Q&A: Portales city manager discusses projects, funding

Editor's note: Portales City Manager Sammy Standefer discussed several topics as part of a periodic series checking up on issues related to the city.

At what stage is the Portales fire substation?

The plans, I would say they're complete. I would say we're pretty much shovel-ready on the job; we're just trying to secure funding. We have a legislative request in. We're not anticipating money from them (legislators), but we're just in the process of trying to secure funding for it. We would call it shovel-ready.

At this point, I don't have an exact of when that would be accomplished, but I anticipate we'll know more after this fiscal year. We'll sit down and set some deadlines as to when we're going to proceed and how we're going to proceed. Probably around July or August, we'll have a better idea.

Where does the potential Portales Inn project stand?

I don't have a lot of information. We're really hopeful. We've had several developers looking at it recently, and many over the years, and we've got really good prospects. Hopefully we can get something in there real soon and redevelop it.

I hope we have something put together at the next council meeting that said who the developer would be and what it would be. They're trying to work out some details on that, so I can't disclose a lot.

Of the items on the city's capital outlay request list, which do you think will likely receive funding?

This year, with the state budget, it's going to be tough to say if any of them would. They're just really tight. We do typically get a little bit of money for water. I would say that would be number one; either the well field or infrastructure project. If that doesn't happen, we're prepared to keep moving forward. We understand everyone's in a budget crunch because of the economy in New Mexico at the moment.

What would you say are the most important issues at hand for Portales in 2017?

As far as the city as a whole, securing the water source and redeveloping the infrastructure is our greatest need. That is always going to be our top priority. We do many things. Every department has a need, and every department, we do different things, but as far as an overall city, that's probably where we focus the most.

We always have a project going on expanding our well field. We keep expanding, and adding more wells, and making it larger, and that is always a top priority for us. Infrastructure-wise, we always have several projects. We completed two last year, which were some tie-in projects. We have one going on now at our tank on Boston (Avenue). Right now, what we're focusing on is looping the system enough where we don't have such a load on any one line. That makes it easier for us to correct a line.

- Compiled by Staff Writer Eamon Scarbrough