[music]
life. Amen.
Well, good afternoon everyone. Welcome
to the city council meeting. Today is
Monday, June 15, 2026. It's
approximately 1 p.m. I'm Mayor Eric
Henriquez. Before we start, I want to
mention that we have the American Sign
Language interpreters up front and
available if anybody needs those
services.
If you all join me, stand. We'll start
with a moment of silence for the brave
men and women of the United States Armed
Forces as they protect our interests
around the globe as well as our
courageous men and women of the Los
Cruus Police and Los Cruus Fire
Department as they keep our city safe
247 365.
Councelor Karan if you lead us in the
pledge.
To the flag
of
the stands,
liberty and justice for all.
[clears throat]
Ready.
Okay, we'll go ahead and start out with
pre presentations and certificates
proclamations by councelor Kur.
Good afternoon. First, we'd like to
bring up the baseball team. So, come on
down everyone. Coaches, team members,
if you guys want to just hang out here.
pictures.
All right. [clears throat]
Four times the bridesmaid and now
finally the bride. The 2026 Sunblazer
baseball team won the state championship
in a dominating fashion. Four times
prior Sunblazer teams had won second
place at the state tournament 2007,
which you guys might not have even been
born yet, I realize. um 2008, 2017,
2018, but this year they are the
champions. The Messia Valley Christian
Sunblazers are once again district
champs three years in a row and five out
of the last six years and earned a
number four seed going into the
playoffs. The Sunblazers beat Rahobitth
Christian 11 to five in the
quarterfinals and beat number one ranked
Ununice Cardinals four to zero in the
semi-finals.
They capped off a dominant season with a
22 nothing victory.
Uh, is there a mercy rule or did they
not do that in the playoffs? They did.
They could. Five innings. Okay. Five
innings, a 22 nothing victory over Hoso
Academy in the championship game. In
all, the Sunb Blazers outscored their
opponents by a combined 37 to5. The Sun
Blazers only trailed in the tournament
after the top half of the first inning
in the first game 1-0. And that only
lasted two batters when the bottom when
in the bottom of the first inning
against Rahobath Zack Beasley.
Are you No, not here. Okay.
[clears throat] Oh, he's still he's
playing some still playing. Drove in
Weston Maher.
That's all right. Awesome. And then
scored an error on an error, making the
score 2-1. From that point on, the
Sunblazers never trailed again in the
entire tournament. In the final, the
Sunblazers saw
set a record for the most runs and
scored in a single inning of
championship game. They scored the third
most runs in a championship game as well
as the second largest margin of victory
in a championship game. In 1945,
Albuquerque High School beat Santa Fe 23
to five. And in 1991, Loving beat Santa
Rosa 27 to zero. Oh, that's really
embarrassing. Um, only Loving's margin
of victory is higher than the 2026
Sunblazers of Los Cusus. This year's all
district players include Kadan Warner,
Warner, senior, Weston Maher, junior,
Zack Beasley, sophomore, Ben Mormon,
sophomore, and Liam Poppy, freshman.
Weston Maher was also named the district
player of the year. A and at the time of
this writing, all five have been
nominated to the all-state honors with
Kaden Warner being nominated for the red
green senior all-star game. So, please
join me in congratulating the Messiah
Valley Christian baseball team.
[applause]
Congratulations.
I don't know if any of you all want to
say something, but we have a
presentation for you. The mayor always
comes down and gets in on the picture,
so he's on his way. Does anyone want to
say anything?
That's what you get when you get this
close. You're in danger.
All right, we'll take a picture.
[applause]
22 220. That's pretty amazing.
[laughter]
[snorts]
I'd also like to welcome up uh Jamar
Cotton, who I saw here somewhere. Come
on up. Bring with you your team of folks
for New Mexico Outlaws Youth Sports Day.
Please come on up.
Come on down.
[clears throat]
This is a proclamation for New Mexico
Outlaws Youth Sports Day. Whereas the
New Mexico New Mexico Outlaws Youth
Sports Club celebrates continued growth
and success in the city of Las Cusus
with over nine years serving the
community in basketball, tackle
football, soccer, and flag football. And
whereas the New Mexico Outlaws continue
to provide a safe, welcoming, and
supportive positive environment for
youth kinder through high school for
sports, mentorship, and youth
leadership. And whereas since 2025, the
Outlaws have won 10 championships within
three divisions and across three sports
while averaging 3.0 GPA among athletes.
And whereas the Outlaws are your 2026
spring kinder through second division
and eighth division champions of the
Southwest Basketball League, also your
2026 first through third grade division
and third through fifth back-to-back
division champions for endzone sports.
And whereas community service and youth
leadership remain a vital part of the
club. There will be several outlaw
players representing the city of Los
Cusus's Dona County and this year's
Martin Luther King Jr. youth leadership
conference in Roswell um June 12th
through 14th accompanied by coach Jamar
Cotton, Paula Johnson, Owen Johnson and
other coaches including Casey Blumha
Bluehouse, Christopher Parks and Dr.
Henan Bach. And whereas the outlaws
continue to bring cultural values full
of unity, community, education, growth,
diversity, mentorship, leadership, and
sportsmanship needed to keep our youth
striving for excellence on the fields,
on the courts, in the classrooms, at
home, and within our communities. The
outlaws are here to continue to make a
positive impact, and we're so glad that
you are. Now therefore, we the mayor and
city council of Los Cusus, New Mexico,
do hereby proclaim June 15th, 2026 as
New Mexico Youth Outlaws New Mexico
Outlaws Youth Sports Day. So, thank you.
[applause]
Good morning, everybody.
Oh, some of y'all still sleep. Well, oh,
it's afternoon. See, see why I'm still
sleep. Good afternoon, everybody.
Uh first of all, I want to say thank you
for everybody that's here. Uh the panel
in front of me, everybody in the
audience, thank y'all for the
opportunity to come here, these young
men and women. Uh we have uh over 60, a
lot of them are in camps and stuff
today, so they couldn't be with us
today. But we have a lot of kids in our
community uh that's here to make a
difference that's making a impactful uh
difference in our community. uh as it
was told re this past weekend we went to
Roswell to uh represent Los Cusus and
Martin Luther King youth leadership
program. We took about 35 students up
there. Uh and it was awesome. It was
great. It was so great that we also want
to announce that Los Cruus won the bid
to host the uh 2027 Martin Luther King
youth leadership here. So we're bringing
it home. Uh
we going we're going to make it the best
one. Uh we hosted it a couple years ago
and it was so great that they're going
to bring it back to Los Cusus. Uh these
young men and women uh do so many great
things in this community, not just
within sports, but being there for their
community. Uh being a difference, going
out and showing what kindness look like,
what respect look like and
responsibility. Um we make sure that our
kids are where they need to be
academically because for us it's not
just about what we do on the field or on
the court, but it's about what we do in
our community, what we do in our
household, and what we do in our
schools. So we want to continue to f
foster what these kids need as far as
positiv positivity, role models, and
them having a space within our community
because they're not our future. They are
now. So we have to embed them with the
things that they need to. And we want to
thank y'all again for the great
opportunity.
I got you.
[laughter]
Awesome.
Thank you all. Next up, I invite Carl
Pierce and the solid waste recycling
team. Come on up, guys. All of you. I I
can tell that you're thinking that
you're going to blend in, but you're
not. I I can see you.
Do you guys want to squish in front of
here or squish up here? You're good.
Okay, that means got to bring it in.
You can come over this way. You're good.
You're good. We'll We'll just make you
squish for the picture.
Okay, I won't.
Oh, we don't care. We're happy about
that.
Yeah, you're good. You're good. By
family, do you mean you're ready to
speak?
Because that's what happens. All right.
Okay.
Again, it's National Waste Workers Week,
and I'm so so glad you all are here to
celebrate with us. The city of Los Cusus
will celebrate the week of June 15th
through 19th as National Waste Workers
Week. And National Garbage Man Day began
in 2012 to show community appreciation
for local workers in the garbage
sanitation and recycling industries and
was later renamed Waste and Recycling
Workers Week. Whereas solid waste
workers have selflessly and tire
tirelessly operated in all types of
environments through various weather
conditions, pandemics and pandemics to
provide essential sanitation services
that protect communities, prevent
disease, and keep our city clean, safe,
and beautiful. Whereas the employees of
the city of Los Cusus utilities solid
waste line of business contribute
significantly to the safety, health, and
welfare of our residents by processing
thousands of tons of garbage and compost
each year. And whereas the proper
collection, disposal, and maintenance of
waste, recyclables, and compostables is
essential for preventing disease and
reducing litter in our community. And
whereas the city of Los Cusus values and
celebrates the unwavering commitment to
its solid waste industry workers, to the
city's residents, businesses, and
communities. Now therefore, we the mayor
and city council of Las Cusus, New
Mexico, do hereby proclaim June 15
through 19th, 2026 as National Waste
Recycling Workers Week and encourage all
residents to express gratitude to the
hardworking men and women who keep our
communities clean, safe, and healthy.
Um, and so first a round of applause to
to for gratitude. [applause]
Um, and while you all figure out who is
someone going to talk, you're going to
talk, but I just want to give one quick
story about this from my family, showing
appreciation for for waste operators. My
grandmother was a big partyier. Um, and
she deeply appreciated the folks who
picked up her trash. So, for literally
years, like maybe four times a year, she
would give her garbage man a big bottle
of very fancy booze. Um, and then maybe
after like 15 years, he came to her and
was like, "Look, first of all, it's
illegal for me to have this in the
truck. And second of all, I'm I'm in
recovery, so it's really not that great
for me." Um, and she she figured out
something else. She started giving them
snacks instead. Um, but I say that to
say I I deeply appreciate you all and I
will not inappropriately gift you um
anything in the future. I'll just
appropriately gift you. Please.
Thank you very much. I just want to take
a second uh on behalf of Mr. Carl
Pierce, our deputy director, and Los
Cusus Utilities and the Solid Waste
Department. We really appreciate you
taking this moment to acknowledge the
men and women that work for the solid
waste department. It is amazing what
they do day in and day out. Their
diligence, their safety, their
professionalism. I'm proud to go to work
every day as a solid waste manager. Um,
you can't find a better group of
individuals that that uh uphold an
outstanding image of city of Los Cusus.
They work every day to provide service
for over 40,000 homes and commercial
businesses each week. And it's just
amazing what this group of individuals
does. These ones as well as the
individuals that couldn't be with us.
Unfortunately, they're out there still
plugging along uh making sure everybody
gets their services met. So, thank you.
Thank you very much for for
acknowledging uh this group of men and
women. Thank you.
Squeeze
[snorts]
it.
[applause]
Good to see you.
Next we We have the departmental
highlights. We'll start with the quality
of life.
Good afternoon, mayor and council and
staff. Uh Carol Bray from the quality of
life department, and I'm so happy to
bring you a few exciting department
highlights. We have a lot going on in
June that I wanted to tell you about.
