City Commission - Regular Meeting

I call this meeting to order on September the 8th, 2026, at 630 p.m. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Mayor Sharon McDonald.

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Josh Reardon.

Here.

Commissioner Baxter Petillo.

Here.

Commissioner Steven Burnett.

Here.

Commissioner Warren Robinson. Here. Commissioner Al Hernandez.

Here.

Commissioner Mark Tapley.

Here.

Madam Mayor, we have a quorum.

Okay, the invocation is going to be by Commissioner Robinson and the Pledge of Allegiance is going to be by Commissioner Burnett.

Eternal Heavenly Father, we ask for your presence. We ask for your mercy. We invoke your grace and your love. Lord, we thank you for the blessings that you have bestowed upon Alamogordo. We still have grounds and institutions that we can work on to improve. We take a moment to pause for those in treacherous areas that have lost their life, that don't have the things that we have now. They've been wiped away with the storm or water or fire or ice. Lord, you have given us the bounty of having a government and having a community It wants to improve. Bless us to do the best that we can to improve what we have, not just for ourselves, but for those in the future. Bless each one to bring the best that they have so that we may all together improve and sanctify our community. This is what we ask in your son's name. Amen.

Please join us in a pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

And I get a motion for the approval of the agenda. So moved. I get a second.

I'll second.

It's been motioned by Commissioner Hernandez and seconded by Commissioner Tapley. We're going to go for the vote. And it passes 7-0. Next on the agenda is the public comment, and we have one, and that's Johnny Powell, and he's going to be speaking on the New Mexico Museum of Space Hall of Fame.

I didn't get near as much time to rest this time before I had this come up. But anyway, I'm just here to thank the Commission and all their role, and I just kind of want to point out, just take a minute, this Let's Grow Alamogordo. I thought this couldn't say a better story for for the mission was that I've come across. And the museum was founded 50 years ago. We're celebrating our 50th anniversary this year. We're less than a month away from that anniversary on October the 3rd. That will be held at the Tate Center. We welcome everyone that can come up and enjoy the evening with us. We hope that you will. But we're also having our first induction in 10 years. It was 2016 was the last time that we had an induction into the Hall of Fame. And that really is what brought the museum and its importance to this. It was always set up to be an annual community event, an economic driver. And this Let's Grow Alma Gorda, you couldn't see anything better. I just want to take a moment and share with the commission something that I got to do with a couple of weeks ago. I got to go to the ASA commission. conference and That is a conference of the aerospace States associations. It's a lot of lieutenant governors are there It's all the states segueing and how they are involved in in the space industry growing a space industry in the Space Commission and New Mexico is looking for a Space Commission and Developing a Space Commission and Space Commission's it across the states. It was very interesting we had one state represented and they came in and they talked about and Their space commission, it was $600 million and growing strong. And another state talked about Bob. And so it was just the one guy. And so their commission. So we want somewhere in between that. And I hope for an opportunity to be able to represent, or the Space Hall of Fame Foundation, be able to represent Alamogordo, the Tularosa Basin, White Sands, all of the science and technology that we have going on here that is a part of the museum and the beginning of the museum That's what it was all about. It's all about let's grow out and grow. And so anyway, that's really all I had to say. Wow. I actually got in under my three minutes again. You guys are going to owe me time before it's all over with. Anyway, thank you very much for your support on that. And you'll be hearing a lot more from us on this. All right.

Thank you. Next on the agenda is the city manager's report.

Well, members of the commission, I met this week with the representative from Forest Service wanting to report back on the resolution that the council had of support for the sunspot, taking a second look at what they're doing up there. It was Cecilia Clavette, who is the deputy regional forester for the Forest Service. And what she reported back to me was that they are working very closely with the Sunspot group to find alternative uses for the facility once it completely closes in space or the, what's the federal agency? The agency that has been running it. Drawing a blank. The ones that ran the telescopes. So they're under the in the process as we know of closing down and cleaning up the facility. She reported that the contamination from the mercury in the large telescope was much more extensive than they thought to begin with. They got the pooled mercury out of the facility, but it had migrated into the concrete on the interior of the large structure and the telescope itself, which was interesting to learn that the telescope itself extends 150 feet above the ground and 250 feet below ground. So that was interesting to me to learn. And so they're going through the process of properly disposing of all those things that have been contaminated by the mercury. But they're also working toward one of the goals that the Sunspot Group mentioned was creating a dark skies environment up there. That's one thing that they're working very closely with to see what could be done to create that as a haven for that. But at the very least, what will exist when they're done is the roadways, the electrical, all of the water systems will all be in place. And the intent of the Forest Service is to operate that as an active facility they just don't know at this point exactly what it's going to be designed and how it's going to operate but they intend to have that be accessible to the public long term and to use the uh the access out there to create opportunities for uh public involvement so just to bring you up to date based upon the resolution support that the commission gave if there's any questions I'm not the expert for it. I can't even remember the name of the agency. I'm sorry. But yeah, that, uh, that's all I have for tonight.

