[Music]
You're live.
Well, good afternoon everyone. Welcome
to city council. Uh, today is Monday,
June 16th, 2025. It's approximately 1
p.m. I am Mayor Eric Enriquez. Before I
start, I want to mention that we have an
ASL, American Sign Language Interpreter,
up in the front available for every
regular council meeting. Uh we'll start
with a moment of silence for our brave
men and women of the United States Armed
Forces as they protect our interests
around the globe as well as the
courageous men and women of the Los
Cusus Police and Los Cusus Fire
Department as they keep our city safe
24/7 365.
Councelor Coram, will you lead us in the
pledge?
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.
We'll start off with presentations and
proclamations. Uh, councelor Karen.
Thank you. Please for our our colleagues
for National Waste and Recycling Workers
Week presented to everyone. Everyone
come up. Come up.
Thank you for being here. Good morning.
I'll wait. Give everyone a second to to
come on up.
Thank you for being here. Good morning.
Good afternoon.
Come on. Yeah. Yeah. Crowd in. Crowd in.
If you stand really close, I'll make you
speak. So, just not to
Just kidding. I'm not doing that.
Thank you all for being here.
We're so happy to see you.
Whereas the city of Los Cusus will
celebrate the week of June 17th through
20th, 2025 as National Waste and
Recycling Workers Week. And whereas
National Garbage Mand Day began in 2012
to show community appreciation for local
workers in the garbage sanitation and
recycling industries and was later
renamed Waste and Recycling Workers
Week. And whereas solid waste workers
have selflessly and tirelessly operated
in all types of environments through
various weather conditions, pandemics to
provide essential sanitation services
and protect communities, prevent
disease, and keep our city clean, safe,
and beautiful. Whereas the employees of
the city of Los Cusus utilities solid
waste line of business contribute
significantly to the safety, health, and
welfare of our residents by processing
10 thousands of tons of garbage and
compost each year. Whereas the proper
collection, disposal, and maintenance of
waste, recyclables, and compostables is
essential for preventing disease and
reducing litter in our community. And
whereas the city of Los Cruus values and
celebrates the unwavering commitment to
solid waste and industry workers to the
city's residents, businesses, and
communities. Now therefore, we the mayor
and city council of Los Cusus, New
Mexico, do hereby proclaim June 17
through 20th, 2025 as National Waste and
Recycling Workers Week, uh, and
encourage all residents to express
gratitude to the hardworking men and
women who keep our communities clean and
healthy on this day.
If you'd like to if you'd like to say
something
real quick, a few few words. Um, I want
to thank everybody for recognizing and
celebrating this incredible uh week for
our solid waste workers. Um, it's a deep
appreciation for what you do on a daily
basis. Uh, your work touches every
resident in this city and uh you guys do
it whether it's a heat wave, a downpour,
um, holidays or even even holidays. So,
thank you. Um I also I also for my
gratitude for being a deputy director
want to thank you for every week for
your the work you do not just this week
but every week. Your professionalism and
dedication does not go unnoticed. Okay.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Thank you all. Thank you so much for
being here.
All
right. Next up, I'd welcome members of
the NAACP. Please come on up.
Good afternoon. Thank you for being
here.
Whereas Junth, also known as freedom
day, is an opportunity to celebrate the
promise of freedom from oppression as
proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln
with the signing of the Emancipation
Proclamation on January 1st, 1863.
And whereas a tragic mass shooting has
shaken our community. And during this
difficult time, it's important for us to
stand united in support, offering
strength and compassion to our friends
and families, just as our forefathers
did when faced with unimaginable
tragedy. Whereas Junth is an opportunity
to honor the freedom our forefathers
envisioned. Whereas Junth remind us
reminds us that our country has reached
significant milestones and made great
progress since 1863 even as we
acknowledge there is still work to be
done. And whereas the city of Los Cusus
has supported Donena County NAACP
through the many years of Juneen
celebrations and never has there been a
more pressing time to celebrate our
diversity. And whereas the city of Los
Cusus will celebrate with the Donana
County NAACP as we seek healing and
compassion during a difficult time not
only in our city but also in our state
and in our country. Now therefore, we
the mayor and city council of Las Cusus,
New Mexico do hereby proclaim Junth,
2025 in Los Cusus as a time for all
citizens to work together to make our
city safe a safe and inclusive place for
people from all walks of life. On this
day,
Good afternoon, Mayor Enriquez and the
city council. I want to say thank you
for the years of supporting the NAACP
during Junth and other events that we
have. You've always stepped up and
you've always been very supportive and
generous with your time and your funds.
So, thank you for that. Uh we are
celebrating this is a a celebration of
victory. 160 years ago some Union
soldiers went to Galveastston, Texas and
they told uninformed slaves who thought
they were still slaves but had been
emancipated but didn't know it because
there was no social media. There was no
way for them to get the word. And they
did not have the word. So they thought
they were still slaves until those Union
soldiers, God bless them, gave uh them
their the the information that they were
no longer slaves. So we celebrate uh
those Union soldiers in the heart of
those soldiers. We celebrate the 16th
president who signed the Emancipation
Proclamation two years earlier. We
celebrate the president who made Junth a
holiday. and I celebrate this beautiful
city council who recognizes and
acknowledges the accomplishments in the
project progress that we've made. So I
want to say thank you again. We
celebrate progress and we know that the
progress will continue. Thank you.
[Applause]
Again,
thank you councelor Karan for the
presentations of the proclamations and
Dr. Green, thank you again for all that
you all do uh in the city of Los Cusus
and the representation and it's a great
segue into the presentation that I'm
about to do when you talk about victory
and it was a huge victory back in the
day for our country and then also for
here locally we have a group of
individuals that we want to recognize
for their state championship and for
their victorious uh season, the
Centennial Girl Soft softball team if
they want to come up. Uh, Coach Xavier
Avalos.
[Applause]
Well, thank you all for being here. I
know it's summer, so the rest of the
team is out practicing vacation.
Thank you.
Now, this is this is this is tremendous.
This is awesome. This is Centennial High
School. They won the 5A state fast pitch
softball championship at the Lobo
softball field in Albuquerque, New
Mexico on May 17, 2025. This is the
third state title for Centennial High
School fast pitch. They won in 2016,
2024, and 2025. The Hawks finished the
season with a perfect 30-0 record,
making them the only eighth team in New
Mexico softball history to do so and the
last one since 2017, which was Laquva.
The team began the year ranked number
one and started the season going 4-0 in
the Cleveland Classic tournament,
recording wins over Farmington, uh,
Pedrea Vista, Lovington, and Volcano
Vista. After going undefeated in
district 15-0, Centennial was a number
one seed in the 2025 New Mexico uh
activities association state tournament.
In the first round, the Hawks beat
number 16 seed Elorado High School 11-0
and number nine seed Artiscoco
Trisco uh Heritage Academy 13 to1 in Los
Cruus to advance to Albuquerque. The
Hawks then beat number five seed
Mayfield 12 to8 and number two seed
Laquva 40-0 to advance to the
championship game at UN M. On Saturday,
May 17th, the W the Hawks won the state
title with a resounding 100-0 win over
Laqua. Not only did the team record a
wire-to-wire number one ranking, they
finish in the Max Prep's national
rankings of number 18,
26 spots higher than their 2024 Max Prep
National Ranking of 44. That's right.
They're in the top 20 in the national in
the nation. Let's give it up for the
Centennial Hall.
So, I was provided some information on
some of the players so we can talk about
some of their accolades. And uh
Centennial High School was led by
seniors. Amoris Viegas, the team spark
plug, played left field and hit for 18
on the year, including hitting a
dramatic two-run homer in extra innings
to beat uh Oregon Mountain 4 to3. Stevie
Himenez, Miss Consistency, the second
baseman who hit 446 on the year and led
the team in at bats and was second on
the team with 50 hits recorded as well
as going 2 and 0 on the pitcher mount.
Eliia Benort the five tool UT shortstop
snee hit 540 on the year second on the
team with both 46 RBI's and 16 home runs
including a tone setting two-run blast
in the first inning of the championship
game. Amanda Vas, the rock of the
lineup, was second on the team in
batting average, hitting 543 team uh
that and led the team with 52 runs
scored, RBI's with 58 and home runs with
21. And finally, Destiny Perez, the team
MVP, dominated in the circle, going 27
and0 with an erra of 1.59,
pitching virtually every inning of the
season. She also dominated at the plate,
leading the team with a 559 batting
average, 52 hits, and 12 doubles.
This four-year class ended their career
with a staggering record of 115 wins to
13 losses. And the last three seasons, a
mind-boggling record of 90 wins and five
losses. Very impressive.
[Applause]
There was also junior center fielder Ai
uh Mochio that uh who hit .406 on the
season, was second on the team with nine
doubles and third on the team with 33
RBI's and five home runs. Catcher Aubrey
Duncan hit .450 on the year with 20 at
bats and recorded two home runs. Utility
player Stasia Hernandez and outfielder
Katie Howard were valuable contributors
in reserve roles. Sophomore Brooklyn
Milan Milan provided solid defense
playing both right field and third base
and led the team in triples with four on
the year. And Kayana Garcia played third
base and outfield while recording 20
hits and 11 RBI's on the year. Freshman
Kendra Martinez played like an upper
classman, stepping in at catcher,
recording just one error on the year
with a fielding percentage of.993 and
hitting 356 and third on the team with
38 runs scored. Freshman Jade Morelos
and Leo Miranda were part of the
championship squad and are ready to make
an impact next season. Head coach Fernie
Vias, who is retired, is retiring after
a stellar career, recorded his third
state title. In addition to his recent
back-to-back titles with Centennial High
School, he won a 6A title with Onyate
High School in 2016
and was selected as the New Mexico 24-25
softball coach of the year.
So, we have the players here and coach
uh Xavier Avalos to receive this
certificate of excellence. This
certificate is proudly presented to the
Centennial softball 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 as
an expression of appreciation by the
mayor and behalf of the citizens of the
Los Cusus dated this 16th day of June
2025. Congratulations
[Applause]
Hello guys, I'm Coach X. I'm going to be
real short and sweet. Like our first
group that was here earlier earlier,
these girls worked rain, wind, whatever
it was. We're practicing, we're playing
because our coach Fernie, we have to
play in that stuff. Guess what? We're
practicing in that stuff. So these girls
worked super duper hard. Most of our
girls right now, they're on vacation
because we never have a vacation for
these girls. So this is the time for
them. So they do do a lot of hard work.
So, make sure you guys go out and
support them. You know, it's all all
about these girls. Support them.
[Applause]
Okay, next on the agenda we have jobs of
the week. Uh Sarah Rainey,
good afternoon. Oh, the screen went.
There it is.
We'll get it.
There we go.
Thank you, Mayor and Council. Again, my
name is Sarah Rainey.
Computer wants to restart.
I'm just going to ignore it.
I am Sarah Rainey. I'm the onetop direct
one-stop operator for the Southwest
Region of America Job Center New Mexico.
For this week, for jobs of the week, we
have a transit operator for the city of
Los Cusus. That one starts at 1676 an
hour and closes on the 23rd. So, that
one closes very, very soon. We also have
an office assistant for the city. It
starts at 1502 an hour and closes um in
September. We have a merchandiser for
Fredo Lelay starting at $19 an hour and
closing in July.
We have a CRM communications coordinator
at NMSU starting at $53,000 a year and
closes on um in July. Sorry. We have a
developmental specialist at Tresco from
$18 to $23 an hour is the is the pay and
that one is open until filled. They
actually had a couple of those. We also
have a couple of openings um at Llinica.
Multiple openings actually I won't say a
couple. um everything from nurses,
teachers, treatment coordinators,
therapists, dental assistants, dentists,
and more. So, if you're interested in
any of those positions or any of the
other services that LLCA offers, please
check out our website and their website.
Then they list all of the openings
for our events for the month of June. We
have an America's Job Center meet and
greet. This will be tomorrow at our
center at 226 South Alama. you can come
and meet all of our representatives and
our services, get a little bit more
information, as well as some of our
partners that are local. So, it'll be a
good opportunity to find out about
various programs and opportunities for
anybody. We also have our community of
hope job readiness event next week. That
one is growing immensely. So, anybody
that would like to join us on that one,
please reach out to me and I can I can
definitely get you signed up and get you
to work. Um, we also have the Lions Club
free glasses event that'll be on the
Thursday of next week where and they'll
be at the American Job Center on Alamita
as well. So, we can have we'll have the
Lions Club there so people can get those
services as well as if you have any
donations of the glasses. Um, you'd like
to recycle your glasses and donate them
back to them, they can recycle them into
those that need them, please bring them
by. And then that is all we have. Thank
you everyone. All
right. Thank you, sir. Yep. Next is Pet
of the Weeks with Carol.
Good afternoon. I am Carol Nelson,
digital content specialist with the
Animal Services Center of the Messia
Valley. My weekly reminder that our dog
and cat of the week, when they are
promoted, their adoption fee is always
waved. Uh this week we have good news.
Diva has been with us for a while and
she actually got adopted. So our
promotion worked. Uh she got adopted at
our off-site uh event this weekend. So
super happy for her. Our cat of the week
is still available for adoption. Mrs.
Whiskers 92589.
I'm here to steal your heart with my shy
but sweet nature. Growing up with my
siblings and mom, I've learned to be a
little reserved. Often pre preferring to
hang out in my cozy hideaway. I love to
nap and cuddle up next to my mom or
siblings soaking up all the warmth and
love. While I might not be the most
playful of my bunch, I do have my
moments of fun. If you're looking for a
gentle companion who enjoys quiet
moments in the occasional playful
moment, I might be the perfect fit for
you. So, definitely stop by and see her.
Uh, and long-term residents. Um you'll
notice that the list is changing a
little bit because we've been having
some success with our long-term
residents, but we always want to
highlight
um our animals that have been with the
center 3 plus months. They're always
available at just $25. Um sometimes less
if there is a special going on, but
right now 25. Whisper has been with our
center for 320 days. Peppa is in a
foster home, but she's been with us 316
days. Teddy has been with us 265 and Tia
262 days. So, they're also great options
for adoption. We'd love to see them find
their homes. And this weekend, we will
be at Petco on the 21st uh at from 10 to
1:00 p.m. So, definitely come by. It's a
great time to say hi, maybe find your
future friend and buy some supplies. So,
it's great all-around event. And as
always, you can find more information on
our website or also feel free to follow
us on social media.
Thank you.
Thank you, K.
Next, it's conflict of interest. Does
any member of the city council, city
manager, or any member of the city staff
have any known conflict of interest with
any item on the agenda? None by Flores?
None. None.
Next is public participation. We'll
allow up to three minutes. No pending
litigation or items on non-consent. Uh
Katrina will usher you and help you to
the podium. Uh again, speak directly
into the microphone. State your name,
please. Thank you.
Hello everyone.
Um, I am
the reason why I'm here is I wanted to
talk to you about having um longer bus
services
uh through uh
transportation committee. Um, we don't
after 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays.
The buses do not run and I think we need
to extend that. Sir, sir, could I Sorry
to interrupt you, but could I get your
name again for the record? My name is
Jesse Yoder.
And then on Sunday,
there is no bus service. I have talked
to,
oh gosh, probably 150 people about um
having bus services run
longer hours on Saturday
and on Sunday.
Um we really need it. Um
things don't stop after 400 p.m. like on
Saturday. Uh people need to ride the
buses to go to church
um out to dinner, you know. Um I think
that it would be a good thing if y'all
could um
more hours, more more bus services on
weekends.
And um
there's
like I said, people need to get out on
Sundays.
People need to um just have stuff to do.
Um,
I believe um that
the the city was supposed to
um
vote on having longer bus services
before CO and they never did.
Um, I just hope that y'all can do
something. Thank you.
[Applause]
Mayor, council, those watching online,
I'm Lyn Moore. It's dangerous when
public officials make false statements
regarding public health. I will correct
the record today with documented facts
related to the lead and copper rule.
During a radio show on November 27 last
year, councelor Corin falsely asserted
that someone with a house built after
the 70s need not worry about lead pipes.
