e
e e
[Music]
you're
on good afternoon welcome to the city
council meeting uh today is April
15 2024 it's approximately 1 PM I am
mayor hriz um before we start I want to
mention that we have an ASL American
Sign Language interpreter available uh
at every regular council meeting and she
will be in the front for anyone who
requires interpretation Services we will
start with a moment of silence for the
brave men and women of the United States
armed forces as they protect our
interests around the globe as well as
the courageous men and women of the Los
cruus Police Department dep and Los
Cruz's fire department as they keep our
city safe
247365 please join me in the
pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America and to
the Republic for which it stands one
nation under God indivisible with li
Justice for
All next we'll have presentations and
certificates and we do have a few today
I'll be right there
okay there we
go so the first thing we have is a
recognition of the winners of the water
conservation uh poster
contest uh the
gfwc uh progress Club of Los Cruz's
water conservation poster contests can
can we have you come up
you can stand and face the
crowd
are
Wyatt
Marcelo and
aise as everyone knows here in Los Cruz
say one
water is one of New Mexico's most vital
and precious resource the gfwc progress
Club of Los Cruz has held their second
water conservation poster contest to
bring awareness to young children gfwc
progress of
club and Los Cruses asked third grade
students from Fair Acres Elementary to
draw a poster symbolizing water
awareness and the importance of
conserving water in the community we
have before us our first second and
third place winners who will receive
monetary prizes for their hard work as
well as a certificate at this time I
would like to congratulate and introduce
the following students first place is
Wyatt
H second place is Marcelo
Chavez and third place is anaise
Padia would anyone want to say a few
words the progress Club is been here in
Los Cruses since
1915 and we donate money and help people
out in the community and these three
winners ERS are going to get some money
for doing this so first place gets
$100 second place gets
75 and third get 50 and third gets $50
[Applause]
right can I just give
[Applause]
one thank you you
and then and show them your posters
because they they saw the back of you oh
whoopsie back show
them up the ramp to the
right to the
left thank you thank you thank you
while they're going around shaking
everyone's hand If U the next one is the
national Safety telecommunications week
uh the proclamation will be presented to
Jennifer gorm if she's here she want to
come up
is there anything you wanted to say mind
I don't mind I don't mind I'll give you
that opportunity thank you I
they the next Proclamation whereas when
an emergency occurs The Prompt response
of police officers firefighters and
paramedics is critical to the protection
of life and preservation of property and
whereas the safety of our police
officers firefighters and emergency
medical personnel is dependent upon the
quality and accuracy of information
obtained from citizens who telephone the
msia Valley Regional dispatch Authority
communications center and whereas
professional public telecommunications
are a vital link between citizens and
victims and are the first and most
critical contact our citizens have with
emergency services and whereas Public
Safety to Tele Communications are the
single vital link of our police officers
firefighters and emergency metal goal
response by monitoring to their
activities By Radio providing them
information and ensuring their safety
and whereas Public Safety
telecommunicators of the msia Valley
Regional dispatch Authority are the
first First Responders who contribute
substantially and part to the public
safety team and whereas each dispatcher
has exhibited compassion understanding
and professionalism during the
performance of their job in the past
year now therefore we the mayor and City
Council of Los Cruses and New Mexico do
hereby proclaim the week of April 14
through 20th
2024 as National Public Safety
telecommunications week in honor of the
men and women who diligence whose
diligence and professionalism keep our
communities and citizens safe
[Applause]
congratulations mayor chair and City
Council on behalf of msia Valley
Regional dispatch Authority I accept
with great appreciation the proclamation
designating April 14th through 20th
National Public Safety
telecommunications week this
Proclamation serves as a reminder of the
essential role played by our Public
Safety Telecom communicators in ensuring
the Safety and Security of our city as
we celebrate this week we are reminded
of the often unseen Heroes who work
tirelessly behind the scenes answering
calls for help providing critical
information to emergency responders and
offering Comfort to those in distress
the vital role of Public Safety
telecommunications cannot be overstated
these individuals are the backbone of
our emergency response system their
unwavering commitment to public s to
Public Service saves lives every day
their professionalism compassion and
dedication exemplify the highest
standards of Public Safety and I am
immensely grateful to work with such an
amazing team we must also recognize our
telecommunicators not only as
dispatchers but as First Responders in
their own right they are the first point
of contact in times of Crisis the Lynch
pin upon which the success of our
emergency responses efforts hinge
supporting our telecommunicators as
First Responders means providing them
with the training resources and support
they need to excel in their roles it
means acknowledg their toll for the work
that they take I'm sorry it means
acknowledging the toll their work can
can take on their mental and emotional
well-being and ensuring the necessity
and ensuring necessary Support Services
it means advocating for policies that
recognize their contributions and afford
them with the respect and recognition
they deserve as we reflect on the
importance of National Public Safety
telecommunications week let us commit
ourselves to supporting our
telecommunicators as the invaluable
First Responders they are let us extend
our GR gratitude not just in word but in
Deeds let us Stand United in the efforts
to ensure that they have everything they
need to continue serving our community
with excellence and dedication again I
extend my deepest thanks to the city of
Las cruus for their proclamation of
National Public Safety
telecommunications week May as it serve
as a testimony to our unwavering
commitment to supporting and honoring
the vital work of public sa Public
Safety telecommunicators today and
always thank you very much
[Applause]
did ice cream ice cream breakfast
something something all right thank you
good to see you all good to see
you next is a child abuse awareness
month uh be presented to
Genie rendes is she
here is anyone here for child abuse
awareness yeah you want to come up
is that the right name
gen so the city of Los Cruz's
Proclamation reads whereas city of Los
Cruz
family and youth Innovations
plus New Mexico children's Youth and
families Department donana County
District Attorney's office and other
Community Partners recognize April as
National Child Abuse Prevention month
and whereas children are vital to our
community the future success prosperity
and quality of life as well as being our
most vulnerable asset and whereas all
children deserve to thrive in safe
stable nurturing home homes and
communities to ensure Health growth and
development and whereas child abuse and
neglect in a community responsibility
that affects the quality of life of a
community and its members and whereas
all parents should have access to the
social support knowledge and concrete
resources needed to cope with the stress
and demands related to Parenting and to
nurture their children and to help them
grow in their full potential and whereas
effective child Abuse Prevention
strategies succeed because of
Partnerships created among community
members Human Service and child welfare
agencies schools Faith communities
Health Care Providers Civic
organizations law enforcement agencies
and the business Community now therefore
we the mayor and City Council of Los
Cruses New Mexico dear hereby proclaim
the month of April 2024 as Child Abuse
Prevention month and call upon citizens
Community agencies Faith groups medical
facilities elected leaders and
businesses to increase our participation
and efforts to support families thereby
preventing child abuse and strengthening
the community in which we live thank you
congratulations okay just a photo yeah
the next uh Proclamation is a fairhouse
housing
month uh Emma stall and Catalina
Elizabeth
Hadfield yes come on
up okay thank
you the next Proclamation whereas fair
and equal housing is a right guaranteed
to all Americans and whereas the
principle of fair and equal housing is a
fundamental human
entitlement and whereas the month of
April 2024 represents the 56th
anniversary of the signing of the
federal fair housing act by then
president Lyndon B Johnson and whereas
all citizens have the right to live
where they choose within their financial
means and whereas people must do whereas
people must not be denied housing
because of race color religion sex
national origin disability sexual
orientation gender Identity or marital
or family status and whereas we must as
individuals assure equal access to
housing for all in our communities and
whereas New Mexico acknowledges the
importance of assuring fair and equal
treatment to all citizens now therefore
we the mayor and the city council of Los
Cruses New Mexico do hereby proclaim the
month of April 2024 as fair housing
month congratulations
[Applause]
yeah
okay good afternoon everybody my name is
Emma stall and I'm a housing attorney
with New Mexico legal aid um I wanted to
start by thanking the city um for this
recognition Miss um and also for the
city's continued work at um providing
access and increasing access to safe and
affordable housing for our community
members as housing attorneys working in
this area we represent low-income New
Mexicans in eviction proceedings and
also advocating for folks in um
conditions issues and also with uh
housing authorities and other service
providers and I just want to say that if
any of y'all all know anybody who's
facing um stable housing issues please
have them reach out to
us thank you so much city of lusus for
this honor we M and I my name is
Catalina Hadfield I'm also a housing
attorney with New Mexico legal aid we
love our work we're honored by doing
this work and by serving this community
that being said we do everything that we
can in our power to help people stay
housed but our work is limited and so I
just want to also remind our community
that homelessness is a community problem
it's not an individual problem and we
all have to do our part in order to
provide fair and accessible housing to
everyone that being said we love the
part that we get to play in that and we
can't wait to see the part that you all
get to play in that too so thank you
[Music]
not too eager to get to that
one so the next one is a Donate Life
month Proclamation presented to Deborah
Temple and Kelsey
Santo thank you thanks for so the
proclamation whereas one hero organ
donor can save the lives of up to eight
people through the selfless gift of
organ donations and improve the lives of
up to 75 others with eye and tissue
donations and whereas more than 100,000
patients currently wait for life-saving
organ transplants Across the Nation
including more than 600 New
Mexicans and whereas New Mexicans save a
record number of lives through organ
donation in 2023 95 donor Heroes
resulted in 241
life-saving
transplants and whereas all new Mexicans
can register to be organ donors
regardless of their age and medical
history and whereas we are truly honored
we truly honor those who gave the
extraordinary gift of life through
living and deceased donations and
whereas we encourage every new Mexican
to register as a donor on their driver's
license or ID card at the motor vehicle
division or online at Donate Life nm.org
and talk to their families about giving
the gift of life now therefore we the
mayor and City Council of Los Cruses New
Mexico do do hereby proclaim the month
of April
2024 as Donate Life month
[Applause]
[Music]
yes so let me just pop this down here
esteemed mayor Enriquez and the uh
respected City Council Members we just
wanted to take a moment uh wanted to
introduce ourselves again I'm Debbie and
this is Kelsey we're with New Mexico
donor Services a nonprofit organization
uh whose mission is to save lives
through organ eye and tissue donation um
we stand here today with just profound
gratitude on behalf of New Mexico co
donor services and all those whose lies
have been touched by the generosity of
organ IE and tissue donation it's with
sincere appreciation that I extend my
heartfelt thanks to each of you for your
steadfast support and the proclamation
honoring National Donate Life month your
recognition of this vital cause within
our community is truly commendable by
proclaiming this month you have not only
celebrated the selflessness of donor
Heroes but have also Amplified the
importance of organ and tissue donation
in Saving Lives your leadership serves
as a Beacon of Hope guiding us towards a
future where each individual every
individual in need receives the gift
they so desperately await New Mexicans
saved um record numbers through organ
and tissue donation last year and in our
Southern um New Mexico Community as a
whole we saw four uh donors um which
equals Nine Lives saved and we recently
had a our first Doner here at three
cross's regional hospital um again just
our felt gratitude um to the mayor and
to the members of the city council um
for your unwavering support and
dedication to the mission of New Mexico
donor Services thank
[Applause]
[Music]
you the next one is Parkinson Awareness
Month uh Proclamation presented to Sarah
stel
so the proclamation reads whereas
Parkinson disease is a chronic
progressive neurological disease and is
the second most common
neurodegenerative condition it is
estimated that nearly 1 million people
in the United States live with
Parkinson's disease with close to
990,000 New diagnoses each year and
whereas it is estimated that the
economic burden of Parkinson disease to
be nearly 52 billion per year in the
United States medications alone cost an
average of n of 2,500 a year and
therapeutic surgery can cost up to
100,000 per person and whereas research
