By Mary Alice Murphy

On the first day of the fall semester classes at Western New Mexico University, the 16th President Dr. José Coll told the Beat that he had just come from the cafeteria, where he had talked to students, building relationships with them.

To the first question about what drew Coll to apply for the presidency centered on an interesting connection he already had with the university.

Coll comes from serving as Provost at Western Oregon University, and he said he had written a letter of recommendation for a colleague of his who was considering taking a position at WNMU a couple of years ago. "He would have been a remarkable asset to the institution, but he made the decision not to accept the position because of the challenge that so much of our industry in Grand County is facing, which is housing. They looked around and said: 'There's no housing.'"

ROAD ADVISORY
CRASH- Silver City Area
Crash, US 180 eastbound lane at mile marker 114, the driving right lane is closed due to debris on roadway.

By Lynn Janes

The Cobre Consolidated School Board held a special meeting on August 5, 2026. Board members in attendance included Hector Carrillo, Gabriella Begay, Gilbert Guadiana, Agelina Hardin and David Wilguess. Dr. Verenice Gutierrez, superintendent, attended.

The board approved the agenda.

Public comment

Samantha Grijalava came to address the board concerning an item on the agenda pertaining the food service in the district and the issuance of an RFP (request for proposal). She would be speaking on behalf of the Cobre Food Service Department, and they had just been made aware of the district being in grave financial problems. They had also been informed the food service department had contributed to it. In the prior school year, they had never been informed of this issue nor been provided a budget amount to stay within.

By Lynn Janes

The Silver City Town Council held a regular meeting July 28, 2026. Attendance to the meeting included Mayor Simon Wheaton-Smith, Nicholas Prince, Stan Snider, Victor Nanez and Angela Salaiz.

The council approved the agenda with some changes. Snider acknowledged that Lori Ortiz, finance director, and Randy Hernandez, business operations manager, had really worked hard on the budget. He did not feel he had enough time to review it because they had just received it. He wanted to postpone that agenda item. Hernandez and Charles Kretek, town attorney, said the budget must be turned in by July 31, 2026.

By Lynn Janes

On July 23, 2026, the commission had a regular meeting at the city annex building. Jacqui Olea, interim town manager, called the meeting to order.

The board approved the agenda and minutes from June 25, 2026.

New business

Priscilla Lucero, Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments director, had an update on NMFA (New Mexico Finance Authority) legislative oversight committee meeting in Alamogordo in September. The water commission will be providing a presentation at the meeting about the project.

Photos by Mary Alice Murphy

[Editor's Note:  This photographer cannot find her notes and apologizes for this being so late and without names of those in the photos. She blames it on overwhelm and not enough hours in a day. in addition to numerous tech issues.  

Please someone who likes to write articles, and/or take photos and is bored and would like a very part-time low-paying or no-paying (volunteer!)  job to help out the Beat, please contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ]

The Gila Native Plant Society  hosted a family day in the Silva Botanical Garden on July 11, 2026. A number of activities kept adults and kids entertained. They included creating items out of various pieces of word, leaves, etc. found in nature, a chance for kids to catch a butterfly using a net and to learn about those butterflies.