We received a couple very positive updates at the beginning of Tuesday’s Council meeting.
Linda Dodd, director of the United Way of Eddy County, updated City Council on all of the United Way’s recent accomplishments. The nonprofit organization receives hundreds of calls through its 2-1-1 line and helps link residents in need to critical services. Throughout 2020, the United Way has stepped up in terms of providing food, shelter, assistance with utility payments and numerous other services.
Second, City Council was introduced to Alex, the Carlsbad Police Department’s newest Police Service Dog. Alex and Corporal Chris Caron gave a short demonstration to Council during Tuesday’s meeting about how Alex tracks down an illegal substance. He received extensive training before being introduced to the force. The Belgian Malinois joins Aris and Nia on the City of Carlsbad’s K-9 program. Thanks again to Chevron and numerous other local donors for making it possible to add Alex to our team. We wish former K-9 Alf the best during his medical retirement.
There is uncertainty in our community today over the news that Concho Resources Inc. is currently negotiating to be acquired by ConocoPhillips. ConocoPhillips is a wonderful company who has generously supported Carlsbad and the surrounding area in a number of ways. Concho Resources Inc. was one of the first companies to participate in our annual energy summit and, in fact, helped introduce us to so many of our other partners in the area. Concho has also been a great company with an outlook that prioritizes the Permian Basin. We hope for a resolution that is best for all of our residents, the community and both companies.
As announced in yesterday’s news, several renewed public health regulations will go into effect in New Mexico when the health order is renewed on Friday. These changes will include a requirement that establishments serving alcohol must close at 10 p.m. Maximum occupancy rates for hotels have also been changed, and some exemptions for quarantining have been lifted. Finally, the rule of what defines a “mass gathering” has been changed from ten back to five. We have been told that these changes are due to a statewide uptick in positive cases.
The case count for Carlsbad and Eddy County has been up and down over the past few days. According to the Department of Health, there were 6 positives announced on Tuesday for Eddy County but 21 announced on Monday, 1 on Sunday, but 28 on Saturday. The high variance in cases each day may be based on when results are reported, or they may involve families testing at the same time. Overall, the statistics for Eddy County appear to be about where they were two weeks ago. We expect to learn more in a press conference Thursday.
Sincerely,
Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway