foreign
thank you
very much
foreign
[Music]
good afternoon everyone Welcome to our
city council meeting today is Monday
February 6 2023 it's approximately 1pm
before we have our Pledge of Allegiance
I'm going to ask if you please rise for
brief moment assignments as we reflect
back on the brave men and women the
United States armed forces as they
protect our interests around the globe
as well as the courageous men and women
the Las Cruces Police Department and the
Las Cruces fire department as they keep
our city safe 24 7 365.
counselor Flores you join me in the
pledge please
of the United States of America and to
the Republic for which it stands one
nation under God indivisible with
liberty and justice for all
thank you
bless you okay we're going to have
Jennifer Martinez from our
Communications office introduce our pets
of the week
good afternoon mayor and Council I am
Jennifer Martinez with the city's
Communications office I've noticed a lot
of new faces in our audience today
smiling faces the same kind that would
do great adopting a new pet
so lucky for me I have two to introduce
them to
I will start with Tanner
Tanner is a very social guy they call
him tan the man at the ascmv and
everyone loves him he will immediately
come up to you and rub up on your hands
or legs whatever he can get closest to
First he's a good looking boy who as you
can see from his photos looks quite
refined all he needs now is a special
home and he promises to love his new
family forever that is all he wants to
do
and then let's get to know Bubbles at
one and a half years old this girl is
energetic she already knows how to sit
she is still young and has a lot to
learn but she's very eager to learn it
all with her new forever family this
girl is happy-go-lucky and is sure to
brighten anyone's bad days she is a
little bit rambunctious on a leash and
it can affect her manners but remember
she is still a pup that can use a little
training she would like her perfect new
family to motivate her and teach her how
to be their perfect dog there are a
couple of events coming up one Bosque
Brewing Company at 2102 Tel Shores
having an adoption event this Saturday
from 11AM to 2PM and then there is a
love forever adopt love is forever
adoption event from the 12th through the
18th where all adoptions are discounted
they are 25 for all animals that are
spayed and neutered and fifty dollars
for those that are not there's also a
drive-through vaccination clinic that
takes place from 9am to 2 p.m on Sunday
February 9th and you can see that at the
bottom right hand of your screen at the
Field of Dreams 2501 to Shiro Road thank
you mayor
thank you Jennifer okay next is going to
be Giselle palomares who's from the New
Mexico workforce connections she'll be
giving out the jobs of the week
good afternoon Marion Council my name is
Gisele palomares I'm with New Mexico
workforce connection for the jobs of
this week we have city of Las Cruces
hiring an adult basic education
instructor paying 25 an hour open until
filled
White Sands Missile Range is hiring a
child and youth program assistant entry
level two and that closes on December
20th 2023 intra Fusion GP LLC is hiring
a patient services coordinator and that
pays 27 000 a year 37 000 a year
depending on experience and that closes
in April 27th
Trinity Services Group is we're hiring a
food service worker and that pays 13 an
hour that closes April 25th
like I signed corporations hiring a
South Valley administrative assistant
and that pays 13.50 an hour depending on
experience and that closes February 24th
and oxygen Therapy Associates
Incorporated is hiring a medical
equipment driver and customer service
and that pays 27 000 to 47 000 a year
depending on experience and that closes
on April 25th
and as always to connect to New Mexico
to connect with the New Mexico Workforce
Connection office you can always call at
575-524-6250 or you can visit them in
person at 226 South Alameda Boulevard or
you can go online to
www.employment.com or download the app
thank you mayor okay thank you Giselle
okay so counselor Flores has a few
proclamations that she'd like to read
and I think the first one is going to be
The Optimist day in the city of Las
Cruces is Lynn Hampton
here Lynn you want to join
come up front bring your guests if you'd
like
there you go
whereas volunteers working with young
people who are our joy
of today and Our Hope For Tomorrow our
exuberant representatives of the
potential
to be reached can you all hear me
to be reached in dreams to come true
they are also unbounded in their
enthusiasm to use their own Talent
skills and hard work to make a
difference in others lives and whereas
members of optimist International will
celebrate Optimist day throughout the
world the first Thursday of every every
February to promote their efforts
in helping in and recognizing the young
people that make a difference in their
communities and who will con encourage a
greater exchange of ideas between young
people and adults and whereas there are
2 400 Optimist clubs with more than
seventy thousand members in Optimist
International and Optimist members
throughout the world that carry out more
than 6 500 service projects that serve 6
million people a year
now therefore we the mayor and City
Council of Las Cruces New Mexico dear do
hereby Proclaim Thursday February 2nd
2023 as Optimist day in the city of Las
Cruces may this day instill pride in our
City's optimists for all their
accomplishments and for the impact they
have to truly make a difference in
others lives
[Music]
thank you
they're even Shyer than I am they don't
want to say anything well
congratulations and thank you for being
here
well thank you for the proclamation
mayor and Council
what I'd like to say is every Thursday
morning at 6 30 at IHOP on Telshor we
meet and we would really really enjoy
seeing some new faces and some of you
out there
our main mission is to work with
children to bring out the best in kids
that is our motto thank you
thanks Lynn thanks The Optimist Club I
will tell you that they were the club
that spearheaded the mayor's top teens
back in 2006 because of them and so we
appreciate that we've been able to
continue it ever since so thank you
next is a problem
read to you by
councilor beta
is Trend Lane here yes it is an honor to
be able to read the proclamation for
congenital heart defect awareness week
and so I invite all of our participants
up
thank you whereas the well-being of our
children our most precious resource is
Paramount importance of the city of Las
Cruces and maintaining excellent Health
among children is a top priority and
whereas in the United States of America
congenital heart defects chds are the
most frequently occurring birth defects
and the leading cause of birth defect
related deaths and whereas congenital
heart defects are being researched by
numerous professionals to more
accurately determine its origin physical
science and improve surgical options and
as a result the origins and symptoms of
congenital heart defects are becoming
more easily identifiable and whereas
there is much to learn about the causes
and effective treatments for congenital
heart defects and it is important for
parents pediatricians and nurses to
recognize the warning signs associated
with CHD among newborns so they may
provide proper treatment as early as
possible and whereas Las Cruces families
and communities have been directly
impacted by childhood illnesses and
death caused by congenital heart defects
and whereas congenital heart defect
Awareness Week will also provide the
opportunity to share experiences and
information with the public and the
media in order to raise public awareness
about congenital heart defects now
therefore we the mayor and City Council
of Las Cruces New Mexico do hereby
proclaim the week of February 7th
through February 14 2023 as congenital
heart defect Awareness Week in Las
Cruces an encouraging residents to join
in the campaign to increase awareness of
the serious health matter to improve
early diagnosis and increase support to
families affected by these conditions
and
as I invite you to speak I do want to
say for the parents for the kiddos
everybody has been so strong and brave
during this and I know it's tough so
thank you for being here today
hi thank you mayor thank you everybody
thank you Tessa
oh yes my name my name is Trini Lane
um I told Tess I don't know if I could
do this without crying so I apologize to
everyone right now but I lost my child a
year ago
he died from heart transplant
complications
I'm sure you guys saw that on the news
but this is an important thing and I'm
so glad to be here today in honor of his
name because there are many children who
suffer from from heart diseases in our
in our town in our country so this is an
awesome cause and I couldn't have done
it without lexium Foundation or Las
Cruces transplant group or the support
of my community and everybody who's here
so thank you all so much
thank you
hi everyone
um this is Garrett and I just wanted to
take this opportunity to introduce him
to the community
[Music]
thank you
[Applause]
thank you
thank you everyone thank you Trinny for
sharing that personal story with us and
at the end our condolences
the next Proclamation is National teen
Dating Violence awareness and prevention
month presented to Roseanne Vasquez
and Raquel
are you here there you are
good to see you Roseanne
discuss
whereas February is National teen Dating
Violence awareness and prevention month
and whereas teen Dating Violence
includes physical sexual and emotional
assault stalking coercive and
controlling Behavior harassment and
exploitation and whereas both teen girls
and boys report that they have been
physically or sexually abused by a
dating partner and it affects all youth
regardless of socioeconomic status
gender sexual orientation religion or
ethnicity and whereas one in three high
school students have been or will be
involved in an abusive relationship and
according to the 2019 youth risk
behavior survey 8.2 percent of high
school students who reported dating
someone in the past year were physically
hurt or
excuse me physically hurt on purpose by
their partner
and according to the 2019 youth risk and
resiliency survey 9.8 percent of high
school students
have experienced physical Dating
Violence and 11.3 percent have been
sexually assaulted and whereas teen
Dating Violence occurs in person or
online among persons in present and past
consensual relationships and
perpetrators of 10 excuse me Teen Dating
Violence are often also victims of teen
dating violence and whereas teens who
suffer dating abuse are subject to
long-term consequences such as substance
use Eating Disorders suicidal ideation
depression anxiety and violent behavior
and whereas teens who have encountered
abusive relationships are reluctant to
seek help and fear of retaliation from
their partner
shame low self-esteem and or lack of
resources and victims of teen Dating
Violence are likely to experience
abusive relationships in adulthood and
whereas by providing teens with
education about healthy relationships by
promoting safe and respectful
relationships and by changing attitudes
that support violence we recognize that
Dating Violence can be prevented whereas
teen Dating Violence is an issue
that not only affects the teen who is
abused but also the family friends and
others in the community we must work
together to prevent and help our youth
overcome abusive relationships and
whereas the relation excuse me whereas
the establishment of teen dating
violence Awareness Month in the city of
Las Cruces and doniana County will give
young people their families teachers and
counselors and the community the
knowledge and support they need to
prevent Dating Violence now therefore we
the mayor and City Council of Las Cruces
New Mexico do hereby proclaim the month
of February as
quote National teen Dating Violence
awareness and prevention month unquote
signed by mayor can
miyagashima and attested by our city
county clerk Christina Rivera
[Applause]
thank you mayor and thank you city
council my name is Raquel charim and I
am a public health major at NMSU
interning with lc3 collaborative
I'm joined by Roseanne Vazquez the lc3
collaborative coordinator with families
and youth Innovations Plus
lc3 aspires to reduce the stigma of
mental health and also to increase
access to Behavioral Health in donana
county and the region by convening key
stakeholders to build the ideal
Behavioral Health System
our lc3 game changer action teams are
working in the areas of supported and
transitional housing client advocacy and
access and with Children and Families
we are also the behavioral health sector
of the resilience leaders of donana
County which was founded by mayor Pro
tem Cassandra Gandara in 2017.
the mission of resilience leaders is to
reduce Aces or adverse childhood
experiences and a number of community
leaders work across 10 sectors to
address such areas as access to food
Transportation medical and dental care
Behavioral Health Care and much more
together we will continue to build a
community that is healthy and safe so
that residents of the Las Cruces and
doniana County can Thrive thank you for
proclaiming the same today by
recognizing that violence has no place
in our society especially when it comes
to protecting our most vulnerable
populations which includes our youth
teenagers and young adults
foreign
okay that concludes the proclamations
thank you counselor Flores and now I'll
wait till you get up here so we'll be
reading the conflict of interest this is
where any member excuse me of the city
council city manager or city staff has
any known conflict of interest on any
item on the agenda
[Music]
okay and I have none and the city
manager is still in federal mediation so
he's running a little bit late
this isn't iPhone
and so um so with that we have no
conflict of interest there so now we're
going to go to public participation this
is where members of the public can speak
to council for up to told us seven
minutes no more than twice during the
council meeting usually it's three
minutes for your general discussion and
up to four minutes for something item
that's on the agenda now unless you
happen to speak on the appeal then it
may not be the full four minutes it
might be two maybe three minutes
depending on how many people wish to
speak
so I usually start on my left and I
usually start on the first row
and I don't see anyone there so second
row
uh so we see Lorenzo and then Senator
Fishman after that or commissioner
Fishman so Lorenzo did you have
something you wanted to say
thank you for passing out these cards
yeah that's what I'm gonna talk about
I'm Lorenzo album the director at Casa
peregrinos
just wanted to
talk about the cards I passed out to you
these are available not only to you but
to the public if they want to come pick
some up at Casa peregrinos they are
trifold and bilingual and they basically
are so that you can hand out if you see
somebody on the street or you know
somebody that needs food services from
Casa peregrinos
we created these as kind of an
additional tool from when you run into
the homeless out in the public or
there's might be some families that live
near you that need the assistance as
well it's easy to read easy to find us
this way and they can make a quick phone
call to find out where they can get
services from Casa peregrinos we are
trying to do more of this kind of
Outreach we are currently doing a
program through the governor's
initiative on food food insecurity where
we're outreaching publicly with some
produce stands all around the county
there'll be some coming into Las Cruces
pretty soon that we can actually let
people know what we're doing and at the
same time pass out a free bag of produce
to them these cards hopefully will help
you I know some of you guys use them
will begin to use them the fire
department has been using them for a
little while with us already and some
police officers have been using them as
well if we need to get some more printed
we're glad to to get them printed just
because we think it's going to make a
big impact on our community if people
know where to go they feel a bit more
comfortable I've used them a couple of
times already at Home Depot which it
seems like that's the place I get caught
up over the most and um
give somebody a couple of bucks to go
get something to eat and tell them hey
you can come get some snack food and
some other stuff at Casa peregrinos
here's a card
it's got a QR code on there that way you
can just kind of go on there and go onto
our website with a QR code that's always
a really good way believe it or not most
people know how to use those which is
unbelievable to me
but they do but also I wanted to take
time to thank the city for all the
support they've given because over the
years and for the continued support and
real quick our building is coming
together that Community project I'm
going to send it we're going to post up
a little hype video today on our website
in tag the city so that they see what's
going on with it right now we're looking
at about a May completion date which
puts us in the building hopefully at the
end of June beginning of July and uh
we're looking forward to sharing this
community project of facility with the
community and putting it to work for you
because it is a lot of hard work not
only from the legislators that are up in
Santa Fe right now working hard a lot of
capital outlay money but also the city
will supported this project over the
years
we've gotten a lot of calls from people
that are making great comments about the
progress and looking forward to getting
us into that building so thank you so
much again for everything that you do
and uh for being courageous enough to
take on positions like you're taking
right now because it's it's tough to be
in politics right now so thank you
thanks Lorenzo I also want to take a
moment to thank you and your team for
all the great work that you do you truly
are one of our shiniest stars as far as
NGO Partners so thank you for all the
hard work as well
okay so Senator Fishman or commissioner
Fishman or King Fishman
good to see you Steve the proper term is
commissioned torn
um I just need to state your name please
yes this is the um Steve Fishman and
um I just recently finished my term as a
commission for the PRC and I was chair
of the PRC for a couple of years
and um I came here to pitch Senate bill
165.
