thank you
foreign
[Music]
foreign
[Music]
welcome to the work session of Las
Cruces City Council today is Monday
August 14 2023 it's approximately 1 p.m
while we have our while we stand for the
Pledge of Allegiance I want to ask for a
brief moment of silence for the almost
uh I think the last count is almost 100
people who've lost their lives in Maui
Hawaii considered probably the worst
fire in the last 100 years here in the
United States
thank you
if you join me in the pledge please
thank you
okay as we always start off our meetings
with our pets of the week and Amy the
Felix I believe is online Amy you're
there hello yes can you hear me
yes
awesome and um I have a headset I'm
trying to see if this works um am I
coming off better than I did last week
we can hear you good it just seems
there's just like a tiny bit of an echo
and it kind of just makes the
the full understanding just a little bit
more challenging
but the clarity and the um video and
audio is great it's just the
just seems like there's a little bit of
an echo maybe we need to give you some
pictures to put up on the wall
yeah some soundproofing yeah that might
work
oh but hello everyone
um I'm Amy depelix I am one of the
rescue coordinators for the Animal
Services Center of the Messiah Valley
and every week up there said I choose
and present the pets of the week
um so let's start let me share my screen
awesome and
end of my video so it's easier to read
some text
alrighty and so we'll start off
um with our cat of the week as always
um his name is Bernie his number is
65214 and he says not much is known
about my life before landing at the
ascnb but I do look like that I live the
Tomcat life for my estimate I have a big
I have big edible cheeks but you can go
ahead and pin and scratch me anywhere I
love it I'm a little shy initially but
if you offer your hand to me slowly I
know you're safe and just here to give
me some love my Golden Heart deserves to
be babied in a home
and then we also of course have our dog
of the week
um this week his name is Baloo his
number is 53738 and he says when I first
came to the ascmv I was just a little
puppy I left and came back several
months later and now I'm having my one
year birthday here I used to be very shy
but I've been getting a lot better
thanks to the volunteers here my
birthday wish is to find my forever
family who will continue to help me
blossom into a confident Dog full of
love
and then as for our adoption events of
course clear the shelters is still going
on it'll be going on until the end of
August um adoptions are only 25 dollars
that's every single adoption we will
have an offside adoption event at the
Pizza Hut off of North Main this
Saturday from 10 a.m to sorry it's 11
it's 1 p.m not 11 p.m I just caught that
so we're not going to be there for
almost uh over like 13 hours I promise
it's just 10 a.m to 1 P.M
um and now for the little presentation I
wanted to cover a little bit about a
various sorts of disease prevention and
we're going to go ahead and start with
heartworms
um just the basics starting off what is
heartworms it is a parasitic infection
um they are live worms um they feed off
of and they basically like live a
parasitic life kind of sapping
um taking resources from its host in
order for it to survive
um and it's always a bad outcome for the
host it is prevalent in consistently
warm climates so here at Southwest Las
Cruces El Paso this whole area is prime
heartworm kind of breeding grounds
almost year-round I know some other
places like the Summers or like where it
hits the most but since we have pretty
consistently warm temperatures except
for maybe like the middle of winter
um it's definitely it's the best kind of
optimal climate for heartworms to
reproduce and Thrive because it's the
same time like whenever there are live
mosquitoes there's a chance of
heartworms essentially
because they're trans transmitted from a
mosquitoes carrying the larva from an
infected dog or host you can be dogs
coyotes even cats can get heartworms
um it sorry I have a dog that is
caught up in my cable where she pulled
my cable out
okay before that was a mess
um the mosquito will take the blood from
an infected dog go over to a dog that
does not have heartworms and during that
exchange The larva will end up entering
the non-infected dog system
um The larva mature a little bit under
the skin before entering the bloodstream
of the mature a little bit more and then
when they they live in a heart to the
burn to the heart stay there once they
are fully matured and that's where they
reproduce and make more heartworm babies
it is about five to seven months for an
adult heartworm to be detectable but by
a blood test so it is possible that if a
dog has a live infection
um you wouldn't be able to know until
about five and seven months after
now how is it diagnosed
um it gets diagnosed in a few classes
plus one is the lowest risk it's usually
discovered on accident by surprise
during annual exams during routine blood
work they'll realize that the antigen
has tested positive
um and no one everyone's surprised
because there's no symptoms yet which is
good this is the class that you would
hope your dog to be in orquette to be in
um because this is the beginning stages
nothing too serious has happened and
it's a lot easier to treat
um
women class two moderately affected
symptoms now develop so it's occasional
coughing fatigue just with exercise like
over exertion and they get a little
maybe more fatigued than they normally
would and then on a radiograph you can
find evidence of heart disease and then
there's also class three which is
severely affected and that includes like
weight loss
um prominent cough difficulty breathing
damage to the vasculatures like the
veins and arteries can be seen on the
radiographs severe anemia and then
potential lung collapse and they'll
collapse potential and collapse in
difficulty breathing is all due to the
veins the blood vessels and the lungs
get damaged as well it kind of affects
the whole circulatory system which also
impacts the lungs and other kind of
other organs as well kind of potentially
and then class four is caval I believe
is has pronounced syndrome or maybe
cable syndrome I'm not sure this is kind
of like the last the worst stage the dog
entered is in shock and he is dying or
will probably pass away soon so this is
like an emergency treatment
um an emergency veterinarian would have
to the only way to kind of
go back and kind of treat this classes
to
um open up the jugular vein and then
remove adult heartworms through that
um
opening it's very it's invasive it's a
little dangerous a little risky
um so this is the class that you we all
like obviously want to ultimately
prevent because this is kind of the hard
part to kind of like return to and
regular heartworm treatment can't help
class or
um so what is heartworm treatment
um this is the most common way as far as
I know
um we want to establish kind of starting
the routine of a strict exercise
restriction even before
um treatment starts because it's very
important you'll start off like using
like a larvicide to kill the migrating
the immature worms they're not yet ready
to reproduce but you want to kill those
so that they die before they grow up and
become more adult heartworms to deal
with later
some veterinarians also would like to
administer administer doxycycline which
is an antibiotic to help kill uh
wolbachia it's a bacteria that seems to
have the sort of symbiotic kind of
relationship with heartburns
um it's been known to kind of like
facilitate breeding and kind of
protecting them so we use the antibiotic
to get rid of this bacteria to help
weaken the heartworms that prevent as
much reproduction as possible and then
final step is using the adult decide to
kill the ringing adult worms and this is
where strict exercise is necessary
um as dead and dying adult heartworms
can increase risk of embolism related
problems dead and dying adult heartworms
even after they pass away
um they still kind of remain in the
bloodstream and there's always like an
embolism is inevitable it's a strict
exercise
um is imperative to make sure that
it's not an embolism that causes any
sort of heart problem so like a heart
attack or Cardiac Arrest or anything
like that
um so heartworm prevention to kind of
prevent all of this treatment from being
necessary the monthly dose usually
apartment prevention there's different
brands that have different
um anti-parasitics like heart guards
ever mechanism Advantage Revolution
whatever that whatever medicine your
