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session Los Cruses city council today is
Monday October 23rd 2023 it's
approximately 1: p.m. uh before we begin
if you please join me in the Pledge of
Allegiance
please to the flag of the United States
of America which the Republic for which
it stands one nation under God
indivis
andice okay
so we're going to start off with the
pets of the week and
Kimberly acz
AIS are you there Kimberly can were you
able to get your mic
working can you hear can you hear me is
it yes is that you Kimberly yes yes all
right yes we can hear you awesome okay
thank
you but we don't see your screen okay
there you go okay can you see it now yes
okay awesome yeah thank you okay hi I'm
Kimberly I work at the Animal Services
Center um so for the pet of the weeks um
we have Milo he's a bit of a timid Kitty
but once he gets comfortable with you
he's all loving um he was surrendered
due to scratching up some of the stuff
in the house um so if you are interested
in him I recommend getting some of those
cat scratch posts for him um but he is a
really sweet
kitty and
we have um for our dog of the week we
got uh mookie so mooki has been in and
out of the shelter but it's not
necessarily his fault he has been um
he's mostly just really timid but he is
very loving once he gets comfortable
with you he will show his true colors um
but it will take some time so just keep
that in mind for him but he is very
kind um our adoption events we have one
at PetSmart this weekend at uh starting
at 10: and ending at one and that's uh
the petmart on
lman um and we are still having our
special for this month it's the Paw and
Claws
Spooktacular so all adoptions are
discounted $50 for all animals that are
already spayed and neutered and $100 for
all the animals that are not fixed yet
and Senior pets are
free um so when you adopt a pet just
keep in mind that they are going into a
new environment um so they'll just uh
they're not going to show their true
colors until they get more comfortable
in their new
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home uh there's a thing that we call
suggestion of three it takes three days
for an animal to kind of get comfortable
three weeks they are starting to adjust
to the habits around the home and three
months is when they're fully comfortable
in their new
environment um we give out little
pamphlets in our adoption bags in there
there's something that's called R to
ready it's with the donana Humane
Society uh you just let them know that
you adopted from the shelter and they
can do uh some free training I believe
it's two free sessions but we also
recommend that if you need more training
you can reach out to local trainers and
we also provide some information on some
of the local trainers in those goodie
bags and that's all that I got for you
today thanks Kimberly did you say you
kind of went over it kind of fast so if
you're a senior you can have your your
dog or cat spare or neuter for free is
that what I heard no I'm sorry so if the
animal is a senior pet be a free option
oh how old what do you call an
animal we age them once they hit eight
years and older they they are considered
senior pets I see okay I was just
curious okay yeah sorry all right well
thank you you're welcome okay next is
jobs of the week Sarah Rainey are you
there
Sarah yes Sirah good afternoon everyone
thank you for having me my name is Sarah
rainy I am the onstop coordinator for
the southwest region of the Workforce
Connection um let me share my screen
I'll stop my video as
well um I believe someone needs to stop
sharing let me try
again there we
go
and okay for jobs of the
week we have for the city of Los cruus
we have Fleet Maintenance supervisor
that position position starts at 53,000
um the posting closes at on 10:30 so
next Monday we also have for the city of
Los cruus heavy equipment operator for
the Solid Waste Department um that one
begins at 1951 an hour um that posting
as well ends on Monday October 30th for
the wh Sands Missile Range we have a
help desk support specialist um it's H2
performance Consulting is I believe the
contractor that post they did not post a
salary range but you can check it out um
that posting is open until
January so we also have an outside sales
representative for the medical equipment
uh for medical equipment for the Lin
Care um company that one begins I
believe at $12 an hour depending on
experience they listed and the posting
is open until November
15th for chaperel materials they have a
delivery driver um a CDL delivery driver
so if you have your CDL this is a good
opportunity that posting or that
position pays 32,000 to $51,000 a year
depending on experience um and the
posting closes on November
13th also for chapparel materials they
have an inside sales position that
position begins at $31,000 a year and
the posting closes on November
12th um as always feel free to if um
just a reminder to you guys the workfor
connection office is the employment
office so if you're looking for a job
just a job you're looking for temporary
remote inhouse whatever you're looking
for we are the connection to get you in
there and to get you those connections
throughout our community and throughout
our region as well um you're welcome to
join us at 226 South Alam or call at 524
6250 we appreciate it thank you all for
having us again okay thank you Sarah
okay so before we begin I have one
proclamation to make and Richard Weaver
you want to join me up front
here we couldn't get you on our council
meeting so we thought we'd include you
here so and plus uh Halloween's coming
up real quick so what's what's I don't
know if you remember when we first start
doing this uh we would have we would
have you and then we'd have a
proclamation for I don't know if it like
National Dentistry week Cool Smiles Cool
Smiles so they talk about you know first
you get your candy and then go to the
dentist after that no no he was he was
gathering he was gathering and buying
candy and sending it to the troops
overseas no but there was also okay well
that's good but there was also something
where it seemed like it was interesting
that uh it's a conflict yeah exactly
okay so thank you for doing this so let
me read I have a proclamation to read to
you whereas Richard Weaver owner of
Weaver's welding wanted an event to
bring young people and authority figures
together in a friendly non-threatening
atmosphere and whereas he and many
friends of the community spons sponsored
the first Great Pumpkin candy drop in
2006 and whereas he formed Friends of
the community a
501c3 organization and whereas he rented
mag Park solicited donations of cash and
or candy and invited kids young and old
and whereas he also invited Los crus
Police Department Los cruus Fire
Department Onana County Sheriff's posi
public officials and everyone who
represents Authority and whereas he has
grown the candy drop to include all four
fields at mag park with music events and
booths his only mandate is that
everything is free now therefore we the
mayor City Council of Los Cruses New
Mexico do hereby Proclaim Sunday October
29th 2023 as the friends of the
community candy drop day and encourage
everyone to support Friends of the
community and help them provide a safe
fun event for young people tested to by
Christine Rivera our city clerk and
myself Kim aashima so thank you again
Richard for all you
do those of you who have not attended
