Rio Grande Sun from Espanola, New Mexico • 3

Rio Grande Sun, Thursday, February 1, 1990 A3 Historic i Society, Plaza Group in Squabble Commission to Help In Groundbreaking Continued from Page A-l Lucero said the city would ask the Legislature for money to leverage against federal historic preservation money, corporate funding and federal Community Development Bock Grant money, if the city council approves. In order to use CDBG funds for leverage the city would have to have three other funding sources, Associate City Planner Ivan Guillen told the mayor. Lucero said city administrators should also be prepared to send out letters to corporations and foreign governments associated with the Christopher Columbus Quinccn- tenary Commission after the plaza is featured in a February edition of Encounter, a magazine put out by the international commission. Lawrence Racl, an aide to New Mexico Gov. Garrey Carruthers, assisted Lucero in writing the article for the publication, Lucero said.

motivated" Swetnam asked Lucero if he was misquoted in a SUN article saying if soil tests indicate there are caves under the Bond House the city might not try to save it Lucero told the SUN last week the city needs to run soil tests around the structure because it wouldn't be prudent to spend $500,000 to renovate the house if the soil underneath is unstable. Architect Bemabe Romero indicated (during a meeting at city hall last week that caves had been found under the swimming pool behind the Bond House and that for that reason there probably are caves under the Bond House as well. Pringle said the historic society was concerned that development of the surrounding property might threaten the stability of the old house, giving city officials justification for tearing it down. The city has proposed building a post office to the west of the Bond House. In addition, preliminary plans for the plaza call for adding on to the west side of the old structure and taking out a later addition to die south.

Pringle said the historic society was also concerned about road work the city plans which might involve raising or lowering the ground level on plaza property. Merlan said placement on the historic register does not create protection for the site, and the city may sell it, transfer it or lease it and isn't even required to maintain it. However, if the city uses state or federal funding to develop the property surrounding the Bond House, the development would be subject to review by a historic preservation board Merlan said If the review board found the development wjuld adversely affect (he Bond House die city might have to alter its plans in order to have the least possible impact on the house. Merlan told. Lucero his office could offetechnical assistance from its staff architect who would review the city's plans.

Lucero suggested last week the city, might turn maintenance of the Bond House over to the historic soci-. ety. Swetnam told the SUN that possibility is one of the questions the historic society asked Merlan to address. Pringle said at this time the society would not be able financially to maintain the museum, but Swetnam told the SUN later if the society could get "a larger endowment" it might be feasible. The city currently spends about $37,000 a year on maintenance of the Bond House.

That amount includes nearly $21,000 in salary and benefits for the museum director, over 1 ,000 for repairs and maintenance and nearly 54,000 for utilities. Although Lucero has claimed no one was oping anything with the Bond House until he began his tenure as mayor, city budget records indicate the museum had a budget of nearly S9.000 in fiscal year 1985-86, while Connie Thompson was still mayor. However, there was nothing budgeted during fiscal year 198-86 for maintenance or utilities. Historic society members also questioned Merlan about the possi He said the magazine is circulated in Spain and several other foreign countries and also goes to a list of potential corporate donors who have pledged support for pro- jeets aimed at celebration of the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' voyage to what is now North America. The city has not yet acquired the final piece of the plaza puzzle because the Circle property is tied up in bankruptcy proceedings, Lucero told the SUNT He said the national corpora-; lion's financial difficulties have' made negotiating a price for, the property difficult" "I suspect (acquiring the property) will take a friendly condemnation," Lucero said, because if the company sells the property to the city the money would just go to the company's creditors.

An earlier proposal by the city to trade the Circle property for city property on Oflate is not likely to materialize, he said. tions as far as taking over the programs," she said AAA officials are "saying there will be no interruption of services," Roybal said "I hope the employees will be kept on. I can't see a transition of services if they aren't kept on Roybal said she had to inform employees Friday that Wednesday was their last day of work for Ciudad a non-profit organization. "So many have been here for so many years. They've been very loyal to the program," she said Dave Rostro, AAA director, said he did not know what the county's decision might be 1 4i bility of placing the old Bond store on the historical register.

The old Bond store is the oldest pan of the structure Which was Pec-' pie's Department Store until last year, after the city bought it to make way for the plaza. The store was Espaftola's first mercantile. Lucero has said the city will tear down all but the oldest part of the structure before deciding whether or not the, old part can be saved. Merlan said anyone could ask to have the structure placed on the his-tone register. "Just let me know who to send the papers to," he said He said although his office always contacts the owner of a site before placing it on the historic register, it isn't necessary to have permission from the property owner.

Lucero left the meeting dying discussion of the Bond store, so wet- nam asked City Councilman Pcicr Valdez if it would be possible to get the city council to initiate an application to have the old store placed on the historic register. "It would be impossible between now and March 6 for me to get anything through the council," Valdez said "but the mayor can make anything possible. I can fill the papers out, but I'll just be ignored" Valdez is opposing Lucero in the March mayoral' race. Pringle apologized to Merlan for the argumentative tone of the meeting, but Merlan said he has experienced similar situations all over the state. "People feel deeply" about old buildings, he said.

Program regulations currant year funds cannot be used to pay last year's bills. Those regulations made the board's proposal to AAA more difficult to piece together. The Ciudad board had submitted a proposal to AAA including plans to make up the deficit, and turn the program's financial footing around. But Roybal said she didn't think it was really looked at. Rostro didn't say, whether the proposal had been read, but noted, "We had a draft of the proposal a couple days before our meeting with them.

