[Music]
you're live
okay well welcome uh to our work session
today is Monday January 27 2025 it's
approximately 1:15 p.m. and we'll go
ahead and start with our work session
we'll start with jobs of the
week thank you mayor and
Council my name is Sarah Rainey I am the
One-Stop coordinator for the southwest
region of New Mexico workforce soon to
be America's job centers we'll have more
on that soon for this week's jobs of the
week we have a deputy director parks for
Parks and Recreation that's for the city
of Los cruus for 78,000 beginning at
78,000 and the posting closes on the
17th of February for the city we also
have a water maintenance worker to um
that one starts at 1807 an hour and at
this time it's a continuous
posting we have for Whit Sands Missile
Range a residential maintenance
technician level three that one you'll
have to view the posting to see on the
salary ranges and when the job is
closing we have a Clinic patient
representative for Behavioral Medicine
at Christ's Health um that one begins at
31,000 and the posting closes on the
16th of
February we have for Sun Belt Rentals a
field service technican level one
beginning at 1845 an hour up to
2536 um the posting closes on the 16th
of February we also have for NMSU a
security officer senior um posting
starts at 1785 an hour and closes on the
16th of
February as always you can reach us on
at 226 South Alam Boulevard again from
8:00 to 5:00 p.m. we no longer have that
after hours time anymore but feel free
to come and reach us during during that
time thank
you thank you
Sarah next is pets of the week and we
have
Carol good afternoon I'm Carol Nelson
the digital content specialist with the
Animal Services Center of the msia
valley uh as a reminder our pets of the
week are available at no cost during the
week they promoted if you're interested
in adopting an animal currently in a
foster home please contact the center to
arrange a meet and great and long-term
residents who have been at the center
for three plus months are available at
just $25 so we have a lot of really good
options for affordable uh pet adoption
this week we have Taylor her number is
wonderful impression on the staff and
volunteers I'm a sweet girl who loves to
purr and vocalize and I enjoy making my
presence known with my charming
personality I'm not shy at all I
confidently explore my surroundings and
often perch myself on top of my tower
keeping an eye on everything happening
around me I would thrive in a loving
home where I can feel safe and
secure in this week's dog of the week we
have Tony
77537t wiggle butt who's been here since
I was just a pup
I'm full of life and love to bounce
around and I do need a little help with
my excitement during walks I tend to
jump up when I'm eager to go however
once I settle down I'm a fantastic
companion on the leash and I mind very
well I would thrive in a home that can
provide me with frequent frequent
outdoor time I've been known to bark and
bounce with joy but don't let that fool
you I always enjoy Quiet Moments and
snuggles um and to just highlight a few
of our long-term residents unfortunately
we still have the same four so Dora has
now been at our Center for 383 days
Alice 236 days Mabel 232 days and Luna
227 days so we would really love to get
the word out to have people just come
meet them and get to know them cuz they
really are great dogs and we'd love to
get them into a
home and this coming weekend we will be
at the farmers market with our pets and
so come by um and see the pets that we
have there on the Square uh and then for
our upcoming event on Sunday the day
after we will be at the Field of Dreams
parking lot for our drive-through
vaccination clinic and so it's a great
time to get lowc cost and free services
um and then for Valentine's Day we are
going to be doing what we call the Cupid
Shuffle speed dog dating um and that's
going to be from 12:00 to 2: so it's
going to be a pretty fun event where
people are going to have an opportunity
to get to know various pets in a pretty
similar fashion as if you were speed
dating so it's going to be a pretty fun
event so feel free to come on out to the
Center for that and as always you can
find more information on our website or
find us on social media so thank you for
the time
today thank you
Carol we'll go ahead and start with our
agenda items 3.1 senior programs 50 plus
Community assessment survey results
presentation and uh to introduce it will
be Sonia
Donna good afternoon mayor members of
council and City staff my name is Sonia
Sala and I am the deputy director for
senior programs and today we are going
to be presenting or Dr John siki is
going to be presenting on a senior
survey that started back in um
2021 and um once you know once you are
able to hear the presentation we will
stand for any questions you may
have thank
you um I'll run through just uh some
brief slides to walk through the report
that we did for this city here um we had
really the objective to um speak with
the residents age 50 and older and we
had some subobjectives which were
identify the understanding of your
current senior programs the challenges
that seniors face and the concerns that
they have um with aging adults so I'll
walk through the major topics of the
survey uh results
here um just quick background uh we in
essence we didn't have a contact list
for seniors in the city so we had to go
out and do an Outreach we created Flyers
both in Spanish and in English went to
senior centers also put it in the
utility bills to try and recruit seniors
to completing the
survey uh goal was to get 381 surveys we
actually ended up with almost 700
surveys so close to double
that
demographics uh majority of responses
close to 80% were between white Hispanic
and Latinos women responded more than
males and then 70% of the responses were
over 70 years
old so I'll quickly walk through just
the results of the seven topics there so
the awareness um we asked seniors about
the awareness of the nine major programs
you're currently
offering and I just wanted to highlight
so there's about four that seniors were
well aware of but then there are five
where you see they start to drop off
which is case management Homemaker
services
aging grandparents raising grandchildren
and respit
care so moving on we also then ask them
their usage and to No Surprise those
same five had the least amount of usage
