[Music]
your life.
Good afternoon. Welcome to the work
session. Today is Monday, August 25th.
It's a good day. It is approximately 100
p.m. I'm Mayor Eric Enriquez. We will
start with a moment of silence for the
brave me men and women of the United
States Armed Forces as well as our local
police and fire department.
If you 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.
Okay, we'll start the meeting with jobs
of the week. is Sarah,
not Sarah.
So, you have to state your name and do
the presentation.
Uh, good afternoon everyone. My name is
Jazelle Palomares. I'm the onestop
operator for America's Job Center. Um,
for the jobs of this week, we have for
City of Las Cruises, they are hiring an
active transportation coordinator. Um
this this is a continuous posting and
they pays anywhere between 58 to 83,000.
Um city of Los Cruus is also hiring an
IT support technician. This pays $24 an
hour and 8087 cents and it closes on
September 8th. Uh Messia Valley
Community of Hope is hiring for a social
security representative. Uh this closes
on September 17th and Messia Valley
Community of Hope is also hiring a
coordinated entry specialist and this
closes on September 17th as well.
Independent delivery is hiring a
delivery driver helper and this the pay
depends on experience and it closes on
September 14th. They are also hiring a
seasonal delivery driver and the pay is
depending on experience and closes on
September 14th as well. And NMSU is
hiring a marketing communications
specialist which pays 48,000 a year and
it closes on September 13th.
Um, for events coming up for America's
Job Center, uh, we have a Mountain
Shadows hiring event at our HAC office
located on Alama on September 3rd. On
September 9th, we have Career Essentials
at the HSD and Anthony.
On the 10th and 26th of September, H&R
Block is having a recruitment event in
our office as well. Um, on the 17th of
September, Community of Hope, we will be
hosting a job readiness mock interview
event at their location. And every
Tuesday, um, America's Job Center is
present in Hatch to provide assistance
with career pathways and unemployment
claims. As always, to communicate with
America's Job Center, you can contact us
at 575-524-6250.
We are located on 226 South Alama
Boulevard. Thank you.
Thank you, Jose.
Next is Pets of the Week. care.
Good afternoon. My name is Carol Nelson.
I'm the digital content specialist with
the Animal Services Center of the Messia
Valley. Just as a reminder, through the
end of the month, so through the end of
this weekend, all our adoptions are
free. It's great time to adopt. This
week, our dog of the week is Cookies and
Cream 88974 to look him up on the
website. I'm an adventurous dynamo on
the lookout for my next great escapade.
I'm ready to tackle life and all in for
fun and frolic. I'm not just a playful
companion. I'm eager to learn and
impress with my clever tricks. With a
treat in hand, I'll show you just how
responsive and trainable I can be. I
would thrive with an active family and
even a farm or ranch where I can run and
be free. If you're seeking a lively
sidekick to share your outdoor
adventures, I'm your perfect match. In
this week's cat of the week, Coco97009
to look her up. I'm a friendly and
relaxed kitty, ready to find my forever
home. I may be a bit aloof at first, but
once I warm up, I'm all about head
scratches and neck scratches. I'm mostly
low energy and love to be cradled like a
baby. I love to explore my surroundings,
and after a little adjustment, I'll
happily purr and roll around for some
extra love. If you're looking for a
sweet companion who enjoys a calm and
cozy life, I'm your girl.
And we always like to highlight our
long-term residents as well. Um, we like
to do this because the longer they stay
at the center, it's harder for them to
thrive. Uh, so we'd love to see them get
out ASAP. Boxer has been with us 239
days along with Pickle also 239 days.
Coset 231 and Coral 28. And Coral's been
on a few field trips lately, so she's
she's ready to go home. So, uh, this
weekend's event, we're actually going to
be at Tractor Supply on Friday, uh, the
29th from 9 to 12. So, definitely come
on by, um, and check out our adoptable
pets. And as always, feel free to visit
our website or our social media for more
information. Thank you.
Thank you, Cara.
Next, we'll get to our agenda items. The
first one is 3.1, City of Los Cruz's
economic outlook and Monaco Torres.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor and members of City
Council. My name is Monica Torres, city
economist with economic development and
I will be giving you a summary of fiscal
year 24. I will be comparing fiscal year
25 to fiscal year 24 and I will be going
over labor market market data, much
taxable gross receipts, total
distributed GRT, the cannabis market,
construction permits, business
registration in the city and other
metrics in the nation. Looking ahead and
some questions
in the labor market, the labor force,
the number of payrolls and the number of
people looking actively looking for a
job increased. The labor force for force
rose 1.3% which is about almost 700
persons on average to a total of 54,000.
The number of payrolls rose almost 1%.
It rose8% which is about 800 additional
payrolls to a total of 52,000. and the
number of people actively looking for a
job rose 14%
to a total of 2300 391 persons on
average. The unemployment rate ticked up
from 3.9 to 4.4%
that is a half a percentage point
increase and while it increased at 4.4
it remains among the lowest rates in
recent years in the state during the
same period. uh the not seasonally not
seasonally adjusted unemployment rate
went from about 3.8 8 to 4.3 and in the
las cruises MSA the sectors in which
employment grew more were good
producings good producing with a 4.5%
year-over-year and education and health
services with a 4% on the other hand the
sectors in which employ employment
declined were leisure and hospitality
with a 3.7 change and other services
with 3.6% 6% change.
Match taxable gross receipts are a good
measure of economic activity as tax
payments are matched to reported
receipts for each taxpayer by industry.
In fiscal year 25, the old industry
sector rose 3.5% which is about 144
additional million to a total of 4.2
billion not adjusted for inflation. The
three main contributor sectors were
retail trade which accounts for about
31%, healthcare and social assistance
which is about 15% and construction
about 11%.
The three sectors make almost 60% of the
total industry match taxable gross
receipts. Retail trade declined8%
to a total of 1.3 billion. Healthcare
and social assistant declined 4% a total
of 633 billion million. while
construction rose 18% to a total of 468
million.
Gross receipts um increase about 3.4% in
fiscal year 25 as compared to fiscal
year 24. That's about an additional 4.4
million to a total of 10232.5
million. After adjusting for inflation,
year rose 6%.
Uh
December 23 marked a new high for
December data outpacing December I mean
December 24 outpacing December 22 which
was the uh largest December on record
for about 1.3 million.
On regards to the cannabis market all
the categories have been trending down.
Total uh sales declined 8% to a total of
about 32 34.9
adult use sales declined 5% to a total
of about 24.3 million while the largest
decline was in medical use sales with a
14%
decline.
ADU sales uh were about 68% of total
sales in fiscal year 24 and about 70% of
total sales in fiscal year 25. There was
also a decline in the excise tax of
about 18%
which is about to a total of about
700,000
and also the excise tax was scheduled to
increase 1 percentage point from 12% to
13% this past July. And last in the
county the number of medical cannabis
licenses dropped about 11% on a
year-over-year basis to a total of
7.7,000.
It appears the trend is changing in
recent months, but it's too soon to
determine. We need more data to see if
it is an actual change.
And in other metrics, uh the number of
residential permits in the city declined
10% which is about 67 less permits to a
total of 625.
On the other hand, new business
registration increase about 9% which is
about 46 additional permits to a total
of 587.
In the nation, the average 30-year
mortgage rate went from about 7% to
6.7%.
While the estimated effective federal
fund rates for the period went from
about 5.3 to 4.7%.
