Truth or Consequences master storm water drainage plan attached here; public comments are due by Oct. 25

I emailed and called the engineer, Tom Craig with NV5, who drafted the Truth or Consequences master storm water drainage plan and said he wanted feedback from the public. It’s Friday, and still no word or answer to my questions, which I included in this article:

https://sierracountycitizen.org/want-to-give-input-on-the-master-drainage-plan-comments-are-due-by-oct-25/

In the interim, I did an Inspection of Public Records Act request with the city, and they delivered Tom Craig’s PowerPoint presentation, which he gave at the Oct. 11 city commission meeting.

Please find it attached below.

Comments are due by Wednesday, Oct. 25. Please call Tom Craig at (505) 348-5212 or email him at craig.tom@nv5.com with your comments.

This will be your only remaining opportunity to give input on the plan, according to the schedule included in the PowerPoint document.

In my IPRA I asked for any document that gives information about who defined the scope of work for the engineering firm. It turns out that the engineering firm hired, WH Pacific, (which later contracted with NV5 to do the plan under its aegis), defined the scope of work in a letter sent to Assistant City Manager Traci Alvarez on Jan. 18, 2022. This is disconcerting, since the city should be controlling the scope of work on behalf of its citizens. Engineering firms are private companies that exist to make a profit. They are not responsible for making sure the best interests of the citizens are being served.

The city needs a planner/engineer on staff to protect the public’s interest and the public purse.

The engineering didn’t go out to bid. The city commission issued a request for proposals from engineering firms for “on call” engineering services Jan. 25, 2021. A dozen companies responded and six were hired by the city commission on April 28, 2021, WH Pacific among them. Therefore it appears that Alvarez called up WH Pacific to do the storm water drainage plan, having a choice of six firms, supposedly.

This on-call engineering arrangement evidently allows any city staff person to call up one of these engineering firms, the city commission—our elected representatives—giving away its authority and fiduciary oversight on capital projects.

The city received a $100,000 grant “to design construct and improve drainage in” T or C from the New Mexico department of transportation’s capital appropriations project on Nov. 4, 2021. I asked how much WH Pacific is being paid, and received the grant-award document in response.

Supposedly in response to my question “who hired this firm for this project,” I also received the 2020 through 2024 Infrastructure Capital Improvements Projects list, which must be turned into the state each year in order to receive grants from state and federal agencies. The “citywide storm drain improvements” project was listed as the number one priority for 2022 at an estimated funding cost of $300,000, with zero funding received. The 2021-2025 ICIP list was also included. It also listed the citywide storm drain improvements project as the top priority for 2022, to cost $300,000, with no funds received.

Since the city does not have an engineer/planner and the city commission is not vetting any aspect of capital projects and how they are initiated or proceed through the capital-projects pipeline, it is important that citizens look over and comment on the drainage plan PowerPoint document to protect themselves and fellow citizens.

 

 

 

 

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Kathleen Sloan
Kathleen Sloan

Kathleen Sloan has been a local-government reporter for 17 years, covering counties and cities in three states—New Mexico, Iowa and Florida. She has also covered the arts for various publications in Virginia, New Mexico and Iowa. Sloan worked for the Truth or Consequences Herald newspaper from 2006 to 2013; it closed December 2019. She returned to T or C in 2019 and founded the online newspaper, the Sierra County Sun, with Diana Tittle taking the helm as editor during the last year and a half of operation. The Sun closed December 2021, concurrent with Sloan retiring. SierraCountySun.org is still an open website, with hundreds of past articles still available. Sloan is now a board member of the not-for-profit organization, the Sierra County Public-Interest Journalism Project, which supported the Sun and is currently sponsoring the Sierra County Citizen, another free and open website. Sloan is volunteering as a citizen journalist, covering the T or C beat. She can be reached at kathleen.sloan@gmail.com or 575-297-4146.

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