[Music]
Well, good afternoon everyone. Welcome
to the work session. Today is Monday,
September 22nd, 2025. It's approximately
1 p.m. I am Mayor Eric Enriquez. We will
start with a moment of silence for the
brave men and women of the United States
Armed Forces as they protect our
interest around the globe and as well as
our courageous men and women of the Los
Cusus Police and Los Cru's Fire
Department that keep our city safe 24/7
365.
Please join me in the pledge. I pledge
allegiance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the republic
for which it stands. One nation under
God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
All right. So, we'll start off with jobs
of the week. Sarah
Good afternoon. Thank you, Mayor.
There we go. My name is Sarah Rainey.
I'm the onetop coordinator for the
Southwest Region of America's Job
Center, New Mexico. For jobs of the
week, we have a GIS, a geographic
information systems analyst for the city
of Los Cusus starting at 60,000. The
position closes um October 13th.
We have a solid waste supervisor for the
city starting at 51,000 a year and it
also closes on the 13th of October. We
have a billing representative
representative at Rusty Health LLC
starting at 1597 an hour and that
posting closes on October 12th.
Um, for community options, we have a
direct support professional starting at
14:30 an hour. The posting closes on the
12th of October. For FAMCO, they
actually have several positions open.
There was just one that I listed for
construction superintendent. That one is
29 an hour and closes on the 11th of
October. And then maintenance helper for
Monte Vista Rentals. That one starts at
1265 an hour and closes on the 4th of
October. So, really soon on that one.
And then just a reminder, we have um
actually on this Wednesday we have an
employer meet and greet. So if anybody
is interested in some extra help um
gaining employees and that side of
things that that AJC will do, come in
and talk to our employees there. Also
9:26 we're going to have the H&R Block
recruitment event. So we have a lot
going on in our office. Stop by you
guys. We can help you on all ends. H&R
Block will be doing um on the spot
interviews as well.
And that's all we have. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Next is Pets of the Week
with Carol.
Good afternoon. Carol Nelson, digital
content specialist with the Animal
Services Center of the Messia Valley.
Our dog of the week is Finn 89413.
I'm just under 50 pounds and about 10
months old, which means I'm still a pup
with a heart full of love to give. I'm
still not quite sure about toys, but
when it comes to treats, I'm all in. If
you have a treat tasty snack from for
me, Wow, I can't read. You will
definitely be getting lots of affection
from me. I'm a sweet and wiggly guy who
loves being around humans. I do get I do
enjoy getting outside. I just want to do
it with you by my side. I'm content to
sit by your side, soaking up all the
love and attention you can give. If
you're looking for a loyal companion who
will fill your life with joy and
cuddles, I'm your guy. And our cat of
the week, Jackson, has been adopted. So,
congratulations to Jackson. Super happy
because he was actually a return back to
the center. He came in as a kitten, got
adopted out, and came back. So, we're
happy he found his second home.
And as always, we like to highlight our
long-term residents. Again, we encourage
the community to look at our long-term
residents because the longer they stay
at the shelter, it is harder for them to
thrive. Coette has now been with us 259
days, Cookies and Cream 249 days, Coral
246 days, and Dexter 244 days.
For upcoming events, we are going to be
at PetSmart this coming Saturday, the
27th. It's going to be our puppy Palooa.
So, we don't often have puppies at these
events, so it's a great time to come out
and adopt your pep uh adopt a puppy for
yourself. We'll be there from 9 to 12.
And we are also trying to get the word
out that we are going to be hosting our
drive-thru vax clinic u for this fall on
October 26th. And that will be at the
Field of Dreams parking lot. And we'll
be there from 9 to 1 administering
vaccines and microchips.
And as always, for more information, you
can visit our website or follow us on
social media. Thank you.
Thank you, Carol.
Next item on the agenda is a new sense
abatement team update by Chris Faber.
All right. Good afternoon, mayor,
council. I'm Chris Faver, community
development director for the city. Uh,
so today I'm going to give you guys an
update on the nuisance and abatement
team known as NAT. Uh, and before I get
started, I would like to acknowledge
that we do have most of the members of
the NAT, which is a combination of
community development, fire codes, um,
neighborhood housing, and so they're all
sitting back here in the audience. Just
want to give them a shout out. We've all
been working real hard the last couple
months to kind of implement this new
strategy that we're going through, and I
I'll kind of walk you through those
those steps here today. Then I have a
couple tools that we built that I'll
demo at the end. and then a and then a a
page on the city's website that we've
updated. So why NAT is needed? So just
kind of a little bit of background as to
the importance of the NAT program and um
addressing the fact that
vacant and nuisance properties both
residential and commercial um do pose
safety and aesthetic views problems with
uh neighborhoods. um poor upkeep creates
visible blight uh and accelerated
declines within neighborhoods. And I
also wanted to point out that this was a
couple of things that was mentioned in
Elevate. So there are two policy
initiatives within Elevate that speak to
dealing with NAT properties CL 2.1 and
CL 2.2 abate neighborhood nuisances and
redeveloping vacant properties. And part
of those um processes they they
recommended the implementation of cross
departmental efforts um through codes
and and fire and and and community
development and a variety of other
departments as well. Um and then also
reaching out and working with
neighborhood organizations and residents
to to deal with these issues.
So, we've sort of been taking a new
approach to deal with some of these um
structures and and residences that we've
been encountering predominantly because
a lot of them do not have um a known
identified legal owner. And so, we're
taking the emphasis off of just focusing
on the owner and trying to focus on the
structure because that gives the city a
little bit more leverage when it comes
to dealing with these properties and
finding a resolution.
And so the main tool that we use to sort
of move this new strategy forward is the
international property maintenance code
which the city has adopted. And so
within the property maintenance code it
has pretty specific standards for both
um properties that are vacant uh
abandoned. Um and so it it's basically
dealing with standards to protect the
public health safety and welfare. um
creating safe structures, sanitary
structures, and presentable structures.
