[Music]
you're
on thank you hi everyone good afternoon
welcome to the January 6th regular
council meeting um as you can see I am
not mayor Enriquez um mayor Enriquez is
at a US Conference of Mayors and so he
couldn't join us today so instead you
get me for the first time um so we will
start with our moment of silence please
I'd ask you to stand for a moment of
silence for the brave wi and Men Women
of the Las crus Police Department the
fire department I'm going to throw our
utilities department in there who also
have incredibly dangerous jobs and of
course a moment of silence for former
Senator Mary Jan Garcia who passed away
on January 5th
councelor mlar will you help us in the
Pledge of Allegiance
please thank
you
we have a presentation of certificates
I'm going to make my way down to the
podium so that we can get that
completed
okay here we go um maybe I can invite
our City's Financial Services Department
up I see a lot of staff are you all
here we're definitely going to have
Josie up but whoever else wants to
come thank you come on down okay I'm
going to read this statement first and
then I'll pass it over to you yes
okay the city's Financial Services
Department wins 20th consecutive
certific of certificate of achievement
for excellence award the government
Finance Officers Association of the
United States and Canada awarded the
city of Las crusa Financial Services
Department the certificate of
achievement for excellence in financial
reporting for its annual comprehensive
financial report for the fiscal year
that ended June 30th 201 22 this award
is a prestigious national award
recognizing conference with the highest
standards for preparation of the state
and local government financial reports
the report was judged by an impartial
panel to meet the highest standards of
the program which includes demonstrating
a constructive Spirit of full disclosure
to clearly communicate its Financial
story and motivate potential users and
user groups to read the report the
certificate of achievement is the
highest form of recognition in
government
and governmental accounting and
financial reporting and its attainment
represents a significant accomplishment
by a government and its management as of
2022 the city of Las Cruses has been
been presented with 20 consecutive
certificate of achievement for
excellence in financial reporting Awards
10 consecutive popular annual financial
reporting Awards and the distinguished
budget presentation Award with this the
city meets the requirements to be
recognized to receive the prestigious
Triple Crown award for 2022 the
preparation of the afar afar
Aur could not have been accomplished
without the efficient and dedicated
service of a highly qualified staff in
the financial services department I
would like to thank all the Personnel
who helped and contributed to the
preparation of this report thank you
congratulations
good afternoon uh Josie trino I'm the
controller for the city of Los Cruses I
would like to thank all those in
accounting Treasury and all the city
departments that did assist in providing
all the data we needed for this the
audit takes about five six months to uh
finish um on top of their daily duties
so the audit starts around July we
finish it hopefully uh December if our
external auditor doesn't come back and
make us change uh some
items but it does take a lot of uh hard
work long hours uh some
weekends and um with here I have um I'm
going to go one by one naming them all
so we have uh Josh Sappo accounting
supervisor accounting supervisor Maria
sanchz accountant 2 Liam Beasley
Treasurer ER hakz we have Roberta
Marquez accountant we have uh
[Music]
DOL cardinas he is uh treasuries
accounting supervisor we have um I'm GNA
go blank now Gloria Moreno accountant
one we have accountant
one Juanita Lopez we have we also need
some help uh during the audit and um we
have Cheryl
I got your name right Cheryl we have
Veronica oloa accountant one we have
joia he's an accountant one but he's
currently helping budget in their budget
season and then we have
Rosio Gamboa in um budget so thank you
all for all those hard
work squeeze
in
[Applause]
all right moving right along so we have
jobs of the week Sarah
rainy do we have her here or yes
[Music]
hello good afternoon let me
get there we go all right for jobs of
the week um we have quite a few sah
don't forget to your name oh sorry thank
you Sarah Rainey I am actually the
onstop coordinator for the southwest
region of the workforce connections um
um that covers doniana Hildago Luna
sakuro Sierra and Grant and Katan County
so but the jobs of the week we try to
focus on just our local Los cruus area
so thank you for jobs of the week we
have for the city of Las cruus we have a
senior office assistant um the position
starts at
1557 the position closes excuse me on
the
22nd we also have for the city of Los
cruus an animal control officer that
position starts at 1886 and the posting
closes on the 22nd as well um for White
Sands Missile Range they have a customer
customer experience specialist and that
is in the military housing division um
the salary depends on experience and is
open until
filled the glitz nail School of
Technology has a position for a
receptionist that position starts at $13
an hour and the posting closes on the 20
8 there's also for the American Red
Cross this one is a full-time remote
position um wanted to highlight that
it's A tes sales specialist a business
sales position um it starts at 1811 up
to 22 an hour and the posting closes on
the 27th of this month for Skookum
Contract Services uh that one is also
out at Whit Sands Missile Range um we
have an hbac technician one that
position starts at 2850 an hour and the
posting closes on the
31st as always you can always reach us
over on South Elam bouard you can reach
us on all of our social medias you can
reach us at 524 6250 and I do want to re
reiterate to everyone that all of these
services are free to everyone and that's
everything from resumé writing to you
know career
changing your unemployment all of it
please come in and see us thank you
thank you thank you Sarah for all you do
and for joining us today thank you so
much up next is pets of the week Amy
defix hi
Amy hello everyone I'm Amy def Felix I'm
one of the rescue coordinators for the
Animal Services Center of the messia
valley and we'll start by presenting the
pets of the week we always start with
the cat and our catle the week this week
her name is beans her number is 7014 six
and she says I am a little anxious and
shy in new situations but I'll never say
no to a good petting session I
absolutely love being pet I'll quietly
purr and make biscuits while enjoying
the attention I'm getting like a lot of
cats I need to make slow and easy
transitions in a new home in order to
get comfortable so please take your time
with me I it's worth it and then we have
our dog of the week his name is
Cleveland his number is
64222 and he says if you've been wanting
to know what unconditional love feels
like I am a great candidate to show you
I absolutely love spending time with
people I'm such a big teddy bear I love
just hanging out and getting ear and
belly rubs but I can also have fun and
play around if the opportunity arises I
just can't wait to find my forever
family and show them just how wonderful
a family member I can be in these
pictures he uh was one of the dogs our
volunteers took to the grace Village uh
Senior Living Center um and they all
loved him he did great so he's great
with seniors he's a great dog um we have
one adoption event and we'll be at
PetSmart this Saturday January 20th
we'll be there from 10:00 a.m. to 1 pm
and in case you need the address it'll
be 2200 East lman Avenue Los crues New
Mexico
88001 and I'd also like to drop in uh
all most of our links I realized I
forgot Apple podcasts um but our website
um excuse the typo is ASC mv.org of
course we have our social medias
Facebook we're online as Animal Services
Center the msia valley on Instagram it's
@ Animal Services Center and then Tik
Tok is ASC msia Valley and of course we
have a YouTube the ascmv channel and
then we have Spotify and apple podcast
like I forgot to mention and it's called
Tales from the Pod Tales from the POS
side the ascmv podcast so we encourage
you all to check it out follow us on
social media and keep updated thank you
thank you
Amy all right next up is our conflict of
interest statement does any member of
the city council city manager or any
member of the city staff have any known
conflict of interest with any item on
the agenda none by Flores none Graham
none Corin none McClure
none none City minut none myself thank
you all and we will begin our public
participation as per usual we will begin
on my left side with the front row so if
you would like to speak come on up just
please remember to state your name and
talk clearly into the
microphone and you'll have three minutes
okay good afternoon Jerry Wheelis for
Animal Advocates for change the majority
of you know me and I'm sure know you
know why I'm up here however it is
necessary again as you will recall last
October aafc at the request of Mayor
miyagishima held a very long work
session to discuss implementation of a
new animal ordinance prepared by aafc
the document was prepared and and had
been reviewed and supported by multiple
parties such as the ascmv and animal
rescue groups at the conclusion of the
meeting aafc and Animal Control were
directed by mayor miag gashima and
Council to meet and collaborate with
animal control on language for a new
ordinance that was acceptable to both
and then present the document at a
further work session not to exceed 60
days from that day we were encouraged by
this directive as we had already met
with animal control and had already
agreed on a number of new Provisions I
Kathy Stark Gino yenz and Lieutenant Joy
WIA met the following week to discuss
however Animal Control presented us with
an entirely different document prepared
by them based wholly on the old
ordinance which Incorporated only only a
couple of changes and fixed none of the
structural and contextual changes needed
further Animal Control had asked legal
to review our document but we were not
allowed to see those comments and we
were told they were based on
confidentiality and work product issues
however we proceeded with the meeting in
good faith and discussed their draft and
left with the understanding that we
would provide them with our thoughts and
comments via email and we would then
meet again to discuss and come up with a
collaborative document we then sent
Animal Control a compromised document
based on our draft but which
Incorporated language from the Animal
Control draft and omitted or revised
language Animal Control had said was
unenforceable and here we arrive at the
problem we received back an email letter
from Lieutenant WIA stting that they
would no longer proceed with any
collaboration and thanked us for our
efforts without further explanation
obviously we were shocked and quite
dismayed and that's why I come before
you today to request that you please
direct Animal Control to come back to
the table meet with us and finish what
we started and comply with what they
were directed to do by Council and a
former mayor it also Bears repeating
that this community is disgracefully
behind the times regarding animal
welfare and based on previous
discussions either Kathy or I have had
with every single one of you you all
claim to care about Animal Welfare but
it's now time to prove it actions do
speak louder than words thank
you thank
you
next please state your
name my name is Diane starbu robado I'm
a member of Animal Advocates for
change uh While most people would
consider Animal Welfare ordinance that
is based on Research best practices a
moral and ethical thing to enact there
can be positive Financial considerations
also with a phased in required spay and
neuter ordinance eventually there will
be less Strays less abandoned animals
less volume at the animal center
therefore less Financial strain on
animal control and the animal shelter
and the local rescues chained dogs have
been shown to be more aggressive with a
no tether ordinance there will be
Savings in the cost of traffic accidents
caused by stray dogs and Savings in the
treatment of diseases caused by stray
dogs there will be less dog attacks on
humans and we have seen the horrific
aftermath of children being mauled or
killed and last year a woman lost her
hand due to a dog
attack the city is having trouble
attracting veterinarians to this area a
better Animal Welfare ordinance will
attract more veterinarians once they see
we value our companion
animals there's also a correlation with
animal abuse and domestic abuse animal
abuse can preclude and forar of domestic
abuse so interventions can occur before
tragedy why is enacting an ordinance
based on National Best Practices so
difficult Albuquerque did this in
2002 do you all need to have a
representative from Albuquerque's
ordinance come down and explain to you
how they did it Animal Advocates for
change has been trying to do this for
years years we've been coming up here
and explaining
this and we're not going to go away all
right if you don't do the right thing
we're still going to be
here also there have been a couple of
comments about people who get up here to
speak and we say our peace and then we
leave and when you do your public
comments um we don't hear them what you
