[Music]
cancelled. You're live.
You're live.
Good afternoon. Welcome to city council
meeting. Today is Monday, August 18th,
2025. It's approximately 100 p.m. I am
Mayor Eric Enriquez. Before we start, I
want to mention that we have Do we have
them today?
I don't see them. the uh American Sign
Language. I don't see them here today.
Okay, they're not here today. So, if
you'll all rise and join me, we'll start
with a moment of silence for the brave
men and women of the United States Armed
Force as they protect our interests and
as well as the courageous men and women
of the Los Cusus and Police Department
who keep our city safe 247 365.
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.
So the first item is presentations
of C certificates and proclamations.
Are these them empty? All right. So, we
first want to recognize
uh with a certificate of e excellence to
certify proudly presented to the New
Mexico Texas Major Baseball Team in
honor of their outstanding performance
and recognition of their high standards
of excellence. This certificate is
issued in recognition of civic interest
and of expression of appreciation by the
mayor on behalf of the citizens of the
city of Los Cusus dated this 18th day of
August 2025.
So I have a list of players here um if
they would come join us up front. It's
Thgo Torres. Is he here? Thiago,
Miguel Castanera,
[Applause]
Aiker Cardardoza,
[Applause]
Jacob Rubio,
Zack Lucero,
Lo Escaped,
[Applause]
Kase Ghost,
Romeo Lugo,
Jaden Gomez,
Andre Castillo,
and then we have Miku Khan and Hazen
Sanchez and Rico Urezio.
The coaches are S Gomez,
Chris Lugo, Rico Urigio,
Donovan Hazen.
So, these ball players are recognized as
a New Mexico, Texas majors baseball team
are 12 and under, 12 year olds from Los
Cusus, seven players from Los Cusus, one
from Artisia, one from Clovis, three
from El Paso, and one from Houston. The
majors traveled to Coopertown, New York
at the end of July to play in a
worldclass baseball tournament of 12
year olds from all over the United
States called Coopertown All-Star
Village. 82 teams in total participated
in this tournament. The majors played
teams from all over the USA and San
Diego, Miami, and New Jersey to name a
few of the states.
The team went undefeated all week,
winning 11 straight games and going on
to win the championship game.
No other number one seated team had ever
won the tournament. No other New Mexico
based team has ever won the tournament.
The team showed great sportsmanship,
determination, and gave up in reaching
their goal of playing hard and winning
this tournament. And we wanted to
recognize them and congratulate them for
their huge accomplishment and their
undefeated championship victory. So,
congratulations to you, coach, and to
all the players. I'll give the coach a
minute to say a few words, but let's
give him another big hand.
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
put me on the spot here.
All right, guys. Hi there. My name is
Sal Gomez. I'm the head coach of the NM
Texas Majors. Um,
well, I mean, to put it in perspective,
we we set a goal to be one of the first
New Mexico based teams to travel to
Coopertown, New York. And, you know, we
we set a goal and expectation to let's
finish in the top 10. And all of a
sudden, our first two g two pool play
games won both of those. Next two won
both of those. Next two won both of
those. were sitting six and0 in pool
play watching a national team called ZT
prospects and said all right we're tied
for run differential and they ended up
allowing a couple more runs what put us
in the first place seed and when I found
out that there's never been a number one
first seed to win the tournament I was
like oh no I don't want to be number one
seed
uh but you know these boys and lady did
not let that phase them um we opened up
with bracket play And we there was a
couple times where we were down, but I
just told him, "Hey, I and I preached to
him. I've been coaching majority of
these kids since they were four and
seven years old. So, we've been together
for a while." And uh but every time we
were down, I just told him, "Hey,
baseball's like life. Sometimes it's
going to beat you down. Sometimes it's
going to put you down, but you got one
choice, and it's to battle back." And
out of those two games that we were
battling from the back, we came back and
took it down. So, it was such an amazing
experience for the team, for the family
members to go and experience. Uh,
they've all said it, it's nothing, there
isn't nothing like it out there, you
know. So, I'm proud to bring it home to
New Mexico, Los Cusus, and represented
just like how we said, we set four
records total. No, there's never been a
number one seed to win it. Never a team
to go undefeated and win it. There's
never been a girl on a baseball team to
go and win it.
And what was the last one, guys?
Come on.
No number one seed.
First New Mexico team. Come on.
But I love you. I love these kids. They
know it. And they're all they're all
seted out to bigger and better things
now. And um they are all asking me
what's our next one. So right now we
have a plan. um got to put it all out
there, but we're targeting uh Myrtle
Beach in South Carolina for another Cal
Ripken Series League. So, thank you all
so much.
[Applause]
Mes
Thank you.
[Applause]
That's great. Just got to love baseball,
especially here in Los Cruz. Thank you,
coach, and team. Great job. Huge
accomplishment.
So, next we have jobs of the week. Uh
Sarah Rainey, sorry, tough act to
follow, but
you're next.
Gee, thanks for that.
No, congratulations to them for sure.
All right.
My name is Sarah Rainey. I'm the onetop
coordinator for the Southwest Region of
America's Job Centers.
For America's Job Center New Mexico,
actually. All right. For jobs of the
week, we have an employee assistance
assistant program coordinator for the
city of Las Cusus starting at 66,000 a
year. That position closes on September
1st. We also have a deputy director for
utilities engineering. That one has been
revised a little bit, so maybe take a
look at it. If it wasn't something
before that matched, maybe it is now.
The posting closes in um October on that
one. We have an energy engineer also for
the city and that one starts at 89,000
and closes on September 8th.
We have a couple positions actually for
the Glitz School of Cosmetology. There
is a beauty school instructor for Los
Cusus at full-time or part-time. They
also, just FYI, for anybody in the
dimming area, they have one in the
dimming area as well. And for here in
Los Cusus, they also have a front desk
clerk. Um, so those postings are on our
website. They close in September as
well. And then for Living Hope
Monastery, we have an infant lead
educator. That one starts at 28,000 and
closes in September as well.
And our only event that we've got um
coming up here in August is this week.
We have our community of hope job
readiness. You know, that's where we go
out to the community of hope, help with
resume writing, interview skills, and
whatnot. We will be having in September
our mock interview at the community of
hope. So, we're looking forward to
having some volunteers come out and be
interviewers and help us with those
skills and teaching those skills. So, if
anybody's interested, please reach out
to us. We can set you up with that.
Thank you very much.
All right. Thank you, sir. Next is pets
of the week, Carol.
Good afternoon. I'm Carol Nelson,
digital content specialist with the
Animal Services Center of the Messia
Valley. Just as a reminder, through the
whole month of August, all adoptions are
free, so it's a great month to adopt. Uh
this week, our dog of the week is Coette
88695.
I'm the perfect size for snuggling on
the sofa or keeping up with you on a
walk. My adorable little tail is
guaranteed to bring smiles without
knocking things off your coffee table.
With my happy energy, I'll keep you
entertained, especially when we play
fetch with my favorite squeaky toy. I'm
all about treats. I'll do just about
anything for one. I would love to find a
home where when I'm not running around
and having fun, I can climb into your
lap for some pets and kisses.
And this week, our cat of the week is
Ginger 53957.
I'm a sweet cutie pie with a heart full
of curiosity. While I can get a little
scared at times, I'm bravely learning to
overcome my fears. I might tremble a bit
when approached, but with just a
sprinkle of patience, I warm up quickly.
My adventurous spirit drives me to
explore my surroundings and seek
affection once I feel safe. I would
thrive in a calm and loving home where I
can continue to build my confidence and
become your cherished companion.
And as always, we like to highlight our
long-term residents, and we actually
have really good news. So, our four
longestterm residents were either sent
to rescue or adopted this last week. So,
we're super proud of them, and we still
have plenty of other dogs and cats to
adopt. So, please come by and check out
our long-term residents. Uh this
weekend, we're actually having a weekend
adoption extravaganza. Uh on Saturday,
Puppy Pooa at PetSmart, uh from 9 to 12.
So, definitely come on out to that. And
we're having an on-site event on Sunday
the 24th uh from 9:00 to 1:00. It's an
ASM a our ASCMV pool party and we'll
have pools for the pups. We'll have some
fun games and prizes and uh a local food
truck uh with some treats. So, it's
going to be a really good time. So, come
on out. Um and if you would like more
information, you can visit our website
or follow us on social media. Thank you
for the time.
Okay.
Again, thank you, Carol.
Next is a conflict of interest. Does any
member of the city council, city
manager, any member of the city staff
have any known conflict of interest with
any item on the agenda?
None.
Next is public participation will allow
up to three minutes. no pending
litigations or items on the non-consent.
Um
Katrina here will assist you and usher
you to the podium, but we want to start
first by allowing uh Jose Gyos, Joe
Gyos, uh new director of South Central
Solid Waste Authority to introduce
himself. Come on up, Joe.
Good afternoon, Mayor Pro uh Enriquez,
May, Mayor Proam Bencom, and all the
city council members. So, my name is
Jose Gyos. I am a newly hired executive
director for the South Central Solid
Waste Authority. Uh thank you again.
Thank you for this uh opportunity to
introduce myself. Uh a little bit about
myself and about the organization for
those that may not ex necessarily know
what the solid South Central is or does
for our communities. I'm a graduate at
NMSU with engineering degrees, masters
environmental engineering, bachelors in
industrial. I've worked for the federal
government over the last 30 years,
different capacities including with the
air force uh core of engineers and the
army as an environmental engineer. I
started as a interim uh doing has waste
management, solid waste management,
recycling programs and then eventually
uh was given the job as environmental
division chief for White Sands Missile
Range. uh and then eventually eight more
years as public service public works
director at whit sands. The last two
years I've actually worked for the
department of agriculture and emergency
response capacity as an environmental
engineer uh in response to foreign
animal diseases. Everyone might have
heard of the aven influenza. That was
one of our big big ones the last couple
years. So I I really am happy about
giving the opportunity. I took the early
out so to speak of the federal
government given the certain u uh
current circumstances. Uh and I am so
happy that I got an opportunity to serve
at the national level with the federal
government and given this opportunity to
serve at the local level with our city
and the county. A little bit about the
South Central 108 employees that do a
lot of good work out there. They are the
experts. I I've been visiting them. I've
got about 95%
uh faces to names and I really
appreciate that taking taking the time
to know what they what they do for us,
our facilities and the the very vital
service that they provide here to our to
our communities. Uh if anybody uh has
ever
noticed a day when their trash is not
picked up, I I that's what, you know,
one of those very important services
that the minute it's not there, we
notice. And I try to instill a sense of
pride of what these people do for us. Uh
and from every capacity, every facet of
our operations from the laborers all the
way to the heavy equipment operators to
our engineers. Uh it's very important
that we provide a very sustainable
service to the organization. I believe I
have the background to provide that. I
didn't know the previous uh director. We
worked together for 15 some years and uh
we saw eye to eye in a lot of different
things. But I also realize it's now my
my uh ship to steer and with the uh with
the assistance of my subject matter
experts, I hope to do a great job for
our community and for the organization.
Uh thank you again for your time.
Thank you again, Mr. Gagos, and welcome
and congratulations.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Okay, we'll go ahead and begin with the
public participation.
Mayor, Council, all the folks here today
and those watching online. I'm Lynn
Moore. The utilities director asserts
that New Mexico Environment Department
and EPA are aware of how Lasus Utilities
is inspecting its lines to comply with
the lead and copper rule. That's a
curious justification for a technique
that clearly does not comply with EPA
guidance. New Mexico Environment
Department has no role in enforcing the
rule because the state does not have
primacy. EPA is the sole agency with
enforcement authority. It's troubling
that the director doesn't understand
this distinction. Even if EPA is aware
of the city's deficient technique, it
doesn't mean the agency approves of it.
EPA may be working on an enforcement
action against the city. The director
should explain how the city's technique
of just looking in the meter box can
identify lead lining inside the pipe.
