[Music]
okay good afternoon welcome to the work
session of Las crus city council today
is Monday November 13th 2023 it's
approximately 1M if you please join me
in the Pledge of Allegiance
please allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
Republic
one nation under God indivisible with
liberty and justice for all thank
you okay so we're going to start off
with our pets of the week and Amy def
Felix I believe you're
there hello yes I'm here can everyone
hear me yes I can hear you awesome
excellent um hello everyone um my name
is Amy to Felix I am one of the adoption
rescue coordinators for the animal
services of the missia valley I'm the
one that picks the pets of the week and
present them every week and as always
we're going to start off by sharing my
screen right
here all righty so we're going to start
off um with our cat of the week um her
name is Magnolia and her number is
64595 and she says you might notice that
I have an ear tip I used to be a
community cat I was brought back after
being released because I had a paw
injury but the CMV staff realized that
I'm friendly and it's worth trying to
find me an indoor home I am a gentle
love figher and I love getting attention
from humans I'd love to find a home that
will keep me safe and loved
indoors and then we also have our dog of
the week um his name is Ryder his number
is
61614 um and he says I'm a playful and
energetic boy who just wants to explore
the world I'll keep you motivated to go
on walks every day and will encourage
you to go on adventures with me have a
day playing and exploring outside i'
love to come back home to a warm home
full of snuggles streets and love I know
this home is out there for me could it
be yours um and then we have some events
going on of course all month long we
have our Fallin love adoption special um
so from now until the end of O of
November sorry all of our adoptions are
only going to be $75 um we do have an
adoption event at the ice box breing
company at their Picacho location we'll
be there from 12: p.m. to 3 p.m. we also
have a tabling only event um at the
philanthropy Fair philanthropy P Fair
excuse me and MSU we'll be there from
10: to 2: and that'll be at the corpit
center eggy Lounge of course that's
tabling only no adoptions but we will
have a bunch of um literature and we'll
have uh staff and volunteers there to
answer any questions and just kind of do
General community outreach so we'd love
people to come by and say hi and talk to
us now to keep on the theme of last
month's podcast episode um which is
responsible ped ownership i' like to
talk about Veterinary appointments in
general um as always uh we and a lot of
rescues and shelters recommend
scheduling a newly adopted pets um your
newly adopted pet to have appointment
within or around like the first week um
after you adopt them um or as soon as
possible after that because I know we're
still struggling with the the vet staff
shortages so appointments kind of get
delayed a little bit so as soon as
possible within or around the first week
um after adopting I get them seen by
event um definitely should take place
after the initial uh around 3-day
decompression period um I know we talk
about like The 3 Day 3 week 3 months
rule so after the 3 days after they get
over the general decompression from
moving to a new environment um we don't
want to have them go to the vet during
that period while they're still
decompressing um so just so that it
doesn't add any extra like shock or
anxiety or stress that they might have
already like on top of what they already
might be feeling after um getting used
to being in a new home so wait until
they're settling in getting a little B
more comfortable and then um have a have
a med appointment ready for them um
puppies and kittens under four or five
months should be visiting the vet at
least once a month so like every 34
weeks per your vet recommendation um for
their vaccination boosters um especially
if you adopt them from us as puppies or
kittens um we don't provide the
subsequential vaccines that they will be
do for later that's something you'll
have to be done at um their own vet and
then from there the vet the vet clinic
will take a take on the rest of the
course basically so they should be
seeing the vet puppies and kittens um
under 4 to five months should be seeing
the vet pretty frequently um and then
adults between 1 to seven years old only
really need to attend an annual exam so
long as they're not sick or injured or
any there's anything concerning and
that's just to get their like routine
blood work um vitals examinations just
make sure everything is working all
right and then Senior pets um so that's
pets that are eight years or older they
are recommended to have an exam um twice
a year so once every six months and
that's just um seniors are of course
more predisposed to um getting more
health issues and stuff like that so uh
we also recommend like every every six
months just so they can maybe do like
blood work making sure everything is
still going um going strong and nothing
is declining if it is that they can
monitor it and manage it early
on um and of course the reasons why we
encourage people to have to become an
established like routine Clan at a vet
clinic um as a part of socialization
bringing your pet to the vet on a
regular basis can kind of help them be
uh acclimated more comfortable at the
vet overall and going to new places
overall um kind of helps um it can help
make them a little more comfortable in
general if they're going um just for any
little exam just for a checkup instead
of when there's something seriously
wrong um and then that kind of helps
associate in their mind that elevet
isn't a scary place where only bad
things ever happen I'm only ever here
when I'm feeling the worst and they
don't like that feeling they they kind
of associated with that so if you uh
have them be a regular client just
making sure everything's good doing a
analy exam a physical just to make sure
everything's all right and they get
spoiled and loved on feeling healthy
that kind of helps them feel a little B
more comfortable in general um of course
being an established client at a clinic
um does make it easier to prevent
emergencies um by having their vitals
regularly examined and monitored so if
there's anything internal that might be
going on that can present as an
emergency later on um that that clinic
can help identify that early address it
and make sure that it doesn't become an
issue later on um early treatment is
kind of the best sort of a preventative
for emergencies of course but um
especially here in Los crusis um at at
this time specifically it is easier um
to make an appointment for a sick or
injured pet if you're already an
established client um there are some
clinics in town that'll take um they'll
take priority over existing clients um
over new intakes or the new intakes are
like more new intake Urgent Care exams
are a lot more expensive than just like
a pre-established client Urgent Care
exam and something like that um and
there are also certain clinics in town
um I believe the one that's coming from
my issue marker for sure um and you can
always check with the other V clinics in
town if you'd like um that they they do
offer after hours Emergency Care um but
only for established clients so it's
definitely an incentive to already kind
of get your pet there in the books and
have them ready um just in case an
emergency pops up because then this Los
crusis Clinic can help you instead of
having to go over to El Paso which is
the next nearest clinic basically um and
of course um and what can often be the
case for senior pets and being a routine
uh client can help you kind of identify
Monitor and manage any sort of chronic
health conditions that your pet can have
um just so that they're kind of set up
on the best best path to success and
living their best life um and making
sure everything's okay and there's no
there's no I guess Health surprises if
that makes sense and of course uh being
an established client in general um the
vet staff will become familiar with your
pet and they may be may be able to offer
some insight if they may be having to
notice something um abnormal with your
pet um if they might be acting a little
bit differently than they normally would
at the clinic or if they see something
on their vitals that is a little
abnormal they can let you know and they
can maybe look into it a little more but
since they already have that familiarity
and that sort of rapport with your pet
um they'll be able to help you a lot
easier than if you're already there at
an emergency and it's kind of like a
like a blank slate if that makes sense
but of course we encourage you all to
take a pet to the vet it's definitely
not a bad thing making it a fun
experience for them is definitely um
encouraged and keeps them safe happy
healthy and comfort so thank
you okay thank you Amy appreciate that
so the next one we're not going to have
the jobs of the week because she's going
to be presenting uh agenda item 3.1 but
before I get to that I just want to let
you know that councelor AA wishes she
could be here she had some prior
engagements she's the uh currently
the chairman or president of the
municipal league and so she's out out of
town for those pre-planned meetings okay
so we have um the first item excuse me
is going to be 3.1 New Mexico work
Workforce Connection programs and Irene
Pa and Sarah Rainey will be
presenting and I think you're going to
also incorporate the jobs of the week I
think yeah thank
you
and thank
you all right well good afternoon mayor
city council Irene B with economic
development uh I'm very pleased to have
with us here today one of economic
development's most Valu Partners in
Workforce to discuss uh the important
programs that they have available to
both our residents as well as our local
businesses so with that I will hand the
presentation over to Sarah
rainy good afternoon everyone thank you
for having us thank you for having us in
person normally I'm online so this is
different um again my name is Sarah
rainy I am the One-Stop coordinator for
the southwest region of the world work
force connection um I brought with me a
team of providers that are focused here
in the southwest region the region
covers Hildago County Luna um Katherine
Grant sakuro Sierra and of course
doniana today we wanted to introduce you
to the ones that are here locally so
that they you can see what the programs
offer here in our local offices um
what's available for our community in
case you weren't
weren't aware of the things that we're
doing um so to just to give you a brief
a brief of what the onstop operator does
the onstop operator basically what my
job along with jelle patas she's my
onetop operator she and I bring all of
the providers together within the
communities and that's across our region
again we bring this team along with our
offices that are in those other
locations within the counties we bring
them together bring all the services
that are available in the communities um
from Health Services mental health
education um adult education youth as
well work Services all of those together
to provide for our communities so I'd
like to go ahead and bring
up yes I'm gonna bring up Josh Stoler he
is our employee employee representative
supervisor in our L cruus Office he's
going to tell you about the Department
of Workforce Solutions and what they do
out of our offices
here all right well good afternoon my
name is Joshua Stoler as Sarah let you
know that I am the employee supervisor
for DWS here at the Los cruus office so
thank you very much for having us and I
will ask cut me off at 10 minutes or
recording time because I can be chatty
uh with that DWS has quite a few
incentives I'm sure you have heard um of
our services prior so I would like to
just update you on a few of our
happenings obviously within DWS we work
on both sides of Employment Services not
only do we work with um job Seekers on U
job skills and creating applications but
also looking and securing them positions
throughout Don an County and Los Cruses
we also work with employers so when in
the employer capacity they register
within our systems and then we look to
connect the dots between qualified
individuals for those jobs and then also
to being able to ensure that they are
job qualified and job ready to perform
those said services um with that we also
do advertisements through uh entities
such as hot jobs which we do oh thank
you there we
go all righty with advertising um so we
do uh advertising throughout the region
as far as updates so we do that monthly
and weekly um as far as any jobs any
entities and out Outreach that we may be
able to provide moving forward with them
as well just really trying to promote
those Services we focus a lot on local
businesses as well because they are
always in those dire needs of you know
good skilled employees and that's what
we look to strive for we do hiring
events um at Courtesy as well as with
the city of Las Cruses um with job fairs
and resource fairs on usually on a
quarter and so we are able to promote
those services within the community and
you know really engage our University
population as well as our local uh
citizens here in Los cruus as far as
trying to find them that employment and
of course assisting our job Seekers I'm
sorry our Employers in that capacity as
well pre-employment screenings so we do
a lot of work with our employers um as
you know as an employer you may have a
lot of volume of res applicants that may
come through your systems so what we
really like to do is we strive to assist
them in screening those those
individuals in that pre-employment
capacity seeing what they're qualified
for maybe they're not qualified and the
other side of that goes into job skills
and assessments so we may have a lot of
individuals across the the Spectrum um
maybe they're straight out of high
school or straight out of college and
they're not quite certain of what
they're wanting to do we do offer
systems and assessments to being able to
kind of see what their skill sets are at
where they're currently at or maybe they
want to be in it but they're not quite
there yet so are we able to provide that
service to them and being able to see
and score that and then get them
situated with the proper channels in
order to participate and you know better
their education and knowledge at those
jobs that they're looking to to achieve
we also do uh coordinating interviews So
within coordinating interviews we call
them mock interviews so they're set up
much like a regular interview setup and
what's really nice about that is they
can get all the Jitters worked out with
us in that capacity so not only do we
assist them in how to answer answer
questions correctly but more importantly
what not to ask or say in an interview
capacity so we work diligently with them
with that we work within our high
schools currently uh Los Monas is one of
our main ones right now and what we work
with those students we get them and we
work on macket interviews how to fill
out resumés and all of the proper
documentation oops all righty so here we
have our veterans priority is services
and eligible spouses so with our veteran
Community obviously we have quite a few
bases and military families within our
area what that looks like is it's
one-on-one and a specialty to our
veterans and so what what that looks
like when it comes to job counseling we
have inhouse a devop which our disabled
veteran Outreach uh Personnel he meets
with veterans um who may be on the DD214
and most recently he became a 50/50 what
that means to for the community is prior
to a few months ago a our devop was only
allowed to assist veterans who had the
qualified documentation
now as a 5050 he's able to assist any
veteran um in that capacity and what we
saw with that was there was a strong
veteran need who may not have their
documentation that they need so this
negated all of that so Fernando Cado is
our devop and he is able to assist our
veterans in being able to provide those
Services job Readiness looking at jobs
that may be specifically for veterans
within our community and assisting them
in that sort we also have Jason Bernal
who is our lever and Jason assists
businesses that identify as having our
identify as you know being veteran Pro
veteran if you will and hiring veterans
within our community and looking for
those jobs for our veterans as well
throughout all of that they also assist
with the resume building resumé
assistance and what's really nice about
this entire program is it's veterans
speaking with veterans so they have a
almost immediate Rapport they understand
the lingo they understand the mentality
that they have together and then they're
able to provide those Services
throughout and offer case management
throughout their employment seeking
performance all right let me see there
was one other thing one other thing we
we came up with with DWS is B pro be
proud and it's a recent development and
what that is is a virtual
reality semi- TR if you will and what
that is really focusing on is our trads
and our Public Schools so in recent
years we've seen a decrease and decline
in the trades programs so what the state
has done is they've partnered with BR
Pro proud and this is a huge semi with
pushouts on it that has virtual reality
simulators in it this truck will travel
all of New Mexico and offering it at the
high schools what's really neat about
this as it shows virtual reality
Hands-On exposure to HVAC to running um
heavy machinery to it and it's allowing
these students the opportunity to
explore that and much you know like a
video game it's really pretty pretty
amazing but then at the end of that
being able to meet with those students
afterwards within the the school and
within our services to being seeing is
this something you want what that then
does is offers us the ability to offer
our pre-apprentice program and
apprenticeship program that offers them
say okay if they are really excited
about running a forklift or maybe it
working with them in the assessments
working with him to find an employer or
even a position as a pre-apprentice to
being able to develop those skills
further and getting further ready for
the job Force overall and so that's
something that's relatively new we hope
to see it here down in New Mexico around
January or Southern New Mexico around
January and working within our Public
School Systems and coordinating that
with uh lcps uh Personnel to being able
to provide that service as well I
believe that's all that I have and next
up we
have
who oh valer thank you thanks Josh
Joshua you only took uh six minutes so
you did a great job I have never had
anyone all the meetings I've run ask to
time them and not not let them go over a
certain time
so next up we have um Valerie Trill
she's here presenting for temporary
assistance for needy families that's the
tanif program that we have locally for
Statewide you GNA take are you gonna
take Joshua's four minutes so you can go
14 minutes oh probably not okay good
afternoon my name is Valerie Maron I am
a tan of supervisor with South doniana
oo County um so um tan is temporary
assistance for needy families um we do
assist low come parents um with children
under the age of 18 um they are eligible
for the T program through the Income
Support Division um office um so we do
provide um we do assist parents with
putting them in work experience
community service um anything where they
help them gain skills so they can become
self-sufficient and be um get off of the
public assistance program um we also do
work with um so we have internal program
programs as well that we work with which
is Career Link is one program which is
parttime six months um where they have
the
um where they have the opportunity to go
to work for six months and possibly
place them in somewhere where they're
interested where they want to have a
career opportunity as well as going to
school at the same time we also have
another program which is wage subsidy
that's a 12 month program they do get
placed in a state facility getting paid
full-time um and that's a 12- month
program
um we also have other education programs
which is Education Works Education Works
is as long as they are going to school
for an associates degree or
higher they are eligible to get state
funded and it doesn't count towards
their ten of months um being on T of
you're only eligible for 60 months
throughout your whole
lifetime um so once you reach those 60
month you are no longer uh eligible for
the Toff program um the wage subsidy
program has um been very successful we
do have a few of our Consultants
currently who have been hired through
the wage subsidy program into um career
consultants and that's all I
have okay thank you
Valerie all right and next up we have
Miss Hai Ramirez she's going to speak on
the youth programs that we have hello
everyone my name is hi Ramirez and I do
serve as a youth provider um and as
we're talking about the our services are
awesome just because I am very dedicated
for the Youth we are uh in school and
out School participants that we're
serving from ages 16 to 24 years old we
do help pay with the GD or hsd with the
pay incentives that's awesome that's
something that gets the kids very
motivated to come and do our program we
also do suppor of services such as we
buy them uh any type of equipment work
equipment if they need it or even work a
tire as well uh uh we do gas cart in
case that they need uh they they need
that type of services as well we also
pay 240 hours of paid working
experiences for um up to $14 an hour in
addition for that we do also like I said
work close school supplies in case they
need some school supplies transportation
and I think I already said gas cards a
lot of the program services that we
serve or that we we we engage our kids
is with p and work experience we do
career exploration we make them aware of
all the explorations and everything that
they have out there to be able to choose
and pick uh their best interest also
personalized goals planning as well we
do a lot of that we do a lot of guidance
and counseling in case that they need
especially nowadays a lot of our kids
are needing a lot of our mental
counseling we do have that as well in
case it that they might be needing it
tutoring services in case that these
kids are falling behind or they feel
that they need that extra help uh we
also we also help them with with toring
Services labor market information that's
one of the ones that we really Target
and we try to focus with our youth
because they don't understand what labor
marketing is right A lot of the times
they want to become uh doctors but uh or
um Engineers but are they really going
to be able to get a job at where they're
living at that point so that's type of
the labor marketing we we help them uh
explore that and and make them
understand what it is also tuation
assistance we do it we that's our our um
in school tuition assistant we help them
up to $4,000 for a
shortterm um like CDLs or uh um like
maybe um the dental assistant we we
we've been able to do that as well I
mean as many others those are the ones I
can remember out of my head at this
point uh Career Training we do that as
well financial literacy we do pay an
incentive for them to take uh a
financial class for us they need to
understand a lot of these these kids
don't understand what a bank is or what
savings are so that is part of our work
experience and uh and I do want to kind
of brag a little bit of a design your
future that is something that we just
implemented uh this July and it's been
really a success where we're targeting
out of our 13 elements that we have to
be targeting with our kids we're doing
it an eight elements in a one day
Saturday class that is from uh 9 in the
morning all the way to 300 p.m. and I
know it might sound a little bit too
harsh but these kids get very involved
and this is where we're trying to
implement um all these type of financial
literatures they do mock interviews as
well within themselves and the the
really cool thing about it is that it's
within our seven uh counties and we're
doing it virtual so that's something
that was really um uh innovated thinking
outside the boxes we really wanted to
Target every single one of our youth you
know from sooro all the way to Sunland
Park and and at first we were like oh
maybe they're not going to be able to be
interested but guess what these kids
have been interested we've had at least
17 every month from July till now which
is a very good number and they're also
getting all this uh incentives as well
they do get $50 just to be uh a
financial literacy and they also get $50
to be in our class so that's a $100 that
they can obtain within that day uh so
that's something that really motivates
them of course money motivates everyone
right uh so this is something that's
really helping us to be able to get uh
all these kids ready work ready as as
well um and school and out of school as
we we we talked about we do basic SKS in
order for them to qualify in our program
they do have to have at least two of
seven barriers one of them being a basic
skill deficiency another one can be an
English language learner uh an offender
as well a homeless individual or a
runaway as well and uh pregnant or
parenting parents a youth who is
individual with a disability we also try
to help these individuals and um those
that require an additional assistance to
complete an educational program as well
and um that's all I have thank you very
much okay thank you very much hadie do
you have a question
councelor yes yes Council florus has a
question thank
you thank you and thank you also the
previous speaker uh for what you're
doing so um you say the financial
literacy classes are held on Saturday
and it seems like it's all day long
right it's not just a financial literacy
it actually captures many other of our
services but that's one of them that's
one of them correct and then did you say
that they get $50 for attending and then
$50 for it it is a $50 for financial
literacy just by itself for that one
class and then $50 for attending the
whole uh six hours as well so they get
$100 $100 so um okay well I had um the
educational programs what grades do you
um Target and I I believe someone else
presented on that and I should have
asked at that time no problem you work
with the local schools in the different
counties corre so right now we are
opening an and a more conversation and I
am starting in the uh more of the rural
areas at this point I know donana is
huge we're working with Sono Park as
well for instance we're working with the
uh school districts because they have
already built themselves those career
paths right so we're here to be able to
sustain and help them with u maybe a
work experience dollars to be able to
help these kids not only are they
getting a high school diploma but a lot
of these other participants are also
getting a second certification and
that's when we come by and we can do a
partnership with them and we can pay for
that work experience as they're doing a
work experience in the schools we're
paying $14 an hour for these kids to be
able to take home um that extra income
especially those needs great that's
wonderful well I do hope that you tap
been to our not only our lasus Public
Schools but with our lasusa community
schools Def and Dr um Miller what's Tom
Tomlinson is uh the one that runs that
it's under yeah she and Dr loano Roberto
loano um I think that would be a perfect
fit in terms of motivating kids because
that's what they do it's a it's a middle
school though I don't know okay well
ages 16 to 24 I I believe uh it's more
of the high school but most definitely
we can definitely get that uh
communication with them so once they
come into the high school they're ready
about a program and just so you know um
I I have been in this position for six
months so I'm really I I come from the
educational part I was a teacher for 14
years so I believe the education how
important that is and how implementing
that into these uh type of programs that
we have it it's been really a a
satisfaction to me at least coming from
that from that part and I can see the
the the correlation of one to another
another so so most definitely just know
that I knocking noers for the school
districts to be able to understand and
and I think not only understand but know
our programs so we can uh partnership
and and and correlate whatever they're
doing and and what we're doing together
wonderful thank you very much thank you
Mr Mayor and is there anyone that has
any more questions at this
point thank you very much have a blessed
day everyone thank
you thank you all thank you Haiti um I
did want to I did want to add um
councilor Florida is that in some of our
other communities as well we've had our
teams from the DWS offices go even into
our middle schools and talk because we
feel like if reaching those youth at the
younger ages even at fifth grade saying
what do you want to be when you grow up
starting that focus of their career path
and then they get into the other
programs here is essential so on that
we're going to move into the Adult
Services and I'm going to bring up Chris
Ruiz
hello my name is Christopher D I am the
operations manager for the wowa adult
dislocated worker program which works in
sync with Miss Hades we handle the adult
site so anybody over the age of
18 um we help with so we have two
separate categories adult and dislocated
category dislocated workers are anybody
that's from being on unemployment that's
been laid off terminated um this place
Homemaker anybody that's been found
without a job not to their fault so
that's one category adult if you're
considered low income if you're on any
type of uh Income Support Services TANF
uh snap or Medicaid you qualify for a
program so what we do is we also help
with tuition assistance so anybody
that's uh over the age of 18 that might
not qualify for the youth program can
come to the adult site we have funding
to help them put to go through
um short-term certificates an Associates
associates degree and up to a bachelor's
so for associates degree it's uh we can
have up to
$9,000 that's for any additional funding
that they need to pay out of pocket so
aside from financial aid and everything
else for a bachelor it's 15,000 and then
for any short-term certificate it's up
to 4,000 and another thing that Miss
Haiti brought to attention was a CDL we
do a lot of CDL courses and we pay the
full CDL class which is $4,000 so most
of our return is always come back we
have I want to say about 99% of all the
people we've sent to for CDL have passed
their CD of course uh we also have on
the job training and transitional job
which my colleague James will go more
into that we help place people um Place
participants
in um trainings and transitional jobs
which help them get their skills better
to find full-time employment we also
also uh have Supportive Services which
if they're traveling more than 25 miles
we also help with mileage assistance we
help with any kind of Technology they
need if it's a student that's going to
school that doesn't have a laptop at
home we do help with laptop assistance
we help with uh uniforms and work attire
School attire any kind of Supportive
Services that the school requires or the
workplace requires as long as they
provide us with documentation or if it's
under policy we can go ahead and help
them with those Supportive Services
another thing we do have is career
services so we also help with resume
building we help with uh interview
mocking uh mock interviews I mean I
apologize and um we help with any kind
of service
that an individual will need to get them
back in the workforce we have several
Services I mean there's a lot more to
list we have quite a bit there is a
qualification uh process and it's fairly
simple I mean
I want to say about 90% of the people
that come to our office qualify uh they
may not know they qualify because at one
point in time they can be a dislocated
worker from 10 years ago that they don't
know about it doesn't mean that you're
on unemployment right now you might have
been in unemployment 10 years ago or 10
years ago you got terminated from a job
and that wasn't your fault that's
something we dig into and we find and we
try and help you um most of our
services it's not an entitlement but we
try and help out as much as we can
through our services
we have um we have our tuition our o
tjs
um we have other Career Services like at
one point I believe we're still helping
them right now which is our LEAP program
and that's actually helping uh teachers
that are or teachers AIDs that are
trying to become teachers that need that
teacher certificate it's through the
LEAP program we've helped pay for those
exams as well any additional exams that
let's say an insurance agent we have
somebody in our OJT program that's
working for an insurance agency and
wants to become an insurance agent their
support of services to help them pay for
the exams to get to that point well
there's a lot of different services for
different individuals um there's a lot
of Education one of the um requirements
for tuition is that the job be in demand
here in our area so you can't just go
for any type of degree you wish it's got
to be on there and it's under the New
Mexico Workforce Connection website
under Education Services you can search
all the programs we work with DC Western
New Mexico uh locally we work with
Pinnacle uh Glitz cosmetology and a lot
of online services so there's
overwhelming information I strongly
recommend everybody goes through that
and looks it up because there's a lot uh
me myself I come from being on TANF
being on food stamps I'm a single father
and if I knew these Services were out
there I'd be be using them as well you
know it's just it's it's a lot it's it's
good work it's good we're doing good
things right now in the community and
like Katie said we're in Seven Counties
right now but that's just the major
counties I mean there's a lot of little
towns we haven't reached out to that
we're starting to go to so like krant is
like way out there we're actually
planning to go out there next week try
and find people in those areas we just
need a lot of and we also need a lot of
services from you know partnering
services that can help as well
but um that's all I have right
now thanks Chris oh we have a couple
questions councelor Beno councelor flus
thank you thank you so much you're right
there it's an overwhelming amount of
information but it's really really good
to your this to your last point about
you know you sort of wishing you even
knew about these what is um what is the
work that you all are doing to get the
information out to folks and is there a
way that the city or even us as
individual counselors can work with you
to get this information out we do well
we're partner with DWS so a lot of our
participants come from DWS from the
unemployment we do so this on Wednesday
we'll be at Community of Hope here in
Los cruus good so we're actually going
to job fairs we're trying to do as much
footwork as we can but we're only six
part six uh tdss and myself in the
entire Seven Counties so I have one in
each County so it is kind of hard so
mainly it's Word of Mouth um I know that
the New Mexico workforce is working on
social media and they're trying to get
more information out on social media uh
but mainly it's all Leg work so we're
out there you know knocking on doors
doing community services um 211 reports
which come from our DWS that's what
helps us at a lot so usually people
coming in for services just looking for
work in general that come into the
through the doors they usually get
referred to us cuz it's once they
mention you know I'm trying to go back
to school I can't find nothing that's
when we come in and we go ahead and we
help them out okay well for all of you
whatever we can do individually like
have you at our individual constituent
meetings or whatever I think it'd be
really important that we start
collaborating that way um and then um I
did want to note that I think Community
Schools would be a great partner as well
maybe you're already doing that and then
my last question I know that you say on
here or authorized to work in the US are
you are you trained to work with like
DACA folks as people who have DACA we
have helped cuz I actually currently am
I help with u a lot immigrants migrants
refugees that as long as they're
eligible to work in the United States we
work with them okay great yes awesome
thank you so much you're welcome anybody
else thank you councelor florus thank
you Mr Mayor and thank you so much I too
have a question about um the uh working
with you know people who are potentially
not authorized to work so how do you
guard against um any fear of approaching
uh you uh to seek uh these Services what
do you do how do you advertise because
it's very scary you know authorized to
work in the US so do you know exactly
what documentation is needed so that you
could put it out there before they even
show up because people will not show up
if they don't know what they're going to
get into so um so a special Visa or are
you familiar with that that's that's my
question uh we're um the way personally
I'm familiar with just with the
documentation we have so the
documentation we have once we give of
whether it's the DWS or any kind of
service where we're going to job for
anything all our information as on there
what's accepted to be qualified so there
is a qualifying process um we
don't honestly go out there and
advertise it at all times it's just kind
of um
I guess it's in our documentation so as
in what we require but me personally I'm
not too familiar what you're asking with
okay what I'm asking is this uh say for
example you know you you put the
eligibility requirement and then uh
someone reads authorized to work in the
US and that may be an ambiguous uh
reading by that person so that person um
would show up you know and look uh for
your
services and uh then you would ask would
you be asking that person if they are
authorized to work and what uh yeah well
that's the part that concerns me um
because it may be off-putting you know
or people might be afraid to to approach
uh you you see what I'm saying yes I so
um I think it's a matter of uh making it
you know very clear so that people
aren't um afraid um and I don't know how
you would work that with you know you
start getting into the gallies and all
that um and you don't want to do
anything to misrepresent what you're
doing of course that's a directive I
could bring to my director um in regards
to that it's this is the first time I've
ever had this question so I'm not too
sure how to approach it but uh I know
that I mean I personally haven't had
anybody with that issue uh usually once
we ask for um if you're authorized a lot
of people aren't offended but you never
know it might come up so yeah it's
something to look into and I will
definitely take that to my director and
see what we're doing with that okay I
know that um Congressman Vasquez uh Gabe
Vasquez is looking into um making the
availability you know the uh possibility
of being employed um not irrespective of
Doc proper documentation but amplifying
the uh that that that identification to
be to qualify for jobs so thank you very
much for your work I appreciate it and
kudos to you for for the way you lived
your life thank
you any other questions I think that's
it that's it thank
you thank you all um up next we have
James Fielder he's going to talk on more
on the on the job training and
transitional jobs a little more specific
about
those hi everyone good afternoon uh and
to answer your question about the
advertising can can I have you lift up
the mic please and I just need you to
state your name even though James filer
I'm the business operations manager for
both the adult as well as the youth
program um and to answer your question
about the advertising we actually have
uh a side on employee and M as well as
Billboards and radio and things like
that um our One-Stop operator is working
feverishly right now to to introduce
different uh social platforms and things
of that nature um and the different
programs we're doing things like Tik Tok
and all that kind of stuff just to let
people know about the different programs
that we at Workforce have so um so what
I'm here to talk about is uh on the job
training transitional jobs and
customized training uh I'll start with
transitional jobs transitional jobs uh
what that is is a program that we've
developed that help those individuals
who have that spotty work history or
have been out of the work Force for a
time period um it can be both full-time
as well as part-time um what we do is we
reimburse the employer up to 100% of
those hourly wages for 120 days that
kind of works out to about six months um
uh they can be trained in pretty much
any field uh that they're choosing to
work in um this is hopefully to get them
you know one off unemployment two back
in the workfield and giving getting them
a livable wage
um second would be the on the job