In fact, lead pipes were not banned
until 1986. So, hundreds of houses in
Los Cruus built between 1980 and 1986
likely have red lead pipes. Handout one
is a summary of the 1986 law. On fe
February 5th of this year, Mayor Pro Tim
Ben Como falsely asserted in an email
that the federal government sprang the
rule on us with little guidance and zero
financial support. Apparently, these
three false statements were made as
justification for why the city shouldn't
have to comply with the rule. The email
is handout two. In fact, the rule was on
the in the works for many years. A rule
promulgated in 2021 laid the groundwork
for the 20 2024 rule. Handout three lays
this out. EPA provided much guidance
during 2024 and before. Handout 4 is the
first page of a guidance document
published in 2022.
Handout five, an EPA press release dated
October 8, 2024, notes that $2.6 6
billion dollar is available for drinking
water infrastructure funding through the
bipartisan the federal bipartisan
infrastructure law. On June 4th of this
year, Council Corin again provided false
assertions to a radio station which
aired them. She falsely claimed that the
city has eight years to comply with the
rule. 159 inspections have been
conducted and the city is in full
compliance with the rule. As handout
five makes clear, lead pipes are to be
replaced within 10 years, not eight. The
validity of the city's inspections is
doubtful because local licensed plumbers
regard the city's technique as
inadequate. Nor do numerous other large
cities in the southwest rely upon the
technique the city uses. And one cannot
reasonably claim that the city is in
full compliance with the rule in light
of the copious false or misleading
notations in the city's inventory and
when half the city's properties are
missing. Facts from the city's inventory
were provided to you in handouts one and
two at the May 19th meeting. Another
non-compliance. The city has not offered
to sample the tap for lead for any
consumer who requests it. Handout three
spells out the requirement the city is
violating. At the town hall, Las Cusus
utilities director Adrienne Whitmer did
not offer to sample the tap of a meeting
attendee who requested it. Also, Lasus
Utilities has refused to help property
owners who have asked about financial
assistance for replacement of lead
pipes. Deputy Director of Regulatory
Compliance Steve Pavez falsely told the
caller that financing is not available
despite the city's letter stating
financial assistance is available. This
letter is handout six. Handout seven is
an EPA advisory stating that failure to
comply with the rule may result in
federal enforcement. I urge the city to
bring in an independent engineer with
management experience to compile the
facts about the city's compliance before
EPA takes enforcement action against the
city. Thank you for this opportunity to
speak.
[Applause]
Mayor, Council, I'm Liz Rodriguez
Johnson. It's been four weeks since the
mayor, the council, and the city manager
were given copies of detailed lists of
significant problems in the online lead
and copper rule inventory. This is an
inventory EPA requires to be posted
online. These problems appear to render
the inventory significantly out of
compliance with the rule. Today I'm
going to give everyone an update
regarding the extent to which Lasus'
utility has corrected these problems.
Handout one was provided to you at the
May 19th meeting and documents 453
properties out of 702 sampled that have
no indication of any service line at
all. That's 65% of the properties that
don't show up on the map out of the 453
properties missing from the inventory. A
grand total of one one is now listed on
the inventory. Nor has Las Cruz's
utilities provided any explanation as to
why more than half of the city's
properties have been left out of the
inventory. Handout 2 also provided to
you May 19th list deficiencies related
to 81 properties that do appear on the
inventory. They feature false or
misleading characterizations about the
piping or they characterize piping as
non-LED without any foundation
whatsoever. Recent reviews of these 81
properties on the city's online
inventory now reveals the following.
60% have no changes whatsoever. Very few
of the most egregious mistakes have been
fixed. These are the clear falsehoods
related to the installation date in
relation to the lead ban in 1996.
Some listings just remove the dates. So
now the date is blank. Some merely
change the lab labeling for the entire
service line without fixing obvious
inaccuracies regarding to a portion of
the line. Just putting a new name on it
doesn't fix the underlying problems.
There's no evidence that Lascus' utility
has changed its inadequate inspection
technique. Notation of visual inspection
at the meter pit seems to indicate that
the same flawed technique continues to
be used. Some of these visual
inspections at the M meter pit are now
appearing in the record as having been
conducted months before they appeared on
the inventory map. For example, the
record of a property on Hillsdale Street
on March 22nd showed no fuel
verification. It now says a visual
inspection occurred last December.
There's no evidence that any line has
been visually inspected in at least two
locations as required. The bottom line
is that a few records were tweaked, but
none was fully rectified. Every single
listing sampled still contains false and
or misleading information. This means
that property owners who consult the
inventory are still likely to encounter
false, misleading, or missing
information. Thank you.
[Applause]
Good afternoon, mayor, city council, and
staff. Kathy Stark, have you missed me?
On April 7th, you passed a new animal
ordinance, and before the passage, the
city council asked questions as to how
the public was going to be educated
about the new ordinance. Outside of one
article in the Sun News, I haven't seen
any efforts to do so. The new ordinance
hasn't been codified. So when we get
questions or concerns, we can't point
them to the ordinance. We're pointing
them to a very cumbersome, difficult to
navigate council action form.
I can't direct them to the animal
control web page because it's not
current either. In August, it will be
four years when I started coming to the
council to point out the deficits in the
animal control web page. You continue to
say that pets need to be licensed in law
schools as that went away in 2021.
You can do better.
The ordinance states that a separate
resolution will come forward with fees
and penalties and we've recommended that
the city follow the county schedule.
We've not heard of any forward movement.
Shades of the 2021 community cat
ordinance which required a separate
resolution. The deadline for that
resolution was extended and that was
never completed. The previous animal
ordinance had an intact animal permanent
requirement that was never implemented.
We've discussed options of what how that
could be done looking at what other
municipalities have have implemented. We
haven't heard anything. I know of three
packs of dogs intact, very aggressive,
terrorizing people and animals in our
community. They're a public safety
threat and it's just a matter of time
before somebody gets hurt.
I understand that a one additional
animal control position has been
allocated in the next budget cycle and
that's appreciated.
I believe if memory serves me right that
that is the last staff or the first
staffing increase since 2009
despite the growth of the population in
this community. A couple days ago, two
women came to my house in a panic asking
what they could do about an injured dog
they had taken into their laundry room.
And I said, "Okay, let's call animal
control, get the animal checked for a
chip, maybe has a home, and we can get
it back." They said they'd already done
that and that animal control was 3 hours
out. Your animal control officers are
working their tail off, but they're
severely stretched.
I'm not going to be able to stay for the
rest of the meeting, but I will go home
after my appointments and live stream to
see what your comments are. My bottom
line is what is your plan?
Thank you.
[Applause]
Mayor and city council. My name is
Armando Sarabia and I'm here today not
just as a lifelong resident of Los
Cruuses, but as someone who remembers
the sound of professional baseball once
filling the summer at air at Apadaka
Park. Back in 2010, our city had a team
called the Los Cusus Vakeros. They
played in powder blue and gave this
community a season full of joy, local
pride, and something to rally around.
People came out, stands were filled on
weekends.
Families made memories, memories. It was
something real. And then it disappeared.
I have to ask since the Vaket's folded
um has any minor league professional
organization or league approach the city
about baseball returning and if not why
haven't we uh why do we let professional
baseball vanish from Las Cusus without
trying again or anything um recently I
had a conversation with Holly Mcuat the
former general manager of the Vagos she
told me that despite the league's
instability and early doubts the team
turned out to be more successful than
anyone expected. That says something
about the city
and what could be possible if we're
willing to explore new ideas.
I'm not here to ask for money or
promises. I'm just simply going to ask
this. If possible, could I be placed on
a future agenda to speak about a new
concept for professional baseball that
could begin right here in Los Cusus?
It's a concept rooted in community,
opportunity,
and long-term vision.
Thank you for your time and for your
service to the city.
[Applause]
Good afternoon, city councilors, city
mayor, and city manager.
Um,
we're witnessing right now the
consequence of a long-standing campaign
to launch an attack. I'm sorry, could
could you state your name? Yes, I'm
sorry. My name is Albert.
For years, um, we have been witnessing
this campaign that aims to dehumanize
and demonize immigrants.
What's dangerous about this is that when
you strip people from their culture and
their past and their history and their
dignity, then they become this blank
canvas. And on that blank canvas, you
can project all your fears and
everything that affects you in life. um
the ways your government and their
safety nets are not protecting you.
Everyone here has struggled. Life has
gotten harder throughout the months.
Groceries are more expensive. It's hard
to uh have access to health care, to
education, to affordable housing. Yet,
we are here citizens
pointing fingers at who it is that is
taking these things from us. And
at the same time, there's a group of
people that are only getting richer and
richer and richer and spending money on
on bombing people overseas and and
jailing people here. $120 million are
spent in riots in California.
Obviously, we're we're not we're not
okay with this as people from here.
There's a lot of immigrants in our
community and it's important for us to
stand up and show that we're going to be
there to to to claim this space as a
safe space for people no matter who
you're from, no matter where you're
from. To understand also who originally
belongs from here, whose land this was
and who really we are taken out of here.
We're targeting democratic cities. It's
it's so blatantly obvious. There's a
political agenda that's trying to
criminalize people. And when we have
peaceful gatherings to express our
support for these communities that are
being targeted and we're met with three
snipers on rooftops,
I think it should be pretty obvious how
how uh incredibly scary that is at this
time where there's like police deputies
in Florida saying that they're ready to
kill people, kill them, graveyard dead
for protesters.
There's a statement out saying that
these snipers were sent out to protect
us because there were uh there were
police were aware of um intent to uh to
be violent and direct threats.
And I just wonder I don't understand how
if if that was true, if you saw this
peaceful event and there was an intent
of violence, why not communicate with
that with us? Wouldn't that be a better
way to make us safe to make us aware of
this threat? Cuz from where I'm
standing, the only threat was three
snipers and the only intent of violence
was them aiming down the scope at us.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Hello. Uh my name is Dylan Davis. Um,
and I'm speaking today as a concerned
resident and participant in the peaceful
protest that took place in our community
on Friday evening. I am here to express
deep alarm and outrage at the extreme
and inappropriate police response that
occur occurred at this demonstration.
Um, during our protest, uh, Chief Story,
I am talking to you, so I would
appreciate it if you would get off of
your phone and listen. Thank you. During
our protest, at which we passed out
slices of watermelon and painted a mural
of a butterfly, law enforcement deployed
snipers and pointed rifles and tactical
crossbows at us for the entire duration
of the event. This happened in broad
daylight, in a public space, and in
front of community members exercising
their First Amendment rights. Let me be
clear, there were children at this
event. There were children with guns
pointed at them for 3 hours, families,
parents, and elders. At no point was
there a threat posed that would warrant
this kind of militarized intimidation.
When one of us respectfully approached
and asked one of the officers what they
were doing and why there were multiple
snipers, he responded with, and I quote,
"Fuck off. Go away." The officer who was
sworn to protect and serve the community
told us to go away. While they were
pointing snipers at children, what
happened Friday was nothing more than a
show of force meant to send a message.
There was no intent to protect us. And
let's be honest, we all know that this
would never happen at a white le protest
or a parade, which was proven to be true
at Saturday's protest led by white
organizers that was met with zero shows
of force or police threats. This was a
targeted repression of community
organizers, activists, and anyone who
dares to challenge the atrocities that
the state is committing every day while
they are kidnapping human beings off of
our streets. Pointing rifles and
tactical crossbows at peaceful
residents, some of them children, is not
public safety. So, I'm not here to ask
for an apology. I'm here to demand
answers. Who authorized this deployment?
Why were there snipers pointed at
children? And what steps will be taken
to make sure that this disgusting abuse
of power never happens again? And if law
enforcement cannot differentiate between
an armed threat and a peaceful protest,
then we are not safe in their hands. And
I want to make it clear that people will
not be intimidated and we will not
forget
[Applause]
Uh hello city council and mayor
enriquez. Uh my name is Katherine
Kitello. Um for the sake of transparency
I want to share that I work at Brandan
Library. I am not here as a
representative of Brandan but as a
citizen of Los Cusus speaking to my own
experiences. This statement is my own.
On June 13th, 2025, Branigan received a
phone phone call from a 915 number
stating that the Los Cruus Police
Department would be using the building
as a site after hours to respond to
impending violence. Minutes later, an
officer showed up and expected roof
access. This officer set up a rifle with
the scope on an upper floor of the
library. I witnessed myself, this
officer, watching citizens of Las Cusus
through the scope of this rifle. In the
end, no violence occurred. Thankfully,
this hasty and extreme reaction is
common but unacceptable. I do have
another example I could provide, but for
the sake of time, I'm going to focus on
this one. Um, city councelor Ben Ko or
Mayor Prom Bencomo has rightly
acknowledged the poor optics of this
choice in her statement that the
decision to quote point sniper rifles at
peaceful protesters, families, children,
and concerned citizens sent a message
that peaceful disscent is seen as a
threat. End quote. Police chief's story
did say that those sharpshooters were
present to protect the protesters. But
standing there in the grass, watching a
three-year-old girl play with a puppy,
witnessing those men watching us through
their scopes, I felt only the violence
of their presence. I urge anyone who can
do something about this to take action.
It should be unacceptable that the
reaction to a comment is an officer
pointing a deadly weapon at Los Cruus
and children. And if the police are
truly there to protect us, as Chief
Story says, they should be with us, not
stationed at a distance, at a distance
on what is supposed to be a safe
building, waiting for a moment to
strike. This incident contributes deeply
to misinformation as it has convinced
community members. The library called
the police, leading them to believe the
library condones violence. This incident
directly interferes with protests, cons
convincing citizens that peaceful
protesting may get them shot. It affects
community perception. Already I have
witnessed individuals who have reported
fear of coming to the library because
they don't know what will be waiting.
Our country is in a deep state of
division with officers excited to render
their civilians graveyard dead. Do not
contribute more deeply than you already
have to the depth of that divide. Please
do something. Please look internally and
address this. Thank you.
[Applause]
Good afternoon, city council. Uh, my
name is Quentyn Keitello. I want to echo
Katherine's sentiments, uh, Albert
sentiments, Dylan sentiments as well. I
assume more people in this room. Uh I
was there on Friday as well. I felt a
very palpable sense of unease among the
crowd. A genuine fear among some. Um
some left that that crowd because of
that fear. Uh and it seems like the
opposite of encouraging the right to
protest that I imagine most people here
uphold. Uh on Friday the police presence
was sorry on on Saturday the police
presence was notably different. Uh on
Friday there were officers in planes
clothes, hidden in shadows holding guns.
Uh Saturday they were in the open on
bikes and even helped someone in the
crowd who had succumbed to some kind of
Pete related injury. Uh this is what I
expect from the department. Support,
outreach, uh community solidarity, not
hostility, not fear. uh and even the
positive aspects of their presence on
Saturday was marred somewhat by the
memory of the men in the shadows with
the guns. Uh I just want to urge
prudence and consideration when making
these kinds of decisions because it is
integral to the sense of community that
I believe this council has been and is
trying to cultivate for this city. Um
that's all I have. Thank you very much.
[Applause]
Hi, mayor and city council. My name is
Patty Hartman. Um, I'm kind of
unprepared today. I I just I just have
I'm just rather disgusted. Um, even more
so when I hear those comments of, "Yeah,
our city's a mess." Um,
what really overall, I've noticed this
for so long, what we don't have are any
kind of standards or values or anything
whatsoever.
Um, I'm really kind of tired of hearing
people praise themselves. Authorities
were all this stuff. The only the only
evidence that I see are the statistics
that say we fail at everything. And and
I'm just fed up with that. um public
works.
Maybe they should hire people with
experience and not just put road close
signs in the middle of the road without
any kind of warning. They detour you.
You make a turn and then where are you?
You're lost in some neighborhood. I've
called public works twice. Um the one I
complained about the first time, it
wasn't fixed even the second time. And
like I just it's just ridiculous. It's
it's like shouldn't people know how to
do their jobs here? Um, and and I'm not
just talking about like labor jobs. I'm
talking about all you guys, too. I don't
know what you think your role is. Um,
mayor, I wrote to you as soon as you got
into office, a long email. You're just
one of many who doesn't even bother
responding. I'm just really fed up with
this city of like, you just do whatever
you want. There's no accountability from
anybody in power whatsoever. How about
the cooling stations? Well, I called
this morning. What kind of cooling
stations do we have? Gee, I don't think
we have any. And as I sat here in the
meeting today at 12:15, now there's
something on the news. Oh, we have
cooling stations. All of a sudden, I
just I'm just along with everybody else,
I'm just fed up with this Mickey Mouse
way that everything is done here. You
you make up your own words. Public
participation. This is not
participation. This is a comment.
