Asphalt warranty earns city approval

A three-year warranty on asphalt work on downtown Tucumcari’s Second Street rebuilding project Thursday received the city commission’s approval.

The warranty does not mean the city has closed out the contract with J&H Services of Albuquerque, the construction contractor, City Manager Mark Martinez said..

The contract will not be closed out, Martinez said, until all items on a punch list of tasks required on the project is completed and concrete work is corrected.

Concrete work on a sidewalk area did not conform to design specifications, and the wrong color of concrete was used, city officials have said.

The Second Street project has been marked by errors and months of delay.

District 4 Commissioner Christopher Arias asked about a drainage adjustment he said could prevent flooding along Second Street.

Martinez said the drainage system already had been installed and approved, so the change could not be made, but he anticipated no flooding would result.

Martinez also told the commission the city will receive grant funding of $1 million from the New Mexico Department of Transportation for street projects. The city will apply to have its share of the funding waived, due to hardship, he said.

Martinez also reported that starting Monday, the Tucumcari Senior Citizens Center will open only at meal time and only to allow meals to be picked up, due to a resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sprinklers at the Tucumcari Memorial Park Cemetery are working after pumps were replaced and some repairs to sprinkler lines, he said.

District 1 Commission Ralph Moya, who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 said breakdowns in Tucumcari ambulances made it necessary for him to be flown to the Plains Regional Medical Center in Clovis for two days of hospitalization. The flight would not have been necessary if ambulances had been working.

Moya said patient transportation to hospitals for COVID-19 treatments were causing the ambulances to be overused.

In public comments, Karen Alarcon, organizer of the Rawhide Days events set to resume in 2022, asked city businesses and property owners make the city “fit for company” by cutting weeds and sprucing up in time for Rawhide Days.

Later in the meeting, District 5 Commissioner Todd Duplantis said the problem is not with local businesses, but with owners of business properties who live out of town.

In its consent agenda items, the board approved the appointment of Christina Rivali to the city’s Library Board.