[Music]
You're live.
Good afternoon everyone. Welcome to city
council meeting. Today is Monday, May
5th, Cenco de Mayo. It's approximately
100 p.m. I am Mayor Eric Enriquez.
Before we start, I want to mention that
we have an ASL, American Sign Language
interpreter available up in the front.
Uh we will start with a moment of
silence for the brave men and women of
the United States Armed Forces as they
protect our interests around the globe
as well as our courageous men and women
of the Los Cusus Police and Fire
Department.
Council Karen, if you lead us in the
pledgece to the flag of the United
States of America and to the stands, one
nation under God, indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all.
We'll start with
proclamations. Uh they'll be delivered
by councelor Kar.
Thank you. And I see you all just just
bicycled here. Just in time. Come on up
everyone. Please join us. So excited to
see you all. Um
come on up. Come on up. Seconds to spin.
Yep. Hey, how are you? You guys, you all
can stand wherever you'd like along here
in front. I'm gonna we're gonna
eventually go there for pictures, but if
you want to stand up here.
Yeah.
So, welcome. Are you out of breath? I'll
give you all a chance. No. Okay. Sorry.
Um I'll read this proclamation and then
you all have a chance to to speak. But
welcome
um George, Ashley, the Lynn Community
Middle School Bike Club representing.
Thank you all for being here. Um this is
for National Bike Month.
So whereas the bicycle is a viable
environmentally and economically sound
form of transportation and an excellent
form of recreation and whereas the
League of American Bicyclists, the
Messia Valley Metropolitan Planning
Organization, the city of Los Cusus and
Los Cusus Public Schools, local cycling
clubs and independent bicyclists are
promoting greater public health
awareness of bicycle operations and
safety education. And whereas the city
of Los Cusus in 2021 earned a renewed
bronze level designation as a bicycle
friendly community from the League of
American Bicyclists and the city has has
adopted its active transportation plan
and complete streets ordinance. And
whereas the city of Los Cusus has been
ordered awarded the safe streets for all
grant from the US Department of
Transportation to update the active
transportation plan and implement three
demonstration
projects. And whereas the city of Los
Cruus continues to improve bicycle
routes and trails for transportation and
recreation and the city with Messia
Valley MO LCPS support the safe routes
to school program. And whereas
bicyclists of all ages throughout Los
Cruus in the Messia Valley and the
nation will be promoting bicycling as an
environmentally friendly alternative to
the automobile and a wholesome activity
that improves health during the month of
May 2025 through group rides, events,
and commuting to school and work. And I
expect all of us to give them space out
there on the roads this this month and
all the months,
please. Now therefore, we the mayor and
city council of Los Cusus, New Mexico,
do hereby proclaim May 2025 as National
Bike Month, the week of May 6th through
May 9th as Los Cruus's bike to school
week, the week of May 12th through 16th,
Los Cru's Bike to Work Week, and May
16th as Los Cru's Bike to Work Day
throughout our proud city, and urge all
who support bicycling to participate in
the planned events. And now I'll turn it
over to you all to to give a little
speech. Okay. Well, thank you. I'm
George Pearson. I'm vice president of
Velocus, which is local bicycle
pedestrian advocacy organization. And I
want to thank the city council for this
proclamation. This is uh 20 24 years
something like that we've been doing
this. So um the progress that we've made
for bicycle safety since the beginning
of that time has been quite uh good and
we hope to see it improve even more with
the updates to the active transportation
plan. In May, we have several um
activities. Yesterday, we had a bike
blessing. Um May 7th is the official
National Bike to School Day with May 6th
through 9th there'll be activities of
each school and Ashley will talk a
little bit more about that. May 12th,
we'll have our share the road visibility
ride which demonstrates bicyclists
riding safely with traffic which goes
from the um train museum and then up on
its way up to Solano around Solano to
university and then back and then we
have some coffee at Grounded. So if you
can't ride a bike with us, you can join
us for coffee.
Um, National Bike to Work Week, as the
proclamation says, is uh May 12th
through 16th with May 16th as National
Bike to Work Day. Um, I've been told the
city will do a bike to work day event.
Um, details to follow. I'm sure we'll
hear more about that. And Velocus will
have a meet and greet on at starting at
5:00 on Bike to Work Day at Little Toad
Creek. And then May 21st is the Ride of
Silence, which is the 20th year that
we've had down here in in the Messiah
Valley, which honors those killed and
injured while riding their bicycle. That
starts at 6:15 at the Messiah Plaza. And
then uh spilling over into the next
month a little bit, we have June 7th is
the adaptive cycle parade by Everybody
Rides with Grace, which is a nonprofit
that
gives adaptive cycles to people that uh
otherwise couldn't receive them and get
them out on bikes. And then we'll have a
Father's Day ride on June 15th from uh
Pioneer Women's Park up to the airport,
which is always a good time. So, thank
you for that. And Ashley, you want to
uh Good afternoon, mayor, city council,
members of the public. My name is Ashley
Curry. I'm the safe roots to school
coordinator for Los Cru's public
schools. I just wanted to say thank you
to all of you for giving us space on the
roads, for allowing our students to be
able to ride safely to school, not only
this week and this month, but at all
times. Um, and I will save um some time
for our students from Lynn Middle School
Bike Club to be able to say some things
if they would like to. So again, thank
you so much for having
us. Who would like to come to the
microphone to say something? Come on up.
Okay, come just introduce yourself and
say what you want to say.
Your name is and say what you like to
say.
Sorry. That's okay.
My name is Lucien Gilkansen from Lynn
Middle School. Um, I really like riding
bikes because it's a really good way to
exercise while also having fun at the
same
time. My brain froze. That's it. Thank
you, Miss
Hello, my name is Angel Hernandez. The
reason I like bike riding is because you
could do awesome tricks with
them and also it's a best way to get to
transport and exercising as the at the
same time. That's it. Thank you.
My my name is Sai
Sibu. Back bike is like you can go like
everywhere uh to ride a bike for
like different countries.
[Applause]
Hi, I'm Autumn. I'm from Lynn Middle
School. And why I like bikes is because
I like riding them. They make you feel
free. And I also like them because of
they help the environment because car
cars pollute the air. Bikes do not. So
bikes are environmentally
safe.
Bye-bye. My name is Robert and the
reason why I like biking, it's a way of
exercising. It could be fun in many
ways. It could be a great way for
transportation instead of car.
[Applause]
Hello, my name is Ariana. The reason why
I like bike bike riding is because it
makes me feel
safe and it's one one step closer to
riding a motorcycle.
[Applause]
Um, hi, my name's Montana and I like
biking because it's fun and yeah.
[Applause]
Okay.
Um, George wanted me to make sure that
you all know that we rode from Lynn
Middle School right now and we'll be
riding back to Lynn. So again, a great
way for kids to experience the freedom
of transportation where they are in
charge of getting themselves to where
they need to go. So again, thank you for
having us. We appreciate it.
Come here.
[Applause]
It's scary when you get up to this mic.
No, like Oh, yeah. Same. Same. I feel
you. Thank you all for being here
today. Next up, I invite all the nurses
here. Um defin everyone who's here for
nurses week, please just come on up.
Come on up. Uh you do not have to speak.
There's not a requirement. Um although
you can.
uh in particular Dr. Dr. AJ Stevens,
Erin Young, Pam Field, Jackie Kaiser,
Cheryl Lombardi, uh
Caitlyn Podiato, and Jessica Womeck, and
anyone else who's here for nurses week,
please come on up. I'll read this and
then you all will have a chance to to
speak.
So whereas registered nurses in the
United States constitute the nation's
largest health care profession and
whereas the depth and breadth of the
registered nursing profession meets the
need different and emerging healthcare
needs of the American population in a
wide range of settings including the
front line of the pandemic and whereas
the American nurses association as the
voice for registered nurses in this
country is working to chart a new course
for healthy nation that relies on
increasing access to primary and
preventive healthcare and better util
utilization of all of our nation's
registered nursing resources. And
whereas professional nursing is an
indispensable component of the safety
and quality of care at hospital for
hospitalized and non-hospized patients.
And whereas the demand for registered
nursing services will be greater than
ever because of the aging of the
American population, emerging health
challenges and the continuing expansions
expansion of life threat life sustaining
technologies and the explosive growth of
home healthcare services. And whereas
more qualified registered nurses are
needed in the future to meet the
increasingly complex needs of health
care consumers in this community. And
whereas the cost-effective safe and
high-quality healthcare services
provided by registered nurses will be
increasingly important component of the
United States healthcare delivery system
in the future. And whereas along with
the American N nurses Association, the
New Mexico Nurses Association has
declared May 16 6th through 12th as
nurses week with the theme power of
nurses with appreciation for nurses
unparalleled impact and their
contributions to healthcare and an open
invitation to hashank a nurse for
enriching the lives of the world that we
live in. Please do now. Therefore, we,
the mayor and city council of Los Cusus,
ask that all residents of Los Cusus
joining in join us in honoring the
registered nurses who care for all of us
and that the residents of Los Cusus
celebrate registered nurses
accomplishments and efforts to improve
our healthcare system and show our
appreciation for the nation's registered
nurses, not just during this week, but
at every opportunity we have throughout
the year. On behalf of the mayor and
city council,
Good afternoon. My name is AJ Stevens
and I have the privilege of serving as
the chief nursing officer at Mountain
View Regional Medical Center. I want to
say thank you um to the mayor and to the
city council um to the city of Los Cusus
and to all of our community for this
proclamation and and being able to
celebrate our wonderful profession. Um
as she mentioned um every year from May
6th to May 12th is we celebrate National
Nurses Week. It's a time to recognize
and celebrate what I consider to be the
differentiator in healthcare in our
health care system, which is our nurses.
The Bureau of Health Workforce estimates
that there are 4.3 million professional
nurses licensed in the United States,
which does make us the largest sector of
the healthcare
workforce. For more than 20 years,
nurses have consistently been ranked as
the most trusted profession in America
by Gallup's annual most honest and
ethical professions poll. Whether it's a
nurse in the emergency department
comforting a family during the
unthinkable, a hospice nurse supporting
a patient and family during end of life,
a school nurse managing the chronic
conditions of our children, or an acute
care nurse helping a patient improve and
return home. Nurses are at the helm of
our health care system. I ask that you
all join us at Mountain View Regional
Medical Center in celebrating this
wonderful profession and all of the
nurses in it, not just um during
National Nurses Week, but every single
day. Thank you.
[Applause]
Yes. Awesome. Hi, my name is Jackie
Kaiser. I am the chair of the nurse the
New Mexico board of nursing. Um I also
am a registered nurse and esthetist um
for the last 17 years. And so I really
want to thank all of the um New Mexico
nurses that take care of our New Mexican
residents. Um, you are invaluable to our
New Mexico residents and to our health
care system. Um, I want you to take
pride in your career and what you have
done and accomplished and, you know, to
reach for the stars. There's we have um
lots of avenues for our nurses and
support of our nurses. And I want to
thank everybody here for supporting our
nurses in our communities um and
recognizing us. Um, so thank you all and
thank all of you nurses.
[Applause]
My name is Jackie Williams. I'm a
full-time staff member for New Mexico
State University, uh, all levels,
bachelor's, masters, and doctorally
prepared nursing. And I'd like to thank
the citizens of New Mexico for providing
a lot of financial support to expand our
programs at New Mexico State University
and other universities around our state
in an effort to provide especially
better health care to rural areas where
we can see nurses on the front line of
public health uh nurse nurse anesthesia
and small hospitals and all of the
things. My my focus in the last few
years of my career has been on
psychiatric nursing as a psychiatric
nurse practitioner and our mental health
needs are gigantic and there are not
enough resources to help with all the
substance abuse problems and all of the
issues that we have in our state. So,
thanks to the citizens of New Mexico for
providing financing. We're also a social
ladder up for many nursing students. who
are moving uh first first generation
college graduates first to graduate in
their family and nursing provides them
an economic leg up uh for their families
to become a stronger middle-class group.
