Torrance County Commissioners Extend TCDF Agreement and Consider Changes to Fire Department

The TCDF Contract

As is often the case when television cameras are present, the Torrance County Commission meeting on March 26, 2025, dealt with the Torrance County Detention Facility (TCDF). Attendance was larger than usual, with a news crew from KOB-TV present, filming from behind county attorney Michael Garcia and county manager Jordan Barela. One can speculate the increased interest in the contract extension stems from recent allegations that ICE detained 48 individuals in New Mexico, but would not identify their location, their names, or make them available to attorneys. Additionally, one can speculate it stemmed from the overall increase in immigration enforcement activity by the Trump Administration.

Activists from groups including Catholic Charities, the Immigration Law Lab, the New Mexico Dream Team, and the New Mexico Immigration Law Center spoke out during public comment regarding their concerns about allegedly inadequate medical care, insufficient and low-quality food, and improper treatment of detainees at TCDF. The activists also read statements from detainees at the facility that referenced specific incidents in which detainees alleged misconduct occurred. During the county commissioners' discussion of TCDF, County Commissioner Linda Jaramillo provided the audience with her thoughts regarding the intergovernmental agreement between Torrance County and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

"So I'm going to vote for this today," Commissioner Jaramillo said regarding extending the contract with ICE), "I'm going to do it, but I'd like to have more interaction with these detainees, because we have a contract with ICE, right.... I'm the commissioner, so I'd like to visit more often, as much as I possibly can, with the detainees because you hear all of these [stories alleging misconduct], and you don't know what's true and what's not true and what's exaggerating, whatever. So, I'd like to make a point of visiting the detainees a little more over the period of this contract so that I can see for myself what's going on in there with these detainees. And I know this is a federal issue. We - it's the federal government that's processing these detainees. We just happen to be housing them because we have a place for them. But I don't think any human should be treated inhumanely...."

Chair Ryan Schwebach (District 2) concurred with Commissioner Jaramillo regarding her visits and suggested she conduct unannounced visits to TCDF. "It is not just okay [to conduct unannounced visits]," Schwebach said, "It is encouraged, ok? And that is one of the tasks of the commission."

The three county commissioners unanimously voted to extend the contract with ICE and CoreCivic. The contract extension will apply until October 31, 2025. 

Fire Department Matters

Open Fire Ban Imposed

The county commissioners unanimously approved Resolution 2025-14, declaring a fire danger emergency within the county and imposing burn restrictions on residents of unincorporated Torrance County. The resolution includes misdemeanor penalties for those who violate the burn restrictions. The burn restrictions imposed by R. 2025-14 set forth the following rules regarding open fires: 

• making it unlawful to dispose of *hot* ashes (ashes that have cooled for 48 hours or extinguished with water or sand can be disposed of in dumpsters provided the ashes are bagged beforehand); 
• banning trash burning; 
• banning open fires without 24-hour notification to Torrance County Dispatch or the Torrance County Fire Department;
• restricting open burning to times when winds are less than 10 miles per hour; 
• allowing the County Manager or Emergency Management Director to declare critical fire conditions, requiring the halting of all open burning; 
• allowing the county commissioners to restrict all open fires (except in the cases of cooking and heating) except those for which a burn permit has been obtained; and,
• permitting the county's law enforcement authority for fires - the Torrance County Sheriff's Office - to enter private lands without a warrant to determine if a fire emergency exists. 

Consolidation of County Fire Districts

Deputy Fire Chief Hanna Sanchez discussed with the county commissioners the consolidation of the Torrance County Fire Districts into what Torrance County Manager Jordan Barela later described as a single fire district that included the entire county. Barela said no official map was available yet for this consolidation. Mountainair EMS Chief Josh Lewis, speaking for Mountainair Volunteer Fire Department Chief Josh Archuleta, expressed concern via telephone about how the consolidation would occur. Lewis said that Sanchez had a meeting scheduled with municipal fire departments in the county, during which he believed she could have clarified the consolidation. According to Lewis, Sanchez did not show up for the meeting. 

Regarding this proposal and missed meeting, Lewis wrote in an email, "The Town of Mountainair [is] in Torrance County. Both Chief Archuleta and I would have loved to be privy to this information beforehand instead of being broad-sided.  I, for one, will now be demanding open communication.  I find it quite insulting to both Chief Archuleta and [me] that Torrance County does not attend their own Torrance County Fire/EMS Meeting, yet less than 24 hours later, make this level of proposal to the County Commissioners."

