By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
Raton city commissioners heard a report on the Arthur Johnson Memorial Library and approved the revised purchasing and procurement policy Tuesday evening.
Barbara Bonahoom spoke about the upgrades the Raton Humane Society has made to the Raton Animal Shelter in south Raton. She also informed them about the upcoming open house and party at the shelter this Saturday. Commissioners then approved the lease agreement with the Raton Humane Society for the animal shelter and they also approved the open house and Christmas in July Pet Festival for Saturday.
After postponing a decision at the last meeting commissioners approved the revised purchasing and procurement policy. The revised policy adds controls to the procurement process, some that are state mandated and to help keep control of the budget. City Treasurer Michael Ann Antonnuci noted that the city has been using the new purchase order module in the accounting system for a couple of weeks and have issued 67 POs. With the new module on line the department heads can keep up with where they are with their budgets. (link to the revised Purchasing and Procurement policy)
Commissioners approved resolution 2015-26 to accept funds from the NMDOT Cooperative agreement for street work. City Manager Scott Berry requested that the funds be designated for east Tiger Drive. The work will begin where the west Tiger Drive project left off. It will include the railroad crossing which will require the additional hoop jumping of working with BNSF for crossing the tracks. The city will match the $46,503 NMDOT funding with a match of $15,501 to complete the project. (Link to the NMDOT Coop Agreement)
Thayla Wright gave her presentation about the Arthur Johnson Memorial Library noting that during the 2014-2015 fiscal year the library saw 29,536 visitors. The Library has as staff of three full time and three part time employees. Funding for the library comes from several sources including city funding, grants and foundations. The library also has a building fund that is used for maintenance and repairs. The Darden Trust also provides money to the library for use in purchasing items not provided for by the building fund such as surveillance cameras, microfilm printer, computer, and other miscellaneous items.
Wright then went on providing information on the services the library provides and noted that the library checked out 51,522 books and reference material. She noted the art collection the library has as well as databases the library is working on which includes a photographic collection of the Maxwell/Beaubien family. The library also provides programs for both adults and children.
The library recently underwent exterior painting and repairs and is now going out to bid for plumbing repairs they hope to begin in September. (Link to the complete Library Report Arthur Johnson Memorial Library Report)
The city will also begin the process of setting up hearings for a Community Development Block Grant application. Jason Phillips noted the process is a long one and is designed to help parts of a community that meet certain low-income requirements.
Berry informed commissioners in his report that the street work in the Maxwell Addition in central Raton is almost finished. The chip seal work will take a couple of days to cure before it takes on the familiar asphalt look.
The Wells Fargo building work is coming along and will be done in a couple of weeks. Bids were opened on the Multi-Model center and a recommendation will be presented to the commission at the next meeting.
Berry noted that Fire Captain Anthony Burke has taken on some additional responsibilities for the city by providing safety training, job safety analysis and other safety related work. This is a requirement for insurance purposes.
He also noted that he has looked in on some of the meetings that are taking place for the Gatecity music Festival that will feature Deana Carter as a headliner. He noted next year there will be another big country music name to headline the event. The committee working on the event has also secured a major sponsor and that will be announced soon.
With that the meeting was adjourned and the next meeting will be July 28 at 6:00 p.m. and will be heard on KRTN AM 1490.
Brenda Ferri, Christine Valentini, Commissioner Ron Chavez, Diana Sanchez and Bob Harris.
