The Sandoval County Commission’s first meeting of the new year Jan. 8 featured a new look, new commissioners and a newly modernized Commission Chambers.
Commissioners chose District 3 Commissioner Michael Meek as chair of the board after serving the past two years as vice chair to kick off the meeting in the recently updated and upgraded chambers.
According to county officials, “the changes in the Sandoval County Commission chambers are the result of an 18-month modernization and upgrade to audio and visual capabilities.”
The new equipment includes an additional video camera and seven more monitors.
“I’m sorry I forgot to mention, you probably didn’t notice but we have TV screens in here. And I don’t know if we got enough of them, but we’ll be watching March Madness in here,” Meek said. “These are nice, now that we can see any presentations without having to look over our heads. So good job on that county manager. It came out very well.”
Commissioners voted Jordan Juarez, who was elected to the District 4 seat in November, to be vice chair about five minutes into his first meeting as a commissioner.
“He hasn’t even been here 10 minutes,” Meek laughed.
Juarez replaced former chair Dave Heil, who served eight years on the board.
Jon Herr, who was also elected in November to replace two-term District 2 Commissioner Jay Block, also attended his first meeting as commissioner.
“Congratulations to the brand new commissioners,” District 5 Commissioner Joshua Jones said. “I look forward to working with you.”
It was also Jones’ first meeting as an elected official. In November, Jones became the first Black man to be elected to the commission. Jones had served on the commission before his election after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham appointed him to the seat in 2023.
“I would also like to congratulate both Commissioner Herr and Commissioner Juarez on their positions and the election of Commissioner Jones,” Meek said. “I think that we have a good group here. We are all here for you. We’re going to be here and we’re going to try to work together and get things done.”
The commission voted on board and committee appointments during the Wednesday meeting.
These appointments included Jones for the Mid-Region Council of Governments, District 1 Commissioner Katherine Bruch for the Metropolitan Transportation Board with Juarez and Bruch being appointed to the Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee.
Meek, a former Rio Rancho fire chief, took time to send thoughts and prayers to the first responders and citizens battling the deadly wildfires in Los Angeles.
“There are quite a few destroyed buildings and loss of lives,” Meek said. “I just really pray for all those people and their safety while they’re trying to get out of there.”
The 44-minute meeting also addressed a delay in a county GO bond transaction caused by Century Bank’s interest rate increase, which led to a switch to the New Mexico Finance Authority to sell the bonds.
The commissioners closed the meeting by discussing upcoming projects and priorities.
“That’s pretty fast,” Meek said to close the meeting. “People are liking the new guy.”