your life.
Well, good afternoon everyone. Welcome
to our work session. Today is Monday,
July 13, 2026. It's approximately 100
p.m.
We're good.
Okay.
If you all rise and join me in the
pledge.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
republic for it stands nationy
and justice for all.
The first thing on our agenda is to read
a close uh meeting statement.
Los Cusa City Council met in a closed
meeting this morning, July 13, 2026, at
approximately 10:32 a.m. The following
were in in attendance. Councelor Harris,
Councelor Mccclure,
Mayor Prom Munoz, Mayor Enriquez,
Councelor Kuran, City Manager, County
Tamo Paya, City Clerk Christine Ribera,
Utilities Director Adrien Whitmer,
Assistant City Manager Sonia Delgado,
City Attorney Brad Douglas,
Attorney Henry Becker.
We also had outside counsel from Brad
Springer and Chris Deilippo.
Also in the meeting from public works
were Vanessa Romero, David Sado uh
interim ACM of public works
acting director Kyle Ardin and
through teams was deputy chief of police
Eric Urena.
The items that we discussed were
appending litigation regarding Klein
Charles Maynard versus Lorenzo Tovar in
the city of Los Cusus. We also discussed
the pending or threatening litigation
regarding Brandon Baron versus the city
of Los Cusus which is closed pursuant to
New Mexico State Statute 1978.
We also discussed pending litigation
regarding the city of Los Cruus's Donana
County versus Apollo Global Management
Lifeoint Health and Memorial Medical
Center.
Also in discussions was to discuss the
purchase, acquisition or disposal of
real property or water rights by the
public body which is closed pursuant to
NMSU. NMSU, I'm sorry. New Mexico State
Statute 1978
and the meeting adjourned at 12:31 p.m.
So now the first item on agenda 2.1 Los
Cuso Sister Cities Yearly Update.
And Karina, you're going to get us
started.
Good afternoon, mayor and city council.
My name is Katrina Godz, the community
outreach manager for the city. I'm also
the city's liaison to the uh sister
cities um our sister cities foundation.
Uh today our sister cities will be
talking about their yearly uh update
from uh FY2 to uh July 25 to to June uh
26. and we'll have our president of
Sister Cities, Elaine McKenna, um giving
the presentation. Um Elaine has been
with Sister Cities for over 30 years, so
she has a lot of experience working with
our sister cities. Thank you,
Mr. Mayor, city councilors,
Mr. city manager. Thank you for inviting
me to give you an update on Los Cruus
Sister Cities Foundation.
On behalf of the board of directors and
members of our sister cities, I would
like to thank you for your support of
our organization and the city's sister
cities program.
We appreciate the opportunity
to share how citizen diplomacy
and international friendships
have benefited our citizens here in Los
Cusus. I'd also like to introduce and
recognize members of the uh sister
cities organization who are present. If
you would please stand.
I would like to point out Ron Barunda
who is our vice president of the sister
cities organization.
Tim Chapel who is chair of the laro
sister cities committee. uh our chair of
the Nimberg committee is not able to be
here but I wanted to recognize these
people because they have contributed and
dedicated many volunteer hours to the
support of our organization and to
Sister Cities and we are grateful for
their support. Thank you.
[applause]
I would like to begin my presentation
today to give you an overview of Sister
Cities
and also the Los Cusus Sister Cities
program and then I will talk more about
the accomplishments of our organization
this past year.
Sister cities was suggested by President
Dwight Eisenhower after World War II.
He felt that this would help to
encourage peace and understanding and
international relationships between
people.
As a result of this, Sister Cities
International, a notfor-profit
nonpartisan organization, was
established in 1956.
Sister Cities International
as a member organization
is set up for individual states,
cities, and counties who are wishing to
partner with international communities.
As a result, the network of sister
cities unites tens of thousands citizen
dipl diplomats
over 2,000 cities and and partnerships
are cities, counties and states within
the US
and
um excuse me over 500 cities and
counties with over 2,000 partnerships
around the world in 140 countries. ries.
So it is extensive.
These partnerships are formal
uh agreements between the cities,
counties and states and their
international partners
and Los Cusus is a member of sister
cities international.
Our first sister city was Leo, Mexico,
which we formed official relationship in
1989. There had been many trips and and
uh communications back to 1982.
Laro, I hope you can see it on your map
in front of you, uh is located just
south and east of Chihuahua. It's in the
state of Durango.
It's in a tri city area of Leo, Gomez,
Palasio, and Torion, which is about a
little over a million in population.
It's about a 10hour drive from Los Cusus
to Lero. So, it's quite a commitment
when we decide to make a trip down
there.
Our
second city partner city was named Berg
Germany and we formed that relationship.
We actually did that here in Los Cusus
in 1993.
It was a wonderful occasion. We were out
at uh Aggie Memorial Stadium in front of
probably a crowd of 20,000 celebrating
that partnership's beginning.
And you can see that uh Nimberg is south
and east of Braymond, a little bit north
and west of Hanover in the northern part
of Germany.
It's about a 12 to 15hour flight from El
Paso over there, plus a little bit of
time either by rail or by car to get to
Nineburg.
Both of our sister cities began as the
result of student exchanges.
Each partnership is more than 30 years
old.
We signed formal agreements
between ourselves and our partner cities
and began that relationship and it was
recognized and is continued to be
recognized by sister cities
international.
We also in 1992
established the Los Cusus Sister Cities
Foundation. It's an incorporated
organization that's nonpartisan and is a
501c3 organization. It was established
to facilitate the sister cities
relationship. So, we work very closely
with the sister cities and with our own
city here, Los Cusus.
So, I'd like to tell you about some of
the accomplishments that we have had in
the 202526
year. It's been an extremely busy year
for us. We have updated our bylaws.
We have established an extensive
standing rules with policies and
directions on how to conduct our
business.
We have renewed the or the memorandum of
understanding with the city of Los Cusus
and we have established a service
agreement.
We have reestablished our communications
with the city liaison and Katrina we
thank her for the help and assistance
she has been to us in communicating with
the different areas within the city.
We have created a new website. The other
one was uh outdated and if you're
familiar with creating websites, it is
very time consuming, very involved and
we're not complete yet. We're still
working on improving it. However, this
website gives both our members as well
as anyone interested in Sister Cities a
way to go out and do that search and see
what we're about and then to join us in
the member organization if they so
choose.
We have updated brochures and other
documentations and initiated many
activities around the community.
We've had visits with our sister cities.
In June 2025,
we sent a delegation to Ninberg,
Germany, our sister city, for
celebrating their
1,000th
anniversary as a city. Is that amazing
or what? We were delighted that Mayor
Enriquez, councelor Mccclure,
uh our city liaison Katrina Gordonus
were able to join that group and
participate in the activities there in
Nineberg to help them in the
celebration. They got an opportunity to
really communicate and learn about the
community and the people.
It was quite a celebration and part of
the job that they had to do and I wasn't
there to help. Sorry, mayor. But they
planted a tree as a gift from Los Cusus
to Neberg
in honor of their 10,000th anniversary.
So, it was quite a gathering over there.
