Belen Consolidated Schools has secured stimulus money to install solar technology at one of its schools, according to the Office of Governor Bill Richardson.

The district will get approximately $300,000 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for a 50-kilowatt, nearly 20,000-square-foot photovoltaic solar power system.

Late last year, the district submitted an application to construct the system at Belen High School, not only to save on energy costs but also to provide students at the Career Academy a chance to learn about solar technology.

The district has been developing solar technology curriculum.

Only 15 districts across the state were awarded the funding, after a competitive application process.

Los Lunas Schools was also awarded funding for a similar solar project.

Work on the reconstruction of the North Belen interchange halted Wednesday, less than four months after it became clear the project would run out of money.

The interchange was being reconstructed to provide access to Rancho Cielo, a master-planned residential, commercial and industrial development west of Los Chavez.

While the state funded $4 million of the design and reconstruction work, Rancho Cielo’s developer, Coast Range Investments, never provided the remaining millions needed to complete the project, as had been promised in a three-party agreement among the developer, the State of New Mexico and the City of Belen.

According to officials with the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT), a letter has been sent to Coast Range Investments telling the company it’s too late to contribute its portion to complete the project.

NMDOT is terminating the project’s construction contract.

Demobilization of the construction crew and the delay in completing the project will substantially increase the cost of completing it in the future, should Coast Range Investments seek to restart construction. The project will also need to be rebid.

The interchange project was embroiled in controversy in February when city officials and others found out the developer was refusing to contribute the funding needed to complete it.

The construction crew and NMDOT are expected to address a couple of minor issues related to paving and lighting in the coming weeks.

The Mid-Region Council of Government (MRCOG) board of directors today voted unanimously to approve a budget that includes quiet zone money for Belen.

Belen City Councilor Jerah R. Cordova is a member of the MRCOG board.

The more than $12.7-million budget includes $356,000 for improvements to various railroad crossings in the counties under MRCOG’s jurisdiction, including the crossings at Molina and Valentin roads in Belen.

Citizens in the Belen area have worked for years to create a railroad quite zone in Belen, focusing on the crossings at Molina, Valentin, Don Felipe, Lopez and Mesa roads.

The latter three roads aren’t within MRCOG’s New Mexico Rail Runner Express route, so the council can’t fund improvements to those crossings.

According to an article published in the Valencia County News-Bulletin in April, Rep. Elias Barela, who has been working on the issue, was able to secure the funding from MRCOG, as well as additional funds for quieting of two more crossings.

Improvements of the Lopez Road crossing hasn’t been funded, according to newspaper article.

In addition to working on the Belen crossings, MRCOG anticipates receiving a $1.7-million safety grant in October 2011 to consolidate railroad crossings and establish a quiet zone in Isleta.

Phase II of the three phase road construction work on Camino del Llano is expect to start up later this month, as the construction crew wraps up work on another project, according to a report from Belen’s Interim City Manager Mary Lucy Baca.

Baca told the Belen City Council on Monday night that Phase I is completed, which includes new lanes, paving, drainage infrastructure, sidewalks and lighting along Camino del Llano from Frontage Road to just west of Roldan Drive.

Phase II will reconstruct Camino del Llano from west of Roldan to the top of the mesa, primarily new drainage infrastructure, lanes and paving.

Phase II will start in the fall, and the entire project should end in December.

The project has been funded through federal and state grants and city gross receipts revenue.

Belen city councilors last night pointedly questioned the approval process for change orders related to projects managed for the city by Molzen-Corbin & Associates, the city’s contract engineer.

According to documents provided to the council by Belen Alexander Municipal Airport Manager Robert Uecker, Molzen-Corbin, on behalf of an airport project contractor, is requesting payment for more than $16,000 for work the engineering firm says had been approved as a change order by former City Manager Sally Garley.

The work relates to the recent installation of an Automated Weather Observing System, or AWOS, at the airport.

Finance Director Michael Steininger has refused to pay the bill, saying he’s never seen any documents showing the city manager actually approved the change order.

Under the previous administration, change orders were approved solely by the city manager, with payment made after the work in the change order was completed, according to a Molzen-Corbin employee.

While project bids were awarded by the city council, change orders never came before the council for approval.

Neither the city nor Molzen-Corbin has been able to locate documents showing the approval of the $16,000 change order, so it remains unclear exactly how it was approved, if at all.

