Department as they keep our city safe
365 so everyone please rise for a moment
of
silence councelor corin will you lead us
in the Pledge of Allegiance
please
States the
stand
thank
you we will start with presentation of
certificates proclamations councelor
Corin is going to help us do that today
for the nitorum Award presented to
Public Works and parks and wreck by
councilor
[Music]
Corin okay if Public Public Works parks
and wreck folks all want to come up and
and and join me sort of line up for this
presentation we're so
excited
um thank you guys for coming up the last
Cruis I we'll shake hands and have a
okay in a minute awesome so thank you
for coming
up the Las crusis re recreational
Aquatic Center Community competition
pool was selected for the best project
in the engineering News Record enr
magazine for the southwest region which
includes Arizona New Mexico and Nevada
in the sports and entertainment category
on October 31st 2023 in Phoenix Arizona
enr held a luncheon to issue the award
since it was selected regionally it will
also be automatically entered to be
considered for their National Best of
the Best Awards this spring the project
was also featured in the October
November 2023 issue of enr as as the
best project winner for the southwest
region the article stated the following
of the project this new three
36536 ft Aquatic
Center includes an Olympic siiz swimming
pool lobby and ticketing area spectator
seating and locker rooms despite working
off a seven-year-old estimate during the
pandemic the project team led a value
analysis effort to keep the Design
Within the city's budget completing the
work on time and within budget in March
of 2023 it also goes on to say exterior
windows feature vertically placed
decorative aluminum Blue Fins which
invoke the movement and aesthetic of
water the fins also provide a function
as they will stand up to New Mexico's
extreme weather conditions and offer
shading over the floor to ceiling
Natatorium Windows while the facility
enables professional level competition
it was also designed for swimmers of all
ages and abilities accessibility
features which were priority for the
city of Las cruus including pool lifts
and accessible changing rooms we would
like to recognize the dedic dedicated
efforts of City staff the contractor HB
construction ASA Architects and the
community for a wonderful facility that
will serve our community for many years
to come and I can't wait to find out if
you guys win the national best of the
best competition we're rooting for you
so thank you very much you do you want
does anyone want to say
something
yes please please no
please
uh thank you uh for the opportunity to
be here uh members of the Council of the
board um mayor here mayor
protim
um well we thought uh yeah we weren't uh
sure this was a trick but anyways just
keeping it light just keeping it light
uh I I want to say on behalf of
everybody that was involved with this
project and and it it was a year plus uh
just from the design the many meetings
uh Miss dog ad that was uh there with us
initially uh when this started um it is
a pleasure to be able to bring this to
the community um we strive every day to
make sure that any imperfections are
perfected and to continue to make sure
that this is something uh that was
rightfully said it's not just a pool for
any specific demographic it is a
community pool for all to enjoy and we
thank you for the challenge uh on on our
end to bring you this and and for many
your years to come um again thank you
for the the award the recognition um it
is our
[Applause]
pleasure
oh that's me that's me again um great we
don't have jobs of the week here today
but we do have pets of the week with am
de Felix
hello everyone of course my name is Amy
De Felix I'm one of the rescue
coordinators for the Animal Services
Center of the missio valley and we'll
start presenting the pets of the week we
will start off with our cat of the week
which this week is Coco her number is
7261 3 and she says there is no
tortitude here I am the sweetest and
most affectionate girl you could
probably ever meet I will immediately
approach you making my biscuits and
mashing my head into your hands to give
me pets I'm I'm ready for the forever
home that will pamper me and love me
just as much as I will love them and
then we have our dog of the week his
name is Angel his number 64129 and he
says I came to the Animal Services
Center as a very skinny and timid puppy
but now I know that I can find myself in
safe and loving company oh now that I
know yes I'm a ball of energy the
volunteers have called me a very smart
boy so I'd love a forever family to take
me in to train me and teach me new
tricks I'm ready for a life full of
love and we have one adoption event we
will be at Petco this Saturday March 9th
um we'll actually be there from 11:00
a.m. to 2: p.m. we'll be there an extra
hour um and the address in case you need
it's 3050 East lman Avenue and of course
all the links we have our our website
ASC mv.org and we're all over social
media Facebook Instagram Tik Tok uh
YouTube and Spotify and apple podcasts
is where we upload our Tales from the
podcast Tales from the pide podcast
episodes which the new one is coming up
soon so definitely stay tuned for that
and that that is everything I have for
today thank you thank you so much
Amy yeah you can goad and cl for her
thanks Amy right now for a 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 none by n none myself thank
you none staff thank
you all right now we will go on to
public participation um I see a full
room here can we just do a show of hands
who is here to speak I'm going to do two
polls on regular public
comment public comment raise your hand
raise your hand open public comment at
the beginning okay okay we'll keep it to
three minutes and then who's here to
speak on um uh item on the
agenda okay perfect all right so we're
going to start as we usually do with um
this side three minutes please remember
to um keep it respectful to address the
members of the city council and to say
your name and then come up to the podium
on the first
row thank you for the time um I just
want to address a couple things we were
here at the last meeting as well and you
know uh I appreciate Mary Enrique as he
stated at the end that that not all of
us are able to stay for the whole
meeting because of the length of time
and and and many of us have to go back
to work but but a couple sir can you
Stitch your name please sorry Vic VI
alobos and you know the the one thing I
did watch till the end I was able to
participate do that and one thing I was
a little disappointed in was that most
of the council what you actually took
from that meeting was that you felt a
little picked on or people were ganging
up on you when the reality was I think
90% of the people were here showing true
concern about how we change things and I
realize it at times that in your
position you can feel like you're picked
on or people are ganging up on you and
stuff but the the truth is you chose to
be in that seat and you chose to be an
elected official and with that comes The
Good the Bad and the Ugly unfortunately
and so I really hope at some point in
the very near future everybody can see
through that because I can tell you as a
group of concerned business owners the
first time we met at our facility uh we
had 61 businesses there the second time
we met we had 182 businesses and we
expect that to continue to grow and the
bigger concern is listening to all the
problems people are having with the
vagrancy and the crime it is it's this
isn't about you personally and I'm
looking at you because you take it very
personally this is everybody this is
it's in every District it's in
everything and and you guys really need
to do something and I watched the video
I I shouldn't have but I did and that
happened at our property there and it
was horrible but what's more horrible to
me was that 30 minutes before that
happened my wife was there alone at our
facility right so little shift in in
things that could be her the day before
we confronted that same vagrant with
issues he was a little bit nicer at
leaving but but still somewhat hostile
and since then we now lock our outer
fences so when customers are coming we
have to go through extra efforts it's
more like Fort Knox there now and I can
tell you yesterday alone there was
another vagrant out there acting in the
same manner screaming yelling jumping in
the air acting violently and so we got
to do something we really do we have a
big event coming up this weekend we've
got over 100 people coming to our doc
Diving Center and I just look out on the
street and I think what are these people
going to think coming to the city of Los
Cruses and honestly how are they going
to feel safe and I get it they're people
too I know what you're saying they're
people too but these are violent people
and they are becoming more and more
violent out there and and if we don't do
something um it's and I I it's going to
get I know it's going to get worse
before it gets better but we got to do
something and I feel like you're not
listening you're just not I think you're
taking this very personally and it it's
it it this is about the public safety
and and I hope you will truly take that
stand thanks thank you next question
[Applause]
please come on up don't forget to say
your name please
hello good afternoon my name is Devin
narvis um I have been a Los cruus
resident for about 10 years now and
today I am here on behalf of Las crues
for
Palestine since October 7th at least
30,000 Goins have been killed by the
state of Israel including
12,300 children and more than 8,000
women we know that the actual death toll
is much higher
given that there are at least 8,000 Gins
currently missing on top of that more
than 70,000 are injured with virtually
nowhere left to go for
treatment today 1.5 million people are
Sheltering in Rafa the southernmost town
in the region lying against the border
of Egypt despite being told to move
there for safety Rafa is currently under
attack by Israel and 1.5 million people
have nowhere left to run to and the US
is an active
participant this is ethnic cleansing and
genocide in the last 5 months I have
seen footage of things more gruesome
vile and inhumane than any horror movie
could ever
depict I have seen children with the
remains of their parents and parents
with the remains of their
children I have seen countless images
and videos of injured and murdered
babies literal infants and toddlers
orphaned wounded dead or traumatized
forever we have seen innocent civilians
being intentionally starved to death and
gunned down when trying to get
food these are things that I will never
forget as long as I live if you've been
paying any attention you know that this
systematic State violence has been going
on for over 75 years as women as mothers
as elected officials and more than
anything else as human beings we are
calling on you to use your positions of
power to do something about it in just
the last two days we have collected 352
signatures from fellow Los Cruz's
residents calling on you to pass a
resolution for the following an
immediate ceasefire permanent
ceasefire restoration of unrwa funding
and an end to Israeli blockage of
humanitarian Aid to Gaza abidance of
international law and an end to all
funding and weapons transfers to
Israel repeated countless demonstrations
all over the world including right here
in the city of Los crues show that these
demands represent the will of the people
a genocide is taking place right before
our very eyes and it is time for all of
us to act thank
you thank you
[Applause]
yeah let me bring us back to something
more appropriate for our purposes here
today please T your name my name is
Richard
far and I'm here to express my dismay
and
disappointment over our mayor's stated
intention to restrict the public
comments portion of these Council
meetings and to move it to some
unspecified time
after the completion of the council
agenda I apologize if I seem to be
unfairly imputing
motive but I see this as being not only
vindictive and punitive but also a
thinly veiled stifling of opinions and
viewpoints you just don't want to hear
but at the same time unnecessarily
shielding some delicate
sensibilities at the last council
meeting we all witnessed some very
powerful and very emot
comments expressing frustration fear
anger rage sorrow
pain it was
disturbing difficult and emotional for
all of
us as we empathize with our neighbors
sincere and heartfelt
remarks you have to know that those
emotions and opinions are out there and
they should be voiced and they should be
heard and and you should hear
them it's not unexpected you may
disagree with some of the comments
expressed and it's unfortunate some of
those
comments rightly or may seem to you
rightly or wrongly
hurtful unfair erroneous and even
personally uh personally hurtful but let
me remind you that rightly or
wrongly those are among the unavoidable
consequences of seeking and accepting an
elected leadership
position let me share a sage reminder
that I have often had occasion to
reflect upon in my professional life
it's a quote from Super
Chicken my favorite cartoon hero which
simply States you knew the job was
dangerous when you took
it our fellow citizens have a civic
responsibility to step forward and voice
their
concerns and you have a corresponding
responsibility and a duty to hear and
consider those
concerns one council member stated that
you're not in uh you're not all not in
it for the
money and I respect
that but clearly nobody in this audience
here is in it for the money either and
you need to respect
that those of us out here all have
demanding oblig ations and
responsibilities in our busy personal
and professional
lives and coming here to participate and
Community issues is often a major
inconvenience therefore I strongly urge
you to abandon this ill-conceived
punitive and repressive notion can
inevitably discourage and in public
participation thank you next
please
mayor protim counselors good afternoon
my name is Chuck widger and I thank you
for this opportunity to address you I
have lived in Los Cruz for 47 years
including obtaining my degree from
NMSU I know you recently heard from the
small businesses and I come to you today
as a resident I would like to relate a
particular incident which occurred at my
home last Thursday morning at 12:51 a.m.
and what and what I have observed over
the last years last few years in Los
cruus and my
neighborhood I have two pickups parked
in my driveway and these are covered by
a motion sensitive ring camera Thursday
morning Upon A wakening I reviewed the
footage and found a young man running in
front of one pickup and pulling on the
door handle of the other pickup to see
if it was locked when I attempted to
file an online police report I found no
category that trespass and attempted
Auto burglary would fit in my belief is
that if these incidents cannot be
reported how will Los cruus Police
Department be able to properly compile
statistics and be able to formulate
plans of Patrol in high crime areas
please note this same individual was
observed on cameras in two other
neighborhoods that night attempting to
burglarize Vehicles he appeared to be
about 15 or 16 years old not homeless as
he made his escape with an accomplice in
a vehicle this was not a random incident
as my neighborhood has had cars stolen
or rifled through multiple incidents of
mailbox broken into porch pirate
stealing packages the of porch furniture
and items stolen out of garages over the
last 18 to 24
months we have had neighbors backyards
and homes entered by Uninvited persons
fortunately so far there has been no
physical assaults or injuries to the
homeowners it is obvious to me that our
neighborhood is being targeted and
cruised on a regular basis we have a
good neighborhood with longtime
residents and we watch out for each
other besides forming a
neighborhood watch program many of us
lock our gates have installed security
systems we have installed security doors
and have the club on any vehicles that
which are not in our garages I speak
with many individuals some known to me
some not and the conversation over the
last couple of years invariably gets
around to the safety of ourselves our
families and our friends living in Los
crues so this lawlessness is not not
only happening in my neighborhood but
neighborhoods all over town I also know
of individuals who have come to Los
crues for many years to Winter and now
they are not planning on coming back for
any period of time if at all due to
concern for their safety I believe this
trend will continue and accelerate if
you the mayor the council don't do
something to stem this tit of
lawlessness please take Chief story's
suggestions seriously and work with he
and his officers to turn things around I
don't blame the LCPD for the Lawless
Trend and i f fully support them and I'm
extremely grateful for their efforts
thank
you anybody else on that second
row third
row fourth row one two three okay back
to the third
row
yep hello my name is Dr Shantal Savage
um I'm a medical provider of business
owner and a member of the arms Services
I'm here today because I have seen
firsthand what great leadership can do
for an
organization the biggest problem with
communication is we don't listen to
understand we listen to
reply one of the fundamental principles
that I have um adapted and applied in
good leadership is to build a strong
team you must see someone else's
strength as a compliment to your
weakness and not a threat to your
position or authority
great leadership is a selfless act not
seeking personal gain or
recognition the winds belong to your
people and your people alone whereas the
weaknesses the flaws and the losses are
that of the leadership and the
leadership alone I believe that we are
especially lucky here in Los cruus to
have a police force that is made of
officers that truly make a difference
that want to uphold the law and make it
home safe to their families
but without Financial legislative and
moral support they're set up for
failure with legislative action clear
and concise law writing and a proactive
leadership from this Council they can
focus on protecting citizens and each
other I do not know or I do know from
personal and professional experiences
that giving those whom you're leading
the proper tools to succeed is
Paramount those tools I believe are as
follows a change in ordinance repealing
those that are constitutionally
questionable and replacing them with
ones that are enforcable to their
entirety State Legislative action
especially competent
competency laws and bail reform
recruiting and retaining officers that
are already budgeted for and
establishing a realtime crime Center I
truly believe from what I've seen from
police Chief's story and heard from his
subordinates that he is the leadership
that we need to support thank
you thank
you that was Row three anybody else on
three okay row
four we're not doing that today thank
you just three minutes per
person good afternoon counselors and
mayor protm my name is Laura
smart
I'm addressing the scary deplorable
third world situation at Aida Park on
Madrid and Solano I believe this is
District 3 and councelor Becky Graham's
District every day there are a minimum
of 32 to 100 pickle ball players who
come to play at the only eight public
outdoor courts in Los cruus when I drive
into the park I feel like I'm entering a
lawless graffitied homeless encampment I
am now scared to park my car and play
for fear when I return the windows will
be busted out my catalytic converter
will be missing which happened to one of
the players or I may be accosted by some
meth addict begging for money one of the
ladies had her purse stolen out of her
car while playing in broad daylight
there's graffi all over the old pool
house which has been an isore for over
10 years weeds and trees are growing in
the swamp likee pool and who knows what
creatures are living there I distinctly
remember presenting to City Council in
July 2019 posters with photos of this
disastrous City Park I also remember a
female counselor stating we will clean
up that graffiti I was so hopeful that
was 5 years ago and nothing has been
done if the city would demolish the pool
and building by the courts and Aida
which should have been done years ago
you wouldn't have any graffiti there's
no toilet paper in the restrooms by the
ballpark the water fountains have not
functioned in over 5 years I address the
water fountain issue to the parks and
wreck office more than a year ago the
response I received as were waiting for
the water company to repair a pipe the
sprinklers are misdirected and actually
water the courts on the south end and
Destroy any Flyers hanging on the fence
which are posted about future pickle
ball events I have a lot of questions
where is the
$750,000 grant which was awarded to
improve appodaca Park I've called
Senator Hinrich over five times during
the past four years asking where this
money was the last phone call I was told
that someone in Las crusa City
management didn't follow through with
the paperwork so it was stuck in
administration who's in charge of this
paperwork do we lose this funding due to
lack of follow-through in Los cruus City
management why haven't the East Mesa
Sports Complex open the eight courts
have been completed for over two years
part of the go bonds money was voted on
for that Sports Complex has money been
redirected to some other Project without
permission of the public taxpayers
