sorry
five minutes mayor five minutes
thank you
very much
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thank you
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[Music]
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all right uh today is help Welcome to
our work session in Las Cruces City
Council today is Monday March 27th 2023
it's approximately 1 p.m if you please
join me in the Pledge of Allegiance
please
thank you
okay so we always start off our meetings
with the introduction of our pets of the
week
and Amy De Felix who's joining us via
Zoom are you there Amy
I'm here okay
okay take it away
and you shouldn't screen
all right so for our cat of the week
um
his name is Greg his animal number is
um and he has to say I'm a handsome and
unique boy one thing you might notice
about me is that I'm missing a tale
which you can't really tell in his
pictures but the next thing you might
notice is how much I absolutely love
pets and how 100 adults with your hands
during a good neck scritch I'm not the
biggest fan of other cats I want all the
attention to be on me I promise I have
as much love to give as a household full
of cats
together
and then we have our dog of the week her
name is Jade and her number is
54255 and she she has to say I'm a great
companion I already know sitting down
and I'm very attentive to my humans I
take treats very gently too so help me
learn some new commands I do enjoy nice
casual walks but I will sometimes get a
little excited and pull on the leash I'm
an affectionate girl who would be great
in almost any type of poem as long as
it's full of love and affection
um we do have an adoption event this
Saturday
um we'll be there on Saturday April 1st
we will be at the downtown farmers and
crafts market
um we'll be there from 10 a.m to 1pm and
we're always stationed out by the Oregon
Mountain outfitters store so just come
along peruse the farmer's market and say
hi to some of the adoptable pets we'll
have
and now
um to also continue on with the spay and
neuter theme that I've been doing this
month
um I'd like to share I guess some
general
um info about just the span unit cost
Effectiveness because I know another
reason why people some people get a
little
um
deterred or staying and neutering um
it's because it's been expensive at a
private clinic and it is it can be
um
looking online the general kind of price
range that I was able to find would be
anywhere between 150 to 400 dollars
and this price it definitely varies
between location like between different
event clinics offer their own prices
dogs and cats
oh prices will be different dog size
classes like a small breed will be a
different price than a medium or large
breed and a spay and neuter also cost
differently so that's why there's this
little wide range there's a bunch of
different factors that go into the cost
total cost of a spare and neuter
um but alternatively I would also like
to raise the general kind of estimation
about the cost of raising a litter of
puppies or kittens if you don't get your
pets fixed and that will probably range
between like hundreds to thousands of
dollars and that's also dependent on
vaccination costs where you go the food
cost bed exam costs and overall the
litter size so on like the lower end
that I've estimated would be about
hundreds hundreds of dollars multiply
that by four to six if you have a cat
because that's the average litter size
five to six for puppies because that's
the average litter size and we've also
seen
um cats here coming in with litters of
like 10 12 even we've had I remember
very distinctly a mama dog came in and
she had 15 puppies so that is
very expensive especially in comparison
to just getting her spayed um overall
that cost
would have been
greatly decreased
um we do have one low-cost spay and
neuter program that is available to the
low-income communities here in donana
county and it is snap
um you can visit their website
snapnewmexico.org they do request a
copay it is only 50 per cat no matter
what 75 per dog no matter the size
um that flat fee will help you take your
pet to eight different clinics within
the Las Cruces area wow and it
definitely helps kind of offset the cost
but in general it's being a neutering
your animal is
much less expensive than in the long run
paid for raising a litter of puppies or
kittens which we do get a lot of
Glitters surrendered to us
specifically because they cannot afford
the cost
and always we that's why we definitely
suggest spending order because that
whole situation would definitely be
prevented if the parents were spayed or
neutered before head
um we would also I was also uh I would
also like to say sorry our board of
directors would like to announce in
general
um that we are
we as the ascmv are a different entity
with the dog park that is uh
off of Rinconada as well
so we don't have any sort of say or
control of what goes on there I know
we've been getting a lot of questions
asking about when the dog park is going
to be open and we we don't know because
we don't have any sort of say in it but
I would also would like to announce that
I heard I saw online that the Parks and
Recreation Department did announce that
that dog park will be open its grand
opening will be tomorrow
Tuesday March 28th just so so spread the
news so I know people have been asking
we really want to check out that brand
new fancy dog park but it will be open
to the public tomorrow
so I'm sharing the screen there we go
thank you
okay thank you Amy appreciate all that
information okay next is going to be our
jobs of the week and Irene para from our
Economic Development Department we'll
share those jobs with us
[Music]
we'll let them set that up in the
meantime Irene bought it with economic
development good afternoon mayor City
Council
unless they're letting me
okay
Louie
I haven't had to open it from here
before
nope those are meetings
oh
so go to work sessions to your right
click on I don't know work session yeah
got it okay thank you and then 27th or
there it is thank you mayor
okay so we begin with the city of Las
Cruces who is hiring for a community
outreach manager this position pays
between 66 000 and 95 000 a year and
closes on April 4th white Sun's Missile
Range is hiring for a computer scientist
this position pays 53 000 a year and
closes on March 31st La Costa is hiring
for an executive assistant this position
pays between forty four thousand and
sixty four thousand a year and closes on
April 16th families and youth that's
hiring for communication and media
coordinator this position pays between
thirty nine thousand and sixty three
thousand year in closes on April 14th El
Paso Electric Company is hiring an
engineer this position pays between
sixty six thousand and ninety thousand a
year depending on experience and closes
on April 14th and angel wings Home Care
is hiring for a home care attendant this
position pays 12 now depending on
experience and closes on April 14th
and for more information you can contact
our local Workforce Connection office at
575-524-6250 or visit them at their
local office at 226 South Alameda or
online at employ.com
thank you
okay thanks Irene
Okay so we've got three items on the
agenda the first one we have a couple
new programs that have come on board the
project light as well as 988 and Hugo
Costa is here to talk to us about how
that they interact and collaborate with
9-1-1 so Google is the director of our
Sia Valley Regional dispatch Authority
right here
[Music]
good afternoon Hugo Costa executive
director Messiah Valley Regional
dispatch Authority good afternoon Mr
Mayor counselors I'm a city manager
just a reminder that Mike you have to
always hold on hold down or you can use
that other Mr microphone and leave that
on permanently
okay let's see how good I do with the uh
the holding it down
a brief presentation I believe the
counselors have received the packet with
these slides but I like to go over them
here in public with you
first of all
um just a little bit of data as to the
number of Behavioral Health calls
that are dispatched annually murdered
and we went back from 2018
to 2022 full years and then for this
year through February and one thing I'd
like you to notice in probably a little
bit noticeable in the next slide
is that um
the call volume is pretty much remained
a static we haven't seen a significant
decrease in the call volume for
Behavioral Health suicidal ideations and
suicidal calls and we haven't really
seen a large increase either so it's
remained a bit static which I'll come
back to that later in the presentation
we've been working with 988 since July
of last year when 988 became implemented
however we had been working for several
years
with the New Mexico crisis line on a
protocol to transfer the behavioral
calls to them the New Mexico crisis line
then became the 988 center for the state
of New Mexico so here's a protocol that
we use this very simple protocol we put
it in when we were working with New
Mexico Crisis Line we tweaked it a
little bit
for the um 988 and this is what our
dispatchers follow when a 9-1-1 call
comes in
so the first thing is that when a 911
call receive is received and the type
code and the type code is how we code
calls in the computer dispatch system
and that's what the responders are told
the type of call they're responding to
so the three type codes that we looked
at are behavioral issues suicidal
subject and suicidal attempts
and we perform an emergency medical
dispatch on all these types of calls and
what emerges medical dispatches is an
interrogation a series of questions that
goes through a flow chart
goes to a flowchart and then determines
um what the proper response is so as
we're asking the questions a few things
that we're looking for are there any
unusual or aggressive behaviors are
there any weapons involved is there is
there an attempt at suicide for suicide
is there an overdose a guy is it a
gunshot victim are there cutting
injuries or is there a jumping or
attempt to jump
the answer to any of these questions is
yes then the protocol is to
automatically dispatch out the
appropriate First Responders law
enforcement Fire EMS can be any one of
the three or all three together
depending on what the incident is
if the answer to those questions in the
in the middle box is no none of those
are are
are evident then the call can be
considered to be transferred over to New
Mexico 988 and we leave a lot of that on
the discretion of the dispatchers a lot
of them you know veteran dispatchers
sometimes they can go and gut feelings
sometimes they can go on what their they
catch it on on the background of the
call some historical
issues with either the caller or the
address so the human factor of of the
dispatcher discretion also comes into
play but that this flowchart just very
quickly shows you what we will not
transfer to 988 and then all or the
types are considered transferable to 988
so let me go briefly about the calls
that we do not consider transfer to 988
uh it's important so that you know what
the dispatcher is looking at
so the friend we've divided these into
categories and we're keeping statistical
statistical data on them
the first are dispatches requested by
Health Care Professionals these types of
calls are fall into these categories
calls that are being transferred back to
us or sent to us initially from 988 so
for example a caller could just bypass
9-1-1 call 988 directly and then after
speaking with the the caller 98
determines that a first responder
intervention is needed they will then
transfer that call to merva for dispatch
sometimes we'll Trend we will transfer a
call to 988 that we feel meets a
criteria and on on some occasions
they'll after talking to the caller
determine that a a field response is
needed and they'll transfer it back so
those are those types of calls medical
facility requests some of our mental
health facilities some of our local
hospitals if they have a patient with
behavioral health issues mental health
issues they may request a transfer to
another facility so they'll call 9-1 and
request an ambulance
and then we get these requests from also
mental health therapists
um the Veterans Crisis Line
private mental health practitioners that
there will be a patient with them in
their office or they'll be having
contact with them and by telephone and
they'll determine that this person needs
an intervention and needs transport to a
facility so these types of calls
requested by Health Care Professionals
we send the First Responders out and we
do not transfer to 980.
the second category is pretty
straightforward if there's physical
violence or aggression
that's been reported
then we will dispatch out
so weapons reported suicide attempt
overdoses
physical harm has occurred or the caller
feels in danger
excuse me I'm on some new meds that make
my mouth very dry when I'm dogging and I
talk a lot so that's a double whammy
thank you
the next is
um if the caller or law enforcement
request dispatch
so if the caller themselves says dials
901 and they request to be transported
to the emergency department to the
crisis Triad Center or to a mental
health facility
will of course dispatch the responders
out on that also if law enforcement
arrives on scene and determines that
EMS is needed for transport then they'll
let us know and we'll we'll dispatch
those calls out
when a third-party caller calls us and
they have little or no information
sometimes these calls
will come from Neighbors
bystanders people walking down the
street people in in a public location
and they'll call saying that someone
needs help but they are not with the
person they can't give us any
information about you know for us to
further classify this call they're not
the
they're usually not with the person so
the call isn't really
wouldn't be any uh good to transfer to
988 you'd have a third party caller not
knowing
and not needing the intervention and
we're unable to determine if the scene
is safe so in these circumstances we'll
also automatically dispatch
now here's the data we've collected
since 988 came into existence
and what you see down the first column
are the call types that I just went over
on the slides the ones that we do not
transfer to 988
then the third from the bottom
are calls that our quality assurance
department has determined could have
been candidates to transfer to 98 but
they were not transferred to 988 for one
reason or another
and then the second to last row calls
transfer to 90. these are the calls that
are actually transferred to nine at
eight
and then the bottom row
shows
the percentage of the calls that could
have been transferred to 90 that
actually were transferred to nine at
eight
so
and that were eligible to transfer to
nine at eight so of all the calls that
came in so if you look at the top two
rows for July
there were 254 calls of the behavioral
and suicidal combined and of those calls
5.5 percent of them
potentially could have been transferred
over to 980 and were not transferred
over to 988.