by seniors you can see on average 4% for
those five so one of the recommendations
we have at the end is potentially doing
a better Outreach to your seniors to
inform them about these programs so that
they're aware that these are available
um we asked seniors why they never use
the senior centers um one was lack of
awareness but two a lot of seniors felt
like they're already active right now
and they didn't really feel the need to
go to the senior center and then covid
transportation and then they thought
they couldn't afford
it topic two home and living conditions
um most of the seniors felt very safe at
home I'm not going to go through each
single question there topic three safety
same thing most seniors felt very safe
at home very safe with their
family um 41% did identify that they
have fallen or had
injuries topic four inh inhome
assistance um similarly the majority of
seniors indicated that they did didn't
need any assistance with any inhome
Services um now I don't have it in the
slides but in the report we prepared we
did do an analysis of each age group so
I did like 50y old 60 year old 70 80 and
90 plus there is a big difference
between 50-year-old seniors versus 90y
old seniors so there is some of these
items for example in home in home
assistance isn't as needed for 50y olds
as it is for 80 and 90 year olds same
thing with like lawn care you see the
numbers go up so there is some
discrepancies there or some uh variances
but as a whole they said that didn't
they didn't need any inhome
assistance similarly to Transportation
Mobility they're very
independent um once again when you break
it down by age group I believe the
50-year-olds mostly all Drive whereas 89
year olds need more help with
transportation
health and nutrition um seniors
identified that they get enough exercise
and get enough um vegetables and
fruits Financial conditions um last
major topic um we didn't um identify any
major issues that seniors identified
with their
finances and we asked a number of
different
items so quick summary here um the the
biggest
um conclusion I guess from the survey
was just the lack of awareness of all
the senior
programs um there are five four programs
that seniors were aware of there are
five that they're not aware the City
offers satisfaction was very
high most seniors identified that they
felt very safe they were very
independent had a reliable support
system
felt that they were very um healthy
highly active we did ask um in terms of
reasons why they might not attend a
senior center and they felt there
weren't enough activities being offered
a lot of them stated they wanted more
pickle ball time they didn't want that
to be interrupted with younger adults
they had a hard time finding pickle ball
courts so uh but you can see there's a
number of different um activities that
were identified in the
survey and then finally to wrap the
subject recommendations once again um
maybe improving awareness now the
downside of improving awareness is that
if you start to get more seniors trying
to sign up it could potentially impact
the services that are being provided so
that's kind of a a funding issue um City
should consider developing potentially
more recreational activities versus the
ones that are currently there at the
centers and then the final one is maybe
doing a follow-up survey to dive into
any of these areas you like to see
further clarification on um or to see if
we've made any changes what the
improvements
are so Sonia is there anything I missed
that
okay so I know I went through that quick
but we've also provided the
report just go ahead and
question oh
sorry so uh Council mayor and Council uh
this is our report on the survey and we
would now welcome any questions or
comments you might
have Carol Bray quality of life director
for the record thank you Carol thank you
Dr s and Sonia uh any questions uh
councilor
matis I just uh in in looking at a lot
of the facilities in Las cruus like the
gym and plantet fitness I noticed they
uh they take Medicare for Pilates
yoga um will your sers do that when you
have the services offered most uh
counselor matis most of the services
that we offer are free of charge and one
of the reasons we do that is because we
want to get as many people engaged as
they can possibly
come okay but you're asking if we will
specifically take Medicare or Medicaid
as a form of payment correct in other
words still be free to them you know
would they wouldn't be charged but uh
they get a lot of benefits in in
wellness and and health programs in
these uh other facilities so I I was
trying to see if if you advertised if
you made that available maybe you would
have an increase in attendance just just
a thought we we have not we are not set
up to um to do that for Medicare and
Medicaid but that's something that we
can always look into the future to see I
know there's a big uh in the past I used
to work with Medicaid and it's a big
setup so we'll have to look and see what
we can do okay uh speaking of the future
can I ask you a crystal ball
question um it seems that the seniors
today um let's say from
1995 till now uh that would be the 65 to
80 year olds uh financially we seem
very very stable and have money for
exercise and different venues what do
you feel will be the future because it
it hasn't been that good in the last 10
years U financially for a lot of uh
underserved and and people that are in
the poverty level and our poverty level
has gone from 37% to
47% and in that 10% is probably quite a
lot of seniors so what do you see in the
future making
programs and and awareness of them and
education and getting the information
out in electric bills or uh gas bills
yeah that's one of the um that's how we
did the initial Outreach with the flyer
is to go through the utility bills um so
we're able to advertise that way um
number of different questions what do we
see terms of the future I I don't know
but in terms of when we broke down the
age groups once again like I said 50 60
70 80 year
olds the older age seniors were more
financially stable than the younger
seniors so when we looked at the um
those financial
um programs more of the younger seniors
were actually using them compared to the
older seniors which I think mimics what
you just said there um in terms of
what's going to be happening down the
road uh all I know from a demographic
standpoint is that the Baby Boomers
which is the youngest is in their 60s
