of $1.1 million is expected to be

completed in August 2012.

Last year, in search of a new facility

to house the Cibola County Health

Clinic, Cibola County acquired the

old Knights of Columbus (KC)

building in Grants, NM. The current

Cibola County Health Clinic located

in downtown Grants at the Cibola

County Administration Complex is a

small facility with little room for

expansion and was originally de-

signed for administrative offices and

not a medical facility. The new relo-

cated Cibola County Health Clinic

will be more centrally located in

the vicinity of other health care

providers including the Cibola Gen-

eral Hospital. The additional space

will provide for more examination

rooms, increased patient privacy,

and capacity to meet the needs of

a growing population. Currently,

COG has partnered with Cibola

County to complete a Brownfields

Phase I site assessment. The renova-

tion of the KC building into the new

Cibola County Health Clinic has

been designated as Cibola County’s

2013 (CDBG) construction project.

Under the guidance

of County Manager

Scott Vinson, Cibola

County residents

have been seeing a

gamut of results. Whether it be

transportation, infrastructure, or

health, the accomplishments are

impressive. Cibola County is defi-

nitely moving in a positive direction.

In recent years, Cibola County has

invested in several new pieces of

equipment, helping to increase the

capacity of the County road depart-

ment: in 2009, a 4 Wheel-Drive

Chip Spreader was purchased, then

in 2011, a Caterpillar Grader, and

this year, a Volvo Motor Grader. “I

was conservative in the budget for

this reason. Anything extra could

go to the road department for

paving projects,” explained Manager

Vinson during a recent County Com-

mission Meeting. “Income over

expenses equals more paving.”

Vinson added, the goal this summer

is to pave 20 miles of road.

Additionally, Judy Horacek, County

Projects Coordinator, has been

designated as the County’s new RPO

representative. Judy has hit the

ground running and has been ex-

tremely proactive including initiating

meetings with NMDOT – District 6

and the NW RPO Planner with the

intent of maximizing RPO participa-

tion to secure additional transporta-

tion funds.

To that end, Cibola County is work-

ing to develop Project Information

Forms (PIFs) on current County road

projects; newly developed PIFs will

be included on the 2013 Regional

Transportation Improvement Pro-

gram Recommendations (RTIPR).

“We’ve [the county] invested more in

the road department in the last two

years than we had in the last twenty

years.” – Scott Vinson, County Manager

In 2010, Cibola County received

$500,000 in Community Develop-

ment Block Grant (CDBG) con-

struction funding to facilitate the

reconstruction of the wastewater

treatment system serving the Ce-

bolleta Land Grant communities of

Seboyeta and Bibo. The Cebolleta

project represents a new effort on

the part of Cibola County to sys-

temically address major infrastruc-

ture needs within rural Cibola

County. The current treatment

system is over 40 years old, in viola-

tion of NM Environment Department

regulations, and without County

support, it stood little chance of

being reconstructed. The project

with an estimated total project cost

Please join us in celebrating Our Region, Your COG this com-

ing August 2012 in Farmington, New Mexico, as the North-west New Mexico Council of Governments celebrates 40

years of regional planning, innovation, and collaboration. Exact date will be announced soon.

A gala event is in the works and we plan to honor Regional Champions, take a look back at the past 40 years, and look to

the next 40 years of serving the Northwest New Mexico.

SPOTLIGHT: CIBOLA COUNTY MOVING FULL SPEED AHEAD

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Brownfields 2

CDBG-Milan 3

Energy Program 3

NWRPO 4

CDBG-Gallup 4

EDOs 5

MapGuide 5

Director’s Notes 6

Save the Date: Come Celebrate with Us! Council of Governments 40th Anniversary Gala

N O R T H W E S T N E W

M E X I C O C O U N C I L O F

G O V E R N M E N T S

Connecting the Dots M A R C H - M A Y 2 0 1 2 V O L U M E 3 , I S S U E 3

Serving San Juan , McKinley, and Cibola County Governments for nearly 40 years!