All right. Next on the agenda is remarks and inquiries by the city commission. Is there anyone? If not, we'll move on for a motion for the consent agenda.

Motion to approve.

Second?

Second.

Okay, so it's been moved by Commissioner Hernandez, second by Commissioner Burnett. We're going to go for the vote. And it passes seven zero. Next on the agenda is a public hearing number to consider and act upon whether the alcoholic beverage control division of the state of New Mexico should grant the applicant sips on six. LLC, a transfer of ownership and location for an inter-local dispensary, a type liquor license number DIS000927 with on-premises consumption and with patio service at 523 North White Sands Boulevard. We have Kayla Stoker, New Mexico liquor license, to speak on it.

So Madam Mayor, Mrs. Stoker could not be here and as you stated this is a transfer of alcohol license. The license is currently in Albuquerque and they're wanting to bring it down here to Alamogordo. We do have Mr. Cominero here in case there are any questions that the commission may have of them. The city did meet its requirements as far as publishing it twice, with 30 days being the first publication before the commission meeting. And I also do want to state that the nearest church is more than 1,000 feet away, which meets the requirement of the 300-foot rule of the state.

Madam Mayor, I move that we approve the transfer license, DIS 000927.

Do we have a second? Second. Okay, so it's been a motion by Commissioner Hernandez to approve and second by Commissioner Tapley.

Commissioner Robinson?

Did it go through? And it passes 7-0.

Madam Mayor, I do have a question, though, on this. So the 1,000 feet and the 300-foot roll, is that still a thing?

It is.

Are we bound by that?

Well, that's what the state requirement is, and so that is what's sent on the applications. As far as I know, that is still a requirement.

The reason I ask is I know there's been a few that were done back when I was on the commission before.

A couple of decades ago? Yeah.

Yeah. So that was my concern, and I actually brought up that concern. One of them was the All-Subs on 10th and Scenic. The current pastor at that church had wrote a letter saying it was okay. My concern was is that what happens when that pastor moves or changes? Could they pull that license? I was just wondering if that was still a thing. That's all right.

If there's nothing else, we'll move on to number three, which is the comprehensive plan. And that is going to be by Shelly, the honey act Baron. Uh, she's the community development director.

