Peralta Community Center plans, construction contracts approved by town council

PERALTA — Plans and other peripherals are taking shape for the Peralta Community Center, as witnessed by the last two Peralta Town Council meetings.

On Oct. 14, architect John Kirkpatrick presented the results of a preliminary study, completed in July, for the renovation of the building at 2500 Bosque Farms Blvd. The building, which formerly housed J&L’s Country Kitchen, was bought by the town in late 2024 for $850,000.

Kirkpatrick presented many renovation ideas for the former restaurant building, focusing on portability and using existing features.

Among the ideas proposed were a multi-purpose room that could seat more than 150 people and could be used for banquets (capacity 150+), a game room for children and an outdoor patio/portico area for events. Also on the ideas list are an exercise room that can facilitate aerobics and yoga as well as weightlifting machines and a game room that could include billiards tables and shuffleboard as well as an air hockey table and foosball table.

The town held a meeting in July to have a community discussion about the renovation, Kirkpatrick said, which produced a lot of ideas.

“Early on, we wanted to try to maintain the basic structural integrity of the facility by adding a few things and identifying problems,” she said.

Kirkpatrick mentioned parking, which he said is being addressed by the town already, as an engineer already onboard to regrade the area.

After mentioning the limited budget for the project, he emphasized the versatility of the 2,226-square-foot multi-purpose room and the existing kitchen, which councilors suggested would be used as a business incubator for local cooking entrepreneurs or a way to help fund the facility.

“We got a lot of really good ideas and the space has a lot of potential,” Kirkpatrick concluded, adding that residents also requested a computer lab and multimedia area that could include books, and a TV.

The new patio area and portal, with an adobe enclosure wall and gates, containing table and chairs could also be a nice addition and encourage more use as a rental space.

Prior to the presentation Councilor Randy Smith mentioned that since he and Councilor Claudio Moya were up for re-election, he wanted to request that the council hire a full-time director for the community center.

“My vision for this director is for scheduling youth and senior activities, setting up the lease agreements for leased events such as celebrations, et cetera and coordinating lunch programs for seniors,” Smith said.

During the council’s Nov. 12 meeting, they unanimously approved the cost estimate for the renovation of the community center and it’s property as well as a GSA contact for construction, as recommended by Kirkpatrick.

The total cost of the project will be $541,500, according to the calculations presented by Kirkpatrick.

The vote to approve both the cost estimate and the contract was a cause of consternation for Peralta Mayor Bryan Olguin as Smith recused himself from both votes due to “possible conflict of interest.”

Smith is the owner of Randy’s Electric Co. in Peralta, When asked by Olguin if he was going to bid on the community center renovation project, Smith replied, “I don’t know that I will or not. I’m just going to recuse myself from any action item pertaining to that.”

Initially the vote was done without Smith, resulting in a 2-0 vote with Councilors Moya and Otero voting yes. But town attorney Steven Chavez advised Olguin that three votes were required for the action and he would be required to vote due to Smith’s recusal.

Olguin addressed Smith’s non-recusal from previous discussions involving the community center, resulting in a testy back and forth interaction between the mayor and councilor

“You get to vote. I mean, you’ve been involved in this process for a while, but you say you don’t know if you’re going to vote on it,” Olguin said.

“I know I’m not voting,” Smith replied.

The mayor asked, “I mean, you’re not going to bid on it?”

“I don’t know whether I’m going to bid on this or not, Mr. Mayor, and I will take up my legal deals someplace else if that’s what you’re doing,” was Smith’s heated reply.

The mayor responded, “It’s not a legal thing. I’m just asking you a question.”

Smith repeated, “I’m going to recuse myself from voting on this action item.”

“You’ve been involved in this process,” Olguin told Smith, and said twice more before the exchange ended shortly after with both men seeming upset.

Both action items were ultimately approved by 3-0 votes, with Olguin, Moya and Otero voting yes and Smith recusing himself.