By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
The Raton City Commission discussed agreements with the state and approved the resolution for local elections in November 2025 for the first meeting in June Tuesday evening.
Mayor Neil Segotta noted in his report that the senior centers in Colfax County lost about $55,000 this year with the northern sites in the state losing about $219,000 in federal funding for this fiscal year.
Commissioners held a public hearing on the Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan for FY27-31. The requests for funding remain pretty much the same as last year. The plan is a necessary document for funding requests during the legislative sessions. Lake Maloya dam work, downtown drainage work, train depot renovation and the Raton animal Shelter remain the top five projects on the lengthy list.
Commissioners heard the details of a capital appropriation project agreement between the NM Department of Economic Development and the city for the train depot renovation. The grant is not to exceed $1,100,000 with a $275,000 match from the city. The purpose of the grant is to complete stabilization of the structure including the roof, walls and upgrade the building mechanical systems. Raton Mainstreet has been very instrumental in obtaining funding for this project.
The city will present a letter of commitment to the NMDOT for the East 10th Street Bridge project. The letter is to show DOT the city’s commitment to the bridge project before construction begins on the Clayton Highway exchange. The City of Raton will provide $40,899 in matching funds for the $240,000 planning and design of the project.
Colfax County will provide vector services for the City of Raton at a cost of $5,000 from June 1, 2025, to September 30, 2025. This is an increase of $2000 from last year as costs of chemicals and other expenses have gone up. If you have bees or other health issues let city hall know about these.
Commissioners approved the resolution for local elections in November 2025. Seats up for consideration this year are, District two Commissioner Don Giacomo, District four Commissioner Linde Schuster and District five Mayor Neil Segotta. The Colfax County Clerk will receive Declarations of Candidacy on August 2nd from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with all write in candidates to be filed on September 2nd at the Colfax County Clerk’s office.
Resolution 2025-38 deals with changes to the travel policy relating to reimbursement and travel per diem and milage expenses for public officers and city employees while on city business. The changes will bring the city in line with the state reimbursement levels. The rates have increased to $180.00 for in state per diem for overnight travel. $249.00 for instate travel to Santa Fe County and $180.00 for out of state travels. $70.00 will be the rate for in state and out of state meal reimbursement.
Commissioners also acted on Resolution 2025-39 which is the annual review and approval of the city lease accounting policy. This policy follows the Government Accounting Standards Board which has established a single model for lease accounting based on the principle that the leases are financings of the right to use an asset. The GASB passed the pronouncement in June 2021 to be effective on all leases from fiscal year 2022 and subsequent years following.
The budget adjustment covers line-item changes for building maintenance and other department line items.
City Manager Rick Mestas noted the summit of governments met at Vermejo Park with a goal of designing, developing and deploying a world class multimodal transportation solution for the area. It’s been about 10 years, but the city has finally secured over a million dollars for the train depot renovation in part thanks to Deputy City Manager Jason Phillips.
The city engineer will be taking over the responsibility of animal control in a few weeks to bring the city in line with other municipalities that combine code enforcement and animal control to streamline efforts and address problems that in many cases relates.
In closing Mestas noted the 250th birthday of the United States Army and that Sgt Orace Mestas will be returned to his hometown of Trinidad for final burial on June 20th, 2025. Mestas went missing in Korea in 1951. His remains were finally recovered but were not identified until 2018 and positively identified on January 31, 2025.
The next city commission meeting will be held on June 24, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. in the commission chambers at city hall.
