Councilors approve resolution to purchase building

PORTALES — City councilors took the first step at their Tuesday meeting toward giving the Portales Police Department its own space.

A resolution authorizing the purchase of the former magistrate court building on U.S. 70 for $339,400 was approved after concerns about the building’s size by Councilor Antonio Salguero were addressed.

“Is that building really that big? I look at it from the street and I say, ‘Is that building enough to handle a police department?’” he said.

City Manager Sammy Standefer assured Salguero that the building was 5,000 square feet, with room for interior and exterior expansion.

The next step in the purchasing process is signing closing documents to complete the purchase, according to City Clerk Joan Martinez-Terry.

Once the purchasing process has been completed, remodeling will begin, she said.

“There’s not enough offices for all the people that have to go in there. There is space for them. They’re going to have to put up some walls,” she said.

Funds for the purchase will come from an account used by the city to complete largescale projects, Martinez-Terry said.

“It’s money the city has been putting back for a number of years. They’re probably going to move it from investments into the revenue, so they’ll have it to spend,” she said.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting:

• Councilors approved the payment of $1.7 million in bills for August.

• A resolution approving an agreement between the city and the New Mexico Department of Transportation to fund the Portales Area Transit program.

Standefer said NMDOT’s contribution for the annual agreement is $199,418, with a budgeted local match of $120,710.

He added that some of the funding this year will go to purchase a new bus.

• Councilors approved the re-plat of a subdivision northwest of Portales owned by Ralph Gilman.

The 86-acre subdivision is being split into four separate tracts of land, according to Planning Director Donna Rutherford.