So thank you very much
picture
Thank you so much for for all that you
do. Next up, I I want to call up some
folks who are busy always during um our
our meetings. It is also uh interpreter
appreciation month. So, I want to give
we want to give a special shout out to
interpreters um who I suspect someone
might have to stay and be be
interpreting, but hopefully some of you
can come up.
[Music]
Good afternoon. Welcome. I'll read this
and then Sounds good. You all can give
your own speech. Hey,
excellent. I'm so glad y'all are here
and I'm so glad that y'all are here.
Those of you that are here for us um
week in and week out. Whereas effective
communication is a right guaranteed to
deaf and heart of hearing Los Cruus
residents by the Americans with
Disabilities Act as amended. And whereas
all citizens including deaf and heart of
hearing have the right to access to
communication provided by the city. And
whereas sign language interpreters help
to bridge the gap between deaf and
hearing worlds. And whereas sign
language interpreters provide a critical
service to the community. And whereas
sign language interpreters possess
unique language and interpretation skill
sets. And whereas the first Wednesday of
May is designated as national
interpreter appreciation day. Therefore,
we the mayor and city council of Los
Cusus, New Mexico do hereby proclaim May
25th as interpreter appreciation month.
So,
and I'll go first.
I'm Moren Gant, chair of the ADA
Advisory Committee, mayor and city
council. Thank you very much. Really do
appreciate it. I'm not going to read
this. It's just a kind of a
guide. The ADA committee is very
grateful to the council and mayor for
their support of sign language
interpreters.
Interpreters make it possible for our
deaf and heart of hearing community
members to participate in government and
community activities. By lifting up the
people who empower the deaf community,
the interpreters, we are lifting up and
promoting quality of life for the deaf
community. Thank you for honoring our
dedicated interpreters on this day.
[Applause]
No, I'm shy. Hi, my name is Brenda
Lopez. Um, I've been a sign language
interpreter for the past six years. Um,
but I've grown up with the deaf
community all my life. Um, so I'm very
grateful for this profession and to
serve such a beautiful community. So,
thank you so much.
Hi, good afternoon. My name is Susana
Santan. I work for the state of New
Mexico Commission for Deaf and Hearty
hearing. I also have a daughter who's
deaf and legally blind. So, this is a
passion, a job that I enjoy working and
assisting the deaf community. I'm so
happy that I want to thank the mayor and
the city council for really doing this
proclamation for the interpreters. I
mean, there this is a field that a lot
of people don't think of getting as a
career, but we really need more sign
language interpreters. So, thank you all
for doing all that you do. Thank you.
[Applause]
You guys get over here for the picture.
I'm
[Applause]
Next up, we're going to do a few
proclamations for economic development
week and uh small business week. I know
that there are some folks here from the
various chambers of commerce. Uh I
invite up um let's see, Davin, I I also
welcome Debbie, everyone who works on
economic development, small business
development. We're going to um just get
this conversation. No, Lorenzo, I know
this is if you identify in any version
of this related to economic development,
small business development, please come
on up. Um for economic development week
and national small business
week. All
right, first up, uh, economic
development week. More than 100,000
economic development or related
professionals worldwide are committed to
creating, retaining, and expanding top
tier opportunities that facilitate
long-term equitable community growth.
And whereas the economic development
profession cultivates thriving
neighborhoods, champions sustainability
and resiliency, boosts economic
prosperity, enhances the quality of
life, and builds robust tax bases. And
whereas economic development
professionals operate throughout diverse
economic environments, including rural,
suburban, and urban settings, local,
state, provincial, and national
governments, private, public
partnerships, chambers of commerce,
institutions of higher education, among
many similar organizations and
associations. Whereas economic
development professionals serve as
stewards, bridging the connections
between community stakeholders such as
residents, business leaders, elected
officials like us, industry executives,
and educational administrators to
collaborate in promoting job creation,
community investment, infrastructure
enhancements, and an optimistic future.
And whereas economic development
contributes to the betterment and
progress of Los Cusus and Dona County
within the state of New Mexico.
Therefore, we, the mayor and city
council of Las Cusus, New Mexico, do
hereby proclaim May 12th through 26th as
economic development week and remind
individuals of the importance of this
community celebration which supports
expanding opportunities, bettering
lives, and moving society
forward. Do you want me to do the other
one?
Okay.
and to also recognize small business
week. Um, and thank you to those of you
who are representing small businesses as
well. Uh, America's small businesses are
the backbone of our economy,
representing innovation, resilience, and
the entrepreneurial spirit that drives
progress in our communities. And whereas
small businesses account for the
majority of US businesses, create two
out of every three new jobs, and
contribute significantly to local
economies and neighborhoods across the
nation. And whereas during National
Small Business Week, we recognize the
critical contributions of America's
entrepreneurs and small business owners,
and we renew our commitment to
supporting the continued success and
growth. And whereas the city of Los
Cusus acknowledges the importance of
creating a supportive environment where
small businesses can thrive by providing
access to resources, mentorship, and
opportunities for business development.
And whereas we encourage all citizens to
support small businesses during this
week and throughout the year by shopping
local, spreading awareness, and
recognizing the value that they bring to
our lives. Now, therefore, we, the mayor
and city council of Los Cusus, New
Mexico, do hereby recognize May 4th
through 10th as National Small Business
Week and encourage all residents and
visitors to shop locally in the city of
Los Cusus. Now, I'd welcome anyone who
wants to give
a follow, please.
Debbie Moore, president and CEO of the
Greater Los Cru's Chamber of Commerce.
This is truly an example of partnership,
collaboration. I always tease Davin and
say he brings them in and I take care of
them and help them to thrive and
prosper. One cannot survive without the
other. Our small businesses are so very
important. They're the heart of the
community. They're the ones that
actually really give back to your kids
in the schools. They I'm sure they
sponsored the bike club that we had the
privilege of being here. So, it's very
important that we as uh providers
provide the services and the services
that they need to sustain and grow in
our community. And so, yes, shop local
every day. Thank you.
[Applause]
Good afternoon, Julia Brown, New Mexico
Economic Development Department. On
behalf of the department, I want to
congratulate the city on its wisdom in
recognizing economic development and
small business development week. It
cannot be
overstated how important a partnership
between municipalities, counties, and
cities. And so on behalf of the
department, I want to express
appreciation to the mayor and the
council and especially to the city's
economic development staff because while
we are always thrilled to see mega
companies with hundreds of jobs, we know
that the heartbeat of a community and
economic development is small business.
So congratulations and thank you.
Good afternoon, John Munoz, the
president CEO of the downtown Los Cruus
Partnership. I want to also thank the
mayor, city councilors, and staff for um
recognizing for this recognition today.
As you know, and it's been said before,
Debbie Debbie said this, the local
business owners and nonprofits are your
neighbors, folks you see at the store,
folks you see at church, folks that you
see at the movie theater who are vested
in this community. So, it's so important
to visit and visit often. But I also
want to take a time a little moment here
moment to recognize the immediate staff
with whom we work with who are great
support help us guide us through uh the
work that we're doing. And I just wanted
to um thank um Selena and Elizabeth for
your support and Chris as well for his
support in the past. The young man never
seems to age with Chris over there. But
uh thank you Chris. Thanks everyone.
[Applause]
Hello, I'm Loren Alva. I'm the chair of
Messia Valley Economic Development
Alliance and I do want to thank the city
uh for this collaborative effort that we
have with you that has been going on for
a long long time and of course all our
private partners, the county because it
does take a village to do economic
development in this state.
It's difficult in this state, but we get
it done. And we could not do it without
a partnership with the city, with the
county, with the state, and with local
stakeholders that make this happen every
day. Like I said, it's not easy, but we
get it done. So, it's a privilege to
work alongside with your staff at the
city of Las Cusus, with the counselors
and the mayor to make this happen, and a
special support from the administration,
which is always supportive of what we
do. Thank you so much.
[Applause]
Come over and get a picture, please.
[Applause]
Next up, I I'm looking for Officer David
Rudiero. Please come on up. and any
LCPD folks who want to
join recognizing National Police
Week. I hope you're not going to be
scared of the mic. No. Okay, good. Um,
thank you for coming
up.
Whereas any other officers here who want
to join? No. Okay.
Chief, no
rush. I'll also expect you to face the
mic. Yeah. Whereas Congress and the
President of the United States have
declared May 15th as Peace Officers
Memorial Day and the week that May 15th
falls on as National Police Week. And
whereas 165 law enforcement officers in
the United States lost their lives in
the line of duty last year. and
preliminary reports as of April 17, 2025
indicate the additional 21 law
enforcement officers throughout the
United States have lost their lives in
the line of duty this year. And whereas
Los Cusus police officers play an
essential role in safeguarding the
rights and freedoms of the citizens of
Los Cusus, Los Cusus police officers
unwavingly serve all people,
safeguarding the lives and property,
protecting our community against
violence and disorder, the innocent
against deception, and the weak against
oppression and intimidation.
And whereas since the first recorded
death of a law enforcement in 1786, more
than 24,412 law enforcement officers in
the United States have made this
ultimate sacrifice. Now therefore, we
the mayor and city council of New Mexico
do hereby proclaim the week of May 11th
through 17th as National Police Week and
May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day
in Los Cusus in memory and honor of
those law enforcement officers who
through their courageous deeds have made
the ultimate sacrifice and become
permanently disabled during the
performance of their duty. on behalf of
the mayor and city council
[Applause]
as like she called me out. I am officer
David Uto of Los Cruus Police
Department. Been with them for six years
now. Uh been a Los Cusus resident my
whole life. Uh I took this sacrifice to
serve my country. Went to the United
States Army. Uh that's the only time
I've been out of this city. And now once
I was complete with my uh contract with
the military, I decided I wanted to
serve my community that I grew up in. I
was not always a good citizen at a very
young age. I was a struggling juvenile.
Uh I went to Lynn Middle School with the
other children here which gave me the
idea for their bike week too. We have a
bike program with our department and
hopefully we could link them up to do
something during these weeks to take
them on a bike ride with our police
department. Um, we're always looking to
better the community in other ways like
this one right now that I just saw uh
with these children and hopefully we
could get something going with them to
take them on a bike ride in the evening
or so. Uh, but that'll be up to the big
man chief and he'll be the one to decide
on that. So, thank you guys. And if you
guys see an officer coming to the hot
months, if you could please offer them
water. It's hot in our uniform. So, uh,
we appreciate what we do for you guys
and your guys' support for us. Thank
you.
Officer Rodiero is uh our union
president. He he's very humble, but he
does a lot for the department. Doesn't
get paid for all the stuff he does on
the union side. But this is uh every
police week is difficult. This police
week is especially difficult because for
the first time in our 96 year history,
we have an officer who's going to be
honored and memorialized in Washington
DC during police week. And so we'll have
several people there for that purpose,
but this one hits a little bit different
than the rest of them. So, thank you to
the for the support of our community,
city council, and city management,
especially in the past year that's
that's been so difficult for us. Thank
you.
[Applause]
Next up, I I invite our audit department
to come on up. Uh, Viola Perea, Rachel
Thelen, Vanessa Williams, William
Blanchard, Almar Ruiz, Ernest Bettin,
John Fry, Rick Rivas, please come on
up. Thank
you. Good to see you.
