A look back at tragedies, triumphs for Rio Rancho
Major news stories in the year are recapped
There was no dearth of events making news in Rio Rancho and Sandoval County in 2015.
Here is a list of the Top 10, as picked by the Observer editorial staff:
1. OFFICER GREGG BENNER GUNNED DOWN ON MEMORIAL DAY
The May 25 shooting death of Rio Rancho Police Officer Gregg “Nigel” Benner stunned the community of Rio Rancho.
Benner, 49, who had been with the department four years, was shot multiple times following a traffic stop and short pursuit of the suspect, Andrew Romero. It was the first fatal shooting of an officer in the history of the Rio Rancho Police Department.
Rio Rancho residents responded with memorials, a candlelight vigil and many tributes to Benner, a 22-year Air Force veteran, in addition to support for his wife, Julie, and family.
As news helicopters flew overhead, hundreds of people lined the funeral procession route from Santa Ana Star Center to Vista Verde Memorial Park to pay their respects to the fallen officer. More than 50 law enforcement agencies were represented.
Earlier this month, Julie Benner was honored by Gov. Susana Martinez, who named her one of four of the governor’s 2015 New Mexico True Heroes.
Romero and his former girlfriend, Tabitha Littles, who was with Romero the night of the shooting, are each charged with first-degree murder and are awaiting trial.
2. RIO RANCHO GOVERNING BODY ACTIONS AND INACTIONS
“A 4-2 vote ... ” pretty much summed up the governing body’s year — with city councilors Chuck Wilkins and Mark Scott dissenting on a wide range of issues, including charter amendments, salary hikes, a wastewater treatment plant proposal, road funding and an additional UNM West building.
Censuring attempts and testy exchanges among council members also saw significant attention and kept our reporters busy throughout 2015.
Here were some key council highlights in 2015:
Charter amendments
A 4-2 vote at the Dec. 9 meeting allows for questions on proposed charter amendments on the March 1 municipal election ballot.
Included in the 11 amendments is a proposal to increase the mayor’s salary from $30,000 to $74,000 and raise councilors’ salary from $14,000 or $15,000 to $26,000.
If passed, officials taking office in 2018 (a mayor, and council members from districts 2, 3 and 5) will see a salary increase. In 2020, council members taking office from Districts 1, 4 and 6 would get their pay hike.
In 2012, voters approved a ballot measure to add the words “full time” to the mayor’s job description, but nothing about a salary increase to match, according to city spokeswoman Annemarie Garcia.
Wilkins and Scott voted “no” on the action both times it came before the governing body in November and December.
At the council’s Nov. 18 meeting, the motion failed on a 3-2 vote, with Councilor Cheryl Everett absent. The “no” votes by Wilkins and Scott were enough to kill the motion under city procedure — until it was presented again Dec. 9.
Circling the drain
■
The governing body spoke — sort of — on whether to issue a $25 million bond to replace the city’s oldest treatment plant.
City staff recommended replacing the 47-year-old Wastewater Treatment Plant 1 on Sara Road with a new facility, including a membrane bio reactor cleaning system to clean wastewater to a high level. The plan was endorsed by commercial development organization NAIOP, whose president called the project essential infrastructure, and the Rio Rancho Regional Chamber of Commerce.
The governing body, with Mayor Gregg Hull casting the tie-breaker, voted in favor of the measure. Wilkins and Scott dissented and Councilor Dawnn Robinson joined them. As the bond proposal fell short of the statutorily required five affirmative votes by city councilors, the matter was flushed for now.
Road bond
■
Voters will decide March 1 whether a $9 million bond issue should pay for roadway infrastructure improvements over the next five years.
Robinson repeated her treatment plant alliance with Wilkins and Scott when voting on this one, but it wasn’t enough to quash the measure. A December 4-3 governing body decision — following months of often heated debate among city councilors — made the ballot question possible for voters to decide.