And the target for the federal funds
rate were left unchanged in the July
meeting to arrange between four and a
quarter and four and a half. the next
meeting um in September there's a
possibility for a rate cut and last
inflation as measured by CPI not
seasonally adjusted has been trending
down from for fiscal year 25 24 it was
about 3.3 for fiscal year 25 it was
about 2.6 six. It's trending though. It
remains somewhat elevated
and
oops. Looking ahead, economic activity
in the city for the past fiscal year has
been solid as evidenced by more people
being employed while unemployment rate
ticked up. Half a percentage point at
4.4 remains what is considered a long
unemployment rate. Growth in GRT outpace
inflation. However, um
there's uh uncertainty given the number
of changes in the nation. Uh therefore,
we will continue to monitor the changes
that the potential impact on the labor
force and consumer spending patterns.
And that concludes my presentation. If
you have any questions,
thank you Monica. appreciate it as is
there. U council Matis,
thank you.
Thank you. Thank you for the
presentation. Well done. I I have two
questions on on the
go. I think it was page where actively
looking for work. It was 2,391.
I I didn't put down the page number.
uh do you have any uh idea of of what
they're actively look at what industry
or what we need to to get these people
to work?
Uh this data comes from the Bureau of
Labor and that's the only thing
I know like this is the number of people
looking for a job but I can look farther
in different data sets and see what's
available out there and see if I can
give you a better answer.
Okay. And and then if you go to page
seven,
I I was thinking that
many of them might be in um
in construction. Uh because I noticed
your new residential permitting was is
down was down for 2025 and I don't know
if that could correlate there but
well um residential permits and constru
and construction are very important as
you said like more permits more
construction jobs more retail sales but
I cannot tell you
like for sure if it this is a sector
that this, but I can look into it.
Yeah, just uh maybe a brief analysis of
the labor market and what skills they
may have. I appreciate
look into it.
Thank you. Thank you.
Mayor Pro.
Thank you. Um thank you so much, Dr.
Torres. It's always really lovely
hearing from you, even if you bring us
bad news. Um so, thank you. Um, you
know, a few weeks ago I had asked the
city manager to really think about
creating a team that was focused on um
looking at national trends and that
feels like every day is different these
days and and I know that you're part of
that team and so thank you city manager
for for doing that. I think it's I think
it's really important. I'm wondering if
you've never really done this before but
I am wondering if in future analysis you
can include like grocery prices. How is
that what what does that look like in
southern New Mexico in Los Cruuses and
if that how is that impacting
potentially households here? Do you
think that's something that you could
do?
Yes. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Seems like
you're like, "Yeah, duh." Um pretty
easily. But I just feel like that's I
think that would be a really interesting
um perhaps difficult uh statistic to
present, but I think it's something that
uh it's on a lot of people's minds right
now. And then um my only other question
for you was on the cannabis. So those
are like total numbers. Do you have like
two-year what that that's translated in
terms of revenue for the city that's
come in to the general fund
the excise tax?
Yes.
Yes. I have the monthly data. I just um
consolidated by fiscal year.
Okay.
Am I answering your question? Like
what what it what is that number that so
far?
I don't have it right now, but I can
give it to you.
That'd be great. Thank you so much. Yes.
Thank you.
Another Okay. Thank you, Monica.
Thank you.
Next is item 3.2,
which is our annual internal audit
report. Biola
Okay. Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr.
Mayor, counselors. My name is Viola
Perea. I'm the city auditor. Today, I'm
going to be presenting to you the annual
internal audit report for FY25.
This report will summarize the internal
audit activities for the past fiscal
year.
Internal audit is a program in the line
of business of the office of the city
manager and the city auditor manages the
program and reports directly to the city
manager.
The mission of internal audit is to
provide compliance and assurance
services to city council, the city
manager and all organizational units of
the city. So the public will be
confident that city government is
protecting valuable resources and
operating ethically, effectively,
efficiently and transparently.
The accountability and government
ordinance uh was created to further the
mission of the city and to align
internal audit with best practices. And
it also created the city's oversight
committee.
Our oversight committee consists of five
members, three of which are residents of
the city and they each have a staggered
three-year term and two members are
comprised of the mayor or mayor prom and
one city councelor who is appointed
annually. Both of these two positions
are non- voting exeicio members.
The oversight committee is tasked with
reviewing completed internal audit
reports and may provide comments on
completed reports that are included in
the final internal audit reports that
are posted. They may also lend advice to
the city auditor regarding technical
issues and provide recommendations for
priorities and potential areas for
audit.
This is a summary of our u current
committee. It's comprised of Mr. Adolf
Zubia, uh Mr. Bill Canella, Mr. Michael
Cochran. And again, Mayor Pro 10, um,
Ben Como, and Councelor Matis. The
three-year terms always start in
October, excuse me, on October 1st of
each, uh, year, and then it'll go for
the three-year terms expiring uh, FY2,
26, and 27.
This is just to demonstrate our org
chart to show that internal audit does
report directly to the city manager.
And this is an org chart within the
internal audit office itself. We are
comprised of five members. We have the
city auditor, two senior internal
auditors and two um internal auditors.
One of our positions is currently
vacant. It has been posted. Posting will
be closing soon. So we hope to fill this
vacancy within the next few weeks.
So the next few slides are going to
provide an overview of the work
completed by internal audit this past
fiscal year. We completed and published
four scheduled internal audit reports
that um included the citywide travel
audit, a compliance audit of the Ringcon
Hills Park contract, the utilities
customer deposits and refunds, and
utilities cost allocation plan.
Nine additional audits were completed,
but they are currently still in draft
form. Uh the draft reports are being
reviewed before they move through to
exit conferences before they can be
published. They include the sponsorship
of non- city events, employee benefits
and payroll corrections, utilities bill
pay assistance programs, a citywide
pecard audit which ended up resulting
into eight separate reports. So we can
focus each report on the particular
criteria that we used for auditing
purposes, the citywide leases audit, a
temporary employment agency contract
audit, overtime parks and wreck
inventory, and the Amador hospitality
lease agreement. That particular audit
has completed the review phase. It is
going through exit conferences
currently. Uh once we receive comments
from management, it'll then be moved
forward to the city manager's office and
then to the oversight committee for
publishing.
In addition, we um to the planning
phase, we started three additional
scheduled audits that include the ARPA
funded nonprofit contracts. That'll be a
review for compliance of nine different
nonprofit contracts that were provided
ARPA funding. We're also going to be uh
performing an audit within risk
management to look at accidents that
occur either due to vehicle accidents or
sidewalk accidents and drug testing
issues. Those were the three the three
topics within risk management that rose
to the level of um interest and higher
risk areas. And lastly, we're going to
be looking at the business licenses
within community development. That audit
will then be um will actually tie into
our next audit which will be lodgers
tax. So this will be level one which
will end result with lodgers tax.
In addition to that, we also have five
follow-up audits that have been uh that
were begun in FY25 are still in the
planning phase. We'll be looking at um
compliance or any corrective actions
that were implemented on past audits
relating to the project development and
management manual, the utilities payment
receiping and treasury management memo
where we identified issues both on the
utility side as with as well within the
finance side. uh juvenile citation
program, the Fair Labor Standards Act
payroll and training requirements and
municipal court indigent defense
services,
excuse me. Internal audit is also
responsible for managing the external
police auditor contract. Currently, we
contract with the OIR group. They began
services in March of 2021. Their
contract will be expiring March of 2026.
And we are currently in the process of
reviewing our scope of work. so we can
move forward with an RFP for the new
session. Uh internal audit, as I
mentioned, we monitor compliance um not
only with the reports that come through,
but we also review invoices to make sure
that they are in compliance with the
contract and accurately reflect all of
the reports that have been completed to
make sure we're being built accurately.