so the statistically we're tracking one
thing that I said I wanted to come back
to with that the line graph if you look
at the number of calls the first two
rows at the top that are coming in
that those numbers are pretty static we
were expecting to see a a dip of some
kind
in the number of calls we're receiving
from night to 9-1-1 for Behavioral
Health emergencies when 988 came into
effect we haven't really seen that
I don't know if we have enough data for
statistical answer as to why it may be
that because 988 is receiving among
quite a bit of calls
it may be that
the people that were hesitant to call in
line one to begin with are just now
going directly to nine at eight
um and then the um ones that were used
to call e91 may have not uh gotten the
message or transferred over to uh to
wanting to dial 988 directly
but this is the data that we've been
tracking and we're continuing to track
this on a monthly basis
this is what that data looks like the
number of calls that we're getting those
first two rows on the table previous
table and shows the total number of
Behavioral Health calls that we're
receiving a month
and the total number of suicidal calls
or suicidal ideation calls that we're
receiving and like I said
um then the the line is pretty
um pretty static statistically at this
point
we are we've been meeting and
collaborating with mental health
providers Behavioral Health Providers
since before
July of 2022
has been participating
in the National emergency number
Association which is an industry trade
group they have a they had a 988 work
group that were putting together best
practices policies and procedures
Merv has been participating in the
noniana County Crisis now model
committee
and then mervda is uh has been having
weekly meetings with the crisis Trio
Center 988 and we recently added project
light to participate in those meetings
and we use those meetings to tweak
protocol go over successes failures
to try to improve the system and it's a
Cooperative effort between all those
groups
there are invited members from some of
the agencies we participate with here
today that they're in the audience so
that the council is able to get a 360
view if they have any questions for me I
want to answer them and they can hear
the same answer from our partner
agencies if they so choose Jamie Michael
from the county health directors here in
the audience Karina Diaz with the crisis
Tri Center is here the battalion chief
Hiles with light is here and I don't
know if she made it but Wendy line Brink
Allison from the 988 Center was supposed
to be here if I assume and with that
I'll stand for any questions the council
may have Google I think Wendy is on Zoom
I I was told that she was
she had connected Wendy are you
available
can you speak up just a little bit
louder please yes sir okay great did you
have any comments that you'd like to say
or start off with
um I'd like to share is that we're
grateful to be here in partnership with
the Sea of Valley Regional dispatch
Authority in order to work
collaboratively for the community
members of Dona Ana County and are here
to answer any questions you might have
regarding any Partnerships
Services
okay and Wendy can you do me a favor and
state your full name and your position
and organization please
yes sir my name is Wendy's little break
Allison I am the program manager at
protocol services and I support the 988
Crisis Line system of care great I
appreciate it
you have questions counselor Como yes I
have tons of questions thank you thank
you all so much for being here and the
other folks as well I really appreciate
it I is this the end of your
presentation
yes cancel this I was hoping to see
perhaps a similar
like the graph that you showed the flow
chart for how your dispatchers and are
determining calls that come to 9-1-1
that will go to Project light
that is something I'd be really
interested in understanding how that
would work and where project light
could really fit in a lot of these
in-betweens that you're saying no we're
not transferred to 988 yet I feel like
could potentially
go to Project light instead
uh thank you councilor for bringing that
up and
after this this is a chart you were
discussing this is a chart that we
started the program with in this chart
that we continue with
our weekly meeting that I had told you
about that we were meeting with 988 the
crisis triage Center and then we've
brought in a project like the recently
within the last month
our meeting is exactly to tweak that in
fact one of the tweaks that we've made
is we have gone in in addition to these
automatic uh no no dispatch and the ones
to consider dispatch
we decided to take a more proactive
approach and we looked at the close to
300 all different call types that we had
and we did this in coordination with 988
in the crisis triage Center and we went
down and we were able to pull out I
believe 16 different call types that
weren't these call types I'll give you
an example one is an incorrigible child
the dispatch and we looked at those we
went and we pulled out a several months
worth of call data to specifically look
at when somebody calls from corrigible's
child what's going on in the background
and so for that type code we determined
you know what this is a typical that
that law enforcement will not normally
respond to
and this is something that EMS sometimes
responds to because the parents are just
totally not able to to control the
situation they don't know what to do
so in in discussion we said you know
what this is a this is a perfect example
of a call that could go to 988. so we've
then looked at it and we've taken eight
of those type codes and now in our flow
chart for the dispatchers when they're
doing the interrogation at the end of
the flow chart it is now proactively
telling and consider sending this call
to 980.
um I I don't love to have my head have
the total list of the ones that we went
to but I can send it to you after the
meeting to all the council to look at so
we have been proactive in tweaking this
to look at that as far as project light
goes they have very specific type codes
that they are going to respond to
behavioral health is one of them so
although it doesn't show on this this
slide here this was uh previous to light
project light coming online the list
that the battalion chief went over with
you at when he did the work session here
for you is now integrated now into our
computer into this match so when that
type code comes up it's an automatic
tone out for project like to go to those
calls and I'm working with the 9th and
eighth crisis trash Center and now with
project we're looking for the future to
look at even possibly expanding that is
that going to be an expansion project
light's only a month old we're not going
to overload them with anything right now
but that's something that we're always
open to is looking at and reassessing
this on a regular basis
so the codes that you are now using I
feel like for this flowchart there would
be an additional one under yes right
around
um what is then going to go to Project
light
um perhaps it's project light and law
enforcement who's going who's playing a
lead on that call right like I I would
really like us to get to like some of
the Nitty Gritty on that because
um I really believe in Crisis
Intervention I believe that is a true
and Trend model I believe that model
Works to save lives
um I've been having great conversations
with
um
director Michaels and
at the end of the day a behavioral
health call is not a crime right someone
who is suffering
through a behavioral health episode that
is not inherently a crime and so I'm
trying to figure out
the process for how project light will
be
tapped into and so you're saying that
those codes those came directly from
leadership at project light
yes counter that's correct so they I
believe there are five different type
codes that they gave us that said we
want to be dispatched always to these
types of calls and we've been doing that
since the six now dispatching of them to
those types of calls
um as far as Murph that goes we've
always had the philosophy that as
project like develops and becomes
established has been only on for less
than a month now but as it gets
established I'm sure that they're going
to look at their data and say you know
what maybe these other types coats
will be ones that we want to be
dispatched to absolutely where we were
fully uh on board with that absolutely
right now we're just going with the
protocol that they gave us and and we've
been following that one absolutely I
totally understand that and support that
and I think for me it would be really
helpful to see
how that process is going to play out I
think
from the big picture and I have more
questions just around your presentation
is that
um I think this is a big culture shift
for dispatch I imagine right and so
you're having dispatchers who perhaps
have been there for years who've been
trying to do this job one way and now
are being asked to look at their job
differently right like with a different
lens and
um I I understand that that must be
really scary and there's the big
liability right and that there's like
some risk to this and I think it's
um the more that we build up the system
I think the more comfortable and the
more confident dispatchers will become
in order to determine what how to code a
call and so I I'm wondering
given that a couple of things that I
felt were somewhat broad when you're
talking about behavioral health
behavioral issues that's very broad how
are you
defining that
thank you counselor
first of all the um you're right in the
the hardest part of the whole process in
transition to 988 and even before 988
when we were working with the New Mexico
crisis line
is the paradigm shift for the
dispatchers
dispatchers are very type A personality
people they're they're there to take
control of the call and to make
decisions as to
um what needs to be dispatched out you
know the little joke is that the
dispatchers tell the cops where to go
every day you know so um so that is
always that has definitely been a
challenge and um through training and
through
um little tweaks in the protocol we've
tried to
um
to break that barrier but it's been a
very difficult one and it's not just
Merv it should look statistically
Nationwide it's been an issue of getting
dispatchers to agree to that so I think
with all things new it's going to take
time to get that to get that paradigm
shift I think the newer dispatchers like
you you alluded to the older ones are
more set in their ways I think the newer
ones as we come in we're getting them
right off the street with no
preconceived notions and we're teaching
them the protocol and I think we'll end
up seeing that bill adapt to this a lot
a lot easier now as far as your second
question go what does behavioral health
entail a lot of things you're right it's
a very broad category most dispatch
centers that's the category that they
use what happens is that when we do the
emergency medical interrogation the
questions go through a flow chart
and it'll say you know it'll ask
questions about if there's violence
um you know are there on medications a
lot of different questions that then at
the end will help the dispatcher decide
what are the resources to send to the
call but it's all done in the background
of the software that we use for that but
but it's not uncommon that a lot of
dispatch centers throughout the country
have maybe three or four type codes only
that deal with behavioral health issues
this is Wendy with the New Mexico Crisis
Line a um training for a second
yes please
thank you so much
um I'm so thankful that councilor Ben
Cuomo has mentioned the concern that
it's not a crime to request Services
um
and because you're experiencing mental
health you shouldn't have to necessarily
go through the behavioral health system
and is looking to understand how to
better support people that are reaching
out to 9-1-1 that are experiencing
mental health concerns in a different
Manner and the the crisis now response
system of care that that myself cut
enough from our eye crisis triage Center
and the ri mobile crisis team and Jamie
Michael from the Dona Ana County Health
and Human Services team are working on
is a way to ensure that we're creating a
different type of response for people
with Behavioral Health needs and as Mr
Costo mentioned you know change takes
time and that's not only for his call
takers but also for the people and right
now the people know that when they need
support and they are in crisis they call
9-1-1 and so it's up to all of us
Community Church
you know making sure people understand
that when they're having a mental health
or emotional or behavioral crisis that
that they can reach out to 988 and to
try to work find additional Pathways in
our 9-1-1 system to get those
engagements
um streamlined from
911-2988 because the crisis triage
Center does have a mobile crisis team
that is dispatched through the 988
crisis center and so I'd like to also
ensure that we're not just looking at
the project light dispatches that are
made through 9-1-1 but also taking the
public safety aspect out of it
completely and putting behavioral health
professionals into the field
um from the crisis triage Center that
could be dispatched to people through
the 988 system if we can strengthen the
engagements between getting 9-1-1 to
transfer those calls over to 988 to get
a behavioral health response to those
people
thank you Wendy I really appreciate your
additional context on that I'm really
glad you're on thank you
um
I think I had a similar question in
regard to the broadness of it around
unusual behavior and how your
um Mr Costa yeah thank you
um
how you're defining that
you're referring to the um the second
box is there any unusual or aggressive
behavior
yes um unusual behavior is it's very
much
objective to what the dispatcher is
hearing and getting the information from
the caller so for example
um
third party caller calls and says
there's an elderly gentleman that's
walking down the middle of the road I
think everybody would agree that this
unusual behavior people don't usually
walk down the middle of the road so that
that's just a simple example but it's
it's things like that anything that
would be considered out of the norm
something
here that people are doing or don't hear
that um
that is occurring um somebody is
crawling is climbing over my neighbor's
neighbor's fence that's another unusual
behavior so as far as Behavioral Health
calls it basically falls on the
dispatcher to be able to listen to what
the caller is saying sometimes it
involves background information that
they're hearing from other parties in
the background or ambient noise in the
background as to what's going on but
then they have to make that
determination is what I'm hearing and
what I'm being told something that would
be considered something normal a
day-to-day routine or is it something
that is not normal day-to-day routine
beyond that it's not the only criteria
that they use the other criteria they
use are are their known weapons their
own drug use
different things like that but it's just
it's something that's subjective but
based on their training and their
experience on taking 9-1-1 calls it
would be something that they would
determine the dispatcher
I appreciate what you said about
Taipei people but also around
dispatchers using some like sense of
intuition and gut checking right I
really appreciate that that I think
that's important and I think that also
requires like cultivating those kinds of
things right and so again given that
there is this big paradigm shift as you
said
um I know that there's a lot of training
but I'm wondering what would you need
what would your dispatchers need to I
don't want to say that there is
resistance right but I imagine the
veteran dispatchers are definitely
feeling like this is
like a bit of a jolt and so what do you
feel like you would need that we could
support you with to to help make this
transition easier because while it takes
time
and I agree with that I also feel like
the risk is Big right the what is at
risk here and what is at stake here our
lives and
um like really moving towards taking
ownership of this kind of model is
critical
I don't
tell you what
dispatch would need to accomplish what
you're saying I can tell you what we're
doing to try to accomplish it
part of the solution that we thought was
very important from day one was this
really strong quality assurance system
and what we do is we've been pulling all
these calls all the behavioral health
calls all the suicidal ideation suicidal
attempt calls and they've been
scrutinized by quality assurance and the
quality assurance goes through and
listens to the audio they look at the
video of the actual
um
data entry and they read the um the
printed copies of the dispatch report
their
their certain criteria that they're
looking for to see that it was
accomplished and then the dispatchers or
call takers that did that call or
brought in and the call case call is
reviewed with them and one of the things
that our quality insurance tries to do
is we try to get in the head of that
call taker dispatcher by having them
listen to the call read it and say well
why did you determine this or why did
you understand that XYZ was happening
and through that call review process
it's almost like Monday Morning
Quarterback sometimes you know if I
think if we were listed to listen to
ourselves a day later on some phone
calls that we do we'd be surprised did I
really say that or did I really think
that after that phone call so that's
been a a great help to us
we're always looking to tweak the
protocol and I think by being partners
with both 988 crisis Church Center and
the health department I think we get
some input from them as to also how to
tweak it physically like I said I don't
know if there's anything that I could
say we need x y z in front of us because
I think our dispatchers get a lot of
training they get key weight on a lot of
the calls that they do and right now
they're getting Kuwait on all the
behavioral health calls so I think
unfortunately I think the answer is that
it's it's going to take time people
getting through the QA process thinking
back on the next call that comes hey
this is what I didn't do that I should
have done on the previous call and you
know learning through that um but let me
tell you I think that
he said if you look Nationwide it's been
growing pains with the whole Behavioral
Health in 988 and and to be honest with
you most of the dispatch centers in the
state of New Mexico are not doing what
we're doing and and you talk about
liability and I say my counterparts
I think it's more reliable there's more
liability if you dispatch something out
that could have gone to 988 and
something goes wrong than it is to not
dispatch into uh to transfer to 980
because I think a lot of the other
centers are hesitant to transfer to 988
because they they have perceived
liability issues which I personally
don't see
thank you for that additional context I
appreciate that and Wendy I would
honestly have the same question for you
I'm curious if you was
um the 98a program manager could
talk about what you see are needed with
dispatch centers ours particularly and
then also I'll just while I'm on the
microphone will you go to the graph
um where you have the the calls that
could have been transferred to 988 and
I'm wondering if Wendy if if you could
talk about these numbers and what you're
seeing on your end
thank you Council
counselor um
I just want to start being that we are
grateful that we have the opportunity to
work with Dona Ana County as we do have
a memorandum
dispatch Authority in order to have them
transfer calls to us and we have been
working with the the Hugo and his team
for several years now in order to try to
find ways to help build those Pathways
and
um in my perspective I one of the things
that I've shared with with Hugo is that
when I hear the conversations about
you're doing quality reviewing you're
talking with them about
um why didn't you transfer that or this
would have been a good call to have
transferred one of the suggestions I've
made in one of our recent monthly
meetings that we have or weekly meetings
actually that we have is that rather
than laying the responsibility upon the
call taker to make the decision
embedding it into the workflow of
decisions that they have in their system
that says if this then this so is that
it's very clear so the call takers to
make those changes and make those
determinations so is that it's not them
feeling like maybe I should maybe I
shouldn't uncertainty but the system is
telling them you know that that this is
a good call for 988
um to just to to be engaged with whether
it's engagement with Public Safety or
engagement instead of Public Safety and
and I think that that would be a huge
benefit if it's if the software was
developed and updated to reflect those
changes is one of my
um first thoughts so is that what you
take out the human factor
um where people are hesitant to to make
the wrong decision
thank you I appreciate that so one day
are you saying that that software does
not exist currently the software does
exist you know this
this from what I understand
with Hugo it would just be a matter of
them needing to make additional
um
programming changes within it so is that
they can make those changes that from
what I understand from conversations
with Hugo and Albert
okay uh Council if I can add to that
um yes it
behind the scenes in the software
there's the algorithm that the
dispatcher doesn't see they just see the
questions that they're asking and
depending on the answer the program will
jump so in the back of the algorithm
there is the opportunity to add things
in the
um and we're exploring that right now
with the the software vendor and
um but the issue is
um it's going to be a complicated
process because when you if we're going
to add 988 as something at the end of
that tree we want to make sure we don't
break anything in in the path and then
something that should have gone to
dispatch for example
it's now broken and goes the other way
so it's something we are looking into
doing
but it's not going to be a quick or easy
fix it's something that's definitely
going to be down the road but we've
started that process reaching out to the
vendor to ask them for costs and uh for
development and Engineering on that will
you keep the city manager informed about
that because that is something I would
be interested in supporting if it came
down to funding and you needed that that
is something I feel like would be
critical
absolutely will thank you thank you and
then just my last question oh sorry
Wendy go ahead
that decision
tree has been implemented in other
communities throughout the nation and so
as
Hugo mentioned I think that a decision
tree that LEDs to
why did you dispatch Public Safety
instead of 988 and then a critical
incident occurred as a result of that
decision which could have been avoided
by transferring to 988 is a positive
thing to work towards so is that we can
make sure we are getting the right
people at the right time to engage with
the situation that's occurring because
sometimes all they need is a
conversation which is what our Mental
Health Counselors offer 988 is a lot
different than 9-1-1 in the sense that
our primary goal is to try to
de-escalate the situation on the call
rather than just a determination on who
should go to that person and we work in
the least restrictive approach possible
and so we have decision trees in our
processes that determine are you able to
support this call right now about this
Community member right now on the call
or do we need to engage them in a
referral to community services do we
need to reach out to the mobile crisis
team in the community to ask for them to
go to them or if there's a higher level
of need because there's a risk of
medical necessity or
weapons and other physical violent risks
then that's when we escalate up to
mobile
to Public Safety responses but to make
sure that we are looking at how do we
get the right people at the right time
for the specific situation I think I'm
really
feeling
relief hearing and counselor talk about
wanting the desire to continue to move
this forward so thank you and you had
asked wanted to ask me a question about
the graph yes
and I'm sorry I'm not able to control it
anymore for some reason
okay you know what I'll move on I
already and
um maybe my colleagues will follow up on
that but the last thing I wanted to say
was that I think we're now in I think in
a good place in providing there's
options right we have 980 we have
project light we have the 911 system and
I think for me really like the vision is
to
like go deeper on this flowchart and
determine what goes only to 988 what
will go to Project light what what is
needed when is law enforcement truly
necessary when we're talking in the
context of Behavioral Health I think
often often when someone is experiencing
behavioral health issue the mere
presence of a law enforcement uniform
can escalate the situation and now we
have project light these trained
professionals EMS folks fire who are
incredibly trusted in our community
right with the ability to show up and
potentially diffuse a situation and so I
just I think we're in a really good
place and I really want us to
um
like take full advantage of
this environment that we are in and
invest in it fund it but then also just
really think about
um the strategy in which we want to we
wanted to operate so I just really want
to thank you all um definitely you as
well Wendy for coming on and for the
presentation thank you
the councilor councilor Graham the mayor
Pro Temp
thanks mayor thanks everyone Wendy Hugo
for all of the information so far um
Hugo I know you've lost control of the
slideshow and I don't know if this is
um if these are numbers that you have on
hand but when we're looking at those
behavioral calls and adding in suicidal
ideation attempt
ballpark how many of those are unique
callers and how many are repeat callers
or maybe even what we might think of as
frequent utilizers
thank you counselor that's a great
question and I wish I had anticipated it
because I would have brought you some
data
um we do like I can't tell you offhand
how many of those numbers are the the
frequent utilizers but they're
significant and
um one of the
the most frustrating thing for the
dispatcher
is dealing with those callers and a lot
and I'll tell you A lot of those callers
have their favorite dispatchers people
they know and they trust they want to
speak with and our dispatchers I'm proud
to say take the time to do that but one
of the most frustrating thing for the
dispatcher is that it almost seems
sometimes that there's a revolving dorm
in
health and that Spirit they've been
their frustration and Merv has been a
part of the crisis now team here in the
county since it's in its Inception and
that's one of the things that the crisis
now is trying to alleviate trying to
close that revolving door to get it
we've made referrals in in the in the
past to um to Mental Health Resources
the police department also has a list of
those frequent utilizers but that is a
challenge and I won't I wouldn't say 50
but I'd say probably at least a third of
those are the the frequent callers
wow that's I guess surprising and not
surprising at the same time
um recognizing of course that ideally we
are wanting to plug these folks into
