e
e e
[Music]
yeah just
say hey Adrian are we ready to go we
haven't
got
e e
mayor you're
on good afternoon everyone uh welcome to
the work session today is Monday
September 9th uh 2024 it's approximately
since we had a little late start 10:3
p.m. I am mayor hriz uh we will start
with a moment of silence for the brave
men and women of the United States armed
forces as they protect our
interests as well as the courageous men
and women of Los cruus police and fire
department as they keep our city safe
247365 join us in the pledge
to the flag of the United States of
America and to the Republic for which it
stands one nation under God indivisible
with liberty and justice for
all okay we'll get started with pets of
the week Carol
good
afternoon so this week uh for our cat of
the week we have Jack his number is
78883 says hello there I'm Jack I'm just
a kitten full of energy and sweetness I
love to play and boy can I zoom one
minute I'm here and the next I'm over
there I'm a bit of a love biter but only
when I get over
excited I promise it's all in good fun
I'm just a little bundle of joy waiting
to share my love and energy with you if
you're looking for a sweet energetic
companion I'm your guy and for the dog
of the week we have Dora her number is
7215 hello I'm Dora I'm a bit shy but
don't let that deter you I'm just a
little cautious when meeting new people
but once I get to know you I promise
we'll be the best of friends I'm quite
young and have a curious spirit I love
exploring new places and sniffing out
new smells I may take a little bit of
time to come out of my shell but with
patience and a few treats I'll be your
loyal
companion uh this week well coming up
we're going to be at the Farmers Market
on Saturday uh so go ahead and check out
our booth that we have there and we
still have our clear the shelter event
going on until tomorrow which means all
adoptions are
$50 which is a discount we're also doing
our microchip clinics um every Tuesday
in this month from 4: to 7: it's $10 per
microchip but at each event we're going
to have the first 50 pets get
microchipped free and so that's a really
awesome opportunity to make sure that if
the pets ever get lost they can get
return to their owners um and if you
ever want to check us out you can visit
our website or also find us on social
media thank you for your
time thank you Carol
next on the agenda item uh 2.1 the
American Rescue plan act uh update and
lean de we'll start it off I see a
list well good afternoon mayor and
councel um this will be our I think our
second update on the
arpa let me open this
presentation not quite sure I can follow
door she was just too
cute yes we have a great lineup for you
going over the American Rescue plan act
known as
arpa uh just a little bit of background
for me um as you know there was about
1.9 trillion dollar of federal stimulus
package the city received two tranches
of 12.4 4 which was 25 uh 24.8 million
that we've received in total uh this was
for direct relief to Aid governments in
response and recovery from the covid uh
19 pandemic funding is used to support
various Focus areas to maximize the
impact in Los crues and that's what
we're going to be going over in our
presentation on the update and all these
funds just to let you know have to be
obligated by this December 31st the end
of this year and they have to be spent
two years later December 31st of 26 and
with that I would like to invite Liam
Beasley accounting to from Finance to go
over the financials with
you good afternoon mayor council members
I'm Liam Beasley from the city's finance
department and I'll be covering the
financial update for all the arpa funds
all the information I'll be covering is
up to date as of June 30th
2024 and the first slide is going to
show the total spending for all the
different projects
combined the city received about $24.8
million from the US Treasury and so far
we spent about 14.4 million which is 58%
of the total the unspent balance is 10,
356,000 and there are unliquidated
obligations of just under $6 million and
what that number refers to are just
outstanding contracts and purchase
orders we have for the various arpa
projects that we just haven't spent down
on
yet and so the unspent and unobligated
balance is going to be 4, 365,000 and so
out of the total 82% of it is spent and
obligated and I'll break that total down
into the various different projects
categories starting with public health
and safety the allocation was for $2
million and so far we spent 1.6
million the unspent is
394,000 and there are unliquidated
obligations of about 55,000 so the
unobligated balance is going to be
388,000 which is 81% of the total that
has been spent and
obligated visit Los cruus received a
million dollar they've spent $8
73,000 the unliquidated obligations are
about
155,000 giving an unobligated balance of
111,000 which is at
89% premium pay has been fully spent
that allocation was 9
58,000 the water and sewer projects
consist of the Calinda Acres
reconstruction as well as the sewer
connect program and in total those
received an allocation of 3.5 million
and the spending so far is 1.1
million there are unliquidated
obligations of about
56,000 resulting in an unobligated
balance of about 2.3 million so we're
just over a third spent and obligated
there uh capital projects received $6.9
million they've spent 6.3 million then
with outstanding obligations of about
381,000 the balance is 233,000 so that's
at
7% now I'll cover each of the nonprofits
that received arpa funding starting with
the boys and girls club their Grant was
for 1, 388,000 and so far they spent
$872,000 and so the unspent is going to
be 517,000 and that unspent balance the
remainder is obligated with their
contract and that's going to be the case
for all the nonprofits whatever hasn't
been spent is obligated with the uh
contract we
have uh Catholic Charities received
550,000 they've spent
107,000 leaving a balance of 443,000 the
Community Action Agency received 1.7
million there's been spending of 557
th000 in a balance of about 1.1 million
uh cruus creatives had a $1 million
Grant spending of
46,000 and balance of
$594,000 Hardin de los Ninos had a
$350,000 Grant spending of
168,000 and a balance of
182,000 and then lyt fund received a
million dollar and they are fully
spent um continuing on with the
nonprofits the M Valley Community of
Hope received 300,000 they've spent
990,000 leaving an unspent of a 210,000
MC Valley public housing authority
received 306,000 they spent
188,000 and the unspent is
117,000 the New Mexico Housing and
Community Development Corporation
received $2 million for the Peach Tree
Project there hasn't been any spending
but it is fully
obligated and then the workforce
programs consist of different grants to
five organizations totaling to 900
40,000 and as of June 30th that was not
spent or
obligated the storefront repair was
