[Music]
it's been longer than 30
seconds well we're going to presume that
we're on so good morning everybody
Welcome to the special work session Los
Chris city council today we're going to
be basically working out some of the
State Legislative priorities and so with
that who's going to start this off is uh
Chief of Staff excuse me ormin
Administrative
Office chief chief of admin chief
administrative officer Barbara
gomo sorry all good morning mayor
counselor and staff yes thank you very
much Barbara Beno chief administrative
officer and this morning we would like
to um start the discussion with respect
to our legislative priorities for the
upcoming 2024 legislative
session and this morning we're going to
have uh several people up here to to
discuss various aspects of of the
process that we went through to bring
you the information that we're going to
be presenting to you this
morning um before we start I wanted to
just uh show you an overall timeline um
for the session and of course for the
work leading up to the session to
include this work session a resolution
that'll be brought to council the dates
when legislation will be filed um pocket
veto dates and the effective dates of
the legislation going out to May 2024
but the session itself will start on
January
16th um and end on February
15th and with that I'm going to turn it
over to Larry heran to talk about um an
overview of this upcoming session some
of the trends and and issues that he's
hearing and that he's going to to work
on for us so thank
you good morning mayor members of the
council Larry heran lobbyist for the
city of Los crusis um it's good to be
back in front of you as we it seems like
we just were a year ago going to the
60-day and here we are back about to go
into another 30-day session it doesn't
seem like the breaks get any shorter it
seems like a um they come quicker and
quicker so as Barbara mentioned we're
we're going into a 30-day legislative
session wrong there we go oh I probably
did
that uh a 30-day legislative session
starts on January 16th as a reminder
30-day sessions are different they're
short session or budget sessions and
they come um every other year so the the
legislature is limited into to what they
can consider it's Revenue matters
Appropriations messages from the
governor meaning the governor can send a
message to the legislature saying I will
allow you to consider legislation
related to gun violence to DWI anything
that is not revenue or appro or a budget
matter and then they can consider
legislation on that topic and then also
legislation that has been previously
vetoed in another session um this year
what are they really focusing
on it's it's going to be a challenge
just to pass the budget in in a way in a
responsible way not because we don't
have enough money but we have almost too
much there's the last forecast of
Revenue um over our budget is just over
$9 billion the last budget forecast came
in August and it was a $3.6 billion in
new Revenue over and above what's
required to pass the budget and it's
still trending up they should have
another Revenue estimate in December um
the numbers we're hearing are it's still
even higher than 3.6 billion and so um
although that's it's a good problem to
have and it's we we don't want to uh
we don't want to miss the opportunity to
to do some transformational things in
the state it's also difficult because
there's only so many places they can sck
away money and there's only actually
only so much they can spend on things
like capital and infrastructure because
what we're starting to see is last year
we had over $2 billion that went to
Capital outlay it's hard to spend that
amount of money just because for smaller
projects and when I say smaller a
million dollars or less what communities
are seeing is they can't get contractors
to bid on their projects because there's
so much work available and so it can it
can create other problems that you
wouldn't that you wouldn't think
wouldn't think of would come with uh
with excess budget Revenue the other
thing that's happened is as it relates
to Capital outlay specifically which
we'll talk about a lot of our projects
later is because prices have increased
so significantly for lots of reasons
that there's a list of projects that
that when you receive funding you think
they're going to be fully funded but
we're seeing cu construction costs are
increased you have a bunch of projects
you thought you had full funding for now
there's a shortfall so one of the things
the legislature is going to look at is
identifying those type of projects that
have already had funding approved now
because of increase in cost they they
don't have enough um funding available
and they'll look to fund some of those
with capital outlay
dollars um and what we're hearing about
capital outlay is about the same as they
had available for last year so house
members had just over 5 million I'm
sorry um 2.5 million senate members had
just over 4 million it's looking like
it's going to be a similar number this
year so the dollar amount that we'll be
looking at similar to what what we had
last year that does not include
Statewide capital projects and it does
not include what the governor will have
available for spending so when it comes
to Capital outlay and pro project
fundings it's divided a third to the
governor although the governor's third
is usually more more than a third the
the governors tend to like to take a
little bit more money and then the house
gets a third and the Senate gets a third
so we'll have similar spending available
as we had last year for Capital outlay
uh so they'll be focused on how to pass
a budget and it's a challenge simply
because of timing so in a 30-day session
the house generates the budget and it
always starts in the house and by about
the midpoint so January 31st is the
midpoint they want to get that budget
over to the Senate so the Senate can
start considering it so that in and of
itself just to pass the because of the
size of the budget eats a lot of the
time and eats the time of the
Appropriations Committee so not a lot
else probably will get done they
actually start meeting about a week
before the session the Appropriations
Committee and the finance committee to
start crafting the budget so it's more
like a 35 or 37 day session as it
relates to to the budget but that's
going to be their primary
Focus SE probably secondary to that will
be crime and when I say crime it's a
broad topic a lot of a lot of issues and
topics to discuss but
because of what happened throughout the
interim the ongoing issues particularly
in city of aluri but other cities were
starting to see an increase in unhoused
or or crime related to that it's going
to be a significant Focus for the
legislature especially coming off the
governor's administrative um Public
Health order with the U the gun order
about Prohibition of carrying guns in
public places there's going to be a lot
of legislation introduced um Rel related
to to firearms and a topic like that