B O A R D O F D I R E C T O R S : E X E C U T I V E C O M M I T T E E

BILLY MOORE

Chairman, McKinley County

DR. WILLIAM A. HALL

Immediate Past Chairman

City of Farmington

DR. JIM HENDERSON

1st Vice-Chairman, San Juan

County

JOE MURRIETTA 2nd Vice-Chairman, City of

Grants

LOUIE BONAGUIDI

Treasurer, City of Gallup

Member Governments

Cibola County

McKinley County

San Juan County

City of Aztec

City of Bloomfield

City of Farmington

City of Gallup

City of Grants

Village of Milan

Affiliates

NWNM Reg. Solid Waste

Authority

Produced by the Staff of the NWNM Council of Governments

P A G E 2

Brownfields…. the

land may be perceived

as

contaminated and this

perception may keep

the land

from being used

productively.

Brownfields – From Infancy to Maturity Prior to the 2007 National Brownfields Conference in Boston, MA, former COG Ex-ecutive Director, Patty Lund-strom informed Evan Williams, a Planner at the time, to “get close to this... Brownfields is your baby”. Since which time the COG was:

2009: Awarded a $1 mil-lion Brownfields Assess-ment grant under the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act; and

2010-12: Successfully administered this pro-gram including working with nearly all the COG member governments and tribes in the region.

The program has grown over the last three years due mostly to COG outreach efforts. Now the COG is in its final months of the program and is working hard to (a) finalize sites from remaining work, (b) submit a final budget, and (c) work on reporting information and accounting. Pueblo of Acoma. Recently, the COG working with Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Council, Inc. met with Pueblo of Acoma Governor Randall Vicente and staff to discuss potential Brownfields sites,

environmental concerns, and re-use plans. An introductory meeting was followed by a tour of historic or older build-ings, former gas stations, and sheep dip vat site. The Pueblo of Acoma is working to submit these sites, and will be pre-senting as part of the COG Board meeting. The COG also has active pro-jects at the Pueblo of Zuni, Navajo Nation, and most likely the Pueblo of Laguna. One of the sites that COG and the Pueblo of Acoma are inter-ested in accessing is the old Boys & Girls Club. Expected re-use would be a recreational

area and community park. (showcased above) City of Gallup. The COG part-nered with Connections, Inc. and the McKinley County CARE Project to work on a special study that looked at Down-town Gallup through to lenses:

(1) Brownfields sites and (2) Potential re-use as community gardens, alternative energy generation projects, recycling centers, etc. The Army Corps of Engineers prepared a draft report, which has been sub-mitted to the COG and the City of Gallup for final review, pres-entation, and implementation. EPA has offered to provide up to five (5) free targeted Brownfields assessments after the COG’s program concludes. Success Story. In 2010, McKinley County requested Phase I assessment on a prop-erty owned by the City of Gallup near the intersection of Boardman Drive and Boyd Avenue in Gallup, New Mexico. This property was planned as the future site of a new Re-gional Judicial Complex. The Phase I report was completed on March 2011, and the County soon after purchased the property. During excava-tion of a hill, the County dis-covered an abandoned land mine. Through the Brown-fields program, the County received a liability shield as a non-responsible party, and the mine was properly closed. The County has bonded for the construction of the Regional Judicial Complex, estimated at $6+ million in redevelopment. If you would like information

on the Brownfields program

please contact the COG or

check out: nwnmcog.com/

C O N N E C T I N G T H E D O T S

Before

After

VILLAGE OF MILAN : Uranium Avenue—CDGB Street and Drainage Improvements Phase III

P A G E 3 V O L U M E 3 , I S S U E 3

The neighborhood along Ura-

nium Avenue in the Village of

Milan was subdivided in the

1950’s. The water and waste-

water lines are more than 50

years old. Street paving last

occurred in the 1970’s. There

are no curbs, gutters, or side-

walks. Lastly, there is no storm

water drainage and street light-

ning is non-existent. But, not

for long...

Today, the Uranium Avenue -

Street and Drainage Improve-

ments Phase III represents a 7-

year, $2+ million effort to cre-

ate a safer neighborhood along

Uranium Avenue. Phase I began

in 2005 and was then followed by

Phase II in 2009, all with the goal

to reconstruct Uranium Avenue.

Today only 1,300 Linear Feet

(LF) remain from connecting

Phase I & II street improvements

to the newly constructed Milan

Elementary School (2010), where

current school enrollment is

approximately 550 students.

