[Music]
You're live.
Good afternoon. Welcome to city council
meeting. Today is Monday, June 2nd,
2025. It's approximately 1 p.m. I am
Mayor Eric Henriquez. Before we start, I
want to mention that we have an ASL,
American Sign Language interpreter up in
the front row available to us at every
meeting. We will start, if you please
stand, we'll start with a moment of
silence for the brave men and women of
the United States Armed Forces as they
protect our interests and around the
globe as well as the courageous men and
women of the Los Cusus Police and Los
Cruus Fire Department as they keep our
city safe 247 365.
If you please join me in the pledge. I
pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible with liberty and
justice for all.
So, I'll go ahead and start with uh
proclamations and presentations.
So the first one is a proclamation for
migraine and headache awareness month uh
presented to Marabella
Masus
Masias. Hi thank you Marbel.
So I'll go ahead and read the
proclamation and give you a chance to
say a few words. Okay. So the city of
Los Cruus's proclamation whereas
headache disorders including migraine
cluster
headaches new daily persistent headaches
spinal
CF leak oral facial pain orders and
other neurological headache diseases
affect more than 40 million Americans
and over 1.1 billion people worldwide.
And whereas headaches are among the
leading cause of
disability globally
disproportionately impacting women,
veterans, and historically marginalized
communities. And whereas veterans and
military personnel experience high rates
of post-traumatic headaches and
migraines due to traumatic brain
injuries sustained in service. And
whereas significant racial and
socioeconomic disparities persist with
black, Hispanic,
native, indigenous populations facing
high rates of underdiagnosed and
inadequate treatment. And whereas there
is a severe shortage in headache
specialists with fewer than 800
certified headache medicine specialists
nationwide creating significant barriers
to the care particularly for rural and
underserved communities. And whereas
individuals with headache disorders are
at an increased risk for developing
depression and suicidal ideiation
underscoring the urgent need for
comprehensive care and mental health
care support.
Now therefore, we the mayor and city
council of Los Cusus, New Mexico, dear
do hereby proclaim June 25th as migraine
and headache awareness month in Los
Cusus, New Mexico and encourages
citizens, health care professionals, and
policy makers to support awareness,
research, and improve access to care for
headache
diseases. Thank you.
So, if you want to say a few words.
Well, thank you so much, Mr. Mayor, and
the members of the city council. Um,
June is migraine and headache awareness
month. So, this means a lot to everyone
who lives with a headache headache
disorder. If you have time, there is a
mini installation celebrating um
headache disorders and bringing
awareness in the park right in front of
Branigan Library. And there's flags um
displayed if you have a chance to visit.
Thank you so much. Thank you.
Did you
get a while?
Next, it is uh my privilege and my honor
to call up Carmen Gano so she can be
recognized. Daughters can come up with
her. You can come. You can all join
family. I see Todd too rushing, running
to come down.
So today we celebrate a true legend of
education in our community. Miss Carmen
Kano, a DDD
pre early childhood education assistant
at Booker T.
Washington Community Elementary School
who has devoted almost 60 years of
nurturing young leader learners in Los
Cusus. I'll say that again. You've
devoted almost 60 years to nurturing
young learners in Los
Cruus. That that is truly what legends
are made of. Thank you. That's that's
that's amazing. It's awesome. I asked
her earlier why'd you quit you know but
she didn't want to amazing
so the number of children who have who
she has taught to tie their shoes to say
the ABCs to speak English as a second
language sometimes to go potty on their
own and to successfully navigate their
first time being at
school for all too many to count.
According to her family, if we go by how
many people stop to talk to her when she
goes shopping for groceries, it might be
the whole city of Los Cusus by now. Miss
Kano began her journey as part of the
teachers aid migrant pilot program with
the late J. Paul Taylor in
1965 and has been a pillar of support,
kindness, and dedication ever since. Her
first school was Lucero Elementary,
which is long gone, but most of her
career has been with Washington
Elementary, which sits in her longtime
neighborhood. She is originally from El
Paso, but has lived in the Tornne Street
area since the late 50s and raised six
of her own children while taking on the
children of others. When asked what
keeps her going, she says it's the love
that I have for all those kids and for
the love that they have shown me.
The best educators will tell you that
their work goes above and beyond
teaching the fundamental schools to
students. It's teaching with that
special sauce, that ginho that makes
such a positive impact and impression on
young minds that they carry with them
for the rest of their lives. And that's
what Miss
Gano has in abundance. Muncho Carinho,
it's impossible to fully recognize the
commitment and service Mrs. Gano has
given to Los Cusus. Let me just say a
huge thank you for all that you do and
you have done as an educator and
congratulations on your retirement. You
will never be forgotten and we wish you
all the best. God bless you.
So, we have a certificate of excellence.
A certificate is proudly presented to
Carmen Connell in honor of outstanding
performance in recognition of her high
standards of excellence. This
certificate is issued in recognition of
civic interest and as an expression of
appreciation by the mayor on behalf of
the citizens of the city of Los Cruus
dated the 2nd day of June 2025.
[Applause]
Congratulations.
Also just want to share that you know
that's the theme that we have here in
Los Cruus is Karinho is adilante
concarinho to move forward and Mrs.
Kanos has demonstrated that and showed
that she's an example of that and I'm
sure that there's so many testimonies of
all adults and kids in this community
parents grandparents everyone that has
has you have touched their lives. And so
we have some pins uh our Karinho pin and
I just want to give her one of those as
well. Thank you. More
[Applause]
quickly here.
Hello. Uh my name is Terry Delarosa
Ortiz and um thank you mayor, thank you
council members and uh I'm the oldest of
Mrs.
six children and uh what do you say
about someone who dedicated her life to
the community of Los Cusus and what
better than to teach the children of the
community because she taught she taught
was the value of hard work and
dedication. I too followed in my mom's
footsteps and I retired in 2017. I gave
uh the Los Cruz public schools about 32
years of service. So, I enjoyed that and
it is the love of the children that we
keep going back. So, uh, thank you, Mom.
I'm so proud of you and I'm glad I got
to see this day. Thank you.
[Applause]
Well, how do we move on from that? Thank
you, Mrs. Conno. Thank you for your 60
years of dedication and commitment. We
wish you all the best. Thank you.
[Applause]
So, next on the agenda, we do have jobs
of the week. Sarah Rainey is saying
Sarah here. There she is. Come on up,
Sarah.
There we go. Thank you, Mayor and
Council. My name is Sarah Rainey. I'm
the onestop coordinator for the
Southwest Region of America's Job
Center, New Mexico. Um, for jobs of the
week, we have um for the city, police
service aid. That one starts at 1807 an
hour and the posting closes on the 23rd.
We also have an office assistant for the
city and that one begins at 1558 an hour
and it is at a continuous posting at
this time. We have an HR administrator
for Dornana County. That one starts at
58,000 a year and the posting closes on
the 9th. So very
soon. We have for Amodore Health Clinic
a part-time pharmacist. For New Mexico
Department of Agriculture, we have an
admin assistant. An admin assistant
getting tongue tied today. That one
starts at 1545 an hour. And then for
Stampede Meets, we have several
openings. They have refrigeration,
building systems technician, quality
assurance supervisor, food safety
specialists of an operator, and more.
There's actually several more listed on
their on our site for Stampede. There's
lots of opportunity. We have several
events coming up this month. Um, we have
a job core meet and greet at our office
at 226 Alama. That one, if anybody is
between the ages of 16 and 24, come meet
the JobCore staff and find out more
about those programs. Um, we also have
an American Job Center meet and greet on
the 17th to find out more about all of
our
services. We have the Community of Hope
monthly job readiness event. That one
will be at the um soup kitchen over
there by the community of hope. And then
on the 26th, we have a Lions Club free
glasses event. That event will be um
information to get the free glasses that
Lion's Club offers as well as if anybody
has any donations to donate to the Lions
Club to recycle old glasses that you're
no longer using, they'll take those then
as well. So, lots of things coming up in
June. And as always, you can reach us
over at the Alama office. Thank you,
sir.
Thank you,
sir. Next is pet of the weeks with Carol
Nielson, come on up,
Carol. Good afternoon. I'm Carol Nelson,
digital content specialist with the
Animal Services Center of the Messia
Valley. Just as a reminder, our dog and
cat of the week, anytime they are
promoted, are available at no cost for
the week of
promotion. This week, both of our pets
are still available to adopt. Shocker.
So, we've been having some good success.
But uh whisper
78992. I have been at ASMV for 305 days.
I'm a gentle, shy girl, still learning
to trust the world. I've started to
enjoy soft scratches, quiet cuddles, and
gentle walks, though I'm still learning
when sudden noises or fast movement what
sudden noises or fast movements mean. I
just needed a little extra help to
understand the world around me. I love
leaning in for hugs and staying close to
people I trust. I'm looking for a calm,
patient home, having trouble reading,
where I can keep building my confidence
to feel truly loved. And this week, our
cat of the week is Kingsley, a little
bit of a younger cat. Uh, his number is
92590. I'm a tiny spunky kitten just
starting to explore this big, exciting
world. I'm still learning to feel
confident, especially around people.
Right now, I like to stay close to my
mom and siblings where I feel safe. But
don't let that fool you. I love to
chase, pounce, and wrestle with my
litter mates like a pro. With time,
love, and encouragement, I know I'll
grow into a brave, affectionate
companion who's ready to give lots of
love in
return. And for our long-term residents,
so Whisper, of course, is our longest
term. And so, next we have Peppa, who
has been at the center for 30 days,
Div.A, 266 days, Jessica 261 days, and
Coffee 250 days. All of these are
available to adopt at just $25. So, we
would love to see them get into a home
as
well. This weekend, we will be at
PetSmart on Friday and on Saturday,
we'll be at Petco. So, come out to our
adoption events, even if you can't
adopt. It's always fun to have people
come by and say hi to the pets. Um, and
also consider fostering if adopting
isn't right for you right now. So, lots
of options. Uh for more information feel
free to follow us on social media or
visit our website
ascmv.org. Thank you for the time today.
