e
[Music]
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[Music]
you're
on you're
on good good afternoon everyone welcome
to the regular council meeting for March
18th it is 1M we're going to go ahead
and get started I would like to uh Point
your attention to the front here ma'am
will you
stand um we have an American Sign
Language interpreter if you need any
assistance please um make your way down
to her and she will be here the entire
time um now we will I will ask for a
moment of silence for our entire public
safety personnel and for the the family
of the Fallen New Mexico State Police
Officer Justin
here Council Flores will you lead us in
the Pledge of Allegiance
please
thank
you we don't have any certificates today
so we'll go right up to jobs of the week
with Sarah Rainey
please good afternoon
all right for jobs of the week we have
for the city of Las cruus we have an
urban planner um the position starts at
53,000 and the posting closes on the 1st
we also have a juvenile justice
Continuum coordinator um that position
starts at $24 an hour and it right now
it's a continuum is posting um for the
Whit Sand Missile Range we have a senior
office clerk um depending on experience
was the pay and the position is open
until
filled for NMSU we have an
administrative assistant that position
starts at 1605 an hour and the posting
closes on the
20th for Albertson's we have a part-time
R retail manager um that is through the
SAS retail services the the posting
starts at $13 an hour and closes on the
on the
11th we also have an intake coordinator
um for the central Pantry at casad
parinos that position starts at $14 an
hour and the posting closes on the
10th um just a quick reminder of our
upcoming events we have the mack tell
you rocket I would encourage everyone um
Council anybody here professionals
within our community please come and be
an interviewer um for these Juniors and
SE seniors across our city um just helps
encourage them you know and coming into
the workforce fields to practice their
skills and get to know real you know
situations for interviewing also we have
our spring into your new career that
will be at the Los cruus Convention
Center on March 27th we will have
veteran priority in the first hour and
then um the public it's open to the
public we will have employers there that
are hiring on the spot interviewing
right then and there so please come
ready with your resumés for those for
those positions as well and then we have
our Hiring Heroes um Heroes Hiring
Heroes sorry on the 1st of April and
that one is for veterans law enforcement
f um First Responders and those in the
healthcare and federal contractors those
type of
positions and then we have our Spanish
ones for those that are speak Spanish
for any other information that anybody
is interested in please come see us at
226 South Alam um or you can log on to
employ nm.com to find all of our flyers
and any information if any of you are
interested in being an interviewer at
the mack rocket um coming and seeing us
at any of the events or if any of the
public is interested in the career event
that's coming up on the 27th please log
on to the employee M thank you thank you
as always Sarah for being here with us
today thank you have a good one you too
and next we'll go to pets of the week
with Amy def
Felix
hello everyone course some am Felix one
of the rescue coordinators for the
Animal Services Center of the missia
valley we'll go ahead and get started
with our cat of the week our cat of the
week this week is Louisa her number is
7268 and she says I'm a sweet and loving
girl currently in a foster home with
other cats and I'm doing really well
with everyone I love pets and affection
and I will roll around and act so cute
just to get your attention I'm ready for
my forever home where I can be loved
until the end of my days and then we
have our dog of the week her name is
JoJo her number is 625 28 and she says I
celebrated my first birthday here at the
Animal Services Center and my birthday
wish is to find my forever home I've
never had a home of my own before so I'd
love a nice patient and trusting person
or people to help teach me how to be a
part of the
family and then we have some events
going on we have um until the end of
March we have the mut Madness adoptions
special so all of our adoptions um are
discounted um all sterilized animals uh
their adoption fee is any donation
amount um the adopter wishes to provide
and then unsterilized animals will be
$45 and of course they will still be
sterilized before going home we do have
an offsite adoption event at PetSmart
this Saturday the 23rd from 10:00 a.m.
to 1:00 p.m. and then here are all of
our website links our website ascmv
toorgle podcasts these are all the
places you could find us that's all I
have thank you thank you so much Amy
appreciate you being here thank you um
now it's our conflict of interest
statement 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
today none by fled none Graham none none
McClure none none the chair non staff
thank you now we will move on to public
participation uh we will have up to
three minutes for each person note that
there is a new timer don't be alarmed um
it's a a little bit frightening so um
but we will all get used to it together
so I'm going to start on my on this side
as usual with round number one please
come on up yep that's
you and um don't forget to state your
name
please for years we've talked about
shade in the
plaza for years
my name is Russ
Smith mayor council I have an idea and
with your permission I'll show it on the
screen for years we've talked about
shade in the plaza feasibilities have
been presented to council through vigil
and Associates and by the destination
downtown committee without results or an
action plan so far now we can talk again
about shade plants animals carports
patios and even coral reefs in the sea
get shade shade is said to be an
equalizer for communities wanting access
it's certainly important in the desert
Southwest I propose building a lofty
structure that Shades the plaza I
propose building a structure that helps
manage sun and rain
I propose building a structure that
improves the
community I think it could be a catalyst
for the region or a tractable shade
structure protects enthusiasts and
commerce at events it would give more
rain and sun protection over the
calendar year government would reduce
Community disparities and services could
be expanded please resolve to build
retractable shade and Rain protection in
the plaza a typical process would
involve a study for choices
it would partner with experts and
suppliers often through a limited
RFP it would develop a prescription and
proposal that would lead to council
ratification consistent with the city
mission statement amenities design
attributes and the like get absorbed
into the proposal our Economic
Development Department is poised with
history and Leadership to do so Los
Cruis gets to learn how to show itself
to the world as we grow event and
celebration ideas never before seen can
come alive we continue to shine tid
funding capital outlay or even federal
and state grant funding for communities
can be brought to bear again I ask
please resolve to build retractable
shade and Rain protection in the plaza
thank
you mayor council thank you for
listening in full disclosure yes I am a
drummer I have drummed all my life so I
put there
uh a bit of justest about a good subject
a fun
subject retractable shade has come of
age the idea of building has been proven
the idea of
uh
the concept is finding
economies and
uh a limited RFP could be drawn together
and brought to bear to uh uh prove that
it's a good idea thank you Mr uh Smith I
appreciate it I'm going to suggest that
you speak to Chris favor down there he's
our he's with our Economic Development
Department and um we've had this
conversation before at other tid
meetings so maybe he can give you an
update thank you thank you so that was
you on the drums then uh that was me
lacking the green shirt and the the
pretty eyes thank you thank you
you um first row you're good second row
sir don't forget to state state your
name
please
good afternoon counselors my name is
Craig durksen and I'm the president of
the homeowners association for delprado
Condominiums uh we're located just up
above uh Dona Ana Community College and
uh we're only a half a block from Sam
graph Park uh on
Sedona Hills Parkway and uh our
neighborhood loves that Park and it is
well used you always see kids playing on
the in the playground with their parents
they watching teenagers playing
basketball it's really in constant use
or at least half of it is all of those
active activities take part on the
western half of the park the eastern
half of the park is just grass and it's
very nice to walk through and people
like me walking my dog I love to do that
and we do see people there playing with
their dogs not on a leash which could be
dangerous because the entire park is
surrounded by streets so my proposal or
ask of the city would be to consider
fencing that eastern half of the park
where there's already grass there's
sidewalks it's
complete uh to create an off leash park
for uh people who would like to bring
their dogs there my neighbor calculated
that over 60 dogs regularly use that
Park as part of their daily uh exercise
and so it would be well used the park is
surrounded by literally over a thousand
homes that are within walking distance
of that Park um so my request would be
to consider that consider uh creating an
off leash part there by simply fencing
this the the eastern half of that Park
uh councelor Flur is I believe this is
in your District uh I would be happy to
meet with you there at the park and walk
through what my proposal is and uh uh
besides that I would be happy to answer
any questions any member of the council
might have thank you I'm just going to
recommend that you leave your contact
information with our city clerk I'll do
that and then she will give it to
counselor Flores and anybody else and I
also saw our assistant city manager
taking all right lots of notes so thank
you okay next
up my name is Donna Striker I'd like to
give something to the city clerk for
everyone it's real short and sweet I've
been watching the counselor's comments
after the meetings I'm not always able
to stay because I pick up my grandkids
and things like that but after at least
a couple of meetings one of the things I
took away from the council was that we
as Citizens and a lot of the people that
I'm working with in businesses for safe
for Los cruus we need to take some
responsibility and do some things so
this flyer is just a result in just one
week of what the group was able to come
up with we've been working with Chief
story he had some great uh a great
presentation for our group on things
that we need to do to support the police
and back the blue and so this is going
to go out to as many small businesses
here in Las cuses as we can get we have
a wonderful Community member Beth
Johnson who has given us these and
printed them on her own time and her own
money so that we can get it out to
businesses so that we can all work
together for better and a safer last
crisis thank you thank you very
much uh next on the second
row ma'am no no third row we'll start on
this side since you're ready to
go good afternoon I am Dr Kyle
Schumacher I am managing DVM at
Schumacher veterinary clinic on Valley
Drive I last spoke to Council on
February 20th in the immediate aftermath
of the murder of LCPD officer Jonah
Hernandez I am well aware that my views
my politics and my agenda is not
necessarily the same as yours nor the
same as the folks sitting in the
audience next to me but I do feel that
as a group we shared many similar and
harrowing experiences and expressed our
overwhelming concern regarding the
ongoing problems with homelessness
illegal drugs crime and the daily
threats to our personal and Public
Safety I Hazard there has not been an
individual who has come to stand and
speak who hasn't had the realization
that we I could have just as easily
suffered that fatal consequence I also
feel that the majority of the business
owners who have spoken made sincere
efforts to be respectful and to work
towards constructive
Solutions I was unable to stay until the
end of that meeting or to attend the
next as such listening to the comments
afterwards I was shocked to hear how
quickly some sought to deflect blame and
blly dismiss our
concerns I am acutely aware that the
current situation is not the
responsibility of one or all council
members and that there are numerous
issues which require attention at higher
levels and in different branches of
government however I do maintain that
you are responsible for the safety and
the welfare of the people who live and
work in your
districts even if these Immediate
Solutions may be distant or beyond your
personal control I am grateful for the
first very few efforts weeks later to
reach out to local citizens and business
owners but these have been few and far
between I continue to deal with these
issues on a daily basis my doctors and
staff are frightened my clients are
concerned for their safety citizens and
local businesses in our area have been
frankly terrorized and have suffered
permanent damage as a result my fears
that I am no longer safe in my place of
business that I am unable to work and to
serve the community the should be your
responsibility I will go off script and
say I do very much appreciate councelor
bomo approached me before the meeting