regular veterinarian likes to use I all
of them work relatively the same there's
no kind of a real Pro or con too using
one over the other
um and the goal of heartburn prevention
is to kill a lot of heartworms before
they manage to mature and then get into
the heart and then this prevents
reproduction completely
so this kind of prevents all of the
stages to happen and doesn't let it
progress and it's a lot uh kind of like
nips it in the blood so I'd like to
remember definitely prevention
prevention is cheaper than treatment
especially when it comes to heartworm
um cases
excuse me
I'm not off the top of my head I haven't
had a dog in a while heartburn
prevention is really is definitely
significantly cheaper in comparison to
heartworm treatment which can cost
hundreds up to maybe thousands of
dollars and is very lengthy usually the
adult decide is three different shots
spaced between like one to two months
apart that takes a lot of time it takes
a lot of money so definitely nip it in
the bud get your dog and even cat
started on her prevented it
um so we can just not um have to deal
with the treatment and it helps everyone
in the long run definitely keeps your
pet healthy keeps your wallet nice and
full and everyone is everyone's a lot
better off
so thank you
okay thank you Amy
okay so next we're going to have our
jobs of the week
Giselle palomares from the New Mexico
workforce connections are Sarah
Rainey sorry yes sir good afternoon
everyone thank you for having me mirror
let me share my screen
all right thank you for having me
everybody the jobs of the week for the
for the city of Las Cruces and
surrounding doniana area actually
we have oops
there we go
we have a parts and supply manager with
the city of Las Cruces that position is
53 000 to 76 000 depending on experience
that closes on September 4th we have an
Imaging technician for the city of Las
Cruces that starts at 1877 hour
um that position closes next Monday on
the 21st
we have a security guard position at
White Sands Missile Range that ranges
from 37 000
um to 81 000 that's quite a bit
difference there it just depends on the
experience and and the position that is
assigned is assigned to that one closes
in December
we also have Parks counter sales at
Wagner Equipment Company 18 an hour to
twenty eight dollars an hour that one
closes on September 2nd and
administrative assistant at NMSU starts
at 1605 an hour that position closes on
8 31. and then a case manager at the
Vive Wellness Center they did not post
the salary range for that so just
depends on experience that position
closes on uh I'm sorry August 26th I
almost said September
as always you anyone can reach us at the
New Mexico workforce Connections Office
that's located on Alameda Boulevard you
can call us at
524-6250 or reach us on the web at
employ a m or at our app and if anybody
ever has any questions feel free to
reach out to us on the employee M
website there's a contact us button feel
free to reach out that actually comes
directly to myself and Gisele potomatis
thank you everyone and have a good week
okay thank you Sarah
okay looks like we have two items on the
agenda the first one being the fiscal
year 23 2023 annual internal audit
report by viola perea
[Music]
here we go good afternoon Mr Mayor
counselors my name is Viola perea I'm
the city auditor and today I'm here to
present our annual report for fiscal
year 23.
internal audit is a program in the line
of business of the office of the city
manager and the city auditor manages the
program and reports directly to the city
manager
the mission of internal audit is to
provide compliance and Assurance
services to city council the city
manager and all organizational units of
the city so the public will be confident
that city government is protecting
valuable resources and operating
ethically effectively efficiently and
transparently
our accountability and government
ordinance was created to further the
mission of the city and align internal
audit with best practices section 2-179
creates the city of Las Cruces oversight
committee and following this
presentation I'll be announcing our
chairperson who will also be giving a
presentation today
our oversight committee consists of five
members three members are residents of
the city and they're staggered
three-year terms one member shall be a
public excuse me a certified public
accountant or auditor one shall have law
enforcement or legal background and one
shall have experience in professional
management or business
the remaining two members are comprised
of the mayor and one city councilor they
are appointed annually and these
positions are non-voting and their
ex-official members
the oversight committees tasked with
reviewing our audit report and they may
provide comments on completed Audits and
investigations they may also lend advice
to the city auditor or the Inspector
General regarding technical issues and
provide recommendations for priorities
and potential areas for audit and
investigation
here's a chart of our committee members
and their terms
and it's hard to read here but this is
also the city's org chart excuse me
chart that shows we report directly to
the city manager
now a little bit of information for the
internal audit office directly we are in
office of five members myself and four
Auditors one specifically was hired to
do nothing but contract reviews
the three audits scheduled audits that
were completed in FY 23 where the
juvenile citation program audit the fair
labor standards act payroll and training
requirements audit and the Municipal
Court Indigent defense Services audit
in addition to those three reports that
were completed the Auditors also
completed but these reports were not
issued yet they're still in draft form
we have the Rincon Hills Park contract
compliance audit city-wide travel and
the utilities customer deposits and
refunds audit
in addition to that as well Auditors
have begun but you're not yet completed
the following four audits Citywide
leases employee benefits and payroll
Corrections Citywide P card and D Card
transactions with the wex card follow-up
and sponsorships of non-city events
we'll back up just a moment all of these
reports should be issued Within fy24
in addition to the completed reports
internal audit completed these five
projects as well there were two
unscheduled strategic reviews one was
for the second compliance review of the
arpa funding and the second was a
payroll issue for the Municipal Court
and we completed three hotline
investigations hotline 141 which was
unsubstantiated line case 159 was
substantiated but it is still pending
and hotline case 192 which was also
unsubstantiated
internal audit is responsible for
overseeing the hotline system for the
city
it provides employees and the public
with a confidential method to have an
objective third-party reporting option
our hotline committee is comprised of
the two assistant city managers the City
attorney and myself
and internal audit in the past now
currently will be the IG will
investigate complaints that come through
the hotline related to fraud waster
abuse
any Personnel related matters will be
disseminated either to the department
director or HR depending on the content
of the complaint and any Personnel
related issues will be kept confidential
during fiscal year 23 we had 95
complaints come through the hotline
system that is an increase over last
year we're seeing a five to ten percent
increase over the last several years
again not all complaints received are
related to City operations or city
employees we sometimes get the the
public using the hotline to report
various issues that could relate to
other departments within the city they
might be El Paso Electric it could be a
complaint that really should be called
into the police department and we'll
refer that over for investigation there
and then as I mentioned Personnel
actions resulting from a hotline are
confidential
internal audit is responsible for
overseeing the contract for the oir
group's contract for police audits in
March we contracted with them to
complete reviews of LCPD Internal
Affairs completed formal and internally
initiated complaints and investigations
any hotline complaints that are related
to the police department will also go to
the oir group and close litigation cases
cases related to law enforcement
internal audit monitors compliance with
the contract and for FY 23 we had 28
completed reports come through 27 were
related to Internal Affairs
investigations and one tied back to a
closed litigation case
and every year since 2014 internal audit