Participation is an interaction. And we
don't have that. And I'm just I'm just
really disappointed in our city and I'm
and I'm fed up. Thank you.
[Applause]
Mayor, Council, Michael Harris, for the
record. Um, I wasn't going to say
anything, but uh, as I walked in, I have
a small comment, which is a few meetings
ago, um, we passed a proclamation that
said that Los Cusus is in support of
dark skies, and we love to help out our
nature and our people have have nice
access to that. Uh, but as I was walking
in today, I noticed that the lights in
front of City Hall, which are pointed
straight up, um, not only are they
pointed straight up, they're the
decorative ones, the red, white, and
blue ones, uh, but also they're on, uh,
right now in the afternoon. So, someone
might want to look into that. Thanks.
[Applause]
Hello, mayor. Hello, council. My name is
Trent Scriber. For the record, uh, I'm
here, I figure you can imagine what I'm
here to talk about. I want to start by
saying that militarization of the police
does not make us safe. I want to start
by saying that this is an national
problem. It's not just here. That we've
seen the police have become increasingly
more militarized and this has
contributed to the feelings that the
general public has about them. This is
like people said earlier, contributed to
that divide. As we speak right now, the
federal government is partnering with
private companies like Palunteer to
build databases on American citizens, to
spy on American citizens, a new Patriot
Act.
The relevance of this is that if we are
going to have police presence at
protests, pointing guns at peaceful
protesters well in advance before
anything has happened. And these same
police are going to have access to every
American's data. Easy access to every
American's data. I can't trust the
police force. I can't trust that. It is
government overreach. Right now, ICE is
invading our communities and they are
with unprecedented force, with
unprecedented impunity, they're breaking
into houses, man. And they're kicking
down doors at the churches. And maybe
I'm exaggerating a little bit, but
barely.
And we all know someone in there who's
been taken and basically disappeared. 50
New Mexicans have been disappeared by
ICE.
The relevance of this to local law
enforcement is that who is going to
enforce the unjust laws that are coming?
And I want to know that I can trust my
police department not to take up the gun
against me when they are asked.
Um, that's all that I had. If I have if
I have a second longer, I want to say
thank you to the brave working men and
women of the city for keeping the roads
clean and all that. And uh please change
the meeting time because this is very
early for me.
[Applause]
Hello, good afternoon. My name is
Spencer Taylor. I'm a former 15-year
professor at New Mexico State University
and currently a secondyear Master of
Social Work student in town. And I have
a little bit of a showand tell here
today. I have in front of me a book
called Yes She Can. This is a collection
of essays from women who worked in the
Obama administration. Um on page 29
starts a chapter titled Policy Assistant
for Immigration and Rural Affairs
Office, Domestic Policy Council, age 25,
June 27th, 2013. Um, this is uh authored
by Andrea Flores, who I was fortunate
enough when I was working with the Sun
News to go cover when she came down to
talk about this chapter and what she was
writing about. Um, Andrea Flores when
she about 25 years ago when she was at
Sierra Middle School, go Falcons, uh,
was pulled over and questioned for no
other crime than driving while Latina.
Um, and they asked her about her
citizenship status. She's a birth
citizen. Um, and so this was this was 25
years ago when due process was a little
bit more intact than it is today. Um, so
she was able to kind of figure this out,
get through it, maintain citizenship,
maintain her status here. Uh, she went
on to be to campaign for Harvard student
body president. Um she worked in the
Obama administration and the Biden
administration on immigration policy. Um
and she's a friend uh that I recall from
middle school and high school days. And
um I think this is a great example of
how if we protect our citizens
and if we protect people around us um we
have no idea what comes out of Los
Cusus, what type of productivity comes
out of Los Cusus, right? And um I really
admire all the work that Andrea has been
doing. She's on CNN. She's on Democracy
Now. She's talking about Los Cusus um in
very positive ways, but also in this way
of like this thing she encountered.
That's a big problem, right? So what
does this have to do with right now?
Well, here we are 25 years later. We
have this unhinged, lawless
federal government that is coming after
people, right? And we the only line of
defense against this is smaller
government, state government, city
government, etc. Right? So we need
policy, functional, practical policy
from you all that can help defend people
from this ICE terrorizing that's going
on in our communities.
I mean, and andrea is a great example
because of all the things she did, but
you know, you don't you're not
privileged with protection by virtue of
all the things you're going to go on to
do, right? You're privileged with
protection by virtue of you are a human
being. We need to see human beings in
our community and protect these human
beings. ICE is not welcome here.
Immigrants are welcome here. Immigrants
are wanted. Please give us some policy
that reflects that. Thank you.
All righty. Hello y'all. My name is
Lindley Hornsby, uh, resident of
District 4. I walked here today and I
couldn't help but find myself looking at
the roof of the fire department or the
state station um the balcony of the
library um because the last time that I
walked through the park um that I walked
through to get here I saw snipers on
those roofs and I've been at that park
dozens of time in my time living here
never seen such a
at a community event where we're
spending time with elders, children,
college students
with a shared
belief that and a and a demand to have
ICE outside of our communities
um to keep our community members safe
and to suddenly be like hanging out with
a six-year-old doing like fingerpaints
and see a sniper. That was very scary.
That didn't make us feel safe.
So I just want to iterate to the council
that when you send police presence, that
doesn't always like not everyone feels
safe by that. In fact, a lot of folks
feel very scared by that, which I think
we all should know given the current
context of what we're seeing with a
militarized police force in this
country. But I just want to remind
y'all, it's scary. Police hurt people.
Like, I say that as someone, my
grandfather was a police officer, and I
know this to be true. So, when you're
making these decisions
about putting snipers on roofs, I want
to remind you um how unfair that is to
like you're taking away um or attempting
to take away the joy that folks are
having in community at a demonstration
by scaring the shit out of us. And look,
nothing bad happened cuz nothing bad was
going to happen. And as someone else
said earlier, if the police are here to
protect us, then stand with us. Don't
point guns at us.
Thank you.
Hello, mayor, city council. Um, please
chief story. Uh, everybody else, my name
is Yvanni Seastan Hernandez. Um, I'm
raised in of Los Cusus and I'd like to
share a few things. Um, so I live here
in Los Cusus and I lived here for quite
some time and I've had many firsts here.
Um, I finished school here. Um, I think
I fell in love for the first time here.
I also had my first real heartbreak as
many of us have had. Um, I've hung out
by the river when it's dry and when it's
flowing. Um, I've enjoyed many of our
city facilities, uh, Mirite, um, the
skate park, uh, the aquatic center, um,
and also the libraries. And that's
really cool. I've had some of the best
times I've ever had, um, here in the
city enjoying those facilities. Um, in
fact, one of my favorite places um that
I kind of thought was like a sanctuary,
quiet place was the second uh on on the
second uh story of Brangan Memorial
Library uh in what they call the
creators room. Uh there's like a model
ship in there. There's like painting
supplies. There's like old maps and
stuff like that. Whole bunch of really
cool things. Um and to be honest, I
didn't really think a whole lot of
people knew about it. Um
there um I spent time with uh doing
doing work and doing homework with uh my
current with my partner uh the love of
my life um where I got to see her in the
beautiful light of the afternoon that
comes in through that uh through that
window there um that overlooks a park.
Um, on Friday, last week, um, I was
there at that park protesting against
racist, xenophobic, ICE, immigrations
and custom enforcement, uh, from the
federal government, kidnapping people in
our communities. And I look over and I
see a sniper,
a man from Lasus Police Department with
a rifle pointing at us. Um,
we seen him over there on the fire
department roof also. Um, and that's not
okay. That's not cool. Um, extre
extremism by law enforcement against
people of color um against people who um
organizers in this community um is
something that I was never really
expecting. Um
some of these folks that came before me
said it best, but um this same kind of
uh threat of violence and that's what
this is um was not replicated on
Saturday. uh at an organized protest
with mostly white organizers, white
leadership, white participants, a whole
lot of snowbirds, we know them all. Um
instead, it was directed at one where
there was fingerpainting. There was a
piata and there was peaceful protest.
Standards, if we have them, and if they
were subject to change, mean nothing. Um
I want to know what the city council is
going to be doing about that. What the
city council has to say about that. what
the city council has to say about things
like automatic license plate readers
that ICE is getting access to all over
the country and whether or not the
police department your three minutes are
up and whether or not the police
department three minutes are up and
whether or not the police department
will cave to the federal Trump
administration by signing a 287g
agreement like so many counties in New
Mexico have done already when you're
forced to will you do so and will you
stand with the citizens of Los Cruises?
Thank you very much.
[Applause]
Mayor, city council, my name is Axel
Hail. For the record, I too was a
peaceful protester at Friday's
demonstration where sniper sniper rifles
were aimed at us.
I would like to remind the council that
the Los Cusus Police Department has paid
over 22 million in wrongful death
lawsuits since 2022.
In a statement Chief Story made to the
Albuquerque Journal about said snipers,
he said that the officers weren't
intended to be visible, that we weren't
supposed to see them.
So that we did see them. Is that a sign
of these officers incompetence? That we
do not have properly trained police
officers on our force. That is even more
of a threat to our safety.
Let's say hypothetically that like Chief
Story claims that those officers were
there for our protection, which mind
you, I don't believe.
not that was not communicated to any of
the demonstrators in any meaningful way
by any law enforcement or official. So
that reads to us as a thinly veiled
threat of state violence is how that
reads. We do not trust the Los Cusus
Police Department with their track
record.
And then to see Chief Story and our
police representatives here looking down
their nose at us with disrespect as we
speak is atrocious.
And Mayor Enriquez, for you to interrupt
Yiovanni Hernandez after his three
minutes were up as you let others speak
once their time was up is uncalled for.
When they were speaking about the copper
and lead pipe ordinances, you let her
finish. He just had a couple more words
to get out in that sentence and you
interrupted him. Uncalled for Mayor
Enriquez. I call for a better city
council, for our police force to take
accountability for their actions. The
militarization of this is uncalled for.
I have lived my entire life in the Los
Cusus community and very few times have
I seen it come together in such a
beautiful way as I did at Friday's
demonstration. For these people to
gather in what they believe in and the
strength we see in our community and the
love we hold for each other
and then to feel that fear
is uncalled for.
And it frankly gives me such disdain for
our city council, for our
representatives that we're supposed to
trust with our lives, with our public
safety. No.
Do better, city council.
[Applause]
All right, my turn.
Hello, city council. I am Rose. I live
in District 2. And I am also here to
talk about the protests that occurred
this past weekend, uh, Friday and
Saturday, and the stark, um, excuse me,
the stark difference between how those
two were handled by law enforcement. Um,
the protest on Friday. Can you can you
pull your microphone down so we can you
can speak directly into it. Thanks.
Okay.
Lost my place here. No, the protest on
Friday was in response to the ongoing
ICE raids and the disappearance and
families. And the course of action that
was found by the law enforcement is
really disturbing.
Seeing three snipers that were Yeah.
pointed at kids and elders. And you may
argue that this was to protect those
people, but it's really just to
intimidate and scare people for
exercising their right for free speech
against a fascist regime.
And in contrast, the no kings protest,
which was in response to Donald Trump's
birthday, um that's organized by 50501
Indivisible, which they partner with law
enforcement. Um and with their actions,
how law enforcement treated with just
having bikes patrolling the place. And
you might think, well, that's how it's
supposed to be done. Um, the right to
protest is part
of how this country was built based off
of movements that didn't require
permission. And the true way to keep us
safe is not by militarization and law
enforcement. It's by creating policies
that protect those vulnerable like such
as 22-059
a resolution in support of a pathway to
citizenship for immigrant families and a
resolution uh 18-075
um city of Los Cruz is being a diverse
welcoming community and friendly city to
all immigrants
and yeah I just want accountability to
be made and yeah got to do better. So
that's all I got. Thank you.
[Applause]
Can you hear me
beautiful? My name is B, otherwise known
as Roy G. Dilf to those in the drag
community. I'm from District 2 and I'm
here to speak on the happenings that
happened during the protest that
occurred this weekend.
To start, I've been a part of all sorts
of protests throughout the span of the
decade in New Mexico, especially Los
Cusus, for women's rights, gun reform,
and LGBTQ rights to mention a few. And
even when there was a cop presence, I
had not until 2024 experienced it quite
to this degree.
But what happened on Friday during a
peaceful protest in solidarity with
California and their fight to keep
families together against ICE brutality.
Our country is no stranger to police
brutality, especially during POC
centered protests. But to see not one
but two visible snipers during a
peaceful protest was shocking,
especially in a city like Los Cusus. The
individuals that organize aren't
overwhelming in numbers,
just in comparison to the other protests
that we're seeing nationwide.
These are excessive measures that were
utilized by individuals of our Los Cusus
Police Department to instill fear in
peaceful protest organizing for
immigrant and POC liberation, especially
after speaking on Junth and the
atrocities of the shooting that occurred
here so soon. What we need is gun
reform. What we need is police reform.
It is interesting to see the difference
between the police presence on Saturday
versus Friday. The immigrant population
is a large percentage of what makes New
Mexico so enchanting.
New Mexico NMSU alone specifically is a
melting pot of culture. But what I urge
from you council members
is to strengthen our existing policies
with resolution 22059,
a support of pathway to citizenship for
New Mexico families, as well as
resolution 18075,
supporting a diverse and welcoming
community and friendly city to all
immigrants.
Lastly, as someone who was hosting a
drag show in solidarity with what my
brothers and sisters were facilitating
at that protest
and at a market re uh right after, it's
sad to see how those two individual
those individuals were wielding guns
that could coat what was said to be
otherwise a beautiful event and make it
an experience of fear for those who
weren't able to attend. Fear-mongering
will not only will not stop individuals
right to protest and speak freely for
those who are most disenfranchised.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Hello city councilors and mayor. My name
is S Guerero and I will be reading a
statement from someone who was unable to
be here today. Um and she says, "Dear
Lasusu City Mayor Enriquez and city
council members, my name is Rene
Beltran. I am unable to appear before
you today for public comment because of
a scheduling conflict. However, I feel
strongly about this issue and want to go
on record in protest of the actions of
LCPD on 613 2025. To be clear, I do not
currently reside in Los Cusus city
limits, but I have been a proud Los
Cusus resident since 1994, living for
many years within city limits and still
own a home within District 4 of Los
Cusus and have adult ch children living
there. I shop, work, recreate, and
exercise my constitutional right to
protest within the city of Los Cusus. As
such, I want to register my disgust and
frankly fear of seeing the Los Cusus
Police Department snipers posted
proximal to Albert Johnson Park on
Friday evening 613 2025 during the
peaceful protest denouncing the actions
of ICE in Los Angeles and similar
actions elsewhere in the world such as
in Gaza. Seeing snipers with rifles
trained on peaceful gathering of folks,
including many families and children, is
dismaying. If there was in fact a
credible threat, why didn't the LCPD
seek to inform this gathering and
protect them through information? I do
not trust or believe the Los Cruus
police when they say they were
supposedly responding to a credible
threat. Instead, I perceive this as an
act of escalation and intimidation. I do
not oop raised three children in Los
Cuses. Throughout my parenting, I
exercise my constitutional rights to
protest and express my viewpoint and
have often had my children with me at
all ages and stages of their growth. I
am proud to have taught them a way to
engage with our democratic system. I
applaud the parents and caretakers as
well as the principled individuals that
set up publicly at events such as
Fridays to stand for their viewpoints. I
see such family and individual
interactions in the photos of Friday
evening's peaceful event with young
people, children, and families. And I
see that is how LCPD chose to respond.
As a parent and community member, I am
appalled. I ask that you hold LCPD
accountable for this decision, that you
hold yourselves accountable for your
role in supporting this police chief and
his politicization
of public safe safety, and that you be
answerable to the families that were
threatened and made to feel unsafe.
Respectfully, Renee Beltran. Thank you.
[Applause]
Hello, Mayor and City Council. My name
is Liz Bennett. Um, I want to share a
few thoughts. Um but starting with
gratitude for efforts that have been
made in the areas that will continue to
make our community stronger and promote
the wellness that we uh long for and all
want and deserve. So I am grateful for
um all of the people who take care of
our parks. I I visit Apadaka Park
regularly and walk my dogs there and
deeply appreciate the big beautiful
shade trees and the cool grass and I
think of the people who um show up there
every day and make sure that it's a a
nice beautiful place for us to have in
the community.