In November 2025, we sent a delegation
to Lero to celebrate their 131st
anniversary as a city and to renew our
uh relationship with them because
COVID and things going on. It's been
it's been really difficult for us to to
get that uh communication going and
working together. But we sent a
delegation of five and it included
councelor Mccclure. We had um Dr. Jorge
Martinez Rios who is the director of the
Los Cusus Symphony go down also. And our
gift to the city and the citizens down
there was a musical program that Dr.
Martinez and a colleague conducted while
they were there.
We also were able to sign a renewal of a
friendship with Lero.
Although the proposed visit from Nimberg
in 2026 in October of this year has been
cancelled,
we're looking forward to having a visit
from a delegation in 2027.
We do have a small delegation that is
planning to come to Los Cusus probably
in August, late August to work on a
horicultural project and I'll I'll tell
you more about that in just a minute.
But we're looking forward to having a
group from Laro here in November. You'll
hear about it as we get plans more
formalized.
As far as education and what we have
done, we've been very very busy. One of
our members, Greg Smith, who was a
former counselor, put together a couple
of presentations for us on the
architecture. He presented the
architecture in Neberg, which you can
imagine the German architecture is quite
different than here. And then the second
presentation was on the architecture in
Lero which is similar but there's there
are differences there too but again to
educate the members and the community
regarding
uh our sister cities. We were involved
in a couple of events,
National Night Out and Wheels United,
where we uh met with many citizens and
got an opportunity to explain and or
introduce about Sister Cities here in
Los Cruus.
We've had seven membership drives.
We've done five presentations to civic
and community organizations.
We've done a presentation on the local
radio station
KTL
and we want to do more and I would ask
you
as people who are representing our
community and involved in our community.
Are there organizations that you know of
that would like to learn more about
Sister Cities?
All you have to do is to let me know or
one of the board members know and we'll
be happy to go and visit with them and
do a presentation and educate.
I want to talk about some of our planned
and ongoing initiatives. student
exchanges were the basis for both of
these relationships and we want to
expand and in some cases to continue
some of these that have over time uh not
been able to be kept active. We do have
an exchange program that we're working
with the uh German program at NMSU to
partner some of their students with
students in Ningburgg who are interested
in learning English. We have had an
interest from both of our sister cities
that would be interested in doing a pin
friend exchange in elementary school.
Although the students in high school
don't have German programs now, we know
that there's international programs and
people who might be interested in those
and we would like to uh promote that
idea and help to introduce our high
school students to other students both
in Mexico and in Germany.
We've been looking at art projects
between the city and our sister cities,
perhaps bringing uh members from those
communities here for a local project.
You may be hearing more about that as
the the year goes on.
the egg exchange that we've been I've
mentioned with Laro
uh very interested in this egg exchange
program between the county extension
office the city of Los Cusus
and Laro.
We're looking at a new tree that's
called the yellow horn. You may not be
familiar with this. It's not common
here, but the yellow horn
does have some strong values of water
conservation.
It uses and survives on
six inches of water annually.
Isn't that amazing? and it has a lot of
medicinal as well as commercial
um opportunities for economic.
We're considering other programs coming
up. I'd like to share with you a few of
those. We want to get our link well
established on the website between Los
Cruus Sister Cities and the city of Los
Cusus.
We would like to refresh and perhaps
expand the signage around the community
that talks and shows the community that
we do have sister cities. That's been
very important as far as educating and
and raising the curiosity of the
community about sister cities.
We would like to set up and get
established a plaque
for uh some marble that has been donated
several years ago to the city of Los
Cusus from Lairo and it's now being used
in one of our public art exhibits. So we
hope to get that done coming up.
We're also working and hopefully we'll
be able to set up a sister cities
Christmas tree in the lobby here at city
hall to again promote sister cities.
Maybe having some special uh ornaments
from each of our sister cities. So,
we're working on that. We've got a lot
of things that we're working for toward.
We want to consider
uh and there's an ongoing consideration
of viable and beneficial relationships
between Los Cusus and other countries
and communities. It's a long process to
go through, but we are open to that. We
hope to pursue more of that in the
coming year.
As far as the leadership goes, our
bylaws require the leadership, the board
of directors to meet at least four times
a year. There's, as I said, there's been
lots to do and lots going on, and they
have met 11 out of the 12 months this
past year.
We've had six board and committee
members who have attended leadership
training with Sister Cities
International in Fort Worth, Texas, and
also in Phoenix, Arizona. We're working
to train our members to take leadership
positions and to take on some of the
events, the presentations,
and the activities of Sister Cities.
The report would not be complete without
a financial report. And I have to tell
you that Sister Cities is on a calendar
year financial reporting basis. So I've
included and started from January 1 of
2026. You can see our our uh balance of
access at that time, our revenue and
expenses for this six months.
and then we've had an increase of
approximately $5,000.
So, we're ready to invest and work
toward
uh the community and educating the
community. So, we have a lot of things
in mind. In summary, I would like to say
that we're working very closely with our
partner cities.
We're in communication via Zoom. We're
attending some of their meetings.
They're attending some of ours. We're
communicating the planning that what's
going on. So, we are in constant comment
contact with them probably
uh at least once a month and more and
often in more cases than that where
we've been in touch with people in those
communities. We're raising awareness and
educating both our members and the
community about sister cities.
We're facilitating exchanges
between our sister cities and we're
continuing to be financially responsible
and stable.
I would like to thank you again for the
opportunity to speak with you today and
I appreciate we appreciate the support
that you have given to the sister cities
program and at this time I would like to
answer any questions that you may have
or hear any comments that you might have
about sister cities.
All right. Thank you Elaine. Councelor
McClure.
Thank you, mayor. Uh, thanks, Elaine.
The only thing I would supplement is I
know you focused on student exchanges,
but when we were in Laro, there was also
teachers who were interested in doing
exchanges. So, having a consideration of
what trades can we kind of pull back and
forth across various borders, various
oceans would be something also to
consider. and then they come back as
ambassadors to their students and gives
that a little bit reassurance to parents
there to parents hear what that looks
like and gives them new ideas then for
their teaching and their trades that
they could bring back. So just a
supplement but
that's a that's a very good idea
counselor. Uh I think that that we've
had some communications but we haven't
solidified anything. But I think that's
that's an excellent idea for a great
start to introduce them to the our
community here and to uh likewise maybe
send a a group down to Lero. Thank you
very much
councelor K. Thank you so much for the
presentation and I uh as Tim Chapel
knows I hosted a bunch of students from
Lero over uh when they when we did this
student exchange at through DACC and I
still am in touch with a bunch of those
folks who many of whom have traveled
some of them live in the states now some
of them live in different parts of
Mexico but it's great to be in touch
with those students still 10 12 years
later um from Leo that we initially met
as part of that exchange um which was
Great. So, I I just want to
say, you know, count count me in for the
hosting of students if that's where
where you are or whatever kinds of
things that you all need in that and
supporting that relationship. Um, it was
a great experience at the time and I
really appreciate you all carrying the
torch forward. I did have one city that
I would say if if you all are thinking
about other places, a place called Vadas
in Ankash, Peru. It's at the base of a
very large mountain range. Very, very
much like here, 115,000
people. Um,
diverse population, uh, long history,
super interesting relationship with
water. So, uh, not that you necessarily
need, I'm sure you have a million places
to consider, but, um, when you were
talking and said like, "Oh, we're
thinking of other places." That that
place that I, um, have been connected to
in the past made came to mind as a very
close match to Los Cusus in terms of
those things. So, thank you again and,
um, we appreciate your your commitment.