um
very briefly and
um
Senate Bill 165 basically its aim is to
lower rates bring in more Renewables and
Focus Electric utilities
on the particular needs of individual
communities
and I have to say as four years as a
commissioner
on the PRC
that
it's very clear
that our current investor-owned
utilities including El Paso Electric
their profit-making Enterprises
their managers get compensated based on
profits
and every proposal that we see from them
doesn't necessarily try and undercut
public purpose
but profit comes first
and we end up with some very odd
proposals that really don't serve
Community needs
and
SB 165 basically introduces competition
into the picture to put pressure down to
lower prices
to more quickly adopt new technologies
and provide cleaner energy
and I have to say our ious
have been an obstacle to that
and every time at the PRC we put a rule
in place or try to put a rule in place
to speed things up to achieve those
objectives it always gets appealed to
the Supreme Court it always gets
sabotaged at the last minute whatever
their problems are they kind of keep
them under their vest and then they
bring him up the last minute to sabotage
the effort and we're facing a situation
where quite frankly we can get a lot
further a lot faster if we start taking
some of this responsibility away from
the utilities
um this is an industry any
any City or locality that wants to form
its own local Choice utility has access
to all the same resources as the major
utilities the main difference is they
will use the resources to further the
benefits to the community
while our current ious use those
resources to fatten their bottom line
and I've seen it up close and I really
urge you to to give support to this
legislation and I'm happy to talk to any
of you individually and tell you about
my experiences so I'll leave it at that
thank you Mr Mayor I have a question
sure counselor Mr Fishman
I thank you Steve for your Mr Fishman
for your presentation and thank you also
for your service to the PRC your service
to the people of
New Mexico
on this particular Bill who should be
um Target not targeted well to whom
should the request be made
who are the well it's going to the
conservation committee hopefully
tomorrow I
when it gets through there I'm going to
try and be confident I'm testifying
tomorrow
um
when it gets through there it goes to
judiciary
Judiciary might be a challenge
Senator Cervantes and certainly all the
members of Judiciary worth contacting on
that by the way the bill is sponsored by
one of our local Senators Carrie Hamblin
terrific service on her part and it's a
challenging bill and it's great to see
her take that challenge on
thank you so much and thank you again
for your service too thank you all good
to see you good to see you
okay that was the second row looks like
the rest is Staff anyone in the third
row
put your name please
my name is Mary Rodriguez
good afternoon counselors and mayor
I don't know if you know it's February
spay and neuter month
I'm talking about my favorite topic here
very important so I'm just going to read
I'm a huge proponent of mandatory spay
Knitter practices because I know
firsthand that it works I understand
that this practice has never been
instituted in Las Cruces which I find
shameful given the number of animals
overwhelming our shelter on a daily
basis and too often euthanized simply
due to space
I'm constantly seeing posts on Nextdoor
and on Facebook about dogs running loose
sometimes hit by cars missing dogs and
people being bitten by dogs
this is a solvable problem it takes
implementation and it takes education
but I also know that this body cares
about the community doing what is best
and wants to be Forward Thinking on the
matter
unaltered dogs and people
who don't understand the reasons for a
necessity of spaying and neutering their
animals unknowingly contribute to these
issues as well as our overcrowded
shelter
other areas in New Mexico such as Santa
Fe Gallo Rio Rancho Silver City and
Albuquerque have instituted mandatory
spay neuter practices and have found
ways to pay for it
personally inquired with other counties
in the state and found that the costs of
these services are subsidized by money
collected from fines and penalties when
people break laws such as breeding
animals indiscriminately
allowing their dogs to roam free having
unlicensed dogs and the like
in the city I moved here from where I
was born and lived for nearly 60 years I
personally witnessed ordinance
ordinances go into effect that reduced
the number of stray animals both dogs
and cats and as a direct result the
number of animals entering the shelter
a low-cost spay neuter clinic was built
later in an especially problem area
further reducing the number
there are too many animals in our
shelter and too many great animals are
euthanized almost every day in the city
mandatory spay neutral practices are a
proven effective way to manage this
thank you
Mary thank you for your your comments I
just want to let you know that I was
just speaking with mayor Pro tem about I
know that in the past the city has
looked for more than one veterinarian
and I know they're working they're doing
their best because we're working with
donana County to come up with to be able
to attract veterinarians here so that we
can move forward on the spay and neuter
but I appreciate your comments anyone
else on the third row
and while you're on your way up here I
forgot to mention if you're here to talk
about the appeal if you could wait until
that actual time we would appreciate
that because we can't take any comments
on regarding the appeal when it's out of
out of turn unless you have to leave
please let us know and you can see your
comments and I guess you will leave then
it's a cannabis appeal oh okay that's
not me
I'm Diane Starbuck
and I'm here as a member of Animal
Advocates for change
the council approved a resolution
supporting a TNR program oh did you know
it was spay and neuter month right you
do now right okay
um
the council approved uh the resolution a
TNR program
uh back in August of 2021.
mayor you recently you previously stated
the original cost estimate you received
for such a program was five hundred
thousand dollars
the TNR subcommittee prepared a budget
of three hundred thousand dollars that
was never considered
to date we are unaware of any funding
allocated by the city for this program
other than the regular
ascmv and the animal control budget
allocations
at the January 2023 ASC MV board meeting
the following excellent report of
activities by Michelle Corella of the
cat's meow a City Board member stated
that they were pleased that there were
service providers within the community
that can help with spay or neuter
activities
throughout the lengthy process of
updating the ordinance as a council you
said all the right things including
assistance for individuals wanting to
access spay and neuter services but
unable to Bear the entire cost
individuals across the city are willing
to help address the overpopulation and
stop the reproductive cycle but they
need a hand and with only one vet
all right the ascmv cannot keep up with
the demand despite their extraordinary
number of surgeries since the ordinance
was adopted
our co-founder Kathy Stark has stood
before you several times a nest that you
consider a voucher program that would
apply to vets within the region not only
within the city due to this shortage of
vets and the cost barriers that exist
Animal Advocates for change and I are
asking that as you immerse yourselves in
the budget process you direct the city
manager to allocate funds for spay
neuter services including a voucher
program and funding for the form in the
form of grants for local rescues to
provide spay and neuter clinics
you have new funding sources including
monies from plastic bags marijuana cells
not the appeal okay
okay uh the pet food tax funds coming in
what better time to use funds to support
spay and neuter of community cats and
owned cats and help the and help the
community help you
thank you for your time
thank you Diane let me just try to also
explain this a little bit and I think
what we could do is have a joint
work session with the board of the as
CMV as well as the city council
because the reason why I say that is
because it's very difficult for us
because we usually partner with the
county so what I'm trying to say is when
you said if you could have the city
manager direct funds we need to have the
total costs and then we need to know
that the county is going to be on board
to pick up the other half and so I
that's why I think it might be
beneficial if we have a joint
work session with the
ascmv board which there's three members
of our city council are of that board as
well as the county
so if one of you or if you wouldn't mind
emailing me and then we can begin to set
that up and we'll have a work session
and that way there we can get some some
of these issues a little bit more
discussed in depth because I think it's
important but and then you will hear
about the challenges as far as what we
can do as far as the um
veterinarians
anyone yes ma'am
good afternoon Jerry Willis co-founder
of aafc Animal Advocates for change and
I wasn't going to speak today but I want
to briefly address what you were just
talking about mirror and we have AFC has
been had meetings with the county and
they are supportive of trying to
increase budgets and discuss spay and
neuters and revising their ordinances
and looking into mandatory issues and
those kinds of things and just because
the ascmv doesn't have a vet right now
does it mean that other organizations
spay neuter clinics and so forth can't
be brought in we have been in the
process of researching those and we have
names and we're willing to reach out and
try and coordinate that with you and for
you and there are other ways around it
besides having a new vet at the ascmv so
we just hope that you'll consider the
program when you are allocating budget
funds because the ascmv cannot support
it on their current budget
well thank you Jerry and this is this is
one of these joint Powers agreements
that the city and the county have that
the power rests with the director of the
of the animal services shelter uh not
the city manager nor the county manager
that's why we need to have this this
joint work session so that we can get a
an idea of where everyone's at this is
one of the challenges with the board
because between the three council
members and then the Commissioners that
are on that board as well as the others
they themselves are the governing board
not the city or the county so they have
to come back with a request for money
which I haven't seen it but I'm not
saying this that's not there in theory
so that's why I think it's important to
have a city I think we kind of have a
little sticking point on that in that
it's our assumption that the TNR program
is a city program it's it's mandated
under the city ordinance so there's kind
of always been a debate as to who is
overseeing that program and where the
funds are coming from regardless of that
we do have the AFC does have a good
relationship with the ascmp board and we
would be happy to sit down and discuss
it with whom I think that'd be better
thank you thank you I appreciate it okay
so that was a third row anyone else
fourth row
Rick no fifth row
yes ma'am
please just state your name please
thank you Mr Mayor and City Council
Members my name is Mary Underwood and
I'm a member of the gfwc progress Club
of Las Cruces I think some of you are
familiar with us and have heard from us
several times I am just here to bring up
a couple of issues about the WIA
building and would very much like your
support we have a family of skunks under
the building
and it's pretty smelly and it's bad and
when we go in for our meetings we have
to open up all the doors in the middle
of the winter so a lot of our members
have ceased coming to our meetings
because a the smell and be the cold so
we are losing some of the participation
of our members because of our building
our building not our building it's your
building the city owns this building
we very much would appreciate it if you
could put it as a top priority we were
told in the fall that it was going to be
taken care of
um and it hasn't and now we're into
February
and the skunks haven't been removed I I
don't want them killed either so you're
going to trap them and take them out
from under the building and our lives
were going to be better and it hasn't
happened yet so we would appreciate that
I would also very quickly like to say
that we were told that there had been
money set aside to do the roof of the
WIA building the building is
deteriorating pretty rapidly it's very
old our our club is 106 years old and
most of the time they've met in the wa
building so that lets you know how old
it is the roof desperately needs to be
repaired and we were told that was going
to also happen somewhere back in the
fall and it never has so I just wanted
to bring your attention we're a great
group of people we have 55 members and
we put about thirty five thousand
dollars into Community projects last
year so we're very proud of what we can
do for our community and we love our
building or the building that we get to
use so we would appreciate some
consideration on this thank you very
much
thank you Mary if you would mind
emailing me and then I'll try to find
out where that status is as far as the
roof I I do recall some money set aside
for the WIA building and then I just
asked ifo if he could get with animal
control to see about the skunk problem
over there
it looks like Mary looks like our
assistant city manager Sonia Delgado
already has the answer for you on the
roof so
good afternoon mayor members of the
council Sonny Delgado assistant city
manager I've already sent an email over
I did speak to a couple individuals
earlier today to get a status on the
roof and the skunk so I'll provide that
and I do have the contact information so
I'll take care of that right away
oh okay great thank you Sonia
all right
okay so
you're on still on fifth row Sarah or in
the sixth row I was right next to her
okay
City councilors and mayor my name is
Sarah Smith
since you're working on finding
solutions to the increased crime and
Drugs in and near the desert hope
affordable homeless housing project I
wanted to share some information with
you from the perspective of a person who
has been living in housing first
projects for many years I will call this
person Vanessa to protect her identity
Vanessa grew up in foster care before
transitioning into housing first
Apartments 20 years ago
she expected that her transition out of
foster care would take her to where she
would be helped in learning the skills
she needed to become independent and
ready to strike out on her own
yet the reality was much different
instead of being in an environment where
she could learn and Thrive Vanessa found
herself in a chaotic environment filled
with drugs violence and prostitution
alongside the elderly and people trying
desperately to improve their situations
there were many people who were
struggling with addiction and mental
health problems this is because housing
first offers unconditional housing to
people meaning that there are no
requirements for people to abstain from
alcohol or drugs in order to receive
housing
in Vanessa's experience living in
various housing first projects for the
last 20 years fighting and violence are
common occurrences drug and alcohol
usage are rampant such that those who
are trying to escape from drug addiction
and alcoholism are unlikely to succeed
when the Temptation is so often right in
front of them
some of the apartments have housed
Violent Men including men who are
members of known hate groups as well as
sex offenders
Vanessa has had her Windows broken her
screen door has been torn off the hinges
she has suffered sleep deprivation due
to excessive noise
the apartments and facilities are often
not kept up such that at times Vanessa
has had to wash her clothes in her
bathtub since the washing machines are
broken
the living environment is so turbulent
that Vanessa has turned to alcohol
herself at times as a way to cope with
living there
Vanessa is hesitant to speak about her
experiences living in housing first
apartments in the past when she has made
complaints about the living conditions
to try to improve the situation she has
been retaliated against by the people
who run the apartments she has faced
bullying and racial slurs from some of
the staff of apartment complexes
here in Las Cruces the desert Hope
Apartments have echoed the same problems
that Vanessa has faced elsewhere the
nearby neighborhood as well as residents
of desert hope have spoken up repeatedly
about the problems there including drugs
violence trespassing property damage and
prostitution
although this housing first project has
provided shelter to homeless people
there are many other ways in which this
model is failing our community and the
people who live there
like Vanessa it is clear to people
living here at Desert hope that the
housing first model fails because of the
drugs and violence that come along with
it
here too people in living living in
desert hope are afraid to speak out for
fear of retaliation I urge the city to
consider options that include treatment
for drug and alcohol abuse instead of
continuing to promote and fund housing
first projects thank you
mayor can I also make my comment for the
appeal because I won't be able to stay
sure okay
thank you
I am in support
appeal to overturn the special use
permit for the Cannabis business on the
parcel of land near 2D Bambini and the
Challenger Learning Center
given that these
the ancient Target children specifically
and that there are also residential
homes within the 300 foot buffer
distance I don't think it would be in
the best interests of our community to
allow a cannabis dispensary in that
location
I am not opposed to cannabis
dispensaries in general but I urge this
city to take into account the overall
well-being of the community when
determining whether to allow exceptions
to the 300-foot buffer zone for these
businesses
Studies have shown that increased
density of tobacco alcohol and cannabis
businesses is associated with an
increase in youth substance abuse given
the proximity to two businesses catering
to children and the nearby family homes
please vote in support of this
resolution to deny the special use
permit thank you okay thank you
and um who's next anyone on that road
yes can I come forward please
just state your name please
thank you Mr Mayor nice to see you again
members of the council my name is Brad
Cates and I got my truck stolen a day or
two ago and it reminds me what the
purpose of government is
security of the people everything else
is is nice to have bike paths and
different things but the number one
purpose of the formation of any
government is the security of people and
I commend the police department for
their work the other day and we should
commend our fire department I've
prosecuted hundreds of cases and I've
sat with the victims and if you've not
been involved in the criminal justice
system or if you're not been a victim of
a crime you don't understand the impact
this has in our community when someone
is a victim themselves or their loved
ones been raped or or their house broken
into and their things stolen it
undermines all of our Civic uh cohesion
and the way to do it is rapid
arrest rapid prosecution and punishing
people involved and our police and fire
need all the support they can get to
make that happen now we know that
there's other reasons that times can
happen not just bad people they you know
I'm I'm sorry that their daddy ran off
or I'm you know sorry they got involved
in drugs or or like John Denver saying
I'm sorry about the way things are in
China but the point is that those are
secondary it's protecting the citizens
from the crimes most people can't afford
to buy that new TV
that was taken from them or the precious
things that were taken from them or
their mental health that is undermined
when they have a crime like this that
occurs
and so that's what I want to ask you