How does it identify a lead segment
farther up the line? How does it deal
with a setter meter? Where is the
evidence for each property that this
technique results in an accurate
conclusion as EPA requires? An EPA
document dated October 2024 says water
systems must use a validation process to
ensure the service line inventory is
accurate. You and city staff were
provided this document so everyone has
been informed about this federal
requirement for accuracy. Despite this
requirement, Los Cusus Utilities
provides false assertions in its
inventory. Handout one sets out facts
regarding the city's practice of falsely
characterizing pipes as non-LED based on
installation date after the 1986 lead
ban when their installation date is
prior to it. These properties constitute
28% of 81 properties sampled. This means
the city falsely characterized more than
a quarter of the property sampled as
non-LED based on installation date after
the 1986 lead ban. Review of the
installation date column plainly shows
that each is prior to 1986. It is not a
close question. Top city staff should be
able to see this obvious fact and stop
providing cover for the director's
continued provision of false information
to the public. Review of the record date
column shows that most of these 23
properties were posted with this false
information for eight months on the
city's inventory. Then in midJune, all
installation dates were disappeared.
This removes any basis. Without basis,
there's no credibility. Here's the
thing. Being able to tell whether a date
is before or after 1986 is pretty
simple. If Las Cusus utilities can't get
it right 28% of the time, we cannot ever
trust them when they say pipe is non-led
based on insulation after the lead ban.
The director asserted at the last
meeting, "We believe we're meeting all
requirements." Seriously, I doubt anyone
at EPA agrees that providing false
information in the inventory complies
with the rule. That the director and
city staff have been repeatedly informed
about this and other federal
requirements the city is violating yet
continues to fail to comply makes each a
knowing violation which can lead to more
severe penalties. You all should know
that as of this weekend, Los Cusus's
Utilities has disappeared the entire
online inventory without explanation.
another colossal violation of EPA
requirements.
Thank you for this opportunity to speak.
[Music]
Mayor, city council, I'm Liz Rodriguez
Johnson. I'm going to outline another
problem evident in in Lascus utilities
compliance with the lead and copper
rule. This one pertains to its
classification of pipes using as a basis
quote water sampling only with no
records.
Handout A lists 32 properties found so
far for which the inventory uses that
basis. Without records, nothing can be
proven. So none of these classifications
can be proven to be accurate. Water
sampling only with no records is plainly
not an evidence-based technique like EPA
requires. Plus, without records, how do
you even know that sampling occurred?
Without records, it didn't happen. The
the Lasur's Utilities offices had
problematic inventory records
disappeared, which allows them to try to
argue that none of the problems occurred
when in fact we have hard copies of the
disappeared records.
90% of the water sampling only with no
records properties have not been
verified using evaluation of another
method. For the three properties that
indicate a non-LED status verified by
visual inspection at the meter meter
pit, the technique that the city uses is
so flawed that it doesn't actually
verify anything. Moreover, for more than
half of the properties, the reported
water sampling yielded a classification
of unknown. So, water sampling can lead
to either a non-LED or an unknown
classification. And that just doesn't
make sense. Thus, water sampling only
with no records is neither reliable nor
a proven evidence-based technique like
EPA requires. A variation of this flawed
basis is a second problem evident in
Lasurus' utilities inventory. The
examples of this are so numerous that a
list of these addresses were not
compiled for you at this time. In the
second case, the city classifies
properties all across the city as
non-land based on field inspection only
with no records. like water sampling
only with no records, field inspection
only with no records is not an
evidence-based technique that can be
proven to be accurate. Therefore, it
doesn't comply with EPA requirements.
Again, without records, one cannot be
certain that an inspection actually
occurred or what the purported
inspection consisted of and use of
visual inspection at the meter pit does
not actually verify anything because the
technique is so inadequate. Why, ladies
and gentlemen, why is the city choosing
to use two such utterly inappropriate
grounds for classifying pipes?
classifications that are critical to
protecting public health, especially
that of the vulnerable and the
relatively powerless citizens of
Laserus. Thank you.
Good afternoon, mayor, city council. My
name is Eddie Thomas. I want to talk to
you about what I have termed the culture
of crime in Los Cusus. In certain
circles, parents in Los Cusus raise
their children to hate police and resist
arrests. They join gangs and end up
either getting arrested or getting
killed. If we love our children, we
would interdict and steer them from this
bad road. If they survive, they end up
as adults with juvenile records, then
find it difficult getting a job or
getting into trade school or college.
Their working lives are limited, thus
making a life of crime an attractive and
easy choice. Selling drugs or
transporting illegal immigrants doesn't
take any talent or skill. It may even
become a necessity in order to survive
in the gang life. Even if you do get a
job, you'll be closely watched and can
expect to be fired on the spot at the
first sign of trouble. Second chances
rarely come to those with a criminal
record. Nothing is going to reduce our
crime statistics until parents in Los
Cusus stop supplying gangs with fresh
recruits. If we can't get our
legislature to pass meaningful laws to
curb crime, then we the people and more
specifically the parents have to get
involved. Something has to break this
circle of criminality that is
self-perpetuating. We have to give our
kids alternatives to gang life such as
sports, boys clubs, music, church
activities, or extracurricular
activities that aren't illegal. Watch
who their friends are. Who are they
hanging out with? Academics or
gangbangers? You may have to get real
angry and insistent, but it is something
they might thank you for when they get
their degree from college or trade
school. Imagine your heart bursting with
pride when you see your kid walking off
the stage with a diploma in his hand.
Now, imagine that same kid behind bars
wearing orange overalls with the letters
DOC on the back. It's up to us as
parents. We are all influenced by the
company we keep. If you love your kid,
watch the company he keeps. The police
are not the problem, as some would have
you think. You want to do something
about crime in Los Cusus? Raise your
kids to respect the law. There seems to
be an anti- police sentiment here in Los
Cusus. As societies go, that's
counterintuitive. You need law and order
to keep the peace and thrive as a city.
Commerce dries up when there's no law
and order. Need proof? Just look at the
boarded up businesses around town.
There's a perfect example just across
the street from here. It used to be a
tire shop. Now it's a boarded up
building that probably provides a hiding
place for mischief makers and homeless.
Do you as mayor and city council want to
save Los Cusus from the death spiral
it's currently in? then advocate for
laws that actually deter crime so that
we don't have gang wars in our parks and
police officers murdered by deranged
violent career criminals. Thank you.
[Applause]
Let me see how to aim this thing.
Mr. Mayor,
council,
I'm Lonnie Montgomery. I'm a follower of
Jesus Christ and I'm here bringing
greetings from the riff raft to the
oligarchy.
the oligarchy pulled pushed through the
uh
housing with the help of the zoning and
we tried to get a bunch of people to
vote so we get get it on the ballot so
the people could vote on it but it
wouldn't matter if we had 45,000 45 4400
989 wouldn't not been approved but it
went on and I congratulate you and uh
but the voting they've done uh a lot of
good things it's like when they were
having Sonoma there they There were five
of us there. There was me and my son and
his wife and there were two people and
they were all those two were on
crutches. And this one lady said, "I
don't want this built out there because
it's going to take away my view of the
beautiful Oregon mountains."
But
they said it didn't matter. So to me,
uh, that just didn't work. And then when
we had a church that was going to have a
dispensary built next to it that's two
feet away from the church property, they
uh zoning called the attorney there and
said, "Is this illegal?" And she said,
"Yes, it is." And they said, "Oh, well,
that's okay. We'll pass it." And they
passed it. And the thing came and it
came in there. Anyway, it's gone now
because uh God took it away or whatever.
But anyway, that just goes to show me
that the zoning thing just doesn't give
a tinker damn on what's going on. And
but uh we need to come together here.
And Pastor Dennis preached about two
months ago that Jesus loves everyone. Uh
he's known you from conception of all
sons of God. But we need to love even
our adversaries. So I'm bringing a
message to you today, Mr. Mayor,
Council. I love you and I shall continue
to love you and I shall continue praying
for you daily and I will continue from
there on. But uh as we're both all sons
of God and everything being an older
sibling, I wanted to give you a little
warning. Please do watch what you speak
to the public that could lead to
traducement.
to reducement.
If you go go on to reducing like that,
sooner or later you're going to end up
in court. And that's just the warning.
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Good afternoon, mayor, city council. My
name is Lucas H. Hearnen. I'm a resident
of district 2.
Um
I'm here today because well I'm often
here but uh in particular last uh last
city council meeting after I spoke uh
there was a um sentiment expressed that
uh certain people don't want to hear
um certain ideas presented at city
council and um
that expression of of my free speech
um is something that I thought was held
dear in this country. Um and as I've
been looking around and noticing sort of
the way things are going, it feels like
lots of things that I was taught what
this country stands for don't appear to
be
agreed upon by everybody in this country
at this point in time. Um, it is my
opinion that as a community we have a
moral obligation to do what we can to
help each other and as we pull our
resources through things like taxes and
build budgets for this city to spend in
ways that can help our community. Um,
two weeks ago you did a good thing by
passing a $640ish,000
uh an ordinance that would allow you to
accept that kind of money uh for a seed
grant which will help low-income people
make their homes more energy efficient,
thus saving them money, thus making them
more able to contribute to our
collective society. Um, meanwhile, um,
the Los Cusus police, uh, posted some
very giddy photo, uh, photos of their
new Bearcat, which is made by a company
called Linkco. Uh, those, uh, these
vehicles cost anywhere between 200,000
and 450,000 depending on, you know,
which model you get. Um, I don't know
what model LCPD just procured, but um,
that's a lot of money that, you know,
could go towards directly helping people
in our community based on the amount we
just passed for this seed grant. Um, so
when I express my opinions about the
police and how we provide them with far
too many resources comparatively to what
we provide our actual citizens, um, I I
don't uh I don't feel like my opinions
are any less valid than anybody else's.
Um, we are here to debate those in this
public forum. I will continue to do so.
And then finally I will say that um in
the national front uh as we have seen
this expression of of restricting speech
and um in the name of public safety or
something to that effect. And I would
remind all those paying attention that
one of our dear calls to action at the
founding of this country was give me
liberty or give me death. And I stand by
that.
Good morning. Uh my name is Jim Hurst.
Uh I may owe some of you an apology. I
thought you had some power in the state
and uh apparently I'm incorrect that uh
this this county council or this city uh
city council has no
uh
no handle on our government uh as far as
the state. I guess power goes down not
up. Um there is a serious issue though.
Voting by mail
increases voter turnout. Presumably
votes with higher turnout are more in
tune with democracy.
The more people that vote, the more the
voting reflects the people's will. The
people's will is supposed to prevail in
a democracy.
Voting by mail allows more people to
vote more times.
not in an illegal way, but they'll show
up every election if you let them vote
by mail.
There's a mechanism in the state. The
state allows permanent vote by mail.
You're supposed to be able to sign up
for it online,
but it's only open for a few months
before the elections.
We are less than a 100 days away from
the next election.
The state portal for signing up to vote
by mail on a permanent basis online does
not function. It is not open.
Apparently, somebody thinks nobody's
going to do that this far before the
election. But
if you're hoping to have a campaign to
increase voting by mail, now is the time
to print literature, to train
volunteers, to start signing up people
to vote by mail.
That can't be done while the portal is
closed.
So, I don't know what influence you have
with who. I'm just begging you to find
it, use it, and make voting more
accessible by demanding that the
Secretary of State open the portal now.
Not Labor Day, not six weeks before the
election or whenever the hell they were
planning to do it, but now so that we
can build campaigns around it.
Thank you very much.
[Applause]
Tim Jenkins here. I've been a plumber
here in Las Cusus for over 20 years now.
And I personally service about 90% of
restaurants, hotels, motel, hospitals,
etc. And it is absolutely heartbreaking
to see the demise of this city. And it
seems to especially have gotten worse
and worse in the last 5 years. You used
to be able to go to a restaurant and sit
down for a bite to eat and when you
needed or wanted to go to the restroom
to wash your hands before eating. But
now almost every single restaurant in
this town has to have their restrooms
under lock and key because of the
destruction to their property from the
unhoused or mentally ill or the
unstable. There was a field engineer
visiting me last week from back east and
we were grabbing a bite to eat before
heading to Hollowman Air Force Base for
a job and he had to wait 10 minutes to
use the restroom until a manager was
available to unlock the restroom for
him. He was absolutely shocked and says
to me, "What the f is going on in Los
Cusus that all the bathrooms have to be
locked?"
And I was so ashamed and embarrassed
that this is the city that I call home.
And I wish I could invite people here
and be proud of my city. But the sad
reality is that I am not proud of this
city. And it's embarrassing to invite
people here with this with the state of
this city. And I can guarantee you that
I don't have all the right answers and
don't know all the steps to take to
change this around. But what I do know
is that we can spend $20 million
building houses and economic development
and not a single thing will ever change
until we start to deal with the actual
root of the problem. So I demand that we
as a whole start actively working
together to address the crime and the
mental illness in our very own city.