training program uh that one is my
favorite because that really helps
employers uh who have uh a problem with
job retention and job growth what we do
is we pay anywhere from 50 to 75% of
those hourly wages for up to six months
as long as they're willing to train them
in the way that they do business uh and
what that uh turns out to be is if they
have an employee who need who has a
skill Gap they're willing to train them
and if there's an issue let's just say
it's a manufacturing plant that they
have equipment and these individuals
need to be certified in a particular
piece of equipment what we can do is
actually bring in a provider that'll
help train them use that piece of
equipment that machine get them the
skills or at least level them up so that
they have livable wages as well and a
skill uh and they're not you know
starting out at the bottom of the barrel
um with customized training uh that same
individual we pay 50% of that training
cost but the cool thing about it is
let's say there's 10 individuals learn
to you learning to use that one piece of
equipment uh we take whatever their
hourly wage and we include that into the
cost of the training so if you have a
training that costs a person
$3,000 um using an eight hour day as an
example that training could be
free the employer pays nothing we pay
that entire cost out to them so that's
money that's going back into the
employer's pocket where they can invest
in their company uh they can invest in
positions create new positions or
promote that person that they've been
wanting to promote for a while but
didn't have the revenue to do so um the
cool thing also is when we reimburse
that that wage they're also getting back
the taxes so that employer paid that tax
once they were getting a weekly or
bi-weekly uh check they paid the taxes
then so when we re reimburse them we
reimburse them the entire uh salary so
uh they're getting all that money back
to them and we don't tell them what to
do with the money uh they can invest it
back in the company which would be a
smart thing to do new positions um or
put in their pocketbook uh we're hoping
that they reinvest so that they grow
their company um and and they have job
retention um to give you guys a short
story um they talked about Glitz uh
cosmetology school um I've been doing
this for about nine going on 10 years
now uh Glitz was actually one of my
first employers and they were a mom and
pop hair salon when they started out uh
that was nine 10 years ago they're
full-blown college today um to date uh
they've been reimburse
$380,000 by using our programs um
they've kept a number of our job Seekers
that are currently still working at the
school or they moved on started their
own business business so that shows you
that the program does work the the
retention and the growth is there um and
and the need in the community is there
um we work really well in the rural
areas uh not to toot our own horn our
program is one of the best programs in
the country um as far as what we've done
for growth and
placement uh we work well with DWS so we
have a nice pool of in uh of job Seekers
and I know that's hard to say in this
day and age after coid when people don't
want to go back to work
uh we have our own poll with our case
managers but we partner well with our
different partners to get those job
seekers in whatever Avenue that might be
whether it's transitional jobs whether
it's on the job training whether it's
customized training to to level them up
um uh s Coral county is one of our our
favorite counties that we work in uh the
town about five years ago seemed like it
was dying out it seems revitalized now
because they take they use DWS as well
as our program and other programs uh to
to put people back to work then to bring
employment back into the the area so uh
that is really all that I have about our
program uh if you guys have any
questions we're
here okay councelor Beno looks like she
has a question sure um I guess maybe not
a question but just on your last point
about the pandemic and people not
wanting to go back to work I am actually
curious if you have like data on this I
because I think sometimes when I hear
that think
or did do people not want to go back to
jobs where they don't have basic leave
health insurance where they're not
treated fairly where where they get sick
and get everybody sick right like or
maybe did the pandemic sort of help
expose all the ways in which people
weren't being Tre treated fairly in
their job and their life wasn't worth
the risk personally I think all that you
said has always been there I just think
now people are actually just voicing
that um what I've seen is uh and it's a
it's a big Trend people want to work
from home uh so they're looking for jobs
where you can work from home um some
cases it's a matter of pay I'm sure all
of you have seen uh and I saw this
literally during pandemic uh McDonald's
used to pay like nothing now you can
work at McDonald's for like $25 an hour
uh Target pays $25 an hour right now uh
but you have major companies or
manufacturing plants that they can't
meet that wage but you know you know now
that all along McDonald's Burger King
Wendy's they always had this money and
just didn't pay the people that what
they should be paying so uh I think that
something that's always been there is
just that like all things that evolves
and uh I wish I could say I had data for
it but that's just how it how it goes
right now thank you I'm just curious I
often hear people say this and I'm
always wondering if they've talked to
people who are are actually on the other
side of that and wondering if they've
ever asked well did you think about how
it the pandemic impacted people without
pic leave I I absolutely love my
business team they work with employers
and we found that employers had to have
the mirror turned in on them and find
out that their culture wasn't induc in
as far as producing productive uh
employees so they've had to change their
practices in that so yeah it's a little
bit of everything you're
welcome James James what is Lordsburg in
your territory Lordsburg is indeed
territory you guys doing anything over
there we are I get calls from some
elected officials asking if there's
anything that we don't want send it
their way so Lordsburg is right now is
the new Soro where the town seems like
it's kind of dissipating and
disappearing because they're just not
bringing in enough industry there and
the kids are leaving which is why I'm
glad our youth that we now have the
youth program uh in hadi's done a
remarkable job of of of playing that so
now they're keeping their youth there
and they want to stay
uh we're working with u mainly their
their County and their municipalities as
far as paying uh putting job Seekers to
work and that's helping them expand some
of the programs that they have to you
know help grow other businesses and
things of that nature so uh there is a
big push there in Lordsburg as well as
Luna County uh and it's kind of cool
because they're kind of working in
tandem together uh to bring businesses
in to show different opportunities uh
that are in that surrounding area as
well as cine County as well all right
thank you very much you're
welcome thank you I wanted to add to the
Lordsburg statement um Jazelle and I
actually um Jazelle and I were able to
start the second access point at the
Lordsburg um in the city of Lordsburg so
at the Hope Haven there is a access
point where individuals can go and do
job search via the computer there is web
access so that they can access our team
here in Los Cruses in Deming and Silver
City all of our teams are kind of
watching those access points that we
have so the Hope Haven is one of them
and then the other one's at the library
so we're trying to get our presence
there in Lordsburg and help out um we've
been working a lot with the city um
Economic Development with Emily gorovich
a lot lately um and they they members
there trying to get more awareness to
their communities as well so we are
trying to pay attention to our smaller
locations so next up we have Mr Victor
Cabrera he is going to speak on the
national Farm Workers jobs
program good
afternoon uh again my name is Victor
K I'm in charge of the National farmer
jobs program for New
Mexico uh right now we have six Regional
Offices in New
Mexico that I oversee and I oversee West
Texas El Paso as well two offices in El
Paso hopefully three here pretty soon
but
uh but we do uh first of all I work for
met motivation Education and Training
and they are the
recipients of the national for Market
jobs program under
uh
nfjp under that umbrella we also cover
just like the rest of them we cover ojts
we cover work
experience uh we cover the CDL
training uh we assist uh the migrant
children at
Camp uh we assist the farm workking
community we help them with uh in-house
jobs so we help them to if they want to
Branch out come out of where they're
at we also help them with that we pay
for everything as well as you can see uh
my colleagues here the people that we
work with I mean we try and leverage
each other's uh Monies to help
maximize the help to to the farm worker
or anyone in
general um um I will pay up to $7,500
for your CDL license and we'll pay for
everything and U excuse
me
sorry and uh we also pay for uh work
experience we pay $12 an
hour uh we pay for the workman's comp as
well uh under the OJT the
uh the company pays for uh the Workman
count but we do a
50/50 for the sake of dollars they pay
five we pay five so at the end of the
month or at the end of the duration it
was 12 weeks for the uh work experience
they can get refunded right there or as
we go
along uh the ogt is the same the ogt is
for 16
weeks and uh
if they want to get paid at the end uh
the duration that's
fine uh if if they're taking online
classes we we pay 725 for
online whether it's here in New Mexico
or whether it's in El
Paso and um of course I one of you
mentioned
uh the uh authorized workers of
Visa we also deal with that
but the way we deal with it with it is
that we they have to they have to have
applied for the permanent residency
card I've had Asylum Seekers come by my
office already several of my
offices but I can't do anything with
them I've helped daaka and uh people as
well um I can't deal with Asylum Seekers
right
now uh you it's it's a pretty lengthy
process and uh I think uh one of you was
mentioning I think we look at the safety
aspect of it as well so um you know
we're we're out there in in groups as
well and we have uh telephones that lets
all of us know where we're at you know
how long we've been
there uh of course our our program is
geared under their
Outreach so we're always out there but I
think we're we're careful we're cautious
now we're being very
careful but we do you know like I
mentioned we do deal with Asylum Seekers
and um I won't I won't light to you guys
some of them are kind of
scary but you know just the their
approach is you know kind of kind of
brutal but you know there's only so much
we can do and if we as soon as we get
past that then then we're okay but we do
have our requirements we do have our
income
guidelines from one person to you know a
large family uh I like I mentioned I do
work with NMSU and Camp uh we do
presentations at all the high schools
around here uh in ding
uh of course you know have offices in
the northern part of New Mexico and we
also work with the schools there as well
and the
universities we have several CDL schools
around the around the state and I have
several in El
Paso and so this is who we are and this
is what we do and uh we love assisting
the farmw workking community so if you
have any questions I do yes councelor
Flores are you
surprised are you surprised no thank you
so much is it Mr Caldera or is it Mr
cabaa yes Caba Caba okay um so um this
has thrown me off a little bit National
Farm Workers jobs so you train people to
be Farm Workers you no we get them out
of the
fields you get them out we can train
them inside the fields say for example
there's a farm worker that wants to be a
supervisor or wants to be a tractor
operator
uh we because the tractors now they have
GPS's right so it takes an a certain
amount of time to get them trained if we
we train train them under
irrigation uh it's a big process so if
you're just a chil picker we can put you
to be a supervisor in the fields or
become a tractor operator or a forklift
operator well you also uh your services
include career counseling so what kind
counseling do you give um when when the
kids the kids or the farmer workers come
to our office we always ask them what is
it that you're looking at looking for
because what we look for is a
sustainable income sustainable job
that'll create sustainable income that
sustainable income will generate into
the
community and you know for the most part
that's what they're they're seeking and
that's how we counsel them to see how
long has the
nfjp uh how long ago was it established
nfjp was established in New Mexico since
1965 with help New Mexico and now with
Med Med was established since 1967 in
Texas which they moved in to uh New
Mexico okay well um I have a lot of
other questions but but thank you no no
thank you very much thank you thank you
Mr Mayor you can you can talk to me
after or
thank you you don't want that no I'm
just kid I'm just I'm just
joking she's a very lovely person I just
you know we definitely welcome all the
questions um so next up we have um the
department of Vocational Rehabilitation
we were going to have Eric Pilla from
the from the DVR um office present but
he had an injury and couldn't make it
here so actually Josh is going to get up
and speak again about the DVR program
and a little bit about what they can
offer did you want 10 minutes Josh or
you want the remaining six I was going
to ask to recount my four please four
minutes you got it four to my 10 all
righty so uh yes Eric Pia Padilla is the
program manager for the Los cruus office
and as well as the region um so
Department of Vocational Rehabilitation
is a really amazing program that works
with individuals who may have a
disability and so the way this kind of
looks in aspect to what DWS does they
work specifically with individuals that
have disabilities so in a process of
what this looks like in a storyline if
an individual comes to our office
looking for career services or maybe
education but they they determine to us
or disclose to us that they have some
type of disability what we then have the
opportunity to do is do an internal
referral to DVR at that point DVR will
process them in a referral and look at
what uh what cases they need to present
as far as the documentation as far as
what type of disability and then also to
what they're looking to do now within
Vocational Rehabilitation that's not
only job but that could also be
education So within that capacity they
assist those individuals with the
barriers that they may have in
succeeding in the educational component
as well as the overall job Readiness job
placement moving forward in the
capacities that DVR is able to assist
can be Financial um in means of going to
schools um throughout the region and
throughout the state it could also be as
far as technology so if they're in need
of a laptop or if they're need of any
type of textbooks or anything of those
materials they're able to assist through
a plan on that individual individual
success what that does look like though
is it a very specific plan for that
individual so if they are looking to go
for example to NMSU for a bachelor's
degree they would be looking
specifically at those items those line
items if you will on a financial
monetary component and then being able
to move forward as far as that goes at
any any point if there's a variation of
their plan or maybe they switch degrees
as I'm sure many of us have uh with that
said they're able to assist them further
in being able to adjust that plan and
you know gain their success another
aspect of DVR is the fin Financial
aspect is say Transportation DVR has a
funding mechanism where they're not able
to provide a vehicle per se to an
individual but maybe there's a vehicle
modification example if there's an
individual whose disability is they are
wheelchair bound they're a if the
individual has a vehicle DVR can assist
in that ability to modify that vehicle
and being able to you know help them
succeed further in their transportation
efforts as well as of course getting to
classes work etc down the line now
depending upon their diagnosises and
their job Readiness component more so if
these individuals do come in and they go
through the DVR program and then they
become job ready this is where it's a
nice cyclical amongst our colleagues
here of being able to do a co-enrollment
or a reverse referral if you will if you
have an individual that's gone through
the DVR program they are job ready
that's that's where that individual has
the opportunity to come back to uh DWS
or our partners and further that ability
to bolster their skills um through
Finance through education through the
markets as we mentioned and being able
to you know look at that job placement
and looking for the best fit for them uh
DVR
overall um lost my train of thought I do
apologize DVR overall they do have a a
great pool of individuals that do uh
through their counselor components that
do a lot of referrals to us and Vice
verse being able to support those
individuals and ensuring that you know
no one falls through the the cracks and
also to if there's an individual that
may not have a a specific disability or
a level of disability U well that
referral would come back to DWS or our
partners en able to facilitate and being
able to assist them moving forward as
well
question no questions so the share a
story I'd like to share with you the one
of the an interesting story didn't
happen here in a different part of the
region though he was a he a surgeon a
doctor and he was in a accident a
motorcycle accident he got his arm
sliced off and he reattached it but he
couldn't operate anymore so he went back
to DVR and he became a consultant for
hospitals and doctors so he was because
he he could have taken disability but he
was relatively young and he wanted to
still do something meaningful so DVR was
able to rehabilitate him to to
transition to something different other
than being a surgeon so I I it it can be
someone such as that or or anything in
between that is correct and also to the
co-enrollment so if there's something
that DVR is not able to do whether
Financial or some aspect of that plan
you know that co-enrollment and the
communication amongst partners and
external Partners is really really the
key to that an example is the commission
of the Blind and heart of hearing and so
being able to facilitate what services
that the commission may be able to
facilitate and then also to DVR now
those are two separate programs as far
as a funding mechanism so they couldn't
co- enroll in that capacity just due to
they're both federally funded but we
look at the best fit for the individuals
to their
success and don't you all still pay or
do you maybe not anymore but the first
six months with uh hopes that you'll
then employ them person and then you
take over paying for them or you don't
cover the first six months for their
their salary that is you know I do not
have the answer to that question but we
could definitely follow up with that so
that used to be the case and that was I
say that so for those who are thinking
who are listening and maybe thinking of
opening their own business they could
reach out to you and you know you can
provide them some type of training and
usually the state picks it up for the
first six months and hopes that you'll
keep them if they're you know if you're
if they're able to use them definitely
so and so they do off often offer uh job
development co uh coaches as well so if
we do have those individuals that you
know looking to start their own business
or looking to get in the job field they
also do that research or that footwork
for that individual or with that
individual to being able to assist them
in that capacity because the ultimate
goal for a job Seeker is the retention
value of them having employment as well
as an employer and specifically southern
New Mexico because our environment is
much different than what you say of
Albuquerque and Central and so being
able to have that ability to have that
employee retention as well as that job
Seeker retention and then even through
programs such as met you know having
that that opportunity to further develop
your skill sets and being you know the
