e
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[Music]
you're on
you're
on good afternoon good afternoon and
welcome to city council meeting today is
Monday May 6th 2024 it's approximately 1
p.m. I am May Eric Enriquez before we
start I want to mention that we have an
American Sign Language
interpreter uh available at every
regular council meeting and she will be
at the front for anyone who requires
interpretation
Services we'll go ahead and start with a
moment of silence for the brave men and
women of the United States armed
forces and also the courageous men and
women of Los cruus police department and
fire department as they keep our city
safe 247 for 365
days join me in the pledge
to the United States of States of
America
to stands
na
indivisible
andice all right that was good all right
thank
you uh we have a presentation of
certificates proclamations
councelor
McLure hello everyone let's do some
proclamations first one's going to be
for Oregon mountains Desert Peak
National Monument month for those who
are going to be standing for that Scott
cook and Melissa hovie would you like to
come
up hi go
here city of Las Cruz's Proclamation
whereas public lands ensure the
ecological beauty of our community and
provide a place for children and adults
to connect with nature and recreate
outdoors and whereas public lands
provide space for activity active
communities to Aid in the prevention of
chronic disease provide their
therapeutic recreation services for
individuals with disabilities and also
improve the mental and emotional health
of all citizens and whereas public lands
are vitally important to establishing
and maintaining the quality of life in
our communities ensuring the health of
all citizens and contributing to the
economic and environmental well-being of
our community and whereas local public
lands increase a community's economic
Prosperity through increased tourism and
the attraction or attention of
businesses and whereas the city of Las
crues recognizes the benefits derived
from public lands as recreation
resources now therefore we the mayor and
City Council of Las cruus New Mexico do
do hereby proclaim the month of May 2024
as Oregon mountains desert Peaks
National Monument month
[Applause]
so mayor Enriquez uh members of the
council um Scott Cook district manager
with the Bureau of Land Management here
in
lusas um on behalf of New Mexico Bureau
of Land Management and the Los cus
District um we would just like to show a
gratitude of appreciation and thank you
for this
Proclamation next is a proclamation for
National Bike month uh Las Cruis bike to
school week Las cruus Bike To Work Week
and Las cruus Bike To Work Day presented
to George Pearson
oh and who else Ashley Curry Diane
Ashley Curry and Diane nades are going
to join as
well city of Las Cruz's Proclamation
whereas the bicycle is a viable
environmentally and economically sound
form of transportation and an excellent
form of recreation and whereas the
league of American bicyclists the msia
valley Metropolitan planning
organization the city of Las cruus the
Las crusis Public Schools local cycling
clubs and independent bicyclists are
promoting greater public awareness of
bicycle operation and safety education
and whereas the city of Los crusis in
20121 earned a 4-year renewal bronze
level designation as a bicycle friendly
Community from the league of American
bicyclists and the city has adopted its
active Transportation plan and complete
streets ordinance and whereas the city
of Las Cruses has been awarded A Safe
Streets for all Grant from the US
Department of Transportation to update
the active Transportation plan and
implement three demonstration projects
and whereas the city of Las Cruses
continues to improve bicycle routes and
trails for transportation and Recreation
the city of msia Valley Mo and the Los
cruus Public Schools support the safe
routes to school program and whereas
bicyclists of all ages throughout Los
cruus the msia valley and the nation
will be promoting bicycling as an
environmentally friendly alternative to
the automobile and a wholesome activity
that improves health during the month of
May 2024 through group rides events and
communting to school and work now
therefore we the mayor and city of Lo
City Council of Las crusis New Mexico do
hearby proclaim the month of May 2024 as
National Bike month the week of May 7th
through May 18th as Las Cruz's bike to
school week the week of May 13th and May
18th as Las Cruz's Bike To Work Week and
May 17th as Las Cruz's Bike To Work Day
throughout our proud City and urge all
who support bicycling to participate in
the events as planned all right thank
you very much thank
[Applause]
you go ahead let's over wait let do
pictures
first okay thank you to the city for
this uh we've been doing this for many
years now to celebrate uh bike month May
is kind of is the national time but in
Los crusis we're fortunate that we can
pretty much ride year round uh we did
start with some activities in April
already so April 21st was the tour to
optimism and then on April 27th was the
family fun Fiesta which is a safe routes
to school event that happened at Lynn
middle school yesterday we had a bike
blessing at unarian Universalist Church
and then uh May 7th through 10th will be
the bike to school days and Ashley can
talk about that a little more in a
moment uh May 11th will be a cyclopam at
5 15 at the town of
msia May 13th will be our monthly
visibility ride where we meet at the
Transportation Museum at the end of Las
cruus Avenue and demonstrate safely
riding through the streets of Las cruus
then may as that Proclamation says 13th
through 18th is the Bike To Work Week uh
May 15th will be the ride of Silence
with meets at 6 o'clock in the msia
plaza where we honor cyclists who have
been suffered fatalities and serious
injuries and then May 17th is Bike to
Work Day where vusus will sponsor a meet
and greet at Little Toad at
5:00 and then uh we spill over a little
bit into June with the Adaptive cycle
parade in the msia at
10:00 uh June 10th is the June
visibility ride and then we'll also have
a Father's Day ride on June 16th at
Pioneer women's park at 7 o'clock in the
morning and we'll let Ashley
good afternoon city council and members
of the public um my name is Ashley Curry
I'm the safe roots to school coordinator
for Los cruus public schools and I just
wanted to take this opportunity to thank
the city and our Co enforcement our law
enforcement for assisting us with the
programs we thank the city for the paths
for the routes that you create the bike
lanes and the awareness campaigns that
we have to promote safe cycling for our
students as a viable way for them to get
to school safely um this week is
National back to school week we have
events all week long at um 19 of our 25
schools we also have some outlying
events that are uh at the County schools
in the coming weeks as well so I just
ask members of the public just to be
extra cautious of bicyclists um know the
laws it's 3 ft for passing with a
vehicle 6 ft for a commercial vehicle if
there two lanes going in the same
direction please move over cyclists do
have the right to the road same rights
same rules same responsibilities thank
you so much for your um dedication and
continued support of the safe roots to
school
program and we do have one more event to
plan for in September the mayor council
bike ride on September 14th so we hope
to see the mayor there um I think maybe
it'll be easier to get him this mayor on
the bike than the last mayor who would
only show up once a year on a bicycle I
think I've seen the mayor more than once
on a bike already so thank you for
this thank you so much thank you
next we have a proclamation for economic
development week presented to Lorenzo
Alba maybe yes
yes all right city of Las Cruz's
Proclamation all right a whole crew here
whereas the international Economic
Development Council is the largest
professional Economic Development
organization dedicated to serving
economic developers and whereas the
international Economic Development
Council provides leadership and
excellence in economic development for
communities members and partners through
conferences training courses advisory
services and research in-depth public
Publications public policy advocacy and
initiatives such as is the accredited
Economic Development organization
program and the certified Economic
Development designation and whereas
economic developers within the city of
Las cruus mavita and partners throughout
Los cruus promote economic well-being
and quality of life for our communities
by creating retaining and expanding jobs
that facilitate growth enhance wealth
and provide a stable tax base and
whereas economic developers and Los
crues stimulate and incubate
entrepreneurism in order to establish
the next generation of new business
businesses which is the Hallmark of the
American economy and whereas economic
developers in Los Cruses are engaged in
a wide variety of settings including
rural and urban local and state federal
governments public private Partnerships
Chambers of Commerce universities and a
variety of other institutions and
whereas economic developers in Los
crusis attract and retain high quality
jobs develop vibrant communities and
improve the quality of life in our
region and whereas economic developers
in Los Cruses work in the city of Las
crusis with within the state of New
Mexico now there therefore we the mayor
and City Council of Las crusis New
Mexico do hereby proclaim the week of
May 6th 2024 through May 10th 2024 as
economic development week in Los Cruses
and remind individuals individuals of
the importance of this community
celebration that supports the expansion
of career opportunities and improving
our quality of life
[Applause]
hello everybody I'm Lorenzo Alba I'm the
chair of Miss Val I'm develop vment
Alliance and I've got some of our
executive board here Christine Wright
and Erica Saunders as well as some of
our staff which is this crew right here
where's cardos at he was also doing the
video for us uh Brett and Jessica Lynn
are integral part of what we do our
president CEO Davin Lopez could not be
here today but on behalf of him the
board of directors our members and of
course everybody that really benefits
from what the work that we do uh
collectively with the city of Las Cruses
and donana County and of course private
partners that make this happen uh this
is really an amazing thing that we do
here bringing jobs to our community
bringing Economic Development to our
community and yes the director of Ginos
is involved in this because yes this is
important also it brings quality of life
to what we do here at uh and Las crues
in donana County so thank you city of
Las Cruses for the partnership and thank
you so much for this uh honor appreciate
[Applause]
you and last but certainly not least
Proclamation for professional Municipal
clerks week presented to Christine R
Rivera and Teresa stefen Hogan
[Applause]
okay waiting
yes city of Las Cruses
Proclamation whereas the office of pro
of the professional municipal clerk a
time-honored and vital part of local
government exists throughout the world
and whereas the office of the
professional municipal clerk is the
oldest among the public servants and
whereas the office of the professional
municipal clerk provides the
professional link between the citizens
the local governing bodies and agencies
of government at other levels and
whereas professional Municipal clerks
have pledged to be ever mindful of their
neutrality and impartiality rendering
equal service to all and whereas the
professional municipal clerk serves as
the information center on the functions
of local government and community and
whereas the professional municipal clerk
continually strive to improve the
administration of the Affairs of the
office of the professional municipal
clerk through the participation in
education programs seminars workshops
and the annual meetings of their state
and international professional
organizations and whereas it is most
appropriate that we recognize the
accomplishments of the office of the
professional municipal clerk now
therefore we the mayor and City Council
of Las Cruses New Mexico do hereby
proclaim the week of May 5th through May
11th 2024 as professional Municipal
Clerk's week and further extend extend
our appreciation to our professional mun
municipal clerk and all those
professional Municipal clerks for the
vital Services they perform and their
exemplary dedication to the communities
they
[Applause]
represent um just want to say thank you
to the city council it is a pleasure to
work with each of you and I thank you
for putting your trust in me all the
time um I couldn't do this without my
fantastic team and so I just want to
thank each and every one of them to
Teresa who's my Deputy Lisa Kim April
Kristen Kendall and Patty thank you guys
so much I could not do this job without
you so thank
[Applause]
you okay thank you councelor McLure uh
next we have jobs of the week Sarah
Rainey good afternoon
everyone again my name is Sarah rainy I
am the onetop coordinator for the
southwest region of the New Mexico
Workforce Connection
sorry I'm losing my voice today so for
jobs of the week we have Heavy Equipment
Operator 2 for the city of Los cruus
position starts at 2110 an at 2110 an
hour and the posting closes on the 13th
we also have a museum curator for the
education department for the city of Los
crusis that position starts at 53,000 a
year and the posting closes on the 20th
we have a system analyst for Whit Sands
Missile Range um the posting closes on
the 18th of July we have a program
manager volunteer for the volunteer
programs it is a remote Pro a remote
position excuse me for the American Red
Cross that position starts at 65,000 a
year and the posting closes on the 26th
we also have an administrative assistant
for the county manager for the doniana
county the posting starts at $17 an hour
and closes on the 26th we have a retail
Associates for Home Goods actually they
have several positions open um since
they're fixing to open their location
those postings start at
$12.3 um cents an hour and the posting
closes on the 29th just to remind
everybody we now we now are open here in
Los crusis from 8: to 6: it's our only
location in the region that we are open
until 6:00 p.m. to give everybody an
extra hour come in take advantage of our
services um and see what kind of help we
can assist in career
movement all right thank you so much for
having me
thank you
sir next is p of the weeks and we have
Amy def
Felix hello everyone my name is Amy D
Felix I am one of the adoption rescue
coordinators with the Animal Services
Center of the msia valley and we'll
start by presenting the pets of the week
we always start off with our cat of the
week our cat of the week this week is
Laura Croft her number is
7476 and she says I'm a gorgeous torsh
Al KY who despite my name doesn't want a
life of action and adventure but of cozy
cuddles and soft pets and scites I'm so
sweet you'd be surprised to hear that
I'm the longest term adoptable cat here
at the ascmv I promise you don't need to
keep searching I'm the precious treasure
you're looking for and then we have our
dog of the week he is a MC Loven his
number is
6674 and he says I'm a very smart boy
and I just love to have fun and burn off
my energy being at the asmv for so long
does me and I get really exced excited
when I get to go outside but I quickly
settle down and just want your love and
attention if you want a loving companion
that could maybe even be a running buddy
stop by and meet me and then we have um
an off-site adoption event this Saturday
May 11th we will be at PetSmart um we'll
be there from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
and in case you need that address it's
2200 East lman Avenue and then here are
all of our oh links online our main
website is ASC mv.org and then we're all
over social media we primarily post on
Facebook and Instagram at Animal
Services Center we also have our Tik Tok
where we're trying to get into the habit
of posting more reals and then we post
our podcast on the asmv channel as well
as Spotify and apple
podcasts that is all I have thank
you thank you
[Music]
Amy next we have the 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 Graham none Mur none
none
none at this time I'd like to go ahead
and uh do a suspension of
rules uh to move the acceptance of
agenda of before public participation
that W need a motion in a second for
public participation move to suspend
rules
Graham
second this is on the motion to suspend
the rules to listen to acceptance of the
agenda before public participation
councelor McClure yes councelor matis
yes councelor Graham yes councelor cran
no councelor fles yes councelor Beno no
mayor yes
motion
passes so with the possible acceptance
of the
agenda uh with the removal of item 8.5
in its entirety um it will require a
motion in a second so moved
second this is on the motion to accept
the agenda as presented with removal of
item 8.5 in its entirety councelor
McClure yes councelor matis yes
councelor
Graham yes councelor cran no councelor
flutes yes councelor bomo no mayor yes
motion
[Applause]
passes so just for clarification what we
just voted on in in past was a removal
of
8.5 a resolution calling for um the
permanent Seas fire in Palestine it will
not be heard today um we will proceed
with public comments uh due to the large
uh number in the audience and many that
want to speak will allow two minutes so
I'll start with the first row on my left
if you want to come up and speak you
have two minutes
[Music]
[Applause]
please please can you can you keep it
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
down may
we we need you to settle down please
I'm asking you to to sit down if you're
going to speak you can wait your turn to
come to the
[Applause]
[Music]
podium please the remaining of you if
you please sit
down please sit down and wait your turn
to speak if you wish to
[Applause]
speak if you can go ahead and state your
name ma'am and you have two
[Applause]
minutes sir
no I
haven't please can you please close the