literally can kind of suck the life out
of the legislature on as it relates to
everything else it will just consume an
enormous amount of time and energy from
legislators so that will be a
significant Focus this session there's
talk about potential oil and gas reform
or modernization of the oil and gas act
again anytime something like that is
introduced it just it's a very heavy
lift and so that can take a significant
amount of legislative time in energy
it's not clear whether that will happen
um this year or not uh and then also as
they've been dealing with continue to
deal with the yai Martinez lawsuit about
the Constitutional obligation to provide
adequate education there'll be
significant discussion about how we're
funding education the performance of the
public education department particularly
K through 12 and then also with cfd with
ongoing issues there'll be legislation
introduced related to to cfd reform that
may or may not get a message just
because the governor just appointed a
new
full-time cfd secretary but just those
few topics although it doesn't seem like
a lot since there are such heavy lifts
in a 30-day session that will really
consume the legislator's time and so I
don't think we're going to see a whole
lot of
of legislation that related to issues
that's not on that list just because
they're going to be very focused on that
and the other thing and and it's as we
as I talked about things like oil and
gas reform one thing that can have an
impact on that is the governor has a
significant cabinet vacancy there's last
I heard there was nine cabinet secretary
positions that were vacant and we have
interim secretaries so when you when you
talk about something like oil and gas
reform the the secretary for energy
minerals and natural resources just
retired left and so there's a vacancy if
you don't have on a big issue or a big
topic issue like that if you don't have
a good leadership in a department to
really push push a big piece of
legislation like that it's difficult for
things like that um to move and so it's
as all 30-day sessions are it will start
off with a bang and we and will continue
at a frantic Pace the entire time
there's not much buildup in a 30-day on
the first day you kind of go up to the
top of the peak and then you just stay
there the whole time um the other thing
to consider is all the legislators will
be going into an election uh next
November so the Senate and House are
both up there's been some significant
move of uh senior Senators retiring SL
resigning and there's also a significant
number of house members who are looking
to move over to the Senate one of those
vacancies actually is still has not been
filled Senator Stuart Engel who had been
the longest serving legislator from
portalis just retired and so um there
are house members who want to take that
senate seat and so there's going to be
changes potentially in leadership and
committee assignments just going into
this session because of some of that
movement but you have a a large number
of house members that are going to be
moving to the Senate so when we talk
next year at this time the makeup will
be will be different because of two
things because of the election and also
we know that some of those members will
be um will be leaving and so I will
pause for an overview on that but I I'm
still available for any discussion or
questions as we move on and I think Shan
is
next thanks Larry appreciate that
breakdown
good morning Mr Mayor city councilors um
sh B for the record so we went through
uh a slightly different strategy this
year kind of going off of last year our
city manager offering up um a more um
legislator oriented um sort of um
strategy to asking them what their
interests are and what they would like
to fund um as in what are their prior
priorities first um and then trying to
match up some of our existing um needs
uh to then go back to them for capital
projects to be funded so we had quite a
few sessions um with the with the state
legislators and here's uh the rundown of
uh the the key uh points that we heard
most often uh so affordable housing was
definitely uh a High um issue active
Transportation came up several times uh
this is of course bicycle and pedestrian
safety and um Transit as well uh
Behavioral Health uh was another topic
of interest and Public Safety uh which
is no surprise and also sustainability
so these were kind of the the the key
issues um and then once we heard from
them collected our notes uh we went back
to the the Departments and also
convened um the CIP or the capital
Improvement uh planning uh Team core
team that we established last year so
I'm going to you know sort of remind
city council that we uh did a CIP
Retreat last year where we introduced a
new criteria set for our capital
projects these uh criteria would include
things like operational impacts and
Community benefits and also do these
projects align with our um long range
and comprehensive plans
so we try to do
uh a condensed version of that process
um and then I will run through a list of
projects that are sort of in the order
um of uh scoring if you
will so the first project uh to request
funding for uh to the state legislation
would be uh mobile integrated Healthcare
building this is uh our fire department
project where they are going to convert
Fire Station 3 into this um new building
uh which is going to house their mih um
and project light programs the total
project cost is 6.2 and the requested
amount is going to be $4
million and of course I'm going to run
through these but we have our
departments and our staff available to
answer any particular questions and give
you more details on any of these
projects
so then um we are also going to be
creating an active
Transportation um bucket if you will in
our icip database and request funding
for um kind of the list of improvements
that you see here uh but really focusing
around how to make our roads safer for
pedestrians and cyclists um as well as
comfortable for Transit users so
sidewalk gaps and improvements um ADF of
course is a given once you touch a
project we will always bring it up to
code and to um Ada standards Transit
shade stock structures uh the bus
shelters were mentioned during our
meetings Street lighting uh that can
help pedestrians and cyclists um as well
as uh motor vehicle users of course but
um then we can also have intersection
improvements where we already have bike
Lanes or bicycle facilities um going
leading up to an intersection uh we
usually uh at the intersection is where
the cost gets a little bit High uh and
so um creating a funding um opportunity
for that um is logical and then of
course the actual bicycle
facilities um and this should be really
based on our active Transportation plan
and the projects listed in it um which
have gone through you know public and
city council betting uh we also have
Street trees thrown in there just
because you know to create a pedestrian
environment Street trees to um create
