pretty
[Music]
EAS
okay well good afternoon everyone
welcome to the city council meeting
lasis city council today is Monday
December 4th 2023 it's approximately 1
pm before we have our Pledge of
Allegiance I'm going to ask if you
please rise for a brief moment of
silence as we reflect back on the brave
men and women United States armed forces
as they protect our interests around the
globe as well as the courageous men and
women of Las crus police department and
and Los Cruz's fire department as they
keep our city safe 247
365 councelor Kuran if you join me in
the pledge please pledge aliance to the
flag of the United States of
America to The Republic it stands one
nation with liy and justice
for thank
you okay as we always start off our
meetings with pet of the week or pets of
the week we have Amy def Felix who
should be on Zoom Amy are you
there hello yes I am here
okay um hello everyone of course my name
is Amy De Felix I am one of the rescue
coordinators for the Animal Services
Center of the missia valley um and I'll
present the pets of the week every week
so we'll go ahead and get started let me
turn off my video and share my screen
Amy can you speak up just a little bit
louder please yes I might also just be
sitting a little bit away from my
microphone is this
better yes okay awesome all righty so
we'll start off with our cat of the week
as always um our cat of the week his
name is one or Juan um and his number is
6937 n he says I have so much love to
give I am obsessed with being pet
especially on the head and I will
endlessly make B biscuits and beckon
towards you to make sure you know that I
want to be pet I dream of a loving home
for the holidays who won't mind me
spending the day cuddling up to them
every moment that I can get and then we
also have our dog of the week her name
is Starla and her number is 6277 two um
and she says I'm a little on the sh side
when I'm interacting with new people but
I warm up pretty quickly once I feel
safe especially once people take me out
on walks and let me check out the
scenery and smells I get so happy I can
do pretty good with other dogs too
because I really like playing with them
when I'm in in an energetic mood I just
want a living home to feel comfy and
loved in and then we have our events
going on um we have our home for the
holidays adoption special so that's the
entire month of December all adoptions
are going to be only
$75 and um we partner with the doniana
County human society every year as well
for home for the holidays and they're
going to be sponsoring the first 40
adoptions so I believe so far we have 20
animals adopted so there's 20 adoptions
left um that are sponsored so that means
they're free to the adopter we
definitely encourage people to come on
by and meet someone for pets um we do
have an offside adoption event at
Staples um I did not put the date I
apologize but it'll be this Saturday um
December December 9th and we'll be there
from 10: a. to 1M um we'll also have
this on social media so definitely U
follow us and so keep keep in the loop
about our our events and such and U
going off back to our topic of um sort
of re revisiting the points of um the
the talking points that I and a couple
of the guests for our October podcast
had um about responsible pet ownership
I'd like again to bring up this the
topic of enrichment I believe I've
talked about it once at least once maybe
twice enrichment in general um but it's
definitely something um I I feel like we
can't uh we can't talk enough about I
think I feel but definitely to start off
a board pet is a destructive pet um if
you happen to have a dog or a cat that
gets into your stuff um choose your
couch choose your shoes um just kind of
starts acting out one of the reasons
could just be that it's because they're
bored and they just want something to do
you know people when they get bored
sometimes they'll go out and cause
Mischief um for fun um but definitely
cats and dogs are are like that as well
um enrichment and there's different
kinds of enrichment there's like
physical enrichment like exercise and
also mental enrichment um these are
definitely important to keeping your pet
satisfied um they can prevent the
undesirable behaviors and and in general
they'll make your pet just feel so much
happier and just feel more fulfilled I
think that's what's definitely pretty
important um here we go I I kept it it's
not Thanksgiving safety I just realized
that I apologize it's still enrichment
but physical enrichment um would be
things like especially for dogs walks or
hikes um playing with toys like fetch or
chew um or squeaker toy taking them out
to the dog park um to get you know
stretch their legs and socialize a
little bit if they're dog friendly and
if they're fully vaccinated and healthy
we definitely don't want to risk them or
um get anyone else sick or get your dog
sick so as long as they're healthy and
while socialized um dog perk is a good
idea um and if you yourself um aren't
able you don't have the time or just
even the energy um to help exercise your
dog Doggy Daycare is always it's a good
idea if you have the the money to be
able to pay for it um they their staff
there obviously that'll take them out to
play groups um if they're dog friendly
and they'll they'll exercise them and
they'll make sure they get the
enrichment they need
um physical reement for cats can include
things like of course scratching posts
um cat trees for them to lounge and jump
around in any sort of variety of
elevation levels for your cat to explore
they like being up high and they also
like being kind of down low it's kind of
in their nature um as like a as like a
predator species um they like kind of
being able to have the full range of
um I guess living in the environment of
course playing with toys as well um and
cats although they love like running
around exploring and kind of tapping
into their sort of innate Instinct they
also like hiding Cubbies that's
definitely important for cats um hiding
Cubbies help them feel you know safe
decompressed when they're done for the
day and it helps them process everything
that they've um been through in a in a
safer kind of cozy way and mental
enrichment for dogs that can look like
scent work um I I believe I've also
mentioned like specifically snares
before which is you'll get like a pretty
lengthy lead on your dog you can take
him out to the park or um a trail
anywhere that's at least that's
definitely safe you you won't run the
risk of your dog accidentally running
into like a something poisonous like a
snake or anything definitely be aware in
general that's what the lead is there
for to always have that security but
just kind of have the long lead and let
them just kind of do their thing sniff
around just check everything out and
kind of let them work their senses the
way they want to be and that'll help
them feel a lot um SA ified and by the
end of that they they kind of get tired
out too because they've just been
experiencing so many new things and
their brain their brain gets definitely
tired and processing all of that of
course puzzle feeders and toys um that
also kind of helps them use their their
nose and works out their brain a little
bit because they have the little the
gadgets that hide the the treats or
their food in as well and they have to
work a little bit and use their their
brain and kind of solve some puzzles to
to get their little snacks um there's
also hide and seek with treats which is
kind of the a similar thing to like the
puzzle feers and toys instead of a
little Gadget that you hide them in
physically you'll hide the treats around
like your house your apartment and
places that your dog can access um and
then you just let them go and hunt for
it and I've seen videos of that um
online and and definitely it's really
fun to kind of watch them and see how
their minds are working kind of like oh
they smell it and going over here it's
hotter it smells nicer um and and having
them eventually finding it they get so
excited it's definitely fun to see um
mental enragement for cats can look like
puzzle feeders and toys as well they
have like little like balls that you can
fill with the cat food or treats and
then they'll knock it around they'll
learn to knock it around and learn um
realize that that will dispense the
treats and they they love doing that um
they'll go to town um cat grass and
catnip um cats love love kind of being
most cats enjoy sniffing and hang around
in catnip and they actually grow cat
grass you can buy it at the pet stores
just a little pot of cat grass um that
is safe for the cats to sniff they love
sniffing it they love even chewing on it
it's safe for them to eat um they can
spend their time just kind of whittling
away at that um another suggestion that
a lot of groups um can put is a bird if
you have a space to put a bird feeder
outside of your window that they can
view safely um the birds don't get
freaked out by the cat behind the window
they eventually they get used to it they
realize they're safe but it does um kind
of it's like TV for the cats I don't
know if you've ever heard if you have a
cat and they make their sort of like
cracking noise um at Birds um it's just
very entertaining for them it kind of
like Peaks their sort of natural
predator instincts in a safe way that is
safe to the birds and it keeps them kind
of mentally stimulated as well but
definitely an active pet and enriched
pet is a happy pet and it keeps everyone
happy and safe so we'll definitely keep
that in mind thank
you okay thank you Amy I appreciate it
very much so next we're going to have
Sarah Rainey from New Mexico workforce
connections she's going to do the jobs
of the
week good afternoon everyone thank you
for having me let me share my screen
real
quick
oops okay
and sorry everyone there we
go so for jobs of the week for December
4th 202 23 we have for the city of Las
cruus we have a bus operator let me move
this out of the way real quick um that
position pays 1951 an hour and that
position closes next week on the 11th
also for the city of Los CSUS we have a
vehicle service worker that position
pays 1676 an hour and the position
closes on the 11th as well for White
Sands missal range we have the a
purchasing and material Administration
anal
senior um depends on experience for the
pay range but that position is open
until the
15th for adalante we have a cook site
assistant that um pays 1375 an hour they
also have a hiring bonus so check that
one out that one closes at the end of
this
month um we have multiple travel medical
positions that are open with AA
Healthcare um they have actually
positions all over the southwest region
so if you're in the medical field please
check out those positions on our website
as well um the pay ranges on all of
those different
positions um for Amadore Health Center
we have a recovery support specialist
that position pays from $18 to $20 an
hour and the posting closes on the
27th as always you you guys can check us
out at 226 South Alita Boulevard or on
our website at employee and.com please
please check us out on our um Facebook
Instagram LinkedIn YouTube we've got all
of it including TI Tok now so feel free
to check us out and download the app
thank you all for having me okay thank
you Sarah we appreciate
that okay before we uh we have one
Proclamation but before before we do
that I have a presentation I'd like to
make to um Senator Jeff steinborn so I
think I saw him in here so
Senator unfortunately representative
small couldn't make it I guess
he's could make it he's out of out of
town so I guess it was probably 11 years
ago that uh uh Senator came to me
talking about wanting to do the a
National Monument the Oregon mountains
desert desert Peaks and I'm like well
what they're there and he says well yeah
but it will really bring a lot of U
Economic Development you'll see a lot of
people wanting to come here and and I
thought really he goes yes I mean he if
you know this this young man here uh he
doesn't take no for an answer he he will
be on you until you just submission you
know he has he the the word no does not
is not in his vocabulary so I said okay
well I mean it sounds good
and um and there he was him and then
representative small and and a group of
a lot of other dedicated individuals
really worked hard to get the Oregon
Mountain uh National desert Peaks
National Monument going and so it's been
10 years since President Obama signed uh
I'll never forget that and the senator
says hey you know what you come here to
Washington you're going to be right
there and the president signs it and so
um I was there but what wasn't there on
the table like I was it was said to me
