Milan deals with its own road problems

By Helen Davis
Cibola County Bureau

MILAN — Roadwork and the celebration of employees dominated the brief regular monthly meeting of the Milan Board of Trustees Thursday evening.

As if demonstrating the impact of roadwork, the board moved this month’s meeting from Village Hall, where the roads are torn up and muddy, to the village Recreation Center on Airport Road.

The seat of village government is located at the intersection of Milan Street and Uranium Avenue where much of the latest round of road improvement is taking place. Village Director of Public Works Ben Chavez said that 90 percent of the work on waterlines and 40 to 60 per cent of work on sewer lines for the Milan/Uranium project has been completed. Chavez hopes to have the rest of water and sewer work finished in the next week but says the rate of work depends on the weather.

Right now conditions are muddy. Chavez asks citizens to remain patient. He added that the village has had a few complaints, but gets a crew out to fix things right away. Complaints can be directed to Village Hall at 285-6694.

Work on the enhanced railroad crossing on New Mexico Highway 605 was suspended temporarily with 95 percent of the work completed because of Department of Transportation intervention, Chavez said. Work will begin again as soon as a state-of-the-art part to replace an older model is received, said Pat Rice, local motel owner and perhaps the village’s most attentive crossing watcher. Rice’s business has been negatively affected by noise from the old crossing.

The high point of the meeting, however, was the awards presentation by the board.

Ben Chavez was awarded a plaque of appreciation for 25 years of service to the village. Chavez made a joke later about retirement but did not appear to be going anywhere except the Public Works office for a while.

The board awarded Francisco “Shorty” Ramirez the 2007 Employee of the Year award and an armful of prizes for his work in the Parks and Recreation Department. Fellow village employees elected Ramirez to the award. Winston Yazzie received the Employee of the Month award.

The Board of Trustees remind everyone that Tuesday is voting day and the polling place is the Recreation Center at 407 Airport Road.