Nearly three months after Rio Arriba County’s grand opening for the La Arbolera Community Center in Chimayó, it still is not finished and stands largely empty.
Additions and changes to construction plans added at least $446,000 to the Center’s price tag, bringing the total cost to $2.01 million, County documents show. That’s slightly higher than County documents indicated at the May 1 grand opening, because the $1.9 million disclosed then reflected only the approved contract budget plus the cost of change orders to construction plans and not items purchased for the building outside of the construction contract (see this story at www.riograndesun.com for a further explanation of costs).
The Center is located on State Road 76 next to Holy Family Catholic Church. It contains three offices, a conference room, a meeting hall, a kitchen and a lobby. It should have been completed by late December 2008. But it wasn’t ready for inspections until April because of delays caused by repeated changes to construction plans, County documents show. The County’s contract with Alcalde-based R & M Construction imposed no penalties for construction delays.
County Commission Chairman Elias Coriz, who championed the Center from its inception in 2004, announced big plans for the center in May. A teen after-school program, the Chimayó Senior Center, Greater Chimayó Water Association, and a Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Department substation would all find a home at the 7,700-square-foot Center, Coriz said.
But only the Association has moved in so far, County Manager Lorenzo Valdez said Monday. The Association has a single office at the Center and provides the Center with free water service in exchange for paying no rent or utilities, County Grants and Contracts Administrator Phillip Morfin said.
“The Sheriff’s Department wants their telephone and data lines activated before they move in,” Valdez said. “They will move in, but I don’t know when.”
The Sheriff’s substation and teen center would be welcome additions to the neighborhood, Chimayó resident Isaiah Medina said. But Medina and others who live near the Center haven’t seen much activity at the Center.
“They didn’t do nothing with it,” another resident James Martinez said. “They just built it and left it. The gates are always closed. I’ve only seen cars in the parking lot maybe two or three times.”
Coriz, who lives in and represents Chimayó on the Commission and the Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative, contended the Center is being used.
“It’s not just closed up; it’s being utilized,” Coriz said. “The water association will have their annual meeting there at the end of this month. It can be used for funerals, receptions, baby showers. I believe there have been some already.”
There have been only two public events at the Center since it opened, according to County records and County Grants and Contracts Accountant Felicia Parker.
“We had a baby shower in June and another one in July,” Parker said.
The County charges $50 per hour for use of the Center and earned $250 for the two baby showers, County documents show.
The American Legion is scheduled to begin holding monthly meetings at the Center in August, County documents show.
The economic downturn will preclude the envisioned after-school teen program for the near future, and the senior center is at least a month away from moving in, Coriz said.
“We’re still working on the senior center,” Coriz said. “We’re still in discussions with Santa Fe County about moving the senior center.”
Talks will take at least until mid-August before a memorandum of understanding can be agreed on the senior center, which is currently located about two miles away at the Santa Fe County-owned Benny Chavez Center, Santa Fe County Commissioner Harry Montoya said.
Asked why such delays were not anticipated, Coriz blamed Santa Fe County.
“We started the talks before the (Center) was opened,” Coriz said. “Even I get frustrated sometimes with the slow process. We met with (Montoya) to expedite the process, but they have to go back to their commission and meet with Santa Fe city, and it takes time.”
One problem is that the Rio Arriba Center does not yet have an appropriate space for the seniors, Valdez said.
“There are activities like clay, arts and crafts that can’t be done in our building because it’s too hard to clean up splatters (from carpet),” Valdez said. “I think we’ll end up partitioning off the kitchen area for the seniors’ congregation area with a heavy, accordion-like curtain.”
But thanks to the County’s dropping gas and oil revenues and the resulting $6 million budget shortfall in this fiscal year’s budget, finding the money for the partition is no easy task, Valdez said.
“Right now, finances aren’t there,” Valdez said. “We’ll get it done over time.”
The building’s exterior is not quite complete, either.
A $51,363 change order signed March 6 ordered the installation of a four-foot tall, 300-foot long chain link fence to enclose the Center’s drainage pond for safety reasons.
“We still need to put that in,” Morfin said Tuesday. “That’s a state compliance issue. But we don’t have the finances right now.”
The Center’s vacancy is a strength in one sense, Coriz said: low utility bills.
The water service is provided for free by the Association, but the County will have to pick up the gas and electric bills, Coriz acknowledged Tuesday.
“But right now it’s not being utilized, so exterior lighting and the use of one office right now will be minimal,” Coriz said. “The public events are only for a few hours at a time, so they won’t cost much either.”
The Center’s first electric bill was $53, according to a June invoice. Repeated calls to County Finance Director Christine Montano requesting the Center’s utility expenditures were not returned by Wednesday (7/22).
To rent space at the Center, call Parker at 753-2992 or visit the manager’s office at the County annex in Española.