suggests that the cause of Parkinson's
disease is a combination of genetic and
environmental factors but the exact
cause and progression of the disease is
still unknown and whereas the symptoms
of Parkinson's disease varies from
person to person with some of the more
common symptoms including Tremors
slowness of movement and rigidity
rigidity difficulty with balance
swallowing chewing speaking cognitive
impairment and dementia mood disorders
such as depression and anxiety
constipation vision changes skin
problems and sleep difficulties
currently there is no cure therapy or
drug to Halt the progression of
Parkinson's disease however regular
exercise can help manage symptoms and
have been proven to slow the progression
and whereas there is no specific blood
or imaging test that can confirm a
Parkinson's diagnosis certain tests such
as an MRI MRI or the brain and dopamine
transporter scan can help to verify a
Parkinson's disease diagnosis or rule
out other diseases that can mimic
Parkinson's system symptoms and
whereas increased Education and Research
is needed to find more effective
treatments with fewer side effects and
ultimately a cure of Parkinson
disease and whereas it is the desin
privilege of the city council to bestow
proclamations and all city of Los Cruz's
residents are represented by the city
council and therefore speak with a
United Voice through the actions and
deeds of this Council now therefore we
the mayor and City Council of Los Cruses
New Mexico do hereby proclaim the month
of April
2024 as Parkinson's awareness month
thank you congratulations
did you want say a few words okay
yes hello I'm Sarah steagle I don't need
to say anything more about Parkinson's I
think the proclamation said about all of
it we do have a support group here in
Los Cruses it's the third Tuesday of
each month at holiday and express we
also have a a meeting for the newly
diagnosed with Parkinson's on the fourth
Tuesday of each month and this is a
smaller group if you're just diagnosed
it's sometimes easier to be with a
smaller group than the large group and
our our support group draws about 30 to
35 people a month so we have good
attendance we have speakers you know we
do fun things um this month we're having
a picnic so just trying
to do something different you know and
then as far as exercise we have pickle
ball in which Diane gever was
instrumental in bringing to our group
cuz she's an avid fan and uh so we now
offer that the first or the every
Thursday at
meite and we also have um rock steady
boxing is available and we have uh Carol
Witham who provides us with a uh free
class Monday and Wednesday at northrise
so there are exercise opportunities and
also some of you may know Richard havy
who has now doing the Kong class at mson
and a keang and a laughter Yoga over at
the library so we have quite a few
things going on and um anybody is
welcome to the newly diagnosed it's not
just for newly sometimes it's good to
have the the longer long timers more
experience to be there to offer advice
and and
help and oh yes and um we do offer
resources if you need uh either written
or
computer-wise and I think that's it
that's about it thank you to the mayor
and the council thank you very much
thank you
down thank you thank
you the next Proclamation is for small
business week and we'll present those to
the greater chamber the green chamber
this is Hispanic chamber and the Small
Business Development Center so I'd ask
Debbie Moore Senator Carrie
Hamlin uh Richard Aguilar and Joanne
G and whoever else wants to join you
from your from your from your
team I've got a leadership class here A
whole leadership class huh leadership
class
here hey
so I'll go ahead and read one the
proclamation that includes all and then
hand them to you all you and then if
anybody wants to share a few words thank
you for being here of
course so whereas more than 50 years the
president of the United States has
issued a proclamation announcing
National Small Business Week which
recognizes the critical contributions of
America's entrepreneurs and small
business owners and whereas more than
half of Americans either own or work for
a small business and they create about
two out of every three new jobs in the
United States each year whereas part of
the National Business Week the US small
business administration takes the
opportunity to highlight the impact of
outstanding
entrepreneurs small business owners and
others from all 50 states and US
Territories whereas every day they're
working to grow small businesses
creating create 21st century job jobs
Drive Innovation and increase America's
Global competitiveness and whereas
National Small Business Week is a time
to honor and celebrate America's
entrepreneurs and Innovative startups
and whereas National Small Business Week
celebrates the resilience Innovation and
economic power of America's small
businesses and Innovative startups
and whereas this year's week-long events
will acknowledge small businesses from
across the the country from their
resilience Ingenuity and creativity as
well as recognize SBA partners for their
involvement in entrepreneurial
development disaster recover recovery
Government Contracting Financial
development and overall support for
Small Business and
Entrepreneurship and whereas the Greater
Los crusis
Los Cruses green and Los Cruses Hispanic
Chambers fully support small businesses
throughout our community to strive to
provide them with tools for success and
sustainability now therefore we the
mayor and City Council of Las Cruses New
Mexico do hereby proclaim the week of
April 28th through May 4th 2024 as
National Small Business Week and urge
our community to support our local and
small businesses and Los Cruz's New
Mexico congratulations thank
[Applause]
you they're not they're not all the
same let's get
go
ahead the mayor said your sign is upside
down not fair deput Moore president CEO
of the great Las cruus Chamber of
Commerce and I do want to recognize our
leadership Las cruus Club who is with us
today come on guys stand up let's give
you a round of
applause part of their
re thank you all for coming today part
of their requirement is to attend a city
council meeting so I told them this
would be a good one to attend because
many of them actually do own or work for
a small business so that that proves
that their managers their owners and
their owners themselves I remark Heather
solac who owns solac Legacy pecans here
in town they're committed to Growing
with our in our community small business
is the heart of any Community with our
community it's not just this week let's
go to and Shop locally every day of
every week because these are the
businesses that add to the wonderful
tapestry that makes Los cruus Los cruus
thank you Mr Mayor and counselor thank
you thank you Mr May and thank you
everybody it's always lovely to see uh
friends and family uh folks that are
really part of our small business
Community because the Los cruus green
Chamber of Commerce by the way my name
is Carrie Hamlin our the Los cruus green
Chamber of Commerce talks about the
importance of locally owned businesses
and we know that locally owned
businesses give back to local charities
350% more than do National chains and I
see heads nodding I see both business
members and nonprofits nodding and the
reason why is because our small
businesses are invested in our community
they are committed to making our
community a better place and they know
that the nonprofits that are doing work
that is improving the lives of people in
Los cruus are also doing very important
things and so that relationship is
something that is such an honor to be
able to talk about the Los cruus green
Chamber of Commerce talks about think
local first on a regular basis if you
can't uh if you're looking for something
go to a local store if that local store
doesn't have it ask them if they can
order it for you and if they can't order
it for you if they know somebody else in
town who might sell that product and
then if you can't find that then you
have permission to go online but we do
ask you to go think local first because
our local businesses are a vital part of
our local community and we're very
grateful so it's an honor to be able to
celebrate you today thank you Mr Mayor
and thank you
[Applause]
Council good afternoon my name is
Richard aad I'm with the Las crusis
Hispanic chamber of commerce and uh it's
great to be here this afternoon have a
uh few words that i' like to say first
of all uh thank you to the the great
city of Las Cruses you know for for
supporting small businesses thank you uh
mayor uh city council uh you know we
can't thank you enough for supporting
our local small business Community uh
we're honored to be here I'm honored to
be here today celebrating uh small
businesses uh within our
community there we
go my apologies I'm having some
technical difficulties here so um as as
uh my colleagues mentioned you know it's
important to to BU local um and again we
we appreciate the support and any chance
we get to BU local we we definitely
promote that um again thank you for for
the the proclamation for allowing us to
be part of of this great celebration of
the national uh you Small Business Week
and U thank you very
much thank you very much okay thank
you a
day that's it okay
so next on the agenda we have pets of
the week Amy def
Felix hello everyone I'm Amy def Felix
with the Animal Services Center of the
missio valley and of course every week I
present the pets of the week we'll go
ahead and start off with our cat of the
week her name is Katana her number is
74549 and she says I I was found as a
stray outside of an apartment complex I
was really just looking for my forever
home I'm extremely friendly and
affectionate and I was just hoping the
cat distribution system could do the
work for me now that I'm at the Animal
Services Center I'm just waiting for my
family to come by and meet me and then
of course we also have our dog of the
week his name is Buick his number is
651592952 adopted I enjoy walks on the
leash and I love treats I promise to be
a constant companion in perfect addition
to your household just stop by the ascmv
and meet me and then events going on of
course all April long we have our spring
fleeing adoption special so all of our
adoptions are only $50 and that is
all-encompassing and covers the span
neuter surgery microchipping the
vaccines as well and then this Saturday
April 20th we will actually have an
off-site adoption event at Cinder
cannabis will'll be there from 10:00
a.m. to 1: p.m. and the address um it is
4420 Sona Ranch Boulevard isip codes
88011 and of course all of our website
links our main website ASC mv.org and
then we're all over social media so we
have Facebook Instagram and Tik Tok and
then YouTube and Spotify and apple
podcasts is where we post uh our
upcoming episodes for our podcast Tales
from the PA side we're hoping to get our
next episode up soon um but yeah thank
you encourage you all to follow us keep
us updated WE Post um we're trying to
get into posting even just adoptable uh
animals just daily so we can get more
exposure for all of our animals so we
encourage you all to follow us in and
keep updated that's all I have thank
you thank
[Music]
you 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 none gram
n next we have the public
participation um we'll be allowing up to
three minutes no pending litigation or
discussion of items on non-consent uh
anyone on the first row on my
left on
the second yes
hi council members uh thank you for
having me uh just two quick items sir
could you state your name for yes yes
sir uh Steven Khan longtime resident of
Los cruus um first item is um I just
wondered about U perhaps getting
increased police presence up in the GL
Al tourus Run mission Bell area uh I
think there's there's I've we have
family property up there there's been a
couple lootings uh recently in the area
some strange characters frankly around
there um uh I think it kind of gets a
little neglected with the attention to
the East Mesa and I just wanted I think
you know with the Border spill over and
stuff like that I would just like to see
a little more presence up there for
surveillance um and the second item is
I'm just wondering and addition to the
uh uh youth YMCA we're building on El
Paso is there any other kind of business
uh we attracting to ELO um a decade ago
you know we had the video 4 we had the
international cafe and all those
businesses now it's sort of just sort of
a a cannabis Den slum kind of situation
I just wondered if it were getting
anything more there and that's that's
basically it thank you very much thank
you
uh anyone on the third
row fourth
row start the
timer good afternoon Cel my name is
horag I'm a longtime resident and he has
come here because of the draft for the
proposed um change to city codes and he
has WN you to uh consider that you're
going to get a lot of opposition I was
reading the
comments and and you know it's I it's
something I can't understand it's as if
somebody with an apartment complex they
like their apartment complex and their
apartment lifestyle a lot and they want
to force everybody in the city to live
their way they live and maybe you know
single family housing some people still
like that uh just letting you know that
some people don't want to live the same
as we did for the last several
decades and that sustainability requires
more
density and I change is inevitable and
so what I see in all the comments and
the concerns of the uh citizens is that
they oppose change in any way that it
comes and that's okay you know we're all
entitled to how we like our lifestyle um
however resilience in a community in an
organism and in a individual it comes
from the ability to adapt to change
because change is
inevitable and uh maybe the requirements
and the density of the population that
we had several decades ago was
appropriate for codes that requ required
only single family housing but that's
not the case anymore we have a large
cement for housing we have a large
influx of people coming from everywhere
we have a large amount of people who
have limited incomes who have limited
purchasing power in an economy that is
limiting more and more people's ability
to purchase a home and so the city needs
to create new legislation to adapt to
the realities of our community so that
we can all prop Prosper together thank
you okay thank you
[Applause]
uh good afternoon uh Council uh my name
is uh Stan inel for the record um my son
told me that on Friday the mayor came to
see him at Central Elementary and if
he's telling the truth thank you for uh
