By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
Raton City Commissioners met Tuesday evening at City Hall and moved quickly through the agenda which included a couple of items from Raton Public Service that were tabled due to some wording issues. A special meeting will be called on September 15, 2015 to handle those two items.
Fire Chief Jim Matthews was present to inform the commission that the FEMA funding they had requested had been approved this time around. The reason for being rejected last time was due to an oversight that the All Hazards Mitigation plan the city had in place had expired. The plan has been redone and the application was resubmitted and approved this time around.
Letters from DFA approving the city’s budget as well as the RPS and Raton Water Works budgets were received and approved. (Links to the FY 16 Budget Attachments Adopted Budget FY16)
Commissioners approved the management agreement with the Shuler Restoration Committee. Billy Donati was on hand and told commissioners that the Shuler is one of our most valuable assets as Gate City Music Festival proved that again this weekend. All the performers that performed this weekend noted that the Shuler was one of the best if not the best places to perform and that the committee wants to continue with that momentum and make the Shuler a destination for the Arts.
Commissioners approved the bid recommendation for the original townsite drainage project. W.M. Serazio and Century Club Construction LLC were the only two bidders with Century bid coming in at $163,745 without GRT and Serazio’s bid was $207,147. Grant funding for the project is $200,000. The project is estimated to cost $183,538. The project will include work on the drainage inlets on Park Ave and Cook Ave from 3rd street to 5th street.
Diana Sanchez was appointed to the Economic Development Board.
City Manager Scott Berry informed commissioners that the Gate City Music Festival was a success and that many of the volunteers were also city employees. The Master of the Mountain will begin Friday with an entrant from Canada this year.
Public works have been painting the parking stripping downtown as well as continuing work on the potholes. Fire department personnel are continuing their work on the fire station on Troy Avenue. Solar Panels were installed on the building and that is working well for the building.
Bids for two paving projects will be opened September 24 and consider a special meeting on September 29. There will be a preconstruction meeting this week for the multi-model project. Construction should begin by October 1st on the project. Audit is ahead of schedule after two weeks of fieldwork by the auditors.
Commissioners will meet again at 6:00 p.m. on September 22 for their next regular meeting with a 5:00 p.m. special meeting scheduled for September 15.
