e
e e
[Music]
2024 it's approximately 1 p.m. I am
mayor Enriquez before we start I want to
mention that we have a as ASL
interpreter available for every regular
council meeting and she will be at the
front for anyone who requires
interpretation
Services we will start with a moment of
silence for the brave men and women of
the United States armed forces as they
protect our interest around the globe as
well as the courageous men and women of
the Los cruus police and Los cruus fire
department as they keep our city safe
247365 councelor Karen will you lead us
in the pledge of
allegiance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the Republic
for which it stands one nation under God
indivisible with liy and justice for
all so no presentations or nothing
today next we'll start with jobs of the
week Sarah
rainy good
afternoon good afternoon thank you
you there we
go my name is Sarah Rainey I am the
One-Stop coordinator for the southwest
region of the workforce
connections and well slowly coming up
here hold on one
second all right for jobs of the week
this week we have an office assistant at
the city of Los cruus that position
starts at 1502 an hour the posting
closes in December we also have a permit
technician one for the city um the
position starts at 1740 an hour and the
posting closes on the 24th of this month
for Animal Service Center um Mia Valley
we have a digital content specialist I
thought that was important to highlight
this week um the position starts at 2478
an
hour we also have a security guard out
at weand missile ran um um the pay range
starts at
39,000 we have an infusion RN at entra
Fusion GP um that position starts at
64,000 and the posting closes on the 7th
of
July we have a school bus monitor and a
school bus driver both of these
positions are with the STS of New Mexico
I know there's a high need in um bus
drivers and monitors and with school
coming up so quickly as it starts in
July they're needing to fill those
positions uh the bus monitor starts at
1262 an hour and the posting closes on
710 the bus driver um position starts at
1597 an hour and the same for the
closing of that
one as always some of our local events
we have we have the Community of Hope
coming up and then we have the career
Essentials the career Essentials and the
Community of Hope are both job Readiness
events those are events targeted for
individuals to come get resume help
interview skills and whatnot anything
that they're needing in order to move up
in their careers or change careers
either too if anyone needs anything
please free feel free to come by our
Alam office it's 226 south of alam you
can also reach us on all of our social
media at employ
NM and that's
all he thank you sir next we have pets
of the week Amy De
Felix good afternoon Amy good afternoon
hello everyone I'm Amy def Felix one of
the rescue coordinators for the Animal
Services Center of the msia valley we'll
start presenting pets of the week we we
start off with our cat our cat of the
week this week is Chev her number is
75824 and she says I came to the ascmv
as a tiny stray in her litter of kittens
my babies have grown up and most have
already found their homes both so far no
one has wanted to meet me I'm only 6 lbs
and won't be getting any bigger and I
absolutely love being pet and pampered
after being a mother raising her babies
out in the streets I'd love to know what
a loving home is like and then we have
our dog of the week her name is Willow
her number is
65093 and she says I came to the ascmv
when I was only 2 months old and I
celebrated my first birthday in my
kennel last month my birthday wish was
to find a forever family to take me home
and spoil me with love so please help my
wish come true I'm a beautiful brindle
Girl full of playful energy and who is
eager to love I promise that as long as
you're there to guide and train me I
will be your best
companion and then we have a couple of
offset adoption events this weekend
first off we will be at PetSmart we will
be there this Saturday June 22nd from
10:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. and then on Sunday
we will be at Nissan of Las crusis and
we'll be there from 10:00 a.m. to 1:
p.m. as well and of course all
throughout July we do have our bring
love home adoption special so all of the
adoptions are free and I would like to
note that so far as of yesterday 98 dogs
and cats have been adopted and that
doesn't include the ones that were
adopted yesterday that are getting
surgery today for the finalized
adoptions and that's in comparison to
last year which we had 75 adoptions so
far so we've been on an upward Trend and
we're hoping to continue that
exponential increase is what we're
hoping for and then we have some website
links our main website is ascmv org and
we have social media Facebook Instagram
and Tik Tok we post a lot of adoptable
animals and kind of current events going
on and then YouTube and Spotify and
apple podcast is where we upload
episodes of our podcast tale from Tales
from the PO side and that is all I have
thank
you all right thank you Amy and thanks
for sharing the good
news 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 yes mayor um I'm going to recuse
myself for item 7.3 resolution number
24-33 um my husband is employed with the
fire department and is a union
member thank
you okay thank you anyone
else okay thanks
next we have public participation we'll
allow up to three minutes for anyone to
speak on no pending litigation or items
on the nonconsent but before I start on
my left hand side is there a Tim Jenkins
is Tim
Jenkins Tim Jenkins you had some
photos I did yeah if you want to come up
first then and you're in the first row
too she's going to come up pull them
up and then uh while we're waiting is
Yoli is Yoli
here yeah the right the left hand right
here okay okay so I just got to go down
okay okay I had uh come up and spoken to
you guys last week about the situation
that we're having over there at the pan
grill and in the aoo and I just wanted
you guys to see the pictures so you
guys I'm not that
smart so this is the that was the this
is the camp that they set up down in the
bottom of the aroyo and there were seven
to 10 individuals down there and it took
us about two weeks and about 10 calls to
LCPD to actually get the situation
resolved but U mono mono came out and
did a wonderful job and got everything
cleaned up for us and we really
appreciate the the support that you guys
gave us I know it was kind of
frustrating it took a little while but I
think slowly but surely we're getting
there I kind of called it an Airbnb Camp
because it was pretty intense
I just want you guys to
see um you guys want me to speak while
I'm up here since I was already going to
speak or you want me to wait or yeah no
continue we've got the timer going on so
um I just wanted to bring something else
to your attention that I encountered
this week uh I had a friend come in town
from Bakersfield California he's been
living there for 13 years and he was
driving around doing jobs with me
and he asked me he says what is going on
in this town with all the people with
shopping carts with full of trash up and
down all these
streets and I said that's the situation
that we're facing and it's the unhoused
and he says what do you mean by unhoused
and I he said you mean homeless and I
said yeah and he says why do you guys
call him unhoused I said it's just more
of a politically correct and gives them
a little respect and he said uh
I can't believe that they're going
around shopping carts he says I don't
understand he says I live in Bakersfield
California I've lived there for 10 or 13
years there's a lot of homeless people
out there but none of them have shopping
carts he says I don't understand what is
going on he said in Bakersfield
California if you were caught with a
shopping cart from a business it is a
$1,000 fine are 90 days in jail
mandatory he said they don't have
shopping carts out there um I thought
that was pretty powerful did he shared
that and um he said I don't know if you
guys realize and understand but if you
guys give these guys shopping carts it
gives them a crutch or a leg to stand on
and you guys are preventing them from
really getting the help that they need
and I assured him that we've been coming
to city council and we're working on it
we're trying to do our best well not not
only 3 hours later we were coming down
lman in my work truck which is a pretty
big box van with a Jad on the back on my
way to msia for an emergency with a full
600 gallons of water and right there by
the
McDonald's uh homeless came out with a
shopping cart full of stuff nodded a
crosswalk nodded a light nowhere close
to that just in the middle of the street
and I had to slam on my brakes so hard
that every single thing in my van ended
in the front windshield and broke the
windshield thank you very much
okay thank you anyone else on that
second row I said I wasn't gonna talk
but it's good it's all yeah come on up
write this down all POS my name is Donna
Striker and I want to thank several
council
members um mayor portm I watched the
work session you were right on with
Memorial you did an excellent job I
really appreciated your um research
whatever you did to get your facts
together that was very impressive I
really liked it you did a great job
Becky Graham thank you Cassie McClure
thank you ion he said I could call him
by his first name and I'm being
respectful right eonnie you guys went on
that ride and I know Becky's gone twice
thank you for going out into our
community and seeing what's going on I'm
sure it was powerful it looked really
hot I don't think I could ride that far
but thank you so much I really really
really appreciate that thank you very
very much it was positive
I thank you uh next row
good afternoon I'm Susan Greenwall Cabo
the executive director of downtown Los
cruus partnership and I want to
introduce my intern Kylie Jenkins um we
have been working together for the last
week on economic development projects
such as the business Fair um making a
comprehensive list of downtown
businesses um and oh and visiting our
downtown businesses and just getting to
know that so she's part of the county
program she's done a fantastic job she's
fourth in her class guys she's amazing
um thank you for supporting that project
and allowing students like Kylie to have
some real life work experience before
they jettison out into the to the adult
World um speaking of business fair I
want to thank you guys for supporting
that project for sending out Selena and
Blair and Cruz to come and talk about
data analysis so your Economic
Development Department talked about all
your tools that you have like ezri um to
do a market analysis for our businesses
and it was probably the booth that I got
the most positive feedback about um
people just saying I had no idea The Bu
the city did that that you know
especially businesses that are in highly
competitive markets like hair like
coffee like restaurants you know getting
that data is um really makes a big
impact on where they set their pric
where they put their store um maybe the
market is too saturated already and they
need to find Plan B um so really really
excited about all the services you offer
being able to show those to our
community and having Selena Blair and
Cruz do a great job interfacing with
with the community and making um your
Economic Development Department really
welcoming um to them my final uh my