safer streets um as well the total
requested in amount here is 6
million then um in terms of affordable
housing uh Amador Crossing would be uh
the the number one project to go after
State funds for this total project cost
is 7.6 million and the requested amount
is going to be $7 million uh this is of
course our community of hope uh
permanent Supportive Housing complex uh
that proposes to build out 40 to 50 uh
units excuse me sh what street where is
that going to be
located um West West Amador and what was
the across street I can't quite read
that M oh M oh okay got it I know where
that's
at so um lift of La crues uh this is a a
standing project uh going before the the
legislators last year was our first lift
up project request and this is the
second year the second area for lift up
has been identified as um kind of
central to the city uh and Valley View
Park um Falls within the boundaries of
that lift up area so uh the total
project cost on that is estimated to be
$7 million with the request amount being
4.2 and that includes um quite a few
Renovations uh and also Improvement of
the trail system and then there is going
to be a breakdown as we propose uh
multiple items that that the legislators
can sort of um go down the list of um
and and Larry can strategize as to how
much
and kind of you know where that can get
us um of course we will have other
projects in here um but we're still in
the process of identifying those
projects in the liftup area because the
public survey results have not been um
shared yet um so uh we'll see some more
under the liftup
bucket then fire station 9 this was a go
Bond project uh twice the total
projected cost of this uh building is
$14.6
million um and the requested amount
right now is 2.4
million the East Mesa Public
recreational complex uh this was also a
goant um item which the total project
cost is identified as $38 million um and
so there is still an additional need of
25 million for this project um and we
are uh for this round requesting 12 .6
million uh with again a menu of items uh
ranging from $800,000 to 5 million each
and we do have our parks and W um staff
here who can break those down for you
all if if um you are
interested and then we have this um last
sort of um slide for the capital project
requests which we're calling Finish Line
projects we heard legislators be
interested in trying to complete out
projects projects that could have been
um um struggling to get completed
because of inflation or during the
pandemic um cost and supply issues um we
are also um putting together some
um double duty here uh so South Main
Street is one project that has a total
cost of 5.8 and we are requesting $1
million to complete out some um active
transportation components so um that is
one road uh being requested Sacramento
was another road that actually was in
the first lift up area and we had
received some funding from the state on
that um however the requested amount is
1 million which should complete out that
road project um and which for a total
cost of 2.1
million and then we also have our
Wastewater set uh systems project which
we put on our list every year this is um
to uh
to I guess put in the the main lines for
the sewer system where there's um septic
septic systems near well areas and
potential um environmental um Hazard uh
the amount requested this round is going
to be 1.6
million and with that I will stop and
hand over to Lisa L unless you all had
any um
questions okay thanks
sh hello mayor councel my name is Lisa
Lorac I'm the sustainability officer I
have one slide to present to you about
the sustainability policy each year we
have um been as a member of the
Coalition for sustainable communities of
New Mexico we have all rallied together
to try to support sustainable policies
and given
the um exciting and um agenda for this
year that we know that the priorities
will be towards funding but there is one
area that overlaps with that and that's
the establishment and funding for the
New Mexico climate investment center
which is equivalent to a green bank and
what that does is it is um it offers
very low interest loans for um special
climate related projects that can be
anywhere from Green infrastructure to
energy conservation and other
sustainable measures and it's most often
targeted as an equity related funding
source that helps lower income
individuals families and pblos so this
um has already been approved by the
governor but it will establish the
Corpus for the climate investment center
and um that's the one policy area that
we're uh advocating for for this year or
recommending for
advocation and with that I'm
not thank
you thank you Lisa Shan and Larry and um
as Shanna said we also have departments
here available to um answer any
questions you may have before we get to
that I just wanted to mention again the
next steps so that we can continue in
this process and submit our capital
projects to um the state we'll be
bringing forward a resolution on
December 18th for your
consideration um then we as a once that
resolution is passed with your
priorities then we have a deadline that
staff will be working towards to submit
those projects to the state that'll be
in uh January 11th and then just as a
reminder there will be uh Las cruus days
in Santa Fe towards the end of January
and I know that uh EO Sonia and Aon are
all planning on being there along with
um other staff to um help advocate for
for our priorities as well so with that
I'll go ahead and pause so that we can
answer any questions you may have thanks
Barbara I just want to I just want to
say voice my support for all the
projects that were listed I think they
were all good and and um looking forward
to them that come in about so counselor
Graham yeah just a one general question
before we get into the details have we
nailed down where the next lift up area
is going to
be cool we do and I believe we have
Isaac here yes and I actually have a map
I
believe but I'll Leta Isaac speak to
that hello good morning mayor members of
city council Isaac hene with housing and
Neighborhood Services um currently we uh
did a scoring Matrix to identify which
spot would be the or the location would
be the best for the lift up neighborhood
too and it is located on am between
Amador and Idaho and then it also
encompasses um alpao and compo I believe
all the way up to salano and that's
where the next lift up last cruises will
be located great thank you so much no
problem thank you
mayor thank you thanks Isaac so so just
a a thought for Larry is your you know a
couple things one obviously there is a
fentanyl crisis going on in the state
and have you heard what what possibly
could be done to help uh local um law
enforcement combat that that's one and
then two these are unprecedented times
to see this type of money that's
available and you would think that this
would be the time to possibly look at
a mental health facility for southern
New Mexico here in Southern New Mexico I
mean because literally they could they
could do that and and I recognize that
