Candidates Forum Held at Raton Convention Center Tuesday

By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media

A candidate Forum was held Tuesday evening October 17, 2023 at the Raton Convention Center in cooperation with El Raton Media Works and Raton Economic Development Jolene Greene where candidates for Raton School Board, Raton Municipal Judge and Raton City Commission were attendance to answer questions.

The forum got underway with Rayetta Trujillo, the Colfax County Clerk informing the public about early voting and how it will work this year followed by Raton School Board President Jason Phillips and Superintendent Kristi Medina who spoke about the school bond issue that will be on the ballot November 7. The schools are asking voters to approve an $8 million dollar bond issue. If the bond issue passes the school will then get with the state and ask for a waiver that will provide $72 million to build a new Pre-K through 12 campus. Yes, property taxes will go up but for only four years then they will return to the present day’s rate. Medina added in her comments that the school would be hosting a sort of open house to allow residents a chance to see some of the needed repairs. If the bond issue does not pass the school will be forced to take a hard look at how they will provide a learning environment for students should one of the schools suffer a loss of infrastructure such as a boiler. Medina noted the equipment is old and replacement parts simply can’t be found for repairs.

School board candidates also answered question with both incumbents Ted Kamp and Kathy Honeyfield noting that for a lot of things the boards hands are tied with most policies being handed down from the state. All candidates were strongly in favor of the school bond issue and vowed to work together as a team for the betterment of students. John Duran and Dustin Walton were unable to make the forum. Seven candidates are running for three positions at large for the school board.

Municipal Judge Candidates were queried about the large dollar amount of fines that are outstanding with both Christina Piancino and Amy Avila looking for alternative ways to collect the funds or have offenders work off the fines. Piancino also noted that DMV will no longer suspend driver’s licenses for unpaid traffic violations leaving the court with little recourse to punish violators.

There are six candidates running for two positions on the city commission. Incumbent Lori Chatterley is running against Jason Bennet, who was unable to attend, and Joey Bustos while incumbent Ron Chavez faces off against Mark Honeyfield and Roy Manfredi who has retired from municipal judge to run for city commission. It was noticeable that there will be a big learning curve should a new candidate win the election as Commissioners Chatterley and Chavez both spoke of some of the headaches to getting approval then funding to demolish the old burnt and abandoned buildings in town. There are also regulatory hoops and approvals that must be jumped through to enable Raton to do some street repairs as well as working with New Mexico DOT as she found out when she started working to get Second Street repaired, Second Street is part of the state highway system and any work on it has to be done by NMDOT.

Editorial Note Watch the video from the forum and see how well the candidates were prepared and were able to answer the questions.