the candy drop uh bring your kids your
grandkids the kids you don't claim or
don't want at home I'll hype them up for
you and send them back to you those of
you that would like to come down
dignitaries uh might get to pull the
Rope on one of the buckets and let the
kid Scramble for candy and I continue to
appreciate your support thank
you we appreciate very much Richard
thank you very
much
okay if you want to make your way up U
Mr
melendres to the podium so a while back
you should have received an email from
Christine there was a minutes of a of a
work session in
2011 so Mr melendres is a direct
descendant of the founder of Los Cruses
okay and so that's the reason for what
they call Founders Day and the council
at that time liked the idea but there
was a few questions that they wanted
answered and so what I did is I
highlighted them and I sent them to city
manager Christine and so she should have
sent those to you you probably just
received it so Mr melindas is going to
talk a little bit about uh his great
great great grandfather and how he
founded Los cruus and then if he can an
those the questions of the then counsel
and then any questions that you might
have because there's was pretty gerine
it probably would might even have the
same questions today but um so anyways
Mr
melinder thank you mayor I just need you
to state your name even though I called
Sor I just need you to state your name
even though I already called you my name
is Carlos melendres I'm a great great
grandson of Pablo melendres who founded
the city in of Las Cruses in
1849 want me you can continue okay thank
you very much as I mentioned Pablo
melendres did F found this city in
1849 but he actually arrived here in
1843 when this area was Mexico and he
became he was one of the first
petitioners for creating the donana Bend
Colony and during that time it got too
crowded his his his history in in the
development of southern New Mexico is
worthy of Praise but just not actually
publicized or even
understood and I'm hoping that we can
correct this I started out to do this
close to 12 years ago and I addressed
the council we did go ahead and because
that was the bicentennial and there must
have been 2030 Mel's descendants in Las
Cruses for the bicentennial
and so we addressed the
council and they were kind enough to go
ahead and establish Founders month but
I'm here before you to try and establish
founders day to be celebrated on a
yearly basis and if I might take just a
quick moment and explain why Pablo is
worthy of this honor not only because he
is the founder and blood or shall we say
DNA of of of mine but he his his strong
history let me just
explain in one quick moment if I might
first of
all well let me back up for a moment
when I first appeared 12 years ago uh in
The Old City Hall you would go in
through the Portico and they would say
welcome to the city of Las Cruses by
founder Lieutenant sacket now Lieutenant
sacket was a very worthy person but he
was stationed here for 2 years
ultimately became the Inspector General
of the US Army so I can see why we
wanted to go ahead and consider him our
founder but he in fact was here for two
years and due to the overcrowding in
donana Pablo mendr asked the lieutenant
Lieutenant sacket at the time to go
ahead and plat a new city quote in the
American
Style
now since that time we were able to go
ahead and correct that and and establish
last uh Pablo as founder and now we want
to take it one step further and again in
in mentioning some of the the just
tremendous work that this man had done
in the development of New Mexico let me
just give you one quick example of why I
want to go ahead and and see if we can't
L this man
history
during during that time in the
1850s these Farms were spread far apart
and Pablo melendres happened to
find one cow that was on his property
and it was unmarked it had no
branding so what would an honest man do
ordinarily you can't find the OWN owner
because you start asking anyone who owns
this cow and everybody says yes it's
mine what Pablo did as an example and
this is a man who who was in charge of
of the the donana county which which
which was from the border of Texas all
the way to California at that time to
the southern edge of of of of of San
Diego
now uh with that kind of responsibility
and he was only answerable only to the
governor of of New Mexico so they could
do h fire and shoot and there were about
at least three hangings there in donana
during that time it was the wild west
but what he did with this
cow because he knew he couldn't possibly
determine who owned it what he did is he
sold it and gave the proceeds to the to
donana now he was r as for that act of
honesty in the
newspapers but in fact it shows you the
humility of the man that I have found
and yet when I started to do my research
here I was fearful because of a man with
that much power I was expecting to find
a lot more where he used and wielded the
power and the power at that time was the
power of the gun but no I found a very
very humble man and I just gave you one
example of who that man
was
now one thing that came up during my
research on Pablo
melendres at that
time when all the violence was going on
he gave Sanctuary to the Apaches
he allowed them to be in the in in in
the donana area and help celebrate the
various Gatherings that were
there and in my book I had I ended up
having to write a book about this man's
history I was so impressed with him and
I found out that in
fact Pablo melendres not
only provided Sanctuary for them in a
very very difficult time time but as an
example of how difficult it was during
those times there was one of the the
local militias from one of the local
communities here actually was in in
messia they dressed themselves up as
Indians painted themselves and they were
riding through Las Cruses drinking from
flasks they went into
theana and they slaughtered six or seven
of the Apaches who had gathered there
peacefully for that celebration
now they were acquitted and the governor
said you
know that's an action that should be
repeated these were the
times and one thing that I found out
about that and the difficult times that
we lived in and how we interpret
them is that I also found out during my
research and I Came Upon This term
called High
Carnival I mentioned that in my
book and a historian called me wrote me
a letter actually and she said Carlos we
do our
work we write about people we we study
the history and every now and then a
term comes up that is just shattering to
to to our conscience so she said I I'm
hoping that you find out more of what
the term means High carnal
and she suggested that I talk to Alex
mtis Alex mtis is a person who works at
the messia BOS he's an interpreter he's
his father was was uh Navajo his mother
was
Mexican now he told me what do you know
about the term High Carnival I saids I
know very little other than that a lot
of the native tribes used to gather here
North of mosquit street right a little
bit north of mosquet Street and they
would gather and celebrate what they
called high carival when I asked when I
talked to Alex mtis about what that term
meant in Spanish he says Carlos the
spani used to call that
mot for those of you that are bilingual
if you'll understand what that term
means that means something
scandalous something scandalous in those
times because they were not they were
not privy to it but the tribes would
gather here north of mosquite they would
