foreign
thank you
foreign
[Music]
good afternoon everybody Welcome to our
third regular council meeting I'm
Cassandra Gandara mayor Pro tem and I'll
be presiding over
um this meeting today if you would
adhere to the ground rules of our
meeting I very much we would all
appreciate it now if you would stand so
we can say the Pledge of Allegiance
of America
emphasis
I would also like to give my gratitude
and thanks to fire and police for all
that you do to keep us safe in our
community thank you thank you so much
and I'd like to hear about
your Chief Dominguez you had a maybe an
event or is it coming up
coming up okay good good good and we'll
talk about it later thank you okay
um
pets of the week Amy is Amy around
hi Amy come on down we'd love to hear
about
the pets that will be highlighted
hello my name is Amy De Felix I'm one of
the rescue coordinators for the Animal
Services Center of the macia valley and
I will present the pets of the week
foreign
work sessions I had to do this last time
work sessions
did we get it yes there we are
they're the Beauties so we will start
with our cat of the week his name is
Bert his ASC number is 58037 and he has
to say I may be an older gentleman but
I'm just as deserving of a forever home
as a young kitten is I'm a very sweet
boy who unfortunately lost my original
home but I'm still holding out hope that
my forever home is out there I've lived
most of my life with other cats so with
proper transitions I can join the
perfect family that will spoil me for
the rest of my years
oh and he's about seven years old a buff
domestic short hair he's he's very
handsome
and our dog of the week her name is
Rapunzel her ASC number is 52972 she's
about a year a media mix about 40 39
pounds in that beautiful uh light
brindle color and she has to say I'm a
very sweet girl who absolutely loves
getting belly rubs as you can tell from
her two auxiliary photos I'm always
excited to meet new human friends but I
might be just a little bit picky with
dog friends I'm very adventurous I know
how to climb so my ideal family will
make sure I stay secure at home and not
accidentally get into trouble in danger
I should probably be on a leash at all
times outside but that's the perfect
opportunity to go out for a walk
and we do have an adoption event um this
Saturday the 25th at OfficeMax up on
East Lowman around 10 a.m to 1 p.m so we
encourage everyone to stop by and meet
some of the the dogs we'll bring for
adoption
thank you
thank you so much Amy I appreciate you
being here and speaking to the pets of
the week as Vice chair newly elected
vice chair to the Animal Services Board
we hear once a month just the high
numbers in our Center and so I'm looking
to the public and those on TV to think
about adopting your Forever pet so thank
you Amy of course thank you
okay next up is gazelle palomares for
jobs of the week
good afternoon Council my name is Jose
palomares and I'm with New Mexico
Workforce Connection
for the jobs of this week city of Las
Cruces is hiring a project manager for
the airport that pays 60 087 000 a year
open until filled White Sands Missile
Range is hiring a deputy director of
emergency services that pays 98 000 a
year and that closes February 28th
families and youth Incorporated is
hiring each clinical supervisor and that
pays 34 000 or 61 000 a year depending
on experience and that closes March 10th
DaVita HealthCare Partners is hiring a
patient care technician that pays 28 000
and 43 000 depending on experience and
that closes May 10th uh tremco
Incorporated is hiring a commercial
roofing technician and that pays twenty
dollars or thirty three dollars an hour
depending on experience and that closes
May 10th as well and Equus Workforce
Solution is hiring a youth accounting
specialist and that pays 26 000 or 43
000 a year depending on experience and
that closes March 10th
to connect with New Mexico Workforce
Connection you can always call them at
575-524-6250 or visit them at 226 South
Alameda Boulevard or you can always go
online to
www.employingm.com or you can always
download the app as well thank you
thank you so much
okay we have no presentations or
proclamations this
session so we have a conflict of
interest that statement if
is there any conflict to the agenda or
known conflict between Council and staff
done Graham none
no no
thank you Phil none for me thank you
okay and next up is public participation
I will start on my left and I'll give
you three minutes and
um because the podium is in the way it
can't seep at high Dr Nissan please come
up to the podium
and IFA will be doing the timing
per mayor Pro tem and city council
my name is Dr Earl Nissan and I live in
Las Cruces
since we have two law enforcement
agencies in Dona Ana County we might
compare them as to the results they
deliver for us in terms of Public Safety
and what it cost taxpayers for these
services
I am interested in comparing the Dooney
and a sheriff's department in the LCPD
and what appears to be a significant
difference in the amount of taxpayers
money paid to settle claims to families
and individuals for police shootings and
misconduct
as I understand that the Dona Ana County
Commission has not in four years had to
make large payoffs for claims against
sheriff's deputies while doing during
the last four years city council has had
to issue millions of dollars to settle
claims against LCPD
so then I can with the evidence-based
approach study these differences
I am requesting from the Las Cruces City
manager who is by the city Charter
responsible for LCPD the following
for the number one for the past four
years the listing of the claims made
against LCPD and paid for the total
amount number two total amounts of money
paid to settle each claim
three the disposition of officers
involved in the incidents that led to
settlements of the claims and for the
amount of money spent on the premium for
a liability insurance for the past four
years I am asking the same of the Dona
Ana County Manager
by comparing the two law enforcement
entities data that I am requesting we
might be able to ask if the difference
in claims between the two result from
how officers are trained and managed
since we do not have a great deal of
transparency from LCPD it becomes
apparent there needs to be some type of
community review of the policies and
actions of officers
I support police who observe appropriate
codes of behavior and Show excellent
decision making while on duty
we need these policies and officers for
creating our Public Safety thank you
thank you Mr Neeson or Dr Neeson excuse
me
so that was the first row what about the
second row
good afternoon
Kathy Stark with Animal Advocates for
change hi Miss Stark how are you back
again
I wasn't able to attend the last city
council meeting and I know there were
other members of aafc that spoke but
later that day I watched the video
and I was really pleased to hear that
there's going to be a joint meeting with
the city county asemb and aarc regarding
spay and neuter needs in the community
and I look forward to when that
scheduled
however there were statements made by
the mayor and unfortunately he's not
here so I will have to email him my
comments that caught my attention
before and since August or August 2021
when the city passed chapter 7 members
of this Council stated that the TNR
portion of that chapter was to be
presented along with a budget for the
program
I and others have stood before you
several times asking that the city honor
their commitment to TNR and have
provided the option of funding a voucher
program to help residents reduce the
community cap population in recognition
that the ascmb has only one bet
to date there hasn't been a budget
considered or allocated the exclamation
or excuse provided by Mr Enriquez for
the current fiscal year was simply
illogical and now it sounds like there's
another illogical excuse for not funding
the program and I ask that you refer
back to the language of the ordinance
itself
aafc is aware that the ascmv is governed
by a joint Powers agreement
the mayor stated that the funding
requests for the program would have to
come to the city and the county through
the ascmv board and their annual funding
request and that the county would have
to agree to pay half of the cost
there are several problems with that
statement first the ordinance reads the
city should provide funding annually as
a part of its budget for affordable
low-cost spay neuter procedures it goes
on to state that that funding could be
provided directly to the asemv or
qualified non-profit partners that could
provide or coordinate such activities
between residents in our Veterinary
providers
there's nothing in the ordinance that
states the ascmv is responsible for the
program
or that the program funding must or
should come through their annual budget
request
without including the ascmv board
you used your legislative process to
Institute a city program
that was then dumped on the shelter
and as the subcommittee worked on the
policies and budget we all saw this
coming and we spoke several times to the
council pointing out that this is a city
program it is not an ascmv program
the mayor stated the county would need
to be on board and pick up half the cost
if we're talking about a broader
spraying spay neuter program that
statement is correct however for the TNR
portion of the city ordinance the county
really has no role to play
the county already funds their spay and
neuter voucher program in the amount of
I believe it was up to 165 000. thank
you Miss Stark your time is up
just want to make a note this is spay
neuter month and fixed by five months
thank you
that's our second rule anybody in our
third row
good afternoon my name is Diane Starbuck
Roboto and I am a member of Animal
Advocates for change
did you know that February is spay and
neuter month
okay she just said it we told you guys
last time so everyone should know that
right
um Albuquerque has mandatory spay and
neuter ordinance
and it cost 150 dollars to have an
intact dog or cat
it costs 150 dollars to have a a litter
wouldn't it be great if Las Cruces had
something similar Albuquerque takes
their fees and uses it towards part of
it they use towards low-cost spay and
neuter
since Las Cruces does not have mandatory
spay and neuter
kitten season is coming up very soon
does anybody have a spare bedroom
perfect place to foster a mama kitten
mama and her babies
and the beauty of it Mama does all the
work
and towards the end you get to play with
the kittens
so what what could be better than that
okay so that's just one way that you all
could help out
and thank you very much thank you
anybody else on the third row
good afternoon my name is Donna Sim I'm
also a member of the Animal Advocates
for change
I have some questions and comments for
the city council members on 8 27 2021
you approved a new animal ordinance
chapter 7. I'm here today to ask what
you've done to educate the public
related to the law as of February 2023
the city's Animal Control webpage has
finally changed regarding licensure a
provision that was eliminated
in the new ordinance however the city's
page on permits and licensure still
States all pets are required to be
licensed it's been 18 months it's
probably time to update that City page
as the second largest city in New Mexico
we should be leading not lagging when it
comes to education of the public on the
requirements for care and control of
companion animals when you look at the
websites of other cities who are making
progress
in Companion Animal Care and Control
they have useful reliable information
and key provisions of their law
providing readily accessible means for
residents to understand the requirements
for care and control that includes
things like spay neuter
frequently asked questions about
licensure microchipping vaccination
noisy animals proper care animals leash
law pet sales animal cruelty reporting
bites and abandonment
care in control of companion animals is
a growing issue of concern in Las Cruces
as evidenced by the sheer number of
animals going to the ASC MV every day
and the police for help by residents
on social media I urge the city to be
proactive and step up your efforts to
educate the public on the city's
ordinance and care and control
responsibilities from companion animals
on your web page the city as well as
ascmv and local organizations have a
