Agenda
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Minutes City Commission Meeting March 24, 2005 The Tucumcari City Commission met for their regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday, March 24, 2005 at 6:00 p.m. Members present constituting a quorum included Christopher Maestas, Antonio Apodaca and James Witcher. City staff present at the meeting was Richard Primrose, Rachel Hicklin, Marty Garcia, Yvette Fazekas, Lisa Andrada, Doug Powers, Mike Cherry, Larry Rigdon, Charles Newman, Clara Rey, Mark Radosevich and Lori Taylor. Approval of Minutes A motion for approval of the March 10, 2005 minutes was made by Commissioner Maestas and seconded by Commissioner Witcher. Roll Call: Apodaca Witcher Maestas Yes Yes Yes Approval of Vouchers A motion for approval of the vouchers presented for payment was made by Commissioner Witcher and seconded by Commissioner Maestas. Roll Call: Apodaca Witcher Maestas Yes Yes Yes Proclamations Mayor Pro-tem Apodaca read a proclamation designating April 8, 2005 as Golden Apple Foundation of New Mexico Tribute to Teachers Day. He then presented the proclamation to Dr. Bill Reents, Superintendent of Tucumcari Public Schools. City Managers Report City Manager Primrose advised that our thoughts and prayers are with Mayor Mayfield and her family. City Manager Primrose called on Doug to give the Commission an update on the City’s CDBG funding allocation. Doug advised that the City will be receiving CDBG funding in the amount of Four Hundred Seventy-five Thousand Dollars for the East Central Improvement Project. City Manager Primrose then called on Economic Development Director Pete Kampfer to give the Commission an update on S.P.I.R.I.T and the railroad spur. Mr. Kampfer congratulated Doug, Lisa and Yvette for the work they did in applying for and receiving the CDBG grant funding. Mr. Kampfer advised that he will be in Washington April 12-14, 2005 as part of the SPIRIT Committee and will be representing Tucumcari. While in Washington, he will meet with the Legislators involved in the transportation funding and will also meet with local Legislators on the Federal level. He added that the project looks good and on the State level, the project has been rated number two on the list which looks good for us as far as getting Highway 54 widened to a four lane. He went on to say that Tucumcari will receive 1.3 million dollars in State funding for the railroad spur. The spur will be a brick and mortar type of thing where there will be construction type of things going on and this will also give them some leeway in getting extra land for the industrial park along with the different things that go into that so that they can recruit additional industry and diversify our economy which is where the impact is going to be. Mr. Kampfer reported that things are looking good with regard to an ethanol plant and they have a very firm deal working which will be brought to the Commission at a later date. He added that corn and grain can be brought in via the railroad which is important for an ethanol plant and will help to make the sale. City Manager Primrose advised that when the State Legislature passed the exemption of gross receipts tax on food and medical services, they advised that they would hold municipalities harmless. He added that the City has received the first payment of gross receipts tax with the exemptions. City Manager Primrose then called on Marty to give the Commission an update on the taxes. Marty advised that in reviewing the report with the breakdown on the gross receipts tax, the amount received is exactly what we would have received without the exemption on food and medical tax. City Manager Primrose commented that the State said that they would hold municipalities harmless and they did. City Manager Primrose reported that Sergeants Baldridge and Baker from the New Mexico State Police conducted a S.A.F.E.R. meeting on emergency management for all City employees. This same meeting will be held on April 15th for any citizen that would like to attend and hear the presentation. City Manager Primrose advised that he, Fire Chief Cherry, Interim Chief Radosevich and County Manager Terry Turner all attended a meeting in Albuquerque on the Homeland Security grant. Items from Citizens Jack Maes spoke with regard to a problem he was having with the City on an easement through his property. He asked that the City replace by good faith one panel that was removed and also replace several trees and a drip system that were damaged when City employees went onto his property. Bids & Contracts Mayor Pro-tem Apodaca called on Yvette to present the Governmental Services Agreement between the New Mexico Youth Conservation Corps Commission and the City of Tucumcari. Yvette advised that this is the same contract for grant funds that the City has received in the past. Under this agreement, the City will receive a total of Twenty-three Thousand Four Hundred Ninety-three Dollars and fifty-two cents, with a City in-kind match of Seventeen Thousand Eight Hundred Twenty-six Dollars and seventy-four cents. She added that the funds would be used to hire six youth to work at the baseball fields. The youth will be installing ADA sidewalks and entrances at the baseball and senior league fields. In addition the youth will redo the landing surfaces in the playground area along with miscellaneous painting and repair work at the ball fields. A motion for approval of