Officials discuss barn expansion

CLOVIS — After an hour of discussion a potential expansion of the current fair barn at the Curry County Fairgrounds, one thing was clear to county commissioners.

They’re not ready to approve anything yet.

“If we’re going o get serious about this,” Commissioner Chet Spear said, “there’s a lot of homework that needs to get done. … We’re not there yet; I don’t think we are.”

Charlie Kolarik, a principal architect with Populous, gave commissioners a look at what a barn expansion could possibly mean, with options that went from 100 to 300 stalls, with those numbers based on the type of stalls needed and what space impacts possible enclosures could have.

Some of the goals of an expansion, Kolarik said, would create a warmup area for events, a covered connection to the Curry County Events Center and the ability to convert unused stall space into expo area for smaller events that might not need the entire events center.

But functionality isn’t cheap. Kolarik said a comparable project Populous is handling in Grady County, Oklahoma, is around $3.5 million for construction. Kolarik said material costs were especially high coming out of the pandemic. He thinks those prices will stabilize over the next year, but he’s not sure to what extent.

“This is not a bad time to be planning a project,” Kolarik said. “It’s difficult to be constructing one.”

Commissioners had various questions, and Spear asked if there were any facilities commissioners could tour, reasoning an in-person visit seems prudent given the costs involved. Kolarik mentioned the Grady County facility, and advised working with fairgrounds management company Spectra to locate other comparable facilities.

When asked for direction, County Manager Lance Pyle said the commission was best off updating its fairgrounds master plan to specifically address a barn expansion. Commissioners agreed and voted 4-0 to begin that process.

In other business at the Tuesday meeting:

• Commissioners declined to act on an offer from landowner Vince De Maio for a donation of 30,000 gallons of water to use on a road project near his property.

Commissioner Chet Spear said he had no issue with De Maio, but believed such an agreement would give the optics that landowners could pay the county to move their roads higher up the priority list. He also did not want to dump water from the paleochannel onto a road when so much effort is being used to conserve that water.

Road Superintendent Walon Jones said the deal with De Maio was on a road the county was planning to do anyway, but had put off because of the lack of precipitation.

County Attorney Steve Doerr noted county road policy encourages such donations from residents, and that the commission may want to revisit that 2017 amendment.

• Commissioners enacted a 30-day ban of certain fireworks, in accordance with state law, due to drought conditions in the county. The conditions are the same as bans done in previous years.

Spear said the commission could enact the ban and not enforce it if rains continue, but others in the meeting were wary of a slippery slope of picking and choosing what to enforce.

Doerr told commissioners the resolution had to be in place at least 20 days prior to the July 4 holiday, and that the commission would have the option to renew or rescind the ban at its June 29 meeting to keep it in place for the holiday.

Thornton said he didn’t like the idea of limiting vendors or property owners. Spear responded that fireworks don’t respect property lines, and his land is full of fireworks the next day even when he didn’t light any.

The resolution passed 3-1, with Thornton voting no.

• Commissioners renewed a hazard pay stipend for detention center officers through the remainder of the calendar year.

Spear, who said upon initial passage of the stipend that he wanted it to be permanent, repeated those comments.

• Constance Williams, Edith Ann Bradley and Steve North were appointed to the county board of registration.

• Sandy Chancey, executive director for the Eastern Plains Council of Governments, spoke about the council’s services to the county.

Raymond Mondragon, government affairs director for EPCOG, spoke separately on the recent urgent job fair at the Clovis Civic Center. A total of 440 applicants attended the event, and 45 people were hired that day. Some restaurants, Mondragon said, hired more than 10 people during the fair.

Spear asked Chancey what would have to be done to expand public transportation outside of city limits to give Cannon Air Force Base personnel options. She advised creating a regional transit district, which could possibly involve Portales and Roosevelt County but also require Legislature approval.

“It’s a fairly involved process,” Chancey said, “but that’s probably the best way to address it.”

• The commission met for an hour in executive session to discuss personnel matters, and took no action in open session.

• The next commission meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. June 29.