generational of if you're in the field
picking uh Chile you know having that
opport through programs to being able to
to develop further and you know become a
supervisor and you know break that Norm
of what they want moving forward as
well and if you would mind do I have one
minute left no no take your time we
didn't time you to answer one of your
questions regarding as far as uh visas
and ability to employ so through within
DWS obviously an individual would need
documentation in order to work so they
would need you know a right to work they
would need a Visa or so forth now the
other side of that as far as employment
is also job Readiness so we don't
dismiss an individual when it comes to
the job Readiness component we still
offer those services to prepare them as
far as the resume building the job
coaching and so forth and then what we
do is we do um offer them the resources
such as uh the Lutheran Mission Lutheran
Church who does have that ability to
assist them in getting that
documentation prepared now that is a
lengthy process in itself but the goal
on our end is to have them job ready so
when they do the the paperwork in order
to be eligible to work in the United
States States then they can start that
process again moving forward and we have
seen that quite exponentially with
within the erap program if you do job
Readiness fairs as well as the community
of hope we have a lot of individuals
whether the US citizens or they may have
migrated here to being able to provide
that service to them is here's some
resources that you can utilize to get
your documentation but in that same
aspect we're able to provide those
services for them so that way they don't
feel like they're left out in the cold
if you will they're able to actually get
those Services get prepared and then
when that entation does come back across
then we're able to
facilitate question yes counselor see
the more you the more the more you
present to us the more my brain goes off
with all these questions thank you very
much um
so you don't
um you you don't ask someone if they're
um have uh documentation to remain in
the country and be ble to work here um
but you said that you do uh prepare them
and or do you send them over to the
Lutheran Church first and or how does
that work and and how successful has
that been have people been able to get
the proper documentation to remain in
the country and to work uh lawfully uh
yes ma'am so to answer your question
when we have an individual we definitely
don't want to let them go and so what
what we do is we do offer those services
to them on site or are we always welcome
them back to our facilities say if we're
doing a job fair or job Readiness
component so we do offer those Services
upfront now through our systems of
registration that's when we typically
identify we don't ask straight out are
you eligible to work but through the
documentations if they don't have a
Social Security or a work visa then
that's where that comes up to light and
then we're able to provide those
resources to them and from there we can
still continue with the coaching the
classes and we work within our partners
to you know job Readiness and career
Readiness if you will and they can
partake in all of the systems and
programs that we have that are of course
no cost and then in that aspect going to
um the Lutheran Church was as an example
but an entity to be able to get that
documentation for them and that is a
process now we have had return uh I will
say not in high in Greater volume but
those individuals have returned saying
they are now ready to work and that's
when we can finish out the registration
process and if there's solely within DWS
looking for job placement or if they
have the opportunity to utilize one of
our uh programs as well then we are able
to continue that path for them
so do you get a list of uh jobs that are
available uh on certain visas from the
ins or how do you uh calibrate that how
do you work with uh someone
who has the potential of perhaps working
here without being too intrusive I mean
I you know and I I know that there are a
lot of visas for people like certain
Engineers you know certain this certain
that whatever um and I'm sure that a lot
of people that come to you without a
doubt probably uh were medical doctors
or whatever uh wherever they you know
whatever country of origin they came
from but um um but but so do you do you
have a list of um of
the the employment that or yeah
employment that would that is needed in
this country and would issue visas to
those uh individuals who would who have
the credentials or can train for those
credentials if we have individuals that
have their visas we can assist them in
finding employment no some oh okay so if
oh they would have to have the Visa
first they would have to have a minimum
of a work visa if not documentation to
to live and work within the United
States and then we can find them
employment yeah but usually the work
visa is issued um um once they establish
that they're needed in this
country in the perfect system yes yeah
Oh you mean there's a oh okay there's
some lag time but yes essentially if
there if there is any of that process
with them um and if there is any
documentation that is needed we find the
resources needed through them we also
work of course the do to be able to
assist them and facilitate where where
and how they could work great yes ma'am
thank you so much do you want me to ask
more questions if you would like to
thank you Mr Mr Mar thank you than you
well I'll kind of expand on that for you
counselor so um so they do need to have
the work of Visa but if they have just a
regular visa to come into the United
States for six months they're not
allowed to work and that's where I think
that's why where I support where
Congressman of osca is trying to do if
you're in one of these areas like health
care or education or energy production
um or Emergency Services then you could
you know because that's where we're
we're having some short ages and if you
have that training then you can have a
different path to to getting permanent
work and permanent residency so I think
that's really good what the
congressman's proposing
but there and again we don't make the
federal laws here but an employer has to
fill out within a day or two when they
hire someone an I9 and it specifically
says you you have to show certain
documentations and that's just just the
way it goes and if not both the employee
and the employer could get serious
trouble if you don't show that
documentation it's ba
salak I broke that down
yes all right is there any other
question all right thank you okay thank
you thank you
um
Josh thank you everyone um I just wanted
to um just a finish up and hopefully
we've answered all your questions if we
have not feel free to give us a call um
we did put all of our leadership
information all of our contacts that
we're are here are here on this slide as
well as some of the others that are
involved with our teams um I do want to
point out as I kind of do each week with
our jobs of the week we are all over
social media we are on Facebook we are
on Instagram we are on LinkedIn YouTube
um we do a weekly hot jobs video and
that's hot jobs from across our region
so not only Los cruus and doniana County
but across all of this all of the
counties that we serve um as was
mentioned earlier a little bit we are on
Tik Tok now we're trying to feature each
of our locations we're trying to feature
um tips and tricks and just try to get
for one it's kind of to focus in on our
younger generations and get their
attention as well and kind of pull them
in um we have started talks about
utilizing our youth program as well to
help kind of bump that up in in our
social media areas um in doniana County
we are in the Sunland Park locate area
we are on Appaloosa Drive if you guys
aren't familiar with that there is there
are links on our website on employee
andm to all of our locations as well um
as well as here in Los cruus we're over
at 226 South
Alama so if there's nothing else that
concludes everything for us and we
appreciate your time like I said we
welcome any questions and we'll come
back and answer more questions if needed
absolutely thanks Sarah thank you and um
Victor uh she'll be waiting for you so
okay all right so next is U affordable
housing investment strategy n green and
Jen Lopez from Project
Moxy
good afternoon Mr Mayor members of
council Natalie Green housing and
Neighborhood Services for the record uh
the discussion before us today is the L
cruus housing investment strategy as
part of the adoption of the go bonds um
City staff uh contracted with project
Moxy to evaluate both our affordable
housing programs and help work on an
overall investment strategy for for all
of those Housing Programs so our
objectives for today's presentation is
to review some of those draft
recommendations answer any questions and
then gather feedback for the final draft
from both Council um and members of the
public so with that I will turn the
presentation over to uh Jen lopus again
with project
Moxy Mr Mayor and members of council hi
Jen Lopez I'm from Durango Colorado with
project Moxy how much time do I
get you can take as long as you want no
you should give me a time limit no this
I have about 20 25 minutes for slides
and then questions does that sound about
right yeah okay you want us to give you
25 minutes we can do that okay that'd be
great thank you and um I just want to
make sure that it's a robust
conversation and not just a PowerPoint
especially after lunch right so anyway
so um good to be here again and I've
been working in Los cruus on and off
with Natalie and her team since
2017 um I have over 23 years of
experience in affordable housing um a
lot of New Mexico connections my family
uh my kids were born in Santa Fe I went
to grad school in New Mexico and I've
been Consulting here uh for many years
um our team is small But Mighty uh we do
things from underwriting uh development
projects we do Direct Services we do
public private Partnerships and just
kind of take on any kind of housing
related Solutions at the community level
we have lots of current clients but some
of our New Mexico clients include anorm
Health Foundation Santa Fe county the
Talis Housing Partnership Etc we love
working in Los cruus it's a really great
community and then I just great um so we
came
down we started the engagement in June
and we had been working with Natalie and
her team last fall on a few projects and
when I heard that you got the Geo bond
for housing I was so excited it's so
Progressive honestly there's very few
communities of this size that I've seen
do that so congratulations and I said to
Natalie well what are you going to do
with it she goes well we have some ideas
and I was like can I write a strategy
please so our team has been writing
housing strategy since
2007 and you're going to or I'm going to
hopefully demonstrate to you why I think
they're really important and very unique
from What A needs assessment is so we'll
get into what we did but we always start
when we go into Community with some very
basic questions right what or who is
prompting this focus on a aable housing
where are there opportunities to
increase affordable housing in your
community and is there anyone else that
needs to be part of the initiative uh
starting in August we came down for
several days had multiple group uh group
meetings went to the housing um task
force group lots of interviews and then
we went back and did additional focus
groups and interviews um I met regularly
with nle and her team to get guidance on
you know who to talk to and when and try
to get a really good sense of what was
going on
uh what makes I think investment
strategies really unique is that um
we're not going to deliver a 100 page
document about all the need you don't
need to hear about need you know the
need and it's gotten a lot worse and
I'll share some statistics it's gotten
worse because of covid I'll also kind of
weave in why as we move forward because
that informed how we think about
strategy but at the end of the day I
should back up I talk really fast so I'm
going to keep at this pace unless you
tell me to stop and at any time but
really at the end of the day today's
strategy is quite simple we're looking
for the intersection of where your
community has a vision for housing where
you have resources where your resources
can leverage federal and state resources
where there's capacity is huge and then
obviously political will and some
creativity and
Leadership we always want to explain
that when we do housing strategy work
we're thinking across to Continuum at
the community level so we you know part
of the strategy will address folks who
are experiencing homelessness and we'll
go all the way up to that firsttime home
buyer not quite rental um Market rental
support and that's because in New Mexico
you have the affordable housing act and
and by that um legislation you can help
folks up to 120% of AA median income I
think it's changing or will be changed
soon to 150% of AA median income but
that's why we use that as the frame of
who to serve and just to give you some
context of what that is um 80% of area
median incomes about 51,000 a year 120
for a family of four 120% of area median
incomes about 77,000 a year
so key takeaways in all of the
interviews and conversations
um and this came you know from multiple
folks but one of the things that
happened during covid is that a lot of
our uh federal tax credit programs and
I'll talk a little bit about tax credits
without getting totally into the weeds
but I'm going to take two steps back
most housing programs at the community
level rely heavily on federal funds we
have for 40 50 years the federal funds
have not kept up we all know this
however that's where we're um we have to
be able to leverage those funds if we
want to build units so one of the key
strategies we use is the low-income
housing tax credit right which is a a
program that um allocates credits to
projects across the state the New Mexico
mortgage Finance Authority manages that
the good news is is that Los crusis has
gotten a number of these projects of
late you all know this because you've
been funding them thank you amazing
great work but what happened during coid
is the prices went up while we were
trying to finish those deals so one of
the first things we have to do is make
sure that that pipeline gets done so
this is a high priority for the
investment moving forward with both City
and general obligation bonds is to make
sure any projects that haven't closed
has the final funds that they can close
and be um start construction as soon as
possible possible um other things we
heard in talking to community lots of
interest in affordable housing you've
got huge support as you all know You'
were able to pass the Geo Bond but
questions and sort of um folks wanting
to see more communication around what's
happening how to get involved and how to
make sure that those funds can can can
continue and be a continuous source of
funding for you all moving forward just
a lot of excitement about the work um
other things that you all are working on
at the uh staff level is um looking at
how to really leverage uh private
developments in a very thoughtful way
how do you negotiate per perhaps set as
sides of either units or Lots very
common best practice great to see your
staff working on this other things that
came up is how do you prioritize
different opportunities right so you're
going to see that we've taken a bunch of
information created some charts and
we're going to suggest ways to
prioritize those funds but we're trying
to find a balance between meeting your
needs tomorrow and meeting your needs in
5 to 10 years and being realistic about
what you can
do the framework for reviewing the
opport OPP unities and the strategies
again is this intersection of being able
to really finish projects finish what
you've already got on the ground right
not just tax credits you've also got
some for sale things happening that we
want to make sure get done leveraging
state and federal funds um increasing
for sale opportunities that's harder to
do there's not as much money for for
sale housing we'll talk about that but
it we don't want to lose that
preservation you don't want to lose the
stuff you already have and you do have
about 400 units that could go out of
affordab IL in the next um several years
and then um housing for people at risk
or experiencing homelessness came up a
number of times in our interviews and
again all of this won't happen if we
don't think about staff capacity here
and making sure that we're either
building staff capacity or adjusting the
strategies to work within the capacity
that's
there so you just start with numbers so
we spent a couple months just playing
around and try to figure out all the
funds that you have available um you
have almost 30 million to invest over
three years that's that's a really great
number very impressive that 12.6 million
that city funding source that's a bake
sale that you're going to do next year
I'm just checking to see if you're
paying attention sorry um that that is a
gap number so we backed into that number
um what I understand is that every year
your staff comes to you for projects
right to fill the Gap we were trying to
get ahead of that and say we think this
is the number over the next three years
um so what happens to that 294 million
so here's all the different uses that
we're proposing with your staff so again
finish those existing tax credits about
6.4 million to go in the leverage
numbers are um based on actual cost of
projects because your staff's
underwriting so um your Leverage is
about over it's a little over 200,000
per unit when you do tax credit projects
and that number goes up over time
because the costs go up I will tell you
all your leverage numbers are pretty
conservative but essentially you'll
leverage 78 million you'll get 383 units
make sense so um it I hope this is
simpler or fairly simple that 2024 2026
City funds column is the amount of
funding and the uses from that previous
slide we're showing the sources in the
next column and then what the leverage
with federal estate funds would be and
then the number of units um so this is
essentially your
scorecard um other uses obviously uh
staff feels it it's pretty likely to do
another 250 units of tax credits over
the next three years which is
wonderful um there is uh beginning a
momentum around a special needs project
for about 40 units and um that would be
a State Legislative ask with some other
creative financing preservation this
will be kind of a new activity um we've
slotted a million dollars and there's a
number of ways that you could use
preservation dollars we've left the
leverage in units because we're going to
create the strategy as we go over the
next three years home rehab you've all
been doing for quite some time it's
gotten much much harder you'll see in
the recommendations for the strategy
keep doing it but maybe you can
Outsource that to another agency and get
a little bit more leverage from those
activities land
acquisition is a best practice for
communities that are growing quickly
where you might be concerned that in 5
to 10 years it's going to be really hard
to site projects and so it's not
uncommon for a city to acquire larger uh
tracks of land to really control some
development
opportunity um and you also actually
have a project queued up a subdivision
that you're looking at purchasing
there's a revolving Loan Fund that your
staff has been
implementing uh there's the
predevelopment sorry land acquisition
this is a small amount of money to play
around with acquiring a larger parcel uh
for future development we have helped
your staff streamline impact fee waivers
that's something that you're using to
promote housing has a cost and then you
do rental assistance so the punchline is
with these funds uh we think you can
leverage over 145 million and get 757
units over three years that's not all
you know opened and um with people in
them but in process so um I think it's
pretty impressive and I'm very proud of
your
staff that was a lot I'm going to go
into a little bit more detail about each
one of those boxes but before I do that
are there any
questions you only get 30 seconds
because I only no I'm just kidding if
there's any questions now let me know
good Pace this
helpful okay uh rental investment
strategy high level again ensuring the
tax credits they're in process get done
piloting that first non- tax credit
