foreign
[Music]
foreign
[Music]
good afternoon everyone Welcome to our
city council meeting today is Monday
July 17 2023 it's approximately 1 pm
before we have our Pledge of Allegiance
I want to ask if you please rise for a
brief moment of silence as we reflect
back on the brave men and women the
United States armed forces as they
protect our interests around the globe
as well as the craziest Men Women of the
Las Cruces Police Department and the Las
Cruces fire department as they keep our
city safe 24 7 365 and also for
Alamogordo police officer Andy Ferguson
who lost his life over the weekend
Professor Graham if you join me in the
pledge please
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands
one nation under God indivisible with
liberty and justice for all
okay so we should have I don't know if
she's there Amy the Felix are you there
Amy
um
oh there you are okay
produce our pets of the week
hello everyone my name is Amy I am one
of the adoption rescue coordinators for
the aicmv um and I'm here to present our
pets of the week so let's start off with
sharing my screen excuse me Amy I don't
know where your speaker is but can you
either move it closer or talk a little
bit louder please
yes okay cool and then you turn off my
video you can see the whole thing
and we'll start off with our cat of the
week
um his name is red his number is six
four four seven eight
um and he says I'm a quiet and
affectionate boy I can be a little bit
of a Wallflower preferring to watch the
action from my distance let me run in
the middle of it but I definitely don't
mind attention especially if it's in the
form of Pettis I'm still young so I have
a lot to learn in terms of being a house
cat but I'm sure my forever family will
give me the love needed to help me
thrive
and then we have our dog of the week his
name is Romeo his number is five six
four five seven and he says like my name
suggests I really am Charming I get
along with almost everyone and I
absolutely love cuddles the humans have
found me say that I might even be how
straight I can get a little excited
especially the one I know we're about to
go on a walk but I calm down quickly
it'll turn him being my normal curious
self and forever helmets out there and
ready to give me all the cuddles I could
ever want
and then we do have an off-site adoption
event this Saturday the 22nd we will be
at PetSmart from 10 a.m to 1pm and we
are still having our red wine and cute
adoption special adoption event so from
the whole entire month of July all of
our adoptions are only fifty dollars it
doesn't matter if they stayed yet spay
or neutered again how long they've been
here every everyone across the board is
50 so it's definitely an incentive to
come behind a dump this month
um and for
the topic I'd like to share today
um kind of goes along with what we
talked about a couple weeks ago but it's
overall just more General summer pet
safety
um and this is all pulled from a newly
released article by the ASPCA ASPCA as
yes I'm sorry excuse me
um but they do share some general tips
to help keep your pets safe during the
summer months and their first tip was
definitely to keep cool I know we talked
about heat stroke prevention
specifically a couple of weeks ago but
it never hurts to breach we discuss it
again definitely make sure your pet has
access to a fresh cool modern shade
don't over exercise your pet by playing
too much if we're going on walks or dogs
or runs without breaks and then keep
them indoors during extreme heat then if
you're thinking about taking your pet to
the pool the lake or traveling out to
the ocean make sure your pet doesn't
drink any of any of that water pool
water contains chemicals smell like
chlorine bleach and others that can
threaten the life of your pet if
ingested Lake water can contain algae
bacteria and parasites that can also be
dangerous to your pet's health I know a
few years ago so news articles came out
about Elephant Butte specifically has a
specific string of blue algae that
blooms that a couple of pets have passed
away from ingesting that so definitely
be careful
ocean water can also be dangerous most
ly due to the high salt content
and they can either dehydrate your dog
it kind of disrupt their internal system
basically and there's also just the
conception of like seed blood General
lime can also be a threat to your pet's
Health as well of course we don't have
to worry about that unless you've got
you plan on traveling to the coasts but
definitely Lake water and pool water are
kind of the biggest things to keep an
eye out over here at least
you also always need to be supervising
them they're around a large bonds of
water even full water accidents can
happen within an instant and without
supervision and the likelihood of an
accident happening or head drowning due
to a
freak accident is a lot higher so
definitely always be aware of where they
are I always have an eye on them
have them restrained away from the pool
if you're not gonna not able to be
actively sort of watching over them just
in case because you never know what
might happen
um and now we're out of summer time
means a lot of time spent grilling and
having barbecues with friends
um so if you bring a pet along the ASPCA
advises you to withhold the table scraps
especially if the food is high in fat
fatty foods can disrupt your pets
gastrointestinal system it can cause
pancreatitis which is super unbond and
leads to a high vet bill
um not something to be aware of human
foods that can be toxic to your pets
like garlic onions chocolate such stuff
that we've we covered that stuff before
I believe with my fourth of July safety
presentation but it doesn't hurt to
cover it again and same thing with like
a like small lumps or fragile bones like
chicken bones or T-Bones um stuff that
they can either choke on or that it can
Splinter and then
kind of
hurt them internally we also would like
to avoid that specifically because that
will that will save you a trip to the
vet pretty much you should also never
give your pets alcohol I know like even
in humans it's considered a toxin
um and your pet is an understanding of I
guess the risk that it can pose if
ingested to high amounts especially so
it's better to just to keep them from
ingesting any at all but lastly the
ASPCA wanted to share some garden and
plant safety
um I know like the record high heat some
native plant life maybe
um not thriving super well but there's
still a whole lot more blooming plants
and garden plants that are being
maintained around this time of year and
that increases the usage of herbicides
and insecticides so just be careful on
your walks especially
um keep your pet from eating random
plants or other items during their walk
not only can potential toxicity be a
concern but it's also just if they're
eating foreign objects all the time it
poses a risk for obstruction and that's
a whole other like surgery possibility
to fix and it just stay to prevent this
um to prevent this from occurring
definitely just and to save you the vet
bill just monitor them otherwise make
sure they're not
I guess putting everything in their
mouth as they possibly can I know some
dogs like specifically retrievers love
to always try and get their mouths onto
anything they can possibly can so it's
definitely just be aware of that and
keep them safe but thank you
thank you Amy I appreciate that very
much okay so next we have our jobs of
the week and to sell palomatis or Sarah
Rainey we'll be presenting to Sarah
hi again
[Music]
not yet
perfect
okay
Sarah sorry yeah we haven't we're not
able to see it just yet so oh you can't
see it no
no no
[Music]
um I think so we're seeing the title so
hopefully the next screen
okay
foreign
no just uh it's just the title I am so
sorry
give me just one second sure that's fine
well I am not sure why it's not doing
that that's okay if you want to just go
ahead and read them that'll be fine
thank you
okay can you all hear me
barely we can hear you if you want to
speak up just a little bit
so for the jobs of the week we have a
library manager for the city of Las
Cruces
um the pay ranges from 60 000 to 87 000
depending on experience that actually
closes on August 14th we have a police
officer traffic investigator for the
White Sands Missile Range from 50 000 to
70 000 depending on experience as well
that one closes on the 18th tomorrow
we have a resident monitor for the
dyerson Charities
um that one right is 20 20.61 cents an
hour and it closes in October on the
third
we have a cashier overnight
um overnight cash here for the petroleum
wholesale company that's 12 dollars to
13 an hour it closes on August 5th
we have a maintenance janitorial
position with the petroleum wholesale as
well that one is 12 to 13 and closes on
the 5th of August as well
and then development and technician for
the Dona Ana County
um that was 15 to 21 an hour depending
on experience and closes on the 24th so
this is coming Monday
as always if you have any questions for
us feel free to give us a call at the
New Mexico workforce Connections Office
down on Alameda Boulevard our phone
numbers there you can always reach us
online at employ nm.com or feel free to
reach out to us on the app thank you
everyone and have a wonderful day okay
thank you Sarah
all right so now we're going to get to I
have a some quick presentation to make
to some very brave people
so how many of you here have actually
gone hiking before
wow quite a few well you guys are
experts at hiking how about on this site
here
all right so um
yeah that's it's it's looks like it'd be
a lot of fun but it can also be really
dangerous and so there was a situation
that recently came up that um a lot of
uh Brave and tough people went to go get
some people that got stuck so I wanted
to who got stranded I wanted to say a
little bit about this
on Monday June 12 2023 the Oregon
Mountain technical Rescue Squad and
Messiah Valley search and rescue
participated in a technical Rescue
Mission near the Oregon needle in
coordination with the Las Cruces fire
department technical Rescue Team also
known as lcfd trt
New Mexico State Police and the Las
Cruces Fire Department
on that mission for hikers all Las
Cruces City residents requested
assistance after getting lost on the
organ needle Trail and got cliffed out
I don't know what that means but didn't
sound very good got tipped out
four members of the omtrs which is the
Oregon Mountain technical Rescue Squad
we're assigned to a technical ropes team
dispatched to assist those hikers eight
members of the lcfd trt were also
reassigned to a technical team to reach
the hikers from a different route
the OM TRS team made contact with the
rescue subjects and were able to climb
on the Rope climb on ropes to the
subjects and then lower them back down
on ropes to a location where they could
safely hike out
three other members of the OM TRS were
dispatched to support the technical
teams by one bringing food and water to
the stations along the evacuation route
to providing direct route guidance to
the two technical teams and three
providing remote route guidance using
MV SARS drone
MB Ser which is the Messiah Valley
search and rescue also assisted in
ground transportation for teams with
their vehicle assets drone surveillance
of the rescue operations and provided
rescue Personnel for carrying water and
food and supplies to the technical teams
rescue operations lasted for more than
14 hours total
God that's a lot
I can't even be outside for 10 minutes
15 minutes without it just just so hot
it was a big mission and without om
trs's technical expertise and extensive
knowledge of climbing in the organ
mountains
it could have lasted a lot longer been
more costly for example required a
helicopter hoist or cause the rescue
subjects to begin feeling the effects of
exposure and dehydration
so I wanted to give the these brave men
women the mayor's Citation for community
service and so a lot of them are are
with these two organizations as well as
Las Cruces Fire Department
so I'm going to ask if
let's see here did they reach out to you
who's going to be getting the
certificates
if not I'll just call you and then if
you're here you can come forward to my
right okay
okay all right so I'm going to start
with Justin Whitefield battalion chief
Jeremiah lay battalion chief
so when I give you a certificate if you
don't mind standing here and then we're
going to take a group picture
I probably should have read what that
said
mayor's certificate of achievement
presented to Jeremiah lay battalion
chief in recognition of your commitment
dedication to helping make Las Cruces A
Better Community dated the 17th day of
July 2023 signed by myself Ken
miyagashima
okay so next person is uh
Tibor kosis battalion chief
[Applause]
hopefully I got that kind of right a
little bit close
firefighter Juan Joseph itrade
[Applause]
it worked yeah
firefighter Benjamin monsavius
firefighter Robert Lopez
[Applause]
certificates all the same thing except
there is one lucky winner it does say a
thousand dollars you won so
firefighter Gabriel Gill
Arnold Diaz driver operator
foreign
you think I could drive the truck one
time before I leave
Thomas Hart driver operator
[Applause]
Nathan Tracy driver operator
[Applause]
Hector Maldonado
driver operator
Lieutenant Gabe Sanchez
[Applause]
Lieutenant Michael Medina
[Applause]
Vic Villalobos
foreign
[Applause]
Richard SWAT SWAT swords sorry
[Applause]
Dave Ruiz
[Applause]
Dave Kota
[Applause]
Karen sebills
[Applause]
column Ford
[Applause]
go rave panwar
fantastic
Ned Tudor
[Applause]
Aaron Marcus
[Applause]
Cameron Gibson
Gordon McDonald
[Applause]
Carl Blan
[Applause]
Carrie Hale
foreign
Garcia
[Applause]
John Dwight twice
[Applause]
Doucet
[Applause]
Chuck McMahon
and looks and the former deputy County
Manager yeah I thought I wonder if that
was you
yeah
Robert Court
[Applause]
foreign
David Price
[Applause]
is is there anybody out in the audience
that were we missed
because I can change the name on one of
these real quick
okay well there you have it ladies and
gentlemen
these brave men and women who braved the
elements and risked their lives is to
save others
we can't thank them each and every one
of them enough
and it's always nice to know that you
all that all are there and I believe
whether that a lot of is a volunteer
group I yeah so they don't get paid and
yet they're out there just taking care
of business so thank you very much and
if there's uh Chief did you want to say
something anyone anyone want to say a
couple comments
I just want to say real quick uh I think
a lot of people don't realize how
intense some of these missions are and
how long they are and it really does
take a group of everybody
um with varying skills so uh thanks to
the group and the collaborative effort
I I was asked to briefly speak about the
search and rescue side of it and I'll
try and be as brief as I can
um just you know as the mayor said that
half of the room is all volunteer people
and a lot of volunteer hours go into
doing this Oregon Mountain's actually
been around for 20 years and Mesilla
Valley has been around for 30 years and
so we've been doing this for a long time
and it does take a lot of effort I do
want to especially though thank the fire
department because it this all started
with working with battalion chief lay
and Battalion Chief co-chiefs way back
when when we saw the the need for the
volunteer sector to come together with
with the city part of it and we've been
able to become really a great
partnership and great marriage that we
provide some assets they provide other