door please so we can conduct our
[Music]
meeting mayor
okay we're going to call this meting
again we'll call this meeting to order
anyone this disrupts the meeting will be
asked to leave so if you can please take
your
seats and come up to the podium to speak
you'll be allowed two
minutes Chief story I may good
afternoon while we obviously recognize
People's First Amendment right to
express their views those first
amendment protections do not allow
people to disrupt government operations
including uh the operations in City Hall
so on the record the officers will uh
talk to those people let them know that
they can voice their views but not in a
manner that will disrupt the operations
of city hall or they will be
removed thank you thank you thank you
Chief can I go now yes if you could go
ahead and state your name that special
my name is Fran Williams of w ma'am can
you can you speak directly into the mic
I'm sorry can is that okay yes that's
better okay well buar this and good
afternoon thank you for your service to
the citizens of Las cruus my name is
Francis f Williams and I have been a
proud citizen of this community for 72
years as a matter of fact I even ran
against Bill matis for mayor no hard
feelings bill I am here to ask your
support for Israel and deny the requests
from Palestinian supporters to conam
Israel a reminder that Hamas has
attacked and killed 1200 Israelites and
taken 25050 hostages some of whom have
died in captivity Israel has a right to
defend itself and we would have not if
it had happened on our soil we would
have done the same as Jews we are
commanded to perform tun alone to repair
the world we'd ask the Palestinians to
join us in this endeavor instead of
being fixated on destroying Israel and
put millions of their people in harms
way M Williams if you can still continue
you to speak into the microphone please
we can't we can't hear you uh uh we
should uh this issue does not belong in
city council business and should be
dropped we need better streets we need
in infrastructure we need jobs not to
decide who is right and wrong on these
protests thank you and call me if I can
be a service to you as I have been in
the past thank you
thank you Senator
seinor did did you want to speak and
also just to recognize you as Senator
steinborn go ahead and state your
name thank you mayor councel I am State
Senator Jeff steinour and I'm certainly
coming here in my personal capacity as a
Jewish citizen of your community
um I've been thinking about what to say
to you all weekend this is very personal
I want to first off say uh mayor counsel
I stand for all the peaceloving people
in this community and on the planet and
in Israel and in Palestine who want
peace and who want to live together in
peace and I believe in my heart most
people want that most people I I I
firmly believe do want that um it's
it's proven it's proven it can happen
and then there are people who who look
at the world and narrower terms I just
want to say my family has experienced
great loss connected to ethnic hatred I
learned yesterday that my great
grandmother I knew I had relatives
killed in the Holocaust I learned
yesterday that the Nazis went into my
great-grandmother's house my mother's
grandmother house and killed them all
okay in what was then Russia now part of
Ukraine area that still being bombed and
then one Survivor a cousin got up went
down the street to her family's house
saw her husband and child being loaded
into a truck never to be seen
again I grew up in this town I grew up
in this town being unseen as a Jewish
citizen we didn't talk about Hanukkah we
didn't talk about anything I had to go
to another state and I heard on the
radio they go happy Hanukkah it was so
special actually being acknowledged and
I thought it's really interesting I'm a
minority in a way but not generally seen
that way um it's taken the Jewish
Community here decades to be recognized
and thanks to the rabbi thanks to the
elders here like Francis everybody my
father who who did that and not trying
to convert anyone just trying to just
trying to kind of celebrate Jewish life
and the fact is this resolution is a
step back by not including Israel and
the atrocities committed there and I
encour I encourage you in closing to do
good policy making and to work with both
sides and I hope this is a teachable
moment and I hope it it creates a lot of
reflection thank you mayor thank you
Council thank you Senor thank
you is there anyone else in the first
room
yes Mr Mayor is it okay to talk about a
different topic at this point yes it's
public participation I'm Greg Smith I
used to live excuse me I still live in
District 2 uh Mr Mayor thank you Mr TPO
members of the council uh I wish to
speak to you about a resident 100 years
ago in District 4 and um that point the
the location that I'm talking about is
actually adjacent to district one and
District
3 the person I'm talking about is Fabian
Garcia and he accomplished a number of
things that resulted in 400 million do
coming into our New Mexico economy
that's not $400 million at one point
that's estimated to be year after year
$400
million some of you are familiar with
his chili number n that was uh what we
often call hatch green
chili but he also uh did a lot to bring
pecans and onions and cotton into our
Valley and to make them part of our
thriving economy in New Mexico
the reason I bring him up is because he
lived at 402 South Maine he was married
to one of the Amador girls and he um
lived there either commuted by horse or
car or truck to NMSU accomplished a lot
there was recently added to the
agriculture Hall of Fame I'd like a
plaque added to that corner to honor his
contributions I'd also like for you to
consider the contributions that other
professors
both to our economy and to our culture
and to what happens here locally this
specifically has to do with the houses
on University that First Light Federal
Credit Union is looking at demolishing I
realize it may be too late to stop
that ra raising of those houses but I
would hope that this Council would look
at historic preservation as an important
factor here in our community thank you
very much and I'll leave these with the
cler thank you
hello I'm Susan Greenwell gabo I am here
to also speak about a different topic um
that is Downtown Los crues um dlcp um
just received our official notice that
we have been accreditated again um both
Statewide through New Mexico Main Street
and nationally through Main Street
America so I really want to thank the
city for all they've done to help us do
this we couldn't do it without our
government Partners Our Community
Partners our city stakeholders um Chris
favor specifically is our city liaison
and he does an amazing job working with
us um I also want to take a brief moment
to thank you for your Mira event a
couple weekends ago it was absolutely
beautiful um our citizens enjoyed it
tremendously um it was such a great
thing for you guys to have done and to
bring out the culture of Los crues and
and it's an event that I don't have to
put on so I always appreciate that um
and finally I guess two things one we're
having three new restaurants come
downtown um different genres of food
really excited about that also I am a
little bit in a hurry I am supposed to
be helping an artist hang her work at
the Rio Grand Theater um we're having an
art show for litfest which is May 18th
we are working with the um donana Arts
Council and film Lost crues to provide
interaction interactive sessions all
that day revolving around the literary
Arts um and then we'll have our
Generations reading that evening so if
you could join us for that um we'd
always appreciate your presence thank
you so much for all that you do to help
us all right thank
you is there anyone ma'am I'm starting
on the left side oh okay thank
you
yeah anyone else on the first row
no now the second
row hello may hello mayor and Council
people my name is Martha ridi I'm a
retired faculty member from New Mexico
State
University I wanted to make sure has
anyone read the language of the city
council's resolution calling for a
permanent ceasefire in pales
it's pretty incendiary divisive and not
in standing with the peaceful nature of
Las cruus I'm devastated with the loss
of innocent lives both in Israel and in
Gaza Gaza this is what we're talking
about is Gaza and the worsening
humanitarian humanitarian crisis
unfolding there in Gaza at the same time
we must remember that hamus is
accountable for actions on October 7th
the horrific killing and kidnapping of
innocent Israelis and for the deliberate
putting of innocent Palestinians across
Gaza In Harm's Way and pursuit of their
goals to eliminate
Israel is the city council prepared to
support a resolution that the city
council condemns the occupation of
Palestine and the 17-year blockade of
Gaza what does the council know know
about it on the daily basis Hamas
continues to launch rockets into
Israel's population centers hamas's
actions have unfortunately led to
tremendous suffering in Gaza including
the terrible loss of
life are
we is the city council prepared to
support a resolution that the city
council affirm and support a per
permanent ceasefire of the genocide in
Palestine
using genocide is a very political and
cyal um slogan it is something that goes
to the heart of all Jews in the United
States thank you very
[Applause]
much my name is Donna Striker whereas
the city of Los crusis and the city
council should focus on important issues
of our community in facing crime blight
and homelessness whereas the city of Las
crusis and the city council should
support our police department and the
realtime crime Center whereas the city
council should listen to the businesses
that provide GRT pay taxes and our
law-abiding citizens and who will vote
whereas the city council should care
more about our community and the locus's
business owners that are being denied
their right to operate their businesses
safely and profitably due to the
aggressive destructive criminals whereas
our families in the city should not be
afraid to take their families to our
parks and our stores and our shopping
centers because I was unable to read
this at the um special session on
shopping carts on a busy afternoon a
woman with the shopping cart who was
camping on the eBid ditch Bank behind
our building all of a sudden started
screaming at the top of her lungs and
began ramming her fence with a shopping
cart full of her stuff our customers and
employee in the back were fear that she
would either break through and come
after them or seriously injur injure
herself in the process as a result we
sustain not only emotional trauma but
actual damage to the property we've had
several separate incidents of
individuals with shopping carts just
dumping the entire contents out in the
middle of the parking lot and leaving it
there on a regular basis we have
observed homeless individuals squabbling
with each other in our parking lot over
ownership of C shopping carts that they
have acquired this generally leads to
physical violence between them and
leaves them leaves us with a huge mess
to clean up not to mention customers
will s clear of the area so they are not
accidentally caught in The Fray or have
their vehicles damaged as a result of
the carts being flung
around on a busy afternoon I'm sorry
that was about it and this is from
Heather Murphy from Craig and tager at
Valley I'm Amador and Valley thank
you all right thank
you still on the second row
good afternoon mayor Enriquez and Las
crusa City councilors I'm Rabbi Avet
lman my wife Sher and I live in District
5 just across from Four Hills Park we're
fairly new to Las cruus and we love it
here today I don't speak to you as the
leader of the congregation but instead I
speak to you from the heart this special
day in the Jewish calendar as Mr
steinborn mentioned today is y Holocaust
Remembrance Day beginning last night
Jews around the world observe a day of
mourning for those lost during the
genocide perpetrated by Nazi Germany as
you know 6 million Jews were
systematically hunted and shot gassed
burned tortured experimented on
precisely because they were Jews the
intention was to clear Nazi Germany for
every single one of its Jews the amount
of German resources dedicated to this
project of genocide was enormous some
even postulate that Germany may have
done much better militarily had they not
dedicated so many resources to the
genocide genocide this word chills me
makes me sick to my stomach yet this is
the word used Pro resolution
24114 seeking a ceasefire in Gaza
especially on this Holocaust Remembrance
Day I must speak out opposed resolution
24114 asks a c CE fire in Gaza without
any mention of Hamas the governing body
that could affect such a ceasefire the
most frightening thing is that Hamas has
its own Charter in its own Charter the
genocide of Jews for it Advocates the
clearing of the country Israel from The
River To The Sea we've heard the chant
and seen the posters and it strikes fear
in
us the proposed resolution doesn't
mention the atrocities committed by amas
on October 7th that Drew Israel into the
war those killed included elderly and
children non-combatants by every stretch
of the
imagination Hamas intentionally
committed these acts to draw Israel into
the war ma'am your time is up thank you
thank
[Applause]
you good afternoon uh Council and mayor
my name is Peter Schwarz Bine I the
current Community engent manager for ADL
for greater El Paso and Los crues uh ADL
is the oldest anti-hate organization in
the United States dedicated to combating
anti-Semitism in all forms of hate and
here I have with you our pyramid of hate
which shows how hate left unchecked when
good people stay silent can lead towards
world world violence and in our
community here in Al Pas and Los crues
unfortunately we saw that occur on
August 3rd 2019 at a Walmart in El Paso
Texas as a former two-term city council
member and mayor protm of El Paso Texas
just down the river over there um I know
how difficult your job can be and how
challenging these complex conversations
are sometimes are to help make the best
decisions for your community and as the
grandson of a holocaust Survivor one of
two out of 10 who survived the war and
the son of Latino immigrants the cons
eration of this resolution to be voted
on on yasa Holocaust Remembrance Day is
also deeply troubling and I thank you
for taking a step back uh to do the
right thing for the beautiful community
that you
represent I think we need to understand
that two things can be true at the same
time our hearts can and do break at the
innocent lives lost in both Israel and
Gaza and the humanitarian crisis that is
occurring in Gaza but at the same time
it's vitally important that we can and
must hold a Hamas accountable for de
deliberately putting innocent
Palestinians In Harm's Way in pursuit of
their destructive goals against a just
peace and against a two-state solution
the current resolution makes Los cruus
less safe while increasing animosity and
fear amongst our Jewish and Muslim
neighbors Las cus should be working out
ways to bring us together in a more
welcom and inclusing environment and the
steps you took today I think helped to
do that I know we can do better and I
look forward to working with each and
every one of you I would like like to
leave you one of these as well thank you
again Council and thank you for the work
you do representing L crues okay thank
[Applause]
you good afternoon Shauna feifer there
are a plethora of reasons to support the
realtime crime Center for investigative
purposes it provides police with an
accurate and immediate description of
the perpetrator of a crime time so that
criminals can be caught quickly and
efficiently for deterrence purposes when
someone trespasses onto a property looks
in all the windows and then picks up a
rock police can confront that person
before the property is vandalized or
burglarized ma'am ma'am hold on
that that one is an agenda item and so
you we can have public discussion when
that item comes up I'm sorry
[Applause]
okay good afternoon Ken aashima here
good afternoon I just happened to be in
the neighborhood so I thought I'd just
drop
by actually I just want to say um you
all look good look good from back here
and I want to publicly congratulate all
of you Ion on city manager and uh mayor
Enriquez and councelor bomo on your
mayor protm and who else won mayor matis
mayor
McLure um I don't know if you know this
but I think that clock moves kind of
fast because counselor florus would
would mess with that clock and she has
it at 1.5 time so it kind of moves moves
a little bit quicker but anyways I just
wanted to tell you good to see you all
thanks for the work you do I appreciate
it uh I have nothing else I just wanted
to say hello okay see you guys thank you
mayor Ken Mima good to see
[Applause]
you good afternoon mayor council members
my name is Joyce David off I've been
asked to read a statement from and I am
speaking in behalf of Wendy Graham
history teacher and Adjunct professor at
the
University um mayor and counselors
Miss Graham was Miss Graham wrote to you
to express concerns regarding resolution
24114 a resolution calling for a
permanent ceasefire in
Palestine my her concerns Miss Graham's
concerns fall under the following three
categories one jurisdiction two lack of
State intelligence and three
anti-Semitism number one jurisdiction
Las crusa City council members have no
jurisdiction over Israel or Gaza and
passing this resolution would be purely
performative two um lack of State
intelligence Los Cruz City Council
Members have no access to us
intelligence upon which US state
department decisions are made a
governing body should not pass a
resolution on any subject for which the
governing body has incomplete
information or lack of access to
relevant relevant to the content of the
resolution and number three
anti-Semitism passing this resolution
would be anti-semitic because Las crusis
has no history of passing resolutions in
regard to other similar interational
conflicts and we know they're out there
as we speak singling out the Jewish
