By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
KRTN sat down with Raton City Manager Rick Mestas who has been on the job now for just over six months and he spoke about growing up in the Raton and Trinidad area then like so many young folks left Trinidad after graduation and found work in several different places giving him many experiences to draw from as he looks to lead Raton into the future.
He talked about Raton in its heyday with lots of business, the mines and horse racing. He like so many others he left the area and worked in several jobs. He later worked in vocational rehab and he feels that is where he found a way to connect with the complicated issues to better understand what he needs to handle the city manager position. He went on to say that he wants transparency, to help people and to fix things noting that we have to find these solutions together.
He noted the city is working on grants to help with the dilapidated buildings but the city needs a culture shift to bring around a different way of thinking to get out of a depression era way of thinking by holding on to things. To let go of things and maintain the city to make it look as good as we can. Mestas used an analogy of singing in a choir, that all of us have to sing in harmony together.
The conversation moved on to the utilities that Raton has and how each one of them has been able to keep a surplus of money for emergencies. Mestas feels that the city is in good financial shape and credits City Treasurer Michael Anne Antonucci for being so fiscally responsible. He feels that the utilities need to keep the money for their needs. He added that the city needs to live within its means.
The gas tax continues to decline which for the city is a concern as that money is used for road repair and matching money for grants. Mestas felt that one way to help the situation is for Raton to have more gas stations. He noted there needs to be a plan in place as Raton looks for additional convenience store/truck stop. As travelers use gas apps to see what gas prices are along their route it is often seen that Raton has some of the highest prices in the area. Clayton is often seen to have gas at prices 10 to as much as 50 cents cheaper than Raton.
Can Raton maintain or will the loss of retail and the growth of online services hurt Raton which he responded that everything is cyclical. Online will change in time and other ways of shopping will come along. Citing the example of Sears, Montgomery Wards and JC Penny who were local stores then came the catalog and now it’s Amazon online. He added that will change as time goes on.
Raton needs to stop and look at where we are and how we can make those changes. Come to Raton and you can fish in a different location every day of the week. Mestas noted that we need to focus on what we need ie. water food Raton is good with water. He feels Raton is in a good place and we need to diversify. We didn’t diversify with the railroad and the mines. We have to embrace change.
He ended with the comment “Faith looks forward, Faith looks forward and as long as we look forward we will be fine.”