I could descri continue describing the
disgusting situation at appodaca Park
but instead I'm going to offer my
services to work with Parks and Rec
director step Bingham and his team and
apaka park employees on improving the
current situation Aida park for free
each of you has my contact information
because I sent you all an email asking
you to leave the public comments at the
beginning of the council meetings last
week I received a response from three of
you thank you for responding and thank
you for listening thank
you anybody else on the fourth
row fifth
row sixth
row good afternoon my name is Kathy
Fuller I'm a retired Captain with the
doniana county sheriff's department and
I'm here in support of the Las Cruses
police department and I just want to
speak about the continuing problems that
have been addressed earlier today and of
course at last week's council meeting um
the time has come for us to do something
what I'm afraid of is the next time
someone is hurt or killed it's going to
be a family member it's going to be
somebody close to home and I don't want
any of us to have it said that we didn't
do anything that we didn't come forward
I know the mayor said that it's not just
a city problem it's a community problem
and that is true but nobody has the
power that the city and the city
councilors have and I know you can't
solve the problems of the world and do
with Palestine and things like that but
you have the key to the purch strings
you have staff under you and you can see
the programs get implemented that
address this I'm from Albuquerque but
I've lived here for over 40 years if you
follow the Albuquerque Journal things
are so out of control there that the
city has had to form a unit that goes
around and cleans up fees left behind by
the homeless because a businesses have
to step over it and their customers have
to deal with it do we want that in Los
crues I don't think so I think we can do
something about it and I'm not just
attacking the homeless but statistics
show that there's a high amount of
mental health issues and a high amount
of substance abuse issues and that's
something that we can attempt to address
and the final thing another thing that I
really think we need to address is the
change that happened I believe four
years ago where the voters we the people
got rid of bail cash bail bonds and I
think that was a huge mistake and for
every year since then there's been an
attempt to overturn that and to claw
back at it but our governor keeps saying
No this is the way to go but I don't
think so because it's a revolving door I
talk to people daily you heard from the
business people I've talked to Farmer
Friends Community friends we heard about
neighborhoods it is getting worse and
they say well let's just it's the uh
violent offenders but it's not anybody
can become violent when there's mental
health issues and there's substance
abuse issues and if they get cornered
they can lash out and now we have
something serious over and over and over
they're getting released I think that's
something that the council can put
pressure on at uh the state level to
change our bill reform we do not need
people going around and around and
around in that revolving door but please
don't let the next victim be a family
member do something thank
you we'll go to the six
throw come on
down mayor protim council one Garcia the
Coalition of conservatives has advocated
for the Forgotten victims of crime
during the last two years we give voice
to those marginal ized by our
lawmakers we have the Las crusis Hall of
Shame with almost 200 small business
victims of crime who are victimized
again and again by a failed legal system
we have put up Billboards to highlight
the increasing crime and drugs Focus has
been on the criminal while ignoring the
victim as an example in these Chambers I
was called insensitive because I posted
a splitboard with a vagrant on one side
and the destruction of a dollar store on
the other side ccia help citizens
present their grievances in this
Chambers pushing for
change we advocate for stronger
ordinances and I was told by the
previous Council we can't do anything
else and just pass the blame we have
Silence from state representatives and
Senators gadana Ferrari Hamlin and
others I am glad Chief story had the
replacement or new ordinances as a goal
during his press conference we have
asked the council to Advocate the state
legislation for changes in laws during
2023 and
2024 most every small business we visit
has damages exceeding $500 so almost any
broken window is valued higher so why
aren't these cases sent to the DA for
prosecution as felonies so now we fast
forward to 20 February when we had 15 to
20 small
businesses present their present their
grievances which were quote categorized
by some of the count
as a bashing resulting in the new mayor
planning to change public input public
participation to the end of the council
meet in my opinion my opinion this is
retaliation clear and simple and an
effort to suppress public comment
regardless of how the council spins the
change the Optics are horrible it shows
the community the mayor and counsel will
make it difficult for citizens to voice
their grievances many speakers or
parents with kids and workers taking
time off to come and
speak with the change it may be one to
four hours before they get their three
minutes I am sure the mayor and Council
know this but they are proceeding
citizens will continue to peaceably
assemble and petition the city
government for a redress of their
grievances public input public
participation may be slowed but citizens
will not be silence thank
you that we are still on the sixth row
anybody else on the sixth
row seventh
row good afternoon my name is Lisa per
I'm a resident of district 6 our nation
was founded upon the rule of law We the
People expect the rule of law to Prevail
if we the people are inconvenienced by
having to wait until the end of these
public meetings in order to express our
concerns so be it but do you really want
those Optics your next election cycle is
closer than you think thank
you thank you that was the seventh
row anybody else seventh row
eighth
row ninth
row good afternoon I'm Diana liry I own
a business at
925 North moset Street it is a a gallery
it's basically about two blocks from uh
the police station over here um I as
many businesses on mosquite Street have
been broken into many times last time I
was broken into was January
29th of this year and over $500 worth of
security equipment was taken from me and
I actually had a video that I turned
over to the police of the person who
stole my security
equipment um I compared it with videos
that my fellow business owners on
mosquite Street had and we think it's
probably the same person doing this um
I've provided the videos to the police
department I've not been uh contacted by
the
detectives as to if anything could be
pulled or any comparison of those videos
happen
I do think and um am very concerned
about some things that I think are
acerba this problem uh we have tons of
druggies walking up and down mosqu
street and Amador and all of the streets
around um Main Street uh one thing
that's not helping this is that there
are abandoned businesses there are
abandoned houses that the owners have
not been tearing down or boarding up
significantly so that these druggies
can't find a place to cook their meth or
hang
out um I also think there is a lack of
lighting on North mosquite Street near
Spruce and uh mosquite there's no
Lighting on that corner and I was told
that we were going to have more Lighting
on this SK street that has not happened
finally it is very very sad to me that
we
allow the panhandlers which I don't call
homeless people they might look homeless
but they've made a decision to go on the
street beg for money or break into cars
or break into businesses in order to get
money for their drugs if they were truly
homeless I know city has a place for
them to go um so as I said it's just
very upsetting to me to see I've I've
been in Los Cruses 10 years I love this
little town I want it to grow I want the
businesses on mosquit Street to be safe
and grow so I hope you can do something
about that thank you very much thank
you all right we're going to move on to
to this side um that second row
please
don't forget to state your
name my name is Captain flowers could
have to pass this note to the
mayor you can you can give that to the
city clerk
please
if it's it's possible if you could meet
with me maybe after can you speak
directly into the microphone please if
it's possible sir if you could meet with
me after this is over you're asking for
a meeting with the city manager no I'm
asking for the mayor the mayor is not
here today oh he's not okay this is our
city manager city manager but he he will
speak with you after very good so I
could just hang out here or be outside
it okay thank you thank
you um second row nobody third
row my name is Joe rup I'm a resident of
Las crusis in comparison with some of
the other comments you've heard this is
a small thing but it has some point of
gravity in order for uh residents of the
mosquite historic
district during the city council meeting
on February 5th an error in procedure
seems to have occurred and needs to be
noted before a vote to accept the
minutes my point relates to actions
taken on resolution number
24-50 as shown at the bottom of page 14
of the minutes according to Robert's
Rules a motion to table an item
indefinitely is debatable further a
motion to table indefinitely opens the
main Motion in this case resolution 24
050 to debate as shown in the minutes
before you no debate on the tabling or
on the main motion occurred in fact I
attended that meeting and believ that a
review of the video would show that
through the action of a city staff
member no debate or discussion was
allowed instead once seconded the motion
was abruptly moved to a vote and
approved unan unanimously but
improperly the voices of numerous res
who had come to that meeting prepared to
speak against the resolution were
silenced by what I would term an Abrupt
end run to avoid public scrutiny of the
issue and to Forstall a constructive
discussion including information not
previously presented to
council briefly resolution
24-50 is part of an effort to De
demolish a former Residence at 643 East
Picacho in order to convert this
city-owned property to a parking lot for
City use historically City 643 was one
of four homes on its block owned by
members of the Fielder family two of the
other Fielder homes occupy the Lots
adjacent to
643 and continue as privately owned
residences at 641 and 645 East Picacho
this area holds touchstones to black
history in Los cruus and the block sits
squarely in the nationally recognized
mosquit historic district while tbling
the mo the resolution indefinitely would
seem to drop the issue of demolishing or
otherwise compromising the building that
is not the Practical effect as a
city-owned building and without
additional public discussion or action
by city council 643 East Picacho is
fully in the hands of Our Community
Development Department a department that
has repeatedly taken actions including
demolition in this historic district
with little regard for residents
concerns and with slim accountability to
the
public based on my understanding of
Robert's Rules I therefore ask that
under old business at its next regular
meeting Council entertain a motion to
resend the indefinite tabling of the
resolution thank you thank you I'm going
to submit I have two more sentences I'll
submit that to the clerk please do thank
you um I believe she was on the third
row third row fourth
row sixth
row did I skip a whole row okay 1 two 3
four fifth
row sixth
row my name is Fred how
after listening to the public comments
at the last city council meeting
concerning the crime and lawlessness in
our that our small businesses are facing
I was surprised that our mayor announced
that the public comments would be moved
to the end of the council
meetings having a couple weeks to think
about this I want to share my opinion my
opinion on the pro pros and cons of this
change to the traditional agenda that
the mayor
controls Pros for the public number one
none cons these business owners are
struggling to get enough employees to
staff their businesses and need to be on
site while the business is open this is
a struggle just to step away from their
business for the hour and a half to
participate in the public comment ments
to wait until the end of the meeting it
will take them away from their business
for the rest of the day number
two okay that was it for the public Pros
for the city council and mayor number
one this is a great way to censor the
public from bringing issues before the
city council and it gives the counselors
a good feeling that no one is bringing
issues before them so they think their
policies are bringing prosp erity and
Law and Order to the
city two no news media coverage of
public comments since they will most
likely not wait four to six hours to
hear the public comments maybe the mayor
could put the counselor's comments after
the public
comments then the media can report on
both sets of comments and I hope the
mayor watches these comments
today three the public comments and
Council comments are not a
conversation
anyway each side is talking at each
other and not to each other quite a few
people that day asked for a work session
where the public could talk to and with
the city council even the mayor in his
comments had heard that idea so my
question is has anything been done to
start a process for for work session the
mayor also said that you are the leaders
of the city and are responsible for
Community issues these issues are not
solved in a vacuum it takes a community
working together in his column last week
Peter Goodman stated we all need to work
together producing creative helpful
ideas debating factually and
collaborating to improve the situation
not folks personally attacking
counselors nor counselors uh ignoring us
thank
you anybody else on the sixth
[Applause]
row morning my name is Jim
Hurst uh let's blame the Liberals the
liberal support programs and Facilities
sir please speak directly into the
microphone the Liberals support programs
and fac facilities that help the
homeless and the homeless are a big
problem in Los cruus therefore it's the
Liberals fault listening to many of
these comments one would get the
impression that liberals were
responsible for all social ills liberals
did not create uh homelessness liberals
did not create our society's Mental
Health crisis liberals did not create
crime liberals did not create poverty
liberals did not create drug and alcohol
abuse liberals did not create our
housing shortage liberals did not create
our failed Health Care system and our
failed Mental Health Care System
liberals did not create the wealth
disparity that exists in our country Li
the problem with the homeless and Los
cruus is a symptom of many social ills
it is what a mental health crisis looks
like if you ever wondered what a society
that doesn't take mental health as
seriously as pH physical health looks
like now you know if if you ever
wondered what happens in a state
governed by a republican governor who
defunded mental health for8 years now
you know if you ever wonder what a
society that fails to provide adequate
affordable housing for all its citizens
now you know if you ever wondered what a
society that fails to raise a a minimum
wage for decades looks like now you know
if you ever wondered what happens to a
people in their communities who leave
the workforce because of M meor wages
now you know if you ever wondered what
happened what would happen in a state
without a policy for homelessness that
allows that allows one jurisdiction to
dump its homeless on surrounding
jurisdictions now you
know we no we don't have not found a
successful strategy for dealing with the
homeless yet it doesn't mean it's wrong
to try and it doesn't mean that those
who are that those who try are to blame
for the current
situation that thank you uh and with the
time I have remaining I concur that the
count that the you need to keep the
public comments um at the beginning of
the meeting so that the citizen knows
when they can come to comment you are
the first line of defense for democracy
if the people cannot freely Express
their grievances to their government to
their government they will find other
ways and they won't be as is polite so
thank you very
much thank
you I think we are on the sixth row okay
come on
down thank you I'm Henry young director
of the Los cruus gospel Rescue Mission
most of my comments have already been
voiced so I will address something else
at this time but I will Reserve my final
sentence for
you um mayor proam I am still working on
the last council meeting that you
chaired as far as trying to get together
all of the hospitals to meet with the
city and us who are in charge of the
homeless and that's like hting cats and
I have been unable to get all three
hospitals to come to the table at the
same time so I'm still working on it and
I want you to know that other than that
there have been
some misspoken things that we've heard
today for
one um Peter Goodman is vastly wrong in
his percentages on the homeless who are
either drug addicted or mentally health
challenged it is much higher than his
statistics show
I won't venture to say what my research
has said but it
is at least four times higher than what
he
said the other thing
is we just heard
about the Liberals versus The Other
Side many of those statements were
inadequate and after saying that I do
have in place within the Los cruus
gospel Rescue Mission a program that is
successful for those who come to us we
have a high success rate of those people
eventually leaving and becoming
productive members of our society
locally Andor other places I had one
lady that left here went back to New
York and is a successful businesswoman
today other others have similar
situations of success do we have
failures yes but we've also had a great
deal of success with our
program so in summing
up after everything is else is said and
done we the people are the voice that
governs through the elected
representatives thank you very
much thank
[Applause]
you hi thank you uh my name is Henry
hardig and I live in District 2 I'm here
today to ask our city council to sign
onto a resolution to pressure the Biden
Administration to stop the funding for
the war in Gaza we should be joining a
growing list of commun of approximately
70 cities who passed similar measures we
saw a significant demonstration here on
Saturday in our downtown and there is
clearly public support we've left a
petition with City Hall with 352
signatures gathered indicating public
support but what's Gaza got to do with
us why don't we focus on the issues in
our city and not abroad allow me to make
another simple moral Appeal on this
point if any amount of our tax dollars
are being used to send bombs to be
dropped on hospitals universities and
homes every anywhere in the world than
we have a responsibility to speak up and
our city council has a responsibility to
take a moral position on our part over
the last 5 months the Biden
Administration has used flimsy excuses
and sometimes outright fantasy to
butress their policy of deprivation of
food and medical supplies to Gaza while
simultaneously providing the Israeli
military with 2,000 lb bombs used to
decimate approximately decimate and
absolutely level centers of urban
civilian population as well as actively
participate in the starvation of the
people of Gaza not only is everyone who
could possibly take a stance on this
issue in the US government implicated it
is directly responsible if they continue
to do nothing in 150 days of genocide we
have seen three emergency aid packages
rush to Israel against the will of the
American
taxpayer we
know that the government can act very
quickly when profit is on the line yet
they are slow to the point of absolute
stagnation when it comes to the humanity
and Desperation of the least fortunate
the only thing the Biden Administration
has offered so far here is lukewarm
chastisement toward Israeli leadersh
leadership this is unacceptable we've
also seen us Aid drops along the coast
of Gaza as of Saturday via Jordan's Air
Force this is also unacceptable and is
no more than a b Band-Aid over a bullet
wound which our government continues to
ignore if these atrocities crimes of War
by the international standards continue
fast the fastest famine in history is
predicted to at least double the death
toll of civilians in the Gaza Strip via
starvation Biden could open gaza's
borders restore funding to unra and stop
the bombs following today he could have
done it yesterday he could have done it
when the death toll hit 10,000 even
20,000 and so on this last week that
official death toll finally topped
30,000 he could and should do this at
the behest of the vast majority of
Americans on Saturday we saw protests in
every major US city and then some
throughout the rest of the world again I
ask that the city council sign on to a
resolution ending these atrocities that
would otherwise go ignored despite our
direct implication in its continuation
thank you thank you
[Applause]
come on
down no
worries hi I'm Dana Hopkins I live in
District 4 and I'll be very brief um I
think the young folks here who are
speaking about Palestine are really
eloquent and I want them to be able to
use their own words I noticed some some
comments uh people wondering what the
relevance was of this in as we're
