planning
with with the with the board.
Okay. Well, that's it. Any questions?
Remember, we only have a few minutes.
No, just
commissioners. Any questions or
comments?
Yes,
Mr. Chair. I'd like to say make a
comment. You know, I u I'm very proud of
what our IT organization has been able
to accomplish in the in the uh roughly
seven years I've been here. We've had
challenges and we've had attacks and
we've had people try to get in our
organization and I think that our IT
department has set up a pretty darn good
defense to protect us and we've been
very both fortunate that that we have
qualified staff to do this and
technology to help us prevent it. We've
also um been very blessed to make sure
that everybody in the organization as
you pointed out that every individual in
this county is responsible for IT
security. Yes.
And make sure that they don't open their
personal email on a on a county internet
port and then you know open something
that's going to corrupt everybody. Just
one of the challenges that we have and
what I think one of our biggest risks is
the fact that we actually mix personal
um activity i.e. I go out onto Google
and I might search something on Google
and u county activity on the same
network and uh of course I've been a
proponent of separating those networks
myself you know forever. However, our
staff has done such a great job, but
everybody in the county needs to
remember, and I applaud them for what
we've done so far, to remember that it's
each of us's responsibility to watch
what we do, make sure we don't open um
links that we're not aware of, we're not
sure of, uh to help us to protect our
network from everyone.
Okay. Yes, sir.
Thank you, Anthony, for a great
presentation, and I appreciate what the
staff does.
Thank you, sir.
It's paramount to safety and security of
our um of our county.
Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you.
Okay. Any other comments or questions,
commissioners?
Seeing none. Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir.
Yes.
Okay. Next up is item number 14, which
is our meeting minutes from July 8th. Do
we have a motion to approve?
So moved.
Second. We have a motion by Commissioner
Gometos, a second by Commissioner
Sanchez. Any comments or questions?
Seeing none, Brandy.
Commissioner Gometo,
yes.
Commissioner Reynolds,
yes.
Commissioner Sanchez,
yes.
Vice Chair Chapo,
yes.
Chair Shelnandez,
yes. Motion carries. Minutes are
approved.
Next up is item number 15 under
approvals. We have three today. The
first one is to approve a a resolution
to resend Donana County resolution
2018-25
prayer approval.
Commissioners, do we have a motion?
Thank you, sir. We'll get to public
comment in a moment. Okay. Do we have a
motion, commissioners?
So moved.
Second.
Okay. Okay, we have a motion by
Commissioner Gometos. We have a second
by Commissioner Reynolds.
Uh, Commissioner Reynolds.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm going to go
ahead and read the um um item that talks
about the executive summary for this. Um
the agenda item is to approve a
resolution to resend Donana County
resolution 2018-25
prayer to consider adoption of a
resolution rescending Donana County
resolution 2018-25 which approved the
inclusion of prayer during the board
county commissioner meetings.
Resolution 2018 was adopted in 2018 to
formally approve a practice
practice of opening BOCC meetings with a
prayer. However, this practice has
raised concerns related to fairness,
inclusivity, and perception of
government endorsement of specific
religious beliefs. The First Amendment
of the United States um United States,
excuse me, the first amendment to the
United States states, "Congress shall
make no law respect respecting an
establishment of religion or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof." when the
overwhelming majority of those offering
prayers at the BLCC meetings represent
only a small subset of the more than 800
religions uh identified and practiced
throughout the world. It creates the
appearance that this board is primarily
recognizing and supporting a limited
number of religious traditions. This
undermines the principle of religious
neutrality and may unintentionally
marginalize residents of different or no
faith backgrounds.
So proposed action is to adopt this
resolution resending resolution 28 2018
25 thereby eliminating the formal policy
approving par prayer at the BCC meetings
and reaffirming the county's commitment
to inclusivity and constitutional
principles.
As part of this I'd like to also point
out that we do keep track of everyone
who actually uh did provide the prayer
for this meeting. And uh first thing we
do appreciate everyone who uh
participated.
Secondly, I'd like to point out that we
um had 157
instances where prayer was actually u
the beginning of our meetings since
2018.
U 112 of those were based on Christian
beliefs which represents roughly 71% of
the um participation.
uh 13% were actually provided by county
and county fire department county
detention fire department and hospital.
7% were actually uh representing
Catholic religion with uh 20 two uh
Catholic organizations actually
represent 11 and uh 10 which is roughly
21 of the actual prayer uh prayer that
was actually provided. uh 5% were
Jewish. Um we have two Jewish temples
here in town. 3% were
interdenominational
and 6%
um represented Native American. They
were only here one time. And even when
that happened, we got a lot of flack for
that because of the way it was handled.
Um, so I believe that based on the
contention and the problems we've had
with this and the comments that we've
had for this board just in the way that
this has been approached justifies us
actually resending this at this time and
considering if possible at a future date
um reinstating it as a different in a
different method. So that's my
recommendation to the board. Thank you.
Okay.
Commissioners, any discussion before
public comment?
Mr. Chairman,
yes. I
had a few thoughts on this and um
one of the things that I I look at is
while we've had
um
this resolution the invocation in for
the last I know it's been the past seven
years but I think in the past six and a
half commissioner and I have have been a
part of this board
And while they while it's fairly
innocuous
that we have a prayer,
um
there's been a there's I think there's
there's a couple of things. One is that
I don't believe that in my in my opinion
that prayer,
however innocuous, doesn't necessarily
need to be within
the agenda of this body.
We're the only local government that has
prayer.
Um, and in those 6 and a half years, I
think as Commissioner Reynolds noted,
there's been little to no
inclusivity
within that.
I don't think we ever noted that there's
been anyone of the Muslim faith that has
ever given the invocation.
Hindus, Buddhists.
The fact of the matter is that this
nation was set up to not have a national
religion. To allow people the freedom to
be able to worship how they want
and to keep them separate for that
specific reason was to prevent the
government from overreaching and
opposite turning allowing government
into religions to be a part of that.
One of the things that I I I look at and
I think we've seen the the tenor while
not specifically here in the chambers
change
with these prayers but even the comments
and I'm going to and I think it just I'm
I'm I
wanted to share this because of this is
the type
of comments that have been provoked or
even the thought of bringing up prayer
or removing prayer with this resolution.
And this was on social media
and it they turned into personal attacks
and it's so easy for people to get on
social media and dehumanize any one of
elected officials
and turn them into personal attacks.
It's so easy to do that instead of
having a com conversation about it. We
see this so often of how uh you know the
numerous
negative comments, personal comments
that have been made
and this is just one of that that I just
happened to to pick out and and Mr. Mr.
Chairman, I I I
don't take this lightly when I share
this because I know it's it's personal
to you, but this person says, "When the
homosexual persuasion of the county
commission chairman represents only a
small subset of the population of the
county in the world, he may
unintentionally marginalize residents of
the different backgrounds, such as
banning prayers of the un from the
faithful, the widely held religions to
which homosexuality is abnormal. We've
got to vote out lefty loons like
Americans did in November 5th. And then
the next item was if I had to sit
through a long video about the pioneer
of gay marriage at a county commission
meeting, they can sit through a short
prayer.
Now, as a Catholic,
I don't know about anybody else, but I
know my God
teaches about love and acceptance
of everyone.
I look at the fact that even the most
recent leaders of of the church
of of Pope Pope Francis and now Pope Leo
have done more. While I don't feel like
it's gone far enough, I think they've
worked to be more inclusive of the LGBTQ
community. And that is what I say and
what I mean of being loving and being
accepting. So when I see these types of
comments that are made about anybody but
directed at one of our own,
I'm going to stand in support of them.
And so commissioner, Mr. Chairman, I
want to say no matter what, I have your
back.
I have your back because those types of
comments have no place in any type of uh
political discussion
because like I said, they're just
personal attacks.
I stand with members of the LGBTQ
community.
They should not be having these type of
attacks related to religion. It doesn't
matter what your beliefs where we should
be accepting of one another.
And we see how this has turned into
other uh disenfranchised communities
that are not, you know, that are
represented that we see this type of
mentality using prayer, using church to
disenfranchise them, to attack them. And
I'm just tired of it. Now, while like I
said, this while here are the chambers,
it hasn't been used for that, we've seen
it outside on this lawn
where comments have been made to that
nature.
So,
we can't say it's just a oneoff or that.
We can go on and see in social media and
see comments like this. And so for
for that reason,
I don't I support rescending the
resolution.
If people want to pray before coming in
here, by all means, you are free to do
that. That is the freedom that the con
that the Constitution of the United
States allows us.
But it doesn't have a place here and
there's definitely no place for hatred
here in the Donana County Commission
chambers. We can have disagreements. I
have disagreements even with my fellow
commissioners,
but it doesn't mean we need to get ugly
and dehumanize one another. Thank you,
Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Ed, Mr. Chair, I'd like to make
another comment, a short one, and I just
uh did a quick search of abominations in
the Bible. There are 91 of them. Things
like um hotty eyes,
uh a lying tongue, uh hands that shed
innocent blood, a heart that devises
wicked plans,
feet that run rapidly to evil. And
that's just a handful of false witness
who utters lies and one who spreads
strife among his brothers.
Those are just a handful of the
abominations. So when you talk about
something being an abomination, check
the Bible. There are 91 of those
mentioned. Some are very minor and some
are major.
But I I think when you start throwing
rocks,
u I think you should stop and look at
yourself first. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Any other commissioners
before we move on?