showing up at Central Elementary Mr
Mayor I hope you told all our elementary
kids uh about the importance of
democracy um so I've appeared before
this Council several times as an
advocate for more Humane uh
infrastructure improvements around our
city and several of my um my friends
also uh advocate for such things and we'
brought up issues that we've had with
traffic and and cars and whatnot and I
think it's always going to be an ongoing
issue um one of the things that struck
me uh the last time I was here a month
ago was um
one of our community members came and
said um the thing with cars is that it's
just about personal responsibility um
and just like guns she said as well um I
don't think it's as black and white as
that um you know with an infrastructure
that encourages our worse behaviors and
with a lack of enforcement of
irresponsible distracted driving and red
light running um sure you know you can
be driving down a street that's nice and
wide and say well you know what I'm just
going to run that red light because it
just barely turned red and who's going
to who's going to punish me right I've
almost been hit several times in in a uh
crosswalk I was going to Sutherlands to
pick up something and I was walking
there because I live close by uh to the
man's credit he did apologize to me uh
but I told him get off your phone and
drive um so personal responsibility only
goes so far somebody else can pay the
price for somebody's lack of personal
responsibility um you know as it goes
the same with with guns as well um I
heard in my neighborhood a gun was
stolen out of a car I don't know if it's
been recovered or not but now there is a
gun out there that somebody else could
you know pay the price because uh that
gun is out there um
so my feeling is that yes we we we do we
are responsible for our actions but we
also have to to um we also have to like
realize that sometimes our actions mean
that other people pay the price
sometimes saying personal responsibility
means that we are trying to not take
responsibility maybe even for bad policy
decisions in the past uh we had a great
group that talked about fair housing um
you know we can I'm very lucky that I I
have a cushion but a lot of people don't
a lot of people have to work and if
their rent goes up or if their insurance
goes up what choices do they have you
know they have choices but maybe all of
them might not be that great and we need
to recognize that as a community so that
we can build the social infrastructure
to take care of these people and then I
think we can finally say well it's
personal responsibility thank
[Music]
[Applause]
you thank you anyone else on the fourth
row anyone on the fifth
row sixth
mayor council I'm Juan Garcia I have
been watching Yoli DS in this and the
County Chambers for a year she has
reached out to city county and state
leaders for help in addressing
catastrophic Health Care cancer Yoli in
my opinion has bounced from one elected
official to another with no official
commitment for resolving this issue for
whatever reason there is no interest in
providing funds for at least a pilot
program to address this critical issue
in our community we have unrestricted
money to give away Ubi to those in one
category money to provide unrestricted
quote free rights in the Las cruus bus
system but no quote no funds for this
issue the Optics are not good in my
opinion it appears our elected officials
prefer one segment of the community over
the
other I understand some issues have a
higher political return on investment
like building another local abortion
clinic but not a badly needed major
mental health facility the freak Buzz
right program Like the quote 15minute
City model under the guise of the
proposed resoning resoning the Las
Cruses is likely important politically
to summon these Chambers who want to do
away with cars on the road Ubi is good
for the political resume as some here
attempt to climb the political ladder in
my opinion caring for the cancer sick is
not worth the return on political
investment which is why it's treated
like a hot potato quote this weekend I
had the opportunity to drive to lame
Mesa on New Mexico Highway 28 I saw that
relocated little shop on Maine pass
Chop's
restaurant front door was open not
locked but open to the customers and
citizens no vagrants laying in front of
the door or drug addicts shooting up
drugs in plain sight or threatening
customers lame Mesa gained the thriving
small business that was located downtown
Las Cruses why did this occur because we
failed to protect this and many other
small businesses that had become
forgotten victims and members of the
lasus Hall of shame because in our
politicized upside down world the
criminal is most often the victim I
understand we have two ordinances coming
up for review and vote I hope you the
council make the right decisions in your
votes and as I watched the proclamation
that just took
place it would have been nice to have
the chamber
leaders
here advocating publicly advocating on
behalf the small businesses of the small
businesses with Hispanic w women with
folks that barely can make a dollar that
make very few very few dollars every day
advocating for those small business that
were impact impacted by the criminal
element I didn't see them I hope they
advocated somewhere but I never saw
thank you
[Applause]
good afternoon Mr Mayor city manager
city council my name is Tony understand
there is a pation or an ordinance
proposed by the city council based on
last city council meeting to support a
ceasefire in
Gaza war is
hell as a veteran with over 30 years of
public and dedic of dedicated military
service and multic combat deployments
including Operation Desert Shield storm
operation joint Endeavor and guard
operation Iraqi Freedom operation
endurance Freedom understand firsthand
what is like to serve in a combat
environment unless you have experienced
War you have no idea the hardships
mentally physically and emotionally that
all involved endure especially service
members with that said let me remind you
of some key events regarding this public
statement why I should not be supportive
today marks a grand milestone for the
people of Israel over 6 months since
October 7th the one day Holocaust with
so many Israeli people were brutally
murdered raped burned alive and taken
hostage the worst Slaughter of Israelis
since the Holocaust of World War II when
over 6 million Jews were slaughtered and
killed let me say that number again 6
million let's not forget the thousands
of Israelis have had to leave their
homes in Northern Israel due to the
attacks by
Hezbollah with Passover approaching H
day of freedom and exodus from Egypt the
citizens of Israel in the dire fight for
their freedom to live securely in their
ancient Homeland
I suspect that most you have never been
to Israel yet you're are proposing
supporting the
ceasefire thanks to the incredible
courage and heroism of the brave men and
women of the Israeli Defense Forces
Israel is fighting back and with God's
hasem Hashem self they will win let's
keep in mind we started this war Hamas
who was designated as a terrorist
organization by the Us and other
countries by supporting a ceas FR you
let Hamas off the hook for the
atrocities they committed against Israel
on October 7th if you look who was
marginalizing the people of God it's
Hamas not Israel considering all the
money resources and Aid that Gaza has
received over the years from the
international communities in the
billions maybe even the trillions and
there been squandered supporting Hamas
initiatives I digging tunnels paying
terrorists and martyrs buying and
smuggling Munitions to attack Israel and
enriching themselves as the leadership
of amaz are billionaires and many don't
even reside in Gaza instead they live in
luxury in the country of cutter Hamas
enables Palestinians by suffering by
using them as human Shields stealing
native and employing hospitals and human
facilities such as schools and Military
capabilities and ignoring the rule of
law Hamas is engaged in a PR campaign to
magnify the criticism of Israel by
failing to distinguish between civilians
and combatants and Casualty reports you
need to take with a grain of salt the
casualty numbers being reported by the
Gaza Health ministry as a Min the
ministry is controlled by Hamas the US
must signal to the world and allies that
it univ to defends Israel and his right
to ensure that Hamas will no longer be a
threat to Israel and all the hostages
must be released anything this will
yield More Death disaster hardship and
destruction in the near term and for the
foreseeable future so if you're going to
advocate for a ceasefire and Israel I
would ask that you include the
resolution Proclamation the release of
all Israeli hostages that were taken by
Hamas on October 7th I would also
encourage the Hamas who started this war
as well as the pig okay sorry your time
your time is up thank you I think I I
think after serving 30 years in the
military I should be able to finish my
statement if you do it quickly please
just this weekend Iran launched unpr
president attack on Israel you design
dozens hundreds of drones and missiles
and fortunately with the grace of God
Israel is able to defend itself and its
citizens from the Brazen attack let me
ask you a question what would you have
done had you been in Israel this is what
Israel and its citizens enduring the
constant basis of Hamas and Gaza
Hezbollah and Lebanon the houthis in
Yemen and Iran I would highly encourage
you all to support Israel and not
support or pass the ceasefire religion
in Gaza as it stated in the Book of
Genesis those who blesses will be
blessed those who curses will will be
cursed thank you thank
you anyone else on that
row we'll go to the seventh
row good afternoon my name is Diane
starbu I'm a member of Animal Advocates
for change we have been waiting for news
of of the city's new Animal Welfare
ordinance other than it's being worked
on we have requested a copy but none has
been
forthcoming Don Ana county has hired a
veterinarian and is preparing for a
mobile vet unit to go out into the
community for spay and neuters why is
the city so slow to share their support
of the companion animals and their
owners
uh we are also waiting to hear when
community members will be allowed on the
board of the Animal Service Center I
encourage Miss Barbara bomo to have the
city lawyers write a letter to the state
if she has not already done so Las cruus
has been unable to control its companion
animal population resulting resulting in
the suffering of abandoned animals and a
high kill rate at our
shelter as New Mexico's second largest
city it is shameful that the city has
not adopted a fully funded phased in
mandatory spay neuter ordinance thank
you for your
time thank
you anyone else on that same row
counselors um my name is Diane Williams
I'm here on a little bit different vein
I wanted to um express my appreciation
to our police chief his
Department um I made a terrible mistake
in starting to read comments on Facebook
and I'm appalled at some of the emotions
that are directed towards people that
are trying to do their best the one
thing I would like to ask though um I
tried to look at crime statistics for
the city
um it really stops I believe in
2020 um there's not any additional at
least on the portal there's not any
additional information um as far as
seeing where our crime rate actually is
and where we're going um I've heard that
we are going down on the violent crime
side which I think is also kind of Trend
in the country as a whole um and also
are there statistics on crimes committed
by the homeless
versus our local
thuggery drug dealers etc etc etc um it
seems the anger is very directed towards
them and the real problem there is our
mental health issues and that's
throughout the entire country um that
and homelessness are problems in the
entire country it's not unique to L
cruets it's not you guys do want a
terrible job of what you're doing um it
is a complex huge problem that will take
a lot of resources and money to fix and
then we will have people screaming about
their taxes going for the mentally ill
um the only other thing and this is a
little different topic um it's about
zoning and not related to what's on the
agenda but on the new news today there
was a uh people protest protesting a
zoning change in Al Paso and I happen to
see their sign and I would recommend
that the city looks at the signs that
they post for zoning ordinances large
bright green can't miss big bold black
letters on it um I think that would be a
real benefit with all the zoning issues
that seem to be occurring and I'm sorry
my voice my allergies it's terrible but
thank you very
much thank
you I think that's row seven anybody
else in row seven row
eight
nine moving here on my right side on the
second row third row yes
mayor mayor protim city council City
staff hello my name is Susan Greenwald
Cabo I am the new executive director of
downtown Los cusis partnership um you
guys have seen me before um as my in my
role as the Director of the Arts and
Cultural District so I am not new to the
organization just new to this position
um I'd like to take a moment to um
remind you that we are a state and
nationally accredited organization that
deals with economic development in the
tid and Arts and Cultural District um we
have new leadership as well our current
board chair and vice chair um are John
Munos and Jeffrey Stewart um John Munos
of electronic caregiver and Jeffrey
Stewart of um the msia Valley Pharmacy
so um our leadership is downtown as well
um downtown is growing and thriving and
I want to thank um you guys and our city
liaison uh Chris favor for helping us in
in our mission to make it better every
day um One new business is J&G watch
repair um they were the kiosk in the
mall if you remember that they are now
um on the corner of Lo of Griggs and
water um so it's really exciting to see
a new business um open up that kind of
hearkens back to the main street of old
um he does not only watch repair but
jewelry repair as well um just a really
neat um addition to our businesses
downtown um when speaking with our
businesses I talked to at least 20
businesses a month um many of them have
said that they really appreciate the
security services provided by the tid um
and that they would ask that um those
Services be expanded if possible in the
next school
year um and finally uh I am going to
leave my business cards with uh
Christine our city clerk um I would
encourage you without violating rolling
Quorum um to contact me uh if you'd like
to learn more about downtown I'd be so
