foreign
[Music]
city council today is Monday January
23rd 2023 it's approximately 1 30 P.M
you're just joining us the city council
met us at tit board at one o'clock and
so this is the part two of our meetings
for today so before we begin we always
have our pets of the week and Jennifer
Martinez from our Communications office
is going to introduce our
cat and dog right
Senate mayor and Council I am Jennifer
Martinez with the city's Communications
office and today there is a new cat and
dog to get to know and I will begin with
her highness Queen Catherine Queen
Catherine is a four-year-old at first
shy girl who is a little intimidated
when presented with new environments but
to help her get through them she loves
to be pet and scratched and if you spend
just a little bit of time with her
she'll be quietly purring and nuzzling
in your hands she's looking for someone
to help her feel safe and someone that
can provide a forever home and then we
have Angel this is a five-year-old girl
she's a little bit excited to see people
especially if she's behind a fence she's
really as sweet as can be she's a good
girl to take out on walks and she does
already know how to sit caretakers are
under the impression that angel might
have some sort of allergy and are
thinking a grain-free diet could help
her and even with these dietary concerns
she is 100 still worth the time if you'd
like to meet angel or Queen Catherine
you can contact the ascmv the number to
call is
3820018 and if you have a little free
time this Saturday stop on by Petco from
10 a.m to 1pm for the adoption event
that will take place there thank you
very much mayor okay thank you Jennifer
next is going to be our jobs of the week
and as Giselle Palomar is here
from the New Mexico workforce
connections
I'm Council my name is I'm with New
Mexico Workforce Connection for the jobs
of this week we have city of Las Cruces
they are hiring a commercial plumber
that pays 20 an hour and will be open
until filled White Sands Missile Range
is hiring a food and beverage attendant
that pays 16 an hour and that closes or
that actually already closed oh that
closes December 29th of this year
a Mountain Construction is hiring a
heavy equipment operator and that pays
13 an hour through to 24 an hour
depending on experience and that closes
on February 9th
key commissionary Network LLC is hiring
a food service worker and that pays 13
an hour and that closes April 12th El
Paso Electric Company is hiring a line
maintenance supervisor and that pays 96
to 135 000 a year depending on
experience and that closes February 11th
and American Red Cross is hiring a
senior administrative coordinator in
sales and that pays between 23 an hour
to 31 an hour depending on experience
and that closes April 16th
and as always to connect with New Mexico
Workforce Connection you can visit them
in person at 226 South Alameda Boulevard
or you can contact them by phone at
575-524-6250 thank you mirror
thank you Giselle
and just just to throw in there the for
the commercial plumber even though it's
at 20 an hour plus plus benefits so
those probably amount to about seven
dollars an hour because they get medical
dental retirement so yeah but thank you
for that okay so we have two items on
the agenda one is the Metropolitan
Redevelopment area designation
and familiar face to all of us Chris
Faber is here to start it off and I
think our consultant is going to be
joining us via Zoom
that is correct mayor
good afternoon mayor city council Chris
Faber economic development for the
record we are going to
um present today our Consultants are
going to present today for the first
step in the MRA designation process as
you know this is a project the city's
been working on for a while in the fall
we contracted with groundwork Studios to
begin the process of looking at the
city's infill and trying to determine
how much of that if any could be
designated as an MRA
and so they've been working on that for
the last several weeks this is going to
be their presentation and their
recommendations and then from there we
have an open house this evening upstairs
yeah in the city hall room 2007 from
five to seven that's an open house to
talk about this process and and the work
session the you know the things that
come out of the work session today and
then again tomorrow at 10 A.M I think 10
a.m to 2 30 p.m at Cruces creatives
we'll be doing another another work
session excuse me open house for those
who couldn't make it tonight so at this
time I'll turn it over to Erica Roberts
she's with groundwork Studio we also
have another one of our colleagues who's
on zoom and so she'll be available to
answer questions if Erica should need to
bring her in
thank you
okay thank you
thank you Chris good afternoon mayor
city councilors city manager thank you
for having us today for a presentation
on the designation of a second
Metropolitan Redevelopment area or MRI
for short and Lasker says my name is
Erica Roberts I'm a community natural
resource planner at groundwork Studio a
landscape architecture and planning
Studio who's assisting the city of Las
Cruces and the MRI designation process
I'm joined by maren neldam who is also a
community and natural resource planner
at groundwork Studio
[Music]
can you hear me we can hear you Marin
Marin what is your last name again
yeah I apologize that I'm not president
um
I'm actually in office right now I was
exposed to covet and so I wanted to