Mr. Chair, I do. Thank you. Um I want to
thank Commissioner Sanchez for his words
and his thoughts. Um you know, I echo
the same thoughts as he has and I just
want to let you know, Commissioner
Chaldra Hernandez, that I also have your
back when it comes to um personal
attacks on you. I think that is a
disgrace and that's cowardly. Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay,
Mr.
Sorry. I also want to say, you know, he
is a person and he is a human being just
like all of us.
I am. Thank you.
I appreciate the clarification. Um,
it's true. Uh, Vice Chair Chapato,
thank you. Um, and thank you fellow
commissioners for your comments. Uh,
Commissioner Sanchez, I wholeheartedly
agree with you on comments regarding
hate for one another. It's never good
whether you believe in a god or not. It
is insulting. It is not recognizing the
humanity in any of us.
And so,
Chair Shel Hernandez, I'm so sorry that
you're being put through this.
It's just a matter of whose turn it is
on the commission. Um, my heart is heavy
for you. Know that I've known you for
many years and we're good friends and
um, I don't need to say anything else,
but we need to move back to the point.
Pardon me.
Am I audible?
Oh, break up the right.
So we do need to go.
Everyone that's remained in the room, if
you can please follow the security
outside and they'll let you know as soon
as we can come back in, please.
What's on the roof?
The sensor. Is it raining out? No.
Commissioner Chabata will be back when
the alarm stop.
Oh, search.
Make sure you get
I would not
What's up?
was that it was I think the funny thing
was is it was it says on there Shannon,
but they turn around and point
because they want to
Thank you.
Okay.
Is Commissioner Chabato still with us on
WebEx?
Chairman Shelder Hernandez, am I audible
to you?
Yes, we're good. Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay, if everyone
Oh, go ahead.
I just don't know when I was cut off. I
was getting started. Um I believe the
last thing I said was it makes my heart
heavy to see this kind of behavior from
anyone. Uh that is terrible and hurtful
for not only I believe most of us but
our families. But that being said, we go
back to the intention that I believe
Commissioner Reynolds had in setting
forth this proposal. At least that's
what I'm understanding. Uh the
commissioner stated several percentages
of different religions that are being
represented. He stated there was over
800 religions worldwide. I don't know
there may be there may be more, there
may be less. certain percentages were
mentioned um regarding inclusion of
different faiths but every part of the
world has different faiths. I know my
Mormon friends are probably more uh or
have more churches let's say in Utah or
Muslim friends or are scattered
throughout. I don't know if they've been
asked or have even wanted to come to the
commission meeting. Uh but at least in
my mind it comes down to the
constitution and nowhere in the
constitution does it state separation of
church in state. Quite frankly, I've I'm
fortunate enough that I
sit in in a place where I watch
uh court different hearings um where
different
presenting or uh things that are
presented are made whether it's civil
rights or a criminal trial. In the last
couple of days, I've received many, many
emails as most of my fellow fellow
commissioners have received. Um, some
for, some for against. Um, and then I in
speaking to my attorney friends and a
federal judge that do know the law, the
constitution, or at least it's their
opinion as it is mine. We have to go
back to case law. And there is a case
and if you'll allow me a few minutes
because I can't read my writing at this
point, town of Greece, New Jer New York
versus Gallow. And so when we look at
the Constitution, and I I know
Commissioner Reynolds, you you quoted
it. Um, Congress shall make no law
respecting the establishment of religion
or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof. And in my opinion, the
interpretation means that the state
cannot establish a sponsored religion or
interfere with free exercise of
religious beliefs. And in my mind, this
means we're we are allowed to pray as
long as it's respectful and inclusive.
And as you recall, some of you that were
on the commission with me when I was
chair, I shut down very quickly people
that were being disrespectful
and overtly critical and hurtful of
other people's feelings. Um,
I I we still don't have a clear view
from the federal Supreme Court on how
this is to be applied except for
that we not name one specific religion.
And I agree with Commissioner Sanchez.
It's innocuous and in my mind it doesn't
hurt. So, I will be voting not to reset
or it's my
inclination not to reset it at this
time. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
All right. Thank you.
Um, as vice chair said, let's get back
to the subject at hand. Thank you for
all those kind words and support from my
fellow commissioners. Um, but we have an
agenda item. Let's get it going. At this
time, I'm going to There's a lot of you
in the audience today on this specific
topic. So, I'm going to go ahead and get
a show of hands of who today would like
to address the commission. If you will
please raise your hands.
Two, three, four.
21 of you.
Okay. So, 21
individuals.
Okay. Well, I don't
It is It's It is an hour. Um Okay. So,
what time limit do we want to put on
public comment for two minutes? Okay.
Okay. So, we have two minutes. So,
William, if you can go ahead and bring
that up, change it to two minutes. Can I
go ahead and get a show of hands of who
is here in support of rescending the
resolution?
Okay.
And who is here opposing the rescending
of the resolution?
Okay. Thank you. So, what we're going to
go ahead and do is ask you to come up at
this given time. Please do form a line.
You will be addressing Please do form a
line. You'll be addressing the
commission.
There is a white binder to the left. If
you can please sign in with your name.
When you do address us, if you will
please state your name for the
commission. Um,
and come on up.
If you can sign the book after you
speak, please. Yep. We're going to
I'm already signed in, sir.
Okay.
My name is Anthony Danes. I go by AR AR
Danes. I am a Christian. And so, the
lady on the speaker knows there are
42,000
different religions worldwide.
Anyhow, um I'm here just to speak
basically on uh kind of like our cyber
security guy. I want to talk about
spiritual security for everybody. I
don't care if you're Jew, Gentile,
Christian, Catholic, what the power of
prayer is in almost every religion.
Somehow they have some type of a prayer.
Okay?
And since 1989, I'm going to show
through go through a few statistics here
and I know I've got two minutes, but
since 1989, we've seen a decline in our
uh mentality of morals, morals, manners,
and ethics since we've taken prayer,
pledge, things like that out of the
schools. Uh the ten commandments out of
public authority buildings such as the
mayor's office in here. So, those are
things that just give basic bylaws that
were handed down since the beginning of
the Bible, some 4,000 years ago.
Now, if if we take that a step too far,
then then what we're doing is we're
we're
almost becoming like the opening of
Bonheim, you know, Bonheimer, you know,
when the the Jews wanted to start taking
control of religion. I don't want to see
that. I don't think anybody does. But at
the same time, we need to we need to
stay focused on what's happening at
hand. If we can keep our kids, the
people in the schools educated into what
faith is, they have a right to grow up
and make those choices. Whichever way
path they take, doesn't matter. But they
have to understand that those are the
element of peace and hope to anybody in
the near future.
Thank you sir.
Okay.
Thank you.
Has that been my two?
That was your time.
Okay. Thank you.
Good morning uh commissioners. Thank you
for the time to speak. I just happened
to be at the first county commission
that meeting that I attended was the
meeting where they passed
the uh resolution
uh with only one person not that's back
in 2018
and I was kind of stunned.
But I can jump forward two years
and I was at another commission meeting
and it was for a resolution or it had
contained a resolution about the red
flag law
and the invocation
was a prayer by a minister.
He started off, this is 30 seconds in
January 28th, 2020. You can go back and
look.
All things including the governments are
under the foot of Jesus. Under the foot
of Jesus.
He wrapped it up by letting us know that
only those who believe in Jesus Christ,
the Holy Spirit, and his God are going
to go to heaven.
Was this inclusive? No.
Reflective. No.
Preachy. Yes.
So I pray that you will save us from the
religious exhortations
of the self-righteous.
Amen.
[Applause]
Good morning, Mr. Chairman,
commissioners, and members of the
public. My name is Isabella Solis. I'm a
former county commissioner. Commissioner
Reynolds, I understand you put this
resolution uh on the agenda. Thank you
so much. And I hope that you are
concerned about your constituents and
the community that you represent.
Commissioners, we may have over seven or
eight hundred religious groups in the
world, which we heard earlier, but in
our diverse county, we have two major
ones, evangelicals and Catholics, and
that significantly shapes our community.
As elected representatives of the people
of Donana County, you all have a
profound responsibility to reflect the
values and beliefs of your constituents.
I also want to highlight a significant
ruling from Washington DC federal court
in 2019 which affirmed that the House of
Representatives must open each session
with prayer. The Senate chaplain has
upheld this tradition over 200 years
underscoring its importance. If our
national legislative bodies can embrace
this tradition, it seems reasonable for
our Donana County Board of County
Commissioners to consider doing the
same. This practice of opening
legislative session with prayer is
deeply rooted in American history and
tradition, dating back to the first
Continental Congress and continuing to
the present day in both our Congress and
state legislatures. Given this
historical context and the Supreme
Court's affirmation regarding the
legislative prayer, I believe it's both
appropriate and meaningful for our
commission to open its session with
prayer. This would foster a sense of
reflection and unity as we work together
together to improve our community. And I
want you all to uh esteemed
commissioners to really reconsider the
significance of prayer. And we really
need it. And this is not about another
topic, but today it is about prayer. I
ask you to reconsider rescending of
Doniana County resolution 2018-25
prayer. Thank you so much and God bless
y'all.
[Applause]
Mr. Chairman, Commission One Garcia, on
April 23, 2023, and newly elected
Commissioner Shalo voted to amend the
agenda to remove the NDOP from county
ground, citing his discomfort with this
event. On April 22 of this year,
Commissioner Sanchez demanded the NDOP
proclamation be removed from the agenda.
He opposed the county, lending any
official support. Why was he so adamant
against it? You just heard him say it.