This is just a summary of the reports
that have been provided up to this point
by the OIR group
and the FY um actually the ethics survey
uh in FY25. We did conduct an ethics
survey. We've been doing this um through
internal audit annually since 2024. The
ethics survey was open for a two-week
period this past April, and we received
responses uh from 203 employees.
In your packets, you have a much larger
view of this summary, but uh this
summary of the ethics survey shows the
percentages of the positive responses
that we've received um from 2024 to
current,
excuse me. It also compares our base
year, which was 2014 to 2025. So
management can see the differences as
well as 2024 to 2025. So we can trend
those differences in the positive
responses.
And for FY25 internal audit currently
has two performance measures. The first
is to we strive to complete 80% of our
annual plan every year. For 2025 we
reached approximately 75%
that is projects completed or were in
process. And our second measure was 75%
of employees surveyed will report that
they agree or strongly agree that they
work in an ethical environment. And our
ethics survey this year uh indicated 75%
of those 203 respondents did indicate
they agree with that measure.
This last slide is just a very brief
overview bio of all of our staff um all
of whom are here today. Uh so we have um
Will Blanchard, our senior internal
auditor. We have Vanessa Williams and
Alma Ruiz, both internal auditors. Uh
Miss Tin um her family uh relocated this
past May. So we're like I said, we're
down that one position, but we hope to
fill that very soon.
So with that, I'll stand for any
questions.
Okay. Thank you, Viola. Any questions,
council? None. Uh, Biola, I did have one
on uh, I guess it was slide number 12.
You talked about um, business license.
Yes, sir.
A little bit more of detail what you're
looking for in or what is what is that
really? What are some of the details to
that?
Okay, Mr. Mayor and Council, our scope
of work for the business license audit
is going to include a few different
aspects of it. Number one is going to be
existence. Do we have policies and
procedures or controls in place to
ensure that businesses throughout the
community do have in fact a valid
business license? It'll look at whether
or not the city is collecting the fees
or assessing late fees for those
business licenses. We'll be looking at
um um I'm I'm sorry, I'm losing my words
here. um codes enforcement, if you will,
for businesses that are still in
existence or still conducting business
and determining whether or not we're
identifying those lapses, whether
they've expired and are not renewing so
we can get those folks um with current
licenses. And then our last aspect of
that is going to be to identify some of
our businesses that are going to be in
the um I'll say the hotel um
for the tie back into our lodgers tax.
So it could be hotels, motel, uh
possibly even the short-term rentals
will determine how that factors in. Uh
so that encompasses the high level scope
of work that we intend to be
accomplishing through that audit.
Okay. Thank you. Vel just want to
mention like on the previous
presentation we saw where uh there was
an increase in business activity in the
city of Los Cusus and we want to
continue that. I'm all for
accountability and uh you know setting
those rules and everything in place and
to make it a safer place for our
customers to shop and people to work.
But we also want to be businessfriendly.
So we want to be very transparent with
those rules or guidelines and things
that are taking place as to why it's
being done. So now that that's why I was
inquiring about that on we want to make
sure that we continue that upward
direction of more businesses coming to
Los Cusus. So absolutely thank you for
that
Mr. Mayor and Council. Absolutely. I
agree with you and this is going to be
the compliance aspect of our ordinance
that manages those licenses um and then
leading up again to the larger tax. So
we'll be addressing that and be
presenting that as well.
Thank you again.
Thank you sir.
Okay,
next we'll move up to item 3.3, which is
improve loss cruises community
improvement bonds.
Okay. Good afternoon, Mayor, City
Council. My name is Cynthia Almo. I'm
the CIP manager. Joining me today is
Leslie Doyle, finance director, and
Sarah Gonzalez, interim community
development director. Together we will
be facilitating today's presentation
which is to provide an overview of the
recently approved uh gross receipt tax
increase and we will introduce a list of
projects to begin the conversation about
identifying your priorities.
As a city we continue to face a
challenge of funding li of funding
because we have limited funding but then
our needs for capital projects and the
maintenance of our current
infrastructure it continues to grow. So
we always have this dilemma about how
can we continue to maintain our
facilities while we continue to support
the growth of the city of las cruises.
All of our infrastructure projects from
roads, parks, public safety and the
building maintenance of existing um
facilities demand improvements and as
mentioned often our our resources to
complete those projects do not meet that
demand. To meet this challenges, the
city leverages multiple funding sources
to support as many projects as possible.
Each funding source plays a distinct
role in helping us build and maintain
and improve our infrastructure that our
community uses. This funding includes
first one is the TID which is a tax
increment development district which is
a mechanism to generate funds for a
specific area. We have grants that I
always know we use a state and federal
grants. We also rely on capital outlay
which each year we identify a list of
priorities so the legislation can
consider to fund. We have several impact
fees included the park impact fees that
is used to develop new parks. We have
loans and bone loan loans and go bones
that are usually meant for large
significant capital projects. We also
have the new funding source which is the
increase in GRT and this will provide a
recurring source reliable source of
revenue to support capital projects and
maintenance projects. This will help us
with our ongoing maintenance for public
safety, streets, parks, public
facilities and other critical
infrastructure.
At this point, I would like to pass it
along to our finance director, Leslie
Doyle, who will be providing more
information and details on the new GRT.
Thank you, Cynthia.
Good afternoon, mayor, city council. I
do want to provide some context for the
new funding source that was just
mentioned. For the first year, we are
going to assume that we have an 11.5
million collection with subsequent years
increasing by 3% annually.
We will also be receiving bond proceeds
every two years and annually we will
have an $ 8.8 million debt service
requirement.
The remainder of 2.7, which is the
difference in what we receive versus
what we have to pay in debt service,
will be considered for maintenance of
our current facilities.
And of the bonds that we receive, 85%
must be spent within three years and
fully expended within five years.
So, I just threw a whole bunch of
numbers at you. So, I'm going to try and
simplify it for year one
to try and make it a little more
digestible because that's a lot.
In year one, we will collect 11.5
million in GRT.
We will receive $20 million in bonds and
of that 11.5 million that we received,
we will pay 8.8 in annual debt service.
Any amount collected over the 8.8 in
debt service will be considered the
remainder and can be used for facility
maintenance.
So before you is a finance summary of 16
years
while this is only for 16 years. This
cycling pro this cycling will continue
in perpetuity.
So you can see both the GRT and the
remainders will continue and that's due
to the 3% increase that we are
expecting. However, the debt service
will remain the same over the 16 years
at 8.8 million per year.
So as an example, for the first four
years, we will receive 48 million in GRT
collections.
we will pay 35 million and the remainder
is the 13 million that we will have for
the facility's maintenance. I should
note, excuse me, that that 13 million is
not subject to the same time
restrictions that the bond proceeds are.
So that can roll over for as long as we
do not spend it.
Now I'll turn it over to Sarah.
Good afternoon, mayor and city council.
Sarah Gonzalez with the community
development department. Um, so why are
we here today? This is to start the
conversations of essentially putting in
our priorities and the project list so
we can start to outline what our next
steps are going to be. Um, through
department collaboration and through CIP
project list to outline the four
criteria that GRT was basically
increased on last year through the
voting process which identified streets,
parks, public facilities, and public
safety. um staff came up with a list
working with these departments to say
these need to become the priorities. So
we've identified the needs of the
community and the city.