the governmental services agreement with the Youth Conservation Corps Commission was made by Commissioner Maestas and seconded by Commissioner Witcher. Roll Call: Witcher Maestas Apodaca Yes Yes Yes Mayor Pro-tem Apodaca called on Yvette to present the Engineering Agreement between ASCG and the City of Tucumcari on the MAP project. Yvette advised that this is a basic engineering agreement with ASCG for the MAP project for street improvements on Charles from First Street to Rock Island and Rock Island from Charles to Rt. 66 Boulevard. The total amount of the engineering agreement including tax is Twenty-nine Thousand Thirty Six Dollars. A motion for approval of the engineering services agreement with ASCG was made by Commissioner Witcher and seconded by Commissioner Maestas. Roll Call: Witcher Maestas Apodaca Yes Yes Yes Mayor Pro-tem Apodaca called on interim Police Chief Radosevich to present Project Agreement No. 05-PT-63-105 for selective traffic enforcement program (STEP). Interim Chief Radosevich advised that this agreement is between the City of Tucumcari and the Traffic Safety Bureau. This agreement encompasses both overtime for officers and employees of the department as well as new radar and laser equipment for selective traffic enforcement program. He added that this money was appropriated on a Federal fiscal year, however, it was not actually made available until recently so they will not have twelve months to spend it as it will have to be spent by September 30th. A motion for approval of Project Agreement No. 05-PT-63-105 for Selective Traffic Enforcement Program was made by Commissioner Witcher and seconded by Commissioner Maestas. Roll Call: Maestas Apodaca Witcher Yes Yes Yes Mayor Pro-tem Apodaca called on Lisa to present the Additional Services Agreement with Souder Miller & Associates on the wastewater treatment plant. Lisa presented the agreement and advised that this was for additional engineering services at the wastewater treatment plant. She added that at the beginning of the project, they ran into a few electrical issues and the engineer will now have to do some redesigning along with additional project management. Lisa advised that the original cost for engineering services was Fifty-five Thousand Dollars and the additional engineering services cost is Forty-two Thousand Dollars for a total engineering cost of Ninety-seven Thousand Dollars. City Manager Primrose advised that right now there is a main overhead service and for the new equipment that they were going to install, they were going to have to do the underground utilities and change the main service, so they had to move the transformer and put in a new service from Xcel Energy. Doug advised that with the increase in this contract, the total engineering fees are less than thirteen percent which is lower than the standard of fifteen to sixteen percent. Doug added that the Engineer has an observer at the wastewater treatment plant weekly to oversee the project. A motion for approval of the additional services agreement with Soudder Miller & Associates was made by Commissioner Witcher and seconded by Commissioner Maestas. Roll Call: Apodaca Witcher Maestas Yes Yes Yes Mayor Pro-tem Apodaca called on Interim Chief Radosevich to present the Department of Justice – Justice Assistance Grant application. Interim Chief Radosevich advised that the Justice Assistance Grant application is due on March 31st, however he was only made aware of this grant a couple of days ago. He added that he did not have copies of the grant application as it was an on-line application. The grant amount that will be applied for if approved is Nineteen Thousand Six Hundred Dollars. Interim Chief Radosevich added that he is proposing that the City submit the application and act as the fiscal agent and allow participation by the Sheriffs Department. Funding will be requested for advanced training for certified officers and equipment to enhance their ability to collect and store evidence. It was agreed that the money would be allocated on a per capita basis based upon the number of certified officers that each entity has. A motion to approve the submission of the Justice Assistance Grant application with the Department of Justice was made by Commissioner Witcher and seconded by Commissioner Maestas. Roll Call: Apodaca Witcher Maestas Yes Yes Yes Mayor Pro-tem Apodaca called on City Manager Primrose to present the bids received on city equipment. City Manager Primrose advised that the City had requested sealed bids for obsolete equipment and recommended approval of two of the three bids received that were higher than the minimum bid requirement. He added that the third bid that came in was for the weight equipment and it was less than the minimum bid requirement. After a brief discussion, a motion was made by Commissioner Witcher and seconded by Commissioner Maestas that all of the bids received be accepted. Roll Call: Witcher Maestas Apodaca Yes Yes Yes New Business Mayor Pro-tem Apodaca called on Bobbie DeFoor regarding the request to use Wailes Park for the farmers market. Ms. DeFoor advised that she was representing the Tucumcari Farmers Market and requested that they be granted permission to continue to use Wailes Park for the farmers market. She also asked that they be allowed to place a sign at the park next to the motel advertising it as the home of Tucumcari Farmers Market. Commissioner Witcher advised Ms. DeFoor that she