Home Care In Chamberino, NM

ANTHONY, N.M. (KFOX14/CBS4) — The city of Anthony, New Mexico got nearly $500,000 to fund the planning and design of two fishing lakes and an amphitheater within the former Dos Lagos golf course.

The grant was part of a $45 million award given by New Mexico's American Rescue Plan funds.

KFOX14 spoke with people in Anthony who said they were glad the city was using state funding to create more spaces for them to use.

"I feel like having something to do even in these kinds of areas is a pretty good investment," said Luis Garcia.

The lakes and the amphitheater were part of a bigger plan to revitalize the Dos Lagos golf course.

The plan included building an urgent care and an early college program.

In addition to fishing, Mario Juarez-Infante, Anthony's city manager, told KFOX14 they wanted to add other recreational features such as paddle boats and walking trails around the lake.

"It is right to put those two lakes back online as quickly as possible because that is the identity of this area," said Juarez-Infante.

“It's fine by me because kids can at least stop meddling in the streets,” said Mauro Chico.

"Out here it’s tough and for the kids to have fun. It would be nice for them to use the money," said Rito Roman.

Juarez-Infante said the amphitheater could be used to host summer festival events such as wine and beer fests.

He said the city also wanted to lease out the venue for private events.

He added the city hoped the lakes and the amphitheater would attract tourism since it was close to other counties and it was right off of I-10.

The lakes is going to be an amenity not only for the citizens of the city of Anthony it’s also an attraction for the region," said Juarez-Infante.

People KFOX14 spoke with in Anthony agreed.

"El Paso, Las cruces all these areas don't get as much recognition as it probably should it’s a good area and I believe it’s a good investment," said Garcia.

The city manager told KFOX14 once the design was ready they would be asking for additional funding for construction.

He said the lakes and the amphitheater could possibly be open to the public in about two years.

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ANTHONY, N.M. — The city of Anthony, New Mexico started the beginning stages of reusing a former golf course.

The city of Anthony bought the Dos Lagos golf course in 2019.

An Anthony, New Mexico trustee told KFOX14 the city started to build a recreational complex for all ages and said they would build an Urgent Care center as part of a plan to repurpose the property.

"I’ve seen it been abandoned for a long time, nothings going on so it would be a good use to get it going with something for the community," said Joe Parra an Anthony New Mexico resident.

"I think it’s a great idea considering the rural aspect of the community here," said Anthony, New Mexico resident Brian Cobb.

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Gabriel Holguin, an Anthony trustee told KFOX14 there were three different phases for the project the city wanted to complete.

He said the city started the first phase which was building a multigenerational facility.

"What that is it’s kind of like a youth center but since we have different populations here in Anthony such as the older population we did a multigenerational facility for all generations to come," said Gabriel Holguin an Anthony New Mexico trustee.

Holguin said the other two phases consisted of building a city hall, an early college high school, a municipal and magistrate court, and an urgent care center.

"Which is very needed because including myself we need to go to El Paso or las cruces to receive medical attention," said Holguin.

"It’s going to bring in a new sense of a little more security here that you don’t have to leave to get help," said Cobb.

One person KFOX14 spoke with said he recently had a medical emergency and that having an urgent care center closer to his home would be helpful.

"If someone is in a crucial medical situation to get an ambulance they’re going to wait anywhere from five to 25 minutes and then to get to Las Cruces or El Paso depending on what their insurance is going to cover that’s another 25 to 40 minutes," said Cobb.

The city said they expected to complete the project by 2024.

ANTHONY, N.M. (KFOX14/CBS4) — A board member in the city of Anthony, New Mexico asked the mayor to resign from her position.

KFOX14 spoke with Diana Murillo the mayor of Anthony, N.M. who said she did nothing wrong and would not be resigning any time soon.

This came after a trustee asked her to step down after she agreed to escort a woman who allegedly made silly faces at the mayor pro-tem during a city council meeting.

"We don’t have any processes or procedures on what is deemed necessary to remove someone from a city council meeting much less banning them for the next two meetings so that is why I proceeded to ask her to resign," said Gabriel Holguin, Anthony, N.M. board of trustee.

"I know that ever since he started his tenure with the city of Anthony he had stated that he was going to find a way to get me out just cause I guess he does not like my beliefs or the way I conduct my duties as mayor," said Murillo.

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Holguin sent a letter to Murillo asking her to resign.

He said the mayor acted without notifying the board of important decisions, tried to move or remove public input from meetings, and most recently escorted a woman out of a city council meeting.

Holguin told KFOX14 that was his last straw.

"It’s an eyebrow raiser for me and, frankly, I’m concerned which is why I asked for her resignation," said Holguin.

Murillo said they escorted the woman because she was making gestures sexual in nature toward the mayor pro-tem.

