Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
The Curry County Commission met with a full five-person board for the first time since December on Tuesday following the appointment of Commissioner Robert Sandoval, second from right.
CLOVIS - Curry County commissioners took little action on Tuesday, but weighed in on a number of issues it wants state lawmakers to consider.
The resolutions express the commission's positions, but have no force of law.
One bill county commissioners oppose: House Bill 26, which would lower fees for public records requests from $1 per page to 10 cents per page.
"We sometimes get requests for emails dating back for six months on a particular subject or video footage, etc., and I think taxpayers should not be out the cost of putting those records together," County Manager Lance Pyle said. "If you want the documents, you should have to pay the cost of putting this together ... It's not a good bill for cities and counties."
Bills that commissioners listed for support included Senate Bill 192, which would allow for the release of pregnant or lactating jail inmates, House Bill 67, which would fund county and tribal health councils, House Bill 479, which would remove certain restrictions on how municipalities spend gross receipts taxes, and House Bill 201, which would allow residents to donate a portion of their tax refund to county road funds.
Pyle said the resolutions will be sent to the county's local legislators as well as the sponsors of 12 bills.
Also at Tuesday's meeting:
• No action was taken following an approximately 25-minute executive session held to discuss personnel matters, according to the agenda.
• During an update on Department of Transportation projects within Curry County, Alan Briley, assistant district engineer of construction at the DOT's Roswell office, said he hopes the Prince Street overpass will be open to traffic by April 15.
Last month, DOT District 2 Public Information Officer Manon Arnett said the overpass could be open in March.
• With Commissioner Robert Sandoval participating in his first meeting since being appointed to the board by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham last week, the commission reviewed its committee appointments for 2019.
Sandoval assumed the majority of the positions held by former District 1 Commissioner Angelina Baca who was removed from the ballot about 10 weeks before November's election due to failure to file a financial document with the secretary of state's office.
• During an update on the 2019 Curry County Fair, Events Center General Manager Jeff Blake said they are close to securing a headliner for the Saturday night tejeno concert and still looking for someone to perform at the Thursday night country concert.
• The board approved the county's fiscal year 2018 audit, which Robert Cordova, principal at Cordova CPAs, said received an unmodified or "clean" opinion, with three findings related to internal controls in the treasurer's office.