wraparound services so they're not
relying on 9-1-1 but that's a long-term
process that's a lot of gathering of
resources and collaboration I've been
doing a lot of side reading on this and
just recognizing how crucial dispatch is
in this entire system
one thing I was interested in again this
was just from some additional reading I
was doing and thinking about those
frequent utilizers I was looking at
software programs that can create
flagging system maybe not the best term
for it but if we have a frequent
utilizer we've have deep history with
them but maybe not everyone maybe not
everyone on CAD knows this I read about
some shortcuts to provide background
information whether that whether those
responders are light regular Fire EMS PD
can you speak to that at all
sure concert thank you we do have that
we have what we call it luck a cad flag
cat is computer-aided dispatch and what
we do is for specific addresses that are
known to have frequent utilizer we will
flag it a lot of times those flags come
from a field units EMS will let us know
hey can you flag this address because
this person does not like to see uniform
law enforcement so we'll flag that and
we'll let the responders know if we're
trans if we're dispatching them out what
that flag is
sometimes it comes from law enforcement
we do have the flags and we utilize them
the only weakness of the flags is that
it is
location specific
so we could flag 700 North Main Street
and then calls that come from there
would pop up that flag for the dispatch
but we can't flag Joe Smith
um
because Joe Smith could be anywhere what
we can do though and we've encouraged
the public and is a segue to another
service that we provide is we have a
system called smart911 and we've
encouraged Mental Health Providers
caretakers that if they have clients or
people that they know have crisis
situations they can create an account
for them that's tied into the a
telephone number not a location so the
person can be anywhere when they call
9-1-1 and in addition to any cautions
they can put in medication lists they
can put in
medical histories anything that they
want to share that the dispatcher can
then convey to the First Responders and
also use that to make an educated
decision as to how to dispatch out that
information private information is only
available for 15 minutes after that call
call is done so the dispatchers can't go
and search people and try to find that
information so it's a very secure system
but that's that's that's another
alternative to the flagging because like
I said flagging is location specific
where if you create a smart 911 Pro
protocol profile it follows you wherever
you go a Nationwide in fact and just to
encourage people to do that it's
smart911.com to do your profile or you
can get the link from the merva website
mvrda.org
thank you so much for that that was
actually one of the programs that I had
read about and I appreciate you saying
like this is something this is a place
where anyone can take this into their
hands and provide that you know provide
that information you know pointing out
it is a it's a consent based system so
you know it's it's not as if you would
get entered into that against your will
um but yeah I was really interested and
thank you for providing that information
and then
um my final question
um Chief Dominguez I'm going to have to
look at you and make you be the whole
Police Department as usual
um
if if p if Pete is dispatched to a scene
and feels like hey this is a great
opportunity for project light maybe this
is more in their wheelhouse do you have
policies procedures operations to make
that happen
mayor councilor Graham uh the answer is
yes we uh we're always looking for ways
to incorporate resources that will not
require law enforcement intervention so
if project light is available we will
call them but we also call out other
resources if necessary okay fantastic
you are doing those kind of handoffs in
situations where it's warranted yes okay
great thank you so much that's all I
have thank you mayor thank you mayor Pro
tem thank you thank you Hugo and those
of you on the audience it's good to see
you all
um I'm I was looking forward to this to
see what the connections were with 9-1-1
and 988 and Hugo or Jamie I know she's
on the in the audience I just to
familiarize or have folks familiarize
their self with the
crisis now
process can you talk specifically about
that and what makes it different than
other
evidence-based programming
I'd refer to uh Miss Michael for that
we've been involved in it but she's the
one who set up and she's definitely the
subject matter expert yes thank you
thank you good afternoon Jamie Michael
donana County Health and Human Services
Department the crisis now model is a
national model that is pushed out by the
national Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration it's part
of the U.S health and human services and
it is the best practice model for
creating a response system for people
who are having a Behavioral Health
crisis it includes three components one
is someone to call which is Wendy's team
at 988
someone to come to you which is the
mobile crisis team at the crisis triage
Center and the third component is
somewhere to go which is a crisis
receiving Center this model came to be
after many decades of looking at real
world data and looking at communities
where they studied the types of calls
and the types of circumstances that came
as a result of Behavioral Health
emergencies that were over in one study
there were over a million encounters
that were looked at and that's how they
came up with what do we need we need in
all of these circumstances it would have
been great to have a crisis counselor
and have someone for them to talk to
they looked at how many people needed
someone to come to them the crisis
counselor over the phone wasn't enough
and then they looked at how many people
the the crisis couldn't be resolved with
the mobile team so they said okay now
for some people we need somewhere to go
so it includes those three components
and it is based in real data that was
collected and it also part of that
process it includes looking at the same
things that Hugo looks at is this a
situation where someone has already
taken an overdose or someone has already
harmed themselves so it also includes
when do we need to engage EMS when do we
need to engage law enforcement because
it's a public safety so the crisis now
model has all of that built in again
it's based on all of this real world
data it's based on interviewing people
who say a Behavioral Health
crisis is not a criminal situation it
needs a different different response
it's also reimbursed by Magic Kate so
that's helpful for local governments
when we're looking at how to finance
these systems
Jamie thank you you mentioned when you
talked about someone to come to you
right that you've mentioned the county
mobile unit that you've developed
through RI but not the light
why is that and what sort of of
conversations have you been having with
lights so that we're not duplicating
services and and addressing the needs of
of the city
um
as a whole
thank you um
counselor so project light is designed
as a co-response model so it's embedded
within within EMS it's dispatched
through 9-1-1 it is outside of the
crisis now model the original one of the
the original intents of the crisis now
model was to look at how do we bring the
right services to the person at the
right time so EMS is not needed at every
call just like law enforcement is not
needed at every call so that's why the
mobile crisis that's designed to be part
of the crisis now Model includes a
clinician and a peer
versus a co-response model with the
paramedic or law enforcement and social
workers but we have been talking with
the the city and again as Hugo said the
folks from Project light have joined
their their weekly meetings and we've
been trying to figure out how to run
these two mobile teams parallel in our
community
and what services or what circumstances
should each respond to
and where are you at I think there's
still some gray area actually so in the
the table the flowchart that Hugo talked
about in those three call types
I think we need to do a few more things
and again we're way above and far beyond
what other communities are doing and
it's because of the willingness of all
of our our partners and it is a big
change but when we talk about what kind
of training or what kind of
conversations should we be having to
help make this change because I can't
just cross my fingers and hope really
hard that the change is going to happen
we have to to be proactive in in making
this change so the behavioral suicidal
subject I think those two call types I
think we need to really change how we
look at that why isn't 988
the first response to all of those calls
and then let's look at okay of those
calls how many do you think should have
had an EMS response or how many do you
think need law enforcement response and
I'm not including the suicide attempt
because I think by then there's probably
a medical emergency but let's take the
opposite effect when in doubt
all of these calls let's make them all
eligible for 988 or a mobile crisis
response or Behavioral Health response
and then from there look at which ones
need EMS and which ones need Public
Safety that might get us to our end
goals sooner and then the other thing
that just hit me while we were talking
about this if we're seeing 988
separate from this system and a transfer
to 988 then I can see why people would
be hesitant to use that service but we
also have to remember that 988 on its
own is a service it's an intervention so
you should think as a dispatcher I can
dispatch a police officer I can dispatch
a paramedic or I can dispatch a crisis
counselor and that dispatch looks
different because it's connecting
somebody through a phone to transfer but
it's still a dispatch and connecting
someone to Services versus it being kind
of outside of the system and and on the
side so I was just trying to think about
how do we get the training and how do we
get people to start reflecting on these
calls and these circumstances
differently
so in these um
weekly Communications and this is both
to Hugo and to
Jamie what sort of conversations are
being had related to that very thing
because there should be
more call more transfers to 988 given
the data that you showed me I mean and
I'll just preface this I've been on that
side I I took calls for
many years ago when I worked at children
youth and families Department right and
we had a framework that we worked in and
questions that we had to ask and
sometimes they were crisis driven where
we were just
you know notifying police to go and
respond to these things and sometimes it
was mental health issues those things so
I I do understand that and and what the
numerous types of calls that your your
dispatcher is having to deal with so I
just want to be sure that those
conversations are being had and or how
do we get to that next point because I
think it's it really really matters who
we're dispatching out to as we're trying
to address the Continuum of Care that
people are you know no wrong door
there's no wrong door and I know that
you believe believe that and and as well
that's philosophy I think that we've
tried to incorporate in this city
so how do we get to that point because
it feels like we're not quite there yet
or kind of maybe it's liability I don't
know I just want to have I don't get
these opportunities really to visit with
you other than these times so wanna I
wanna be clear about where we need to go
and how can we help
move things along
thank you mayor Pro tem counselors in
fact it's the past two months two and a
half months that's exactly what the
weekly meetings have been been doing is
we've been trying to dissect that
and like I stated earlier we've
looked beyond and tried to be proactive
and we've narrowed down eight different
call types to start that automatically
we want the dispatchers to say this is
something that definitely could go over
to 98. so we've been doing that one
thing we did do though
um
when we started pulling the data and
started you know crunching and looking
at the numbers
there's still a lot of public education
that has to be done too one of the
things is that if the public is more
aware that 98 is there and it's
available that's going to decrease the
need to call 911 to begin with and it's
going to take it totally out of that
whole decision tree of the dispatchers
and also part of that public education
still needs to come and I've talked with
Miss Michael about this from the
healthcare side because we're still
seeing private practitioners
that are using 911 to get their their
clients into the system and the question
is you know we don't know what's going
on
know did the professional but could some
of those calls have gone to 988
as the intervention versus coming to
9-1-1 so there's a whole list of and
it's happening in schools too for
example schools are the school
um medical staff are calling 988 and not
utilize I'm sorry calling 9-1-1 and not
utilize the 980 system so I think in in
conjunction to this what we're doing we
are doing this the weekly meetings
trying to dissect this down and it is
Wendy had mentioned we're looking into
putting into the software itself part of
that decision tree but on top of it I
think public education still is really
really important thing that needs to
continue so Jimmy where are we at with
that and how can the city help sort of
bring Folks up to speed about 980 and
when to call I know there's some tools
and graphics and those things but I'm
wondering if maybe more specific things
about maybe if this happens this is
where you should go instead of using
tying up the 9-1-1 system those those
things and maybe it's it's a different
public awareness campaign
mayor Pro tem council members you're
exactly right we need to do more public
education in general everyone should
know 988 just like they know 9-1-1 and
it took decades for us to be able to to
understand and know when to call 9-1-1
so we're trying to unwind a system so
there is a printed material that each of
your departments within city government
can access through samhsa's website for
free the county accesses we get as much
free material as we can and then we do
have a budget to print materials so we
can just scatter the 988 information
across the the public and then in order
to be more precise and more targeted
Outreach the data that Hugo shares with
us is extremely important so we looked
at what behavioral what Healthcare
Providers are calling 9-1-1 why why is
this happening so now we know who those
providers are and we have hired a
consultant to go out and meet with those
providers individually and say look
let's figure out how to bring the crisis
now model 988 crisis triage mobile
crisis how do you use those as part of
your treatment plan for your clients I
think we can do the same thing for CYFD
and their families how do we build in
this as just a natural resource for
families in the community that we think
might be most likely to need these these
services so we have a consultant that's
that will be doing some one-on-one
provider education
we again look at calls and just
communication so Sergeant McCord was
able to visit with him last week he went
to one of the residential rehab
hospitals here in town to respond to a
behavioral health call
you didn't need a law enforcement going
into a hospital to respond to someone
who was having feelings of suicide
the person was not able to to move
because it was a rehab hospital it was a
safe environment because we knew that
the likelihood of of a weapon was was
very slim the individual might have been
able to talk to someone on the phone and
ease their their symptoms a mobile team
response from the crisis triage center
with a clinician and a peer might have
done it and even if the individual from
a medical facility needs a transport I
think the the folks at the crisis triage
Center Center are really able to to
coordinate those types of transports if
you do need a higher level of care so
now beginning to Branch out okay we need
to talk to the skilled nursing
facilities the rehab hospitals all of
those other organizations that are still
thinking 9-1-1 is my only option and we
that's the type of education that we've
started so Jamie I know that you've I've
seen the printed material I know that
it's easy accessible hopefully for most
people but I'm thinking along the lines
of something like that very specific to
health care orgs and providers and then
someone like you're an everyday person
that sees something on the streets and
there's a crisis of sorts and you're
seeing these things recognizing I think
people really need aside from spending
two days eight hours plus like a mental
health first aid at some sort of a a
flow chart of sorts for the average
person that's encountering these things
and we're encountering them so much more
right businesses residents I mean we get
probably more calls about that and how
to address it or who do we call
and so I'm thinking those types of flow
charts for the for different types of
you know categoric people that are
encountering these I think would be
helpful so that's outside of those of
those printed materials and the things
that samsa had so it's more specific to
our communities and so how do we how do
we do that
in accordance to what you're all trying
to do here and with the 911 and 980. I
don't think there's anything like that
that I've heard Statewide but could be
very helpful and maybe I know Wendy's
still on the lane maybe she can address
some of that
I know
my note is
accbhc that has been identified which is
FYI plus and part of their role will be
in helping to support people from birth
to death and
um engagement of
care through their lifetime
and navigating through crisis is a
component of that and so they're still
in the the
implementation stages of mapping that
out and so I think that there's more to
come where where we would be inviting
that bus to these conversations to help
support
um
support that mapping out because I think
that that is a part of their role as a
ccphc
very good thank you thank you for that I
think we'll make sure that they're a
part of these conversations if they're
not already
um and then I I you go I couldn't help
but to
um cringe just a little bit when I heard
the word Integra interrogation right
quote unquote it feels really
um
that's that feels like a very serious
and it makes me feel like there needs to
be continue to be this paradigm shift
because if you're interrogating people
to get information I'm feeling that's
not the most trauma-informed way to
address mental health calls calls with
people that are are in crisis and it's
something that I wanna I wanna I'm just
speak to there's a tremendous amount of
trauma-informed classes and trainings
and such that I would recommend that you
and dispatch and people who belong to
this multi-disciplinary team people from
the city from light that we should
contract with somebody to do that
training ongoing I think it's very
important I don't want anybody to feel
like they're being interrogated for
um you know Colleen 9-1-1 specific to
mental health calls in 988 and so please
help me help me mitigate alleviate the
stress I heard when I heard
interrogation
thank you for that my apologies it's
just a a term that's frequently used
for emergency medical dispatch
um when I say interrogation what it is
it's a series of questions that are
asked they're not asked in a threatening
manner by any means and I think if you
you list any of the uh the
call take recordings you'll see that
they're they're very compassionate and
asking the questions that they do ask
but I'm very welcome to uh to
receive an alternate term I like the
council Graham's frequent utilizer
that's a great trim that I'm going to
start using now aside from other terms
so I I'd be happy to entertain any other
term that you would have for that I
think Wendy had a great idea in bringing
in FYI Innovation plus who really is the
leader in you know trauma-informed care
and there's just other providers that I
that I I know in our community that have
received very specific training related
to
trauma being trauma informed and I think
anymore
the way we are right identifying folks
that we we speak you know about them and
for them and with them it has to be very
trauma informed and and so I I I'll
definitely reach out to Evo and others
to get just give you some some
training opportunities that that are
coming our way frequently related to
that that I would encourage the
dispatchers to be a part of and then and
lastly I'll um
I'll say this because it's been brought
to my attention
um and I've mentioned it somewhat in our
health policy Review Committee is I also
believe wholeheartedly in peers
and training up our peers and utilizing
peers wherever we can I know that is
something that we've not had the the
discussion in its entirety you know for
our project light and something that I
feel like we need to consider
as we're you know moving through being
more acquainted you know with what's
happening in our community and so ifo I
I'd really like to have those
conversations in our health policy
Review Committee related to how we're
going how project light is going to
utilize peers in this process something
I think that's really important
um and and where the public and where
folks you know having someone to speak
to related to the same sorts of issues
that you're experiencing it goes so much
for there's all that data out there that
suggests that so I want to make sure
that we're having those conversations
and when we can plug in peers that we
should do that
a peer specialist is so important and I
know we don't have one specifically for
project like es Jamie mayor Pro tem
members of the council just uh to follow
up on a few quick points Hugo years ago
we did a trauma-informed training with
your team but it's probably time again
and the third week of April we are
hosting uh train the trainer so that by
the end of April there'll be 10 new
instructors in Las Cruces and it's
trauma in the criminal justice system
and FYI plus is involved in that as well
as many of the other partners in the
community so we will have more
instructors and be able to roll that out
so if the city wants to host a specific
training around that we can do that and
then I think that one's specifically for
in the criminal justice system so we can
look at other types of trauma trainings
that are available FYI plus is part of
the city County Crisis now work group
especially because they are in the
process of developing a response team
for adolescents right right now the
mobile team and the crisis triage Center
are adult only so that leaves a huge gap
and we looked at the data from merva
schools are calling 9-1-1 so we need to
to create that availability for somebody
to to respond and peer support workers
you are absolutely true correct that's
why the crisis now model requires peers
at the receiving centers and as part of
mobile crisis and in order to get
qualified for Medicaid reimbursement you
have to have peers I think one benefit
we have in our community is RI
International has more peer employees
than other most of their employees are
peer support workers as opposed to other
types of providers and they have again
nationally recognized training for peers
and are working with the State Office of
peer support and Recovery because what
they've identified as the most important
thing is having the appropriate
supervision and support for peers once
they are employed with the organization
so I think there's opportunity for RI in
the city to partner in not only creating
peer support positions but supervising
and supporting peers in employment thank
you Jamie I really appreciate it and
then because you reminded me you about
our youth and I'm not surprised that
that's happening at illegal human
mention of an incorrigible youth
um I'm
I'm thinking we should really sift
through that a little more because
um what I'm hearing and I hear it from
providers I hear from family members
that these are when you I know what an
incorrigible youth is
um
and all of them can be at different
points in time right but I think it's
more serious than just an incorrigible
youth I think it's youth that have a
severe mental health issue or maybe
haven't quite been diagnosed with one a
diagnosis
and their parents are struggling to
contain them at home right and they're
becoming aggressive
and there's these I think
aggression that's occurring in the home
and I think parents don't quite know
what to what to do to include the the
schools as you know we had recently a
conversation with the schools related to
to this you know where they're it's just
we're seeing a huge increase of of
students who are are
well very
um with aggressive behavior and teachers
EAS cannot contain them cannot control
them so what's happening is we're
calling law enforcement to help address
that when maybe some of these crisis
that are like our project light and
others could help address that very
specifically I think it's becoming a
huge issue one that obviously the
schools are now reaching out to others
to you know to really
bring him into the fold to address those
because they can't they can't contain
our kids and the level of aggression
that they're experiencing in the schools
so I I would like to see more data
specific to that I don't know that
really
the use of be you know incorrigible
incorrigible it's very interesting term
um and we use it in the criminal justice
system
um for you know these are the ones that
are the class three the kids that get
involved in a variety of of alleged
criminal activity but I think it's more
than that and I think it it I've become
concerned
um that that we're not addressing
um those issues specifically related to
our youth so I don't know you have
anything more to add to that Jamie or
Hugo in terms of what exactly you're
seeing but I'm I am I I am very
concerned about it and I don't know that
we have the answer
this is an area that we've also
requested the the words or Dispatch
Center look as potential engagements
with 988 in the past because a lot of
times parents or resource parents or
Foster youth or school systems are at
that point where they don't know what to
do and so they've gotten to that point
where they're just reaching out to
anybody that will help them at this
moment and I think a lot of times it's
really more of a conversation that's
needed rather than a public safety
response in some of these situations of
course not when the level of violence
has been created but how can we
encourage some of these
in our in our program we call them no
boys and callers rather than frequent
utilizers as counselor Graham mentioned
but I'd like to encourage the murder
system and the school system to think
about engaging 988 more with with those
community members so is that we are
taking the least restrictive approach
and I'd like to work with Hugo to try to
find ways Pathways to support those
engagements as well I'll hand it over to
Partners to go to respond more
thank you Wendy thank you for that mayor
Pro tem this is uh Jamie Michael again
in addition to 988 being a resource for
young people
um and families they do have text and
chat and young people have been reaching
out a lot through text and chat to 988
so I think that is kind of an upstream
approach to help hopefully prevent some
of these situations from going to a
crisis level so again like you said
maybe some targeted Outreach to the
young people at the school letting them
know that they can text and chat with
988 call takers is important and the
other area once we looked at some of
Hugo's data and we saw wow there are a
lot of school nurses that are calling
9-1-1 we circled back with FYI plus and
asked them if they had the capacity to
begin developing a youth
mobile crisis response team the state
through CYFD
through the children youth and families
department and the Behavioral Health
Services Division they're piloting this
in four different counties our County
was not selected for that pilot but
we've been able to plug FYI plus into
those conversations so they're part of
the design and part of the Learning
Community with the other four counties
and we are looking at maybe there's a
way that local government can help
financially support the startup of those
mobile crisis teams until the state can
add more pilot projects or until the
state has figured out Medicaid funding
and they are slightly different than the
crisis response team for adults where
the adult team has meant there's a
crisis you go out you address the crisis
and you're done these teams are designed
to stay connected with the family for a
number of weeks and if the youth is the
one who they're calling because there's
a crisis at school the team works with
the entire family not just with the
youth when they're able to so they
really are are tailoring this model to
to address young people and their
families
so that's an opportunity for us to build
some resources here but you're right it
is a huge gap right now yeah yeah
appreciate that thank you Mary those are
all my questions
okay thank you um councilman Coleman
sorry mayor thank you I have two more
questions
um one of them that I just feel
just deeply unclear about still and this
might be for Hugo or BC heils or both of
you so mayor Pro town can you come back
here for just a second
we're gonna have to take a quick recess
the suspense will build for my question
so uh
quick recess here we the reason why we
had to take a quick recess is we lost a
forum that's why
so it's uh 2 29 p.m and we'll reconvene
as soon as possible
foreign
okay we'll go ahead and
reconvene thank thanks for taking care
of the coffee near Pro tem we appreciate
it okay so it's 2 30 p.m and we'll go
ahead and start thank you
um yes okay back to my question
um that I still feel unclear about so
you've said in there's a behavioral
health call
and the 911 system and they've
determined that there is a behavioral
health concern but that there is a
weapon on the scene as I'm understanding
that right now that immediately then
just goes to law enforcement I guess I'm
wondering
um if it's not going to 988 that's clear
to me it so now it's going to law
enforcement
when will the who determines then when
project light can be tapped in for a
call like that
a counselor is a mirrors counselors
it's an automatic dispatch if anything
comes into the behavioral health call
regardless of the where the weapons
involved or not light is on that
dispatch team now with weapons there is
a concern for scene safety so the first
officer on scene would be the one that
would be determined whether the scene is
safe and then they would say that light
could come in
that pretty much your understanding of
certain about it
so they're not being withheld from
dispatch because of there's weapons or
any of those those uh no those yes ones
um they're being dispatched
automatically
and then and then scene safety will be
determined by law enforcement whether
they can move in and that's standard
protocol for EMS and fire also right on
calls like that okay
good afternoon mayor members of council
my name is Matthew Hiles just to
elaborate a little bit more on that
um our five call types that we are
dispatched to are high Acuity calls each
call is going to require a level of
scene security provided by our Police
Department that being said they have to
deem it safe not only for the person
we're responding to but for those of us
responders that are going to be on scene
once that's deemed clear then our team
who is outfitted with a firefighter
paramedic and a licensed social worker
who is trained in de-escalation holistic
trauma-informed care and therapy with
capabilities of transport to any
facility in town that's going to be best
for that person once those responders
have
figured out the scene is safe the light
team can then move in start their
assessment medically clear them make
sure that we don't need to transport
them to the emergency department and
then allow our social worker to start
intervening just de-escalating the
situation and using their
trauma-informed care
so
each call the behavioral health suicidal
suicidal ideations suicide attempt CPR
and overdose those will require law
enforcement to be either not in the
capacity of being in trouble just to
make sure that nothing goes sideways for
anything so it's not to that because you
call it's not a
they're showing up to to show a presence
of like YouTube exactly it's just to
make sure that everybody's safe in the
meantime they law enforcement's been
doing a really good job on on kind of
being in the background of a scene
um just having them there knowing that
if we need them they're there but
they've been very good about uh just
letting our light teams go in and do
their assessments medically and uh and
everything like that so thanks for
sharing IBC I I think for me that's
where the biggest
uncertainty still lies I just
given certain cases we've seen in the
past years for me this feels the most
critical place for a project light
ensuring everybody's safety of course
right your folks are not armed right but
and at the same time
not escalating a situation to where
someone
ends up dead correct right and so for me
this still is and I what perhaps what
I'll do is continue having conversations
with their city manager and our chief
one to one just so that I can better ask
more pointed questions but I just I
think for me this just feels still where
there is the biggest uncertainty
understood um and just to let you know
right around just before the launch of
light and a little bit after uh
I and my myself and my team have I went
to uh PD's briefings their day shift and
swing shift briefings and we inform them
about project light what we're about how
we're there to you know how we can help
them how we can integrate on a call
um and basically how just make sure that
our you know scene is safe and then we
can in a sense lack of a better term
take that call from them maybe even
allow them just to get back in service
because they aren't needed they are
going to get back in service and
actually do the patrolling that they
need to do and what they showed up for
um so there's been a lot of that a lot
of great teamwork with PD and project
light and AMR um Hugo's been with their
dispatching and my hats off to them it's
been so so helpful
and so we've had a lot of a lot of
Community Partners we've been working
with that makes it great we respond to
all ages we respond to just City Limits
but we respond to all ages encourageable
children just the same we spent you know
two hours on a call with a child you
know um
had
a huge compliment from FYI because we
work with FY weekly actually on
trainings weekly as well as Peak we've
done trainings with Peak and our teams
and we were on a scene that was a
pretty difficult but it was you know the
light team PD and AMR and everybody was
there very patiently letting the scene
play out and just working with him at
that child's pace and it worked out
great so it is working very well I
understand your concern but just know
that
um it's going very well thank you so
much really thank you very much for that
context I
um please don't misunderstand my concern
is that for you I know y'all are doing
an excellent job I I have full trust in
the system very much
um I know I'm so excited to hear that
there is incredible teamwork going on
between all of you I think that's really
reassuring you know I I go home and I I
feel responsibility for just as you
probably do in your role right and so I
just that is where my like the heaviness
for me is coming in definitely not that
I doubt that that it's working and that
y'all are doing an incredible job it
just I think this is the place for me
where it's the heaviest so I really
appreciate your additional contact
species thank you and my last last
question I promise is definitely for
Hugo I don't Hugo I think there's it's
my understanding that there is a
policing legislation on the governor's
desk right now I think sb19 that had
some sort of dispatching standards on
training are you familiar with this is
this something you can share with us
yes thank you counselor council members
um there is
um I'm not
um sure where it is right now if the
governor's signing it or not but what it
is is you're trying to restructure the
Law Enforcement Academy and uh Merv has
been part of the conversations uh that
the the state has been having they've
had I think three Zoom sessions in the
in the last six months to get input and
I think the
um
the positive aspects of it as far as
dispatch goes is that
um if it's signed we'll get some
representation on the Law Enforcement
Academy board where we haven't before
and the standards there are law
enforcement standards that are set by
law enforcement agencies to dispatch
agencies and there's always been a
slight disconnect there and in the past
there hasn't been a lot of good back and
forth Communications between the 911
directors and the Law Enforcement
Academy so I'm very positive for this
that if it is that at least we'll get a
voice on that board and hopefully change
some things uh to better the uh the
dispatcher training that's great to hear
thank you so much thanks mayor
thank you
any comments from members of the public
okay well thank you very much for the
presentation Google and Wendy and all
those involved we appreciate this as
well as our members of the fire
department and police department and
everyone of our Public Safety officials
for
the collaboration that they they go
through okay so we're going to go his
America Mr Mayor yes if I can just add
too much if I just have one thing
um that merva welcomes mayor the council
to come and do what we call a sit-along
it's a typical to a ride along with law
enforcement and you can sit along with
us four hours eight hours as much as you
want and you can actually hear the
dispatch
is coming in and odds are that there
will be a behavioral health call come in
while you're there so we welcome you
just contact my office let me know we'll
set up for you
thank you thank you very much Google
okay next item is going to be item 3.2
the Geo Bond quarterly update
and looks like Davis a deal from Public
Works is going to be
making that presentation pinch hitting
for Kyle Aaron
foreign
good afternoon mayor and Council David
Sevilla Public Works director and I will
be providing the 2018 go Bond project
update for you this afternoon
first project that we have is East Mesa
Public wreck
complex we're about a third of the way
or 30 percent through the ARP of funding
we do have an estimated completion date
of about mid-august this is due to the
delivery and installation of the sod for
the Park softball baseball fields and
the multi-use fields
as you can see at this point in time we
are complete with underground utilities
earthwork and the pickleball courts
at this time the contractor is also
about 90 percent through with the site
work the flat work and the restroom
building that you see there just
adjacent to the pickleball courts they
are still working on the irrigation
systems for that Landscaping which
includes the sod
our next project is the new Animal
Service Center project which does
include the rincona the dog park and as
you previously heard under
the or basically the announcement under
pets of the week the park will be open
tomorrow morning
both the building and the park are at
substantial completion the contractor is
working on some punch list items for
both those sites at this point in time
we also have El Paso Electric who's
scheduled to have the permanent power
installed for both the building and the
restroom later next month April at this
time like it mentioned the building is
complete we do have a temporary
certificate of occupancy for both the
building and the dog park at this point
in time the contractor is waiting on the
kennels for delivery once those come in
they'll be installed at our last update
in December we did mention that those
were estimated to be delivered sometime
around March to be installed by April at
this point in time we do have a delivery
delay we are looking at possibly May for
delivering installation however the
contractor will be ready to install
those once they do come in
the last project that we have here is
just an update from our previous
update in December again the contractor
did receive and install the remaining
base benches the way stations and
baskets on the trails this project is
complete and staff is currently working
on the closeout documents for this
project
as you are all very familiar with here's
the project schedule to note there's a
lot of projects that have been closed
out we do have the East Mesa public rec
complex that has been extended past
December begin utilizing those arpa
funds
and at this point in time both myself
and Mr Tony Trevino are available for
any questions that Council may have
thank you I just thank you David just
one question on the gobon trails I and I
know the answer however I
I wanted to bring up the issue of
pedestrian safety
