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Commissioners vote for funding request priorities for coming years
Chaves County elected officials have placed a request for another $5 million for the Roswell Air Center as one of their top 10 priorities for state funding.
Chaves County Board of Commissioners Chairman Will Cavin asked that the item titled “industrial site utility and infrastructure improvement” be moved up about three spots on the Fiscal Year 2023-27 Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan (ICIP) during the board’s Thursday meeting.
He said that the Air Center is a “diamond in the rough” that is key to job and economic growth in the region.
All commissioners voted to approve the ICIP list with that change, and a couple voiced support for Cavin’s idea.
Commissioner Richard Taylor said that preliminary 2020 census numbers indicate a shrinking population during the past 10 years, which he attributed to the lack of new businesses and jobs.
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“I think, as you stated, Mr. Chairman, that has the most potential out there for development and bringing in the needed jobs so that this city and county can grow and we don’t have the next 10 years the stagnant growth we had for the last 10 years,” Taylor said.
ICIP plans are required to be submitted each year to the state by local governments and public entities requesting state funding. They will be used by state legislators and the governor’s office to help make funding decisions during the 2022 legislative session.
In placing the Roswell Air Center funding project on the top 10 list, moving it up about three spots, the commissioners agreed to lower the priority of a request for a firearms training simulator for the Sheriff’s Office. The system, estimated to cost about $75,000, is used to train officers for situations they could encounter in the field.
Commissioners agreed that the renovation of Area D of the Chaves County Administrative Center as the new home of the Pecos Valley Regional Communications Center needs to occur first. The communication center is the area’s emergency calls and dispatch center. The renovation project is also on the ICIP plan as the No. 4 priority.
Once the communications center moves to the new section of the administrative center, the Sheriff’s Office then will have expanded space near its side of the building for the simulator exercises. If the renovation occurs earlier than expected, county commissioners indicated that the $75,000 for the firearms training simulator system could be paid by existing county funds or by other means.
The county ICIP now heads to the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration for review. Starting about November, area legislators typically hold a series of meetings in the region to discuss the funding requests with local officials.
The county’s 2023-27 list includes more than 200 projects or equipment requests for the Road Department, volunteer fire departments, facilities and administration, the Sheriff’s Office, the Chaves County Detention Center and the Chaves County Flood Commission. Nonprofits such as the Chaves County JOY Centers, the New Mexico Senior Olympics and the Southeast New Mexico Veterans Transportation Network that use the county as a fiscal agent also are on the list.
The requests total about $10 million for FY 2023 and $64.5 million through FY 2027, as many projects would require funding over several years.
Georgianna Hunt, project specialist with the Community Development Division, has described the list as a “living document” that is constantly changed as projects are added, changed or removed once completed.
But only those items listed as priorities are likely to be considered by state legislators or the governor’s office for funding for fiscal year 2023 (which begins July 1, 2022). County Manager Bill Williams added Thursday that area legislators typically consider a group’s top five priorities only.
Cavin said that placing the Air Center request somewhere on the top 10 list could secure funding from other elected officials, including the governor.
That’s what happened in 2020 when the Air Center received an initial $5 million capital outlay award requested by the county. Most of that money, $3 million, is being used for site work for the new Ascent Aviation Services hangar, with the other $2 million being used to upgrade water and sewer lines on the east side of the airfield. Both the city and the county requested $5 million in 2021, but neither request was funded.
Cavin acknowledged that Roswell Mayor Dennis Kintigh and some city councilors were upset previously that the county received funding for the city-owned airport. At public meetings, they said that the infrastructure funding did not reflect city priorities for the Air Center at the time and that they had concerns that $5 million was not enough to complete large infrastructure projects.
In an interview after the meeting, Cavin said that he has talked with a few city councilors and thinks the funding request will be accepted as the county intends for it — as way to ensure that the water and sewer projects can be completed.
During the meeting he said, “I think everyone sees the benefits of us working together on that project out there. Even though Chaves County doesn’t own the property, it is still an asset as far as resources and jobs for Chaves County and southeast New Mexico.”
Kintigh said he could not say that he supported the request at this point because it has not been discussed with him or city staff and he did not know the details involved.
The other nine top priorities on the county ICIP, in their current order, are improvements to the Chaves County Health Department Building ($3.5 million over two years); West Brasher Road bridge replacement ($850,000); roof replacement for the Chaves County Administrative Center ($845,000); renovation for the Pecos Valley Regional Communications Center ($350,000); Chaves County Courthouse historic window replacement ($800,000); Chaves County Courthouse security enhancements ($480,000); East Pine Lodge Road repavement ($1.1 million over two years); Chaves County Administrative Center concrete repairs ($125,000); and the East Hobson Road and U.S. 285 realignment ($836,000).
Williams said that a regional landfill, discussed at a prior Board of Commissioners meeting, is expected to be added to the fiscal year 2024-2028 list, once the county has done studies and cost estimates and talked with other possible partners in the project.
Lisa Dunlap can be reached at 575-622-7710, ext. 351, or at reporter02@rdrnews.com.
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County makes $5 million Air Center state funding request - Roswell Daily Record
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