all the legislators do get certain type
you know monies that they put aside but
what are your thoughts on those two
things one what are you hearing that
could help law enforcement help combat
the fentanyl crisis and two what are
your thoughts about possibly a another
facility similar to what's in Las Vegas
bring you know here here in the southern
New Mexico
thank you mayor as far as far as the
first I have not heard anything
specifically dealing with fol and
treatment as as a topic by itself but
when you're looking at we're looking at
criminal justice and you're looking at U
potential programming as it relates to
criminal justice not necessarily just
reform but combating the issue um and be
and Behavioral Health the two the your
two questions actually tie in well
together um I I would not be surprised
and and I think that will come up in the
in the discussion of how we're going to
deal with and reduction in crime itself
and so treatment would be for both
Behavioral Health funding and also for
treatment I suspect if it's not even
Standalone legislation will be included
an increase in the budget as far as it
relates to the to the mental health
behavioral health
facility I don't know that they that the
the concept is is ready for actual
funding for a hospital in the southern
part of the state but it's something
that we had like when we met with the
governor last year we brought up and had
discussion with I've I identify on the
capital outlay you have Services as that
relates to to behavoral health um so I I
think there's a potential for us to try
and get funding to help bolster
Behavioral Health Services I just don't
know what it's going to look like and
we've had we've had these these
discussions and mayor protim has been
pushing this for a very long time as as
a priority for the city so I think it's
a it's a good time for us to continue
that conversation and identify what's
the best way to bring those services and
what does it look like is it a hospital
is it is it other treatment facilities
is it inpatient is it is it inpatient
outpatient what's the mix and I think
that this is a good time because
Behavioral Health is a big topic as it
relates to not just Standalone but also
to the unhoused and also to Crime it's
all it's all tied
together okay thanks Larry and I'm going
to ask if I can to put the chief on the
spot a little bit Chief if if you had
your brothers is there something that
that that you you think that would help
you and your department help combat the
fentol crisis and if so is there
something there that you'd like for us
to entertain to possibly ask A
legislature to help
fund good morning Jeremy story inter and
police chief mayor members of council
you know if I had my wish there's lots
of things I do agree with Larry's hit
the nail in the head this is these are
complex problems and they're all related
to each other um you know we I see in my
my short time even as interim Chief I've
seen that there's a lot of good people
that are very intelligent and motivated
to impact substance use issues
homelessness issues um and mental health
doing good work and I think having one
Central facility in Southern New Mexico
would be very beneficial official we
don't see a lot of commitments go up to
Las Vegas even on the more severe or
extreme cases I think having a facility
here would help us having more resources
for long-term um inpatient treatment I
think would be beneficial um when it
comes to to Fel it's such a difficult
problem we have seen in a short period
of time three to four years a
transformation of of the reality for
officers and everyone else that works in
that field you know with Heroin as bad
as heroin is Fel is at a whole another
level and I'm not sure what the answer
is other than it's going to take all of
us working together it's not necessarily
a law enforcement Problem by itself it's
not even a treatment Problem by itself
it's difficult trying to beat the
addiction in one person is hard enough
and we look at how fast it spread
throughout the community um I think it's
going to take a very holistic
multifaceted approach to deal with it
here thanks Chief this morning I was
listening to the news and there was some
young kid who I guess he bought
something on social media Snapchat or
something like that and he was buying
per ccoet and it turns out it was had
fentanyl he died so um and then over the
weekend I was listening to
NPR and you know they were talking about
skitsophrenia on how that's on the rise
as well and so it's just you know unless
the
legislature can help fund some of these
these issues to help our our health
providers and such it's just going to
it's just going to continue to grow and
and we need to I think it's incumbent on
on as you mentioned the community both
City and County elected officials to
work with our leg lawmakers to help come
to uh some type of solution or something
to at least help keep it from just
continue to to take off so mayor PM she
had some comments on this thank you Mary
thank you Larry for the presentation
sanna and Lisa appreciate it um yeah you
know
I I agree I don't see this as part of
and almost every year that we've come uh
in front of the legislature we offer at
least our our feedback related to a
mental health facility I think it's
something you need to continue to put on
your on your list um and it it it's it's
just going to get worse so what I'll say
is there's a locer behavioral health
collaborative that's having their
meeting their end of the year um meeting
next week I believe um Lieutenant ho
Morales will be here along with other um
Specialists and chief is right there's a
number of people working
collaboratively um Barbara you're a part
of that through the opioid settlement
funding um all I would say is that you
need to coordinate those efforts there
is a large group of people that are
working on this and more specifically um
identifying a mental health specialist
eil something I've been talking a lot
about something someone around that has
that kind of expertise um because we
don't have it within the city and it
gets fall it it just falls off it's not
even a part of our of the priorities
that staff comes um in front of us and
and I'm not I'm not criticizing I'm just
saying it's typically not a municipality
function and and it it it's just going
to get worse so wherever it lands if
it's um in fire um
um Police Department it needs to be I
think on the Forefront of everything
that you do because all the things that
you're doing lift up um and and um you
know a number of these programs light U
um it's just going to keep affecting it
and getting worse so you if anything we
need to you need to identify that person
and that and mayor and I had worked on a
behavioral health district that didn't
really come to fruition but it's
something that um you'll need to to have
and um and and someone that that's sort
of advocating for that every single
every single at every single turn so um
I I would just say resilience eers we