We have multiple times asked for work
sessions and collaboration to help with
these exact issues in every way we can,
but instead we get called names and get
vilified for our efforts. Thank you.
[Applause]
Hi. Uh, good afternoon, uh, Mayor Eric
Enriquez and everybody of the audience.
My name is Belinda Robertson, candidate,
Republican for governor of the New
Mexico 2026.
I decid everybody know why I decide to
be a governor of New Mexico. The first
thing to put an order
in the area criminal in the area of the
injustice
by judes in the third judicial district
in the city of Las Cruises, New Mexico.
I want that everybody know.
Ma'am, hold on a second. Um, if you're
running for a
political office, you can't you can't
share that during public comments.
Well, no. I'm going to say my problem
that I have in the tier judicial
district.
Yeah. You just can't speak to the fact
like anything as far as campaigning.
Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Um, I have a problem that my daughter,
my husband have the custod of my
daughter and I want the I claimed the
custodial my daughter of emergency
because one of the police officers was
affected because my daughter was driving
uh with alone with no driver license
with no permit with no age with no uh
car insurance in the city of Las Cruises
and it's a child end indumentment and
and the life of of drivers around the
city of lac cruises are in uh are in
danger in my daughter drive she's she
just turned 15 years old and one of the
she cr she have a collision car
collision and crash the car with a
police officer from Las Cus police
department and I already put the motion
that I want emergency but I want my
doubt there claim the rights of the
biology mother on my on my daughter but
they they us she don't give me my
daughter and I don't have felonies or
criminal history and this is why I came
to here to if you can investigate or
help me to recovering my doubt there
and I give you a copy of the statements
that I present in the in the judicial
district in the city of Lasuses New
Meico. Uh the case is D307DM
and I claim the the the rights of the
biology mother of McKenzie Rochelle
Robertson and Cameron Robertson. She
born on December uh 14, 2009.
And Cameron born on on January uh 20,
2011.
and
and then um I accused my husband K
Robertson for negligence because it's
the same to if you leave a arm or a arm
to a a kids he leave the kids to the
kids and it's the same he it's example
he he saw the army he going to shooting
people around the cruises because he
doesn't know and my daughter she take
the car and ruining a high velocity
And one of the thing that I complain and
I want that the Jeremy story check this
ma'am ma'am your your three minutes are
up.
Yes, but I want that he reviews.
Hey uh we've got it with the city
attorney. The city attorney will respond
to you.
Okay.
All right. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Hello Mayor Council Jim Wilcox. Uh have
some good news. We have a position
posted for the active transportation
coordinator. Good job on that. And I'm a
member of the Association of Bicycle
Pedestrian uh planners and I posted that
on their site and I put it a really good
word for uh the city of Los Cusus and
how great it is to work with the council
and the other people who are employed
here. Uh, as far as that position, I
recommend that you include a uh non
voting community member, and that person
should be not me.
It could be somebody in our community
that's involved in bicycle, pedestrian,
and transportation. And it would offer
insights and credibility. And I
recommend the head of the board chair of
Velocuses, which is Donald Wilson. He is
a native of the city and he's uh an
administr he has a background in
administration and he's familiar with
EEO. So that would be somebody I'd
recommend you put on that committee.
They don't have to be a voting member.
Secondly, I'm also happy to say that we
have a weed ordinance that's been
tendered and I would like to just
indulge you a little bit because I won't
be here when the discussion happens. I'm
going to be out of out of the area. So
it's really great because uh I talked to
Officer Roach. He did a great job in
looking at his direct reports who are
out in the field and ask them what they
thought. That's a really good sign of a
manager to do that. And it lists eight
weeds. And when you list those weeds, if
it should be passed, when you list those
weeds, put a link to the picture so that
people would know. And I would also
recommend that you show also pictures of
the things we want to see, the native
plants that people could plant because
that's like the the carrot also. Um, and
you can also educate people at this at
the farmers market. Uh, and I recommend
you talk to the native plant society of
which I'm a member also. They have
insight into the details about this as
far as which plants you should have uh
be encouraging that people uh plant in
our area. So, those are and they'll get
the word out also help get the word out
about uh the weeds we don't want to see.
So, you're going to take a it's going to
take a little bit of education process.
Get a table down at the farmers market.
Have them you could have the weeds out
there and have them identify which ones
are good and which ones aren't. That'd
be kind of fun. And then, uh, finally,
just a little hint about something or a
suggestion. The current grass height, I
think, is recommended around 4 in. I
think it's a little short. You know, I
was out there cutting my grass the other
day and I'm like me, got my ruler out
there, you know, so I recommend
something around 6 in. I think that's
good. You know, they say, "Well, we
don't want the vermin to hide under the
grass." Well, there are there's already
bushes and stuff that cover huge areas
of of yards that go right down to the
ground. So, I think 6 in would still be
able to see those vermin running around
in your front yard. So, thank you for
your time and congratulations on these
two accomplishments.
Hello
ladies and gentlemen. Um I didn't plan
on saying something
but um I make a very long story of
years.
Ma'am, what's your name? Can you state
your name?
Yes. Doris Bhman and I'm the resident of
422 East May Avenue and we have 414
later.
Ma'am, that one is coming up on our
agenda.
I don't want to talk about that.
Okay. If you're not going to speak about
that, that's
Yes,
we'll we'll open it up for discussion
after if you want to say something
during that item, but you can speak
about it now.
Okay. Thank you. Um I want to speak
about um all the action that is
happening in our street and um many
people know um drug dealing there's a
lot of stuff sites are used as dumb
sites fires and all that. My question is
very simple. Why is it so difficult to
get a camera on the corner where the
main action on the side of the daycare
in San Pedro uh would be put. We once
had it there and the activity uh went
down and um I was told by the police
it's not up to them to decide where
those cameras are. The argument is often
that um the camera is against the you
know privacy policies and all that and
if you would go out and ask the people
in our streets I'm pretty sure that 99%
would be for the camera because of the
impact that all that has in our street.
Um there are certain times when certain
uh cars in the night are driving down
and the activity is very high. People
are coming from everywhere and they're
throwing stuff in that truck, in that
black truck and it has a sidec car that
is always accompanying this truck and
then they leave again and everybody in
the street knows that these are the
cartel people and I don't know, I'm not
a professional. I'm just living right
there and it's very hard to live there
and every night to listen to how bad it
gets.
And I just wanted to throw in the
question about the police camera these
these ones that they have on the Walmart
properties, you know, for to check on.
So, um that's all and thank you for the
city because the city is um doing a
great work with what I'm not supposed to
talk about. Thank you so much. Thank
you. Bye.
That's fair enough just not to speak at
this time, but there'll be an
opportunity. So, next is a closed
meeting statement. Uh, the city of Los
Cruus uh, city council met in close
session at 10:44 a.m. on August 18th,
2025. The following were in attendance.
Mayor Eric Enriquez, uh, Councelor
Cassie Mccclure, Councelor Graham, Mayor
Prom Bencomo,
via phone, Councelor Flores, Chief Mike
Daniels of the fire department, Henry
Becker, city assistant city attorney,
Brad Douglas, city attorney, uh, Barbara
Beno,
Econi Tamopa, uh, chief uh, Jeremy Story
of the Police Department, and Christine
Rietta, our city clerk. Outside council
was Luis Robles and Chris Delfino.
Barbara Beno left at 10 a.m. I mean
11:00 a.m. Uh Flores uh was off uh via
phone at 11:20 a.m. and I reported at
11:18 a.m.
The Los Cusa City Council met in close
session to discuss the opioid litigation
update regarding Purdue Pharma
bankruptcy and Sackler settlements. to
discuss pending litigation regarding
Melissa Leah Ronio personnel
representative a wrongful death estate
of Connie Palano versus the city of Los
Cusus to discuss pending litigation
regarding Brandon Baron Yolanda Mirales
Manuel Saledo Contras and Lorenzo Mirees
and next friend of DB a minor versus the
city of Los Cruus. Also to discuss
pending litigation regarding Pette Ezy
and Pamela Easy Sylvestra as personal
representatives of the state of the
Priestley Easy versus City of Los Cusus.
Uh this meeting adjourned at 12:44 p.m.
Next is the acceptance of agenda.
Move to approve. Second.
This is on the motion to accept the
agenda as presented. Councelor Mccclur.
Yes.
Councelor Matise.
Yes.
Councelor Graham.
Yes.
Councelor Karan.
Yes.
Councelor Flootus is absent. Councelor
Beno.
Yes. and mayor.
Yes.
Next, we'll move to resolution and or
ordinance for discussions 8.1. That's
resolution number 26-025,
a resolution adopting a two-year funding
strategy for the use of opioid
settlement funds to address the harms of
the opioid crisis.
Move to approve. Second
and we'll have Barbara Ben Como.
Good afternoon, Mayor, Mayor Prom, and
city council. Uh, Barbara Ben Como for
the record to speak with you today about
recommendations for the expenditure of
opioid settlement funds. And I also want
to rec recognize to her with me today.
We have um Jamie Michael who is the
Donana County director of health and
human services as she has been uh a
partner through this coordinated process
with the county. And then we have Wes
Smith uh LCFD case manager who's also
been assisting and forming these uh
recommendations. So I want to thank them
both for being here. We also have
advisory council members here and we
have folks from Los Cruus's public
schools.
So today our presentation agenda
includes briefly going over the
settlement agreements
um and then reviewing the strategies,
goals, settings and populations which
have been brought forward in previous
work sessions and supported. then
reviewing recommended expenditure
amounts and discussion of next steps.
So for the current settlements, the city
is slated to receive just under $10
million through 2038 and as of July
2025, we have received just over $3.8
million of those funds. These are
settlements with distributors,
manufacturers, and retailers. They are
both national and state settlements.
The use of funds is to address the harms
of the opioid crisis and the use is also
governed by terms in the settlement
agreement.
Um the settlement agreement also
stipulates that funds be held separately
which we we do.
The framework for the allowable uses
really starts with the strategies that
are outlined in exhibit E uh from the
settlements and then cascades down to
goals, settings and populations which we
will go over. Um this framework is so
important and it's part of what we are
asking council to adopt today because it
will govern the expenditure of funds in
our community. The opioid settlement
advisory council utilized um community
needs assessment workshops and certainly
expertise of the advisory council
members to make these recommendations to
you and and they have come forward in
previous work sessions, but we're going
to talk about them again today. Um, of
the nine allowable strategies outlined
in exhibit E, the advisory council
recommended these four which gained
support at the March joint uh work
session with city council and county
commission and they include medication
assisted treatment, warm handoff and
recovery services,
prevention programs and data collection
reporting evaluation of the expenditure
of these funds to determine if they are
meeting uh the goals as intended.
Once we had support for the four
recommended strategies, then the
advisory council got to work on
developing goals, settings, and
populations
um for which the activities would
support the strategies. So you see some
of the goals here that were brought
forward in the in the most recently in
the June work session. But I do want to
point out that the last goal on this
page was added to align with the
strategy regarding data collection and
reporting so that we would we would have
something to govern the um performance
of those expenditures.
The settings and populations
that are recommended include um
emergency departments, people who
overdose, uh residential treatment
facilities, people with current
substance use disorder or serious mental
illness, uh for example.
um they include uh primary care, medical
care, for example, pregnant and
postpartum women and certainly the child
welfare continuum. And then in June when
we brought this forward to you, we also
added one additional setting that was
not on the original list of recommended
by the advisory council, but it was
recommended by uh Chief Story and Chief
Daniels, and that is the school setting
for children and youth at risk for
developing uh opioid use disorder. And
this is primarily prevention
programming.
So once the um strategies, goals,
settings, and populations
um garnered support, then we're bringing
forward today recommendations for
expenditures of the funds underneath
that framework that we just outlined.
The recommendation is for a two-year
funding cycle to expend the funds and
evaluate them. Um the recommendation is
that 30% of the city's total
distribution be allocated for this first
trunch of expenditures. That would
equate to 2 point just over $2.9
million. Of that, we would set aside
$327,000
to hire a position to help administer
the program and to enter into a contract
for evaluation jointly with the county.