has been conducting a Citywide ethics
survey this year's survey was open from
May 4th to May 19th and we received 393
responses this was submitted Citywide
and we only had the 393 respond
and in your packets I provided a summary
of the responses from
fy24 excuse me 14 all the way to current
for our Peak Performance measures we
have four measures currently online in
the Strategic plan for internal audit
our first measure is to complete 80
percent of our audit plan by the end of
the fiscal year I'm glad to report this
year we did complete 88 however little
caveat there we didn't complete 80
percent of the scheduled plan as I
mentioned we had some additional work
that was done five additional reports
that uses audit resources that were
originally scheduled for the audit plan
so when you substitute in those five
additional reports we reached 88 percent
of our plan
the second measure fifty percent of
employees will successfully complete
ethics training this year in FY 23 we
did not meet this measure we had 49
percent of employees complete the
training and that is comprised of both
new employees coming in and completing
training ethics training during
orientation as well as the annual
requirement
our third measure 75 percent of city
employees surveyed will report that they
agree or strongly agree that they work
in an ethical climate we did meet this
measure this year we had 77 percent of
employees of the 393 that completed the
survey indicated that they agree or
strongly agree that they do work in an
ethical climate
and lastly internal audit will report
audit recommendations provided to City
departments in the agreed upon time
frames internal audit will provide
recommendations whenever applicable for
every project that we do whether it's a
scheduled audit a strategic review or an
investigation
and this year
give me just a moment please
for the projects that were completed
internal audit made 46 recommendations
combined between all of the reports on
our fy24 audit plan we do have time
scheduled to do follow-up audits so we
can go back to each audit completed in
23 to determine where we stand on those
recommendations that were accepted by
management
and last month we did a presentation on
our fy24 audit plan where we did a
little intro of all of our staff but
here's a little bit more information of
our members
and with that I'll stand for any
questions
thanks viola
questions of council counselor Abita
thank you mayor and thank you I did just
want to say thank you for all the work
that you've done when it comes to
auditing especially with the change in
staff and everything I think you've and
the additional work right and so I want
to say thank you and that I really feel
that you've worked with everyone
little resources and worked as much as
you can so I really appreciate that and
I I want to say I see that the increase
of complaints are always a note to me
that a system is working that people are
calling it even if it is for things that
don't necessarily belong there but it
means that they know that the number is
out and they're using it and then we can
feel things appropriately so I know that
takes a lot of coordination and
everything but I do see increases as a
sign that it's out there and that's what
we want those systems for so thank you
and thank you mayor
thank you councilor anyone else
thanks mayor thanks Viola
um yeah yeah I was actually going to ask
you two questions one was related to the
increase the five to ten percent what
you thought that was the case and I
think that's a great explanation
councilor Beta And I wonder if
um even if it's also just like
familiarity right the advertisement if
you will of of the number I'm curious
your analysis on that thank you Mr Mayor
and
counselor Ben Cuomo I think part of that
is contributed to as you say advertising
what we've done in the past is made sure
that our hotline is posted in as many
locations as it possibly can be so if
you go on to the city's website you're
going to find it at the footer of nearly
every page every city Department page
will have both our employee and the
Public's links there and we have
telephone numbers as well as the web
link on there that people can access
through the Footers there additionally
if you go to the internal audit page
it's going to be posted there as well if
you go to the top of the very beginning
where it asks how do I there's how do I
report a complaint so we have the
hotlines posted I think in over 30
locations on the city's website and I do
believe that is one of the factors that
has contributed to the the increase in
numbers we've seen that come in secondly
I would hope that people are feeling
more comfortable that we're resolving
issues that are called into the hotline
so we do have a process where depending
on the complaint it's going to get
disseminated appropriately we have that
information rolling back over into the
city manager's office and then we update
the system as those cases are completed
so I do think it's a combination of the
two it's it's the awareness number one
but I think people are feeling
comfortable more confident that we're
resolving some of the issues that
they're reporting yeah absolutely thank
you Viola that's great and then just one
other thing that maybe like raise a
little flag is when you said there's
some complaints that have come in that
maybe belong with PD like the 911 system
or people calling the hotline instead of
9-1-1 that's so interesting yes Mr Mayor
and counselor Ben Como that is correct
and we just received one today
I'm thinking that it's possible when
when an individual reaches out to find
the proper location on where to report
we do have various options we have 9-1-1
we have the PD has their own Inc we have
the 3-1-1 system we have an emergency
number exactly and my guess best guess
is that people are finding the first
link that they find that they see and
maybe they're using that we we've had um
I think it was just last week an
individual uh it was a utilities related
issue and they even apologized for using
the hotline system because they weren't
quite sure where to go so we do see
things that relate to the city but not
necessarily fraud waste or abuse we see
things that relate to the city of Las
Cruces in general the community not just
the organization so we and through the
hotline system because the vast majority
are Anonymous our only way to
communicate is through the system we're
able to email if you will back and forth
I'll provide information resources you
know contact for example El Paso
Electric here's their phone number or
here's the not you please call 9-1-1 if
it's an emergency otherwise here's the
non-emergency number for the police
department or if it's a utility related
call for service you know here's the ju
dispatch email address so I'll put that
information in the hotline so if they do
log back in they're able to get that
information and they'll know for the
next time and can share that information
on where to disseminate those calls more
appropriately that's so interesting
thanks Viola Evo maybe this this could
be a cool campaign for Pio right to like
really put out there here's all these
numbers that exist here's what you
should call for what right and so that
people are just more aware about the
trans the transparency that we're
committed to but that there is always a
number someone can call for for any
particular thing thanks I love you
else
okay thanks Viola thank you Mr Mayor
thank you counselors it looks like
you're going to be here for the next
presentation so did you want to go sit
down and then come back up again I'll
wait I'll wait all right so the next one
will be the fiscal year 23 oversight
committee presentation
okay and thank you again Mr Mayor and
counselor
ayola perea I'm the city auditor and
today I'm proud to announce our or
introduce I should say our chairperson
for the oversight committee Mr Jack
Ekman
you look a little familiar where do I
know you from I was in the back row last
week okay I think you might have seen
this man you're a heckler
for the record my name is Jack Eckman
and we're pleased to be here today and
welcome to the city Miss City attorney
I'm sure your ears are perked up for
this presentation just a little bit uh
we have all security councilor just
before we begin in fairness to our new
City attorney he used to be the city
councilor before he chose not to run
again that's why I acted like I didn't
know him
and it works
we have the three voting members of the
oversight committee that are going to
make comments to the city council today
you're going to hear first from Kieran