today keep your eye on the main ball and
that's the security of the people in our
city and let's not get sidetracked with
other things so thank you very much Mr
Mayor members Mr Cates thank you for for
sharing that story with us
you know you're welcome to email me and
I can share with you some of the issues
that we're working on
um if if there's a investigative
reporter out there I would take a look
at who instituted the Arnold tool you
know when the when the public voted for
the bill reform it didn't include that
and all fingers are starting to point
that uh Supreme Court did which frankly
I don't think they're allowed to make
laws I think they're just supposed to
interpret it so if you want to email me
and help me I would really appreciate it
so thank you
is there anyone else on that row how
about six row
seven through
one yeah
my name is Juan Garcia mayor council
city manager thank you for approving a
resolution supporting small businesses
with funds to repair criminal attacks
and also thanks to Josh goldbaum for our
presentation there was a lot of data to
absorb
two areas of concern a follow-up to a
previous speaker in December who decided
to arm himself and many others have too
and the recent post on a local site and
I quote luckily they just opened the
doors
stayed armed and confront his people
when the Red Dot hits them they ran off
for those of you that everybody knows
Red Dot on the laser is from a weapon
so is this where we are headed where
individuals are so fed up with crime
that they're taken upon themselves or
planning to take it upon themselves
I met with Heidi from the toy box
learning and Child Care Center of
Missouri our vans are being vandalized
someone is drilling holes in the tanks
and spilling gas over the parking lot
not stealing the gas spilling the gas
this is heartbreaking we have been in
the community for over 20 years I have
never seen that
so what are our elected State officials
doing about crime in our community Las
Cruces Sun headline on Sunday and we all
know that the Las Cruces sun is not a
far-right publication
their headline says GOP bills on
fentanyl drug trafficking in New Mexico
were blocked by democrats
so you have to think about that
and another quote house Democrats on the
housing consumer public affairs
representative Ferrari and Rubio they
cared little about proving improving
Public Safety in meaningful ways
another another quote in the Albuquerque
Journal
representative Ferrari was against HP 57
quote because it could result in alleged
thieves being injured now think about
that concerned about the thieves the
alleged thieves not one word about the
victim
Senator Hamlin pushing for SB 116 for
lawful gun young owners will become
criminal criminals for the legal
possession of quote assault weapons
Senator Cervantes he's concerned about
the Arnold tool that you just mentioned
mayor and his proposing Crime Victims
filed lawsuits against gun makers okay
that's going to help us a lot here
Center of souls assault weapons are only
weapons for war they have no other
Purpose By killing people this is the
same Senator that spoke about promoting
the
the abortion clinic that the mayor that
the governor has proposed
since abortion is such a huge thriving
industry promoted by our governor and
endorsed by the New Mexico Progressive
socialists the satanic temple opened a
new abortion clinic to kill babies in
ritualistic abortions
the satanic temple kind of finished I've
got about two sentences left sure right
the satanic temple also is pushing its
beliefs on young children recently the
group began opening clubs in elementary
schools it Likens the quote ritual
Slaughter of unborn babies to communion
or baptism for Christmas
okay thank you
okay so that was the seventh row anyone
else on the seventh row
looking forward please
all right just did you state your name
good afternoon my name is Jennifer kitsy
I am the manager of New Mexico Thrift
and boutique we're new we uh
we were in business for 22 years in the
town of Messiah as a hair and body shop
and in order to give back to our
community
we opened a thrift store by the traffic
circle called New Mexico Thrift it was a
huge success portions of those proceeds
would go to our local veterans
we outgrew our space quickly
in October
of last year we opened our
New Mexico Thrift and boutique a
combination of our Boutique from Messiah
and our thrift store that we have
outgrown
now in the 22 years that we were in
Messiah we never had any problems no
break-ins no vandalism nothing
since we've opened in the shopping
center at 2132 North Main Street the
Fiesta food shopping center right next
to Rent-A-Center
on December 25th
our front door was had rocks thrown
through it big boulders provided by our
landlords in the Landscaping they're the
River Rocks
we fixed it spent nine hundred dollars
prepared it the police came of course we
filed a police report
because they didn't get in which was
their goal it was vandalism
so we've our landlord doesn't care he's
in El Paso
not going to help us we made an
insurance claim we paid the 900 got the
glass fixed then on January 20th we come
to work and there's a huge hole in our
front window same thing River Rocks from
the Landscaping the owner has since
removed the rocks from Landscaping if
the landlord has a problem well he could
go to their house and get them we're
tired of them providing the ammunition
for them to get in our store well then
not only a week later I came to work and
I was worried because I was a couple
minutes late and the owner was there and
she's in tears because this time they
didn't just break the front door they
came in the back door and they stole a
lot of stuff they got our brand new
Apple computer where we were going to
use for online marketing
um vintage jewelry that we had just been
donated we're looking at 10 grand in
damage right now and the reason I'm here
to tell you this story that's so
frustrating first of all thank you
for the twenty five hundred dollar
storefront Grant
um I don't know if the criteria for
eligibility is going to fit our store
unfortunately I hope it does but we
haven't been in business where we are
since March of 2020 so probably not if
that criteria is strict strictly adhered
to
but it is our hope that it will because
it has been quite traumatic to the point
where I trained a new girl and I showed
her where the hornet spray was if
somebody comes in here and you feel
threatened spray him in the eyes
and it's like that all over Las Cruces
right now I don't leave my house without
something to protect myself
and it's at work at home at the grocery
store at the pharmacy
it's getting bad out there and I'm
scared thank you
thank you Jennifer
anyone else on the seventh row
if there's anyone else that wants to
speak that's in the 8th or ninth row if
you want to come forward to the first or
second row of that
that would be appreciated
below where Tessa and Adrian Gonzalez
um
we're here to discuss the tragic event
that happened
on April 24th of last year at veterans
parked
I've been in communication with the
veterans Advisory board
with the proposal to try and get a
memorial bill for our daughter so we can
honor our daughter
um
the request was denied
and I didn't really know much about the
VAB before all this happened and I
didn't like some of the answers that I
was given so I did a little bit of
research and I read the city ordinance
in this city ordinance states that uh
the VAB is there to
bring recommendations for physical
change to Veterans Park they're supposed
to present it before you all
um
I didn't see anywhere where it says that
they are actually the final Authority on
a decision so regardless of how they
feel about the proposal they're still
supposed to bring it to you all where
you all make the decision I don't know
if that was delegated to them if they
have the authority to deny a request or
a proposal
I didn't find any
any document that supported that so I
just wanted to see if maybe we can get
it on either next city council agenda or
if any of you council members would like
to come to the next VAB meeting and we
can discuss
their role and uh
maybe possibly consider a memorial for
our daughter it started off as a simple
request for a bench and a name placard
because of the denial we actually want
to dig a little bit deeper and find ways
to honor
not only our daughter but Local Heroes
people who support military I'm active
duty currently been serving for 14 years
and Allah is our baby girl Ariel Adam
she's uh
daughter of an active duty Airman
granddaughter of a army soldier
and a great granddaughter of a Navy
veteran
I think their opposition is they are
misunderstanding our request and they
think we want to put her on one of the
pre-existing memorials we're not trying
to honor her as a veteran because she
obviously an 18 month old little girl
can't serve
in the military
but she does serve
by supporting me
as well as my wife and my other children
some of our family and friends that are
in the audience friends that we consider
family
anybody who's ever listened to
a troop
in a time of need
I think that
local veterans should say thank you in
some way and
not only that but I said Local Heroes
there's also law enforcement and fire
department Local Heroes that give the
ultimate sacrifice and
it shouldn't just be the veterans
organizations in the community I think
we need to revamp it modernize it maybe
put some uh
Representatives that are from different
Generations that way there's some
diversity
and I went over my time thank you all
for hearing me out
you know Mr Miss Gonzalez I I know that
the council and I were devastated when
we heard about the tragedy that happened
in at the Veterans Park parking lot
uh and thank you for sharing with us
your your story I will tell you please
email me I I'm confident we might be
able to do something I don't know if
you're aware that the city is building a
parking lot immediately that's going to
be expanded and it'd be I'm confident
that we can do something to honor your
little little girl so if you can just
get me an email and you did the right
thing the veterans Advisory Board is an
Advisory Board to myself and Council and
so you come in here
um I I'm confident we can do something
to honor your daughter we would
appreciate that if I may ask one more
question I don't know if it's true or
hearsay but I was under the impression
that the playground area is going to be
removed completely there will be no no
public play area for children is that
correct or am I misunderstanding
I'm going to let the city manager
respond to that that's more of a
day-to-day operation
there have been talk thank you mayor
there have been talks about that as we
expand the parking lot
but nothing has been set in stone yet no
decisions have been made about that okay
I didn't want to take up too much of
your all's time but something that we
are proposing is uh if and we're not
asking the city to fund this if I if we
pay for this ourselves so be it but uh
for a safe place for children to play we
were thinking of proposing a butterfly
garden we can discuss in the email
but thank you all if you can support we
would greatly appreciate it Mr
um Mr peely my understanding is that the
playground would be moved away from the
area that is the main
just just away from the main Park
um my understanding is that
um
it that there won't be a park it's just
a question of the location perhaps near
the new parking lot because I believe
the parking lot is also going to be
expanded to the north of the park
so I think that's my understanding
I guess Council Flores that's been the
discussion is that once we expand the
parking lot it'll go on the other side
of that existing wall
and that we would need that space as
well to where the where the park is
but we haven't had any uh
any plans set in stone yet we're just as
you know we're currently fundraising for
that or trying to get funding for the
parking lot okay well if we could keep
that in mind in light of uh what Mr and
Mrs Gonzalez have just shared with us
thank you Mr pili thank you Mr Baron
thank you Mr Mrs Gonzalez I don't know
if you have my email address but let me
give you this card here
okay thank you again
okay so that was uh seventh row anyone
else in eighth row
ninth
tenth last row anyone else on my left
okay so I'm gonna go to my right that
looks like first rows into the second
row anyone on second row
third row
fourth
fifth
sixth
seventh to the lady who's counting yeah
there you go
good afternoon my name is Jaylene
McIntosh I'm here to publicly speak
about the already approved pilot program
for Hygiene stations around our city
I have some real concerns and I know
these are shared by many of my fellow
citizens
I understand the council's desire to
provide these facilities is so the
homeless population will have a place to
take care of their personal hygiene
needs but this is a Band-Aid at best our
city needs to enforce the already
established laws prohibiting public
urination and defecation and our city
needs to maintain each and every public
restroom facility
the personal hygiene needs of our City's
homeless population are already being
met through numerous shelters and public
facilities we have plenty of public
restrooms that aren't open maintained or
protected for some reason our city
chooses to keep them locked rather than
maintained and if they are available
they're usually filthy under maintained
and generally unsafe to use by the
law-abiding tax paying citizens
last week I emailed each one of you my
concerns mayor miagashima's reply
included a report from the city of
Seattle which stated their estimated
cost per hygiene station was one hundred
twenty thousand dollars per month
one hundred twenty thousand dollars per
month
for one hygiene station the numbers the
mayor further provided reported the city
of Los Angeles spent 10 million dollars
on hygiene stations which yielded 60 000
showers that's 167 dollars per shower it
would be cheaper to rent our City's
homeless a hotel room
if the city's purpose for these hygiene
stations according to what has been
communicated publicly is to prevent the
homeless from doing their business on
our city streets then our city needs to
increase the penalty for the violations
furthermore I would hope the city
council would work in the best interest
of its citizens first our police to
enforce the existing laws and ordinances
that prohibit The Unwanted Behavior to
which you are trying to mandate
second hire more city workers to update
renovate and maintain existing
structures
finally if you all really want a hygiene
solution consider a permanent public
facility downtown to make that area
cleaner and safer for the city and the
downtown businesses
in closing I understand the council has
no idea the cost nor the details for
this approved hygiene station pilot
program further it has not been made
known the number nor the location of the
proposed hygiene stations this is
unsettling approving something before
the financial costs and long-term
effects are considered and conveyed to
the citizens paying for Hygiene stations
is a waste of money if we can't afford
to keep our many parks and I'm nearly
finished restroom facilities open
maintained and protected then there is
no way our city can afford this program
thank you
thank you Miss McIntosh let me just
State and you hit the nail on the head
really this was an approval for the city
management team to begin to look exactly
how we're going to do this and I know
there are some what they call ngos or
non-governmental organizations that want
to help partner with the city so I sent
that to you from Seattle and LA to share
with you how the city of Las Cruces is
obviously we're not the same size
population as Seattle or LA but how
we're one of the smaller cities in
comparison to them that have this
opportunity to do this and and I think
it's it's fair to say that we can't
force these residents to utilize these
facilities but if they're out there for
their availability we would hopefully
they would use it but anyways I
appreciate that again it's something
here that I think the city is not
looking to spend and and again I have to
tell you the city of Seattle is about
800 000 people and so that probably
makes sense that they spend 160 000 a
month or eight times one-eighth this
were a lot smaller than Seattle of
course and um I think they're like eight
times larger than us so anyways thank
you for your comments so that was the
seventh row anyone else on the seventh
row
they throw
last roll and no one else saw my on my
right
okay that concludes our public
participation
and ifo before I read the closed meeting
statement we I just need to make sure
that you have no conflict of interest on
any item on the agenda
I know mayor thank you
all right so I have a closed meeting
statement to read
City Las Cruces made in closed session
at 1101 a.m January 23 2023
the following members were in attendance
counselor Flores and Como Graham beta
Gandara myself kind of Sir Quran came in
at 11 55 a.m also present was
Brad Douglas a deputy City attorney
Charleston Garrison acting City attorney
Tony Ortiz outside City attorney via
Zoom who left at 11 40 a.m before pilly
a city manager the meeting adjourned at
12 40 pm and for the record Las Cruces
City Council made a closed session only
discussed those limited items to stay at
the Post-it notice to discuss limited
personal matters regarding the former
City attorney which is close pursuant to
nmsc 1978 section 10-15-1 H number two
okay now we're gonna move to accept the
agenda however let me just say staff is
asked to remove item 8.3 which is
resolution 23094 which is a resolution
to amend and renovate the Main Street
incentive program they need a little bit
more time before they can bring it to
council so if you if you make a motion
to accept the agenda if you please
include removing that in its entirety
from today
move to approve the agenda with the
entire removal of 8.3
second
okay motion made by counselor Graham
second by counselor abatea to accept the
agendas presented with the removal
removal of a item 8.3 which is
resolution
23-094 for discussion in our next
council meeting
oh we're moving in entirely okay
Christine
this is on the motion to approve the
agenda as presented with removal of item
8.3 in its entirety councilor beta yes
cancer Graham Yes concert Ben Como yes
concerts
counselor Flores yes councilor gandada
yes mayor yes
okay next item
8.1 this is a public hearing so it's 209
PM so the public hearing is now in
session
is there any members of the public who
wish to discuss either for or against a
beer and wine liquor license with
on-premises consumption only to
Lorenzo's Italian restaurant located at
1753 East University Avenue Las Cruces
New Mexico 88011
okay CNN public hearing it's 2 10 p.m
public hearing is now closed so
entertain a motion to adopt resolution
23-092 some of the Corn second by floods
motion made by counselor Quran second by
councilor Flores
if there's no comments from members of
the public seeing on Christine
this is on the motion to approve
resolution
23-092 counselor beta yes Council Graham
yes councilor Ben Como yes councilor
Korean yes counselor Flores
yes
mayor yes
okay we're at 8.2 resolution
23-093 I need a motion move to approve
Graham second motion made by councilor
Graham second by councilman Como
I think Josie Trevino will be discussing
I hear like a little Echo what's
happening with our sound system
yeah
sounds okay
continue
good afternoon mayor and city council my
name is Josie Trevino comptroller
the city's FY 22 annual comprehensive
financial report also known as agber
the period ending June 30th 2022 has
been prepared by the city
it has been audited by our external
independent auditor
patillo Brown and Hill
and as required by nmsa has been
officially released by The Office of the
State auditors
for a presentation to council
at this time I would like to say thank
you to all those involved in this audit
process and I would especially like to
thank the accounting and treasury staff
who are here today and if I could please
have them stand up
it's usually around 15 not just us three
they didn't get the memo to come down