For the funds that are to be spent
outside of the data collection and
reporting realm, the target would be for
60% of the funds to be spent on
treatment and 40% on prevention.
This would leave just over $864,000
left in the balance in the city's fund,
which would be augmented with annual
distributions and any new settlement
funds that we might uh receive.
Some examples of activities that could
be funded underneath the treatment
umbrella are here before you. And I've
highlighted one in yellow because it's
actually a specific expenditure request
as part of this resolution and that is
to purchase Nlloxxone uh for
distribution to first responders and I
just have indicated there that would go
to Los Cruz's fire department and police
department.
um for prevention. Again, some examples
of potential activities that could be
funded with highlights for two two line
items here. One to because they are part
of a specific expenditure request under
this resolution. One is to support
social emotional learning prevention
programmings programming in schools that
would go directly to Los Cusa Los
Cusus's public schools and one is to
fund substance use prevention
programming again in the school setting
but this would be administered by Los
Cus's police department.
So specifically, the request in the
resolution, as I mentioned, is to fund
or to expend 2,945,053
for the purposes of um addressing the
harms of the opioid crisis. $82,000
would go to purchasing Nlloxxone for
police and fire use. And then we would
have just under 1.5 million for
contracted treatment services. Then we
would have a direct allocation to Los
Cusus's public schools for their seal
prevention programming,
an allocation of $175,000
to Los Cusus's police department for
their substance use prevention
programming in schools, and then just
over $500,000
for contracted prevention programmings
programming. So altogether, this
proposal would have $2 million going to
the community um $2 million in treatment
and prevention programs for which
community providers could propose um uh
programs.
The proposal today for the city is to
allocate $2.9 million of the 3.8 8
million that we have received um for
this first trunch of expenditures.
Next week, the county commission is
going to hear a similar proposal to
spend $4.3 million of their funding,
which also equates to about 30% of their
expected uh distribution. So that a
total of $7.3 million would be available
in the community over the next two years
to address the harms of the opioid
crisis.
Next steps, as I mentioned, would
include the county commission resolution
going forward on August 26,
the development of the grant and the RFP
which would be in the September October
time frame.
The legislative health and human
services committee will be in Los Cusus
on September 8th and they have requested
a presentation our on our coordinated
efforts uh on opioid settlement funds
and Jamie Michael will be leading that
presentation.
Then we are planning a pre-proposal
community workshop on September 16th
here in council chambers from 9:00 a.m.
to 1:30 p.m. to go over the allowable
uses for the opioid settlement funds and
the expenditure framework, the
strategies, settings, goals, and
populations to help people understand
what kinds of activities could be funded
with the $2.9 million.
We anticipate releasing
the RFPs or grant notices in the October
November time frame, evaluating
proposals in the November December time
frame, and that would be a joint
evaluation between the city and the
county. And then awards in January
pending council approval.
So with that, I would stand for any
questions. And of course, I have some
other community members here with me as
well who would also be able to answer.
Thank you.
Thank you, Barbara. Uh, councelor
correct.
I I thank you, Barbara, and thank you to
the folks on the committee who I know
really worked hard to think critically
about this and move it forward. I really
appreciate you all's work and I and and
thoughtfulness. Um, I have a couple sort
of specific questions, but but I guess
I'll start with my my ongoing
admonition. And I know that there's a
lot of money going to prevention and I
just want to make sure that we don't do
DARE of the 80s anymore. I know everyone
has has agreed upon this, but I just
want to once again put it out there that
um this is an oriented toward
evidence-based uh contemporary methods
in in our approach to prevention because
I I know that that was a big misstep of
prior public health initiatives. So I
just want to again reiterate, I trust
that that the folks who are
administering this are thinking about
that in that context of evidence. Um but
specifically to the question um of what
the process is, I was wondering what the
the role of the committee is and how
that relates to the RFP. I do see that
there is a lot of contracted work. Um, I
would like the opioid settlement
advisory committee that's full of
professionals who do this work um to be
engaged in the future, but I also don't
want them to be excluded from RFPs. So I
think that that I I don't know how that
will work and I don't it's not something
for us to micromanage I don't think from
here but I just sort of want to speak to
I hope that the process is really
transparent which it sounds like there's
a strong plan to to have that process be
transparent but also to um
engage the folks who are who who know
the most about this to help support the
the process. And so I just want to speak
to um appreciating that transparency and
then also just getting clarity on what
the role of the council will be
specifically in those in those things
versus the RFPs and I know the city has
very high standards by which we we issue
money. So I'm confident that we'll go
through those types of processes. But
I'm hoping you could talk a little bit
more about that.
Absolutely. Thank you very much for the
question uh mayor and council councelor
Karan. So with respect to the prevention
efforts and concerns about the kinds of
programming that we're talking about, I
know we are talking about a revised
program um called keeping it real. This
is the one that the police department
would like to launch as an option for
the public schools. There's currently a
pilot program going on right now with
two schools in LCPS. Um, but the police
department would like to train officers
to be able to teach that curriculum,
which I understand is evidence-based
again as an option in the public
schools. And I know that uh Lieutenant
Wedela helped to draft the uh proposal
for what this will look like over the
next two years. So I I know she'll be
happy to speak to that if you want more
detail on that. Um, regarding your
second question on the adi the opioid
settlement advisory council and their
role. Yeah, we absolutely want to make
sure that we both uh engage them for
their expertise but also allow them to
uh have the opportunity to make
proposals with whatever organizations
that they might be working with. Um with
respect to the RFP and the grant that
will be very administrative um uh
focused in terms of how we develop those
requirements and get them out there. We
are anticipating that on the EVI on the
evaluation committee which would be both
from the city and the county that we
could have one external subject matter
expert and obviously somebody not
connected with anyone making proposals.
We do also anticipate that the members
of the advisory council are going to be
very heavily involved as we develop the
reporting structure for the
expenditures, the evaluation of the
efficacy of the expenditures, ensuring
that the outcomes are those that we
intended. They certainly have a very
strong role in that part of the process
on an ongoing basis as well. Does that
answer your question?
It it does. Thank you. But it does bring
up one other quick question just related
to the evaluation. So the evaluation
work that's included in this will be
contracted out or that will be okay that
Jamie is shaking her head. So I just
want I was just curious if what the role
was. So thank you. That helps. That
answers all of my my concerns because I
wouldn't want us to be like, "Oh, we
have a process and we enlisted all of
the experts to help us develop this and
then none of those experts can actually
participate in in the the work because I
think there are a lot of good folks
contributing um who work with different
agencies. So, thank you again. I really
appreciate y'all's work." And that's all
I have. Luke, LTI, I know I know I know
we've had this conversation before. So,
I have confidence in y'all's and Chief
Story has also mentioned his commitment
to to following the evidence on this.
So, thank you.
Thank you. Anyone else? Mayor Pro.
Um, thanks Barbara and thanks everyone
again for getting us here. Um, yeah,
just I think I'm still unclear about
uh sort of the joint part of this
effort. Um, so if someone wants to
submit an RFP for the funds, um, is
there going to be two different RFP
processes, just one? Is there actually
two pots of money and not really one?
Yes, mayor and um, Mayor Pompo. Uh, yes,
great question. We do have our own funds
that have come to us at the city and we
have them in a very, you know, set
aside. the county has received their own
right pot of funds as well. So we do
anticipate that we will have two
coordinated processes. The county will
uh probably uh do an RFP process as a
city. We will probably do a grant
process similar to what we did um for
other funds uh like for our ARPA
community funds for example. Um we
certainly have not had a joint effort of
this kind before. So, we're sort of
working our way through that. What it
looks like, one of the important steps
um to that though is the coordination of
our grants team and the city's
procurement team, which we we've already
had some initial meetings on how this
could be structured. Also, the joint
pre-proposal conference so that we get
the same message out to the community
because I very much anticipate that we
will get some of those same questions.
it is very possible that both the city
and the county will want to fund some of
the same activities. So we definitely
don't want to be um it for it to be an
ownorous pro process burdensome uh for
the community providers. So I anticipate
that as we get proposals and jointly
evaluate them between the city and the
county that there might be some future
consideration of pooling funds in
certain ways so that we don't have to
have multiple contracts for the same ser
services. But again that's sort of yet
to be determined as we receive proposals
and as a as a uh in in that coordinated
effort determine you know how we're
going to spend those funds. So, I can't
answer exactly right now, but I can tell
you that there are a lot of efforts to
make this a coordinated effort so that
we don't have
um too many administrative costs
associated with these funds going out to
the community and certainly that we
don't duplicate services unless we
intend to uh you know really beef up
programming in a certain area.
Thank you. Yeah. No, that's helpful. Um
I get it. It's new territory. So, I
think I definitely commend all of you
for, you know, diving in fully on this.
Um, I look forward to how it goes.
Speaking of beefing up certain things.
Um, since last work session, I'm curious
about
exploring
and again, I don't know given
anti-donation. I don't know even if this
money is tied to that or not. Actually,
now that I think about it, it's not
right. I'm curious about exploring an
opportunity for a nlloxxone community
uh
center, right? like where instead of
having uh local organizations who are
often utilizers of Nlloxxone have to go
through a grant writing process, an RFP
process if and and just using funds for
first responders. Is can we explore
that? Like can we explore some sort of
communitydriven nlloxxone
center? I'm sorry I don't have the
words, but I'm curious if um I just
feels like there could be a much easier
route for that kind of harm reduction
than for other kind of programming that
other server service providers may have.
Like this feels very low like Nlloxxone
feels very low level.
Uh good afternoon Jamie Michael
Countyy's Health and Human Services
Department, Mayor um city councilors and
uh Mayor Proemp and Como. The
are you talking about purchasing the
lock zone and giving it out to
organizations so they can either use it
or distribute it to the people they
serve? We are already doing that with
both state and county funding and we
will continue to to do that with the
opioid settlement funds that the if the
if this it's in the proposal for county
commission to approve that. Um if we
continue to get state funding we'll
continue to do that. So right now that
is what is happening. We purchase large
amounts twice a year um and give them
out to organizations and ask them to
distribute on our behalf. So it's not an
anti-donation. Um and I know there is
funding that um Barbara put in the
proposal for you all. Um it would go to
first responders and law enforcement and
sometimes um first responders and law
enforcement also distribute out to the
the public. So we are talking about how
to
synergize those purchases. So it's we
get you know biggest bang for the buck
if there's um efficiencies and buying in
bulk. But we will continue. You're
right. That is one of the easiest and
most effective things to do is get um
the lock zone out. That's really great
to hear, Jamie. Thank you for for
educating me on that and the public. And
then I think Barbara and for Chiefs, as
much as I think we can do that for the
city, right? Like be first responders,
be the distributors of that for
organizations that use often use
Nlloxxone. Um I think that's much faster
harm reduction than having to go through
a bureaucratic grant process to apply
for Nlloxxone. So thank you for that.
And I Excuse me. I'm just going to
interrupt. I didn't I didn't mean to
leave out Chief Story and Chief Daniels,
but they actually proposed the funds
that are in your um resolution today for
no lock and so I I didn't know if they
wanted to speak to that distribution or
purchasing or programming at all, but I
wanted to give you the opportunity.
Thank you. Um and then just lastly, my I
had similar concerns about the 175 set
aside for the substance use prevention
programming in schools. Um, I have
similar reservations about their
curriculum. I'm sorry. And I think even
when I think about the name of it, I
think I would tell like my 17-year-old
and she just cringe at me keeping it
real really. And so I just I do I I want
us to be able to is this money able to
explore other uh programming? And then
that essenti also I think another sort
of tension I'm having is that we're
telling the schools what kind of
curriculum to adopt and I know it's an
option but are we able to provide a menu
of options
that they think work to you know the
population. So I'll address one part of
that and then I'll let Lieutenant Widela
jump in here.
with respect to the um funding. So in
the resolution we have um allocated the
funds for the purpose of sub substance
use prevention programming to be
administered by Las Cru's police
department and I expect that Lieutenant
Weedle and others will join in to say
you know kind of what will formulate
their thought process about where to go
with that. With respect to the public
schools, I think that we have been very
careful to say that this would be an
option for them. They have a lot of I
they educated me actually. They have a
lot of different options at the schools
for the different levels, elementary,
middle, and high school for different
prevention programming. Uh which is
great, but they certainly have schools
where there are gaps or maybe there are
schools where uh that particular school
would want a particular type of
programming. And that's why we want to
make sure that we can bring that forward
as an option. But I'll let Lieutenant
Widila Widila add to that.