Whereas internal auditing is an
established profession with a globally
recognized code of ethics and national
standards for the professional practice
of internal auditing. And whereas
internal auditing is a vital part of
strengthening organizations and
protecting stakeholders of both the
public and private sectors by helping to
identify and manage an organization's
risks, ensure policies and procedures
and internal controls are in place and
working appropriately. And whereas
internal auditing is an increasingly
sophisticated and and complex activity
that requires specialized knowledge,
training and education. And whereas
internal auditors are independent
objective professionals who help
organizations improve their operations
and achieve their goals by providing
systematic and disciplined approach to
evaluating and improving their
effectiveness of risk risk management
controls and processes. And whereas
historically the global internal audit
profession promotes awareness about its
value during the month of May. So
therefore, we, this mayor and city
council of Las Cusus, New Mexico, do
hereby proclaim May 2025 as internal
audit awareness
[Applause]
month. Thank you, Councelor Corin, and
thank you to our city council, our
mayor, and our uh city manager for this
proclamation recognizing May as internal
audit awareness month. This
acknowledgement highlights the value of
our profession and the important role
that internal auditors play in ensuring
accountability, transparency, and good
stewardship of city resources so we can
continue to provide quality services to
our community. And I'd like to take just
a couple of minutes to thank and
recognize the professional internal
auditors who work here for the city of
Los Cusus. We have Will Blanchard,
Rachel Telin, Vanessa Williams, and Alma
Ruiz. And a special recognition I'd like
to give to our community partners in the
internal audit profession. We have
Ernest Buddton with Donana County, New
Mexico State University internal audit
staff who unfortunately was not able to
be with us today. and we have Rick Rivas
who's a past president of the Institute
of Internal Auditors El Paso chapter.
Thank you all for being
here. I appreciate the hard work and the
dedication of our profession and again
thank you so much for this
acknowledgement. We appreciate it. I
believe Mr. Rivas has a few words he'd
like to share.
Good afternoon, city council mayor, city
management. uh as past president of the
Institute for Internal Auditors. It's
I'm very happy excited that the city of
El Paso, the city of Los Cusus has
recognized the Institute for Internal
Auditors, audit day and so forth. As you
know, internal audits, the third line of
defense, we're actually partners. People
shouldn't be afraid of audit. We manage
risk, mitigate risk. We're allies. We
help both public and private sector
certifications. And it's not easy to get
certified, right? It takes years to get
certified as an auditor. So I uh
extremely happy. I used to be the
internal audit chief audit executive at
NMSU for a couple of years. Uh went to
AIG, was the senior cyber security
auditor there. Um passed global lead
auditor for Johnson and Johnson for like
28 years. Uh going to start a new job
with the county of El Paso as a lead
cyber security auditor there. So, I
appreciate the recognition. I commend
the city of Lasusas for recognizing
internal audit month. Thank you.
[Applause]
You all know the
drill. All
[Applause]
right. Next up, I'd welcome our
utilities, water staff, uh, Ronald
Burunda, Paul Gamboa, JP Flores, uh,
Jacob Gabales, come on up. Everyone,
everyone who's who's engaged in
Oh, they're out on an emergency. Do you
have any goss that we can share? No. Any
goss we can share? No, I'm just kidding.
Just
kidding. Our utility staff responding to
emergencies all the time, in case you
didn't didn't know, including right now.
Whereas water is our most valuable
natural resource. And whereas drinking
water serves as a vital role in daily
life, serving an essential purpose to
health, hydration, and hygiene needs for
the quality of life of our citizens. And
whereas tap water delivers public health
protection, fire protection, support for
our economy, and the local quality of
life that we enjoy. Whereas the hard
work performed by the entire water
sector, designing capital projects,
operators, ensuring the safety and
quality of drinking water or a member of
a pipe crew maintaining the
infrastructure communities rely on to
transport highquality drinking water
from its sources to consumers taps. And
whereas the corona virus pandemic has
shown a light on the importance of
drinking water for health, hydration, h
and hygiene needs. And whereas we are
all stewards of the water infrastructure
upon which we current and future
generations will depend. Whereas the
citizens of our city are called upon to
help protect source waters from
pollution, practice water conservation,
and get involved with their water by
familiarizing themselves with it. Now
therefore, we the mayor and city council
of Los Cusus, New Mexico, do hereby
proclaim May 4th through 10th, 2025 as
drinking water
week. Thank you. Thank you to everybody
in this room. Uh thank you city
managers, uh city council, and um of
course again every everybody in this
room. Uh Ron Bunda, deputy de deputy
director of water here for Los Cusus
Utilities. Uh the American Waterworks
Association dedicates the first week of
May to the uh basically the the men and
women that uh work in our industry. Uh
but also they they recognize the new
technologies that we use uh many other
things u that basically we utilize to
get drinking water to your homes. So I
asked this week um you know in
participation the next time you turn on
that faucet of yours or or that spigot
uh just remember that there was many
many people many many hands that that
dedicated their lives and their their
careers to making that possible for you
and for all of us. Um so with that I
again say thank you to everyone.
[Applause]
This is the last one for anyone who's
keeping track. And I will not stand too
long between us and really good news
about Dora, the pet of the the longest
standing resident at ASCMV, which I'm
very excited for. So, uh, the last
proclamation is for professional
municipal clerks week presented to none
other than Christine Rivera and Teresa.
Please come
down. And Teresa Oh, Teresa's
[Applause]
here. Sorry to call you both from your
official duties for a
minute. Thank you.
Whereas the office of the professional
municipal clerk, a time-honored and
vital part of local government, exists
throughout the world. And whereas the
office of professional municipal clerk
is the oldest among public servants. And
whereas the office of peri professional
municipal clerk provides the
professional link between citizens,
local governing bodies, and the agencies
of governments at other levels. And
whereas professional municipal clerks
have pledged to be ever mindful of their
neutrality and impartiality, rendering
equal service to all. And whereas the
professional municipal clerk serves as
the information center and
functions the information center on
functions of local government and
community. And whereas professional
municipal clerks continually surprise
sur strive to improve the administration
and of the affairs of the office of
professional municipal clerk through
participating in education programs,
seminars, workshops, and annual meetings
of their state, provincial, county, and
international professional
organizations like the one that
Christine was just recognized at.
Whereas the most appropriate it is most
appropriate that we recognize the
accomplishments of the office of the
professional municipal clerk. Therefore,
we the mayor and city council of Los
Cusus New Mexico do hereby recognize the
week of May 4th through 10th as
professional municipal clerk's week and
further extend our appreciation to
professional municipal clerk and all
professional municipal clerks and the
vital services they perform and their
exemplary dedication to the communities
they represent.
[Applause]
I'm the lucky one. Good afternoon. My
name is Teresa Stavenh and I'm the
deputy city clerk. Um, it's an honor to
accept this proclamation in honor of
Municipal Clerk Week. I want to
recognize also our our city clerk
because I appreciate your dedication and
your leadership in our department. Um,
I've learned a lot in the last few years
that I've been here. Um, being a clerk
isn't easy and I really didn't know what
I was getting myself into, but I am
tremendously and immensely appreciative
to the training, the coaching, the
guidance that um that you provide. So,
thank you for that. I also want to
recognize our amazing staff that we have
in our office um in our department. We
have um Lisa, she's our records manager.
We have um Kristen, Patty, and Kendall
over in our warehouse. And up front in
our front office, if you guys have been
in, we have April and Cassandra. And we
appreciate the amazing work that they do
with us each and every day. So, thank
you very much.
[Applause]
Thank you.
Thank you everybody.
[Applause]
Thank you, councelor
Karen. Next on the agenda is jobs of the
week, Sarah
Rainey. Good afternoon. My name is Sarah
Rainey. I am the onetop coordinator for
America's Job Centers New Mexico, the
Southwest region. For jobs of the week,
we have a city transit manager for the
city of Los Cusus. That one starts at
58,000 and the posting closes on the
12th. We also have a youth program
specialist one for the city. That one
starts at 1740 an hour and also closes
on the 12th. We have a receptionist for
manpower starting at $31,000 a year and
the posting closes at the end of the
month. Also for Wild West Express, a
truck driver. Actually, they had a
couple of positions open starting at $18
an hour and the posting closes on the
23rd of this month. We have a shed
laborer and a fork with forklift
operator for Barker uh management LLC.
That one has various closings depending
on the posting. And we have Mary Maids
has a house cleaner for $14 an hour and
the posting closes on the 18th. We have
lots of things going on around the
community. Um, for those of you that
came out to Mansco, there is now a heavy
equipment operator apprenticeship
program. That's big for the Southwest,
that's big for New Mexico. This is a
fully paid apprenticeship program. So,
if you're interested in that, please
reach out to us. We can give you more
information on that. Um, that one,
they're going to have a multitude of um,
heavy equipment that you can be trained
on. That is a three-year program as
well, and like I said, it's a paid one,
so something to look at. Also for May,
we have the upcoming jobcore meet and
greet. That will be at our office on
Alama. That one um you can go and find
out more information about the job core
program that is from 16 to 24 year olds
that are uh able to join that program.
And then we have our community of hope
job readiness event, our monthly event.
That one is going to be at the soup
kitchen, Elcad Calaldito from 2 to 4:30
p.m. And then I'll save the June ones
for later, but those are upcoming. If
anybody's looking for the events that we
have, please log on to our um social
medias. Our website employm.com has
everything listed as well. And then you
can stay connected to everything that's
going on in the community and throughout
the
Southwest. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Next is pet of the week,
uh, Carol
Nielsen. Good afternoon. I'm Carol
Nelson, digital content specialist with
the Animal Services Center of the Messia
Valley. Uh just as a reminder, our dog
and cat of the week, whenever they are
promoted, uh their adoption fee is
waved, so it's always a good time to
come visit them and see if they would
make a good companion. So this week we
have Jessica. Her number is
45822. I started my journey here as a
tiny puppy, and now I'm all grown up and
ready for a forever home. Just no cats,
please. I absolutely love the water,
playing fetch, and getting all the
scratches and cuddles I can. I get a
little excited when I first come out of
my kennel, but once I've had a chance to
run around, I settle down and just want
to be close to you. I would thrive with
thoughtful introductions and continued
guidance to help me be my best self. I'd
love to find a forever companion to
share my days with right by your side.
So, Jessica's a great dog. We'd love to
see her get adopted. Um, and as has been
the trend, our cat of the week has
already been adopted, so they're going
quickly. So, we're happy for Toast
Malone.
Um, and in line with good news, uh, as
councelor Karan mentioned, our
longestterm resident, adoptable
resident, Dora, has been adopted. So,
thank you to everyone who supported. She
spent 479 days at the center. So, we're
super happy to see her go to her home.
So, um, but we still have other
long-term residents that would make
great companions. As a reminder, um,
there you can adopt them at a reduced
cost. So, we have Alice, who is now our
longestterm resident at 335 days. Tony
319 days, Whisper 278 days, and Bruno
274 days. So, I've spent time with them.
They're all really great animals. So,
um, and upcoming for this weekend, we
will be at PetSmart per usual on Friday.
Um, and we're going to be at Roundhouse
Reserve on Saturday from 11 to 2. So,
come out and visit our adoptable animals
and see if you might find a new friend.
Uh, and as always, for more information,
feel free to visit our website or follow
us on social media. So, thank you for
the time.
All right. Thank you, Carol.
Next is a 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 none.
Grant I I do. So I will recuse myself
when it comes time to vote on the uh a
potential conflict of interest because I
serve on the board of one of the
organizations that we're considering. So
I'll uh recuse myself when that when we
vote on that.
If it comes
up and then we have to this one read
this one. Yeah, we do have one.
