Charles Kelly, Bayard mayor, presented his municipality's concerns to the area legislators Rep. Dianne Hamilton, Rep. Rodolopho “Rudy” Martinez and Sen. Howie Morales.

“I am here on behalf of Bayard, myself and the City Council,” Kelly said. “We are in financial fair shape, paying our bills. We are a small town struggling. The City Council and staff really watch the money that is spent. We have the same problems finishing projects.”

Martinez asked for Bayard's priorities.

“Our main priority is water the well fields' maintenance and replacement,” Kelly said. “We've done a lot of line replacement; we need a lot more. We need street repairs and replacement, and we want to finish the cemetery. Water and streets are our main priority. We've asked for funding for the regional wastewater treatment plant. Hanover will be the last to join it. We have requested from the Water Trust Board for more lines.

“The Public Library is a success story,” Kelly said. “We are setting up books and computers. It will be great for young and old.

“We've completed Central Avenue for sidewalks and lighting, except for next to highway 180,” he continued. “We had the match, but when the funding was reverted, now they say we have to match again.”

He said a representative from the Environment Department office in Las Cruces told Kelly that everything with the wastewater treatment plant has to go through him, “but then it comes to a screeching halt.”

Morales asked if the requested $587,000 for the cemetery, which is needed because Bayard is the only municipality not to have its own, was for a phase or completion.

“It is only for a phase, but would include parking and a ceremony area, but not all the plots,” Kelly said. “It would be for 2,000 to 3,000 plots, which would last a while. It's the amount needed for roads, walkways, design, and shrubs for the original plan. The expansion would take place later as needed.”

Morales said it might be “difficult at that amount. We need discussions to see what other funding is available.”

Kelly said he has only recently found out that the city needs to match again on the road project, too. “Please help us get an understanding of this issue.”

“You put the match in, but the funding was lost, and you received no refund on the match,” Morales said. “We'll try to resolve it.”

Martinez asked if the letter about the match was from the Department of Transportation District 1 or Santa Fe.

Kelly said he believed it was from District 1.

George Esqueda, office manager for Engineers Inc. in Silver City, said the original match was for a larger project, but more than $500,000 was reverted, so the city would have to match twice, because the match was taken back as part of the funding.

“A lot of projects in rural areas have been forgotten,” Morales said.

“The city of Bayard paid for the design of the road project, but they can't use that toward the match,” Esqueda said.

Morales said the issues needed to be explored.

“On the point of the match,” Kelly said, “Silver City has been blessed to put money aside for future projects. We set aside, but then we have to use it for a match and cannot accumulate funding.”

Priscilla Lucero, Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments director, pointed out that the dollars in the Infrastructure Fund for Governor Richardson's Investment Partnership “are still there, but we need to have them available for other projects. We need to change the language. How better to use those accruing dollars.”

Morales said he knew Hurley had requested match money from the fund.

“The money continues to accrue,” Lucero said.

Morales said if the money was taken away, his concern is where it went.

Martinez said discussions with the previous DOT secretary indicated that much of the funding was from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. That tied the money up, so it could not be refunded.

Hamilton said any dollars reverted went into “one pot. His other comment was that the department was taking the money and putting it into projects that the department deemed as priority.”

County Manager Jon Paul Saari said the county was in a similar position on Rosedale Road. “We used our match for engineering. They took the rest of the money away, so we lost our match.”

“Before going ahead on Paseo del Norte, we need to realize these problems,” Morales said.

“We three can ask questions,” Martinez said. “We will ask for details on how much was spent by Bayard.”

Kelly said Engineer's Inc. would have the information.

The next article in the series will cover Hurley and Sa