here
now I would like to turn your attention
to uh over to Mr Gardner from patio
patillo not patio patillo Brown and Hill
who will be presenting a summary of the
city's FY 22 audit results
Mr Gardner
mayor counselors
the presentation I have here is some of
the highlights that we went over in the
various exit conferences
throughout the uh I think it was in
early December first December 1st or
late November but what this is is
auditing standards require that we as
Auditors make certain required
communication and as I go through this
process I'll try and explain why some of
these I've included because I think the
ones that I have here are very important
for the council so as we go through
please interrupt if you have any
questions
the first thing that the standards
required that we talk about is what's
the results of the audit so this year we
issued an unmodified or what we call a
clean opinion so our report in the
financial statement state that your
financial statements are fairly
presented in accordance with the
standards that we as your Auditors have
to follow
Bottom Line This is the highest level of
assurance that we as Auditors can give
this is exactly the type of report that
the city wants to receive so this is a
good thing
two other reports included in your
financial statements are the one on the
left it's called a yellow book report
what happens is in New Mexico the state
auditor requires us to follow yellow
books on all audits completed in our
state the reason is is because regular
auditing standards don't require that we
test internal controls we can take one
transaction from the most significant
Cycles like disbursements payroll Etc
and we're done well in New Mexico the
state auditor wants us to actually pick
samples and as we go through that report
we're not giving an opinion on internal
controls we're just spelling out how we
test those above and beyond what regular
auditing standards require us to do we
do have two findings
another report or another component of
this is the New Mexico state auditor
takes the threshold of findings and
basically takes it down to the ground
level so Yellowbook standards both of
the findings that we're going to talk
about would not have to be included in
the report but in New Mexico the state
otter wants transparency and so they
want all findings any exceptions that we
have to be reported we'll talk about
those in a few slides the report on the
right is we are giving an opinion
relates to what we call a single audit
because the city spends more than 750
000 of federal funds we have to do a
compliance audit to make sure that
you're following those federal grants
and as you can see we had also an
unmodified opinion again the highest
level of assurance that we as Auditors
can give in that report so it's exactly
the type of report that the city wants
to receive and it did not have any
findings so in summary the two reports
are exactly what the city wants to
receive
the reason this next communication I
included it because the standards really
want you to know as a council how are
your records being maintained and as you
can see here we did not have any
difficulties in encountered in
performing the audit as we ask for
support as we ask for documentation that
was given to us in good order it was
given to us in a timely manner so what
that tells the council is is that your
records your financial records are being
well maintained by the city
this next one is talking about audit
adjustments if we as Auditors have to
come in and change the numbers because
we're posting lots of adjustments it's
really important for the council to know
and the reason is is because you're
making financial decisions on numbers
throughout the year and as you can see
here we did not have a single adjustment
so again the whole reason for this
presentation is to let the council know
that your accounting system the way it's
functioning and the internal controls
that you have established are working
and that you can rely upon the numbers
as you go through and make financial
decisions throughout the year
the last couple of slides are relating
to as Josie mentioned the financial
statements called an actor well an act
for actually is is more stringent and
has more items in it than what just the
New Mexico State audit or even our
auditing standards that we have to
follow so the city has elected to
provide the citizens more financial data
more information so your financial
statements are actually thicker than
what is required by our standards so the
city goes through and prepares the act
for and gets submitted to gfoa and gfoa
will give an award out for making sure
that you meet all of their requirements
and that actually this is a very
prestigious award the gfoa is a National
Organization that goes through and
analyzes your financial statements to
make sure that you you have met the
requirements and that you get the reward
as you can see on this slide you are one
of only 18 governments in the state in
2021 that received this award so not
very many entities go above and beyond
like the city does and again one out of
18 and there's approximately 700
governments in the state of New Mexico
you're only one of three municipalities
that receives that award
and you also are one of very few that
goes after what they call the Triple
Crown so there's three different
Awards programs there's one for the
budget there's one for the financial
statements and then there's a paffer
which is a smaller more summarized
report that's supposed to be easier to
read for your citizens so the city is
only one of five that has received the
Triple Crown award so again your staff
is going above and beyond what they
really have to do and that's something
that the city should be proud of only
five in the whole state of New Mexico
[Applause]
during the year we did have a couple of
findings the first one is relating to
gas cards there was a department that
had some transition and for I think it
was a four-month process or a four-month
time frame the reconciliations of the
gas cards and the receipts wasn't being
performed and I know that that has been
rectified and that that problem has been
dealt with and so it was just a
transition and and period but when we
selected those transactions we did have
exceptions the other one was relating to
payroll so there's an elected position
the judge that technically based upon
state tax statutes the same as the
council you can't get a raise until you
go through the election cycle and the
next period is when that raise can take
effect we had a raise that was given to
the judge this year in violation of New
Mexico state law
in the prior year we had one finding
over i-9s that one has been resolved and
again if you if we if I go back to the
prior slide both of those findings were
brand new and so if I was in your
position as a counselor what I would
want to see is is my team dealing with
the issues are they taking the findings
and dealing with them and sometimes they
take a couple of years by the time
they're made aware of what the situation
is late in the year the audit's not done
until December late November you're
already six months just about through
the year in and so sometimes it takes
some time but as you can see the last
few years when findings have been
brought up your management team is
dealing with them and they're getting
addressed and they're getting resolved
and that's something again there's so
many transactions that go through the
city of Las Cruces there's going to be
things that happen what you want to know
as a council how are we responding to
those and as you can see all the
findings that we had last year were
properly resolved and I believe the 2
findings that we have this year are
going to be resolved again so again I
think your management team is dealing
with them
we've got a couple of graphs that we're
going to go over on the financial
numbers this first set of graphs is what
we call government-wide financial
statements and as you can see on here
it's under the full accrual basis of
accounting this is not a methodology
that is presented to you throughout the
year the only time you see these numbers
on the full accrual for your
governmental funds is audit time so in
this method of accounting we have
long-term assets showing up on your
balance sheet and we have long-term
liability so things like the building
your debt payments debt principal
outstanding amounts are included as
assets and liabilities all of your
governmental funds are mushed into one
column into one set of accounting
numbers and so what happens is we have
what is it 26 special Revenue funds one
Debt Service fund and then some Capital
project funds that are all combined and
included in this one set of financial
statement numbers so all the additional
individual funds that you Budget on are
are pushed together the end of the year
the city had a little bit over 1.1
almost 1.2 billion dollars in assets
assets went down a little bit from the
prior year and really the biggest reason
was is because you spent some restricted
cash that you had to spend from the
prior year but other than that really
the assets of the city remain fairly
consistent your liabilities decrease
about 37 million dollars some of that
was related to unearned Revenue going up
and then also your portion of the para
liability at the state level
decreased about 46 million to be honest
with you I anticipate that to go back up
next year with the way the markets
happened but I like to talk about para
really what the council's responsibility
with Pera is to make sure that you're
making your monthly payments and that
that's getting contributed the city is
not going to have to write a check for
that Paramount you're just going to have
to continue to write or to pay those
payments every month as payrolls happen
and so it's a a liability but it's only
recorded in the financial statement and
really it's a it's an FYI type of
information because again your
responsibility as a city is to make sure
that you're making the payments to pair
timely and as we go through and we test
we do have to look at that's something
the state auditor does add that we as
Auditors look at and we did not have any
issues with your payments and into Para
the next set of statements are
governmental funds and your governmental
funds is how you adopt your budget you
know your general fund your different
special Revenue funds this basis of
accounting is is what I like to call
more like checkbook accounting there are
again a lot of funds that the city
accounts for they are individually
reported in your financial statements
and the ones that I'm going to go over
here are really just the general fund
because that is the operating fund of
the city of Las Cruces and so with that
long-term assets and long-term
liabilities do not show up here so like
I said this is kind of like checkbook
accounting if it's going to get in my
checkbook close enough after you're in
so like property taxes collected within
60 days it shows up as an asset if it's
a long term like a building it's not
going to show up
so as we go through this first
comparison is
um your your balance sheet again just
for the general fund just for the
operational fund your assets have gone
up about 15 million your liabilities
have gone up and then your Equity or
your net position the equity of the
general fund has gone up as far as the
assets the again the primary change
relates to a decrease in cash because we
spent those restricted funds that we
talked about a little bit earlier but
your Capital assets and things like that
increased in this particular fund your
liabilities have gone up really that's
mostly attributed to para para went up
um I'm sorry the pair changed the most
in this particular liabilities
at the end of the year like I said this
is only for the general fund you
reported about 72 million dollars in
assets the biggest share of those is
cash and Investments of 44 million you
had receivables of 24 million and then
you had a couple of minor ones with
inventory and Lease receivables
at the end of the year the city reported
a total of 10.2 million in liabilities
the biggest part of that is accounts
payable
your accrued liabilities were next at
3.4 million you had deferred property
taxes of 600 000 and then the first
deferred lease is a 2.2 million so the
Deferred leases is a New Concept that
had to be implemented this year so that
is something new that you have not seen
in the past but really the change in
your liabilities they went down I'm
sorry they went up as we talked about
but most of that's really related to the
fact of just timing of your accounts
payable
the general fund revenues
um increased from 123 million to 152 the
expenditures also increased from 91
million to 115 000. the the real reason
for the increase in the revenues is
really GRT that some some pretty much
all of the increase there and the the
increase in expenses was actually
planned the council had adopted a budget
that was even higher than this 126
million so even with the increase it
increases in expenses they were planned
and you still were under budget in total
for the general fund
the last couple of slides are just
relating to your Enterprise funds you
know the separate Enterprise funds are
there's seven of them and they're
reported separately in your financial
statements we're only going to go over
the gas fund as you can see the gas fund
assets did decrease about 8 million and
your liabilities also did to decrease
decrease about 27 million the reason for
the decrease in your assets is mostly
attributable to accounts receivable if
you remember last year we still had some
slow pay related to covid and some of
those timing issues this year that was
corrected and we kind of got back more
on track and then your liabilities
decreased primarily because of the the
para and retiree Health Care
their portion of those liabilities
the last slide is this gas fund revenues
as you can see they did increase
slightly from year to year but your
expenses increased quite a bit and the
majority of that is due to the cost of
gas last year the cost of gas went up
about four million dollars and so
therefore we had a bigger net loss in
this fund because the cost went up and
our Revenue didn't match that increase
in cost
with that open up to any questions
thank you Mr Gardner councilor Ben Cuomo
councilor Flores thanks mayor thank you
so much for the presentation and again
big round of applause to the team I
think they all joined you they heard
your call yes you want to stand she's
telling you to stand
yes
thanks everyone good work my question is
just related to the two flags that you
found I appreciate you naming on the gas
card that it was take that um action was
taken to remedy that you didn't mention
that on the second item though I know
there has been some action steps from
our finance select committee meeting I
can you talk about that a little bit as
much as you are able to
my understanding is is that there was a
process that was circumvented and the
process is established I think that in
the future that it's been reiterated
what that process should have been so I
think in the future that will get turned
down by the HR department and then that
we should not have an issue right
mayor councilor bencomo we have a HR
Director here and she can talk on that
process that they're doing now thank you
because because I know there's a couple
more steps I think that I think is
important to let the public know
thank you
good afternoon mayor and counselors Joe
Richards HR Director yes that process
has been reviewed and we are taking
additional steps in the future to make
sure whatever information is submitted
by the courts is verified
Direction in the past had been to
basically process what was requested
but now we will go through a thorough
review of any information that is
submitted it's already been corrected
and the judge is repaying any amounts
that were overpaid great thank you so
much Mr Richards I appreciate that those
are all my questions thank you
counselor Flores
thank you Mr Mayor and thank you so much
for your presentation and thank you Joe
for that information about the judge
so my question really goes to the
presenter
um can you explain uh I don't know about
my
my colleagues but I'm not good at
accounting at all I mean I dropped out
of the course when I was in law school
it was like uh-uh I don't think so
um so
um
why is para a liability I mean I I
recognize that the employees pay into it
so that makes it a liability
so counselor Flores what happens is is
para establishes rates
and those rates are paid in when each
payroll happens on a monthly basis into
para what happened is it's probably been
four or five years ago standard Setters
for us we call it governmental
Accounting Standards Board or gasby
gasby passed a law that stated that even
though it's at the state level they have
to go through and allocate so I believe
at this point Pera is about 6 billion
underfunded so what happens is that 6
billion is allocated to all the
participants
and so what in your financial statements
we have a pretty significant liability
that has to show up in one set of
financial statements but the truth of
the matter is is that counsel is really
responsible for writing checks and
making sure that you establish a budget
to make those monthly payments as your
payroll go through that six billion
dollar allocation is really at the state
level and it's for informational
purposes only the only time you'll ever
see that number is an audit time when
you adopt a budget and you go through
and you report to DFA those numbers are
just based upon what you're actually
submitting to para and what you have to
pay to them based upon each payroll the
only reason we have to include this is
because a governmental accounting
standard board requires the allocation
of that six billion dollars to show up
in one set of financial statements in
your particular audit report so that's a
practice that applies to all
municipalities or all para participants
it's a national
standard that everybody has to follow
throughout the whole United States oh I
see okay the other question I have is
liabilities are
accounts payable and assets are accounts
receivable and those have to be
reconciled all the time yes those are
reconciled throughout the year by your
accounting staff and so what we do is we
we go through and audit those at the end
of the year to ensure that the year-end
balances are accurately reported but yes
those are reconciled throughout the year
and those two findings that that we had
um
does that in any way impact our rating
or our standing
I'm not a rating person but my
understanding is I don't think that
those would they're not significant
I think ones that would really affect
the city would be what we call material
weaknesses where there's just a really
big breakdown in internal controls that
we report them as mature weaknesses
these don't rise to that level these
again if we're in another state to be
completely honest we wouldn't have to
include them in your audit but New
Mexico the state audit rule wants
transparency they want all findings
regardless of whether they meet the
threshold the standards that we have to
follow or not they don't care they
basically take that threshold to the
ground level and say any and every
exception that we as Auditors come
across we have to report in your
financial statements as a finding I see
and can you go back to the page or slide
that shows
what a wonderful
municipality we are we're our at least
our
um our department here that one so can
you go through that again and really
blast it in terms of because there's
several when we as councilman Como
mentioned the mayor and she and I are
members of the finance select committee
and and this was
um this was a big wow in our meeting in
fact I think we talked about it for
about 10 minutes we were so excited so
um and and the reason is because
um I mean I I think that our our media I
haven't seen Channel 7 here for a while
I wonder if Tom's okay anyway
um but can you go through all of those
awards that the city has gotten and how
um it's uh the numbers the percentage I
