Street projects receive action

Street projects received most of the Tucumcari City Commission’s action Thursday.

The commission voted to contract with J&D Contracting Co. of Albuquerque for $470,615.73 for water line work on East Hancock Avenue from Rock Island Street to Choctaw Street.

Assistant City Manager Mark Martinez said the work will include new sidewalks, curbs and wheelchair ramps.

Sharayah Sisneros, a Community Development project manager, told the commission the city’s share of the cost is about $50,000, with the rest coming from federal Community Development Block Grant funds.

Martinez said a pre-construction conference was scheduled for Tuesday, with construction to begin shortly.

The commission in two resolutions approved spending $305,239 toward repaving, resurfacing and replacing water lines along Second Street from Main Street to Aber Street in downtown, Martinez said.

Of the total, $229,087 comes from New Mexico Department of Transportation Local Road Fund Cooperative and Municipal Arterial Program funds, according to background documents accompanying the resolutions .

The city’s matches total $76,152, according to the documents.

The commission also approved a contract for services with Tucumcari MainStreet for $35,000 over three years. The contract replaces one signed in 2015 that had expired, Martinez told the commission.

The commission also approved $112,189 in favorable budget adjustments for April and May, but reported for the fiscal year that began July 1, 2018, the city had spent $534,993 more than it had taken in for the year, leaving a balance of $5,545,199 as of May 31, according to budget documents.

In a work session before Thursday’s regular meeting, Jim Erickson, a vice president of Wells Fargo bank in Albuquerque, made a bid for the city to continue banking with it.

Citizens Bank and New Mexico First National Bank presented competing offers earlier.

Erickson told the commission about a new Government Advantage Account that would offer a 1.5% yield on deposits and an earnings credit rate, which the city pays for bank management of savings, of 1.25%.

Erickson said the city would pay $31,929 on $2,554,320 of the city’s holdings but would earn $59,185 on the remaining $2,945,680 deposited with the bank.

Interest rates will vary, he said based on Federal Reserve rates.