Martinez: County leaders need to show up on time

After cancelling its 5 p.m. meeting on July 23 due to a lack of a quorum, Socorro County Board of Commissioners rescheduled its meeting to 9 a.m. July 30.

However, sometimes the best laid plans can still go awry.

Commissioners Craig Secatero and John Aguilar announced earlier they wouldn’t be able to attend the meeting. That meant the commissioners needed three elected officials to be in attendance to start the meeting.

At 9 a.m., only Commissioner Joe Gonzales and Chairman Ray Martinez were the present. Missing was Commissioner Glen Duggins.

At 9:10 a.m. a telephone call was made by county staff to Duggins, asking him if he planned to attend. Duggins said he was on his way.

Twenty-four minutes later when Duggins made his way into the county board meeting room, allowing the board not to cancel its meeting a second time in two weeks.

The meeting was crucial for the board because it needed it to give its final approval on its fiscal 2024-2025 budget.

Prior to ending the meeting, Chairman Martinez asked for all commissioners for their support on showing up on time for the county board meetings.

“Let’s try to be on time. If you’re not going to be here, please advise our managers,” said Martinez. “We’re the leaders of this county and we need to start business when we’re supposed to. I’d appreciate your help on this.”

In other business, the board:

• Approved an intergovernmental agreement with the State of New Mexico Public Education Department allowing the county to hire students throughout the summer months to work with various agencies. The county received $72,000 to pay for the students’ work.

• Finance Director Sammy Vega noted that construction projects have helped the county’s finances this past year. With the Nogal Bridge reconstruction project forthcoming, it will help with the county budget in coming years.

• Acknowledged the hiring of two new detention officers for the Socorro County Detention Center.

• Welcomed Andrew (Andy) Lotrich as its new County Manager replacing Michael Hawkes who resigned. Lotrich officially started with the county on July 10.