Good evening, madam mayor, commissioner, city manager. tonight we're going to hear a little bit about a project underway in the community development department we have with us tonight Liz treat who is our city planner from Bohannon Houston she is coordinating a comprehensive plan for the city of Alamogordo and it is a long-term visioning document study that will look at growth and development in Alamogordo a 20-year timeframe into the future. What we will get out of this project is a roadmap, a practical roadmap of where our community is going in terms of multiple things, multiple factors, and we will get actionable recommendations from this study to turn the vision that the community has decided into a long-term action plan. So I have some slides and I'm gonna... So the contract was awarded to Bohannon Houston under our on-call RFQs task order for $144,578.16 and it's about a one-year study. We are already, we started it back in June and we are in the public consultation phase and the data gathering phase looking at where Alamogordo is currently We can't know where we're going if we don't know where we are right now, so we are gathering all kinds of data, including demographics, our assets that we have in our community, and looking to where we will need to grow some of those assets to accommodate future development in a sustainable manner. So who's on the committee, on the team to put this project into place? We are relying mostly on subject-specific experts who know their area, fire, police, parks, community services. finance, public works, utilities, city manager, and also we have asked a local businessman, Josh Ramsey, who owns all of McDonald's restaurants in the area. You may know that on any given week, based on GRT, the McDonald's restaurants in Alamogordo feed approximately 20% of the population of Otero County. So we think someone with that kind of financial clout in the business area in Alamogordo could probably provide some interesting comments and hopefully some good points and how to grow our community we've also invited Tom Furman who is the housing coordinator director for the Sacramento Mountains Foundation to be on the steering committee for this as well we've held a couple of meetings already and pardon me what we're looking at is multiple factors for our long-term vision we're looking at looking at things like transportation housing infrastructure what kind of community amenities we want to have transportation in terms of roads and improvements and growth for our city what kinds of community amenities like parks do we have enough parks are they in the right place should we have more parks where should we have development in terms of subdivisions and housing how do we look at the inter-territorial jurisdiction and coordinate that with the county in terms of growth so as i said we are in the early stages we are looking at engaging the public in different stakeholders that have a say in how our city should grow we've already conducted uh some online engagement with there is a website where you can access a community survey there's an interactive map on the website where you can click on different areas you can input your comments and your suggestions on in this area of the city we have issues with this we should have these kinds of services and amenities in these other areas. We are holding two in-person events. One event was held on the fourth Friday, the last Friday of August at Washington Park. We had a little booth there. We invited the public to come over and give us their input on issues like housing, senior services. transportation schools and we also handed out surveys and got a few of those back the survey is available online there's also a qr code i handed out a few flyers today to some of the people in the audience and we hope that they would Click on that QR code, answer the questions, and we want brutal honesty. We don't want fluff. We don't want, oh, Alamogordo's great. No, tell us the honest truth. What's wrong with Alamogordo? What needs to be fixed? What's right about Alamogordo? What do we treasure? What do we want to preserve in the future going forward looking 20 years? So again, this is what the website looks like. It's called Let's Grow Alamo. And again, there's an interactive map, a QR code. We are advertising it through social media and other media outlets. And again, there's questionnaire and surveys, information about the study, regular updates on what we are doing on the plan. We are also planning virtual focus group meetings. We're going to be looking at different categories like businesses, community engagement, just at the community level, things like schools. And through those virtual focus groups, there are going to be more data gathered that's going to be input to the study. so right now where we are is we are looking at existing conditions we've done a deep dive into the census and looked at different census tracts different areas of the city we are getting community output input but we want the input from the commission because you are the governing body for alamogordo it is your vision and your direction that will drive where our city goes in the future. So we hope to have at least one working session with you where we can get your feedback with the consultant. They will have a facilitated meeting and hopefully get some input and some idea of what you think the goals for Alamogordo should be. So here's the timeline. As I said, we're in the public engagement phase. We are looking in over the next maybe six months or so getting together with the city commission and receiving your input. We will be holding those focus groups and the community survey will be ongoing probably well through February, March. And then at the end, we will be receiving the report from the consultant with actionable items on how we can proceed. and the greatest value of this comprehensive plan is that it creates a documented pipeline of projects and these projects are good for us as a city because it can point us in the right direction of where is the money to make these improvements of alamogordo they are going to provide us with cost estimates implementation schedules supporting data that will make alamogordo come to the front burner when we submit our projects for improvements to different funding sources, like the state, like the federal government CDBG grants and so on. So that is probably the best, most positive thing that you're going to get out of this. A lot of people think this is just a study that sits on a shelf and gathers dust, but we are crafting it this time around. We had a study in 2011, I believe one in 2020, one in the late 90s, and this one is going to be more action oriented. We want the consultant to provide us with specific projects, how we roll them out, who we coordinate with, who we collaborate with, and where do we get the money. So that's what we're hoping to get out of this study. As I said, it's about a year long. Right now we are in um the chapter three we have some background data already after that we're going to be looking at strategies for growing the community um looking at at the transportation study we are coordinating that with lee engineering and they're doing the transportation management plan for the city of alamogordo their data will be input into this we are also looking at studies on water and wastewater through the utilities department, all of their data is coming into GIS and will be incorporated into the study as well. We will be looking at economic prosperity and how do we diversify our economy, what kind of industries and businesses should we be attracting to Alamogordo. That's another part of the study and then places we share is chapter seven of the proposed report and that's things like parks and services that we offer in our community and housing and neighborhoods, what types of developments we want to have for Alamogordo and how do we support that with resilient infrastructure. So here's a small excerpt of what you might see in the report. This is some early data that we put together based on census information and Alamogordo interestingly has a larger population of people between the ages of 18 and 34 than anywhere else in New Mexico and obviously that's because of the pollen and we have a lot of young airmen there but we do also have a lot of families. There's 22 percent of our population under the age of 18 And about the same, 19, 20%, 65 years and older. So we've got those two polar ends of our demographics. So what does this mean in terms of planning for a city and looking into the future? Our community services have to be accessible to people of different ages, different demographics. We have that young adult population. We need to be looking at affordable housing. We need to be looking at workforce development. And obviously attracting businesses so we have good paying jobs. So next steps, we are looking at GIS. We're inputting the data that we've already got. We are looking at what kind of community assets we have, where we have gaps in what we should have, and what the needs are. We are keeping on with the survey. We have actually a whole bunch of printed copies here tonight we'd like to pass out to people. If you could please submit that or just scan the code. Then we're going ahead with a future land use analysis. Future land use is a big part of a comprehensive plan. We will be looking at things like where do we grow and how do we grow? Do we grow commercially? Do we grow residentially? What types of commercial? What types of industrial? What types of residential growth? And where do we put it? That'll be a big part of the study. So again, here is the website. It's called Let's Grow Alamo. and again we're going to do the work sessions we would like the commission to promote our website if you could to anyone you would like share it on social media um but the the big question for tonight is when you picture alamogordo 20 years from now what do you hope will be different and what would you like to remain the same so that's all i have tonight and i'm happy to answer any questions you may have I have a couple of questions here.