The 1,300 feet of work will in-

clude replacement of water and

wastewater lines, street repaving

with the addition of curbs, gut-

ters, sidewalks, water meters, and

construction of storm water

drains. The project is ready to go

with public meetings complete

and1.) Preliminary Engineering

Report, 2.) Environmental Review,

and 3.) SHPO all complete. The

Final Design is in progress and will

be completed shortly.

source management.

McKinley County Facility Audits & Light-ing Retrofit. Under the EECBG program, COG partnered with Eaton Energy Solu-tions to perform audits on 42 County facilities and implement a lighting retro-fit at the County’s Adult Detention Cen-ter.

Milan Energy and Community Outreach (ECO) Project. COG worked to coordi-nate an outreach plan to provide pre-weatherization services to residents in the Village of Milan. COG established a partnership with Tohatchi YouthBuild to provide energy upgrades and small effi-ciency repairs.

A Strategic Partnership for the Region. In 2012, the COG executed a

contract with Eaton Energy Solutions, Inc., a full service and turnkey energy services company (ESCO). The COG created a com-prehensive energy services and solutions contract which would allow for our mem-bers to piggyback for any and all your en-ergy management and efficiency needs. There are five key services that we believe may benefit you & your entity: (1) audits; (2) commissioning; (3) retro -commissioning; and (4) retrofits. The fifth is a specific one that we believe can sup-port upfront hard costs for capitalizing energy efficiency projects. This financing

mechanism is performance contracting. The Performance Contracting Model al-lows the ESCO to identify and evaluate energy-saving opportunities and then rec-ommends a package of improvements to

be paid for through savings. The ESCO will guarantee that savings will meet or ex-ceed annual payments to cover all project costs—usually over a contract term of seven to 10 years. If savings don't materi-alize, the ESCO pays the difference, not you. To ensure savings, the ESCO offers staff training and long-term maintenance services. To see more case studies and learn about the full range of Eaton's services, please visit: www.eaton.com/energysolutions

In 2010, the North-west NM Council of G o v e r n m e n t s (COG) received a grant through the U.S. Department of

Energy’s “Energy Efficiency & Conserva-tion Block Grant” (EECBG) program to assist McKinley County with the imple-mentation of an energy project. The COG maximized this opportunity to de-velop energy planning and coordination experience. The COG has since worked on several projects including:

Gallup Energy Efficiency & Conserva-tion (GEEC) Project. Worked with the City of Gallup including a pre-program consultation, recommendations, and report, and the GEEC implementation plan. The implementation plan fo-cused on data management, low and no cost efficiency measures, financing options, audit strategy based on base-level assessments, retrofit strategy, renewable energy strategy, and op-tions for a permanent energy pro-gram.

McKinley County Strategy Energy Action Plan. As part of a U.S. Depart-ment of Energy EECBG, the COG pro-duced a comprehensive plan for the County that made recommendations to improve energy efficiency and re-

NWNM REGIONAL ENERGY PROGRAM : A MONEY SAVER

Full Amount Requested $500,000

Cash Match $50,000

Local Contribution $503,769

Total Project Cost $1,003,769

Phased Amount Requested $450,000

Cash Match $45,000

Local Contribution $106,613 Total Phase Project Cost $556,613

Uranium Avenue above

current and proposed im-provements. Below: Milan Elementary School

P A G E 4

CITY OF GALLUP: CDBG SKY CITY PUBLIC HOUSING INFRASTRUCTURE

The Wheels Keep on Turning… NWRPO News The Northwest RPO has been

keeping active the last couple of

months. Beginning in March, the

FHWA provided an intensive

Long Range Transportation Plan-

ning training at the Mid Region-

COG in Albuquerque, NM.

In April, NWNMCOG Executive

Director Jeff Kiely participated in

a National Rural Transportation

Conference in Burlington Ver-

mont. He provided an informative

and intensive power-point presen-

tation on rural and tribal collabo-

ration, challenges and successes in

northwest New Mexico (see also

Notes from the Director).