First of all, I'm going to start with
our libraries and I will introduce some
of my team in just a minute, but they're
the ones in the wonderful headgear back
there. Uh so, uh summer reading, our
summer reading program, which happens
every year, and it's a big highlight for
us. Uh it runs May 30th, already started
through July 18th. And the theme is
unear a story which basically uh is uh
deals with all things um from under the
ground or unearthing from the ground as
it were that includes dinosaurs,
paleontology, archaeology, geology and
many other exciting subjects. Uh so we
have some special programming that's
taking place around that. But I want to
say we're already having great success
with this. Reading is so important in
the summer. It's important anytime and
you know I hope that you all have
enjoyed reading in your lives but uh for
me that was a big thing in my family and
as you know I'm a librarian by training
so uh I particularly get excited about
summer reading. Uh this kickoff was held
on May 30th. We had a 264 attendees. Uh
we were very happy to uh welcome Rex the
dinosaur who is here with Shulie Serrano
who you'll meet in a minute. one of our
who's our library programs public
programs manager. Uh we also had over a
dozen community partners uh therap
children's reading alliance laasa davva
las cus public schools lasus museums
lasus public art historic sites uh and a
host of others and uh also I want to
thank Dion's that gave away free pizza
on that day as well. Uh to date, this
number has already been updated. 777
people have registered in our summer
reading program and we're our goal is a
thousand, which I think we're easily
going to make. We may we may top that
goal because uh and that'll probably be
a first for us. Um and I also want to
note that more adults have signed up
than even uh kids aged 6 through 11. So
we have um of that number 290 adults 262
kids um 192 kids aged 0 to five. Oh the
first group was ages 6 to 11 um so
probably roughly close to 500 children
and then also 53 teens have join joined
our summer reading program and you too
can join. It's very easy. There's a a QR
code on our website that will help you
join. So, um, we are going to have some
amazing programs this summer. Um,
programs featuring snakes, crafts, uh,
actual ge geologists that will come and
talk with us. The ice age and STEM
learning all wrapped up into one
basically six week program. So, I want
to introduce uh some of our wonderful
team from the library. If you all would
stand, please. Um, we have Sarah Booth,
Jenny Chatwin, um, Tina Huygi, Shulie
Shirano, who was there with the the
dinosaur. Um, Taran Heredia, who works
with our teens, Diana Duffy back there
in the purple, and did I miss anyone?
Okay, that's our some of our library
team. So, let's please thank them for
all they do. Thank you all.
And that is dinosaur headgear in case
you were wondering what they're wearing.
So, uh, let me go to the museums. Uh, we
are getting ready to celebrate our sixth
annual Junth Jazz Arts Festival that's
running starting this week. So, it's
going to start on Wednesday through the
21st, which is Sunday. And uh this
festival is a collaboration between
several city departments including
quality of life um parks and recreation
visit las cusus economic development and
we also work with NMSU as well as the
NAACP on this program and this year also
we have a number of local businesses
that are joining with us. Jazz is a big
part of this uh festival every year and
Derek Lee is our event founder and
musical director. you may know of him.
He's a great musician and uh wonderful
to work with. He's been working with the
museum since the beginning, since six
years ago when we first started these
programs. Um this year we're also going
to have some great community support in
the form of donations, always good, and
business sponsorships. So, uh I just
want to highlight a few things that are
happening. We'll start Wednesday the
17th with a program out at NMSU, Roots,
Recipes, and Remembrance. um a soul food
demonstration and lunch. Um then we have
a number of events at the Rio Grand
Theater. So music almost every night
starting Wednesday night with Billy
Towns. Big I'm a big fan of his great
jazz musician. Um then uh Thursday night
um Colin McAllister's Latin jazz. Um and
then uh Friday night we're going to have
I believe that's when we have the
procession from Pioneer Park to Rio
Grand Theater at 5:00 ending with a
concert on the steps of the Rio Grand
Theater. So that should be a lot of fun
uh with a group called Color Quorum and
uh then on the 20th which is Saturday
we'll have our Junth celebration at the
Brandan Cultural Center uh in the
morning Buffalo Soldier presentation and
concert featuring the Mark Fowler group.
Uh then it goes on with uh the banquet
andAACP banquet that night and then more
music on Sunday at the Rio Grand
Theater. And there's more that I just
didn't want to take your time to
announce right now, but I would like to
introduce a few of our wonderful museum
staff. Uh if you'd stand up, please. Uh
Garland Courtz is here and
uh David Lundy over here who's our head
of exhibits. Garland is our deputy
director for libraries. And then Mina
Stafford could not be here, right? Mina
is uh the one who puts this whole thing
together and she's our education manager
for the museum. So, thank you to you
museum team and uh then I want to go on
to senior programs. Yes, applause for
our wonderful museums team. Uh for
senior programs, I want to highlight our
health fair that we're having this year.
Uh this isn't has been an annual event
for a number of years and uh June 15th
today is uh world elder abuse awareness
day and you may or may not be aware that
um uh that uh there are many ways that
seniors can be abused, neglected and
mistreated. And um this day actually um
highlights internationally
um the challenges that seniors sometimes
face. And it's so unfortunate, but we do
what we can to raise awareness of how
seniors should be treated. And uh so on
June 18th, we'll have our annual abuse
and later life awareness health fair.
This is an amazing fair over at Mson
Center. If you get a chance, come on
over to see it. Um it runs from 10 to 2.
Is that right, Sonia? Yes. And uh I'll
introduce our senior programs team here
too in a bit. Uh we partner with a
number of community partners to uh build
awareness about seniors and their needs
and also provide resources for for our
seniors. So the health fair will provide
resources. It will um provide um an
opportunity to talk with partners and
the purpose really is to educate not
only seniors but family members about
signs of senior abuse, neglect,
exploitation. Seniors are often t
targeted with scams and other issues. um
to learn what to do if someone you know
is in that situation and learn about
resources that can aid in independence
because our major goal at Senior
Programs is that we want seniors to be
able to live an independent life, a
healthy independent life in their homes
doing what they love to do for as long
as they possibly can. And uh so I really
appreciate what our senior programs team
does. Um, and uh, I want to just mention
that since we opened that great addition
at Mson Center, we now have room for a
bigger fair. So, for the first time, we
expect uh, we used to be able to have
about 12 to 18 vendors, we're going to
have 35 vendors this year. So, uh, since
we're about doubling our vendors, we
probably will double double our
attendance, we hope. So, uh, so let me
introduce uh, first Sonia Salana, who's
our, uh, deputy director for senior
programs. I know you all know her. Sonia
is the brainchild behind this by the
way. Um
because she is the one who attended
training from the US Department of
Justice in 2017, got this idea right and
has been doing this ever since. And then
I also want to introduce Danielle Gil.
Danielle is the face of Mson Center.
Frankly, she's the face of Mson Center
because she's at the front desk and
she's famous because I've had friends of
mine tell me, "Who is that woman with
the red hair at Mson Center? She's
amazing." So, thank you, Danielle, for
all you do. She works for senior
recreation and I'm sure will be
instrumental to this uh fair. So, thank
you ladies. And uh last but not least, I
want to talk about public art. Um but I
have to put on my cool glasses to do
this. Okay, I was told I have to put
these on to talk to you about public
art. I don't know if I can see my notes
though, so I might have to take them
off. [laughter] We'll see how I do here.
Uh, we're featuring uh a new um
promotion for public art. I can't read
my notes. I'm sorry. I'll have to take
these off. Uh public art. And uh it's
called Made You Look. Did I say that
right, Cesy? Yes. And uh the idea is to
promote public art in our neighborhoods,
in our public spaces, and our buildings
to create identity of our community and
interest in beauty. That's what public
art really does for us. Um this is a
marketing campaign that challenges the
public to take a selfie with their
favorite Los Cru's public art piece and
post it on social media. And you can use
the uh hashtag made 2026. uh use that to
um in social media to feature your
selfie. You can also email it to public
art cruises.gov. And I want to first I'm
going to introduce the staff and then I
have a real quick video I want to show
about how you too can promote public
art. So, but I'd like to and if you uh
also I forgot to mention that all
entries will win a special sun shade for
their car. And there it is. Made you
look complete with the roadrunner. So,
uh, let me just introduce, uh, now I can
put on my glasses for that. So, you can
I can identify with my team. Let me
introduce my team real quick. Uh, first,
Rebecca Slaughter, our assistant
director. Uh, Cesy Vason, Monnique PZ is
next to her, our senior office manager.
Cesy Vasconel, who's our public art
coordinator. Anna Nyola, who's our uh,
management analyst, and then assistant
management analyst, Hemma Loausano. So,
thank you team.
[applause]
I know every department probably says
this, but I have the best team. I do. I
really do. And I think you all would
maybe agree with me. But let me show you
just real quickly one last thing. This
is just a highlight of our major look
made you look uh campaign.
Hey, short one
over here.
Finally made you look. Wait, come back.
I just wanted to take a photo with you.
This summer, our [music] public art
needs some love. Find your favorite art
piece and take a selfie with them. Tag
LC Public [music] Art and use #adeyouook
2026 to be eligible to receive [music]
prizes.
I'm glad I made you look.
So, I want to thank uh I want to thank
our communications team for helping us
make that video. And I do hope you'll go
take a selfie with your favorite public
art and uh and let us know about it.
Thank you, council. I appreciate your
support. And uh that's the end of my
presentation for today.
[clears throat]
All right. Thank you, Carol. We
appreciate [music] that.
Hey, short one.
There we go.
And next we have communications
department.
I'm a little taller than Carol, so I'm
gonna lift this up. [laughter]
All right, let me open up mine.
All right,
mayor, council, thank you for having me.
Hey, I'm Andy Leatherwood with the
communications office and today I get to
come here and do one of my absolutely
favorite things in the world and that is
brag on my team. And so I want to talk
to you about the telly awards. Uh the
city of Los Cusus took home 18 telly
awards this year. That is for awards or
videos made in 2025.
What are the telly's? Their recognition
for excellence in video and television
across all kinds of screens. So that
includes TV, streaming, social media,
all the above. And it's judged by
leaders from video platforms, TV,
streaming, and production companies.
There are over 13,000
uh submissions into the Telly Awards.
And it's global. It's international. And
it's not just limited to government.
It's also commercial um production
companies. And so I am really proud of
the creative talent that we have here at
the city of Los Cusus that we can
compete globally and be recognized for
the quality work that we do. I want to
point out the team that actually had a
hand in making the content that won
those awards. Uh pictured there's Adrien
Guzman. He's our technical operations
manager. He runs the video team for the
communications office. We've also got uh
Nathaniel Bidding and Cherish Pena from
the communications office team. not
pictured. We had two interns. One was
Eduardo Sandival Diaz. He graduated last
year. He worked on one of the projects
and another intern, Selso A Costa, who
is not pictured, but he's actually in
the back right now running this live
stream for this city council meeting.
And the other person in the picture is
our marketing manager for Visit Los
Cusus, Lorenna Lozano. Visit Los Cusus
won six of those 18 awards. So, I'm just
really proud across the organization of
the creative um talents. I would love to
stand up here and take all of the
credit, but besides the amazing team
that I just pointed out to you, I also
have to give credit to the departments
that we work with, uh the work that they
do every day to make the community a
better place for our residents is what
gives us such amazing content to work
with. And so, um I'm going to actually
talk about them a little bit as well. We
won two golds, eight silvers, and eight
bronze. And I want to show you a little
bit of what that looks like. Uh we won
two gold awards. That's like the top
percentage of um the teley award
submissions. The first one was for the
fire department. We did a a video about
workplace culture or it won in the
workplace culture category. And then we
also did a recruitment video for Los
Cusus Police Department. I am going to
play the police department one only
because it's it's just over a minute
long and the fire one was six minutes
long. So I hope Chief Daniels will
forgive me for that decision. Um so let
me play that for you
hopefully. Here we go.
Being a police officer [music] is more
than just a job. It's a calling. It's
one of the few noble professions still
left in this world. It's about serving
your community, protecting those who
can't protect themselves, [music]
and upholding justice with
professionalism, respect, integrity,
[music] dedication, and excellence.
Every day, you have the power to make a
difference. Whether you're [music]
responding to an emergency, mentoring a
young person, or simply being a symbol
of hope in times of crisis,
it's not an easy path.
There will be challenges. There will be
tough days. But that's where your
strength, teamwork, and sense of purpose
come in. At LCPD, you will be part of
something bigger than yourself. Working
alongside courageous and dedicated men
and women who share your commitment to
the greater good. You'll develop a bond
with your fellow officers and community,
creating lasting connections that will
change lives, including your own.