Um, I was just wondering, is the Chamber of Commerce, are they actively working with, um, this group for the comprehensive plan?

Yes, they are. They are involved as well.

Okay. And the census data that you had from 2020 I know they do updates, so are we getting the updated version or are we getting the 2020 version?

We are getting the updated version. I believe they update the data annually. It's called the American Community Survey, and that is the data that we are inputting into the study.

And the next question is, I know that you had this on the agenda for the MIAC group, and I was just wondering what part do you have for them to play in this particular, or what mission do you have for them on this?

As you noticed in the demographics that were shown earlier, we have a very large percentage of our population under the age of 24. So the youth have a say in where their community is going. We will be presenting to them at one of their meetings and asking for their feedback on, from a youth perspective, where should Alamogordo improve? to retain the youth in Alamogordo, to keep people here, to keep families here, to attract families and young people to Alamogordo. So their voice is going to be an important part of this study.

OK, and as this study is going on, I know that the city has committed to $160 million in the infrastructure. And so I'd like to know, as we progress in getting that done, because that's supposed to be over a 10-year period, how do we actually mix these two projects together to make sure we can accomplish that with the city already attached to that loan?

What we are doing in-house as an administration, we are working on a capital plan that will be a prioritization plan based on community needs and essential services. A lot of the things you're seeing in this comprehensive plan, things like community, amenities, and we are going to prioritize them and use what we get from this study as a way to go after the funding. That is going to be a five-year capital plan. We're going to tack on another five years looking into the future 10 years. This study is a 20-year visioning document into the future. So it's not going to be as specific on the capital plan as just the regular capital plan that we deal with as a commission and as an administration, but it's more of a visioning document to show us where we should be going in the future.

Okay. And I have met with Tom Furman from Sacramento Mountain Foundation, and he has a plan for the housing, I guess, developments that he wants to see in the next five to 10 years. So how will that be incorporated? Because the Mountain Foundation has a vision, so how do we incorporate that into the comprehensive plan?

Well, the city manager has also been meeting with Tom Furman, and we are trying to work with them in partnership to leverage what we have in terms of monies with what they might bring in. There's the complication of the city can't be giving money to... Just you know residents of ad-hoc it has to be done through a foundation of third party so all of those wrinkles are kind of being played out right now, but Absolutely the housing study that was done by the Sacramento Mountains Foundation the Lakota study Those elements have been provided to Bohannon Houston, and they are incorporating them into the comprehensive plan I Think that's all I have right now.

Yes, Commissioner Patilla

Yes, what does the deliverable for this look like and when are we looking to have that?

The deliverable will be a report and it will include capital improvements, it will include sources of funding where we can go after the funding, it will include a schedule of which project should come when and the project is about a year long so maybe next June, does that sound about right Liz? We will have that final report.