mean it's like just like two Awards and
and how many you know whatever the
percentage or whatever the rating or
whatever sure councilor Florida you're
exactly right it's something that the
count or the county the city should be
very proud of because it's not something
that's very easily obtained it takes a
lot of hard work and the whole reason
for these Awards is to be more
transparent with the city with your
citizens and to give them information to
analyze the city financial statements
and so there's a lot of additional
reports there's a lot of extra effort
but as you can see we have over 700
governments in the state of New Mexico
and for whatever reason we only have 18
participants in this that program a lot
of people are not willing to step up and
make that extra effort and take the
extra time to do the reporting that's
required and then follow the suggestions
that they come up with because there's
always new standards so it's always
constantly changing it's not like you
get this award and you can just sit down
and be comfortable the standards are
changing there's always new additional
information that's required to be
included in your report so it takes a
lot of effort a lot of work and so to be
one of only 18 out of over 700
governments you definitely should be
proud of but we also talked a lot at the
exits about the Triple Crown so there's
the whole reason for the Triple Crown
again is financial transparency to your
citizens so the budget award you all
meet the budgetary criteria that that
the standards or get a gfoa sets again
it's for the Public's use to make sure
that we're being transparent and giving
them good financial data good financial
information and then the paffer the
whole reason for that is
you know your financial statements
there's three different methodologies of
accounting and it's really very very
very confusing and so what that report
does again it takes extra effort it's
not something that the state of New
Mexico New Mexico requires or anybody
else but it's additional information
that is to be given to the citizens to
make that information a little bit more
user friendly a little bit more easily
you know to interpret your financial
status and so again only one of five New
Mexico governments to get that it wasn't
all that long ago there was only three
of them so there have been a couple more
that have been added so the city should
again be extremely proud of going after
those Awards and receiving them
mayor councilor Flores so to add it's
actually so yes one of five New Mexico
governments but only one of two
municipalities in New Mexico that get
the award
and and that other one is not
Albuquerque so no no it is not I believe
it's a district it's a special district
and I don't think it's Santa Fe either
no so there no
laughs
[Applause]
thank you sure
any more questions
two things real quick and um
regarding the issue regarding the
Municipal Court that's something there
that that ifo has decided to move
forward looks like he might be able to
take that part over but they're they're
working on on that change that way there
that can happen again and then also
regarding the liability that's something
there that the city tried to ask DFA if
they could we could start setting aside
the amount to to remove that that
liability and DFA said no so I think
maybe next year this Council needs to
ask our legislators to allow those
cities that can afford to start putting
aside that money for the for that
liability to do so and I think that
would speak volumes but before we end
I think ifo wants to do a presentation
right now to to the financial services
team so they don't have to come back so
we know you're working hard at what you
do so so you don't get disrupted so evil
you want to go ahead and
present that
and Leanne of course you're the leader
of the financial services so you wanna
join as well
thank you mayor yeah we we had it on my
city manager report but my thunder is
all gone now
and so I uh we decided to do it here so
we don't have to have your staff come
back and forth that's okay but before we
do that if we can
if it's okay mayor if we can have
everybody I know you mentioned uh
be good with that to have everybody
maybe introduce themselves and what they
do real quick
so everybody knows our team
and we can start
wherever I guess
foreign
[Music]
my name is Maria Sanchez Sanchez I'm an
accounting
I'm Veronica yoa and I'm a 10th
accountant
Liam Beasley and I'm a senior accountant
Francis Harris accountant
Roberta matka's accountant
Laura would be at a second
hello I'm Sarah arviso and I'm an
accountant
or monolerma also an accountant
Josh saffell Catlin supervisor
Erica Hawkins treasurer
my name is a senior accountant with the
treasury Department
okay
good afternoon everyone my name is
Leanne demish and I'm the director for
financial services I want to take this
time also to thank also the mayor and
the counselor for all the support
especially those that are on our finance
select committee councilor Flores
councilor Ben Como and the mayor we
greatly appreciate all the support that
you give us and especially to our boss
Barbara de Leon and our other boss Mr
peely who give us a lot of Direction
and support us in so many ways and help
us with a lot of paper bags breathing
into them when we have issues so we
greatly appreciate all the support
especially from Mr peelion from Barbara
thank you so much sir
thank you
okay thank you Leanne mayor if I can
just say a couple of things I appreciate
that thanks but you you know very well I
have nothing to do with this right
you know that your team and and I know
Leanne I really appreciate that I
appreciate Finance being sort of our
unsung heroes in our in our city as you
know there's hundreds of thousands of
transactions and dealings that go
through the city and so I mean starting
off with our audit our findings
um you know showing that how much we
improve how much we attack issues head
on but as a city manager it is a huge
weight off my shoulder and my for my
team as well to know that we have a
finance department like we have and so I
just want to say thank you on behalf of
the rest of your departments here you
know not only City manager's office but
all the other departments that you know
all roads lead to finance and you know I
had I was going to go over all the
you know what the kafir award and paffer
and budget award means but I think it's
already we already talked about that but
as you know the auditing
standards when you look at our audit
it's based upon certain standards that
uh government standards and how we
comply when you look at these gfoa
Awards it's based upon certain standards
of transparency as that auditor
mentioned how much how transparent we
are
one thing one error we haven't talked
about is the paffer
we haven't talked about that much but
that
popular annual financial report and and
that's a report that extracts certain
reports to make it even more transparent
transparent to those without Financial
background
and so that's a that's an interesting
one and one that it really does go above
and beyond we have to produce
you know our budget every year we have
to produce our our financial reports but
going after the pepper as well
um that that just tells the city that
the community that we're interested in
them digesting the information we're not
just putting it out but we want them to
understand
what we put out and the reason why I
said nothing to do is this is this has
been going on well before I got here and
we have a great we've had this great
team in place
and it's been such an amazing thing to
come in and see uh see them that work
the way they do so thank you for letting
me indulge from there and
recognizing our finance team as well as
Barbara's been Barbara's from our team
she is our CAO working with Leanne over
over finance and then again all of these
individuals with our treatment
foreign
[Laughter]
thanks again we're really proud of each
and every one of you
especially the Santa Fe and Albuquerque
didn't win
so they're for Keller Keller and Keller
and Weber I'll be sure to
send them a text Mandy please put that
out there yes
Mandy I made the recommendation at our
meeting that this really has to be the
good news for Las Cruces really expanded
whatever and then it's not Albuquerque
and it's and that it's not Albuquerque
or Santa Fe so there
okay so if there's no other further
questions or comments then Christine
this is for the vote believe it or not
we still got to vote on this
motion to approve the 23-093 councilor
beta yes councilor Graham yes councilor
Ben Comal yes councilor cran yes
councilor Floyd is yes councilor Gandara
yes mayor yes
okay next is item 8.4 which is
resolution 23095
you know move to approve Graham second
motion made by Council Graham second by
councilman Cuomo and David Ware deputy
director of Community Development will
be presenting
good afternoon mayor David Weir
Community Development mayor
um I should probably do a note for him
since it is an appeal you want to put
him on the roof okay yeah oh so
okay David do you swear to affirm that
the testimony you're about to give is
the truth and nothing but the truth
under penalty of law I do thank you
mayor and city council the item on your
agenda is an appeal to a special use
permit for cannabis dispensary just as
you recall in the past year or so the
city adopted
the allowance for cannabis uses within
the city
dispensaries are permitted by right as a
conditional use in the C1 C2 and C3
districts the conditions they meet are
in relationship to buffering that they
should be located 300 feet from a school
or daycare from another cannabis use or
a single-family residential zoning
district and so if those conditions
aren't met then it goes to a next level
of review it goes to a special use
permit in our zoning code and that's
something that's reviewed by the plan
and Zoning commission to see how that
fits into the neighborhood and
surrounding area and if with their
approval the use can go in if they find
something that's harm
harmful to the health benefit General
Welfare of the community they can deny
that whether a special use permit is
approved or denied it can be appealed to
city council and that's what you see
today
just to give you some background the
property is Zone C2 so cannabis use is
allowed in that District again with
those conditions the property itself has
historically been used as a gas station
or a car dealer it is located at the
south end of
the downtown and they're it's adjacent
to a multiple of zoning districts the
zoning map shows you a little bit better
the property itself is right at the
point of Main Street and Alameda
Boulevard as you can see there's a list
of C2 properties along both of those
streets C3 at the Loretta town center
and then as you move Westward you get
into that residential area
again this is an aerial just shows you
the existing buildings and the site the
red outline is again the subject
property and then you can see the the
uses surrounding it
uh just some background the property has
always been constructed and utilized
first city of Las Cruces development and
business regulations and it currently is
operating that way today
the special use dealt with again a
cannabis use a cannabis dispensary again
the other buffer requirements were met
with the ex with the exception of the
distance from the single-family zoning
District it was as the bird flies 82
feet short and so it's approximately 218
feet from that
this slide shows you the footprint of
the existing building and what they're
going to do to make improvements to the
property the the graphic on the right is
the interior remodel that will take
place within the building
again just to give you an idea of what
the context and what the area looks like
it is currently a car dealership as you
can see in that area you can see some
commercial businesses and Offices here
to the left behind it is a commercial
and office uses the bank Tower La
Clinica restaurant and some other
business uses
again this is trying to kind of look
northwesterly again you can see
um Main Street and the size of that
street this is a picture that's taken
from Alameda I might also know in the
background that both Main Street and
Alameda arterial roadways so that's one
of our largest street categories in the
city
and
again I believe this is looking kind of
northwesterly up Alameda Boulevard
when the
sup was initially reviewed by staff
staff made a analysis just like we do
with all zoning cases it goes out to all
City departments we also before it goes
to the Planning and Zoning commission
for their review we do notice to
adjacent Property Owners during this
time in review we did receive a couple
of phone calls one was just general
inquiry into information about what the
proposed used was we also did receive a
person that kind of protested the use
and at that time they basically cited
the potential to increase crime in the
area
before the the meeting or at the meeting
there was a protest letter submitted
that was more of a procedural item as to
how the city was choosing to review this
particular use
foreign
as we went forward
basically some of the other protests
that we heard at the planned zoning
commission what was one is is how the
special use permit was being reviewed
and how the city was choosing to review
and act on the proposed use other things
they talked about was the potential for
increased kind crime excuse me there was
also a compatibility to use with some of
the existing uses in the area and then
there was also a concern about this is a
gateway into your downtown and how that
impact Redevelopment of that area
uh the staff themselves made a
recommendation of approval they felt
that the the use met the intent of the
zoning code and also the the city's
comprehensive plan
the plan and Zoning commission also made
a recommend or they actually approved
the special use permit with the
unanimous vote with one member absence
they made findings at their meeting one
they found that with the exception of
the the distance it met all other
buffering requirements
excuse me that the property has always
been in use in compliance to City
standards and that the mixed-use nature
of the property was in compliance with
the general development and use in that
area
they also noted that the non-residential
properties along Alameda Boulevard
provided a an actual buffer or
transition to the single family area
the also the size of the street provided
an additional transition from proposed
use they also noted that because of the
size of the streets and the use of the
property that there was no additional
traffic impacts anticipated by the
Redevelopment of the property
and then also stated that when you look
at the permitted uses or the
impacts of a use in the city's zoning
code it met those intent and the actual
use and operations of business would
have to follow All City business and
Zoning requirements and also the state
of New Mexico's requirement for the
operation of a cannabis establishment
again during that review and made a part
of the plan and Zoning commission staff
report and also their finding was that
there were several elements and policies
of elevate Las Cruces that supported the
use and they really come down to two
things one that the downtown is a mixed
mixed-use Place type and this proposal
would feed into that and promote that
use that economic growth in a mixed use
setting is desired by the city and again
it contributes to that then also it
diversifies and promotes an emerging
Industries for the city so there are
basically four goals that have policies
that support the potential use in sup at
this location
um as stated after the meeting there was
an appeal letter submitted again it was
similar to the items that were brought
up the plane zoning commission meeting
one was the city's treatment of this is
a special use permit and then also the
statements of the the impacts of its
compatibility at the location and then
its impacts as to the entryway into the
the downtown
uh and that is the background
information and the presentation we have
as staff you have your traditional
ordinance options if you vote Yes that
will overturn the approval of the
cannabis use and uh and basically the
the special use permit would be denied
and it would end there unless they chose
to appeal to district court if you vote
no the special use permit stays in
effect and then they can come in with
their building permits and the business
registration to begin operating at the
site if there's anything that you would
like us to do we can amend or if there's
additional information you like you can
table the request both the special use
permit applicant is here and then also
representatives of the appeal
individuals are here also so I'd be
happy to stand for any questions or
provide additional information on or
provide explanation to the information I
made in the presentation
they what I'd like to do if it's okay is
to let the applicant of the special use
permit speak and then the applicant for
the uh who the who asked for the appeal
and then if we can ask questions after
we hear both is that okay
okay so I usually a lot of 15 minutes so
to the applicants who are
asking for the special use permit if you
just come here the city clerk's gonna
take your testimony under oath and then
just state your name please and
my name is Sean Maddox
so we're affirm that the testimony
you're about to give is the truth and
nothing but the truth under penalty of
law I do thank you I have a quick
question for the City attorney before my
time starts
I might not is that better can you talk
into the mic a little bit sorry yes uh
quick question for the City attorney
before my time starts
go ahead okay so I just want to clarify
the scope of the appeal because I know
comments were made earlier by the public
and I'm sure comments are going to
happen after my presentation but to my
understanding under the city's code the
appeal is limited to the matters that
were brought up by the appeal letter is
that correct by the City attorney
that that's correct that's correct okay
um so okay I guess my time starts now
then okay so the appeal letter
essentially lays out a problem with the
procedural issue of the sup process in
general not just the sup process as it
relates to cannabis but the sup process
in general
um this is a little concerning because
essentially you guys are being asked to
answer a constitutional decision today
about the city's entire sup process
they're saying that it is a
constitutionally vague process and that
essentially this should be overturned
because of that constitutional vagueness
it has nothing to do with actually the
merits of the sup that was award or any
of the facts the appeal is mostly
limited to a procedural case or matter
So speaking to that case or matter
um
I'm going to just go through the issues
first off the issues do not call into
question the Planning and Zoning
commissions decision or factors
considered as just stated the issue
stated by the appellant questioned the
city's ordinance and overall askup
process not just sup processes for
cannabis the appellants argument
actually wrongly conflates the idea of a
variance with the process of an sup
permit
um
a special use permit is specifically
allowed for within the ordinance that
outlines the Zoning for this essentially
it says if we're within 300 feet of a
daycare or school we would have to get a
variance not a special use permit more
than 300 foot of residential which
requires a special use permit that is
outlined in the code it is specifically
allocated for so it is not a variance as
the appellant suggests and conflates in
their argument a variance is defined as
a variation in the requirements of the
Land Development code again this is not
a variance it was a permit process the
sup is actually contemplated by the
zoning code
further the appellant's letter
wrongly imputes a standard for review
that is instead intended to regulate
appeals to zoning Authority the the code
section cited is nmsa section
3-21-8 C1 a through D title of this
section is appeals to zoning Authority
this was not an appeal it was a special
use prompt so the standard that's
