Meetings watch - Sept. 20

The Tucumcari City Commission Thursday took the following actions in its regular session:

• Decided to sign a new lease to replace a leased dozer for the Tucumcari landfill. Under the lease, the city will pay about $5,400 a month in an agreement that includes full service on a new dozer, City Manager Jared Langenegger said. District 1 Commissioner Ralph Moya voted against a new lease, saying the city should have exercised its option to purchase the machine that will be replaced. Langenegger said that if the paid $48,000 to purchase the dozer, it would then have had to put about $60,000 in repairs on the device. Moya, however, said diesel machinery is built to last, and that the city should buy the machine.

• Approved donation of a non-functioning ambulance to Mesalands Community College to be used for Mesalands’ new emergency medical technician education program.

• Approved a contract for about $22,000 for engineering services to replace a fuel line at the Tucumcari Municipal Airport. Langenegger said the new fuel line is required to meet changing regulatory requirements. The total cost of the project is about $160,000. The city is covering the engineering costs, and the New Mexico Department of Transportation is picking up the rest, Langenegger said.

• Renewed the city’s contract with the Paws and Claws animal rescue organization for lodging animals picked up by city animal control officers. The city will pay $12,000 at $1,000 a month for the services.

• Appointed three members to the city’s planning and zoning commission, including new members Larry Smith and Patsy Gresham and continuing member Edgar Shipley.

• Gave first reading to an ordinance amending the city’s traffic code to comply with changes in state traffic codes. According to the ordinance text, the changes include adding six-passenger sport utility vehicles used for student transportation to the definition of “school bus,” require reduced speed when passing a vehicle that is stopped on the side of the road, and refine the definition of off-road vehicles that are allowed on roadways.

• Gave first reading to an ordinance requiring the city’s senior program advisory board to meet quarterly. The current requirement is monthly meetings.

• Appointed five members to the city’s cemetery advisory board, including Jerry Lopez, Paul Villanueva, Sundra Span and Christina Montaño. Glenda Ryerson was appointed as an alternate commissioner.

In his regular report to the commission, Langenegger said city crews are again treating ponds and other standing water area to exterminate mosquitoes in response to complaints about mosquitoes in the area. City crews treated areas in July, he said, but rainfall since then has created more opportunities for mosquitoes to breed.

He also asked that people who bring tree branches to the Coronado Park tree and brush dumping area to place their branches with existing piles, rather than dropping them anywhere on the site. Access has become difficult there, he said.

— compiled by Steve Hansen