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Socorro City Council agreed to form a committee of two city councilors to meet with two county commissioners to negotiate funding for emergency services.
In February, the city requested funding for three EMS firefighter positions from the County, and the county counter offered to fund two.
City Councilor Mary Ann Chavez-Lopez said the decision has to be made by the county commission, not just the manager.
“I know that we need more money from the county. I don’t want to see it (EMS) dropped because those are neighbors; we have relatives there that live within the county,” Mary Ann Chavez-Lopez said. “That’s why we need to have the meeting to try to negotiate with the county.”
Bhasker said he still maintained that the county’s offer was not enough, but he would support them in having the meeting.
“I will do whatever the council would like, but at this point, we will have a hearing, and we will present the city side, and the county is welcome to present the county side, but the government of transportation will want to hear it,” Bhasker said. “If the Council wants to, at the next meeting, present some sort of a committee to talk to the county. That’s fine, but I am unbending and the desire to have the County participate for what their services they’re getting.”
The Council agreed for City Manager Donald Monette set up a meeting between Mary Ann Chavez and Anton Salome with two county commissioners regarding the future of ambulance serve in the County.
Public Forum
Jason Everett presented a modified financial analysis of the emergency services provided by the city and county detention services provided by the county. He said there was a critical need for paramedics who could offer advanced life support and wanted to support a collaborative effort to improve EMS services.
“I’m not choosing sides, except for those of the people. I’d like to see the city and county, as mentioned two months ago, working together,” Everett said. “What I understand is the city is responsible for providing fire EMS services, and the county’s responsible for providing detention services, and it’s kind of an exchange. That’s what I understand.”
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Bhasker questioned where Everett received his information and why he didn’t check with the city. He said that state statute requires counties to be responsible for their own detention services and it does not require the city to be responsible to emergency services for the county.
“You’re comparing apples and oranges when you’re talking about monies that are being spent at an entity compared to the money that are being spent at the ambulance,” Bhasker said.
Everett confirmed he agreed it was apples and oranges. He said he didn’t want to be part of the financial aspect but part of improving services, and he suggested an EMS committee with representatives of the city council and county to discuss improving emergency services and set short and long term goals.
Bhasker said the Department of Transportation controls the ambulance services, and the city is requesting a decrease in their service area.
“There will probably be a hearing, and at the hearing, you’re welcome to show your one-sided argument and we will show our argument,” Bhasker said.
City Fire Chief, Lawrence Baca gave an update on the process and confirmed they have filled out the paperwork with the Department of Transportation (DOT) to amend Catron County out of their service area. For Socorro County, he said, they are collecting the information requested from the DOT, and he expects a hearing would follow.
“As soon as we get all this paperwork filled out, all the information together, we’ll send it off, and they might want to have a hearing at that point, then they’ll request our side and the county’s side to do that,” Baca said. “They’re (DOT) not going to just drop the county area. We have to justify why we’re going to drop it.”
ICIP meeting
The Council held a public ICIP hearing. The Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan (ICIP) establishes planning priorities for anticipated capital projects.
City Manager Donald Monette said it is the first of four public hearings.
“We’ll have two in April, in May, and I requested that the council return their surveys to me by May 20, which will give you the month of June to make any alterations to the ICIP and input correct numbers, as ICIP is due in July,” Monette said.
He said the city has advertised and put the information in utility bills in effort to receive public input.
“This is their opportunity to request that the council put infrastructure projects on the list. It also helps us get funding for grants and capital outlay. As it shows, the council has upped these projects through and they are priorities,” Monette said.
No public requests were made during the hearing, and councilors returned to regular sessions.
Wrestling
The Socorro Wrestling team was also recognized at the meeting. Joel Partridge, a city councilor and the wrestling coach, noted that this is their eighth season as a high school program, and they have produced a total of 15 state champions.
He mentioned that this year, they had three state champions and finished in the top seven out of 44 teams. He said that this achievement is impressive, especially considering they are competing against 4A and 5A schools.
“We want to bring home the state championship trophy. That’s the goal. We’re going to continue to work hard towards the end, we got a couple of tournaments coming up,” Partridge said.