And Lieutenant, before you go, if
there's someone from the schools here
that also maybe wants to add something,
that'd be great. Okay, great. Thank you,
Mayor. Go ahead, Lieutenant. Thank you.
Lieutenant Weedle for the record. And
yes, uh, Mayor, Mayor Propen, and
counselors. So, full transparency, what
we're looking at right now is the
keeping it real curriculum. And I can
understand that a 17-year-old would find
that very cringy. Um, with that
curriculum, it is more so focused on the
elementary schools. uh which when we're
taking a look at our community in
particular tends to be when we're
thinking prevention kid-wise where we
want to address a lot of the concerns
that we have seen the last couple years.
Uh again full transparency yes it is
prior DARE programming
changed new curriculum and
evidence-based.
Uh with that said um you're exactly
right. Would it be beneficial for every
school? Potentially not. But this is
where it's going to be working in
collabor collaboration with those
schools to say, "Hey, this is an option
that you have. It's available to you. If
you feel that it would be best served
within your school and with those
students, it's available. However, there
are going to be some schools that are
going to be like, you know what, no,
we'd like to go with a different
program." Great. Um, again, uh, Dare of
the Olds was a lot of scare tactic, for
lack of a better word, is what I would
say. Um, this curriculum is entirely
changed. It's entirely different. It's
no longer that scare tactic. Um, it's
more about teaching, uh, kids choices
and responsibility and how to make
healthy choices. And so getting away
from the say no to drugs emphasis and
really again looking at teaching kids
critical thinking abilities. Does that
make sense? Um and again uh the way that
it was structured in the past, we would
not be doing it that way. Um it could be
an option of like this teacher really
feels it would be beneficial to this
class. Great. Um in the past it would be
like no, we're hitting the whole school
and this is what we're doing. No, we
realize that each classroom even has
different dynamics and so it really
would be working with the actual
individual schools to say what is it
that you need um with that this
curriculum also comes with um an
evaluation piece and so it would be
taking a look at what the students are
learning um having the officers um
evaluated by the teachers that are
overseeing them uh and again seeing
what's working and if it isn't and if
it's not. So,
thanks, Lieutenant. I appreciate the
thoughtfulness around that. Um, I really
do. Um, and then the the instructors are
officers.
So, yes, the way that we're looking at
it right now, we would have the
instructors as officers. However, they
can also be um firefighters.
Um, they could they could be retired
officers. Uh the way that we currently
want to structure it is uh we understand
that most officers have like their other
responsibilities but this would be an
additional um sign on. Okay.
Uh like um but with that said
there would be an assessment process.
Um so in other words I'm not just going
to say like oh yeah you want to come do
this? Let's do this. Uh no. Um what we
would want to do is we would want to
come up with an assessment process to
actually
see who's qualified. Uh after that they
would have to receive the training. Um
it's an intensive training where it ends
up being two weeks. You can't teach an
officer to be necessarily a teacher in
two weeks. However, you can teach them
the basis of the curriculum. And I would
like to think through the assessment
process, you're going to have the
officers that are invested in working
with their community and with the
teachers to see a difference.
Awesome. Thank you for that. Sure. I
appreciate it. Thanks, Mayor. Those are
all my questions, concerns.
Okay. Thank you. Um, Mayor, I mean,
councelor Matise.
Thank you, Mayor. Barbara, can you uh I
I believe it's page nine. If you could
bring up page nine. I just uh
Yeah. Um on the uh child welfare, could
you explain more on the children, youth
involved with the justice or care
system? Uh maybe more of an explanation
and detail on that. Thank you.
Good afternoon again. Jamie Michael
Countyy's Health and Human Services. Um
this is kind of a general terminology
for children who may be in like the
juvenile justice system or in child
protective services system. So any child
that is system involved in either of
those two areas. Um we would look at how
to develop uh services for that child or
that child and their family.
Does that make sense? uh very much. And
then the parent involvement with uh with
this program with the children.
Yes, absolutely. Um obviously if they're
in the care system, there um is probably
some reason why they are not in the the
home with their um with their parents.
So, we would work with CYFD and other um
early childhood providers in the
community to provide the type of
services that they need um in the home
or that the family needs, knowing that
the root cause of a lot of this is
substance use for the the parents.
Thank you.
Anyone else? No. Just going to open up
if there's anyone from the public. Los
Cusus Public Schools. Anyone that wish
to speak or have any comments on this?
Did you have two minutes? State your
name and you'll have two minutes.
uh mayor council Juan Garcia Leticia
myself and a few others and we met with
a couple of the council on the ad
advocating for this keep it real and uh
I want to say thank you. I hope you
support it. I think it's a good effort
particularly with a high juvenile crime
in Las Cusus and this is what prompted
us to get started on this. So again I
hope you support it and I hope you vote
for it. Thank you.
Hi, I'm Leticia Sanchez Freeman. So,
yes, I've been working with Juan and
LCPS since probably October
uh to try to get DARE into the public
school systems. The National Guard is
teaching it, as Barbara mentioned,
they're actually teaching it at Hornada
and Elementary uh Hornada Elementary and
MacArthur Elementary. this semester. So,
I just want to say thank you to Barbara.
Thank you to Chief Story and Lieutenant
Whitila. Where is she? There she is.
Thank you. Uh thank you so much for uh
for supporting this. I think it's a
great effort. Yes, it is not or no, it
is not the old DARE. It is a new
program. It is called Keeping It Real.
It's primarily structured for fifth
graders. But folks, we've met, Juan and
I met with folks from Deming that are
teaching it in Deming. Folks, police
officers from Silver City. I'm working
with uh Sergeant Robles who works for
Otto County. They're actually having
their DARE conference this week in Rio.
And I'm planning to meet with um
Representative Dao at 4:30 today because
I'm also hoping that we can get funds to
actually put together a do
uh which is DARE officer training course
here locally. So instead of sending your
police officers to Oklahoma or Missouri
where they typically have the classes,
why not do one here? because Sergeant
Robles, who's with Otto County, already
has three officers that are certified to
teach. The only thing they need to do
now, excuse me, is do shadow training
uh for a course somewhere and then they
will be ready to teach it locally. So,
if we can get funding for that, I think
that would be great. But just wanted to
say thank you
You can raise it up or down if you want.
Good afternoon, Mayor Enriquez, uh,
Mayor Promo, and uh, council members.
Roberto Losano. I am the chief of
educational equity and support programs.
Uh, first wanted to thank you for your
support in the allocation of funding
that hopefully will be approved. Um, as
mentioned by Barbara, we do have
programming across our schools in
elementary, middle, and high school. So
that will greatly um help us in
maintaining what we have and hopefully
um even getting better at what we offer
for our schools. Uh regarding regarding
the keeping it real program, we have had
several meetings um with Mr. Garcia and
Leticia and also uh members of uh the
police department around that. There are
um some promising um statistics around
the program. Um however, like Barbara
mentioned, the stance that we're taking
is that it will only be an option. Um I
don't think we'll ever get back to how
we were back in the day where every
fifth grader received it. Um we are
working with the UP coalition here in
Los Cruuses and they're helping us
develop a menu of options per se. Um and
really looking at the needs of the
school. Um so I just wanted to emphasize
those points and and thank you again for
the support and look at look forward to
the continued effort and collaboration.
Um my colleague Amy Himlrite is here. I
don't know if she wanted to add
something.
Good. Good afternoon. I'm the executive
director of academic counseling and
behavioral health for Los Cusus Public
Schools. And the only thing I would like
to add is that we truly have worked in
positive partnership with our school
resource officers. Um we we appreciate
them tremendously. And while we do have
programming in the schools, there are
gaps. And so it most certainly would be
helpful to us to bring in LCBD as a
community partner to help us ensure that
there's increased coverage of drug,
alcohol, tobacco prevention um at every
grade level.
Thank you. Sounds good. Thank you.
And I did want to mention that Amy is
also a member of our advisory council.
So thank you for your service there.
Great. Seeing no other comments,
Christine.
This is on the motion to approve
resolution 26-025.
Councelor McClure,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Graham,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Fletus is absent. Councelor
Beno,
yes.
And Mayor,
yes.
Next is item 8.2, Two, a resolution
adopting a two I'm sorry, a resolution
approving a nuisance substandard
dwelling or structure in need of
abatement at 414 East May Avenue within
the city limits of Los Cusus.
Move to approve.
Second.
And Chris favor will begin.
Good afternoon, Mayor Council. Chris
Favor, community development. For the
record, um before we start, let me just
say I took DARE in the fifth grade, and
I have an amazing story I can tell you
guys after council. So,
anyway, so we're here to talk about a
debatement of a structure at 414 East
May Avenue. Um, I do have uh the
resident who live next door, members of
codes um and fire and our uh uh historic
preservation specialist here uh if
there's questions for them. So, a little
bit of background. This property is in
the Mosquite uh original town district.
Uh it was built in 1915.
It has been unoccupied since about 1980,
sometime in the early 80s. And as of
today, there is no legal owner. there
are descendants of the deceased owner,
but there is no legal owner, which is
part of the issue that we've been
dealing with over the last few years. Uh
it was condemned uh as an unsafe
structure back in September of last
year. Uh and the structure currently
poses very significant safety concerns
for the neighborhood and many of the
residents.
Um it has been a frequent uh location
for a lot of the unhoused population to
access. Um there's been a lot of damage
um you know to the building and from
from the the uh incidents that have
taken place there. There have been many
uh calls uh and responses to fires on
site. Um about 29 public safety calls
over the last few months. And in late
2024, there was actually uh a deceased
body that was rem removed from the the
building.
Uh so the roof and part of the south
wall has collapsed. Uh and so it is a
very unsafe structure to be around. Um
and so the you know the dobby walls are
exposed and that's continuing to cause
uh additional deterioration of the
structure. What you can see in this
photo right here in the middle is
actually the the property uh the the
owner Doris on the on the property that
is still standing is pointing out the
the situation on that property where it
is collapsing and and pulling away from
her structure and potentially causing
damage to her existing historic
structure as well.
Looks like I got ahead of myself a
little bit. So yes, it is connected via
party wall to 422 East May. uh and so it
is potentially causing damage to that
historic structure. So we are trying to
do everything we can to save that
structure um and potentially salvage any
of the material from uh 414.
These are just a few other photos to
sort of document the conditions there on
site.
So just kind of highlighting the process
to this point and where we would go. So,
we did go to the historic preservation
committee for their recommendation to
demo in July. Um, it's never something
we want to have to do to demo a historic
adobe property like this. Um, but the
fact that it had sit sat vacant for so
many years really contributed to the
condition and the fact that there really
just wasn't much that we could do at
this point. One of the requests from HPC
was that we do everything we can to try
and salvage any of the material, whether
that's repurposing some of the adobe or
if there's any of the original wood
that's available. So, as we go through,
if if it's approved, as we go through
the demo process, we'll work with the
contractor to try and salvage any of the
material if possible. So, here we are
for the council resolution for demo. If
it it's approved, then what we'll have
to move forward with is notice by
publication since there is no known
legal owner and then we will work with
the contractor to de to demo and
potentially salvage and CD staff is
already soliciting potential bids from
from vendors and then ultimately when
it's all done we can lean the property
to recover the cost of the demolition
that the city will have to pay for.
So that's my presentation. And like I
said, I have fire codes and the historic
preservation specialist available if you
have questions. And of course, I'm here
as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Chris. Councelor K.
Thank you, Chris. I can't wait to hear
your dare stories. I I'm sending mine in
a followup to Chief Story and LT
Weedela. So, I'll include you on that.
Um, just as a few this this made me
think a number of questions. I'm glad
the person who lives next door is here.
