On Dec. 2, the town council decided to appeal a decision rendered by the Municipal Boundary Commission in November.

The appeal will go to state District Court, a process that will likely take six to nine months, according to Town Administrator Karen Mahalick.

The proposed annexation was designed to shored up the checkerboard pattern of the town's boundaries in an area roughly three miles from east to west — from Meadowlark Lane to Horton Road — and five miles south to north, from the Torrance County line to Hill Ranch Road.

The commission decided the issue at a public hearing, where a number of residents spoke out in opposition to the annexation.

Mahalick acknowledged some "bad blood" on the part of those residents that dated back at least 10 years, to the town's original incorporation. She said some past town decisions, such as the annexation of Campbell Ranch early in the town's history, may also have contributed to the opposition and to the boundary commission's decision.

Regardless of those issues, the town is still faced with problems due to it's irregular boundaries, she said.

"From our standpoint, the intent is to fix it," she said. "We're trying to create a cohesive community … we can keep fighting the same battles or we can move on and work together to start fighting some new ones."

The appeal will be heard after two seats on the town council are filled and two $2.1 million bond questions — $4.2 million in total — are voted on early next year.

Mahalick said the original intent was to do the annexation and have all the new town, and possibly upset residents, on the voter rolls before the election. She fears more bad blood if both the bond is approved and the annexation goes through.

"We were hoping they'd be part of the vote so that they could have a say," she said.

In November, the commission's official reasons for voting against the annexation were water and sewer systems they said were not sufficient to serve additional residents. That's despite the fact that all of the residents both inside and outside the municipal boundaries use a well or a private water utility for water and all are on private septic systems, and the town's sewer project is designed to serve the commercial corridor on N.M. 344 and Old Route 66, not residences, according to Mahalick.

At the town council meeting earlier this month, councilors said the decision wasn't based on the issues that the commission was legally allowed to look at, but — because the commissioners are appointed by the governor's office — was more political in nature.

Councilor Glenn Felton said that a challenge to a commission decision doesn't seem to be uncommon.

"It's actually part of the process," he said.

He added that, when the 2010 Census data becomes public, the town will likely be required to provide solid waste services in addition to the services it already provides. He said the boundary issue will continue to hinder the town's ability to provide those services, which will make the boundary issues even more pressing.

Currently, the major services provided by the town — at least the ones in which town boundaries have been reported to be a problem — are police, animal control and road maintenance.