The Edgewood After School Youth, or EASY, program was set in motion by volunteers for the town of Edgewood about half a year ago. The group is headed up by Audrey Jaramillo, who is also a member of the Moriarty-Edgewood School Board.

At one point there was discussion from members of the volunteer group of the school district providing transportation for the after-school program and allowing the program to use Edgewood Elementary School, but the district hasn't made a formal agreement to do so.

The future of the effort has come into question as of late, after a letter sent was sent out by Edgewood Mayor Robert Stearley in which he states that he had not included the project in the town's budget "because of its threat to existing, private businesses."

In the letter he refers to two local businesses, the Shining Stars after-school program and Step-Up Childcare.

Meanwhile, Moriarty-Edgewood School Board Todd McCarty said he would like to have a discussion to clarify what the school district will and will not offer by way of support for the program at its June 23 meeting.

Stearley noted that there has been a lot of e-mail traffic to the town regarding the issue and has directed the town staff not to attend EASY program meetings without his approval, according to Councilor Rita-Loy Simmons.

Stearley said sending staff to attend the meetings is premature until the school board clarifies its position.

"We need to have buy-in by the school district," Stearley said.

Councilor Glenn Felton said he'd encouraged Jaramillo to build a broad coalition that included the school district and local businesses, and Stearley pointed out that there may be grants available to fund such a program.

There was also some discussion of hiring a town grant writer.

Usually, a grant writer's first task is to find a grant that will pay their own salary, according to Councilor Brad Hill.

Another job for a town grant writer could be finding a FEMA grant to pay for a set of new radios for the town's police vehicles.

Edgewood Police Chief Charles Swanberg said he would like to install a dual-band communications system, where the radios carried by police officers relay a signal to a relay in their vehicles that will be better able to reach communication towers.

The new system would be twice as powerful as the current system, and it might solve a problem police are having with radio dead-zones in the town, he said.

It will cost about $18,000 to outfit all the vehicles and officers with the new radios, and the town is purchasing four new Ford Explorers for patrol at about $156,000.

In June, the police department will hire another officer, Swanberg said.

Former Tijeras mayor Juan Griego will be sworn and ready for duty by June 13, he said.