This career is not for everyone. But if
you have [music] the heart to serve, the
drive to make a difference, and the
resilience to face what comes your way,
then being a Los Cusus [music] police
officer could be the most fulfilling
career you've ever chosen. Join us
[music] in making our community a safer
place. Join LCPD today.
All right. Great. And now I'd like to
show you some of the silver awards. One
of the things I like about uh this slide
is you'll see how many different
departments that we did work with to for
that content. Uh starting with quality
of life and public art, another fire
video. Um we started last year an
episodic series on social media called
city jobs. Uh highlighted in the ones
that we submitted was parks and wreck,
HR, IT, community development, which I
think is key because it's not just our
public facing programs. who were also
getting to work with the departments and
behind the scenes who are making the
city run like it and HR. Um, I would
like to show you one of the silver award
winners. And how did I pick this one? As
I mentioned earlier, I like to brag on
my own team and so I'm going to show you
the community engagement video.
Are you always curious about how things
work? How does this function? Where does
all this water go? And what does my city
government do?
Buddy, if you find out, will you let the
rest of us know?
Here's your opportunity to find out.
Sign up to be in our neighborhood
leadership academy, a [music] unique
behindthe-scenes experience that will
deepen your understanding of how your
local government serves a community.
Register online from now till [music]
January 16th to be a part of this 11week
program. Don't wait. Space is limited.
Visit lascrus.gov/nla gov/nla [music]
and register today.
Do you want to do one more take?
Sure.
Uh, two things I want to point out. Um,
at the end where it says, "Do you want
to do one more take?" Our staff actually
went to a conference and said, "In order
to keep people on social media, we don't
want to end like a normal commercial
with you put your ad your logo up.
Instead, we get more engagement if it
loops and continues to play." So you'll
see our social media for the last uh six
months or so has done more things to
continue looping and keep hopefully that
engagement. Um, the other thing I want
to highlight about that video is while I
love that I get to show you engaging,
fun content, we do things with for
purpose. And the neighborhood leadership
academy h after that campaign run had
more applicants uh for the most recent
class than we've had in the history of
the neighborhood leadership academy at
the city. And in January, we had 50
people start that class. So, uh, what we
do, we are always measuring and making
sure that we're hitting our goals. Uh
last slide is the bronze awards. I'll
highlight that first one. Southwest
spirit was a visit Los Cruus one. That
actually won two awards in two different
categories. Again, want to give them
credit for that. Um at the city, we get
to work with uh material that is
sometimes not considered as fun and
engaging as you would think. Um on this
particular slide we we were recognized
for video about gas line emergencies
training uh and also a redevelopment
project with economic development. So
again it is it is our pleasure and our
um privilege to be able to work with a
variety of subjects and try to make them
engaging for uh the audience. And so I
want to show you this last one. I picked
this one. I did not know when I started
uh when I picked this one that Carol was
going to start with a public art video
in this uh video review episode of city
council. Um but uh hopefully I'll be
back next year when we win awards for
that one. But let me show you the the
public art video from last year.
With the help of their map, nothing will
stop an adventurer from solving the
mystery of the lost art.
Los Cruus's Public Art invites you
[music] to the Curators of the Lost Art
scavenger hunt. Scan, listen, discover,
collect all your discoveries, and submit
to win epic prizes, including the Art of
the Covenant grand prize now through
October 31st. May the best adventurer
win, and go to cruises.gov for more
information.
Uh what I like about that one that was
our intern Selzo and that was one of the
first projects he worked on which I
think highlights the importance of
bringing on creative innovative people
to keep that spark alive. Um
I also want to point out again we want
to talk about metrics. When we ran that
campaign we saw a huge jump in website
visits to the public art uh website
related to the scavenger hunt. But the
thing that I also uh am proud of is that
we had a higher number of website visits
for the next few months after the
scavenger hunt was over. Um, and I think
that's really important because it shows
that the things that we're creating has
staying power. And so I'm really proud
of that metric as well. Um, again, I I
just want to thank all of the
departments that we get to work with
because of the work that they're
actually doing on the ground making our
residents lives better. We have amazing
stories to tell. Uh, thank you city
manager's office and um, city council
because with your support, our office
has the opportunity to educate, to
inform, and sometimes entertain. So,
thank you again.
[applause]
Oh, thank you, Mandy. Both of you. Thank
you, Mandy. Thank you, Carol, and the
organization for all the work you do.
It's great to be able to present and and
give us some snapshots of what's going
on. Thank you all.
Next on the agenda, we have pets of the
week, uh, Nissa Valenuela.
Hello, Mar and council. My name is
Zanisa. I'm with the Animal Services
Center of the Messia Valley, and I am
here to present our pets of the week.
Alrighty. So, the first pet we have is
going to be Harper. Harper is a sweet,
social, and energetic dog who
consistently shows friendly behavior
with both people and other dogs. She has
attended numerous off-site events where
she loads easily into transport, which
is a big thing. Enjoys meeting new
people and often shines as a welcoming
greeter. Harper loves car rides,
enrichment activities, and playgroups
where she is described as playful,
gentle, and adaptable. Harper is an
affectionate, active dog who thrives
with companionship, engagement, and
routine.
Ana, sorry. I'm just gonna She has one
blue eye and one dark eye, huh?
Yeah, she does. She Yeah, she's very
cute. But we have someone that's looking
at her. So hopefully she does get
adopted today, too.
Get your butt to the shelter if you are
interested.
And then the next one we have is going
to be Arthur. Arthur is a gentle, sweet
pup who has a very th who has been
thriving in his loving foster home. His
foster family says he's doing
wonderfully. He's potty trained, enjoys
sunbathing, and has the softest, kindest
personality. Though he's currently in
our foster care, Arthur is fully
available for adoption, and ready to
meet his forever family. If you're
interested in getting to know this sweet
boy, please call us to schedule a social
visit. He can't wait to brighten
someone's life with his calm, loving
spirit. And there's his picture right
there.
So, what we also like to do is we also
like to highlight some of our longerterm
residents. The first resident we have
here is Dober. He is currently our
longest resident that we have at the
shelter. He has been with us for 30
days. Our next resident is going to be
Francesca, and she has been with us for
296 days. Next we have Ebony who has
been with us for 283 days and Playa who
has also been with us for 283 days as
well.
Some of our events that we have done
recently and our upcoming events. Our
biggest one that we just had recently
was our vax clinic which we did on June
7th. In total, we gave out 1,697
vaccines, 286 microchips, which has us
at 1,9838
83 things that were administered during
that clinic. Our next off-site is going
to be at PetSmart on June 27th. And we
also have a special event with Cars and
Coffees and Kines, which is going to be
on June 30th. I believe it is a car show
that we will be showcasing some of our
dogs with the cars as well. that is
going to be on 2215 South Main Street.
So, right now it is more important than
ever that we um do some outreach for our
fostering. Um fostering saves lives, and
right now we need more fosters than
ever. Every open home means one more
animal gets a second chance, a chance to
heal, to feel safe, and to find the re
forever family. When you foster, you're
not just helping an animal. You're
directly freeing up space in our shelter
so we can rescue even more pets in need.
If you've ever thought about fostering,
this is the moment to step forward. We
provide the supplies, the medical care,
and the support. You provide the love
and temporary place to land. Please
consider becoming a foster today. Your
willing to say yes can be the reason an
animal gets to say, "I made it." Reach
out and sign up to foster. The impact
you make will be life-changing. We have
both dogs and cats available for foster.
Lots of kittens right now, too.
And then for more information, um
there's going to be our website along
with our social media handles. Um on the
bottom there, we do have our foster
email, but we also do applications
through our website for all fostering.
And you are more than welcome to call
our front office and we will give you
any information needed if interested in
fostering as well. And that's going to
be our pet of the week. Thank you.
Thank you.
Next is a conflict of interest. Does any
member of the city council, city
manager, or any member of city staff
have any known conflict of interest with
any item on the agenda?
None. None.
No. No.
Next, we will have public participation.
Katrina, who will come up and usher you
to the podium. Uh we'll allow up to
three minutes. No pending litigation or
items on the non-consent at this time.
Mayor, folks here today, those watching
online, I'm Lyn Moore. We're concerned
that the city's compliance with the
federal lead and copper rule does not
include doing the best for Los Cusus or
making sure public health is
safeguarded. Rather, it appears the
utilities department is trying to get by
doing the least amount possible.
Compared to other cities, the department
is inadequate. The chief problem is the
department's approach to finding lead
pipes. Their just check the meter box
technique is deficient. I've not found
any other city that relies solely on
this technique like Las Cusus does,
probably because it's clearly not
sufficient to the task. It's not capable
of finding lead lined piping or lead
piping farther up the line. It appears
Las Cusus Utilities has not done basic
research on the various inspection
methods available. Perhaps an
intentional choice to embrace ignorance.
Handout one and 2023 study developed for
EPA by California State University
describes 12 lead service line
investigation methods that can be used
noting eight that are EPA approved.
These are visual inspection, external
CCTV inspection, internal CCTV
inspection, mechanical excavation,
vacuum excavation, flushed sampling,
targeted service line sampling, and
sequential sampling. These eight methods
are in line with the methods six
licensed plumbers in Las Cusus I
consulted recommended. None of the six
considered mere visual inspection of the
meter box adequate. Amarillo, Houston,
Tucson, Denver, Chandler, Arizona, San
Antonio, and Bowmont, Texas use
potholeing, a form of mechanical
excavation. El Paso, Tulsa, Chandler,
and Midland, Texas use larger mechanical
excavation. Tucson, and Denver use water
tests. Midland uses ground penetrating
radar. San Antonio uses above ground
scanning. I recently checked the lead
and copper website for Lincoln,
Nebraska, where I'm from. Lincoln, like
Los Cusus, is a university town, which
historically has had a championship
football team. It's a little larger than
Las Cruus, but is not particularly
wealthy. It has a sizable Hispanic
population, and a sizable Southeast
Asian population. The city of Lincoln
provides one free water quality test kit
per year, replaces any lead service line
at no cost, and provides a free 2-year
warranty on any new service line. In
contrast, Los Cusus does no water
testing for those who request it,
provides no warranties on new service
lines, and it's not clear that it will
actually cover the cost of lead or
galvanized line replacement for everyone
who needs it because it's left half the
city off the map. In defense of her
decision to have the city only visually
inspect the meter box, the utilities
director said that the state knows about
it. Even if this is true, it doesn't
mean it approves of it. Plus, the
state's opinion on the matter is largely
irrelevant because it doesn't have
primacy for enforcement. It's EPA that
has enforcement authority, not the
state. Thank you for this opportunity to
speak.
Mayor, city council, I'm Liz Rodriguez
Johnson. It's a fundamental of good
government that citizens are able to
know and understand what their tax
dollars are being spent on and why. We
expect full and complete answers to each
of the questions we've posed over the
past 18 months regarding the city's
implementation of lead and copper rule.
On December 15, 2025, we provided you
handout A, which listed 41 questions and
five requests that we asked to be
addressed. To date, none of these
questions or requests have been
addressed. We reiterate these questions
and requests and supplement them with
more that have arisen since. See new
handout A. It's clear that the utilities
director tightly controls department
messaging. She publicly shut down former
assistant utilities director Carl Clark
when he began to respond to questions at
a utilities board meeting in February.
