e
e e
[Music]
you're on
good afternoon welcome to the city
council meeting today is Monday
September 16th 2024 it's approximately 1
pm. I'm mayor Eric henriquez before we
start I want to mention that we have an
ASL uh American Sign Language
interpreter available in case anyone
needs they up in the front we will start
with a moment of silence if you please
stand for the brave men and women women
of the United States armed forces as
they protect our interest around the
globe as well as the courageous men and
women of the Las Cruses police and Los
Cruz's fire department they keep our
city safe
247 justice for
all all right thank you for joining us
on that pledge it sounded real good we
appreciate
it thank you councelor fles good job
leading next we have presentations and
certificates and
proclamations
um okay we'll have the mayor's top
teens and I'll be down there and then
joined by counselor Flores for other
Proclamation a
there we go so first what we have is
recognition of our mayor's top teens and
I just want to say first and foremost to
our top teens congratulations
congratulations to showing your
leadership in your community I see
before us the future but I definitely
see presently today leaders of our
community uh this has been going on for
several years I believe it's about 17
years as a newly elected mayor I
inherited this but I embrace it totally
and want to continue and and we can keep
going to display and present and
recognize our top teens in our community
so with that I'll invite uh president of
the top teens
Veronica also known as Ronnie Medina to
come up and say a few
words good after is that right good
afternoon everybody I am H Veronica
Medina I am president of the mayor's top
teens uh this has been going on for 17
years at which I have been a member all
17 years and this is all a
voluntary uh thing we get no uh no money
we we go collect money and try to help
with the top teens but we get no money
uh and help so we're proud to show you
the teens here proud of the top teens
who have accomplished quite a bit
and uh who have struggles in life but
are very much in school and doing very
well in school so I'd like to thank you
and congratulate you guys for being the
mayor's 17th group thank
you I'll have them come up and uh they
will say their name and the school that
they represent they will go here pass me
come in the come in the circle then
after they're done they will come and
take a picture here and then they will
meet the city council board members
who'll go around that go around the back
way okay so uh if you guys would please
stand
up and come forward thank
you that should be an enough B
hello I'm Richard Ray agular I am a
senior and I go to Centennial High
[Applause]
School hi my name is Alexa Alamos I'm a
senior and I go to Lost crusis High
[Applause]
School hi my name is madaka I'm a senior
and I go to Centennial High School
[Applause]
hi my name is Susana Cambron I'm a
senior and I go to organ Mountain High
School hi my name is Kylie C I'm a
senior and I go to Oregon Mountain High
School hello my name is Tristan Flores
I'm a senior at Centennial High
School hi I'm Jalissa Garcia and I'm a
senior at Centennial High School
hi I'm Kennedy guedes and I'm a senior
at Mayfield High
School my name is Levi Henderson and I'm
a senior at Desert Springs Christian
Academy hi my name is Evan krenzel and
I'm a senior at Centennial High
School hi my name is Lea ladine and I'm
a senior at Mayfield High
School hi my name is luk lenan and I'm a
senior at Mayfield High School
hello my name is Ariel mon Vice I'm a
senior at Mayfield High
School hi my name is Emma Montero and
I'm a senior at Mayfield High
School hi my name is Ethan Pac and I'm a
senior at Oregon Mountain High
School hi my name is Alfredo pintan I'm
a senior at sentenal high
[Applause]
school hi my name is is z Rodriguez I'm
a senior at Mayfield High
[Applause]
School hi my name is adonica CIO I'm a
senior at organ Mountain High
[Applause]
School hi my name is Savannah scow and
I'm a senior at Centennial High
School hi my name is Adria turpis and
I'm a senior at Oregon Mountain High
School uh hi my name is Antonio Torres
and I'm a senior at Mayfield High School
hi my name is Jesse vean I'm a senior at
Mayfield High
[Applause]
School hi my name is Lenny Washington
and I'm a senior at Oregon Mountain High
School
[Applause]
okay thank you kids for being a top team
we'll go ahead and come this way and
take a picture in front of here and then
you uh introduce you to the
council that's all right all the way to
the end yeah just go no no they're going
to take photo do you take a photo of
that one
photo short ones in
front two rows two rows
let me let me say
something are you
good all right are we ready
oh they're still taking pictures
wait
second so as Miss Medina had said these
individuals uh were nominated they were
selected uh because of the things either
whether they're challenges or academics
or activities but it's it's proven that
it's about their character and I'm proud
ladies and gentlemen and some former
students out there I'm proud to
introduce to you this year's mayor's top
team
good
job but I got one
more then's going to come down for the
SP and I was going to where my we be and
I forgot I should have taken it out last
conratulations
you better
this is
different next I would like
to present a certificate of
appreciation so on Father's day of this
year an individual drowned at the real
Grand River two children ages six and
seven were with their grandfather on the
river when this tragic incident took
place Tony
L was getting ready to leave the river
when he heard the cries for help he went
to investigate and saw the kids drowning
so he jumped in and saved them almost
drowning himself but he heard a voice a
voice that told him save the kids you'll
be fine so I'd like to ask if Tony L is
present to come up for for a certificate
of
[Applause]
appreciation well let me read read the
certificate of appreciation this
certificate is proudly presented to Tony
L in grateful recognition of his service
during a time of Crisis this certificate
is issued in recognition of civic
interest and as an expression of
appreciation by the mayor and on behalf
of the citizens of the city of Los cruus
so we present this certificate of
appreciation to you Tony
I just want to say thank you for this
and uh I just want to give all glory and
honor to Jesus Christ thank you
next will be the proclamation for the
international walk to school days uh
presented to Ashley Curry uh councelor
Flores will present the
proclamation is Ashley here there you
are of course you're here all the kids
the pi
Piper good to
see thank you go
there guys to
I heard you saying the Pledge of
alance whereas International walk to
school day is celebrated globally to
encourage children and family to embrace
walking and bicycling as a way to
promote physical activity reduce traffic
congestion and enhance Community
connections and whereas walking and
bicycling to school can improve the
health and well-being of students
offering them an opportunity to
incorporate physical activity into their
daily routines thereby helping to combat
childhood obesity childhood obesity and
related health issues and whereas
International walk to school day
provides an opportunity for parents
teachers and Community leaders to work
together to create safer routes for
walking and bicycling addressing safety
concerns and promoting an active
lifestyle and whereas the city of Las
Cruses is committed to ensuring the
Safety and Security of all children and
recognizes the importance of safe
accessible walking accessible walking
and bicycling routes to school as a PRI
priority for the community and whereas
participation in international walk to
school day encourages a sense of
community and shared purpose fostering
relationships among students families
and neighbors and whereas the events
align with the city of lasu's goals of
promoting sustainable Transportation
reducing traffic congestion and
improving air quality thereby
contributing to a healthier and more
environmentally friendly City now
therefore we the mayor and City Council
of Las Cruses New Mexico do hereby
Proclaim September 17 2024 through
September 20
2024 as International walk to school day
in Las gusis and encourage in Las crusis
and encourage all citizens to consider
the benefits of walking and bicycling to
participate in the events and to support
efforts to create safer and more
accessible routes for our children to
travel to and from school signed by our
mayor Eric Enriquez and our city clerk
who has attested this Proclamation
Christine
[Applause]
Rivera councilor Flores mayor Andries
members of the council and members of
the public I'm Ashley Curry I'm the safe
roots to school coordinator and I'm
honored to be here with members of the
weekly walking school bus from bate te
Washington Elementary um this is um a
yearly event that we do International
walk to school day as it implies is
celebrated around the world but these
kids at bti Washington walk every single
Friday they gather together at Cardon
Park and walk to school uh we have 20 of
our 25 elementary schools that have a
weekly walk so rain or shine they are
out there walking every single week and
we are so grateful to the city for the
work that you've done to ensure that we
have appropriate sidewalks
infrastructure in place to make it safe
for our kids to the police department
codes enforcement for walking along with
us and um to May RZ has taken on one of
our elementary schools as a school that
he walks with regularly and I know many
of our city council members have done
the same and so I just wanted to express
my gratitude to all of you who have been
a part of this and will continue to and
it's an open invitation to join us for
international walk to school day this
week or um any other week that we walk
thank you so
much are there any students or staff
who'd like to make a
comment suddenly you get very shy when
you stand up here thank you so much
thank you Ashley app thank you
thank you
[Music]
[Applause]
for screen wonderful photo photo
UPS come
on let me see can you walk yes you
can well you looking at yourself in the
camera your movie
St will you do I'll see you on Friday
oh
I okay there's more thank you thank you
I think Ash's going to line
you your little sister and this one too
no you belong
to did she belong to Hi how are
[Music]
ready
thank you
[Applause]
it's Deborah
Hil that one that one Deborah
Hil okay
thank you again
Ashley keep
walking I mean I don't mean keep walking
out of
here I mean keep
walking stay
healthy I
know whereas the Constitution of the
United States of America the guardian of
our liberties EMB embodies the
principles of limited government in a
republic dedicated to rule by law and
whereas September 17 2024 marks the
20 37th anniversary of the drafting of
the Constitution of the United States of
America by the Constitutional Convention
and
whereas it is fitting and proper to
Accord official recognition to This
Magnificent document in its memorable
anniversary and to the Patriotic
celebrations which will commemorate the
occasion and whereas Public Law 915
guarant guarantees the issuing of a
proclamation each year by the president
of the United States of America
designating September 17 through
September 23 as Constitution week now
therefore we the mayor and City Council
of Las crusis New Mexico do hereby
proclaim the week of September
17 through September
23 2024 Constitution week and urge all
citizens to study the Constitution and
reflect on the privilege of being an
American with all the rights and
responsibilities which that privilege
involves and this is presented to
Deborah
[Applause]
hail just going take a picture you want
to get can speak oh yes absolutely
um I want to invite any other da members
that are here to come up and receive
this as well um on behalf of the doniana
chapter of the National Society of the
Daughters of the American Revolution and
the citizens of Los Cruses and we accept
and thank you Mr Mayor and members of
Los Cruses Council for the for this
Proclamation the Constitution is the
greatest legal do document ever written
the Constitution is certainly the most
influential legal document in existence
since the creation its creation 2 137
years ago over 100 countries around the
world have used it as a model for their
own and and it is a living document is
one of the world's oldest surviving
constitutions and while the Supreme
Court continually interprets the
Constitution as to reflect on a rapidly
changing world its basic tenants have
remained virtually unchanged since its
Inception and unchallenged as well
people curl over its interpretation but
never do they question the wisdom of its
underlying principles this document WR
written 237 years ago still plays an
important role in our everyday lives and
watching all these young people in their
future uh it's it's exciting to see and
I hope that I hope that they will
continue you to be a guide for them
[Applause]
okay you want to call Lorenzo
Alba I'm sorry the hunger this one's
yeah lenzo
Al you want to call now Loreno would you
like to come up now or after I read
it gee thanks
okay it's really hard with the
glare whereas hunger awareness month is
a month that brings awareness to hunger
and asks others to join together in the
mission to end Hunger and whereas the
mission to end Hunger is critical with
more than 10 pardon 40 million people in
the United States today hungry or
experiencing food insecurity and whereas
the city of Las Cruses is committed to
taking steps to raise awareness about
the need to
combat hunger in every part of our
County and to provide resources that re
that residents of the city of lusus need
and whereas hunger and poverty are
issues of vital concern in New Mexico
Las Cruses and Dona Ana County where
21.3% of
people which is
46766 in Dona Ana County face hunger and
those people and of those people
35.8% are in fact children which is
16,74 who do not know where their next
meal will come from and whereas the city
of Las cruus is committed to taking
steps to combat hunger in every part of
our
communities and to provide resources to
those in Las Cruses in need of food and