have to say I watch on YouTube if I'm
not here I watch on YouTube I've seen
every single session and work half of
the work sessions at
least um and I quickly look through all
of the sessions there's about 200 to 300
people who watch those sessions
eventually okay so that's like 200
people sitting in here just just so you
can keep that in mind thank you for your
time thank
you
next good afternoon mayor protm city
council city manager staff and public
congratulations to the new leaders and
happy New Year I'm here the first time
this year my name is Yoli Diaz I will
repeat myself for the ears of our new
leadership I am not here to disrespect
arm wrestle or mudsling I am here to
continue the advocacy I began in October
2021 when I met with Leaders with a
crisis and a solution regarding access
to needed Health Care in doniana County
with the focus on Memorial Medical
Center city of Los crusis and doniana
County's leie with city of Los crusis
owning the real property of land I
cannot sugarcoat the crisis I would like
to repeat did you know that if you're a
doniana County resident without health
insurance coverage diagnosed with cancer
that you will be denied an appointment
and ultimately denied life-saving cancer
treatment at Memorial Medical Cancer
Center I know that those in leadership
since October 2021 know because I
alerted our city council city manager uh
Commissioners County Manager director of
Health and Human Services representativ
senators and many more and I have said
that the access to healthc care crisis
not just about cancer treatment the
history of the lease of Memorial Medical
Center is crucial section 6.5 Indigent
care continuation of services Begins by
stating quote ly agrees to Institute and
maintain during the term or any extended
term policies for the treatment of
indigent patients those unable to pay
the full cost of health care services
rendered to them which taken as a whole
are no less favorable to the residents
of the city and county than those
presently maintained by mmci the lease
continues regarding current written
policies of indigent care the policy
states that the cancer center will be
included in the whole of MMC the same
expanded care services guidelines will
apply as apply to the hospital the leas
continues sections regarding annual
review operating board notice efforts to
remedy and more I have witnessed
premature deaths because doniana County
residents did not receive the health
care they needed when they needed it I
have met American children who were left
or
because their parent did not receive the
care they needed when they needed it
when a hospital denies and delays Health
Care Services it is harming its
residents it is supposed to serve
creating imminent danger to life and
safety I believe that all parties of the
lease have failed failed in compliance
failed in oversight failed in
accountability failed in enforcement and
I believe there needs to be an
investigation and corrective action
taken councelor matis I believe you are
the most prominent leader to help you
were mayor when the hospital was leased
the counseling Commissioners voted
unanimously to lease the hospital city
manager Erikson and County Manager Hayne
signed the lease I believe you can
educate the city council and
administration on the history and
responsibility to resolve and mayor I
believe he has inherited this crisis and
his attention to resolve is also
critical thank you thanks Yolie is the
timer now working it's working this
okay you got to tell me then got it
thank you um yep next row please thank
you oh that's right yes the video you
brought last time was reviewed
and um if you can pull it up yourself
sir it's the on that screen right there
it's the very it's the very last
item okay just double click on that and
please don't forget to state your
name
my name is Nell I recorded this uh last
month uh in front of Highland Elementary
just before 10 o'clock in the evening as
you can see this light is extremely
bright this is the sign that's in front
of the elementary school uh you can look
at the strength of the Shadows on the
ground uh when you see a clust up in
just a moment you'll see the signs on
the other side of the highway that are
illuminated by this light it is so
bright um it is blinding that's why I
titled this video Blinded By the Light
uh the reason I'm bringing this to your
notice today is to essentially put you
on notice uh I spoke with cod's officer
uh back last month I was told at the I
was told by the officer that because the
school the building permit for the
school was issued by the state they are
probably not subject to City municipal
codes on the brightness on the sign
illumination uh limits that we have so
in other words this is a case of you
know we make the rules you follow them
do as I say not as I do and so I just
simply want to make everybody here the
city the school district and the state
if that may be um aware of this and so
that if there is an accident or injury
um they are on notice uh for purposes of
liability thank you thank you sir have
you taken this to the school board as
you know the city of Las Cruses does not
oversee have authority of the over the
school system I was under the impression
that is the re I that's why I spoke to
the Cod officer
okay yes we will follow up with the
codes officer but I would also urge you
to go visit with the uh the school
system well that's what that's what the
codes officer the officer I spoke with
was his name was first name was Corey
okay and that's what he said he was
going to do okay we will follow and uh
this is also probably why be based on my
conversation with somebody in the
building codes Office of the city um
this is probably not just a city and
probably not just a a state school issue
but it may also be a city sign issue um
that are blindingly bright like this
okay thank you if you want to leave your
contact information with the city clerk
um we'll make sure somebody on staff
follows up with our codes officer and
you um anybody else on the second row
third
fourth fifth row yep I think you all are
on the fifth row maybe one two three
four
yep come on down please don't forget get
to state your
name oh
yeah uh okay everyone hello hello to the
council greetings again um my name is is
William Gilman I'm a resident a business
owner recent father I wasn't intending
to bring her today but uh that's how the
work schedule's happened so here she is
we'll see how this goes um I was going
to make some specific comments about you
know like the cost of Roads the cost of
new developments out in cinema Ranch and
elsewhere and the cost of not investing
in existing parts of the city uh but I
do feel like I need to make some
comments on recent events at the
national border uh for those who haven't
heard the Texas National Guard has
seized a migrant processing facility and
prevented border Patrol Agents from
intervening uh when a mother and her
children were struggling in the river
and as a result of inaction they drowned
now there's not much Las cruus can do
about this uh the situ but that
situation is a complex multi-layered
problem and challenge much like many of
the challenges facing the city and I
feel like the way that we face those
challenges defines our character and our
values
so I think that the actions of the city
of Texas represent a failure of
imagination a failure of leadership a
failure of policy failure of Common
Sense and common decency so a little
self-disclosure that may be a little
scandalous uh I don't speak a word of
Polish it's crazy I know um but I am one
quarter polish my mom is half polish my
grandma is full polish my
great-grandparents left Poland in the
early 20th century because Poland wasn't
a very great place to be at the time
and um there was no digital background
check there was no e verification of
their personal history they just got on
a boat showed up and were admitted and
they found work they found a place to
live and America thrived and that helped
to fuel America's growth uh this is a
nation of immigrants people have always
left their places of origin to escape
War to escape oppressive regimes famines
and other catastrophes and I don't see
how this situation is really any
different in Ellis's Island's first year
of operation it received almost half a
million arrivals see received and
admitted and that was 8% of the US
population at the time people are
catastrophizing saying that we're going
to be overrun but this recent wave of
arrival is not even 1% of our population
there these people are ready to work and
they
can I guess yeah with the labor
department for casting you know
shortages in the workforce in key
Industries this is a huge opportunity
for the nation and likewise the problems
that Las crusis is facing is also an
opportunity how do we make a community
that is safe where everybody can Thrive
from West Picacho to Sonoma Ranch and
the way that we Face these challenges
defines our character and I believe that
we can do it in a way that lives up to
the aspiration of the Constitution that
all people are created equal and endowed
with life liberty and the pursuit of
happiness thank you so
much next on that fifth
row
hello my name is j
air and I'm a lasusa resident small
business owner and
employer the most pressing problems of
Las Cruses are a consequence of national
and international forces outside of our
influence let alone for control issues
like Mass migration inequality
homelessness and climate change are not
unique to our city but impact our
neighbors great challenges can be great
opportunities there is no evidence to
suggest that even a large wave of
migrants would have a negative effect on
the local economy we've seen this before
between April and September of 1980
125,000 Cuban Nationals mostly with no
education arrived in Miami after Fidel
Castro authorized them to leave in a
speech uh leave in a speech the Miami
labor force increased by 7% almost
overnight he were was known as the moral
boatlift there was great concern that
they will displace the locals this was a
perfect opportunity to research the
effects of large wave of migration
suddenly arriving in a random City and
it turns out there were no negative
effects to wages of the established
residents nor to the economy at large of
the city this is because immigration and
employment are too complex to be subject
to simple supply and demand rules people
who get a job also have needs and they
spend their earnings in the city
boosting demand for the products and
services offered by locals that fueled
the middle class there was no negative
effect on the established locals but
then they compared the wages of Cuban
immigrants to
uh to uh to those that had arrived prior
to the boatlift and found the same
result their wage growth was not
negatively
impacted moreover studies continue to
find no wage or employment effects when
comparing Miami to other different
cities of the same size uh where wages
and unemployment and employment were on
very similar Trends to Miami before the
vlift now that's one thing I want to
talk about the other end of the spectrum
our economy used to reward professionals
who move to big cities with higher
salaries but the cost of living has
turned our labor markets upside down and
now high-skilled professionals are being
priced out of the most productive cities
in the nation and they're looking for
places to live with high quality of life
at a lower
cost in order to lure high-income
professionals to stay here because
they're coming but they may not stay we
have to legalize walkable communities
and make robust invest investments in
our public transportation infrastructure
and of course we need to legalize
housing we can start with the easy part
remove minimum parking and building
setback requirements that waste land
that could be used for housing often to
have an empty parking lot or a gravel
and rock landscape that isn't even
useful to
lizards making it unusable for humans or
animals thank you a dang
it thank you it was great
though thank you thank you uh anybody
else on that next on that fifth row
thank you come on
down
hello don't forget to state your name
please yes uh my name is Stan inel for
the record E
nle I would like to congratulate my
counselor Johanna benom for being
elected mayor proam and of course
winning her re-election she was uh very
helpful during the pandemic when we were
trying to do some traffic calming on on
South melindras and we were able to do
that uh I still feel like more can be
done because now that the temporary
traffic calming is there a lot of um
selfish Speedy drivers uh treat it as a
slalom um thankfully though when there's
a more responsible driver in the slalom
part of the area they slow down so we
can still do more more you know stop
stop signs um sidewalks to um encourage
walking um because I feel like as a
whole our transportation infrastructure
is actively hostile towards life I am a
father um most a lots of people are our
parents and my child goes to Central
Elementary um I have to cross Amador to
get him there by bike and I do take him
by bike and every single time he
approaches that intersection I worry
that he will
be run over slaughtered Whatever by an
obscenely large
vehicle our infrastructure allows for
very large vehicles to go too fast
doesn't give Walkers enough room on the
sidewalks and it does not take into
account cyclists yes we have a little
bit of a stripe on a road but is that
enough is that enough for um drivers who
