Commissioners issue $100,000 challenge

The residents of Lincoln County were on the minds of Socorro County Board of Commissioners when it met last week.

Board Chairman Ray Martinez requested an emergency item to be placed on the board’s agenda: How can Socorro County help its neighbors to the east in Ruidoso and Lincoln County?

Martinez had just returned from the New Mexico Counties meeting where the fires taking place in Lincoln County was among the hot topics that were discussed among the individuals from New Mexico’s three counties.

“We had some fellow commissions from there (Lincoln) in attendance and they had to go back to see the devastation left by the fires,” said Martinez. “I also have some friends that are working over there fighting the fires. They tell me it’s horrible. You know a lot of people have lost their homes. There’s no telling how long that area is going to be that way or when they’re going to rebuild.”

Like many Socorro County residents, Martinez has received emails on how individuals can help their neighbors to the east.

“Socorro (County) has always helped,” said Martinez.

Rising to the occasion has been the city and county of Socorro. Emergency Management Director Gail Tripp said a lot of items had been collected and sent to Lincoln County. In addition, the city opened Finley Gym for displaced residents and the Socorro County Fairgrounds helped with animal shelters. Many displaced residents were staying in local motels with help from vouchers from Puerto Seguro.

Once the word got out that Ruidoso was evacuating, volunteers from throughout Socorro County came to help, including several young girls from The Ranches. By Monday, Tripp noted, more than 23 pallets of items were being transported to help fire victims in Lincoln County by Rosas Trucking.

Pleased that Socorro County had stepped up to the plate, Martinez questioned County Attorney Adren Nance if the county would donate money to help residents in Lincoln County, how would it go about doing that?

Nance indicated donating money would be difficult if it was not correctly. Money would need to be given directly from Socorro County to Lincoln County.

But how much? At first comissioners thought about giving $40,000, but later after some debate settled on an amount to give Lincoln County to help with fire victims.

Under a one-time emergency declaration, Commissioners gave interim County Administrator Sammy Vega authority to allocate up to $100,000 to help residents of Lincoln County who have been displaced by the Dale and South Fork fires.

With the donation, Martinez issued a challenge to the other 31 counties in New Mexico, would step up to the plate and match Socorro County’s donation to help Lincoln County.

Meeting times change

After much debate, the commissioner approved in a 3 to 2 decision, to change the meeting times of the Socorro County Board of Commissioners’ meetings.

Chairman Ray Martinez suggested changing the meetings times from 5 p.m. to 10 a.m. the second and fourth Tuesday of the month.

After much discussion and debate, the board changed the meeting times to 3 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month and left the meeting on the fourth Tuesday of the month at 5 p.m.

Voting in favor of the change were Commissioners Joe Conzales, Craig Secatero and John Aguilar. Voting against the change but in favor of 10 a.m. meetings were Commission Glen Duggins and Chairman Ray Martinez.

Rising costs of prescriptions

In a report from Socorro County Detention Center, it noted the rising costs of prescription medications needed for detainees.

In April, prescriptions medications cost $3,804.18. Only a month later, May’s costs totaled $4,781.76 – an increase of $977.58.

While prescription costs can fluctuate, but most of the time increase is due to detainees being incarcerated more than 30 days, where Medicaid cannot be used to payments ore when detainees enter the detention center with no Medicaid or any type of insurance.

At the present time more than 30 detainees are on over-the-counter medication.

In other business, commissioners:

• Approved a contract with Vanessa Garcia to provide counseling and case management services. She will work 160 hours per month.

• Approved a contract with Full Circle Recovery to provide treatment and wellness programming services for the Socorro County Community Alternatives program.

• Accepted the 2025 Wildfire Risk Reduction Grant for $100,000 for the Bosquecito Fuels Reduction Phase Vi project. Funding for the WRRG is provided by the National Fire Plan through the Bureau of Land Management.

• Accepted $25,000 from the Wildfire Risk Reduction Grant for the Socorro County SWPP Update.