once they retire the the Gen Z coming up
um
it's they they're going to be a
different Workforce um so moving them
into you know if we do have programs
who's going to replace the current staff
that's going to be an issue and not just
for City Services but everywhere we're
working with is is having an impact in
terms of Labor shortage Workforce
shortages
so in essence just trying to bring more
awareness and assuming you can put job
post things out there and you're going
to get people that are going to jump on
and and try to uh help you with these
services I don't think that's going to
be the future I think we're going to
have challenges recruiting people in all
these
positions so I don't know if I answered
all your questions or no I I I realize
it's hard to jump forward 15 20 years
but I I think it's good to have these
reports and to have some profiling yeah
and some data because that impacts what
we need to do what centers we need to
build and what programs we need to have
if they're less financially uh capable
so no you answered everything thank both
of you thank
you coun fres thank you mayor and thank
you so much for your presentation um so
you gave us percentages but you didn't
give us numbers and also so how what are
the numbers and how do they compare with
the populations
in those age groups do you have that
information we we do have all the the
information I don't have I don't have it
in the slides but we have all the the
numbers all the surveys correct okay and
then uh how did you um how did you
distribute the call for information on
uh from Seniors we did it in a couple
different ways one we did it through the
utility bill um and then it was
distributed at senior centers nonprofit
the library City Hall Farmers Market
grocery stores phy city parks
communities so there's a possibility
that your representation is correct the
entire population and that that's in our
report that's one of the limitations is
this is just if if seniors are Homebound
and don't get out or they don't actually
open and pay their bill they might not
have seen the survey so that is a a
potential limitation of these results
and only if
I I might be wrong about this but you
get a bill when you own the property I'm
sorry I didn't hear that you get a bill
from utilities when you own the property
so many seniors may not own property so
there's a lot of gaps and holes as to uh
the uh population of people who are
above the age of what 50 did you say yes
above the age of 50 that is correct yeah
okay so
um my my concern is that um I know that
the city provides uh cool centers and
maybe warm centers depending on the
season um and I'm wondering if all
seniors are getting that information as
well I mean I'm sure all the seniors who
go to mson or wherever get it but what
about the ones who really may be
isolated how do we identify them or
reach them Council Flor is we send
Flyers out um mostly everything that we
do at the centers we send them both out
in Spanish and English just to inform
our customers that there's other
services available and is is that a
door-to-door handout or is we usually
deliver those through our home delivered
meals and those are only to those
participants that are in our services
okay and so um in in that uh
distribution of information do you
encourage those who review to who
receive them to reach out to neighbors
and distribute that information to
neighbors who may not have be on Meals
on Wheels you know we do we do have um
case managers that also work with a lot
of our homebound seniors so when they go
out to talk to the senior they provide
information you know we also deal with
those that that have um emergency
contacts family members we're just not
dealing with a senior we're constantly
dealing with emergency cont contacts and
family members or friends or any support
system that supports the senior at home
thank you m growing social media present
to uh one thing that Carol was
mentioning is that we are doing a lot
more on social media now that's
something that we're looking for into
the future because we do realize the age
Gap I always tell people we serve people
between the ages of 50 to over a 100 and
to get everybody to go online and do
something is impossible to get somebody
to read something is impossible so we're
always trying to find what works for
everybody we still have a little
newspaper that we distribute with all
our information for those that don't
want to go online and then for those
that do want to go online there's
information
available okay I I just uh I think what
you're doing is wonderful absolutely
wonderful I just hope that um I know
that there's a lot of isolation issues
for seniors especially those who are uh
somehow um you know uh not able to drive
or walk and get out that sort of stuff
but thank you very much for your
services thank you Dr
V councelor Kent thank you thank you so
much for this presentation and it was
really powerful to learn and I have to
admit that I I think I have a little bit
of a gap in totally understanding all
that you all do so that's that's on me I
I would also say um I think probably
because when I read the channels of
communication where where those are
going those aren't the channels where I
like right like that's the difference
between ages and where people get their
information but I was going to ask um a
couple of quick follow-ups one of those
would
be
um I think when we did our city councel
orientation I think I got a little bit
of senior programs but I would love to
amp a little bit of that up so I hope
that's also in things like our
neighborhood leadership training and all
of those trainings that we're currently
doing that folks really understand all
the services that are happening because
I think it's really powerful to hear
that inventory of things and then also
if we could just have um a little bit of
additional I know we always get things
so we often get things related to public
art and stuff that's happening but I
think I when we have Community meetings
and or I I know in my community meetings
especially I think it's not as much
people realizing that they might need
the services but wor thinking about
other people needing the services or
maybe they need the services but it's
easier for them to think about the other
people needing the services but know I
hear from a lot of residents that are
really struggling through these things
