NERPO Meeting Minutes

United World College, Kluge Auditorium

NM 65 Montezuma, NM 87731

November 29, 2006

10 a.m.

 

Meeting Attendees:

NERPO Members Present

Richard Gutierrez            City of Santa Rosa

Bobby Casados            Harding County

Barbara Shaw              Harding County

Doug Powers               City of Tucumcari

Larry Moore                Quay County

Les Montoya                San Miguel County

Harold Garcia               San Miguel County

Hoot Gibson                 Village of Angel Fire   

Chuck Howe                Village of Angel Fire

Johnny Chavez            Town of Springer

Kristine Duran              Town of Springer

Richard Arguello            Union County

Renee Hayoz                Village of Roy

Shawn Jeffrey               Village of Mosquero

Leo Pacheco                Village of San Jon

Carlos Ortiz, Jr.        City of Las Vegas

Frank Trujillo                Mora County

 

NERPO Members Not Present:

Fred Sparks                 City of Raton

Linda Pavletich            Village of Cimarron

Mike Running               Town of Clayton

Benito Armijo               Village of Wagon Mound

Manuel Baca                Guadalupe County

Neva Hascall                Village of Eagle Nest

Nora Like                    Village of Folsom

Martin Sherman            Village of House

Anthony Mitchell            Village of Maxwell

Mignon Saddoris            Village of Grenville

Larry Wallin                 Village of Logan

Jess Yeargain               Village of Des Moines

Tony Roybal                 Village of Pecos

Charles Gonzales            Colfax County

 

NERPO Planners

Mariana Padilla            NCNMEDD

Chris Pacheco              EPCOG

 

 

 

NM DOT Staff

Paul Gray                     NMDOT D-4

Heather Sandoval            NMDOT D-4

Christina Romero            NMDOT D-4

Janet Spivey                 NMDOT, Planning

Benny Martinez            NMDOT, G.O. North Region Design Center

Rick Chavez                 NMDOT, G.O. North Region Design Center

David Harris                 NMDOT, Transit and Rail Bureau

Lucia Lopez                 NMDOT, Transit and Rail Bureau

 

Affiliate Attendees

Eddie Corley                OXY USA Inc.

Dusty Weaver              OXY USA Inc.

Denise Abreu               Meadow City Express, City of Las Vegas

Miguel Suazo                Senator Jeff Bingaman’s Office

Thomas Garcia            Congressman Tom Udall’s Office

Michael Hussey            Nolti Associates

 

I.                    Meeting was called to order at 10:07 am by Chairman Richard Gutierrez. Christina Romero of District 4 provided members with a weather and road condition update due to the inclement weather.

 

II.                 Pledge of Allegiance was not conducted

 

III.               Welcome & Introductions

Welcome provided by Arlene Quintana of the United World College and the City of Las Vegas Mayor Henry Sanchez.

 

IV.              Approval of Agenda 

a.      Motion to approve the agenda with amendments was made by Richard Arguello and was seconded by Renee Hayoz. Motion passed unanimously. Agenda amendments: Meeting guests from OXY USA Inc. from Levelland, Texas asked to be added to the agenda in order to make a presentation regarding their future work in Harding County. The Golden Spread Coalition 5311 presentation was moved to item VII. D, and the presentation for the Village of Angel Fire STIP modification was postponed until the January 25th meeting.

 

V.                 Approval of Minutes

a.      Motion for approval was made by Richard Arguello and seconded by Shawn Jeffrey. Motion passed unanimously

 

VI.              Updates from RPO Planners

a.      Mariana Padilla – RPO members were reminded to submit the NMDOT RPO Surveys by the November 30th due date. The NERPO Legislative Subcommittee met on November 28th to discuss NERPO’s GRIP2 Legislative Strategy. Legislative packets are being put together in order to distribute to legislators. The packets will also be shared with NERPO members so that they can distribute as needed. Names of NERPO entities have been submitted to the NM Finance Authority for the Local Transportation Infrastructure Fund (LTIF). NMFA’s deadline for entities interested in the funding was November 21st. This funding comes in the form of a grant and low interest loan.  Letters have been sent out for the Project Identification Form (PIF) call for projects for STIP funding. NERPO planners will be meeting individually with entities to assist with PIFs as well as go over the RTIPR and D-4 funding targets. Mariana asked for members to review the draft LRTP mission and vision and send her any further input. NERPO members will approve the mission and vision at the January meeting. Based on NERPO member request Mariana has tentatively scheduled presentations with NMDOT on the following topics; aviation, rail, and environmental.