The RPO Planner also played a

lead role in organizing a major

stakeholders meeting on May 2,

2012 at Fire Rock Navajo Casino

in Churchrock to discuss expan-

sion and improvement of the NM-

118 corridor from Rehoboth to

Churchrock. This corridor is and

will continue to become vitally

important as economic develop-

ment continues to grow. Cur-

rently, the corridor has outgrown

its traffic capacity, creating safety

and congestion concerns. The

meeting included representation

from several Navajo Chapters,

community of Rehoboth, McKinley

County, N.M. DOT-District 6,

Transportation Commissioner

Jackson Gibson, Eastern Agency

BIA, and many involved Navajo

Nation Departments, with top

executive leadership from most of

these organizations.

The RPO Planner developed a T.I.F.

application to N.M. Indian Affairs

for Churchrock Chapter support-

ing a feasibility study for further

development of the NM-118 corri-

dor described above

During the past quarter, the annual

prioritization of transportation

projects submitted from local

governments took place at the

RPO – R.T.P.I.R. meetings, and

the RPO Planner developed the

Annual Work Program for the

NWRPO for the new FY-13 year.

Trail of the Ancients Scenic Byway

was funded for interpretive kiosks

at the Northwest NM Visitor

Center (Grants) and Manuelito

Visitor Center (west of Gallup);

we are presently completing NM-

DOT regulatory documentation

toward the release of these funds.

RPO Planner and other COG staff

attended a mid-February Blessing

Ceremony, and mid-March Grand

Opening for the new $18 million

Navajo Nation Division of Trans-

portation (NNDOT) facility in Tse

Bonito., New Mexico, near Win-

dow Rock, Arizona (see photos,

left).

estimated to be as much as 60

years old.

SOLUTION: The project, which

will improve the lives of approxi-

mately 300 residents, will involve

street reconstruction, removal

and replacement of deteriorated

concrete curbs, gutters and side-

walks on the west side of Cliff

Drive, the east side of Strong

Drive, Vista Avenue, Curtis Ave-

nue and Vega Avenue. The pro-

ject will also upgrade and update

ADA compliance features and

drainage. The City will apply addi-

tional matching funds to replace

and upgrade water and sewer

lines under the streets.

The project, in Phase 3 or four

phases, is expected to improve

pedestrian safety for residents

and students, improve access and

NEED: Pavement, sidewalks,

curbs and gutters in the Sky

City Public Housing Project (La

Loma Addition) are significantly

deteriorated and do not com-

ply with the Americans with

Disabilities Act for access and

travel – conditions that pose a

threat to public safety. This

concern is exacerbated by the

frequent use of these facilities

by young children attending the

Juan de Oñate Elementary

School, adjacent to the addi-

tion. This decaying infrastruc-

ture also contributes to condi-

tions of blight in the area,

which compromise residents’

quality of life. The streets in

this neighborhood are over 50

years old and have never been

reconstructed, and some of the

plumbing under the streets are

mobility for the disabled, improve

aesthetics and mitigate blight con-

ditions.

READINESS: The project is ready

to go, with all necessary ROW

C O N N E C T I N G T H E D O T S

and Environmental Assessments

prepared and completed.

FEASIBILITY: City of Gallup and

the Gallup Housing Authority col-

laborated to insure feasibility and

appropriateness of

the project.

The City of Gallup

listed rehabilitation

of sidewalks, curbs

and gutters as a top

priority in the City

of Gallup’s Growth

Management Master

Plan and the project

is highly ranked in

the ICIP.

Full Amount Requested $500,000

Cash Match (secured @27.5%) $187,500

Additional Match available (for phased project @41.6%) ($50,000)

Total Project Budget $687,500

Phased Amount Requested $450,000 This project is Phase 3 of 4 for this neighborhood

NNDOT’s Arlando Teller,

Ron Shutiva, NMDOT, and RPO Planner Bob Kuipers at the Navajo Nation DOT

Grand Opening near Tse Bonito, NM

One of numerous murals and

art throughout the state-of-the-art NNDOT building.