and I think just knowing the contact
information for a few
resources um within senior programs I
don't know if there is a formal Outreach
sort of sort of thing that would go to
like Community meetings district
meetings or um perhaps you mentioned the
newspaper um some other form that we
could just be looped in on so that we
can use that in our own networks to
expand either if staff can join us at
certain things or if we can Elevate the
messaging that you you all are trying to
put out because I think um you know
really just having the contact
information and understanding who's that
people are able to help navigate a lot
of the resources that exist would be
really useful um and I didn't I don't
know that I knew that we that we had the
power to do that and so I would like to
be able to share that information as
much as possible so councelor Karan we
attend as many events as they invite us
to and we'll attend as many events as we
get invited to we're always trying to
spread the word um we you know we have a
little fair that we started a couple of
years ago and we'll go ahead and make
sure you get that information because
that deals with abuse neglect and
exploitation of seniors great thank you
so much so it would be great we we'll
we'll try to use our voices to amplify
it to whatever spaces that we're that
we're in too so thank
you all right well thank you thank you
for the presentation and to Carol and
Sonia I appreciate you going out and
putting the effort to get a survey like
this so we can see where we can improve
I would say I know that you do a lot for
our seniors in this community there's a
lot of resources I would even venture to
say Los Cruses is a good place for a
senior to live and so thank you for all
the work that you do and this gives a an
opportunity to see what the survey uh
tells is more of awareness that needs to
be done and and we'll all work on that
to help you as well so thank you I have
a Mr Mayor I have a question oh I'm
sorry one councelor I'm sorry councelor
Flores go ahead thank you thank you I
have a a question the mayor just brought
up a good point um I know that a lot of
people look at brochures throughout when
they're looking at retirement they um
they look at brochures and
uh we had someone apply for city manager
position several years ago who uh Came
Upon lasis when he decided to retire
from his town and thought Oh this would
be a good place to retire and become
city manager no he was not hired but the
point though is that is that information
available to maybe from realized Las
Cruses or you know some brochure that
that emphasizes I would like to thank
the emphasize for U opportunities for or
services for for seniors is Council
florides we do have information
available and if you would like we can
get that information to everybody so
that you can have it handy and if you
get asked questions you you have that
information available or maybe it's it's
out of my parameters I might be
incorrect or overstepping but maybe um
work with uh visit Las crusis I mean
absolutely those are all great ideas oh
thank you yeah no thank you thank
you Carol Bray for the record uh
councelor Flores I would also add that
access magazine which um is very good
about listing a wide variety of senior
programs is distributed from visit Los
cruus the airport here at City Hall all
of our facilities so that's another way
that we have to get the word out in
print which is a way that seniors often
favor uh but I will also say our fastest
growing media right now is social media
uh we're seeing seniors and grow really
rapidly growing numbers on social media
um we are not really I'm not sure how
strong of a presence there is in realiz
Las crues for senior programs um it's
certainly a big part of elevate too you
know there is a lot that's called out
for seniors in Elevate Los crues so um
you know we feel we have the planning
structure and we're also you know
fulfilling that with the various media
available but we're always open to
suggestions thank you thank
you okay thank you and thank You Dru for
your travels and your work appreciate
you next is item 3.2 the Metropolitan
Redevelopment area uh designations uh
Selena
Morales I don't know what is happening
good afternoon mayor City councilors and
administration my name is Selina Morales
I'm the interim deputy director for
economic development today I'm going to
be going over some of our Metropolitan
Redevelopment area processes as well as
the new um areas that we proposing for
designation so first I wanted to start
off with a little refresher about the
benefits to designating mras within our
community um mras Target elimination or
prevention of slums in blighted areas
improving property value and economic
activity they also support local
economic growth by attracting businesses
and industries boosting employment and
encouraging private
investment they address conditions that
may endanger life or property by
enhancing public health safety and
Welfare projects often include
Provisions for affordable housing
recreational facilities and other
community oriented developments and
programs and they enable the development
of improvement for public facilities
such as roads Parks utilities and public
transportation I also want to go over uh
the process for establishing mras just
as a refresher as well so first the
local government must provide public
notice about the proposed designation
then a public hearing is held to gather
input and determine whether to adopt the
resolution designating the area as an
MRA
the local government must then adopt a
resolution finding that areas qualify as
slum or blighted areas and must
establish that Redevelopment is
necessary for public health safety moral
and Welfare of the
residents once an area is designated the
local government develops a metropolitan
Redevelopment plan this plan must
address how slum or blight conditions
will be mitigated conform to local
government General plans and include
proposed activities like land
acquisition public public improvements
and strategies for rehabilitation and
Redevelopment before finalizing the plan
a public hearing is required to present
the plan the local government May adopt
the plan if it meets statutory
requirements including public benefit
and private investment
potential and lastly its implementation
the local government implements the
approved plan which may involve