He picked some topics, some comments,
and he decided to use those as a focus
to remove resin prayer. It's very
unfortunate, Commissioner, because you
know what? I get a lot of hate comments,
too, from our progressive friends. And I
don't stand up here and claim to be a
victim.
Any comments, any comments that are made
in a hateful manner towards
transgenders, you mentioned this,
towards homosexuals, to anybody is
wrong. And I'd be the first one to call
it out. But what you're doing is you're
using this as an excuse to justify your
votes and your politicians, you're
welcome to do it. You talk about
concerns of inclusivity, yet these
chambers have welcomed prayers from many
denominations. Mr. chairman, have you
invited the Muslims? Have you invited
the Hindus? I I don't know. And if you
haven't, shame on you for not doing
that. Your vision of inclusivity means
shutting people out by removing the
prayer. I hear all kinds of drama by our
progressive friends that the Trump
Nationalist Church is in the works
along with concentration camps being
built in North County. Yeah. So my
question to you is with all this hate in
this country, all this division in this
country and all this thoughts, comments
about racist and fascist fascist nation
that it is, are you going to are you
going to go after the flag next? Are you
going to vote to resend the pledge of
allegiance too? Is that within is that
what you're planning to do? Thank you.
[Applause]
Uh thank you for the opportunity to
address you commissioners and chairman.
Uh I wish to say respectfully I disagree
with your decision because to me it's
it's almost hypocritical. You're saying
that uh you want to observe the
constitution yet the constitution
uh says the opposite. It says you shall
not make a law concerning this matter
and you are. So with that said, you
know, again, I say lovingly and I'm
sorry for the flack you took for your
personal life. It's not right. You know,
that's that's totally wrong and I
apologize for anybody. I mean, for the
pe the what you've the flack you've
taken for that. That's totally wrong.
And we do need to operate in love toward
people. And I'm appreciate that you all
back each other up and support each
other. So, thank you for the opportunity
to speak. And again, I I I pray you
don't abandon the public arena to just
anybody because our founding fathers had
the right idea.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Chair.
Sir, if you can sign the book when
you're finished, please. Thank you so
much.
I don't I don't remember. Did you say
your name? I didn't hear it. Oh, sir,
what is your name, sir?
Ralph Bartholomew.
Please be sure everyone does sign the
book and state her name. Thank you.
Thank you um commissioners for um
letting me speak for just a moment. And
my name is Linda Bartholomew.
And I just want to share a quote from
President Washington, our first
president. It is the duty of all
nations, the providence of almighty God
to obey his will, grateful for his
benefits and humbly to implore his
protection and freedom. And I know that
we've mentioned there's many religions,
but there is only one true religion, and
that's um Jesus and what he did on the
cross. But prayer gives us hope, peace,
direction, and much more.
You know, there's no what harm has
prayer done. It has not been harmful.
And it's a freedom that our country was
founded on before the Declaration of
Independence was written that that those
founding fathers spent time in prayer
and reading the Bible. The principles of
this nation are biblical.
and county commissioners. I'm sure like
Isabella had said that most of the
people that have voted for you do have a
respect for the God of the Bible and for
prayer.
And so, um, I am a veteran. I have been
proud to serve my country for this
freedom that you can start this meeting,
you know, in in prayer. So, I thank you
for this moment of time and I appreciate
all the work that you do for for um our
county and I'm sorry for what has
happened to you.
Thank you,
Commissioner. And so, God bless you.
Thank you for your service,
Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair.
Yes, Commissioner Gomedos. If if I could
ask the audience um to please keep their
hissing or little remarks to themselves
as people are up here speaking whether
it's against or for whatever it is that
you want please show that respect to
each other
here. Thank you.
Good good morning commissioners. Um I'm
going to read my name is Leslie Woods.
I'm going to read something from Alan DS
County Commission District 5. he wasn't
able to come here today. I would like to
read a statement by a constituent who
could not be here. I believe embracing
formal prayer at county commission
meetings blurs the line between church
and state. I respect the right of every
commissioner and citizen to their own
personal faith. But commission meetings
are civic gatherings where all persons,
regardless of belief, should feel
welcome and represented. Our county
commission should not contribute to the
ongoing national erosion of church and
state separation by continuing to mix
prayer with policy. Would it not be
prudent to eliminate the need to spend
the energy of the commissioners to try
to balance the spiritual interests of
citizens of various religious beliefs or
no religious beliefs by stating once and
for all the commission meetings go
forward with deal and deal with the
civic issues not religious ones.
Um, please repeal rule 2018-25
to remove prayer from agenda of all
future Dona Annic County Commission
meetings. Um, I shortened it a little
and I have time so I'm going to read it.
Just as commissioners face ethical
tensions when religion blends with
governance, many doctors feel serious
moral stress when legally barred from
providing reproductive care when they
believe it's essential. sometimes
costing the lives of women who may not
stare the religious beliefs of those
making the laws. Recent efforts to
permit churches to engage in partisan
politics to exempt them from a rule that
has protected the integrity of
nonprofits for over 70 years would
further erode the constitutionally
mandated separation between church and
state. Thank you.
[Applause]
Buenosas. My name is Jan Thompson. I
reside in district 5 and I uh am on the
board of the Unitarian Universalist
Church of Los Cusus, but I speak for
myself. The board didn't uh have an
opportunity to vote on this issue.
Unitarian Universals long have had
positions supporting freedom of religion
and also freedom from religion
and therefore I support this resolution.
Um we do not we we support prayer uh for
those who wish to pray but there's a
time and a place for prayer and at the
beginning of a governmental business
meeting is not the time for prayer for
prayer. Um and I appreciate the
commission for taking my religious views
into account this morning.
[Applause]
Good day to commissioners, chairman, and
fellow commissioners. I'm Larry Sado. I
ran for office last year. One thing that
happened during that campaign that I put
on my palm card that I believe in God
and I put him first. And most people
pointed to that when they said that's
the reason I'm voting for you. I think
you need to think about what you're
deciding to do today. It's your
prerogative to decide it based on what
you believe. You are representing your
constituents from your areas. That's
your job, not your personal opinions.
That's your job. So, you got to think
about your decision as you make. Every
day that I do my things and stuff, I put
God first. He's blessed me in many, many
ways. I've had many things that have
happened to me that are not the best and
stuff, but now he's given me peace. I
want you to think about that. I'm not
trying to change your religion or change
what you believe, but that's what he
does for me. If you want to talk about
that, I'm willing to talk to you. I'm
going to do things to help the county in
many, many ways because that's what I
believe and that's what God's put me
here for. So today, you're making a
decision to remove prayer. That's your
personal decision.
Everybody's accountable for what you
decide to do. This decision is made
through whatever you're thinking as man
and stuff. I my thinking because I put
God first. He puts the words in my
mouth. He's telling me what to say right
now. I believe that you got to decide on
what's really important and what what's
best for our county. When you remove
prayer, removing God from the county,
you remove God from now from National
Day of Prayer. If that's what you want,
that's your decision and stuff, but that
doesn't come through God. So, I believe
you got to think about what you're doing
and stuff and then think about what's
best for all of us, not what's best for
you. A lot of people become elected
because they want to be have that power.
You're not there in a power position.
You're there because you represent the
constituents. You serve them. I want to
thank you for all the things that you do
in our county and I'm willing to help
you in any way through this year and
from now on. God bless you.
[Applause]
Okay.
Well, I'm Haley from Las Cruus.
I just want to say that a prayer is not
an innocuous thing to everybody and
everyone experiences religion in a very
different way and we do the others
represent about 30% of New Mexico. So,
it's not a small number of others, but
it makes me feel nervous to come here. I
feel I have very a lot of interest in
politics, but I don't feel welcome. I
feel hate. It's already happened today
just being here having an opinion. My
thing is that it just doesn't need to be
like that. You don't need to do the
prayer. Just do the job. Just do
politics and and we will fight the rest
of it out in the street. I've been a a
women's rights and abortion rights
activist for 15 years and I can tell you
that out there it's war and it's getting
worse. I get death threats all the time.
I can't tell you how many hundreds of
thousands of Christians have told me
that they wish that I was aborted. To my
face online, they just are not the
sweet, wonderful people that I'm hearing
are supposed to be today. That's not my
experience. And yes, I'm an atheist, but
I get up every day. I want to help
people be good. I spend all my time
volunteering.
And I don't think that you want the
world that I live in to come into your
commission because you're seeing this
little bit of the online hate, but it's
way more. It's terrible. I did this in
North Carolina. I was an activist in
Charlotte and it was worse there. And
it's getting worse now. They're gearing
up for the 40 days for life. They're
planning on harassing the clinics from
here. They're going to collapse all
through New Mexico, all across the
state. And if that's the kind of stuff
you want to bring into your jobs, I'm
just saying don't do it. Thank you.
[Applause]
Andrew Robboto commissioners
the separation of church and state is a
fundamental principle in the US that
ensures religious freedom prevents
government overreach and maintains a
diverse and pluralistic pluralistic
society. It allows individuals to
practice any religion or none at all
without the government interference or
favoritism. This prevents religious
persecution and ensures all faiths are
treated equally under the law without
separation. The government could dictate
religious practices, restrict certain
beliefs, or endorse one religion over
others, which would undermine the First
Amendment's guarantee for religious
liberty. History has shown that when
governments favor one religion, it can
lead to discrimination,
division, and even violence. A secular
government helps maintain peace by not
taking sides in religious matters.
