It wasn’t as if the City Council rushed through the 11 items on the agenda Feb. 9. Much the opposite was true as they considered each item thoroughly.

There were six resolutions to consider, but three of them tied in to each other on the naming of a new park and the acceptance of two legislative appropriations for that development.

The new park will be in the vacant lot south of Rocky View Elementary and will be named “Oliva Park at Basilio Drive” in accordance with the preference of Joe and Christine DiGregorio, who donated the land.

Although funds for the completed construction are still short approximately $85,000, even after these two appropriations combined of $160,000, it was noted that both state Sen. John Pinto and Rep. Patty Lundstrom have agreed to provide $25,000 each in further appropriations.

The new skate board park was also the subject of a legislative appropriation, though the shortfall for this construction is about $400,000. Funds are beginning to flow into this project though as $195,000 has been requested from this legislative session. In addition, Southwest Indian Foundation has donated $50,000 and is seeking private money to alleviate the current problem.

McKinley County DWI Director Debra Martinez presented the Local Liquor Excise Tax Accountability Report for the fourth quarter of 2015, which was approved and accepted by council, who also approved new appointments to the Gallup Sports and Youth Commission made by Mayor Jackie McKinney.

Those appointments – for one term – include Gary Schuster for GMCS; Kelly Mortensen for Youth Soccer; Glen Benefield for TDFL; Denise Parra for Youth Basketball; Kevin Menapace for Amateur Baseball/Softball; Sheila Silva for Adult Baseball/Softball; Gloria Saucedo for Old Timers Softball; and three members-at-large: Marc DePauli, Kenny Carabajal, and Vince Alonzo.

Vacant positions still exist for Adult Soccer and Adult Basketball.

The council also accepted and approved two easements for Reach 27.6 of the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project. They approved as well a resolution for submission of a Bureau of Reclamation Grant Application presented to them by Vince Tovar, director of the Gallup Water and Sanitation Department.

Tovar also asked for a budget adjustment for professional and legal services for water rights acquisition. This cost has risen to $250,000 because of the stalling tactics of the state, but Gallup is almost guaranteed to win this battle, and as McKinney said, “We’re in too deep to back out now.”

The final item on the agenda was approving the Growth Management Master plan, 2016 Update for the City of Gallup. Two small changes were made to the plan. A public referendum for an indoor arena was killed before it came to fruition due to the enormous cost. An effort to establish a program to demolish derelict houses and develop replacement housing was also eliminated since the city has been doing the condemnation and demolition for four to five years now, according to Clyde (C.B.) Strain, planning director.

The council was moving quickly now after finishing the last item. There were no public comments, and comments from the mayor, councilors, and city manager were brief. The only info was that the Gallup Fitness Center would be closed until Feb. 16.

Councilor Yogash Kumar and City Attorney George Kozeliski were not present due to other commitments.