Allegations against
■ Wilkins
Wilkins took heat for many decisions — including Rio Rancho resident Kerry Adams calling for his resignation and fellow council member Shelby Smith referring to him (and Scott) as a contentious objector regarding his charter amendment votes — but when the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office got involved on one issue, it had the District 1 councilor’s back.
Other governing board members accused Wilkins of a conflict of interest in supporting development of Unit 10, an area west of Unser Boulevard near Westside Boulevard, without revealing he owned a residential lot there. The allegations surfaced in 2014. State Sen. Craig Brandt, and Reps. Jason Harper, Tim Lewis and Paul Pacheco — all Republicans representing some portion of Rio Rancho — filed a complaint against Wilkins with the attorney general’s office.
However, following a review of the complaint, Deputy Attorney General of Criminal Affairs Sharon L. Pino said the office found insufficient evidence to charge Wilkins with any crime.
3. PRESBYTERIAN RUST MEDICAL CENTER OPENS SECOND TOWER
Presbyterian Rust Medical Center’s six-story second tower opened this month, following 18 months of construction.
The first three floors of the new building will house 48 beds, with the entire tower expected to hold 120 beds.
The first floor will also house the Ted and Margaret Jorgensen Cancer Center, slated to open Jan. 5, which will provide medical, radiology, oncology and infusion services.
The second floor opened to patients as the year closed, with the third floor expected to open in the near future and the fourth floor in March.
The $86 million expansion began in June 2014 and is expected to help the hospital grow from 810 to 935 employees. The first Rust facilities opened in late 2011.
4. COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY PICKS UP
Rio Rancho’s newest retail center, Plaza @ Enchanted Hills, opened with great fanfare in September.
The center features eight retailers: Bed Bath & Beyond, T.J. Maxx, Michael’s, Kirkland’s, Famous Footwear, Rue 21, Sally Beauty Supply and Maurice. The national pizza chain restaurant Domino’s also opened in the area.
The 225,000-square-foot plaza had been in planning and development since 2008.
Activity continued in what’s been called the “Unser corridor,” especially in the vicinity of Presbyterian Rust Medical Center.
New Mexico Orthopedic Associates and Hanger Clinic: Orthotic and Prosthetic Solutions opened earlier this year across from the hospital, with construction of a Nusenda credit union branch underway.
Chain restaurants Chickfil-A and Chili’s opened, with the former on Unser Boulevard near Southern and the latter alongside N.M. 528.
Convergys, an international contract customer center, announced in June plans to add 250 jobs. The customer service center had 600 employees at the time of the announcement.
Future developments were also announced this year, including the master plan for infrastructure work for the 180-acre Los Diamontes project. Work is planned to begin by the third quarter of 2016, said a representative of Excalibur Realty & Investments, and could bring in 1,500 to 2,000 clean-based economic jobs to the area.
5. ROADS SEE UPGRADES
Driving on city roads is often a bumpy experience for Rio Rancho motorists, but the rides started to get smoother in 2015.
Work resumed in the spring on the New Mexico Department of Transportation’s $11 million project to add driving and turn lanes, medians, landscaping and other improvements on N.M. 528 between Southern Boulevard and Ridgecrest Drive, concluding in late summer. Planning work is underway on a second phase between Ridgecrest and Northern Boulevard, but a start date for construction has not been determined.
Westside Boulevard saw improvements between Golf Course Road and Unser Boulevard, with the construction of an eastbound bridge over an arroyo and an asphalt overlay.
In November, Franklin Earthmoving Inc. started a $7.5 million reconstruction of Idalia Road between N.M. 528 and Iris Road. Work is expected to run through
September.
City officials said the extension of Broadmoor Boulevard between Northern Boulevard and Paseo del Volcan will begin in early 2016.
