Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Participants in ribbon-cutting and key transfer ceremonies for the new Curry County Extension building at the Curry County Fairgrounds, gather on Wednesday outside the new structure.
After six years and nearly $4 million, the new Curry County Extension Office is complete.
A ribbon cutting, transfer of keys, and open house was held Tuesday, with County Manager Lance Pyle delivering opening statements.
"The County started formal discussions on a new Extension Office in 2017. This was a result of safety concerns with the old office being around the detention center, a congested area and space availability," Pyle said.
It was in late 2019 and early 2020 when the county submitted a state appropriation request for funding, Pyle said.
Pyle said support among extension office participants included "writing letters and signing petitions...outlining the need for a new building."
The county was then allocated $1,087,500 but that allocation was vetoed by the governor.
"That did not stop us," he said. The county then went back in 2021 and was allocated $1,188,000 from the 2021 Legislature and the county commission allocated $2,800,000 from federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds that the county received, bringing the total investment to nearly $4 million. $3.988 million.
Mindy Turner of the Curry County Cooperative Extension Office said, "You guys are looking at this and some of you see this building with all the beams and all the work that went into it. Some of you see dollar signs, right? When I look at it, I see relationships -- the relationships that were built to make this happen,"
Turner said the mission of the cooperative extension service is to "improve the quality of life through educational programs."
According to Turner, the mission is what drove the vision for the new extension office.
The new facility covers 6,272 square feet and includes space for the extension service and a multipurpose programming space with a demonstration kitchen. Curry County Commission chair Robert Thornton said there will also be a rain collection system at the new building.
"The rain that comes off the roof of this thing will go into a holding tank, and we can use that for other things," Thornton said.
Pyle concluded, "In Curry County it may take some time, but we do things right."
