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Socorro County commissioners approved the annual certified maintained mileage report for 2025 at their March 25 meeting.
During public comment, four people spoke about their concerns including mapping inaccuracies, disappointment over the workshop and communication.
Donna Harris, a resident of Quebradas Road, said that in 2023 and 2024 the commissioners told her she had no reason to expect them to maintain her road despite the volume of traffic.
“So y’all got a raise. Everybody in the county, employees got a raise. My taxes got raised. And y’all think it’s great that I live on a heavily trafficked road and it’s not going to be maintained for five years, and I should be happy about that? Hogwash,” Harris said.
Vincent Lorenzo Del Curto also said he attended the workshop scheduled to address the mapping with BLM. However, the mapping was not addressed at the meeting, and he felt the county manager was not cooperative.
Marty Greenwood, a resident of Forest Road 234, said he didn’t understand why the county maintained roads without residents and left out roads with residents.
“This is like the third meeting we’ve had, which it seems like we haven’t done a bit of good,” Greenwood said.
Mathew Atencio, field manager of Socorro BLM, shared a case study with the commissioners and said he was also disappointed with the workshop.
“I just was hoping we had more time to work together to identify the roads that need to be maintained for the public,” Atencio sai.d
County Manager Andy Lotrich stated that the goal was to reduce the maintained road list to approximately 1,100 miles. They were able to decrease this to 1,197 miles. He emphasized that staying at or below 1,200 miles is essential for passing the transportation department audit. If they fail the audit, they could lose funding for the road department and their eligibility for grants.
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He said after discussions with the public, two miles of the Quebradas Road were added to the map, along with Forest Road 234, which is approximately 10.5 miles long. The goal was to include roads that would benefit local residents while staying within the county’s maintenance constraints, said Lotrich.
Lotrich said three areas were removed from the maintained list, including two sections with locked gates and a section south of 380.
Commissioner Danny Monette apologized that the public county road meeting was not a true workshop as intended. He said he felt the residents’ pain regarding the damage unmaintained roads cause to their vehicles.
He acknowledged the road department’s financial limitations and said they are facing challenges such as limited equipment, young operators in training, and a large number of miles to maintain.
“It’s my understanding that a good blade operator can only blade about 300 miles a year, and that’s to do a good job on a road, and to do 300 and we only have three blades, we’re only looking at 900 miles,” Monette said, “I believe that everybody at the meeting does understand that the road department, financially can only do so much.”
He said he wasn’t happy about approving the county road list but understood it had to be done.
“I want to continue working on this. Just because we approved this tonight, as far as a maintenance list, does not mean the issue is over. It’s something I want to continue working on with each and every one of you in here. Honestly I feel your pain. I see what it does to your vehicles,” Monnette said.
The commissioners unanimously voted to approve the list.