state for an unprecedented type of
resolution is by definition
anti-semitic moreover the resolution
fails to condemn Hamas which implies
that those behind the resolution find
rape and murder of Jews
unacceptable and she says as an educator
in the Los crusis Community I have
witnessed anti-Semitism harmed students
firsthand I implore you not ma'am your
time is up thank you thank
[Applause]
you moving moving now to the third row
anybody in the third
row
yes we're still on the left
side good afternoon uh my name is Jamie
Wallace I'm a fourth generation Los
crusin this is a fifth generation from
both me and my husband my husband's
working today so he couldn't be here um
we own a business here we both got our
college degrees here at NMSU went away
for some further schooling came back
wanted to raise our family in the town
that we know and love um our business
has been broken into twice in the last
month we've only been open a week before
we even opened it was broken into uh it
was broken into the old location was
broken into so I wanted to tell you
about that I also wanted to tell you
that this town is just not what I grew
up in I can't take I have four kids I
can't go to the store and feel safe I
can't go to a park and feel safe heaven
forbid someone needs to use the bathroom
at one of those
parks and I guess that when I heard
today that what you were thinking of
discussing such a divisive
issue you're discussing that issue that
has nothing to to do with the city of
Los cruus and we can't even just live
our
lives it's an important issue but it's
not one that should be discussed here we
vote and we trust you to do your job and
I thank you to some of you that are
doing your job I thank you to our police
force I thank you that you guys are
trying but this town is waking up and
there's people like me who care and we
want to raise our children here and you
know what right now I hope he leaves I
hope he doesn't raise my grandchildren
here I hope his children can go to a
park and feel safe and go to a store and
feel safe we are here we're working
we're watching we want our town to be
better I'm embarrassed that I had to
drag him here and feel unsafe again just
now but I came here to ask you to do
your job
thank
you
on that is very hard to
follow that's my daughter and she didn't
fall too far from the
tree
um I want to read you I don't have can
can you state your name for the McMillan
thank you um I'm going to read you part
of this Proclamation that you all have
decided to talk about
today whereas between October 6th and
April 17th there have been over 35,000
Palestinians
killed including 13,000 women and
children how dare
you how dare
you leave out the 1200 men women mostly
women and children who were not only
killed but
raped some of their dead bodies were
raped how do you leave that out I am
yeah I I am upset usually I'm pretty
calm up here talking to you but I am
upset I'll tell you I'm going to read
you one more thing here and this is from
the good
book and by the way when this thing is
over I want to know which one of these
City councilors up here wanted us to be
here talking about this today which
group I want to know who you are and I
want to know who did not want us to be
here today we have a right to know that
yes we do
woe to those who call evil good which is
what you have just done by leaving out
1200 innocent women and children woe to
you who put Darkness who called Darkness
light who put who call Bitter
Sweet woe to
those who are wise in their own eyes
woe to you who brought this up and left
out 1,200 people your your time is up
Sir dare how dare you I want to know who
you are we need to vote we will vote sir
you're we will vote in numbers as you
can see and I want to know who stopped
this from being on here today and wanted
to change
it we have a right to know that
[Applause]
hello good afternoon my name is Ashley
solar and thank you for allowing me to
speak today as many others here today um
I'm here to discuss the resolution for
the ceasefire in Palestine first I want
to say that I do not believe that this
is an appropriate resolution for this
city council to put forward but if this
council is determined to move forward
with the resolution about the Israel
Gaza War then I support the creation of
a committee that includes both
pro-israel and pro Palestinian experts
to work on such a resolution that is
educated and sensitive to both sides of
this conflict that resolution as it sits
does not meet these requirements there's
a proverb in the Bible that says the one
who states his case first seems right
until the other comes and examines him
my dad and stepmom were in Jerusalem on
October 7th they witnessed the bage of
bombs flying in from Gaza designed to
kill
civilians thank God the Israeli Army was
able to intercept them it was
frightening to not know if they were
still alive from day to day I would like
to propose these important additions to
the resolution as it sits whereas we
recognize that on October 7th 2023 Hamas
terrorists broke the ceasefire that was
in place and carried out the deadliest
attack on Jews since the Holocaust
12,000 Israeli CI civilians were
mercilessly murdered women including
Holocaust survivors were raped taken
hostage or mutilated Hamas terrorists
slaughtered babies in front of their
parents and burned families alive many
of these israelies were advocates for
Palestinians but that didn't save them
these Horrors were documented by Hamas
Terrace on video to be celebrated as
trophies I'm not going to be able to
finish this but I want to say we will
not tolerate anti-Semitism in the form
of anti- ISM which asserts that Jewish
people do not have the right to be safe
in their Homeland the only Jewish state
in the world finally Long Live Israel am
[Applause]
isai you go girl we were on the third
row anyone in the fourth I just want to
reiterate again that the resolution was
pulled so it was removed and so so that
you know yes it has it has been removed
so
next uh R for if you have something to
say you can come to the podium and have
your two minutes don't be shouting from
the seats please
my name is sah Hussein and I'm from Ivon
flores's District um I can't remember
the number I always forget
it uh I had nothing to do with the
drafting of the resolution and I did see
problems with it but I do stand before
you to Advocate that our city
resolves for an immediate
ceasefire it is Our obligation to to
demand equal human and civil rights for
both Israelis and pal Palestinians and
it is a moral and legal crime to
advocate for anything
less I ask you to consider the
resolution that was passed in Glendale
Colorado and I ask you to look it up
because it was advocated by four very
strong Jewish women they stated that
there are just a few examples of alleged
Israeli war crimes were targeting
civilians targeting personnel and
resources of human humanitarian Aid
bombing towns that are undef
and attacking hospitals and areas of
cultural significance like libraries the
state of Israel has done this and more
stating that Hamas is
embedded in uh the Palestinian community
and being and using Palestinians as
human Shields is
false I ask for my time back please
please please keep it down please keep
it down I ask for my time you did stop
it but after 3 seconds had expired I ask
for my time number one number two I
would note that when Israelis take
Palestinian homes in violation of
international law and in violation of
the claim that they're actually
advocating for a two-p state solution
they put children in those homes and
Palestinians cannot respond to that
because they'll be considered terrorists
those are human Shields nobody says
anything about that because there's a
different standard for Palestinians and
a different standard for for Israelis
the dehumanization and
delegitimization of the humanity of any
people including Palestinians is the
first step to genocide and the fact that
the Israeli people suffered the worst
genocide that we know of does not change
that we should act and we should
speak I am done however I would like to
say that there is a man that was sitting
in this world back here wait a minute I
I do have a right to say something this
is not public comment you allowed him to
call people terrorists they are
terrorists that is slander please keep
it down in the audience keep that's not
acceptable you guys put rules up here
and removed people for violating those
rules but you did not remove him you
thank
you mayor ple please remember to let's
try to keep it orderly be respectful and
be polite I'd appreciate that thank
you uh Chief story go ahead five minute
mayor just the the same the same
standard has to apply and we we
recognize the motion involved in the the
first M protection of Free Speech but we
can't have it get to a point where it
disrupts this meeting or operations on
either side thank
you U my name is Barry schmookler I'm
the rabbi from the kabad Jewish Center
honorable mayor City councilors please
Chief um so first of all I I when I
heard about this resolution my my first
question is since when did our city
council become these International
professionals um to get these type of
security briefings to try to make such a
resolution as we had this fifth
generation Las crusan say we do have
issues here in Los crusis I've lived
there for 15 years uh I've been a
chaplain with the City PD Sheriff's
Office State Police uh Secret Service
and I can tell you there's a lot of work
that we still have to do and we've we've
we've really gone a long way as our
Senator um steinborn said our kanuka our
our beautiful thing at the plaza um God
willing this year we'll have our new
mayor there we have about a thousand
local people from Las cruus not Jewish
all types come for Unity and that's
really what the city should be Unity
whoever decided to try I'm not going to
get into details of this resolution how
many dead how many this that's not what
counts to today why are we trying to
divide our city we have a city that has
unity I ask that please we've come so
far getting rid making sure there's no
anti-Semitism here we like we said we
took a step back but let's make sure we
continue to grow United together we have
a United cause we want a better City a
better life for our children let's keep
to that let's get rid of this garbage
that whoever was trying to introduce
shouldn't come back again this type of
garbage resolutions that have nothing to
do with our city let's make the city a
better place and those who are doing
good work please keep on the amazing
work cuz we are definitely progressing
to a better future thank
you mayor
mayor mayor go ahead councelor M may I
say something um
what I'd like to
request is I because of what you just
said I would like to get on with City
business and I would like the
unity I I really would I would I would I
would ask
that we just need to move on with City
business this was such an inappropriate
and defensive resolution and it's been
removed it's it's been it's been
removed from the agenda with that
removal we really need to move on and I
want to see the city that I've Loved for
56 years get
back to the business of what we need to
do to make the city safer and to create
the unity please so with that request
with that request if you need to come up
and say something that is just continued
divisiveness and beating up something or
someone just let's move on let's let's
get on with City business thank you my
name is Sharon sornson are we assured
that this will not come up again in the
future will this come up again will this
come up for a
vote can I be assured that I guess not
okay good afternoon thank you for this
your time well well I would agree that
all the people have god-given right to
live in Freedom peace I absolutely take
issue with the current push to push
Israel to a ceasefire and recognize the
Palestinians as the oppressed people and
objec in look at an objective look at
the situation the Middle East will tell
at a glance that the Palestinian the and
the many terrorist groups surrounding
Israel have always been the aggressors
and not the innocent impressed people
they claim to be it has been well
documented at times by the Palestinians
themselves that the massacre on October
7th 2023 was a brutal cruel attack on
innocent civilians including in infants
and the elderly
not the actions of responsible civil
people attempting to free themselves
from tyranny the charter of most if not
all Muslim groups including the ruling
ruling party of the Palestinians the
Hamas calls for the elimination of
Israel both the people and the nation
for simply being Jews there have been
multiple peace deals offered over the
years including this conflict um and
most if not all have either been
rejected or outright broken in pretty
sure order by the Palestinian side of
the agreement I will not try to say that
the Israeli government is wholly
innocent throughout their
history uh but to say that they of all
people are committing genocide is not
only patently false but ridiculous with
all that with all this said I would urge
the mayor and the city council to
concentrate on the issues that we have
in our own City such as crime and
homelessness to name only a two I
believe to side with the group of people
that is apparently not interested in
peace but while ignoring the issues on
our own backyard is not the best idea
you have been elect elected to represent
the community and to deal with its
issues and not to involve yourself in a
conflict that has quite literally been
going on for thousands of years to speak
out personally is one thing but to speak
out as elected representatives for
community on such a divisive manner is
quite another thank you for your time
thank
[Applause]
you hello my name is uh Ray solar and uh
I was in Jerusalem on October 7th it was
a beautiful peaceful restful and blessed
morning then breaking the silence siren
sounded and I witnessed this horrific
attack I saw the missiles headed for us
but then saw the hand of God and an Iron
Dome destroy what was certain death for
hundreds a thousands if they had hit
their
targets so many innocent people people
are alive today because God's Wonderful
Mercy to reveal his
story this ceasefire proposal is being
sold as a decoration of Peace but it
reads like a decoration of War so I am
here to prevent last Cruz's city council
from declaring war on the world and the
Jewish people this is a one-sided
resolution with omissions misinformation
and propaganda
there is a reason for
fighting it is Hamas this word means
violence in Hebrew it says in Genesis
613 that God brought the flood because
the world was filled with Hamas
violence I am not a Jew but I am a
witness called to warn you like Jonah do
not bring curses on like ask cruus do
not approve this abominal statement of
hatred against the Jewish people and its
current condition let the community
participate in drafting a responsible
and truthful resolution worst case
because that is O the only real way to
peace God bless
you was there someone else on this side
please state your name my name is Harry
buray I've lived in the city for 46
years um everybody has basically said
what I wanted to say except for one
thing since the since the attack in the
back in October Israel has released
hundreds of captured Palestinian ter and
terrorists and pomus on the other hand
refuses to release their hostage they'd
rather hide behind
them reports lately have indicated that
the Commander in Gaza now is hiding
behind hostage just to keep himself safe
this hiding behind host oages and the
heinous acts were not committed by a
nation state they were simply committed
by a band of evil terrorist plain and
simple anybody else on this side
hello my name is Michael frames back to
local business a little bit um
discrimination has such a key role right
now and it's emphasized in
policymaking I have to say I've been
feeling quite a bit discriminated
against I'd like to ask everybody in the
audience if you're concerned with your
safety and Los crues could you please
stand up for me
see these people in the audience we all
feel the same way just because we don't
have needs other people mean doesn't
mean that we can't be discriminated
against it's sad we need to trust this
man over here there's a lot of important
stuff coming up on agendas that your
vote is going to tell us exactly what
your thoughts are to the city of Los
crues
please support the workingclass American
the one that puts taxes so that funds
could be raised for these charitable
events your vote matters today thank you
anyone else on that row okay good
afternoon my name is Beth
tney
better
sorry sorry I'm a little bit short in
stature um I am a proud Jew and a Conant
of Temple
Bethel and support for Israel is
something that I've been taught from a
very young
age but the actions that are going on in
Israel are not not the actions of the
Israel that I've been taught to
love and while I do agree that we do
need to talk about about about City
actions we we need to think think
globally we need I agree that what Hamas
did was atrocious and is
inexcusable with that being said the
people of Gaza should not be suffering
it the people of of Israel should not be
suffering for this we need to make take
an action to make sure that a ceased
Fire H fire happens that the hostages
are freed that the prisoners are
freed that peace talks can occur so that
Israel and Palestinian palestin can both
exist thank
you thank you
[Applause]
good afternoon mayor city
council police chief um my name is
lannis white I am a fairly new Resident
to Las crues I've been here about two
years and I have to say I was frankly
shocked um maybe a little appalled when
I saw this uh proposed uh
resolution I I had no idea that I was
living in a community whose city council
would support this sort of thing
um I came from Roswell I lived there for
many years and the city council to my
knowledge uh was about what was good for
the city what was good for her community
what was good for her citizenry what was
good for the businesses of the town to
make the community a better place and I
fail to see how this can have any in
whatsoever except to create animosity
