Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
From left, Curry County Facilities Maintenance Superintendent Ben Roberts, County Manager Lance Pyle, Commissioners Ben McDaniel and Seth Martin, Road Superintendent Dennis Fury and Commissioner Robert Thornton take a tour of the new county road barn on Tuesday.
CLOVIS — Months after it was narrowly approved by the Curry County Commission, construction is complete on the new county road barn located south of Clovis on Curry Road 6.
By a 3-2 vote and then a 4-1 vote respectively, the commission approved a $525,554 water line extension agreement with EPCOR to provide water to the barn and then a $409,642 agreement with Nick Griego & Sons Construction Inc. to build the barn during the commission's Jan. 11 meeting.
While the road department won't begin moving into the new barn until Oct. 15, the commissioners on Tuesday were given a chance to see the building before it's filled with road equipment.
"I thought they did a nice job," Commissioner Chet Spear said. "It's well-lit, well-heated, and well-secured I guess, with that big fence around it. When it's all said and done I'm looking forward to them moving in there and getting back to business."
"It looks to me like they did a good job on it," Chairman Ben McDaniel said. "I think it will serve us for a really long time. For a road barn, it was as good as you can expect I guess."
Road Superintendent Dennis Fury said the facility has more storage space, allowing the road department to store more vehicles inside and away from the elements, which will extend the lifespan of the equipment without its electronic components exposed to the weather.
Spear and McDaniel cast the two votes opposing the water line extension back in January, citing the $935,196 price tag associated with the two projects.
Asked on Tuesday if now with hindsight he thought the barn and water line were a good investment, McDaniel said, "there's no getting around it was very expensive but time will tell if it was a good investment for the county and the community and the road department. We will see."
Spear said he still thinks the county should have elected to purchase a different property available for about $300,000, which already had a building, fence and water rights in place. But he noted that one added benefit to the new building is that several homeowners without water in the area are seeking to tie onto the water line serving the barn.
"If it works for the people down there that don't have water and now they do, maybe it was worth it," Spear said.