discussing things very vital here in Las
crusis so I just wanted to speak to that
that this is indeed a symbolic gesture
but it's a symbolic gesture that's being
made around our country in small towns
big cities Etc and taken as a whole it
makes a really powerful statement that
potentially actually changes our
policies and watching these young folks
who are bombarded every day with with
images of of death and dying and
genocide
I truly understand their passion and I
wanted to also because I'm hearing this
elsewhere make really clear that
anti-zionism is not
anti-Semitism and that that these folks
are addressing a real concern based on
what they're seeing and I hope y'all are
hearing them and for the folks who are
waiting to speak that all of these
things including everything everybody
behind me has to say are relevant to us
here in cruus thank you thank
you I think that that was still the
folks on the sixth row so then I'm going
to the seventh
row or the standing
row my name is Bren Barlo I've lived
here in the valley for four decades
local business owner graduate V Cruz
High School Mexico State University
retired law enforcement executive and
Veteran first God bless officer
Hernandez his family and all the law
enforcement Personnel the head of
experience the night officer Hernandez
was brutally murdered and for their
continued protection of our community
who place their lives on the line every
day for us we as Community are tremely
grateful to all of you regardless of
what you hear from elected officials and
most media Outlets you are appreciated
you are valued we as a community will
support you we will always have your
back don't get discouraged keep fighting
the good fight we need you we will
always need
you
149,150 increase from 2022 and a 13.7
increase from 2021 our community safety
safety falls apart when it not when we
don't have enough Law Enforcement
Officers Avail to answer the call
Citizens want a proactive police
presence in our community neighborhoods
we want a quick response when we call
911 we want an Engaged law enforcement
community that are actively looking to
defeat and deter crime it is your job as
elected officials and City management to
make sure that they have all the
necessary resources and the backing to
achieve those missions are you willing
to come out today as elected officials
and affirm your complete opposition to
defund the police initiatives are you
proactively letting other elected
officials at the state and federal
levels the city of Las crus has no
tolerance for any type of defunding
initiative and that we will Lobby
against it if it rears its ugly head in
April 2021 the governor of the state
signed the New Mexico Civil Rights Act
into law what that law should have been
called is the removal of necessary
protections of police officers so
attorneys can fleece their pockets with
taxpayers money act fact of the matter
is most politicians wouldn't know what
qualified immunity was if it came up and
slap them in the
face qualified allows for a protection
for police officers so that when the law
was not clearly established on how they
should respond in a certain situation
that the officer would have covered by
immunity our governor and every single
state senator and representative in Dona
County voted to pass that mess of a
legislation needs to be
repealed so why is lcbd missing 25
officers people in elected positions in
government management should already
know the answer cops are routinely
Trashed by politicians and local and
National media pundants who literally
don't have the first idea on what cops
do or what it takes to do the the job
but we'll second guess them at every
turn and then make policy and
legislative actions based on their
ignorance cops are not stupid people
they currently live in a world where
much of what they see is not supported
of their efforts removing essential
legal protections for cops segments of
our society calling for protest against
cops people speeding on Cops people
violently attacking and killing cops
elected officials using cops as Canon to
further political agenda criminals that
have zero respect for our laws and list
goes on and on and on and so we wonder
why we don't have
anybody pretty stupid isn't it I have
people ask me all the time about a
career in law enforcement what I say not
in today's world get sued lose
everything get criminally charged for
doing a job in a lawful manner go to
prison lose everything job gone family
gone house gone better yet get killed in
a line of duty you're gone people forget
family destroyed Community broken just
want to say thank you Chief story to all
your people we love you we appreciate
you very much and we're not going
away that was the the seventh that was
the seventh row um we're going to do the
eighth
row yeah so if you're standing in the
back I'm going to call you
last you you're here already why don't
you go ahead but I'm going to go to the
eighth roow next with the the guy with
the gentleman with the hat in the
white
okay my apologies
for um yeah I just wanted to uh let you
know that your name please I'm sorry uh
my name is jir I'm a resident of uh 12
years uh small business owner and
employer um father and
husband um homeowner
too you know I see a lot of I see a lot
of anger here uh um probably some
rightful anger against everybody and he
just want us to keep in perspective that
this is a national problem everybody's
having homelessness right and
homelessness comes because of poverty
and more homeless more poverty creates
more homelessness and more homelessness
creates more crime
right um I'm from HZ right you can tell
by my accent and um in
hes they had a really large crime
problem and with help from the United
States they brought a lot of money to
brought us weapons and Us cars and US
equipment and US training to Mexican
police and they enlarged the police by a
large size and you know what happened
crime came tupled we had kidnappings
like never before and you can say you
know yeah Mexico has their problems
whatever yes but you know what happened
in California they had this homelessness
problem like a couple decades ago and
they hire more cops and they enlarg the
police
department and
they enacted policies to protect the
right to single homeowners to forbid
every other type of housing that the
market needed from being built and so
homelessness became a worst problem so
all I'm saying here is let's try not to
follow the California policies of uh not
building housing and just enlarging the
police and spending all this money on
things that don't work they didn't work
there and so they if we do that they're
not going to work here and of course
we're we I hear a lot about the
revolving door yes it is a problem but
what was happening before was that we
were just incarcerating the poor the LW
only apply for the poor because if you
have enough money you get out so how
come you have you want to have the
privilege to get out because you have
enough money but you don't want the poor
to get out so now that we say no
everybody has equality now everybody's
out on the streets now we have a bunch
of compl we have much more
crime it is a tough problem but it's not
going to be solved with the solutions
that didn't work in the past so that's
all I'm saying that take a lot of things
with grain of salt everybody's really
angry there are no good Solutions uh
um um and so there's a lot of
contradictions if you give you know
money to the poor people are going to be
angry even if you create Solutions so
anyway I just want to say that uh thank
you to all of you who are trying to do
the tough things and the the right thing
at the same time I know it's hard bye
thank you thank you yes the Sir with the
a come on down and I'm going to consider
him the eighth row so if there's anybody
else at the eth
row I apologize for the confusion my
name is Jason cogdal I'm a resident of
Las Cruses also served donana County as
a sheriff's deputy for 21 and a half
years I would disagree with some folks
here I don't think what you're hearing
is anger what you're hearing is
frustration and the frustration is this
you all have the power to change things
and for whatever reason it's taking a
very long time I want to commend Chief
story in Los Cruses Police Department
for their transparency in this most
recent murder of officer hernandz
uh that was terrible and completely
unnecessary if there is legislation in
this city that is anti- police I'm
asking you to repeal it reform it get
rid of it uh there is no reason for it
uh these men and women are warriors that
keep us safe every single day and they
need the tools to do their job it is
incumbent upon you and your power and
the responsibility that comes with your
positions to enable them to do that so
thank you very much sir for what you
have done and what you continue to do I
would agree with my colleague Mr Barlo
we love you you are in our prayers and
we just want this city to be safe thank
you thank
you thank you my name is HRI Cooper I'm
a retired lieutenant from the donian
county sheriff's office and cancer
survivor and before I want to go to far
I want say that we have an excellent
Cancer Center here in Los crues they
saved my life now having said that with
all the things that have been talked
about here about law
enforcement being retired for the number
of years I have it's extremely
frustrating to watch on TV whatever the
news source is or who the politician is
or whatever
party to see how they talk about what
law enforcement officers actually do on
the street
I also directed several of ourmes at the
sheriff's office I taught at the Academy
in Santa Fe and I taught uh several
times at the Las cusis Police
Academy every time it's always about
what it is we teach our law enforcement
officers and how they learn how to do
their job on the street and many of a
time just to keep from getting in
trouble too many times law en forcement
officers will get complained upon
because of a simple procedure they did
as they were taught in theems and it's
not unconstitutional it's not against
the law is what they were taught but
there's something else another group of
people that need to be educated about
law enforcement and that's the
public what you see in movies I could
come up with numerous examples movies TV
series that I would sometimes thr my
shoe with the TV and then go get a new
TV cuz I broke it CU that's how
frustrated I am how they present law
enforcement to the public and we see a
failure about that education to the
public from our elected leaders and
maybe even from uh top law enforcement
agencies and officials in those
agencies qualified immunity is not about
making excuses for wrongdoing it's about
letting the officer be able to do the
job they have how they've been
taught Point uh you know by by and
large Jonah Hernandez was killed by a
man with a
knife and too many times when we hear
about Law Enforcement Officers returning
fire and utilizing deadly
force somebody says oh the G only had a
knife or when they shoot somebody who's
driving a car trying to run them down
they were unarmed no they were in charge
of a several thousand pound weapon I
mean how many people are killed by cars
every year that is where we also need to
start the education to the public about
how law enforcement do their job is not
always
pretty it's not always
nice but that's dependent on the top of
crime these officers are facing and the
education they have thank you thank
you I I lost track but I think that was
the eighth
row anybody else on the eighth row okay
ninth
row okay we're just going to go with the
folks in the
back good afternoon you can move the mic
yep you can good afternoon thank you for
allowing me this opportunity to speak my
name is Fern Adams and I am an
anthropologist at n miss you with a
focus in culture and language I'm here
on behalf of Cruis for Palestine and as
an anthropologist it is extremely
painful to be witnessing the genocide
that is happening in Gaza the world is
aware and the people are not blind to
the crimes that Israel has been
committing Israel has taken away so many
innocent lives and are actively
depriving the remaining ones of any
basic human decency denying them of food
shelter and water things that people
should not have to beg for
and they are actively erasing and
outright performing a cultural genocide
destroying whole communities of people
who are simply just trying to exist
peacefully these communities were forced
to evacuate from their homes and were
shoved into quote unquote safe
zones um but it is blantantly obvious
that there were no longer any safe zones
especially after the events of last
week's flowerer Massacre where dozens of
starving civilians were murdered when
attempting to collect food people who
were weak and Starving in theed
government justifies that they took this
action because they felt threatened to
feel threatened by people who are
malnourished who just wanted to feed
their children who just wanted to simply
not lose their rights to the one thing
that they had left which was
life mothers and children are actively
dying it is painful to know that so much
if not all of their culture and language
will never see the light of day again
because it is now trapped underneath the
rubble and blood of so many innocent
human beings these are selfish Acts
that the Israeli government could have
put a stop to and prevented but instead
have chosen not to and continue to
justify and turn to Blind Eye to their
actions when do you okay
um so we are asking our city council to
pass a resolution that calls to the
Biden Administration to facilitate an
immediate and permanent ceasefire in
Gaza to restore unrwa funding and ensure
Israeli allows unlimited Humanity Ary
Aid to enter at the scale needed both
North and South Gaza and to uphold
international law and basic human
decency by demanding that Israel ends
extrajudicial members of Palestine and
the West Banks and ends all settle
Terror on Palestinians and to end all
funding and weapon transfers to Israel
thank you very much thank
you looks like looks like the line is
forming in the back now so go ahead and
just get in line and then come on
down good afternoon my name is Danny
meller and I want to tell you about a
Monday that I witnessed a lot of
vandalism about a month and a half ago I
went to pick up my clothes on lman at
the Comet Cleaners and they drive-thru
glass plate was just completely
shattered then after that I went down to
the Chick-fil-A same thing there windows
were broken then I had to go over to
Batteries Plus and I observed that there
was as I walked in somebody had tried to
break into a plate glass double door
that was
extremely strong and I'm thinking it
took a lot of
pressure to get that open they did not
get open the owner did tell me that the
Sally next door had also experienced
vandalism
um Pet Smart then I had to go pick up
some food at Pet Smart they had some
plate glass windows that were broken out
also and then um our daughter has a
medical practice in that area and she
has spent thousands of dollars to
replace glass to reinforce her doors and
the concern that my wife and I had is
that she related to us related related a
story to it that one afternoon she went
going out to her car and there was
someone that was messing with it and so
she stepped back in closed the gate that
they had just
installed and went and called the police
and the police were there right away and
we really appreciate that so I'm asking
the city council to please listen to all
the statement that had been made today
and look at what we can do to make lusus
a safer place for not only businesses
but for customers thank you very much
thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
sir good afternoon to all my name is
Yoli Diaz shifting GS since October 2021
I've been advocating for access to
needed healthc care my focus has been
Memorial Medical Center since they're on
a lease with city of Los Cruses and
doniana County and the only hospital
with medical and radiation oncologist
today I will expand my discussion we
have three for-profit hospitals Memorial
operated by lifeo is owned by Apollo
Global Management to private Equity Firm
Mount View is owned by Community Health
Systems another major US Health System
both have very large charge to cost
ratios 625 to 725 according to a
national report doesn't compare to UNM
or
Presbyterian and uh according to this
report the top 10 hospitals in New
Mexico with the CH highest charged to
cost ratios we have two of them right
here which is memorial and Mountain View
I don't know too much about three
crosses it's a beautiful hospital but
I've read that they're also owned by a
private private Equity Firm so I want to
discuss two estimates of service just to
kind of get these numbers out there and
I'm going to use two hospitals the first
one I'm going to use is from Memorial
Medical Center by a resident of doniana
County who was uninsured at the time
that he needed his service and keep in
mind that when someone has a potentially
fatal disease they're thinking about
their disease not these numbers so they
had an estimate that that uh was
$722 183 so what they do is they they
have these estimates and then they'll
allow a prompt payment uh discount so
due today was
5,618 26 which was June 30th
2023 I don't know what went wrong but
they took the 7,000 instead of the fix
5600 there's plenty of studies where
people don't even have $500 I don't know
how you're going to have 5,000 or $7,000
that was Memorial and then at Mount View
there was actually a child who needed a
surgery and the estimate was
173,880
there was uh some CPT codes missing and
there's a law right the price
transparency law effective January 2021
where they should be having the CPT
anyway that item with no CPT code 65,7
18282 and so this uh estimate had that
they were going to to be billing the
insurance almost
$97,000 so the estimated patient
responsibility was $9,000
$19.94 so with our social determinance
of health and demographics please answer
me how are these people that live here
going to be able to afford these amounts
and so Affordable Health Care yes we
could do things yes so I hope I keep
getting to meet with some of you that I
haven't been able to meet with you but
think of those numbers thank you thank
you
[Applause]
sir and if anybody else on this side
wants to speak go ahead and make your
way down and just sit the front
here one word
fentol
fentol fentol sir can you say your name
please I'm Dr Paul Funk and um I'm
concerned about our town just like
everybody else is sir please speak
directly into the microphone concerned
about our town like all the rest of you
and I think we need to frame the
questions and the answers based on the
biggest problem right now which is
fentanyl it just hit this nation like a
Title Wave 200 people a day are dying
from
it a lot of the crime is driven by it so
uh come back next week or next time we
meet with some ideas about how to
address the fentol pandemic thank you
great thank
you
hello my name is Dylan Davis I am a
mother of three children under the age
of three I am a I am a full-time student
at Mexico State University and I am a
full-time special education teacher with
lcps I have spent every second of my
precious free time which is not very
much advocating for the rights of the
Palestinian
people I know that a lot of people in
this room feel it is not our duty to
worry about matters happening outside of
our town but I would argue that these
people are not accessing their Humanity
we bring to you today request to bring
forward a resolution in support of an
immediate and permanent
ceasefire we are a decentralized
informal community group of concerned
people who demand no more violence in
our name being funded by our government
with public money we have collected over
350 signatures from Las crusa residents
who also call on you to support an
immediate ceasefire and to put an end to
the ongoing Terror destruction and
humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza you we
don't have to take our word for it about
this being a genocide or about how the
actions of Israel with full United
States support are in violation of
international human rights law national
International Jewish and Israeli human
rights organizations and media Outlets
have been documenting this crisis for
decades I'm sure many people in this
room and in this town are waiting on us
to get tired of protesting petitioning
and speaking on this matter and I can
assure you that that will not happen
let Gaza live and support an immediate
ceasefire thank
you all right anybody else on this
[Music]
side good afternoon Council my name is
Andria Salas and I just want to say one
thing and Chief story you're doing a
great job you got thrown into a huge
mess you're not even first year um I
just want to say that qualified immunity
when it was taken away tied the hands of
all kinds of police officers because
they don't want to do the job for fear
of retaliation by
attorneys and you guys as our leaders
our voice have the ability to pressure
the people up north that make these laws
to repeal that and you need to do that
so that our officers can do the job that
we've asked them to do Chief story we do
love you thank you for your time thank
[Applause]
you is that our last person on this
side okay thank you we will go ahead and
move on with acceptance of the agenda um
we need a slight change for item 7.3 I
move we uh accept the agenda moving item
7.3 to be heard at the top of
um discussion ordinances sections of
please thank you
counselor second Graham thank