I first I just want to say um this
stinks. like this situation stinks and
also we need to be doing things like
this and also it's a bad situation that
we have to deal with. I do hope I I
don't know um how connected they are but
I really hope that whatever happens with
the contractor we're really clear about
the safety of the existing structure and
and make sure that that is a really like
the primary thing that they're paying
attention to. um other issues I
understand salvaging things whatever
might matter but I think making sure
that we take care of the person's
existing structure is really critical
but this also has me thinking I looked
through the documents where we were
sending notices to someone who had
passed away like many years before in
the in the documents that that exist and
I it just made me think that perhaps
there is some way that we can find uh
it's the first week of school we do um
I'm going to digress a tiny bit, but
I'll get back to the point. We if we
have students that are like
not showing up, seem to be struggling
with something, we do like this crazy
early intervention where we have other
people call them, we send them other
things, we do a whole bunch of things to
try to get those students to to come
back to class and and succeed in our
classroom, right? That's part of our our
ethos at the community college. This
story makes me feel like, can we do
something? I don't know what it would
look like, but like an early alert
system where we say this house, the
person who owned this house died or the
family cannot afford it. Like like
something that puts a flag in all of our
systems so that we're communicating
clearly across the board and not waiting
until the person has been gone for many
years and it's been neglected and people
are lighting it on fire and it's falling
and the neighbor is complaining all the
time. I I think we could do better, I
guess, is what I would ask. And I wonder
if there's some way that we can create a
a kind of property flag like we have
nuisance abatement and that is I think
I'm really looking forward to us
addressing that. But I think I feel like
a little bit more upstream
maybe there are some indicators that we
could use to help us prevent this type
of situation. And I don't know if you
have any ideas that's a very sort of
abstract idea. It just feels like this
is an acute situation that should have
been prevented at a myriad of places and
and we I don't know if it's incumbent on
us to to address this. It it might not
be, but I I would like us to if we can.
Sure. Mayor, counselor Karan. So, let me
first start by saying that I will be
coming to a work session the end of
September to sort of lay out a more
aggressive approach to dealing with some
of these properties. And so some of that
will actually be demonstrating some of
the things that we're doing, but
ultimately what it comes down to is my
department working very closely with
codes to identify those properties and
potential ownership issues as soon as
they come on our radar. So what we're
doing is while codes is out there, if
they identify a property that
potentially is vacant early early in the
process, we can try and identify the
owner and and ultimately prevent
something like this from happening. This
is a very unique situation in that it's
been 40 years and even when the owner
passed away back then there was no legal
descent there. So we never really would
have had a process to reach out to
somebody else. But it like again that's
a very unique situation in most cases.
We've been doing a lot of research on
the properties that are on the NAT list
on all different levels from the extreme
cases all the way down to the ones at
the bottom that we're trying to prevent
to get to that point. And we're able to
usually identify an owner through a
variety of processes. And so we're
starting to document that process and
work, you know, having staff and
community development work closer with
codes. We do have some GIS resources
that we're putting into this that we'll
be demoing in that at that September
meeting to kind of show how we're
flagging these properties and getting
staff to be more aware of them early on
so that we can ultimately prevent this
from happening. There are several more
properties out there, not just in the
historic district, but around the city
that are going to kind of meet this same
fate where there is no owner. We've done
everything we could to identify it. And
ultimately, we're probably going to have
to push forward with with demo. But once
we get that process kind of back to to
to baseline, then we can sort of be more
proactive as these properties do come
up. So, that is the ultimate goal and we
can definitely discuss more of that at
the September work session.
Councelor
Matise, you know, Chris, I had some
questions on on abandoned buildings,
particularly from from businesses
and um is there anything when a business
just vacates and leaves and uh it just
gets really deteriorated, gets pretty
bad. Uh the property around it's not
handled. Sometimes they leave signage
that is uh maybe could be harmful that
uh people could uh harm themselves on
it. is what how does the ordinance cover
some of these abandoned
businesses particularly El Paso and I
think of churches chicken you know
that's kind of unsightly and then the
the theater I think it's going to the
Los Cusus Boys and Girls Club but u
is that the like the graffiti capital of
the world um I mean that's gotten pretty
ugly um how how do you address that how
to control that or
you know just just the question.
Sure.
Mayor, councelor Matis, that is a great
question. That is again something we can
discuss more in depth in September. But
to your point, we council has adopted
the international property maintenance
code that does set standards for what
buildings need to be when they're vacant
and what what level they need to be
maintained at. Again, that's going to be
more cooperation between community
development and codes to identify those
early on and work with those owners to
address that before it becomes an issue
or if it has become an issue to make
them bring that property uh up to code.
So, that is something that we are
working on now. Hasn't been a real point
of emphasis historically. So, we're
trying to remedy a lot of those
situations and kind of get everybody up
to speed. And then alternately there are
some other alternatives to sort of move
forward and deal with vacant properties
and buildings sort of in the long term
and and we can discuss other options
that are available. But again, it really
just gets back to working closely with
the resources we have now and enforcing
the code that's already been adopted.
And so we're using staff on the the the
building official and some of our our
staff there to go out and identify some
of these, meet with the owners, let them
know what the expectation is. I actually
just spoke with the owner of a a sort of
an abandoned commercial property on
Friday and let him know that we are, you
know, trying to move this forward. The
comment was made, oh, it's been sitting
vacant for years. And I'm like, yeah, I
know that's our bad, but now we're
trying to fix that and move that forward
and deal with those issues. So, we're
we're trying to be a little bit more
aggressive in our approach to identify
them earlier on than than letting them
get to this point.
Councelor
Mccclure,
I just want to add that um as I've been
going to the historic preservation
committee meetings, um I'm really
actually kind of optimistic about it. Um
given that there's the watch list, we
have a new chair and we have a new
historic preservation specialist and I
think everybody's really engaged. A lot
of the push back we got was why didn't
we take care of this 5 10 years ago? So
at this point, this is the time to
start, right? None of us were here. I
don't know if some of us were here at,
you know, 1015 years ago, but a lot of
times it's the best place to start was
yesterday, but second best is now. So,
I'm I'm actually really optimistic. I
just put it on my agenda to come on
Wednesday again and to meet the new
three preservation um committee members
and I just think that we now are kind of
having a new focus for this. So, that's
all I wanted to add. Thank you,
Mayor Proip.
Um, thanks, Mayor. Yeah, I totally
agree. seems it kind of seems like we
keep having this conversation about why
didn't they do something about it 15 20
years ago. Um and and for the folks that
have sort of gotten used to well it's
just always been abandoned and empty.
Why now? Yeah. Why now? It's because I
don't know you have a council that's
paying very close attention now I guess
and uh we want to do something about it.
Um, Chris, I'm curious about obviously
this particular
uh property had to go through a historic
preservation process. That's not going
to happen every time obviously, but I am
curious from the moment of condemnation
in September of last year to now. What
is what is it that takes this long to
get to where we are given the
deterioration of the property? And I say
this because I can think of at least
three properties in District 4 that look
very similar to this one.
Great question, Mayor. Mayor Prom. So, I
think there was a couple things specific
to this property that maybe made it take
a little bit longer, but I will admit it
probably shouldn't have taken this long.
The first one was we were trying to
identify potential owners because there
was the thought that maybe there was a
potential buyer. So we thought if we
could find somebody who was a legitimate
heir and connect them with somebody who
wanted to buy it, we were trying to give
that process a little bit long and we
worked with with Brad and his staff to
try to identify that. But ultimately
there just wasn't any options on that
path. The second reason is because it is
located within the historic district, it
requires a structural report in order to
do the demo. So, we had to to bring on a
structural engineer to go in and do the
analysis and provide us a report that
basically says that this property needs
to be demoed. Further complicating the
issue was the fact that it was attached
by a party wall to another property. So,
we were having to make sure that
whatever we were looking at was going to
take her property into consideration
because what we kept hearing was, you
know, you're not protecting a historic
property. You're trying to demo it and
and then to some extent, yes, that is an
argument, but now we're trying to
preserve the other historic property
next door. So, we wanted to make sure we
were doing everything we could to get
all the information we needed
specifically about that wall. and we had
the building official out there and fire
and codes and everybody was out there
actually up on the roof of the other
property looking to make sure that um
you know we knew what the conditions
were before we move forward. So it did
take a little bit longer. Other
properties that are not located within
the historic district won't take the
same amount of time. Um but hopefully
we're you know the plan is to move a lot
quicker on these where we identify them.
we try to find an owner if we have to go
in and abate the situation and then lean
the property and then move forward with
other remedies. We're doing that in a
more timely manner.
Thank you, Chris. I'm really looking
forward to the September conversation
and I also have a funny dare story for
later.
Is there any members of the public that
would like to speak this time? Did you
want to say anything to the property?
Dora, do you want to
Thank you.
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity.
Doris Bman again, 422 East May. Thank
you so much. I'm so thankful for what he
did and Mr. Milo and um the years that I
went through the last four years,
especially the last three
uh when I tell people about this, there
are in absolutely unbelief.
They want me to move away and all these
kind of things. waking up to a fire a
few feet away from your where you're
sleeping, getting knocked out of your h,
you know, from the fire department out
of the house. Um, standing in the smoke
of a melting, um, bathtub in plastic,
um, covering the whole air. Um, as I
said, the dis u the distress through the
night. Um because the people are still
just a few days ago they moved in again
in this property 414 with a mattress.
I'm just saying. Um in the meantime it's
used as a as a dump site. Um the whole
people that do not have trash bins,
they're bringing their trash now to this
property and it's just raising to the
top of the building. And um yeah, there
was um so many years of living in this
stress that I'm super super thankful
that it looks like this is not the only
thing that's going to change. The whole
neighbors, you know, they're everybody
is giving up the police, you know,
they're they're coming that
it's it's the same on the next day and
on the next day it's the same and the
next day it's the same. no matter how
much you call and this man here actually
made the difference. So, thank you so
much. Thank you for, you know, listening
even to that. Thank you.
Oh, thank you. Thank you, Chris. And
really look forward. Was there somebody
else?
Oh, I did not pay her to say that, by
the way. So,
you wanted to say something, ma'am. Yes.
If you you have to step up to the mic.
Uh state your name. You have two
minutes.
My my name is Belinda Robertson and I
want to ask a question. How much is the
cost to remove this property? How much
is the cost?
It's a question.
Chris, do you know?
Mayor, council, we are soliciting bids
right now and quite frankly, we've had
bids that came in anywhere from the
low30s to over $100,000. So, we're
trying to sort through, you know,
obviously we have a limited budget for
the NAP program. So, that's what we're
looking for right now, but we haven't
settled on a particular contractor yet.
And another question, how many
properties in this condition are close
to this property?
specifically close to this property. I
don't have an exact amount, but there
are numerous properties I would say
within the historic district alone. I
ran a report the other day. I would say
there's probably about 20 properties in
various levels on the NAT list within
the historic district.
And um
and the the prop the properties have a
ownersh
properties or are no ownersh.
question about the property because you
mentioned that you have a that is it's
approximately 20 properties in close to
this property but this property don't
have a owner the other properties have a
owner or are abandoned like this one
yes ma'am there there are some that have
owners this is one of those rare uh
situations where there is no legal owner
but the majority of them do it just
takes u litigation, legal action to
determine where they're at and who is
the rightful owner.
Thank you.
All right. Again, thank you, Chris. Good
job. And also to codes and the fire
department, everybody involved. Um
looking forward to the work session. You
can address some of those issues. I I
think that's already mapped out to where
they're at and share that information.
But, you know, I I do agree and I'm glad
that council is is looking at this
because, you know, the procedural
process has been hot and cold through
through the years throughout, but this
is an opportunity to really get some
policy, uh, some incentives and some
funding to this program so that we can
start really cleaning up Los Cruus and
making it a better community and safer
community. So, good job, guys. Thank
you. Uh Christine,
[Applause]
this is on the motion to approve
resolution 26-026.
Councelor McClur,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Graham,
yes.
Councelor Craran,
yes.
Councelor Fletus is absent. Councelor
Benoal,
yes.
Mayor,
yes.
Next is item 8.3, a resolution approving
a professional service agreement for
phase three of the downtown master plan.
And that'll be okay.
Move to approve. Second,
Greg Gonzalez.
Good afternoon, mayor, city council
members, and city staff. My name is Greg
Gonzalez. I'm a buyer with the
purchasing program here for the city of
Las Cusus. And before you today is a
resolution authorizing the city to
approve the professional service
agreement for phase three of the
downtown master plan with Placemakers
LLC.
The city of Lasus had updated the Las
Cruises downtown master plan in 2016.
This update established a collective and
local vision to shape the downtown area,
which established a showcase of history,
demographics, and identifying the arts
and culture scene of Las Cusus, as well
as development for local businesses,
transportation, and parking.