assets and we truly work together well
in the field so we want to thank the
city for allowing that to happen because
you don't see that often in a lot of
cities so being able to work with the
fire department has been a really big
deal and and we think it's a great for
the public so thank you
and before you leave we want to take a
quick picture so
Jennifer how did you want to line them
up a couple rows tallest in the back
[Music]
I don't know if the dog if there's a dog
out there
we can bring it
oh yeah
now I'm going to turn it over to
councilor Graham who's going to finish
with the rest of the Proclamation so
counselor
foreign
before she leaves just a quick hello and
shout out to school board vice president
Pam Court thank you for all you do for
our community
[Applause]
and if I could have Miss Heather Pollard
join me please and anyone you'd care to
bring down with you
[Applause]
thank you
so I'm going to read this Proclamation
whereas the city of Las Cruces
acknowledges the importance of a
thriving downtown area that Fosters
economic growth cultural enrichment and
Community engagement and whereas small
businesses play a significant role in
the vitality and character of downtown
districts contributing to the local
economy and creating a unique shopping
and dining experience and whereas
Heather Pollard a dedicated entrepreneur
and Community leader has made
significant contributions to the
Downtown Development in Las Cruces
through her exceptional work as the
proprietor of the Emporium and antiques
collectible shop and whereas these
efforts go beyond business ventures she
is actively engaged with the community
and promoted the preservation of local
history and culture through her antique
collectible shop she has provided
residents and visitors with access to
Unique Treasures fostering an
appreciation for the rich Heritage of
Las Cruces and whereas Heather Pollard's
unwavering commitment to community was
evident in Her instrumental efforts to
raise funds for the restoration of the
historic Amador Hotel preserving a
significant piece of local Heritage and
whereas as the first director of the
doniana Arts Council she played a
pivotal role in nurturing and promoting
the Arts within the community fostering
a vibrant cultural scene that enriched
the lives of countless individuals and
whereas her remarkable dedication to
Community Development and revitalization
is exemplified by her role as the
executive director of the downtown Las
Cruces partnership where she has
demonstrated exceptional leadership and
a profound commitment to enhancing the
vibrancy and economic Vitality of the
downtown district and whereas Heather
Pollard's work with other local
businesses organizations and City
officials has facilitated Collective
progress and resulted in Innovative
initiatives that benefit the entire
Community contributing to the economic
growth and vibrancy of downtown Las
Cruces now therefore we the mayor and
City Council of Las Cruces Mexico deer
who do hereby Proclaim July 17 2023 as
heathered Pollard day
I didn't prepare a speech I did want to
emphasize that the Emporium is for
messiah Valley hospice it's not my store
I'd like to think it's my store but
everything goes to Messiah Valley
hospice
um
I really can't list all the people that
I worked with there were about 30
individuals
um really the city council in that at
that time was fairly supportive this was
a very very controversial
um Risky Business and we we didn't have
total Community Support there were days
when we walked down the farmer's market
and we were not popular
it was it was a very gloomy a gloomy
time
um the um Robert Garza was instrumental
in much of the work we did and I'd like
to shout out to him he was a past city
manager I can't list all of the city
councilors and mayors that we worked
with and city managers but for the most
part the cities that were supportive the
city staff was incredible as they are
now and I'd like to say thank you to the
city staff members that are here with
the Amador Hotel
um
our dream was to open the street and
then when we opened it we thought
well we built it who will come and they
did and councilor Dolores Archuleta and
I drove up and down Main Street several
times thinking gee we feel like this is
a criminal activity we couldn't believe
we could drive up and down the street I
would like to say thank you to a lady
who is here today
and that's Senator papin without Mary
Kay we wouldn't have the Rio Grande
theater we wouldn't have opened Main
Street we wouldn't have had capital
outlay for the amateur hotel and then my
partner in crime um
was Steve Newby but it took a village
and it's amazing to me now when I served
on the now defunct parking committee and
we were concerned there wasn't enough
parking downtown well I thought this is
a great problem to have so thank you and
thank you to Mayor Pro tem thank you
thank you very much and well my family
my daughter is here one more thing we
did this for the future Generations
my daughter and son-in-law moved here
and I have two grandchildren here and so
they're enjoying the work that we did so
that makes me very proud and happy thank
you
each other
[Applause]
and not coincidentally Steve Newby
please come up and join us
thank you
whereas the city of Las Cruces
recognizes the importance of
well-designed and Innovative
architectural contributions to the
development and revitalization of
downtown areas and whereas Architects
play a crucial role in shaping the
physical landscape of a city creating
spaces that Inspire engage and enhance
the quality of life for his residents
and whereas downtown areas serve as the
heart and soul of a city providing
spaces for Commerce culture and
Community engagement and whereas Steve
Newby an esteemed architect has made
significant contributions of the
downtown development of Las Cruces
through his exceptional work as a member
of the development team providing
invaluable architectural expertise and
vision and whereas Steve Newby's
architectural contributions have not
only revitalized downtown Las Cruces but
have also had a positive impact on the
city's economic growth and cultural
Vitality attracting businesses visitors
and sponsors fostering a sense of Pride
within the community now therefore we
the mayor and City Council of Las Cruces
New Mexico do hereby Proclaim July 17
2023 as Steve Newby day
[Applause]
Miss Pollard you're a tough act to
follow
thank you so much
my wife of
one month moved to Las Cruces 1974.
prettiest girl
in the school
he still is
but she also told me
over the last 50 years that I've had a
mistress and I might as well just be
public with it because she said my
mistress was downtown
I tried to humor her by saying yes but
she is ugly
because she was when I moved here our
downtown was dead
it like many other cities in the United
States got a lot of free urban renewal
money and created one of 77
pedestrian malls
most of the Cities as a matter of fact
all but three had torn out their
pedestrian malls some within a year of
building them because it was one of
those Urban design ideas that never
worked
but in Las Cruces land of Manana we were
the last surviving
non-performing Pedestrian Mall
so you learn a lot about what others
have done I researched why did all these
other cities tear them out for the exact
same reason
that we finally did because it just
didn't work
but it took a long time
even after the other 74 had torn those
out to get it done and it took a village
as Heather said a huge number of
volunteers I sucked Heather into this
she told me I will give you three years
not another day this six years later she
was still cranking away
I was very good at doing projects I
wasn't very patient with doing people
but that's the person you need when you
have to organize the minions and make
sure they go in the right direction and
she built our board she built the
alliances with politicians
staff Mary Kay peepin again shout out to
her and none of this would have happened
without her
if you look at the whole Arc of Las
Cruces because we we have
some I believe
um
folks here on the diocese that probably
were still in college when we had The
Pedestrian Mall and so I want to tell
you a little bit about how bad it was
when
urban renewal happened where all of the
parking lots are there used to be
buildings
over 80 percent of all of our buildings
were destroyed downtown many of those
were houses
they would get a knock on the door
someone would say hi Mrs Sanchez your
house is going to be demolished in five
days here's two hundred dollars thank
you very much how do I know that because
I read all the urban renewal reports
that came out once a month
when you demolish 80 percent of your
history and by the way at the time
all of the historic buildings in Las
Cruces almost 70 percent of them were
downtown and we lost that history
and so let it be a lesson to all of us
to never allow that to happen again we
all weep about Saint Genevieve's I went
to a presentation
fairly early in this Quest over in the
Mesquite District
and I was expecting 20 people 150 showed
up I was scared to death I was up there
by myself showing them my boards and how
great downtown is going to be
and I thought it was a fairly
successful
night until I asked for questions
I saw this tiny little hand and I
couldn't see the person because she was
so short and about the fourth row she
stood up she could not have been four
foot ten
did have the smarts to bring a
translator because I don't speak Spanish
and I still remember
she stood up and
my finger is just like hers
I'm sorry
you said you people
you people destroyed our life
meaning since I was the only white
person there I got it
she became a good friend of mine because
I went to her and said let's sit and
talk she invited me over to her house
which was half a block away and she told
me exactly what happened
not the overgrown version of the of
what we'd like to think we do when we
have progress and so from from that
night on
I just try to put downtown back it's
different you know certainly it took 15
years to get
The Pedestrian Mall torn down that was a
great day took four more years four more
years
to put the street back in took two more
years to get the racetrack for those of
you who remember
which was three lanes in One Direction
you could drive 65 miles an hour you
could make it from
from Loman to Picacho in about 12
seconds and what did that do that got
people around downtown quickly there
were no stop lights
and so what what did the city do
two-way
streets and parking why because that
slows people down
and so it has taken a long time we
almost had it done but there was a
problem about no Plaza raise your hand
if you know a city in Las Cruces that
doesn't I mean in New Mexico that
doesn't have a Plaza
yes
one of one of the most historic cities
in the state we didn't have a plaza we
did with Saint Genevieve's Church
that was if you will the plaza but that
was not part of her Renewal by the way
the Catholic Church actually tore it
down thinking with urban renewal the
land would be worth more
but with without a Plaza
downtown to me was not finished
and so Las Cruces Community Partners
myself and three of our partners bobal
Doug
Wright and Eddie Martinez got together
with Robert Garza who was
city manager at the time and it's not
that the city had not been trying
actually I found an announcement by the
development director in 2006 that they
had the money for the plaza and it was
going to start in January
10 years later we were still trying to
get a plaza but we proffered
to
Robert that we would buy the land we
would design it and build it
in 18 months
and if the city liked it when we were
done
then you know we could make a deal
we missed it by one day
having done a lot of projects for the
City Convention Center the Aquatic
Center that project would have taken
four years
and to me that put together a lot of the
wishes and dreams of a lot of the people
in Las Cruces because finally we had a
place together downtown to celebrate
downtown to grieve downtown
and it's still not done
I mean all of the volunteers are still
working they have meetings every every
month there's still a lot to be done
there's still some money to be paid but
with that I I cannot tell you how much I
appreciate this and Wayne thank you for
the nomination for Heather and I
and we really appreciate everything that
the city has done that the council and
the Mayors over the years have done but
thank you very much
[Applause]
Heather and Steve on behalf of dlcp
Jennifer Garcia kazaki they were unable
to be here today but they wanted to send
just so much gratitude to both of you
for the vision that you had and the
tenacity to just to press on and they've
appreciated that so thank you
thank you
all right very good okay next we have
the fiscal year 23 entrance conference
and we're gonna have Heather Lucero
who's going to be presenting
while you're doing that it looks like a
former counselor Greg Smith is in the
audience so thanks for joining us
counselor
good afternoon mayor council
my name is Jose Trevino a controller for
the city of Las Cruces and today I'm
introducing one of our external Auditors
and her name is Heather Lucero she'll
they'll be conducting the FY 23 audit
the FY 23 audit covers July 1st 2022
through June 30th 2023
and the external audit starts with an
entrance conference
and let me get this started for Miss
Lucero and while you're doing that I
didn't mean to overlook a former
counselor Dolores Lucero so good to see
you as well
you're only being right directly in
front of me I don't know why I missed
that
they are counselor City management my
name is Heather Lucero I am an audit
supervisor with patillo brown and Hill
and I will be presenting our entrance
conference information for the FY 23
audit this is required communication
every time we start an audit some of you
have seen this presentation before so
let's get started
so first introductions so the partner in
charge of this engagement is again going
to be Chris Garner Mr Garner was unable
to attend today but he will again be
overseeing the audit and then myself
will be seeing the day-to-day operations
as the audit is completed so I will be
on site with the staff and kind of
helping guy to make sure the audit
process runs smoothly
so timing our timing of the audits for
planning so this is where we look at
things like internal controls data audit
compliance single audit so your federal
expenditures we anticipate beginning
that at the end of July beginning of
August during this time it'll be remote
and on-site testing so we will be on
site part of the time and then the rest
of it will be completed remotely during
this time we do what we call a risk
assessment so we will come in and assess
the city's risks and we look at things
like internal controls prior year issues
that were identified if anybody reaches
out to us and voices concerns issues we
take that into account during our risk
assessment and we use that to then
develop the audit plan so the audit will
be based on risk in addition we will
also do the planning for the single
audit during that time frame so we will
look at your federal expenditures and
based on what was spent during the year
we will select a program or possibly
multiple programs and those programs
will be reviewed for federal compliance
after completing planning we will come
back in October and November and we will
complete what we refer to as final field
work during our final field work this is
when we come back and we look at your
actual year-end balances so we're coming
back to look at Cash balances accounts