but at least I was about 50 ft away but
I still good I still got a I still got a
pen that that the president signed but
uh so it came out the other day how much
how many millions of dollars does that
National mon bring into the state I mean
to this whole area well it's triple
visitation triple visitation but it's in
the millions of all the 60 million 60
million so I thought you know what
if you get past 59 million you get one
of these these
plaques so I'm GNA I'm going to give
this to you Senator is the mayor's
distinguished service award to Senator
Jeff steinborn for your hard work and
dedication and establishing the organ
Mountain Desert Peaks National Monument
dated this December 2023 thank you
man
and if you would mind representative
small if you could give that to him as
well and if you'd like to say a few
words
sure thank you very much mayor well I
want to start off by saying give a round
of applause to yourself because the
entire city of Las Cruz has got this
National Monument protected so give a
round of applause to you everybody
listening I want to just thank the city
I mean this National Monument that we
protected here which is the largest
national monument in the state of New
Mexico I don't know if you know that the
Oregon Mountain Desert Peaks National
Monument it's been an incredible success
for for our city but it did take a
little bit of vision it took a lot of
education and I want to thank the Los
cus city council first of all because
the Las CS city council were stalwart
supporters from the very beginning as
was the donana County Commission but so
many in our community so many of you in
this room might have sent a letter might
have shown up at a meeting some of you
before you elected thank you to every
one of you that were a part of this
story and and I and I want to of course
thank representative Nathan small he and
I worked together for 10 years tireless
advocacy bringing the mayor bringing
others to Washington DC and thank you
mayor you were always a sart supporter
we appreciate that but you know I want
to thank those people who have been
working on conservation for decades um
The Advocates like Steve Kaa Wesley
Leonard Dave Foreman Bob tafanelli
people in this community or people who
worked in this community going back 30
40 years who identify that the Oregon
mountains and surrounding mountains
should be protected and they actually
got these mountains on a path of being
protected and it was through their work
and their inventory work of of special
places here that we then took this
campaign and ultimately made a case to
the president of the United States and
got him protected as a monument so let's
always remember those who brought us and
uh but otherwise uh congratulations Los
cruus on this tremendous um
accomplishment for all of us thank you
mayor thank
you okay now I'm going to invite
counselor Corin here she has a
proclamation so you guys are very
special not not only you're going to get
a proclamation read here at city council
but you're going to be U I believe
councel Corin is going to be reading
that I guess at the temple during Hanah
so councelor
Corin thank you thank you mayor at the
plaza I think this weekend um so I look
forward to it um this Proclamation
denouncing anti-Semitism day is for the
Kad community of Las cusis as well as
the Jewish community in general so I
don't know if someone wants to come up
as a
representative or you can wait we do
even have a the
official thank you please yes you're you
are welcome please thank you thanks for
coming
up it's pretty yeah we got an official
one thanks to Anette so we got it thank
you for coming up
thank you both for coming
up whereas Las crusa celebrates our
Jewish friends and neighbors an immense
contributions they make to our community
city and state and whereas Jewish values
culture and contributions have helped
shape the character of our nation our
state our city and our community and
whereas anti-Semitism including
harassment on the basis of actual or
perceived Jewish origin ancestry
ethnicity identity affiliation or faith
remains a persistent and pervasive and
disturbing problem in Contemporary
American society and whereas the
international Holocaust remembrance
Alliance has promulgated the F following
working def definition of anti-semitism
which has been adopted or endorsed by 43
countries and various agencies of the
United States federal government
anti-Semitism is a certain perception of
Jews which may be expressed as a hatred
toward Jews rhetorical and physical
manifestations of anti-Semitism are
directed toward Jewish and non-jewish
individuals Andor their property toward
the Jewish Community institutions and
religious facilities and whereas while
anti-semitic incidents mostly directed
and intensely affect the Jewish
Community anti-Semitism like all forms
of hate threatens all new Mexicans and
Las crans and whereas in a time of
increasing anti-Semitism we should be V
Vigilant in ensuring people understand
and speak out against anti-Semitism when
they hear it or see it and that the city
of Las crusis shows support for the Las
crusis Jewish community and whereas as
we work to create a city of Las crusis
for all our city will continue to be a
place that welcomes Jewish people and
honors their meaningful contributions to
our community city state and Country now
we now therefore we the mayor and City
Council of Las cruus New Mexico do
hereby hereby Proclaim Monday December
4th 2023 as denouncing anti-Semitism
day
would you all like to say
something no you're okay you good for a
picture good for a picture good for a
picture
okay thank you mayor and thank you city
council thank
you
okay thank you counselor all right uh I
understand we have a fire engine
donation presentation by fire chief
Jason
Smith you're going to donate that like
to me or who you going to
donate no thought it was a going away
present
well good afternoon mayor members of
city council and and the public uh thank
you for having us here this afternoon
I'm going to be doing a brief
presentation on uh the donation of a
1915 Ford Model T chemical fire engine
uh that we received uh
recently so a little bit of history of
the engine uh the picture you see there
is a delivery picture uh of the engine
when it when it arrived it was built in
1915 and then delivered to the city of
Los Cruses uh it's our earliest known
motorized engine uh for the city of Los
cruus and it has the serial number
f107 designated that it was the seventh
unit of that type made that year out of
22 and it is one of two still existing
1915 chemical engines from American the
France and
Ford
uh here's uh one of our artifact
pictures a little hard to see uh but
this is our volunteer fire department uh
sometime after 1915 uh one of those two
uh model T's is probably our engine it's
a little hard to tell as you can see
from some of the the details there we
don't even uh know everybody who's in
the picture except for we do know the
dog was there I think that was the first
pet of the week that was
adopted
so
uh by the 1930s the vehicle was no
longer in use and it ended up uh going
out to the scrapyard but one of our
volunteer firefighters Joe melendres uh
saw it there and he saved this vehicle
and his family and him enjoyed it for
well over I think 60 years until
1999 at that point it was uh purchased
by our our benefactor West Melo and he
spent the next 10 years doing an
extensive rebuild uh the motor the paint
all the
equipment here's some pictures of all
the pieces taken
apart uh for
it uh primered and and starting to
reassemble the the
engine a little bit further on the
progress and there it is complete with
Mr Melo on it who's actually here in the
the audience audience with us as well as
uh members of the mendas family who have
come back to uh to see this being
donated back to the city uh so we've
been working the last couple of years
with Wes on getting this donated back to
the city it was very important for him
to to see this go back to its original
fire department and it's been donated
back to us by the Melo living
trust so there's the picture of it all
uh uh all
finished uh this was over at uh Mr
melo's residence in in Oregon
here it is at its Temporary Home in Fire
Station 3 the day that it was delivered
uh to us last
month here's a picture of of those of us
from the station uh as well as the the
gentleman you see in the middle in the
brown with the thumbs up that's Sid he
was our delivery guy a great guy like
reached out to us made sure that we
could be there from when the engine
arrived uh he knew we were well I was
super stoked
so so the future for it uh we've asked
our Honor Guard to be trained in in
driving the 1915 um so we had kind of a
practice yesterday of how to maintain it
and operate it uh Chief story will need
some tickets excused for us if that's
cool um those things get up and go so we
were we were Drive the 1915 um Wes was
there as well as a member of the model a
club from town Rick black and then Tim
O'Brien one of our Battalion Chiefs from
berino came down with his 1923 Model
Model T to help us uh learn how to
operate this there's three pedals on the
floor none of them are the gas just so
you
know uh we're working on displaying it
here it's outside right now in City Hall
so people can take a look at it uh the
picture you see is fire station 9 that's
where we're going to house it once nine
is constructed this area here in the
front lobby is All Glass so that people
driving up normal Ranch can can see the
engine as well as double doors that open
up so we can take the engine out for
parades and events so we're super
excited about it and I think if this
works we've got deputy chief Justin
Allen outside who we're going to try to
bring into the meeting to show you the
engine
outside it's like one of those fun house
mirrors right
now
I've been getting asked a lot if I'm a
robot lately because I've been voting in
the chili drop thing and I kind of am
now doubting my answer to that am my a
robot question please
okay well I think we'll just move on
so Justin great
job not not his fault U technology and
trying something new but at this time I
I definitely want to um bring up the
Menders family there's a lot here
including uh Joe mra's daughter his
grandkids great grandkids here so if you
all would stand please and allow us to
give you a round of applause for your
family's
work uh really on behalf of the Los
crusis far department and if I made the
the city of Los cruus thank you to your
your dad your grandfather
great-grandfather for for recognizing
something and and purchasing it and
saving it from from history so that it
can be here in the in the now and the
present so really thank you so
much and then I'd also like to call up
Mr West melow because I know there's
some points about the fire engine that I
skimmed over that I'm sure Mr Melo can
elaborate more
on good afternoon my name is Wesley
melow I live in Roseberg
Oregon that's on the other side of
Nevada in case
you so back in
1999 I saw an ad in the model T4 Ford
Club of
America's um posting for a 1915 Model T
Ford fire engine and all it said was
that and it said call Stella and it had
a phone number well I copied that off
and kept it in my office for about three
weeks because we were pretty busy it was
Christmas
time finally I thought I better call
Stella and I did and she actually
answered the
phone and it turned out her name was
Stella
melindras and she's got sisters and
brothers and lots of relatives that are
here and I think we're really honored to
have them here because they were
young in those days and they got to go
for a ride out here on a brush with
their Model Model T for and got to crank
the
siren so thanks to the MERS family thank
you
guys so just briefly the fire fire
engine is a chemical engine and it's
very
rare the uh chemical fire engine really
was invented in France in the
1860s and they uh
actually started using the chemical
engine in the United States in the 1870s
and it was used for about 50 years until
really it became a antique and was
outdated by more modern fire equipment
that had pumps that actually could pump
the water this vehicle does not have a
pump it has two tanks the tanks are on
the back each one is is 25 gallons so
you They Carried 50 gallons of water and
it's a chemical engine because it
operated by using a chemical reaction
between sodium bicarbonate which is the
baking soda that you use at home baking
and a a strong acid basically it was
concentrated sulfuric acid if you took
chemistry you didn't want to put your
hand in that because your hand would
probably disappear with very strong
chemical and they work very quickly uh
when they got to the fire all they had