So, there's a standard that we've
adopted that allows codes to go out and
and and community development staff to
go out and enforce a standard on these
buildings that are not being occupied
and provides options for us to deal with
them uh when we when we deal with that.
So typically what happens is we'll we'll
identify a structure and codes um CD
staff and fire will go out assess the
structure and determine what those next
steps would be on that particular
structure.
And a main criteria for what we're doing
is this priority level criteria that
we've created. And so there's a one two
three uh system that we've created. Ones
are the lowest level um where we that we
know the owner. there's there's, you
know, a few identified problems on the
property. Um, the property is occupied.
We're not talking about major structural
issues and they are working towards
compliance on whatever things have been
identified. When you get to a level two,
now you're getting into situations where
there be may be no known owner, they're
vacant, not gaining compliance, dealing
with some of the issues that have been
um identified or they're getting worse.
And then level three is is sort of the
worst. That's where you have no known
owner. The property is vacant. There are
um visible structural issues that are
creating um uh you know a health safety
issue for not only that particular
structure or anyone who may wander into
it, but potentially uh residents and
other structures within the vicinity.
So that's the criteria that we use when
we move forward anytime a property has
been identified. And then so I just kind
of wanted to walk you through this
process from a staff standpoint. So
typically, you know, we we have an
address that's been identified, whether
that's something that's put been put on
our radar through police or through
codes specifically or whether a citizen
has reached out to council or directly
to staff and said this address is
problematic. So from there, we'll start
to do a little investigating into the
owners. Like I said before, we do find a
large percentage percentage do not have
a legal owner. And so we have to sort of
find other means to either identify that
or or work to to sort of work beyond
that situation.
Then we'll have to determine the rating.
So staff will go out from codes from
fire from CD. The building official will
go out and look and see, you know, are
there issues with the structural
integrity? Are there active utilities?
If there are not, that does give us um
the ability to remove the certificate of
occupancy, which gives us some leverage
when it comes to trespassing people who
are trying to um inhabit the structure
that don't live there.
And then there's a fair amount of of um
documenting this process that goes
through. So whether it's a council
resolution to deal with the demolition,
um there's often a lot of reporting that
goes into that. Um, and also if we're
going to demo or if it's going to go
through historic preservation, there's
additional documentation that's
required. So, fire reports, property
reports. If it is a structure within the
historic uh district, there is required
a structural analysis that has to be
done. if the building is going to be
recommended for demolition, similar to
the 414 East May that we dealt with last
month. Um, if it's a situation where the
city now has to step in and abate that,
um, so first steps are we can remove the
CEO. We can condemn the building, then
we can hire a contractor to either board
and secure the property or demolish it
if that's what the situation calls for.
And then lastly, this is where the city
can kind of move this process a little
forward. You know, we can lean the
property and then we can foreclose.
based on that lean. And the idea is if
you know some of these properties could
be salvaged by, you know, someone
stepping in through foreclosure, taking
them over, rehabbing them, and turning
them over to, you know, reusable housing
for the community, that would be
considered uh a win from the NAP
perspective.
So, I'll demo this here at the end, but
you know, we created a real a real great
tool that our GIS team put together
that's an interactive map that can be
updated in real time that has all the
relevant information on there. So, if
codes is out visiting or someone on CD
staff is out visiting that address, they
can update it in real time and they can
have access to all the information that
we have internally um while they're out
on that site.
We also did update the city website for
the public um use and has uh some
information FAQs. It has some general
information about NAT. It has a real
time um NAT map that has the priority
level two and priority level three
properties. Um and it also has a form
where people can share an address that
may need to be added to the NAT list and
then that comes to staff for us to
evaluate.
So current conditions, where do things
stand right now? So as of this morning,
and we were updating this information,
you know, all the way through last week,
we have about 165 properties that are on
the NAT list all the way from a level
one to a level three. And so you can see
it's pretty evenly split between the
lowest level priorities to the highest
level priorities.
we sort of really kind of started this
effort, you know, the beginning of of um
August where we were organizing and
taking this approach and really digging
in. And since then, we've been able to
identify about 60 owners that we didn't
have ownership for or identification
for. Um we've condemned eight properties
either because they don't have utilities
or there's been other reasons that the
building official felt the building was
not safe. Um, we've had five properties
that have either uh I think well one of
them came through the city, but there's
been four other properties that
demolition has been permits have been um
applied for by the owners and we're
working through staff is working through
with those owners to um get those
demolition permits approved and that
process moving. And then we do have two
existing leans on properties that we are
going to be working through outside
council uh to foreclose the property and
move those forward.
So next steps just kind of moving
forward from this point moving forward.
So we're going to continue with uh
identification of the current
properties. There are still some that we
don't have ident owners identified for
and so we'll work through with our
resources to find those owners if if one
can be found. Um, and then, you know,
from this point moving forward, I, you
know, I've got some materials that I'll
be sharing with communication and
working with communication to have a
little bit more public awareness as to
the NAT process and what the city is
doing.
Excuse me, Chris. Uh, just um maybe
either get closer to the mic or pick up
the podium. I think they're having a
hard time picking up the recording.
No one's ever told me I wasn't talking
too loud.
No, we can hear you. I don't think the
recording is able to pick you up.
All right. Is that better? Okay. Thanks.
All right. So, um, a public awareness
campaign to sort of let the community
know what the city is doing now to be
more aggressive on this approach, press
releases, some ongoing social media,
promoting the that page that's on the
city's website, and of course, keeping
that that current through staff efforts.