allocated $4 $100,000 these are for
Grants to small
businesses spending is
$16,000 which is 27% of the total and
the balance is 294,000
and just very recently that has become
fully obligated but it wasn't as of June
30th and then finally for the admin
administrative category the allocation
is 478,000
there's been spending of
70,000 and unliquidated obligations of
327,000 and so the balance is about
81,000 so that category is 83% spent and
obligated and you all should have
received a handout uh with a more
detailed breakdown of the financials if
you're interested um but that that wraps
up the financials and now I'll turn it
over to Chief Jason Smith who will
discuss the fire department
projects good afternoon mayor members of
city council fire chief Jason Smith uh
so real quick update on our spending for
arpa funding uh the last remaining
balance that you see on your your sheet
has been pretty much fully obligated uh
based off of council action last uh
council meeting we've uh secured our
training uh through Ascend so we'll be
bringing additional online training as
well as in-person training to our
firefighter EMTs uh for the remainder of
this fisal year uh that's in two basic
phases of it phase one is more of a
ongoing EMS refresher where they'll come
in and they'll talk about topics related
to EMS like respiratory cardiovascular
or cardiac health and then the second
training will be inperson training with
uh possibly the cadaver lab so in-depth
Advanced Training for our paramedics uh
also just an update our second class of
advanced EMTs it's another class of
eight they'll be in their uh semester of
school uh right now they should graduate
in December and the previous class from
last semester has graduated and we're
starting to see those providers licensed
at the advanced
level mayor council for the record land
de Michigan Finance director I'd like to
introduce Lorena Lo loano who is the
director of marketing with visit l crues
good afternoon mayor mayor proem and
city council I am Lena loano V uh visit
L Cris director of marketing for the
record uh the visit L Cris program was
awarded 1 million dollar in arpa funding
to address the significant negative
economic impact to tourism travel and
hospitality industry during the co9
pandemic the final rle specifically
identified this um industry as disport
disproportionately affected the funds
have been utilized with the intent to
generate spending with local
businesses this not only includes hotels
and restaurants but also businesses such
as special event rental companies
attractions tour companies um pet
boarding facilities and many more visit
L cruus has strategically allocated
funds for immediate short-term and
long-term uh recovery projects evidence
of the positive impact can be seen in
The Lodgers tax revenue recovery
so um they have returned two and surpass
prepandemic levels in fy18 Lodgers tax
amounted to approximately $2.2 million
at the end of FY 24 it ended at nearly
2.8 million and that's a 27% increase
from
fy18 this is important to note um that
during the pandemic Lodgers tax uh also
covered a shortfall of approximately
$500,000 for the convention center um
for operations and bond debt of the
convention center due to the mandated
closure per Public Health
orders and the next slide provides an
update on ongoing and upcoming projects
um it is important to note that
traditionally local advertising is kept
at a minimum as the goal is to advertise
outside of a 100 mile radius to attract
overnight visitors um but arpa allows
for local spending to assist in local
business recovery efforts so one of the
positives of arpa is the fact that Los
cruus and and the residents in Los
Cruses are able to see some of our
advertising as well local advertising
includes radio um digital and broadcast
commercials social media online ads
search engine marketing Highway
Billboards and we um have Al Paso
International Airport advertising right
now uh in terminals a b and in the
baggage claim area so on this slide
you're going to see one of our newest
Billboards um it's located on I 10 west
between Al Paso and Los cruus we also
success ful launched the Sunseeker
Trails pass it promotes the Abundant
outdoor recreation opportunities in Los
crusis and encouraging encourages
spending at local eateries and retail
locations outdoor recreation is one of
the fastest growing tourism drivers in
New
Mexico we have also hosted several
social media influencers and will
continue to do so this year um the
influencers provide immediate exposure
resulting in visitation and spending in
local
businesses also the Spanish visitors
guide was Rec ly completed and is being
distributed in both print and digital
formats construction on the Los cruus
letter sign should be completed by FY
25's second quarter the sign will be
located on the east side of the
convention center that it is um it is
strategically placed to drive business
to the university and Convention Center
Corridor visit Las Cruis has spent or
encumbered 89% of its arpa funding as of
June 30th and 96% to date it is on
schedule to meet the December 31st 2024
funding obligation
deadline mayor city council thank you
for your time uh next up should be Carl
Clark assistant director of Los cruus
utilities good afternoon mayor council
Carl Clark assistant utilities director
the water sewer project I call them the
septic tank elimination projects that
we're completing uh we received
approximately 1.3 million in arpa
funding for this um we spent
approximately
1.2 and uh with a remaining of 999,000
actually that number has changed uh
since it was updated by lean it's
approximately 56,000 now that remains in
there uh we created a matrix that uh
added in the top priority high priority
and the low to moderate income
residential areas and uh identified 155
residents in that area um we sent out
letters mailings and we had 77 respond
um we today we converted approximately
71 uh residential areas the household
conversions pending were six uh when I
put this together but it's down to two
we're going to complete one this week
and then next week we'll be done with
the final one and that will exhaust the
1.3 million so that all be used
up here's some of the areas that we did
the work Copic uh subdivision Council
District 2 the green shaded areas are
the ones that are completed the yellow
are the ones that
remain um here we have alamia Acres of
States uh this is a top priority area we
have water well that's within 1,000 ft
of these areas here um and you can see
we completed everything in that
section then we get to Henda Acres um
you can see all the green areas are
quite if you uh jumped onto the program
uh we still had two pending in there it
should only be one now um we do have
water wells within 1,000 ft of that area
now since we own the hornado water
system so but uh that that was the final
area and like I said we'll be done next
week and looking for more money to do