do their trading it was primarily for
trading and
celebration much as you find nowadays in
Europe or I think during the the the
solstice they were celebrating and
naturally when you're young so so the
newspapers called it rockus a rockus
crowd of course it was they're
celebrating they're full of life and
they want to celebrate life so we had we
had that capacity here and we've lost it
we've
seated all of our indigenous history to
Albuquerque and Santa Fe so that they
can celebrate the Gathering of Nations
I'm here to tell you we're just as much
indigenous as they are we have that
history but we've seated it to them we
do not celebrate it so I am trying to do
two things one first of
off to see if I could not get the
council to
approve establishing Founders Day
putting a committee together so we could
figure out a way to celebrate it and
there's a number of ways that I'm hoping
that we can ultimately celebrate it at
that time when I initially proposed this
I was working with Mark medof because I
told
him that I had information here about
that fight many of you people know about
the the shootout in messia where nine
people died and over 50 were injured
that fight was
Overland it was not because a bunch of
drunks got together and they ended up
meeting at at the plaza it was much more
important and much more intricate than
that and and detailed than that and so
I'm hoping that this anyway so
Mark before he died he wanted me to work
with him and see if we couldn't make a
movie about that because it was the
found the founder son of Las Cruses
Pablo Jr who was a chief protagonist
there but before I get lost in that area
let me say that there's a lot of
interest in in and a lot of history that
we just have not been aware of here and
I'm hoping that I can help that and in
my latest book I know where the bodies
are buried and that has to do with Pablo
and his daughter who I claim are buried
in in the chapel in donana but there's
so many issues that I'm trying to bring
in here and I'm trying to limit myself
because I know I have short time here
now as I mentioned
uh if if we can go ahead and get through
and and establish and and recognize
Pablo as founder and deem him worthy
that we could celebrate him every year
that would be wonderful but I've been
asking for information as to how to
proceed with these various
subjects and a good friend of mine
former County Supervisor Oscar Vasquez
Butler and as I understand he may be
running again but nonetheless he was the
one who suggested how I might approach
this and ask to see if this Council
might
also approve because if we can approve
the founders day
today but what's lacking is I'd like to
pursue the idea of MOT of of of uh uh
the renaissance fair that that's the
only thing that that that has a lot of
people that it attracts here and I would
like to go ahead and compete with that
see if we couldn't recognize our
indigenous Heritage and celebrate
another day and celebrate it whether it
be with within found Founders Day or
outside of Founders Day there's a lot of
politics as to how many uh celebrations
you want to have in a year how they fit
in and I would hope that a council
member might also put a motion here and
saying that at the beginning of the year
with a new
Administration this would be a priority
so I could address the council again but
give you a lot more detail as to what
mot means and how important it is that
we recognize our indigenous history
especially in these divisive times it's
absolutely necessary that we do that and
so unless you have more questions or
other questions I'll be happy to comply
and and answer any any questions you
might have so thank you Carlos let's
let's kind of stick to I think what you
have brought forward is a lot a lot of
good information a lot of uh it sounds
like a lot of fun to to work on but I
think uh one of the things that that I
mentioned to you that I would prefer is
to at least go through through and the
council should have the minutes to go
through some of the questions that that
I even asked you of so that you can
respond and then I'll open up to count
um questions from the council okay thank
you all right so on page Pages page
26 of the of the notes from then work
session of June 2011 councelor small
asks he says I know that the town of
msia has entertained discussions about
learning more and finding ways to
celebrate founders day and I think it's
wise for us to move forward on this
certainly to enlarge in other parts of
the community but as it goes on it says
to basically work with messah have you
reached out to messia regarding Founders
Day yes I have but there's some
confusion in in in in how that was
stated uh we simply wanted to go ahead
and and inform messia as to how much of
his significance Pablo junr had also
performed there in messia within that
Riot and and other actions that he'
taken as a supervisor because he was a
supervisor for four three times and as I
understand the only reason he wasn't
elected on the fourth time was because
he raised taxes three
times conundrum I think all of you
understand so uh we did talk to to the
persons in messia but in fact I'm hoping
that we can help them establish their
own founder maybe Rafael uh there are
several couple of people that that might
fit that bill but I don't want it
confused that that that founders day
would be the same thing in messia
because they're absolutely separate
communities okay and then another on
page 27 then city manager Robert Gara
after listening to all the comments it
says I think the next step would be
simply sitting down with Mr Mendes and
bringing the to the table some of those
documents that he talked about having
our and having our public information
office so then kind of put together a
game plan did you ever meet with Robert
Rob Bert and did you ever bring those
documents yes I did and let me explain
on that I I had met with him because we
had thought one of the ideas was that
the city here has such a a good history
of making documentaries and so they
basically offered to go ahead and see if
we couldn't put together a good history
of of of the founder and I demurred and
for the reason was because at that time
I was talking with Mark medof he was
very excited about this and we were
talking about something that might be
even a feature
film uh and so uh the idea is is that uh
we cut off discussions because they were
very promising at the time until
politics interfered but the idea was we
were going to go ahead and and consider
making uh a good movie uh a documentary
about the shootout in messia and so
that's why we we we we did not follow
through but I'd like to go ahead and and
this time if we establish founders day
I'm work willing to work with everyone
at that time we had even the president
the uh interim president of NMSU who was
supporting this issue because he wanted
to get the the film group there uh at
NMSU involved and Danny via I used to
work for Dany or I worked with Dany in
Los Angeles when he would come by here
and I had talked to him about helping us
support a movie and he was very excited
about the idea unfortunately politics
interfered people die and so I'm back at
it again and I'm hoping you have some
some interest in this area well as I
mentioned to you I didn't need to star
in the movie I just wanted to be a
co-star so I'm sorry I'm just playing I
was just I was just messing with you
okay so there was another comment by a