At a town hall in March 25, she
controlled the microphone and decided
which questions were responded to and
which were ignored. No doubt it's her
decision to not answer any of the
questions citizens have posed during the
past 18 months. There are three chief
reasons why citizens questions are not
answered by public employees regarding
matters of public concern. They can't
find the answer. They can't be bothered
to come up with an answer. or the answer
will cast the agency in a negative
light. We suspect the latter applies
here. Whatever the reason, we again
request complete and responsive answers
to our questions and that all our
requests for specific action be
addressed. A new question is why has
Lascurissa's utilities decreased its
inspections to almost zero? Eper
responses show no inspections whatsoever
of water pipes the first three weeks of
April. This contrasts to an average of
36 inspections for each of the first
weeks of November 25 through March 26.
In light of the promises made to obtain
$15 million in funding from the state,
this looks like another instance of the
utilities department failure to comply
with its agreement with the state. Here
are three more questions. How much of
the $15 million grant has Lascus's
utilities spent and on what
specifically?
What does the utilities department uses
an inspection technique that looks
exclusively at the beater box? A
technique which isn't capable of finding
lead lining piping or lead or galvanized
piping further up the line, both of
which EPA says must be accounted for.
Why did Lasusi's Utilities not provide
any notice to eight properties the city
discovered had galvanized piping even
though the EPA requires it? This
includes failure to notify Fairacres
Elementary School, an elementary school,
ladies and gentlemen, an elementary
school that it has galvanized piping. A
very serious matter. Thank you,
Mayor. I just mayor if I may.
Yes. I just want to note that the uh
comment about the elementary school has
been absolutely um I just it's really
bad misinformation for us to just let it
hang out in the chambers like that. I
don't think it's appropriate that we
allow that to continue.
Well, again, it's public participation.
It's a freedom of speech. Uh whether the
facts are correct or incorrect, I know
that the lead and pipe continues to come
up. Uh, and I know our city manager's
office and the utility director have
reached out to schedule some meetings
and they're not accepted and this
continues and continues but again it is
public participation and they do have
the freedom of speech.
Next,
good afternoon mayor, city councilors.
My name is Marissa Dewolf and I live in
district 4. Um, and I'm here today with
a group of trusted community experts who
are committed to partnering with youth
around decisions that affect them.
We're here as community advocates and we
are community advocates who um
collaborate with young people and we're
here today as a coordinated group.
We truly believe that supporting young
people is a shared responsibility and we
represent ourselves today. Collectively,
we bring decades of experience serving
youth and families.
We know that relationships are key in
our intentions are to work together for
better cross sector collaboration and we
want to share partnerships to make good
decisions with and for our young people.
When I was a a young person in the 90s,
um I remember thinking that there were
adults out there who knew what was going
on and had solid solutions that would
continually make everyone's life better.
Now that just about everyone in the room
has reached adulthood, I think we can
all agree that knowing what's really
going on requires many, many points of
view. And the points of view available
to us are shrinking.
And the solutions can sometimes be very
hard to reach even when we're in
positions of decision-making or
leadership.
Life is complex and the lives of our
youth are undeniably complex and
undeniably different from the lives of
our youth. And this is why we believe
that we need to work with youth as
partners
and also the reason why we do so in our
work. You'll hear from more of us today
about our ideas and visions for how to
engage with and work with and be in
community with young people. We are not
separate communities after all here in
Los Cusus. We're a community of people
of all ages and many, many viewpoints.
We intend that this will be an ongoing
communication and that as youth
initiatives in the city come to action,
you keep in mind those of us who have
been partnering with youth for many
years. Thank you.
Okay. Good afternoon, Mayor Council. Uh,
my name is Lindley Hornsby, pronoun she,
her. I'm a social worker and community
organizer. Honored to speak today, speak
to you all today in solidarity with
other local youth advocates. Um, bedrock
to our commitment to advocating for
youth is a shared vision for Los Cusus.
We envision a Los Cusus that invests in
young people. In my three minutes today,
I'd like to invite us to dream together.
Um, what could a city that invests in
young people look like? Few ideas. Um,
it could look like a city that has
accessible, free recreation in every
neighborhood. a city with safe and
supported third spaces, which are spaces
outside of school and home for youth to
exist and grow and explore in. It could
look like a city with a transportation
system that is responsive to youth with
transportation options that meet the
needs of all young people across the
socioeconomic spectrum across the
geographic distribution of our community
and is inclusive of all levels of um
ability.
It could look like a city that values
the time, talent, and dedication of
young people such that it offers
dignified and paid professional
experiences for young people to gain the
skills needed to sustain our workforce
and serve our community. Um, we already
have some of those, right? And
continuing to support those. um not just
one-off paid summer internships, but a
nurtured network of economic opportunity
that's intentionally sustained for young
people. Um it could look like a city
that supports people uh supports young
people both in crisis and young people
in recovery. Um a city that celebrates
what young people have to offer and
takes seriously the shared
responsibility of creating an
environment that's safe for young people
to learn in. We believe this vision is
possible to obtain and we're honest that
in achieving these aspirations is going
to be a struggle. Um but this is a
plight we can no longer ignore and
address with false solutions.
Um where am I? Sorry. Okay. Youth are
asking for real solutions um to be
crafted in collaboration with young
people themselves. Um so how do we get
there? Um authentic collaboration and
trust is a start towards achieving
positive youth outcomes. Um and we can
begin that process by holding space to
listen to youth um and have difficult
conversations and even experience the
discomfort that arises um when we
recognize um that young people have long
not have a voice in the systems and
policies that affect them. um and so
inviting us to move forward um together
and and be brave to look at where we're
at and um achieve progress for young
people in our community together. Until
next time, thank you.
Good afternoon, mayor, counselors. My
name is Summer Mitchell and I'm a
resident of District 4. I've grown up in
Los Cusus and I've raised children of my
own here. I've also been working in the
nonprofit sector for about the past
decade. I currently work for the
Community Action Agency of Southern New
Mexico and I'm engaging in ethical
storytelling and counternarrative work.
I'm here today with friends and
colleagues who are personally and
professionally committed to improving
the experiences for youth. And I'm here
today to encourage all of us to examine
the stories we're telling ourselves and
we're telling others about our young
people.
Too often youth are dis are discussed
primarily as issues to be managed,
controlled, or fixed. When that happens,
we stop seeing youth as people who are
navigating challenges just like you and
I. When we start from a place of what is
wrong with you, we forget that we can't
see the pain, heartbreak, and pressure
to perform.
we reduce them to a mistake or we make
assumptions about their character and
their potential based on the actions of
others.
And what's really been resonating with
me lately is that this dynamic is not
unique to our youth. Many people in our
community also view law enforcement
through a single story, assuming the
worst intentions, seeing officers as a
problem instead of seeing the human
behind the uniform, navigating complex
systems and pressure to perform.
I don't believe either of these survey
stories serves our community. Um, young
people are not inherent criminals just
as police officers are not inherent
villains. And when we reduce any group
to a stereotype, we create distance. And
distance makes partnership impossible.
What we see in our work is that
relationships and not control are what
drive change. If we want safer
neighborhoods and better outcomes, we
have to start from a different place.
And that's why we're here today, to
start a dialogue, build relationships,
and hopefully eventually a shared
responsibility
across community and systems and
institutions.
Um, did you know that students who are
connected to real opportunities like
career pathways and meaningful
internships and jobs graduate at rates
above 95%.
So, I don't have to tell anyone here
that um that's much lower than even the
national average. Um and that's not
because they're punished into success.
That's because they're engaged and
supported. It's because they can now see
an opportunity that was not visible to
them before.
So, when young people struggle, the
question is not I'm sorry. The question
is not how do we respond. The question
is, what assets do they already hold?
And are we willing to invest in
prevention, relationships, and
opportunity before there's a problem to
fix?
Thank you for your service, your time,
and your willingness to engage with the
community, and I look forward to
furthering this discussion.
Miss Summer, um, please, if you could
leave your information with our clerk
because there's already some meetings
going on with the youth and the
stakeholders. Uh you can either reach
out to either counselor Bill Matise.
He's the one that has spearheaded this
working with the public schools, working
with other stakeholders for our youth in
our community. So there's some meetings
already going on. We'd love to have you
there at those meetings giving giving
your input as well. I think it's very
important and I appreciate you being
here.
Thank you, mayor, counselors, and I look
forward to reaching out to you, Mr.
Matise. Thank you.
Hello, Mayor Enriquez, city council and
staff, community of Los Cusus. My name
is Liz Bennett. As my colleagues have
mentioned, we are here today to remind
all of us that the care, upbringing, and
thriving of the young people in our
community is a collective
responsibility. Youth and young adults
are just as much an integral part of our
town as are the parents, teachers, first
responders, service workers, and
retirees. And it is up to us to create
an environment requ the environment
required for all young people to grow
into kind, caring, and capable adults.
We are here because we want to be in a
serious and committed dialogue about how
best to cultivate those conditions. We
appreciate the ongoing efforts of the
city to consider and act on principles
of youth engagement. The parks and
recreations department has been a vital
point of access to positive connection
and pastimes for youth across the city.
However, I think we can all admit there
is much more work to be done to rise to
the occasion of meeting the needs and
fueling the dreams of young people. The
youth risk and resiliency survey
demonstrates that relationships with
supportive adults, positive
relationships with peers,
self-confidence, and hope for the future
are all protective factors against
mental health concerns, violence,
absenteeism, and substance use. In 2024,
the top three needs reported by young
people serving time in New Mexico
juvenile justice facilities were family
relationships, emotional stability, and
education. These are all elements that
can be intentionally cultivated in
community spaces. Research demonstrates
that programs with the greatest impact
on youth well-being and well-becoming
focus on several core components,
including cultivating creative
restoration, fostering generative
connections, highlighting meaningful
pathways, promoting cultural visibility,
and emphasizing equity.
Research also supports the fact that
summer youth employment programs for
atrisisk youth reduce violent crime
throughout the year. Furthermore,
well-run restorative justice programs
have been shown to lower rates of
reaffending by one-third and diversion
programs that foster connection and
skill building result in far better
outcomes overall. On the contrary,
pre-trial detention has been shown to
increase the likelihood of reaffending
by 1% per day spent in detention. While
we know that attending school and
participating in community programming
are great prevention and promotion
strategies, we also have to invest in
the transportation infrastructure that
allows young people to access these
spaces. And we have to invest in the
people responsible for creating and
maintaining these spaces. This is a
matter of choice as how we spend our
collective resources and a matter of
cleareyed conscious decisionmaking about
the future we want to grow together. We
hope you all will join us in our effort
to create a sense of belonging and hope
for youth in Los Cusus.
Good afternoon, mayor and city council.
My name is Deandra Rodriguez. Um, I
first and foremost want to name and
validate that this is my first public
comment. Um, I'm a lifelong resident of
New Mexico. I currently live in District
5. I'm a lived experience expert,
community youth advocate, and most
importantly, a former unseen and unheard
young person.
I have the privilege of working
alongside young people in our community.
I intentionally say alongside because I
believe youth are not simply
participants in programs. They are
partners, leaders, experts, and change
makers. I'm honored to stand in
solidarity with some of my current youth
partners. They couldn't unfortunately
make it here in person, but they're
watching and rooting for me online as I
speak today. And also offered me
supportive, encouraging messages. And I
can only hope that one day that they
will be standing in my shoes right now
as my heart's beating in my chest and
I'm making my first public comment.
[sighs]
Shared power means I'm sorry. Too often
adults make decisions for young people
without creating meaningful
opportunities for youth to influence
those decisions. In my work, I strive to
shift that dynamic by sharing power,
creating space for authentic youth
voice, and recognizing that lived
experience is expertise.
Shared power means more than asking
youth for their opinions. It means
inviting them into decision-making
processes, compensating them for their
time and expertise, trusting them with
leadership responsibilities, and
ensuring they have real influence over
the outcomes that affect their lives.
When we create environments where young
people feel valued, heard, and
respected, we see incredible things
happen. Youth bring innovative ideas,
challenge assumptions, identify gaps
that adults may overlook, and help
create solutions that are more
responsive to the needs of their peers
and communities.
