Portales City Council meeting

Here are three additional things you should know about Tuesday’s Portales City Council meeting:

• The council renewed the city’s contract with the Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce for advertising and promotion for the City of Portales.

The $7,000 contract is a budgeted expense.

The services include the operation and maintenance of the Portales Welcome Center at least eight hours a day, five days per week. The Chamber is also required to provide an annual report to the City Council.

The Chamber is also expected to plan and organize annual events that attract visitors to the city, such as Roosevelt County Heritage Days and the New Mexico Ag Expo.

Chamber Director Karl Terry told the councilors he also puts promotional material for the city in newcomer packets that are given to incoming airmen at Cannon Air Force Base.

Terry said he participates in monthly newcomer orientations at Cannon and averages close to 100 packets each month.

• The council approved a grant from the New Mexico LDWI Bureau DWI Grant Program for $7,709.

The grant has an in-kind match of $7,800. The grant was reduced from last year’s grant of $9,522 according to DWI Program Coordinator Riki Seat, as more money was given to the Ninth Judicial District Drug Court Program.

• The city’s Emergency Management Department is applying for a mitigation grant in hopes to get grant funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The grant would identify projects within Portales and Roosevelt County to harden sites in the event of a natural disaster. The grant is time specific and falls under a 75/25 obligation split.

Emergency Management Director Keith Wattenbarger said it costs no money to apply for the grant but if awarded, the city will asked to pay 25 percent of each project cost.

Wattenbarger added submission of the grant does not guarantee approval.

— Compiled by senior writer Christina Calloway.