respect everyone's safety today so
thank you for having me and today we're
going to be giving an overview of
Metropolitan Redevelopment areas and how
they support revitalization in
communities around New Mexico
this will be followed by a discussion of
the MRI assessment and designation
process that we are currently working on
in Las Cruces to identify and designate
additional Mr area or areas in a city
right a metropolitan Redevelopment area
is codified by New Mexico State Statute
allows for the contribution of public
resources to private entities for
redevelopment projects
these are areas that the local
municipality is targeting for increased
public and private investment to
stimulate Local Economic vitality and
community building activities it is
important to note that the statute
requires that the MRA designation is
followed by a separate planning process
and that should include in-depth asset
identification identification economic
evaluation and Community engagement in
the creation of recommendations for
redevelopment strategies and projects
within the Mr area
at that planning process I can't begin
until after the designation resolution
is adopted
the designation of an MRA and the
subsequent MRA plan give a local I guess
a local municipality more flexibility to
support private Redevelopment projects
without violating our state's
anti-donation clause
the New Mexico anti-donation Clause
prohibits public agencies like the city
or state from giving public monies and
resources to private entities
however with an MRA designation public
resources may be contributed to private
Redevelopment projects like the sale or
lease of publicly owned properties at
less than market rate the provision of
Staff time and technical assistance
infrastructure development and sometimes
direct contributions
MREs do not in themselves create
Redevelopment the added flexibility that
they provide in public-private
Partnerships actually work in
combination with a number of other
contextual mechanisms such as the local
market policies and economic development
strategies as well as state programs and
funding sources
without getting too far into the weeds
uh we thought it might be helpful to
distinguish between a tax increment
Finance District also called a tiff and
a tax increment development District or
a tid tips are specifically enabled by
the MRA and they generate funds through
an increase in property taxes after
establishing the tip Baseline a few
other communities in the state including
the South Valley and Albuquerque and
Downtown Silver City have created a tiff
to generate funds to support MRI
projects because the Tiff is based on
property tax only it may or may not
generate much funding depending on
property tax value and
at the Los Cruces downtown MRA uses a
tax increment development District which
is based on gross receipts tax increment
tids tend to increase much more
significantly and raise more funds than
property tax revenue over time while an
MRI is not required to create a tid in
order to adopt one 51 of all Property
Owners within the proposed District must
be in support of it and it must also be
approved by the state um similar to the
MRA kids are Guided by a plan and
overseen by a tick Warden
I need to go into that much detail you
already were at the meeting
a tip whether a tiff or a tin is
recommended to pair with any of the
proposed Mr areas designated by this
process is really something that should
be thoroughly evaluated in the next
phase the MRA planning process
we want to be clear about what the MRI
process does and does not do in terms of
incentives that MRI does allow the city
to offer incentives to property and
business owners to make improvements to
their buildings and lots that improves
the appearance of those buildings and
encourage business it does not provide
government resources for the
indiscriminate benefit of private
entities
this can sometimes be a community
concern
Public public private Partnerships allow
the city to sell or lease public
property below market value and enter
into development agreements for projects
that are Guided by the MRI plan
and supported by the community they are
not intended to allow the city to give
away resources without clear Community
benefits and they are used in areas
where Redevelopment would not otherwise
occur while an MRA is not required for
public infrastructure projects it does
work hand in hand with public
infrastructure improvements that improve
access appearance and support local
businesses and housing develop
uh these improvements are never intended
to displace people or redevelop the
Redevelopment properties in ways that
are not supported by the community
when MRI projects are implemented they
help increase commercial activity build
a stronger local business market and
sense of place
MRI this designation does not decrease
or negatively affect property values or
allow the use of eminent
now to provide some context moving on to
the next slide we'd like to share some
examples of projects enabled by mras
around New Mexico to help describe some
of the possibilities
there are over 40 mras in rural and
urban communities around the state we're
going to Breeze through some of the
financing strategies public-private
Partnerships and revitalization programs
that have been made possible by these
MRIs none of these are being proposed
for Las Cruces specifically at this time
but the process of identifying these
