Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Year in review: Tragedy marks 2018 for city of Portales

PORTALES — 2018 was marked by tragedy in Portales as the city said good-bye to its first female mayor following the passing of Sharon King on March 1. King, 64, died following a five-year battle with myeloma, a type of bone cancer.

King was first elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. A Portales native who graduated from Portales High School in 1971, King was remembered for her passion for water issues, serving as vice chairwoman of the Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority until late 2017.

“She was a very prolific supporter of the Ute water pipeline and what it stands for for us, and also a big part of different kinds of water conservation within Portales like re-use," City Manager Sammy Standefer told The News in March.

King was also active with the New Mexico Municipal League and had served as executive director of the Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce before taking office.

Karl Terry, King’s successor at the chamber, told The News in March that “Sharon was Portales.”

“I truly believe that — and you can’t say this of every public official — but her reasons for serving as mayor were really genuine and unselfish,” Terry said. “She wanted her community to thrive and be better, and she wanted to be a part of that. She did a great job.”

Also in 2018:

• A proposal to turn the city's Rec Center into an entertainment venue resulted in a contentious city council meeting in early June, with over 10 residents expressing their displeasure to the board regarding how the project was handled and communicated.

A letter from Standefer went out to city residents in late May which said that the city was going to be researching options to turn the building into an entertainment venue, meaning that the Rec Center's current offerings “will likely be discontinued until we are able to re-establish these programs in the future.”

Portales residents like Cristin Stewart did not like the idea of losing the after school, summer and athletic programs the Rec Center provided.

“My question is just what are we doing to relocate this or are we just completely shutting this program down, leaving 70-plus children without anywhere to go during the day,” Stewart said

Later in the year at a Sept. 11 city council meeting, Standefer detailed plans for a new $8 million Rec Center to be located next to the existing pool on Seventh Street which would include a full gymnasium, multi-purpose room, racquetball courts, arts and crafts areas, locker rooms, office space and a sports lounge.

• A city staple for 25 years was discontinued as the Portales Ag Expo was officially discontinued in February.

Chamber of Commerce Director Karl Terry told The News that changes to the agriculture business and a downturn in attendance and vendors led to the decision.

“Back when we started, the main way for people to market to ag people for new products and new solutions and techniques was by going to a farm show. Back in the day it was a good method, but these days, when they’re thinking about buying a new tractor or piece of equipment, they test-drive it online, and that’s really hard to compete with,” he said.

• Vandalism was to blame for a large January oil spill which affected traffic by First and Second Streets.

A press release from J.D. Heiskell and Co. reported that vandals broke until the feed manufacturing facility and opened a valve which caused the oil to spill over more than three city blocks.

The company later pledged to pay for any of the costs associated with road damage, which was estimated to be as much as $40,000 per block.