And so next steps if we want to take
this beyond just what the city is
currently doing using the property
maintenance code as sort of the main
tool. Obviously we would continue the
current efforts all the things we've
just discussed but we could move forward
with an ordinance that would add uh an
extra layer of oversight to vacant
properties. And so I've come up with a
recommendation that I can walk you guys
through basically breaking this down
into two phases. Phase one would focus
on commercial properties and residential
properties that are owned by an LLC.
Typically, we found that a few of these
properties that have been identified are
owned by an LLC, which owns multiple
properties. So, looking at this from the
standpoint of having the means to
address the problems, we feel like
starting with commercials and
residentials owned by LLC's would be a a
great place to start. So that would that
would involve creating a registry of
those properties, establishing timelines
with the owners to resolve the problems
or redevelop those properties, working
with legal to assess a fee for those
properties. Maybe one's different for
commercial, maybe one's different for
residential. They could potentially
escalate as they stay on those lists,
you know, year after year.
And then phase two beyond doing the the
commercial would be focusing on
residential properties and then
potential programming to assist those
who own properties that would really
like to come into compliance but maybe
don't have the means to do so. Uh as I
can show you from the map, you'll see
that a lot of the properties we're
dealing with fall within some of the MAS
that the city has already established.
Uh oh.
Is that better? That was weird. Okay.
And so I think there's some
opportunities there to use the MASS to
provide um some assistance to to owners
that want to rehab properties whether
it's commercial or residential. So that
would be a recommendation for phase two
um in terms of residential versus
commercial.
What does that ordinance process look
like? So, in addition to what we've
discussed on a daily basis using the
property maintenance code, we would be
looking to identify properties that are
currently not on the list,
there would be an effort to determine
what that correct fee would be, whether
it's residential, commercial,
working with those owners to go through
that fee process, uh, implementing the
fee. And I just want to point out that
from a lean standpoint, those fees are
not recoverable. So, just pointing that
out. Um and then some sort of an annual
process to follow up on the status of
those properties. Um and so you know
this would just you know from a from a
staffing standpoint you know this would
take extra time for staff. So those are
things that we're trying to factor in as
we work our way through the current
properties. And again because this is an
ordinance these efforts I feel would
take priority over some of the other
things that we're doing. So we would be
prioritizing these efforts over some of
the other daily uh functions of the NAT
team.
And so to provide a little bit of
flexibility to property owners that are
identified, there are some exemptions
that um are sort of standard in some of
these other um ordinances that we've
looked at where if you have an active
building permit for that address, there
could be some uh you know recommended
exemption for up to say two years. Uh or
if it's listed and marketed with the
licensed broker, that could be another
exemption. uh if it's currently under
foreclosure or in probate be another
opportunity for an exemption from the
fee or or if it's been uninhabitable due
to a natural disaster. Those are all
things that are pretty common when
municipalities are creating a registry
for vacant buildings but providing some
exemptions for the owners as they work
through those processes to redevelop or
potentially sell.
And so factoring all this in um you know
giving staff time to kind of work
through the current process, get a
handle on the properties that are there
and a good plan moving forward. Um I put
together a timeline that could get us
you know moving forward with a a
resolution or excuse me an ordinance say
July of 2026. So the end of this fiscal
year, beginning of next fiscal fiscal
year, and putting an enforcement date of
January of 2027. So July, we pass an
ordinance. There's sort of a grace
period there for owners to to deal with
their properties and kind of figure
figure that out. Maybe some of them just
really haven't dealt with it over the
years because they didn't really feel
there was an urgency to passing this
ordinance would sort of maybe create
that urgency that we're hoping to see.
And then maybe a phase two approach
could be a year later in January 2028 we
we start implementing the the registry
fee for residential properties.
So a lot of manpower, a lot of hours
that goes into this process. Right now
we're we're making it work with the team
that we have. We've sort of repurposed
some staff and and and they're wearing
multiple hats as we walk through this
process. But moving forward, you know, a
solid NAT team would consist of someone
in the legal department that focuses on
these efforts, whether it's leans or
foreclosures. Having a dedicated uh
attorney would be would be beneficial.
From a community development standpoint,
a building official specific for that.
That way, they can do the reports, make
the final call, deal with all the things
that under code the building official is
required to do. Uh, a permit technician,
too, is a position within community
development that we've really been
relying on to do a lot of the the
day-to-day work, get out and do some of
the site visits at these locations to
help to make a determination on the
priority. So, just kind of the
day-to-day point person in that position
and then using a management analyst to
provide administrative report support to
the team.
And then I just kind of put this very
basic slide in here just to show that if
you know there's a dedicated budget for
NAP moving forward that initially you
know the money would be going more
towards say abatement on the on the
front end but as time goes on and as we
deal with some of these that budget
could then you know sort of transition
to more of these owner assistance type
programs. So, I'd like to think that as
we take this, you know, more aggressive
approach that this is kind of the worst
it's going to get in terms of the volume
on the NAT list and we kind of go up
from here so that those funds for
dealing with abatement and foreclosure,
um, those would sort of subside and then
potentially those funds could be
repurposed for any MRA programming to
deal with owners as they're trying to to
deal with their their properties and get
them uh at a point where they're up to
code or for sale.
And so that's really the presentation. I
did want to show you guys a couple of
the tools that we created. So this is
the page on the city's website. When you
go to property,
yeah, you can go down to the
nuisance and abatement and it just has a
lot of the information we presented. But
what's really cool is it has the FAQ. So
here's a survey that you can fill out.
If there's an address that you feel
needs to be considered, um, you can fill
out this form and it goes right to
staff. Staff can evaluate it, see if
it's already on the NAT list or if it
needs to be added. And then we have this
list uh of all the level two and level
threeNAT properties that that people can
kind of look at and just sort of get a
sense for where and what the properties
are um, and what what districts that
they're in. And then if you have an NAT
property, what do you do? you know, you
can reach out to community development
and we can, you know, provide you some
guidance on how to how to address that.
