By Dianne Stallings dstallings@ruidosonews.com
Nov. 17–A project covering more than $1 million of renovations at the Ruidoso Convention Center is winding down, Deputy Village Manager Bill Morris told councilors last week.
When everything is ready and the furniture arrives, an open house will be announced, he said. Councilor Jim Stoddard said the public should be invited to see the results of the work funded by lodgers tax.
The hallway and the fireplace with wood mantel and stone veneer were finished with the exception of some iron work, Morris said. Divider walls, ceilings and walls in three small meeting rooms were completed and new wooden doors were installed.
“Outside work is continuing on the columns and handicapped ramps, as well as the portico area by the front door,” he said. The wood beams and metal structure for trusses are in and the new roof was nearly ready, he added. Stucco work was hampered by seasonal rains earlier, but the time was used to focus on furnishings and paintings inside.
“It’s an amazing place,” he said.
Morris was sitting in at the beginning of the meeting to give Village Manager Debi Lee a chance to recuperate from her trip to Santa Fe, after she had a flat tire and slid through the door moments after the session began.
In other sections of the manager’s report, Morris said the village received more than 200 applications for short-term rental registration.
“I signed 90 today and I’m happy with that,” he said.
The applications are necessary to comply with the village new rules on short-term rentals to ensure that gross receipts taxes are paid and premises are inspected for fire safety.
“In addition, the staff has been fielding a number of calls from outside the area after the notification went out in the water bills,” he said. “They were directed to the village website for the ordinance and application.”
For notification purposes connected to the compliance deadline of March 10, 2011, staff also included notices in upcoming utility bills, issued public service announcements to local media, hand-delivered applications to known rental agencies and placed the ordinance and application on the web page, he said.
Forty-five new businesses registered with the village clerk’s office during September, according to the manager’s report.
The Finance Department developed a firm schedule for monthly bank account reconciliations, a previous shortcoming criticized in several audits.
The first day of the month, a staff member begins the reconciliation and Finance Director Nancy Klingman initiates her review of the financial statements. She and Lee sign off in line with internal controls. Another staffer ensures all journal entries are entered into the system. The entire finance department meets and reviews the financials and makes any corrections. The financial statements then are printed and given to each department. Staff responds to any concerns of department heads. The process takes about two weeks. Her goal is to reduce that time period, Klingman noted in the report.
Temporary employee Karen Bushnell took over the task of reconciling project financials under the Federal Emergency Management Agency connected to the July 2008 flood.
“This is very time consuming, as she is finding incomplete records or records out of sequence,” the report states. She’s working with the auditors on any FEMA questions.
The auditors performing two fiscal year audits for the village this year will be in village hall the entire month of November and most of December to complete the audits on schedule.
Village Fire Chief Tom Gavin was selected by the National Fire Protection Association from many nominations throughout the country to serve as a primary staff member to a seven-member technical committee on Wildfire Suppression Professional Qualifications.
Committee nominations are competitive and the applicants nominated are considered to be technical experts.
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