Otero County Commission to Convene Tuesday 9 am

ALAMOGORDO — The Otero County Board of Commissioners meets at 9 a.m. today, Tuesday, Nov. 10, in Room 123 of the County Administration Building, 1101 New York Ave., with certification of the 2026 General Election results set for 10 a.m.

Commission Chairman Vickie Marquardt (District 3), Vice-Chairman Gerald Matherly (District 1) and Commissioner Amy Barela (District 2) face a 32-item agenda backed by a 756-page meeting packet.

Beyond routine business, the board is set to weigh in on four matters reaching well past county lines: the planned demolition of the Sacramento Peak Observatory at Sunspot, the proposed Union Pacific–Norfolk Southern railroad merger, a two-county economic development compact with Lincoln County, and who may hold stock water rights on public land.

Agenda packets list no county spending tied to any of those resolutions. The meeting's largest dollar figures instead come from state road and public safety funding and a jail health care contract, all on the consent agenda.

Election results to be made official

This morning , County Clerk Selina Maes will ask commissioners to certify the canvass of the 2026 General Election. Sitting as the county canvassing board, the commission's vote makes local results official one week after Election Day.

The agenda lists the canvass as a timed item, meaning it will be taken up at 10 a.m. even if other business is still underway.

County seeks pause on Sunspot demolition

The county is asking federal agencies to hold off on tearing down the Sacramento Peak Observatory campus until someone decides whether any of it should be saved.

The National Science Foundation announced Oct. 19 that it would demolish the Sunspot campus in two phases beginning in fiscal year 2027, with the first contract to be awarded by March 2027. Work already underway on the Dunn Solar Telescope is excluded. The campus covers about 76 buildings and structures on Lincoln National Forest land, including housing, a dormitory, a community center and a visitor center that drew 12,000 to 15,000 people a year.

The campus water and wastewater system also serves the neighboring Apache Point Observatory and the Otero County Fire District station at Sunspot. The county says it has not received the information it needs to judge how demolition would affect either one.

Resolution 115-28, presented by County Attorney RB Nichols, rests on two earlier federal documents. NSF's 2019 Record of Decision and a 2018 Programmatic Agreement say that if the Forest Service identifies a need to keep buildings or utilities, for itself or others, NSF would transfer them rather than demolish them. According to the packet, that evaluation has not been made.

The resolution would:

• Ask the Lincoln National Forest supervisor to make that evaluation and, jointly with the county, ask NSF to delay the Phase 1 contract until it and a public reuse process are done.
• Request, within 30 days, the list of structures in each phase, the demolition management plan, wildlife clearances for northern goshawk season, water system drawings, and the Forest Service's plan for the Sunspot fire station.
• Confirm the county as a consulting party under federal historic preservation rules, with Nichols as its representative.
• Ratify Marquardt's Oct. 30 letter to NSF and follow-up letters to the Forest Service and NSF.
• Direct Emergency Services and the county attorney to report on the fire station's water supply.

The resolution states it does not commit the county to acquire, run, fund or maintain anything at Sunspot. Any such decision would come back to the board.

Railroad merger support, with conditions

Union Pacific asked the county for a letter supporting its proposed takeover of Norfolk Southern, which would create a single coast-to-coast railroad. Resolution 115-25 would give that support, with three local conditions attached.

The local stake is the Otero Siding Extension. Union Pacific plans to lengthen an existing siding about seven miles north of Tularosa to roughly 15,000 feet, so trains can meet and pass at up to 40 mph. The railroad estimates the cost at $11 million. The project was presented to Marquardt on Nov. 2.

Union Pacific's Carrizozo Subdivision runs through Alamogordo and Tularosa as a freight link between El Paso and the national network. The railroad says the merger would shift more than 2.1 million truckloads a year off highways. The county's draft letter notes that U.S. 54 and U.S. 70 carry heavy truck traffic through local communities.

Longer trains holding on a siding can block road crossings, however. The county wants the federal Surface Transportation Board to require:

1. Limits on how long trains may block public crossings in Otero County, including near the new siding.
2. Hazardous materials shipment information and responder training for the Office of Emergency Services and local fire departments, including Tularosa's.
3. Advance notice before siding construction and good-faith efforts to hire local contractors and workers.

The merger faces opposition from rival railroads BNSF, CSX and CPKC, shipper groups, rail unions and seven state attorneys general, mostly over national competition. The county's resolution says it takes no position on those issues. Under federal law the county cannot regulate the siding directly, Nichols wrote, so asking for conditions is its main way to protect local interests.

Comments are due to the Surface Transportation Board on Nov. 18. The resolution would authorize Marquardt to sign and Nichols to file them.

Teaming up with Lincoln County

Resolution 115-27 would approve a memorandum of agreement creating the Otero–Lincoln Regional Economic Development Initiative, a joint marketing compact meant to pitch the two counties to employers as one market.

The board endorsed the concept in March. Otero County's population is about 70,400 and Lincoln County's about 19,800, a combined 90,200. That is nearly double the 50,000-person mark national site selectors use to screen markets, according to the packet. The model is the Clovis/Portales "Microplex," which the packet credits with drawing national retailers and a $200 million processing plant.

Sending the draft to Lincoln County was delayed through spring litigation and the Lincoln County fire emergency. Since then, Census Bureau commuting data has shown more than 1,000 workers crossing the county line daily. Nichols writes that the data meets the federal threshold for a Combined Statistical Area designation in four of the last five years.

