Socorro School board members identified the need for repairs to the baseball field and football field drainage as their top priorities for capital outlay fund requests at a round table discussion on Nov. 28.

In a follow up interview with Superintendent Ron Hendrix, he said he submitted a request for $170,000 to address drainage issues on Dec.4. Although they originally thought they would have to apply with an ICIP by Dec. 1, he found out that schools could do a direct appropriation from the legislative page, and they had until Jan. 11.
He said that he will continue to look for other funding sources for their second priority, the Seery Gym repairs and upgrades. The board plans on doing a walk through after the holiday break to identify the needs for that project.

Clarity sought

Michael Hartgather, school board member, asked for clarity on the process of capital outlay requests.

Tara Jaramillo, board member and state representative, explained that capital outlay is given to all legislators; representatives received 2.8 million dollars. She said governmental agencies, schools, counties and cities are eligible to request capital outlay money through a process called ICIP. Once those are submitted, the legislator chooses which will go in front of the governor and the governor has the final say on what gets funded.

The requests are prioritized at the Central Organization of Governors meeting, said Tara Jaramillo. Typically, everyone has submitted their ICIP, and they prioritize for their communities. According to Tara Jaramillo, the City of Socorro and New Mexico Tech have put in their requests and Socorro Schools was the only one who hasn’t submitted any requests.

Hartgather and David Hicks, school board president, said they were unclear whether the school was too late to apply for ICIP money.

“You told me on Wednesday that we had missed our opportunity of capital outlay with you is that correct?” Hicks said.

“What I really meant is that you missed an opportunity to work with me,” said Tara Jaramillo.
She said the opportunity was being able to prioritize the school’s request at the COG meeting, which had already happened. She said the ICIP requests were due on Dec.1.

Hicks said that he heard about the COG meeting last minute and decided to present on two projects: the rehab of the baseball field and the kitchen remodel for Cottonwood School. He said after the presentation they contacted a grant writer and submitted an application for the Cottonwood School kitchen project. The baseball field is still in need of funding.

Hendrix said that they were originally not going to participate in the COG meeting or the ICIP funding because, in years past, it disrupted their PSFA funding. He didn’t find out until right before the meeting that they would be able to apply for ICIP.
Tara Jaramillo said that she did not know the baseball field was a priority for the school until the COG meeting. She said she called multiple times asking about capital outlay and Hendrix said at that time they weren’t going to apply because he believed at that time that there was a conflict with the other funding.

“I’m not hiding the ball, I did start calling when I found out what the processes are, I did notice you were on the email.” Said Tara Jaramillo.

Hargather suggested that the board get a calendar together so they could be better prepared.

“Apparently this discussion should have happened three months ago and not now,” Hartgather said, “we need to do better.”

Sessions agreed and suggested that they could improve for next year. Board members continued to discuss the miscommunication.

“We are off track of what should have been done, let’s try to focus on what we are going to do now, let’s create a list now, if we missed an opportunity we missed it, but at least let’s set some priorities now.” Hicks said.

Setting priorities

Board members took turns offering their priorities for ICIP requests and allowed for public input as well. New windows for the high school, a CTE building, updates to the Seery gym and addressing the drainage issues at the sports fields and a new baseball field were discussed.

“From a safety perspective that is probably the most dangerous baseball field in the state, we used to have a tournament and teams won’t play here anymore,” Hicks said.
A former student spoke to the state of the field, saying that it was a mess and that conditions are extreme and have worsened for players.

According to Hicks, he’s driven there in the rain and observed that the rainwater comes down the street and into the football field; the rest of it comes from the baseball field.

“There is a pipe that goes under the football field that always gets clogged, then it gets on the football field and then we are worried about the glue coming undone,” said Hicks.

Board members agreed it was important to take care of the drainage issue. Hendrix said they spent about 1.2 million on the stadium.

Tara Jaramillo suggested requesting money in phases because it might be unrealistic to ask for the whole amount needed. She was concerned that the flooding was damaging the field that they just put a lot of money into repairing.

The state of the Seery Gym was described as “very bad” by Pauline Jaramillo, board member. Board members identified the need for new flooring, HVAC, ceiling repairs, stage, sound and light improvements.

Board member Sharon Sessions said it would be nice to offer a space that the drama club could feel good about. Pauline Jaramillo said it would benefit the basketball, wrestling and volleyball teams. A current student spoke about the need for more support of art, drama and band.

“The drama club is working so hard put on a program for the high school to give these kids something to do because not everyone is into sports.” said Melissa Hurtgen, Socorro School parent. She said the students are very talented but struggle with the small space and bad microphones.

The board agreed that the Seery Gym should be their second priority.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jessica Carranza Pino, Editor