are utterly irresponsible with a phone
in their hand is that enough to protect
the most vulnerable Road
users I don't think so I think I would
like to challenge this body to um try
and uh stand on some intersections and
watch how big the cars are how many
people are on their cell phones how
many red lights are
run I would then hope that you all would
realize that we need to redesign our
infrastructure so that life can exist so
our kids can be once again independent
in their own
neighborhoods
um and I would hope
that I would hope that you would take
that
seriously thank you thank you
Stan anybody else on that fifth row
sixth
row come on
down mayor ptim council Juan Garcia 2023
was a good election year for this
community new fases on the Das will
hopefully bring in some badly needed
change particularly in public safety in
2020 the governor went after small
businesses destroying hundreds perhaps
thousands during the New Mexico
tyrannical lockdown she imposed in 2024
along with Senator Hinrich she's going
after law abiding gun owners with a
frontal attack executed by her public
servants Progressive representatives and
Senators who blindly and in lock step
obey her orders the governor is
competing with Governor Nome to gain
National prominence by disarming lawful
gun owners in New Mexico as she seeks to
climb the political National Ladder
disarm New Mexico La lawful gun owners
or risk becoming felons if they refuse
to surrender their lawfully procured
defensive arms and I
quote in 2022 the administrative office
of the courts and UNM presented the
following across four judicial districts
including the Third District one out of
four released defendants didn't show up
in court on average 13 released
defendants per week were charged with a
new crime and while out under
supervision Five release defendants Port
week were charged with new crimes while
awaiting trial and I could go on instead
the governor instead of the governor
taking responsibility for the revolving
door of Justice she helped create she's
hoping to become the national darling of
the Progressive Movement editorial
Albuquerque Journal governor and I quote
in Farmington three women were plurally
slaughtered by an automatic weapon
designed for Warfare and
follow AR-15s are not automatic weapons
but she creates her own facts the
Governor throws around terms like quote
weapons of mass destruction the last
time we talked about weapons of mass
destruction was during the Iraqi War
those were nuclear weapons and other
powerful weapons but she doesn't care
weapons of war
again AR15s are not weapons of war they
are not automatic
weapons yet when she talks about the
slaughter houses better known as
abortion clinics where thousands of the
most innocent die a horrendous and
undeserving death every year she calls
them Health Centers Health Centers her
hypocrisy is matched only by the damage
she is doing to the state let's crues
citizens like Patricia from the little
shop on Main who was has been terrorized
by criminals for the last couple of
years May soon be left with no lawful
means of protection I hope we get
support from the council in stopping
this power grab and come election time
let's get rid of the politicos that have
done nothing to stop crime and are hell
bent on turning law-abiding citizens
into felons thank you thank you thank
you next
please
hello please don't forget to state your
name my name is Bethke b u SQ T I
usually have to spell it
so greetings Council on October the 7th
Hamas Islamic terrorist the elected
governor governing body for Palestinians
invaded the sovereign country of Israel
their goal was to murder rape humiliate
kidnap and Destroy anything anything
Jewish there was no context other than
that to see the videos and to read
eyewitness accounts of what took place
that day as a life event for any person
especially a Jew or Christian almost 10
years earlier in 2014 another islamist
terrorist group bah Haram abducted 270
teenage girls taking them to remote
hideouts deep into Northern Nigeria
submitting them to sexual
slavery the world outcry from feminists
about the Nigerian abduction was Swift
and notable including Michelle Obama
Oprah Angelina Jolie and others Obama's
plead was Bring Back Our Girls President
Obama even detached special forces in an
attempt to find them but now feminists
in the west are silent over what is
happening to Jewish women and girls
being held captive in Gaza the hypocrisy
is breathtaking
why am I presenting this International
topic to a local audience because I
became aware and read the ceasefire
letter from local progress.org which was
signed by a member of this Council in
her words she is proud to join her
colleagues in doing so I believe the
councilwoman does not speak for a great
portion of Los crusin who know history
and recognize the legit legitimacy of
the state of Israel and the ancient
presence of Jews and the Middle East it
has been 100 days since the men women
and children of Israel were abducted and
taken into the Goen underground dungeons
enduring and maybe not even surviving
Indescribable
treatment we do not here bring back our
girls from anyone other than the
families that are waiting to ask for a
ceasefire does nothing more than
embolden hos terrorists and continue the
agony of those held captive and
displaced whether isra or
Palestinian a more principal letter
would demand the return of all hostages
immediately instead of bearing flaccid
words deep inside a letter as an
afterthought I would suggest when
signing a politically charged document
as an elected leader representing Los
crusin the councilwoman thoroughly
understands the allegiance to which
she's aligning and proceed with more
discernment bring them home thank
you next
hello good afternoon mayor protim
councel my name is Henry young I'm the
director of The Lost cruus gospel Rescue
Mission today I have a request or help
on a safety issue
for the safety of all Medicaid
recipients who need a ride back to a
home or a shelter when they are released
from a hospital usually in the ER after
dark I am asking for that help the
mission has run into this problem
several times since the middle of
December I have been told by ER are
charge nurses and casew workers that
they have vouchers for the ride but the
Taxi Driver refuses to take anyone back
to a shelter after
dark and they're citing safety reasons
from people who are antagonistic on the
way
back I do not know whether that is true
or false I almost think that coiling on
what was mentioned about the Indigent
earlier that it's an excuse rather than
a full
truth but we would like to set up a
meeting with all three hospitals the
city and those who provide shelter for
the
homeless I am sure that something can be
worked out for the benefit of all who
are
concerned please contact me or allow me
to set up this meeting in the
appropriate location for a resolution to
this
problem and I thank you for allowing me
to bring this to you today
it is something that needs to be done
right away I will leave my contact
information with city clerk thank you if
you happen to set up that meeting please
let any counselor or the city manager
know because it's in your District
that's right thank you anybody else on
the sixth row I think we're on sixth
seventh
row eth somebody on the seventh row
okay
come on down please state your
name hi I'm uh Rick Rau every time I
walk on down those stairs I think of the
prices right and just taking a tumble I
had a stroke about 10 years ago and and
the pull of GRA when I walk down the
road gravity is pulling me 10% that way
it's really weird but I can see so I can
anyway good afternoon it was going to be
mayor enri but mayor protm Ben
comoo new counselors Bill matis and
Cassie
McLure councelor flors is my residence
counselor my small business is located
at Missourian Solano in councelor Gams
District across the street from the
beler family dollar which is in
councelor matisa
District so I want to talk about Solon
square a little history of Los crusis at
the corner of Missouri in Solano when I
was a kid about 1970 or so I had a my
brother had a paper route the Paso Times
in the morning I went we went all the
way from corle to Salona Square on my
paper route um we made about $23 a month
but that was a lot of
money everyone wanted to have a paper
route back
then so anyway
later we worked at the salon sore konico
there for my uncle was a full service
gas station wash the windows even
further up and so anyway it was for my
uncle and I worked alongside my cousin
Roger
Stevenson and I want to thank you
counselors and especially counselor
corand for shepherding that thoughtful
decision last month for Tracy Stevenson
it was the awning issue Roger was my
cousin so thank you thank you guys we
doing that that
variance so anyway I want to talk about
the minimum wage how much time do I have
it went up
again I I think you should just scrap
the losses minimum wage ordinance it
went up to
12 and the tip wage is three in the rest
of the state this $5 an hour tip wage in
Las Cruses is 458 now is killing
restaurants and small businesses my
daughter works for a restaurant and
there's a two or three hour break of
it's kind of
slow she gets sent home she gets in her
car goes home because the it's $5 an
hour it's getting near the minimum wage
in in Texas
725 so I'm just asking as a Jester to
business uh Miss Mar Marc Dickerson was
here about two years ago talking to you
guys and saying just let off on a tip
wage just for one
year so I just as a gester to to local
business um consider just getting rid of
the L's minimum wage ordinance
completely because the state ordinance
has taken over it's 12 and $3 tipped
thank
you next on the I think seventh
row eighth row is are we on the eighth
row did somebody say that whoever wants
to come next from the left side please
make your way
down nobody on this side great oh
okay come on down sir please state your
name mayor proam city council thank you
for having
me uh honor about December 11th at this
city council meeting I presented a
declaration that I left behind will you
please say your name Richard Bella thank
you I'm going to go get it I would
respectfully request that the city
council place this in the city
archives thank you I will ask that you
leave that with the city clerk and she
will review it and and ultimately make
that decision okay uh also I mailed in
uh proof of
fraud to not only the police chief but
the city council I've heard nothing back
on
it
and I'd like to know what happened
with that document that mailed in
evidence of
fraud thank you um this will not be a
time to discuss that but if you want to
resend that I I don't know what you
speak of currently but if you want to
you the city council never received a
letter from me I don't know I really
don't recall sir so if you want to leave
your information with the city clerk
I'll make sure to reach back out to you
and and get that doc the reason I
present these is I want it on record so
that it can't be swept under the rug so
to speak okay I invite you if you want
to read it at a future council meeting
during public comments you can do that
as
well why I sent it in it's it's it
affects certain people's legal rights
okay if you want me to I will you can
also just resend it again and we'll be
on the lookout for
it I want the council to acknowledge
that they received this I put it in the
mail I have proof that I did that okay I
want this city council to acknowledge
they received proof of the fraud that I
mailed in using my
name okay thank you sir I cannot
acknowledge that at this moment since I
do not recall but please feel free to
resend that we'll be on the
lookout anybody else on my left
side okay uh front front row right here
thank you come on up
down Jeffrey field Hama Je
before I begin I apologize for the email
I sent city council last Thursday I was
wrong I composed it out of mounting
frustration over the ever worsening
events regarding the Israel Gaza
conflict still I was out of line and I
apologized to each of
you somehow this madness must cease we
must stop now I speak as a child of God
and brother to the suffering poor of
Vietnam I speak for those whose land is
being laid waste whose homes are being
destroyed whose culture is being
subverted that's from a speech by Dr
King delivered April 4th
1967 to the Riverside Church in New York
City and I think it applies today to
Gaza Los cruus it is time to break
silence there's a new acronym floating
around the internet W
cnsf wounded child no surviving family
from last week's NPR report on
conditions in Gaza there's this quote
children as young as five are
contemplating suicide let me repeat that
children as young as five are
contemplating
suicide this issue the ever wiing war in
the Middle East while geographically
distant resonates deeply within our
community touching the lives of many who
call Los cruus home it is not just an
international concern it's a local one
affecting our neighbors friends and
perhaps even family members in passing a
resolution urging a unilateral ceasefire
in the Israel Gaza conflict we
demonstrate our commitment to peace and
human rights values that Define us as a
community I understand that igniting
International not igniting navigating
international issues at a local level
can be challenging however I believe
believe that is not only our right but
our duty to do so the decisions we make
in this chamber should reflect the
conscious conscience of our community
unswayed by any unseen
influences and so I appeal to your sense
of justice humanity and Leadership let
us join the ranks of those towns and
cities Across America who have dared to
take a stand on the world stage let our
actions resonate with that moral courage
as a Way Forward on the path to peace as
a side note as of January 10th 15 cities
across the United
States have passed resolutions asking
for a ceasefire thank
you thank
you um third
row
hello come on down please don't forget
to state your
name Madame mayor pan
counselors my name is Steve
Phillips and I am a retired army officer
and a reformed
attorney I'm requesting your help for a
number of our senior citizens
and admittedly it's not nearly as
serious as so many of the predecessors
this morning or this
afternoon we rang from age to 60s to 90s
and were regular users of the current
Channel at the regional Aquatic
Center the current channel is where the
user walks with or against the
current of rapidly moving water for
exercise many of us were sent there by
our doctors for low impact
cardio and others were sent there for
rehab for knee hip back surgeries
etc for others it's simply
fun the problem is that the channel has
now been closed for repairs for about 4
months shutdowns also occurred earlier
at other
times we're only requesting that you
check ask the inspector General's office
to look into the problem to determine
what the problem
is to avoid future extensive clo
closings thank you do you have any
questions not at this time sir but I
would ask that you leave your contact
information with the city clerk so
somebody in the city manager's office
can follow up thank you for bringing
that to our
attention anybody else on the third row
you're all with Mr Phillips do you want
to come on
down
yes ma'am go ahead St your name please
my name is ISA McCoy I'm also a senior
citizen my husband is with me as well
and we have been using the Aquatic
Center as well for the same reasons that
have been previously stated and we've
also been applauded by our doctors that
um we're doing the right thing we go
three times a
week but since the Aquatic Center has
been closed they have advised that we
could go to the new Natatorium which we
have been doing um and that's wonderful
for those of us who are able to stand
the colder
water the aquatic centers water is
specifically designed to accommodate
senior citizens who cannot take cold
water as easily as you folks
can so we have been forced to use the
other we who can are using the other one
and it by the way it is a delightful
facility and we thank you for that but
we would like to get back to the Aquatic
Center where it's more appropriate for
our
age and I thank you for listening yes
thank you all so much for bringing that
to our attention we will definitely have
someone follow up thank you yes come on
down
hello please state your name hello my
name is Pamela Smith and I'm with the
Aquatic group um the other very large
issue is
communication this Center has been shut
down almost four months and um none of
the staff seems to know anything the
middle managers don't seem they've been
asked numerous times the people that are
coming are very frustrated because
there's no information
forthcoming it's either erroneous or
non-existent so we would like some kind
of a
communication as to what the problem is
there's been rumors and all kinds of
things but we need to get it to the
bottom of what's happened and just be
honest so everybody knows what to expect
uh when it's going to open and why and
so forth anyway thank you thank you
thank you all for your feedback are you
okay that we make Mr Phillips your point
of contact okay great anybody else from
The Aquatic
group okay great thank you the next row
one two three fourth
row fifth row is our Rockstar Finance
team um seventh anybody else on this
side anybody else on the right side no
okay that concludes our public
participation thank you everybody um for
that um I will I have been asked before
we make a motion to approve the agenda
to move item
7.3 to before 7.1 so if someone can make
a motion in a second with that change
please I move to approve the agenda
elevating 7.3 to the top of the action
items please thank you second Graham
thank you both very
much this is on the motion to accept the
agenda as presented with the movement of
item 7.3 before item
7.1 councelor McClure yes councelor
matis yes councelor
Graham yes councelor cran yes councelor
flutes yes mayor protm yes and the mayor
is absent thank you Christine okay 7.3
resolution number
24077 a resolution to accept the city of
Las Cruz's annual comprehensive
financial report for the fiscal year
ending June 30th
2023 Josh saffle saffle yes move to
approve Graham second Corin thank you
both
sorry for the delay uh good uh good
afternoon mayor and city council or
mayor protim I apologize and city
council uh my name is Josh saffle I am
the accounting supervisor for the
finance
department um the fiscal year 2023 uh
annual comprehensive financial report
was prepared by the uh accounting and
treasury programs and of course we had
uh contributions from All City
departments and um of course this is the
2023 audit results uh as was mentioned
earlier we did receive award an award
for the
2022 uh audit that we had submitted or
the 2022 acfr so hopefully as we uh
submit this we will receive yet another
award but hopefully that is in the
future um so again we're going to be
talking about the 2023 audit results as
was prepared by um the accounting and
treasury
departments and
um again we want to take just a moment
of time to once again uh recognize the
hard work and long hours that were put
in by the staff to prepare this we
really appreciate all of their work um
and of course uh as part of that also
patillo Brown and Hill uh LLP uh were th
were the ones who audited the report and
so on behalf of pattillo Brown and hill
we have Mr Chris Garner who will present
a summary of the results of that audit
so Mr Garner
please thank you Josh mayor protm and
counselors what I have here and a lot of
you were at the exit conference this
year we had it in a Clos session so what
I have is the highlights from that
presentation that we went over I think
it was end of
November um the audit has to get
submitted to the state auditor it takes
some time um but because you do go after
that act for award you do get um
preference at the state level so the
state auditor does move your audit up
and gets it through the process a lot
quicker I still have clients that we
submitted back um Mid November that
we're still waiting on responses for and
last year cities we didn't get a lot of
them back until March time frame so that
is another benefit that you do get to
get your audit presented out to the
public earlier by doing that uh going
for that GF
award so like I said this is some of the
highlights the very first slide here um
is going over what's the result of the
audit so when we issued our opinion we
issued what we call an unmodified
opinion that in essence is the highest
level of assurance that Auditors can
give that's exactly the type of report
that the city wants to receive so in
essence you can't get a higher Mark than
an unmodified
opinion in your report in your Acer
there are two others that are are ours
the one on the left talks about um what
we call a Yellow Book audit or a
government auditing standards audit in
New Mexico the state auditor requires
all audits to be performed under this St
under these standards and under these
standards what we do is we have to test
internal controls above what regular
auditing standards require we also based
on state audit rule have to expand and
look at specific things things like
procurement travel and pum so we have to
test more transactions and we also have
additional things that the state a wants
us to look at and during that process
what we do is we explain in that report
how we're testing above regular auditing
standards and then we have to give the
conclusion of that testing as you see
we'll have a couple findings that we'll
talk about um that we had to report in
the financial statements in New Mexico
again they have a a little bit more
stringent requirements when it comes to
findings in New Mexico We Don't Follow
The Yellow Books they're the National
Standard standards we actually have a
ground level so if there are any
exceptions any findings based on the
state audit rule we have to include
those as findings in your report and so
again we'll talk about those in a moment
the the little box on the right relates
to what we call a single audit because
the city spends more than
750,000 of federal funds you're subject
to a compliance audit where we as
Auditors have to go and we we pick
certain grants and we make sure you're
meeting the requirements that have been
established by the federal government we
do give an opinion on that report and as
you can see here again it's an
unmodified or a clean opinion so both
opinions that we issued in your
financial statements are the exact type
of reports that the city wants to
receive the next communication is
difficulties encountered performing the
audit and the whole reason the standards
want us to talk about this is to let the
council know in essence how are your
financial records being maintained and
as you can see here and I think it's
what your you're used to we did not have
any issues your financial records are
being maintained well so that when we
ask questions we're giving good
supporting documents when we ask for
like purchase orders and things they're
getting completed properly and they're
going through the proper channels and so
we did not have any difficulties
incountered in getting the audit
completed so again the whole message
with this is your accounting records are
being wellmaintained and that we did not
have any any issues as completing the
audit the next one is an important
communication also because Council makes
financial decisions throughout the year
and you want to make sure that you have
a good Financial infrastructure to
accumulate those numbers that you're
presented throughout the year the whole
reason for this communication again is
to give you Reliance can we rely on
those numbers there was one immaterial
amount where the system had a little
hiccup where there was a journal entry
or a transaction that just posted one
side and that shouldn't happen in the
system and it it was caught and then um
fixed quickly and so again
really the whole importance of this
communication is saying we as Auditors
when we come in we do not change the
numbers and so your financial statements
that you're getting throughout the year
you should feel confident that you've
got a good structure established and
that you can rely upon those numbers as
you make financial decisions throughout
the
year we've talked a little bit about the
gfoa program and the had the
presentation earlier so what happens is
is your Finance staff really has to step
up and they give a lot more information
that is userfriendly for the readers of
the financial statements so your
financial statements probably add a good
60 70 Pages compared to what regular
auditing standards require and and also
the state of New Mexico and so the city
takes additional time to present what we
call an act for an annual comprehensive
financial report and it's got a lot more
information it does take a lot more
effort this year as already been talked
about you did receive that award but
what I want to point out is you are only
one of four municipalities in the state
of New Mexico to receive the award and
um there's I think only 19 in 2022 that
received the award out of over 700
governments so it's not something that
people will take the time and effort to
do in the state of New Mexico for
whatever reasons and so there's only 19
in the whole state so you're one of 19
to get it so that's something the city
really should be proud of it does help
with your bond rating so there is a
benefit to doing this and so um it is
worth the effort that the staff goes
through the other thing I want to point
out at the very bottom you're only one
and I think it's actually two New Mexico
governments that received the Triple
Crown award so earlier they talked about
getting the award for excellence and
financial reporting you also get an
award for what they call a paer and it's
a small condensed financial statement
that's supposed to be more readable for
the users in your city so it's an extra
step that doesn't have to happen that
you do and you get the award for that
and then the budget award you are only
one I'm pretty sure it's two um the 2022
data just came out and so not very many
people are going after this not very
many years ago there was five entities
in the state three have dropped off and
you are one of two that are now
receiving that award so again your
finance department is going above and
beyond trying to get information that's
useful to your citizens and doing more
than what they're really required to
do this is the same information that we
just went
over during the year we had two findings
and to be honest with you if we were
just down in Texas and Reporting on your
financial statements down there neither
of these would have to be included in
your audit if we were doing that but I
talked earlier about the state of New
Mexico taking that threshold down to the
ground level any exceptions we have have
to be reported in the financial