"She was conducting business during the meeting and for her to be doing that to her that was uncomfortable, I mean, what if we would’ve had children in there?" said Murillo.

Holguin said the council was not notified about decisions made in relation to the city manager position.

Such as hiring the city manager and granting him permission to continue working for both the city of Anthony and Sunland Park after his contract expired two months ago.

"Myself and another board member submitted several names to get an interview for a couple of individuals and she never once called them for an interview. She proceeded to hire Mario Juarez-Infante who donated to her county commission," said Holguin.

"They’re lies, I mean, they’re all lies," said Murillo.

Holguin had previously filed an ethics complaint against Murillo and he said the city had not hired an outside investigator to look into it yet.

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ANTHONY, N.M. (KFOX14/CBS4) — A trustee with the City of Anthony, New Mexico is filing an ethics complaint against the city’s mayor as a way to provide protection for its residents.

Trustee Gabriel Holguin said he is filing the ethics complaint as a “cry for help” because he believes the Mayor Diana Murillo is not performing her duties as required.

Holguin was elected as trustee in November of 2021 and began his term with the city in January of 2022.

He said from the moment he began his term, he noticed issues with the way the municipality was being run including a high turnover of city staff.

“In my opinion the municipality is not run effectively, a governance body is all the members not just one. So it’s been pretty intense which is why I had to pursue to file a complaint,” said Holguin.

Holguin mentioned Murillo did not follow the proper procedure regarding the change of city managers.

“When we terminated our city manager it was February 14, 2022 and we have a city manager ordinance that says that the mayor has to appoint an interim city manager by the next meeting, but that wasn’t done. The city manager was hired in May," he said.

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In addition, Holguin said the current interim city manager, Mario Juarez Infante, is the former vice president of Wilson and Company, the city’s on-call engineer.

Holguin added he felt Juarez Infante being given the position of city manager was not transparent since he was also part of the company receiving the city’s main contracts and when he took over the position the salary increased by $40,000.

Holguin mentioned his ethics complaint also included issues relating to harassment based off age.

“I’m one of the younger members of the body, I’m only 21. I was 20 when I was elected and I feel it's constant harassment just because of my age. Anything that I propose she doesn’t agree with, she removes it and it can be seen.”

He provided another example of harassment including his agenda items being deleted without justification.

“Our job as trustees we’re supposed to hear our community and propose things such as resolutions, ordinances that our community members ask for, but I ran into several occasions where the mayor removed my agenda items.”

The goal of the ethics complaint is not to remove the mayor from her position but to provide protection to the residents, added Holguin.

The complaint will be filed to the State’s Ethics Committee, the Attorney General and the State’s Auditor’s office. Once it is filed, the mayor will be given notice.

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ANTHONY, N.M (KFOX14) — New Mexico’s Cannabis Control Division said Kushology 101’s, 1,350 square-foot facility, is one of the biggest they’ve heard of in the state.

“That's one of the one of the bigger ones I've encountered, so, you know, I think that speaks to the demand and sort of the responsiveness to the entrepreneurial community, to take full advantage of the economic opportunity,” Andrew Vallegos, the state of New Mexico’s acting cannabis director said.

Jimmy Nevarez is the owner. He said he’s proud to be a part of turning the city green.

“We are both medical and recreational sales. “We're unique and in a few ways. One is in our education of our employees. We have an on staff cannabis nurse that gives our employees weekly trainings, and the layout of our store and the uniqueness of the accessibility the CBD and cannabis products. We feel like this is going to be a huge contributor to the economy in Anthony, New Mexico,” Nevarez said.

In August retailers across the state sold over 40 million in recreational and medical sells combined, according to data released by the Cannabis Control Division.

In southern New Mexico there are 111 dispensaries bringing in profit.

Anthony in particular sold just over $502,000 in the month of August.

“I think people in Southern, New Mexico are taking advantage of opportunities within an industry that they know about. They know how to grow products in Southern, New Mexico. It’s a natural growth and it's just sort of another economic activity that really goes to support the small communities,” Villegas said.

Since Kushology 101 opened its doors, like other dispensaries, it has created jobs and has welcomed customers from out of state.

“We’ve seen a lot of out of state customers and I don't mean Texas, I mean, Arizona, all kinds of states, but it's probably been about a 50/50 mix,” Nevarez said.

Their location, Nevarez said, sets them up for success.

“We’re the only ones off the freeway, everybody else has to go and fight in Sunland Park for product, and here you're right off the freeway, flip on flip off easy access, bright and exciting building bright interior,” Nevarez said. “We want to bring cannabis to the forefront.”

Nevarez is also the owner of Diablo Fireworks, which is located ext to the dispensary.

He said he’s not sure what the future holds, but wants to continue helping the small town flourish.

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