Thank you Carol. Oh you had a question
or a comment. You said pet excuse me.
You said pet excuse me you said Petco
but the slide showed PetSmart or did I
hear wrong? Probably I should put my
glasses on. I probably kind of zoomed
through it a little quickly.
Um, so Friday is Pets Smart and then
underneath it you see Petco. Oh, okay. I
didn't catch up. No worries. Happy to
clarify. Thank you. Thank you, Carol.
Thank you. Swear to God, I didn't.
Next is the 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 Plus. I
don't have I I don't think I have a real
conflict of interest, but there's the
potential of a perception of a conflict
of interest for resolution 25146. So,
I'll recuse myself on that because I'm
employed by DACC.
None. Graham.
None.
Next is public participation. Um members
will be allowed up to three minutes. No
pending litigation or items on the
non-consent. Katrina will come and help
you and usher you to the podium. Um,
you'll have three minutes. Again,
identify yourself, state your name, and
speak clearly into the microphone. Thank
you.
Mayor, Council, and those watching
online, I'm Lyn Moira. You know who I
respect and admire? I respect and admire
publicly elected officials who
understand that it's the responsibility
of citizens in a democracy to hold their
elected officials accountable. I respect
and admire publicly elected officials
who don't call their constituents names
when they disagree with them.
I respect and admire publicly elected
officials who don't accuse citizens of
fear-mongering or lying when they raise
legitimate, well-ressearched concerns
and provide documented facts associated
with those concerns. I respect and
admire publicly elected officials who
don't lash out belligerently when
citizens challenge them to do a better
job in carrying out their
responsibilities.
I respect and admire publicly elected
officials who do their homework and get
a basic grasp of relevant facts before
launching into long monologues at a
public meeting or talking to members of
the news media or accepting invitations
to participate in local radio or TV
shows. I respect officials who make it a
priority to comply fully with all legal
requirements without subjective slant or
political motive and expect all their
employees and all those under them to do
so as well without exception. I respect
and appreciate publicly elected
officials who understand and accept that
all those who voted for them expect them
to treat everyone with decency and
courtesy regardless of their point of
view. I respect officials who recognize
that the modicum of power and
recognition they acquire when elected to
public office does not give them license
to exploit that power and recognition by
basisly injecting racial division or
seeking to disparage by ridicule or
scolding those citizens who ask them to
do their job differently. I respect
persons who recognize that when elected
to public office, they become servants
of the people. I respect officials who
recognize that most citizens are not
that comfortable speaking publicly and
who give all citizens the benefit of the
doubt when they do. I respect officials
who understand that many citizens who
attend public meetings have to take off
work in order to attend and are not
interested in losing income by
participating in a meeting where they're
scolded, bullied, and called names by
the officials they elected. I respect
officials who have the humility to admit
when they are wrong and to graciously
apologize to those they disparaged,
bullied, called names, andor
disrespected in other ways. and make
their best efforts to never repeat that
behavior. Thank you for this opportunity
to
[Applause]
speak. Mayor Council, I'm Liz Rodriguez
Johnson.
The city continues to fail to comply
with EPA's new lead and copper rule.
Under the new rule, water systems are
required to offer to sample the tap for
lead for any consumer who requests it
who has a lead galvanized requiring
replacement or unknown service line. A
lot of people who drink Lascurus's water
may not know that they have this right
to ask that that their tap water be
sampled because Las Cruz's utilities
left this important information out of
the notification letter they sent to
property owners last October. Nor has
Lasus's utilities included this
important information on its website. At
the town hall meeting the city hosted in
March, a citizen did ask how he could
get on the list to have his water
sampled. Despite despite the rule's
clear requirement that the city offered
to test his tap water, Lasurissa's
utilities personnel did not make this
offer. Instead, they changed the subject
and ignored the citizens inquiry.
Citizens are asking you, city council
members and city staff, to comply with
the new lead and copper rule and to
protect us from the harms of lead and
provide us with clean drinking water. We
don't have any special clout to allow us
to pick up to allow us to call the city
manager to put things in motion to have
state police or any other state agency
come to our rescue. We're ordinary
citizens who are intent on right being
done for everyone who drinks Lasurus'
water. We have undertaken thorough
research and analysis and have concluded
that Lasus' utilities personnel are
failing and are not complying with the
new rule. Please use your clout for
productive ends for the city as a whole.
direct the city manager to bring in an
independent engineer with management
experience to assess comprehensively
Lascus utilities compliance with the new
rule and recommend any needed changes
that would lead to a comprehensive
resolution of the issue. This would be a
responsible course of action and the
city as a whole would benefit. Thank
you.
Mayor, city council, my name is Edward
Thomas. Mayor, I'd like to talk to you
about your tyrannical overreach and the
lack of integrity. the lack of intellect
and the lack of proper civil decorum
with which you ran the last meeting.
Right before the public comment portion
began, you admonished us to follow the
rules and be respectful. Yet, when your
council members spoke, they seemed to
have ignored your instructions. So, your
admonition to obey the rules of respect
and proper civil decorum apply to the
speaking public, but not to the council.
The childish and immature name calling,
the desperate attempt to make this about
race by calling us segregationists and
churchgoers just proves my point. The
bad faith smearing and slandering that
we're racists and elitists that don't
care for the homeless was the icing on
the cake. That somehow we are anti
business because we don't want a small
restaurant or auto repair shop next door
to us. Again, slanderous and untrue
statements were made.
Councelor Matise, obviously my comments
about city council don't apply to you.
You seem to be the only one with any
sense of civic duty and common sense.
You have both my utmost respect and my
sincere sympathy. I recognize your
standalone bravery in the face of this
boatalong to getalong peer pressure. I'm
not surprised and certainly not fooled
by the intentional foot dragging and
obfiscation on the part of the city
clerk, her staff, and the city lawyers.
They consumed our time and purposely
delayed our efforts to collect
signatures by not giving us clear and
concise answers to our questions and in
fact gave us erroneous or misleading
guidance. Then when we turned in our
signatures, your city clerk under your
direction summarily struck out
signatures for the most trivial and
questionable of reasons. That's akin to
putting the fox in charge of the chicken
coupe. The mayor and staff have made a
mockery of the petition process, and a
legitimate petition has been squashed by
illegitimate subversion and a
willingness to deny the citizens of Los
Cruus a fair and transparent redress for
grievances as afforded to us by the
Constitution. You previously violated
the Open Meetings Act and now you're
violating the right to public petition.
For this reason, I have filed a
complaint with the New Mexico Department
of Justice in hopes of shedding light on
this travesty and to make the attorney
general aware of the events that have
taken place. I included a link to the
YouTube video of the last city council
meeting so that he can see and hear the
ridiculous comments made by members of
the council toward the citizens who
signed the petition or participated in
signature gathering. The name calling,
ridiculing, and bizarre statements made
about the citizens who signed the
petition should get the AG's attention.
No one was coerced, menaced, or tricked
into signing the petition.
[Applause]
I'm Richard Meyer. I'm a new resident of
the city just short of two months. Um I
have I sent an email to uh Councelor
Graham just on Saturday and I've had a
good response back from her and a couple
other parties. I'm going to read the
email. I'm an um I'm going to skip the
first part which has my personal address
in it. Um and I've already said how much
time I've been here. My landlord has
never discussed the water slash sewer
subject with me. Here are the property
watering sprinkling facts for my home
that I have apparently inherited from
the previous tenant. I'm a renter now
for two months. Sprinklers run for
apparently 4 hours every day of the week
in clear violation of the mandated
summer schedule of 3 days per week.
Two relatively small areas receive water
at somewhat similar rates with a
backwater back a backyard area watered
during 8:00 a.m. and 10 excuse me 6:00
a.m. and 1000 p.m. and a front yard area
during 7 and 11 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. All
of these times adhere to the city's
regulation.
Water consumption according to utility
hawk software averages just over 500
gallons per day. Again, this is strictly
for outside
sprinklers considered by me to be far in
excess of need, even if delivered only
on the mandated three days of the week.
I'm new to living in desert condition,
having spent my entire life until now in
northern or tempered states. As such, I
need advice
appropriate for my new situation. I
really desire to be a responsible
citizen, fully participating in the
city's guidelines for water
usage. Unfortunately, I've been so far
unable to learn anything useful about
appropriate water usage. I part
participated in a lengthy telephone
conversation with a courteous and
patient utilities information man with
the end result being the city provides
no information to folks much as so much
as myself. I say I'm running short. Um
I've re
reluctantly come to the consideration
the city is conflicted here. One, it
presents a sobering assessment of the
water supply problem cons confronting it
with commentary for citizens to help
deal with the serious problem. Two, it
provides no practical
uh advice. Three, this is furly further
suggested by the city's failure to
enforce a longstanding non-compliance by
my property with with the days.
Um, that's basically the content. I've
had response back from councelor Graham.
Um, and um,
uh, thank you, sir, Miss Diaz, your your
time is up. We have other people wanting
to speak. I understand. And I thank you
for it.
Hello. This is my first time speaking,
so I hope I do it right. Um, mayor,
council people, my name is Linda Cox. I
would like to thank Councilman Bill
Matise for his support for our right to
vote as as legal Los Cusus residents and
citizens of America. I was born in
Carl'sbad and I was raised in Los Cusus
from the age of 13. So I do know this
city. I am offended by council
comments that I am a racist, a
church-going
segregationist because I want a quiet,
safe
neighborhood. Anyone who drives through
my neighborhood will see a diverse group
of residents from different backgrounds,
different ages, different religious
beliefs. If you do come to my
neighborhood, you will see a friendly
group of people who get along. We
respect each other and we enjoy the
freedoms of choosing safe environment
places to
live. We know our neighbors and we are
there to help them when they need it. We
celebrate new babies and mourn with
those who lose loved ones.