and further division where there should
be none in our city Unity is what we
need and I ask you to
consider very carefully the kind of
resolutions that you
bring because it affects the citizenry
in such a huge way much more than you
understand yes this is a a a a huge uh
National problem um I I will say Israel
is a um a country in of its own it has
the right to protect its borders just
like the United States would have the
right to protect its borders if someone
uh started raining missiles down on it
so that that's not my
point but we need and ask you guys to do
what is right for the city and thank you
for what you are doing and thank you for
the police and all they do thank you so
much thank
you good afternoon mayor city council
and police chief story I'm Beverly Hogan
I had no intention of speaking today but
I totally support you Bill matis for
saying that we need to get on
with what is best for the city of Las
Cruses I'm a retired history and social
studies teacher so peace and working out
how you can solve things peacefully to
me is the best way we can
go in addition I would like to say
that when police chief story at the last
meeting gave a very very thorough report
on what he would like like to
see that all of you should have rep just
immediately supported
him he has the best
interests he has the best interest of
our
city at stake I can't see any reason why
you would not have some of you move
forward with
that we moved here in
2015 I can honestly say
that the situation in Los cruus is
deplorable deplorable with the homeless
the carts and we're doing nothing I mean
housing does nothing we need to as one
of you so aptly said if there's more
interactions with the police that's not
necessarily a bad thing that's an
opportunity for the police to get these
people the help they need I would
encourage all of you to look at
to look at Alberta Canada and look at
what the province did there it is
absolutely amazing it will take you
hours to read and hear about it but they
solved the problem and they made it safe
and they found a way to support the
homeless and we need to do that here
thank you
mayor councilor councilors my name is
Captain vento Garcia United States Navy
retired I serve for 30 years I
respectfully request that all please
never plan to go after or against Israel
again Israel is our loyal time long time
Alli with and me and my family will will
always and forever support Israel they
are only defending themselves thank you
thank God for their support what
happened thank you guys I'm not taking
too much of your time
[Applause]
good afternoon noon Council mayor
Enriquez my name is Lucy Garcia I'm
against any other future resolution
against Israel because if you're a
Christian a Catholic Methodist Baptist
Apostolic Pentecostal Etc and know the
Bible you will understand that going
against God's holy land and people will
bring up curse upon our own lands for it
is written that God goes against Nations
that go against Israel Psalms 2 1-3 why
do the Nations rage and the people's
plot in vain the kings of the Earth
Earth set themselves and the rulers St
Council together against the Lord and
against this anointed saying let us
burst their bonds apart and Cast Away
their cords from us Psalms
8314 oh God do not keep silence do not
hold your peace or be still oh God for
behold your enemies are in tumult those
who hate you have filled who lifted up
their heads they lay crafty plants
against your people they consult
together against your treasured ones
they say come let us wipe them out as a
nation May the name of Israel be
remembered Isaiah 54:17 no weapon that
is formed against you shall succeed and
you shall confute every tongue that
rises against you in judgment that is
the heritage of the Servants of the Lord
and their righteous is from me says the
Lord and thank you Mr matis for those
beautiful words but let's remind our
Christians all around the world that the
our answers to all our problems are
right here and Jesus left the last
commandment he said that we love one
another like he loved us and we can
start there by loving our city and
loving each other and doing more of
forgiving thank you all and God bless
you
[Applause]
my name is Lindsay tney as a Jewish
woman although what Hamas did on October
7th was a horrible in in inhumane I
firmly support resolution 2414 I think
the slaughter of over 30,000 people is
inexcusable and that the only way for
hostages on both sides to return home
safely is a lasting ceasefire a
humanitarian pause will not lead to
long-term peace and I think that all
residents of Israel and Palestine
deserve to live in peace together if
South Africa was all oppression and
hatred could manage it I believe in
Israel and
[Applause]
Palestine mayor counselors vict F Loos
um I actually told myself I wasn't going
to come up and speak today and then uh
you know how that goes and so I I just
want to say a couple things
that you know I I feel that we are still
in a very divisive way with each other
um not only with with what's going on
this morning but with other things and I
just I know I've reached out to some of
you and and we've spoken and and we've
gone back and forth on things and I
think today truly shows that there is
this big gap between us sometimes that
that we just don't understand each other
and I think that we feel that there is
still a us and them it's not us together
um I actually wrote uh to one of the
counselors that you know you don't know
me real well but I actually come from my
father was born in Mexico he grew up in
an orphanage he came over to the United
States to become a citizen legally and
he went through all the steps to do that
and he taught me along with with his his
wife that was a a German immigrant that
became a citizen and my mom of Spanish
and Italian back backing that they told
me how to be a good person they they
told me the things that are right and
wrong you know I've spent those of you
that do know me know that I've spent
most of my adult life um trying to help
people I'm I'm usually the first to to
go and so I I ask you again that look
Beyond some of this I think that we're
letting sometimes our heart or our potic
get too much between us when it comes to
making the right decisions and I still
say again we're here to back Chief story
and and I hope that all the things that
come not just today you will continue to
back him and in everything you do that
you will really start to look at
everybody's opinions because we all have
an opinion and we're all important so
thank you guys
[Applause]
good afternoon mayor City councilors
Chief story Chief Smith and others and
other dedicated servants thanks for the
opportunity to speak today my name is
Athena Huckabee and I'm a health policy
harm reduction and opioid expert as well
as the co-founder of the Gretta hakabe
low barrier housing fund we created this
fund to House people with substance use
disorders because we saw the great need
in our community to get people off the
streets and to be able to make positive
changes in their lives in addition I am
a person with lived experience of
substance use disorder and in longterm m
in long-term recovery from alcohol as
well as cocaine I'm here to address the
recent developments in drug policy
reform and their implications in our
community over the past few years there
has been significant push toward harm
reduction and evidence-based approaches
to address the overdose crisis that
continues to devastate our ation
alongside these positive steps there
have also been a concerning trend of
regression in many jurisdictions cities
like San Francisco and Philadelphia are
reverting to punitive measures While
others are scaling back harm reduction
programs and imposing harsher harsher
penalties for drug offenses as someone
deeply invested in public health and
harm reduction I believe it's crucial
for us to stay the course and continue
prioritizing evidence-based approaches
at the same time time I recognize the
legitimate concerns of residents
regarding Public Safety and access to
public spaces it is essential for us to
strike a balance between these
approaches and public order we must
invest in harm reduction programs
treatment Mental Health Care and housing
while also ensuring our communities feel
safe and secure uh finally I want to
just make a point regarding using New
Mexico's guardianship laws to require
people to engage in treatment and
Housing Services unfortunately Guardian
ship providers reject the people who
need their services the most I have come
to understand that two individuals that
were referred by the city recently were
declined for services and so
reinvigorating that system is necessary
thank you all right thank you
[Applause]
good afternoon mayor
council my name is Charles
wler you know just four days ago last
Thursday we had the National Day of
Prayer the 73rd year of that observation
it's public law
prayer prayer brings us
together and I haven't heard that yet
today
about prayer and in this city council
I've been involved the naal day of
prayer for 14 consecutive years two
years the city council not all of you
were there uh then didn't accept the
National Day of
Prayer and that's unfortunate but here
we are this is a spiritual war we're
engaged with
folks okay and God is very clear about
these kinds of things if my people who
are called by my name will humble
themselves and pray and seek my face and
turn from their Wicked Ways then I will
hear from heaven and forgive their sin
and heal their land we certainly need to
have our lands healed don't we think
so power of prayer
folks we need to really
consider getting down on our knees and
repent and ask the Lord for
forgiveness this is atrocious what we're
getting involved with anymore
and I as a father grandfather am really
sadden we're grieving the spirit folks I
would urge you to reconsider your stance
on these kinds of things we don't need
to be involved with these and Mr Matias
thank you very much we need to move on
with the city's business God bless you
all thank you
[Applause]
my name is Lisa parrot I'm aent of
District Six I would like to quote
President Ronald Reagan freedom is never
more than one generation away from
Extinction we didn't pass it to our
children in the bloodstream stream it
must be fought for protected and handed
on for them to do the same or one day we
will spend our Sunset years telling our
children and our children's children
what it was once like in the United
States when men were free thank you for
your time God
[Applause]
bless good
afternoon my name is Mike Cochran and I
just moved here to Los
cruus 40 years in law
enforcement and I've come here with to
help raise my grand kids and I came here
today not to even speak came here to say
to try to learn see what the community
is like a little bit better better way
is to come directly to them and last
thing I remember hearing
is by their fruits you will know who
they
are and some of the things I'm hearing
some of the things I'm seeing is very
true
what kind of
people what are your
fruits that's what I want to
know because did I make a mistake moving
here I hope
not but as our constitution reads we the
people and we need to take care of our
own
backyard before we start looking
around and cuz like I'm still trying to
figure out I've been here since late
March I'm still trying to figure out why
Sonoma Ranch is shut down on one side
when it looks like it's perfectly
drivable we're making people drive on
two-way on the other side and and I'm
just confused by that and here we're
we're engaged in this
conversation of a national origin here
which needs to be discussed but not
here I wonder how much taxpayer my
taxpayer dollars I just got done paying
went to put this together and us as
taxpayers we have the right to know that
thank you
[Applause]
afternoon mayor council
Chief I'm speaking words for my daughter
today my name is Ned
tutor and um my daughter Hannah has
asked me to read something she couldn't
be here unlike Jamie and Randy I have
her working so she couldn't come to be
with us um Hannah
writes my name is Hannah tutor I live on
Aspen
Avenue I bought my home 9 years ago
because I loved the house and the
neighborhood at the time I felt safe in
that area but in the last few years I've
seen major
changes I've had my mail stolen on more
than one occasion my door banged on in
the middle of the night multiple times
s homeless people yelling at people in
front of my house and yelling at me and
my dogs from the other side of my fence
in my backyard as well as throwing rocks
at my
dogs I no
longer feel
safe walking my
dogs let alone just being in my home
should I sell my home and does that mean
that my neighbors should sell theirs
too
instead I would ask you
to please pass these resolutions
presented by Chief
story I fully support Chief story and
trust in him to get our city back in
order so on behalf of my daughter Hannah
I am Ned tutor thank
[Applause]
you is there anyone else on the left
side yes come on up
my name is Laura smart it's unusual that
I'm up here today
speaking on a different topic other than
pickle
ball I want to thank you Bill matis for
saying let's move on because let's move
on something that has occurred
6,731 miles away doesn't need to be SC
discussed in the city of Las cruus
Genesis 12:3 I will bless those who
bless you and him who dishonors you I
will curse and in you all the families
of the Earth shall be blessed Psalm
1226 pray for the Peace of Jerusalem May
they be secure who love you thank
[Applause]
you Mr mayor City councilors I'm Gil
sorg and I um wanted to make a couple
statements for one thing this Council
can pass a resolution on anything when I
was on the council we passed a
resolution resolutions on a lot of
different topics that didn't Del didn't
involve L crues directly our
Representatives Santa Fe and Washington
DC much appreciated
that as far as this resolution that was
cancelled today
okay but let's get it right let's get
all the information both sides and I
would like you to emphasize the fact
that we have a a humanitarian crisis in
Gaza and that must be taken care of
first before everything
else okay thank you C thank you sir
anyone else on the left
side okay we can now move to the right
side the first row no the second row is
fine go ahead
sir I'm Jeffrey Evans I have lived here
my whole life and apart from my time
serving in an army I did two tours in
Iraq I've been decorated sir can you
speak directly to thank guys start again
and new to this I've been inside
Fireballs but public speaking makes me
nervous all right I lived here my whole
life did two tours in Iraq decorated for
Valor uh received a purple harp I am
unfortunate familiar with the cost of
war and I'm an advocate for peace if I
came up here and proposed a resolution
calling for a ceasefire between Israel
and Palestine but only mentioned Israeli
casualties just ignored the Palestinian
deaths if I listed the rocket attacks by
Hamas hostage and sexual assault and the
violation of human rights of those
hostages and so on then tossed in a line
condemning incidents of islamophobia and
anti-Semitism no one here would say yep
that's a good faith call for peace no
people would rightfully call it a
backhand justification for violence this
resolution does just that ignoring
Israeli deaths and so on it ignores the
two-sided nature of any conflict and it
is at best
anti-israel resolution or at worst just
blatant anti-Semitism I don't believe
anyone who would vote for it is acting
in good Fai Faith as an advocate for
peace and I would be ashamed to have
anti-semitic leaders in our
community I insist you vote against this
and take its supporters to task for
bringing such a one-sided hate fuel
before the
community if this Council didn't want to
hear people drone on and on about this
conflict I would like to know how it
ended up here and especially in its
one-sided form um you guys can take some
of my 10 seconds if you want to tell me
who specifically brought this to the
agenda thought that this in its written
form was worthy of consideration that
you needed all these people to come tell
or was it just to appease the impatient
young people who didn't have the
conviction to sit through a meeting just
scream like children there was no intent
here to have a ceas fire or a meaningful
dialogue thank
[Applause]
you good afternoon my my name is Michael
Raymond thank you for your time after 20
years in three combat tours defending
our nation I'm here to address two
points the first squatting on NMSU is
illegal in which the University was
complic and they provided public
resources one example they provided two
portable toilets which in average cost
is
$367 per day total was
$1,435 of your tax dollars that could
have gone towards the homeless the
hungry the elderly the medically
disabled public funds should be
allocated for the welfare of the
community not supporting criminals
additionally one of Los cruus Parks and
Recreation six strategic themes is
environmental sustainability as that
group grows so does the environmental
impact the safety and Welfare of the
student body is Paramount encampments at
UNCC UCLA UT Austin Yale Harvard and
many many others started out as peaceful
the administration was watching them
closely until violence ensued
Harvard as you can see in the photo a
Harvard Jewish student was hiding in the
library sir can you stay speaking
directly to the microphone yes in the
upper right UCLA students could not go
to class and the and they left similar
to what the Nazis did prior to World War
II that is incredibly scary but we think
no this is nebulous this can't happen in
New Mexico UNM has the same problem
Kirtland Air Force Base was shut down
because of these people but we think
there's no way that could happened in
Los Cruses I'm here to tell you and it's
been stated before
that it's 6,000 or 6,700 miles away no
it's here the rhetoric the propaganda
the verbiage that is that being used on
NMSU campus is here stop cop city is
found on a sign in the lower right
picture it is a known terrorist
organization boycott Israeli higher
education is written by these students
this is incredibly scary and Incredibly