Through youth leadership, development,
civic engagement, and community planning
efforts, I have witnessed firsthand the
impact of partnership. I've seen young
people grow in confidence, develop
leadership skills, advocate for issues
they care about, and recognize the power
they have to create change. But perhaps
even more importantly, I have seen
systems become stronger when youth are
at the table. Programs improve, policies
become more responsive, communities
become more inclusive, everyone benefits
when young people are treated as
partners rather than recipients. As we
continue to address challenges facing
our community, I encourage us all to ask
a simple question. Are we listening to
our youth? Are we creating opportunities
for youth to participate? Are we
creating opportunities for youth to
lead? The difference matters when we
move beyond tokenism and commit to
authentic partnership. We are not just
investing in future leaders. We are
recognizing the leaders who already
exist among us today. Thank each of you
for all that you do.
Hello, my name is Sierra Edmister. Um, I
just want to take a little bit of time
to highlight uh Lynn and Liz's work. Um,
coming up here for 18 months is, you
know, asking the same questions is is
wild. I learned about it um about their
cause by coming up here and hearing
their um their questions and their pleas
um for the past handful of months. And I
would just like to say that the best way
to combat misinformation is to answer
your concerned neighbors questions. Um
41 questions is a lot of questions and
I'm sure the the matter on the
elementary school could probably be
solved through through that. And I'm
sure like an email is probably
just as fine as rather than expecting
them to to
do the meetings and stuff. Anyways, um
I like that I'm following the the people
before me because I'm here to complain
again about the 4 million that was given
to the police out of the GRT. Um, I
think it's in disingenuous to frame the
expenditure as public safety in the way
that the community understands it. Um,
when we allocate so much of an
improvement fund to buying police
vehicles, we are prioritizing the
infrastructure of enforcement over the
infrastructure of the community. This
decision comes at the same time um, as
the city council reports significant
budget cuts. That meeting was really
depressing for you guys. I know you
stated it and for me as well as a
community member to hear about the
library and different um programs being
cut. I'm a musician. I'm an artist and
one of my jobs was the at the museum and
like hearing about a program that is a
job for me being cut sucks. Um, and so
you have so many experts and I'm glad
that there's conversations as you stated
earlier um on on the youth and and their
their well-being,
but again putting precious funds towards
something, you know, the police have so
many so many places that they can get
money from and it just was so
disappointing to hear how hard it was
even to just get $1 million shaved off
of that. Um, and yeah, then to have
these experts come up and talk about
like real solutions and their
willingness to work together and Chief
Story has his head just like burrowed
onto his knuckles doing whatever he's
doing on his computer. It's just really
infuriating. Um, yeah, it is just
decades of sociological research and
statistical data have proven that
defunding communities is what creates
unsafe environments. And when you give
precious, precious dollars that could be
used to benefit the youth's lives and
our lives to police cars. Um, it just
feels
it feels really horrible as a community
member that cares about the future of
this community. Thank you for listening.
[applause]
Mayor Council Juan Garcia, when a
citizen stands up here to complain about
crime at a park or drugs near their
home, you nod, thank them, and move on.
Maybe you file their story somewhere or
forget by dinner time. But the problems
don't go away because you decide not to
deal with them. We have a colleague, the
proud leader of the quote, Les Cruz
says, "We hate the police organization."
who wants money moved out of public
safety and into parks and the library.
In theory, it sounds great. In reality,
it's a fantasy until you address one of
the biggest drivers of crime in Lasus. A
few weeks ago, a city director stood
right here before you and made it clear
that she will not let her staff work
without security present. and I quote,
"We can't afford the security we need,
and I refuse to let my staff work at the
Brenan Library
unless security is present during open
hours. The incidents were seen there are
just too intense. Our patrons and our
staff deserve to feel safe." End of
quote. This is one of your directors.
The intense incidents she's talking
about, excuse [clears throat] me, aren't
harmless. They're serious enough that
her staff doesn't feel safe doing their
jobs. Did anyone on this council stop to
ask what's really going on?
No. Did anyone demand specifics or did
you just let that slide into the
background noise? You did. The people
causing trouble at the library are not
teenagers tagging walls.
They're mostly homeless individuals,
some with clear ties to criminal
activity. That's not speculation. Listen
to your staff. Albuquerque figured this
out and passed a campaign, a camping
ordinance. We floated the idea of a
camping ordinance here, too. Are you
willing to act or just pretend the
problem doesn't exist even though it's
in front of you? The solution isn't
complicated. With the [clears throat]
ordinance, designate a safe area for
homeless camping. Set up dumpsters and
water tanks. those who want to sleep
outdoors. It's fine, just not in every
park, library, or the downtown plaza.
You'll cut down on garbage crime and
constant complaints from citizens that
feel that you have abandoned them. And
for those who can't follow the rules,
offer them a one-way ticket to wherever
they want. I know, I'm going to hear it.
You're criminalizing homelessness. No,
I'm not. What I'm asking for is for you
to do your job and take care of your
community. Why aren't you showing the
same concern for the people who live and
work in this city? You have the power to
make real change. Show courage and stop
ignoring the obvious. Thank you.
Good afternoon,
Mayor, [clears throat] Council, Chief
Story,
Clerks. Um,
I'm I'm really nervous today. I'm g I'm
going to ask for an extra minute if
that's possible.
No, ma'am, if you can get it within
three minutes, but please uh state your
name for the record.
Okay. My name is Patty Hartman. Um,
I'm I'm speaking about something that's
very personal to me. It may sound
general. Um,
I too am a lived experience expert um in
mental health,
suicide survivor. Um,
had issues with police abuse and and
deal with trauma from that. Uh,
[sighs] I have I have so much to say,
but I can't really say it because the
things that are closest to home for me
are so personal and
so important that to have three minutes
is really an insult when that's all I
get from anyone in power. Um, the main
thing that I'm concerned about is
accountability and transparency.
Um, we have a twoclass system in Los
Cruus, those in power and those who are
powerless. Um, I very much appreciate
those who I I think spoke for the youth.
Unfortunately, I don't think I heard any
youth actually speak, but they spoke to
my values, which is inclusion. I too am
concerned about youth and the way that
they're portrayed because, and no
offense to Chief Story, I think you're
awesome because of all the outreach you
do, but at the same time, when we only
hear from the voices of those who are in
power, that means you get to frame the
narrative. And that leaves, as some of
these people have spoken, many
perspectives out. Um, I mentioned
suicide because that should be something
I am involved in because when you have
lived experience, you are much more
effective in working with others. But
I've been pretty much dismissed
um excluded because a lot of the things
that are going on here I don't agree
with. Um I'm really kind of tired of our
Mickey Mouse approaches to things. What
do we just have from NM uh uh uh uh the
Open Government Association? Uh
once again we have council not following
open meetings act. Um
there's just so much that I can't I I
can't go into detail but I have so much
pain in me and
it's we need to change. I would love to
work with our youth groups. Thank you.
Hello, my name is Connie Chapman and I'm
just here to give you a simple reminder
to put in place the repeal of the sub,
excuse me, the secret public safety
committee on your agenda as soon as
possible. We're here to spend two weeks
and I'm sure these things take some time
of organization, but in another two
weeks, it'll be three weeks because we
have extra Monday this month. I would
expect to see it on the agenda for the
vote to repeal that. Thank you.
Derek Pacheco for the record and I would
like everyone's undivided attention.
Please, no cell phones or looking down.
I don't want my time wasted, just like
you don't want yours.
I say this with love, but um this isn't
working. I've said it said it once, I'll
say it again. Three minutes to engage
with you is not working. 18 months
engaging with you over a single
important, one would argue the most
important subjects, water,
is unexcusable.
Because of these neighbors, I followed
up and I went to utilities and had my
water line inspected.
Exactly what these ladies have told you
all is exactly what I experienced.
negligence,
incomplete inspection,
making me feel dumb and worthless that I
was even bringing it up.
Most of the water lines and water meters
have been moved or changed or both,
especially in the old neighborhood.
That's just the way that these things
have worked. That leaves patches of
different line material that we've had
to fix over generations just littered
across the property.
When asked how many millions of dollars
are in this fund to fix the water lines,
the person on the phone and utility
says, "I can't tell you that. You have
to come in and I'll tell you to you in
person." That's funny because I try to
engage with my city counselors and they
say, "Sorry, you can't come in and
engage with me. You're going to have to
talk to me on the phone."
So, there's no congruence here. There's
no
it's it's it's wacky, you guys. This is
wacky. Um, unfortunately, um,
I haven't heard anything back about my
request for a moratorium on data
centers.
Absolute silence.
I don't want to see a data center go up
on the mesa at the industrial complex
because that's who you're courting right
now. We see what mess the county has
left us in because of this. We just
don't have the resources and this is not
what we want as a community and we don't
want flock AI cameras all over this city
following us to church to work to city
government. We're done with this. This
is a AI surveillance tech behemoth
that's been put on us. Small towns
first, big towns later, but these
corporate giants are lying.
It's all over the news. From from these
tech oligarchs being accused of raping
their own sister to Meta being
challenged in court and sued by the
state for ruining our kids.
This is your city.
Hi, my name is uh Kent Thirstston. I
don't come with as much uh passion. Um
but I just wanted to update you guys on
park park impact fees. um just kind of
the change that happened since the um
acceptance of the oh I can't even think
of the plan what it's called now realize
Los Cruus. So I want to just point out
something that just happened. So in
summer estates we just got that
approved. It was 28 lots and there's two
two things here is the park fee in uh
the park impact fee in Lou. So yeah,
it's the fee inlue is $100,000 just for
that one for 28 lots.
Um because of the new park impact uh fee
per house, that's 5,671
because the houses in that one will be a
little bit larger. Um when we total it
all up, we were trying to figure out,
okay, how much are we going to be paying
to the park impact fees per house in
that subdivision? And we are now going
to be spending $9,256.75
per house in this one. We used to only
pay $2,600 per house. Um, but now
because of we have to as the builder, as
the developer, you have to put park in
and also you have to pay a park impact
fee as the builder. In this case, we
will be both in many of the times. So,
it's a 256.8%
increase in um park impact fees. Um,
just wanted to bring that up as a source
of we're trying to do some affordable
housing and in this case it's not
affordable housing but the park impact
fees still also affect the affordable
housing side. Um, the other thing I just
wanted to bring up is because of fees
and because of differences in building
between the county and between the
um city, there's at a minimum right now
a $15,000 difference. So, I can build
the same house as long as I go in the
county. I can build the same house now
for $15,000 cheaper on the on the low
side because of the taxes situation,
because of fees, and because of other
things like that. So, we are now as
builders um starting to look outside of
the city. That is not something that has
been a plan in the uh in the realized
Los Cusus because we're trying to we're
trying to prevent the urban sprawl that
we call because we don't like that
because it it increases all of the
infrastructure, the cost and maintenance
of all that stuff. But the codes that
have been put in place and the
differences for people to buy a home is
now better for us to build in the
county. So, we are pursuing trying to
build in counties more than the city
currently because of fees and because of
other things like that. Uh, and I just
thought I would bring that up um just as
a reality of what's what's happening.
Thanks,
Good afternoon. My name is Jack Ecman,
Mr. Mayor and Counselors.
I live in District 4. I propose a common
sense update to how to handle citizen
part participation in these chambers.
Right now, every citizen gets exactly
three minutes to speak, regardless of
whether the meeting lasts 1 hour or 5
hours. A rigid three minute stopwatch
makes sense when the room is packed, but
it actively harms local governance when
we have a light agenda and complex
problems to solve. I am asking this
council to amend its operating rules to
allow the city clerk's office the
discretion to extend the public comment
limit past 3 minutes under a clear
merit-based framework. Specifically,
this extension should be granted when a
meeting's agenda is projected to run
under three hours and when a resident is
presenting on highly complex issues.
