Clovis tables shared services agreement

CLOVIS — Hours after a city-county shared services agreement was voted down by the Curry County Commission, Clovis city commissioners also decided to return to the drawing board.

The artists, so to speak, weren’t happy about it.

By a 7-1 vote, city commissioners decided to table the agreement so county objections could be addressed. That came after a pair of votes failed to accept the agreement — which came through the negotiation of Clovis Commissioners Ladona Clayton and Sandra Taylor-Sawyer and Curry Commissioners Chet Spear and Robert Thornton.

Spear and Thornton were outvoted 3-2 by their fellow commissioners Tuesday morning.

A previous agreement between the city and the county expired in 2016. The new proposed agreement did not change the services the county and city provide for each other or the city’s monthly payments totaling $130,000 a year to the county. It did, however, add a one-time payment of $1 million and annual payments of $35,000 from the county to the city, with the caveat the money only go toward the city’s master water assurance plan.

Clayton said it was her understanding the vote failed on three points:

• Tying water projects and the county detention center into one agreement.

• Consideration of cost-of-living increases on the payments the city makes to the county.

• Determining a definition of a “municipal prisoner” or who is a resident of Clovis but housed at the county detention center.

Clayton said the first two points weren’t brought up until Tuesday, and she didn’t see why a cost-of-living increase should only be granted to one party and not the other.

She felt the city should “take higher ground” and approve the agreement, because she felt it was a good agreement as is.

Commissioner Fidel Madrid said he thought the agreement was fine, but he moved to accept it with an amendment that the $1 million should specifically go to the city’s effluent water project. He drew disagreement from Clayton and Mayor David Lansford, who felt the effluent project would get plenty of the $1 million, but countered the money shouldn’t be handcuffed to one water initiative.

The city provides the county with landfill services, pest control, fire department response, emergency medical services, enhanced-911 services, Clovis-Carver Public Library usage and emergency management services. City Commissioner Gary Elliott felt the services the city provided outweighed what the county gave in return.

The commission took three votes.

The first was Madrid’s motion to accept the agreement with the $1 million earmarked for the effluent water project. It failed 5-3, with Rube Render and Elliott joining Madrid.

The second came from Clayton, who wanted the agreement accepted as written. “I still think it’s a solid agreement,” Clayton said. “This agreement to me establishes a very blended approach to partnering.” It also failed 5-3, with Helen Casaus joining Clayton and Taylor-Sawyer.

Commissioner Chris Bryant then offered to table the matter, saying, “I don’t have a problem with this agreement; I think it’s fair to the county, I think it’s very fair to the city.”

Mayor Pro Tem Juan Garza wished Taylor-Sawyer and Clayton luck on a second round of negotiations, but said it was a lost cause to get Curry County to agree to a definition on a municipal prisoner.

Taylor-Sawyer was the lone dissenting vote on the tabling.

“We did the work,” Taylor-Sawyer said after the meeting. “It was a good agreement. It should have passed.”

In other business at Tuesday’s meeting (all votes below 8-0):

• The commission recognized Durwood Billington as the New Mexico Rural Water Association’s wastewater plant operator of the year.

Public Works Director Clint Bunch said Billington has always taken on new challenges at the plant, including the city effluent pipeline plan and a pilot program to recapture water from the Southwest Cheese plant.

Bunch said when he found out Billington won the award, he wanted it to be a surprise and needed to find a way to get Billington to take a trip to Albuquerque. He made up a story that state officials needed questions answered in person about the effluent pipeline project.

“He probably studied all night ... for no reason,” Bunch said.

• The city gave quarterly awards to Joel Gershon of the Clovis Fire Department and Ryan Oliver of the finance department.

Gershon has been with the department for 16 years, the last two as battalion chief. Chief Mike Nolen said Gershon commands the B-shift.

“Joel’s a leader by example,” Nolen said. “I know his shift can testify to that.”

Oliver joined the city as a cashier in 2013, and now works in the purchasing department.

“He is the epitome of customer service,” Finance Director LeighAnn Melancon said. “He’s moved to purchasing ... I still get callers who just say, ‘Let me talk to Ryan; he can take care of it for me.’”

• The commission approved introducing an ordinance to change the membership and scope of the Ethnic Affairs Committee.

Clayton spearheaded the changes. She wanted the committee comprised of a citizen from each district, two Curry County residents who lived outside of Clovis and a commissioner who would serve as chair.

Non-commission members could be removed for three consecutive absences or 50 percent absence over any 12-month period. The committee would still be responsible for the ethnic fair, but also seek opportunities with entities such as Clovis Community College and Eastern New Mexico University.

• The commission awarded an audit services contract to Ricci.

Commissioner Fidel Madrid asked why the choice was Ricci when it was not the lowest price at $144,000.

“It’s more qualification-based than it is price-based,” City Purchasing Agent Bryan Jones said. “They (scoring committee members) do not see the price until they’ve written down their score.”

Melancon said Ricci scored high because it has more experience working with municipalities.

• The commission approved street closures and noise variances June 8-10 for the Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church Fiesta, and fee waivers totaling $800 — including use of city street closure barricades and trash carts.

Commissioner Rube Render said the previous commission meeting covered not waiving fees for events that served an isolated portion of the community. He had no problem with the event, but felt the commission should establish some kind of drop-dead date where it would either stop waiving fees or the city would stop issuing them.

Taylor-Sawyer said the best action was to continue as normal until August, when the revenue review committee meets.

“We did kick the can down the road, to be honest,” Taylor-Sawyer said.

The commission has tasked the committee to look into the matter, and Taylor-Sawyer said it should be trusted to handle the matter on its meeting schedule.

• The next meeting is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. May 17 at the North Annex of the Clovis-Carver Public Library.