After years of on and off negotiations, The Raton City Commission moved the City closer to ownership of the Raton Train Depot with the acceptance of a conveyance and lease agreement with BSNF Railroad at last night’s Raton City Commission meeting.
The City agreed to use the depot for passenger rail service and also agrees to let BNSF use the south wing for its communications center. There is also a caveat that BNSF could, if it wanted, have a mechanism to reacquire the depot by reimbursing the city for all monies expended (minus any grants). Part of the delay in an agreement was Amtrak’s slow going to approve the deal. City Manager Berry said there were some 33 points that needed to be resolved fully and that they all were agreed to in a phone conversation with a BNSF lawyer. Berry also said that an inspection of the depot found no asbestos issues.
The Tuesday, July 24 meeting was full of happenings concerning city business as the new fiscal year comes in, the approval of the final FY2019 budget for the City and for Raton Water Works and Raton Public Service was also approved unanimously.
City Treasurer Michael Anne Antonucci presented the Commission with the final documents that shows the city starting this fiscal year with $1,903,242 available cash which Antonucci commented that in her tenure, she had not seen a cash balance that high. The General Fund balance is actually $2,291,406, but $388,164 (1/12th) is required to be in reserve. Antonucci also said that last year General Fund revenues exceeded projections by 1.3% and gross receipts collected also exceeded budget projections by 2.52%. (Link to June 2018 Financial Report) (Link to Budget Adjustment #17)
The end of year financial report and final FY19 budget will be submitted to the Dept. of Finance (DFA) by the July 31st deadline with a total budget expected to be $4,831,541. On other positive notes, Antonucci also said the Lodger’s Tax collection was over $440,000 for last year and this year’s Gross Receipts tax collections are beginning the year with a modest, but positive .6% above projections.
Manager Scott Berry commended Antonucci on her hard work and long hours put in on the budget and all commissioners voiced their thanks for her “awesome work”.
In addition to their budgets being accepted, Raton Utilities had items on the agenda as Raton Water Works General Manager Dan Campbell told the commission that because of a delay in paperwork, he would have to ask for a postponement of an introduction of an ordinance for interim financing for the water treatment plant improvement project. Campbell said all the drawings and bid documents were in order, so he would try to get action from the commission at its next meeting.
Raton Public Service was a part of the action items as the commission authorized City Manager Scott Berry to act on behalf of Raton and RPS during the upcoming mediation with the Hartford Steam Boiler and the subrogation action against Wartsila. The City has asked for $8 million in damages as a result of the failure of the Wartzila generator unit. Berry said the Wartzila Unit was 7.5 megawatts and the new generator is only 4.3 megawatts, which leaves the city short in times of power outages.
In Berry’s report, he told of the NM Racing Commission meeting on July 19 in which he, on behalf of Raton, asked the Racing commission to delay the awarding of the sixth racing license for 90 days. The Commission unanimously denied Raton’s request, but did accept another request for a delay from a consortium of current tracks who wanted a delay until a feasability study could be completed on the viability of another track. The Racing Commission also kept the July 30 deadline for Letters of Intent (LOI) to be submitted by entities proposing to run a race meet in New Mexico. Berry said there was already one entity who has submitted a LOI and he felt there would be multiple letters, possibly as many as a half dozen submitted.
In other business, the City Commission awarded a bid to Northern Mountain Constructors for a Taxiway A Rehab Phase II project in the amount of almost $1.3 million. The FAA will pay 90% with the State and the City splitting the other 10%. A contingency was placed on the acceptance in that The FAA Grant application for the project might be more than the current 90% because the Omnibus bill for transportation was increased dramatically and the city would ask the FAA for 100% of the money for the project.
The Commission also unanimously accepted a RAID Grant with the NM Environment Dept. for $25,000 for the purchase of a tire cutter that will help in the storage and transfer of old tires.
Accepted the low bid of $157,430 plus tax for Rocky Road Gravel and Well Drilling of Las Vegas, NM for the Hospital Drive Paving Project. The NMDOT will cover the bulk of the cost with Raton’s share of approximately $50,000 coming from the gas tax. The project will take the dip out of the road and is expected to begin the first of September.
Accepted the dispatch agreement between the City and Colfax County for $49,062.
Passed a Memorandum of Understanding between Raton Public Schools and the City for a School Resource Officer. The Department of Justice grant for $78,000 for three years required a match and the city committed to the first year and will split the second year with the Raton Public Schools.
Passed unanimously the MOU between the city and the Colfax County Juvenile Justice Continuum Advisory Board.
Named Mayor Pro Tem Linde’ Schuster as the voting delegate for the upcoming NM Municipal League meeting in Roswell, August 29-31.
The next City Commission meeting will be on Tuesday, August 14 at 6 pm and will be broadcast on KRTN AM 1490.
Featured picture at top of page shows Raton Museum’s Kathy McQueary and Roger Sanchez flanking Commissioner Lori Chatterly and accepting a Mayoral Proclamation for July 28, being a reception at the museum for Robert Campbell’s photographic exhibit. Reps from NM Magazine, the Palace of the Governor’s Photo Archive section and members of the Campbell family will be at a reception from 2 to 4 pm. (Link to the Proclamation Raton Museum)