Key terms of the agreement:

• Purpose: a shared demographics package, regional brand, coordinated business recruitment and joint pursuit of state and federal funding.
• Limits: it creates no new government, no regulatory or zoning power and no joint treasury. Each party approves its own spending separately.
• Governance: a steering committee with one vote per county, per participating city or village, and for the Alamogordo and Ruidoso Valley chambers of commerce. A quorum needs at least one member from each county.
• Lead organizer: the Alamogordo Chamber of Commerce, which accepted the role Sept. 16.
• Term: four years, renewing automatically. Any party may withdraw on 180 days' notice.

All eight incorporated municipalities in the two counties would be invited to join, starting with Alamogordo, which asked to be a full party. Holloman Air Force Base, NMSU-Alamogordo, ENMU-Ruidoso and smaller chambers are named as advisory invitees. The Mescalero Apache Tribe could join later.

The agreement takes effect only if the Lincoln County Commission also approves it. The resolution leaves blank which Otero commissioner will hold the county's steering committee seat. The packet lists no county spending tied to this action.

Water rights, monuments and the 2027 Legislature

Three resolutions put the county on record ahead of next year's state and federal debates over land and water.

Stock water rights. Resolution 115-26 backs a draft bill for the 2027 legislative session on stock tanks built on state and federal land. Applicants for a stock water impoundment permit would have to show they own or control the livestock, are legally allowed to graze the land and have permission to build there. The draft also says owning or managing land does not, by itself, create a stock water right.

Nichols writes that the change would confirm that stock water belongs to the ranchers who build and use it, not to a land agency. He cites a 1978 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that national forests hold no reserved water rights for stock watering. His memo also flags likely opposition. The State Engineer called a similar 2025 bill unnecessary, and the State Land Office, federal agencies or conservation groups may object. The draft has no sponsor yet.

LANDS Act. Marquardt's Resolution 115-19 supports H.R. 10669, the Legislative Approval for National Designations Act. The bill would require congressional approval for federal land withdrawals over 5,000 acres. It would also cap new national monuments at 640 acres and require them to be at least 50 miles apart. The resolution argues that large monument designations can close roads, curtail grazing and hunting and cut county revenue. Much of the county's roughly 4.26 million acres is federally managed.

State priorities. Resolution 115-17 endorses New Mexico Counties' four priorities for 2027:

• Full funding to reimburse counties for jailing state inmates (a five-year average cost of $9.38 million, against $4.7 million appropriated in 2025), plus money for 700 MHz radios and to offset revenue lost to disabled veterans' tax exemptions.
• Limits on damages under the New Mexico Civil Rights Act.
• Changes to the Inspection of Public Records Act to curb abusive requests.
• Recognition of emergency medical services as an essential government service.

$11.7 million for roads and public safety

Some of the meeting's largest dollar figures sit on the consent agenda, which passes in a single vote unless a commissioner pulls an item for discussion. Five state funding agreements total about $11.7 million. The county would repay about $1 million of it.

Bent and La Luz are state-designated colonias, which qualifies them for the Colonias Infrastructure Project Fund. Both awards are 90% grant and 10% loan. The county would repay the loan share at 0% interest plus a 0.25% annual administrative fee. It must also maintain each road for its 20-year useful life. The Bent work covers excavation, stormwater drainage and erosion control. The La Luz work replaces pavement, base and drainage.

The three Department of Finance and Administration grants come from 2026 legislative appropriations and need no county match. The county pays costs up front and is reimbursed, and it covers any overruns. The Chaparral and dispatch money must be spent by June 30, 2030, after a 1% Art in Public Places set-aside. The truck must be delivered by June 30, 2028.

Jail, sheriff and other business

The Otero County Detention Center has two items from Correctional Services Director Nena Sisler:

• Inmate health care: a $2,446,919.97 renewal with Vitalcore Health Strategies for detainees' medical and mental health care, already in the FY2027 budget. The jail first contracted with Vitalcore in August 2019, and this is the sixth renewal.
• Body scanner warranty: a five-year, $63,200 extended warranty from APIC Solutions on the contraband body scanner bought in 2024. Its original two-year warranty expired Oct. 31. APIC also offered one-year ($17,380) and three-year ($47,400) plans, but Sisler calls the five-year plan the most cost-effective.

Sheriff David Black is asking to convert the Lieutenant Admin position into a full-time Public Safety Technology and Security Manager, at the same pay. The job would replace a part-time role now held by IT specialist Matthew Lundquist. Black is also seeking a $21,915.86 grant management contract with Laura Garcia for the FY25 Operation Stonegarden border security grant, paid from the grant itself.

Other items:

• Lobbyist: Devore Aragon Government Affairs would be awarded the state legislative lobbyist contract. It was the only bidder on the re-bid, which closed Oct. 13.
• Sick leave buyback: employees with more than 480 hours banked could sell back up to 80 hours at 50 cents on the dollar in FY2027.
• Surplus auction: retired vehicles and equipment would be sold on GovDeals.com.
• Routine business: November budget adjustments, quarterly financial reports, minutes, bills, healthcare assistance claims and annual PERA service reporting for volunteer firefighter Richard Addis Jr.

Proclamations, reports and closed session

The meeting opens with proclamations honoring Veterans Day and recognizing National Nurse Practitioner Week. Commissioners will then hear reports from the Sheriff's Office, TBRDA, Emergency Services, the Road Department, the project manager, the Detention Center and the U.S. Forest Service.

Residents may address the commission during unscheduled citizen communications, limited to three minutes per speaker. The meeting is scheduled to end with an executive session to discuss litigation and the purchase, acquisition or sale of real property, as allowed under the New Mexico Open Meetings Act.

The commission reserves the right to adjust the agenda during the meeting.

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