happy to talk to give you a walking or
driving tour um of our district and
introduce you to any of our Merchants um
that you would like to interact with
thank you thank
you thank
you okay so on my right anyone on the
third
row
fourth fifth
good afternoon I thank you for the
opportunity uh my name is Judy barryman
I'm the current chair of the historic
preservation
commission I am addressing I'm speaking
in regards to the pending demolition of
multiple historic structures at the
northwest corner of University in
chaperel we are again losing a part of
lasu's cultural history and I believe
there's been no formal documentation to
protect any remaining
evidence although the demolition the
proposed demolition is well within the
um requirements set under chapter 40
historic preservation ordinance under
chapter 2 Under the historic
preservation ordinance and planning and
zoning my question is why can't we
address demolition of his historic
buildings even if they're not in a
historic district prior to that act my
second question would be is there any
federal or state money involved in this
endeavor if there is we are in violation
of both those laws that protect historic
resources the opportunity that I see is
that we have the opportunity to address
this issue the
HBC is interested along Ong with
community members City staff and the
construction industry that we could come
together to to create a diversified
working group that can offer guidance on
development rather than addressing it
after the buildings have gone down by
Design such a group would be
transformative and would allow all of us
to move beyond the current process this
would facilitate constructive and
practical Solutions I propose the
following
a work session regarding the property at
University in chaperel that would
include City staff the proposed
developer property owner along with any
members of the community the goal would
be to exchange ideas share perspectives
and provide an opportunity to voice our
opinion the second task would be for to
allow the historic preservation
specialist or a historian to actually
document the buildings before they're
demolished
if we can't save the buildings we will
at least have the history of the
buildings the goal would be to have a
professional record to be filed with the
New Mexico State University archives and
special collections for any future
research and finally a separate meeting
with the property owners to discuss
potential
changes I understand another a number of
issues are going on but I would like to
ask that the HBC is not informed Med of
demolition of historic buildings by
driving by and seeing a bulldozer in
front of the building I would like to
have prior information and maybe
consultation I thank you very much for
the opportunity thank you thank you
mayor council members my name is Eddie
Thomas mayor Enriquez allow me to begin
by saying that hiring an outside
third-party auditing firm to advise you
on the city council meeting procedure is
not only a waste of taxpayers money and
totally
necessary but is also a thinly veiled
see-through attempt to avert blame for
moving the public input portion to the
back of the meeting agenda in an attempt
to escape public scrutiny for the
policies proposed by this
Council this is something you've already
signaled your true intentions on this
move would make it prohibitively
inconvenient for most of the people that
bravely come down to speak to you and
and the council
members may I respectfully remind you
that you are all public servants
accountable to us the taxpaying salary
paying citizens of Las Cruses and as
such you should be accommodating us to
do otherwise would interfere with a
democratic process afforded by the
Constitution for the redress of
grievances one such policy is is the
proposed resoning ordinance that would
increase crime while decreasing property
values this proposal of enacted would
increase neighborhood traffic and noise
and destroy the peace and quiet we have
come to enjoy it's why so many of us
moved here I don't want to live in a
congested cannabis Community we already
have enough of them on every corner and
shopping strip mall we like single
family neighborhoods that promote family
life we like the space and serenity that
our current zoning structure
affords I've spent thousands of dollars
fixing up my house I've done my part to
stimulate the local economy I've hired
plumbers electricians landscapers
painters Etc I have the receipts to
prove
it I even had solar panels
installed so is this how you're going to
reward me and other homeowners that have
invested in improving the appearance and
add to the neighborhood appeal what
possible purpose could this serve surely
it is not in the taxpaying homeowners
interest instead why aren't you doing
something about the city's more pressing
problems like crime gang violence drug
abuse and the homeless instead of
building more lowincome housing at
taxpayers expense why don't you focus on
attracting high-paying jobs that can
contribute to the tax base rather than
draining it we already have one desert
hope with another one on the way called
Amador Crossing when that one gets
full are we going to build another one
and what are we going to name it right
thank you sir
[Applause]
anyone on that same
Row the next
row following row anyone on the right
side okay thank
you next is a Clos meeting
statement the Los crusa city council met
in closed session at 10:15 a.m. on April
8th 2024 the following members were in
attendance mayor Eric hriz councelor
McClure councelor Graham mayor proen
bomo councelor Karan arrived at
1102 councelor ion Flores and mayor M
and councelor matis were absent U staff
Melissa
Caldwell from municipal court and she
left at 10:27
judge Anthony fosa and he left at
10:27 uh HR deputy director JC Borgo
and city clerk Christine Ribera were
present the meeting adjourned at 11:30
a.m. statement for the record the Los
cusa city council met in Clos session
and only discussed those items those
limited items as stated in the posted
notice the purpose of the closed meeting
is to discuss limited Personnel matters
regarding municipal judge 2 which is
closed pursuant to nmsa 1978 section
10-15-12 now we need a acceptance of
agenda move to approve second
Corin this is on the motion to accept
the agenda as presented councelor
McClure yes councelor matis yes
councelor Graham yes councelor cran yes
councelor flutes yes councelor bomo yes
mayor yes
next on the agenda is the old business
I'll need a motion in a second and then
a vote to for it to be required to
remove from the table for
discussion I move so we're moving to
approve remove it for the table or to
consider it first remove from the table
first okay I move we remove it from the
table for
consideration second
Graham this is on the motion to remove
ordinance 3065 from the table for
discussion Council McClair yes councelor
matis yes councelor Graham yes councelor
cran yes councelor floes yes councelor
Beno yes mayor
yes so old business is Council bill
number
24-23 ordinance number 36 65 an
ordinance approving a zone change from
r4c multi multi-dwelling high density
and limited retail and office
conditional to R4 multi-dwelling high
density limited retail and office for
property encompassing 2.98 plus acres
and located at 712 and
722 hendy place and 725 bosha Ark
submitted by Eminem Building Solutions
Representative and David where will
present mayor and city council David we
the Community Development Department as
you've already noted this was tabled
from your April 1st meeting and uh it
again is a a zone change to remove a
condition that was placed uh when it was
zoned in
2020 just some of the current conditions
of the property it is currently Z zoned
r14c the C is a condition on its
Building height uh at the time the
initial zoning was placed it limited it
to 1 story as you've also noted it's
just um shade under three acres in sight
and it is three undeveloped lots that
were um platted with the banmore state
subdivision um this is a um excuse me
the zoning map so you can three the
three lots in the gray are the
r4c um the property to the the west or
the Southwest is r1c and if you recall
uh at the time of the initial zoning the
Lots adjacent to the
um our four properties were to be a
quarter acre in size and those tracks
that were adjacent to the homes on
Crosley Lane were to be a third acre in
size and so all of those have been
platted in that manner and U building
and construction is taking place in the
on the on the site um this is an aerial
um photograph so you can kind of you can
see uh to the the west or Southwest as a
residential area with um condos and
apartments uh to the West is a single
family residential home uh to the north
off stern drive in this direction is uh
offices and RV park and then on the east
side of I 10 between I 10 and Valley are
a mixture of commercial and industrial
type
uses again the proposal is not to change
the U proposed use but to remove the
height restrictions on it um the
applicant would like to have u a
multi-story development on that um it
would allow them to uh meet more of the
density that could be provided on the
property it'll would add to the multif
family housing stock for the city and um
when they go forward with it for the
design elements they will still have to
meet the uh setbacks Landscaping parking
drainage any of U those development
requirements um also at the time that
they platted the property and started
selling the Lots the single family lots
in the bandore subdivision uh in their
covenants they made a statement that in
the future they would come forward uh
with a zone change to remove that height
restriction um there may be a question
about how quickly can you um come back
with the change in in zoning or another
request of that uh the zoning code says
in a denial case you have to wait one
year so as a rule of thumb um that's
kind of what staff uses for accepting or
processing another rezo application for
the same property
um this is just the Lots as their legal
descriptions for them um again they're
all approximately about an acre in
size um at the time that the proposal
went through and the analysis that was
done for the planing zoning commission
uh it was reviewed by the Departments it
was a determination there were no health
safety or welfare issues um the proposed
zoning was in keeping with uh the mix of
uses in the adjacent properties and that
it also met the description of the
Suburban Place type of elevate Los cruus
future development map and basically
that it's a mix of uses that you have
single family multif family uh retail
and uses and then institutional uses
like church schools um Parks
Etc when the proposal went to the
Planning and Zoning commission and then
the city council our normal U public
notice requirements were done we were
advertised it in the paper we sent uh
letters to all Property Owners within
500 ft and we had the applicant post us
sign uh on the property um at the time
of pnz there was limited uh comment but
as you're all aware of be at your April
meeting you had quite a bit of U
neighborhood comment and input at that
time the plan and Zoning commission
reviewed the zone change at their
January meeting at that time they
recommended approval with based upon
findings
and the findings that they made was one
that the the proposed Zone chain was in
keeping with the Elevate loss Cruis that
also met all the um legal requirements
of a zone change from the zoning code um
it encouraged development of a vacant
property um there was
a a
rational Nexus between the proposed use
and the benefit to the community um that
also it would be compatible with the
adjacent land uses and that it was um
adjacent to a major road Network both
Stern and bouts are considered artero
collector roads which are intended to
handle more traffic uh to get U people
across
town uh with that um I stand for any
questions that the council has um you
have your normal options to vote Yes and
approve the zone changes submitted you
can vote no and deny you could also uh
vote to amend it as you seen fit based
on uh information provided today or you
could table it again uh the applicant Mr
uh Troy Mitchell is also present and
available for any questions that you may
have okay thank you David any questions
councelor Flores thank you Mr Mayor and
thank you Mr we
um well I read that you sent us all an
email and so far as the uh Tia and other
details and but the Tia was done several
years ago and I'm sure that traffic
conditions have changed as a result even
though I believe you said that maybe it
didn't um I'm giving you the benefit of
the
day but
um yeah I have I have several concerns
about the change and um there there are
no assurances anywhere that they will
not proceed with a three-story um
structure and I don't know the the Tia
that was conducted several years ago um
I haven't seen it I don't know what it
took into account I don't think anybody
has seen it up here maybe I'm the only
one who hasn't I don't think the public
has seen it I don't think the people who
actually live there because um there
were several emails that I was CCD on I
think my colleagues were also I'm not
sure about that um so
I think um I I think one of the problems
I have uh here or the issue at hand for
me is that it's almost like a bait and
switch you know it was it was presented
as a two-story structure or that
wouldn't be higher and now they've come
back and I think that the concerns that
have been um spoken uh presented to us
here uh pretty much
substantiate uh concern for overd
velopment it's true that we need housing
but it was interesting how the developer
said that and and people saying well we
need housing yes we need housing the
operative word in that would the
adjective would be affordable housing
and the uh their language is that the
the rates would be market prices or
Market rates Market rents so it's not
really alleviating the need for
affordable housing or housing for people
who wouldn't otherwise uh have a home so
I'm
um I'm not
uh yeah so the the study that was done
specifically stated that um the capacity
was
15,000 I guess Motor Vehicles going back
and forth but I think our population has
grown in the last few years and I don't
think that it would be
um that low at this point so I think and
the ti usually come in after
everything's been approved or there's a
or what is the process there when is the
TA Tia conducted after it's been
approved or before it's been approved or
mayor and councelor Flores the Tia was
put in or was uh approved as a part of
the construction drawings for the