and she has made some offers to come out
and meet with me and that is much
appreciated I know that offers have been
extended before but I'll repeat it here
I would encourage any council member
member of City management or other
public official who has an an interest
in helping us to overcome these
challenges to spend some time with
myself or any of the other small
business owners here honestly I'm
thereafter dark by myself a lot so all
appreciate the
company I do hope you take this
personally because I take this
personally we take this personally thank
you thank
[Applause]
you other others in the third
row uh third
row okay fourth row no fourth
row I think you're the fifth row but I
think nobody else on the fourth row come
on
down hello my name is Vic bobos and
first of all I'd like to say I had no
idea we could do a PowerPoint
presentation so that was kind of neat to
see and uh look out next time cuz I'll
probably put something together um you
know I just want to say a couple things
I think Dr Schumacher kind of summed it
up for everybody um I do want to say
that I truly appreciate councelor benom
last week uh reached out to me we were
able to spend little over an hour
together and I I think we we much I will
say to my surprise I think we had more
in common than we did opposite of each
other and so I truly did enjoy my
conversation I do encourage all of the
city council you know we talked about
the fact that we're all busy but but the
fact that she reached out to to do that
was very appreciative so I would
encourage all the counselors to you know
take a few minutes and and uh reach out
to those people I think it uh I know for
me it made a big difference to to get a
little bit of different attitude towards
towards what's what's in front of me so
um I do encourage that to everybody on a
completely separate note I do want to
say also that um I'm the head of M
Valley search and rescue and I would
like to say my my thanks to Chief Smith
because um uh the fire department here
has always been uh very encouraging to
us and very um supportive in our
training efforts and this last weekend
we did that again and had a very long uh
strenuous uh I can say training with the
fire department so I want to thank Chief
Smith for for supporting that when we're
always out there so thank you thank you
and just so you know in the future if
you do want to Pres present a video or
anything you have to get it cleared by
the city clerk first how far how far in
advance about a week thank you and so
just contact
her um so we had gone to the fifth row
and we're on the fifth
row come on down please state your name
hi Beverly Hogan I'm a resident of
crues and I'm sorry that the mayor is
not here right now um but I did want to
address and ask you not to move public
input to the end of City Council
meetings um M matis suggested in my in
response to my email which I appreciate
those of you that responded to my emails
that possibly the mayor has something
else in mind but might be a different
venue may not involve counselors which
is kind of sad
um but anyhow I I just wanted to know
why you decided that why he decided that
that after April all citizen input would
be at the end of the council
meeting uh you all are elected to
represent
us freedom of speech is our first
amendment and I really
truly value that I'm a retired middle
school and social studies teacher I
knowingly accepted that teaching job for
decades
understanding that I might be exposed to
harsh criticism from some parents just
like all of you I think when you run for
politics I don't think I'd have a thick
enough skin to do that but I did have a
thick enough skin to be a school teacher
in middle school but you have to accept
that people may not always be happy with
what you're saying but I am pleased to
hear that many of you have responded and
reached out and did talk to the people
who had concerns and that I think is
valuable which is again why we need to
have something like
this
um I think in many respects it might
have been a kneejerk reaction to a
couple people who spoke at that one
meeting but honestly I think 90% of
those people were giving constructive
criticism and that's how I always looked
at it when parents would suggest
something to me it's constructive
criticism I just don't think that all
the citizens off crusis should be
punished for the mayor's attempt to
partly suppress our right to free speech
knowing that citizens will then have to
wait maybe two up to 6
hours to speak many of them have
children or grandchildren or work um
such a rule in effect would remove most
every citizen from ever having the right
to exercise their freedom of speech at
these meetings so I'm asking you again
to please ensure that public comment
remains at the beginning of city council
and you have the kind of dialogue that I
see here today which I see as very
positive thank you thank
[Applause]
you thank you come on
down uh good afternoon city council uh
I'm here to uh my name is stanel ngle
for the record I am uh I am here because
uh Mr Roy P died um allegedly at the
hands of a drunk driver who was uh
speeding the last uh information I saw
and I was here like probably like a
month maybe two months ago and my
initial comment was that our
infrastructure is actively hostile
towards life and I think this proves it
we have designed a city where unless you
are traveling in a car and even then you
are you can still be unsafe because we
have infrastructure that encourages our
worst impulses it encourages speeding we
have no enforcement that
discourages
um uh um cell phone usage um distracted
driving we have no enforcement that I
can see that that does anything about
speed
um I'm I asked you all to challenged you
to go out and stand on our roads and our
streets and to see how miserable it is
to see how fast traffic is how many
people are using their cell phones how
many people are speeding and to see how
many people are now driving obscenely
large trucks I feel like tanks are the
next thing that's going to happen right
the trucks have gotten so big I'm
starting to feel like we're just going
to go to T thanks I feel like it's
robbed our
independence um you know I've mentioned
in the past at city council that I like
to take my kid to school um on his bike
I want him to be independent in our
community and I feel like maybe a lot of
people want that too but unless we can
do something to limit this amount of
vehicular
violence I don't think that will ever
happen we are going to have a society a
community of children in this generation
that are going to go from home to car to
school back to car back to shopping
without ever actually exploring their
environments because their parents
rightly so are too scared that they
might get hurt so here I am challenging
you all again to start taking our
infrastructure seriously because it does
encourage our worst
impulses
it is
unsafe for our children and for
ourselves thank you thank you
Mr he's on the fifth row is there
anybody on else on the fifth
row good afternoon mayor proam and
counselors uh my name is Rick
Reno and the reason I'm here today is to
um recommend to not change the public
comment order in council meetings unless
you move it to the first
item and the first reason is that mayor
proam
Beno did a great job shepherding the
speakers at the last meeting and in this
meeting I think he worked yourself into
a job assisting the
mayor the second reason is that I
observed dozens of first- timers at pu
Comet for the past two
years you can tell I was once one also a
firsttimer they have brought outlandish
stories filmed
encounters and things have still become
progressively
worse downtown business owners are again
using the term Fed Up about the
continuing crime even after the local
tragedy and now a state police
officer I know of one downtown business
owner who has to close shop and run
around back
here to attend the public
comment close
up
so and I go a little bit off script here
but I need to let the new counselors
know and the mayor I hope he was here
about the desert Hope
Apartments the housing first model does
not work we've proven it it has to be
intervention first I have an office near
the desert H Apartments my wife was
trapped in my office it was my wife a
fentel guy and her
phone for 20 seconds not good for mental
health a direct quarrel qu from a
resident who wrote a book on his
experiences at the desert Hope
Apartments this place has become the
very pit of Hell full of drugs and drug
use a cesspool of mental mentally ill
persons mental illness and drug use are
the cause are the main causes of the
local tragedy and now the crisis Trad
Center has
closed whole lot of fanfare about a year
ago
the city and county who ultimately
managed the
center and the desert Hope Apartments
through the msia valley public housing
authority I learned that through an
interchange with Becky Graham I found
out who managed the desert H
departments bear responsibility along
with every local rep and
senator for the tragedy experienced
here so and getting back to my the first
recommendation is
heat public comment first thank
you we're still on the fifth row anybody
else on the fifth
row okay sixth
row mayor Pam Council first of all I
would like to recognize Katrina and
Grace for a superb job please state your
name sir ju
Garcia for a superb job at planning and
executing the neighborhood Leadership
Academy all citizens should participate
and learn of the different functions of
the city government now let's take a
trip down memory lane to 3 April 2023
when these Chambers were packed standing
room only with the additional police
presence and the who's who of
progressive politics Senators
Commissioners and even the county clerk
were here quote pay homage and shower
the women of the council with agulation
and praise Senator Hamlin insulted men
with her mentous comment referring to
man as petite Richards no issue she
attempted to link the women of the
counil with Rosa Parks and other female
luminaries all good what prompted this
massive turnout about one April when our
counselors who frequently speaks of
misinformation practice the same on
public public media to incite a
progressive Mass reaction in this
Chambers the Coalition is going to force
the council to
resign public comment lasted about 3
hours and 15 minutes with total session
about 4 hours and 29 minutes was anyone
insulted no did our Progressive friends
have a right to honor the women of the
council absolutely did the council feel
that were being bashed no did the mayor
attempt to suppress public comment no no
fast forward to 20 February about 15
businesses and victims of lusus criminal
element petitioned their counselor for
help the response by the council was to
circle the wagons and express how there
was a bashing and they were being picked
on and the mayor who in my opinion
presented his proposed change to public
input in order to suppress or reduce
public input that was not quote friendly
to the
council it's not a secret the council
doesn't like criticism this in my
opinion is retaliation yes
retaliation citizens honor the council
it's okay it's great citizens petition
their leaders to address crime and its
immediate
retaliation we're going to punish you
we're going to try to
suppress both groups of citizens have
the right to speak to their elected
officials is there a bit of hypocrisy
here of course there is the Optics are
horrible but your message is very clear
thank
you next on number
[Applause]
six council members my name is name is
Eddie
Thomas it's a shame that mayor Enriquez
is not here because he's primarily the
person I wanted to address
but
nonetheless this move to move the public
input to the back of the city council
agenda will give the
appearance of
evasion it's not a good look it'll
produce the opposite of what you so
desperately need right now
transparency it will look like you're
trying to Shield the city council from
the big bad
constituency the very people they need
to hear from I'm sorry if it's not
always nice and sweet but it's the job
you signed up
for so I would tell mayor enriz to
resist his first impulse as a fireman
and protect you all from the
heat you need to hear from the people
that you
represent these people are scared and
angry and they have a right to
be despite what the general crime
statistics
show we still feel it when
crime uh makes us the
victim and you all would say that it
would hurt you as well if you were the
victim
VI it
hurts when you're got to shut your
business down or when a loved one
becomes a victim of a mugging or some
other carjacking incident or some kind
of
violence you all need to do something
about that I would suggest you take
Chief story's uh recommendations
on what to do to steer the city back to
a safe
condition I would
hardly ask for you all to consider that
so that something positive can be done
in the city to make us feel
safe thank you very
much we're still on row
[Music]
six
good afternoon
Council esteemed members of the council
my name isir
my name is jge air and I'm a Las Cruses
resident small business owner and
employer and I'm here because a man on a
bicycle was killed by a driver last week
or so this driver did not kill a person
out of spite or because they were evil
but because they were doing what the
infrastructure naturally incentivizes
drivers to do which is to go as fast as
possible to their
destination that's how most people drive
and that accident could have happened to
any of
us because the problem is car Centric
infrastructure our city has been built