whereas Las cruus is committed to
working with its partner Casa de peros
in support of the rural food initiative
that includes 13 mobile food
pantries providing food and educating
the community about the importance of
food pantries and addressing hunger and
raising awareness of the need to devote
more resources and attention to hunger
issues and poverty
and whereas the month of September has
been designated hunger Awareness Month
in order to bring attention to food
insecurity in our communities and to
engage the public in action including
voluntaries
volunteerism volunteerism sorry social
media shares donations and advocacy to
ensure nobody has to make an impossible
choice between food and other
necessities like medicine utilities or
child care and whereas more than
2,813 L Cruses residents receive meals
provided by Casa peros annually and
whereas Las Cruses is committed to
working with Casa peros and partners to
help provide food address hunger and
raise awareness of the need to devote
resources and attention to hunger
strikes now there therefore we the mayor
and the city of Las Cruses New Mexico do
hereby proclaim the month of September
as hunger Awareness Month Loreno ala
[Applause]
[Music]
I think I see Sandy Bean up there she's
one of our volunteers I'd like you to
come up here to receive this
with I actually want to thank you all
for this Proclamation we do this every
year and
it's just a reminder that the city of
Las crues plays a very very important
role in our
mission feeding the hungry in our
community is uh something that takes a
lot of Courage a lot of humility and we
would not be able to do this without the
city of Las crues and their staff
members I'd I'd actually like to have
Natalie come up here too she's part of
this Mission from the time I arrived
here 14 years ago
what we do in our community and not
everybody knows all the ins and outs of
what we do but the bottom line on it is
that our role here is to make sure that
the families in our community have food
on their tables every day not an easy
task to accomplish when you're running
on a shoest string budget but it's
absolutely critical work that we do is
as as my uh friend uh Cassandra Gand
used to say it's one of those points
that we need to make sure we address on
a regular basis in order to basically
make people aware of the resilience of
this community so thank you for being a
part of that too Cassandra
we it's humbling to be up here with you
guys because um we started out with a
budget 14 years ago of
$174,000 a year and we're able to serve
maybe about 5,000
people and what we're able to do now the
facility that we're in the projects that
are moving forward they don't happen
without support of leadership within our
communities and that's what the
administration here at the city of Las
Cruses and the counselors past present
uh future have all showed us so
far they've showed us that this is an
important part of what they do the lift
program The Lift Up program here in Las
Cruses fits right into our mission it
absolutely is perfect we've even done
some co- projects together we were able
to bring a lot of food uh to opaka park
and some other places here really impact
the families of Las
Cruses this team right here volunteers
board members management
team they're the ones that make
everything happen
happen they're the ones that actually
make it go around for our
mission I
I I I can't say enough about them
because they're the ones that actually
make it happen every day those the ones
that are the boots on the ground in
front of people whether it's here
whether it's in the rural communities it
it doesn't matter it's always a team and
volunteers uh that make this happen the
board of directors spend countless hours
making hard decisions about what we do
every day um so thank you so much again
uh just so you know last year we were
able to distribute well over 5 million
pounds of food which comes out to about
4.2 million meals and our numbers
increase tremendously on the amount of
people about
21% uh year-over-year about the amount
of people that we serve so this building
is working and I think I'm due to come
back and talk with you guys in October a
little bit about this uh new facility
and what we've been able to do in it at
our work
session we are on Pace right now to do
about6 million pounds this year in the
first two months we've distributed
over 1 million pounds of food in this
facility so the work is getting done we
need a lot more money so if you guys
have some extra money laying around you
know we always can use the funding uh
I'm going to challenge you city council
and mayor I'm going to challenge you an
Administration to look at the idea of
making some of
these projects these service projects
that you guys contribute to these
wonderful missions that we all have in
whether it's in housing or feeding the
hungry I'm challenging challenging you
to make it a line
item so that we don't have to compete
with other nonprofits for the funding
and we know that we can count on you
year-over-year to make this happen and
we'll talk to our state legislators
about that anti- ation CLA T
so but thank you so much for this
opportunity and again these folks
standing up here um it takes a village
and that's why I wanted Natalie to come
up here she's been part of our mission
for 14 years and of course our board of
directors and our volunteers thank you
so much and uh I think we got Stephen
chab up there the new director over at
El Calo come and join us Steve thank you
[Applause]
time
you
okay the next Proclamation is for lasusa
Symphony Association
[Music]
day whereas the mission of lasusa
Symphony of the excuse me whereas the
mission of the lasusa symph Association
is to present
orchestral music of the highest artistic
quality in a variety of settings and
formats and whereas the lasusa symphony
Association engages educates and
enriches our historically diverse and
underserved region and whereas the
lasusa symphony Association has been
serving our community for the past 45
years and
whereas the lasusa Symphony has been
training our children to be the next
generation of classically trained
musicians and whereas the lasusa
symphony has been collaborating with a
broad range of creative fin artists
including those in the fields of Visual
Arts the Performing Arts and the
literary groups now therefore we the
mayor and the city council of Las Cruses
New Mexico do hereby Proclaim
Saturday September 28
2024 as Las Cruses Symphony Association
day and further extend appreciation to
the board of directors executive
director musical director/ conductor and
all musicians of the lasusa symphony
orchestra Youth Orchestra and Junior
Orchestra for their dedication and
performances to our
community and this is being presented to
Michael
[Applause]
Chang you you hold that will I say a few
words well you can hold it okay have the
mic well thank you let me have my part
of my board come up
here so on behalf of uh my board of
directors the executive director our
musical director Ming Luke I want to
thank the mayor and the city council for
recognizing uh not next Saturday but the
Saturday in two weeks which will be our
opening concert for the 2425 season um
I'm kind of recently resident of Los
Cruses having only been here for four
years uh but I'm still surprised that
when I talk to other L crusin that they
even though the symphony's been here
since
1976 they keep on telling me you have a
symphony here I'm like yes we do so this
is meant to get the word out um our
opening concert in two weeks uh is the
concert that we call pictures at an
exhibition it is uh one of the pieces is
Mr mazori uh who had an artist friend Mr
Hartman uh who after seeing Mr Hartman's
display of art created this piece it was
actually a piece of 10 movements for the
piano and then Mr Ravel came along and
reorchestrated it for the for the
orchestra for the symphony so I had the
idea so we can collaborate with our
other artists to have the reverse and so
with the help of the Los cruus chapter
of the New Mexico watercolor Society
about 19 artists local artists heard the
piece a recording of it and we're
inspired to paint a watercolor so these
pieces will be on display at the
symphony on Saturday night and you
patrons come will listen to the symphony
and see the artwork and then vote and
decide which piece you like like the
most has being inspired by the piece so
on again on behalf of the directors I
thank the city council Mr Mayor thank
you very much and come to Symphony
[Applause]
just when you thought we were done one
more and are
you mayor protm will come down
this is
uh going to be presented to Rio
Rio
you I thought you
want okay
so this is the glare here is terrible uh
whereas Americans observe National
Heritage Month from September 15 to
October 15 by celebrating the histories
cultures and contributions of American
citizens whose ancestors came from Spain
Mexico the Caribbean and Central and
South America and whereas the
observation started in 1968 as Hispanic
heritage week under President
Lyndon uh Johnson and was expanded by
President Ronald Reagan in 1988 it was
enacted into law on August 17
1988 whereas the latinx pro population
of the United States according to the
2020 census status is
62.1 million representing
18.9% of the total US population and
whereas Hispanic Latin and laex latinx
Americans
represent a significant and fast growing
demographic of New Mexico ago we honor
the invaluable ways they contribute to
donana County a care as caring neighbors
and business owners and whereas the
number of people within donana County
who identified as Latino Or Hispanic
heritage is
68.9% of the total population and why do
we still feel like a minority okay
whereas that wasn't part of the P
Proclamation I'm sorry whereas the
number of people within Dona County who
identifies this is
68.9% of the total population and
whereas in honor of national Hispanic
Heritage Month NMSU Latin American
programs will host activities such as
indigenous science from local to Global
context by Dr Jessica
ernandez on September 17 Sabor salvados
pusas
baa f
on September 19 boses a panel by NMSU
students staff faculty and community
members on September
25th undocu in
entrepreneurship webinar by immigrants
Rising on October 2nd salsa tasing and
tour on October
3rd jotex e
regueros
live podcast documenting queer stories
from the border on October 8th and Lumia
night on October 16 now therefore we the
mayor and City Council of lasas New
Mexico do hereby proclaim the week of
September 15 through October 15
2024 as Hispanic National excuse me
Hispanic Heritage Month and encourages
uh residents to join us as we celebrate
and pray
tribute to the generations of Latinos
who have influenced and enriched our
nation and Society signed by mayor Eric
Enriquez and our city clerk attested by
our city clerk Christine Rivera and this
is presented to Rio
Lopez Dr Rio
hi everybody good
afternoon I want to thank the mayor city
manager iani and the city council for
recognizing the hard work of Latin
American programs at NMSU one of the
largest programs at the equity inclusion
and diversity unit LX heritage month is
a time to celebrate the achievements and
beauty of our diverse Community it also
invites us to reflect on our history
recognize our challenges and work
towards greater inclusion and
Equity as the largest minoritized group
in Las Cruses and
NMSU it's crucial that we commit to
solidarity the work of our program and
Latin American student council is key to
our University's Hispanic and minority
serving designations I hope you can join
our event series and build community and
learn with us thank you so much
[Applause]
conratulations
for
what's next on the
agenda next we have jobs of the week by
Sarah Rainey but before we do that do we
have counselor
McClure okay uh councelor McClure would
like to join us
Zoom uh so we need a motion in a second
so moved coren second by Flores
okay this is on the motion to allow
councelor McClure to participate via
Zoom councelor
McClure I'm not sure she'll be able to
okay um councelor matis is absent
councelor Graham yes councelor cran yes
councelor flutes yes councelor Beno yes
mayor
yes okay do we have uh Sarah rainy for
jobs of the
week good afternoon
everyone
oops all right my name is Sarah rainy I
am the OneStop coordinator for the
southwest region of New Mexico workforce
for the jobs of the week we have a
Transit operator two for the city of Los
cruus that position starts at 1951 at
this time it's a continuous posting
there's also an urban planner for the
city of Los crusis that position starts
at 53,000 and the posting closes on the
second for white s Missile Range there's
a mechanic Automotive generator there
are actually two positions listed um so
check that one out that one position the
posting closes in
February we also have for the American
Red Cross a Multicultural digital
marketing manager the position starts at
75,000 and the posting closes on the
13th of
September we have the store manager for
the Sunglass Hut and msia Valley Mall
position starts at 31,000 and the
posting closes on the 13th we have an
HVAC installation helper for four FMI
LLC that position closes on the
14th
actually we also have this week this
Wednesday we have have the job Readiness
our monthly Outreach at the community of
hope this is for those um patrons and
customers and residents of the Community
of Hope we reach out to them and help
them with their resumés their interview
skills um job Readiness and all whatever
it encompasses for them the tuition
assistance anything that they're needing
in their job
search I wanted to let you let you all
remind you all sorry I'm tripping over
my tongue today remind you all that
we're still open till 6: p.m. in our Las
cruus office 8:00 a.m. to 6: p.m. we are
not closed during lunch so we're open
all those hours for everybody to come by
check out what you need to check out
with our our um our team workers there
also you can check us out on employee
nm.com and all of our social
media thank you I have a question yes
ma'am may yes um page two
uhhuh uh I have a urban planner city of
lasusa
uh yada yada closes 9224 I actually I
think this actually our our previous I