final thing today is dlcp gave out our
first microloan um since I have been at
dlcp so over five years um it's
$5,000 to the Las cruus prep kitchen
which is a great model it's a place
where businesses who do not have a
commercial K kitchen can come in and
prepare food um and to sell like shakuri
boards um just about all of our
businesses downtown have had this issue
of people having these small businesses
they can't afford a commercial kitchen
but they have a really great product to
sell
um so we're excited about that coming to
downtown we know that it's going to help
a lot of our businesses and hopefully
help them expand as well um so guys
through your support we're able to do
that as well so I want to thank you for
that and just let you know what's going
on another beautiful day downtown so
thank you
all thank
you next row
good afternoon my name is Dudley Moore I
live at uh 1737 Regal
Ridge
um our residents suddenly became famous
about uh 6 weeks ago it's May 6 around
9:20 at night we were interrupted from a
quiet night with a series of booms 15 or
20 seconds worth felt like an
earthquake when the dust settled we had
a 25 30 foot hole in our front yard
about that
deep nobody was hurt but uh both of our
our uh daily driving cars were in the
hole
I immediately called the uh
non-emergency number and uh police and
fire showed up within minutes they kind
of secured the area and I appreciate
Jason was there Jason
Smith they uh turned off our utilities
gas water and electricity just for
safety sake because it was at night we
couldn't really tell how deep the hole
was the next day I at the time it
happened I was Wonder wondering what
caused this and is it going to get worse
I mean we're still kind of wondering
that ourselves the next day the city
spokesman was stating that to the public
that we were going to be liable for the
whole thing because it was all on our
property and if we would be liable for
fixing any damage that might occur to
the sidewalk or the street trying to do
a repair to
it so the city hired a geoengineer to
determine what the the cause and extent
was of the the hole was and he
immediately took control of the of this
the um area so we couldn't change
anything we could hardly get our cars
out he didn't want us to move the dirt
put any water in there which I
understood so we thought he was
representing the city we'll hear from
the city promptly well took two weeks we
finally called up to see what's going on
what what how do we proceed
uh they said they would turn on our
utilities within 48 hours which they
didn't do they backtracked on that and
then they turn on turn just the
electricity on a week later Meanwhile my
lawn is dying my Landscaping my my pool
is
green and uh luckily for some of the
neighbors they let us use the water SP
it outside their home so we've been
trying to keep that kind of stuff from
being you know as bad as it could be
um now it's six weeks today and still
have a hole
there I asked myself what did I do as a
homeowner to cause
this well now that there's a the
engineering report just came out this
week and to me the only thing that we
were guilty of was buying a home in
a existing development that was inspect
Ed approved by the city for long-term
development and now we have a hole here
the
engineer described it being built on
large
aoas and water repairs Through The Years
on the street that leaked into the
ground so I want to know what the city's
going to do to help
us correct this problem because it's
it's taken
right yeah and I mean it's still a hole
there
so it's it's still a danger there's risk
to our house there's liability to our
house and the neighborhood I mean I
thought as a tax paying citizen that the
the the city was in charge of health
wealth and Public Safety and so far the
only people I see going to my side is
every day they go over there and look to
see is the hole bigger that's the only
action they've
taken so
okay Mr Moore um I'm sorry it is an
unfortunate incident this is public
participation we allow three minutes uh
thank you for sharing and I know the
city manager Public Works Community
Development is getting on that to assist
you in any way we can and and we'll
continue that effort but uh thank you
for coming up today all right thank you
anyone else on that rope come on
up my name is Raymond Hickman I live at
1731 Regal Ridge next door to the Moors
the ho underground affects my house as
well and will if if the rain start and
the the uh hole gets bigger it will
cause my fence my stone fence to fall
into the hole we're looking for some
potential increased damage here if
something isn't done before the start of
the rigns who knows when they're going
to start again but we're looking for
help from the city some leadership
because the city has resources that we
do not as private citizens this is a
neighborhood problem it's not just an
individ idual problem with Mr Moore's
house or my house and it's the
neighborhood problem because all of this
all of the houses all of the homes
within sight of this this hole in
theground have been
affected mainly in reduced value Mr
horse uh Mr Moore's the tax value of Mr
Moore's house is probably zero the tax
value of my house next to it is probably
half of what it was before that present
represents significant loss in tax
revenue to the city and the county and
I'm asking that the city act promptly to
prevent further losses in their own tax
revenue thank
you thank you sir was there anyone else
in that
Row the next row
good after oh good afternoon Diane
starbu for the record first I would like
to thank councilwoman bomo for your
participation in last week's work
session with the hospital I think you
did a great job
too and also for councilwoman McClure
for nailing them with the Medicare
rating that was a good one I hope I hope
you continue to ask questions and if you
get answers can you make them publicly
known because yeah those two stories
didn't jive with what we
saw now speaking as animal advocate for
change um member it's been months since
a new animal ordinance has been
discussed and we've been told that it's
being reviewed by someone or another the
mayor admitted that Animal Welfare was
put on a back burner with everything the
city has been through at that time we
have not pushed the issue ourselves out
of respect for the community and the
police department dealing with the
tragic death of Officer
Hernandez but when is it going to be the
animals turn
why is the ordinance a
secret where is the
transparency where is the
accountability why won't the city work
with any animal advocacy
group why has the mayor ignored repeated
requests for a meeting with Animal
Advocates we need all City councilors to
advocate for the companion animals of
Las cruus and St start asking
questions at the very least we need a
phased in fully funded required spay and
neuter ordinance with exemptions to curb
the overpopulation of dogs and cats the
situation is so bad that a private
rescue is transporting more than 50
animals at a time as far as away as
Connecticut with donations from the
community
the rescues are overwhelmed The Fosters
are
exhausted with the upmost respect mayor
the Animal Advocates of this community
are tired of charring our butts on your
back
burner thank
you thank you anyone else in the same
row
next
row mayor councel distinguished Chief my
name is Eddie
Thomas uh first first I'd like to
commend you mayor for retracting the
parts of the proposed resoning ordinance
that were clearly destructive to family
life and the single family neighborhoods
in Los
Cruses next I'd like to talk about the
pilfering for lack of a better word of
the $28 million that you're taking from
the city's telshore fund let me
explain I like uh councilman mati
question the wisdom of killing the goose
that lays the golden egg by the rest of
the
council therefore I'd like to see more
transparency on the Los cruises.to
website explaining exactly what you plan
to do with
it the budget link on the website
doesn't shed any light on what you plan
to spend it on other than public health
projects and building the next homeless
hotel that doesn't account for all of it
we lose interest bearing monies that
would be self-perpetuating
you just can't break the city's piggy
bank without being held
accountable as the saying goes the devil
is in the
details my fear is that besides the
details the devil is in these very
Chambers
the next thing I want to speak about is
the $10 million abortion clinic that's
set to break ground at lman at the
corner of lman at Sonoma
Ranch I realize that this is a state
issue I would just like to know what if
anything our delegation that goes up
north to speak at The Roundhouse
said did they mention that we could use
a mental health fa facility instead of a
an abortion
clinic how much does the city stand a
profit from
this it's blood
money I find it totally disgusting and
abhorent that the city would profit from
the dismemberment of
innocent
infants Texas is just 30 m down the road
on I 10 tell me that's not a
coincidence guys can come smoke a joint
while they wait for their girlfriend's
procedure to get
done we're on the fast track and will be
soon known as the abortion
capital of the
Southwest we're already the Cannabis
Capital why not go for both wonderful
distinctions
thank you anyone on the same
row hello my name is wos and I'm
speaking on behalf of the seizures at
the borders for the Cannabis
industry um the though legalization has
been reached oppression and stigmas are
still relevant in all
aspects um recently I had a conversation
with an old friend talking about renting
land to help build opportunity and
because we're in the area that we're in
this deal wasn't able to go through
because of the search and seizures he's
looking for land outside of the
checkpoints protection and fighting for
the state is needed in order to have
long-term success in the industry
without the state defending us we are
left in the mercy of those wanting to
keep oppression
relevant and hurting those who have
sacrificed many freedoms in the
traditional Market as well as the legal
Market uh before I leave I want to thank
everyone for giving us the opportunity
to talk about these issues um by
addressing them we're able to move
forward and build a stronger
Community thank
you thank you
anyone on the same row uh the following
row good afternoon mayor and City
councilors my name is Vio resident of
District 1 in Las Cruses last month the
mayor did not even allow a vote on a
fire resolution to end the genocide in
Palestine the resolution was based on
Palestinian leadership across the
country and resolutions that passed in
Oakland California and Caro North
Carolina with additional um input from
the staff here in Las Cruses over 100
cities have passed ceasefire
resolutions resolution 24114 May 6 2024
resolution calling for a permanent
ceasefire in Palestine the city council
is informed that whereas the city of Las
crusis is dedicated to fostering a
community that Embraces diversity values
all life and upholds the principles of
equality and human rights and we affirm
that human beings deserve safety dignity
freedom and equal rights regardless of
religion race or nationality and
international humanitarian law
recognizes the rights of all people and
cities across the United States
including San Francisco Minneapolis
Seattle St Louis Detroit Atlanta akan
and Providence have all passed
resolutions calling for a ceasefire and
between October 6 2023 and April 17th