receivable accounts payable your fixed
assets everything that occurred from
July 1 2022 through June 30 2023 and yet
rules things like that and then our goal
is to get these financial statements
drafted issued and submitted to the
state auditor at the end of November
so next internal control so this is what
we'll be looking at here starting at the
end of July beginning of August the
purpose of this is to determine whether
the city has implemented internal
controls and whether those internal
controls are operating effectively so
we'll go through and we test different
transaction Cycles so we look at cash
disbursements payroll cash receipts and
this is done not over just the city but
also your component units so Animal
Services Regional dispatch all of those
are included in this testing and we pull
a sample of transactions we review them
to determine whether those internal
controls are implemented and then again
if they're operating effectively if for
some reason we identify any issues that
is communicated to management and those
charged with governance
in addition to internal control testing
we also do our state auditor compliance
testing now this is based on the state
audit role within the state audit rule
itself there are a number of items that
we are required to look at and so while
we're on site we again select samples
for each of these items and we test them
to ensure that the city is in compliance
with those State statutes and so we look
at things like procurement travel and
per diem para contributions if there's
any special Appropriations your budget
approval process those types of things
and we just ensure that state statutes
are being followed
and again if we identify anything during
that testing we also communicate that
single audit so why is the city required
to have a single audit anytime an
organization entity government expends
more than 750 000 in federal funding
they are required to have a single audit
these expenditures can come from one
Grant they can come from multiple grants
the threshold is just the 750 000 and so
the city has exceeded that limit and
therefore is required to have a single
audit and so we will come in we'll
identify all of the federal money that
was received and from that Federal money
we will select a program or multiple
programs and based on that we will then
test them for the required Federal
compliance attributes and so that could
be things like eligibility allowable
costs procurement reporting some of
those programs have special tests we
have to look at and so each of those we
identify the program and then we
identify which compliance requirements
are applicable again if there's any
issues findings if we identify anything
that's not in compliance with those
federal regulations that information is
communicated
so next is responsibilities the next
couple slides we'll talk about our
responsibilities as the Auditors and
then management and those charged with
governance responsibilities so this
first slide
that kind of gold colored box discusses
that our responsibilities as the
Auditors is to express an opinion about
whether the city's financial statements
are materially correct in accordance
with the U.S generally accepted
accounting principles and so what that
means is that we come and we look at the
city's information and based on that we
provide an opinion that's what we're
hired to do that is what our audit is
based on is to determine whether that
information is materially correct
um and then that next the next little
box the blue colored blocks discusses
that we provide what we refer to as
reasonable not absolute assurance and
the reason we say reasonable Assurance
is because we use sampling methodologies
statistical information to test the
transactions in order for us to receive
absolute Assurance we would have to look
at every transaction there's not a cost
benefit to doing that and so we use
those different methodologies that are
all approved by generally accepted
accounting standards and we take that
into account into our audit process and
that's how we determine whether the
financial statements are materially
correct
the next slide discusses that in
addition to our audit opinion in the
state of New Mexico we are also required
to look at internal controls this is
often referred to as a yellow book audit
and so as part of our yellow book audit
we take into account consideration of
internal controls and we look at those
internal controls to determine if
they're operating effectively we do not
however Express an opinion on that and
so what we're saying is we come in and
we look at them we make recommendations
however we are not giving an opinion
saying whether they're appropriate or
not we're just coming in making sure
that you have internal controls in place
determining whether or not they're
operating effectively however again no
opinion is expressed on them
um that gold colored box talks about
anything that we come across during the
audit that we determine to be a
significant item that is communicated to
management and those and then if
warranted those charged with governance
so if we see issues in the internal
control if we see issues with the
federal requirements all of that
information is communicated we will work
with the city you know to ensure that
we've got all of the correct information
and then once we've determined yep we've
got everything we need but we still see
a significant issue again then that
becomes an actual audit exception in the
report
so the next slide talks about management
and those charged with governance
responsibilities so management
responsibilities includes taking
responsibility for those financial
statements so the city does prepare
their own financial statements we assist
with the review process and we make sure
that all of that ties out to the
information within the audit however the
city themselves is responsible for those
financial statements and they do prepare
them
um in addition you are responsible for
making all management decisions all
financial decisions we can provide
guidance so if we're aware of any
regulations or anything like that we can
provide that information however we
cannot make any actual decisions on
behalf of the city in addition
management and those charged with
governance you are responsible for
making sure that the city has internal
controls in place and that those
internal controls are operating
effectively if we identify issues then
you are also responsible for creating
corrective action plans and then making
sure that those corrective action plans
are implemented
so scope so the scope of our audit
includes the city itself and then of
course you've got your component units
so South Central solid waste the
downtown tax District Animal Services
Mesilla Valley Regional dispatch and
Metro narcotics are all included inside
the scope of our audit so each of those
except for the the tax district has a
standalone audit report that is issued
and submitted to the state and then we
have the city's large Aqua which
includes all of the information from
those four component units and that is
also submitted to the state
required Communications
so required Communications
we are required to let you know that as
we get going through this audit process
certain things cannot be discussed in
open meetings so if we do come across
issues that information cannot be
discussed in open meetings and then once
the report is finally submitted to the
state the results of that audit cannot
actually be discussed until the state
auditor releases that report at that
point in time then that information is
open to public discussion
here are some audit rule changes for
2023 there were no major changes to the
audit rule meaning from an audit plan
standpoint we are not going to have any
adjustments there they didn't issue any
new requirements they just mostly
clarifications to terms due dates things
like that in the rule this year
standards
the city will be required this year to
implement a new standard this is a
pretty large standard this is required
under government auditing standards they
refer to it as gasby 96 and this is in
regards to any subscription uh
agreements for it so this could be
things like your accounting software
that you have the police the software
they use what we're going to have to do
is we're going to have to come in this
year and we're gonna have to look at all
of these agreements and based on the
wordings in those agreements we then
have to determine whether or not
disclosure is going to be required if
any of these agreements
exceed 12 months there's a good chance
that disclosure is going to be required
this is very very similar to gasbi 87
that was implemented last year and that
was a new lease standard very similar to
that you're going to see the same type
of disclosures the same type of new
assets and liabilities on the city's
books if we are required to actually
record any of those agreements and we
will work with the city and their
Finance team just like we did with the
lease agreement to determine what needs
to be included what doesn't need to be
included and to make sure that all of
that is properly disclosed
confidentiality so this is a big one for
us it is important to us to let you know
that all information related to the
city's audit is kept confidential it's
only used for audit purposes we do use
encrypted portals encrypted emails if we
have to share any kind of information
it's all done in a confidential manner
and then this last slide talks about
other discussions and so as we're doing
our audit we will reach out to members
of council we will reach out to members
of management and we will be discussing
things like is there any related party
transactions has any fraud or concerns
regarding regarding fraud been brought
up have there been any special audits
that have occurred or any additional
concerns that individuals have as I
mentioned earlier we take this into
account during our risk assessment so if
any of this is identified again we build
it into the audit procedures to make
sure that we are addressing those issues
as always if management counsel if any
of you have any concerns please feel
free to reach out to us and let us know
set up a time while we're on site to
meet with us we are more than happy to
discuss these items
and so that's all I have unless there's
any questions
thank you heather questions
members of the public
okay well thank you very much and um
I'm sure it's going to be a big task as
it is every year but the staff here is
is really great to work with yes they
are and we look forward to it this is
our fourth year so we've got it we've
gotten into our group I think so it'll
it should be good but as always thank
you okay thank you
okay so now I'm going to go to the
conflict of interest statement this is
where I'll ask if any member of the city
council city manager or city staff has
any known conflict of interest on any
item on the agenda none Graham none
[Music]
none tell the three of three council
members that are missing uh there all
are out of town and
so that's why they're not here all right
so now we're gonna go to public
participation this is where members of
the public can speak to council for up
to a total of seven minutes three
minutes in front of here to discuss
whatever you wish and four minutes to be
used for items that's on the agenda all
that we ask it did not be pertaining to
any pending litigation and that if you
have to speak about an item that's on
the agenda if you if you can't wait
until that item comes to us at you know
regular time then we ask that you just
let us know why and I presume you're
gonna have to leave Council can't
respond to you after that okay so I
usually start on my left usually start
on the first row so counselor do you
have something you want to say just
state your name please
Mr Mayor I had asked for five minutes I
think you granted me through the
secretary's
I asked for five minutes and uh Annette
responded that yes you had approved five
minutes what was it about the road
dieting on Amador and Logan yeah I think
it was just three I'm sorry yeah
okay I'll try to read fast
good afternoon my name is Dolores Lucero
thank you Mr Mayor and counselors for
allowing me this time I'm here to
address an article I recently read about
Road dieting Lowman and Amador from
Solano to downtown
a little bit of history is that went
from a two-lane to a four-lane in 1970
and the TR they were transformed for the
traffic that was going to be moving East
and the city was moving in that
direction well we have grown to the East
Road dieting does not slow down traffic
but only challenge changes driving
behaviors to other streets and limits
traffic to businesses and and hinders
Public Safety Vehicles the intention of
the millions of dollars invested in the
renewal of downtown over the past 15
years was to revitalize the heart of Las
Cruces in doing so that means that more
people are coming to participate in the
activities these four lanes allow easier
access to and from downtown and provide
safety in getting to the area so first
there's two bus stops in each Direction
and that would reducing Lanes would
create a problem going around the buses
especially for Public Safety
um
I'll skip the part about the bicycles
and so in conjunction I want to bring to
your attention that from Telstra to
Sonoma the mpo create there's always a
bottleneck there and it can take 20
minutes to travel 2.8 Min at 2.8 miles
and the reason the medians are so wide
in this area is the mpo 30 years ago
study was when the housing and business
increased to the east an additional Lane
would be added two lanes is not
sufficient for the amount of traffic and
again it's not safe for fire and
ambulances along with there being a
hospital in that area
so my first request is that you do not
allocate dollars or staff time for
studies of Lowman and Amador from Solano
to mean it will not accomplish the
request made and only create a hindrance
to your downtown and to moving traffic
safely my second request is that you
review and consider how all users of
City roadways be registered and licensed
and third my request is that the growth
has definitely taken place to the East
and the Planned years ago from the mpo
study that in that in this near future
by adding the additional Lane on Lowman
from Telstra to Sonoma so that residents
can get through this area safely and
calmly and that you allocate the funding
that is required for that area it's
already been studied it's been put in
place there's no reason to study it
again but we have obviously grown to the
East and mayor you and I drive down that
road a lot and so I think it's time that
that median be expanded to a third lane
in each direction from Telshor to Sonoma
Ranch Boulevard and thank you for your
time and Mr Mayor I want to just thank
you for the many years that you've
dedicated to our community and your
compassion for the citizens of this
community and I wish you all the best
thank you very much counselor I
appreciate it one thing that were you of
the impression that the the lane was
going to drop to two lanes no to three
yeah okay I've heard too yeah okay it
used to be too and it grew to four all
right well thank you very much and we
appreciate it as you can tell we have
only four members here so that means
that none of them can leave the dice and
if one has to urgently go get coffee
then the meeting's over so that's why we
can't that's why we're on a tight
schedule so
all right so that's the first row second
row anyone
hello my name is Denise Welsh and I'm