You're
quite welcome. And I'll be happy to give
you a card so you can send me
information on that city. We are looking
definitely for cities that are going to
be beneficial for uh Los Cusus and it
always involves a little time of
courting to get to know one another and
to see what we have to offer them and
what their community has to offer us.
So, we're looking for that strong link
between communities. And I would say
that councelor Karan's uh
information there regarding her
relationship
with the the people that she has hosted
and been involved with really
demonstrates what happens as we interact
and become friends and we get to know
their culture. They get to know ours. We
share things back and forth. So it's
it's really important that brings a
oneness to our communities and uh
although we may not agree on different
things, we can acknowledge and respect
one another and that's what helps our
international relationships. So thank
you very much
Mayor Pro.
Thank you Mayor [clears throat]
Elaine. Thank you your board your
volunteers for all the work that you are
doing. definitely important as um folks
from from these sister cities would say
tank circuit
e gracias buo
um another city to consider would be
major Italy we'll get um I'll get your
information be great as you expand to
look at the city beautiful little city
um near beach with um a wonderful view
and uh structures that are over 9,000
years old. And as I tell the public
works guys, they also have streets that
are 3,000 years old with no potholes.
We can learn a lot.
Thank you. [laughter]
No potholes. Well, I don't know. They're
still standing kind of.
Anyone else? No.
Oh, thanks again, Elaine, for the
presentation, the update. I look forward
to the expansion, the growth that sister
cities can do and provide. I'm looking
forward to the Christmas tree
decoration. Katrina's already mentioned
that to me. And we can do a lot of
things. And uh you're right, it's the
relationship, it's the education, it's
the art, it's the culture. There's so
much that we can learn from each other.
And uh I'll throw this one to the fire
department. We had one time talked about
having Laro uh fire members maybe attend
one of ourmies and we could host them
and and give them some training from
this area. I was fortunate in Newberg to
go to the police department there to
their academy and the things that they
do over there. It's a it's a three-year
program and uh a lot to learn and things
that we can learn from them as well.
Absolutely.
So looking forward to it. Thank you.
Thank you again.
Thank you so much.
[applause]
Next on the agenda is the Telshore
Facility Fund, Leslie Doyle.
Good afternoon, mayor, city council,
city staff. My name is Lesie Doyle and
along with my team Cynthia Alamo and
Natalie Green, we are here today to
present on the Telshore fund, Telshore
facility fund or Telure fund. Thank you.
That's why she's the best team member.
So, first I want to talk a little bit
about the history. While this is not an
inclusive list because there's been a
lot of resolutions for the Telshore
fund, this is a a list that has really
been impactful as it regards in in
regards to the investments. So
resolution 05128
established the Telshore fund in 2024
and this used one-time lease proceeds
from Memorial Medical Center. We had a
total amount that we received of 28.5
million. In 2004, we received 24.4
million of that. And then in 2019, we
received the remaining escrow funding.
In 2005, ordinance 2244 authorized
long-term investments with the New
Mexico State Investment Council. And
then in 2007, resolution 07-378
approved
for the funds to be invested into the in
the investment council.
40%
of the
Oh, and then I'm sorry, 40% of the 10
thou of the 10 million was then
allocated to be managed by the city and
the remaining 14.4 was invested in the
state investment council. Large cap
equity 30%, small to midcap equity 20%,
and then international equity 10%.
Resolution 08112 lifted the moratorum on
the use of the funds for health related
services for a three-year period and at
the time we were allocating an amount
not to exceed $300,000 with a
combination of Telshore fund, general
fund, and any other appropriate funding
sources.
And then in 2013, a resolution was
approved
14-105
that adopted an application and guide so
that you could apply for these funding
this funding and then annual resolutions
to set nonprofit funding priorities
throughout the years.
So as I mentioned earlier, there was the
city managed investments of 40% that
were managed in the treasury department.
You can see the rate of return that we
received for those funds. I would note
that as of 2025, those funds that were
managed by the city were fully expended.
And then the 60% that is still currently
within the New Mexico um state
investment council, you can see the rate
of investment that we have on those
funds as well.
Then I did also want to show the
expenditures for the Telshore fund. You
can see it was flat early on and then as
of 23 it did begin to increase. The
budgeted expenditures of 13.7 million
are not actual but they are projected
and approved budget at this time.
And then we also have cash investment
inflows and outflows. And I understand
that this is a lot of information. So
there are two areas that I do want to
highlight for you. The first is
investment income and capital
appreciation. You can see from fiscal
year 20 to 26 there is a change of 1.4
million to 9.3 million that we
increased. I will note that in fiscal 22
there was a significant decrease which
was right in the middle of COVID. So not
to be you know that's not too surprising
but did want to note that that that did
occur. Additionally the investment
balance as of fiscal 20 was 40.9 million
and now it is 53.5
million.
Before I turn it over to Cynthia for her
part of the presentation, I do want to
note that there is a slide at the end
that we are going to be requesting some
direction from council on how we move
forward with this investment, but want
to be able to provide the full picture
of everything before we have the
discussion. So, with that, I'm going to
turn it over to Cynthia. Thank you.
Good afternoon, mayor, city council. My
name is Cynthia Lamio. from the capital
improvements program manager. And
following Leslie's presentation, I want
to give you a quick update on the most
recent Telure capital allocations. These
are the allocations that were authorized
in the fiscal year of 2025.
We first start with legacy parks. This
is the first time that the Department of
Parks and Rec introduced to us the
concept of legacy parks. We want to be
um mindful and and in a way recognize
all of those city parks that have been
the oldest and that we recognize that
they need some maintenance. The emphasis
for this first round was Apodaka and
Young Park and they got an allocation of
2.5 million. Out of that we have
expended about 1.4 in multiple projects.
For Jung Park, there were some canopies
that were replaced, but some of those
expenditures were also allocated to the
Young Master Plan. I'm going to come
back for the Apodaka project. Then we
also had an allocation of 1.9 for
playground replacements and park
construction. And here's where we had uh
the ability to complete multiple
projects. The remainder of this two set
of allocation which adds up to two
million will be fully allocated to the
Apoaka Park aquatic playground and
multi-use path. This is a very
comprehensive project and some of the
upcoming expenditures will be the
demolition of the existing pool and then
the placement of a new aquatic
playground. This project also has a
grant and this funding will help um
close out that project to ensure that
it's fully fully funded, but there might
be a small gap later on.
Some of the projects that have been
completed with the Telshare funds
includes a Pioneer Women's Park
playground. From these two pictures, you
can see the before and after.
We next have the Gus Vakis Park
playground. Another playground that
needed playground replacement.
Then we have East Mesa Rec Center Park
Playground.