would have to clear the sign location and type of sign with the City Manager before it was installed. Commissioner Witcher made a motion to allow the Tucumcari Farmers Market to use Wailes Park for an indefinite basis with the understanding that if something comes up, the City will give them thirty days notice. After a brief discussion Commissioner Witcher advised that he would amend his motion. Commissioner Witcher amended his motion to allow the Tucumcari Farmers Market to use Wailes Park for a period of five years and to allow them to place a sign at the park with approval of the City Manager. This motion was seconded by Commissioner Maestas. Roll Call: Witcher Maestas Apodaca Yes Yes Yes Mayor Pro-tem Apodaca called on Pete Kampfer to present the request from Keep Tucumcari Beautiful to allow for free landfill dumping for City of Tucumcari residential solid waste customers. Mr. Kampfer advised that a meeting of the Keep Tucumcari Beautiful committee was held and they have recommended that the City Commission consider allowing free landfill dumping for a period of six days from April 18-23, 2005. Followed was discussion with regard to the landfill dumping and whether it should be restricted to City of Tucumcari residential solid waste customers only. A motion was made by Commissioner Witcher to allow free landfill dumping for the period of April 18th – 23rd for City residential solid waste customers and that they show proof of residency with their current water bill. Followed was discussion by the Commission with regard to whether City residents should have to show their current water bill or just show proof of residency as they might forget their water bill. After discussion, Commissioner Witcher amended his motion to allow for free landfill dumping for City residential solid waste customers with proof of residency for the period of April 16-23, 2005 and that this excludes all commercial customers. This motion was seconded by Commissioner Maestas. Roll Call: Maestas Apodaca Witcher Yes Yes Yes Mayor Pro-tem Apodaca called on EMS Director Larry Rigdon to make a presentation on the EMS Department. Mr. Rigdon gave the Commission an overview of the services that are provided and the area that is covered by the Emergency Medical Services Department. Larry advised that the ambulance crew consists of three paramedics, three intermediates and six basic EMT’s. He then gave information regarding the requirements to obtain the various levels of certification along with the continuing education requirements to keep that level of certification. Mr. Rigdon reported on the vehicles that are being used along with the condition of those vehicles and advised that they have applied for and have received tentative approval on grant funding for a new ambulance. The grant will fund seventy-five percent of the cost of the ambulance and information will be brought to the Commission during budget for the remaining twenty-five percent of the cost. Larry then reported on the various types of public education and services that the Ambulance crews are involved in from participating in career days at the College, fire prevention classes at the elementary school, assisting with CPR and first aid training and spinal immobilization training at the hospital. He advised that ambulance crews have responded to 818 calls so far this fiscal year and anticipate that they will have the same call volume as the previous fiscal year which was 1,321 calls. Ambulance personnel respond to various types of calls which include medical and traumatic emergencies, transfers, standbys and intercepts with surrounding agencies. Larry then reported on the EMS funding that has been received and the equipment that has been purchased. He added that they applied for and have received approval for grant funding to purchase three automatic external defibrillators that will be placed at the Convention Center, Recreation Center and at the High School Gym. Training on the use of the machine will take place once the machines have been placed at each facility. Next, Larry gave information to the Commission regarding the income and expenses for the ambulance service along with a breakdown of the grants received this fiscal year. Commissioner Witcher thanked Larry and all of ambulance staff for all of the hard work they do. City Manager Primrose commented that the ambulance staff does a good job. Items from Commissioners Commissioner Witcher commented that he thinks things are going well and he wants to keep the City on a positive note and asked that we keep Tucumcari going and growing. Mayor Pro-tem Apodaca commended City Manager Primrose, Doug Powers and staff on the CDBG funding received for the three year water improvement system and street project. The first year water lines and fire hydrants on High, Aber and Center streets were done, the second year was the installation of the water tank on Railroad Avenue which increased the City’s water storage capacity and this year with the award of the CDBG funds, they will be able to complete the streets and install additional fire hydrants and water lines. He then thanked Quay County Chairperson Grace Madrid who is also a member of the Community Development Council for her tireless efforts and support to improve the City’s water delivery system and our streets. Adjournment There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 7:05 p.m.
Attest: Mary Mayfield, Mayor
Rachel Hicklin, City Clerk |