sad they choose to emulate terrorists
thank you your time's up thank you thank
[Applause]
you my name is Monica Kimbell I'm
Professor Amita past president of Tempa
beel and past immediate past president
of the Jewish Federation of El Paso and
Las Cruses
uh correct uh councelor Matias much has
already been said so my notes are
redundant in many ways except I would
like to add that the ceasefire that's
being called for could long ago have
happened if as in past Wars awful as
they were um the the group that has lost
the war had to
surrender subsequently the populations
of the countries Germany and Japan I'm
thinking of uh were then provided with
Aid and so forth none of this has
happened some different law exists for
the
terrorists in that they can actually
call the shots this is what is happening
I mean you have to remember that the 7
million uh do billion dollars that the
United States gave to Gaza in addition
to the billions that the
gave were taken by Hamas to build
tunnels and weaponry for their Wars to
come all in planning for for that to
happen and not to the People to People
the people of Gaza whose lives were were
supposed to have been improved by that
so you're dealing with a group of
jihadists and if you look at the term
jihadist itself you'll know that they
will never live in peace with Jews uh
the contract that they say the charter
that that they have uh calls for the
total Destruction of the Jewish people
and so forth and so I I wanted to in
addition to what was said about the
hostages all the terrible things that
have happened I wanted to add that this
uh these comments to it thank you very
much thank you anyone in the third row
good afternoon ladies and gentlemen my
name is Ramon viente montio Mojo I'm a
retired military 27 years Special Forces
I put 40 years in law enforcement LAPD
this young man I'll don't need to talk
to him
um war is horrible ladies and gentlemen
which talking about a resolution here to
ceasefire there will never be a
ceasefire you ceasefire and what happens
with Hamas they regroup rearm and start
all over again I back Israel because
they were the only allies we have in the
Middle East and what is Israel going to
do they're going to kick their ass
hamas's ass that's the only way they're
going to have peace and we here we sit
there a bunch of you liberals sitting
there some of you don't even care what
we're saying here cuz I can see it we're
watching you some of you are falling
asleep some of you are looking at papers
and so forth ladies and gentlemen it's
not going to happen there the resolution
we're giving that we want to have peace
there's not going to be any peace if you
have people saying death to America why
in the hell are we backing them up
that's a bunch of
crap you have somebody come over here
and attack your family what are you
going to do I teach criminology at the
branch I asked the same thing to my
students what would you do to protect
your your kids you know what they say
anything you'll do the same thing but if
you're going to back up and say the
government's going to the backing of the
government is not going to come about
they are not going to back you in other
words we have to protect our own asses
and Israel is doing the same thing thank
you folks
[Applause]
anyone in the fourth
row
no my name is Harry I was born and
raised here in Los cruus I was born in
1948 and I've seen this city go through
all kinds of changes but what I see
happening
now uh really kind of breaks my heart
you know the the word of God tells
us a lot of what they said about
supporting Israel is is biblical but the
word of God also says and mandates that
we pray for the leaders of our
nation I pray for our police chief and
our all our First Responders for their
safety all the time
and we need that protection in our city
from the things that are taking place I
agree with with this man that just spoke
whenever someone takes the American flag
down and tries to put the Palestinian
flag back up and burns our flag and says
death to America we need to make a stand
for that anytime that someone is pulled
in in office they Swear to protect
the Constitution of the United States
foreign and domestic so my prayer is for
all of you leaders here that you will
listen to God's
voice and do what he tells you to do
that I pray that God will give you a
conscience for our nation and that you
will stand firm and do what is right for
everybody I know that Palestinians have
their rights here in this nation but if
you truly study the
Quran they are anti-biblical
they stand against the beliefs of
Christianity as well as the Jewish
beliefs how do we get
along the only thing I can tell you if I
were you guys before I have any meeting
I would stand up and pray and ask God
for guidance thank you thank you
good
afternoon my name is Mike Homer I want
to thank the city council for doing the
right thing and rejecting this
outrageous
resolution I also want to thank you for
taking the time a lot of time to listen
to the people
[Applause]
good afternoon my name is Daniel Kik my
wife and I are citizens of Israel we
have lived there for the past 12 years
and sorry sir could you bring the mic
closer to you thank you better okay we
have lived there for the past 12 years
and when I heard about this resolution I
got sick to my stomach because a cease
fire
without conditions that both sides agree
to which Hamas would never agree to
anyway only allows them to live for
another
day and do what they intend to do I want
to read you a couple of points from
their Charter so rather than demagoguery
and propaganda these are facts
initiatives and so-called peaceful
Solutions and international conferences
are in contradiction to the principles
of the Islamic resistance movement there
is no solution for the Palestinian
question except through
Jihad initiatives proposals and
international conferences are a waste of
time that is who we're dealing with here
if you want to get involved in this and
believe me having lived in Israel we see
it
firsthand as far as a blockade is
concerned as far as an uh occupation is
concerned some of you may not remember
but in 2005 the government of Israel
pulled 8,000 Jewish citizens out of the
Gaza Strip and gave it freely to the
Arabs for them to decide what they want
to do what did they do they voted in
Hamas be careful what you wish
for the late gold of my ear the only
female president or prime minister of
Israel once said if the Arabs laid down
their weapons
today tomorrow there would be no more
war if the Jews down their weapons today
tomorrow there would be no more Israel
thank you very
[Applause]
much my name is d'vorah KCK and that was
my husband and I wasn't going to speak
today this very emotional issue for us
um I know that you've decided
respectfully to not um vote on this to
take it off the agenda but my concern
council members and Mr Mayor is that you
will bring someone will bring this up
again amen not only is it divisive not
only do we have no right to interfere in
a sovereign nation's
decisions but all these other people
that are we're fellow citizens with in
this city um have said there are other
problems here that we should be focused
on and I agree with that however there's
a
caveat I agree with also everything
everyone else has said you see if we
decide we are not going to stand with
the only Democratic nation in the Middle
East that means we're going to have
Islamic terrorism in our country and God
forbid that it ever comes to Los cruus
and I'm a person who loves Muslims who
loves Arabs who loves Eastern Indians
Pakistan Stans it doesn't matter but if
they hate me and if they hate my two
countries who I love then we have to be
at war with them that's just how it is
not that it's something we desire but
look you've got a police chief who broke
up um a big mess today at UNM and these
are the things we need to be careful
about if we give the rights to these
people who hate us to to threaten us
then you're threatening our City stand
up for Los cruus stand up for the United
States stand up for Israel and stand up
for God thank
[Applause]
you can you hear me
okay uh my name is Joy Cherry I have
been a first responder in the state of
New Mexico for 28 years I'm a recent
transplant um from Albuquerque to Las
Cruses my husband got a job down here
and um today my husband came home from
work and he said I have to go and um sit
outside the building at enim zo so my
daughter can take her finals she is a
Jew I am a
Jew and today this came home to Las
Cruses personally for me personally for
my husband and personally for our
daughter who was afraid to walk by the
encampment inciting terrorism inciting
and supporting terrorism and then my
husband sends me the agenda for the city
councils today and thank God you pulled
it so I appreciate your comments on how
abor it was but I have not heard from
the rest of you on how abor it was it's
abor that this came to the agenda in the
first place that it was even made public
and I call each of you to task who dare
to put it on there and incite terrorism
and fear and support the encampments at
enu and at UNM that my daughter a Jew I
I should not have to tell her to hide
her Star of David I should not have to
my husband should not have to take off
work and go sit outside the building
he's a first responder he should be
helping the city he should be helping
the county but yet this is our
experience this morning and I find out
that this own city council is inciting
that terrorism by even allowing it on
the
agenda that is my experience I'm
bringing it home
please thank you and I I would
appreciate comments that you would stand
up against such a resolution and against
such anti-Semitism out loud and with
Force thank you for your time
thank you City councilors and mayor
thank you for removing the ceasefire
resolution from the agenda such a
divisive resolution should never have
been on the agenda for this city council
as you know oh sorry this is Sarah Smith
as you know I and others are very
concerned about the desert hope homeless
housing project on the corner of Foster
and posos which has wreaked havoc on the
nearby neighborhood with people's homes
and cars being broken into drug needles
left all around and women being sexually
harassed in their own front yards
families are scared to let their
children play outside or walk to school
there residents at Desert hope have
reported that there is chaos and
fighting there all day and night these
people are trying to break free of
addiction and several drug dealers have
even been housed there what are you
going to do to ensure that your upcoming
Amador Crossing homeless housing project
will have a different outcome Amador
Crossing could be a great opportunity to
actually help people reform their lives
and become productive members of our
community but that can only happen if
you do things differently than it was
done at Desert Hope from looking through
the city's contracts related to helping
the homeless the measurements for True
success are not there it's not enough to
just count how many people are being
given housing or Services we need to be
aiming higher to ensure that we are
actually helping people break the cycle
that led them to homelessness in the
first place it is not compassionate to
enable people to continue destroying
their lives with health their lives and
Health with drugs please look closely at
the ready to work program at Boulder
Bridge House in Colorado that program
provides job Readiness training and paid
work alongside a drug and alcohol-free
dormatory style shelter and treatment
for mental health and substance abuse
problems in the ready to work program
people start by working in an outdoor
crew similar to our mono eano program
but that's just one stepping stone on
the way to learning the skills they need
to be
independent after one year people
graduate from this program ready for
employment
and it has a 74% success rate can you
imagine what that would do for our
community please do things differently
at the Amador Crossing project thank
[Applause]
you mayor and council members conr off
Les crues we're grateful for the
positive action and Leadership of the
council in the development and
Improvement of our city however we
realize the subject of this Proclamation
is unrelated to the functioning or the
business of the
city it seems quite presumptuous to
suppose that the rank and file citizens
are overwhelmingly in support of this
resolution some of the pressure for
adopting this resolution undoubtedly
stems from True compassion and
humanitarian concern yet there's another
overriding faction that applies high
pressure tactics such as mindless
chanting confrontation and property
destruction as witnessed at various
schools and
universities these strategies detract
from and negate any sensible support for
the proposed
resolution adopting this Proclamation
would further signal approval for this
unruly Behavior thank
[Applause]
you is there anyone else on the right
side
my name is Jim Hurst
um this is a very important
resolution nothing is more important
than the issue of War and
Peace Mr Mayor you were once a fire
chief correct you would know that a fire
anywhere is a threat of fire
everywhere a war anywhere is a threat of
War
everywhere what we are witnessing is a
religious
conflict
apparently a God gave the same piece of
land to two different
people they have been fighting for
thousands of years they will keep
fighting as long as each claims they're
living on God's
land this is a religious War you've
heard all the Bible verses and all the
religious
imagery religious wars never end
never they go on they take different
forms Israel's not going to get rid of
Hamas the the Nazis couldn't get rid of
the French
underground it's not going to
happen so if the condition for peace is
the end of Hamas we will never have
peace the only way peace will come is
that both sides renounce holy
lands and we deal with it as reasonable
human beings instead of religious human
beings religion seems to push out
reason so I beg you consider this
carefully and consider it seriously
there are nukes in the world
now if you don't think a war can spread
study the history of World War
I see how serious it can get and how
fast thank you very much
[Applause]
good afternoon city council mayor I'd
like to change this up a little bit I'd
like to give the city and a parks
department and one other person who
works for the city certificates of
appreciation for your guys's support for
my welcome home Vietnam Veterans Day
this is the first chance I've been out
of state and and I'm leaving Sunday
going up to main so this is first chance
and know I'll get to get this out to you
so mayor if I could you
could and the parks department too Bruce
if if if you just want to read the names
and then we'll give the certificates to
the clerk but one guy I want to really
give a shout out to which is Gary
Skelton and wanted his traffic control
he been over backwards to get everything
done so we could have park on the street
and thank you s to Las cusa Police
Department for not ticketing our
people and that there because we had
that problem before hopefully next year
we won't have that I'll just give them
to counsel here yeah that' be fine thank
you
[Applause]
Bruce is there anyone else
my name is taen Jacko and I'm a resident
of Los crusis I work for a
nonprofit that works with the churches
of Los Cruses for
Unity and today I'm very
sad because that Unity has been
threatened the heavenly father father
Lord I ask you to
please show us
forgiveness show our land
favor show our city council members and
our mayor an
honor that they may not
deserve but as we come together and
forgive each other for the things that
have been said against each other today
Lord I ask that you shine your our favor
on Los cruus and return us to the unity
that we are working so hard to
build I thank you for what you can do in
Los cruus as we humble ourselves to your
service as city council members and as
residents reunite us in a way that we
can stand firm and stand strong to raise
children for the next generation and the
generations to come afterwards that will
honor each other and you are Heavenly
Father Lord we thank you and we praise
you for the things that you have already
done in this land and Lord I Thank you
for the things that are yet to come in
the mighty name of Jesus I pray amen
amen
uh greetings city council my name is j
Cho I'm currently an undergraduate
student at the Mexico State University
and I have been studying government and
public administration and will be
graduating with my bachelors in May and
continuing to go to graduate school for
government and public
administration having studied those I
feel looking at some the rhetoric around
the proclamation today um I certainly do
think the proclamation is too one-sided
I believe there should be a conversation
within the community and maybe a
committee or something of that sort
where the community discusses about it
from both sides I also have a big
concern about the rhetoric around it
because I feel there's been from both
sides certainly attempts to intimidate
people who have their views and I think
that has no place in our democracy we
should be having healthy conversations
on all sides I also have concerns of
utilizing religious rhetoric and
iconography
because we do live within a country that
has a separation of church and state and
I do believe that should remain a very
strong foundation for our country I do
believe that having healthy conversation
is very important and I also think that
both Hamas and the IDF have committed
wrongs they've both breached
international law and they've broken um
the idea of has held against Democratic
principles that I would hope they would
care more for the innocent lives in Gaza
and likewise I would hope that Hamas
would care for other innocent lives and
I recognize that in their Charter they
don't but at the same time placing the
innocent civilians within Gaza at risk
is not fair to those people I would hope
that nobody would want anyone around
them to have to experience something
like that and likewise for Israel I
