Ortega: Commission will end duties

By Jim Maniaci
Cibola County Bureau

MILAN — Today's 5:30 p.m. meeting of the Milan Village Planning-Zoning Commission will be either its last or next to last, Mayor Tom Ortega indicated at Wednesday night's Board of Trustees study session.

The mayor said at the Jan. 25 trustees meeting he will introduce an amendment to one section of the zoning ordinance so that one of the five voting members will be from outside the village limits. There would also be no set term of office, as is usually the case with a municipal body. This means the commission must please the Village Board of Trustees or be kicked off the advisory panel.

Ortega indicated he has the votes of all the trustees except Vivian Brumbelow. She indicated she will stand her ground, even though she knows she will be outvoted, on the proposition that all five should be from inside the village limits and that if people outside the village limits want a direct voice, they should annex.

Trustees George Knotts and Ellen Baca indicated they wouldn't object to a 6-member board with the member from outside the limits participating but not voting. Knotts said residents outside should have a voice. Baca said there is active talk of annexation.

All four trustees present for the workshop agreed they are looking into the future and that they expect residents in the subdivisions and developed areas adjacent to the official village limits will annex. The mayor said the lone exception will be the Homestake mining area.

'Naive' commissioners
Ortega said, "I can't believe how naive the commission is." After the vitriolic exchange never face-to-face between Ortega and Commissioner Joe Chavez over the Paul Milan fence controversy and the mayor's well-known intent to get rid of his bitter foe, each commissioner expressed support for Chavez. That support went into letter, one which irritated the mayor and infuriated Baca. In the past, Baca has indicated she has wanted to remove the existing commissioners since elected almost a year ago.

Baca announced she will take up the commission's invitation to tell them what they have done wrong and has a listing on the agenda for today's meeting in the Village Hall Trustees Chamber. The public is invited. She said she has reviewed the minutes since the spring of 2005, when the new body was appointed for specific terms, and began trying to deal with the mix of conflicting past ordinances.

The trustee said she is a P&Z victim holding off filing a lawsuit and will detail each offense committed by the commission.

Trustees also responded without opposition to Milan Volunteer Fire Department Chief Keith Austin proposing to establish a junior firefighters program a project which is becoming defunct in the neighboring Grants City Fire Department after having a big year two years ago.

Austin said he would return with a plan at the February meeting. In questions from the board, he replied no junior firefighter would be allowed to drive a fire truck, they would not be allowed to go into fires, nor would they be allowed to get into dangerous situations.

Gun club site supported
Trustees also responded without opposition and received enthusiastic support from the mayor about the Malpais Gun Club using vacant land south of the Grants-Milan Municipal Airport for a trap shooting range. Mike Gregory, Ray Eagle and new Cibola County Sheriff Johnny Valdez agreed to meet with Ortega and Public Works Director Ben Chavez to work out more details, including improving the dirt road around the runway to reach the site.

The board also discussed closing the problem-plagued indoor swimming pool for maintenance and agreed next winter it will be shut during December and January. Currently the boiler is not consistently providing warm water; however, when the water is warm enough, students from Milan Elementary School are taking swimming lessons. And the Grants High School swimming team continues to conduct some practices at the pool at Chevron Park on Airport Road.

Problems with replacing the heating-ventilating-air conditioning system are waiting the finding of funds.

In another matter, the village administrative staff has been enlarged, and the duties reorganized. Village Manager Marcella Sandoval has turned over her Village Clerk duties to Theresa Garcia as of Jan. 8. Former Deputy Village Clerk Teri Gallegos declined the clerk's position, which is an at-will appointment, to remain in the non-exempt ranks and is now serving as the executive assistant to the mayor and manager, reinforcing the staff where needed.

Police Chief Jerry Stephens has turned over his Acting Planning Administrator duties to Evelyn Chavez who is working with Code Enforcement Officer Joe Rivera.

The study sessions-workshops are scheduled to be eight nights before the action meeting, to help prepare the agenda, in this case, for the 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25, trustees meeting in the Village Hall Trustees Chamber at Uranium Avenue and Milan Street.