Several Bayard residents and property and business owners were joined by a pastor at the Bayard City Council meeting Monday to demand tangible action to address a slew of ordinance violations at M&M Bayard Auto Service on Railroad Street.
Steve and Lori Gabaree, longtime Bayard residents who live across the street from the shop, were among those present.
In January, after years of heightened concern, the couple sent a letter to Mayor Chon Fierro and the council which outlined unlawful and unsafe activities they claim to have witnessed at the auto shop.
After sending the letter, to which they said they did not receive a response, they ended up making weekly phone calls to Fierro. After months of dialogue with him, Fire Chief Euphemio Gonzalez and former Chief of Police Lee Alirez, they still haven’t attained their desired outcome: the enforcement of municipal ordinances on the auto shop.
The couple spoke with the Daily Press last week in hopes that shedding light on the issue might instigate some movement.
M&M Auto has “violated so many ordinances for years,” Steve Gabaree said at the meeting Monday, adding that he and his wife are at the end of their rope, having not received the help from the city that they’ve asked for to solve the problem.
As of last week, it was unclear whether the auto shop was subject to current city ordinances, or whether it had been grandfathered in to an older code — or if, as property owner Dave Wilguess claims, the business was granted “noncompliant status” by the city.
When asked if the city will now be enforcing city law on M&M Auto, Mayor Fierro told the Daily Press after the meeting, “Yes! We will.”
In response to the Gabarees’ public input questions as to why the business had yet to be cited, Fierro blamed failure on the part of a former code enforcement officer and two former chiefs of police.
“I apologize for this. I thought we were moving forward, but we weren’t,” he said. “This has been going on for 15 or more years.”
“There are so many infractions here over these 15 years,” Bayard property owner Melissa Rackel said during public input. “That site may need remediation and reclamation,” adding that the council may need to reach out for more support, either from special legal counsel or “environmental quality control — whether it’s in the county, the state or the federal government.”
“If there ever was an explosion there or a fire, how many people is it going to wipe out?” she continued.
“This is a serious problem,” said Bayard business owner and volunteer firefighter Aaron Burg. “Being part of the Fire Department, what happens if there is an incident there? As first responders, are we supposed to just go into that death trap? It’s a hazard for everyone.”
“To put peace of mind in my firemen and their families, I will not let any of my firemen go in there to a fire where there’s danger, and they’re going to get hurt,” Fire Chief Gonzalez said in response to Burg’s comment.
Burg and Rackel joined the Gabarees in stating how willing they are to help ensure that action is taken to keep their community safe.
Bayard First Baptist Church Pastor Duane Gray chimed in as well.
“We are concerned about the junky vehicles,” he said, referring to roughly 40 vehicles currently stored on the property. “We would like the ordinance to be used, and the code to be used to remove those vehicles. They’re directly across from the church.”
Fierro said he was surprised there weren’t more community members in attendance at the meeting Monday, as he had received multiple complaints about the auto-shop-turned-salvage-yard.
“You know why they don’t come?” Lori Gabaree responded. “Because they’ve been complaining long enough, and nothing has been done. We talked to all our neighbors, and they’re all in agreement — but as far as anything getting done, they’ve lost hope.”
Fierro promised to keep working on resolving the issue.
“It’s not a thing that I’m going to let go,” he said.
“We are going to work on it continuously,” Councilor Raul Villanueva added, speaking directly to the Gabarees.
Councilor Eloy Medina suggested the mayor create a written timeline with proposed action steps, while Councilor Charles Kelly suggested the council hire special legal counsel to address the issue, proposing that the council needs to “start a lawsuit in order to get something done.”
“Even if [the ordinance violation] went to court, it would be a small fine, and they’d be right back at it,” he continued. “Let’s get serious. … I think it will get their attention.”
While Villanueva initially disagreed with Kelly, later in the meeting, during reports, councilors revisited the idea of seeking legal counsel and agreed that it may be a necessary step.
Patrol Officer Joe Carlos said that he would soon address the code violations, and Fierro insisted that Carlos be given time to cite the business before the council seeks legal assistance.
“We’re getting ready this week to go down to [M&M Auto] to go over all the safety concerns,” Fire Chief Gonzalez told the council. “We’re going to give them an abatement date, and they have to have it done in 30 days,” adding that if they don’t cooperate, he will have Carlos charge the business with the violations.
After public input, the council moved straight into a closed session pertaining to threatened or pending litigation. When they returned, they moved swiftly through the remaining agenda.
The council revisited an IT contract approved at a previous meeting. The original approval included an incorrect quote for the cost of the contract. The contract, which is charged on a monthly instead of yearly basis, was properly quoted, and the council once again approved it.
A quote from Shawn Russel in the amount of $4,500 to cut down and remove a large cottonwood tree on Erie Street which has caused damage to the water channel was approved. Russel will cut the tree down, leaving a stump that the city will then need to remove, Bayard Clerk-Treasurer Kristina Ortiz told the council.
A property line adjustment to the Bayard townsite known as the Coffey Addition was also approved. The adjustment is an equal swap, of .037 acre of land, Ortiz said.
The council also approved the adoption of operating procedures for the Bayard Police Department in regard to response to resistance and body camera use.
“The recommendation is to use the policies that were samples from the Sheriff’s Department,” Ortiz said.
An open meeting resolution was also approved by the council. While the council will continue to hold meetings in person at City Hall, they spoke briefly about updating their masking policy in response to the Delta variant of COVID-19. Ortiz said they will likely start requiring all visitors, regardless of vaccination status, to mask when entering City Hall, and that employees will need to mask when interacting with visitors or co-workers from different departments.
“Resolution 16-21, for the $1 million grant that was provided [by the state] for our rehab of our 1 million-gallon storage tank,” as Ortiz explained it, was unanimously approved by the council.
Councilor Villanueva, in his report, asked the council if they would be interested in employing high school students again this school year, as they have in years past. The council agreed by consensus to reach out to Cobre High to start the process of connecting students with city departments. Ortiz suggested that while high school workers previously worked at City Hall, the Police Department and the library, this year it would be better to utilize student workers in the library and maintenance department.
The next regular Bayard City Council meeting will occur Tuesday, Aug. 24, at 2 p.m.
Hannah Dumas may be reached at [email protected] lypress.com.
https://ift.tt/37x948J
Auto
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Residents demand Bayard council act on auto shop - Silver City Daily Press and Independent"
Post a Comment