Mayor’s letter
MAY 2006
Another Clean-Up Day will be May
20th! We will have three (3) more roll off containers
available. We will begin at 8:00 AM and go until the containers
are full. I suggest you get there early. You will need
proof you are a Capitan resident, such as your water bill. No
household trash will be accepted. The Lions Club will again
manage this event. We are hoping the Camp Sierra Blanca boys will
be able to help us again.
I was asked to bring the public up to date on the city’s grants on the
water lines and baseball field. We also have one in place on the
dust control and drainage on parts of East Grandview and Skyview, which
is in progress.
We received a grant for $400,000 to do a loop project to be able to
keep the village in water in case we have more breaks in our main
supply line that crosses under Magado Creek. This line would
by-pass that in case of another occurrence. The Village’s
participation will be $25,000.
The baseball field is about to enter the second phase, which will
include building the dugouts, the water systems, and grass
planting. Dressing rooms may be included, depending on the
price. These may go over the grant limit so we don’t know if it
will be possible or not at this time. The original plans may have
to be scaled down.
Debra Ingle, Lincoln County Solid Waste Superintendent, has asked me to
ask everyone not to put his or her dumpsters by their natural gas
meters. When the trash truck picks up the dumpster, it is
knocking over the gas meter. This could cause a hazardous
situation.
We are having some procedural disagreements as how boards are
appointed. At a meeting with the Municipal League, I asked the
specific question as to how a newly elected mayor proceeded to do
this. I was told that if the members of the old boards were not
reappointed, they were automatically dismissed. There has been a
difference brought up that this is against our ordinance. It is a
matter of interpretation. In Chapter 2 of 2-1-1 of the Village
Code Book regarding Planning Commission it says, “there is hereby
created a Planning Board composed of (5) residents of the
Village. The members of the Planning Commission shall be
nominated by the Mayor and approved by the Board of Trustees to serve
for respective terms established by this chapter”. 2-2-3 states
Removal of Members. The Board of Trustees may by a majority vote
of the members, remove any member of the Planning Commission. My
interpretation was that I as Mayor appointed the Boards. The
removal of members I appointed would be addressed by 2-2-3. We
have appointed and approved boards meaning the Water Advisory and the
Planning Boards. Some people seem to think I need approval for
the dismissal of former members from the trustees, which will be done
at the next public meeting. It is not worth arguing over and we
have much more important business to get on with.
While we are on the matter of procedures, the former administration was
not criticized for many discrepancies such as not approving the water
engineering procedures that costs the village double the estimate plus
attorney fees. Also dismissing water bills without proper
settlement. You cannot donate a water bill to someone without
some monetary settlement. It’s against the state anti-donation
laws. These bills will have to be brought back to the council to
be un-forgiven and some monetary settlement made. I am sure it is
going to be a great distress to the people involved. This will be
addressed at the next council meeting. I wonder why these
procedures have not been criticized?
The Village seems to be running fine despite the disappointment of some
people. They seem to think that us “country bumpkins” could not
operate without some former council and staff. I’m sure they are
disappointed that we are still in operation.
SAM HAMMONS