Once again, when we're looking at this,
when the question did go out for GRT, it
specifically called out for capital
improvements and maintenance for
streets, which could be drainage,
utilities, any type of critical
infrastructure, parks, public
facilities, and public safety, which
would include fire and police. as we
each I'll outline each one of these
types and some of the projects that were
already outlined and identified through
departments. However, please consider
that there may be other items in which
you'd want to include. That's why this
would be the discussion to start getting
us moving in the direction of where we
want to go. So, regarding streets, we do
have the pavement management plan or
reconstruction of streets. Um, some of
this could include traffic calming
measures being added, sidewalks where we
have sidewalk gaps being included. It
may need utility infrastructure. So, it
could be including gas, water, or sewer
that may need to be repaired. You're
looking at lighting on streets, and so
these would be our street lights, or
maybe it's even lighting of the actual
um intersection lights. You would be
looking at drainage areas that may be
flooding through certain areas that may
need improvements and ponding put in. Um
lastly, could be paving markings. This
would be something that's considered for
your bike paths. Maybe it's markings or
sheros, things to identify the way that
traffic moves, including all modes of
transportation.
We then move into our park section where
we've identified we have over 32 legacy
parks. A lot of the improvements that
come with these parks are going to
include restroom renovations, playground
equipments, um landscaping, shade
structures. Um we start to see that we
are getting into our hotter months and
it's we're needing more protection as we
do want to be outside and doing play.
Um, we have trail connections and gaps
and improvements. And so it's
identifying those locations where the
trail system may be expanded or may need
improvements because they're used quite
often due to the limited amount of trail
systems we have. Um, lastly would be
possibly a new recreation center. When
we look at some of the new developments
on these properties, we have to also
consider that design will be required.
And so that's going to have to be
calibrated at an extended period of time
knowing design needs to come first
before we go and allot any of the money.
knowing we have a time frame in which we
have to develop.
You then move into public facilities.
These are going to be um our public
facilities that may need roof
maintenance, generators to actually
operate, parking lot replacements if
there's potholes or striping or wheel
stops, lighting of specific parking lots
or areas or parks, ADA compliance,
meaning we don't have um essentially any
of the brails on the roadways to let
people know that you're actually
traveling into the center lanes. um
remodels or renovations. When we're
looking at this, we're looking at
station, you know, fire station one
across the street that needs renovations
just for firefighters to live in, you
know, live and sleep in attainable
housing essentially. Um you're looking
at remodels for the WIA building, MUN
Court, buildings that um tend to need
more renovations and remodeling just so
public can use them. Um, we're also
considering some of our water wells that
may need maintenance or some of the
recovery on them because they're
actually servicing some of the city.
Lastly, we move into public safety,
which is going to include fire and
police. And so, a primary need is going
to be the joint training facility. Once
again, we look at when we're looking at
these new buildings and they need design
requirements, we need to have aotted
time frame in order to accommodate that
design time frame. when we're looking at
design, you're usually seeing 8 to 12
months for design. And so that could
take a long time before you actually
have that money implemented and ready to
spend. Um there is a driving track and
so this would be joined with DAC and our
police department. Currently they're
using a facility in Deming that will no
longer be probably maintained or used
anymore. And so this is to basically
train our drivers and our police
officers um to use the speeds in which
they do and to travel through the
traffic. And so this is going to be a
need for our police department to
function. Um you have fire and police
station renovations as stated. And so
different stations may need demolishing
and repair. Some may need new buildings.
Um some are just to have good living
quarters. Um there's also security
cameras and fencing for some of our
facilities that you know right now
currently our police station does need a
higher fence and cameras and basically
the fencing to work in order to get
accreditation.
So what we're taking away from this
essentially today is that by being able
to predict how much funding is coming
in, we can then provide a stable
planning option. Meaning we know how to
move forward if we can budget these
things correctly. The remainder will
allow us to do more of our maintenance
projects, provide some of that
flexibility and not be hindered to just
specific projects. They can be used at a
time that maybe if a re- roof is
leaking, we're going to go in there and
fix those roofs. We now would have the
funding. Um plan and design is always
required. A lot of times we don't budget
those in some of our projects, but we
know it takes time and money to design
and then we come in with the new project
moving forward. Um there is the spend
within the three-year requirement um
fulfillment within the five years, but
understanding that it's a three-year
requirement. So when we're looking at
these project list and you have
something that is4 to $45 million, you
have to also understand that that has to
be in consideration as the design comes
in first and then you plan to do the
build because it's probably going to
take two cycles to actually go through
to fund the entire project. And that's
where we're saying the last thing is the
capacity to complete the projects. If we
know that something's going to take one
or two years to build and one year to
design, we know we need to actually plan
within three to five years.
So this is our next steps. This is what
we're asking for everybody today as
we're here. We're in our work session
and we're going through these processes.
Staff has outlined these projects that
are important in order for the community
as well as departments to actually get
through and provide to our civic needs.
We're now going to do community
engagement. We do want to reach out to
the public and have meetings to where
they provide us their priorities. We did
that through GRT. We're now going to go
through the same process and say now
that we've identified some of these
lists, what are the priorities of the
community? We would come back with that
information based on the discussion
today and then outline some project
options. Um, in our work session in
October, it should be known that we'd
probably come back with something that's
going to get us one through four years.
I think we have to see these project
list as a revolving process. Priorities
are going to change, projects are going
to change, and some of these projects
that are on these list may be funded
through different funding sources. And
so with us having geo bond coming up
next year, that gives us opportunities
for other developments. And so other
projects, maybe that's the library
renovation that could be coming in for
the geo bond. Those were considered in
2022. Maybe it's time to consider it in
the geo bond cycle. And so we have other
priorities and projects that may be
coming forward. So to limit ourselves to
a 20-year span is very difficult knowing
that things will change. Um lastly,
we'll be coming back with a resolution
in November that will identify those
priorities and projects based on public
input and city council's direction.
Any questions?
Yeah, thank you Sarah.
comments, discussion. Councelor Kar,
I have thank you all so much for doing
this and also for the document that you
shared earlier that really helped me
understand what kinds of things that are
on the table. Um, I just have a few few
quick clarifying questions and then sort
of my thinking on this which again is
evolving and obviously there I think
community input is fundamental to
whatever we do. So I really want to make
sure that that's a big part of the
ongoing conversation. Um, but my first
few questions relate are prim for
probably more for Leslie. Sorry, Sarah.
I don't worry, Sarah. I'll get I I I
love talking to you, Sarah. So, you're I
I'll come up with something to talk to
you about. Um, but thank you for this um
presentation. And so I just want to make
sure that I completely understand um
what exactly
uh the restrictions are and also the
assumptions that underly the assumed
sort of amount that's increasing there.
There are a few things like a 3%
increase in GRT I know is based on a lot
of data but I there are a few things
that I um wonder
uh in terms of our accountability to
having the debt and and whether or not
that is a safe assumption that is
economic increased economic volatility
that's happening right now in addition
state state discussions about whether or
not medical services should be excluded
from GRT which I think are
more than 10% % of what our what our GRT
revenues are. So I I worry a little bit
about what impact that might have on our
overall GRT forecast. Um
so is do you feel like I would never
you'll never hear me say this probably
ever again, but I I might want a more
conservative estimate for I might ask
for us to be a little bit more
conservative in this just because I I I
don't know if those volat volatile
factors are part of that assumption or
not. Um, could you talk a little bit
more about where the 3% comes from and
what's what's underneath that?
