The recent unveiling of the new fire station in Moriarty has Torrance County looking at ways to build something similar, particularly after hearing there is federal money available through Rep. Melanie Stansbury’s office for projects ready to hit the ground.
While this is not exactly a legislative priority that the county commissioners have approved for the upcoming session, it is something that would have a tremendous impact in Torrance Country, said Commissioner Samuel Schropp.
With a new fire chief coming on board this month, he said, now is the time to look to upgrade the facilities and the department as a whole.
“Representative Stansbury’s office has said it has $22 million for shovel-ready projects in the coming year in her district,” Schropp said. “It could be quite a windfall for all of us. My thought is we don’t want to screw around. We want to get our name in the pot just as soon as possible.”
Commissioners had some discussions of other viable projects within the county, like a fence surrounding the landfill to prevent debris, in particular plastic grocery bags, from being windblown across neighboring land and becoming health hazards to domestic animals and wildlife. Or a firehouse near Clines Corners to help speed response time to emergencies on I-40.
But, Schropp said, there are likely other avenues to find the money for the fencing, and a remote fire station at this point in time would be difficult for the county to staff and maintain.
A new firehouse in Estancia, however, would be a boon to the county because it could serve as a recruiting tool for the future.
“We have a new fire chief, and that new fire chief is a fixer,” Schropp said. “That’s what he has been the last 15 years. Not straightening out messes, but restructuring. With the Moriarty firehouse having recently been opened, we could get their plans and that would really cut down the amount of time to get the project online to build a firehouse just like the one in Moriarty.”
The county already has land available at the recently completed county road building, so that would clear another hurdle in its rapid development and serve the county well, he said.
“We want to see a professional fire service in Torrance County which will serve the people and do the job properly, and be one where everyone is trained properly and will go home safely at the end of the shift,” Schropp said. “Our new chief, Jim Winham, will straighten out a mess that’s been here for five years. I believe we need to give this man every tool we can afford to get this job done. The expectations of the commission are that he is going to build a professional firefighting service.”
And a new firehouse will boost the morale of the department that has seen a revolving door at its head.
“In order to do that and in order to attract good, qualified firefighters and EMS personnel we need to bring the main firehouse up to modern standards,” Schropp said. “Our firefighters and EMS people are living away from their homes and living in a firehouse, away from families and missing birthdays and Christmases and all of those kinds of holidays. They are a silent service. Nobody knows they’re there until they need them.
I think that a new fire station with Jim Winham as the new chief will be the catalyst for a fire service and EMS service in Torrance County that all of us can be proud of, especially the people working in those services.”
List of Needs
By far the largest price tag on the list for this coming session is $16.5 million earmarked for paving county roads, as well as an additional nearly $2.2 million for road department equipment.
As far as a legislative wish list, the county is looking for the funds to build a multi-use building on the fairgrounds after recently securing $1.2 million for engineering, design plans, and preliminary work. Overall, the anticipated additional cost of the project, according to the county’s infrastructure capital improvement plan, is almost $15 million, spread over the next five years, with $5.4 million coming in the next fiscal year.
“We have more than 1,000 miles of roads in the county and the majority of those are not gravel roads, they are dirt roads,” Schropp said. “And we can do better. We can’t be operating that way.”
Inclement weather quickly turns those roads into goop, he said, causing hazardous driving conditions, especially for school buses trying to transport students from the extreme rural edges of the school districts.
A couple of other big-ticket items include almost $800,000 for Duran water system improvements, as well as another $3.8 million next fiscal year and $825,000 for an emergency management facility and shelter.
And finally, there’s $2.5 million to begin a rail-to-trail project along NM 41 for a bike, pedestrian, and equestrian pathway; with another $15 million being sought next year.
“I think it should have been dropped,” Schropp said of the latter project. “That’s just pork.”
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