you this is on the motion to accept the
agenta as presented with item 7.3 to be
heard first councelor McClure yes
councelor matis is absent councelor
Graham yes councelor cran yes councelor
flutes yes mayor proam yes and the mayor
is
absent
okay um sorry let me get my bearings
here
okay all right we're going to go to 7.3
first that is Council bill number
24020 ordinance number 3062 an ordinance
authorizing the issuance of sale of city
of Las Cruses New Mexico taxable General
obligation Improvement bond series 2024
in the principal amount of $6 million
payable from ad volum taxes levied on
the taxable property within the city
levied with without limit as to rate or
amount providing for the form certain
terms and conditions of the bonds the
manner of this execution and the method
and of security for repayment thereof
Christine do I have to read this whole
thing is that okay Erica can you take it
away move to approve but I do want I
need to hear that again
stop move to approve thank you councelor
Graham second Corin
second okay Erica now you may take it
away good afternoon mayor proamp and
council members Erica hawkis treasure
the ordinance before you is to authorize
the issuance and sale of 6 million
taxable General obligation
bonds voters approved four General
obligation Bonds in nove in the November
8th 2022 election the total amount
approved was 23 million 10 million for a
new fire station 5 million to continue
the East Mesa Public recreation facility
6 million for affordable housing and 2
million for Park
improvements this is a second and final
General obligation Bond issuance uh 6
million of the affordable housing bonds
will be used to provide resources to
plan design construct acquire and
preserve housing affordable for low to
moderate income household including
acquisition of land if
necessary the ordinance authorizes a
city manager and City Financial Service
director to approve within the following
parameters the par value cannot exceed 6
million the interest rate cannot be
above 10% and the majority date no later
than August 1st 2043 the bonds are
payable from property taxes and the
bonds are expected to be sold in a
public competitive
sale here are your standard Council
options and I stand for any questions
thank you
um yes councelor Corin I thank you Era
this is a great presentation and I am
being an interest rate nerd I'm really
excited that we're doing this at this
time I'm curious if you can tell us I I
know timeliness is a big variable but um
why this moment to to sell them and I
would appreciate if you would be willing
to
share uh counselor but I um spoke with
our financial adviser earlier and um
basically we try to set up this to to
get a good rate but we can never predict
what's going to happen in the market we
can just do our best estimate so he
estimated about a 5.3 to 5% rate for
these bonds uh that will be sold
um
here March
14th awesome thank you that's great I
appreciate you sharing and paying
attention and keeping track of and
educating me about how this works so
thank you again
missus absolutely agreed yes councelor
Flores thank you Madame chair and thank
you uh Miss hakus um so uh the 5.3 rate
and you say um does that go away like
the pumpkin goes away in Cinderella on
my March 14 is it was it guaranteed
through March 14 or how does that work
mayor PRM councelor florides uh that's
an estimate we can't really predict
what's going to happen on the market but
that's that's our best estimate at this
time so what have we agreed to that now
that is actually not the interest rate
that we are going to pay on these bonds
uh through the competitive sale um we
set a time and day and we get bids from
Brokers and Banks and then we just uh
accept the bid with the lowest interest
rate which could be anything lowest uh
relative to 5.3 or just lowest just
lowest it's just the lowest it could be
lower than that it we can go above the
10% though per the parameter set in the
ordinance so why is March 14 2024
crucial it is
uh call Eric help oh oh he's the one
that yeah I don't I don't know where the
exact date came from but I'm assuming it
has to do with the market yeah well
always the market but thank
you hi Eric don't forget to state your
name
yes
I think this worked thank you very much
so good afternoon um yeah I think it's
afternoon uh Eric herrian with RBC
Capital markets we are the city's
Municipal adviser um so we looked at uh
at you know selling the bonds in and
around this time interest rates really
hit a high in the no November time frame
um rates have since come down from that
point with the idea that the Federal
Reserve was going to start pivoting from
Raising interest rates to actually
cutting interest rates rades um based
upon the you know economic data that
we've received the beginning of the year
labor market is still incredibly strong
um the you know the fed's sort of key um
inflationary factors are kind of staying
where they're at and so instead of the
Federal Reserve anticipating this is all
of course anticipated that they might
you know lower the rate two or four
times this year um based upon how strong
the economy is they may not not even you
know lower the interest rate where rates
are because they've come off their highs
we recommended a um uh a uh fall spring
sale um and the sale does coincide with
the uh obviously the approval of um of
the uh uh city council um the interest
rate um as Miss hakkin was talking about
that is uh that is set based upon the
bids that we receive on uh a week from
this Thursday so we're going to post the
preliminary offering document this
Thursday uh then notice gets sent out to
investment Banks all across the country
inviting them to bid on the city's
General obligation bonds um note that
these are taxable bonds because of the
way that the proceeds are being used
this is a little bit different than
other General obligation bonds which
have been sold on a tax exempt basis
which usually come with a with a lower
interest rate um so we estimate that the
interest rate is about
5.3% and that's based upon what current
taxable uh sales uh similar to what the
city is rated the city uh just affirmed
its double A2 rating from Moody so
congratulations on that that's terrific
um and so that's what we estimate of
course we can see interest rates
fluctuate significantly even on a
day-to-day basis depending upon what
kind of economic information you know is
being released um but we anticipate that
it's going to be be in and around like a
20 to 30 basis point range from that you
know 5.3% so okay so what if we say yes
go ahead and then the interest
rates uh shoot up what if they go up are
you still authorized to uh to to proceed
yes or how how does that work uh our
attorney maybe our attorney or our city
manager say say we give you I think he
was going to answer it oh so so there
are parameters that are laid out in the
um ordinance that that are before you so
the interest rate can't exceed um 10% um
now we we think it will come in way way
below that but the city has the option
should we
receive really unfavorable interest
rates so if we're receiving a rate
that's around 7% which is way way higher
than current market conditions we can
reject all bids we don't have to accept
any of the bids that with the city is
not tied in to um the you know whoever
provides the lowest bid come Thursday we
anticipate that it's going to be much
lower than that like around the
5.3% um but there have been periods of
time when there are significant Market
disruptions especially during the onset
of the pandemic where you had issuers
that saw really crazy bids we rejected
those bids and then we went back out a
few weeks or maybe a month later to
issue those bonds the city has that
flexibility so this delegation um I
believe is good for 120 days um and so
you have some flexibility should the
markets really you know be in a a you
know in a really bad situation and
you're not receiving the bids you should
we can you we can just reject all bids
and go back out to the market at a point
where uh the markets are you know are
more stable we don't anticipate that
happening we do anti ifate fairly Stable
Market conditions between now and the
time that
you city manager would like to add
something to your question thank you
thank you member Council Council fles
what one of thing I I wanted to do is
just make a point of clarification to
with uh the reason we you mentioned that
we uh the first question which is a good
one especially for the public of why now
what what's the the magic you know date
of March 14th um as you can recall in
the public may recall we chose to push
off this particular part of our go Bond
and not issue it at that uh
initially uh not necessarily because
we're chasing rates uh that's really the
maybe a secondary reason that we're
hoping maybe as we pushed it off further
enough that when the time came for us to
issue the debt that rates would would
lower and I think it has from the time
that we we first talked about this but
the the whole reason for us pushing it
over is that we didn't want to issue
debt and then have that debt sitting and
us paying interest in
interest paying this debt back while we
are waiting for projects to get moving
and so that's the primary reason for us
not issuing the debt sooner and we're as
we're getting in you see some of the the
groundbreaking and we're moving in with
uh some of our affordable housing
projects we're in a position now to be
able to say you know what we're going to
need this money sooner than later later
and so we're just issuing the debt
because we need the debt um and whatever
the market is is the market based upon
our bond rating we're going to have a
pretty good I can say uh you know maybe
a year or two ago if you told me 5.2% I
would have I would have thrown
up uh but right um but right now it's
that's what the market is for it and
again that's the longer we can prolong
the need to issue debt the better it's
been for for us but that's what the
market is and for our bond rating is
it's a really good Bond rating for City
our size and our situation um um I think
it just one or two steps be below a AAA
I mean um and so it's it's a really good
time not necessarily because of the
interest rate but because we're going to
need that money and so uh the 10% is a
huge parameter but we'll certainly not
issue I mean we'll come back our
recommendation will not be to issue debt
if it's anywhere near closer to close to
that we'll figure something out with
what we have but I just wanted to put
that maybe that answers some questions
even for the public listening in yeah
thank you so much uh Mr peely um it does
answer a lot of questions and I think
the most important part of that is that
there are projects that are ready to go
and that's that's really the fundamental
reason I think well yeah so so I'm sorry
I asked you I should have asked him but
thank you very much the two of you and
thank you madam chair thank you both any
more questions from the council is there
any members of the public that would
like to give any
comment
Christine this is on the motion to
approve ordinance
3062 councelor McClure yes councelor
matis is absent councelor Graham yes
councelor cran yes councelor FLOTUS yes
mayor protm yes and the mayor is absent
thanks Christine all right item 7.1 this
one's nice and short resolution number
24- 089 a resolution adopting the city
of laus's affordable housing investment
strategy good afternoon mayor protm um
sorry Natalie we need a motion oh sorry
so
move second seconded by Corin I don't
think you can move in second same time
cancer FL thank you go ahead Natalie
good afternoon uh mayor Pro members of
council Natalie Green your
revitalization administrator for the
record uh the resolution before you
today is to adopt the affordable housing
investment strategy just a little
background on today's action um the city
contracted with project Moxy who's a
regional affordable housing consultant
the reason we contracted with them um in
addition to the go bond which was
adopted in November 2022 but we also
wanted to evaluate our program based on
the post-pandemic housing environment
as we all know it's been a very volatile
Market um housing projects across the
the board have have changed um so part
of their scope was to review our
existing Housing Programs um they did
some site visits to evaluate our local
context look at our pipeline some of our
opportunities across the community they
also conducted some stakeholder and
Community engagement which included a
council work session in November 23 and
then we also published this for a 30-day
public comment
period um some additional background
just to sort of lay out the the area
that we're talking about uh this is our
housing Continuum for those that aren't
familiar about it and so when you're
talking affordable housing it could
Encompass all of these stations on the
Continuum but the go Bond really focuses
on the two t uh teal areas which is
Affordable uh affordable rental housing
and that firsttime home ownership so
anywhere from 30% to 120% of it area
median
income uh again for uh some background
for those who aren't familiar with the
strategy um we received a lot of great
ideas but as Jen uh from Project Moxy
would tell you um if there isn't a
funding source or staff capacity then
it's not something that necessarily made
its way into the strategy we wanted
things that were um actionable um had
Partners had resources had will and
capacity the plan highlights it's a
three-year plan to coincide with the
general obligation Bond it goes from
2024 to 2027 it is made to be adaptable
so it's able to respond to both the
changing market conditions and then City
priorities uh one of the things that we
asked for is that any Investments
leverage other available resources um so
as part of the uh affordable housing
General oversight act uh the council has
mandated that we bring in at least two
times the investment of any uh projects
that we fund out of the trust fund and
so we want to make sure we're leveraging
the sources that are out there it did
make recommendations for various
investment areas it uh called for the
streamlining of various affordable
housing programs and most importantly
aligns with the New Mexico affordable
housing act affordable housing is an
exemption from the uh anti- donation as
long as the projects comply with this
act and the city's General oversight
the buckets for investment strategies is
rental for sale uh preservation of
existing units there's some Land
Development and then some general policy
recommendations and so sometimes these
work interchangeably but sometimes
they're wholly separate and a and
apart some additional highlights is that
it called for increasing our tax credit
development um through both Gap funding
uh land acquisition or land donation
uh changing our impact fee waiver policy
for affordable housing and our
affordable housing handbook um so those
uh documents were adopted um Mid 2000s
and so they uh they aren't really in
alignment with what's happening in our
current current uh structure it also
calls for increasing our for sale
construction subsidies one of the
hardest uh impacted Industries was the
firsttime home owners uh mark market so
we saw a lot of people who were just on
the buffer of home ownership that we
could have uh assisted uh but then the
pandemic set that goal much farther um
again it asks us uh it has some
leverages uh strategies to leverage
private development Partners we
typically uh partner with nonprofit
development Partners but there's uh some
opportunities as new developments come
online to work with some private
development Partners it did ask us to
evaluate some new mortgage products the
interest rates which we heard about
earlier are all over the place so we
want to make sure that we're able to
respond to the needs of the community
there was some preservation
recommendations through the uh rental
assistance uh demonstration funding out
of the US Department of Hud or Housing
and Urban Development um and so that's
uh particularly for uh dilapitated
public housing the b f of this area MRA
areas
uh the there was a call from
constituents around special needs
housing so uh victims of domestic
violence seniors um uh some uh housing
for people with
mental uh with disabilities and so that
we're able to look at some of those um
not necessarily with the go buun funding
but across all of our
funding it also asked us to implement a
site selection Matrix so uh we have a
pretty robust pipeline across the city
but we want to make sure uh we're
evaluating where we're putting
affordable housing and that we're
picking uh the sites uh through this
Matrix it called for increased land
banking and land acquisition um again
and that's tied to the selection Matrix
um the next three pre-development
infrastructure in alignment with state
and federal funding policies um kind of
work interchangeably so predevelopment
is not a bucket that we fund often um
and then as part of the MRA areas we
want to look at infrastructure
improvements for site Activation so um
if there's areas that have seen
disinvestment or the parcels are
problematic and they need um
infrastructure improvements or
remediation to be able to put them back
out to public use we want to be able to
do that and then there's been quite a
few conversations at both the state and
federal level around uh
aligning especially zoning and land use
with uh state and federal goals and so
we want to make sure that we're we
responding to those things so the state
will condition some of their incentive
fundings based on our
policies the go bond fund uses right now
the current recommendation is about $4
million to our rental tax credit
development program and then two two 2
million to single family land
acquisition and
construction uh this may vary by a few
$1,000 just depending on some of our
grant fundings that uh comes in we've
brought in about 3.5 million in the last
year so our goal is still to continue to
bring in that funding so it may vary
from but not not by much um our goond
goal was about 300 units we anticipate
hitting 800 units and leveraging about
$142 million so we are bringing well
above that two times invest
investment so with that you have your
standard Council options and I'll stand
for questions thank you Natalie um yes
coun Flores thank you Madame chair and
thank you so much Miss green um can you
go back to I think it was page eight or
S
okay well let's see um I have a question
maybe it wasn't page seven I have a
question about uh the exception to the
anti-d donation um Act
uh how is that circumvented or why does
it not apply or how is it that it does
not
apply mayor protm councelor flotes so
the state legislature adopted an
exception for affordable housing uh in
order to be able to have an exemption we
have to one have an affordable housing
plan which we do and then we have to
qualify projects through a qualifying
grantee process and so we do that call
um every October we qualify uh either
projects or developers send that to the
New Mexico mortgage Finance Authority
who's the entity in charge with
enforcing the affordable housing act and
they um they work with us on on
qualifying those projects and then Al
Council action uh is also part of that
process okay and then is that um the
land is that state owned or is it owned
by the city of Las Cruses or is it owned
by a private
uh person uh mayor PM Council FLOTUS it
can vary from Project to project uh in
some instances it's city land that we're
activating many times the developers
have the land already and they come to
us with a proposal and then uh a
potential uh land development project in
the future is uh state land um through
some of their leases that they're doing
uh they are the state has been working
with um the city of Los Cru to mandate
uh affordable and attainable housing on
any future state land leases uh coming
forward for approval right I know that
um land commissioner um Stephanie Garcia
um rard is um looking also at uh state
land being sold along uh with the house
is there any development in that regard
do you know um
mayor protm counselor FLOTUS I have not
received an update from the state land
office but I will check in with them and
get back to you oh great thank you very
much thank you Madame chair thanks
councelor fres councelor
Graham oh my apologies councelor Corin
okay um I'll be real quick one thing
that I did notice that in your in the
project Moxy report was a an for hotel
conversions to be something that um you
guys don't necessarily we don't
necessarily have the capacity to do at
this time which I understand because
because I think it's really complicated
but I think as part of the MRA
conversation goes I'm I'm assuming that
that's sort of a planned future
expansion of these conversations so this
this isn't for today but for a future
conversation and I was wondering if you
could talk a little bit about that uh
mayor proam counselor Karan so we did
look into the hotel conversions um it
wasn't something that we could uh
reasonbly put goond dollars and move
into an actionable item within the 3
years uh but as we work on the more
specifically the West Pacho um MRA plan
that is um something that we can look
into there is a funding source that
we've identified um It's Our Community
Development block grant funds uh the
challenge with that is we use that
funding to fund other things so we would
need to look at um that program as a
whole and and figure out how to
prioritize that um in addition to that
it also needs to be identified in our
Consolidated plan to be able to use uh