actually being argued for in the appeal
letter shouldn't have gone against the
Planning and Zoning commissions
determination
that being said that section of the code
in an appeal setting which is where we
are today allows when an appeal alleges
that there's an error in any decision or
determination by an administrative
official the zoning Authority by
majority of vote of all of its members
May
authorize variances from the terms of
the zoning resolution so variance from
the planning and zonings resolution they
can do so if they find that that
variance is not contrary to public
interest we're owing to special
conditions a literal enforcement or the
zoning ordinance will result in
unnecessary hardship so the spirit of
the zoning ordinance is observed and
substantial Justice done and so that the
goals and policies of the comprehensive
plan are implemented
the Specialty's permit process and
determination is not an appeal thus the
standard is more properly imputed onto
today's current proceeding than it would
be on the determination of the PNC
commission's determination
given the correctly stated standard for
appeal review
the appellant's burden is to argue in
the affirmative that the council's
approval of the rep resolution is not
contrary to public interest is necessary
that the ordinance will result in
unnecessary hardship
is allowing the spirit of the zoning
ordinance to be observed and is
necessary for the goals and policies of
the comprehensive plan the presentation
given earlier laid out a couple of the
consistencies with the comprehensive
plan that the proposed use does meet
[Music]
um
next in regard to the sup process in
general
the appellant calls into question the
SCP process by attacking the city's sup
requirements outlined in section 38-54
they State no standard other than to
determine the impacts of the surrounding
issue are used that itself is a standard
and the staff report went into deep
detail on how these standards were
actually addressed
aside from that this standard is
promulgated by the development code for
all sups and applies to over 25
different enumerated special uses in the
city these include boarding houses golf
courses group Child Care Homes
campgrounds halfway houses and more
essentially finding and support of the
appeal suggests that the city's sup
process is unconstitutional and calls
into question any sup permit that any
other 25 enumerated issues have been
granted under
um getting back to the seven page staff
report from the July 26 hearing I think
it was summarized pretty well earlier in
the presentation but essentially
findings were were found that the
proposed use met other cannabis distance
requirements but for the residential
there is a substantial uh commercial
buffer between the residential and the
proposed use so as to not affect the
residential use
that the proposed use was consistent
with the land use history they talked
about impact considerations which I
think are extremely important and they
are in the line of business of the
applicant in general and these are
traffic development compatibility
mitigation technique implementation
increase of danger or fire or endanger
Public Safety determine of orderly phase
growth impairment of public health
safety or general welfare establishment
of a spot Zone contradiction of purpose
and intent of the zoning code an
impairment of light and air to the
adjacent property
um again compatibility of the
neighborhood and character were
discussed public comment was heard about
a nearby use that they felt was
sensitive to the public comment was
heard listened to and still it was voted
in favor of the sup being approved
um comprehensive discussions went into
compliance with the Elevate Las Cruces
comprehensive plan which was important
for the proposed uses being approved and
again consistency with the purpose and
intent of the zoning ordinance
um
overall the appellant claims the city's
sup standard is constitutionally
questionable as it invites the Planning
and Zoning commission to engage in
arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement
of the distance requirements but the
appellants letter I haven't heard the
argument fails to make a substantive
argument about the constitutionality
and does not meet the burden to prove
under unconstitutional
unconstitutionality beyond all
Reasonable Doubt and that's a standard
that's actually outlined in case law
contained within the the case law cited
by the appellant
um
but there's a case State X rail children
youth and families Department vishana C
and in that the case law states a strong
presumption of constitutionality
underlies each statute
and the defendant has the burden to
prove unconstitutionality beyond all
Reasonable Doubt the appellant's ladder
actually States
that correctly the state code Grants
limitations on municipalities and
designing zoning I think that's a nice
use of term because it really enumerates
broad power of municipalities and
deciding what to do with their zoning as
long as it doesn't directly conflict
with the state law or code it's pretty
much allowed the case cited in the
appellant's brief actually does not even
address the constitutionality of the
ordinance in question because it
essentially says
cities have the right to decide these
things
aside from the legal arguments I guess I
just kind of want to give a procedural
history on this too we started this
process back in April of last year we
submitted our we had our pre-application
hearing or meeting I think in May and
then we no in April then we submitted in
may we were heard in July
to my understanding
the period for appeal was actually
supposed to end August 12th the
presentation given today suggested the
appeal was received on the 16th which
actually falls outside of the appeals
period so I'm not even sure why we're
here in the first place
um
beyond that it's been about 180 days the
city's had our number they've allowed us
to submit to building planning and our
plans are under review right now by the
city with I think our second or third
set of comments being received
and we have received no communication
about appeal really we found about out
about this about 10 to 15 days ago by a
broker the city is part of our sup
process has phone numbers emails and
correspondence an email sent to City
staff on August 12th asking about the
status of an appeal which said no appeal
has been received you've never received
an email after that we've been in
Planning and Zoning for
120 days without anything
you know aside from that we've already
been issued a state license which
doesn't mean much because that can
happen without your guys's approval of
course it would be our responsibility to
act in compliance with state ranks
um but yeah 195 days have passed since
the pnz commission approval 178 days
since the appeal was received again no
communication from City staff directly
to the owners or the applicant
um
beyond that just to kind of bring up
this matter and its history in front of
you guys you guys heard
um
ordinance number 3012 back in October
I'm sure you guys remember the ordinance
was should we remove this 300 foot
buffer essentially at the time you guys
looked at it and
28 cannabis businesses have been
approved six of them under the sup
process all six of those had gotten
nearly unanimous approval by pnz and so
the question was should we remove this
in its entirety CD staff decided not to
which I think is the correct process I I
do think that looking at the impact of
these on the neighborhood is something
that should be left to Planning and
Zoning in the city to decide but again
it just notes that how quote how close
we were to today's appeal being moved
one vote amongst your staff members now
we're being asked to decide a
constitutional matter
um
with very little argument as to why this
constitutional matter is relevant it was
really a cut and paste of
the objection letter that was considered
by the pnz Commission in making their
determination
um
and at the end of the day I think it's
almost an impossible burden for the
appellant to show that or to prove that
the city's sup process that has been in
in place for a very long time is an
unconstitutional process
I think that's it I'm happy to answer
any questions you guys have I've limited
my discussion to legality because that
seems to be the scope of the appeal I'd
be very happy to discuss the proposed
business the business owners their
history in the industry
nuisance mitigation techniques and
anything that they've done you know
these guys are multi-state operators
very experienced husband and wife team
very Community oriented you know we're
not a public company or a family-run
business that's tried to come to this
city has invested substantially in the
process already and is now being told
you know
very late in time that everything
they've done so far might just be tossed
out into the garbage so you know my
request today is that the council
members vote down the proposed
resolution as the appellant fails to
meet their burden or state legitimate
grounds for appeal and the Planning and
Zoning commission's determination
properly supported approval of the sup
through proper consideration of the
proposed businesses impact on the
surrounding area
excuse me I need some water any
questions yeah Sean if I may I'm going
to ask a question of you and then the
Community Development then I'll open up
to my colleagues so just can you clarify
your position are you their legal
counsel general counsel Chief compliance
officer and minority partner in business
so you feel that the sup is not the
right method that it's more of a
variance is that what I'm understanding
no I feel the sup is the proper method
it is not ovariance the appellant
suggests and conflates an sup with the
variance I feel the sap is a proper
method I think the way the Planning and
Zoning commission heard this opened it
up to public comment and consider its
impact on the surrounding area is the
right method okay and let me ask the
Community Development so Dave or Larry
do you all have the administrative
wherewithal or power to Grant this this
uh change it's 218 feet as opposed to
300 feet as far as a buffer or do you
have to take this to the planet and
Zoning a mayor and city council the way
the ordinance is written
is that these cannabis uses are
permitted uses with conditions and the
buffer is the condition
however if they fall within that
District that distance it goes to
Planning and Zoning commission as a
special use permit for review so the
ordinance has a tiered system and that's
they're not the only special use permit
that's treated that way our cell towers
have that requirement with you if you're
within a certain distance of a
residential area that staff can approve
that administratively it has to go
through a special use permit process
also the size of a business in our C1
commercial District if it's larger than
2 000 square feet again it's something
that staff can approve administratively
it has to go through the special use
permit process and also our day cares
prior when you have one to six children
that's something that can be done as a
home occupation or Variety in a district
once you go to 7 to 12 then you have to
go through the special use permit
process so this is a practice that has
been
followed by the city
you know throughout my tenure of going
forward the slide I put up has the
relevant sections it talks about
cannabis uses and the districts that's
allowed as a conditional use it then
goes through the special use permit
section where it shows what the
definition is and then that's where it
says that if you don't meet those 300
foot buffers then you kick to the
special use permit process
so let me ask Joslin Joslin you've heard
what the Community Development said and
what Mr Maddox has said do you feel that
the process that we're using is the
correct process or should we table this
and get the correct process in place
actually mayor just on this subject I
have issued a few different confidential
memos and I would just ask that everyone
refer to those memos
and that we speak privately about that I
do think that
if you need to table it so that we can
speak about it then I would advise that
okay let me open this up to my
colleagues and see what they want to do
let me start with Council Graham and
Cuomo Flores well we're right now we're
just talking about what we want to do
because I thought we were waiting well
you can ask questions of physical I
thought we were waiting for the other
parties
to speak or where or we're just going
well if you had any questions of what
you've heard so far
no I'm just saying I do not want to
table this okay then let's let's go to
the
then let's go you don't have any if you
don't have any questions of of what was
I don't have questions I just I have
things to say okay should I do it now
should I well we can we can get the
applicant the
the applicants who place the appeal and
hear what they have to say is that what
you want to do okay yep sure and then
I'm first okay thanks
okay who's here represented
um if if you can just kind of Stay Stay
stand by there you go who are here to
discuss the appeal
is there like a group team
I see
former mayor and there's a very
I'm going to go forward with the
applicants who asked for the appeal and
so these two in front of us former mayor
Smith and who is the one who asked for
the
who filed yeah who filed the appeal who
are the representatives
mayor and city council uh
the appeal was filed by Karen Wooten as
a local attorney and in her appeal
letter she said that she was
representing
um AKA Tudy Bambini
and Ruben Smith
okay well I see Reuben Smith so does he
want to come you have a team or you it's
just you or okay
is someone from 2D Bambini here as well
or your
so we too will give you up to 15 minutes
to speak
and then after that I don't know sir
I'll open it up to members of the public
okay
if you're not with this group was he
talking
hi my name is uh sister Beth good
afternoon
I need to do the
um you have to take your oath take the
oath of uh what's your testimony
do you swear from the testimony you're
about to give is the truth and nothing
but the truth under penalty of law
oh yes yes okay thank you
sorry my hearing aids are not set up for
this
I'm here on behalf of Judy Bambini and
our main main concern for this proposal
is the safety involved in what we do
that would be right across the street
most of our customers are volunteers are
elderly we have a lot of grandparents we
have
older volunteers were also concerned
about the safety of our children
we do not
want something to happen that would
perpetuate the idea that we are not a
safe place for people to come to shop or
to take care of their needs
are we are a retail store
we also have a mission
to
help the children in in our community
who are from low-income families
if uh if it's okay I would like to read
a letter from Billy Taylor who is the
president of our board of directors
for eight years Judy Bambini has been
located at the corner of Alameda and El
Molino
across Alameda from the proposed
cannabis retail location
our mission is to help children
challenge by poverty and have special
needs we operate a children's store
dislocation
and we set all of our prices to address
the needs of all low-income can afford
we also work with local agencies who
give vouchers to their clients and they
can come to our store and they can be
redeemed for clothing for children in
need
and the future we plan we have dedicated
to space for children to come to our
store for story time
we are concerned about the safe
environment that we can provide at this
time
there are three dispensaries in our part
of town
today Bambini would be
across the street from this dispensary
this proposed dispensary we also have
another dispensary called Sacred Garden
which is across the side street of
Molino so we would have two dispensaries
right in our
uh location
um we who work at live there are the
voices that should have the most impact
on your decision
to deny this permit respectfully Billy
Taylor president of the board of 2D
Bambini
thank you sister Beth is there anything
else you wanted to say thank you part is
there anything else you wanted to say
not just that
um I think our first concern has to be
for our customers and we've had a few
incidents that have occurred what people
have been smoking
cannabis in our parking lot have
proceeded to come into our store it's
very frightening for our clientele when
this happens and we usually have an
incident that goes along with that so
that's our main concern we also know
that there are people who sit in their
cars in our parking lot that are smoking
marijuana
so it to have another one is of a
concern to us
thank you okay thank you
okay now you're going to have to yes
take the north as well
I swear our firm that the testimony you
are about to give is the truth and
nothing but the truth under penalty of
law yes I do thank you
Mr Mayor city councilors
um
I own to begin with I'm here for two
reasons I own a residential
building a house that I purchased that's
within the 300 feet limit
and I bought that specifically for
sister Beth
she wanted a place to live that was very
near across the street
and Jardin
legally that's why I'm here
but I must tell you something in
particular for some of the new city
councils that may not know something
about this lady and she's going to kick
me one once I do that
I'm going to wait till the mayor
finishes because I think representative
Ben Cuomo needs to hear it too
sister Beth came to me when I was first
elected with her partner sister Anna
we were right at the beginning of
building the community of hope that I
assume you all know about
she wanted to build a component for the
young kids
and they called it Jardin De los Ninos
history after that she said that wasn't
sufficient
so what she did she created the La
Tienda which is right across the street
from tuti Bambini are you familiar with
that
that's where they sell jet leaves
clothes for women
that wasn't good enough so what she did
she went across the street and opened
Duty bombini Duty Bambini raises money
for infants for babies that are
essentially homeless
she's been doing that ever since I've
known her for some 15 or 20 years she
never wants to get recognition for that
but this is the kind of person we have
in our community that all she is asking
for is let us continue to thrive I know
there was one city councilor referring
to the Cannabis industry they don't want
to see it just survive they wanted to
see it thrive
I would hope I would hope in that in in
a pit of my heart
that you as mayor and city council would
want to look out as what is going to be
the implications of not only this
location but all cannabis locations
they said there's three there's actually
going to be five within a two block area
of Duty Bambini five
this reminds me years ago once again
first elected I got a call on a Sunday
mayor there's some kind of construction
going on I think it was on the corner of
Mesquite and uh an Amador
huge cranes and whatnot long story short
they were putting a cell tower in right
in the historical district Mesquite
historical district
long story short call the city manager
called they they figured out a way to
call a halt
what that did to the city it gave us an
opportunity to figure out long range how
are we going to address
the locations of cell towers within our
city
now if you notice we did ensure that it
would not be built within downtown areas
it would have to be built on the outside
areas
this is the same challenge I believe you
all have as you sit here
I believe we're the only community that
doesn't have hours of when they can
close which is not a big deal most of
them close early anyway
but the proliferation of locations
all over the city and now we've got
three huge Lounge areas that are going
to be opening up
I mean you as elected officials I would
think what is the perception of people
outside the city for years and years we
worked on this city to work on the
perception what is it that people love
about the city a lot of retirees
I can guarantee you most of those
retirees are going to be looking at this
