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CITY OF TUCUMCARI MINUTES August 12, 2008
The Tucumcari City Commission met for their regular meeting on Tuesday, August 12, 2008, at 6:00 p.m. in the City Commission Chambers. Members present constituting a quorum were Jim Lafferty, Robert Lumpkin, and Jim Witcher. Mayor Apodaca and Commissioner Sandoval were absent.
City staff members present were John R. Sutherland, Jr., City Manager; Jeannette Maddaford, City Clerk; Marty Garcia, Finance Director/Assistant City Manager; Erin Baca, Administrative Assistant; Doug Powers, Community Development Director; Roger Hatcher, Police Chief; Ron Wilmot, Convention Center Director; Joe Ramirez, Waste Water Superintendent; and Kalon Lafferty, EMS Director and Deputy Fire Chief.
Pastor Eddie Mardis of Father’s Forge Church gave the invocation and Commissioner Lafferty led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Consideration of Deletions to Agenda
None
Approval of Minutes
A motion was made by Commissioner Lafferty and seconded by Commissioner Lumpkin to approve the minutes of the July 22, 2008 regular Commission meeting. Roll Call:
Lumpkin Witcher Lafferty Yes Yes Yes
Approval of Vouchers
A motion was made by Commissioner Lumpkin and seconded by Commissioner Lafferty to approve the City vouchers. Roll Call:
Lumpkin Witcher Lafferty Yes Yes Yes Items from Citizens
None
Proclamations
A proclamation recognizing August 5, 2008 as the City of Tucumcari’s 100th Anniversary and declaring August 5, 2008 thru August 4, 2009 as Tucumcari’s Centennial Year was read by Mayor Pro Tem Witcher and presented to Ron Wilmot, Chairman of the City’s Centennial Celebration.
Resolutions and Ordinances
RESOLUTION 2008-24 A BUDGET REVISION FOR THE 2008-2009 FISCAL YEAR FOR POLICE NARCOTICS FUND. Marty Garcia presented a resolution to recognize the seized money deposited in the Police Narcotic’s Fund, so it could be entered in the budget portion of the General Ledger. A motion was made by Commissioner Lumpkin and seconded by Commissioner Lafferty to approve Resolution 2008-24. Roll Call:
Witcher Lafferty Lumpkin Yes Yes Yes
City Manager’s Report
City Manager Sutherland gave Police Chief Roger Hatcher an opportunity to report on his department. Hatcher reported the resolution represented a cash seizure over $200,000 which is out of the hands of drug traffickers and now available to expend to deter narcotic related activities. He stated there was $120,000 seizure that is in District Court will be shared with the Quay County Sheriff’s Office, if it is awarded. Over the last month the Department has been extremely busy due to one officer being in the academy in Santa Fe. August 28, Hatcher will take two officers to Las Cruces for their pre-assessment to attend the Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Academy which he stated was equivalent to the Santa Fe Academy. During this time they will be down three officers. He noted they have two vacancies and are searching for qualified candidates, as they have one officer on injured reserve. Sergeant Rivera will be attending Northwestern Command College in Albuquerque, which is a ten-week management program. They are still working on their phone system trying to get Qwest to get their PRI line in. A new 911 recorder system was installed today which was received through a $35,000 grant.
EMS Director and Deputy Fire Chief Kalon Lafferty gave the July Fire Department report, stating they had a total of ten calls consisting of four fires, one rescue call, one power line down, and four dumpster fires. EMS had 90 calls with 51 being 911 calls, 20 out of town transfers, 7 calls to Dunn’s Funeral Home, and 4 standby calls. He reported that there was an incident at the Attebury Grain Elevator yesterday in which a fire occurred in the tunnel underneath the Grain Elevator. They evacuated two blocks around the elevator with the residents going to the Convention Center. Clovis Fire Department sent in their specialty crew and finished up about 10:00 p.m. He stated the fire was due to a bearing on a pulley belt that overheated. Commissioner Lumpkin thanked the Fire Department for doing such good work and getting it under control so quickly.