Ryan
and then secondly from Charles Tucker
now Charles has a very interesting
presentation on the history of
inspectors General from the Army which
is his background and the idea of An
Inspector General was just as new to me
back in 2018 as it was to everybody
sitting on the dice that day but we've
now come to recognize what that can do
for any organization and then I'll be
back to summarize
what it
might still need to be covered and so at
this time I'll introduce Kieran Ryan
and Karen Ryan used to be our municipal
judge the bursiti municipal judge and he
decided to retire too so we won't let
them go we just try to bring them back
to
use their knowledge
remember the city council
Mr Mayor
um essentially
excuse me judge I need you to state your
name please
got it even though I said your name I
need you yeah
thank you
um we have the oversight committee
meetings
once a month
this is basically an overview of what we
do at the meetings themselves excuse me
really I need you to state your name
excuse me
um Karen Ryan voting member of the Las
Cruces City oversight committee
thank you
yeah so as I was saying we we have this
meeting on this typically it's the third
Wednesday of each month starts at one
o'clock
and um
we usually go for a couple hours I can
go longer in that sometimes
um
people that attend our of course our
current chair jack deckman myself and
Charles Tucker and we're the voting
members we also have the ex-officio
members as was mentioned
uh be
counselor of beta and of course the
mayor mayor miyagashima
um
chief administrative officer Barbara
mankomo she meets with us as well as
does the as did the interim City
attorney now we do welcome the new City
attorney and we look forward to seeing
we're at those meetings as well
we also have of course Villa perea she
meets with us Christina Rivera
and the new Inspector General Jim Reed
is there
um
and on a quarterly basis we have Leanne
Demus who is the Finance director I also
have the deputy Finance director Alfredo
Pacheco
and uh
so our agenda usually looks like we
accept the agenda from the previous
approved the previous minutes
and essentially
do the dashboard summary over the
litigation summary
and there we review any new torque claim
notices
any new
lawsuits against the city
how those are being handled
any settlements
and how things just how they kind of
track and that's usually presented by
the city attorney's office to us
[Music]
um
additionally we do go through the
hotline complaints and summary reports
and
we'll go
one by one we'll go through those and
sometimes we discuss them sometimes does
it Merit discussion
because it could be
a county issue or out of jurisdiction
we also talk about the oir group police
audit reports
and we discuss those pretty much in
depth and we go over each one each
report given to us by oi are we we go
over those
question those
talk about those
draft
the any draft internal Auto reports as
completed we look over those
and finally we we do the quarterly
Financial reports
and as I indicated Leanne de Bush comes
for those or deputy director Alfredo
Pacheco so you know essentially we're
given an overall
view of what goes on
in all these topics all these issues
and then basically we adjourn
or we will somebody will request if we
want a new topic or new issue that we
want to discuss that's not on the agenda
and that's basically what our meetings
look like
and uh
invite any of you to come to it you know
of course
and so at this time I'll take any
questions if you have any
thanks judge questions
members of the public have any questions
regarding this uh this particular
committee
let's go outside in the audience uh in
the hall see if there's anyone heavy
yeah because we're about you're the last
one on the agenda here if not we're
going to be
breaking a record here for the least
amount of time I spent
um
okay I guess no questions
I'll be glad to turn it over to uh
Mr Charles Tucker who's also a voting
member I'm going to speak about the
Inspector General
and we're very happy to have the
Inspector General and he's a uh very
highly recommended individual and we're
really happy about his credentials and I
don't think we could have gotten better
credential he's a wonderful person
all right thank you very much
good afternoon council members and mayor
my name is Charles Tucker I am a member
of the oversight committee and I'm also
An Inspector General for the United
States Army
I know you wanted to to get us out of
here quick so
no on the contrary to take as long as
you want okay I have 30 slides so
okay I won't I won't take that much time
though I just wanted to go over a couple
things because a lot of people do not
know what inspector generals do so I'm
going to go through what an army
Inspector General does and then I'm
going to go through what a federal
Inspector General does and show you the
difference and then I'll also
um con compare and contrast a little bit
and then we'll finish up now there's
some Easter eggs hidden in my
presentations so my first deployment
there's a picture in there and me on my
first deployment there's a picture of me
in my last deployment in there and
there's a picture of me with my dad
you'll see in there too so I just had to
throw those in there so we'll go through
some objectives real quick let me bring
this up and we can't see the
presentation no I'm bringing it up right
now I'm sorry I just want to make sure
but I just wanted to uh
give you a quick overview before I get
started hopefully it'll come up
okay there we go
okay
so we did the objectives we're going to
identify this is for the Army the the
four functions that ig's perform will
discuss the legal origins of the IG
Authority the role of the IG will
discuss the IG sphere of activity
and then we'll discuss the IG technical
channels
and the categories of IGS the
responsibilities inherent in each
category
oops wrong error I'm sorry so the first
effective IG for the United States Army
was back in 1778 and that was Baron von
Steuben he was a captain in the Prussian
Army
um
he was recruited by Benjamin Franklin he
was not our first Inspector General we
had two other ones prior
and they were both fired because they
were they weren't interested in making
the Army a better place they were
interested in making themselves
wealthier so they were both
terminated Benjamin Franklin recruited
this gentleman and kind of fudged a
little bit of his history and brought
him over to the United States he spoke
no English he could only
um well he spoke no English and he was
told
the general was told he was a major
general in the Prussian Harmony he was
only a captain so there's a big
difference between a general and a
captain but he was effective so that
being said the gentleman um
took the the the the U.S army at Valley
Forge and molded it into a fighting
force he put
um discipline in place he put in
inspections in place and he started
doing what we call train the trainer so
he would take soldiers from
the units and he would teach them what
he was doing so they could go back to
their unit and teach their unit so that
was the first train the trainer program
in the United States Army General
Washington gave him a some criteria he
had to meet to keep employed and one of
them was to write his
adrenaline ceremony guide and a a book
that could be used sort of like a um
continuity book so once he was gone
everybody could read the book and and
follow along and do the same thing with
their units and that's where the armies
the the blue book came from
the blue book was authored by General
von Steuben it was used all the way up
into the 1960s so he was very effective
so the Army went through a process
during World War One where we were
drafting soldiers to come in and during
that process the they started using ig's
as
um
a compliance-based inspection program
Personnel so their job was to make sure
that the units were being inspected
toward a pass fail kind of thing and
that was because we were drafting
soldiers and that continued through
World War II in the Korean
Korea and Vietnam they did the same
thing but at the end of the Vietnam War
the draft went away so in 1973 the Army
changed its Army
General inspection program which was a
compliance-based program to a more
systemic program and that was because of
Lieutenant General treffry
so because the the all volunteer Force
didn't need as much compliance
to meeting goals as the drafted soldiers
did he went through and he changed the
whole Paradigm so we went through
looking for systemic issues and when you
look for systemic issues as an IG they
look for
