By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
Raton City Commissioners met Tuesday evening August 9 for their first regular meeting of the month with Mayor Neil Segotta and Commissioner Lori Chatterley joining by phone to approve event forms and change orders on construction projects.
Due to deadline changes commissioners approved the Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan to be delivered to the state in August instead of September. Lake Maloya Dam and Bartlett Mesa Ranch top the list that the city will request money for.
Mayor Pro-Tem Lindé Schuster was selected as the voting delegate for Raton at the Municipal League Annual State Conference with Commissioner Lori Chatterley as an alternate.
Commissioners approved the street closures for the 1st Baptist Church Block party on August 24 and the Gate City Music Festival on September 3-4. They also approved the celebration permits for Blü Dragonfly Brewing and Colfax Ale Cellar to serve alcohol at the Gate City Music Festival.
Commissioners approved the request to build 564 feet of 6ft fence on the north side of the Armex Building at a cost of $30,056 on the state purchasing contract. The green house project at the Armex Building is nearing completion and should be done soon noted City Manager Scott Berry.
Commissioners reappointed Randy Madison, Richard Gertler and Dee Burks for a two-year term on the Planning and Zoning board. Commissioners also approved the lease of property for a billboard on the east side of I-25 for $600 a year to Lamar.
Commissioners heard from Berry about a change order request on the Byron Whittier Street project. There was a reduction in cost due to the contractor providing a less rigid culvert and an increase due to asphalt paving cost increases. The increase for paving was $10,808 with the decrease $5,062 for the culvert leaving a net increase of $5746.
The next change order was due to 75-year-old concrete that had to be completely removed which wasn’t part of the project as well as other construction issues. The total increase in the cost was $21,218 which Berry noted will come out of the general fund since this was not anticipated in the CDBG grant agreement. This resulted in an amendment to the CDBG grant agreement to help cover those extra costs. Berry noted that DFA had built into the grant agreement cost overruns due to increased costs since the project was first initiated in 2018–2019-time frame.
New Mexico Environment Department approved a grant request for $10,268 which will be used to purchase bins for the recycling program at the transfer station.
Mayor Pro-Tem allowed Joel Sanderson to speak before the commission since he was late to the meeting and was unable to talk during the items for citizens present segment of the meeting. Sanderson then complained about why he was shut down from selling fireworks and was furious about the vacant building ordinance. Berry countered noting that Sanderson’s attempt to sell fireworks violated state statute which allows for sales only during certain holidays and for three weeks in June and July unless it is for tourist attraction. The discussion then escalated and was finally terminated with Mayor Pro-Tem promising to obtain the state statute and get it to Sanderson so he could read it. He repeatedly asked what the commission wanted him to do with respect to keeping the building off the vacant building list and the response repeatedly was obey the city ordinance and the state statutes regarding his business.
During Berry’s City Manager’s report, he noted that he attended the NMDOT meeting and presented the resolution for support of the I-27 designation. He also noted that he met with several parties involved with the airport to discuss the five-year priorities and where they might be able to obtain funding for upcoming projects.
Commissioners will meet again on August 23, 2022 at 6:00 p.m. for the next regular meeting of the month.