Laws should be based on democratic
principles and reason, not religious
doctrine. This ensures policies are
inclusive and serve the entire
population regardless of religious
beliefs. A government that remains
neutral on religious matters is less
likely to become a theocracy where
religious authorities have undue
influence over laws and policies. The US
Constitution, particularly the first
amendment, establishes this through the
establishment clause and the free
exercise clause. These provisions were
designed to prevent religious tyranny
and ensure free society. Ultimately,
this separation is what allows the
United States to be a country where
people of all faiths and those of no
faiths can coexist peacefully under a
fair and impartial government. I hope
you'll all repeal rule 2018-25.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Hello, my name is Cindy Haber. Um, first
before I forget, I do want you to appeal
18-25.
I am speaking to you not through
religion, not through a prayer that I
learned, but through my heart.
I look back at history and I see where
politics and religion has never been a
good mix. We have
probably since time began
countries using religion to fight other
countries to gain property and power.
They do not mix well together.
I myself am of all religions and no
religion.
I have not gone to church, but I have
always had a deeply ingrained spiritual
practice that has guided me through my
life.
I have a reputation as being a very kind
person.
I also believe that I I've studied
universal truths and I don't care if
you're a Dowist,
a Buddhist,
an atheist, an agnostic,
if you are kind to other people, to
animals,
to our lands,
you are practicing
a higher powers purpose.
I thank you for listening.
[Applause]
Good morning, county commissioners. My
name is Michael Simmons, District 1. Uh
my position on this is probably not a
mystery of any you considering the
history we've had with this uh board and
public speaking. And I appreciate your
patience with us over this long thing.
Uh Mr. Reynolds, you probably did well
to bring it to a vote just so things
would be known where they sit. Uh, that
is perfectly within the prerogative of
this commission.
Um, as far as government policies, we
still come to the state of New Mexico.
It has a constitution. It actually says,
"We the people of New Mexico, grateful
to almighty God for the blessings of
liberty in order to secure the
advantages of a state government, do
ordain and establish this constitution."
Uh so clearly we don't really have a
separation at the level that uh our
friends the humanists, secularists,
atheists, whatever they wish to call
themselves and props should be given to
them. They have stayed organized.
They've stayed disciplined. They've come
out as a minority to make their uh
voices known and that should be
commended. I still think they're wrong,
but that's fine. Um so we've got that.
Um
we've hit the political. The citizens
are majority um Christian. Uh I don't
really care to separate Christian and
the Protestants and Catholics. They all
claim Jesus. So that's all good. Um
there is no removal of faith, just
replacement. So if you remove um the
recognition of the almighty that our own
constitution does, it's the state and
national level it will be replaced with
something else. And typically that
something else is much less nice. Uh
we've talked historically the countries
USSR, China, the French Revolution, the
Red Scare in Spain, all these cases.
Once you remove Christianity, once you
remove the respect of God, then things
start going very sadly. Um, so there's
that. Um,
and I guess that should be it that, uh,
the representative government should
represent the people, the people are
Christian. Uh, and that
the heritage of the nation, um, that
this is our heritage, this is our
identity of who we've been for, uh,
centuries now. Thank you for your time.
God bless.
Uh I'm Robert Gable. I come from
Chaparel. So thank you for the
opportunity to be here. I want to
apologize as well for any personal
attacks. I can't understand in the way,
but I understand because as a Christian
believer, I've been attacked as well.
And I want to apologize for any attacks
you've been afforded. as a person who
respects life and the sanctity of life,
I've been attacked as well for uh for
wanting the sanctity of life. So, I
apologize for that, too. Uh as the
honorable uh Commissioner Chaparo shared
on on here, and I've got several pages,
I'll try to keep it down to two. It has
often said that the Constitution calls
for a separation of church and state,
but nowhere
in its text will you find those words.
Instead, the First Amendment guarantees
us the freedom of speech and religion
rights that allow every citizen in every
assembly to express both openly and
respectfully and those assembled. Prayer
at our public meetings is not
exclusionary. It is an affirmation of
our humanity, a reminder that humility
and courage
are needed now as much as ever.
Honorable commissioners,
mark this
and throughout. It takes no bravery to
remove prayer from the domain you've
been given, but it takes true bravery to
keep it.
Especially in this day and age, by
removing prayer, you risk alienating all
those who find comfort and inspiration
in these moments of contemplation. Our
diverse county contains many people of
many faiths and opening our meetings
with prayer recognizes and honors this
diversity. The founders of our country
birthed in an era of wisdom beyond their
years recognize the importance of prayer
and reliance on almighty God to guide
them through. And I ask you to do the
same. Thank you.
[Applause]
My name is Jay Nash and uh good morning
honorable commissioners, honorable chair
Shaou. I am here to speak on behalf of
rescending the uh resolution 2018-25
for approval.
We we hear this morning that something
which is basic is freedom of speech
without favor to anyone as we operate uh
in government organizations.
Um and that we we should work to ensure
policies that are that ensure equal
treatment without exception.
It seems to me that when people talk
about one true religion, which we hear
often um in in the prayers and in the
public comments that in fact it does
there is the appearance of favor. Those
who feel strongly about separation of
church and religion do not get up and
participate in in these prayers. As I
look at the role of the commission, it
is clear to me that it is to develop
infrastructure and to work toward
economic development and policy that
ensures the very best community for
everybody.
Nowhere in your job description can I
see that you are to provide for
individual or that you are to include
and provide for spiritual guidance. That
is better left to the religious groups
of which there are many where people can
choose to participate
in a group that is consistent with their
values and beliefs. Thank you for all
your hard work to make this a good place
for us to live.
[Applause]
Good morning, commissioners. I'm James
Brook over from Chaparel, the little
redheaded a redheaded child city of this
county. Um, we keep growing and growing,
but we don't get a lot of support from
you folks. So, we'll talk about that
some other time. And Commissioner
Reynolds knows what I'm talking about.
The United States of America began from
a ground level rebellion.
And in that ground level rebellion, we
had a lot of of patriots that emerged.
And I would like to state that what
former commissioner Solis had to say
about uh our roles in the US Congress as
well as the Senate as well as the uh um
uh Supreme Court. Uh prayer opens every
day. Me personally, I fought for this
country. I was in battle. I killed many
people. I'm not proud of it. But I can
tell you this, I had to get on my knees
many, many times so I could serve this
wonderful country that we have and give
all of you the the opportunity to vote
and say what you wish to say. And I know
there's a lot of guys probably behind me
that have done the same thing. We're not
proud of what we did, but at the same
time, we did it because we were called
upon to do it. Well, today I think
you're called upon something and very
important. And I want you to remember
one thing. If you vote for this this uh
referendum here, you are stepping on the
tail of a mighty pack of a mighty pride
of lions. And those lions are going to
come to the dogone vote to the uh vote
when your time is up. And I think you
best remember that. Thank you.
[Applause]
Good morning, commissioners. Tim Jenkins
here. I believe in my heart that every
one of you that sits behind the chair
are in a position of power and you all
come here to support this community and
to bring this community together. There
is not an anyway place for division and
I apologize for that in any way. But at
the same time, I believe in my heart
that saying a prayer first
gives you all and all of us a moment of
silence
and humility
to reflect and to know and to believe
that no matter what you do believe that
there is a higher power. And it gives
you a moment to consider that before you
go into your meetings, knowing in your
hearts that what you could do could
change
someone's life forever.
And it's a moment of humility and a
moment of silence where we can all
reflect before we make decisions that
are going to change somebody's life
forever.
And remember,
every single
currency in this country
says
in God we trust.
That is for a reason. Please consider
that.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Good morning, Chair Chair Shelder
Hernandez, Vice Chair Chaparo,
Commissioners Reynolds, Sanchez Gomeos.
My name is Gina Henya Montoy Ortega and
I am born and raised in Los Cusus, New
Mexico in the county of Donana. To me,
this is not a place where people. I'm a
Catholic Christian woman who was raised
with what my faith taught me to love and
not to hate, not to judge and not lest I
be judged and to respect others and
their beliefs along with everything else
along these lines. Cherish Shelter
Hernandez, many people in this room that
have come to defend the religion have
apologized for the bad apples that you
are making your decision.
I asked you to please vote against the
rescending of this resolution as I
believe you are just building more walls
rather than building the bridges that
people need especially now with all the
ugliness that's happening in this world.
I do not believe that this is a
violation of separation of church and
state.
Excuse me.
This is a tradition and history of the
city of Las Cruus Suad Lasus city of the
crosses county of Donana in the great
state of New Mexico
or Novo Mexico. Several years ago there
was someone who wanted to remove the
crosses from the city of Las Cruus.
Thanks be to God and a huge thanks to
Governor Bill Richardson, God rest his
soul, who stood his ground to show that
lasus, a Spanish word means crosses in
English. As Hispanics, Spanners, and
Mexicans, we were taught to respect and
honor our mothers, our fathers,
including our grandmothers and fathers,
which included our traditions and our
religions. For two years now, this board
has refused to accept the National Day
of Prayer with the exception of
Commissioner Vice Chair Jabaro this
year, who is the only one that voted in
favor due to supposedly a few bad apples
who spoiled it for the bunch. And now
from what I understand you are wanting
to remove prayer from the BOCC as some
people have made their prayers
too long or too sermony. From what I
have seen and heard is people whatever
religion or non-religion they practice
believe they have the opportunity to
participate and as you all said earlier
you weren't sure why they did or didn't
and I think that's up to you to make
sure to reach out to them.
Thank you ma'am.
So once again I ask that you please
do not remove this. Thank you.