Yes, Mayor Councelor Karen, we did
discuss this uh with our financial
adviser, Mr. Harrian. I'm I'm sure you
guys are familiar with him and we did
kind of go back and forth also. He did
feel, as do I, that the 3% is
conservative enough
and so I am comfortable that we would
definitely have the 8.8 8 million for
the debt service. I I do feel like the
the 3%
is if you look at how we have trended
overall that is also a a number that I
am comfortable with.
Okay.
We of course
we've trended very high like I guess
that's what I I acknowledge that that's
like recently the increase has been
relatively steep. Um I don't know be
because I don't know the world is wild
right now. Um so
it certainly is. We could come back with
some additional information on different
scenarios if that's something you would
like us to do. We can definitely provide
that.
Um I think I just want to make sure that
we are being as conservative as possible
in this particular domain. I I guess
would be my ask. And if if you feel like
that is the most conservative number
then then I I trust y'all's expertise. I
just have an impending sense of doom
that I can't shake. So
you will find that I am often the most
conservative one in the room and I am
comfortable with%. So um thank you. So
that that was my main question related
to that. And then the other question is
so the restrictions on the three-year
and fiveyear thing those come from the
the places we're borrowing the money the
way that we're borrowing the money
through the bonds.
So the those actually come from the IRS.
we are required to spend 85% and it has
to do with how we can invest the money
and then receive that interest. So the
IRS requires that we spend the 85%
and we can invest a certain way and then
after we hit that three-year mark we
have to invest differently. So the goal
is actually to spend within the three
years but if we don't then there are
some additional restrictions that the
IRS puts on us investing those proceeds.
And we'll be primarily investing in the
state investment council as we typically
do or this is a separate way that we
translate this money into interest and
and use it.
We would look and see how we feel like
it would it is most appropriate to
invest and how we could receive the best
return.
Okay.
So t that's not dictated that we can we
can do that based on whatever we have.
Okay. Thank you. That's what I was
curious where that that three and
fiveyear
um thing came from. And then it will be
cycled simil like then the five-year
thing is like a cycling similar to geo
bonds as far as I understand it or no
that is well it will be every two years.
So we would receive 20 million every two
years.
Okay.
Okay. Thank you. So I think that those
are all of that's thank you. That really
helps me understand what how this money
is coming into being um which might seem
opaque given the different variables. So
thank you. I really appreciate it and
thank you for being the conservative
person in the room. I appreciate it.
Um, so my other question or my other
real again I really want community input
to be a huge part of this. I hope we can
have public comment today and I hope
these conversations we can really
elevate how how often we have these
conversations. My my thing sort of goes
more to to Sarah's presentation about
what the options are. Um, I really want
us to not have a bunch of city
facilities that are neglected, raining
on people that people literally cannot
be in. Um, municipal court right now is
is like I think about municipal court in
this in this category. I think about the
the LCFD folks who are, you know,
showering somewhere else. Um, I noticed
Sarah that you mentioned the that you
called one of the stations across the
street quote historical and I thought
that was a really nice way of saying old
and kind of wrecked like in this case
don't call the historical preservation
folks because those buildings are not I
don't think um historical and I thought
that was the nice way of saying um
antiquated and out of function but let
me just clarify on that. Okay, thanks.
Not actually historical. Um,
uh, so,
uh, I I
It's historical. Okay. It's Would you
want a little plaque that says the mayor
of Las Cruz has worked here? Um, it's
like the roof is falling in. You don't
want that. I'm pretty sure. Um,
uh, when they're sweating, they there's
a big picture of you. The fire
department can look at you uh, in that
picture. No, I I would really ask that
whatever happens, we really get those I
I really want us to make sure that our
own facilities that we have that people
are functioning in or trying to function
in are the highest priority on the list
for me. Whatever I think there's a lot
of discussion to be had about new things
and other things. Um, but I just really
continue to be a little this really sort
of bothers me that we have facilities
that are unlivable or unworkable and and
so I just want to speak to that first.
And I know that there's lots more
conversation to be had, but I just sort
of want that to be an underlying value
that I think is really important that we
can which no one in the public
necessarily even is necessarily thinking
about. So I think public input should be
the the main driver of a lot of these
conversations that we have. But I just
want to speak from an internal
perspective that I really want us to to
make sure that we get those things
together as much we as much as we
possibly can with this new money.
Thanks.
Thank you, uh, Council Mccclure.
Thank you. Um, I just wanted to
acknowledge kind of what you said too
about different funding sources. I think
at the MO we were thinking about trails
and some of the outdoor economic grants
that might be available and tie those
things together. So, but I don't want to
have a sort of loss of focus then too
for things like restrooms and parks that
make sort of that public good. And I
think, you know, given that I see
similar shirts here, the public good is
the library, right? And we're not sure
how those funding sources will be going.
So, having some sort of assurance that
we know that that is something that
encapsulate a lot of different things
for our community. I just want to
highlight that, too. Um I had some
meetings last week as well with some um
folks for the Hatfield area for
detention ponds and I know that could be
another funding source as well. Capital
outlay may be in play with that. Um I'm
not entirely sure but I just want to
make sure that for people who where the
city kind of grew around them. I'd like
to make sure that they have adequate
drainage that we're not catching up with
the silt that kind of comes into their
front yards and washes it away. So
things like that in terms of public good
is something that I'd really like to
focus on. Thank you,
Mayor Pro Tim.
Thank you. Um thank you to this team and
whoever else is behind this team. I I
really appreciate it. I'm very excited
to have you all um on board leading this
with all of your different expertise. Um
so thank you. Um I I think you uh
councelor Corin you there's a couple
questions that got answered as you were
um trying to clarify for yourself and
for the public for sure. So thank you.
Um I am curious in terms of the
some of the projects that have been put
forth by staff.
What has design already and what
doesn't? like do you feel like mostly
there's um projects that need to be
funded for design or do you feel like
there's a sort of equal balance
mayor mayor prom and city council I
would say out of the projects that were
identified currently right now um the
library is the closest one to being
completely designed um when we're
looking at the other facilities um there
were only two that were kind of
mentioned throughout the process um
currently which would be the public
safety joint complex with um fire
department and the police department.
And then the other complex would be the
recreation center. And that's where the
consideration comes into, you know,
design phase may need to come within
maybe years three and four or design in
one and two, three and four. And those
may be some of the options that we do
come back with based on the public input
that we do receive.
Okay. And we're sort of looking at this
in a 16-year term, right?
Mayor, mayor, pretend that's correct. We
would look at it as a 16-year term, but
it extends. And so there as it goes on
um the projects we've identified right
now were what can we basically provide
that can all be accomplished within that
time frame. And so if we can accomplish
all this now it's getting them in order
and prioritizing them to say where we
want to actually start and then knowing
that there's going to be increments in
between where if you have a design
element if I'm designing in year one
that means funding would come in in part
two and three
and then you would have the funding that
may lead into four and five. And so
those larger projects have to be built
out into a span of multiple years as
opposed to some of the renovations or
the remodels that may take place that we
could actually have funding and start
moving on in the early years while
design is taking place. Love that. Thank
you Sarah for that explanation. Um I
just want to zoom out a little bit
because I think um I literally have been
thinking about this so much uh as as I
was preparing for today. I feel like
we are in an infrastructure emergency at
the city and it's actually something I
feel like the majority of the public
sees as well, right? That's why when we
said we kind of have a hard question for
you guys as a community, can you please
raise taxes on yourselves? Right? Can
you please increase the GRT? And the
majority of the community said, "Yeah,
actually we do. We we will pay a little
bit more. out of our pocket because we
believe in our community and we know
that we can make it better and
how
we move forward in the next couple of
months I think needs to honor that and
the ultimate decision we make in
November I think needs to honor that
people said um yeah we believe in our
community enough to do this and we want
to you know part be part of the solution
and so saying that I think there's I
think there's like this really fine
balance between this infrastructure
emergency that we currently find
ourselves in versus this like big vision
dreams coming true. Oh my god, yes, we
have the fund. Let's build that brand
new shiny thing we really want. And so I
want us to approach this with
um the emergency in mind first
that what if we build like brand new
shinier things and I'm not talking about
the library. I just want to note that
I'm not talking about the library. The
library has been waiting for a long
time. Caveat st I'm not talking about
library.