And then internally, this is the tool I
was talking about that our GIS team
built and I I can't speak enough to
Lucas and Nick and that team for really
doing this. Every time we asked them if
they could add something, like 10
minutes later, they came back and said
it was already added. So,
you know what? I I already highlighted a
property that we're all very familiar
with, 414 East May. So, you find it on
the map. You can see that red, the
priority level threes are in red,
priority level twos are in yellow. This
is the resource that's really available
to the team. They go out and visit on
site. It tells them through the
assessor's office who the legal owner
is. Um what council district, what fire
district, police district, is it in a
flood zone? That's a real big one when
it comes to a lot of the um you know
projects that we could have moving
forward. Is it in a historic district?
Uh we do have SharePoint folders set up
internally for staff. So any of those
documents, they're available to them. Uh
there's a Google Street View that's
available to them. Anything permit
related um and so you know this just
helps provide as much information um
while they're on site um working through
this process. So this will be a great
tool. There's also some other layers
that they can put on um if they want to
you know see you know the you know
addresses or you know that some of the
other layers related to the districts um
you can see here within you know a lot
of the properties that are within some
of these districts. So,
those are the tools that that we kind of
have. And then on the back end, there's
a there's a a a database that can be
updated in real time that they can go
out while they're on site, they can add
notes, and then everyone can see all the
information that was added and
everyone's working from the most current
information um up to the moment.
So, that's it. I stand for questions
that anybody may have.
All right. Thank you, Chris.
Councelor Grant,
thanks so much, Mayor. Uh, thank you,
Chris, and NAP members. Thank you also
for being out there making it happen.
Appreciate you. Um, can we jump back to
slide 18, please?
Thanks. Um, and this is more of a
comment and just kind of ask you to be a
little philosophical, but looking at
what it would take to really see this
through, um, I think it focuses on how
truly difficult it is to step on private
property rights. Um, there's
understandable frustration with
neighbors, residents, constituents who
are saying, "Hey, this this building's
been a problem for years. why can't you
just come in and take care of it? Um,
and this, I think, gives us an idea of
what actually goes into that. So, can
you just speak a little bit to that to
explain to the general public what it
takes to overcome someone's private
property rights?
Yeah. Uh, Mayor, Councelor Graham, yeah,
great question. And that is a huge
challenge when we're dealing with this
even in terms of having access to step
on the property to do a proper
evaluation. I was talking with councelor
mccclair before the meeting about a
particular property where I told staff
stay within the city's right away and
collect as much information as you can.
There is a process we can use going
through the city attorney's office to
get, you know, it's not a full-on search
warrant, but sort of an administrative
search warrant to go in and actually
look at it from, you know, the things we
would be evaluating. Um, we've had to do
that a couple times, and it's always a
resource if we need to use it. But, um,
you know, we sort of we we need to
balance those property rights as we're
going through this pro this process. And
that's really where the property
maintenance code comes in because it
allows us to do some things
um primarily to make sure that the
building is not being occupied if it's
not safe. And then that's really where
PD has an opportunity to kind of step in
and trespass people that may be, you
know, in a structure that's been deemed
unsafe. But that is kind of always the
balancing act is what assessments can
you make without literally stepping over
that line to get onto the property. And
it's a challenge with a lot of
properties. Um there are a lot that
don't have legal owners and so that sort
of poses a problem too to just even find
someone that will allow us access to
that property and that's where we work
with legal to to make sure we're in
compliance with the law when we need to
go into those structures to do an
evaluation.
Thank you so much. And uh slide six,
please.
and I'm I'm looking at citizen tips and
I'm just uh wanted to share a
recommendation to anyone listening based
on your great advice to me Chris. So
shout out to you. Um obviously the
earlier we can get on these things we
don't even want it to become a NAT level
one. So the earlier you can get a
potential property on city's radar the
better it is. And I had brought it up to
you because unfortunately one of my
neighbors had passed away a couple of
months ago and then it seemed like there
was just nothing happening with the
property and I was a little concerned
that you know is this could this become
this is a a prime situation where
something can become a problem. Luckily
um outofstate family have showed up
recently and are you know getting ready
to get it on the market so that's great.
But um even if you have a building
that's or a property that's looking
fine, but you happen to know it's
abandoned
because of, you know, for whatever
reason, um would community development
be a good outreach point to just get
something like that on the radar?
Mayor Council Graham, yes. And and
really working with communications,
we're going to try and get the word out
about that form. That's the easiest way
to fill out. We're also trying to
incorporate it into the city's 311 app
so that if we're using that, that's
another tool. Um, you know, reaching out
to counselors, to city manager's office,
really anyone, but ideally coming
through community development would be
would be the best way to do that. Um,
you know, one other thing I wanted to
stress, you know, when I'm talking about
having to condemn some of these
structures that may have people that are
living inside them. and I, you know, we
work real closely with Natalie and her
team and, you know, community outreach
through PD to help um find uh housing
for those if we do feel like we're going
to have to displace somebody. So, that's
kind of the when we realize that's where
we're headed, that's sort of the first
thing we do is reach out and see if
we're going to need to make, you know,
arrangements for somebody who is staying
there. So there's but that's happened a
few times and in PD and and Natalie's
team and her resources have been
fantastic in helping us sort of deal
with those challenges. So
I feel like there's a great social media
slogan in there somewhere like Natalie
not Nat.
Yeah, keep the NAT out of we'll we'll
work on that. We can workshop that. No
bad ideas in a brainstorm. That's it for
me. Thank you so much.
U counselor Karen.
Um, thank you again to you and the team
for working on this. I think it's
something that's really I hear from a
lot of folks. Um,
even if District 5 doesn't actually have
any properties on that list. I know I
get the empty spreadsheet. Um,
but, uh, folks do, residents do actually
ask a lot of questions related to vacant
commercial properties. And I'm curious
if you can talk a little bit about what
this looks like for commercial spaces
that are undeveloped
but unused and then fall into disrepair.
