City manager to receive $70,000 over one-year contract

QCS Managing Editor

The Tucumcari City Commission has approved a one-year contract for Tucumcari’s new city manager, Jared Langenegger.

Langenegger, who officially began work on Oct. 28, will receive $70,000 on a one-year contract, the commission decided at its Oct. 23 meeting. The commission approved the contract after an executive session that followed the regular commission meeting.

The commission also heard a city manager’s report from outgoing city manager Doug Powers that discussed items including discussion he had with Joe Thomas, Clovis’ city manager, about progress on a new section of the Clovis landfill that would allow the disposal of material containing asbestos.

If that cell is approved for asbestos, Powers said, it could hasten the disposal of the Sands Dorsey building’s ruins downtown by reducing the cost.

Mayor Robert Lumpkin, appearing on remote video, repeated his proposal to divert a gross receipts tax now earmarked to ensure a supply of water from Ute Lake to disposal of the Sands Dorsey building and perhaps some other dilapidated structures in the city.

The tax, Lumpkin said, could raise $250,000 a year for two years for that purpose before the money is restored to its original purpose. Lumpkin said the plan would require a special election that could take place in March 2015, and work on the disposal could occur later in the year.

Powers also reported that bids for construction of a five-mile water transmission line from Five-Mile Park into the city have come in higher than originally estimated, and city staff and contract engineers are considering options.

He also reported that a member of the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water Authority wants to meet with Tucumcari officials to answer questions about the impact of the $500-million pipeline that the water authority is planning to build to bring Ute Lake water to Curry and Roosevelt counties. Quay County officials, including Tucumcari elected officials, think the pipeline may draw down enough water from the lake to make it unusable for recreational uses, and continue to oppose the project.

Powers said the future of Tucumcari relies on strong water supplies and cautioned the commission to examine the water authority’s plan.

Powers also reported on the possible donation to the city of a house in the 900 block of Turner Avenue, and said the city had purchased 115 new electronically read water meters to be installed in parts of the city.

The commission also heard a regular quarterly report from Pat Vanderpool, executive director of the Greater Tucumcari Economic Development Corporation.

He said a study by the International Council of Shopping Centers found unmet demand in Tucumcari for groceries, clothing and sporting goods sufficient to support new retail outlets in the city. The greatest demand, he said, was in groceries, where unmet demand totals $6 million per year.

Vanderpool said that he is able to tell businesses that see a lack of skilled workers and business buildings in Quay County that Mesalands Community College can rapidly customize training programs to meet business needs, and that the county has plenty of open space to build on at very low cost.

He also said leads for new businesses have been generated for food processing, modular construction, hi-tech recycling, a renewable energy-operated data center, fabrication, real estate, imagins and aerospace firms, among others.

He also reported that while Quay County’s population has gone down, so has unemployment. In 2013, Quay County finished with a 6.3 percent unemployment rate, compared with 8.2 percent in 2010. Quay County’s average weekly wage has risen over the same period forom $514 to $575, and per capita income has risen from $18,234 to $18,775. The county’s weekly wage, however, still trails the state average of $814 and per capita income trails the state’s $23,749 figure, Vanderpool reported.