former councelor and mayor PM ameritus
Sharon Thomas she says we have a
standing exhibit in the branagan center
that has a history of Los crues and that
if we're going to think about
incorporating the mendus information we
definitely have to look at that so did
you have a chance to uh go to Brandon
again and see how the information that
they have about Mr sacket and how uh
what you can how the information you
have on on Mr mend is how that can
incorporate into that information that's
at the bran again yes I have worked with
some of the people but I intend to
hopefully within the next couple of
months because I've gathered so much
more absolutely fascinating information
about who this man was that I want to go
ahead and have meet have another meeting
with the director and try and establish
some of the history that's not been
known and and uh even in this book that
I talk that I wrote about about the
family other things have come to light
uh that uh are not reflected and I most
definitely want to work with the
cultural center to to go ahead and
establish that history so it's well
known okay so now I'm going to open up
to C questions from Council councelor
Flores thank you Mr melendres for your
um
presentation uh which I definitely
support um so you had uh you spoke with
Mark maid off have you spoken with Ross
Marx at this point no I have not okay
and um have you uh reached out to film
Las Cruses I'm sorry have you reached
out to film Las Cruses uh the new owner
the new director of film Las crues just
came in about a month ago I prepared a
letter for her I wanted to give her some
space to breathe a little bit because
she did say in her in her acceptance
when she she became the director of film
last crues that first off she wanted to
learn about the history of Las crues so
she could have some base of oper ation
and I know she's been here maybe a
little over a month and my L is still
waiting on my
computer well I suggest that you contact
uh Senator Jeff steinborn yes I have
talked with Senator steinborn okay great
and um and thank you so much for
capturing this part of History which is
so important because um I agree with you
we are myso we're a myso nation and we
don't uh pay enough homage to the fact
that we carry that beautiful indigenous
blood so thank you very much thank you
thank you Mr Mayor thank you counselor
and just to be clear so I think what uh
Mr menderes was hoping was that we can
at least move forward with some type of
a in the future a resolution that
recognizes a particular day and a
committee to come up with one particular
day that's you know I don't think he's
asking that city employees get the day
off but it's just recognized as the
founders day of Los cruus and I think he
just kind of T there was a t they want a
day off okay well it just as a tangent
as a as a tangent he brought up the
movie so I don't know if he was trying
to get you know that might become later
but well no it's just that there were
steps already taken in that direction
and I think it'd be very helpful to be
uh to you know it's not a one way I mean
it's not a one lane highway so okay I
just wanted to I I I understand why he's
here and I I support a founders
absolutely thank you mayor
proen oh oh I'm sorry councelor beta and
then mayor pro thank you um and thank
you for the presentation I was going to
say this seems appropriate to go into
our quality of life pierc um so that we
can take a look at what founders day
would me to New Mexico and that robust
history and we know we have a
multicultural um look so I think it
would be there we do have representation
from uh different individuals throughout
the community so it seems like it would
be appropriate if it went over there as
um our speaker has suggested after
January we could place it on the agenda
thank you yeah mayor proam and and
counselor um Graham thank you Mr mendas
for um getting to this point you and I
have met a few times and I've been to a
meeting with doniana Arts Council and
yourself looking at the opportunities
that um with a number of celebrations
and what would be the best um one um I
think anytime we can celebrate Los crues
it I think it's a worthwhile um Venture
so I wish you luck I think it's a great
idea and I would recommend that it go
through P the quality of life
PC so thank you thank you for all your
work in coming here to this point I it's
been last summer maybe or last spring I
don't remember but I know you've been um
working along and and and anything I've
recommended you've done um and I'm so
appreciative so thank you and if I might
just respond in this manner there's
there was a lot of interest in the idea
of of uh High Carnival and they thought
this would be an attraction obviously
and and and a historic attraction to and
a and a recognition of her indigenous
Heritage but they were also toying with
the idea at the at the Arts Council see
if we could pair it with with uh the
Renaissance Fair uh the English uh
celebration that we have here and
evidently is the largest celebration
where people come into the City and I do
not feel comfortable with that I think
it should stand on its own sure and so
therefore the idea of of uh High
Carnival or or mot needs a lot of more
exploration and I would love to work
with this committee and I'm hoping I get
an invitation or I will reach out to you
to see if we can establish that right at
the beginning of the year I'm getting
long and tooth I'm 82 years old I have
some health issues and I want
to absolutely finish this work it's been
20 years in the making in the meantime
when I first brought it up over 12 years
ago I ended
up because I ended up being friends with
harand
Geronimo and met with him several times
and I ended up calling another friend
friend of mine Ramsey Clark who used to
be the former US attorney general and we
tried to bring the remains of Geronimo
home and so this took 12 10 years out of
my life and so I'm back here again
focusing on what I should have from the
beginning and I'm asking for your help
yeah thank you again um for recognizing
our the you our indigenous um population
and and you know just wanting to
celebrate that I think it's an important
thing and I appreciate that and hope I
don't embarrass the mayor by this but
I'm going to mention that he too has
approximately a quarter indigenous
Heritage and so a lot of us are mysos
this is who we are and this is what we
want to celebrate thank you may I make
an am too so thank you and and thank you
Carlos for explaining that I didn't drop
the ball you were gone for 10 years
because I wondered where you went you
know I'm like we did all this and then
you take off so and you're back so now
we have counselor Graham and then yeah
oh I'm sorry I I had just raised my hand
acknowledging that I'm on the quality of
life PRC I was just waving okay all
right Council Flores I just want to say
I think you said that um what is it
embarrassed to have indigenous blood did
or what what what what is it you said
I'm sorry no call it out call it out
without now I we're very proud of our
indigenous Heritage and the Very big
majority of us who live here have
indigenous blood and I would just
mentioning that that this is part of
what was called La
rasaa yeah and and uh the mayor exhibits
that very much and I thank oh I see for
some reason I heard that and I thought
no and I but there are people who do Den
I and I've personally I come I was never