subdivision and the Tia basically um
uh explains the existing conditions and
if there are any additional improvements
that need to made be made to the the
roadways at that time the 15,000 content
is uh collect major collector streets
that's what they're designed to the
maximum capacity um I don't know the
particular numbers of the Tia U but the
existing traffic flows and the buildout
of the development we're both below that
1500 um
traffic count um some of the other
comments that you've made I think those
are questions that the applicant could
could provide to you about their intent
for the property uh why they came
forward at this time and could also
provide details on the Tia since they
are the ones that uh commissioned that
with the development of the subdivision
well if I may Mr we um it would re it'd
be wonderful for his intent to be in
writing because he can say with all due
respect can say what is um convenient at
this time and uh th renig at any time
[Music]
so really unless uh you know he's under
oath or something I wouldn't take his
word for it with all due respect so um
but if uh other if the rest of the
council want to hear them it's it's up
to them thank
you mayor pro thank you mayor yes David
I would I would definitely like to hear
from that's why we rescheduled the
meeting to today so if the uh developer
is here I I would love to hear from them
and I will have some follow-up questions
thank
you hi good afternoon I'm Troy Mitchell
uh apologize for missing last meeting um
I got covid the weekend prior and was
still infectious so didn't want to um
show up so I apologize for that for
wasting your guys' time I'm glad that we
got this
tabled um one thing I want to make clear
I do I do have the you know uh um one of
the hundred sheets that came in the Tia
um the Tia was done on on 64 single
family lots and a maximum uh density for
the R4 zoning um and it shows um it IT
projects at like a 20 2031 year um fully
built projection for the bouts and uh
Stern subdivision intersections um it
shows it shows the Max Capacity those
are around 20% or
less just for everyone's information I'd
be happy to pass this around I brought
one copy I didn't
apologize thank you can I just go ahead
mayor ask some questions thank M
Mitchell right yeah thank you for being
here um just a couple questions if if
granted the Second Story the removal of
that um do you have an idea about how
many units you would plan to build uh
yes we would only go twostory because um
you know as precedents we saw that was
allowed in the subdivision um so that's
why kind of we're requesting this uh our
units that we have on our conceptual are
um 23 23 units yes
okay um and then last two weeks ago
there was conversation about putting a
restriction of
35 feet is that something that you are
comfortable with yes yeah that would uh
that would match with our um with the
subdivision you know as it's being built
the single family homes and uh we could
get our two-story and a 35 okay and then
for the 23 units you expect to have two
cars per apartment or what what are you
thinking in terms of parking lot in
terms of parking we're required to do
1.5 per unit yeah um and so we will have
some bike racks because it's accessible
um to the university um that would be
the the plan okay thank you
um and then so I did want to note
something about because I've also had
some emails about well this wouldn't
even help the housing crisis anyway
because they're not affordable
apartments but I do want to say that all
housing helps the housing crisis um MFA
reports that there are 10 high-end
renters to every one unit in Las Cruses
that so then folks rent down um taking
up units for folks who cannot afford
higher rent units the there's also a
report that talks about a market report
that says that the city would need a
minimum of 236 lots to come online every
year in order to keep up with population
increase so here's where I'm coming from
with everyone number one naming that um
traffic calming is a huge priority for
me for bouts for McClure for hogland for
elks for many streets in Las Cruses it
is a huge problem and it is a huge
priority for me and making sure that
it's a huge priority for the council and
public works so I just want to point
that out the second thing is that you
know when we talk about building
apartment
complexes the city and certainly myself
are trying to ask developers to do their
part to so that the city doesn't just
rely on nonprofit developers we want
these private developers to build in the
infill to not just build out in the East
Mesa to build more Apartments more
multif family units more missing middle
units and then when they come to us we
make it incredibly difficult so I am
just these are the balance that I'm
keeping as an elected official certainly
for this part of the area but really all
parts it is just it does not matter
where there are proposals for apartments
whether it's bouts whether it's McClure
whether it's Sona Ranch it is always a
problem for residents in the area when
we are talking about apartments I've
been here for this will be my fifth year
every time there's been a zoning request
for apartments there has always been an
issue for residents it doesn't matter
what the issue is and so I just I also
do want you to know the heaviness of
that when I am also facing when we are
also facing as a city a giant housing
crisis 5,600 rental units are short in
the city of Las Cruses 23 won't fix it
but I am
but I want to work with developers who
are coming to the table who are saying
we want to do this and we want to do it
in good faith and so my invitation now
to you let me just finish my thought and
I'll pass it back to you then my
invitation to you is for are you the
developer or the owner I know there's a
little bit of a yes for you to also be a
good neighbor I think one of the biggest
issues that I've heard in this
neighborhood is the irrigation ditch
that it hasn't been cleaned there's
Neighbors in the area that have had go
and clean it themselves and so just some
of those little pieces right that my
invitation then to you is also to to
come into this neighborhood and in good
faith operate so that folks are able to
talk with you about some of the feedback
that they have yeah sorry I get I was
not the developer of the the subdivider
of the original land okay I I'm just
these these three Parcels so I apologize
that was confusing so you're only the
parcels on the end I understand and and
I think you brought up a great point I
think you know economies of scale really
play into this um the intent um to try
to you know reduce the um apartment
rental costs um comes directly it's
directly correlated with the cost to
build the structures and so if we can
build um you know more more more units
on a parcel it reduces the cost and and
drives the cost of rentals down that's
kind of our intent in this you know as
well as the um single family housing
being allowed to go TW story as well
thank you I think also what this has um
taught me and I can talk about it during
my Council comments but I think and as
realiz comes to live life um the need
for inclusion inclusionary zoning and
the need for um
providing density bonuses for developers
who want to build more multif family
housing and you know I would love to in
the future be able to ask someone like
you will you save 20% of those
apartments You're Building to be
affordable housing apartments that would
so that is my note for everybody that I
am hoping that um this is something we
can get done in the future I think for
today unfortunately that might not be
able to happen but um that is at least
where I'm coming from and then I guess I
will continue my advocacy for the ditch
elsewhere David because I think it is a
real issue and it's a huge issue and we
have to fix it sorry that is not on you
no no it's okay I appreciate that um I I
do want everyone to know this is local
locally funded you know I mean um it's
not some big out of town developer um
that's really something that we wanted
to push so um trying to keep it local
okay thank you I will make an amendment
for the 35 ft but I will let my
colleagues ask you questions first any
other
questions sorry I need to clarify David
just told me it would be it would be um
so we wouldn't be hitting our Max R4
density I apologize it's 23 the
conceptual we have is 23 per lot so
there's three lots total I'm sorry
they're just over one acre or one of
them's over one acre and two of them are
under I
didn't thank you for clarifying yeah I'm
sorry I I
didn't
mayor yes Cal M go uh I'll speak to
David thank thank you he's smarter than
me so so David on the previous agreement
that was made with Ken
miyagishima and the homeowners or the
stakeholders it was to be a one
story um mayor and councelor matis there
was that the structured would be one
story but there was no cap on the number
the number of units that would be built
on each individual lot okay now how many
total units 23 *
3 yes so that'd be 69 units um the
maximum density for that would be
approximately 113 or
116 unit I believe I I did the math once
but it was over 110 110 but less than
120 okay thank you David
[Music]
um you know it's important for me to
recognize that a lot of the stakeholders
homeowners and even people that moved
into that
subdivision uh have really depended on
that first agreement or is some of those
home buyers maybe we're not hearing from
them uh they purchased that $600
$800,000 home uh thinking that it was
going to be the first agreement you know
one story it still may be uh 50 people
60 people but the stakeholders agreed to
that that it it wouldn't be
capped
correct Mr chairman I using uh stories
as a standard is rather difficult for
staff because there's variable in it um
a height in feet is much easier to deal
with and then as we uh in the Community
Development Department did an analysis
the 35 ft is the same that the single
family homes new ones will be allowed to
be built too and those are between the
existing neighborhoods and these uh
projects so
just again just for information for
Council to consider okay uh on your
engineering knowledge and basis if it
was the one story what would it be the
number of of
residents um mayor and councelor mtis I
I I couldn't answer that because until
you uh put the square footage of the
units that you're going to provide um
you there are a lot of different design
criteria that could go into that um
maybe Mr Mitchell might know that
answer I don't know that specific answer
I know that um each lot is is a
different size and shape so um yes our
our conceptual for the first lot is 23
on the other Lots I don't believe we'll
be able to fit that amount but if we
went you know um single story uh we
would it it depends on the size per unit
so if we went one bedrooms we could be
able to fit um you know the same amount
if they're like 500 square fet
potentially um so we're trying to kind
of make them a little bigger than that
we've got two uh conceptuals are two
story or sorry two bedrooms and three
bedrooms
uh you know assessment wise and
value-wise you you probably wouldn't
build a 500q foot property next to an
$800,000 home no that's that's what we
don't want to do yeah okay thank you
thank
you thank you anyone
else no other questions um at this time
uh I'll go ahead and ask members of the
public and know that there's we we've
heard from you before do you have a
specific spokesperson that you want or I
can allow two of you to come up and give
you five minutes each so you can
talk yeah come on up Sir is there anyone
with the neighborhood
association okay okay a after he's done
you
can hi I'm Mike Debs and I live a black
from there okay sorry so you are a
member of the residents so you're going
to speak be on behalf of the group yes
please well that of the whole group no
okay let our go since you want to speak
I'll give you two minutes to speak okay
um everybody can do this I don't have
any college any need to tell that up
front sir can you move your microphone
and then say your name please my name is
Mike bevs and I don't have any college
and I can't himh around and talk about
all the baloney I'm understanding is
that they want to put instead of
two-story Apartments four-story I don't
know if that that's true or not we've
been dancing around that song since the
guy got here I can tell you this I had
my home
built 37 years ago by John Curry every
piece of property we has has a French
drain huge and this tall full of river
rock occasionally we get standing water
sir can you speak directly to than and
these people it's about money these
people didn't put a French drain on the
back corner of that property there's a a
pit as big as this half as big as this
room where all the water from that is
supposed to run down into this place and
sit I haven't figured out who's going to
build a house next to that mosquito pit
I've been to the back two houses that uh
Red Cliff built I talked to a little
girl sitting there they're 340 a piece
and they're the smallest ones on the
property the property that they built
across the street on bouts there's no
sidewalks
whatsoever you dump that many people
into that small an area they're all
going to have a dog or two and how in
the world do you get parking for 1.5
people I guess that's I'm again I don't
have a lot of this education and I see a
lot of song and dance here this is
pretty cut and dry the last city council
approved something and the whole bump
has nothing to do with housing for the
poor or any of that it has to do with
money if you don't understand anything
in this country go back to the money
they're just trying to whack a bunch we
agreed and the whole the whole group
kind of went for the first agenda that
the council set down now they're back
for what's called a bump in the car
business and Bill would know about the
bump that's all I got thank you very
[Applause]
much ma'am you had a
question ma were you going to speak to
the whole issue or you just have a
question we have a question and I speak
to the issue and that's part of the
question Mr Mayor and city council um my
name is Patricia neevu I live on
marilissa Lane I'll give you two minutes
thank you um we have no sidewalks our
children stand next to the street to
catch the school bus my issue was
traffic I know one member of the city
council was uh told my uh one of the
other neighbors they would come and look
at the situation we have uh no uh
shoulders we have a dirt strip that
people have built uh have put in the
traffic lights we've had traffic lights
put in that means that you can't walk
down that dirt strip you must then walk
into the street our children get off the