would hope the same and so I ask that
city council tries to work towards
building a committee collaborate with
the community have a conversation about
a resolution that would be fair to both
sides and that the community as a whole
would support and I also ask the
community to be more mindful of people
especially students and especially keep
in mind our free freom of speech and our
first amendment to Ure that we
continuously can speak freely and
organize freely around issues that we
care about thank
you thank
[Applause]
you is there anyone
else okay thank you um that concludes
the public participation I just want to
reiterate again the public participation
is not to get into a discussion coun
will have their comments at the end of
the meeting and that's when comments can
come out but uh at this point in public
participation that's your two minutes to
make your statements with uh not getting
into any debates thank
you next I'll go ahead and read the Clos
meeting
statement the city of Los Cruses city
council met in a close session at 1103
a.m. on April 15 2024 the following me
members were in
attendance mayor hriz councelor McClure
councelor Graham mayor protm bomo
councelor Karan councelor Flores staff
was Joe Richards JC Borgo Chief Jeremy
story Brad Douglas Linda samples ion
tamop Sonia dogado Barbara bomo
Christine Riva and outside Council was
Diana hul the meeting ATT returned at
11:20 a.m. statement for the record the
Los crusa city council met in a closed
session and only discussed those limited
items as stated in the posted notice the
purpose of the closed meeting was to
discuss pending or threatening
litigation regarding Edgar abundis which
is closed pursuant to New Mexico
State
nmsa 1978 section 10-15-17
resolutions and now we'll move to the
resolutions number 24- 1110
8.1 move to
approve yes second Graham
okay so uh this is a resolution
approving the appointment of James D
roet to act as municipal judge 2 in
accordance with the city Charter article
9 section
9.02 uh C and uh our Deputy of of Human
Resources JC
Boro good afternoon mayor mayor Bram
Council JC go Assistant Director of
Human Resources for the record as the
mayor just mentioned article
9.02 C of the charter authorizes you to
appoint a municipal court judge to until
the next regular
election um the annual salary is
$147,900
which under municipal code is 95% of the
municipal court judge one
um on March 88th through March
25th the municipal court judge 2 job was
posted there were seven candidates that
applied and five candidates that were
invited to participate in a video
recording
interview on April 8th in a closed
noticed and published meeting the city
council um discussed the internal hiring
process and reviewed the video recording
interviews and the
selected candidate was Mr James D
roet uh Mr D roet has a jurge doctorate
from Washington and Lee University
School of Law master's degree in
Philosophy from the University of Texas
bachelor's degree in English from the
University of
Memphis he's been a practicing attorney
for over 20 years and he is the managing
attorney for the public defender office
in the 11th Judicial District he's an
active attorney
in good standing with the New Mexico
State
Bar and the council's options
are uh vote Yes to approve vote no to
deny or vote to table I do have Mr daset
and his family here today his wife Haley
and his his two
children thank you JC U any questions on
councel no thank you coun I just wanted
to thank you JC and and um
uh all the folks who applied I really
want to give really a lot of
appreciation for the process that this
went through I think it was really
different than in past years and I
really appreciate the transparency and
sort of consideration that has gone into
it I also just want to mention that a
highlight for me among this candidate's
qualifications was an attention to
animal welfare and so for me uh it's an
easy place to sell sell me on things so
I I really appreciate that being
mentioned uh in your in your thing so
again I just want to appreciate all the
staff and and um my fellow counselors
who have really brought this to a really
great process and brought a lot of
thought to appointing a second municipal
judge so thank you thank you for that
thank you Council May protim thank you
thank you JC I also want to thank you
and your staff um and the city clerk for
um laying out the process for us and and
making it really easy that for when we
went to close session um that quite
frankly sir it was a very easy vote for
me um your video was um pretty
immediately captivating and you spoke
really well about um and you obviously
know very well the population that you
will be serving and you spoke with a lot
of empathy and a lot of heart and I
think you're going to fit right in with
judge filosa who I just have come to
gain so much tremendous respect for and
so um thank you for applying and thank
you for accepting I hope you haven't
regretted it quite yet so um I do also
just want to make sure and thank the
rest of the candidates because they were
all really tremendous so thank you
mayor anyone
else councilor Fus thank you
mayor and thank you JC for your present
Mr Basera thank you for your um for your
introduction of our new uh munity judge
I unfortunately miss that meeting um and
I did not meet them I think it'd be
great if they all came up here uh the
entire family Council fres I'll ask him
up after we vote oh after we oh we
haven't voted oh I gave it
away
first this is on the motion to approve
resolution
24-10 councelor
yes councelor matis no councelor Graham
yes councelor Karan yes councelor flutes
yes councelor bomo yes mayor yes motion
passes all right thank you uh Mr James
uh address it if you don't mind coming
up and uh say a few words judge judge
Mr Mayor and honorable council members
thank you so much for inviting me to
join you here today and I cannot express
enough how much I appreciate the
confidence that you have placed in Me by
your vote
today just a a little bit about myself I
joined here today by my wife Haley and
two wonderful stepdaughters Penelope
Benitez and Flur Benitez
I know you saw my application but I just
wanted to give a little bit of
background about myself I grew up in
Memphis
Tennessee and I completed my
undergraduate education at Memphis State
University which is now known as the
University of Memphis I earned an
bachelor's degree in English with
honors and I also served on the school
paper as an editor and I was a frequent
freelance contributor to the Commercial
Appeal which is the daily newspaper of
Memphis I went to law school at
Washington and Lee University in
Virginia on an academic
scholarship and practiced law in Memphis
for a number of years uh with a little
stent in uh civil litigation and a
Judicial clerkship with the Tennessee
court of appeals uh for the late judge W
Frank Crawford who was the presiding
judge of the western section of
Tennessee I ended up moving to New
Mexico to join the nationally recognized
Statewide agency the law office of the
public defender and I've loved every
minute of it and the first time I
visited Los
Cruses I felt particularly at
home I'm very honored to have the
opportunity to serve on the municipal
court I think the Municipal Court holds
a very important place in the city of
Los cruus more than any other court the
Municipal Court deals directly with
pressing quality of life issues
affecting us in this beautiful
city and I pledge
to serve this city in that
role with uh treating every person who
comes before with before the court with
dignity and respect and to handle cases
fairly and
impartially I think that the municipal
court is well positioned
to make very positive changes for the
city of Los cruus and is already doing
so with compassion
fairness vision and hard
work which are all exhibited by chief
judge Anthony
fosa who I am privileged to know well
because he and I worked together very
closely when I before he took the bench
of the Municipal Court we were together
at the law office of the public defender
I have immense respect for chief judge f
CL up for his
Integrity for his work ethic for his
legal knowledge and for the initiatives
that he's put into place
to make Municipal Court more responsive
to the needs of the
community so once again I thank you
every day that I serve I will work hard
to show the citizens of Los
cruus uh that I am a public servant who
will behave appropriately and and fairly
in the role of municipal judge and also
I would like to show you that that I am
worthy of the confidence that you've
placed in me thank
you thank you congratulations and
welcome thank you
[Applause]
mayor next on the agenda is 8.2
resolution number
24-11 a resolution approving a
substantial Rehabilitation and an ex
exertion to the home Rehabilitation
handbook for the residents located at
101 Colorado
Avenue the gra have is move to approve
Graham second
Corin thank you
good afternoon uh Mr Mayor mayor proam
members of the city council the
resolution the resolution before
you is to request exceptions for
substantial Rehabilitation for a project
in Colorado
Avenue I'm going to give you a little
background of the house uh the house is
in structure failure
approve could could you just speak a
little louder we're having a hard time
hearing you okay I'm going to give you a
little background on the uh condition of
the home the structure of failure of
roof interior components there's no
heating and cooling electrical Plumbing
issues and the estimated uh total cost
of replacing this home is
$191,000
245 and we had received an an appraisal
of
176,000 and I would like to add that
estimated cost includes uh relocation
expenses uh soft cost cost and any other
cost are related to the
construction uh the exceptions uh
required for this resolution we're
seeking a
uh an exception for substantial
Rehabilitation a forgiveness of of a
benefit 95% of the loan to value and if
this resolution is is approved it will
result in a new home for a affordable
for a lwi income uh resident also a
forgivable loan to
Grant I'm going to show you some photos
of the current conditions of the
home that the the home Decay resulted in
many uh roof
laks and also you can see on this
illustration these are the uh means of
heating and cooling
and also other
um uh faulty construction
methods and with that these are your
counil options and I stand for
questions thank you say any questions by
Council I IC thank you I I thank you for
presenting and I remember you've
presented before I do feel like um I
just
I think last time we had a conversation
about this the handbook for expanding
the room that would allow for exceptions
is this one of those I think that we
talked about that maybe a a year and a
half ago is this in one of those spaces
that this is part of the expanded
allowances that that are part of the
handbook changes that we mentioned
before yes it is an exception and and
the total construction of this home is
going to exceed the 95% all in home
Rehabilitation
handbook okay thank you thank you I just
wanted to clarify I had a vague
recollection of us having this
conversation about a different context
but I just wanted to clarify that that
was what was happening thank
you thank
you anyone else no
Christy this is on the motion to approve
resolution 24- 1111 councelor McClure
yes councelor matis yes councelor Graham
yes councelor cran yes councelor flutes
yes councelor bomo yes mayor
yes thank you thank you say
yes next is uh 8.3 resolution
24-12 a resolution adopting funding
priorities and allocations to various
lasu's nonprofit organization for fiscal
year
2025 uh to provide health related Public
Service needs and authorizations the
incorporation of the funding amounts in
the city's fy2
budget good afternoon Mr Mayor members
of city council my name is Cynthia hold
on Cynthia need a motion I'm so sorry
second okay go ahead now ready thank you
yes all right good afternoon Mr Mayor
members of city council my name is
Cynthia vova with the housing and
Neighborhood Services section today I
bring before you a resolution for the
health related Public Service Awards
in September of 2021 Council approved
resolution
22-28 ear marking up to
$600,000 for the next four years to fund
health related public service programs
with the interest from the telshore fund
the city conducted a competitive
application process with the nonprofit
sector a press release was sent out we
advertised on the city website and sent
emails with our inner agents
list grants are awarded on a 2-year
funding cycle with renewal of the second
year based on program
performance on March 14th the Health and
Human Services advisory committee
recommended to fund a total of $600,000
to the following 18 nonprofit
organizations and here are the first
nine and then here are the last nine
and here are your standard Council
options any stand for any
questions thank you Cynthia any
questions Council
MTI you know this is really a good
program you're using the interest from
the telshore fund correct yes when that
telshore fund is rated and it's
completely gone how do you take care of
the 18 nonprofits that are getting
600,000 Mr Mayor councelor matis Natalie
Green for the record um as part of the
telshore facility fund planning Council
will want to consider um what the impact
is of reducing that fund and whether
those funds will continue um to exist to
support this program we do pass uh an
investment strategy every four years so
we do have uh funds for one more year
after this fiscal year so Council will
have to make that decision when we bring
that uh resolution back to you thank you
thanks for that answer thank
you mayor proen thank you Natalie this
might my question may be for you come on
back for when these organizations apply
do they apply just as a general
application or do they have specific
funding requests that they're making uh
Mr May mayor counselor uh uh mayor proen
Beno they apply for a particular program
and a particular project but not
necessarily A funding number that
they're applying for um Mr Mayor mayor
Pro Beno so there is a cap to the to
what they can apply for uh we limit it
to about 30,000 but because there was
less uh proposals uh the health and
human Services funded each one at a a
little bit higher than than the 30,000
thank you Natalie and then I just also
want to say that I really want to thank
the committee they're volunteer
committee appointed by us and I know
it's really active committee that
they're obviously doing a lot of work so
I just really wanted to thank all of
them okay
Christine this is on the motion to
approve resolution
24112 councelor McClure yes councelor
matis yes councelor Graham yes councelor
cran yes councelor flutes yes councelor
bomo yes mayor
yes next is
resolution number 24-13 a resolution
authorizing the city of Los Cruses to
accept the budget adjustment
of 1,100,000 from the telshore fund for
the police department realtime crime
Center uh Renovations and to amend the
city's adopted FY 24 budget and the FY
24 Capital Improvement
plan we have a motion move to approve
second
Grail thank you and leand
de good afternoon mayor council mayor
Pres Tim before you is um a budget
adjustment for the real-time crime
Center and my partner is Chief
story there he is thank you so uh just
in case you have questions about the
budget adjustment or if you have
questions about the real time crime
Center um you'll probably recognize the
slide I sort of stole it from Chief
story when he gave the community
livability presentation uh but it it fit
right in with this budget adjustment uh
at that time Chief story ex um explain
to you about the increase in the crime
activity in the last 5 years and you see
some statistics in there and that the
police department has identified this
really big need to establish a realtime
crime Center and this will provide
critical support the officers facilitate
Swift suspect identification and Foster
realtime situation
awareness uh we're here today to do a
budget adjustment for from the in the
telshore fund for the 1.1 million it
does uh change the CIP which was
attached in your packet as an exhibit uh
the purpose of this uh budget adjustment
is for building renovations to bring the
department up to date and new technology
and create space for a crime Center and
with that these are your Council options
and I stand for any questions along with
Chief
story all right thank you lean any
questions
uh councel Cent thank you thank you
again and I'm going to ask some follow
off questions that I think I mentioned
during budget as well so Chief story
thank you for the presentation
um uh as folks have alluded to you know
you have a lot of trust from us and and
that's where we I try to venture into
this however I do not have trust in
giant corporations that collect data and
use it
for uh questionable ends so I I wonder
if
um what kinds of tech I I think this is
part of this conversation but it's also
probably something for the future but
I'm wondering if we can consider a
framework where we analyze how this data
is collected and stored and what kinds
of Technologies are being used in that
context um I think I would hope that
this is solving our problems but not
necessarily expanding surveillance
to um to be shared in in with
questionable sort of corporations that
are taking this information and using it
for potentially less than um good ends
so I'm just curious if you can talk a
little bit about the technology related
to this and I know that you've mentioned
this before so so I'm just hoping you
can share what your perspective is on
the the different sorts
of corporate entities that might we
might be engaging with as we move
forward with this yes ma'am good
afternoon mayor uh Council and counselor
gin Jeremy store police chief so uh I'll
separate I'll answer that question
slightly separate from this this money
will be used not necessarily for
technology that's collecting any data
this will be used for the renovations
and the equipment and Technology inside
the police department itself inside the
building to make the realtime crime
Center a possibility to make it happen a
lot of the other technology already
exists uh out in our community we have
