Good afternoon. Welcome to city
council work session for March
25th, 2024. It's approximately 1
p.m. I am mayor Enriquez. 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 Las Cruces Police
and Las Cruces Fire Department.
If you'll join me in the Pledge
of Allegiance. 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 liberty and
justice for all
.
First of all, the jobs of the
week, we have, someone. Good
afternoon, everyone. My name is
Sarah Rainey, and I am the one
stop coordinator for the
Southwest region of the
workforce Connection. Whoops.
That's not opening. Let me try
one more time. We'll see if
it'll open. Maybe there's no
jobs. Actually, there's a ton of
them. There's a ton of them.
It's not wanting to open.
So it looks like Larry's account
is logged in, so maybe that.
Okay Perfect
.
So. I'll say
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All right. We'll try one more
time. Here There we go. All
right. For jobs of the week. For
March, for the week of March
25th. We have for the city of
Las Cruces. We have an urban
planner, the position starts at
53,000, and the posting closes
on for one. We also have for the
city a juvenile justice
continuum coordinator position
starts at $24 an hour, and it is
a continuous posting for White
Sands Missile Range. We have a
program manager for the Qualis
Corporation, the pay is
depending upon experience and
open until filled for Garcia's
janitorial services. We have a
part time janitor which was
about 30 hours a week. Is what
they put in their posting. T%-pr
and the posting closes on for
18. For natural gas, there's a
service technician, the position
starts at 1950 an hour and the
posting closes on the 14th as
well, for Casa de Peregrinos, we
have an intake coordinator at
the Central Pantry. That
position starts at $14 an hour
and closes on the 10th of April.
Just a reminder, this week we
have two major events here in
the city of Las Cruces. We have
the mock rocket that is actually
tomorrow where our local juniors
and seniors will be doing
interviews with potential
employers and professionals
across the area to learn how to
present themselves
professionally. Learn this to
speak and dress, and all of the
ins and outs of interviewing
appropriately as well. We have
on Wednesday at the, convention
Center. We have our spring and
to your new career, we have a
ton of employers coming that
will be hiring, interviewing,
potential employers, employees.
So if you're interested in a new
career or just looking for
something new, come and join us
over there at the convention
center from 2 to 530. We will
have priority of service from 1
to 2 for veterans. So veterans
please come a little bit
earlier. Also for the veterans
April 1st, we still have the
heroes hiring heroes event, at
the Las Cruces American Legion
Post ten. And then we have those
in Spanish as well. As always,
if you have any questions, feel
free to call us at 5252462 50 or
come see us at the Alameda
office. Thank you all. Okay.
Thank you sir. Thanks for being
with us. Amy, the Phoenix.
Hello, everyone. I'm Amy de
Felix with the animal services
center of the Mesilla Valley.
I'm gonna go ahead and get this
started. And we always start off
with our Cat of the week. Our
cat of the week this week. His
name is Ken. His number 71521.
And he says, I'm a young cat
full of energy and playfulness.
I absolutely love getting pet.
So much that if you aren't
actively petting me, I will give
you frequent headbutts to make
you pet me. Since I have the
soul of a wildcat with the heart
of a spoiled house cat, my ideal
home will have lots of cat
furniture and toys to keep me
enriched and stimulated, while
also showering me with love. And
then we also have our dog of the
week. Her name is Joy. Her
number is 61916 and she says I'm
playful and loving, so it's such
a surprise to everyone that I'm
still waiting for my forever
home. I love getting pets and
attention and I do well with
other dogs. My perfect day
includes going for a nice walk,
playing with my toys, and then
getting pets and cuddles for my
favorite humans. Could you
picture yourself in this
scenario? Then come by and see
me this week and some events
going on. We still have our
madness adoption special going
on from now until the end of
March. So this coming Saturday,
adoptions are all discounted.
All sterilized animals are
adopted at any donation amount
of your choosing, and then
unsterilized animals are $45.
And of course they will be
sterilized before going home, we
do have an off site adoption
event at the Pizza Hut on North
Main this Saturday, and we're
going to be there from 10 a.m.
to 1 p.m. and I'd like to let
everyone know, remind everyone
that the Acmv will be closed in
observance of Easter Sunday. We
will have limited hours for
office staff to reach out to
owners, and needing to reclaim
any missing animals that they
might see at the Ascmv and on
Facebook and Instagram. The day
on Easter Sunday will be posting
which on call number to call and
then specified times in case you
need to reclaim your missing
animal on Easter. And here are
all of our links, of course, our
website, as tv.org all over
social media. So Facebook,
Instagram, TikTok and our
podcast is on YouTube and
Spotify and Apple Podcasts as
well. And that's all I have.
Thank you. All right. Thank you.
Next we will for agenda items
3.1. We don't need good nuisance
abatement team activity levels
right
.
Good afternoon, mayor Enriquez
and members of City Council,
Larry Nichols, community
development. I'll just take a
moment. I had myself logged in,
but I needed to log out, and
we're logged back in now. Thank
you. Once again, Larry Nichols
with the community development,
thank you very much for me, for
being here today to speak to you
about the nuisance abatement
team. I last spoke to you about
the nuisance abatement team at
the city council budget retreat
and at that time, we mentioned
that, that we had a different,
name for the nat, before it was
used primarily to acquire
properties for the purpose of,
of building affordable housing
and finding those properties
that could be, acquired,
demolished. And for new
projects. But we have found that
what was happening with that, it
wasn't really helping us to
abate some of the blighted
properties that we have in our
neighborhoods, blighted
properties are many different
forms. And we'll discuss we'll
discuss those. But we kind of
restructured the nuisance
abatement team, the nuisance
abatement team is composed of
several city staff, community
development, it's also chief
Smith, fire Marshal Landavazo,
Officer Roach, and our legal
department, primarily with, Mr.
