By JO LUTZDaily Press StaffThursdays meeting of the Grant County commissioners opened with a loan approval for the long-awaited Dos Griegos fire station, and closed with the appointment of the long-awaited Gila Regional Medical Center board of trustees.During the public hearing for an ordinance authorizing the loan agreement, attorney Luis Carrasco acted as the countys loan counsel. He explained that the New Mexico Finance Authority would loan $1,084,911 in principal to pay for a metal building to serve as the Dos Griegos Fire Station for the Pinos Altos Volunteer Fire Department, which has long faced challenges responding to calls in the Dos Griegos area. The county would repay this loan plus about 3.3 percent interest over 30 years using money received from the State Fire Protection Fund.Carrasco said that the loan agreement authorizes the state treasurer to pay the fire protection funds directly to the Finance Authority to service the debt.If, down the road, state funding gets lower or stops, how responsible would Grant County be to pay this? asked Commission Chair Chris Ponce.Youre pledging only the dollars you get from those funds, Carrasco said, adding that the Finance Authority had done its own analysis and wouldnt move forward if it didnt find the pledged amount sufficient. The contract also allows for renegotiation in case of unforeseen circumstances.Last but far from least and postponed on the agenda until after a lengthy executive session commissioners passed the baton of hospital governance to an independent board of trustees. The five County Commission members have directly served as the hospitals Governing Board since a mass resignation of the last board of trustees in May 2020.They appointed seven new voting board members and three ex officio nonvoting members specifically the county manager and the hospitals CEO and chief of staff.The appointment did not pass unanimously, with District 3 Commissioner Alicia Edwards casting a no vote.Id like to thank everyone who applied as a trustee, she said. My challenge with the no vote isnt with who were appointing, its with who were not appointing. The hospital board has a long history of being overwhelmingly Anglo and underwhelmingly female. I believe we missed an opportunity to make more progress than we did.Other commissioners, though they cast yes votes, echoed similar sentiments of compromise.I dont think any one of us got exactly the board we would have individually handpicked, observed District 4 Commissioner Billy Billings.District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne said he also did not get the board he wanted, but he respected the process they went through.We gave full consideration to everyones perspective, he said. Hopefully it will only get better in terms of diversity. The way we staggered the terms was intentional, to help us get to that.Beginning in July, the seven voting members of the hospital board will be former District 2 County Commissioner Javier Salas, nurse practitioner Patricia McIntire, Silver Schools Superintendent William Hawkins, Freeport-McMoRan supply chain superintendent Seth Traeger, internal medicine Dr. Michael Smith, family medicine Dr. Fred Fox and retired economic developer Betty Vega.We took this seriously, Ponce concluded. This is probably one of the most important things that we do as commissioners.Thursdays public comment period saw the return of county resident James Baldwin with an update on his pursuit of reconciliation between the names Bear Mountain Road and Cottage San. He presented as evidence this time an atlas called the Gazetteer, which lists the road as Bear Mountain. He mentioned that he attempted to speak to county staff regarding this issue, and had not received a return phone call.He also weighed in on the increase in international migration expected this week accompanying the lifting of Title 42, the COVID-era emergency measure allowing Border Patrol agents to easily deport most migrants back to Mexico as a public safety measure.Remember on 9/11/2001, we had the Twin Towers? Baldwin said. Now we have 5/11/2023. The two events are similarly destructive to the United States of America. I hope the county will not permit any of the illegals, the migrants, to go through.He reported that two white buses had been seen but not photographed going west on U.S. 180, probably carrying people someplace.Next, Debbie Gray of accounting firm Kriegel, Gray, and Shaw presented the countys annual audit. The written opinion says the governments financial statements were fairly presented in accordance with accounting principles in other words, a passing grade on a pass/fail assessment.Gray reported total assets of $153 million and a net position, or equity, of $98 million. She said that although there were no noncompliance issues that impacted the financial statement, there was a deficiency in one component unit Gila Regional Medical Center related to the tracking of fixed asset values.The report for the hospital was also late, which Edwards clarified was due to the critical access cost report, for which the hospital had to wait on from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.Both Gila Regional Medical Centers chief financial officer and interim CEO were absent Thursday, leaving interim Chief Nursing Officer Cynthia Lewis to deliver a brief update on the March financials, deferring questions about a five-year facilities plan to her colleagues upon their return.Treasurer Patrick Cohn reported that the county had collected 94.2 percent of taxes due over the last decade, and that of the $7,024,806.69 uncollected, his office had begun to make progress with past-due mobile home owners, a topic which had come up in a previous meeting.The preliminary county budget for FY 2024 passed with minimal discussion, having been covered in Tuesdays work session. Browne did bring up that requested raises for elected officials such as the treasurer and assessor were not granted. County Manager Charlene Webb clarified that this was because the statute barred raises for elected officials in the middle of their terms.The county also approved Mountain Ridge Ace Hardwares lease on their part of the Grant County Veterans Memorial Business and Conference Center building. The lease was renewed for two terms for a total of 10 years, with an increase of $1 per square foot. Webb recalled that the square footage was about 19,000.Jo Lutz may be reached at [emailprotected]

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