[Applause]
Good morning, commission. My name is
Lucas H. Hearnden. Um, and I want to uh
offer my support in um rescending this
uh forcefulness of religion on on those
of us, your constituents. Um I haven't
been to a county commission in a long
time. Um and part of that is because uh
in 2018 this commission made it clear
that those of us who do not practice
religion are not welcome here. Um I
invite this commission to reinvite us
reinvite everybody here. Um there is uh
this passage from Chief J um Supreme
Court Justice Jackson um in a case um
called
uh sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry um it's
West Virginia State Board versus Barnett
um in which the justice writes if there
is any fixed star in our constitutional
constellation is that no official high
or petty cance describe what shall be
orthodox in politics, nationalism,
religion, or other matters of opinion,
or force citizens to confess by word or
act their faith therein.
By holding any act of faith in this
chamber, you are forcing somebody in the
room to not be a part of that. By not
having it, you are inviting anybody to
celebrate. Anybody who wants to pray
before they walk in while they're
sitting in the chair waiting is welcome
to, but they are not being forced to.
Um, and I will just say that this c
there's been a lot of things here said
today about how this country was
founded. This country was founded by
Christians
who viewed the indigenous population as
nonhumans because of their religion. So,
let's not get twisted about what it is
that Christianity represents to a
certain percentage of the population,
including the people who were native to
this land that we're standing on today.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, commissioners. My name
is Charles Wer. Uh I live here in the
county, of course. I've come here to
defend my faith. It's contained right
here. B I ble basic instruction before
leaving Earth.
Okay, it's all right in there, folks.
Maybe some of you not read it as well as
others have and therefore you're not
understanding things as we understand
it. And I'm certainly not understanding
it as well as I would love to. Okay. But
this whole thing about removing the
invocation is something that I cannot
support. Please do not remove it. And
many people have addressed the reasons
why. And by the way, this book is the
most published, most read book in the
world. Okay? It's over 15,600 years it
took to write it. 40 different authors,
three different languages, and it says
the same thing. Okay? That we started
out okay until the great fall,
commission, if you want to call it that,
and we disobeyed God. And then it
continues with how we can achieve that
grace by God again through salvation
saving ourselves because we can't do we
need somebody a higher power to do that
in here. Oops, running out of time
already. First prayer in Congress right
here. I'm going to leave it with you.
Okay, it says in there they offered
prayer to begin with. First prayer in
Congress, but it was decided not to do
it. Then Sams gets up and says,"I am no
bigot. I can certainly pray with someone
else who is a piety and virtue." And
that there lies the problem. We are not
a piety and virtue. And I'm just as
guilty as anybody else. Okay? But by the
grace of God, he's going to help me, I
guess, get. See, we live in two worlds,
folks. We live in this secular world,
the carnal world, temporal world, and we
also live in this kingdom that God
established for us. That's where we all
want to go ultimately. Here we go. Thank
you.
[Applause]
Stand on the truth.
[Music]
Good morning, county commissioners,
and good morning, chair. I I am so sorry
for what you went through um
because that does not represent true
Christian faith. And so,
we have a crazy mixed up world right
now. But I want to come up here and
because I was the last person to give
the invocation. My name is Vanna Granger
and I hope that I'm not the last person.
Um,
faith is really really important
and and and I I I really believe that we
need to
um invite God,
invite the eternal one into everything
that we do so that we can have the
wisdom to do it right.
I I think that if if you would even
invite people from all different faiths,
it doesn't matter. Just invite people of
faith to come and give a threeminute
convocation. It actually is not the the
US Supreme Court has actually
said that it is not against the
establishment clause
in Marsh versus Chambers in 1983 and
they've supported it. It is not against
the establishment cause to say an
invocation over a meeting. So please do
not shut out the people of faith in our
community because we it was an honor for
me to you know to come and give you I I
was so honored and blessed by that and
so I I just ask that you would not shut
us out. Thank you.
[Applause]
Commissioners, all those here today, and
those watching online, I'm Lynn Moore. I
support Commissioner Reynolds resolution
to resend Donana County resolution
2018-25
that adopted a prayer policy. I salute
him for taking the initiative regarding
this resolution. First, separation of
church and state is one of the core
tenants of our country's constitution.
This concept has and continues to be a
critical factor in keeping our country
from devolving into a theocratic
dictatorship that plagues many countries
around the world. Second, I prefer to
have an opportunity to silently lift my
own prayer during a moment of silence at
the beginning of a meeting. At this
time, I can pray for you all and
whatever else is specifically needful in
my view at that moment. And this can be
done without offending anyone.
Sermonizing under the guise of prayer is
offensive and according to my beliefs,
not theologically sound. On occasion,
persons offering the prayer before this
public body have abused the opportunity
and have procilitized and/or engaged in
many sermons that judged persons present
rather than simply offering a blessing
for all. Beginning a meeting with that
kind of judgmentalism certainly does not
create an open or welcoming forum for
the people of Donana County. I affirm
Commissioner Billy Garrett's wisdom in
2018 to vote against the prayer policy
resolution and I urge you all now to
support Commissioner Reynolds resolution
to resend that resolution passed in
2018. Thank you for this opportunity to
speak.
[Applause]
Good morning. Uh thanks for this
opportunity and this is a good
conversation for us to have. We must
discuss the place of religion in our
culture in our society and you are
causing it to happen. Thank you very
much. In my advocacy against the
practice of the invocation at these
proceedings, I've been asked what harm
does a prayer do to me? First off, I
have no objection to your prayers to any
prayers. My objection is to county
sponsored prayers as part of these
proceedings. State sponsored prayers
harm me in three ways.
I want to participate fully in these
proceedings. I must endure. If I want to
participate fully in these proceedings,
I must endure the prayer.
That hurts me because there it's an
affront to my reason and conscience. I
seldom agree with what is asserted in
the prayers. I find most of the
religious assert assertions absurd and
an insult to my intelligence and often
the assertions made are toxic.
Two, they violate my rights. They
violate my freedom of religion and my
reasonable expectation that the
principle of separation of church and
state will be upheld in the county
proceedings.
I wish to participate fully, but I can't
do so without being asked to participate
in these rituals. Three, they erode the
Constitution in general and the First
Amendment in particular. The greatness
of America is found in our fidelity to
our constitution. Our our civic rights
and even our property rights are
dependent upon it. When the Constitution
is ignored and compromised, then
that becomes the norm. And when that
happens, I'm injured as a citizen of
this great land. All citizens are harmed
when we don't adhere to the principles
of the constitution. And yes, separation
of church and state is a principle of
the constitution. You won't find the
words checks and balances in our
constitution, but it's certainly there.
Anyway, thanks for repealing this the uh
measure 21825. Thank you.
[Applause]
Hi, my name is Daniel. I just urge you
not to resend 2018-25.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Commissioners, my name is Randy
Himgrren. I apologize. I am unable to
stand in line.
I would remind everyone that freedom of
religion means all religion.
Therefore, I call on the goddess He,
goddess of crossroads, witches, and
black dogs to bless everyone within the
sound of my voice with greater
self-nowledge.
Thank you.
Okay. Is there any other public comment
today?
Thank you for everyone that
joined us and spoke today.
Commissioners, any follow-up comments,
questions, concerns before we call the
vote.
Mr. Chair,
Commissioner Reynolds.
Um, thank you, sir. Uh, first I'd like
to thank everyone who attended and had
something to say, and we appreciate your
opinion and and we do listen. Um, there
were there were a couple of comments I'd
like to follow up on, if you don't mind.
one that we have to
um respect our constituents and what
their requests are. I agree with that.
The majority of my constituents wrote
and supported what I was trying to do.
So, I was listening to my constituents.
Um second thing, um as you all
as you all stand up and talk about, um
why we should continue this practice of
offering prayer in front of the um As
part of our meeting,
three or four of you actually said and
professed that there's only one religion
either directly or in a subtle way. Uh
sticking up a book and saying this is
the book. That's a subtle way of saying
there's only one religion. So you
basically supported exactly what I'm
saying is a problem that we have. Four
of you also threatened us with taking us
out of office or not supporting us in
our next position because of one
decision we made in four or eight years.
That again supports my concern about how
this practice is being done and part of
the reason I brought this up. If you if
you would just stop for a second and
reflect on the possibility that there
are other beliefs in other people's
minds that are also valid and accurate,
it would make this a lot better for
everybody.
And I I I have no problem with religion.
I was raised in a religious background.
My father was a minister. I've probably
read as much of the Bible as anybody
here.
And when people talk about religion, you
know, I don't really talk about my
religion because it's personal.
So I don't profess a specific religion,
but I'm also don't not comfortable being
threatened
to make a decision that I believe is a
policy. You want somebody also said that
we are making a law. No, the law was
made in 2018.
We're rescending that law.
So we're just saying basically we
believe that was a mistake when they
made that prayer resolution before
because that is not as has been
mentioned by several people. Our job is
not to provide the religious
beliefs or support that or even provide
that to our as a a position to our
constituents. our constituents are we're
responsible for their health uh welfare
um
growth u just protecting them and
providing policies that protect
everybody and create a society we can
all live in comfortable if you want to
get religion I say find a a a church if
you want to profession religion you can
do it out front that's fine
uh I don't know that this board and I
still stand by this regardless how the
vote goes this board is is not
responsible for your religious beliefs.
And if and my position about founding
this country, if you remember, most of
the people came here because they were
running away from religious persecution
in England and Europe. And so they
wanted to find another country so they
could practice religion that was not
controlled by the government. And yet
now you're asking us to turn around and
again allow the government to be a part
of your religious beliefs. And I
personally, whether you vote for me
again or not, or whether you believe
I've done my job for the last seven
years or not, is not important to me.