Crossing some of those roads and really
wondered if that is something we can
potentially work on figuring out the
costs so that we can put it in a budget
so that we can go out for Grant
something because I love these Trails I
think they're incredible I walk them
often and I see people especially enough
the weather is really nice people are
out there all the time in Crossing
places at least in my neighborhood like
Hoagland and McClure it's all sketch and
so I'm just really wondering how we can
put that in motion
thank you for the question mayor
councilor Ben Como so there there's
going to be a couple of things that we
can do if you recall earlier there was a
work session on pedestrian safety that
could be another mechanism to utilize to
take a look at some of these uh
intersections we can look at what what
the effects are I guess after the
installation based on what has occurred
thus far and then make an assessment
from there if there's something that we
can address immediately in-house that is
something that we can work towards doing
okay thank you ifo oh no he falls gone
everybody he's allowed to leave
I I'm pretty sure that we have a Connie
and Sonia here who are who will
definitely make sure that uh that he
hears that again yes I just I want to
put this on a list
pedestrian state
safety walk I don't know what safety
mechanisms we would add in these in
these sort of big Crossing places but
please pass that along thank you David
that's my only question you're welcome
any other questions from Council
members of the public have any comments
okay David thanks
thank you
okay next item 3.3 the sustainability
quarterly update Lisa LaRock from
sustainability will be
providing that update
how's the coffee Ethan doing okay
foreign
you guys are taking breaks and good good
afternoon mayor council uh city manager
and staff and anyone else who's out
there listening my name is Lisa LaRock
I'm the sustainability officer for the
city of Las Cruces
I'm here for a quarterly report and this
one is about solar energy renewable
energy it is about the past present and
future and it's also about the municipal
solar projects the business and
residence efforts the community solar
future and El Paso Electric all in a
short presentation
so before I begin I want to explain what
net solar metering is because there's
sometimes confusion
up until 2021 the New Mexico law said
that you can only add solar onto a
building or infrastructure and it could
only feed up to a hundred and twenty
percent of your annual need so and it is
also connected to the grid so what
happens is that the solar
energy hits the panel it creates energy
that can feed your building or if
there's an excess of energy it can go
back to the Grid or else if you need
more energy at night it would come back
to your building so it's a
self-contained system that is connected
to the grid that supplies some or
possibly all your energy that you need
if you have an excess that you kind of
that you put into credit on the grid
so the pros of this system are that your
bills are reduced in cost because you're
generating your own energy your own
electricity
the money that you save can be used to
pay off a loan instead of going to the
utility to pay that um to pay them
you're more energy independent and that
is really important because uh if
there's any
um because as in the in time if you have
batteries or anything like that you will
be able to
take care of more of your needs and if
you do generate excess energy you can
sell it back the cons of this system are
that you still must pay off your loan
unless you're independently wealthy it
takes about seven to uh to ten years to
pay off a loan for a residential house
that depends on the size of the house
and how energy efficient you are and
because you're tied to the grid if you
don't have battery storage and there's a
blackout your cut off from energy and if
you do sell energy back because you
generate did more the price for the
purchase is low
but the good thing about it is that in
time you will own your own system you
will not pay anything to for electricity
because you're generating it yourself
and you will be ready for new
technologies that come on board and so
as I continue on with the other options
of the
renewable energy this is the one that is
if possible is the the best option to
choose
so now I'm going to show you all of the
Solar projects that we've done this is
the early ones that we started with in
2011. those were error money so the very
beginnings of the last uh
uh a big batch of money that came from
the federal sources
then we
had the hold harmless HH of hhgrt money
and we got 10 million dollars to do
projects we did
all of the projects here except for the
East Mesa what a Reclamation plant
facility they did their own project we
used the hhgrt money for the balance all
three projects down at the bottom the
Munson sage and Public Safety complex
generate as much energy as they need
it's called Net Zero
we're still doing projects you just saw
the Animal Service Center Police
Department was in 2020 and fire station
three those are still monies from the
hhgrt and now we're moving on to the
competitive pool
another strategy that we moved into was
to have power purchase power agreements
and what we do with that is we have a
third party that owns The Solar
maintains the solar and we buy energy
from them for a reduced amount so we are
continue to save money and in our
agreement after six years any two up to
25 which is the life of a Solar
facility at most in most instances we
could buy it back at a um at a reduced
rate
so it's something to think for in the
future where again we'll have our energy
Independence so while 63 and the West
Mesa well uh treatment plants are in the
West Mesa and South Fork is at the dam
here's another set
all of the ones in the top are in the
northern part of the East Mesa
while 71's at burn Lake airport and fire
station you know where that is
so
what you have seen here is a pattern of
big steps we started out slow we were
able to get
um our feet wet with solar projects then
we got the hhgrt money and we took
another step and then we went to the
power purchase agreement and we took
another step in addition Las Cruces
utilities did a really Innovative thing
with a co-gen with cogeneration what
they were able to do is capture the
methane waste gas from the wastewater
treatment plant combine it with
natural gas and they can generate energy
to fuel their wastewater treatment plant
we in 2018 we the council
adopted a resolution that said that we
should reach 25 percent
of our electric needs by our own
renewable energy joint Generation by
2022 and we have in fact we're at 28
percent of our Municipal energy is
generated from renewable energy when we
made that resolution I thought oh my God
that's just a fake promise so I'm very
happy that we did that
um and so over this period of time we've
saved 2.9 Million dollars since 2011
from solar generation from the city our
bill is
annually a little under 4 million
dollars so with this solar we have
gotten uh 75 percent of a year for free
so that's great
and we've done a lot of clean energy and
that's even better
so we're not the only ones that do that
have used solar energy the many
businesses and homes that have adopted
that and you'll see from this pattern
that there's a lot of influence by your
neighbor the uh the the adoption rates
always seem to happen in clusters
and that's that's a great thing uh to
see how popular it has become
and
so
so what that shows you is over that
period of Time how rapidly we've been
able to increase the amount of solar
energy
within the New Mexico service territory
in general I showed you the city this is
the data for the whole New Mexico
territory for epe so it's Dona Ana
County and a corner of Otero there are 6
700 residents and businesses that have
added solar in the past 10 years and
they've contributed four percent of the
solar energy in epes New Mexico
territory since 2021.
so lesson two Community solar it's a
whole different model what you do in
2021 the New Mexico
adopted the community solar act and what
that means is that we gave permission to
small businesses to onet small to
businesses to create
large solar
installations arrays and with that those
are out in a wide open space and what
happens is that they look for
subscribers who say that yes I wish that
I had solar energy and if I subscribe to
this community solar my price of
electricity
will be lower than what I'm paying for
utility and that is one of the first
pros of that the second is you don't
have any upfront costs to having solar
it's there as soon as you start
subscribing and that's particularly good
for renters condo owners or people who
move around a lot even in EP East
territory because you can move your
subscription to different places and
like the metered example the community
solar project can sell its energy back
to El Paso Electric and the subscribers
would get the credit
the difference in this is that the
community solar energy is going to go
directly to the grid the grid doesn't
know it's it's a motherless child it has
no idea where its electrons came from so
it can be from solar it can be from
fossil fuels we know in our hearts where
that's from but it it and so it just
fills the grid with clean energy and the
subscribers get a credit on their bill
we're not delivering it to their house
they're not using it wouldn't that
there's it's just knowing that they're
getting clean energy cheaper energy and
and promoting the whole concept of solar
especially if they don't have it
available
cons of this is that not all
subscriptions are the same these are
businesses so they can make their own
set of rules with lots of guidelines of
course as to whether or not
um
they're going to pay you by kilowatt
hour so every electric every every hour
that you use electricity or by you know
a couple panels that now belong to you
or whatever they how are they want to
frame it and so so you so it requires
that the buyer beware and the community
solar act did have a lot of community
protection elements in it so we are
confident that that will
help the buyer beware
you never own your own system as I said
before so you're always going to pay
something
for your electricity as opposed to
eventually owning it so that's a
difference and there's a lot of space
that is required for a big Community
project and
um
that can be
space that's not used for something else
so it's worth considering and the last
thing is that like the net metering the
purchase price for returned electricity
that you don't use is not very high
so I was talking to you about the
proposed Community solar
projects that are out there at most
we're going to have two in the whole
state we're going to have 200 megawatts
of community solar
from New Mexico in the three New Mexico
investment-owned utilities so pnm epe
and Excel are going to be can at most
have 200 megawatts of solar in community
solar in their regions and of the El
Paso territory is about 30 megawatts
and the um and the maximum size you can
have for any Community solar project is
five megawatts so
I'm glad to see no one's eyes are
rolling with megawatt but it's like
equivalent to 5 000 houses okay so that
if we can simplify our units in that
sense if you were just doing houses
that's how many
moderate size homes you could have
so the city the Las Cruces utility is
partnering with an organization amaresco
who did our purchase power agreements
and submitted an application for a
community solar project we don't know if
we're going to get it
um but we're supposed to find out by the
end of the month I think it's a great
project but we'll see how the PRC feels
it's at the old
Foothills Landfill which is on Sonoma
and so it's a Brownfield so that
property couldn't really be used for a
lot of different things so that's a
point in our favor literally and
figuratively you get credit for that on
your proposal
and if you think about five megawatts
even though I talked about 5 000 houses
that also is equivalent about two
percent of the city-wide electricity
used so it's not
it's great it's not a lot so it's not
like we've up seeded uh uh El Paso
Electric from doing that because we
there's at most six for the whole
territory
and then
um there's also a usual condition that's
in the community solar act that says 30
percent of the project has to go to to
be dedicated or subscribed by low and
moderate income but in this project that
lcu and amaresco are doing
we have targeted 50 percent of the of
the community so
um to be able to
um to receive the um
uh the subscriptions and our goal is to
reduce the electricity costs by 30
percent which is a really significant
drop
and the balance of the of the uh
that is not subscribed can go to a small
business as small businesses of any size
so
if
so there's we've just seen lots of great
examples of
how the city its residents its
businesses have embraced renewable
energy there's also
um El Paso Electric and other utilities
are required to have a percentage of
renewable energy in their portfolio
without that requirement we wouldn't we
would say that all of the electricity
that we have because it's connected to
the grid would be
um
would be carbon Laden energy it would be
would make a carbon footprint as sturdy
as possible
but the enter the New Mexico energy
transition act that was passed in 2021
put a really set of ambitious goals uh
forward to the investment on utilities
and to the co-ops and what they said is
that by 2020 we were supposed to have
um each utility was supposed to have 20
percent of their portfolio was supposed
to be renewable energy
and so
El Paso electrics had some trouble with
it but they anticipate that they will
reach 20 percent by 2024.
