CENTER – New Chief of the Center Police Department Randall Aragon was officially sworn in by City Attorney Mike Trujillo on Tuesday, March 24, during the Town of Center meeting. 

At the meeting there was also discussion regarding the construction of a stage in town. There had been prior discussion regarding the stage. It was decided that a stage would be built at Casa Blanca Park in town. It was also decided that the children’s playground equipment that is currently at the park would be uprooted and moved to the other side of the park near the splash pads at the park to accommodate the stage.  

At the meeting Town Manager Cole Webb spoke to council members about some estimates he had received regarding the construction of the stage. 

“In your packet you should have a couple of estimates. Also, the removal of the existing playground will take place starting tomorrow. Our guys pretty much have a game plan, and they are ready to go. I wanted to show you guys what the stage will essentially look like.” 

Since Webb has been Town Manager, he has been trying to increase events in Center to help stimulate the economy by bringing more people and tourists into for events. Webb stated that he feels with the events that they have held, including holiday specific town craft fairs, along with bringing in country music star Jesse Keith Whitley, the son of Lori Morgan and Keith Whitley, last summer, he feels he is accomplishing his goal by putting Center back on the map and boosting the economy.  

Webb is also holding a Summer Bash on Aug. 1, that will include famous country western singer Keith Anderson, along with New Mexico star Al Hurricane Jr.  

After Webb showed trustees pictures of the stage he explained to them what the estimates were and spoke to them about the stage. 

“We did get three different estimates. We did budget $60,000 for the stage. One of the estimates was lower than the others. One of the quotes, the highest quote came in at $111,000, the second highest quote came in at about $83,000, and the third quote came in at $58,800. If you wanted to do the rock like it shows in the picture, I think it would be about another $4,800 but I think I can get that covered in a grant.”  

Webb stated he didn’t entertain the highest quote to get a time from them. 

“The second quote they said they could start I believe around May. The lowest quote they would be able to start the first of April, and it would be finished by the end of April.” 

There was some talk about figuring out how to potentially protect the stage from the homeless population. 

Not everyone at the meeting was in favor of the stage, a people spoke up about it, but the board made the decision unanimously to go ahead with the construction of the stage as they stated they were following Webb’s vision for the town, along with a former town manager who had also brought up the concept of a permanent stage.