spoke of Last Friday um more
specifically which is if people aren't
familiar um it's a collective impact
group that has 10 sector leaders working
on the survival and thriving Services
one of those is behavioral health um
we're we're talking a lot about
legislative priorities um more
specifically the local Behavioral Health
collaborative is looking at um The
Amigos project um the sataria house to
your point miror about schizophrenia
much of that is drug induced um and
fanol that's what you're seeing and so
I'm I'm asking it that this be a part of
the priority it it's a must um mental
health facility and Chief you know you
you hit the nail on the head it um being
able to have those kinds of
conversations with Chief and police
officers in terms of and your judges
right that are making those kinds of
determinations to send folks they're not
even sending folks to Vegas anymore
really I'm not sure what that problem is
the barrier but if we had something like
that here that would be M more helpful
to our area and Larry we've talked about
having other counties be a part of that
conversation so with that I'll turn it
back over to you mayor thank you mayor
and mayor protim if I made a couple
comments and it from both mayor what you
what you indicated mayor protim there
are not necessarily directly related to
a baval health hospital there are some
other things going on that we will see
this session so the governor and the
legislature last year created a Health
Care Authority and part of that is to to
to break down the silos between you have
human services department you have
Department of Health you have other
departments at the state that are
dealing with healthcare related issues
even as it the ibac the state employee
health plan they're all housed in
different places and the report is
supposed to come it's it was supposed to
have been out I think already but the
plan for the creation of the behavioral
health authority and whether or not they
need implementing legislation is
scheduled to come during this 30-day
session so as we're dealing with things
like Behavioral Health that and and and
a lot of that a lot of the health
healthare is provided through Medicaid
which is run by human services
department so in addition to the
creation of the healthcare Authority you
also have the new Medicaid contracts
that they're negotiating and are going
to effect on July 1 so you you have
different things help happening related
to behavioral health there and the other
thing in a place we normally wouldn't
necessarily think about it especially as
a municipal government a lot of what
we're talking about not just Behavioral
Health but also Health Care in general
is how can we grow the the healthcare
Workforce and keep that Workforce in the
state and so there are things being
discussed like loan
forgiveness um higher ed programs to
increase the amount of social workers
nurses healthcare related fields and
then also even things such as
discussions on paid internships for
college students to try and make the
connection between them and their
Community to keep them here in New
Mexico so although it's not specific
related specifically related to a
hospital itself
if we're supportive of Behavioral Health
initiatives there's lots of places we're
going to see um suggested changes and
improvements in the system in this
session councilor FLOTUS thank you Mr
Mayor and thank you uh Larry Mr heran
and Barbara and Sh Janna and and uh Lisa
thank you all very much for all your
work I appreciate it um so Larry I I
believe you stated that um there are
coordinated efforts throughout the state
uh to to address the behavioral health
mental health
issue is that did I mayor and counselor
there's there's discussion I don't I
don't I'm not sure how coordinated it is
I know there are different efforts that
are that we're hearing and and different
legislative committees have had
discussions on it so we will see
behavioral health related issues so okay
so there should be a coordinated effort
um so what does it take um you say the
governor has a lot of money there's also
the general fund that is just billions
of dollars and if we plucked out a
billion it would still feel like taking
a a hair off of a a cat's back there's
so much money there and I know Senator
Souls there was a great um feature uh
article or piece excuse me um by Mike
cook um where he uh quoted uh Senator
Souls um and then I I I asked Senator
Souls if that was all true not that I
don't try trust Mike he's a wonderful
wonderful uh journalist but um he said
yeah it's all there yeah we've got lots
of money New Mexico isn't poor I said
well you could have fooled me how do we
get that money I mean it's not going to
take you know for those of us I mean I'm
not a professional lobbyist you are um
and when I've been to Santa Fe I haven't
been up for a couple of years because
the the uh legislators are just running
around like chickens without heads and
it's chaotic and it's crazy making and
um but I am going up this coming year
this coming session in January and I I
want to make sure that the things that
we have uh laid out and aligned are
addressed so Larry you as a lobbyist
probably have access and you probably
represent other
municipalities um does this issue come
up uh with other members of uh uh your
clients for lack of a better word and is
there any effort to bring us together
and and get you know the mayor excuse me
not the mayor the governor to be
responsive with all due respect to the
governor there's been very little
empathy uh in terms of her actions
and uh and I look forward to her not no
longer being the governor um it's a very
uh because it seems like well I'm not
going to tell you what it seems like but
the net effect is that we're not getting
the money we need and then there's also
this windfall from gas and oil and then
they say oh there's all this money and
for those of us who feel like well we
believe not feel but believe that we
have to be careful in terms of the
environmental imp impact all of that has
uh yeah there's a lot of money where's
it going look at all the issues we have
and I'll bet my bottom dollar that we
haven't brought up anything you don't
already know and know a lot better in
terms of other municipalities and uh
jurisdictions throughout the the state
so
um how how can we as individual
counselors going to Santa Fe be
effective and that's why it's like why
waste uh you know the city's money on my
get going to an expensive hotel and then
my time and boarding my dog and making
sure my plants get watered
Etc what what uh what would be the most
effective way for us to um conduct
business when we're there except you
know looking for
you mayor and councelor Flores I'll take
your last question first and then back
in to your initial if if that's
okay
just the fact that you are willing to
travel to Santa Fe and meet with our
legislators has a significant impact it
may not seem to you at least initially
but there's there's a
dynamic when other elected officials are