So as you see the uh parks and recla
several park uh park playgrounds that
were needed. They also did general um
projects. For example, for the Rangala
T-ball field, they improve eight
dugouts. As you can see for the first
pressure picture, you can see how it's
damaged. And you see the replace and
improved uh dugout. There were all eight
dugouts at Rangala and also eight at the
Magiel.
They also replaced and improved the
steps or the seating area at the four
hills park. This is right next to the b
basketball basketball court. So now you
can see that there's a safe area where
uh anybody could just go and take a
break while they're playing or just
enjoy the park.
The other set of projects that received
telure capital allocations in 25 was
facility maintenance projects. 1.1 was
allocated and we have a balance of about
400,000.
This projects included the park water
fountains which are still in progress.
The Mesia Valley Community of Hope
restrooms and this is a a very important
project because the restroom and the
shower improvement increased their
capacity of 20 showers daily to 40
showers creating a huge help for the
campus. And then they also had a general
facilities facilities that could be
smaller projects. The remaining that
they have right now will continue to be
allocated to the water and fountains to
ensure that project gets completed.
Another set of projects that receive
telshare funding is the police realtime
crime center, specifically the intel and
crime lab. This project is almost done.
Uh the department is just working on the
final punch list items which are those
little remaining items and they will use
the remaining balance to pay any invoice
that's pending.
We have the fire station 9 where 2
million was given to uh complete of a
gap funding. This project is 95%
completion but you will hear more
details once you we have the go bond
presentation.
Lastly, we have 400,000 given to Creek's
walnut well. And this was just a
one-time um monitoring well that will
just help uh utilities get more details
on the condition of the water and other
elements.
This is a picture of the improved
real-time crime center.
This is a picture of the new fire
station 9. But again, you will see more
uh recent pictures at the goon
presentation.
So we now pass it to Natalie Green for
additional information on past
expenditures.
Good afternoon Mr. Mayor, members of
council, Natalie Green for the record.
So in addition to health related public
services, there was a number of projects
funded over the years. Prior to FY22, we
purchased 1101 West Amadore. That's the
expansion of the community hope campus
um where Amodore Crossing is currently
being built. We also purchased the horse
and hound property uh which now houses
casinos and the future Elcalito soup
kitchen and a portion of those funds
were also used to renovate uh the horse
and hound into the new food pantry. We
also partnered with La Pinon and uh
entered into a lease to purchase
agreement for their building. So they
are we prepurchased their building and
uh are leasing them back to them until
they can pay us off. Um there was also
the closure of the emergency shelter. So
the city worked with FYI to reopen the
emergency youth shelter and funded that
initiative. Um it is a now self
sustaining uh project. So they just
needed that initial gap fund to get
going. We also piloted the Monuimano
program um and started that program. And
then prior to FY22, the only affordable
housing investment we had was 5777,000
and that was a partnership with the
Messia Valley Public Housing Authority.
Other uh substantial allocations was for
the humanitarian crisis and so the city
was recognized as one of the 13 real
life heroes. Uh we provided funding uh
for um that crisis crisis during the
asylum seekers uh coming to the Los
Cusus area.
And then during COVID, we allocated
approximately 3.8 million in in various
resolutions and that was uh in
partnership with both city programming
and then many of our nonprofit partners
to stabilize the community and uh have
some rapid response.
In 2023 was uh really the start where we
see other departments getting funded. So
we had some allocations to the fire
department, the transit, um some liftup
initiatives and the police athletic
league um the pal boxing and those were
about 3.1
more recent allocations uh specifically
to housing and uh neighborhood services.
So we are funding the SOS program in
partnership with municipal CP and then
we have some annual allocations uh for
the continuation of Manu Mano our street
outreach program and this is the first
year that we're funding security
services out of the telshore fund for
both community hope and the Amador
crossing
uh we have used the Telshore fund pretty
extensively to make pre-commitments for
affordable housing projects. Those
pre-commitments have resulted in either
match funding or reimbursement funding
from the state of New Mexico. So only
11.4 million has actually come out of
the Telshore fund for uh affordable
housing projects. Everything else um is
either reimbursed or or the state
provided those funds. So we have a
pretty good return on investment. So
it's about a 15 to1 uh return on
investment. So that 11.4 has generated
170 million. and outside investment from
either equity investors or other funding
sources to build um those projects. So
we've have 568 new units um in multif
family and then we have about 114 single
family units 478
multif family units in pre-development
and then uh I'll talk about in my go
bond presentation but we have for the
first time some renovation projects for
affordable housing and so the three
projects funded out of the uh telshore
fund is three sisters uh peach tree
phase 2 and amodor are crossing
and then the healthc care uh health
related public services has been funded
since fiscal year 2000 2009 that was
when it uh the moratorum was first
lifted and this program was created and
so annually uh this project has been
funded by various councils. It started
at 300,000 per year and then in fiscal
year 19 it was adjusted to 400,000 and
then in uh fiscal year 23 it was bumped
up to 600,000. It is a competitive
selection process conducted by the
health and human services advisory
committee through the uh council adopted
application application and policy
guide. Uh this is a graph. I apologize.
I recognize it's a little bit busy, but
just to show um in the blue bars is the
amount of funds that were requested. In
the gray bar is the amount of funds uh
awarded and then the trend lines are the
I'm sorry, that's the the lines and the
bars are the number of applications we
received or the value of applications we
received. Um so early on we were getting
30 applications per year. Um it's
dropped off over the years. Um and we've
been able to fund about 50% of the
applications that we were getting. Um
you'll note in FY21 was when uh we went
up to the 600,000 at the next cycle
because we were getting significantly um
higher requests than what we were
awarding
um as a community impact. So we funded
17 organizations this fiscal year. Those
uh collective organizations served
approximately 228,000
people. Um and some of that is
duplicated or unduplicated depending on
the agency. So amazing return on
investment uh for service for our
community. Some high level um goal or uh
high level uh impact that those
organizations I didn't get to put all 17
so I only did a few um but El Calito
served over 153,000 meals that's both
breakfast and lunch to members of our
community. This year, Community Action
Agency expanded their services 150% uh
for their family emergency program. So,
they served 940 people this year. Um, La
Pinon is uh
with Telor Fund served 344 survivors of
domestic violence and sexual assault.
Um, part of their building purchase also
allowed for the expansion of other
forensic exams. So they're able to do
forensic exams for child abuse cases and
domestic violence cases. Um so that in
improves the conviction rate for those
um services.
Boys and Girls Club um has been saving
families approximately a million dollars
a year in child care expenses and so
they're a very high impact youth
development program. Uh this year,
Community Hope through their soore,
which is their expedited uh social
security program, uh served 155 people.
And so by allowing uh helping a person
access those uh social security
programs, there's a return on investment
of almost $12,000 back into the local
economy, especially if they get housed
and are covering their rent. And then
this year uh Roadrunner Food Bank is
serving um about 656 thou uh households
a month and that's includes uh 1100
children um per month with food services
and then many of the agencies also sent
me other um goals and objectives but I I
know they're in the audience so they can
speak to their programs as well if I
missed them. Some recommendations or
considerations around the HRPS program.