just here as a volunteer for a local
adoption center and rescue and I just
want to share with you the information
that I feel I'm qualified to to share my
job is to answer phones and again this
is a pet rescue and an adoption center
primarily what I want to make sure is
that you do understand the great need
that we have for affordable spay and
neuter most of the calls that I get
offer rehoming pets and mostly it's
litters of dogs and kittens and there's
no place for them to go every shelter
we're all just above capacity so I just
wanted to make sure that this stays on
the Forefront and also the need for
affordable spay and neuter because that
is the other request I get we are not a
vet clinic we can't offer any Services I
do send them to snap but I understand
there's constraints there but I do think
that the city council you do have the
ability to help in that regard and
providing funding and moving forward
with you know veterinary care and so on
for our community so that's all I wanted
to do is share with you thank you Miss
Welch I believe we have a work session
set up sometime either next month or in
September to deal with this issue we're
gonna we're gonna try to get this
straightened out great thank you thank
you anyone else on the second row
um sir where I'm starting on my left
here yeah
good try like that
hi my name is Mary Rodriguez getting to
know y'all
um first I want to just say thank you
for all that you do counselors and mayor
and also thank you for replying to my
emails in the past I appreciate that as
well
um I came today to just ask you to
please consider the revised Animal Care
ordinances that were prepared by Kathy
Stark and Jerry Lee Jerry Wheeler of
Animal Advocates for change based on
best practices I know that they did a
lot of research in other areas around
the state that went into crafting that
and so I just
um I think you probably all know that my
I'm the harping the one that harps on
about Spain it or Spain it or spay
neuter spay neuter
um
so in regard to that also I attended the
a meeting with animal protection New
Mexico online a couple days ago I guess
it was on Friday and there has been
update an update about the spay neuter
funding becoming available for the 23 to
24 year so I just want to ask again to
please prioritize the absolute necessity
for spay and neuter here in our city
the situation as you know is really dire
in that area and I I know that I'm
preaching to the choir but I'm going to
keep doing that because that's how
things get changed so thank you for your
time
yes ma'am it'll be October 9th we're
going to have a meeting and we're going
to be discussing the the ordinance that
you were referring to
yeah okay anyone else on the second row
third row
fourth
that's the fifth row
always reminds me of that um
Seinfeld episode never mind go ahead
good afternoon I have a question before
I get started with my public input I was
able to look a little bit back at some
meetings and my complete input isn't on
record you know I'm going to need you to
state your name please oh my name is
Yoli Diaz executive director of care and
and yes and so we're only we're starting
so okay you want to know about your
minutes on the meeting my public input
it's not complete and so let's do that
later and let me get started okay yeah
that's that's on the video it should be
complete I know but I want it to be of
record that's right okay I think I think
the city goes above and beyond what is
required by the open meetings act and so
to have it on a video which a lot of
cities don't I mean you have the
verbatim right there and then the
minutes are are done for other yeah so
I'd like it to be on on the written part
but good afternoon mayor city council
City's manager staff in public my name
again is yolitis executive director of
care cancer Aid resource and education
I'm also Patient Advocate I am here Pub
publicly for the fourth time advocating
for access to health care for all
residents my ask today is on providing
more detail for my previous ass today I
asked that the city of Las Cruces create
a resolution to provide funds for the
health care assistance program to pay
for all or portion of health insurance
monthly premiums and all or portion of
the out-of-pocket costs which may
include co-pays deductibles and
out-of-pocket limits per year for
Indigent residents and denied Health
Care residents I alerted the city of Las
Cruces and donana County of the issues
of accessing Health Care in both October
2021 and November 2021 I would like to
speak again of solutions that I provided
to our complete city council and County
Commissioners in January 2022 I included
the following if any of you asked me
what I believe viable Solutions exist I
know of three options option one Capital
funding to build a specialty Medical
Center similar to the non-profit fqhcs
to provide the health care services
where the gaps of services exists beyond
the scope of services provided by fqhcs
the intention would be to have a
specialty Medical Center where doctors
nurses staff Administration would all be
paid fairly their care would be for all
Health illnesses the patient navigation
to include assistance and financial
assistance to acquire the essential
health insurance for treatment and
Health Services disbursements for the
medical center to operate it I also
provided an option to an option three my
asper involves option two and it was
more detailed I do want to make a point
on option two is an immediate solution
and option one was a long term for the
future so I think of the past it brings
us to years-long Health crisis and I
believe that a true long-term solution
is a non-profit Medical Center I think
of UNM in Albuquerque and I think of UMC
and El Paso these are non-profit
educational Health Systems they operate
for the residents of their counties to
better serve their community and health
we're losing using doctors this type of
system would attract doctors so I do
hope that you create the resolution and
please consider long-term Solutions
thank you thank you
okay so that was fifth row anyone else
on the fifth row
sir if you want to come down and uh
so when she's finished
my name is Lori English I'm a resident
of counselor quran's District
how many of you and I don't I know you
don't have to answer but how many of you
other than the mayor have participated
in any veterans activities at Veterans
Park
thank you
um
do you know that Veterans Park is
maintained mainly
for cleanup for raking of the stones and
the gravel by volunteers from veterans
organizations in the city of Las Cruces
on June 5th
you passed a resolution overriding City
Parks and Recreation regulations and
ignored the numerous veterans both that
day and the following council meeting
day the input of veterans who are
personally involved in Veterans Park
by overriding this decision and in favor
of two very emotional people
that were somewhat contributory to the
incident that occurred by not
keeping watch of an 18 month old child
they're not to blame it was an accident
they didn't call it an accident by other
other name like an intentional but the
veterans are very upset
I'm speaking for myself and possibly
majority of the veterans community not
only in doniana county in the city of
Las Cruces or the state of New Mexico I
addressed the American Legion convention
two weeks ago about this situation and
they foresaw just like the the mayor did
that this could have direct implications
adverse to applications to other cities
other counties and even State veterans
parks
so I'm asking you first of all why you
chose to override
10 to 15 people that have spoken out
against this
and
follow and back two people that were
very emotionally involved in this
decision
uh you had your minds made up I saw it I
was witnessing it unfortunately mayor
wasn't here
but I witnessed that the majority of you
had your minds made up prior to making
this decision I don't think that's fair
and the bottom line is why do you ask
for public comment why do you allow for
public comments when you've already got
your mind made up on an issue Pro or con
before you even walk through that door
to address the Dias I thank you very
much for your time I appreciate you you
considering or reconsidering this issue
and bringing it back on the agenda
and readdressing this decision that you
made in egregious error thank you
thank you
[Applause]
okay so that's the fifth row there's
just gentlemen yes
mayor counselors
my name is Carlos navarrete
I was here about seven months ago
I don't know if you remember where my
building was tagged with feces and there
was trash everywhere and they've been
breaking my windows
and I know you're tired of hearing this
but I'm tired of living it
I live it every day how'd you like to go
to work every morning and inspect your
entire building
your entire lot and clean up the feces
and find out what they did the night
before
well this past Sunday they broke my
windows again
and then we we patched it up with a
board well Monday night they went and
broke down the board
and they stuck their hands in and they
stole some things
what is going on
the other day also I walked into my
backyard and there was a
homeless guy there
and so I told him to leave and you know
what's interesting is we do what we can
I put up no trespassing signs everywhere
and they're all gone
these people tear them up and throw them
away anyway so I went out there and I
told the guy no trespassing so
he got all upset
and he got a belt and he started
swinging it and he swung it and so I
picked up my hand and he hit me on my
hand
and I told him that was assault I called
the cops
what did the cops do nothing
not a one thing and I had him on video I
don't know if you've seen that video Mr
Garcia sent you guys that video
and the police said well I can't do
nothing about it I said look
he's on video hitting me with that belt
I'm sorry I can't do nothing
this is this happened June the 9th
and nothing I have not heard anything
and mayor last time I was here
remember I told you about the fire that
they lit in the back of my building the
police never showed up
you said you were going to follow up on
it
when are you going to follow up on it
I'm still waiting
you know it's frustrating it is so
frustrating we're trying to make a
living we pay our taxes
we're law-abiding citizens
and would have to go through this
again I know you guys are tired hearing
about it
but I'm tired of living it
[Applause]
so Carlos regarding the gentleman or the
person who hit you on June 9th city
managers just let me know that that
suspect was charged by the officers for
battery and I have to tell you as far as
the other incident the fire you're
talking about
um if if I was to follow up please
resend the information so I can have
that because I don't have that
um I apologize for that if you can get
that to me I will follow up and see
exactly what took place
okay so that was if it for anyone else
on the fifth row
and there's uh like four empty rows in
front of you if you guys if any of you
on this road want to speak if you want
to come up closer
you're welcome to
good afternoon mayor my name is Leslie
Campa I was here last weekend last week
I mean two weeks ago on the last meeting
um first of all I wanted to say thank
you because right away
um police started calling me to see how
they could help and then they put a a
tower with cameras and
I'm hoping that's gonna help a little
bit and I'm grateful for you guys trying
to make something but it's it's getting
worse I don't know if you heard about
last Sunday a woman got out assaulted in
that same corner
and she was on the news as well because
it was pretty bad she was just walking
to the store
and right now on my way I had to stop
that's why I was late because there was
two drug addicts fighting but it was a
man hitting a woman that was like right
next to my business and then whenever I
went this morning and right on the back
of my business they were doing drugs in
my business like right next to it so I
think it's you know I'm the same way
than that him and yeah we you guys are
probably tired of us being here but
we're gonna keep being here until we see
something
starting to
to change because it is frustrating
like he said we're making a living and
it's not working my windows are still
covered up in on plywood because we
don't have the money right now to put
um
bars and on the new ground that you guys
made
um
I still don't qualify because it says it
has to the internet have to be after
your life first but they told me I might
go to the other one and they're gonna
fix it so I might qualify for the other
one but I still have to pay out of my
pocket first and then
so yeah right now we're losing money
we don't want to close down
but that's probably what we're gonna
have to do because it seems like the
city it's not doing their job you know
and once again I I appreciate you guys
um the same week trying to do something
and trying to be there and all of that
but I think there's still like a lot a
lot of work to do
that's it thank you
okay
[Applause]
mayor council Juan Garcia first of all
I'd like to express condolences to the
family of the Alamogordo officer Anthony
Ferguson who was killed in the line of
duty
and and I'd also like to thank Senator
Hamlin for obtaining the 150 000 of
taxpayer funds to help offset some of
the catastrophic impact suffered by the
Las Cruces small businesses due to the
continuous wave of attacks by the
criminal element
the Coalition of conservatives in action
was established two years ago as a
community advocacy organization we work
to give a voice to those ignored
forgotten victims like the two
individuals that just came up before me
forgotten victims we do this through
civil discourse and never ever Advocate
force or violence we are citizens like
your brother or sister
or the female citizen brutally attacked
in District Four
cci's mission is to educate citizens in
local issues so they can engage smartly
leading to reform there are no checks
for gender identity who you sleep with
who you worship what faith you align
with or raise you may identify or your
level of Education
we are not aligned with any party or
independent-minded citizens working to
better the community
so why am I saying this there have been
seen up some attempts portrayed to
portray us as extremists both at the
council and at the commission and there
was a video recently circulating with
attempts to link us to acts of potential
political violence nothing is further
from the truth unless advocating for
victims is an extreme
there was resentment at the last meeting
when I quoted various forgotten victims
as stating
those words come from a point of Despair
and hopelessness what exactly are these
citizens supposed to say when even the
representatives ignore the chaos going
on as representative Cadena called
Carlos who just spoke or represented the
Rubio contact assessor in district one
who has been hit six times
six times hit a small business corner of
Madrid and Solano
or perhaps senator steinborn who is in a
crusade to save the planet by pushing
this agenda to ban plastic bags in that
Statewide but how many times do citizens
and small businesses have to be attacked
before decisive action is taken verse 8
101 calls to stop the bleeding and this
has to take place take the criminals off
the street
so people can feel safe so the question
is how much longer do the victims have
to wait
how many more attacks do they have to
endure
this
does Carlos have to endure another one
before somebody even responds and if the
council can't do anything so be it