mind you said but I was shocked when I
moved to New Mexico um I had some
friends when I was in law school who
were from Albuquerque or Raton rtin they
call it rtin but it's Raton and um and
they all said they were
Spanish you know I was the one you know
it's like my skin was lighter than they
were but they were saying they were
Spaniards but um so I found that very
interesting um that because I I grew up
during the area of uh Mecha and Cho
studies and all that sort of stuff and
we were really proud of
laasa yes and I and I thank you so much
for bringing that to the Forefront again
you know 50 years later because um we've
lost I think a lot of our who we are our
identity other cultures really celebrate
who they are and
and and un sadly a lot of us have been
and I include all of us um have been um
what's the
word we've become um what's the
word we we've learned to suppress who we
are in order to succeed and and when you
do that you lose who you are so I want
to thank you from the bottom of my heart
for doing this and I will do whatever I
can as an individual and jointly with my
colleagues to uh promote you your
Endeavor thank you thank we we'll put
you in charge of the mot committee love
I knew she
would we we were even kidding about once
once this gets going we'll probably
print out some T-shirts
saying wait a minute you have to make
t-shirts that
say I'm sorry forgive me
yes okay anybody else have any
questions so then then we'll go ahead so
the PRC is made up of a couple City
councilors maybe three two to three and
um and then there's other staff there
and
so so what will happen now is it'll be
moved to this committee and they'll hear
it a little bit more in detail probably
ask you a few more questions I mean if
it goes as as quick as it went here
today it doesn't look like you're going
to ask you too many questions but you
just kind of talk about what you just
talked about here
and most likely they'll probably say
Okay move it forward and then we'll
bring it up for a resolution and then
the resolution will then have um a
committee like you mentioned which I
think is a great idea and then they'll
come forth with what you day to use as
as Founders Day obviously with your
input and then they they'll probably
want to just verify a lot of the
information that you said and I'm sure
the committee will look at that thank
you all very good well thank you and uh
I didn't you know you're very sharp for
82y old extremely on top of the on top
of it how many books have you written
Carlos this is my second book I'm not a
writer I'm an activist but out of
necessity I've had to write these two
books and both of them won awards this
one I know where the bodies are buried
got third place in history by the
international Latino book awards even
though it was a book on family history
and the International Latino book awards
they're just now sponsoring their
26th Gathering of of of awards for uh
for books written by Latinos and this is
sponsored by by Edward Olmos who is
running that organization and very
powerful organization and so I'm just
blessed that they recognized that I not
only got third place in history but my
first book on trying to bring Dono home
or his remains home that won first place
on books into movies and that's why
there was so much interest in different
areas and I hope I can still finish some
of that
up very good so you weren't contacted by
the FBI about where the bodies were
buried no no I welcome them any day of
the week because there's no there's no
statute of limitations on that so no all
right well thank you and thank you again
for bring this information
forward okay next is going to be the
item 4.2 telshore fund investment
strategy Erica hakus will be leading
off can you beat this pre previous
presentation there I doubt
it good afternoon mayor council members
today we will be presenting the telshore
fun F allocation strategy results um
Mike Anderson with RBC Wealth Management
conducted interviews with the mayor and
council members and also provided the
portfolio analysis uh Mike has over 27
years of financial experience and has
held various management positions with
RBC Merl Lynch and TD
Waterhouse uh we're going to start with
some background on the telshore fund
allocation uh resol resolution
073 378 was passed in on June 18th 2007
that's about 15 years ago and it
established an investment strategy for
the telshore fund the proceeds to be
invested was 24 million 60% was invested
in the state investment Council and 40%
was managed by the
treasure 14.4 million was invested in
the SIC 7 7.2 million was allocated in
the large cap 4 8 million in the mid
small cap and 2.4 million in
international and that left 9.6 million
to be invested by the
treasure um next we go to council needs
and feedbacks this uh information was
gathered from the interviews that Mike
conducted with the mayor and Council um
Council would like to fund projects on a
more frequent basis uh generate more
investment income to fund more projects
uh consistent withdrawal schedule
develop a systematic withdrawal formula
screen for environmental social and
governance investment and maybe withdraw
3 to five million to fund current
projects our Target RIS current
Investment Portfolio objective is growth
with moderate risk the recommendation is
in the investment is investment
objective growth and income with risk
level
moderate this is a change in market
value for the F uh for physical year
2023 again this is just what's in the
state investment Council uh the
portfolio balance on June 2022 was about
27.5 million with
$520,000 um I mean in investment income
and we paid about
$55,000 in um fees with our unrealized
gain of $4.4 million so our ending
balance as of uh physical year 2023 is
approximately $ 32.3
million our current investment strategy
um we're going to start now and go over
uh we have three investment strategies
that we're going to um discuss this does
not include again any amount currently
managed by the city this is only what's
in the state investment Council so
strategy one is no change in what we're
currently doing which will produce
approximately half a million in
investment income annually
and this is the allocation in the
different pools within the investment
Council we have 36% to large cap us
large cap active
27% us large cap passive 25% in the
small midcap active and 12% in
International Development uh developed
passive um basically the active is the
portfolios rebalance more frequently
than the passive that sometimes is
rebalanced annually if if not annually
then it sometimes it doesn't um get
rebalanced at all in the
year uh we're going to move on to
strategy two on this under this strategy
we reallocate 5 million within the state
investment Council we allocate two and a
half million to the US core Plus bonds
and 2 and a half million to the real
return
portfolio the 5 million will come uh
we're going to do 1 million from the
International Development and US small
midcap and one and a half million from
the US large cap active and the US large
cap
passive then we have the remaining
balances for each of the individual
pools this investment
strategy um the the reallocation would
produce approximately $710,000 in
investment income annually with
additional 5 million reallocated into
higher yield pools so this would be our
new allocation if we were to go with
strategy
two next we're moving to investment uh
strategy three this um this strategy