don't think that this was my most recent
slides I did notice that that one was in
there yeah I just want to make sure
people so is that position open is that
a that position I mean that one would be
closed by now um
the also the uh Multicultural marketing
manager that that one is closed as of
now I think this is our last week's
slide or the the previous week because
we weren't here last week so I think
that there might have been a mix up in
the slides that were presented but okay
but we will get those updated and we'll
make sure that anybody that's interested
in especially the city of Los crues
donana County and our local jobs come by
and we can get you set up with all of
those great thank you all right thank
you okay thank you sir
pets of the week
Carol good afternoon my name is Carol
Nelson I am the digital content
specialist with the Animal Services
Center of msia
Valley uh for this week's cat of the
week we have Felix number 7789 if you
want to look Felix up says I'm Felix I'm
a shy reserved cat but with a bit of
patience I warm up to Gentle scratches
and cozy Spots I'm looking for a lovely
family who loving family who understands
that I'll need time to fill at home and
to work on my socialization if you're
willing to offer a calm environment and
a little extra patience I'll be a loyal
and affectionate
companion for the dog of the week we
have faith 728 91 to look up if you
would like uh faith says I'm sweet and
an energetic dog who loves treats and is
eager to for an active family I'm
looking for someone who can give me lots
of love and help with a bit of extra
training I'm athletic and might jump a
fence if not trained properly so as
secure yard and a bit of guidance would
be perfect if you're up for some fun and
have an active lifestyle I'd love to be
your new best friend just as a reminder
all animals that get promoted as pet of
the week um have no fee associated with
their adoption uh so it's a great time
to adopt pets uh this week's events we
are going to be at the farmers market uh
during all the hours so feel free to
stop by at our booth uh we also all
month long on Tuesdays are running a
special where you can come by our Clinic
from 4: to 7: in the evening uh to get
your pet microchipped um only $10 per
microchip but the first 50 pets are free
uh so definitely come early so you can
get your pets microchipped free um and
we're definitely on all the social media
I say all the social media platforms but
the main ones um you can also visit us
online at ASC M v.org thank
you thank you
Carol next is a conflict of interest
does any member of city council city
manager or any member of City staff have
any known conflict of interest with any
item on the agenda none none none
Graham councilor McClure
okay seeing none next we go to public
participation uh Katrina will be up
there to escort you as you come up to
speak you'll have three minutes to speak
uh you cannot speak on any pending
litigation or any item that's on the
non-consent agenda today thank
you good afternoon Tim
Jenkins um mayor city council and chief
of
police at the end of this last week I
witnessed seven to eight of our Outreach
officers alongside mono mono at the dirt
lot across from the street across from
KRA and tager clearing the lot cleaning
up all the trash and interacting with
the homeless to see how we could help
them out I witnessed many of these
homeless people literally picking up
their tents and putting them on carts
and wheels and driving their entire tent
away around the corner from our
officers Friday afternoon I drove back
by and the entire lot was clean and not
a single tent or a piece of trash was
left I left town for work early Saturday
morning and returned Sunday midday when
I drove by on Sunday not only were their
tents set back up but trash all over the
place again and about 10 or 12 homeless
camping out in front of caay Pedigo with
a hammock set up in front of the front
entrance of the
store it seems to me that we are all
pushing as hard as we as hard and as
fast as we possibly can for housing for
these
individuals when they are not even
willing to help themselves I truly
believe in my heart that we are putting
the cart before the horse and we really
need to focus on the mental health and
the drug addiction of these individuals
it literally makes my heart hurt to see
the what this city has become we are
here to help and support you guys in
whatever way we can please help us thank
you
uh wait till Larry gets here
please mayor council people my name is
Charles wler and uh I didn't know he was
going to be preempted here but uh the
daughters of American Revolution gave a
proclamation I didn't know that was on
the agenda but anyway here I am I like
to a little bit more to it and my good
friend Larry sadil is here to help me
because my eyes I got m degeneration so
anyway uh here Larry let's see if we can
add a little bit more to this critical
document that we call the
Constitution uh dollars American
Revolution uh they started about 1955
they petitioned Congress and by 196 56
August the 2nd they got that U passed
through Congress and resolution Congress
does do something right once in a while
thank God and so on that date they did
sign into Law Public Law
915 uh which says what that any
institution in our country that receives
federal funds and I imagine there's a
good number of them I don't know what
the percentage here in Los cruus is
receiving federal funds New Mexico State
University or public schools etc etc
they are suggested very strongly by that
public law to observe it by having a
program in place for the employees
students etc etc
uh I'm wondering if that's really being
done I hope that maybe next time that
this Council meets the first Monday of
next month if they'll be able to give a
report of what activities they had for
the employees here to observe this
critical document uh it's been in
existence for 237 Years thank God so
anyway that being said Larry would you
read poring I can't read it forgive me
so go ahead and some of the tenants of
that uh Public Law
these are the aims of the Constitution
week celebration r two emphasize
citizens responsibilities for protecting
and defending the
Constitution inform people that the
constitution is the basis for America's
great
heritage and the foundation of our way
of
life incurs the study of the historical
events which led to the framing of the
constitution in September
1787 Constitution week is a great time
to learn more about this important
document and celebrate the freedoms it
gave us get involved by encouraging
young people to sign the Constitution
week Proclamation pledge and ask you ask
your local community officials to issue
a proclamation about the Constitution
thank you very much which you did I'm
really surprised at that and I'm very
thankful mayor and Council by the way I
have fre constitutions here in espanol
and English
Depend and uh contact me I'll be happy
to give one to you free we like free
stuff thank you very much appreciate it
God bless you
all and pardon Larry he was apologizing
to me because uh called him right at the
last minute Larry I need some help here
my driver and my reader and everything
and he uh came watering the trees he's a
farm boy okay so let's go
good afternoon mayor Enriquez mayor
potim bomo and counselors my name is
Terry Miller and I'm a board member of
the children's reading Alliance we serve
children and their families throughout
donana County but our office is located
at the Community Action Agency and thank
thanks to the generosity of CEO Don
Hummer CRA has been able to store its
books and materials in caa's warehouse
for the past 13 years and that's why I'm
here today for the past many years CRA
has received numerous used book
donations and purchased new books for
our three programs and for the past many
years these books have been piling up in
the warehouse because we simply didn't
have the woman or manow to get them
organized however a couple of months ago
cra's board president Rory measure
attended a deerson Charities meeting and
had a chance to talk about CRA and its
programs after the meeting Patak Costa
the supervisor of the youth development
and diversion Learning Center spoke with
Rory about finding opportunities for our
two programs to work together and the
first co-project they came up with were
the books in the warehouse so on
Saturday September 7th four staff
members from the youth development and
diversion Learning Center pulled up in a
van with four Teenage Pro program
participants and they were all all ready
to work two students and two staff
members worked with our board member
Duncan Smith shelving new books
according to grade level and two
students and two staff members worked
with me going through boxes and boxes of
donated books and deciding which books
to keep which books to donate to coaz
and which books had lived a good life
but were ready to be discarded all four
students took their jobs seriously and
got to work I was really impressed with
the students who were tasked with
deciding what to do with the used books
and watched how they looked at each book
carefully before deciding their fate and
within 2 hours all of The Used Books had
been touched and placed where they
needed to go then the icing on the cake
was when the staff offered to drop off
all those coaz boxes on their way back
to the Learning Center which saved
Duncan and me much time and energy the
thing is I'd never heard of this
wonderful program and the good it does
for our youth who have had some minor
brushes with the law I had no idea part
of the it was part of the Parks and
Recreation program and funded by both
the city of Los Cruses and New Mexico's
children youth and families department
and it was exciting to learn of a
program that provided early intervention
opportunities to work on community
service projects that really make a
difference in both our lives and the
lives of the students who participated
so I'm here today to not only talk about
how grateful I am for this program but
to thank you mayor mayor protim bomo
counselors and the Parks and Recreation
department for supporting the youth
development and diversion Learning
Center and its amazing dedicated staff
Henry Ford is quoted to saying coming
coming together is a beginning keeping
together is progress working together is
success and I want to add for us all
thank you
[Applause]
good afternoon Mr Mayor city council my
name is veteran Chavez thank you for
allowing me to speak
today we have Hispanic Heritage Month
but no national holiday honoring
Hispanic or
Latinos back on June 6 2016 the City
established city ordinance 2784 where it
states the city of Las Cruz has
established a veterans Advisory board
for the purpose of advising City Council
in matters affecting veterans and to
propose soluions to leviate or remedy
the needs of local veterans don't take
personal what I'm B to say I would like
to know what the major veterans needs or
issues this Advisory Board is worth
working on I don't see them listed
anywhere where can I find them if they
exist and what are the issues what is
the city and this board doing to address
these issues if they do exist I see this
meeting as a staff meeting with each
veterans organization and share
providing what they have done during the
past month but I don't see any
significant issues that have been
identified by this board and what steps
are being taken by this board to address
them is there a one-year plan that lists
the goals and priorities of this board
in my opinion there should be at least
the minimum of 10 issues this board will
work on
next year 2025 the board should meet to
identify and prioritize these issues
around the October time frame and farm
them out to whoever the board decides as
a PC to start coordination and
identifying whatever resources they may
need in 2025 to accomplish their
assigned task or tasks whatever
resources are needed should be
determined and finalized before the end
of this year 2024 that way the board has
a clear understanding of what assistance
and resources they may need to be
request from the city and the task and
if the task itself can be accomplished
the of conservatives in action has an
initiative where they identify veterans
that need their American flags replaced
due to wear and tear and they go out and
replace these flags at no cost to
Veterans does the city of lasus have
such a program in place this could serve
as an as an initiative or Pro or
priority for next year the city could
provide a flag Exchange program for
veterans that need their Flags replaced
veterans could turn in their Flags or
their tatter flags for a new one at no
cost to them also the City could provide
a flag to Veterans families upon the
death of a veteran when a veteran is not
entitled to a military funeral those
respons whose responsibility is to
provide guidance to the board is it city
council and do they communicate directly
with the board or is it through the
leison or is a board supposed to
identify veterans issues and priorities
through the leison this information is
communicated to city council to me other
veterans this is not very clear and
transparent collectively it's going to
take city council the veterans Advisory
Board and the leaz on to make this a
viable platform maybe it's time to
develop and issue a survey to the
community to identify veterans issues
and then prioritize the issues the city
and board plan to address the veterans
quarter I understand it is on the city
web page to provide information to
Veterans I don't see anything listed on
this site or page that is helpful to
Veterans aside from the veterans leison
and the names of the veterans Advisory
board at a minut there should be links
to this page that take the city
ordinance established in this board the
monthly minutes of this board and the
agenda veterans calendar events and
Veterans issues that this board is
working on
thanks good afternoon mayor um chief
police chief of fire my name is Marshall
mccardy I live in District 2 I'm an
artist a father Community member a youth
Advocate today I'd like to propose to
the city
council an idea I have for emiral in
honor of Officer Hernandez the police
substation uh adjacent to the dog