And I think there's probably a higher
rate of um out of town kind of distant
um property ownership in that in that
case. So I'm not sure if you can talk
about what that means on the on the
commercial versus the residential side a
little bit.
Yeah, certainly. Mayor Councelor Karan,
you know, when you're looking at
commercial, there's almost kind of two
basic levels. You would have the
commercial that's sort of been banned
and abandoned and vacant and we sort of
would need to deal with that similar to
how we would deal with the other. And
then you'd have, you know, some of that
commercial that may be built and been
sitting there for a while and there's no
tenants in there. And you know that has
a adverse impact on the community as you
know as well as maybe even the the you
know the price per square footage for
new commercial as well. So that's that's
another issue that could could be dealt
with. But you know we treat a lot of the
commercial properties the same way. It's
sometimes a little easier to find a
legal owner when it comes to that um and
and sort of walking through that
process. But there's definitely
opportunities. There are a lot of uh
vacant uh commercial properties within
the MRA. So, I see a lot of
opportunities. Um, you know, there's
quite a few, I'm sure we can all picture
on, on the El Paso corridor that we're,
you know, looking to find, you know,
ways to renovate and bring them back to
life. So, um, sometimes it's a little
bit easier and maybe the resources are a
little bit more available to those
owners, um, than it is some of the, you
know, vacant residential properties that
maybe the owner passed away 15 years ago
and there isn't anybody, you know, to
assume ownership.
Thank you. That's super helpful. We can
address the commercial property space at
another time, the empty ones that aren't
that aren't nuisances. I hope we can um
have a convers more conversations about
what that means as well. But thank you.
So, it does sound like this model would
be generally applied to any any property
that's in this that's in this category.
And the fact that it's commercial might
not it might I might have a different
perception of what the ownership is
likely to to be than what the reality
is. So, thank you for making that work.
Sure. Councelor
Flores.
Thank you, Mayor, and thank you so much,
um, Chris, for your presentation. Um,
I'm concerned about a couple of things.
Number one is, um, what kind of notice
are you going to be sending out? There
aren't any occupants in that uh in on
that property presumably.
Um, so what kind of, you know, are you
gonna, you know, because I'm concerned
about people who have lived here and
their children have moved away to, you
know, out of state or maybe even out of
the country. How are you going to track
down um the heirs that would be entitled
to that property?
Mayor, counselor Flores, that is
probably the biggest challenge that we
face when we go through this process. Um
and we work very closely with the the
legal department on trying to identify
that and and the standard is really just
try and make every effort possible
whether it's you know you know looking
through the internet looking through you
know um social media. There's been a lot
of different things. There's a lot of
services out there that you can
subscribe to that kind of do a deep dive
into public databases to try and find,
you know, potential heirs and and so
we'll start that with one phone number
and then just kind of work through and
um a lot of times you can find a
descendant, but the issue isn't so much
are they a descendant of the owner, it's
are they actually the legal owner of
that particular property. So sometimes
just identifying a distant relative
isn't really the solution to the
problem. It's okay, we found somebody,
but you're not the legal loaner. So is
that them now going through probate and
and trying to become the legal owner of
that? Depending on the the the quality
of the structure, maybe there's time to
do that. Um, as the example of 414 East
May, it reached a point where if there
was potentially an owner that or a
resident or excuse me, a descendant that
wanted to own it, it had sort of reached
a public safety standpoint where we
couldn't really wait any longer. And so
we're going to see that with some of
those properties where they're just
going to be in such bad shape and and
causing such a a a public safety issue
that there isn't going to be a whole lot
of time once it's you know someone's
identified that they may want to go
through that process. So it's a very
fine kind of balancing act to find you
know make every effort to find somebody
and then you know kind of see what the
process looks like if they're interested
in moving through through that. But
that's something we we deal with every
day is trying to find the legal owners
of the properties and and those that
want to take responsibility for them.
Have you um gone to neighbors who um you
know do a check on, you know, just go
talk to the neighborhood people who
might know the family and might know,
you know, where the roots are with that
family or, you know, cheese, you know,
get the cheese me on it. Um what
Oh, the mail carrier. No, that's
something else. But, uh, but anyway,
stuff like that. Stuff like that. Um,
okay. Councelor Proz, uh, excuse me. I
think Brad wanted to chime in on on one
part of your question if that's okay.
Well, I would be aware of that if you
hadn't chimed in, but yes. Yes, Mayor.
Yes, you want to hear from Brad?
Yes, I do want to hear from Brad.
Brad,
thank you, Mayor Councelor Flores. So,
just to uh feed off of what Chris had
stated already, um we do obviously
always want to pursue in-person service
whenever we can. You know, if that
fails, we could try certified mail. We
could try using a process server. Um,
but sometimes, you know, as Chris
correctly points out, simply finding a
relative is not the end of the inquiry
because just because they're a
descendant of, and sadly to say this
comes up a lot, a deceased property
owner, that doesn't mean that they
necessarily have legal ownership of the
property, right? So, what what we do and
and we do kind of go above and beyond.
We talk to neighbors, we talk to
friends, family members if we can. Uh
but when all else fails, the remedies
that we have according to both state
code and our own municipal code is after
you've exhausted reasonable efforts to
affect service, then what we'll do is
we'll conspicuously post actual notice
on the property physically and we'll
publish it in the newspaper
publication.
Yes.
Uh thank you um Brad. And um my other I
wonder if you um if the historic our
local historic society organization
would be helpful. Seems like they are
aware of a lot of um you know the old
buildings, the abandoned buildings and
the the status. Um would they be
helpful?