A significant part of Rio Rancho’s capital outlay wish list for the 2016 state legislative session includes roadwork. The city is requesting $5 million for reconstruction of Southern Boulevard and $1 million for rights-of-way acquisition to extend Lincoln Avenue to Paseo del Volcan, according to Deputy City Manager John Craig.
6. UNM WEST EYES EXPANSION
City councilors this month approved a $10 million memorandum of understanding and budget adjustment for the development of an additional education facility at the UNM West campus in Rio Rancho.
The funds would come from the city’s quarter-cent gross receipts tax for higher education facilities, which was approved by voters in 2008. The city funds would be matched with $10 million from statewide general obligation bonds.
The state Legislature and the governor must first approve the project in the package of GO bonds to go on the general election ballot in November 2016.
If all goes well, authorities said UNM West could be home to a new health sciences building by 2018.
The motion passed with another 4-2 vote. Wilkins and Scott dissented, saying they wanted to see more safeguards in place to protect taxpayers if UNM West’s plan doesn’t come to fruition.
7. OKLAHOMA-BASED COMPANY SEEKS TO EXPLORE FOR OIL
Oklahoma-based SandRidge Energy in November filed a zone change request with Sandoval County to drill an exploratory and production well in the Rio Rancho Estates area, west of the Rio Rancho city limits.
A hearing on the zoning application drew a large crowd to a Sandoval County Planning and Zoning Commission meeting earlier this month, with dozens of people signed up to speak, most of them in opposition to the proposed operation. The meeting was continued to Jan. 28. The planning board’s recommendation will be subject to Sandoval County Commission approval.
SandRidge’s application for a drill permit was approved by the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division on Nov. 11.
The proposed drill — anticipated to go to a depth of 10,500 feet — and production testing would take an estimated 25 days.
8. SCAFFOLDING COLLAPSE AT HOSPITAL KILLS ONE, INJURES SEVEN
One person died and seven others were injured when a six-story scaffolding collapsed Aug. 18 in an interior courtyard of the second Presbyterian Rust Medical Center tower under construction.
The 21-foot-wide section of the scaffolding was attached to a new patient tower that was nearing completion.
The name of the deceased was never released by authorities. Some of the floors in the new building opened this month.
McCarthy Building Companies was contracted for the construction project and the 238 workers at the site were employees of one of McCarthy’s subcontractors, according to hospital officials.
9. PROPOSED PULTE ACQUISITION OF CLUB RIO RANCHO’S ‘NORTH NINE’
The ever-evolving story
concerning the 45-year-old golf course in Rio Rancho took a new twist when Pulte Homes confirmed it had plans to build 180 upscale homes on what use to be the North Nine course at Club Rio Rancho.
Plans for the site, dormant after a former owner closed it because of water and cost concerns, angered many nearby homeowners who argued they paid extra to live there and designed their homes with the open space of the golf course in mind.
Pulte said the site was in escrow.
Club Rio Rancho Manager Josh Hernandez said the club remains in an “exploratory phase” with Pulte.
Hernandez said the oncefailing club, which had only about 100 members when it was purchased by Farmer’s Market chain owner Jhett Browne in 2014, has tripled its membership.
10. RRPS BEGINS DRUGTESTING FOR STUDENT ATHLETES
Rio Rancho Public Schools enacted a random drug test policy for student-athletes, beginning with the 2015-16 school year.
Tests are conducted randomly throughout the student-athletes’ school days for alcohol, opiates, marijuana, cocaine, amphetamine and barbiturates.
The penalty for a first positive test is a 20-day suspension; the second positive test leads to 45 active days without practicing or playing with the studentathlete’s team.
A 12-person panel helped create the new policy, each either a head coach or athletic coordinator. Twentyeight coaches were polled on the new policy, with 22 voting in favor and six choosing not to vote. The new policy applies only to high school student-athletes.
Rio Rancho Public Schools joined Hobbs, Carlsbad, Clovis, Artesia and St. Pius X as high schools to adopt a random drug test policy.