Thank you.

Is there any more questions? Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next on the agenda is consider an act upon resolution 2026-34 declaring 1620 North White Sands Boulevard, 801 Arapahoe Trail and 1803 College Avenue no longer ruined, damaged and dilapidated or a menace to public comfort, health and peace or safety. And tonight we have with us not Chief Kunihiro, but we have Josh Seitz, who is the code enforcement manager, and Ryan Glidden from the police department.

Good evening, Madam Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Commissioners, Manager Stockwell. I am Josh Sides, the Code Enforcement Manager. I bring before you a resolution to uncondemn three different properties. These three properties include Tinsley Trailer Park, 801 Arapahoe, and 1803 College Avenue. Tinsley Trailer Park was condemned some years back due to some circumstances, whether it's by the property owner having corrected or the fire that occurred. The original violations that were listed on the notice of violation back in 2023-2024 have been corrected in the park, so I have no reason as for that violation to keep it condemned at this point. 801 Arapaho has been completely remodeled, revamped inside and out, and is no longer a menace, and so is 1803 has been completely remodeled inside and out as well. And I'll stand for any questions you may have.

Good job. Thank you. Well, I had a chance to see 801 Arapaho Trail, and it certainly looks different, so kudos for that.

Who ended up purchasing those properties and JV one tree LLC originally purchased him and then I 801 Arapahoe was sold to another gentleman and I believe 1803 was sold as well.

Sold after they were released, OK?

Are there any more questions? If not, do I have emotion? So move. Have a second or second. Okay, it's been motioned by Commissioner Robinson and second by Commissioner Hernandez. And we'll just get the vote. And it passes 7-0. Hey, Josh, before you leave, I have one question for you.

So the house that we condemned last week or two weeks ago on Cuba, I noticed that there's a for sale sign in front of that house. Do you know if they were able to get in contact with any?

From my family members or why not from my understanding if there is no family members and I what I had thought Mr. Brazil was deceased. He is not but he's incapacitated the point where the courts had to step in and get an executor. I've been able to get ahold of the executor. I did mail the resolution to both the last known address of Mr. Braswell and the the. real estate company, and I also posted it. I haven't heard anything back from anybody yet, but I'm waiting. And if I don't hear anything pretty soon, I'm going to go to, I think it's Welcome Home, really. And I'm going to go see if I can talk to somebody locally. Okay, thank you.

And the vote passes 7-0. Next on the agenda is item number five, consider and act upon a golf course fee increase. And this is going to be presented by Mr. Stockwell, city manager.

During that period of time, part of this is in preparation to and represent their survey of of the surrounding courses, the ones in our region. And these don't put us at the top, but they aren't at the bottom either. It's the place where we should be. And as we see play improve over the years, if we're able to increase the usability and playability of the course, then these will be a good foundation to build upon. Any questions?

Thank you. Are there any comments from the golfers on the commission?

Hey, Mark, have you received any phone calls over this?

No, we have not. No.

No, I'm sorry. Yeah, me either. So I'm just kind of surprising that we haven't received anything over this rate increase.

Commissioner Petillo?

Yes, we probably will tomorrow. I would make a motion to approve item five. I'll second.

So it has been motioned by Commissioner Patello to approve and second by Mayor Pro Tem Reardon. We're up for the vote. And it passes 7-0. Next on the agenda is consider and act upon change order number three for pavement improvements at fire station number two in the amount of $143,368.79. And so we have our director of community development, Shelly Dohonahack Barron and fire chief Ramirez.