Supportive Housing project 40 units um
Amador Crossing which is on land that
you own again facilitating new credits
streamlining your process around funding
this is huge um even though the federal
and state resources are much larger than
what the city does you really get to
control what gets funded by being some
of the first commitments in it's a very
powerful process and so just helping um
um align those funding sources and
making it more predictable for
developers so they want to continue to
work in cruus and you can continue to
have a lot of housing working um housing
projects in
process um again here's sort of a a a
recap of the rental investment for uh
rental housing so again just a summary
again the document is 95% complete
you'll get it very soon U but we wanted
to give you a
snapshot again for sale investment
strategies three primary ones
formalizing a program for the city to
acquire discounted and free buildable
Lots expanding construction assistance
for the partner nonprofits who are
currently building for sale housing for
you and then just direct purchase of
lots again for sale recommendations a
couple of million dollars to do those
strategies leveraging some federal funds
um those your dollars will leverage over
9 million in that
strategy um anticipated 62 two units of
development again preservation there's
some really big plays here that haven't
been done so uh we want to call them out
and then uh as as it moves forward we
can get a lot more um specific about the
leverage but one of the big
preservations strategy plays is to work
with msia Valley public housing
authority there's poos veres which is
216 units of public housing a best
practice is to go in and get
Redevelopment F funds from HUD and
redevelop that into more of a mixed
income neighborhood and Community um you
do that through a competitive process
called the rental assistance
demonstration program at HUD so that is
something your staff is looking into
with um the housing authority and then
we talked again about um having the city
release or look to potentially partner
with a third party to help administer
the city's home rehab program and and
their ramp initiative and then
considering funding opportunities um in
underwriting for special needs
population housing um that may preserve
Behavior Health Facilities so you've got
some interesting one-off projects in the
community like Los Amigos they could
fall under this section of the
strategy again recommendations at least
a million dollars to play around with
some of those strategies we'll refine
this as we move forward again
preservation is really
important Land Development biggest thing
around Land Development is thinking
about how would you select a site and
consider uh uh investment over the long
term and so uh uh we wanted to make sure
there was some fund set aside to be able
to do predevelopment on potential sites
and that there would be some kind of
Matrix for selection number of comments
around where new development for
Workforce housing affordable housing
should go um kind of the punchline is
folks wanted to see opportunities
throughout the community not
concentrated anywhere and um so the site
selection Matrix really tries to capture
that um and then Land Development again
um this is the idea of going and
kind of taking a a look at something
larger that you can control over
multiple years and so that 200,000 would
allow your staff to do some early
feasibility work on potential
sites additional strategies um that are
kind of critical to make those core
strategies go um and came up in a lot of
the conversations land use policy
alignment so again um over time you just
want to see if you're doing any updates
to your land use code that it's if
favorable to
um higher densities and more affordable
development um and things like that and
I see heads nodding so not not a first
time you've heard this that's very hard
to do but we have to name it because
that's a thing and I'll just say that
this is becoming more and more common in
other states we're working in and we
think that there's going to be some
conversation at the capital here in
Santa Fe this session and the
conversation goes like this we can't
fund our way out of housing so maybe we
need to ask local communities to commit
to certain activities so that it's
easier for us to um site projects that
we're funding and we get a bigger bang
for our buck so I know that there are
conversations like that starting to
happen and then always and you all were
very articulate about this when we were
with you in August the importance of
advocacy at the capital you have a
lobbyist um because these are such
expensive projects you need the funds
from the federal and state levels and so
being very thoughtful about how you're
planning and and kind of putting
together asss and working with your
staff on
that Federal policies um always
interesting so I mean the challenge with
Federal policies we haven't seen huge
increases in the programs that we need
but you're always going to be doing that
you're always going to be looking at
federal policy because um you have to
because a lot of times we're just
maintaining what we have um and then
there's a lot of interest and just um a
lot of passion around Community
Education and advoc advocacy ongoing
right so you got the Geo Bond but let's
show people where it went the impact it
had and just you know keep the community
engaged we worked with the affordable
housing advisory committee we had one
meeting with them we'll be meeting with
them again after the holidays and they
have a very specific role with the
geobond right they are providing
feedback regarding um the whole project
and they can help the team test ideas
and Concepts and they will assist with
project messaging and engagement and
will'll recommend projects to city
council
wow that was good all
right I hope that was helpful um I hope
there's questions and before that Nat do
you have anything you want to
add no all
right okay looks like we have councelor
Urban comoo has a question yes thank you
mayor um sorry I'm also just looking for
something that I want to reference to as
I ask you questions but nice to see you
again Jen thank you for being here I've
really enjoyed working with you and I'm
sure our staff our incredible housing
staff has too um I did just want I think
just make a couple notes and then I do
have some questions for you you know I
think as elected officials or candidates
we always talk about we just need to
build more housing as
if it was just that simple and in my
head sometimes it is like how are we
going to solve our housing crisis we
build more housing and we have to really
take into consideration the context of
everything it takes because you just
presented an incredible amount of work
that our amazing housing staff has done
and that is yielding
757 units over several years and our
housing shortage is 5,600 units right so
like I just want to really contextualize
that because it takes so much work so
much money so much everything to make a
little bit of a dent in in this greater
scheme of things things and I think
often people don't either want to
acknowledge that or just you know lack
that understanding like the full
analysis so I just wanted to say that
because as you're presenting this is
just struck me about you know how much
work really our staff has been doing to
to try to address the situation in which
we find ourselves in not to mention
right that the federal government has
like disinvested from public housing for
decades now right so that's for another
work session I think um I did want to
make a couple com questions though for
you on some of these pieces you said
that there was about 400 units that you
think could go out of affordability can
you talk about more about what those 400
units are sure mayor and Council I
Robert's Rules so mayor council woman
Ben comoo thank you it'll take me a
minute I'm a little rusty um so MFA did
a hous estate housing strategy in 2022
and did a ton of data collection around
the state and that was the most recent
data we could find for Las cruus so
that's where the data comes from and the
400 units that would fall out of
affordability are ones that are being
tracked so those are ones that have been
funded by federal funding so okay um
public housing yep and not it could be
tax credits could be public housing
could be 55 I don't think you have any
515 but it's most likely public housing
and tax credits and so we just want to
put it on your radar
right so that um we're paying attention
to that as those projects come up and
then again you've got a wonderful pilot
opportunity potentially with the public
housing authority yeah yeah that's huge
thank you I'm GNA leave that up to
Natalie to make sure she's stays that
stays on our radar Natalie because I
think that's huge if anything I've
learned from um Nicole Martinez and a
lot of the housing Advocates is and this
will actually go to my second question
around messaging is that how do how are
we ensuring we're talking about about
prevention as well because as we're
housing
people many other people could be
entering into housing and stability and
and homelessness right and um that's
actually what leads to one of my
questions and I'm ex so I'm assuming
that part of the recommendations you're
going to give to us include some
communication strategies narrative
strategies and I asked that because I
was recently at a Association for other
local elected officials called progress
now and um one of my colleagues from
Sacramento was talking about sort of
their huge housing crisis and what
they've seen and she had really
interesting data um you know so for them
homelessness across the region increased
by 9% and she talked about for every one
person that um exited at homelessness in
Sacramento three more lost their homes
and so I just I was like wow that's
really powerful a powerful data point
for how we can then talk to our
constituents because often I think what
happens is that that what people see out
in our community and out of the street
isn't matching what the city is doing to
try to meet those demands and those
needs right um and so I I think part of
all of this is obviously the actual work
but also about how we talk about it as a
city and I think we need to get better
at that U mayor councilwoman Ben KO we
have a little we have uh called out
Communications as a critical strategy
what we can talk to staff about is
adding to the appendices some best
practices around messaging I think it's
a great idea it would not take much time
at all thank you there is a section of
the strategy that we're still working on
I mean it's 95% baked but I want to call
it out because it's right where you're
going which is supportive services and
and program so we're going to finish
that section up right but that's key as
you said housing is really hard to do
keeping people hous really hard to do um
and that and who's impacted by housing
and stability has grown tremendously
since Co and I didn't spend a lot of
time on data I just had a hunch you
probably all knew the need but I should
have maybe not made assumptions but I
mean think about your median house price
it blows my mind you were like 180,000
or something like that in 2018 and
almost 300,000 now right so um it's it's
hard and you've got incredible momentum
I mean you're leading in the state of
New Mexico as far as I'm concerned so
thank you for that's helpful that's
super helpful um I'll actually stop
there that's really helpful thank you
I'm really looking forward to the full
support thank
you councelor Corin thank you this was
super um illustrative and helpful and I
really appreciate I I really appreciate
you breaking down some of the things
that I think maybe weren't on our radar
so I um the I think I've been hearing I
have a couple of develop new
developments of varying types in my
district which is District Five um
including the peach tree apartment
complex and I think that was one of the
ones that might be in that category of
things that need the additional money to
sort of get in the ground and I just
wanted to one um check in if that's the
kind of project that you're talking
about that that uh I think in our minds
we're like oh we're done with that
um like not not that we don't want to
keep working on it but we've already
talked about it it's been approved and
so um I I guess I really just wanted to
see what kinds of projects are in that
space and I hope that we can knock those
off our list very quickly in terms of
where we are looking to spend the money
in in a short amount of time um
especially as they've gone through so
much so surmounted so many hurdles
um I'm going to defer to Natalie so she
can answer that can't thank you question
no thank you Mr Mayor counselor uh Karan
that is one of the projects so phase one
we're getting ready to close on
financing what we'll be coming back to
you with is phase two uh we want to work
on the preservation of the difficult to
develop it uh adds a bonus to the whole
hamburger right I didn't bring the
hamburger this time but it adds that
boost and it makes that project really
viable and you'll see that um before the
MFA tax credit submission um and so
that'll either be November December or
depending on timing January at the
latest and then um I did want to just
put this up here when we're talking
about difficult to develop projects just
um what a typical project development
timeline can look like over time and um
why our pipeline is so important
important uh to to this process is so we
want to make sure we get enough projects
in the pipeline um so we're planning out
ahead thank you and thank you I really
appreciate that I also just want to make
a note uh hamburger at the front end
bake sale at the back end councelor
Graham has been work perfecting her B
baking skills so $12 million that's
nothing
um so thank you for for that the the
last thing that I just sort of wanted to
give note to is I really appreciate you
mentioning the zoning code I think we
have spoken Loosely to this and as part
of our realiz am I out of
time okay I needed to be done yay I'm
done um sorry counil woman no it's all
good um but I do just sort of want to
point that out again the real this is
sort of a parallel track but I think we
have spoken quite um often about the
need for the most housing friendly
elements uh on the very very front edge
of the realized L cruus change changes
and I don't know if the committee is
currently um in discussion for some of
those things but I think I know that
that will be something that I will be
looking for as any part of that comes to
council and and um so the expectations
are pretty high that whatever concrete
recommendations come from this are are
incorporated as part of realize I hope
um but also even if just sort of the
general idea that we have have to change
this to fix this problem I think it's
really important for us to reemphasize
to the folks who are working on the
realized task force so I just wanted to
speak to that and I appreciate you're
including that as one of the key
elements that isn't really related to
money but is is related to something
that we're already changing so thank you
that that's it thank you Council thank
you very much for your presentation
thank
you okay anybody
else so just to before you leave so
basically what you're advocating which I
I think I think is which you're trying
to Advocate which I would support is
instead of taking let's just use a six
million if the city has two options
either use a 6 million let's say they
were let's say the city was in the
business of building their own structure
6 million only goes so far at $200 a
square foot it only builds 30,000 square
fet which divid by 1500 is like you know
20 20 houses 20 units or use this you
know a lot of times we have people who
especially nonprofits they'll come and
say hey we can get this money it's 80%
of the construction we need to come up
with 20% so if we use 20% we could we
could help three different developers
build lots tremendously more instead of
doing 20 Lots versus say um 300 4 100
yeah well said mayor yeah and this is
all based again on real pipeline I mean
this is what we know is in process which
is really powerful there's not again I
don't know any other communities besides
Albuquerque that has this kind of
pipeline going and and credit Council
because they have we have done something
similar with our telshore fund to help
some nonprofits get come up with that
small percent down payment so to speak
perect and so this this that's why the
you know people have asked well how come
you guys haven't spent it yet well we're
waiting for the projects and you know
things of this nature so I appreciate
your you coming here and providing this
strategy and I think that just
reinforces all along what staff has been
saying our finance department and this
just you know make sure that we're on
the right path so thank you you're an
incredible Council you really really are
all that you have done and we just
wanted to kind of set it up so it was
even easier for your staff to keep you
know excelling at the work and I'm
already using this as an example in
other communities of what they should be
doing so thank you thank you
right Mr Mayor uh members of council
just for next steps we'll be publishing
uh finalizing the draft we'll be
publishing that on the website and then
we'll do a public information campaign
we'll also ask for feedback from our
partners community members and then
obviously it'll come back uh for
adoption to this Council and then um the
bonds are also at the same time in the
process of uh being prepared to be sold
and get the revenue in and so it'll all
align together and we'll all get to eat
uh cheeseburgers in a couple
months
mayor mayor oh I'm sorry yes I just have
a quick question for Natalie in terms of
timeline Natalie do you think we'll see
this before the session starts in
January um Mr Mayor counselor B we can
have it ready before the session it's
really up to uh the direction of this
Council we'll be ready to bring it um in
the first I'm going on vacation so let's
say the second meeting in January take
your vacation Natalie but I I guess I
just would love to have this kind of
information in our back pocket for you
will have the draft in December so
you'll have the draft but the actual
adoption will happen in January great
thank
you looks like your vacation has been
postponed so I guess uh Council I think
that it's send them as Council wants you
to move forward on this okay yes okay
thank you and have fun thank you all
right last item 3.3 fire code update
Chief Jason Smith
[Music]
that's
well good afternoon mayor members of
city council fire chief Jason Smith for
the record uh so for our presentation
today uh it's listed as fire code update
but really what we're going to be
talking about is our building code
update that is coming to you for vote
next week uh fire department we've made
a request of Community Development to
include uh language that exist in the
international residential code to
require fire sprinklers and one and two
uh family homes and town houses and
we're here today to present where we're
at with that process and kind of our our
thought behind it and the
why so to start things off uh just read
a statement from the International
Association of Fire Chiefs is that to
reduce the number of deaths from an
average of 3,000 citizens and 100
firefighters annually and to avert
billions of dollars annually in property
loss to the effects of fire we must
include fire sprinklers as an integral
part of our community's fire protection
ction The increased demands made today
on local fire departments and the
changes in building materials and home
contents all increased the risk of
firefighters and the
public so a little bit of history of
fire sprinklers uh they go back to
1860 uh the first guidance on
installation of fire sprinklers came out
in 1896 uh this document later became
known as the NFPA 13 in 1968 America was
experiencing a severe fire problem we
had 10 tens of thousands of fire
deaths hundreds of firefighters die
every year and then the fire research
and safety act uh came out this created
a commission on fire prevention and
control which in 1973 issued the America
burning report this report outlined
several things where we were failing and
not meeting what we should to keep our
communi
safe it also established the US fire
Administration which is now ran by Dr
Mor Morell um as the USFA admin
administrator and she has started a
concept of talking about the fire
service acting together and collectively