Finance Director Marty Garcia was asked to give a finance update. He noted the City had been in constant communication with the Accounting and Consulting Group auditors, Jeffrey McWhorter and Ray Roberts by sending information to them daily. They indicated the preliminary draft of the 2006 audit should be received tomorrow. He handed out a report by fund and by revenue and expense, which would be helpful at the end of the year. He noted this represents the 2007-2008 budget after the end of the year budget resolution was entered and no fund ended the red. He highlighted the EMS Department noting that the revenue is inflated due to the billing being accrued, but actual collections are at 65%. He noted he had provided a listing last week of all the changes that were made to the 2008-2009 budget based on the actual cash balances. There were several changes, but nothing significant based on actual cash balances. Also he provided a chart on the cash of the major funds from 2001 to 2008 to show the trend and stated the General Fund had not been over a million dollars in many years and all the funds relied heavily on the General Fund. He asked the Commissioners to call and tell him how they preferred to have their monthly expense report; i.e. by line items within departments, total revenue and expenditures by department, or total revenue and expenditures by fund.
Convention Center Director Ron Wilmot gave a monthly report for July at the request of the Commissioners. The numbers showed 2,035 attendees for July with 1,400 being present for the State Racing Commission Hearing. The rental of rooms of the Convention Center brought in $585 and the bar $731. In 2007 there were eight events and rent income was $785 and bar income was $2,703. In October there is only four days that are not booked, there are three state conventions starting off with the Governor’s Conference on Economic Development, New Mexico State University Extension Service Conference for three days, and the State New Mexico Conservation Districts Conference for a full week.
Following the kickoff of the City’s Centennial Year by the adoption of the Centennial Proclamation, Erin Baca, Executive Secretary to the City Manager, gave an update of the timeline of the planned activities starting with Tucumcari’s Centennial Celebration and Heritage Dayze on September 19 and 20, followed by the MainStreet Six-Shooter Siding Festival to be held on September 26 and 27. She reported that she and Ron Wilmot, Chairman of the Centennial Celebration, had met with the Chamber of Commerce and people around town to beef up the timeline prepared by Bruce Nutt and to add more activities and encourage organizations to use the Centennial theme throughout the year. Banners are being ordered to place around town and have some banners to take to events. Also focus would be on the old timers and having them tell stories of the early days of Tucumcari at many of the events to focus on Tucumcari’s history. Mayor Pro Tem Witcher asked if the Elks had been contacted about moving their fireworks display to the baseball field area. She stated she would be talking to them and hoped to move it to that area, so there is more room for the larger fireworks, also make it so people can picnic all day, and have additional activities utilizing the fair barns.
A letter was received from New Mexico Department of Transportation granting permission for the Route 66 shields to be painted every 500 feet on Historic Route 66 Blvd. through Tucumcari. The letter has been forwarded to the Lodgers Tax Board who proposed the idea.
Wastewater Treatment Plant work is continuing and dirt has been moved. Problems continue with the equipment at the plant. Two pumps have failed and emergency measures have been taken. Financing documents for the additional elements for the work have been developed. The bids came in higher than anticipated, so there is a million dollars worth of work that has to be financed yet. Financing for the Date Street and 8th Street Lift Station and the Elder Street Sewer Line need to be financed, so they have been developed by the City’s Bond Council which will be presented at the August 28, 2008 meeting for Commission approval.
Streetlights at the east end of Route 66 Boulevard are currently out. One of the underground cables is burned. This happens when the insulation cracks and pulls back from the wire, the wire overheats when the ground is moist and it shorts out. The streetlights are wired in a series, which was a cheaper method of installing streetlights at the time; when one goes out they all go out. It will require the City to do some trenching work and the installation of new cable with an electrical contractor to get it done.
The Adams Street paving project is still moving along. There has been some concrete, curb and gutter work done during the past week, which is preliminary to doing the asphalt paving.
Ute Lake Reservoir Transmission Project - Requests For Proposals have been received and the evaluation committee met and reviewed the RFP. The evaluations will be submitted at the Commission meeting on August 28, 2008.
The closure and post closure care report has been prepared by the City’s consultant engineer and was submitted to the State Environmental Department by the due date. A hard copy of the plan has been submitted to the City and is required to be filed at the landfill.