statements but neither of these findings
met that yellow book or the national
standards that we have to follow in most
situations so we had two findings the
first one is related to procurement so
there was a a change order that happened
for fuel and because of the dollar
amount of that change order it should
have gone to the city manager for his
approval and that did not happen and so
um it should have had that situation
happen also it went above 60,000 so it
should have gone out to bid once you
started accumulating the the amount
above 60,000 so it's just it was an
oversight something that I think has
been addressed and dealt with and
cleaned up the second one was your
finance department or treasury I forget
one of the two departments went out to
do a a surprise cash count and they
weren't allowed to do that surprise cash
count right then and there and so really
all the entities throughout the city
should be made aware of the fact that
they have the ability to go out and do
surprise cash counts as a part of your
internal controls and that particular at
the South Central Solid Waste wasn't
followed this
year in the prior year there were three
findings that all three were um dealt
with so I I think the importance of this
communication is just talking about
you're going to have situations where
you're going to have findings especially
with the low threshold by the state
auditor and the fact that there are so
many transactions that go through the
city and what you as a council I think
really is important to you is how long
are they staying around are they staying
around three four 5 years you know
sometimes the findings are happening
late by the time we get the audit done
it's 6 months after year in and so you
might not have the ability to always in
the very next year get rid of the
situation um so you just you just don't
want to see those findings hanging
around for a long time but as you can
see here the the two findings that we
had were from the prior year and so they
were dealt with within a year's time
frame and so again what council wants to
see is are they taken seriously and are
they being dealt with and you can can
see here that that is the culture that
has happened over the last several years
where things come up but they are
getting
resolved so that's all the required
communication we just have a few slides
going over um some of the financial
highlights this the first few slides are
what we call government-wide financial
statements and so the only time you ever
see this type of accounting is in the
audit it's not something that you do
throughout the year it's only audit time
and there's only four pages in your
entire audit that are on this basis of
accounting and basically what happens is
we have long-term assets and long-term
liabilities that show up in these
financial statements and again that's
not something that you see on a normal
day-to-day operations so as we go
through this the city at the end of the
year ended up with 1.26 million of
assets 597 million of liabilities and
then in this particular financial
statement we call it net position of six
663 million in essence that 663 is the
equity of these financial statements um
and it's your assets less your revenues
equals that net position and so um
assets did increase about $80 million
which is primarily attributable to an
increase in cash of about 10 million 11
million in Grants receivable which is
just the timing of getting
reimbursements and then 36 million
related to an increase in capital assets
and 11 million increases into deferred
assets related to par and retiree
Healthcare and we'll talk about the par
and retire healthare liabilities
increased only 30 million the increase
was primarily due to the changes in the
retiree health care and the parah um
amounts and again we'll talk about that
in just a
moment actually this next slide we'll
talk about it so in your financial
statements you have um a liability for
both perah which is is that net pension
amount and then oped which is the
for example I think it's 6 billion
underfunded in the state of New Mexico
and so that 6 billion gets allocated out
in this one set of financial statements
to all the participating entities so you
with the pension have $180 million
liability and for the retire Healthcare
you have a $70 million
liability really these numbers are
informational purposes only because
there's nothing the city council can do
to reduce these amounts you've got to
pay the contributions that have been
established by the state of New Mexico
and it's really up to them to invest it
set those amounts um you know really
this this uh like with perah it was
established in the mid 70s and a lot of
people were allowed to participate that
never made contributions and so it's
kind of been behind from the very
beginning and so with that again there's
nothing the city council can do to
control that portion of liabilities on
those particular set of financial
statements the next set of financials
highlights that we're going to go over
what we call modified acral I like to
say it's checkbook accounting if it's
going to get in my checkbook close
enough after year we're going to show it
as an asset things like buildings and
such are not Assets in these financial
statements and a liability again if it's
going to get paid enough close enough
after year in it's shown as a liability
we don't have long-term debt your notes
payable your um bonds those don't show
up as liabilities in this particular set
of financial statements those are
actually showing up as expenses so if we
write a check for those long-term debt
for that long-term asset it shows us an
expense in these particular financial
statements and this is how the council
adopts your budget and how you monitor
your financial statements throughout the
years on this method of account of
accounting with that the the most
important fund is the general fund which
is your operating fund at the end of the
year there was 90 million in assets
there was 10 million in liabilities
giving you net position again what we
call it's Equity of that um those
particular that fund so you had $80
million in equity in the general fund
the components of your assets for the
general fund uh the $90 million the
majority of it's cash 57 million in cash
and Investments you had 29 million in
accounts receivable you have leases
receivable of two million and inventory
of two million
those assets increased about 18 million
from the prior year and most of that was
related to the increase in cash of about
13 million in that fund and also an
increase in receivables of 5
million liabilities in the general fund
you ended up the year with 10 million
that we talked about a moment ago um you
had a accounts payable of 4 million acur
liabilities things like payroll that
haven't been paid by year end but were
earned of 3.4 million you have deferred
property taxes those are property taxes
that are not paid within UH 60 days
after year in so they're not shown as an
asset um it's actually it's a deferred
property tax so it Nets against the
receivable of 600,000 and then you have
a deferred lease of 2.2 million and so
the liabilities really between the two
years were fairly
consistent we look at revenues for the
general fund um as you can see it's
trending up this year you had 16 60
million in revenue and 134 million of
expenses so revenues went up about 8
million which is really related to the
majority of that is an increase in
grosser receipts taxes that were
received in FY 23 expenses increased
about 19 million the primary reason for
the increase was um police expenditures
of 3 million and capital outlay of1
million and so um overall expenses went
up about1 19 million
the next set of slides is Enterprise
fund financial statements so in these
particular Enterprise funds we do have
long-term assets and liabilities I know
it's kind of confusing but when you have
an operation where it's kind of treated
like a business we do have long-term
assets and liabilities in those so if we
take the gas fund statement of net
position you ended up this year with 58
million of assets $25 million of
liabilities giving you new net position
or again Equity of 33 million assets
decreased approximately $3 million which
really related to the majority of it a
decrease in accounts receivable um
liabilities decreased approximately $2
million primarily due to the decrease in
bonds payable and also advances from
other funds so there's the this
particular fund owes other funds
long-term um uh payable and that was
decreased by about $2 million
the gas fund with financial highlights
looking at uh the revenues we ended up
the year with 39.2 million which is up
from
31.2 and then expenses went up from 33.5
million up to 41 million the reason for
this increase is due to the fact that
you know the price of gas went up so
therefore you're seeing both revenues
and expenses going up in that particular
fund the water fund statement of net
position you had 162 million in assets
71 million of liabilities again your
equity in that fund was 91 million
really the though that fund has remained
fairly consistent between the years the
water fund revenues um decreased a
little bit and expenses um went
up the the reason for the uh increase in
expenses was $4 million which really
relates to your perac contrib
contributions or expense so we talked
earlier about you know how you have to
record that liability that the state of
New Mexico has well it goes up and down
sometimes that expense actually will end
up being a negative expense in this
particular year the based upon the
actual study performed by the state of
New Mexico the the increase in your
expenses really relates to having to
record that transaction so again it was
something out of the council's control
um it's just a change in that liability
at the state
level we look at the Wastewater and
State uh the statement in osition or
your balance sheet we end up with that
fund with 127 million in assets 41
million in liabilities and your Equity
or net position of 85 million again all
of that remained fairly consistent when
you look at your expenses we're going to
see the same thing um you know your
revenues went down a little a little bit
but your expenses went up and the
majority of that increase in expense
again relates to that retire uh I'm
sorry the pension contribution uh um the
amount that the state of New Mexico
establishes again out of the council's
control look at the solid waste fund um
assets were 24 million liabilities 10
million giving you an equity of 14
million and again those stayed fairly
consistent between the years and we're
going to see see the same Trend here
revenues went up just a little bit but
expenses went up quite a bit again that
relates to that parac contribution and
that calculation that is performed at
the state level with that I'll open up
to any
questions questions I will take
councelor Flores councelor Corin uh
thank you uh mayor protim and and thank
you very much for your presentation it's
good to see you and good to know that we
have good news um as always I'm still
confused
I'm glad that we have our talented uh
finance department and happy to have our
uh our
friend M Miss
Deo and U Mr SEL but um so can you
please explain to me
um what ex what um are we in Peril Visa
V
perah I guess the short answer is no
there are plenty of assets to be um
distributed over the next several years
it's just if you forecast over the long
term based upon Actuarial studies that
are done which has a lot of guesses in
it it's underfunded but it's 85 last I
checked it was about 85% funded to be
honest which is very good compared to
most States but that 15% underfunded
amount meaning you don't have enough
assets to to pay out projections of
people retiring so if if the if per were
to close its doors today there wouldn't
be enough assets to pay off pay off
everybody what's going to happen over
time and it's already started happening
over the last three or four years is
they're going to require you to pay more
contributions and they've also you know
required more time to be invested before
you get fully funded or before you get
the high funded amounts and so they're
changing the policies at the state level
to try and come up with some resolution
to this but it's just it's many many
years of um contributions not being
enough and again it got started off on
the wrong foot and so it's going to take
some time but no there is no Peril I
would say um you know they've got plenty
of assets to pay over the next several
years and there won't be any issues is
there a regulatory agency that oversees
perah and it's uh it uh Shenanigans no
excuse me wrong word it's uh operating
um uh principles yeah so perah and
retiree Healthcare both have their
separate boards which are which govern
over those separate state agencies and
they do get their own separate audit for
each um particular organization and they
also have that Actuarial report that's
done so that we can rely upon the
numbers and and um record those
transactions that we have to so they get
a couple of audits actually done to give
us the information and they go through
their regular audit process but they do
have a board that um oversees their
operations if they were to increase uh
contributions we're talking about the
people who are contributing right the
employees of the municipalities or the
government agencies
um what um would that bring them up to
par or would that bring them
