Businesses Deliver an Advantageous EDGE for San Juan County!

Mellevet LLC is the 2024 winner in the small-company category.  Bloomfield-based, Mellevet LLC.  Mellevet satisfied the EDGE award’s criteria of economic wage, growth and community involvement. Mellevet is part of the locally-owned Gennesaret Group which includes several sister companies including Halo Services. 

Mellevet, LLC is a Compliance, Safety, and Technical Services company.

Specifically Mellevet specializes in safety and compliance consulting and training services; skills training; operator qualification; inspections and quality control.  Other products and services include quality control and welding inspection; building and home inspections; operator training; and first aid training and product sales. 

Mellevet offers a full range of products, services, inspection, training, and maintenance in gas monitoring and detection, first-aid and equipment, safety supplies, fire-resistant clothing, Automated External Defibrillators, right-of-way and encroachment inspection, line spotting and locating, and fire extinguisher sales, service, and repairs.

Mellevet is the regional distributor for RKI Instruments and Sensors.  This entire family of products offers frontline safety to oil and gas production personnel and emergency response providers including fire departments in New Mexico and Colorado. The comprehensive suite of devices and the associated installation and training is a growing part of Mellevet’ s service offerings.

Mellevet recently launched its new home inspection service so be looking for these signs around San Juan County.

Mellevet, LLC, began in February 2020 as a 1-3 person engineering firm that provided technical and engineering services for its sister companies.

In January of 2023, Mellevet reorganized its services offerings and saw a 708% increase in sales at year’s end from when Mellevet originally opened and an increase of 172% from 2022 to the end of 2023.

Mellevet also increased its staff from four to over ten full-time and one part-time employees. These statistics demonstrate growth in both annualized revenue and the number of employees employed.

Mellevet’ s median salary is over $86K the company’s median hourly wage is $26.15.  These strong figures contribute to San Juan County’s economic base.

Mellevet and its employees are involved in a variety of community service causes including Rotary and Sports Leagues, religious organizations, and participating in local municipal government entities and committees.

Cooper Fire Protection Services is the 2024 winner in the large-company category.  Cooper Fire satisfies the economic development criteria of Economic Wage; Import Substitution; Growth; Community Involvement and Beautification.

Cooper Fire is a second generation family owned business founded in 1975 by Cy Cooper as a Farmington-based plumbing service company.  Over the years the business has transitioned markets and its ownership is now in the very capable hands of Cy’s son Ireke and daughter-in-law, Shantel.

In addition to conventional fire sprinkler systems, Cooper provides installation, service and inspection for fire alarm systems, kitchen hood systems and meets the unique and demanding fire suppression needs of computer rooms, clean environments, paint booths and interestingly, vehicles and mining equipment in a facility like the Waste Isolation Plant near Carlsbad.

Look around and you’ll find Cooper Fire-serviced fire-suppression systems in buildings throughout the Four Corners and beyond.  

In addition to conventional fire suppression systems, Cooper fabricates restaurant kitchen hoods, sensors and alarms and meets the unique and demanding fire suppression needs of computer closets, clean environments, paint booths and interestingly, vehicles and mining equipment in a facility like the Waste Isolation Plant near Carlsbad.

Cooper Fire contributes to San Juan County's economic base by providing local jobs in a variety of occupations from computer aided design, administration, warehousing, accounting, fabrication, low voltage electrical technicians, and sprinkler fitters with above-average wages. The average wage for a journeyman fire sprinkler fitter in New Mexico is $24.83/hour, while at Cooper Fire Protection, it is $26.53/hour.

In addition to above-average wages, Cooper Fire is a registered apprenticeship sponsor with the State of New Mexico.

As the only one-stop-shop for automatic fire protection in the four corners region, Cooper Fire’s service and warehouse means customers aren’t forced to export their dollars to Albuquerque, Denver, or Pheonix.  

On the other hand, because Cooper as licensed to perform work in Arizona, Utah, and Colorado it’s not surprising to learn that over the last three years 50% of the company’s work has been performed outside of San Juan County by San Juan County residents.  An example is this Farmington-fabricated part destined for a Bureau of Indian Affairs school near Teec Nos Pos, Arizona.

Over the past five years, Cooper Fire Protection has experienced 35% annualized revenue growth, demonstrating a sustainably strong contribution to the economic base.

Cooper Fire is a BIG community supporter.  The list of supported organizations and causes is nearly as long as the company’s history, but I want to draw particular attention to the unique Volunteer Incentive Program.  This program connects members of student organizations and sports teams with community volunteering opportunities and pays student workers $15 per hour to make a difference.  Everyone wins.  The students.  Their club or team.  The supported organization and, of course, the business sponsor.  To date, over 26,000 volunteer hours have been served and over $235,000 paid out on behalf of San Juan County youth.  The company would love to tell you more about the program.

Robbins Heating & Air Conditioning, owned by Steve and Michelle Robbins, was the sole nominee in 2024 in the beautification category.  The transformation story of their building is a great example of local entrepreneurs growing their business, outgrowing an old facility and repurposing a building that otherwise would have become a community eyesore.  

It took the Robbins almost a year to find a suitable new location for their growing business. Initially, the couple considered the old CATS Transmission building due to its proximity to Robbins’ shop on Farmington Avenue.  However, the CATS building’s condition was overwhelmingly awful.

After exploring other options, the Robbins decided to take on the CATS building as a project and gained access in July 2021.

Getting the job done from there was truly a family affair and involved massive amounts of sweat equity.

Over seven months, the Robbins cleared out more than 12,000 pounds of scrap metal for recycling, disposed of several thousand pounds of trash, and spent countless hours cleaning.

Also included on the makeover punch list was the demolition of the “Skunk” house which the neighbors were glad to see leave. The building interior was completely remodeled with the able assistance of Spellbring Construction.  Higher interior ceilings.  New mechanical, electrical and plumbing.  And don't forget clean!

Robbins now has a building that looks great from the street and works very well for the growing company and their team members. The look, both outside and inside 1307 Scholfield Lane, is much improved.