when you look at a unit within a larger
unit if you see an issue more than three
times that's considered a trend a trend
becomes systemic so we start looking at
systemic issues that could affect the
units at the unit level and that's what
the IGS do when we do inspections
so
today's Army IG has four functions we
conduct teach and training we do
inspections assistance and
investigations
non-criminal investigations we do not do
criminal investigations we have CID and
military police investigators for that
so the Army the ig's adapt the Army IG
system to each Commander we work for a
directing Authority and that directing
Authority is our commander so we
mold our systems to to complement with
the the general officer wants done
within his unit since he's the overall
one responsible for it
1978 Inspector General act established
ig's at federal agencies initially there
were only two
and that was in 1959 there were only two
ig's one for the health and hold on let
me see Health in
that's the next slide
well health and Services I believe where
the in one other agency there was only
two ig's and just like everything else
in the federal government we fall victim
to Mission creep so 1978 they
established uh I don't know 20 more ig's
than 32 IGS and then now we've got 74
IGS so every just about every Federal
agency has a federal IG and those are
um political appointees they're
appointed by the president
and put in place through
the Senate there are
I forget what the term is called but
they're put in place by the Senate
so they are there to they have dual
reporting structure both agency heads
and Congress so the ig's report to their
agency head which is a political
appointee and they report to Congress
they're there for fraud waste abuse
but they also a health and education
that was what it was health education
and Welfare and Department of energy
those were the two initial first ig's in
1959. after that now it's 74. to include
cigar which is the special Inspector
General for Afghan reconstruction I
don't know when they're ever going to
get rid of that place but you know
eventually I'm sure that'll go away
maybe
but the central tenants of the IG act
conduct Audits and investigations
recommend policies promote efficiency
economy effectiveness of agency programs
operations as well as preventing and
detecting fraud waste and abuse and keep
the Affiliated entity head in Congress
fully and currently informed a fraud and
other serious problems
in such programs and operations as well
as progress in implementing related
corrective actions
okay so appointed by the president our
federal IGS confirmed by the Senate they
conduct audits this is the difference as
well as inspections and investigations
they can conduct criminal investigations
most ig's in the federal government are
special agents they they're 1811s and
they have arrest Authority
Federal IDs are members of the sigi
which is the Council of Inspector
generals for integrity and ethics
and federal ig's work for the head of
their agency military ig's which is what
I am we're nominated by our commander
and appointed by the Army's IG
um for civilians it's a lifetime
appointment for military it's usually a
three-year for officers and three year
for enlisted military ig's conduct
inspections investigations and provide
assistance
we cannot conduct criminal
investigations we are not members of the
sigi dod IGS which is the only military
IG that is
our members of the sigi the council for
inspector generals and integrity and
ethics but
each branch or each each branch IDs
they're not military ig's work for the
commander and directing Authority so we
get our Authority from them
ig's must embrace
and then exemplify Army values where
ethos and the Army civilian core Creed
IG holds positions of public trust and
uphold moral principles and that's why
we have to have the daig's
um screening process before we can be
put into place
and then we require a broad experience
strong written and verbal communication
skills and impeccable ethics
ig's are held to a higher standard when
you ask in IG they'll always tell you it
depends when you get a question answered
because I can't give you a question
right away because I have to double
check it because if I give you the wrong
answer then you're going to come back
and tell me the IG told me that that was
the right answer and then I lose
credibility so I'll always tell somebody
it depends
we don't shoot from the hip ig's are
always above board but discrete we never
but we're never off the Record so you'll
you won't see people hanging out in the
IG office on any military installation
or most people won't come talk to an IG
because when they do I'm on the record
all the time so if you tell me something
that's an issue even if it's on accident
I have to act on it
moral courage is mandatory so a lot of
times you have to tell the general no or
no it can't be done or no that's
incorrect A lot of people don't have
that backbone so
and integrity is essential
so the IG Commander relationship
represents the foundation of the army IG
system the relationship is one of
extraordinary trust and confidence I
extend the eyes and ears of the
commander on the ground
when generals go places
people don't
talk to them like normal people They
won't bring issues to generals because a
lot of times
generals have a lot of stuff to go to so
what happens is when I'm on the ground I
find stuff plus people don't tell
generals bad news
I find stuff that's not supposed to
happen and then I'll come back and tell
the general that actually what you saw
was not correct this is what's really
going on so
so we extend the eyes and ears of the
general and it's important that because
of that that I have to know what his
priorities are her priorities
when General Bingham was here she had
different priorities than General
little does now so when I worked for her
it was different when I went places when
I worked for General little it's
different now so
IG command and their sections must
remain exclusively under the Commander's
direct Authority
without further delegation to avoid
possibility or perception of external
influence
so it means that we can't work for a
chief of staff or a deputy we have to
work only for that Commander
all inspector generals extend the eyes
of your voice and conscience of the
commanders and
we just look for the Commander's goals
expectations intense standards Vision
operating methods and personality
so oops I'm sorry
ig's have both formal and informal roles
within the command the formal role
occurs when ig's performed the four IG
functions the informal role occurs by
advising the commander and subordinate
commanders on matters of affecting
command's immediate Readiness often in
real time
a lot of people don't understand is I am
not a commander when they bring stuff to
me if they tell me that something is
happening that's wrong
I'll look into it but I have to give it
back to the commander or whoever has
the the ability to punish that person
I'm not in charge of anybody or anything
and I like it that way it keeps me from
getting involved in stuff I don't need
to be involved in
so when I refer it then it'll get
handled people expect me to to stop
things and that's not my job I don't do
that kind of things I gather the
evidence and then I refer
but we work through and with the chain
of commands so when somebody comes to
talk to me I'll always ask them who have
you talked to First
if you've already brought this to your
supervisor or to your director what have
they done
if they haven't done something then I
can get involved if they have done
something then we're going to let them
use the process
so
in the IG system must reinforce and
bolster the chain of command at all
times without undermining it okay
sphere of activity includes everything
which the Commander is responsible for
so or the state so every state in the
United States has an IG it's an active
duty officer for the state of New Mexico
and he's up in Santa Fe and he works for
the state adjutant general
um
and he has Federal Authority here in the
state and but
something that happens on White Sands
Missile Range is not his he has no
jurisdiction over I do so or Yuma
Proving Grounds or dugway Proving
Grounds those are all installations that
I cover
so
so again we watch our Lane
Tech channels get guarantee the
effectiveness functioning and value of
the RG IG system ig's May request now
Tech Channel just means that if there's
an IG at William Beaumont at Fort Bliss
and our clinic on White Sands has an
issue I can reach out to that IG that
