Editors note: At a recent Portales City Council meeting, citizen Mike Davidson questioned the council on the non-use of waste water which was to our understanding intended to be treated and then used to water city park, sports fields, city properties including the cemetary. At the taking of these pictures it shows all the ponds to be completely full.
On July 17, 2013 a news channel 10 article was published entitled ‘Portales Applies for Loan to Expand Wastewater System’.
I want to read a couple of these excerpts for accuracy: Quote: ‘The $27 million dollar, zero-interest loan from the New Mexico Environmental Department will be repaid through wastewater revenues, which the city has been proactively raising by about five percent a year since 2007, specifically to fund the project.’
“The council has been increasing the rates over the last few years to go ahead and build up a reserve to pay those, and will continue to look at that as we go forward,” says City Manager Doug Redmond. “We don’t really anticipate the project costing the whole $27 million. We’ve been authorized for a $27 million loan, but hopefully we’ll come in a lot less than that.”
So the citizens of our community have been paying for our water system for 16 years. I did a generic google search for ‘how long does it take a city entity to build an effluent water system and multiple articles came back stating ‘it could take up to 5 years’.
Ground was broken on July 16, 2014 so next year we will be at the 10 year mark and technically our community has seen zero benefit from this system. We are told it is being used on the cemetery but if our cemetery is an example of what a 27 million dollar water system is going to do for us we have some very serious problems.
By comparison the city of Clovis spent 16 million dollars, 9 million less, on their effluent water system and that included a 1 million gallon elevated tank. It is 100% fully functional being used on the golf course, the parks, school campuses and is saving the city 140 million gallons per year.
Bottom line… citizens are being billed for something we are not getting. I ask you to consider the ramifications and liabilities, legal and otherwise, for billing someone for something that is not being delivered. 22 bucks a month, and the County residents pay more like 32.
We want to see all the promises that were made about why we needed this system, and all that it was going to do for us, either start being delivered or honestly I think we would be within our rights to be asking for a refund. We need results.
| WARD | COUNCIL MEMBER | EMAIL ADDRESS | SERVICE YEARS | CURRENT TERMS | COMMITTEES SERVED |
| A | JAKE LOPEZ | JLopez@portalesnm.gov | 16 years | 2022-2026 | Llano Estacado RC&D |
| VERONICA CORDOVA | VCordova@portalesnm.gov | 8 years | 2020-2024 | Finance / Administration Committee EPCOG Public Works Committee Workforce Development Board |
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| B | OSCAR ROBINSON | ORobinson@portalesnm.gov | 26 years | 2022-2026 | EPCOG Cultural Affairs Committee Golden Acres Board of Directors Public Works Committee Recreational Advisory Board |
| DANIEL BOAN | DBoan@portalesnm.gov | 4 years | 2020-2024 | EPCOG Public Safety Committee Chamber of Commerce |
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| C | MICHAEL MILLER | MMiller@portalesnm.gov | 18 years | 2022-2026 | Economic Development Finance Review Committee Finance / Administration Committee LGMC |
| CHADRICK HEFLIN | CHeflin@portalesnm.gov | 8 years | 2020-2024 | Finance / Administration Committee Planning Commission |
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| D | DIANNE PARKER | DParker@portalesnm.gov | 32 years | 2022-2026 | Public Safety Committee |
| MICHAEL “JIM” LUCERO | JLucero@portalesnm.gov | 8 years | 2020-2024 | ENMWUA Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce |
