foreign
[Music]
okay good afternoon everyone welcome to
the work session of the Las Cruces City
Council today is Monday March 13th 2023
a quick birthday shout out to my mom and
her 93rd birthday today so yeah
thank you and uh yeah and so we're
90 93. yeah yeah so okay so we're going
to start off with our pets of the week
and looks like Amy De Felix who's going
to be doing this and possibly remote I
understand
doing this oh that's right I'm sorry
before we do that let's have our Pledge
of Allegiance please
okay so any Amy are you available
can you excuse I have puppies in my
office so there might be some crying
but my name is Anita Felix I am the one
of the rescue coordinators for the
Animal Services Center of the Messiah
Valley and I'm here to present our pets
of the week for this week we will start
off by sharing my screen
and we will have our cat of the week
can't even see this episode
sorry excuse me
our account of the week her name is Abby
it's spelled it's pronounced Abby just
with only one me her animal number is
59198 and she says I'm a girl gorgeous
girl with a luxurious Long Black Coat
and I have a fabulous personality demand
excuse me
I'm initially shy and timid but I open
up very quickly and I love being
affectionate next scriptures and
headphones are my favorite I have good
looks and a great personality so I'm the
total package I'm ready for my further
home but spoiling for the rest of my
days
and we also have our dog of the week his
name is JJ his number is 54568 and he
says I'm truly a family dog I love
people and I can even get along with
other dogs unfortunately my last family
had to surrender me because the one
thing I don't like or maybe like too
much are cats I really enjoy nice easy
walks on the nation I'm also lovable I
know it's easy for me to go unnoticed in
a shelter environment but I promise I'm
a precious gem worth loving forever
I do have one offside adoption event
at the buds cannabis shop off of Picacho
we will be there on Saturday the 18th
from 10 a.m to 1pm
I'm also going to present a couple of
them because the theme of the month that
Clint and I have decided to come to
print Cent on is a spay and neuter um so
I have a couple a few statistics mostly
regarding um our altered status during
intake so um we have a pie chart
for cats
um and this is data taken from the first
of January this year to February 28th of
this year so the first two total months
as you can see from the pie chart about
80 percent of the cats that came in over
the past two full months were unaltered
that means they were not expand or
neutered
um 14 were unknown 14 were unknown and
that's usually they're two fractious
they're a little too uh spicy for us to
check at Prime event take but we most of
the kind of presume that they're not
spayed or neutered and only six percent
came in already spayed and neutered and
that's when we can tell with a surgery
SCAR or a tattoo an ear tip if they're
like a TNR cat or medical records if
they were surrendered now for the dogs
um about 83 percent
about 83 of the dogs that came in the
past two full months were not spay or
neutered
um about eight percent were on Now
um only
only eight percent
um of the total amount of amount of dogs
that came in the past two months were
were proven to be spayed a unit before
intake um so we can see
um
communities band intake is kind of a
community concern
um it definitely impacts kind of not
just us as a facility but just
um
all the animals kind of within within
the county even
um so we need to work a
have work towards more community
outreach and hopefully get more
Community animals spay the Neutered
before the end of year if they ever do
and that is the end of my presentation
thank you
okay thank you Amy
really good information
okay so next we're going to go to jobs
of the week and I believe Irene para
from Economic Development will be making
that presentation
thank you
I'm having trouble accessing the slides
perhaps the control room could access
them for me
ah okay thank you
okay so we begin with the city of Las
Cruces who was looking for a city
surveyor this position pays between 66
000 and 95 000 a year and is open until
filled white Sun's Missile Range is
looking for a security guard this
position pays 37 000 a year and closes
on June 30th tresco is hiring for an
electrician this position pays 26.56 an
hour and closes on March 29th American
Red Cross is hiring for a volunteer
program manager this position pays
between 65 000 and 75 000 a year
depending on experience and closes on
June 2nd and MSU is hiring for a grounds
coordinator this position pays 37 000 a
year and closes on April 1st and Chicano
sport La causa is hiring for a center
manager this position pays between forty
two thousand and one hundred and twenty
thousand a year depending on experience
and closes on April 2nd
and as always for more information you
can contact the local Workforce
Connection office at
575-524-6250 or at their office at 226
South Alameda or online at employ nm.com
thank you okay thank you very much
Shireen
Okay so we've got three items on the
agenda the first one being the sister
cities celebrating sisters Rivers past
present and future and looks like Chris
Faber from economic development is going
to start this off
good afternoon everyone Chris favor with
economic development I am here to
introduce Tim Chapel who is the sister
cities Foundation president he will be
making a presentation discussing current
project efforts and things that they
have coming up in the next few years
okay thank you
good afternoon everybody
let me start this PowerPoint here
uh yes my name is Tim chapel and I am
president of the Las Cruces sister
cities foundation and I am also a
professor at doniana Community College
and we had this unique opportunity come
our way back in December
we had some of our members were over in
ninberg Germany
preparing for our upcoming trip in in
August and they were approached by a
person over there
um Stefan Capps who's part of this Urban
exchange project now it's a project that
has been started
um
by the German government and we decided
on talking about it and calling it a
celebration celebrating sister Rivers
past present and future so
so I'll give you a quick overview of the
project and talk a little bit about our
two rivers and then I want to show you
the schedule of events we have coming up
as an overview of the project right it
is set up by the German government and
its um connects connecting cities and
their citizens and Civil Society through
adult education that's kind of my
connection with the community college
and them is it's their adult education
which they have in Germany and I like
the the quote they had a global
challenges do not stop at National
borders and can only be solved through
joint transactional cooperation both at
the political and societal level okay so
the urban exchange project right now
offers nine German adult education
centers
and their counterparts in Britain
Ukraine and here in the U.S
um
the DV dvv International is the
Institute is the institute for
international cooperation of the German
adult education
the project is funded by the German
foreign office
so real quick is that we have our River
I managed to find a picture of it with
water in it
can't and we were just trying using this
to explain to our counterparts in
ninberg Germany you know how long the
river is and how it you know really sets
up the border between the U.S and Mexico
um
I'm going to pronounce it wrong they
pronounce it the Vasa River I that right
thanks
um has water in it and it's the that's a
picture aerial picture you can see
ninberg it's quite a historic beautiful
little city right there on the river and
but it's it's really interesting because
they're sort of a farming Community like
us but they're having issues you know we
have our our drought issues here and
they're having issues there with with
um pollution and runoff and some other
things that are going on like that
I know this is this is a lot but I
wanted to share with you some of the
schedule of events when we when we put
together the the grant okay they wanted
us to have a plan and it's going until
October so we had a kickoff meeting on
February 22nd and then where it says
next the historical perspective lecture
that's going to be this Wednesday okay
that we had to move the date it wasn't
on the 8th and um
because the the the the theme is past
present and future the first one we're
going to have is on the past the history
of both the Rio Grande and the vice
River in Germany and so this is going to
be on Zoom and if anybody wants to
attend you're more than welcome we're
also going to be at the um Donya Anna
um
the library at the East Mesa campus
d-a-aar 213 there so you can be face to
face the time we pick at nine in the
morning
um actually this one we had to move the
time also first off we did a time change
this weekend they haven't
um and they had another event so it's
actually going to be at 11 in the
morning
they're about eight hours difference
from us so we you'll find that most of
our things are going to be tried to
schedule in the morning because it's
early for us and then it's at in the
evening at five o'clock for them okay
um
so we're going to have the historical
perspective then on the 29th we're going
to talk about the present day the state
of of not only
um
the rivers but where I'm
going to be working hopefully with the
city to at the water treatment plant and
how we deal with handle water there and
also talking about because we have a
water treatment
a degree at the community college
getting those people kind of involved
the the next event we have and we
haven't pinned down the date yet in
April is a photo exhibit but in both
countries trying to get people from the
community who either have taken or want
to take pictures and set it up either
we're I'm working with Donnie here with
the city is either maybe have the the
picture shown here in city hall or at
one you know the
um Branigan cultural center or something
like that and so both cities will share
have the Arctic zip exhibit at the end
of April we're having four guests come
and visit us from neenburg we are in the
process of planning out all of the
events for the week but they will be
arriving on the actual giddy here the
night of the 23rd and then leaving on
the 28th and we have a whole slate of
events that we want to try and make them
aware of things that are here in our
beautiful community and we will have
several events that will be open and if
anybody wants to come meet the guests
you'd be more than welcome to
um
the next thing we have planned in June
is kind of an interesting
an interesting idea are counterparts in
Germany came up with
apparently during the pandemic Bob Ross
TV shows between kite popular in Germany
and people were you know he was the guy
who would do the paintings and stuff and
so we decided and they've got a young
artist over in Germany who said sure
I'll do that so we're going to set up
probably on a week and have about three
hours and zoom and have people that are
going to show us how to paint like Bob
Ross which I think is going to be kind
of fun hopefully with a water theme
then at the end of August
coinciding with the sister cities
exchange going over to ninberg we will
have two people myself and my my boss
John Juarez and who's also working with
me on the co from the college
will be going over and kind of
coinciding the two visits which will be
a really a really great opportunity
then in September we will have the
future of water so we will talk about
you know how how can we
makes water sustainable you know it's
important in
around the world Waters is is our
lifeline and so we're looking at
different alternatives for how to keep
it sustainable and then we will have a
closing in October
um does anybody have any questions
counselor um
sure thank you mayor and thank you for
the presentation
with one item when our guests arrive are
they going to be prepared that there
will be no water in our River
might be awfully disappointing I hope it
I don't think it's is it going to be not
in April not yet
usually doesn't come then so I think
that's something to and it goes along
really when we talk about water and
sustainability and what we face in the
desert but I would definitely prepare
them because our pictures are beautiful
but when they come here it will be a
much different that's true yeah that's a
good good advice okay
anybody else
mayor Pro tem yes thank you so much for
being here I look forward to the visit
um I'm so excited for my colleague here
to visit Germany
um when y'all I think you all are will
be there or is this just a personal yes
yes and mayor is oh good mayor I'm so
glad that good representation I thank
you for all that you do I feel this is a
really exciting
um and worthwhile relationship to
continue I know you put a lot of work in
planning this and I just want you to
know that I see you all and recognize it
and I look forward to meeting the the
group oh thank you I really appreciate
it yeah it's after the pandemic I'm glad
we have this opportunity to try and get
things rolling again because it's real
important to us both with sister cities
and the Community College
to have close ties with the city you
know and and utilize all of our
resources and let everybody know and be
aware of what's going on what I've
appreciated is the students that I think
am I could name this this is a while ago
and you're really jolting my memory but
I thought we had some students also at
one time that came and partnered with
our students our our student leadership
through the city through Parks and Rec
yeah we had we had a group um yes that
had exchanged the last high school they
exchanged with was
um it wasn't since Centennial may have
been one of the ones who says hi I'm
thinking well they they had they had
done Mayfield versus they had done all
of those and we would love to have that
exchange again as part of the sister
cities the problem is is finding
somebody to do it you know we had very
dedicated
um teachers who were teaching German and
whatever and who you know it takes a lot
of effort to do that both for them to
come over here and our students over
there but if anybody knows of anybody
that would like to take that opportunity
we will be more than happy to support
them well this is then a call out for a
need in our community if people are
watching we need someone to help right
sponsor and facilitate that I just I
found it incredibly beneficial for our
students and for both students on on
each side and I'm hoping that we can
resurrect that so thank you so much oh
you're welcome thank you mayor
thank you Mr Aaron thank you Tim thank
you so much for your Mr Dr Chapel for
being here and um just an overall thank
you for making sure that our sister
cities program is uh you know very much
alive and a lot of energy a lot of
positive energy and in so far as the
student
students being here I know that when I
was in high school back in the Dark Ages
we we had a student Exchange program and
we had a young woman a girl a young
woman from Munchen from Munich
and that's where my interest in German
and studying German and going to Germany
was admitted and and it was really
refreshing to have this young woman in
our city because she was an ambassador
and it was close enough still to the
to the memory of World War II
and and these sorts of programs whether
it's a sister city
our sis our city had
Santa Fe Springs California had
Nagoya Japan
Hermosillo Mexico and it was working oh
and Santa Fe in Argentina
so um anyway so all of that really
brings the world together and it brings
people together and we get to know each
other and we realize you know we're
really the same throughout the globe and
I really do want to thank you so much
for making sure that this is going on
and I hope that it goes on in perpetuity
and I hope we can attract young members
into the sister cities committee yeah
absolutely I completely agree with you
and that's what we're striving to do and
by having more more of these things
involved in the community hopefully will
become more visible and get more people
involved absolutely thank you and then
we also have you have some art projects
and I don't know if are you working with
our museums or with our City Art board
which is a little bit different but
still our museums would probably be
helpful to hook up yes yes we're I'm
with
um with um Dania
um we're working on how we're going to
set those up what's going to go through
the economic development department oh
thank you Tanya yeah so that's wonderful
yeah thank you so much again and thank
you economic development for our work
thank you Mr Mayor thank you thanks Tim
we appreciate it very much and um
looking forward to the trip all right oh
good good I look forward to having it so
as I say goodbye adiosen
I'm learning a little bit thank you
thank you all very much
okay so that's a pretty tough uh act to
follow his next is going to be the
fiscal year budget review
and it looks like it's the end Leanne
demouche from the finance department
anything fun to say about the budget
well mayor and counselor we have a treat
for you because at this presentation for
this work session we have three of our
four jpas we'll be presenting their
budget today and we also have the fire
department Mr Allen over there DC Allen
will be presenting and also from the
line of business for housing and
Neighborhood Services Natalie Green so
I'm going to introduce our first speaker
and that is going to be Sergeant Gabe
adianos if he could come forward I'm
going to open up his presentation for
him
ah
I'm trying that in this for you Gabe
okay
yes sure thank you and if you need to
raise this up you can okay thank you
good afternoon everybody thank you for
allowing me to present the budget my
name is Sergeant Gabriel adenivas I'm a
sergeant with the Las Cruces Police
Department I'm currently assigned to
doniana County Metro narcotics as the
commander
before we go into the budget I just want
to kind of give you a brief overview of
the Personnel at Metro narcotics
um we have three sergeants one sergeant
from Las Cruces Police Department one
sergeant from Dona Sheriff's Office one
New Mexico State Police Sergeant 12
agents five from the Las Cruces PD front
from Dona Ana Sheriff's Office and two
from New Mexico State Police we also
have three FBI agents that sit within
our task force and before we get into
the budget I didn't want to confuse you
New Mexico State Police and FBI does
operate on their own Personnel budget
that does not include our budget that I
want to present today
we also have five civilian Personnel
within the task force
operations Las Cruces donana County
Metro narcotics participated in over 400
investigations in 2022 to include
undercover operations search warrants
Highway interdiction follow-ups on
information and call out investigations
the college investigations include Dona
Ana County Sheriff's Office Las Cruces
Police Department and depending on the
investigation all the smaller law
enforcement entities within the county
total operating budget for Metro
narcotics for this fiscal year hasn't
changed it's still 681 thousand eighty
six dollars lost the city of Las Cruces
and doniana County both contribute 325
543 with the Federal Grant from FBI for
operations Safe Streets of thirty
thousand dollars
our Personnel budget is 274 730 that
covers our standby on-call pay
are scheduled overtime and that's read
because one thing that I did because of
the salary adjustments with the raises
of the agents both with the city and the
county I increased it 10 within our
budget
um that also can consist of fringe
benefits to include Medicare Social
Security dental health insurance work
workers compensation and life and
disability
our operating budget is 321 356 dollars
what that includes is Dollar General
supplies General purchases software
um print copy fees minor equipment which
is everything under five thousand
dollars for us uniform and safety wear
apparel telephone and cell phones for
the agents auditing and financial
services for the task force
vehicle repair and maintenance fuel
travel liability and property and
workman's comp premiums
we also are requesting fifty six
thousand dollars for Rolling equipment
uh
with the intention of getting SUV to be
able to
um Pro secure better our surveillance
equipment to include our new our drone
program that we started in 2022.
and that concludes my presentation in
regards to the budget
thank you
thank you sergeant and just the FYI so
the chief and I Sit On The Board of
Supervisors of Metro narcotics
any questions from any of you
May report
thank you Sergeant so much for coming
and presenting
um it's a bit of a mystery sometimes you
know about what what you do other
because I just don't sit on the board if
you will and so it was requested that
our our folks that we have joint powers
of agreement come and do presentations
and talk to us about what your needs may
be
um
so the city provides funding
to this to this entity along with the
other adaso as well the county in the
city yes ma'am that comprises of the 325
300 and
it's 325 000 5 143 each okay and then
just to clarify the Federal grant is
thirty thousand
and are you do you oversee all of the
people within your jurisdiction that
includes Esso yes so the way the joint
Powers agreement is written is I am the
commander okay
um and right now the assistant Commander
is a sergeant with the doniana Sheriff's
Office
so what I am is I'm pretty much the
administrator administrative duties and
the other Sergeant he does all the
operational stuff okay um and then we
have a state police Sergeant as well so
they both work on the operational side
of Metro narcotics and I handle all the
administrative stuff pretty much
okay so
um that also includes oversight
administratively of the operations right
yes ma'am okay I get that all right and
then you had the increase in overtime as
just to inform us that you've asked for
10 increase of the total budget so I
didn't ask so what I did is I
reallocated funding within the budget
that we already had I move money around
okay and I increased the overtime budget
by 10 by taking out of other areas so
what are those numbers so the numbers
offender in terms of the number of hours
that your people are working and is that
do you have sufficient funding to be
able to carry out the duties that you
have for the the year so I don't know
the exact numbers for you right now but
I do believe we have sufficient Monies
to cover for the overtime yes ma'am okay
and then do you have a grant writer
specifically that helps
um with grant writing I know that every
now and again things come for approval
specifically for Metro narcotics no we
would go through the our parent agency
the Las Cruces Police Department more
than likely okay
so it would be our grant writers that
over through the whole city yeah okay
yes okay I would imagine I've never been
asked that question so that's something
new to me but we don't have one
specifically at our agency okay so maybe
Leanne you'll take note of that and then
be able to answer that question later
I'm assuming it is through the city of
Las Cruces Grant
um
and the reason that I asked it is I'm
thinking there's a ton of Grants out
there that could help offset some of
this as well so mayor mayor Pro tem so
the officers that Mr uh that the
sergeant is under they're actually on
the PD payroll okay so any grants that
would come through that to help with
Metro would actually go through the city
as well yes ma'am okay got it got it um
so then does that include so you've
included PD and payroll and whatnot
through LCPD would that also include in
the event there are
um
complaints made against the the unit if
you will they follow the same Personnel
regulations as police department and if
people needed to make a complaint
um
for things such as use of for successive
use of force they would go through your
through your IA Department chief
mayor mayor Pro tem that's correct they
fall within the the
umbrella of LCPD okay all right and do
you have like a specific website
Commander no we don't you don't you go
are we we have a basic small stuff on
the city website that is very basic
so if I got on now it just says Metro
narcotics yes I do okay okay I think
that's to due to the the kind of work
that we do yes I get it I appreciate it
thank you so much for answering my
questions and thank you for the work
that you do thank you appreciate it so
much thank you
thank you mayor Pro tem and other than
the sergeant I don't know if he still
goes out but a lot of this is uh
staff are undercover so you won't and
they look pretty good you can't tell who
they are
the point counselor
hi thank you mayor thanks for the
presentation
um just wondered you said in 2022 you
added drones
we have a drone in the unit now I just
want to hear about it because I think
it's cool so it's pretty much once we uh
get the necessary like search warrants
and stuff or pre-plan operation it's for
safety of us we can determine you know
safety factors when we do deploy
if we're doing surveillance or
pre-operation surveillance and stuff
like that it's been a great tool for the
agents and they've seemed to benefit
from it yeah that's amazing who Pilots
it one of the agents right now agent
Duran is the pilot right now for the
city he's a city officer all right
[Music]
you're not going to volunteer your
services and knowledge too the that's
what I was just about to do but if
you've seen me drive a car you don't
want me piloting your drone all right
hey there any other questions
okay
well thank you Sergeant thank you
appreciate the work you do you all do
and just to let you know it also
encompasses up to hatch and summon Park
and and
although throughout the whole County
mayor council I'd like to
introduce our second speaker
I will pull up their presentation mayor
I have a last question and I know he's
leaving the vehicle is it Evie
the vehicle that he's asking for
is it going to be an electric vehicle do
they fall within the same as I think we
pushed that the our vehicles from here
on out when purchase need to be Electric
mayor mayor Pro Tem
it's not an EV vehicle that is being
requested at this time
this time yeah yeah probably mayor Pro
tem because
bad guys don't drive electric vehicles
I mean really if you think about it they
pull up in a
in an EV they're going to think this
doesn't look right this is you know so
we've been talking very specific I
I get it yes but we've been talking
about to the point those sorts of
situations that police have agreed you
know they're finding the different types
of vehicles that have the speed and
everything that that they are used to in
these newer Vehicles so I just thought
it was worth bringing up
and you should make sure mayor and chief
that you are working towards something
like that I know it'll take forever but
I think
policy makers made a policy and we
shouldn't adhere to it and that includes
our
um JP jpas
mayor mayor Pro tem there is still an
issue with charging stations there's
none available at this time but as we
start getting the infrastructure put in
there will be more EVS purchased
we do have four on on order by the way
I would think you'd be looking for like
a Camaro or a challenger and that's kind
of cars I think a stereotype
okay yeah some mayor council I like to
introduce uh the director of mervda
which is Hugo Costa
you can lower this if you need to sir
thank you thank you sir
good afternoon mayor mayor pretem
counselors thank you for having us here
for the presentation
and there was a handout one page handout
for you and um excuse me yes I know they
introduced you and it's going to show
you but I just need you to stay tuned
absolutely sorry about that Hugo Costa
executive director Messiah Valley
Regional dispatch Authority
there's a one-page handout and I'd like
to just show a couple of slides that
will focus on those for you
okay first our expenses and revenues our
proposed budget for fiscal year 2324 is
is level funded actually it's a
Point 0.08 decrease about five thousand
dollars in the current operating budget
we're returning an estimated 620 620
that we pulled out of the fund balance
for the current budget and that was due
to monies that were safe to do insurance
and
um
employee expenses due to short staffing
our budget increases in this budget are
contractually based our Union negotiated
a three-year contract last year which
this year was the first year of it
we anticipate utilization of 620 000 in
our fund balance to go into this budget
to offset any drastic increases
and
just as a point our
operating budget 81 percent of it is
salaries and benefits
as far as the contributions go they're
based on a price per call
this year the price per call our coming
year would be fifteen dollars and 93
cents and if you look at that compared
to the Natural national average the
national average is 25 dollars per call
so we're quite a ways below that
after contributions from the smaller
communities Messiah hatch
Sunland Park and Anthony the jpa
stipulates that the budget is split 53
percent 47 percent between the city and
the county and so the assessment for the
city in this budget would be an increase
of 6.66 percent or 150 000 and that
would amount to an assessment of two
million 407
650 and with that it'll stand for any
questions
thank you mayor thank you for being here
you go I appreciate the work that you do
such an important position positions in
our community
um how many vacancies do you have
we have approximately 11 vacancies right
now we're down 27 of our operational
needs
so that means you have 22 employees
total no we have 51 employee totals
we're down 27 so it's 11 vacancies and
what is your do you have you assessed
why that is as can you talk to me a
little bit about that sure it um we've
always had problems getting fully
staffed we have been fully staffed a few
times
but it's a very stressful job in the
past it was a low salary for the stress
to give you a comparison
um before covid there were
high school students making more at
Target than our starting dispatchers
that changed the board and the
communities agreed to a
an overhaul of our weight structure when
the city went to 15 an hour and so we
did and we're very competitive now
however we've lost a lot of people that
don't want to work due to covid we're
trying to build up again and um
we've been making strides I think at the
peak of covid we were down 40 percent
and so now we're down up to 27. wow okay
okay that was my next question thanks
for
um forecasting what my next question
would be was around salary
um
so do you do recruitment do you do job
fairs what are what is that your
um right your I guess position on how
you're recruiting folks and if it's not
here is it a national search or what are
your efforts it's all the above we are
on the city of Las Cruces
um hiring board so we go through the
city of the house cruises hiring process
but we do do job fairs we do do a lot of
recruitment online we have on
on always open application process
I know
not a slide that you talked about
um sort of call first I guess we you
charge per call and I'm assuming and
that it's rather low yes this is
slightier
this light here yes
um and and then you compared it to the
National
um and so you're rather low
that's correct
um what we do is we take the total
number of calls we've dispatched in the
previous year so if you look at 2021 the
bottom just below the the red box
uh we dispatched just under 300 000
calls and so we take that and we divide
that by our budget request
and that will come up with a price per
call and So currently going into this
budget request the price per call is the
number up at the top
um top right of the screen
15.93
now is there a discussion to increase
that or it has that been increased is
that what you're telling me here with
this slide it's been increased from what
you had previous to what you're going to
yes it's increased by eight cents per
call from the current year and it's kind
of a hard number two
for us to control because it's based on
what we need for our budget and then how
many actual calls we dispatch and we
have no control over that the amount of
times people call 9-1-1 and we have to
send no police Fire EMS yes yes okay and
and then
um how do you assess sort of
the work that you do like how well you
do it and is is that put together in a
report and can Council have this report
I know there's several couple of folks
here on on Council that that sit on the
board but how would you communicate with
us more regularly about about just the
quality of work and evaluation of your
total program
sure uh two years ago we
piggybacked off the city the city's Peak
program yes and we developed our own we
call it core and the core has some
standards that we've been trying to meet
so last year in June was the end of our
first year I can provide the uh the
council that report if you'd like and
our next report would be coming up this
June and we'll we can provide that to
the council too that's correct we said a
bunch of metrics there and it shows what
matters we've been able to meet and
things that we're still working on okay
okay yeah that would be very helpful
um and then lastly
um I didn't see
um and I realized this is more of an
overview but
um what is it your training budget like
and
um you know what types of training are
you do you receive sure you go back
because line
luckily probably 99
of our
training budget comes is reimbursed
through DFA
so we have two things our initial
training that if we hire you let's say
as a telecommunicator and bring you on
board that's included in the salary in
the budget because you're you're
training hour per hour that you're there
so that I'd have to pull that out and
give that to you separately but extra
training that we do for a continuing
education we get that reimbursed through
Department of Financial Administration
and right now it's twenty thousand
dollars that they give us
okay okay so you get twenty thousand
dollars of your total budget what is the
total budget related to training
specifically well for the total budget
really nutrition like I said it's hard
to to for me to pull out here to have to
go back and pull it out because when we
hire you all most of the initial
training is when you're hired and so
that is included in your in the salary
that that with the person so if the
salary is thirty five thousand dollars
let's say
um then the hours part of the hours that
that you're getting paid for is direct
training this other training the twenty
thousand that's continuing education
training that um they're required by the
state of New Mexico uh to maintain every
two years so that's additional uh on top
of all the the training give you an idea
um someone who starts with us has eight
weeks of initial training full-time uh
40 hours a week to get all the necessary
certifications that they need
in education is offered through the
state of New Mexico
we offer it the state of New Mexico uh
reimburses this we reimbursement yes I
get that I guess I'm trying to get an
idea of the type of training that you
give your um your um your um staff sure
that's Mental Health Training CPR
training there's uh FEMA training on
handling large-scale emergencies there
is um training on
say suicidal callers it's a whole gamut
there's emergency medical dispatch
training which trains them on how to
handle emergency medical calls
so that's pretty much the type of
training we do all right they can send
you our training manual that shows
that's listed specifically every single
sure thank you I appreciate that very
much thank you mayor
councilman Como thanks mayor thank you
so much
um a couple follow-up questions for you
um
all of your stuff is in the Union
um the dispatch personnel and I think
three administrative positions are union
the rest are not
um which positions are your the at the
lowest wage and what is that wage the
lowest wage is a call Taker and that's
how everybody comes in at and I believe
it's
18.63 cents an hour currently okay and
that was that's been there was a recent
increase yes uh in June last June last
July 1st that was part of the Union
contract yes it was okay great I'm glad
to see that they were included in those
negotiations definitely something
teenagers at Target don't have as unions
so that's good that they do
um
okay
um do you have any opportunity for
remote work I know you said there had
been you'd been having hiring concerns
due to covet is that an opportunity for
um not for the rank and file dispatchers
we did during covid have some of our
administrative staff doing remote work
but there was not any opportunity for
the for the dispatch Personnel to do it
so during the height of code those folks
were coming to the office every day they
were okay every day okay
there was wasn't any in your budget that
you didn't have any things for training
specifically but I I guess that you've
explained that pretty we do I can send
you the itemized budget that will show
um different training courses and uh
that we do train that would help I would
consent it over yeah I would like to see
that
um and then so you know that you said
you have continuing education credits
are they just optional trainings for
staff or is there some sort of mandatory
requirement that they have to keep up um
there's mandatory requirements that you
have to keep up there are 80 hours every
two years that they have to complete and
um they're both dispatch oriented and
the medical training and then we do
offer
um
volunteering you know non-mandatory
courses throughout the year
with the new 988 system
um was the training that your folks are
receiving through that that has been
reimbursed as well or is that covered
separately we covered that separately we
covered that on our own we actually sat
down with New Mexico crisis line and we
developed the training so we're the um
we're the first ones in New Mexico to
actually do that kind of training and we
set the standard pretty much for the
state of New Mexico but we covered that
within our budget okay it's my
understanding that you all are supposed
to come back for a different work
session right on that specific matter we
are we'll be here on the 27th okay great
thank you very much
counselor Flores
thank you thank you mayor and thank you
Mr Costa
um and so far as the training goes who
who does the training for example we had
a situation where it was a 3-1-1 call
and I think it was right before the
implementation of 388.
and that created some problems insofar
as the response time and the actions
that were taken thereafter so who does
the training
uh it's twofold we have a training
officer that does the majority
person is certified through the state in
Mexico Law Enforcement Academy to do
dispatcher training we have a couple of
people those credentials but we do have
one uh training officer and then we also
do hire Consultants to come in to do
different types of training from app
goanina for example which are Nation are
the Nationwide
industry organizations for 9-1-1 and
then also Consultants throughout New
Mexico that are known to do law
enforcement and dispatch training okay
so
um we can rest assured from what you
just said that someone making a call
erroneously to 9-1-1
will immediately receive a 988 operator
or a 980 response
well that depends if if it's necessary
there is a protocol in place that was
agreed to between us and the crisis line
in 988. certain calls will never go to
988. for example if someone is is
calling 9-1-1 and they're threatening
harm to themselves or others that will
not go to 980 that will be dispatched
out uh narcotics overdoses those will be
dispatched out so the dispatcher has a
protocol that they follow which we'll
talk about in detail on the 27th with
you and if it meets the protocols then
that call is eligible to go to 980.
okay
um
thank you very much Mr Costa thank you
thank you Mr Mayor
thank you anyone else
I just have a couple comments I'd like
this to make Google you've been with
you've been running merva for about 20
years 18 18 yeah and I think you've done
a a fantastic job in fact I think your
stability is the reason why it's run so
smooth you've taken it from that little
small little building there on across
from the Old Courthouse to what it is
here today
I don't think probably I've only seen
maybe one
claim in all my years and that was that
the days in and the day's end you
remember I don't know if you remember
that but a long time ago but I just also
wanted to tell you that
if you're at 27 percent
the state is at 30 so you're still below
the state and I and I can't thank you
enough for your training and what you do
to your staff as well as the
hard-working men and women of murfda
because that is a tough job I mean I've
been there's there's been a couple shows
from Hollywood that kind of depict the
things that you all do I don't know if
that's a whole but I bet you it's close
you know but anyways I just want to tell
you thank you for that your leadership
and and all the years of stability that
you provided to that organization
because I don't I don't see anything
negative coming out of there thank you
Mr Mayor
okay so Leanne
thank you
it's interesting no one brought up the
the percentages how it went from 53 to
47 but uh that was thanks to Bruno's
Aldo who's a city manager back in the
90s who
I was a county commissioner who asked
when I was on the county if the city
could pay a little bit more because they
had more money than the county So and
I've noticed it's still the same 50s
well there's we also do a lot more
volume of calls so
okay
who's our next well mayor let me close
this one and I will introduce our next
speaker who is the deputy director for
South Central solid waste and that's Mr
Rafael Leos
here it comes Rafael alrighty
thanks
sir it's just the arrow key down perfect
thank you
good afternoon mayor mayor Pro tem
counselor City management staff as well
as public person here and online can I
have you uh yes sir thanks
my name is Rafael Leos I'm the deputy
director with South Central Solid Waste
Authority I'm also Deputy two executive
director Patrick Peck who I'm standing
in here for today
we appreciate the opportunity this
afternoon to speak on behalf of some of
the budget assumptions we've taken going
into FY 24.
so the Authority's long-standing goal
has been to meet the needs of the
customers as well as the constituents
that result in our service area while
balancing the economic changes within
the landscape of solid waste and
recycling
and within that there are changing and
challenging Market shifts as well so the
authorities the solid waste industry is
very Dynamic it shifts very frequently
and as such The Authority is addressing
these in needs of Human Resources
elevating customer service
we are also addressing growth and taking
part in infrastructure and planning
all the while managing the waste volumes
which is very key to our industry and
maintaining flat expenses
lastly the we are addressing Capital
needs and undertakings that the the
future of the authority is going to need
to implement so thank you
with respect to human resources
The Authority has been committed and
continues to commit to investing in its
Workforce
and the Very people that keep the solid
waste industry moving both safely and
economically
and scoswell must continue to invest in
our people and for that I'm here to
present with this that it's very well
known that there are shortages
nationally and locally that key trade
and skilled labor positions that are in
high demand are still in short supply
heavy equipment operators for example
bulldozer operators excavator operators
loaders articulated dump trucks those
are just to name a few but as well
commercial license commercial drivers
that are
very difficult to compete for with the
lucrative oil industry within our state
very close by as well as the very active
housing market that requires a lot of
earthwork being done that these people
are well qualified and trained to go and
work for so again investing into our
people is one of the the greatest budget
assumptions we're moving forward with
here
so I've also wanted to report that we're
seeing shortfalls of approximately a
hundred thousand drivers
um that's that is a shortfall in driver
of CDL Drivers but 300 000 annually is
just from natural attrition that's just
the turnover so in combination of those
two our organization and our industry is
based on being able to move Solid Waste
trash with CDL drivers
so the authority has looked to add two
new drivers to
um The Authority as well as additional
positions for example for landfill
laborer positions
so that we can look to develop
our own in this industry the unique
thing coming from my previous uh history
and Edge waste
and as such we really need to focus in
on how we can meet the demands when we
don't have something producing these
staff so maybe we have to take that
responsibility which we are
um
the ideal is that we will continue to
develop these staff but allocating 10
percent of the employees time to
training within their employment so
I I guess in summary with this slide
really The Authority wants to become the
employer of choice when it comes down to
Solid Waste industry I know not many
people go to college to look and say I
just want to work in trash but there's
far more
um wonderful things you can get from
from this industry
so customer service we're elevating
customer service in a number of ways
customer service comes first is our
mission
we we really want to assure the the city
and and your constituents that they're
going to be well taken care of and in
doing so we want to elevate it by
understanding their expectations and
their needs because again we're
balancing it with the pressures that
we're seeing with both our Workforce
stressors but also the the particular
Market shifts okay and balancing our
budget
customer interaction must continue to be
the backbone of our operations and
that's interestingly enough the very
first thing that as a deputy director I
was hired into was one of the first
statements you're going to be available
our staff are going to be available for
any phone call so an individual calling
won't have to sit and wait but not only
that have the compassion that as someone
in customer service be able to solve
their problem
so we've elevated direct human
interaction and positive engagement
we've done so in tours of our facility
which have really ramped up post covet
social media has been implemented and
utilized in the past but really we're
engaging in that a lot more robustly
our web page we went through a migration
of our old web page and this year we've
exercised that new page and I'm happy to
report that we are seeing numbers that
show higher activity which is what you
want to see this investment that you you
move into to produce the numbers back
especially with with respect to customer
service
so
as mentioned earlier waste is not static
okay the inputs don't always equate to
the outputs in our industry the Region's
growing Las Cruces is growing so
therefore our infrastructure our
landfill has to grow our various
transfer stations have to grow so we
have on uh here development of projects
with the eye for the future of the
region in the form of construction of a
new sort line in Las Cruces tied to
recycling at an educational Murph which
is a materials recovery facility the
equivalent of what would be recyclable
materials coming in and being scanned
prior to
being sent out
two new transfer stations one in Holmen
and one in Anthony New Mexico as another
Hub to assist in the growing demand that
we see here in Las Cruces
cell five at coralitos landfill for
those that are unaware a cell is by
Design where your Solid Waste goes at
the end of its life okay very highly
regulated by state and federal
regulation and highly engineered
um so
in addition to this for a sustainable
path moving forward and looking at our
plan we had to look at the solid waste
plan which is now dated 30 years I think
this year
so as these shifts change we are
actually on the first steps to develop a
new 20-year Solid Waste plan for the
authority
now this slide here is just a quick
glance at some of the numbers with
respect to how what's comprising our
budget
we're estimating a small organic growth
of about two percent and that's based
more on inflation we've moved
particularly past the post covet where
we saw more of a five percent so this is
actually more um very more truth or more
organic to the growth that we're seeing
um in that the revenue predictions for
General operations is at about 11
million
recycling at 4.2 million County
Collections at 1.6 million Sunland Park
at 1.3 million
and state loans and grants is estimated
about 3 million
we we mentioned to you earlier that we
are seeing a 14 growth in staff so as
such we've seen our budget in in those
areas grow
um State loans and grants they're the
one of the last ones there is a
combination of comp capital outlay and
loans and grants
um that we've seen over the past year
and hopefully we'll see in succession in
the years to come
so in our business everything is based
on volume of of waste and as a business
type Enterprise these
this is a conservative manner in which
we look at our budget as what comes in
is essentially what we work with those
are a sign that revenue is assigned to
our tip fees
so again earlier I mentioned that uh and
here on expenses we'll see a 14 growth
in Personnel we we address six new
positions two drivers for landfill
laborers but our ultimate goal is
keeping expenses flat some of the
Strategic Personnel hires are tied to
this
in addition to the growth in the
Personnel we are advancing in our our
salaries to continue
incrementally getting to a 15 an hour
minimum wage
we again mentioned the expenses are flat
but how is it we do that with increased
prices and fuel which is a very high
cost for us increases in personnel so as
I mentioned strategic strategic hires
with respect to hiring on two mechanics
within the past two years developing a
fleet main a fleet Department we were
able to internalize cost
um Fleet Maintenance expenses are
positive as we internalize some of the
repairs we've seen that just at its
onset but type 2 infrastructure we are
growing and so building shops in Las
Cruces and in one of our locations in in
the County Down in chaparral New Mexico
to help assist with internalizing more
of these costs as we go
foreign
one of the biggest impacts in capital to
our budget some says are supply chain
issues again we were talking about both
shortages and drivers well if your
shortage of drivers nationally obviously
that might be a trickle effect into
supply chain issues therefore But it
includes Parts it includes purchases
that once previously took three to four
months to get a dozer are now currently
taking 18 months so more than a year and
a half so as you can expect you
yourselves being familiar with budgeting
we're carrying over two years worth of
capital budget
we don't know when these items will hit
so we have to be able to manage them
that's one of
one of one of the biggest impacts that
we've seen in capital
we are looking at ordering two new doses
for the winter delivery of 2025 but
that's as early as now
again some Industries are closing their
books for reorder already
so we can't order until 2024.
um
The Ordering of trailers roll off trucks
new front loader those are just a subset
of a lot of our equipment but those are
the main ones we're approaching first
and foremost to make sure that the the
services are continued
um we also are addressing other areas in
which we can supplement we we're seeing
uh nearly 700 000 in state grants for
five trucks that will be replaced
through a VW Grant
um
ultimately the uh we're going to look at
adjusting based off of this and these
these budget assumptions as I've already
defined we're going to have to adjust
along the way given we don't know when
these items will actually land in New
Mexico in our position and take custody
of therefore pay for
overall Authority is a large Regional
entity you can see that by the size of
the budget we're larger in perspective
when responsible for the Public's health
and handling Solid Waste both safely and
environmentally and and some of the
ancillary roles that we serve within to
our constituents here in Las Cruces so
with that I will stand for questions and
I appreciate your attention here today
thank you
councilor Flores thank you Mr Mayor and
thank you so much for your presentation
um I didn't get your last name
yeah and I see right there
um so thank you so much again thank you
for your presentation
um so in terms of all these unknowns
insofar as your Capital
um you know what you want what you need
so what does that really leave uh solid
waste the authority and
um a Neverland or does it impact the
quality or the quantity the ability to
do what has to be done and then what are
you going to do about I mean you're
gonna have to probably wait till 2024 or
2025 to order some of these things so
how does that impact the ability to
carry out the work and I'm also
concerned about the the minimum wage
so if you could address that yes ma'am
uh mayor mayor Pro tem councilman very
great question so thankfully The
Authority has been successful in
obtaining these pieces of equipment
historically there are programs that we
have exercised where they renew some of
this equipment we've approved some some
manufactured to get us through this time
unfortunately it is the nature of the
industry and we will have to wait for
those but predictably thankfully we've
got a great executive director that that
has many more years experience than I do
and may add to my response at a later
date but the the way that we've been
managing our equipment in and out for
the life cycles of them are advancement
of our Fleet Department each of those
have been a key integral role to allow
us to extend when we are pressured so
that's one of our internals as as far as
leaving us kind of out as an island
we we haven't seen these pressures
before this significantly but we're
we're pretty thankful for where we're at
um I don't I I can't really predict it
that's kind of presumptuous of me to say
whether we would be an island but what
we've been able to get through thus far
I don't think we're that too far of an
island we also have industry support
through both our national Solid Waste
associate of North America where staff
are training by traveling outward and
bringing back new vendors that have new
methods to get equipment out for example
truck rentals so if we can't purchase
maybe we can we can rent which we've
done in the past but
um to my point is that we are extending
part of that training for our staff
including myself going to these national
conferences to be able to extract that
information and those vendors to come
back to us here in the state so that we
are no longer
excellent answer thank you so much I'm
so happy to hear that there's a catch
there yeah if if I may just to address
the uh very briefly the uh minimum wage
there have been incremental increases
um that was a very big push in mayor Pro
tem and councilor Graham are sitting on
our board that help us in managing that
and the expectations of this region in
city of Las Cruces and in doing so
there has been a move towards I I can
say from my own personal experience as a
Southern Regional Manager in hiring
we've moved past 1325 we're
incrementally going up and some of these
entry level positions for example as
Solid Waste laborers so spotters
cashiers so that we can eventually get
to that point
thank you Mr
pleasure
thanks mayor hi Mr Leos how are you good
mayor it's always a pleasure getting to
talk to you and and Patrick Peck very
much appreciate both of your
perspectives and I I also hope there was
a college degree in garbage I feel like
there should be it's totally a science
in fact actually in fact there's
[Music]
um
there's this great podcast to everyone
that I love called ologies and this
person is
sorry to go off on my tangent it's
important it has a point I swear it's
called ologies and this comedian
interviews a bunch of ologists and she
interviews somebody in discard
anthropology garbage and so I'm very
excited to go listen to this podcast and
then I wish I would have listened to it
before today so I could have asked you
more questions please well if they do
come up uh mayor mayor Pro tem if any
more questions do come up but but in
reflection with your your comment and
your your question there is I I come
from a Pharmaceuticals background I have
a very strong science I've got multiple
degrees but I moved into an industry
where a lot of individuals come out of
high school and they want to begin in in
their career we need to find a better
way to support these individuals if
education is not a pathway they're a
successful
we just presented at a career fair at
Mesa middle and our Miss Brandy miskis
who serves as our recycling education
Outreach coordinator did a wonderful job
of presenting what how many many jobs we
have as the authority and a scale and
there was a lot of interest there
so how is it that we can become a better
entity to be able to push
um and offer opportunities for people to
thrive in in Las Cruces without having
to be in coming out of an educational
system I will say that there is a lot of
science there's a lot of engineering so
there are jobs that do come out of that
but they're not there's not a college
specifically that will only ideally
focus on that there will be a sub
Department which hopefully we can look
at locally yeah absolutely and I think
you know working with the
already there's such a president set
with how much they work with utilities
right and and having interns that all
end up staying at utilities for a very
long time so I think that's that's very
cool and you know whatever you all are
cooking up over there that's bold and
Innovative when it comes to the future
of
our Solid Waste I would love to hear
about it you have supporters here who I
know it's not a you know it's not a
great future
but I think there's a lot of really bold
innovative ideas that I think
um I'd love to hear if you have them and
then really my only question was
regarding you briefly mentioned and this
not for this budget cycle but in for the
future
um the city is growing and the needs for
bigger facilities are growing as well is
that something that you have
you know really looked at budgeted out
what are those needs and how can the
city
you know be supportive mayor May Pro tem
councilman yes so they have and they
continue the conversations
um right now
as it stands the Amador transfer station
has been outgrown we are all facing that
the city uh our customers and so we're
humbly and responsibly trying to manage
the solid waste while these move forward
from a larger transfer station in the
growing area the region systematically
looked at waste sheds they're it's in
the it's in the design phase and I don't
want to say too much more but
um it's in the design phase so that we
can have an answer when the growth
continues and the waste volumes
over exceed our capacity beyond what we
already have
so that's one but there are many other
opportunities and I think the
conversation will continue great thank
you if there's ever an opening on that
board
come in I'm already putting my name out
there mayor I'd love to be and I'm going
to keep calling it the garbage board
because I think that's sexier than Solid
Waste everyone's like what is that
well actually when I leave there will be
there'll be an open seat so
let whomever is there know about it
uh councilor Graham
thank you mayor
Rafael great to see you we're to not be
sitting at the same table with pastries
I love that I'm up here and there were
there are pastries at this board and
amazing coffee
um if you can just jump back two more
slides to three oh sorry
and not a question but mainly just
um just pointing out how very good sdswa
is at professional development at
growing the employees
um who are who are part of your I'll say
it family
one of the greatest things about being
on the board is getting to see the
quarterly employee recognition and what
I've noticed consistently is just how
long these folks have been with you and
how many steps they have moved up in
your organization and I regularly get
teary eyed at your board so
but I I just want this up here again
to focus on particularly that allocating
10 percent of employees time for
training because I think so many jobs
encourage professional development and
then give no Pathways to realistically
make that happen we all know how we feel
at the end of a work day like do you
really want to go and oh yeah and I'm
gonna I'm gonna do some training and try
to advance my career so I think it's so
important to walk the walk and not just
talk the talk in scswa shines at that
just wanted to say so thank you mayor
well thank you councilor um if I if I
may just add to that um
myself anecdotally coming through many
different industries that I've worked in
it's
it's such a great thing to see when I'm
a first-time deputy director and we are
retiring someone of over 35 years
another one after 25 years another one
and continually it it had it gives a
sense of
One Security and Assurance but again I
appreciate what I'm able to do I
appreciate our board and what you guys
allow for for us to to move forward in
these directions so thank you
thank you thank you mayor and thank you
Mr Leos thank you for being here and for
gosh that's an informative
presentation
I'm really proud to sit on this board
and people laugh when I say it's one of
my favorites because it is
you and Mr Peck have been just
um
amazing at taking folks that have really
no idea about solid waste and and and
kind of leading us right and educating
us and I've really appreciated that I
wanted to
have you go back to the slide where you
spoke to the five
the cell five a like coralitos and just
outgrowing the facility
um
and what Mr Peck you know they a while
back they brought a resolution
um it's been actually several years just
having that discussion about
constructing the new the new one
transfer station and I have to say I was
against it
um just because
not really visually seen where it was
going to be and knowing that there are
some residents in the area and knowing
what I know being in public health and
Patrick Peck took the time to give me a
tour and said look I remember you voted
no one and I thought oh I did why and
then I was like oh yes I remember that
right because so many things are coming
to us at different boards but he took
the time and he tour he gave me a tour
and really outlined the importance of
just the out the out the growing out of
that and the importance of of having
constructing this new site
and so being able to have you know your
leadership
um I think and and taking the time to
answer the questions that all of us may
have because we're not experts in in it
um but we we have a vision and and so I
very much appreciate I thought it was
something that we I should know here
give you all Kudos but um the recycling
coordinator had been vacant for some
time
and now with Brandy being the new
coordinator what are the plans because I
think so much of what lies ahead for us
is right the re the the importance of
recycling and then you said that market
that fluctuates so much that has created
I think some problems for us
what is the vision for that that
position and how will it affect these
um these cells and and outgrowing
Facilities and such because I think it
sort of goes hand in hand yeah
absolutely great question mayor mayor
Pro tem
the the vision I think
um I would assign that question to
director Peck because he has 30 plus
years experience over what the long term
is but what I've gathered what I can
share is what I've gathered from my
experiences is that does tie hand in
hand because if you noticed we're
elevating our customer service we're
elevating our Outreach digitally and
traditional methods both bilingual we're
addressing everything to our area and in
doing so the education comes in key you
yourself mentioned a tour just
illuminated everything that we do
maybe it could lead to some type of
online digital tour that we could
educate more Beyond just one individual
at a time we do welcome those tours to
anybody here on Council and in city if
they care to we'd be happy to do that at
any time we have a great staff actually
have a great support staff here too I
know I see a few of them out here that
would equally happily take do that so to
to your question
um I don't have the answer for the full
vision but it is integral and the period
that we didn't have it we could see we
were taking a step back I actually feel
that role temporarily until we continued
and I saw the need and respect our Miss
miscus for the work she does it's
incredible and we look forward to
Growing that I think it's an opportunity
to grow that area so we can get better
education great good good good I will
definitely make sure to take note and
ask Patrick that question as we have
upcoming meetings now to the
um the point of of not having a
career path right to
Solid Waste have there been
conversations with dacc and NMSU related
to that and if if you have what what has
that been like and are there things
maybe that the board could have because
it feels like it's those kinds of
relationships right that are really and
and the communication that we have with
the schools right and all the things
you're doing with the trades and this
certainly can be one of those
um things that that we highlight as
we're working with not only dacc and
NMSU but also our local school district
oh thank you for that question great
question mayor May Pro Tem
so thankfully there's
a there is a response thankfully I can
report to you that we have engaged in
many conversations at various levels
obviously there's far sweeping changes
that require a lot more administrative
level that you know are further down the
line
but we've done simple things as reach
out to the welding department and we
have a lot of metal equipment bins that
need refurbishing that this is a great
opportunity to engage in that manner
we've also looked at similar things that
our compatriots in the northern part of
the state are looking at because one
thing that the authority has done well I
should say executive director he he
helped Pioneer a group of all the solid
waste providers in the state of New
Mexico to meet once a month and just lay
out what is the future what are our
issues what are we dealing with from
really it came from the pandemic a lot
of how we how do we do this it's
provided a lot more answers it's
provided a lot more a forum for us to
you know think tank a think tank and
brainstorm of these and so with that
there are
um programs that that reached out to
engineering departments to look at where
civil engineering comes in to play for
developing individuals to manage a
highly constructed cell design with a
lot of earth work
slopes there's landfill gas systems that
are highly technical this is you're
dealing with recapture of methane gases
green energy
Etc carbon Footprints so there's a big
area that we can go to I think now is
the time that we're starting to see a
lot more visibility to that and that
might tie into where we can have more
conversations higher up as far as what
uh
the board can do and and City I mean
partners
I think that would be great for a
discussion and maybe a future board
meeting so
thank you again Mr Leos I appreciate
everything that you do kudos to the work
thank you mayor and to our staff yes
thank you
okay any other comments I just want to
let you know I'm working on sending a
text to Dr Torres about because they
already have the water technology and I
know that that a lot of the graduates
get picked up here by the city and if
you really have that big of a need it
would be nice to be able to transition
and also provide that as well so if
whatever I hear I'll relate to the
miracle time and she can
oh that's right I'm on the board too I
can probably say that yes sir
yeah yeah okay well learning how to
delegate
okay thanks thank you very much everyone
so mayor and Council our next presenter
will be DC Justin Allen
and I think he's on his way down here
I'm going to go ahead and pull up his
presentation there he is
I've known DC Allen for how long now
a while a while when he was little
There You Go sir thank you
good afternoon mayor mayor Pro tem
Council staff members Deputy Justin
Allen I'll be presenting the Las Cruces
fire department budget request today
but first as we get into that the fire
chief is on vacation this week but he
did leave a video presentation
to share with you all so we'll get into
that
[Music]
good afternoon mayor members of the city
council I'm fire chief Jason Smith for
the record I want to introduce the Las
Cruces fire department fiscal year 24
budget and tell you a little bit about
your for your fire department
lcfd is a ISO class one rated Department
this makes us one of the highest rated
departments in the nation we respond to
over 22 000 calls for service a year 14
000 or more of those are for EMS
on those calls we provide a medic 94 of
the time we're able to accomplish this
because we employ more paramedics than
any other local service
but beyond firefighting and EMS your
fire department provides a lot of other
services we'd like to take a moment
right now to share it with you some of
those
[Music]
during fiscal year 23 lcfd has a 188
approved positions 182 of those are
sworn firefighters that leaves six
civilian positions to support our staff
in their mission to respond to over 22
000 calls for service every year as well
as the thousands of hours of training
they require to support us in purchasing
Logistics and management
with the expansion of our fire
department with fire station 9 coming in
the near future lcft is requesting to
expand our our resources and our support
staff
I've got to finish this budget
presentation
one of the key services that lcft
provides to our community is our
community at risk reduction efforts that
includes fire prevention homeowner and
health care and Project Life as well as
Community engagement we work hard on
performing inspections of all of our
businesses every year
we have over 4 000 businesses that
require a yearly inspection with our
efforts of fire prevention and our
operations Crews we're able to get 50 of
those inspections done every year that's
why you'll see in our request we are
looking at expanding our resources to
accomplish a greater percentage of those
inspections
our HazMat team responds out of fire
station 4.
this team specializes in responding to
hazardous material release
including accidents involving Railway
Highway transportation and pipeline this
team is the only FEMA type 1 team in
Southern New Mexico
being that it is we respond regionally
to Hazmat calls
welcome to fire station 6 where lcfd
houses our technical Rescue Team this
team specializes in high angle rope
rescue trench collapse confined space
Swift water and Mountain Rescue with the
destination of our Oregon mountains as a
National Monument this team has seen an
increase in the number of calls that
they respond to to affect rescues from
our Mountain as well as the summer
activities when the Rio Grande is
Flowing for Swift water rescue
Council are you looking for a flight to
Albuquerque the Las Cruces fire
department out of fire station 7 with
our aircraft rescue firefighting team
we've got you covered
station 7 houses the ARF team as well as
this apparatus crash seven they respond
to the West Mesa industrial and
Innovation Park as well as lru
overall the Las Cruces fire department
fiscal year 24 budget request looks for
support in three major areas all three
of these areas are supported by our city
and Department strategic plan as well as
the Elevate Las Cruces comprehensive
plan
the first area we're looking to add
resources to is taking care of our
community
we want to reinforce our office of
emergency management as well as provide
funding for hydrant inspection and
maintenance and Community engagement
the second area we're looking to focus
on is taking care of our people
we have numerous health and wellness
initiatives that we want to implement
that will support those who respond to
emergencies 24 7. the final area we're
looking to add resources to is taking
care of our Capital we want to have good
working fire stations as well as a
top-notch fleet
you'll find that these requests all
continue the excellent service and
response that your fire department
provides every day
I'd like to thank you for having us here
and your continued support and now I'll
turn it over to deputy chief Justin
Allen who will be able to give you
further detail and answer your questions
thank you
so I have to thank Chief Smith for
taking the time out of his week last
week to complete that video to provide a
little bit of insight to what we're
asking for and give me a little bit of
direction so getting into our our budget
review for this year we're actually
going to go over our budget timeline we
have our current fiscal year needs for
fiscal year 23. our upcoming fiscal year
24 level 2 and level three needs our
future fiscal year 25 needs that we've
addressed are looking to address and our
projected fiscal year 26 needs
so for our current fiscal year for
fiscal year 23 we're going to be able to
complete a radio project uh project
completion we had identified this and
moving towards the updated
P95 radio system with the state so we
will have you will see an April budget
adjustment for that to complete that
project
as well as a wellness and safety of
Italian chief position this position
will be overseen our wellness and safety
line of business
Fleet replacement bonding which is new
so we're looking at getting into a
bonding schedule to replace our
apparatus and our Fleet over the next
several years it'll be on a revolving
three-year schedule
and in Academy 36 which we'll be moving
forward to complete our staffing goals
we're still 15 short currently but with
the opening of station nine in the next
two years we'll see an increase of
another 30 positions that we're going to
need to fill
so all of these were requested in the
fiscal year 24
requests but in meeting with city
manager we're going to be able to move
forward with these prior to the end of
fiscal year 23.
one of our goals is caring for our
Personnel so again the safety and
wellness of a Time chief that position
will be in charge of physicals
immunizations for our Personnel our peer
support group and our program
exposure reporting as well as in charge
of any pandemic response
we also have a Cancer Wellness and
screening initiative that we are
requesting for and this position will
also oversee that as well
safeguarding our Capital so we're
looking at trying to obtain attainable
Fleet replacement cycle this will be a
bond cycling program around 5.2 to 5.3
million every three years
we are accounting for the principal and
interest in our budget request looking
at a round of 500 000 per year loan
payment for this Bond
this will allow us to replace some of
our current Fleet currently we're
looking to replace some of our special
units as well our ARF truck is in need
of replacement it is has almost reached
the end of its life cycle as well as
some of our Hazmat and our technical
rescue units as well
looking ahead to our fiscal year 24
priorities first as you've said we're
looking at focusing on the public and
our continuing support to them our
personnel and again to our Capital
purchases
so for our level two maintaining
operations we have an EMS training
firefighter paramedic position so we
currently at the AMT level not even the
paramedic level for the Department we
look at 8 736 hours of continuing
education that are required for our
Personnel looking at the paramedic
position they have more hours than that
so this is basically an average between
all of our Personnel on the hours that
are needed for continuing education this
position budgeted at 66 307 with
benefits
we're also looking at an EMS compliance
officer that'll be a lieutenant
paramedic the average salary with
benefits for that position is 121 000 38
dollars
and if you look on the lower right of
the slide this was a article that was
presented to Jim's magazine in 2021
lcfd is above the global pooled average
for return of spontaneous circulation in
the field so we're above what the global
average is we see a rate of return for
circulation in the field at 35 percent
the global average is 29.7 percent so
this shows a high level of training that
we provide our Personnel on CPR as well
as all of our other EMS skills
these two positions will help facilitate
EMS training and ensuring quality
assurance and quality improvement
as well as identifying those areas of
needed Improvement and formulating a
plan to address those needs
some more of our level two maintaining
operations looking for additional
administrative support as Chief said we
currently have six civilian positions
that are supporting 182 sworn personnel
the two positions that we are focusing
on for fiscal year 24 are a staffing
specialist an administrative specialist
the salary for these two positions is
151 thousand dollars
for a fire prevention as you stated we
have around 4 000 business inspections
that we're trying to accomplish
inspection on annually currently our
goal and the number that we're meeting
is 50 of those we're looking to add a
fire inspector position and the the
salary benefits for that is 99 697.
currently we also have our fire Crews
that they go out and provide inspections
as well and for all of the crews we see
about 900 inspections per year that are
completed by on duty on-shift personnel
an additional inspector would
potentially allow us to get to that
hundred percent uh completion rate for
our inspections annually
we also have around a 4 000 fire
hydrants in the city there was a hydrant
inspection program that was in place
Hydra inspection and maintenance program
that was through the water utilities
department they've been unable to staff
that those positions since 2019. so
we're requesting funding with the water
utility department to contract with an
outside agency to provide the testing
for and maintenance of our hydrants
within the system looking at around 120
000 from us and a hundred and twenty
thousand dollars from the water utility
to be able to accomplish this
this is one of the areas that we saw the
biggest hit when we did our ISO review
it was just in the maintenance
inspection and repair of our our
hydrants within the system
continuing the maintaining operations
for Operational Support we're looking to
get a logistics specialist and that's
one position we were asking for two but
we have dialed that back and we're
looking at forecasting some other
positions over the next few years so
currently one position that'll be a
sixty six thousand four hundred and
eleven dollar position
we're currently utilizing sworn
personnel these are some of the
positions that we use when we have
Personnel that are on light duty but we
would like to get them back onto our
apparatus and back out in the field
since they are sworn personnel so if we
can do this with a civilian position
that's our goal is to have the logistics
and operations support be a civilian
spot
so the four positions that we've
prioritized for fiscal year 24 are the
administrative assistant the staffing
specialist a fire inspector and a
logistics specialist
the scrap shows what our level one and
level two requests are
you'll see that the increase between
level one and level two to meet our
current needs within the department is
1.9 million
with a decrease in our Capital cost of
57 000.
for a level three we're focusing on our
personnel and our capital
so looking at our focus on our Personnel
something we are requesting as a cancer
screening initiative
uh New Mexico does have a presumptive
law that states the cancer is presumpted
within fire fighting services
the cancer risks within firefighters
just by some of the numbers that we see
we're at an increased risk of developing
cancer over nine percent higher of being
diagnosed with cancer than the general
population and we're 14 higher at risk
of dying from cancer within a general
population
so this 75 000 through 75 request would
be an initial Baseline evaluation for
our entire membership
some more of our caring for our
Personnel is the mental health support
we currently have our peer support group
what we want to do is add this cortico
health Wellness app to the our peer
support it's at an annual cost of
fifteen thousand dollars
it allows us
allows our members to complete
self-assessments that can be used as an
early identification tool
PTSD has also been added as a as a
presumptive illness within New Mexico
for firefighters
and this has already been approved for
us to use through the tip
so in summary for our fiscal year 24
what we're trying to do is meet our
community needs our ISO numbers are for
our protective class our as ISO one by
getting our hydrants annually inspected
and some of our inspections done on an
annual basis we'll meet these needs
continuing our support for OEM we are
required through a jpa to support OEM
and their growth and then education and
prevention of of the art community
our Personnel we're looking at our
safety and wellness and in our Capital
looking at our Fleet and facilities and
continuing our maintenance there
so our difference between our level two
and our level three requests we're
looking at a change of 708 thousand
dollars uh
for our level three request from our
level two are meeting our current needs
so all three of these areas are
supported by the department and in the
city strategic plans and as well as the
Elevate Las Cruces comprehensive plan
first we're taking care of the compute
Community this is through OEM hydrogen
inspection and maintenance and Community
engagement and education
second is taking care of our people by
providing good solid training education
and Health Services
to care for those that respond and then
finally we are caring for our Capital
that has invested in the department by
maintaining our Fleet and our stations
so looking at our future budgets
fiscal year 25 as we all know mih and
project light project late has just
started so as we move forward over the
next six months to a year identifying
our needs within project light
identifying areas of growth and what we
need to meet the community needs we will
be asking for a Senior Management
analyst to assist with our current
management analysts additional Logistics
support
we'll be looking for that increased
firefighter Staffing to staff valstation
9 when it is completed as well as
increasing our prevention Staffing
for our services to improve to the
public what we will be requesting is a
public educator position to so Focus
solely on education to the public of
fire safety this position's
estimated to be ninety eight thousand
six dollars a year and then we'll also
be looking for an associate engineer
currently we only have one fire
protection engineer he's within five
years of retirement so we're beginning
to forecast now of how to best fill that
position when he decides that he is
ready to retire so this position is uh
the salary would be 89 316.
for fiscal years 26 hopefully this will
be when we are opening fire station 9.
we'll be looking to looking to complete
the Staffing for station nine as well as
those operational cost adjustments of
what it takes to maintain that station
and the goals of it
adjustments to improve our performance
so we're looking to improve our public
Outreach as well as our personnel and
maintaining our facilities
and with that I will stand for any
questions
all right thank you DC Allen questions
um councilor beta
thank you mayor and thank you DC for
probably one of the funnest
presentations we've got to see
I do want to say thank you for bringing
up kind of that long-term approach
Outlook that we're going to have you
know adding on the additional fire
station and making sure and we did that
because we wanted to keep up those ISO
ratings so making sure that we're also
keeping up with some of the other items
especially I didn't know about the fire
hydrant situation and getting those
replaced so I appreciate that
admin and Staffing when we start to look
at these other stations too are we going
to have any of those admins are they
going to be centralized or are they
going to start being able to be
positioned in the different stations
thank you for the question mayor
councilor beta So currently our plan is
to continue housing all of our
Administration staff at station one
the
I guess spacing looking in station one
then as we're increasing with Personnel
currently our staffing our level of
offices is looking pretty good we're
actually in the middle of a remodel to
add some office space there now and then
we are currently looking at some grant
funding for an mih building which would
move the mih and live programs to their
own facility hopefully within the next
two to five years
great thank you and I do just want to
make mention you know I've really
appreciated there's been a lot of new
programs that have been put within your
department and I think it's always good
for us to remember you know those core
functions that you are doing especially
when it comes to the volume of even EMS
calls that you have to handle so I want
to make sure that I'm recognizing as a
counselor all those different
needs and responses you do even as we're
adding all these other new programs so
thank you and thank you mayor thank you
councilor Ben Cuomo thanks mayor thank
you so much DC I appreciated
um you giving us the 20 year 2526 what
to expect I did just my only question is
regarding salaries and if that's I
imagine that's a big chunk of what
you've already included and given the
comprehensive
um the comp what's that called I'm sorry
the studies yes the class study
um I imagine that you did have some
salary changes and then I think next
year is the fire
Union is renegotiated is that correct uh
mayor councilman Comey yes that is
correct the fire contract will be
renewed next year so they should start
within the next six months on the
negotiations I believe but we did
include the class and comp study in our
forecast for the positions and salaries
through the our budget request okay and
you it's
it's the fire correct Union okay thank
you I just wanted clarification and for
us to expect potential changes in
salaries then as well thank you mayor
may I put them thank you mayor thank you
DCL and appreciate your presentation and
Chief's presentation about
the the type of assessment
um or Baseline evaluation and who would
do it and
what is it different from any other
cancer screening that one might have
through their doctor
uh thank you for the question mayor and
mayor Pro tem so I believe
we haven't fully established who would
be doing the cancer screening there are
several different uh
specific fire service related cancer
programs that do the screening we've
looked at a couple of them so I don't
know that it will necessarily be a
specific cancer doctor here in the area
if we were going to go with a provider
that this is typically what they look at
specifically but they do look at
um
cancer in both male and female
firefighters with prostate cancer
testicular cancer ovarian cancer all of
the the major cancers that we see a
greater risk of within the fire service
colon cancer and some of those are
esophageal so there's several ones that
they look specifically at
um
how they do it I can't specifically
answer though I'd have to get back to
you on that okay no problem I understand
um and then slide 16 you have made
mentioned that you already are doing
this app did I hear you correctly or no
we we have sorry uh mayor mayor proton
we were approved for this app through
the tip we just hadn't funded it yet
um we have a couple of personnel that
have trialled it to see how it fits and
currently LCPD does use this app as well
the cortico app so we're looking to see
how well it's going to fit within the
fire service we've received fairly good
feedback from our personnel as a
platform of being able to do some of
those
self-studies and and really look at some
of the
our personnel's own well-being as they
look at it from their site yes
but currently the funding hasn't been
approved but it has been approved
through the tip
say that again we haven't had the
funding to approve it yet but it has
been we when we looked into it before we
had the technology Improvement plan look
at it and ensure that we could do it
okay has been approved through them okay
thank you thank you
it hasn't been funded yet correct yes
okay
um and then
um you mentioned with this Slide the
peer peer support group can you speak
more so we do have a peer support group
in in place now uh with some of our
social workers that are in our mih and
light programs those social workers huh
