City’s recent moratorium on services raises ire of those in annexation area
By ASHLEY TRUJILLO
Daily Press Staff Writer
County residents in Artesia’s surrounding area are feeling spurned following the City of Artesia’s recent announcement that it will cease acceptance of applications for water, wastewater and solid waste services from non-city residents.
The city’s decision comes on the heels of the Dec. 7 meeting of the Eddy County Commission, at which commissioners voted against turning control of roads on county land west of Artesia over to the city. Control of the roads, which run through parcels of land the city has been seeking to annex since June of this year, was vital to the city’s annexation plans.
During a meeting with the New Mexico Municipal Boundary Commission in October, it was determined by boundary commission officials that state statute required the roads within the proposed area be transferred to the city by the county prior to the approval of the annexation.
The boundary commission subsequently turned the power to approve the annexation over to Eddy County.
“I didn’t read the state statute that way; it was something of a surprise,” Artesia Director of Community Development Tina Torres said Tuesday. “I still don’t read it that way.” … For the rest of the story, subscribe in print and on the web.