more work
so next up I believe is David Sido
Public Works director
good afternoon mayor council David sad
your Public Works director and I'll be
going over the arpa spending related to
capital projects first we have casalinda
Acres which incorporates aen Blanco C
Sol and C Encanto this is a full
reconstruction project that will include
roadway sidewalk lighting drainage with
green infrastructure and utilities gas
water and sewer we're anticipating
starting construction in November going
through August of
25 now the preconstruction meeting for
this project is scheduled for tomorrow
we will have a better timeline of
construction start after tomorrow this
is what we were anticipating the project
cost 5.3 million of that 2.2 is arpa
funding for water sewer and drainage on
the project
next we have the transit maintenance and
operation
facility this project receive
2.6 million of arpa funding to date 98%
has been spent on the construction of
the facility the remaining 2% will be
spent by quarter two in fy2 so by
December of this calendar
year another project receiving arpa
funding was a 2018 go bonds the walking
jogging trails unido Park Animal
Services Center of msia Valley and
ronada dog park all receive various
amounts of funding those are spent at
100% the East Mesa Recreation Sports
Complex received 3.36 million of that
92% has been spent the remaining 8% will
be spent on shade structures
throughout epe infrastructure at the
complex and if any funds remain from
that we will incorporate those into the
continuation in the scope of work of the
complex lastly for the capital projects
we have the mobile Integrated Health
Unit this received
$365,000 of that
86% has been spent on desert Peaks
architect who has done the design
completed the design development for
that project the remaining funds will be
used towards the construction of the
facility once that is fully
funded and now I'll pass it on to Gabby
pratts grants manager from
Finance good afternoon mayor council
Gabriel La pratz Grant manager in the
finance department
I'm going to talk to you about our grant
or subg grants to the local community um
I'll start off with the nonprofits um
and then I'll hand it off to two other
staff members to fill you in on the the
spec the specific projects uh in housing
and um in
Workforce as the department implemented
its subg granting program
for the non uh the local
nonprofits they uh we found that we
needed additional technical assistance
to be able to ensure compliance with not
only our responsibilities under the arpa
grant but also the subres
responsibilities they had a lot of
questions it is a complicated Grant
um and so we reached out um through an
RFP to the community uh and found
through that Clifton Larson Allen which
is an auditing firm we call CLA and that
is headed up our particular project is
headed up by laa Beltran schmittz who is
a local uh who is in Las Cruses native
and Laura's in the audience she's the
principal at CLA and she is the team
leader she's here just in case you have
any questions specific to the work that
they're doing for us Katrina Carlton is
our project manager she's the director
at CLA um she works from the East Coast
so it was hard for her to get in today
but they are our leaders on this team
and uh that we've had them on contract
now for a few months and they hit the
ground running they've been uh really
really helpful not only to uh the
finance staff but also to the
nonprofits um the first subgrant that
I'll talk to you about is the T Val
Community of Hope hope their Pro uh
their Pro their funded project is
landlord risk mitigation fund thus far
they've served 37 individuals with uh
this uh with this money 18 landlords
have been assisted to um encourage them
to rent to uh folks who may not have the
credit or history or rental history to
be able to qualify under uh a regular
situ situation but rather um you know to
assist them to mitigate risk just like
the name implies which includes repairs
of damage to units or helping them bring
units up to uh code there is also an
incentive to rent bonus that landlords
can take advantage of and thus far one
landlord has taken advantage of that
part of the
program Community Action Agency of
southern New
Mexico is uh implementing the family
Prosperity program thus far they've
served 150 families Each of which
receive a stipend of $500 per month for
18 months they receive case
management and um it's specifically to
help them improve their financial
situation through learning about uh
money planning Financial management um
as well as investment in
education they partner with NMSU Crimson
research to do the evaluation for this
particular program in addition to the
150 families served they also engage 100
families who are um used as a control
group and those families receive between
$25 and $50 per month depending on the
number of surveys that they have to
complete um as part of the research
model the Boys and Girls Club of Les
Cruses was funded uh to um assist them
in their Capital campaign they have
recently uh and I by recently I mean
January of this year uh purchased the
video 4 property which was um I believe
was vacant for a while it they have uh
engaged an architect to complete they
design and they're about 50% completed
and they're working on their
environmental assessment with the
assistance of our housing um program
they've uh launched their Capital
campaign in February of 24 and they've
already raised approximately 40% of
their Capital needs for the expansion
and renovation of the
facility Catholic chares of south of
south southern New Mexico sorry about
that has thus far aided approximately
100 individuals and families with rent
mortgage utilities and Mental Health
Services they've um also in addition to
the um direct payments that they've made
to landlords um on behalf or to the
elector company for example um they also
work through Partnerships with local
schools um to Garner referrals as well
as to expand and develop a mental health
support program in the Les crusis
area um I did fail to mention they also
provide uh direct um Mental Health
Services hard deos thus far has served
individuals that is mostly children who
uh receive uh Services through their
social
emotional uh learning program which is
uh
it's therapy provided in a group setting
and in a learning environment so that
they're able to help children who have
experienced emotional trauma better
adapt to social
situations they also provide Therapy
Services which include screenings for a
variety of mental health disorders as
well as treatment plans and uh trauma
and support of just general well-being
and they call this the family success
program crues creatives has reached up
almost 7,000 students in 41 schools
within Las Cruses public
schools and they've provided a synopsis
of their educator surveys of course
these are preliminary results we should