oh I'll touch you Philly and yeah
they've done very well as well as some
of our uh just our our shift personnel
and Battalion juice so we have a fairly
robust peer support group that meets on
a regular basis and we're looking at
moving forward on how to establish some
set peer support parameters and what our
Personnel need to reach out to the
community we've looked at identifying a
specific care providers within the
community that can provide support
specific to the fire service because
that was a little bit of a difficult
area to address based on the PTSD and
some of the stuff they see sure so we
have
had some of our peer support group
screen some of the providers within the
area to make sure that they can meet our
needs but that program is just now kind
of getting back into its rolling again
it was kind of shut down during covid
yeah but now that we were able to meet
regularly they are meeting on a monthly
basis and moving forward with having an
established peer support guidelines and
a program moving forward thank you DC
Allen for that explanation I'm really
very impressed with your Forward
Thinking and a really looking
holistically at your employees I think
these are ways by which I think a lot of
folks in the public safety Arena are
addressing you know some of the PTSD and
things that you're encountering and it
it's just I think a positive tool right
for retention and recruitment that you
care about your people as we care about
you and so I appreciate you speaking to
that thank you thank you
councilor Graham
thanks thank you so much and for again
upping the standards for presentations
I'm a chief cone on camera it's good
stuff
um just a quick question in the budget
numbers you've presented Us in regard to
station nine does that that factors in
configuring station nine as both having
both a truck and an engine company uh
yes thank you for the question mayor and
Council ground that does a
reflect the Staffing for an engine an
aerial and a squat
okay so our goal there is to staff three
units we'll have an engine as well as a
truck and a squad for that area okay
great and that and that speaks to just
the increased need particularly out on
the East Mesa for
the whole Gambit that we can throw
that's correct so right now with our
response model we have engine or a truck
one and truck four which are responding
from the entire inside the city really
truck one is in the downtown area and
truck four is in the Telstra and
Missouri area so anytime we have any
type of response off of Highway 70 or in
the Red Hawk area we're waiting on a
truck to come from either of those units
areas
um so this will allow for us to cover
with a truck and engine the Red Hawk
area as well as the highway 70 Corridor
uh districts five and six as well as
part of District eight
great thank you so much that was all
thanks mayor
okay great well thank you again for the
presentation it was really good and it
was good to see the chief I don't know
he did a really great job on that so
congratulations to our Communications
office I presume they're the ones who
helped do that
actually mayor our training department
did that really yes wow
that's pretty good that's did a great
job on the Fly they did it on
Wednesday of last week
yeah good job okay thank you thank you
mayor council I'd like to introduce our
last speaker
and it is Natalie Green for housing and
Neighborhood Services she's our housing
neighborhood services manager
pull up her presentation
there she is
good afternoon Mr Mayor members of
council I'd like to think you're saving
the best for last but fire it's a tough
act to follow
so thank you for allowing us to present
our budget requests for the housing and
Neighborhood Services team they are in
the audience to with me today so
um
I'm glad to have their support
so all of our requests for 2024 are in
alignment with both Elevate and the
council strategic plan both documents
outline the need for affordable and
attainable housing options all across
the city and some of the actions that
we're requesting today are investment
based but many of the requests are to
align those procedures and operations
for improved program implementation
many of you have probably seen our
mission statement but you're going to
get it one more time so our purpose as a
team is to advance the city's delivery
system to address the needs of residents
especially in areas of housing food
poverty Health primarily we do that
through the city's Partnerships with
ngos although we do have some direct
service programming through our home
rehab that we do in-house
um as you may know we are working on our
transition from The Economic Development
Department to the city's manager's
office so as part of that transition
we've been working on evaluating what
our role is within the larger
organization and then the community at
large and so we want to make sure that
we're continuing that collaboration with
our internal City departments and then
that we work on those funding policy and
Partnerships again for those Community
programs that Council has outlined for
us as we settle into the city manager's
office we do anticipate that there's
going to be expanded programming both in
our community service area our
affordable housing and then as lift up
continues to to move across the city
we'll see that growth
um so one of the things that we are
working on as part of our transition is
that we know we need to adjust our
strategic plan well we have we we are
housing and Neighborhood Services we
want to make sure that we're reflecting
what our current programming looks like
and then where our programming needs to
go based on some of the goals that
Council has set
the staff is primarily Grant funded and
so we spend a significant amount of time
implementing those federally funded
programs so we want to transition rather
than thinking about the individual
funding sources we want to think from a
service approach and then plug that
funding into the programs so we have
three areas that we're focusing on the
first is for people who are already
housed we want to maintain their healthy
housing so make sure that they stay in
safe decent sanitary housing that they
have access to Ada improvements that
they're able to access our
weatherization and Rehabilitation
programs and then we're maintaining that
contact for fair housing and landlord
tenant issues
the other thing our next Focus area is
for people who are maybe housing
insecure precariously housed we want to
make sure that they continue to have
access to those basic needs in human
services so the Partnerships with our
ngos that we're working on those Food
and Health
Partnerships that we're working on some
homeless prevention programming and that
we continue our tenant-based rental
assistance programs so we currently
operate those with two agencies the
first is La Casa and the second is the
Messiah Community hope and then of
course the the larger scope of our
program is that we continue to finance
and develop those affordable housing
projects and increase housing Choice
across the city
so on that note we're asking for several
requests level two is much smaller it's
just additional support to make that
transition currently uh staffs probably
spends ninety percent of their time on
Grant funded activities even though it
only makes up about 10 percent of our
budget and so we're looking for some
support from Consultants to help us make
those program and process changes as we
shift again from that funding based
programming or from fun uh from funding
based programming to to service based
programming and so we're asking uh
in anticipation of go Bond and lift up
and some of the other stuff that we we
have that extra funding we're looking at
an implementation strategy for both
affordable housing and go Bond funding
we want to make sure we've updated our
underwriting guidelines and Incorporated
some of those program and policy updates
that occur when we change departments
we'd like to continue our master plan
implementation for the council
uh well this is not a traditional Focus
area of Housing and Neighborhood
Services because of our collaboration
with the campus we want to make sure
that we are are continuing that project
we are working on a Housing Development
for permanent Supportive Housing
directly on the campus and this would
support some of that activity and then
we've requested some lift up Las Cruces
programming funding so we can Circle
back with those residents and then work
on the next transition to the new space
and then we've asked for some staff
support again since staff is primarily
Grant funded they can only work on Grant
activities and so we're asking for some
general fund to support some
a portion of their salary so they can be
used more widely to support some of
those other activities that aren't
necessarily Grant funded
our level three requests the first is
for a HUD Grant manager
we're asking for this staff position
because they would focus more on the
day-to-day implementation required for
for HUD Grant programs
um it's it's very labor intensive and
the city is recognized as a high
performing grantee by the U.S Department
of Housing and Urban Development and as
we make these process changes we want to
make sure that we maintain that track
record moving forward so someone who
could focus on that as as we grow the
other programs
is what we're looking for we do have a
number of projects moving forward in the
next year so we are asking for an
increase in our impact fee waiver
program well we do well it is a waiver
for the affordable housing developer we
actually make the the Department's whole
and transfer those funds that they
normally would have received to to their
budgets and so that would include our
Public Safety and our Parks and Rec fee
waivers that we help cover
pending the outcome of our pilot program
we are looking to increase that
revolving Loan Fund in the new fiscal
year so we'll be working on that
implementation over the next couple
months but we do anticipate the need for
an increase come the new fiscal year
um another item is we're working on our
land bank affordable housing land
banking implementation
there's only five Parcels in the land
bank but we'd like to grow that program
and so we're looking to purchase a
single family subdivision it's a 52 lot
subdivision we put a temporary price per
lot in there we we would actually be
negotiating that with the developer so
we don't have the Perla cost that's just
a temporary estimate and then Council
has already committed or done a
pre-commitment of funding for two
affordable low-income housing tax credit
projects and so those are in
underwriting right now with MFA we
anticipate that approval coming forward
over the summer and we'll be moving to
close on those funding we don't think
we'll need the funding until the second
quarter but we do want to anticipate or
Council to anticipate that request
coming forward
um I know there's been some sort of
commentary in the paper about affordable
housing so I did want to assure counsel
and even more so the public that there
is the pipeline of projects
moving forward and so even though the go
bond is not being sold till later in the
year staff is very much uh has their
foot on the gas pedal and so we're
continuing
to make affordable housing a priority
it's a priority for staff it's a
priority for the city council and so we
are just working to align that go bond
with the timing of projects and so we do
want to our goal is to onboard just
under a thousand units within four years
and so we're monitoring the timelines of
each of these projects moving forward
and so
um the the Development and Construction
timeline just hasn't been as linear as
we'd like it to be but again we'll
continue to monitor those and report
back on those projects but staff and
council is committed to to those funding
and Partnerships and addressing the
community needs across the housing
Continuum from homelessness to home
ownership so with that I'll stand for
any questions
Natalie counselor Flores thank you Mr
Marin thank you Miss green could you
please explain explain
um for for my
for my edification as well as
disseminating information to the public
regarding the article that appeared in a
newspaper and
and the concerns that some organizations
have about
um
about the bond and some it was reported
erroneously that the city council
canceled the bond and said words to that
effect so
there's some the scuttlebutt out there
is that we you know didn't approve or
disapproved or that sort of stuff and
the truth of the matter is that the
reason for it is that there wasn't a
project in place can you explain what
that means and explain why there wasn't
a project in place and
just go through that whole process
please for for my edification as well as
for the public thank you
Mr Mayor counselor Flores so the go bond
is a taxable Bond so the projects are in
place we're just choosing to sell that
Bond at a later date there is a process
within the trust fund that we are
required to go through there's a
committee that needs to make some
recommendations
to you counsel as a body for that
financing and so we want to make sure
we're honoring that committee and the
public process
as we bring those projects forward so
the go bond is is still moving forward
but because they were a different type
of bond we wanted to make sure the
non-taxable bonds got the best rate
possible and so that's why the the
taxable bond is being sold at a later
date is there a project now in line
is there a project there are a number of
projects at online but they have not
been officially recommended or gone to
the committee to be recommended to this
body for approval so we're going to go
through that process first and how soon
will that be
um Mr Mayor counselor Flores the the
committee is being amended so you'll see
that Amendment to the committee in your
next two Council meetings and then as
soon as this Council appoints members
we're ready to go through
um
the process for project selection do you
foresee that it will be within this
calendar year
Mr Mayor councilor Flores absolutely
okay and then my other question is in
slide seven
there was Landing the the land
acquisition for
single family subdivisions is that the
one that we recently approved with
Mr Mayor councilor Flores that is not
that is a new project this is actually
one of the projects we're potentially
looking at for a go Bond it would
purchase uh developed lots that we would
then
disperse out to our affordable housing
Partners like Tierra Del Sol or Habitat
to build single-family housing
