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Tuesday. // -" ~ - \ -- .-/ -- ." 35~ TUESDAY. August 11. 19B7 SERVING AlAMOSA. CONEJOS. COSTILLA. MINERAL. RIO GRANDE AND SAGUACHE (aUNTIE S . VOLUME UNO. 157' Alamosa, Colorado 81101 Sewage flooding creek State tells San' Luis to stop contamination By WANDADIETRlCB Coarla' """'"""'" SAN LUIS - The CostilJa """"" aumm..!"",!, _ _._ coofrmted with this town's waterpr'd:llew; Wedoe"day. wbeDSan I.J1isMl)w Joe E3p1oo:ta reported that a State ci Emergency u hem declaredfot San Luis by the TOlm Council becall3e of excess water. Water being pumped into the town's sewage SJ!temlrom resident's att.empb to keep their basements dry has overIOIIded the sewqe lagooos. Became the}agooos are overloaded. they are spilling a1nmt met! the Oaw permitted. and 215 times the bacterial content allowed, into Culebra Creek. 'The Worado State Healtb. Department bas naMed the town that it must Immediately either stop Ibe ettea: water from entering the system, or COD3tnJcta new' $1SO,ooo st1raR:e lagOOQ. A Iiledtaln _11>IlnIni aloag doe...... and......bonIen.o( llluLLoIa eventually draining into Culebra Creek was prcposed by the SoU c.oOaenaUCll1 Service to intercept ground ~ter~it~~~~~.~ State tells San Luis to stop contamination........... ............................... (Continued from P8li:e 1) n the northern part of town. If there is less water in people's basements, there will 02: Ie&! water pumped Into the.sewage system. Espinou. asked the Commi.sslonera or in-kind help installing this system. In 811$Wer to quesUorul about the cost. of the tUe drainage system, Espinor.a in- onned the com.mlssi.oners it would cost about S100,OOO for the complete.system. ~st Chavez asil:edU thetownhad' anymoney fortbeproJeel.. "No:' replied Espinoza. Chavez said he didn't think the county could legally give the town help, but that bey might be able to lease equipment to the town for the project.. County Adminlstr.ator Mac1ovio GallegO!! said the county has legal n:strIctlons :nd paperwork that Is necessary for the county to give such help. He said be would )()k mto it. Community Action Agency Director Dave Pacheco reported that the town hopes ~ receive grant money totund a massive drainage study that will cover the entire own of San Luis and make recommendations for solutions. Without proper study. .e added, applications for granb are not likely to receive much consIderadoo, but "thout outside funding, San Luis will not be able to solve its water problem. Several area l'1lnCbers asked. the commissioners to mediate some disagreements t:ey have conctming land leased from the county, 'I'M dispute conc:erm the lIJ1Chers' abWty to control the cattle on the leased land. County Attorney Bob Pastore said be would be willing to mediate the dispute, '3ming that the county would no lmger be intere3ted In leasing the land if It &.~probJem.s. Alphonso Gallegos asked the commIssI.oner.t' help In 50Iving sccess problems be Is having. HLs son bought land, with a verbal easement agreement, but now be Is unable to get tohlsland to work in the field. Pastore explained that it Ls not the Ct>unty', Job to provide acces.! to the property, but that b a di.!lpute between the two parties involved. He offered to sit down with them and help them find a fair agreement. Qlavez agreed, saying that the county doesn't care who leases the land. but It tWesn't:wantproblerm. The commissioners opened bids that they had received for a new grader. Jom BIIITis of MacDonald EquIpment Co. questioned why bids that did nat lnclttde the demorL!traaon req~~ by ~ comrniss.ioners were still eligible for c0n- sideration and hb Wa! not, even though it WB$ late. He pointed out that his grader WB$ priced S1,746le!lS than the nearest competittt'. GaUe@os informed him that the commissioners could reject any bid, for any .reason. and that to bend the rule! in this way would set a bad precedent. He stated that the only way to legally accept MaeDona1d's offer would be to reopen the bidding pl'llCl!:SS. Pastore agreed. adding that a demonstration was not a conditfm,- wbfIe the deadline was. No action was taken on the matter. Duke WhIte of the Mesila Developnent Committee mJuested county belp and sapport in reincorpocati08 tbe town. He explained that development is moving up frcm Taos., and they would like Mesita to be an entity agal..n. No actica was taken. White abo asked why the library In San Luis bas so little money, He bad ordered books throngb the library, but the library had no mooey to pay the partage. White questioned '/I'by the lIbrary'sholmJ had been reduced. Gallegos explained that the library b funded by a separate bond issue. Last year . It overspent its budget, and must cut back this year. He stated that the library has received $1,300 from the state, so nen year the library will be In better shape. Prnx Ortega reported that the County Emergmcy Medical Technicians have a good performanct rating, and witb a recent good report, that rating Is being maintained. Community Education Classes havestartedhl the EMT building,l! will continue. Ortega suggested that the sidewalk in front of the EMT buDding be completed a soon as possible. Fred Sanchez snggested that the 1ancbcaptng suggested by tht Colorado University Team that visited earlier be consfdered.. Chavez questlmed the expense. He was Wormed that the bigge.!l expense would be for the fence, and that the labor would come from the county. Ortega questiooed what he should do about those people who do DOt pay their ambulance bills. He was told to keep sending them a montbly bill Sitting on the Board of Health. the commissioners approved a 18 percent fn.. crease in the salary of the director of Co.stilliI County Nal"$ing ServIces to $19,500. and appointed Ctysta1 Brandt to that position. Audrey Martinez requested that the house that her mother, Nadine Rascoa bad owned be declared a heaHh haJard. The f)ou.,e ha4 caagbt fire befoIoe ~ passed away, and the plastic sew:B3e lines were burned through. SInce the Bre. the boU3e has begun to ~ell ftttn the sewage,and the fact that water bas not been pumped away. The commissioners decided to have the hotI3e inspected to see U It is a health hazard, and will decide at the next meeting what to do. The commissioDers sold 106 Job in the !.ago Costilla Raocbes to a client of Qd Coleman for three years of back taus., pri!)r to the county taking over the land. : The EI Rita Cemetery near San Francisco bas nm out 01. space.. The owner of the property evidently is wil1ing to gelllots adJecen1 to the ~lery._A nqu.est_as made to the commis.sionrs to help pay for the property to claim tax dedut:tfom. . The commissioners appointed Dave Pacheco, Amos Bemal, Tom Valdez lIPId Maclovia Gallegos to the Airport Board. The COJnmissioners replied to a request for a job, by stating that one ball of ~ county workers: will be laid off fir four months, unW November. This b to be a!t.) tohireduring the winter, whenagricu:~jobsareSClltCfJ:.