School board approves resolution for mail-in election

The Tucumcari school board on Oct. 21 approved a resolution that sets a special Feb. 18 mail-in election on a $3 million bond issue to redevelop its softball and baseball diamonds.

The resolution was approved by a unanimous vote with little discussion, save for questions by board member Corinne Hayes on how to publicize the election’s Jan. 21 voter-registration deadline.

Regina Gaysina, an associate with RBC Capital Markets of Albuquerque, the district’s bonding company, said during a presentation the district has shown healthy increases in the assessed property values in the last decade and low debt.

Gaysina said the district has a bonding capacity of $3.7 million, but it requesting just $3 million would make the debt less cumbersome.

If approved, Gaysina said the bonds would not lead to a property-tax increase.

The city of Tucumcari likely will grant the ballparks’ land to the district. Three ball fields would be given, including the diamond used for high-school girls softball games. Little League fields would remain city property.

The district would build new baseball and softball fields, parking and a building that would host a commercial kitchen and restrooms on the site.

City manager Britt Lusk has said the plan would allow the district to build diamonds that meet requirements of the New Mexico School Activities Association, which sets standards for sports facilities and would allow Tucumcari to host regional high-school tournaments in baseball and softball. The diamonds also could be used for community sports.

If voters approve the bond issue, completion of the ballpark redevelopment largely will depend on weather conditions during construction.

The district missed an Aug. 27 deadline to file paperwork for the bond election on the Nov. 5 ballot. Superintendent Aaron McKinney, who was not at last week’s meeting, blamed that on a communication problem with RBC.

The special mail-in election will cost the district about $10,000 — money the district wouldn’t have paid if the bond decision had been on the November ballot.

According to the special bond-election calendar, the Quay County Clerk would publish an election proclamation in December, with a Jan. 21 deadline for residents to register to vote. The clerk will mail each registered voter a ballot about Jan. 22 in a postage-paid return envelope.

Gaysina said the next bond issue for the district likely would be in 2023 during the regular election cycle.

In other action by the board:

• It approved without discussion a final reading of several policy revisions, including staff orientation, use of technology resources, student discipline and student harassment or bullying. The last item includes prohibitions on cyberbullying and regulations to help prevent it.

• It approved a first reading of a policy on public participation at board meetings. Board President Carlos Romero the proposal was presented as a way to “formalize” rules on public comment at meetings. To address the board, a speaker must complete a request form before the meeting. All presentations will be limited to 30 minutes, and the board president may set a time limit of three minutes per speaker.

• It accepted a donation of $250 from California Casualty to the Tucumcari Elementary School Nyoka Marimba Band to buy instruments and music and cover the costs of travel. It also accepted a $500 donation from Tucumcari Elks Lodge 1172 to the Tucumcari Middle School’s Family, Career and Community Leaders of America chapter to cover expenses for district and state competitions.

• It approved at transportation boundary agreement to allow a household on Highway 156 in southwestern Quay County to enroll its children at House Municipal Schools. The house sits in the Tucumcari school district but more than 60 miles from Tucumcari. It is only about 31 miles from House.

• Assistant superintendent David Johnson said a review of the district’s tobacco policy that was revised in April 2016 largely meets students’ requests to make Tucumcari district a tobacco-free campus. Several students had made such a request in at least the last three years, and Romero asked for a review of the policy during a recent meeting. Johnson said the revised tobacco policy had not been placed on the district’s website and that the students’ sponsor may have been looking at an outdated policy. He said he may check the website’s other policies to see whether they too have been updated.