City enacts grant stopgap

With a deadline looming to apply for grants from the New Mexico Department of Tourism’s New Mexico True marketing arm, the Tucumcari City Commission decided to assign one of the city’s grant writers to attend an internet seminar this week to qualify the city to apply for a grant.

That was a stopgap while the commission wrestles with longer-term issues, including whether to use New Mexico True at all, that were raised during discussion about the commission’s decision Feb. 13 to end a contract with Sunny505, an Albuquerque marketing firm that had been working with the city and New Mexico True for two years.

The commission decided not to renew its contract with Sunny505 after the city’s lodgers tax board recommended cancelling the contract in January. Several board members said Sunny505 had done nothing to promote Route 66 businesses.

In the wake of the decision to drop the marketing firm, city manager Britt Lusk said, there is much confusion about the status of the city’s marketing efforts, and uncertainties must be resolved quickly to meet an April 24 deadline to apply for a grant if the city intends to do so.

According to the agenda for Thursday’s meeting, the commission was to discuss whether to send a request for proposals (RFP) to solicit a new marketing firm.

Lusk pointed out the lodgers tax board had signaled intent to have a committee conduct marketing activities, rather than a marketing firm, but also had said it would approve a different marketing business from Sunny505.

If a committee is appointed, Lusk said, it should not include members who belong to the lodgers tax board or the commission.

District 5 Commissioner Todd Duplantis, who represents the commission on the lodgers tax board, said even if the decision is the commission’s and not the board’s to make, the board should be included in the process.

Duplantis said the community committee would “not be looking to get funds. We wouldn’t have to give them $50,000, and I’m not sure they would need an RFP.”

Sunny505 had been paid $50,000 for each of the two years of its contract out of lodgers tax executive funds, which are managed by the commission. Promotional funds are subject to recommendations from the lodgers tax board.

Except to designate a staff member to attend Tuesday’s seminar, the commission tabled further action, pending more discussion.

In other action, the commission:

• Approved removing $216,965 in old, uncollectable accounts from the books of the city water utility, the amount represents unpaid bills that can not be collected, often because the account holder has died or could not be found, that were accumulated between 1998 and 2002, according to Rachelle Arias, the city’s finance director.

• Approved an agreement between the Tucumcari Senior Center and the state’s Non-Metro Area Agency on Aging that adds $9,000 in payments to the senior center to operate Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion programs for fiscal 2021, which begins July 1. The additions bring the total paid to the senior center to $103,062 for both programs.

• Authorized the city’s Community Development Department to seek $300,000 in grants through the New Mexico Department of Transportation’s Municipal Arterial program, to be matched by $75,000 in city contributions of cash or labor, to help with the Second Street resurfacing and renovation project in downtown.

• Authorized the Community Development Department to seek a $50,000 planning grant from the New Mexico Finance Authority. Ralph Lopez, a community development project manager, said the city applies for these grants each year. This year, he said, the money would be used for planning of water system projects.

• Tabled a discussion and decision on whether to name downtown’s Princess Theater, which is targeted for renovation and reuse, to the Princess Academy. District 1 Commissioner Ralph Moya said the name change would reflect a re-purposing of the theater and make it more likely to receive renovation grant funding. More discussion by a task force is needed before the matter should be brought to the commission, Moya said.

In his city manager’s report, Lusk said he is scheduling meetings with department of transportation officials to discuss assistance for Tucumcari streets.

In a special meeting Feb. 24, the commission accepted Lusk’s resignation effective April 5 and authorized advertising for the position. The commission also decided to seek a replacement for Lusk on its own rather than hire a search firm.

Asked by Duplantis about capital outlay, Lusk said the city’s receipt of $300,000 for wastewater system repairs was more than the city had received in 2019.

Lusk also said he was going to ask about using $215,000 the city received in capital outlay funds to purchase other street equipment. The funds were earmarked for a pothole repair device, which the city owns, but the outlay request was generalized to cover street maintenance equipment.

State Sen. Pete Campos made the request on the city’s behalf after listening to complaints about potholes on city streets at a meeting with commissioners in December.

Duplantis also requested a letter be sent to the Las Vegas district office of the transportation department for work to correct work that had been done in 2017 on U.S. 54 in Tucumcari. After repairs, Duplantis said, the area still floods, and some fixtures are not properly aligned.

Moya asked about a collapsed building at Second and Main streets. Lusk said the building’s owner is still in prison, and the city is continuing to explore options to fund the work needed to clear the site.

Moya also asked about a former city program to clean lots that had become overgrown with weeds. Some property owners, he said, have looked into purchasing lots next to their own to keep them cleared.

In comments from citizens, Betty Jo Braziel said she was disappointed in Lusk’s resignation and said the commission should unite instead of remaining divided on some issues.

“The commission is split in five directions” instead of being unified, she said.