okay habitat usually just builds one
house at a time though right I mean it's
not very Mr Mayor councilor Flores they
usually they build anywhere from two to
five at a time but their build cycle is
from October to April every year and
it's they use a lot of Sweat Equity and
volunteer labor which has kind of
suffered during the pandemic but they're
gearing that process up and they're
actually one of the reasons we looked at
buying a subdivision is because during
the height of the pandemic they were
looking for land
and and because they utilize federal
funds there's an environmental process
that takes anywhere from 60 to 90 days
so they were getting halfway through
that process and developers were selling
the land before they could complete that
process and we were starting all over so
this would let the city hold those lots
within the land bank and then slowly
distribute those out to our partners so
it gives them some long-term uh sort of
viability on land and they're not they
can focus on building and not having to
buy land
so at this point
um
the 52 lot
um
subdivisions have been purchased or will
be purchased based on a vote that comes
uh Mr America after it comes to city
council counselor Flores if Council
allocates the funding then we will work
through the purchase agreement process
with the developer and then we would
bring that forward for for final
approval from this Council but we're
asking for the funding to move forward
with that project
thank you very much thank you Mr Mayor
councilman thanks mayor thanks so much
Natalie
um yes I have several questions for you
but first I did want to just reiterate
that just in our housing PRC a couple of
weeks ago we discussed revamping the
committee
um
honestly we even said the name because
it's so long I can never remember
Natalie remind me the name of the
committee it is the affordable housing
Land Bank and Trust Fund advisory
committee yes and in current exactly and
currently it has 13 Members Plus
uh it currently has nine appointed
members with eight alternates so it's
about 17. yeah and Jan was having a very
hard time getting that group of folks
together consistently and so we're
rethinking that we will make that
smaller
um and and just make it more efficient
and so that should be that will need
Council approval just so you all know
but I think the way we're moving towards
it is an important part of the process
before we get to even decide what
projects can be funded through the go
Bond
they're not identified but I
everyone has urgency I don't know where
all the sudden people think there is no
urgency in housing when this is clear
it's very clearly laid out that this
Council and staff and including the city
manager's office are very real about
um housing and no one as I appreciated
your analogy about the foot on the gas
no one has let go of that and so we are
moving towards a process that makes the
most sense and I think it's important
I wanted to ask you yes and thank you
for showing the statically it's very
clear that there are many projects in
the works
um that have some funding that are going
out for funding that are expecting
funding and so I appreciated this list
very much Natalie um back to your
presentation you did include that that
you needed to expand
Staffing support for some of these
things and I wondered lift up is that
been officially assigned now to your
care Mr Mayor councilman Como uh lift up
currently is within my oversight so we
are looking to fill we have a position
that was allocated as that will be
publishing that position out for hire
and so then that person will will be
dedicated to lift up the current staff
because they're Grant funded they can't
work on lift up so it really Falls to me
which is why we're asking for that HUD
Grant manager because then they can work
on HUD grants and then I can work on
oversight of both affordable housing
lift up and then some of the other staff
changes I know that when we first were
talking about this it sort of lived
under the constituent
services to program staff I know that
we've gone through some unfortunate
transition in that department
I'm wondering if you think I guess I'm
wondering if it makes more sense there
or it does with you if you get the
necessary Staffing
um Mr may I would defer that to
management but I do want to congratulate
Katrina governess so she's your new
community engagement so she comes from
the housing and her neighborhood
services section so we really are one
Department one city so we look forward
to supporting her and her role and so if
it does transition there we'll work
through that transition
again we really are just we're all sort
of one one department so it's whether
it's within the community engagement
piece or it's in housing we're still
lines of business within the city
manager so thanks Natalie I appreciate
that very much yeah so I'll keep having
conversations with you for about that
for sure and then the impact fee waivers
not only are those all across the city
or are those impact few waivers only
given to like infill development
Mr Mayor councilor bincomozo in Impact
fee waivers are assessed all across the
city I don't believe that they are
waived in the infield permit fees are in
the infill but not impact fees and so
when an affordable housing development
comes forward
I always tell people affordable housing
is a misnomer doesn't mean it's cheaper
to build it costs the same if not
sometimes more so they are assessed the
same impact fees the same
well not the same permit fees anymore so
they got a 50 discount moving forward
starting February 2nd so we think
Community Development for that
so when they do move through they are
assessed that fee and so the impact fee
waiver budget just covers that fee on
behalf of the habitat house or the
theater Del Sol house okay
and then yes you had another slide right
after this and I didn't see paseos
Verdes but then you had it on your next
one so I just wanted to mark that off
Natalie my book my last question really
is around I know you recently having
another transition hopefully this is
your last one Natalie
um but given that you are no longer
under Economic Development would how
does how have how is this
request for budget
impacting that transition like are you
getting a whole new budget like what is
that
how does that how does your transition
how does money move with you I guess
maybe is a better question and maybe
that's for Leanne I don't know Mr Mayor
counselor uh Ben come off so all of our
funding moves forward with us there are
some uh staff changes we're kind of
working through but we we have a good
plan for that so uh
no wherever we go we we make a statement
so they're they're absorbing us as best
as they can okay thank you I mean even
this move for you towards you being
under the city manager I think only
speaks to the urgency and the priority
that the city is making for towards the
importance of housing thanks Natalie
any other comments
okay well thanks again uh Natalie thanks
for all you do for your
insofar as the Messiah Valley Community
of Hope master plan implementation
um
where is the what step is this plan at
at this point or this goal uh Mr Mayor
or can you give me a background history
how about it Mr Mayor councilor Flores
uh the master plan or the Messiah Valley
Community Health master plan was a
project that was started by facilities
management and it was to outline the
overall growth of the campus so we could
anticipate that growth and then also
inform the ultimate management
management structure and Lease
development moving forward and when was
that
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it was adopted
it was adopted sometime in the
so the we've already moved forward with
the implementation so we've rezoned the
property
or there it's going through a rezone
right now uh We've we've worked on the
reclat so that re-plat is uh actually
the mylars are printed they're getting
signed and so the the new replat will be
filed
um we are amending the lease to
incorporate the new horse and Helm
facility so that that'll be ready to
come on board as soon as it's completed
um some of the things that we're working
for
um there's a traffic impact analysis
that's being conducted on that section
of the of the area as you may know it's
it's very uh pedestrian and bicycle
oriented giving the population so we're
covering that traffic impact analysis on
behalf of the city
the campus partners
have been proactive in getting capital
outlay and so everything looks good
based on some of the latest information
we're getting from the legislature and
so they're they're aligning their
Capital outlay requests with that Master
Plan implementation and so they can't
ask for Capital outlay requests that
aren't otherwise identified within the
campus and then the next sort of task
we'll be working on with our Land
Management and facility folks is is a
new lease it's up in 2025 and so we
anticipate having to negotiate that over
the next couple of years so we'll work
with the respective departments great
and then um I think it'd be helpful for
the
housing PRC policy Review Committee get
updates on the developments there
and then and then report it to council
periodically
thank you so much Miss green thank you
Mr chairman
okay any other comments all right well
thanks again Natalie we appreciate it
some mayor and Council that is all of
our presentations I just wanted to give
you what our next steps are for the
budget and CIP on April the 24th we have
a work session jointly with CIP and
budget then on May 4th we have a public
hearing we always have it on May the 4th
be with you and then our resolution that
will be bringing the council is on May
15th and thank you so much for today
all right thank you okay last is the
city of Las Cruces economic Outlook and
Monica Torres from the economic
development will be presenting
you also have a PhD right so you also
are Dr Monica Torres yeah
thank you Mr Mayor members of city
council my name is Monica Torres I'm the
city Economist with economic development
and I will be giving you an overview on
the latest data on employment
unemployment
an industry trends
um
following the related
pandemic related shutdowns economic the
employment level and the city start to
recover and preliminary data for
December indicates that deployment are
at about 475 workers
as compared to December 2021
and about 162 as compared to
pre-pandemic levels in December 2019. on
the other hand the labor force lost
about 266 persons in December 20 as
2022 as compared to December 2021 and
about 700 as compared to pre-pandemic
levels in December 2019.
after the pandemic related
shutdowns the unemployment level in the
city rich
one of the highest levels in recent
years however ever since it's been
trending down preliminary date on
December in the case the the
unemployment rate for the city
reach about 3.1 percent that's 1.5
percentage points lower as compared to
December 2021 and 1.8 percentage points
lower as compared to December 2019.
there were about
1476 persons actively looking for a job
in December
that's 741 less persons as compared to a
previous year and about 900 last person
as compared to 2019.
on the Las Cruces MSN
MSA total non-farm employment grew about
2.5 2.4 percent that's about 1900
additional payrolls on the private
sector
education and Health Services started
about 700 positions in literature and
Hospitality about 400.
on the public sector local government
added about 800 payrolls
2022 was also characterized by high
inflation while inflation has been
trending down after Regina for a year
old high in June
in January at 6.3 it remains pretty high
therefore the central banks signal the
possibility for farther increases in the
fed's fund rate
defense fire rate is The Benchmark for
other borrowing costs
increases in this rate translating to
increases in other rates to make it
makes borrowing more expensive and then
it can impact the man and employment at
the end of January the fence fund rate
was between 4.5 and 4.75
that's from zero during the pandemic
or regards to the 30-year fixed rate
mortgage
according to Freddie Mac datum that's
March II it was about 6.65 percent
that's almost three percentage points
higher as compared to a previous year
on cannabis sales this coming April is
going to be the first year of
recreational Cannabis to cities selling
about 3 million on average per month
from which 57 percent are for
recreational use
because of January there were about 37
retailers reporting sales to the
Cannabis control division
and the thorallic size for
April to December was about 600
000.
on the
county there was a 13 drop on the number
of patients enrolled in the medical
program
uh as January there were 10 and 585
patients in the program
and in the county the municipalities the
report higher sales are the city of Las
Cruces Sunland Park and Anthony the city
of Las Cruces reports higher medical use
sales
in regards to
recreational sales Santa Parks have been
trending higher the sales and December
January and February recorded a slightly
higher sales as compared to
other municipalities in the county
on regards to ERT nominal ERT has been
trending higher December 2022 Rose about
five percent as compared to December
2021 and overall in 2022
eriticuru almost 10 percent as compared
to 2021
and looking ahead well there's been
solid job gains and unemployment rate
that remains among the lowest rates in
the recent years in the city so there's
still a robust job market here taking
continues to follow an upward Trend and
while inflation has been trending now
down after reaching a 40 year old high
in June it's
is still pretty high the four therefore
the central bank will most likely
maintain a restricted policy instance
until incoming data confirms that
inflation is uh in a sustained downward
path
so that's another beyond all the recent
data and if you have any questions
no I think you did a great presentation
and silenced them that's pretty cool
thank you again Dr Torres we appreciate
it and appreciate what you do there in
the economic development thank you
okay so I think that's it
so entertain a motion to adjourn
atural
by counselor about the second by
counselor Flores we adjourn
Christine
this is on the motion to adjourn the
work session councilor beta yes
councilor Graham yes councilor Ben komal
yes counselor Korean is absent counselor
Flores yes Council yes mayor yes okay
we're adjourned it's 3 27 p.m thank you
foreign
ers
oh my what
thank you
so it's like
they know
[Music]
thank you
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non-consent eight non-consumed