In a subsequent email, EMS Chief Lewis expressed concern that the county's consolidation effort could harm funding for municipal fire departments from the state. Lewis suggested an alternative focus instead of consolidation.

"I think we need to focus our energy and efforts [on] recruitment, retention, incentives, pay, and more clarity [regarding] the mutual aid agreements. Maybe a current revision on County-Wide MOUs [memoranda of understanding]. We should all work together [to] protect and defend the County as a whole."

Road Maintenance

Leonard Lujan, Torrance County Road Superintendent, spoke with the Torrance County Commissioners about his desire to create a training focal position within the road department. The county commissioners did not take action to create this position during the meeting. 

Lujan also brought before the county commissioners Resolution 2025-15, which requested financial assistance from the state to purchase highway equipment. The county commissioners unanimously approved the adoption of this resolution. 

Later in the meeting, County Manager Jordan Barela requested that the county commissioners approve a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the county and the City of Moriarty so that the county could provide labor and equipment to chip/seal streets in Moriarty. Barela explained that the MOU was similar to a recently expired MOU that created a similar arrangement between Torrance County and Moriarty.

"...[Essentially] what this MOU will allow, it will allow county labor and county equipment to be used on city of Moriarty chip seal projects. So we would agree to provide again the labor as well as the equipment, the city would be responsible for the procuring of materials, paying the [purchase order] for those materials, and reimbursing the county for labor costs at one and a half times the normal rate of pay. The city also agrees to pay the county for the use of equipment, and reimburses [the county] for the cost of fuel, and also to handle any logistics, such as shutting down roads or things like that along these lines."

Commissioner Jaramillo asked whether the arrangement would take personnel away from county work. County Manager Barela said he did not believe it would. Road Superintendent Lujan explained that the Torrance County Road Department would work for Moriarty from Friday to Sunday and never during "county time." Commissioner Kevin McCall (District 1) said he discussed the arrangement with Brandon Webb, the Moriarty Mayor. McCall said Webb told him that the arrangement would help Moriarty complete projects before the city risked losing funding. Barela concurred, mentioning that Moriarty City Council had approved the arrangement. The county commissioners unanimously approved entering into the MOU with Moriarty. 

Economic Development

County Manager Barela requested approval from the county commissioners for a plan to address economic development in Torrance County. Barela said the plan included applying for an economic adjustment assistance grant to "execute a comprehensive economic development plan for Torrance County and for the salary and benefits for an economic development specialist...." Barela said he wanted to re-designate the vacant role of the grants administrator assistant to provide part of the salary and benefits for this economic development specialist. He also said he wanted to use $25,000 earmarked in the fiscal year 2025 budget for the now-defunct Estancia Valley Economic Development Association (EVEDA) to fund the county's participation in the Albuquerque Regional Economic Alliance and to supplement the salary and benefits for an economic development specialist. Barela said that he and Deputy County Manager Misty Witt had spoken with economic development personnel regarding a grant that he intended to use to fund a comprehensive economic development plan. "That plan, in and of itself, would sort of set the framework for redoing a leader ordinance, also establishing economic development programs within the county, but all that has to happen with a staff person on board to really execute those functions, and this particular grant would cover that staff person as well, at least for the three year period," Barela said. He continued in explaining that the project would span three years, with the comprehensive economic development plan being developed in the first year, "year two would include some consulting services, as well as salary and benefits for the [economic development] specialist, and year three is really where [Torrance County would] get into [economic development programs.]" The Torrance County Commissioners unanimously voted in favor of Barela's request.

Animal Services

The county commissioners considered a request for approval from Torrance County Animal Services and the Village of Willard for temporary emergency animal capture and transportation. Speaking on behalf of Torrance County Animal Services, Director Danette Langdon said that Willard had a problem with a pack of wild dogs attacking people and livestock. For the county to continue assisting the village in eliminating the problem, they needed a MOU to authorize county animal services representatives to work with the village. The commissioners unanimously approved this measure, a request for approval by Torrance County Animal Services for out-of-state training, and a request for ratification of Torrance County Animal Services’ application for a grant provided by the Best Friends Network Partners Paws in the Field Challenge. 

The Torrance County Commissioners closed the meeting with a private executive session in which they interviewed and discussed candidates for the vacant county fire chief position. In the executive session, the commissioners also discussed the purchase, acquisition, or disposal of unidentified real property.