EPCOG reviews service to city

STAFF REPORT

Eastern Plains Council of Governments gave a presentation at the Portales City Council meeting Tuesday to report on their activities and responsibilities in 2015.

EPCOG is a regional planning and development organization for district four in the state of New Mexico, which includes the area from “the northeastern corner of the state, Union County, to the western border of Guadalupe County, and to the southern border of Roosevelt,” according to Executive Director Sandy Chancey, who said EPCOG acts as a bridge between regional city and county governments and the state to facilitate regional transportation planning organizations and provide assistance with project development administration, strategic and comprehensive planning processes and policy and procedure development.

While EPCOG is under contract with the United States Economic Development Administration to facilitate economic development in the area, Chancey clarified that it does not have the intention of taking over local economic development.

“We are not here to take the place of your local economic or community development organizations. We’re here to support them. You’ve all met my economic development planner Ray Mondragon. He’s been working very closely with Orlando Ortega, who is now in charge of the Roosevelt County Community Development Corporation,” he said.

According to Chancey, EPCOG co-manages the northeast and southeast transportation planning organizations and will “provide you with project identification and preparation of your project feasibility forms for submittal to the district.”

The transportation program can also help Portales to classify roads, which Chancey said can lead to funding opportunities, “particularly if it’s classified as a major arterial, a minor arterial, a collector, and we do that through traffic counts and through the basic use of the roadway.”

EPCOG also provides assistance with infrastructure and capital improvements planning processes.

“It is an important process. It’s crucial that things that you know you want to request funding for end up on your ICIP, so put some thought into that as you do that,” Chancey said. “We can provide assistance in helping to get that form filled out. We usually hand carry those up to Santa Fe and make sure that all the legislators have signed them where they’re supposed to be signed and that we’ve filed them with the legislative council service.”

EPCOG also provides assistance with strategic and comprehensive planning, according to Chancey.

“You’ll hear me harp on planning every time I speak to you. It’s so important that we plan for these things. Lately our planning has had special emphasis on water issues. We’ve assisted with the update of the region one water plan. We were contacted by the environment department and requested to prepare a source water protection plan for Curry and Roosevelt Counties. That plan is also completed,” she said.

Upon being asked how EPCOG is funded, Chancey explained that funding comes from membership dues paid by each community with dues being based on population. Additional funding comes from various grants and contracts.