Roll call.

Uh I'm here, Quiford Martin's here, and Lynn Vose is here.

We can't are able to approve the match from January for lack of a quorum.

So we'll move no new business.

We'll move back to report with uh Mr.

Holwall.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman, members of the committee.

Buckle up, here we go.

Buckle up.

Twenty first street.

We're under construction.

They've obviously completed the south side of the road bed and are currently working on the north side of the road bed.

They have uh lime treated the subray are working on lime tree in the subgrade from Sycamore going to the east, so they're in process of mixing that all and compacting it.

Uh then they'll jump over to west of Sycamore.

I haven't been out there this morning, so they may be on that side already.

But uh then they'll jump over there, lime treat that subgrade, uh, and then start bringing up the base course and the paving on that north side.

Uh then they'll once they're completed with that, they'll start working on the medians uh on the south side of 21st Street at Prince Street intersection, and then on on the west side of 21st Street uh of the intersection itself.

Uh the main street project, as you guys have all seen, uh Nick Gregor is about complete with that project.

They are Nick Gregos wrapping up some just some odds and ends, uh some miscellaneous concrete work that they still had left to finish.

Uh Guthels is now out there working on the irrigation system.

Uh so they're getting the heads put in and then they'll be installing the landscape and the landscaping here over the next several days.

One question on uh um uh twenty-first project.

Yes, sorry.

And I uh I don't pretend to know enough about construction and all, but it would seem like that they could do the intersections, you know, and then do the street to where when you're going north and south, at least you can go north and south before I mean there was a time I was coming back from uh uh the airport and uh I couldn't turn on the Norris.

And so I had to go all the way to Main Street.

There's nothing Sycamore, there's nothing all the way back to Main Street and then go north to come back to my house and prince.

Yeah, and uh, but then Sycamore, you can't go anywhere.

Right.

And uh and so uh you know, you got quite a ways that it just seems to me like that they could do the intersections and then to where you could at least have some kind of direction to go north and south, but I guess that once they get to pour and they just want to pour through the intersections and all that it's fast.

Honestly, it's faster for them.

Otherwise, they're having to skip areas and jump around and and so it's just fat once they open it up, it's and with that heavy equipment going through there and the water trucks and the uh distributors for the lime, it's easier for them just to go right on through those intersections.

And that's why they do that.

They're they're anticipating depending on weather, um to be completed.

Well, it's uh it's gonna be great when it's done, and like I said, that was the only thing that I I had concerns.

It's just real frustrating, especially where you live where I want to get to north and then and then back home.

So uh but hopefully we'll be done here in less than a month.

And turn your back loose pretty quick.

And then Guthels is just finishing up on the main street right now.

Yeah, so they've got um they're working on the irrigation system, putting the heads in, and then they'll start putting the landscaping in.

Uh Nick Griego has donated all brand new pots to go down, and so they'll be they've got them purchased, they're just sitting in the yard until they're ready to get the drip irrigation and everything put into the pots and then the flowers that go in those.

Well, my office is on fifth and main, and uh when I go to the post office or when I'm going from my home to work, you have to pull out quite a ways to see uh because uh there is a lot of congestion if they're overparked in that center lane.

And uh I'm telling you you're sticking out all the way uh into the lane, holding up traffic coming from the south if uh uh just to see around that corner to see where it is.

And I don't want to take away any more parking spots, but uh it's uh that could be an issue for uh some accidents and everything else because they're just not paying attention and just hurrying.

Yeah, and and people are getting used to it.

Uh I mean I've been watching traffic out there, and originally when we opened it up, uh people were making some interesting choices.

Uh and so but uh the more I've watched it, I mean people are getting used to it.

At first we had people when they pulled into the diagonal parking, they were pulling straight out and going the wrong direction.

Why people would all of a sudden think they could go the wrong way on a roadway, I don't know.

But uh they were they were doing that.

I haven't seen that anymore.

At the intersections, yes, uh it is is the site visibility uh is uh less than what it was before, obviously, when before we had the parking down the center of the road.

But what is really done is from a traffic calming standpoint.

I I have not witnessed people going very fast through that section of Main Street.

And so um it has really slowed things down, made it more pedestrian friendly, um, which should be good hopefully for all the businesses.

Uh well, there's such a narrow gap on the one ways.

You know, it's it's such a narrow gap that you have to really concentrate sometime.

If you get a big truck that's uh a long truck, yeah, uh, you know, it's sticking out pretty much, and you have to be pretty careful to get through those things.

Yeah, well that's the standard width of a traffic lane.

That that that is 12 feet.

And that's what it is.

Uh standard traffic lane is 12 feet.

You know, I think the biggest thing with Main Street is you know, uh I know there's a little confusion with it, and people are uh sometimes they don't like change.

But I think you know, giving it a little time, I think people adjust and get used to it.

And once we get the trees in there and and uh get it completely finished up, I think people will have a different view as to you know how how everything's gonna look.

And uh they'll adjust their driving habits to make it to make it to make it fit.

Yeah.

So I think I think it'll work out, but I think it's just gonna take some takes some time.