Just because we choose a quiet, safe
neighborhood does not mean we are racist
or
segregationist. I was deeply offended by
these comments and I do hope you will
apologize. Thank you again, Councelor
Matise.
[Applause]
Mayor Council Juan Garcia, the following
or excerpts from the Las Cruus bulletin
30 May oped and I start my quote. I
don't trust the Las Cruus city
government to faithfully execute the
citizens referendum process. In 2014, a
group of politically active residents
headed by CAFE launched a petition drive
to increase the minimum wage. When the
petition was successful, members of the
city council were not pleased. Once
again, this time, some of the city
council were not pleased with the
realized petition drive. This time, the
city council didn't rely on slimy
lawyers tricks to avoid the horrors of
having their decisions put to the test
by a vote of the people. They simply
relied on the tried andrue method of
rejecting every petition that was not
filled up perfectly. And I continue with
this quote.
As much as I support the new ordinance,
I support democracy more. And elected
leaders picking and choosing which
signatures are valid based on political
expediency is not good for our
democracy. It's unfortunate that racial
division was injected into an already
difficult discussion. City Council
member Joanna Beno claimed that those
opposed to the new ordinance have quote
segregationist tendencies. And I
continue ultimately I don't think these
decisions by the city council are about
zoning or the minimum wage or supporting
liberal or conservative causes. I think
they're about power. And I end this
quote. Disappointed to hear councelor
Flores speak of fear-mongering church
attending whatever. Not clear what that
means. Not what I would expect from her.
Councelor Bencomo's remarks, on the
other hand, were divisive in an attempt
to silence those she despises. She
accused others of stoking fear, twisting
the truth, breaking rules, and lying.
Yet, she lied in a despicable public act
by stating Tim Jenkins had posted every
council member's address online. It
wasn't just false, it was a calculated,
shameless violation of basic ethics. She
loves to repeat, "Politics is not a
spectator sport." But the moment
residents from her own district, a place
she let rot into chaos, finally demanded
answers after officer Hernandez was
murdered, she played the victim. She
deserved the backlash, but played the
poor, pitiful victim, and offered
nothing but hollow excuses.
She's quick to accuse others of quote
segregationist tendencies while her
closest ally who sits on the LCPS board
goes on the radio and spits out the
words these people. Yes, these people
describing those he hates. The bigotry
isn't subtle. It must be a family team
sport. In addition, it apparently the
guidelines you posted above here for
public participation exempt some of the
council. Thank you.
Howdy. My name is Lonnie Montgomery and
I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. And
uh uh dear Lord God, I want to lift up
the mayor and the council and I want you
to have them have more powers of
discernment that they can make wiser
decisions. Now exactly who am I? Well,
according to Clinton, I'm a
deplorable and I am a Christian and I
believe in the country from the
beginning was uh raised on Christian
principles. So I am a Christian
nationalist and uh someplace in the
council chamber I became
riffraff but the real thing I am I am a
uh male and I ID as a 20year-old
uh male with toxic
masculinity but that has nothing to do
and just following these wonderful
people here my colleagues I've go in
here and I find out from Ben Ko that I'm
a
segregationist. No, I'm not. And I think
that's slanderous. And I think you did
the same thing to Sarah Smith and you
owe her a big
apology. But
segregationist, those were Democrats in
the South keeping people of color in
their place. And there's some place in
the east they have a
lynching museum and they have pictures
of people having the picnics and things
like that going to the lynchings. And if
you look at it and you go back into
history, probably
99.9% of the lynchings to colored people
in the South were done by Democrats. I'm
sorry to say. And you want to talk about
diversity? I found diversity when I took
those petitions around. I went to my
neighborhood and it's it's I found all
sorts of Christians. I found Catholic
Christians. I found Pentecostals. I
found others. But most of all, I found
diversity. You want diversity? Come to
Estado
Serenos. That's a quiet neighborhood
like this other lady lives in. We walk
walk people on the trail. They come
around and they we talk and we love each
other and we're all sorts. I mean, we
have Poles, we have Danish people, we
have
Scotch-Irish, we have Lithuanians, and
we have a lot of Latinos. And speaking
of Latinos and stuff, I don't know why
you don't this put this on the on the
ballot.
59.4% of our population is
Hispanic and about 33 are white. So why
don't you want the ballot? Are you
afraid it will be defeated because of
the people who have worked so hard to
get their single family housing? Is that
what you guys are afraid of? Thank you
very much. Appreciate it.
And now for something completely
different. My name is Michael Harris.
Um, for the record, I thought I'd bring
up today a disturbing trend I've noticed
around town of automated license plate
reading cameras uh both on private and
city rights of way. Uh, the cameras that
I personally seen appear to be from a
company called Flock uh, which is very
famous in the space. Um, and maybe
there's some others that are less
conspicuous. There are at least 10 of
these on Lman University, Missouri, and
uh, several at Lowe's and Home Depot
each. Um, these cameras take photos of
every car that passes day and night.
They read the plate. They upload it to a
national database which is owned and
operated by this private company. And
there are no real meaningful legal
restrictions on the use of that data
once it is up there. Um, all you really
need to look through it is a contract
with Flock. Recent leaks have also
revealed that Flock is building a people
search tool. So, these cameras that were
ostensibly put in place just to read
license plates and monitor cars are
probably actually monitoring everybody's
faces as well. Um, maybe the data that's
produced is useful to solve an
occasional crime. I'll uh add that just
right before this meeting, I actually
heard a brief story about LCPD finding
um and returning some property to a
friend of mine because of some private
cameras that were that were at his place
of work. Um, so anyway, it's it's
possible. Uh, but given the coverage in
this town, it seems doubtful that you
could track a stolen asset using these
flock cameras with any accuracy. Uh, so
it seems like mainly a way for an
understaffed police department to appear
to be doing something, maybe wasting a
little bit of money and not spending
very much effort on it. Uh, each camera
costs about $2,500 per year. So, it's a
decent chunk of money. Um, it's not an
FTE. It's not a it's a rounding error in
the overall budget, but it would buy a
few ballistic windshields for for
cruisers. Um, which would actually help
people. Um, the real problem then is the
inadvertent one, which is the constant
creeping surveillance of every single
resident in this city. Um, and potential
misuse by others other than LCPD. Uh,
recently it's been revealed that ICE,
despite not having their own contract
with Flock, regularly accesses this
database by asking local police
departments for the occasional favor.
These don't even have to be the
departments whose jurisdiction the
cameras are. Um, it was revealed just
last Friday that a detective in Texas
went searching through the national
database to find a woman who had an
abortion in another state and they were
concerned for her safety. Um, the kicker
there is that the search didn't even
find her. So, it's not only a shocking
overreach of authority, um, but it's
also a testament to how the system
doesn't really do the job that maybe it
was intended to in the first place. Um,
so maybe some residents are in favor of
these use cases, but I bet that it's not
what people who put the cameras up
signed up for. Um, today maybe it's
being used to find a stolen Kia.
Tomorrow maybe they're being used to see
who goes to a certain doctor's office.
Or maybe I'll pass a police search for
everybody who's been to a dispensary.
Um, or maybe you find out who goes to a
certain
church. That's it.
[Applause]
Good afternoon. My name is Lisa Parrot.
I live in District 6. This weekend I had
the privilege of attending a conference
in uh Calvary Chapel Chino Hills,
California and in a worship service
yesterday morning before I drove back
and it was worth every mile. The pastor,
Pastor Jack Hibbs, mentioned this book,
When Culture Hates You, Persevering for
the Common Good as Christians in a
Hostile Public Square. And I'd like to
read some passages from it. Loving your
neighbor by publicly advocating for a
soup kitchen and loving your neighbor by
publicly advocating for the protection
of life in the womb are both outworkings
of a biblical worldview. But as we But
there is a difference between how those
two actions are perceived by culture.
The former The former will likely draw
ambivalence or approval. The latter
serious condemnation. As Christians,
therefore, we aren't resented for
everything we believe and do. But
because we're reviled for opposing some
of the values most cherished by culture,
we're increasingly hated as a group. The
gatekeepers would love nothing more for
us for than us to just keep serving soup
while being silent about issues on which
we're at odds with culture. And that's a
tempting proposition for many
Christians. After all, if we did that,
culture would like us. Who wants to be
hated? But when culture hates you, when
you're reviled for promoting your views
in the public square, such as me and the
rule of real estate
law, it takes deep conviction and
courage to nonetheless persevere for the
common
good. But being hated is exactly what
Jesus told us to expect. if we're going
to follow his commands. Silence in
exchange for cultural respect is a deal
with the devil. Thank you very
[Applause]
much. Good afternoon, mayor, city
council. My name is Lucas Hearn and I'm
a resident district 2. Um at the end of
last week's me or two weeks ago meeting
um Mr. Mayor uh took exception to my
description of um the police committing
homicide uh by me calling it murder. Um
so I will try to not use that term. Um
when the police uh commit homicide
against uh the citizens
um in since 2005
uh less than 150 police have been
arrested uh for murder charges and of
those less than 5% have been convicted.
New Mexico
remains the most dangerous place to live
if you uh when it comes to being uh
having homicide committed against your
body by a police officer. Um nationally
um police have killed 12 fewer people
than they did uh last year in the United
States. Um except in New Mexico where
they have killed three more people than
they had at this point in time last
year.
Um, I don't know how to make people as
afraid of the police as they should be.