Douglas. So our goals are to
improve the neighborhood safety
and environment. And we've been
hearing quite a bit of that in
recent council meetings, we find
that, there are conditions that
are properties that are vacant
and they're being occupied by
unauthorized entry, the harbor,
some activities that have caused
the neighbors to be concerned
about, what is going on in their
neighborhood. And so we have
taken a real effort to work on
abating those. So our goal is to
improve the neighborhood safety
and environment. We try to
achieve that through voluntary
compliance, working with the
responsible property owner. And
our first effort is to engage
with them to ask for abatement,
in any form it might be whether
it's cleaning up the property,
whether it's board and securing
the property or even getting to
our last resort, which is
condemnation and demolition. We
provide notices by postings of
the abatement order through
through our code enforcement
officers primarily, and issued
after we have done our property
report and to notify the owner
of the conditions that need or
require abatement. And those
property reports are available
to the public, we have them
available on the website, on the
ones that are going to the
demolition and condemnation, we
always afford due process. Yes,
if a property is issued an order
of condemnation, the property
owner has the right of appeal.
And they have 15 days to file
their appeal. And then the
appeal will come to City Council
for final decision abatement.
Compliance. We use our building
codes, are the primarily for
board and secure and
condemnation demolition. Our
feature project identification,
if we find a property that the
property owner for a variety of
reasons, determines that they
will not do anything with the
property to abate the property,
as the notice requires, then we
go through a series of process
with notices, issue of citations
, hopefully achieve the board
and secure, and as I mentioned
earlier, our last resort would
be condemnation and demolition.
Should the city have to
undertake the demolition at our
cost, we do filing with Dona Ana
County Records to recover our
costs, for the demolition. So
here's the, kind of the process
that we use that we complainer's
received, it can be filed in
many different lines. 911 online
with city council, with code
officers, if the violation is
found to be a yes, it goes to
the council. The codes officer
contacts the property owner to,
talk about the violation. If
it's a no, then the violation is
not found. Then the case is
closed. So we go down the last,
the. Yes, we find that there's a
re-inspection may be required
after we have notified the owner
to see if it has been any of the
abatement has been achieved, if
it's a yes, then the case is
closed and the records are
maintained. If it turns out that
the re-inspection shows that
there has been no abatement
achieved with the investigation
and the inspection, then the
code issues, citation is issued
for the violation. When that is
issued, then it goes down to for
Re-inspection again to see if
there has been any compliance.
If it is, yes, the case is
closed. If it's a no, the code
goes, goes to code, informs the
legal department and the notice
is sent by mail. By registered
mail for the abatement. It, it
goes to a hearing, and a hearing
can be requested. And then if
the hearing is set, then the and
the hearing is determined, the
case is resolved. At that point,
the compliance case is closed.
If it's a no, and we obtain a
quotes for abatement, abatement
or demolition abatement can be
achieved by board and secure as
well. And we may have to get
bids on what the costing is for
that. If the owner is not,
volunteering to do it on their
own accord. So we monitor and
secure and clean and lean, as,
as required. The property
requires demolition. It goes to.
Yes well, first of all, if it
goes to no, then the lien is
placed in district court as as
needed. If needed. If it's a
yes, the resolution of the
condemnation, goes to City
Council. The city council,
considers the case. If approved,
then the demolition is
accomplished at city expense.
Then Eileen is placed on the
property. Our abatement, tools
that we use are our building
codes, the ones that we have
recently adopted, which is the
most recent edition of the
International Code Council. The
2021 codes, the building code,
the International fire code, the
International Residential Code,
and the first time we've had the
international property
maintenance code, but that was
adopted, this last fall. And
with that, I'll ask, Fire
Marshal Landavazo to speak to
you about some of our, blighted
properties. Good afternoon,
mayor. Members of council,
Battalion chief Fire Marshal
Michael Russell. For the record,
I just wanted to share with you
some of the properties that our
team aims to abate, on the left
here, you see. 1245 Van Patten,
we've had two fires at this
location, and you can see the
state of the property, obviously
unsafe to occupants or first
responders on the right here we
have, 375 karat, I believe
Council is already given
guidance to demolish this
property, but we have had eight,
eight fires here, going back to
July of 22. And as you can see,
the roof is no longer there. The
walls are pretty unstable. And
again, very unsafe for any
occupants or first responders
having to respond there for
fires or EMS calls. Here's
another property. 1308 Brownlee,
from the outside, doesn't look
too bad, but once you go inside,
you can see the wood frame and
the rafters are charred all the
way through, making it an
unstable structure. And again,
unsafe. Go back, we've had 25
calls for service at this
property in the last year,
including two fires and six
trespass laws. So this this is
one we definitely want to abate,
900, we have had four calls of
service in the last year at this
one, including one fire. And as
you can see, the inside is
pretty damaged and presents
conditions that are not safe for
public or first responders.
Again But that's just kind of
the kind of idea of the
properties that we're aiming to
abate. Thank you. One of the
more notable properties that we
handled this last year was the
Kilby Motel, and we took, action
on that. And it was abated, the
owner, did take underneath the,
the abatement through demolition
. Another one that we addressed
was, for ten a for 30, excuse
me, for 30 South Main, of that
property had been in a
condition, probably recall
seeing this, this picture as you
drove down Main Street on a
number of times that was in that
condition, basically unfinished,
for about 15 years, there were a
number of service calls,
required. There was unauthorized
entry to the building and
basically it was just an eyesore
, for the city. And we were able
to work with the owner, and he
agreed to demolish the building,
at his as his cost. There is the
site, that once it is, been
demolished and cleared, an
aerial view, that is the three
structures you see in the upper
image here. That was the roofing
of that structure. And then this
was the very last, scene that
was seen on, on the demolition.
We have on that dashboard. And
I'm thinking. I think when I
logged out, I think I lost my
link to this, Oh, I'm probably
not going to be able to display
it now, but I was going to show
you that what we have on on that
dashboard is the way we
recognize we recognize our, our
investigations and our tracking.
If I can try it
.
I think it's not going to allow
me to get back to my link. I'll
just explain what what was on
the link, it showed that we have
our different, levels of
investigation. We have what we
call level one, level two and
level three. Level one is the,
things such as weed and debris
or on a abandoned vehicles in
the front yard, that type of
thing, level two is one is
vacant buildings, and unsafe
structures. And then level
three, we call our emergency or
urgent properties that need
attention, in our direction
right away because they
represent a condition for a
neighborhood that is, both
unsafe and a detriment to the
neighborhood. So we have 163 of
those properties, and we have
them divided up into all
districts, each each district,
each one of your districts. We
have the properties located.
