Funding cut from Children Youth and Families Department

A reduction in contract funding of more than $150,000 will limit the service range of the home visits for expecting, parents, guardians of children, while eliminating Curry County services from the Presbyterian Medical Services.

The contract funding was cut from $259,000 a year to $105,000 a year said Angie Coburn, PMS Central Region Director.

Coburn, acting administrator of the Quay County Family Health Center, said the four year contract, that ended in June, was between PMS and the Children Youth and Families Department. She said CYFD was the primary source of the funding that has been cut drastically.

Coburn said with the cuts there will only be two home visitors available for 30 families in Quay County. She said the services focused on educating and recommending services to expecting parents for a healthy birth. For parents of children age 0-5 the visitors would work on creating a nurturing relationship for the family as well as referring the family to developmental services as needed, Coburn said.

“The age limit for this program has now been reduced to 0-3 years of age,” Coburn said. “This cut also prevents us from offering services to families in Curry County any further.”

Coburn said last year the program provided services to 23 families in Curry County. She said the families being served had children aged 3-5, many who now would be outside their service range.

“Those children are eligible for other services such as Headstart or pre-Kindergarten,” Coburn said.

Coburn said there is a possibility of families in Curry County with children who fall into PMS’ service range but due to funding they will have to seek another resource.

“It is unfortunate we can no longer provide the program in their area, however, there are other resources and programs available in their county,” Coburn said.

Coburn said the reduction in funding has also prompted PMS to relocate the program that is currently based in a rented building on South Second Street in Tucumcari. She said many options will be considered to how best use the available funding to ensure quality service for the families of Quay County.

The commissioners approved the amending of the Industrial Revenue Bond for the Caprock Solar Project.

Alan Hall, attorney and County IRB specialist, presented the amendment to the commissioners.

Hall said the amendment would allow the land for the proposed second Phase (30 megawatt) to be separate from the existing and operating (25 megawatt) phase.

The purpose of separating the land for the two projects is to allow the Duke Power Co.’s, Caprock Solar Power Plants owner, to seek alternative options for the funding of the second phase located east of Mesa Redonda in southeast Quay County, said Richard Primrose, county manager.

Other items before the commission:

• Quay County Road Superintendent Larry Moore requested approval of the 2017-2018 funding request for county road improvement projects. Funding was approved for county roads AI, 57, 101, 46 and 60 for a total of $484,513.

• Quay County DWI Compliance Administrator Bryan Rinestine gave a presentation of Quay County DWI Statistics.

There were 15 total arrests — 11 for first offense, two for second offense and three for third offense. Of the arrests, 13 were by the New Mexico State Police and two by the Tucumcari Police Department.. The blood alcohol content of those arrested ranged from .04 to .22, and the average age was 49.7 with ages from 24 to 70.

Of the 15 arrested, 14 were male.

• An executive session for threatened or pending litigation was held during the meeting.

No action was taken.