Lincoln County Commissioner District 5
County Commissions are policy-making body that may establish a budget, enact ordinances, approve tax levies, enforce planning and zoning rules, and coordinate with other government agencies to provide for the safety of the county and its inhabitants, to preserve community health, and promote prosperity within the county. Term: Four years, limited to two consecutive terms.
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PHILLIP RAY HERRERA
(Rep)
1. What qualifies you for this office?
2. What are the biggest challenges facing your county?
3. How would you address these challenges?
4. How would you inform citizens about matters coming before the County Commission before decisions are made?
5. How would you propose to balance growth with water scarcity in an increasingly arid state?
Education
New Mexico State University, B.S. of Agriculture with a major in Agronomy/Horticulture and a minor in Soil Science
Campaign Phone
575-430-2452
Occupation
Retired USDA New Mexico State Agronomist
Filing County
Lincoln
mailingaddress
264 RANCHER RD
mailingcity
RUIDOSO DOWNS
mailingzip
88346
mailingstate
New Mexico
I have 24 years of work experience with USDA. I served as a Soil Conservationist, District Conservationist and New Mexico State Agronomist. My duties included supervision of multiple employees in multiple offices throughout the state. I have been in charge of budgets of multiple millions of dollars of taxpayer funds. I have experience with federal government acquisitions and expenditures. I also have 5 years of Construction Management experience with projects up to 30 million dollars.
I am a lifelong resident and understand the importance of our natural resources within Lincoln County. The experience I have gained working with USDA has given me the knowledge to address many of the challenges we are facing in Lincoln County.
One of the biggest challenges that is facing Lincoln County is our diminishing water resources. This has been caused by catastrophic fires and floods and overutilization of the finite water resource. Much of the information provided to the general public is incorrect and not backed up by current natural resource science. There have been dramatic changes to this scientific knowledge of the hydrological cycles in the last 15 years and I hope to make that knowledge available to the residents of Lincoln County.
Another challenge for Lincoln County is public safety involving the county support of our volunteer First Responders. We, as a county, should provide them with the best training and equipment that we can afford.
We have to take measures to use the water resource frugally with smart development, water retention practices and restoring forest health which is the major source of our watershed. I have the knowledge and experience to protect and restore these valuable resources.
We need to encourage more community involvement and support for our volunteer staff and provide them with the tools to perform this critical service. We need to encourage growth and training for volunteers as they provide protection for the majority of our county residents.
We need to create better outreach to the public and create transparency of potential projects and impacts of decision-making. We need to use traditional and modern forms of communication to reach all residents of our diverse community. We can utilize town hall forums as well as email and social media postings.
We need to review the impact of future growth as it affects all of our current residents. This is not just the impact on Ruidoso but also the farm communities down the valley that rely on water for their crops and livestock. In the last few months, I have heard many stories from multi-generational residents that are having to drill new wells because of the depleted water table.
Economic growth is only feasible if it can be supported with long-term resources. We need to focus on ways to retain the water we have such as retention ponds. We have excessive amounts of water during flooding and it is stored in Brantley Dam instead of our mountains. Our Northern neighbor, Colorado, has reservoirs everywhere to store and retain their water.
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