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Council ratifies USDA invasive-thistle grant, approves five-year server lease and confirms lodgers-tax appointment
Summary
Council accepted a $170,000 USDA grant for noxious-thistle treatment, approved a five-year server/storage lease under a NASPO cooperative contract and ratified Christian Wetzel to the lodgers tax advisory board; one member recused on the USDA grant vote.
At its Oct. 22 meeting, the Town of Taos council approved several formal actions recorded in the consent and regular agenda.
USDA grant for noxious-thistle treatments: The council ratified acceptance of a $170,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, administered through the Regents of New Mexico State University, to fund Scotch-thistle removal and remediation work in the Cornelia Basin and an area near the SMU campus. Bob Pokorny, chair of the Taos County weed cooperative area, explained the work and the invasive nature of Scotch thistle. A council member disclosed a potential conflict and recused themself from the vote before the council carried the motion to accept the grant.
Five-year server/storage lease: Council approved a five-year lease agreement (NASPO cooperative contract) to replace aging on-site server hardware. Staff cited a total equipment cash price of $233,869 and said the aggregated lease payment was $4,558 per month over 60 months; the agenda listed a lease amount of $225,612.78 (exclusive of GRT). Staff said the upgrade will reduce the number of physical servers, improve performance, and is energy-efficient; the lease includes periodic hardware refresh and refurbishment provisions.
Lodgers Tax Advisory Board appointment: The council ratified Christian Wetzel to serve on the lodgers tax advisory board to represent the Don Fernando Hotel; Wetzel was not present at the meeting.
All three items were acted on by recorded council vote. The USDA grant acceptance included an announced recusal by a council member who noted prior engagement with the land trust that has worked on the Cornelia Basin project. No further fiscal appropriations or contract details beyond the lease's quoted totals were decided in open session during the Oct. 22 meeting.
The council will carry these actions into subsequent administrative steps such as contract execution, grant acceptance paperwork and board onboarding.