acquiring and preparing land for
redevelopment partnering with private
entities or other public agencies and
constructing or improving infrastructure
and
Facilities so when the decision to
incorporate mras into into our community
was made we hired Consultants to do an
MRA designation report the MRA
assessment was conducted by grck Studios
from October 2022 to January
2023 through through a process of
research data analysis field
investigations and public Outreach these
areas were selected as initial
priorities for M
designations recommendations are based
on the assessment of physical and
socioeconomic conditions across several
Focus areas within the city's infield
District this analysis considers factors
such as areas of highest need
Redevelopment potential and the city's
capacity for
implementation as part of the process it
was important We Gather input from our
residents and our businesses so the city
and Consultants conducted various public
Outreach events to notify businesses and
residents about the goals and process
for MRA
designation there was two hybrid
webinars on January 5th
2023 there was also a city council work
session on January 20 20 23rd 2023 for
the initial findings and recommendations
and also two public open houses on the
23rd and 24th of January
with that being said I also wanted to
give an update on the current MRA
designations which is our Ela and Sal
Solano so first draft of final report
will be presented to staff this week the
final draft to be completed by early May
and final report will be presented to
Council in early
June for the West Picacho MRA
Consultants will be here this week to
meet with staff and public will they'll
go over existing conditions for both
groups and the first draft should be
presented in
November so the next four slides will be
the new proposed designations along with
some information that was pulled from
the designation report as a reminder
these areas were selected by extensive
analysis of City Planning documents
zoning and land use and social and
economic data to identify these
neighborhood areas and focus areas so
first proposed area is the Amador
proximo and South area I'm not going to
read every B bullet but I'll go over a
few so there's 55 businesses that employ
759 people in this area 74% of housing
was built prior to 1980 and the medium
household income rate is 25,000 per
year our second area is the apad Daka
and liftup area there's 40 vacant
Parcels 69% of housing was built prior
to
1990 and there are deteriorating streets
sidewalk walks and Street
flooding we have our east of salano
neighborhood area where 88% of the
housing was built prior to 1990 and
medium household income rate is
29,95 per
year and lastly we have our mosquite
area approximately 93 businesses employ
people 115 vacant Parcels medium
household income rate is 27 313 per
year so we also wanted to go over the
role of GRT taxes for an MRA um
revitalization attracts new businesses
enhances existing ones businesses
generate sales of goods and services
which are subject to gross receipts tax
The increased economic activity
generates High GRT collections within
the MRA which are then reinvested in the
area and this provides the financial
capacity to support Public Services
infrastructure improvements or other
initiatives related to Redevelopment
area so what is the process for starting
GRT sharing well first Council
designates the Metropolitan
Redevelopment areas and then Economic
Development provides the designations to
New Mexico Tax and Revenue where they
begin data collection to determine a
baseline so the Baseline refers to the
initial level of GRT revenue generated
within the MRA at the time of its
designation it serves as a reference
point for measuring increase in GRT
Revenue over time and deadlines for
those submissions are March and
September and data collection for the
state typically takes about one
year so then it's the adoption of the
MRA plan Council will recommend the
percentage of DRT increment to be
reinvested in the MRA common allocations
range from 50% to 75% of the increment
so for example if the Baseline jrt
revenue is 1 million and the re
development goes to 1.5 million the
increment is 500,000 and the percentage
set determines how much of that 500,000
increment is redirected to fund
Redevelopment projects so the council
will give their recommendation of the
percentage but overall it's the state
who actually decides what that's going
to be based on what they found in their
data at the time we also have the
ability to amend boundaries if needed
and once an MRA plan has been adopted
and the state has enough data to decide
the percentage we can begin the GRT
sharing
process so that concludes the
presentation some discussion points to
consider include the designation of the
proposed areas please keep in mind the
purpose of designating all four areas is
to start the data collection for
determining the Baseline
once designations are submitted to the
state we can identify which area should
be prioritized for plan
implementation typically we budget for
one MRA plan per year so within four
years all four areas will have a plan to
support this effort we work with our
economists and other resources to gather
information and data to help determine
the order of
priority additionally this is an
opportunity to discuss potential
boundary extensions these extensions can
be included at the time of plan adoption
so for example we have the Alp on Sal
Solano coming in June I know one of the
recommendations made was to extend it to
University we can do it at that
time so do you all have any questions or
[Music]
recommendations thank you Selena uh
Council thank you mayor I I had a
question what how does uh the MRA kind
of spur on the growth of vacant
properties I see them sort of climb in
numbers but I'm just curious how that
can be something that can change what a
vacr property might look like in the
future with the m specifically I think
we can give more benefits to private you
know private investors or private
companies to be able to give them some
sort of incentives to be able to go to
those vacant buildings or vacant
properties so that's kind of a a it's
not against anti-d donation so in in an
arm we're allowed to do stuff like
that can we can we be a little bit more
specific what what would those
incentives look
like what are you seeing kind of