for decades for cars but not for
Citizens our roads are wide they even
have a shoulder but they make drive and
they make drivers feel comfortable even
safe when speeding but our lanky
sidewalks built adjacent to the road
even when there's land not to do that
make it dangerous to exist outside of a
car in our
city most citizens are coerced into
sacrificing a large portion of their
income to purchase a car cars cost a
fortune I think they exceeded
$12,000 to own a new car last
year and they come with additional costs
like insurance and financing and
maintenance and other hidden costs like
talls and speeding tickets and parking
permits that consume significant portion
of most people's inome income some
people even get enormous
tires similarly most cities also spend a
large portion of their budget just on
maintaining their existing asphalt and
it's never enough just ask anyone nobody
likes their Pavement in front of their
house cities spend a lot of money to
build expand and maintain free roads and
the citizens have to spend a lot of
money to use those free
roads everybody loses but it isn't all
about money car Centric infrastructure
is a failed strategy because it produces
High infrastructure maintenance cost
combined with lower tax revenue for the
city not to mention the contaminant the
microplastics and other less visible
consequences and deeper topics that I
don't know enough
about lastly in the last session I made
debates over zoning changes in the
mosquit neighborhood residents opposed
the zoning change and the reasons they
listed got my
attention they didn't want increased out
of traffic or changes in the traffic
pattern or car noise or traffic nois
they said they were opposed to the
zoning change but really they were
opposed to cars they didn't want to be
honked at and rushed in their own
neighborhood and to have Dodge to have
to dodge speeding
drivers many W necessarily opposed to
business but to the increased noise and
nuisance of car traffic pedestrian
traffic often increases retail sales
because people have to change have the
chance to see things that they wouldn't
have seen if they they Zoom by on a car
am I
done well I wish the council to consider
decentering the car from our
infrastructure thank you thank you um
we're still on number six come on
down don't forget to state your
name and your companion's name ah uh
good afternoon Council uh my name is
William Gilman and this is my daughter
Genevie Gilman and she's the cutest
little baby ever um no offense to other
babies but had to be sad um yeah so I'm
here to uh talk about obviously there
are a lot of challenges facing our city
as always seems to be the case uh and in
addition to very legitimate safety
concerns um about homelessness and
mental health abuse or mental health
issues and drug abuse uh as my colleague
pointed out a person was hit and killed
just while in a crosswalk on the
sidewalk uh they were also had on a bike
and that's what I want to talk about
uh I didn't really prepare very well
today but uh I'll get there
somehow yeah so the uh Las crusa City
plan or the development plan for Las
crusa says it wants to prioritize
vibrant neighborhoods but we can't
really have vibrant neighborhoods if
people can't walk down the sidewalk
safely uh I live up by Road Runner and
that road at least once a week you hear
drag racing and it's just really really
easy to go fast for a person with a
hammer everything looks like a nail when
you build something that looks like a
highway through a residential
neighborhood people unconsciously treat
it that way even myself going 40 m hour
there where the speed limit is 35
allegedly feels like you're just
creeping
along
um and so that is a huge part of the
problem and the the sidewalks are so
narrow and they're right next next to
the road it's it's not a good scene even
if you're on the sidewalk even for
drivers I'm worried that somebody's just
going to trip and fall in front of me
anytime they're on the sidewalk there
was a walking field trip that one of the
schools took and they had to have two
police cars just slowly cruising Along
by them because we don't trust drivers
to drive safely not because our drivers
are terrible people but that's just how
we built the system is that it just
makes it so easy so I think we need to
address that right people Lament about
how kids spend all their times on the
phone and all their time on the internet
but parents don't actually let them go
outside because we don't trust them to
cross the street not because the kids
aren't capable or responsible but
because we just don't trust the drivers
we need to do something about that
there's a proposal to expand the
sidewalk on the corridor between salano
and Maine On Lan and Amador I think the
city needs to move on that we need to
make this city more walkable more
bikable because that's good for business
those restaurants are going to to get a
lot more business with the foot traffic
the neighborhoods are actually going to
be vibrant if people can walk to
Services nearby and as my colleague said
you got to Fork over a bunch of money to
get a car I was just run off the road on
the interstate my car was totaled I had
to buy a new one I had to spend
$275,000 to get a new car that could
have easily been a down payment on a
house but instead that's going to have
to wait because we prioritize cars over
our
citizens thank
you anybody else on row six
seven good afternoon my name is Lisa
parrot I'm a resident of district 6 I
wish to address public input and if I
have time I might address the vehicular
situation I it deeply saddens me that
two letters to the editor in this week's
Bulletin portray citizens exercising
their constitutional rights of redress
as a jovial inconsequential and
laughable matter do you require the
constitution of the state of New
Mexico uh to force you to allow us to
have public input or do you want to do
it because it's the right thing to do is
moving public input to the end of your
meetings going be the first step of
eliminating it totally please keep your
public input at the beginning of your
meetings thank you and regarding the
vehicle
situation it is very much the people
driving the vehicles who are responsible
for their actions the same way it is for
the people who carry and own firearms to
be responsible for their actions it is
not the gun it is not the car thank you
and God
bless row
s anybody
else row
eight
nine anybody else on this side come on
down greetings John Castillo
Gera I'm a new resident of Las
cruus and I came here for the nice
weather and a nice sized town to be
proximal to the Chihuahuan Desert which
intrigues me a great deal it's a
beautiful place and I like the people I
get it generally a good feel
here uh I've certainly
witnessed some unsettling scenes around
Los crusis as I've moved about
especially up and down Valley and
Maine and other parts of the
city this incident this tragic incident
that resulted in the death of Officer
Hernandez as well as his as salent is a
very uh sad
situation that I really can't stop
thinking about
and uh as I read about the incident I
learned that the as salent uh Mr Silva
he appeared to be setting up camp for
the
night and
uh he was seen on a surveillance
video by someone in an office
somewhere and a decision was made
that that he needed to move and so an
officer was dispatched to his location
to carry out that
task and it obviously did not go the way
the officer
intended probably didn't go the way Mr
Silva intended it was a tragic situation
that we cannot help but reflect on and
when we reflect on this situation we see
this enormous disparity of wealth within
the
city again an unsettling scene thing to
see as you drive around Las Cruses and
you go up into these ritzy subdivisions
with big houses on sprawling
Lots with perfectly manicured Landscapes
of native plants Zer escaped
beautifully really attractive
places and then you just go a few miles
down
Hill and you see people without
housing without
food without clean
clothes
and have to wonder how did we get to
this
point this disparity in
wealth this
inequality in Los Cruses is not unique
to Los crusis
that's your time sir and I'll just
conclude by saying that is the core of
the issue and we cannot thank you police
our way out of this problem of
inequality thank you sir thank you
anybody else on this
side okay oh do we have one more person
okay come on
down good afternoon I'm Carol landino
I'm really not prepared to say anything
but after listening to comments it's
just I am I'm disappointed that the
mayor's not here because I would like to
ask him to not move the public input to
the end of the
meetings um you know the Supreme Court's
listening to arguments today about
censorship from Big Tech and I believe
that that's when you move this the
comments public comments to the end of
the
meetings that that's basically what
you're trying to do is censor us because
a lot of us don't have time to come and
wait that long a lot of us have to work
I have to work I come here on my lunch
hour you know and I feel like it's
censorship and I I really wish you would
rethink that and as to some of the
comments about you know
being afraid to walk down the street I
can't walk down the street in my
neighborhood because there's people on
fentol or drugs or whatever and they're
screaming I hear them Sunday mornings at
700 a.m. I'm afraid to go out and walk
in my
neighborhood you know and it's not
because of the cars it's because of the
drug problem and it's not because of
homeless people and the homeless PE well
part of it is but when you talk about
the homeless
people it's a lot of it is because of a
lack of respon personal
responsibility I mean they don't they
don't want to follow the rules they
don't want to work cuz we're going to
give them a basic guaranteed
income now who you know who wants to go
to work when you can sit at home and
smoke pot and do
whatever you
know I mean it's just it's it's silly to
me so that's really what I wanted to say
okay we're going to move on to this side
come on
down good afternoon mayor proam
counselor staff and public my name is
Yoli Diaz I urge you to investigate
Memorial Medical Center's MMC abdication
of its legal resp responsibility to
prove access even to Indigent to
professional hospital care MMC leases a
hospital from doniana County and city of
Los Cruses it is a New Mexico safety net
carepool Hospital operated by lifeo
Health which is owned by private Equity
Firm Apollo Global Management this lease
contains requirements regarding mental
health care and provision of care to
Indigent which MMC has too often ignored
as both public entities and landlords
the city and county have a duty to
oversee MMC and hold it to the
conditions stated in the the lease the
public interest demands the thorough
investigation of the lease between
doniana County city of Los Cruses and
Memorial Medical Center and compliance
with nmsa 1978 chapter 27 Article 5 as
you know I have been advocating for
access to needed Health Care especially
cancer treatment of chemotherapy and
radiation at Memorial Medical Center
since my first official meeting in
October 2021 with County Manager masas
that included then mayor Ken miag
gashima and doniana County Health and
Human Services director Jamie Michael I
followed up with email communication
request for calls to action Solutions
and more I have done research and
requested I's record requests I am
concerned and dissatisfied with County
managers and city managers in action
their duty to take action the
communication and findings therefore as
there has been no action provided to me
to resolve access to needed health care
or a direct written navigation for All
doniana County residents to access
needed Healthcare at Memorial Medical
Center I am providing you the courtesy
to know that I'm Distributing the letter
urging to investigate including
submission to Federal entities and US
senators investigating Apollo Global
Management my concerns are described it
includes that in our disenfranchise area
high poverty area with only three three
for-profit hospitals of these three two
are major US Health Systems of these
same three two are owned by P private
Equity firms and of these same three two
are rated the top Fifth and highest
charged to cost racial hospitals in New
Mexico in a national report Memorial and
Mountain View have high charged cost
ratios in that report three crosses
wasn't in the report Memorial and three
crosses are owned by private Equity
firms these hospitals help New Mexico
have the highest proportion of private
equity-owned hospitals in the nation 38%
focus is maximizing profits and
minimizing patient care the only
reaction I know is that my advocacy in
Albuquerque Journal article reach senior
Financial investigative reporter for NBC
Universal from New York City Gretchen
morgenson who's a pet a prizewinning
journalist I look forward to her media
regarding Memorial Medical Center
because I know that it will include more
issues than what I advocate for thank
you thank you Yolie
um yes you're cordially invited April
8th uh we have a work session April
with MMC thank you right here at
1:00 um second row oh that was the
second row third row all staff fourth
row fifth
row sixth row yes yep you raised your
hand
ma'am oh sir yes come on
down
good afternoon you can move the
microphone sir there you go my name is
Sydney Webb and I'm a long-term Las cus
resident worked for here for many years
here and now I'm retired and a member of
the aabon society and I want to bring up
the topic of Veterans Park and the