park um is the location i' like to do it
as we all know officer Hernandez
honorably sacrificed himself in service
to our community my vision for this m is
to honor officer herandez and all other
law enforcement officers in a way that
attract community and attention
beautifies the city and encourages
relationship between civilians and law
enforcement professionals and invites
youth um I brought some reference
material some of my other murals I've
done uh I estimate that it' probably
cost anywhere between $800 and $1,000 to
get it done um I'd be willing to do this
all out of my own effort um I'm disabled
so I have more than enough time on my
hands to help the community it's um
something and I just as a Survivor was
stabbing it's just something I think
about every day when I look in the
mirror and it's something I'd love to do
for the community um I went a little off
track of my speech because I got
emotional and uh if my friend would like
to speak the came here to support me uh
that's all I have to say thank
you thanks so much counselors mayor uh
everybody else from Chris bibac a
District 5 resident and so as Marshall
was explaining we have the idea for the
mural he had brought a port folio some
of the work that he does and along with
some contact information was curious if
the council uh mayor or police chief
might have any sort of advice on what
our next steps would be uh to coordinate
with the city and possibly complete a
formal proposal uh submit some sketches
drafts and see if we can work together
on a public art project to honor uh
Fallen officer
Hernandez thanks all right thank you if
you want to provide that uh portfolio to
the clerk and then she'll distribute to
to the city manager and staff Accord L
and then uh mayor and Council will look
at it so thank you thank you for thank
you appreciate your time Mr
Mayor I say something about the City
Art staff will take
okay good afternoon everybody sorry my
name is Jim spara um with regard to
resolution item 7.4 the uh the apartment
zoning um with regard I have a few
bullet points increase sir we can't talk
about a item at this time that's on the
agenda when that comes up I believe uh
there's a spokesperson for that because
it will be a hearing thanks thank you
[Music]
good afternoon city council um I am
Susan Greenwald Cabo the executive
director of downtown Las Cruz's
partnership um I was not here last time
because we were onboarding some new
board members so um Justin durm a local
ler which is a fancy by fancy I mean
French word for a guitar maker and um
brissa Bria excuse bford our first
Legacy board member her father was one
of the founders of dlcp and she came
down as as a child to work with him so
anyway really excited about having our
two new board members on I hope you get
to meet them soon um kind of also what I
want to speak with you about today is an
opportunity to learn some of the stories
of downtown um I would love for any of
you who would like to go on a walkal um
with me of downtown and talk to some of
our businesses um kind of hear from them
we have a lot of stories of triumphs you
guys know that Mias is opening on Main
Street huzzah um and we have some
stories of trouble too um downtown Blues
coffee is going to be closed for a month
because of some a leak in their building
yeah so I would just love for you guys
to have the opportunity that I have to
get to speak with our businesses every
day and just hear it from them um so if
that is something that you would like to
do with me maybe some my board members
if you would contact me let me know um
make sure that you get it um straight
from the horse's mouth downtown um
hopefully it won't be as exciting as a
ride along with Chief story um but
hopefully as informative um really show
you guys that downtown just isn't a
district one thing it's downtown is for
everyone in Los crues so hope to hear
from you soon thank
you T T want three test
test test
test yes we can hear you now
counselor good afternoon Mr Mayor city
council and city manager bear with me as
I read this do you really want a city
council that takes their time in getting
things done because they're so wrapped
in the social issues that cannot be
controlled from this dis in many years
past there was so much for the council
to concentrate on that involved the
everyday lives of the citizens that
should be represented safety in our
neighborhoods Outreach to our seniors
mental health children's programs
Dolores just for the record Dolores lto
thank you and well paved roads in
everyone's neighborhood now we see in
the paper that we have a high rate of
car theft and burglaries throughout our
city the the unemployment rate is higher
than that of the state and we don't have
many new jobs that pay more than minimum
wage coming to Los Cruses in fact back
in 2003 I was talking about our students
leaving our community for better
opportunities and how we needed to stop
the drain here we are 14 years later and
every elected official still talks about
stopping the drain seems to me that we
have no priorities in PL place for this
task we have so many talk about mental
health and how much help is needed but
we can't fund a facility facility not
even the one that is run by the county
and shut down several times funds to be
the just weed it program some of you
might remember that is a great gesture
at clearing weeds and trash as stated in
the manager's letter but we have a tent
city that continues to grow homeless
children and senior centers such as msia
park that has at its best days 20
seniors at any
time I read this to you because I wrote
this on October 9th
2017 and it was printed in the Los
Cruz's paper at that time does many of
these things still sound familiar to you
are they still happening are we still
talking about them every single day just
today you had some amazing people here
students children and people working for
the community volunteers but this budget
has grown substantially over the last
seven years that I wrote quote this
there have been salaries increased
almost doubled since the last city
manager I worked for but the problem is
not money the problem is dedicating the
time that it takes to get it done one
project at a time many of us have stood
here and talked to you about the
homeless about the senior citizens it's
sad to me to hear Lorenzo Alba talk
about increasing food every single year
we should be sad about that not I I give
him big Kudos he's worked very hard at
feeding our community across this County
but these situations continue to grow
and until we target them and make them
100% priority in our community this is
my hometown this is not something I'm
very proud of right now thank you
okay that concludes public participation
thank you all uh next is the acceptance
of
agenda move to approve second
gram this is on the motion to accept the
agenda as presented councelor
McClure yes councelor matis yes counc
Graham yes councelor cran yes councelor
fles yes councelor bomo yes mayor
yes next is resolution and ordinance for
discussion 7.1 one resolution
25-35 a resolution authorizing the city
of Los Cruses to accept Grant awards
from
nmdot Crystal s move to approve second
Corin
okay good afternoon mayor city council
staff and public my name is Crystal
Silva with the grants Administration
program today I am bringing forward a
resolution to accept the active
Transportation improvements Grant this
was awarded through the 2024 New Mexico
legislative
session the city requests funding on an
annual basis from the New Mexico State
Legislature to complete capital projects
the the city was granted funds in the
amount of
$350,000 from the New Mexico Department
of Transportation for projects that are
identified in the Los cruus active
Transportation plan there is no match
required for this Grant and nmdot
oversees any transportation related
projects and requires an approved
resolution by city
council projects identified include the
design and construction of a multi-use
trail associated with Valley View Park
connecting esperansa Avenue to espena
Street the construction of pedestrian
improvements at intersections on Ethel
Avenue Alam Boulevard Miranda Street and
Huma
Street a third project is the
augmentation of bicycle and pedestrian
improvements on ongoing active
Transportation projects such as Madrid
Avenue from Evelyn Street to North th
Drive
before you are your Council options and
I stand for
questions any members of council have
any
questions no seeing
none interesting go ahead this is on the
motion to approve resolution
25-35 councelor
McClure yes councelor matis yes
councelor Graham yes councelor cran yes
councelor flutes yes councelor bomo yes
mayor
yes next is 7.2 resolution number
25-36 a resolution approving a
reimbursement agreement between the city
of lasusa and Sierra North development
move to approve Graham second
Corin for
good afternoon mayor and Council my name
is Kathy Matthews I'm the landscape
architect with the Parks and Recreation
Department and this afternoon we are
asking you to consider a resolution um
to approve a reimbursement agreement
with a developer for design and
construction of a neighborhood park
so the national recreation park
Association research
finds that Parks Foster positive social
interactions and increased Social
Capital Park quality is a predictor of
overall
wellbeing people of all ages income
levels and all racial ethnic and
political backgrounds agree that Parks
and Recreation is
essential and 86% of us adults believe
it is important for their local
government to make investments that
ensure children have access to safe and
inclusive playgrounds and of course the
city of Las Cruses does that um in
2017 in particular a study by Clemson
and North Carolina State universities
found that more green space was
associated with lower risk of crime
across neighborhoods in 300 cities that
were studied
the park under consideration today is
located east of red hot Gulf Road and
south of a Royo Road um numerous homes
will front the park and raised
crosswalks will lead uh to the park from
two directions so there will be lots of
access to this particular
Park the agreement with Sierra Norte is
for reimbursement of design and
construction costs for the neighborhood
park at the metr Arcadia phase 3
subdivision the neighborhoods that will
be
served by the park include metr Arcadia
phases 2 3 5 and six and metr North
phases 2 and three uh the subdivisions
are located west of Saran Boulevard and
are surrounded by um Alchemy Street and
bisected by uh Santa manura
Avenue a total of 1. n45 AC of Parkland
is included in the agreement and park
impact fee to be collected from 592
residents residential lots excuse me um
totals a little over $1.5
million um the park design includes
typical neighborhood park amenities
picnic shelters tables um shade play
equipment turf grass and shade trees and
it also includes a half Sport Court um
as Illustrated in the center photo um a
storybook walk and Native Plant
landscape
area and with that I'll be happy to
stand for
questions thank you any questions
Council uh Council Flores yeah I have a
question maybe I'm too dense to
understand but the reimbursement
goes which way do they reimburse us or
we reimburse them um Mr Mayor councelor
Flores the reimbursement is to the
developer of parking fees paid so the
development um pays the parking back
fees and in exchange for design and
construction of a neighborhood park the
city will
reimburse thank you
thank you
may anyone else no
Christine this is on the motion to
approve resolution
25-36 councelor
McClure yes councelor matis yes
councelor Graham yes councelor Karan yes
councelor flutes yes councelor bomo yes
mayor
yes next is item 7.3 resolution ution
number
25-37 resolution maintaining the
existing Park land use assumptions and
park development impact fees and
continuing the collection and
expenditure of Park impact fees move to
approve Corin second
Graham good afternoon mayor members of
city council Katherine Harrison Rogers
uh for the record with Parkson wreck
hopefully this will be a relatively
simple resolution today since we are
just keeping things the
same so uh
the code chapter 33 requires that
development impact fees can be developed
for Public Safety parks and utilities um
every five years we're supposed to do a
review of the land use assumptions and
impact fees land use assumptions are
basically how we're growing the density
that we've uh encountered Over The Last
5 Years types of land uses things of
that nature and the impact fees are
those fees um that we collect from
developers as uh Things Are developed so
that we can maintain our same level of
service with Public Safety with our
utilities and with our Park
system um in July of
2019 the last review of the land use
assumptions and park impact fees
occurred for Parks and
Recreation this coincided with the parks
and rec master plan that was adopted um
that year um in in close uh coordination
with Elevate loss crues they were done
at a in a close in close proximity and
by the the same uh
consultant um ultimately land use
assumptions as I described will identify
the service area and that is the
municipal limits of the city of Las
Cruses and IT projects those types of
changes in uh population densities and a
number of other things uh and of course
the development impact fees are those
that we uh those fees that we impose
again to continue that level of services
I had mentioned
earlier uh the purpose of trying to keep
this particular resolution in place to
maintain those fees or essentially it's
an extension um until the end of the
fiscal year is to comply with code
because we're going to do we're supposed
to do that every five years and again uh
We've exceeded that by a couple of um
years um this is also so that we can
coordinate with realized less crues as
you know we're going through this code
rewrite and part of that we are
considering whether or not to include
neighborhood parks as part of
infrastructure during the construction
of
subdivisions um if that is the case
those numbers uh for Park impact fees
would be
excluded um as as part of the overall
calculation and so until we know the
results of realized loss crues we really
can't
proceed so the capital Improvement