They are clearly a dangerous group of
people. They are armed. The state
sanctions them and they basically have a
a freedom to execute you. um in the
state of New Mexico, uh a federal judge
just found that a man was shot in his
own home by the
police that those police cannot be held
accountable. And when the and when the
wife of this man found her husband dead
on the floor, she picked up his gun and
returned fire because somebody had just
shot through their window and front
door, murdering this man. I did it.
I'm sorry. The police committed
homicide against this man in his own
home because somebody knocked on his
door in the middle of the night. And
when his wife found his body and his
gun, she picked it up and fired. The
police fired at her 19 times.
I don't I don't know how you can be so
upset by the word
murder when we are living in a fascist
state of uniformed thugs with the
authority to kill you and not answer for
that. and all these bootlickers here who
come out and support them every single
week, who have no risk of it because of
the color of their
skin. I wish your priorities were in the
right place.
I'm Marilyn Finnegan. I believe I'm in
district six. I vote in every election.
I didn't go out to get signatures on the
petition to change the voting uh zoning,
but I did sign it with my name. Ma'am,
we can hear you. If you can pull the
microphone down towards me start over.
Yes, please. Go ahead. My name is
Marilyn Finnegan. I'm a I think I'm a
voter in D district 6. Uh I vote in
every election. I didn't go out to get
signatures on the petition to change the
zoning, but I did sign it. Whether I
signed it with my initial uh in Marilyn
J. Finnegan or just Marilyn Finnegan, I
want my vote counted. That little
technical technicality should not have
been put in there.
Uh, I want to go on record that I am
upset that I you decided for the whole
city to change our zoning. No matter how
many signatures were on that petition,
it's more than just the few of you that
decided that we could change our voting.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Mayor Council, my name is Jim Wilcox,
and today I'm going to give you an
opportunity to help protect our native
plants and to protect the city from a
possible claim of violation of the
protection against double jeopardy as
defined in the fifth amendment. So, what
happened was uh about a year ago, I got
a notice that said I had noxious weeds.
So, I looked at my yard and I like,
"Which ones are the noxious ones and
which ones are the native plants?" So, I
thought, "Well, I'll go to the trial."
So, we had a we had a bench trial and
he's reckon Brad's catching it there.
So, we had a bench trial and I said to
the codes officer, who's a nice guy, I
said, "Can you if I gave you a list of
noxious and native plants, could you
tell me which ones are which?" And he
goes, "I don't think so." So I said, "If
I showed you pictures of native plants
and noxious," he goes, "No, I can't."
And he looked at the judge. He says,
"Your honor, I've never been trained in
identifying either." So the judge heard
my point that if the crime can't be
defined, I can keep getting tickets. And
so that's a violation of double jeopardy
under the fifth amendment. And the judge
the judge said, he goes, "This is really
hard."
And so then he asked for a picture. They
showed a picture. He said, "I find a
defendant not
guilty." So I set precedent that you
can't go out and tell people they have
noxious weeds. And here's the thing.
They're cutting down the good stuff.
It's a it's scorched earth policy.
People are going out just ripping all
the plants up. And and this means that
the native birds and the insects and the
the and you know, the native plants are
all being ripped out. So I thought,
well, I'll talk to the city attorney. So
I sent him an email and he acknowledged
he got my email. So didn't hear
anything. So I talked to the coach
director who's really a nice guy. He
said, "Oh, I'm glad you brought this up.
We were thinking about continuing our
efforts to define this kind of like they
do in Albuquerque." And so I did I I
said, "I'll call you back." So I called
him back in two months and he said, "Oh,
you know, thing government works really
slowly. We haven't had a chance." So I
waited three months and I called him and
he never called me back. Called him
again. He never called me back. So I
went to the co coalition of
conservatives who are here and they said
what? I got a guy with a truck sitting
in his yard and coats hasn't done
anything about it and they're worried
about weeds they can't even define. And
then I went to the progressive voters
alliance and they went what what's going
on? Why were they after you trying to
protect things? So now I'm telling you,
you have a chance to protect yourself
against a possible claim of a violation
against double jeopardy by just defining
which is which. Albuquerque list 10 says
you can't have these. Here's 10 you can
have. And you can also protect our
environment and encourage the thing you
want, which is a native landscape within
our city to make it beautiful. Thank
you.
[Applause]
Good afternoon. I'm Jim Hurst. Um, I
thought that since this is June, you
would be passing a gay rights
resolution, uh, resolution supporting
gay rights month. Um but apparently
that's not the case. Um so I wish the uh
uh agenda would include the resolutions.
In any case, I will make my comment as
though you had uh supported gay rights
from Jefferson's letter to the Danbury
Baptist 1801. I contemplate with
sovereign reverence that the act of the
whole American people which declared
that their legislature should make no
law respecting an establishment of
religion or proh prohibiting the free
exercise thereof thus building a wall of
separation between church and state. End
quote. Today you declared gay pride
month affirming the rights of the LB uh
LGBTQ community. This resolution is not
without controversy. Many in this county
and even in this room oppose this
action. Presumably they do so for
religious reason. This commission can
make declarations that are against
religious opinions because we have a
wall of separation between church and
state. In the last few decades, our
society has made great strides in
advancing diversity, inclusion, and
equity for the
LGBTQ community. Long overdue, but
better late than never. We have done so
because reason has prevailed over
religious dogma and
superstition. If it were up to some of
our religious institutions, we would
have never reached this point. Indeed,
much of the faith community is greatly
distressed that we have reached this
point. They fear that the judgment of
God Almighty will fall on our nation,
and they cry out to us to repent.
If it were up to them, we would reverse
course and deny the rights which have
been so recently granted. We would cease
to recognize same-sex marriage. We would
deny trans transgender med medical care.
And we would censor art and
entertainment that gave positive
positive portrayals of
homosexuality. If it if there were no
wall between church and state, they
might succeed.
LGBTQ rights are only secure while the
wall of separation of church and state
stands. If that wall is breached and
many rights are put in jeopardy, birth
control comes to mind. So if you wish to
honor gay rights, then uphold separation
of church and state, maintain it and
strengthen
it. I want to address the also the
subject of uh realize Los Cusus. If
those who think they have a cause
against this commission, this county uh
council, they should take it to court,
not try it here in council meetings.
Thank you very
[Applause]
much. Good afternoon, council mayor.
Disrespectful, degrading, threatening,
or slanderous remarks is strictly
prohibited unless you're a council
member. I guess I came here on May 19th
and I asked us as citizens to remember
that this is not a legal requirement to
be able to have public comment. I'm
sorry. Excuse I said Donna Striker.
Okay, I did. Okay, now you did. Thanks.
Oh, okay. Sorry. I know my name. I keep
forgetting it to say it. I apologize.
I asked if we could try to adhere to the
slides above me, those ones that we see
every week before we deliver our
comments. The performance of some of the
council on May 19th meeting showed poor
judgment, prejudice, accusations, and
inappropriate behavior for elected
officials, and you did not come close to
following the slides above. But I guess
you have different rules or no rules. So
you can ramble on as long as you want so
you can hear yourself talk. the name
calling, liars, churchgovers, beating
our head against the sky, chicken
littles, and my favorite,
segregationists. The interesting thing
is that is exactly what you are
suggesting from your comments. You
segregate me as I sit in chambers and
you judge me and my family. A person who
supports the policy of enforced
separation of different racial groups.
When you mention brown people, you are
excluding other races. Are you not?
Churchgoers versus non-churchgoers. Are
you not supporting an enforced
separation of different racial groups
under the guise of having a better
knowingness of what is good for all of
us? You assume because I'm white or
because I'm older. You assume I am a
segregationist. One of my grandsons is
brown. One of my granddaughters is
black. My son is gay, my youngest son.
But then you wouldn't know that because
you're too busy sitting judging me and
assuming you understand me or what I
believe. You mock the citizens and you
sit up there and are completely
unprofessional, disrespectful,
degrading, and
threatening. You mock the oath of the
office that you took. I, city
councelor's name, subscribe upon my oath
that as a city councelor for the city of
Los Cusus, New Mexico, for a term to end
date that would apply, I will support
the constitution of the United States
and the constitution and laws of the
state of New Mexico and the ordinances
of the city of Los Cusus. and I will
faithfully oh interesting use of a word
that you apparently don't believe in and
impartially discharge the duties of the
city council for the best to the best of
my ability. If some of your performances
on May 19th are your commitment to
impartiability, then we are certainly in
trouble. Please take time to consider
your oath of office to your citizens. I
must thank you though. Now people can
watch your performance from the 19th and
decide if it's time for a change. Your
behavior was and is clearly a reflection
of how you really feel about anyone who
is not brown or somehow different from
you or not in your select group. By
using those terms, you belittle my
family, my city, and you separate us
once again. Watch your words. Once you
speak them, you cannot take them back.
Good afternoon, mayor, city council,
fire department, and police
department. I pledge allegiance to the
flag of the United States of America.
Can Can you state your name? Oh, I'm
sorry. Tim Jenkins. Sorry about that. I
pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. We recite this at every
council meeting before we begin. But
yet, certain council members refuse to
abide by the very oath they swore to
uphold. I can guarantee you 100% that if
I stood here in council chambers and
called certain members on council a liar
and told her that she broke rules and
manipulated people and exploited them at
their worst fears by her actions, that I
would be physically removed from council
chambers and asked to never return.
So, how is it perfectly fine coming from
council members that swore an oath to
uphold the law, but yet seem to refuse
to? And how is it possible for certain
council members to treat Sarah Smith
with such disregard and vile
hatred? And how is it possible for
certain council members to attack my
reputation and say that I posted all
their addresses on the internet when in
fact I have no clue of their addresses?