And, we can provide that
information to you, and then we
have established a, a request
for, we call them our priority,
our top 11. That will be
addressing this year, pursuing
abatement with the property
owners, in some cases, boarded
and secure and maintain secure
other cases. Other cases will
be, elevate to either
condemnation or demolition on,
we have, we, we engage in this
activity, every single day, we
take the request that you have
for us to look at and we
investigate those, we have the
ones that we, investigate that
we have found, either through
the police department or the
fire department, that are
required to be investigated and
that basically is my, our
presentation today. I have,
members of the Gnat abatement
team here to answer questions
that you may have for us. Thank
you. Thank you. Any questions
from council, Council member
Clark? I have two questions, the
first one is, does the workflow
change if it's, say, a
contributing building in a
historic area, is that something
you guys look at? Enriquez. And
Councilor McClure, we, yes, we
have several different overlays
in the city, South Mesquite,
historic overlay is one of our
historic districts, Alameda
depot is another, but what the
process we have, if we have a
property in one of those
districts, we have a process
that we if it's going to go to
demolition, three agencies, the
city agencies, reviews that the
building department, which
involves inspectors and the
building official, and it
involves the utility company,
looking at the utilities and how
they are, they need to be
addressed. And then the third
review is the historical
preservation specialist to see
if there is a if the property is
either, contributing or non
contributing. Thank you. The
other question I had was, say
it's demolished and the land is
sitting there is does that just
sit there until something else
happens to it or until the
property owner decides to do
something with it. Mayor
Enriquez and Councilor McClure,
the thing about property,
ownership is that it does have
it does have its privileges. And
if the property owner,
determines that they are going
to have their property be
available for a new structure or
a new use, in many cases,
sometimes they ask for a
rezoning so they could go into
maybe a commercial venture, but
that, that, decision making
about what happens to their
property, after it's abated is
the is the property owners.
Thank you. That's all. Councilor
any. Policy, Laura, I will have
four minutes to read 7000 pages
of different laws, but do you do
you give special consideration
for the historical sites? And
you do for the society? As part
of the review? Yes yes. Mayor
Enriquez and Counselor Mattis,
when a property is in the
historic district, the historic
preservation specialist who is
the liaison to the Historical
Preservation Commission will,
place it on their agenda for
review. It's also taken to the
State Historic Preservation
Office for a determination if
it's unclear, for determination,
if it is a contributing property
or not. Thank you. Counselor
Curran. Obviously the thank you,
mayor. Thank you, Larry, for
this presentation. The places
that you showed us are hazardous
and un un inhabitable. But I'm
curious, I think about I think,
there are other cities or
nations where places are on the
margins, I guess, where they're
in this in the workflow and, and
perhaps in the nuisance
abatement conversation that
where people are living in those
spaces, they may be, old motels
like the Kilby, but I think
there are other parallel ones.
Is there a process that accounts
for, for those folks and
potentially to support landlords
and remediating things to make
things habitable? Are there are
there opportunities for them to
do that? And how is that the
folks who are, in in places that
are habitable or even places we
have seen a few homes where it
sounded like people were living,
maybe because they owned it, or
maybe maybe because they were
renting in a very sort of
questionable situation. But is
there what are the processes
when someone's living in a space
that that might be labeled as a
nuisance or in this process?
Yes. Mayor Enriquez and
Councilor Karen. What we have,
have not received a complaint.
And a complaint is, as I
mentioned earlier, it can come
from several different sources,
but many times the complaint
comes from the people that are
occupying one of these
structures, and the complaints
are in the nature of, I don't
have plumbing or I don't have
hot water or I don't have
heating or cooling, and so with
our adoption of the property
maintenance code, we are able
now to go to the interior and
see those conditions and
determine, you know, how they
can be addressed, it would still
be the, the property owners,
expense to do that, if we find
that there are conditions that
are unsafe, unsanitary,
uninhabitable, well, then we do
ask that the occupants vacate
the property until it can be
abated or corrected. Thank you.
That's actually a pretty bleak,
response, but I appreciate
understanding what the process
is for that. Thank you for
letting us know what the process
is, are there any supports you
mentioned the property
management or the property, the
interior sort of ability to go
in and look at the interior
conditions? Are there any
resources that exist for
landlords for bringing up their,
their places to habitable,
economic development related
resources, potential funding
from I don't know what places or
if you know of those you might
not or maybe they don't exist.
Do you have any references or or
avenues for that? Yeah. Mayor
Enriquez and Councilor Karen, I
know that the city has through
the, well, I think some from the
economic Development Department,
but I believe also through the
housing program, they have some,
resources that people can apply
for either grants or funding to,
to take care of the conditions,
I think I remember hearing about
a number of those over the past
year, so those are a couple of
the avenues that are available,
I don't know that we have the
that team doesn't have that,
that follow through, if you
will. Once we haven't made a
determination to say this is
what you can do, we have some
funding available for you. Grant
available for you, either for
relocation or for, correcting
the deficiencies. Thank you.
Yes, ma'am. Yes, councilor
Graham. Oh. Excuse me. Hi. Thank
you so much, Larry and I can
only call you Lonzo. I'm sorry.
Bessie. Lonzo, for the,
presentation on following on
with what? Councilor Corrine
brought up. When we do have
these situations where folks are
living in these properties in
unsafe conditions, what is the
process for coordinating both
with other departments in the
city, looking at you. Natalie
Green, I know everyone's always
looking at Natalie Green or our
amazing external community
partners looking at you.
Executive director Nicole
Martinez of Community of Hope,
how are we coordinating to find
these folks a soft landing
place? Any kind of a landing
place? At what point are
partners brought in who are
going to help mitigate the
collateral damage of the of
people who and I recognize these
are not conditions where people
need to be living. However
what's that process? Mayor and
councilor Graham, I probably I
probably need to defer to either
of the housing group or to the
community hope, but I can
relate. One experience that we
had, which was with the Kilby
Motel, and when we found that
those conditions were, unsafe
and unoccupiable for the
inhabitants, we did contact the
community of Hope. And they came
to the site and they spoke to
the residents about having a
help with the community of Hope.
How much notice were they? Were
they given in that case and that
in the community partners?