Uh, so this is for item 7.2. As a part
of our agreement with
HUD, an additional conflict of interest
disclosures requested regarding the
following agencies who are being
considered for funding as part of the
2025 action plan on the non-consent
agenda. Messia Valley Casa Kasa
Peraginos LaCasa Messia Valley Community
of Hope, Messia Valley Habitat for
Humanity and The Loul Housing
Corporation.
Next is public participation will allow
up to three minutes. No pending
litigation or items on non-consent. I'll
go ahead and start up in the front on my
left hand. I'll go ahead and start out
with you, Mr. If you want to come up.
I'm Rod Gayski, uh the agitant for
Purple Heart, Los Cusus, and uh live at
4420 Winchester Road, Los Cusus. Um, I
I've given each one of you a uh a flyer
uh and and contact information for
Lorraine Padilla from hospice to uh to
participate in the if you would. And
we've never had anybody but Eric chief
mayor when when when he's been uh the
chief participate before. But uh we
always look for someone to uh from the
from the city administration to
participate in the uh in in the in our
candlelight ceremony. Uh every year uh
I'm going to quote from the American
Legion magazine the most recent issue.
Every year on the last Monday of May,
Americans honor the brave men and
women who gave their
lives and service to our
nation. Memorial Day is a solemn
testimony to valor marked by ceremonies,
parades, and moments of reflection. It's
a time to ensure that the sacrifice of
the fallen are remembered. And that's
all the ceremony is for is we don't we
don't uh we don't in uh introduce
dignitaries. It's about the 204 southern
New Mexicans who gave their
lives for the service in combat for
their service to their country.
uh our purple heart group uh Msia Valley
Hospice uh has taken over the the the
program uh with with the support of the
the city of the mayor's it's part of the
mayor's budget is and and Purple Heart
but uh the the the hospice program here
it's it's called the vettovet program
and it's about it's about serving
veterans who are passing men and women
who are passing
and we we honor them. We we take care of
them. We look out for them. Uh and and
and it's a special program that the
hospice does. Uh but this year they've
taken over as one of their events to to
maintain their
certification. We we've we've given them
the the kind of the lead of the program.
Uh, but Purple Heart monetarily and and
physically supports this this this uh
this action. Anybody have any questions
that uh I can answer? No. Love to see uh
and and Lorraine Padilla uh her name is
on the the flyer that you have. You
would contact her if you're able to uh
to be a sponsor of a candle. And it's
it's placing the candle on the wall.
That's all it is. There's no cost
involved. It's simply to to honor that
that veteran which which their names
will be read that that evening.
Rod, I just want to say thank you. Thank
you for all that you do. You've been
doing this for a number of years, this
candle light ceremony, and thank you for
your service. Thank you for supporting
us.
[Applause]
Mayor Council, I'm Liz Rodriguez
Johnson. I continue to have concerns
about the city's recordkeeping regarding
city water pipes and private water
pipes. With respect to the lead and
copper rule, EPA says, quote, "The
service line is determined through
evidence-based record, method, or
technique." Unquote. Where is the city's
evidence-based information? At a
briefing November 16, 2024, city
personnel stated that
15,627 properties were determined to be
let free. It was stated that this
inventory was determined quote based on
available records unquote. This
indicates two things. First, the
15,627 properties were not physically
checked. Second, the conclusion that
they are lead free is based upon
available records. The quality of public
records depends upon, among other
things, upon the accuracy and the
thoroughess of all the personnel who
have had access to those records
throughout the years. And this can vary
widely to say the least. The new rule
says that a galvanized service line is
one that is or was at any time
downstream of a lead service line or is
currently downstream of an unknown
service line. It also says that if the
water system is unable to demonstrate
that galvanized service line was never
downstream of a lead service line, it
must presume there was an upstream lead
service line. This galvanized service
line then requires
replacement. I'd like to know how the
city demonstrates that such a line was
never downstream of a lead service line.
It seems to me that the city would need
excellent records regarding all the
water piping in the city to be able to
demonstrate that. Lynn Moore has
provided data that indicates that many
obviously incorrect records are embedded
in the Lasus utilities inventory map.
Unfortunately, Unfortunately, that makes
the city records highly suspect overall.
In fact, the more the city records are
reviewed, the more clear becomes most
are unreliable. Here are some examples.
A record declares piping to be non-LED
based on installation after the lead
bin, which occurred in 1986, even though
the recorded installation date was
before
1986. Another record characterizes the
line as non-LED even though a portion of
it is unknown. Yet another recorder
declares the line as non-led without
providing any basis for the declaration.
Plus, approximately half of the city is
omitted up from the map. Hundreds of
businesses, homes, schools, and churches
appear on the map without any piping
hookups or any kind of piping record.
Please, please bring in at least one
engineer with senior management
experience to comprehensively address
these critical deficiencies. Thank you.
[Applause]
Anyone else on that same
row? Okay, next one. Sir
Butler Robert Lee
Butler Albert Los
Cruz I'll talk
slow. It's Mother's Day coming up. So
let's wish our mothers, our moms a very
people, pleasant and happy Mother's
Day. Okay, here I here I go. Go aggy to
go. With that said, I'm going to the
body of this present presentation to say
poor poor poor tes I am in miserable at
times poor Texas. They've decided to
advertise and push against all innocent
and loving residents in our city in our
territory with newly invented and
infecting
infecting unyielding
machines as far as benefit of neurology
is
concerned causing what is called water
shock.
All funded by the
immature American medical
association
association. What I'm telling you about
what I'm telling you all is that very
limited information I'm receiving. New
Mexico is leading the United States
neurology. I'm assuming this to be true.
I have spoken with my neurology
dire
all directed by and they cover and of
Mountain View Hospital. I'm sorry. I'm
really sorry about the
speech. I had to refer to a letter that
I wrote to
Los dated p Wednesday January 28th,
2009.
I think thank you all very much for your
abundant abundant
concern. M and wheels volunteers at me
wheels are workers.
Shalom. Shalom. I love Los Cuses. Thank
you. And I apologize. I have speaking
problems. I'm hard to get the crap
message. I'm sorry.
Next
row. Afternoon, council. Mayor Israel
Chavez, uh resident, long lifelong
resident of the community here. Um this
month uh in addition to all of the uh
wonderful things you all celebrated is
also historic preservation month. Uh I
have repeatedly met with city officials
about historic preservation in this
community. My family, my great
greatgrandfather grew up on Augustine
and Compo right behind this building
almost. Um what occurs to me is that
we're one of the only cities in Los
Cusus that doesn't treat its historic
district like an asset but rather more
like a burden. And I just want to
encourage the city to look at the one of
the more historic communities in the
valley. Mosquet Street and all the
accompanying areas not only have
incredible history around uh
segregation, one of the one of the first
black schools in New Mexico in uh Los
Cusus was the Philips Chapel. Uh my
office was built in the late 1800s. Um
it is older than Messiah, right? I
mean his historic old Messia calls it
old old Messiah, right? But in reality,
Las Cusus has an older town site and we
don't see the same promotion. We don't
see the same advocacy. Um to that end, I
am partnering with the National
Endowment for the Humanities to lead a
walking tour through the neighborhood.
And I would encourage anybody it's to
come join us. Uh they're going to be
providing lunch. It's from 2:00 to 4:00
on May 10th. It's a Saturday. We're
starting at Klein Park and we're going
to be walking around the neighborhood.
There's an incredible history in what is
the old part of Los Cusus. Um I don't
see the city using its resources to
promote to support. Uh many of the
buildings are allowed to remain
abandoned, including buildings that the
city owns. Um the city owns buildings
that just sit there and you can't let
Adobe sit and rot. You have to invest in
it. You have to ensure that people are
are are restoring those buildings
because I know that this building isn't
built of adobe. I know that the city is
not building adobe buildings. Every time
you tear down an adobe building, that's
it. We're not getting new ones. It's an
endangered species and the city has to
treat its adobe assets like every other
city. When I was assistant county
attorney in Santa Fe, yeah, it was a
pain. historic districts, historic
preservation is difficult, but
preserving the community's history,
understanding where we came for came
from and the mistakes we made um are
important and and and so is the
architecture in that district. My office
used to have trees in front of it and
the city tore them out because all of
the across the country during the 60s
and early 50s 60s and 70s cities were
tearing trees out of majority uh
Hispanic and black communities because
they didn't want those communities to be
desirable. We have to learn that lesson.
And I also would like to see the city
replant a lot of those trees. And I
think there is investment happening in
trees. But if the city's not the city
has to pro to promote its historic
district. So, I hope you'll do that and
join
[Applause]
me. Yes. On that same
row. Good afternoon, ladies and
gentlemen of the council. Mr. Mayor, my
name is John Jacobs. Um, I'm probably
the youngest person in this room, so I
think it's pretty fair to say that this
might not be as prepared as the rest of
us. So, please join me. Um, basically, I
just wanted to say congratulations to
the city of Roswell. Uh, the city of
Roswell on Friday actually created the
first city strategic Bitcoin reserve.
Um, I believe that this is a great step
forward and I believe that our city
could be the next city to uh follow
suit. Just today alone, the United
States printed 72 containers worth of
fiat money. This is a this is a thing
that happens each and every day. If I
was a monkey and I got paid in
bananas and bananas were everywhere,
those bananas would be worthless. Okay,
fiat is becoming worthless.
Okay, ladies and gentlemen, I don't
expect this to be a drastic change. I
don't expect this to be something that
uh happens tomorrow or even years from
now. But I would like to say I would
give my time and my service to the city
and to the people here to maybe help the
next generation as we see the digital
transformation of technology, the
digital transformation, excuse me, the
digital transformation of technology,
the digital transformation of wealth,
the digital transformation of computers.
What was the first computer that you
had? It was a typewriter, right? And now
we have these this fantastic technology
and then we have all sorts of other
things. We have things that have just
progressed our society immensely. Now
look, I don't think that this would be a
big deal. I don't think this would
change a whole lot, but I would be
gladly willing to donate my time, my
services, as well as um a small
uh starter capital to our fund. So,
thank you very much. Uh y'all have a
wonderful
day. Okay, that's row five. Row six.
Anyone on row
six? Row
seven. Good afternoon. Diane Starbucks.
I am with Las Cruus
Nuns. Um our group advocates for
separation of church and state. The nuns
come from when you are asked to fill out
a religious affiliation on papers and
nothing quite fits. You check off the
box that says
nuns. Uh we will stand beside anyone to
protect their freedom to worship or not
worship as they see fit without
government interference.
I would like to thank the counselors who
attended the Los Cusus Nuns Day of
Reason last Thursday. Even though the
city did not sanction the event, I would
like the city for allowing us to hold
the event at the flag pole. Uh we
received a lot of positive feedback.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Good afternoon, council. My name is
Lucas H. Hearnden. I'm a resident of
District 2. Um, and I came today to
prepare to talk about um my ongoing
concerns with our local police. Um but
uh then the me memorial or or citation
was read and um apparently we're going
back to the 18th century when we're
propagandizing cops. So, uh, if we're
going to talk about history of cops
going back to the 18th century, um, and
if we're talking about,
um, uh, dead police officers, I thought
it would be fitting to read this from
the National Law Enforcement Officers
Memorial Fund. So, this is from their
website from an article called slave
patrols, an early form of American
policing.
There's a significant origin of American
policing that we cannot forget and that
is slave patrols. The American South
relied exclusively on slave labor and
white southerners lived in southern
constant fear of slave rebellions
disrupting this economic status quo. As
a result, these patrols were one of the
earliest and most prolific forms of
early policing in the south. The
responsibility of patrols was
straightforward. To control the movement
and behaviors of enslaved populations.