projects will come during the MRI
planning process but we do find these
examples helpful in describing some of
the potential approaches and outcomes in
an MR area so we can begin to Envision
what that might look like here
in Albuquerque at the time of the old
Albuquerque High School MRA was
designated there were approximately five
different Tif districts but in total
generated about 245 000 a year we
included this to highlight that Tiff
districts do not typically generate
sufficient revenue for catalog catalytic
project implementation
so the city tends to have to rely on a
lot of other funding sources sources
such as the low-income housing tax
credits or preservation tax credits
Capital outlay Etc to support these
public-private Partnerships
in contrast at the Las Cruces downtown
MRA Works in combination with the tid
which relies on the gross receipts tax
increment this type of District tends to
generate significantly more funding and
increases so far it has provided over 21
million dollars in downtown
Memphis we've also included Lovington as
an example of how mras can leverage
other funding tools such as leader or
the Local Economic
to implement projects that are laid out
in the MRI plan a great project example
is the drylands brewery the property
located in their downtown was a gas
station that burned down in the in the
1970s and after the city inherited the
property they tried for many years to
sell it unsuccessfully but when the
downtown was designated as an MRA they
were able to sell it for less than
market value it sold at 100 as part of
an RFP that was
um that had conditions regarding how the
property would be developed New Mexico
Main Street provided support leader
funds were used and of course the
developer had to provide some of their
own investment the brewery opened in
2017 and it has been a very successful
location for Community Gathering and job
creation
the Clovis Hotel
um Redevelopment is a great example of
public-private Partnerships that allowed
for the very costly remediation and
restoration of a Historic Hotel and it's
repurposing as a mixed-use development
with affordable housing and Retail
the Albuquerque alvado
Motel is another public-private
partnership that supported the
revitalization of a historic Route 66
motel with affordable housing hotel
rooms and micro retail and restaurant
pods this has been an extremely
successful project for incubating small
local businesses
New Mexico Main Street and many
municipalities around the state have
used facade and Retail Improvement Grant
programs
Las Cruces has one downtown
these programs are used to incentivize
and support businesses to improve their
buildings and storefronts or make needed
updates and improvements to their
building Interiors these programs are
extremely important for downtown
revitalization at historic preservation
strategies
the Farmington outdoor recreation
business incubation program has been
instrumental in supporting the outdoor
recreation industry in Farmington the
city remediated the warehouse that we
can see here in this photo and then
leased it below market rate to two
outdoor recreation businesses that were
just getting off the ground they wanted
to be near downtown and close to the
Animas River
the support of the the city allowed
these businesses to get their feet under
them before having to pay full price for
the property
now we're going to discuss the MRA
assessment process that we have been
engaged in since November
so here we see a map of the
quote-unquote study area which is the
area we're working in to evaluate
eligibility for MRI designation
It generally overlaps with the infill
development area but we're considering
areas adjacent to the boundaries as well
the Ideo is an area highlighted by the
city due to its high numbers of vacant
underutilized Parcels of land and need
for redevelopment strategies the study
area was selected by the city based on
several previous planning efforts
so to be eligible for MRI designation an
area needs to exhibit a combination of
the following economic and physical
conditions
high unemployment low income levels low
business activity
vacant or underutilized properties
deteriorating buildings and or public
infrastructure unsafe conditions housing
deficit zoning conformance issues or
obsolete planning and planning
so our team evaluated social economic
and physical data and conducted an
on-the-ground investigation where
existing conditions assessment to
determine which areas within the study
area meet these criteria while also
having potential for successful
Redevelopment efforts
we did extensive GIS analysis of various
indicators both at the census tract and
block group level
this helps us to assess the idea more
broadly and to focus on areas within the
Ido that had greater levels of the
indicators present we looked at
indicators such as households below the
poverty line
the unemployment rate
vacant housing units
we also looked at vacant parcels and
vacant commercial buildings the rates of
unemployment vacant housing and
households be below the poverty line all
support an MRI designation to Spur
increased economic investment and
development in the area
we also reviewed existing City policies
and plans such as Elevate Las Cruces
the El Paseo Apodaca and Amador proximal
Blueprints and others to consider how
different plan and character overlay
districts lined up with the data these
areas have undergone significant