talking to our elected officials it's
very different than if it's staff or if
it's a professional lobbyist so when you
go up and Advocate as a counselor for
the city of Las Cruses and you take the
time to make the 4-Hour drive to stay in
Santa Fe to board your dog and to go
have a discussion on these issues it has
an impact it doesn't just have an impact
on our legislators it has an impact on
all of them um I'll give you I'll give
you an example um because of timing good
planning and luck because it is chaotic
but there is there is some planning that
can go into things when the tax reform
bill was scheduled in the house tax
committee last year and it included a
pyramiding of mination of pyramiding of
gross receipts tax which had a
significant impact on cities in
particular it just happened to be
Municipal day and so you had a whole
bunch of not just city managers but
elected officials who were in Santa Fe
and were able to talk to the legislators
and testify to the committee about the
damage that pyramiding could have on
local governments and the services we
provide and that provision did not
remain in the bill because those voices
were were heard and they were there so
just by being there and having a
discussion on these issues and asking
those hard questions of legislators has
a significant impact it's always worth a
trip to Santa Fe something good always
comes of
it as far as coordinated efforts there's
there's discussion going on across the
board as it relates to behavioral health
fentol and crime it's daas are having it
the AG is is leading efforts you have
discussions in the healthcare field
field the municipal League talks about a
package as it relates to Crime every
year we've been working
on um law enforcement legislation every
year yes there's lots of money but the
part of the problem comes in in how are
we going to spend it to help solve the
problem and one of the biggest issues we
have as it relates to this is is
availability of Workforce I talked a
little bit about it like when we're
talking about Capital outlay if you have
$5 billion that can go to capital
projects but we only have the capacity
to spend a billion because we don't have
enough
contractors it's the same thing as we're
seeing in health care part of the
governor's um Public Health order has
requirements for managed care
organizations to provide Behavioral
Health Services when a c within a
certain period of time but if you don't
have the counselors if you don't have
the doctors if you don't have the social
workers in the
workforce even though you may have the
money to spend how do we provide the
services to those who are in need so
that's a that's a big part of what the
legislature and also local governments
we're all struggling with is where do we
put the funding and how do we increase
that access so that's part of the
challenge that they have if there's a
good if there's a good plan put in place
to deal with an issue like fentanyl or
addiction or crime or homelessness the
legislature is willing um able and
willing to spend the funding and it and
a second thing is starting to happen and
I know we talked about it as a priority
last year I didn't mention it I should
have because there's there's a
discussion about modernization that's
the word that legislators use
modernization of the legislature so they
did put out an RFP to look at what does
that look like what does staff look like
how do we bolster the resources of the
legislature so it's easier for them to
deal with these complex issues that
hasn't happened yet but
what what we're seeing and I can point
to some concrete examples for the first
time the Senate finance committee has a
full-time yearr round chief of staff for
the first time the house of prorations
committee hired a full-time year-round
chief of staff that gives a different
perspective to the legislators because
they're not just relying on legislative
finance committee they now have someone
else who's also looking at the issues
and even in the short time that that's
been in place this Finance hired there
right before the session last year the
appropriation committee hired there in I
want to say July or August they've only
been in place a few months there's a
significant you can you can feel a
significant difference as you're talking
about these complex issues so part of
what's going to happen we don't know
what the modernization will look like
but it will transform how the
legislators engage because when you're
dealing the fentol issue and the chief
talked about it Fint andol it's a it's a
behavioral health issue it's a healthare
issue it's a public safety issue issue
um it's a mental health issue it's a
housing issue it it's so complex and
that's just one that's one thing in
Medicaid the Medicaid budget takes up
billions of Revenue in the state half of
our population is on Medicaid the
Medicaid contract is complicated the
what the legislature has to deal with is
becoming more and more complex as our
society is more and more complex so they
need to put things in place to help them
address these issues rather than just
coming in every 30 or 60 days thank you
Mr Han the one uh point that you brought
up is um well even if we did this we
don't have the Personnel we don't have
the the uh bodies the people to fulfill
all those positions I'm a firm believer
that if the word gets out that Mex New
Mexico right now a lot of our doctors
have left to El Paso because of this
that and the other um but uh and
fortunately some of us are able to still
you know to commute to you know 2hour 1
hour drive 2hour round trip but um it
seems to me that if you build it they
will come and I think that if there's a
strong voice if there's a strong just a
you I I I I really can't believe I don't
want to believe that legislators
whatever level whether it's
municipalities or counties or the state
representatives wouldn't want those
programs and and Advocate and make it a
top priority because as you very well
stated and we all know very well is that
it's definitely um it's that it's really
the poverty really the poverty the you
know it's really a fundamental basic
thing and then of course the racism and
even though uh the state of New Mexico
is primarily quote Spanish unquote um
we're still treated like second uh class
citizens and I think that um and then
our are also our Native American
communities have been ignored and of
course we all know through the centuries
have been horribly abused and
slaughtered but I think that it's very
important for the state of New Mex
Mexico to say we have all this money
we're going to invest it in our people
and we have to start getting whatever
and start you know and I don't know I
don't know you would probably be more
Savvy about this but it seems to me that
uh the build it if you know build it and
they will come uh mentality uh would
it's more difficult than just build it
of course it's very complex but I think
that if the state was to show that it
really cares about people it's people um
