By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
Raton’s code enforcement after three years is finally making progress on cleaning up Raton with the local wrecker service removing abandoned cars at 108 Pecos.
On Wednesday August 6, 2025, the city began the process to remove the old cars and other debris at the residence there on 108 Pecos. The city will move to 1521Cedar probably on Thursday to begin the process of removing the many vehicles at that location. Other areas in town have also begun to see progress with owners making the effort to clean up the property themselves.
While the city cleans up the trash Raton Public Service is working to make your house safer from electrical problems. Letters went out to several Raton residences this week that they would be required to remove their current A-Base meter box and replace it with a new one.
RPS General Manager, Dave Piancino, noted that the old boxes could only handle about 50 amps of electrical current adding that in today’s world if you have such things as an electric dryer or electric stove and oven that can pull upwards of 40 amps of current that is really taxing your electrical service. He noted that they are seeing the old boxes bottom terminals with corrosion thus reducing their current capacity and they are not very weather resistant which can allow water inside to not only aid the corrosion but also could create an electrical shock hazard. Another concern for some residents is the wiring in the house. They need to make sure they have adequate wiring to handle a bigger electrical load should they add bigger electrical appliances.
RPS has been working on this since 2011, and they still have about 300 meters that will need to be changed out. Piancino realizes that a lot of people will have a hard time affording this change and recommends residents to contact RPS so they can work with residents to get this issue fixed. The homeowners will need to contact an electrician to do the work and then have it inspected by the state electrical inspector.
