City Commission District 4 candidates debate the issues

Editor's note: This is part two of a three part series of the City Commission debate. Part one is District 2 candidates. Part two will cover District 4 and part three will cover District 6.

ALAMOGORDO – City Commission candidates for District 4 debated one another on city issues at the Historic Sands Theater Tuesday.

The debate was hosted by the Republican Party of Otero County and all City Commission candidates had a chance to answer questions from the community, including District 2 and District 6 candidates.

More:Alamogordo regular municipal election is March 6. What you need to know

City Commission candidate for District 4 Christina L. Martinez went head to head with candidate Josh Rardin.

The District 4 seat will be held for a 4-year term.

District 4 Questions:

Q: Alamogordo has a very large senior citizen population, the swimming pool was a great way for the seniors to get therapy. How big of a priority is it to you to get a year-round pool up and working?

Martinez said the pool is a huge priority for her and is important for not only senior citizens, but for children.

More:City Commission District 2 candidates face off before election

“The pool is a very large priority of mine. My focus and the reason why is for the children and future of our town,” Martinez said. “The pool is great for our senior citizens but also for our children. We do need to have a year-round pool. We do need to look at funding and grants instead of raising taxes in order to enclose that pool.”

Rardin said he feels the commission could have used past funding for the pool instead of other projects, even though they were good projects, because the community needs a year-round pool that they can use all the time.

“I also feel that the pool is a very important issue. Whenever I read the articles in the paper with the current commission using the money for other projects, granted it went to good projects, they should’ve saved it so that they could get a year-round pool for the citizens of Alamogordo. Not just for the senior citizens, but for the children,” Rardin said. “The bubble was a perfect, inexpensive way but there were some regulations in place where they couldn’t use the bubble.”

Q: Once elected, how would you continue to learn what issues are important to your constituents?

Rardin said with the help of social media he has learned many issues from the community but he said being out in the public eye every day is how he learns the most.

“I’m in the public all day long. I work in the construction trade and I run into individuals all over the place and they talk to me or they stop at my house or call me,” Rardin said. “Social media is a good way to also learn. I’ve noticed several posts on Facebook and it’s a very good place to learn the issues that the citizens are having. But my biggest one is being out in the public.”

Martinez said being involved in the Rotary Club of Alamogordo has helped her gain knowledge of what’s going on in the community and said she will continue speaking to people at those meetings.

More:RPOC hosts City Commission candidate debate

“If elected, I will continue to listen to my neighbors and to everyone that I talk to in my area, in my community and my district. I also get a lot of issues at Rotary. We have groups that come in on a daily basis and we ask them what can we do to help them,” Martinez said. “Groups from non-profits and people that are coming in and starting businesses come to the meetings. My Facebook will continue to be open as well as my cell phone and email. I want to be the voice of my district.”

Q: If elected, what would you do to effectively promote Alamogordo as one of New Mexico’s best kept secrets for families and others?

Martinez said advertising through the media would be a great way to promote Alamogordo and also continuing to work with the New Mexico True campaign.

“We have beautiful mountains that are around us. In the summertime, we can go up to the mountains and get away from the heat, we need to tell people about that,” she said. “We need to be a part of the New Mexico True campaign, advertise on Facebook, the Internet and the media is a great place to tell people about Alamogordo, White Sands and all the beautiful areas around here.”

Rardin said he also believes the commission should market Alamogordo to showcase its natural beauty.

“I love our sunrises and sunsets in Alamogordo. Our weather is very beautiful along with our desert and our mountains and I think we should market that,” he said. “It’s a very great place to live and raise children, so we need to market Alamogordo that way.”

Q: List your qualifications for this job and what your priorities are as a commissioner for District 4

Rardin said as the only candidate that has experience being a commissioner, that alone qualifies him for the job.

“I held this seat from Sept. 2009 to 2014. I know the issues, I know the budget. I’m the only candidate in this district that has the experience,” Rardin said. “I’m a business owner in Alamogordo, I have made payroll and I’ve worked with different subcontractors. I’m very good working with people to move our city forward.”

Martinez provided her education background and said she is an avid supporter of children and would like to see the community embrace more programs for them.

“I have an associate’s degree from New Mexico State University-Alamogordo (NMSU-A) and I also have a bachelor’s degree that I earned at NMSU. I have a grant writing certificate that I earned from the University of Georgia and I also talk to people. I listen to their concerns and I’m able to make judgement calls for everyone as a whole,” Martinez said. “My first priority is the future of this town. It starts with the children.”

Q: What will you do as a City Commissioner to ensure the Alamogordo Police Department is able to hire and retain qualified officers?

Rardin said he will continue to try and do his best to hire and retain officers. Also he said it is not easy as Alamogordo is not the only community having difficulty doing so.

“Hiring officers was difficult and retaining officers is difficult. We took initiative in separating fire and emergency medical services (EMS) to try and make it easier to retain officers when I was in office,” Rardin said. “We provided capital outlay funds to buy them better cars and better training but it’s not just Alamogordo facing that problem. We need to throw in a little bit more money because they didn’t get raises when I was in office for two of three of those years.”

Martinez said the commission needs to look at all first responders, not just APD and involve them in the decision-making process.

“We need to look at not just the police department but also the first responders. If we can’t increase their pay raise we need to look into giving them some kind of bonus to let them know that they are needed and that they are important,” Martinez said. “We need to look at asking them what programs they want and where we need to post the money because we need to ensure that they have a voice. We need to involve them in this process.”

City Municipal Election

The Alamogordo regular municipal election is March 6.

The election will choose a Mayor-At-Large, three City Commissioners and a Municipal Judge.

To learn more about each of the candidates, read their profiles at www.alamogordonews.com