Official optimistic on range opening

CLOVIS — A series of delays, both man-made and nature-driven, have slowed work for the city’s shooting range at Ned Houk Park.

But City Manager Justin Howalt is optimistic the project won’t finish too long after its original projection of May’s end.

Howalt told the Parks, Recreation and Beautification Committee on Monday evening that work was focused on clearing land for the facility’s roadway, main building and house for trap/skeet shooting.

The two recent delays, Howalt said, have come from last week’s winter weather and pipe discovered during the excavation process. A change order on the project was approved last week by the Clovis city commission to eliminate the entire 1,400 linear feet of pipe and not just the section that interferes with current construction.

“I’m sure at some point it was used to move water around for cattle,” said Howalt, who added the New Mexico Game and Fish Department took no issue with the city’s decision to remove all of the pipe.

Overall, though, Howalt said the delays are a matter of a few days and he’s hopeful the vendor can find some ways to make up for lost time. There are no tournaments scheduled for the facility that would be threatened by a delayed opening.

“The project is going good,” Howalt said in summation. “Next meeting, I will get some pictures downloaded.”

District 1 City Commissioner Leo Lovett said he had talked to a volunteer affiliated with the shooting range, and understands it will be a premiere facility within a 90-mile radius. Committee member Tom Martin countered that didn’t feel like a huge endorsement because, “there isn’t anything between us and 90 miles.”

Howalt and Lovett said based on conversations with local shooters, the facility will be something that will draw residents from cities that already have shooting facilities.

Howalt said a comparable facility in Roswell offers only trap and skeet shooting, while the Ned Houk facility will offer clay pigeons, indoor and outdoor archery and an indoor area for Airsoft gun shooting.

“If there’s going to be indoor archery, that’s going to be a big improvement,” committee member Lisa Pellegrino-Spear said. “I shoot archery as well, and it’s a big sport with a big following. If there’s a new facility for it, it will be an impact and it will draw people; people go all over for those competitions.”

In other business during the Monday meeting:

• The major project for the city in parks and recreation, Howalt said, is finding a new director after Mark Dayhoff retired in December.

The city is on its second advertisement of the position. The second was necessitated when the selected finalist didn’t accept the city’s officer. This round has included three interviews so far, and the city hopes to make an offer by March 5.

“They’ve been really good interviews, and we have another few this week,” Howalt said. “So far, we wouldn’t go wrong with any of the three we’ve interviewed to date.”

• Howalt said the city is in preliminary discussions with Consensus Planning for a master plan of Ned Houk Park.

An Albuquerque firm has helped the city with various master plans in the past, including its current parks master plan.

“We own 3,200 acres,” Howalt said of Ned Houk Park. “Obviously, we don’t want to develop all 3,200 acres, but if we had a plan in place it would give us some direction, goals and guidance on where things could be placed in the future.”

• The city is working on an insurance claim, Howalt said, after a fire suppression system at the Lyceum Theater broke with the cold weather and ran for several days without city knowledge.

“We had several water leaks throughout the city,” Howalt said. “Those cold temperatures just happen.”

• Assistant City Manager Claire Burroughes said the city is looking for federal grants for the Pappy Thornton museum at Ned Houk Park. Committee members, Joyce Gates in particular, have pushed for some type of funding to promote the museum and help protect its aging exhibits.

“We get notifications every week from our federal representatives on funding,” Burroughes said, “and we are trying to search for funding to help you with this.”

• Clovis High Athletic Director Lonnie Baca said the CHS swim program was looking at having some home meets, and recent purchases of timing equipment will help that take place.

• Committee members said they have received plenty of positive feedback from Christmas lighting displays at Greene Acres Park. The city added electric capabilities to the north portion of the park, and volunteers decorated much of the park. Pellegrino-Spear said having power access in only a few areas of the park was a challenge, and the decorations relied on thousands of feet of extension cord.

Howalt said the city plans to add power to other areas of the park.

“One of the challenges we’re going to run into is the facility floods,” Howalt said. “We may have some limitation on what we can actually do (regarding utility placement).”