Because I think my concern, I
know there are few properties in
town where I think we're kind of
on the precipice of this sort of
situation, and I want us to act
in good faith as much as
possible and give everyone the
chance to try to get their
resources in place. So I guess I
just if the process is not laid
out, you know, set down, I would
love to see that happen
somewhere in that decision tree,
you know, collaboration with
community partners when there
are residents in these, in these
facilities or in these
properties? Yes. Council mayor
Enriquez Councilor Graham, in
that one example I gave you, we
began the inspections and
citations, on that property. I
think during that whole year,
there were over 300 calls for
service. But we did an
inspection in late November,
early December of that year, and
we listed with all of the
corrections that needed to be
made with the with the landowner
or the property owner, they said
they would begin to debate those
and we said we'll return in
three months. We gave three
months for them to be worked,
and we returned in three months
and found that little or no
corrections or deficiencies had
been addressed. And then that's
when we had took the action and
said, we need to have these,
these occupants relocated. Now
And that's when we were
contacted, I believe, and I
believe, I'm almost certain
about this, but I can say and
defer to community of Hope for
other answers. But I know that
there were many of those
occupants that they were
receiving assistance from
community Hope to be in that
location. So I think that there
was an information that, with
their conditions, if they were
not improved, they would have to
be relocated. Okay. Understood,
thanks. And. Yeah, I'll just
I'll go back just to see if we
can get something a little more,
you know, codified, written
down, set in stone, just so we
make sure that, yeah, everyone
is having the best chance
possible for good outcomes.
Thank you. Thank you, mayor.
Thank you. Councilor. Councilor.
Floaters. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
I just want to on, a question
that, Councilor Cohen brought up
about, any sort of, city
ordinance that we might have in
regards to landlord tenant, the
housing committee, when I was
first on council, seven going on
eight years ago, working with
another city attorney. We worked
on a landlord tenant and to give
the landlord and the tenant
equity or a balance, for some
reason, you know, the finger
pointing game, it never came to
light. It never came to city
Council. It was blocked. And I,
I can only speculate as to what
happened, maybe, maybe somewhere
in the annals of, our safe
keeping of proposed legislation,
ordinance, we have it somewhere,
but we went through it with a
fine tooth comb at the time,
that and other before Covid, we
had many, many people
participate, in that committee.
We had different people,
different organizations that
were represented. Nicole,
Martinez was there. I she's the
only one I see here who was,
present at the time insofar as
community. But, but, Rose Garcia
participated and, many people
participated. And for the life
of me, because things get kind
of mysterious sometimes we don't
get all the information, but it,
we wanted to avoid the problem
of someone being unhoused based
on the on the actions of a
landlord. You know, a slumlord,
you know, for a better word,
and, and to give the landlord,
or landlady, their equal, rights
on this, and, and I think that
would be helpful. I think that
would be able to give people
notice. So I think that would be
, that would address the, the
notice process that, Councilor
Corrine brought up and all of
that was covered, advanced, but,
insofar as the nat, doesn't not
have money to help someone
restore their, their home in the
event, in the event that it is
salvageable or is that money
gone or where did that money
come from, Mayor Enriquez and
Councilor Flores, the Nat
program, funding that is
available is, solely devoted to
demolition processing. Or
abatement either boarded and
secure or, securing their
property, there's not monies
funded there for, relocation. In
fact, we have, a council budget
requests for monies for, for the
Nat program. Okay You don't have
it now, but it has had funds
specific designated specifically
to help someone. Get their home
up to code, no, not through the
Nat program. No, ma'am. Okay
Well, okay, I see Doctor Dennis.
Not Okay. So I don't have the
best memory in that regard, but
there was. I just remember when
David Dolan was here and we
attended several meetings,
several meetings, I thought
there were fun. So I it might
have been from another source,
but there's no source whatsoever
from which someone, a landlord
who doesn't have the or an
owner. Excuse me. Forget the
landlord situation, but an owner
of a home, there aren't any
funds that are provided by the
city to do that. Mayor Enriquez
and Councilor Flores, I don't
have knowledge of those funds. I
know that there aren't any,
allocated to the Nat program.
Yeah Thank you, Mr. Nichols.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you.
Councilor. Anyone else,
councilor Jason Maloney, the
funding for those in your
department have really one of,
the trend for, safe. I of, for
access for ambulances. There are
flooding. There are tanks. And
the safety of the train and
Cruces that have come to me
about minimalist. I see Mayor
Enriquez and Councilor Mattis,
we have had, complaints from
some tenants and trailer and
mobile homes, I don't know that
we have done a complete trailer
park. Inspection, kind of a
overall inspection, I would ask
maybe Officer Roach to rely on
some of his experience if he
might, recall any of those type
of inspections or that were done
. Good afternoon. Mayor,
councilors, reference to the any
inspections for trailer park
specific, I don't know of any
that have been done. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. Can you state your
name for the record? My
apologies. Michael Roach with
code enforcement. So I don't
know of any, inspections per se,
directly for to a trailer park
as a whole, typically for the.
Net program, we're looking
specifically at the individual
locations or, flats, we don't
have anything on the net list
that I'm aware of, of, trailer
in a trailer park specific that
the net program is, is looking
into. Does that answer your
questions? Yes, sir. Thank you.
Anyone else? Okay, well. Thank
you. Mr. Nichols, I just wanted
to follow the United States with
the program. In that team,
there's two separate issues. One
discussing here. Those those
structures are occupied and
those that are unoccupied. When
you look at occupied, vacant and
abandoned buildings, that's when
I'm looking at the abatement.
That's when we're looking at the
demolition. Because, of the
underlying values of the illegal
entry of the illegal nuisance
and crime that take place, that
that police department also
engage in these calls or
response to calls them. And
those are when we're looking at
the numbers case scenario. And
so when we get to the situation
where the residents or the
occupancy is occupied in. The
case in Nevada, it develops into
a more sensitive and, take more
precautions and, and
notifications and things of
that. And, and just because
they're based on lessons learned
along the way, I couldn't have
been more optimistic to respond
to, to some of those issues. But
by any 1.2 million people
displaced and things of that
nature. But, the nuisance
abatement is definitely there
for abandoned buildings. And the
positive things are for our
community, to our responders
economy. Thank you, Mayor, city
councilor, Councilor Gray. So I
have a critical question of how
we approach entrepreneurs, and
other councilors as well. That's
a great question. What we are
doing is learning from, from the
past is we've, and thanks to Tom
Martinez, who's, presented to
the city, she presents a
presentation back, in the fall,
it was again about the need to
invest in these encampments.
