The City of Socorro and the Socorro Animal Shelter approved a memorandum of understanding during the city council meeting on March 15.
John Larson | El Defensor Chieftain

The city council approved the Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Socorro and the Animal Shelter during their meeting on March 15.

The MOU is for two years starting on the date it was signed.

“It is going to be for us to be able to intake all of their (the county’s) animals in the Socorro County area, which does not include the Village of Magdalena,” Animal Shelter director Guadalupe Tarango said during the meeting.

“We have updated the fee schedule for them and that will take care of the boarding, shots, veterinary care as well as in the event of having to euthanize an animal… I think they are going to be bringing more animals to the shelter so we wanted to update it.”

According to the MOU, it is for any stray animals brought in by the sheriff’s department, other county staff or county residents. A county resident is someone who lives in the unincorporated areas of the county.

The shelter is to keep an animal for a minimum of seven days if they have a collar, microchip or any other identification tag.

Complete records of each animal brought in, including those who don’t have any form of identification tag, are to be kept, which includes species, sex, discription of the animal and date of check in and check out.

Tarango and the local veterinarians are to provide “basic, minimum animal care for sick and/or injured strays.”

At the end of each month, the shelter will bill the county based on a fee schedule:

Animal intake: $30 per animal

Animal intake shots: $30 per animal

Boarding fee: $7 per day, until the necessary days are fulfilled to met minimum shelter days

Quarantine fee: $14 per day, until the necessary days are fulfilled to meet minimum animal bite observation period

Laboratory fees: $80 for rabies suspect when testing is necessary or required

Eutanasia: $17 per animal

Disposal fee: $10 per animal

The quarantine fee is for animals who are suspected to have rabies or animals that have bitten another animal or a human. Those animals must remain in quarantine for up to 10 days for observation purposes.

A county official may request that the Animal Shelter be a temporary holding facility for animals whose owner is being held under protective custody, which includes a car accident, a court order, owner arrest or death of the owner. The animal(s) will be held up to 15 days.

The council also unanimously approved Ordinance No. 19-08-05 (Amendment B) after a public hearing was held and no member of the public spoke.

The ordinance is to “increase the approved par amount of the bond anticipation note/loan agreement” with the Rural Community Assistance Corporation to improve the City of Socorro’s wastewater collection system. The amount is to not exceed $4,950,000.

The amount for the bridge loan is not to exceed $1,218,644 and is to be used to “cover the costs of engineering and other preliminary expenses related to the project.”

According to the ordinance, the City of Socorro is to enter the second phase of interim financing with
RCAC, which includes amending the original ordinance to show the new amount of the loan agreement.

During the city council meeting, five budget resolutions were approved:

Budget Resolution 17:
Street Improvement
Resources:
State Highway Funding:
$3,062,000
Interest Income: $2,000
Requirements:
Engineering: $439,000
Road Project:
$2,625,000
Budget Resolution 18:
Industrial Park
Resources:

Rent Income: $10,000
Transfer from General Fund: $30,000
Requirements:
Capital Improvement:
$40,000
Budget Resolution 19: Airport Department
Resources:
NM Airport Main
Grant: $20,000
Requirements:
Repair and System
Maintenance: $15,000

Building Maintenance:
$5,000
Budget Resolution 20:
CDBG Fund
Resources:
Cap Imp. State Grants:
$750,000

Requirements:
Engineering: $75,745
Construction: $604,192
Contractual: $70,063
Budget Resolution 21:

INFR Loan Intercept/Reserve 403

Resources:
G/R Tax Intercept: $95,196

Other business:

The business registration for Enchantment Fences, LLC was approved. It is located in Albuquerque and is owned by Kamil Ozhan.

The City of Socorro announced that all parks, tennis courts and walking paths are open to the public as long as social distancing guidelines are followed due to Socorro County being Turquoise. Residents can make reservations for parties if the size of the group follows the state order.

Fire Chief Joe Gonzales said the Socorro Fire Department used a grant to buy an ambulance and that it has since arrived in Socorro.