Senior centers pilot four-day work week

The Socorro and Veguita senior centers will move to a four-day week starting November 3, to cut costs while continuing the same services.

At the City of Socorro council meeting on Oct. 21, Linda Mares Senior Center Director said meal distribution will continue and they will have an extra meal to hand out every Friday. She said the change has been approved by the Non-Metro AAA and the city.

“We will modify the schedule to meet the needs, so I think we’ll be all right,” Mares said.

Mayor Ravi Bhasker said the four-day week would cut costs and improve efficiency due to budget constraints.

“We need to cut costs. We’re going over on our budget,” Bhasker said, “We always said that we were not going to go into debt through the city when we run the senior centers. So that’s part of the fix.”

He said the senior centers will also serve as a pilot for a four-day work week model for the city.

Animal Shelter Report

Animal Control and Dispatch Director, Lupe Tarango said the current animal intakes at the Socorro Animal Shelter is 667, “that’s not including the eight chickens, one duck, three rabbits and two pigs.”

He said they’ve done 20 out of state transfer runs, 12 in state transfers with a total of 301 dogs being transferred out of state, 115 cats and three rabbits.

Tarango said currently at the shelter they have 57 dogs with four in isolation due to bites. He said those four are not from within city limits but were being held for the county. The shelter also currently has nine cats.

“Cats are pretty easy to get out. It’s the dogs that we’re having issues with.” Tarango said.

He said the City of Grants just closed their animal shelter.

“They had 250 plus animals being hoarded at the facility.” Tarango said.

He said Socorro Animal Shelter is operating under staff shortages, but they have received a $19,632 state grant to repair the roof, and hopes for more funding support coming in future phases.

“Lupe and his crew are doing a fantastic job. And you know, you hear about other animal shelters that are not doing as well.” Bhasker said, “There is not a lot to work with, but he’s done it.”

Other business

Bhasker said the city is currently in the process of settling up with the co-op and New Mexico Tech.

“I’ll give you more detailed accounting next month,” Bhasker said, “So we’re going to get this wrapped up with a lot of new information coming out as to what happened… after mediation, we will be able to make that official”

The city council unanimously approved the purchase of six police vehicles.

Finance Director Ruby Lopez said the city received $240,000 from the state and she will use law enforcement money to cover the rest.

“We are going to try to get grants to where every year we can probably purchase vehicles. But he is in desperate need of vehicles now,” Lopez said.

Bhasker said they are having issues with availability of vehicles due to recalls.

“There are three police vehicles that are stuck up in Albuquerque because of a recall, and they can’t get the part to fix it, so they’re trapped. We also have an ambulance trapped in Albuquerque because of a recall.” Bhasker said

Fire Chief Lawrence Baca said the ambulance has been in Albuquerque for more than two months and he’s been told they still don’t have the parts to fix it.

Bhasker said the city has received an additional $800,000 for the Finley Gym project.

“We’ll be able to finish the south wing with the bathrooms with this new money, and we have to spend it by June 2026, and then we will go to the legislature to do the north wing,” Bhasker said.

The next meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Nov. 18. The Nov. 4 meeting was cancelled due to the election.