What is important to me is the people
that do recognize the value that I bring
to this community and the things that I
do to support everyone. And you know
what? I can sleep at night and I hope
you can too knowing that we don't have
to agree with everybody and you don't
have to agree with us to understand that
we represent you and we listen and we do
care. And I think one of the persons
standing up here called me Mr. Reynolds.
I would also appreciate the fact that
you recognize this board are comm we are
commissioners.
I appreciate when I'm away from here if
you want and also as my position it's
still commissioner.
Now, I don't personally wear that as a
moniker, but I think you should
recognize that we do work for you and we
do understand that this is an office
where we are representatives of what you
want. And just remember, you're not the
only person that we talk to. And anyway,
I thank you all for really taking the
time to be here, being here for the fire
alarm bell, which by the way was caused
by the workers on the roof. It was not
anything that everybody might be sitting
here thinking that that was something
that somebody did just to, you know,
interrupt the proceedings. That's not
what happened. It was actually workers
on the roof that caused the problem. So,
please don't anybody take away a
negative because we had a fire alarm.
And now again, I thank you. Um, but um
that's all I've got, Mr. Chair. Thank
you. Thank you,
M. This is time for public for a copy of
the draft.
No, ma'am.
Do you have a copy of the resolution?
The resolution that y'all are
Thank you. We'll
Thank you.
[Music]
If you can sit down, ma'am. Okay.
Public comment has ended. Thank you.
Public comment has ended. Thank you,
ma'am.
A copy of the resolution that y'all are
talking about.
Thank you. If you can sit down, please.
Why don't I have a button?
You have a hammer. You have a
Okay.
Not No, the mic button, not that special
button. Um,
commissioners, any other follow-ups?
Mr. Chair, I would like
Yes, Commissioner Gometo.
Thank you. So, I would love to thank
everybody here for coming up to speak um
their opinions for and against this
resolution. Um I like to hear what
everybody has to say and I just want to
say for the most part, you know, I I um
I'm happy that everybody was pretty much
respectful and uh this didn't get too
ugly till towards the end, but um you
know, I do appreciate that. um you know
I feel like the this invocation on the
agenda
um it's what it is it's for an
individual or a person um who prays as
they wish when they come up here. So you
know they pray according to whatever
their religion is and they do place that
upon everybody here uh to listen to
that. Um yes you can go into your mind
some people can't do that. Some people
are just stuck listening to that. Um, so
you know, um, I'm sorry I it's so I just
got off track with my notes here. So
sorry. Um, so you know, um,
you know, God is not being taken away by
rescending this resolution. If it's been
if it does be become rescended, it's not
taking God away from the people of the
county. You know, it's not even taking
away God from the moment of silence that
we would have in the at the beginning of
this. And during the moment of silence,
that's where everybody can have the
opportunity to pray the way they wish.
And those that don't want to pray, well,
then they have that moment of silence as
well. And I feel like that's just being
respectful to all dominations.
Um, you know, I believe um, you know,
well, I pray to God every day and
everywhere.
I was I'm born a Catholic and, you know,
I think everyone has the same
opportunity as I do to pray wherever
they want and anywhere.
And I'm hoping that this isn't the
moment that people are only coming to
pray is during a county, you know,
meeting. Um
so you know this resolution it doesn't
take that away from anyone to pray to
God wherever you may be wherever you
want.
Uh you may pray at the moment of silence
again.
So those who choose to come or watch the
county commission may in the moments of
silence uh you know that will allow
everybody all people to pray as they
wish. So God is not being taken away. If
you choose not to pray during the moment
of silence, then you are the one that's
taking God away from yourself.
Thank you. That's all I have to say.
[Applause]
So I
have a couple things that I just want to
point out. And
one of the main things is is that
there's
20 30 people in this room giving public
comment to
to a
to an agenda topic.
And I think that's great to see. Whether
or not I agree or disagree with your
public comments is
is neither here nor there. But you're
all engaged and that means a lot, the
engagement portion of this. So yeah,
literally congratulations and round of
applause for yourselves for getting
engaged.
You know, I I want to invite you all
because we've done a lot of great things
here as a commission that we haven't had
any public comment on. We passed a $387
million budget for next year without one
single person giving public comment.
We passed our safe streets for all plan
that was a $500,000 plan on how to make
Donana County streets, roadways, bicycle
paths safer for everyone.
I think we had two public comment that
day.
You know, we had a bond resolution on
the agenda for our bringing quality of
life initiatives to Donana County and we
had no public comment.
And I want to invite you all back to
engage with us on other topics as well
because I think they're really
important. And
you know, a lot of people are talking
about whether or not this commission is
doing our job or not. Are we serving the
people by the decisions we make?
In my mind, the only way that we know
whether or not we're taking your
opinions into consideration when we're
making these big opinions is when you
engage with us and when we engage with
you. And a lot of us do that through
public comment, through community
meetings, through engagement, through
social media.
And that's how we know when we're doing
our jobs right is when we get that
feedback or when you join us here at the
dis and you you tell us what your
thoughts are.
You know, I
I just want to point that out like I'm
very much so glad that you're all here
today and if you weren't here today, we
got your emails, your text messages, and
your phone calls. So, thank you for
that.
Um,
you know, and as we're sitting here and
hearing this public comment, I went
through every other municipality here
within Donana County, and we're we are
the only one that has an invocation on
the agenda. Sunland Park, Anthony,
Messia, Los Cusus, Hatch, no one has the
invocation on the agenda. I just want to
point that out.
But at the end of the day, we heard a
lot of conversations. I heard I took
notes as well, Commissioner Gomedos, of
talking about division,
talking about shutting people out.
It it goes both ways,
you know. when it was put into act,
we shut people out by by instilling
something that everyone had to listen
to, hear, adhere by. And today, we're
going to do the exact same thing. It's
one of those moments of you're damned if
you do, you're damned if you don't. And
it's really hard because,
you know, I was able to go to a private
Catholic school from literally preschool
through high school and I learned how to
accept other religions, respect them,
learn about them, what their culture is,
what they preach, what they understand,
what they believe in. And at the end of
the day, I was told we respect all of
them.
But as to what was brought up here, we
we don't see that all the time. We don't
see the respecting of other religions. I
personally respect your religion. I want
to hear about your religion, but
probably not here in a commission
meeting where we're going to be dealing
with things that affect everyday
residents of Donana County. And I wish
that's what this public comment, what
this hour-long
conversation was, was how to bring, you
know, grocery stores to our rural
communities and how to bring outdoor
recreation to our kids for after school
programs,
but it's not.
And if you're looking at how we're doing
our jobs, and when I look at internally
how I'm doing my job, I think of that,
not this. I think of is,
you know, are we bringing
handicapable or are we bringing
playground equipment to communities that
don't have it? Are they having to drive
an hour into town to go to the grocery
store to get fresh fruits and
vegetables? That's what I think of, not
this. So again, I just say join us for
the big ones. I think that public
comment is needed.
But this is just it's it's a very div
hard decision and it's full of division
and it stinks. So, thank you.
Any other commissioners?
[Applause]
Okay, another commission comment.
Brandy, if you can please roll call us.
Commissioner Gomedos,
yes.
Commissioner Reynolds,
yes.
Commissioner Sanchez,
yes.
Vice Chair Chapato,
no.
Charundes,
yes.
The resolution is rescended.
Is there a number?
Okay,
moving on. We have item number 16 under
approvals which is to approve allocation
of $187,000
via a grant program to KURA for the
purpose of replacing or repealing fire
hydrants in the Santa Tesa
unincorporated areas in industrial park
authorizes county manager to establish a
grant program criteria and sign related
documents. Do we have a motion
commissioners?
So moved.
Second.
Okay. Welcome Mr. Lopez.
Good afternoon, commissioners. Steven
Lopez, assistant county manager. And the
item before you I will keep very brief
because you are already aware of the
overall issue. Uh we had the county fire
department assisting Kua for direction
from the board in testing fire hydrants
in the unincorporated portion of the
KURA service area. They tested 110
hydrants and found 31 fire hydrants not
functioning. uh KURA does not have
adequate funds within their current
budget nor reserves to replace or repair
these hydrants. So we are asking the
board to provide funding for
approximately half of the hydrants to
immediately be replaced. These are based
on estimates that CRUA has obtained from
contractors. Uh the specific costs per
hydrant are won't be known until they
actually get in to each hydrant. These
would be the hydrants would be
prioritized based on input from county
fire rescue. Uh and Kua has committed to
going after the other half of the
funding to finish the project off uh
when they get their rate study uh
implemented over the course of the next
60 days. So, with that said, I'd be
happy to answer any questions that the
board might have.
Mr. Chairman.
Yes. Commissioner Commissioner Sanchez.
Mr. Lopez, how are those fire hydrants
found or identified as not being
functional
or who
identified them as not?
Mr. Chair, Commissioner Sanchez, uh,
County Fire Department discovered that
they were not functional when they went
in to try to perform the hydrant tests.
And whose responsibility are they to
maintain?
Uh, Mr. Chair, Commissioner Sanchez, all
water utilities are responsible for
maintaining the operation of their fire
hydrants.
Okay. Thank you.
I'd like to clarify that's so that means
crew's responsibility.
Mr. Chair, Commissioner Reynolds, yes,
that is correct. It is crew's
responsibility.
Thank you,
Mr. Chair.
Commissioner Commos.
Thank you. So, uh this uh location this
there's going to be documentation going
to the career board
in order to approve this. Correct,
Mr. Chair and Commissioner Garos? Yes.