federal funds um for that process so
it's it's something that we'll be
working with the the mayor proon the M
staff on um so it's it's in the it's in
the works but we're we're attempting to
identify those uh and we're also
watching Albuquerque Albuquerque has uh
done a number of uh Motel conversions so
we like to use their lessons learned to
help us uh develop our best practices
sometimes awesome thank you but I really
appreciate your presentation answering
this question and the report which to me
really highlights all the work that you
all have been doing in the ways that you
leverage money um and I mean $140
million is pretty extraordinary
leveraging as far as I know that that
means a lot in the hamburger so your
hamburgers are delicious thank you again
Natalie for your
work thank you counc cor anybody else
yes thank you mayor proam um um not a
question Natalie uh just a comment also
want to um appreciate the thoroughness
of the report easy to understand well
put together and I encourage anyone with
an interest in this to go to the agenda
packet which is available to anyone who
clicks on this meeting and see how
varied the projects we're doing for
affordable housing are because I think
the consistent conflation of affordable
housing and homeless assistance which
while that is a portion of affordable
housing it's so much more um it is
subsidies for land developers it is um
seeing increasing Financial
opportunities for home buyers leveraging
more affordable mortgages um so it's
everything from single family home to
multiple multif family housing um and I
think it's just important to acknowledge
that affordable housing is such a broad
spectrum and helps so many people in the
community of many income levels thanks
thanks mayor Pam thank
you um thanks Natalie I I also have just
a couple thoughts and questions for you
I've really enjoyed working with project
Moxy I think that was a really smart
partnership um they're really
knowledgeable and um I thought this
process was really well done I I think
um in many conversations that I've been
having especially in the last few weeks
but it really in the last few months is
um helping people understand understand
that so what's happening right now
didn't happen in a vacuum right like the
Deep intersectionalities of Housing and
mental health and substance abuse and
all of those things right like How
Deeply intersectional they are and the
context in which we are operating is
that there has been a decades long
disinvestment from public housing from
the federal government and now we find
ourselves potish covid um where we saw
rents rocket we saw um not only rents
rocket but many rental units became
unavailable because people decided to
sell like many different reasons our Gap
increased and it's getting more
expensive and more expensive and so
people are finding themselves um at risk
of being homeless more often or even
homeless for a longer period of time
because of the lack of
availability um there wasn't really a
question in there Natalie I just wanted
to point that out because I think as
we're having this conversation I I just
want to point out that the strategies
moving forward are many there are many
pieces to the puzzle and this arguably
is one of the biggest most expensive
most timec consuming one one um but I do
just want to express a lot of gratitude
for you and your team um for doing this
and I hope that we can continue within
those intersections working more closely
with the police department with the fire
department with um our Economic
Development staff with our community
development staff all of these to sort
of break down these silos and um and get
to some of these pieces a little bit
faster I especially am really interested
in
MRA
um intersection of Housing and infill
and um getting rid of blight and really
reinvesting and revitalizing some of
those areas and so I I know that um
Hotel conversion have come up a lot
probably mostly from for me honestly
because I'm very well aware that motels
on West Picacho especially have sort of
filled a gap that huge gap of of that
we're talking about they've sort of
filled it and I think they need support
as much as accountability so I just did
want to point that out and not to focus
on the only the sort of no capacity
areas of the strategy but I am wondering
Natalie when it says when we're talking
about Motel conversions or mobile home
park
preservation um and we talk about no
capacity or resources at this time
what it What
specifically um does it mean and is if
it's time it's also time right but I I
am wondering um if you can expand on
that um mayor proam some of it it's not
necessarily City capacity but either
capacity at the state level where
there's not necessarily state law or
programming that exists yet um it also
could be funding sources that don't
necessarily meet the exception of anti
donation and how do we cultivate those
um so the capacity can vary some of it
is just time for for staff to research
um as you know we've taken on some some
pretty uh extensive low-income housing
tax credits projects um we're about to
close on one March 7th fingers crossed
it's been a long time coming and so as
those sort of get out the door and are
on their own we can start to look at
other projects um told the council
before we're very happy that our manager
has on board and so that has um doubled
our capacity uh to be able to research
some some of those more complicated
issues that need uh a broader discussion
so you'll see a lot of that come forward
um so it's it's not off the table it's
just not in the next couple months but
we'll get there thanks Natalie um and I
think for me it's also not necessarily
priority for these pieces but I would
like I I will take it upon myself to do
a little bit of research and maybe with
some um ad in the state like the Center
Online poverty and others around this
mobile home park preservation but also
um I know you only say this because
literally just this weekend I was
talking to a federal probation officer
at the track meet EO that you didn't
that he was not at um but once people
find out I'm a city counselor they just
want to tell me all the things and so
this person was telling me that they
have a client at a mobile home park in
my district and the issues that they see
and I think codes with speak to that as
well and so I do feel like it's a
pertinent I wouldn't say it's like right
there right at that priority of all of
these housing projects that we have
because there are many but I would love
to in the near future or sometime in the
future maybe have a work session
discussion about how to um how we
improve situations for both landlords of
mobile home parks but certainly tenants
um so I just I did just want to say that
because it was present for me Natalie um
but that's that's all I have and I just
again want to thank you and your staff
and project
Moxy um anybody else on the
council members of the public do you
have any questions or Reflections on
this
presentation that's too bad all right
Christine this is on the motion to
approve resolution 24- 089 councelor
McClure yes councelor matis is absent
councelor Graham yes councelor cran yes
councelor flutes yes mayor proam yes and
the mayor is
absent okay Tony thank you 7.2
resolution number
24090 a resolution approving a
pedestrian hybrid Beacon maintenance
agreement between the city of Las Cruses
and the New Mexico Department of
Transportation to provide maintenance of
the hog signal on Picacho Avenue at 4th
Street can I get a motion move to
approve Corin second Graham thank you
all right
Tony excuse me good afternoon May protm
City Council Tony thino the assistant
director of public works for the record
so today I have an agreement here that
uh is with nmd nmdot with The Pedestrian
hybrid Beacon or the hawk system that we
are going to be installing on Picacho at
Forth Street as part of one of our nmdot
map
grants um excuse me the hawk signal is
again like I said on Four Street in us70
um it includes the installation of a
hawk signal and roadway lighting to
promote overall pedestrian safety at
this location the project is currently
under contract and is anticipated to
begin to be completed in the summer of
2024 we already have a Contractor on
board right now we're just waiting for
the polls to get in which is about a
five month lag time so probably not till
May is when we'll get the poles in and
we'll be a to continue the construction
of this project um as well as all the
other traffic signals in the city that
are on nmd RightWay the city of
Wachusett does maintain those so this
agreement is um for us to be in a uh
agreement with nmdot that we have the
right to go and maintain our Hawk signal
and uh do any uh main that's
needed here's the location just a big
old Yellow Arrow showing you where we're
at
app and the council options thanks Tony
any members of the council have
questions wow I only have one little
note um that in the packet says District
Two but this is District Four so I just
want to make
sure I will check that I apologize thank
you I just I just say that Tony because
we've been having this conversation
about this Hawk system for far too long
for me to not give District 4 the credit
deserves all right thank you any members
of the
public all right
Christine this is on the motion to
approve resolution 24- 090 councelor
McClure yes councelor matis is absent
councelor Graham yes councelor cran yes
councilor flotes yes mayor proam yes and
the mayor is
absent thank you all right number
7.4 Council bill number
24-21 ordinance number 306 three an
ordinance approving a a zone change from
R3 high density residential from South
msky overlay to C1 neighborhood
commercial district from South Ms
overlay and Adam
watcha thank you ma'am uh Adam sorry
Adam we need a motion in a second oh my
apologies I move to uh hear this accept
it no whatever thank you second Corin
thank you now I'm on at a TR Community
Development for the record uh before you
is a proposed zone change for a property
located at 541 South compost Street uh
it is essentially located what is on the
northeast corner what is compost Street
and Kansas Avenue subject property
encompasses roughly 23 acres in size and
as stated before it is own R3 high
density residential and it is located
within the South mosquito overlay uh
zoning District or Smo uh currently
there is a single family res residence
on the property uh it is the sub
property itself is directly adjacent
essentially
about one lot away from what is a mixed
juice Corridor which is the lman Avenue
mixed Corridor as called out by Elevate
Los crues and the subject property has
Frontage along a collector roadway which
is compo Street and just a typical local
roadway which would be Kansas Avenue
show the sub property here as you can
see on R3 directly to the West just
nothing but commercial high intensity to
the west and to the north some
commercial medium tensity to the to to
the north as well and the more of the
neighborhood uh single family
residential multif family to the South
and to the east showing here the subject
property with that home on that property
Compass bag just give me where where
that was and just a another lot away
where the former Churches Chicken used
to be as
well excuse me here are some uh just
street views this is looking at the
property along compo Street itself
and this is the intersection of compo at
going north and south here and Kansas
showing
here uh essentially the applicant
proposed a zone change for the subject
property to C1 which is a neighborhood
commercial District as called out by the
south mosquito overlay uh essentially
what they're looking to do is proposing
a retail establishment to be uh run out
of the the property uh this would allow
the property owner to expand beyond the
just residential and very limited
service land uses that are currently
allowed under its existing R3 zoning
district and just trying to get a more
range of actual commercial uses and
service uses under that C1 zoning
designation uh additionally on top of
that the applicant state will provide
kind of like a non-residential low
intensity transition between what is the
C3 commercial high intensity C2
commercial medium intensity to north and
west to the neighborhood to the south
and
east public notice was was sent out uh
as required by our ordinances uh staff
did receive several phone calls and
emails in opposition of the zone change
including a uh I believe you all did get
a petition uh submitted as well uh as
well as a uh a breakdown as uh by uh uh
residents of the area uh uh essentially
stating why from a comprehensive
standpoint that this zone change should
not occur staff did also receive uh a
few phone calls and email is actually in
support of the proposed zone change as
well as per the 2001 zoning code uh as
amended uh any zone change is required
to go before the his historic
preservation committee uh to make a
recommendation to the planning zoning
commission uh for a proposed zone change
on December 6th of 2023 the historic
preservation commission uh did meet on
this uh after lengthy discussions uh the
HBC did vote to recommend denial uh by a
vote of 0 to 4 uh with uh to clarify
what the staff report says is there's
actually one commissioner was was absent
and there are two commissioner vacancies
in the HPC right now uh no findings were
provided but during the meeting the
historic preservation specialist did
provide findings for denial and that's
essentially what the discussions were uh
at the
HPC the pro the proposed zone change
that moved forward to the planning
zoning commission and on December 19th
202 pz did meet uh again after lengthy
discussion of public participation the
plan and Zoning commission did vote to
recommend denial for the proposed zone
change by a vote of uh 0 to six with one
commissioner vacancy findings brought
before it by the planning zone
commission where that the zone change
request does not follow the intent and
purpose of the M historic district
design plan uh it based it on the
recommendation of the historic
preservation commission additionally the
planning zon commission did state that
they believe it does not meet the intend
and purpose purpose of elevate Los
Cruz's comprehensive
plan with that your vote your options
today are one to vote Yes and approve
the proposed zone change two to vote no
and deny the proposed zone change as
recommended by not only the historic
preservation commission uh but also the
plan and Zoning commission uh three to
vote to amend or four table postpone and
direct staff and the applicant
accordingly uh that is the conclusion of
my presentation I send for questions
thank you Adam and just these are always
tricky so yes means we're approving the
request and no means we're upholding the
pnz and HPC denials of dens that is
correct yes okay thank you all right
questions well I'm even more confused
now I always I think we all don't me I
do not understand um the options can we
go back to uh page
nine so um on December 19 the pnz voted
to recommend deny
of the zone
change be prot Council Florida yes ma'am
they voted unanimously to recommend
denial to the planning zoning commit uh
to the city city council for the
proposed zone change okay so um a yes
vote is to agree with the pnz no ma'am
if you look at the uh oh that's why I'm
asking
sure mayor protm mayor proem uh uh
councelor flus uh yes ma'am to
clarify uh let's see here if you vote
Yes this will approve the proposed
ordinance and approve the zone change
from R3 to C uh C1 if you vote no you
would deny and upholding what the
planning zoning commission voted and HBC
ma' clar than you so much thank you so
much sure no problem and thank you for
your patience uh residents thank you
thank you for your clarifying question
councelor Flores anybody else yes
councelor mlar
I have a question about R3 zoning are
there any type of business or commercial
opportunities allowable in
that may prend counselor McClair uh
there are actually under the South
mosquito overlay very limited uh Comm I
guess service related uses are permitted
on the subject property as is uh which
would include I believe an art galleries
one uh service related as a barber shop
Bey salon and and similar types of uses
uh limited offices are allowed I believe
a dental and uh uh doctor's offices are
permitted there as well uh but that's
really it uh from a standpoint from a
service and and Commercial standpoint
that's all that's permitted in
R3 thank
you that's all thank you councelor
McClair I have yes go ahead councelor
Graham thank you so much um not to be
not to do a spoiler here but I have no
intention of voting against the denial
uh that both the historic Planning
Commission made and the Planning and
Zoning commission read through all of
the notes received the petition um and
again I know we say this every time but
if you email when you email us and you
don't get a response on something on
which we're called to vote that's
because we can't we can't respond so I
hope that nobody feels overlooked
or slighted by a lack of response um but
although although I do agree with this I
wanted
to just voice a little bit of opinion on
on some of the some of the um details
that were included in the push back to
this proposed zoning change um and I
think I I'm always interested when
people will kind of send the rhetorical
question would you want this in your
neighborhood because this is my
neighborhood um I live right on the
border of District 3 and District 1 I
quickly Google mapped and I'm about 610
of a mile from the proposed joning
change um and a lot of the push back um
and I expect to hear you know and I
respect that I'm going to hear in public
comment too was that this was a proposed
cannabis dispensary that was the stated
purpose and there was a lot of push back
about the idea that such a business will
ruin quality of life in the neighborhood
will compromise the feeling of place um
it's unsafe and again not only do I live
about a half mile from this one about a
year ago a dispensary opened a tenth of
a mile from my house I I also Google
mapped that one um I live in a C2 zoning
so lots of allowable commercial
residential I'm surrounded by some small
businesses some other single family
homes and just from my
anecdotal oneperson sample I've noticed
no deterioration in my neighborhood with
the movein of this business it took up a
storefront that had been empty for some
time um so all that to say um just you
know a gentle reminder that when we make
these decisions it is not the phrase of
the day it's not happening in a vacuum
these are our neighborhoods this is my
neighborhood um but again I respect
everything that I read um everything
that you've presented Adam and thank you
cuz I think your initial ere explanation
of how we're going to vote was for me
because I'm always the one who's like
okay wait yes means yes or Yes means no
so thank you thanks thank you councilor
Glam Graham and solidarity it's not just
for you I promise that's very confusing
to me as well um I have some questions
as well before we go to public comment
Adam on
C1 the C1 zoning in the MSY overlay
there there are Z1
C1 um designations yes in the msky
overlay mayor protm uh there are
currently uh some sea1 zoning
designations uh in the South M area uh
that fit within that that neighborhood
uh zoning designation uh there are
little further north along compo there's
a couple I believe on mosquit as well uh
nothing really on this side the commerci
essentially ends uh along LOM in uh in
this area of the South mosquito overment
okay and so C1 so there this does have
some allowable commercial uses as it
stands right now correct May pretend
that is correct like what so again uh
very limited uh again an art gallery
more service oriented uh doctor's office
dental office a a beauty salon's allowed
there uh and similar uses so barber
shops um a spa things like that will be
permitted on the your property by right
now and so the difference there is the
um rate of customers like the traffic
that a business would bring May Pro when
when that section of the code was
Rewritten uh they saw those as kind of a
minimal impact types of uses by
appointments if you will um when it
comes to C1 now you got yourself actual
retail where people coming in out as is
uh or when when business hours are open
as essentially so so it is a step up if
you will when it comes to intensity on
the property man so let's say so a
dispensary does not qualify for the
current designation what else does not
qualify for a current designation May so
any type of uh retail related land uses
no restaurants no cafes are not
permitted under R3 uh again essentially
the the five that I stated is all
that're really allowed to do on top of
that they are allowed to do by right
home occupations as well but they'd have
to live there and then just like just a
portion of the home be used for again an
office use uh music lessons that that
that type of stuff uh but again it's
very limited as to what they do is
compared to what a C1 would allow
interesting okay curious what about an
Airbnb May prend Airbnb would be
permitted as well man' okay interesting
um do we know the applicant the owner um
did they inherit the is it theirs for a
long time did they recently buy it like
how did they come about the property do
we know mayor P not exactly sure about
that I believe they might be here and
they might be able to answer that
question for you if you like okay great
and if they are here I would love to
know if there's been any um I know this
is I know this neighborhood's tighten it
