City councilors to reclaim their seats

by Alisa Boswell

With three city councilors renewing their terms the end of this year and a former city councilor regaining his seat on the council, we thought we would reintroduce Portales residents to their public officials.

Michael G. Miller has been the self-employed owner of Professional Directions, Governmental Relations and Consulting since 2002.
Miller is native to Portales and graduated from Portales High School and Eastern New Mexico University. He served as the city of Portales fire chief from 1984 to 1994 and as Roosevelt County manager from 1995 to 1999.
He previously served as a city councilor from 2002 to 2010 and has been serving again since 2014.
Miller says in his next four years as a city councilor, he wants to continue to develop a sustainable water supply, including but not limited to the Ute water project.
“The other issue is the financial sustainability of our community,” said Miller. “Since the state removed the tax from grocery purchases in 2004 then took away the city “hold harmless” in 2013, we have been able to maintain a balanced and responsible budget with no tax increase. However, we are in our third year of the 15-year “claw back” on the hold harmless and will begin to have to look at how we continue to offer the services our citizens expect with diminished resources.”

Dianne Y. Parker has been married to her husband, Scott, for 39 years and is originally from Nebraska.
“We all live here, shop here, play here and work in the surrounding area,” Dianne says of her two daughters, who are also raising their children in the local community.
Parker has served on the city council representing Ward D since 1995.
Parker says her goals are to continue working strong and hard for her constituents and all community citizens.
“This is truly our little diamond in the rough and at times it can be rough, but it’s our place we call home, and we want it to be the best that it can be for our children, families and neighbors,” said Parker. “I hope to be able to be a part of the council that is successful in obtaining and securing water for our community and our future. There have been so many great projects that we have done and many more to come! It’s exciting to see and exciting to be a part of this great organization.”

Oscar Henry Robinson, Jr. was appointed to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission by Sen. Stuart Ingle in 2007 and served on the commission until 2016.
He was a research tech and personnel associate at California State University in Long Beach, California, and a personnel director and assistant track and field coach at Eastern New Mexico University where he retired.
Robinson has served as a Portales city councilor for almost 10 years and is vice chair for the Eastern Plains Council of Governments.
He is also the founder of the Llano Estacado Buffalo Soldiers Association and the American West Black Heritage Organization.
“I hope we continue to work on the improvement of our infrastructure,” Robinson said of the next four years. “And I hope we can continue to find new water processes to be able to continue to supply water to the community, and I hope we are blessed with some rain in the next few years.”
Robinson said he also hopes for the city to continue getting funding for street repairs.

Jake Lopez has been involved with a variety of committees over the years, including before he was in office as a city councilor or county commissioner.
He was appointed to the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) board by the governor.
“One of the reasons that I ran is that I really like to get involved with the community. I’ve always been involved since I came to Portales in the 1960’s,” said Lopez, who previously served a total of 18 years as a county commissioner and about eight years as a city councilor.
“I’m sure there are a lot of things that need to be done in the city of Portales, but the reason I am running is because I like to see things get done. Sometimes the money is not there to do things, so we try to find another way to do it,” Lopez said. “I have always been involved in government, and I kind of like that.”