The 13th Annual New Mexico Infrastructure Finance Conference is scheduled for October 29-30. Commissioners who are interested in attending should let Jeannette Maddaford know as soon as possible.
Sutherland expressed his sincere appreciation for Max Jimenez’s work with the Youth Conservation Corp. Program for the beautification work they did at the Wailes Park. Also he recognized Street and Sanitation Department Superintendent Alex Madrid for the hard work he does on behalf of the City. He noted that his crew is stretched pretty thin because of the street projects that are going on this summer, but he noted that Madrid never hesitates to step up and get one more thing done at the City Manager’s request.
Old Business
Mayor Pro Tem Witcher acknowledged the Planning and Zoning Advisory Board minutes of May 27, 2008 and June 24, 2008.
New Business
A motion was made by Commissioner Lumpkin and seconded by Commissioner Lafferty to approve the annual Lease Agreement with the North Central New Mexico Economic Development District Area Agency on Aging for office space in the Community Development building. Roll Call:
Lumpkin Witcher Lafferty Yes Yes Yes
Doug Quarles presented his new project to the Commissioners for a mural to be painted on the south side of the Quay County Detention Center. He related that the Governor was the guest of honor for the Rattler Reunion parade several years ago. While in Tucumcari he was taken on a tour of the murals at which time he mentioned to former Mayor Mayfield that he would love to see the Round House featured on one of the murals. When Quarles heard about the upcoming Governor’s Economic Development Summit to be held in Tucumcari in October, he wanted to get the State of New Mexico mural completed in time dedicate to the Governor and the Santa Fe Round House. He noted the Detention Center wall has three south faces where he could have the plains on one face and the mountains on the another face, then the round house and governor in the middle. He is seeking one-third of the funding from the County, one-third from the Greater Tucumcari Economic Development Corporation; and one-third from a private foundation at a cost of $5,300 per entity.
Waste Water Superintendent Joe Ramirez requested permission to pay invoices totaling $16,442.61 to TP Pump for the repair of pumps. City Manager Sutherland recommended payment. A motion was made by Commissioner Lumpkin and seconded by Commissioner Lafferty to authorize the payment to TP Pump from the Joint Utility Capital Improvements/Capital Sewer Improvements line item 07-72-50712. Roll Call:
Lafferty Lumpkin Witcher Yes Yes Yes
EXECUTIVE SESSION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
A motion was made by Commissioner Lumpkin and seconded by Commissioner Lafferty that the only item of business discussed in Executive Session on August 5, 2008 following a work session was limited personnel matters to review evaluation of the City Manager pursuant to the Open Meetings Act NMSA 10-15-1(H)1. Roll Call:
Lumpkin Witcher Lafferty Yes Yes Yes
Items from Commissioners
Commissioner Lafferty noted that Finance Director Garcia gave a report that shows the City has increased the end of year cash balance in the General Fund over the last five years from $104,736 to $824,125. Since the City’s main number, 461-3451, has not been working for months, he recommended spending some of the cash balance on the phones and the air conditioning.
Commissioner Lumpkin agreed with Commissioner Lafferty on both of the proposed purchases. He thanked everyone for coming to the meeting. He also thanked Doug Quarles for his beautiful work and Erin Baca for working on the Centennial. He also thanked everyone for their presentations.
Mayor Pro Tem Witcher thanked everyone for being present for the meeting.
Commissioner Lafferty noted that an Executive Session is scheduled for this Friday at 1:30 p.m. and asked if it was needed or was it going to be vacated. Commissioner Lumpkin and Mayor Pro Tem said they would like to see it vacated.
Mayor Pro Tem Witcher reminded everyone that the Commissioners would be attending the New Mexico Municipal League Annual Conference in Clovis on August 13 -15. He also thanked the Fire Department for their good work at Attebury Grain.
Adjournment
There being no further business, a motion to adjourn was made by Commissioner Lumpkin and seconded by Commissioner Lafferty. Time noted 6:45 p.m. Roll Call:
Witcher Lafferty Lumpkin Yes Yes Yes
______________________________ Antonio Apodaca, Mayor
ATTEST:
____________________________ Jeannette Maddaford, City Clerk
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