Candidate Q&A: Portales City Council Ward B

Three candidates are running for one Ward B seat on the Portales City Council. They are the incumbent, Oscar Robinson, and Grace Padilla and John Bonifant.

Election Day is March 1. Early voting ends Feb. 26.

Oscar Robinson

Q: In 100 words or less, why are you qualified to be a Portales city councilor?

Robinson: I am qualified for the Ward B Portales City Council because:

I am a U.S. citizen, a registered voter, live within my ward, I have professional administrative working experience, and I’ve served as city councilor for Ward B for 25 years.

Because of being a city councilor, this has motivated me to be involved in the Portales community activities such as: working with youth, Community Service Center Board, Cultural Affairs Committee member, State Martin Luther King, Jr. Commissioner, former La Casa Buena Salud board member, school bus driver for 14 years, and operating a private lawn service business in Portales.

Q: What do you think the city’s highest priorities are these days? What can the commission do to help?

Robinson: Portales’ highest priority at this time is the “deplorable conditions” of the streets.

We can reverse this by the hiring and retaining of qualified street employees. We should require these employees to stay updated on street maintenance methodologies. We need to require the street department to have more “shovel-ready” street projects. This would allow the city to move forward when funding can be obtained and we are able and ready to begin projects. We should require the city manager to give reports on the city street status quarterly. This aspect would require a written plan to be submitted to the city council. We should have the city manager report the feasibility to contract out major street construction projects that are unable to be accomplished by staff. By doing this, we can ensure street improvement and repairs are done in a timely manner to meet the needs of the community.

Another priority is to strengthen a governmental relationship between federal, county and state elected officials, state officials, Roosevelt County, Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce, Roosevelt County schools, Eastern New Mexico University, Cannon Air Force Base, Roosevelt County Economic Development Board, The Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority, The Eastern Plains Council of Governments, and the Ministerial Alliance to encourage the sharing of ideas and to eliminate the redundancy of services. This would increase transparency and allow the community more economic development projects. This would include recruiting new businesses, assisting existing businesses and better social services.

Another critical priority is the lack of quality-of-life opportunities in Portales. Therefore, I believe that the city council should take the lead in discussion of this issue. We will become better able to lead the community with extended family activities such as re-opening the pool, promoting the use of the softball complex, soccer complexes, Little League fields and development of more recreational activities. This will create a wholesome living opportunity in Portales. This would help ENMU to recruit students to Portales, and keep our young families actively involved in our community.

Q: What finance-related issues do you think Portales needs to address so that taxpayers’ money is well spent?

Robinson: This could be because of a reduction in spending in local business or online ordering. The city council and staff should work with the Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Board to recruit new businesses and support local businesses. This should increase Portales’ revenue. The city council should require staff to work closer with the state to recover gross receipts taxes.

Another financial related issue is the underutilization of city and county residents using the Convenience Center. This underutilization places a big financial burden on the city. This can be reversed as follows:

• Working closer with the county

• Better marketing of the Convenience Center to the residents of Roosevelt County

• Hiring and retaining employees, and offering better employment-related incentives to the workers

Another burden is the limited pool of qualified applicants to fill the vacant city positions. The city council should authorize and continue to support the city manager to come up with creative ways to fill these vacant positions and retain the trained personnel.

Grace Padilla

Q: In 100 words or less, why are you qualified to be a Portales city councilor?

Padilla: I want to be part of the vision and implementation involved in growing Portales as the amazing community that we know and love. I have been a resident of Portales for many years. I left for 20 years and returned last year, as this is where most of my family lives and the place I have always called home.

I will fight for city residents to get fair share of resources. I have the time to commit to bring significant value to the position and I see opportunities to make it better. I want to give back to my community.

Q: What do you think the city’s highest priorities are these days? What can the commission do to help?

Padilla: I think one of the highest priorities is to implement economic development processes that assist in the development of a strong local economy and to protect neighborhoods from deteriorating conditions that have a negative impact on area property value.

Q: What finance-related issues do you think Portales needs to address so that taxpayers’ money is well spent?.

Padilla: As I mentioned, I was gone from Portales for 20 years, and when I returned, I noticed it has not changed much. Parks need to be cleaned and utilized to bring revenue. We need new businesses so that the local people do not have to go out of town to shop or to eat at different restaurants. We have to improve our roads, parks, clean our neighborhoods and work on the sewer system. If we all work together, I truly believe we can make Portales a town everyone would want to live in.

John Bonifant

Q: In 100 words or less, why are you qualified to be a Portales city councilor?

Bonifant: I have lived in Portales for the majority of my life, I have been a member of this community for the better part of 20+ years, so I believe just in that alone is what makes me qualified to be a councilor.

Q: What do you think the city’s highest priorities are these days?  What can the commission do to help?

Bonifant: I can’t give an actual answer to this question because I’m unsure. I do know that the city needs to focus more on getting personnel hired, and to also deal with the trash around the dumpster issues. 

Q: What finance-related issues do you think Portales needs to address so that taxpayers’ money is well spent?

Bonifant: I believe Portales needs to buckle down and deal with the water line issue, but I completely understand that the finances are what keep the city moving forward. I believe that if the city was more open about what they spend that the taxpayers would understand a bit more.