what would that or is that what would
happen that's a probably a portion of it
so it's probably been two years ago the
CFO she was the former CFO up there made
the comment to me one time if we stop
giving col raises they'd be fully funded
and so there's just a lot of different
components that could go into trying to
get them fully funded you know if you
reduce the the cost of living raises
that are given to retirees that could be
a portion of it increasing fees making
people work a little bit longer to get
vested than what they currently are so
that there's really a whole gamut of
things that potentially could go into
funding and getting this 100% funded but
again you know we are better off in a
lot of other states at being 85% funded
um it's just big numbers when you're
looking at them but as far as the ca
Cola um isn't that something that um I
mean it seems like it's a state versus a
state there I mean Cola is regulated or
imposed by the federal government or the
it's
Federal in this case it's it's part of
the state it's part of the pera so they
can adjust that to be you know a
percentage of it or um you know maybe I
think they're now making people wait a
few years before they get their first
Cola so there's a lot of different
options even with that portion of it
good thank you thank you so much sure
thank you councel thoris ccel Corin
thank you always good to see you and I'm
always excited about us being at the top
of this particular scheme so thank you
for your support of our finance
department which is amazing to to
maintain that
um I just wanted to make sort of
transparent some of the things that you
alluded to that might not be super clear
to folks who might be listening um there
are Enterprise fronts which are
primarily utilities right that are
making their own money correct there are
also things that are governed by jpas
and I just wanted to highlight that we
have three of these um South Central
solid waste mvda and the Animal Services
Center correct and all of those were
included in this audit um they don't
have SE they may have separate auditing
processes but they're they also have to
rise up to the city's Financial auditing
processes correct correct and then I the
the followup to that is sort of a
question um if in the future I believe
that the the mo Metropolitan planning
organization is going to be become a
slightly separate organization I think
it will go it will shift from being
within the city's big audit to becoming
one of those similar um one of the
adding to those three making it four
total side um audits I don't want to
call them side audits but side jpas we
call them joint Powers agreements where
where they're sort of governed slightly
differently um and I guess I'm sort of
asking you and also um wondering how
that will work going forward I think
that transition is going to happen this
year good afternoon Josie trino for no
it's a grant uh it would be included in
the city of Las crusis um audit for
example we have Haida is a grant and it
gets included in the city's audit as
well so no would not have a separate it
would be included in the C's audit okay
great thank you so much I appreciate
that Insight so I wasn't sure if that
was one of the implications of a change
that we're making in the organizational
structure so thank you that's all
questions I have but again thank you to
you and the team for really leading
leading the city in this so thank you
thank you anybody else on the council no
other questions okay none for me anybody
from the
public clear as mud sounds like thank
you so much for your presentation for
joining us
Christine this is on the motion to
approve resolution 24- 077 councelor
McClure yes councelor matis yes
councelor Graham yes councelor Karan yes
councelor FLOTUS yes mayor proem yes and
the mayor is
absent thank you Christine okay
7.1 this is a liquor licensed public
hearing the public hearing is now open
at 2:28
p.m. is there anyone for or against the
approval of a Lial license at 118 North
mosqu Street Building
nobody here for that okay great the
public hearing is now closed at 2:29
p.m. um can I get a motion in a second
please move to approve coren second
Graham thank you actually um Sarah will
you give us a brief presentation for our
new counselor since this is the per the
first liquor license
hearing this is Sarah Gonzalez with
Community Development um this is my
first liquor license presentation so we
get to learn together
um this liquor license is for Miguel's
on
mosquite this was for a transfer of
location of an interlocal dispenser
license 2647 meaning they're taking
their liquor license from a different
location and transferring it to this
location which is 118 North mosquite the
Alcohol Beverage Control is sent
preliminary approval to staff first
that's how the process starts they begin
with them and then they come to
basically the city for final
approval with that staff had to request
an extension for the public hearing
process there's a 45-day um interim of
which we have to provide a decision to
the applicant and then to the state it
runs into some of the concerns whenever
we have our public hearings because we
are required to also notice for 30 days
in advance and then based on city
council's public hearing dates packet
turns in we have to request that
extension prior in order to meet that
45-day deadline in this case we would
have met the deadline if we had heard
the case by January 11th so we were only
off by 5 days not too bad um with this
we also do send um send this out to
staff review we send it to all the
relevant agencies including Police
Department fire department building and
Public Safety there were no concerns
with this building especially because we
did actually have a former restaurant
that was located within this building um
they did close down in April and so this
is just reuse of another building
however the liquor license does not
transfer with it liquer licenses stay
with the owners they do not stay with
the buildings as a variance would
here's an aerial map of the subject
property as you can see it is located at
118 North mosquet Street it is south of
the bean and noeva Casita across from
Klein
park with that council's options are to
vote Yes and approve and vote no to deny
from here basically the vote goes to
Alcoholic Beverage Control to complete
the process thank you Sarah are there
any questions from the council no great
thank you
Christine this is on the motion to
approve resolution 24
75 councelor McClure yes councelor
matis yes councelor Graham yes councelor
Karan yes Council flotes yes mayor proam
yes the mayor is
absent thank you Christine thank you
Sarah okay on to 7.2 resolution number
24076 a resolution updating the wage
Baseline requirement of the economic
development department wage plus program
move to approve Graham thank you second
Corin thank you so much and presenting
will be Chris
favor good afternoon mayor proam council
Chris favor economic development for the
record um today's presentation is pretty
simple we're just making a
recommendation for some of the language
in the wage plus program but for some of
the new counselors I'll run through a
little bit of the background of what
wage plus
is so wage plus was originally adopted
by City Council in
2014 um and it's a local business
incentive um
created to attract above average paying
jobs uh this is made possible because of
the Local Economic Development act or
Lita under the state statute um and for
Lita eligible business is currently
enrolled in the state jtip program so
you have to be already in the state jtip
program in order to qualify and as with
all programs through Economic
Development participation depends on the
availability of funding at the
city so to be an eligible business
again you need to be Alita eligible
registered Alita eligible business
registered and located within the city
limits uh non- retail service companies
that export their products out of the
state this is designed for economic
based jobs um and there are certain
green industries that meet the leader
requirements uh such as manufacturing
processing assembly non-retail storing
uh those types of things and there is a
cap of 100 qualifying jobs per
employer some jobs that are eligible uh
or or eligibility requirements so they
need to be new year round full-time
positions directly related to the
creation of product or Services the new
employee must be a New Mexico resident
for at least a year and the workplace
must be within the city limits this can
be um wage plus through Lita or through
jtip for a job that's remote that's out
of the city limit so this is for jobs
specifically within the city
limits and so what we are recommending
is just a slight change in the language
to align up the Baseline um wage with
state jtip so right now the state jtip
Baseline is $15 per hour the current
language of wage plus says something
like doniana County median wage but it
just makes more sense to have the
language align with jtip since it's sort
of a partner
program and to give you an idea of what
that would look like um if the business
is offering jobs that are 15% over the
Baseline so $17 25 the potential award
from the city would be
$1,750 per job so minimum of 10% over
the $15 um pay that g that uh jtip
offers um and then you can see it
escalates up from
there and that's it I'll stand for any
questions thanks Chris um questions from
the council yes councelor
mlar is there a cap for the amount of
employees that they can add mayor protm
council mcclear yes 100 per per
employer thank you do you I'm gonna ask
some questions okay thanks Chris do you
have uh there's participating businesses
already correct mayor protm yes um
electronic caregiver okay currently as
par participating in that program yes
okay and that's about it yes okay all
right thank you Chris I appreciate that
um uh members of the public any
questions no that's it
Christine this is on the motion to
approve resolution 24- 076 councelor
McClure yes councelor matis yes
councelor Graham yes councelor Karan yes
councelor flutes yes mayor proem yes and
the mayor's
absent thank you Christine on to 7.4
Council bill number
24-16 ordin ordinance number 3058 an
ordinance approving a zone change from
M1 m-2 industrial standard to C3
commercial high density for a property
encompassing 8.25 plus acres and located
at 4201 delway Boulevard submitted by
New Republic design co
representative um move to approve Graham
thank
you second Corin thank you both and we
have Adam yes ma'am thank you mayor for
just one on the agenda today Adam just
one yeah giving me a break this this
this time around for yall uh Adam moo
Community Development for the record we
got a zone change for a property located
at 4201 delr Boulevard uh kind of give
you an idea better idea of where it is
it's on the west side of Del re
Boulevard between Del re and I25 roughly
about 500 F feet north of that's the
intersection of Settler's pass and
delway Boulevard property compasses
roughly 8.25 acres in size and it's
currently Zone M1 M2 which is our
industrial standard zoning designation
this is actually a current uh vacant
commercial property it's a large
commercial property there used to be a
call center on the property if you kind
of know what we're talking about now
showing here as you can see property
here highlighted uh it is own M1 M2 uh
along delway Boulevard with a Doge podge
of M1 M2 zoning designation uh
commercial do zoning designation as well
and then to the east you start getting
into your more residential uh zoning
designations in that
area showing here the area of the
property as you can see around it it's
relatively undeveloped there are some
small nodes of a master plan uh
developed industrial areas but really
just uh this is kind of its own Island
right here fully developed all parking
existing existing building that is not
looking to be revitalized with the zone
change so with that we'll go and talk
about zone change which is a zone change
to C3 which is commercial high intensity
this proposed zone change will allow for
the Redevelopment of the property for a
new school new Charter School on the
property for grades 9 to 12th grade uh
the entire site and building shall be
utilized for the school and its
ancillary uses by the
applicant when staff took a look at this
proposal we did analyze and and we did
identify no
uh health safety or welfare issues with
the proposed zone change uh the property
does meet all conditions required for
each school Under the 2001 zoning code a
school is allowed under the C3 zoning
district with conditions as in every
other uh almost every other zoning
designation in the 2001 zoning code
minus industrial zoning which is why the
zone change is required all conditions
are being met for this including lot
size requirements uh Loc adjacent to
roadways or their their designation if
you will our two roadways a buffer
requirements distances from excuse me
distances from the buildings from
dumpster enclosures all that is being
met by this by the subject property uh
Additionally the property is located
along a principal chy roadway where C3
zoning designations and uh uses are
encourage as
well U notice was sent out to surrounded
Property Owners staff did speak
personally I spoke to one person an
adjacent property own who is a strong
support of this uh really liking to see
this vacant piece of property finally
brought brought back to
use the planning zone commission did
review this propos zone change on