I just want to say that um
I fear that if we say okay let's build
these like new exciting facilities that
we continue to neglect the facilities
that are currently really needing
um our attention and when I talk to the
public because at first I was like I
don't know if I'm going to support this
but I changed my mind because I also
believe in my community and so when I
talk to people about why they should
vote for this increase um the importance
of it. People
here are the things that I hear from our
community consistently
in terms of public safety. The biggest
thing right now and we keep talking
about it, Chief Story's been talking
about it is um this juvenile crime
conversation, which if we look at the
like if we read between the lines, it's
young people don't have enough to do in
our community. And so, how do we address
that with library services? Libraries
are excellent for young people to stay
out of trouble. Um, recreational
facilities, even though I'm willing to
admit that that would be a brand new
shiny situation, but I do feel like
those are the conversations we need to
be having. I talk to people, people talk
to me about pedestrian safety and the
kinds of um alarming numbers we are
seeing in the city of Los Cruus for
pedestrian deaths and injuries due to
poor design. Um consistently hear people
telling me that, you know, people are um
speeding in my neighborhood and that
impacts the way that people the
walkability, the quality of life, right?
Um, to me those are all public safety in
addition to there are leaky roofs at the
dorms at station firehouses where people
literally live half of their week. Um,
yeah, Station One historic old, whatever
you want to call it, the air conditioner
doesn't work. Um, there are
firefighters, you know, taking baths in
portables right now. like I think there
are serious issues with the current
infrastructure of our firehouses
and then the NAT and I don't know how we
uh sort of this incorporates in into
that but uh I keep talking about these
abandoned um neighborhoods and what that
team may require.
Okay, bear with me. I have a long list
but it all sort of matches with what you
presented. I also consistently hear
about one of the main things people talk
to me about is when are you going to pay
repave my road and sometimes I tell
people let me check oh no worries you're
on the CIP for 2030
and that's crushing and that's crushing
for David to tell me that for public
works team to tell me that and then for
me to be the messenger to my community
since I got on the council you know
we've been talking about the 82 backlog
that we have in order to repave uh that
need for roads that need to be repaved.
I would love it if we made a dent in
that and not just 5 miles, 6 miles, 8
miles, 10 miles. I would love it if in
the next few years we made a
serious considerable dent in the first
thing our our people when they walk
outside their house to go to work, it's
the first thing they see. I think that's
important.
our parks. I think that's the list that
you presented is right on. So these are
the things that I hear, right? Those are
the things that I hear. Here's also my
analysis for what I see and what I hope
are the kinds of emerg the
infrastructure emergencies that I'm
talking about. Um our bus
infrastructure,
there are people sitting waiting for the
bus and smoldering heat. Zero bus
shelters, zero benches. And from what I
hear from councelor Corin, the numbers
are only increasing of people who are
riding the bus. And that to me is a
matter of equity. You know, most of the
people riding the bus are going to work.
Most of the people riding the bus are
low-inccome. Most of the people riding
the bus don't have their own vehicle. I
want to see us take a serious investment
in that. And I know that gap exists. I
know that that's already that list
exists already.
um sidewalk gaps
and municipal court is literally
operating out of the second room
conference floor at city hall. That's
not okay. That's not okay. And I think
we need to seriously consider why that
is and that we know that we use this
opportunity to say we will no longer
allow ourselves to get to this place
with any facility. And the last thing
I'll say um and I'll be quiet for now is
that I really want this team to like
apply an equity lens to everything we
do. So if we say let's do these two big
road projects those are dream come true
projects. Let's do these big big two
road projects on Soma Ranch. There's no
equity in that. there are we just have
to be honest about where there are newer
neighborhoods where there are
neighborhoods that have more resources
where there are neighborhoods that
already have complete streets
and where there aren't and where we
haven't invested and so I really want us
to have a serious apply an equity lens
to the projects and and in terms of how
they arise in the priority list.
Let me just scroll through my list. I'm
pretty sure that's it. I
I my last question I really um if you
already have a plan for community
engagement I would love to hear about it
now. Um if you don't that's okay. I'm
just curious how many you're planning on
having where and then I want to put a
plug that as city council for my
district meeting I would like I would
like it to be around this.
Do you Yeah. Thank you, Cynthia,
mayor, councelor uh councel and mayor
proterm. We currently do not have a
solid community engagement plan but we
know that that's initiative as our next
step and we do want to develop a robust
uh plan. We'll be working with uh other
city departments including
communications to make sure we tackle as
many opportunities and resources that we
have available.
I just I'm Thank you. I I do I want this
to be as robust as possible. Make sure
that we have translation services if
needed, right? That we are doing
marketing in both Spanish and English so
that the majority of people that we have
a diver not that we don't love our usual
suspects that come to all of our
meetings, but I want to make sure that
is as diverse
um as outreach as possible so that we're
hearing from as many folks as possible
about the vision that they see for
improving Los Cusus. Thank you. Yes.
Council
me
[Music]
like Mayor Prom, I'm just going to
rattle on all my ideas and just kind of
share them with you. But um this this is
great leveraging. It's really good how
you played what we have guaranteed into
20 million, 40 million, 60 million, 80
million because it looks like um there's
a lot of fixing to be done uh that was
neglected over the last 15 years or 8
years, 10 years anyway. We have a lot of
things in the parks, public safety,
police department stations. We have so
many things that have been neglected
only because we didn't have the
resources. We didn't have the money. So,
I think the public
will I'm glad we're having public
participation in a lot of it. I I think
the public's a very important aspect in
in what these visions will be. Uh on on
the other side, I think uh financially
if you have a design done um it's good
to move forward on those priorities
because it costs more money if you wait
on that. The design is done. The money
has been spent. You you basically know
what the cost may be today. you you do
not know what the cost may be if you put
it off three, four, five years with the
price of steel, inflation and other
things happening and just getting a
contractor today because every
everybody's building everything today um
unfortunately in other cities. Uh that's
my other point. In other words, I think
another priority
uh will definitely be public safety. Uh
I think the gross receipts tax was
passed basically because they want a
safer city. They want crime reduced. Uh
Madame Beno mentioned the juvenile
delinquency. That's very important. I
think I'd like to see more money uh
spent in after school programs. Maybe uh
better participation with Los Cruus
public schools so that we can introduce
more programs like the new DAR program.
Um, I I'd also like to see um recreation
programs, maybe teen centers to keep
busy. Recreation programs, the baseball
fields, the football, all the fields
need to be upgraded. And a a new
library, of course, would be a another
good attraction for the city of Los
Cruus is getting new residents. If you
have a safe city, you have good
services, you have new library, you have
paved streets, you uh rid blight, get
rid of the blight that we see, and you
have parks that are not uh run down and
or the restrooms not even able to go
into. Uh people see this when they come
to look at Los Cusus to buy a home. And
we saw in the statistics the the new
residential housing, a little bit of
dip. Well, uh, you know, when we dip,
that dips and when we build and create
excitement and create a a a beautiful
looking city, not only cosmetically, but
I mean internally, socially, taking care
of people that have less money, that's
important, too. The economic picture of
housing, I think we've done a good job.