2024 there have been over 34,000
Palestinians killed including 13,000
children and a ceasefire is critical to
the release of Palestinian and Israeli
hostages and building a foundation for
lasting peace and there needs to be an
immediate end of all funding and weapons
transfers to Israel and we support the
prompt provision of unlimited
humanitarian assistance to both North
and South Kaza including supplying food
water and medical supplies which are
indispensable for the survival of the
civilian population and we condemn the
occupation of Palestine and The 17-year
Siege on huzza and we condemn any idence
of anti-Semitism islamophobia ethnic
cleansing deliberate starvation or
Collective punishment and we support
international law being upheld in the
West Bank and all parties must fully
comply with their obligations under
under international law and peaceful
diplomacy and mutual understanding is
the only way to achieve these permanent
goals and we strive that Israel and
Palestine develop friendly relations
based on respect for the principle of
equal rights and self-determination of
peoples and take other appropriate
measures to strengthen Universal peace
and the city of Las Cruses asks that the
New Mexico Congressional Delegation and
President Biden facilitate an immediate
permanen SE fire hza and the West Bank
and restore un United Nations relief and
works agency funding and ensure Israel
allows unlimited humanitarian Aid to
enter both north and south kazza and
uphold international law in the West
Bank ending all settler Terror on
Palestinians and an end to all funding
and weapons transfers to Israel now
therefore be it resolved by the
governing body of the city of Las crusis
that the city council affirms its
support for a permanent ceasefire of the
genocide in Palestine and that city
council asks staff to send copies of
this resolution to the president of the
United States Vice President Harris
secretary blinkin Senator Luhan Senator
Hinrich and representative Vasquez thank
you okay the next row
hello my name is Lucas Hearn and I'm a
resident of District 2 here in Los
crusis last month I came to City Hall to
cover the scheduled vote on the
resolution before this body calling for
a ceasefire in Gaza restoration of un
funding and humanitarian Aid access
ending access on pal ending attacks on
Palestinians by colonizers in the West
Bank and ending funding and weapons
transfers to Israel by our federal
government because I was here for work I
had not planned on speaking that day but
being here now let me say that I
unequivocally support that measure I
stand with the people of Palestine on
the sole idea that they have the right
to exist a right to have a home but what
needs to be said here today is that I
have worked in political communication
over a decade in this state and what
happened last month only has one
interpretation that this council with
exceptions for councelor Karan and mayor
protim bomo were so swayed by whatever
propaganda fear or simple laziness that
rather than execute their job as
representatives of the people of this
city and facilitating a conversation
before voting on that resolution they
they manipulated parliamentary procedure
to remove the resolution before the body
I make a living out of calling out
elected officials across the state for
impeding the progress of everyday New
Mexicans and while I may not be here for
work today it would violate my own core
principles to not call out this extreme
miscarriage of so-called
democracy while it seems fairly clear
how the body might have voted on that
resolution itself at least we would have
known where you stood when it comes to
supporting the basic human rights of an
entire people but as it stands now I and
anyone watching can only assume that
your stance is acquiescence that you are
fine with 40,000 dead human beings as
long as you don't have to suffer the
potential angry emails or mean Facebook
comments that might follow should you
have stood in support when I say in the
genocide in Gaza I am just another voice
in the statistical majority of
Americans however what you said or maybe
more specifically didn't say as a
collective body rings out much louder
into the broader
narrative I am not a religious person
but I was raised in the Christian faith
in Revelations 133 the writer counsels
the church I know your Deeds that you
are neither cold nor hot I wish you were
either one or the other because you are
lukewarm I am about to spit you out of
my
mouth I do not know what could be more
important than discussing the ongoing
genocide of an entire segment of the
human
population that you are lukewarm towards
that even talking about it well as the
writer
said for
can I start go ahead good afternoon Mr
Mayor city
council I am appalled by these comments
that these Pro Palestinian people are
making Tony
Chavez I mean war is hell and they don't
talk anything about Gaza and the Hamas
stopping stopping the war they started
the
war and they don't distinguish between
the
casualties that the Hamas uses uh in
regards to their numbers they don't
distinguish combatants and uh and
civilians so you guys did a great job I
appreciate what you guys did and I hope
this resolution doesn't come up thank
[Applause]
you hello my name is Monty rutage I
joined the Navy in 2001 after 911 I
deployed in 2006 in support of oif o f
I'm a combat veteran uh several tbis and
other injuries I sustained while in the
military after my military career I
joined the border patrol retired in 2021
uh under the M plus 10
program uh because my physical mental
health was not doing very good I
wouldn't be here before you today if it
wasn't for
cannabis uh so I'm coming before you to
express my concern about what's
happening at the US border of patrol
checkpoints here in the state of New
Mexico with regards to season
cannabis um when I look at the national
strategy that CBP has for 2022 to 2026 I
can't help but to note that the very
first sentence in their National
strategy says I'll try to quote I don't
have my glasses but bear with me uh
since 1924 the US border of Patrol has
been uh entrusted with processing or I'm
sorry protecting the American people and
promoting economic Prosperity through
our border and National Security mission
I don't feel they're doing that they've
seized over $500,000 worth of product
this year alone that cost gets push down
to the consumer such as myself I'm a
medical patient I'm on a fixed income uh
cannabis like I said has saved my life
and I need it for daily living just for
a a functional quality of life I'm very
concerned that if this continues I'm not
going to be able to afford my
medication um if you go further into the
national strategy the very next page
where they talk about their guiding
principles the very first sentence
reiterates what I just what I just read
where CBP says that their main focus is
protecting Americans and our economic
Prosperity I don't feel they're doing
either and I put before you if you
haven't already considered it trying to
find some way to either work with border
patrol or alleviate some of the um the
issue we're having right now uh it's
it's very concerning and I I plead for
your help please a memorandum of
understanding maybe we can even use
operation stone garden like I've seen
other states use uh get a a state or a
local official at the checkpoint to
conduct these inspections so that the
federal government's interest is upheld
and so is the states thank you for your
[Applause]
time is there anyone still on the left
side
good
morning um or good afternoon excuse me
my name's Jim harst reading from the New
Mexico Constitution Article 2 Section
two all political power is vested in in
and derived from the people all
government of right originates with the
people it is founded upon their will and
is instituted solely for their
good end quote I have heard some
comments in these Chambers declaring
that the United States is not a
democracy but a
republic we are both we are a Democratic
Republic hence the name of Thomas
Jefferson's party the Democratic
Republicans
whatever room for debate there may be
concerning the US Constitution there is
none in the New Mexico
Constitution all political power is
vested in and derived from the people
all government of right originates with
the people it is founded upon their will
and is instituted solely for their
good thank you
thank you for allowing these comments
this is democracy thank
you is there anyone else on the left
[Music]
side okay now moving to the right
side yeah Yoli
good afternoon mayor counselor staff and
public my name is Yoli Diaz I want all
of you to think of the Brave and
courageous patients who told their story
to Gretchen Morganson senior
investigative reporter of NBC Universal
investigative team New York City I thank
the NBC team for their excellent
reporting and bringing this to the
National Forefront CEO John Harris chose
not to be interviewed although John
Harris and Memorial SE Suite Who present
it to you seem to have no concern for
the cancer patients who told their story
to NBC I want to sincerely ask you how
would you feel if this had happened to
your wife or husband your mother or
father your daughter or son your
granddaughter or grandson your loved one
or yourself would you be accepting to
this denial or delay of needed and
life-saving Hospital health care there
are two things I want everyone to
remember one there is a lease between
doniana County city Los cruus and
Memorial Medical Center a legal binding
contract with contractual obligations
two there is the New Mexico statute the
law of New Mexico to Indigent hospital
and I'll repeat hospital and healthc
care that binds each County with the
responsibility falling on the board of
County Commissioners doniana county is
probably the only County in New Mexico
that has a lease between joint local
governments and a private for-profit
major US Hospital chain owned by a
private Equity Group with very high
charg to cost ratios of
670 and a national Report with 2018 data
ranking Memorial Medical Center is the
eighth most expensive Hospital in New
Mexico to receive hospital care yes in
this disenfranchise area two things the
law is the law and the lease is the
lease both but separate legal
commitments the 2004 policy mentioned in
the lease between donana County city of
Los crusa States quote ier cancer center
Memorial Medical Center cancer center
and Home Health since these business
units are included in the whole of MMC
the same expanded care services SL
Community benefit program guidelines
will apply as apply to the hospital CEO
John Harris states that Memorial Medical
Center does not deny or delay Health
Care they deliver care to all our
neighbors regardless of their ability to
pay and that he works in close
partnership with the city and county I
have many questions that you should more
importantly have I'll I'll do as many as
I can one why in J July or August 2023
MMC did not provide patient access to
the disabled patient diagnosed with
breast cancer in the chap that are
reported to our County and City even
after Jamie Michael doniana County HHS
director stated she was meeting with
Memorial Medical Center to review
possible options Memorial Medical Center
covered cancer treatment through the
expanded care services Community benefit
program stated in the lease agreement
when the hospital was leased in 2004 and
when it was updated in 2010 the policy
why is it excluded questionably I will
