City to convert positions to part-time

The city of Tucumcari will not cut any positions in fiscal year 2021, from July 1 to June 30, 2021, but will convert 10 positions to part-time jobs and allow two employees to transfer into new positions in other departments.

Tucumcari acting city manager Mark Martinez announced this to the city commission Thursday during a discussion of the status of the city’s budget for the last quarter of the current fiscal year, which will end Wednesday.

Rachelle Arias, the city’s finance director, said cutbacks in staffing budgets that made the personnel shifts necessary for fiscal 2021 result more from state-mandated $1-per-hour increases in the minimum wage than from reductions in revenue due to COVID-19 restrictions on business and tourism.

Still, however, she said the state imposed the minimum wage increase “without any offer of assistance” with the added financial burden.

District 1 Commissioner Ralph Moya expressed concern about the effect of benefit cuts on employees whose jobs were made part time.

“They’re just trying to make a living like the rest of us,” he said.

Martinez said the city’s personnel director is looking for affordable alternatives for health insurance and other benefits for employees moved to part-time status.

Martinez said only the salary reductions or an unexpectedly large boost in city tax revenues would have kept the city from running a deficit for fiscal 2021.

Later in the meeting, he said, “I don’t like laying anyone off.”

Arias reported, however, budget adjustments for the last quarter of the current fiscal year were favorable due to unspent salaries from unfilled positions and unencumbered emergency funds.

Two representatives of the Tucumcari Historic Research Institute complained the commission has been neglecting its duties toward the Tucumcari Historical Museum.

Alan Daugherty, THRI board president, told the commission Thursday that eliminating the equivalent of one full-time position for the museum in next year’s budget would have “immense impact” on the museum’s ability to host visitors, including many from out of town and other countries.

He also said the museum needs work on its roof, drainage, plumbing and mortar, which he said the city has neglected.

He also said the museum can contribute greatly to the city’s economic revitalization and development but warned “time is running out.”

Cynthia Lathrom, another board member called the historic museum a “treasure trove” of the city’s past, and said some of its exhibits, like its F100 Super Sabre jet, are rarities.

She said the board is very disappointed in a “lack of communication” from the city.

Later in the meeting, Martinez said city attorney Randy Knudson had reviewed the city’s contract with the THRI and said it should be declared “null and void” because there was no time limit on its provisions and its provisions violate the “anti-donation clause,” a state law that prohibits public funds from assisting a private entity, even a nonprofit such as THRI.

Martinez said he will work with THRI leadership to discuss terms of another agreement.

In other action the commission:

• Approved a resolution and a memorandum of understanding with the New Mexico MainStreet program to support Tucumcari MainStreet for another year. Under the agreement, the city will pay $35,000 to Tucumcari MainStreet to support its programs in fiscal 2021, and the MainStreet program will have a budget of at least $45,000 for the fiscal year. Tucumcari MainStreet commits to setting goals and objectives for specific programs “dedicated to revitalization and economic growth of traditional and/or historic commercial centers” in the city’s downtown. MainStreet programs have included its annual Fired Up festival and sponsorship of the Great Blocks program, which coordinated some of the construction work the city is performing on Second Street, including aesthetic improvements such as planters and streetlights.

• Approved a $115,190 contract with an unnamed contractor to manage the Tucumcari Municipal Golf Course. Angelica Gray, the city’s procurement officer, said the name of the contractor cannot be divulged until both parties sign the contract. At Moya’s suggestion, the contract was amended to make the contractor responsible for paying a water bill to the Arch Hurley Conservancy District, for which the city bears responsibility though the amount is accounted for in the contract. That amount is about $7,000 a year.

• Authorized the city to apply for federal assistance equal to 90% of the $3.2 million estimated cost to reconstruct two taxiways at Tucumcari Airport, according to Ralph Lopez, a Community Development Department project manager. The remaining 10%, he said, would come from the New Mexico Department of Transportation.

• Accepted participation in an annually approved cooperative agreement with the DOT where the city will receive $13,378 in DOT funds, matched by $4,459 in city funds for planning, design and construction on several city streets.

• Approved construction that will move Tucumcari Municipal Court operations to city commission chambers and install two new offices to accommodate court employees at a cost of $34,847. The cost should be covered by fines and fees paid to the court, according to Municipal Court Judge Noreen Hendrickson.

• Allowed the TriStar Inn’s bar to suspend its liquor license because the bar cannot operate under COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

• Discussed matters related to sending criminal citations to out-of-town owners of rundown properties, including the former KFC restaurant on First Street and the old Relax Inn on Route 66, wandering dogs soiling lawns, speeding on residential streets and harmful rumors about city employee job losses on Facebook.