November 28th of 2023 they did go ahead
and recommend approval by a vote of Ford
and nothing uh they just to point a note
they did recom they did recommend
approval this was approved on the
consent agenda findings for that is the
proposal Z change will allow for the uh
Innovative Redevelopment of this vacant
commercial property Ro zoning change
will help conserve the value of the
existing vacant commercial property and
building uh is located along in the uh
principal roadway uh where schools are
conditionally required to be located at
uh the zoning change request is
supported by our Elevate Los crues
comprehensive plan and the 2001 zoning
code more specifically section 38.2 of
the 2001 zoning
code with that your options are one to
vote Yes approve the proposed zone
change as recommended by plan zoning
commission two to vote no and deny three
to uh vote to amend or vote to table and
postpone direct staff and the applicant
accordingly I sign for questions just
the end of my my presentation thank you
we go with Council cor and then
councelor
Flores thank you Adam you know I love it
when you come and say the words hodge
podge that's my favorite zoning term I
can't wait again I can't wait for real I
I keep saying it um I will keep saying
but I did just sort of want to say
something this isn't my district anymore
it's actually Council mcl's District but
this used to be I think my district um I
think I'm not 100% certain but I'm
pretty sure uh but I just want to say
something related to zoning generally um
that I think is important for folks to
understand that that I have to often
explain to constituents that I didn't
completely understand I think when I got
on city council but when we vote to
to change a commercial a zoning to
Commercial and in this case from
industrial to Commercial and and I
understand the the use the proposed use
of the property owner is not required
right this is changing the the zoning
only if the folks decide to do something
else with it that they're permitted
within the zoning change correct May Pro
Council K that is correct they are
allowed to utilize the property for
whatever uses as permitted by the C3
zoney designation and I think that's
important because a lot of folks think
that this is like business specific or
place specif or you know sort of
specific to the type of development um
that's going to go into a place but this
is the zoning really is allowing all
types of uses that go into C3 which are
outlined in our in our municipal code
and I've had to in a few cases folks
have said why is this RV storage site
going up and I went back and found where
city council agreed to make something C3
zoning and that that is allowed within
C3 zoning so I just want to clarify what
what changing zoning in this case means
um and that while we all compelled by
the idea of something looking different
the property owners ultimately have
authority to to develop it in whatever
way is consistent with C3 zoning and so
um I just want to sort of remind folks
that that that it's sort of blind to the
or it's it's not inclusive of the type
of thing that's being developed there
that's part of our zoning conversations
and and for me that's important and also
important for folks to know because when
I when I explain that to folks they're
like oh that was 15 years ago in City
council did that and I'm mad at them now
so then I talked to them in that case so
thanks Adam again yay for realize
someday um but uh thank you for the
update
today thanks councelor Corin councel
Flores thank you uh Madam um mayor proam
um and thank you Adam so much for the
presentation so I have a couple of
questions um you're saying that uh if it
goes to commercial a school can be built
there um have there been any um
Communications between lcps and the city
regarding the addition of a school or
why is a school specifically mentioned
when under this code um uh other uh
businesses or other entities can go up
is is there a talk mayor PRM uh Council
florus yes ma'am they they're basically
on the final stages of finalizing for
the Redevelopment of this property for
the purpose of a school that is why that
is the reason for this zone change
otherwise they would have kept it as is
and all industrial uses and several
commercial uses can be utilized on the
property as it exists now the one that
is not permitted is is a school uh any
schools between kinder to 12th grade are
not permitted in industrial zon in
designation that is why they
specifically requested this zone change
to commercial to allow for that
additional that additional use on the
property uh thank you thank you for the
explanation and um so my concern is a
speed limit you know speed limits have
been a big problem um on Roadrunner
Parkway on Sona Ranch Boulevard where we
have
schools um and Well on Sona we have DAC
but on Roadrunner Parkway um and I know
that um Del re that strip right there
just north of uh batan
West um it's like a it's really like a
Speedway and the reason I know is
because I I've been I i' probably been
one of the Speeders but um but um I'm
just concerned about that and
so uh so definitively or not uh there
will be a school there or is it just
speculative at this point just an
interest mayor Pro Council flers as of
now the applicants specifically have
plans ready to go for a school to be
redeveloped on the property B it will be
a school okay and and um so okay again
so if a school is built there we'll have
probably more stringent um speed limits
set up because it's a pretty I mean
people drive really fast on that strip
there mayor BR councelor flers when
those plans come in for uh development
uh because they do need to do some work
on the property and the building uh to
bring it up to par for each School our
traffic engineering section will'll take
a look that our Public Works will look
at it as well potentially uh ask for
some type of traffic analysis traffic
impact analysis and see what type of uh
improvements if any that there would
need to do uh for the school to be
located on that property but as of now
like I said the 2001 zoning code uh this
is a a a level of a street where we we
encourage schools because of that high
number of traffic that we get from
schools uh that I think that's the
justification for them to be on these
types of Roads ma'am right thank you and
then um I think one of my concerns is
that um there's problems with well my
constituents I remember when I ran for
Council first time um there was just an
uproar with the people in the East Mesa
with all sorts of stuff going up there
and they didn't anticipate it when they
had their home build uh that sort of
stuff and um so I you know I just
bluntly said to them well did you who
who did you get that information from oh
we got it from the realtor well did the
realtor does the realtor own all that
property did you get it in writing yada
yada blah blah and the answer was no no
no I said well then you're out of luck
but and I was quite blunt about it so my
concern is whether um and maybe this is
out outside of the scope of your work
but just it's appropo of what we're
talking about if there could be some
sort of um ordinances or
regulations where uh people are know
notified of uh potential development in
undeveloped areas and that's really out
of your domain I'm sure but but since
it's appropo of what we're talking about
right now in terms of changes and um you
know in the way things are zoned areas
are zoned um so maybe uh Mr uh pely that
that's something that we can uh speak to
well David is here um my dear friend
there not s Theo is a good dear friend
too but um so that's something that
maybe we can get on the books just you
know full disclosure because a lot of
people who are buying on the East Mesa
I'm very familiar with that um are
dismayed when um all this development is
going on um Ju Just As a matter of uh
you know um because it's it's kind of
like it's not fair to have a caveat
empor you know buy or beware for someone
who's uh purchasing a valuable piece of
land and to be uh told that it's you
know
misrepresented and there's no real uh
legal solution to that is as if they can
sue somebody uh for that
misrepresentation but I just wanted to
bring that up appr propo of this and I
want to thank you very much Adam thank
you thank you man thank you counc Flores
anybody else wonderful thank you Adam
Christine
members of the public thank you Adam's
like helping me thank you
Adam pres of the public have any
questions no okay thank you now
Christine this is on the motion to
approve ordinance
3058 councelor
McClure yes councelor
matis yes councelor
Graham yes thank you councelor cran yes
councelor fles yes councelor bomo yes
and the mayor is
absent thank you Christine thank you
folks thank you Adam all right okay
board appointments there are none um
notice of proposed ordinances there will
be no public discussion a counselor may
ask staff for clarification on the
proposed ordinance 9.1 Council bill
number
2417 ordinance number
3059 an ordinance approving a zone
change for land with in Heather Hills
master plan boundary located at 5150
Stern Drive submitted by Zachary libbon
libon Underwood engineering and Survey
in Bring It Forward thank you item 9.2
cancel bill number
24-18 ordinance number 36d and ordinance
repealing section
78-11 10
7.8 d199 article 3 wage plus and section
7.8 D2 27.8 299 Article 4 film from
chapter 7.8 of the last crues municipal
code 1997 as amended bring it forward
thank you Council bill number 2419
ordinance number 361 and ordinance
amending chapter 27 traffic Article 1
and article 6 of the Las Cruses
municipal code 1997 by adding new
definitions and regulations of electric
vehicle charging parking spaces bring it
forward thank you on to council member
board report and comment I will follow
mayor Enrique's lead and start with you
um wait no he started down there didn't
he yes we'll start with counselor
McClure
yeah okay I'm going to share what I
probably should have sent to all of you
I'm sorry I did get a report on the
nitorum on the 9th it's um it's a heat
coil that they're waiting on and um that
is not mass-produced it is manufactured
if there is a need so they're waiting
for it should be getting there 18th to
the
22nd um but until they physically
receive it they're hesitant to say like
we have it we're going to install it so
just that update um I was also um felt
like my first week of um all
board um attendance and it was really
interesting on a lot of um counts um
with MDA and the Metropolitan planning
organization and um the utilities board
which had a graduating inter turn and
which reminded me that we give a lot of
good opportunities for um um learning
and growth and I was hoping that we
could Institute uh another or look at a
possibility for doing that here um we
have an Emy award-winning public
information office and I was hoping that
we could be able to take an NMSU
journalism intern or Creative Media
intern and start producing recordings
for some of the boards and commissions
that already meet in this office um or
in the council chambers uh specifically
planning and zoning and historical
preservation and parks and wreck and
give great opportunity for sometimes
students that don't feel quite vested in
the city um full disclosure I was a
print journalist not a broadcast
journalist but um I think it would be a
great opportunity that we could have to
add accessibility and transparency as
well
so uh last thing I I am curious about
the Animal Advocates situation if we
could either get a you know update from
codes or I don't know how that works I'm
still very new to this um but yes those
are the three items that I had and that
is it for
me thank you counselor mler um councelor
matis thank you mayor council city
manager I just have a few items I
attended a neighborhood meeting on
Crescent Drive neighborhood meeting it
was the administrators and a few members
of the
association and maybe you could share
this with um uh Chief story uh their
biggest concerns is on tantine Dixon
Farney they uh have
continual hearings of shootings going on
in that particular
neighborhood and they also have some uh
people actually going through the
neighborhood at night and many of them
use ring but but uh if we could just
contact as a a person named Hastings uh
Mrs Hastings Nancy Hastings and she
would be glad to hear if there could be
maybe more Patrol in that particular
area the second item is I like to thank
uh city council uh uh city manager uh
for the artist Drive Pavement in
District to that's quite an improvement
that street was uh really bad um it
really worked on bladders and kidneys um
the street next to it Huntington needs
the same Improvement hunting is
Huntington is in bad shape as
well and the the last item is um there's
a call from a Mr domingus and if Public
Works could look at a
sidewalk uh needed uh on Mesa to
salano uh there's some older ladies
particularly Miss domingus his mother in
their 80s that walked to church I
believe would be the Newman Center and
sidewalk is needed on that particular
stretch of uh of walk thank you thank
you thank you counselor matis counselor
Graham thank you mayor protm unlike
councelor Mur I haven't been back in any
board meetings lately so uh not I don't
have anything to report on that um but I
would like to do just a quick article
recommendation because I spent um the
NMSU holiday break kind of coincided
with things being quiet at the city so I
