Showing posts with label Torrance County Roads. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Torrance County Roads. Show all posts

Monday, November 19, 2012

Vigil Road Request, Rio Metro, & District 3 Road Requests

During the Commission Updates, Commissioner Lonnie Freyburger as the road department blade the intersection area of Vigil River View roads.  Road foreman Leanard Lujan informed the commission that Edgewood is responsible for the first 1/2 mile of that area.  Commissioner Freyburger requested that the county portion of the road be bladed.

Commissioner Leanne Tapia continues her quest to bring back the transportation program and is still working with Rio Metro.

Commisisoner Venessa Chavez-Gutierrez requested several district three roads be bladed. 

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Torrance Count Road Wars

According to community rumors, the road department and a self proclaimed county staffer posting on YouTube meeting clips, a road war has been declared on the Torrance County Commission. What started the war? In a two to one vote, the Commission approved increased services for county road A001 and the contingent acceptance of a portion of subdivision road A102.

Has the first volley been fired?  If the six road requests shown on the commission agenda for November 14th are any indicator, the answer may be yes. At the time of the vote, it was very apparent that staff was against action on either road. Staff was backed up by county attorney Dennis Wallin, staff member Annette Ortiz, and Commissioner Leanne Tapia, all talking about an undisclosed ordinance that didn’t appear to be available at the meeting. I requested that the ordinance be posted on the counties web site so that all of us could see it but as of the time of this writing no copy has been made available.

According to our anonymous county staffer, commission decisions on A001 and A102 will severely burden the road department – doubtful as district three vacated several miles of roads over the past few years, and these two roads do not equal mileage lost.

Are people unhappy with the road department? I would suggest that people are unhappy with the lack of quality roads in the county not the road department. Complaints of manpower and money shortages are ongoing issues with county government that I believe are self inflicted through years of poor fiscal management.

I support the invitation to citizens to petition the commission on roads or any other issue, that is the correct process. For those petitioners openly solicited by county staffers and members of the road department you will have the opportunity of due process., however, assumptions that the vote on A001 and A102 forces the commission to accept all roads are false – the Commission retains the power to table, approve or deny any request for each individual petitioner.

Should members of the public or staff be unhappy with any decision of the Commission they retain the short term options of making their request again, law suit or the longer term option of not re-electing them.

Wallowing in fear and negativity leaves no room for progress nor does staff campaigning against commission decisions to cause uproar in order to full fill a self proclaimed prophecy. Should county employee’s have the right to an opinion, you bet, however, any power plays by county employees used to exert control or to manipulate the county commission should be at a minimum, grounds for reprimand or at the maximum, grounds for dismissal.

It will be interesting to see how our commission will deal with staff campaigns disputing commission decisions but more importantly, how the commission will deal with issues of roads. The timing economically isn’t the greatest, but the long over due discussion and review on how the county will meet one of their primary duties, our roads, has started.

To those in government service please remember, a question is not a personal attack, a suggestion is not a coo, a request is the right of the public, commission decisions are not staff’s domain.

To the public, please consider attending commission meetings, take advantage of meeting video on YouTube and contact your commissioner to let them know your thoughts. Citizen participation is required for a good functioning government.

For those interested in viewing the meeting clips and comments below them for A001 and A102 please use the links below. Also, please feel free to comment on this or any other post on my blog – your real name would be greatly appreciated.

Contingent Acceptance of CR A102, Hummingbird Road - Torrance County Commission 10-24-2012   (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkVuAFp4g4Q)

Absher Road Maintenance Increased - Torrance County Commission 10-24-2012 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCgeZdueXMo)

Friday, October 14, 2011

District 3 Roads Getting Much Needed Attention!

We do not live in the richest county in New Mexico, as a matter of fact, our counties budget is hard pressed to address all of the county roads so historically, a rotational style approach has been used to service our roads. 

Guess it was my areas turn for which I am extremely grateful.  I wanted to thank the Torrance County Road Department for all of the hard work that has been going on in my part of District 3.  Our county roads are pretty awful and in my area, the roads are so narrow in some places that you actually touch mirrors with on coming traffic.  Crews have worked to widen roads and are applying new surface material and re-working bar ditches.

Thanks guys for all of your hard work and thanks to our County Commissioner, Venessa Chavez-Gutierrez for pushing to better our district!  In your travels, thank the road crews as you pass and if inclined, email Venessa (vcgutierrez@torrancecountynm.org) thanking her too!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Torrance County Commission Meeting Today

SUMMARY OF AGENDA ITEMS

1.  PUBLIC HEARING:  Special use district - Stephen Massouth for operation of a solar-powered oxo-bio water bottling facility at 134 Mi Ranchito Road (A-085)

2.  TORRANCE COUNTY PARK USE REQUEST:  Marck Conklin SCA, Inc. - request to use park for group events.

3.  ROAD VACATION:  Vacation of County Road B003

4.  DEPARTMENT UPDATES

5.  RESOLUTION 2011-13:  Establish tool allowance for Maintenance and Road Mechanic.

6.  USE REQUEST:  TransWorld Network Corporation requesting tower space use in McIntosh and Capilla Peak

7.  RATIFICATION:  Ratify contractac with Ikon for Manger and Road Department copy machines.

8.  GRANT APPLICATION:  Grant application to NMED for illegal dumping funding.

9.  PROPOSED ORDINANCE:  Proposed ordinance for nuisance abatement

10.  SEALED BID(S):  Bid for steel building - NMRC Grant.

11.  MANAGERS UPDATE

Click here for a copy of the full agenda:  Torrance County Commission Meeting Agenda