to do was to pull a little uh cotter pin
out and drop the arm down and the
support arm and turn the tank upside
down and that acid would spill into the
chemical uh water which basically had
sodium bicarbonate in the reaction of
that made sodium sulfate which is a salt
which does not do anything to help fight
a
fire but it also made water that's part
of the chemical reaction but what it
really did is it made copious amounts of
carbon dioxide gas and that gas would be
trapped in the tank and and would squirt
the water out put the fire out the
chemical engine was designed as a quick
response vehicle it was designed so that
you could get water to the fire as
quickly as possible and the chemical
engine started out as handdrawn fire
engines then they went to horsedrawn and
if you go look at that little fire
engine out there uh if you look at the
seat it's actually not a Model T seat
it's a seat that came off of a carriage
so the vehicle is well restored and
yesterday we were honored to have the
honor guard and your fire chief over
there learning to drive it he does a
good job I was
surprised you done good
chief he said he watched through videos
so that's it you're welcome to it to
it's your fire engine now it's not mine
anymore I donated to the city and well
thank you
so if you have any questions see your
fire chief or see your honor guard guys
they know all about it thank you very
much Mr mow Mr mow uh before you leave
I'm right I'm right here so let me just
understand this so the mendas family had
it and basically donated it you you
reached out to
them uh they're not from Oregon right
you're from yeah I'm in Oregon I came
down to pick it up well actually I yes I
did I had to come down to Tennessee on
business so I flew into El Paso and
rented a truck without knowing what I
was buying came up here Los Cruses and
Joe melind was home at his home with
Stella which I believe is the
oldest uh daughter and I had a wonderful
chat with him and the long story
short they needed the money and I need I
didn't need it as much so I bought it so
so then you repaired it all on your all
on your own and then you just decided to
give it to the city of Los Cruses that's
correct so just out I mean not I don't
want to look give horse in the mouse but
just out of curiosity why Los Cru says
why not where from well that's a really
great question mayor thank you for
asking it I was a volunteer of fireman
all my life my dad was a volunteer fire
chief of the town I was raised in so I
started going to fires when I was
probably eight or nine years old and
that it was exciting there's a lot of
adrenaline running but
anyway after I bought it and got it home
I got to thinking about the the purchase
from the Menders family and I thought
you know what this fire engine needs to
go back to its City its original City
it's the first motorized fire engine
that I know of for this city and it
belongs back here it doesn't belong at
my house anymore I'm too old I'm 80
years old so time well well let me tell
you why I'm asking first off thank you
very much for that generous GI generous
gift and then of course to the mendous
family for somehow getting it to you and
then you bringing it back here so this
is my second to last city council
meeting I you've been from Oregon you're
not aware that I've been here for a few
years and and so I decided not to run
for re-election and so there's going to
be a new mayor ironically my uh success
it was a was this gentleman's
predecessor so he was the fire chief be
before Chief Smith so what I was going
to ask you saw a presentation an award
they gave to Senator steinborn but I
have seen in the past I've never done
one of these but I'm going to suggest to
the new Administration that with that
fire with your engine you know the fire
truck that you're donating a basically a
brass uh plaque with your picture and
your little bit of verbiage there for
you to do what you've done and that's
incredible for you to out of your own
pocket and spend all that time where you
could easily have sold it for God knows
who knows how much and to bring it back
here did we pay to have it brought here
you pay all this stuff you know what
mayor when I was in the fire
[Applause]
department that's a that's a pretty
incredible Story I mean one that that um
you know deserves uh at the minimum the
the mayor's distinguished service award
but this you know to have your I think a
a picture of you in your on a on a
bronze plaque next to that fire engine
to let people know who you were and who
you are and and what you did that's
incredible that's a that's probably a
story for Good Morning America you know
so I would just say this about that fire
engine is important to this city yeah
and it's more important to this city
than it is to me yeah and when I was in
the fire service I was a volunteer the
whole time and I was in six different
party department is the company I work
for moved me around to United States and
I think in two of the fire departments
that I was in we got an older fire
engine back not quite that old but it
was a real honor to get it back so I
just decided Well the city needs it more
than I do well we appreciate it very
much and um so like I said I I'll ask
the incoming mayor about uh getting you
something there because it'd be a little
bit too hard to get done so quick
especially during the holidays but I
just want to tell you thank you very
much for your generous work and efforts
and and contribution to the city that
that's really cool that that you know
that's a really neat thank you sir and
you guys enjoy
it
real
e
for I think we're all so happy here well
let's just councel the rest of the
meeting and just go home I'm just
kidding I'm just kidding all right so
I'm going to have I call the conflict of
interest statement this raw ask if any
member of the city council city manager
or any City staff has any known conflict
of interest on any item on the agenda
none like none Graham nonea I do have a
potential conflict on 8.2 so I will
recuse myself for that
vote mayor
8.2
uh for a nonprofit are do you sit on one
of the boards no one of them is for DAC
and that's where I work so I don't want
to create I don't I don't I just want to
make sure no that's good I appreciate
that did
you oh okay okay next we go to public
participation this is where members of
the public can speak to council for a
total of seven minutes three minutes for
anything that you wish to say four
minutes for an item that's on the agenda
although we ask that if it's on the
agenda if you could wait until that item
comes forward if you can't if you have
to go somewhere and you have to you know
get back to wherever you need to be
please let us know because the council
can't uh respond to you uh regarding
anything that you wish to say in
public we just asked it it not be
pertaining to any pending litigation so
uh and I usually start on my left but
I'm going to start on my right this time
no I'm just kidding I'm just messing
with you so I start on my left usually
the first row nobody's on the first row
and so I take it you're on the second
row and I just need you to state your
name and you my name is Paul robado my
wife and I you want to speak into the
mic my name is Paul robado my wife and I
live in Del re Estates for the last 10
years which is in District 5 I would
like you to like you all to place
yourself in the following
scenario it's 8:00 pm in the evening
you're relaxing in your living room
talking to a significant other maybe
watching TV read reading a book or
playing with your
children when all of a sudden a window
in your living room is shattered glasses
flying in all directions as a 9mm bullet
enters your living
room take a moment to think about
that this is not a hypothetical scenario
for my wife and
myself on November 15th at approximately
7:30 p.m. exactly this happened to
us
my wife and I were extremely
lucky the bullet hit the living
room window and lost energy and fell
onto the window sill where the police
recovered it I spent almost 30 years in
the military during the Vietnam War era
the Cold War
era I spent several weeks at Ground
Zero in New York City on 9/11 but never
in a million years would I have thought
my wife and I would be exposed to a
bullet entering our living room on a
quiet Wednesday
evening the open area behind us is in
city
limits homes are bordering this area
from Park Hill Estates Del re Estates
and single family homes on Tucson Avenue
this is not the place to be discharging
Firearms as our elected officials get
together together with the chief of
police and come up with a concrete plan
to conail this type of activity within
City Limits before it leads to tragic
consequences thank
you thank you Mr Rado that's an
incredible story that you shared with us
um you know years
ago I would go to the mayor's meetings
and and every year I've been going for
the last 16 years about 10 years ago
there was a company called spot spot or
shot Spotter and I used to think wow you
know they could actually within 50 feet
figure out where that shot came from and
I used to think I'm glad that we don't
really need that here in Los cruus but I
think it's probably time that uh this
the future city council this maybe looks
at something like that because what
you're what you're recanting is
extremely scary situation and uh I
appreciate you sharing your story with
us
okay anyone else on the second
row um
yeah hello my name is rundo guermo
Montes I thank you sir for acknowledging
the military and the first respond
wers my
grandson is at the induction Center as
we
speak getting ready to go into the Navy
and answer the call to his
country my father was also a volunteer
fireman for Las Cruses in the 30s and
the
40s so I'd like to
say I'm a lifelong resident of Las cruus
born to raised here mayor I know your
tour of Duty is is coming short here
pretty soon your collaboration with Eric
Enriquez can be positive for Las
Cruses three months ago I called the
police three times on the 911 emergency
call and they responded
quickly I want to come compliment the
professionalism the integrity and the
caring of our last Cruz's
finest Second To None I am totally
impressed I offered to buy their lunch
on their off time and they kindly
expressed their
enthusiasm but respectfully did not
expect I have had collaboration with the
police when I was a teacher
I participated in the Dare
program I would like to see a
reinstatement of a form of relation
building between police and
citizens when I was overseas I longed to
hear from my family and friends but did
not I would like for our men and women
on duty who care for us on their watch
say you'll be safe on my
watch
when we had the coffee with police
program I failed and I'm sorry for that
I didn't participate in it
so a reinvention of a great and
efficient police citizen team building
effort would be great an
effort that would be intrinsically
satisfying on both parts something both
parties would posit positively look
forward to too thank
you thank you Mr montis we appreciate
you uh taking the time to come to city
council to share with us these those uh
that letter your your kind words and um
words of encouragement and also
congratulations to your son and thank
you thank you for from us for his
service to our country you're welcome
yes sir
okay good good afternoon my name is
Diane starbu and I am with Animal
Advocates for
change last week I listened to the
Animal Service Center of missia Valley
board meeting and in this meeting Clint
ther States statistics that they gather
from the previous month which this time
was October and the kill rate for the
shelter was
41% which is bad okay nobody wants to
hear numbers like that um they're hard
to hear but
unfortunately this is the kind of range
that they have been in for the past few
years also during this meeting Michelle
Cora if I'm saying her name wrong
forgive me uh she's in ch runs this SNAP
program for the county and she was
saying that if she didn't have more
money
that she would not be able to do as much
for next year as she did last
year um our rescues
and uh the the shelter you know they're
begging for volunteers they're asking
for money they're overworked they're
overwhelmed what we really need is a
fully funded phased in required spay and
neuter program
uh and I would like to thank the mayor
for bringing forward the work session
back in November to work on a new animal
ordinance that would be better for all
companion
animals and I hope as per your wishes
that all parties concerned are working
collaboratively on this new ordinance
and I hope the the mayor and the council
can see to to uh support this ordinance
in word and In
Deed thank
you thank you Starbuck okay anyone else