add in some documents in 2015 and 2016
three my doniana County records request
from October 2022 provided at Mia
Memorial Medical Center 2016 policy why
does this not match a recently provided
2016 policy to include a 2015 policy
where it states services not covered and
I'm going to repeat services not covered
under the chat program outpatient
oncology and chemo services of patient
dialysis so I'm going to have to skip a
lot and I'm going to say more very most
importantly why did doniana County not
take action until jul June 11th 2024 to
cover this life-saving treatment
effective July 1 2024 after the NBC
report National report and why was
action not taken to cover cancer
treatment in years 2015
2016 2021 or
2023 thank you thank you y
there anyone else in the same
room good afternoon Mr Mayor City
Council Members staff my name is Barbara
Corral I've been here before in front of
you
um I spoke to you about
MMC and the inability to get
treated at the
hospital I was here last week when MMC
was
here and it was very difficult for me
not to voice my
thoughts it was interesting to me that
first I got very
angry because I was basically told
without mentioning my name that I was a
liar I don't know where I would come up
with that I did not make up the fact
that they would not treat me for my
cancer it's fact why would I go to
Albuquerque so I was pretty offended by
that and I really wish I could have had
a conversation with Mr Harris but he
doesn't want to talk to me so that's
fine um one of my biggest passions in
life besides dogs is women's
gynecological cancer and that's actually
why I'm standing here when they hear a
woman has cancer they think
automatically breast cancer pink ribbon
well there's other cancers too and
people need to be aware that a woman can
get ovarian cancer or even vaginal
cancer like me when I was told that I
was so embarrassed and I shouldn't have
been it was cancer I didn't ask for it
it just came and Found
Me Anyway the point is is that nobody
should ever have to go through what I
went through no less having to have
cancer treatment because it was hell and
I am not the same woman I was before and
I probably never will be to be honest
with
you it wasn't
misinformation it was the truth and I
would love to have the
opportunity to have somebody call me
nobody called me nobody sent me an email
nothing not one word just telling me or
you that it was misinformation
I didn't ask NBC to come write a story
on me I didn't do any of that all I did
was get cancer the rest of it just fell
into
play
so the only thing I can say is that my
wish for you is to hold MMC accountable
keep working with them please don't let
this happen to anybody else if I wasn't
as strong as I
am I probably would have ended up like
an ostrich with my head on the ground
but I'm not going to do that I'm
standing here and I'm proud to say I am
a cancer survivor thank you guys for
listening thank
you hi uh my name is Kelly coins I'm the
general manager for higher cultures here
in Los crusis I thought the best thing
to do is just kind of explain um a day
of the life trying to go through border
patrol um as that seems like that would
be the best education so uh we follow
all of our um requirements and we are
compliant and uh and obviously in Los
cruus in any direction pretty much you
have to go through border patrol uh and
so we transport um compliantly and it is
just very intimidating and uh there's
dogs and there's a lot of questions um I
personally have not
experienced uh too much hardship going
through border patrol I have a feeling a
lot of that is because of how I look um
and the car that I'm driving and so I
just want you to know that we are all um
giving back to our community not only
obviously through our taxes but through
employing people that work here in Los
crusis um and we're doing our best to um
participate in community events and and
and try to be uh great businesses and it
is it is just something we're really
asking for your help I get it it's
Federal you're very limited in in what
you can do but it is very scary and it's
very scary for people who are younger
and are transporting products to stores
throughout the state I just got back
from Clovis you can imagine um you know
we're transporting uh through just like
Coke Pepsi anybody else in distribution
so um we hope that you can take a look
at at just what we're going through
because it is very scary um it it is the
same feeling as as if you were doing
something illegally and trying to take
something into Canada or anywhere else
that is the fear that you go through
when you go through these Border Patrol
checkpoints and they've made it
perfectly clear um that they will not
uphold our agreements uh that are
through the state so um I appreciate
your time we're happy to be here we're
happy to be part of this community thank
[Applause]
you anyone on the same row next
row following row
hello uh I've never really done this
before so pardon me uh my name is aie
hello to all of you um I work uh in the
industry of cannabis um this these
seizures that are happening at the
border uh it really comes down to the
people you know in the industry and as
Mr Monty said you know everybody that
has those medical cards it affects the
those and me personally you know like
um the company that I work for was
subjected to one of those seizures and
it really did hinder you know our
companies able to get those medical
patients some kind of product that they
needed it also hindered my job as well
to put food on the table for my family
um it's I feel like there's something we
can do even at a state level you know um
if it's legal why can't we do anything
uh New Mexicans Pride themselves on
having each other's back how come we're
not doing that um I don't see any help
coming from anybody it's basically like
hey you guys can have this but not
really you know um I
feel it in a whole it uh it really just
affects the state's economy you know if
if you're going to let us do it let us
do it none of us are I'm I'm not a
criminal nobody I work with is a
criminal why are we being treated like
ones you know um that's all thank
[Applause]
you next
row following
row yeah
good afternoon my name is Chad Lozano um
I've appeared here many times uh mostly
on the topic of cannabis and today
that's no different um I want to start
out with 20% and soon to be 21% that's
the total tax that we get in New Mexico
for the Cannabis that we sell um with
the issues that we have um $500,000
being taxed at 20% that's a big loss um
and especially with with it going up at
21% we don't want to keep losing because
every year from now on that percentage
is going up 1% um and if this issue
continues uh we're going to just lose
more and more money and less people are
going to want to bring this down to the
South um I understand the city is very
limited on what they can do and the
state is limited as well um but having
your support is just more than enough
for us if you know if that's all you
guys can do but um as Monty said you
know if we could look at operation stone
garden as a possible relief for us that
would be a really great idea um it
wouldn't come out of our pockets it
would come out of federal government
Pockets um still the tax money payers at
the end of the day but um it won't be
coming from any state funds um and I
kind of feel that'd be a really great
idea um this is something that is very
alarming for us because you know let's
be honest businesses are booming and
it's not slowing down anytime soon you
have little Dubai down there AKA Sunland
Park you know they're making some of
those places are making a million
dollars a month um just in one
establishment you have here in cruus you
know we're doing pretty well too some
are hitting at 200 300,000
a month and we want to continue that
Trend and the only way that we can do
that is allow other products in but
people are too afraid to bring that in
if they're going to get popped at the
border check I grew up in the area I'm
from L Gorder originally so I grew up
with these border checks my whole life
so it's nothing new to me um seeing
something like this but it is a little
alarming when we start seeing it at this
level and it start happening so much now
they're starting to go after patients
and that's when it starts to alarm me
yesterday I got word that they had
regular civilian cars pulled over I
don't know if that's from a mixture of
you know different tactics being used
from our own industry or they're trying
to figure out what tactics we're using
but once they start going after my
patients I start to worry a lot more and
I kind of feel that trend is going to
continue because we saw during the
medical days that happened I've been
harassed before at the border myself I
just don't want to see it happening any
further um this issue is far from being
fixed um but I kind of feel with support
and maybe some brainstorming maybe we
can come up with something thank you so
much
good afternoon mayor and city council my
name is Nicole Jordan and I am
approaching 5 years in the Cannabis
industry now I started when it was
medical and I have been able to see the
transition in uh the legalization of
cannabis and now we Face an issue at the
Border Patrol checkpoints where they are
seizing starting February they began
seizing product and now we are past half
a million dollars worth of legal seized
cannabis
product checkpoints are to stop the
illegal flow of drugs but New Mexico has
adopted a medical program and now
cannabis is also legal so why is the
government interceding with our state
rights and
commerce it interferes with our rights
to provide medicine such I it was
mentioned earlier and it interferes
with the be the process of
Transportation there is fear that is
being built in the industry and now we
feel that we cannot go and transport our
product even if it's completely legal
even if we have the proper documentation
we're following all the rules we still
hear every week different companies
being detained owners being traumatized
for hours all for their product to be
taken so we are here to ask for help and
representation for the southern southern
part of the state we already are so
repressed in certain areas within our
industry and I would hate to be also
repressed within our state thank
[Applause]
you good afternoon my name is Jordan
Walters um I'm a local grower here in
Los cruus I know you guys probably hear
all this stuff about the federal
government all the time but what's
really affecting us are the people we're
hiring locally uh because of these
border checkpoints I work for iron lung
Labs over $200,000 of that product is
actually ours of this 500,000 so it
really sucks because uh that's the hard
work that we are putting in to make all
of this and then it comes down to people
that trim for us they can't come because
we can't have that much product leaving
the facility that comes to people uh
putting stuff in packaging for us
because now we can't uh send that in
boxes in jars because that's going to
get taken immediately that comes into
cost for the uh product the jars the
packaging you know then other people
just can't even come to work it's just
really tough really scary uh for a lot
of people we had one of our Transporters
get pulled over past checkpoint they
made it through uh cars pulled her over
pulled her out of her vehicle drove her
vehicle back drove her back uh detained
her took our product and then her
proceed in her own vehicle after that