Mayor Councelor,
never mind. No. Well,
no, that's that's a great question and a
great resource and also um the historic
preservation committee has actually been
a resource and a lot of the community
members that are very passionate about
historic preservation have become a
great resource to either identify
potential owners or people who may be
interested in buying a property to
restore. And so I've worked with a
couple people to say, "Hey, this
property is available. it's there's an
owner who would like to sell if you know
somebody who's interested. And so, you
know, that is a an an option that we
kind of move forward with all the time
because we do know that specifically in
the historic district, there are a lot
of properties that are on the level two
and level three. So, if we can find and
identify potential buyers for some of
those, it could save the process of
having to go through, you know,
demolition or other, you know, abatement
that would be required. So any and all
resources that we can find we definitely
reach out to.
Great. Thank you very much Chris. Thank
you.
Anyone else council?
Just quickly uh thank you for doing
this. I know we've been in talks about
this for probably a yearish where I'm
like can't we do something because I had
heard it a lot specifically from the
historic district. Um, I just wanted to
chime into I think the ordinance could
be really great to move things forward
and I concur with Corin that we should
talk about commercial projects a little
bit too, especially things that aren't
being used productively. That's kind of
been my goal is to see this used
productively. Um, but I also wanted to
say too that maybe we can have this
presentation kind of given in some of
the neighborhood meetings like
Lasparatas too before they kind of, you
know, ask more questions about it that
we have the facts for them right away.
So,
mayor, council mccclair, I think that's
a great idea. And I would also say any
district meetings, I could do an
abbreviated version for district
meetings. Just let us know and staff is
happy to help out where we can. So
certainly
Councilman Cheese
Chris, is there a possibility in some
cities I've seen where they're with on
the permitting process for a new
building or a new gas station, whatever
it may may be, a commercial building,
they actually put in a condition of um
actually renovating it back to to what
it was andor keeping maintenance on that
building. So that it has to go for
example if gas station abandons
then it's required in the condition when
we gave them the original permit
that they have to remove the tanks they
have to remove the the building
and or sell it and have a a new a new
business there but they have a time
limit u I don't know if it's six months
a year that if it's abandoned then they
have to restore it back to the original
land that that that they had when they
when they built that building.
Mayor Councelor Matise, that I hadn't
heard of that specifically, but for some
of those cases you brought up, I could
see where that could be very beneficial.
You know, gas stations and things like
that. So, that's definitely something we
can look at and see if I would think
that would be something that if council
wanted to move forward with that, we
could we could write into code that that
would be a requirement. Um, in those
situations where, you know, the the
commercial owner vacates it and there's
still a requirement for them to, you
know, remediate that site.
Thank you, Chris. You know, we're a lot
smarter today because of AI and Google.
So when when when something comes up,
you know, we go on Google, we look at
things, we do some research, and it was
several cities. I believe one city was
uh Laram, Wyoming to where they uh when
when a new building was coming in, they
needed some condition on on that
business coming in that they would
restore that uh land back to what it
what it was before they abandoned the
building. And if they didn't abandon the
building, then there was also a
maintenance condition at least. Don't
let weeds grow all around it and broken
glass. So, um, just maybe we could
research that.
Sure.
Thank you,
Mayor Pro.
Thanks, Mayor. Thank you so much, Chris,
to you and the whole NAT team for
working on this. Um, I noticed Mr. Anaya
is back there and I wanted to give him a
shout out because, um, back when he was
a codes officer, Annayia, right? Yes.
Okay. back when he was a co officer. Um
he took me on a ride along in November
2021 and this was one of the biggest
things we talked about was abandoned
properties especially around the
MacArthur elementary area. And so yay,
we're here finally um really, you know,
taking on this issue a lot more
seriously and um just more
intentionally. And so I really I really
do appreciate that. I also want to give
a huge shout out to GIS. I'm just always
so impressed like I can't even do Canva.
I find Canva incredibly intimidating and
so the GIS people literally thank you
for what you do. I think it's
incredible. Um Chris, do you have
um a budget ask
um for because I think it's important
that we um that we don't have unfunded
mandates that if we're going to say
we're going to do this seriously and
intentionally that we put money behind
that. So I'm curious if you all have
thought about what that would look like.
Mayor, Mayor Promia, I think about this
um very often. You know, right now the
NAB budget is a well, it's a $100,000 in
this fiscal year. It it was $300,000 in
previous fiscal year, but I don't we
didn't use all those resources at the
time, so it was reduced.
That's probably a more for the abatement
side of things. That's probably a more
realistic number. Now, the just to sort
of give you a few points of reference on
things, the 414 East May was about
$60,000 demo that the city because it's
a historic property, there's a lot of
other factors involved there. And so,
that's probably the high end that we
would see from like a residential demo.
The low end on that is probably like a
$25,000. So, you know, you can't do very
many when the budget is, you know,
hundred,000 or even $200,000. a board
and secure can be anywhere from like
2500 to like five or six thousand
dollars. So they are very pricey uh you
know doing a lot of this stuff and
unfortunately I think we're going to see
a lot of that over the next couple of
years because we are going to have to go
in and abate a lot of these properties
when we get to the point where we're
leaning and then foreclosing there'll be
you know legal fees associated with that
until we have someone within uh the
legal department that's specifically
dealing with that. So that all that to
be said, there's going to be quite a bit
of upfront cost associated with that. So
I mean I think probably restoring the
budget back to at least last year's
$300,000 would be a good place to start
and then we can probably re-evaluate,
you know, every year when we do it. But
I feel like we'll know more the end of
this year or closer to when we're doing
the final budget to see if that would
be, you know, a sufficient amount. But
the more owners we identify or more of
these properties that we identify and
have to move forward with, I can see us
having to do multiple demos during a
year. And so, yeah, 300,000 maybe
400,000. Those aren't unrealistic
numbers. And that's, you know, just from
the abatement side of things, but I
think that's probably a good target for
the next fiscal year.
