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Byways Funding May Be Sought for Public Toilets |
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Written by Jeff Radford
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Tuesday, 23 January 2007 |
Village officials took a tentative step in re-starting their Scenic and Historic Byways program in early January.
Councillors discussed a proposal January 9 to erect a public toilet in
front of the Recreation Center where the Growers’ Market is held after
the mayor wrote to the State byways program coordinator that Corrales
might wish to apply for a grant.
Councillors were under considerable pressure to approve a hurry-up
grant application for funds that would build a 14-by-24-foot cinder
block rest room facility funded by the State byways program.
Proponents wanted a quick decision from the mayor and council for a
$40-50,000 project that could be awarded to a company already under
contract in Santa Fe. The grant application has to be in by
January 31.
Problem was, given the tight deadline, nobody had consulted with the
Parks and Recreation Commission whether such a project fit its plans.
The primary proponent at the January 9 council meeting, Al Knight, who
had developed the idea through his membership in the Corrales Lions and
Kiwanis Clubs, was at the Parks and Rec board meeting going on nearby
to brief them about the plan even as it was being presented to the
Village Council.
To those who had witnessed the chronic conflicts between councillors
and Corrales MainStreet, as originator and implementer of some byways
projects, the situation seemed all too familiar. In the past,
opportunities for grant money seemed to drive the decision-making
process, and councillors sometimes resented it.
But all concerned were trying to stay positive January 9.
Councillor Bonnie Gonzales was most questioning of the proposal, but
mildly so. She reminded proponents that in the past villagers and parks
and rec board members had objected to previous plans to build
facilities along the Corrales Road frontage of the rec center property
since it would block the green view of the Jones pasture which is now
the front athletic field.
When Councillor Sayre Gerhart asked whether the parks and rec
commissioners had approved the toilet project, she was told the board
had been briefed just moments before.
“I’m surprised you hadn’t approached Parks and Rec about this idea,”
said Gonzales. “There has been a lot of concern about blocking views,
and that field is a very important view-shed in the Village of
Corrales.”
She said she was concerned that “one things leads to another,” and that
if the public rest room goes in at the front of the rec center, other
facilities might come in along side it in the future.
In fairness to the proponents, which included some Corrales MainStreet
volunteers, and to councillors, the difficulty seems to have been
created by the State office of the Scenic and Historic Byways Program.
The office announced the availability of grant money last month and
required a positive response by January 3, followed by the formal
application January 31.
Mayor Phil Gasteyer explained the dilemma this way in a January 4 memo
to councillors. “Subsequent to our December meeting, I received a memo
from the N.M. Tourism Department inviting grant applications for
tourist-related projects along designated Scenic Byways, such as NM 448
(Corrales Road). The State’s Byways Coordinator required a letter of
intent response by last night, January 3, with a formal application due
by the end of January.
“I am aware that there has been some community interest in a permanent
rest room facility on the Growers’ Market site, and this appeared to be
an eligible activity for funding under the grant announcement. Because
of the short fuse, I went ahead and sent a letter of intent.
“However, I believe it is not appropriate for the Village
Administration to pursue new federal/state-funded projects without the
concurrence of the full governing body. Therefore, I placed a
discussion on this subject on the agenda for our regular meeting,
January 9. If, after review, we do not wish to file for this grant, we
simply won’t apply by the January 31 date.”
Stepping in to assist under the short time frame, Sandoval County
Tourism Director Donna Wylie spoke to the council January 9 supporting
the rest room project and offering to facilitate contracting for it.
That way, time would not be lost by going out for competitive bids on the project which she estimated to run $40-50,000.
To Gerhart and Gonzales, it must have seemed all-too familiar. They had
both previously expressed concerns with the way pursuit of grant money
in the past seemed to box in the Village’s elected officials.
Past councils’ rocky relationship with MainStreet stemmed in
large part from that conflict.
Al Knight led off support for the rest room project explaining he had
learned of it when the Corrales Lions Club had considered taking it up.
The club let it drop, he said, but the new Kiwanis Club liked the idea.
Contacted later by Corrales Comment, Knight explained he had not
presented the proposal on behalf of either service club nor for
Corrales MainStreet. Instead, he said, Wylie had been aware of his
interest in the project, and had called him when she learned that the
State byways program had extended its deadline for applications to
January 31. He said she offered to facilitate the grant application
because she had been successful in getting grants for similar projects
in Sandoval County.
Knight said Corrales MainStreet’s Linda Fahey had also learned of
the grant opportunity, and had spread the word which reached Mayor
Gasteyer.
When the mayor learned of it, Knight said, he felt strongly that the
grant application, if it happened, should come through the Village
administration.
Even so, Knight said, the Village would be wise to take advantage of
Wylie’s successful track record with the State byways program and with
obtaining grants for public rest rooms specifically.
“Donna Wylie has already done five or six of these grants,” Knight
said, getting public rest room facilities for Jemez Springs, Cuba and
San Ysidro.
“It’s a great project for Corrales,” he told the mayor and council
January 9, offering it as something the entire community could rally to
support and shift away from bickering contentiousness.
Even so, he said he realized that both the Parks and Recreation
Commission and the Planning and Zoning Commission “feel like they’re
having this rammed down their throats.”
At the council meeting, Wylie addressed the mayor and council to
explain how the Corrales rest room project could be tucked into an
existing state contract with RomTec
“We are very pleased with the acquisition of the RomTec toilets [for
the Cuba fairgrounds]. What’s nice about these is that they are under
State contract.”
Wylie said the Village would be expected to pay a 20 percent local match, around $8,000.
Gerhart asked whether a previous scenic byways grant that paid for
public rest rooms at the old fire station would hurt chances for
getting a new byways grant for public toilet facilities.
Wylie said she did not think that would be a problem.
Sandoval County Commissioner Donnie Leonard, accompanying his fiancee
Wylie to the council meeting, also spoke to endorse the rec center
toilet project. “I don’t see why anybody would be against this,”
Leonard said, suggesting the Sandoval County Commission could probably
help by providing the matching funds to go with the byways grant.
Later, Gonzales raised another potential problem: visitors to Corrales
might skip Corrales’ restaurants and driving on to Bernalillo for lunch
because they had had a chance to “go” at the rec center public rest
rooms.
Councillors will likely get a recommendation from the Parks and
Recreation Commission on the public toilet proposal in time to make a
decision at the January 23 council meeting. |
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