Community planning processes and the
plans can provide an important
foundation and framework for a future
MRI plan
we included other Focus areas which did
not have adopted boundaries and plans
but showed some of the indicators that
we were looking for
in December we conducted a two-day field
investigation and documented various MRA
criteria during the visit we were
looking for various indicators such as
vacant and underutilized Parcels
particularly along commercial corridors
we documented vacant commercial
properties sidewalk and Street
conditions the conditions of various
public infrastructure and facilities and
the prevalence of vandalism litter and
unmaintained Landscaping
based on our evaluation of the data the
entire Ideo could be designated as an
MRE some areas have more and or greater
concentration of indicators than others
the El Paseo South Solano area has the
greatest number of key indicators for
MRI designation in the Ido
there are different approaches to MRI
designation and we're going to discuss
some of the approaches that Las Cruces
could consider and our recommendations
for designation at this time
the Metropolitan Redevelopment statute
is extremely flexible
and based on our data analysis and
assessment the entire Ideo could be
broken into various districts and all of
it could be designated the challenge
with this approach is that due to the
size of the area this would dramatically
increase the cost and the time frame for
the MRE planning process and would
likely create capacity challenges for
staff and future implementation
the city of Farmington designated four
districts in 2005. it took them several
years to complete the plan for these
areas and in 2018 they updated the plan
partly because they've only had the
capacity to implement improvements in
one District at a time and the MRI plans
only remain relevant for a certain
period
another approach would be to select two
to three districts this could reduce the
cost and time frame for the planning
process compared to designating the
entire Ido
but many of the potential areas are
still much larger than the existing
downtown MRA and it could create
challenges for implementation by
spreading attention across various areas
all at once
the City of Albuquerque typically works
on Project implementation in two to
three MRA districts at a time but this
is possible partly because they have a
metropolitan Redevelopment agency that
has approximately four to five full-time
staff
another approach and the one that we are
recommending today
is to designate one area complete the
planning process for that area and then
designate and plan additional Mr areas
as staff and resource capacity is built
there is some important considerations
Beyond just what the data tells us about
MRI qualification to be designated an
MRA must meet the meet the statutory
criteria for quote-unquote blight
designation but it also should have
existing Community planning processes
and adopted plans that can provide a
foundation and framework for the MRI
planning process
such as the aforementioned plans in the
El Paseo and Apodaca areas
this also helps to identify initial
revitalization goals for that area and
whether MRI tools are appropriate or
needed to accomplish these goals most
mras around the state and country are
anchored by a commercial or industrial
use such as a commercial Corridor or a
neighborhood center a former industrial
district and the most common are
downtown and adjacent areas
when considering how many and what side
size of area to designate it's also
vital to assess City and Community
capacity for the planning and
implementation process
our recommendation is to start with the
designation and planning process for one
or two Mr areas within the El Paseo and
South Solano area
now we'd like to share a little more
information about the Mr designation and
planning process timeline
as you can see right now we are
basically approaching number two on this
timeline
we've completed the MRI assessment and
we are moving into the MRI designation
process this requires a resolution that
is heard by public at a public hearing
prior to the hearing there will need to
be two Public Notices that go out at
least 21 days before the hearing once
the resolution is adopted the area is
designated and is eligible for funding
support for MRI plan development through
the nmfa
our next steps are to select the
designation approach finalize the
boundaries complete the designation
report and resolution issue these Public
Notices and then have the council
hearing on the resolution which would
which we would likely like to complete
in March we are also going to be hosting
public open houses
this evening and tomorrow to follow up
on the webinars that we hosted at the
beginning of this month
and with that that concludes our
presentation and we'd like to open open
things up for discussion thank you so
much for your time and attention
we're ready to field any questions or
comments okay thank you Erica I'll just
start with councilor Graham and Cuomo
and FLOTUS if that's okay
sounds good I didn't look to see if
anyone had okay
thank you mayor thank you so much to
both of you for the presentation so I
think I understand based on what you
just said when I'm looking at
this map so the darker blue is an
existing neighborhood plan
that's correct the darker blue is
the El Paseo blueprint okay great and
then the focus area does it get treated
any differently than the rest of the Mr