that infrastructure um the cameras that
already exist at our intersections for
instance would be then pulled in so that
we have the available ability to live
feed those the police department does
and also record a certain amount of data
so that we can solve crimes go back and
try to track uh suspect movements for
Major Crimes and also keep our officers
safe all that data would be our data so
that would go to any third party
whatever software uh vendor we use for
the realtime crime Center that still is
our data it's all sieges compliant um as
far as security goes but they went
actually own that data when it comes to
things like license plate readers that's
still our data they're there's um some
question on that one I think that's the
one that gets brought up the most um
those are already in place and exist so
our job is to manage that technology um
and put checks and balances in place to
help make sure that we're using that
information to help solve our problems
not contributing to other or not
creating other problems with it and like
I mentioned before audits restricting
the information to people that are
trained and authorized um having an
audit Trail for for everything and
limiting retention periods are some of
the ways that you help minimize any
possibility of it being used for things
that it should not be used for thank you
and I appreciate you answering again in
this context thank you yes
ma'am may pro thank you um thank you
Chief I I watched the town hall that you
hosted a couple of weeks ago and your
sergeant your Lieutenant Lieutenant
Bradley current investigations
Lieutenant yes one of his slides was
around um like The Minority Report or
something and I felt like that was very
specifically towards me um which I
really appreciated it was funny but it
was important because I think a lot of
the fears around surveillance they're
really real and I think a lot of people
have valid concerns around them but I
also know that there are ways to set up
a framework for this kind of surveill
surveillance that meets the mission and
the purpose without um and also while
trying to mitigate the harms that
surveillance has often been caused
particularly and predominantly towards
um black and brown communities and so
and just in in the vein of the data
question Chief if there's a another
governmental entity that wants some of
that information what kind of like data
sharing agreement do you foresee
needing so a lot mayor and mayor proem
it depends on which data we're talking
about a lot of that stuff is going to be
housed just internal so it would be on a
a caseby case basis obviously we we plan
on having a relationship with the
sheriff's department so that we can use
that data and information and Technology
regionally to help them solve their
crimes and vice versa um when it comes
to other police departments we cooperate
with other police departments to help
them solve their crimes because they go
beyond just even county lines um we saw
that with the Clovis incident not to get
off topic but the Clovis amber alert and
devil homicide ended up in El Paso very
close to Los cruus and could have easily
come here and so so using that
information across police departments is
helpful to protect officers and solve
crimes um depends on what specific
agency that we're referencing but
they're generally some type of agreement
mou that's in place for data sharing do
you foresee data like like in your
research of these kinds of programs um
data being shared with Federal entities
federal law enforcement
entities most federal entities already
have access to more data than than we
could provide so a lot of times getting
we're asking and requesting for data or
information from them from them okay
thank you Chief I appreciate
it Council MZ yes um lean if I may
excuse us
Chief I'm going to support this and this
is 1.1 million that comes out of the
telshore fund correct it is it stays in
the telshore fund um sorry mayor
councelor matis it is is staying in the
the telshore fund it will be used as an
expense out of the telshore fund okay
and then uh we have a mandatory 112th
Reserve correct um mayor councelor matis
that is correct but that's only for the
general funds this is a special Revenue
it's and we have a an additional 212
correct correct for the general funds
What's the total amount for those both
reserves for the general fund Uh current
ly for the general funds I want to say
it's
around about $24 million sir total for
both for the two together yes sir okay
thank you I don't quote me on that but
it's around that that's okay I just
wanted to I don't have that memorized
Sor be reorientated what we have in
reserves thanks and Chief
story again thank you for moving forward
on this appreciate it thank you mayor
mayor CH thank
you oh I'm sorry councelor I thought you
had a question for chief no I just want
to say thank oh okay sorry U Christine
excuse me I have a question I'm sorry
I'm sorry counc I have a question for um
for
Leanne this is this is a question that
doesn't touch on what uh we we well I
don't know I'm really out of order if
I'm out of order please let me know um
the telshore
fund the telshore fund we keep uh keep
the Corpus so how is it that it would be
depleted in the uh the next uh fiscal
year um mayor council
Flores at the work session and then at
the Comm Community livability work
session that you had um Miss bomo
presented a couple of slides that had
the and I apologize I don't have them
with me but right now we have a market
value you know if we sold everything
because we have um it's in we have it
invested so if we sold everything our
value would probably be somewhere about
like4 to$ 42
million so as we as we use out of the
telshore we have to take it out of those
Investments so that way it can be used
um it's up to the council there really
isn't a resolution that says we're going
to keep the Corpus in there it's just
it's by the the resolution by the
Council of what you want to use out of
that telshore fund it's also a sound uh
e economics to to keep that Corpus
intact well maybe not intact but
definitely to keep uh some of the Corpus
it's just that uh it was mentioned in
the last presentation that um the Corpus
regarding the housing issue would be
depleted is it just for that
particular
um um distribution so the res uh so
mayor council Flores the resolution that
was previous for this one was the
$600,000 that the council agreed upon I
think several several years ago um it
was agreed upon that 300,000 then it
went up to a couple years later it went
up to 400,000 and then there was a
recommendation I want to say two or
three years ago um to bring it up to
$600,000 so those funds are taken out of
the telshore um as we continue to use
the tail shore of Co of course it does
take more out of it however I will say
that our investments have been rather
strong and we do have it invest well
invested so hopefully we can juggle the
two together and work of course with the
city manager and the mayor on what uh
the council would like to bring forward
to for the telshore in in terms of
keeping it growing and in terms of
dispersements but um so why was that
comment made by Miss green that that uh
there was a question as to how the fund
was I think it was councelor matis who
placed that answer who posed that answer
I mean excuse me the question and uh and
so that's um so and and you're the
person that would know so it's really
the timing or the scheduling the agenda
is perfect so what why would that
comment be made so mayor um counselor
Flores I really don't know if okay
that's fine okay we can look into it
thank you very much and and thank you Mr
Mayor for okay thank you councelor
grant oh are you sure thank you no I
just I wasn't sure if you it sounded as
if you were going to call for a vote and
I just wanted to remember that um at
least one member of the public had been
asked to wait to comment on the agenda
item so I just want to make sure that we
don't overlook that thank you yeah
thanks for that reminder U
councilman yeah Dr Flores to be specific
of why I asked that question I I think
it was that reminded me I think it was
Council Ben coma and what we have to be
careful is that when the principal is
gone and it's completely gone then then
we have a problem but Leanne has uh
assured me that we're doing such wise
investment that were operating off the
interest and that's what I that's what I
was asking and thank
you so mayor and Council Flores and um
we are I mean right now we H do have it
very wisely invested and so with the
600k Yes But as more and more comes out
of the telshore you know then that
lowers our you know it lowers our
principal investment that we have so um
and it also uh right now the telshore
per um by our uh resolution we have the
capability of doing long-term
Investments and so we do have it
invested in long-term Investments yes
which give us which gives us a higher
yield so sorry
mayor right you're fine thank you lean I
think that's it for Council yes there
was a member of public that wanted to
speak to the the crime Center please
come up and state your name and you have
two
minutes good afternoon again thank you
counselor Graham I appreciate that there
are a plethora of reasons to support the
real-time crime Center for investigative
purposes it provides police ma'am your
name again sorry Shauna feifer for
investigative purposes it provides
police with an accurate and immediate
description of the perpetrator of a
crime so that criminals can be caught
quickly and efficiently for deterrence
purposes when someone trespasses onto a
property looks in all the windows and
then picks up a rock police can confront
that person before the property is
vandalized or burglarized saving the
property owner significant money and a
numerous police man hours for
accountability purposes it provides an
auditor or even the public transparency
to ensure constitutional policing is
occurring in the context of mental
health consider a suicidal citizen if
the police can quickly identify what
that person is wearing and where they
may be located they have a greater
chance to intervene before tragedy
occurs but is all of that worth a
million dollars if you hesitate at all
on that question then I will ask you to
consider the safety of your police
officers that work tirelessly to support
all of your constituents could the
real-time crime Center have been able to
prevent officer Hernandez's murder
perhaps imagine if he'd known that that
suspect was seen earlier in the day
brandishing a 12-in knife how how
different would that interaction have
been so the most important question of
the day will the realtime crime Center
prevent another officer's death without
question and that is absolutely worth a
million
dollars thank
you was there anyone else from the
public that wanted to speak to this
topic
mayor ccel my name is Michael frames I
definitely approve moving forward with
this and I hope you all consider the
same data is is obviously a concern but
the way I think about it is it's
criminals that have to be worried about
it not a law abiding citizen um I don't
think this is going to solve our
problems that we have in front of us but
I think it's a step in the right
direction and we desperately need a step
in the right direction so I would
appreciate everybody voting to move this
forward thank
[Applause]
you taen
Jacko I witnessed at um the Los cruus
Leadership Academy
the real time that you have for the the
water and how quickly they were able to
to use that I can only imagine how much
more effective it will be to have it for
a realtime crime Center I think today
you've witnessed so many of your
constituents that are standing behind
Chief story and we trust him and I I
would like to ask you to do the same
thing and to trust him with this thank
[Applause]
you think
there's mayor council members Chief
story Beverly Hogan I am 100% in favor
of the the million dollars for this
real-time crime Center I don't think you
can put a
price on an officer's life
it's that simple our policemen deserve
to feel like every day they go out
anything we can do as a council and as
Citizens to make their life safer and
their job safer it will be worth it and
let's face it crime has gone up
dramatically we have people that don't
even want to move here
anymore and they're telling us that and
then there are others that are moving
out because they can't stand it I mean
we live up in Los
kenas and we're experiencing it you know
they're stealing cars they're breaking
in um and I always felt safe before so I
I totally support this and I hope you do
[Applause]
too Tim Jenkins here we as citizens of
Los cruus are looking for every possible
way that we can to support our chief
police and the law enforcement we uh are
doing every every possible thing to
support them and it's very very
refreshing to our community to have
Chief story and uh we're looking for
every way and we support him and the
work that has already been done that our
police uh LCPD is already done we can
already see a difference and we're look
we know that isn't going to do
everything but it's a stepper in the
right direction and we're just going to
continue looking for ways where we can
support them in every way we can and we
ask that you guys do as well thank you
very
[Applause]
much uh Joy Cherry again um I want to
just point out to the council members
and to the mayor to remember that cities
who have decreased their police Force
have increased their crime and so
anything we can do to support our police
force is very important um and I agree
with uh real time I agree with you I'm
always concerned about data collection
personally as well however I think that
the we have checks and balances in place
um and and if there's Bad actors that we
can bring them to task but I think that
doesn't negate the necessity for uh
Chief story to be able to um maximize
his potential for for um uh combating
crime in our community
additionally um I think that it's not
just the first step which is catching
criminals but it's also ensuring that
there's uh that we enforce the laws that
are in place so that criminals are
prosecuted and spend time in jail so if
there's resolutions allowing us to
prosecute those crimes and put money
toward those crimes criminals um and
enforcing those laws we also need to
look at that as well this is just a
first step to help the F which is their
their front line but the second line is
following through and making sure when
we do catch criminals that they actually
pay a price and there's deterrence
restored in the community thank
[Applause]
you Michael Raymond uh I'm a Los cruus
Public School substitute teacher uh I
also help out security
usually at Cino roale middle school and
we have an internal system I'm sure the
police department is familiar with
because we have an assigned security
officer and I can't tell you the number
of times that Administration will
request video because of an alleged
crime or an incident occurs it has been
absolutely Priceless so a million
dollars for the safety of the community
when we see that much of an increase is
more than welcomed thank you
[Applause]
Vic Vos so clearly I'm in support of
this um but I just want to say that you
know there's a saying that goes the
business Community has stood by it which
is we have your six meaning that we have
Chief story six and all the police
department so I am confident after
hearing all of you today with your
questions which I think were very
reasonable questions to ask I know that
you all have Chief story 6 right now so
I'm going to give you a sticker I'm
going to put it up there and when you're
done voting you get this sticker so we
know you had his six
[Applause]
okay okay thank you leam uh
Christine this is under the motion to
approve resolution 24- 1113 councelor
McClure yes councelor matis yes
councelor Graham yes councelor cran yes
councelor flutes yes councelor benom yes
mayor
[Applause]
yes okay next on the agenda is board
appointments I'll read the following in
to the record councelor Mur cler
appoints Miley Grine to the parks and
wreck Advisory
Board councelor Karan appoints Brendan
Shannon to the senior's program Advisory
Board the following appointments will
need
a a
motion
what's yeah now the following the
following one no we we'll require a
motion a second and then a vote so
Martha Lopez for the senior program
Advisory Board a new appointment move to
approve
second this is on the motion to appoint
Martha Lopez to the senior programs
Advisory Board councelor McClure yes
councelor matis yes councelor Graham yes
councelor cran yes although I do wonder
I I had a senior programs due too and so
if it's for voting sorry not to go back
oh only on the mayor's appointment okay
yes sorry I just want to make sure that
my dude is schol to okay two separate
ones
yes okay councelor fles yes councelor
bomo yes mayor
yes so yeah yours was read into the
record and these are the ones that need
a motion in a second so Justin Miller uh
advisor airport Advisory Board a new
appointment
move to approve second
Corin this is on the motion to appoint
Justin Miller to the airport Advisory
Board councelor McClure yes councelor
matis yes councelor Graham yes councelor
cran yes councelor flutes yes councelor
bomo yes mayor yes the next one is Dr
Jeffrey
Shepard historic preservation commission
new appointment move to approve Corin
second Graham
this is on the motion to appoint Dr
Jeffrey Shepard to the historic
reservation commission councelor McClure
yes councilor matis yes councelor Graham
yes councelor cran yes councelor flutes
yes councelor bomo yes mayor
yes thank you next is the notice of
proposed ordinance um there are two the
first one is Council bill number
24-26 ordinance number 36 68 an
ordinance approving a zone change from
Ur Urban Ranch to
remem single family residential estate
mobile for two properties encompassing
1.5 plus acres each and located at 6820
and 6860 Shannon Drive submitted by
Alberto Gan property
owner Bring It
Forward okay thank you the next one
is Council bill number
24-27 ordinance number 3069 and
ordinance approving a zone change from