And I've been asking for a history of
our affordable housing. I think Natalie
just got that email today. it. I'd like
to see a 20-year history of affordable
housing and what it what it looks like
today. And I want to make sure that when
we build affordable housing that we
actually monitor it, license it, take
care of it, and make sure that it stays
nice. We do not have to have things get
dilapidated and looking bad. And and
we've had a habit of doing that. In
other words, I'm sorry I was absent in
the last eight or nine years. I was down
in Santa Teresa. I was watching things
build be built. I was watching growth. I
was watching companies come in. And
that's my other priority. Some of the
money has to be spent on on readybuilt
facilities in the industrial part.
We have to do more to attract businesses
here so we could get those 2,300 people
jobs. I don't know if that's the
qualification
uh for them to be into that type of
employment, whether we could attract uh
contract
people, you know, people that make chips
or some type of industrial work out
there on the on on on on that industrial
site. It's it's been kind of dormant. It
it hasn't really been building like it
should be. So maybe we could take some
of this 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120 million
over the next few years and actually
make a uh investment in not only fixing
what we need to fix, but adding
something that actually attracts new
people and attracts new industry and
creates a vibrant city that is not
growing at two and 3%.
But is growing at four and five and
maybe even 6%.
You know, I'd like to stay the number
one uh the number two city in New
Mexico. I'm very competitive. I can't
see Rio Rancho being come becoming
number two and us dropping to number
three. And on ranking uh my public
safety priority is that our police
department when our starting uh police
officers start, we should be number two
ranked.
That money needs to keep them in the
number two compensation ranking. Not
number eight, not number nine, not
seven, five. We're the second largest
city in New Mexico.
And our public safety officers, both
fire department, police department
should actually re receive that
compensation for being in the second
largest city. So that's my pitch. And
I'm sorry I talk so much. I usually
don't do that, but I I I had a good
breakfast this morning.
Thank you very much.
Okay, thank you all.
I just need one. I need
you need a mulligan. Okay, go ahead.
I just wanted to note that I think GIS
should be part of um the conversation
around especially the equity lens piece.
Okay. Thanks. Thanks again. Um,
again, to me, it's it's it's a great
day. It's a great day because we have a
dilemma. Where do we spend our money?
But again, I have to say thank you to
the voters for passing the increase in
the GRT so that we can have these things
that that we've neglected, that become
an emergency, that become a crisis in
our community. So, this is this is so so
good to have like we're not going to
please everyone. I understand that. But
these are the things that we need to
talk about. It'd be great to get the the
community engagement and as Mayor Prom
had stated um you know the the town hall
meetings like make sure they're
scheduled so everybody has that same
opportunity and can have that one-on-one
with their counselors and that time to
to voice their issues. Um, you know,
pigging back off of what, uh, Councelor
Matise said about being very competitive
and not being to be wanting to be, uh,
number three. Um, you know, I I I feel
the same way, but I I say it a different
way. I don't care who's one, who's two,
or three. I care who's the best city in
New Mexico. And this GRT will give us
the opportunity to be the best, to have
the things that we need, to have the
public safety, to have the quality of
life, to have economic development. I
want Los Cruuses to be the best in the
state of New Mexico. So, so with that, I
I I can share that fire station one was
built in 1964.
So, yes, it does need to be uh
renovated, fixed, not not just peace
mill, not just not just a roof, not just
an AC unit, but really dive in and put
some funding into that building so that
our firefighters will have a decent
place to to live, work, uh, and respond.
And then uh with public safety, I know
that the dual training facility had been
in the talks since 2007. We're going on
20 years now and nothing has been done.
And this is an opportunity not only for
the training like our training I say
ours not anymore but in the past and it
still continues. It's scattered
everywhere. You have to drive to Deming
to do your driving course. you have to
drive to um what is that place where the
shooting range is at you know another 20
20 miles uh defensive tactics wherever
you can find a place where there's a
vacant building and then eventually a
portable is built but the training is
scattered everywhere. The fire
department had the tea time and then it
was like you're out find your own place
so they're renting one now. So having a
state-of-the-art
training facility is a priority for
public safety. So we can recruit, we can
retain, and we can even share with
southern New Mexico to come and train
and and it provides even a a place not
only to share, but maybe there's some uh
an economic value to that as well. But
uh that's that's what I see with public
safety. And you know, being born and
raised here, I saw Mirshide as the only
facility to go and play basketball and
share with volleyball and now with
pickle ball and it's still the only
place. So, we've neglected that for
years and another rec center would be
great. And when Mayor Prom talks about
uh equity, I totally agree. Maybe we
need to see something on the west side.
A rec center that we can we can share.
But when the growth is going to the
east, we don't we want to make sure that
the infrastructure, we're not having
bottlenecks. We're already seeing them
in certain areas. So I do say Lman needs
to be addressed. Angler Road needs to be
addressed. All those places where we've
had increased housing. We've got to
protect our our city with those
bottlenecks and traffic and accidents
and things that will occur to to create
that public safety. Um so definitely uh
the geo bond I think uh uh another
funding source definitely for the
library that has been neglected and and
needs to be done for sure. And one other
item that I wanted to add um is
maybe we can use a TID funding, but
another thing to get out there is a
thought is our municipal courts when
they have to relocate every summer to
hold court sessions because of the
facility that they're in uh is not
adequate. uh we we need to really we
need to really uh focus on on really
prioritizing and finding MUN Court a new
home. So those are some of my thoughts.
I I I totally agree. But again, I I I
sit up here with an attitude of
gratitude because the voters said yes.
Yes to better Los Cusus. Yes to improve
Los Cusus. Yes to recover from the
things that have been neglected and
planned for the future. and 20 years
from now we will be better uh
financially uh in a position that I say
that that we're financially stable and
and that's the outlook that's for the
future of this community. So it is a
dilemma with everybody having different
opinions and thoughts and ideas and
biases whatever the case may be but it's
a good thing to have for the betterment
of Los Cusus and I think it's it's
great. So, thank you and uh again uh
thank you a shout out to Chris Favor uh
heading spearheading that GRT process
and attending all those events to to
educate and make people aware. So, thank
you for that. Thank you, Chris, and the
city manager as well. Thank you.
Well, I'll go ahead and uh
open it up if if there's any members of
the public that want to come and say a
few words or share. Uh I guess it would
be a good opportunity. I see a lot of
the friends of the library if they just
want to have maybe a a dedicated
spokesperson. Maybe one or two would be
fine. Um that's up to you.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor and City Council. I
am Linda Sinclair. I am the president of
the Friends of the Library, and we were
very happy to hear so many people refer
to the importance of the library. I do
think that the message is getting out
that we are more than just books at the
library that we do provide lots of
opportunities for people. And so the
idea of building opportunities for more
youth activities, we have phenomenal
librarians who work really hard to make
sure that we have interesting activities
and things for people to do. and the
design process if has been going on for
the renovation and it is astonishing
um how much work that is and how many
improvements need to be made but I think
that things appear to be going very very
well. So we're really excited about
that. So um if you ever have any
questions about what the friends of the
library are doing, you're always welcome
to come and get in touch with us. Uh
we'll have our annual meeting in January
and I certainly hope that you're able to
come out for that to sort of get a a
picture of some of the things that we've
been doing. Um the the library supports
so many different aspects of our
community and provides you know shelter
during hot days and water and serves as
a cooling center and things. Um it is so
much more than books and uh it
definitely is a place where anyone can
come and feel they can just be and do
and look at books and look at the
internet and connect in all sorts of
ways. So we really appreciate the um
support that we've gotten from the city
government and look forward to
continuing that positive relationship.