construction that's ongoing at this time
and I want to uh say that uh it looks
like a great project but as they got
started it decimated a lot of
environment used by the birds and it was
very hard in a
spring in a migrating situation on the
road runners and the quail and uh it's
an ongoing
project and um I'm here with Dolores
ralo may come up to the speaker Forum in
a bit but we would like the city to to
think about this issue and be sure that
in the future uh they do everything they
can to save the birds on um what I would
have to say is on the one hand I think
we could have done it better this time
around and saving the birds is very
important not just to otan society but
the world in General on the other hand I
think the project of the Veterans Park
is a great project and it's been under
review for almost five years now and
it's going to add a pond it's going to
add more space for the for the park and
I think it's on a great project and I
don't want you to stop it and what maybe
we can learn from this in the future is
that when there is
similar project being considered that we
use the same intervention as on federal
project and have a review before it
begins so that we can uh mitigate
any property destruction and this is
something the next speaker may speak
about but I have one last word for
everybody and I want you to write this
down because it'll keep going in all all
the time and that is don't forget the
birds thank you very much thank
[Applause]
you good
afternoon can't see without glasses now
my name is Dolores Bernal I'm a resident
of Las Cruses District 3 I'm a cyber
security professional I work for a
company based at ODC but I was a former
journalist I used to work for the Sun
News and I used to cover NMSU back in
the early 2000s the only person I
remember from the city council from back
then was uh Mr
matis
thanks so birds are singing in backyards
and front yards of people's homes in Las
Cruses spring is here and from mid
March to late May these birds including
road runners were produced by lay eggs
just beneath desert shrubs all around us
unfortunately not a lot of people know
when road runners breathing season is
and it shows the expansion of Veterans
Park is taking place right now at the
height of mating season for road runners
and quail and over two acres of their
habitat has been bulldozed destroying
countless nests and eggs to prevent such
a lapse in judgment on the part of
officials who approved these projects I
and others
including uh
Sid are asking you today
members of the city council to seriously
begin requiring environmental impact
studies or assessments before approving
public and private construction
projects before green lighting
construction you should be more informed
an environmental impact study will
provide you with crucial information you
need to lessen the impact on our native
species including the Road Runner this
is not about stopping construction let
me repeat that again this this is not
about stopping
construction this is about lessening the
impact on our
wildli it's about impacting sorry it's
about minimizing impact on our
Wildlife you can learn more about the
benefits of these types of studies on
our website save thead runner. org save
thead runner. org you can't continue to
blindly approve projects without taking
into consideration the wildlife that
makes L cruises unique this is very
important why should we wait until
species are in danger why should we wait
until we hear from experts that we only
have a 100 RAR Runners left that we need
to preserve them we shouldn't wait we
should act now I invite you to be a
proactive government a proactive
government that thinks
ahead a proactive government that other
cities counties and states can follow as
an example for good stewardship of the
Earth
thank
you thank
[Applause]
you six throw seventh
R my name is frad
Huff and I want to talk about moving the
public input to the end of the
meeting I kind of get it we're talking
at you and then at the end of the
meeting you're talking at an empty
chamber um I did listen to the the
council's comments on the last uh March
4th public meeting I was very
impressed with councelor mcure McLure
I'm sorry McClure's uh suggestions for
legislative
team
because in my
opinion we probably have one of the
greatest police Chiefs that lost cusis
has ever had sitting here on the Das
today and he's made some really good
suggestions to help get the city back on
track and the
council and in that
of March 4th uh uh comments Council said
some of those most of those suggestions
are out of your control Okay I accept
that I buy that it's at the state
level well you all have the biggest
voice of anybody in this
room councelor McClure suggested a
legislative team councelor Flores kind
of back that
up I think that's a great idea councelor
Flores had mentioned disappointment over
s sp16 dealing with the competency issue
that that failed maybe a little bit of a
pre-planning on your part and using your
voice to talk to not only our local
state representatives because you can
talk to them
anytime but talk to them also have a
plan during session where you go up
there I remember one of you mentioned it
was quite
chaotic and uh maybe for confusing
especially I I love councelor M
McClure's comment this was her first
rodeo that gets that gets interesting go
in with the plan go in with some action
you all have some great ideas let's live
up to it um or step forward with them
Chief story has some great ideas listen
do something there uh councelor Beno
mentioned a panhandling ordinance let's
get one in works that what that meets
constitutional muster and go from there
while we're doing that let's address the
abandoned grocery card issue get all
that litter off of our street we don't
have to reinvent the wheel plenty of
other cities have done plenty of other
stuff let's borrow their their
ordinances and go down the road thank
you
I think we were on row
eight uh good afternoon counselors I'm
Peter
Goodman
um listening to Mr Huff one of the
things I thought was is that despite all
the Heat and the acrimony I think some
light is being shed by both sides or all
sides however you want to put it and
people are beginning to
recognize that you folks want to do uh
the best for the city uh that that many
of these things are not within your
power uh many of the things that Chief
story has quite sensibly recommended are
either in progress uh or are beyond the
state level
um so I think that's progress of A Sort
uh I want to agree uh well I want to
disagree with the mayor I think without
speculating on his motives I think it's
unwise to move public comment uh later
on I can understand some motives
including the fact that you we're an
hour into this meeting and nobody's
doing agenda business yet so if I were
you're on some agenda item I'd probably
be impatient but I think this current
situation is the
best uh mix between getting your
business done and hearing from the
public I want to welcome
John uh and his mention of inequality as
the uh base problem or the base cause of
of homelessness it's in my view the
current abuse of our cap capitalist
system and I think that gives a lot of
us a basic sympathy with the homeless I
disagree with Caroline and think the
bulk of them are people who who either
are not quite competent to run and keep
a household or have you know one
paycheck uh has put them homeless on the
other hand I think
we I I'm Progressive like many of the
counselors we are beginning to see that
this is a red Red Alert what people are
suffering obviously uh the situation
with uh Jonah Hernandez and I think you
folks are beginning to do the right
things about that and I think I hope uh
the Public's beginning to see that and
maybe try to limit some of their
comments to good ideas as opposed to um
well you're a progressive so I don't
like like you um thank
you thank you number eight anybody else
on
row
nine City councilors and mayor Pro my
name is Lena Smith my little brother and
I attend class in the downtown mall and
we frequently ride the city bus to get
there I come before you today with a
list of things my brother and I have
seen and experienced both on the bus and
in the downtown area on the bus there
have been several people that were
acting like they were on drugs there was
a drunk person at a bus stop that tried
to prevent the bus from leaving and
there was a man on the bus with us that
was yelling at the other passengers in
the downtown area we have seen graffiti
refu broken windows a man with a sign
that said need weed people illegally
smoking cannabis in public in the plaza
and a man screaming while kicking and
whacking a wall our class in the
downtown is a mixed ages class with
children as young as nine numerous times
out the window during our class we have
seen two men giving each other pills
drinking hard alcohol shots smoking
cannabis and trying to smoke what was
probably crack or meth the smell of
cannabis has entered the classroom one
day when we were going to our class
there was a man standing standing on the
doorstep of the building in which our
class is situated he was smoking
cannabis yelling and gesticulating my
little brother and I quickly backtracked
hoping that he had not seen us we walked
around the block and entered the
building through the back door there was
a young employee inside with a
broomstick to defend himself if
necessary another day there was an
attempted theft in the building while we
were having class on another occasion
the mother of one of the children in our
class was accosted by a vagrant while
she was trying to leave these instances
are becoming more frequent over time I'm
calling on all of you to please make
dealing with crime a top priority our
community is counting on you to make
lost crues a safe place for kids thank
you thank
you thank you City councilors and mayor
protim Momo my name is Sarah Smith when
my daughter told me she wanted to speak
to you today I thought you might want to
hear her perspective and she did write
that comment go
homeschooling uh as you can imagine from
her comments I'm very concerned about
the safety of my children as well as
other families in the downtown mall you
have open usage of illegal drugs as well
as vagrance ACC costing and harassing
people business owners from this area
have also come before you to ask for
help including Patricia from the little
shop on Maine who has suffered repeated
vandalism trespassing stalking
harassment all of these at her store by
vagrant you may also recall the owner of
dwell yoga Studio whose employee was
attacked with rocks thrown at her car
and threatened with being raped and
killed I know you are paying for
security in this area but this is
clearly not enough I know there are
issues with laws at the state level and
I know you don't want to incarcerate our
way out of this situation however are
you able to potentially rework some of
our local city ordinances to require
mental health or drug treatment as an
option in lie of jail time will you
please tell us what steps you are taking
to make substance abuse and mental
health treatment more available right
here in Los
crusis we also need to learn from the
mistakes of the desert hope affordable
homeing homeless housing project and not
repeat them will you please make sure
that the upcoming Amador Crossing
homeless housing project is aimed at
rehabilitating people's lives instead of
enabling them to continue down the path
of self-destruction and drug
addiction my other concern today is
related to the mayor's plan to move
public input during your meetings I
agree with the previous commenter that
mayor protim Beno has shown this method
works really well and can be managed
very well and I appreciate your
cordiality in doing so whether it is
intended to or not if the mayor moves
public comments to the end of your
meetings this will suppress the Public's
ability to give input the length of your
meetings is unpredictable you are all
being paid to be here for this meeting
but we are all having to miss work and
family duties to be here and we cannot
afford to sit here for many hours in
order to speak the previous mayor
allowed anyone to speak during the
public input period and that made it
where people who wanted to speak about
agenda items but could not stay long
also had an opportunity to speak at the
beginning of the meetings that method
worked very well for supporting the
public and being able to speak I wish
mayor Enriquez was here today but I will
ask him virtually mayor Enriquez if you
want to make sure the public has a
chance to hear the council comments in
person will you please move the council
comments to the beginning of the meeting
right after public input this would be a
reasonable compromise that would allow
the public to continue to bring our
concerns to you as the leaders who are
elected to represent us thank you for
your
consideration anybody else on this
side okay that wraps up um public
participation and we will move on just
kidding I have to read a Clos meeting
statement and it's very long so bear
with me Clos meeting statement the Las
crus city council met in Clos session at
10:05 a.m. March 11th 2024 the following
members were in attendance mayor
Enriquez councelor McClure councelor
Graham councelor Corin and councelor
Flores staff uh present was EOP city
manager Linda samples City attorney
Chief chairy story Christine Rivera city
clerk Eon tomow ACM Sonia Delgado ACM
bar Barbara Barbara Beno CAO and outside
Council Luis robes and Bonnie doitt the
meeting adjourned at 11 35 a.m.