have more final results at a future
meeting their interventions have been
proved successful to increase student
engagement
to help students build social and
emotional skills they've also helped
them see the future in education for
them through academic and career
opportunities and they also um have been
able
to teach these young people how academic
skills are necessary to use in the real
world you know we never think we're
going to use algebra
until we stand in front of a of a recipe
that we need to double or half right and
I know I tell my niece that all the time
she's 24 she's like why do I need to
know this and I'm like because when you
bake a cake you're going to need to know
this she laughed she she doesn't laugh
anymore so now I'm going to invite
Natalie Green to talk to you about the
housing work thank
you good afternoon uh Mr Mayor members
of council Natalie Green for the record
uh housing and Neighborhood Services is
managing two projects the first is the
Oak Street renovation Oak Street is an
apartment complex for veterans
experiencing homelessness it's a 22 unit
complex but only 20 of the units uh
needed some Renovations so we've
replaced the windows flooring cabinets
um installed new showers and kitchens um
we've also are doing some Heating and
Cooling improvements and installing a
new Ro uh a new roof this funding was
matched with our community development
block grant funds and so we're utilizing
both funding sources to support this
project uh the second one is the peach
tree Canyon Apartments we are on uh on
schedule for the closing to occur next
week so we're in that final push of
underwriting um so staff will be uh
pretty tied up until closing day it is
144 units for phase one and then as soon
as we close we'll have a groundbreaking
to follow
um and and then we'll start expending
those funding sources and now I'll turn
the presentation over to Selena Morales
for economic development thank
you good afternoon mayor city council
Administration Selena Morales with
economic
development the city of Las crusis has
allocated 4 100,000 from arpa funds to
economic development through a
resolution for the storefront repair
grant program
this initiative is designed to support
the economic recovery of small
businesses that have experienced
property damage due to the negative
impacts of covid-19 pandemic the grant
provides funding to cover the cost of
repairing property damage and reimburses
business owners for out of pocket
expenses for up to
$2,500 as of today we've spent
$138,900 leaving a remaining balance of
$261,900
the program will continue to accept
applic for small businesses until all
funds are exhausted or by December 31st
2026 whichever comes first so far 83
businesses have benefited from this
initiative I'll now pass it over to
Irene B from Workforce
Development it helps when the person
right before you is the same height
all right uh good afternoon mayor city
council Irene B with economic
development the following are the ARA
Workforce Development projects uh
agreements were finalized this past June
and the following are updates for each
of the five projects I do want to
mention that I'm also in the process of
working with Finance to get these
projects um Awards allocated to the
projects so we begin with automate up um
in partnership with M excuse me m Val
Economic Development Alliance this
project is awarded $100,000 with the
goal of providing upskilled training
around Advanced manufacturing for up to
100 participants as well as helping to
expand industry sectors and grow the
user base currently uh mavita is
currently working with local
organizations to identify opportunities
for training in coding Aerospace life
and biosciences in addition to Advanced
and additive manufacturing trainings for
certifications will be provided by both
local training and educ ational
institutions including NMSU and DCC as
well as online industry recognized
entities next is our apprenticeship
program in partnership with the
Independent Electrical Contractors of
southern New Mexico this project was
awarded
$200,000 with the goal of increasing the
number of apprenticeship opportunities
for up to 100 participants as well as
expanding training opportunities for
Journey persons enrollment has begun for
the fall 2024 class as well as
recruitment for continued training for
Journey persons this year we have a goal
of recruiting 50 new apprentices and
there are currently 25 new apprentices
enrolled in the
program next is our elevate your future
or the transitional job training
program in partnership with the donana
Community College this project is
awarded 240,000 with the goal of
training uh individuals that are at or
below the poverty line to support the
goal is a meaningful employment for up
to 150 participants
participants will develop proficiency
and soft skills career development in
financial literacy to enhance economic
and social Mobility they will also
receive a $1,000 stiping at the
completion of
training today the first cohort is
underway with 21 participants currently
enrolled this is a four to six week
training program the first cohort is
scheduled to be completed at the end of
this month with the second cohort
beginning in October
actually need to go back
one next is our pre-apprenticeship
program in partnership with the Los
cruus Public Schools this program was
awarded
$100,000 with the goal of supporting
pre-apprenticeship programming for up to
400 hours and boost the number of
Industry recognized certifications as
well as expanding employment
opportunities we are working with the
Los crusis public schools and the New
Mexico workforce connection to conduct
an orientation next week with students
to begin Recruitment and enrollment into
the program we will also be working with
the Los Chris's public schools and New
Mexico workforce connection to conduct
monthly monitoring reporting of students
progress and we hope to recruit 30
participants for this
year and lastly is our reaching for the
Stars program this is our child care
provider accelerator program in
partnership with engage this project is
awarded $300,000 with the goal of
expanding capacity of Child Care by up
to 50% providing Quality Care through
the NX childhood education Focus program
as well as addressing Equity by offering
support and resources with a $10,000
Grant this funding will assist
registered home providers to obtain the
necessary equipment and materials
required by the state to operate as a
licensed home provider Recruitment and
enrollment for the first Cort has begun
applications excuse me applications are
currently being reviewed and selection
will take place with the next few weeks
with programming beginning in October
applicants must be a registered home
provider or in the process C of becoming
a registered home provider be based
within the city of Las Cruses with the
goal of entering the early childhood
education department Focus program to
become a licensed child care provider
and work towards meeting quality
standards laid out by Focus and the
state licensing
department and with that I will hand it
over to Liam Beasley with
Finance I want to briefly talk about um
opengov which is a software and
transparency tool that's available to
the council members as well as members
of the public it's integrated on the
city's website lis.gov and these Pages
provide an overview of what arpa is as
well as financial information so it'll
show some graphs which communicate
directly with our accounting system and
these uh graphs and financial
information are are going to be updated
on a daily
basis and I'm actually going to go to
the city's uh website and show you where
you can find this
information so here's the front page of
Las cr.gov and then at the top
bar um you'll go over to
government hover over that and then on
the left side options hover over
transparency and
accountability and then the second
option there is going to be the arpa
page and so at the top we have some
background information about
arpa and then the first graph you see
will show the budget as well as the
actual spending for all the different
project categories and these graphs are
interactive so you can hover over
different spending categories like
operating in capital and also click on
any one of those and it'll give you a
more detailed
breakdown and you can reset the graph to
its original look by using the button at
the
top underneath we have some useful links
such as to the quarterly reports we
submit to the US Treasury as well as
various resolutions related to
arpa and then the latter half of the
page as you go down will break down each
of those different project categories
kind of explain a little bit about the
projects and then each section will have
a graph dedicated just to that category
as
well and then towards the middle of the
page in the community Grant
section there will be a link um where
you can learn more about the nonprofit
funding and so following
that will'll take you to a different web
page and at the top you can select from
the N9 different
nonprofits and underneath it'll give you
um some information about what they're
accomplishing with their Grant as well
as have a graph specific just to
spending from that um particular
Grant so this information is available
to the council members and you can refer
other people to it if they uh request it
but I just wanted to make you all aware
that we have this available
and I'll turn it back over to leand De
mush who will wrap up the
presentation um mayor council lean dush
your Finance director just wanted to go
over um we told you about where our
money has or is or has been and I wanted
to complete showing you that we do have
some projects that are totally all spent
um under health public health and safety
that the police department has spent all
of their funds and have received
everything that they had um needed for
the arpa which was the smart technology
the
communications uh victim and communicate
uh Advocate Vehicles all of those have
been received and they're they're using
them right now um Under Fire they have
received the mih vehicles as well um and
the lift fund as Liam had uh presented
to you earlier has been uh all of the
money has been received by the lift fund
and has been spent uh by the lyt fund
and these were used to revitalize small
businesses and then of course the
premium
pay with that um if you have any
questions I know it's been a lot to
absorb but um I have all of the staff
behind me if you have additional
questions and we did invite all of the
nonprofits uh to come today as well
okay well thank you lean and thankk you
staff for the presentation and the
update and I'll turn Council any
questions councelor Flores are you
surprised
oh nobody heard that right okay um so I
I have a question if you could go to
page 20 I have a lot of questions but
page 28 please
okay so this is for mavita and how much
were they you know when money is
allocated when money is allocated to a
um uh to an
entity
um you know it was very clear what the
outcomes were for a lot of the um
organizations that did receive
money but we don't have any outcomes for
mavita and I want to know why we don't
have a report on that and I I I mean
what I've uh deducted is that uh there
hasn't been any achievement so I and I'm
you know just keep an eye on mavita you
know because it's our Economic
Development uh thing so yeah so mayor uh
Council Flores that's a really great
question um when we brought these to
council it was re very close to the end
of the fiscal year
and so since that fiscal year was ending
uh we were working with all of these
participants in the Workforce program to
get them all set up as a vendor in our
system and so they're all set up we have
opened POS for all of these uh except
for one we still have one that we're
working on right now to set them up
totally into a vendor and then um
they've received their POS and should be
working on that so at the next update
that we have for you you should be
seeing some some results on all of these
Workforce
programs well um I I'm just wondering
well okay so there's a reason in terms
of the administration of uh the uh
funding that was provided or was mayor
council Flores yes ma'am it's a it's
administrative or just our internal
controls um we do have to you know look
after this money that's one of the
reasons why we reached out and
contracted with CLA is to make sure that
we do everything correctly um being that
this is money from the US Treasury so we
were just we did have to set them all up
as a vendor and that took a little bit
of longer time than we had expected yes
but it seems to me that this is when was
this money distributed or the agreements
reached June of this year it was June
that the resolution came before you and
our fiscal year ended on June 30th so
we've been working on setting them up as
a vendor and getting the POS Open after
the fiscal year
so that's the reason because it's been
just too okay so you'll report to us
that yes all this stuff has been done we
have the apprenticeship program going
and we're going to have all these little
Geniuses um with jobs okay and then I
have a question for Carl Mr
Clark thank you Leanne and and thank
you
Miss hi hi so my question Carl is um on
the uh sewer work that's been done in
Henda Acres there were some homes in
within that those plats that hadn't been
uh serviced and do you know why did they
did they do their own cuz some of them
have done very few but right mayor
councelor so yes uh some of them
selected not to
participate yeah go figure exactly so we
sent out plenty of letters and and we
only had 77 that replied and I think
there was 150 I showed on there so it it
was kind of a strange thing that people
didn't want the free money I'm not sure
but we had people directly tell us no
we're not interested yeah are you sure
yeah has and what about north of 70
Highway 70 I know that uh there were
people at the last big meeting that we
all the city held I can't remember when
but um there were a lot of people who
were North of 70 who wanted to know why
they had been left out and I I'm still
wondering did letters go out to
everybody in that area uh so mayor
councelor Flores yes uh letters went out
to everybody that we went out and
installed a a septic sewer m i mean I'm
sorry a sewer m in front of their
property MH and and so it just went out
to those because if they didn't have a
sewer m i I wasn't able to connect them
to Municipal sewers they had to have a
sewer M and they're uh out in front of
the roadway there
um so like Rising Sun uh kaer retto
those all had sewer installed with the
legislative funding that we received and
so there was something that they could
connect to now um and then at that point
we reached out to everybody that was
along the SE M that had not connected
and and we sent them a letter and some
responded and some did not and then
we've especially in Hasan Acres we went
un knocked on doors on those that we
didn't get anything back and uh either
they weren't there um I'm not sure why I
knocked on a few myself and I couldn't
get anybody to open the doors this was
after the work hours um and yeah it just
it was kind of a strange thing then we
also found people that that connected
illegally so they said yeah we have SE
it's like well I don't show you having
SE oh oh wow so when it's illegal what
does that mean does it mean it wasn't
Doney us of the connection yeah they
somehow they hired a plumber they didn't
go through permit
okay and um so then north of 70 is there
any
um well this is just arpa money
reporting so um yeah so that's uh that I
I'm still concerned about funding for
that so I and I know you'll keep an eye
out and so
willan yeah so we'll continue to ask for
legislative funding project CP yeah I'm
think and then we're we want to word it
in there so we can try and get them uh
not only can we inst all the sewer Ms we
can also get them to convert from their
septics over so that's a big expense for
them but um we're working with uh the
state to make sure the we're allowed to
do that and the anti-d donation doesn't
come into play we should be allowed to
do it because allowed you know you can't
have uh people randomly uh getting rid
of their septic tanks I mean it would
take an engineer it would take uh you
know a lot of Science and stuff but
thank you so much Mr Clark and thank you
lean you're welcome Miss de and thank
you
mayor I have other questions
too um never mind I'll just talk to
people later thank you thank you Mr
Mayor anyone
else no thank you thank you so much
everybody for um this thorough
presentation um I'll start with some big
questions first Leanne I I think last
time you all presented gosh I don't
remember at this point when that was but
I remember feeling really confident at
the end of that meeting regarding um the
timeline of obligated funds today I'm a
little bit nervous 4 million is a big
chunk of money I don't want to send a
single penny back and so I'm just
curious if you can speak to that Leanne
because this 4.3 is uh million dollars
in obligated funds doesn't mean that we
have money for cuz I have plenty of
ideas so I don't I think a lot of us do
that's not what it means right like
those $4
million are designated
somewhere so mayor um Council bomo I'm I
brought Liam up here but if you'll see
when like when Carl when Mr Clark was
talking he's he's already giving you
updates because he's continuously
spending this money what uh what Mr
Beasley was showing you was at the end
of June June 30th which was the end of
our fiscal year so we're constantly
moving on this as you know our funds are
moving all the time um we do just
recently for um I just did a a program
with the storefront repair where we have
actually obl we found a way through the
US Treasury we talked with them of how
we can obligate the storefront repair
because we have to open an individual PO
with every single individual business so
we never know Selena never knows who's
going to walk in and say I need these
funds so in order to be able to obligate
that we did anou that Mr that our city
manager had uh signed with Elizabeth our
economic development director and so
we're able to obligate those so trust me
counselor I am on it I'm obligating it
okay thank you so you figured out a way
with the treasury's permission to say we
can't possibly know every individual
business that's going to come in here
but we are it has been obligated to a
specific program it has it um counselor
it has been obligated and I I'm not
quite sure I think on
um and that's what like with the Irene's
presentation all of those Workforce we
just open the POS for all of those
accept engage like just last week okay
so all of that has been obligated since
June 30th okay so I will honestly tell
you I I have made a commitment to make
sure that every dime is obligated thank
you Leanne I appreciate that so much and
obviously yeah I think the Workforce
Development programs are the ones that
make me the most nervous obviously we
went no one's fault right like we went
through a little bit of a situation with
that to finally get us to this moment
and so but lean you are exuding a lot of
confidence and I deeply appreciate that
it it will be
all okay thank you
um okay so three months you're you're
saying yes yes ma'am love it I just
wanted to really get the nail the head
on the nail or whatever they say okay I
have some just more specific questions
for um a couple of
the um nonprofits
um n or are they able to come up is that
who okay great I I had a question for
Nicole and the landlord mitigation fund
um Nicole I wondered if I'll talk as you
come come
down I just wondered if you could tell
us a little bit about those 18 landlords
are they individual housing units are
they landlords of apartment
complexes um they they were brand new
landlords to Community of Hope those
kinds of
questions uh Mr members of the council
Nicole Martinez msia Valley Community of
Hope thanks for the question mayor protm
it's a mix of landlords mostly existing
landlords um we we've seen um a
reduction in landlords that we've been
partnering with over the few years just
in terms of like the portability of the
rents and so um whenever we have damages
in excess of what the the security
deposit might cover then we can turn to
the landlord uh risk mitigation so it's
it's mostly exist landlords we have been
able to incentivize bringing on at least
one new landlord um and I know we've
spent more since we sent in that
original uh data uh and also ours was
kind of behind because while there were
some arpa issues with the city in the
contracts we went after private funding
for it because we had already done that
with um a foundation um and we asked
them to reinvest in that program because
it was so successful and so they did so
we were waiting until we expended those
funds to start kicking in using the city
funds okay that's good to know thank you
Nicole that's all my questions for you
thank you thank
you and then um Don I had a just a
couple questions for you about the
family Prosperity
program and honestly just I'm wondering
how many months the um program has been
going already I know that it you had a
ton of applications and that process was
long so if you could talk about that a
little bit absolutely good afterno Don
Hummer with Community Action Agency um
we initiated our first payment in March
so I'm not going to Mar April May June
July August next payment I think will go
out our our six-month payment will go
out in September awesome can you tell us
about the selection process of the oh
yeah so the selection process what we
did was we had some several kind of big
launch events that we did but we also um
sent Flyers we just did a lot of
Outreach to kind of covered uh the whole
city and what we did was we set up a
very simplistic online application that
had the question you know what income
was geographic location whether or not
there was a child in the home under 16
that just listed the criteria and then
what we did from that is that everyone
who kind of passed that initial process
we assigned them numbers we sent the
numbers to our research partner which
was our crimson research partner they
randomly selected whether or not they
were going to be in the comparison Group
which is um uh what is normally called a
treatment group we just kind of stay
away from that word so we have a
comparison and we have an active um uh
our comparison and our active which the
active received the payments the
comparison uh is more like the control
group and so they just randomly picked
until we had it once we had that that's
when we went in and got all the
documentation and did orientations and
worked with the families because
otherwise it would have been 2,000
people that we would have been doing
that with so we just waited until they
kind of went through that initial
process that's amazing thank you so much
it's amazing I I I do just want to say
that this program has been absolutely
just unreal I mean just we because of
some of the delays that we had in the
arpa funding we had a little bit of
funding and some research dollars and we
started a pilot program in Hatch with 12
families it's not a lot but 12 is better
than zero and the success stories that
we have just out of 12 families is
absolutely unreal and even with this my
colleague was talking to me about a
participant in the Las cruus project
that started a home visiting program
with her siblings she's enrolled back at
DAC so um it has been wonderful thank
you so thank you so much for the
question yeah I can't wait to hear more
Donna's there's going to be a lot more
coming it's been wonderful the families
are resilient and and just absolutely
fantastic thank you for your work all
you do thank you that's all my question
and then lastly my last question was for
the liftup fund is anybody
here um mayor councelor uh Ben comoo
since those funds had already been spent
the last update that we gave um they had
spent all of their funds so they had um
that they're not here today oh my gosh I
don't remember that at all is that
information in the link that you showed
in open gov yes yes counselor it is in
there I'll go revisit that and then um I
don't know mayor I guess I don't have
any specific questions for the other
nonprofits but if they're here maybe
they would like to okay awesome thank
you so much lean and
everybody is there any other questions
by Council no seeing none yeah any
members of uh the public that are
nonprofit organizations would like to
come up and share
I'm Sandy Smith from cis's creatives
last time I came in I brought some stuff
for you to touch I wanted to do that
again just so that you could kind of see
what's going on so csis creatives has
been working on some educational
programs this cool little guy that I'm
going to put on the tray is a robot
design that's getting ready to go to the
Robot Combat Club this particular one is
being designed by a 7-year-old and
you'll notice the grading on the little
front they're learning how to change the
3D printer
colors this is a project that we've got
fourth and fifth graders working on
right now so they do the design
digitally then the laser or the Cricut
Cuts them
out let me turn it on the kids then do
the sewing and the stuffing and they do
the soldering to get the lights going
I've left this one this one is a teacher
model I've left it open so you can kind
of see inside and one of the fun things
that we get to do is after we've cut out
the outside we shred the um the extra
felt and it goes in on the inside so
this is just for fun
touching and then this one is one that
we are doing with older students it's
called a layered resin painting I don't
have the cells with me today but we also
have another batch of the layered resin
that are focused on a plant cell and a
an animal cell with each of the the
components of the cell and then has got
a little lid over the top of it that
labels it but this is a sneaky way to
teach some engineering and advanced
thinking because you have to actually
start painting in reverse while you're
doing this one and then it's a a fun one
just to talk about some of the chemistry
of resin
so as a person who works with physical
things I think it's just fun to share
thank you all excuse me oh thank you oh
you had a question for go yes just a
comment I I want to thank you uh for
everything you do at uh cruus
creatives just a wonderful place and
it's I I encourage everybody to go uh
and visit uh it's it's amazing all the
offer you know people learn how to use
computers and and and then some and and
it's just like a almost a museum it's
but it's like in a working Workshop yeah
we tend to think of it as um more like a
gym only instead of exercise equipment
it's making equipment and if anybody
wants to come take a field trip and have
a tour I'm happy to do that for you yes
and it it really appeals to all ages and
all all ages I've seen people small kids
and and women who are maybe even older
than I am who are doing different things
so so thank you and and give everybody
my warm regards thank you the arpa
funding allows us to do a lot of the
youth programming but um overall we are
also serving the broader community so
great thank you thank
you thank you here well thank you is
there any other nonprofit that would
like to come up
get good afternoon mayor and Council
Ashley chavadi with the boys and girls
club I just wanted to come up thank you
guys again for the arpa funding and and
give you all a quick update you saw kind
of where we're at we're in the middle of
a capital campaign we were very excited
to also receive some funding designated
by Gabe boscus