Thank you. I appreciate that. I think as
we sort of near the end of the calendar
year, we begin to have conversations
about our budget priorities and
certainly we'll be keeping this one on
on my on my list. So, thank you for
that. Um, I did want to just piggyback
on councelor Corin's comment about sort
of commercial that's definitely older
and deteriorated and abandoned versus
newer development that's never that's
been built and then never um occupied. I
guess I don't see them that differently
to be honest with you. I feel like the
sort of neglect is kind of the same
thing and one of them we just allowed it
to get worse. Um, and I think to me it's
preventative, right? Like we are saying,
look, there's going to be this in place,
this ordinance in place with a potential
fee. Um, and I think I guess the biggest
difference that I see in terms of these
two are that the commercial properties
that are a lot more deteriorated
um, and for longer that are in like the
MRA or the historic that we we could
actually provide potentially more
support for those because we are trying
to do something with this particular
area. Like we're trying to be really
intentional. But I think about like um
the buildings in front of um the
hospital like those have been empty for
forever. Um and I think I don't I guess
I don't think we should treat them that
differently in terms of the enforcement.
Um ultimately the outcome could be the
same and we're trying to prevent that.
So that would just be my two cents on
that. And then Chris on page five I was
curious about you had the three. Um,
number two, I guess what about a known
owner that's not gaining compliance? I
feel like that's
um
sure what's how how are you approaching
those?
Mayor, mayor prom. Yeah, that that I
mean that's that falls in that category
there as well. Um,
and that we're finding that is is you
know, we do have quite a few known
owners in the number two category. we
see a lot more when we get to the three,
but certainly the structure is more what
determines
that ranking and typically kind of the
worse the structure, the more likelihood
is that there is no known owner. So, and
and ideally if we could catch these that
get past the one and catch them in the
two early on and even if they don't have
an owner and we can work through the
lean and foreclosure process and maybe
it's a property that goes into auction
and you know a local group that is you
know trying to you know redevelop for
affordable housing would have an
opportunity to to get that and move that
forward. So ideally that's kind of the
sweet spot to catch them at a one into
two and don't let them get any further
than that. Hopefully, we can put this
system in place that keeps them out of
the three unless there's a fire or some
circumstances that really are kind of
beyond just the day-to-day neglect that
we're seeing on a lot of these
properties.
Yeah, thank you. Um I I I think we're
ready for this. I appreciated the tiered
uh system that you all have come up with
in terms of commercial and LLC owned
properties that are residential as well
and then further down the line
residential. The last thing I want to do
is create some sort of um like poverty
tax, right? Like if someone just cannot
do something with their property. I I
understand that I don't want to be big
bad big bad government coming in to take
people's property. I also think that you
know when you become a property owner,
you're also um signing on to a
responsibility about being a good
responsible neighbor. And so when people
abandon that responsibility, I think um
local government should step in and
figure out what how to remedy that
because it has become um a serious
issue. And I talked about this before in
terms of like an equity issue. Clearly
you see where most of the homes are um
right up in the core of the city. And
then you know we have a housing crisis.
So let's figure out how to do something
with a bunch of abandoned homes so that
um folks can start living in them. Um,
and so I I really do appreciate this. I
think uh I I would love to additionally
explore what perhaps like a MRA
abatement plan could look like that has
a specific set of funding to it for any
of those properties that are within the
MASS. I think that's really exciting and
could really help at that question where
someone there is a legal owner that's
saying I just don't have enough I don't
know what to do. I don't have enough
capital. Um I think it's important to
support those folks as well. Um, and
then yeah, I think, you know, do I wish
this was happening tomorrow and you were
starting enforcement in October? Yeah.
But I also understand that it takes a
lot of people um and that you're having
to do a lot of background work. So, I do
appreciate um the timeline that you've
laid out and and the phases that you've
laid out. So, thank you so much.
Sorry.
Sorry. Correct.
Sorry.
I just wanted to add one more thing.
Thank you. I I agree, Mayor Pro Tim
Bedo. I I just wanted to sort of add to
this budget question and um I think
about this from the animal control
perspective, which is very different.
That is um the hardest work that animal
control officers do is trying to get
animals back to their owners, which
takes like a whole bunch of talking to
neighbors and finding out what happened
and talking to folks and seeing why
their yard is insecure. And there that
that takes a long time um and a lot of
effort. And so I guess in your budget
considerations, I would like us to also
strategically invest in the earlier
phases rather than it's easy to
concretely say it's this is how much it
costs to tear down a building. I would
much rather we never tear down any
buildings as a result of this money. And
so I don't know if that means
restructuring how we think about how we
fund this in a in a way that puts that
values those types of conversations
where folks and that type of labor that
goes into identifying owners, talking to
people, figuring out remediation
strategies and identifying funding and
supporting community members and maybe
fixing it their own way. So I I would
like that just if if as that thank you
for bringing that up, Mayor Prum. Um
that budget conversation happens.
Please, if we can add um if we can
acknowledge that work as as substantive
and meaningful that the codes folks do
that that everyone who responds to these
properties and does the work of finding
the folks does it it is costly and
timeconuming and maybe not necessarily
always valued in the same way that we
understand budgets which is like um t
putting up and tearing down buildings as
we do all the time. So anyway, thank
you. I just want to also add that.
Please,
mayor, councelor Kran, I appreciate
that. And and some of the budget we
spoke to before is is really specific to
the actual abatement and those types of
things. There will be staff required and
right now we're kind of making it work
with what we have and sort of filling
out what those needs are and trying to
figure out if we reposition staff now
and we have to add a position here
there, what's the actual position we
need to add? And I think as we get
closer to the budget year, we'll have a
better idea. I I feel like we can
probably do this pretty efficiently
with, you know, one or two positions,
you know, a reclass here and there, that
type of thing. But as we work through
the process and figure out where the
bulk of the manpower is needed, that'll
kind of help us figure out where that
staff will be best allocated.