advisory committee does provide some
feedback on whether or not we modify
these particular fees and these land
uses assumtions and they provide advice
to this body city council um we did meet
with them um on August 22nd uh 2024 uh
to discuss uh these recommendations and
they recommended unanimously that we
continue to collect the current fee
which is $2,600 per unit as well as
maintain the existing land use
assumptions again those were adopted as
part of the
2019 uh Parks and Recreation master plan
and are also Al the same land use
assumptions that are listed listed in
Elevate L
cruises the next steps um If This Were
to be uh basically extended by the city
council is just to continue those land
use assumptions and the collection of
the same fees that we've been collecting
for a series of years that $2,600 fee
was established actually back in 2013
was reestablished back in 2019 and we're
just a asking that that be continued uh
until the end of this fiscal year um we
are actually looking to bring the land
use assumptions again those changes in
our population growth and our densities
uh to the CIA for review and ultimately
to city council this fall we do want to
update those uh we do have a consultant
tishler Bice who has been reviewing
those but again we can't make
modifications uh to the fees themselves
until we have uh we know what's
happening with realiz lusus and the
ultimate adoption um with that and so
we're looking again to continue those
fees adopt realiz L Cruis and then
finalize that Park impact fee study to
see if those need to change based on the
results of that and then recommend those
changes both to Parks and Rec Advisory
Board to the C and then ultimately to
council for Action uh in advance of the
end of the fiscal
year and with that you have a couple of
options you can vote to approve to
retain those fees and again continue
those land use assumptions you can vote
no you can vote to amend those or vote
to table
today and I'd be happy to answer any
questions about that uh thank you
Katherine mayor protemp thanks Katherine
I just have one question and you
mentioned the end of the fiscal year
that is our that is the timeline that we
have right now for the extension uh yes
ma'am councelor benom uh mayor members
of city council yes we because we have
had um a significant amount of of study
and we've been working with tishler Bice
and we're waiting for the culmination of
realiz the end of the fiscal year for
our purposes related to the park impact
fees and land use assumptions will be
June 30 2025 okay between now and then
will will we be having some work
sessions on this uh I do anticipate that
we can have some work sessions just to
explain what we're doing the results of
realiz and how they impact one another
um and I'm happy to add that to the
schedule once we are a little bit more
clear in terms of how realiz is moving
forward um and we're hoping of course
that that will be uh sooner than later
this fall and then ultimately in the
winter yes thank you so much I
appreciate that you're
welcome councelor current thank you my
question was very similar thank you for
this presentation I'm I'm really
invested in park impact fees in the
ongoing conversation because I do want
us to have really a a deep dive even the
previous um agenda item really begs this
this conversation so um I I would like
for us to have a very serious
conversation about this and make sure
that we have a lot of inputs before we
we sort of do the updating so I'm hoping
in this spring we can have um this
conversation because I I I will just go
on the record and say I don't think our
Park impact fees are enough um and I
know that's an unpopular position but I
I'm going to put it out there that I
hope that the conversation can really
help make sure that we're understanding
what our needs are and what our um
service is and how we're how we're
affecting um sort of our overall Park
infrastructure in the city so uh I'll
stake my unpopular opinion now and ask
for more study in the spring thank you
you're
welcome Council matis thank you uh the
question is uh being on the council N9
months now I just like a little history
other than the impact fees where we are
on the balance and then uh the impact
fees uh
strictly dedicated to the parks is it
restricted to Parks Improvement only is
it a restricted
fund members of city council councelor
matis uh mayor um the park impact fees
um were originally established in
1995 um they have um according to our
studies not ever been quite enough to
account for continuing our what we
consider our level of service basically
the amount of Park agage per resident um
in the city um and they've gone up
incrementally and and in 2013 we saw the
largest increase uh to the $2,600 that
we see today and that's been maintained
um for over a decade now um and excuse
me what year was that 2016 2013 2013
thank you um and and those and those
fees again are are utilized to maintain
our level of service in Parkland um we
can use them for uh any park related
facility can be used for Trails it can
be used for acquiring land it can be
used for playing and design of those
parks and for improvements on those
parks and so the resolution that you saw
just before this one we were utilizing
those Park impact fees that have been to
collected to then purchase essentially
the improvements of that Park in Metro
ver okay thank you thank
you can you just one more question you
just something you said piqued my
interest you said acreage per person yes
ma'am and what is that so uh when the
master plan was done in
2019 um it what they do is part of their
level of services they part of excuse me
part of the land use assumptions is is
we look at um all of the park types and
the amount of acreage um per person in
the city and for neighborhood parks it's
Acres um per thousand people if I am
correct okay thank you I'm going to do
some good research on this before our
work session thank you
absolutely okay thanks Katherine anyone
else Christine
this is on the motion to approve
resolution
25-37 councelor
McClure yes councelor matis yes
councelor Graham yes councelor Karan yes
councelor flotes yes councelor bomo yes
mayor yes
next on the agenda is item
7.4 and this one is a hearing or an
appeal I'm sorry and requires the
following individuals to been be sworn
in Adam Ooa and Sandy Ben
move to approve yeah we need the move to
approve
second and you'll swear them
individually yes as they can come up to
speak so Adam I'll do you first do you
swear affirm that the testimony you're
about to give is the truth and nothing
but the truth under penalty of law yes I
do thank you thank you animal CH
Community Development for the record
before you we have a uh essentially it's
an appeal to a recommendation for zone
change uh done by the planning zoning
commission for a property located at
2795 Road Runner
Parkway just give you a little bit of
background of uh uh uh of guess trying
to beginning what this what we're
dealing with here uh the subject
property itself is located in the
southwest corner of what road is Road
runer Parkway and Morning Star Drive and
it is approximately 5 acres in size it
is currently Zone r1a single FL medium
density property is located though
within the Suburban uh Neighborhood
Place type as called out by Elevate Los
crues comprehensive plan to characterize
low to moderate density residential and
mix areas of commercial uh inclusive
land uses include single family uses
multifam Apartments commercial office
schools quasi uh institutional uh
religious institutions and so forth like
that the property is currently vacant or
undeveloped uh uh no it is not part of
any master plan area in that area this
is kind of a standalone place the
remainder of the subdivision those in
those areas were all master planned
essentially and that's why it's just
essentially a sea of single family homes
with some quasi institutional and then
some multif family further south on Road
Runner uh utilities are available uh for
directly adjacent to the site there are
some significant uh terrain and grade
uh that exists on the property so
definitely a lot of uh groundwork will
have to be done whenever it gets
developed with whatever it gets
developed with surrounding land uses
include single family residential
including the large single plan
residential neighborhood to the West uh
acqu institutional Church there's office
and institutional uses there a school uh
there's open space flood control that GL
crues dam is pretty close by there uh
some multif family and some other
institutional in within the broader area
sh you here that is that property Z
onone R1 age you can see completely
surrounded by single family there
there's multif family located here
Northeast of the property that is a
religious institution the Las crues Dam
over here here's some Mario if you could
see that a little bit better again
single family homes church here and uh
the dam and that is that property you
can kind of see some of that terrain
differences how it kind of goes up and
down if you will so uh definitely an
issue for this area when this property
gets developed here's some photos of uh
uh uh the I guess the surrounding Road
Network this is on road owner Parkway
looking South uh at Morning Star Drive
at that intersection right
there uh this here is Morning Star on
intersection of Morning Star Drive and
Road Runner uh looking North along Road
Runner and this here is just looking
directly west on Morning Star drivers
you can see going into that single
family residential neighborhood to the
West originally the applicant proposed a
zone change to R4 which is
multi-dwelling high density limited
retail and office uh development focus
is really conceptual at this time and
was subject to change for the developer
just wanted to see what he can cannot do
since under the R4 zoning District you
could kind of um set your maximum
densities as the way as what's Allowed
by code but that' be something that
we'll be working out with staff uh but
essentially what he came forward with
was a 96 unit apartment complex which
actually give them about a 92.2 do units
per acre density and related ancillary
uses offices playgrounds workout uh
facilities uh there are two points of
Ingress and erress uh along Frontage the
main uh Frontage being propos main
entrance being proposed along uh Morning
Star drive itself uh they were proposing
uh two and three story apartment
buildings uh with clustering or
groupings of about 8 to 12 units
together um because of this uh potential
um staff did see potential issues from
surrounding Property Owners so per code
staff is allowed to request the
applicant to provide early notification
to surrounding Property Owners I don't
know if you remember about what was it
about 6 7even 8 maybe nine months ago
people were coming with we got these
letter who send these letters that those
were the letters that the the the
property owner sent
out so because of the early notification
uh essentially what resulted was a a
neighborhood meeting uh took place it
was uh took place at the morning star uh
United Methodist Church the one that's
directly south uh Northeast of this
property on April 9th 2024 uh that
meeting was very well attended uh a
couple of Staff applicant was there
property owner and number of concerned
citizens of course uh the concerns uh
brought up at that meeting were issues
of the speeding congestion IND the a
port line of sight for the street
Network there uh potential accidents
lack of signalization Entre parking pic
safety uh noise issues decreased
property values priv privacy etc
etc here's just kind of a conceptual uh
layout of what the applicant was looking
to do is a road on a Parkway or Star
Drive with that main entrance off
Morning Star Drive here are some just
conceptual elevations of what those
buildings would look like clusterings 8
to 12 units per
building when staff did their analysis
we really saw no uh health safety or
welfare issues uh identified when we're
were doing a review uh we did deem
though the R4 request a bit excessive
for the neighborhoods considering uh the
large amount of nothing but single
family residential homes in the area
that being said staff did put a number
of condition on that R4 zoning uh to be
considered uh to achieve kind of like a
higher degree of consistency and
compatibility with the a so still allow
the multif family just try to be a
little more compatible with the area
when it comes to densities uh for the
neighborhood uh the proposal is
consistent with the Suburban uh
Neighborhood Place typ per uh Elevate
last cruises which actually calls out
for gross densities and multif family of
15 to 30 dwelling units per
acre uh Elevate last truc does speak uh
uh of the development of land and
housing diversity uh balanced growth uh
integrating uh new develop with
surrounding built environment potential
for job housing balances uh mixed use
neighborhoods achieving attainable
housing which is something to elevate
last cruises really speaks of as well
Elevate also speaks of consistency and
compatibility when in proximity to
developed areas again why staff uh Place
those conditions to just try to uh hold
back what could potentially be devel on
the property uh staff did recommend
conditions uh that would be aligned with
po existing policy to try to achieve
this
proposal public notice was provided as
per code by staff to the Shir Property
Owners uh staff did receive several
phone calls walk Walkin inquiries uh
multiple emails a petition was also I
believe that petition was part of your
packet as well uh in opposition to the
proposal uh some additional CS input was
also received by staff actually in favor
of their
request so on May 28 2024 the Planning
and Zoning commission did take this uh
proposal under their consideration and
they did go ahead and recommend approval
with conditions by a vote of 4 to1 uh
they did though add or even more
restrict the the the zoning on the
property they actually uh lowered the
zoning designation for that was being
proposed instead of R4 they changed it
to R r2c which is uh multi-dwelling low
density conditional uh uses limited to
multif family or single family
residential uses as a primary use only
uh limited un unit clustering uh density
