By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
The Raton City Commission met Tuesday September 3, 2024, for a special meeting/work session to discuss the future direction of the City of Raton.
Municipal Judge Christine Piancino spoke to the commission about the Municipal Court. She spoke about concerns with the animal ordinance and an ambiguity about the number of dogs a person can own specifically the difference between service animals and companion animals.
City Manager Rick Mestas spoke about his plan to direct the city into the future after former City Manager Scott Berry spent the last 10 years getting the City of Raton back on an even keel. He went on to speak on the economy where about 26% of Raton Citizens are living in poverty. The median income in Raton is about $40,000 a year with about 50% of the populace living on less than that. He talked about attracting a work force and adding new housing. Raton needs reliable internet for everyone in the community and the city has taken steps to start the process of bringing more broadband into the underserved areas of Raton.
He went on to speak about public safety. Where he added that yes, Raton has its problems and but ranks 31 safest out of 69 communities in the state. The city will work to keep the department up to date with technology and training. Mestas added that the city trains all of their firefighters to be medically trained. Regular meetings with both chiefs keep Mestas on the same page and to be able to help with problems.
He spoke about the workforce and workspace that Raton needs to work on and mentioned Raton is part of a regional economy that Raton needs to work on and to work together with the other communities for the benefit of the area.
Chief of Staff Michael Anne Antonucci spoke about the city’s finances which have seen an increase of about 4% over the last few years. Antonucci noted that the GRT has been good, but we need to see a more stable Lodger’s tax and gas tax. She noted that with the regulations and additional grants more staff may be needed to handle those extra duties. Antonucci noted that there had been eight terminations in the month of August which increases the work load on the administrative duties with the high turnover. She also spoke about keeping the workforce well paid in order to compete with other communities in the area and that the city will need to take a wider look to find the needed talent to cover the current city needs.
She noted that the city could use as many as five additional employees for the police and fire department as well as five for the public works department and smaller numbers in other departments in the city infrastructure. Training will also need to be kept up as new regulations impose more work.
Assistant City Manager Jason Phillips noted that the state of the local infrastructure is not in the best shape and in need of repairs. He noted the city is in need of over $200 million for city streets and about $50 million for other needs and we are doing the best we can with a limited number of employees. The public works crews are the best and well dedicated to doing many jobs that are not necessarily in their job description.
He went on to talk about natural resources and the utilities. The power is stable and should be good for the next eight years with the biggest threat to our utilities is wildfire. We need to continue to expand on solar.
He also spoke about the parks the city has and that we need to add more playground equipment. Pickleball is in the process of becoming reality with a bid opening later in the month. He spoke about the theater and how it has been an important part of the city such as the Gate City Music Festival this last week.
He noted that we are in the works for a $900,000 grant for Second Street improvements. He also noted we are in the works for a big grant at the train station. The streets are a big concern for the city and it is great that many of the streets have held up well. The life span of many streets is only expected to be a little over 20 years. The city will need to keep looking for ways to keep the streets up.
Commissioners all agreed that the workforce is a major issue and figuring out how we can keep the workforce we have. Phillips said he lost a CDL driver this week who went elsewhere for better pay. Honeyfield said we haven’t faced reality to meet the needs of workers with special licenses such as a CDL. Mayor Neil Segotta noted that many prospective employees don’t care about benefits, they just want to know what their pay is and often want more than is possible to give them. Mayor Pro-Tem Lori Chatterley noted we are straddled with the budget we have.
Commissioner Mark Honeyfield noted we have done a good job upgrading our parks to geriatric parks. Phillips told the commission the shopping list for Romero Park is several thousands of dollars he actually had sticker shock for what is needed to really bring the park up to kid standards. Chatterley wants to see more about the quality of life needs as that brings in families which in turn create more GRT and the big circles of money flows around the town.
Mestas feels the commission needs to have a separate work session just on the workforce and housing issues with commissioners heartily agreeing.
The discussion continued in the direction of surplus property and what we need to do with some of the spare properties the city owns. The idea of an auction could create some excitement, noted Honeyfield. Mestas told commissioners that we have not just property but vehicles and equipment. Discussion continued with the abandoned buildings. George Riley noted the JC Penny building will be demoed after October 1st. Other buildings are on the list but are dependent on environmental studies such as asbestos and lead. There is some money that might be available for the El Portal, but it is nowhere near what is needed to do a full park project. It was noted a square could be a possibility.
Commissioner Linde Schuster noted that when she came to Raton in 1987 there were hardly any apartments and there haven’t been any built since then. An apartment complex would be great, however as Honeyfield noted the rent scale wouldn’t work here in Raton as the market wouldn’t meet what is needed to pay for the complex.
Mestas went over some of the projects that are in the works and what the status is on those projects. Many of the projects are progressing nicely and new ones are being looked at. It has been determined that the stinky tunnel is a not a workable situation as keeping the water out of the tunnel is not easily done and the city needs to ask if we can reallocate the money elsewhere for other trails work. The discussions will continue and city staff will take what has been gleaned from this meeting to move forward working on the issues that the city is facing.
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