Good evening, Madam Mayor, Commissioners, Mr. Stockwell. We're here tonight to consider a change order. We are requesting to adjust the contract price for national construction for additional work and modifications at Fire Station 2. I'm going to skip through the work to the pavement revision item. When I was out at the site a few weeks ago, I noticed that the area in front of the bay doors is scheduled to be asphalted and I immediately stopped work on the project because that is not going to be adequate for these new fire trucks that we have they weigh what is it 5,000 pounds more than a regular fire truck and they will just melt into that asphalt so concrete is what's needed at that location so that is the item to change out from asphalt to concrete for that portion it's a pad in front of the bay doors and In addition to that, I'm also proposing that we go ahead and complete this project rather than coming back and doing it at a later date. The existing driveways around the back of the building where the fire trucks will be entering into the fire station and the driveway in the front of the fire station consists of asphalt that's been there since 1970. And it's really not asphalt. It's a bunch of dirt and rocks and parts of it get quite wet during a monsoon and vehicles basically sink into it. So it's really not adequate to run a fire truck on those drive surfaces as it is and I'm recommending that those be asphalted at this time rather than further down the road. A couple of small improvements are there was a lighting issue on the back patio originally a light was supposed to be mounted on the pergola at the back of the patio and they installed a louver system on the patio and the light can't be installed up there so the change is to put the lights directly on the building and that is the exterior lighting on the south patio Additionally, on the living quarters of the firemen, we are recommending that the windows be tinted to give them more privacy. So I'm here to stand for any questions you may have.

How much does a fire truck weigh in total? Do you know?

So Class A pumper, good evening, Commissioner. The average fire truck that we're going to plan to put out in that apparatus bay is roughly around 75,000 pounds.

Is three-inch asphalt sufficient?

No, sir, we've encountered this on the existing fire stations, fire station 5 at 1492 South Florida, and then fire station 6 had asphalt in it. And with our older fire trucks, which were a 2 man fire truck back then was very light. So parking them in the asphalt on the hot summer days, it didn't sink. But these newer class, a pumpers are a lot heavier and with the more equipment they carry. And the hot summer days and when you get a crack in there and the guys are washing trucks sinks down. And so we had to remove all that asphalt because we were getting indentations and then just pulling the water for amount of significant time. So to get those out, we took all that asphalt out back then and put in concrete, which was about six to eight inches of concrete to accommodate the weight of the truck sitting out there for a period of time.

So where the paving area is, is that going to be all concrete as well then? Or is it going to be asphalt?

No, the driveways are going to be asphalted. It's just the pad in front of the bay doors that would be switched from asphalt to concrete.

And that's why I ask if three inches is sufficient from when they're pulling out. I mean, what's the difference of them pulling out of the drive that's concrete versus then going onto asphalt?

I guess the difference is the trucks may be resting on the asphalt pad. They most likely will not be resting on the driveway. They'll be either in the station or on the pad immediately in front of the bay doors.

I mean, just my only concern is when we get 110 degree day, I mean, I drive trucks on highways myself, and it doesn't take much to develop a groove or a crack in the asphalt when it's 110 degrees outside. That's why I'm just asking if it's worth even asphalting it, or is it worth just go ahead and concreting it all?

If you would like, Commissioner, we can come back with a cost estimate to upgrade that to concrete as well.

I would prefer if we have to do it one time instead of two or three years down the road. We're right back here at the same situation.

I have a couple questions. So it sounds like we knew about this issue before this even went out to bid, being that we had it on the other fire stations. Is that correct?

As far as changing the asphalt? The asphalt and the concrete. Commissioner, yes, sir. So back when Fire Station 1, 5, and 6 were built, probably early 2000s, they were asphalted. So they should have all been concrete at that time. But they were replaced with asphalt. And then we just encountered issues from there going forward. And then about a 10-year to 15-year period. time frame forward we had to actually remove the asphalt because it actually started to damage the water lines underneath them as well from the trucks running over on especially fire station five on the north side you had a main water line that runs into the building and from the trucks driving over that it's now concreted but back then it was asphalt and from the pressure especially with the big ladder trucks that ruptured the lines so my question is why wasn't this part of the original project

I mean, that's not on you. You're just the fire chief. I mean, who was the engineer and the architect on this project? And did city staff not meet with them to discuss these issues prior to this going out to bid? I know, Shelly, you weren't here at the time either, but the person that is listed on here was.

Commissioner, thank you for the question. Yes, I was not here. This predates me, but I can tell you that it was decided by the project manager that this be done in phases. So the first phase was to do the building and the pads immediately adjacent to the building, and then to come back and do the driveways. Why the drive pad in front of the bay doors was not concreted from the beginning?

I I really can't answer to that, but that was a recommendation of the project manager at that time Okay, I mean you can see what my concern is is that it just this is gonna nickel and dime us to death on this that the first change order the bay doors The sidewalks I completely agree with 100% in fact we've been asked to sidewalk the all the way down Walker, which is probably not going to happen. But the bay doors, I had a serious issue with that, not just the cost, but the fact that it wasn't even in the project bid. My second question is, when was the original contract date of this to be finalized?

