omingBy Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
Raton City Commissioners met Tuesday evening May 25, 2021 to hear funding requests for upcoming events and several other money matters in the two-hour long meeting.
Commissioners started the meeting by appointing Kathy McQueary to fill the trustee position on the RPS board being vacated by Wayne McMurtry. McMurtry was thanked by the Commission for his six years of service to the City.
Commissioners heard a presentation from Geoff Peterson about a new educational program that the Center for Community Innovation will be acquiring for workforce development.
Peterson added that the Metrix Learning program they will acquire from Skillsoft Corporation will help the center provide workforce development training as well as continuing education credits for several skilled jobs in town including several medical courses for nurses and other medical staff. He noted that several of the businesses he had talked to has curtailed expansion plans or curtailed hours of operation because of a lack of skilled employees and in many cases simply not having enough employees to staff the hours they wanted to be open.
Peterson noted it was time to get people back to work and the program the center will have can help train prospective employees for new skills as well as the continuing credits many highly skilled employees need to keep their certifications current.
Commissioner also approved to fully fund the Raton Arts and Humanities ($18,000) and the Raton Museum ($30,000) at their full requested amounts for the coming fiscal year. Terry Baca of the Raton Arts Council, told commissioners they are looking forward to the events they have scheduled for the coming year after having so many shows cancelled last year. Kathy McQueary told commissioners that the museum, after being closed is also planning for some new programs and are looking forward to the new shows and exhibits they will have this year. The museum is also working with Vermejo Park Ranch to provide a historical tour on the ranch in September.
Commissioners approved several recommendations from the Lodger’s Tax Advisory board for upcoming events and advertising this year.
Run to Raton: $11,375
KRTN Radio Advertising $7142.02
Raton Mainstreet $14,459.50
Raton-opoly game money $5,000
Center for Community Innovation for Social Media advertising $750
The funding for Raton Mainstreet includes the upcoming July 4th events some of which will be held on Historic First Street on July 4th. The Raton-opoly game is a monopoly game with Raton as the places on the board. The game money will also feature Raton businesses/places. Christine Valentini noted that 500 games will be ordered and she was buying several as Christmas presents.
Commissioners approved the event form for Raton Mainstreet to close First Street on July 4th for all the events there as well as the annual fireworks display.
Commissioners approved the RPS loans for the Twin Eagle Settlement agreement. The agreement covers the details of the loan repayments and will facilitate the payment of $2.7 million to Twin Eagle of which RPS will use $1.350 million from their capital improvement and replacement fund while the city of Raton agreed to loan RPS $1.350 million. RPS will be entering a new purchase power agreement it is expected that the new power supply agreement will result in enough savings to cover debt service for the loan.
Raton received only one bid to crush asphalt millings from Northern Mountain Constructors Inc. for $71,000 which is over the amount of money the NMDOT grant provided. The city will cover their match for the grant money and the balance with gas tax monies. The GRT amount for the projects is $6040.89 which will go into the city general fund. The city plans to mill about 4000 cubic yards of asphalt to be used in chip seal projects around the city over the next few years.
City Manager Scott Berry asked the commission to approve a resolution seeking the donation of the Kearney School to be used as a workforce learning center at this time geared more to the film industry trades. Berry noted this is just the first step in a very long process and that several entities would have to be on board to make this possible.
Commissioners approved the annual CDBG certifications and commitments. They also approved the interim budgets for the city, RPS and Raton Water Works.
City Treasurer Michael Anne Antonucci noted that the March GRT was only down 1.53% or $40,462 below budget. Both Berry and Antonucci are hopeful the summer will bring a big boost to the GRT and lodger’s tax to help bolster the already tight budget for fiscal 2022. (link to FY212 April Financial Report)
The city along with Raton Water Works will apply to refinance the USDA grant for the waste water treatment plant project that is now 15 years old. By refinancing the city hopes to see a shortened term as there is 25 years left on the note and a savings of over $490,000 with interest rates being as low as 2.4%.
The sunset date of June 30, 2021 for the suspension of convenience fees and utility disconnects is fast approaching. Berry wanted to let the commission and the public know those fees and disconnects will be reinstituted at the end of June.
As the city transitions to the new transfer station there will be a three-month period where Raton will not be able to take recyclable materials. Equipment moves and new environmental permits will be acquired during that period.
Berry noted the PAPI project at the airport was completed and is awaiting testing. The Great Blocks Project is nearing completion and is expected to be done by July 1 just in time for the Fourth of July activities. EMS personnel are helping staff the vaccination clinics that will be taking place every other week then going to every three weeks as more and more people get vaccinated.
Kudos were again given out to city crews for their work this last Sunday morning after the big rain event which flooded the north underpass and brought down a lot of sediment. Berry noted it will take crews several days to finish the cleanup after the event.
Commissioners will meet again on June 8, 2021 at 6:00 p.m. for their next regular meeting.