on the second
row
okay either you're ready to let us have
it or you've got a really neat thing to
tell
[Laughter]
us good afternoon ladies and gentlemen
my name is Patricia Alford and with me
is Deborah Brown we live in the metr
section first I want to thank the police
officers Jonathan Pagan and detective
McDaniels number
888 and their night shift Captain for
their quick and effective response where
my friend's car parked in my driveway
was broken into on the early mornings of
Saturday November 25th
2023 which began at 1:44
a.m. they were
amazing and with the help of the aid of
the video from my house they were able
to make an arrest unfortunately was a
juvenile and I don't think it went very
far but I only placed the camera three
weeks prior because of incidents
involving my nextdoor neighbor
and the neighbor across the street whose
daughter-in-law's car was broken into
and stolen and retrieved at an
elementary school still running but
extensive damage to the car these
incidents involve material things
however the cost and loss of time is
unfair to the
owner we the neighbors are now forced
into extra expense for the cost of
cameras monitoring rates and system
updates there have been many many
carjacking attempts and carjackings and
um attempted home invasions in the last
one and and a half months in our
area I'm here today representing a group
of neighbors concerned about protecting
their property with the hopes that it
will not lead into to home
invasions um or the loss of someone's
life there will be a new town watch
group our volunteerism will only focus
on observations we only want to be the
eyes of the area and contacting the
police with as much information to give
them to applican the um
perpetrators we're having another
meeting this Saturday December 16th at
the red Hof haulk golf club which is
supporting the group because they're
concerned about their area too the
management is has graciously is
graciously letting us use an area to
meet and to come up with safe strategies
within our
communities met in within our
communities Metro virt and the Red Hawk
homes we would like the following if
it's possible we would like for somebody
from the police department to attend
that meeting and give us the legal
perspective we would like to have a
representative from Council to attend
that meeting we have a question is there
anyone who trains Town watch groups on
how to be safe and not intrusive to the
community Excuse Me Miss soundford I'm
sorry but your your time is up however
if you want to leave your um contact
information here I'm sure I I believe
under the Chief story there's um a
neighborhood watch coordin that can help
help you work on what you're trying to
do which I have to commend you and
applaud you for that the two things that
city council is looking to do in the
future is um first off is the mobile
vans that have cameras in them primarily
for speeding but also can be used for
for various other things and then also I
think the police department just
purchased about six more what they call
eyes in the sky where they can actually
kind of do a 2 I mean 100 a 360 rotation
uh of a particular area um I have to
tell you I've been you know of course
involved in in local government for 30
plus years and what we're experiencing
in the last couple years few years is is
unprecedented and I I would always keep
up with our neighbors in Al Paso you
know Al Paso is always the the largest
safest city in the United States you
know very rarely did you hear about
homicides or or stabbings or shootings
over there and and that was almost like
my correlation if if crime was up there
it it just seems like unfortunately it's
not only up in Los crues but it's up
Nationwide because although I just uh
left my last Conference of Mayors
meetings a few months ago that's that
discussion is Nationwide every city
whether you're 2000 population to to two
million it's it's just we don't I don't
know what's going on with it's just
people are I don't know if it's um
whether there it's lack of financial
resources that they feel they have to
steal to break in to do whatever they
need to do or I I don't know but I I
want to commend you for what you're
doing because I think you're setting the
example of what other neighborhoods need
to do but I'm I'm I'm confident the
police department has neighborhood watch
coordinator that can help you so if you
can leave your information with the what
sorry can I just ask sorry what time is
the meeting on Saturday oh this is your
representative I'm your person okay I'll
I'll be there two two is that what they
said I thought that's what it said but
I'll get your information and I'll give
back to you please yes
but we are doing everything we possibly
can I'm thinking of a model I'm from
Philadelphia originally and there's a
model where they had the
citizens sort of like look out for
things but they have a police officer uh
that helps them they're they said their
um crimes are down
70% I that's something to think about we
have to work together the police
department the city and the citizens uh
taxpayers of Las crus and I thank you
very much for taking the time to listen
to us thank you so we'll get you our
information through the clerk yeah if
you can give that to the city clerk
because she has to take note of it and
then thank you very much for sharing
that with us thank you so much for your
okay so that was oh nobody's on the
third
row good to see you
Alon fourth row
anyone the young one of our young adults
there no you want to come up and speak
come on say
something uh fifth
row sixth row seventh eth anyone on my
left okay so I'm going to shift to my
right first row is empty second
row did you have anything to say no
third
row
fourth fifth one in the red is fifth row
now sixth row yes
please my name is Jacob puit and I live
just off of of spruce close to Sierra uh
school and I there's a tremendous
disconnect between the public works and
road closures and Road Runner
Transit uh often the bus drivers now I
don't know I don't know what the
management there but the bus drivers
tell me the only way they know a road is
close stop is closed is when the driver
drives past there on the first run of
the day and calls it in and says oh by
the way stop number 22 on Route 12 which
it doesn't exist is closed and so I
don't know where the breakdown is but
between the drivers and the citizens and
the the Road Runner management and the
City Public Works and Road closers
whoever's in charge of that doesn't get
that information out to the people that
matters to and if you're trying to get
to a doctor's appointment and I don't
know I imagine most of you all are lucky
enough to be able to drive I'm not and
um also with Road Runner Transit there's
stops that are closed and there's no
work being done they put out their
orange barrels at 6 or 7:00 in the
morning and they leave them up and and
they I don't know if they take them down
at night or not because I rarely go out
after five or six um but that's an issue
that is is dear to my heart because
there's a lot of disabled people um that
use that bus and if their stop is closed
and they have a doctor's appointment
they're just out of
luck and
um I think that's all I'm running out of
time so thank very much well thank you
Mr PR for for sharing that with
us I'm sure uh EO and his team will take
note of that I I will tell you that I I
can't speak for the rest of the council
but I mean I get them on my emails and
certain roads you know they're going to
have this such and such
closed
connect right and um I will say that you
know a lot of times I've been asked well
why can't you guys maybe work at night
or do something you know that was that
was viable uh six seven years ago but
with after covid the prices that that
you see that uh that the city contracts
with these contractors you know they're
up 20 30% as it is and then to try to
work on a at night or on the weekends
you're talking almost double the price
but one thing Mr prud are you aware of
being able to use dial ride that's a
good point I'm glad you asked that
question because D ride generally
request that you call a week in advance
and I mean let's face it how many of you
all plan your life a week in advance uh
and if you happen to be making something
and and you know if I have to go to the
grocery store it's a 4-Hour trip for me
yes sir no I I agree I didn't know I was
talking about for a doctor's appointment
I didn't but but I do use gide but I
have to plan way ahead and sometimes I
can't I got you all right well thank you
very much for that
information okay so that was the sixth
row anyone else
seventh row oh
yeah I just need you to state your name
please hi good afternoon my name is
Nicholas narz sorry I'm with the Ace
Program I just want to come up here and
talk with what program uh the Ace
Program the academic career experience
oh okay I just want to come up here and
tell you guys like how good of a program
it is so before this program I wouldn't
be able to look anyone in the eye I
couldn't give out a handshake I couldn't
speak to anyone in front of anyone like
this so I just wanted to point out like
how good they do for us youth and they
really push us and strive us to do
better in our lives so I'm with a uh
Aviation program right now with Bellator
Aviation out the lasus airport and I've
been flying for the past two years and
they've paid full expenses and I'm
actually working and striving up to get
my private pilot license here pretty
soon so so this this pathway has really
opened up a big career with me so now
I'm going to the Army and I'm going to
be a Apache helicopter pilot and I just
want to point out like how how much they
really help you they put you in front of
random people that you've never met
before do job interviews mock interviews
everything all the above teach you how
to write your own uh sorry uh yes resume
sorry I forgot the word there they help
you write your own resume they just
prepare you for everything that life
will throw at you I just want to point
out like how good they are and like I
know that they've been really trying to
work on a transportation for us because
there's a lot of students that cannot uh
join the program or keep with the
program because they do not have
transportation they don't have cars
maybe their car breaks down anything of
the above they also do provide um suits
ties dress pants dress shoes everything
for us just so we can go and do these
interviews they also uh have us go to
NMSU job fairs career Affairs all the
above so I just wanted to point out like
how good they are and like they really
do help us out as far as MoneyWise too
because not a lot of us can pay for that
and that is all thank you well yeah
Nicholas Nicholas don't leave yet so you
know I took a look around and I see a
lot of you know as I get older everybody
looks young right there's a lot of young
really young people out here so who yes
who is uh you keep you pointed to
someone who's in charge of prr U so we
have uh our three uh are they on are
they on the program later I'm sorry are
they on the program later okay so okay
um because what you're talking about is
is um really a great uh sounds like it's
a great thing and in fact um I'm going
to make a prediction thank you for
wanting to serve our country but you're
probably going to be one of the youngest
generals you know I I I can see you I
can see you in your enthusiasm and your
ability to you know convey your your
what you you know wish to say to us and
so thank you very much for that yes sir
thank you good luck to you and and uh
good luck to you in your career thank
you I appreciate
[Applause]
it okay anybody else before we close the
public participation no all right well
that will close that will end the public
participation then and I've got a closed
meeting statement to
read
all right Las city council met in close
session at 10:32 a.m. November 20th 2023
the following members were in attendance
councelors Flores Kuran Beno Graham AA
gandera and myself Kim aashima staff
pres was Linda samples City attorney
Brad Douglas Deputy City attorney Ian
TPO assistant city manager filina hler
outside City attorney Barbara Delon
chief administrative officer Sonia
Delgado assistant city manager the
meeting adjourned at 11:10 a.m. for the
record Los Cruz City Council made in
close session and only discussed those
limited items as stated in the posted
notice number one to discuss P
litigation regarding Tom Reynolds versus
City Los cruus case number T
d-37 cv-20 22- 01521 which is closed
pursuant to animacy 1978 section
10-5-1 H number 7 and number two to
discuss um no we didn't discuss that
okay and meeting adjourned at 1110 a.m.
