According to city ordinance, previous city councils, probably fighting the same battle against weeds many years ago, approved an ordinance that give substantial authority to the mayor and his administration to tackle weeds.

The ordinance, in five short paragraphs, explains the city can give notice to property owners that their weeds are out of control. A property owner then has two days to cut the weeds. If the weeds aren’t cut, the city has the power by ordinance to enter the property and cut the weeds.

Part of the argument for why the city can’t take care of the weeds around town has been that the city doesn’t have enough employees to address the problem.

The ordinance says the city can charge a property owner $100 per hour to cut the weeds, and the minimum charge is $100, even if it takes less than an hour. The city can also lien property if the property owner doesn’t pay up.

Bringing in $100 per hour means the city would have more than enough money to hire a seasonal employee who can get aggressive to address the problem.

“This is ridiculous,” he told the commissioners.

Donges has been defending his department against accusations that it failed to respond to calls about a rave in Tierra Grande during the Fourth of July weekend.

Caught in the middle of the debate is the Valencia County Regional Emergency Communication Center, a collaborative effort of the county and municipalities, housed within the Village of Los Lunas Police Department.

The dispatch center coordinates 911 emergency response for the county, the City of Belen, the Village of Bosque Farms, the Village of Los Lunas, and the Town of Peralta.

According to Donges, the call-takers at the dispatch center aren’t properly trained to identify when it’s appropriate to dispatch police, which had citizens at the meeting wondering out loud if the call-takers have been empowered to decide what laws should and shouldn’t be enforced.

He said calls to the dispatch center about the rave were never conveyed to the sheriff’s department.

The problems go beyond whether or not police were dispatched on the night of the rave. Commission Chairman Don Holliday expressed frustrations with an incident in his district.

Holliday said the county manager called the dispatch center after the incident to find out why there was a failure to respond, but the center’s administrator hasn’t responded to him.

“I’m concerned they haven’t gotten back to the county manager,” he said, acknowledging problems at the dispatch center. “We’re going to find out what the hell is going on.”

Commissioner Ron Gentry also wants to “find out what’s going on over there,” saying calls from citizens about crime, and in particular the rave, seem to be “falling on deaf ears.”

He said the county should “reevaluate” the $215,000 it contributes to the operation of the dispatch center.

“Are we getting what our citizens deserve?” Gentry asked.

Since the launch of the program on Saturday, the city has received two application requesting to adopt parks. The city has also received interest and requests for applications from eight other individuals or groups.

The city maintains 11 parks from as small as 9/11 Park on Main Street to as large as Eagle Park near Belen High School.

The program was written and created by Councilor Jerah R. Cordova, with help from Jaramillo and the city council.

To participate in the program, whether as a volunteer or an adopting individual or organization, call Audrey Torres at 966-2740.

The funding will allow the district and magistrate courts to continue contract services provided by a probation officer who monitors roughly 75 offenders who might otherwise be in jail. The money will also pay for things like ankle bracelets.

The State of New Mexico cut the funding for the program for this fiscal year.

Had Valencia County not funded it, 36 to 40 of the offenders in the program would likely have ended up spending time in the Valencia County Detention Center, which is so overcrowded that this month nearly 30 inmates are being housed in Santa Fe and Cibola counties.

“The ‘no vacancy’ light is on,” said Commission Chairman Don Holliday.

According to Derek Williams, the jail’s warden, the county pays $85 a day to house the inmates in Santa Fe County and nearly $65 a day to house them in Cibola County. In-house, the cost per day is a minimum of $30.

Adding 36 to 40 inmates to the number already housed outside of Valencia County could cost the county much more than the $50,000 it’ll spend on program.

“There is an actual cost-savings to the county,” Commissioner Pedro Rael said.

Commissioner Ron Gentry, skeptical of committing money to the program, asked the commission to immediately identify how the county will fund the program.

The county was expected to hire four detention officers in August. The commission ultimately decided to fund the program by postponing the hiring of two of those four officers.

The City of Belen, Village of Bosque Farms, Village of Los Lunas and Town of Peralta all use the county jail to house their inmates.

Holliday recommended amending the county’s joint powers agreements with each of the county’s municipalities.

“Hit them up for a couple more bucks a day,” he said, an idea included in the motion approved by the commission.

Holliday said the municipalities should pay an additional $10,000 each.

Williams thought the county might have trouble collecting the additional $10,000 per municipality, noting that the City of Belen is six months behind on its payments to the county jail, owing nearly $17,000.

Rio Metro will get two 2010 Glaval Universals on Ford E450 Chasis-26’s, a 2000 Dodge Para Transit, a 2007 Ford Startrans Mini Bus, and a 1994 Ford Champion.

While the city won’t get money for the vehicles, the city is likely to get money to continue parking the vehicles on city property, if Rio Metro agrees to lease city property for that purpose.

Previously, Rio Metro agreed to move staff from Belen’s public transportation to Rio Metro, saving the city money it would otherwise allocate for salaries and benefits.

The city agreed to cede control of its public transportation service to Rio Metro last September. The Village of Los Lunas did the same in January.

Rio Metro has been developing new bus routes in Valencia County to provide better service to residents across the county.

All of the changes in local public transportation are the result of a tax passed by voters in November 2008, which funds regionalized improvements in three counties, including Valencia County.

Meals will be free for children 18 years old or younger.

Families can get meals at Belen High School, Rio Grande Elementary School, H.T. Jaramillo Community School, Logsdon Hall Park, Anna Becker Park, Willie Chavez Park, Timan Park, Jose Gallegos Park, Tome-Adelino Fire Station, Calvary Chapel, Abo Baseball Field, and the Belen Community Center at Eagle Park.

The program will run from June 7 until July 30.

For more information call 966-1714.

According to county officials, the change is the result of dissatisfaction with the direction of the local program, including that the program’s board wasn’t chaired by a district court judge.

Now the state will fully fund the program, though Valencia County will continue to pay for housing of juveniles in detention.

Because of the takeover, the program has been eliminated from the county’s new budget, which means the county will no longer fund the position of juvenile justice administrator.

Teen Court began hearing cases for primarily first-time offenders in September 2007.