was limited to 12 doing units per acre
uh total Max of 60 units Max for the
property so uh two a third less than
what the the applicant was proposing to
do uh additional landscaping and
buffering requirements were were placed
on the conditions architectural elements
building Design Elements and addition
parking requirements to assure that
whoever's living there will use the
onsite parking instead of on street
parking findings were um essentially
that that were that were discussed was a
uh property uh request for of 5 acres
for 96 units was dropped down to 60 per
per PL uh the planning Zing commission
ler Zing designation can be considered
by pnz for example if our our Force
deemed the excessive R2 or R3 could
potentially uh aign will Elevate last
uses in a built environment subject your
property is within the Suburban Place
type characterized by level to moderate
density which is what essentially this
this apartment complex would would
achieve proposed zone changes supported
by Elevate last Cruz's comprehensive
plan and meets the purpose and intent of
the 2001 zoning code AS amended
surrounding area consists of largest
single family residential home but there
is quasi institution office institution
and other open space uh multi family in
the area zoning also aligns with that
with r1a zoning A1 A2 zoning office
zoning uh R4 zoning in the area per
Elevate the development SL Redevelopment
of property uh when in proximity of an
existing development should consider
design measures that bring about greater
levels of compatibility and PR Elevate
that the development such Redevelopment
of the property when proximity to an
existing development oh that's the same
one my
apologies so with that um that was the
recommendation made by the planning
zoning commission uh we did receive an
appeal uh for that recommendation on
June 11th of 2024 recommendations from
the Planning and Zoning commission
aren't typically appealed because that
is not under purview for final action
typically you would per code what is
appealed is final action not a
recommendation uh city council actually
has final action on zone change cases so
that this is essentially where St
believes the appeal should come from
after you all made your decision on the
zone
change but the appeal uh essentially
asserts nine arguments uh they state
that there's no beneficial use uh
deprivation uh no public interest served
by by this proposed zone change
alternative Parcels are available for
development uh there's no change in the
conditions on the property requiring a
zone change uh uniformity comprehensive
planning is considered spot zoning uh
conditional zoning uh uh quality of life
life uh population and traffic density
and so on and so forth like that but uh
I will let the appealant uh elaborate
more on what their appeal is but with
that uh just to clarify for yall your
options would be one to vote Yes uh this
will approve the appeal uh thereby
reversing the decision of the Planning
and Zoning commission and the existing
R1 zoning r1a zoning will remain to vote
no and deny uh the appeal and this
affirms the zone change of decision
might by made by the planning zoning
commission the ordinance will then come
before you all for the actual zone
change itself on a later date uh three
to amend uh the the to amend the
resolution or for to table postpone
direct staff accordingly uh that is the
conclusion of my presentation I believe
the appealant are here with a uh
representative for them uh but I stand
for
questions okay thank you Adam we'll go
see if Council uh Council Flores have
any questions yes I do thank you um and
thank you Mr oo for the
presentation
um this is a tough one and I'll tell you
why because it used to be my district
it's now councelor Grahams after uh the
redistricting pursuant to the census 20
whatever 2020 um and I've spoken to some
of my former
constituents and and I understand and
sympathy
and
um but I do applaud the Planning
Commission for lowering the number of
res uh residences or uh house housing
units uh lowering it to did you say 60
from 90 something like that um Council
flor's mayor and because that is correct
60 so maximum of 12 12 units per Acres
but they were allowed with their
condition yes and then uh there were
also some restrictions or on parking and
the units will have parking spaces counc
FL to eliminate that that clutter in
that area Council floaters uh mayor
andrias yes they essentially increased
the the minimum number of parking stalls
required on site because they want
basically if you live there you park
there and not on the street trying to
lessen the traffic or the parking on the
street so that's why they increase the
number of parking stalls on site itself
okay would that be two per unit or that
is correct yes ma' okay so
um perhaps this is a little
dicey uh but when there's an empty lot
adjacent to um a property especially a
residential area that's already
established um is there any way of of uh
either the city taking the
responsibility uh because I don't know
if contractors or the land owners would
uh be required to do anything but for
the city to let the prospective buyers
of the homes uh that would would be
affected if that empty lot were to be
developed
um if there'd be any notice given at
that
time and and the reason is because
when uh you know when people buy a home
they they just figure oh we have this
beautiful empty you know this uh this
corner lot there that's but it's not
even really walkable or anything it's
not like the community park where you
can walk it but nonetheless um I don't
know if the city has the onus or if the
city if it doesn't would it be able to
um to ask the builders or the land
owners
as to what their um as to what their um
plans are uh and I I like to just share
this little story when I was campaigning
for the first
time and
um I was uh met by people who were very
angry over in the East Mesa because when
they bought their home um they were they
were led to believe that there would be
no further
development and some of them have moved
moved away and um they were very upset
because uh the view of the Oregon
mountains had been blocked so the
question I asked them was who told you
that they said the realtor the real
estate person I said well yeah they want
to sell a house and um I said it would
have been better for you to ask uh who
the owner is or who the developer you
know the owner of the land um and go
that route but you know this it's you
know
it's too late you know the what is it
the chickens already left the coupe or
whatever I don't know what the
expression is um but that and I said
that you know I said it very cocky and I
you know I thought well you know there
were about four or five people there who
gave me really dirty looks and I said
okay well don't vote for me you know
whatever um but all that being said I I
do sympathize um with the people who
live there uh what I do plot is our
planning uh Department um our uh
Community Development Department to have
gone in and um and had an impact on the
amount and then our Planning Commission
to reduce the number of homes there and
given the the shortage of of homes that
we have um these would be more
affordable um would it take care of the
homeless issue absolutely not
uh would it provide housing for the
missing middle I'm I'm I'm hopeful that
it would but I don't have that crystal
ball
um so I you know I'm I'm I I sympathize
with the people from from uh that area
cuz um yeah but um I just uh wanted to
share my sentiments with uh the uh
residents from that area and and um I do
want to share that I think that uh the
development there has been um you know
lessened I mean it's been so probably
the homes will be the units will be a
little bit bigger because there's less
whatever not 90 but you know 60 um but I
just wanted to share those thoughts and
and um Wanted to also
clarify uh but thank you Mr AA thank you
mayor
councilman Chief thank you Mr can you
tell me
U whether how the vote goes either
denied or approved what's the impact of
realize New Mexico the new land usage
code that will occur if this was to come
up for are they allowed a second appeal
or can they bring It Forward again and
how would that realize New Mexico change
the uh the Landscaping there if any
mayor counselor matis um so it's still
under review right now there's a
potential that the the the the den
cities and the land uses would be
permitted on this property of what
they're proposing sir uh but it's not
nothing's been finalized yet so multif
family can still potentially go on this
property uh when we finalize real life L
crues considering its size and the
zoning that'll beer uh but nothing has
been 100% finalized yet sir uh under
under realized right now
okay thank you yes
sir go ahead councelor thank you Mr Ooa
based on um councelor mati's question my
understanding was that uh realiz um that
this would be in Conformity with realize
and it was there wouldn't be any change
is am I wrong in mayor counselor flers
that is correct the actual densi though
has not been finalized yet so the land
use is is something that would be
permitted on the property but the actual
density is uh not completely 100%
finalized yet man but it it would be a
permitted land UC yes yes but the
density the I think when you said
there'd be uh 60 units instead of 90
that's like a third or you know 2third
of what instead of you know the full 90
I mean that's a big difference but
you're saying that that isn't
uh that isn't the case or is is it
already wait a minute I'm
sorry pnz reduced it to 60 so that's
it'll that will stay it depend yeah
mayor coun it's already established
mayor council FL is that is correct if
the applicant wishes to continue with
his zone change uh the ordinance for it
that would be the condition on the
property
man okay thank you thank you very much
thank you
here
okay okay see none others um we have the
spokesperson for the community of
Morning Star Drive is that Miss Sandy
Bayan yeah um city clerk will swore you
in hi Sandy hi do you swear or affirm
that the testimony you're about to give
is the truth and nothing but the truth
under penalty of law I do thank you hi
Mr Mayor city council thank you for the
opportunity to speak with you today and
for the extra time since I'm
representing so many my name is Sandy
and I'm not here just to speak for
myself but for all the people in the
community that you see before you as
well as a great many more that couldn't
be here today we're here with a request
to reverse the approval recommendation
made by the Planning and Zoning
commission for the property detailed in
your packet we do not believe that the
Planning and Zoning commission's
recommendation demonstrates an
understanding of our concerns we are
here in support of a no zoning change to
this property and there's a plethora of
reasons our community is opposed to any
zoning change I'll be highlighting many
with the intention that it will help you
understand our position and ultimately
agree with it this property has been
zoned r1a single family medium density
for more than 28 years and perhaps it's
always been zoned that way I'm not sure
I bought my home 5 years ago some of my
neighbors bought their homes more than
25 years ago all of us checked the
zoning before purchase and based part of
our decision to live in this
neighborhood on the single family home
zoning status this is a neighborhood of
all single family homes anything else on
the property would not be compatible
with the current neighborhood it would
have a negative impact on those of us
who live here and whose expectation is
that only single family homes would be
built on that 5 acre property
changing the zoning on this land would
not fit into the ex Express position of
the zoning ordinance section
38.2 which states consideration of the
general welfare of the community and
purpose of improving citizens lives this
in no way would improve our quality of
life it in fact would be
detrimental some find it so detrimental
that they would consider selling their
homes and moving if apartment buildings
were put up on that 5 Acres we we bought
our homes in this neighborhood for a
reason and with the expectation that
only single family homes would be built
on that land let me share some of the
ways that this would be a detriment to
our neighborhood traffic is a big
concern Road Runner is a very busy
thoroughfare between lman and Highway 70
and we have already many apartment
complexes on Road Runner to the South
and more would Elevate traffic concerns
exiting and entering either Stellar or
Morning Star is already difficult
commo Rael Middle School is across the
street and just a few blocks north car
and pedestrian traffic during drop off
and pickup times is a huge concern and
our children's safety must be
considered parking though addressed
previously um it's still a problem even
if only two if two spots are allocated
many apartments have more than two
drivers and certainly when friends and
people come to visit it would spill over
onto Morning Star the east portion of
Morning Star is a feeder Street and our
end of Morning Star is not it's in fact
a culdesac with no Outlet at the other
end from the property in question adding
traffic and parking would be an
undesirable feature for those of us who
call this neighborhood our home parking
on the street because of overflow from
any proposed apartment complex would
overburden an already crowded Street
create a dangerous situation for our
children and an unwelcome one for the
rest of us other concerns related to
having apartments on this property to
consider well if you haven't seen this
piece of property for yourself I
strongly encourage you to do so my home
for example backs up to the property
separated by a 4ft rock wall same
situation for many of my neighbors if a
zoning change was approved it would be
very likely that right across that rock
wall where I sit in my backyard or on my
hammock would be dumpsters cars and the
backside of the apartment complex would
you want that in your neighborhood in
your backyard I sure don't some homes
that surround this property are actually
elevated yet border the property and
they're concerned about the stability of