area
it does not the only reason it's
separated is just to highlight that the
the the darker color indicates that that
has already been through some Community
engagement and Outreach
um but the idea would be to link those
two areas together in the planning
process for the MRA okay great and I
wasn't sure the the statistics you
provided on things like
um households below poverty level
unemployment
um are there other data points that go
into the um these are just
samples can you can you give me an idea
of what else that's right Marin do you
want to field that one you're right
there are there are more than 10
criteria we're looking at but Marin
maybe you want to go more into depth on
that great thank you
yeah um Erica maybe even scroll back to
this slide that
um
you're talking about the slide that the
board member referenced uh right before
that so it covers this um yeah so data
analysis so uh the the statute is very
flexible and it kind of generally
describes some of the conditions that
you might witness in uh in an MR area or
an area that you're proposing to
designate we looked at a lot of
different indicators that um
that help us before going and doing in
existing conditions assessment
um to point to areas that couldn't be
designated so we were looking at median
income households below the poverty line
unemployment rate we were looking at
population decline median home value we
were doing some research into the real
estate market in the area
we reviewed a lot of city data that was
provided by the planning department so
we were looking at vacant Parcels
abandoned and vacant buildings and then
when we went and did the existing
conditions assessment we were looking
for prevalence of deteriorating
buildings missing or deteriorating
infrastructure we were looking at the
conditions of the streets and sidewalks
um and then you know some other
uh kind of more minor these um show up
you know vandalism litter and illegal
dumping
okay thank you
um because I think looking at the El
Paseo and South Solano a large chunk of
which I represent the overriding public
concern is crime there and we have an
allusion to Crime with vandalism litter
illegal dumping and I don't know oh I'm
sorry go ahead oh yeah we did
data and that was one of the reasons
that we uh that you know that elevated
El Paseo and South Solano
okay great yeah I wasn't sure
we've looked at both property and
violent crime
for that area all right fantastic thanks
Chief Dominguez did this handout make
its way all the way down to you
[Laughter]
um and without asking you to be your
department statistician on the fly would
you agree
that this is a higher crime area in the
city
mayor concert Graham I would uh we have
we've supported the the project and
provided a lot of the crime statistics
that they're speaking of so yes I would
thank you so much thank you those are
all my questions thank you mayor thank
you councilor counselor thanks mayor um
thank you so much for the presentation
for all the work that you've done to get
us here
um I've really been advocating and
pushing for this to move forward I
counselor a beta myself in one of our
previous colleagues who's no longer here
he's
summer llc's in Congress actually we're
in the ad hoc committee that sort of
developed the El Paseo salano Corridor
and so we've been just really waiting
for this moment for a while so I just
want to express my gratitude
um I have I also of sort of two thoughts
um because I I'm so Wes Picacho is one
of the areas that I represent as well
and it's very much a focus area for me
um I'm wondering if you did any
condition assessment on that corridor
so I'll speak to that and then I'll let
Marin piggyback as well
um we did we did do some analysis in
that area as well
um I would say the biggest challenge in
that area because it it it has
many if not most of the indicators on
this list to be designated
um however some of the Census Data isn't
as reliable for that area that made it a
little more challenging to to evaluate
with like hard numbers
um but but I think that that District
definitely was one of the highest in
some of these indicators that we saw
Marin did you want to say anything else
about the West Picacho area
no I think you covered that well it
definitely
um
yeah I think you covered that while I
wouldn't
and so I guess just to follow up so
um
we didn't leave that off as a
designation it was more like thinking
about
what might the city of Las Cruces have
uh the staff capacity and resources to
do at a time but if at a later date you
wanted to come back and add that on I
mean I think that would be a definite
option for an MR District okay is so
that that's your recommendation for now
then is to include that do you have
thoughts about like timeline what has
that look like in other cities where
they've adopted one area and they said
look we're ready to move on to another
is it like three years five years
there's a lot of factors into how long
all of these things take often just the
planning the next step the planning
process often takes
you know upwards of a year to just
finish the planning process but again
Marion I'm going to let you field that
question and she's asking for a time
frame around what we've seen in other
cities
yeah I think
I think City so it's gonna
involve determining
um you know the time frame for bringing
on a consultant for the MRA plan going
through that planning process and