throughout the state for stuff like that
specifically vacant property um we don't
have any programs right now ready for
that kind of stuff but we would have to
definitely determine based off what the
Consultants give us as far as the M plan
what they recommend and how to to go
about doing that so that's part of the
MRA plan process which um will have more
of those details and recommendations for
us to follow oh thank you that was one
of my concerns specifically two of these
where the vacant property is is one of
the Huger issues that I hear all the
time right and we would like that land
to be productive and not to have people
be speculative about their property so
if that can move that forward I would
definitely be willing to help in that
way so thank you definitely I
agree I'm sorry Pro thanks mayor and
thank you so much for the information um
I'm very excited
about um this revitalization plan and
how far we've come along I'm very
excited to see the Alpo s Solano come to
us soon and then of course the West
Picacho soon after that um it's my
understanding that so because the
MRA
um funding opportunity is brand new
right that has never existed until now
for nobody right no one across the state
has been able to to collect funds from
the GRT to to do reinvestment within
those designations that is brand new
legislation as of a couple of years ago
and so um is it DFA Department of
Finance um Department that we're waiting
for uh for the ruling on what that's
going to look like the department of Tax
and Revenue tax and rev and so is my
understanding then um from staff that
they will collect one year of data from
we submit to them our proposal and then
they collect one year of data and then
at that point uh we can start that
collection correct and we did ask them
if it had to be a full year um it
doesn't have to it's just based on if
they have enough data but it typically
takes one year okay so we'll I know you
were you had asked about pachu and so
once we submit the plan we'll see if
there's enough data even though it's a
couple months if not then we'll just
have to wait for the full year and then
when can you submit plans to the state
for them to start collecting data that
is March so we have our deadline of
March and then it's 90 days prior to
July and December okay yeah so our next
one correct so our next one will be
trying to make the the March deadline
okay I would really love to see um the
absolutely that
like non-negotiable that the alao gets
turned in by that time and then for me I
think it'd be really important that the
West Picacho similarly gets turned in
before that second correct um timeline
so we have a resolution on March 17th to
take these four new ones and then we
will submit all six at once okay yeah
great um and then do we
I know I saw the packet but there is um
public comment on the rest of these on
the other four that people have
submitted uh their what they would like
to see yes okay on on aaka and E salano
can you go back to I wasn't sure if I
saw oh yeah okay approximately 90
business I think that's always one of
the key things right if if the sizes
we've have are large enough to be able
to sustain a good amount of funding from
the information you all have collected a
staff you feel confident that the sizing
of all of these are you know powerful
enough to be able to to hold a strong
Fund in the future yes definitely
especially in this area just because of
everything and all the investment
already going into it so anything
further is going to you know do that um
be part of the Redevelopment you can
make a case for all areas are all
important and and need help so okay
wonderful okay um I think this is great
again um really even if the other four
aren't ready to be turned into the state
I think the first two Al Paso South
Solano and West Picacho are absolutely
key that we get them turned into to the
state with enough time for for them to
start um collecting that data and so
that we can um you know I wish
everything was faster but I you know I
often tell constituents that
government moves at the pace of
government and uh it's not always as
fast as we'd like it but I understand
understand um the due diligence and
there is it's new for the state too so
they're they're coming out with some
Sops and and some more guidance because
we're kind of all in the same boat with
trying to learn as we go so absolutely
okay thank you so much of course thank
you Council M thank you could you bring
up the slide on the Ala sale sure um uh
this
one well the one that gives the number
of businesses so elao has already been
design designated the ones I gave those
numbers for were just for the new
designations being proposed and then the
one you just showed me that you just had
up what I'm trying to figure out is the
formula other words this Council will
say we could designate 75% we could we
could use that percentage of the gross
receipts we could go as high as 75%
correct you can go as high as% so those
businesses that are operating I think
the one was 90
businesses uh that you had up and
they will you that's the incentive we'll
use for the 40 vacant Parcels I was
going back to Cassie's question is that
the funding that
75% where do you where's the incentive
come from from The Collection correct
yes from The Collection okay yes so if
if the vacant Parcels needed an
incentive to reopen or redo that
building would that come from that 75%
gross receipts tax yes that is correct
and
where did that 75% go previously before
the new
legislation was enacted it went to the
general fund let me ask Elizabeth on
that good afternoon mayor and city
council uh my name is Elizabeth ters
economic development director So
currently so it's we're talking about
above the Baseline so those are taxes
that aren't even being collected right
now so the idea is you bring re uh
revitalization into an area and the more
revitalization you're bringing the more
DRT you're going to bring in and that's
above the Baseline like Selena was
saying um so say that we're bringing in
just to keep it super simple $50 in GRT
in a given area right now that's our
Baseline so in the next 5 years say we
bring in a few new businesses and
there's higher GRT so that means now
we're bringing in $75 in DRT so the
original 50 still goes to where it
originally went okay and then out of the
extra $25 that above that 75% up to 75%
of that would be the revitalization