Are you asking when it was supposed to be completed, the work?

What was the original contract date?

So I do believe, Commissioner, that for the building itself was going to be completed between the 14th and 17th of this month of September. And now with the addition of adding in the concrete and then the paving on the portion of the parking, that could extend all the way into mid-October.

Because for some reason I remember July, a July date for the original contract.

and I was told and informed on that because at that moment we were still looking at the purchasing of the glass windows and all the interior projects. Okay.

Mayor, if I could interject, please.

Yes.

I think this project is a prime example of what will never happen again because the idea of doing it piecemeal, the idea of NOT GATHERING ALL OF THE INPUT FROM THE DEPARTMENT AS THE PROJECT WENT THROUGH THE DESIGN PHASES ARE THE MISTAKES THAT WERE MADE. AS A RESULT OF THAT PROCESS, WE FIND OURSELVES HERE DOING WHAT WE SHOULD HAVE DONE IN THE BEGINNING, THE PROJECTS THAT HAVE BEEN DESIGNED COMPLETELY TOP TO BOTTOM BEFORE IT EVER WENT OUT TO BID. AND SO WE HAVE LEARNED MUCH FROM THIS PROCESS AND WILL NOT BRING THE PROJECT FORWARD AGAIN. uh until it is fully understood that the department has signed off on it before we go to bed and final design so that we understand these kinds of issues as they arise because each one of these things do you remember the discussion about the doors each one of the elements on this has has come through on a piecemeal basis instead of a comprehensive design and bid package in the beginning so we've learned our lesson We will not present these kinds of things again to the commission. We just need to get past this one and make sure that what we put down there is not going to fall apart. And I think the suggestion from Commissioner Burnett is correct. That ought to be concrete from the street all the way around the building back to the exit. We know that will not fail. And if you've been out there, you also know there's a bunch of dead trees around there. Part of the design should have been the removal of the trees. The trees are going to come down. We're going to clean the place up. It will look like it should have been designed to look from the very beginning.

I've got a quick question on that. As far as the money, I think when this originally bid, we were kind of in a hurry to get the money spent because we had a timeline on it. It's part of the reason why it's piecemealed, but do we have enough in that grant to cover this additional work, or is it coming out of Fund 11 or...

It's coming out of fund 69. And so the grant had $423,000, which they spent very early in the project. And so the additional funding for the majority of the project and this change order would be coming up at 69.

So probably close to a million bucks is coming out of 69. I think it was, what, 1.2, 1.3 originally, and now we're on change order number three of a couple hundred grand each.

I believe it is at, with this change order, it'd be about 1.3.

1.3, okay.

Recommend a modification to the motion to authorize us to finish the design of the concrete driveways and move forward so that we can get this building finished and then report back to the commission the actual cost once we know what it was.

Would this approve, if we did it that way, it would go ahead and approve you guys to just do it? Yes. I mean, do we kind of have a ballpark of what that would run price-wise? Because this is, what, $143,000? Correct. I bet you we're going to be a $500,000 or $600,000 change order to do all of that in concrete.

Then we should wait and bring it back.

I'm just shooting from the hip.

You're right. If we gave you a figure tonight, it would be a total guess.

I mean, I don't have a problem either way.

We should be able to bring it back at the 22nd meeting with a firm cost. OK.

Does that hold us up too long on the project?

No, it'll be fine. But we'll bring back those numbers for the next commission meeting.

Because that's, what, probably 600, 800 feet from there to the road, both ways, both sides?

That's correct. From the existing apparatus bay end of the concrete to the actual entryway on the far north end would be about 800 feet. Okay. 800 feet? 800.

Okay.

I have a question right now because I just heard the city manager state that in the future we've learned our lesson here. So I know that we have different projects that come up and we do set a dollar amount on them. So are we saying that going forward, if we can't complete the project in its entirety, even though we have the money, we're not going to do it?

What I'm saying is that when we come to you to award a bid, it will be when we're confident that everything is included so that we don't have to change order our way through the project.

Even though we don't have the money to do it?

If we don't have the money to do it, then we won't bring it to you to build it at all. All right. Thank you.