I'm thankful for the affordable housing
that I see um going up on Three Crosses
and on Al Paseo. It looks beautiful and
I love how how quickly it is uh coming
to fruition and knowing that our
community can uh find comfort and safety
there soon. Um, a few meetings ago you
presented your budget and I was very
grateful that you included uh, I think
six youth specialists in in your budget
and I'm very grateful that you're making
an effort to include young people in
meaningful professional opportunities to
be part of the conversation.
Um, I can see where we are investing in
what works
and I just want to share a few
recommendations around those things as
well. one that we continue to protect
our trees. That's going to be really
important in the future. Um
that we uh when you're hiring young
people in these positions that you
consider hiring actual young people who
have lived experience in the areas that
you're looking to impact.
Um, and lastly, I'm grateful for our
right to peacefully assemble, um, to
raise our voices against the abuses of
human rights and injustice that we see
taking place in our community and across
the country.
And whenever I've been involved in and
supported these uh, peaceful gatherings,
we always uh, prioritize safety. We have
conversations about safety. We provide
sunscreen and water and snacks. And we
even designate someone as a police
liaison, someone who's uh willing,
ready, and able to interact with law
enforcement if the need arises. And I
would consider a credible threat against
a protest a uh legitimate and pressing
need to communicate with law
enforcement. Uh however um there was no
attempt to communicate with anyone on
site on Friday and so that's another one
of my recommendations is that we invest
in invest in uh liaons in the practice
of communication the practice of
partnership and relationship um if we
really want to keep each other safe.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Hello, my name is Lucas Hearn and I'm a
resident of District 2. On Friday
evening, I attended a peaceful protest
uh at Albert Johnson Park along with
hundreds of fellow community members. We
gathered to show solidarity with our
fellow citizens in Los Angeles, as well
as other communities across the country,
including our own, which have been under
increased brutalization by federal
agents, the police, and now active duty
military. This event was independent
from other organized demonstrations that
were scheduled for the following day,
Saturday, during which millions of
Americans turned out to oppose a
repressive regime currently in place in
our country. I mention this because the
chief told the Albuquerque Journal,
quote, "There were multiple comments
made uh that made them aware of directly
threatened or inferred violence on the
planned protests. To my knowledge, the
event on Friday was not overly planned,
and what threats I have seen in my
official capacity as a New Mexico
political insider and expert were
directed at the Saturday events. Please
bear this in mind." At our event on
Friday, members of the Los Cusus Police
Department were seen occupying elevated
positions overlooking the demonstrators
at the park. Armed with high-powered
rifles with scopes, these officers were
documented by multiple attendees,
including myself, with their uh weapons
barrels pointed at our peaceful
gathering. When I say quote, "Their
weapons barrels were pointed at," I am
being specific with that terminology
because at the event people use words
like aiming at. And as a certified
firearms trainer instructor myself,
certified by the United States Concealed
Carry Association and registered with
the state of New Mexico, I do appreciate
the difference between quote aiming a
weapon and having my weapon's barrel
pointed at something. However, to
untrained folks, these subtle
differences make little difference. And
the feeling of having guns pointed at
them made the entire crowd feel very
uneasy.
No, uneasy is not the right word. It
scared people. People were scared. There
were kids and elders at the event. I
shouldn't have to rationalize what kind
of citizens were there, but for the sake
of emphasis, hundreds of innocent people
felt scared because of what they
perceived as snipers were aiming their
weapons at them for simply gathering
specifically to call out the brutal way
militarized federal troops and police
have been treating us across the country
for years. Chief Story said, quote, "The
officers should not have been visible
with their rifles, but they were there
to keep those exercising their First
Amendment rights safe."
The officers weren't just visible. They
were endangering people downrange of
their weapons. It's a key principle of
firearm safety. Always treat firearms as
if they were loaded. Control your muzzle
at all times. Always keep your finger
outside the trigger guard until you're
ready to fire. Be aware of your target
and what's beyond it. If that's hard to
remember, you can remember the acronym
ACAB. I find it highly suspect that the
police responded to our gathering with
sharpshooters on Overwatch, using
potential threats as a justification.
But on Saturday, I saw no such activity.
instead saw officers calmly riding their
bikes around the park. If the threats
were made against Saturday's protest,
why didn't they come out on Overwatch
then? Why didn't LCPD attempt to make
contact with organizers on Friday to
make us aware of these so-called
threats? It can't be overstated that the
reason is because LCPD viewed us as
threats for organizing in solidarity
with others who oppose state sanctioned
violence from any uniform representative
of the state. But in the end, they just
proved our point.
[Applause]
Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council.
My name is Herren Caveto. I live in
District 2.
Um, my grandmother, Alicia Arin
Monontto, was born in El Paso in 1934.
My great-grandparents had traveled from
Kohila, Mexico to cross this border.
There was no ICE. There was no militized
police force
to attack them, to kill them. My
family's long, exhausting journey was
rewarded by finding a home in Texas over
90 years ago. I know there are some in
this room and throughout this country
who would have preferred a different
result, but this is the story of how I
got to be here, and I'm proud of it.
This is the the story of tens of
thousands of people and families, all
unique and bound together at the same
time.
My family made their way from segregated
Texas to Los Cruus, New Mexico, back to
Texas, and eventually to Los Angeles,
where my dad was born, and met my mom in
college. I was born 10 miles north of
downtown LA. But once I found my way
back to the borderlands 15 years ago, I
knew I was home.
The Department of Homeland Security was
established in 2002 and has nothing to
do with home. ICE was established a year
later, and both are violent, unnecessary
arms of the state.
DHS and ICE are not inevitable.
They are not required for life or
well-being. They destroy life and
well-being.
Just as one horrifying example, I'll
remind everyone that in December of
2018, uh, two babies, two toddlers were
killed by ICE. Um, just within weeks of
each other, um, a seven-year-old and a
nine-year-old child, um, were killed.
And I do say killed in ICE custody. Um,
at least 52 people have been killed in
ICE custody since then. 12 people were
killed just last year alone in ICE
custody. So whether you want to say
these killings were due to neglect or
cruelty or indifference, it's still
state sanctioned killing of human
beings. So when the people of Los Cusus
rose up to defend themselves against the
increasing terror and violence of ICE
and were met with even more violence, I
was called together with my community in
Las Cusus on Friday to say, "Ice out of
LA, ice out of Las Cusus. Ice out of the
United States." And the cops responded
by pointing sniper rifles at us at
families and children gathered in the
park with music and art. The supposed
threats online that the cops use and
continue to use as their excuse were in
response to threats against Saturday's
protest. We know this. This is
documented. The threats were on a blog
post about Saturday.
It was about Saturday's no king's rally,
yet the sniper showed up Friday. So,
thanks, but no thanks with that lie.
I'll just end to reassure everyone that
no amount of grotesque state sanctioned
hate and violence will ever keep us from
gathering or keep us from building a
world without ICE and without cops. We
know it's possible and it's worth
fighting for. And when I say abolish
ICE, I mean abolish borders and I mean
abolish cops. Thank you.
[Applause]
Good afternoon, Mayor Council. Uh my
name is Allison Neil Wallace. I'm a
resident of District 4. Um and I also
attended the demonstration on Friday um
in solidarity with a lot of these
individuals. Um, but I have something
else that I wanted to mention because
oop sorry because um quite a few years
ago I remember one of the first
political actions I was involved in um
that involved quite a few young people
like we see here today was about a skate
park. Um, I know that a lot of people
are very excited um about
the city investing in more opportunities
for people to uh come together, more
community spaces that are easily
accessible to people of all ages and
families. And so I wanted to say thank
you to the city for, you know, getting
making sure that that money from the
state went into finally redoing that
skate park. I believe it was 2017 was
the original petition that I remember um
being a part of. It's quite a while ago.
And so to see that pretty much completed
now is awesome. And please continue to
invest in our city. I do love this city.
Um, I've been living here for 15 years
and I want to see it continue to grow
and I want to see it continue to retain
people um and retain families and make
it somewhere, you know, a little more
enticing for people to live. Um, we have
a lot of good things going for us,
especially the beautiful Oregon
mountains and if we can keep it up, we
can we can make our city even better.
So, thank you all for the work that you
do and have a good rest of your
afternoon.
[Applause]
Hello, city council. My name is Gwen
Stacy. Um, and I would like to speak
about um the events that happened um on
the protest at Friday. um especially in
the sense that after learning and seeing
the actual posted rifles and as well as
hearing about a potential that there
were just cops in the library, I had to
leave because I'm a person that for
various reasons can't afford to get
arrested even and I would say that the
reasons that they give do not sound like
they were meant to protect us because
that means to ignore the greater context
of the national situation in terms of
ICE protests. I would say clearly they
were expecting us to become a riot based
on unfounded speculation in comparison
to what's currently happening in LA,
even though those are completely
different circumstances in a different
city.
And I felt terrible leaving early that
day because I went around waiting for my
friends to die. That's how it felt.
And I also just want to point out that
what ICE is doing is blatantly illegal
and unconstitutional because they have
been documented as deporting and then
handwaving it. That that they have
deported US citizens and they say, "Oh,
well, we don't know where they are
anymore.
we should all be united in opposing them
having a massive overreach of power and
that they are very much akin to
something like a shenan stafa or an SS
or a secret police and so to Jeremy
story and all police I oppose this if
the federal government starts doing
something like say making it being
illegal to be transgender
will they actually protect their
communities or will they be like so many
at the Nurburg big trials saying they
were just following orders. Thank you.
[Applause]
Good afternoon, city council. Mr. Mayor
Richard Burella, aka Richard Navara's
hyphen Burella.
I tried to uh get this video shown
because it is very disturbing, very
disturbing.
On my way back from Young Park at the
music in the park,
uh I was prompted
to look in a certain direction on my way
to uh where I reside in my tent.
As I was going in the tree, well, there
was a dead pigeon.
Uh, I would like the opportunity for
police chief story to see this video
while um I describe it to the city
council. Would that be okay? No, not not
at this time. That the video has to be
properly vetted uh to the city clerk.
You can we can schedule a time and you
can show the video at another time. I'm
asking if police chief story can watch
this video while I describe what's on
it. My time stopped at 2:11. I want that
time back. No, not at this time. We all
video has to be vetted through the
clerk's office submitted prior to for
the police chief to see it. Yes. Yes.
Even for that because you're at a public
meeting. That's why. Well, the public's
not going to see the video. Police story
is we we can schedule the time offline
and the chief can see it. Then then I
guess I will have to get this shown for
the public in court.
Now, let me describe what is I I you you
interrupted me at 2 minutes 11 seconds.
I want those I want that time back. You
can speak, but we're not showing a video
today. Okay, fine. Let me start uh 211,
please. Go ahead.
Let me start by uh quoting the preamble
of the New Mexico Constitution.
We the people of New Mexico grateful to
Almighty God for the blessings of its
of liberty to secure secure the
advantages of a state government do
ordain and establish constitution. That
is the state constitution which
recognizes which is basically
legislative intent uh recognizes
almighty god.
So I say as agent to Almighty God, you
have a king already.
New Mexico does and so does the United
States endowed by our creator.
I wanted to show a video of an attack,
basically a warning, a death threat.
As I said, I came up to the tree well at
a certain spot in Young Park, and this
is during the the music festival, the
music in the park,
right by the children's uh playground
on the west side. Westside playground.
Uh I look over there cuz I was going to
pick it up and throw it away. I see some
paper over there. And I also see it's
being held down by a cinder block brick.
I'm like, how fortunate. Because it was
windy. I go over there, take the cinder
block brick off, uncover the paper
started flying, and there was paper
plates and a paper on there and a a
cardboard piece of cardboard.
I took off the cinder block. The papers
and the all the paper material started
blowing away. and uh removed the
cardboard and underneath was a headless
uh rooster
with maggots coming out of its body.
It's all right here on video, but you
all don't want to see that because you
all practice that stuff and I'm tired of
these death threats against me
aided by the your police department over
here.
Um it's not it's not going to work. you
what you all did to Jesus Christ isn't
going to work. I am his agent here. I've
tried to contact the United States
government, the United Nations, you I
this city council, whether it's
Miyagashima or you. I tried to bring
this embassy of peace from almighty God
and you don't want peace. You want
Armageddon. It's obvious to me with
this. This isn't the only headless crow
that is along that path where I take in
a young park to return to my tent where
I reside. That's not the first time I've
seen that kind of threat. And also, I've
been handed oranges in church. Okay. In
reference to the Godfather, too. We
we've given you the time. If you if you
want to give us your name and the number
where we can reach you, we'll schedule
something.
you can give it would be a good idea
because I have many videos and and uh I
will okay just leave your name your name
and address number and and we'll get
back to you.
Hello Mayor, city council. My name is
Fred Miller. I'm a resident of district
4 and I just wanted to address that
notion that no one should have seen
those
SWAT snipers.
That's not comforting.
Local police service to me seems like
should be public service.
If they're trying to keep it secret,
they're not supposed to be secret
service.
the public. It doesn't help to think
that they might be there still, you
know, or in other places, other times in
town. Are they surveilling us without
our awareness?
Are they operating in secret
that no one should have seen them? That
bothers me. Thank you.
[Applause]
Good afternoon, mayor and city council
members. My name is Jan Thompson. I'm an
old white woman, but I attended both the
Friday and Saturday demonstrations,
and the difference was significant.
the difference in the way the police
handled themselves and interacted or
didn't interact with the demonstrators.
It appeared very clearly to me to be a
case of agism. I believe that there's a
bias that young people are undisiplined
and are prone to violence
because the difference was just stark.
And um I hope that um
everybody involved in the decisions as
to how the police would would behave at
the demonstrations will look at
themselves and ask was this agism?
[Applause]
My name is Jim Hurst.
There's something happening here. What
it is ain't exactly clear. There's a man
with a gun over there telling me I got
to beware. I think it's time we stop.
Children, what's that sound? Everybody
look what's going down.
There's battle lines being drawn.
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong.
Young people speaking their minds
getting so much resistance from behind.
It's time we stop. What's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down.
What a field day for the heat. Thousand
people in the street singing songs and
carrying signs. mostly say hooray for
our side. It's time we stop. What's that
sound? Everybody look what's going down.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Okay.
Okay. Hello. My name is Jessica Ennezz.
I am honored to say that I am from
Donana and my family has been there for
many generations. Growing up, I went to
Donana Elementary and some of the first
things I learned were the pledge of
allegiance, the character counts, and
how to be aware of others in the room. I
remember starting to learn the pledge of
allegiance and not understanding why we
were doing it, but understanding that it
was something of significance. And I
knew it was important that I learned the
words and live by them. Because during
this pledge, I placed my hand over
something that was very important in my
body, my heart. Something that I was
using before I could remember, something
I used before I went to school to learn
everything I did for my body. So, I knew
it was important. The next thing I
learned was character counts. Character
counts, if we don't remember, are the
six pillars, and they're like core ethic
values. They're identified by the
nonpartisan secular group of youth
development expertise in 1992. They're
just core values that transcend culture,
religion, and socioeconomic differences,
which means everybody can do it. Um,
it's trustworthiness where they teach
us, you know, it's important to be
honest and do what you say you'll do and
keep your promises. Respect. Be
accepting of differences. Be courteous
of others. Deal peacefully with
disagreements. Be considerate of others
feelings. Responsibility. Do what you're
supposed to do. Be selfdisciplined.
Think before you act. Be accountable for
your words, actions, and attitudes.
Fairness. Play by the rules. Take turns.
Share. and be open-minded. Listen to
others. Don't take advantage of others.
Caring. Be kind. Be compassionate.
Express gratitude. Forgive others. And
six, the last one is citizenship. Do
your share to make your home, school,
and community better. Cooperate. Stay
informed. Vote. Make choices that
protect the safety and rights of others
and protect the environment. As a former
Donana Elementary School character
counts award recipient in second grade,
I took it very seriously and I still do
to this day. With learning these two
very separate things, it showed me how
to mesh them together so that I could be
aware of everybody in the room. I wanted
to make sure that I showed up in the
best light and I could be the best
person for everyone because it helps
everybody's mental health, their
physical health, and their emotional
well-being. I also learned quickly that
if I gave in to let others hurt me so
much and that I in turn hurt others that
we would become divisible. But I knew
that every morning when I said one
nation under God, indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all, I meant
that. So I continue to work on my
character because character counts. I
think it's important that if we're
teaching kids how to about these
different characters that count and how
to be one nation that it's important
that we don't just walk the walk. We
talk the talk. We do it all because as
humans, we're the only ones that can
talk to each other and help each other.
what's happening right now in the world
are not the core values we learned as
children.