We went with Ciudad 'til the end, but we didn't see that they were going to be able to bring themselves out of it" Employees Wondering About Status of Jobs Continued from Page A-l historic society because the Bond House had been the key to all the city's presentations asking for funding from the Legislature and other sources. 'i PolphPringle of the Historic Society said society members were disturbed because Mayor Richard Luc-ero had refused to guarantee the Bond House" would not come down and because the city had not yet consulted with the historic preservation office in making plans for the plaza. "Why should they be consulted? We're still just looking at plans," Hunter asked Pringle said "things have not been done as they should be" and that the historic society had already seen one historic building torn down in preparation for the plaza and was concerned others would meet the same fate. "What historic buildings have we lorn down?" Hunter asked. "I considered the long house (across from the Rio Grande Cafe) a historic building," Pringle responded The Granada Hotel had more his-tork value than that and no one complained when I tore that down," Hunter said Tm sorry it's gone.

Wejvant to make sure we do all we can to protect the buildings we still have," Pringle said Lucero was present at the meeting also but refused to answer a question posed by Bond House Foundation Chairman Fred Swetnam because he said the meeting was "politically County to Continued from Page A-l offered the program to the county and sent a proposed contract for consideration. County attorney Jim Noble said he had the contract on his desk, and was reviewing it before submitting it to the commission Wednesday. Noble, who also serves as Ciudad attorney, said the contract would be between AAA and the county. He said his understanding was the county had agreed to take on the program, Uke iURbStrtf isaid, seems like they will." "We thought we'd go with another entity and that we'd start Rostro said AAA was concerned about the deficit situation at Ciudad being too difficult to correct "They are in a very bad situation as far as the board is concerned because of the deficit that is there," he said adding there was pressure front the State Agency on Aging to find another contractor for the program. TThe state agency did mention to us time and again that possibly a new guarantee would be more feasible," he said "The state did not recommend it, but they said we would be in a better position with somebody else." SAOA Director Stephanie Fall-Creek said sometimes the program Take over Seniors Drivers and cooks for the senior citizens program were still hanging Wednesday as to whether they would continue in their roles under the county administration of the services.

Theresa Roybal, acting director of Los Ciudadanos Mayores del Condado de Rio Arriba, said she hoped the employees would be kept on to help with the continuity of the program. No assurances were being heard from Rio Arriba officials or a spokesman for the Area Agency on Aging. "Our board wanted to meet with the county commissioners and possibly submit some 'recommenda Gil crnrri 111 of Take a Byte Out Computer Block Consultation 'Hardware (Software Installation Computer Installation Training Programming Bug Bytes Romero, 753-5658 This Weekend ONLY! take after the termination of the contract Jan. 31. "I'm going to have to be here for a while tying up loose ends," she said.

'The board hasn't made a decision on what they're going to do. If we don't get the contract, it's going to be hard for Ciudad to recoup on these deficits." Bankruptcy is a word Ciudad is still avoiding. "We could still possibly lose the vans to the bank. There are still going to be a lot of loses." Noble said he didn't think the organization would have to go to that extreme. "We don't know what-the final results1 will be yerT We're hoping to get creditors to write off the past due bills." Further action "depends on whether the program stays solvent If is doesn't, there's no way they can go after Tony Martinez." Noble said the board had written a letter to Martinez "demanding an explanation or money." They are still awaiting a response from the director who has never publicly or befpre the board given an explanation for the $93,000 deficit Noble said about $14,000 "in unexplained expenses in relation to him personally," was what the board was requesting.

The remainder of the deficit was simply overexpenditures of the budget According to governmental ror rasi, iair, friendly service contact A good person to know lor your insurance needs Auto Fin Homeowners Lite Truck! Renters Crime Commereiil Condominiums Boats RV's Mobile Homes Workers' Comp Farm ind Ranch Package Policies Ion Non-Smokers end Drivers between 30 and 60 years of age. Oiscounts for: Accident-lree Drivers Good Students Multiple Cars A wide choice o) deductibles to lit your specific needs and budget All policies can be combined In one monthly payment Ziegler Agency (505) 753-9597 1031 A Riverside Drive Espaftola 87532 Look for the TA 'e can run more smoothly through a public entity. "In some ways it's easier to contract business" between public entities. Capital appropriations are much more straightforward to deal with with public entities." The county is also "subject to the oversight of the state auditor in some ways," she said The lack of adequate auditing at Ciudad, a non-profit organization, led to the deficit problem, she said Roybal said she believed many aspects of the programs would be easierfto run under the county. "I think it's better for a county or municipality td pick it up because insurance, office costs will be less," she said "We were always awaiting disbursements sometimes we had to hold back checks she said "With the county they can draw on something else until the disbursement comes in." Rostro agreed Sandoval County contracts for the seniors services through the AAA, he said.

"So far it has been working real well. They seem to have a lot more resources available to them than a non-profit organization." The contract with the county is through June 30. "This decision does not necessarily mean the contract will stay with the cbunty," Fall-Creek said Roybal said she could not predict what action the Ciudad board would Dazzle Street am. j.ju dm. i km Layaways Welcome Her Heart i i mm Clearance Tags and SAVE! Example7 Here's How it Works (Fall and Winter Merchandise) Reg.

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