Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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The city of Clovis is pouring an estimated $925,000 into improvements at Hillcrest Park to construct a new destination playground, pickleball courts, volleyball courts and lighting at two large soccer fields. Hillcrest Park consists of 157 acres bordered by Sycamore, 14th, Norris and Seventh streets in Clovis. Parks and Recreation Director Russell Hooper said the project “will improve the quality of life in Clovis. It’s been a long time coming — we’re getting close to finally completing our master plan.” The new playgroun...
The city of Clovis is holding a public meeting to discuss and take comments on the design phase of the Liebelt Channel Multi-use Trail at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at the Clovis-Carver Public Library. The 2.8-mile multi-use trail, which is in the planning stages, would run along the natural drainage channel from northwest Clovis near Bob Spencer Park southeast to Greene Acres Lake, as previously reported by The News. Other aspects of the new trail system include lighting, widening of sidewalks within Greene Acres Park and way...
Air Force veteran Christopher Moyer started his job as Portales’ city manager on Monday. The Portales City Council swore him in Tuesday during its regular meeting. “I’m glad to be here,” he told Council members. “I’m glad to be serving in the city of Portales and the residents. I look forward to working with everybody.” Earlier Tuesday, Moyer told The News in an interview that he came to the area as a master sergeant with the U.S. Air Force in 2020. He was stationed at Cannon Air Force Base. After his retirement fr...
Two large companies proposing to install solar panels across 3,000 acres in Roosevelt County presented information to the County Commission at its meeting on Tuesday. Blackwater Solar, a company that develops solar farms in various parts of the U.S., and Orstead Americas, a global company that operates renewable energy farms, are working together to install solar panels on leased land, according to a presentation by Jamie Mears, a project manager with Orstead. The project, which has yet to go through the county planning...
Clovis Community College is set to launch its Commercial Drivers License Program this month. Registration for the class extends through Aug. 23. The first class is set for Aug. 26. The college is partnering with Vehicle Safety Programs, L.L.C., based in Portales, which will provide the driving instruction. The program contains three components: Theory taught at the college; instruction at the range on how to operate the vehicle; and a road test on the highway. Elizabeth...
Pawprints of Portales Rescue is a foster home-based nonprofit that operates through a network of volunteers. Volunteers care for the animals until they are adopted. Asked how many volunteers they have, Pawprints Director Bobbi VanDyke said: "We don't have enough volunteers-10 or 11." Last week, Petsense by Tractor Supply and the Tractor Supply Company Foundation donated $5,000 to Pawprints of Portales. "This donation is part of Petsense by Tractor Supply's ongoing commitment...
The Portales City Council has approved a motion to extend the interim city manager’s position occupied by T.J. Cathey through Aug. 31. The motion made by Council Member Veronica Cordova also states that should the city hire a new city manager before the extension expires, the interim manager will stay on as counsel to the city manager through Aug. 31. In other business, the Council approved the total fiscal year 2025 budget for the city at $36,790,435. Also at last week’s meeting: City Councilor Eldon Merrick told the Council...
Roosevelt County commissioners on Tuesday adopted their 2024-2025 fiscal year budget of $20,480,450.92. Last year’s budget was about $18.8 million, said County Treasurer Layle Sanchez. The cost of doing business on most everything has increased, Sanchez said. This includes the cost of equipment, the cost of fuel, the cost to retain employees and pay their healthcare as well as their benefits. “All those things play a role,” she said. Laura Thompson, deputy county manager and finance administrator, who is the acting county man...
Eastern New Mexico Rising is trying to bring anti-abortion ordinances passed in Clovis and Roosevelt County to a vote of the people. The group is circulating petitions in both communities calling for elections to decide the issue. If the voters say they want to make the decision on these ordinances instead of their elected officials, there would be a stay of the ordinances blocking them from taking effect until the vote is taken, said Laura Wight, co-founder of Eastern New Mexico Rising. Both ordinances are currently in...
Portales City Council voted at its meeting on Tuesday to replace an ordinance having to do with the placement of accessory buildings, such as carports, in the process of updating its planning code. City Manager Sarah Austin said the director of planning and zoning has been working on updating these ordinances and this was one of those. The new ordinance will minimize the setback requirements. The council approved a variance to allow a carport at 117 Colorado Drive, which would not have been required if the item had been...
Eastern New Mexico University started collecting food and other supplies this week to stock its first food pantry. The pantry will be located in the Campus Life Office in the Campus Union building and will serve ENMU's student population. Director of Campus Life at ENMU Rey Coss said faculty, staff and students have often talked about a need for a food pantry at the university. "Definitely there is a need for this," Coss said. "Many of us, university staff and faculty, know...
Boralex, Inc., a Quebec-based global renewable energy company, has purchased a 50% share in five wind farms located in New Mexico and Texas. The wind farms were owned by EDF Renewables. The sale on Dec. 28 was for about $249.8 million, officials said. Boralex produces renewable wind, solar, hydroelectric and thermal energy in Canada, France and the United States, according to its website. EDF Renewables North America, based in San Diego, is "the global renewable energy...