This would establish a grant program. Uh
the county manager would therefore draft
up the the grant documents and those
grant documents would have to be
accepted by the crew aboard.
Thank you,
Mr. Chair.
Yes, vice chair.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um Mr.
Lopez, you mentioned it was half of the
of the hydrants, but you mentioned 131.
And just so the public is aware, are we
putting money in for half of the 31 or
half of the hundred?
Mr. Chair and Madame Vice Chair, the we
are recommending that the county grant
half of the funding. Uh that could
either be done at the the selection of
KRUA. We could either provide half of
the funding for all 31 or we could
provide the funding for the first
roughly 15 or 16 fire hydrants to be
replaced. Uh knowing that they can't get
a contractor to replace all 31 hydrants
immediately and therefore this would
give us starting point so that we're not
waiting two more months uh with 31 fire
hydrants out in the area.
Does that answer?
Okay,
it does. And just another followup. So,
in some cases, we may not just be
thinking about the fire hydrants, but
the piping and um other things that are
aside from the fire hydrants. Am I
correct? If we find a leaky pipe, a bad
seal, things of that nature,
Mr. Chair, Madame Vice Chair, yes, you
are absolutely correct. as they are
replacing the hydrants, they might find
segments that need to be replaced on the
piping or the valves that lead to the
fire hydrants.
Thank you.
The only thing that I'm going to ask uh
Mr. Lopez is as they start doing the
work if we can get an update on the
condition of what we're looking at and
how far this money is going to go.
Mr. Mr. Chair, I think that is very
prudent. Thank you. That's all I ask.
Anyone else?
Okay. Public comment on this.
Okay. Brandy.
Commissioner Gomedos.
Yes.
Commissioner Reynolds.
Yes.
Commissioner Sanchez.
Yes.
Vice Chair Chaparo.
Yes.
Churchandis.
Yes. Thank you all very much.
Okay, moving on to item number 17 which
is approval of a me memorandum of
understanding which is called anou for
wage increase for court house security
union and we have our um interim county
attorney Miss Neil here. Commissioners,
do we have a motion and a second?
So move.
Second.
We have a motion by Commissioner Sanchez
and a second by Commissioner Gomedos.
Welcome, Miss Neil.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, Madame Vice Chair,
Commissioners. Um, similar to what we
had done previously with the bluecollar
uh union agreement, we have laid out
thisou
um removing the step plan in favor of
receiving uh cost of living increases
uh as well as laying out the next couple
of years of wage increases for the
courthouse security union members. There
are no budget concerns and no
adjustments needed um for thisou
and the reason for theou is similar to
the bluecollar uh agreement. We are
still working on the language of the
collective bargaining agreement. It
could be a couple of months before we
have that all the way hammered out and
we need approval so that they can begin
receiving that raise while we continue
to work on the rest of the language of
the agreement.
Okie dokie.
Commissioners, any comments or
questions?
Seeing none, any public comment on this?
Okay, Gloria, go ahead and roll call us.
Commissioner Gomez,
yes. Commissioner Reynolds,
yes.
Commissioner Sanchez,
yes.
Vice Chair Chabato,
yes.
Shortandes,
yes. Motion carries.U
is approved.
Just call Did you just call Brandy
Gloria?
Did I?
Yes, you did.
The hair.
[Laughter]
It's been a long day already.
It has. It is. Okay. But honestly, okay,
never mind. Not appropriate. Um, thank
you, Brandy.
Okay, moving on. We do have two
um hearing. Well, we have one hearing
today. That's item number 18, which is a
hearing on the resolution to raise solid
waste collection fees.
Do I need a motion on this?
Yes.
Yes. Why? It's a hearing.
I'm sorry.
We're not making a We're not doing any
actions on this, are we?
We are.
I think we are. We're having a hearing
and
deciding something.
Deciding.
Let me look it up.
It's a resolution. So, we'll have
resolution.
It is a resolution.
Yes.
Y
Oh, it is chair. It is a It is a weird
way to do a hearing, but it is what is
in our county code. So, we have to do a
resol a hearing for a resolution in
order to change the rates.
I'm so glad that you told me that this
is a weird way to do it. So, I don't
feel
Mr. Chairman
inept at this right now. Yes. If I just
may make a note, Mr. Lopez, you say so
much without saying a word.
Gosh, I know. Especially when he's
staring at you.
You're like, Mr. Chair, I'd like to make
a motion that we actually uh have a
hearing on the resolution to raise solid
waste collection fees.
Oh,
okay. We have a motion by Commissioner
um Reynolds and a second by Commissioner
Sanchez.
Mr. Lopez.
Do you need to swear me in?
Oh my gosh.
Do you swear to tell the truth, the
whole truth?
I do.
Thank you.
Good afternoon again, Commissioner.
Steven Lopez, assistant county manager.
As you are aware from our meeting in
June when uh we initially came before
you for authorization to publish the
notice for this hearing, our solid waste
fees have not been increased by the
county in a number of years measured in
decades. And in that time, the costs
associated with that solid waste
disposal have gone up. We currently
charge $4 per punch. Uh the equivalent
if you take that same load over to the
transfer station for South Central Solid
Waste Authority is $7.80.
So we are far behind and uh County
Manager Andrews has challenged all of us
with operations that do have fees to
evaluate the fee structure. We have done
that and we are recommending a
multi-year increase in these fees. The
first increase would be this one that
you're looking at, but you are approving
actually a five-year plan
uh with this action. And this would
raise starting August 1st uh the fee by
$1 per punch. So we'd be going from $4 a
punch to $5 a punch. And then in two
years it would go up again by a dollar.
Okay.
So this would go into effect August 1st,
2025 if approved by the board. Dollar
each year up to 2031, it looks like or a
dollar
every two years.
Every two years up to 2031. Okay.
Commissioners, any comments, questions?
Mr. Chair, I have one question.
Yes.
Did we consider also raising the fee on
our contract for the solid waste uh
facility at the border uh at the same
time as part of this Mr. Chair,
Commissioner Reynolds, we did not look
at that as part of this
that that is part of the overall look
that we are doing uh related to solid
waste, but it it is not we did not look
at it as part of this action because of
how this is paid for.
Okay. Is there any probability that
we'll come back that'll be bring that
back to the board in the next month or
two?
U Mr. Chair, Commissioner Reynolds, I
don't think it will be that quick
because that might be something that
gets wrapped into the franchise fee that
uh our county attorney has contracted
out uh with Nan Wyinners to review.
Okay.
So, it will be coming back before this
board. I just don't know on the timing.
Is any of this money actually going to
be used in order to improve the um
control of illegal dumping or do we have
it earmarked for any of that?
Mr. Chair, Commissioner Reynolds, the
res the current county code requires
that our utilities operations
cover costs to the greatest extent
possible. Uh so automatically this
funding
per the code should be going towards
that effort and right now we are in the
negative when it comes to the amount
that we pay South Central solid waste
authority.
So all all funds therefore should be
going towards that which therefore
should reduce the burden on the general
fund which has been having to pay that
difference.
Okay. Thank you for your explanation of
that and I'm I want to continue to move
in this direction on some of this
because I think this is like you said
it's been costing us more than we are
recollecting and we do need to try to
provide a balance sheet for this
activity. Thank you.
Okie dokie. Anyone else
Mr. Chairman?
Yes.
I I I understand
you know kind of the direction we're
going and understand the need for it.
think one of the concerns I have is
going to be potentially for if there's
going to be potentially impact on
illegal dumping. Um, you know, and I I
know particularly in the um
unincorporated areas, we we see that a
lot of people end up utilizing the the
transfer stations rather than maybe uh a
trash service. And so, um, you know,
hopefully we'll, I think, as we maybe
collect data and see, I'd be curious to
see if there's potential that we see an
increase, um, by doing this. Um,
the the two this are two things I I hope
to note. One is,
have we evaluated at all the means of
sale of the punch cards
and how we might be able to revamp that?
Because right now, as as far as I know,
I'm just talking on my district.
Well, it used to be you either had to
come into the county, you could request
that it be charged and sent with your
bill in the mail or you buy it in
person, like I said, either here at the
government center. And I think the only
location that I recall left in District
5 is Lafina and Donana. Um, before that
it was at Jim's Supermarket in Hatch,
but um, you know, with with the passing
of Slim and and the closing the closing
of that store, I don't believe there's
been another location there in District
5. So, I I just don't know if there's a
way in which we can make them
accessible. I don't even know if there
might be another way to do it. Um, where
I I I just and I don't know, maybe maybe
I'm over thinking too much into it, but
I I I always hear that is one comment
that I hear occasionally from
constituents is I I would love to get a
a punch card, but it's not easy to do
that.
Mr. Chair and Commissioner Sanchez, you
are spot on with where we think things
should be going. Uh to include why can't
people just pay right there on the spot.
Um I understand South Central Solid
Waste Authorities past hesitation on
accepting cash. Totally understand that.
But with so many point of sale
opportunities now where somebody could
swipe a card, um that would certainly
make it much more convenient. And that
is why the wording uh in front of you
right now is per punch or equivalent so
that we can move that direction. But as
you're aware, the executive director
position for South Central Solid Waste
Authority was only recently filled and
we have not had an opportunity to have
that discussion yet.
Okay. I'd love to understand if there's
a way we could bring um technology or
make it uh more accessible. And then I
think the only other comment I had was,
you know, trying to get updates on the
potential of revisiting the mandatory
trash service across the county.