so thank you very
much okay now we're going to go to uh
acceptance of the
agenda move to approve second Graham
okay motion made by councelor Beta
second by councelor Graham to accept the
agenda as presented
Christine this is on the motion to
accept the agenda as presented councelor
AA yes councelor Graham yes councelor
bomo is absent councelor cran yes
councelor flotes yes councelor Ganda yes
mayor
yes okay so we're at items 8.1
resolution
24-6 move to approve Graham second AA
motion made by councel Graham second by
councelor AA and Sarah Gonzalez will be
presenting
good afternoon Council this is a
variance appeal for 493 oh
yes do you swear affirm that the
testimony you're about to give is a
truth and nothing but the truth under
penalty of law I do thank you sir this
is a variance appeal for 4093 Winter
Street property is approximately 649 ft
north of its intersection with Holly
drive and Winter Street it is
approximately .12 acres in size property
is owned R1 BC which is our single
family high density conditional and has
a single family
residence here's a zoning map of the
subject property in the surrounding area
there is multiple family um or single
family uses as well as a mobile home
park located to the west and to the
South everything else was either annexed
into the city located to the north
that's why it's our 1 a which is mobile
so a lot of them are mobile
homes here's an aerial map of the
subject property highlighted as you can
see the property in question does have a
carport located within the front that is
why we are here for the appeal
today the code does require per chapter
38 of the 2001 zoning code that any
single family residential Zone which is
r1a or r1b requires a 25t setback from
the property line for any carport or
garage structures
on September 26 the Planning and Zoning
commission denied the request two to
four with one commissioner absent for
the following findings it did not meet
the code requirement of the 25 foot
setback from the front property line the
deviation is a 24t variance and does not
meet the criteria for a variance to be
approved meaning there's no topography
constraints on the property the carport
does not spur economic development for
the area and a monetary hardship was not
meant being it was not
self-imposed lastly the structure was
built without a building
permit here's a site plan of the subject
property highlighted in basically red
the cport is 24 by 20 in size so it does
cover primarily the entire driveway up
to the property line but one foot there
is still that 12T utility easen as
previously discussed in our previous
case and with that we did see here's the
carport structure as you can see the
carport overhang is closer to the rock
wall we measure from the overhang not
from the actual post because that is
where the extended structure
goes they did do utility markers out
there we do have telephone and cable
that are located within our utility
easement on the
property the applicant is requesting the
appeal in order to retain the cardboard
at a 1 foot setback because one she was
not aware of the codes and regulations
at the time there are medical reasons in
in which for her and her her daughter's
safety it does protect the driveway from
becoming slippery in vehicles from
weather damage we did not receive any
complaints from the public during the
public hearing that took place on
September 26th and the structure does
not impede onto the
utilities with that staff does have a
requirement to resend out notification
for any appeal process there was one
member who spoke on her behalf during
the public hearing process staff did
receive one phone call requesting that
you know if they get a approved are they
able to go ahead and apply and get one
as well from a local neighbor and then
on Friday I did receive an email and a
phone call same person um that was not
in support because it would devalue his
property um he is located at 4096 Winter
Street directly across the street I and
it will also open up the idea that
everyone else in the neighborhood we
would be able to acquire
one with that if the council does
recommend approval or changes or
overturns PNC's decision staff would
still still recommend that both sides of
the carport remain open and not enclosed
so that way you do have Vehicle Safety
being met when they actually exit the
property the structure does need to be
attached to the home being it is not
permitted to have accessory structures
in your front yard obtain an
encroachment agreement for use of that
utility easement since it is encroaching
into that utility easement and then
obtain any building permits and all
required
inspections with that here are council's
options if you vote Yes to approve that
will overturn the pnz decision that was
made on September 26 if you vote to deny
that will uphold the decision made by
pnz vote Yes with conditions or vote to
table I stand for any questions and the
applicant is here as
well thank you Sarah councelor Flores
thank you Mr Mayor and thank you Miss
Gonzalez um it sounds very similar to
the one we just heard a week or so ago
um but there was no permit utilities are
affected um they don't meet uh
they don't well they don't meet the the
distance they're at 24 feet as opposed
to the 25 required or mayor councelor
flota that is correct yes the property
is encroaching into into essentially 24
feet that is the deviation requested the
garage is currently at 25 ft which is
the maximum or the minimum required any
structure that would be built along
there that would be for a carport or
garage would need to be at 25 ft so this
variation is going to be
24t into the actual 25t setback so there
is a 1ot separation of what's required
from the property line right
now does that one foot um have a is
there a consequence of an unsafe a
safety issue does it raise a safety
issue the one
foot devian mayor councelor Flores
because the structure is open it does
not pose as many conflicts um generally
when we look at structures that's why we
have a clear sight triangle for
driveways it's a 20x10 area in which we
like to remain open so that way there
isn't any obstructions from whenever you
pull out based on this is the single
pole that would not be the obstruction
if it were
enclosed so that one foot wouldn't
obstruct uh any the vision it would or
does it really create a safety issue
mayor council flotas it does not create
the safety issue because it's
open thank you Mrs Gonzalez
thank you counselor so Sarah let me let
me just give you my take on this you
know I think we have no choice probably
but to allow it to go through because we
left the Le the other one but I I I
would and I'll get with with if this is
if the council um is consensus but get
with the city manager and City attorney
I think there needs to be a moratorium
on all car ports I mean it's and then
and then so that Council can draw up uh
resolution or ordinance because if not
it's just going to continue going so the
the moratorium would stop the any
carports that aren't in that haven't
been filed with Community Development
and then I think as was discussed you
know you you have they have to come up
with something whether it's five times
the cost of the permit and and also Bill
the contractor the person who was
building it as well so that they both
share into the penalties that's 10 times
what the actual cost would be or
whatever the council decides to do I
mean we're you
know we could probably get it done this
month but you know that's I'll just
leave it up to this future Council here
but I think that's about the only way we
can do this a moratorium on all carports
until until that way there when when the
council if the council passes that
moratorium from that point on if anyone
has builds another carport I mean it's
got to be disclosed and but because I
don't see any other way really they're
just going to just keep adding them till
we do till the council does something of
that nature that's my take we had to do
that years ago I mean 25 years ago on on
an issue we had to put a moratorium and
until the at that time the county could
do something and get it done so that's
the only thing that's why I'm speaking
from from that
experience any comments from on this
issue with uh yes Council well I just
um I'm not sure that I understand what
you've proposed Mr Mayor and um even if
we had an ordinance people apparently
just don't know that they need to get uh
permits and I don't know should we just
uh paper the city with uh you need you
need to get a permit to do this this
that and the other um and I I agree with
the mayor in in the as to um we you know
it's very similar to the other one this
doesn't really uh present present a
safety hazard the utility lines are not
impeded or affected in any way vision
isn't
impeded um so
I even if we had an ordinance PE I mean
I'm not aware of every city ordinance
you know I I'm just not councelor what
that excuse me what was discussed at
that or it would be they would still be
allowed to do it it's just that the fine
it'd be like 10 times what the actual
cost would be five five times for the
applicant five times for the person who
built it that that's all oh I see it
finds yeah yeah but um but I I think
though that um even a fine would would
be uh overly I mean the punishment would
you know 10 times you know the I don't
know how much it cost to get a permit or
a variation but um it just seems kind of
punitive well it would be punitive
that's the intent but
um but they still wouldn't know I mean
we we would probably collect a lot of
money or think we might be collecting
money from property owners that do that
but um how are we going to keep them
from doing it in the first place I mean
what do we do to let uh homeowners know
about all the ordinances we have I mean
is there a place we go to it's a your
responsibility councelor you could put
it in the water the utility bills a
little flyer saying you need a permit
you add on to your house or something
like that there could be a campaign done
by the Communications office it would
have to probably yes there would have to
be a campaign but I'm just posing these
rhetorically to you Miss Gonzalez
because I think there's an element of
unfairness and I know that ignorance is
no defense you know to anything that's
unlawful um but it just doesn't seem
fair that's all and what steps has uh
the department taken since our last
hearing has a paper been has the news
has the city been papered with the
follow your
ordinances mayor councelor flotes no it
has not um being that we are now
currently going through the codery right
we have gone through some of those ideas
to see if there's things that we can
Implement and change because these
processes are taking place as far as
getting the information out there it's
always we do have public that comes in
and talk to us sometimes it's you you
accept it or sometimes it still happens
without permit sometimes it's known
sometimes people do know and wish to not
follow those regulations and sometimes
we do have you know constituents who do
follow regulations all of our codes are
online all of the city's website
publishes everything it's very difficult
to get the information out individually
except for in we try to do our postings
you know through Facebooks through
anything we can do on public websites
Our Community Development website has
all of our building codes our
ordinances that's the easiest way for us
to get the information out there and
then working as we continue to get these
calls or these complaints or working
with other companies to let them know
what those regulations are especially
when they do come in and ask to make
sure that they understand what they're
presenting to the person who may be
purchasing it and getting them educated
as well through their business license
process so does that include uh Miss
Gonzalez the um uh say the installers of
these uh carports and all these
businesses that uh perform those
services and provide the the materials
or or you know do the do they know that
the OWN owner needs a a permit and um I
I really believe in psa's public service
announcements and you can't get enough
of those and they're free um and it
seems to me you could have spots on all
the local radio stations um you know AM
FM stations whatever um just so that
everybody just hears this from time to
time and you know when people get
together I'm going to put a carport in
oh did you know you need a permit
I mean you know kind of like the word
gets out um
so okay um I think that's all I have to
say thank you thank you Miss Gonzalez
thank you Mr Mayor councelor Corin I I
um I thank you for alluding to the
realize n see the realize thing I I do
hope that realize can be a tool for us
sort of streamlining a lot of this and
thinking about um how we may I think the
trend is to have a different approach in
some ways to some things like this and I
would I would ask that we take a
different approach than perhaps we did
in 2001 um just generally as sort of to
the mayor's Point like Shifting the that
we don't have to be doing this all the
time that would be my idea specific to
this I'm curious if we say yes with
conditions there are probably amendments
that we have to give or like last time
specific amendments mayor councelor cran
that is correct um based on the
conditions that were listed um the last
hearing we did say to approve with the
or amend with the conditions voted on
that and then voted to approve the case
as
well okay so um would be which these
conditions these conditions are similar
to the prior one I think in some ways
open encroachment agreement attached to
the home which I think I'm not sure it
might already be attached to the home it
kind of looks like it might be but I'm
not sure and a building permit um so I I
would I would move move to add these
conditions to the or we can just say yes
to
conditions okay I would I would um like
to move to amend the proposal to add
these conditions please second Graham a
motion made by councelor Corin and
second by councelor Graham to add the
following conditions to the uh motion on
the amendment both one both sides of the
structure must remain open two the
structure needs to be attached to the
Home Three obtain encroachment agreement
with the use of utility easement and
last must obtain building permit and all
required inspections so it's a moved in
second on the amendment
Christine this is on the motion to amend
resolution 24- 060 to add the conditions
of both sides of the structure must
remain open the structure needs to be
attached to the home obtain encroachment
agreement for use of utility easement
and must obtain building permit and all
required inspections councelor AA yes