efforts okay and so the area is being
revitalized to bring in more Revenue
correct and who's doing that
revitalization incentive where where are
we building as that come from federal I
mean you're not going to bring in more
Revenue unless the area is improved I
mean above the Baseline I I I assume
right in fact it could be
worse yes well I ideally you would think
it's going to get better um mayor
counselor M so that's one of the you
know um chicken or the egg situations
because until we get Revenue in there
we're not going to get more GRT so
ideally we would like to get grants or
some kind of funding to go directly
towards these areas to help spur that
development okay that that makes sense
thank you thank
you mayor thank you I think obviously
the only other example we can look to is
the current tid right that this is
exactly how the tid has downtown has
been revitalized and it looks now much
different than it did 1520 years ago and
then I think this is why I had included
as well the M designations as part of my
budget priorities because we know that
um while they start that collection
we're going to have to inject funds in
to and to jump start some projects right
and so I think I've always advocated for
uh for example cannabis excise tax to
some of those funds to be implemented
into something like this but I do feel
like it is it should be a budget
priority for the first couple of years
for us to be able to um to be cognizant
of the importance of the mras and to be
able to um have our budget reflect that
and what we'd like to see um what kind
of projects we'd like to see jump start
in order for these to ultimately be
really successful thank
you councilor K so thank you again this
is really helpful um and I'm not sure if
you all are looking for some us to say
like other other things I you said the
the extended to University question and
that would be one I don't know if
there's another input point that we
would have for other things like that so
for me that that's one of the things
that when I looked at that map I was
like oh I would really like us to go the
way to to the university but there might
be other things that I didn't that was a
very IAL pre precursive look um is there
is another process like this is just
sort of us saying it but there are still
some details to be determined even after
we submit these right like we can still
Nuance some of the conversations what
the research is um and then so that's my
first question is if we say like oh okay
these these look good this is where I
hope we're doing this will we have
another chance to weigh in on exactly
what it looks like or I also think we're
trying to figure out you know the tid is
one model but I think models where we
support people improving the quality of
housing stock is another like I don't
know that we've necessarily done that in
our model of how we how we do this and I
think there are a lot of different
grants that might be available once we
say that these are mras so that would be
another thing that I would really ask
that we that we add in as sort of one of
the priorities but I think that's
nuanced in each of these these areas and
sort of part of it so is there another
chance for us to weigh in and can we
have some more Nuance discussions about
what kinds of development Redevelopment
will happen then yes thank you mayor and
Council Crown yes of course we can
definitely at least at some time up to
go over those and again once the plan is
implemented is when we can include those
so if we have to have discussions prior
to that that won't be a
problem thank you that was one of my
main
questions Council M thank you I was just
thinking what council Graham brought up
I I'm really impressed with the housing
you know the senior C citizen housing on
Ela and that brings in new people
walkability and so if you could develop
some businesses than all those people
moving into that new
housing as Miss Graham would say you
know if you if you have good housing and
you build some businesses along Al
pasale you could actually uh get your
Baseline up quite quite easily that
these seniors could use those those
stores yes mayor and councelor mati
definitely it' be definite benefit for
them
thanks all right thank you
thank you son I appreciate you
all next is item 3.3 the goo Bond
quarterly update uh Mr David
C good afternoon mayor and Council my
name is David Sao Public Works director
also with me is Natalie Green from our
housing and neighborhood revitalization
manager and we will be providing the
2022 go Bond quarterly update for you
this afternoon
the four projects associated with the go
bonds in 2022 are the new Fire Station
Number Nine the continuation of the East
Mesa Public ret complex affordable
housing and park
improvements for fire station number
nine we had updated the last quarter
that the project was awarded was awarded
to wh Sands construction for 11.1
million they began construction on
October 28th currently they're at 10%
completion they have done earth work
they have finished the sewer ruins and
working on the electrical ruins they
will soon start on the water and storm
drain improvements on there as well and
lastly they will be working on the rebar
for the pad Foundation as those ruins
get approved want to go ahead and share
with you some photos of the site itself
what you're seeing here on the left hand
side is an aerial view of the pad itself
with some of those ruins and off to the
right you will see more pictures of
those sewer and electrical ruins that
are going
in this project is currently on schedule
as you can see we're now moved into
construction and we are scheduled to
have an estimated completion by the end
of February in
2026 the park improvements we have
laurona and Tel Brook Park improvements
Lona that contract has been awarded to
demands Construction in the amount of
1,393
93120 at this point in time right now
construction will start as soon as we
get that final approval of the
international Boundary Water
commission's lease
agreement previously we had updated that
that was being worked on there was some
language that both the city and
ibwc had looked at we're working on
getting that modified that is going
through the process we antic ipating
getting that lease agreement signed
either this week or next week once we
have that then we will move into
construction there was some language