That's what I wanted to hear. Okay. Thank you.

We're just going to motion this. Do you want to table this for tonight? Just table it until the 22nd with the change order, with the estimate of the concrete.

Okay, so who's going to do the motion? I have another quick question.

Yeah, just a second. As far as completion goes for the station, we're expecting middle of next month.

Yes, with the actual station being completed between the 14th and 17th. But the problem is without the concrete being put in front of the station, we can't put apparatus in the base.

Thank you. And do we foresee any other changes between now and the 100% mark?

We do not.

Okay.

So this should be the last change order and it will be completed? Yes. Okay.

We had this similar situation on New York Avenue down there has change order change order change order Just a quick clarification So even even though that the project is looked at a hundred percent and We go through and make sure everything's there There are still possible change orders that aren't foreseen for instance like on New York the water lines. We didn't know were there But those weren't foreseen. It's not like this where I We just failed to look at it. So there could still be change orders in other projects, just not, we didn't know about them like we did this one.

My recommendation commissioner Hernandez going forward is when we bring a project to the commission and we have a budget amount, uh, we put in a contingency and we have not been doing that in the past. Um, so, uh, we wouldn't be coming back to you nickel and diming you, uh, as much if we had a bit of a cushion there for unforeseen circumstances, like you mentioned.

All right.

So we're going to just table this till what meeting? The next? The 27th.

The 27th? The 22nd. Second, yeah.

I'll just make a motion we table item six till the 22nd.

All right. I'll second. Second. Okay, so it's been motioned by Mayor Pro Tem Reardon and second by Commissioner Burnett, and we're going to go for the vote. And it passes 7-0. The next item is number 7, consider and act upon the award IFB 2026-005 bid to Gary Childress on on-call commercial loan equipment repair and maintenance services for the city's park department and the award of IFB 2026-006 to CT Custom Services for an on-call commercial lawn equipment repair and maintenance services for the city golf course. And Heather Casebolt, interim parks and recreation director, will be presenting.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, Commissioners, City Manager. So these positions are essentially mechanic positions for the Parks Department and the golf course. We put out an IFB for each. That way we can have continuity of service to make sure when stuff breaks down, obviously we can get it fixed in a timely manner and get our equipment back up and running. So I can answer any questions that you guys have.

How many current pieces of equipment do they have down right now?

I don't have the exact number for that. I know Mr. Childress was on contract with Parks last year and was used heavily throughout the year. Golf course, I don't believe we could ever get filled. but we have had numerous pieces of equipment just since I've been on them the last couple months, like the cedar, the sand bunkers, they're out of order, so having this position to be able to fix on site would be a huge help.

The new cedar we have, is that out of order?

They got it repaired, but yes, it did go down, so they had to get it repaired.

Is that not under warranty?

I believe it got serviced under warranty on that one, yes.

A quick question on this. On the one tabulation, he only has labor costs of $90 an hour for certain time frames, and on the other one we have some emergency and travel time. Why are they like that? Does he only work certain hours?

Yeah, my understanding is Mr. Childress is retired, so his time that he allots for parks is limited, but he, like I said, they used him last year, so it works out well for the Parks Department and the time that he put down.

Is there a cap on these, or are they just...

So they are not capped, but both have budgets specifically for this. Parks has $150,000, and golf course has $100,000. Okay.

I was going to say I was in the park on Saturday, and I was noticing how plush the grass was. I'm a little jealous.

They do a good job. They do.

The golf course is actually looking pretty good, too. It is.

I've heard some good things, so we're finally getting some grass.

All right. Are we ready to consider item number seven?

I'll just make a motion. We approve IFB 2026-005. Do you have a second? Oh, and 006. I'll second. All right.

Okay, it's been motioned by Mayor Pro Tem Reardon and second by Commissioner Hernandez. We're ready for the vote. And it passes 7-0.

Thank you.

Next on the agenda is to recess into executive closed session in compliance with 10-15-1H2, NMSA as amended to discuss limited personnel matters, city manager's performance review.

Madam Mayor, actually there is a correction that should be adjourned into executive closed session.

Adjourned. So adjourned into executive closed session. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second.

Second.

So it's been moved by Commissioner Hernandez and second by Mayor Pro Tem Reardon. Vote. And it passes 7-0. We are adjourned.