but you can tell that now she's flagged
can't do that and that was part of her
career so um I come from a family that
wasn't very supportive of doing this
anyways uh how many of you are sitting
up here doing something that you wanted
to do when you were younger that's what
we're doing so please help us thank you
[Applause]
anyone else on the right
side anyone coming
up hi y'all my name is Martin Lopez I'm
local here uh I'm also a small business
business owner I have one business that
does a lot of give back to the community
low income done toy drives Etc um the
company I'm here representing today is
wano's joint we're a brokering conso uh
consult company so we've gotten a feel
of what the the vibe is around New
Mexico and it's pretty tough uh nobody
wants to start a business here
anymore flat like they can't start a
manufacturing business you just heard
the downfalls of starting manufacturing
business can't start
production and and you know a lot of the
the big issues are you know that people
brought up was why do we have so many
retail locations that's the only thing
you can do out
here um I just want you guys to you know
hear us out I know that we're really
limited on what we can do you know with
the federal government uh you know uh
you know we can't build a road cuz then
we have to worry about everybody else
getting through we
can't uh just get a free pass you know
just to walk through because you know we
got to hit certain St standards in
quality and production and you know it's
preventing us to even progress in that
sense to improve those areas so I just
want to let you guys know there's a lot
of uh down people you know in here in
the in the city that just really can't
be a part of the the culture and part of
helping you know medical patients and
it's it's just really sad because now
everybody that had invested and heard oh
it's legal now you know Las crus is
going to get a huge bump we're going to
see a high fluctuation that we saw of
tax dollars and then we're going to get
dependent on that funding then it's all
going to
drop so I just want you guys just to
keep in mind you know we're not talking
about people that are on drugs we're
talking people that are using medicine
and people that are feeding their kids
your friends your families you know even
if you're not directly impacted you're
impacted it's your
economy um and we're your people so we
just hope you're looking out and we hope
to hear from yall soon you know I'm down
to talk to you guys go from state to
state I know I'm a younger man but uh
that means I got more mileage left to
lose so go ahead and send me out do
whatever you guys need to help make this
better CU um not not only for the sake
of my business but for the sake of
everyone that took time out of their day
you know they could be doing a different
day job uh you know helping their
families but they're here so thanks
y'all
[Applause]
how's everyone doing today um this is
new to me coming up and speaking like so
but I'll get to the point everyone's
focusing on the transportation and
whatnot and uh I agree with that just
state your name sorry about that like I
said I'm new uh my name is Josh um
public speaking I guess or what's the
proper introdu okay
Al y forgive me for my ignorance um I'm
a I could have been a product of a
negative statistic around New Mexico I'm
born and raised in Las cruus New Mexico
where my mom and everyone has roots and
so these licensing that came up actually
gave people like me a breath of life
because I'm not the smartest person
person I can't do much most of anything
but that's just me being honest and with
that being said when the chance arose
and then these problems start coming up
I'm a Mom and Pop's business so this
could be like the depth of my business
and hurt my family and friends and with
that being said like I understand
limitations I've been hearing that but
this is the first step I believe you
guys are interested in hearing otherwise
we wouldn't be here and so we appreciate
the time I know I do especially and uh
you're just changing my life for the
better so I hope that this dictates a
lot and uh not take it to the negative
way because it can lead to the black
market as we're all afraid of and trying
to get rid of and we can't do that if
we're shooting ourselves in the foot um
I think it's just a little backwards on
that but like I said conversation for
another time I appreciate you guys are
hearing me out uh like I said I don't
want to see this uh state the city go
have a bad reputation I uh for once have
something passionate to fight for and
with that being said uh I think we
should show out for New Mexico and show
other people we can do um so thank you
guys for whatever you can do and the
help you can bring thank you
[Applause]
good afternoon city council oh this is
loud uh good afternoon city council my
name is Austin Plains um so I'm actually
a transplant from here this what uh my
friends like to say I'm from New Jersey
originally so um you know a lot of
people when I came here I'll be honest
they complained about New Mexico a lot
and when I came here and I found the
Cannabis Community this is is like one
of the only communities that really
loves New Mexico tell me about green
chile show me the mountains you know
show me all these different things that
it has to offer but it all started from
the Cannabis Community you know that's
the thing that brings so many different
people together and at the end of the
day this is medicine and I know this is
not really something that you guys have
utmost control about but like Chad and
Nicole and everybody else that came up
said you know your support undying
support is more important than most and
it goes a long way so anything that you
guys can do to contribute to our mission
and our fight we do appreciate so thank
you how are you mayor city council my
name is Robbie tofoa I know a few of you
on the board right now uh we have desert
flower Growers here in Los Cruses uh
We've started way back when Medical
first started we were working with the
patients early on over 10 years ago and
when the recreational came in it seemed
like it's going to be a pretty good idea
the city definitely flourished with a
lot of new businesses but as you can
tell a lot of them are already starting
to close down and the reason for that is
is because we have way too much
competition and it's not from right here
it's coming from up
North can you imagine if we had to tell
everybody you can't have hatched chili
anymore from down in our
area but you can bring it from
Albuquerque down here but you can't have
ours what would that do to our economy
and that's what's happening right now we
opened up a new product and people like
it I'm one of the Growers that we grow
specific types of cannabis for different
ailments for the patients um whether it
be for uh being anxious being tired
whatever it may be we try to find the
best alternative for it we have a clean
product and we're working with a lot of
people we have a lot of Growers here and
I think that's our biggest problem now
is we have so much product here we can't
get it out it's forced all of the people
that are producers and manufacturers
like myself to have to dumb our product
down so cheap that we're literally
giving it away on Pennies on the dollar
just to try to stay to compete with a
lot of the bigger manufacturers that are
here uh you guys open this up and so we
definitely need your help to be able to
get up north uh 70% of my business I
said this over and over is on the other
side of the Border
on the other side of the board of
checkpoint anyway and and for us that's
hard I have to run it three times a week
or two times or I can't tell you exactly
how much but I have to take it I have no
choice and it leaves me no choice it's
because I have to provide for my family
this is my business this is what I did
for my retirement is I wanted to start
something that was going to be for my
family um a lot of the people in this uh
industry have either used our product or
worked with people that we work with we
support all the small farmers that's why
we called desert flower Growers is
because we bring all the local farmers
together we use their products we
produce the best stuff and give it out
to the public that we know save so with
your guys help it would really be a push
um we call this Devil's Triangle we
can't get out any other way without
going through a border checkpoint and so
we need your help something needs to be
done again I think of this is like Hatch
Chili you're keeping it from the rest of
New Mexico so I don't know how fair that
is but I'd definitely like to see my
product be able to move and not be in
fear of going to jail thank
[Applause]
you mayor uh mayor Pro time and Council
my name is Mikela Kelly I am
representing um prohibition 37 a local
cannabis dispensary in town um as a lot
of my comrades have have stated we need
your help um we are really stuck down
here in regards to following compliance
if we have you know product that needs
to be returned up north um or be
destructed we cannot do do that without
it being seized um we we go through all
proper protocol as well as as compliance
um but we really we are we desperately
need your help so please help us
flourish in our southern part of the
unit you know our state and the United
States um but we we desperately
desperately need your help so if there's
anything that you can do if you can meet
with you know all of us um that would be
absolutely amazing thank you so much for
your time and listening to all of us
that have come to uh support our
industry thank thank
[Applause]
you okay thank you anyone else on the
right
side okay this concludes our public
participation I want to thank our city
staff Katrina uh coordinates for helping
and ushering as they come down to speak
thank
you next is the acceptance of the
agenda with to approve Graham second
Corin this is on the motion to accept
the agenda as presented councelor
McClure yes councelor mati yes councelor
Graham yes councelor cran yes councelor
flis yes councelor Beno yes mayor
yes so next is resolution ions and or
ordinances for discussion we'll start
with 7.1 resolution number
24131 authorizing the write off of
uncollectible utilities General billing
and library account receivables from
fiscal year 2018 in the amount of
$48,600
42 good afternoon mayor council members
ER hold on move to approve Graham second
okay thank you go
ahead good afternoon mayor council
members Erica hawkis Treasurer I would
like to introduce Adolfo cardinas this
is his first time presenting to council
he's an accounting supervisor under
Finance
good afternoon mayor city council and
City
staff my name is Adolfo cardinas I'm
accounting supervisor in the treasury
section in
finance today I'm presenting to you a
resolution to discuss the accounts
receivable uh writeoffs
let's look at some of the background
the New Mexico statue gives city council
authority to write off
receivables um if the receivables have
been uncollectible for more than four
years then we can uh write off
those uh write off does not affect
revenues or expenses what that means is
that we're just doing this for cleaning
purposes
for um accounting best
practices and that is not extinguished
uh then means that even if we write off
those accounts it doesn't mean that we
cannot collect we can still colle
collect from those
accounts these are the Departments that
are uh have some right offs utilities