would be a combination of reallocation
within the state investment Council and
withdrawal from the state investment
Council to be managed by the city here
we have 2 and A5 million that we would
reallocate within the state investment
Council to the you us core Plus bonds
and 10 million would be withdrawn from
the state investment Council and it
would be managed by the city with
assistance from an investment
advisor this would bring approximately
900,000 in investment
income this is how our new investment
strategy were uh this allocation will
look under strategy 3 um the allocation
estimated yield is
2.76% % and um this is mainly due to
high yield investment and dividend
paying
equities the 12.5 million would come um
1.5 million from the
international uh 5 million from the US
large cap active 3 million from the US
large cap um pool and uh another three
million from the small midcap pool
this is just a summary of uh the
previous slides so with our current uh
if we if we leave our portfolio how it
is our estimated yield in the 12 uh in
12 months is
1.61% which would give us about
$120,000 in investment income annually
the strategy two is just reallocating
within the state investment Council the
estimated yield is about
2.2% with an estimated income of
$710,000
per year the rebalancing of the 12.5
million which is our strategy three that
yields 2.7 the yield for that is
2.76% and that would give us
approximately $900,000 in investment
income
annually um conclusion so to increase
investment income we would need to
diversify their current portfolio and
the state invest ment Council um
withdraw some money for the treasur to
manage that
investment and again increasing
investment income would increase the
Project funding um one thing I missed
mentioning on the previous slide is that
although strategy two and strategy three
produce a higher investment income the
risk level remains moderate so we're not
uh we're not going up in our risk level
level to to get um those additional
returns it would just be the
reallocating um the money or having some
managed by the city our next steps um a
resolution to come to council for
approval um on an investment strategy um
we would like to review the investment
strategy every three to five years uh
with all the changes in the market um
that would assist us with uh helping
this fund keep on growing and be able to
provide those investment income to to
fund those additional projects and then
we would also like to
um develop a strategy to withdraw excess
funds in years of over performance so
when the Market's doing really well and
uh regardless of which strategy um you
decide to go with if we make an
additional 200,000 then we need to set a
strategy to withdraw that and apply it
to projects instead of maybe just
leaving it there sitting so I don't know
if there would be like a list of
priorities that we can go off okay so we
have an additional 200 what can we fund
with this so
that ends my presentation Mike and I
stand for any questions sorry can I ask
a quick clarify oh I'm sorry can I ask a
quick clarifying question so I can
hopefully understand what we're talking
about a little more sorry can go back to
slide six quickly
okay what does the green mean and what
does the red
mean you want to come or should does
everybody else know that except for
me
okay good afternoon uh my name is Mike
Anderson I'm with RBC Wealth Management
you can lift the oh and and the mic
thank you there you
go thank you
okay the the green is is a moderate
growth level and this is how you are
currently allocated and the red
indicates moderate slash aggressive and
so under your current investment
strategy um you have if you take a five
one two 3 four five five being the the
riskiest level um the green would be
three and and depending on what advisor
or risk level you looked at that'd be a
four or five it it would actually like
be a com ation four or five uh it
doesn't mean that you can't stay in that
realm it's just technically for the
amount of risk that that that part of
the portfolio is taking we're really not
we're really not getting a lot of yield
for it uh we're not getting a lot of
dividends for it and I want to
articulate this properly is that when
the Market's up
177% this portfolio returns 16% as
you're currently allocated it's just on
the downside if the Market's down 177%
the port folios down 16% that year um
what I tried to do throughout this year
is solve for a portfolio that would stay
at the moderate risk
level but increase income that you could
pull from the portfolio on an annual
basis and also in the down years when
last year the portfolio was down
20% the portfolios that I that that are
run in this dividend and yielding
strategy were down 7 to
102% so by
Design the portfolio is down Less in the
bad years and maintaining the same risk
level so I I hope I answered the
question I yeah but the color scheme
doesn't carry on throughout other slides
correct because we got into like blues
and acru and correct okay just just
making sure I thought this was something
that like everyone was supposed to know
when I was the only one who didn't thank
you okay let me just say one thing and
then I'll turn yeah let me turn over to
council so
did you use past performance to come up
with these
numbers I presume that's what you did I
don't yes correct correct the slides are
based off of the June 30th numbers we
don't have the September 30th data yet
no but but the projections did you use
past performance of you know how how yes
okay I just wanted to make sure I I I
thought so but I just want to clarify it
okay so questions from Council councelor
flotes thank you Mr Mayor and thank you
so much for the presentation so are you
saying that um that red money uh those
that that should be smaller a smaller
piece of the
pie yes that's correct okay and then um
isn't there a higher risk when you do
that but you're saying this is the here
so so basically let's say had we
reviewed this uh two and a half three
years ago when interest rates were low
across the board m my conclusion may
have been different but now that we've
had 11 interest rate hikes by the
Federal Reserve over the past two and a
half years we now have the opportunity
to get higher yielding Investments and
dividend paying equities into the
portfolio um
that weren't available uh or would not
would not
really would not yield the same
dividends as they are as they would now
and so so the the the time the timing of
this is actually quite favorable now for
for the city to to consider this uh
because of the 11 interest rate hikes
over the past two and a half years and
then when it becomes unfavorable how
long does it take to undo it like put it
back in a safe in a safe
Zone that that that can be accomplished
within one month okay so so so nothing's
a liquid we're uh in in The Proposal
there's nothing in the private Equity
scheme or not private Equity realm Sor
correction private Equity realm a
private Equity investment may only be
able to liquidate once a quarter or uh
or or annually but there's nothing in
the proposal that would that would take
away liquidity from the
portfolio Okay so that would be the the
there there would be some salvaging in
the event that the interest rates go
down certainly certainly and then
something that that I'd be talking with
with the finance uh department on where
if you start to see interest rates cut
this portfolio
Works actually better when interest
