Meet the Candidate – Mike Rackler for Ward D

I was an educator for 27 ½ years. I retired from Portales Schools in 2017. I was a teacher for half of my career and Technology Director for the second half. I served on several budget committees during my tenure and worked with the state on several technology initiatives. I reported to the school board monthly during my years in technology and I am very familiar with procedures related to public meetings.

My wife and I purchased our family real estate business in 2017. We manage property in Portales and Clovis for multiple owners and investors. We also own rental property in our community. We are totally invested in making sure Portales thrives and continues to grow and prosper in the future.

Priorities

Priority One – Water

Our current water situation is an issue for ALL the people in this community. I am part of a group that is currently concentrating our efforts on coming up with possible avenues to alleviate our current shortage. I support and back the efforts of this group. This is a diverse group of people that live in our community, both those in the city limits and outside the city limits. We have learned a great deal but continue to learn more every week. We understand the Ute pipeline is part of the solution but is not a stand-alone solution. We do not feel that any one solution will solve the problem. We believe we must look at all possible solutions. We have come up with a list of possible solutions we would like the community and the council to pursue and investigate.

Water Solutions List

1. Privatize our water provider.

2. Get our effluent water system working to full capacity and explore the possibility of making the effluent water potable.

3. Make sure that our current well field is working as efficiently as possible.

4. Stop the ban on water taps for new construction.

5. Research possibly leasing wet water from agriculture to keep more in the aquifer.

6. Support conservation efforts that are ongoing and find funding for new ones.

Priority Two – Community Unity

I believe that we have to all work together to bridge current gaps between different entities in our community. The city, county, air base, and university need to work in unity to assure that our community continues to thrive for generations to come.

Priority Three – Fiscal Responsibility

I want to make sure that the funds our city has are being used in the most productive and efficient way. I would like to see us search out and find any government or private funds that can help in our development. I would like our community to pursue a grant writer or grant writing organization to assist in these efforts.

There are many other issues that our community needs to address, but I would like to focus efforts on this priority list first and then move on to other ways to improve our community.