I think there's going to be a turnaround
in terms of how people live their lives
you know I mean think about it you know
I mean most children who are abandoned
or abused or not fed correctly Not
educated correctly are the ones who are
not going to have a good outcome in
their adulthood and if we take care of
our children now uh and then we take
care of those that you know just uh
weren't as fortunate um I think we'll be
a better a better state to live in
so Larry do you see how all this money
is going to make a big difference are we
going to still be hearing straggling a
year from now 10 years from now 50 years
from now the same old same all what do
you
think mayor and counselor Flores
although it may surprise you a little
bit considering the profession that I'm
in and maybe the profession that I came
from I I still am a little bit
idealistic um so I do think that the
state will improve and we'll take those
necessary steps and part of that is I
see the makeup of the legislator and and
and particularly legislative leadership
and how they're looking at issues now
versus maybe they have in the past um
and specifically I'll point to the house
with with Javier Martinez as Speaker of
the House Ryan Lane is minority leader
from Aztec it's a different Generation
Um they're younger that they view things
differently the speaker was an advocate
and you bring up the challenges with
education and feeding of our children
and that he was an advocate
for CH uh the Early Childhood trust fund
and creating the Early Childhood
department and and prek and those type
of programs so I think we're seeing a
shift in in fact I think generally it
feels like and this is just a feeling so
I can't point to a piece of paper or
anything that's happening there's a
significant like a generational shift
happening in the legislature it's not
only with membership but it's how they
view things how they address and how
they how they tackle issues and so I
think that that this new group of
legislators we're starting to see this
change I think we will see significant
changes that'll help improve and they'll
take advantage of this opportunity of
increased funding because although it's
a finite increased funding because it's
dependent on oil primarily there's a
disagreement of how long that's going to
be the short end is probably five to
seven years industry thinks that this is
more of like a 30-year Trend and so
somewhere in there we have that
opportunity to change the state and part
of what we have to do because I've been
here before you talking about the fact
that we're trying to avoid cuts and we
didn't get any Capital outlay because
they didn't have a capital outlay bill
because the budget was down so far those
big significant swings we see because of
a oil dependent economy we have to
diversify our economy we have to figure
out what do we bring in how do we keep
how do we keep the um the next
generation of educated New Mexicans to
stay in the state because because once
you have a connection here you have a
vested interest in helping improve the
state so all of these things we're
talking about I think as they're
successful as we make those connections
with the community it will help make
those improvements um so that we're not
so I'm not back here in in 10 years or
or 15 years talking still talking about
septics which we probably will because
that's a huge problem but that we've
made steps um to improve these other
areas that you're talking about yes and
then um yai Martinez some of some money
is being allocated for for that and um
yai Martinez was decided uh quite a long
time ago I mean several years ago and
nothing there's been very little
movement uh you know there was all that
Fiasco over uh uh Native Americans not
getting during covid not getting
computers you know the children um so
what money is being allocated to yai
Martinez and why why is PE is it PE yeah
peed uh why is it dragging its feet and
what kind of money do they need to make
sure that yai Martinez gets uh the
holding and that decision gets
implemented mayor and Council FR it's
it's actually a good example of to what
your original question was which is we
have all of this money how do we fix the
problem so yai Martinez they've
increased teacher salary they've
significantly increased funding for
education and and they've poured money
into trying to solve the
problem and depending who you ask it
hasn't moved the needle at all and so
it's exactly what we're talking about is
having the funding in and of itself may
not be enough to solve the problem
because the legislature says look we
pour a lot more money in education and
the the plaintiffs in that case say it's
has not been enough now where it goes
and especially I I will for a disclaimer
do not have any K through 12 um nor do I
Lobby refering Ed K through2 education
that's a whole different um area but
there's and and it depends who you ask
if you ask representative Dereck Lin
from San die peblo also a member of his
Leta they haven't done nearly enough
because he introduces legislation every
year to increase funding specifically
related to um to Native American
education and some of it getss
implemented some of it doesn't but
there's also struggles at the local uh
Schoolboard District level there's ped
so it's a good example of we have the
resources but where do you put them to
make it
effectively change the
system well thank you very much Mr ran I
look forward to seeing you and calling
you between now and then thank you thank
you thank you Mr Mayor thank you
counselor any other
comments so I got a one question okay I
don't get I have to remember that it's
probably the first last last time I get
to ask you some direct questions without
having to pay for you know
Services the state every so often the
city will do a strategic plan so we can
kind of get input from Council and to
see how we want to move the city forward
and and and listen to what they're
hearing from their constituents what
they need and and we all come together
to try to pin it out point it out and
figure out how we're going to pay for it
does the state do that they don't do
they they just everyone just comes
together at the legislature they do
their what they want to do and you know
they're just doing little Parts here and
there there's
no big plan for the state I don't
believe I yeah like a strategic plan I
mean I don't I know that's silly but we
don't do that
correct mayor there's not one that I'm
that I'm aware of what I what I would
point out I Googled it before I asked
you this so I don't want to have to they
talked about doing a 50e water plan for
the state of New Mexico water as you
know has been an issue we've been
dealing with since Inception and that
was something that they they've T I'm
not even sure that that's been adopted
yet so no there's not as not a
comprehensive plan for the state you
know basically getting the legislators
uh legislators together you know kind of
talking about what's going on in their
in their various cities and and seeing
