CIBOLA COUNTY - Despite the fact that several Mount Taylor Addition property owners are still unhappy, the settlement between them and the City of Grants and Village of Milan is final.

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In 2008, several landowners hired an attorney, Pete Domenici Jr., to represent them in a lawsuit against the city because of high groundwater levels and seeping in and around their homes was taking place. After an investigation, it was ultimately decided that the inappropriate seeping was primarily caused because the county built a detention center in the vicinity of Mount Taylor Addition. That ultimately caused the natural flow of groundwater, which included leakage from the city's golf course pond(s) to change and finally end up going through the yards of several homeowners, damaging to their properties. The soil compaction from the detention center apparently altered longstanding subsurface drainage channels.

The final agreement included the purchasing of three properties: the Martinez, Masterson and DeVargas homes. All three homes are now vacant and will soon be demolished, according to Grants City Manager Bob Horacek. $343,000 of the settlement was the final amount for the three homes. The damaged landowners shared $295,000 for damages to their homes bringing the total amount of the agreement to $638,000.

One of the landowners was found near the properties on Wednesday afternoon with lots to say.

“I am still disappointed,” the landowner said. “The city officials can go buy golf carts for over $200,000 and put half a million dollars into an art gallery while we are over here living in this mess. I feel like putting some of this crap in the back of a truck and backing up to the front door of the officials' homes and dumping it at their front door so they can feel how it is to live like this.”

The landowner said the only reason they were willing to settle with the city for such a low amount was because the plan was to sue the county afterward, “but now the attorney says no. I will now hire another attorney that is willing because this is not right,” the landowner added while standing in mud boots because of the mud from seepage is around and near the home.

Ultimately, the City of Grants concluded that it was necessary to resolve the problem in order to enable a reauthorization of its discharge permit necessary to operate the wastewater treatment facility, otherwise, the permit may not have been given by the state Environmental Department.

The property owner said on Wednesday that the attorney told the city either settle or forget your permit and truck your stuff (bad water) elsewhere and the city quickly replied with an offer.

The person said she is currently refusing to pay property tax to the city because the land is worth nothing at this point. “If I want to sell my home, I am required to tell them about this… do you think it will sell?,” they asked. “Of course not,” the person answered.

According to Horacek, the city expects to create Passive Discharge System (reroute) by the end of next year, “first, we need to knock down the homes and that is currently out to bid.”

The PDS is estimated to be over half a million and will more than likely pass through the purchased homes properties, according to Horacek.

“We need funding and the environmental department does have a deadline so we are working on it,” Horacek said.

When asked if the City of Grants will seek assistance from Cibola County, the manager answered, “The option is there but the council has not decided to pursue any monetary concerns at this point.”

A sentence in the agreement states, “Both the city, the village and the landowners reserve the right to file suit against the county of Cibola or its agents, employees, contractors, including but not limited to engineers, architects, or other professionals, and the landowners intend to do so.”