Curry County manager gets vote of confidence

Staff Writer

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Upon reconvening from executive session to discuss threatened and pending litigation in federal/district court, during Friday’s meeting the Curry County Commission extended a vote of confidence to County Manager Lance Pyle.

The voice vote to issue the measure of support was unanimous.

“We went into executive session to discuss pending litigation and thought it would be appropriate to give a public vote of confidence to our manager,” Commission Chairman Wendell Bostwick said. “That means we are confident he is handling the management duties of the county appropriately and handling them properly.”

Pyle did not respond to a request for comment.

Commissioner Chet Spear has had differences of opinion with commission members with regard to Pyle’s duties and responsibilities, but joined forces with other commissioners in issuing the confidence vote.

“We only discussed a matter of pending litigation during the executive session,” Spear responded via email. “It was my understanding that it (vote of confidence) was limited only to this lawsuit. What was described to me as the basis for the complaint, I was comfortable in giving my vote of confidence that the allegations were unfounded to my knowledge.”

In other meeting actions:

The commission voted in favor of developing a policy with future Implementation for body cameras for detention center staff. Commission Chairman Wendell Bostwick initiated discussion on the matter.

“Having served on the New Mexico Association of Counties insurance pool, my challenge was we all have cameras around and we’re trying to get all the dead spots,” he said. “But that doesn’t tell the whole story every time. You don’t know what was said or get the firsthand experience. My whole point in bringing this up is to reduce liability. I’m trying to be proactive. I don’t want to buy the cameras until we have a policy.”

Curry County Information Technology Director Aaron Jones said such an effort would cost $25,000 for a storage server (the backend server to which video would be loaded), with cameras being priced at $400 apiece — for an upfront minimum total of $100,000. The body cameras would not replace facility cameras — which do not have audio, he said.

Curry County Detention Center Administrator Mark Gallegos said all bases must be covered.

“We have a shift commander wearing a body camera,” he said. “We have the booking sergeant wearing a body camera and we have one of the female officers in the pod wearing a body camera. I agree with having the body cameras, but there are going to be some touchy situations. If there are some policies and procedures, we have to be sound. If we do this, we have to think methodically.”

Vice Chairman Chet Spear shared particulars of a recent California study involving body camera usage in correctional facilities.

“Officers and inmates are on their best behavior when cameras are on,” he said. “With body cameras worn you have a visual and verbal recording which would substantiate who is telling the truth (with regard to allegations of violations). The body cameras would be required through training and strict policies to activate them when there is a confrontational situation with an inmate or while conducting rounds and moving inmates.”