Uh, one, we want to evaluate the HRPS
committee. Um, again, there's only three
members on that committee. It, um,
usually requires seven. So, in order for
it to be a robust, um, award selection
process, and we really need a full
committee, uh, and for them to evaluate
and score those applications. This year
is the first year. Um, we're
recommending moving to two-year service
agreements. So, our service agreements
uh because we fund this every um two
years, we'll do a one-year service
agreement with an option for renewal.
So, that'll eliminate the need to come
to rewrite service agreements every
year. Um we also want to work with the
committee over the next year to review
the application and guide. Um there was
a request from one of the agencies to
consider uh electronic submissions. So,
we may look at that again. Also evaluate
the award amounts. So adjusting those
minimums and maximums. Um considering
changing the presentation format so all
nonprofits have to present to that
committee. Um so as part of that
evaluation figure out if uh those
presentations are still um valuable to
that committee or or figure out a
different format for that. And then uh
from the nonprofits I did hear the
desire to maintain those equitable
distributions. I know there was some
commentary about each agency as part of
HRPS getting the same dollar amount. Um,
so their feedback is they wanted to keep
that. Um, I will now pass it back to
Lesie to uh start us off with our
discussion.
Thank you, Natalie.
So, as promised, we are we have the
opportunity now to look at the future
outlook and investment strategy for the
Telshore fund. All of our current all of
our Telshore fund is currently held in
investments at the New Mexico State uh
investment council. And I would point
you to the chart
that has an investment balance at in
fiscal year 26 of 53 million. It is
important to note that we started with
24 million as an initial investment and
then all of the things that both Cynthia
and Natalie have talked about and that
we have been able to, you know, impact
the community with and we still have a
significant investment. So, I think it's
important to note that.
But what we need from council is
guidance on
what to do with the investment because
it is not liquid. So, we don't have the
cash that we need. So should we withdraw
the entirety of the investment and
invest it locally here at the city or
sell investments as needed and then as
the expenses occur we can you know sell
the investment to get the cash in order
to do that you know we had because there
is such a good rate of return you saw
earlier we've been really hesitant to to
sell that because the the rate of return
is really good so um I do want to keep
that in mind as part of the discussion
Additionally, it is a large, you know, a
large investment. I am not a financial
adviser and would like perhaps the
opportunity to consult with a financial
adviser to help them look at the
allocations that we currently have as
well as any changes that we might be
able to make that we could increase our
return on investment even more.
And then also from council, what is the
future spending plan so that we do know
how we can invest what that future
investment strategy depends on how
council intends to to expend the funds.
So th that's the the guidance that we
need from council at this point is how
to move forward.
All right. Thank you Leslie. Councelor
Kurin,
thank you um as always for your
presentation. Cynthia and Natalie too.
Um
I uh just at a very basic level, the if
I remember the last time we had this
conversation, the state investment
council only promises like a 2% return
or something, don't they? Like I don't
know what they if or if they suggest I
know it's like 2,000 investments and
it's a it's a very like complicated
thing. But my sense from before when we
were talking about this, which was not
one of the double-digit return years, um
was that they were really
bullish in how much investments in the
state investment council would bring in
and it's obviously overperforming like
all uh investments, most investments at
this moment are. Um I'm wondering I
don't think that that's going to be a
forever I don't like I know that you're
not you just said you're not a financial
adviser. I don't think 10% is a
reasonable return to expect on any
investment in any market except this
exact moment. So I'm curious if you
think what is the
definite
amount of return on investment that we
could expect for whatever we keep in the
state investment council. And then to me
that's a very important variable in
whether or not we leave things there or
not. I I my tendency it's produced a lot
of money is to leave as much as we can
and to make liquid only the things that
we
um need as they go along. But I'm
curious if you can talk a little bit
about that uh because obviously our our
return on investment and when we had the
money wasn't as good but the market was
also different etc etc. So can you talk
a little bit about that speculatively
please?
Yes, U mayor, councelor Karan, I would
agree that 10% is not something that is
probably sustainable over a long period
of time.
As far as what the state investment
council, you know, guarantees or
I'm not familiar with that. I I've never
heard of them guaranteeing a certain
rate of return. So, I'm going to have to
do a little bit of research to see if
that is in fact the case. But
I I guess just to put a finer point on
on what you said, 10% is not something
that I would expect year-over-year for
multiple years,
but we also did, you know,
do better with this investment than we
did internally.
So, thank you that I I know it's too
much to it's a lot of speculation, but I
appreciate your insight and it's sort of
what I guess I'm I imagine I shouldn't
have said guarantee. I don't I don't
mean that. I think we just talked about
like what what can we expect under all
conditions over overall and I'm
wondering if you can go back to that um
graph really quickly.
Sorry. Um,
so yes, for me this
this is just a wild return on [snorts]
investment slide that I do think we
should hire a financial adviser to help
us with frankly because this is not re
real or like very hard to establish
something or expect something. But um I
guess I would say I would my
recommendation would be one that we do
not take that we take out what we need
and keep the state investment the money
with the state investment council um
while we're still figuring out what to
do with the rest. And I also would say I
I do acknowledge that holding like
holding on to a rate of return like
this, we're a city entity. We're here to
help people. We're not here to make
money. So I think for me fundamentally
that's one of the things that I think is
really important in this. But I do think
we should balance those two things by
keeping some money in investments and
spending it as the liquidity goes on. So
thank you. And again I I support fi
hiring a financial adviser if we're
going to take it all out and give it to
the city. I would hope we would hire
someone from the state investment
council I guess to help us figure out
what to do with it. But I it seems like
this is a pretty good place to keep our
money.
Thank you,
Council Muller.
Thanks, Mayor. Um, I I guess I'm going
to supplement a little bit what Council
Karan said. Um, and maybe kind of um
highlight where I think on money. It's
one of those sort of lucid things that
in my life um what what are we saving
for? And I think one of those questions
too is when when you talk to lay people
and they say, "Oh, we have billions of
dollars in our coffers in the state."
and we're saving it for a rainy day and
people feel like it's raining. So, I I
am also of the mindset of yeah, get a
financial adviser because I like people
who do this for a living. It's not going
to last forever like this, right? Can we
leverage for things where it is actually
raining? I'm thinking of we have a um a
heat wave, the library is a cooling
station. Can we pay for what we're
saving in
those hours for the Sunday library
through this? Right? Things that are
actual immediate needs. I would say too
like if we're if we have projects like
the MRA and we can supplement say the
Boys and Girls Club too to see that we
build that catalyst there that people
see a future that they want to live in.
Right? That's that's where I'm always
focusing on these couple of things where
it's we're making things happen now is
kind of where I've always been focused
on as well. So, but I also I'm not a
financial person. So, I I want to I want
to say that we are doing this in a
responsible way. Um we do need to have
more people on that committee like
Natalie said as well to have sort of
those robust com conversations, right?
because need sometimes does change and
focus might change sometimes and I think
that is that's a hard conversation to
have and we should have those with
people who are invested in that and have
the background to have that conversation
and know a little bit more than perhaps
some of us on council my I'll speak for
myself and not council at that point.
