Magdalena Village Hall, 108 N. Main St.

The Magdalena Village Board of Trustees gave its approval to the Infrastructure Capital Improvements Plan for the fiscal year 2024 at last week’s meeting.

The ICIP is the annual plan that establishes planning priorities for anticipated capital projects. Any project must be approved by the New Mexico Legislature during its January session. If approved, funding would be dispersed by the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration on July 1, 2024, for the fiscal year 2024-2025.

Topping Magdalena’s wish list for government funding is upgrading the village wastewater system for $2.13 million. The money will go to design, construct and equip wastewater improvements and maintenance, including new main sewer lines that are over 100 years old and sludge removal of wastewater holding ponds. $37,500 has been funded to date.

Mayor Richard Rumpf said Bohannon Engineering is putting in for a grant to pay for surveying all the sewer lines to look at what needs to be done.

“Some of our sewers are the old clay tile. It’s an aging system,” Rumpf said. “What they’ll do is pull a tube from manhole to manhole. They pressurize it with steam or hot water, and it expands and solidifies. This fractures the old pipe and becomes rigid, and that’s the new pipe.”

He said that method is preferable since the village alleys are too narrow for equipment such as a backhoe.

“Being that our alleys are so narrow, that’s the route we probably have to go,” he said.

The greater percentage of the funding would come mostly from a Community Development Block Grant and Capital Outlay.

Rumpf said he would prefer to push for $5 million for the project, citing rising costs.

Number two is a request for $1.091 million for water system improvements. The improvements would include a new water storage tank that holds at least 100,000 gallons for residential consumption. Also, a booster pump station for the well and a new water line on the south side of Highway 60 in the right of way to continue to serve customers east of the village. $408,955 has already been appropriated for the $1.5 million project. Funding would come from CDBG and Capital Outlay.

“To date, we have replaced all the meters with radio-read water meters,” Rumpf said.

Village street improvements are the third priority, and the village will be requesting $1.4 million to continue work that started last year on all paved streets. This includes curb and gutter and chip-sealing work on Cobb, Dakota, Duggins, Ash, Chestnut, Elm, Main, Oak, Pine, Spruce, Pierson, and Cedar Streets. Work on Second through Tenth, Las Tuzas, Main, and Ash streets would include building dirt streets up with base course and grading of said dirt streets.

$288,339 has already been procured for the project.

“To date, we have chip-sealed five village streets, Pine, Spruce, Elm, Main, Ash, Cedar and Chestnut,” Rumpf said.

Also on the legislative wishlist is a new building for the Marshal’s office and Municipal Court. Magdalena’s Municipal Court is currently held in the Marshal’s office. $900,000 is needed to construct and furnish a planned 1,800 sq. ft. building, a 4,000 sq. ft. secure fencing with secure access parking, as well as a drive-through bay for prisoner and vehicle searches and an impound area. The building would have a 3,000 sq ft parking area for public parking. The location is adjacent to Village Hall and the village currently owns the land. Rumpf said this project was at the bottom of the ICIP in past years, but because of a mold problem, it was moved to a higher priority.

Further down the list is an expansion of the PMS-managed Magdalena Area Health Center at a cost of $500,000. A 20×20 foot extension to the existing building is needed for meeting rooms, a visiting dentist, and x-ray services. The clinic is open five days a week.

The ICIP must be received at the state level by August 18.

“These numbers are an estimate,” Rumpf said. “We’re looking at a span of two to three years down the road.”

In other business, the mayor reported that he has been in talks with Socorro Electric Cooperative Manager Joseph Herrera.

“They’re moving ahead with that new power line from Socorro to Magdalena to the substation,” Rumpf said. “We’ve talked in the past about them using the rodeo grounds as a staging area for poles and wire. They will come in and pay for a grader to level the back area of the rodeo grounds and take out all the trees so they have sufficient space. We’ll take out the old baseball field back there, too.

“In exchange for them using our space, we’re looking at them relighting the rodeo arena for us,” he said. “We’ll have new lighting and new wiring. So, that’s in the works.”

John Larson, El Defensor Chieftain