exactly how can we combat the things
that they're seeing okay I just want to
clarify that that's all thanks thanks
for that thank you
um thank you mayor and counselor so just
wanted to make sure that I um understood
your guidance and input for the
resolution that'll be coming forward on
the 18th I heard the support for the
capital projects just wanted to find out
if you would like to add support for a
regional behavioral health facility in
Southern New Mexico to the list of items
that we would adopt by resolution if
you're asking a question and you want an
answer I I think I can say
yes yeah I mean I I think that that's
would be the goal I I know I'm
supportive of it but when um when mayor
PM said something it just something a
light bulb just went off I was thinking
about Workforce Solutions right how we
have the state has broken into four four
parts and how there's six counties and
how we well we used to the governor
governor removed me but how we used to
uh have
meetings every so often and we would
reach out to various businesses and they
would help you know with the with uh
unemployment I don't think they have one
in the Department of Health how they
have a special board to combat whether
it's fentanyl whether it's Behavioral
Health and how they could reach out to
various mental health facilities um and
help fund them so that they can get I
mean we're talking now it's a lot
quicker because you know it's going to
take forever to build I mean don't get
me wrong I'm supportive of building a
facility I think it's going to be a
long-term issue but um you care to
answer that I don't think there is a I I
don't think there is a board um ideas
are just flowing right now after
listening here but there is not a board
to my knowledge through the much like a
Workforce Solutions board you know the
that there is one for the State under
the department of health or Health and
Human
Services mayor no there currently
there's no no such structure in place I
think the collaboratives might be the
closest that you have to that um but I
think what you're talking about is
something a Step Beyond the the
collaborative right U more of a more of
an appointed board with a mix of folks
like they're dealing with like work well
the workforce exactly with that model I
think if that were were to come that
would be something that would now come
through
that new healthare Authority that
they're forming um and so I looked that
up and it didn't quite drive with what
yeah it's supposed to start July 1st
2024 but it seemed like it was you know
it's just a good another state
agency and kind of a mega a mega state
agency with the idea that they're going
to deal with all things healthcare
related including employee benefits
Medicaid Etc don't know who the
secretary is going to be the plan really
hasn't even been hasn't been vetted yet
and that's fine I'm just my own personal
you know checklist here that's all all
right thank
you very good so um we will add some
language then that I apologize can
councelor no I just I was just gonna ask
sort of more to the Nuance of what you
are proposing I feel like in our in the
priorities that exist there is a
highlighting of permanent Supportive
Housing as well as project light uh
which are two sort of things that we are
investments in community organizations
that already exist that I feel like we
need to add up our investment in and
folks that we have efforts that we've
already invested in so I I wouldn't want
to displace those efforts which are
addressing those a lot of the issues
that were alluded to I want to make sure
that those don't fall in their
prioritization because I think they're
concrete and there are folks that we
know are already working on this and
doing things that are working so I don't
know how that I know how that all goes
like or sort of um but in terms of
priorities of things that
we that are very close to the top of our
list I would ask that those stay there
um so so thank you I I'll just address
that briefly and Larry you can feel free
to correct me if if I misspeak but um
this list of capital projects things
that the city would undertake uh to
construct with respect to the regional
behavioral health facility would be
support for that initiative that would
not necessarily be our Capital project
might be from the state as well
Larry mayor and counselor I don't think
I'd ever correct Barbara um but I but I
would I I think what she said is it
actually is kind of the way I'm thinking
and I would just maybe take it a step
further um because we've had this
discussion and mayor protim and I have
had this discussion I think if you make
a statement of policy of support for
increased Behavioral Health Services to
include a potential Behavioral Health
hospital or something like that because
I think what what I hear when I'm when
I'm in front of you and I hear you talk
about it is we have a void of services
in this part of the state that we need
to fill a hospital may be a piece of it
but it's probably broader than that so
maybe more of a broad policy statement
of support support for um for for an
increased Behavioral
Health Services um in in donana county
or in the southern part of the state and
maybe even including a statement as it
relates to Workforce and Behavioral
Health Workforce and because it's a much
broader issue so if that's your if
that's your idea of let's support it
that's a piece of it but I think there's
a lot more there because when we're
talking about Behavioral Health and and
what the fire department has been doing
with um project light that that is all
helping towards the solution as well so
for me to understanding direction from
the council that broader statement um is
beneficial if that makes sense no I'm
definitely here for it that's that's
sort of what I was hoping was the Nuance
so thank you I appreciate that
Clarity anybody
else okay so is that uh all the
presentation it is thank you very much
so we'll be coming back with that
resolution on the 18th so we can proceed
with the capital outlay process very
much appreciate the guidance and input
excuse me Mr yes councelor Miss bomo Mrs
bomo to distinguish you um so you will
be adding uh of the mental health that
that you brought up the guidelines that
uh pointed out mayor and councelor
Flores yes we will add a policy
statement for support of uh additional
Behavioral Health Services for our
region that uh may include a language uh
regarding the Workforce Development as
well great thank you very much thank you
thank you Mr her thank you Mr May sure
okay well if there's nothing further
entertain a motion to adjourn so move by
Flores second AA motion made by
councelor Florida second by councelor
Beta that we adjourn
Christine this is on the motion to
adjourn the special work session
councelor ABA yes councelor Graham yes
councelor bomo is absent councelor Karan
yes councelor flotes yes councelor Ganda
yes mayor yes okay we're adjourned it's
1107 a.m. and we'll see you all at 1
o'clock
okay
is