responsibility to educate the public I'm
asking what it'll take for the city to
step up your efforts in this public
education process
another item please refrain from
referring to feral cat population
problems the terminology tells me you
really don't understand the issues many
of the free roaming cats aren't feral
there are cats that have been abandoned
by their owners left to fend for
themselves outside despite the
prohibition against abandonment this is
exactly the reason the ordinance refers
to community cats versus feral cats
I sincerely hope the council will take
the responsibility seriously and act
responsibility
um regarding this significance concern
and then I'd also like to say many of us
who currently reside here are
transplants from other states I come
from Colorado where Animal Welfare is
responsibly addressed and strictly
enforced it would be beneficial if Las
Cruces could step up and become a leader
versus a lagger in this issue thank you
thank you
anybody else on the third row
fourth row fifth
major Pro Tim counselor and city manager
my name is Juan Garcia Las Cruces son 20
February card Jack and he brought
daylight it happened at 2PM Sunday as
the victim was parked in a popular
shopping mall 2 p.m Sunday popular
shopping mall let's talk about
priorities
representative Romero Santa Fe in
speaking about quote high capacity
weapons stated quote we have seen far
too many mass shootings carried out
using this weapons so I did some
research let's go to the sun three mass
shootings in 2020 kill one in ninja 12
gun violence archives 2022 four
incidents two killed 18 injured so let's
compare with opioid deaths CDC drug
overdose that 39 per capita and 26 of
those 26 percent attributed to Fentanyl
fire injury death rate
22.7 percent per capita every death is
one too many so HP 60 increases
penalties for fentanyl possession based
on the amount of drug possessed HP 59
would make possessing a gun during drug
trafficking a third degree felony in
House Bill 57 would Grant immunity from
litigation for alleged Democrats damages
or injury for merchants who apprehend
shoplifters all three were blocked by
her New Mexico Democratic
Representatives Las Cruces son
representative Ferrari is concerned
quote thieves might be injured if HB 57
passes and representative Romero is
concerned quote the criminalization of
this possession Fentanyl
this isn't how to do that she said so
instead we have Senators Hamlin
steinborne that are intent on turning
law-abiding citizens as individuals in
this place in this Chambers into felons
by outlawing current quote assault
weapons handguns and quote high-capacity
magazines
when Sheriff Stewart was interviewed she
stated how would we enforce that are we
going to be stopping people and say give
me your magazine I want to count how
many rounds you're having the gun
so you have to ask yourself if we're
doing this for reasons of the greater
good or we're just doing it to fill
space end of quote
this is similar to The Gun Free Zone in
Cielo Vista Mall recently and we know
how that went
since representative kadena Ferrari
Rubio and many others have refused to
engage in addressing the number of
crimes against their small businesses we
decided to try a different means of
communications I would like to enter
this document into the record thank you
thank you anybody else on row six
seven
row seven
okay
and if there's anybody on row eight they
would like to speak why don't you make
your way down please
good afternoon uh
council members
mayor Pro tem and city manager peely
uh I believe I'll be back here on Monday
to listen to the re uh oir report
but I thought I'd jump the line and get
here now
just in case it's a long line on Monday
and some of you I've talked to
everybody here has to be aware of the
concern that we have in the community
about
transparency in terms of
certain incidents where
some people are concerned that the
police used and I'm learning I need to
be careful about the terminology but as
a layperson I would say uh
inappropriate Force I won't say
excessive force I'm sorry can you state
your name oh I'm sorry I'm Jennifer cry
thank you thank you Jennifer cry I'm
rich retired from NMSU
so I went to the website this morning
the city and went to the Las Cruces
Police Department and there is a section
that says uh LCPD transparency but
underneath that you have policies and
procedures fine
I hope it's not as long as the 900 Pages
at the county because
Sheriff Stewart warned us about that but
the only other thing was a public safety
Community survey report results
I don't see how that's transparency
policies and procedures and the results
of it of a survey there wasn't even a
link to internal Affair reports
but I did find them and I read the most
current one and I didn't see anything in
that report that dealt with
incidents where there was loss of life
so
we are concerned about transparency we
want to communicate with the police
department we ask that they communicate
with us
I don't care if we call it a citizen's
oversight committee I think that's
probably not a good name but a committee
a police Community exchange where we
meet quarterly some way in which we can
get some information and questions
answered because the answers are not on
the website
uh
totally different subject I drive by the
Animal Services Center every day and
it's beautiful and thank you for making
that happen
we just need to spay and neuter you
already you all know that
thank you thank you Jennifer
good afternoon I think I'm still Peter
Goodman I'll try to be brief a couple of
things first of all I want to suggest to
my friend Juan that we can fight
fentanyl addiction and gun addiction
as well as trying to have police
accountability while treating the police
officers themselves right
police accountability has been mentioned
I've talked individually with you folks
and I know that you care about it
collectively this city council whether
it's because of the mayor or otherwise
is not treating police accountability
the epidemic of police killings
questionable police killings
as the riddle Earth that I think it is
um I'll address briefly three small
pieces of the picture one way
one is being told that maybe we're not
going to have the promised work session
it's unclear but if we don't that's just
plain wrong
mentioned this to one of you but in
terms of transparency at a point where
the Sun News and I and others were
having trouble getting
video from people's uh
video cameras the police officers the
somebody at the police or somebody at
the city put out a propaganda video to
try to make it look like oh this wasn't
a big deal it was kind of inept I'd be
mad if I were a city councilor and I'd
want to know who was doing that because
it's just the opposite of trans of any
kind of transparency
or proper dealing with your citizens
I'll also note for the record that I've
made extensive efforts to try to have
lunch or some other conversation with
your police chief
and he is either too busy or too
frightened or whatever it may be but uh
you know I tried for months and I'm
still interested in doing that I realize
I'm unwelcome but uh give it a try if
you ever have a moment
um
I also want to say very quickly a recent
column I addressed the fifth floor at
MMC I hope that you folks have formally
told MMC that they're in violation of
the contract by not having the fifth
floor psych ward open and you may will
take action I'm assured that they are
going to correct it I hope they will but
if I were you
I'd also get my ammo ready and finally
leaf blowers are still the worst
stupidest polluting thing in the world
and your folks ought not to be walking
around using them
thank you thank you Mr Goodman
anybody in the eighth row I think
come
um go ahead and make your way down and
counselor Flores has a question for you
Mr Goodman
yes ma'am yes sir
thank you so much Peter for being here
today
um I'm not familiar with that feel-good
propaganda that you refer to where is it
I I I'm not a uh I'll try to send you a
copy but they put out a video Jose
the city the city uh and I'll try to
I'll try to track down exactly where I
got it from and I'll ask the folks
that's on news but
basically it just sort of showed the
police officer driving there and blah
and uh
it showed him
yelling to put down the weapon but it
stopped before the actual shooting and
it basically it you know it's not
necessary I don't know that it necesses
anything specifically
untrue or lying but the motive is uh no
big thing
and
I'm just thinking when we're trying to
get we people who are either news media
or otherwise concerned citizens are
trying to get the actual
police video and see learn the facts
somebody's wasting time doing that that
should be the
the officer's criminal defense attorney
if he's ever charged
but I will try to get you the more
specific information if you could get it
to all of us I can't speak for my
colleagues but it'd be great to see and
then to also determine the source of
that thank you and thank you Mr Goodman
and thank you all for being here and for
what you do and I know that it's
wearing
thank you thank you madam chair
thank you counselor Flores
City councilors and mayor my name is
Sarah Smith
at the last meeting councilor Graham
mentioned that there is no buffer
distance required between cannabis
dispensaries and multi-family housing
areas such as apartment complexes while
there is a 300 foot buffer distance
required for single-family residential
areas I'm asking that you consider
extending the 300 foot buffer to include
multi-family housing areas
to be clear I am not against cannabis
legalization but the city needs to
carefully consider the potential
negative impacts in order to have a
balanced approach
by extending the protections of the
300-foot buffer to include multi-family
housing areas the city would be
extending the protections of the buffer
to more families regardless of their
socioeconomic status
According to some recent articles in the
American Journal of Public Health quote
cannabis retailers tend to Cluster in
socially and economically disadvantaged
areas and this can create or exacerbate
Health disparities if these communities
disproportionately bear the burden of
the negative consequences of cannabis
use
legal of legalization of cannabis may
quote exacerbate long-standing racial
ethnic and socioeconomic inequities
cannabis is not harmless cannabis use
disorder occurs in 20 percent of
Lifetime cannabis users with 11 of these
cases severe enough to prevent
individuals from participating in major
life activities such as working and
caregiving
quote while valid medicinal uses exist
cannabis use has been linked to
potential harms including motor vehicle
crashes psychotic disorders respiratory
disease and low birth weight
cannabis adversely affects the
developing adolescent brain and
communities that increase access to
cannabis by permitting retail
dispensaries may experience increased
cannabis availability to youths and
accidental ingestion of Edibles by
children this could result in a
situation in which many residents can
benefit from the positive aspects of
cannabis but the burden of the negative
aspects of cannabis Falls completely on
economically under-resourced communities
another study published in the journal
substance use and misuse found higher
density of cannabis retailers is
associated with an increase in youth
substance abuse all of these studies
that I'm mentioning I gave to Christina
so that she can give them to you
this means that if there are too many
dispensaries in Las Cruces there are
going to be more children here who will
end up abusing drugs there needs to be a
balance between supporting this new
industry and also making sure that this
community is giving its Children and
Families the greatest chance of success
City councilors you could pave the way
towards supporting the Cannabis industry
while also balancing the needs of the
families who live here by extending the
300 foot buffer to more families thank
you for your consideration I have a
question for her
sorry cancer Flores thank you thank you
madam chair and thank you Mrs Smith I
beg to
or not differ with what you've said but
referring to studies and saying that
you've given them to our city clerk
thank you for that however
um
some of the some of the quote studies
unquote can't measure what a brain
looked like before the ingestion of
cannabis and what it was like afterwards
unless and how many people I mean how
valid are these studies and I don't in
any way criticize you for referring to
this because it's out there but some of
the information that you've presented
and referring to studies hasn't been
substantiated I mean the studies may but
and then the American Health Association
it was the American Journal of Public
Health which is actually the leading
journal in the public health discipline
wait it's the actual it's like the lead
Journal as in public health it's oh okay
it's a public health Journal fine I
didn't know that
um but what does the AMA have to say
about it what does you know what do what
his what do historians have to say
um and some of this and and I I met with
you in person and and I respect your
credentials I respect your your uh your
concern for the community but what
you've presented right now is is almost
like a Reefer Madness type of alert and
I don't think our city needs that and I
I think that we do everything as City
councilors to assure that our community
is safe we're not magicians and we can't
change the course of of History
but
um I would like to remind you that and I
say this from time to time
that cannabis was actually demonized to
deport Mexicans in Arizona that's where
it all started it started in the 30s
late 20s early 30s and I would refer you
to Dr greenspoon's publication
and um
and I would also
um I mean I do thank you for your
concern but yeah you also failed to
State a us a connection between your
study and where these uh
dispensaries are where's the connection
where's the evidence
so hopefully you'll have time to read
the studies that I just gave you guys
copies of but it does have in there the
actual references and explanation of how
they determined that increasing density
of cannabis dispensaries is correlated
with a higher incidence of Youth
substance abuse so that's in there and
I'm I respect your position my I'm not
against cannabis legalization like I
said but I'm hoping that the city
council will look at it a little bit
more holistically I know this is kind of
a new burgeoning industry here but it
seems like it might be time to look a
little bit more closely you know as
counselor Graham pointed out during the
last meeting there are some inequities
with the buffers it's applied to certain
residential areas and not others and
given that we know that increasing
density does increase the chance of
Youth substance abuse issues it seems
prudent to consider having a 300 foot
buffer for those other families as well
but I beg to differ with the findings in
those and I and I just have to say that
who did studies before the the Cannabis
came into effect how do we know how can
it be measured it hasn't been measured
so there's no comparison well thank you
counselor Flores I'm going to stop you
there both of you I appreciate you
coming Mr Smith are you finished with
your thank you thank you thank you thank
you
please come
all right well
my name is Rick Renault I I just wanted
to to mention some of the sources of
Sarah Smith's data she's been censored
for posting
NIH information
so that's this kind of data she
she has to be impeccable her data anyway
and in regards to that discussion you
just had
I saw the video of
former mayor Reuben Smith
and he was here to admonish you all
for the same
thing the same subject
so thank you
thank you anybody on this side is that
all okay let's go on to my right first
row second I think that's top third row
please
please come up state your name thank you
you'll have three Council my name is
Travis Owens I'm a local business guy
and I'm actually here to also talk about
cannabis but I'm here to talk about
something totally different I'm actually
the host of the Las Cruces hemph
cannabis Festival if you're not aware we
hosted it last April over at sassy grass
on Picacho Boulevard we had over a
thousand people from all over the region
including El Paso show up we didn't
allow consumption because of the rules
and regulations that are in place I'm
coming today to open conversation about
possibly having a pilot program for our
second annual Las Cruces cannabis
Festival where it moved it to the Plaza
downtown but we do have a connected
partner that's within walking distance
from the plaza that does has a
consumption license and we would like to
possibly become a pilot program about
outdoor consumption because we know from
previous meetings and such that that is
a concern it is a conversation a topic
and we'd like to be considered as
possibly a pilot since we are already
hosting an event in the public space and
other than that I'd go ahead and yield
my time thank you thank you please um
email me
um
and we'll begin the dialogue sir okay
thank you you can find my card in the
outside
thank you sir
okay that's our third row fourth row
anybody in our fourth row fifth
sixth
seventh
eight
okay
seems like anybody on this side right
side okay thank you that concludes our
public participation I will now go on
tour our close meeting statement
the Las Cruces City Council met in
closed session at 1103 a.m February 13
2023 the following members were in
attendance mayor Ken mahakoshima
councilor Cassandra Gandara councilor
Tessa beta councilor Becky Graham left
at 12 50 p.m councilor Johanna bincomo
councilor Becky Quran and counselor
Yvonne Flores staff EPO pili city
manager Sona Delgado ACM Brad Douglas
Deputy City attorney
um at 1203 um left Barbara de Leon Cody
Rogers outside City attorney Sean
Mullins DC LCPD left at 20 excuse me
1203 Louis horrobles is our outside
lawyer and was in at 1204 pm and Bonnie
DeWitt outside lawyer as well in at 1204
the meeting adjourned at 12 54 pm and
the statement for the record is the Las
Cruces City Council met in closed
session it only disclosed those limited
items as stated in the post did notice
okay
now we are on to the acceptance of the
agenda I understand we are going to pull
and let me get my wits about me 7.4 for
now right
um
for discussion yes 7.4 for discussion
um and so I will need a acceptance of
the agenda with the amendment move to
approve with amendments is that
counselor um bengomo moved to approve
second program second by Graham okay
Christine
this is on the motion to approve the
agenda as presented with removal of item
7.4 for discussion councilor abeda is
absent councilor Graham yes councilor
Ben Comal yes councilor Korean yes
counselor Flores yes mayor Pro tem yes
and the mayor is absent thank you
okay we are 8.1 resolution number
23099 a resolution authorizing the city
of Las Cruces to accept second quarter
budget adjustments for various City
departments through an amendment to the
city's adopted fiscal year
2020-23 budget and the fiscal year
2022-23 Capital Improvement program may
I get a move to approve Grant motion
made by concert ground second by Florida
State I'm second by counselor Flores
hi mayor Pro Tim counselors I'm not
going to be presenting today however for
the record Leanne Demers Finance
director I wanted to introduce
um Jacqueline robocavo she was in
Trump's senior budget analyst I now have
a new senior budget analyst which is
Rocio Gamboa she has been promoted
and Miss uh Jacqueline has taken the
interim for the budget and Grant
administrator position for me she's just
moved up one to help us out she's a
senior accountant in the finance
department this is her first time to
present in front of council so I wanted
to introduce her to all of you and I'll
turn it over to her and to Cynthia for
the CIP
welcome Jacqueline thank you for being
here thank you for the record my name is
Jacqueline rubalcava
and I will be presenting the budget
adjustments for the FY 23 second quarter
for this budget adjustment there are no
new programs or policy initiatives and
this adjustment is focused on compliance
and alignment
and this is these are routine budgetary
business and it's best practice the data
presented is summarized so they're just
highlights you can refer to your packet
for detailed information
for general fund adjustments we have
non-department and when I mentioned
non-department this is these are for
non-specific departments so it's just
city-wide so the first one an increase
in revenue of 15 million 163 670.
and this is to adjust projected GRT
Revenue
under Council support an increase in
expenses of 35
000 and this is for the national
Community survey and it's a survey
that's conducted every two years
for communications an increase in
expense of 163 500 and this is for
construction of new communication
offices
human resources
a decrease of expenses of 141 000 and
this is for adjustments for medical
invoices incurred through December of
2022.
for police an increase in expenses of 28
and this is for
um security surveillance equipment and
these are security cameras
for the evidence building
various expenses of 213 086 and this is
to adjust various grants to actuals
and non-departmental transfer of 1.5
million this is a transfer from tib to
hhgrt
and we'll see the other side of the
transfer later on
budget adjustment this is for the HUD
housing service fund for the economic
development department and this is a
decrease in expense in expenditures of
129 715 and this is to adjust different
grants to actuals
under the special Revenue reimbursement
Grant fund and for Grants a decrease of
expenditures of 29 643 for arpa and also
an increase of 454 643 in Revenue also
for arpa
and 148 424 for the police department
in both revenues and expenditures and
this is to close out various grants
for the police protection fund under the
police department there's a transfer of
307 and this is to adjust the beginning
balance for the police protection fund
and flood control under the public works
department an increase in expenses of
ninety three thousand and this is for an
increase of expenditure of invoices for
weed control
foreign
here's the other side of the tid
transfer that we saw earlier on this is
under the tid fund for the economic
development department and so this is a
transfer of 1.5 million again from tid
to hhgrt
for go Bond projects under public works
department a decrease of expenses of 268
712 and this is to adjust the go bond to
actuals per Airport
an increase in revenue of I mean sorry a
decrease in revenue of 764 729
and a decrease in expenditures of 860
774 and this is for various adjustments
to bring grants to actuals
we move on to utility budget adjustments
under shared services utility department
there is an increase of seven hundred
and thousand dollars in Revenue
and this is the transfers to
I'm sorry and 150 000 of her transfer
and the transfers to
5160 to cover increase for the new work
order system under shared services
billing and receiving department an
increase in expenses of a hundred and
twenty thousand and this is for expenses
for various billing and collection
invoices
under Natural Gas
fund the energy management department
increase in expenses of 441 000 and this
these um
expenses are related to the energy
management program
for natural gas administration
department
increase in revenues of 684 866 these
revenues are for new rate implementation
an increase in expenses of 164 769
and this is to cover increases in cyber
security
for the water fund underwater operations
Department an increase in expenses of
193 976
due to increases in the soil processing
costs
also and 1.8 million dollar transfer and
this is a repayment of an inter
fund loan
for water under water production
Department increase in expense of 327
000 and this is to cover expenses to
solar projects while services and Lease
agreements
under Wastewater fund at the Jacob hands
facility an increase in expenses of 476
500 and this is to cover various
expenses at this facility
for Wastewater fund under the
administration department
an increase of expenses of 238
769 also for various expenses
Solid Waste for the operation department
and increasing expenses of 137 048 and
this is to cover increases in soil
processing costs
under Solid Waste fund commercial
Department increase of inexpenses of 245
000 to two various different expenses
lastly we have Transit fund and this is
for the ACM fixed route Department
increases in expenses of 509 497 to
bring different grants to actuals
under the employee health department
Human Resources an increase of 141 000
in expenses to adjust for remaining
medical invoices
incurred through December of 2022.
