By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
Raton City Commissioners met Tuesday evening April 14, 2020 in a social distancing-style meeting with all the commissioners calling in from home while Mayor Neil Segotta, City Clerk Michael Anne Antonucci and City Manager Scott Berry manned the meeting chambers.
The meeting began with Pat Walsh asking commissioners what they plan to do after a petition was brought to them a couple weeks ago asking them to start enforcing the animal control ordinance and having the courts do more to enforce the ordinance and change the attitudes of pet owners. An incident back in March, that started the petition campaign, resulted in an elderly Raton woman being airlifted to Albuquerque where she underwent several surgeries for injuries including two broken arms after being mauled by a loose dog.
City Manager Scott Berry noted that he has met with Walsh and the Police Department over the matter and they will try harder to deal with loose dogs. The police department is currently four officers short and Mayor Segotta noted we are lucky to have one animal control officer as it was very difficult finding the one individual Raton currently has.
Commissioners approved the resolution declaring a Health Emergency for the city. This declaration will help with future funding and assistance that the city might be eligible for.
They also approved the form and policy for the Emergency Micro Loan program that will provide as much as $2500 for small businesses to help cover some expenses as a result of lost business during this national health emergency. Parameters and instructions will be released to the public on Wednesday, April 15.
Commissioners also approved the resolution approving dispatchers as first responders. Currently dispatchers are considered admin or clerical staff which doesn’t recognize the mental stress of dealing with life and death situations as they are the first individuals that deal with these situations. The State of Texas has already done this and dispatchers are requesting New Mexico state government do the same.
Commissioners also approved the addendum to the MOU with the Center for Community Innovation to allow them to sublease office space at the Raton Visitors Center.
Raton and other communities including Trinidad will again apply for grant monies to help with the Amtrak infrastructure. The program used to be called Tiger Grants and is now referred to as Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development or BUILD transportation discretionary grant program. The grant request last year by Trinidad was turned down, so the communities along the Southwest Chief route will try again with Trinidad taking the lead. Should the grant application be approved Raton will put up $12,000 in matching funds.
Commissioners approved budget adjustment #11 which included a temporary transfer of monies to cover work that has been done on the depot while the city waits for reimbursement from the feds. (Link to FY 20 Budget Adjustment #11)
Then the bad news came with the interim budget discussion. Mayor Neil Segotta noted that the New Mexico Municipal League has told municipalities to expect significant short falls in gross receipts income for the up coming fiscal year. Those short falls could be as much as 24%. The City of Raton sees about 70% of its income from GRT so budgeting for the upcoming year is going to be very difficult not knowing what construction projects have been cut or may start late due to budget shortfalls. The state had been expecting additional revenues from oil and gas but much of that surplus quickly dried up when oil prices fell to $20 a barrel. Raton also relies on tourism income which has been greatly reduced with people staying home over the past month. It will be June before the city sees the first of the reduced numbers as the GRT payments are lagging by two months.
Berry noted in his report that next Tuesday will be Dan Campbell’s last day at Raton Water Works. Campbell has put in 29 years with the city, 24 years in the water department.
Commissioners will meet again on April 28 in one form or another at 6:00 p.m. with the meeting broadcast on KRTN AM-1490 and streamed on KRTN’s Facebook page.