And how is it possible for certain
council members to say that she can spot
us from a mile away and call us chicken
littles and say we are a bunch of
fear-mongering church attending people
and should go beat our heads against the
sky. The rhetoric and behavior coming
from certain council members is
unfathomable. You are an elected
official that were elected to be our
voice and to fight for us. But yet it
seems that certain council members fight
for their own agenda and could care less
about making this city safer for
all. And I would like to make something
crystal clear for the record that we do
not have segregationist tendencies as
certain council members suggest. We are
fighting for justice for all and not
just for a certain demographic of
people. As for me and my family, we back
the blue and we will continue to support
them and thank them for their service
every day. Thank you and God bless.
[Applause]
Thank you. Thank you, Katrina, for
assisting. Uh, next I'll read a closed U
meeting statement that took place
earlier
today. I can find it.
City Council met in close session today
at 10:05 a.m. on June 2nd. The following
were in attendance. Councelor Graham,
Councelor Mccclure, Councelor Kuran,
Mayor Pro Tim Beno, Mayor Enriquez, City
Manager Econo Paya, City Attorney Brad
Douglas, Assistant City Attorney Henry
Becker, City Clerk Christine Ria,
Assistant City Manager JC Borego, uh
parks
director, parks and recreation director
Steven Bingham, uh utilities director
Adrien
Winmer, Dominique
Rodriguez and assistant city manager
Sonia Delgado. Outside council was
Taylor Ram, Jay Stain, Jim Brockman, Nan
Winter, John
Stump. The meeting adjourned at 12:12
p.m. Uh the the closed meeting
discussion was limited to the items as
stated in the posted notice. discussion
litigation regarding Mario Gomez versus
city of Los
Cusus cause number D307 CB
2024-01
022 to discuss pending litigation
regarding Anna Oreon versus city of Los
Cusus and to discuss pending or
threatening litigation regarding Texas
versus New Mexico and Colorado origin
number 141.
One. Next is the acceptance of agenda.
So moved
by second. Corinth.
This is on a motion to accept the agenda
as presented. Councelor Mccclur. Yes.
Councelor Matise. Yes. Councelor Graham.
Yes. Councelor Karan. Yes. Councelor
Flores. Yes. Councelor Ben Como. Yes.
Mayor. Yes.
So, we'll move into resolutions and
ordinances for discussions. Item 8.1 is
a public hearing. The public hearing is
now
open. The time is 2:08
p.m. Is there anyone for or against the
issuance of this liquor license?
Seeing none, the public hearing is now
closed at 20:08
p.m. It would be resolution number
25-146. A resolution approving the
request for a governmental liquor
license with on premises consumption at
New Mexico State University doing
business as Dominana Community College
located at 2800 North Soma Ranch
Boulevard. Move to approve. Graham
second.
Okay. Adam,
thank you. Mayor Adam Macho Community
Development for the record. uh before
you will have a proposed liquor license.
It's called a governmental liquor
license submitted by uh New Mexico State
University doing business as what is
Dona County doana community college.
There we go. At 2800 North Sonoma Ranch
Boulevard. Uh so again, this is an
application for a government
governmental liquor license associated
with the actual school itself for the
culinary arts uh section in the school
and for special events. That is
essentially what the liquor license is
for. Uh the ABC or alcoholic beverage
control did send preliminary approval to
the city on April 11th of this year. Uh
no time extension was required required
for this liquor license from the ABC. Uh
majority of reviewing staff saw no
issues with the application minus the
fact that a liquor license going on
school property. Uh but because of that
uh staff did send out the required uh
public notice to surrounding property
owners letting them know of the uh the
proposal. Uh councelor has the authority
to wave that requirement of 300 ft uh
distance from a school property from a
school property to a liquor
license. Uh shown here the Dana
community uh college campus here on uh
south of
Kaiites east of what is Ranch
Boulevard. So your options one to vote
yes and approve the proposed liquor
license or two to vote no and deny. Uh
the ABC will then uh be notified of the
vote and they will continue the
application process. I stand for
questions.
Thank you Adam. Any questions? Councelor
Flores. Thank you. Thank you mayor and
thank you Mr. Ooa. My question is um is
this something new on college campuses?
I mean it's been like five decades since
I went to college. So or six actually.
So, um what um is this something new or
is it just for special events? Council
photos, uh mayor, I know liquor licenses
are seen throughout uh uh universities
and colleges in uh in New Mexico and MSU
has one, I believe, for their uh
whatever the events they have. Uh I
believe, excuse me, uh UNM has them as
well. This is this is a governmental one
where basically if you're a government
entity aka like a college you could
apply for this with the state. I believe
that's something that the city can
possibly look at as well as since it is
a governmental liquor license man. And
um is it is it for special events in the
evening or is there going to be a
vending machine with beer or bottles of
wine or how does that work? Uh, council
Flores, mayor, uh, I know again, so this
is associated with the culinary arts
section more than anything and for any
type of special events they might have
where they'd be serving wine or whatever
it is with with meals and so forth like
that. Good. Thank you. Thank you, Mr.
Cha, for clarifying that. Yes, ma'am.
Thank you, Mayor.
Seeing no other
questions, Christine.
This is on the motion to approve
resolution
25-146. Councelor Mccclure, yes.
Councelor Matise, yes. Councelor Graham,
yes. Councelor Karan recused herself.
Councelor Flotus, yes. Councelor Beno,
yes. Mayor, yes.
Next is item 8.2. Also, a public hearing
is required. The public hearing is now
open.
Time is 2:12
p.m. Is there anyone here for or against
the issuance of this liquor license?
Mr. Mayor, my name is Gary Gast and I'm
here on Zoom. I'm local legal counsel
for BWS convenience retail. I'm here to
answer any questions you may have of us
for this liquor license.
All right. Thank
you. Public hearing is now closed. It's
2:13
p.m. Resolution number 25-147.
Move to approve.
Second by
Okay, Adam, you're up. We didn't need
your green light. Thank you,
sir. Again, uh before you, we have
another liquor license for uh what is
known as BW Gas and Convenience uh
retails LLC. uh doing business as in Los
Cruus is also uh store number
102489. Uh this is an application for a
transfer of ownership and change of
location of what is a dispenser liquor
license. That is uh liquor license
number
00137 with package sales only.
Essentially for package sales out of the
store is what it's for. Uh alcoholic
beverage control did uh send preliminary
approval to the city on April 15th of
this year. Uh no time extension was
required uh from the by the city from
the ABC. Uh this went out for review to
all uh relevant agent uh departments in
our in our city. Uh no issues were
identified by the reviewing staff for
the proposed
application. Showing the property here
just recently opened not too long ago on
what is a north Sonoma Ranch. uh the
future extension of Angler going running
on north of it
here with the metro vet of the area I'm
sure you all know where it is familiar
with it uh but your option is one to
vote yes and approve the proposed liquor
license or two to vote no and deny uh
after which the ABC will be notified of
the vote and the application process
will continue with them uh that is
conclusion my presentation and I stand
for questions
thank you Adam any questions by
councel seeing none
Christine,
this is on the motion to approve
resolution
25-147. Councelor Mccclur, yes.
Councelor Matise, yes. Councelor Graham,
yes. Councelor Karan, yes. Councelor
Fletus, yes. Councelor Beno, yes. Mayor,
yes.
Next is item 8.3, resolution 25148.
Move to approve, Graham. Second Corin
ready. I am. Good afternoon, mayor,
counselors, city staff, and community
members. I am Gabriela Prattz, grants
manager in the finance department.
Before you is a resolution to approve
budget adjustments for four grants
recently awarded to the city.
The New Mexico Department of Public
Safety recently awarded to the uh the
amount of
$132,545.92 cents to the Los Cusus
Police Department. This is the third
year in a three-year grant award from
the Department of Public Safety to
provide retention differential payments
to Las Cruus Police Department officers
that are qualified to receive this
incentive.
The second
grant is a
reauthorization from the New Mexico
Department of Transportation with funds
from the Federal Highway Administration
for the Parks and Recreation
Department's
um lateral trail program um project.
The amount of award is
$412,14 and it requires a match of
$176,387
$886. This is of course to be used on
the Las Cruises lateral multi-use trail
including construction of the trail from
University Avenue to intersect East
Idaho and South Maine. This award is a
reauthorization and an increase in funds
from the original grant award of
$183,696 that was made in
2021. Projects costs have increased over
these past four years and so parks
negotiated an increase in funding as
well as an extension through March of
2027.
The parks and recreation department has
also received from the New Mexico
Economic Development Department Outdoor
Recreation Division's Trails Plus
program a $1 million grant for the Los
Cruus Bike Park with the uh this one
requires a $1 million match as well.
This will uh allow for the planning,
design and beginning and construction of
the pike of the bike park which is a
part of the East Mesa Recreation
Complex. The bike park will include
facilities for all biking interests and
skill
levels. This will be the first bike park
in the region. So this is a very
exciting project.
The fourth grant is made to the public
works department by the New Mexico
Department of Finance and Administration
for
$550,000 to plan, design, and construct
road improvements in the East Mesa area.
100% of the funds from this grant will
be used on Cortez Drive, which is
currently under
construction.
Here are your council options and I
stand for questions. There are
representatives from the departments
that were granted if you have questions
that go into details of the projects.
Okay. Thank you, Gabby. Uh, councelor
Matise, if you could bring up if you
could bring up page three and then
Stephen, maybe you could answer.
Um, I think you had an extension till
2027 to use the funding. Uh, but will
you run into the same problem or are you
considering getting this done in
2025? No, we um are ready to go back out
and rebid this. We we actually um put
this out to bid five times and three of
those times we didn't there was no
responses. Um the last time we had a um
one response that came in on time and
two just after the deadline, but there
was a issue in the language with the New
Mexico State DOT and their procurement
and our procurement needed to get
aligned and they made a decision that it
was best that we rebid it and so we we
are ready to rebid it. They've given us
some additional money and um we want to
move forward quickly.
Thank you.