school bus and where where are they
going to walk people don't drive 25
miles an hour I've heard it said that
this is an
arterial uh roadway that it's uh a
straight going in and out of the city
uh with two lanes and no shoulders uh
where are people supposed to walk I just
I'm I'm concerned with traffic that by
adding the apartments we're adding more
traffic and it means that it's unsafe
for our children who have no sidewalks
to walk uh for people that are going
into old msia they drive 35 30 miles an
hour now I realize that's a personal
issue for those people but uh we just
want our children to be safe we wanted
to walk down our streets and there is
nowhere to walk please drive by our
neighborhood you'll see what we're
talking about that um being uh building
the apartments is great we need that
kind of housing we just don't need the
traffic uh thank you
all thank
you so so does a group have somebody
that was willing to speak on behalf of
the issue
that's why we tabled it we heard we
heard the the group speak before so it's
like I just want somebody to come up and
speak as a as a spokesperson as
as okay well come on up I'll give you
two minutes and then we're just going to
randomly uh select a couple more to
speak okay
okay we've already my name is jool La
Rock I live on marilissa also we've
already mentioned that the original
zoning was a compromise between What the
residents wanted and the sub division
developer wanted and he wanted like six
houses per lot and all this stuff and
they were changed all that he wanted the
TW story apartments uh the mayor at the
time and the city council
agreed that that was stressing the
neighborhood too much the six Lots per
acre and all the rest of it at the same
time that all this was going on it was
brought up in city council that bouts is
an arterial collector street that it
does not meet any of the definitions of
a collector street that are set by
regulation it was designated that
because it comes from messia to Los
cruus and it doesn't meet the standards
to be that but it's designated that so
that's what the art the Tia said it was
okay uh my main objective to the whole
thing is that I think this is just
trying to do an inrun around what was
originally agreed on and I don't think
that is appropriate and I don't think
the city council should allow it thank
[Applause]
you Dian Lance again um I'm not going to
Hash over any of the issues we pretty
much discussed them all but I a
reference to traffic calming and I
wonder how you calm traffic on a
two-lane road I'm ma'am can you state
your name again Diane
Williams um how do you calm traffic on a
two- Lane Road where you're adding over
a 100 with the houses and the
apartments Vehicles just them alone will
be using that road as well as people
that come visit them when you have two
lanes
crumbly little asphalt shoulder I
believe it's maybe 8 in on one side
maybe a foot foot and a half on the
other side and then you have people's
walls people's driveways are you going
to take over people's properties there's
no place to put in sidewalks and
curves you know so what do we do we just
wait for a kid to get hit do you wait
for me to get hit you know if I have to
dodge around garbage cans or light poles
when I'm I'm walking I am walking
sideways on a drainage ditch you know
how do you how do you calm the traffic
in that
situation please consider that thank
[Applause]
you yes sir come on
up all right
Henry Wilson marilissa Lane um I don't
know how we got to this point after four
years of discussing this housing project
and still sir can you speak a little
closer to the mic and directly into I
don't know how we got to this point
after four years of discussing that
project their first meeting was four
years
ago and still don't know the number of
apartments that were planned are planned
or one be planned I heard 63 64 I don't
know after four years and they're still
not sure of the number of
Apartments um sounds like something's
trying to be changed to cause something
else thank
you all right thank you sir
yes sir come on
up my name is Raymond F Bernstein Jr I
am a a part of the uh housing area
area and uh I was very involved in the
original uh uh requests for keeping
things down I'm going to be very very
brief most of the things I want to say
today have been said there's one thing
though I would like specifically the
council to take note of we have a
practice it is institutionalized the way
we do business in the city is we ask ask
we we have the developer do the
Tia who in the world is going to get a
de uh get a to fund a TIA that's not
going to suit their
purpose it's like the fox with the hen
house they're always going to say that
things are great and what was said about
the uh size of the roads I I took
pictures the first time around the roads
are radically uh smaller than what was
actually uh the template the the
specification for the arterial
routes so I would ask you to strongly
consider uh rejecting this proposal
thank you very much
okay thank you we'll go ahead and take
one
more the
gentleman my name is Robert mccorkel
live at 11:30 Mara Lisa Lane I spoke to
you last time some of the questions that
we're finally getting answers to uh were
prompted by an email I sent to every
counselor and the mayor um looks like
they're trying to pull the old bait and
switch on us here um and I don't
appreciate it and it disturbs me that Mr
we says well we could come back in a
year you know if we need to do some more
amendments to it no that's it you had
your chance you made a promise to us
you're in the process maybe of breaking
that promise and I'll agree we need more
housing there's no question councelor
Momo but let's make sure it's the right
housing that'll serve the most people
who need it this doesn't seem like
affordable housing to me the average
rent average rent in this city uh is
depending on what website you look at
$800 to
$1,000 for a single I don't know 500 ft
whatever it might be um there's going to
be students because it's not far from
NMSU and you know as well as I do it's
not just going to be one student in that
apartment it's going to be probably 2
three or four all of them probably have
their own vehicle that you know we're
talking adding um who knows how many
more Vehicles a thousand over time and
the Tia is four years old the city of
Los cruus has grown uh by about 4,000
people since then a lot of them use
bouts to go to msia and that's going to
increase that traffic coming through
there and the bigger problem I think is
going to be at uh ELO in bouts uh
because it's going to stack up there it
already does so I urge you vote this
down it's not the time it's not the
place thank
[Applause]
you okay thank you for that I'll see you
of uh Council you have any more
questions
anyone okay Mr
Weir I just have a couple of
[Music]
comments so this was agreed upon four
years
ago and you said after a denial of one
year then they can come back and make
some changes but in the in that time is
there there hasn't been any other
changes correct mayor there's been no
other request to change the zoning since
uh two 2020 and everything that was
agreed upon at that time has been
adhered to correct okay all
right nothing okay CH no I'll just I'm
sorry go ahead since you're here Mr we
um I guess I for I guess I want to make
the amendment on 35 ft just for some um
to end the misinformation around four
feet four story apartment complex and
those kinds of things is that something
that you staff would recommend um mayor
and and mayor protim yes staff would be
comfortable with a recommendation of 35
ft that's what the maximum height is for
the adjacent properties okay that are
with the R1 zoning okay thank you so
then I would like to U make a motion to
amend this to include a a
35t height
limit sir sir you yell from
the sir you have to come to the
sir okay Mr we I heard his
sir thank you m Mr we can you explain my
God I'm
sorry Sor Mr we can you please um talk
about 35 ft and what that
means um mayor and mayor protim 35 ft is
from the ground floor where the dirt is
to the maximum peak of the the structure
that's um it's not an arbitrary number
um stories can vary from 10 to 20 feet
in in height so it's a it's an exact
number the neighborhood knows City staff
knows uh what they're getting with 35 ft
so realistically in 35 ft could you
build three
floors it would probably be difficult to
do that um Larry what most are
12 12 feet is where you have your um
your floor you have your Mechanicals
where you have like your um air ducts
for your irrigation or not irrigation
your heating and cooling and running
your Mechanicals then you would have
another floor on that if it were
um the same that'd be 24 and then you
would only have what 9 ft left it's
rather difficult
to you couldn't get another 12T story in
so what if I say 30 instead of 35 or is
35 you're saying 35 is not an arbitrary
number is what you just said U the
reason staff has provided that number
it's what the single family homes
adjacent to the lot are allowed already
so you're not allowing a height
greater than um what the adjacent zoning
has okay I will keep with my
Amendment let's let's um let me get this
he has a question before I mean just
have come on up sir
I second the
amendment do you have
to hold on
Sir this is on the motion to amend
ordinance 3065 to add the 35t height
limit councelor mclair yes councelor
matis no councelor Graham yes councelor
cran yes councelor fletus no councelor
bomo yes mayor yes motion
passes okay sir you had a question yes I
was up here before my name's Joel laac
and I'm not talking about what we did
before this is about the amendment and I
think if you take a show of hands of the
people from our neighborhood we're not
concerned with 20 ft or 35 ft or
whatever we're concerned with one story
or two stories and how that affects the
traffic the apartment complex will
create and 35 foot
twostory is basically giving them
exactly what they want and I'm saying we
want one story to restrict the traffic
instead of doubling the number of
Apartments so I don't think the foot has
anything to do with whether it's one
story or two stories thank you okay
[Applause]
[Music]
this is on the motion I'm sorry did you
have a
comment mlar yeah I have a I have a
question um perhaps David cido could
speak a little bit to traffic calming I
know that there we're working on
collector and arterial calming I know
that there's ways of SL slowing traffic
down manually and what would that look
like for bouts what would that look like
for
stern um if you can speak a little bit
to that I think that would be
helpful good afternoon mayor and councel
Council mclair you're correct Public
Works is working on a traffic calming
mitigation policy for both arterials and
collectors as far as what can be done on
balls and Stern those are going to be
sit specific and based on many multiple
many many things as we go through so we
will take a look at what those items are
and see which
applications will work best based on
configuration existing conditions
traffic itself because again some of
these streets are not comparable some
are built out some are not so we would
take all of those items into
consideration
Council thank you um just kind of give
some examples of what does that look
like when we say traffic calming and I
know that there VAR it varies depending
on the the road and the conditions and
the amount of people but what what are
some ideas so that people can walk away
and say these are some ideas of what
might happen in the future when we do
integrate more housing into this
area mayor councelor McClure some things
that can be done are narrowing of travel
Lanes uh those those are an options
again depending on the number of lanes
that are out there what the traffic is
doing out there that is one way way to
take to look at it uh in residential
streets we do have speed tables uh
although these roadways are classified
with a little bit higher speeds we would
really not recommend those types of
things again look at
different ways of how slow traffic we
could do planting of trees there are
other factors that we can install in the
right of way that we have available to
us to be able to do
that thank
you Council RS thank you Mr Mayor
[Music]
um I don't know if this is well
hopefully you can handle um I know you
can handle it I hope you can answer it
um I know that um there's a lot of
development in district 6 and every time
uh something is built my understanding
is that the
developer or the Builder someone is
responsible for putting in the drainage
the the sidewalks uh that sort of stuff
um would that be happening with this uh
new
development councelor FLOTUS I will turn
that over to Mr Weir or to answer if
there's any supplemental questions or
anything I can assist as well thank you
Mr CIO thank
you mayor and councelor Flores um the
developer of the banmore subdivision and
then any outstanding public improvements
with uh these three lots when they came
in would be responsible for putting for
putting that infrastructure in the
sidewalks along Stern and um bouts are
already in place they were built with
the initial single family zoning all the
roads are paved the individual Lots
interior of the subdivision will be
built with the construction of those
each individual Lots so the internal
sidewalk system will be built out when
all the homes are built and apartments
are placed on these three lots so why is
it that we have a woman uh who came up
to speak I think a couple of times now
at least that there aren't any sidewalks
that children have to cross those
streets and I know I've been down that
street several times and it it always
looks very uh rural to me it looks very
undeveloped so if we do have uh but
you're saying that there are sidewalks
there and where exactly would that be
mayor and Council Flores the bandore
subdivision was built under the time
that all sidewalks were required and
they they've done that the residential
areas to the West do not have any
sidewalks in front of their Lots um
evidently at the time that was built it
was either outside of the city limits
and they weren't required or when they
were approved by the city uh there
either wasn't a requirement or there was
some type of waiver for those so those
are existing development that took place
prior to um some of the sidewalk
requirements um being managed those lots
are a little bit larger there is a uh
there are certain conditions when
sidewalks aren't required for
residential development but those have
been all the right of ways and streets
have been within the city system and our
responsibility for some