Well, getting used to parallel parking again.

Uh we'll see a lot of people trying to get used to that.

And and then the other thing, I wish that we would have allowed for more parking spaces.

You know, if we're gonna attract more people downtown and everything else, that I wish the trade-off was more parking spots instead of not.

We lost seven.

Yeah.

That's it.

We still have obviously all the ones down the side streets, but overall, I think we lost seven spaces.

It's still a loss, so you know, instead of a gain.

So but uh that was the only thing being a long time downtown.

Uh you know, you want to and and to tell you the truth, when it's busy people driving around and driving around until they have it's it's back to the old days when it was parallel parking when I can remember.

People want to stop right in front of the store that they get into.

And this makes it a lot more easier for people to do that because of the center lane, you can pretty much be closer, you know.

And uh, you know, they don't complain about the mall having to walk in a block to get into the thing, but they complain about downtown, you know, just getting in and out of businesses.

So uh that is that is one game that I see that uh people can park closer to the business that they want because of the middle middle parking.

So I think that's a good job.

How'd you do?

Good.

First try?

Yep.

Awesome.

My car will do, but I don't trust it.

Um US 6084, the NMDOT project.

Uh they actually turned the signal on at Main Street yesterday, put it into Flash, so it'll have to be in Flash.

I want to say for five to seven days is what they leave them in Flash for before they actually activate that.

Um then they're they're pretty much done.

Uh waiting, then waiting on Excel to come in and install the street lights.

Uh so that's all that's remaining on that project.

Long time coming.

Long time coming.

The next phase is out to bid right now, and so that'll take that project from where it stopped their grand uh Roy Walker area all the way to Martin Luther King.

Uh so that project is out for bid right now.

I think bids are due in July uh for the contractors on that one.

But they don't anticipate that probably starting until close to the end of this year, beginning of next year, by the time they have to get contracts awarded, some middles going, etc.

You know, it's pretty fair right now the the way it's constructed.

Is there going to be a lot of construction and tearing up and and drainage and and all of that?

So there will be a new another uh storm drain pond that's going to be constructed on Cameo.

So right behind those homes on Cameo and Dr.

Kafari's property.

Uh so there'll be a new pond there.

Uh and then so all the storm drain system will get extended.

Uh there'll be an outfall there with the pump station to pump into the next area.

So it's going to be quite the intensive project as well.

We also have sewer lines uh that are having to be uh uh we're replacing, getting the old clay pipe out from underneath the road bed, uh putting new PVC pipe as part of that project is going in.

Uh Epcore has some water lines that they're having to relocate.

Um it'll be all new.

The stamped concrete that they did in this phase will continue all the way down.

Uh there'll be new street lighting on that.

We're trying to get the utility companies uh to consolidate on one pole line on the north side of the road, so it'll clean up some of that uh uh clutter of utilities in the air, aerial utilities.

Uh so uh but it's it's gonna take some time as well for that for that project.

But the drainage has been fantastic.

Um the landfill, uh we J and H is mobilizing for the partial closure of cells one through four, and so we'll be starting that project.

Uh they were supposed to mobilize this week uh to get out there and start setting up their construction trailers, et cetera.

Uh so we'll be working on that project as well.

Uh Yano design east of the roundabout is uh is underway.

Uh we are scheduled to have the public meeting on July the 29th.

And so we're working on all of the um advertisements for that to let the public know.

Uh and then we'll host that public meeting and have some input uh regarding mainly the intersection.

There's not a whole lot to it, uh, but mainly the intersection at Humphrey and Yano.

Uh we've got a couple of different options there.

We can tie into it.

That intersection is offset, kind of wonky as it is right now, and so either we can tie into it straight uh and still have that, or we're actually looking at another roundabout option uh for that intersection as well.

And so that'll be part of the public meeting and feedback we get on that.

Uh still working on the 40-year water plan with Daniel B.

Stevenson Associates updating that.

Uh once we have that finalized, we will submit that to the uh in the Mexico Environment Department and the Office of the State Engineer uh for their review, uh, get any corrections that they may have and then finalize that.

Uh 7th and Thornton, where we have uh grant funding for to replace that signal there.

Uh Lightch is under contract for the design of that uh and they are kicking that project off as well.

Ingram Channel, which is the channel that goes from 7th Street South to uh Ingram Playa, which is out by the landfill.

Uh we there is a grant opportunity through FEMA, uh, which this is a qualifying project since it's in the floodplain.

Uh so we have uh applied for design funds to concrete line that channel.

Uh we're still waiting to hear back on that, but that's another project that we are working on.

Uh Main Street and 14th Street.

Uh we reached out to the New Mexico Finance Authority on our road bonds to switch then from 21st Street to those two projects.

We're still waiting to hear back uh from them to give us the go ahead to move forward with that.

Uh we did submit 14th Street as a transportation project fund application.

Uh we did rank high enough on that particular project, and so that's moving on uh to the uh state uh the transportation uh board committee uh to for final approval.

So hopefully we'll get the funds that we asked there.