where's our representatives and Senators
thank you
[Applause]
a city council
Mr Mayor Mr peely
I too I'm a ccia member
state your name my name's Michael Potts
and I'm really not an extremist
as far as that goes but I wanted to talk
to you about the continued crime way
that we seem to have here in Las Cruces
I went into PetSmart last week to get an
item and I noticed that they had a
plywood sheet covering a spot where one
window used to be and I asked the
gentleman there that worked there what
happened and informed me that the
homeless population doesn't have
anything better to do and I look around
while driving through Las Cruces and I
see multiple windows with plywood sheets
up I see that citizens are being
accosted and attacked in broad daylight
the lady that was attacked last week
thought the person attacking her was a
homeless person
now we have
two or three homeless shelters in Las
Cruces we have the Mesilla Valley
Community of Hope with Camp hope the
gospel Rescue Mission and the Holy Cross
Retreat Center that has a new Mission
which is welcoming the undocumented with
the problems that our Southern border
I'm sure there are a lot of undocumented
homeless people that one now wander the
streets in the alleys of Las Cruces now
these places provide shelter for the
homeless people in Las Cruces and those
that do not use these shelters are
usually people that do not want to abide
by the rules our society has in a place
has a place or trying to avoid the law
and I would remind you that you are
responsible to make sure that the rules
of society in which we live are followed
and I'd offer you the following
suggestion just create an ordinance that
requires our homeless population to be
in their tents or shelters by 10 30 each
evening there's absolutely no reason for
them to be wandering around in the city
after 10 30 at night and I suggest you
hire an I.T student from either New
Mexico State University or use your own
I.T shop to create a database
registering all the homeless people in
this city if they're found wandering
around after 10 30 they should be given
one Warning by the police and taken back
to where they should be and a second
time found wandering around they spend
the night in jail and the third time
that they're out if you put them on a
bus and you send them out of here and I
know that is really extreme but I don't
know what else you can do about that
this disregarded the law and constraints
we put on our society so everyone can
live without fear and and peace must be
dealt with
any breaking windows or assaulting
people or stealing shopping carts just
have to be taken care of our police know
what the laws are and we expect them to
enforce them this is a tough problem but
it has to be addressed and it needs to
be seriously addressed I think the mayor
dealt stuff with homelessness before but
I haven't heard too much about what the
efforts are on that but we have to deal
with this and it's up to you all to deal
with it and take care of our problem
thanks I appreciate your time
thank you sir
good afternoon
[Music]
honorable mayor lucky can you move the
microphone down and state your name
please thank you thank you yeah I'm the
counselor
and my name is raghunath Lati
I've been in the Las Cruces for 45 years
rather 43 years you know and before that
I was in Deming before that in
California I came here and I'm a
landlord reputable landlord here and I
have many properties here scattered all
across the country
in a country too as my pack you know but
Las Cruces are several properties here
you know
whether most of the people talk before
me they've taken all the word out of my
mind anyway what else can I say if I
have lost at least 30 000 worth of
material in my building for last three
years beside that one what a mess they
live in behind that one it cost a lot of
money to and find the people and
everything and this Bandits are running
here and I'm going to tell you that one
they break the glasses of this one
somebody gives a price on 300 for the
door front door store front door some
people get a charger twelve hundred
dollars these are also Bandits on here
you know nothing you can do about them
but we need to get a dual fix Windows
fix what are we going to do it about
this one you know so I'm very
what everybody said about that we were
frustrated you know what I mean and I've
been here 45 years and I've worked very
hard not that one but I like to see that
everybody talks so well about a city you
know and I'm not throwing a poison uh
drop in the water here to poison the
whole darn thing here you know what I
mean so please do take care of this one
police force is doing what they can do I
have no grievance about the police
department anyway you know but they can
do much about it you know so what are we
going to do with the homeless people as
a matter of fact I have one on my
property he stays there it's a
commercial property which is illegal to
stay there but you know nothing much I
can do about that especially on
1625 South Main which is Omega Business
Center you know that's a that's the
alley of the homeless people there and
all across even a Solano Street the same
thing too you know so please please
please
see what you can do I know it's Beyond
Your
Capacity maybe you know if you can do
please I appreciate it thank you very
much you know
thank you
okay so anyone else on my left
anyone else on my left
yes sir if you wanna come down and speak
hello mayor counselors city manager my
name is Mark O'Neal I live in District
One
and I'd like to speak on that reworking
of the Lowman and Amador that's been
presented and it seemed like seeing some
counselors and some people that spoke
positively about doing that to help with
the bicycling and pedestrian traffic
I've looked at the area I live not too
far from there I've traveled it in my 17
years in living in Las Cruces and I just
want to point out a few things first
just that study alone will be very
expensive probably two or three hundred
thousand dollars
and that's a that's a highway not I
think it's a state highway Loman and
Amador
I want to point out to you that four
lanes that come down now
in the right lane where you turn right
at Solano heading towards Solano
that is stopped up by all the cars
coming out of Si Senor that blocked that
lane
one
two the left lane of the four lanes is a
turn left only it's not a third it
doesn't go through Solano it's a left
lane turn
okay
besides the bus stops there where buses
stop and cars have to avoid the buses
they have to have to avoid the
the cars going and see senor
so basically what you're doing would be
if you take a lane away
you're making it a two-lane
road that goes through
it turns into two lanes if you account
for the the the bus stops and the and
the cars that come out that are stopped
and and and then the left turn that goes
left you're going four lanes into two
lanes
and I think it doesn't make it safer
they're Say by doing what they wanted to
do it might make it safer
to eliminate a lien I don't think it
does I don't think it will
they also wanted to have more pedestrian
well there are sidewalks there
they wanted to put in more greens shrubs
and so forth it's there
I it's there on both sides of the street
there's shrubs there's palm trees okay
in front of the businesses
so I don't think this is a good idea I
think it'd be very expensive if the city
is growing they need four lanes coming
down there and I just wanted to give my
opinion on that and besides the cost of
it I think it would be dangerous
that's all I have thanks
[Applause]
so tell me Peter why are you wearing
your helmet it just I was going to tell
you
I will for records say it on Peter
Goodman I don't always admit that
um
I'm wearing I put the bicycle helmet
back on because I bicycled here and I do
not agree with the folks who say you
should not study Alternatives
um bicycling here today at 103 is
probably insane but we're getting these
103 days after 107 days
partly because of climate change and we
need to look at all the Alternatives we
can for surviving and not making the
situation worse I will say my wife won't
even drive on Lowman already it's too
crazy but I think you should do those
studies
on the other problem that's being
discussed I don't have an answer or
purport to have an answer but I think
you are in and I want to thank you for
what you do to try to help people who
really need it
but Carlos and the other lady are among
them
and
we need to do better by them I don't
know how but I think we need to put
together a task force to look at new
ideas Mr potts's idea would be wholly
unconstitutional just Dead on Arrival
whether it's good or bad idea in a
practical sense
a lawyer would tell them ain't going to
happen constitutionally
um I think it's unfortunate that a lot
of the proponents of helping out people
like Carlos who do need your help
are also espousing a lot of
National and state politicians who
aren't helpful there's something ironic
about people standing up and saying you
ought to do more
to take care of a veteran's Monument
which maybe you should I'm not very
involved in that issue at the same time
you're doing a whole lot for a lot of
homeless people some of whom are
veterans and doing things that a lot of
the conservative folks in at least the
national and State political elements
wouldn't be doing wouldn't be approved
enough but I do want to express a lot of
sympathy empathy for Carlos and the
other lady whose name I forget
and suggests that you really need to put
on a full court press that doesn't mean
go crazy and do unconstitutional things
or have vigilante groups or anything
else
but we need to think outside the box and
work on this one thank you
[Applause]
okay so no one everyone on the left
finished speaking before I go to the
right but before I go to the right I'm
going to just say something to many of
you who came here and
expressed to council that they felt that
you feel that maybe enough is not being
done
I just want you to know a couple things
one of course the Las Cruces Police
Department is doing everything within
their power to catch these perpetrators
when they arrest them
sometimes they go to detention center
and depend on the judge they're they're
released and if it's under a certain
amount usually a thousand dollars that
doesn't rise to a felony it's up to our
local judges if they're what they're
going to do with them and usually
they're released so I just I um I have a
business about 50 yards away from Carlos
and I just want to let you know I'm not
immune either I just if you know this I
wrote down some of the things that have
happened
so on two different occasions maybe not
as bad as Carlos yeah someone does their
business on the side of my wall I've had
my front well it's technically the back
door which is the more expensive door
broken and that glass is not cheap
um I've had three Windows broken
one in fact one of my uh workers were in
my office the other day he says is this
a does someone shoot here and go yeah
it's been shot at I'm waiting for them
to really do some more damage before I
replace it because it seems like every
time I replace it it and I tint it it
gets shot at again so I just let it
leave it at that fortunately
um
my wife had me move where my desk is so
I'm not in a line of fire so to speak
it's been graffitied
um this one's a new one when my truck is
parked I just had some I'll just call it
for lack of a better term well I won't
say nothing just this this person
just took a rock and just thought they
just break my windshield
and uh okay
I've had two or three cameras stolen
literally and and they're up high
they're not they had to have used a
ladder maybe a ladder on top of a truck
and
my shed I don't have a shed anymore
um keeps what's getting broken into they
took so many things all my tools I mean
it just was
and they found some old checks that
probably date back 20 some more years I
don't even know were there did the count
is closed
and they caught him in El Paso writing
some forged checks fortunately the check
cashing people called me and asked if
this person works for me and I said
absolutely not
so I feel your pain I really do I
understand it and believe me I don't
like it either it's cost me several
thousands of dollars as well
and I I do not use the city funds okay
and this is I just want you to know that
we're doing everything we can to figure
this out
you know I've been in politics in the
local office for over 30 years I have
never seen it
like this and it's not just our town
it's every city I belong well I just
came off the board as the board of
advisors the United States Conference of
Mayors and we would have meetings and
Mayors around us the whole country it's
just totally different look at El Paso
El Paso used to tell themselves as the
largest safest city
it seems like every weekend there's
something going on somebody
unfortunately loses their life is I
don't it's it's just so many things that
are happening right now and and we're
fortunate that we still have men and
women of law enforcement who who want to
do this job
look at that poor officer who got killed
he was just doing a traffic stop
gets shot in the face with a sawed-off
shotgun
and died
that's just you know I'm going to talk a
little bit later I don't normally talk
at Council comments but I'm going to be
talking I've been looking for some stuff
here because it's the judicial system
I believe that this General this this
alleged person that that shot this
officer was had had an incident earlier
in the year and was released
with with a weapon against another a
police officer and was released that's
not right
and so it's going to take each and every
one of you to rise to your your estate
reps your state senators and tell the
governor enough is enough
you've got to do what you need to do to
give these the men and women of law
enforcement the the district whatever it
is tell these judges that they have to
this they have to if they're going to do
the crime they have to do the time
okay so anyways next uh
[Applause]
we're gonna go to my right and looks
like first rose
well this lady here sir and then after
after she's done you can speak
good afternoon mayor I'm Tammy Pickering
I've come here before and I've talked
before and I appreciate so appreciate
your comments and I think as a group we
appreciate your comments I agree that
something can be done and I agree that
if we as a community
come together and we speak very loudly
to our Senators to our
Congressman to whoever we need to talk
to but that we have to do that as a
group together that we can't do it
individually
we can't stand alone we can't be silos
that we have to stand together United
and I believe that we agree that with
that as a community we all agree this
needs to stop and we need to we need to
stand we need to find some sort of
solution and I agree with Michael like a
task force or a work session in which we
throw out ideas and we begin to work
through the ideas and find and answer
that's it thank you so much
thank you Sammy
yes sir
station name please
Richard Barella
you have just you've been addressing
Street crime and homeless people and
that's true but we also need to address
blue-collar crime okay uh aiding and
abetting harboring and basically
empowering okay and that needs to be
addressed as well I mean there's uh
criminals of all Stripes thank you
thank you okay
so no one else on my left right correct
okay so I'm gonna go here
um for show staff second row this
gentleman yes sir
my name is Kevin Armstrong I've been a
resident since uh June of 2007.
