Santa Fe County showcases services and preparedness programs during Roundhouse livestream

Santa Fe County held a livestreamed “Santa Fe County Day” from the New Mexico State Capitol’s Roundhouse to highlight county departments’ constituent services, public-safety programs and capital projects. County staff and liaison teams walked viewers through senior services, the county treasurer and assessor offices, the sheriff’s office, sustainability initiatives and public works projects.

The event aimed to connect residents to services and to remind constituents about near-term outreach and preparedness activities. County officials and staff described programs for seniors, energy-efficiency home upgrades, substance-use and reentry case management, composting and recycling, upcoming capital projects and a pilot schedule change for patrol deputies.

Thomas Rael, County Assessor, explained the office’s reappraisal cycle and work in Edgewood this year, saying, “I think we're the economic engine that keeps the city working with fire, ambulance, hospitals, roads.” He and Philip Hill noted three property tax exemptions residents may be eligible for: veteran, head-of-family and agricultural exemptions; staff said applications can be completed in person or online.

Jennifer Manzanares, Santa Fe County treasurer, described outreach plans tied to the county’s current delinquent-tax season and said the treasurer’s office will resume broader outreach in April. She encouraged residents behind on payments to contact the treasurer’s office to set up payment plans.

Matilda Byers, senior services manager, said the county operates seven senior centers and provides congregate meals, home-delivered meals and transportation to residents 60 and older. Byers asked seniors to participate in a county senior survey beginning April 2 to assist planning for the next decade.

Gina Montoya, program manager for senior activities, said the division runs activity coordinators at centers countywide and welcomed older residents to participate in center programming.

Representatives from Connect — the joint city-county navigator partnership — said the program fields more than 600 navigators who help residents access housing help, utility assistance, behavioral-health referrals and other social services.

Sonia, a case manager with Engage (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion), described Engage as an intensive case-management referral program that partners with the sheriff’s office, Edgewood Police Department and detention center. She said staff conduct jail reentry work, deliver a six-week “matrix” course inside the detention center and coordinate referrals to partner providers including Lifelink and La Sala.

Jeff Folge of Santa Fe County Fire urged residents to sign up for Alert Santa Fe, the county’s emergency-notification system, and to prepare for wildfire season. Folge said alerts can cover anything from road closures to evacuation notices and announced a Wildfire Community Prevention Day scheduled for March 29 at the rodeo grounds.

Corporal Tanner Tachey of the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office described recruitment and a pilot scheduling program for patrol deputies called “4–8–40,” which pays deputies for 40 hours while they work a compressed 32-hour week; the county covers eight hours of administrative time per deputy for wellness and other needs.

Will Donahue from the sustainability division discussed the Home Rehabilitation and Energy Efficiency (HREE) program, which will provide eligible homeowners with upgrades such as insulation, windows and heat-pump installations intended to reduce energy use and bills. Sustainability staff also noted a composting program (roughly 50 bins distributed annually) and recalled last year’s single-use plastic restrictions.

Public Works staff said capital-outlay requests include sections of the Santa Fe Greenway (completion of section B and design/construction for the next section), sewer projects in Glorieta and Agua Fria and ongoing road and utility work.

County constituent services liaisons — including Amber Baca of District 1 — described their role as the primary daily point of contact for residents with questions about roads, town halls, capital projects and other local services. The livestream concluded with county hosts inviting viewers to follow Santa Fe County on social media and to use county webpages for program details.

The presentation was informational; no formal actions or votes were taken during the livestream, and staff repeatedly framed items as programs, outreach dates or applications rather than adopted policy changes.