it's
192,25
and library is 38,6 20116
on this slide I show you a forear
utility write off history I highlighted
in yellow the first row which is the you
can see the amount 192,193
per of the whole utility building for
that year the year that we write in
office uh period uh fiscal year 2018
I do I do the same with the general
building on the next slide I show a
fiveyear general building right off
history I did the same I highlighted in
yellow the first row is the
17,25 and that amount only represents uh
9% of the whole General Building and
again we're doing the same year as
utilities as fisal year
2018 if you can see the 17,2 54 I break
that that amount in the next slide it's
a pie
chart if you can
see it's broken down with the different
departments and you can see the the
biggest one which is 55% which is
Damages that's like a gas meter uh water
meter or uh water lines uh damage during
a construction
the next one is the library write
offs you can see this the first row it's
uh it's 270 patrons they owe less than
$50 the sum of those charges is
7,491 and if you can go down to the last
row it's 17 patrons or between $21 and
$500 the sum of those charges is
4,568 the total number of patrons is 545
and the total sum of all charges is 38,6
2016 before you are your councel options
and I stand available for
questions okay thank you Al any
questions councilman
please Council
fres thank you Mr Mayor and thank you uh
for your presentation um so the
writeoffs uh still allowed to uh recover
the
debt and how successful has a city been
I'm just
wondering um do you have a history as to
how much money is recovered is there a
certain percentage
do you pursue it avidly or how does it
work out thank
you mayor uh councilor
Flores um I do not have that information
with me right now um but I can get it as
soon as I get it I can um send it to the
city um city manager and so that way
every councelor can obtain it
any other
questions seeing n
interesting this is on the motion to
approve resolution 24- 131 councelor Mur
yes councelor matis yes councelor Graham
yes councelor cran yes councelor flutes
yes councelor benl yes mayor
yes next is 7.2 resolution number
24132 resolution author izing the Los
chusetts fire department to donate a ho
multistation weight machine with an
estimated value of $500 for use by the
Columbus fire and EMS Department in
Columbus New
Mexico move to approve
Graham second
coren okay go ahead Chief Smith good
afternoon Council fire chief Jason Smith
they're presenting to you today the
resolution
24132 so we're following guidance from
DFA as well as our finan department on
the process for donating this equipment
uh you see here in the picture is our
hoist uh multistation from one of our
weight rooms it was received from the
assistance the firefighter Grant afg uh
it's a grant through FEMA uh we received
that the original cost was just over
$7,800 for the machine we've had it
since about 2005 2006 we estimate the
value at $500 and we put this out
Statewide to see if any other fire
departments would want to uh receive
this
and we had one uh company or one fire
department Columbus fire and EMS say
that they would like to receive the the
Hoist machine so currently it sits
disassembled and ready for your
evaluation and then if it's approved uh
Columbus fire and EMS will come and pick
it
up and with that here are your Council
options thank you Chief any
questions no Christine
this is on the motion to approve
resolution 24- 132 councelor McClure yes
councelor matis yes councelor Graham yes
councelor cran yes councelor fletus yes
councelor bomo yes
mayor
yes next is 7.3 resolution number
24-33 resolution approving amendments to
the collective bargaining agreement
between the International Association of
firefighters local number 2362 and the
City of L cruus motion to approve
second good afternoon mayor councel Joe
Richards HR director for the record I'm
here today to review with you a
resolution to approve the amendments to
the collective bargaining agreement
between the international firefighters
Association and the city of Las
Cruses first of all I'd like to
recognize the teams that dedicated their
time to these
negotiations um I appreciate their
efforts and we're glad to bring forward
this new
agreement so the negotiations began in
November of 23 we negotiated 37
different articles of the CBA and there
were an additional four articles that
were added to the contract our
negotiations concluded in April and we
have a three-year
agreement some highlights overall the
three-year agreement there's a 22%
increase to base wages there's increases
to C pays and other benefit
enhancements and then we also um made
clarification on some articles
so here are your Council options for
consideration I stand for any
questions thank you Joe mayor proam
thank you mayor thank you Joe I
appreciate that and appreciate the shout
out to the teams that were involved in
the negotiations I'm curious um in terms
of pay now where this puts our fire
department in comparison to other fire
fire departments of our
size yes ma'am mayor council's
um our first year step in our pay tables
now brings us first in the comparators
that we used in our study um some of
those comparators in the state include
Albuquerque um Alamagordo Santa Fe um
there were a few others but again the
133% increase for the first year puts us
first in the state and then there are
other steps in the pay tables that also
put us first and those were I think the
21st
uh year as well as the
24th wow thank you Joe I appreciate that
I that's really great to hear I'm
curious
if this will remain that way for the
next three years by the time the next
negotiation rolls around or will we by
the time we get there be
behind yes ma'am mayor councel um you
know it's really dependent on what other
organizations do um we're seeing
increases on a reg regular basis um in
Public Safety in general so I'm sure
that there will be changes over the
period of the contract thank you I um
obviously will support this I don't
think I've ever not supported a Union
contract that would be wild to get to
this point and then not support it I I'm
really big advocate for you know Fair
pay for hard work and they feel like our
um fire Crews have been underpaid for a
really long time and so um I think
whatever makes sure that we catch up
stays consistent to me feels really
important and then um just really my
last question is around obviously we
have project light teams now and social
workers that are part of the fire
department I'm curious about the status
for them in terms of um union
membership um right now they're
unrepresented um so they're they're
based on our salary grades for
unrepresented staff okay do you know if
there's any conversation about is that
even possible is that appropriate like
I'm just really curious about they're
part of the fire department right and so
I'm just curious in terms of
representation for them the union can um
request that through this the state's
process for them to be accreted in into
the Union but that's that's completely
up to so it's not it's not City issue
necessar okay all right thank you Joe I
appreciate it
any other questions see none
Christine this is on the motion to
approve resolution 24- 133 councelor
McClure yes councelor matis yes
councelor Graham recused herself
councelor cran yes councelor flus yes
councelor benom yes and mayor yes
okay thank you Joe mayor and councel if
I could um recognize Christopher Johnson
he's the union president and told he's
here in the back as well so yeah Joe I
was going to ask Chris if he wants to
come up and say a few words
mayor thank you for the opportunity uh
city council all of the members that
have been a part of this uh City staff
thank you so much for the opportunity to
uh speak upon this um huge thank you to
miss Richards and her team for uh the
extensive work put into building this
contract started back in November um
it's been eight or n months worth of
contentious arguments I would say um I
don't believe we agreed on many of those
38 resolutions or those 38 articles but
uh we very much recognize the extensive
work we went on both sides to get to
that um conclusion of where we at um I I
can fully agree that at the moment um
we're very competitive with the pay
based on this specific uh pay raise that
we're going to get uh this year but um
just to make a note based on your
question the those pay raises are coming
quickly around the state as well we've
talked to multiple unions um that are
signing somewhere between 15 and 20%
over the next couple months so uh I you
know I understand where we're at and and
the city can't make that kind of
commitment that soon um I appreciate
everything that we've done so far how
far we've come with it uh but I do think
in three years time we're going to be
having a very same conversation about uh
those um because they're getting the
same 15 to 20% this year uh which will
put us right back where we were three
years ago um beyond that though uh as
far as the operations went and the uh
the collective bargaining for um things
that we wanted and and things that the
city wanted and what staff wanted um I
commend the team and the effort uh that
we've that we've been able to complete
in the partnership that we've done on
that um I think a lot of good things
came out of it so thank you city council
for supporting us I know you guys have
always been on our side throughout that
process uh mayor um obviously youve you
were huge support for us us for years as
the chief um and Jason's been I'm sorry
Chief Smith has been behind us 100% of
the way so I can't thank them enough for
the work that they've put in uh for all
of that so thank you very
much thank you congratulations thank
you next we have board
appointments um so to read into the
record councelor matis reappoints walk
aosta to the Planning and Zoning
commission and councelor mayor protm
benom reappoints enrio Smith to the
Planning and Zoning
commission next is a notice of proposed
ordinance there is one to be brought
forward it's Council number
24-29 ordinance number
371 an ordinance approving a zone change
from C2 to C3 for a property
encompassing
2567 plus or minus acres and located at
2605 baton Memorial West submitted by
carry
Blom uh representative Bring It Forward
please next is a city council member
board reports and comments I'll start
with councelor
MCL thank you Meritt just a quick thank
you to Community Development for getting
information for the zoning to me uh sort
of the redline changes where you've
Incorporated uh public input I
appreciate that and my thanks to David
Weir and um that if people are
interested in that to ask for it then
too thank
you thank you Council uh councelor m
Yeah couple of things I'd like to start
out by telling the public I really
appreciate all the no uh no lawyering
and I guess no solicitation no
trespassing signs that I've seen at
several businesses in the town I guess
it was um done by a Chamber of Commerce
and and other organizations I seen that
on all the banks maybe we should add uh
the Chief story if you could relate it
to him uh maybe we should have uh no
loitering no littering and no violent
action uh that might help with the other
signs that are being posted throughout
the city and no shopping carts on the
other thing I'd like to bring up is um
I'd like to ask the mayor and the
council that within four months if we
could have an
accountability maybe a joint meeting on