rates start to cut so literally the
timing to start this is when the
interest rates are at the highest or or
reaching that that that Peak so it's the
the timing is is is very favorable
ironically and some of the Investments
on the equity side are back to they were
where they were in March of 20 20 right
in the middle of Co so it's you know
it's the business in the stock in the
stock and bond market there is a fair
amount of timing involved well timing
and it's also
volatile yes yes yes yes it is yes yeah
yeah that's correct that that's that's
correct but what I what I I want to
emphasize is that what what I'm
proposing here I solved for is how to
stay within a moderate risk level and
generate more dividends for the
portfolio Okay uh so not not looking at
anything um that is at a higher risk
level so our finance department would
keep an eye on it and then if things
start to look a little uh iffy you can
change that certainly certainly and it
may result in a balance of 500,000 from
each part back to the main sic portfolio
um so it's fluid in both directions I
want to this is a stage one rebalance
and that's what I tried to solve for is
this is a stage one rebalance where if
the council moves forward with reviewing
the portfolio every 3 to 5 years we'
look at stage two so this is a stage one
rebalance but it's fluid in either
direction where money can come back okay
uh into the SIC and vice versa which
technically that should be monitored on
an annual basis oh I thought it would be
even more frequent but you're saying
annual basis is sufficient uh semiannual
would be ideal great yes agreed okay
thank you very much thank you Mr Mayor
thank you just a quick to add to that we
get um we get the statements from the
SIC annually and we keep up with I mean
sorry monthly and we keep up with the
market if we know the Market's going to
the the returns going to go down then we
can go ahead and submit for that to be
um withdrawn from the SIC usually it
takes about a month or so and we can do
the same with re reallocating with
within the different pools or if we're
doing really good we we can also go
ahead and and add to the SIC if if need
be thank
you thank you councelor Corin thank you
thank you Erica thank you Mike it was
good to talk to you on the phone too
thank you for this presentation I I just
want to say that I I'm here for the
third strategy just right up front I I
like it but I do I I did make the ask
about esgs and I I would ask that we
consider taking a fraction of that and
putting it into fossil fuel free funds
um if possible you had mentioned 25% I I
would ask us to con consider that as one
of the things that we reconsider in
future years increasing that percent but
but um I just wanted to check on the
viability of that and make sure that
that sort of gets named and as part of
this sort State because the SIC I don't
think is going to be divesting at any
time in the near future but we can be so
I would ask that we that we do as part
of that please and I don't know if you
have if that's part of the consideration
or
not yeah Mike Anderson again so yes it
can be um I I'll I'll give you an
example as a portfolio manager I do use
some ESG screening tools um for example
uh any company that that will throw br
will put British Petroleum out there
that that that happened that hasn't been
in any portfolio that I any company that
is blatantly mismanaged that's been
that's that's been removed so uh over 10
years ago so I try to solve for let's
say a uh 80 to 90% ESG
overlay uh and then I also look at
socially responsible companies in each
sector of the economy so I'll rank the
Industrials and of often they're the the
ones that are socially responsible uh
will will appear in the one two number
three list so so they're in the top
three they may not be the number one but
they might be two or three and those can
go in the portfolio if they pay p a
dividend so it's something that can be
accommodated uh even though it wasn't a
focus for time consideration of of this
presentation okay U mayor BR and
councelor bomo thank you mayor thank you
Mike good to meet you um finally in
person we had a great conversation um I
thank you councilor Corin that was
exactly my um we had talked about sort
of what is being invested the types of
responsible Investments I I never knew
really what they were and um I think it
important that we do and I want I want
us to be definitely um investing in
Social
responsible um um entities and trying to
move away from fossil fuels I mean
that's just sort of what we're doing and
we have to live in into our values and I
think this council at least is is trying
to do that um I am also for the Third
option I think I think it's an
a an important one um but I have my
questions are for the treasury they'll
be you'll be monitoring like you do
anyway but it um deciding where the
money goes and when it moves so my
question to you is sort of I've never
knew that to happen would this be the
first time what sort of expertise is
there would you contract out with
somebody that has that I I just I would
like to know more about that um mayor
councelor Gand when we um brought our
investment
um uh to review we added an investment
advisor as part of that and um the
reason is
because currently we don't actively
invest because Investments is not the
main focus of Treasury so bringing this
investment advisor the city um the
treasurer would have say on where it's
going to be invested when it comes in
and out but they would receive that
advice from the investment advisor I
mean that's what they do they're
professionals at that they they have all
the special programs to run all those
calculations and say Hey you know this
one's about to uh the price on this
one's about to drop or something and
then we receive that advice and act upon
that if um just so we can be consistent
on um retaining that level of investment
income and who is the invest investment
adviser uh we haven't contracted with
yet okay okay but you will yes correct
okay and that will go through the RFB
process I'm assuming yes correct okay
all right so who sits on so just to be
clear
you have that sack committee and the
sack committee will I think consist of
Finance you and others and I think it
important that you understand what our
values are right and that you invest in
somebody that's going to will obviously
be responsible and listen but that have
the values that we've that we carry
forth yes and we can we can include that
as u a portion of what we want to
accomplish through through this RFC what
we're looking for what our priorities
are so we can we can mold it in a way
where we keep it um keep all these
considerations so where do these values
get discussed at the finance sub um
Finance um select committee
or who just I well um we've already gone
over these so these uh the ones we've
discussed so far we can go ahead and
include them and of course other other
things that come up um we have the
finance select committee meeting on
Friday so if there's any more um
interest in different ones that we
haven't discussed we'll make sure um
I'll keep note of everything for when
we're preparing the RFP we we make sure
that we express what our priorities are
what our focus is uh to be sure to um I
guess to demonstrate or to show what
what we really want as as a city as a
council to portray to to the public okay
yes and then I guess um I mean I'm I
would recommend that that happened at