I wanted to make some comments about
um
a couple of uh
interactions I've had with City
officials
through email
during the pandemic I was president of
the Las Cruces dog park Coalition and I
wrote to I believe it was the
Department of Public Works that was kind
of administering the uh
programs to keep us safe or try to
minimize the impact of the pandemic
and they were starting to reopen Parks
one in each district so I wrote
an email
using an email address I had never used
with the city
and and doing the letter anonymously
because I didn't want it to somehow get
out that it was a dog Parker complaining
about another another Park going first
and normally when I would write and ask
about why are you doing this versus that
I'd get a response within a day or two
this one took a week and when it came
back it wasn't addressed to my email
address they used that email address to
send the email to me but it was
addressed Dear Mr Armstrong
so they had spent a week not developing
a response it seems to me they spent a
week figuring out whose email address
was this Anonymous letter from who who
was the actual person and they figured
out that it was me and I responded right
away saying well congratulations on
exposing who wrote this Anonymous letter
uh so anyway I thought that was pretty
uh
inappropriate I thought they should have
just responded Dear Sir or Madam and
provided the response and respected the
anonymity that I was seeking
and I realized too that we have
I imagine all City phones have caller ID
so they see a number so it's it makes me
wonder how does one make an anonymous
complaint to the city I don't think it
can be done
so that kind of angered me
the second thing I'm going to skip over
some complaints about the
um
lack of attention to the new parks or
the three dog parks when it comes to
maintenance and like replacing
uh handicap only parking signs that were
knocked down well over a year ago
exposed
irrigation pipes and other things
um
I recently oh is that my time I'm sorry
Mr Armstrong I I can address two things
that you've mentioned first off
and I say this with With all sincerity
if you want to forward me that email as
to who it was the employee that was able
to decipher
I probably once a month someone uses
emails under my name and sends it to
staff asking for favors or money
fortunately nobody responds but we we
can't figure out who that is so I'd like
to know who they are so maybe this
person is that good can spot it and
number two
so there are technically two City
Council Members although sometimes
there's a third that joins our public
our public
committee called oversight committee
there is a Anonymous we don't know who
it is we see the complaints that are
coming in on the hotline we hear them we
don't see them and the staff doesn't
know and they're they're disclosed and
it isn't totally Anonymous so they don't
know who's who's making those complaints
so at least that part
I just wanted to assure you about those
two things but if you want to forward me
that email I'd like to know who and City
and City staff is that good because we'd
like I'd like to put it put an end to
that because it uh I have to send a
quick email to it the city clerk say Hey
you know someone
is at it again
um fortunately it's nothing really or
you know bad that they suppose it's not
like I was exposing Stakes heat great
sir
fear my life or anything like that it
was just like but I did have one other
thing I was concerned about in fact your
time is up I I just wanted to respond to
those two things okay yeah remember they
got
they may have to go get coffee here and
they need to go so
all right so that's a second row anyone
on the third row
fourth row
George
thank you
my name is George Pearson and I'm
president of velocus a local bike ped
advocacy organization you've been having
public comment recently asking for
improvements in traffic safety this is
an important quality of life issue
there's been a bicycle fatality on Idaho
between Solano and El Paseo an area
identified in the active Transportation
plan needing separated bike Lanes Solano
in the area of Lowman and Amador has had
multiple fatalities obviously a problem
area that needs attention
how many traffic deaths are acceptable
many people will give the same answer
but I'll quote secretary Buddha judge
zero
we've taken some small steps in Las
Cruces but we need to take much bigger
steps this could be something the TSI
PRC takes on or maybe we need a vision
zero task force to more directly tackle
the problem of Traffic Safety in Las
Cruces and since I have some time on the
Lowman and Amador traffic calming effort
that has been suggested
um
people when they talk about Road diets
if you make bicycles facilities for
bicyclists and pedestrians as part of
the roadway it makes the traffic safe
for for everybody that uses that roadway
and when you calm down traffic on a
corridor that increases economic
activity because instead of people
driving zooming past
businesses they have a chance to slow
down and actually stop and use those
businesses so these are things that uh
would improve the quality of life and
Tackle our Traffic Safety problem that
we have in Las Cruces thank you I got a
question since you're up here
you're right there have been some
fatalities on bicycles and and I'm not
sure if these bicyclists unfortunately
may not have had uh light or you know
white light and a red light which I
believe the city requires that on
bicyclists but the city really hasn't
been impacted down Okay so this city
hasn't been cracking down on that
doesn't mean that they they can't
um there's a new Administration right
now and it's very possible but I think
that something probably needs to be I'm
not saying they need to be ticketed but
they probably need to be reminded if
they keep doing again because sometimes
and I I was like this when I was younger
I would think well they got a light on
the car they can see how come they can't
see me it wasn't until I started driving
then I realized it's yeah sometimes you
can't see the the person and so you know
what I'm not suggesting they have to
wear reflective
attire but I think that they need to
have a light and the the white light and
then the red light in the back at that
very minimum and and I think nowadays
bicycles have reflectors but I think if
the city was to start cracking down on
that what are your thoughts about that
well I would I've been thinking about a
program where we get some lights and
have them available to codes and the
police department so that we do have
front lights what's required of both the
city ordinance mirrors the state law a
500 foot visible light from the front or
reflector on the back a red Slinky light
on the back is much preferred
so that's we need
safety and the education okay so you're
okay with that yes okay thank you
all right so that was the fourth row
anyone else on the fourth row
how about the fifth row
six row
Sarah were you going to speak also if
you want to come on down that'd be fine
you're not okay no I restricted fluids
so I have a leg cramp okay
okay
do you need to go no she can't go she
can't go
my name is Clarice Francis I'm with the
ccia and I'm just a citizen here of Las
Cruces and I want to tell you all of you
how much we appreciate what you do
we just made a trip to Valdosta Georgia
and while there we helped my son set up
for a Fourth of July fair that he was
selling some of his things
and in the process of that we met one of
the city council members of Valdosta
and he was talking about how
um
for a little while they had a little bit
of crime here and there here and there
and then it grew because they weren't
really doing anything about it they were
saying as long as it's not invasive as
long as it's not hurting anybody busting
window here busting window there
no big deal but it was getting bad and
so this city councilman member and the
mayor of Valdosta got together with the
governor of Georgia and now they have
changed a few things they're doing
they're living by the laws that they
already have
when they have put
good cameras up in these businesses
caught the people arrested them and made
them do community service or in some way
in some way even if it's a portion of
what they've damaged pay that business
person back
it doesn't do any good to keep giving
money to these businesses I mean it
helps
our taxes that's probably what part of
them are for but it's like swatting
flies that come in
a screen
you're not going to get anywhere unless
you block that screen we need to take
care of it now when my dad used to say
bubble gum today a car tomorrow we need
to take care of the crime Here and Now
and you mentioned a few things that a
few people Jeremiah Lee today with the
Battalion
these all those people that we had lined
up here to help and rescue those four
people that were stranded then we had
Heather Pollard she was with the um
she had a big Community
contributions that she's been doing for
years for this community and then Steve
Newby he's an architectural person and
he and he's enhanced the beauty of this
city now I have had no crime on my
property but believe me it'll come and
this beautiful architecture all these
things that these people are
contributing is going to go down the
toilet unless we do something to stop
the criminal processes now we already
have laws let's take care of it now
mayor you've had the bad things happen
to you what are we doing about that
thank you thank you Miss Francis
I will tell you that unfortunately a few
years back and I think the it wasn't
quite clear but the public voted a no
bail or a free bail or basically Bill
reform and so now a lot of the criminals
are just released
so it's it's but I'm gonna I think I'm
gonna take the offer suggestion of what
Tammy Pickering said um
you know I have a few more months left
so I'm still and and I I used to teach a
class on Tuesdays from 6 to 8 30 and I
still have it blocked off so maybe in
the next few months I may have some
meetings to have some discussion and to
see exactly what's on people's minds so
thank you for coming today and you'll
have
you know how smart had a lot of theft
when I was there one day and they said
there's nothing we can do a guy just ran
out with his arms full of stuff yes
ma'am okay thank you
City councilors and mayor my name is
Sarah Smith from the New Mexico freedoms
Alliance several of you have expressed
concern that people think you do not
care about the many victims of crime in
Las Cruces I think it is clear that you
do care but I do wonder whether you care
enough to be willing to consider trying
something different
all across the city we're seeing signs
that what is being done now is not
working
we're seeing increased property crime
with businesses and homes being
vandalized Windows being broken people's
property being taken and vehicles being
stolen we're seeing more homeless people
camping out at businesses and homes
approaching people asking for money
scaring children threatening people and
leaving trash and feces all around
we're seeing increased usage of hard
drugs with drugged out people wandering
the streets harassing people and leaving
dangerous needles lying around where
children can find them
and we're seeing people being harmed
while trying to live peacefully and
responsibly women such as Patricia from
The Little Shop who has been stalked and
sexually harassed by a homeless man
Carlos who was just here a teacher from
dwell yoga who was attacked with rocks
thrown at her car and threatened with
being raped and killed while she was
trying to go to work
and now Rosa Ortega who was brutally
attacked last week by a homeless person
in broad daylight while trying to walk
to the grocery store in Las Cruces
what is happening here in Las Cruces is
not happening everywhere for example
Lubbock Texas which has over double our
population and a similar climate has
seen a sharp decrease in homelessness
over the last five years Lubbock is also
not seeing the large increases in
property crime theft and vehicle theft
that we are seeing here in Las Cruces
to us families living and working here
in Las Cruces many of the solutions
being funded by the council feel like
Band-Aids when we actually need surgery
the city has removed rocks from the
downtown mall to reduce the number of
broken windows the city is proposing to
provide hygiene stations in
neighborhoods where homeless people can
use the bathroom and shower the City
offers money to businesses to help them
repair their broken windows meanwhile
the attacks continue and the city spends
hundreds of thousands of dollars towards
providing housing for homeless people
but without any requirements that people
be off drugs so that there have even
been several drug dealers living at the
desert hope homeless housing project
which was partially funded by the city
do you care enough to be willing to fund
other approaches Lubbock's decrease in
homelessness is largely a result of
their programs which provide temporary
shelter for a maximum of six months for
people who are required to be off drugs
and working towards Independent Living
Boulder Colorado has a ready to work
program in which has a drug and alcohol
free shelter with a focus on job
Readiness training and skills for
becoming independent after one year
people graduate from their program ready
for employment and permanent housing and
their program has a 74 success rate in
having people maintain employment and be
independent these are just some examples
of approaches that are working better
elsewhere they are resulting in improved
rehabilitated lives for the homeless
people so they can become responsible
beneficial members of the community do
you care enough to try similar
approaches here instead of continuing to
focus on housing first
thank you
okay so that was the fifth row I believe
anyone else on the fifth row
x-row
seventh anyone else on my right
no okay well that concludes our public
participation thank you very much for
your comments
and so now we're going to go to
acceptance of the agenda
motion made by councilor Graham second
by Council Grand corn to
improve the agenda as presented Theresa
this is on a motion to approve the
agenda to accept the agenda as presented
counselor beta is absent
counselor Graham yes counselor Ben Como
is absent counselor Quran yes
counselor Flores is absent counselor
Gandara yes mayor yes thank you okay so
now we're going to go to item 7.1
resolution 24-011
move to approve Graham second Corin
Moshe Bay by Council Graham second by
counselor Corin and Josh
will be presenting softball
so
thanks
uh yes good afternoon mayor city council
my name is Josh saffell I'm the
accounting supervisor for the city of
Las Cruces I would like to bring forward
this resolution to approve the DFA
quarterly report for the period ending
June 30th 2023.
