Tucumcari commissioners discuss using cannabis funds to preserve city streets; convention center parking work tabled

Tucumcari city staff asked the City Commission to approve a contract to rehabilitate multiple roads across the city using revenue from the cannabis tax, and commissioners discussed which streets to prioritize and whether work at the Convention Center parking area can proceed. The commission agreed to defer action on repair work that may involve school property and the Convention Center parking lot.

City staff presented the item as a preservation effort rather than full reconstruction, saying the work targets streets paved within about the last 15–20 years that are beginning to fail so the city can extend their service life. “This is to rehabilitate multiple roads throughout the community. It's to preserve the roads…this stuff will still preserve it for another seven years probably,” the staff member said when outlining the scope.

The presenter said the money for the work would come from the cannabis tax allocation the commission set aside (figures discussed in the meeting were approximately $100,000 or $99,000). He estimated that, if used on standard 22-foot-wide roads, the funding could cover roughly two miles, but acknowledged many Tucumcari streets are wider and that the funds would stretch only a short distance: “It's a $100,000, $99,000. It's not gonna cover everybody's list,” he said.

Commissioners and staff identified candidate streets for preservation, including Rock Island between Boulevard and Main (described as a primary artery), portions south of Washington on Second and Third, and Eleventh Street. The presenter described prior test work (pothole or preservation mix) and said the city could preserve segments for an estimated $50,000 per mile in the approach he described, though he warned that some streets are beyond preservation and need full reconstruction.

Commissioners also raised a separate but related item: repairs to the Convention Center access road and parking area. Staff reported uncertainty about the property boundary, noting parts of the parking lot may be school property, and that proper easements and ownership need to be confirmed before proceeding. Because of those ownership and easement questions and pending other planned work that could affect the lot, one commissioner recommended tabling the Convention Center parking-lot construction item. The commission agreed to hold off on action for the Convention Center portion and to consider using the road-repair funds for the access road only if ownership/eligibility is resolved.

The meeting included discussion of logistics for selecting which blocks or lanes to treat, whether work would be consecutive or scattered across districts, and how to balance equity across commission districts. Staff said they had not completed the measuring and site work and would finalize specific blocks only after the commission provided direction.

No formal vote on the broader Desert West streets-rehabilitation contract is recorded in the transcript excerpt provided; the Convention Center parking-lot portion was explicitly recommended to be tabled pending clarification of easements and partnership with the school.

The commission also discussed coordinating grant applications and pursuing additional funding to avoid costly full reconstruction in the future. Staff noted prior grant-funded work in the county and urged the commission to provide input on priority streets before staff completed site measurements.

Ending: Commissioners asked staff to return with more-detailed measurements, mapped candidate segments, and cost estimates and confirmed they would revisit the Convention Center parking-lot work after property and easement questions were resolved.