Street project a partial success
Milan receives $300K grant, but fails to get $700K from Legislature

By Tom Purdom
Staff Writer

MILAN — It was a week of celebration and disappointment concerning the $1.39 million Uranium and Milan streets rehabilitation project affecting some 130 homes and businesses.

The celebration part? The Village of Milan learned it was successful in getting every penny of the $500,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds it sought for the project.

The disappointment part? Finding out the village did not get one cent of the $700,000 it requested in Legislative money to help pay for the project. Village Manager Carlos Montoya said the request was given to Rep. George Hanosh, D-Grants, in plenty of time, but for some reason the funding request fell through. Milan was awarded $175,000, however, none of the money was for the Uranium and Milan streets project.

"I don't know what happened with it," a disappointed Montoya said.

Disappointed or not, Montoya said the project is going to go ahead as planned. "We requested $500,000 in Community Development Block Grant money and we got it all," Montoya said. "We'll just have to ask our representative again and hopefully it will get funded. Maybe our representative will realize the importance of that project for our community."

Uranium and Milan Streets are two of the older streets in Milan. The project calls for new sewer lines, new water lines, new pavement, curbs and gutters.

As far as the CDBG money goes, Montoya said he is very pleased with those funds, and he is proud of the effort done by the village staff to get the application process going and in order.

"Some people put long hours in on this, including Terri Gallegos, Ethel Eagan, Barbara Duran and Ben Chavez, then of course we had a lot of help from Barbara Russell with the Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments," Montoya said. "This village would not have this CDBG funding if it were not for those people."

Montoya said David Ulibarri, Cibola County manager, was also instrumental in helping the village get the federal grant.

CDBG funds are federal funds administered by state agencies. In the case of New Mexico, the Department of Finance Administration is the key agency handling the CDBG money.

Montoya said the village also applied for funds from the New Mexico Department of Transportation and the Rio San Jose Flood Control District. "The village is kicking in $50,000 of its money for the project," Montoya said.

The village manager said the $500,000 Milan was awarded last week may be some of the last CDBG money to come from the federal government. "The people need to be aware that President George Bush plans to put the CDBG program on the chopping block for next year's budget," Montoya said. "I hope that doesn't happen and that Mr. Bush realizes just how important this money is to small communities like Milan."

Much work needs to be done before the first shovel-full of dirt is turned in the project. Montoya said hopefully the village will be ready to seek construction bids in late fall or early winter.