City Commission plans Capital Outlay projects

City Commission decided on five projects to be their Capital Outlay requests including a storm pond, upgrades to 911 equipment, purchasing five police vehicles, improvements to the Recreation Center and a firefighting burn building.

"We have an opportunity to present up to five priorities to our legislators and they hold a meeting every fall where communities they represent come in and present their needs," said George Straface, interim City Manager. "The legislators have a limited amount of dollars but they decide among themselves which ones they're going to fund. We're not guaranteed anything but we do make a pitch."

The first priority is the design and construction for a detention basin storm pond at the Griggs Sports Complex. The City of Alamogordo is requesting $900,000 to complete the project.

"It's an attempt to say how can we retain water and prevent some flooding," Straface said.

The second priority is upgrading and replacing 911 equipment in Alamogordo, which is a request of $500,000. The third priority is a request of $200,000 to purchase five police vehicles.

"That (amount) includes things like sirens and lights on all the cars," Straface said. "The desire there is to have one car for every police officer. That's what we're trying to do because right now they share."

The fourth priority is a request of $300,000 for construction, renovations and improvements to the Recreation Center.

"It'll be to improve the men's and lady's locker rooms," Straface said. "Including showers and toilets and things like that."

The fifth priority is to plan, design and construct a full-service firefighter training burn building in Alamogordo, which is a request of $325,000.

"It was hard to prioritize because they're all very important to us," Straface said. "We were asked appropriate questions by the legislators and it's obvious they're aware of our needs but Otero County — Cloudcroft, Timberon, Tularosa — we all have needs."

Straface said the requests will be decided on during the next legislative session.

Last year, the City of Alamogordo was awarded $550,000 in capital outlay funds to update databases for 35 police units and improve the water storage ponds at Desert Lakes Golf Course.