city from a standpoint of
I'm one right now but I'm retiring
from the standpoint of what is it going
to look like when you're driving around
and you've got these cannabis locations
all over the place I'm not against
cannabis
I'm not going to debate that issue about
alcohol and cannabis that's for another
time
but I can tell you I think you as an
elected body of this city needs to look
at that very very hard and the
implications
biggest implication
is on duty and and La Tienda
they do more for this community for the
homeless and I think almost anyone else
does
so
I think
personal opinion
more research needs to be done on this
kind of an issue I don't think it's
going to put them out of business at all
if this is table so you can look at it
one other issue I don't know if any of
you have spoken to any school board
members or the superintendent
do you know that they're considering
they're talking about
putting another facility in that
location where they're at now across the
street
that's important
that's a discussion I think you as
elected officials need to be doing with
your counterparts mayor to
superintendent you as elected officials
were the elected school board members
they would have a concern if they get to
that point and have a cannabis shop
right across the street
I would encourage you to think about the
future perception of this city as to
what we're doing and how we're dealing
about it thank you Mr Mayor
is anybody else on your
in your team I guess so
okay
so I'm going to ask if Council can open
up the council so they can ask questions
of either yourselves or the city staff
or Mr Mr Maddox so I'm going to start
with counselor I'll just start from the
top counselor I beat the Graham and
Cuomo Flores
um I'm happy to defer to counselor
Graham first and then I'll go after her
thank you
uh so
thank you everyone I I don't have
questions I'm just going to pop off a
little bit and then I'll be ready
um thank you everyone who presented
um who shared their perspectives thank
you sister Beth for everything that you
do for our community
um
all that said I've asserted in the past
my changing perception about cannabis as
I've
kind of grown into being an elected
official I see cannabis as a medicinal
substance that is a positive impact on
our community that is a positive impact
on our Economic Development prospects
um so I I always throw that out there at
the top I won't speak on the
constitutionality of the sup
I will speak though on what on David's
presentation what the what the remaining
variance issue was which was the
residential Zone and to bring up yet
again if we were talking about a
multi-family housing complex if we were
talking an apartment this wouldn't even
be an issue this is
this to me is the kind of classist
nonsense that Planning and Zoning
perpetuates through our communities so
I'm I'm expected to believe that it's
too dangerous to have a cannabis
dispensary near a single family home but
that's not an issue for folks who live
in multi-family housing I think that is
discriminatory I think that is
hypocritical and I was one of the
non-winning voters to get rid of the
buffer in the past I would hope
whatever it takes to get that back on an
agenda again I don't know what the
procedure is for that if we can revisit
that and
um perhaps some of my colleagues would
have rethought their stances on the on
the buffer on the buffer zone
so again please know that I do consider
I do consider others feelings on this I
consider the implications I do
more reading and put more time into this
than
you need to know
um but yeah just reiterating my stance
thank you
thank you counselor Abita then come on
Flores thank you um uh one question that
I want to ask right away uh is regards
to that of the appeal if it was
submitted in time that is highly
concerning if the applicant if they had
been checking if there had been any
appeals and there hadn't been and then a
few days later that seems like I said
quite concerning
mayor and councilor Aveda in the packet
you see the appeal letter and it's dated
the eighth but we didn't actually
receive that to the 12th and then at
that time we were also working on the
amendment to review remove the buffer
from the residential areas so I only
think I can contribute to is we
determined that it did meet the time
frame but we asked if they would allow
the appellants that they would allow the
discussion of amending the ordinance to
take place
before we actually put it on one of your
agendas so
so
staff feels that we met the the
deadlines of that if we dropped the ball
a little bit on the conversation with
all the parties
I'll apologize for that
thank you um
a while
I appreciate all of um
the individuals who spoke today and
giving personal
stories and
supplemental information
that burden of proof for the appeal was
not within the scope of what was said by
Mr Rubin and so at this point I am not
inclined
um to overturn
the counselor Ben Comal thanks mayor
thanks so much David and both parties
that presented
um oh thank you
just a couple of procedural questions
um the gentleman said
that
the representative for the business said
that they were not notified of the that
appeal letter had been submitted David
can you talk about who is supposed to
notify the business of of that and where
did we fall short on that
mayor and counselor Ben Cuomo it would
be the Community Development Department
we would relay that to both the
applicant and the appellants and and in
this case we also had conversation with
the property owner and the realtor that
represented the property we made every
effort to contact all of those
individuals and like I said if if there
was something that that didn't take
place that was an oversight okay thank
you no I I but we have been in
conversation with all those parties no
yes thank you I appreciate you raising
that I I mean I know Community
Development is working incredibly hard
and economic development to support this
um
new industry and so I always appreciate
that David
um as sister Beth mentioned there is and
I had noted it as well probably for a
little bit different reasons but I I did
know that sacred Gardens is a couple
blocks down from this and I know that
before they were recreational they had
recreational sales they were medical
cannabis so they have been there for
several years correct
Marin and councilman coming you are
correct prior to the recreational
Cannabis medicinal uses were considered
similar to a pharmacy and were permitted
by right without any additional review
right so sacred Gardens now has
recreational use did they have to go
through a special use permit the mayor
and councilman Cuomo they did not
because of the state statute if you had
an existing medicinal use you were
grandfathered in and were allowed to
have recreational sales without meeting
local zoning requirements okay thanks
for clarifying that David I I was
getting ready to sort of say that there
was huge inconsistencies if that was the
case which is why I have for a long time
disagreed with the arbitrary 300 foot
buffer anyway
um
oh
I also I these are sort of my last
actually no I'm sorry I have one more
question regarding this property how
long has this been empty
abandoned mayor I don't believe that
it's actually uh been empty there's
still uh cars for sale on the lot so it
would be a
change in use and then there would be
improvements to um for the new use
taking place but they're they're there's
not any non-conformities on it and it is
actually being used today okay I could
have sworn that that car dealership was
gone already but thank you for
clarifying that I will say that the
Denny's now behind this is empty
um I think a few blocks north there's a
couple empty properties and so
um and then obviously on El Paseo we
know how much blight there is there and
you know for me it's it's always really
important right people want us to
increase development in these areas and
then where we have development we're
like wait a minute
um so I you know I think again that just
offers some inconsistency I'll say a
couple of things you know I was recently
talking to
um the high horse cannabis that has the
24-hour shop on on Valley and they were
telling me that
um they're right next to a little mall
where there's like a butcher shop and a
t-shirt place and they actually we have
gotten incredible feedback about how
their 24-hour service has impacted the
safety in a positive way of that
neighborhood in that area and so I I
think it's incredible I I think we also
have to note that when we talk about
issues of crime Rising that is I don't
think that's factual I don't think
that's factual information especially
when we're sitting here talking about
being under oath I think it's critical
that you we bring data and evidence when
we make such heavy
um
um accusations of any particular
business and so I I think that that's
important to raise
um I also say that I sister Beth I
um in case you can't hear me sister Beth
I'll call you after this because I adore
and respect you and so I have to
apologize in advance for disagreeing
with you today because I just I deeply
love and respect what you do for the
community and and
thank you sister Beth I I think you're
an incredible human being and I've known
you for a long time and what you do for
our community is actually tremendous and
I truly hope that perhaps
um you can build a partnership with this
new business around how to keep your
community safer I would suggest that you
reach out to officer glimp who may come
do an assessment for you if you are
experiencing some security concerns I
know Judy Bambini will be fine for two
reasons one you provide an incredible
service to our community and to your
deeply beloved I don't think you're
going anywhere and so I just wanted to
to note that as well sister Beth but I
will also be voting note today because
just simply on the basis that I think
this 300 buffer is arbitrary and I would
argue with counselor Graham I would
agree with councilor Graham that I I
hope we get that back because I think it
is
um irresponsible and I think it's some
huge inconsistencies as to how we are
discriminating against certain retailers
so I'll stop there mayor thank you
thank you counselor Flores thank you Mr
Mayor um Mr Weir to me the Community
Development Department is not the
defendant in this case Mr Maddox made it
very clear that they didn't receive the
notice until the notice of appeal or
whatever it's called in in your world
until August 16th which is four days
beyond the uh the uh the appeal date so
on that matter I would say that and
based on everything else that he
presented that it is moot
that there that we shouldn't be here
that if he if he as legal counsel
and part owner of that entity didn't
receive it until August 16. notice was
not met
and therefore the August 12 deadline
would control
so why are we here Mr Weir
um mayor and Council Flores I can only
treat it from a standpoint of what the
zoning ordinance says it states that to
appeal a decision of the playing zoning
commission within the time frame you
submit that to the the city of Las
Cruces with with your letter of intent
to appeal and then there is a fee
involved with it and then the city will
process that to the um
about planning and zoning commission so
I I'm only following what our standards
are what the the zoning code outlines
and so that's why we process that to you
today well I think that's fundamentally
unfair and laws are made or ordinances
or rules or whatever are made to be fair
not to accommodate a municipality I I
think that just fundamentally wrong but
based on the fact that um
the defendant excuse me the appellant
didn't make any clear convincing
argument as to
what the damage would be I'm very
familiar with Duty Bambini and I'm very
grateful for the work they do I donate
beautiful clothing there it's a store
it's it's it's a nice store I I don't
and then you the graphics that you
showed is the location that's a very
busy intersection if someone is very
happy on cannabis I doubt very much that
they're going to try to cross the street
to somehow go into tuti Bambini I mean I
the whole thing is just so but just on
the just the the fact the fairness issue
whether whether the the process that you
just iterated
is what you go by it's still unfair to
to the up to the uh
to the uh respondent
so um and based on substantive issues as
well I would I would vote to deny the
appeal thank you Mr Mayor and thank you
Mr Weir
I got one question to ask Dave and then
I'll open up to the members of the
public so Dave the
the Cannabis it's an ordinance that
states that if it's within 300 feet of a
residential area it would require a
variance or in this case a special use
permit
mayor that's correct the the
cannabis use was recreational cannabis
use was ridden into our zoning ordinance
and adopted by Council and it states if
you can meet those buffers staff can
approve a permit or a use or business
registration if one of those distances
aren't met then it goes through the
special use permit and it can be
approved or denied by the plane zoning
Commission okay so it still currently
exists it hasn't been removed so it's
still a law basically you're correct
yeah okay I want to hear from members of
the public who raise their hand that
wish to speak so I just have two
just two people
okay so this gentleman here first and
then ma'am if you want to come forward
we'll give you three minute seat is
there someone else yes oh yes scary and
so three minutes each is fine so this
gentleman is Adam and then yourself Gary
my name is Israel Palma
I live I'm sorry sir one more time
Israel
I live at 370 La Colonia which is uh
I share my house shares the parking lot
with the doctor there in the corner and
tuti Bambini and we happen to be very
good neighbors we live across the street
from each other
uh we all do good things for the
community and the people that cannot
afford to help themselves but uh I do
have a concern as a homeowner I don't
have the legal expertise or the slide
presentations but this slide that's up
there needs to be uh redefined
um and I will I have so many bullet
points that I'd rather just read them
really quickly and hopefully I'm not uh
too illogical or too discombobulated
with my presentation but
in the first place the car lot has about
three or four cars left in it
practically it sold it wouldn't be
closing down if it was a successful
business
I've lived there since 2014 when I moved
down here from Carlsbad I was a school
counselor
I think I fought on this for 30 years
the influx of cannabis in the community
and I have very negative opinion of it I
think it is it does lead to somewhere
else and I do disagree with the decision
to allow it to come into our
Community it seems like everything
that's happening in our enumerate some
of it is leading to a definition of my
neighborhood right next to uh
tutubambini and the doctor there and uh
it seems to me that the decision is
going to make this even further into a
ghetto
and I say that because I've uh since uh
2014 excuse me
I've noticed that the gentrification
that usually goes on from the historic
district and it was moving south at one
time has stopped and uh the LA Colonia
of all names Colonia uh is not part of
that gentrification at this time since I
moved in it was a very good neighborhood
and like I said that car lot is has been
there
and right now it's closing down for this
change the Denny's next door like you
mentioned is closed down it's boarded up
the Wells Fargo branch right next door
to the Denny's is all boarded up I think
the only thing that's left is an ATM
machine there the truck stop this truck
store excuse me truck store behind that
branch is now practically more abundant
it does not have any activity in front
of it the Wells Fargo Bank you may not
be aware of it at the corner of Maine
and
Lowman
is closing down in March
so there goes another business out of
out of work
on Paseo going south
there's a
uh
south of car lot there is a blood for
sale place where they uh
pay you for donating blood
just across the street the Sutherlands
is across the street from that and it's
pretty much on its last leg I've been
there for since I got here in 2014
buying my supplies to fix up my house
and I've invested thousands and
thousands
you're out of time but I'll give you
another 20 seconds or so oh brother
okay the theater was closed down the
shoe store next to that was closed down
the gas station across the street was
closed down
the sushi place closed down the Mexican
restaurant across the street from me it
was closed down uh there's so many
things that have been affected
negatively by the trend in our community
and I just don't want my
house to be devalued by the influx of
these businesses in town I've been
broken into three times because there's
a traffic between what I call the
Emerald City no it's not Emerald City
it's a
City of Hope and the discount stores
down south of town and it's just a blue
dog and the crime is going through the
roof and I still had about another half
hour presentation because there's so
many inconsistencies with their
presentations and the reality yes sir my
house my value yes sir thank you
ma'am and then Gary Sandler
just need you to state your name oh I
know the routine sir thank you my name
is Joe Rue prep I'm a longtime resident
at one point I had a house near Pioneer
women's Park
currently I live in the North Alameda
area we worked with officer glimp
recently to re-establish our
neighborhood watch
when we did that officer glimp informed
us about things going around in the
neighborhoods near us and part of what
was told to us by the officer is how
many times both La Tienda de jardin and
Tudy Bambini have been vandalized or
broken into and had damage done I think
sister bats and mayor Smith are not
focusing on that but it was told to us
by a city officer as far as a problem in
that area for businesses both of which
then were up and functioning La Tienda
now as I understand it is closed I don't
know if it's temporary or if it's
permanent but that's another empty space
I have two two comments to you about
this and it's not about it being a
cannabis business per se I I don't see
this as that necessary problem
necessarily
one of my problems is that this right
here is an inter inherently unfair
unequal proceeding you've got the legal
counsel for the applicant for the sup
speaking very legally's I've I've got a
PhD I've done legal stuff with and
against motions
he's giving a lot of legal jargon and on
the other side while Karen Wooten is a
recognized attorney in town I'm familiar
with her work she's not here
she's not here there was no explanation
for that but sister Beth and Mr Smith
are left to fend for themselves trying
to deal with a very well thought out
very legal and very carefully phrased
argument that's not fair it seems to me
that that in itself would invite you to
table this so that perhaps if attorney
Wooten was simply unavailable at this
particular time perhaps she could
actually come and represent the
appellants in this case the other thing
I have is a question for you about codes
and about ordinances because I'm all too
often in the last 10 years to 12 years
in particular I've had to familiarize
myself with one ordinance or another
that's affecting my life or something
that somebody I care about is trying to
do
you've got an ordinance that specifies
for some reason in print and adopted 300
feet as a buffer
I what I'm hearing from a couple of the
counselors is we don't like having 300
feet it's arbitrary well any time you
name a number like that it's arbitrary I
could say I don't have to have a setback
of this far from the sidewalk it's
arbitrary in this case you're being
asked to say yes to something where the
violation of that 300 feet is more than
25 percent yes Miss Rupert I'll give you
another 30 seconds okay so just on the
numbers they're telling you 300 feet and
then so many feet by the crow as the
crow flies but you're you're looking at
a difference of 25 percent what other
ordinances are you going to look at and
say it's okay to have 25 percent less
than what we said in the ordinance it
ignores all the work of the councils
