Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Tucumcari City commissioners seemed to agree Thursday to pursue funding from capital outlay funds through the New Mexico Legislature to continue repairing and replacing sewer lines and facilities along Route 66 on the east side of town.
After discussion at a public work session Thursday, the commissioners and City Manager Mark Martinez, along with Community Development Director Vicki Strand and project manager Ralph Lopez, seemed to agree to pursue $723,000 in capital outlay funds from the 2021 Legislature to advance the sewer line project.
Principal lobbyist Clinton Harden and business partner Kathy Elliot agreed seeking more funding for this project was in line with what they advised — part of a project that can be funded in phases.
The commission voted Jan. 14 to hire Harden as a lobbyist for the city during the 60-day session of the Legislature session that is expected to end March 20. Harden is being paid $4,000 for his services.
Harden, a former Republican state senator from Clovis, said legislators tend to prefer capital outlay funding of phased projects.
“We will beg for this,” he said about talking to legislators about the sewer line project, especially local legislature members Rep. Jack Chatfield (R-Mosquero) and Sen. Pat Woods (R-Broadview).
In 2020, the city sought about $1 million for the project but received only about $300,000, which the commission decided to apply to planning and engineering for the project.
Martinez said the project has some urgency because dirt and debris that have entered the sewer lines through leaks could cause damage in the city’s wastewater treatment plant if not corrected within the next several years.
At the urging of District 1 Commissioner Ralph Moya, the lobbyists said they also would consider seeking $460,000 as the first of five annual installments toward collecting $2.3 million for making improvements on city streets.
Tucumcari residents “from the north side to the south side” are complaining about streets, he said.
Martinez warned, however, merely repaving streets would be a “Band-Aid” solution.
“Without replacing the infrastructure under the streets,” he said, “the vibration from traffic would weaken the pavement” and cause early failure.
Harden suggested the city set up a city street fund to gather funds from annual contributions.
In the work session, the commission also heard Rhea Serna, a community development specialist from New Mexico MainStreet, propose ways to make the city’s zoning and code enforcement ordinances more enforceable and achieve buy-in from property owners.
The zoning ordinance process should be planned to include three steps, she said. One is an initial review, the second is to create the ordinance, and the third is to develop an “action plan” to implement it.
The action plan, she said, should include full communications with landowners to achieve their support.
“Property owners should see the city as a resource,” she said, not a hindrance.
Moya said the city already has an “enforceable zoning ordinance.”
The problem, he said, is many property owners cannot afford to keep property up to city standards.
The city’s nuisance ordinance, designed to enforce appearance and safety standards, has been a source of friction since it was passed in July 2016.
Moya tried to scuttle the ordinance before it was passed over his “no” vote in 2016.
The nuisance ordinance also was at the center of Tucumcari business owner Keith Hayes’ unsuccessful attempt to recall three of the four commissioners in 2017. After receiving notice some of his construction company’s properties were not in compliance with the ordinance, Hayes obtained petition forms and collected enough signatures to prompt a recall election for three of four sitting commissioners. The recall vote failed to unseat any of them.
During the regular meeting of the commission that followed the work session, District 4 Commissioner Chris Arias proposed a review of zoning ordinances in a future work session.
In Thursday’s regular meeting, the commission:
• Approved changes that add $330,000 to the cost of rehabilitating taxiways at Tucumcari Municipal Airport, bringing the total cost of the project to nearly $2.5 million. The project is paid for in Federal Aviation Administration and New Mexico Department of Transportation funds. No local funds are involved, Lopez said.
• Approved a budget adjustment and actual spending report for the second quarter of fiscal 2021 that ended Dec. 31. The budget adjustment left a temporary deficit of about $52,000 in the city’s general fund and a report on actual revenues and expenses for the same period that show a favorable balance of nearly $555,000 in the city’s general fund.
City Finance Director Rachelle Arias said the deficit is due to the timing of revenues from grants that were scheduled to come later. The favorable balance in actual operations, she said, is due to vigilance of department heads in keeping expenses in check. Moya abstained in voting on either the budge adjustment or the activity report because, he said, he did not have time to review the reports before Thursday’s meeting
In his city manager’s report, Martinez discussed:
• Concerns about the pending Civil Rights Act in the current state Legislature that Martinez said would leave city governments more vulnerable to lawsuits and raise liability insurance rates.
• Progress on dealings with contractors working on the Second Street reconstruction project are continuing to correct shortcomings that may involve removing and replacing asphalt. The contractor is J&H Services of Albuquerque.
“There may be some delays,” Martinez said, “but we’ll get what we paid for.”