And, after station on the front
line, we've we've talked. I
appreciate her, entertaining me
to meet with her to see, and
sort of explain what this
presentation is and the
philosophies and the principles
of the is something that we've,
discussing a little and we've
met with police, we've met with
fire, we've met with community
management on how we can
implement, the same philosophies
on how we can use is the same
philosophy on how we approach,
what the motels in town that
we're dealing with so that we
can, learn from what we've done
in the past, to. She performed
all the time, but but she's
said, if we can give her this 30
day routine to, to share the
resources with, with those so we
can find a soft landing, find
another housing opportunity.
She's mentioned some grant
opportunities that, other
municipalities have won, in, in
in the past. And so we're
looking into that another
opportunities on how we can
find, transition funds for, for
those in occupied facilities to
find them, another transition
when it comes to housing, and so
this isn't something where we,
as a board of studies is very,
very companies are aware, that
these individuals, they do they
go to a place of shelter. And so
we, we do understand the matters
at hand, we're very, sensitive
to the things that Nicole, and,
and her partners as well as
Legislative Council, be aware of
. Those are things that we
definitely do support by. What
we are doing, and we appreciate
the partners and community such
as Nicole, to enlighten,
enlighten us and make sure that
we find a place that's right for
everyone. Thank you. Okay. This
morning, members of the public
want to speak.
Nicole Martinez, director of
Mesilla Valley community of
Hope. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Members of council, I feel like
this is sort of a related topic,
although, housing, could take
its own work session. So I think
just sort of tied into what we
were talking about, that, we're
really on a tipping edge of not
having, you know, enough
affordable housing units in our
community, this tipping point of
having even more people, being
unhoused in our community. And
so we're really aware of our
housing opportunities. And
sometimes it means places that,
we, we might not think are our
own standards, but do pass
inspections, and then from that
point on, sometimes if we have,
you know, residents that have
big challenges, the units might
deteriorate somewhat. So I did
want to point out that there are
city Arpa funds that the
community of Hope applied for
was awarded. And so in those
situations when you're doing
possibly a abatement on an
occupied apartment complex, we
have said for anybody that is
using a community of Hope
voucher, that we can use our
Arpa funding to mitigate that,
that risk to the client and the
landlord. So I know there are
some properties right now being
looked at, there haven't been
great, timeline notices. So I
think that this is just like a
call to say, like, let's let's
give some more notice to
community of Hope. If these are
units where they might have
residents, there and where
possibly community of Hope could
help that landlord bring the
units up to code. We would love
to be able to do that,
especially if it was our
residents that caused any of
those damages. That's what the
Arpa funding was for so that we
could keep them there. I realize
that doesn't mean that it could
bring all of the units up to
standard, but those are case by
case scenarios. Seeing how many
of them aren't passing
inspection and how we can
improve. So I just want to make
sure that everybody knows that
there is that funding for our
vouchers, you know, counselor
McClure, I believe last week
talked about, you know, one of
her constituents talking about
the rising rents. And we were
just seeing that repeatedly.
We've had several apartment
complexes that we've been
working with raise their rents,
doubling the rents with only a
few months notice, pricing many
of the people out. So units that
that were once about 550 are now
going for about 850, anybody on,
you know, Social Security the
first year disability is getting
943. So. Well outside of what
they can afford. And we're not
just talking a couple of
complexes. I mean, we're talking
about like at least eight
complexes that we know of that
are hundreds of units. So, we're
really interested in keeping
what we have and bringing it up
to code and working as best we
can, making sure we have
appropriate timelines to find
other avenues if we need to. And
I appreciate the reaching out
that that we do get so that we
can help with that. But maybe if
there is something we can do
when there are, you know,
meetings that are being had,
even including, I think, Housing
Department in those meetings,
within CLC making sure that
they're aware and at those
meetings so they can work with
us directly as well. We want to
be as helpful as possible, of
course we also need to call on
our, legislators to make sure
that we are meeting fair market
rents that that, you know, we
can get some improvements and
raise that ceiling for the fair
market rent so that we can use
our vouchers because we're
literally at risk of turning
away hundreds of dollars that
we, you know, apply for every
year for vouchers. And when
those leave the city, then
that's really competitive, hard
to get those back. So we're
looking at losing staffing,
looking at losing tons of rental
assistance that we've been
really successful in getting
from HUD and MFA in the VA and
the city of Las Cruces. And just
to note, too, that, you know,
sometimes we're using even city
funded housing vouchers through
the tenant based rental
assistance program on some of
these properties that need some
improvements. And that's when we
really would look toward our
landlord risk mitigation funds
through Arpa to help improve
those conditions. Thank you.
Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Come on.
Hello, mayor. City councilors,
thank you so much for allowing
us public comment on this
important subject, I just wanted
to I mean, yes, yes, my name is
Martha Rodriguez, and I am the
president of Las Esperanzas, a
neighborhood organization in the
Mesquite Historic District. And
I'm here, to, just, a word of
caution to all of us, you know,
as number one, of course, is to
make sure that, people who live
in those properties do, find a
resource to find another
location. And I think that it
would be important, to include
that in the process, because
right now I don't see anything
in writing that says, okay,
well, we're going to do this. If
somebody is going to be, miss,
unhoused, then we're going to do
this. This is the process. We're
going to take a second important
part that I am, that that was
the reason that I'm here is that
we want to make sure that,
historic, preservation is also
at the at, up there for all of
us in this city, you know, it
just makes me so upset and so
sad to see buildings that can be
restored, destroyed, my husband
and I restore historic
properties, and I'm sorry I lost
the picture. I wanted to show
it, at least to the mayor. I
wanted to show you a property
that was about to be demolished.
It was in horrible condition.
Often, it was secure, though, so
it, you know, it didn't, there
were no, there were there wasn't
anybody living there or going in
there because the property was
secured. But, we were able to
restore that property, and it's
beautiful. Now, I mean it. I
really want you to see these
pictures, but every time that we
destroy one of those historic
properties, we destroy our
history. I mean, look at Mesilla
. People go to Mesilla, they're
drawn to Mesilla. Why Why?