Thank you,
Councelors.
Um, thanks, Mayor and Lesie and Natalie
for the presentation. Um,
it was as as someone who's relatively
new and has been vaguely aware of the
Telshore fund for a long time. This was
all very enlightening. Um, I guess I
also agree that State Investment Council
seems to have had a pretty good return.
Um, that is obviously
a lot um to continue to expect forever,
but we've got it right now. And I say we
we write it as long as possible. Um, so,
you know, I I think keeping it here,
selling it as needed to have liquidity
to pay out the contracts that we've got.
Um, does I think that's that's the
course now and that seems like a
reasonable course for the future. Um,
I'm not sure that we could do better as
a city. Um, I guess the state has
already has financial adviserss and
people whose sole job it is to keep this
fund uh going for for all the
municipalities. So, you know, hiring
hiring our own people and trying to do
this in house um
will might not be as disastrous as when
I try to pick my own stocks. Um but you
know probably we're it seems like we're
getting we're getting decent rates here.
Um as for spending priorities um I worry
I I too worry about like what's going to
happen when this money is gone. And so
you know we started with 24 we've got 30
right now. So we're doing pretty good.
Um, but I also don't want us to
get into a situation where we spend it
all and then organizations that have
come to rely on a yearly distribution of
$600,000 of that money don't have it
anymore. Um, at the same time, if we
could spend it all on some magic wand
and then solve all of the problems and
then we don't need that in the future,
um, that would be great. But I don't
think that's the case. Um, so that's
that's what I want to be careful on
drawing it down is, you know, maybe not
drawing it down for operational type
expenses,
um, but keeping in mind that there there
are projects that can leverage a lot
more money like what Natalie was
presenting on. if we can use it as
matching funds um you know we can get a
60% return on investment if we use it as
matching funds you know if you want to
think of it that way um
so
see if I had any other specific
questions
um
I guess another just concern that I'll
throw out and I hope that the NMSIC is
thinking about it is
a and also it's related to us managing
it ourselves. Um there are some pretty
unstable forces in the current uh
uh market right now and I just want to
make sure that we're not exposed to that
as much as possible although I know some
of the exposure is being forced by
forces beyond our control. So those are
my thoughts for now. Thanks
Matis. Did you council Matise?
Uh Natalie, how is the corpus? How close
are we to go getting into the corpus?
The original amount?
Mayor, councelor Matise, the corpus was
about 28 million. And if we expend all
of our 27 budgeted expenditures, our
ending balance would be 30 million. So,
give or take two million. Okay.
Before we begin to utilize the court,
I I agree with councelor Harris. I'd
like to see that at least not, you know,
touched. And of course, we could make
more money and still do all the good
deeds that we're doing. And I realize
Miss Green has some even payments coming
back to the Telshore fund from some
loans. So, it looks positive that there
it could go to 35, maybe 40,000.
And I'd like to see that happen. I I
think it's good that the uh the city has
a um another reserve just besides the
212s
and then you could guarantee the 600,000
a year to the nonprofits
and and that would be for perpetual.
That's the way it was designed. you
know, was designed that uh it just
wouldn't be expended totally and then
you don't have 600,000. It could go
maybe to a million in a couple of years
if interest rates and return of
investments are good. But but I would
like to see that uh that bundle
preserved
and then all the good deeds come out of
the you know the interest uh rather than
than the corpus. And if there's even a
little extra, you know, that's just
smart investment on on our part. So that
that would be uh
that would be my direction. Thank you,
Mayor Proto.
Thank you, Mayor um councilors. Thank
you
um for putting the presentation
together.
Leslie, so my thought um as we look into
this is is definitely we do need, you
know, subject matter experts um and we
look to towards you and and other
experts that we have around the state.
um
at the point of time that that we're in
today and I think um councelor
Mccclure uh mentioned this you know
rainy day fund we talked about the rainy
day fund from the state level um and you
know it's it's someday rainy day you
some there's there's no someday on the
calendar right um I I know that when my
son was little we would say oh save
cookie for a rainy day and it's oh mom
and dad it never rains in Las Cruises,
right? Um we're we're kind of at a at a
junka position right now um where people
have food insecurity,
people need food. Um we're stressed out
about affordability.
And so as we look at at some of these
projects, I'd like to hear see a needs
analysis of the organizations we're
supporting um to see where the needs
are. If if I look at at at I think it
was page 19 or 26, we're funding half of
what people what organizations are
asking for. You know, if we invest um
anemically, we'll probably get anemic
results. Um, and that's not it's not
that's not what we want to do to to be
effective and to govern effectively and
to help people out effectively. So, I
would say let's um let's look at with
our subject matter experts what we can
do. Let's look at the organizations
um and the folks that we're supporting
and prioritize where we can see um some
positive impact. Um,
and that rainy day, I mean, it's it's
it's here. It's here. As a state, we are
doing well financially
if we wait to spend that money in the
future. You know, those that, you know,
310 billion uh will be less in the
future if that makes sense because of uh
inflation and just cost of goods that
you know will continue to increase
year-over-year. So, I would suggest um
that that we do that and um see where we
can prioritize and see where we can most
effectively spend our our uh resources.
Thank you. Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you, Council Ray.
Sorry, this is just a quick followup on
that conversation. The I think that the
time that we talked about this prior was
when we talked about the 300 and then
the 400 and then the 600, which I think
I was I was on council at that time. I
wasn't there for the other two
conversations, but that was the
interestbased amount that came from the
corpus um at that time roughly. I think
that's what we made that decision based
on. I'm not a thousand% sure, but um
my memory of our conversation about that
was that the interest was performing
outperforming what we had been awarding
and so we were sort of amassing a lot of
money. um $53 million um at some point
in time. And so I'm just curious if
that's still reflective sort of to Mayor
Promos's question if that's still
reflective of the amount of sort of
expected interest profits. sounds like
it's a little bit less than what we
would expect and if we if that's
something else that we should reconsider
as part of the of the conversation is
what in addition to two-year contracts
which I also hope we can do with the
agencies and reduce the administrative
burdens for the small amount of money
that we're actually giving each
organization.
Um I would wonder if it's possible to
expand that amount to to something else.
So that would I guess is a question sort
of for future consideration or if you
know better I'd love to hear it.
Mayor Councelor Karan I I guess for
clarification do you mean just interest
or do you also mean the appreciation of
the investment?
That's what I don't really remember how
we decided how we arrived at $600,000
and that's the part that I'm not
completely sure of. I think I think that
was just the interest the the expected
interest, not the appreciation that's
happening at a different rate than we
would expect. But um but I'm not 100%
sure of that. I just wanted to clarify
where that measure came from. And then
the money that we've taken out recently
came from us having this conversation,
which is it is raining. We have $53
million that we're sitting on. We need
to address essential services that we
have in the discussion of 26 and 27. But
I guess um the 600,000
uh question is one that I also would
like to know more about. Um if you can
share.
Yes. Uh Mr. Mayor, councelor Karen. So
uh the 600,000
increase in uh between FY21 and FY22.