Yeah. Could you go to the next slide,
Gabby? Sure thing.
Yeah, you kind of went through that fast
for me. So, we're getting the project.
Yes, this is the Is that one that Steve
can talk to you? Sure. Okay.
Yes, Steve Bam, parks and recck
director. Um, this project is probably
the most ecstatic pro I am of anything
I've done since I've come here with less
cruises. I'm really excited about what
we're doing with the legacy parks and
the construction that's about to start
at
Apadaka. But one of the things that I
really felt we needed to do was to
diversify our park system.
And this will significantly diversify
our park system. The other thing is is
it will bring in a facility that will
have an economic draw an economic impact
to our economy here in Las Cruises.
People will come from um hundreds of
miles away
to ride our local trails but also
participate in this bike park. And so
we've got a really um great project
planned and the state when we presented
it to them was really excited when they
saw the vision of it.
Okay. Thank you, Stephen. And this is at
the East Mesa Sports Complex.
Yes, sir. And
um I know I've talked to a lot of the
BMX uh you know participants, the kids,
the adults, everyone else. Um was this
something that came from them or who
initiated
this?
Um there was a citizen that um asked me
about what they could do we could do to
improve part um biking. um probably
about three months after I got here. But
I actually um in my career did a bike
park that had a regional draw. Um got
some national recognition, some and I
felt
like there was a lot of similarities to
our outdoor recreation opportunities
here that we weren't capitalizing on
that we could if I brought in something
similar. So,
um, this has a plans for a pump track
Nikico course, which is a national high
school type course. It it's something
that um when I did it previously, it
took and helped get people into the
outdoors and and it's a really
a a cross between um there's some entry
levelvel features that will help
beginner bikers learn to deal with the
type of courses you find naturally in
the park system.
So there there's a lot of neat things
that'll be with this.
Oh, that's great. Thank you, Sim.
Appreciate
it. Yes, thank uh I'll jump in as a
representative of the biking community.
There's huge support and demand for this
kind of facility. Um, especially as
director Bingham said, um, we are a
mountain biking paradise down here, but
it can be tough to break in on the kind
of trails we have. They kind of say if
you learn to ride around here, you can
ride anywhere besides Moab. Um, but it
can be it can be a high barrier to get
out and learn safely. So, I think this
will be great. Um, as mentioned, we do
have an organized
uh kid like youth team going now. And
also, um, when I've gone on some bike
alalongs with LCPD, um, they've also
expressed support for this. It's also a
great place where our bicycle patrol
officers can meet in community with uh,
cyclists, especially younger folks. Um,
so I just think across the boards this
would be a great addition. Thanks.
No, thank you. Thank you for the input,
Council Councelor Matise. No, I I just
want to thank the director, everyone
getting this into the Los Cusus area.
You we hear so often that the youth
don't have anything to do, you know,
that their bored and I think this is uh
really well spent, I guess, $2 million.
And thank you
Thanks, Christine.
This is on the motion to approve
resolution
25-148. Councelor McClur, yes. Councelor
Matise, yes. Councelor Graham, yes.
Councelor Karan, yes. Councelor Flores,
yes. Councelor Beno, yes. Mayor, yes.
Next is item 8.4, Four, resolution
number
25-149, a resolution approving updates
to the park development fees.
M look to approve grant. Second, Corin.
Good afternoon, mayor, members of city
council. Let me open this up, please.
So, if you remember, we held a work
session um back at the end of April to
discuss this particular item. Um the
purpose of this resolution is to review
and potentially update our park impact
fees, our land use assumptions
associated with said park impact fees,
and CIP every five years. Um impact fees
as you all know are a funding mechanism
to offset growth impacts. Basically as
new growth comes in uh we want to
maintain the types of services the level
of service that we provide those new
residents coming into the city. These
periodic changes to these fees are
essentially needed um because things
change over time. Um household sizes,
fluctuating levels of service, cost ex
escalations and a number of other
things.
Um, this particular uh fee uh currently
sits at about $2,600 per unit that is
collected at the time of building
permit. Um, the last review of park
impact fees took place in 2019. No
changes were made to that and the fee
that exists today was actually
established back in 2013. So, it's been
uh quite a long
time. Something to note about the draft
study that was prepared and presented to
you at uh the work session in April and
that was of course attached to your
packet today um is that it's the maximum
allowable fee. Council of course can
lower this but they cannot exceed this
number. Um the study includes land use
assumptions, capital improvement plan
which is the facility types that would
be included in this type of study and
this type of fee. Um the impact fees
themselves by housing type or by unit
size. And then of course the revenues
and shortfalls um needed uh to to
maintain our levels of service um over
time. And ultimately I'm going to turn
this over to Julie Hurland. She's with
Tishler Bice. She was the consultant
that aided in uh the development of this
particular study so that she can go
through the finer details um and provide
any information related to those fees as
well as the methodologies. And so with
that, I'll go ahead and turn it over to
Julie.
Good afternoon, uh, Mr. Mayor, members
of council. My name is Julie Hurland.
I'm vice president with Chishler Bice.
Uh, good to be with you again. Um, I was
here about a month ago, I believe it
was. So, um, time flies. Um, or maybe
two months. Anyway, it's neither here
nor there. Neither here. Okay. Uh, a
little bit of background. I don't have
much detail. I'm happy to to answer any
questions as if if you have uh specific
questions about any of the math um the
methodologies assumptions etc. Um this
is uh a uh meant to be more of a summary
overview and refresher of where we left
off the last time. So for impact fees um
it is a a regulation. It's a land use
regulation. It's a one-time payment at
the time of building permit. Um it is
only paid by new development. Existing
residents or businesses would not pay
unless there is a uh a a uh renovation
that expands the capacity of that
facility uh or that that uh oper that
that residence or the uh the business uh
the footprint and there would be uh you
would be eligible for a credit uh
payment for what's already in place
today in terms of the the uh the land
use that's in place today. So again,
only by new development, not existing
residents or businesses. Um it is
intended to help fund capital
improvements that provide additional
capacity. It cannot be used for
operations. So no staffing uh
expenditures. Uh it is not to be used
for maintenance or repairs of existing
facilities. So again only for additional
rep funds only to be used for expansion
of capacity and as I mentioned it's a
land use regulation not a tax. So that
is why uh there is a process in place to
establish the nexus uh between the fee
uh the payer the benefit of the of use
use of the revenue. Um it is not uh a
pure legislative decision. Uh it needs
to have uh a uh a basis uh foundation
and um backup documentation. That's the
reason for this process. Um the the
three requirements that are needed uh
for an impact fee are shown here. there
needs to be a need uh for the
infrastructure. That growth is creating
the need for the infrastructure and this
is to maintain levels of service for
future growth. Um proportionality in uh
is in that uh new growth that new that
fee payer the the new resident the new
uh uh housing unit the new uh business
is not paying more than its fair share
of that infrastructure. So again the
reason for all of the math in the report
uh establishing that proportionality and
then a benefit is received. So as the
funds are collected they are spent for
the purposes for which they're collected
to expand capacity in the system for
those improvements that are that are
identified. Uh as part of the process we
need to establish land use assumptions
and levels of service. There is a New
Mexico impact fee act. So there were
requirements in there and again the
reason for uh the the process the reason
for uh the the uh report that you have
seen um and uh a public hearings etc uh
and ultimate adoption or uh changes uh
to the to the ordinance. So, uh, for the
city of Los Cusus, the impact fees that
we have, uh, we've we the impact fee
that we have, uh, produced include the
following components, and this is part
of the parks and recreation system. Uh,
as it stands now, again, we have a
couple alternatives in the report. Uh,
one that has a fee that includes
neighborhood parks and a fee that that
excludes neighborhood parks. And we'll
show the fee summary for each of those
combinations or so for both of those
combinations. So the components that are
in the fees currently neighborhood
parks, community parks or that are in
the proposed community parks, community
parks, athletic, which is a separate uh
a separate uh category, special use
parks, trails, recreation centers,
recreational recreation centers, indoor
aquatic facilities, and outdoor aquatic
facilities. So all combined for each of
those components, the uh the maximum
allowable parks impact fees that have
been calculated. And as Katherine had
mentioned, uh this is the maximum amount
the council can choose to go lower. Um
but uh does not is not would not be
justified in going higher than these
amounts. Uh we've also pre pre presented
this fee schedule in uh for with an
option uh for implementation either by
housing type. So the top portion uh
maximum allowable uh impact fee, parks
impact fee uh by type of unit for a
single family uh single family housing
unit is
$5,934 per unit. The multifamily would
be
$3,842 per unit or
alternatively a fee schedule that can be
implemented by housing unit size and
that's measured in square footage. And
so the bottom portion of this slide
shows the fee schedule by size of unit
and this is all units combined together.
So a unit that would be less than 1300
square ft would be assessed a rate of
2,480. Uh the mid-range 1301 to 2100
square ft at a maximum impact fee of
$4,499. And then a housing unit that's
2,11 square feet or more would be
assessed a fee of
6,931. And this is again a fee schedule
that includes all of those components
that me I mentioned on the previous
slide including neighborhood parks.
the the summary of growth related needs
based on the land use projections which
are part of again part of the the fee
study. Part of the the uh uh the
justification for the fee is that there
is growth and the methodology used here
is what's known as an incremental
methodology and uh that allows for uh
collection of those fees as the city
grows and expenditure of those fees on
these types of improvements as the city
grows commensurately. So given those
land use assumptions for all of these
components to get to uh combined uh
you'll see here individually the amount
of infrastructure that's needed that's
projected based on those growth
assumptions. So uh by way of example the
first one is uh acres of community park
land that's needed to meet the needs of
that we've projected as part of the the
the study in the growth uh growth
projections is about 19 acres over 10
years. So, this is a 10-year amount of
growth and the cost in today's dollars
is about $1.2 million. And you'll see
here the summary of all of those growth
related needs and a combined total need
of 37 million again, $37 million again
over 10 years. So, if you annualize it,
you divide by divide by 10 to get that
sort that sort of average annual number.