I don't know most of you uh but I look
at around the room and I know that
you're all deserving of a beautiful
life. You deserve life without having to
prove that you are worthy. You're
already worthy because you simply exist
which is a miracle in itself. You
deserve the life of peace, happiness,
and fun. And I want that for you and I
want that for everyone. I'm sorry. Just
one second. And I hope that we can take
the steps needed to make sure that our
character really counts so that we can
stay indivisible and have liberty and
justice for all. Thank you.
[Applause]
Next we go to the acceptance of agenda.
Move to approve. Graham. Second by
Flores.
This is on the motion to accept the
agenda as presented. Councelor Mccclure
is absent. Councelor Matise. Yes.
Councelor Graham. Yes. Councelor Karan.
Yes. Councelor Flores. Yes. Councelor
Ben Como is absent and mayor. Yes.
Next, we'll start with item 7.1,
resolution number 25-150.
Move to approve.
Second, Graham. Bring it forward.
Good afternoon, mayor, counselor, city
staff. My name is Donnie Proise. I'm the
purchasing supervisor. For the record, I
wanted to introduce Anadelia Vitola.
She's a buyer that was hired and joined
our team earlier this year, and this
will be her first presentation to
council.
Good afternoon.
Um,
well, good afternoon, mayor, counselors,
and city staff. My name is Senator
Vitoles, buyer one with a purchasing
program. Before you today is a
resolution authorizing the city to enter
into an agreement for work uniform,
shoes, and related items.
Several departments within the city of
Las Cruuses provide their employees with
work uniforms pursu pursuant to city
managers policy 1.7
uniform policy and United Steel Workers
Union contract. The city's annual
expenditure for work uniforms applies to
both blue collar and white collar
workers. To minimize cost, it is the
best interest of the city to standardize
the uniform style and quality to
distinctly identify employees as
representatives of the city in the
performance of their duties.
Las Cru's municipal court author
authorizes the city to utilize contracts
sorry
from other entities. Utilization of
these contracts allows to for efficient
and cost-effective procurement of goods
and services to meet the city's
operational needs. Basar uniforms and
men's stores LLC of El Paso, Texas
provides reduced pricing based on ESC
region 19 contract number 24-7504
for a term through October 31st of 2029.
The city wishes to re utilize this
contract to purchase work uniform,
shoes, and related items at a discount
rate. The city agreement expenditure go
beyond the 100,000 threshold requiring
city council's approval. This resolution
request approval from city council to
set an annual not to exceed purchasing
amount of 200,000 subject to budget
appropriation.
Before you are your options and I will
stand for questions.
All right. Thank you, Anadilia, and
welcome to the city. Uh, do we have any
questions by anyone? Thank you.
Seeing none. Christine,
this is on the motion to approve
resolution 25-150.
Councelor Mccclure is absent. Councelor
Matise, yes. Councelor Graham, yes.
Councelor Craran, yes. Councelor Fletus,
yes. Councelor Bencoml, yes. Mayor, yes.
Next is item 7.2, resolution number
25-150.
Um, a resolution of authorizing an
amendment to a professional
which one am I on?
Uh, 25-151.
Oh, I look
move to approve.
Second.
Good afternoon, mayors, counselor. My
name is Virginia Bella, buyer 2 with the
purchasing program. Before you today is
a resolution requesting authorization to
amend a purchase service agreement for
lobbying services.
The city of Los Cusus requires lobbying
lobbying services to secure capital
outlay appropriations and legislative
policy through the state of New Mexico
legislative process. Coordination of the
city's lobbying efforts, networking with
Donana County state legislative
delegation, lobbying for or against
proposed substantive legislation as
directed by the city, interacting with
the legislative activities of the New
Mexico Municipal League, and provide and
provides reports to the city when
required.
Los Cusus Municipal Code 24-4 authorized
exemptions. Um, item number 17
authorizes the city to contract with
lobbyists and legislative experts
without competitive procurement. On
November 3rd, 2020, the city entered
into a professional service agreement
with Lawrence J. Han Ltd of Albuquerque,
New Mexico for initial term of one year
with five renewal options for a total
annual not to exceed amount of $75,000.
On December 18th, 2023,
council via resolution 24-069
authorized the city to increase the
annual not to exceed amount to $100,000.
The city incurs additional fees
associated with lobbying services during
the 30-day and 60-day legislative
sessions. To cover the fees associated
with the longer legislation, the city
manager's office is requesting
authorization to increase the not to
exceed total to $120,000
annually plus gross receipt tax for the
remainder of the contract year, which
would take us through November 4th,
2026. And this increase would be subject
to budget appropriations.
Before you are your options, and I will
stand for questions.
All right. Thank you, Council Flus.
Thank you, Mayor, and thank you so much
for the presentation. So, um, you, uh,
gave us a little bit of history in terms
of the increments he's received, uh, to
date
and, um,
I, you know, I, um,
I'd like to know why we're looking at
another increase at this point. And um
the report when required, who
establishes when required? Is it our
in-house auditor? Is it the city
council? Is it the city manager? Is it
who who
anybody can say? I'd like an update. Um
and the other is um
the plus plus applicable tax subject to
approved budget appropriations.
It's like Chinese to me. I don't
understand Chinese. Can you explain that
to me, please? Mayor Councelor Flores,
so we are con we are requesting to
increase the contract amount to
$120,000.
um that would be that does not include
gross receipts tax. So that $120,000
um any gross receipts tax would be on
top of that. Um we kind of keep it
generalized because gross receipts tax
can change throughout the contract
years. Um and then of course with each
year um all city departments have to go
through the appropriate budgeting
process to request budget in their
accounts to appra to pay for specific
services. Um, so the increase today is
because due to the longer legislative
sessions, there were additional fees
incurred um that went over our current
$100,000 that we would be responsible
for. Um, as far as the reporting, I will
need to defer to the office of the city
manager. So, you're saying it's
retroactive because more expenses were
incurred in this past uh session or is
it expected to be prospective and how
where's the crystal ball on that? Uh,
mayor councelor Flores. So, with the
current invoicing that we have for the
remainder months, we are doing
projections to show that it is going to
go over the $100,000 because of the
longer legislation.
So, is it just for the next session that
is going to be longer or or are all
sessions going to be longer now?
Mayor, councelor Flores, I will need to
defer to the office of the city manager
for that response.
Uh, mayor, councelor Flores, Son
Delgado, assistant city manager sitting
in for county tamo. Um, so we worked
very closely with Mr. Heran and in this
last session was a longer session. um
and he has been more involved with
helping us make connections uh set up
meetings and get additional information
which has been was extremely helpful
this past session. So moving forward I
am guessing we're going to be doing the
same type of thing. It was very
successful.
Thank you so much for that update or
that insight. But um I you know um there
have been times and this is with all due
respect to the powers that be here at
city hall and and to Mr. Haran um where
um in my um estimation somehow there was
a lack of performance on his part. you
know, when you have a contract, you have
performance, you have, you know, the,
you know, the the language that um the
language that defines performance. And I
know that um you know, we had a meeting
with him and or you know, we let him
know or I let him know that um I'd like
to see more u you know, more of a
positive outcome in his lobbying for us.
I mean, so I I you know, and it just
seems and he says there's been uh two
prior updates in the last two years, I
think, or whatever it was. So, I don't
know. Um I I'm not sure that what is it
um what is it at right now?
Uh Mayor, Councelor Flores, currently we
are set to $100,000 annually plus gross
receipts tax. Okay. And um so does this
mean that every time there's going to be
a longer session, we're going to come
back and hear that we're going to give
an increase to Mr. Haram. Mayor
Councelor Flores, um this increase is
increasing anticipating what it would be
for the longer legislations,
but we've had longer legislations
before. So my question is we're going to
have them in the future. and and you're
saying because there's short-term uh
sessions and then there's long-term
sessions. So, I guess I'm just worried
about, you know, this uh going up uh
every time there's a longer session
because we have short sessions and, you
know, like every other session.
So, Mayor, Councelor Flores, this
projected amount is what has been set to
cover long legislation. So for any
further ones, we wouldn't come back for
an increase unless we increase the
amount of services that we're requesting
from him outside of what we're currently
requesting. So um
but the services that will be performed
by him or are supposed to be performed
by him um are the same though. It's just
the just a longer session. It's mayor
councelor Flores the quantity.
Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you
councelor Grant.
Thanks. Uh not a question. I guess more
of a clarification comment. Um so I work
here and I also work at NMSU which has
me in the center of the two biggest
bureaucracies in Los Cusus. And one of
the great things about the city is that
if I'm taking advantage of a city
service, I don't have to go through what
I do at NMSU, no shade, go Aggies, um,
but where I have to submit uh an index
number before I can even call a person
or email a person. Um, so I can say I am
personally guilty of some of the extra
billing for Larry Heran at all in the
last session. Um, because I was a lot
more involved in this legislative
session and I really took advantage of
Larry's expertise um, in a way that the
city perhaps couldn't have predicted um,
before. So, am I correct in that, you
know, since we don't hold, since we're
not held to this, you have to submit an
increment of 15 minutes. That's how it
goes sometimes at NMSU to take advantage
of a contract. Is this part of why we
may have to raise this because you can't
necessarily predict how much we on
council might use the service? Thanks,
Mayor. Council Graham, I will have to
defer that also to the office of the
city manager for response. I call them
all the time. Sonia, mayor, council
Graham. Um, I'm going to say probably
so, but I would have to check on that.
Um, but I know that in this last year as
I got more involved with the legislative
session, um, we did call on Mr. heran
numerous times uh for discussion um and
for you know some direction and and
making those connections with Santa Fe
and so they were very crucial. Yeah, I I
agree. Thank you, Sonia. So yeah, I
would say that I I understand I
understand the justification for this
request. I mean just speaking personally
um cuz Larry was like in the old days
we'd say on speed dial. I guess we don't
say that anymore, but yeah, I talk to
him like all the time. Thanks,
Council Mat. Is um Larry Heran in Los
Cruus today? Is he available? Is he on
tele?
Mayor Councelor Matise, he is not
available today. Okay. I was just going
to um maybe suggest a an amendment to
where if the city has a lobbyist and
it's planning a 60-day pay the 120,000
and if it's a 30-day pay the 100,000
I mean can you do that
mayor um councelor Matise? So the
120,000 that we're setting isn't a
guarantee. It's just a limit on how much
we can spend with him. So on the shorter
sessions, we would spend the appropriate
amount um which has been within that
$100,000 cap. But on the longer ones or
when there is greater need or more
interaction with him, we're just moving
the capping limit on how much we can
spend with him on any given year. Oh,
okay. That that's probably more
accountable. In other words, if you go
to the 60-day, you might exceed 100,000.
Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you,
Councelor K. I I just also wanted to
own that I I abuse Larry's services
probably more than is acceptable. So,
just also with Councelor Graham um in
terms of calling him when when I have
random questions that probably aren't
even his job to answer. But I do want to
also sort of speak to I think in the
last year city staff um city council
have been more I I I had never attended
an interim committee prior to this last
year. I had never set up a separate
meeting when legislators were visiting
city hall related to our capital outlay
requests until the last year. And so I
just also want to speak to from where I
sit, which is not seeing everything, but
I think um the city has asked more or or
looked for more engagement with the
legislature in the last uh 18 months or
so than we have than we had
historically. And I I do think it's been
um productive in terms of both capital
outlay and and contributing to things.
So I think city staff are also engaging
with interim committees more. So, I just
want to sort of put in there that not
only do I think I probably personally
also would have to charge
have some of that taken off of my
salary. Um, but I I think that we've
been engaging a lot more with the
legislature than than I have experienced
in my other years on council. So, I just
want to say one, I really deeply
appreciate that connection and I feel
like it has been very meaningful and to
um own that I myself probably contribute
to this dynamic of of spending more
money. So,
Councelor Flores. Thank you, Mayor. Um
so, um the uh caption that we have here
is that the annual the increase the
annual increases not to exceed the total
uh to 120,000 through November for 2026.
So is it just for the next session
next year's
is that for the next year's session only
mayor councelor Flores that is when the
term of the current contract ends. So
after November 4th 2026 then we would
enter into negotiations for a new
contract um and then bring that before
council for review and approval. Has Mr.
Haran asked for a um increase in his
services.
Um Mayor Councelor Flores, I don't have
any information in front of me right now
regarding um increases to his hourly
rates, but I can get that information
and provide it. It'd be good to know.
Thank you. Thank you, Mayor.
Mayor Pro. Thanks, Mayor. Um thank you
for bringing this forward. I honestly
just wanted to add uh to some of what my
colleagues are saying. I also call Larry
quite a bit um during the session
outside of the session. Um I think I
also you know just from what I hear from
legislators and other folks in the round
house um Larry is a great lobbyist for
the city of Los Cusus and I think um I
I'm very grateful for his services. I
ultimately I think there's lots of
discussions we can have about lobbying
and the makeup of the legislature and
all of these things that are kind of out
of the control of the city council and
um so I want to make sure that when we
are not there present every day for 60
days or every day for 30 days or during
special legis legislative sessions um I
know that someone will be there on
speaking on our behalf. And so, um, I
think that this contract is important
and I think our our relationship with
Larry is important and the relationships
that he carries for the city and the of
Los Cruises and in the roundhouse. Um,
but uh, Sony, I must admit that I I
probably also add to the tally of that
invoice. So, thank you.
You have another question, Councelor
Fus. So, does Mr. Haran um tender a
billing sheet
to to the city for his services. Is that
how this increase is being justified or
um does he do that? Mayor Councelor
Flores. Um yes, we get build monthly by
Mr. Haran. Um so with the invoices that
we have had to date and projecting out
what we need to continue for the rest of
the fiscal year that is how we came up
to our projection on what would be
needed for the remainder of the
contract. Okay. So uh in your review of
did you personally review those sheets?
Uh mayor councelor councelor Flores no
uh we do not review the invoicing
purchasing doesn't that is done by the
enduser group. So that would be
performed by the office of the city
manager. So, does the city um manager's
office know uh whether
um
whether Mr. Haran builds on a hourly
basis,
Mayor Councelor Flores, Sony Delgalo,
assistant city manager. Um I'm going
yes, he does bill. I don't know if it's
monthly. However, Barbara Beno may be
able to help us with that question.
So, Miss Ben Como, by by that I mean um
you know, attorneys, which I am, I
belong to that group of sharks. Um I
know that we can be on the phone for one
minute and we we bill in increments of
610 of an hour. So, I just want to know
how he bills. I mean, I don't know. I
mean, you know, that's how we do it in
California. I don't know about other
lawyers in other parts of the country or
the world, but I'm just, you know,
wondering because this is only going to
be through the 26, which is next year.
And um and then every year it comes back
with more and more. So anyway, so that's
my background on that. Mayor, Councelor
Flores, uh Barbara Beno for the record.
So just a few points of information. the
contract that was negotiated that um we
spoke about that took the not to exceed
amount to $100,000
um overlook the fact that there would be
a long session coming up this year, a
60-day session versus a 30-day session
of the legislature and therefore the
fees associated with that long recession
with 60 days took us over the $100,000
amount. Um the invoices that are
received on a monthly basis are not on a
15-minute increment or even an hourly
increment. They are itemized list of
what was accomplished during that month
for the monthly contractual amount that
we pay uh Mr. Haran. Mr. Harran has not
asked for an increase, but we discovered
that through the billing for this 60-day
session that we were short a few and I
think it's under $3,000 that we're short
that we're going to go over the $100,000
level, but we just decided for prudence
to set it at $120,000 depending on any
other services that we might require
through the 2026 time frame of the
contract. So, there's not been an
increase uh requested by Mrs. Mr. Haran,
it was that we set the not to exceed
amount somewhat short at $100,000 during
the last contracted negotiations.
So, it seems to me that the billing is
somewhat um it's it's not uh uniform.