According to historian Gary Potter,
slave patrols serve three main
functions. One, to chase down,
apprehend, and return to their owners
runaway slaves. Two, to provide a form
of organized terror to deter slave
revolts. And three, to maintain a form
of discipline for slave workers who were
subjected to summary justice outside the
law. Organized policing was one of the
many types of social controls imposed on
enslaved African-Americans in the South.
Physical and psychological violence took
many forms, including an overseer's
brutal whip, the inter inter intentional
breakup of families, deprivation of food
and other necessities, and private
employment of slave catchers to track
down runaways. Slave patrols were no
less violent in their control of
African-Americans. They
beat they beat and terrorized as well.
Their distinction was that they were
legally compelled to do so by the local
authorities.
In this sense, it was considered a civic
duty, one that in some areas could
result in a fine if avoided. In others,
patrollers received financial
compensation for their work. Typically,
slave patrol routines included enforcing
curfews, checking travelers for
permission passes, catching those
assembling without permission, and
preventing any form of organized
resistance. There's more to the article.
Um, you know, normally I try to keep it
focused on what we can handle at hand.
Um, but to stand up here and try to
appeal to us over one dead cop in this
city when the cops murdered 1,200
Americans last year and New Mexico was
the most violent state to be a citizen
and be murdered by cops is disgusting.
It's disgusting that the city would do
that. I'm
ashamed. Anyone on that same room?
Hey, good afternoon. Um, Mr. Mayor, city
council staff. Uh, my name is Michael
Radkkey. Uh, I'm the chair of the
airport advisory board at the Los Cusus
airport. Uh, licensed airline pilot,
gold seal flight instructor, and a
resident. I um I flew 500 miles out of
my way today to be here to talk to you
for three minutes uh about uh an issue
going on out at the airport. Um as the
the chair of the airport advisory board,
uh I'm tasked with the advising the
airport or this airport manager on
policy that impacts operations, safety
and operations and ultimately pertains
to the adherence of federal aviation
regulations on the ground and in the
air.
Uh the ordinance does not give me the
authority to act in uh any formal
capacity. So I'm uh here today as a
concerned
citizen. Um but I wanted to uh let bring
up the the fact that aviation is not uh
an inaliable right. It's a privilege and
uh there's checks and balances that keep
aviation safe.
uh as a as a pilot uh I'm held to these
uh checks and balances and aircraft
owners and operators are also held to
these uh uh these checks and balances as
well. Uh the city's a part 139
certificate holder that allows us to be
an international airport and uh is
beholden to the airport uh the ACM uh
which is the u airport certification
manual uh and it delineates the
authority of the airport manager uh and
his authority over the field. Um, for
instance, I haven't completed my uh gate
access training and so I my gate access
has been revoked to the field until I
complete that training. Um, there's a
the issue that I wanted to bring up is
uh I've been in correspondence with the
FAA
and they are have been made aware of an
internal issue with city management and
city staff. uh and they're opening a
formal letter of investigation in our
airport which could jeopardize our part
certificate. Uh and this is bad news um
because the airport has great trajectory
right now.
um if that uh if they find us out of
compliance, uh this will mean uh a huge
loss of revenue uh and a huge safety
concern for pilots and the general
public. Um I don't want to get into the
specifics of the policies. however I'm
uh available to do so. But I just wanted
to make it make the point that uh the
municipal code and the airport
certification manual spells out clearly
the authority of the airport manager and
his duties to the city. I have issues
with Andy, but that's why I work with
him closely to make sure that those
issues are addressed. Uh and the city
needs to let him do his job uh and
follow the corresponding rules and
regulations. Thank you.
Good afternoon, mayor, city councilors.
My name is Deb Dennis. I'm the vice
president of the Amadore Hotel
Foundation. I am here today to request
that resolution number
25121 be removed from the consent
agenda. As I read this, um, you are
about to resend a 2009 resolution which
identified the historic old post office
as the location for the museum of art.
I understand that much has changed um in
16 years and the city has identified
another facility which you deem more
appropriate. However, that leaves the
question of what is going to happen to
this historic building. We had expected
that it would be renovated and restored
and readdapted to be the Museum of Art.
If you do not do that, I think the
public deserves an opportunity to hear
from you as to what will happen to this
building, which is about the only
building that made it through urban
renewal among uh other reasons for its
historic significance.
So I hope that there can be some sort of
discussion that allows us to learn what
adaptive reuse plan, restoration plan,
whatever it is that you may have planned
for the old post office as we move
forward.
I'm also asking this because what I know
personally is that for the past 10
years, the north end of the old post
office, the municipal building, has
served as storage for more than half of
the Amodore Hotel's original holdings.
Everything from silver and china dining
sets to furniture.
We never expected for it to be in
storage for 10 years, but the
restoration of the Amador Hotel goes on
with no real end in sight. So, we're
also concerned what happens to the old
post office in and of it for itself, but
also as a storage facility for the
Amodore Holdings. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor and members of the
city council. I'm Greg Smith. I'm a
resident of District 2, and I want to
follow up on what Mr. Chavez was talking
about with Historic Preservation Month
and what Dr. Dennis mentioned uh with
that same uh effort being made in Los
Cruus. Uh, one, the Amodore Hotel is
actually starting to look pretty good.
Some effort has been made to clean up
the east side of that building and of
course a lot of really important work
has been done on the west side. So, I
commend the city for that work. I would
also like to say that Mr. Mayor, if you
want to indicate at any time that the
resolution that is uh noted as
6.3 is going to be pulled from the
consent agenda, I will save the rest of
my remarks for that time. Otherwise, let
me point out to you that the municipal
court building that currently serves
there is in a building that's over a
hundred years old. It was designed to be
a court building over a hundred years
ago. It does not meet current standards.
There are plans on the second floor for
a new municipal court across the street.
Unfortunately, those plans have been
left in a bin, as many other plans have
been on the second floor. So I would ask
you to consider how you might move
forward with moving the municipal court
into a building that is up to current
standards. Uh the second thing is
that where you're talking about
expanding the current museum of art uh
is an area where you are also sharing
area uh with the museum of uh natural
science and you're also or at least the
city has talked at points about having a
children's museum. So you're still
talking about a large concentration in a
fairly small area of museums for the
city. And I would suggest that it would
make sense to get the municipal court
moved and then take this building that
is sitting there in a very prominent
site and putting the
emphasis excuse me on the museum of art.
Also want to point out that we do have a
lot of art in Los Cusus. It is a large
part of our economy and putting that
kind of emphasis on the arts is
something that I think should be
considered. I'll wrap up for this point
hopefully hoping that you will move it
uh to point out that uh some of us have
observed prisoners being marched from
where the parking lot is to the entrance
to the courtrooms. It's hardly the look
that I think Los Cusus wants for its
plaza is to see prisoners being marched.
I I realize that this has to happen, but
I think that and it's such a prominent
location that maybe we could handle our
court system uh and our museum system in
a different way. Thank
you. Anyone else on the left side? If
not, I'll start over here on the right
side. The one, two, third row, fourth
row,
fifth. Good afternoon, mayor, city
council, Eddie Thomas. Let me start by
listing the prominent things
uh good, bad, or indifferent about Los
Cusus that uh we're known for. Cannabis
on every corner, homeless, plywood
windows, crumbling buildings everywhere,
especially downtown, high crime, high
taxes, soon to be the Southwest capital
for abortion. And now the scene of the
latest mass
shooting. Oh, I almost forgot the movie
industry. Maybe they would be uh they
would consider making a movie about Los
Cusus, but we'll talk about that later
on. Moving on. So, your delegation to
Santa Fe returned empty-handed.
probably as you expected they would so
that you can continue to point the
finger at Santa Fe. Since the
legislature failed to pass anything
related to stopping crime in any
substantial way, were doomed to repeat
the do nothing scenario of last year.
The governor will declare a special
legislative session which will close in
record time, perhaps beating last year's
record for the shortest duration of 5
hours without getting anything done.
Then the governor will get on her broom
and flying around New Mexico holding
marathon marathon town hall meetings
that accomplish nothing except political
fingerpointing and drama that do nothing
to deter crime. Meanwhile, council
members here will write another scathing
manifesto criticizing the governor for
her efforts to enact some kind of
meaningful crime reform. All the this
while the competency requirement that
turns our pol our judicial system into a
revolving door for violent career
criminals remains virtually
unchanged. For this, I hold the city
council and mayor responsible for
creating and enabling this lawless
environment we find ourselves in, where
juvenile gangs rule the parks and shoot
each other with real guns and real
bullets. As a result, three real
teenagers are dead and 15 are injured.
What platitudes do you offer? Your your
condolences to the affected families
mean nothing if you don't do something
to enact positive change. You've got to
put some teeth into the law. Whether you
profered the progressive policies
yourself or inherited them when you took
office, you own them. You as government
officials took responsibility for the
laws on the books and allowed these
tragedies to occur unabated. The idea is
to deter crime, not to encourage it. Is
it going to require another human life
to be sacrificed on the altar of
progressive passivity? It's baked into
the culture here and you guys are the
ones in the kitchen. It's been that way
for a long time. Ever since I can
remember. Disrespect for the law and law
enforcement is considered normal and as
a right of passage into
adulthood in Los Cruuses. I'm almost
done. It's passed on from generation to
generation. You're just not a macho man
if you're a law-abiding wimp. You got to
drink beer, smoke pot, own a gun, belong
to a gang, and drive fast. Your time is
up. Okay. Thanks.
Anyone else on the
right?
Don, good afternoon, Mayor and
counselors. Um, first I'd like to say
thank you. I was talking to councelor
Graham and Mccclure and Koran and Becky.
Thank you, councelor Karan, for
reminding me we can all come to some
kind of compromise at some point if we
put our minds to it. And I needed to
hear that today. So, thank you for that.
Can you Can you state your name for the
record? Oh, I'm sorry. I always forget.
Donna Striker, I apologize. I also want
to thank you for resolution
25-129. Um, it hasn't been voted on yet,
and I realize that, but I'm thanking you
in advance because I'm hoping that it
will be voted on positively. that um
storefront grant program is kind of
important for small businesses. We can't
talk about it. Okay. So, I I can't even
say thank you. All I was going to say is
thank you. Hoping that it passes. Okay.
Then the other thing I wanted to ask is
um so we have to wait for it to come up
for me to say anything posit. Okay. Nice
to see you. See you in a few
minutes. Is there anyone else on the
right side?
All right, seeing none. Thank you.
Um, next is the acceptance of agenda. I
asked that we pull the item from the
consent and put it on the did agenda.
She beat me to the punch. Uh, which one
exactly?
6.3
as requested. 6.3 resolution number 25
hyphen 128.
So move
I don't think you have to move.
Okay. Is that the only one? Go ahead,
Christine.
This is on the motion to accept the
agenda as presented with removal of item
6.3 for discussion. Councelor Mccclure,
yes. Councelor Matise, yes. Councelor
Graham, yes. Councelor Cran, yes.
Councelor Fletus, yes. Councelor Beno is
absent. And Mayor, yes.
So we'll start uh next with the
resolutions and ordinance and we'll
start with 6.3 resolution number 25-128.
Move to approve Graham. Second Corin
and we have Carol Bray start.
Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Carol
Bray, director of the quality of life
department and trying to get rid of this
other little window. There we
go. All right. Good afternoon. So, uh, I
am just going to say a couple of words.
um in introduction then I'm going to
pass things to Garland Courts. Um we're
here to follow up on the work session
that we conducted on March 10th to talk
about the Museum of Art and specifically
uh the move of or proposed move of the
Museum of Art to the old post office or
municipal court uh facility. And uh we
as I we are today as we indicated uh at
that work session um going to request
that council resend that 2009
resolution. But we'll go through a
little background about our library, I'm
sorry, our museum's master plan as well
as uh our rationale for why we're
proposing this move. I'm going to turn
things over to Garland Courts now,
deputy director for museums.
