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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
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Top Stories

Wednesday, May 30, 2001

County OKs $30 million RCDC expansion

By ROSIE FLORES
Staff Writer

PECOS, Wed., May 30, 2001 -- Reeves County Commissioners took the next step towards construction  of another major addition to the Reeves County Detention Center on  Tuesday, approving financing, architects and a construction company for the  project during their regular Commissioners Court meeting.

By a 3-1 vote, commissioners approved the construction of RCDC III, which will be financed by Carlyle Capital Markets, Inc., with Lorraine Dailey, with Dailey, Rabke and Gondeck, as the main architect on the project and Carothers Construction, Inc. will be in charge of the construction phase of the major project. The first two companies have both been involved with the earlier RCDC expansion projects, while Carothers will handing construction at the site for the first time.

Voting in favor of the project were Precinct 1 Commissioner Felipe Arredondo, Precinct 2 Commissioner David Castillo and Precinct 3 Commissioner Herman Tarin all voted for the expansion of the center and the construction, while Precinct 4 Commissioner Hivi Rayos voting against.

Rayos said that he would like the commissioners court to wait for at least a year before approving the additional construction, however, he was out-voted and plans are to move forward on the construction.

Reeves County Judge Jimmy B. Galindo told the group that professional services contracts should be made based on the quality of service and not the price, in introducing Dailey, who was the architect for RCDC II.

Dailey reviewed the presentation she made to commissioners during a meeting last month. "At the last meeting we had said we would take RCDC III to the 50% document phase, but we have actually gone further than that," said Dailey.

She told the group that her firm was prepared to go forward with RCDC III, which will expand the prison's capacity to just under 3,000 inmates.

Plans are that the construction on the new addition will begin in August and be completed by 2002.

"We will be using the same contract we have used in the past," said Dailey.

Total estimated cost for the construction has been set at roughly $30 million and will generate additional 200 new jobs, with an average salary of $26,000-$28,000, according to Galindo.

"If we break ground in August, the construction will be completed in 2002," said Dailey. "It will take about 15 months to be completed," she said.

Dailey said that they have received approval on the schematic design from Texas Jail Commission, T.J.C. "The documents were given a good review," said Dailey. "A very good review."

The next step will be to get into more complicated issues, such as life issues, said Dailey.

Commissioners discussed the quality control issues and were assured by Sean Carothers, the president of Carothers Construction, Inc. that the company would handle those issues. The most recent 1,000 bed expansion at the RCDC was originally scheduled to be ready by Sept. 5, 2000, but was not completed until early this year by contractor Banes General Construction, delaying the arrival of U.S. Bureau of Prisons inmates the county had agreed to house under a contract with the BOP.

Carothers told the group that three people would be living in Pecos, while the construction on the project was ongoing. "All of these individuals are very experienced, used to traveling and living at the place where the construction is going on," he said.

Dailey also said that she would be on hand in Pecos two or three days a week, while another architect would be here as well.

"I am committed to being here as the lead architect and have a very dedicated architect that will come in as well," she said.

Galindo told the group that this was big news for the community. "This is the step we want to take in terms of economic development," said Galindo. "We want to bring in more jobs and more revenue into this community."

Commissioners expressed their concern that the project would not be finished in a timely manner, but were assured by Carothers that it would.

Dailey said that the problem with RCDCII was that they didn't make the construction manager responsible and that there was a big turnover in his department, which made it difficult to complete the project in a timely manner.

"We worked very hard and diligently, once the project was started, we worked with what we had, but Banes also made several commitments which they didn't follow through on," said Dailey.

Dailey said they had learned a lot from the other project. "We've spent a lot of time going over reports and everything and will use that information for this new project," said Dailey.

Dailey said that Carothers had committed to getting this project done in time.

Carothers told the group that they have four final phases of inspection. "We'll have a good quality control staff on site and all these individuals are very experienced," he said.

Carothers told the group that John Wood would be the construction manager, Wes Williams project manager and Gary Lambert, would all be on hand throughout the entire project.

In other business, commissioners tabled space saver and pivot files for the county clerk's office and the Reeves County Sheriff's Office. "I'd like to wait on these items, until we go through our budget workshops," said Galindo.

Galindo told County Clerk Diane Florez that this was a good step in the right direction for her needs. "However, I would still like to wait until then, to make a decision on the remodeling," said Galindo.

Part of the plans for the county clerks office are to separate the file area from the outer offices. "We want to create a records room and an elections room, with a reception area," said Florez.

City starts work at stopping leak on Jefferson St.

By LEIA HOLLAND
Staff Writer

PECOS, Wed., May 30 2001 -- Local residents may have noticed a slight detour next to the Pecos  High School field house and tennis courts on Jackson Street today.

Town of Pecos City employees have been working on replacing water and sewer lines in the 1300 block of Jackson Street for the past few days.

City water superintendent Octavio Garcia was unavailable this morning, but water department employee Freddy Flores said that they are replacing sewer and water pipes that have been leaking due to pressure from vehicles driving over them.

"We're repairing the line because the water and sewer lines were messed up," he said.

Flores said that the soil surrounding the pipes was loose making the ground settle along with the pipes.

He said that made it very easy for the pipes to leak and caused a dip in the north side of the street, next to the tennis court stands.

The city is replacing the current transit piping with the stronger PVC piping, according to Flores.

He said that every time the pipes would leak the city would have to shut off water to the high school, and just recently there was another leak that shot water as high as the power lines.

The new piping will be placed higher than the current piping and the employees will also raise the manhole on the north side of the street and pack dirt tightly around both the pipes and manhole.

"That way we can raise the street," Flores said.

Flores said that the water line should be in place by today and once they start on the sewer it should only take two to three days.

Once the new piping and manhole is placed, Flores said the final step would be the asphalt work.

He said that once the asphalt work is finished the street should be level once again.

Summer program for P-B-T meals starts next week

PECOS, Wed., May 30, 2001 -- The Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD announces the sponsorship of  the Summer Food Service Program, which will get underway next Monday.

The Summer Food Meal Program will be offered at Bessie Haynes Elementary School beginning on June 4 and running through July 13. Hours for breakfast will be from 7:30 a.m.-8:30 a.m., lunch from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Any child 18 years of age or younger may participate. Cost to adults will be $1.50 for breakfast and $3 for lunch.

People who are eligible to participate in the program must not be discriminated against because of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, religion, or political belief.

Anyone who believes that they have been discriminated against should write immediately to: Director, Civil Rights Division, MC W-106, Texas Department of Human Services, P.O. Box 149030, Austin, Tx. 78714-9030, or the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 20250. Note: Discrimination complaints based on religion or political beliefs must be referred only to the Director, Civil Rights Division, Texas Department of Human Services.

Weather

High Tuesday 101. Low this morning 58. Forecast for  tonight: Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of showers or  thunderstorms. Low 60 to 65. Northeast wind 10 to 20 mph. Thursday: Morning  low clouds. Becoming partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of showers  or thunderstorms. High in the upper 80s. Southeast wind 10 to 20  mph. Thursday night: Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of showers  or thunderstorms. Low in the lower 60s. Friday and Saturday: Partly  cloudy with a slight chance of showers or thunderstorms. Lows 60 to 65.  Highs in the lower to mid 90s.


Obituary

Refugio Chavez



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