And if you recall in the presentation at
that time, we were not using the
Telshore fund for any of the other um
department or operational programming.
Um so that was the consideration of the
council at the time was uh there's an
increase in need for nonprofits. Let's
increase the uh the annual allocation
and we're able to fund more nonprofits.
Um since then we've seen um the
tailshore used for capital improvements
um some of these allocations, the parks
facility maintenance. So we're seeing
that um investment go down and then for
affordable housing the 11.4. Um, so I
guess that that would be possibly also
part of the discussion is um, if I'm
hearing council correctly, we want to
see the continuation of the HRPS program
for nonprofits at a possible increase if
the interest allows it and also these
one-time sort of instrumental
significant projects like Boys and Girls
Club or capital improvements. That is
that what I'm hearing from council?
That's what that's what I'm try I think
I'm I'm saying and I'm sort of hearing
in councelor Muos but like I know that I
understand that this FY26 and FY27 is
not a sustainable model for how we're
spending the money. Like I think we we I
think you're trying to convey that to us
and I think we understand that. So in
that context I think um understanding
what the future plan is is what you're
wanting us to talk about. So yes, from
my perspective, you summed up what I'm
what I'm getting at. And uh I do have a
desire to reduce this this that we're
doing related to the transfers for big
projects. Um if we can or if we can
leverage in ways that we can, I I am
here for that. Uh but I also think that
the nonprofits
uh are serving thousands, hundreds of
thousands of people and and I think if
we have enough money to give them more,
I would ask that we do
and I think that can be a discussion we
have with the financial advisor. Yeah,
I'll defer to Lesie on that one.
Yes. Thank you,
Council Matise.
Yeah, I I think Natalie um if you if you
maintain the corpus, you know, if you
keep at least 28 million, then you if
you're investment is getting 8 to 10% a
year, can we use that figure or uh 7%
what figure? What percentage you want to
use?
I would love to use 10%. I'm just not
sure that it's real estate.
Isn't it going to go crazy here?
Interest rates. No. Okay. What do you
want to use? 4 percent, 2%, 3%.
Mayor, councelor Matise, I think a four
to 5% rate of return is is probably more
reasonable than what we
Okay. So, let's say 4% on 30 million.
You know, you have 1.2 million that
you'd be earning. You know, it looks
like from what's happened over the last
8 to 10 years, we've had so many rainy
day uh rainy days, we we spent almost 22
million
Correct. I mean that went from corpus of
28 to 54
and in the last uh 8 five seven years
you know it's been 4 million here 2
million there a million there 2 million
another and now we're down to 30 30
million and and so we we have to be
careful of just doing these rainy day
ideas again for the next five or six
years and we just we'll be down to zero
because you We spent 22 million pretty
fast.
And so I I I'd like to see the council
secure that corpus. You know, don't
don't by ordinance by by a consensus, by
something, but don't don't go below 28
million. And then you guarantee the
600,000 to a million a year for these
nonprofits.
So you could rate, you know, you could
go from 600,000 to a million if you have
at least 28 million.
But if you have 10 million or 5 million
or zero, then you have nothing. You have
zilch. You have zero for those
nonprofits.
So that that's just my uh my statement.
All right. Thank you, Leslie.
I [clears throat] just want to say I'm
in favor of keeping it as it is and then
with the contract of a financial advisor
or financial expert I would definitely
be in favor of that not only to look at
this fund but also what is one of our
dilemmas that we're facing here at the
city is our expenditures and our
revenues and I know there's a couple of
committees so you going to take the time
to get a financial advisor let's get
someone that can also look at that and
and help our budget overall. So, we're
deciding whether to spend or not to
spend with the telshore fund. Uh the
other thing is keep it as is, but if a
crisis or an emergency, then we can
always bring it to council and see how
how we look at those things. I know we
spent a lot of money quick, but it
wasn't just a rainy day. It was also
over the course of years of things that
were neglected and needed to be uh kept
up or redone and and it's costly and we
know that. But uh the the other thing is
future future spending plans is um I
think that's something that
is ongoing but right now we do have our
strategic plan in process. So that's a
tool that we should be able to use and
again give that information to the fin
financial advisor as time goes on. These
are some of the strategic plans that are
going on with the city uh with the
organization with the community. And
we've also got another survey and
strategic plan on homelessness, mental
health, and substance abuse that's going
on. Once those are completed, we get a
better idea, a better view of which
direction we want to head and where we
want to start spending some money for
the betterment of the community.
Thank you, mayor. If I may, just make
sure that I'm understanding council's
direction correctly.
We're all in agreement that a financial
adviser is the direction we want to go.
Additionally, we want to keep the
investments to the extent that we can in
the state investment council and sell as
needed for liquidity. And then finally,
we want to make sure that we keep the
corpus whole so that we can continue to
provide those annual allocations for the
nonprofits.
Did I understand that correctly?
Yes.
Yes, I think we're in agreement with
that. Great. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you, Liza.
Next on the agenda is the geo bond
quarterly update.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Uh,
for the record, Kyle Arn with public
works. We're here to do the probably the
last remaining update on the 2022 Go
Bonds.
[music]
Of course, there were four original
questions that were approved by our
citizens. Uh, new fire station number
nine,
continued improvements at East Mesa
Public Recreational Complex, affordable
housing and park improvements.
We'll be we won't be presenting in that
order.
First project, fire station number nine.
Uh, total project uh costs for that were
a little over $12 million.
Just under nine uh 10 million of it
would go bond funds. Total construction
costs a little over $11 million.
That project is about 95% complete and
they are racing towards a completion of
mid August next that would be next
month.
Here are some they more recent pictures
of the improvements there at fire
station number nine. Uh they've been
working feverishly on the interior to
get uh all the furnishings uh sorted
out. They're also working on the
concrete out front for the entrance and
exit for the fire fire station vehicles.
And it looks a lot like the rendering uh
that was presented years back. As you
can see from the schedule, uh this
project started back in the fall of 2024
with construction. Um and again, we'll
be racing towards completion for next
month.
park improvements. Uh just under $2
million. Uh a lot of that went to La
Lona park improve park improvements that
included a new restroom uh and
[clears throat] some uh playground
infrastructure ADA improvements as well.
Construction costs uh 1.67 million. Uh
that's approximate. We're still wrapping
up a few loose ends. Uh other than uh a
little bit of dealing with uh the final
permitting, uh that project is complete.
We expect to have the final permit
issued uh for occupancy in the next two
weeks um and get the restroom open here
at the end of July. With some of the
remaining funding that was left over
from that go bond, uh the intent is to
use it to buy additional playground
equipment equipment for Tel Brook Park.
And here's some recent pictures of the
improvements at La Lama Park.
We have the new restroom on the bottom
left, the shade structures, and the play
structure.
And again, that should be done here in
the next couple weeks.
East Mesa Public Recond
of course of $4.9 million uh paired with
lots of other funding as well as this
GRT PIFF. Um
that project was completed. You had the
we've been cutting on it back in June.
And here is the picture of the new
basketball courts. Um and they still
look that blue. They're actually really
quite striking when you drive by take a
look at them. I've also been out there
several afternoons to look at the
playground structure. Uh, but I have not
been able to go down the slide myself
because it's always full of children.