I'll now hand it over to Cynthia acampo
CIP analyst and she'll go over the CIP
amendments Madame chair I have some
questions yes thank you counselor Perez
well welcome to your new position
thank you I'll give Leanna Spanish
lesson on how to pronounce your last
name I think she it was more she
practiced
the rolling of the Yards so
um all of this as Leanne very well knows
and in our financial committee it's like
you're speaking Chinese to me so can we
go back to page uh
uh what was it page six I think
okay well
um
so there's a the first item shared
services utilities it's a revenue
transfer
uh and there are two amounts there the r
stands for revenue revenue and the T
stands for transfer transfer
so we have revenue and transfer so the
revenue was 700 000 and the transfer is
going to be 150 000 transferred to five
one six zero what is 5160
is that another shared services in the
year it's a different fund yes okay so
um so we do that's permissible to do
um transfers between funds even though
the money has been allocated for a
particular fund
how does that work yes they do sometimes
transfer to different funds to cover
others so the transfer here is to cover
an increase in fund 5160 and then we
also see some inter
interfund loans and what is 5160
I'm not sure off the top of my head I
know Abner Gomez or these is also here
and he can give you a little more
information on it if Leon can't answer
he's a economic analysis manager so I'll
kind of defer to him thank you
good afternoon Adventist rate and
economic analysis manager fund 5160
I'm sorry did you thank her oh Oh I
thought you said Miss Gomez or something
no my name is Abner Gomez oh your name
is okay I'm sorry fun 5160 is our
equipment replacement fund
sir will you get closer to the mic you
can't hear you very well this is where
we buy vehicles and other equipment so
fund 50 100 and 5160 are very unique
because they don't generate Revenue all
the other lines of businesses transfer
money so that they can buy equipment pay
for operations expenses that's why you
see a transfer or revenue of 700 000
because
all the expenses in shared services have
to be funded split by all for lines of
business which are natural gas water
waste water and solid waste
okay so these transfers occur from time
to time and then those are you've been
reporting that I've this is my fifth
year on city council I'm still asking
the same well no there are different
questions because there's different
different presentations okay we cannot
we don't transfer without presenting it
to you okay well and that's it falls on
our shoulders to fully understand what
you do every day
365 days except for holidays and your
vacation time and we get to hear it for
what 10-15 minutes
but I appreciate your your patience
you're welcome thank you
so Mr welcome I have
um that so all of these transfers
um the
all these adjustments are basically
transfers on the amounts except the R is
revenue the t is transfer
they're not transfers some of our
increases in revenue and increases in
expenditures decreases and revenue
decreases in expenditures so just that
once that have t are transfers and it'll
tell you where it's transferring to and
from the others are either increase or
decreases in in expenses revenues okay
so uh please forgive my um
my hard-headedness here so can you
explain then shared services what is
that
the shared services
Leanna oh thank you
mayor Pro Tim Council Leanne demouche
Finance director so just to give you a
little bit of background because I used
to actually be at utility so I have a
strong background in there so shared
services is a combination of like the
um Adrian Widmer who is the director the
assistant director all the billing all
the technical support that if you opened
your electric bill I mean if you opened
your utility bill you only see a bill
for water Wastewater natural gas and
solid waste those four utilities well
actually there's five individual type
sections within utilities and one is
shared services so water Wastewater
solid waste and natural gas contribute
to the shared services to cover those
expenses so hopefully that explains
shared services is because they're
sharing all of this with all four of the
other utilities even though natural gas
is listed specifically natural gas those
are only that is only an increase in
expense just for natural gas
the one above where it says shared
services so shared services has some
Revenue coming in that's coming from
some of the other
utilities and then they're making a
transfer to 5160 just like Mr Gomez says
to cover
um that's where they're they're required
Reserve is
so that's where they buy vehicles from
Capital Equipment and what they want to
do is is they want to purchase or a new
work order system in that fund
okay okay so
um shared services on the second line
says billing and receiving is is that
under so billions and billing and
receiving as part of the shared services
because all the bills are from the four
utilities so everybody under billing and
receiving also is paid by shared
services so all four of the individual
utilities gives funding to the shared
services so that way they can they can
acquire that so what they're doing is is
they have some funding probably in their
fund balance so they're requesting to up
their expenses because they have some
various billing collection and I think
it actually had to do with postal Pros
where they they're the ones that do the
the they send out the bills they print
them and they put them in the envelopes
and they send them out for utilities I
see so it's all those expenses okay
Abner gave me thumbs up yes okay he's
the expert on that okay
um then I have more questions for Miss
ruakawa she may be calling me but I
good afternoon
one moment thank you counselor beta
um for for being on we're going to have
to get a motion to approve counselor
Abita
for joining us via zoom and so I'll take
a motion so move by Flores second gram
motion bait by concert plotus second by
concert ground Christine
please take the wrong this is an emotion
to allow counselor Aveda to participate
telephonically counselor beta
councilor Graham yes
it's fine I hear you yeah councilor
councilor Ben Comal yes
councilor Koran yes counselor Flores yes
mayor Pro tem yes and the mayor is
absent
thank you go ahead
Jacqueline
did you have further questions oh yes I
do I'm sorry I was I'm sorry
um so yes
um can you go to page four
okay so
um
the I'm I have questions about uh
special Revenue reimbursement Grant
um so we have the grants non the
department is Grants non-department
police categories Revenue expenses
and the purpose and then there's all
these numbers
and then we have arpa
[Music]
how does arpa money
get into
Revenue reimbursement Grant
so it's under fund 2100 and that's what
it's called special Revenue
reimbursement Grant and so when we say
here the increase in expenses of 29 643
to arpa this was two correct amounts
from trench one trench two and they were
reconciled and so it was just correcting
so what was why was it reconciled why
was it why was there a discrepancy I
believe so in how it was
um how it was allocated I believe but I
don't have the specifics on that this
was requested and so we put it in so I
have I'd have to get you that I'm not
sure if Leanne can speak to that
mayor Pro Tim councilor Flores Leanne
demish for the record what happened was
was there were as you can tell the
expenses being increased we I think
during trunch one they thought that the
expense would be expensed but it wasn't
so this is similar to like what we do
with a carryover so we're carrying over
the expense
between the trunch one and the trunch
too
so that that's what this is doing is
bringing that expense in so that way it
can be expensed in this fiscal year when
we thought it was going to be in last
fiscal year
I think the part that really boggles my
my brain is how we have three purposes
and somehow the lines I mean I'm reading
literally across the line but but those
lines really aren't indicative of what's
being what the purpose is right so in
it's confusing yeah it is and I
apologize for that actually I was the
one that put this together so I
apologize in the the second line which
is the 454
643 that was actually increased revenue
account for the arpa as well for the ma
um I apologize this was for the American
risk American Rescue plan act it was res
it was Revenue to match so we could
reconcile it that's what a while ago
Jacqueline was talking about reconciling
it so we were reconciling the 454
000 is reconciling from tranche one to
trunch two so the funding came in but we
had not budgeted it correctly so what
we're doing is is we're we're fixing it
so that way what what x actually came in
from the arpa is actually now
accounted for
okay and I apologize for that yeah and
and I my concern here is that um we will
be audited uh the arpa funds will be
audited and and mayor mayor Pro Timmy
Council Flores they were this year
during external Auditors with
um with Mr Gardner he they did audit it
this year and I will promise you they
will audit it next year because it's
over that that amount for the special
so so it'll be audited and this it will
be taken into account this will be taken
into account and I get really nervous
the minute I see uh arpa
because uh you know we don't want to
mess with the feds and I will I will
tell you that our comptroller Miss Josie
Trevino will is actually this came from
her this request so she is reconciling
this and she's keeping me on my toes
ma'am great thank you thank you so I I'm
sorry to be belaboring
um all these I have all these questions
I have a lot more but I can ask you
individually I I thought maybe I would
share my ignorance or at least that my
colleagues might benefit from some of
the questions I've had but I want to
thank you Mr Moosh and thank you uh
thank you thank you madam chair
thank you counselor Flores
okay Jacqueline moving right along okay
sounds good so then I will now hand it
over to Cynthia Campos for CIP
amendments thank you hi Cynthia we don't
see you very often
but we're glad you're here
gonna talk CIP amendments
yes ma'am good afternoon
um Cynthia Campo CIP analyst for the
record
I am going to be presenting the CMP
amendments for the second quarter that
we have several of them the major
reasons for some of these amendments are
budget to actuals adjustments
adjustments to bring fun balances to
zero removal of projects to close funds
and that's for utilities
addition sorry adjustments for
additional expenses and transfers of
Appropriations between projects
so I have
I will be showing the projects that fall
into each one of these categories so
these projects are all being adjusted
for Budget to actuals which means we are
bringing the budget to
um to the actual amount for the end of
the previous fiscal year
these projects are being adjusted they
are being reduced either because we are
adjusting the fund to bring it the
balance to zero or for the utility
projects we are removing these projects
to close the fund
these fund adjustments are to increase
due to additional expenses for the
projects
and finally these are transfers of
projects from
from one project to another the funds
are being transferred from one project
to another
do you have any questions
thank you thank you any questions
seen none
are we at the point
okay Council options very good okay we
are we are ready and I think we have a
motion on the
on the diet So Christine please call the
roll
this is on the motion to approve
resolution
23-099 counselor abeda
councilor Graham yes councilor Ben Como
yes councilor Koran yes counselor Flores
yes mayor Pro tem yes and the mayor is
absent thank you Christine
okay we need to pull 7.4 off the table
we need to suspend the rules and suspend
to go ahead and listen to 7.4 yes so we
need to suspend the rules and we need a
motion to do that may I get a motion to
suspend the rules for 7.4 to listen to
7.4 and then 8.2 oh yes and 8.2 thank
you yeah
thank you for the motion is there a
second second by floaters second made by
concert Flores
Christine so this is an emotion to
suspend the rules to now listen to item
7.4 and then items 8.2
counselor beta
councilor Graham yes councilor Ben Comal
yes councilor Koran yes counselor Flores
yes mayor Pro tem yes and the mayor is
absent
and now we need a motion to listen to
item 7.4 yeah so now we so moved Graham
thank you motion made by Christine
second by Flores
Christine oh not yet sorry
it's a new one for me okay
hi Erica hello how are you good and
yourself good good good afternoon mayor
Pro tem and members of council Erica
Hawkins treasurer the ordinance before
you is to authorize the issuance and
sale of 17 million General obligation
bonds
borders approve for General obligation
Bond projects in November 8 2022
elections the total approved by voters
was 23 million 10 million was for a new
fire station 5 million to continue the
East Mesa Public recreation facility
6 million for affordable housing and 2
million for Park improvements
the first installation of gold bonds is
17 million total proceeds the 17 million
will be used 10 of those 17 million will
be used for the new Fire Station 5
million to continue the construction of
the East Mesa Public recreation facility
and 2 million for Park improvements the
6 million for affordable housing will be
issued later this year early 2024.