statement for the record Los crus city
council met in close session and only
discussed those limited items as stated
in the posted notice do I have to read
the rest of it wow okay the purpose of
the Clos session meeting is one to
discuss pending litigation regarding
Francis Francisco estada V city of Las
Cruses uh to and number two to discuss
Penning litigation regarding the estate
of Tesa Gomez versus the city of Las
Cruses thank you
um now can I get a motion to accept the
agenda so move by Flores second Graham
thank
you this is on the motion to accept the
agenda as presented councelor McClure
yes councelor matis yes councelor Graham
yes councelor cran yes councelor flus
yes mayor proam yes and the mayor's
absent thank you
Christin and first item on the agenda
today is 8.1 resolution number
24-96 a resolution authorizing the city
of Las Cruses to accept Grant awards for
various City departments through an
amendment to the city's adopted uh
fiscal year 2024 budget and we have move
to approve Graham thank you can I get a
second second coren thank you discussion
and I think we have Joe
Pia good afternoon mayor protm counselor
Jack landal Gava budget and Grant
administrator I'm going to introduce Joe
Padia interim budget analyst it's his
first budget Council
presentation welcome good afternoon
mayor protim councilors and City staff
my name is Joe Pia budget analyst with
the city of Las cruus today I'm bringing
forth the resolution to accept various
grants for the
city the Franklin Institute has awarded
the quality of life Department $3,500
with money need to be used for staff
time materials trainings and to support
the implementation of the mission Tom
Mars
program the New Mexico State library has
awarded the quality of life Department
$275 with Monies to be used towards
Library collections staff salaries
professional development equipment and
other operational expenditures
associated with the delivery of Library
Services the new energy minerals and
national resources department has
awarded the Parks and Recreation
Department
$750,000 with their required $750,000
match which has already been budgeted
with Monies to be used for the
Demolition and construction of Aida
Park before you are Council options and
I stand for questions thank you are
there any
questions no anybody from the public
easy peasy good job Joe thank
you this is on the motion to approve
resolution
24-96 councelor McClure yes councelor
matis yes councelor Graham yes councelor
cran yes councelor FLOTUS yes mayor
proam yes and the mayor is
[Music]
absent okay we have item 8.2 resolution
number 24- 097 a resolution approving a
real estate purch agreement between the
city of Las Cruses and Lutheran Church
extension fund Missouri snoid for the
purchase of two Parcels of land totaling
21.15 Acres located at the southeast
corner of Motel Boulevard in Bruins Lane
for the purchase price of
$1,815 th000 and closing cost of 4,000
totaling
$1,819 th000 in accordance with
provisions of LCM 1997 section 213 12
and amend the city adopted uh fiscal
year 2024
budget move to approve Graham second cor
thank you and we have Sarah
Gonzalez good afternoon Sarah Gonzalez
with economic development this is for
the request to purchase property located
on the Southeast corner of Motel
Boulevard in Bruins Lane property is
approximately 21 acres in size they are
two adjoining vacant Parcels that are
zoned R4 which is multif family high
density and then C3 commercial high
intensity here's a Vining map of the
subject properties as you can see
highlighted in red and blue these would
be the two different Parcels it is
surrounded by the Field of Dreams
Mayfield High School High Noon Soccer
field as well as the Legends West
subdivision the property went out and
received two different appraisals the
first appraisal came back at 1.43
million the second appraisal came in at
2116 million with that staff negotiated
the price to 1. 1815 million including
cling or with closing cost the benefits
for the city in purchasing this property
is it does follow the city's strategic
plan it does follow Elevate L cruises
and then it does encourage and follow
the Parks and Recreation master plan
there are three different trails that
are surrounding these areas as far as
laurona the outfall the outfall channel
and the msia drain so all of this will
provide some kind of connectivity to
this park as well as the parks trails
that are currently located within
Legends
subdivision if approved there will be a
budget requested um as far as the
adjustment for the purchase price and
closing cost which come from the park
impact fee fund 1.81 n
million with that here are council's
options I stand for any questions as
well as the Parks and Recreation
director Mr Bingham is here as well
thank you Miss Gonzalez questions yes
councelor mlar just had a quick question
I I know that there's been uh huge
demand for soccer fields might that be
something something that might be
incorporated in this land especially
with all the soccer that's going around
there you can come on up to the
podium don't forget to state your name
Steven Bingham Parks and Rec director
for the record um yes um councelor
McClure that is one of the items that um
we are looking at and pursuing the
possibility of there's really this piece
of property provides us multiple
opportunities to consider and meet a
broad range of needs and it was
important for us to take this piece of
property off the land off the um Market
at this point because there's limited
land over in that
area thank
you anybody
else thank you I'm I'm just I just
wanted to say how excited I am for the
potential that this land has for our
Parks facilities and can't wait to get
started on that process for for what
this might look like thank Youk mayor p
sorry oh I'm sorry did you no no I just
put it on I just think for the folks who
who remain which is mostly staff I see
um just as a side note I want to sort of
give some context for the idea of Park
impact fees that is on all new
development when a home is built those
folks pay into a park in case you don't
know those folks pay into a park impact
fee that fund can then only be used for
certain types of Park land acquisition
for parks and so um I I say this as the
place where I know that development
happens in my district and folks sort of
winge at us but this is part of the
collective sort of goal of of thinking
about Parks across the city and so um
just in case you wonder where this money
comes from it comes from every home
that's built pays into the park impact
fee fund um and that's how we sort of do
that for for The public's information in
case that isn't clear so sorry thanks no
don't be sorry thank you that's a good
clarification did you want to add
anything okay no all right thank you I
think we're oh any members of the
public okay
Christine this is on the motion to
approve resolution 24- 097 councelor
McClair yes councelor matis yes
councelor Graham yes councelor Karan yes
councelor FLOTUS yes mayor protm yes and
the mayor's
[Music]
absent oh that's me
8.3 resolution number 24- 098 a
resolution approving the request for a
variance to chapter 26 of the Las crues
municipal code to allow Love's Travel
Stop not to be required to build
sidewalks along two roadways in the Las
crues Innovation industrial parks and we
have Dr tempit and can I get a motion to
discuss motion so moved M thank you
second Corin thank you
thank you uh mayor brooktown uh this is
uh as you say this is Love's Travel Stop
out at the uh Industrial Park um and uh
I gave a a long um history of the of
what went on out there over the past 40
years I guess it is that that that it's
been there we won't re rehash that today
we'll uh we'll just talk about the issue
uh at hand um so uh we we got a request
from loves loves is uh completely
demolished ing their property they're
they're adding a very large area of of
additional land I think it amounts to
about 16 or so 17 acres in total that
they will be developing a much larger
travel stop along with some truck um um
uh maintenance facilities and so on so
they're they're investing quite a bit
into our uh our Industrial Park their
request was that that they not be
required to build the sidewalks that the
Las cruus Municipal Code requires um
along their development they believe the
sidewalks are unnecessary because
otherwise we do not have sidewalks in
the industrial park uh and they also
believe that encouraging walking in that
environment is dangerous uh they have
large trucks and there's not facilities
there to to protect pedestrians uh and
so on um you might wonder why we are
bringing this to city council this is
normally the type of hearing that we
would have have at planning and zoning
and then only on appeal would it come
here um but um for some reason in the
history of Los crusis we had our
sidewalks chapter included in volume one
of the municipal code not in volume two
Volume Two Is Your Land Development code
uh so since it's in volume one you may
have noticed in the past we've done
other uh kind of weird little things for
that you had to decide on like uh making
noise after 7:00 or or or things like
that it's just because those things were
not included in the Land Development
code so we couldn't take it to another
board uh you're the you're the proper
body to to hear this um uh and to
explain chapter 26 this is a um it's a
it's a strange little chapter to read if
you want to take take some time uh in
the evening needing to catch up on some
sleep um but um
um a new sidewalk construction property
owners are required to build those it is
not unless the city is building the
street the the um property owner is
required to build the sidewalks um and
we require uh sidewalks on every Street
in the city uh except for this list of
of again kind of some weird ones um um
obviously dirt streets make some sense
and the single loaded or limited access
streets makes sense uh but the culdesac
serving fewer than 17 homes
uh we don't need to build a sidewalk on
that I find that odd myself uh but um uh
but the city council can always say you
don't need to build sidewalks that's
always been within City council's
purview to make that decision um and
then the property owners responsible to
build these
sidewalks if they're developing a
property uh they have to build it before
they occupy the building so before we
issue their certificate of occupancy um
but there's also another
a thing in here for your for your
edification city council can to say to
any property in the city that's already
developed uh to the property owner they
need to build their sidewalks and they
have 60 days to build sidewalks uh
that's a state statute probably a little
known State Statute that's available to
you uh so it's uh it's out there and
just just so you know where these uh
these things are coming from now going
forward we are proposing to move this
chapter or at least these provisions of
this chapter into um the Land
Development code so that in the future
these decisions would be made either by
the development Review Committee um or
by the Planning and Zoning commission
before it would come here to you and
appeal uh so there would be a decision
uh today you won't have a decision
you're going to have to make the
decision um why do we say we want
sidewalks well we we in the entire city
we um Elevate Los Cruis makes a big
point of uh the importance of
walkability and alternative modes of
transportation and having sidewalks
available uh the Los crues Innovation
and Industrial Park
plan talks about
alternative uh alternative
transportation methods it is a little um
obscure on the issue of of sidewalks but
it does talk about wanting to have the
ability to get around the IND Industrial
Park um with alternative methods uh that
means bicycling um uh walking uh Transit
and so
on um and then recently you you passed
your complete streets ordinance so that
the the city uh City staff are required
when when we build New Roads to include
sidewalks and and other forms of of
Transit transportation in the in the
road
construction um
um so this is the first thing that maybe
you you should think about uh when
considering this this issue is that as
we get to the Innovation Park it's less
clear that sidewalks are wanted but
definitely we want them in the city and
definitely we want to consider um the
the the pedestrians and and alternative
um um transportation method uh but the
overlay uh the the the actual code
doesn't talk about sidewalks in the
industrial park uh so that's where we go
to chapter 26 to uh to require the
sidewalks uh just a a a map to show you
what we're talking about now you'll
see uh here is the the current Loves
Travel Stop uh on the southwest corner
of Crawford Boulevard which is the main
street uh when you get off of at the
airport and go south um and uh Robert
Larson I'm basketball out I'm thinking
Robert Morris but we're not Robert
Morris Robert Larson Boulevard here um
and for for loves you'll see this blue
line here this represents the sidewalk
that they would be expected to build
it's about 8 almost 1900 uh 1900 ft long
uh is that
sidewalk
um uh and and that would be under our
code that's required this is the new
area you'll see that it is currently
under uh under construction they're
going to eventually demo this whole area
over here uh and rebuild so this will be
completely uh re redone over the next uh
next year or so um as a as a side note
and something that I think should keep
in mind this property over here in the
Southeast corner is also being proposed
for development allsups has has put in a
plan for a a new Convenience St and gas
station here on the Southeast corner
they also are expected to build their
sidewalks um they have included their
sidewalks in their plan and are are
willing to build them loves is saying
they would prefer not to build them and
maybe you can understand the difference
between them this is 1,800 ft uh all
subs Al together is about 800 ft so a
little less than half as much
um um okay and then you can see here's
our welcome to Las crus sign and this is
an area that we invested some Pro some
quite a bit of capital Improvement money
in over the past few years and probably
will invest some more in the
future um let's take a look at this is
an overhead view I zoomed in closely on
uh Crawford to get an idea of what that
road looks like uh so this is a
developed portion um you'll see on both
sides there are already they are already
developed you'll notice uh we we have
the the width of asphalt and you'll
notice a very um uh a very narrow um um
it's it's sort of a curb but it's it's
more of a flush concrete that protects
the edge of the pavement the edge of the
asphalt uh it's not an it is not a
sidewalk though it's only about a foot
wide or so um and um it's one of the one
of the one of the alternative
cross-sections that can be used in the
city uh we could easily build sidewalks
along here but keep in mind there is not
a curb and gutter here so if you were
walking on a sidewalk that was built
flush with the
street you're you're right you know
there's no there's nothing to to stop it
uh to stop a truck or a car from from
coming across so um we it could be done
and um um I I think you know we should
think about that but uh but
um um it wouldn't be a problem putting
the sidewalk in here uh it's just
whether that's something you you think
is appropriate to do uh when you get
over to Robert Larson it's a little
different situation this is really kind