This includes individuals bringing forth
professional expertise in financial or
technical matters or those presenting
concrete policy recommendations to raise
city revenue or lower our local taxes.
If a resident has spent hours analyzing
the city budget or has a professional
background can that can help this
council save taxpayer dollars, forcing
them to rush through an arbitrary
threeinut clock deprivives the city of
valuable expertise. By letting the city
clerk manage an expert or topic-based
time extension when the agenda is light,
we can transform public comment from a
rush formality into a powerful
data-driven resource for our city. I
look forward to discussing how we can
bring this rule change forward. And
since I have a few extra minutes, uh,
congratulations on being the 13th
bestrun city in the United States for
2026.
Provo you talk came in number one San
Francisco absolutely last go number 13.
My name is Fred Huff. At the last city
council meeting, a gentleman talked
about the homeless hanging out in a city
park next to his house. In his talk, he
mentioned the fires these people had set
in the park. I also see constant posts
on social media about other citizens
fearing for their safety in city parks
because of the homeless hanging out
there all day and leaving their drug
paraphernalia
laying on the ground.
As you well know, I live next to the
Burn Lake City Park and have been
addressing these same issues for several
years since a lake dried up in 2008 and
the city abandoned the lake bed area.
City crews finally rediscovered the
abandoned, unmaintained lake bed area
last month and did a phenomenal job of
cleaning it up and it should no longer
be a magnet for these illegal
encampments.
But now these vagrants are hanging out
247 in the three big shelters on on the
south end of the s soccer fields here in
Burn Lake City Park. I talked to the
park rangers about this and they said
there was nothing they could do if they
do not set up a tent.
I asked about the park and recreation
rules concerning park usage and they
said they were uninforced.
Here's just a few lines from the city of
Los Cusus Munich codes. It's in chapter
20 parks and recreation article 2 rules
for use of parks section 20-29
permit for reservation of facilities. A
required anybody desiring to reserve a
park portion thereof or a park facility
for exclusive use must obtain a permit
from the parks and recreation
department.
application.
A person wishing a permit shall submit a
completed permit application from the
parks and recreation department.
And it's kind of interesting because in
the Munich codes it doesn't really go
into the details on those, but if you go
down the rabbit hole and find a parks
and recreation, you can now find the
permit fees
and uh a permitted exclusive use of the
park area or a section
is $50 per area per section per four
hours. So, a 24-hour day at 50, that's
six times 50, about $300 a day is what
these people should be paying for the
use of these parks 247.
Um,
but if they want exclusive use of an
entire par park or area, um, they can do
a flat flat fee if they work that out
and that's out there in the parks and
wreck. So, thanks
Tim Jenkins here. It seems we find
ourselves caught in a perpetuating cycle
with no resolve or end in sight despite
millions and millions of dollars being
spent to combat the issue of our
unhoused population.
Right now, where we stand is that
nationwide, New Mexico is number one in
the nation for the most sought out of
any state by the homeless because of the
New Mexico's free incentives and
handouts to the homeless. The policies
in place are driving this problem
through the roof in our state right now.
The system is broken and needs to be
overhauled. The steps we are taking are
not resolving anything but rather making
it worse and worse. And it only makes it
more apparent and more frustrating that
certain members on the dis suggest that
we are the problem and suggest that we
are living in a utopia bubble where we
get everything we want. From my side of
the aisle, it's very clear to see that
our officers and their resources are
being stretched to their limits in every
effort to combat this issue with no
resolve in sight. I have witnessed time
and time again in these last few months
that we clean up entire encampments only
to see them return a few weeks later.
And not only return, but return bigger
and larger than before. I want to make
something crystal clear here. This is
not about a lack of compassion.
Many of us care deeply about the people
who are on the streets struggling. But
compassion also means being honest about
what is happening and addressing the
root cause of this problem that is
plaguing our community day in and day
out. Every day we witness stolen
property, stolen bicycles, and items in
these encampments that came from all
over our city. It feels like we take one
step forward and five steps backwards.
The biggest issue that seems to be
ignored time and time again is the
mental health crisis in our very own
community. This issue can never be
resolved by housing alone or by simply
moving these people from one location to
another. And it will never be resolved
by repeatedly cleaning up the same areas
over and over again. The homeless issue
in our community is being incentivized
by the policies in place right now. I
ask that you all please turn your focus
to address the actual root cause of this
issue and work on getting a public
camping ordinance in place as
Albuquerque did to give our officers the
tools they need to combat this crisis.
It's not fair to these individuals to
continue to be held in shackles out on
the streets with the state ras in
millions and millions of dollars to
combat this crisis with no end ever in
sight. Thank you very much.
Good afternoon. My name is Jim Hurst.
Whoever's moderating.
Go ahead.
Thank you, Becky. Um,
since everybody else is griping, I'll
I'll give you my gripe for today. Um,
when the skate park was closed, I was
young and handsome. Look at me now. If
that's not a crisis, I don't know what
is. Um,
no. Our county or our city councilors
are not responsible for the homelessness
in this community. Homelessness is a
national problem. We have a national
housing shortage. We have a national
shortage of mental health workers.
We have a drug problem. So, we have drug
problems, housing problems, and
just people problems.
It's 310 or excuse me, 330 million of
us. Some of us just don't fit in. That's
the reality of the situation. And our
society is getting harder and harder to
fit in with.
So populations mean some people are
going to be left out. Those left out end
up on the street. They are society's
problem, not Los Cusus' problem. We
should be getting states from the feds
or we should get be getting help from
the feds. We should be getting help from
the state.
Homeless people migrate here because of
our climate.
They will always migrate here because of
our climate.
Anyway,
uh I just want to thank you all. I know
you're doing the best you can. Take
care.
Thank you. That's the end of public
comment. I would entertain a motion to
approve the agenda. Move
to approve.
Second. Any discussion?
Seeing none,
this is on the motion to approve the
agenda as presented. Councelor McClur,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Harris,
yes.
Councelor Beno,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Munoz is absent. And mayor,
yes.
First on the item uh the agenda is item
7.1 resolution number 26-153.
Move to approve.
Second.
Okay, D.
All right. Good afternoon, mayor, city
council, staff. My name is Diane Bucios.
I'm with the city's economic
development.
My name is Diane Bucios. with the city's
de e economic development department
and I bring before you a resolution to
purchase a 9.914 acre tract of land east
of u the east Messa sports complex
and it is currently owned by job
materials right now uh the property was
a portion of the property was previously
used as a gravel pit um it I I told you
where it was located sorry Uh
here's a vicinity map. The property is
outlined in red. The East Messa Sports
Complex is um labeled there. And what
you see in green is a leased area. It's
uh approximately 350 acres of land that
we lease from BLM. So you can see in
where it's located.
The city ordered two appraisals. Uh the
first appraisal came in at $217,000.
The second appraisal came in at 357500.
The parties met in the middle and
negotiated the price at 287250.
Uh the parties will split split the
closing costs.
Uh some of the benefits uh in purchasing
this property would be to expand and
enhance the East Messa Sports Complex.
It would support long-term recreation
and community development goals and
support growth in sports, tourism, and
community re uh recreation.
Uh some potent potential uses would be
uh trails, pickle ball courts, multi-use
fields, or an urban fishing pond. Um and
additional parking to support regional
tournament events and or um alternate
access to improve traffic flow.
With that, these are your standard
council options. I stand for any
questions. We do have somebody here from
job materials if you have any questions.
And of course, we have somebody here
from parks and wreck.
Any questions? Councelor Matise,
I was wondering, can anybody explain why
the the difference between you knew
you're going to get this question,
right? the course the the appraisals
I think it's like 140,000
was there a time frame involved or
uh Mayor Councelor Matise uh there was a
time frame but it wasn't by maybe by
five six months uh an appraisal is an
opinion uh it it's an opinion based on
the appraiser so sometimes they can vary
100,000 500,000 I've seen them vary
200,000 is just based on the appraisals
the appraisers's opinion so that so the
parties met in the middle to to have a
negotiated price.
Okay. Thank you.
You're welcome.
Anyone else?
Christine
This is on the motion to approve
resolution 26-153.
Councelor McClur,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Harris,
yes.
Councelor Bencoml,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Munoz is absent. And mayor,
yes.
Next is item 7.2, council bill number
26-018,
ordinance number 3110.
Move to approve.
Second
Good afternoon, mayor, city council, and
staff. Um, I'm Adul Cardinas with
Treasury.
The ordinance before you is the is to
authorize the issuance and sale of the
Lasus New Mexico gross receipt tax
improvement revenue bonds.
The issue amount cannot exceed 22.15
million with a maturity date not to
exceed 20 years.
The pledge revenue sources will be um
the first lean 325% of the municipal
gross receipt tax and a subordinate lean
of.5%
of the municipal gross receipt tax.
The proceeds will be used
for construction,
equipping,
making additions or improvements to
public facilities.
For construction, maintaining or
otherwise improving improving CH uh
streets or roadways
to acquire and to equip public safety
vehicles.
and for capital improvements and
maintenance for public safety, streets,
parks,
and critical infrastructure.
So, the amount of this bonds can exceed
22.15 million. The goal is to get 20
million just for the projects. So, we're
hoping that we get enough above the 20
million to cover the cost of that.
So, we're hoping to get 20 million and
per the feedback that we received in
from council in the council meeting from
April 6, 2026,
the projects will be
60%
for maintenance for current projects and
the 60% is about 12 million
and it will be used like this 5 million
for fire station improvement.
4 million for street maintenance and
traffic helmet. 2.4 million for public
safety fleet upkeep
and 600,000 for facility maintenance and
ADA compliance.
The 40%
which is 8 million will be 1 million for
joint public safety training facility. 2
million for the recreation center design
and construction.
2 million for library improvements and
re renovations.
2 million for funding gaps of current
CIP projects and 1 million for the
Anglier road extension.
Due to a recent um conversation with
NMFA, this ordinance ordinance needs to
be changed.
Uh the section that needs to be changed
is 17E and section 283.
If you look at the ordinance, you can
find those sections on page 40.
On page 40, you'll find section 17E.
And then on page 49, you'll find section
283.
What it's doing is if you look at
section 17E where it says no deposit
shall be required in the reserve fund so
long as the pledged revenues revenues in
each fiscal year equal or exceed
on the current original ordinance that
says 150% it needs to be updated to say
200%.
of the maximum annual principle and
interest
coming due in any subsequent year fiscal
year. What that means it's let's say we
have our uh debt service schedule
and let's say the payments are 200,000
300,000 and 500,000. So what we're going
to do, we're going to pick the highest
amount which is 500 part 500 thou,000
and with the original requirement it was
only 150%. So what we did we as long as
the pledge revenue met that requirement
so we multiply 500,000 times 150%
that pledged revenue needed to be
750,000. Now with a new requirement is
has to be 200
200 uh%.
So what we need to do the pledge revenue
now need with that example we it needs
to be $1 million. Again this is not is
due to a recent conversation with NMFA
is NFA policy. Now they required that
and it's not only affecting the city of
Los Cruus is affecting everybody. Um
based on the recent projections on
pledge revenue on uh revenues we we
we're good. We meet that requirement
even we meet that new requirement which
is 200%.
And nice effort.
Okay. Thank you all. Any questions on
the 22 million discussion first?
Council Matise.
Uh, thank you. You know, I have received
uh read out some fun facts from Connie,
city manager, and one of the lines have
say net effective interest rate not to
exceed 12%. What is the interest rate?
