Water funds donated to Roosevelt fair

PORTALES — Even the fair needs water.

Steve and Janet Mattfeldt, owners of Sun Valley Rides, which provided the Roosevelt County Fair with rides last month, made a $2,500 donation to the cause.

The Mattfeldts presented the check to the county fair board, which passed it along to the Portales Water Department at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.

Fair Board President Wayne McAlister said the money was to show the Mattfeldts’ appreciation of city workers’ quick response to a water-line break near the fairgrounds on Aug. 26.

“(Steve Mattfeldt) was very grateful the city jumped on it. They worked all night. They got the water line fixed. We were able to finish the fair,” McAlister said.

Public Works Director John DeSha illustrated the dedication shown by his department in containing the break.

“I was in Amarillo when the break started, and I got back as fast as I could. By the time I got back, they had already made a good start on it,” DeSha said.

“After the week was over with, we talked about what we did right, what we did wrong. One of the things I brought up was, ‘I wish I could have sent some of you guys home.’ All of them instantly said, ‘We wouldn’t have gone, because there’s no way we’re gonna go home and go to sleep. We’re gonna be laying here worrying about it. We’re gonna stay here ’til it’s done.’ To a man, that’s how they were.”

Also at Tuesday’s City Council meeting:

• DeSha informed the council that the city’s road project on Kilgore Street would likely be delayed until next week.

“We had a wonderful project planned for Kilgore,” he began, adding that heavy rains in August quickly put a damper on his department’s plans.

“It washed all of the emulsion out of the mix that we had ready to go. It put the whole road that we had just put together under water, which is the worst thing you can do for one of those,” he said.

The $30,000 project, which involved fixing cracks in the road, will begin next week if the city completes its Local Government Road Fund projects on time, according to DeSha.

• Councilors approved the Portales Senior Center’s infrastructure capital improvement plan for fiscal years 2019 through 2023.

The only project on the ICIP would provide improvements to the senior center and, if approved, would total $268,087 over the five-year plan.

• Councilors approved the 2019 fiscal year application for rural transit funding to the Portales Area Transit System.

The amount of $120,710 requested in the application would purchase a new bus and continue operation of the program, according to Public Works Project Administrator Susan Baysinger.