of the frontage road for uh Interstate
town and uh it's built as a a much more
Rural Road U you'll see that has asphalt
shoulders rather than
concrete um there would not be a way to
build a sidewalk flush with this uh
effectively uh you probably need to
build the sidewalk over over here a
little bit further out uh and it will
cause some problems with erosion um uh I
have Mike Kenny here who's our our
development engineer could talk a little
bit if you're if you're interested in
how the how that would would be affected
uh by um uh building that sidewalk so um
probably a difficult thing to do without
having erosion problems uh We've we've
asked for this in other areas of the
city but it's it's a problem the code
does not require them to build carv and
gutter uh that's not a part of the code
requirement requirement says build
sidewalk if you build a sidewalk it just
fills it just gets flooded over and and
SED over and and so on it can be a
problem um and so I just bring you to
really the the what staff has been
considering and uh uh we don't really
have a direct um recommendation for you
but I think I have probably three
recommendations for you um and and that
is you know staff has to under staff has
to up
uh has to behave in accordance with the
code uh and the code does require the
sidewalks in this case so staff cannot
exempt them from it
ourselves um all policy documents that
we've worked on uh we heard people today
talking about uh pedestrian safety and
sidewalks we've you know this is
something that's been a big issue over
the past five years or so um ever since
we've adopted Elevate also um in in the
metropolitan plan that's a it's a big
issue uh complete streets it's a big
issue it's been something we've talked
about for years so staff is very much um
aware that that's what the direction of
of city council that's the direction
we're trying to go um and and against
the the idea that the having sidewalks
doesn't work around truck stops we have
two truck stops that have sidewalks that
go around the outside over on the corner
of alam and uh I'm sorry Amador and
motel uh and they function just fine uh
so it's it's not like we can't do it we
could figure out a way to do it and we'd
probably have to come up with some
Alternatives um but on the other hand uh
I could see why we might not want to do
it there are some difficulties there's
some safety issues uh that might be uh
at issue um uh
and if you wish to Grant the variance or
if you wish
to Grant the variance along Robert
Larson but but require them to build the
sidewalk
along um uh um along
Crawford that would also be a a good
option but in any case if you're going
to take either of those options we very
much would like you to direct us what do
you want to modify in the uh in the
Innovation and Industrial Park uh code
do we want to have sidewalks only along
Crawford do we want to have sidewalks
everywhere do we want do we want to wait
uh on sidewalks until we rebuild those
roads um when we can we can do a a
better job um what's what is uh what's
the the wishes of uh the city council
and so I'll leave you with that that
that uh you could vote Yes which would
approve and keeping mind in this case
that means they do not need to build the
sidewalks yes is a vote for no sidewalks
no is a vote that they must build the
sidewalks um amend you could make
whatever recommendations you'd like to
do and then obviously you can table it
and I'll stand for questions thank you
Dr pittz see this is why we always ask
clarification on the yes no votes
because they're confusing Yes means no
sidewalks correct no means yes sidewalks
yes okay thank you any questions yes
we'll go to councelor Graham and then
councelor Flores thank you so much thank
you Dr pittz um can you please go back
to the overhead the aerial view where
you had superimposed yes um maybe one
before yeah that was the that was okay
yeah I guess I guess this is it
um so understanding the importance of
encouraging walking infrastructure but
also asking when and where it makes
sense um so I'm kind of looking at
sidewalks to Nowhere um there's you know
so yes I see the sidewalks along the
front Ed Road I understand um well let
me ask and I don't know if this is
information you would have just off the
bat how
many employees business owners in the
Innovation and Industrial Park actually
kind of walk over here is
there I I wouldn't I mean is it a May
mayor P councelor Graham I I wouldn't I
I wouldn't know how many walk and of
course if there's no sidewalk that might
in that might impact whether they would
walk or not um um I'm going to
guess very few okay and and just as a a
general rule I know in my days when I
used to work in development uh our our
rule of thumb was 600 feet was the
longest we would expect an average
person to walk that you would
voluntarily go 600 ft if it was more
than that you just wouldn't so it's
basically from the far farthest car in a
Walmart parking lot to the front door
that's about as far as a person will
generally walk for for um for
transportation purposes they might do it
for longer to walk their dog or or do
something like that but uh um uh and one
other thing I'll mention about the loves
loves is proposing to have a dog park so
if you're coming there will be things
within the site to walk
to um and you don't have necessarily
have to be walking out on out on the
freeway with your dog trying to get it
to do it bu you'll have a place to to to
do that thank you so much because I was
that was actually a question that I had
in my mind also when I'm thinking
about you know when you walk around a
facility like this and I often travel
with dogs and yeah dogs are there for a
bathroom break
and um I love the idea that there's
going to be a dedicated area for that as
opposed to just kind of wandering out
into the desert um and then final
question I'm intrigued that 60-day
sidewalks can be ordered but I am
curious can can one build a sidewalk in
60 days or is that just something has to
be started is this like 90day fiance
does this happen a lot faster than I
think mayor prot councel you're
absolutely right there is no way that
that someone could
realistically um get a cont could you
have been building sidewalks 60 days
this entire time
careful okay so so that 60 day would be
in terms of getting things going yes um
but that is that is an
intriguing portion of
our odd and very Arcane Authority that I
would love to hear more about in the
future if that's something um I don't
know if that's something you could
provide information maybe sent to
Christine to distribute to all of us
absolutely thank you so much thank you
Mar portam thank you councelor councelor
FL thank you Madame chair uh thank you
Dr pittz um why do you come to us for
this question when the code already says
that there should be sidewalks and the
reason I'm asking it's almost
rhetorical um because I don't think I'm
going to get a straight answer with all
due respect um are you familiar with the
Innovation um the industrial Innovation
Park
plans uh mayor B cc to the floor as I I
am aware okay if if you would like me to
answer your first question well if you
think you can sure yes because because
they have due process to ask for relief
from any section of code okay and you
don't have the uh even though you have a
code that says that you can't say yeah
uh no that's what the code says somehow
we're put into a position of arbitrating
that yeah May Council floor yes okay so
uh my question is um first of all I
think that we should adhere to the code
and the reason is because the industrial
Innovation Park has a plan and um and if
you recall it'll go down it won't go
down I don't know if it'll go to
Crawford but it will definitely um well
Crawford runs uh
perpendicular to the airport between the
airport and Highway 10 Interstate 10
right straight line but um then that
other Road the frontage road and I and I
believe that the plan the long-term plan
because I don't think I'm going to see
it in my lifetime but the long-term plan
is at that industrial uh Park Innovative
Park is to
enhance um the airline airline travel to
enhance um just make it more attractive
and and the plan for that part of that
part that area is absolutely beautiful
and so I think that having sidewalks and
and having businesses adhere to the code
make a lot of sense and uh the part that
you said about like Crawford somehow if
you have a sidewalk there um it'll flood
or whatever it seems to me that's an
engineering issue but um but I I think
it makes sense to um to apply the code
go by the code and I think that that
whole area will be a lot more attractive
and and walkable and we're encouraging
walking you know we have and and then
for people who are traveling it might be
a way you know if it's a connection or
uh waiting for another flight they can
walk that area because my understanding
is that our airport one day will
definitely be um at least um
interestate and uh and and get more
traffic so I'm definitely against uh
giving that code I mean get going
against the code thank you Madame chair
thanks councelor Flores any other
thought yes councel
mclair hi Dr pittz I had a couple
questions I would actually be more
interested in amending um I don't see a
lot of um utility for having it on the
front edge road but I do see it as a way
to make that area say what we value and
if we do value streets with sidewalks
that'd be great but that said if we are
going to be rebuilding it what's kind of
the timeline on that I wouldn't want to
throw taxpayer money into say doing Cur
and gutter if this is something that is
in the near future so if you could kind
of give me a sense of that because I
would say that the Crawford if all subs
is going to be doing it they can do that
as well and then that would also enhance
a little bit what that looks like for
those coming to invest in our city mayor
Bram councilor McLure I do not believe
this is on the radar in the uh um uh in
your Capital Improvement program I think
we're we're we'd be way out
um uh in in terms of the city building
anything out here I don't think we're
we're in any position in any there's no
need the roads are are really quite I
don't know if you've driven out there
but they're they're in quite good
condition just to add a little bit to
councilor Graham's uh question um I did
a series of stories out there and a lot
of people actually do walk to Subway and
they were actually kind of sad that
there's not more options than Subway um
so I do think that that there is
especially with um the cheese factory
that there are people who would be
walking if they had sidewalks so
personally I would say that an amendment
just for Crawford and then considering
kerb and gutter to protect people would
be something we should be doing thank
you thanks counselor McClair I have some
questions as
well um and honestly I was thinking the
exact same thing regarding the front
tich Road potentially not needing a
sidewalk what gives me pause on Crawford
is that alul Subs is saying yeah we will
do that I what also gives me pause is
that um we just redid this whole master
plan for the industrial and Innovation
Park right and what I keep hearing from
staff and from aita is that um sometime
people are sort of walking away because
there's lack of infra infrastructure and
my whole thing this whole time has been
well why why doesn't the developer
create the infrastructure and so I
understand that some of that is on us
and some of that should be our
responsibility
um however if we are trying to make this
Industrial Park something that is
thriving and exciting and sure maybe not
a lot of people will walk to work there
because it's kind of far in uphill um
maybe we'll have public transit that
goes out there and people will be able
to walk on their lunchtime or whatever
um I'm curious though
so if the master plan talks about
complete
streets not just are complete streets
ordinance but does the master plan for
the Innovation Park talk about this kind
of
infrastructure and I see Economic
Development staff whispering but they're
coming good afternoon U mayor protm city
council my name is Elizabeth ters for
the record uh so the Innovation
Industrial Park master plan it just
refers back to the code however there is
a recommendation in it uh that states
that consideration should be made to put
it into the capital Improvement to do
sidewalks and work like this okay thank
you so on curbin gutter are any other de
developers responsible for kurban gutter
uh mayor PM the uh if they were building
the road they would be required to uh
but the sidewalk chapter is kind of the
Standalone thing that just says it just
talks about sidewalks since they are not
uh subdividing or building the road
they're not required to do it that's
usually in the subdivision process that
that that takes place but the city went
through and subdivided all this land out
here and then we built the roads um back
in the
90s okay yeah so if the responsibility
now is on the city to build curb and
gutter and maybe in the future 10 years
I don't know how many years away that
would be what would the if these
developers then build a sidewalk would
that sidewalk be
damaged mayor per I uh along Crawford I
I don't believe there's any danger of
the sidewalk itself being damaged by the
the the U I mean it's there's already
there's already concrete there um it's
it's we have sidewalks like that in
other uh neighborhoods in the in the
city uh that are the sidewalk just as
flush with the with the Curve with the
curb uh and it's it's flushed straight
out you know so it's just a flat
uh a flat area uh so we could do that
without any you know they would just put
down the the the sidewalk um along along
uh Robert Larson it would be a little
harder and I don't know if Mike has any
ideas of how we would do it that's okay
I'm not totally Tony could could talk
about it yeah yeah that's okay I'm not
totally sold that there needs to be a
sidewalk on that frontage road but um
Tony trino with Public Works wants to
come up to the
mic good afternoon May proam City
Council Tony dho for the record um the
way that the industrial in ation Park
was designed initially was with no
curbing gutter there's no on-site
Drainage Systems to convey this water
anywhere else so if we to begin putting
uh curbing gutter along loves and the
other side we will have to have a place
to divert that water Downstream which we
don't have right now this what was
designed to do on side ponding on like
mentioned before it is a rural roadway
for ponding on the side of the road okay
would there be and I generally try to
stay away from this term but would there
be any unintended consequences that you
foresee if we say yeah let's move
forward with sidewalks along Crawford
regarding drainage
issues may approach city council as long
as the imperious area increased
impervious area is calculated into the
the ponding area no I don't totally know
what that means Tony so the amount of of
concrete so it's going to take away from
the uh population of the runoff the rain
with an added concrete so as long as the
the ponding on the side of the roadways
and on the property are adjusted and
revised to accommodate that additional
water then there will be no uh
consequences from the additional runoff
okay thank you Tony um and I guess I
just so if we're talking about sort of
this internal road for the internal part
of the park you know I do feel like if
we start saying no to one we're going to