the ordinance authorized as a city
manager and financial service director
to approve within the following
parameters the issue amount cannot
exceed 17 million the interest rate
cannot exceed 10 percent and the
maturity date cannot be no later than
August 1st 2036.
the bonds will be payable from property
taxes the proceeds will be used for the
project and the debt issuance cost these
bonds are expected to be issued tax
exempt at a competitive public sale the
writing by Moody's is consistent with
prior issuances
um there was ordinance 2980a which is
which establishes a dedicated funding
source for acquisition of artworks so
two percent of the general obligation
Bond proceeds will be allocated to
public art
0.25 percent to point at 0.25 percent to
0.5 can be used to re store and conserve
public art works of art the public art
projects need to be consistent with what
the voters approved and the questions
and here I stand for any questions
thank you any questions counselor
bengalo thanks mayor thank you so much
um
just quick question I'm curious about
the housing affordable housing bonds and
the decision to either not include him
in this piece or how does how does that
work and then what do you think the
timeline for that is and what will
dictate that so um
counselor Ben Cuomo mayor protemp the
decision came with some assistance from
our financial advisor advisor RBC
um
the affordable housing bonds more than
likely are going to be issued taxable
bonds because of
the ordinance tied to those when we
approve the the bonds that we said we
were going to deposit them in that fund
and since
um non-tax bonds are a little more
attractive than taxable bonds we don't
want to
kind of cannibalize our own bonds with
including a taxable bond with it and
we're hoping that by the time later this
year or beginning of next year our
economy will be a little bit more stable
we can get a better rate for these
taxable ones okay so does that mean then
that affordable housing projects
that would ideally be funded with
portion of this money won't start till
2024 until after they're issued
that could be the case sorry counselor
Ben Cuomo mayor Pro Temp that could be
the case but we also have other options
like reimbursement resolutions and since
these are taxable bonds
they're not as restricted as the tax
exempt bonds per the IRS so we may be
able to reimburse ourselves with a
certain time frame which
that doesn't mean we can't start the
projects till then great that's really
good to hear and I think it's smart to
wait till the com the economy is not so
volatile so thank you for that
explanation and then actually just on
this question number six that last part
public art project consistent with voter
approved purpose
um if the
question didn't include anything about
public art what's the how do we make
that fit
so um counselor bencomo what this
ordinance basically saying is for
example the fire station two percent of
those proceeds will be used for public
art now what the consistent with what
voters approved that's not within the
question but it's a fire station so if
let's say um
they have maybe the amount since it's 10
million the two percent
might be able to cover two public art
projects so they they just have to be
consistent with the question they can't
go put it at um the pool so it has to be
like another fire station and then we
have the the parks and then also the the
East Mesa
competitive or public
facility thank you for clarifying I
appreciate that
thank you thank you
okay Christine
this is on the motion to approve
ordinance 3025 counselor Aveda yes
councilor Graham yes councilor Ben Cuomo
yes councilor Koran
I heard you
um counselor Flores
yes mayor Pro tem yes and the mayor's
absent okay okay thank you next up 8.2
Council bill number 23018
ordinance number 30 24.
good proof thank you second Graham thank
you Erica
again good afternoon mayor Pro Temp and
members of the council Erica Hawkins
Treasurer the ordinance before you is to
authorize the issuance and sale of up to
12.15 million of state-shared gross
receipt tax bonds
the debt cycling program for the streets
and Facilities is scheduled every three
years the debt cycling provides level
Debt Service payments and predictable
Capital project funds the last time we
issued these were in 2020
these bonds are expected to be issued
tax exempt at a competitive public sale
and are pledged with the state share
gross receipts tax the bond rating for
these is consistent with prior issuance
the fund proceeds can be used for
constructing purchasing Furnishing
equipping rehabi rehabilitating
additions and improvements for
facilities and also constructing
reconstructing resurfacing maintaining
repairing and improving streets and
roadways and with these funds will also
pay the debt issuance cost
uh potential projects to be funded will
reflect the goals of the city's
comprehensive and strategic plans the
projects will be rated high on the
capital Improvement program criteria and
these will fall within three Broad
project buckets which are the quality of
life the maintenance and active
transportation
the ordinance authorizes a city manager
and financial service director to
approve within the following parameters
the par value cannot exceed
12.15 million the interest rate cannot
be above 10 percent and the maturity
cannot be later than June 1st 2038 and I
stand for any questions
Council Corinne thank you I just have a
quick question in totally understanding
what this means this is a regularly
issued bond that we use to fund Street
Maintenance right you can just thank you
for your presentation I'm just trying to
keep up with you
um but my understanding of this is that
it's a pretty consistent we ask for the
same amount but if there is an if
there's an x-axis and a y-axis uh the
x-axis being time and the y-axis axis
being cost
um our because costs have become more
significant this means that our rate of
improvements will slow down is that an
accurate understanding of the so I guess
this is the same amount of money as in
the past but it's not the same amount of
progress toward improving our street
conditions is that accurate uh counselor
Quran mayor Pro Temp uh yes well
everything is cost more than the last
time we we did this cycling so
um we're just gonna have to be very
strategic on what projects are high in
priority and again fit the
um the comprehensive and the Strategic
plan and take care of the projects that
are needed to hire so we we will follow
that process for these this is a cycling
program so we get them every three years
usually it's about 10 and a half million
but this we borrowed a little less
during that pandemic because we had all
these unknowns so that's why we are at
12 million this cycle
awesome thank you and then the other
question is just related to the interest
rate has also changed during that time
or is it is it remaining roughly the
same and or is it possible that it will
go down and then that will increase the
amount of
Revenue that we get I will call Eric
from RBC and he can help me answer this
question
thank you thank you very good
hi good afternoon uh Madam mayor pro
Tampa councilor Eric harriganth RPC
Capital markets so for planning purposes
um we use around a four to four and a
half percent interest rate based upon
current market conditions we anticipate
the rate for these bonds to come in
roughly around 3.6 to 3.8 percent
um you know the market moves every
single day sometimes significantly
either positively or negatively so
that's what we anticipate these bonds
are expected to price in two weeks and
at that point in time the city will have
locked in those rates awesome okay thank
you and thank you for this presentation
and also I that brings to light the the
pressingness of the conversation that
we're having here that is to to get the
best interest rates that we possibly can
whenever we can
um as much as that is there so thank you
again I appreciate it the access is more
clear in my the little graph is more
clear in my head um thank you very much
for this presentation I appreciate your
Insight
thank you councilor Quran I actually see
the x and y axis and you know my my
brain doesn't go there but I really
appreciate you doing that because now it
does and I was just told by Evo Mr
petely that we can speak more directly
to this at our budget retreat in terms
of the specific projects that we have in
mind and so with that
Christine we're gonna make it counselor
beta we're trying to get you out I know
you have such a pressing matter and I
appreciate you hanging in with in there
with us
another motion to approve ordinance 3024
counselor beta
yeah councilor Graham yes councilor Ben
Comal yes councilor Koran yes counselor
Flores yes mayor Pro tem yes and the
mayor's absent
thank you for thank you everybody
okay next on our agenda 8.3 Council bill
number 23020 ordinance number 3026 an
ordinance of many chapter 24 procurement
code of the Las Cruces Municipal Code
move to approve Graham second motion
made by councilor Graham second made by
councilor bengoma
hi Leanne hi mayor Pro Toom Council for
the record land to Moosh Finance
director I have the pleasure right now
of introducing uh you have some of you
have met her and some of you probably
haven't so I wanted to introduce her
formally we have our purchasing manager
Alicia Hernandez here to give you uh
this is uh for the new procurement code
that she's going to be giving you a
presentation on I would like to also
introduce her
um her I'll have her introduce her team
but I will also wanted to announce and
by the way this is her first time to
present in front of you as well I always
like to put that out there but I also
wanted to let you know that just last
week Alicia and two of her senior buyers
which I will have them stand Donnie
procise and Dave Duncan and Alicia
herself went through some schooling and
some training and passed their test with
flying colors and now have achieved
their CPO uh certification which is
Chief procurement officer which is a
requirement in our audit so we now have
three which I'm glad so I'm very proud
of them and I appreciate everything that
our our buying team does and I'm going
to turn it over to Alicia thank you so
much Leanne and congratulations I know
that's not easy and um very much
appreciate building our bench and that's
an important thing so thank you welcome
thank you I appreciate that mayor Pro
tem City councilors I'm losing my voice
a little bit so I apologize
um I wanted to introduce my staff for
just a moment if I may like Leanne
mentioned Dave Duncan and Donnie procise
they're our senior staff in our
purchasing department and then we do
have Lisa padron Sam Sheen and Suri
Molina who are buyers and then of course
we have David Johnson who's our
purchasing specialist
welcome
so before you today is an ordinance
amending the procurement code
the procurement code is located in
chapter 24 of our municipal code
the purpose of the I'm sorry
the purpose of this chapter is to
maximize the purchasing value of public
funds and to provide safeguards for
maintaining a procurement system of
quality and integrity
the definition of procurement is the
buying purchasing renting leasing or
otherwise acquiring of any supplies
service or Construction
governments often have departments and
laws for procurement usually with very
strict procedures for how purchases can
be made and this ensures that the
process doesn't become corrupted by
bribes Kickbacks and favoritism
a little bit of background on the
procurement code updates the last
comprehensive P code update was approved
in June of 2021
this time we've included some additional
formatting changes we've added and
clarified some definitions
we've revised some authorized exemptions
and we're increasing the threshold for
competitive public procurement
our intent going forward is to bring
changes more frequently on a cycle of
about every two to three years
and as needed
as part of this review process we did
have purchasing staff review code and
suggest any edits based on feedback from
the last picode update that we had in
2021 we worked with the assistant city
managers who are the selection advisory
chairs and the chief administrative
officer provided feedback and guidance
for the changes going forward
uh we did have some end user departments
provide input as individual questions
have been identified since that last
revision
and then in November of 2022 we did
present this to the finance select
committee and at that point they
recommended that it be taken to city
council
as part of our intent to improve Clarity
we did add five definitions
we added something on Advertising we
included a definition of immediate
family and we took that directly from
the federal Family Medical Leave Act
uh we included something on
non-procurement contracts as well as
Professional Services we Define which
trades are included under the
Professional Services and then we
included a section on tangible goods
we wanted to improve our competitive
procurement process so we added some
language about authorized exemptions to
add that it's subject to review and
written determination by the purchasing
manager
we added a section on I'm sorry
competitive cooperative procurements and
we added that there is a limit of 48
months for extension of contracts there
was an area that was duplicated in the
procurement code and that was the
retirement and benefits exemption so we
removed one of those
we are attempting to improve flexibility
as well
we want to increase the public the
competitive public procurement threshold
from 75 000 to 100
000 and this is designed to account for
inflation increased operational cost and
the last time that we updated any of
these thresholds was in February of
2015.