EDO’s in the Region: Bringing Business and Jobs

P A G E 5 V O L U M E 3 , I S S U E 3

There are three active Economic Devel-

opment Organizations (EDO’s) in the

Northwest New Mexico region: Cibola

Communities Economic Development

Foundation (CCEDF), Inc., in Grants;

the Greater Gallup Economic Develop-

ment Corporation (GGEDC) in Gallup;

and Four Corners Economic Develop-

ment or 4CED, (4CED is formerly San

Juan Economic Development Service or

SJEDS) in Farmington, New Mexico.

Eileen Yarborough is the Executive

Director of CCEDF; she was brought

on last year with the goal of “furthering

the development of Economic and

Industrial Development base for the

greater Grants” area.

In Gallup, New Mexico, the Board of

the GGEDC recently brought on board

New Mexico Legislator, Representative

Patty Lundstrom as the Executive Di-

rector of GGEDC. Since March, she

has been working to kick-start the

relatively new organization. She in-

forms, “The primary focus to date is

setting up the corporation and the new

website. We know 80% of all site se-

lectors look to the website to deter-

mine if Gallup can meet their needs for

relocation or to start up. We antici-

pate our website to be in full operation

by early July. We have a great board

and professional staff ready to move

economic development services into

the next century.”

Day-to-day activities of 4CED are han-

dled by Julie Rasor, in addition, Sally

Burbridge, Mayor of Aztec, is President

of the Executive Board of 4CED. The

organization is comprised of local civic

and business leaders who are con-

cerned about the declining gas and oil

industry in the Four Corners area and

are looking to diversify the businesses

and/or industry in the Farmington and

surrounding region. They’ve been

actively meeting on a weekly basis for

several months now and looking at

marketing and branding of 4CED name

as well as looking at potential funding

sources to expand the EDO’s budget.

ture attractions in and around our Four

Corners area to audiences around the

world. Furthermore, it is only one of

17 Geo-tourism locations world wide.

COG Regional Planner, Robert Kuipers,

and tourism stakeholders across the

region have collaborated tirelessly and

diligently on the project from its incep-

tion in hopes of leveraging a stronger

presence in both national and interna-

tional tourism arenas. The website and

MapGuide are great resources that will

entice the adventurous tourist in seek-

ing out a deeper and more authentic

experience of culture and history in our

region. It is estimated there is a niche

market of 65 million geo-tourists

around the globe.

The website is a “growing” website,

also supported by National Geo-

graphic, which allows local contribu-

tors to add places, events, and other

information to the website. Secondly,

it also gives the local, small business,

artisan, or organization a boost in pro-

moting their services, craft, or event.

This translates to expansion and im-

provement of our local, rural econ-

omy.

For more information check out the

website at:

www.fourcornersgeotourism.com

On June 2, 2012, supporters, local

community leaders, regional and state

tourism managers, and geo-tourism

site nominees will join together for

the official launch of the Four Cor-

ners Geo-tourism website and

National Geographic’s Geo-

tourism MapGuide at the historic

Aztec Ruins National Monu-

ment. This is a significant launch for

not only the National Monument, but

for the entire Four Corners region.

Many state and national dignitaries

from all four states, along with local

and regional leaders are expected at

this event, including (not yet con-

firmed) U.S. Secretary of the In-

terior, Ken Salazar.

The Geo-tourism MapGuide high-

lights the enchanted landscapes and

enduring people of our region by

showcasing our numerous natural,

cultural, historic, event, and adven-

FOUR CORNERS MAPGUIDE & GEOTOURISM LAUNCH

“We know 80%

of all site

selectors look

to the website

to determine if

Gallup can

meet their

needs for

relocation or to

start up.”

Downtown Gallup, New Mexico Main Street, Downtown Farmington, New Mexico Main Street, Grants, New Mexico

Also at this Washington conference, NADO’s Southwest Caucus members confirmed their desire for me to represent them in running for the Executive Committee of the national Board. I visited with the other four regional caucuses, and so far we have their support. Nomination and election occur in conjunction with NADO’s national training conference this

October.

NewMARC: Our statewide association met on April 18th in Las Vegas, NM prior to the Rural Economic Development Forum, where we consulted in depth with Legislative Finance Committee Chairman Lucky Varela and senior staff Linda Kehoe on capital outlay reform. Our COG had helped author our white paper on the subject, and this meeting with the LFC reps made a lot of progress toward specific

“next steps” in the reform process.