If we were to uh if you were to uh adopt
fees or consider fees that excludes
neighborhood parks uh given uh the
potential for uh for getting or or uh uh
having neighborhood parks being
dedicated donated uh um provided through
uh zone the zoning process. This would
be the fee schedule with um without
neighborhood parks. So again two options
here by type of unit that's shown at the
top uh and then by or by size of the
housing unit shown at the bottom. So
this is less because this this excludes
those neighborhood parks
components. So, at the maximum
supportable rates with um again looking
at this kind of two different ways, the
10-year projected parks potential parks
impact fee revenue if those rates were
adopted at the maximum level if growth
occurred as uh shown in the projections
in the land use assumptions. So, with
neighborhood parks, uh the projected
total revenue would be about $32.3
million. without the neighborhood parks
again at that lower fee, $26.4
million. With that, I will turn it back
to Katherine. Thank
you. So, today council has a couple of
options. I would like to remind you that
the resolution as presented is adopt
adopting the maximum amount without
neighborhood parks. That's how the
resolution is is written. So, um, your
options today are to vote yes, to vote
no, uh, to vote to amend, um, or to vote
to table. And of course, if you have any
additional questions, we're here to
answer those. Hopefully, I, Julie, or
Stephen, um, could answer those to uh,
your liking.
Thank you, Katherine. Any questions? U
counselor. Hi. Can we jump back one
slide?
Sorry, I just wanted to look at the city
again. Uh, one more,
please. Okay, great. Um, so thank you
for clarifying that we were doing the
excluding neighborhood parks option. Um,
but can you clarify if we are doing the
unit type or residential unit by size
option? Thank you for asking, counselor.
Sorry, I forgot to mention that. Um, as
was discussed during our work session
and seemed to be the most preferred
option, the recommendation is to do by
unit size. That was also the
recommendation by CIA. Um, that is in
keeping with how we um assess our public
impact, our public safety impact fees.
And so there's some consistency across
the board doing that. Great. Thank you.
And that was my preference and just
wanted to get it out there. Thank you so
much.
Mayor Pro. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I know
I said this last time, I I want to say
it again because we've been having this
conversation for a very very long time.
Um, the need to improve our park impact
fee structure has
been has existed for a very long time.
And so, I just really want to appreciate
you leading on this, Katherine. um and
all of you doing the math and all of it
and um the conversations we used to have
at TSI PRC. Um that that doesn't exist
anymore. And so um just really wanted to
express gratitude for having this very
courageous conversation and for getting
us here. Um I think I I don't think we
ne necessarily need to add it. I look at
our city clerk, but I part of the
conversation we had at the work session
was around um coming back a year in to
see if there was any indication of
potential change on the small on the
smaller end of the unit, if it was
yielding if the current structure was
yielding us the kind of multi-family
development that we were hoping to see.
Um I I don't think that's language in
here and I don't necessarily think we
need to add it. I but I do want to just
make sure that we that that doesn't get
lost in the sauce. Katherine, I don't
know if you want to speak to that.
Councelor Bencomo, um mayor, members of
city council council. Um I I think that
we could of course add that as a work
session item. Um sort of a tickler if
you will. Uh in the future I can work of
course with the clerk to make sure that
we have it on our on our calendar so
that we can revisit it and see what's
happening over time. I think it's a good
discussion to have and if not a work
session item certainly we can at least
produce some data for you in a report.
Yeah, that that would be um my request
and and that's really my only question.
Thank you very much.
Thanks. Anyone else? Seeing none. Thank
you Kevin Christine.
This is on the motion to approve
resolution
25-149. Councelor McClur, yes. Councelor
Matise, yes. Councelor Graham, yes.
Councelor Craran, yes. Councelor Flores,
yes. Councelor Ben Como, yes. Mayor,
yes.
No.
Next on the agenda is board
appointments. And there are none. Notice
of proposed ordinances. We have one,
council bill number
25-021, ordinance number 3092, an
ordinance approving various zone changes
to correspond to the Soma Ranch North
Master Plan. Amendment number four.
Bring it forward. Jinx.
Next is city council member board
reports and comments. I'll start with
councelor
Mccclure. Thank you, mayor. I just
wanted to report back on the uh DA
juvenile justice continuum. I think I
keep saying consortium. It's continuum.
I'm going to try to say it over and over
as I'm talking just to get it right. um
we are kind of looking at overlapping
services from the city uh FYI different
sort of agencies are coming literally to
the table and also we have some um
presence from the news media so I'm
hoping that maybe they'll talk about
that we're working on some efforts with
that um specifically we we also as um
Patak Costa and I went to the criminal
justice coordinating council which I had
to write down because I will say that
wrong as well um and Pat was able to say
hey you know if you're working on your
strategic plan. Um please make sure to
keep the youth in mind when they are
facing sort of issues with um the
carceralis system and make sure that
they have the best opportunities for
diversion. So I'm just excited that
that's coming together and I appreciate
everybody who comes out to that. Our
next meeting is
in July 30th. It's at uh noon and it's
here at city council if you would like
to attend. All right. Thank you.
Thank you, Council Matis.
Thank you. I I just wanted to say thank
you, Katrina. I just want to say thank
you, Scott, and the organization that uh
makes uh district meetings really great.
Uh we had a great turnout, great
questions, but I just want to share with
city council, maybe it's coming forward,
I don't know how quick, but it's the uh
climate act, a transition to natural
gas. That was one of the biggest
concerns and questions that I had from I
think it was about 90 residents. But uh
going to natural gas was quite a concern
from them. And so with that said, I'd
like to have a work session
ASAP to get that particular item out
front before we make any decisions that
affect the the public. I think I think
it would be good to have a uh a work
session on the transition act and and
what we're planning to do with natural
gas and and electricity. Uh we had some
comments that you know if you're paying
a a
$25 uh gas bill, if you go to all
electric, it's a $100 anywhere from
three to four times greater going to all
electric. And and that's a concern for
me. So I I I don't want any um
uh independent thinking or what we call
dictatorship thinking that we have to go
to all electric city. I would like to
have the public maybe vote on this in
the future if they want electric, if
they want gas, if they want wind, if
they want solar and and not move the
city uh to an all electric city. It's
quite expensive for those that are
workingass. Uh with that said, um if uh
Mr. Okconi, if you could maybe put a
work session in place ASAP and and then
we could just bring this out to the
public and and really make it a uh make
it an
educational and public awareness. Thank
you.
Thank you, Councelor Grant.
Yeah, I'll be quick because
coincidentally I have a headache. Uh,
I'm um just want to say thank you. I'm
going to I don't need the glasses, but
thanks. Uh, just going to uh follow on
uh from a public commenter um and say
thank you as always to Adrien Whitmer,
director of utilities. Because while the
commenter
uh thanked me for a quick response, it
was actually Adrian who came in with
pertinent information and made a
connection to a member of her team who
has already set a meeting to get the uh
resident, the new resident uh the
information he needs. Um so as always,
incredible response and appreciate you
and your team very much. Thank you.
Thank you, Councelor Kin. Thank you. Um,
I have a couple of sort of gratitudes
for city staff and and other folks in
the community. Highland Park Park
opening so fun. Um, thank you to Parks
and Wreck, public works, LCPD, the
community folks who were out there. Um,
the Highland Park elementary school kids
who were there that made it really fun.
Um, it was a really fabulous day. I I
feel really bad because the city there
were there were snow cones and I think
the teachers had to go back to school
with the kids after these enormous
really sugary snow cones. But, you know,
the park time was amazing and the kids
really enjoyed it and I think it was a
great opportunity for us to partner up
and and I really felt lucky to be
invited and to be there and to have that
facility in in um District 5. I also
wanted to shout out um the ASCMV did
their drive-through clinic yesterday at
the Field of Dreams. Overall, they did a
total of 256
um vaccinations and microchips of
various animals out the window of of
cars in the heat. And so I just want to
thank the ASCMV staff. Yeah. Um I think
it was about maybe 600 total animals.
So, some of them got two or three
treatments, but um but I just want to
thank the staff for doing that and and
making that impact in the community and
making that a really affordable way to
to bring community health and
microchipping to to everyone. Um and
then the last part, I wanted to shout
out Ashley Curry who was always um
really looking for ways for the city to
collaborate. We last week we did a
walkth through or a don't get hit by a
car through at Peach Tree and Hornada
which is a really interesting
intersection um with several schools
nearby um housing desert that that
people drive their ATVs through to pick
up their kids. It's an intersection of
city and county. Um, it's a really
complicated school in-n-out situation
with with traffic, as I think all school
comingings and goings are really
complicated traffic situations that I
know are constantly working through and
trying to figure out. But in this case,
it she brought together a team of folks
from the school, our public works
department, from the county. Um, and
we're going to have a follow-up
conversation this week. But I just
really want to appreciate that, you
know, um thinking about alternative
transportation, thinking about making,
um getting to and from school easier for
kids in the area. I really really
appreciate Ashley and all that she does
in those ways. So, um thank you for that
and more to come. I know we can do
something to make it safer. Like
literally, we were I think just us
standing there in in neon vests helped a
little bit, but it was still pretty
harrowing. like people on ATVs driving
through the desert, grabbing their kids,
driving it. It was it was quite
something. Um, so I think we can I think
we can do some things to make it
structurally safer for for everyone
involved. So, thank you to Ashley and
our public works team for for stepping
up to that. That's all. Thanks. Thank
you, Councelor Flores. No comments.