it doesn't pack small purchases the
authority to award and the reporting to
city council
we do want to improve transparency so we
added some additional language regarding
bid proposal process in the area that
talks about direct contacts
we wanted to enhance the conflict of
interest reporting requirement
and outlined that if employee becomes
aware they must disclose to the
purchasing manager immediately
we did add an entire section just in
reference to tangible goods it's its own
division now whereas previously it
wasn't
um
it didn't have it separated
and then we also added some information
on bid protests language that included
thresholds forbid protest appeal bonds
so the next step is that we are asking
to adopt this ordinance we do want to
educate the city departments regarding
the changes that we have moving forward
and update any internal and external
purchasing standard operating procedure
updates
and with that I stand for any questions
thank you very much um councilor Graham
councilor Perez thank you thank you
mayor Pro tem thanks so much for the
presentation congratulations newly
minted cpos and whole team really
appreciate it
um hoping you have access to the agenda
packet
uh thinking don't but I think Leanne
does okay cool
um really in the weeds question here I
have the red light version in front of
me okay perfect
um so if we're in section 24-161
Red Line new letter B this is 602 of 719
of the council packet of that
helps anyone else
you said 24-161 24161 so red line letter
B construction projects may be awarded
based on cost qualifications or both and
hopefully it'll always be both or
qualifications I mean and I understand
the realities of
you know giving projects to the lowest
bidder but
I just want to feel assured that safety
quality
Etc will also be I just keep picturing
that off of like train thing in Ohio or
something like nothing's going to
explode right so I believe that
previously
um in June of 2021 cost was a factor
and we took that out because it was
determined to be the only Factor but now
it's not and so we do have cost
qualifications or both okay so this is
actually kind of upping the standard yes
more so than than downgrading and then
saying like oh yeah
correct okay great thank you that was my
only question thank you so much thank
you counselor Graham counselor Flores
thank you madam chair and thank you for
for your presentation and welcome
everybody so
um as far as
um
the exemptions on page seven can you go
back to that please
thank you
right here yes
so um
were these exemptions are these brand
new or are they modified
we at we didn't have anything in the P
code that indicated that it was subject
to review and written determination by
the purchasing manager so that was added
in there we also didn't have anything on
competitive Cooperative procurements so
we included that as well that we are
able to
exempt the process of
going forward if we have you know use
something from another government entity
or another Cooperative agency
so we added that so you added it to
facilitate procurement yes to make it
quicker it we could piggyback
essentially on any one of those
agreements that another agency has
okay and my overall question is is this
a review consistent with mccard report
or is this
it was factored in yes okay and so is it
a fine-tuning of the McCart report yes
so as we review this we notice things
come up and we're going to continue to
monitor it and bring them forward as
needed hopefully in about a two to three
year cycle okay this is the third year
second third year since the last year it
was June of 2021 so almost two years
yeah two years okay and then on page
eight
the um
can you explain increase to competitive
public procurement threshold from 75 000
to 100
what does that mean isn't a project
don't you just go project by project
what does this mean so what it means is
that anything procured above the 75 000
limit you previously have we have
departments and our procurement staff
take it to city council and now we're
upping that threshold to a hundred
thousand so what that means is you'll
see anything above a hundred thousand
not anything below that but we still do
provide reports to city council
quarterly regarding what um those limits
are so that you have access to that to
see what may not have come to council
and that will be based on well those
three factors yes yeah those two factors
and last updated in February of 2015. so
it okay
um on page nine
you have bid protests
I guess point to enhanced conflict of
interest
reporting requirement
it seems to me that after mccard should
have been enhanced hype you know like
really so are you still finding
loopholes and and potential for I don't
think we've had any issues I think we
just discovered that we didn't include
it in June of 2021 holy moly I see
there's a conflict of interest statement
in there I think all that was added is
the statement that and if if an employee
becomes aware they must disclose to the
PA to the purchasing manager immediately
okay but what is a mechanism for for
besides self-reporting on a conflict of
interest
besides them contacting us directly I'm
not sure
I I can speak to that sorry this is
Barbara deliori thank you yes by me way
over there every apartment
thank you so much mayor Pro tem and
counselor of Flores Barbara DeLeon chief
administrative officer so I I do want to
clarify that the previous purchasing
code did have language in it with
respect to conflict of interest it was
very specific to the selection advisory
committee process where folks who sit on
that committee are required to sign
conflict of interest statements to
ensure that that's not an element of of
selection however we we in an in because
we are periodically reviewing the code
to make sure that we have all the
language in there that will help folks
to be compliant with the code we decided
to add a general statement this time
around to just State there may be
conflicts of interest not associated
with selection advisory committee
associated with other types of
procurement and that's why this
statement
was was added to the code with respect
to the sexual selection advisory
committee there is a specific form that
is signed a particular to conflict of of
Interest
with respect to this General requirement
its notification to the to the
purchasing manager that could be verbal
it could be email and then the
purchasing manager would be responsible
for documenting the conflict of interest
as it's reported
so miss de Leon the the committee that
you referred to is comprised of what
five people
so the selection advisory committee is
and this was one of the areas of the
peacode that was revised in 2021 it's
comprised of three directors and then
other subject matter experts one of the
directors is from the Department that is
procuring the goods or services
and then there is one that is a rotating
position so that we can ensure that
different directors are involved in this
election process and then we have
subject matter experts internal subject
matter experts that also are able to
vote on the selection and be part of
that selection advisory process
okay so
um there's enough checks and balances in
that process to keep Shenanigans from
happening ever again
yes that is our intent and with the
clarification to the code we're trying
to make it easy to comply with that
outcome that we all want for transparent
and fair procurement
okay so that select committee is going
to
um also be an oversight committee to an
extent no
just the select committee is the
selection advisory committee is formed
every time that there is a particular
procurement that's going out on the
street for a request for proposals and
the membership of that committee changes
depending on the services that are being
procured great thank you so much Miss de
Leon and thank you very much thank you
thank you madam chair
counselor I'm sorry I didn't see becomo
and current go ahead thank you thank you
for these updates and
um I think just as a sort of General
note I really appreciate you all keeping
track of this but I do want to point out
something really really clearly and I
think a lot of the public maybe
misunderstands this
um in in these cases of selections often
people will send me requests to pitch
their business like this happens with
some frequency just to be completely
transparent every time I refer them back
to your department to say this is this
is the process that we go through we
have nothing to do with it so just to
systematically reassert that when it
comes to procurement there's a very
robust process in place that Beyond
hearing what you all do and approving of
it and appreciating the work that you do
and refining it we have nothing to do
with at all so I just want to sort of
thank you for making it so robust and so
clear and also to clarify our role in it
Beyond hearing this presentation is
is nothing so thank you
thank you counselor Koran councilor
binkelman nor purchasing pieces of
property right real estate
um thank you so much and welcome and
congratulations to both of you I turned
to councilor Graham and I said can you
imagine that test so congratulations
um just one quick question in terms of
this new set of
um upgrades to the P code do do any of
these have an impact on the ngos that we
often partner with in the community and
if so have they been made aware of any
process change can you repeat that I'm
sorry I didn't hear you if any of these
P code enhancements can I ask you to
speak closer into the Mind very loudly
um I scared myself sometimes how much I
can hear myself so my apologies
any of the set of improvements to the
peak code enhancements upgrades do they
affect ngos at all any of the non-profit
organizations that we work with and if
so have they made been aware of any
process we haven't made him aware of it
they may be affected depending on if
they are a vendor of ours but we do
intend to work with economic development
on maybe getting some of that
information out to them okay can you
talk about any of what could they expect
to how they could expect to be impacted
I we don't have a plan yet okay but
that's okay well thank you for having a
plan to to speak with the appropriate
departments I appreciate it okay thank
you
thanks again
um I really appreciate
um the the presentation congratulations
you know in the summer of my sophomore
year of college
um I worked
um and my father's company he worked as
a diesel mechanic and Chino Mines and
they were having these summer pro
programs like internships if you will
and they connected me to a buyer and so
I was like buying stuff
um it all sorts of things dozers
tools and you name it and I was like wow
when when I think about really what I
did it was like wow so um thank you for
that work I've
um back then they were just like pick
the cheapest thing you can you can you
can pick but there's so much more that
goes into that I know so I very much
appreciate you and the effort and just
the training
um the professionalism that you that you
bring to the to the
to the work
um I did have a question on slide seven
around the the expansion of the 48
months
so on that we didn't have anything that
limited
how far we could extend our contracts so
what we did was we we added the limit of
the 48 months at that point we would
have to do an entire new competitive
procurement and I appreciate that what
my question is around those 48 months is
there are times when I get complaints
about
this where we are extending but the
public isn't aware of the process that
we move into related to
um
say our our
you know
let's see how do I how do I put this
um in terms of
ensuring that there's accountability and
that people are are doing what they say
or companies are doing right
organizations are doing what they say
they're going to do so what gets
factored into those extensions are you
asking staff or departments about
performance measures right because we've
moved into performance based budgeting
and each of these contracts specifically
right have performance measures that
we're asking them to to to attain if you
will so I want to know what happens
internally when you're extending because