to improve the safety of our communities
and to take care of our
firefighters in 2009 the international
residential
code implemented the town home
requirement for fire sprinklers two
years later in 2011 one and two family
homes had this code uh this part of the
code placed into
it in 2015 is the last time that we did
a code update for the the city of Los
cruus that include all of our building
codes as well as the fire code since
then the state of New Mexico and the
State Fire Marshalls office has adopted
the 2021 update which is why Community
Development needs to take this to you
next week uh in that time construction
industry division has removed the
requirement for one and two family home
sprinklers so to illustrate the
difference between a sprinkler home and
a non sprinkler home uh we do have a a
video that can show you the impacts of
it and the difference and it can
illustrate it a lot better than than I
can speak to
it this is the room that does not have a
fire sprinkler after the fire starts it
quickly moves up the curtain and spreads
to the
furniture
the smoke alarm activates at 24
seconds
look above you and behind you the smoke
is thick and dark there is nothing to
stop the fire so it builds strength
generating heat and producing poisonous
smoke until flashover the point at which
everything in the room ignites watch for
that when the timer reads 2 minutes no
one can survive
flashover
that noise there that you hear is
obviously the window failing under the
fire
conditions also we know that
firefighters in full protective gear
cannot withstand the temperatures and
the environment of a
flashover
look around everything is destroyed by
the extreme heat and smoke remember the
flashover there would be only seconds
for the family to escape a fire before
flashover the destruction in this room
makes it clear the home is uninhabitable
and a complete
loss this room is protected with one
fire sprinkler in the ceiling as the
curtain catches fire note how fast the
Flames spread watch the timer
at 26 seconds smoke activates the smoke
alarm find the sprinkler in the
ceiling sprinkler located right there
right at 37 seconds high heat from the
fire activates the sprinkler controlling
the fire and preventing it from becoming
deadly
only the heat from fire activates the
sprinkler not smoke in a typical house
fire only one sprinkler will
activate take a close look at the room
after the sprinkler activated there is
very little damage the room is wet but
intact look around the room
if a family were sleeping the sprinkler
would have given them time to safely
escape the fire is confined to the room
of origin and the family would likely be
able to stay in the home or move back
into the home in a few
days and here's the area of origin for
that fire for this
demonstration
so we know that the use of fire
sprinklers in homes is is very effective
at saving lives and conserving property
it's the a proven technology that has
exist existed for some
time what's changed recently is the the
dangers that we Face both as occupants
and residents within a fire and as a
fire service construction methods and
materials have changed over the years
we've gone to lightweight Trust Systems
that once they're impinged upon by fire
they collapse at a sooner or quicker
rate putting occupants and firefighters
in Jeopardy we have smaller
Lots the Furnishings that we bring this
is your typical wet system for fire
sprinklers of course this is your fire
sprinkler
head rookie
mistake
there we go so we have smaller Lots we
have a little bit of higher density but
it's really the Furnishing it's the
things that we're putting inside of our
homes that create this this danger right
now we have a lot of synthetic composite
uh laminated materials and Furnishings
that we bring in this has a heat release
rate five times greater than our
traditional Furniture of things of like
cotton leather all wood but these fires
grow a lot faster they release a lot
more heat a lot more carcinogens and
smoke we're also changing the the floor
plans of our homes we have much more
Open Homes less compartmentalization so
fires have more air to draw upon and to
also spread and then
technology the use of lithium ion
batteries other technologies that are
now found in the place of our homes can
lead to fires lithium ion batteries this
year alone have caused three structure
fires in our community not saying that
the technology is dangerous but when
it's not cared for properly and we
overheat them they can lead to fires
even the most or newest homes that we
have so we have this faster fire growth
faster flashover which all leads to less
time for occupants to escape as you saw
in the video flashover when the entire
room is off gassing it's super heated
it's over a th degrees and it ignites
within two minutes nobody can withstand
that we have the shorter Escape time
shorter time to collapse once the
building starts to be exposed to Fire
and the additional hazards of smoke to
to people the environment and our fire
Fighters we know that we're exposing our
firefighters to more carcinogens every
time we go to a building
fire here's that timeline of of what
happens with the flashover and during a
structure fire So within the first
minute you get that smoke alarm
activates if it continues to grow
without being suppressed by a sprinkler
system within two to three minutes or
that 5 minute Mark we're going to have
flashover so the room is completely
involved in fire hopefully by that time
we been dispatched within the first 2
minutes of the fire our response time
right now is 5 and A2 minutes so we're
looking at arriving somewhere between
that 5 to 7 minute
window arriving on scene giving our
radio report giving assignments
stretching hose lines putting on our
gear to enter a building and start our
firefighting and start search and rescue
efforts putting us well outside that
time of flashover whereas the use of
fire sprinklers has proven even within
our own community that that fire is
controlled within the first two minutes
and it either extinguishes it or it
stays so small that it doesn't reach
flashover giving occupants time to
escape and giving us your fire
department time to arrive on scene and
extinguish
it now our fire department as I've
presented to you in the past we're
busier now than we ever have been when
you look at our call volume from 2021 or
fiscal year 21 to 22 we had a 9%
increase the next fiscal year was % more
and to put this in perspective when DC
Allen and I were brand new trainees on
the engine in 2002 we barely got over 11
thou um sorry 11,000 calls that year
we've gone in the last 20 years from
11,000 calls a year to over 23 call
thousand calls a year we are very busy
as a
service and although we've been very
busy with a lot of different calls we
still respond to a large number of of
structure fires it's a small percentage
of our overall call demand as you can
see here in these these charts last
fiscal year we responded to 235
structure
fires and residential fires was 116
we've had a pretty big increase uh if
you go back to fiscal year 19 I believe
we're at 73% of an increase in
residential structure fires from that
year so we are seeing more fires in our
homes along with with that the last four
years and if we look back further we
would see additional lives that were
lost in structure fires in our community
as well as multiple injuries every year
that occur and millions of dollars of
property
loss that's why the Los cruus fire
department and I as your fire chief
believe that the best path forward is to
start working
towards adopting this model code where
one and two family homes and town homes
are sprinklered it's found in the
international residential code has
existed there since
2011 we have guidance from NFPA the
National Fire Protection Association 13d
and how to install these systems and
they can be installed by a licensed
plumber it doesn't have to be the same
requirement as a commercial side that
has much more strict uh codes that are
applicable and we have to follow but we
do realize that there is a level of
training and expertise that we need to
bring in and provide to our licensed
plumbers so that they can do these
installations
benefits of fire sprinklers
survivability a 15year study at a
Scottdale one of the earliest adopters
of one and two family home sprinklers
over that time period they had zero
deaths in homes that were sprinkler they
had a total of 589 Home Fires over those
15 years 49 of those were in homes with
sprinklers outside of that there were 13
people during that study time that
passed away in a home
fire property loss also CH changed
during that same time period property
loss in homes with a sprinkler only lost
on average
$2,000 just over
$2,100 non-s sprinkler homes had a loss
of
45,000 there's also the potential
although it may be minor for insurance
savings I'll look to the mayor for for
kind of weighing in on that but then
there's environmental
sustainability so sprinklers reduce
greenhouse gas and smoke emissions
98% when they activate on a fire if you
think back to just over a week ago we
had that very large fire off a telshore
in the strip mall if you saw the huge
column of smoke a sprinkler system in
that building would have suppressed that
fire early
on reduce our damage up to 97% reduce
the amount of water that we use and
lower our risk to our occupants and our
firefighters now support for for this
does fall as I look at it and Elevate
Los Cruis and realize Los Cruis um uh
when we first were going through the
plan of developing realiz L crues I met
with Shan and Mark in our community
development and uh planning division
asking them like well how do we get
there we're we're coming up with this
great plan of what we want to look like
as a city and a community and how we
want to take care of people how do we
get there and it's policy decisions it's
setting policy and following policy to
to achieve that and one thing I brought
up with a lot of the density changes and
Street changes we need to look at
different ways of providing fire service
and how we do that
so in looking at Elevate I can see
there's at least 10 things that are
supported by our current city strategic
plan and also Elevate Los crues from
providing safe housing or housing
diversity when we look at sprinkling
buildings and having commercial with
residential above it where we look at
taking care of underserved populations
we address things like complete
neighborhoods how do we get more density
and concentrated development for centers
and corridors how do we have sustainable
infrastructure
and also for our Public Safety uh
Community livability number 11 states
that we need to ensure a safe and secure
Community with high quality fire and
Emergency Medical
Services so we've also looked at some of
the potential offsets for this and the
benefits to Industry and to our
community one thing we can look at is
the IFC for fully sprinklered
subdivisions only needs one Access Road
up to 200 homes it's a huge number right
now it's 30 if you think back to the uh
small uh development we have on avenita
and Valley and the issue of traffic and
speeding and they have two access points
those two access points are required by
the IFC because those homes aren't
sprinklered we would have the ability to
do other things and decrease Access Road
requirements we could look at our street
design we'd be supportive of uh
decreasing lot sizes or decreasing our
house set setbacks and separations
hopefully creating more lots to be
developed and then there's also the
possibility of fewer fire hydrants when
we know that the fire is going to be
attacked within a couple of minutes of
it igniting we can have greater spacing
for our fire
hydrants we've looked at some of the
system costs and implementation uh for
residential sprinkler installation
requirements we know the national
average is 1 to 2% of construction cost
we also have seen in the studies out of
like St
uh believe it's St George's um
County as well as Scottdale that the
prices initially drop so you have higher
prices when the industry first starts to
get going and then once competition
enters prices decrease looking at local
estimates from commercial installers so
these are our installers that do the
large commercial buildings where they
need to have bigger Riser rooms more
sprinkler heads a different level of
standard to meet we're looking at the
low end $3 a square foot the median
about $5 a square foot which which is a
big impact when you think about what
Natalie's group was just up here talking
about creating affordable housing and
adding $3 more per square foot to
construct that that has an impact but I
think as a council you
know our stance is the lowincome
families that we have experienced more
fire loss and more fire exposure and the
homes that we're building today are the
older homes in 20 to 30 years that they
could be occupying or hopefully sooner
but we know that there's a cost with
this uh some things on the system design
it's only required an occupied room so
these are your bedrooms your kitchen
living and dining rooms hallways uh
looking at a a sprinkler head that flows
about 20 gallons per minute or 20
gallons per minute of water it'll cover
400 square
fet there's a lot of places where they
aren't required by the code these
include regular atcts closets and
pantries less than 24 sare ft bathroom
rooms G garages carports porches entry
areas anywhere where you have an
immediate exit uh like such as a mudroom
they're not
required now we have had one meeting
with the lusus homeb Builders
Association and that meeting was in my
mind to be the the kickoff point of
bringing this to you before next week to
give you the information that we could
get um from our stakeholders in a short
amount of time uh working with Larry
Nichols and his group pushing back the
building code uh requirement or the the
adoption isn't really feasible for them
but in working with Christine our city
clerk we've written the ordinance in a
way that the fire sprinkler requirements
can be amended uh in that ordinance and
maintain what the building code um needs
to have for for our community
development also with the home builders
um they brought up cost cost has to go
somewhere and if we're looking at a an a
average home of almost 2,000 sare ft at
$5 a square foot we're adding $10,000 to
their cost and now it's just that their
cost uh that gets added to managing the
project working with subcontractors
dealing with any potential delays and
inspections are permitting that final
cost of the consumer can be more so we
know that's going to have an impact on
people purchasing homes I'll tell you if
when we're looking at buying a fire
engine and somebody comes to us and say
says hey it's going to cost you 3% more
now because aluminum just went up it
hurts and it's an emotional reaction and
I can imagine that our home builders are
thinking the same thing like here you
are asking for a 3% more increase in our
our home cost moving everything up and
maybe some buyers won't be able to be at
that same price point maybe they have to
go to a different competitor but they
may not have the ability to sell as many
homes another thing that they brought up
which is perfect timing for this
discussion is the affordability housing
as we're working through this we know
that this is going to impact where we're
building every home at uh we need to
address any kind of delays in
inspections and permitting we don't want
this extra line of safety to delay
projects for them any longer we don't
want them to be waiting for an
inspection days that they're waiting and
they're not getting to that next step of
construction it's a cost and that cost
goes to the
consumer it's also a cost to address a
small percentage of of our calls you can
see in that chart 116 Home Fires last
year out of 23,000 calls it's it's a
very small percentage but this is one
area where we can influence and set
policy that will keep us safe as this
community continues to grow when we're
looking at Elevate Los cruus and the
numbers there we're talking about by 20
240 adding 10,000 more additional single
family homes and another 5,000
apartments and I don't think that will
even touch the affordable housing
question that we need right
now they also said the involvement in
the process they want to be they want to
be part of it and this is I think an
area where I I definitely missed the
mark and failed talking to them last
Thursday with this work session I was
asked multiple times by by an individual
they hey postpone it will you cancel the
the meeting with the city council and I
said I wouldn't I needed to bring this
information and the feedback from the
Home Builders Association as well as
your fire department and firefighters to
you before considering that I thought it
would be a disservice to you all to give
you uh one day's notice or during that
discussion some of the information that
you need to make the the decisions you
do so like I mentioned this is a policy
decision uh this particular requirement
can be amended without affecting the
rest of Community Development ordinance
that they need this is also not found in
the IFC so we have our first read for
the 2021 international fire code as well
next week and then voting two weeks
after the residential sprinkler require
M exists in the IRC the IFC tells you
the things you get to do and the
allowances you can make if those systems
exist but the code is
elsewhere so like I said I I left
Thursday meeting with the homebuilders
association and I know less than I think
Stellar mood uh right and Friday was a
holiday day off but yet I I dragged both
of our Deputy Chiefs to a meeting Friday
morning and then uh took my son to go
get a haircut and
uh my my barber was there and he's a
he's pretty pretty looks pretty bummed
out I'm like hey Joseph what's going on
man how you doing and he tells me he's
like you see those two kids right there
and he's got one of these jars that
you've seen right everybody's seen them
with the pictures of the kids two
beautiful little kids on there he's like
I lost my
grandkids like and all right what
happened these were the two of the three
children last week from Roswell that
passed away in a home
fire so it's tragic it happens we can
look in the past and we can see like
maybe our fire loss isn't that great
maybe the injuries are low maybe it's
years in between we have a fire death
but the issue is very real and it made
it very real for me and it'll always be
my stance that we need to adopt this IM
of this way to keep our community safe
getting there is the important thing and
how we do it with our stakeholders so my
recommendation going forward is that we
we look at an amendment for next week
based on what city council wants to set
direction we hold stakeholder meetings
with our public with Construction
Industries with utilities uh with both
our water utility as well as Moongate we
bring this to the policy review
committees housing transport
transportation and health and then
sometime from now six months from now we
bring it back to a work session to
update everybody and and then we look at
any additional ordinance updates that
may be needed if we make allowances in
the IFC we make those changes then if we
need to look at our building code we do
that at that time but I would look out
in the future for an implementation date
around July of 2026 it will get this
will give us enough time to allow
developers and our construction
companies to make adjustments to look at
their plans to look at their lots and
their subdivisions to make those changes
right now they're working on you know
strict margins and timelines and I would
not want to throw something in four
months from now and saying your
processes all have to change it also
gives us enough time to bring in
industry and and train and educate
plumbers and bring in competition to
drive those initial costs down as much
as possible the national average right
now is a161 a square foot for sprinklers
so if we can get close to that and we
can work with our stakeholders and our
policy review committees and the public
we have a chance to do an implementation
that comes up off and protects
us so with that we'll stand for
questions and direction from city
council thanks Chief I'm going to just
start a couple things first and then I'm
going to go to my colleagues here so
um I I just Googled a couple things you
know I took a look at the number of
fires in the United States comes out to
358,000 and then I thought well how many
homes are there and I googled that 142.
