Milan rejects joint dispatch

By Jim Maniaci
Cibola County Bureau

MILAN — The Village Trustees Board rejected the proposed Cibola Regional Communications Center by a split vote Thursday night, saying it will cost too much.

Trustee Ray Ortega and Mayor Pro Tem Vivian Brumbelow voted to reject the project while Trustee Dominic Vigil voted against the rejection. Mayor Tom Ortega only votes to break a tie and Trustee Manuel Molina was absent for the third consecutive regular meeting.

The majority felt it was unfair to expect Milan to pay one-third of the first-year operations budget. Milan Police Chief Jerry Stevens, president of the CRCC board, with some assistance from Cibola County Undersheriff Johnny Valdez, presented the latest revised figures which raised the village's equal share with the county and City of Grants to $155,419, about $2,500 more than last month's presentation.

Near the end of the discussion at Village Hall, Chief Stevens pointed out Milan was the only one of the three to commit an actual amount of money, $120,000, and that in good conscience he could not recommend approval without the city and county also committing an actual amount.

City and county officials repeatedly have said they will spend whatever it takes to launch the center. On Monday at the Grants City Council and the Cibola County Commission meetings, those principles were restated during the presentation given by Chief Marty Vigil and Undersheriff Valdez, using identical figures Stevens presented to his board Thursday.

Mayor Ortega began the discussion with "I've never been against the proposal. What I'm against is us putting up 33 percent as our calls and population aren't that high."

Mayor Ortega ended the discussion with, "The Village of Milan is not interested in paying $155,000. We're not against the idea, but against just paying too much." He then cited the bills for inmates at the new county jail, which are 10 times higher than the village was told the rate increase would be. "This is what we are afraid we are throwing our money into," he said.

Stevens explained Grants includes water call-outs and animal control cases in its count, while Milan doesn't. He added the county tallies its statistics using yet another basis. This matches what Vigil explained to his council, that no common denominator could be found. And it matches what Valdez and Vigil told the trustees a month earlier.

Brumbelow commented, "When we started with $120,000 I was all for it. But every time we went to a meeting, more money was added."

Trustee Ortega didn't say much, but his comment summed up the board's feeling of "$155,000 is unquestionably too much."

Brumbelow also noted Trustee Vigil called last month for a combined meeting of the three governing bodies and the center's board, and it didn't happen.

The Mayor Pro Tem then raised the issue of the perception Milan was holding the entire deal up. Village Manager Carlos Montoya added that Milan offered a free stand-along building, hinting it could be included as an in-kind contribution. The manager also said only special certified people can dispatch with all five of the village's dispatchers being certified compared to two for the county (confirmed by Valdez at the meeting) and one for the city (with Chief Vigil saying later there are two, plus one who has rejoined the staff who previously was certified.)

Monday night the Grants chief told his council moving the tower from the present Sheriff's Office dispatch center would cost $150,000 more. The center has been enlarged to prepare for its expanded role. State and federal grants have paid the capital costs with Santa Fe demanding consolidation by Dec. 31 and CRCC officials saying they believe they can begin operation around Dec. 1.

All three governing bodies have been told repeatedly that if any of the three dropped out, that one would have to pay $20,000-$30,000 to hook up special lines to the mandated center and would be charged a fee for each call routed to the local dispatch office. The fee-per-call has not been determined, officials add.

Later Thursday, Chief Vigil said, "Had Milan voted for it, their public safety would have been enhanced, and their citizens quality of service would have increased."

— To contact reporter Jim Maniaci, telephone (505) 285-6184 or (505) 870-7775 (cellular).