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City approves resolution calling for businesses to open

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The City of Hobbs Commission wants New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to open up the state’s economy.

And they gave her some suggestions on how to do so.

During a special meeting Monday, the commission unanimously approved a resolution giving Gov. Lujan Grisham some ideas on how to re-open parts of New Mexico not heavily infected with the COVID-19 virus.

The four suggestions tacked on to the end of the resolution are as such:

• Continue (Gov. Lujan Grisham’s) efforts to protect New Mexicans from the spread of COVID-19;

• Implement a separate standard of preventive measures for those areas experiencing extremely low rates of positive tests;

• Amend the New Mexico Department of Health’s Public Order to remove the designation of “essential” to any business;

• Allow all businesses to operate within the physical distancing standards and capacity limits deemed necessary by the Department of Health.

The measure is a more politically correct way of making a statement as a New Mexico community to open businesses, unlike Grants Mayor Martin Hicks who last week called city employees back to work and told the state he was opening up the community’s business in direct defiance of the governor’s health measures.

Also last week, Lea County’s Commission, and the city and town councils in Eunice and Tatum also sent resolutions to the governor’s office calling for a re-opening of their respective communities.

“I think it’s appropriate for me before I go an engage the governor’s office,” Hobbs Mayor Sam Cobb said Monday of approving the resolution. “Our commission has a say in what I talk to them about, so the resolution clearly outlines what our requests are going to be.”

In regard to engaging the governor’s office, Cobb said he and Lovington Mayor David Trujillo were appointed to the Mayor’s Council of Economic Recovery, that will work with the governor’s office in getting the state’s economy restarted.

“I just want to be sure I represent the community of Hobbs appropriately and the commission needs to be part of those discussions,” Cobb said.

Hobbs Commissioner Don Gerth commended Cobb for politically leading the effort to get a resolution and have one message sent to Santa Fe. In a less political tone though, Gerth feels the opening of local businesses is necessary.

“As far as I’m concerned, I feel we need to do it (open businesses) regardless of (Lujan Grisham’s) blessing or not,” Gerth said. “People who want to go back to work, can’t go back to work. You have these big stores open and the small stores are suffering. You can’t even get a haircut in this town, unless you bootleg it.”

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Commissioner Chris Mills supports the measure because what was known almost four weeks ago, when the governor’s health order started, appears to not be as dire.

“With respect to those who have passed away from this illness, but when we started we were let to believe there would be thousands of people were going to die and we needed to go on lockdown and house arrest to flatten this curve,” Mills said. “Obviously, it’s been successful.”

On Monday afternoon, Lujan Grisham’s office announced there are 2,823 positive cases in New Mexico and 107 New Mexicans have died from the COVID-19 virus. Of those positive cases, 2,313 are located in the northwestern counties of Bernalillo (694 positive cases), McKinley (778), San Juan (463), and Sandoval (378). Of the 107 COVID-19 related deaths, 91 come from those four counties.

Lea County has 10 cases after eight were confirmed last week and no deaths.

Mills’ comments during the meeting led to some perspective into the overall effect of the COVID-19 virus during the past month.

“The consequences of the pandemic have been enormous, while deaths, thank God, have been relatively low,” Mills said during the meeting. “During this past month 324 people died in New Mexico from Heart disease, 301 from cancer and over a 100 from drug overdoses. It’s time we start to plan for our future. We need to put this in perspective and move forward together, for a safe and healthy reopening.”

Todd Bailey can be reached at editor@ hobbsnews.com.

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