33 million so when you divide those it
came out to
0.0025 of 1% so as and then I and then
when you said 116 fires so I thought
okay there's probably 50,000 houses here
in Los cruus I multiplied that by 025
and I came out to 125 and you happen to
have 116 so I think maybe the numbers
are are good uh I I did kind of research
that as far as the cost you know and
this is new construction not renovation
cuz and by the way commerci commercial I
think that's required but we're just
talking
residential um about
$6,000 so it's about 20 thou $20 more a
month on this is on a 1500 sare foot
house and and the savings is about $100
a month a year on insurance so um and
then when you take that 6,000 you
advertise it over 30 years because you
know it's part of the new house the
sprinkler system is going to cost about
15,000 and you back up 3,000 you get to
save from insurance your still net cost
is about
12,000 now of those fires it said uh 52%
didn't have a smoke detector so they
felt that if they at least had that that
could have really helped present prevent
more of that uh that
percent and I guess what I'm trying to
say is and I appreciate you bringing
this forward and and I appreciate you
really being candid about all the
different concerns and and the comments
that uh because I wondered I haven't
gotten any emails from anybody from the
home builders uh but I think if and this
may happen after I leave but I would
think that oh and then I looked at where
is the number one place that the fires
happen in the houses and it's the
kitchen and so then the second one it
says the heating source and so my
question would be is
if if the was the city was going to move
forward it just required in the kitchen
because you know right now it's just
with the interest rates going up uh you
and the latest report is that
construction is slowing down in the city
um you know we want to make sure people
can have an affordable house and I mean
025 of
1% granted no all all lives are valuable
but I guess the question that council's
going enough to weigh is the risk um you
know because people can do it all
voluntarily if they wanted to or you
know but to mandate them to do it or if
Council just says okay just do it in the
kitchen because like I said that's
that's according to the statistics it's
it's uh the number one place so I just
wanted to kind of share those that
information with my colleagues and then
let them ask questions councelor bomo
Council Flores um thank you mayor and
thank you so much chief for the
information provided um that video
scared the crap out of me frankly put um
I do not have sprinklers in my house and
I'm like oh my gosh I need sprinklers in
my house um so thank you for that Chief
um but I did have some questions for you
I also appreciated that you included
your comment ation with the home
builders I have some have had some phone
conversations with um someone as well
and I did have questions okay so just
can you help me clarify for Monday what
are you asking us to vote on Monday
because then I'm hearing you say then
we'll do this whole phase where we're
asking for more input and then possible
implementation 2026 what are you asking
us on Monday to look at amending the
ordinance to specifically address the
portion where speaks about one and two
family homes being sprinklered to where
we either put a date on it out into the
future I understand or it's removed and
then we we look at adding it and coming
back later in the in those six months
six to 12 months I ultimately I
think we are obviously moving towards
that direction right like we have to I
think the data the numbers that you've
shown even just your anecdotal numbers
of like when I was here in 20 2002 and
now like it's clearly something is
Shifting and growing right so like the
sort of writing is on the wall that we
have to move there I think it's a matter
of um when in capacity I think you know
we've also talked in the transportation
sustainability PRC about um
um water heaters and all of these things
to improve your homes that there is just
not enough plumbers in our community to
do this work right not enough in Las
Cruses not enough in El Paso and so if
we're we're also not seeing on the other
end of that the capacity for people to
be able to implement these things what
kind of additional barriers does that um
put forth in developers not only private
developers but even our own goals as a
city right so that's number one issue
that I'm sort of hearing about and then
Number Two Chief I'm curious if you're
able to speak about mobile homes and the
fires at mobile homes and if and if this
includes mobile homes then why or why
not um mayor and Council bomo thank you
for the question about the the mobile
homes uh what we've what we've learned
right now is this needs to be either at
the state level or the federal level so
we we can't change that requirement from
what we've learned so far when it comes
to mobile
homes do you have different numbers on
mobile homes like is it are there more
likely scen like are fires more likely
at mobile homes than other types of
housing residential housing I don't have
those numbers right now we could have
those for you next week where we could
look at both any kind of national Trend
as well as local that would be helpful
too Chief I I mean I know that even at
least I have a couple of um mobile home
parks that neighbor my house and I know
that there's been a couple fires since
you know the time I've been on Council
and so feel like that's a place of
concern as well um so that's just my
couple of questions that I did want to
tell you that I've also been approached
about some concerns regarding that I I
don't think are necessarily unfair fair
but ultimately I think our decision is
about risk and liability and
particularly who is impacted most and so
but I think if the writing is on the
wall I do want to make sure that we're
working we're laying out a good plan
forward so that people can plan well and
so that capacity can be built up in our
community for for the installation of
these kinds of things and honestly I
would also love to hear from our housing
staff on how they think you know we just
had Jen here and I wish she would have
stayed but I'm hoping that that in a
matter of a week they can come up with
um some recommendations from their end
as well so if Natalie is listening I
hope um or EO can get that information
to her as well and mayor and Council
benom I think you're hitting on the
point of what we're looking for as your
as your fire department is that
direction of which way do you want us to
proceed going
forward thanks Chief and just a couple
things counselor I don't have the
information you want but I do know that
a mobile home usually will burn up in
about 45 minutes four to five minutes
it's over and also mobile homes and
manufactured homes are actually
considered personal property and not
real property like a house so it falls
under the Department of Motor
Vehicles yeah unless it's you
permanently attach so I think it was
council florus is next thank you Mr
Mayor and thank you so much Chief Smith
um I am delighted that you've looked at
the um at the code and it's wonderful
that you included the builders because
they are we're all affected uh we're all
impacted as a community um I know I I
shared with you um the code and maybe
it's an ordinance we can change
hopefully in in the near future in so
far as the width of streets and I
discussed that with you mentioned it to
you again because I remembered the name
of the street Cana Arc the street is
this narrow and it's like and you said
that yes a fire Tru can fit there but in
order to open all your doors to get all
the safety and rescue uh apparatus uh
you wouldn't be able to do it so um that
would be another coded something I'm
glad that David Weir is here Mr Weir is
here and so David I hope that I think
that's all I don't think we can change
Cana Arc um I I don't know but if if I
live there well I wouldn't buy there
I I wouldn't buy a house it's just too
dangerous but I just want to thank you
for that and U yes I know a few years
ago uh the mayor and I the American Red
Cross was it the Red Cross held a uh
thing at before you became a counselor
in your
District um free uh in
free free
um
sprinklers what fire what fire smoke
detector and fire extinguishers yeah so
um so we went door the door and and uh I
don't remember if they installed them as
well or if the fire department um but
people were really receptive to for
those who were home it was a Saturday
afternoon they were probably out running
errands but uh Sunday morning and
afternoon but it did bring um that to my
attention that um you know we learned
that U mobile homes really go up fast
very fast but then what you showed so
anyway um I I really I respect the fact
that you looked at the ordinance that
you ran it uh by our uh city clerk
Christine uh
Riva and uh I totally support this
effort and I think that we should do it
as uh implement it as expeditiously as
possible um I think that the cost I'll
bit you my bottom dollar that if so I
would bit my Bottom Dollar there's not a
lot there so I would it's easy to bet
but someone who's lost a u someone to a
fire and U had there been a sprinkler
there a fire alarm if that person could
have been saved I'll bet you my bottom
dollar they're willing to pay that extra
amount I realize that it may put a
burden on on on
Builders but um that's the price we pay
um I mean I'd rather save save a life
then uh save on you
know whatever anyway thank you very this
is very moving for me thank you very
much Mr uh Chief
Smith thank you Mr
Mayor mayor put down thank you thank you
Chief Smith for your presentation um
Chief you indicated that this is already
in the code that's going right is that
what I heard you say mayor counselor
gandra correct the ordinance as
submitted does have the separate line
adopting the sprinkler requirement we've
crafted it that way so it could be
amended or changed as Council saw no
it's another code right so we're the
ordinance refers to the international
residential code and there has existed
for one and two family homes since 2011
and for tow houses since
2009 okay and so are you proposing
that whatever way we go now or later
that is this for new builds or okay new
builds only and then how do you
anticipate getting others with older
homes like mine is that a
consideration U mayor mayor protm uh I
think it can be I think we need to look
at different sources of of providing
that much that we look like grant
funding for connecting to septic systems
and getting those into Wastewater I mean
I'd be willing to put staff time into
figuring out how we can make that
achievable yeah because I I'm concerned
about Equity right um and and what
you're dealing with now Mo a lot of the
fires are older older homes older
buildings right so may tell you're are
correct and we look at this and I do
think of this as a 20 30 year yeah and
longer project because the the homes we
build under now are going to be the old
homes in the
future for sure so so um
Chief I I looked it up as well like what
would it cost to put the you know put
sprinker systems in my homes a newer
home versus an older home and I think
about folks that I mean it's $2 to7 do a
square foot for an older home and so I
think about again equity and how people
are going to be able to do that with
very little income and kind of the rates
of poverty and just things we deal with
in our community today and so coming up
with a an option for them I think is for
me very important um also you know about
six years ago maybe we the our GIS unit
did a did a mapping of an of just the
number of residents right in the age of
sort of homes across the the city and I
mean it wouldn't surprise you to know
that we have older homes homes um in in
this community um and it's and I don't
know how rapidly it's changed with just
the building that we're doing today um
and so to me that would be representing
district one something of of major
importance um particularly on how we
struggle to get right um infil in some
of these areas um as well so I know
you're looking for direction I don't
know that I have it um I I think it's
important I know how busy you are just
with um the number of calls that you
have had and and sort of the um what
we're seeing in community today and I
would certainly want to do this sooner
rather than later but I want us to be
thoughtful on on how we do that and it
sounds like you know you want that too
um I know the home builders are here I
see a few of them and like to hear from
from their perspective what they're what
they're thinking um but thank you Chief
mayor prend that's a good idea I didn't
know they home able to share how many
are here raise your hand um one two
three four five well um you're done with
the presentation Chief yes mayor okay um
if there's six I'll give you three three
minutes each oh I'm sorry councelor
Corin no sorry I just um had a quick
sort of few notes and questions if
that's okay now okay thanks um um first
of all I just want to say thank you for
your presentation and when I worked at
the Red Cross we worked on disaster
action teams and homes which were
typically apartment complexes actually
that that would have sprinklers rarely
needed anything from us as an
organization versus families that didn't
have
sprinklers demanded as much as we could
possibly give which was typically a long
stay in a hotel
um I I'm going to use a little business
math for the mayor uh did you start with
public health did you know that
uh in the US or in the world seat belts
were first being developed in the middle
of the N 1950s is
um they were around they started in New
York City cabs and you could buy them at
drugstores but no one wanted to adopt
them nor make a rule that any cars
should have them but the Volvo car
company interestingly enough said no
this is uh a priority we don't want the
people who drive our cars to die um and
so in 1958 they made a rule that every
car would have um a seat belt it wasn't
until 1968 that the United States
started mandating seat belts for front
seat drivers to be put in cars um much
to the Chagrin of the Ford Motor Company
today Volvo's stock is
$251 and Ford's is
$982 so I leave that to you to see what
what it means when people are leaders on
caring for people's safety no matter how
costly it is um I don't know who ends up
in the who ends up better in the end but
certainly I would rather be driving in
Volvo but uh I don't I say that because
I think knowing that investing in that
and I know that it costs and also
thinking about all of these homes the
folks who are buying the homes of today
are eventually going to be the people
who are landlords to the renters of
tomorrow and so they won't make an they
won't the intervention won't trickle
down to things if we don't sort of stop
the trend of not doing it now so I make
that case I know you drive a forward
mayor so maybe it's not maybe it's not
as relevant to
you thank you counselor um just to
refute your facts there are eight times
more car accidents and there are fires
in the United States so yeah there's
quite a few more car accidents and so I
support seat
bels okay anyway so for those of you who
want to speak I'll give you three
minutes each I think there's about six
of you if you want to make your way down
here please just come to the podium
state your name if you want to talk
about this please just about this
only uh my name is Kent thirston um
thank you mayor and city council um I
had wrote a couple of things down here
just wanted to touch basis on them um
right now we're having a record
inflation so that's killing uh the
ability to even buy a house
um so any anytime we add any value or
any cost to a house it's hurting us and
not necessarily us as a home builder but
it's also hurting the people that are
wanting to buy a house so if our median
income and 120% of that today we heard
was $77,000 for for the income value at
what
120% that today is only going to buy you
a house at about
$235,000 last month from the sheet that
I had the average sales price was a
$310,000 home so we already uh we as a
company have already tried
to pull as much money out of a house all
the amenities all the Frills that we can
to even get people into a home we're
also trying to do other things and
incentives to get people to buy their
rates down other things like that
permanently to get it down so
affordability is one of the one of the
biggest things that we kind of focus on
on on a market um
as we also agree that lives do matter it
doesn't matter you know sometime you
can't put a cost onto the lives um but
also we are putting a cost onto the
lives of people that can't buy a house
um so there is a trade-off sometimes um
of making a policy for one thing but not
realizing the amount of people that
we're going to displace out of a home um
the
state the state has not adopted this
either yet we in my understanding Los
cruus would be the first one to actually
adopt this in the whole entire state of
New Mexico so it's already gone through
the state legislation as well through
the IRC so if you build in the county
you have to build to the codes but the
state has not implemented this in the
state region
um the other thing
that uh I wanted to see if if we were
thinking about is if we are going to put
sprinkler systems um into the new homes
then are we going to require that
sprinklers are in all remodels no matter
the size of a remodel because if it is
if we are telling you uh if we're making
