The Socorro County Board of Commissioners acted quickly Tuesday after county Senior Centers Director Lewis Auerbach said the center in Socorro is in desperate need of refrigerated air. The triple-digit heat and relatively high humidity have taken away much of the effectiveness of swamp coolers.
“We are frying in there, the way the weather is right now,” Auerbach told the commission.
Auerbach said some seniors have stopped coming in for lunch because of the heat. Walsh said all county buildings are hot because they use swamp coolers. Monette said the hot weather is harder on seniors, and the county should look into getting refrigerated air at the senior center.
Relief is on the way. The county will go out for bid to put air conditioning in place, and the commission should act on a bid at its next meeting.
County Manager Delilah Walsh said the county already had $20,000 to spend on air conditioning, in addition to $13,000 for parking lots and other improvements to the center. The county will receive $72,000 from the state for parking lots, so it will use the $33,000 it has now for an air conditioning and heating system.
In other business Tuesday:
• Walsh announced the county has been awarded a $165,960 grant from the Solid Waste Bureau of the state Environment Department to clean up an illegal tire dump in northern Socorro County. The bureau only awarded $300,000 total this funding cycle.
Walsh said the funds will purchase a portable tire bailer, a cutter and derimmer. She said the county has been talking about cleaning up the tire dump for years.
“As soon as we get the money in, we’re ready to hire a short crew,” Walsh told the commissioners Tuesday.
Walsh said the county will work with the Environment Department on enforcement issues and will use liens to recover money from the property owner.
In other business:
• The county approved a contract with David Handley to maintain 57.05 miles of road as needed for $1,000 and fuel costs. Commissioner Rumaldo Griego said he has been working to secure the contract for about nine months. Griego said Handley approached him and asked if he could perform the maintenance since he owned some equipment and “wants to give back” to his community.
• The commissioners re-awarded an engineering bid for the Polvadera Community Develop-ment Grant Block water project to Dennis Engineering. The county had previously awarded the bid to Socorro Engineering, which couldn’t perform the work because of another project.
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