Commission assigns chair to Meek, vice chair to Juarez

BERNALILLO — The first Sandoval County Commission meeting of the year — and of the next term — was productive as the commissioners established the new chair and vice chair as well as other board and committee assignments.

The discussion on the item at the Jan. 8 meeting began with the recently elected Jon Herr nominating Jordan Juarez, also recently elected, for the vice chair position. The nomination was unopposed with all commissioners voting in favor of the assignment. Then Herr nominated Mike Meek for chair, which again was unopposed and approved by all commissioners.

Next, the commissioners moved on to Mid-Region Council of Governments assignments.

“Basically all of the appointments are up for grabs. I guess that’s the best way to put it, but primarily the ones that were vacated by previous members,” County Manager Wayne Johnson told the commissioners.

He said that former Commissioner Dave Heil was assigned to a lot of the positions that are now available.

The first assignment was the executive board, which Commissioner Katherine Bruch nominated Josh Jones to head. Commissioners agreed that was a good notion. There was also a board of directors position available. Bruch currently sits on that board, but Juarez was nominated to join her. Again commissioners had no objections.

The next assignment was for the Metropolitan Transportation Board, which Johnson says is an important seat. Herr expressed interest in the seat and was accepted by the commissioners. Lastly, the Juvenile Justice Advisory Board assignment was available. Juarez volunteered to take that position. Commissioners approved that unanimously as well.

After each position was voted on, commissioners then voted on the approval of all the assignments, which also passed unanimously.

Bruch additionally asked about staffing those boards and committees.

“I think there are several of these boards that it would prove beneficial for us to have some staffing on those public meetings,” she said.

Johnson said the administration would be happy to provide any staff that commissioners need for the boards and committees.

During the meeting, the commissioners also approved the Open Meetings Act, which allows the public and the press to sit in on public meetings like the county commission.

Towards the end of the meeting Bruch expressed a desire to “get work done” and asked the county manager for an update to be given one of the commission meetings on some of the projects in the county including a new dispatch center, the animal resource center and some other smaller projects.