The city council will vote to approve or deny payment of the change order at its meeting on June 21.

The manager of Belen Alexander Municipal Airport presented three goals to the Belen City Council last month as a part of his improvement plan.

Airport Manager Robert Uecker holds one of three appointed city positions undergoing a 90-day and 180-day evaluation process that began upon their appointment to their positions in March.

Former Police Chief Mike Chavez submitted an improvement plan in April. He has since resigned, and Interim Chief Dan Robb continues to implement that improvement plan.

Fire Chief Manny Garcia submitted his improvement plan last month.

In Uecker’s plan, he lists three key goals:

GOAL 1: To make the airport totally self-sufficient.

GOAL 2: Continue to update current leases to comply with FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] grant assurances.

GOAL 3: Continue with maintenance of airfield.

Uecker has also worked to continue to identify funding and collaboration to support the construction of a crosswind runway at the airport, the most substantial ongoing project at the airport.

Those three goals will be evaluated, along with Uecker, at 90 days and 180 days from the date of his appointment by Mayor Rudy Jaramillo.

The State of New Mexico is launching a new program within the Middle Rio Grande Basin, including Valencia County, that will allow indigent households with substandard septic systems to receive assistance to replace them.

The program is being run by the Office of Natural Resource Trustee and the New Mexico Environment Department.

State officials will host a meeting to explain the program tomorrow at 10:00am at the Los Lunas Village Hall, located at 660 Main Street in Los Lunas.

The application for the assistance is available below:

The Belen City Council last night approved two resolutions to secure state support and funding for improvements to Belen Alexander Airport.

The city is expected to receive nearly $96,000 in grant funding from the state and federal governments for asphalt paving crack seal, coal-tar penetrating seal, and pavement markings at the airport.

The intent of the work is to preserve the existing runway.

While the federal government will pay 95 percent of the project costs, the state and city each will pay two and a half percent.

According to Robert Uecker, the airport’s director, the city will recover some of its contribution to the project from the gross receipts the city will receive from the work.

A public opinion survey released this week by the Mid-Region Council of Governments shows both overwhelming support for a new “river crossing” near Los Lunas, as well as overwhelming interest in alternative solutions.

Exactly 80 percent of the people polled support a new “river crossing,” according to the survey conducted Research & Polling Inc.

The surveyor didn’t ask respondents if they supported or opposed a new “bridge.”

The survey results also show 78 percent of the public has an interest in alternative solutions to congestion on Main Street in Los Lunas.

While 31 percent of the respondents recommended a new river crossing, 32 percent recommended the widening of roads or adding lanes.

Nealy a fourth of the respondents wanted more or better interstate interchanges, 17 percent wanted more streets, and five percent wanted better synchronized traffic lights.

The vast majority of the respondents think traffic congestion is a problem and believe the congestion is worsening.

The survey area.

The survey included residents who live south of Main Street in Los Lunas and just north of Square Deal Road, including Huning Ranch and areas as far east as El Cerro Mission.

The results have a five percent margin of error.

The survey was conducted as part of an ongoing study by the Village of Los Lunas, Mid-Region Council of Governments and D. Pennington & Associates concerning if and where a new interchange and bridge should be constructed.

Glass in the outfield of one baseball field.

The baseball fields at Belen’s Eagle Park, constructed on top of a former glass dump, are riddled with broken glass, with the new administration working to address the problem.

Opened a couple of years ago, the two baseball fields were built on land leveled at the north end of Eagle Park. The land, however, was a glass dump in the previous years.

Because the land wasn’t sufficiently prepped for the construction of baseball fields, glass from the dump remained embedded in the soil, with some of that glass rising to the surface.

At least one of the two fields has glass shards spread around the outfield from the original construction.

Glass in the outfield of one baseball field.

The fields are, of course, used by children and adults for baseball games, but have been used for other activities as well, such as dog shows.

Because the glass appears to surface slowly and primarily after watering or cutting of the grass, with regular maintenance the glass should be easy to remove to keep the public safe. It’s unclear just how much glass might be under the surface.

The administration also continues to assess how to address gopher burrows in the fields.

Councilor Jerah R. Cordova's foot sank into the soil.

The administration is expected to report to Belen City Councilor Jerah R. Cordova this week about how the problems at the Eagle Park fields will be corrected.