Council welcomes new members

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — The reconstituted City Council has a relatively light agenda this evening to help its two new members get their feet wet.

Allan Landovazo and John Azue, elected only a week ago, were sworn in Monday morning as the council's new eastside and westside representatives. They're replacing Mary Ann Armijo and Frank Gonzales.

Municipal Judge Linda Padilla was also sworn in Monday for another term.

The city almost swore in a new mayor Monday as well. Because front-runner Harry Mendoza failed to win 40 percent of the vote by less than a tenth of a percent, however, he'll be facing runner-up Ralph Richards in a runoff March 27. Incumbent Bob Rosebrough will be filling in until then.

The first order of business for the new council will be a public hearing on a beer and wine license request by Palo Alto, Inc., the owners of the Pizza Hut on Highway 491. The hearings tend to be a formality the state requires of the city before granting its own approval. Such license requests tend to be much less controversial than requests for a full dispenser's license, which lets an establishment sell package liquor as well.

The last item on the agenda, meanwhile, is a proposal to award Southwest CM $293,000 for the construction of new downtown bathrooms on the courthouse square. The city budgeted only $250,000 for the project, and had trouble even coming up with that. But because Southwest CM was the lowest bidder, Public Works Director Stan Henderson is recommending that the council grant the award, provided it can make room for the additional $43,000 plus $15,000 for contingency in next year's budget.

In between, the council will consider a few planning and zoning issues and a request that the New Mexico Department of Transportation pay three quarters of the cost of rebuilding the intersection of Second Street and Park Avenue and installing traffic lights there. According to the city, which expects the entire project to cost $1,062,000, the intersection has been the scene of many accidents.

City Clerk Patty Holland will also be asking the council to reschedule its next meeting from the 27th, the day of the runoff, to the 28th.

This evening's meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 inside the City Council Chambers.