Maybe I'll go out there early in the
morning so nobody can see me.
And with that, I'll hand it over to
Natalie.
Good afternoon again, Mr. Mayor, members
of council. Natalie Green for the
record. Uh, so an update on affordable
housing projects. Peach Tree Canon phase
one is 99% leased up as of when I did
this uh PowerPoint last week. So, I'm
pretty sure it would have gotten leased
up by this week. Um and then I just
wanted to give an update on the weight
list. Um we have a pretty sizable weight
list for housing on the East Mesa. So,
over 542 applicants um across both one,
two, and three bedrooms.
Uh Peach Tree phase 2 is well under
construction. So, they're getting ready
to open uh one of the farthest buildings
in the next couple months and then their
goal is to open a building a month um
thereafter. So, the
full facility should hope hopefully be
open um in early 2027. And so, they have
put uh the multi-use path. They are
doing a different color scheme in phase
two than they did in phase one. Um
greens happens to be my favorite color.
So I was pleasantly surprised to see
green cabinets.
Arcadia phase two, Arcadia number four
is a single family subdivision. It is
100% complete. Um so we're currently
working on a disposition resolution. So
you will see that uh come to council. So
it is ready for single family
construction. So um both del and habitat
for humanity are ready to hit the ground
running and pull permits and start
construction on housing.
Uh Skylark's subdivision is working on
project closeout. Uh so there's some
final details they're working out with
El Paso Electric. Um as soon as they
have uh that completed, they'll finalize
uh the roadways and those lots will be
uh permit ready.
Uh Amodore Crossing is moving along. Um
in this picture you can see uh the
masonary and brick work going on.
They've done the roof. Uh these are some
of the sample colors that are the
popouts. uh from the rendering that
council may recall. Um so they're really
working on um the exterior weather
proofing uh the EPA system. They've
started site grading the del lane went
in. Um so you'll start to see uh some
some significant progress in these final
months.
Um other projects uh Pelos Ves is uh has
hired their contractor. So they're uh
moving forward with their closing. Um
they're telling us end of July. I think
August is more realistic and then
they'll start their construction date.
Uh we have some other projects in
pre-development. So Rural Crossing um
I'm hoping to share some news with you
soon on that project. Uh residents on
Soma near Fire Station 9 is looking to
move forward. Um and that's an
additional 90 units. And then we are
working with a number of partners. So,
uh, Pacos Veres phase two is again with,
um, the housing authority and then
hopefully, uh, with Thomas development
who did the Padrina, uh, property art
space, um, has reached out and they're
in and pre-edevelopment for their
project. And then I also wanted to give
a quick update on the downtown RFQ. So,
we did get five submissions uh, for that
project. Uh the committee interviewed uh
two of those developers and we've
selected uh the winning developer which
is TWWG and so they will be reaching out
um to hear some of your desires and
needs for that parcel and then they'll
be doing a site visit. So we'll be
coordinating that with you shortly. And
then I'm really excited to talk about um
a neighborhood a liftup project in
neighborhood one. um they are
working. So when we did that
neighborhood one, we identified an
affordable housing project that uh was
very old and needed quite a bit of
improvement. And so they have reached
out to us and they have asked us um to
be the bond issuer for that project. So
it's very similar to an IRB. So we're
working with economic development. um
that 4% um bond will will renovate the
entirety of the Donana Parks apartments.
Um so for those counselors that have
been here a while have known that that
has been um a high traffic, high hot
spot for some of our uh public safety
personnel. So we're excited to see that
um project get a facelift. And then
there's another project that's also um
getting renovation. the city, they were
able to do it without any uh financial
um commitment from the city. And so, uh
you'll see Montana Meadows in District 2
also getting a facelift over the next uh
year or so. Um so, with that, uh Kyle
and I will stand for questions.
Councelor Harris.
Um thanks, Mayor. And I think this
question is well for both of you maybe.
Um so when we're doing like the Arcadia
4 and Skyark developments um I know I've
mentioned many times a dig once
utilities policy. Um do we have any
leverage to like make sure that all the
utilities are put in and we're not going
to dig up new sidewalks during those
those two since they are kind of
city-owned.
We are still preparing the dig one
policy and we prefer to implement it in
many ways possible but it doesn't
actually uh fully exist uh just yet.
Each utility has their own right to
bring in the utilities um based on their
schedules and their funding abilities.
Okay. Um, it would be cool if we could
do as much as possible to I mean they're
they're city-owned parcels, so it seems
like an ideal time and and a model time
to do it, but um so whatever whatever we
can do policy-wise up here, but I don't
I don't know how much that is.
Yeah, definitely as far as coordination
um for these projects and I think
Natalie would agree that uh we always
strive to do that. Um it just we're not
always able to completely enforce it.
Sure, understand. Um, and then yeah, I
guess my last comment, um, I'm a huge
fan of EFIS, so cool. I'm glad it's
going on Amador Crossing, and it's
really hot outside, so that's going to
be relevant going forward.
Council
Matis Natalie, could you could you share
some of the uh like the twobedroom,
onebedrooms and the different housing
what the rent is is right now the the
rent or leases currently?
Um good question. Let me pull it up on
my phone. One sec.
I just, you know, want everyone I mean
maybe people listening will just jump up
and say great. Uh the rents are sent
annually by um the tax credit. Uh
just hold it up.
And so they just changed
Mom, do you know what they are?
[snorts] Sorry, let me
have to click through a bunch of folders
to get the rental chart.
Um, in the meantime,
so the the rents really vary depending
on the funding source. if you guys will
recall the
the cheeseburger and so if it is uh a
tax credit and they are at 60% AMI the
that's the wrong community
and county cusus area a one-bedroom at
60% AMI is 874 and a twobedroom is at
1050 if they happen to be in a 30% unit
then a onebedroom is 437 and a two
bedroom is 525. And then we have some
lowome units in some of the projects uh
which is capped at 50% AMI and that's a
728 for a onebedroom and an 875 for a
two-bedroom. And then just to add some
extra complication to the cheeseburger,
if they happen to have uh a housing
choice voucher, then the rents are
typically at the payment standard um for
the housing authority. And so that's
like a 1040
and I can't remember what the bed one
bedroom is, but the just adds an extra.
I can send the chart though.
Okay, thanks.
Um I will add though for Peach Tree. So
um our three bedrooms are at uh 1212
and there is a private development
around the corner from there that's
their three bedrooms are running about
2200 to 2600. So we are still
substantially below the market rate of
housing.
Anyone else?
Okay. Thank you, Kyle. Thank you,
Natalie.
And that was the last uh item on the
agenda. Motion to adjurnn.
Move to adjourn.
Second.
[clears throat]
This is on the motion to adjourn the
work session. Councelor McClur.
Yes.
Councelor Matise.
Uh, mayor, there's no public discussion,
no public comments.
No.
Okay. Yes.
Councelor Harris,
yes.
Councelor Bencoml is absent. Councelor
Karan,
yes.
Councelor Munoz,
yes.
And mayor,
yes.