Updating the existing downtown master
plan will allow phase three of this
update to review and analyze an existing
downtown master plan through a
collaborative design process and also
ensure alignment and with elevate lasus
comprehensive plan. This update will
also provide a policy foundation for the
downtown tax increment and metropolitan
development districts and identify
strategies, sites, and financial
resources.
Procurement number 24-25-070
established Placemakers LLC from
Albuquerque, New Mexico as the
recommended firm that could provide
these services through a good faith re
of available resources. a sole source
procurement under Los Cusus's municipal
code 24-7A
identifying a substantial duplication of
cost to the city that is not expected to
be recovered through competition was
approved and recommended a professional
service agreement for one year for an
amount not to exceed $199,875
subject to approve budget appropriations
and before your options for this
resolution and I now stand for
questions.
Thank you, Greg. Any questions by
council?
Any members of the public?
Say none. Christine.
This is on the motion to approve
resolution 26-027.
Councelor McClur.
Yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Graham,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes. Councelor Fletus is absent.
Councelor Bencoml.
Yes.
Mayor,
yes.
Next is item 8.4, a resolution
authorizing an existing contract
purchase agreement with Advanced Network
Management.
Move to approve, Graham. Second.
I'd like you.
Good afternoon, mayor, city council,
city staff. My name is Alicia Zamora
Morales, buyer one with the purchasing
program, and before you today is a
resolution to award an existing contract
purchase agreement.
The city of Las Cusus utilizes Advanced
Network Management, Inc., which manages
the types of services utilized within
the system and the types of devices
linked to Cisco manufactured telephone
systems. Managing these license ensures
continuous reliable communications for
the city's operations.
The Los Cruus Municipal Code authorizes
the city to utilize contracts from other
entities. This allows for efficient and
cost-effective procurement of goods and
services to meet the city's operational
needs. License and support provided by
Advanced Network Management, Inc. are
available through the New Mexico
State Price Division statewide price
agreement which is valid through
November 17, 2025.
The information technology department is
requesting authorization to the contract
with advanced network management for the
purchase of license and support renewals
in the amount not to exceed 250,000
subject to a budget appropriations.
And before you are your options and I
stand for questions.
Thank you. Any questions?
No, we're good.
Christine,
this is on the motion to approve
resolution 26-028.
Councelor McClur,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Graham,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Fletus is absent. Councelor
Beno,
yes. and mayor.
Yes. Next is 8.5 resolution
number 26-029,
a resolution to award contracts for
security guard services to security
concepts.
Move to approve. Graham.
Second. Corin.
Good afternoon, Mayor, city council, and
staff. Donnie Proise, purchasing
supervisor in the financial services
department for the record. And before
you is a resolution to authorize
contracts for security guard services.
The city of Los Cusus needs armed and
unarmed guards services to meet daily
planned and unplanned activities
throughout the city. Those services are
essential to support daily operations.
Security guards are needed to patrol
city facilities and events to ensure the
safety of city staff, residents, and to
protect city property. Multiple city
departments and facilities require
security guards to ensure safety of
staff and members of the public.
In May 2025, the purchasing program
issued requests for proposals number
24-25-069.
Three responses to the solicitation were
received and evaluated by the selection
advisory committee or SAC. And the SAC
is recommending to award service
agreements to the two highest ranked
respondents which were Security Concepts
Incorporated and Transcending Tactical
LLC of Los Cusus New Mexico. The public
works department is requesting
authorization to contact contract with
both firms for a total of five years and
in a combined amount not to exceed $3
million annually. I would like to note
that previously we had separate
contracts for the federally funded
security guard services at the Messia
Valley Interotal Transit Terminal. This
time the purchasing program elected to
do a combined RFP that will allow us to
use these contracts both citywide and
for transit which is um federally
funded.
And with that, these are your council
options. And I stand for questions.
All right. Thank you, Donnie. Any
questions?
See? None. Christine,
this is on the motion to approve
resolution 26-029.
Councelor McClur,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Graham,
yes.
Councelor Cran,
yes.
Councelor Fletus is absent. Councelor
Bencoml,
yes.
And Mayor,
yes.
Next is board appointments.
So this is to read into the record
appointment uh by city councelor uh
Karan to alternate of the south central
regional transit district board.
Appointment by councelor Karan of Rudy
Hime to the senior programs advisory
board.
An appointment by councelor Flores of
Marlene Ritz to the senior programs
advisory board.
The next ones require a motion and a
second and then a vote. James Ashby, new
appointment to the Veterans Advisory
Board.
Move to approve. Second, Graham.
This is on the motion to appoint James
Ashby to the Veterans Advisory Board.
Councelor McClure.
Yes. Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Graham,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Flores is absent. Councelor
Bencoml,
yes.
Mayor,
yes.
Next is Luke Keith. New appointment to
the Veterans Advisory Board.
Move to approve.
Second. Ben.
This is on the motion to appoint Luke
Keith to the Veterans Advisory Board.
Councelor McClur.
Yes. Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Graham,
yes.
Councelor Craran,
yes.
Councelor Fletus is absent. Councelor
Beno,
yes.
Mayor,
yes.
Next is Daniel Ashbach. Reappoint to the
Veterans Advisory Board.
Move to approve. Graham.
Second.
This is on the motion to appoint
reappoint Daniel Ashbach to the Veterans
Advisory Board. Councelor Mccclure.
Yes.
Councelor Matise.
Yes.
Councelor Graham.
Yes. Councelor Cran.
Yes.
Councelor Footus is absent. Councelor
Bencoml,
yes.
And mayor,
yes.
Next is Sam Bothan.
Reappoint to the veterans advisory
board.
Move to approve.
Second, Graham.
This is on the motion to reappoint Sam
Bothan to the Veterans Advisory Board.
Councelor McClair.
Yes.
Councelor Matise.
Yes.
Councelor Graham.
Yes.
Councelor Karan.
Yes.
Councelor Fletus is absent. Councelor
Bencoml.
Yes.
And mayor.
Yes.
Next is notice of propos proposed
ordinances.
And we have one. It's council bill
number 26-003
ordinance number 3095 and ordinance
repealing and replacing chapter 18
nuisance section 18-1 and 182 of the
Losus Municipal Code.
Bring it forward.
Next is city council member board
reports and comments. Councelor
Mccclure.
No, thank you, Mayor.
Council Matis.
Yeah, I just wanted to uh share with
everyone that the um El Paso Museum of
History, they opened up a women veterans
exhibit and it was quite impressive in
El Paso. I attended it and it was well
attended. And um I remember when I
started uh Honorflight, we had a
difficult uh challenge to make sure that
women were getting recognized as as much
as men when we were recruiting people to
see the World War II memorial. Um I
think things have gone a long way and
and then a reminder today we have the
number one baseball team only because a
girl is on the team. So I think we all
should just remember women play an
important part in every in everything.
The second thing I like to do is uh
thank uh chief story. Uh the citations
uh that's happening in the traffic and
reading those reports is amazing. It's
uh it's not too comforting to know that
the person that might slam into you in a
red light may not have a license. Uh but
again, thank you for the for the work
you're doing on those citations. I think
maybe it'll slow down some people. Maybe
we'll actually get some people to
register cars and maybe a few people
will stop when the light is red. Thank
you,
Councelor Gray.
Thank you. Um I will also start off by
uh thanking Chief Story but also uh the
entire department for the truly
incredible eyeopening um realtore
training event um that you made possible
for us. Um, special thanks to Lieutenant
McBride and Attorney Scrambler who were
our primary instructors that day, but
also to all of the officers who came and
did some really disturbingly believable
acting for us in the scenarios. Um, I
doubt I'm the only one who had trouble
sleeping that night. And I'm not
kidding. I I felt jumpy for the rest of
the evening. But um it was it was
amazing to have um just a small glimpse
into what your day-to-days are like and
I truly appreciate uh the effort that it
took to coordinate that. So many thanks
to you and all who participated. Um also
great news from the uh Los Cusus
Community Schools front. Uh Sunrise
Elementary is going to be our newest
community school. So I know. So I
believe that makes eight elementary um
and middle schools that are part of the
community schools model. And uh just a
super brief overview of that. A
community school is the idea that you
make a school a hub not just for the
kids who are attending there, but for
their families and for the surrounding
communities. So it's a true partnership.
Um I'm currently on the community
schools board. So, that's how I got
plugged into this great information. So,
Sunrise Coyotes, welcome to the
community school partnership uh life and
um looking forward to getting out there
and meeting everyone. Thanks,
Councelor K.
Thank you. I I echo the appreciation for
Chief Story and Lieutenant McBride and
and um the attorney who gave us all the
uh a bunch of acronyms that I won't
remember anymore. SURF, I I remember
what it is, but I don't remember any of
the things because I'm not good at
remembering things like that. But I I
really appreciate being invited to
participate and having the opportunity
to spend the morning with you all and
and all the work that went into making
that a great experience, I think, for us
and for the reporters and stuff who were
there and other other folks. So, thank
you for that. Um, I do want to give a
quick uh I I should let Graham do this,
but the ASCMV has an official uh
executive director position open. So,
thank you for your work on the committee
to to get that happening. And it's a
national search. If you just Google
ASCMV executive director, you'll see um
that they are recruiting uh across the
country for the next leadership at the
animal services center. I hope that
people will spread the word. Some folks
in the community have mentioned they
have ideas for people. So, please do um
spread that to um everyone that you know
who might be appropriate. And again, uh
this the search firm that's working on
it has searched for as for animal
shelter leaders in municipal government
before. So, they have a lot of
experience in terms of attracting people
and evaluating that. And there will be
an opportunity for community input to
the to the candidates that that are
brought in, I think. So that's ongoing
and a positive step in the right
direction. I also wanted to thank to
welcome all of the new NMSU students. Um
DACC students classes start on
Wednesday. So uh we'll see you around
campus and and out there um in Los
Cusus. Welcome to town if you're new or
um welcome to the classroom. Get some
new pens if you're just starting fresh
this fall. Um, and then the last thing
that I wanted to add was the we had a
representative from the bicycle and
pedestrian advisory committee here, uh,
who spoke who alluded to the BPACT's
activities, but tomorrow night, sorry,
let me just make sure that I tell you
the right details about this. Um,
tomorrow night the bicycle and
pedestrian advisory committee will be uh
meeting at
they they're inviting the community to
be there at the Donetta County
Commission Chambers at 5:00 p.m.
tomorrow night. uh and it will be a work
session related to in particular um
thinking about a very pedestrianoriented
Los Cusus and considering active
transportation and and all that we um
hope for in that sort of visioning SE
session. So I hope folks will consider
going to the BPAC tomorrow night at 5
p.m. if that's something that you're
particularly interested in. Uh and
that's it. Thank you,
Mayor Pro Tim.
Thanks, Mayor. Um, I'll actually maybe
start uh where councelor Corin ended and
just because I wanted to talk about
something sim slightly similar regarding
traffic calming. Um, we did all receive
a letter from Lasasses Peransas and the
Alama Depot Neighborhood Association
regarding the uh work they had done to
organize around the redesign of uh
Lumodor Amador Lman um and the sort of
how dangerous it is. And they even
included um some points in here about
some pedestrian or accident fatalities
or accidents. Um, and of course I think
while I do think this is important that
we get an update on where that is, um,
that I I
um, just yesterday I also received
another email from a constituent who
lives on Karen Avenue about speeding on
that street. And so, um, I know I've
talked about this before, but, uh, given
that we are headed into conversations
about GRT and public safety and
pedestrian safety, thinking about
exactly the list of trafficcoming
requests that we have from all over the
city. Um, I know at least, you know, uh,
four in district 4, but I'm sure my
colleagues would have more. And so, um,
I don't know if we keep public works
keeps track or codes or whoever keeps
track of of that list, but I certainly
think we probably should make one. If
not, and if we do have one, um, I'd love
um, someone can send it to me. That'd be
great. I think, um,
you know, this while perhaps citations
are up and that's a good thing. It's
clearly, um, a problem across the city
and specifically in residential
neighborhoods. So, um I do think we need
to keep that at the forefront uh in
terms of traffic calming measures. Um I
also wanted to thank the police
department um Chief Story, Lieutenant
McBride for the invitation to
participate in the real toreal workshop.