Chris Pacheco – Chris indicated that he has been working on the PIF rating and ranking criteria and that NERPO members will be making final comments and approval of the criteria later in the meeting.

 

VII.            District Engineer’s Update – Paul Gray

Paul thanked NERPO members for being flexible in changing the meeting date in order to accommodate the Transportation Commission Meeting. Paul reported that the STIP targets aren’t as high as they once were and will probably be changing again in the future. Beginning in FY ’08 D-4 will be giving NERPO discretionary authority over some of the STIP funds for Roadway and TPE. He also stated that D-4 will be moving forward with the Corruco Bridge project in San Miguel County and that there will be a presentation at the January Transportation Commission Meeting.

 

Eddie Corley from OXY USA Inc made a presentation to NERPO on their upcoming project beginning in 2007 for carbon dioxide drilling in Harding County. There will be fifty five new wells in Harding County in 2007 with a total of 230 wells expected over six to seven years. They are projecting that this drilling will increase the vehicle traffic on NM 420 and NM 39 by almost twenty fold. Mr. Corley requested the support of NERPO and District 4 in chip sealing NM 420 which is currently unpaved. They would also like to see improvements made to NM 39 and all county roads in the area that will be affected by this project. Bobby Casados will set up a meeting between OXY USA Inc., Harding County, NMDOT D-4, and the NERPO planners in order to further discuss the project. Paul Gray suggested that we explore the possibility of a public-private partnership in addressing this request.

 

VIII.         FTA 5311 Rural Public Transportation Grant Application Presentations were conducted in addition to voting members prioritizing the applications for funding. Doug Powers asked if the NMDOT Transit and Rail Bureau will be holding a statewide meeting for final public input on FTA applications. He stated that he liked this meeting format because it allowed the RPO chairperson to represent applications from their area in order to advocate for funding. David Harris stated that there is a meeting held in March in which Transit and Rail presents their recommendations for funding and takes final input from the RPO planners and the applicants. Hoot Gibson asked about the possibility of increasing JARC funding once again. David Harris stated that SAFETY LU went from an earmark to a formula program and that the state funds that were used for the match are now gone. The TANIF funds are still there but are greatly reduced and there has been a huge cut in transportation funds at the federal level as a whole. If local governments have local match funds for JARC the NMDOT currently has some money available.

 

FTA 5311 Applicants and presenters:

a.      Angel Fire Transit, Village of Angel Fire, Mayor Pro-tem Hoot Gibson

b.      Meadow City Express, Denise Abreu

c.      Mora County, Mariana Padilla

d.      Golden Spread Coalition, Richard Arguello

e.      NMDOT Park and Ride, David Harris

 

Lunch – Provided by the City of Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce

 

IX.              GRIP 2 Resolution – The NERPO GRIP2 Resolution 2006-04 was passed without changes. Motion for approval was made by Les Montoya and was seconded by Carlos Ortiz.  

 

X.                 Review and Approval of PIF rating and ranking criteria was postponed until January 25th meeting due to inclement weather.

 

XI.              STIP Call for Projects, funding targets and schedule for PIF submittals presentation was postponed due to inclement weather. NERPO planners and District 4 will be reviewing this information with individual entities at PIF consultation meetings.

 

XII.            New Business –

a.      General Comments and Announcements by NERPO members –

                                                               i.      Michael Hussy of Nolti Associates out of Colorado Springs was in attendance in order to discuss work he will be doing with the Village of Cimarron predominantly dealing with water and waste water facilities.

b.      Discussion of changing the NERPO meeting start time was postponed until the January meeting.

c.      General Comments and Announcements

                                                               i.      Paul Gray announced that District 4 will be hosting the March and July Transportation Commission Meetings and asked that entities interested in presenting or participating in some way to contact him.

                                                             ii.      Mariana announced that she and Chris will be contacting members shortly to set up PIF consultations.

d.      Suggested agenda items – none were suggested

e.      Next Meeting – January 25, 2007 in Santa Fe hosted by NCNMEDD. Meeting location is tentatively scheduled for the NMDOT General Office.

 

XIII.         Meeting adjournment – Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Les Montoya and was seconded by Shawn Jeffrey. Motion passed unanimously.