MMC uh just to keep records of
uh how they're improving their service
how they're improving everything at MMC
and some
recordkeeping and then in definitely in
four months not not five not six not a
year but in October to actually bring
MMC forward to a joint meeting with the
county and the hospital to see uh if
they delivered on their deliverables
thank you thank you mayor thank you
Council
thank you Council uh councelor
Grant thank you
mayor I wanted to uh express my
gratitude for uh my second police bike
along um that I got to go on with
councelor McClure and city manager e
Connie last week you you look like you
had a really good
time no many thanks to um officers Kelly
Cain paos Rodriguez
and Smith um for being willing to uh
kind of go out on a limb and accommodate
uh my initial requests that I wanted to
try this out on bikes and I think it
went really well you're able to see able
to see parts of the community that you
just wouldn't have access to in a
vehicle and many thanks for Patiently
addressing my million questions um and
thank you cards will be forthcoming um
the other thing that I wanted to bring
up um ion if we could explore like the
City of Albuquerque recently passed a
resolution to um contract with a
certified licensed whatever biohazard
cleanup company um I think this can help
address some service gaps that we've
been having in the community
particularly uh as we're hearing about
from some of our small business owners
and making sure that we are protecting
the safety of our city team mono imano
um everyone else who is out there I know
just pitching in as always but I'd
really love to see if we could come up
with something with an alternative for
that so thank you that's all thank you
mayor thank you councilor gram uh
Council
K thank you um I first just want to make
a note of all of the Cannabis business
folks here today I um you know I I don't
know a lot about what been happening but
I this has given me a really interesting
picture in food for thought and I do
think uh it's worth worth having a
conversation about what if any potential
impact we could have but I would also
just ask folks to understand the context
of Inland border checkpoints which are
basically a Scourge on our communities
we live in what some call is a
constitution free zone um other states
have rejected Inland checkpoints and
required them to be temporary um not
that's not the case in New Mexico but I
would just say to the folks who are
experiencing tra
traumatic um sort of invasive questions
at Border Patrol checkpoints I would
urge you to realize that lots of folks
in our community are traumatized by
those checkpoints all the time and
um it's it's deeply problematic and and
certainly uh when my family comes to
visit from places that aren't in Border
communities they're shocked also that we
would that we would submit to such a
such an extraordinary violation of what
is fundamentally a constitutional right
so um I just wanted to speak to the
general idea that those Border Patrol
checkpoints are deeply troubling and
that folks have been being traumatized
by them for a long time that doesn't
make the new traumas okay but just to
acknowledge that that exists in our
community and has existed for a long
time on a different note I do want to
thank Katrina for helping set up the
check the chip event um which will be
sat Friday and Saturday of this week
from 4: to 6
uh on Friday evening and then 9 to noon
downtown um on Saturday morning this is
thanks to a community member who um
brought forward the idea when an animal
was not identified as belonging to
someone because they had incorrect um
chip information and and so the context
of this is really to help people connect
with their pets um make sure that their
chip information is up to date as we
approach the season where a lot of
animals uh escape from their homes dogs
and cat cats in July um and only about
15% of the animals that animal control
picks up are able to be returned to
their owners because of their chip
information which is a very small
percentage so um this event will help
people make sure that they thanks to
ascmv and Animal Control uh that will
look at the chips within your animals
make sure the contact information is up
to date and help you update it if it's
not so um I hope to see folks coming out
to join me and thank you to Katrina and
and team for organizing thanks to acos
and and ascmv for and and the fire
department for hosting um Friday night
Friday 4 to 6 and yes Saturday 9 to noon
and it looks like it'll be cooler is
so um I will see you then
thanks thank you councelor councelor
Flores uh thank you mayor um I'd like to
thank uh Joe
uh for um getting that contract for our
firefighters and I think with other
municipalities um approaching that uh
topic um I hope that we stay in that
number one position after that so it's
something that we have to keep I
definitely support unions um the um so
thank you again uh Joe and um the and I
agree with um my colleague uh Mr matis
since he signed off on the agreement he
really knows about MMC but I totally
agree that um we we have to uh
definitely meet more often and
um and we have to make sure that all the
guidelines are being that they're
adhering to the um uh um to the items of
you know the the uh memorandum of
understanding and that it's everything
is being fully executed according to
thatou and um we have to also look at um
other areas so I don't know if that
would be our legal department or if um
there's uh oh there's a Joint Commission
on hospitals that uh can be alerted uh
um and so anybody out there who knows
who they are who they are before I
forget um keep that in mind and the more
people contact that commission um the
better outcome we're going to have
there's a big big problem uh with MMC um
the other um the other and I want to
thank um councelor Coran for
Corin for bringing up the interstate
uh checkpoints it's absolutely true that
it's traumatizing I do not leave my
house without my
passport I it it's it's very traumatic
after all these years um I spent a lot
of time in sadis a lot of my family uh
is there in other parts of Mexico but um
it is very traumatizing and one agent
actually kept my passport
fortunately I don't know if you remember
Shannon um but anyway her husband uh
works with the government because uh
they wouldn't give it back to me and um
a call was made and I received a call
right away that my passport oh they
found it well of course they found it he
took it from me and um so it is very
traumatizing it's
dehumanizing and I I you know it's like
having brown skin in this country is no
fun um so appr propo of that though the
Cannabis issue you know we have the
interstate commerce clause and one
gentleman or
presenter uh rais that question and I
don't know if it's something that the
ACLU uh would Broach or you know
undertake that issue but there is a
problem with checkpoints uh Beyond Being
Human humiliating to um us little brown
people um but um it seems to me it is
interfering with inter interstate
commerce so I don't know where this
would go um I think uh definitely it's a
federal issue
um so anyway that's about it um thank
you thank you mayor thank you
everybody thank you councel forus
go ahead May
pro thank you um I I may be stealing a
little bit from our city manager here
but I really do want to congratulate a
couple people up here on their new rules
JC Borgo and our new assistant city
manager
congratulations it's nice to see you up
here um and then of course Brad Douglas
who has been you know acting City
attorney for for quite some time and
it's Now official and so just want to
really thank you Brad you've been um the
city attorney's office for um quite a
while and just really want to appreciate
all the work that you do on behalf of
the city so thank you and
congratulations um I just from a little
bit of whispering here with the mayor I
know that um on regarding the neighbors
with the sinkhole I did just want to
address them because um s s is actually
one of my worst nightmares like I have
literal dreams about squals and so when
that happened again I was deeply
terrified and I just continue to be
deeply terrified for them um monsoon
season is coming and um you know sure
you know
property values and all those things are
important but I just really worry about
the safety of those that family in that
neighborhood and so um whatever we can
do to um support them I I think that
gentleman is quite right you
know what was his fault besides
purchasing a home that where he knew had
no idea that that would happen and so
that's just deeply terrifying and I want
to make sure that we have a plan um for
that given that it's not the first thing
Cole in the last year so um I think
that's deeply troubling and I ion I
would love to know what the contractor
came up with on terms of why that
happened besides the aroyo I think that
that just feels really important to me
um I feel like
not to get real meta here but you know
sink holes are more and more frequent
now with climate change and I just think
that that's a real concern for all of us
um I also wanted to address the Cannabis
industry I um you know I'm a big
supporter of the Cannabis industry for
many reasons um I think many of you all
know um two weeks ago as well I was part
of uh they invited me to the Cannabis
Tri uh um convention um of the Southwest
and I was very proud to be there and
help give the welcome almost a thousand
people came through that Saturday um
visiting with businesses and I just I
got to meet these young folks who are
like this is their career now and they
are incredibly smart and um doing really
great things for the industry and um I
want to continue supporting them and um
cultivating their entrepreneurship and
so this new challenge has been very
difficult
um even though it's not new right the
checkpoints have been there for Deca for
decades and of course you know cannabis
has been legal for a couple of years and
it is interesting that it is uh very
sudden and I think that's deeply
troubling and so um I'll continue to
talk to the city manager about what what
we could do as the city that could um
push back on this sudden enforcement and
um how it's impacting our economic
Vitality here in um the Border of New
Mexico I will I will say though to the
industry that um I would love to keep
having conversations with you about how
we could be more supportive I will tell
you right now that I am not a supporter
of bringing back operation stone garden
funds operation stone garden um are
deeply troubling funds that frankly I
Believe come with strings attached in
terms of um Federal immigration agencies
working with local local law enforcement
agencies and that um deter that um
impacts the trust that many of our
communities have um especially if you're
living as an undocumented American um I
thought it was stone garden was removed
from City budget a long time ago I think
uh councelor Flores is probably the only
counselor left that was part of that
vote but I I don't I that is not
something I would support bringing back
however I would absolutely open to
having this conversation with you all
and coming up with with other ideas um
about about how we can push back it is
no secret about how I feel about the
Border Patrol and um that you know I've
always found and and they are deeply
unconstitutional these internal Border
Patrol checkpoints within the 100 mile
border enforcement Zone um so happy to
keep talking uh about that and then just