their home should construction of this
nature
begin other concerns include privacy
issues even St twostory buildings will
create privacy issues for some of the
homes buildings will have Apartments
looking right into existing backyards as
well as blocking the view of the
mountain
an increase of trash necessitating
dumpsters will not just be distasteful
but also noisy there are concerns about
water runoff flooding proper property
values declining noise levels increasing
traffic accidents and incidents
increasing we're a community that is
greatly concerned about the negative
impact a rezone could have on our lovely
neighborhood and on our quality of life
there seems to be a lot of community
concern and upset regarding zoning
changes around the city we've seen other
yellow signs around town um in some
cases these signs indicate that elevate
Las cruus is being properly used for for
new development but in a few such as
ours where we are established
neighborhoods it does not we have our
doubts that changing zoning in these
areas are the intended use for their
program there are so many thoughtful and
wonderful programs and initiatives that
the city provides please extend that
same thoughtfulness to this situation
careful consideration and concern should
be given to all the residents in the
city in situations like ours we
understand that the city council has an
obligation to protect the well-being and
financial investments of the residents
of Las Cruses we're asking you to do
exactly that in this situation and deny
any resoning request for this land we're
asking for compliance with code 38.2 L
which states Ensure development
proposals are sensitive to the character
of existing neighborhoods our
neighborhood is a single family home
only neighborhood please please respect
that elevate Las Cruses was designed to
promote diversity in new neighborhoods
or redeveloping neighborhoods this is an
old established community that should
remain single family homes I know that
you all have copies of the appeal of
Planning and Zoning decision keeping in
mind the health safety and general
welfare of our community please be
reminded that the goal is to improve
each Citizen's quality of life
apartments in this area would not
accomplish that but work in direct
opposition I ask that you carefully
review the appeal consider my words the
needs and best interests of our
neighborhood and do the right thing do
not allow any zoning change on this
property thank you so much
thank you thank you Sandy uh any
question any questions by Council on
that Adam was there anything else no sir
just standing for any additional
questions y'all might
have yeah we can
yeah I'll go ahead and allow some public
comments if there's more members of the
public that want to speak we'll give you
two minutes since there is a large crowd
uh Katrina can you assist and help out
with escorting
my name is Jim Hurst I'm not I don't
live in the affected
area um but I am a citizen of this
community the principle of democracy is
the greatest good for the greatest
number to the people of that Community
being a property owner does not entitle
you to a world that doesn't change
around
you it doesn't entitle you to keep poor
people out there's a lot of poor people
in this world and there's a housing
shortage in this
community so you have an obligation to
help your neighbors by providing helping
to provide a place for them to
live this is not your
world you bought a home not a
world thank
you two other things you can move we
can't the city can't move if you don't
like it here you can go somewhere else
growing cities grow property value
population increase increases means
property value
increases so population growth is to
your
interest and second you're going to be
gone someday the city's still going to
be here so the city has to think of it
self first and its residence second
because that's how cities grow and
growing cities are valuable cities and
healthy cities thank
you my name is Jesus Torres and uh just
an observation from the gentleman that
said this is not our world I realize
that but that property where I live is
that sir can you come a little closer to
the microphone okay what I said was that
uh the gentleman said that the is not
our world but is it is our piece of land
where we bought that property the way it
was and what I'm asking is first of all
when I saw all those school children
that were walking around in
here I remember seeing a lot of school
kids cuz there's a school right there
within a block of where they want to
build all these supposedly beautiful
apartments and it's really sad to see
school children running across the
street because of the traffic coming you
know the there's
a a hill on one side where you can't see
the cars until they're right coming down
there's a curve on the other side that
really blocks the traffic so what I'm
saying what I want to ask you know all
of the city council all of you is first
of all think of the safety of the
children and think of the safety of
pedestrians that walk there and the big
traffic congestion and unless you leave
there and drive in and out on a daily
basis
you don't really know what it's like
especially during traffic hour and
having 60 or 50 whatever they cut it
down to is still going to get all those
Vehicles going in and out every day and
and Road Runner uh Morning Star is not a
through Street you have to turn around
and come back to able to get to be able
to get out of there so what I'm asking
is
please please keep it the way it is God
bless you and thank you so
[Applause]
much hello um when I moved
here I checked ma'am can you state your
name please oh sorry Joanie
heith and when I moved here I believe
this was a community that we had zoning
rules so I check zoning rules before I
moved to the area I don't happen to live
in there this area but I don't
understand what the benefit to the town
is in changing a Comm a neighborhood
into it all down Morning Star there is
so much property avilable so what you're
telling me is somebody can buy a piece
of property knowing it zone is one and
then they can make a bigger profit on it
if I didn't think there were any land
available in the area I would totally
say yes we need to change this because
we need housing but I'm seeing all
that's happening on Road Runner and I
see all the empty places that are all
the way down Morning Star heading there
so it doesn't make sense to me why you
think this is in the best interest what
it's telling the people is when you come
to Los crues oh top Community to live in
don't worry because we're just going to
change things whenever we want
without a reason and this does not have
a reason you talk about two parking
spaces if you've ever driven on Morning
Star and tried to get back out on Road
Runner if those cars are parked on the
right side of the road for the guests
for the people who have children who
have teenage cars we won't be able to
see you'll have you're not going it's
not wide enough to have cars parked on
one side of Morning Star and parked on
the other if you're looking at parking
you need to allocate at least four
places for each place so that you have
plenty extra things there's just no
benefit to this I have tried to walk
across from Morning Star and I've done
it with little kids and strollers it is
scary because people are flying down so
maybe you need to look at other thank
you okay your time's up thanks
[Applause]
hello
y'all uh my name is Richard Griffin I've
Liv there for 28 years I think I'm the
longest living resident in that
neighborhood I'm handicapped I have two
autistic kids my now 20-year-old
daughter used to literally have to run
across Road Runner it's not his problem
but they're failing the police are
failing there's no Crossing guard
children are walking across that street
every day and cars are going by at 60
and 70 M an hour around a blind
intersection there's no adequate how
many houses couldn't go in there 20 30
and you're going to do 60 that's
probably 100
cars you know there's no way of having
exiting that's a kvasac
neighborhood everything's going to come
in and out the street where yeah I don't
know if anyone of you have seen that
intersection near the middle school
during drop off time you guys all need
to consider one of these kids are going
to die and I don't want it to be my
granddaughters you guys have no idea how
much impact it's going to be on us just
he needs to get a cop out there and
literally stop those people going 70 mph
get a crossing guard at the school you
guys are have blood on your hands if you
vote vote for this and I don't mean to
be rude what how many houses can go in
there put houses there why are you going
to congest that whole neighborhood
you're going to kill somebody you're
going to add the congestion there's
accidents on that street corner weekly
and you're going to have apartment
buildings there y'all you vote for this
you'll have blood on your hands
literally that is my kids literally ran
to school to Cross Road Runner put light
up get a cop there you have a cop there
right now that's maybe one day a week do
something about it don't vote for this
[Applause]
mayor council members thank you for this
opportunity my name is Francis Philip
Brennan I do not live on the road in
question here but I do live on on
Moonlight R Ark and I can attest to this
gentleman's previous gentleman's
comments about lack of police
enforcement you're waiting for an act
you're waiting for an accident to happen
that drop off Zone in the morning in the
afternoon you have vehicles backed up
onto travel Lanes which neck down two
lanes to
one you have
children as he said literally running
across the roadway because there is no
traffic crossing guard there's nobody
there you have morning traffic and
afternoon traffic Monday through Friday
literally running down speeding down the
road because there is no police
enforcement on that
road you're waiting for an accident to
happen for a child or somebody that get
run over and damaged for life if not
killed outright thank you
[Applause]
good afternoon I'll try and be as quick
as I can my name is Davis Davidson I do
live in this community um I had a quick
question as to the density it's
currently zoned at how many single
family homes can you get on
there per acre so how many is that is it
five acres okay so the difference
between
40 and 60 they're asking you to increase
20 units correct pretty much over what
we currently have zoned so the question
is is 40 enough or do we absolutely need
60 60 changes the community inherently
40 leaves our community exactly the same
your goals are met you have increased
housing you don't destroy our community
you don't increase traffic people will
stop yelling at the chief right um
that's the the inherent question it's
not hey they did a good thing going 90
to 60 the developer shot for the moon
and asked for
90 they got lucky and got 60 he probably
expected less let's leave it at 40 40
homes in that Community is fantastic
we'll take that we're a diverse
Community we're quiet we like our
community let's leave at that find place
to put those other 20 the other thing in
the zoning commission was really heavy
um when they voted on it they said it
was walkable these apartments will not
be walkable to any amenities there's no
grocery stores no convenience stores no
there's nothing there's an insurance
agency and a church and a middle school
to get to Walmart which is the closest
one is a horrible walk up Road Runner
where you guys have put the sidewalks
right on the
curb probably a little over a mile is
the closest so it's not walkable and two
they argued it was affordable this is
not affordable housing in any way shape
or form those apartments will cost more
than any of our
mortgages so if you want affordable
housing you want to keep our community
safe we want to meet your guys' goals
for growth we want 40 homes in there we
want it to look like the community we
bought we have a pediatrician from India
we have a nurse from New York to diverse
Community leave it how it is and we'll
accept your 40 homes thank thank you
okay thank you for your comments is
there any other
questions
Council
um go ahead Adam uh what are the options
again and if you
could let me just clarify the options I
know what the options
are sure thing mayor um so your options
today is one to vote Yes this will
approve the appeal thereby will be
reversing the decision made by the
planning zoning commission uh two to
vote two to vote no this will deny the
appeal and affirm the zone change
decision made by the planning zoning
commission and the ordinance will come
before you on a later date
he go ahead
Christine this is on a motion to approve
resolution
25-38 councelor
McClure
no councel
[Applause]
matis councelor
matis I'll pass I need some
clarification we we need we need a vote
cuz that's where we're at yeah what
what's clarification I need if I vote no
then it's homes we have the 40 if I vote
Yes so this is a yes vote and then it
stays 40 residential homes
correct mayor uh councelor matis if you
vote Yes uh the appeal uh will be
approved and the zone change essentially
will essentially go back to planning
zoning Commission
v v
yes but if you vote no I feel like I'm
at a baseball
game councelor Graham no councelor cran
no councelor
flutes
amend
oh yeah um
yes councelor Beno no mayor
yes motion
fails thank you
folks thank you Adam
next we have the board
appointments need a motion in a second
on the Motions uh for
the
Chad L cury uh new appointment to the
City Art board move to approve second
Graham corn okay this is on the motion
to appoint chatty Al Corey to the City
Art board councelor
McClair yes councelor matis yes
councelor Graham yes councelor cran yes
councelor flotes yes councelor Beno yes
mayor yes the next one is Alexandra
mckin a new appointment to Lodgers tax
Advisory
Board move to approve Graham second
coren this is on the motion to appoint
Alexandra mckeny to The Lodgers tax
Advisory Board councelor
McClure yes councelor matis yes
councelor Graham yes councelor Karan yes
councelor
flutes yes councelor benom yes mayor yes
uh this time we'll have the city council
member board reports and comments I'll
start with you councelor
matis mayor I have