developing you know Community rooted
strategies for revitalization of those
areas and then working towards
implementation
um so yeah I can't say a set a specific
time frame because it really varies from
City to city
um and yeah but I I do think that that
three to five year time frame seems
fairly reasonable
the City of Albuquerque there are a
moment in time where they're considering
whether or not they should slow down or
stop designating areas
um they've
they've gone through in the last several
years designating about one MRA per year
and so they have a lot of the commercial
corridors throughout the city are
designated at this point and that's kind
of spreading resources thinly and it's
also uh working against some of the
goals of an MRA which are to incentivize
Redevelopment in areas that they that it
wouldn't otherwise occur
um I think that that's not really a
challenge with two districts but it it
does it does tend to be helpful to start
with one district and really signal to
to private investors this is an area
that the city is focusing on and is
interested in developing Partnerships
for and then bringing on additional
districts as projects are implemented
said
thank you for that answer right I
totally understand that's a tough
question to throw at you I am I will say
this I mean I'll keep having these
conversations with ifo because this is
this is where it gets tough sometimes
because I hear you say like staff
capacity and I take that very seriously
um I staff do an incredible job here and
um sometimes like that six months that's
a long time and so I I this is sort of
where that rub happens though because
I'm also trying to advocate for a part
of my district that needs a lot of
care and love and support and one of the
not there's many reasons as you saw why
West Picacho feels like an important
Focus area to include not to pick over
but to include within the El Paseo South
Carolina Corridor
um many for many reasons one of the
biggest reasons and one of the examples
you showed for me is Motel rehab
opportunities we are experiencing a
tremendous housing crisis and I recently
heard from an officer climek who says
you know one of those motels if they
just did some improvements like added a
kitchenette they could perhaps hold
people from that are currently
experiencing homelessness who have
vouchers but they don't have that kind
of
cash like they just don't have those
kinds of opportunities and a lot of them
have come to the table and said we want
to be of help and there is a lot of
motels as you saw on West Picacho and so
for me this area feels like a really
important one to keep
um fighting for and advocating for
because if anything else because of that
important factor of
the opportunity and the potential to
have more affordable housing
Partnerships with folks and so
um I'll just I'll say that I'd be
curious to hear what staff have to say
about that
um and you know if I can say now like I
don't think that area necessarily has to
be as big as El Paseo South Solano
um but I do I am going to keep pushing
for the inclusion of that and I'm going
to ask my colleagues to really consider
that as well
um and
and so I'll leave it at that I guess but
I did have follow-up questions regarding
some of the hotel rehab actually and I
was wondering if you could talk a little
bit more about what those private
partner private Public Partnerships look
like in in some of those cities in New
Mexico
yeah we wanted to go back maybe we could
go back to elvado
yeah so this um was a public-private
partnership the city put out an RFP and
they had purchased this property there
was the possibility that it was going to
be condemned um so
and so City saw a great opportunity for
catalytic Redevelopment along
Central Avenue they put out an RFP and
they connected with a private developer
development firm that specializes in
these kinds of micro retail
development projects the total project
cost was approximately seven million
dollars but they they leveraged a lot of
other uh they leverage a lot of
different funding sources for this
project so they used low-income housing
tax credit Equity historic preservation
tax credit Equity Capital outlay MRA
grants so they the city actually
donated some you know they donated some
funds to to the project and provided
technical assistance throughout the
process
um and so that made the Redevelopment
process more possible and it resulted in
32 affordable multi-family units um
22 rehab hotel rooms and it's a really
great example of a project that has been
created to support small local
independent businesses
wow that's incredible have you seen any
Partnerships uh private Public
Partnerships for so this kind of uh
development rehab of motels hotels that
can become affordable housing units
where the city does not own the property
um
a lot of the projects that we're seeing
the city has acquired the property prior
to um to Redevelopment you know whether
that uh you know so the Clovis hotel is
an example of that
um and part of the reason is some of
these properties
um for example the Clovis Motel require
or hotel requiring significant uh
Brownfield remediation and in order for
them to access the funds for that it was
important that the city owned the
property at the the time of the
assessment and then the the remediation
um
it's not required
but it is often part of the process so a
lot of Mr agencies are working on kind
of like light land banking so
