Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
The boards of the Tucumcari/Quay County Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Tucumcari Economic Development Corporation are considering hiring of one manager to oversee both organizations.
Robert Hockaday, president of the EDC board, informed Quay County commissioners of the proposal during their regular meeting on Monday.
Both organizations lost their leaders this summer. Chamber director Scott Crotzer resigned in July to take another position in Georgia. EDC director Pat Vanderpool resigned June 1 to take another position with the Regional Development Corporation of New Mexico.
City commissioners had haggled with both men over the funding of their offices.
Kristine Olsen, who wasn’t at Monday’s meeting, is serving as interim EDC director.
Hockaday said after the meeting that budgets are “tight” for both offices, so having one manager for both might be the best approach, especially with their “overlapping” duties.
He said city officials have expressed support for the idea, but he admitted that state officials are resistant.
During his report to county commissioners, Hockaday said the EDC is trying to transfer all the data from Vanderpool’s office and updating its list of local buildings that might be suitable for prospective manufacturers.
Hockaday said one on the list was the Alco building, which lacks electricity because a lightning strike blew out its transformers.
He said the EDC’s website has been updated, and the board was trying to position Tucumcari as a prime site due to its solar, wind and grassland capabilities, in addition to its location on Interstate 40.
Hockaday said the chamber building, which remains closed until its roof is repaired after a severe hailstorm in May, likely will require interns or volunteers to greet visitors when it reopens.
Commissioner Jerri Rush said Vanderpool’s presentations often focused on what the EDC was unable to do.
“It was really refreshing to hear what we do have,” she told Hockaday.
In response to a question, Film Tucumcari liaison Bobby Hockaday said Fast TV Network still plans to move its headquarters into the Kmart building on the city’s east side.
He said the move, announced a year ago, was delayed due to complications with the property’s survey.
In other business:
— Commission Chairman Robert Lopez read a proclamation declaring Crash Responder Safety Week on Nov. 13-17.
The document details Linda Unruh’s successful efforts to enact a “Move Over” highway law, aka Bobby’s Law, in 2017 for tow operators and other first responders, after her son Bobby died in an accident responding to a tow call west of Tucumcari.
Unruh said the law’s passage happened “with all of your support. I didn’t do this all by myself.”
She said she would continue to share her “story of loss” to federal lawmakers and will try to require an alert system for drivers two miles before an accident scene.
The Tucumcari City Commission passed a similar proclamation earlier this month.
— Road superintendent Stephen Salas said his department recently received parts for a new culvert to replace one on Quay Road M, south of Bard, that was damaged by flash flooding in May.
County manager Daniel Zamora said state disaster officials supplied a form for the county to fill once it begins repairs on storm-damaged roads.
“We’ll see what they reimburse,” he said.
— Kristen Holmes, donor relations associate for the Clovis-based United Way of Eastern New Mexico, encouraged the county and employers to participate in workplace fundraiser efforts, which provide 85% of its working budget.
Holmes said the United Way is trying to boost programs in Quay County, which became part of the organization in 2019. She said it provides financial aid, disaster services, grants to nonprofits, gives financial education to ninth-graders and provides supplies for a No Worries Wall in schools of free hygiene products.
Lopez said it was “eye opening” the services the United Way provides and noted a recent study that 25% of adolescents suffer from depression or anxiety.
Zamora offered the county to be a liaison between the community and the local United Way organization.
— Zamora said the October gross receipts tax revenue report for sales in August were “down a little bit still strong.” Noting a downward trend also in the July reporting month, he attributed that to a seasonal decline in summer travel.