It's not it's I mean you you you look at
it and then you determine that the
certain thing that he did has a certain
value or does he so does he bill on an
hourly basis or is it a a substantive uh
outcome basis?
Mayor and counselor Flores. He does not
bill on an hourly basis. There's a
monthly contractual amount that we pay
him and then he itemizes all the
meetings he had, all the legislature
legislation he's drafted. um all the
advocacy activities that he's done on
our behalf, but they're not itemized in
any kind of hourly increments. It's
really a list of the accomplishments
during the month on our behalf as our
legislative lo lobbyist.
Okay. And I'm asking all these questions
because I'm just wondering what you know
how it's quantified and how it's how
it's done. And maybe because of the way
I build build um it's so different so
it's very foreign to me and uh you know
it wouldn't fly with a state bar of
California but I guess it would fly
here. Thank you.
Okay, seeing no other questions
Christine.
Is there an opportunity for public
comment?
Yes, we can allow if someone in the
public would like to speak. You have two
minutes.
Mayor, council, those watching online,
I'm Lynn Moore. In my experience working
with legislators and lobbyists, many
attributes are needed to represent the
interests of the client adequately. In
this case, the city. The chief attribute
is the competence and work ethic capable
of drafting legislative bills that
adequately address the city's needs in
any particular area. I was surprised at
the lobbyist presentation and comments
early this year. There didn't seem to be
any bill he had drafted on behalf of the
city that he was working to have
adopted. The priorities outlined were
very general and the key p positions on
any particular issue were not
identifiable. For example, a priority
related to IPRA was mentioned, but one
couldn't glean from his comments what
the city's priorities regarding IRA were
specifically. The gist of his report was
that he basically just waits around to
see what other parties, the governor,
legislators, or lobbyists come up with
and then reacts to them. I know no other
mo municipality of Lo Cusus' size or
larger that is satisfied with such a
hands-off laid-back approach in its
lobbying efforts with the state's
legislature. This approach almost
invariably leads to nothing or nothing
much being accomplished on the city's
behalf during a legislative session. And
because New Mexico's legislative
sessions are so short, the limited time
available must be used to its fullest
potential. And a proactive approach
needs to drive representation of the
city's interests
with very specific goals
that need to be proactively drafted.
That is the foundation of the city's
lobbyist efforts. It's hard to see how
the city is receiving sufficient value
for its money in the proposed $120,000
contract it's considering for this
lobbyist if there aren't very specific
goals including drafted legislation.
Therefore, I recommend that the list of
services spelled out in the contract at
exhibit A include a provision for
working with city representatives in
drafting legislative bills and then work
for their adoption. And before any
decision is made regarding this
contract, serious consideration needs to
be given to whether this lobbyist has
the necessary skills and experience to
draft legislative bills. Thank you for
this opportunity to speak.
Uh, mayor, I I actually just also did
want to add that um Larry Horin
essentially um
carried the uh essential services
legislation that was successful this
last uh that legislative session. Um I
know that it had very late nights. I
know that uh Senator Hamlin and Larry
worked very close together to get that
passed to get it uh passed with
tremendous success across the
legislature and get that signed and so
um it there are Thank you for expressing
your uh opinion. Um but I wholeheartedly
disagree that it's been unsuccessful.
It's actually been quite the opposite
including every single year having
received more and more money in federal
in uh capital outlay funds. So just
wanted to clarify a couple of things.
Okay. No others. Christine.
This is on the motion to approve
resolution 25-151.
Councelor Mccclure is absent. Councelor
Matise. No. Councelor Graham. Yes.
Councelor Cran, yes. Councelor Flores,
no. Councelor Bencoml, yes. Mayor, yes.
Motion passes.
Next is item 7.3, resolution number
25-152,
a resolution authorizing the write- off
of uncollectible utilities.
Move to approve. Second.
Good. Excuse me. Good afternoon, mayor,
council, and city staff. Laura Hogin,
assistant director of finance and
interim treasur. The resolution before
you today is for accounts receivable
write-offs for utility accounts, general
billing accounts, accounts receivable
bad checks, and library accounts from
fiscal year 2019.
New Mexico State Statute 3-37-7
allows for the governing body of the
municipality by resolution to remove
uncollectible utility accounts or
unsecured accounts from the list of
accounts receivable.
Excuse me. The uncollectible period is
for more than four years. The write- off
of accounts and receivables do not
affect revenue or expenses for the city.
This action will reduce the accounts
receivables on the city's financial
statements. The city can continue to
collect on the amount that is written
off. The New Mexico Constitution Article
9 does not allow a municipality the
ability to extinguish debt.
The accounts receivables to write off
are as follows. Utility accounts of
146,794.
General billing 7,289.
Accounts receivable bad checks 94,650
library 32,522
for a total of 281,255.
The accounts receivable bad checks
amount has been recorded since June 30th
2011 and each each fisc fiscal year
after
the request amount of accounts
receivable write-off for utility
accounts is 21% of the annual billing.
The average percentage of accounts
receivable write- offs for the past five
years is 28%.
General billing for fiscal year 29 is
04% of annual billing. The 5-year
average of the write-offs for general
billing is 13%.
The graph shows the type of charges for
general billing accounts receivable
write-offs. 35% of the total typo
charges is for nuisance abatement for
one account of approximately 2500
library accounts receivable write-off
table is providing the value of charges
the number of patrons and the total
amount of all charges
before you your options and I stand for
questions
I correct thank you um thank you we've
we've been through this before and I
remember when we first started doing it
and we got it all together and it was
like a really different conversation.
So, thank you for bringing it back and
keeping on it in this time period. Um, I
I I think these are presented in
different ways and I appreciate and
understand what is happening here. I I
want to know who the $94,000 person is.
It's interesting that other folks
individual names and addresses are
included, but in this one it doesn't. It
uses an rather opaque um reference and
and I kind of that's the biggest one. It
you said it's been around since 2011. Um
I it sounds like someone we should make
a note of and maybe consider not doing
business with. I think we make people
pay their bills, their utility bills
when they come to get service again. I
would love for us to know here if we can
who that person, who that entity is. I
suspect it's a corporation. Most of the
biggest debts are are companies. Um I I
would like to point out um I'm just kind
of curious if you'd be willing to share.
Um Mayor Councelor Kuran, so I am fairly
new to the city of Los Cusus. I've been
here just almost a year. And so I had
staff do some research and what we
discovered is the accounts receivable
for the bad checks, the 94,000 that
you're uh speaking to goes back to June
30th of 2011. and the city has um had
used a vendor in the past called eek inc
who was to assist with the collection of
returned checks. Um the amount has been
carried forward each fiscal year. So my
understanding is that whenever the city
received any return checks whether for
closed accounts, no account, um
insufficient funds, it was going into
this accounts receivable for bad checks.
and we had a collection um company that
was assisting for it and that is the
balance that has been sitting there and
been carried forward each fiscal year.
So So it's a collection company um
that's that on the collection list or am
I understanding this correctly? Mayor
and council Karan from my understanding
what we see in Munis it's listed as E
check because that information was sent
to this collection company. So, it's
possible that this is a summary of a
whole bunch of other collections that
went into that. Okay. Um,
um, yeah, it was it's I mean, it was one
company, it sounds like, but uh, okay.
Thank you for doing the research. Weird.
It was weird to see this here among
these things. Um, and I just hope that
we can always make note when someone's
uh, doing bad business. And I and I
would say there are a bunch of LLC's. I
noticed um nuisance abatement, unpaid
bills. Um so I I would again ask that as
we as we have these in our books that we
make sure that we look at what we're
what what kind of contracts we set up in
the future. And I was just worried that
we were it was someone we were still
doing business with that that was
holding that submitted a bad check. So
thank you for answering that. That's all
I have. Thank you,
Council Flores. Thank you. Um, thank you
for your presentation. Um, so
what is the advantage of writing this
off? Do we does the city get a a tax
uh benefit out of it? What I mean, all
this money is outstanding and I guess
it's costing more to try to recover that
money or
what why would you want to get rid of
that debt? I mean just write it off.
Mayor, councelor Flores. So the write
off is only removing it from from our
financial statements. So right now we're
reducing our accounts receivable that we
report on our financial statements by
writing off this amount. But the state
the New Mexico constitution does not
allow us to extinguish this debt. So, if
somebody who is been written off on the
debt, the the debt that we've been we
write off, if they were to come and um
for instance, possibly open a new
utility account,
the utility customer service could see
that and could collect on the debt at
that time. Oh, I see. So they're
basically blacklisted
with well no no they they won't be able
to open a new account unless they pay.
Is that is that correct or did I
misunderstand what you said? Mayor and
councelor Roz I'm going to defer to
Adrian if she would like to add to that
everybody's
pointing Mr. Mayor, um, Councelor
Flores, we have Estella Ceda. She is the
deputy director for business services,
and so she'll go ahead and answer your
question. Thank you. Good afternoon.
Thank you, Adrian. Good afternoon, Mayor
Council. Um, yes. So, if they if
somebody who had a delinquent balance
came back to pay, they're not
blacklisted, we certainly want to help
them out with uh signing them up for
services, but yes, they would be made to
pay the balance. And in some cases we
have made payment plans even for the
outstanding delinquent balance.
But is there some kind of advantages to
the city uh some kind of a um it seems
like there would be some kind of a
balance or some kind of a um method that
would benefit the city other than to
just shrug it off. And if that entity
comes back and they're able to pay it at
a later date, I mean, I'm just trying.
What if they never come back? It looks
like they haven't come back in a long
time because it's really the number's
gone up. So, how does that work? What is
the Yeah. What is the benefit to the
city? Mayor, I'm sorry, Mayor Councelor
Flores. Um, I I believe that it's just
to not carry the old balances on our on
our current financials, but again,
because we're not extinguishing the debt
that it is collectible still, so we're
just not showing it on our current
financial statements. Oh, and then I'll
see that. I understand. Thank you. Thank
you.
Thank you.
See another uh Terry.
This is on a motion to approve
resolution 25-152.
Councelor McClur is absent. Councelor
Matise, yes. Councelor Graham, yes.
Councelor Karan, yes. Councelor Flores,
yes. Councelor Beno, yes. Mayor, yes.
Thank you.
Next is resolution number 25-153.
Resolution adopting a retention and
destruction policy for Los Cru's Police
Department video. Move to approve.
Second, Graham.
After after the item
is introduced.
Mayor, city council, Christine Rivera,
city clerk. So the resolution before you
is for the retention and destruction of
LCPD video.
Now this resolution has three parts to
it. The first part is related to
retention and so about 10 years ago
resolution 15-212 was passed and that
was to um establish a retention for
non-evidentiary video. Since then we've
um got body cam which has produced a lot
more video and it had we've had to have
a lot more storage for that video. And
so in discussions with PD, we decided to
look at a retention for all the video
that is currently being stored. And so
this year you approved resolution
25-110,
which is our state retention schedule.
And in the state retention, there is a
section for evidence retention. In the
evidence retention, it states that all
evidence will be destroyed 3 years after
a case has been closed. And so we felt
that that was the most appropriate
retention for video in general for LCPD.
So that's the first part. The first part
is that we're also asking for an
automatic destruction period. And what
that means is that after the cases have
been closed, 3 years after the cases
have been closed and they have all this
video that needs to be destroyed, they
would automatically destroy it. of
course aligning with our records
management policies at the city, but
they wouldn't have to come to you for
authorization like we do with everything
else. So it would just be an automatic
destruction as long as we're keeping
track of everything via our records
retention policies.
And then the third part is that
everything that has already met that
retention schedule, we want to go ahead
and ask for your authorization to go
ahead and destroy that video. And so I
stand for any questions and then Chief
Story is also available if you have any
questions.
All right. Thank you Christine Councelor
Flores. Thank you mayor and thank you so
much Mr. Vieta. Um so um
what if
uh some evidence comes up after 3 years
or whatever the date of exp? I guess
it's like almost like an expungement.
It's almost like like pretending it
never happened. But what if evidence
comes up later and that what what
happens with that? And and there's no
way of storing this without it is it
taking up a lot of like buildings worth
of space or something or isn't there a
more uh
uh
you know a better way to store it and
and preserve it especially with some
cases especially if there's no statute
of limitations on certain crimes or
whatever. Um, Mayor Counselor Flores, I
will speak to some of it and then I'll
defer the evidence park to chief, but
um, it is taking up a lot of room. I
believe there are many terabytes of data
and so in order for us to keep
maintaining it, we would have to buy an
additional server which cost additional
money and then I will defer the evidence
part to Chief Story.
Good afternoon, Mayor, Council, Chief
Story, Police Department.
So, we are the only police department in
the state that retains video
indefinitely. Um, that I'm aware of. The
state law requires retention of
non-evidentiary video for 120 days.
That's it. We keep we've kept every
video we've ever recorded going back
almost 15 years with our original body
cameras. And so, that's created one a
storage issue. It also creates an IPRA
issue that's on a staff that's already
overburdened. And so right now if it's
ev if it's evidentiary we still retain
it once it's put into a case in
evidence.com which is a system that we
use it's going to retain those videos
technically indefinitely even if it's
purged from the main system. So it kind
of protects it but right now we have the
the bulk of our videos aren't tied to a
specific case either criminal or civil
and they just live there forever taking
up space and and taking up staff time
when it gets you know 20 years down the
road. Just for comparison, uh,
Albuquerque is 13 months for
non-evidentiary.
Alam cord is 120 days. They have us
tiered, so one, two, three years after
that, depending on what the video is.
And so we took, I think, a fairly
conservative approach at 3 years, which
ensures that if anything comes up within
the time span for civil um, process that
the video is still there and for
criminal.
So is it for any level of crime that's
that was committed or at least
investigated irrespective of you know
statutes of limitations. So for evidence
specifically if if something's
adjudicated let's say we get a
conviction there's still the the
potential for an appeal. So that
evidence is retained until it's
completely all appeals have played out
or um you know the time has elapsed. If
it's something where there's an acquitt,
then the time would start because um
there's not going to be an appeal on an
acquitt. So, it depends on what it is
and it depends on what process the
adjudication or what part of the
adjudication process the evidence is in.
What if it's an open case? Then it will
still be there. Like add infant item as
long as the case is still open. Yes.
Yeah. So if we have a cold case for
instance, say a murder the you know from
20 years ago and we have body camera, we
would keep that indefinitely. Okay. So
those would be those types of things.
Okay. Great. Thank you. Thank you chief.
Thank you Mr. Da
Pro. Thank you. Okay. So just for my
clarification, um non-evidentiary
video meaning any video you have from a
traffic stop, right? that just led
traffic stopped they paid their ticket
whatever maybe that's evidentiary
actually will you do that will you
explain non-evidentiary a little bit
more chief mayor may prom that's a good
example I mean the reality is we record
every interaction right that we have
with citizens so there's tons of
interactions that don't result in any
type of criminal action or civil action
and so a traffic stop you know where
they give a warning is an example we
talked to somebody at the farmers market
I mean there's
at this point probably hundreds of
thousands of hours of video that's just
sitting there from these types of
interactions and it's creating issues
for everyone including the clerk's
office. Thank you. And then evidentiary
the retention that you're recommending
is three years. You came to that
conclusion for that number just based on
what other departments in the state are
doing. I'm not a mayor mayor put I'm not
aware of anyone else doing three years.
Um, three years comes from generally
under I believe and I can let uh Brad
comment on this as well, but you know
people usually file a not notice of tort
within one year and then have three
years to file the actual tort. So, we're
keeping the video that entire period in
case something pops up in that three
years. Okay. Thank you. Um, yeah, I at
first I I was a little bit taken back by
this. I think um I understand the
rationale though. I mean, I've even
heard of um I've been reading articles
about um the hundreds of emails that you
may have in your inbox and how that is
um bad for servers that are uh holding
all of those on on water and
electricity. It I don't know, it's very
interesting. Um so, I do appreciate the
uh that there was some thoughtfulness
behind that. Um I I think I have just
concerns around um the automatic part,
Christine, and and how what are the like
checks and balances to ensure that the
proper things are being once something's
deleted, it's gone forever, right? So
what are the checks and balances to make
sure that the things that need to be
secured are still secured? So, Mayor
Councelor Flores, they will still need
to work with my office to make sure I
counselor Ben,
they will still need to work with my
office to follow all the records
management standards and so we do have
forms where we keep track of everything
that's um destroyed. We have those
policies in place and so they'll still
have to work with us regarding that. Um,
as far as deleting stuff, we can
definitely before they delete it, review
everything before it's deleted to make
sure that it's met that retention
period. Is there any chance the OIR
folks were
um consulted?