the um Finance select committee um I
think that's mayor um b g and counc
Flores I think that that would be a fine
with me and then to understand who those
social responsible companies are I don't
would we get a list and they'd go
through them and then determine that
that would be the best way to invest or
how does that you have one you said you
have a portfolio one two three you've
named them
yes I'm just trying to understand this
this is new to me and I I I'm sorry
sorry uh it would be uh following the
process that Mike say it's rating them
based on you know if if they're um what
their values are if they tie to ours and
uh like Mike mentioned he has the one
two three maybe it's not on the first
one but it would be sure to be included
not just with the the first portfolio
but just include some of those twos and
threes that have those same values that
we have as a city thank you thank you
very much I appreciate that thank you
Mar those are all my questions before I
get to council bomo so also if if and I
think it's a good idea I also think to
bring it to the um finance committee if
you can also uh take a look look at what
obviously what the past performance of
some of these companies are because it
may bring down it's possible May it'd be
nice if it brought it up but it may it's
possible may have brought it down a
little bit of a return and and so that
council's aware of that and not
expecting the same return that was an
exibit three if you have some that um
that can perform as as the ones that you
you
showed um be sure to let us know who
they are you know so that'd be good
because a lot of times you know there's
a trade-off for doing what you're doing
and which is good I mean we want to save
the environment but I just want so that
full disclosure it may not be quite the
same a rate of return that was projected
in item exhibit three yeah Ken Mike
Anderson again that that's correct uh we
don't have that in these slides but the
upside uh is not as as high the upside
is not as high in The Proposal as far as
it's more of a consistent return where
where the rate of volatility on that
part of the portfolio is lower uh but
but yes it is a tradeoff um but it it it
it's a timing once again where because
the Federal Reserve has raised rates 11
times it it it it now makes it makes
sense to consider that absolutely um
okay councelor bomo thank you yes nice
to meet you Mike and thank you so much
Erica I um appreciate the presentation
I'm wondering if you have a
slide today you're looking for guidance
on the strategies correct correct do you
have a slide sort of comparing the three
and
one the best one I can show is this one
um again the first one is leaving it
with us no changes the second one is
just the reallocation of the 5 million
within the state investment Council and
the third one would be the rebalancing
we leave 2 and a half million and
reallocated within the state investment
Council we withdraw 10 10 million and
that's where um the city manages those
with the assistance of an investment
advisor which is where we can
incorporate um these
um fonds that we were talking about
environmental and uh look for companies
that have the values that we're looking
for okay thank you I appreciate that I
just I'm honestly just so grateful that
we have someone like you in the city
because you speak to us and I often feel
like you're speaking a third Lang
language and I'm just so glad that you
just
like live numbers and so I just I'm
really grateful um but not all of us are
quite as quick as you on this so I just
appreciate this and then um I I mean I
would agree on the third strategy and I
will say that at the finance committee
we have talked at length about um just
like socially
responsible um Investments and
commitments I think that is an important
piece of the conversation that we're
consistently having so thank you thank
you ARA I just wanted to um see the
slide one more time
thanks okay and just to
clarify
the the dividend you're showing is
that is there any money going into the
Corpus like let's say let's say $892,000
but really it was a million and 100,000
is going to build the fund up a little
bit or is it just strictly whatever the
fund um the 32 million or so produces
this is how much dividend is and so
basically the the the fund should if in
a perfect world would stay at the same
amount correct um and that's where when
um when I pulled this Slide the next
steps we do want to develop a strategy
for when we outperform like if it's
800,000 a year and then the next year we
make 200,000 so the strategy would be do
we leave it there and just let it
accumulate or do we go for those
projects because what we've been doing
with the
SIC um whatever investment income it's
earning it's just staying there and
getting reinvested we we don't pull that
annually like we do we've been using
what the what the um the city was left
to to invest um that's what we've been
using for the projects currently and and
to the Future Council right so hopefully
when that land gets developed across
Mountain View and hopefully the city
does not sell that strip of commercial
that the revenues can go into here so
that it helps build that fund up and
that just gives more money to give out
as time goes on so hopefully that's the
case or I'll be sitting out there where
councelor Eckman is and saying hey you
know that uh it's kind of where it would
be nice to go because you you want to
grow that fund because the more that
grows the more money you're able to give
out to the
community okay so any other
questions so um you've got good enough
and you're going to so you're you're
going to take this now to the finance
committee is that what I understand or
you're going to develop
the correct okay correct um from what
I've heard so far it's maybe the
strategy three so just provide some
additional information to the finance
select committee and then come to
council with a resolution to um to
follow that strategy I wanted number one
but okay number no I'm just kidding
we're good all right thank you no that's
very good I appreciate the different
choices mayor yes um Erica are you going
to bring in investment strategy or once
it's discussed at PR at the PRC as well
correct and the investment strategy can
um the resolution is going to be the
strategy and then we can make sure and
incorporate all those points that were
that were brought in um brought up
earlier to just make sure we keep that
in mind of what we want to invest in but
the overperforming and then what we do
with it correct that would be part of
I'm hoping part of the resolution also
with the revaluating this every three to
five years just so we can kind of stay
on top of the market and yeah thank you
and also when you bring it to either the
finance committee or Council for when
when the resolution comes please include
those um companies the esgs that that
and what they're performing so the
council can get a look at it and um get
an idea of of how they
work
okay all right that's it it looks
like there's nothing further I think we
just have these two
items okay entertain a motion to adjourn
so
moved second motion made by councelor
Beta second by councelor Graham that we
adjourn
Christine this on the motion to adjourn
the work session councelor beta yes
councelor Graham yes councelor Beno yes
councelor Karan yes councelor fles yes
councelor Ganda yes mayor yes okay it's
2:16 p.m. we are adjourned thank
you