Artesia fire and police scored raises at the Artesia City Council meeting on Tuesday.
The council approved a 10-percent pay increase for all positions and ranks in the Artesia Police Department and a five-percent pay increase in the Artesia Fire Department. The increases will take effect July 1.
Infrastructure Director Byron Landfair reported it was a busy weekend at the pool, and the NinjaCross system will be installed in the indoor pool during the last quarter of the year.
Landfair reported the bathrooms on the west side of the City of Champions Complex at Jaycee Park are under construction and expected to be open by August. Bids for the new bathrooms on the east side came in higher than anticipated, and staff are trying to figure out what to do.
City staff are working hard to get the new Splash Pad open by the Fourth of July. A project on the disc golf course will start next week and is expected to be complete in about a month. Landfair also reported the remodeling at Fire Station 2 is going well.
Hayley Klein, executive director of the Artesia Chamber of Commerce, spoke during the visitors’ portion of the meeting and reported the Permian Basin Celebration: 100 Years of Oil and Gas will be held in Artesia June 14-15. Events will include a parade downtown and kids’ events at The Derrick Floor, a cook-off, and live music in the evening.
Klein also reported lodging in Artesia will be needed next September as the City of Roswell has been awarded the bid for the annual air races with an anticipated 70,000-80,000 guests to attend.
“It is like NASCAR in the sky and will be an annual 10-day event in September, including the air races and an air show,” said Klein. “I think they fly at 400-500 mph at 150 to 250 feet above the ground. Roswell will need help in terms of supporting guests. There are not enough hotel rooms to accommodate all those people.
“There are 1,200 volunteers alone. I think there’s a potential for new businesses to crop up. There will be a lot of air traffic. There may be something our airport can do to prepare for that. We’ll start putting together committees in July.”
During a public hearing, the council approved Ordinance 1129, the sale of real estate located at 401 W. Centre Ave. by the City of Artesia to JHTC Investments, LLC, a New Mexico Limited Liability Company, for the purchase price of $100,000.
The council approved Ordinance 1130 authorizing the issuance of Gross Receipts Tax Revenue Bonds, Series 2024, not to exceed $5,600,000 for the proposes of acquiring and constructing public facility and infrastructure improvements and paying all expenses incidental to the issuance of the bonds. City Clerk Summer Valverde said this bond will be used mainly for 26th Street improvements.
Katherine McKinney, attorney from Modrall Sperling, the bond council for this transaction, said the bond is payable from Artesia’s state shared gross receipts tax and will be on parity with the other bonds the city has from its state share from 2013, 2015, 2018, and 2019.
“This is a parameters ordinance, and it approves certain parameters within which the final details will be approved,” she said. “The council delegates the authority to the mayor and to your clerk treasurer to determine final terms of the bonds within the parameters set froth within the ordinance. We will report back to the council on what the final terms are.”
McKinney also noted that these bonds will have private placement and not public placement like the others, with expected closing in mid- to late July. Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Youtsey said the public pre-approved this bond in 2012.
The council approved of the Fiscal Year 2024-25 preliminary budget and the following requests for the use of city facilities:
- Seek 1st Sports with First Baptist Artesia for use of the City of Champions Complex at Jaycee Park for flag football from 7:30-8:30 p.m. June 24-25 and from 6:30-8:30 p.m. July 8, 9, 11, 15, 16, 18, 22 and 29, and Aug. 8 and 12.
- Artesia MainStreet for the use of Oil Patch Plaza (The Derrick Floor park) and Heritage Walkway to hold an Oil Patch Market on Tuesdays beginning June 4 and continuing through Sept. 24 from 5:30 p.m. until dark.
As part of its consent agenda, the council granted permission for: - the awarding financial and compliance audit services to Beasley, Mitchell & Co., LLP.
- the approval of a grant agreement between the PY Foundation and the City of Artesia for TransAero Medevac Membership.
- the awarding of on-call electrical services to Wesson Electric, J&G Electric Co. Inc., Precision Electric Inc. and Deans Inc.
- the re-appointment of Danny Parker and Linda Barnett, and the appointments of Sylvia Flores and David Grousnick, to the Library Board of Trustees (terms to expire June 2027).
- the hiring of Emily Baeza, Police Detention Officer, at a pay rate of $2,946.66 per month; Rhonda Davis, Solid Waste Equipment Operator I, $1,272 per month; Uriel Hernandez, Water Technician, $2,921.36 per month; Cindy Wood, Library Clerk, $2,600 per month.
- the promotion of Lisa Elrod, Library I (Technician Services), at a pay rate of $3,282.93 per month.
- three police employees to attend Managing, Release/Redact, Eliminating Risks in Records training in Las Cruces.
- one police employee to attend Law Enforcement Driver Instructor (EVOC) training at the FLETC.
- one police employee to attend Visit Espanola Animal Services in Espanola.
- one fire employee to attend Wilderness EMS Upgrade training in Taos.