Um, Mayor Councelor Ben Como? No, but I
believe they only do closed cases.
Correct. Mayor Mayor President, that
would be outside the contract. I'm not
opposed to that, but that'd be outside
technically the contract. Thanks.
Thank you. I also correct I know there's
public comment. Um I also wanted to just
sort of talk a little bit about I think
that this is an attempt to to get at
something that's actually a much bigger
problem. This is like a tiny step in the
direction right because my understanding
is that there is also like it's very
difficult to index this information and
so to review any request for information
we individual people have to watch
videos. It's it's extraordinarily
timeconuming um and full of information
that we don't want um so everyone has to
it has to be deeply redacted it has to
be very carefully curated um and there's
a lot of sensitive information as well
which I think every year that technology
changes ahead of us and the longer we
keep stuff sitting around just like our
old emails that we have you know a
threeletter password for we're putting
ourselves at risk I think having
additional data that we sort of just
that's that's dated that could be used
for potentially bad purposes I suspect.
So for me I I think about um data
security as well and where where the
information can go in the worst
situations in addition it sounds like
you've really thought through what the
what the evidentiary requirements are.
So, so to me, I feel like I'm I think
about the the data that exists sort of
as Mayor Bertim mentioned, and I know
that it it it is expensive both in terms
of actually keeping track of the data
and the potential risk it presents to to
have all of that in and in increasingly
dated versions of of what exists, which
is I think how technology goes. So um so
I just wanted to sort of clarify also
that there's a bigger problem here that
this is indicating right um related to
how we collect and manage body cam
video. What many public information
requests um that come in are often and
and I mean I think I've experienced this
in my own sort of creepy stalker
situations. Um many many are are not
related to actual um events other than
just stalking people. Not to say that
that's a a universal thing, but it
happens. So So I just have a keen
awareness of all this the
vulnerabilities that we have and the
problems that we're we're creating by
having more data all the time. And and
so I appreciate you trying to take a
small bite out of what is I think a big
and ever growing problem. So thank you
both.
Okay. Uh, members of the public, I'll
give you two minutes. State your name.
My name is Jim Hurst. Um, I realize how
complicated this problem is. Um,
police video is two things. its evidence
and its historical data.
Um,
who knows who's going to be researching
what? Uh, Mayor uh Enrique may be uh
president someday and people may want to
research his past and uh police video
might be helpful. Um,
who knows? It's history and you're
throwing away history and it shouldn't
be that hard to store digital digital
data. It shouldn't be that hard to index
it with AI.
So, we should hang on to it because you
shouldn't throw something away that
might be valuable. Second, uh I don't
trust the police with evidence.
I know they keep it.
uh what their trash can should never be
emptied. We should always know what they
threw away.
So consider those two things. Thank you
very much.
Okay. Mayor, city council. My name is
Fred Miller. I'm a resident of district
4. The flip side of this is that a lot
of people are concerned about police
departments holding on to data that they
never should have had in the first
place. If this is just random videos of
traffic stops or potentially
there was a time when we had traffic
cameras on street lights and stuff like
that. A lot of that is stuff that they
should be getting rid of. They should be
destroying. they shouldn't be allowed to
hold on to for
indefinitely. So there's two sides to
that. It's Thank you.
Bobby Green, president of the Donana
County NAACP. As you know, I uh have
been an IS professor for the past 25
plus years. So, I'm very aware of how
you can digitize and archive data and
you can move it to a facility that
doesn't require a lot of expense and you
can um keep that video and restore that
video if needed um for who knows what.
um you should be concerned about uh
what's considered spoliation, which is
the destruction of of evidence that
might be needed later on and that could
incur um some legal issues for the city
of Los Cusus. So be keep that in mind as
you're making your decision because the
other thing is um who makes the
decisions about when video is when case
we don't know how long leg cases are
going to be open. We don't know if
there's, you know, based on appeals and
all kinds of issues that may occur. Um,
this could expose the city to some some
legal issues. Just
keep that in mind. Thank you.
Mr. Mr. Mayor, City Council Richard
Burella, I am opposed to this resolution
uh uh quite recently Saturday. As a
matter of fact, there is a non-evidence
police video uh that culminates in me
being trespassed from the Aquatic
Regional Center forever.
And uh while I have no other place to
take a shower now as a homeless person
except the community of hope and this
council is well aware of the trouble or
they will be aware of the troubles I've
had with that organization. I I'm a
lifelong re I was born and raised here.
Okay. I left in 1988. I come back in
and all of a sudden I'm a foreigner
unwelcome in my own hometown.
And I can't even get I can't get
services or nothing.
My family goes way back a lot farther
than yours. All of yours here. And I
can't get I can't get anything
for other reasons that will uh quite
likely be sealed in court.
Thank you.
Mayor, I I have a question for Brad
actually, if you don't mind. Um, just
because um,
Dr. Ring is I just want to m make sure I
reiterate this that we are talking that
a case that is not closed, that data
will not is not going to be deleted. um
for a case that is closed in New Mexico,
how long do you have to appe appeal a
closed case?
Mayor, mayor prom. So, uh Dr. Green
brings up uh something that we've
definitely considered with this. Uh I'll
reiterate something that chief said and
and something that worries me for some
municipalities and that their retention
schedule is to retain these things for
120 days. That's frightening to me for
them. Uh, let's see if I can do this off
the top of my head. So, under the New
Mexico Torque Claims Act, generally you
have a two-year statute of limitations.
Uh, and there is a 90-day period where
you have to put the municipality on
notice that you're going to sue. I get
those tort claim notices and they
usually, whether they do or not, but
usually they contain a notice of
preservation and we immediately preserve
all of that. uh whether they file suit
or not, we'll go ahead and preserve
that. Uh under the New Mexico Civil
Rights Act, there's actually a
three-year statute of limitations, but
there is no notice requirement. So, that
three-year period uh would protect the
city uh from like a spoliation claim,
for instance. And then under 1983,
generally, there's a two-year statute of
limitations. And so the way I understand
this is that that would be a three-year
period from the time that a case is
closed. So it's not just three years and
then and then we're done. And so I think
that that does assuage some of the
concerns mentioned with regard to
expoliation. But those municipalities,
not my problem, not your problem, but
the ones that have a 120day preservation
period, I'm nervous for them. I'm not as
concerned about this measure. And you're
talking 120 days on evidentiary videos.
I believe that that's what uh state law
requires. And so that's what that's the
bare minimum. Okay. Yes. But uh my
understanding is that for this it would
be uh three years for non-evidentiary
videos or I guess all well no this is
videos. Uh and then uh with regard to
other cases, so pending criminal cases,
pending civil cases, 3 years from the
date that those cases are closed,
meaning that all appellet remedies have
been exhausted, so on and so forth.
Thank you, Brad.
All right. Thank you, T.
This is on a motion to approve
resolution 25-153.
Councelor McClure is absent. Councelor
Matise, yes. Councelor Graham, yes.
Councelor Karan, yes. Councelor Flores,
yes. Councelor Beno, yes. Mayor, yes.
Thank you.
Next is item 7.5, council bill number
25-021,
ordinance number 3092, an ordinance
approving various Jo zone changes to
correspond to the Soma Ranch North
master plan.
Move to approve Graham. Second, Corin.
Good afternoon. Sarah Gonzalez with
Community Development. Um, as stated,
these are the proposed zone changes
associated with the Snow Ranch North
master plan amendment number four.
Some background on the property. This
area was master planned in 1997. There
have been three amendments since. Um, in
2006, um, additional commercial was
added to some of the area. In 2009, um,
two parcels were modified from single
family residential to create essentially
the flood control parcel and the
parkland that was designated. And in
2018, the master plan number three
combined those two parcels, which is the
parcel in question today.
The property is located on the east side
of Sonoma Ranch Boulevard, south of
North Rice Drive. Um, the entire master
plan encompasses 275 acres, but a lot of
it has already been developed. Um, in
question would be the 25 acres that is
currently undeveloped on the east side
of the parcel, and 5.75 is what's to be
reszoned today.
Here's an aerial map of the subject
property and its location. It's furthest
south of the property. It has been
designated flood control and open space
since 2018. It combined essentially the
parkland as well as the flood control
measures for the um Sonoma Ranch North
master plan. You can see located up on
the north side several grading has taken
place as the continued residential and
commercial developments are taking place
along Sonoma Ranch.
So what has changed or what is changing
with this area for the applicant to
propose the the minor modification or
zone change before you? Essentially the
applicant came forward to public works
and requested to maintain and keep the
drainage that is coming off the site
within the flood control dam where
there's enough capacity to be
maintained. With that, they received
approval from the public works
department and came forward with the
proposed zone changes to better align
and create better uses for the
surrounding neighborhood. The 5.75 acres
is to be disseminated. So you'll see one
acre is to be used for additional
housing which will be essentially next
to the residential district. Two acres
will remain as the flood control open
space or essentially the park designated
land that was already negotiated with
the parks and recck development
department. Um and then you have
commercial and mixed use which we be
located along essentially Sonoma Ranch.
The reason you see those is so that you
provide some type of buffer adjacent to
that parkland because Sonoma Ranch as we
all know is a very highly trafficked
road. And so you create those three
phases essentially where it allows for
commercial to still take place. So you
have your services for the residents.
You have the parkland that's now
buffered and then it leads into your
single family residential.
To see that would be in the existing and
the proposed zoning maps before you. So
along Sonoma Ranch, this is all zoned
commercial. This was zoned commercial
and office and you have flood control
that's here on the south and this is the
R1A single family zones. Essentially the
applicant is proposing very similar. So
this would be an expansion. It doesn't
necessarily mean that you would see just
commercial services. There's still an
opportunity to see multifamily housing
along that arterial roadway. From there
this twoacre parcel would become the
designated parkland for the area and
then you'd have the single family
residential that is going to be a
budding adjacent to it.
On April 22nd, the planning and zoning
commission approved the master plan
amendment number four. They are final
action. However, zone changes move
forward to city council. Within there,
they modified the boundaries of the
planning parcels. They increased
residential uses, reduced the flood
control component as it will now be
maintained in the Las Cruises flood
control dam, maintained the open space
and recreation, and increased the
commercial office and multif family uses
that are going to be components along
Sonoma Ranch.
The PNZ also recommended approval of the
modified zone changes before you as it
does meet the intent of the 2001 zoning
code. Meaning, as we continue to look at
neighborhoods, we see changes. And so,
as those neighborhoods grow, sometimes
you're going to see modifications and
zone changes coming before you because
you're looking at the area and how it
has been transformed. Um, secondly, it
was that it meets a comprehensive plan.
It meets the intent of providing those
mixed uses where you continue to have
services as well as recreation and
single family adjacent to one another
consistent with city policy. And we know
that the neighborhood definitely has
changed since 1997 when the plan was
originally approved.
Public hearing was noticed for both
cases. So essentially for the meeting
since we did have final action on April
22nd as well as for city council today.
We did receive one phone call with
general questions of essentially local
roadways and parking standards as far as
the businesses in control. Other than
that, staff did not receive any phone
calls or any additional emails.
Here are council options and I stand for
any questions as well as the applicant's
representative.
All right. Thank you, sir. Any
questions?
Councelor Flores. Thank you, Mayor. And
thank you, uh, Sarah, Miss Gonzalez. Um,
so the modifications, the changes that
you've uh that you went through are
they're totally in um
they're in sync with our planning. I
mean our our uh master plans in terms of
what we want to see in the community.
Mayor and councelor Flores. Yes. As you
continuously see um whenever you find
arterial roadways, that's where you're
going to have your higher intensities
that are going to be your larger big box
stores. Um you'll see that along Sonoma
Ranch. And then you want those
buffering. So if you had high traffic
coming in, if this was a designated park
area, there's always those concerns of
safety if someone were to veer off the
road or going to those parks. And so
this commercial development would
actually essentially block that area so
that we would protect the residents of
those using the park. And so you want to
keep compatibility in the sense that
whenever we're looking at zone changes
coming forward is what are the needs of
the community? What's the needs of the
area? How is it changed and grown? And
then to see if it is compatible with
those existing land uses to the north
and south and it all is. So great. Thank
you so much. Thank you mayor. Thank you
councelor.
Okay. See None. No other questions.
Christine,
this is on a motion to approve ordinance
3092.
Councelor McClur is absent. Councelor
Matise, yes. Councelor Graham, yes.
Councelor Cran, yes. Councelor Fletus,
yes. Councelor Beno, yes. Mayor, yes.
Next is board appointments. There are
none. Notice of proposed ordinances.
None. So, we'll move to city council
member board reports and comments. And
I'll start with councelor Matise.
Uh comments. Uh none.
Councelor Grant.
Uh just wanted to uh thank everyone for
coming out to uh PAL boxing to our
fights Saturday before last. Especially
thank you to colleagues on the DAS who
came and got to see a whole other side
of me. I wasn't fighting but I acted
like I was. Uh so thank you Christine
Mayor Mayor Prom. Um Councelor Mccclure
is not here. And uh also just kind of
shouting out as a follow on to the great
stuff we're doing. We have four fighters
in Las Vegas right now um representing
for Junior Olympics. So, go get what's
ours. Thanks. All right, that's great.
Thank you, uh councelor Kur.
Um
I do want to follow up on what was me,
some of the things that were mentioned
during public comment. the animal
ordinance I think um both the animal
ordinance and related to fireworks I
think are things that folks are looking
for um sort of conversa ongoing
conversations about definitely uh more
communication I think in on our part in
terms of um animals roaming free and uh
the sort of ongo like the fireworks
thing I I will just say that it is the
single biggest thing that people in my
district write to me about Um it people
have a lot of angst uh other than roads
and stuff which but but when it comes to
fireworks season folks really um hate
that we allow uh any kind of fireworks.
Again the state law dictates what kinds
of fireworks we allow in the city. But I
do know want to just sort of say we're
coming up on the time where people are
shooting off fireworks, animals are
being
scared and and released into spaces. um
putting an additional burden on animal
control, putting an additional burden on
the fire department who sort of get
called in these in this context to to
address it. So, I just am putting this
public communication out there. Please
do not use backward backyard fireworks.
Um
period. Um I I don't know what else to
say beyond uh just because it's legal
doesn't mean you should do it. Um
and then I so to that qu the question I
would like to hear more uh about our
animal control conversations and how
that's going. I think uh the ASMV has
been having um
less frequent meetings. So I think
that's part of where the the
conversation used to happen. So, I I
would like to to see um hear a little
bit about what our animal control sort
of updates are or or see what the
communication plan is going forward
related to our passage of that
ordinance. And and I and I really
appreciate the city continuing funding
spay and neuter as part of those
efforts. Um but I also want to I sort of
prepared a statement related to some of
the things that have been happening that
I think uh have been weighing heavily on
us, weighing heavily on people in the
audience. And um so for me this I feel
like if if we can't talk about this now
when when will we? Um so it's been a few
weeks of violence. Uh families being
ripped apart by federal agents,
political assassinations.
Um and we've also seen resistance,
non-violent protest, people pushing back
against this cruelty and
authoritarianism fearlessly protesting.
um including thousands of people in Los
Cruus this past weekend.
Uh to be in this position and and
be present as I as I strive to be means
that I have borne witness to the
normalization of harassment and threats
and violence in our community. Um we all
want to feel safe and I am committed to
understanding what real safety looks
like and supporting that for all of Los
Cusus residents. Um, but it isn't lost
on me that so much of this violence is
happening during June, our pride month.
Uh, when we commemorate the Stonewall
uprising, a riotous rejection of state
oppression by led by queer and trans
people of color. Um, when queer and
trans folks like me come out, as we do
many times throughout our lives, we are
choosing to live as ourselves in the
face of hate and systemic oppression.
Um, most fundamentally we choose to
live. Um, and I feel like that is under
threat in a myriad of ways in in recent
contexts on a national level especially.