neighborhood they worked a really long
they've worked a long time to have have
that designation and to protect that
designation if there was any
conversation between the applicant and
the residents and the neighbors around
um you know what could essentially be
put at this location may prend I I think
there were some minor discussions I
don't know if they had an actual like
public meeting with the neighborhood
anything like that uh but by all means
it could probably answer those questions
for you if you like now okay thank you
so much all right if there's nothing
else from the council I will call for
public input including the applicant and
of course the other neighbors with the
petition their residents
correct and then I would just um come on
down we're just
gonna yeah
can you raise your hand if you're
speaking on this issue little bit
lopsided okay so I'm gonna come over
here and then I'm GNA end over here come
on down don't forget to St your state
your name and talk clearly into the
microphone
[Music]
please and we'll give three
minutes mayor proem
City counselors City staff and community
members I am Irene Oliver Lewis and I
live on Kansas Avenue Lot 45 of the
original Las Cruses townside townside
plat of
1849 my family has lived at this address
for 88 years I am here today to urge you
to deny the zone change for 541 South
compo from residential to
commercial I am not o i not only
represent myself today but I also
represent 4 and 13 concerned citizens
residents who signed this
petition asking that the city council to
deny this zone change a group of eight
women in our neighborhood organized the
drive to show commitment to the historic
preservation which led to this
petition the 14 the
413 people in this petition represent
the mosquit street surrounding
neighborhood and or their family members
who grew up in the neighborhood
individuals who are concerned to keep
our original Town site intact and
citizens who are opposed to commercial
businesses appropriating existing
historic homes for use not represented
in the South mosquite Street overlay
a former city mayor a former state
senator a former state representative
two former city councelors a former
da uh County sheriff and numerous other
concerned citizens signed this petition
I Echo the
413 people in this PE in this petition
who urge you to deny this Z change to
maintain the historic nature of our NE
neighborhood M gracias and I want to say
that the the chair of the P of the pnz
said they had been very supportive of
cannabis but they have never been
supportive of cannabis in a
neighborhood thank you thank
you some um we'll go to the third
row on this
side my name is Rosemary Lea and I'm
would like to share with you some bit of
history about my
neighborhood okay I want to tell why we
need to keep our neighborhood intact in
our neighborhood everyone knew their
neighbors and in some cases we were
related to them either by blood or
religious manner everyone helps each
other in any way they could whether it's
taking food to the sick or an elderly
person or watching out for the kids in
the neighborhood many of us attended the
same school as our parents and in some
cases live in the the same homes our
grandparents built adding rooms when
necessary as families grew I'm the
fourth generation of my family to live
in this area my great-grandfather
balasar Madrid and my great-grandmother
GL Martinez lived here in
1876 and they raised their family here
my grandfather built their home on the
land where my home is now but then the
street was called Convent street now
it's called Kansas basad worked as a
farmer a blacksmith and did construction
work he farmed the land that is now the
Citizen's Bank drive-thru window section
when he harvested his crops he gave the
food to the nuns of the Loro Convent
later known as the Loro Academy my
grandfather Ramon son of balasar also
farmed this land and gave food from his
Harvest to the franciscans that occupied
the former Ledo
Academy on the corner of Cay alos Santo
now called Campo Street
lived his brother and next to him lived
the Diaz Martinez family owners of the
Golden Crust Bakery to the left of my
grandfather Ramon's home lived John and
Don Juanita Fitch grandparents to Irene
Lewis Oliver and syia cunes the homes on
the Conner in the corner of Campo and
Kansas were built on higher land and no
effort was made to lower or level the
land due to the results of the flood of
1875 when the neighborhood and majority
of the City was destroyed through the
flood neighbors like the Lopez family
that lived in the house on the corner of
Kansas and cample they had an open
driveway that let the Romero family the
cunas family and those living in the
apartments behind the Lopez house enter
to get to their homes people could and
did take the shortcut to the Conta house
by cutting across the Lopez driveway to
lman then a two-way street to the
Greyhound bus station or to the Golden
Crust Bakery
on the corner of Kansas in San Pedro
there was a little store run by Tomas
and josi Aragon where we could purchase
small items needed such as bread milk
and of course candy and
sodas the home where the store was is
now being renovated by falino Samora
whose parents owned the store and the
home attached to it for bigger food
items we had Ellen Acres on lman on the
corner of San Pedro is the home of
Eugene Van Patton a local businessman in
the early years of Los crues changes to
the neighborhood will soon cause his
history to be forgotten and the close
relationships with neighbors to
unravel thank you very much thank you
thank you for respecting the clock even
though it wasn't running so I appreciate
that very much thank
[Applause]
you you're fired city
manager too soon nobody laughed at it's
too soon
okay hello good afternoon uh my name is
celest Conrad I will be reading a
statement prepared by Josephine lanard
who's having some Voice issues so I'm
going to read her
statement I oppose resoning the property
at 541 South Campo I live in the josea
Martinez house at 3:15 South mosqu four
generations have lived in this historic
Adobe home handbuilt in
1912 the same year New Mexico became
state I have personally seen how a
residential street in the historic
mosquite area can change with commercial
zoning rezoning has brought many changes
to mosquite
Street these are changes in neighborhood
character safety and the loss of History
mosquit street is now zoned
C1 in the 1950s mosquet Street was
primarily residential with a few family
businesses there was a nearby butcher a
variety store and a baker narrow streets
and a shortage of parking kept
businesses local eventually the butcher
talked neighbors into allowing mosquit
Street to become designated
commercial when visiting my grandmother
josea 60 years ago mosquit Street was an
unpaved dirt road neighbors knew each
other families had strong roots in the
community many of us living there today
and still keep those roots dear I feel
fortunate to now live in my
grandmother's
house I have personally seen many
changes due to the commercialization of
mosquit Street
my elderly mother can no longer cross
the street to nito's restaurant without
fear due to heavy
traffic entering my driveway Vehicles
behind me become impatient forgetting
that there are still residential homes
on
mosquite even with Street shines showing
that mosquite is on the Camino roale
speeding drivers do not respect
neighborhood Vehicles Park on both sides
of mosquite obstructing lines of sight
for pedestrians and other
vehicles once in frequent accidents are
more common now especially at cross
streets parked delivery trucks limit
what other drivers can see and sometimes
block driveways commercial vehicles
bring diesel F fumes and noise
too more important still is this prior
to commerci commercial zoning of mosqu
Street neighbors knew each other with
more commercial activity allowed
residents no longer know who belongs in
the
neighborhood thank
you and if you
have if you have more you can always
send it to the council or to the city
clerk yeah thank
you
next yeah if you want to come down and
sort of just prepare to speak down here
on the front couple front rows that'd be
great you got it come on down as we get
older we get
weaker mayor City councilors my name is
Sylvia cunes I am here today in
opposition of the zone change at 5:41
South compo from r 3 to
C1 reason for my opposition is that
staff is leading you to believe that the
zone is valid as there is already
commercial businesses on South compo
these businesses are Citizens Bank and
what was Church's
Chicken these businesses appear appear
to be part of South compo Street the
physical and legal address of Citizens
Bank is 505 South Bane Street the
physical and legal address of what was
Church's Chicken is 300 East slowman
Avenue Main Street and lman Avenue are
Zone commercial not compost south of
lman north of lman compo is
commercial Commerce is a huge issue
within the city in
this South mosquit ordinance allows
businesses well over 30 types list Ed in
the ordinance these businesses are known
as cottage industry therefore a zone
change is not necessary I invite you to
read the Smo ordinance online section
38
49.2
Smo the south side of compo is protected
by the Smo as a neighborhood intact
changing the zoning is disrespecting and
slowly dwindling away all of the mosqu
street historic district original
townside of Los crues as former
president alas es branas I had a dream
of preservation and protection of the
original neighborhood in Los Cruses my
vision is still
there Troy answorth historic
preservation specialist presented facts
on the zone change to the public and to
the historic preservation commission his
presentation was comprehensive and
accurate he clearly explained the reason
for recommending rejection of the zone
change historic preservation rejected
the zone change Planning and Zoning also
rejected it
unanimously now as she said she got
413 signatures they represent every one
of you counselor's District so now it is
up to you elected officials thank you
thank you
come on come on
up if there are other folks actually on
both sides you can go ahead and come on
down good afternoon mayor protm City
councilors my name is Deb Dennis and
I've lived in Los cruus for 45 years I
ask that you deny this ordinance for
four reasons first the analysis by city
planners is
flawed if one actually looks at the
South mosquit neighborhood plan Maps
they clearly indicate that the property
is not adjacent or transitional to a
residential area but in fact is embedded
in an area set aside for protection as a
nationally recognized historic
residential
neighborhood second your vote for a zone
change will be precedent setting and
irrevocable never before has a single
property been ploted
out of a protected historic residential
area to be Zone commercial you will have
initiated the unraveling of our oldest
neighborhood the zone change will have a
domino effect with one residential
property after another being lost to
commercial Enterprise until the 175
yearold original Town site is no more is
this how we Elevate Los
cruus third Council has repeatedly been
presented even today with information
detailing the need for affordable
housing converting this property from
high residential use to commercial is
counterproductive fourth the owners are
not being denied the opportunity to
operate a business the South mosquit
overlay identifies
113 types of businesses
permitted in this residential
Zone during the earlier hearings the
owners repeatedly indicated that they
have considered operating a barber shop
this is one of many cottage industries
currently permitted and welcomed by
neighbors because the Las Cruses
Community Values historic preservation
we residents are bewildered by City
actions to the contrary such as a
allowing the Amador Hotel project to
languish for 15 years since city council
declared at the southern gateway to a
revitalized downtown and we mourn the
loss of historic homes while demolition
by neglect is the primary operating
principle for the Community Development
Department to dismantle the mosquito
historic district one property at a
time by this petition with over 400
signatures in oper in opposition to this
ordinance we demonstrate that we will
not silently condone the continued
degradation and loss of our shared
cultural history and unique Heritage
thank you thank
you come on
down good afternoon mayor protim and
counselors this is Faith Hudson for the
record City staff has presented the
argument to both the HPC and pnz that
the zone change of 541 South compo is
both in character and compatible with
the mosquite historic district because
compost street is dominated by a variety
of commercial office and Retail land
uses that buffer the various types of
residential housing in the area staff
has stated that this property is
adjacent to a burgeoning commercial
district and that commercial operations
are to be welcomed this is true on North
compo Street but there are no commercial
buildings south of lman that have a
compo address the Loretto shopping
center has its back to compo uh its
address is on Main Street Sutherlands
also has its back to compo its address
is is elao and the elao plaza where
Crunch Fitness is has a Wyatt Drive
address 541 South Campo is within the
federal portion of of the mosquite
historic district the federal it is part
of the original Town site changing the
Zone would fail to protect the historic
Integrity of the structure that was
built in 1910 and since practical access
to the property is on Kansas Street not
Campo the proposed zone change actually
encroaches into the historic
neighborhood and leap frogs residential
commercial use onto a uniquely
residential street the mosquite historic
district neighborhood design plan states
that the blocks south of lman Avenue
where this property is located are
proposed for residential use with the
objective of encouraging new single
family residential infill the plan also
states that this should be able to be
accomplished without disrupting the
historic fabric of the neighborhood this
house is a house and it should remain a
house especially considering all the
discussion on affordable housing if a
goal of the city government is to
encourage economic growth then I argue
cultural and um Heritage tourism should
be promoted rather than commercial
rezone millions of hours and dollars
have been spent developing section 38
which is the South mosquet overlay
chapter 40 which is a historic
preservation ordinance Elevate Los cruus
and the downtown master plan all of
these documents advocate for the
preservation of our historic buildings
and historic districts perhaps my most
compelling argument against this rezone
is objective three of the mosquit
historic neighborhood design plan which
states I quote prevent Los crusis
Downtown Development and traffic flow
imperatives from encroaching on and
destroying the mosquite neighborhood I
ask you as a council to please deny this
zone change thank you very much thank
you good afternoon and thank you
honorable Council counselors and city
manager for listening to all of us my
name is Olivia Nares
Garcia I am a former judge here in Los
crues having been a judge for 18
years I was born at the corner of Amador
and Church Street two blocks from this
location I am here on behalf of my dear
cousins uh when I was little I would
walk two blocks to my grandparents house
which is now the home that Sylvia and
Irene live
in and it's a wonderful neighborhood I
love the old
neighborhood and I've thought about
buying a house in the area but I have a
house in Santa Fe and I have a house
here so at my age I can't do it anymore
I lived I was born 81 years ago
in that neighborhood and I'm asking you
please deny this
petition uh or request to rezone this
area these are dear wonderful old people
living there that want to remain in a
peaceful neighborhood and I fear for my
uh cousins who have been there for so
long and want to stay in in their home
I'd like to read something to you that I
did a little
research on
cannabis and I would like you to look it
up it's in the
internet 2 years since cannabis has been
legalized this is in New York only 26
dispensaries and just 11 of them in New
York City have actually opened their
doors
think about that and we have it seems a
cannabis shop or dispensary in almost
every corner of Las crusis do we need
this let's protect our children I have
seen more violations traffic violations
more accidents more speeding running red
lights and I wonder why since Catabus
was opened thank you very much for
listening to me please consider denying
this
request thank you anybody
else come on
down come on you can come on down so
that you can be ready to
go I was hoping to be able to speak
after the owners or uh supporters of
this osed zone change go ahead since
you're up here yes don't forget your
name I sometimes do uh my name is Joe
rupe I'm lusus resident long time I want
to um mention just a a few things that
were brought out here several weeks ago
when I talked to John Castillo City
staff member in uh Community Development
about what was the next step after pnz a
after first
HPC uh recommended denial after pnz
recommended denial the applicants did
not get a single vote in favor of
approval and I talked to John and I said
so why does this have to go to City
Council isn't it a dead Dead Issue he
said no because of the nature of what's
being asked for it has to be brought to
city council and I said well what can we
expect well and he said well we'll City
staff will present what we basically
presented already so we're not
presenting anything new and that's B
basically true if you look through your
packet most all of that is from before
any public discussion or any discussion
by the HPC Commissioners or by the pnz
Commissioners most of it was done weeks
ago before those discussions but what
John told me to expect on the opposition
side on the side I'm speaking for is
that this was to gauge the
contentiousness of this issue what would
happen if the zone change were approved
how contentious would that be and I want
to just Clearly say to you that what
you've heard so far in terms of the
personal comments and in terms of the
petition that's being presented to you
by many people in the city not just
neighbors saying I don't want this here
but many people who are concerned about
the preservation of historic districts
in this city at this time is it is very
contentious and one of the things I want
to point out as left out from what uh
well I want to compliment Mr Ooa for
some of the corrections he made to the
earlier materials he has corrected uh an
issue about how the uh vote for
HPC was reported in your packet he has
corrected a couple of other things but
he has um maintained a language
suggesting that there's very limited
uses for in this R3 for home businesses
that's not true as you heard two of the
other speakers say there's over a
hundred well over a hundred allowed uh
businesses and they're outlined in the
land use development Pages it covers
like three pages of material specifying
those businesses
also uh one of the comments from near
from the deas was that um much time had
been spent on cannabis and the proposed
use of this as a cannabis business that
was not the issue at HPC we were very
careful both the uh public and the
members of the commission to focus on
simply the Jo zone change toward any
commercial use outside of R3 and the
home uh businesses or cottage industries
it was not it is not an issue per se
about cannabis it is an issue about
setting a prent by allowing this zone
change affecting the mosquito overlay
district and the uh pres that president
was emphasized in the pnz hearings and
that also does not come through on page
two in your summary of the pnz thank you
thank
you okay come
on come on
over please state your
name my name is Troy Miller I'm one of
the owners there at 541 South compo my
name is Sandra Kon I'm one of the owners
also I don't know if you guys want to
ask questions first and then no go go
ahead and but make sure you speak
directly into the microphone okay um
again I'm Sandra Calderon and I I do
have a few concerns about okay first of
all the first two meetings I did feel
right off the bat that the counselors
were going to say no because of the
Cannabis thing it was just saying
cannabis and they I can see their
reaction and their faces like okay no no
no so I knew it already and on the
historical part we have a lot of uh
citizens here that to my point of view
are okay historical family homes but I
would like to
know of course not right now they're not
going to answer me but they don't know
me I've been there since 1999 my kids
had grow they grew up
there and I'm sorry I'm going to get
really one of my kids
my 27-year-old died two years ago and
the reason why we want the cannabis
store is because he was already going
through the process of opening his
canabus store so when he
died I I just want to continue his his
dream his doing but a lot of people here
is like okay
our our neighborhood I mean when my my
son died I didn't see any of my
neighbors come to my house and say
Sandra I'm sorry for what happened with
your son so if there's so much community
in my
neighborhood why didn't anybody come up
to me and say hey I knew who your son
was personally I've been there since
1999 they grew up there they roamed
those streets like they say Okay they've
told you they've roam their streets they
don't know not one single teenager from
back there I'm pretty sure they can't
come up here and say my kids name my
neighbor names so where is the