just a little background on this part of
the law section 6-6-2 of nmsa 1978 so
part of State Statute requires that we
as a municipality located in New Mexico
are required to provide periodic
Financial reports to the Department of
Finance and administration local
government Division and of course we do
provide those reports on a quarterly
basis
now the resolution or that as we spoke
about that statute also requires that
the fourth quarter financial report that
we provide them also be approved by the
council and so that's why we're bringing
the resolution to you today
um also contingent upon submission of
this report will be the acceptance of
our FY 23 budget approval from the state
so it is important that we that we
approve this
fourth quarter financial report and the
deadline for that submission is going to
be July 31st 2023 so we have until the
end of this month
of course the purpose of the report is
that DFA utilizes these reports to
determine several important things
one we of course prepare a budget on an
annual basis and so DFA wants to make
sure that the city is of course in
compliance with that budget with what we
set forth in the budget and so this
reporting that we provide shows that we
are in compliance with that budget also
that we are operating within that budget
as well and so of course the fourth
quarter Finance report does indicate
that the city is within budget and in
compliance with the budget that we have
presented to DFA
just a few preliminary results of that
report these report numbers were
reported as of July 11 2023 that was
when we first closed the month of June
and so these were the first time we had
numbers for that period
we're showing for fiscal year
I was wondering if this was a joke or if
you're going to catch it
huh yeah
I do apologize let me see
I was thinking you're playing along
pretty good
I hope
okay uh well I do apologize the
preliminary numbers
um
we'll see if we can find the right one
there may have been a mistake I
apologize for this technical issue
so that's the only one
I'm just fortunate the counselor Flores
is not here
so the preliminary results
um
as we reported as of July 11th we had in
the general fund revenues of 157 million
472 dollars
we had expenditures of 120 million 649
966 dollars
in all other funds we reported revenue
of 253 million six hundred thirty one
thousand three hundred and forty nine
dollars and expenditures of 257 million
377 dollars
and uh
and so
of course the council options are
displayed now on the screen
and I will stand for any questions
thanks Josh questions
I I was listening but clearly not
listening to the numbers enough is there
a line on the chart that's provided in
our packet that we can look to that
includes these
yes yes there is okay is it the last
line I think or at least one of the
numbers on the last line was
part of the exhibit 8 okay maybe you
look at you so Pages five and six or in
this item okay thank you so much that's
what I I just wanted to check and make
sure
questions how about members of the
public
seeing none Christine
this is an admission to approve
resolution
24-011 counselor beta is absent
consogram yes counselor Ben Como is
absent counselor Quran yes counselor
flood is is absent counselor Gandara yes
and mayor yes
okay thanks Josh thank you item 7.2
resolution
24-012 move to approve Graham second
motion made by Council Graham second by
mayor Pro tem Gandara Viola perea will
be discussing or presenting
my goodness how do I get back to the
presentations
Christine please
there we go
good afternoon Mr Mayor counselors my
name is Viola perea I'm the city auditor
and today I'm going to be presenting the
fiscal year 24 annual internal audit
plan
internal audit is a program in the line
of business of the city manager's office
the city auditor manages a program and I
report 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 designed in 2018 and it
was created to further the mission of
the city and align internal audit with
best practices it requires the office of
internal audit to be sufficiently
independent with no interference or
influence that will adversely affect our
independence or objectivity
the ordinance requires the city auditor
to submit an annual audit plan to the
oversight committee for review and
comment which we did in our during our
June meeting and it requires at least
quarterly status reports to the
oversight committee the oversight
committee currently meets on a monthly
basis and we do provide a status update
during each monthly meeting
the ordinance requires the annual audit
plan to be approved by city council by
resolution and during the course of the
year it is possible that our ordinance
or excuse me our plan could be modified
if an issue was to arise but we only
amend the plan during the year after
review from our oversight committee
in order to complete our risk or excuse
me our plan we put together a risk
assessment process because our office
follows the intern excuse me the
Institute of internal auditor standards
it does require that our plan be based
on risk exposure so every year we put
together a risk assessment survey and
it's designed to measure certain risk
factors and to gather and assess
potential audit topics
we send that survey out to supervisory
level staff among all 13 departments our
key sections and our partnering agencies
our risk assessment identifies areas
that are considered to be most important
by management and it ensures that
activities with the greatest risk are
audited to the extent our resources
allow
the risk factors that we measure with
our survey are management interests and
risk budget and strategic risks
reputational and compliance risk legal
claims the last time that area was
audited changes in management and both
cash and inventory controls
the standards require that we obtain
input from Senior Management and that
that be considered in our risk
assessment process
and the potential audit topics that we
were able to gather from our survey this
year had been discussed with members of
the city manager's office and they were
also reviewed with our oversight
committee
when we put our final plan together the
final fy24 plan that we're proposing
today has also been reviewed by the city
manager
this there's quite a bit of information
on this slide but this outlines our plan
for fy24 it's comprised of several FY 23
carry forward audits in addition to some
new audits that we were able to identify
during our risk assessment process for
fy24
so a little bit about the FY 23 carry
forward audits there are 10 items listed
here three of those are already
completed and are in draft form they are
undergoing the final review process
four additional audits are already in
process they just weren't completed by
June 30th and then we had three audits
that we weren't able to get we didn't
have time or resources to get to at this
point so I wanted to add that when I
developed the annual audit plan is it is
with expectation that will be we will be
fully staffed for the year and during FY
23 we were short staffed for 10 months
of that one year period
um I would I'm glad to say though we are
currently fully staffed
um our FY 24 audits we identified five
additional topics that we're going to be
reviewing this fiscal year we have three
the audits that are going to be contract
compliance related and as we finish an
audit whether it be contract or not it
goes on our follow-up audit list and
that is a revolving list that we will
constantly be reviewing any
recommendations that have been accepted
by management
so I'd like to take a couple minutes if
I might to introduce our staff and some
of the accomplishments that we've been
able to attain this year first we have
Rachel thielen she's been with us a
little over two years and during FY 23
she earned her certified internal
auditor or the CIA designation
so I'd like to congratulate Rachel on
that
[Applause]
our next senior auditor is Vanessa
Williams she's been with us just about
two years and she has completed part one
of the three-part CIA exam
[Applause]
next we have will Blanchard he's been
with us just over a year he's not with
us today but during fy3 23 he also
earned his CIA designation
and last but not least our newest member
is Alma Ruiz she's been with us since
late April and we'd like to congratulate
her on joining our team as well
[Applause]
so here are your Council options and
with that I'll stand for any questions
thanks Viola questions
members of the public
so like a couple of them have were with
the city they just moved over to your to
your team Mr Mayor counselor yes we we
are very excited to have them join our
team and they're bringing a level of
expertise by having that institutional
knowledge will be really beneficial for
us absolutely good congratulations thank
you
and that's an interesting designation
the CIA
we don't have badges though yeah we
would like them though I do have a
question for viola thank you Ms per Daya
for your presentation I noticed and I'm
trying to remember was that last fiscal
year the arpa you you did some audits
specific to arpa but I didn't notice it
on the on the
the list that you have done or one that
you're planning to do is there a reason
for that or could you do arpa just to
prepare for when we close everything up
as the years
um that you know the following year
right is we should be using all the
money I think right 24. that is great Mr
Marin and mayor Pro tem Gandara I wanted
to point out that the arpa audit
um so last year let me rephrase this a
minute next month we're going to be
presenting to council with the recap of
our FY 23 work that has been completed
okay and they'll there will be some
information on the arpa work that we did
during last fiscal year additionally
under the fy24 scheduled audits number
five the arpa funds payment requests I
didn't see it Blended all into the yes
thank you a lot of information on here
it's in your packet a little bit more
organized but we will be coming back
this year and looking at that first
appropriation that has been request did
and make sure that we are in compliance
with the contracts that we've developed
funds thank you thank you mayor
okay so if there's nothing further
Christine
this is on the motion to approve
resolution
24-012 counselor beta is absent Council
Graham yes
yes councilor Ben Como is absent
counselor Quran yes
counselor Flores is absent councilor
gandada yes and mayor yes
all right so next is 7.3 resolution
24-013
move to approve Graham
second corn motion made by Council
Graham second by Council Corin and Kathy
Matthews will be presenting
good afternoon mayor and Council thank
you very much my name is Kathy Matthews
I'm the landscape architect of Parks and
Recreation and this afternoon I want to
present a resolution regarding an
agreement for design and construction of
a neighborhood park at the Metro Village
phases excuse me Metro Park Village
phases four and five subdivision
this aerial photo illustrates the
location of the park
in Metro Park Village phase four
and
it's along the Sirocco Avenue
adjacent or excuse me intersecting with
Sonoma Ranch Boulevard
the phases four and five total 132
single-family home lots with a park
impact fee of twenty six hundred dollars
per lot that brings the total for these
two phases of the subdivision to 343
dollars excuse me 343 thousand two
hundred dollars
that Park impact fee we're proposing in
the agreement to be devoted to pay for
the design and construction of this park
through an agreement with the developer
and I want to note that the land that
the park is situated on is 1.4 acres
approximately and that land is to be
donated to the city from the developer
the 343 thousand dollars pays for the
park improvements and the design of
those improvements but not for the land
that's a donation
some of the features to be included in
this park include native and drought
adopted plants adapted plants so that
we're making sure to use our Water
Resources efficiently shade structures
picnic tables benches other kinds of
sight Furnishings
trash receptacles doggie doo bag holders
Etc are to be included
walkways are included throughout the
park including gravel walkways and also
concrete walkways to allow full
accessibility there is an open pla open
place based turf grass area
to allow you know people to enjoy that
kind of amenity that doesn't always
happen in our in our yards stormwater
harvesting is also included and by that
I mean that there are areas within the
park that are depressed so that storm
water that falls within the park stays
within the park and is harvested and
used beneficially for the plants that
are included as part of the park
improvements and then the big feature is
our skate part features namely a skate
stop a skate spot excuse me so the parks
and rec department and Council of course
committed to including skate spots
throughout the city and this is one of
those that's to be included here so that
skating opportunities are distributed
throughout the city not just at our
skate park on Hadley so this is this
park includes those kinds of features
and I wanted to show you the plan
for the park and at the top of the
illustration is thoraco Street
across the street from this is another
Park it's Tower Park and so these two
are connected by a mid-block Crossing
that brings folks that can bring folks
from one part to the other
there are walkways throughout the park
and surrounded by native and adapted
plants there's a play facility including
swings a slide and other kinds of Play
Elements for folks to use
there is an open Turf space adjacent to
a picnic area and then of course the
main feature of the park is the skate
spot
so
with that I would like to
present your options and I'm open for
questions
thanks Kathy councilor thank you thanks
Kathy I appreciate that this is sort of
a question just so that you can share
and we can think of I know that you're
thinking about this all the time so
thank you as always this park is in my
district as many of the new parks are
enabled been part by Park impact fees
because of Rapid Home Development
primarily single-family homes though not
exclusively
I'm just wondering if you can talk about
the evolution of Park impact fees
because the the reality is it's I would
argue fundamentally unfair that my
district gets more parks and and I I
mean I'm happy and the people in my
district are happy to have have parks
and I appreciate the thoughtfulness that
you put into designing them and and that
the developers are are incorporating
them but I'm I'm wondering if you might
talk a little bit about how Park impact
fees
may or may not and you don't have to
talk about this if you don't want to but
may or may not suit all the needs that
we have as we increase Park acreage and
how we can think about this differently
and again I'm not saying I don't want to
park I'm saying yay Parks but also I
understand that this creates a disparity
or this adds to a disparity that already
exists that's important to articulate in
these kinds of settings so what do we
have for talking about that thank you Mr
Mayor councilor Quran yes
um Park impact fees are collected on new
development so as a property is
permitted Residential Properties
permitted for development uh Park impact
fee is paid as part of that permit
permitting fee that parking back fee is
used to address increased or need for
level of service for so there's a level
of service of parks established for our
city and as the city grows the Le those
folks need Parks as well
so parkamp pack fees are used to address
that need for Parks
um
whether I am not prepared to address
fairness or unfairness at this point in
time but we are currently studying our
um our parking back fees and our land
use assumptions as we are required to do
every five years so that study is
currently in process and we anticipate
before the end of this calendar year
bringing that study to council so that
you'll be able to see the results that
study and make a determination regarding
the parking back fees and and what level
there they need to be at
I hope that helps thank thank you that
does help and and I'm happy to talk
about the the fundamental things that I
see that I feel like compelled to bring
to the fore and that is
um there there aren't any new
Park impact fees and landlocked spaces
where there aren't giant developments
occurring and
um
so I think that when folks hear about a
new park a lot of folks might say what's
happening in the other parks and so I
think that always thinking about that in
these conversations and I know that you
do as you're planning and as you're
thinking about things and as we move
forward and think about
how Park impact fees are used and other
types of Park and Rec funding I I would
just like to us to Advocate that I don't
want our district to be kind of hogging
up all the resources because as far as
Parks and Rec goes city-wide and I just
want to articulate that I'm happy to
have more parks our folks are really
happy and content but I also acknowledge
the disparities that sometimes this