Um, no one should have to face hate,
oppression or murder because of their
gender identity, party affiliation,
immigration status, race or political
stances. So in the spirit of June and
Stonewall and in the face of cruel
attacks, proximate and distal, literal
and existential, I offer a commitment to
stand up to bullies and be in community
and resist violence and share my
gratitude to all those who stand with us
in these extraordinary times as many
folks have done here today, over the
weekend, all the time um in our
community. So um I feel like it's a
moment and we have to rise to it.
Thank you,
councelor Fis. Thank you. Um
the this past week weekend um has been
um I think hard on all of us
irrespective of our um irrespective of
our our priorities or how we might uh
live our lives. Um
I um
I was watching MSNBC and their coverage
of um the uh what happened in Los
Angeles and um
and it was very it was very painful. It
was very painful and um
you know it just I think I've shared
before um the experience I had uh
starting as a first grader in El Paso
and uh frankly you could just cut racism
with a knife. This was in 1952 or 53.
And um and as soon as I was able to
um we moved to California and it felt
like heaven uh compared to the overt
racism in Texas. And um
and when I got my passport, I started
carrying it with me all the time
everywhere I go. If I take nothing else,
I'll take my my house keys, my passport,
and a credit card.
Um, but um so watching um you know,
sometimes it was so painful I would just
get up and take my my little um my
little doggy for a walk. Um but it just
seemed so unreal. And um you know during
the 60s when we were out there um
marching for you know against the war in
Vietnam and all those demonstrations
um somehow
in comparison to what I saw I think what
was televised
it u
it was it it just seemed worse uh to be
watching all that hate to be watching
um
our you know
the president of this country do what he
did and of course uh still wrangled in
the courts but um
but anyway it was it was very personal.
It was very painful and um and I was
glad I wasn't in Los Angeles. my house
my I have a house there that isn't very
far from uh where those activities were
taken taking place. So um you know all
those actually
they weren't activities it was just all
this hate and all this ugliness and
and frankly it felt worse. My one of my
brothers one brother served at the 38th
parallel in Korea and there was action
there. another brother served in Vietnam
and was severely wounded and um and so I
demonstrated a lot against the war in
Vietnam and uh
but
I don't think I would have gone to a
demonstration in Los Angeles just out of
fear, you know. I mean, my passport
wouldn't have helped. It certainly
didn't help uh Senator Alex Padilla.
um
you know so anyway um I you know I feel
like we're in a state of siege uh for
those of us who are of um you know
who are not white um I feel somehow that
we're sitting ducks and um and it's
frightening and my heart goes out to I
mean it you know it almost sounds
trivial or but my heart really goes goes
out to all those of us who have been
marginalized
um
in in this setting, the people who are
of color. And um and I also want to
thank uh my colleague counselor Koran
for um bringing to light um
uh the
animosity, the hate, the lack of
understanding for people who are uh not
you know who identify uh
you know they don't identify as straight
whatever. Um, I've shared before that my
younger son is gay and he has been a
victim twice, not once, of hate, um, and
had to be hospitalized. So, um, it's
been a horrible, horrible, horrible
week. This is all very personal, but I
think all of us here in this room, um,
have uh,
you know, I think we have a community
here. A lot of people in the room right
now are people who uh come here quite
often. It's always good to see Fred and
Michael
and uh and even you, Lynn. You know,
it's good to see people who care enough
to be out.
Um so anyway, um I'm rambling somewhat,
but I think it's also um I'm rambling
because
there aren't any words to express
I don't think I think I think all of us
are feeling very
I don't know I don't know what the word
is but this uh past uh weekend of hate
was um you know the National Guard and
everything like that. Anyway, I hope
things get better. Thank you.
Um
oh my gosh. Um, just a couple of
updates and a couple things I want to
say. I did want to congratulate
Councelor Graham on the Becky Graham
Invitational um, at the PAL. I honestly,
not only because I don't like boxing
that much. Um, but I was almost having
more fun watching her watch the boxing
matches and watching kids come up to her
and hug her and coaches and parents and
it was really it was really beautiful
and just reminded me that those were
exactly the kinds of diversion programs
for youth that we should be
highlighting, uplifting and most
importantly investing in. So, thank you
for your years of work um lobbying for
for PAL and and the literal blood,
sweat, tears
um that have produced that. So, thank
you very much, Councelor Graham. Um I
also wanted to let you all know that the
South Solid Central Waste Authority has
a new executive director. Um after uh
several great interviews, we have
selected one candidate. His name is Jose
Gyos. His first day will be um later
this in July, July 17th, 23rd, July
July, mid July. And so one of the things
uh we'll ask him to do for sure is to
come and and introduce himself. Um but
we at the uh the board of directors,
which councelor Graham serves on with
me, um are very excited to have him on
board after obviously after we last lost
Patrick Peek. Um I mean, he's still
alive. I didn't mean to I didn't mean to
sound morbid. um he retired and we
needed to find a new executive director
for a very important position and we did
and we're very uh we're very happy and
excited for his leadership. Um also I am
working with Katrina um in our community
engagement office uh because I've heard
folks loud and clear around their desire
to have city council meetings start
later. And I, you know, I've talked to
people about this about how like no
one's really figured out the right time.
And I'm not, you know, going to advocate
necessarily that we change what has been
working for us for a long time. What I
will do is make myself more accessible.
And so, um, for the month of July, I and
this will will be out, um, we'll we'll
send it out soon, but I'll be having
after hours office hours, um, right here
in city hall um, every Tuesday in July
except July 8th um, from 5 to 5 to 6 if
folks want to come chat with me, if they
want to come express concerns, if they
want to ask questions, if they want to
talk to me about ideas. Um if it works
perhaps we'll think about making it uh
some a version of it that's more
permanent and sustainable. Um but for
now that is um going to be holding after
hours office hours 5 to 6 and more
information to come on that. Um but
thank you very much Katrina um and the
engagement team um for your help on
that. Um and then lastly just want to um
say a couple of things. Um I'd like to
start it off though by saying happy
father's day to our colleagues up here
on the dis um down there and any you
know members of our community. Um my dad
uh me papa Uriel Bencomo
um my dad crossed borders for uh for me
and my family
um decades ago. he uh crossed the desert
to come to this country uh for as cliche
as it sounds a better life for myself
and for my siblings. Um my mom and I and
my brother would soon would soon follow
um and it has been um over 25 years that
we've been in this country
often sometimes feeling like we're still
guests here.
Um, I have been doing the work of
organizing around immigrant rights for a
very long time. I've been to many
protests. I have seen uh many iterations
of ICE raids and border patrol uh raids
in our beautiful border community. Um,
nothing quite like what we've seen in
the last few months though. Um, the last
few months, federal agents have been
masked.
They have been
violently
snatching people from their homes, from
their work sites, from their vehicles,
from the street,
undocumented and citizens alike.
It has been violent.
Watching it has been uh awful and
traumatizing.
And that is what uh protesters across
the country, thousands, thousands of
protesters across the country have been
speaking up and standing up for their
neighbors in many beautiful different
ways. And sometimes in the media, you
see this tiny version of what is
happening. I have seen from protesters
that I know. I have seen a laas singing
in the street. I have seen people giving
water and snacks. I have seen people
dancing. I have seen um incredible
demonstrations of love, compassion, and
solidarity. And I saw that here over the
weekend even though I was gone. And I've
been to many protests in Los Cusus. And
from what I hear, I missed possibly one
of the biggest ones. And that was hard
for me to be away during that time. Uh,
I think what made it even harder was
that I was sort of um trick, you know,
information was trickling in about
snipers
and even as I think about it today feels
somewhat dystopian
um because people have been protesting
the violent response that we've seen
from a federal law enforcement agency
and then for us to show up that Okay.
Was I just It was hard. It was hard to
tell people that I didn't know. It was
hard to tell people. I'm trying to
figure out information. It's been hard
to hear. You should be grateful that
they were there in case something bad
happened. Um
which, you know, two things can be true
at the same time. I can be deeply
grateful for a police department and
fire department that are prepared to
handle tragedies like the one we just
saw, Young Park.
Um but it's I fear it's a intent versus
impact situation that the intent
uh was one thing and the impact was
protesters protesting a violent
authoritarian government weaponizing
the military and ICE agents against
people
and then we showed up that way and uh
that was hard that was hard to see and
I've expressed my disappointment. I but
I won't stay there obviously. I think
what I would much rather do is now then
work with the city manager's office with
uh chief with both our chiefs around a
protocol for protesters because I don't
imagine what we saw this last weekend
will be the last um and I I you know I
know that there are general orders for
um undocumented foreign nationals and I
will continue working with uh attorney
our attorney and the city uh police
chief around um improving those,
strengthening those, and making sure
that they align with our welcoming city
resolution. Um but I'd love to see
general orders on protests and how we
navigate
respectfully
um honoring
people's first amendment right to
assembly. And um that's my commitment.
That's what I would like to do. I'd like
to turn something that wasn't intended
to be um intimidating but ultimately
turned out that way into something uh
that we can say we are we can be proud
of. Um and that's my commitment. So I I
want to say thank you to people who um
are standing up for each other, for
their neighbors, especially those most
vulnerable in this moment, even though
the list of vulnerable folks under this
administration continues to grow. Um,
thank you to all of you. I also stand
with you. Thanks, Mayor.
Thank you. U, I just want to add to that
on the protesting. It's u we don't we
don't deny anyone the right to to
assemble and to speak. Uh, no different
than the protests that that formed on
Saturday, no different than the public
participation that takes place today.
But I can tell you that on Saturday a
permit was pulled. The permittee did get
with the chief did address the issues
that were going to take place and uh
relay some of the information of threats
that were even being disclosed at that
time to protesters. So I showed up
because we had received uh some broken
windows here at city hall and that was
the night before. But but even then it
was I'm glad that it was a peaceful uh
protest. I'm glad that police was here,
fire was here. We had an incident where
an individual fell and he was treated.
And so, everyone was here for the safety
of all residents in Los Cusus. And, you
know, I have a different perspective and
a different view when it comes to public
safety. And I understand large
gatherings and crowd control can be very
difficult. And so, you have to have a
vantage point. and that vantage point
are aerial uh sites where you can where
you can see properly and see what's
going on and address any issues in a
rapid fashion. So, it may have come
across that it looked intimidating, but
I know Chief and his staff were here to
protect and to serve and to make sure
all residents were safe. And um that's
that's what I know of. I came I actually
went to the police department. and I met
with Chief Story and some of his staff
and and those were all the issues were
making sure that our community was safe
and that's that's what they did. I don't
know Chief if you want to elaborate you
got anything else to add. I know Friday
there was no permit that was pulled so
when you don't have that permitty giving
information of what to expect it's it
becomes a little bit more chaotic. But I
really appreciate them pulling a permit
on Saturday and getting that that
clearness. I'm not sure that anybody
that attended today was the individual
that pulled the permit, but uh it was it
was pulled and communication was with
the chief. Chief, you may be. Thank you,
mayor. Yeah, I just want to clarify when
I made comments to the Albuquerque
Journal to Aldron who's here. When I
said that officers should not have been
visible with their rifles, I didn't mean
they shouldn't have been visible. I
mean, they shouldn't have been visible
with the rifles. So, had they been
standing there without the rifles, we'd
probably be having a different
conversation. And so, one thing that
does help, as mayor alluded to, is when,
you know, a permit is not required,
obviously, to exercise your first
amendment rights, but when a permit is
pulled and we have a specific organizer,
we make contact, we work out a lot of
stuff ahead of time. So, for Saturday,
which had, you know, I'm not sure what
the official estimate was. I was there
for Saturday. I 700 to a,000. It was a
lot of people. But with that organizer,
we already had good communication. We
had contact between my lieutenant
running it and her. And so if there's
any issues, we could deal with them
right away. So that's a huge advantage
for us and for, I believe, for the
protesters. So we can keep them safe and
make sure everything's good. We didn't
have that Friday. We didn't have a
specific organizer or or a permit. So we
didn't have anybody to contact.
Um,
you know,
the perception was that it was aism or
racism and that's why the response on
Saturday was different. I just want to
again say that it's because we had a
different relationship with the
organizer that allowed us to have a
slightly different response.
And a lot of the people who spoke are
people that not all of them but a lot of
them are people who despise us and um
probably will regardless what we do. and
our intention was to be there to protect
them primarily um and respond to any
threats that should arise. The comments
that were made online were directed
potentially to Saturday, but for us to
make that assumption that Friday was
free and clear, I think would have been
foolish. And so those comments were
pretty overt. Some of them are very
overt comments of violence towards the
protesters. And ironically, some of the
same people that made these comments are
ones who said that Young Park was our
fault because we should have been there
to prevent it. And so we're kind of in
this catch22 situation. Our goal is to
be there to prevent violence so that
people can exercise their first
amendment rights, which is part of the
foundation of our country and who we are
to be able to do that. Granted, I'll
I'll end where I started in the fact
that the officers should not have been
present with their rifles in the way
that they were because that obviously
creates a lot of issues that weren't
necessary and a lot of division that's
not necessary. And so we will continue
to pro protect people. Even people who
dehumanize police officers and say all
cops are bastards. We'll be there for
them when they call and we'll still
respond and we'll still protect them
regardless of their views. Thank you,
mayor.
Thank you, Chief. U with that um city
manager comments. Sonia.
Thank you, mayor.
Uh, mayor, members of council, Son
Degado, assistant city manager, sitting
in for a Connie Tamapo, our city
manager, uh, for your city manager
report for communications. The
communications team office won seven
telly awards. The telly awards are
nationally recognized awards and they
earned several bronze and silver awards
and won gold. Gold is only earned by the
top 3% of entries. Adrien, Nate, and
Cherish are incredibly talented and
skilled individuals, and we are very
lucky and proud to have them on the
city's team. So, congratulations,
communications.
For parks and recreation, uh they've
been having a lot of extended
programming hours for our teens uh this
summer. And we do have quite a list to
share.
trying to give our teens opportunities
to connect, learn, and have fun.
Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:00 pm to
9:00 p.m. at Sierra and Lynn Middle
Schools. Wednesdays from 5:00 p.m. to
9:00 p.m. Aielder Memorial Safe Haven.
On Fridays from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
Meshite Recreation Center. Saturdays
from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at the Los
Cusus Natiatorum.
for the natiatorum. Those are Saturday
teen splashes and they're all Saturdays
in June as well as July 12th and 28th
and it's $1 per participant.
Activities vary by locations. For more
information and check out Los Cruus
Parks and Rec social media accounts on
Make Music Day, come celebrate with us
at Amodore Live on Saturday, June 21
from 700 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. featuring
live music from Austin, Jimmy Murphy,
and Frank Zona. Movies in the Park. Our
free outdoor movie series continues at
Amodore Live on June 28th with Mufasa
the Lion King. Doors open at 7 PM and
the movie begins at dusk. Perfect for a
family night out. And I've also actually
missed June 14th, which is with Wicked,
which is a great movie. So hopefully you
can take the family out and have a great
time.
for quality of life. Uh, Senator Ben Ray
Luhan's roundt discussion at Mson Senior
Center on Tuesday, May 27th, covered
many important topics regard regarding
the impact on seniors of potential cuts
in federal government programs. The
program received excellent coverage on
social media via Facebook, X, and Yahoo
News. It was also covered online via New
Mexico source and in print via both the
Albuquerque Journal and the West
Virginia News. We are so grateful for
the attention to this important topic.
The abuse and later life awareness
health fair is scheduled for June 6th
from 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Mson
Center. Representative from local
agencies included adult protective
services, Metro Department of Health,
and area law enforcement.
Let's see. Quality of life public art
successfully implemented the community
mural event that took place uh in
Saturday, May 31st. The design was
developed by muralist Jesus Simei
Alvarado from El Paso. More than 50
people turned out to help paint the
mural on the parking lot wall. And
Moonlight at the museums was also
success on Saturday evening last
Saturday evening with 267 adults
visiting the museums which featured an
opportunity to visit the exhibits and
enjoy adult beverages and food truck
offerings for the public. Thank you so
much mayor.
Thank you Sonia. And with that, a motion
to adjurnn. So moved by floss.
Second.
This is on the motion to adjourn the
meeting. Councelor McClure is absent.
Councelor Matise is absent. Councelor
Graham. Yes. Councelor Cran. Yes.
Councelor Flor Fletus.
Yes. Councelor Bencoml. Yes. Mayor, yes.
Michael Harris.
Oh my god.
Queen92
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