Thank you, Carol. Uh, good afternoon,
mayor and city council. Garland Courts,
deputy director for the city of Los
Cusus Museums. Um, a little background
on on the resolution here. I was I was
here at the time that they they did this
uh first resolution. Basically uh at the
time the Museum of Nature and Science
was up at the mall and the idea was to
we had the Museum of Art and the Bravian
Cultural Center were down on Main
Street. The idea was to bring it get it
out of the mall basically because it it
was kind of a a weird fit to have a a
science museum in the mall. So they
wanted to bring it down here. In the
subsequent years that passed, we were
actually the city was able to procure a
a site just to the south of the Museum
of Art, the building right to the south,
which was a former bank building, and
that became the Museum of Nature and
Science. That was in 2012. So 2013 they
did another resolution to to still keep
the building within the museums, but
they thought, well, we can expand the
museum of of art into the the uh the
municipal courthouse.
And years go by again and we get a
master plan that's done that really
looks into what we can do with with our
spatial needs, how we can how we can
expand. They did look at the municipal
court. There's a few problems with
moving it into there. There's a lot of
work that needs to be done. It would be
expensive. Um and then they also looked
at
um how we could keep in place the our
actual footprint which is now three
buildings on Main Street, how we can
expand those and and take care of uh the
needs for expansion.
Okay. And this is part of what shows the
the next the new space that we need. Um,
and we also have our stewardship of two
historic buildings ourselves with the
Brandan uh cultural center and the
railroad museum that we all also take
care of.
So part of the plan which was uh written
out this is came out in 2020 shows our
our site as it is today our footprint
and uh it shows space for uh extending
our our collections facility having more
of a children's area in there more
classrooms and also more space for for
staff. Um it would be adding an
additional floor onto part of the
museums. Um but it it it does show that
in place we could expand. And so um
basically after this we kind of weighed
the the two between trying to move over
uh to the municipal court building or
what we have then. And in addition to
that we really found that having three
museums together is a a synergy. You can
get a bus that comes with students and
they can take us a tour and they can do
three museums at once. It's not that far
to the municipal court, but it is a
little bit of a walk that they have to
take. It's about a block and a half, I I
believe. So to have three buildings al
together, it it really creates a
synergy. Our attendance has been going
up every year. It goes up. So we we kind
of like the idea of us staying in place.
Did you want to take that?
Thank you, Garland. Carol Bray, director
of the quality of life department. So,
as we indicated in our backup, uh, a
previous council passed resolution
R09-270 to move the Museum of Art to the
old post office or currently the
municipal court building. And uh, but it
also included the words upon the
relocation for municipal court, which
that is uh an issue that we're not
dealing with today. We're really just
asking you to consider what is best for
the museum. We also would agree that the
municipal court building or the old post
office is a significant historic
building here in Los Cusus, but we do
not think it's the appropriate location
for the museum of art and that's really
why we are here today. Uh we think we
have seen um as I mentioned um as
Garland mentioned also that extensive
renovations would be needed to make this
a real museum of art. Um we also
uh have seen all of the discussion that
happened during the museum's master
planning process in 2020 and 2021 where
we looked at different options and these
were really the two main options for
museum of art. One was to move it to
municipal court as the 2009 resolution
had called for and the other was to
expand where we are. Um either way we
would get additional space. I believe
that we would be able to uh find enough
space to expand our current museums, our
museum of art, our museum of nature and
science. um and potentially uh that
whole complex really at least 20,000
square feet which would give us as
Garland mentioned additional exhibit
space, additional classroom space and
would also keep us from having to
maintain our collection space at an
off-site facility at $100,000 a year. Um
the other thing that we uh looked at
really was um the additional cost that
we would be facing. And I can just tell
you from our initial calculations and
talking with public works that
um just to expand the municipal court
building um and this is from a 2021
study that was also done, assessment
that was done of municipal court. It was
approximately $22 million to um renovate
the building plus there would be the
cost to move municipal court to another
location, renovate that location and or
build one and there have been proposals
to build a new location for municipal
court along the way. I will tell you I
have studied this intensely because I
wanted to understand the whole picture
and we convened meetings for months with
municipal court with public works with
facilities. So we could really
understand what issues we were facing.
Um and then of course uh if we moved
municipal or we moved the museum of art
out of its current location, we would
then have to figure out what to do with
the space left behind there. So that
could be another two to3 million to ex
to uh renovate that location to perhaps
expand the the Museum of Nature and
Science. So we would be looking at a
cost of I'd say 30 million plus.
Whereas, if we were to expand and
renovate in our current location, um, as
I've described, um, to include more
exhibit space for the Museum of Art, to
include our collection space, to include
additional classrooms, as Garland
described, we're looking at an estimate
of about $20 million. So, uh, this is
really where we're coming from and why
we're bringing this to you. We believe
it's the more prudent move for our
museum of art. Um so in summary um
rehabilitation of municipal court
building to museum of art is not our
preferred option. We prefer to expand
our museum's complex where it is. And
this gives you an an example of the kind
of synergy. Um this is the cultural
bazaar. I think this this photo the kind
of synergy that we see every day at our
museums at our at the three museums
downtown. So, uh, I will also now go
ahead and present your council options.
Uh, and, uh, uh, if you vote yes, you
would resend this resolution. If you
vote no, you would not rescend it. You
can vote to amend or to table. And now
we stand for questions. Thank you.
Thank you, Carol. Uh, councelor current.
Um, first on a lighter note, I I just
offer I will build a small moat for
Zilla to come stay with me during
construction if that's if that's
required for I love that snapping
turtle.
Um, I can I can rehab my place for zero
dollars. Uh, and he can stay there
during the construction. Um, I'm sure
that there's a different timeline for
the city for that. I I the reason I I
appreciate folks coming and asking about
this is this is something that we talked
about on when when we had a quality of
life policy review committee. This came
to our those discussions when the when
the mu museums were working on their
master plan and this was something that
they sort of identified
as just sort of hanging around um
causing a little bit of conflict because
it's not it's neither a an ask to
disinvest in some historic building nor
uh hobble the the process of of sort of
growing our museums. It's just that this
these this strategic move was identified
in the past and evidence doesn't support
that it should be what we do in the
future. Both the combination of of the
expense of uh sort of repurposing
something. I think we should really
commit to making sure that we invest in
our historic buildings which even there
are even subsequent things on our agenda
today that uh including our CIP
amendments that show that we're making
those strategic investments and thinking
about how to improve our historic
buildings. also um thinking about this
the all the work that and community
input that went into the strategic
planning for the museum. So, I just want
to sort of speak to the fact that this
has been in conversation and this
specific act of of asking to resend
something that that the council did is
really us showing that we're following
the evidence in terms of what the best
use of our land is and it takes time and
it causes us to reflect a little bit but
I really appreciate the work that staff
public works um the museum folks and all
of the folks who contributed to the
master planning contributed to that.
That doesn't mean that I don't think
that we should keep on in improving the
the old post office as it exists. I I
think it needs a lot of love and we know
that and I think we will continue to
commit to invest in that and municipal
court as an ongoing conversation I think
is is relevant. But in this case, it was
just a thing that was lingering. I know
it's been lingering for years and I
think it's really important. I
appreciate us being able to have this
conversation here today about what plans
are coming together and how we've
analyzed the the costs and benefits of
each. And I appreciate all of you um
doing that. And please let me know when
Zilla is coming over. I'll start digging
my my moat.
Anyone else on council?
Council. Thank you, Mayor. And thank you
so much uh Carol and Courtland for uh
the two CC's um for your presentation.
It makes a lot of sense. It just does.
So thank you very much for your
assessment and your presentation. I
appreciate it and I think that you did
in such a way that I understood. So it
means that everybody else in the world
understood it. So thank you. Thank you.
Yeah. And again I just want to say
thanks again for the master plan and
everything that went into that. You
know, there's no there's no secret. I'm
a I'm a big fan of the old post office.
It's a historic building and and we do
want to make sure that we keep it, but
we have the dilemma of the municipal
court and where do we house them and
where do we go from there? So, it's
going to take some time, but you've put
all the effort into the master plan. I
see where that's going, but we do have
to hang on to our our buildings that are
historic in our community.
And with that, I'll I'll open it up to
the public again if you want to have any
additional comments. Yes. Uh, former
counselor
Smith, you good with a couple of
minutes? Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Mr.
Mayor. Uh, and yes, I'm very aware of
the hard work that the staff does on a
lot of these things. Uh sometimes I also
think that we have to present an
alternative viewpoint to bring in some
other factors. And and one of the things
is that with this 100-year-old court
building, you have a municipal court
struggling to operate in a secure
fashion in a building that doesn't work
that way. So I would say that one of
your first priorities needs to be to get
the uh municipal court moved. Uh
basically municipal courts need three
hallways. A way for the judges and jury
to move around, a way for the public to
move around, and a way for the prisoners
to move around. Uh this building does
not have that and hasn't had it for a
long time. So it's something that really
needs to be addressed. The other is that
with a historic building, a historic
preservation, you need to have a purpose
for the building. So basically whether
it's a museum of art or some other thing
once you get to the point of bringing
this because everybody's saying they
want to save the building but as you
have encountered with the Amadore Hotel
and other historic buildings if you
don't have a purpose for the building
then it kind of sits there and it makes
it kind of hard to justify spending
millions of dollars to do something with
the building. So, I would say please
look seriously at the extra $10 million
or whatever it's actually going to cost,
but look at what it's going to do from
for our community because we talk about
crime. We talk about a lot of other
things and a lot of that comes back to
how do we view our community? How does
our community seem to care about the
things that we care about? What does our
community say with the actions that it
has done as far as what kind of respect
it has for its older citizens and its
older history? And so the uh municipal
court building I think still has an
opportunity to do that either as the
museum of art or in some other fashion.
But if you just throw out the Museum of
Art as an option and forget about it,
then you leave that building waiting for
some other purpose. Thank you, Mr.
Mayor.
Thank you. And and again just to recap
also to to let you know
that we are looking at historic
preservation as a city. On May 19th
there will be a proclamation for
historic preservation month. And then
also just recently a historic
preservation u specialist has has been
hired and will be starting pretty soon.
So we'll start addressing starts today.
Oh he's informing him he starts today.
Okay. All right. Thank
you, Christine.
This is on the motion to approve
resolution
25-128. Councelor McClur, yes. Councelor
Matise, yes. Councelor Graham, yes.
Councelor Karan, yes. Councelor Fletus,
yes. Councelor Bencoml is absent. And
Mayor, yes.
Next is item 7.1, resolution
25-129, a resolution amending the
resolution 2307 for the small business
storefront repair program.
Move to approve, Graham. Second, Corin.
Good afternoon, mayor, city councilors.
Selena Morales, deputy director for
economic development. Today, I'll be
going over small business storefront
repair program
amendments. Just a little recap on the
storefront as it stands. Resolution
number
23-087 was adopted on January 17th,
2023.
This is for $400 in federal opera
funding to support the economic recovery
of small businesses affected by property
damage related to the economic
disruption caused by the CO 19
pandemic. Small businesses can apply for
up to 2500 to help repair storefront
property
damages. Here are some of the current
eligibility requirements. I won't read
them all um but just a few. They have to
be located in the city limits. um they
have to have a physical location. Um
provide proof of damage and
repairs. Here are the current numbers.
We have assisted 89 businesses with the
storefront repair program. 27 businesses
have experienced damages exceeding
$2,500. Total dispersed is 152,000.
Remaining funds is
247,000. And all funds must be utilized
by December
2026.