C2 uh commercial medium intensity to C3
commercial high intensity for a property
encompassing 9.37 plus acres and located
at 1900 baton Memorial East submitted
by upward Architects LLC representative
it
forward next we'll go to City Council
Members board reports and comments I'll
start with the councelor McClair none
thank
you councelor matis
none councelor
Graham councelor k um I just wanted to
answer the question that was posed
earlier it was me that brought today's
ceasefire resolution forward lest you
look to someone else
to
um indict that person it was me as I
mentioned at a prior city council
meeting and I would say um to that
end uh bringing that resolution forward
came from a place of empathy and care
for in particular the hundreds of people
who signed a petition requesting that we
consider bringing that forward but also
consideration for an ongoing
humanitarian crisis in a part of the
world where things matter to us and so
um just to be clear that was that was me
bringing that forward so
um that's to answer the question that
was posed in in the earlier comments um
pivoting to other notes I do want to say
um I look forward to and and I'll be
following up with folks on this two
things that constit have brought forward
hoping for the summer um one is a a
constituent asked for a check the chip
campaign related to animals um and so I
will be following up but the idea is
before the 4th of July and everyone
loses their pets um check your chip to
make sure that uh it's it's actually
updated only about 15% of the animals
that are found roaming the
streets uh in Los cruus actually have a
chip that goes to a person so um I'll be
looking forward to working on that
somehow figuring out a way to work that
work on that and bring It Forward um and
then the second thing is related to
fireworks I'll be following up with
Chief again um as you know one of the
biggest concerns brought forward in my
district is is always folks using
illegal fireworks I'm hoping we can do
an educational campaign related to what
is allowed and what isn't allowed so um
those are two other business items that
I just wanted to put out as as coming
soon on the agenda um um and I also just
wanted to own that it was me that
brought that resolution forward
so thank you Council K councilor Flores
thank you mayor um I attended I want to
thank U Chief story for letting us know
that Dr Uh Kevin Gil Martin um uh was
speaking on emotional um what is it
emotional
oh yeah survival I'm sorry I'm half dead
today uh emotional surviv survival and U
it was a full day uh event uh I believe
there were two days Thursday and Friday
with the same
material um and uh councelor councelor
McClure also attended the morning
session of uh Thursday's uh presentation
and it gave me a lot of
insight
to how tough it is to be a police
officer and Dr Gil Martin
respectfully uh made a a
distinction between a
firefighter and a police officer a
police officer is always ready to to be
ready a call comes in they're in the car
they're whatever and they boom so the
adrenaline rushes the adrenaline rushes
and it just rushes and
um and they're on they're not on call
whereas um
firefighters uh are actually in their
stations and as Dr Gil Martin would say
you know fixing their their favorite uh
recipes and kicking back and that that's
how he described it um
and they're just being you know relaxed
and whatever and just all they're
waiting for is the bell and once the
Bell goes off boom they go into action
but then they go off the other thing he
said and I don't know if it's true for
our department is that you you're on two
days and then off no you're on it on two
days and off four days so he called it a
weekend every other day
something like that and because of the
way the rotation and the um assignments
go uh police officers don't have that
police officers um have whatever it is
at five days seven days and then I think
those schedules vary um I don't know how
it's run so please forgive me Chief
story and
chief Smith um the important thing here
is that uh because we you know we value
at least I do I think we all value uh
the services of our Police Department
our police officers and our
firefighters um but you know I I thought
I would just stay for the morning and
then you know see what it was all about
but I was so intrigued and I went back
and emotional survival is and I bought I
bought the book um it speaks to each one
of us actually and it's a quality of
life issue
and he said that a a police officer is
just like all this adrenaline you know
they're on you know on their their Duty
whatever hours and then when they get
home they're
drained they have no energy they don't
they don't have any social life or very
limited social life they
um you know the spouse may say oh let's
you know let's make plans for this
Friday and and it's like well yeah go
ahead do whatever you want no let's do
something that's Friday let's get
together with friends let's do and it's
always no or you know and it's just U
and it was just amazing to me um so
thank you Chief story and all of your
officers you're just under
literally under the gun the entire time
and it's like under Fire and um and so
um the day that I was there um Aaron
glimp was there a detective now and he
was my uh community outreach person for
my district and uh and he was very well
liked and respected but now he's a
detective and I asked him if we were
fully staffed uh if our Police
Department was fully staffed and I
believe he said that we were not I think
there are 220 positions and uh 0 are
filled yeah and um so I said well why
don't we fill those 30 positions he says
well because over a hundred people
qualified but they didn't excuse me
applied but they didn't
qualify and and as Dr Gil Martin uh
stated police officers go through a
psychological test and I always wondered
about that he said they go through
psychological testing and I guess all
sorts of other testing or criteria that
they have to do but um so what I'm
saying today Mr city
manager is um I think we have to make
more of an effort to um and I'm don't I
don't mean to step on your toes um uh
Chief story but I think it'd be great to
have more police officers I mean just
really really you know make it more
attractive pay them more and then have
the same kind of system that
firefighters have you know where they're
they they're off enough so that they can
they can charge they
can you know leave the Persona being a
police officer and still feel connected
and and which would allow them to be
connected to their wife to their
Community to their children to their you
know significant other and and enjoy
life because apparently police officers
um just don't you know and again I'm
just speaking out of what Dr Gil Martin
said they just want to go home and veg
because they're emotionally drained and
he went into how it's this emotional
quote unquote thing is really um very
biological and the depression that sets
in is biological so it was very he has a
PHD in I don't know
psychology uh but he was a police
officer for many many years in Tucson
and he actually um presents uh in many
places and I think he's even presented
in uh foreign countries I know he
mentioned Argentina we talked about that
cuz my sister lives there so um anyway
he's a wonderful human being and I
recommend each one of you in this room
to um buy the book it's like $10 on
Amazon and it's called
um uh it's called Uh emotional survival
so I just wanted to share that uh Chief
story and chief Smith what you know you
do for our community and and I fully
support all well not all of your
endeavors I'm not sure about the you
know whatever but um yes I I support you
and and all of our officers thank you Mr
Mayor thank you councelor Flores mayor
proel thank you I just have a statement
I'd like to
read a while ago a clergy member of mine
asked me something that stuck with me
for a really long time he said are you
looking at your faith through the lens
of your politics or are you looking at
your or you're looking at your politics
through the lens of your faith
I have so much violence in my inbox for
calling for an end to
violence just let that sit for a second
I have so much violence in my inbox
because I called for an end to
violence including from one of my very
own colleagues on this
dis but sadly this kind of rhetoric
feels very familiar to me I've spent my
entire adult life in the social justice
movement in one way or
another and through every fight I have
seen and EXP experienced a pattern in
the Immigrant Rights Movement I have
seen my own the the dehumanization of my
own
community Through the black lives matter
movement I saw the dehumanization of
black folks especially black men during
the fight against the Keystone Pipeline
I saw the dehumanization of indigenous
folks right now as we work to address
our housing crisis I am watching the
dehumanization of our unhoused
residents there was an attempt here
today to dehumanize the students
and this last week alone in my emails I
have seen the dehumanization of
Palestinians even after more than 34,000
Souls have been taken dehumanizing only
serves to help us feel better about
enacting bad or even dangerous
policies that disproportionately impa
impact black and brown
folks I want to see an end to violence
and I want to see an end and I want to
see my tax dollars stop going to Aid the
violence it enrages me that there's
always money for war but never enough
money for our poor the difficult and
beautiful thing about this job is that
if you allow it to it will expand your
capacity for empathy learning is a way
great to exercise your empathy muscle
because of this I have enough capacity
to care deeply about what is happening
in my own City and work very hard to
address it I don't think you know how
hard most of these folks up here work on
researching possible solutions to the
very issues facing our
community I also have enough capacity to
care and be torn to shreds by the
violence I watching literally watching
unfold in
Gaza the emails I could the emails I
could actually get through had a clear
ask just please denounce Hamas and I do
I denounce Hamas what happened on
October 7th was violent and horrific and
I also denounced the horrific violence
that Palestinian people have had to
endure by the Israeli government every
single day since October 7th for 7
months my vote today with my vote today
I make two commitments one to continue
to speak out about the need for a
ceasefire ensure the violence trauma and
hunger stops for Palestinians and the
Israeli hostages and their families and
two to firmly stand against
anti-Semitism and islamophobia
especially this election year but
certainly Beyond um sir Peter I look
forward to having more conversations
with you thank you for coming
today thank you mayor proam and again I
just I just want to also reiterate any
resolution or anything that comes forth
we are looking for peace we are looking
for balance um as as mayor and Council
our priority is our city of L cruus and
to make it a safer Community to be
righteous and to do it with a compassion
uh for those that live and and work and
worship in this community so I'll leave
that and uh to
also I guess practice the peaceful as a
former firefighter uh I was listening to
counselor uh Flores and I I agree
everything that she said about police
and it is a difficult job it is a tough
job and kudos to Chief story and his
staff and I've told them several times I
stand with them uh but I was a
firefighter and I can tell you it's a
difficult job as well so just kicking
back and waiting for an alarm to ring is
not necessarily true there's a lot of
training and things that go to that and
and then one other thing I just got to
add is when you get that alarm anytime
after midnight you you go from a 60
resting heart rate to to 120 and that's
not good for the body either so I have
to defend my fire guys and and and girl
and women in the fire service that it is
a difficult job and that's why we stand
for Public Safety and I'm trying to do
that in a peaceful
manner yeah no I I I like I said I don't
disagree with what the gentleman was
saying everything he says is true uh
police officers need to have a chance to
hit that reset button gather themselves
and come back refresh to work so that
they can do the tough job that they're
asked to do and and they do a great job
in that tough job in serving this
community to protect to serve so thank
you Chief Sor and to your
staff uh there has been some other uh
events I just want to say kudos to uh
visit Los cruus the mea event went real
well and that that was a nice event
bringing it to Los cruus like we talk
about peace but we also look at unity
and those are some of the things that
are taking place in our community uh
working with the public schools and
chartered schools looking for for ways
to create not only moving our kids that
that if they don't want to go to college
there's trade schools vocational schools
that that are available and they're all
working on that so that we can create a
better Workforce and give give students
an opportunity to gain some skills and
knowledge as they move forward so those
are some of the things that are going on
in our community and I look forward to
working with those uh so thank you now
I'll turn it over to our city manager
for his
comments thank you maror Enriquez um and
to the council uh I I do have a few
updates but I would like to start uh Eon
T city manager um I've been in the seat
for geez I don't know seems like a month
um but it's been going quick and and I
wanted to share that point uh we had
this resolution
cease um on on the agenda and I just
wanted to make everyone uh aware and
some of you may be aware but just to
reiterate uh resolutions ordinances
zoning changes anything that comes on
this day is if it comes on this day
is doesn't mean that that's how it's
going to be passed uh if it's
presented the assumption is is that
there may be amendments made and so I
wanted to share with everyone that
um that it just just the the way staff
sees it the way uh we see it is is not
always as transparent as the way the
community sees it but just to let you
know uh some it it it is it it is an
experience that I learned from um
because I've been in the seat for a
month I've learned a lot of uh
recommendations if I was running this um
one of the things that I uh that I do is
I serve at the behest of city council
and the mayor so if something uh came up
uh it's my job to make recommendations
uh it's my job to speak up and so I've
learned um uh i' I've Le learned some uh
new ideas I have this uh gentleman uh
NMSU uh reminds me of of me a buddying
MPA student uh Master's public
administration and getting his
bachelor's in public administration and
I just wanted to to share that I I
remember being uh in your shoes thinking
the same thing of bringing both sides
together and honestly I think that that
that was the goal uh from the de and
from staff um and so what you saw um
sound uh you you may not have uh all
agreed with but the
the just just wanted to have everyone be
mindful that U what's presented is is
not always what is um what is approved
and and so the intention was to have it
be presented uh and uh perhaps amended
uh but it was pulled so I just wanted to
share that not necessarily that that
would have been uh approved as is but it
would have led to a discussion um if
you're asking me I mean there's there's
many ways to do it we've uh uh discussed
with some on the de about that but
that's for another time but I just
wanted to share of the Democracy um this
is uh something uh From staff's
perspective and I being the city manager
um overseeing staff that is something
that um now I have uh additional
recommendations if something like this
comes up so that I can help uh City ccil
we can U maneuver this together but this
this is definitely a um uh
a a learning a learning moment for for
myself again so that I can be ready next
time to um assist with this so I didn't
want uh councelor Kuran sitting alone um
on this because there are things that I
could have U shared as well so that is
the the opportunity that I wanted to
take as city manager um I also wanted to
share porta potties Honey Buckets if if
my understanding is correct if these
were Port bodies or Honey Buckets on
NMSU uh these are not our funds that
we're sharing from the city um as I I
heard could have been taxpayer dollars
uh they would have been nemu dollars but
not uh not residents of of Las crusis
um additionally uh I just wanted to
share uh kudos to the maida team City
Las Cruses on April
27th we have early early attendees about
12,000 which is about 4,000 more that
attended last year so even through the
wind wind storms so we had about 8,000
last year this year and this this is
just early estimates we always have uh
more estimates come in but we have about
12 12,000
attendees and um just want to say kudos
to the visit Las cruus team Michelle Liz
and her
team uh two more announcements at the
airport May 8th which is this Wednesday
and through
Saturday this is a pylon race training
camp that is happening so if you see
airplanes flying around there is a race
training cap happening air race training
event that is bringing in about 30 air
race teams and officials will be
spending about four days training
practicing and simulating air racing on
three FAA approved air race courses and
that's here right in Las crues at our
own airport Council of Flores I know
this is uh close to your heart last but
not least parks and wreck um just in two
updates abadaka pole demolition is
expected to be completed by May 16th and
so that'll be filled with dirt so you
should see that hopefully happening in
the upcoming weeks and then the skate
park on Hadley just an update on the
Demolition and the project it's uh
demolition is complete rough grading has
been completed and the construction is
expected to be completed by
mid-september thank
you motion to adjourn so moved
second this is on the motion to adjourn
the um Regular meeting councelor McClair
yes councelor matis yes councelor
Graham yes councelor cran yes councelor
flus yes councelor bomo yes mayor
yes
e for