It can vary. uh based on the last one uh
it cannot exceed 12% and if I'm not
mistaken based on the last one it it was
between 3 and 5%. Again for this one I
do not know but I have our financial
advisor I don't know if he wants to give
some feedback on that.
Uh good afternoon mayors and counselors.
So, based upon current interest rates,
um,
sir, could you state your name?
Oh, yes. Uh, sorry, excuse me. Uh, Eric
Harrian with RBC Capital Markets where
the city's municipal advisor. Uh, so
based upon interest rates as of today,
um, the, uh, the rate would be 3.2%. Um,
that is subject to fluctuation.
Um, given the amount of the borrowing,
this requires a simultaneous financing
with the New Mexico Finance Authority.
The New Mexico Finance Authority goes
into the market. they sell their bonds,
those rates get directly passed on to
the city of Los Cusus. Um that sale is
expected to occur on August 27th and at
that point in time we will have locked
in the interest rates and those interest
rates will be locked in for the life of
the borrowing.
Okay. So, so basically in August when
they go to market that will determine
the rate. It could be you have any idea
what Do you have any future
that you could ve
very very challenging to um to tell um
obviously with the the news over the
weekend about a potential truce um peace
deal between the United States and Iran
that um you know that that can have a
significant impact on where um inflation
goes and what happens with rates. Um the
uh new Federal Reserve chair um is
meeting um um next or this week um and
we'll obviously have the first sort of
announcement of what the Federal Federal
Reserve does with uh interest rates. The
anticipation is that rates will be held
steady. Um but what investors will be
really looking for is what's the
commentary associated uh with after the
meeting whether um they anticipate rates
to be cut later this year increase later
this year remain the same. Um so there's
a lot of there's a lot of variables that
will go into it. Um I think probably
last week we were probably looking at
generally higher rates over the longer
term. M that might have maybe stabilized
a little bit but very challenging.
Okay. When when you say the longer term
I not noticed this particular loan go
through I 2041. Is that I can't remember
the date. I
believe that is correct. Yes.
Okay. Um so with that interest rate when
it's decided in August will that be
changed on an annual basis could that
come down or is that will be that will
be for the entire term of of the loan?
So that the uh that'll be for the
[clears throat] entire now each maturity
within the loan will have its own
interest rate that 3.2% 2% is the
average of all of the maturities um for
that for that borrowing.
Similar to like on the on a yield curve,
you're going to have slightly lower
rates on the short end, you're going to
have higher rates on the long end. Just
the same with your bonds. They're, you
know, the the bonds that are going to
mature in 2027 are going to have a lower
interest rate than the bonds that are
going to mature in 2041.
But on average over the life of the
borrowing based upon today's interest
rates it would be 3.2%.
Oh okay.
Thank you.
Okay. Any questions on the amendment?
Councelor Bencom. Well, no. If you have
a question on this.
Yeah.
Yeah. Go ahead.
Hi. Can you go to the previous page,
please? Thank you.
I didn't see any of these specific
numbers in the actual language of the
resolution. Is that not necessary? I
just want to make sure that they're also
locked in
or I could be I just could be missing
them. The u mayor councelor brinko
are you referring to what this split the
for 40% and the 60% or
like these specific numbers and their
correlation to their projects. I didn't
see them in the resolution but I did the
city clerk want to
um Mayor Councelor Beno those numbers
were actually in the application which
you guys already approved. Great. Yeah.
So you're good. Thank you.
Any other questions
as far as the amendment?
I
um move to amend section 17E and section
20 A3 to um align with what MFA's
current expectations are that you
mentioned earlier. uh 200% and
a million dollar. What what is this?
Just the 200% and then respective parts.
So, thank you. Take that last part off,
please.
Second.
Okay, this is on the motion to amend
ordinance 3110
um to change section 17E and 20 A3 to
200%.
Councelor Mccclure,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Harris,
yes.
Councelor Bencoml,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Munoz is absent. And mayor,
yes.
You ready for
Go ahead.
Okay.
So, this is on the motion to approve
ordinance 3110 as amended. Councelor
McClur,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Harris,
yes.
Councelor Beno,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Munoz is absent. And Mayor,
yes.
Next is item 7.3, council bill number
26-023,
ordinance number 3115.
Move to approve.
Second
Good afternoon, mayor, city, city
council, and staff. Adul Cardinas for
director.
The ordinance before you is for the
authorization of the New Mexico Finance
Authority
grant loan agreement through the water
project fund administered by the water
trust board.
The water project fund ad minister uh
through the water trust board offers a
variety of water projects based upon the
financial capacity of the applicants.
Resolution 25-26
authorizes the city to submit an
application for financial assistance.
The anticipated closing date for this
loan will be July 24, 2026.
The loan will be repaid from the net
revenues of the Jones utility system.
The maximum repayable principal amount
will be 196,933
with the maturity no later than June
1st, 2048.
This loan will be pr principal payment
only with an administrative fee of
0.25%.
The proceeds of this loan agree uh uh
grant will be used to design, construct
and repair Lasalura's delto water
storage tank and booster station
and shall include other related works
and revisions necessary necessary to
complete the project.
I've included some photos for you to
view.
And those are your council options. And
I stand for questions.
Thank you, Aldo. Any questions from
council?
Sorry. I just want to clarify this is
super interesting to me. This is because
I think where we get money given our
prior conversation or immediate recent
conversation, this is like the cheapest
money we can possibly get to do work.
No. Um and so I just think I'm wondering
if you can talk a little bit about how
we are eligible for this or where this
money is coming from because it is an
extraordinary resource and I would love
to hear more. 0.25% is as cheap as money
can possibly get without being free. So,
thank you for pointing that out and if
you wanted to if you could share just a
little bit that would be awesome.
Mayor um councelor Kuran um it is my
understanding that the water transport
is a board that helps decide which
projects should
uh need funding. So it's a board and
they help and they work together with
NFA to decide and yes it's basically
this is uh
um it's principal payment only it's just
at 25% which is is right it's just a
2025%
I don't know if someone from utilities
want to add more on this
good afternoon mayor Um counselors
Dominique Rodriguez, assistant utilities
director. Yes. Um so when we are doing
larger projects, we like to go out for
water trust board. It is an annual um
submission of applications. They do
water conveyance, water storage that has
moved recently to include wastewater
type projects that are also conveyance
and the majority of it is grant more
than the loan. Um we have gone out for
other funding because it comes from the
state like the drinking water state
revolving fund is similar to this where
it also has a 0.25% interest rate. So we
are going out yearly for these to see
what we are able to um secure and then
come back with.
That's awesome. Thank you. Now that
you're here, I'm going to ask you a
bunch of more questions. Sorry. One is
is it is that a competitive granting
process um or is it kind of like
municipalities in New Mexico are pretty
good to
uh mayor counselor Karan it it is um
from what I understand semicompetitive
so it it is other municipalities through
the state I believe that it does
sometime have colonialas right so it
it's everything kind of water systems um
that uh provide water throughout the
state that then goes to the water trust
board and they then decide which ones
which projects move forward, which ones
don't. The our application process
includes we do project scoping reports
where we show everything that is needed
for it in hopes that that helps them
make the decision to move our projects
forward.
Awesome. Thank you. I appreciate that.
Can I ask one other random question now
that everyone's wanting to get out of
here? I know.
tell us a little bit about how water
towers as such like this one um address
our system reliability and why that's
import fundamentally important. I think
I don't know that folks realize like I
just thought like my water coming out of
my tap is coming from this sometimes and
sometimes not. And it wasn't until I
until you all educated us really
intensely that I learned about our
system pressurization and all of the
things that are related to how we use um
these tanks and the systems around them
to to make our system work. Are you up
for a tiny explainer, please?
Uh Mayor Councelor Cran. So I'm going to
try um to answer this. Uh Adrian is in
the in the audience, so she will come
and save me if I need to be saved. Um so
our um water system is one a loop system
and so we are connected in different
ways. We have different zones. There are
different wells located in different
areas of our system. Some wells um pump
water directly from groundwater into
tanks and then that is then the tank
holds the water and then it distributes
to the different zones. That's important
because we have different pressures
because our system can start very low in
the valley and then move up to the East
Mesa. So because a well is
geographically located right next to a
tank doesn't always mean that that is
where that water is going. It depends on
how our system is, how it's piped, and
then where the water from that tank then
gets distributed to our customers. So,
it is um it is fun. It's a great system.
Uh I enjoy learning and going through
all of it. And so, yes, it's all of it
um to provide water to every customer,
every meter, everywhere in our system
that um we want to make sure it's
reliable and uh capacity is always met.
Awesome.
Thank you. I just wanted a chance for
you to talk on about our water system.
Thank you. So, I appreciate you doing
so. Thanks again.
Thank you.
Any other questions?
[clears throat]
Losing my voice. Uh before before we
take a vote, I just wanted to recognize
Aldulo Cardinos as our new treasurer for
the finance department. Congratulations
to you. Thank you, mayor.
Okay,
this is on the motion to approve
ordinance 3115. Councelor McClur,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Harris,
yes.
Councelor Bencomo,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Munoz is absent. And mayor,
yes.
Next is board appointments and there are
none. So next is notice of propose
proposed ordinance. We have one that's
council bill number 26-024
ordinance number 3116.
Bring it forward.
Next, we'll go to city council member
board reports and comments. Council
McCuller.
Thank you, Mayor. Um, I think I I'm not
sure if I have one or two things. We'll
we'll find out as we go. Um, the first
one is super handy given the light of u
public comment today. It may make my job
actually a little bit easier, which I
kind of like. Um, let me give you a
little bit of background. So the uh
juvenile justice continuum has been kind
of seeing, you know, what what can we
do? What what practical things um can
the board do? What can we do with the
outreach of the different organizations
that attend? And so we've been having
some sort of um discovery meetings, I
would say, um figuring out if um you
know whether or not the city should do
an RFP for the gun violence initiative,
if we should work with NMSU because an
agencyto agency thing might be a little
bit easier. We've reached out to school
of social work who had a really exciting
offer for peer support uh programming
that they're doing and it would be my
request right now from uh the dis here
is to see whether or not we um much like
what was said over and over by I and the
the gal who spoke for the first time
kudos to her she did a really good job
and I always when somebody says man I'm
nervous I get you like that's absolutely
how I feel most of the time doing this
but um when people are brave enough to
come and share that information. I just
want to give them the respect of yes,
we're working on it and I would love to
see this is my my request for officially
for all my colleagues up here is that we
have one evening work session
um possibly in September and I'll kind
of clarify that here in a second at city
hall. Sorry, Mayor Prom. That's um I I
while I like the idea of having a
traveling city hall, I I think it does
make it way harder for staff. Um I would
like to see this advertised very
heavily. I would like to see youth
families here tell us what they need,
what they want to see, what we can
support, what um what initiatives might
be valuable for us to do here. Um so I
guess that's that's the four things.
evening meeting at city hall advertised
heavily in September partially because I
was kind of excited to see the um um
Lasus Police Department is asking for
the youth intervention I'm going to get
around prevention intervention
coordinator and that person probably
will have a huge role to play in this as
well but we want to invite all of these
people who came to speak today families
I want I would love to see this packed
with people who are really interested we
can throw some pizzas in I know a
budget's tight I'll pitch in a couple of
bucks for that myself. Um, but I think
if we can get that going, I know that
one of the um things when I was a
younger mom, I would drag my my kids to
meetings like this and and that's how we
build communities. We we build spaces
like that in the ways that we can. So, I
very much like to ask my fellow um
counselors to see if they would agree to
a meeting like that um probably in
September. I think other counselors may
have a couple of um thoughts on that. Um
and I think I'll keep it at that for
today. Thank you.
Thank you, Council Mccclure. I'll just
add that I've already talked to the
clerk about having an evening meeting.
