In addressing many years of neglect of its infrastructure, the City of Truth or Consequences is faced with a herculean task not unlike building the pyramids. The capital projects pipeline is long, with big projects taking five years or so…
Talon Septic, owned by Mark Shipley, has a discharge permit to dispose of 600 gallons a day of "domestic septage" on city land at the municipal airport, which the NMED will re-permit every five years. The city's 30-year lease will also be reviewed every five years.
Where land use and government authority collide, especially if its an infill development that shakes up an existing neighborhood, sparks fly. It's hard to fight city hall on your own, but Diane Gunning is giving it a try.
The city's neglect of our water and wastewater systems is resulting in exponentially increasing rate fees. The study doesn't explicitly quantify emergency repair costs, which may be what is precipitating even higher fees. Rates have risen each year but they are about to go supersonic.
Truth or Consequences City Manager Gary Whitehead has been doing a stellar job. If city commissioners gave him a "satisfactory" on his yearly evaluation, it shows how little they know about government.
"Laws for me but not thee," someone pointed out at the last public hearing on the animal control ordinance. A final public hearing will be held in about a month.
Sometimes the city commission meeting is like watching commissioners fiddle while Rome burns.
Sharing and coordinating resources between the two flood control districts bodes well for Sierra Countians, especially since tax money won't sufficiently cover permanent-solutions projects. Economies in operations and grant writing will be necessary.
Rinse and repeat. The people's best interests take a back seat to businesses' development plans, with city councils' compliance and repression of public engagement and withholding of public documents.
Low land that saved the cost of putting in more lift stations may be the reason the City of Elephant Butte built its wastewater treatment plant within T or C's boundaries. Or maybe Elephant Butte thought it was county land? Now Elephant Butte wants the plant within its city limits.
Truth or Consequences residents packed the city commission's Dec. 17 meeting to express their vehement disfavor of Fahl's vague resolution that could "open the door to ICE."
Ron Fenn, activist and thorn in the side of the T or C city commission, had to file a case in court to get it to uphold the law and get fair treatment. District court, appellate court and remanded back to district court, Fenn finally got justice, after great exertion.