By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
Raton City Commissioners began their meeting Tuesday evening, February 26, with committee reports, and Commissioner Chatterly gave a report on the progress the branding committee has made and informed the commission that they have a use agreement created on how to use the Raton Your Pass logo. They also are looking for local photographs and have created a photo standards style packet that photographers can use to submit photos for the projects that are upcoming.
After the reports, commissioners tackled a request from the Raton Country Club for $25,000 of Non-Promotional Lodger’s Tax fund monies to repair and upgrade the sprinkler system. President of the Country Club, Devon Barton, told commissioners that this year is the 100th anniversary of the club and that they are working on ways to bring in people to play at the course by offering a round of golf with a receipt from a local hotel. The country club is also hosting parties and other functions for the general public that is bringing in funds that Barton could be used to repay the Lodger’s Tax fund.
There was discussion about the disc golf course and how to handle that as the club was charging a fee but has since gone to a no fee use for the disc golf. The only problem with that is the costs associated with upkeep of the disc golf has to come from somewhere.
Deer, elk and turkey were also part of the discussion that Joe Pobar noted was a big problem. After the water is shut off for the season, the deer and elk will come onto the grounds, especially during the rut, and tear up the greens and without water makes it difficult to repair them. New Mexico Game and Fish are trapping turkey this week and are looking for a good solution to keep the deer out. A fence was suggested, but Pobar noted they didn’t have the staff to put the fence in, even if Game and Fish provided the materials.
Commissioners told Barton they would like to see a breakdown of the funding request to make sure that the funds were going to something that could actually use Lodger’s Tax monies. Commissioners then postponed a vote on the $25,000 request until that information is available. City Manager Scott Berry noted that the city has been providing water to the golf course for years.
Commissioners then approved Engineering Analytics, Inc to be the on-call engineering firm for the City. They received three bids to the RFP and on the grading scale EAI came out slightly ahead of the other firms. The agreement is a one-year agreement that is renewed each year for up to four years. Berry noted that it didn’t hurt that EAI had an office in Raton and according to Karen Sterns they have hired a local high school student interested in engineering, to work part time.
Commissioners approved the bid by Arthur Roll Off for the removal of large truck and equipment tires. The bid was for $24,850 by Arthur. Jason Phillips noted that the city has purchased a tire cutter to cut up the tires into small enough pieces that they can be hauled off as solid waste. It was noted that the city has hauled off about 50,000 tires over the years.
Phil Long Ford was the successful bidder for a F250 Supercab four-wheel drive pickup for the fire department. The pickup will be used to haul fuel and supplies to wildland fire units.
Commissioners also approved Mutual Aid agreements with Cimarron and Springer Fire. Fire Chief Chris Espinoza noted that Cimarron and Raton have been providing ambulance service to Springer for about six months since Springer no longer has an ambulance service available at this time.
Commissioners started the process to upgrade the NAVAID system at the airport. The current system isn’t working and needs to be replaced with a newer system. The cost of the project is $166,666 which the city will put in 5% and NM State Aviation will fund 5% which is $8,333. FAA will take care of the remainder of the cost.
Commissioners then approved the task order for Molsen Corbin to begin the process of engineering and preparing the paperwork for the project and FAA application. The cost of that work will be $39,409.65.
Commissioners then heard from City Treasurer Michael Anne Antonucci that the GRT was once again down, this time by about .80%. This is about a $50,000 drop compared to last year which Antonucci figures in part can be attributed to the loss of K-Mart Christmas sales. So far, the departments have been holding expenses fairly well so things are not too bad. Antonucci noted that the volatility in the GRT is going to make it hard to forecast for the next fiscal year. (Link to January 2019 Financial Report)
Antonucci informed the commissioners that despite the downturn in GRT, the Gas Tax has risen and is estimating as much as a $100,000 increase by year end. She went on to explain that most of the budget adjustments are line item adjustments. (Link to Budget Adjustment #10)
Commissioners approved the Aquatic Center Debt service payment in the amount of $150,000 and authorized City Treasurer to allocate the additional principal payment accordingly.
City Manager Scott Berry noted in his report that they had made a visit to the legislature where a large number of bills had been presented and some of which are a concern to the city of Raton. Mayor Neal Segotta noted that San Miguel County has received $54.3 million in capital outlay over the years while Colfax County has received $6.9 million over the same time frame. Bernalillo County on the other hand has received well over $200 million during the same time period.
Berry went on to note that the Raton Water Works has received an award for the most improved facility from the New Mexico Water and Wastewater Association and that the Multi-Modal Center has received an award for Engineering Excellence. Bohanan Huston was the engineers on that project.
Commissioners then went into executive session to discuss collective bargaining with the Raton Firefighters Local 2378.
The next regular meeting of the Raton city Commission will be on March 12, 2019 at 6:00 p.m. and it will be broadcast on KRTN AM 1490.
There will be a potential quorum of the commission at an Economic Development Open House on March 7thfrom 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Convention Center.