Council Fus,
never mind. It was covered.
Anyone else?
Good. Okay. Well, thank you, Chris.
Again, thanks for this presentation.
Thank you to the team. Uh great job.
This is this is something that I view as
a community risk reduction. This this
really helps the community and
we've done a great job identifying. I
think the NAT started back in 2018 and
all these premises and properties have
been identified, but now moving forward
and seeking the results. That's what you
and the team are doing. And nothing can
get done without without the financing.
We're we're going to have to support
we're going to have to increase the
budget and do those things. Uh GIS, it's
great how to map out. We can put another
layer there and we can see how much cost
is going into these premises already.
There's police calls, fire calls, uh
code enforcement are already responding
to these areas. The building department,
uh how much how much are they affecting
us already?
And by removing these and and creating a
community risk reduction, then we can
start looking at at at funding for uh
revitalizing, remodeling,
rehabilitating, and making them useful
properties. So, partnering up with uh
legal is is huge because you're going to
run into those uh litigation issues.
Nothing's going to be 100%. Nothing's
going to run smooth. But you've already
got a large percent that you can
already, as I would say, attack. And I
think it's up to us to start putting
some not only some funding, but maybe
some incentives. You know, maybe it's
that family that knows that it needs to
be demolished, whether it's a shed or a
structure, that maybe through rolloffs,
we could have some rolloffs out there
and add an incentive so that they can
clean up their premises, their property,
and and make it useful in the community.
So, there's a lot of things that that
can be done there as well, but uh
identifying we've done a great job. Now,
we need to finance it and get the
results. So this is a great step and uh
thank you thank you to all the team for
coming forward and getting involved and
um give an example of uh councelor Karan
said maybe in her district she doesn't
see this but what I've learned is that
fire never discriminates.
So, we've got a property in our
community
that's in the Los Aludas area that's an
A-frame building that has been burned
down for over a year. It just happens to
be in the county, not in the city. But
that is something I would say if it was
in the city, this is how we would
address it. We would take care of it
immediately and remove that nuisance
and, you know, beautify our city and
reduce any any risk because these vacant
and abandoned buildings uh create
opportunities for uh unwanted entry,
illegal drugs, illegal use, and unwanted
fires. So, this is how we make our
community safer. This is this is great.
So, thank you, Chris, and thank you team
again for all that you're doing. Thank
you.
There's a lot of people here. Is there
Is there anyone that wanted to speak to
this?
Oh, sure. Yeah, sure.
Go ahead. Okay.
Yeah. If anybody's willing to speak or
wants to speak on this, we'll give you
two minutes to come up and uh but you
have to come up, state your name, uh
speak directly to the microphone.
Two minutes.
Hi, you hear me? My name is Tim Bilman.
I live in the Alama Depot Historic
District. Um and uh mayor and
counselors. Um I'm glad that um uh Miss
Mono invited me here. we have a vacant
property next to my house. I was just
wondering just real quick as you uh had
the charts, especially the big X chart
with the money you're going to be
spending and then it's going to go down
and think, why can't you go a little
further and use some of these as revenue
streams? They're going to fix them up
and you're going to encourage people to
fix them up. And if you can't, if they
can and you can instead, you know, spend
20,000 or something to do demolition or
whatever it is, spend some money to
rehab it since we have a housing issue.
how much it's going to cost versus
building um these new um multifamily uh
low-income housing. So, also add this to
the package and you can make you know
use these as a revenue stream, turn
these things around and resell them. So,
if you have to put in 30 grand into it,
you might make 150 grand back. So, I
just thought that, you know, like the
house next to me is a 1920s house. We
have an owner that we can't we know who
he is, we just can't get a hold of him.
And um and so, you know, of course, like
the mayor said, it's a fire trap. My
house is, you know, it's wood floor,
shake roof, filled with books and paper.
You know, all you need is one guy and a
cigarette. So, these these are a public
safety, but why can't we take and make a
revenue stream out of them and make
money off these things? And then you
could have a, you know, a package of
real estate. It'd be an extra step. But
if you're going to spend this much money
and ask for a half a million dollar
budget probably in the end of it, why
not make a couple half a millions, you
know, on a bunch of houses? Some of them
are in, you know, my district has
beautiful, you know, uh, uh,
neighborhood and so it'd be really, I
think, you know, and even around
MacArthur Park, you could or MacArthur
school, you get some of those properties
and just, you know, you know, fence them
or do whatever it is, but you could
probably make a little bit of money on
that. So, so I just throw that revenue
stream idea in there. But I appreciate
you have you did a great job. If if they
had any questions going into it because
we've been working on this in my
neighborhood for probably six years. So
anyway, but I want to thank you for your
time and your for your work. Thank you.
No, thank you, sir. And you're
absolutely correct. We'd be looking at
rehabilitating, but but what what you're
all going to see also is a lot of
contractors and individuals in the
community that have a license to remodel
and rebuild. We'll start looking at
these properties as they're being
addressed and start stepping forward and
buying these properties and then turning
them into potential income, which is
great for the community. And that's how
we partner with other uh members of this
community that rehabilitate homes and
remodel homes. They'll they'll start to
come forward.
Was there anyone else?
Anything else, Chris?
No, that's it. Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you.
Yes, council. Mayor, uh, it's not on the
agenda, but it's just a question that I
have for the city attorney, and it and
there's a resolution coming up on
October the 6th. I think it's a newly
advised uh, welcoming community
resolution. Can I get a copy of that
ASAP?
Mayor Councelor Matise. Yes, we can talk
afterward.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Brad. Uh,
look for a motion to adjourn.
Move to adjourn. Second, Graham.
This is on the motion to adjourn the
work session. Councelor McClur,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Graham,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Flootus,
yes.
Councelor Beno,
yes.
Mayor,
yes.