have to we said then a president for
then the remaining Lots where people
will come in and want to do development
and if if we said no to one then why why
wouldn't we say no to another and I
don't want to see that we already
experiencing so much of that on the East
Mesa where we are correcting the wrongs
of people in our past and so I think we
have a chance to do something different
so um I am at least I'm in favor of an
amendment councelor McClure I'll allow
you to make that um after comment and if
anybody has any more
questions mam uh mayor peram I
unless you have more questions for us
we're we're okay we were just talking
about how we can do it that's all okay
by code are we able to make this kind of
amendment yes okay thank you just wanted
to make sure are there any other
questions or discussions on this I just
like to make a comment please goad my
comment on this is that
um when you go into an area that doesn't
have sidewalks when and whether it's the
industrial park whether it's a frontage
road and since that area is being
um there's a plan for it there's a plan
for growth in that area uh we already
have um you know the aerial shows and
all that once or twice a year whatever
um I think that when you don't have
sidewalks in an area it's like not
having roads it really diminishes the
the look the value you know the um just
the spirit of the place so um I think
you know I'm going to vote on this Dr
pits but um but thank you for your
[Music]
presentation mayor Pam if I if I may
I'll just I'll just comment on the uh on
the issue about the airport side um uh
economic development is planning on
bringing back the uh Los Cruz's
Innovation and Industrial Park code to
what do we want to say it there we after
we've worked with it for a couple years
we find some things to be difficult to
accomplish and so we're going to
probably bring that back to modify it
anyway and so what what we what I think
that we are going to be recommending is
that definitely on the Northern side the
side next to the airport so we're
Crawford where all those trees are on
Crawford when you when you're going
north uh that that area be developed
fully anybody develops sidewalks cbon
gutter we'll we'll do the the whole
thing but to the South side down here we
have we are not as sure what the what
city what city council wants so whether
we're going to do it all the same down
here we can do that too it's just that's
that's really what we're we're asking
for direction if you're if you're not
going to vote no on this we would like
Direction on on on that I mean are we
talking hey let's get the sidewalks on
Crawford
um maybe not on the Frontage Road which
is a perfectly
reasonable um approach or or we say we
want them everywhere um you know that's
that's a that's a we do that elsewhere
we do that for instance along Hadley
where it also was not built to
accommodate sidewalks and it's a very
difficult thing to get sidewalks in
because the road isn't built in such a
way that you can put a sidewalk in and
it it just work well in Hadley you can't
even get two cars the one down here it's
like you wonder how people get in and
out of their driveways but I have a
question uh for Elizabeth
teters thank you Miss uh teters for um
accommodating me um so in so far as the
southern part of uh Innovation that area
is is it going to be um different than
what's on the on the other side of the
airport I mean there that closer to the
airport is it going to be used for
different
purposes mayor proem councelor Flores um
yes it's so there's multiple zonings um
so there's going to be multiple uses at
the industrial park right along Crawford
on the north side of I 10 so from I 10
to the airport is a commercial Corridor
so it will have you know the ideal is
like restaurants and hotels that kind of
thing and then so that's where you would
generally see sidewalks now other than
where the small area where loves is and
allsups is going and I think there's a
few more Parcels small Parcels around
there those are the only commercial core
um Lots on the southern part the rest is
all industrial so that's why we're
thinking maybe a different
recommendation for the southern part of
the park because you we don't
necessarily like um
mayor pram was saying about setting
precedent we don't want to necessarily
set precedent to put sidewalks in an
industrial facility um we want to be
able to have flexibility to be able to
help bring in a
business so um no no sidewalks and so
those those are drive up type of uh
businesses right you uh like loves and
alsips what are they they're like gloves
is a truck stop they're both truck stops
yeah they're both so for truck drivers
and travelers uh they can deal with no
no sidewalks is that pretty much the
feel okay thank you Miss teters thank
you Madame chair thank you um H this is
interesting just to your point Miss
teters
I I guess I also feel like even if it's
industrial we're talking big warehouses
I don't know right people will still
work there right people will still want
to go get a delicious all subs burrito
eventually and so I'm just
wondering like we want to build this
place that will have people at it right
8 to 5 maybe on the weekends like there
will be a lot of people moving
throughout the park is the Hope
correct and so there everybody's nodding
yes for the record um and so I guess I'm
just wondering
if this deserves a longer conversation
because it seems like I at least feel
like I'm getting some a bit of a
contradictory information or Rec or
recommendations
regarding sidewalk improvements at the
industrial park and what we hope it
looks like in the
future I don't want to PE I just don't
want to peac meal this mayor P I think
that you're you're what you're getting
is is the ambivalence we feel about this
application I that that on the one hand
we agree with uh uh Flor is that that
build the build the sidewalks it says
build sidewalks build sidewalks on the
other
hand it's it's probably I mean I'm just
throwing out a number but it's probably
$1 $150,000 to build the
sidewalk that's a big investment for
somebody to and if if that's the
difference between them choosing to come
here or not are
we are we really that I mean that's I
guess that's where I I think we have our
ambivalence no I mean I Dr P I feel like
yeah if I want if I want you to come
here I want you to make an investment in
our community that matters to the people
who are working
there that's at least where I stand
anyway um and may mayor I'm not sure if
the applicant is here I I don't know if
they were if they came or if they're uh
wishing to speak so I just wanted to
give them that opportunity if they are
is the applicant
here no okay okay thank
you um I guess there's
there's two options on the table right
now around making an amendment
or tabling it to a different point so we
can continue having a conversation on
sidewalks at the industrial park gosh I
just love local government so much um
but there's I I just want to give an
opportunity for the council to respond
um councelor matis May pro chair uh in
listening to the engineering
complication of doing the sidewalk I
guess that's on Robert
Larsson that would be uh quite an
engineering feat and it might exceed
even the
150,000 and you still have mud and sand
covering That Sidewalk after the first
rainfall and uh you know these just my
chuckle uh on the disappearing sidewalk
unless someone comes out there and
actually is responsible to take that mud
and sand off that sidewalk so I I
support the amendment uh I think we
could handle the Crawford uh section
pretty
easily thank you councelor
matis yes uh Miss ters mayor proam uh on
your comment to not wanting to PE meal
it um as Dr pittz had mentioned my
department is going in and looking at
the overlay zone right now and because
it's been in place for a few years so
we're noticing as we're getting
development there's certain things we're
we're finding we could potentially have
to constantly bring variances and
whatnot so we're we're planning on
making an amendment an idea would be to
bring it to a work session when we come
up with our suggestions to have a
further discussion on what could or
could not work or what you would
recommend that we do so that we're
following the will of city council thank
you for that um that just leaves sort of
if we decide to do that that just leaves
the question of the applicant and does
that leave them with any timeline
constraints um mayor
PM keeping in mind the the the
requirement is that they have this in
place before their um before their
occupancy their certificate of occupancy
that's the last item that's going to
they're going to be done with everything
and and in the code it does allow for
timing to be
varied uh it it does require it by CFO
but it but it does we have in the past
uh made agreements with people to say uh
well we'll we'll issue a TC a temporary
certificate of occupancy and then you
could do the
sidewalk um later on so I I don't know I
mean I'm sure that the the applicant
wants to know because it's goes into
their proforma and what whether this is
a profitable uh venture or not but but
at the same time I mean I think the word
wor case they they should be operating
under a worst case scenario that they
would have to build it and um and then
they might get relief after you um
that's the way I would recommend to them
to view it uh that that we're going to
table if you're going to table this if
that's what you're you're looking to do
uh that we table it come back with the
whatever amendments um um economic
development is is working towards and
maybe we can come up with a plan that
works a little better um as one of the
things we could do the city can always
participate in any of these things we
could build the curb and gutter and they
build the sidewalk and and get around
the engineering issues and and and so on
we can always contribute but we can't do
it right now because it's not in our CIP
for this year so you're saying you're
saying there is some flexibility in
timing we're not putting much it's going
to take them a good year to get this uh
this building built okay great um back
to council if we table this um for I
don't know if date specific I guess that
would be difficult but um with knowing
that we will have a work session
specifically on the industrial park um
on honestly on all the needs of the
industrial park but certainly uh what we
hope it looks like in the future um is
that something where am I allowed to ask
that I don't even I don't know the rules
sometimes okay is how do people how do
you all feel about that yes councelor
Flores well um again I know that um I
know Devin Lopez has like to pretty much
told told the S told us that the city
that it's difficult for him to get
businesses to come to Las guses and
um and and I somehow I see you know I
see that whole area having so much
potential and I just don't in any way
and I and I still stay you know um stand
by my opinion my view that when you have
streets and sidewalks it just adds a lot
of you know there's just a lot of value
that it looks like a city is really
really has it together and uh so I yeah
I so if we do have a presentation Madame
chair I would ask that it include the um
the uh in Innovative Industrial Park I
and you know the slides that go with it
or the presentation that was certainly
given to to me or yeah those of us on
the um with the uh airport Advisory
Board um I I think it's good to just
look at the big picture and not it's
like baking a cake and saying well I'll
just put the eggs in later well it's
going to be a horrible cake or I'll do
the icing later and or you know and then
it turns out the the cake itself is has
dried up so that's you know maybe not a
very good whatever but um I think that
we have to look at everything
holistically and term in terms of
planning in uh in the future um
and I guess yeah
anyway thank you thank you okay any
other counselors would like to talk
about this nobody else okay um the
suggestion could be a work session for
this in June and we table this to July
15th move to table to date definite of
July 15th Graham thank you second by
florist thank you discussion no
Christine this is on the motion to table
resolution 24- 098 to July 15 2024
Council counc McClair yes councelor
matis yes councelor Graham yes councelor
cran yes councelor flotes yes mayor
proam yes and the mayor is
absent thank
you okay that is all our resolutions for
today uh we have board appointments the
following appointments need to be voted
on we have Steve newbie for the cic
reappointment we'll need a motion in a
second move to to approve goren second
Graham thank
you this is on the motion to reappoint
Steve newbie to the CIA councelor
McClair yes councelor matis yes
councelor Graham yes councelor Karan yes
councel flotes yes mayor protm yes and
the mayor's absent thank you Christine
um notice of prop proposed ordinances
there will be no public discussion on
these a counselor may ask staff for
clarification on the proposed ordinances
10.1 Council bill number
24-23 ordinance number 3065 and
ordinance approving ex a zone change
from r4c 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 basa Arc sub
submitted by Eminem Building Solutions
Representative
period bring it forward thank you that
is it for notices of proposed ordinances
number 11 city council member board re
uh reports and comments councelor
McClair I don't have too much this week
but I did want to share something we
talk a lot about um where the unhoused
come from and I just got an email this
week from someone whose rent went up
from 825 to
$1,200 and I wonder about that and I
wonder given that he's on fixed income
with a disabled wife how do we treat
that within our society that's all I'm
going to say I was just kind of
disheartened by that this week so thank
you thank you councelor mlar councelor
mantis yes okay councelor
Grant
yeah I don't think I better thank you
though thank you councelor Corin thank
you um I will be quick but I just want
to give a quick shout out of
appreciation for the realized Las cruus
technical advisory committee and all of
the staff that worked really hard to I
know it's been a years long process but
to update our uh zoning codes um I've
been so excited and I've been reading it
enthusiastically it does not Dr Pitts it
doesn't put me to sleep at night I I
love it um and I'm so excited to see
some of the changes that are included in
there and to to see how that will change
a number of things both how we work in
terms of having to constantly be
revisiting things from the deeply
outdated 2001 codes but also how it's
looking forward to our future um needs
in terms of safety and housing and
sustainability so um it is open for
public comment through early April so I
urge folks who are interested in in the
development code to dig into it you it
might put you to sleep or you might be
nerdy like I am and and get really
jazzed about it so please do check out
the realize um Blas cr's documents that
are available online uh and provide
feedback there's a feedback um option
within that so um there's also a summary
of major changes so if you're curious
about what kinds of things happen in
zoning code that's probably the place to
start so thank you to all the staff that
worked really hard on that the
consultants and the community folks who
have given a lot of input in that so
that's all thank you well moving through
these quickly councelor Flores pressure
is on yeah um so um I just want to
report on a couple of well a few things
