Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
CLOVIS — The Clovis city commission will technically meet Thursday evening at the Clovis-Carver Public Library’s North Annex.
Due to state restrictions of mass gatherings, however, the meeting site will be closed to the public and attendance will be limited to Mayor David Lansford as meeting chair and four city staff members.
All commissioners and presenters will be participating via teleconference. Residents can watch on the city’s Facebook page, Suddenlink public access channel 10 or online at cloviscitynm.iqm2.com.
The commission will tackle multiple items, including a resolution to waive distance requirements for a proposed liquor license location and a resolution to leverage matching funding for an October Readiness and Environmental Integration program application.
Anybody with questions or comments during the meeting can call 575-763-9200, which rings to the information technology room.
The liquor license for the Guadalajara restaurant, to eventually go into the Master’s Centre, was approved during the commission’s Feb. 27 meeting.
However, commissioners had raised concerns over the restaurant location’s proximity to the Wayland Baptist University Clovis branch housed inside the Master’s Centre.
The Alcoholic Beverage Control offices did not raise the issue during a site tour that preceded a preliminary approval of the liquor license.
The commission passed the item 7-1 with the knowledge it might need to deal with a distance waiver request later.
The REPI program was discussed at a study session following the March 5 meeting. The program uses Conservation Fund dollars to match Department of Defense payments used as inducements to landowners near an installation. In this case, Lansford said, money would be used to induce landowners to convert irrigation water rights to municipal water rights.
The transition would reduce the stress on those acres and allow for aquifer recharging. Lansford said the approach has proved successful with the Wall property the city purchased in 2014.
Possible funding sources include:
• A possible increase in EPCOR’s franchise fee from 2% to 3%.
• The 0.25% gross receipts tax dedicated to the water utility authority, minus authority membership payments. The tax does sunset in 2021, but the commission has the option to renew.
• The eight remaining $35,000 payments from Curry County annually as part of a shared services agreement.
• Payments in lieu of taxes from Southwest Cheese.
Lansford said at the study session he hoped to see a resolution considered at the March 19 meeting, which was delayed while the city dealt with COVID-19 mitigation issues.
Other items on the Thursday agenda include:
• A resolution to condemn a home on the 900 block of Purdue Street.
The initial request made during the Feb. 13 meeting was made in order to give the out-of-state property owner a chance to resolve the matter in person. The agenda does not include any updates on a resolution.
• An application for a solar farm at the intersection of Coyote Road and Buffalo Drive. The application was recommended 6-0 by the planning and zoning commission March 11.
• Consideration of $123,075 in lodgers tax disbursements as recommended at the advisory board’s March 10 meeting. The largest disbursements would be for an events coordinator salary at the Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce ($30,000) and the Pioneer Days Rodeo ($25,000). A total of 10 requests have funding recommendations, with the smallest High Plains Hoops for $1,575.
• A purchase agreement for four lots on the 200 block of L. Casillas Boulevard. The purchase is part of a series of improvements in the city’s railroad district.
• Alteration of a lease for property surrounding the city landfill. The lease, currently assigned to Mitchell Harrison, would go to Harrison Family Farms. The request includes an extension of the least through 2025 with annual $25,500 payments unchanged.
