Portales council to consider court building purchase

PORTALES — The Portales Police Department may soon have a new home, depending on a decision at tonight’s Portales City Council Meeting.

If a resolution to purchase the former Roosevelt County Magistrate Court building on U.S. 70 is approved, the property will become the new PPD headquarters, according to City Manager Sammy Standefer.

The council meets at 6:30 p.m. at the Memorial Building.

Standefer said the department may be moved into the building “up into next summer,” due to needed remodeling and the addition of offices.

While the contract for purchasing the building will be discussed at the meeting, Standefer said the city will not be able to pay more than the appraised value of $339,000.

He added that a need for space in the PPD’s current headquarters prompted a search for a new building.

“We house a lot of things there. Corrections is there, dispatch, other things. We’ve just had a need for many, many years to have our own space, and a little more space,” he said. “This had been one of the things the council had looked at for a long time, as far back as 20 years, that I can remember.”

Also at today’s meeting:

• The re-plat of a county subdivision will be up for approval.

• Councilors will discuss and potentially act upon security options for the city’s water recycling impoundment on Industrial Drive.

The item came about after Councilor Jim Lucero suggested at the Sept. 9 meeting possibly installing a fence around the pond.

• A request for sewer services by a Roosevelt County resident will be heard.