neighborhood that they so call hey this
is our community this is my historic
they talk about Grandparents
great-grandparents Aunts Uncles cousins
do they really know their neighborhood
or to me it's like okay
you want to preserve that but you don't
even know who we are and yet you're
denying us from
that for me doing my son's
dream another thing they just uh said is
and I'm sorry I I'm going to run out of
time already so I don't know if I can
continue can you can you just finish
your thought please and then I'm going
to allow him three minutes he can finish
whatever go ahead sir please state your
name my name is Troy Miller and like she
said we're trying to go with what our
son wanted to do cuz he was pursuing it
but the big thing with the zone change
it's you have to have a zone change for
commercial to run in a cannabis we're
not stuck on doing a cannabis store at
that location because we have talked
about doing other businesses there like
the neighbor said we've Ted talked about
a barber shop that's one of them we've
one of our sons looking at maybe doing a
mechanic shop but the thing is under the
R1 if you try to go get grants or
funding or special financing and stuff
like that you're more likely to get that
kind of funding if it's a commercial
location because of the way the
building's built the codes everything
has to be a certain way for funding so
we're not opposed to okay we can't run a
cannabis store we can't run a cannabis
store but we were going to run a
business in there we already run a b
Airbnb off of the front part of compost
street so we do have an Airbnb there and
then our other son lives in the back
part for right now but he's getting
ready to go off to diesel mechanicing
school and we're just looking how to
better stuff for the kids coming up
because right now everything seems like
if you drive through that neighborhood
how many houses are empty how many
houses are ran down they're not painted
they're supposed to be a a code back
there when our house caught fire we had
to go through all this and have it
painted for a certain way decorations
everything had to be approved in that
area but if you drive through right
there in just that two block area
there's houses that are graffitied
there's crack stucko stuff don't match
okay I get it you going on to preserve
history but everything changes
everything
evolves right now it seems like we stuck
in oh we're going to stick to this right
here how many kids live in that
neighborhood what's the youngest person
that's bought a house in that
neighborhood do you see any new kids
coming in and say Hey I want to live in
that
neighborhood they're all going out to
fancier neighborhoods and stuff like
that so that's my point in it we're
going to do something that we can there
but we want to change the zone so it
opens it up more to what we can do and
funding options for
us thank
you did you all have questions for the
applicant did anybody have questions
okay thank you you can be seated and
then did you want to
speak okay we're going to just two more
and then we're going to wrap it
up
city council I'm WMA Hudson I live in a
historic district but I'm a child of the
60s cannabis is not a problem with me
all right but anybody that knows me
knows I've lived in a number of foreign
countries I've been around the world I
have talked up a hundred countries I've
visited and where I go is to the
historic districts to see the the thing
that created that society and that
world please deny commercial in the
historic district focus on what we could
get with our own historic district and
tourist thank you and have a good day
thank you all right come on up our
last our last person
theor such late that I really wasn't
prepared to speak but I think what I
have to share is important I am a Native
American my parents were full-blooded
peo
Indians of Thea Tia tribe and they lived
where there where it is now the original
townside at the age of 14 his mother
died
and his father took him to the Phoenix
Indian School in
Pennsylvania they never saw each other
again from there he enrolled himself at
the Carlo Indian School in Pennsylvania
and graduated from there he then joined
the
Navy and during World War II he came
home to the original townside he was
prepared he saved his money uh to build
some Adobe homes right
there he already met my mother and they
were going to get married the trouble
is the Indian schools didn't teach how
to make
Adobes so he had to hire people to do
that for him and that's where he lived
and that's where he died
in in a veteran's house thank
you thank
you
okay we're gonna thank you Adam we're
going to move to a vote I'm I actually
do want to say a couple of things though
before we move on um I
do want to ask the public you don't have
to but I'm going to ask that you have
some Grace for staff who are
consistently between being told or
accused that they're not business
friendly um and also that you know
they're trying to demolish historic
neighborhoods and that they're and that
they don't care about Resident residents
and that their information is flawed
there they're always sort of stuck in
between this place and so I do want to
ask all of you to have some Grace for
them I um I'm going to be voting no
today but I do want to note that um for
me and it should be a note for all of us
that that is President setting because
um shall another proposal come for a
different C1 use um it is a slippery
slope to discrimin based on industry
based on business and that's not what I
will be doing because um you all know
where I stand on cannabis um supportive
if anybody has doubts about that and
then the other thing I do want to note
is there's a lot of um I did bring up
airbnbs because I also think that
they're a threat to our community
they're a threat to affordable housing
they're a threat to um preserving
historic communities and so I would love
to continue having a conversations about
what primary use airbnbs look like in
the historic neighborhoods as opposed to
um airbnbs that their Casitas or that
people live there and only rent them at
when they're not there um I think that
those are threats as well um and
appreciate everybody talking about the
importance of affordable housing I hope
that in the future if there is any
affordable housing proposals in this
area that you do not come fight against
it because that would be very hard for
me to hear as well so I just I did want
to note those few things before we move
on to voting Adam did you want to add
anything or did you just come up in case
more sure take notes ma'am okay thank
you um sure go ahead Council thank you
Madame
chair Adam Mr Ooa I have I do have a
question um how do these r1s pop up in
um neighborhoods in in uh residential
are excuse me the C ones come up in
residential areas how is it that what's
that process and what does it take I'm
surprised because I am very surprised
that uh it being a histor and historic
district area that such a um zoning uh
per uh per you know uh uh permissive
zoning code would
allow uh non-residential
uh whatever I think you understand what
I'm saying but or do you understand my
question I mean how how in whose
mind I mean it's an ANH historic
district who comes in and says I want to
change it to something other than an
historic
district who does that mayor pretend
councilor Floyd is uh really it's
anybody if you look in the 2001 zoning
code the commercial of C1 is Comm
commercial neighbor neighborhood uh
limits the size of the property limits
the uses as compared to your C2 C3
zoning districts so the basically the
actual definition of C1 commercial
neighborhood is that it's a commercial
uh use that is compatible with a
neighborhood would that wouldn't affect
it uh by the intensity of what would be
allowed on the property man again by the
types of use is permitted on there sizes
of buildings are restricted as well uh
when it comes to like in other zoning
District
uh uh see1 in outside of the South
mosquit if you will and also it limits
the the number the number of uses
dramatically as compared to the next
step up which was C2 commercial medium
intensity man but I I think my point is
that I live in a residential
area so I would never expect that um a
commercial type of um business would be
um allowed on my street because it's a
residential area so someone would
petition the city and say let's change
this to an R you know excuse me to a
nonr residential
area just just like that may time
Council Florida that is correct uh as a
property owner just like you have the
ability to request the zone change that
doesn't necessarily mean that it be
supported uh not only by staff or our
adopted policies to elevate l crues the
2001 zoning code and other policies we
have in place as well ma'am uh
potentially staff would also look at
that as a spot zoning potentially as
well literally if it's just one spot of
in the middle of what is a sea of R1
that may be a hard celf for staff to be
able to support something like that yeah
I understand that yeah it seems like it
would be but it but if it weren't for Dr
Dennis Miss Huds two Miss Hudson and uh
the commun uh sisters Irene and uh Lewis
and uh but what
um the part that really I find very
problematic is that it is an historic
district why would a zone
change going to
commercial be allowed in an historic
district again a mayor prend council of
Florida uh that is basically what
staff's job is to analyze what are
existing codes are what our comen plan
calls out what would be allowed or not
what other policies are set in place as
well including the South mosqu
neighborhood uh policy plan as well to
see if that's something that could be
supported or not ma'am okay so the fact
that it's an historic district has no
bearing on
zoning I mean it'll just be May counc
Florida is that is that that does take
bearings as well that's why it has to go
before the store preservation commission
for their opinion as well did know yes
ma they didn't want it correct that's
how but it had to move forward uh a zone
change has vital Authority here at city
council so even though the HPC all they
could do is make a recommendation they
made a recommendation to pnz pnz took
that recommendation made that vote as
well for denial and then they make
recommendation to you all so that's why
it didn't stop there ma'am this is where
it stops it seems like the buck should
stop at it's an historical and I don't
know I mean that's what I think
but the buck definitely stops here yeah
May prend councelor Flores understand
what you're saying ma'am but per our
code the historic preservation committee
is a recommending body they don't have
your code or per the uh parameters of
the historic district C I think Mr has
sort of explained the process well uh
well yes and no but um I'll find out and
it doesn't matter I'll we definitely
discuss that further ma'am yes thank you
thank you so much thank you Adam I
appreciate it all right Christin we're
ready for a
vote this is on the motion to approve
ordinance
3063 councelor McClure no councelor
matis is absent councelor Graham no
councelor cran no councelor FLOTUS no
mayor proem no the mayor is
absent thank you thank you Adam thanks
everyone okay we are done and I lost my
notes
give me one
second we have a couple of board
appointments
today um we have a couple that I'm just
going to read into the record and then
we have a couple that we will need uh
votes for mayor Enriquez appointed to
the New Mexico Municipal league
and uh mayor Enriquez is appointed to
the New Mexico Municipal league and
South Central Council of governments
Council Flores appoints Blanca Blanca
Scott to the Health and Human Services
advisory committee for district six and
for the following appointments we need
to be need to be voted on um we have
Jennifer delren for the Ada committee
move to approve Corin second Graham
thank you
Christine this is on the motion to
appoint Jennifer dowran to the Ada
committee councelor McClair yes
councelor matis is absent councelor
Graham yes councelor cran yes councelor
fletes yes mayor proem yes and the mayor
is absent thank you now we have Ain wall
for the library board it's a
reappointment so moved second Corin
thank
you this is on the motion to reappoint
Aaron wall to the library board
councelor McClure yes councelor matis is
absent councelor Graham yes councelor
cran yes councelor flutes yes May May
proam yes and the mayor is absent thank
you Christine um notice of proposed
ordinances we have none wow that has not
happened in a long time um city council
member board reports and comments and we
will do what mayor andrias does and
start at the end with councelor
mlar thank you mayor proam um I would
like to um see where we stand on
creating a legislative team um um I was
hoping I kind of forgot that mayor
Enriquez wasn't going to be here today
but I when we went to Santa Fe I had
really hoped and I had asked the
question of City management to how do we
be more effective because this was was
literally my first rodeo and I feel like
we could have been more effective had we
had more conversations about it I'm not
sure how this needs to be led how this
needs to be focused but I do think we
need to have a a clear conversation
about when we work with legislators what
does that look like and be unified in
that message so I'd like to see if we
could make a some sort of legislative
team I don't know there's a there's a
deadline here with um City management
changes but um if there's something we
could do within the next 30 days I would
really like to look and see how we do
that um listening to the comments on
public comment it is a this is what I
emailed to somebody it is a little
disheartening to see everybody just get
up and leave right partially let me give
you an example because for example the
pool situation we had a a uh lady come
by and say how dare you with the pool
how dare you um and I'm sitting here
trying to text saying hey we know about
that like that got Shi today we have a a
path forward but we can't say anything
so it's really hard when that she stayed
so close to public comment for us or at
least for Council comment for us so it's
really hard to to have that that sort of
feedback you you're itching to give it
and you can't so I think there there
should be I don't know I I suggested let
let's have two sections for Council
comment but everybody was like no but if
there would be a way to have more
conversation I'm down for that but I'd
like to remind I think that came up
earlier too we're really responsive via
email I I am probably to the detriment
of my own sanity but um I would
recommend that you reach out to us and a
lot of times we would have that back
here too so those are the two things I
would like to say and that's it thank
you thank you councelor mlar councelor
grah thank you so much um got three
things on my list so I'll try to go as
quickly as possible I also want to
comment on public comment because this
whole thing is my fault so um lots of
people emailed and I responded to
everyone who had reached out to me you
kind of after after the first response
you kind of got a copy paste so I
actually proposed this change last year
I feel like it was October or November
it was November Christine said thank you
um and it came about actually this is a
perfect illustration of why it came
about because for some reason around
that time we must have had a a Zona
paloa of there was all of these zoning
changes a lot of people had reached out
to me because as our comments showed
today zoning changes tend to be
something that brings folks out to
comment on an agenda item because it's
impacting their neighborhood in a very
direct very visible way and to each of
those people who had reached out on
various zoning issues who had asked me
for a ballpark when do you think my
agenda item will come up I would have to
say I have no idea and the main timing
wild card in a council session is open
public comment could be 15 minutes could
be 2 hours no idea a so I had thought
about if
we prioritized the agenda item
commenters whereas let so let's say you
know and I I push back against the idea
that you folks don't also have places to
be jobs to do children grandchildren to
care for um all of the things that you
know at the end of the day someone is
going to have to wait longer than they
want to have to wait but I had suggested
this change
a to prioritize people with pressing
issues for their own neighborhoods and
also as councelor McClure mentioned we
do have an opportunity here in Council
comment to address things a little more
openly um so well I know that mayor
Enriquez made this announcement and he
has taken most of the heat um yeah it's
my fault so bring it um
[Music]
second chief administrative officer
benom um so I know this is this is not
new news because we had a press release
but I did want to shout out here that we
are honored to share the Das with one of
the top 50 women Chief administrated
officers of
so and super um super timely Barb I
don't think there's a person up here who
doesn't appreciate your expertise your
dedication and just the way you make it
all happen um kind of nicely timed with
the start of women's history month and
making history right up here so
congratulations and thanks for letting
me I asked you're ahead of time and she
like kind of turned red but she's like
yeah just go ahead so congratulations
and finally uh big thanks to uh Las
Montas charter school there and lass
student program had myself Katrina and
Grace from Community engagement out um
they did an amazing study of the
neighborhood around their school had
some really incredible actionable
changes to present us um that we are
investigating now and just an amazing
environment um this is a a 9 through 12
school with 194 students so it's an
incredibly tight-knit community and
seeing how they care about one another
about their school and about their
Community was just absolutely inspiring
and these are the times that it's so rad
to be a city councelor I love going and
seeing things like that so many thanks
to assistant principal Estrada to uh
coach Sid Robinson coach Rob and to uh M
salus I think was the um was the enaste
coordinator and I'm sorry if I messed
your name up on that but um that's all I
got thank you thank you thank you
councelor Graham I certainly agree with
you I love that school so much yeah
councelor Corin thank you and I also um
want to shout out uh CEO Ben Koo for
getting things done in a way that I have
um I haven't I haven't experienced a lot
of but it's always been impressive to
witness for you when you get things done
when you put your mind to something and
get it done I'm always impressed so I'm
completely unsurprised that you were
recognized for that um and really glad
that you are a few quick notes I want to
um thank the ascmv staff for doing an
enormous uh vaccine and chipping clinic
and um I think they did I don't know 20
2,000 total vaccines on 600 or so
different animals um a few weeks ago and
it was an enormous effort and they they
really um stepped up and are working to
do that in our community so I wanted to
give some appreciation to them and I
also wanted to give a side um sort of
note to the animal organizations since
we serve on the ascmv I did have the
opportunity to meet with the folks from
the Community Foundation to think about
ways of funding animal support for
animal organizations and the ascmv um in
different and dynamic ways going forward
and so I think that's a nent
conversation but it's an opportunity for
us to think about how to leverage um our
community's support support for animal
organizations that is enormous um and
the needs that that are also um that
outstrip that support and how we can
streamline that and make the best of the
money that folks give in enormous ways
to
animal issues in our community so I had
that conversation this past week and
it's a joint conversation with folks
from the county and the Community
Foundation and so I'll keep you updated
in that area one other item related to
some things that we serve on together uh
um the mo has has been putting out a
number of grant opportunities but just
as a note the the Metropolitan planning
organization that I serve on with
councelor McLure and mayor Enriquez but
which councilors Graham and Beno have
also served on with me is going to be
sort of leaving the city Administration
and also potentially um is going to be
setting up a new jpa andou and so I'm
just putting those on our all of our
agendas as things that will be coming to
us um because those will have to be
approved by the city council but it's
it's moving forward in a really positive
way and so I I want to give a shout out
to the no staff who have been working
really hard on on making those things
happen um I also want to thank the uh
folks who put on the health fair at City
Hall I was lucky to visit and see a
whole bunch of folks getting all kinds
of health related screenings and stuff
my students were were working on um some
diabetes Outreach but there were folks
from Burell and uh various Health
Industries and and I saw saw a whole
bunch of City staff um participating in
that so thanks to the folks within the
city working on wellness and and
operationalizing that for folks that are
that are here um lastly I just wanted to
thank Chief story and uh Lieutenant
Gutierrez who are working on working
with Community folks as well as um David
Sido to think about Monte Sombra and the
neighborhood traffic calming potential
issues related to that in within my
district um so thank you chief for your
response and and to Lieutenant Gutierrez