and so if you look at this pie graph on
the right it shows that we're doing
we're helping El Paso Electric
that all the residents
uh in um
and businesses in Las Cruces and the New
Mexico territory are contributing four
percent to that 20 pie
the community solar that we're
anticipating that are coming where
there'll be six different projects will
be contributing two percent and the city
contributes one percent
so that leaves about 13 percent that El
Paso Electric is responsible for putting
forward
by 2025
El Paso Electric's gonna have to bump it
up as is as will pnm and Excel to 40
percent and so we will expect our carbon
footprint to drop by that same amount
by 2030 it'll be 50 percent
and by 2080 of 2018 nope
2040 it will be 80 percent and then the
balance at 2045 we is required just to
have decarbonized sources which most
likely will be the nuclear power plant
that they've been using in Tucson Palo
Verde
so we are headed towards a really
positive future and this this pathway
might even accelerate because people
want to and because uh El Paso Electric
is set
more ambitious goals although I'd be
happy with these and so with that
I stand for questions or comments
just one Lisa thank you for this really
thorough presentation on the proposed
plan
I'm curious about this one yes yep so
right here what you have in blue that's
the entire property right is there for
this proposed plan like what pers what
how much property do you need for this
project
mayor uh councilor Ben Cuomo that's
about 35 Acres
that you have highlighted here yes and
that you would need for the community
solar yes project okay I'm really bad at
people can say it's like
20 acres I have no context to that so I
will maybe just talk with you offline
about it's a lot as I imagine that's a
pretty good chunk
mayor councilman Como I I follow the
same challenges that you do
okay
maybe the mayor can paint us a picture
of what 32 Acres looks like well 32
Acres so it's about one-third you know
the spot the land that we acquired from
Albuquerque the 110 acres so it's about
one third of the size
okay that's
that's
not even
a suit
43 000 square feet city managers in our
camp too okay
that makes sense to me I appreciate it
thank you
we'll try to figure Maple tamman and
councilor Graham thank you thank you
Lisa I always really appreciate your you
just have a way of speaking high level
stuff really yeah concretely so thank
you for that
what is in the plans and The Works to
get more like third party
facilities do you have that third party
with Johnson Controls the third part you
know solar installation and some of
these other other places that we're in
need of do you have that
for the next year couple of years what
what
mayor
mayor pocham Gandara
um
I didn't want to do a spoiler alert here
but okay do spoil alerts sorry there is
an amazing new program
called direct pay that allows
non-profits like this city
to get an equivalent to the discount
that businesses own
so they would get a 30 percent tax not a
tax credit they would get a 30 deduction
for solar if they dedicated the solar to
50 percent low and moderate income they
would get a 50 deduction so there are
many ways that we can do it
ourselves
and
um
getting a third party is great but even
those third parties that their energy
service companies like Johnson Control
or
um
or amaresco they're moving towards
saying hey I'll build it for you I'll be
your contractor
and I'll maintain it for you and make
sure it's running
perfectly for the 25 years but you'll
own it that is the best option now
having said that
in all honesty
I have not been planning anything
specifically so that's my other part of
my spoiler alert for a large-scale
project I've been impressed with the
fact that since I started that the the
pro these
oops
sorry that these projects right here
I'm sorry
those projects right there
are projects that have been geobond
projects
and
they are getting their own solar they're
the the rest of the staff
is embracing it they're doing it I'm on
to other things
so keep encouraging them
but if you I'm still here here to help
but that we're working on some new
projects that take advantage of the
investment I mean inflation reduction
act funds that are out there so we
haven't been working on solar it's it's
it's loved and embraced now as a
mainstream thing and I'm a I'm more
you're a cheerleader I'm an innovator I
like to do things that are new and
Troublesome sure sure
so Evo can you answer that question it's
sort of what plans do we have to scale
out more solar installation
any new builds that we might be
considering or the buildings that
have don't have solar currently but I
have a high energy or electricity bill
can I um mayor and and mayor potom
excuse me uh city manager I forgot about
my buddy from Las Cruces utilities yes
that's what they're doing
that's what they're they're diversifying
their energy streams and that's the best
source for you yeah
but I'm sorry city manager if you'd like
to continue you know
I remember council member Mike I don't
know
um if we have like a
a plan in place that's going to
phase transition to solar but certainly
it's it's something that we look at with
every new build so any anytime we're
going to build we're going to look if
it's a feasible option uh and Lisa will
tell you sometimes it's not right and
especially with Community solar coming
on board
uh it's it's really more feasible to
look into something like that now as
opposed to putting them on the roof or
putting them taking up valuable space
so it you know with the community solar
you're allowed to
put it on the grid through land and
areas that are not
so cumbersome or so valuable but as far
as the plan we we don't have a plan to
go in retro buildings but I think
there's a more efficient way to do this
as Lisa's been appreciating with
Community solar
okay okay I think we should have a plan
probably talk about what that might look
like specific to community solar I think
those are some very interesting
opportunities and things that we should
forecast I mean potentially three of us
one two three four of us may not be here
next year and so I I would really like
to see a plan between now and November
um that solidifies like not just this oh
yeah it's embraced but that no no what
we're going to be looking at from you
know in the next three to five years
mayor mayor potam gadra
I didn't mean to sound flippant with
that at all I just meant that other
people are looking into it too so it
isn't something that I have taken the
lead on but I do know that the community
solar that was talked about
is something that's going to be tested
out right now they're not going to be
opening it up again for another set of
bids until 2025 but I know that um lcu
is looking at how they can be poised to
take the next iteration on which would
be another sizable chunk to to the city
and every time that we if we're an
anchor tenant for that that's a huge
that's 10 percent more that we've bitten
off for what we do
in terms of of associating with
renewable energy sure okay that that's
good and then eventually when will we be
able to hear ifo the energy plan the the
diversion or the conversion to our
energy through utilities
is that something that
uh since you brought it up and yeah we
have the energy transition transition
plan
and the works I mean we can have
Adrian maybe just some specific dates
[Music]
ah thank you mayor mayor Pro tem Adrian
Whitmer utility director right now we're
finalizing the RFP that we're going to
be taking through Sac for the energy
transition plan we've been working
closely with Lisa she gave us a lot of
really good comments and so staff have
been trying to work that out whether
it's going to be one phase or two phases
and so we have to we hope to have that
RFP out here within the next couple of
months at least to SAC so that we can go
through so that we can start making get
that taken care of so that utilities
knows which direction we want to go
forward in and so um we're leaving it
open for any and all types of energy
as you know as a utility it's our
responsibility to make sure that power
is provided no matter what so like if
the grid goes down
the Wastewater plants the lift stations
the pumps and the boosters cannot they
must always have the ability to turn on
and provide because we don't want
Wastewater flowing out or having spills
or people being without water so we got
to be open to any and all types of
energy absolutely I agree Adrian okay
look forward to hearing more yeah you
know we're really excited about it so
I'm so glad good good good good okay
thank you thank you thank you those are
all my questions Mary thank you
thank you mayor Pro tem counselor Graham
ironically the football field is
approximately one acre
so it'd be 30 football fields
thank you mayor Becky Graham city
council District three for the record
they're the only ones who don't have to
do that
like
really it's just so weird I always feel
so bad that everyone has to do that and
multiple times so I'm gonna in
solidarity I'm going to announce myself
every single time
uh not a question Lee so just more of a
comment that I was so glad to hear that
we are going above the minimum for low
and moderate income households that will
benefit from Community solar because I
bet if you're really cool tricked out
map if we overlaid the MRA
designations
um I bet some of those gaps in in
residential solar would line up pretty
neatly and I think my
my own home is a great example that it
can be really difficult to retrofit my
house was built in 1950 all of our HVAC
is still up on the roof and we got a
that's the face they made when I got a
solar
consult they're like oh you know they're
trying to be really optimistic and
positive as a two-person household we
could probably swing having panels that
would Supply our needs in the backyard
but not everyone has that kind of space
Also you know as you pointed out and the
Mr I love the con the Confluence of
everything that we do the MRA report
pointed out that home ownership is
significantly lower in the MRA
designated districts so the idea that
renters can also can also benefit so I
just wanted to point out that I'm really
happy that we're going above what we
need to and keeping keeping Community
solar when we when we get there
more accessible
Becky Graham signing off
okay so I've got a question on purchase
power agreements so were you telling me
I can't remember but when I brought it
up a couple years ago is the legislation
kind of puts a minimum size on the
purchase power agreements
um that we can enter into with other
companies or Developers
mayor the
limit for a purchase power agreement is
that is not for the utility
for us has to be net metered it has to
be connected to a facility so the
maximum you can put
towards us the maximum size of a solar
installation that is leased by
purchase from your third party can only
be a hundred and twenty percent of the
total amount of energy that your
facility uses
so that's that's the cap of it you can't
you can't go over 120 percent
of what you annually use
Okay so
I guess I'm not
tracking that so
just for for counselor Graham if she's
not aware of what a purchase power
agreement is
oh you do
okay
that's no football fields
so this was something that was in fact
the city had done a couple
in the past
and then
um or was looking to do and so for
example let's just say we spend a
hundred thousand dollars
a month on electric on electricity here
and since the city doesn't file tax
returns we can't take advantage of the
credit that that others can
so some of it is 30 percent so a
developer or you know investor will come
and say listen
if you let me own it with them they can
take advantage of that 30 percent
so by us working with them it's going to
reduce our energy costs let's say fifty
thousand dollars a month
so that's a lot of savings and so we're
our energy costs are now 50 000 and we
have been budgeting 100 so we've got 50
000 left over that's what they we pay
the developer because let's say their
Debt Service is 35 000 a month
so we're we still have 15 000 left over
that we actually ended up doing better
in addition to utilizing solar so I
thought that in the past that the
legislature or somehow the utility
companies had gotten the legislature to
put a cap or minimum size
of purchase power agreements and and you
know basically saying it's got to be
very large
for this to happen there's not that many
large buildings in the state you know we
have a few Albuquerque obviously has
them and the rest of the state you know
probably not
so you're you're telling me that the 120
is applicable to this
mayor from my understanding
the only
um
the only way that you can purchase power
is if it's for your facility which is
always capped at 120 percent
I'm trying to
and and I and I agree with you mayor
that it was it was always better it's
for large-scale's projects it's it was
historically always better to have a
third party be able to a business a
profit business build the solar because
they do get the 30 tax credit they get
an accelerated depreciation and some
other incentives that allowed it to be
the better option but now
just this year it's not because we get
direct pay which is the same benefits I
just described for us
that a business gets but the only other
um Can the only other uh
description that I think for I mean I
could be confused and what you're saying
but there are Energy service companies
like Johnson Control company who did uh
retrofits here they did retrofits at
um in Las Cruces utilities and they
could have also put on solar Moresco had
a Energy service contract and they put
on solar at NMSU so it can be a mix of
energy and in that case you can sky's
the limit how big you want that to to go
in but in terms of a purchase power
agreement in solar I I guess I'd look at
them as unique uh Services the the
Energy service contract that you
described is one where a company
assesses all the energy the ways that
energy could be more efficient or solar
could be put in they put it in you get a
loan and the savings that you have is so
great that you can pay off that loan for
many many years and that has no cap
the if it's just solar attached to a
building it does or a facility it does
how about if we do this if the consensus
Council and I know I just hit you cold
here maybe you can come back on another
time and bring us some more information
to see if there were some changes to the
legislation
what you were talking about and this
took place before councilor Graham was
here Johnson Controls what they did is
they replaced our old outdated whether
it's air conditioners boilers whatever
and put new energy star appliances and
so but purchase power agreements were
specifically for solar and that's it
it's it's you know they they can they
can take advantage of the discounts and
um and this the savings that we have
that we enter to a contract to pay them
consensus to look at because what the
reason where this came up is because
people were having a hard time
especially governments I mean just to
come around through an extra couple
million dollars for solar but when you
do it this way now you have investors
who want to participate
it makes it more advantageous for them
they benefit the city benefits taxpayers
benefit but I thought there was a a
minimum size not a maximum but a minimum
size and it was pretty large and which I
I thought that was kind of unfair
you know here a lot of people were
looking forward to that and then it you
know somehow
the legislature passed it so that they
had to be a certain size or larger which
you know duck a university I'm sure has
some yeah but you know we don't have too
many big buildings this one
Convention Center
maybe the Aquatic Center those might be
about the only that all the rest are too
small and that's what I thought was the
case though if that's a consensusive
council for you to maybe bring that back
at another time and work with the
management team as to when you're ready
yeah mayor I'll look into it thank you
okay any other comments
members of the public
okay well I think this concludes our
work session so thank you for that
presentation Lisa
and if there's nothing further entertain
a motion to adjourn to adjourn second
motion made by councilman Como second by
mayor Pro tem Gandara
thing
this is on the motion to adjourn the
work session counselor abeda is absent
counselor Graham yes counselor Ben Como
yes councilor cran is absent counselor
Flores is absent councilor Gandara yes
and mayor yes
okay we're adjourned it's 3 27 p.m thank
you
okay all right this is the agenda
setting meeting for our April 3rd 2023
city council meeting number one
non-consent one non-consens number two
non-consent two non-consens number three
non-consent three non-consens number
four non-consent four non-consent
okay