Thank you, U, Mayor Prom. Thank you. I
wasn't orig I didn't originally have any
comments, but I do just want to address
the um energy transition plan because I
think um it's incredibly important to
provide accurate information to our uh
residents and to our customers. Um the
uh plan to do an an energy transition
plan has been in the works for uh over 5
years.
um a consultant was finally hired um E3
which is one of the best in the game to
evaluate uh to evaluate our technologies
and and to reduce our environmental
impacts. Um the reality is that this uh
the energy transition plan is focused
specifically on um low-income and and
middle inome families. As more and more
wealthier folks are able to uh move
towards electric uh uses of energy,
um natural gas will get more and more
expensive for lower income folks. And
those are the folks those are the
customers that are going to get stranded
with um an asset that it's written it's
written in the stars. Um we must move
away from natural gas given the climate
crisis that we currently find ourselves
in. And so, um, I do hope that you
engage in the convers in the
conversation that we've been having for
5 years. Um, and, um, I think certainly
a work session would be good. I hope
that our sustainability officer sends
you information. This couldn't be the
furthest from a dictatorship decision.
And so, um, I think it's a very
important conversation we have, um,
given who is disproportionately impacted
by the effects of climate change. Um,
but it is a really exciting time for the
city to be having these kinds of
conversations as we are definitely
leading um the state in in what this can
look like. Thanks, Mayor.
All right. Thank you. I I do have a few
comments, but before I do, I want to uh
ask Brad to share on one of the comments
that was uh asked earlier by Mr. Wilcox
about uh the weeds and and that
ordinance. so Brad can give an update.
Thank you, Mayor. Um, so yeah, I
appreciate Mr. Wilcox coming in. I I
hate that he left, but maybe he'll he'll
see this later or someone can can tell
him about it. Um, received some
information from Mr. Wilcox regarding a
negative experience he had in our
municipal court. Uh, and as you all
know, our municipal code is it's pretty
comprehensive. It's pretty long for a
local code and from time to time uh
sections of it need to be updated. And
so with regard to the problem that Mr.
Wilcox ran into, I am working on an
update uh to part of our nuisance
chapter and we're hoping to bring that
to you all within the next few weeks for
your consideration and vote. So thank
you to Mr. Wilcox.
All right. Thank you, Brad. Uh so a
couple of things that took place um was
the mayor's jazz fest and uh thank you
to uh parks and wreck and visit Los
Cusus and all the work they do uh to to
get that going. It's a kickoff for
summer uh music in the parks and so I
think last week uh this past weekend was
at the Amador live and so that was that
facility was utilized and a great
experience so that will continue. So
that got kicked off. Uh I know Econi
will share some of the other dates and
other information on that. Another thing
that took place last week was uh with
economic development. Um the county had
reached out to the mayor of Huades uh to
talk about maybe doing some things at
the border and expanding on economic
development with Border Alliance and
Border Plex. So that took place Friday.
He came down. and it's a huge thing for
the mayor of the sealades to to come
down and visit our community. So, that
was great and it's establishing those
relationships for for economic
development and would benefit Donana
County and the city of Los Cusus. Uh
coming up, we have a couple of things
this Saturday at
the Young Park uh fish with a cop June
7th. It's from 8 to 12 and that's for a
lot of kids and anyone that doesn't have
a fishing pole or a rod. Uh uh that will
be provided. So for all the kids out
there to come in and join and fish with
a cop. The other event we have is Becky
Graham Invitational. So it's a boxing
event uh at the PAL gym. It'll be this
Saturday afternoon uh on Solano uh 700
North Solano. you know, I just have to I
do I do have to give her kudos and a
shout out for she talked about the bike
uh family and group and uh she's an avid
bike rider, but she's also a boxer that
volunteers and coaches and gives time
and put a lot of work into the PAL gym
and to help those kids to stay off the
streets and and put them in the right
direction. and it's really appreciated
and the PAL gym is going to honor this
uh invitational with uh a boxing event
that's going to take place. So, I'll be
there to support. Thank
you. And with that, I'll turn it over to
uh our city
manager. Thank you, mayor um mayor prom
and and city council to city manager.
Just uh a few exciting things uh before
I start with with my notes. Just want to
thank once again echo the appreciation
from this deis to the staff um as park
impact fees was was passed. This was
something that um has started years ago
from staff in 2013 that tried to uh
convince uh previous council uh to to
pass uh park impact fees uh for parks.
That was essential. Um and so finally um
it has occurred and I appreciate the
courage uh from council to have that
approval that is transformational
something that our community needed for
years for uh so just want to say thank
you for that um and and great things
happening that so we'll we'll continue
to see the the positive impacts from
realize and definitely from park impact
fees uh occurring as this plan um is put
into place. So, thank you. Regarding
communications, shout out and and kudos
to our communication office who won
seven telly awards. The telly awards are
nationally recognized awards and we
earned sever several bronze and silver
awards and won gold. Gold is only earned
by the top 3% of entries. Uh kudos to
Adrian, Nate, Cherish, and incredible,
talented, and skilled individuals on the
team, and we are very lucky to have them
all on our city's team. So, thank thank
you and round of applause is is
deserved. Telly Awards uh is is the gold
standard for uh communications um in the
nation. So, that is very prestigious for
for us to be very competitive with seven
awards. Um last year uh in previous
years we really haven't we've submitted
uh had nominate had nominations but we
never took home um we never took home
any of the awards until this year.
What's that? Previous Oh.
Oh yeah. Okay. Uh I I under Mandy.
Sorry. Under Mandy. But you're right.
Under the previous director, Councelor
Flores. Um I apologize. Thank you. I
stand corrected.
Parks and Recreation. Uh Parks and
Recreation will be holding special
programming for teens in a safe,
supportive environment starting June
3rd, which is tomorrow. Uh Tuesdays and
Thursdays, open gym at Sierra and Lynn
Middle Schools from 5 to 9:00 p.m. Free
event. Wednesdays, teen hangout night at
um Afielder Memorial Safe Haven on 906
North Dornne from 5 to 9:00 p.m. Also a
free event. And then Friday's summer
team take takeover 7 to 11:00 p.m. Uh
sports tournaments including sand
volleyball, basketball, and globe pickle
ball as well as open gym. Um team
registrations will be a dollar. Um
registration required, open gym free.
Saturday teen splashes will occur on
again Saturdays from 7 to 10 p.m. 7 to
10 p.m. all Saturdays in June as well as
July 12th and 28th. Uh $1 per
participant.
There there is additional information on
the website. Um what this is is really
creativity from our staff. I want to
give kudos to our parks and parks and
rec staff especially our our recreation
department. Kudos to Rinstein um Robert
Nunees um Amelia and um also all parks
Steve Bingham and and JC and all the
staff for making this happen. Um this
was something from the deis that
actually was requested for more pro
programming for our youth and our parks
and rec department um stood up to the
challenge and this is something that
they've come up with. They were able to
uh brainstorm some ideas and so they've
extended opportunities um in open gyms.
They've we appreciate the the
collaboration with LCPS and the
superintendent there being so gracious
with our staff to brainstorm and open
two gyms, two middle schools so that we
can have a summer and extend the hours
for for our youth. So, I just wanted to
give kudos of what this is. So, if you
didn't catch this information, um our
social media will continue to push this
out. I believe emails are going out to
all the participants that we have stored
um on our directory and so u feel free
to pass along this information. So I
wanted to give kudos uh to PNR. Um
additionally
uh kudos to our uh parks and recck team
in in addition to our facilities team uh
who's activated the Amadore live
facility. So yesterday um some of you
may have been in attendance uh and may
have been aware but our um music in the
park started and was initiated uh at the
Amador live and so that was a great
turnout. We've had uh Daniel Sanchez and
the uh Fungi Mongols uh play yesterday
but we continue to have um weekly
activities happening that'll be spread
throughout either Amodore Live or Young
Park um and other facilities. Um, but we
will continue to be hosting as well the
movie series uh that will start June
14th uh with Wicked. Uh, eight movies in
total will be shown from June to
September all outside um at the
venue. And um last I'll end with a few
bullet points from quality of life. Uh
we appreciate uh Senator Ben Ray Luhan's
roundt discussion at Mson Center. Um I
along with various staff from the CMO um
and and quality of life were able to
attend along with um panel from the
community. We appreciate uh Sonia from
the quality of life who led the panel
discussion. Um great information was
shared. Um and that occurred on May 27th
which covered many important topics
regarding the impact on seniors of
potential cuts in federal government
programs. program received excellent
coverage on social media uh via Facebook
X and Yahoo News. It was also covered
online via New Mexico source in print
via both Albuquerque General Journal in
the West Virginia News. We are grateful
for the attention to this important
topic. Additionally, the
abuse in later life awareness health
fair scheduled for June 6th from 10:00
a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Mson Center.
Representatives from local agencies
including adult protective services, the
New Mexico Department of Health and Area
Law Enforcement will be in
attendance. Also, quality of life public
art successfully implemented community
mural event that took place last
Saturday, May 31st at 8:14 North Dorneo.
This design was developed by muralist
Jesus Sei Alvarado from El Paso. More
than 50 people turned out to help paint
the mural on parking lot wall and it
looks
great. Uh last but not least, Moonlight
at the museums was also a success last
Saturday evening with 267 adults
visiting the museum which featured an
opportunity to visit the exhibits and
enjoy adult beverages and food trucks
offerings for purchase. And mayor, that
is all. Thank you.
Thank you,
Econ. Oh, with that look for a motion to
adjurnn.
Motion to
adjurnn. Second.
This is on a motion to adjourn the
meeting. Councelor Mccclur. Yes.
Councelor Matise. Yes. Councelor Graham.
Yes. Councelor Craran. Yes. Councelor
Fletus.
No, I want to stay here. Why should we?
Of course. Yes. Councelor Venomo. Yes.
Mayor. Yes.