a rule that's going to save people's
lives then if I go to do a kitchen
remodel then I should have to put in all
of the sprinklers as well but so any
type of remodel we need to still be able
to play the game fair so if you're only
going to put it on only one sector of
housing which is new homes well then you
you should also have to put it
throughout if that's what we're passing
as you know the to be more safe as a
city then it should also go to Every
remodel that has to pull a remodel
permit
um I I think that's that's all I'm going
to say for now
thanks thank thank
you if there's some others that are
going to want to speak if you please
make your way up to the front I'd
appreciate
it hi my name is Troy Mitchell um I
don't know most of you I appreciate the
chief's presentation I think uh his his
main focus is Public Safety um
specifically fires right and that's why
we have forums like this so that we the
experts in in building and developing
can come here and explain that it's not
really as cut and dry as as some may
think so um if we update the IRC and say
that they're they're supposed to have
sprinklers in uh single family homes
specifically um then it kind of brings
into question a lot of the middle the
missing middle right right the
fourplexes this the duplexes the
triplexes because those are pulled
typically as a i on the IBC side and
they're built with firewalls okay so
firewalls in between units meaning you
don't need fire suppression so this
opens the question as are we going to
require fire suppression in all of those
and if so that's going to increase the
price of those dramatically because then
you have multiple units so that drives
the affordability down um I I really
wanted to to make that known I think
that the chief was right on point with
putting together um I don't think it
needs to be personally in this part of
the the code update for the IRC um I
think that we can leave it out and put
together a committee that's focused on
providing solutions for our next code
update um if that is the year 2026 or or
whenever um they feel it's it's
necessary uh I
think that's all I have on my notes
appreciate it and Mr Mitchell uh and Dr
pizs can correct me if I'm wrong but a
duplex a Triplex and a fourplex are all
considered residential so if it's if
it's residential then those are going to
be required in there they they may right
we we pull it as the IBC though we pull
commercial as far as it is no the it
provides a lot of convolution yeah so
I'm just saying that if a if a person
wants to build a duplex or Triplex or
quad or forp Plex those are considered
residential you can get long-term
financing on those but anytime you go
over four units now they become
commercial and they fall to a whole
different set of rules at least that's
how it used to be and Dr Pitts is here
to clarify that um I currently am
building a fourplex and I had to pull it
through the
IBC uh Mr Mayor uh Council the the the
code and the the rules on residential uh
um residential financing and so on uh
have a lot of there's a lot of
variations and so it it gets uh it gets
difficult to when you get down to it
what what applies in what case the
international residential code applies
to one and two family
residences and Tow houses a townhouse is
defined as a building that is uh has uh
walls on two side connecting to other
buildings and two sides where there's
egress paths so you have to have a front
and back entrance it doesn't have to be
front and back it be front and side but
you got to have two ways out of the
building um and so so that's what the
IRC the international residential code
applies to so if you're building as uh
Mr Mitchell is talking about a
fourplex you can build it as a
townhouse and you can Finance it as the
the mayor says as a residential home so
if um if you are a veteran for instance
you could use your veteran uh benefits
to to finance that home it it's actually
a really good deal and we've been trying
to Pro promote these uh because it's a
great way to do a missing middle as Mr
Mitchell is talking about uh but you can
also build it as an IBC building that's
the international building code uh the
international building code requires the
plans to be drawn by an architect or an
engineer to make sure that that it's
built safely and and so on but it
doesn't have the requirements of the IRC
the IRC is meant for single family homes
and almost all single family homes built
in new mag probably in the United States
are built on under the IRC um uh because
they're so easy it's just such an easy
rules it's just tells you how to do it
and that's it um but you can always go
to the IBC and build it that way if
you'd like to uh you just then have to
have an
architect does that an answer your
question it does I'm just smiling
because you know Council here earlier
was talking about making it affordable
for people to have a home and and when
you when you require all those other you
know require the the architecture stand
camp or all these other things it's
expensive and it just causes the price
go up and you know it just um I I can
recall years ago where the city would
require on a fourplex and they didn't
know they say well you know what I think
we're going to count as commercial and
it's it's residential and then they
require certain more things and you know
it just raises the costs those costs get
passed on to the consumer you know they
have to pay it for it and higher rent
and you know my colleagues here are
doing everything we they can uh in the
in the coming years to make sure it's
affordable to to um constituents or you
know residents and and anytime that it
can be done I think if it can be built
as a as a residential that would make it
under the residential code instead of
the international building code because
that's a little more strict so but I
appreciate the comments
thanks my name is Randy Montoya I'll be
giving my you speak into the mic please
my name is Randy Montoya I'll be giving
my three minutes to Mr
Zubia
okay well he he doesn't he could have
got three minutes automatically well you
said building official or a uh
contractor and I wasn't so I wanted to
make sure I can get up here for a couple
of minutes uh M I just need to state
your name adol Zubia for the record uh
thank you for giving me this opportunity
uh just uh kind of clarify a little bit
of my background used to be the fire
chief I was very active in the fire
codes at a national level as a matter of
fact uh when you talked uh when Chief
Smith talked about the adoption of the
uh these Provisions in the IRC in the
residential code that was 2009 in
Minneapolis I was there along with about
2,000 firefighters that voted that in I
also happened to have been the vice
president of the International Code
Council and in the same conference I got
voted as president so I got blamed for
this I am not responsible however I'm an
advocate of residential sprinklers
however the one issue I got wind of uh
Chief Smiths I was going to call you
Jason sorry uh Chief Smith's
presentation uh last week I got a number
of calls with some serious concerns
because of the way it was being
approached and I contacted the chief and
basically we discussed that the process
and how it was being handled was
somewhat problematic there is a lot of
issues as you could tell based on some
of the comments that the uh home
builders brought up this process needs
to be worked out in great detail I've
been a port a part of it in the state of
South Carolina uh this got very
confrontational in that state uh it was
it took years to kind of address some of
the issues we talked about contacting
the water utility department we're
talking about upsizing water meters
maybe we're talking about Standalone
systems not part of the domestic water
if they're going to have backflow
preventers are they going to have fire
alarm systems are we going to be
required for them to the maintenance
requirements or are we just going to let
it go and let the home builder deal with
it issues that are of serious concern
that need to be specifically addressed
you talked about issues just here
today Town Homes Corp plexes and in
other communities in other areas that
I've worked at we worked those out but
we needed to spell it out and address it
in the building code because it's not
part of the IRC and said okay you
sprinkle you don't have to sprinkle if
you put out two-hour firewall we gave
them options and opportunities to not
necessarily do it but again it has to be
spelled out in great detail and it's not
something that can be done uh fairly
easy
uh remodels somebody brought up remodels
I think it was Mr th uh the building
code
addresses existing buildings the
international existing building code is
a separate code that deals with changes
in existing buildings and it spells out
the specific criteria on how much has to
be done in order for certain
requirements to kick in so that's
already spelled out in the code you can
just reference that if we're going to
deal with existing homes this is what
you would use and spell it out but my
recommendation it's too much to take on
right now I would not address existing
homes period remodel or otherwise uh so
I can it's hard for me to shut up but
I'll one more minute Chief okay so my my
recommendation and this is my
recommendation just based on my
experience on code development and more
importantly code adoptions in the future
I know the steps that the fire
department are taking is very
Progressive very good however
uh I strongly recommend that this group
on Monday take that provision out and
delay it until committees or subgroups
are set up to evaluate this and address
all those issues and bring Clarity to
this board to make a final determination
based on the consensus that that's
developed by all stakeholders in those
subcommittee meetings or subsequent
meetings that need to take place in
order to kind of clarify all these
issues because there's a lot more that
that can need to be spelled out
including what I call tradeoffs in
sprinkling your home and I got 30 15
seconds you're allowed to not have
egress windows if you have a sprinkler
home that hasn't been discussed the the
the compaction of residents that can
happen Road width can be minimized
because you don't need the access
exactly as Chief said fire hydrant
placements or elimination of some
increasing the distance from 500 to
1,000 feet those kind of things can be
worked out yeah thank thank you thanks
for your time yes
sir and the gentleman who left to give
his three minutes you're welcome to
speak as well
where okay hi I'm Chad zels um I just
want to bring up that I don't think the
cost estimates that they're giving now
are real accurate that's just for the
home
build that I don't think we'll able to
get the fir flow through a 3/4 in water
meter so it'll upsize the water meter
you go to 1 in that's about double the
cost for the impact these or if you just
put a 1-in service line it's not metered
then you have the one-in service line
that's another 2500 bucks then you have
to backflow preventer for that then you
have to do the testing on the backflow
preventer every year so it's not just
the build of the sprinkler for the house
there's lots of infrastructure include
they had be included can you move the
microphone just a little bit closer I'm
done you're done no okay well I
appreciate that Chad uh and I think you
just talked on it and the chief Zubia
you know when we look now that I think
about I'm just looking at the price of
the actual just the but when you said
back flow I'm thinking that's right the
city you know I'm not complaining the
city has a great water system that's why
one of the reasons why we have ISO as a
number one but for for members of my
colleagues to go from a 3/4 of an inch
water pipe to a one inch water pipe is
you know you're talking a little bit
more more cost so and anyways were you
going to say something Chief oh was
there anyone else that wanted to
speak I just didn't want to leave the
podium okay you're a good Toast
Master thank you everybody Steve Miller
with epic um first off it's not required
for all commercial buildings depends on
square footage occupancy type um it is a
good thing in the future gentleman here
who was part of the committee that
actually adopted it first originally way
back when um you need to look at it as a
203 year thing like we are with our uh
av's requirements with vehicles and
stuff like that um and if it's not
required in res uh all commercial
aspects you want to put it into
residential also most people die in a
fire because of smoke I believe the fire
department could tell us the facts about
that or not versus burning in the fire
um firewalls we do do those we just need
to make sure they're done correctly and
uh the cost analysis yeah when you get
into a remodel and you say Okay tear out
all the ceilings let's start putting
plum in line sprinkler systems in trying
to go around everything it's not very
well um easy to do but uh we all are
here for a reason because of safety and
lives and it does matter but it needs to
be put further back and studied
truthfully and I agree with the Chad on
the cost analysis besides if you have a
sprinkler system in a commercial
building now it has to be monitored
whether that building is occupied or not
so are we saying we are going to have to
monitor all sprinkler systems and all
homes which is add to the cost uh fire
department here also said a little while
ago that 54 or 54% % of the homes that
were burnt didn't have adequate um fire
uh alarm systems in them on the
residential side so maybe you could look
at a the firewall situation better
address those you could look at more um
the um alarm system whether it's the gas
or it's fire smoke systems maybe we as a
community can have uh reach out like
they did with uh going to homes and
making sure that people are safe in that
ECT thank you for your time very much
thank
you mayor counselor Daniel Fernandez
with KT Holmes Dan can you bring the mic
down please yes sir is that better yes
uh one of the things to consider too is
the fact that if we're going to increase
house home pricing by 10 to
$15,000 this may create an exodus from
people wanting to build in the city to
the county because the count is not
going forward with this
uh sprinkler suppression system just my
thoughts okay thank
you okay uh well thank you very much for
that presentation Chief was there
anything else you wanted to
add mayor thank you fire chief Jason
Smith for the record U just to kind of
echo back what I'm hearing from uh of
our partners in the industries there's a
lot of things to consider a lot of
questions that we need to go in depth
with that we have some of those answers
now that we can provide but I think it's
best if we get direction from Council of
what route you want us to take and go
for this implementation I think if we
look at this for um being implemented in
July of 2026 that's adequate time to
bring Clarity to those issues and
address those concerns I also think it
aligns with the public safety impact fee
update so there's some of possibilities
of reevaluating that fee and seeing how
we can reduce the impact of this cost
because it's really there's a lot of
minutia that needs to be answered as
former fire chief Zubia pointed out
there's a lot of things there that um
need to be answered and we we can't
provide those answers we just need to
know what path we want to take from
Council okay thanks Chief I appreciate
it yes um is there a possibility of
using the telshore fund um to to uh have
people to for people to use it's a
health issue safety issue would it be
outside of the parameters of the uh
funds that can be used for the tail sh
most likely because unless they fall
under a certain income level because the
anti- donation Clause prohibits
governments from providing monies for
services not rendered for one thing
unless they hit a certain income level
then we can we can use that um so at
least some people
would uh qualify because I'm sure that
those are the owners that don't have uh
the
sprinklers sure so but um but uh again
if it's a new construction then can be
yeah that's a totally different ball
game thank
you okay anything further mayor um just
one last question whether it's for today
or for next week is just uh Direction on
how we want the ordinance amended so
this way we we can have staff Community
Development have that prepared yeah I
have Chief in all cin cabinet this uh it
sounds like probably the best is just to
wait a week or two maybe get with the
stakeholders and have a maybe a work
session or take it to I don't know to to
implement it and then go back and amend
it it just seems counterproductive mayor
to clarify I'm not asking to implement
it and then amend it talking about
amending the ordinance next week so that
it it's either delayed going into effect
or doesn't go into effect until we bring
all this information
back and introduce a brand new ordinance
okay all right then I'll get with uh EO
or Christine how to do do that so
okay okay thanks Chief okay it looks
that looks like that's it so there's
nothing further entertain a motion to
adjourn so move by
Flores there a second no second Graham
motion made by councelor Florida second
by councelor Graham that weour
Christine this is on the motion to
adjourn the work session councelor ABA
is absent councelor Graham yes councelor
bomo yes councelor
cran yes councelor fles yes councelor
Ganda yes mayor yes okay we are Jour is
3:53 p.m. thank
you