I am external processor and so I
processed out loud with Peter on his
radio show the next morning and sent a
very long email to Chief Story and uh
Lieutenant McBride about just a lot of
the thoughts about um I think um they
were hoping to certainly challenge um us
in in many ways and um I did felt I felt
very challenged and so just wanted to
say thank you for that and for the
opportunity to be in community with you
all. And then um because this amazing uh
baseball team was here um thank you. I'm
so glad mayor that they reached out or
that you invited them whatever. I think
it's always nice to start the meeting
with something as joyful as that. So
proud of them. But it got me thinking
about uh several months ago a gentleman
had come here to ask about Los Vakeros
and if we could explore the opportunity
of bringing that back and I really
wanted to follow up on that. I thought
that that was a really great idea that a
constituent came forth um and would love
whether economic development department
or whoever explored explored the
possibility of bringing back um that
minor league that minor league team and
I think that that sounds like a lot of
fun and obviously baseball is um
important part of the culture of our
community. So thanks mayor.
No, thank you, Mayor Prom, and thanks.
Um, thank you, Chief Story, uh, for the
training. Um, it was it was good. It was
challenging. Um,
yeah, just say that
the things to think about afterwards.
But I I am going to reach out to that
individual that came out and talked
about the uh, you know, um, a pro
baseball team in Los Cusus. I know it
was tried before. I don't know what
happened at that point, but again,
gathering some information, want to
discuss. I know that our parts director,
Steve, we've talked about uh the ball
fields and the upgrades and things that
would be needed for for things like
that. So, we want to make sure that, you
know, if we're going to do something
like that, we need to be committed to to
sprucing up the ball fields, not only
for a pro team, but for these 12 year
olds, maybe uh we'll see instead of
being the traveling team, we can be the
host team and people can come in and
spend money in Los Cusus and help our
GRT and help us as a community. But I
always look at at opportunities for kids
that that are kind of in the middle and
don't get an opportunity to travel. And
this way competition comes to them and
they just get better and then they'll
they'll flourish and maybe someday be on
that pro team from here in Los Cruus.
That's the hope and the vision for our
future. Um I just want to mention a
couple of things that uh the New Mexico
legislatives are here in town. I was
there earlier today with the New Mexico
Water and Natural Resource Committee and
on Wednesday, the new New Mexico Finance
Committee will be here. So, be welcoming
mean all our legislators to the city and
and sharing with them updates of what's
going on in the city and some of some of
the needs that we have. So, with that,
I'll turn it over to our city manager.
Thank you, Mayor Enriquez, Mayor Ben Ko,
city council, Kamopa, city manager, and
excited to be here. I'd love to start
off and ask our accounting team to
please come down to the front. Um
exciting news that um we we announce uh
typically at this time our annual
comprehensive financial report also
known as our ACT for for the fiscal year
ended June 30th 2024 and qualifies for
GFOA certificate of achievement for
excellence in financial reporting. We're
currently undergoing currently
undergoing our 2025 uh end of year uh
that is currently happening right now
and the certificate of achievement is
the highest form of recognition in
governmental accounting for financial
reporting and its attainment represents
a significant accomplishment by
government and its management. Can we
give a round of applause please to our
awesome accounting team? Thank you. Um
just wanted to ask Leslie you or Josie
wanted to just share some words.
got to bring it in and say finance.
Yeah. Thank you.
Good afternoon. My name is Josie
Trevinho. I'm the controller for the
city of Los Cruus.
Give me a second. Figure this out. Okay.
Yes, I did want to give a few words. So,
this award isn't just about numbers in
compliance. It's about our people who
pour their experience and their time
into making sure our financial reporting
is transparent,
accurate, and worthy of public trust.
Their work often goes unseen, but today
we shine a light on it.
To the entire team, thank you for your
commitment to excellence. You've set a
standard that reflects the very best of
public service, and I'm proud to
celebrate this achievement with you.
Thank you.
Um, can we have uh if anyone in PIO is
listening, can we have Jen uh any of our
photographers please come out?
I
think they need championship rings like
the baseball team had.
Quick photo.
Yeah, little bling.
I do have an interesting Well, since we
wait, I have an interesting story. So,
that little girl that was here, Jaden,
she actually played with us with our
team uh softball, which was her first
time playing softball, and she went from
playing 12U baseball to playing an 18U
softball this weekend. So, it's it's
great to see these kids um all our
athletes in New Mexico actually putting
us on the map. Um a lot of our kids as
as well play sports. So, we just love
seeing the kids up here getting
recognized.
I thought you were going to have a dare
story as well.
Council, just letting you know we're
sending someone down to take the picture
right now.
again. Thank you council for uh bearing
with us on that. Uh but we appreciate
our accounting team so much and we thank
uh our our accounting team especially a
lot of work that they're doing. Moving
forward communications
uh they continue to receive awards uh
Natoa which is known for the national
associations of telecom's officers and
adviserss. This is a huge
um this is a huge award uh to even be a
finalist on this and so they've been
named a finalist for six uh awards under
this program. We also received one
honorable mention. Finalists include
videos for projects and programs and
utilities, public works, quality of
life, economic development and human
resources. So we have staff currently
there. That's why they're not here. So,
our technical ops manager Adrien Guzman
and media production specialist
Nathaniel Bidding will be attending and
is currently at the annual conference
this week with the winners and will be
formally announced uh later this week.
So, we'll keep you posted on that. For
VC, Visit Las Cusus. Visit Las Cusus
works uh to create strong relationships
with travel and outdoor writers, which
has resulted in Las Cruus being
nominated for the USA Today best 10
cities to visit for fall.
Can we get a round of applause for that?
This is USA Today. So definitely
credible uh source here. Uh also the
Messia Valley corn maze has been
nominated for best corn maze and MSIA
diia deos muertos event has been
nominated for one of the best fall
festivals. You can vote every day until
September 8th to vote. Go to 10 best.
As of Friday, Lasus was ranked 12th out
of 20. So, keep the votes coming.
Wanted to pivot a bit. So, Carl Clark is
our assistant director at joint
utilities. I'll have him come up uh to
share a few updates on our lead and
copper. Thank you, Carl.
Thank you, Mayor uh Mayor Proam. Carl
Clark, assistant utilities director. Um
I'm here to give you an update on the
lead and copper uh project that we have
going on right now that's ongoing. Um
recently there was a letter written to
the environmental protection agency as
to the legitimacy of the New Mexico
Environment Department's uh primacy over
the lead and copper. Um basically the
primacy which really entails enforcement
of lead and copper rule. Um
u the environment department wrote back
to the public and stated that they are
correct. New Mexico Environment Division
does not have privacy. Basically, they
cannot enforce anything. However, um the
EPA went on to state that the Mexico
Environment Division uh has oversight of
the lead and copper in New Mexico as
well as um providing uh technical
support and guidance to public water
systems, which Los Cru's utilities is a
public water system. So basically what
they're saying is the metric environment
division uh really is to work with us
and give us direction as to how it's
supposed to go and they work directly
with the EPA. So this just leads us to
other questions that have been stated
that uh enemy doesn't have privacy and
that we shouldn't be going to them. That
that's incorrect. So I just want to make
that statement. Also, there was a u
opportunity to email the uh environment
division, Mexico environment division
and uh in regards to our new customer
connection service lines. So, we're
supposed to be updating the new
customers with the type of service line
u materials that they have and uh
basically what we did was we took our
form and sent it over to the environment
division and had them review it. So, we
just got back information that what we
did and what we've been doing is
correct. And so, I just want to make
that statement clear that we're
notifying our customers as new customers
come in. We let them know what the
materials are um the way we see it and
then uh and then that's the process and
we also keep records of all that. So,
we're complying with that aspect and it
has been approved by the environment
division. When I say environment
division, I say I mean New Mexico
Environment Division.
Um, also there was a statement that
there was some disappearance of data
over the weekend. Um, number one, we had
some issues with Google and Edge in
regards to the map and it it wasn't
downloading appropriately. So, that is
correct, but that has been taken care of
as of Monday morning today. Um, in
addition, we've changed the way we're uh
providing the inventory data. It was
very confusing in regards to the
inventory data and the uh u inventory
criteria and we were updating it
constantly. So what we once printed has
changed and that's created confusion
with everybody and so we've stopped
doing that now. U we're required to
update the map or the inventory
information annually and that's what
we're going to be doing is providing it
annually because on this daily or weekly
basis it just provides too much
confusion for everybody. So, we're going
to follow through with what the
environment division says is okay and
what the EPA says as written rule and
we're going to update annually. So,
that's the method that we're we're
chasing down on this. Um,
uh, basically inventory criteria is the
description of the material. It could be
lead, it could be unknown material, it
could be plastic, um, it could be GRR,
which is, uh, galvanized required
replacement. Um, and so it's one of
those items that we mark on the form.
And so that's the inventory criteria and
that's what's causing confusion because
we go out with staff and they check the
the boxes and they come back with new
information and we update the maps and
so it changed from yesterday. We're not
hiding anything. We're just updating and
that's the statement we want to make. So
we're we're stopping that. We're going
to do it annually as required and and uh
move forward from this point on. Uh
we're still waiting for our funding to
to come free. Uh we did receive a large
amount of grant money that we will be
moving with uh to in order to do the
full inventory. We'll be hiring a
consultant um that is familiar with this
process. They will be the lead on this
and we will uh be as transparent as
possible. Um the only thing we're really
guilty is is poor records in regards to
the replacement of copper lines
throughout the city. Um unfortunately
that happened prior to me coming to
utility. So, it's been a long time that
these uh copper lines that were once out
there are now gone. And uh
unfortunately, we just didn't have a
very good method of of managing the data
set. And that's that's what we failed to
do. But we're going to be uh creating a
new plan with this uh new consultant and
that report will be available to the
public as well as the EPA and for
history. Uh that's what I can guarantee
on that. And once I get a hold of the
money, as usual, I move quickly with my
projects. Um, if you remember the ARPA
funding, the 1.3 million, I spent it in
six months. So, um, this will be just as
fast. We're going to move through this
quickly and get this accomplished and
and have a nice report in the end. And,
uh, basically, it's I have a feeling
it's going to stay that we we're always
in compliance. Um, we don't have a lead
issue here in this city. We never have.
Um, I grew up here, been drinking the
water since for 57 years now. I think
I'm normal, but
my doctor says I'm doing great. So, love
that guy. But that's really what I have
to report right now. Stand for any
questions if you have any.
Thank you. Appreciate it. Uh to
assistant director Carl Clark.
Thank you so much.
Appreciate it. Thank you.
Uh Mayor Mbutim council, just uh two
more departments and then we'll let you
on your way. Quality of life public art
director Cesi Vasconos uh spoke about
public art on KTSM channel 9 uh news mas
laserus the program has been has has
seen several views on the YouTube
channel uh so if you haven't seen it go
check it out and last but not least from
the same department our first go bond
related public art project was installed
at fire station 1 on Thursday morning uh
last Thursday on August 14th it is
titled United in Service by Jason
Butler. Jason says he gave it that name
because it not only describes the work
of all firefighters, but it was also an
honor for him to unite with them to make
this piece of art. The firefighter who
came out to the station to look at it
while he was installing loved it. Once
we close uh out the contract, we will
schedule a dedication unveiling
ceremony. So, more to come on that. Last
but not least for parks and recreation,
Keep Las Cruises Beautiful will host a
midweek dumpster day on Wednesday,
August 20th from 2 to 6 p.m. to help
residents dispose of the trash at three
locations. East Mesa Rec Center, Frank
O'Brien Papin Center, and Young Park.
Additionally, join us for a free
familyfriendly movie in the park event
on Friday, August 23rd at Amodore Live.
The movie will be Disney's Moana 2,
which was released in late 2024.
Last but not least, don't miss the next
Music in the Park concert on Sunday,
August 24th at Young Park from 7 to 9:00
p.m. The night kicks off with Flat
Blacks, a band known for the high energy
classic rock performance that blend
heavy riffs with um with melodies and
hooks. They'll be followed by Schilling
and company who will bring their fun and
entertaining style to the stage. Mayor,
that's it. Thank you.
Thank you, Econ. Uh with that, a motion
to adjurnn.
So moved.
Second.
This is on the motion to adjourn the
meeting. Councelor McClur,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Graham,
yes.
Councelor Craran,
yes. Councelor Footus is absent.
Councelor Bencomo,
yes.
Mayor,
yes.