Tucumcari recognizes senior citizen volunteers

The Tucumcari City Commission took these actions at its regular meeting Thursday in city council chambers at Tucumcari City Hall:

• Terminated a federal grant administered through the New Mexico Department of Transportation for $120,000, designed to help resurface Second Street south of the downtown area. Project manager Ralph Lopez told the commission $80,000 of the grant money would have had to be spent on historical and other studies, leaving only $40,000 for resurfacing. Lopez said the city would seek grant funding from less-restrictive sources.

n Waived business license fees for the carnival at the Quay County Fair. The fee would have been $200 a day over the fair’s four-day run, City Manager Britt Lusk said. Justin Knight, representing the fair’s board of directors, told the commission the carnival has significantly increased fair attendance over the past several years.

• The commission also recognized senior citizen volunteers who serve both the Tucumcari Senior Center’s Senior Nutrition Program and the federal AmeriCorps and Senior Corps, which include Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion programs.

Each group was honored with a proclamation, and individual volunteers for each program were recognized for years of service.

Mary Ann Dominguez, site manager for the senior center, distributed awards to honorees in the senior volunteer program. They included M.L. Kuykendall, nine years; Tony Chavez, nine years; Ernest Dominguez, nine years; Vida Webb, nine years; Debi Thomas, four years; Alfred Johnson, four years; Paul Mischuk, four years; June Lindsey, nine years; Crystell Teny, four years; and Angela Barreras, two years.

Lisa Cooper, coordinator of Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion programs at the senior center, distributed awards to the following: Alma Burke, one year; Marina Chand, three years; Marilyn Cheney, three years; Mary Elebario, 14 years; Katherine Fowlkes, 12 years; Helen Garcia, one year; Mercedes Lopez, seven months; Connie Lucero, one year; Isidro Marquez, five months; Dorothy Martinez, four years; Mary Montiel, seven years; Laura Nayor, eight years; Cleofes Pacheco, four months; Gloria Sandoval, eight years; and Barbara Stallcup, 14 years.

• In public comments, Agnes Jaramillo complained her water has been shut off twice in recent months because she could not pay her bill until she received her Social Security check, and she was one day late in paying. She had to pay a $10 late fee and a $40 reconnection fee as a result, she said.

In the following month, she said, the amount of the bill was taken out through an automated payment, and she was notified her bank account was overdrawn. The city learned of the overdraft and cut off her water again, she said.

She said Lusk was not available when she tried to reach him.

Lusk said city employees were following policy and said he would set an appointment to discuss the matter with Jaramillo. Another city employee consulted with Jaramillo after the meeting.

• Melissa Foster said she has complained to the city several times about a neighbor who has four dogs when the city allows only three per household, and that two of the dogs run free in her neighborhood.

One of the residents in the neighbor’s house, she said, is a city police officer, and the neighbor has apparently gotten away with defying the city ordinance.

Lusk said he had discussed the matter with the family, and the situation should be corrected.

• Tucumcari resident Bob Carr presented a proposal to turn property set aside for a racetrack-casino into a site for dirt-track auto racing if the racino project falls through. He also said the coordinators of the Tucumcari Railroad Museum should receive some recognition from the city.

• At a public work session before the meeting, Garret Baker, senior vice president of the First National Bank of New Mexico branch in Tucumcari, outlined a proposal to provide banking services to the city for the next two years.

Among benefits the bank can offer, Baker said, are 50% bank support for funds, called collateralization, which exceeds federal and state security requirements.

A guarantee that interest paid to the city on checking account balances will not fall below 1%.

Baker also said the city would enjoy free bank services during the two-year period, including locking night depository bags. No fee for checks returned against city accounts, a free safe deposit box if requested, and statements on compact disks, as well as on paper, that can be provided monthly, quarterly or annually.

The offer includes three free credit cards to the city, banking services for city employees who establish accounts with the bank and electronic banking services designed to make bookkeeping and reporting of transactions more efficient by reducing paperwork and check costs.

In addition, the offer includes online banking and bill-paying services and a remote deposit service that allows deposits to be made from city hall, rather than at the bank.