usually what I guess what we see is
contracts are coming three and four
months
years if you will what sort of internal
processes are in place to that you're
actually reaching department head kids
and folks staffers that are working on
the day-to-day right and that might have
issues and concerns what is speak to me
about about that so the way we have our
uh Department structured our purchasing
department is that our buyers are
assigned to several different
departments so that they can facilitate
an easier communication method now what
a lot of people don't realize is there's
a lot of involvement with competitive
procurement so do they really want to do
it every year I mean that's not very
helpful for some of our departments that
are doing these large projects or large
Goods that they're purchasing so we want
to put that 48th month allowance to
extend the contract at that but we
always include in our contracts a clause
that indicates that we can terminate for
any time so the department will contact
the buyer and say you know they're not
doing a good job they're late they they
do this they're not constantly following
they're not working with us effectively
and at that point we can terminate the
contract before an extension is made
okay Alice so you're telling me that
there is a process in place that when
that renewal is coming up that several
months before there's either an email or
something that's going on to the
department to say look this is a renewal
time
what do you have in order for me to
write is there is there POS how many
positives what are they are there
negatives I guess I want to be insured
that if we're going to limit this or
just have this and I know we've had them
because this has come to us before I
just want to make sure that there's that
that internal communication that's
occurring that we can assure the public
that these contracts are being
um processed in a way and that we are
actually looking at the pros and cons to
each of these contracts and holding our
contractors accountable to their
performance measures yes so that's
correct our buyer team will reach out to
the part the department uh prior to that
contract expiring and they asked them
those types of questions and if they
want to proceed we get together the
information needed to do the contract
amendment to extend up for another year
okay okay thank you I really appreciate
that I think that's
um really important and I I know that Mr
Pedley and I have had some conversations
with folks that have been concerned
about you know some of our our contracts
and it's specific to
Geo Bond
um and and I've appreciated David sidio
and and and ifo really looking at that
and I just want to be assured that there
is a process in place and there are
those those safety
mechanisms yes because I think it's
important
um
you know I appreciated cancer Flores is
bringing up their McCord report I think
we're the only two with the exception of
Mayor on Council now that to go through
that process it was a tough process and
one that um you know she referred to I
just want to make sure that how is our
Inspector General tied into these things
related to because we do have the
Inspector General now which was a
recommendation that was made to us how
is he he or she I think it's a he tied
into
this and sort of the conversations that
were had in terms of in improving our
procurement
you know I haven't had a conversation
with him yet or met him but I know that
right now he is working with our pay
card administrator right now that's
Donnie and he is doing an audit of uh
some of the pcard transactions that
we've had so right now that's the extent
of his involvement with us okay okay
thank you so I know he's very new I
don't even think a month yeah okay yes
yes so I appreciate and tying him into
these um the kinds of conversations now
Alice what are these
Alicia sorry Alicia I want to make sure
I'm calling people by their right name
correct name Alicia now were these sort
of improvements and discussions ever had
in our financial our finance PRC policy
Review Committee they weren't as far as
I know oh they were I'm sorry
our policy select committee yes yes
thank you thank you
um and then let's see
just looking through my sketchy nose I I
do
another issue of concern that has been
brought up in concert becomo thank you
for bringing up our ngos I think some of
the
feedback that was given to me when we
are our
submitting requests for proposals and
there's they're submitting their
um their rfps or their proposal through
the system that we have outlined
um
one of the concerns has been that
they're putting out sort of their
um
will their business plan for a lot a lot
of ways and and it's very they're very
exposed about what they're going to do
for a specific project and whatnot
um and that that goes out to I don't
know is that
is that system
um public and do people get like anybody
off the street able to review those
projects or those proposals
they are it's not until after we've
awarded the contract but
um it is all confidential prior to that
so it is confidential up until the award
of the vendor and then the award then
you can you place that in some
um system or we don't have it on a
system but uh anyone can do a public
records request and get that information
so how do we protect their business
um we do it for private companies why
are we exposing ngos to that that
process I don't believe we do it for
private companies
no what I mean is you protect them and
up until the very end I don't know that
their business plan and proposal is is
public
we treat them all the same so whether
it's a private or a non-profit
we don't release any information unless
it's asked but that's after the award
that the mentor has okay all right thank
you thank you I appreciate the the
comments and I'm okay I think is there
any other comments public comment out
counselor counselor Flores you can call
me Vancouver
um
so um my question my question my
question
um
when you're
when bidding is going out it goes out to
um
the world of that business
that it goes to out to the world
so
um
theoretically anyone can put in the bid
and then and then you know there's a
conflict of interest
within that select committee or is that
whatever collection advisory committee
yeah so what happens how or how do you
uh prevent something like department
heads
um
is there anything that
well I guess
um
when you get a when you get a bid
and you get the
the people who are proposing that do you
do any checks on
the um
the corporation or the company in terms
of their board of directors in terms of
their investors in terms of you know
who's who and what's what do you do any
of that we do reference checks on the
vendors that are reference checks based
on the references they give you yes or
well yeah it's like I can tell you
my sister would give me an excellent
recommendation but um so that's it
that's the extent because I think one of
the problems we had in McCart was that
um
you know without making any
slanderous
um
statement here was that um
well based on my reading of the report
it appeared that there were some
well are there any safeguards for
in-house shenanigans
and by Shenanigans I mean wrongdoing
self-profiteering
I I can answer that
again if I may yeah mayor Pro tem and
counselor Flores so that there is an
entire section of the code that's ethics
and prohibitions and procurement that
includes uh what Alicia was referring to
earlier with respect to direct contact
with anyone proposing something
prohibiting direct contact with elected
officials City staff other than the
purchasing manager from the development
of the specifications all the way
through the contract award it includes
the conflict of interest that we were
talking about earlier
and it's very specific about defining
conflict of interests and we have with
this revision proposed the addition of a
blanket statement if an employee becomes
aware of a potential conflict of
interest related to a procurement they
shall disclose such potential conflict
to the purchasing manager immediately
that is in addition to the other
language that's already in this section
with respect to ethical procurement and
conflict of interest so there's a
section on gratuities and kickbacks
um so yes the code has quite a bit of
language related to
um preserving the Integrity of the
process and how that is done whether
it's
a conflict of interest within with an
internal employee and an external
vendor whether it's a conflict between a
consultant that we are employing and an
external vendor and giving us advice
there's quite a bit of language in the
code so that we can make it very clear
what is and what is not permitted so to
preserve the procurement thank you Miss
DeLeon I think that my question I'm
aware of the cell that self-reporting
I mean but is someone going to say I you
know I put my hand in the cookie jar
I mean and I'm not saying that we want
snitches per se but um self-reporting
has its shortcomings and so how do we
get around that and that's I think
that's my concern because we know very
well that you know there were a lot of
there was some wrongdoing and I think
that some of it will go unresolved as we
all know right
did want to mention that we do have an
annual reporting requirement for all
employees to disclose any outside
business interests that they have that's
documented within our system so that if
we needed to to do some checking
ourselves with respect to relationships
of employees and particular businesses
we could do that as well that is outside
of the procurement system in just an
annual requirement so that is an
additional reporting requirement it's
still self-reporting as you indicate but
it is another of Avenue of information
that's available to purchasing staff
should we need to proceed with any any
inquiries along those lines
so you're talking about inquiries or I
know that there were
there were emails that were anonymous
and people
did come forward and so
I guess we we can't really
have anything on that I mean people
either are going to be
forthcoming or they're not going to be
forthcoming and we'll probably find out
after the fact
that you're also bringing to mind of
course the hotline that's available for
employees or for the external Community
to
make us aware of potential improprieties
as well that's where potentially the
Inspector General at this point since we
have that position filled may get
involved as well as you know other
investigatory Avenues as well
thank you so much Miss DeLeon and thank
you so much for your presentation thank
you mayor Patel thank you counselor
Flores thank you Alicia I don't believe
there's any question
um yes um
assistant city manager Sonia
there you go sorry about that
um yes
members of the council Soni Delgado
assistant city manager I just wanted to
add a little bit to this conversation
although I know that we've had some
issues in the past and those I believe
have been rectified and I'd like to say
the finance team has done a great job of
going back through and checking our
processes and making sure that things
are on par and that we're going to be
followed through to the letter and as a
sap as one of the sac chairs for this
committee
that's very important to me and I think
that we have a great team I think they
understand what has happened I they
understand the implications and they
themselves are the ones came forward and
said we should put these things into
place and so I trust that everyone on
this team moving forward as we go
through projects as we talk about
different things and making sure that
paperwork is in place and that we are
being very transparent is going to
happen and so I just wanted to say thank
you to the finance team thank you to
Barbara for helping us put that together
and I will do my best to ensure that
these processes are followed and that we
continue to
change that perception out there and
which I understand and sometimes things
happen and unfortunately everyone has to
bear that brunt but we do have a solid
team and we are making great strides
moving forward and I will help that also
so I just wanted to add that
