Saturday, January 17, 2009

Restructuring the road department

Roads dominate county commission's agenda

T.S. Last El Defensor Chieftain General Manager, tslast@dchieftain.com

With a new county manager and two new commissioners on board, the Socorro County Commission took to the roads during its regular meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 13.

The issue of roads came up several times during the meeting at the County Annex Building, which was the first regular session for newly appointed County Manager Delilah Walsh and commissioners Juan Jose Gutierrez and Rumaldo Griego, who were elected in November.

It was also the first regular meeting with Rosie Tripp stepping into the lead as the commission's chairman.

With commissioners Danny Monette and Phillip Anaya absent, the commission took action to restructure the road department.

Walsh outlined the plan developed with the input of new Road Superintendent Marty Greenwood.

A budget adjustment, shifting money from the County Manager's Office to the road department, will allow for the creation of supervisor positions for both projects and maintenance. Assistant Road Superintendent Vincente Peralta will become road projects supervisor, and the new position of road maintenance supervisor will be created using some of the money that will be shifted from the County Manager's Office to the Road Department to help cover the salary.

During discussion of the issue, Griego asked the fundamental question, "How will this help the county?"

Walsh responded by saying that it will allow the department to focus on advancing projects and spend less time "putting out fires."

Although Griego was inquisitive throughout the meeting, he didn't probe the issue further. When it came time to vote, the proposal was approved, 2-1, with Griego casting the nay vote.

The commission heard from the new road superintendent during the department reports portion of the meeting.

A little more than a week on the job and spending some of that time working with Walsh on restructuring, Greenwood had little to report. He said right now, they're trying to clean up the equipment yard and get organized.

Greenwood also told the commission that he expected the county to receive about $1 million in state funding during the upcoming legislative session.

Earlier in the meeting, Alamo Navajo Council Delegate George Apachito was directed by Walsh and Tripp to meet with Greenwood about the need for road improvements on the Alamo reservation.

Apachito said the reservation, isolated in the northwest corner of the county, has been neglected.

"Nothing's been done out in Alamo," he said. "They were supposed to chip and seal a mile each year, but nothing's been done."

Walsh said that the Department of Transportation is looking for project-ready work such as that to get started on.

County Attorney Adren Nance interjected that it might be time to consider pursuing a much talked about road that would link the reservation to Interstate 40.

Griego commented that at a recent meeting, Michael Hawkes, executive director of the Alamo Navajo School Board, had addressed the commission and made an appeal for more money to help maintain roads. He said Hawkes met resistance from the commission at the time, haggling over something like $15,000 or $20,000.

Hawkes argued that the reservation had the resources to handle the maintenance, if the commission would provide more money.

"We need to revisit that," Griego said.

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