Because of their beautiful,
preserved historic properties is
it's not necessarily because of
the food, because we have
wonderful restaurants here in
Las Cruces. Right? We have
really good food here, too. But
people go over there to that
little town. Why Because they
know how to preserve their
history. They know how to
preserve their historic
properties. So please, I
encourage you on this, process
that we saw today. We didn't see
anything about historic
preservation, even though when
asked. Yes, the response was,
yes. We go to, to the, historic
preservation, person liaison is
my time up and, but it's not in
the process. I don't see it
written in the process. So if
somebody's not there who doesn't
know what the process is, and
they go and look at the process,
it's not part of the steps that
are taken for these historic
properties. There's no steps
there to talk about, unhoused
people that are going to be
unhoused. So those two things I
encourage you to please ask, put
them in the process because
otherwise we have no assurance
that those historic properties
are going to be preserved. If at
all possible. And those people
that are going to be unhoused
are not going to be left out in
the cold. So thank you. All
right. Thank you, ma'am. Thank
you. Yes, ma'am. Go ahead
.
Good afternoon. Mayor. City
councilors. My name is Deb
Dennis, I'm really delighted
with the discussion today and
the questions that are being
asked. And I'm very much
encouraged by suggestions that
I'm hearing from council. And
I'd simply like to encourage
what I've heard. One thing I'd
like to do real quickly is
distinguish, between vacant
housing and occupied,
understandably, there's great
concern for, individuals and
occupied housing, that is
undergoing abatement. Our
concern with historic
preservation often has to do
with the vacant and abandoned
housing, because what ends up
happening is that when people
don't pay their property taxes
and fall in arrears, the city
acquires the property, and then
they let it sit, I gave you an
example already of what's
happening at 643 East Picacho.
What happens is once the city
owns it and they say it needs
abatement, as with 643 East
Picacho, they boarded up and
then they say, well, the
property owner isn't abating it.
So we'll just go ahead and
demolish it. And as you know,
I've pointed out that in chapter
two they're going they're saying
that city owned property does
not have to go through the
historic Preservation Commission
or any process to be demolished.
So the real concern or the
vacant properties that are city
owned in historic districts or
simply historic properties,
because the other interesting
thing about the ordinance is it
does not include, as you might
think, all historic property
only properties that are in
historic districts. And so they
very cheerfully went out the
weekend before Christmas. And
destroyed a 1920 home on North
Tornillo. Why? Because they can.
It's not in a historic district.
It So as long as a property is
not in a historic district, it's
not. It has no. The city
development thinks they can do
anything they want with it
without consultation. As what
happened with this North
Tennille property. What I'd like
to come back to though, and is
more important, is let's find
funding for adaptive reuse as
community development, not
everything they do is focused on
demolition. Let's find funding
for them to do something other
than demolition. I would like to
suggest I'll just finish the
sentence. Let's put the
experience and expertise of
economic development and
specifically the experience of
the neighborhood services
program, together with community
development, and get them
working to find the funding and
the programing. So that houses
don't have to be demolished, but
they can be adapted for reuse.
Thank you. Thank you, now, just
one second. Go ahead, councilor
chair, question for you. Thank
you, Mr. Mayor. And thank you,
Doctor Dennis, you said that if
the property isn't in a in an
historic district, no
consideration is given to that
particular property. That's
correct. Who makes that decision
? The state or the city? The
city? The city says that if it's
not the city, if the if the
property is outside a historic
district, the Historic
Preservation Commission is not
permitted to make any
recommendations regarding what
happens to a historic property.
Well, do you know or maybe it's
a legal question, but who would
have, if the property is
determined to be a historic,
shouldn't it be protected by the
historic, Preservation Act or
laws or whatever? Well, that was
certainly of the state. Would
would that supersede whatever
the city might have? I would
imagine it would, not if it
isn't, it has to be on the state
register. Oh, well, then, then
it then and in this particular
case, on North Tornillo, it was
a historic home, but it was not
to the level that it was on the
state register, had it been
applied, was one of the
problems. But if you go back and
you look at the transcript from
November 6th, having to do with
the 643 East Picacho property,
you were told initially that,
oh, no, it's not in a historic
district. So we don't have to
consult. We don't have to run it
through the Historic
Preservation Commission. And
they had not yet. And yet it was
on public input that we were
able to tell you that one. It
was in a historic district, and
two, it did require consultation
by state law. And so council
tabled the issue until February
5th to allow the historic
preservation specialist time to
consult with Santa Fe, with the
New Mexico State Historic
Preservation Division and what
was that outcome? What was the
outcome? Well we got here on on
February 5th and council, our
mayor Pro Tem Bencomo said, said
we'll table the issue
indefinitely only. And you voted
and it's been tabled
indefinitely. And Mr. Nichols
has said, well, we've taken it
off the agenda, we've boarded up
the house and we're going to
leave it. Sit. And so we have no
opportunity to speak to the idea
of adaptive reuse. Community
development was asking you for
$28,000 to demolish that house.
And if you look at the photos,
I'm sorry, it's not in the
condition they describe. And the
neglect is of the city's own
doing. It abandoned the
property. That's what's so
outrageous about this is the
city the owner? Yes. Okay. The
city has been the owner since
2004. Okay. Thank you. And the
city? The city had used. It had
been part of the weed and seed
program. Yes. Okay. Thank you,
thank you, thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Any other members of.
The name is Dolores Archuleta,
mayor pro tem. Because I am
speaking as a mayor pro tem. I
was born and raised in the in
the historic district. That is
the reason I'm here. I see so
many homes that are still there.
I'll tell you a little story
about a little boy close to 329
Ismay, where we were born was
choking on a piece of, tortilla
the mother sent to get my mother
over there to take care of it
because she couldn't handle it.
She got the tortilla out and
saved his life. That was my
husband. Now the buildings are
still there. They've been vacant
for years and years. But why do
we continue to get new
councilors in every time and do
the same thing over and over and
over again? It's not your fault.
And I don't know whose fault. Or
should we blame anybody? It's a
big issue, but we need to get
this done. Please Thank you.