who's working on that as well and I know
that you all have already done a whole
bunch of studies and and work there so
thank you for being so responsive to the
community in that way so that's it for
today thank you thank you counselor
councelor
Flores thank you I would um first of all
like to address the failure of s
sp16 um that was a very important
piece of uh potential legislation that
failed I don't know why but um it was a
bill that would have allowed it's called
the competency Bill and that has to do
with um the procedures that take place
in court when someone um is being tried
for a certain uh misdemeanor crime
whatever and uh and that bill would
allow an assessment of that person's m
status was that person able to stand
trial is that does that person fully
understand and um and I read um I read
it and um you know it's several it's
several pages but I read it and it was
uh pretty comprehensive it
was 20 20 pages and it gave different
Alternatives as to what can be done how
the person can be helped and and um and
unfortunately it failed and um appr
propo of what uh councelor McClure just
said I think that we would have been
more effective as a body if we would
have um gone over this and then speak
with uh speak um gone over this way
before the legislature even met because
it's crazy it's crazy up there it's
crazy making the legislators I don't
know how I I don't know how they're able
to um weather it but at any rate um
there are
problems there are problems that would
be and could be alleviated had this uh
legislation um been adopted um and um
and that leads me into uh my being at
the funeral of Officer Jonah
Hernandez um all funerals are sad but
this one was Sur superbly tragic and um
he left behind a young wife and two uh a
toddler and a baby and um and and and
the funeral was just it was incredible
there were police officers from
different parts of the country and we're
talking not just a representative but I
think it's a huge the the place where
the service was held was huge and it was
reported that there were maybe 200
people I think there was a lot more than
200 I I think there were there were so
many police officers and so many people
um but um and each officer uh from Las
Cruses uh actually were able to give
their
farewells uh the casket and um and
everything was done
beautifully I mean I've attended my
father's funeral funeral my mothers my
grandparents U my brothers but this this
really really really hurt and coil it to
the um sb6 that that failed and you know
it's like I think that the the person
that people are calling homeless who um
who who killed the our officer uh is
someone who
needed help and as a community we
failed and um and we failed again with
the legislature and and hopefully
hopefully things will be different and
thank you um councelor mcle for bringing
that up uh we we'll all be more in tune
of what we're doing when we're up there
to be more effective we did meet with
some of the legislators from uh the city
but it it wasn't focused um the governor
did not meet with us um she did have I
believe his position is chief of staff
and his name is Jesse guen GUI l l en
and um he was very um he was very
responsive he was very um he he wanted
to know about what we uh about Amador
Crossing he apologized for not knowing
um
the layout of Las Cruses and um EO uh
city manager peely and I all of us piped
up and said and I described what the
Community of Hope was all about and how
we owned the land he wanted to know
about the land and um so um you know it
was you know it was okay um so we did I
hope I think well I don't know but um
anyway um that was a
very very interesting trip this is the
third time I've been up to the to the
legislature and I did walk away feeling
that uh our our goals were maybe met but
I don't know we don't I don't know yet
um the other thing I want to share is
that the animal service center of the
msia valley had a uh meeting the
legislative committee meeting uh
committee met and um I want to thank
Barbara bomo for um always being on top
of uh uh funding and how things are
going and all that sort of stuff um so
the finance committee of that board met
and uh things are in very good shape so
thank you Barbara for that and Clint
ther um the SCD also had a meeting the
South
Central
uh Regional Transit District uh that's a
body of
about I don't know six seven
municipalities in the southern part of
the state donana county Sierra County um
another County over east of us and um
and that's going very well and what I
failed to uh mention is that last year
um the scrtd was a named the best uh
public transportation in the state and I
think that um it probably will be that
way again um the director is uh Aro
David
Aro and uh he's really developed that
and uh right now um there has been
provision for getting uh the uh electric
buses but there's I think uh the
batteries are hard to find or there's
something that's hard to find mind um so
anyway
um the other U announcement I have and
thank you uh Chris favor in The Economic
Development Department he has organized
um
a a workshop let me see what did you
write up Chris uh the New Mexico Finance
Authority and MFA is excited to meet
with you in person to share the
following um
it's about public private lending
overview and process assistance
discussion on future projects I attended
one of their uh presentations and it's
amazing how uh the M
nmfa um funds so many businesses that I
was appalled at how I mean I I didn't
know that it could just provide so many
services and funding for uh businesses
to start up so I I hope the word really
gets out I know Mandy makes fun of me
when I say we should have a lot of PSAs
I mean I'm a child of the 60s so PSAs
were a big thing when they you know
surface but whatever uh media uh is
available we should let our community
know that they can be startups and they
can you know really um find funding for
their projects because they fund just
about everything well not everything but
you know a lot uh okay and then um I
also want to say that uh we have a
learning academy and that Learning
Academy is for the public and uh we
started that uh before covid um Jamie
Rickman uh was in charge of that and um
we always had it was just wonderful and
there's graduation at the end of a
certain amount of weeks and fortunately
now it's been started up and I want to
thank Grace and Katrina who did a
wonderful job and the presentation this
was on utilities and it was at the
utilities facility on motel and the
presentation was by um Adrien uh Whitmer
who's the uh director of utilities she
gave a 45 minute presentation nonstop
very smooth you know slides everything
describing every aspect of utilities and
it is amazing and it was very good to
know that we have very good water we
have very good water so um and it was
absolutely lovely and I left after 45
minutes almost an hour because it was
cold and windy it started to rain and um
and all I had was this little light
jacket uh so I left but they also had
actually stations where the different
functions of utilities which are many
were were set up for people to look at
and see how things really work so um
anyway that was really wonderful um and
I'll be I think representing the city I
have to talk to well I'll talk to eil
before he leaves um I've been invited by
the Chamber of Commerce in Jacksonville
Florida my nephew is a member uh to
speak to the um Mexican Chamber of
Commerce about Cesar Chavez I um was on
the picket line back in the' 70s and uh
was a member of the migrant legal
services and we were able to boycott
lettuce and green grapes and uh we
finally got uh Cesar to or the union to
be uh allowed to join the
aflcio but um and there's other there's
a bunch of other stuff but I've been
talking to Long thank you very much
chair thank you oh sorry EO um thanks
everyone I have a couple things as well
um I wanted to thank Natalie Green and
her housing staff for inviting us to the
groundbreaking um a couple weeks ago for
the three sisters um affordable
apartment complex that um will be
starting to they have started to build a
70 unit affordable housing complex um on
the corner of Griggs and walnut and um
it's going to be beautiful and I'm
honestly really excited that that's
coming into fruition that the
Investments the millions of dollars in
Investments we've made towards housing
we finally going to start seeing them in
real brick and mortar so um it's that
one I think there's a groundbreaking
next week and then a couple
groundbreakings soon to follow so we're
very very excited to make a tiny little
bit of a dent in that giant housing um
un unit shortage that we have um and
then there was a little bit of a mistake
uh a social media post went out about
two District 4 open house meetings that
I will be having um that will be
corrected those will be in um the first
two weeks of April and so huge thank you
to Katrina and her staff for helping me
set those up but I'll talk more about
those um at the next council meeting as
we get closer to those dates um because
if you're anything like me you you'll
forget so um I just wanted to say those
to couple of things before I jump into
the meat of what I the other pieces I
wanted to talk about which a lot of it
are um in regards to public comment but
also the um press conference that Chief
story had last week I won't go through
all of it but I there is a statement and
my response to to that presentation that
Chief made on my city council website
under under District 4 news and events
please go read it I touch on almost
everything that he touched on um both on
even the three things that um are out of
our Authority which are at the state
level and I do want to say that in terms
of Senate Bill 16 criminal competency
determination it did not fail it just
ran out of time what's a failure is
structure of the legislature and so it's
30 days and ran out of time however and
I've talked to Chief story about this
and I want to make this very clear with
the public as a social worker um and
someone who is seeing every day what is
happening in our community I don't take
this slightly and I do support this kind
of legislation but it should have its
due diligence we're literally talking
about taking people civil civil
liberties away so it should have a due
diligence it should have a significant
funding source to meet the gaps that we
obviously have in mental health care and
substance use treatment facilities which
are very few and even those have huge
waiting lists um and so I I do want to
say that and the other thing is that
I've been in discussions with Advocates
around this legislation that are there
is a a commission that is out of the New
Mexico Supreme Court that is working on
this legislation there is an adjacent
advocacy that is Task Force that is
being formed to advise that creation of
that bill as it will come to the
legislature in 2025 I am doing
everything I can to ensure that Chief
story and some of us are in those
conversations as well that southern New
Mexico does not get left out of that
conversation um so please go read my
statement I it was well thought out and
even even just today I'm
having a hard time sort of choosing the
words I want to say because I feel like
everything I say in the last speci
especially in the last couple of weeks
has been really distorted getting
distorted it comes out of my mouth then
it gets distorted I've heard it I've
seen it happen to Chief story I've seen
it happen to many of us and so it is not
in my nature to
be super thoughtful and deal thinking
about what I'm going to say I just
generally speak from the
heart um
but my thoughts are there on all of
those things including pre-trial release
and detention on Fentanyl and on some of
the more short-term and localized goals
that the chief presented which I am yet
to hear any push back from any of us
that is not what's happening we're
actually working incredibly well as a
new council with our new Chief um and I
suspect things will move forward I I
what I have a difficult time with
sometimes is that when folks accuse me
of not listening sometimes I think that
because I
don't just say yes to everything that's
being thrown at me then immediately I'm
not listening that my disagreement
immediately means I'm not listening and
and I want to push back gently against
that because that's not true I I think
about these things really well and and
thoroughly and um me just saying yes
let's bring back panhandling ordinance
to me that's not a Sentimental
disagreement that is unlawful and
unconstitutional and frankly I think
people think of it as this magic
solution that we'll just get rid of all
problems and frankly that's just not how
this works and um but I have really
thorough and wellth thought out ideas
that we have been discussing over and
over here and so I I would urge I have
yet to hear from the uh business group
that is meeting I hope they reach out to
me um I would love to sit down with them
and talk more about their ideas if they
think that in my Progressive Haze I have
missed something and I am not seeing
something that we are not doing I want
people to point that out I would also
challenge folks to send me a list of the
so my so-called Progressive failed
policies that have led us here and I
will review them I commit to reviewing
them and to bringing them back if we
need discussion but please send me a
list of those of those policies that you
think I have led on that have failed I
would like I said love to review them um
so to that point I so I'll stop there
with that
um I also wanted to bring up this really
important and timely conversation about
the type of the type of public dialogue
that I have been experiencing definitely
in the last couple of weeks but honestly
in the last couple of years and maybe
it's fitting that it's also um women's
History Month um so happy women's
History Month to all the incredible and
really amazing women on this dis on this
staff that lead a bunch of these
departments I respect you all deeply but
I did want to talk about this
um report that came out recently from
the Brennan Center for justice titled
intimidation of state and local office
holders the threat to
democracy I'm just going to read a
little bit of this I apologize in
advance it's a little lengthy but it's
really important because I hear things
here that say well you signed up for the
job these things are unavoidable you
signed up for the job it's somebody said
the chicken little thing or whatever was
dangerous and you have to deal with it
I'm going to push back on that I think
actually it's incredibly harmful to
democracy that we
[Music]
normalize
harmful language threats especially
insults harassment those kinds of things
do should not live in democracy and just
because we ran for office and chose to
be here does not mean that I'm going to
allow you to that I'm going to allow you
to use me as your punching back that is
actually not how democracy works and um
I have found myself in the last couple
of weeks feeling like I shouldn't speak
up on that anymore maybe I shouldn't
post so much maybe I shouldn't do these
things and this report helped me realize
that that is actually not what I should
be doing so it speaks this report speaks
about the big
Federal
um things that are happening to Federal
public officials which are awful like um
there was Representative Steve scalise
last in 2017 was shot um the US uh us
rep representative Nancy Pelosi's
husband was brutally beaten in his home
those they speak about those but they
also say yeah over the same period with
far less attention and often little
recourse office holders serving in local
and state governments across the country
have faced a barrage of intimidating
abuse threats and attacks constrain how
freely office holders interact with
constituents narrow the spectrum of
policy positions they feel safe to
support and make them less willing to
continue in public service unaddressed
the problem stands to endanger not just
individual politicians but more broadly
the free and fair functioning of
representative democracy at every level
of government and the kind of abuse that
I'm referring to are insults demeaning
derogatory or offensive comments
gestures or actions that upset belittle
or humiliate which I will say two weeks
ago I felt like there was an attempt to
do
that har harassment persistent Uninvited
Behavior attention or actions that cause
distress fear or discomfort such as
stalking I know members of this Council
and previous councils have
been stalked by members of the public
threats explicit or implicit Expressions
communicating an intention to harm
injure or cause damage to an individual
or others associated with them implying
imminent risk to a person's wellbeing in
safety and physical attacks slapping
pushing subjugation to um projectiles
beating abduction assassination attempts
or other acts of
violence those are obviously some
there's extremes there but I have in
this job in the last 4ish years have
been accused of not being a lawful
citizen of this country I have been um
accused of being anti- police I have
been accused of many things because I
think often people disag agree with me
and then decide that that means I am
anti something else that I am then
posing a danger to their beliefs and I
just I highly recommend this report it
is to the public um open to the public
and I also want to say that the way that
we fight some of these things because
that that will lead to many of us either
not running for reelection which I'm
sure many happy many people will be
happy with that but I also think that
somebody said I often think take things
personal yeah Poli politics is personal
to me politics is very personal and
that's why I decided to run and I want
to see Fair representation in in local
all levels of
government but I think one of the
biggest things that we have to do as
public officials community members
Business Leaders any other person is to
publicly reject abuse and to not allow
that kind of um discourse to continue
because it is actually not the way that
we will solve the challenges is in front
of us and they are many and we need
people we need people with ideas we need
people who have direct who are directly
impacted by these challenges to come
forth and and share their stories and
also present Solutions and I want to
work with those people I've never been
closed to closed off to that and I don't
want to close myself off um because I
feel like there are threats to my safety
so and that includes my mental health
safety and all of our mental health
safety um
wow okay I just wanted to say that and
um I will wrap it up there I'm happy to
talk with anybody about this and any
other thing please if you're watching
please reach out okay
EO thank you may Pro and and Council
I'll be brief brief uh just wanted to
give an update sent by uh this is a
Connie that sent this uh regarding the
ioda par I know there were some
conversation there just want to clarify
the funds for The opaka Aquatic
playground remain committed to
completing this project currently budget
at 1.9 million the notice to proceed of
demolishing the old swimming pool was
issued on February 22nd the state issued
the demo permit on the first and
demolition will commence
tomorrow on the old pool y so the staff
is working on procuring a contractor to
commence construction of the Aquatic
playground app appodaca Park and more
updates to come in a few months and then
staff is aware of the gra graffiti on
the restrooms
facilities um they will need to be sand
blasted so this is on the currently on
the staff's to-do list for completion
and then
um Council McLure with the legislative
team can certainly get together and talk
about what our plans have been and um
you know we certainly learn learn every
time we go up there and so we we do have
some kind of a team and uh but we can
certainly talk talk about that and how
we become more effective uh moving
forward although my time's short we'll
be able to to address that um I'll have
U other times there other times for
farewells but uh this is uh um no no
there there's other we we'll have other
other times so I'm not trying to give a
farewell speech here but I do appreciate
the faith that the council has had on on
our staff our internal staff to be able
to post internal
that's a big deal I think for for
transition for you know again just a
statement that you've been able to
chosen to do that has shown a lot of
faith in the staff that we have uh I'll
add my faith to that that you know
you'll we have a ton of applicants very
much qualified to be able to continue
and so that's what making this
transition easier um so I think the the
public can have confidence that uh we'll
continue to move move forward um and so
as I'm
transitioning um you you'll have again
city manager will be coming from our
current organization and so you I don't
think there'll be anything Lost in
Translation or in transition so that's a
great uh great thing to have but I again
appreciate it uh M and counselors for
that uh for that Faith like I said I
have I'll have other time to to give my
farewells and um but thank you
but thank
you thank you I wasn't going to talk
about that either because I didn't want
to cry two weeks in a row you know what
I mean so um thank you e and thank you
for that abadaka Park update all right
we are at the end of our meeting
today move to adjourn so moved I mean
second second thank you this is on the
motion to adjourn the meeting councelor
McClure yes councelor matisa is AB ENT
councelor Graham yes councelor
cran yes councelor flutes yes mayor
proen yes and the mayor is
absent