councelor Graham yes councelor bomo is
absent councelor cran yes councelor
flutes yes councelor Gonda yes and mayor
yes andol can you have Communications
office start working on something to at
least get that going as far as hey you
going to do anything to the house you
need to get a permit and um I'll just
let Council decide if they want to move
forward with some type of U penalty for
the for the for the future you know for
the applicant and the person who built
it because after a few times you know
when you get to the point where it you
you heard it's in the it hurts in the
pocketbook enough but they're going to
they're going to just say well just go
get a permit well and what about the
city putting notices out and making
homeowners yeah was they're are you
going to do that Mr peely promise cross
your heart
okay okay well that settles that one you
know that that's that's
yeah all right thank you Sarah okay next
item 8.2 resolution 20 I'm sorry we're
on no I was just seeing if you guys were
paying attention that's why I was you
guys were you guys I still standing here
I was waiting I I I was going to do that
I was acting like I was see now on the
main motion this is on the motion to
approve resolution 24- 060 as amended
councilor AA yes councelor Graham yes
councelor bomo is absent councelor cran
yes councelor flus yes coun Ganda yes
and mayor yes okay now we're at item 8.2
resolution 24
061 move to approve second Graham motion
made by councelor Beta second by
councelor Graham and Irene po will be
discussing
all right good afternoon mayor city
council Irene V with economic
development today I will be presenting
the American Rescue plan Act project
recommendations to review the city Al
excuse me the city allocated a total of
24.7 million in direct funding from the
US Treasury through arpa of which 10.4
million was set aside for community and
economic development
initiatives of the 10 applications
Community Foundation of southern New
Mexico and bitwise were awarded $1
million for a Workforce Development
project however when we received notice
that bit Whit would be filing for
bankruptcy we received excuse me a
recommendation from city manager uh
oh to submit new for new Workforce
Development projects for
consideration I think it is trying to
remove a
window or move it back
sorry the projects that will be
presented today provide real solutions
to issues our residents are still facing
those of our most most vulnerable
residents who are still struggling to
secure and maintain housing and
employment a continued shortage of
quality child care for our families and
children and a need to expand programs
and opportunities for upskill training
for our
Workforce the first project that we are
proposing is a transitional job training
program funding for this project will
support a four to six we job training
program for those at or below the
poverty level including those
experiencing housing in security with
the goal of re-entering the workforce we
will be partnering with doniana
Community College and are budgeting
240,000 for this
project Las crus residents continue to
face economic hardship caused by the co
pandemic specifically those at or below
the poverty level and those experiencing
housing insecurity since 2020 labor
force participation rates have dropped
all numbers of those at or below the
poverty level have
risen
recent data provided by the US Bureau of
Labor Statistics shows those with less
than high school education are
experiencing a higher rate of
unemployment at roughly 10% compared to
those with the bachelor's degree or
grader at 3.8% when examining labor
force participation rates rates are
significantly higher for those with a
bachelor's degree or more at 83%
compared to those with less than a high
school
education it is essential therefore that
we provide opportunities for our most
vulnerable and underserved populations
to gain the skills and education needed
to reenter the
workforce dccc's career and life skills
academy will customize training to help
participants build a blueprint for
employment developing a personalized
plan for long-term employment and career
pathway options emphasizing personal
Discovery career exploration financial
and computer literacy self advocacy and
Community
engagement paid employment along side
Healthcare and housing plays a crucial
role in the efforts to eradicate poverty
this initiative seeks to capitalize on
individuals unique abilities buil upon
their experience in education and equip
them with the Knowledge and Skills
necessary to establish a sustainable
path towards long-term employment by
addressing both the labor force shortage
and the increasing numbers of
individuals at or below the poverty line
we are working to advance the economic
mobility of our residents and making a
positive impact on the Financial Health
and long-term viability of our community
the next project that we are proposing
is a child care provider program funding
for this project will support a two-year
accelerated program for registered home
providers with the goal of transitioning
to a licensed three star provider we are
partnering with engage and are budgeting
300,000 for this
project Los cruus residents are still
struggling to find child care providers
although the state of New Mexico
recently extended the free childcare
program for those at or below 400% of
the federal poverty line this will help
to address the cost of child care
however the lack of quality providers
and long weight lists remains an issue
Trends in the number of licensed and
registered childcare homes in donana
County saw a 37% decrease between 2020
and
2023 New Mexico Early Childhood care
services encourages Child Care programs
to meet higher levels of quality in 2012
a new rating system was introduced by
the state called Focus an online
self-paced accreditation program
focusing on assessing improving and
communicating the level of quality in
Early Childhood Education and Care
settings the focus system assigns
quality ratings or star ratings ranging
from three to five stars to childcare
providers based on a number of factors
including full participation of the
child health promotion and development
screenings professional qualifications
in training and continuous quality
improvements other criteria include
teacher and student ratios and classroom
planning each level requires a higher
attainment of training and credentials
the focus rating system helps strengthen
Early Education and Care programs
provides a road map for quality
improvement and helps families identify
which programs will best meet their
needs in the spring of 2022 the
Secretary of Education conducted a tour
of 25 communities to get a better
understanding of the unique needs and
challenges of childcare providers Los
cruus was among them among their
findings was a need for better quality
materials such as age appropriate
Furniture Learning Materials books and
toys a second challenge that was
identified was a dissatisfaction with
Focus TI system child care providers
felt the self-pace program to be
inequitable and burdensome in meeting
all of the educational and training
requirements to progress these
challenges have stalled and at times
prevented childcare providers from
accelerating their learning and moving
closer to a five-star
rating registered home providers must
meet certain basic safety standards to
operate however they are not required to
meet the same star ratings as licensed
providers our goal in supporting our
home registered providers is to assist
them in building back capacity that was
lost during the pandemic while helping
them increase their levels of Education
and Training through the focus
accreditation program in doing so
registered providers will be guided
through Hands-On learning
receiving on-site assessments building
individual professional development
plans and receiving one-on-one
coaching new meico
engage excuse me Engage New Mexico has
demonstrated a commitment to finding
solutions to expand access to Quality
early childhood education and
experiences including through the
doniana County early childhood education
Coalition working with local Partners to
facilitate training the childcare
provider program will work with
registered providers to gain the skills
and training need needed to increase
quality of care raise their level of
education and credentials and increase
their capacity by up to 50% and
increasing revenues providers will also
receive valuable training and successful
business practices ensuring the parents
can access quality Child Care
strengthens our community the workforce
and the
economy the next project that we are
proposing is funding for apprenticeship
program funding for this project will
help to expand the local Independent
Electrical Contractors apprenticeship
program including upskill training for
licensed
journeyman we are partnering with
Southern New Mexico Independent
Electrical Contractors and are budgeting
200,000 for this
project apprenticeship programs are an
industry-driven highquality career
pathway employers can develop and
prepare their Workforce since 2012 there
has been a 64% increase in new
apprentiship program programs across the
country including 2 million new
apprentices there have been 396,000
graduates of apprenticeship programs
within the Last 5 Years and
14,700 New programs created of which 94%
of graduates retained employment after
completion of training earning an
average annual salary of 70,000 a year
of the 67 registered apprenticeship
programs in New Mexico only two are
located in Los Cruses of those is the
southern New Mexico independent
electrical
contractors IC is one of 50 chapters
Nationwide that has been offering
training for over 30 years through a
four-year apprenticeship program they
are the other four-year program as you'd
like to say over the next two years
funding will help support ic's expansion
to train new workers apprentices and
continuing education for Journey persons
funding will also support the expansion
of on-site lab stations and a mobile app
to conduct community outreach efforts to
further
recruiting
the fourth project we are proposing is
funding for a pre-apprenticeship program
funding for this project will help to
support pre-apprenticeship program and
transportation needs for Las Cruses
Public Schools participants we are
partnering with the Mexico Department of
Workforce Solutions and are budgeting
100,000 for this
project as we have just seen
apprenticeship programs are a building
block for successful careers but it is
through pre-apprenticeship experiences
that individuals develop the interest
the Knowledge and Skills to enter an
apprenticeship program
by supporting pre-apprenticeship
credentialing programs we are helping
students lay the foundations toward a
solid career while obtaining valuable
training and earning a wage working with
the Los Chris's public schools and
building on the success of their
work-based learning programs such as Ace
which we've heard from earlier the
pre-apprenticeship program will provide
students with valuable hands-on
experience support for transportation
needs so that those students who wish to
participate who don't have access to
participation Transportation will be
included in this program as well they
will also be gaining up to 400 hours of
training and mentorship and building a
highly trained and ready Workforce for
our
community the final project that we are
proposing funding for is Advanced
manufacturing
training funding for this project will
support upskill training for the
manufacturing Workforce gaining industry
certification surrounding Automation and
advanced manufacturing we will be
partnering with msia Valley Economic
Development Alliance and are budgeting
100,000 for this
project
the pandemic had a significant impact on
a number of Industries including
manufacturing affecting access to
materials and disrupting Supply chains
the industry however used this
disruption to seek advancements in new
technologies a report commissioned by
Mita identified four major roles in
demand by clients engaged in advanced
manufacturing based on the retelling
demand volume hiring growth the amount
of Education and Training needed level
of experience required and the volume of
Talent with transferable skills
the following roles
include logisticians automation
technicians sustainable manufacturing
process technicians and advanced machine
operators manufacturing roles of the
future will require digital skills and
the ability to problem solves since 2020
the demand for these roles has increased
significantly logisticians have seen a
54% growth rate automation technicians
have seen a 67% growth rate sustainable
manufacturing process excuse me process
technicians have seen a 35% growth rate
and advanced Machining operators have
seen an 18% growth rate with access to a
Workforce pipeline educational
institutions available to provide the
necessary training and a region with one
of the largest manufacturing
distribution centers in North America
advancing Advance excuse me invent
investing in advanced manufacturing
training would enhance the region to
attract intelligent manufacturing
working in partnership with M this
project will focus on assisting
Employers in upscaling their current
Workforce to gain the training
certifications to meet the current and
future demands of the manufacturer ing
industry in total we are proposing five
projects for a total budget of 940,000
with an additional 60,000 reserve for
additional programming and
administrative
costs following our Council
options and I stand for questions very
good Irene um councelor Flores thank you
Mr Mayor thank you so much Miss B can
you go back to page 12 slide 12 whatever
it's called yes um so this adds up to
$940,000
and um and then 60,000 is reserved so
that's 100,000 was that the amount that
had been allocated for bitwise 1 million
was was allocated yes so oh pardon so
with the additional
60,000 it'll be a million correct okay
and um as far as um I I'm first of all I
want to thank you you for for this this
is absolutely wonderful for all around
um it's it's really keeping up with the
times it's keeping up with technology I
think it's really giving our youth um a
real menu of where they can go and they
can even go further from there and so
thank you for that and especially for
the child care um that I think sometimes
really impedes um uh men and women who
have children who uh cannot participate
even though this is geared for this is
geared for well the the apprenticeship
program and all that and the training
the training well the apprenticeship and
the pre-apprenticeship
is um Geared for uh high school students