the last thing that I wanted to bring up
definitely for staff though because I've
talked to just a couple people about
this mainly our city manager and our
city attorney about looking into a
vacant property tax I really very much
have taken it upon myself to advocate
for District 4 especially in terms of
the nap properties the neighborhood
action team or the nuisance abatement
team properties um just on Friday took
iani on a tour of the MacArthur
Elementary um neighborhood where there
are 18 abandoned homes and many of them
are um a serious serious public health
hazard not only to the neighborhood to
folks who may be staying there and
trying to find shelter to our fire Crews
to our um codes Crews and so they are
just this huge U public safety issue and
then um additionally I think there are
commercial properties that have been
long abandoned with uh ve very little
movement to actually get them either
rented out or sold and so I would love
it if staff um you know and and I know
um a City attorney Brad Douglas is
already looking into it but I wanted to
bring that up as we're talking about
other kinds of taxes um I think a vacant
property tax sets a really firm L Line
in the Sand in terms of um your
responsibility as a property owner to to
the rest of your neighborhood so just
wanted to bring that up um hopefully we
can get some information about that and
um bring it to a council discussion in
the future thank you
mayor thank you mayor proam
as a member of the mavita uh board uh we
had a retreat on uh June 12th Wednesday
they had a keynote speaker come in and
talk about different ways where taxes
and increases in taxes from other states
can also help Economic Development so
those were a lot of good ideas that took
place at the retreat plus A Five-Year
Plan that mavita is also working on they
will be coming and doing a work session
here in the near future I think it's in
August I I believe sometime in August
they'll do a work session and give an
update as well uh Spaceport has a rocket
competition coming in this week uh
anywhere from 900 to a th000 students
where they can build Rockets compete and
you know help with the Innovation and
technology and a lot of their science
programs so that's going to be going out
throughout the week here in Los cruus as
well on Saturday we attended uh myself
councelor McLure uh councelor Flores and
mayor protm and I we delivered a
proclamation uh for the juneth uh
banquet that took place Saturday um very
meaningful and joyful event in history
back in
1863 and so uh we we attended that and
also just want to pass on that uh it'll
be a paid holiday on Wednesday on June
19th uh for the city as well and uh with
that I'll turn it over to the city
manager
thank you mayor Enrique is Mayor Pro
benom City councelor s d city manager
just a a few updates some of which will
include responses to public
comments uh I I appreciate you mayor PM
stealing my thunder um but but I Echo
what you're saying very appreciative uh
of our new assistant uh assistant city
manager JC Boro and our our new official
uh City attorney Brad who's been doing
that for the last few months and uh he's
he's been in uh in our legal and the
last survivor of of our attorneys uh of
that but I appreciate all those uh
internal candidates we have a very
qualified staff who applied for the
assistant city manager position I was in
that seat um and uh there were many
qualified uh similar to this seat there
are many qualified internals so I I'll
tell you uh mayor mayor p and city
council the future looks very bright for
this organization and continues because
we have great qualified candidates uh
really for these uh these executive
positions in all positions um
additionally just some updates is didn't
come up uh today but in in previous
public comments on that and I wanted to
report it here to you all uh and for the
public the status of the accountability
and government ordinance to uh
2881 uh I appreciate our city audit
auditor Viola uh um Brad our attorney IG
uh myself we uh are reviewing and
finalizing this draft this is the
ordinance uh which will essentially tell
the oversight committee what the
parameters are um to give you an up
update and and and the public some may
not know in the oversight there are uh
there are three appointed positions one
is filled two are vacant U and so these
are three positions where um
that are asking for background in legal
law enforcement background business and
auditing accounting background it is the
auditing accounting background and the
business background those seats are
filled the question may come up to you
well why aren't we having meetings what
what's happening and it's already come
public comments the reason why we're not
having oversight committees is because
we have to set the parameters we need
this ordinance to come before Council
and so that's why uh the team that I
mentioned
is trying at the speed of light trying
to get this in front of you with all the
other tasks and competing interests that
they have in front of them the goal is
to get this in front of you in a work
session next
month I apologize July 8th it's already
on it's on July 8th to get in front of
you
um thank you Christine so that's that's
when we we'll get in front of you as a
work session right them correct okay so
once that is in front of you work
session and then that gets finalized
later at council meeting then the
candidates who are applying for the two
vacant seats will know what the
parameters are and what they're signing
up for uh because it will uh there will
be updates to the ordinance so that's
just
FYI the animal ordinance the animal
ordinance is currently in legal with
Brad he's been a one person show for the
last few months it's been very uh
challenging and tough um for him to to
get to really anything um because he's
been focusing additionally um we've been
recruiting we have three senior
assistant attorneys uh that are coming
on board so if you can count that's four
attorneys when's the last time we've had
four
attorneys I don't know it's been a while
since pre-co so it's been a while so
Brad we've tked them to do uh something
that's been very challenging so in
addition to everything that internal
staff is given him he's been had uh he's
been tasked
with the da daunting challenge to to
hire U hire additional attorneys which
are coming and they're starting July 1st
um on that so the
reason why I share that is uh because
we'll have more we we'll have more staff
uh for this animal ordinance he's been
reviewing it's not like he left it on
the side but he's telling me uh that uh
that that is something internally that
we'll continue doing and we should have
updates internally perhaps it's already
coming to work session but we could
present this as soon as next month to
council right okay thank you
Brad in in addition
sle uh I appreciate May poam and um
Council matis where this is in your
District he's been uh reaching out very
concerned about this area as as as we
all have here's an update of what's been
happening uh we've had staff we've
assigned Larry uh roles and duties as as
a point of contact uh because this
family uh rightfully saw has has just
has has uh been in contact with many
including Chief Smith when they first
came on site so we decided just to keep
it clean to assign that to to Larry and
what's been happening is they came in
last week we're ready to we're ready to
um they just have to pull a permit they
were waiting for the report we had a
report a Geotech report uh we our worst
fear is that this expands the streets
and our public easements obviously to
any other house as well so we wanted to
get to the bottom of this um they so
this report came out they were waiting
for that report uh before they wanted to
pull permit um they came today uh
obviously but we're ready to we're ready
to the same day they come in to to pull
the report we're ready to hand them the
permit um the same day that they come to
uh to request a permit on that so um
that's the
update that's the update there um
so if there's what will keep you in the
loop I know Council and and mayor PM uh
there's many who are interested that's
something I'm talking with Brad of what
just came out today uh we'll look and
see if there's anything in addition that
we can do uh besides what we're doing
right now we'll we'll continue to keep
everyone apprised on
that
also um MMC I just wanted to make it
clear there were monthly reports that
were that were shared in the last last
work session it's important and I
realize that not all Council may may may
understand I'm a member of the board uh
I attended the last board meet meeting
and there's another one coming on
Wednesday um so I'll be there as well
there's an agenda packet that is thick
uh has a lot of information that you're
requesting it is confidential just like
all Hospital review boards are that's
the only monthly report that I have I'm
not able to share that with you um
similar to any other Hospital boards
they typically are confidential I've
reached out to John and I've asked them
uh if there's a if there is a monthly
report that I'm able to share with you
all and so uh we um we have started that
conversation so I just wanted to keep
you appr prised uh on that so if you're
thinking well why aren't we getting
these monthly reports that's why we're
not getting those monthly reports so uh
more to come on
that U just just wanted to make make
sure uh councelor McClure did you share
your District uh meeting that's I
totally didn't okay would you would you
I don't want to steal your thunder no no
I was going to announce it but I I
totally forgot no um Thursday at LMA
Heights at 6 o'clock it'll be my um
first community meeting I'm really
excited actually
so thank you
counselor and and just uh from from
staff um senior program second annual
abuse in later life health fair on June
28th at the mson senior center from
10:00 a.m. to 2: p.m. June is elder
abuse awareness month and and
World elder abuse awareness day is
celebrated on June
15th and then on June June 3 we have our
annual uh electric light parade uh which
is happening in the same
place
uh I'm sorry multitasking here July I
apologize not great at multitasking I'm
trying to read all these updates coming
in um it is July 3rd our electric light
parade uh is happening starts at uh 7:30
p.m. all all those who are signing up
for the electri light parade we meet at
alaka Park and it ends in uh in the
Hatley area and that starts from
7:30 p.m. uh to to 9:00 p.m. and then
July 4th at Pat and Lou SBO Community
Park we have our awesome July 4th uh
July concert and fireworks which will
start at 600 p.m. and the annual display
of fireworks will happen at
9:45 and we have black jacket Symphony
and uh that will be the entertainment
for that
day
and last but not least I have our legal
team Brad the vacant property tax which
was mentioned by a few counselors uh on
D councel mccl has mentioned that in
today mayor prend mom you had mentioned
that so Brad when he has updates I'll be
able to email that out to you as well or
if we need a work session we can do that
as well but thank you uh mayor those are
all the updates I have for
today thank you city manager
Ian U looking for
adjournment move to
adjourn second by Flores
this is on the motion to adjourn the the
regular meeting councelor McClair yes
councelor matis yes councelor Graham yes
councelor cran yes councelor flutes yes
councelor bomo yes and mayor
yes e