before you and it ignores the
practicality that there's a reason for
that number to be there it's not just
picked out a thin air thank you for your
attention
Mr Mayor thank you we've got one more
counselor uh this gentleman then you can
ask questions please Mr Sandler
what thank you gentleman he didn't like
that word I love it good afternoon
councilman good afternoon mayor my name
is Gary Sandler
I'm kind of involved in this I
represented the seller of the property
and I also represented the buyer of the
property I also office downtown and I
drive by there a hundred times a day a
couple times during the evening because
usually I'm home by then but that's a
dark corner
and when all those businesses are closed
there's nothing going on there when this
business comes in it's going to be well
lit it's going to have a lot of traffic
and people coming and going watching out
for what's going on there watching out
for themselves so I think that's going
to be a real Improvement to the corner
but the real reason I wanted to speak is
to bring a little Humanity to this
I want to tell you a little bit about
the folks who are developing this norm
and Darlene Joseph
they live in Los Angeles County they're
from San Diego that's where I live
before I moved here I grew up with my
parents in retail they grew up with
their parents in retail at least Norman
did for sure and so he's been following
in his Father's Footsteps and his
family's footsteps and was an
entrepreneur for ever since he can was
watching Cars when he was 12 or whatever
he was doing
when cannabis uh in 19 in 2016 when
recreational Cannabis was allowed here
in New Mexico over in California sorry
it was in California in 2016. he thought
well I'd like to be in that business so
he and his wife put all their effort and
money into that business and they grew
it to what they have now as seven
locations and they're trying to open
more locations they look for towns where
they can be a part of what's going on
there and with the community there are
not some Corporation that's just putting
Unknown People in here it's a family
business
um
they with regard to the The Car Lot
itself
um that owner has been there 25 years
and he's retiring and he's just thrilled
that he has sold that property and now
he and his wife get to go wherever
they're going to go and fight on
aircraft and and whatever else may
happen the cars are still there because
he's winding down the business he's
actually rented back from these owners
while they work with the city to put
their Remodeling and building permits in
place so the message here that I wanted
to bring was that this is this is a
family business it will improve the
corner they have their hearts and their
money and and their dreams all wrapped
up in in this type of business that
they're trying to build for themselves
and I really believe that uh that you
should not approve this
ordinary level I lost the word anyway I
appreciate you thank you for your time
any questions
if we do we'll ask you thank you very
much thank you very much so there's no
one else that wishes to speak okay so
I'm going to say something and I'll let
my colleagues uh say something so I'm
going to say this directly to Mr Maddox
so Mr Maddox I was re-elected
fortunately in November 2019 and shortly
thereafter I taken oath of office I take
an oath to uphold the Constitution
United States the laws of the state of
New Mexico and the ordinances of the
city of Las Cruces and the ordinances
are laws now if this had been in a
resolution that's another story that's a
policy Council can over overturn that
but because this is still an ordinance
and I was I just got to confirm from our
community development
based on those findings based on that
fact I have to vote for this uh I I it's
it's you have you can't it's not within
the the purview it's 82 feet uh away
from or two it's 218 feet to a
residential which is included in the
ordinance so that's why you know I'm
just one vote but I'm just sharing with
you my reason and I just want you to be
aware of that so
um it's my opinion that if we if I was
to vote
uh for against us that I would be
breaking law basically because it's an
ordinance so I just wanted to share that
I want to open up the council and um
my colleagues and see if they have any
further comments and then after that
we'll go for the vote
counselor Flores thank you Mr Mayor
um yes
um
we were presented with a modification of
the special use permit by the Community
Development Department and Catherine
Harrison Rogers did the presentation and
I think I was the only one that voted
yes on that and that one was
that one would be taking care of this
particular issue
oh
well
um
anyway I would like to have that
presentation again and hopefully
um you know I'm I was really distraught
that the my colleagues didn't agree at
least the majority so can we get that
back on calendar Mr Mayor
so that we can have that presentation
again but again there I'll be voting to
deny the
the appeal thank you thank you Mr Mayor
okay and I believe councilor Abita you
had your
uh no mayor I'll pass thank you
okay so if there's nothing further so
just as a clarification a no vote means
to deny and then they will be allowed to
move forward a yes vote would be to
approve the the overturning and then
they would not be allowed okay
Christine
this is on the motion to approve
resolution
23-094 counselor beta no based on staff
findings
councilor Graham no based on staff
findings
councilman Como no based on staff
findings
councilor cran no same justification
counselor Flores
[Music]
no based on the fact that this was an
unfair proceeding insofar as our
uh process goes and I think that we have
to modify that because you're not the
appellant in this so you're not the
party in interest so I'm voting no and
with that request on the record that we
revisit that and
um
and thank you Mr Mayor
thank you Miss Rita councilor Gandara no
based on staff findings and mayor I vote
Yes and based on the fact that this is
within the ordinance and I believe this
is the proper venue
motion fails
okay well thank you everyone for your
presentation and uh
thank you for your attendance okay next
item is 8.5 Council bill number
23-017 ordinance number 3023 move to
approve Graham second beta
motion made by councilor Graham second
by councilor Abita and Erica Hawkes will
be presenting
good afternoon mayor and members of
council Erica Hawkins treasurer
the ordinance before you is for approval
of changes to the investment policy
City Charter section 511 investment of
public funds States Council Shola dot by
ordinance a policy and procedures
regarding the deposit and investment of
City Monies
the investment policy establishes the
authority and procedures of the
investment of City funds outlined in the
municipal code
a draft of the investment policy was
presented to the finance Select
Committee for discussion and review
this policy was last updated in 2005.
seven definitions were added to the
policy and other revisions were made for
clarity
an investment advisor was added to the
policy the investment advisor will
actively assist with the management of
the Investment Portfolio provide updates
on market conditions and make
recommendations on investments
internal controls was also added to the
policy we currently have internal
controls in place but want to include
these
controls as part of the policy all
Investments are approved by our finance
director
these changes are consistent with
investment policy of other entities such
as City of Albuquerque Rio Rancho and
Santa Fe
updates to the policy are necessary to
comply with the New Mexico State Statute
chapter 6 article 10 deposits and
Investments of funds which outline
allowable Investments
we also included best practices
recommended by the government Finance
Officers Association gfoa these consist
of investment guidelines and priorities
which contribute to improve government
management they also enhance the quality
of decision making and commitment to
fiduciary care of public funds
the city's growth has also contributed
to an increase in revenues our bank
secures a
our bank secures up to a limited amount
of our funds anything in excess of that
we go ahead and invest the excess funds
are invested short-term or long term
based on cash flows
and that's the end of my presentation
here are your Council options and I
stand for any questions
okay thank you questions
members of the public
okay CNN Christine
on the motion to approve ordinance 3023
counselor beta yes
councilor Graham yes councilor Ben Comal
yes councilor Koran yes councilor Flores
is absent oh there she is
councilor Gondola yes mayor yes
okay thank you
next we're going to go to board
appointments
and looks like
to the senior programs Advisory Board
District 3 appointment Steve Harry
Gaskell
and
next is notice of proposed ordinances
there'll be no public discussion a
counselor may ask staff for
clarification on a proposed ordinances
number 10.1 Council bill number 23020
ordinance number 3026
Bring It Forward
now we go to city council member of
board reports and comments
um I don't have any so I'll turn to
Maplewood Tim
thanks mayor
um
you know I don't have very much other
than to say that we had a very
successful I thought Las Cruces days
um we were able to
meet with many of our legislators and
the governor and I thought it would had
we had Mr peely with us it was the first
time that I think he's met the governor
it was very successful I thought I'm
good conversation and I look forward to
um
basically what comes next if we get our
capital outlay and our Junior money and
I'm I'm hopeful for that
um
that's it that's really all I have
thank you mayor Pro tem actually I
forgot to mention I will be I believe
joining or or talking at the board of
the eBid to get them to hopefully relax
some charges that they want to charge
the city for us putting up some fencing
so we'll see how that goes Wednesday
morning
okay
counselor Flores I pass
in fact I was going to invite you to go
there to you know give them a thing or
two at the eBid counselor Korean thank
you
um I just wanted to thank utilities for
helping me follow up with the
constituents about her bill and also
Adrian really helped me figure out some
of the resources and then I also visited
the utilities desk where Jamara really
helped us figure out what all the
options are for for folks who are facing
stress related to utility bills I would
say that it doesn't feel like enough
especially given the gas increase but I
do really want to thank
the the service that was provided in
that context like I think people come to
those spaces in distress and and the
whole process was really incredibly kind
and and supportive so I just want to
thank the folks who really work
um with customers every day and try to
support them and help them as best they
can so that's all I have for today
okay councilman Como wow wow it's going
to take up all the time that you all
have no no please
um
yes I I also felt like we haven't met in
a while so I have some things to give
out as well I had a great meeting with
Legends the Legends West neighborhood a
few weeks ago I just wanted to thank
Ariel and public works and Parks
um and the police department for really
spearheading that I I was really
thankful for that I'm excited for the
next step so I just really wanted to
thank you all for for helping me host
that meeting
[Music]
um
I was very exciting time in Santa Fe
last week thankfully we went when it was
a very cold so that was great we had a
great meeting with the governor and I
think she really understands how much
we're prioritizing the airport our
anti-poverty programs
um and just glad to have
um Larry Horan there we also had a great
follow-up meeting with someone who does
a lot of housing work there and so I'm
looking forward to following up with
Natalie Green our housing manager on
some of some get tapping into some funds
that the governor has set aside for
affordable housing so I'm really excited
about that opportunity I also got an
opportunity to speak to some legislators
about the MRA legislation and people are
excited about it
um maybe I'm projecting because I'm
excited about it but I'm going to keep
pushing it because
um
it's going to be so meaningful I also
got to talk to representative Christina
Ortez from Taos who's going to be
leading on it on on the on the house
site so I'm very excited about that
um
I also went to the new attorney general
is really ramping up his office here in
Las Cruces up until last week I didn't
even know the Attorney General had an
office in Las Cruces and so he'll be
doing he really wants to do a lot of
work on housing protections on consumer
protections and civil rights and so I'm
looking forward for us to continue
building a relationship with him and his
office and then lastly I just wanted to
know because I wanted to make sure that
ifo was up on his radar again but ifo
mayor Pro tem and I visited Jardin De
los Ninos a couple weeks ago and we did
a listening session with some of the
parents who are in their program and one
of the things that came up during that
session we always get really great
feedback one of the things was just
around how some parents feel like the
sports that Parks and Rec hold sometimes
their requirements are a bit rigid a lot
of folks perhaps can't even go to the
sign up opportunities that they have at
MacArthur and so they're just asking for
some leniency around
around that piece so if I just wanted to
lift that up and for staff to to look
into that and then I can always connect
staff to whoever that person was that
said that so that they can explain it
better than I am doing right now so
um but that's actually it that's all the
stuff I have for today thank you
thank you councilor Graham
thank you
um also pretty brief for me today thanks
to everyone who reached out to gently
tell me I was looking terrible a couple
of weeks ago I got really sick but I
appreciate everyone who has reached out
and um especially to carielle and to
Sylvia who were totally me for about
seven business days there so thank you
so much
great news on our community schools
front mayor Pro tem and counselor Flores
and it will be as fellow board members
we'll be especially happy to hear we are
going to have our seventh Community
School here in the city that'll be
Conley Elementary right on the border of
mine and counselor abeta's District so
just absolutely wonderful that we're
growing our community schools pipeline
congratulations to the Community Schools
staff who made this happen and we're
really hoping to get a high school in
that Community Schools pipeline
hoping to see that in the next couple of
school years
and then on a personal note I I'm going
to bring this up now in case things
don't go the way I need them to go on
Sunday but to all the Cowboys fans out
there my team made the Super Bowl so
just gonna give a quick e a g l e s
Eagles
um
wow I know and uh ifo you wanna you
wanna sing you want to sing the song
with me
oh no all right I decided for the
Rihanna but no that oh and yes and the
Rihanna concert which I'm sure that's
what everyone is most excited about for
the Super Bowl so that's all I got thank
you
okay I didn't realize you were that
talented counselor Abita
uh thank you mayor
I think we had a University District
citizens design committee where there
was a request for there's going to be a
new Starbucks over on the other side of
basically Lorenzo's
and in the coming months it looks like
we'll have a few more meetings on new
items that are happening in the area
we will also have a university water
line project meeting at tomorrow from 5
30 to 7 at Corbett center student union
third floor in the Senate chambers to
give an update on that water project
line so thank you to public works as
well for that
we had a quality of life meeting a week
ago maybe a week and a half already
where we did see the noise ordinance and
there is a no recommendation on it based
on some findings and that will be coming
to council as a full
um
I know that with oversight one of the
information items that we had was the
start of the new Inspector General I
believe he was able to
meet most everybody right before the
meeting and I don't want to steal
Heathrow Mr police Thunder if he was
going to announce more about that so
I'll move on quickly
um I am a little uh concerned about one
of the items that we had for public
comment today that about the request for
the
um memorial for the child who was killed
at Veterans Park in some of the
conversations that we've had about
Veterans Park I know there's been a lot
of concern about even children in the
area and there's been a little to be
honest I've felt hostility against kids
being included in this Zone and I think
from members of that board so that to me
is something I just have in the back of
my mind I'm a little concerned about
that too especially given these types of
requests Mr peely I don't know if
there's something that we can do to just
look in Christine I would love to see
term limits to see when those
individuals are up as well so thank you
okay city manager report
thank you mayor
just uh
something from our Economic Development
department just an update on the
storefront repair program there's
already 30 applications
in the queue and they're they're working
with those those businesses so it's
gonna it looks like it's gonna be a
really good program and and helpful to
these businesses
also I have here just a list of projects
from Public Works that are coming and
these projects are listed on our Capital
Improvements projects tab under on the
Public Works page but
in fact I think moving forward I'll
bring some projects as far part of my
city manager's report just some of these
projects that I think the public would
be interested in and certainly in your
areas but we're starting off with
streets here because that's a big one
especially this time around I know
you're probably getting emails and you
can direct them to that that page but
here's some of the projects that you
probably already know about but just
just for the record here
um
University Avenue water line
of course and mail and overlay project
that's going to start late February
early March about 140 working days is is
going to be the timeline and that
project is torrentine drive to Travis
Drive
that's the project limits there's uh the
first meetings on the seventh
5 30 and then there's one
in July to be determined
and then the pavement replacement phase
face to be
it's going to start in Spring and for
the over the course of 90 working days
and I'll go ahead and read these ones
but you can have reference to them on
the capital projects page but I need a
drive to Darlene drive to Mulberry
Avenue
and then need a court to need a drive to
cul-de-sac
Custer way Dakota drive to Dakota
cul-de-sac Laramie Drive Cheyenne Drive
to to
yeah to Cheyenne Drive Oleander Drive
Desert Drive to Market Street Perry Ann
Drive Mulberry Avenue to Anita Drive
bellama Drive South Walnut Street to
Stoll Drive North alamidra elementra
Street
North Virginia Street to East Hadley
Avenue
and that's that's going to be like I
said in the next
starting in Spring there's about 90
working days for that and then the
striping maintenance project will begin
and this is going to include all city
streets with existing striping starting
on Lohman Avenue
and that's going to be over the next six
months starting actually started late
January started late January and it'll
continue for the next six months
so just wanted to point that out
appreciate Public Works getting me this
information but as you get calls you can
point them to that capital projects page
but I'll I'll be bringing reports on
some of our projects that might be of
interest to you and use this time for
that
man thank you
all right well if there's nothing
further entertain a motion to adjourn
move to adjourn second by Pilates motion
made by councilor beta second by
counselor Flores that we adjourn
Christine this is on the motion to Adorn
the meeting counselor beta yes
councilor Graham yes councilor Ben komal
yes councilor cran yes counselor Flores
yes councilor Gandara yes yes mayor yes
okay we're adjourned it's 4 17 p.m thank
you