Saturday, April 26, 2008

Temporary town hall authorized for Peralta

Sandy Battin News-Bulletin Staff Writer; sbattin@news-bulletin.com

Peralta Peralta's new town government will soon have a home — at least a temporary one — and the municipality is discussing an agreement for full police protection with the Village of Bosque Farms.

The Peralta Town Council voted unanimously Wednesday to rent a temporary office so that citizens will have a place to contact local officials and for the municipal judge to hold court.

The temporary quarters are in the Benny Tapia building at 2474 Highway 47, a structure that was most recently an H&R Block tax preparation office.

Mayor Bryan Olguin said Tapia offered the building for a rent of $700 per month, with payment of the first and last month's rent and a $200 damage deposit. The agreement comes with a month-to-month lease and a 30-day vacating notice.

"We really need to set up an office space," Olguin said. "When we have police service, we'll need to have a court set up."

The building offers about 2,000 square feet of space suitable for offices.

Olguin said the town continues to negotiate a lease purchase agreement for the John Tapia building.

Councilor Nancy "Pug" Burge commented that she was uncomfortable spending money when no full budget has been drawn up.

Olguin said that Peralta's second monthly gross receipts tax check had been received, totaling just under $28,000. "That gives us a better look at what type of money we will be receiving," he said.

Raymond Garcia, the town's clerk-treasurer, said that a budget had been drawn up in the past and that current revenue and spending levels tell him that Peralta can afford the rent.

Burge said that the council needs to look at its budget beyond July 1, the beginning of the fiscal year.

Garcia said that the earlier budget sets aside $1,000 per month for a building and $700 a month for utilities. "I believe there is money," he said. He said, at the end of the fiscal year, Peralta should have $115,000. He estimated next year's budget at $350,000.

Responses to advertisements for a town clerk have been coming in, Olguin said, including two applicants with clerk experience.

"I'd like to at least have a building," Olguin said, so that when the clerk is hired, it will be ready for him or her "to jump in and start work."

One audience member cautioned the council to be careful that the building meets federal handicap accessibility regulations so that the town doesn't meet any legal challenges.

The vote on accepting the rental agreement was approved pending review by the Municipal League.

Olguin also told the council that he'd met with the State Board of Finance, which had agreed to convert a $100,000 loan into a grant that wouldn't have to be paid back.

Meanwhile, Bosque Farms Police Chief Joe Stidham appeared before the council to talk about ongoing discussions with Peralta officials about providing law enforcement services. "That's something we're interested in doing," he said.

Olguin said that would include issuing citations for traffic offenses, and Stidham said officers would carry labels that would be stuck onto regular Bosque Farms tickets, giving the address of the Peralta Municipal Court.

"It's the most simple, cost-effective solution to that problem," Stidham said.

Burge said that the state uniform traffic code has already been adopted by the council. She said she had sat in on some of the earlier discussion and that Bosque Farms' mayor and police chief have been "more than reasonable" in working out a proposed arrangement.

Peralta would pay the salary and benefits for an additional officer, a cost that Stidham estimated at $85,000 a year. Burge noted that Peralta would not have to pay costs for a patrol car; Stidham added that State Sen. James Taylor, D-Dist. 14, had recently arranged for a vehicle to be added to the Bosque Farms police fleet.

Bosque Farms now has 11 officers, and the addition of one more would be "the only way we could adequately handle calls."

The chief said that the agreement would not provide a profit to Bosque Farms, but "it will round out our schedule with two officers on patrol 24-7."

He said that, at night throughout the week, a sergeant is on duty with two officers. One officer could be patrolling in Bosque Farms and the other in Peralta, Stidham said, with the sergeant going back and forth between the communities and being available for back-up.

When one woman said that the number "doesn't make me feel very safe," Stidham replied that it's fairly good "in comparison with what you have now, which is zero."

He said that Los Lunas has three or four officers on duty at any given time.

The chief also noted that "according to some reports, Bosque Farms is as high as No. 3 in the nation as the safest place to live."

Already, Stidham said, "Bosque Farms responds to 50 percent of the calls for services in Peralta as is. That leads us to believe we can handle it."

Peralta could piggyback on existing agreements with the Valencia County Sheriff's Department and the corrections department for mutual aid, the chief said, adding that Bosque Farms officers are members of the county's SWAT team. He said the department also has excellent working agreements with the State Police and the Isleta Police Department.

Olguin added that the Bosque Farms Police Department regularly holds community meetings exploring everything from Neighborhood Watch to protecting yourself from crime.

"They've done a good job having educational sessions," Burge told the audience.

Once the agreement is complete, the Bosque Farms Police Department would probably hold an open house so that citizens of Peralta could meet the officers who'd been patrolling in their town.

"They're helping us help ourselves," Olguin said.

Councilor Joseph Romero noted that 911 calls would be routed to the Bosque Farms department by the county's dispatch center.

Stidham said that sometimes Bosque Farms has the reputation of having many of its officers "on the Boulevard writing tickets," but he said those officers are working overtime through a traffic safety grant. Those same funds could help deal with traffic problems in Peralta, he said, while officers on regular duty continue to patrol the streets.

Stidham said as a small-town New Mexico native, he's sensitive to the needs of small towns.

Burge said that Peralta Municipal Judge Louis Burkhard said that he has a high opinion of the quality of the Bosque Farms Police Department.

"He's my former boss," Stidham said; Burkhard served as chief of the department before being elected as judge.

In his report, Fire Chief John Dear told the council that the Peralta Fire Department responded to 20 fires last month, with 40 hours and 35 minutes of overall service, adding up to 254 manhours. Dear said that averaged to six firefighters responding to each call, commenting "that's not many people."

As of Wednesday, Peralta firefighters had already responded to 20 blazes, with a week still to go in the month. Dear said that number is indicative of "how dry it is. We anticipate 10 more fires by the end of the month."

Dear also told the council that firework season is around the corner and that "if we don't have rules, laws and regulations about the sale or use of fireworks, I think we're going to have some serious problems."

He urged the council to sign a joint powers agreement with the county for enforcement of its fireworks code.

Burge urged the council to seriously consider prohibiting fireworks in Peralta.

"We need to move on that soon," Dear agreed.

Olguin told Dear he'd met with Valencia County Fire Chief Charles Eaton, who sent a letter to the municipality saying the county is ready to transfer property and equipment belonging to the Peralta Fire Department to the town government.

The county will continue to be the department's fiscal agent, Olguin said.

Dear told the council that the department has six trucks, one of which is on loan to the Meadow Lake Fire Department after one of its vehicles rolled in an accident. He advised the council that Peralta should secure an agreement stating the county will insure and maintain the truck on loan

An additional tanker is on order for the department and should be delivered within five to six months.

In other action, the council: