e
e e
[Music]
you're
on please I won't start without
you good afternoon everyone welcome to
the city council meeting today is Monday
August 19
2024 uh it's approximately 1 p.m. I'm
mayor Enriquez and before we start I
want to mention that we have the ASL uh
interpreter available for our Council
meetings and uh she will be at the front
uh for anyone who requires
interpretation uh we'll start with a
moment of silence for the brave men and
women of the United States armed forces
as they protect our interests around the
globe as well as the courageous men and
women of the Los Cruses police and fire
department that keep our city safe
247365 now councelor Graham if you'll
lead us in the
pledge i al to the flag of the United
States of America and to the Republic
for it stands one nation under God
indivisible with liy and justice for all
okay thank you we'll start with a
presentation of certificate of
appreciation proclamations uh counselor
Grant thank you so much um do we have
anyone here representing the l cruus
space
Festival please come on down
hi thank you so
much the proclamation reads whereas the
city of Los cruus recognizes and
celebrates the past present and future
of the space industry and its impact on
the lives community and the economy of
Las cruus in Southern New Mexico area
and whereas the Las cruus space f esal
to celebrate space related activity and
interest held annually since 2018 will
be from Friday September 6 2024 through
Saturday September 14th 2024
commemorating the 13th anniversary of
NASA space shuttle mission 128 launched
on August 28th 2009 and returned to
Earth on September 11th 2009 and NASA's
International observe the moon night on
Saturday September 14th 2024
and whereas the Los crusa space Festival
is a collaborative cross community
effort to provide free familyfriendly
education and entertainment events
across multiple locations in our city
and whereas Space Week making space for
everyone shall be a time of Celebration
raising awareness as it pertains to the
space activity in Southern New Mexico
and how New Mexico's space achievements
impact the world and whereas the city of
Las crusis shall declare the week of
September 6 2024 through September 14th
2024 as space week and encourages all
citizens young and old to explore and
participate in the free Las crusa space
Festival activities now therefore we the
mayor and City Council of Las crusis New
Mexico do hereby proclaim the week of
Friday September 6th 2024 through
Saturday September 14th 2024 as Las
cruus space Festival week signed by our
mayor Eric Enriquez and attested by
Christine Rivera our city
[Applause]
clerk hello my name is Ronnie Bush and
I'm on the board of the space festival
and also work for Spaceport America and
we are just so excited this is our sixth
annual space Festival we have a lot of
activities going from September 6
through September 14th so we want to
make sure that you come to our website
which is just Los cruas space
festival.com Oh I'm sorry LCP space
festival.com and check out all the
different activities we have everything
we have a astronaut a NASA astronaut
Nicole stot coming and in fact on
Saturday um September 7th she'll be in
this very room at 2:00 giving a
presentation also on that Sunday we have
a open house out at the Spas Port so
there's just a lot of activities between
the 6th and the 14th and we hope that
you can all
participate
okay yes that would be great
okay I'll hold it
thank you councelor Graham next uh jobs
of the week
do we have Sarah rainy oh here she
comes good
afternoon all right my name is Sarah
rainy I am the onstop coordinator for
the southwest region of the New Mexico
workforce and for jobs of the week we
have
for the city of Los cruus we have a
budget analyst one that position starts
at 53,000 and posting closes on the 2nd
of SE September we also have a customer
service representative one for the city
and then that one pays 1557 an hour and
the posting closes on the 26th for Whit
Sands Missile Range we have a commissary
stalker this position is actually
through tresco but located out at the
the range it starts at 17 20 an hour and
the posting closes on the
8th we have for oxygen Therapy
Associates we have respiratory therapist
nurse um that posting closes on the 11th
of September for Fredo L we have a
detailer that is 1645 an hour and the
posting closes on September 9th and then
we have a neuro radiologist at the
Imaging Associates of new New Mexico
that starts at 52,000 and the posting
closes on the
8th um I wanted to for for this month's
Spotlight for our programs I wanted to
bring out the veteran services um our
employment related services are
available to Veterans and their family
members including ma uh the military
matching military skills and experiences
to civilian careers searching for jobs
in the local areas across the US and
accessing other
benefits um our local at our local
Career Fairs and some of our other
events that we have we do um veteran
priorities so a lot of times like for
our upcoming career fair we usually host
the first 30 minutes to an hour
depending on how long the event is we'll
do veteran priority to where they can
come in first and have kind of first
dibs to all the employers there or the
services that we have going on um so we
like to do that veteran priority and a
lot of our local events the local devop
team our local veteran um team is
actually comprised of veterans
themselves so they come with a vast
knowledge of what these veterans have
gone through what they're you know their
Trail entails in the future what their
needs are so they're coming with a vast
experience and camaraderie honestly they
they do really well with making matches
with the veterans in the in our program
and helping them in their careers so I
just want to encourage any veterans out
there please come stop by and talk with
our veteran services they're there to
support you they're there throughout our
region but definitely here in L Los
cruus office so come down and see us and
as always we are down at 226 South Alo
Boulevard find us on all the social
medias so we're here till from 8 to 6
every day thank you so
much all right thank you Sarah next we
have pets of the week uh Amy
defix hello everyone I'm Amy def Felix
one of the rescue ERS with the Animal
Services Center of the missia valley I
pick and present the pets of the week
every week and we we start off with our
cat of the week who is burberry this
week her number is
78127 and she says this shelter is my
home for now but I'm hoping to find a
forever home soon my days are filled
with exploration and play I'm quite the
Curious one one I cherish most is the
Sweet Moments of affection with the
humans here a gentle stroke on my back
or a kind word can make my day I'm not
just a cat I'm a companion a friend a
family member
and then our dog of the week is Angel
her number is
69609 and she says I've got a Heart full
of love and a spirit that's eager to
play I've got a lot of energy I'm always
ready for a new adventure I've grown up
at the ascmv so I'm always excited to
see and smell new things I'm friendly
with everyone I meet and I promise to
make every day brighter with my joyful
Spirit I'm ready to find my forever home
where I can share all the love and
happiness I have to
offer and regarding adoption events we
will be at Petco this Satur Saturday the
24th we will be there from 11:00 a.m. to
2:00 p.m. in case you need the address
that is 3050 East lman Avenue um other
events we are participating in the
National clear the shelters um we
started on August 10th and it's going to
go on until September 10th and for the
entirety of this event all of our
adoptions are only $50 so we highly
encourage you to join us in
participating in clear the shelters and
help get um our our homeless dogs and
cats their forever
homes and here are all of our inter
links our general website is ascmv org
we're all over social media on Facebook
and Instagram and Tik Tok is where we'll
post um pet highlights and upcoming
events and then YouTube and Spotify and
apple podcasts is where we host our
Tales from the posw side the asmv
podcast and that is all I have thank
you okay thank you
Amy next is a conflict of interest does
any member of the city council city
manager or any member of the city staff
have any known conflict of interest with
any item on the agenda none by floes
none cor none Graham
none next is our public participation
will allow up to 3 minutes no pending
litigation or items that are on the
non-consent if you want to come forward
and Kina will
will Usher you to the
podium my mother
L my open tment is I'm For You honorable
mayor
Eric and B mon know that he had my vote
always I'm very border of the police and
fire
department my
body I went to M New Mexico Family
Services in BTO Mall off of Tor on
Missouri across from the national
Republican headquarter of Don an County
I met at real nice lady
there and she told me that she felt or
thought our chief of police was
immature I immedately agreed with her I
was
surprised then I told her te make a very
good United States
Senator to close Mark HRI rich is in
trouble I do not believe in that link of
women vter
will approve another Pete Domin
te in public office at this time coming
in out of Loretta
mall mexo is going up thank you
Eric hello mayor and city council I'm
Susan Greenwall caveo EX executive
director of downtown Las Cruz's
partnership um I would like to First say
that we have some exciting things
happening downtown uh Smoky Sensations
the barbecue place has opened right
across the street from us um we have two
salons opening within this week um and a
and Chachi says that they are close so
lots of movement downtown um what I'd
like to ask your help with today is we
are having a Merchants meeting with film
Lost cruus we are trying to get all of
our Merchants um to sign up on film Lost
crues vendor list um vendor list means
that if a Film Production is in town
they try to Source things locally um if
businesses are on that list then they
are kind of the first
go-tos um so I've sent everyone the
press release um I will be going door
too to our businesses here in the next
few days um to ask them to join us for
that it is going to be on Thursday
September the 5th from 5:30 to 6:30 with
film Lost crues um that will also be
recorded so we'll be able to put it on
our website as well if people can't make
that meeting so I have a hundred spaces
available right now I have nine people
signed up I would like to get that
closer to the 90 something range um by
September 5th so um thank you for your
help and getting um this message out
thank you for all that
do thank you
suzan good morning my name is Jim
HST reading from the New Mexico
Constitution Article 2 Section 11 no
person shall be required to attend any
place of worship ship or support any
religious sect or
denomination nor shall any preference be
given by law to any religious
denomination or mode of
worship end
quote no person shall be required to
support any religious sect or
denomination on May 2nd this year an
assembly was held in on in honor of
National Day of Prayer it was not on the
City calendar it was not approved by
City C Council as far as I'm able to
determine apart from my comments to this
city council there is no record of the
event mayor staff has informed me that
it was a private meeting therefore no
documentation is
required no Mr Mayor with all due
respect it was not a private meeting
typically private meetings are held in
places not open to the general public
this assembly was held at the front of
the city hall at noon typically private
meetings are not open to the general
public this assembly was open to
everyone I was there typically private
meetings don't require City security
guards this one had two typically
private meetings don't use a public
address system so the general public can
hear what's being
said and they don't have Amplified
instruments so everybody can sing along
and finally private events are usually
not advertised to the general public
this one was Mr Mayor this was not a
private meeting it was a religious
service you participated in it and
apparently you authorized it I think
that police chief story will back me on
this point when a suspect lies to you it
means they have something to hide what
are you trying to hide Mr Mayor perhaps
you are aware that what you were doing
was
unconstitutional perhaps you decided to
do it
anyway Constitution be damned Mr Mayor
you have no right to authorize City Hall
for public religious services to do so
constitutes a burden on the citizens of
this community and by implication a
requirement that citizens support
religion consider the words of the
Constitution again no person shall be
required to attend any place of worship
or support any religious sect or
denomination thank you
mayor and Council one Garcia I want to
recognize the exceptional work our city
staff the staff has been instrumental in
helping us navigate often complex issues
leading members of ccia to a greater
understanding and ultimately positive
change that benefits our entire
Community a recent meeting with Natalie
and Jan on housing issues was a perfect
example of their Excellence I arrived
with preconceived notions but Natalie's
remarkable expertise and clear
explanations gave me a completely new
and enlightened
perspective the same goes for Chris miss
dilar and miss Pomo and of course Chief
story their willingness to clarify
important issues is a testament to the
extraordinary caliber of our city staff
I also want to extend special and
well-deserved recognition to Katrina her
consistent support and Readiness to
assist have been invaluable her
commitment to the community shines
through into everything she does with
dedication and passion the recent
developments different subject the
recent developments at MMC have
generated substantial local
controversy Community Advocate Yoli Diaz
escalated concerns to the New Mexico AG
after reportedly being dismissed by
local and County officials while a
complete understanding of the situation
requires further investigation here my
comments allegations suggest around 2015
MMC discontinued outpatient oncology and
chemo Services it's crucial to
comprehend why such a decision equally
concerning is the potential lack of
oversight from city and county
Representatives attending joint meetings
the public deserves
the public deserves access to minutes
agendas and reports that could clarify
the situation who possesses these
documents and what actions were taken in
response to the decision the accountable
government entity must address these
questions the hospital's corporate
ownership has been criticized for
profits in health care we expect
experienced medical staff and
administrators to manage these complex
operations effectively which requires
competitive
compensation to attract and retain
Talent yet we demand that hospitals like
MMC ensure access to care for those
unable to afford it costs are inevitable
someone must absorb them it's
unrealistic to expect to expect both
nonprofit operations and unrestricted
access the situation underscores the
need for healthcare models balancing
access
and financial sustainability this
controversy at MMC warrants through
investigation to determine the facts as
it assess accountability and develop
Solutions ensuring such situations are
prevented in the future thank you
good afternoon mayor city council my
name is Lucas hearnen I'm a resident in
District
2 um I am
here um to try to be proactive under
this new spirit of of such concern over
Public
Safety
um as that term has been thrown around
uh for the last few months
um in the last two weeks I've been
driving around our city and noticing
some of the things that what I think
people are talking about when they think
of Public Safety which is to say people
walking around
pedestrians people moving around um my
assumption is that people are making
their assumptions about what those
people are doing I don't know what
they're doing just like people don't
know what I'm doing when I'm driving
around um but what I what I have noticed
is that
um this is not a great place for people
to walk
around um we are not a pedestrian
friendly
city um on my own in my own neighborhood
along Locust there is an entire mile
long section of sidewalk that is
obstructed with utility poles and
unusable to anybody using a walker or
wheelchair or pulling a
wagon um or for kids riding their bikes
and yes there are bike Lanes on Locust
but they are frequently clogged up with
trash and trash bins because that's
where the apartments um are instructed
to put their trash bin on trash day um
and whether that's up to the resident or
the apartment manager or the city those
are issues in conflict with utilizing
those bicycle Lanes which means people
have to ride on the sidewalks but they
can't because there are utility
poles additionally um there are large
stretches of Road in our town between
intersections that have no protected way
to
cross um I live near the University uh
the students are returning this weekend
and I have already stopped frequently as
people utilize The Pedestrian Crossing
areas that have been installed along
University that have flashing lights and
um but are not affiliated with car
Crossings um it's clear because of that
and because of things like School
crossings that we do have some level of
care for some people to be able to cross
the street safely so when we talk about
pedestrian safety um I feel like there's
a lot this city could do to ensure that
everybody is safe if they choose to walk
or ride a bike or do anything other than
drive a car so as we continue to talk
about Public Safety I greatly encourage
this body to look into how they can help
thank you
good afternoon
councel uh mayor staff distinguished
Chief my name is Eddie Thomas and uh the
reason I'm here is because I want to
bring to your
attention
um there is a situation in my
neighborhood um and it happens to be in
your District uh mayor proam um there
was a recent uh issue with uh power
outages uh caused by uh sheets of metal
roofing that flew during a windstorm
onto the power lines and knocked out the
power three
times and um not only did it cause us an
inconvenience the the house is in very
poor uh repair the elderly man that
lives there uh I don't know if he has
any family or or what his uh uh family
situation is but there are gaping holes
in his roof right now they're currently
covered by tarp that I think were nailed
down by his other neighbor anyway um I
call this to your attention uh uh mayor
May Pro 10 because it is your your
District
okay uh something at the very least a
safety check a safety visit should be
conducted to see uh how this man is
getting along to see if he has any
family um the other issues I have with
that is that the streets
are they look like gram crackers that
were stepped on okay um
when are we going to do something about
that I'm also the one that sent you both
of you mayor and mayor proam pictures of
the flooding situation at my house my
across the street neighbor and my
surrounding neighbors because I'm at the
lowest portion of Caya de Encanto every
time it rains it pwns there okay after a
few days the water stinks tadpoles form
mosquitoes form it's not a good
situation it's apparent by your last
email communication mayor proem
that I don't know that you have any
intentions of ever doing anything about
it I know there's some projects in the
winds okay
well you can respond to me and let me
know what's in the words okay I've done
some investig I've done some
investigation myself but uh at the very
least send the street sweeper so that
they can at least at least clean up the
residue the debris that forms there
something needs to be
done um last and well okay my time ran
out but I was going to bring to your
attention the horrendous abortion clinic
that's going up some of that money could
have well been spent on mental illness
clinics Mr Thompson can you leave the
address with the city clerk on that
house that you're talking about the
roof could you I'll Google it and send
it to you or I can just tell you it's at
the corner of aen Blanco and C Del okay
thank
you hello Council and mayor my name is
Aaron Kaiser I've been resident here
since 2020 I am here hoping for maybe
some type of commentary from the city
council or the mayor to the city for
clarification on the uh ordinance for
the shopping carts uh here in the city
there seems to be a lot of confusion on
what it is what it means how we are
going to go forward with it and also
does it fully offer the dignity that
some of our people here in Las Cru
should have even though all their
belongings do fit within a shopping cart
have a lot of concern about how we are
going to retrieve property for people
that do not live here in Los crues
there's people here that are working for
companies that are far far away from us
but are my son and daughter going to be
asked to put themselves in a position to
retrieve something that does not belong
to them but to the company they work for
and what risk happens whenever they do
go out to retrieve that property that
possibly the businesses do send them out
to retrieve to be a part of the job that
they have at a company here in town I
think maybe some amendments might be in
order to this ordinance uh we do need
make sure that we're protecting all
citizens here in Los Cruses and doing
the best we can for uh not just the
taxpayers of the community but those who
the taxpayers support in this community
I am not looking uh for one way or the
other but there is a best way forward
for this community and I'm not sure
that's been properly spoken of I'm new
to this uh kind of uh Arena uh maybe I
will be here more I feel guilty that I
do not have more information and I'm not
a bigger part of this community and so
maybe going forward I am here more but I
would just ask that you consider some
type of amendment or just some type of
campaign to let us know what the
ordinance means how we're going to do it
going forward are we going to be putting
employees that are here at residents of
the city as well in Danger trying to get
property are we asking them to confront
people what if there is nobody with a
cart then they go out and then someone
says the cart is theirs what happens in
that moment are we asking citizens to do
things that possibly law enforcement
should be doing and are we putting
anybody at risk that wasn't at risk
before because of the ordinance and so
whether that is better communication to
what it is I know that I spent a great
amount of time trying to figure out what
the ordinance was I can't find the
verbiage anywhere outside of just a
little bit of information that you can
find through uh articles that are
available online and I'm not going to
trust Facebook for what the facts are uh
on what's happening but I would uh ask
that there is some type of communication
to the community to let us know exactly
what it means what it's for how it's
going to be fulfilled and possibly if
there is a need for some amendments to
the uh ordinance of the city for the
shopping cart issue that we do have here
in the city thank you for your time
[Music]
I lost my Q
sheet okay thank you next um that
concludes our public participation I'll
read a close meeting statement for
August 5th and August
[Music]
12th the city of of Las crus city
council met in closed session at 11:03
a.m. on August 5th the following members
were in attendance mayor hriz councelor
McClure councelor Graham councelor mayor
proam bomo councelor Karan and councelor
Flores staff were Adrien Whitmer Sonia
Delgado Christina Riva Christine Riva
Barbra
bomo uh Dominique Rodriguez Brad Douglas
JC Borgo
Melissa Westbrook and Ean tamop
Paya we also met with the Utility Board
Harry Johnson Ed archuletta John mroy
Phil Simpson Beth Broadwell outside
Council J Steen and James
Brockman the Los crua city council met
uh the purpose of the closed meeting is
to discuss pending or threaten
litigation regarding Tex
versus New Mexico and Colorado original
number 141 which is closed pursuant to
New Mexico State Statute 1978 section
10-15-17 uh the meeting adjourned at
p.m. Council also met on August 12th at
10:08 a.m. and the following members
were present mayor mayor hriz councelor
McLure councelor Graham mayor proen bomo
councelor Karan councelor Flores staff
Brad Douglas Barbara bomo JC Borgo Sonia
dogado Jeremy story Ian tamop payao
Christine Riva lean deuch arrived at
11:22 outside Council Taylor raal Lewis
roblas and Bonnie
dwit the purpose of the meeting was to
discuss pending litigation regarding
Fran
Estrada versus city of Los
Cruses which is closed pursuant to the
State statue of
1978 and to discuss pending litigation
regarding the estate of Teresa Gomez
versus the city of Los Cruses which is
also closed pursuant to New Mexico State
Statute
1978 next I'll ask for acceptance of
agenda move to approve Graham second
coren this is on the motion to accept
the agenda as presented councelor
McClure yes councelor matis yes
councelor Graham yes councelor cran yes
councelor
flutes yes councelor bomo yes and
mayor yes
next will be the resolutions Andor
ordinances for discussion we'll start
with resolution 8.1 resolution number
25-20 point of
order the um resolutions for the consent
agenda don't
we I be your pardon councel FLOTUS those
are approved as part of acceptance of
the agenda oh they were approved yes oh
by your the meeting you guys hadre okay
thanks move to appr proof second Graham
is that where we were
okay uh good afternoon go good afternoon
mayor counselor City staff and public my
name is Joe Pia budget analyst with the
city of Los cruus today I'm bringing
forth the resolution to accept various
grants for the
city the United States Department of
Agriculture awarded the utilities
department $400,000 with a $100,000
match to launch a food recycling pilot
program called Kier waste the program
will help increase the amount of food
that is collected and composted reducing
the amount of food waste that ends up in
our
landfills the program will first first
Target food waste from local schools in
our community the compost will then be
provided at no cost to Los cr's
residents to use in their own yards and
gardens the high-intensity drug
trafficking area program was awarded a
net amount of around $30,000 through two
modifications New Mexico had to issued
these two modifications to adjust the
funds needed to complete ongoing
operations overall these two
modifications have increased funding for
services supplies and overtime pay and
decreased funding for personnel in
Fringe pay
uh the in high-intensity drug
trafficking area program was awarded
about $728,000 this funding is to be
used for staff salaries benefits
facilities equipment supplies and
administrative cost this is funding for
the new hia
Grant before you are your Council
options and I stand for
questions thank you Joe any questions by
Council councel fles uh did you just
report on 8.1 is that what you presented
so um I just want to make sure I'm just
whatever well thank you for your
presentation but I do have some
questions sure um it says it's very
general in my humble opinion um awards
for various City departments through an
amendment to the city's adopted
fy22 budget so there is an amendment
that exists already uh in regards 8.1
man we're bringing in Grant Awards to
the city the three that were in question
were the Kier waste program uh the New
Mexico hi of modifications in the New
Mexico haa Grant so we're just amending
the budget to bring in Grant award
funding oh I see yes ma' thank you very
much thank you thank you
mayor see no other questions any member
of the public that would like to speak
to this uh
item saying none Christine oh I'm sorry
ma'am you need to come
forward good afternoon um my name is
Gloria Molina and um I just wanted to
ask you because I just barely had a
chance to walk in and you
um had kind of stopped at um I wasn't
sure what you were talking about and I'm
looking for it but something that the
residents are welcome to use uh what was
it that you were talking about at the no
worries uh so it it's for a Kier waste
food program so what happens is our
utilities department is going to ahead
and um start a new program and they'll
be allowing compost to the residents at
no cost so they're going to start with
the schools they'll start trying to get
a lot of the food out of the landfills
and start turning it into compost
oh sounds good Ma and and I was
interested in that because I'm a public
housing resident from missia Valley
public housing and we just finished
meeting for over a year with the city of
Las cus water conservation to try to get
mulch in that area to kind of and I
thought so thank you for allowing me
some all right thank you
ma'am okay thank you Joe uh Christine
this is on a motion to approve
resolution 25- 020 councelor McClair yes
councelor matis yes councelor Graham yes
councelor cran yes councelor flutes yes
councelor Beno yes and mayor
yes next is 8.2 resolution number
25-21 move to approve Graham
second
Corin okay go ahead good afternoon mayor
city council staff and public my name is
Vanessa Perez and I'm a budget analyst
here at the city of Las crusis I'm here
today to bring forth the resolution to
accept various internal
adjustments before starting the overview
of the adjustments I want to go over a
couple of reminders these adjustments
are not meant to create new programs or
initiatives um instead these adjustments
are focused on updating available
balances in our budget lastly the
following slides are only a summary of
the adjustments that were presented um
if you would need the full detail please
refer to your
packets within the general fund Public
Works has requested a budget increase of
$
53,486 and this is to liquidate open CIP
impact
invoices the fire department is
increasing the revenue by $1.15 million
and this is to budget for ambulance
service revenues the police department's
service agreement for school resource
officer program or SRO has been updated
they're requesting that both their
revenues and expenditures are adjusted
to include the new $29,500
increase the fire department is also
requesting to increase the revenues and
expenditures by
$189,000 and this is for Medicaid
ambulance reporting there is a
resolution today that was brought
forward by Virginia Villa from the
finance department the resolution number
for this is
25-18 the overall budget impact on the
general fund based on just the items on
the screen is an increase in
expenditures of about
$272,000 and an increase in revenues of
about $1.3
million the Parks and Recreation
Department is is requesting a budget
increase of about
$15,000 and this is a carryover for
vehicles that were purchased from fiscal
year 24 facilities has two requests
which would increase their budget of uh
by about
$313,000 one request is to liquidate
drinking fountain replacement invoices
and the other one is to liquidate
starting platforms invoices at the
Aquatic Center both of these are
carryovers from fiscal year
24 the fire department is rolling over
about $4.4 million
and this is because they're expecting
some vehicles to come in in this fiscal
year the legal department requested to
increase their budget by about
$319,000 and this is to uh budget for
Workers Compensation Insurance
contributions the next two slides are
exclusively for utilities department
requests they requested
$678,000 for an energy transition plan
$300,000
for utilities campus improvements um in
regards to gas $773,000 for gas
improvements on South Main Street and
$57,000 for water improvements on core
test
drive again this is related to utilities
um they've requested a budget increase
of about
$71,000 and this is to pay for some
vehicle search charges um they had paid
for these vehicles in fiscal year 24 but
they received a little add-on from the
agency so so they budgeted for the
vehicles they're just missing this
surcharge amount um they've also
requested $100,000 to upgrade water
pumps $500,000 to increase scale or to
upgrade scales excuse me and $500,000
for the East Mesa wastewater treatment
facility with this I'm going to pass it
over to Luis VA to review some vehicle
acquisition report
requests good afternoon mayor city
council City staff my name is Luis V and
I'm here to answer I am your city fleet
manager and I'm here to answer any
questions you might have on this minor
adjustment good to
go no
question also prepared thank you
appreciate it have a good day thank you
I'm going to pass it over to Cynthia
compo to review some CIP
adjustments good afternoon counselors
mayor staff um I'm Cynthia Campo uh CIP
analyst and I'm going to be um going
over some of the CIP amendments um for
this
round um most of these amendments are
actually um corresponding to a lot of
the budget adjustments that were just
brought to you by budget the first four
pages are actually um all related to
these um adjustments if you have any
questions let me
know all of these adjustments are just
budget to actual adjustments so we are
just um amending the budgets so um to uh
have the beginning balance of the
projects be um to match what the what
the budget
is and then these are just CIP
amendments um these were requested by
Parks and Rec they do not affect the
budget itself they're all through piff
so we're just reducing some of the
projects again just to bring the budget
to just bring them uh budget to
actuals and then the last set of
amendments they are um other CIP
amendments um which are completed
projects that have been closed and then
one of them just has a name
change and I stand Here For
questions any questions by
Council Council m Chase uh thank you
could could you bring up I I believe
page 17 I I think in the original
document that we received all the all
the charts of of the different movement
of of monies for CIP or for Budget uh I
think coming from the general fund okay
that's
me do you have it uh on the yes you're
referring to to attachment yeah just I
had a question on okay I think it was on
page
and
yeah okay I I don't think you're finding
it but if you go through the ordinance
maybe you I can explain it and you can
explain uh why the adjustment was made
there was a uh a $5
million it was I think removed from fund
4613 are you familiar with that yes okay
maybe you could just explain it to me
yes mayor councelor matis um this was a
$5 million Revenue in debt services for
the fire department it was incorrectly
budgeted they shouldn't have that budget
in there at all we're just removing it
entirely and it wasn't 5,000 or 50 it
was 5 million it was 5 million yes
that's correct I just was surprised over
all the zeros I know okay um and then
can I can someone answer why there is
110 million
ion of carryover
projects uh mayor councelor MTI say a a
specific page you're referring to or are
you referring to a total well I guess it
would be all your C uh carryover Pro
probably from capital okay probably from
Capital Outlet right project 110 million
was I reading that right I didn't put
down the page but yeah I did page
10 it it showed 110 million of carryover
projects from the pre previous fiscal
year is that I mean I was just wondering
if it was due to U more funds are needed
to finish the project delays in Project
Staffing of projects getting contracted
so yes um May or all the above councelor
M so our carryover projects are um a
mixture of things um and there it could
be uh because we well first of all we um
budget so early in the year that when
we're doing the projections just like we
do with budget um we're just making an
estimate of how much we think uh we're
we're going to be carrying over to the
next fiscal year for projects that still
need to be completed in the next fiscal
year and um so these amendments that we
bring forward are to sh to actually
bring the
project um to the actual beginning
balance either because we spent less and
now we need to bring that budget over so
that we can continue the project and
spend all the funds for the project um
and then we ALS so yeah most of those
those carryover projects are due to that
okay and and on some of the items where
you're you have a separate fund uh memo
where it's coming from I noticed that
some of them said um
non departmental non subsection what
what is that can you clarify that you
know there was like 50,000 300,000
200,000 and then the memo just uh had
non department- non
subsection uh you know whereas the
others were very descriptive of where it
came from where it went and who it was
for yes mayor councelor martiz uh that
is because a lot of the ones that say
what you're stating the non- department
or non subsection are actually transfers
within our uh budget we're not
pinpointing a certain account it's just
reflecting a transfer so those non
subsection or non- Department are
transfers we're transferring funds from
one account to the other and the way
that our system pulls those is as non
department or non-s subsection it just
signals that they're a transfer within
our budget so it's not increasing or
decreasing the bottom line of our budget
it's just a transfer we're moving money
from one to another and the others uh
the other memos are more descriptive but
this is a
generalization non- Department yes
that's correct okay and then can someone
explain the discretionary fund what
amount it starts with every fiscal year
does it the the discretionary funds
start with a milon 500,000 I noticed
there was um I forget I forget the
numbers it was three 300 something
thousand
in there and then uh 300,000 went to
utilities and it left a balance
of 100,000 how how is the discretionary
fund designed and how is it budgeted
every
year nonis you know a non-discretionary
mayor councelor matis are you referring
to the nons subsection lines that you
were asking about no it's it's it's
actually called a
um a contingency fund
uh mayor council mes I'm going to defer
that question to either Jacqueline or
lean
okay I think that's what it's called I'm
sorry I didn't write down the note but I
think it was called the contingency
fund and I just like to know if that
contingency fund is budgeted a certain
amount at the beginning of the F
lean um ma mayor councelor matis great
question so within the city manager's
budget he does have an object code for
contingency and so we do budget that for
him he receives every year about
$250,000 for contingency and that is for
his discretion to
spend there is no particular fund it's
just within his budget sir oh it's nice
to know he has that yes sir okay thank
you
ma'am thank you mayor thank
you any other questions
seeing
none
Christine this is on the motion to
approve resolution
25-21 councelor McClure yes councelor
matis yes councelor Graham yes councelor
cran yes councelor flutes yes councelor
bomo yes mayor
yes next is item 8.3 resolution number
25
022 move to approve second
Graham good afternoon mayor City
councilors my name is Donnie prise I'm
the purchasing supervisor I just wanted
to take a moment to introduce uh one of
the newest members of our purchasing
team this is Greg Gonzalez who is one of
our buyers and he will be presenting the
resolution on Temporary Employment
Services
good afternoon mayor city council
members and City staff as Mr Donnie
prois mentioned my name is Greg Gonzales
I'm a buyer one with the purchasing main
section here in the finance department
with the city of Las Cruses before you
today is a resolution authorizing the
city to approve contracts for temporary
employment
services the city of Las Cruses has
historically utilized these services to
address temp temporary employment needs
due to illnesses backlogs and vacancies
valuable time is saved in securing these
services to minimize negative impacts on
Service delivery and enables existing
staff to be utilized in other capacities
needed it is advantageous for the city
to have a list of pre-qualified
temporary employment firms from which
departments can select for the specific
Staffing
requirements All City departments
including our joint power agreement
agencies will be able to utilize these
Services provided by these firms on an
as-needed
basis on March 22nd of this year the
city initiated solicitation request for
proposals for procurement number
23-24 047 for the purpose of
pre-qualifying firms that could provide
these services and enter into agreements
with recommended firms the solicitation
was closed on April 23rd 2024 with 15
proposals received and submitted to the
selection advisory committee on June 7th
20124 for review and
recommendation after re review and
evaluation Sac recommendation was to
award the 10 highest ranked firms that
responded to the request for
proposal before you are the 10 awarded
vendors recommended by the selection
advisory committee awarded firms on the
left are from the Las crusis El Paso
area awarded firms on the right are
headquartered or based outside of the
region the contract terms are for four
years for each individual contract with
each individual vendor contracts are not
are for a not to exceed amount of $2
million annually per vendor and are
subject to budget Appropriations
and before you are your options for this
resolution and I now stand for
questions councilor Flores thank you um
thank you and welcome uh to our city
um how many how many temp agencies does
the city contract with I mean there's
quite a lot yes uh mayor counselor
Flores uh currently in the the last
contract we'd had five uh the uh new
proposal is carrying a total of 10 and
um there was a I think it was page four
or
five um yeah there it is uh Temporary
Employment Services the four-year term
is for the companies the city's uh
Contracting with that is correct oh okay
and then
um and then has there been a study an
assessment as to uh looking at uh how it
plays out financially for the city uh to
have temps as opposed to uh permanent
employees I don't know if you know that
at this point to that effect um I do not
have that answer for you I can get that
at a later date uh we do have the
specifics as far as the amount that each
department is carrying so forth but as
far as the comparison I do not have that
information but I can get that for you
okay and then U my understanding of U
like Manpower and all those companies is
that they're the ones that are
responsible for the say there's an
injury on the job like a worker's comp
claim they're the ones that have to uh
uh defend it is that correct I mean are
there benefits to having this as because
four years I mean some people don't even
stay I mean a regular employee might not
even stay for years years but isn't it
just in terms I mean I'm not an HR
person but it just seems that you would
want to have a um SEC you would want to
hire employees who are committed to you
know working up their retirement plan um
you know having the benefits of dental
and uh you know medical and that sort of
stuff uh May where's uh where's is has
there been an analysis on that do you
know uh mayor councelor flotes uh as far
as the first part of your question
the City's interview process is quite
extensive so some departments would
defer if they do have backlogs or
extensive positions that they need to
fill they would go with the temp service
the temp service would do all of the
background checks all of the drug
screening now the Departments go in
initially uh hiring attempt service
Personnel they also look at possibly
also hiring that um person into a
full-time person onto the city now to
the effects of the your second part of
the question where the analysis between
those to I don't have that information
um but again I can get that for you at a
later date I think
uh uh mayor counselor Florida is Donnie
proce for the record
um Greg hit the nail on the head we do
frequently have temps um put into
positions while we're going through a
hiring process for a permanent staff
member um and like he said we do
occasionally do tempt to hire um because
we know that it will take a while for
people to be on boarded through the
usual uh HR process sometimes we're able
to get that person on boarded as aemp
with one of the agencies we contract
with uh until the HR process is
completed and we're able to put them on
the payroll um as far as the um time
involved I think ideally you know there
are times when folks end up being in a
temporary position for longer than is
probably expected or yeah to the point
where it's not really temporary anymore
um but it really kind of depends on
what's going on in that department with
their hiring process or changes to
Staffing or programs that I might have
to defer to our HR Director Joe Richards
for a more um comprehensive respon resp
to that question but um we do typically
pay a bit higher in an hourly billing
rate for a temporary staff member
because of course the agencies do have
their overhead but um when you look at
the hourly salary of a city employee and
then you also add to that the cost of
benefits and everything that goes along
with it um it may not be that different
at the end of the day depending on the
position we're talking about but we
would have to do a more rigorous
analysis in order to give you that kind
of information I think a rigorous
analysis would be um good um I I'm
looking at this as a person who has
worked most of her life at this point I
feel like I've worked all of my life and
um and I just don't see how it would
really benefit a person to be a temp
worker and and to work in an environment
I mean side by side by someone who is a
full-time worker I just don't see
commitment um maybe aspiration to uh go
up the ladder um and then draw from the
benefits and and it also uh with all due
respect I mean I'm part of the city as
well but it just seems that uh it's uh
with in all to all and respect with all
due respect to temps it's like cheap
labor I mean is there a cost analysis in
so far as what the city is saving um
Visa having um temps and that you said
you really don't have that mayor
counselor Flores um what I can tell you
is that we're really Contracting with
these firms to have the services
available on an as-needed basis so in
order to not have um city services grind
to a halt because of a vacancy which
could be for multiple reasons it could
be illness it could be that that person
chooses to leave our employment or they
might accept a position else El where in
the city um so in order to not have
everything grind to a halt we're able to
quickly bring somebody in that we can
have just kind of keep things moving
until we are able to more permanently
replace uh those staff members so we're
not really using them with the intention
I would say of having them in those
positions for really extended periods of
time it's really just a stop Gap until
we are able to have a more permanent
solution
for so what is a percentage of the um
the uh outside Workforce you know the
through these companies do you have a
breakdown on that yes mayor councelor
Floyd as we actually were looking at
numbers last week in advance of this
presentation and as of last week
according to HR data we had 113
temporary staff members on um or in the
system um they range anywhere from one
to uh 48 people per department at the
highest I can give you the numbers per
Department if you like Well we'd be here
all day I think it's a pretty we have a
lot of departments but um
so well I I can't get into weeds because
it might be a legal issue but
um has there ever been a study and in in
in um you know just inh house study as
to productivity and and um how uh temps
measure up mayor councelor Flores I'm
not sure if any sort of study like that
has been done um I can defer to our HR
Director Joe Richards who might be able
to speak to
that thank
you mayor counselor Joe Richards HR
director for the record uh to answer
your question counselor no there there
hasn't been a productivity study done
with um these types of employees as far
as you know um how well they're
performing and and that type of thing um
I think part of uh what we do is report
back to the temp agencies um I think the
supervisors generally keep in touch with
them and let them know you know how
things are are going with the employees
um and this really just gives them an
opportunity to have choice and where
they're able to go these firms charge
different rates for different positions
uh so part of the answer to your
question about you know the cost
involved it really boils down to the
position and the fees that they charge
um compared with what our salary would
be uh and of course if you build
benefits into that that does uh you know
increase um the cost so temps do get
benefits no ma'am but if if we were to
hire them into yes ma'am if we were to
hire them into a regular position they
would of course as long as it's a
full-time position be afforded our
benefits um so that would be an
additional cost so do so this um the
temp position is four years and does is
have you kept a comparison as to non-ms
and you know regular employees as to how
many stay on Mr Mayor counsel Visa the
regular employee yeah I think the goal
typically is to have them on a temporary
basis the four-year term is our contract
term with these agencies so they don't
the individual employees don't
necessarily stay with us for those four
years uh as Donnie and and other staff
have mentioned it's really sort of uh a
stop Gap if you will until they can
either hire or get the position through
budget some of these temp agency
employees are being utilized because we
don't have the position in the budget I
see for a for a fulltime position yes
ma'am thank you m Richards and thank you
gentlemen thank you
mayor anyone councilor
MTI just had a few few questions it used
to be five companies
previously uh that and was they
guaranteed the 2 million a year Mr Mayor
I mean up to 2 million yes sir it was
five agencies I'm not sure the
amount um mayor uh councelor matis
Donnie prise for the record we actually
contracted with four firms during the
last RFP but one of those firms DM
Dickson they sold their franchise back
to the company that they had spun off
from many years before so they were
succeeded by um higher Quest LLC doing
business as Snelling and they did not
respond to this latest solicitation so
there were technically only four on the
last one but we will be awarding to 10
this time okay so the on that
approximate 8 million that was budgeted
how much it was remaining how much of
that did you expend apologies mayor uh
councelor Matias I did not answer that
part of your question so initially that
uh set of contracts was brought forward
to council with I believe an annual
amount not to exceed 2 and A5 million
but in I believe the second year of that
contract we brought another resolution
forward to remove the 2.5 million not to
exceed amount in favor of an in
indefinite cost indefinite quantity
award um but over the course of that
four-year term between all the five
agencies we spent a total of 16.3
million across the entire 4-year period
of those agreements so um in lie of
requesting indefinite cost indefinite
quantity we are requesting an annual
amount not to exceed $2 million per
contracted firm times uh 10 correct and
so that's 80 million in four years uh
mayor sorry okay uh yeah mayor council
it's it's an amount not to exceed 2
million per vendor per year so if will
still be based on the um amounts that
were brought to council for the budget
that was approved um the individual
departments lines of business programs
they will all be limited to the amount
of uh budget that they have available
for these Services okay thank
you thank you anyone
else okay well Donnie thank you Greg
thank you I just have one one question
so
we went from like you said technically
it was four but um to 10 and it's for
four years if there's you you had a list
of local and then you had a list of
those that are outside the area if a
local company moves in somebody moves in
local and is a temporary service could
they be added within the four years or
would that take a would they have to
wait the four years or can someone be
added through a competitive process uh
mayor once the contract effects are
awarded we wouldn't really be able to
add anybody new that didn't respond to
the original RFP uh however I will say
that um our price and service Agreements
are not exclusive so while we encourage
All City staff to take advantage of
existing price and service agreements
because a competitive process usually
has been done that has resulted in those
contracts um as long as folks are
following the thresholds for our small
purchase in the procurement code they
might be able to uh seek Temporary
Employment Services from a new company
as you described um they would just have
to make sure that they were following
all of our quoting thresholds depending
on how much they were going to be
spending okay sounds good thank you
Donnie and thank you welcome to the city
gr
Christine this is on the motion to
approve resolution
25-22 councelor McClure yes councelor
matis no councelor Graham yes councelor
cran yes Council flutes yes councelor
bomo yes mayor
[Music]
yes next is item 8.4 resolution number
25
023 move to approve second
and you can begin Miss bar thank you
good afternoon mayor councelor City
staff my name is Virginia B I'm the
buyer to for the financial services
department and before you today is a
resolution to approve a contract to
procure pavement management
software the pavement Management program
of the public works department is
responsible for the management and man
maintenance of dedicated rideway this
includes preventative maintenance
scoring poth holing and patching and
utility patch
repairs the maintenance extends the life
of our roadways and is essential for the
safety of the public uh part of that
maintenance is tracking the current
status of all of our roadways um
estimating the future condition of the
roadways and developing a maintenance
plan for all of the ride of ways this is
currently done
utilizing four different separate
software
programs the decentralization of data
results in a cumbersome process of
prioritizing and budgeting required
maintenance and repair a centralized Pro
Pavement management software will better
allow the pavement Management program to
effectively and efficiently identify
prioritize um perform maintenance
management and identify roadway
improvements and dedicated B and
dedicate budget to the preventative
maintenance and roadway improvements
within the corporate city
limit the Los cruus Municipal Code
authorizes the city to utilize contracts
from other entities which allows for
efficient and cost effective procurement
of goods and services the city of Mesa
Arizona entered into a contract for
Information Technology Solutions and
services with Shi International Corp for
payment management software installation
and
maintenance the city is
requesting to contract with Shi
International Corp in an amount to not
to exceed
$17,542 for the initial year in
installation um there will be three
additional options to renew at a cost
of1
7,846
73 uh for three annual renewals the
effective term for this initial contract
is through February 28 2025 so this will
allow the city to purchase the software
have the St software inst installed and
then um allow us for our first initial
subscription for for this software um
for future annual renewals the city will
acquire a new contract to piggy back off
of um through corporative organizations
um or cooperatives and or other um
governmental municipalities to be able
to uh continue to use the
software um so before you are your
choices and I stand for any
questions thank you any question uh
Council McClure
I may have missed this but I wanted to
ask is there a a public portal that um
say this goes online that they can see
where their street might be in terms of
maintenance plan I will actually have to
defer that to either Mr David SEO
or thank you Virginia mayor councelor
McClure yes the software does have the
ability to have a public facing portal
which will help residents or anyone
throughout the city to actually take a
look and see when the maintenance of of
those streets are coming up thank
you br thanks David while you're up here
thank you for the presentation um I'm
just wondering if you can speak to the
need for this just like the context in
which Public Works finds itself
regarding pavement management um the
challenges and then what your hopes
are mayor mayor proen bomo so the
purpose of number one obtaining the
software for this is like Virginia
stated we're currently using four
different types of software to piece
together the maintenance of this program
so by consolidating all of those efforts
it's going to make staff more efficient
will be able to do further analysis
within the software itself
which can also bring us to be able to
provide more information more
information during the budget process
where we're at updating the pcis as
improvements are being done instead of
waiting the five years to get a report
so there's a lot of benefits not only to
staff and their efficiency but also in
US planning to be able to maximize the
dollars that we do have through the
approved
budget awesome thank you David and then
just a clarifying question for the
public on what you just said around pcis
and
reports every five years can you just
clarify that for folks listening mayor
mayor proam yes so we as a department
assigned to maintaining this asset we
have a company come in and do a survey
of every paved roadway within the city
limits now that is done every 5 years
based on that data that's collected that
is how the pavement condition index or
the PCI is calculated that is put into
into the program and that is what we use
to actually schedule the maintenance
that we have with our funding thank you
David I always appreciate learning about
this and um appreciate this work thank
you counc FLOTUS thank you uh thank you
uh Virginia there is a Santa
Claus
um and thank you Mr SEO my question is
for you so the way I understand it it
would be um uh more efficient in terms
of keeping our our streets um
functioning as they should you know the
going out there and assessing what the
condition is and then doing the repairs
or whatever is that part of this would
that be a benefit mayor councelor fls
that is a portion of it oh so yes it
would make our staff more efficient
because they're spending less time
working with multiple pieces a software
to get the information into the system
getting that information sooner and then
planning those dollars out now again we
will do whatever we can based on these
results from the
software with the money that we actually
get approved through budget so we are
still limited on what we can do based on
the amount that is approved through but
once you have all that information you
can uh pretty much project prospective
and then when budget comes around um you
can use those figures G yes ma'am you're
correct great thank you very much thank
you thank you
mayor okay
good
Christine this is on the motion to
approve resolution 25- 023 councelor
McClure yes councelor matis yes
councelor Graham yes councelor cran yes
councelor FLOTUS yes councelor bomo yes
mayor
yes next is item 8.5 resolution number
25-24 uh resolu resolution authorizing a
contract for airport
consultant move to approve Graham second
Corin
and you can begin
Lisa good afternoon mayor counselors and
City staff Lisa padone buyer for the
purchasing section of Finance before you
is a resolution to authorize a contract
for airport consultant for planning
administrative and Professional Services
the tasks to be completed for the
airport consultant would
be include but are not limited to some
airport planning Services technical
writing services and Professional
Services on various airport
projects the request for proposal number
23-24
055 was issued on December
15 2023 with a due date of January 18th
2024 two proposals were received and
evaluated by the sac committee on March
20th
20124 the sack recommended to award the
contract to Deo and king of Randolph
Vermont for a contract term of 5 years
the contract award amount is not to
exceed $500,000 annually subject to
approved budget
Appropriations and with that here are
your standard Council options and I
stand for
questions okay thank you Lisa any
questions mayor pro thank you thank
you I apologize if I missed this
the cost of this is this coming out of
the airport
fund mayor mayor protim Beno I would
need to defer that to Andy hum the
airport
director thank you
good afternoon Mr Mayor uh mayor proen
bomo my name is Andy hum and I have the
privilege of serving as your airport
director uh to answer your question
mayor proem the source of funding would
be um either uh airport funds could be
grant funding from New Mexico do could
be grant funding from the FAA um could
be a wide variet of sources that we
would seek for for funding of these
projects um no I apologize uh Andy I
mean for the actual amount of this
contract yes yes we would we would seek
funding from a variety of sources we
would not just necessarily rely on uh
funding uh from the airport funds
directly okay so these uh these monies
are not confirmed yet you don't have
these that's correct okay yes okay thank
you um I think I just ask Andy because
I'm I just I do have just some light
concerns about the health of the airport
and I I would love us if we discuss that
you know in a work session soon I'm just
curious about longterm where we're going
and how it's all working for all of us
and especially as we find ourselves in a
conversation around tight budgets and um
I do just I you know I do just want us
to be um very responsible when it comes
to to the airport and so maybe that's a
a a question for you both here our city
manager and and mayor but I think that's
something I would really like to see in
the near future thank
you Council Marti yeah Council B comoo
brought up a good point when uh your
strategic plan uh when was it initiated
do you have a a 20y year 15 10 and
should I get a c can I get a
copy sure Mr Mayor uh councelor matis um
right now our um airport master plan is
under final review by the FAA uh so
we're anticipating that being having
their final uh approval here pretty much
any day um and based on that we're uh
beginning a new strategic plan uh update
for the uh airport and uh on the master
plan How does it go out how many years
uh Master planning for the airport goes
about 20 years 20 20 years okay thank
you Dave thank you
[Music]
y councilor flotes thank you mayor and
thank you Andy good to see Youk um so um
can you share with us uh what de boy and
king um has have done or has done for
the for the airport because they do have
a history a very in my opinion a very
good history of producing what they you
know they deliver on their promises so
to speak yes absolutely Mr mayor council
Flores um we've had a relationship uh
with the boy and Kings since
2019 um they've uh provided services
such as the uh um passenger air service
study the original passenger air service
study um they've also worked on projects
like the current airport master plan uh
the airport security plan um currently
they're working on the uh design for the
Reconstruction of Runway 523
um they're working on a sewer extension
um
plan um let's see um they've some of the
some of the projects they'll be working
on under this contract is the update to
our uh dbe our disadvantaged business
Enterprise program um we need to do an
update to our Wildlife uh Hazard
Management program um much like the uh
Public Works project before us we're
going to be doing an update to our
pavement Management program so it's a
wide variety of services that they have
done for us and they will be doing for
us thank you thank you Mr hum thank you
mayor you got another question I just
wanted to ask Andrew how long have you
been at the airport um Mr Mayor uh
Council Martis I'm in my seventh year
out there excellent job thank you thank
you thank you
Andrew okay
Christine this is on the motion to
approve resolution 25- 024 councelor
McClair yes councelor matis yes
councelor Graham yes councelor cran yes
councelor flotes yes councelor Beno yes
mayor
yes next is item 8.6 uh Council bill
number
25-10 ordinance number
3081 an ordinance approving a zone
change
move to approve Graham second
Corin uh good afternoon mayor council
Adam for Community Development for the
record uh case you have before you as a
proposed ordinance to approve a zone
change for a property located at 3098
East University Avenue it is located
right at the what would be the southeast
intersection of Las alturus Drive in
University Avenue uh this is what is the
beginning area what what they're calling
agie Uptown if you will um portion uh
portion that we're looking at is a
roughly 1.89 acre portion of an existing
larger tract uh it is currently Zone A2
which is a rural agricultural zoning
district from the 1981 zoning code so
it's been around a while unfortunately
um property does front uh two arterial
roadways TR here the zoning map here has
that that larger uh kind of Slender
tract that's heading down Al Alas and
the subject property that's looking to
rezone is roughly right here as you can
see it is surrounded by essentially
everything that's commercial commercial
high intensity uses and Zoning as well
as PUD zoning designations that are
allowing for office uses and so forth
like
that here is that property when it was
under construction uh with the what what
is existing there now uh so the proposal
is for a zone change to C3 uh which is
commercial high intensity uh there is
currently a developed finalized gas
station convenience store uh essentially
what this would do is bring the property
into compliance now and C3 is the most
uh compatible of our existing zoning
designations for the property uh like I
said it will bring it into compliance
with current code uh get rid of that
defunct zoning on the uh on the on the
property itself uh Additionally the
proposed own change does align with
Elevate lasu's comprehensive plan join
here just some site
photos uh when they staff did their
analysis we did not identify any rural
health safety or welfare issues uh the
proposed zoning uh provide compatibility
compatibility to the surrounding area as
you saw that pink to the North and the
East it's the exact same zoning it's
definitely not out of character um
located adjacent to what are two mixed
use corridors uh which is University and
telshore uh as per uh Elevate Las Cruis
comprehensive plan and it is also within
what is called a town center overlay is
is overl Place type also called that b
Elevate Las crues uh again it is at an
intersection of what is a principal
arterial a university and a minor
arterial uh alas Al Tas where this type
of zoning and proposed land uses are
encouraged by our
code uh notice was sent out to all
surrounding properties within 500 ft as
per code staff received one phone call
uh in opposition just didn't want to see
additional development in the area for
some
reason with that though the plan and
Zoning commission did review the
proposed uh zone change on May 28th of
2024 after reviewing uh the proposal
they did recommend approval by a vote of
four to one uh findings again um will
allow for the attraction and retention
of businesses both Zone to bring the
property and compliance with our current
code uh located along arterial roadways
work this type of zoning is encouraged
and it's also based on staff's analysis
uh compared to our Elevate Los Cruz's
comprehensive
plan with that uh we have a the owner's
representative here if you have any
questions but these are their options
and I stand for
questions thank you Adam uh May Pro Temp
thanks thanks Adam as
always um are we doing this a little bit
backwards or was the gas station allowed
under the previous zoning code mayor
mayor boomo no it was not under the
previous zoning designation uh all you
could do there was farm and maybe and
have a house or raise horses uh the
thing is this is enem missu property so
they uh they did their uh thing first if
you will now we're here trying to bring
it into compliance with our current
codes
now can anybody do
that uh mayor mayor proem there's
some weird things there because it's one
entity telling another entity what to do
if you will um we have limited powers so
we could tell and miss you uh because of
the it being state land um so our zoning
H code the the reason this is it now is
because the gas station itself contacted
staff when was asking for all these
documentations including the statement
of zoning uh uh to sign out on their
business registration well you're they
weren't following our our rules
unfortunately so the Maverick themselves
they actually initiated the zone change
I believe okay I have I mean I'll
obviously vote Yes at this point what do
we do I just have some serious concerns
about the way this
was obviously not by you you
Adam by The Entity that owns this so on
any of the land that's considered agie
Uptown is enem missu able to just
develop it and then come back and ask
for a zoning
designation mayor mayor proam the fact
the majority of what is agie Uptown is
not in the city limits uh if I direct
you back
to you can see that red line there that
is actually the C liit right there so
this is really one of maybe a couple
part of land that are in that are in
this city okay thank you that clarifies
that portion I I mean Adam I don't know
if you're in contact with the person at
NMSU in charge of this project but
perhaps there's a education piece that
needs to happen here given that you said
there are maybe a couple other Parcels I
just have some serious concerns with you
know listen I'm totally
about ask for forgiveness permission
later in some parts of my life but I
feel like this is not one of those and
so um I I think there there should be
some education and I'm hoping you're
able to engage in those conversations
yes mayor mayor proo uh we actually do
have a pretty decent relationship with
them this one just kind of slipped
through the Rocks okay uh but typically
uh the PanAm Plaza other property they
own as well along University they've
come before us not only for construction
but even before what's your part of the
the university citizens design Review
Committee uh for approval of things like
that I'm part of that oh my apologies oh
gosh I was like I don't I haven't me to
those meetings so I hope my apologies uh
council batis is actually point my
apologies okay thank you Adam I
appreciate the um your
responses councelor
Graham my question was addressed thanks
thank you councelor uh councelor
matis um before I ended the city council
position there was something that came
up last year about annexation from
request from the
University was this any part of this
land or was it a different part of land
that was brought up by the real estate I
think it was a real estate person with
NMSU Mr Mayor um Council montis this is
not part of it this is uh what's
directly east of it of that red line
that I showed you what is considered
agie Uptown in the the the Redevelopment
of the golf course and so forth like
much larger area sir but this is not
part of it is it is already in the city
though and the area in question is how
many acres are they they proposed I I
think they I haven't seen any more
information on that but what was the
amount of
acreage Mr Mayor U Council matisa I do
not know the exact size of what they're
looking to anex to the city sir it it
was rather rather large though I can't
tell you that that's for sure okay thank
you and if there's any information in
the past that you could share with me i'
I'd appre appreciate it on on that topic
yes sir thank
you no other questions any members of
the public that would like to speak on
this okay seeing none
Christine this is on the motion to
approve ordinance
3081 councelor McClure yes councel matis
yes councelor Graham yes councelor cran
yes councelor fles yes coun bomo yes
mayor
yes next on the agenda we have board
appointments uh we have two I'll do each
one individually we'll need a motion in
a second the first one is Brian marrow
to the veterans Advisory Board that's a
new appointment move to approve Corin
second
B this is on the motion to appoint Brian
Morrow to the veterans Advisory Board
councelor Mur yes councelor matis yes
councelor Graham yes councelor Karan yes
Council FLOTUS yes councelor bomo yes
mayor
yes the next one is Victor Eris to the
veterans Advisory Board that's a
reappointment move to approve Graham
second this is on the motion to
reappoint Victor Edis to the veterans
Advisory Board councelor McClair yes
councelor matis yes councelor Graham yes
councelor Karan yes councelor fletus yes
counc bomo yes mayor
yes next is a notice of proposed
ordinances we have three to bring
forward uh there will be no public
discussion a counselor may ask staff for
clarification on the proposed ordinance
the first one is Council bill number
25-11 uh ordinance number 3082 and
ordinance authorizing repayment to the
New Mexico Economic Development
Department for the Local Economic
Development act Lita project to article
uh coal storage New Mexico in the amount
of 600,000 for the termination of the
project participation agreement and the
match requirement of
$281,400
Bring It
Forward the next one is Council bill
number 25 - 012 ordinance number 3083 an
ordinance approving a zone change from
C2 to
R1
am for a property Encompass encompassing
approximately .99 acres and located at
6175 Lemo Road submitted by Supreme
Investments LLC representative Bring It
Forward the next one is Council number
25-13 ordinance number 3 3084 an
ordinance repealing the and replacing
chapter 2 article 3 division 6
accountability I in government of the
Los cruus municipal code
1997 as
amended bring it
forward next we have city council member
board reports and comments I'll start
with uh councelor MCL
thank you mayor uh all I wanted to say
was um last Friday I went on a ride
along with Meals on Wheels and I just
wanted to express my appreciation for
letting them tag along and getting to
see how um other departments that we
don't usually associate with care
tanking in our city reaches out to some
of our more vulnerable populations and
just how glad they were to see Valerie
that day and getting a sense of what
that service means to our public was
just really really heartwarming and I
really appreciated it so thank
you councilor matis thank you mayor um I
just had a few things I just want to
thank um the Department's uh Chief story
and and things that are happening I'm
getting a lot of positive comments they
uh there have been tents removed from a
park where uh children were afraid to go
into the park it looks like like it's
been cleaned out and a lot safer there
has been needles picked up on Oak Street
and again I don't know who's responsible
for getting it done but it looks like
that area was cleaned up and the the
neighbors called me and and said thank
you so there's quite a lot of good
things going on I'd also like to if
Larry's not here but if we could uh
follow up on the blight on 1710 espena I
see where the building has been
purchased and like to know when that
will be uh removed it it's a condemned
uh burntown building so thank you Larry
for your efforts on that and then I just
like to read a a letter into the record
it says uh Mr matis I was homeless many
many years ago in
Arizona uh they are a diverse group uh
there are some who can't be helped just
want to Panhandle and won't go to the
shelters won't take the aid because
there's rules there some people with a
uh cardboard sign or scammers not
homeless people with shopping carts
usually have mental illnesses need to be
helped people with dogs don't like to
follow the rules and the shelters and
they are also unstable some like me just
had no job lost my job and ran out of
money the people who want and need help
need a place place to live and help
finding work counseling Etc until they
can afford an apartment and have some
money to be
independent the public should be advised
not to donate to
panhandlers they should be told about
other Aid available and relay it to the
homeless they have a good communication
Network there should be ads on TV and
radio with information about what's
available in the city of Los Cruses for
the homeless or the unhoused
uh also in watching your volume is too
low at your meetings when I use my
computer uh thank you Ben thank thank
you
mayor councelor
Grant yes thank you uh just a quick
shout out um to County Animal control
officer Duran um got to interact um when
I found a couple of dogs while on a bike
ride
and she really went above and beyond to
find her way out to me because the first
question they said is what's the nearest
intersection and I was like about four
miles away so we uh talked each other
through uh various County Roads and
trails and um she showed up luckily both
dogs were chipped so a shout out to keep
keep getting those dogs chipped keep
those chips updated but I just wanted to
acknowledge her really going above and
Beyond to find her way out to me in the
middle of the desert thank
you thanks councelor Karan thank you I
wanted to give a few quick shoutouts to
the staff um and Department of Workforce
Solutions that showed up to the genen
green event last week um there were a
number of Staff folks there Lisa from
sustainability Kathy from um who does
all of our landscape architecture as
well as as a bunch of folks Workforce
Solutions working with yes Kathy
Matthews sorry um uh there to hear about
the sort of climate change in our future
and and Workforce Solutions was working
with uh all the young people that showed
up to that event which were were many it
was standing room only at at NMSU um and
that we heard a lot about sort of a lot
of the incentives available for
electrification and and ways that the
state and the city are and MSU are
supporting the sort of shift to um
nonfossil f future so that was a really
cool event so thanks to the organizers
the staff that participated and engaged
and the partners that also showed up to
that um and then I also wanted to give a
quick shout out to um the office of the
superintendent of insurance and I think
uh I don't know if councelor mayor Pro
Ben might be mentioning some of this as
well but they came to town and gave uh
an open forum for folks to share about
Healthcare
uh the situation of healthcare that that
is in New Mexico including the influence
of of private Equity funded um
institutions which we have a number of
something like 177% of all Healthcare
institutions in New Mexico are are
private Equity backed and we have a few
here in Las Cruses they're really
looking at State Legislative priorities
in terms of making sure the communities
don't get left behind as um profit
driven healthc care comes in out of a
community and and sort of how uh to
influence that through state level
regulation so thanks to Senator duag and
and representative zansky who joined us
also during the day for a meeting to
hear from some providers from the
community and and um their continued
work and we can look for that in the
upcoming legislative session so that's
something that affects something that
comes up here a lot in our in our
community so I wanted to give a shout
out to the to the OSI for for including
us and giving us some really good food
for thought I I think um as a city um
and that's it
thanks thank you uh councilor Flores yes
you good U mayor proam thanks mayor
thanks everyone um just a couple
thoughts I did want to address the cay
de lanto neighborhood situation I
actually pulled up an email from 2021
with between myself David CIO and back
then ACM Eric henriquez actually um
because I have been advocating for for
these two streets um to be invested in
they they
both and Eno absolutely need full
reconstruction and are on the CIP list
they were also um awarded some of the
arpa funding and some of those roads
were reconstructed fully um but they
also absolutely KN need uh storm drain
so it's not a matter of caring we care
very deeply actually it's a matter of
money um and then just recently Dave
Beto with public works let me know that
um they're looking for funding um you
know they had three bids for some of
this work and the lowest uh estim the
lowest bid that came in was still over
budget by $1.3 million and so you know
these are the conversations that are
worth exploring when we're talking about
GRT these aren't as someone said Pandora
box items these are basic government
services and Public Safety uh con
services that we need to be um investing
in that our community obviously is in a
huge need of and so um I did just want
to note that these projects are
definitely on the top of mind for myself
for mayor for our city
staff um I want to let you all know that
this week um I am a new intern is
starting with us from the NMSU School of
Social Work Andres urbe he is a senior
at the School of Social Work and will be
interning with us here he's also my
constituent so that's really cool but he
is working with Katrina Katrina I don't
know where you went thank you so much
for um helping and on board him we're
doing something a little bit different
this year he'll be really under Katrina
with some of my supervision given that I
have MSW but he's also available to work
with any of you if you need any support
with constituent services or any support
additional support for research from
sill um he just really wants to learn
the function of government and how
impacts people's lives and so I'm really
excited to have him on
board um I did want to note that in the
last two weeks since the ordinances
regarding shopping carts and others were
approved I worked with councelor Corin
and Community of Hope um given the
incident that happened the day after to
uh fund to engage our community in some
fundraising efforts and in Meet the
burden that was placed on Community of
Hope much sooner than we would have
hoped in 2 weeks I do want to report
that um we raised about
$4,000 uh about 20 wagons were donated
and delivered to Community of Hope and
quite a few of you donated a ton of your
used luggage and so for that I just want
to say thank you I think Community Care
is real policy work and Community Care
um is something that we should be
investing in even more the last thing I
want to add which uh was I wasn't sure
if I was going to but given that I've
received multiple emails on and I've
been told that there has been
multiple uh official complaints made uh
about me to the Inspector General and to
the City attorney I did just want to
address this today and then uh we'll no
longer be addressing it but um to the
folks especially the men that are asking
the mayor the city manager the Inspector
General and our City attorney for men to
dress code me a woman of color is weird
behavior and I just wanted to say that I
think it's weird and that's where I will
leave it thank
you okay thanks I just wanted to mention
that last week um we were in Clovis we
attended the New Mexico Municipal League
conference myself uh councelor McLure um
city manager
assistant city managers uh Sonia and JC
also Chris fav Christine was there and
Steve from utilities I don't know his
last name just know Bettis I just know
he's the fastest runner at the Fun Run
and um now it it was good it's it's good
to get together to attend the conference
we looked at some resolutions we looked
at some some policies IA requests uh you
get together with your cohorts in the
state that are are all facing the same
things and we're trying to come up with
Solutions whether it's homelessness
whether it's mental illness uh
panhandling all all those issues are
coming up so I'm happy that we were
there to represent Los Cruz as well show
a good
representation um and um Rosa will have
it next year and then the following year
we'll be here in Los crues so we hope to
really uh be gracious host and outdo
them Clovis did a tremendous job I mean
it was a great welcoming they did a lot
it it was fun and uh Las Cruz say we'll
do a lot better I know so just wanted to
share that and throwing it out there now
so uh that's all I had I'll turn it over
to the city
manager thank you mayor Enriquez mayor
brm bomo and City councilors Eon city
manager and mayor yes duly noted our
staff uh we're very competitive and so
we look forward to the opportunity uh to
to show Las Cruses very well and how we
do things here in two years so looking
forward to that just a few announcements
and we'll have everyone on their way uh
we have Economic Development mark your
calendars the El pasel South salano MRA
has a community Workshop kickoff on
Monday September 9th and Community open
house on September 11th more details to
come for Transit city of Las cuses
Transit will introduce its first five
fully battery electric bus buses into
regular service tomorrow on August 20th
9:30 Intermodal will have a little
ribbon cutting and have uh mayor
councelor Karan speaking along with uh
the company byd from California who uh
manufacturers the EV buses so should be
good uh should be a fun little turnout
tomorrow morning Parks and Recreation
the summer Community concert will be
held at 6 p.m. Saturday August 24th at
Plaza de
crues in downtown the concert is a free
family event featuring quente Cino one
of New Mexico's top groups since 1991
which will be featuring along with an
Angelica Padia and illusion
band for tourism baa Las crusis free
dance lessons this Thursday at the plaza
starting at 700 p.m. this is where they
have Bachata kumia uh maren salsa uh uh
at 7M and there will be food trucks and
family games and we appreciate Vis Las
crusis Michelle and her team doing a
fantastic job with
that for communication we have natoa
government programming Awards finalist
is the communications team for five
categories and three honorable mentions
kudos to the communications team to
additionally to Parks LCPD quality of
life for the content
featured addition Al communication staff
let us know that the promotional video
was developed for quality of life's
treasure hunt campaign is a finalist in
the 2024 Savvy Awards competition and
are candidate for one of three Awards
Savvy Silver Circle and Award of
Excellence the awards are announced on
September 5th so stay tuned this was a
fun campaign for quality of life
developed with assistance along with
Communications and a contract with local
advertising company Wilson
for the fire department members from
lcfd just returned from the f224 fire
rescue International Conference this is
a conference one of the largest
conference for chief officer and is
hosted by the International Association
of Fire Chiefs attending members include
current chief officers DC HEC DC Daniels
BC
Haver Dominique s uh Michael landavazo
Matt H
LT grandos driver operator Francis Tes
and our LCSW Allison Stoner BC Matt
Hiles LCSW Allison Stoner and fire chief
Smith presented on the light program
during this
conference and last announ announcement
for fire is lcfd begins public input on
the development of the Department's
master plan staff from the fire
department will be developing a master
plan this fiscal year and have invited
the public to participate through iners
person meetings and online survey city
council will be asked to add their
voices to the plan through work session
later this fall public will have
multiple opportunities this month to
participate August 8th at 3
p.m. which
passed uh but wait there's more it's
August 19th at August 21st at the
branagan library that's the next one
coming up August
21st all right two more announcements
and I promise I'll let you go in conun
this is from housing in conjunction with
the office controller of the currency
the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation and the US Department
Housing and Urban Development the city
of Las cruus will co-host an inter
agency Forum supporting affordable
affordable housing in El Paso Las cruus
and surrounding areas on September 18th
2024 in El Paso at the center Center of
Civic engagement blue flame building it
is open to local governments Area
Housing Authorities Bankers Community
organizations and developers the event
aims to provide an overview of
affordable housing needs and challenges
and offer insights into how to
effectively use resources and
collaboration strategies and improve
access to both home own ownership and
Rental Housing Development there's no
fee to participate but registration is
required and last announcement just
wanted to uh share that on this this is
something that is posted on the LCPD
Facebook page but on August 6 2024 for
your awareness the Los cruus Police
Department was informed of a community
member's belongings that were allegedly
left on the ground when a local business
reclaimed his shopping cart this
incident was shared to social media and
received considerable attention a lot of
inaccurate information was shared about
this incident on social media which
again can be found on lcbd Facebook page
if you're interested we have learned
more and for transparency sake have
shared security footage of that event on
the LCPD Facebook page with full details
we would like to remind everyone to not
reclaim carts that are being used by
others without first contacting police
information about this ordinance is
posted on our City website it includes
specific ordinance language and also
required permits for businesses
thank
you thank you city manager and uh thank
you all for being here today um look for
a motion to adjourn move to adjourn
second by
Flores this is on the motion to adjourn
the meeting councelor McClair yes
councelor matis councelor Graham yes
councelor cran yes councel fles yes
councelor Beno yes mayor yes
wait
what
okay
e for