time so those um units if they're built
if it's approved um would have a
sidewalk yes so you'd have a patch of
sidewalk yes thank you thank you Mr
Mayor thank you anyone
else
try this is under the motion to approve
ordinance 3 3065 as amended councelor
McClure yes councelor matis no councelor
Graham yes councel cran yes councelor
flotes no councelor bomo yes mayor yes
motion
passes next on the agenda 9.1 Council
bill number 24-0 24 ordinance number
3066 an ordinance conforming the
successful completion of the Local
Economic Development act Le project with
x2n sat Inc and authorizing its
termination to include the project
participation agreement
intergovernmental agreement and the
release of the 150,000 guarantee that
has served as security for the project
and uh Elizabeth teters move to approve
Graham
second good afternoon mayor and city
council my name is Elizabeth teters and
I'm here to talk to you about the
successful close out of one of our Local
Economic Development act projects X2
andet so just uh little background
information Lita The Local Economic
Development act the objectives are to
assist expanding and relocating
businesses that stimulate economic
growth have significant Community impact
and support increase wages and provide
job creation and promote significant new
private invest uh private capital
investment the use of Lita funds is to
purchase lease construct improve or
acquire buildings or infrastructure
Public Works improvements essential to
the location or expansion and it is on a
reimbursement
basis uh a little bit of background on
x2nsat so they are a regional satellite
Communications company uh they
specialize in Satellite Communications
for tracking and management of Fleet
vehicles and related commercial
activities this is one of our businesses
and our key tenants at the Los Cruses
Innovation and Industrial Park uh this
project started back in October in 2016
an ordinance was adopted by city council
at the time we did do an administrative
amendment in March of 2019 to extend it
from 2000 to 2023 they um got into a
little bit of difficulty that
construction took longer than they
expected and they needed fiber that
didn't they didn't currently have at the
industrial park so we agreed to let them
extend their their
agreement so the state with this project
to close it out they did an economic
impact analysis so we put
$150,000 into this project um as a form
of a a lean on the property and you can
see here in between four and 5 years we
got a return on our
investment so it break down a little bit
more of the agreement itself the state
New Mexico Economic Development um
Department contributed $300,000 so they
got their their Roi in a little less
than S years we did the land lead for
$150,000 so our return was in about 4
and A2 years we were the Fiscal Agent
for the pro uh project and so since the
Lita is adopted via ordinance we have to
finalize via ordinance which is why
we're in front of you
today so with that um these are your
Council options
any questions go ahead Council k no
thank you that's sorry can you go back
to the thank you so much Elizabeth for
this presentation
um uh I just wanted to follow up and say
this is super interesting especially
given that I mean in on our agenda we
also had another leader project that was
approved in this consent agenda but um
what would you it's cool to see that we
had our return on our investment sooner
than the state did can you just tell me
what the Dynamics of that are and is
that do we get paid first and and um how
does that work I don't completely
understand how that works and then can
you tell me what the average um time to
return on investment in mostly As is
approximately just making a
guess I am going to turn it over to miss
Louise Marquez she is our representative
them from the economic develop New
Mexico Economic Development Department
and she because the state's the one that
does this for for us cool thank you but
no thank you for your presentation I I
really appreciate it so thank
you good afternoon Council and Mr Mayor
Louise Marcus with New Mexico Economic
Development um what I can tell you is
there's no such thing as an average
simply because every project is going to
be a different size um what I can say is
because the city's investment was
150,000 and the state's investment was
300,000 as money returns it's easier to
reach 150,000 and return on investment
so it goes proportionately to the
different enties it's specific to the
award amount okay so cool no that
absolutely answers my questions so thank
you I'd also like to congratulate city
council because it's a pretty exciting
time when you get to where you've
completed the actual project and you're
seeing the benefits of it so thank you
thank you thank you
Elizabeth anyone else
questions go ahead
Chris this is on the motion to approve
ordinance
3066 councelor McClure yes councelor
matis yes councelor Graham yes councelor
cran yes councelor flotes yes councelor
Beno yes
mayor
[Music]
yes next on the agenda is board
appointments so councelor matis
reappoints Patricia gyos to the library
board and then I'll need a motion in a
second
move to approve Graham second Corin oh
let me let me read the appointment first
I'm sorry that one was a an appointment
now
sorry okay this is for Marie Nixon
reappointment to the Health and Human
Services advisory
committee now I need a motion in a
second move to approve Corin
second
Graham this is on the motion to
reappoint Marney Nixon to the Health and
Human Services advisory committee
councelor McClure yes councelor matis
yes councelor Graham yes councelor Karan
yes councelor fles yes councelor vano
yes mayor
yes motion a motion in a second for Ted
Leonard a reappointment to the airport
Advisory Board move to
approve second
matis this is on the motion to reappoint
Ted Leonard to the airport Advisory
Board councelor McClure yes councelor
matis yes councelor Graham yes councelor
Karan yes councelor fles yes councelor
bomo yes mayor
yes a motion in a second for Michael
radkey reappointment to the airport
Advisory board so moved
second this is on the motion to
reappoint Michael radkey to the airport
Advisory Board councelor McClure yes
councelor matis yes councelor Graham yes
councelor cran yes councelor fles yes
councelor bomo yes mayor
yes a motion in a second for Stephanie
Hawkins new appointment to The Lodgers
tax Advisory
board so moved Graham
seconded
Cory this is on the motion to appoint
Stephanie Hawkins to The Lodgers tax
Advisory Board councelor McClair yes
councelor
matis yes councelor Graham yes councelor
cran yes councelor FLOTUS yes councelor
bomo yes mayor
yes I need a motion in a second for
Kevin Val perz new appointment to The
Lodgers tax Advisory Board
so move by Flores
second this is on the motion to appoint
Kevin valz to the lodger tax Advisory
Board councelor McClure yes councelor
matis yes councelor Graham yes councelor
cran yes councel
fles yes councelor bomo yes mayor
yes need a motion and second for Troy
Mitchell new appointment to the Capital
Improvements advisory committee so move
by Flores second
gram this is on the motion to appoint
Troy Mitchell to the Capital
Improvements advisory committee Council
mlar yes councelor matis yes councelor
Graham yes councelor Karan yes councelor
fles yes councelor Beno yes mayor
yes next we have a notice of proposed
proposed
ordinance uh there will be no public
discussion a councelor may ask staff for
clarification on the proposed ordinance
it's Council bill number
24-25 ordinance number 3067 an ordinance
amending ordinance number 3054 updating
the project participation agreement
between the city and 828 Productions LLC
to add clarifying language for the use
of the two 2,800,000 in Local Economic
Development act Leo funds dedicated to
the renovations of multiple
facilities bring it forward
[Music]
please next we have a city council
member board reports and comments I'll
start with councilor
mcer I think I'm going to speak a little
bit about um that I was pretty
conflicted about the ordinance that we
approved in that I think the clarity to
people was a little hard for them to
understand but I think uh councelor and
mayor PM beno's explanation is partially
how I feel as well and I also think that
the the ask is going to be especially
once we look at realize um being
Innovative with our developments and
rethinking how we actually build and be
good neighbors is going to be crucial
for example if we don't want to have a
community build that has any parking at
all and it becomes a cycling only and
they know that when they move in those
are novel ideas that are working in
other areas especially if we consider
infill and some of at least in district
one specifically so I was conflicted and
I wish we would have talked a little bit
more about how to lay some of their
concerns in terms of traffic because I
think what the Crux is is people worry
about traffic not necessarily about
people even though sometimes I get
conflicted when I hear oh the apartment
dwellers I was an apartment dweller for
10 years and I was also very
interested in my city so I I wonder
about that and I think it's a strange
narrative to have because not everybody
wants to live in a single family home or
can frankly so that's all I'd like to
say about that thank
you thank you councelor
mati nothing councelor
Graham thanks uh mayor I just wanted to
um give a quick thanks to Justin Garcia
with the Cru this bulletin uh a a story
that he worked on recently um posted a
couple of hours ago entitled public
officials grapple with threats raising
questions about local democracy and uh
covering some disturbing but definitely
needing to be covered issues um about
these kind of threats Justin looked I
brought in some of the national
statistics but also looked at the state
and local level and I was uh pleased to
participate in the story so uh shout
outs as always for local journalism and
give it a look thanks so
much thank you um thank you councelor
Karan thank you sorry um I wanted to
give a few quick notes and shout outs
but also to the question earlier I I
also think mayor P beno's sort of
thinking about this really um speaks to
it but I would also say as we continue
this conversation with realize there is
a lot of fear-mongering happening about
what your neighborhoods are going to
look like and I just really want to say
first of all um when you come to us um
shouting about folks who live in
apartments or folks who like me live in
a townhouse down the street from an
apartment in a vibrant beautiful
neighborhood that I wouldn't give up for
anything and truly love um realize that
the folks you're talking to might
actually live in the types of of space
that we're talking about increased
density um and and I will encourage
anyone who's sort of thinking critically
about realiz to consider both the
housing housing situation that we exist
in and the environmental situation that
we live in and understanding that denser
housing is always better for the
environment
um and and know that we're also working
on the traffic calming discussions very
seriously I think and and we've been
having those discussions I have a a list
of the streets in my district where um
folks are are crying out for traffic
caling so those are we can do all of
those things at the same time address
sustainability address the housing
crisis address safety in our
neighborhoods meaningfully um and also
just as a note don't let um internet
fearmongering and misinformation really
inform what you perceive of of things
like reforms of zoning that um really
give homeowners a lot more power to to
um build granny flats and other things
among a myriad of other things that are
part of that but but um please know when
you're yelling about duplexes that
you're talking to someone who lives in
one so um what you say subsequently
might be viewed with some skepticism uh
from my part although I can understand
why you might not want me in your
neighborhood um I do want to give a
couple shout outs what of of experiences
this week I planted a tree um in my
front yard and this is not you know a
story necessarily about planting the
tree by the way I got it on on what I
call the death row of plants at at one
of the big stores I'm I'm sorry to admit
it but I feel really bad for those
plants that are on those um racks the
clearance racks last year it survived
the winter so I decided I'd put it in my
front yard but first I called before I
dug I just want to give a quick shout
out to this infrastructure two Notes One
um you don't actually have to call for
for people like me who hate talking on
the phone you can do this online you can
request um someone to come and put the
marker ERS of where there are things
that are in the ground Utilities in
particular that you shouldn't dig into
and again um many people don't think
this applies to them because maybe you
don't dig holes so deep but in fact in
my case I I did um the hole was that
deep but I had I had called and there
were markers and I um did not um cause a
gas explosion in my neighborhood once
again good neighbor I'm trying to be um
but you can call 8 88811 or do it online
if you're
uh a millennial who hates talking on the
phone and they will come to your house
the city of Las crusis Daryl in
particular thank you to Las crusis
utilities Daryl who came out and marked
the water and gas in my front yard and
um centry link and XFinity will also
join in that and El Paso Electric also
join in but I wanted to give a shout out
just to darl who did that um in
particular from the city I want to also
mention that I met with uh Marshall
Martinez the executive director of
equality New Mexico about the city of
Las crusis and um mayor Pro bomo uh city
manager tooo was there and uh we were
talking about the municipal equality
index of Las cruus which I've mentioned
before but I really want to highlight
this because um we came into this
meeting with Gail Estell who is is the
city's Ada coordinator but also works on
our Municipal equality index um and
since she's been working at the city we
started out with a score of 47 and our
score is now8 89 out of 100 so special
shout out to Gail who has been working
extraordinarily diligently on this in
her time at the city and I'm really
proud of the work that she's done and
that the city has done to to think about
this um scorecard and I appreciate um
Marshall and EQ andm giving us some food
for thought for ways to move forward so
um thanks to everyone who came to that
and and um it's an exciting holds an
exciting future so um the last thing is
that this week uh I it's a crossover I
serve on the board of the food bank of