um the uh I want to thank Chris um favor
uh from the bottom of my heart and the
economic development department
[Music]
um there was a meeting here was it
Thursday Thursday
um and the New Mexico Finance Authority
presented um they presented uh to the
public um the turnout wasn't as big as
we thought it would be but it was bigger
no it was as big as you thought Chris
but I thought turnout was pretty good
and there were numerous calls to you and
numerous calls to the uh Finance
Authority and um what the Finance
Authority does is help businesses they
help and max power Ed and another
gentleman and um max Bower actually gave
him a tour of um the Amador and and I uh
joined them in that tour um but the
point though is that um they do a they
help people a lot and recently um there
was a just all this money that was it
was through arpa that's why there was so
much money uh they actually assisted
people in buying homes just out and out
buying a house with land and um and that
arpa money has been pretty much used up
but there is a number that the public
can call to see if there's any money
left over I know that we have our city
has restrictions on not restrictions but
guidelines and deadlines but the number
you can call is
4206 or you can um and that's a general
number for that and if there's anybody
interested in starting a business um
they'll give you the money it's just
that simple I mean they don't there's
different it's more a little bit more
complex actually it's not that simple
but um but if you have a plan and it's
viable there's a way that you can have
your business set up um and the person
to contact there would be mark Montoya
at 505
[Music]
62957 or his email M Montoya at
NM
f.net
um so yeah those are
the you can call to get help you can
call to see if there's any money uh left
over for people who um weren't able to
get money uh for whatever loan whatever
Insurance on a house um they can uh
direct you let you know if they still
have that money or or
not um the other
um good news is that uh due to the um o
opioid
settlement um the city and this was
brought against
Pharmaceuticals and and
uh and uh pharmacies so I think I I
can't I can't remember all the parties
but it was big the places we go to
locally uh and anyway the share that the
city got was $10 million it's still
unspent I know that
um uh assistant City uh manager Ean
presented to the finance select
committee when we still existed as to
possibilities to use that money um this
the city council will make the final
determination but I just wanted to let
people know um that uh that we will be
uh making a decision on how to use um
some of that money 3.4 with the and then
the remaining 6.5 million um the rest
will filter in through um
2038 the year
um the point uh that Yoli brought up uh
Yoli Diaz the Crusader for cancer uh
patients and the lack of U Medical Care
um is is is really outrageous I mean
here we are one of the most powerful
nations in the world and one of the few
if not the only uh first world country
that doesn't provide health care I mean
you go to France and you go to England
you go to just about any any city in in
Europe even South America Canada where
they do have um they do have insurance
or health insurance for people
um so anyway but uh MMC has been uh
there are questionable um their
practices are
questionable and um I hope that uh you
know we get some clear answers from
them
and and oh and a Gentleman gave me um
there's
money there was a passage of uh SB 17
that I'm not familiar with but
apparently um there's a lot of money
there also but you'd have to talk to uh
representative Ivon excuse me Dorene
Ivon um gagos she always uses her name
cuz she likes mine so much anyway um
that's all I have for now uh Madame
chair thank you thanks councelor Flores
um all right I'll try to be move through
these pieces quickly so first up is that
I want to announce that I have two uh
two upcoming spring open houses for
District 4 I'm taking a book from C coun
wow counselor Grahams um take on
approach on Community meetings that she
did last year and um I think the
feedback was really positive so I'm
going to try that and um so really what
it means is just an open house come in
be anytime between 4:30 and 6:30 talk to
myself talk to um specific departments
that will be there uh you know the most
highly requested services are from
public works from codes LCPD will be
there we'll have other departments that
you can come and just directly go to
them and talk to them about your
concerns I will be there constituent
services will be there so it won't be so
much me talking at you presentation
style community meeting it'll be like I
said more of this style open house so
the first one is going to be Tuesday
April 2nd from 4:30 to 6:30 at the W WIA
building um near Pioneer Park it is the
newest part of District 4 so we will be
meeting there and the second one is
April 9th also a Tuesday from 4:30 to
6:30 at kacho middle school so you don't
have to come to both it'll be the exact
same format um but I guess if you didn't
get all your stuff into Department you
can come back the second time um but
very excited we'll be um working with
Pio to release all the information and
it'll be on my social media as well in
case you forget hopefully we'll be
sending out mailers as well and so I
just really want to thank Katrina and
Grace for all of their help in setting
these up and I'm very excited for these
to be my first two Community meetings of
so that's number one um I did I think
given that we are hearing more and more
speeding related issues I know that we
had a conversation a while ago about the
potential to bringing in some tools I
think unfortunately unfortunately I
think we need to revisit that
conversation um not so much I think what
was necessarily presented last time more
so of the mobile units but I do think we
need to revisit it I think it is pretty
serious issue all across the
city um another piece I want to bring to
staff's attention and to my colleagues
is that Municipal Court well several
things here the position for judge 2 is
posted so if you know a um person who
would make an excellent judge who is
committed to then running for that
position in the future have them apply I
think it's oh gosh I think it's still
open um I hope it is but that will we
will be making that decision soon to
help to help judge V Losa do a lot of
the things that we have set forth as
priority for Municipal Court one of the
other things that has come to my
attention if you go on SE section
1-11 court cost and collections there
are several pieces in here that talk
about court fees and section c in
particularly is very concerning and I
believe it is creating a debtor's court
I think this is a piece of the code that
we should look at potentially removing
moving but I think it's an important
conversation to happen um potentially at
a work session um and that should come
to us soon I also know that um State
mandated fees I think $29 State mandated
fees are going away July 1st I am not
someone who would advocate for fees at a
place like municipal court because I
think it creates again debtor court but
I would like to understand the impact
that this might have on Municipal Court
on services on any of those things and
if there are ways to either meet those
um fees a different way or if there are
I I do believe that there are currently
people who who cannot pay can sign up to
do community service but again I think
this creates this sort of system of
people who have and people who don't so
I think all of these are important
conversation and I do just want to note
that July 1st though those some of those
mandated State fees are going away um
but I would like for us to have uh more
of a discussion on that it's also my
understanding that the the ESL classes
at the library are no longer happening
um which I had heard someone say that
they were um super sad about that
because they were great classes and
offered at really flexible times and so
I would love to know why that is and if
that's a matter of funding or um I just
would love to know why I I would really
Advocate that we we have that service
for our
community um and then the last thing I
want to talk about I think let me just
double check my list is I met with
family Lutheran
Services um a couple of weeks ago and
they are the organization here that is
tasked with receiving and welcoming
refugees so these are people who are
coming to the United States with already
a lawful State immigration status and
many of them don't stay in our community
for many things the lack of community
lack of opportunity but many of them
want to many of those Refugee families
want to stay in Las cruus and many of
them are having a hard time finding work
because they left their homes usually
worn torn countries devastating
situations in that situation you don't
really think about I'm going to grab my
certificate from high school or my
college diploma right like those are
really difficult situations and so
people come here and I really would love
to work with staff on perhaps creating a
pilot program for um they have people
who are looking for work and the city
has a lot of openings in a lot of
departments working to see if we can do
some sort of refugee work program that
allows people to make a good living to
support their families many are coming
with many with children and and their
families and so I I would love to see if
there There's an opportunity um for that
because they've tried to apply for jobs
here but often there's that high school
diploma piece that is um limiting them
and so I would really love to work with
staff on seeing if we can create some
sort of work program specifically with
this
organization anyway thank you I I don't
mayor andrias didn't ask me to say why
he was gone so I didn't but I will let
everyone know that he's visiting family
so um I think that's an important note
to make yes councelor Flores thank you
Madame chair um I just uh wanted to um
what is it I want to say
um time's up oh this is terrible anyway
U oh I know this is for Larry Nichols
Larry Mr Nichols uh Community
Development um and I'm glad that Dr
pittz is here what's happened to the
name uh the change of the street uh the
one that has that horrible I have a a
very dear friend uh who's a Native
American who has asked me or indigenous
who's asked me about that name change
and I believe it hasn't been
done didn't we agree that it was going
to be done or did uh did did you follow
the
process
good afternoon mayor Pro city council
Larry Nichols Community Development um
your question councelor Flores uh I've
been visiting with uh my department and
with the assistant city manager ion to
uh I think you brought that question
before him
uh what's happened to the street name
change after the decision was uh
rendered
um I think it's been over a year and a
half now or more and basically it's been
about two years Mr Nichols it's been a
year and a half since we last spoke
about it and that was in December of
2022 yes there has been no further
action on that item why not I mean
there's a process to go through and that
wasn't followed and is it going to be
done um you know it's an embarrassment
uh to to us as a city uh to not take uh
corrective measures why hasn't it been
done what happened what happened during
that conversation the residents of the
street I think there were 20 of them
it's about that street is about I think
a block a block and a half long a block
and they uh the 20 residents uh came
before and discussed it with Council
stating that they Mr Nichols I just I
don't want to rehash all of this is it
okay if you all to connect and then
bring it back I want this on the record
and the reason is because um I you know
for someone to have asked for this you
know in our community and not to have an
answer I don't want to convey an answer
uh that well I'd like to hear in just a
few words Mr Nicholls and thank you
Madame chair for indulging me but this
is something that is very concerning to
me and should be to the entire city yes
did the did the letters go out to them
was there something done and just giving
them notice what
happened what are the items that
happened on Council uh mayor proam and
councelor Forest was I'm I'm so I
apologize I'm going to have to this is
not this is a policy item that's not on
the agenda and so we can't talk about it
so I would encourage you to talk to our
assistant city manager okay so it's on
the record that it has been brought up
and we can't discuss it but I hope that
uh I'll get an answer from you Mr
Nichols and thank you m Flores can I get
a motion to adjourn oh no that's not
true I'm so sorry wow I'm so sorry it's
her first time and I almost robbed you
of the opportunity to give us an update
Sonia I am so sorry please go on with
city manager updates it's okay I've been
bombarded with information so I have to
share it mayor Pro 10 uh members of
council Sonia delal assistant city
manager sitting in for Mr EO our city
manager
so I do have a few comments um so first
off I'll start with the some of our
members of the Las cus fire department
uh who took on the ultimate challenge at
the Baton Memorial Death March this past
weekend did a phenomenal job we had
approximately 12 of them um and also
with our retired fire chief Travis
Browns I that was really cool but we had
two awards that came through one
individual civilian female heavy first
place was Kristen whan I hope I got that
right and then our team civilian male
heavy first place we had Charles Roybal
Michael Medina Forest Powell Jesse
Johnson and Robert Lopez um LCD did a
fantastic job so I really appreciate
them taking um partici participating in
that and then I'll be sending this
information over to Mandy and our
Communications team to send that out so
congratulations everyone thank you I
also have some information from Parks
and
Recreation
a friendly reminder that the opaka park
pool demolition began on-site work two
weeks ago and will last approximately 2
months uh this morning the skate park
contractors commence demolition on
Hadley and walnut the new skate park
rebuild is anticipated to be completed
later this year and the ribbon cutting
ceremony for the new playground
replacement at a Fielder Memorial Safe
Haven will take place this Friday March
22nd from 3: to 5:00
p.m. also realize lost crues from
Community Development the initial draft
of the revised development code is now
available for public review and comment
and it is posted online the initial
comment period will be from Wednesday
will run through Friday April 5th and
the working draft in public comments can
be accessed and submit and submitted at
www.real livel cruises.com
and last but not least we have public
works on our pavement management system
um we do have a cape seal project that
is a crack seal project that is taking
place it will start March 27th and run
through May 22nd approximately 40
working days and we have approximately
48 streets so if you're interested I can
send those to you and I won't go through
each one of them this afternoon that's
all I have thank you thank you Sonia yes
please do send those to us and you did
great thank you that was a great update
okay we're done right okay thank you
move to a journ
Graham second Corin thank
you this is on the motion to adjourn the
meeting councelor McClair yes councelor
matis yes councelor Graham yes councelor
cran yes councelor flutes yes mayor
proam yes and the mayor's
absent
for