creates and so thank you for humoring me
and talking a little bit about that
Mr mayor council Corrine if I may add
one little thing the Parks and
Recreation master plan
um does have uh lay forth a goal to have
a neighborhood park or Trail within a
quarter mile walking distance of every
resident within the city and so that
goal exists whether it gets paid for by
parking back fees or some other source
we as you mentioned always work towards
that goal
okay so let me just uh give you my two
cents counselor
so years back your predecessors uh I
think for your District was
guilt right so Callister sorg and um
Thomas and small so the city prior to to
helping the developers with Sonoma Ranch
Boulevard North
we have only done it one other time that
was northrise and what I'm trying to say
was that road used to be pretty much my
dirt road it was they built the golf
course out there but the Developers
needed to have money to build the road
all the way to the to the golf course so
the city we helped this is a joint City
partnership and so we basically put
liens on all that land so when they
would sell those lots they would pay
back the city a little bit so you'll see
that the Lion's Share of development is
coming from District your District
district five and so what I'm trying to
get at is it it brings in the most
revenue and so there's uh and it also
helps the city to pay off the debt that
we helped finance so that that road and
you're going to probably see it
eventually turn it's going to be soon
into a four-lane road and so what I'm
trying to say is it's a driver for a lot
of the construction that you see the
jobs that are taking place here in the
City District Five has literally
surpassed my old when I was a district
six counselor the probably the fastest
growing and it provides the most income
to the city so it's it's imperative that
that District stay with as much
amenities as possible also we're
fortunate that the public voted to allow
the next Fire Department Station to be
out in that area too because of the
growth and so I appreciate your
humbleness and not wanting to
get the Lion's Share of the of the parks
impact fees or the just the parks itself
but you know it's it's imperative
because if you saw the the plans that Mr
Moscato brought to council back in the
in the early I don't know 2009 2010 I
joke with him I said you had to have
read all these City councilors campaign
information because this what he put
together was state of the art it was
incredible and it is it's it's it's come
to fruition what his vision I would have
people calling from other parts of the
country asking about this development
and they moved here because of all the
things that he was doing it's been
pretty cool and it's worked out well and
so I just wanted to give you that little
bit of insight
thank you
okay is there any comments from the
public
CNN Christine
this is on the motion to approved
resolution
24-013 counselor abeda is absent
councilgram yes counselor Ben Como is
absent councilor Koran yes
counselor Flores is absent councilor
gandada yes and mayor yes
okay that takes care of that so now we
have board appointments first off the
2023 New Mexico Municipal League voting
delegate and Alternate we don't have to
vote on that I just need consensus the
voting delegate would be counselor beta
and then the alternate would be city
clerk Christine Rivera is that okay with
everyone
okay so on the veterans Advisory Board
we have John R Poland representing
American Legion Post 10 that's a
reappointment so I'll need a motion in a
second please
um so we're so these are all your
appointments mayor yes okay
so that's a reappointment
yes
um I moved to approve
second I came motion made by Council
cran second by councilor Graham
Christine
this is on the motion to reappoint John
Poland to the veterans Advisory Board
councilor abeda is absent councilor
Graham yes councilor Ben Comal is absent
councilor cran yes counselor Flores is
absent Council gandada yes mayor yes
okay next is James Turner representing
VFW Post 10 12 4. it's a reappointment
corn
alternated by Council Graham second by
councilor Corin
Christine
this is an emotion to reappoint James
Turner to the veterans Advisory Board
councilor beta is absent Council Graham
yes councilor Ben Como is absent
counselor Cran yes
counselor flood is as absent councilor
gandada yes mayor yes
okay new appointment Frederick Madrid
Vietnam veterans association
[Music]
by Council Corin
esteem
this is on the motion to appoint
Frederick Madrid to the veterans
Advisory Board counselor abeda is absent
Council Graham yes yes
the counselor Flores is absent councilor
Gandara
yes and mayor yes
okay next is James Ferguson new
appointment representing the military
order of the Purple Heart
move to approve seconded Korean motion
made by counselor Ram second by Council
Corin Christine
this is on the motion to appoint Jason
Ferguson to the veterans Advisory Board
counselor abeda is absent Council Graham
yes
is absent councilor Gandara yes and
mayor yes
too bad you didn't have that recorded
then you could just hit the recording
each
okay notice the proposed ordinances I
think we have one
Bring It Forward Bring It Forward I'm
sorry are you okay that's uh Council
bill number
24-01 ordinance number 3043 Bring It
Forward
okay now yeah that's okay it's all right
somebody's got to go get coffee
so
all right so I'll make my comments real
brief on
Council comments I was just
you know earlier you heard the members
of the public I'm looking for my notes
Here what I do with them talking about
some of the crime that's happening and
sometimes I I think that what we need to
do instead of I wish we could direct a
lot of the thought process as far as a
review board instead of a police review
more but more of a citizen citizens
review board to find out what exactly
took place on bail reform
you know I really believe that
that when the public voted it there was
nothing that said anything about the
Arnold tool so the Arnold tool is
something that the Supreme Court told
the judges that they had to use as a
means of whether or not they could stay
in jail or not
and I think that that in my opinion is
unconstitutional I don't think the
Supreme Court makes laws I think they
just interpret it and and I think this
is the legislature that makes the laws
and so I've been thinking based on the
comments that this some of the residents
here I think I'm going to use my
various Tuesdays not all the Tuesdays
you know I'm still staying pretty busy
but I think I'd like to at least have
some discussion with that so I'm going
to be looking at various Tuesdays
between now and and the holidays I guess
and here are some comments on that
because I really think that that is
where a lot of it lies because if the
Supreme Court tells District Court hey
you need to follow this Arnold tool
which is like a litany list of like 15
things before they can stay in jail that
alleged shooter who killed that officer
in Alamogordo who still be in jail in my
opinion if that's because I I couldn't
look for I was looking forward to find
out but I read somewhere where uh he'd
been this person had been involved in an
altercation and was released
you don't
that's just not right so
that's um
I'm gonna do my best to find out get to
the bottom of that one mayor Pro Tem
I just want the public to be aware that
we're very we live in this community we
drive around we see the same things we
are concerned I mean this isn't about if
we care enough to start a program or not
um that has nothing to do with it what
it what it frankly is you know we've
instituted quite a few resolutions
related to hygiene stations I've been
advocating for a Street Unit
um
you know the the things that we're
dealing with is because of trauma that
people have have endured and it goes
undetected and untreated
um
and then they they moved to the area of
uh doing illicit drugs and when you when
you hear and or you read all the emails
that we all receive related to a certain
crime in in particular areas and you
speak to our community police officers
they'll tell you fentanyl meth
it's extreme in this community and so
last month we spoke in our health policy
Review Committee specifically about
Los Amigos project the Los Amigos
project received some Junior money which
is a city and I'll move back to it's a
six-month program
that addresses folks who have
disabilities specifically substance
abuse addiction they re they went and
sponsored a bill
Senator Hamlin sponsored a bill for 2
million or million and a half dollars to
reopen this um
center it's a center that it provides
services for six months we had them come
and present to our health policy Review
Committee this is one of the ones evil
that we spoke specifically or I spoke
specifically in our one-on-one related
to they received some Junior money we
were asking to move forward to possibly
um
it to for a sole source and or or
Telstra funding to get this program up
and running a city this size does not
have a facility to address these types
of issues the other thing is is that we
have addressed
medication-assisted treatment in that in
that policy Review Committee that's
another area that I think
what shows a lot of Promise in
addressing the Fentanyl
epidemic and and math epidemic so
um I think we're moving as fast as we
can I think the systems that we do not
have oversight is the Judiciary and I
hear many a times where people are being
let out
and I and a lot of it is because they
they are unable to stand trial because
of their mental illness
and so I I think there's an issue there
that mayor I've said again that we have
to talk to our district attorney maybe
our judge specifically to address our
judges maybe the chief judge to address
this issue in Earnest because I I feel
in many ways our hands are tight because
it's an area where we're not unable
we're unable to really
um we have no oversight or authority
with the Judiciary and so again a mass
skin that we have those conversations
with our district attorney
our district attorney and the judge and
then we're seeing height increases in
domestic violence where people are being
assaulted now in in you know in broad
daylight in the streets and and so those
conversations with La Casa and other Pro
um
services that provide treatment or
therapeutic services for folks it's
it's something that's going to continue
to happen and I think that we need to
have as as you say I'll
everybody on Deck to have these
conversations but to also also act we
can't arrest our way out of this and I
think most people want people to be
arrested and put in jail or prison for
long periods of time and it's been my
experience that people who sit in jails
and prisons don't get the rehabilitation
that that that's lacking in those
facilities so again I feel like I'm
speaking to the choir
but
um
I don't think this is about do we care
enough to start a different program
those programs are being discussed
we as flush with money as the state is
for the second largest community in the
state and not to have a drug treatment
facility in this community is
it's uncomfortable in my in my opinion
and so
um
maybe it's bringing our our state
legislators to the table to have a
really Frank conversations about how we
address these issues moving forward so
that mayoral oh and I I just want to say
I went to the nileo conference last week
the National Association of Latino and
elected officials a great opportunity
um
um with a number of of
seminars throughout some Vietnam in
schools kind of infrastructure water
climate change those sorts of things so
the networking was fantastic we got to
hear from some presidential candidates
and I was just happy to be a part of
that so with that mirror I'll turn it
back over to you thank you thank you
counselor Corin
thank you I just wanted to
thank
Chief story and officer Castaneda for
the for the ride-along that I got to
participate in last week or the week
before
it was really illustrative and and
interesting and I appreciated
the courtesy that officer Castaneda
extended and an officer story thank you
for her to be Chief story thank you for
setting that up so
um one other note really quickly
um
we do have a Transit Advisory board
meeting coming up
this week on Thursday at
infused in my calendar okay here we go
at 3 P.M upstairs in the second floor so
as folks those are quarterly meetings
and I think that if folks have interest
in what's happening with our Roadrunner
Transit that's a great place to to join
so I invite
you to join me there and the last
I think I'll keep it short so that's it
nope I'm good I'm good thanks I'm good
so were you in in a supervisor's car or
in the actual of the responding officers
I was in the responding officer's car
okay foreign
bulletproof vest but I did go out into
traffic and she made sure that I was
wearing I think she was really worried
that I was going to be run over because
I'm probably an idiot so she gave me a
bright vest the vests that you were
alluding to just to make sure that that
didn't happen and it didn't
um obviously so it was good
councilor Graham
thank you mayor I want to I do want to
share that on my ride along I pretty
much solved like two crimes so I'm
getting the idea you solved two crimes
you saw I solved solved I'm drastically
overstating my participation in the ride
along but I also had a really good time
um you weren't the one who ticketed the
little person who was had a little
lemonade stand and you said where's
yours where's your certificate
but I I I I feel me like 20 plus or 20
years tops away from being that kind of
fish shaking Bad Neighbor
um but no in all seriousness just a
quick thank you and a quick
recommendation speaking of parks that
aren't in District Five as we were
earlier
um I wanted to thank uh Robert uh Kathy
who was here earlier Franco ikani and
some
um some outside City team members for a
great initial discussion about replacing
the playground at Valley View Park
I walked away I think my quote was my
hardest poll so I wanted to thank
everyone for being receptive to the
ideas we're bringing forward and looking
forward to getting that process going
and for recommendations on Saturday I
went and checked out the origami in the
garden transforming paper to sculpture
installation at the Las Cruces Museum of
Art
highly recommended go see the show and I
think no spoiler alerts but the best
part for me was every piece where you
look at the little origami piece has an
accessory that shows you what the paper
looks like unfolded which was I just
thought that was such a cool detail to
include and was like a really meaningful
metaphor about you know there's like
what's presented on the outside and then
there's the mess of folds and creases
that we are on the inside or I don't
know that's probably just my headspace
you guys might just have a really good
time but no absolutely wonderful
um show and it was great to be downtown
on a Saturday afternoon so just wanted
to recommend that and big props to
quality of life in our Museum systems
and everything that they make available
to us
I got thanks
all right thanks sounds like you had a
good time
okay all right Evo
thank you mayor and Council just a
couple items appreciate transit for
sending this over and Fleet
just to let you know we have all five EV
buses in
they arrived to to our city but still
need to be worked on driver barriers
installed and bus wrapped with new
design rebranded logo
these buses can drive approximately 200
miles before needing to recharge
anticipated EV training for mechanics is
planned for September
and then the EV infrastructure charging
area the construction expected to be
completed by September
so once we have that all in place we
should have
have our our buses in in operation
and then just to let you know uh Chief
story notified me that our speed van
presentation is ready to go we just
we'll look at the next available work
session
to be probably the work section after
next if there's
open spots on the agenda but that
that was brought up last time I just
wanted to report back on that and then
just wanted to um
expressed our condolences in our regards
to the officer in Alamogordo I
appreciate Chief story and his
Department reaching out they he notified
me on Saturday when it happened and so I
took Liberty to
to call the city manager and offer
resources as well he had already
offered research as well on behalf of
the city so just let you know we've
offered any support that the city is
and resources that they're welcome to to
call us but appreciate Chief's story
notified me of that
that's all I have mayor council thank
you
hey thank you appreciate that so if
there's nothing further entertain a
motion to adjourn
so moved Graham
this is there a second yes second
correct motion councilor Graham second
by Council Corin that we adjourn
Christine
this is a motion to adjourn the meeting
counselor beta is absent Council Graham
yes counselor Ben Como is absent
councilor Korean yes counselor Flores is
absent Council gandada
yes mayor yes okay we are adjourned it's
3 45 pm thank you
thank you