because I saw that lcps would be
participating so mayor councelor FLOTUS
the uh pre-apprenticeship is focusing on
supporting training for Las crusis
Public School students the
apprenticeship program is for those um
older oh yes older yes and then um and
okay so the the only one that's uh
working in conjunction um is the uh with
lcps is pre-apprenticeship program and
the others are working with the ACC or
so the uh mayor uh councelor FLOTUS the
transitional job training program we
will be working with the ACC the
childcare Pro provider program we are
partnering with engage engage right and
then and then the uh appr ship program
we partnering with IEC
pre-apprenticeship with New Mexico
workforce uh Solutions and then M with
manufacturing great thank you so very
much thank you thank you Mr Mayor thank
you councelor
beta thank you mayor and thank you
Greene for this presentation I also I'm
very excited to see all these projects
uh come to be at kind of starts I think
at that of child care and making sure
individuals have uh stable places to um
send their children while they are doing
the workforce training and then having
our young adults have career Pathways um
with that in mind I do have a little bit
of a question on our last one uh project
five of the manufacturing training um
within our packets we do have you know a
lot of things about program length
number of clients to be served um even
some of more of the details of like
costs of just supplies and things this
one is a little bit lighter on the
details and so just for my clarification
we have with this um the number of
clients to be served with this project
are about 5 to 10 and is that um
manufacturing companies that they're
going to partner with is 5 to 10 or is
that the anticipated clients mayor
councelor I appreciate that question and
actually just got some updated
information from uh de lius with Mita
and in terms of an average cost for this
type of training it's about $1,000 so
they're hoping to actually train up to
100 employees working with at minimum
between one and five employees in the
area wonderful thank you for that
clarification um and with that in mind
like I said I'm very excited to see what
happens with everything but I think it's
um a great use of these arpa dollars so
thank you and thank you mayor thank you
thanks councelor any other
comments members of the
public I have to agree that I think you
your you and your team did a fantastic
job in in you know being able to
redistribute the money that was going to
go to bit wise and I wondered how you
all were going to come with that and did
a great job but you're you're touching
on so many different things that and the
young people that are out here today
very representative of of at least one
of them so thanks this is on the motion
to approve resolution 24- 061 councelor
ABA yes councelor Graham yes councelor
Beno is absent councelor Karan recused
herself councelor fles yes councelor
Ganda yes mayor yeah
yes okay thank
you 8. three resolution 24
062 move to approve second gram motion
made by councelor Beta second by
councelor
Graham is Crystal Silva
here okay so we're gonna have
to
okay when did you change your
name
May where you all going you have to wait
till the end of the meeting you can't
leave that's literally Take the Money
and Run
huh
good afternoon Mr Mayor city council
management and staff my name is Charlie
FOH budget analyst with the city of Los
Cruses finance department so today
before you I bring a presentation that's
going to highlight various projects that
we have here in the city of Las Cruses
in this case we're receiving money so
I'll be establishing U the corresponding
budget for fy2 24
so looking up at my first slide this is
a brief summary of our capital outlay
projects now these projects are brought
in from the state of New Mexico
Department of Finance Administration
commonly referred to as
DFA these are all mainly aim for
infrastructure so these are improvements
um just to highlight a a few just to
name a couple for Public Works we're
going to be improving the bran Cultural
Center we're going to be improving fire
stations 2 and
six and we're also going to be improving
um Veterans
Park moving over to airport Airport's
going to be using these for just overall
infrastructure
improvements and for parks and wreck we
have various parks that will be
improving as well we're going to be
addressing safety and code
infrastructure
requirements and for quality of life uh
this is going to be used toward a
feasibility
study if you guys need more specifics
you can refer to your
packets so my next slide is going to be
a Federal grant this is through the New
Mexico Department of Transportation
federal Transit
Administration and this is for the msia
valley Metropolitan planning
organization one of our departments R
jpa this is going to provide funding to
implement the transit planning work
program of the mo in this case there is
a match $
27,523
similar to the previous slide this is
through the Federal Highway
Administration also through New Mexico
Department of Transportation in this
case there is also a match of 62,939
buildings Technologies office this one's
for
300,000 and I believe this is a prize
award this is to launch a pilot home
retrofit program that's going to
increase affordability and resilience in
equity eligible
neighborhoods my next Grant is titled
creative Industries this is coming to us
from the New Mexico Economic Development
Department
this is with quality of life for 100,000
and this is aimed to support local
artists and businesses within the
creative uh creative
economy this is a interesting one
because it's a collaboration between two
City departments quality of life and
economic
development my next project is Kasa
connection also with City manager's
office this is housing and Neighborhood
Services this is also uh monies from the
DFA in the amount of $1 million and this
is to complete the redesign of the three
sisters
Apartments we're trying to reduce
construction costs and have some uh
retained water flows more
efficiently the next one are federal
monies this is with Las Cruses police
now these are actually two um two
separate projects just put them both on
one slide here they total up to 2.2
million uh this is just aimed to replace
aging SWAT
equipment um we're trying to get more
critical incident Vehicles a tow vehicle
I know there's some safety trailers also
that we're uh we're going to purchase
anything that can Detro
crime and the the last project I have
for you
today is uh through VCA this is through
the New Mexico Crime Victims reparation
commission also with police a little bit
over
72,000 and this is going to provide for
two crime victim Advocates so these are
Direct Services to victims of crime in
accordance with VCA in the communities
of Las
cruus that concludes my presentation
here are your options
Mr thanks Charlie councilor Flores thank
you Mr Mayor and thank you so much for
your presentation on page nine oh Voca
stands for victim of crime
Advocates um is that what Focus Mr Mayor
councelor Flores I believe so it's
actually the victim of crime Act was a
federal act passed in
1984 correct but the office that
administers that is the victims of crime
office oh so the doj is the Federal
Department of Justice yes ma'am oh I see
because I saw okay fine thank you very
much anybody
else members of the
public okay see none
Christine this is on the motion to
approve resolution 24- 062 councelor AA
yes councel Graham yes councelor bomo is
absent councelor cran yes counc flotes
yes councelor Gand yes mayor yes okay
thanks Charlie okay next item Council
Bill
24-10 ordinance number 3052 move to
approve at
beta second Corin okay motion made by
councelor Beta second by councelor Corin
and chief Jason Smith will be
discussing was that your entry um music
or
something I don't know there's a like a
drum
roll let's thanking more Carl
Douglas well good afternoon mayor
members of city council fire chief Jason
Smith for the record uh today we're
going to bringing to you the ordinance
for amending our our fire
code uh we'll be moving up to the 2021
international fire code uh this is the
latest version uh of the IFC uh it's
been adopted by the state of New Mexico
as well as the New Mexico fire Marshalls
Office adoption will maintain continuity
with Community Development so that all
of our codes are in the same uh year and
update uh some of the changes that have
been adopted by the state that are
included in the IFC uh a new thing
that's a new industry that is emerging
is 3D printing what they call additive
manufacturing so there's now uh
requirements that address how to um
inspect those manufacturing locations
and how to keep them safe there's also a
new chapter 12 on energy storage systems
uh this now has its own chapter when
dealing with Battery Systems and things
in homes and buildings uh there's a new
chapter number 40 on the storage of
distilled spirits and wines it's a
certain percentage of alcohol that's in
uh the spirits then those buildings need
to have a fire sprinkler or suppression
system and another one that's coming up
is a hood suppression system required
for food trucks uh this we are going to
work with our local vendors so that they
have time to uh Implement that come up
to
code some other things that have been
adopted by the state that we're looking
to adopt as well uh sprinkler
requirements in open parking garages
what we're finding now is some of the EV
Vehicles when they go into thermal
Runway they are super difficult to to
get in and to perform fire attack uh so
having a sprinkler system in these
parking garages is definitely beneficial
to not only the structure but also uh
the lives in our firefighters there's
some requirements listed for cannabis
extraction facilities and now sprinklers
fire sprinklers will be required in any
establishment serving alcohol when the
occupancy load is over
300 some of the appendix out of the IFC
that we're adopting uh one that is a big
one to help out our firefighters is a
requirement for firefighter air
replenishment so any new structure over
five floors in height will have a
basically a bottle refill station that
our firefighters can use to refill their
SCBA bottles so rather than going from
ground floor up five or six floors on a
single uh air tank we'll have the
ability to go down to a floor or two
below the fir floor and refill our tanks
so that we can be more efficient and
have enough air to
breathe also that we're adop opting is
um a section append appendix n on indoor
trade shows and exhibitions uh this will
actually help outline uh how electric
vehicles or gas powered vehicles can be
displayed in uh exhibition Halls make
sure that they stay
safe one of the things that we're adding
an amendment is we have fire rated
corridors requiring a hold open device
so a lot of buildings are designed where
you have a long core door and you have
rooms off of that core door the door
what keeps people safe from fir spread a
lot of times to be more efficient these
doors get propped open um wedged open
with a door stop something like that
that defeats the purpose of them being
closed in case of a fire so these hold
open devices usually are operated
magnetically if the fire alarm goes off
it releases the door and it'll shut
protecting occupants We've ran into
several cases where when we do
inspections these doors are propped open
another thing that we're going to be
looking at is areas that are
unserviceable um uh where the building
is required to have fire sprinkler
systems if the area can't be accessed
for service we want the areas to be
either redesigned or that there's no
actual fire sprinkler installed it
doesn't make sense to have a sprinkler
installed in an area where you can't
reach it if any kind of Maintenance
needs to be
done another thing that we're removing
from the code is hydrant reflectors so
these are the blue reflectors you see in
the middle of the street right across
from a fire hydrant we're removing that
out as a requirement in subdivisions uh
now with our GIS mapping and our access
on our mobile data terminals or
computers we can see where the hydrants
are before we get there so we're using
technology in place of uh blue
reflectors some of the other sprinkler
requirements that have been existing
since 2015 just want to give you a
rundown of some of those uh residential
dwellings that are above others so
things where you have people living
above a commercial building or another
apartment like hotels apartment
buildings have to have sprinklers in
them any restaurant or bar with more
than 100 occupants gym and churches uh
storage occupancies that are quite large
over 12,000 square fet and anything
where there's a commercial type
occupancy where people can't take care
of themselves so if you have something
like a nursing home where people can't
self- evacuate those are required to
have a sprinkler
system uh so that is the uh rundown of
the updates I have our fire prevention
staff here our Fire Marshall as well as
our protection engineer if there are any
questions Graham thank you mayor thank
you so much Chief um so just to clarify
can you step back one slide
please so restaurants and bars with more
than 100 occupants require a sprinkler
but then earlier there was a
modification to something with
300 occupants yeah here we go okay so
alcohol serving a sta establishments
that would refer to establishments that
don't have a restaurant component or
where I'm just a little confused on the
discrepancy between the 300 and the
100 yeah I'd have to probably look in
the the code book or ask our fire
protection engineer to explain the
differences uh Mark Dubin fire
protection engineer with City L cr's
fire department uh Mr Mayor councilor
Graham the uh the requirement
for establishments that serve alcohol
over 300 is for existing buildings it's
already adopted by the state it doesn't
differentiate between restaurants or
bars okay
then oh I see thank you councelor cran
thank you inspector dubbin thank you
Chief thank you
mayor I'm okay thank you counselor
Graham councelor beta thank you mayor
and thank you Chief uh on slide eight uh
when it talked about institutions um
where occupants are incapable of
self-preservation um how does that then
apply to since we were just talking
about child care um perhaps uh Child
Care Facilities thinking of those that
are going to have like overnight type um
Care thank you mayor and coun beta so
the overnight care for daycare centers
are required to to have fire sprinklers
okay and as you know programs like we
were looking at to um even if it was
like a home occupancy but they had that
certification then they would fall under