does medical stuff all the time and ask
him questions and he can help me because
I'm not a medical person I was an
infantry guy in the Army so I can put a
tourniquet on you but I can't take it
off so the medical guys can do that
but
so when it comes to medical issues I
have to reach out to somebody or pay
issues soldiers have problems with pay
issues I can reach out to the DFAS the
department of Department of Defense
Finance and Accounting Service in
Indianapolis and they can they have an
IG that I can talk to and they can do
Audits and stuff for people's records to
make sure that they have they're getting
paid correctly
oops wrong way okay ig's command policy
ig's are obligated to assist commanders
and staff in developing effective
policies but we will not establish
command policy
we point out conflicts in policy to
ensure accuracy
but we will never overtly concur or
non-concur
that's not our job
ig's have no directive Authority outside
the IG system and cannot inspect or
investigate without the Commander's
approval
we have access to everything the
commander has access to so as our
directing Authority says I want you to
look at everything on the installation
if he has access to it I can have access
to it up to my level of security
clearance to include medical information
HIPAA and everything else
uh IG operations complaints expect
confidentiality
safeguarding identities and the nature
of the complaint or information provided
so the intent is to protect privacy
maintain confidence in the IG system and
minimize the risk of reprisal IG duty is
to protect confidentiality but I can
never guarantee it so
and then of course we take an oath
that's a minister by a commander and
it's real similar to our oath Of
Enlistment
but the commander signs our certificates
and there's me on my last deployment
so some little known facts
always encourage complaints to use the
chain of command first that was
Afghanistan so
refer allegations to supporting
commanders for Action rather than
conduct an IG investigation
use discretion when passing information
to the commander
are you here to help we are here to help
tell good news stories don't wear a
black hat like I told you about the AGI
system at the beginning we don't want to
be construed as having that black hat on
and we're allowed to have friends even
though people know that we're never off
the Record so
so we identified the four functions of
the IGS perform describe the legal
origins of IG Authority
describe the role of the IG organization
the IG system IG sphere of activity Tech
channels categories well I didn't go
over the categories but basically
there's two categories in the Army
there's
detailed ig's and assist in IGS and
that's it the only difference is one can
lead an investigation and inspection and
the other cannot
um and I'm a detailed IG so describe the
duty restrictions of IGS and the IG oath
I did go over
so these are references
and there's me and my father when I
graduate base in training and then
there's me and my first deployment in
Panama so
yeah is there any questions
Panama was quite a long time ago it was
I was 24 years old a long time ago
thank you thank you that was super yes
ma'am informative I'm I'm going to ask
you a little bit to extrapolate to our
current sort of new IG position and
first I'm wondering if you can talk a
little bit about
um identifying pattern are you alluded
to identifying patterns of things and
and sort of like finding
um ways to intervene in situations where
there's systemic issues I'm curious what
kinds of data uh would you use and then
if you could speculate on what kinds of
data might come from within the city's
sort of space to be used for that kind
of process
and then
I guess that would be my first question
so okay so
I did this on purpose because I wanted
to show you that there are two different
types of ig's right now now even the
military IGS are all just a little bit
different they're not all the same so I
think what has to happen here for the
city is we need to figure out what kind
of IG we want
do you want somebody that has
you know criminal investigation
Authority that can go out and do all
this or do you want somebody that's here
to
um more like a military IG that works
with the commander under the Commander's
Authority that extends the eyes and ears
that you know I don't know I just know
that we need to as an oversight
committee we need to we need to know
what kind of IG we're dealing with so
that we can provide proper oversight for
that so right now and I think that's a
big question
um when we go out and I extrapolate
information I'll do an inspection say
the
I told you I was an instrument in the
Army I was you know I did infantry stuff
I don't know anything other than say uh
the commander says I want my Supply
system
inspected this year I want to take a
look at hand receipt holders and
accountability of equipment in my unit
how are we doing on that so what I have
to do I have to use my experience which
I've had hand receipts before but I have
to learn how the system works so my job
is to go out and reach out to smes bring
them in and ask them one to make me
smarter
or two supplement me on my inspection go
with me because I may not be able to
look at a system
and have access to the system or know
how to manipulate a system like somebody
who does it every single day so I bring
them with me I have those resources I
can reach out and grab
and I'm smart enough to know that
if I go in there and I try to talk to
somebody who does this every single day
and inspect them they're going to
Buffalo me and I'll never know what
happened and I'll not know anything I
looked at so I bring people that are
smart with me
and then we started looking we go from
one unit to one unit to another unit and
then we'll start saying are we seeing
commonalities are there issues is it
issues with parts coming in Parts going
out doing turn-ins are we do we have too
much equipment we're not turning it in
because the process is too slow are we
wasting money on buying equipment that
we could that these people over this
other installation have and are not
using that we could have sent to us
so we look for those kind of things and
then you start seeing patterns as you
write down those notes and you start
comparing notes with the other
inspectors you'll start seeing patterns
and that's where we find the systemic
issues okay so we have a problem turning
in equipment at Yuma we have a problem
turning equipment at four uh Fort
Liberty now we have a problem at Fort
Cavazos turning in equipment we have a
problem at the cold regions test center
up in Alaska turning in equipment well
that's four places so that's a systemic
issue
that's something that we need to address
but we need to dig a Little Deeper later
to figure out why we have those problems
because everything might be a little bit
different but again it's a systemic
issue that's something that we need to
address to our commander so that's how
we do that
thank you that's super helpful and it's
also helpful for you to orient us toward
that question of how we want this to
happen I really appreciate that and so
I'm going to give an example and maybe
you can and this is me thinking about
how those data how different data points
might be there we got the ethics survey
from from
our auditor so that which is super
interesting fewer people filled it in
but it does seem like
one of the places where
um you know there are a few places where
there's Maybe maybe something to think
about and one of the places is
um
sort of fear of retaliation right that
is something that's alluded to and I'm
gonna use this as an example I'm not
saying that this is necessarily we deal
with that too uh so so something like
that
um how what role would An Inspector
General have in
identifying that or addressing it or or
thinking about that from a from a sort
of institutional perspective okay
luckily for us and it doesn't always
work but we do have the Whistleblower
protection act so if somebody comes to
me and they make a complaint against or
they go to their chain of command they
make a complaint to the commander they
make a complaint to an IG they make a
complaint to a member of Congress
that's considered a protected
Communications
later on they'll come back and say I
just got retaliated I missed a promotion
or I got a you know a middle of the road
annual appraisal and I think it's
because I came and talked to you
so now I have to go back and I look at
when the protective communication was
made when did they come see me
when did the supervisor do his action or
her action okay