Road of the Roadrunner Food Bank um and
I think that they are looking to be
expanding their operations in Las cruus
and so this week I'll be meeting with
those folks to to think about how
they're they're supporting both local
food banks and um the community to the
South and the southern part of the um
district and also partnering with um
manufacturers in particular in wadis to
uh build a local Supply of food that can
be distributed to folks who need it so
I'm very excited about the potential
expansion and growth of Roadrunner Food
Bank here in Southern New Mexico so um
that's it thank
you thank you councilor Flores thank you
Mr Mayor I just have a couple of things
um the uh City Art board is going to be
participating in the maida event on
April
24th April 24th or 20 2 how we do that
it's like I see a four I see a seven um
April 27 it's going to be on our blasa
and um again the this is a second annual
um uh chalk the plaza and uh it invites
all um artists who want to um proceed
with uh the plan the theme is um uh
postcards from Las Cruses which I
understand to be things that are very
lusus it could be um I don't know it's
always our mountains but it could be a
cactus it could be a flower whatever at
any rate everyone's invited to
participate uh there are 10 spots though
so for those of you who are artists um
and the the and there's prizes I'm not
privy to what they are um there was
something else I wanted to bring up um
but it's skape I didn't write it down so
I forgot
um oh that's it thank
you thank you mayor pro thank you thanks
everyone um councelor Graham thank you
for the shout out to the bulletin
article by Justin Garcia I um also
participated in that article and I guess
I just really want to made a public
comment about it on my social media but
I wanted to hear from the Das just
publicly think think um
Ian um Chief story and detective Wilbur
for um the way that they
handled my situation and for taking it
so seriously and
for um just especially detective Wilbur
for being such a advocate for when I
didn't know what to do and um so I just
really wanted to thank you all very much
for holding space for my fear and my
anxious rants at times because um it's
very hard situation so thank you very
much um I also want to thank uh
Community of Hope um Nicole Martinez and
her staff for hosting a meeting last
week um with some of the neighboring bu
small businesses of Community of Hope
and soon to be Amadore Crossings um
housing um project and Natalie was there
as well and I just wanted to thank
everyone who came for engaging in that
meaningful
conversation um and for continuing to
engage in that conversation and then
additional shout out to Dr Schumacher
who has experienced significant amount
of grief in her location and I doesn't
go unnoticed and very much seen um but
additionally she hosted a free uh Vet
Clinic there at Community of Hope where
people came in and brought their pets
and she took care of them and it was
really beautiful and um I think it's
such an
important bridge building practice for
us to you know have these kinds of
conversations and engagements Beyond you
know the like three minute Podium um
talks here and so I I really just um
want to thank everybody um I had two
District Four open houses and I can't
thank Katrina and Grace enough for all
of the work that they did to put him
together um I don't know if this is
public yet but we are losing Grace back
to the LCPD Chief no bone to pick with
you Chief we're poaching her sorry
everybody he just gave me a thumbs up
and he looked very happy about it which
I am also happy about it but I'm also
very sad about it sorry Chief um to put
you on the
spot what but Grace you're wonderful and
you've been wonderful in this office and
um I'm excited that you'll continue the
work that you're not leaving the city
thankfully um but Katrina and Grace
helped tremendously with setting this up
oh no I lost my email here I wanted to
just specifically thank some people who
came um because the model that we did I
think involved a lot more staff than it
usually does um and they they came twice
they say two hours and they talked to so
many community members in in District 4
who had some real concerns who had
questions and they all were there to
answer them graciously so a ton of City
staff we had Animal Control Gino Jimenez
came to both meetings Economic
Development staff also came to uh both
meetings Chris Elina and Blair LCPD
codes officer roach and officer Ellis
Partners like nmdot were there as well
our project light team number one was
there even if they were getting calls
they were coming in and out Public Works
David C was the only one there the first
meeting and I want to note that so that
if Tony's hearing we can guilt him a
little bit because David had the longest
line ever there's so many people that
were wanting to talk to him and Tony
left him all by himself um but he did
come the second meeting so that was good
so we forgave him a little bit um
Partners like msia Valley Community of
Hope were there for both meetings as
well as uh legal a who you met here
today we had our LCPD Community
Advocates David um Charlie Vasco um
bolina and
Alicia um and then this last meeting a
couple members from the school board um
also came School Board member Nolan and
and tenorio and then of course we had
utilities uh Adrian wman who came to our
second one and then Community
Development who also came to our second
one as we were sort of adjusting from
the first one so there was a ton of
folks and I just want to express my
sinceriously I did mention earlier that
I I you know eani and mayor I would love
for us to talk with Community
Development about inclusionary zoning
unless that is something that's in
realiz I don't know if it is but I think
it is important that we talk about
having a tool for us to be able to offer
developers a density bonus with the with
the commitment that they save some of
those apartment units for and that they
make them affordable housing units and
so that's I feel is like a really
important tool for private Public
Partnerships to continue as we build
apartments and multif family dwellings
within the infill and then the last
thing I wanted to talk about was um I
know that we contract with security we
contract with the third party with
security for the down town and sometimes
even for our partners like a community
of Hope um or at least hope to do
provide that service for them in the
near future but I I'm hoping that in
that contract we can request additional
training for those security guards who
are in fact very much at the Forefront
of um navigating with folks who may have
mental illness folks who may have
substance use issues and may not have
the training to sort of deal and like
have those appropriate conversations
with folks you know um my stepdaughter
was walking a dog um she was dog sitting
and she was walking the dog on The
Downtown Plaza and one of the security
dogs the security guards barked at her
and so I just want us that if we're
Contracting with these folks that
they're providing an that they're
providing important and good customer
service and I'm hoping that we can talk
about how we can build into that
contract like mental uh Mental Health
First Aid training or things like that
that um I think are an important piece
of customer service Like Chief story has
talked about with PD as well so I will
stop talking there mayor thank you very
much okay thank you um just wanted to
note for the record a couple of the com
uh public comments the evaluator that
we're going to use to evaluate our City
Council meetings is is not a cost to the
city it is something that is provided
from the municipal league and that's why
I want to take advantage of that and
then also with that there are a lot of
things that the city is working on uh we
have a couple of work sessions that are
coming up with the budget and then with
also some ordinance to come so we are
looking at Public Safety we are looking
at Social well-being we are looking at
the homelessness situation and we are
looking at petty crime so those are the
things that we are working on and we are
going to move forward I just wanted to
mention the evaluator is no cost that is
something that is provided and then also
I did attend Central Elementary career
day so I I did go there on Friday but
also attended this weekend was the first
annual peon festival at Young Park the
green chamber was there the greater
chamber was there for the riv and
cutting because it was the inaugural
event I was very pleased because that is
something that is in our our backyard
that's our culture that's our
agriculture that's a staple in our
community and it was the first one and
it's great and I look forward to there's
a lot of vendors there of music and fun
and I think it's just going to get
bigger and bigger and we'll represent
the city of Las Cruses and the mass
Valley all together and then also uh
last night we had our banquet for the
mayor's top teams teens it was a great
great program a great event uh our
future is bright to see these these uh
Young students that are taking the
initiative to set a higher standard for
themselves is just going to represent
our community in the future so with that
I want to give a special shout out to
our councelor matis when he was mayor he
was a Founder so this was actually
number 17 that that came through so
thank you very much oh thank you for
that recognition and could same you said
such great future when you see these
kids and you meet them they have a lot
going for them and I think uh we know we
speak about a lot of negative but
there's so much positive out there when
you spend time with these top teens
thank you thank you mayor thank you
Council no thank you councelor mantis
it's a great event and we're just going
to continue to go and I I even mentioned
we're always looking for sponsors we're
always looking for for sponsors to help
us with this event so we're going to
start reaching out to those students 17
years ago that now now are probably real
successful that they can pay it forward
so uh uh with that I'll turn it over to
the city manager thank
you thank you mayor uh Enriquez and City
councilors he city manager just have a
few announcements number one uh
regarding the taxable General obligation
our go bonds for 2024 this is one that
our city treasurer set to share as
information uh just to keep you a prize
Bonds were sold by competitive sale on
March 14th 2024 Robert W be and Company
was the best bidder for the bonds the
sale amount was at par of 6 million as
directed with a premium of $
32,4
18350 net effective interest rate of
4.79% less than 10% purchase discounts
of
0.52% less than 4% bonds closed on April
11th 2024 City receives the bond
proceeds final payment on bonds
specified as August 1st 2032 which meet
ordinance
parameters this presentation fulfills
the final requirements of the ordinance
to report to you Council and mayor on
the details of the pricing certificate
and award certificate at a regularly
scheduled public meeting of
council all right well thank you uh to
our city treasur and all the work that
you and your team are doing uh with with
the bonds uh next there was a public
comment on Animal Control Ordinance up
and so just an update uh I appreciate
appr Barbara uh who is on teams right
now following us she was able to get an
update on the 11th of April uh talking
with PD uh and Gino and and joy WEA they
are working on the animal control uh uh
they are working on the Animal Welfare
ordinance so just want to give every
everyone heads up that they are uh they
have a solid draft and they're working
through that and what they're saying is
that they feel that they can approach
many of the concerns uh that have been
posted by the groups so um please stay
tuned on that um and more to come from
Chief and their team I'm sure uh
appreciate Sonia getting with uh with
many of the Departments one being ju
they are reviewing the new EPA
regulations for posos which is uh a
chemical uh that is man-made found uh in
many of the products including foam uh
that uh that trickles down into the
soils uh that's bad for humans causing
cancer so uh great news is we believe
our wells are within regulated
compliance um and so that's a great
things we appreciate Adrian and her team
uh keeping uh and and testing the waters
to make sure they're safe for our
residents uh so p p uh press release is
planned to be released later this week
so just wanted to give you all a heads
up on that
congratulations uh to our sustainability
team they have been awarded $500,000
from the Department of energy for the uh
for the plugged in for good alliance
uh this essentially means what they'll
do with the funds is uh along with the
sustainability Partners within the
community we'll develop a market-based
home retrofit program and skilled
Workforce to increase energy efficent
efficiency affordability and ensure
residents comfort and safety during
extreme heat
events uh last but not least we have
Museum our Museum team had two big
exhibit openers that Drew 390 attend
High School senior Aro and artist
Roberto Salas um additionally there was
an eclipse party uh that Drew about 500
attendees and oh uh last but not least
we have parks and wreck they have uh two
things happening uh art recycle show the
parks and W Department in collaboration
with keep Le's
beautiful uh will host the first ever
art recycling show the art recycle show
will be part of an Earth Day event from
5: to 8:00 p.m. Friday April 19th 2024
at Plaza deas Cruses uh for any
questions please reach out to
kcb and Great American cleanup this is a
call for volunteers so if you know
anyone uh mayor counselors please reach
out to uh and anyone who's interested uh
in the community please reach out to uh
kcb uh they will have a clean up from
8:00 a.m. to noon on Saturday April 27th
a lunch will be provided for all
volunteers from 12: to 2: uh on April
27th each um at Walmart Super Center
locations uh within the city of Las
Cruses individual volunteer groups and
Civic organizations are invited to
register for this year's Great American
cleanup event public can do their
household cleanup and dispose of trash
with containers around the city uh for
more information reach out to
kcb thank you mayor councel that is
all have a
presentation he read it oh yeah I read
it I thought he had a
presentation that's it motion to
adjourn so move Graham
second this is on the motion to adjourn
the meeting councelor McClure yes
councilor matis yes councelor Graham yes
councelor cran yes councelor
flus
toour of course yes councelor Beno yes
mayor yes
on