Thank you, Miss Bess. Next Yes,
ma'am. Thank you, mayor and city
council. My name is Judy
Berryman, and I'd like to make a
couple of clarifications just
for the questions that were
answered as part of the historic
preservation Commission, we have
been attempting to have chapter
40 and now chapter two revised
to include all historic
resources to be protected.
Currently under chapter 40,
currently under chapter two,
only properties that are in a
recognized historic district can
be put before the HPC. So in
this case, we're very
handicapped in terms of trying
to protect historic, properties.
The second huge concern I have
with the Gnat program is that
there doesn't seem to be very
much community input or
community members on the gnat
team. I think that would be very
beneficial. When we talk about
that, they would that they will,
contact the historic
preservation officer. That
doesn't necessarily mean that
the HPC will have an opportunity
to review the property. That may
be demolished. I'm also
concerned with the gnat, budget.
Everything is oriented to
demolition. Often, as earlier
said before, let's find some
other alternatives. Certainly,
historic districts historic
resources are being ignored in
terms of economic reliability,
as was mentioned before, people
come into an area because of
historic resources. But if we
can't respect the historic
resources by not having
protection and ordinances, then
stuff like realize Las Cruces,
chapter 40, chapter two, they
really mean nothing. So my final
remark is in chapter two, we've
been trying to have, changes
made. And the critical part in
chapter two is that it gives a
carte blanche for the city to
abolish, to demolish any
historic structure that is owned
by the city, and that would be
under their section two F, which
needs to be changed. So I thank
you for the opportunity and I'm
open to any questions. If you
have any. Thank you. That's why
thank you. Ma'am.
Good afternoon. Councilors
mayor. City manager. My name is
Joe Ruprecht. I've been speaking
a lot the last 18 months on a
historic preservation. Much of
what I learned in this city
about historic preservation came
from trying to save the Trost
clubhouse at the former Las
Cruces Country Club property. In
that process, I was trying to
negotiate between developers
and, between the city, which did
not own the building, had never
owned the building, but had also
let it fall into disrepair and
become a greater nuisance than
it might have been because they
allowed the owners to experience
a protracted period where they
did not have to maintain that
property, they didn't have to
board it. And so when Doctor
Nichols talks about three levels
of serious use of a property,
the city has in the past, even
with private properties and
Doctor Dennis has focused on
city owned properties as well.
But they have allowed situations
that could have been handled at
level one or level two to
progress to the point where it
is a disaster. It is an
emergency that happened with the
Trost clubhouse. They were able
to demonstrate that they'd had X
number of fires and calls out at
that property. The property was
still sound, but because they
could cite the number of fire
calls, it made it very difficult
to argue against the points that
the city tried to make on that,
so that the developer could have
their way with it. What I want
to comment on here is that when
Doctor Nicholas speaks about the
processes involved, that counts
on two basic things. Very basic
things. One is that the process
is articulated clearly and
succinctly so that people can
pick up a folder someplace and
see, here's what the process is,
whether that's you as counselors
or us as the public or some out
of town owner. There has to be
an articulation of the process,
and it has to be accessible in
some way that people can
encounter it and use it. And I
appreciate the suggestion that
came from the counselors in this
regard. But the other thing is
that one of the things that you
and we rely on is the honesty
and trustworthiness and
diligence of city staff. And in
this respect, while Doctor
Nichols is talking about his
process, he's neglecting how the
current historic preservation
specialist is essentially not
doing his job. And he sometimes
doing that by omission. He's
sometimes doing it by
obfuscation. And in the case of
one of the most recent
situations he's done it by lying
and then by it handling being
handled through community
development in the to the sense
of detriment to the building. I
can document this to you, Doctor
Nichols, and I don't know how to
handle this and to call it out.
Okay That's good. Yeah. Thank
you, thank you, I'll stand for
questions if you want. No.
That's fine. Okay Was there
anything you want us to? All
right. Thank you. I just want to
reiterate that, the whole
basement is really worst case
scenario. There are some steps
and some things that we need to
look at as a city and to work on
the, to the Councilor and to the
council. The way we're doing the
code that because that was
that's a huge step. And, came
and said whether we continue and
continue that was one of the big
ones is the international code
in 2003. And this is 2021 code
of the property manager. That's
how you get from level three to
level two to level one is now
having a code that will help or
city staff code enforcement,
police, fire and community
development to address those
issues within the property
owners. Thank you. That's a huge
step in getting going in the
right direction to avoid in the
worst case scenarios that we're
addressing now. Thank you. A
question for Mr. Nichols. Thank
you. Go ahead. Thank you, Mr.
Mayor. Mr. Nichols, if I recall
correctly, there was a person
who was designated to take care
of, Matt. And in meetings that
we had, she would be it was a
woman. She would be present.
Does that position still exist?
She was. I think the community
liaison. I and I think she was
an employee of the city. Mayor
Enriquez and Councilor Flores
the, the history of the had to
do with initially, as I
mentioned, when Mr. Dolan,
introduced programing to acquire
housing properties for
developing affordable housing. I
don't ever recall that a person
was designated as a as a leader
or a taking leadership on, on
the Nap program until, the city
manager's office asked me to
take the lead on the program
that we now have in place. Okay,
then, there was a woman who was
designated, and I. Industry.
Thank you. Yes. Councilor.
Flores. You are correct,
porothum. I can't I can kill.
Oh, yeah. She was a son. She was
a multilingual and somewhat of a
case manager position that that,
pretty much kept track of
everything. And you know, we had
that that, we might have to
exist as a teenager. That used
to be the neighborhood action
team. Now it's the losing team.
So there was different
direction, and that's why it's
at. So that's why that's what
the update is today. And to
update on what's going on, we're
moving forward. And Mayor
Enriquez and Councilor, Flores.
That is correct, Miss Peralta
was a legal assistant that made
sure that our legal fees and
acquiring the city's legal fees
and acquiring properties were
were the correct measures to
take. But she wasn't doing
inspections and that sort of
thing. No Yes, I was, I also
counsel, but just a little
reference truth as the former
mayor, I fully supported the
Mesquite, Nevada districts when
they became reality. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you, Mr. Nichols.
Thank you. Next, we'll move to
3.28 correspondence and
.
Good afternoon. Mayor.