this because they'd have to have a
commercial councel I believe so okay so
um just thinking that might be some good
education to make sure that we're
training as um individuals are getting
licensed and certified for all this
about those types of um issues that they
need to make sure their home is set
for okay thank you and thank you
mayor sure anyone else counselor Corin I
I just I'm I'm hoping you can provide a
big picture orientation to how this fits
in with the sprinkler the heated
sprinkler
conversation a few weeks ago and the
building codes and just just sort of
give a picture of like where this fits
into that scheme of changes that are
going to cause a big Ruckus versus
changes that are not going to cause a
big
Ruckus more or that's my my expression
mayor and councelor Karan no big Ruckus
right the the the discussion we had a
couple weeks ago in the work session was
based off of the international
residential code uh where the ICC has
the requirement for one and two family
homes and Tow houses to have sprinklers
so the the fire code gives us more of um
how we can change some of other
requirements when an entire subdivision
has fire sprinklers in in installed in
the home so things like having fewer
access roads or smaller streets or
longer spacing in between fire hydrants
the IFC tells us how we can apply that
the residential code says here's the
requirement for for fire sprinklers so
this code update um all shouldn't cause
a Ruckus with that
discussion thank you so they're not
really related they're kind of related
but they're not that that's still that's
still
simmering coun it's like cousins right
okay thanks that's perfect I understand
thank you are they may broke them yeah
thank you mayor thank you Chief I wanted
you to go back I think it was the food
trucks with the hood can you and I have
to step out so you may have someone may
have asked this question yet tell me is
there have we put that out do people
know what what is the general feeling
about
hoods because they can be
costly um are we going to give people
some time to do that what what are the
specifics on the food truck hoods May
mayor portand I'll I'll speak first from
my observation of our our prevention
Bureau um I don't perform the the food
truck inspections but I do see the
customers come in and and see our our
Personnel talking with them I know
they've been mentioning it to them some
of the food trucks have been coming in
with certain designs for uh Hood systems
already so we are putting that
information out there I believe we do an
annual inspection on on food trucks that
serve within the city big thumbs up from
the Fire Marshall so I'm on track so we
are working with them and I believe
we're looking at the the phase in uh in
March I think this is the end of
March and I'll ask he's going to yell at
me my fault I need to give everybody
practice Fire Marshall wazo if you want
to
and this is fire marshal Michael
landavazo just recently promoted to the
to the position yeah
congratulations thank you
sir Fire Marshal Michael lasso mayor
mayor protm um yes we get a lot of
people coming in as uh that want to
start food trucks and they ask us what
what do I need to do and we're advising
them of this change is coming and that
they're going to need to get have a a
suppression system and the ones that do
come in for inspection we tell them as
well um this Chief correct me if I'm
wrong this is going to go into effect
March 30th so we were looking at a
six-month um grace period from that
point and um this is adopted by the
state so it's not something that we can
take out if we do adopt the 2021 okay
okay so will you be sending letters out
to registered
businesses in relation to I think that's
a great idea and yeah that's something
we can do I think I would like to see
that happen because even though people
are coming in maybe asking you're G
putting out the information still
there's people who don't really read the
water bill you know all the other things
that we hear um more reg more regularly
when we're trying to give notices so
maybe a letter to the registered
businesses that have food trucks would
be another addition sure I think that's
a great idea that thank you thank you U
mayor chief Michael thank
you okay anyone
else members of the public I see none
Christine this is on the motion to
approve ordinance 3052 councelor beta
yes councelor Graham yes councelor bomo
is absent councelor cran yes councelor
flutes yes councelor Ganda yes mayor
yes okay next is board appointments and
looks like
Susan paa to the city or board I'm going
to need a motion in a second please move
to approve Graham second by flus motion
made by councelor Graham second by
councelor FLOTUS
Christine this on the motion to appoint
Susan paa to the City Art board councila
yes councelor Graham yes councelor bomo
is absent councelor cran yes councel
FLOTUS yes counc Ganda yes mayor yes
okay next is notice of proposed
ordinances there'll be no public
discussion counselor may ask staff for
clarification on the proposed
ordinance first one is 10.1 Council Bill
24-11 ordinance number
3053 Bring It Forward bring it forward
next item 10.2 Council bill number
24012 ordinance number
3054 Bring It Forward Bring It Forward
okay next is city council member board
reports and comment I just want to say I
was uh really you know I go every year
of course to the Christmas tree lighting
and this year was it was really packed I
mean it was the parking was I I I mean
all the way up to here a city hall it
was just every place was was taken and
um it was a great job and I understand
that every Department EO contributed uh
from eon development to um Community
Development and you know of course parks
in R but they all did a great job
helping out and um also got a little
plaque with a little light switch which
was pretty cool wasn't expecting that so
I just want to tell you thanks it was
fun and
um it was it was getting a little cold
there too so
anyways we got one more I've got one
more meeting and so I can't wait to use
this I've never used this before so I'm
going to use it
not today on the next one my it'll be
the first time and the last time right
so okay mayor proel thank you mayor um
just wishing everybody happy holidays um
appreciate um being on this Council and
all the mayor and councel um I will be
missing um next week's meeting um I have
some family member some family duties to
attend to um with my mom
um and I I know that those that have
been following understand that I have to
I have to be pulled away and but I think
you'll understand so with that I'll turn
it back over to you mayor thank you
you're going to miss the 11th or you
going to miss the 18th meeting oh okay
well we have the 18th still because I
didn't okay all right St publicly I oh
okay I got you I thought you were I was
going to think oh man I got to do some
of stuff
okay councelor
FLOTUS I don't have any comments thank
you I am in awe I'm
shocked no no no no I'm just kidding
Council Corin thank you um I also want
well first of all mayor your discretion
with the with the gavl is really
appreciated when the students when we
had some students come they were like
the mayor gets to use the gavel and they
were gaveling everything everyone was
getting gaveled all left and right so I
appreciate your your thoughtfulness in
approaching the gavel with a with with
caution so I don't know if everyone
would do that these students definitely
did not uh they were they were gaveling
everyone um it was their favorite part
um so thank you uh and I also want to
Echo the the Christmas tree lighting I
had never been so for me it was it was
very exciting and cool to see everyone
there there were huge lines of people
drinking cocoa and playing in the fake
snow and it was really fun really
incredibly fun and well put together so
thank you to everyone who who
contributed and made it happen and made
it so
successful um I do have a note that the
TSI PRC meeting is tomorrow at 8:30 and
we are going to hear about something
that was sort of mentioned earlier bus
shelters um and a a model for
approaching potentially adding bus
shelter so um it's at 8:30 tomorrow
morning in the second floor if folks
would like to attend um it should be it
should be an interesting conversation
bus shelters and trash bins actually
otherwise I I will miss the December
18th meeting because of a health related
issue that I could not get any other
time scheduled for so I just wanted to
um say that I will be missing it and I
will be sad to miss it so I I know that
it will be very eventful and and
important meeting um if I had any choice
I would not miss it so uh that's it
thank
you well it was a pleasure serving with
you since this is going to be oh well we
got a work session yeah oh okay so I'll
wait I'll save those really kind
comments until next time I'll be
sentimental then okay Council
Grant thank you mayor um I love a good
Public Service Announcement so I'm
thinking about this whole permit thing
okay my favorite because I think it's
good when they rhyme I like turn around
don't drown you know you're like don't
drive into a flooded area so okay
remembering no bad ideas in a brainstorm
so before you build it
permit get like it and it like you got
the it on build it
permit I'm available for contract maybe
we could all get
perms we could all get per I okay I will
no I will submit a photo of myself when
I with the perm that I had from grades 7
through 10 oh my God it was so bad and I
had like the duplex bangs like top floor
bottom floor so bad um but no before you
build it
permit just just sit with it for a while
um in actual in actual news um please
join me and um members of our brilliant
uh Parks and Recreation Department and
whoever else will be there supporting
Katrina I know you've never have any
choice but you're also brilliant um this
Thursday uh December 7th will be having
some Community listening and info
gathering for our replacement and
Improvement of Valley View Park um we're
going to start out at the park at 4:30
p.m. not necessary but I'm somebody who
has trouble visualizing so I thought
it'd be kind of cool like let's go to
the space first so that's 4:30 p.m. 750
South espena um if you're somebody who
doesn't have trouble visualizing you can
just join us at mson senior center 975
South mosquite around 5:00 and that's
where we will have our conversation and
see what we can do with this space um
that's all I got thank you so much okay
thank
youa thank you mayor real easy um I
actually have a request and I don't ask
for much
and I only have one more meeting to ask
for anything but I did want to bring up
the fact um today we looked uh an
approved items for that capital outlay
and I was one of the counselors that
went up last year and really advocated
very strongly for different things one
of the areas I did for um was for Tony
Gomez Park and for that first phase of
the the fix and revitalization and so my
request was I hope this Council will be
generous in thinking about about that uh
that area and um the allocation for that
first phase I know uh it's really
important to the people of that
Community um to see the revitalization
it's going to work a lot on that parking
area which it you know if you've ever
been in that it's really hard to even
get in the parking does need a lot of
adjustments so I hope that can be um
continued and so thank you so does
anyone know who Tony Gomez
was so Tony used to be back back then in
the city he was uh over I guess he
oversaw the police and fire department
and then he he had a great voice he sang
sang with a v f caros and he was a big
guy and um he man he could really sing
he was a really neat fella so thanks for
sharing that with on that
Park okay looks like you're the last one
here EO between us and uh
leaving I'll be brief just got a few
couple updates I'm just joking take your
time thank you mayor and
Council first of all I just like to to
take care of uh some business here with
our uh Finance you know as according to
ordinance in accordance with ordinance I
have to report the pricing certificate
to you uh when we issue
bonds um recently Council approved the
purchase of or um Bond Bond purchase
for uh fire apparatus including engines
and trucks and other emergency vehicles
and so I just have to report to you the
pricing certificate and the details of
it as uh as dictated by ordinance and so
the New Mexico Finance Authority entered
into the bond purchase agreement with
the city on November 21st
2023 the loan amount was
5.5 5, 580,000 000 and so the maximum
amount was 5.6 million and so it's it it
uh was below that maximum amount the net
effective interest was
3.15% and the maximum is 12% so it's
obviously well below I would do want to
point out in this
environment
3.1% is huge I mean it's a a really
really good rate um you know just with
the the Environ where we're at right now
but
um and then uh final final payments of
bonds specified is uh as of June as June
1st
2035 and so that me which also meets the
ordinance
parameters and so with that um the only
other update I got from from Parks and
wre uh via e Cony the keep Los cruus
beautiful program recently hosted a
neighborhood dumpster day on Saturday
November 18th
at three convenient locations throughout
the city residents dropped off over two
tons of trash and continue beautifying
their neighborhoods by utilizing these
commercial rolloffs on these designated
days so our next DP dumpster day is
Saturday December 9th from 8:00 a.m. to
12:00 p.m. and coners will be available
at Henry benov Center and POS Park uh
Baseball Field parking
lot so again Saturday December from 8 to
12 that's all I have mayor thank you so
one last thing about Henry Benitas so I
you know I'm reminiscing here but so
I'll never forget when they named the
Benitas Center and hen and Henry says I
can't believe this do you normally give
this to you when you're dead I go yeah
well he's alive so and you know they had
a picture of him and he's just a really
neat fella he was a district district 3
counselor I
think well obviously uh in in that area
so I don't know what district yeah yeah
there you go yeah good good job
anyways just a couple just a couple more
meetings and I'll quit reminiscing but
you know when it said Henry I thought of
Henry okay so if there's nothing
further entertain a motion to adjourn
move to adjourn second Graham motion
made by councelor Beta second by
councelor Graham that we adjourn
Christine s the motion to adjourn the
regular meeting councilor beta yes
councelor Graham yes councelor bomo is
absent councelor
Karan yes councelor
flus of course yes Council Ganda yes
mayor yes okay it's uh 3:14 PM we are
Jour
thanks