By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
Raton City Commissioners met Tuesday evening, October 9th and awarded a couple of bids and approved budget adjustments as well as other business.
Commissioners began their regular business portion of the meeting approving the minutes and approving the event forms for the Calvary Baptist Church Hay Ride scheduled for October 24 and the Raton MainStreet Safe Trick or Treat event on October 31.
Commissioners then approved the reappointment of Sara Kowalski, William Daily and Eric Honeyfield to the Labor Management Relations board.
Phil Long Ford was the low bid at $28,795 for a sport utility vehicle for the city to replace the current one that is 13 years old. Tates Auto Center was the other bidder.
Commissioners then approved the bid for a mobile asphalt recycler that Jason Phillips, Public Works Director, says should pay for itself in about three years with the cost savings of making our own hot mix. The city is currently paying about $90 for asphalt with the recycler making small amounts at about $20 to do pot hole patching. The cost of the recycler is from KM International is $78,599.50.
Commissioners then approved Ordinance 1000 enacting and adopting a supplement to the code of ordinances for the city of Raton and declaring an emergency. The codification includes ordinances 993-996 that will now be online for the public to view.
Commissioners postponed the approval of the city’s capital asset inventory till the next regular meeting on October 23.
Commissioners approved the second budget adjustment for FY 2019 which moved funds around in the public works department and the special revenue fund for the recreation center. (Link to Budget Adjustment #2)
Commissioners approved the renewal of the agreement with the State Fire Marshall who provides investigative assistance for fires and other assistance as needed.
City Manager Scott Berry noted the street construction work on Hospital Drive was proceeding with a slow down for some welcome rain and snow this week.
The work on Taxiway “A” at the Raton Crews Field Airport was moved to spring at the request of the construction firm. Berry also has requested supplemental funding for the repairing the apron and area around the hangars. This funding would come from the FAA and Berry noted possibly without any match funds being required.
Berry has been working with RPS to acquire a smart metering system that provide data not only to RPS but also the consumer will have access to that data as well. There will be some cost savings over the older style of metering.
Berry noted the Amtrak announcement about not converting part of the line to bus service for fiscal year 2019 You can see the press release from Senator Udall’s office on the KRTN web site. He also noted that the City’s acquisition of the Train Depot is moving ahead with further progress being made on the agreement.
Commissioners will meet again on October 23 at 6:00 p.m. for their next regular meeting which can be heard on KRTN AM 1490.