Here are the recommended amendments. Um,
by recognizing the ongoing challenges
faced by small businesses and the
increasing cost of repairs, we recommend
increasing the maximum grant amount from
$2,500 to
$5,000. We also recommend removing the
restrictions on the number of times a
business may apply, allowing them to
submit multiple applications for
separate incidents of damage, provided
they meet all eligibility requirements.
And I here are your council options. I
stand for questions.
Okay. Thank you, Selena. Uh, councelor
Grant, thank you. Um, I won't create any
suspense. I am going to vote yes on
this. Um, and not a question. Thanks.
Just more of a comment, but thank you
for the presentation. Um, I just kind of
want to get it out there that this
program and the recently launched, uh,
biohazard cleanup program, um, I've
gotten what I consider kind of baffling
push back on these programs, um, both
through personal emails, a lot on social
media. And I do want to point out that
these are not the solutions, the only
solutions that the city is offering to
deal with these ongoing issues. We're
doing a myriad of things to address root
causes, to address better services and
resources. Um, so when people say that
this is council slapping a band-aid on,
you know, a huge
laceration, this is not all that we're
doing. And I, despite this push back, I
continue to be in favor of programs like
this because I think it is dealing with
a reality that our residents and our
business owners are facing. Um, but it's
not all that we're doing. Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay.
Um, members of the audience, did anyone
have any comments that you want to speak
to? I'll give you a couple of minutes.
My name is Donna Striker. I don't need a
couple minutes. I just need to say thank
you. Um, we've had over $20,000 worth of
damage to our property. And it may not
seem like a lot, but 5,000 is a lot more
than 2500. Thank you. I'll be applying
for it tomorrow. Is that soon enough?
Can I do that? Okay. Thank you. I do
have a question, mayor. Um, so on the
resolution uh 25 to
2026, that time is over for me to say
anything, right? Because we went right.
We passed over those two.
Yes, they were on the consent agenda.
Okay. Thank you. Y
Chrissy,
this is on the motion to approve
resolution
25-129. Councelor McClur, yes. Councelor
Matise, yes. Councelor Graham, yes.
Councelor Craran, yes. Councelor Fletus
is absent. Councelor Bencomo is absent.
And Mayor, yes.
Thank you.
Next is item 7.2, 2. Resolution number
25-130 resolution approving the 2025
action plan as part of the 2125
consolidated plan for city of Los Cusus.
Move to approve. Graham second. Corin.
Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor. Uh members of
council, Natalie Green for the record.
The resolution uh before you is approval
of the 2025 action plan. Uh the action
plan is a document that addresses both
housing and community development needs
that are identified in our 2021 to 2025
consolidated plan. It also allocates our
annual funding for both the community
development block grant program and the
home investment partnership
program. Our estimated allocation is
about a million dollars for
CDBG and that includes approximately
$25,000 in program income. And then our
home allocation is about uh just under
uh 500,000 for a total of 1.6
million. The proposed recommendations
are uh a portion is set aside for
administrative costs that covers um
staff salaries, uh supplies, a number of
items. Uh we are also dedicating some
funding to our quality of life
department for the east side uh east
side center acquisition. Um we have
allocated funding to the Messia Valley
Community Hope renovation. They are
currently under construction renovating
the old Casa de Perigrinos and so that
project needs some additional funding.
And then we also fund our home
rehabilitation program and that's a
direct um service program provided by
the city. In addition to that, we are
providing some funding for CDBG public
services. It is capped at 15% of our
allocation. And so we have four agencies
that applied this year and they are
getting um $35,000 a
piece for our home program. Um we are
funding a mix of both single family
development and tenant-based rental
assistance uh including some program
administration which again will also go
to staff salaries. uh both Habitat and
Tero del Soul are community housing
development organizations. So they get
uh CHTO operating funds in addition to
that and then the rest of the funding is
for uh again tenant based rental
assistance. With that you have your
standard council options and I stand for
questions.
Thank you Natalie. Any
questions? Council Grant.
Hi. Thank you so much Natalie. Um, I'm
just making sure that the home
rehabilitation program is what I'm
thinking it is. So, could you give a
quick bullet point on that? Sure, Mr.
Mayor, Councelor Graham. Our home
rehabilitation program has helps
low-income homeowners renovate their
homes to make them uh meet either uh
habitability standards if they have
building code violations or sometimes if
they need um ADA improvements. And we
also offer some weatherization grants
and historic preservation grants through
that program.
Great. Thank you so much. So, I was
thinking of the right thing and I just
wanted to give a shout out to that
program. Um, a lot of households in
district three, my council district,
have benefited from that and I think
it's such a vital part of what the city
and especially your group does to keep
people housed, to prevent them from
suffering from housing insecurity. Um,
and we're also talking about, at least
in District 3, folks who have been
living in their home often for decades
and simply can't, you know, their
whatever source of limited income they
have just can't keep up with prices of
fixing a house that they already own.
So, it's just a really, I think often
overlooked program, and I wanted to
appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you,
Council Matise. Natalie, could you uh
tell me the committee who determines the
distribution and the amount of the funds
for the different organizations?
Um, so if it is for the public service
programs for the nonprofits that is made
up of the um health and human services
advisory committee, if it is for the
regular funding sources, that is a staff
committee um that evaluates those using
a risk assessment and then a scoring
criteria.
See none other Christine.
This is on the motion to approve
resolution
25-130. Councelor McClur yes. Councelor
Matise. Yes. Councelor Graham. Yes.
Councelor Karan. Yes. Councelor Flores
and Bencomo are absent. And mayor yes.
Next is item 7.3. Resolution number
25-130.
This is what I have to recuse myself
from because I serve on the board of
Roadr Runner Food Bank. So,
oh, we're still good.
Yeah. No, I'm just saying I'm going to
leave so that I I think we're still
okay, right? We still have enough
people. Yes. Okay. So, I'm going to
leave. Bye.
I did. Oh,
131.
131. Okay.
Motion
move to approve grant
second cler.
Okay, Isaac, you're all right. Good
afternoon, mayor, members of city
council. I'm Isaac with the housing and
neighborhood services and the resolution
before you is the award of health
related public service grants to various
nonprofit agencies.
The health and the health related public
service grants are competitive
application process that are voted on by
the health and human service advisory
committee. The funding for this program
is allocated from interest earnings
earnings from the Talro facility
fund. FY26 will be year two of two of a
two-year funding cycle. City Council
approved an investment strategy through
resolution 22-028
uh to fund 600,000 for each fiscal year
starting in FY23 and ending in
FY26. Since this is the last year for
the investment strategy, city council
will need to provide direction for
future physical years.
The health related public service grants
are to help and support the physical,
mental, developmental, emotional, social
well-being as well as safety and housing
needs of city of Los Cusus
residents. The Health and Human Service
Advisory Committee has approved
$33,250 to the 17 agencies. And here are
the first eight agencies out of the 17.
Here are the next eight
agencies. And here's the final agency uh
with the total being
$566,750. And with that, here are your
standard council options and I stand for
questions.
Thanks, Isaac. Any question? Councelor
Mccclure.
Yeah, I had a question. Uh I'm I'd like
to know a little bit more about the
process that the advisory groups takes
to make the decision and the final
funding amount for each organization.
Definitely. Mayor Council Ler. Uh so how
the process works is we'll send out a
NOA notice of funding availability
availability to all the agencies and
it'll also go to the inter agency
council. Once that um is sent out, it
will end up being a letter of intent.
We'll review those uh letter of intents
and then after that we will go ahead and
if applicable send an application. Once
the applications are received by the
department we'll go ahead and uh send
out those applications to the health and
human service advisory committee. Once
they receive those applications they
will go ahead and score them. Once they
are done scoring, we'll have a committee
meeting. And when that committ committee
meeting is held, we'll go over all of
the scoring of the agencies. And with
that, we'll determine on how they would
like to uh allocate those funds, whether
it be a tier system or uh distributing
them all evenly like they did this time.
And then once they go ahead and vote on
them, we'll the final adoption will be
here at council.
Thank you. I I do have a little question
about how was it not tier? How was it
just given flat rate to I'm just curious
that it sounds like there's another
organiza you know we do follow rubrics
and in other areas and I'm curious how
this was sort of given sort of flat
rates and I'm I'm making sure that per
need that we're doing sort of the best
we can for this
Mr. Mayor Council Mccclure. So the
committee sets um a limit and their
current limit is actually 30,000. In
this case, we had less agencies apply,
so we were able to uh allocate more. Um
the the process is a series of public
meetings. So, usually there's uh for
health related, there's two public
hearings in which the agencies present
their application and their request to
that committee. And then the committee
can also finalize their scoring. And
then we come back um a week later and we
show the scores and then we walk through
them walk them through potential
scenarios. um would you like to fund
them if you fund them all at this rate?
Um and so there's a pretty robust
spreadsheet. In this case, this is year
two. And so under the adopted guide by
council, year two is just proportional
to what they received in year one. Um as
long as they met their compliance
requirements in their contract.
Thank you. I I just I'm just curious
because it seems like if we are looking
at need-based programs I it to me it
seems flat rate doesn't make make it
seem like that is but I guess if
everybody else seems okay with that. All
right. Um Mr. Councelor McCclar, as part
of every investment strategy, we usually
bring that guide back to council and at
that time, council can um make those
changes so you can
um change how that's how that's
happened.
In about 10 years ago, we had a tier
one, tier 2, tier three system where
certain um categories got more funding
versus less funding. But again, it it
changes over time based on the committee
and their recommendations to council.
Thank you.
Okay, seeing none others, uh Christine,
this is on the motion to approve
resolution
25-131. Councelor McClure, yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Graham, yes. Councelor Karan
recused herself. Councelor Flores and
Beno are absent and mayor. Yes.
Next is item 7.4 resolution number
25-132.
Move to approve. Graham.
Second. Mccclure.
Okay. Cynthia.
Good afternoon, mayor, city council. My
name is Cynthia Mo, CIP manager with
planning and implementation. And today
we have a few CIP amendments we'd like
to
present. At this round, we have two
types. First is adjustment to reflect
available funds. And second, we have a
project that has just completed or has
been uh uh has finished the process for
design approved project.
Here we have four CIP amendments. At the
last city council meeting on uh April uh
21st, city council approved for budget
adjustments and the are just one in we
want to reflect those recently approved
adjustments into the CIP document. So we
have two renovation projects. One is
Mskuit historical district renovation
and Amador hotel renovation.
We have the new uh fire station 9. This
project is for design and construction.
And lastly, we have a reconstruction
project for Compost Street Design and
Reconstruction. Next, we have the one
project that has been uh approved
through the design
process. This is a fairly new uh process
where the department submits a capital
project. Then through collaboration it
goes through interdep departmental
review. Then planning and imple
implementation has been part of this
process with the idea of elevating the
pro the project and tying specific
elements to our new programs to ensure
that there's uh there's the the match
funding to special projects and then the
project will continue to beat and
construct.
As a reminder, these are three programs,
active transportation, complete streets,
and
resiliency. This project is on Melinda
Street, and it will be receiving funding
from all three buckets to the amount of
uh
2.7. And in addition, this project also
has 1.4 million in utilities, but I
would like to invite public works to
provide more information and specifics
on this project.
Good afternoon, council. Uh, for the
record, my name is Kyle Arn. I'm the
engineering manager with your public
works department. As mentioned
previously, I'm here to provide some
highlights on the upcoming Melindra
Street reconstruction project. This is a
project to continue roadway, storm
water, and utility improvements from
Hadley Avenue on the southern
side where the previous phase of
construction concluded in 2018 and
continuing north to Picacho Avenue.
Project also includes Pittsburgh Avenue.