um in the amount of 1.4 66 million and I
just got that contract so that's going
through HUD um we are deep into the
architecture we pretty much have the
entire layout of the building uh
finalized I'm at a point now where I'm
like picking door by door and yeah it's
a lot of fun um but we of course have a
lot of money to raise still to to get
the project complete we um were hoping
to get some demolition done this year
that might be on hold because we are in
the middle of that environmental
assessment and so we're just waiting for
the boxes to get checked and um you know
I think the the city and the head
department has been super helpful in
guiding us through this process um once
that is all clear then we'd like to get
um the interior demolition done that
will more than likely spend out the rest
of the arpa funding um but that was kind
of the plan for it to you know the
preconstruction and then um all the
while we're still working to raise money
um I am waiting and should hear any day
now on a fun that could take us over the
halfway mark of our goal so that's
exciting and then um we will continue to
be out in the community asking for
support um we're excited we will be most
of you are aware of the latime
partnership we've had with Lou and Mary
Hinton and so to honor their legacy we
are going to be um hopefully naming the
basketball court Lou and Mary hson court
and so we'll be doing a little kickoff
event for that um later this month and
then um we are always searching for
Capital Campaign Committee members and
uh we have a pretty small But Mighty
committee right now but we're looking to
add to that because those are the ones
that are really making it happen going
out talking to people and trying to get
support so um that's where we're at
we're still hopeful to be I keep telling
people we're still hopeful to be opening
the doors and welcoming kids into the
building in 2026 I'm just not going to
say if it's going to be January or
December we'll see uh where where we are
with uh raising the funds thank you guys
oh thank you did anyone have I just have
a little question go ahead thank you
thank you Mr chavaria um uh so um I'm
just curious so are all those theaters
going to be gutted or but the structure
will remain as it is and then all the
other things will it will be gutted and
then redesigned yes so the the entire
the inside the outside structure will
remain of course we'll cut some windows
to let some sunlight in cuz it was a
dart building cuz it was a theater um
and then you know complete remodel
inside and then the the goal is to to
also add a gymnasium the theaters were
just too narrow to get a gym out of it
so we'd be adding a gym um and then of
course we'll have outdoor play space and
and green space for the kids to run
around and um it hopefully I mean it's a
the renderings if you have haven't seen
them you can find them on our website um
it's going to be a really cool design
and um just a really great space for for
our kids and teens how many acres it
sits on almost four acres yes thank you
so much thank you thank
you any other question no thank you Mr
ch
good afternoon mayor members of the
council my name is Lori Martinas and I
work for engag New Mexico um I am with
the uh we're working on the childcare
accelerator project that is specifically
to support our home child care providers
um we have since received some updated
data just to show you some updated
numbers on the need for this project if
it's would it be okay if I looked that
up in here or pulled it up
okay I can I have
it I wanted to show you the data but our
data Partners at Center for Community
analysis at NMSU we're looking at the
numbers between 2022 and 2023 so this
project is to support our homebased
providers specifically because what we
saw happen during the pandemic there is
a child care crisis across the country
particularly with infant and toddler
providers but what we saw in doniana
County during the pandemic was the in
New Mexico we allow for licensed centers
and also homebased providers who can be
registered or licensed and so during the
pandemic we lost a lot of providers in
both centers and home and the center
based providers bounced back we back at
pre-pandemic levels actually higher but
our Homebase providers didn't come back
they're going away and they're staying
away um hence the need for this project
so we're super grateful to the city and
uh Irene and the economic development
department for noticing that need um
they presented data to you all last
October what we ran in December was we
have updated data between 2022 and 2023
now we run our data by School District
not by the city um City boundaries but
what we can tell you from
2023 compared to
2022 is that in 2022 in the Las cruset
Public School District we had 245
providers by 2023 that had dropped down
to 20 230 that's Center and homebased
but we lost 102 um registered home slots
and 264 license center slots um we did
increase in some of our home provider
license
slots and
so what we're our goals for this project
are that as we get our homebased
providers to license status when you
hear Focus or five stars it's the same
thing as a child care provider that
provides some sustainability for them
because they receive much higher
reimbursement levels from the state but
also it's a much higher quality of care
for the kids that are in the program and
so there are a number of efforts that
are going on um one reason this effort
stands out is because Statewide there is
finally the attention starting to be
paid to child care that it deserves and
that it needs for for our kids but also
for the state of New Mexico's economy
and so um what you'll be seeing and
hearing more of in the next year is um
the attempts to implement well to fund
and Implement a wage and career ladder
so that our childcare workers are paid
fair and dignified wages um it's
critically important that that wage and
career ladder as it's implemented takes
into
account not only the childcare Educators
uh education but their years of
experience and so the state you'll see
um during the upcoming legislative
session you'll see that likely coming up
and so it is really important at the
state level that they are seeing that
our local um Comm community ities and
local governments are making these
investments in child care as well so I
just wanted to impress upon you all the
importance of this kind of work and
thank you once
again oh thank
you else is there anyone
else all right well thank you again
Leanne and staff for the presentation
and the
update think that was the only item we
had on the agenda so looking for a
motion to
adjourn so moved
seconded this is on the motion to
adjourn the work session councelor mlar
yes councelor matis is absent councelor
Graham yes councelor cran yes councelor
flutes yes councelor bomo yes and mayor
[Music]
yes you
ready so next we'll have the agenda
setting for the September 16th
meeting e