Um we'll we'll try it. Um definitely
wanted to wait after July for the fiscal
period, but we can we can wait till
September. I think that'll be good,
Christine. we can we can shoot for an
evening one and advertise it
appropriately. So, thank you, Council
Mat.
No, I I thank you for that support,
mayor. I I I'd like to see some evening
programs in September. If that's the
earliest, that's fine. Um I'd like to
have a a kudos or a compliment to parks
and recck. I don't think Stephven's
here. I think he left. But anyway, thank
you for these laminated
sheets on the city manager. I think they
were on my desk. It gives the parks and
and uh recreational locations of uh
district 2 and I I guess there's one for
each district and it's it's really
helpful. Uh it's uh I actually used it.
Uh someone called me and wanted to know
if we had a rec center and they just
moved in Los Cruus. So, I just went down
there and read them about the Franco
Papen Community Center. I had the street
and everything else and they thought I
was uh wow, this guy's really on top of
things. Um, the other thing I'd like to
uh share with the people, I I I got an
article and maybe the public doesn't
know this, but I found out that the oil
and gas industry
provides 13.1 billion in state and local
revenue. And over 1.9 billion of this
funding goes directly to capital outlay
projects. And you know, we're going
through all these capital outlay
projects. So, it's nice to know that uh
the gas and natural gas and oil industry
provide so much money. these local
projects. By the way, if uh anybody's
watching this uh council media, I hear
we have about five or six people that
watch it on on the website, but uh it
includes roads, playgrounds, public
records, libraries, fire stations,
health clinics, and and more. So, that's
a that was a nice piece of information.
Um, I just want to mention to Katrina if
uh if if you could do marketing. I don't
I don't know if you uh have attract
young people to and is there an age
limit on the leadership uh program
leadership loss cruises or is it any
age? Can it be uh high school or young
people? And
Katrina, if you want to just give me an
idea of how you how you recruit because
you got the biggest I think class ever.
Someone mentioned that. I think it was
Mandy Leatherwood mentioned and and
congratulations on the the gold, the
silver and and the bronze awards. That's
that's pretty exciting. So, if you could
just tell me how you recruit and if you
get a lot of young people joining that
or is it all adults?
Good afternoon, mayor and city
councilors. Councelor Matise. Um,
normally for the neighborhood leadership
academy, it is adults, but we are not
against taking um maybe 14 to 18 year
olds with a parents permission. I think
that would be okay. Yeah,
we do have another program developing
youth leaders where we have it during
fall break and we we want to bring in
high school students to it's modeled
against the neighborhood leadership
academy but it's basically a week long
um class where the students come in for
um Monday through Friday
and we're going to do that this fall in
October.
Okay. Thank you sharing that
mayor. That's it. Thank you, uh,
Councelor Harris.
Uh, thank you, Mayor. So, I have just a
couple things. Um, one, I want to
remind, uh, everyone watching and
listening that we're going to have over
the rest of the summer um, lots of
listening sessions, one in every
district for the strategic plan. Um, I
know we talked about it the last work
session. Um, so I wanted to put out that
reminder uh, to keep an eye out for
those dates and to please participate
and, uh, make your voice heard. Um,
another thing speaking of strategic
plan, um, I think we were talking a lot
about economic development and that was
part of the report that we were
presented last week. And so I just want
to
remind everyone and and maybe make an
ask that as we're looking at economic
development opportunities uh that we're
trying to court industries that are
productive and complimentary to our
community and not strictly extractive
and here to just take all the resources
they can from us and then send it
elsewhere. Um and then finally I I'm
also in favor of an act for hours work
session. I think that's well in the
works. Um, and uh, September seems fine,
although Katrina, I think, is going to
try and plan a District 3 community
meeting in September, too. So, September
might be getting full, but that should
be interesting to see. Thanks, Mayor.
Thank you, Councelor Beno.
Thank you, Mayor. Um, yes, certainly
agree on the September meeting. I think
that's a great idea. Uh, and then I just
think generally
in regards to that um,
youth conversation, obviously we've been
talking a lot about this since the
budget retreat. I'm really looking
forward to hearing back from staff on
how we, you know, plan out the $100,000
that was allocated for gun violence
intervention program. And I think with a
lot of these things, I think it's
important that we
meet people where they are. Um, I think
it's important that we invite them here,
especially not at one o'clock and
especially in the evenings to hear from
folks. And I think, you know, meaningful
engagement means meeting people where
they are. Um, you know, back when I was
doing community organizing, there
there's this principle that says, um,
the further you are from the issue, the
easier it is to philosophize about it.
And I think you know for what it's worth
I think a lot of us on this dis um are
are removed from um the realities of
young people involved in the justice
system and um we should be absolutely
engaging with the folks who are on the
ground directly working with um justice
involved youth and I I always hesitate
to say at risk youth because I think all
youth are at risk of any particular
thing but for those that are already
sort of involved in the justice system.
Um I think it's important that we engage
with folks like the experts that came
here today to really allow us to um one
collaborate, work together, and be able
to form programs that will actually work
at improving the lives of young people
in our community. Just want to say that.
And then yes, mayor, apologize for
interrupting public comment. I I
absolutely know that that's public
comment is for the public for three
minutes to come here and say whatever
they'd like.
Whatever they'd like is um true. And I
do think there's sometimes information
that gets shared here that crosses a
line. I think spreading lies about the
health pipes at [music] elementary
school is dangerous and irresponsible
and it should get called out as that
whether it happens immediately or not. I
you know that's up I guess that's up for
debate. I just think um it is
particularly responsible and dangerous
to allow that kind of information to
leave with people here and if they're
not tuning in for it to be corrected
later on in the meeting. And just for
this particular conversation about fair
acres I I had a I had a direct
conversation with Steve Rodriguez the
chief operations person at Los Cus
Public Schools and um he sent me a neat
mill. This was a while ago in April. Um
that said, the most recent field
investigation conducted on December
18th, 2025, including an inspection at
the meter pit and documented the
materials present on both the public
water system and customer service lines.
The findings confirmed that no
galvanized materials were identified on
either the city service line or the
customer service line. Okay, you don't
want to trust our um
very competent utilities team. this
coming directly from the school. Um, and
I just want to make sure again, I don't
know how we navigate that kind of thing,
but it is just very dangerous
information for people to leave here
believing may be true. So, um, just
wanted to correct the record on that
specific issue. Thank you.
Thank you, Councelor K.
Thank you. Um, first I wanted to thank
um Daniela and Kyle from public Daniela
from communications and Kyle from public
works for helping me out and addressing
a question that a lot of residents have
um related to speed bumps, traffic
calming neighborhood traffic speeds. So,
thank you to both of you for helping us
navigate that media inquiry um and
really an inquiry about like how are we
funding things which I think these
conversations are really ongoing. So,
it's really an interesting question to
keep asking ourselves like what are we
what are we doing? How are we responding
to constituents and and what how are we
addressing needs of things like roads,
neighborhood traffic, calming, etc. So,
thanks to both both Kyle and Daniela for
that. Um, I also want to thank Katrina
and Stephanie from the ASCMV for helping
me do something that I've wanted to do
for a long time, which is plan a
microchipping event in lie of um, in the
past we've done a check your microchip
event, but this time in lie of a
community meeting or trying to figure
out a way to make an impact on the
community, we're going to have a an
event where we can give people
microchips and check your microchips on
your pet before Fourth of July. since
everyone shoots off illegal fireworks
and their dogs are and even with the big
firework show their dogs become loose
and we see an enormous uptick in in
loose and unrestrained dogs around
Fourth of July. So to try to address
that issue at at the root cause level
since only about 15% of the animals that
ACOs pick up actually have any
identification. Um we'll be having a
microchip event June 27th here at city
hall from 9 to 12. Um, it will be really
fun. I promise that there will be chips,
both microchips and I plan to bring a
lot of chips, my favorite snack. So,
seems convenient to have both happening.
Um, I hope folks will consider checking
in on their animals status to make sure
that they find their way home to them uh
when they run away because of fireworks.
And then the other thing animal related
that's not city sponsored, but I do want
to tell all of my colleagues about it.
Last year, one of the coolest events
that I was that I've ever attended in
the city of Los Cusus, and I go to a lot
of events and visit with a lot of
people, was a fashion show with the
fashion was for the people. Just to
clarify, I was confused when I first
went. The fashion is by local designers
um with local models and they all have
animals from the ASMV and it's a
fundraiser for the ASMV. Um that's
happening August 1st. It's called
Fashion for Hearts and it's organized by
an extraordinary woman named Naomi
Morning Star Cruz who is a um model
herself and also does jewelry design. So
I hope that folks will consider coming.
Um it's a really cool event and I'm
happy to share more information if you'd
like. But uh August 1st, I hope to see
you there. So that's it.
All right. Thank you.
Uh just a few things but uh first just
wanted to mention again with the public
participation yeah we we all know that
it's their right to come and speak but I
recall when the issue first came up we
did a presentation where Steve came in
and explained the situation and the
testing and the regulations and
everything that goes through. Some
people just want to ignore the
credibility and the work that our
utilities department do to keep us safe.
And so, I mean, we can bring it back if
we have to. I don't know the answer when
these individuals just want to come over
and over and repeat the same thing, but
I know that we as a city have done our
part to bring in the subject matter
experts to come in and explain what's
going on. Um, we we recognized our our
baseball team here locally, the Missia
Valley that won the state championship
and we also recognized a youth group uh
with Jamar Cotton and all the things
they're doing. Uh, just wanted to to
give a kudos for this past weekend. We
had the 49th that's been for 49 years.
the 49th annual Bob Olga baseball
all-star game that took place this
weekend. So, thank you for the Optimus
Club. We brought in the Allstars or
seniors in in baseball throughout New
Mexico that came and played three games
of baseball series and the Optimus Club
is the one that puts this event together
and also uh Los Cusus Public Schools for
their partnership in allowing the Field
of Dreams baseball field to be used. So
there are some youth activities that are
going on and you know we've been doing
it for years. We just need to find where
those gaps are and continue to work
because we can do better but there are
some things that are taking place. Uh
also a shout out to our parks and recck
department, the East Mesa Public
Recreation. Uh ribbon cutting was
Friday. New playground equipment, a
skate park, uh artwork, and basketball
courts were were all presented on Friday
as a ribbon cutting. And it was great to
see and something that we're moving
forward. We thank the voters uh during
the geo bond session that allowed that
sport complex to take place. So, some
good things happening and taking place
for our youth in the community and also
the pickle ball courts, the the baseball
fields, the soccer fields just for
adults of all ages to partake and
exercise and enjoy our outdoors. But now
we have a challenge and I look at city
managers, staff and even the colleagues
here on council is East Mesa Public
Recreation Center is really the project
name
that has been the project name. So maybe
we need to start looking at how we we
name that complex. So and that's always
a challenge you know but but it's
something we look for the creativity and
we look for for input and ideas and
thoughts but I think that's our that's
our little challenge that we have with
such a great place to go and enjoy is
what are we going to call it? Okay. So
something to think about.
Okay. Yeah. Names are always tough, but
there's a lot of things um in our
desert, in our community,
from animals, the plants to to the views
to Yeah, there's so much that we can
choose from, but it is it's still a
challenge. So, let's start thinking
about it. And with that, I'll turn it
over to the city manager. Maybe he's got
a name.
Thank you, Mayor Enriquez and city
council. No name updates today but and
no updates. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you. With that um look for a
motion to adjurnn.
Move to adjourn.
Second.
This is on the motion to adjurnn the
meeting. Councelor McClur.
Yes.
Councelor Matise.
Yes.
Councelor Harris.
Yes.
Councelor Bencoml.
Yes.
Councelor Karan.
Yes.
Councelor Munoz is absent. And mayor.
Yes.