EPCOG executive director speaks about achievements, expansion

Sandy Chancey is executive director of Eastern Plains Council of Governments. We asked her about changes in the association of county and municipal governments that includes public entities in Curry, De Baca, Quay and Roosevelt counties.

link Sandy Chancey

How has EPCOG’s role changed over the past two or three years?

EPCOG’s role has changed considerably. There are more needs and the communities look to the councils of governments (COGs) for assistance, whether it be local, state or congressional assistance.

We have been called to assist and intervene on a number of projects, and we have served as moderators during legislative forums, and have been asked to speak at conferences. We are more active in the legislative process. We are often called by numerous legislators to assist them in addressing constituent issues.

The role of the COGs changed significantly in 2013, when Gov. Susana Martinez issued an executive order that said entities that do not have current audits, and whose audits contain serious findings, cannot receive state funds. This has been a serious problem for many of our communities, and we have assisted them in finding fiscal agents so that they can utilize grant funds. We also assist those communities in improving their organizational capacity and finding the assistance they need to bring their audits up to date and address findings.

Are there any plans to expand EPCOG’s staff and scope?

As we continue to make improvements in our ability to deliver services to our member communities, we will need to add at least another program manager. The state continues to add more to our workload without adding to our operations budget.

We have support from state legislators to increase funding for COGs during the 2015 legislative session. A bill is being prepared to appropriate $378,000 to allow the state’s seven COGs to address the growing demand for their assistance.

If we obtain this funding it will allow us to focus our efforts particularly on rural communities that lack the capacity to address numerous requirements to pursue and complete projects.

As we continue to expand and receive additional funding, our scope of work will increase. For example we just received a contract memorandum of understanding with the New Mexico Environment Department to collect data and write a regional water protection plan for Clovis and Portales, and hope to expand that service to our other member agencies in the future.

EPCOG ran into some accounting trouble a few years ago. Has it recovered from that situation? What is EPCOG doing to restore the confidence of its client local governments?

It took some time, but all accounts have been fully reconciled, and all audits have been completed through 2014.

Because of the seriousness of the audits we, with the support of the board of directors, immediately re-evaluated our control systems. The accounting system was also assessed to change security and ensure proper reports are produced.

Internal changes were made, including personnel policy updates and financial policy controls. All EPCOG accounting is now performed by a CPA to ensure that this situation does not re-occur. We have a lot more participation from our board of directors and a lot more interest from the communities that we serve. We have come a long way.

What have been EPCOG’s best achievements over the past year?

The best achievement to date continues to be the completion of the audits. EPCOG is now in a position to seek out additional funding and grow. We have assisted our communities with legislative capital outlay requests, we have addressed state regulatory compliance issues, and we continue to assist with the State’s Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan (ICIP) process.

In 2013-2014 the city of Santa Rosa was in need of a city administrator and EPCOG contracted with Santa Rosa to provide those services for six months. We continually seek ways to assist our communities.

Briefly, what are the current goals of EPCOG’s economic development, transportation, housing and Ute Water programs?

EPCOG is a planning and development organization. We are federally recognized as an economic development planning district.

We are required to compile a comprehensive economic development strategy every five years and update it annually to ensure current economic conditions are reflected in the strategy.

We are currently working in a statewide partnership with the New Mexico Association of Regional Councils to develop a statewide comprehensive economic development strategy. We are also working with the New Mexico Economic Development Department.

In transportation planning, we co-facilitate both the Northeast and Southeast Regional Transportation Planning Organizations.

We assist with project identification and preparation of project feasibility for review by the New Mexico Transportation Department. We also rate and rank projects through the Regional Planning Organizations for inclusion in the regional transportation improvement plan.

We also monitor any planned and ongoing transportation projects within the region.

We continue to serve as the administrative and fiscal entity for the Ute Water Commission and attend as many Eastern New Mexico Rural Water Utility Authority meetings as possible. We are also heavily involved in the Region 1 water planning group and assisting the Interstate Stream Commission with the update of the regional water plan.

We are part of the USDA Rural Development’s Northeast New Mexico Housing Task Force and have assisted with three housing workshops in the region, with more workshops planned for 2015.

We assist with grant writing and administration, legislative capital outlay process and the ICIP process as mentioned. We assist communities with their comprehensive plans. We are a network of information assistance.

— Compiled by Steve Hansen, staff writer