Meetings watch — Aug. 6

City Council

Here’s four things you should know about Tuesday’s Portales City Council meeting:

• City councilors identified the top five priorities in the city’s list of projects for the next capital improvement cycle for 2016-2020.

The top five projects, in order of importance, are:

• Fire protection and water circulation upgrades within the city.

• A new Portales Fire Department substation.

• Senior Center improvements.

• A new loader for the city’s Street Department.

• Rotary Park and ball field improvements.

• Councilors named and approved the city and city manager’s goals for the current fiscal year.

The city’s goals include continuing construction of the new wastewater treatment plant on time and on budget, reducing water consumption by 2 percent through public education, maintenance and rate structure, and continuing a path to financial stability.

Portales City Manager Doug Redmond’s goals include overseeing the management of the wastewater treatment plant construction, strengthening relationships with community partners, and revising the unsafe structure/nuisance ordinance.

• City officials want construction on Third Street to be done before the bell rings for the first day of school in Portales.

Constructors, Inc. of Roswell is the contractor for yet another project on one of Portales’ state highways, N.M. 88 on Third Street, from Abilene to Kilgore. The contractor is also working on the U.S. 70 reconstruction project that was slated to be completed for last August but is a year behind schedule.

The four-lane street has been reduced to two lanes, and is blocking access to the Portales Junior High and businesses in that area.

Councilors are concerned the project won’t be done before school starts in about two weeks, but Public Works Director John DeSha said he met with officials from the New Mexico Department of Transportation, who assured him it would be done before then.

DeSha said asphalt is expected to be poured on those streets in the next couple of days.

• City officials honored two of their own.

Portales Mayor Sharon King recognized Antonio Salaz with the General Services Department for retiring. King also presented the city’s payroll specialist Kathy Kennedy with the Employee of the Quarter Award.

— Compiled by senior writer Christina Calloway