Councilors My name is David
Sedillo, your public works
director. I, and also Miss
Natalie Green, will be
presenting to you our quarterly
update for the 2022 Go bond
projects. Just as a recap, there
were four questions approved as
part of this bond cycle. First
one was new Fire station number
nine. The continuation of the
improvements at the East Mesa
Public Rec complex, affordable
housing and park improvements
for Fire Station Number nine. At
this point in time, the design
development on the project is
100% complete and the
construction documents are at
90. We are working to finish
those up because we're
estimating building the project
here next month, and th
estimated cost for the project
is 3.2 million. As you can see
from the project schedule, at
this point in time, that green
vertical line going through
there, references, it's the
timeline where we're on the
schedule for the project. For
the park improvements, there
were two that are the priorities
that this funding will address.
And I'll go a little bit more
into detail for number two. But
the project for Leona Park is to
upgrade amenities. The restrooms
, and make some repairs to the
trail. At this point in time,
the design development on that
project is 100% complete. The
construction documents are at
90% as well, and we're moving
forward to completion of that.
Now. Staff has had discussions
with the international Boundary
Water Commission, which is the
permitting authority in the
area, for the project. Those
conversations have been going
well. They do require that they
do get the 100% construction
documents before issuing the
permit. So we're looking at
getting that here fairly shortly
, and we're estimating on
bidding the project here in
August. Now, if there are any
funds left over from this
project, those will be assigned
to Tillbrook Park for any
equipment replacements. If there
are any. Just to show a little
bit on the schedule, again, this
project is on schedule based on
the Gantt chart that you see
there, but also to share with
you some of those photos that we
have in the recent quarterly
updates. These are the
conditions that the funding will
address. Now for the
continuation of improvements
over at the East Mesa Public Rec
complex, we are working on
finishing the remaining scope of
work from the master plan on
that first phase. At this point
in time, we're 80% complete with
that construction items
remaining from that is the side
on the ten acre park. A few
items of landscaping that should
be wrapped up here within three
weeks after they begin.
Estimated We are looking at
having that sod start similar in
mid-April, the Musco Lighting
part of that funding has been
completed. And lastly, we are
working on the continuation of
those improvements. Right now,
the design is at 30, and I'll go
over what that includes. So as
part of the continuation of
those improvements on the park,
we did have sand volleyball
courts, basketball courts,
concession building, restrooms
at the ten acre park, more
street furniture and then site
grading. Now the site grading
again, if you recall from two
previous quarterly updates, that
was to help with the skate park.
Now the skate park is not part
of the funding that has its own
dedicated funding. However, we
weren't able to maximize this
money to help that project along
based on the limited funding
that it has now for the sand
volleyball courts. Initially
there was discussion to have 2
to 4. There discussions with the
user department, Parks and Rec.
They would like to see eight
courts to be able to provide
enough off courts based on
demand. Again this is a layout
that currently, right now staff
is working with the end user to
finalize some of those locations
as they go through the design
process. Again, here's the
schedule for each of those three
categories. As you see up top,
the remaining scope. We are
ahead of schedule at this point
in time. Right now, and looking
to complete that here somewhere
in the month of May down below
the Moscow lighting, well ahead
of what that was scheduled out
to that project is complete. And
then lastly the continuation
down below. Now you will notice
we're a little bit behind on
this schedule. However, our
staff feels that we're going to
be able to catch up in time for
construction of those projects.
I also wanted to share with you
some aerial photos of what those
improvements are. On your left,
you can see that the two
baseball softball fields have
the sod. The lighting is up
throughout the complex. You also
have on the right the pickleball
courts and the restrooms, and
also the multi-use fields to the
north of that have been sorted.
Just to show a little bit more
of the area itself from a
greater perspective, coming back
, that in the forefront on the
left picture is the ten acre
park. And again, those detailed
photos on the right actually are
a little bit zoomed in of those
improvements that right there on
the park. And at this point I'll
go ahead and turn it over to
Miss Natalie Green. Good
afternoon. Members of Council
Natalie Green housing and
neighborhood Services. For the
record, an update on the
affordable housing projects. The
bond was sold on March 14th, so
we had a really favorable rate.
And you'll be getting a full
update on that from the city
manager's office at a later
council meeting, the fund
proceeds will be available to
the city after April 11th,
several of our projects that
will utilize that Go bond
funding are under construction.
So three sisters, the 70 unit
apartment complex for families
is under construction. Pedrena
senior Apartments also started
construction. Our Peach Tree
Canyon apartments closed at the
state Board of Finance, last
week. So it's moving on to the
New Mexico Mortgage Finance
Authority board, and then it'll
come to this council for final
closing on the loan agreements.
Our land acquisition is still
working through the appraisal
and purchasing agreement
process, our revolving loan
funds, we have ten houses under
construction right now. Only
three are utilizing the
construction loan fund. And
those are framed. Moving along.
Great. We're still under
Predevelopment for Amador
Crossing. We've moved on to the
engineering phase, but the
preliminary site development is
complete. We've also submitted
two additional grant requests to
DFA, for about $4 million, and
we should receive notice on
those fairly quickly, and then
we're exploring some additional
partnerships with other
developers. So we have some
additional pipeline projects
that we're working through, this
is just some updated
construction pictures from Three
Sisters building one has
received their plumbing rough in
inspection and so they'll be
starting to pour that
foundation. They're also
received their retaining wall.
Permit. So they're building like
this big three by four Lego
crazy 20 foot wall to help
retain the entire site. And then
after that, they'll work on
building two, which is the main
structure that holds most of the
apartments. And then Pedrena
again, also kicked off. So they,
they've cleared the site and
then they're starting to bring
in fill. So as you drive past
those sites, you'll see those,
that construction progress. And
with that, David and I will
stand for any questions you
have. No. Thank you, Natalie and
David, any questions from
Council? None. Okay good. Let me
see if there's any any members
of the public that would like to
make some comments. Seeing none.
Okay. Thank you for
presentations. Thank you. That
concludes our agenda items,
looking for adjournment. So
moved. Graham Second. Corinne
This is a motion to adjourn the
work session. Counselor.
McClure. Yes, counselor. Mattis
Yes, counselor. Graham. Yes,
counselor. Cram. Yes counselor.
Flores. Yes, counselor. Bencomo
is absent. And. Mayor. Yes.