Mayor and commissioners remain silent as Public Works director accepts responsibility and NMDOT says municipalities normally maintain landscaping
By Roger M. Rael
The Raton Range
RATON, N.M. — Raton City Manager James Neil Segotta pointed to the New Mexico Department of Transportation when questioned about neglected conditions along Second Street, but his own Public Works director said the city—and he specifically—is responsible for routine vegetation maintenance.
An NMDOT spokesman separately told The Raton Range that although the state maintains the highway, municipalities normally assume responsibility for landscaping after state highway projects are completed.
The statements draw a distinction that was not made clear in Segotta’s initial response: NMDOT owns and maintains the roadway, but ownership of the highway does not necessarily include responsibility for cutting weeds or maintaining landscaping within the city.
The Raton Range emailed questions and photographs directly to Mayor Lori Chatterley and copied Mayor Pro Tem Mark Honeyfield and Commissioners Linde’ Schuster, Dan Campbell and Sally Hoger.
The questions were submitted by a member of the press and asked the city’s elected officials to address overgrown vegetation, damaged medians, obstructed signs, broken pedestrian areas and the general appearance of Second Street.
None of the five elected officials answered the questions directly before publication.
Instead, Segotta responded and forwarded answers prepared by Deputy City Manager and Public Works Director Jason Phillips.
Segotta opened his response by placing primary emphasis on NMDOT’s ownership of Second Street.
“2nd street is the responsibility of NMDOT, we provide some service on it as time and projects permit,” Segotta wrote.
He added that the city must “walk the fine line with NMDOT” because Second Street is ultimately the state’s roadway.
Phillips’ answer, however, identified the city as responsible for the vegetation documented in the photographs.
“The Public Works Department and me, Jason Phillips, specifically are responsible for snow removal and routine maintenance of the vegetation,” Phillips wrote.
Phillips said NMDOT owns the roadway and is responsible for hard structures, including streets, medians and sidewalks.
He also said the division of responsibility is “somewhat clouded” because the city sought NMDOT funding for improvements taking place along Second Street, even though the hard-structure improvements were not necessarily a city responsibility.
Phillips’ response separated the duties into two categories: NMDOT is responsible for the physical roadway and hard structures, while Raton Public Works is responsible for routine vegetation maintenance.
The Raton Range contacted NMDOT to independently clarify those responsibilities.
Travis Martinez, public information officer for NMDOT District 4, confirmed that Second Street is part of U.S. 87 and is maintained by the state.
Martinez said NMDOT is responsible for road surfacing, pavement markings, crosswalks and replacing damaged state highway signs.
“As far as the markings on Second Street, U.S. 87, that would be the responsibility of the department,” Martinez said.
He said NMDOT generally restripes roadways and crosswalks once or twice a year. State maintenance employees also inspect and replace damaged signs after the problems are reported.
Martinez said cities typically communicate with nearby NMDOT patrol employees when they identify damaged signs, road defects or other problems within the state right of way.
“The city will build a relationship with our local patrol,” Martinez said. “If they see something that’s within our right of way that needs to be replaced or fixed, or they see a possible issue, they’ll call our patrol.”
Martinez said responsibility for landscaping is normally transferred to the municipality after a highway improvement project is completed.
“Normally, there’s an agreement that whoever the entity is, if it’s a village or a city, they’re responsible for lighting and landscaping after the project has been completed,” Martinez said.
Martinez cautioned that he had not yet reviewed the specific agreement between NMDOT and the city governing Second Street. He said the department would need to research the project’s history to identify the exact terms.
“That’s the norm—is normally they take care of the landscaping,” Martinez said.
Later in the interview, Martinez again described Second Street landscaping as work performed by the city.
“When we do a project on Second, they take care of the landscaping to the best of their ability,” Martinez said.
Martinez said staffing shortages and periods of heavy rain can make vegetation difficult for city crews to control.
“Sometimes they’re short-staffed, or sometimes we get a lot of rain and that vegetation grows pretty fast, so it’s kind of hard to keep up with that,” he said.
Martinez’s description of the normal division of responsibility supports Phillips’ written statement that Raton Public Works handles routine vegetation maintenance.
It does not support treating NMDOT’s ownership of the roadway as a complete answer to questions about overgrown vegetation.
The city’s own Public Works webpage says the department aims to keep Raton beautiful and maintains hundreds of acres of green space, including city rights of way. The department is also responsible for street cleanup and supports local events through cleanup and traffic-control work, according to the city website.
The Raton Range also asked about a damaged or heaved median shown in the photographs.
Phillips said the median had been painted with a white X, indicating that it is scheduled for removal and replacement as part of the Second Street project being completed by Pacheco Construction and Trucking.
The city did not provide a date for the removal or replacement of the median. It also did not provide a schedule for cutting or removing the overgrown vegetation documented in the photographs.
Questions were also raised about signs that have been knocked down or obscured by vegetation and whether warnings should be placed near broken sidewalks or other hazards affecting pedestrians.
Martinez said NMDOT is responsible for physical highway signs and roadway markings. Phillips said the city is responsible for routine vegetation maintenance.
That division means a damaged state sign would generally fall under NMDOT, while vegetation growing around or blocking signs may involve the city’s landscaping responsibilities. Coordination may be required when both conditions exist.
Martinez said he had not personally received calls from city officials or Raton residents concerning Second Street, but he cautioned that requests may have been directed to an NMDOT maintenance engineer or local patrol employee instead.
“I haven’t gotten any phone calls from the Raton community pertaining to Second Street, but that doesn’t mean they may have called our maintenance engineer or even contacted our patrol,” Martinez said.
Martinez said NMDOT has generally maintained a good working relationship with Raton, particularly during snow removal operations.
The Raton Range asked Martinez to determine how many repair or maintenance requests the city submitted to NMDOT during 2025 concerning damaged signs, roadway conditions or other problems along Second Street.
Martinez said he would contact the NMDOT patrol supervisor and determine what records or information are available.
Those records could show whether the city has been regularly notifying NMDOT about conditions falling under state responsibility. The Raton Range will report the results when NMDOT provides them.
The responses obtained so far establish three points: NMDOT owns and maintains the highway and its roadway infrastructure; Phillips says Raton Public Works is responsible for routine vegetation maintenance; and NMDOT says municipalities normally handle landscaping after highway projects are completed.
Still unanswered is why Raton’s mayor and commissioners did not respond directly to questions from the press, when the photographed vegetation will be removed, when the damaged median will be replaced and what action the city’s elected leadership expects administrators to take.
Sources and documentation:
- Email from City Manager James Neil Segotta to Roger M. Rael containing responses from Public Works Director Jason Phillips.
- Original email from The Raton Range to Mayor Lori Chatterley and the full City Commission, including its recipient list and photographs.
- Recorded Aug. 20, 2026, interview with Travis Martinez, NMDOT District 4 public information officer.
- City of Raton Public Works webpage, which says Public Works maintains green spaces and rights-of-way.
- City of Raton staff directory, confirming the officials’ titles.
- NMDOT District 4 webpage, confirming Martinez’s position and District 4’s responsibilities.
- Photographs taken and submitted by Roger M. Rael documenting the vegetation, median and signage conditions.
