Commissioners assign positions in first meeting of year

CLOVIS — During the first Curry County Commission meeting of the new year, Commissioner Ben McDaniel outpointed Commissioner Chet Spear 3-2 Thursday for the right to serve as the commission’s chairman.

McDaniel succeeds Wendell Bostwick, whose term on the commission ended in December.

Commissioner Angelina Baca nominated McDaniel for the post while Commissioner Robert Thornton nominated Spear. McDaniel’s votes came in the form of his own, Baca’s and Commissioner Benjamin Smith.

With regard to the Vice Chairman slot, McDaniel nominated Baca while Spear, who filled the position last year, nominated Thornton. Baca garnered the seat with three votes on the strength of her own tally and those of Thornton, McDaniel and Smith.

“I appreciate their support and I’m honored they’re comfortable supporting me as chairman,” McDaniel said. “It’s a tough, time consuming job, but we’re all looking forward to a good year. I’m comfortable with the commission we have and we’re looking forward to doing some good things.”

In other meeting actions:

• The commission enacted a proclamation for 2017 Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service in Curry County.

• A retirement plaque was presented to Beni Dampier for 25 years of service.

• The commission voted to reject enacting a countywide burn ban.

“It seems like every time I put this on the agenda, we get some precipitation,” Spear said. “But I asked our fire marshal if he would come and give us an update on what he believes our fire risk is.”

Curry County Fire and Safety Director David Kube said residents should remain on alert.

“The fire danger is very high,” he said. “A lot of the native grasses are six inches to 18 inches tall. And most of you know we have tumbleweeds everywhere, so the fire danger throughout the county is very high. Regarding the ordinance, the one adopted last year, which repealed previous ordinances, is very restrictive already. Open burning is only allowed with a wind speed of 10 miles per hour or less and citizens are supposed to call in and report they’re going to have an open burn. I would like to see a burn ban, but I don’t know if it would do any good — for the simple reason people who are going to abide by the current ordinance anyway, they’re going to abide by it. Those that aren’t are going to burn regardless, and there are provisions to cite those people.”

Kube said other sources have contributed to fires that have occurred on the open plains.

“A lot of the wildfires we have had recently have not been because of open burning,” he said. “They have been because of electrical lines being blown down in high winds and construction crews welding and not taking proper precautions and things of that nature.”