can I prove that there was knowledge of
the protected communication by that
supervisor and this all falls on me now
so I have to go back through and I have
to
for whistleblower retaliation to be a
thing you have to prove the protected
communication the timeline of when it
happened was their knowledge of the
protected communication and can we say
for sure that that action happened
solely because they came to the IG it
wasn't because this person came to the
IG now sudden they don't want to come to
work
you know so that's why you've got a
middle of the road rating it wasn't but
if they if they did nothing other than
that
then we can come back and and say yeah
that that's a problem now we can
substantiate a whistleblower retaliation
against this person and they could
actually lose their job for doing that
so that's what keeps them protected plus
again with the confidentiality we always
deem to protect confidentiality so if
you come see me and you tell me I want
to remain anonymous that's fine I Know
Who You Are
but that doesn't mean I have to give up
your name
I will always strive to maintain an
anonymity for those people but if you
come to me and you say I have a pay
problem but I want to remain anonymous I
can't do that because I can't get into
your pay records if I can't use your
name and social security number you know
so there's certain things that you can't
remain anonymous for but those can but
in most cases I don't need to give your
name to everybody
and I'll only use your name
to to
help you correct the issue that you
bring to me I won't use it for anything
else
thank you that that helps that does help
although it does make me feel like
figuring out how it works with Audits
and understanding how those might best
complement each other as something I
hope we can I'm sure we can can be
figured out I'm sure I appreciate you
sharing the the question thanks
thank you
thank you so much for your presentation
I appreciate it and understanding the
different types of IGS it would be
helpful if
the overset would have the conversation
about what would fit best for us and
then make a recommendation I know that
we as a council member who
experienced the issues that we had years
ago and with the McCarter report it was
a recommendation a strong recommendation
that we hire in IG and and do all the
things that we've done thus far with the
with the oversight committee and having
the accountability policies and such
enhance and strengthened if you will
so I'm thinking about
in that scenario because we were briefed
on it regular I guess I'm looking at
concert Ekman I'm down on the on the
audience because he was a part of
council then but we'd have some updates
and a lot of the investigating if you
will and capturing of information and
putting everything together was done
internally and then there was a point in
time I think that the discussion was had
about hiring a forensic accountant
right and maybe that might still happen
but I would think that the IG then if he
or she and he had the criminal
investigative sort of
expertise that then he would be able to
do that in concert with
the accountant or is that sort of
separate in a part I'm just trying to
figure out how this IG would fall and I
don't know ifo if you've had the
conversations or thought about it I know
this is something that's been being
discussed but I'm trying to understand
how we would insert the IG at this point
and or you know there were some concerns
that there was some criminal Behavior if
you will so I don't know but I guess
what I'm saying is it'd be nice to have
a recommendation from you all also I'm
leaning more on having having a crime
criminal investigative
expertise for those kinds of instances
but sort of like you don't know what you
don't know so
I just have that experience and it was a
horrible horrible experience to go
through but one that I'm glad that we
went through and fixed so many things
and you your oversight committee is is
very helpful in the auditor audit that
Viola does has been extremely beneficial
and really you know making sure that our
1-800 number is posted for people for
Waste Fraud and Abuse those kinds of
things so I guess I'm feeling I want
some more feedback from you about where
you think you know what should what
you're because you're seeing this you've
been now for two years
some of you are at different time frames
you have I think you're seeing Trends
you understand where and we don't see
those we don't hear those and I guess
I'm interested in all of that as well
I I think we've all been we were all
part of the initial committee so we've
been here since the beginning yes and I
think it was my first or second meeting
that you guys threw that mccard report
on me and I was really questioning what
the heck I had done to walking into this
um yeah that was um that was something
else but the um I I think what has to
happen is there has to be some kind of
conversation to figure out what do you
want
if you're going to use an IG for
criminal investigations you have yes I
don't I think you have the police
department that does their own internal
audits our internal investigations IA
right they you guys have your you guys
they do all that themselves so
I don't know if you really need a
criminal investigator when you're doing
that kind of stuff as long as the IG is
working closely with the audit you
should be able to track monies and all
that kind of stuff but I just don't get
into the weeds like Auditors do
unless you want to hire an audit guide
to be in IG
so
you just got to try to figure out what
what is the goal you want do you want
somebody like what what I do for my
commander so my commander gives me his
authority and then I do those four
functions I provide assistance I do
non-criminal investigations
I do
inspections of issues and systems that
he wants me to look at and then I
provide assistance which would be the
hotline completion hotline cases
where you know people would call in or
come see me sit in my office tell me
there's a problem in the city with
people misusing government vehicles and
then I go out and I find it and then I
refer to whoever can can fix that
problem whether it's a director or if
need be it'll go to the city manager
but I know
because I've been an IG
so when it comes to the federal system I
think Mr Reed is better able to speak to
that than I am I've never worked in the
federal system I've been to the federal
law enforcement training center and I've
been through the the course but I've
never worked outside of the military
system
I've been a joint IG and I've been a
military IG and that's it okay no I
appreciate hearing about that and maybe
mayor we we asked for Rhea to come and
do a presentation at sort of the first
times where we're seeing him I mean I've
met him probably in the hallway in
passing
um so welcome thank you for being here
we're really excited that you're here
um just helping us sort of and so I
would like to see that I think it's
important that we understand and what
he's seen and where what his
recommendation is I mean he does after
all have the expertise and so I would
request or recommend that we have him
come if he's not prepared to do a
presentation today I'd like to hear from
him and understand from his perspective
what he's seen Trends those those sort
of things and how we sort of move
through this next this next phase
for them
it seems like when I turn mine on it uh
is that what's happening oh I'm sorry
okay so I apologies
leave yours off until okay so before
that I'll just have evil say a few words
and then he can
it's evil you had something you want
thank you mayor council
I think we're we're good
so first of all I actually really
appreciate Mr Tucker and um him and I
have met several times giving me
guidance you know coming to the city
this position was already approved this
ordinance was approved I I personally
have never had an IG in an organization
and so this is all new to me
I had some questions as you all know
about how we were going to do this and
what we were going to
um so so we delayed a little bit and I
know I got
you know we're pushed back for that and
so we we move forward with it
fortunately we we have Jim who is
experienced he has a lot of experience
years and years of Inspector experience
and comes with a large resume
and so Mr Tucker has been really helpful
for me
and guiding me and giving me essentially
this presentation but one-on-one when
I've had questions I know Mr Reed has
met with Mr Tucker
um trying to get great get some advice
from someone who's been for
30 30 years 19. 19 20 years yeah 19.