This project is adding curbon gutter,
filling several current sidewalk gaps,
thus completing a vital north south
multimortal route within the Alama depot
neighborhood
area. Project is generally in three
sections. The northern section along
Lion's Park where roadway rightway is
rather narrow, will consist of two 11ft
driving
lanes, parking on one side of the road,
an 8-ft sidewalk along Lion's Park, and
a six-foot sidewalk along the
residential section.
The southern section of Meinda Street
highlighted in blue here from Mountain
Avenue to Hadley Avenue will consist of
two 11oot travel lanes with parking and
sixoot sidewalks on both sides of the
road. Highlighted also here in green is
the remaining deadend section of
Pittsburgh Avenue which will be
reconstructed with parking on the north
side and a 5-ft sidewalk on both sides.
This photo is an example of the existing
Minda Street. And on the right hand side
of the photo, you may be able to see
that there are no currently currently no
curbon gutters and there's a long gap in
the
sidewalk. This rendering of the same
area is an example of what the designed
Melinda Street will look like after
improvements are completed with the new
enhanced pedestrian improvements.
Again, the estimated project cost for
the roadway and pedestrian improvements
is a little over $2.7 million plus the
cost of utilities. This project is
scheduled to go out to bid this month
and we are planning for construction for
August 2025 through March of 2026.
Cynthia Lammo for the record. Thank you,
Kyle. And with that, council, these are
your options for this presentation.
Thank you, Cynthia. Kyle, any
questions? What?
Okay, Christine.
This is on the motion to approve
resolution
25-132. Councelor McClur, yes. Councelor
Matise, yes. Councelor Graham, yes.
Councelor Karan, yes. Councelor Flores
and Beno are absent. And Mayor, yes.
Thank you all again. Councelor Karan,
did you know we had a Pittsburgh Avenue?
No. H doesn't count.
Next, the board appointments.
There's a lot.
So, I'll need a motion and a second and
vote required for each one. The first
one is John Oleski. A new appointment to
the CIA.
Move to
approve. Second.
This is on a motion to appoint John
Oleski to the CIA. Councelor Mccclur,
yes. Councelor Matise, yes. Councelor
Graham, yes. Councelor Karan, yes.
Councelor Fletus and Beno are absent and
mayor. Yes. Next is Alice uh
Carappoint to Lodgers Tax Advisory
Board.
Move to approve. Graham. Second. Corin.
This is on the motion to reappoint Alice
Kuth to the Lodgers Tax Advisory Board.
Councelor Mccclure, yes. Councelor
Matise, yes. Councelor Graham, yes.
Councelor Karan, yes. Councelor Fletus
and Mano are absent. And mayor,
yes. Next is John McDuffy, a new
appointment to the city art board.
Move to approve. Second, Graham.
This is on the motion to appoint John
McDuffy to the city art board. Councelor
Mccclure, yes. Councelor Matise, yes.
Councelor Graham, yes. Councelor Karan,
yes. Councelor Fletus and Bencomo are
absent and mayor. Yes.
Next is Susan Pula, reappointment to the
city art board. Move to approve. Second,
Graham.
This is on the motion to reappoint Susan
Pulka to the city art board. Councelor
McClur, yes. Councelor Matise, yes.
Councelor Graham, yes. Councelor Karan,
yes. Councelor Fletus and Beno are
absent. And mayor,
yes. Next is Adam Amodor, reappointment
to the city art board.
Move to approve. Second, Grant.
This is on the motion to reappoint Adam
Amidor to the city art board. Councelor
Mccclure, yes. Councelor Matise, yes.
Councelor Graham, yes. Councelor Cran,
yes. Councelor Footus and Beno are
absent. And mayor, yes. Next is Chantel
Yazy Martin, reappointment to the city
art board. Move to approve. Second,
Graham.
This is on the motion to reappoint
Chantel Yazy Martin to the city art
board. Councelor Mccclure, yes.
Councelor Matis, yes. Councelor Graham,
yes. Councelor Karan, yes. Councelor
Fletus and Beno are absent. And mayor,
yes.
Thank you. Next is notice of proposed
ordinance. There are none. Uh, next is
city council member board reports and
comments. Council Mccclure. Thank you,
Mayor. Uh just real quick, I went for
the first time to the 17th annual
uh Boys and Girls Club breakfast last
week and over 400 people came out and it
was just a really lovely event and I was
wondering if we can consider to as a
city council support their capital
campaign in this time that we're talking
about how we can support public private
relationships and do the best for our
youth. I'm wondering if we have the
responsibility to support initiatives
like this as city council. So, I'll just
leave it with that. Thank you,
Council Me. Yeah. I just wanted to make
the public aware there'll be a uh
District 2 council meeting uh May 29th,
Los Cusus High School, 6 PM in the
cafeteria. And I hope uh those in
district 2 and others that have any
concerns, we'll have uh four directors
will give some good information. We also
have somebody from Spaceport America
that will give a briefing on what
they're doing there and appreciate your
attendance. Thank you.
Thanks, Councelor Grant.
Too many Becky's. Thank you. Um, first,
uh, just wanted to thank the community
and Icebox Brewing for amazing support
for the firefighters union, uh, event
that we had on Saturday. Uh, super great
turnout. There was a Dalmatian on site
who belongs to one of the firefighters.
It wasn't just a hired prop, but several
people asked, they're like, "Did did you
bring that dog?" We're like, "No, no,
it's it's our dog." Um, so it was just
really great to see the community come
out and support. And then I also want to
I need to read this one because I need
to make sure that I get it right. Um,
oh, and I just lost it. Um,
congratulations to LCPD. Chief, I'll ask
you to fill in some details um for
winning I think first and second team at
Battle of the Badges uh charity event
this weekend. not the battle of the
badges boxing. So, not quite that cool,
but if you'll and uh if you'll just tell
us what the organization that that
supports is. Thank you, counselor and
mayor. The we had an annual event that
supports La Pon Sexual Assault Recovery
Services. That's the I believe 17th or
18th annual event. And a few years later
ago, they added in the battle of the
badges component. So, this year we had
the most teams we've ever had, 13 law
enforcement teams. Each team has three
members of whatever agency they come
from. And so we had a good mix from
different agencies around here as well
as Hobbs, Roswell, federal agencies. Our
the top two teams were LCPD.
Thank you. That's amazing. And uh were
did anyone point out that we were
particularly stacked because we have a
national champion on on our team? We
have a few really good shooters that
makes it difficult to beat, but yes, it
was good. It was a lot of fun. Great.
Thank you so much. And thank you to the
department for um coming out in their
free time. And that's all I have. Thank
you. Thank you. Congrats. Thank you.
Yeah, councelor Krin.
Um I don't have any any notes. I do um
congratulate and appreciate LCPD for for
being the best of the best. So that's
pretty amazing. Although you didn't say
everything that they do. I was like,
wait, is this trivia? I understand now.
Shooting is a part of it. Boxing is not
a part of it, but what did you I assume
that it's just shooting. Okay. That
particular event.
Yeah, this one is a shooting competition
and it's not all law enforcement.
There's over 100 shooters and you know
about maybe close to half are law
enforcement. The rest were just
citizens. Okay, good to know. Thank you.
I I wanted to just clarify what what the
secret tricks were.
Um shooting. It's good to know. Not
boxing. Um, I'll wait for that one. I
don't have any particular announcements
except I just want to say thank
congratulations to all of the city staff
and uh NMSU DACC folks who are
graduating in the next few days. It's a
really happy time of year. It's one of
my favorite times of year. But I I think
a lot of people have I've been seeing
all kinds of reports of people who are
getting associates degrees, bachelor's
degrees, master's degrees. And so I just
want to give a congratulatory shout out
to all of those folks who have um gotten
there in their in their educational
journeys and a welcome to the families
in town celebrating. And I don't know if
you've noticed, but there are a lot of
people like standing in front of things
taking pictures. So just give them a
moment because that they're in their
graduation attire. So
um welcome to the families and
congratulations to all the the grads who
are who are graduating this week.
All right. Thank you. Yeah, I just want
to mention also I was with uh at the
Mary and Lou Henson breakfast for the
Boys and Girls Club and and I agree,
Council Mccclure, that's something we
can do and we're we're very fortunate
that uh the building that they purchased
is now on the El Pasel area for there's
an MRA. So, that's something we can
definitely look at and see how we can
support their cause and help them uh get
to where they need to go. That'd be
great. And um the only other thing I had
was uh to say congratulations to Chief
Story for being uh recognized as citizen
of the year. Uh he's not just an
excellent marksman, but he's a excellent
member of this community and welld
deserved. Congratulations on your
recognition.
Thank you, mayor. and it doesn't get
said often enough, but thank you, mayor
and council, for the support that you've
offered and the things that you've
supported, especially in the past year.
Thank you, Chief. And with that, u I'll
turn it over to our acting CM, JC
Borggo. Thank you, Mayor Council. JC
Burggo, assistant city manager for the
record. Um, got a couple of updates.
There will be a Mother's Day concert on
Sunday, May 11th at 5:00 PM at the
Plaza. Darren Cordova Ealor will be
performing live. Uh there will be food
trucks. It's a free event pre uh and
please bring your chairs to celebrate
bike month. Uh National Bike Month. The
city will do a ride your bike to work
day on Friday, May 16th. So, all you
city staff members, please ride your
bike on that
day. Uh, we're
accepting the parks and rec uh
department is now accepting entries for
the
2025 electric light parade. Uh, the
theme this year is Los Cusus Unidos,
celebrating our city's unity.
the the parade will take place on
Thursday, July 3rd, starting at 900
p.m. Um, and if you're interested in
participating, you can find more
information and the application online
at
www.loscrus.gov/parade or apply in
person at the costetta building on
Hadley Avenue.
Uh to celebrate Arbor Day, city staff
collaborated with El Paso Electric to
plant 40 trees at the High Noon Soccer
Complex. Um from our visit Las
Cusus, the Amita Las Creus Festival la
uh last Saturday was a success with
approximately 12,000
attendees. VLC will have more
information at their annual update at
the next work session on Monday, May
12th.
um from our quality of life
department. The friends of the library
held a pop-up sale on Monday, April
28th. The sale was very successful as
the friends earned
$1,182. So, thank you to the friends for
their continued hard work.
Um, Desert Heroins, Amelia Lindley and
Galen Skiibia, I hope I got those names
correct, um, have been named uh, Desert
Heroins by NG A G Success Partnership
and NMCO Studio. Um, Desert Heroins are
women educating and inspiring
generations, fierce and brave, as
resilient as life in the Chihuahuan
Desert. Um, their photos will be on
display at the Madhatter Gall Gallery
through May
24th. Um, NMSU students installed their
bronze tiles and on the exterior of the
Las Cusus Convention Center on
University Avenue. Um, it's a
partnership with NMSU and and uh the
public art program. Um, and instructors
will add a title plaque to finish the
project soon. And that's all I have,
Mayor.
All right. Thank you, JC. Uh, just a
couple other things I just wanted to
mention this week going on. Uh,
tomorrow, Scott Andrews, the county
manager, will be delivering
a address, state of the address for the
county at 11:30 at the county complex.
And then on Thursday,
um, Ignosio Ree, the superintendent,
will be doing a state of the district
address at the convention center at
11:00 a.m. So, a couple of things that
our partners are doing in the community,
and if you get a chance to go by and
support them. Thank you. Look for a
motion to adjourn. So moved. Graham.
Seconded. Corin.
This is on the motion to adjourn the
meeting. Councelor McClur, yes.
Councelor Matise, yes. Councelor Graham,
yes. Councelor Karan, yes. Councelor
Fletes and Beno are absent. And mayor,
yes.