did a ton of reading on the very festive
topic of traffic deaths it it's a big
Downer um but uh you know it's obviously
something that comes up a lot in public
comment we've been hearing Advocates um
trying to advance the vision zero
program so so I really did some deep
reading on that but a good kind of
overview article um it was published on
December 11th of last year uh New York
Times why are so many American
pedestrians dying at night um so again
I'm not promising you an uplifting read
but a really interesting read about
another unfortunate category of American
exceptionalism where we
are doing worse than a lot of other
industrialized nations um but I felt
this was a great overview looking not
just at the design elements um not just
at behavior and choice elements um but
also at some you know specifically
American elements so recommended reading
again though don't don't expect to come
out of it smiling and that's all I have
thank you Mar proam thank you councelor
Graham maybe if you send that to
Christine she can share it with all of
us
thank you Council Corin thank you I um
really quickly want to give a shout out
to our community engagement office last
week was the first installment of the
neighborhood Leadership Academy it's a
really great bunch of folks who are
going to be participating in an 11we
program to um see what's happening in
the city and I'm really excited to see
uh their enthusiastic faces to come to a
class um
that really gives you the Insight
picture so I I'm really grateful to the
community engagement folks for starting
that up and giving folks a path to
engaged with the city in that way on a
similar note welcome back to all of the
NMSU and DC students who are starting
classes tomorrow so I and I add myself
to that as a faculty member um so I
can't wait to see the students and
continue our ongoing conversation with
NMSU I think um we in the fall we
launched a really cool City website
welcome eling NMSU students and I'm
looking forward to us continuing to have
those collaborations as we move forward
and thinking about NMSU and DAC students
and how we support them and engage with
them in the city the last thing that I
just wanted to touch on is I was I um am
lucky to have been selected to be on the
uh Environmental Protection agency's
local government Advisory Board which uh
is a national advisory committee of 37
folks from all across the country um and
and the that sort of advises the EPA on
a number of things that they can do to
support cities and and municipalities as
well as um in terms of shaping
legislation and how and sort of
documenting and talking about the
impacts that legislation can have on on
local governments uh I'm really excited
about this year where one of the one of
the topics is going to be about looking
into cumulative impacts of environmental
harms that occur in in cities and how to
address those cumulative impacts on
particularly historically
disenfranchised communities um that's
one of their target areas and another of
their target areas is related to
reducing plastic waste in every aspect
uh of its existence and I know that the
city of Las cruus has been a leader in
that and is continuing to think about it
so I'm looking forward to those
conversations and and representing Las
cruus and also trying to influence what
the federal government sort of is
thinking about in terms of local
environment policies so um that's it I'm
so glad you're on that councelor Corin
congrats councelor Flores thank you
Madame chair
um I have nothing to report on boards
because I like counselor uh Graham have
not uh attended a board meeting yet this
year um but uh what our um Outreach uh
person is doing uh community
outreach um Katrina binus is working and
I uh we're working but she predominantly
is the one who is setting it up working
with lcps to have students come in and
um and the program is called know your
government we started that in
2019 and um it was quite successful we
had uh the room full it was full uh with
students uh throughout um The District
High School students
I think we had 60 students participate
and these were students who were all
levels not just the college prep people
you know the Achievers but people who uh
students who would otherwise they were
selected by the teachers who would
otherwise not come up and you know raise
their hand and yes I want to do that um
and we were looking forward to 2020 but
then we had covid and everything came to
a standstill fortunately um it has uh
resurfaced it's been resurrected and I
believe that we'll be doing that in
February and it'll take place here we'll
assemble here and then we'll break and
go upstairs and the students will be
addressing issues that the city faces or
could potentially face and come up with
Solutions and
um and I'm looking forward to that and
I'll be able to report uh it'll be
sometime in February I'm sorry I don't
have the ex back date but uh it was
overwhelmingly successful and the
students by the way a lot of those
students um uh Jamie Patterson at uh
lcps uh said that a lot of the students
actually who participated went on to uh
went on to college and uh I didn't get
any other tracking information but
anyway it's a wonderful program and
they're going to be um functioning as
city councilors thank you thanks
councelor Flores and welcome welcome
home oh thank you it's nice to be home
um I have a couple of things I'd like to
give
um I was at the utilities board meeting
last week and um you know we talked
about many things but one of them one of
the things I wanted to share with you
all was the story about intern Jeremiah
Avery he graduated he's from the water
um internship program and he during his
high school year his senior year he was
driving every week to Las Cruses to
complete the program and then he
graduated and now he's doing his
internship getting paid for it at at um
the utility while he works on all his
certifications and I just wanted to say
because he during the meeting he he
talked to us about his experience and he
said you know I'm really excited and I
really hope to be at the city for 20 30
more years and so it was just really
powerful um Testament to the power of
internships actually and allowing folks
to to be able to you know just get into
the work and and start falling in love
with it um I wanted to give a huge shout
out and a huge thank you to Mike tees
who is a constituent of mine um I think
some of you um may know him um he o is
the owner of a place called The Dream
Center on Sixth Street and last
Wednesday he reached out to me and said
I would like to open up the Dream Center
at night for unhoused people to stay
here at nighttime and you know can you
help me with these few things and I
called econ and so I just want to give a
huge huge thank you to ecan because I
called him and he said let's figure it
out and so I just really want to
appreciate that Ian because um like I
said you know Mike is looking for these
three things and you said let's figure
it out and we did and by and by Friday
Yani and him were meeting and and I
think both Chiefs had feedback for them
and multiple City staff and they came up
with a great um um sort
of program if you will uh OEM was able
to provide cuts and they've been hosting
people they at the Dream Center during
the really cold nights and so I think
it's just also speaks to um putting
aside any perceived frankly political
differences we may have in bring and
bringing real solutions to the city
council and that we can get you know
good things done and while it's
definitely a bandage it's certainly
something good as I don't know about you
all but I'm freezing and I hate it and I
have the privilege to have a home and so
I just I really wanted to thank everyone
involved but especially Mike and ncan
for for making it
happen um if anybody wants to support
them they're totally community-driven
and like I said it's the Dream Center on
Sixth Street um and then I did want to
give a shout out to our legislators who
today are starting the 2024 30-day
legislative session uh I think most of
us will be making a trip up there to
lobby for um the needs of the city and
just check in with our representatives
and make sure that they don't forget
we're here and that we have many needs
um I did want to invite you all to an
event that I was invited to by mayor
Alan Weber of of Santa Fe um the event
is
called economic Justice for New Mexico
workers in a changing economy it starts
at 500 pm and it will be on January 26th
it's it's next Friday so if you're there
please come it'll be at the center for
Contemporary Arts on Old PCO Trail and
it's about guaranteed basic income and I
he will be a panelist I will be a
panelist Don Homer from The Community
Action Agency will be a panelist and
several other folks talking about the
importance of these kinds of programs
for um the most vulnerable in our
community so if you're there on Friday
the 26th I invite you all to come feel
free to reach out to me for um that
address again and that is all I have EO
so I'll turn it over to you thank you
mayor proam
council just a couple of items I'll
start first with uh
BLC this our second annual video contest
VIs Lo crusis in collaboration with Las
crusis Film Festival has launched the
visit Los crusis stor second annual
video contest the contest invites the PE
public to share Rich folklore of Los
Cruses through 3 to five minute video
submissions call for entries is open
until February 28th um and detailed
guidelines can be found on the visit Los
cruus or Los cruus International Film
Festival websites top three entries will
be awarded cash prizes along with VIP
tickets and winning submissions will be
showcased before each screening during
the film
festival and then uh also from part
Parks and
Recreation uh keep Los cruus beautiful
program Parks and Rec will host a
neighborhood dumpster day from 8:00 a.m.
to 1200 noon on Saturday uh January
20th and uh kcb will provide open top
trash containers for the community to
dump yard waste household trash and
other perable items for free
so it will be at Young Park 850 South
Walnut
Street uh East Mesa Recreation
Center uh which is uh 5589 Porter Drive
and Tony Gomez Park which is 2283 South
espa
Street and then from uh Public Works
appreciate uh coun mati bringing up
artist Drive there's that's one of 12
streets that's scheduled to be scheduled
in the work right now and to be
completed by mid
June um early mid early to mid
June what was that which year oh
2024 yep and uh so 105 working days from
today will be be completed and so these
are these aren't just normal maintenance
projects these are pavement replacement
project so and two of those projects
include utility work replacement of of
utilities water and gas and so this big
projects the contract amount is about
$2.3
million um the streets are posted but
since they're real pavement I mean
pavement replacement I think it' be okay
for me to go down the list of these
streets because you'll so we have artist
Drive there's also abalene Court Cisco
Way oh aene Court
to um simmeron drive and then artist
drive to Don Rose that's the one the
councelor M mentioned and the Cisco way
to Cheyenne Drive Desert Circle to
Desert Drive to the
culdesac I'm sorry I'm missing some
other streets artist drive to Don Roser
drive to co Cina Boulevard and then the
next one is Cisco way to Cheyenne Drive
to kuster way and then desert Circle to
Desert Drive to C to the culdesac and
then Dr King way to Walnut Street to
stall drive and then Juniper Avenue
uh end of payment to North Solano
Drive and then uh Los
Nogales drive to South Main Street to
Mosa lane and then Mont Vista Avenue to
South Solano do drive to to
Locust um and then Selena's drive to
Fairway
to Res set um to and as Selena strive to
candle light
right I think they're spread out through
all the yeah that's that's spread out
through all different
districts Cheyenne might be in I think
cheyen
your um but thank you David for
providing providing that and then just a
couple
of um if I if I may just respond to a
couple of the comments that were made
one was the
uh Blinded By the Light uh comment chief
chief story just gave me the update the
they did speak to security and the
principal and the state technician and
they put a timer on it to shut off um at
6 o'clock or 7 o'clock and they're going
to talk to him again to see if they can
shut it off even sooner so that's the
response I wish was here but we can
reach out let them know and then I
appreciate counselor McLure responding
with the the heating coil at the Aquatic
Center just wanted to everybody know
that that heating coil needed to be
custom custom made so it is like two
months just to get the coil and so um so
they're checking they're hoping for it
to be be done within the next I guess
they they the company said they'll be
getting it in soon like within the next
week or so but um until we get it in we
we don't have a
timeline I think that's all I have uh
mayor pro thank you thank you EO oh and
the last person I do want to thank is
Christine or city clerk for helping me
prepare for today so I think it went
pretty well right yeah okay great all
right well we're all done Christine can
I get a motion to
adjourn so Mo by FL thank you thank
you this is on the motion to to adjourn
the meeting councelor McClure yes
councelor matis yes councelor Graham yes
councelor cran is absent councelor
flotes yes mayor protm yes and the
mayor's
absent this is by lights do you to
call