NM Rural Economic Development Forum: We enjoyed the excellent Rural Forum in Las Vegas, New Mexico sponsored by the New Mexico Rural Alliance, with substantial and timely seminars on MainStreet business devel-opment and market analysis, new capital in-vestment tools, new economic demographics tools, the creation of arts and culture districts in New Mexico’s small towns, asset-based community development, and site selector data needed for economic recruitment. It was energizing to see the role and relationship between the COG districts and the state and local economic development organizations that are working to fashion a competitive

economy.

“RPO America” National Rural Transporta-tion Conference: NADO invited me to pre-sent at this national conference on the subject of inter-jurisdictional collaboration, based on our experience in Northwest New Mexico with tribal involvement in the RPO planning

Greetings to all,

Volatile … polarized … transitional. Words used to describe the Washington

political scene.

Partnerships … strategic … regional … synergy … innovation. Words used to de-scribe what federal agency leaders are looking for when investing in economic de-

velopment.

Concepts I’ve heard often in recent months – in different places and in different ways. A quick recap of my recent adventures and

learnings:

NADO Washington Conference: In late March I attended this conference of our national association. Not surprisingly, we learned of cut-backs in the many federal programs affecting the COGs and their members. A $38 million proposed cut in EDA will mean a loss of over 30 projects nationwide. On the upside, efforts by some Congressmen to “kill” EDA, using very old and out-of-context data, failed, and the COG/Economic Development District pro-

gram was held harmless.

In the transportation arena, NADO and its members are trying to protect the “small MPO” component of the Transportation Bill (Farmington would be affected), and we’re also promoting a stronger role by local elected officials in transportation policy and funding – by climbing the “ladder of the “4 C’s”: From Consultation to Cooperation to Coordination to Collaboration. Right now, the next step legislatively is to try to move the relationship from Stage 2 (Cooperation) to Stage 3 (Coordination). “RTPOs” (rural/regional transportation plan-ning organizations) are an important piece of

that conversation.

process. The conference was held in Burlington, Vermont on the shores of Lake Champlain, and I signed up for the end-of-conference Bike Tour on the Island Line Back Path. Only problem: we pedaled against 30 mph winds, with a 20-degree wind chill factor! Maybe a good metaphor for trying to promote and rebuild our Nation’s infra-

structure?

Southwest Region Eco-nomic Development Conference: In mid-May, I joined my other six fellow NewMARC directors at this “mandatory” regional conference in Oklahoma City co-sponsored by the EDA-Austin Regional Office and the South-west Regional Economic Development Associa-tion. I facilitated several work sessions between the COGs and Paladin Data, a Seattle firm that has built a powerful and user-friendly project-tracking tool called “Panoramic.” We are work-ing on getting multi-agency co-funding of this software, which can revolutionize how we track transportation, economic development and other

projects across our region and State.

So … lots of connections, lots of info, lots of opportunities. We look forward to integrating new learnings and tools into our regional leader-ship efforts going forward, and to sharing them with all of you! Have a great summer, and we’ll see you in late August for our 40th anniversary annual meeting and banquet! Keep an eye for the forth-

coming details.

Jeff Kiely, Executive Director

Phone: (505) 722-4327

Fax: (505) 722-9211

Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments

Notes from the Director...

Advancing Northwest New Mexico by

serving local governments through

regional partnerships since 1972

Important Dates Date Time Place

CDC Allocation Hearing May 31, 2012 8:00 AM Albuquerque, NM

NADO Board of Director’s—Annual Retreat

June 9-11,2012 — Park City, Utah

NWRPO Meeting June 13, 2012 July 11, 2012 August 8, 2012

10:00 AM 10:00 AM 10:00 AM

Pueblo of Zuni TBA TBA

Beginning & end of Fiscal Year 2012-2013 & 2013-2014

June 30 & July 1, 2012

— COG

Independence Day July 4, 2012 — COG Offices Closed

COG Board Annual Meet-ing & Luncheon

August 2012 — San Juan County

409 South Second Street

Gallup, New Mexico 87301

We’re on the Web!

www.nwnmcog.com

Church Street in Burlington, VT