thank you thank you Miss Delgado
appreciate it is there any public
comment
seeing none Christine
this is on the motion to approve
ordinance 3026
counselor of beta is absent councilor
Graham yes councilor Ben Como yes
councilor cran yes cancer Flores yes
mayor Pro tem yes and the mayor's absent
thank you Christine okay next up is
board appointments and we have one Las
Cruces Utility Board of Commissioners
Phillip Simpson is a new appointment and
I believe that we need a motion and so
moved motion made by counselor Graham
seconded Corinth seki second by Becky
counselor Quran
did you see what I did there I was
trying to do yeah this is on the motion
to appoint Philip Simpson to the Las
Cruces Utilities Board of Commissioners
councilor abeda is absent Council Graham
yes councilor Ben komal yes
cancer cram yes counselor Flores yes
mayor Pro tem yes and the mayor is
absent thank you
um notice the performers proposed
ordinance there will be no public
discussion and it counselor may ask
staff for clarification on the proposed
ordinances 10.1 Council bill number
23-021 ordinance number is 3027
Bring It Forward
by concert ground okay next is city
council member board reports and
comments
all right and I'm starting with me let's
see here
um
I wanted to speak on behalf of Senior
Services last year we I believe
um brought to the attention of
um the concern that I I had specifically
about our seniors and making sure that
we had allocated
a an amount to to do an assessment not
only to conduct an assessment and around
the current services and the need but
because we're an aging population I
wanted to have this very robust needs
assessment regarding our seniors in
terms of what we have currently and what
we're needing and and I'd like to get an
update on that before if I can I haven't
heard and I know we've had some
transition with our new director so I'd
like an update on that
um and there's
um some new services that are going to
be put in place from the private sector
a Adult Day Care there'll be a couple or
three across the city which I think is
going to be a huge service for our
seniors and I'd like for there to have
some communication about private Public
Partnerships with those adult
um
day care centers they have several in El
Paso that I know have been really very
instrumental in providing reducing right
isolation for our seniors a way to
communicate with others seniors but also
keeping folks in their in their places
their homes right and so like to see
that come to fruition next up I have a
lift up meeting at 6 00 pm on February
28th I'm looking at yes carielle and
she's not eating yes so I'd like to it
will be at Loma Heights and inviting the
area
specifically our lift up area to
um to please come and talk to us about
what you're seeing it's very exciting I
live in that area and we have City staff
there on a daily
helping
improve infrastructure related to
sidewalks and streets and
programming and so I'm really excited to
hear
what is next and so appreciate Natalie
Green and carry out for putting that
together
um
we have a budget retreat tomorrow and
it's Wednesday tomorrow and Thursday at
the convention center really looking
forward
um to that and hearing presentation
if that has been noticed I know um to
the community I've received every year I
send out a notice to
our associations and and folks that are
on an email list
just informing them of the budget
Retreat and what might be priorities for
each of my areas and I've had several
communicate back with me about what
priorities they see of course it's
around Public Safety and quality of life
so I'll be speaking further about that
um
and with that I'll turn it over to
cancer Flores
no reports no reports for counselor
Flores counselor correct
thank you I have a few quick Notes One
um related to the dog park associated
with the ascmv there are some questions
I think folks were going there for a
little while while it was before it was
finished it's still in progress there
may be some electricity related things
that are still happening and it's
currently locked so folks do want to get
into the to the dog park so we'll either
have a grand opening associated with the
acmv or separately
depending on the timelines for each of
those but that will be forthcoming
pretty soon I think and I also just
wanted to
give a quick welcome NMSU I was lucky to
work with the NMSU to hire a new Provost
so Dr Alan shoho will be coming to Las
Cruces mid mid April and I think he'll
be a really great addition and and help
us Building Bridges between the the town
and the Gown so I I hope that
um we can welcome him and I look forward
to to partnering with him in that job
and potentially in this job I think
making connections with the with the
university so that's it for two for me
thank you Council correct answer
binkelmo I've never heard of that
councilor corn the town and the Gown I
love that
um a couple of things
um I just wanted to say in advance
thanks to staff for the planning of the
two-day budget Retreat I'm really really
looking forward to that to those
conversations and want to thank members
of the public who submitted feedback
before before tomorrow begins
um just a couple things I have a
question ifo for you or any Barbara
maybe
um I wanted an arpa update on those
contracts the 11 million dollars I'm
curious if that you know we'll have a
public
um
statement once those contracts are
issued but I'm excited to get some of
those programs to see some of those
programs roll out so I'm curious if
um if those contracts have been
finalized and then the other only other
um quick update I wanted to give was
that Adrian Whitmer at our last utility
meeting noted that they are working
right now on finalizing the RFP for the
energy transition plan which I think is
a big deal and I just wanted to make
sure everybody knew as we you know one
of the things I mentioned was just how
volatile or gas prices have been and
that that's just incredibly
unsustainable but that's what it means
when we're sort of beholden to that
industry and and how it is obviously
more urgent now more than ever that we
begin to think about that so I'm very
excited to have those conversations at
the utility but then also bring them
forth here at city council thank you
thank you councilor Bengal counselor
Graham
thanks mayor Pro tem I'm probably going
to ask councilor bencomo to jump back in
with me on this one because
um she and I got to present to Junior
leadership last week which is high
school juniors from all of our local
high schools and I know you'll back me
up on this it was amazing we had a
really great time great questions great
comments
um my favorite of the day that was a
very clearly
clearly High achieving students saying
I'm 17 years old and I still haven't
figured out what I want to do I'm like
bro I'm 46 me too but really enjoyed
that thank you Mandy for bringing
bringing those students to us it was a
breath of fresh air the only other thing
I wanted to mention the Skate Park
renovation meeting on Thursday evening
I'll definitely be popping in on that
but for everyone who's been reaching out
with redistricting that is no longer
going to be in my district that is a
Precinct that I lost to district one or
we'll say District gate one gained the
skate park so still totally interested
happy to communicate with everyone but
just as a heads up that is going to be
under Council district one in the future
and that's all I have thank you
thank you councilgram and then Ito
all the
I'll get the updates on both the senior
needs assessment and the arpa I'll have
that for you counselors uh just a couple
of items
a report from our quality of life
just uh
feedback from the Pluto Mania program I
don't know if any of you anyone has been
able to attend that but it sounds like
they've had good attendance
um
it was at the Museum of Nature and
Science held Saturday February 11th Drew
336 attendees for demonstrations and
activities about space science
the vet also celebrated Las Cruces own
Clyde Tomball who discovered Pluto in
1930 and taught astronomy at NMSU for
many years
we had more Partners than ever for this
year's event including NASA Virgin
Galactic Las Cruces space Festival
numerous scientists from NMSU and
retired scientists from the area sound
like a great event and then the only
other thing I wanted to turn some time
over to Barbara for legislative updates
I know many of us have been up to
to Santa Fe and we have a lot to report
but we wanted to make this as long as
we're in session here I appreciate
Barbara has been running Point here and
home base for our legislative
connections with our lobbyists but I
just wanted
to give this time to Barbara to give
some legislative updates we've been
tracking
appreciate it and like you councilor
become I scare myself every time I talk
into this thing too the feedback so I
apologize if I'm yelling at you just
wanted to make mention of a few bills
that we are closely following here and
I'll be forwarding to the weekly
legislative report that we get from our
lobbyist Larry haran there are a few
that are high on our radar one of them
is House Bill two that's just the
general appropriation
that passed the house last Thursday's
moving on to the Senate it passed with
an increase of 12 percent in the
appropriation so we're watching to see
how that goes as it moves through the
Senate
um we're closely watching House Bill 367
that's one of the bills that is going to
impact or might impact our gross receipt
tax taxes I know that there was a
hearing last week ifo is was at all of
the all of the bills that are related to
taxes are being tabled right now in
favor of one Omnibus Bill that's being
developed the municipal league is
closely watching this our own Economist
has done some analysis on potential
impacts to US based on changes that are
being proposed to the bill so we're
staying on top of this so that we can
provide testimony if needed as it moves
through the House and Senate we're
tracking the Senate Bill 55 the
Statewide Transit fund if that one
passes it will provide for assistance of
up to 50 percent for our local match for
our transit system we're looking at
Senate Bill 104 which is for airport
improvements just looking to see what's
going to be set aside for that and of
course our own Airport Manager Andy Hume
has been great about prioritizing his
needs and making those heard as well up
at the state up at The Roundhouse
lastly we've got a Senate Bill 251
it's being heard in committee right now
that Bill pertains to the MRA changes
that you all voted to support by
resolution and our own Elizabeth
teeter's economic development director
is in Santa Fe right now to provide some
expert testimony on that bill so hoping
for a successful passage for those
changes last thing I wanted to say is
just our capital outlay is due this
Thursday I believe so we'll start to see
get a solidified view of of which of our
priorities might be funded and what
amounts uh pretty pretty soon here and
so that's it for for this update but
I'll follow again with the full
legislative report that Larry haran
provides to US Weekly so thanks for your
time
okay thank you Barbara the only thing I
would have to in the house we build 367
that Barbara mentioned uh you know I was
able to testify uh in opposition
I think the the impact we
we saw was going to be about three to
five million dollars to our our GRT
and so we there were many city managers
there and mayors
from all over the state and just to
to testify an opposition for that just
wanted
look you know
thank you thank you yes sure thank you
thank you okay we need a motion I think
that's it that's we
yay we made it through and can I get a
motion to adjourn
motion made by counselor Quran she
doesn't like my jokes
counselor by
okay
um motion made second made by councilor
bencomo
this is on the motion to adjourn the
meeting counselor abeda is absent
councilor Graham yes councilor Ben come
all
I heard you
councilor Korean yes and it's not a note
on your our enthusiasm for your jokes
it's our enthusiasm for adjournment just
to yeah yes counselor Flores yes mayor
Pro tem yes and mayor is absent thank
you