We proposed us using two million dollars out of our road bonds, and we requested two million dollars uh from them uh transportation project funds, which would allow us to pave all the way from Cameo Street to Chaparral.

Uh so that would be a great project, a much needed project.

On Commerce Way, there is a little channel uh that we have now concrete lined uh to from a maintenance standpoint from a flow standpoint, uh K BarNet did that for us, and so that's been completed.

Uh Purdue and Eccles, that storm drain system project has been completed as well.

Uh from all the feedback that I received, the flooding that occurred in that area, uh it does not flood uh anymore, and so that's fantastic.

Uh in the future we do have the option to extend that storm drain system up Cameo uh from Purdue to get it to 21st Street.

Obviously, we have that low spot there in 21st Street.

Uh we designed it to where it is deep enough to where if we want to, we could extend it up further as well uh if we so choose in the future.

Uh the city commission also approved uh some additional paving in that area, obviously between the reuse project and this project.

Uh there's a kind of a patchwork of unpaved areas.

Yeah.

And so they approved the additional funds for us to go in and uh actually pave it out completely to where we don't have that patchwork anymore.

Um Goodwin Trails walked through that project with K Barnett uh Monday, and so we have the small punch list uh on that project, and so we're wrapping that one up.

Uh Martin Luther King and Norris Street uh currently working with HDR, we received federal funding to do preliminary design and the NEPA work uh for those two railroad crossings uh to look at uh improving the signalization at Norris Street and then building a bridge uh at Martin Luther King.

So that project is ongoing.

Uh but since then we have also uh applied for construction dollars through the uh federal railway administration, FRA.

Uh and so uh we're submitting we've already submitted our RCE application for that uh that we actually are requesting around sixty million dollars for that project is our very high level cost estimates.

Uh and uh so BNSF is actually uh willing to put up 11.5 million dollars uh towards that project as a match, and so we're uh into it for a hundred thousand dollars, and so it's pretty good deal for us.

And so uh but the we're just now submitting those applications uh for construction.

So uh well, one thing about why why uh MLK rather than Norris with the bridge?

Uh alignment, proximity to the tracks.

And so US 6084 is much at so Norris in US 6084, 6084 is much closer to the railroad tracks and the crossing versus uh Martin Luther King and 6084.

So and able to being able to get the clearance over the railroad tracks and the grades that you would have to get up, it it just much more challenging.

Wouldn't happen.

I I just uh the reason I'm saying is the event center and everything else, I'm telling you that uh I can't tell you how many times people have to just turn around and go back to the overpass at Prince and it's it's just uh there's always trains after I don't care whether it's the fair roadie or whatever.

So we would I mean you would have to take out businesses in order to get a bridge.

Uh because we have to be twenty feet above the railroad tracks.

Wow.

Uh with the bottom of the bridge.

Yeah.

And so in order to get that grade, you would have to start swinging things out.

I mean, just it that would be challenging.

Um or you raise that entire intersection up, and then so like your uh the um forced hire, I mean that they'd be cut off.

Right.

Right.

And cause all kinds of issues.

Yeah, it'd be right.

Well uh, can it be done?

Yes.

Could it be very expensive and take out businesses?

Yes.

About the explanation that I needed, and I appreciate that because I just didn't I couldn't see the difference of the uh the distance for for that.

So one other thing on your report that I was wondering too on your 40-year plan.

Uh is that gonna help anybody that uh you know, with our new designs or anything that might get them out of a flood zone like we did when the last time that they did the plan.

So this particular 40-year water plan revol uh involves our water rights, and so it protects our water rights uh that we have.

And so since the state of New Mexico actually owns all the water uh in the state, groundwater and surface water, uh, we just have the right to utilize it based off of acreage.

And so if we're not putting it to beneficial use current currently, as our speakers.

Uh that's it looked like um then we have to protect those rights.

And the way you protect them is through a 40 year water plan saying, yes, we're not utilizing them currently.

However, there could we have proposed uses for them in the future, and that's how we do that.

Oh, perfect.

Because it wasn't a hundred year plan or anything like that.

So I was just wondering what that that was, because I knew the last year, the last time we did a major plan with the drainage and stuff, it took me out of the uh insurance and everything else that I was having to pay because Yeah, and that's the last time when we looked at the um I mean the FEMA floodplain.

Right.

And so that which was in it's quite the hydraulic model that was put in place for that, but it's definitely a lot more accurate than it has ever been.

Totally different from what you were discussing today.

So thank you.

Anything else?

No, sir.

Good report.

A lot of things going on and uh a lot of things upcoming.

Yes, absolutely.

And finishing some things up, so we can get some more things started.

Yeah.

Okay.

Anything else?

Um not really, just busy with day to day keeping up with the weed contract.

We're getting just enough rain to make the weeds grow really fast.

And really not enough for the yards, but enough for the weeds.

So standard.

Oh, great.

You all do a great job.

Thank you.

We appreciate it.

Okay.

Uh next to date was a school.

We don't have anybody here for that.

So our next meeting will be scheduled for 8 30 Wednesday, July the 22nd.

And with that, we're adjourned.