[Music]
none Council
Grant do we need to ask councelor
Mur I'm okay I'm also a but councelor
McClure you got
anything yeah councilor
McLure Council K thank you I wanted to
um give a quick shout out to Don Duncan
and Animal Companions of Las cruus for
their fundraiser on Friday which was
which was a really extraordinary event I
appreciated seeing um a lot of folks
there and uh the the commitment and the
can attitude of of Dawn and team to
improve the the lives of animals and
their companions in Los Cruses so I just
wanted to share my gratitude for that
event and tomorrow afternoon at 3M we'll
have the groundbreaking for fire station
9 which will be at the corner of Sonoma
Ranch and Central um this is a geo Bond
project and I really appreciate the
voters um having us put the first fire
station North of Highway 70 so um I'm
looking forward to to the groundbreaking
tomorrow at 3 p.m. again somoma Ranch
and
Central and that's
it thank you uh councilor
Flores uh yeah the uh South Central
rapid uh Regional on South Central
Regional uh Transit District uh which
goes from uh it goes all over the
goes anyway it's all over uh Southern um
and into El Paso southern New Mexico and
has uh some ridership into El Paso is
doing very very very well um the numbers
were good uh before the uh
covid
um before covid and then um the numbers
now have you know they're just off the
chart it's just amazing uh David adiko
the uh fellow who uh heads that the
person who heads that has been doing a
fantastic job getting uh federal grants
and uh making sure that uh that this
part of the USA gets a fair share of the
federal but uh federal funds thank
you mayor proen thanks mayor as always I
always wish folks would stay just a
little bit longer and listen to some of
our comments
um ultimately you know I
think I'm I'm very concerned about the
traffic um issues that folks keep
raising here I think we have a laundry
list of streets where folks are telling
us that they absolutely need traffic
calming like it is absolutely an issue
uh the budget for traffic calming is no
more than $80,000 a year I think maybe
less and so this is clearly an issue
that keeps coming up I look hoping that
Vision zero is coming to a work session
soon but the reality is the very sad
reality is that in the last 20 30 years
this city has built into has been we've
built the city to be a car Centric City
it is completely car Centric it is truly
not walkable it is completely around the
needs of drivers and vehicles and um
that is that is a sad reality that we
should
address that I think is related but
separate from Housing Development I
think in the last you know almost 5
years that I've been on this Council
there has not been a time where someone
has not been against a apartment complex
not a not a one time even items that
don't come to counil um people will
email me about what their concerns about
apartment complexes and I think we
really have to explore the deeper
meaning of that what it really means for
people to be against apartment complexes
and multif family dwellings um because
it has been an issue every single year
and it doesn't the excuse hardly matters
at this point it's what it's either
traffic or it's those people that we
don't like living in our neighborhood um
but the reality is is that every time a
apartment complex has come to council
people have uh wanted us to vote against
it and so we definitely have to sort of
separate the two conversations but
continue the conversation around traffic
calming and this reality that we have a
very much car Centric community that
impacts the very well-being of our
neighborhoods that is um just a couple
comments I wanted to make regarding that
last um item speaking of traffic calming
we are having a meeting right here in
City Chambers regarding the South
mandress traffic calming efforts um that
we've been discussing the last couple of
years that meeting is going to be held
right here in City Chambers Thursday
September 26th at 5:30 for about an hour
um I will be here um our constituent
Services folks will be here um City
staff Public Works um we will have a
conversation about South mandress and
then that is September 26th and then
this Saturday uh September
21st at uh from 99 to 12: a.m. we will
be holding a neighborhood cleanup event
for The Branding Iron Circle
neighborhood and I just really want to
thank Katrina and the constituent
Services team for setting that up and
Katrina and Andres my intern went and
did door door hangers and everything um
last week inviting folks to participate
in that neighborhood so I just really
wanted to say thank you all and um
hopefully that event is successful and
then just lastly I participated in the
MRA in the MRA discussions last week I
only was able to go to two but the first
one I went to was on Monday and it was
really well attended there was a lot of
engagement is really exciting and then I
went for the last day on Wednesday and I
just have to say that the questions the
engagement the conversation just felt so
fruitful and someone even said I just
experienced so much joy coming to these
last three meetings and I think that's
what happens when we really focus in on
an area that deeply needs it and an area
that has been historically neglected
like ELO South Solano and I'm just
really excited I I'm most excited to
really dig deeper on the conversation
and the plans that they presented um I
really think we have an opportunity to
um do some short-term planning and very
much long-term Visionary planning but at
the same time while we're doing that is
really keeping the I think the spirit of
all of this intact which is ultimately
the Redevelopment of El Paso as a
corridor and South Solano as a corridor
they presented so many incredible things
from uh bunch of other areas in the MRA
which are really exciting and incredible
and I just don't want to lose focus of
ultimately the spirit of the MRA which
was really honing in on that
Redevelopment and revitalization of Elo
and the South Solano corridors so thank
you to staff so much Economic
Development all the staff for getting us
here um just really thrilled to continue
those conversations thanks
mayor okay thank you just a couple of
things I just want to say again
congratulations
uh to the city of Las Cruses and voting
yes on the goo Bond on Friday there was
a grand opening for the East Mesa Sports
Complex uh the the baseball fields the
soccer fields multi-use Fields practice
fields and the eight or is it eight or
12 pickle ball
courts well the pickle ball courts that
are there I can't remember it's eight or
12 but um saying eight and uh it's uh
it's a great thing for the community
again we thank all the residents that
said yes and that was something that's
been accomplished and uh still
continuing to grow but it was a great
event it's a great uh thing for Los
Cruses to have a sports complex in that
area so congratulations to Los cruus and
uh again thank you to parks and wreck
Public Works and everyone else that
worked on that campaign and on that
project the other thing I want to
mention is uh we had the walk to school
Proclamation as Ashley mentioned
um the last couple of Thursdays I've
I've uh Tak it upon myself to walk with
Hermosa Heights Elementary so uh I think
Chief Smith remembers I'm not sure maybe
he wasn't on yet but we had Adopt A
School back in the day so my my
challenge what we had a fire station and
and each crew each each uh shift would
adopt a a school and that was our school
that we adopted and we'd go and we'd
mentor and read or play in the
playground and that was our school that
we adopted as firefighters and I took
that upon myself as a mayor to adopt uh
Hermosa and go walk with them in the
morning so I challenged Council to to
adopt a school in your District walk
with them go visit with them it means so
much to them that when they see
leadership of this community showing an
interest in them and showing them that
we value them and I got to tell you the
security guard told me the second time I
was there he says uh I'm glad you're
here cuz a little girl just asked the
mayor is he coming again or is it a just
a one-time deal and uh they're very
pleased to see us more often so if you
all take that challenge Adopt A School
as mayor and counsel and go walk with
them read to them talk to them whatever
you can do I know they'll receive you
well and uh maybe the organization will
start looking at some something like
that as a as a program program to work
with the schools so with that I'll turn
it over to uh mayor if I may I'll I'll
pick a school do I just go through
Katrina can she help set that up for
me yes okay Katrina you're putting your
hand up that's a yes thank you or you
can go directly to the
principal I'm I'm sure either way
they'll embrace you no I don't have good
relationships with principles thanks you
did all
right yeah with that uh I'll turn it
over to the city manager for his
comments thank you thank you mayor
Enriquez mayor PRM Beno and City
councilors hello uh
Eon uh city manager and I have hello and
I have a few announcements and then
we'll uh let everyone be on their way
thank you so much so for parks and wreck
Thursday September 19th at 6 p.m. The
Advisory Board meeting there will be a
dog park rules presentation after which
the public May comment on the roles
during the
meeting also the last movie in the park
of the season will be held this Saturday
September 21st at Young Park we will be
showing The Little Mermaid which is
rated PG movie starts at
dusk also the P&R department will offer
a two-e camp during Los cruus Public
Schools fall break and intercession
Monday September 23rd through Friday
October 4th the Camp W O will be open to
youth in grades kinder to 12th grade
Camp hours will be from 7:30 to 5:30
p.m. Monday through Friday cost is $20
per participant for more information
call 541
2550 and last for and and and lastly for
the Department Aquatics team we'll be
offering swim lessons throughout October
swim lesson registration will be held
Saturday September 28th from 9:00 a.m.
to 11: a.m. at the regional Aquatic
Center next for tourism VLC lasus is
hosting the New Mexico outdoor economic
conference on September 23rd through
25th at the Las Cruses convention center
and last announcements for tourism the
msia Valley Balloon Rally is back and
will be held on January 17th to 20th in
2025 at the Field of Dreams uh so there
is a rumor and I believe this rumor is
true or I'd like to believe it's true
that before the balloon festival was up
north it started here in the
South and whether that's true or not I
believe
it I I think that's cool in the real New
Mexico this is where it started so in a
way it's returned to its original home
it's here so well hats off to VC to
relle and her team for talking to the
right Community uh stakeholders to make
that happen again January 17th through
in 2025 at the Field of Dreams be there
it'll be
fun and uh from the update from the
finance department regarding minimum
wage based on the latest CPI increase of
2.35% the finance department calculated
the new minimum wage to be
$12.65 an hour and the new tipped wage
to be
$56 an hour the current minimum wage is
actually 12 .36 an hour and tipped wage
is
$4.95 an hour the state minimum wage
remains flat at $12 an hour the comms
the communication team will be working
on the required notification to be
posted on the website in October and the
new minimum wage will go into effect
January 2025 so that that's update right
there for the city manager Office uh
Katrina and her team we appreciate them
they have started along with uh very
ious departments the know your city
seminar series which has begun and takes
place each Wednesday evening and already
has taken place uh session one and two
has passed but we're upcoming for
session three uh on September 18th
2024 that touches on the city's
financial
services this is uh located here in city
council chambers from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
on Wednesday There's no registration
needed just drop in and learn more about
your go your government if you attend
all you can receive city council
recognition the schedule is available
online but there are a few highlights as
mentioned third session will be
September 18th this
Wednesday uh here in in this room and
then next week it'll be September 25th
on Wednesday uh Economic Development
Transit department and economic
development both will be highlighted
next
week for Public
Works we have the completion of the BMA
Drive reconstruction project this is
between Luna Street and Le's Drive
project cost about $3.4 million project
is completed within the contracted time
improvements include green
infrastructure with a storm catchment of
Locust Street pedestrian safety with
wider sidewalks reduced Street crossing
exposure with realignment of Locust
Street increased Street lighting 8
improvements along the entire entire
project
limits and Midway Avenue reconstruction
project this is between gasline Road and
Mesa Drive Gas Line Road is a private
easement over a large petroleum
transmission line project cost about $1
million improvements include
connectivity over privately owned
easement closing uh sidewalk gaps no
sidewalks before new curb and gutter
improving drainage roadway added new
Street lighting and Ada improvements
and quality of life construction is
continuing on repairing the entry
particles vas and other wood
architectural elements to the historic
brand branagan Cultural Center
Works work should be completed by the
end of October and the for utilities the
grig Walnut superf fund project
openhouse is Thursday the 19th from
10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and is located
south of the baseball fields entrance is
off Walnut and there will be signs
everyone gets a commemorative cup while
supplies last the tour is very
informative and educational hope to see
you there thank you
mayor thank you city manager um with
that I'll look for a motion to adjourn
move to
adjourn second
Corin this is on the motion to adjourn
the meeting counc
McClair I think she might have dropped
oh there she is councelor matis
yes councelor Graham yes councelor cran
yes councelor
flutes yes councelor bomo yes mayor
yes e