County Commission meeting to be held Thursday

ALAMOGORDO — This month’s county commission meeting will be held Thursday. The meeting was rescheduled due to some commissioner’s prior commitments.

On this month’s agenda, HELP NM Inc. will present a proposal to use the Chaparral Community Center for early childhood services in the community.

County residents LouAnn Rehwald and Styve Homnick will discuss road issues on Appler Road and Mescalero Road respectively.

According to Rehwald, Appler Road in La Luz experiences flooding like most rural roads in the county and needs assistance.

A section of Mescalero Road in Bent, the road is eroding at a rapid rate, according to Homnick. He stated that half of the original road is gone and is currently working with the county to make repairs and to see how much it will cost.

During the meeting, commissioners will also consider using the Hold Harmless (first two 1/8 percent) funds to build the La Luz bridge. They will also discuss the use of chewing tobacco on county premises.

New Mexico Aviation Aerospace Association (NMAAA) President Bill Shuert is scheduled to speak at this month's commission meeting. He will discuss the fifth annual New Mexico Aviation Aerospace STEM Expo and is requesting $3,000 to support student transportation and event logistics. 

The STEM event is designed to motivate and educate New Mexico students on aviation and aerospace careers in New Mexico. 

At this month's City Commission meeting, City Commissioners pledged to give $10,000 to the 2017 NMAAA STEM Expo. 

Also on the agenda, commissioners will consider approving the Memorandum of Understanding between Otero County Soil and Water Conservation District on the Otero County ongoing weed problem.

Earlier in May, Sid Gordon with the Otero County Extension Office, updated commissioners on his work eradicating the weed. At the time, he was in the process of sending memorandums to agencies to collaborate together to eliminate the African rue weed.

According to Gordon, approving the memorandum will get the county better access to grants to help eliminate the weed.

Sheriff Benny House will be in attendance and will request approval of a dispatch system for the Sheriff’s Office. The dispatch system that is being looked at is Emergency CallWorks (ECW), a Company owned by Motorola.

ECW is presenting the county with a state-of-the-art, integrated IP based NextGen 9-1-1 system.

A public safety answering point, or PSAP, has been a long-time issue in the county and the proposed dispatch system is hoping to alleviate some of the problems.

The County Commission meeting will be held Thursday at 9 a.m. at the Otero County Administration Building, Rm. 123, 1101 N. New York Ave.

For a copy of the agenda, visit the county’s website at http://co.otero.nm.us