difference on some enforcement issues at
the site Itself by
ibwc which was reviewed by both our
legal department and the commissions as
well as I had mentioned previously the
remaining funds are going to be moving
over to Tel Brook Park
that is to replace identified exercise
equipment at that Park itself both Parks
and Recreation and Public Works staff
have identified those pieces of
equipment and currently we're looking at
getting quotes to have
that equipment
replaced as you can see here's the
schedule we are stretched out a little
bit on our schedule based on the lease
signing we anticipated that this was
going to happen in quarter 4 of calendar
year 2024 24 but we're starting that
hopefully here in quarter 1 as you can
see we are still slated to complete that
by the end of this calendar year in
2025 for the East Mesa Public wck
complex and the continuation of it at
the last meeting it updated that the
shade structures were going to be
installed in January we do we have had a
delay in the fabrication of those
structures currently rece we have
received half of those structures the
other half are still being worked on and
we're anticipating delivery by the end
of this month and early February we are
scheduling and looking at having those
foundations drilled on site
mid-February the inclusive and adaptive
playground equipment as part of phase
one has been awarded to exerplay the
vendor will be providing the equipment
and doing the installation
that contract cost is $1.1
million now construction for that we're
anticipating will begin in May and that
is because we have a 12we lead time on
those pieces of equipment once we have
those then we can begin those
installations and prep work on
site for the other portion the
continuation funding for the East Mesa
Public R complex the design has been
completed we're at 100% and at this
point in time we're going through
through the procurement process of
getting cost for those improvements once
we have those and we agree with a vendor
then we'll be moving into construction
for
that just a reminder of what those
improvements will be on the continuation
we have eight sand of volleyball courts
we have two basketball courts we also
have an Umpire and it room bathrooms at
the 10 acre Park we also have other
Street Furniture throughout the complex
and more playground equipment
and here's the schedule for this project
here this has seen a little bit of delay
as well too but if you look at the end
of when we're anticipating that
construction to end we are still
anticipating closing this by the end of
2025 in quarter
four and with that I'll turn it over to
miss
green good afternoon Mr Mayor members of
council Natalie Green for the record uh
the first project that we're using gobun
funds is Three Sisters they are 70% uh
complete the mural will also be starting
soon they're still at
80% uh pre-leasing buildings A and B
which is the one um that's pictured are
actually almost ready they're just
waiting for some inspections to wrap up
and then we're hoping for a TCO and then
the parking and Landscape should be done
um the entire project we anticipate will
be done in March 2025 so save your date
for ribbon cutting um we'll be
celebrating that uh
project uh padrina is at 60% completion
again the duplexes are almost uh
completely done so we'll also be looking
for tcos on that one the main building
is getting drywall and insulation and
then the leasing some of some residents
have already been contacted about
leasing but there's a pretty big waiting
list um but everyone should be uh
Outreach to starting in the spring um
depending on the
other
floors um Peach Tree Canyon uh they've
completed the roughing and Grading of
the sites they've started the the
building pads for at least five of the
buildings and done the plumbing and
electrical installs uh they were
supposed to start pouring concrete this
week and then the framing um should also
start this week as well actually the
pouring of the slabs was last week and
then this week is framing
uh Arcadia phase 4 uh our Real Estate
Services is still drafting that purchase
option um otherwise we'll be coming to
council uh shortly for that approval um
as part of that we're also looking for
potential expansion of the revolving
Loan Fund um we were able to use the
pilot program to fund the construction
of three out of 10 houses and all of
those 10 houses have closed and we got
our funds back into our Loan Fund so
we're working on reloading those uh for
the next phase of single family in Metro
and then just a general update we're not
using go bonds for Amador cring but I'd
like to share anyways um we did have our
groundbreaking the first week of January
um we're on target for a 15mon
construction again the hard construction
cost so the what we're paying the
contractor is about $12.8 million the
total development cost is at 15.6 we've
secured the 11.4
um we do have three funding requests
pending including uh the New Mexico uh
State Legislature which we'll be
advocating this week and I'm happy to
announce that we have preliminary notice
on a $2 million uh forgivable loan so
it's essentially a grant but it's a loan
um and so we're just wrapping that up
and um our new Gap going into this week
is just about 2.1 and instead of the
four and with that David and I will
stand for questions
thank you David thank you Natalie any
questions councelor Flores thank you
mayor uh I have a question for
Natalie I I know that's heartbreaking
David you're relieved I'm sure uh
Natalie thank you for the good news um
so the Amador crossing the funding um is
pretty much uh complete and the state
how did how is that funded so so the
11.4 is made up of uh 5.9 from last
year's Capital outlay 4 million from the
telshore fund and then 1.5 from housing
New Mexico housing Innovation Grant and
then the the new 2 million that we'll be
bringing in is also from housing New
Mexico as a forgivable loan great and
then the remaining gap of
2.1 um is part of our advocacy efforts
uh for Capital outlay this year great
thank you so much thank you thank you
may thank you anyone
else Round of
Applause now thank you all for the
update all right I'm looking for a
motion to
adjourn so move Graham
second this is on the motion to adjourn
the work session councelor McClure yes
councelor matis yes councelor Graham yes
councelor cran yes councelor flus yes
councelor Beno yes and mayor
yes
e e