Funding for improvements to Kelly Road and the rodeo grounds was approved at Monday’s meeting of the Magdalena Village Board of Trustees.

Mayor Richard Rumpf told the Board that the New Mexico Department of Transportation has approved a project to resurface Kelly Road with chip seal all the way from Highway 60 to Hop Canyon Road.

He said the total estimated project cost is $775,000, which comes from DOT’s Transportation Project Funds, and that ordinarily, the Village would be responsible for a matching grant of $38,750.

However, that matching grant could be waived under certain conditions.

Accordingly, the resolution passed Monday by the Trustees is the request to dismiss the matching requirement.

“This is a request for the waiver,” Rumpf said. “The reason being is that we are a disadvantaged community. We don’t have the $38,750 to match. We should get the waiver. It’s pretty much a done deal.”

He said the Kelly Road project would take into account drainage issues. When the work will begin remains to be seen.

The Board also gave the green light to apply for $150,000 for Magdalena’s rodeo grounds from the  Capital Improvement Project of the state’s Department of Finance and Administration.

The money will be earmarked to plan, design, construct, replace, renovate, and equip improvements, including electrical systems, water systems, and safety lighting at the rodeo grounds.

Rumpf pointed out that the Village would not receive the funds until work was finished.

“We will be spending the money before we get reimbursed,” he said. “This is the way we get it from the state.”

The resolution passed by the Board stipulates that the work must be completed before June 30, 2027.

In other business:

  • Rumpf said he would meet with a highway engineer from DOT District 1 next week to discuss a temporary fix on Tenth Street near the clinic. “It’s getting washed out too close to where the water main is,” he said. “We’re also going to look at areas on Highway 60 where when they repaved and inadvertently created water dams. We’ll also be talking about new speed limit signs that catch your attention on each end of town to help with our speeding problem.”
  • Marshal’s deputy Cpl. Paulettica Monte was presented with an appreciation plaque in “grateful recognition of your dedicated service and commitment to Magdalena Marshal’s Office.”
John Larson, El Defensor Chieftain