Portales offered $175,000 incentive on dispatch center

Jul. 30—The Portales City Council had a visit from Roosevelt County Commissioner Rodney Savage at its meeting on Tuesday.

Savage told the city council that the county was offering an initial $175,000 as an incentive to get the county to transfer to a regional dispatch center.

"(This is) quite a bit more than I personally thought you deserved," Savage told the council members.

The commissioner presented the county's proposal in response to a request the city had made several months earlier asking the county to contribute financially to the cost of operating the dispatch center that servesboth the city and county.

Savage said the county proposes establishing "a regional dispatch governing board composed ofthe Portales Police Department Chief, Roosevelt County Sheriff (or his designee), Eastern New Mexico University Police Chief, Portales Fire & Emergency Medical Services Department Chief, and a designated Volunteer Fire/EMS Chief from one of the six rural departments," Savage said.

"This Governing Board would be in place within 30 days," the county proposed as stated in an email later sent to The News. "This will relieve responsibility of managing PSAP/Dispatch services from one sole entity and place it upon this governing body, which would allow the Portales Police Department more time to focus on a multitude of other responsibilities.

"The governing board will be responsible for providing the necessary leadership and oversight for these services in collaboration. This will include the hiring and direct supervision of the Regional Dispatch Center Director."

"The County would commit $175,000 for the FY23 fiscal year, to be distributed equally at the end of each quarter.

"We will get back with you (shortly)," said Portales Mayor Pro Tem Mike Miller after Savage's presentation to the council at the meeting. The commissioners did not discuss the matter at that time. After the meeting the council met in executive session.

At the Roosevelt County Commission meeting on Thursday, Savage announced that the city had told him they were going to accept the county's proposal. He said the decision was made in the city's executive session after the council meeting.

Portales Mayor Pro Tem Mike Miller said in an interview on Friday that the city told the county they agreed to its proposal "in principal, not in total... The two governments need to work out the details first."

"There's absolutely no way in the time frame referred to (the five months the county gave) that we can get all of this worked out," Miller said.

"And that's where we were by the end of the meeting and executive session," he said. The city is going to take the county's $175,000 and work towards a consolidated dispatch.

By way of background, Miller said in the interview that the county has not pay for fire, dispatch or EMS for a number of years until the present. "We did not have a joint powers agreement with the county for any exchange of services." That agreement "went out the window" in 2019.

The county and city have been meeting to work out an agreement since April, he said. Last Tuesday, the county submitted its proposal to the city and gave them until the close of the business day on that Friday to provide an answer.

In other business, the city of Portales Council adopted its Fiscal Year 2022-2023 Budget consisting of total expenditures of just over $29.8 million, according to Marilyn Rapp, city of Portales finance director. FY22 total expenditures were just over $28.88 million. "Fuel, utilities and wages and benefits generally increased in the budget due to higher fuel prices and inflation."

In other business, City Manager Sarah Austin explained how the city plans to spend its American Recovery Funds of $2.4 million.

"The city has expended some of that ($2.4 million) for premium pay...The remaining balance will go to a new city hall (at 1028 Community Way, Portales), and minor upgrades for a total of $1.4 million" to include a water reuse option, a wastewater plant upgrade, mechanic shop improvements and new street equipment, Austin said in a follow-up email.