CLOVIS --- City Commissioner Juan Garza hopes to get a vote on an anti-abortion ordinance at Thursday’s commission meeting. Garza placed two items on Thursday’s agenda. The first item is a vote to un-table the ordinance and the second item is to vote on the ordinance, should it be un-tabled, the commissioner said in an interview on Monday. The ordinance basically requires any clinic coming into the community to comply with federal law, he said. This is an anti-abortion ordinance, which he favors because he is “pr...
One way the city of Portales is reducing its water demand is to mandate a watering schedule to reduce residents’ outdoor water use. At the meeting last week, the council heard its annual water report by consultant Charles R. Wilson. The city needs to reduce its water demand by 40 million gallons a year for the next eight or so years until the Ute Pipeline is operational and can bring water to the city, Wilson said in his presentation of the report. He said the thickness of the High Plains Aquifer, from which the city draws i...
Curry County submitted two applications to Xcel Energy this month to host public electric car charging stations. Xcel Energy is in the process of selecting four sites with two charging stations at each location, said Mike McLeod, regional manager of community relations for Xcel Energy, in an interview on Monday. County Manager Lance Pyle said the two locations they are submitting for approval are: The Honorable Judge Reuben E. Nieves Courtyard located on Main Street (between 8th and 9th Street) and the new parking lot on the...
The Portales City Council unanimously approved a water purchase contract with the Roosevelt County Water Cooperative (RCWC), which increases the rates the coop pays the city for water it then will provide to its customers at the rate the RCWC will set. The city recently instituted a water rate increase across the board for all its customers in an effort to conserve water: residential, commercial, industrial, and the Roosevelt County Water Cooperative. The reason for the rate...
The Curry County Commission, after discussing three possible sites to locate a proposed sports complex, came to a consensus without a vote Tuesday to go forward for now with the fairgrounds property near the Curry County Events Center as the site of choice. The two other sites under discussion at the meeting were Hillcrest Park and the former site of the Parkview Elementary School. Commissioner Seth Martin said it would be “reckless on our part” to consider a site that would require both purchasing the land and paying to con...
The Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority Board approved six more easement agreements for the Finished Water 3B (FW3B) pipeline on Thursday. “The purpose of the ENMWUA project is to provide potable water to four city and county member agencies and Cannon Air Force Base for municipal, commercial, and industrial use,” as stated on the ENMWUA website. “The project will replace current groundwater supplies from the Ogallala (or High Plains) Aquifer with a renewable surface water supply (Ute Reservoir).” To that end the ENM...
PORTALES -- The Portales City Council on Dec. 5 voted to postpone a vote to approve a water contract with the Roosevelt County Water Cooperative until the next meeting. On Nov. 1, the council voted to increase the rate it charges Roosevelt County Water Coop customers by 75%, starting in January. City Manager Sarah Austin in an email last Wednesday said the Coop “will start paying $5.85 per 1,000 gallons … and right now they currently pay $3.34 per 1,000 gallons.” This is the first increase since 2016, Austin said. City Counc...
PORTALES -- The Portales City Council on Dec. 5 voted to postpone a vote to approve a water contract with the Roosevelt County Water Cooperative until the next meeting. On Nov. 1, the council voted to increase the rate it charges Roosevelt County Water Coop customers by 75%, starting in January. City Manager Sarah Austin in an email last Wednesday said the Coop “will start paying $5.85 per 1,000 gallons … and right now they currently pay $3.34 per 1,000 gallons.” This is the first increase since 2016, Austin said. City Counc...
Several business owners in the Clovis area say they are having difficulty finding enough employees. The state of New Mexico’s unemployment rate currently stands at 4.3 percent for October and in the same month in 2021, that number was 6.1 percent, according to the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions. The unemployment rate in Roosevelt County for October was 3.3 percent compared to 5.2 percent the same month in 2021, the NMDWS website states. In Curry County, the unemployment rate for October was 3.0 percent c...
Roosevelt and Curry counties are in severe to extreme drought but these conditions have improved since summer, according to the National Weather Service. “It was really bad in the early part of the summer – it was in the worst category of exceptional drought,” said Brian Guyer, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque. “Since 2011, we have seen more frequent to extreme drought and there have been periods when drought remained,” Guyer said. “More than half of that time, it’s been in drought.” He said drou...
Roosevelt County was recently awarded two grants to help pay for the problem they have with illegal dumping. The New Mexico Clean and Beautiful grant applied for by both the city of Portales and the county, awarded through the New Mexico Tourism Department, consists of $500 for tipping fees and $3,500 for advertising to educate the public about the problem, said Carol Acosta-Flores, special projects coordinator for Roosevelt County. "The City of Portales and Roosevelt County...
The inflation rate in rural areas is usually higher than in urban centers because of the lack of competition and that has real life consequences for local businesses in rural Roosevelt and Curry counties. Kayhan Koleyni, assistant professor of economics at Eastern New Mexico University, said after his comment that rural inflation rates are typically higher, he estimates the inflation rate in Roosevelt and Curry counties (October numbers) to be 8.5-8.7 percent, based on previous economic studies, because there are no official...
The New Mexico Legislature recently created a task force to study the feasibility of consolidating the state’s prison and county jail systems. Grace Philips, general counsel for New Mexico Counties, was scheduled to make a presentation on the findings Tuesday. The task force did not “recommend unification of New Mexico’s corrections systems, concluding that unifying New Mexico’s county detention and state prison systems, at this time, is not a responsive solution to the specific challenges faced by criminal justice partner...