identifying you know vacant Parcels or
abandoned properties acquiring those
properties and then working through some
of the initial assessment process
um putting out an RFP and then either
selling or releasing those properties to
Developers
but there is nothing then that would
prohibit the city partnering with
privately owned motels hotels for Rehab
Redevelopment that could that could end
up as affordable housing okay yeah so
Rehabilitation programs can
um those are really common around the
state they can be used in a lot of
different contexts so yeah you get those
um support Grant grants being given to
uh you know
restaurants or motels or any other
business in the designated Emma area
and that can be for facade improvements
but also if the program is structured to
um provide funding for interior
improvements that's that's also possible
okay thank you again
um yes thank you for all of that
information this is I think an exciting
opportunity for Las Cruces and for some
of these areas that have been
experiencing
um some some pretty
bad hardships and
um again though I I will say that I will
continue to
um Advocate that West Picacho be
included as in this first phase as we
move forward
um
you know and would love to continue
having those conversations we before
this comes to council for a final
decision thank you thank you thank you
councilor counselor Flores
uh thank you uh Ms fair and thank you so
much for your presentation to the two of
you thank you um
insofar as
fortunately we ended on this we're on
this page
um the 300 000 GRT Revenue that's a good
indication of a building that wasn't
generating any money before that
presumably
so
um my question is generally do you do
any follow-up insofar as
the the changes the the financial impact
because I don't think any of that was in
your presentation that shows
not just the actual project but the
outcome and the effect the impact and is
there do you do that and if you don't
why not
so in this initial phase the designation
report just designating that isn't
necessarily part of the the report but
I'll let Marin talk about examples of
evaluations that have been done to
understand how much revenue has been
generated
excuse me it isn't so much revenue per
se I would like to see data on how the
human condition has improved generally
not just in dollars and cents but how
has this stabilized a community where
people have jobs a home
all of that do you have that data the
other question I have is MRA is a state
statute but you made reference to HUD
money
so it so anyway so those are two
separate things but those are the areas
I'd like to for you to address thank you
[Music]
have that data
um as part of this presentation and I
don't have any of that data in front of
me but um typically an MR agency or the
Mr board that's overseeing
um the implementation of projects is
also tasked with tracking that type of
data
um I don't know if Chris or anyone from
Las Cruces can speak to some of the
outcomes of the downtown MRA but we
would be happy to put together some of
that information and share that with
Council I think that having that
information is essential otherwise why
bother I mean it's you know if it's just
going to have a Band-Aid effect and it's
going to look nice for a little bit
because we're looking at real
fundamental issues and they're all
economic based so that would be very
helpful and so how does a relationship
between the MRA and HUD HUD work how
does that work and
so
um there's a lot of the same kinds of
revitalization programs that are
possible through HUD funding that do not
require an MRI designation sometimes
municipalities decide to pair kind of in
the same way that we discussed with
Lovington leveraging Lida funds for the
development of dry lands Brewery so
thinking about using HUD funding within
an MR for affordable housing development
but pairing that with mixed use
development so potentially developing
public-private Partnerships that
establish you know uh you know ground
floor retail or office space or space
for Community organizations
um and so you're able to pair pair those
financing tools together
but they are separate and distinct
thank you very much thank you Mr chair
I'm April 10 and then councilor beta
thank you mayor thank you both so much
for your presentation there's a lot of
excitement here around the mras I
appreciate the work that you've done
thus far I've heard some positive
remarks people who have who've gone to
these listening sessions in the open I'm
looking forward to going to the open
houses
um
you know I think the one of the the good
things that the city has done is has
done all this planning right so when I
look at I'm at a proximal there's a plan
when I look at the El Paso there was a
plan years ago we did some updating
um and I'm not in disagreement I think
um including El Paseo Corridor and South
Solano we should do so my question is
and one of the things that you're saying
is we gotta we got a plan we gotta have
the Consultants come and plan well I
feel like we've done a lot of that
already what would the planning consist
of
um you know from this point on
um and and I would say it wouldn't be a
year it would be I'm thinking less than
that but I I'm not a planner so you tell
me so I'm gonna
again I'll start off and then I'll let
Marin field that as well
um so part of it is that it's just part
of the state statute there has to be an
additional after the designation there
has to be an additional Mr planning