And Mr. Chair and Commissioner Sanchez,
that is uh part of the franchise fee
study that is being done through legal.
Cool. Thank you.
Um, and then just to add my two cents, I
don't know why I feel the need to, but
uh, on what Commissioner Sanchez was
saying, if we do see an uptick in
illegal dumping, if we can please be
aware of that so the commission can
maybe brainstorm on some solutions to
maybe help
offset the cost if that's the factor
contributing factor of the cost. So,
Mr. Chair, we certainly will.
Cool. Anyone else? Commissioners, public
comment.
We have one public comment. If you'll
come up, sir,
address the commission and then sign the
white book after, please.
So, commissioners, chair,
yes,
I'm I'm Jean Pettit,
and this is something that's dear to my
heart after being out in the county. We
use the disposal out there, which is
great. Thank you. But I look down this
list and how much money is being used by
the by you guys and every place else.
And now you want to take in raise it on
folks out there that really are are
scraped, so to speak, financially. And
it don't seem like much, but but uh you
know, it does take a a trip in to come
in. Costs more money, costs more
resources.
And you're giving money away to
everything else. Why can't we just
offset that?
you know, we're taking care of our
people. What are we doing to take care
of our people in the county? And part of
that eagle eagle dumping is some of it
is is the hours that that things are
open, what's what's being done in those
transfer points. I'm I'm part of it
because I I've dropped stuff off. We
used to be in construction. Now I have
to come all the way into the city to do
things that that affects my business.
That affects things going on. Half the
time those trailers leave empty out
there. It's like, why can't we just dump
the stuff here? We've come this
separation of things, which is great.
Metals need to be separated. Plastics
need to be separated. But now they're
starting to charge for that kind of
stuff where we used to be able to
separate the wood and do different
things, too. And now you want to pass on
another cost to the public. Please
consider what you guys are doing. And
that's my comment. Thank you.
Thank you. Any other public comment?
Okay. Seeing none, commissioner, any
follow-up questions or comments?
Seeing none. Brandy.
Commissioner Gometo.
Yes.
Commissioner Reynolds.
Yes.
Commissioner Sanchez,
yes.
Vice Chair Chabato,
yes.
Chair Sha Jordan,
yes. Motion carries. Resolutions
approved.
And that number is 2025-86.
Gosh, 86 resolutions already this year.
Thank you, commissioners.
Thank you.
Okay, next up is item number 19, which
is to approve.
Thyson crop. Thyson crop. The crop.
The crop.
One more time.
Tyson.
Tyson crop.
What?
T. We actually have company
representatives in the audience.
Tissen crop. Okay. To approve Tissen
Crop materials and a local economic
development act, a leader project
ordinance for an award up to $500,000.
Commissioners.
So moved.
I'd like to say this is a great
Hold on. We have a motion and
a second.
Thank you.
Sorry about that.
Now go.
Yeah. You know, I'd like to say firstly,
I am I am so sorry. I didn't notice that
we should have moved this up on the
agenda and you guys have been so
patiently waiting all morning. Thank you
and I am so sorry. Um, we normally we
can normally lock these things out in
about three minutes. I don't know why
somebody didn't notice and put up on
move it up on the agenda.
Say 10 minutes. All right. 10 minutes.
Come on.
Well, we're going to have to bring forth
the resolution to change up the agenda
anyway because of the last resol two
resolutions ago. So maybe we'll put
hearings and ordinances after consent.
But thank you for your for your
calm down. That was a thought.
Okay. But honestly, thank you for
sticking it out, gentlemen. Um Denise,
welcome.
Thank you. I I stand for questions. I do
want to acknowledge our community
partners in the audience, New Mexico
Economic Development Department, MVita,
and two representatives from the company
that Yes. They stayed with us through
the entire meeting. Perfect. Well,
gentlemen, you're here. You came all
this way. Would you like to say
anything?
If not, we can get you out of here
really quick.
Okay. Quick.
Okay.
I was like, you have options here.
Okay. Commissioners, any comments,
questions, or cons concerns?
Decent crop. Decent crop.
Mr. Mr. Chairman, I I just want to say,
you know, I'm excited for the operations
here in Donena County and so grateful
that you all have uh chosen uh southern
Doni County for uh your location. So,
thank you so much.
Yes, thank you. We're great. We're
amazing. Who wouldn't want to be here?
Um okay, cool. Anything else,
commissioners? Seeing none, any public
comment or against?
I I just have a question.
Yes. This does not require swearing in,
does it?
No, it's not a hearing. It's just to
approve the
ordinance for Lita, the Lita project.
Correct.
I could swear everyone in as soon as
they come in this door, actually, if you
think about it. Maybe I should just
start doing that.
Maybe I should.
Okay, Brandy, take it away. I know.
Commissioner Gomedos,
yes.
Commissioner Reynolds,
yes.
Commissioner Sanchez,
yes.
Vice Chair Chabaro,
yes. Chair Shaw Jordan on this.
Yes. Motion carries. Leader projects
approved. Congratulations.
That does have a resolution number.
You got it.
Sorry to interrupt. That number is going
to be 366-2025.
Awesome. Thank you.
Thank you guys for coming in.
I know you were here for the rest of the
meeting and you you just this last part
was just an afterthought, but
it's not a resolution, Brandy. It's an
ordinance. So, it needs an ordinance
number.
It was an ordinance number.
That was the ordinance number.
Oh, you said resolution.
Yeah. I apologize.
Okay, I'll take it. Or number back.
Yeah. 366.
Thank you. Thank you for apologizing,
Gloria.
366-2025
is an order.
I'd be like
Okay, with that commission followup
input.
Okay, I have a couple things I want to
state. Um, so there's been a couple
community watch posts online on Facebook
about
um, federal ICE agents going into our
communities. Um, I do want to make note
that in the southern part of the county,
we have now put in English and Spanish
know your rights signs on the community
um,
what am I looking for?
Community.
Community centers. Yes. And also on
billboards, not billboards,
market boards, marquee board, pin.
Oh my god, there's a name for these.
Community boards. Thank you. Uh, so
those are out there. There's also some
right here. I probably should have said
that before everyone came up for public
comment so they could have taken them.
That's why I put them there. Anyway,
just wanted to bring up that. And then
also I'll be working with my EA as well
as community members to make sure we're
getting the word out more about, you
know, knowing your rights, the rights of
um land owners and stuff like that as
well. So be looking out for that. But we
will be doing that as far as getting
some material out. I'll be doing it on
my personal Facebook so we can
definitely keep those conversations
going with the community so that they
know what's going on.
Commissioners, any other follow-up
comments,
Mr. Chairman,
yes. I think the only thing I'll I'll
note um in addition to that is just
recognizing the uh previous uh safe
communities ordinance that we have
previously passed or not us but previous
commission uh had passed and uh is still
in policy for uh us in Donin County uh
and specifically not allowing the uh use
of of
our funding for immigration enforcement
nor the uh the requirement for uh the
ability for uh any county employee to
request immigration status. Um the
second thing I'm hoping I will connect
with our uh management team as well as
uh with our Sunny 505 team. Um that way
we can start hopefully having uh setting
up some meetings in my district. I know
there's going to be a big push regarding
the go bond. Um my hope is is that I can
uh you know even if if if it's not uh I
I would love to attend where I can and
make it maybe a joint uh constituent
slash you know go bond meeting
information. Um, but with the upcoming
events in the area with I anticipate
more uh people driving into the Hatch
area, it might be an opportunity that
maybe we can partner with um some local
businesses that we maybe we set up a um
a table or some have some sort of
outreach being visible. That way people
know they can come and ask uh questions
about um the go bond, what's to be
included, get their feedback, give their
input. um and and make sure we're we're
visible and actively working to try to
get as much input as we can from the
community.
Awesome. Also, did you know the original
I I found this out because I was chat
gpting like a madman. Did you know that
the original county ordinance for or
resolution for the safe communities was
in 2014?
I did.
Did you? I didn't know that until
that's why I said the previous it was it
was in 2014 and um I think that's why
I've made my note while you know I think
we've
well while some some people claim to be
leaders uh in the northern part of the
state with you know this type of thing
we've had it in place since 2014 but
exactly
I will I will uh stop there before I get
into any before I step too far into it.
We'll take it. Okay. Any other
commission follow-up input? Okay, Brandy
correspondents.
We have two. Sorry.
Marissa Dewolf versus Donanna County and
McKenna Louderderbach versus Donana
County.
Perfect. And then we do have a closed
session on the agenda today. So I move
that the board of the BOCC convene in
closed session regarding a limited
personnel matter, the purchase,
acquisition or disposal of real property
and water rights to discuss information
that is covered by attorney client
privilege pertaining to threatened or
pending litigation as authorized by open
meetings act section 1051H27
and 8 and MSA1 1978. Do we have a
second? Second.
Brandy, if you'll roll roll call us into
close session.
Commissioner Gomez,
yes.
Commissioner Reynolds,
yes.
Commissioner Sanchez,
yes.
Vice Chair uh Chabato,
yes.
Chair Shell Jordan,
yes. We're in close session. Uh Vice
Chair, we will call you from the close
session room.
Thank you.
You know what? I think our next BOCC
reading should be ASMR. Hello, this is
BOCC chair.
Send it to Goodwill.
Yeah, that's what I was saying.
Okay.
And we are back from close session. The
time is currently 1:00.
Let the record reflect that nothing was
discussed in close session other than
the items mentioned in the original
motion that put us in to close session.
And with that being said, it's one
o'clock and our meeting is adjourned.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
Bye-bye.