Roosevelt to consider options to sell health care building

PORTALES — Roosevelt County will begin exploring options to sell its longtime healthcare building in an effort to “pare down and focus” its efforts as a governmental entity.

Since 1995 the La Casa Family Health Center has operated at the 1515 W. Fir St. location through a lease agreement by which it provided “various services” to county residents, County Manager Amber Hamilton told The News.

“I anticipate that they will remain in the building; the hope is that we would be able to dispose of the building and allow them to procure the building to continue to operate there,” she said. “They provide a very beneficial and much needed service.”

Approval at Tuesday morning’s commission meeting means that the county can explore options toward “disposal,” government jargon for selling the building. The first step is to get a fair market appraisal, and it’s part of a larger effort by county management.

“We are trying to pare down and focus our efforts,” Hamilton said. “The direction of the county at this point is not to serve as a landlord function per se, or to build buildings for various organizations, but rather to focus on those statutory requirements that the county is required to provide.”

Commissioners approved the action unanimously among the four present, with commissioner Matthew Hunton absent. Also at Tuesday’s meeting:

• Acknowledgment from the state Department of Finance and Administration’s Local Government Division of approval of the county’s fiscal year 2020 preliminary budget, pending final certification in September.

• Recognition of Chief Deputy Assessor Steven Floyd for 20 years of service to the county, along with other county employees for their one- and three-year milestones.

• Renewal of program agreement with the New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service for $75,000 of county funding toward services including staff for the extension office and educational programs on agriculture, home economics and 4-H.

• Approval of participation agreement with New Mexico Association of Counties for grant training and support services through June 30 at a cost to the county of $6,327.