um and so a couple of thoughts that I've
I've had in some you know from our
discussions
is it the the format or the concept
that's proposed by Charles Tucker uh Mr
Tucker the the one that he's in the Army
IG model seems to fit the best for our
Organization for one
uh you know according to our Charter
right you know the you have some
limitations of having an organization
that has their own employee or an
employee in addition to your your only
employee which is me
and so it's it just naturally fits that
way
I think there's parts of our ordinance
that doesn't reflect that
for one the ordinance doesn't have the
IG reporting to the city manager has IG
reporting to the
the City attorney
and so so there's just some inherent
issues with that when it comes to our
Charter I think the closer
you know I think the closer this
position is to re uh
the further remove this position is from
the council let me put it that way it's
not not a good one uh there's other
things in the ordinance that we're
prepared to bring back at some time
um soon I think we've been going back
and forth I think the oversight
committee has made some
some corrections or some some given
feedback Mr Reed's giving some feedback
our city auditor City attorney
um
City attorney and then
looking forward to
our currency attorney to to take a look
at that as well but I think we got a
pretty good concept of what we want to
propose and the way we want to go there
are changes in the ordinance
as far as reporting in our ordinance the
IG
is required to give an annual report
that's usually 60 days or not usually
it's stated 60 days after the the fiscal
year but where Mr Reed's position has
kind of been
in in the forming stage we've extended
that and given some time for him to be
able to
to get more Direction and before he does
through that report but I I think we'll
we are planning to bring
a
a recommendation as we bring the
ordinance proposed changes with the
ordinance I know
Mr Ackerman has asked that
we give an oversight overview of this
ordinance and
my response to him was was that we were
about to change or propose changes to
this ordinance and so I think that's
another discussion again that will bring
bring soon
and then with that we'll talk about
the way we feel like this this concept
would
would work with our organization but
like I said I've been in
been in contact with Mr Tucker he's
really been helpful in helping me to
understand
how we could use this position if
anything he's really opened my eyes to
see how valuable this position could be
and um
and so we just needed we just need to
get that formalized and bring forward to
the council
thank you if I think that's really
helpful to kind of have a timeline when
you say soon are you talking
um end of August September
Mr mayor council or member of 10. yeah
so
I believe our ordinance at least the
proposed changes are ready to come
before the the council I did want to
give the samples some time to take a
look at that for all of us to meet again
City auditor
um with our IG and and um
and get back even with the oversight
committee to review all the changes that
we're proposing
and so I I think we're
I don't I don't know if I want to commit
our City attorney to a timeline over uh
right now but like I said I I think that
the ordinance is ready to come back
and we just need to just need to meet so
I think within a month we could come
back
thank you
any other questions
okay all right
nope okay well thank you mayor and at
this point I'd like to bring back Mr
eakman the Final close us out okay
let me get rid of this
oh where's that
shoot I lose my glasses somewhere
I think I did yeah
there we go
okay sir
hello once again good afternoon I'm Jack
Heckman and I did have uh the city clerk
pass out a one-page uh
article on my testimony today and so I'm
going to read from that before I do that
however
two things about Charles Tucker number
one he's also a certified public
accountant
besides being An Inspector General and
number two I don't know if you've
noticed but he's about 40 pounds lighter
than he was last year at this time when
he made his presentation and uh
don't try to keep up with them right now
that's pretty neat
I serve as chair of the oversight
Committee of the city of Las Cruces the
oversight committee was created after
the adoption of the accountability and
government ordinance
which was unanimously passed by the
Council on November 19 2018.
the Ordnance States
and I think this is super important
the purpose of this division is to
provide increased accountability
integrity and oversight of the entire
consolidated government to assist in
promoting economy and efficiency improve
operations and deter and identify waste
Fraud and Abuse
our first meeting was in October of 2020
Charles Tucker Kieran Ryan and I were
selected by this Council to be the
voting members of the oversight
committee we drew straws to set up
staggered terms bus Charles is in the
second year of his second term I am my
first year of my second term and Kieran
is completing his first term
we are pleased that councilor abeta and
Mary miyakashima serve as ad hoc
non-voting members of the committee and
certain city staff members have turned
our meetings and provide necessary input
as we review items that come before us
and we appreciate each of them
a crucial part of the ordinance created
the position of Inspector General
many applicants were screened
interviewed and ranked as appropriate
for this opportunity Jim Reed was
selected and began his employment with
the city on January 30th of 2023 this
year at this time I'd like to have Jim
stand so that everybody can see him Jim
retired from the Drug Enforcement
Administration after 25 years of service
his last position was in El Paso where
he was director special agent in charge
of the Intelligence Center
he is a graduate of Southern Illinois
University with a degree in
administration and administration of
justice
during the
2022-2023 fiscal year the oversight
committee recommended certain
improvements to the oir group reports
that came before the committee let me
say right away that my wife
reviewed this before I came here
and I had this chock full of acronyms
this city runs on acronyms I'm sure
you've figured that out by now almost as
many as hospitals do so she made me
spill out these things because there are
people listening that have no idea what
these acronyms mean
the oir group is the external police
auditor for the city-based in Playa del
Rey California
the acronym stands for oversight and
independent review
we are pleased to note that our
recommendation was met with support from
the city
the city manager the Alaska is the
police department and the oir group
themselves
we especially commend the Las Cruces
Police Department for their
responsiveness and follow through on
those recommendations the improvements
have been marked I'm going off page here
interim Chief story we really appreciate
the improvements made and thank you city
manager for passing those on
audits are reviewed by the oversight
committee after completion we make
comments as we see necessary on those
audits once completed our comments can
be viewed on the city's transparency
page on the city of Las Cruces website
we are most pleased with the leadership
of the city Auditor in recruiting and
retaining qualified Auditors sufficient
to meet the needs of the city their work
is very professional and crucial to
building a better organization
thank you for your time and attention
today and before I get to other
questions counselor Koran your question
to the IG was most pertinent how can we
look for systemic issues that occur in
the city we have tried to establish a
dashboard of information that will kind
of give us an indication of what might
be in flux within the city we look at
those hotline reports which by the way
have been
uh
a tremendous help to the citizens that I
didn't realize before we have
non-residents of the city
using the hotline to find out
information on other government agencies
that have been followed up on in those
agencies then are contacted and told
about this question and they can fix
that but we look through the litigation
summaries we're searching for more ways
to see where systemic issues might be
spotted before they get too large and
we've had some success with what we've
had so far but if there are any more
ideas on what information is readily
accessible and might be helpful we're
open to that
and outside of that Mr bear thank you
are there any questions for me
no Jack I'm trying not to talk too much
it doesn't hurt your ears
I don't know what's going on with this
this microphone but any other comments
from Council
on counselor beta yes thank you mayor
and
thank you everyone for serving on the
oversight board I have to say that the
expertise that is brought on by these
members has been very insightful and
helpful some of the ways that I think
it's been most impactful is when there
has been suggestions to look at root
cause
issues and make those types of
recommendations so thank you very much
for your service thank you mayor
anybody else
members of the public
okay see it's a little early should I
sing some songs or something
if you'd like no what do you know no I
think it's just wonderful you might be
able to get out of here before five
thank you okay
we might have to give a little bit of
our refund of our salary back
all right thank you very much counselor
we appreciate all you everyone's work on
this committee it's been very rewarding
and I know it's essential for the public
to know that that um
well I just want to say I know there was
one instance where they thought that uh
if they call into the hot hotline that
it was caller ID and there's just none
it's totally Anonymous so that's good
all right well if there's nothing
further entertain a motion to adjourn so
moved second motion B my counselor beta
second by councilman Como we adjourn
this is an emotion to adjourn the work
session counselor beta yes Council
Graham yes
councilor Ben Como yes councilor Koran
yes counselor Flores is absent councilor
Gandara yes and mayor
so is there something funny about a
journey
I was I was telling our City attorney
that this is the person you want if
you're a comedian in the room
s okay so we're adjourned it's 2 24 pm
thank you
okay this is the agenda setting meeting
for August 21st 2023 city council
meeting number one consent one consent
two consent two consents three
non-consent three non-consent for
non-consent for non-consent five
non-consent five non-consent six
non-consent six non-consens
eight non-consent eight non-consent ten
consent ten nine consent I mean nine I
was paying attention
I'll do that once a while to see if
she's paying attention so she was