County Commissioners Push through Payment Decisions at the end of an Eight-Hour Session

Planning and Zoning Department Director Don Goen brought before the commissioners a proposed change to Torrance County Ordinance 2020-06 and requested approval to publish the title and general summary of the proposed changes to the ordinance prior to the public hearing to decide whether to approve the changes, which would apply to commercial cannabis greenhouses. The proposed changes include requiring cannabis growers to seek a conditional use permit each time they seek to operate a greenhouse in Torrance County.

Commissioner McCall and Commissioner Schwebach discussed with Goen how they could make the ordinance more stringent as it applied to commercial cannabis growers. The commissioners discussed requiring commercial growers to meet EPA standards for air filtration as part of the ordinance, requiring grow operations to be totally enclosed if they used grow lights. "We are changing our zoning ... [to] make it not nearly as economically appealing as it is today [for cannabis growers]; that's our intent," Commissioner Schwebach said during the discussion. County attorney Mike Garcia cautioned the commissioners that they needed to ensure that non-cannabis commercial agriculture was subject to the same sort of regulations to avoid litigation. After two hours, the commissioners approved the ordinance's publication, with Commissioner Schwebach saying they did not have time to review it before publication.

Rushing through the remaining items on the agenda as 5:00 PM approached, the commissioners approved:

• a $101,124 grant for the Mountainair health clinic;
• Payment of multiple unauthorized purchases made by Torrance County employees;
• multiple vendor contracts to Braycon Company, LLC and Serena Ortiz for the county's Girls Circle Facilitator program;
• a vendor contract to Robert Chavez for work as a Boys Council Facilitator;

County Clerk Linda Jaramillo reported to the commissioners that early voting at the county administrative offices had begun, with 125 people having already voted.

New County Manager Jordan Barela spoke about three new hires in the county and an upcoming hearing regarding counties with private detention facilities by the state legislature's Criminal Corrections and Justice Subcommittee. Barela explained that the legislature had requested the county attend this hearing. Barela said that insurance for law enforcement officers would increase in price due to claims against law enforcement across the state.

Commissioner Schropp said that he was looking for alternatives to the Torrance County Detention Facility being a private prison. Schropp continued, saying he had spoken with lobbyists about this effort. The County Commissioners then went into executive session to discuss the vacant deputy county manager position.