Thank you very much.
All right. Thank you.
[Applause]
Is there anyone else that Yeah, come on
up, George.
Good afternoon. I'm George Pearson. Um,
I want to speak to you have trails as a
item that you'll be looking at. So, I'd
want uh to have whatever sliver of
monies for trails set aside and
especially look at some of the gaps. Um
the Messia Drain Trail currently ends at
Burn Lake. So, it'd be great to extend
that through so we can connect to
Lakeside Drive so that we actually have
some transportation connectivity. Um and
I also want to pick up on Councelor Ben
Combo's comments on transit. Uh we've
been building just approved or are
building new affordable housing out on
the East Mesa, but I believe that those
are all outside the current road runner
transit areas. So when you're looking at
transportation costs, ownership of a car
is about $10,000 a year. And when you're
looking at low-income housing, that's a
significant impact on where people need
to choose to live. So looking at transit
in that respect, extending those routes,
I think would be good. And since I have
some time left, I would be remiss if I
didn't put on my Alama hat and talk
about the WIA building. It may not be
part of the GO bond, but uh let's look
at capital improvement projects and do
the improvements for the WIA building to
preserve it. Thank you.
Thank you.
I say if Chris did you want to say
anything?
You're good.
Yeah, I'll get you next.
No, come on up.
My name is Chris Johnson, president of
Los Cru's Professional Firefighters
Local 2362.
Um, I'm here to speak on a couple of the
public safety uh initiatives that you
guys have brought forward. First, to
thank you guys to uh putting together
all the work for this process and the
list. Um, it's awesome to see that
development come and I'm in total
agreement with the council um and mayor
for uh what that can do for our city.
So, thank you guys for all the hard work
behind that. Um, Mayor Pro Tim, I you
hit everything I think with how to be
equitable, the infill of our our
facilities and some of the problems that
we've faced. Thank you for recognizing
that, especially from the firefighter
standpoint. Um, we've been living in
some facilities for quite some time that
uh I couldn't say are the uh the best uh
to date. So, uh I appreciate that and
the emphasis that you guys have placed
on on backfilling that both at the fire
department and and across the city and
the struggles that municipal courts
dealt with. Um I can't even imagine that
as well. Um, when it comes to the the
joint training facility and logistics,
um, I just hope that it's recognized
that that's also a um, an investment in
the infrastructure of both the fire
department and the police department and
how those work. That's the background or
the backbone of um, our organizations
and our training and our development. Um
it's hard to see that sometimes, you
know, on an outward look about how that
affects us, but that's investing in the
fire department and the police
department to make sure that they
continue to operate at that that level
that we all expect, that number one in
the state. Um that facility would
address some logistics issues that we've
been having for quite some time. Um
mayor, you you addressed it. We moved
around the city three, four times now to
try and accomplish that. And we're
already outgrown the facility that we
currently have. um and that facility,
correct me if I'm not wrong, we're
spending about 200,000 a year um just in
rent. That's nothing coming back to the
city. That's no investment in our
capital or anything like that. So, um
thank you again for for bringing those
forward. Um that training facility, I
think in our eyes, is fully supported by
our union. Am I out of time, sir, or is
that
okay? Um from a from a training
perspective though, what I wanted to
touch on the most is that that has to
deal with our safety. um that has to
deal with how we provide a service back
to our community. And I can probably
attest that the police from the very
same side um not having those those
places to do that. Uh when I came in the
fire department, we were pulling hoes
out in dirt lots. Um we were pretending
like we had buildings to go into and
that was wholly inadequate. 10 years 15
years ago, we started the conversation
mayor and previous fire chief. 10 years
ago, we were able to get the training
facility, the training prop building um
up at the the airport. So, we had the
land allocated. We had a site plan with
the expectation of growth. And since
then, um we haven't really advanced that
uh much. Although, that gave us a much
needed prop to work on uh to perfect our
skills so that we could both be safe for
ourselves and provide the highest
quality service to the community. Uh
since then, uh we've started to lack
behind. As we build on that, we're
starting with a class A facility that
comes into real life fire, real life
smoke, real life contaminants, real life
cancer risks that our firefighters are
now facing. Um, and have a facility
where you can actually do your gear,
clean up, get outside of the sun and the
heat and the cooling. Um, I think is
essential into into building what we
should be as a fire response and the
skills that we need to respond safely.
Um,
did I miss anything, Chief? So, again,
thank you guys. Uh, I I I can't wait to
see where this list goes. I think
everything on that that I watched is of
the utmost importance, and I'm very glad
that we have this opportunity to start
addressing those things within our
community. So, mayor, city councelor,
and council, thank you guys so much for
for what you guys have done
and the team that put it all together.
Thank you. Thank you, Chris.
Yes. Come on up.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor, City Council. My
name is Lucas Hernand. I'm a resident of
District 2. Um, and thank you for having
this discussion. Um, it is something to
be excited about. Um, as you stated, Mr.
Mayor, that you know, what a problem to
have, right? How do we spend our money
to make our our city better? Um, so, uh,
between, um, my various hats that I
wear, just being in the community, um, I
have been working with folks and asking
the question, if you had the opportunity
to make direct improvements to the city,
what would you love to see? And, um, I
am excited to see what uh, what the
public seen sessions will look like so
that we can have have that input. Um so
this is just sort of a list that has
been compiled uh just through these
casual conversations in various places
on the street at tableabling events
online through social media. Um and
they've kind of been broken down into
three things. Physical infrastructure
serviceoriented uh
issues and quality of life. And under
physical infrastructure, things like
street repair, traffic calming, bus stop
shelters, buses on Saturdays and
Sundays, more frequent stops, uh lower
fairs or no fairs, and climate cooling
infrastructure, including more trees,
looking at becoming a Tree City USA, uh
more solar panels, uh specifically solar
panels as shade structures, cooling
centers, drinkable flood prevention,
water conservation infrastructure. uh
under serviceoriented flexible support
services that are accessible to
low-inccome and unhoused people
including mediation services uninsured
low-income people. Investment in a
network of mental health and substance
use treatment centers, diversion
programs, and municipal and district
courts. flexible funding streams for
supportive services such as mobile rapid
response crisis intervention teams and
implementation of permanent supportive
housing projects like the Amodore
Crossing and finally other quality of
life youth programs infrastructure
something like water park and from
deming roller rink drop-in centers free
accessible sports fields uh courts as
well as center for the arts for young
people infrastructure for car meets a
large lot with shade water bathrooms etc
more li more more libraries um
innovative parks with lots of shade as
well as chest, domino tables, water
features, etc. and accessible local
cultural events like the event center in
Rio Rancho. All of which are things you
go to other cities to do um and visit.
Those are the things that you do when
you're in other places. So, let's invest
in those things. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
All right. Again, thank you uh for all
the work. Thank you for the presentation
and everything that you put into this
and um more to discuss and looking
forward to it. So again, thank you. It's
a as as I would say, it's a great day.
It's a it's a good it's a good uh
dilemma to have and we'll continue to
listen to our our community and move
forward. Thanks. Uh looking for a motion
to adjurnn.
Move to adjurnn.
Second.
This is on the motion to adjourn the
work session. Councelor McClur,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Graham is absent. Councelor
Karan,
yes.
Councelor Flores is absent. Councelor
Bencom,
yes.
And mayor,
yes.