Commissioners ok Doss Aviation lease

RATON — Raton City Commissioners listened to a short presentation by Mark Lester, Vice President of Business Marketing with Doss Aviation about their plans for their expansion to Raton prior to approve a 12-month lease agreement. During the meeting, Lester said the training they are currently doing in Pueblo is mostly military and that will expand to Raton. Doss will begin looking for housing for students and instructors in the near future and will begin their move next month. Commissioners approved a lease agreement with Doss for 12 months that initially will be non-monetary. Commissioners heard from Morgan Brown of RPC CPAs & Consultants LLP for the final audit acceptance. Brown noted the audit had been completed on time and the only issues found were with Raton Public Service. They had an issue with double checking inventory counts at the warehouse and had one purchase order missing for legal services. For the first time in 12 years, the city itself has come out with a clean audit. A presentation about the TIGER Grants ( Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) was scheduled, however presenters were unable to make the trip due to bad weather. City manager Scott Berry said La Junta, CO had sponsored the Tiger 7 grant and there would likely be a Tiger 8 grant and supporters are expected to seek a New Mexico sponsor for this grant. Work with funds from the Tiger 7 Grant is currently being done in Kansas and Colorado. If there is a third grant and it is approved for the line, then BNSF and Amtrak would be fully committed to the line.