Q&A: Curry County manager discusses jail, sports complex

Editor's note: This is one in a continuing series of state-of-the-entity interviews with local officials. Lance Pyle is the Curry County manager.

Q: A $49 million preliminary budget for fiscal year 2024 was presented at the last commission meeting. Talk about the key components and how does this compare to previous budgets?

A: The budget is down a little from last year's preliminary budget of $48.8 million, but we will start to work next month on the final budget that is due to the state on July 31. The preliminary budget will increase some as we have several grants that we have been awarded and are pending. Having said that, it will be less than the total final operating budget for this fiscal year of $63.2 million as we have completed the Sheriff's Office construction, and we are nearing the completion of the Courthouse renovation and additional project, the new Extension Office, and several road projects.

Curry County is moving forward. We continue to see positive revenue projections and collections in gross receipts and property tax with new construction and consumer spending and we are extremely aggressive with grant funding. This year's budget includes over $850,000 of capital improvements to the fairgrounds (Indoor Pavilion, the grounds, and the Mounted Patrol Arena) and around $13 million for the new Multi-Purpose Livestock Pavilion construction.

This budget includes a transfer of $2.4 million of general fund dollars to the road department, which I wish we could do more. It is a goal for the county this fiscal year to work to bring additional funding in to improve conditions of the rural county roads.

Q: What is the jail situation these days? Are you short of detention officers? How many prisoners are you averaging? What is the capacity?

A: Our staffing numbers have improved, and we currently have 16 full-time and three part-time detention officer vacancies and we have been fortunate with a lower inmate population while we recruit and train.

As of today (Thursday), we have 153 detainees, and the highest population for the last three weeks has been 163 with a capacity of 262. Administrator Mark Gallegos and the team are working on the next detention accreditation, which will assess 190 mandatory standards that must be adhered to. This will be the third accreditation and will be conducted later this year.

Last month we had a pharmacy audit, and our medical department rendered a 100% compliance score. We have expanded our medical services earlier this year with a physician scheduled to provide services twice a week and increased mental health services up to and including an onsite psychiatric nurse to provide services in person with detainees who are rated at the chronic care level.

The licensed clinical social worker has also been averaging 50 detainee visits a week. We have implemented ankle monitors -- a device that is placed on the detainees who are on a medical watch, which provides the county with the capability to track respiratory heart rate.

We have also implemented new programs to include new tablets that provide classes on anger management, life skills, food handling, cognitive therapy, GED and faith-based books and studies.

We continue to have a Christian church come in and offer baptisms with last month nine performed. (This) week, we will kick off an outside detainee work crew to assist with general maintenance and clean-up of county property.

I continue to be extremely impressed with our detention center staff and the dedication, hard work, and direction of the facility, which is reflected in costs savings in reduced liability insurance rates.

Q: What's the latest on the proposed county sports complex?

A: Since Commissioner Seth Martin has brought this forward, we have heard overwhelming support from the community. It is obvious that a facility is needed, but this remains at a very early stage with a lot of additional work, planning and consideration needed.

The County Commission has changed by three new members and the new board has not had an opportunity to discuss the project together as a board. The county received $278,000 in a state appropriation from Rep. Andrea Reeb and the county plans to use these funds for additional programming to include community input meetings and schematic design. I envision the complex to be a partnership with the city of Clovis and the school districts.

We are continuing to research funding opportunities for the facility. The previous commission designated the facility to be constructed at the county fairgrounds, but since that time the county has been presented with some other options from community members and I anticipate that decision to be reviewed and discussed during the programming design phase.

We have received a lot of feedback regarding the consideration of an aquatic center with an Olympic-sized pool.

Q: When will the courthouse renovations be complete? Has everything gone to plan?

A: The courthouse renovations are scheduled to be complete by July 5. There have been a few issues that arose throughout the project, but that is to be expected when renovating an existing historic building of that age.

There were also some modifications made to the design plans during construction to accommodate a future addition to house the magistrate court that the funding has been appropriated through a capital appropriation this past legislative session. Those modifications, while not overly complex, were difficult to incorporate into the design while construction was ongoing and to keep to the construction schedule to prevent further delays.

Q: What was the extent of road damage from the recent spate of storms?

A: The county is still assessing the full impact of damage and on Monday, the commission will be considering a resolution for a declaration of a disaster to be submitted to the state that possibly could make available some funding to offset the damages to municipal and county infrastructure.

Having said that, we have several roads in the county with washouts and are flooded. The following roads have significant damage that we know of -- CR L from CR 19 to 21, CR 22 from CR F to CR G, CR D from CR 19 to CR 26 and CR 17 from NM 108 to CR C.

Q: Curry County, in partnership with the New Mexico Public Education Department, is administering a summer internship program, paying teens to work in local businesses this summer. How is that working out? Where is the money coming from, how much is it and how many students/businesses are participating?

A: The program is going great and is an outstanding benefit to our community, businesses and our future leaders. We currently have 72 students signed up and 44 participating businesses.

Some businesses have requested multiple interns and we will continue to recruit interns as businesses are willing to host. The state Legislature has appropriated funds for the continuation and growth, and this is our third year to be able to offer the program.

The county has been approved for $269,572 in a grant, which includes 100 total interns for this summer working up to 19.75 hours a week. Curry County has seen great success over the past two years with students completing his/her internships and getting hired full time and assisting in decisions for a career field.

Last week, I was contacted by a company that had such a great experience they hired the intern at the end of the program, and the intern still works for them and has obtained her real estate license and that is just one example.

-- Compiled by Landry Sena, The Staff of The News