process the length isn't specified so it
doesn't necessarily need to be a year it
just needs to include
sufficient Community engagement
as you say there's a ready the AL Paseo
blueprint but the South Solano area that
was sort of added on yeah it doesn't
really have its own adopted plan so that
there would have to be a little bit of
additional Community engagement and
Outreach and then additionally I think
there would need to be a little more
digging in on what sorts of economic
tools you would want to be using right
because what we just did was kind of a
surface level of like
which area should be designated and does
it have the indicators that show that a
designation could be helpful but we
didn't do any assessment of which tools
might be helpful in this area how much
affordable housing needs to be developed
those sorts of things have really not
been dug into in this initial
designation so but I hear what you're
saying there's already been a lot of
plans that have been done over the years
for these areas and just sitting on a
shelf kind of collecting dust which
we've committed to Brit not to happen
that way anymore that we would we would
use that plan
quickly right and and so I'm not in
disagreement to that yeah
um Marin did you want to add anything to
that I would add just that um that the
Emory planning process tends to review
if
within the idea the MRA plan would
really dig into those plans to help kind
of provide a foundation and framework
thinking about revitalization strategies
and one of the really important things
that comes out of a MRA planning process
is identifying catalytic projects so
identifying identifying specific Beacon
Parcels
specific
buildings that are in need of
Rehabilitation
um
and laying out a vision for how those
might be revitalized uh in the future it
also has there's it's really important
to think about Community benefit and
integrating that into the planning
process so
um I don't want to go with too much
detail though into the MRI planning
process because I think that that's
something that the the city is really
going to be in charge of that you know
we're we're a consultant here for the
designation
okay can staff answer that then
I'm really interested in that because I
think
again well I have so much in my head
right now regarding that but I think
it's important to know what it is that
staff is visioning around this and how
quickly we can do it what would be the
time frame
um that we could actually get off the
ground I understand the designation but
I I feel like we need input from staff
about what that's going to look like and
the time frames
performance manager for the city I can
take that question
so as as noted we do have a lot of
plants in place but those are broader
plans and so even if you look at the
blueprint it it was really intended to
be a quick and dirty plan at that point
that was literally written into the
ordinance for Community planning
blueprints so they don't replicate a
very in-depth the detailed process for
project identification
that as Marin mentioned earlier those
sort of Redevelopment projects catalytic
projects would need a finer grained
Community engagement
and also Consulting with experts and
defining the financing tools that would
be most appropriate so that does require
another level of planning and it is the
state requirement to do so but that
follows the designation so what I'll say
is we look to counsel for direction on
the approach and what areas you would
like to see designated as a metropolitan
Redevelopment area and then we can bring
forward options as to how to go about
them
time frames all of that okay so okay so
with that then I have I had a whole slew
of questions I won't ask them but what I
will say is
um
I think the West Picacho the
area needs to be included in this I
think I would agree with cancer Ben Como
that it's a a an area that that is quite
blighted where we have a lot of issues
probably all those elements
you can check off in terms of right the
conditions if you will so I'd like to
see that included
and then in terms of how your I guess
I'm interested and I'll and this will be
my I think my final question is
uh
is there a tool or that where staff can
forecast what the
um
the financial impact may be and does
that get factored does that get factored
into this
mayor uh mayor Pro tem so there are
um Revenue modeling tools uh that can be
used we don't currently use one at the
city but there are several out there
that allow that type of analysis to be
done uh the and I would defer to Chris
if he wants to talk about the tid and
how that Revenue generation was
projected out and if we followed that or
not um I believe we actually
generate a more than what was
anticipated right but if you're talking
in terms of
of benefits other than just the dollar
amounts of Revenue it would
and even just for the revenue it would
depend on what type of um whether we're
doing a tiff or a tid so these things
are
The Next Step Beyond the MRE designation
but yes there are ways to project out
um
do we have the capacity to do that
in-house right now no but we are
actually trying to build that exact
capacity
perfect okay thank you thank you very
much
um Mr Mayor if I may I just wanted to
maybe throw out there and I don't know
Marin or Erica if you want to comment on
this but our Consultants did go through
all of these areas and compile a ranking
of all the different indicators that
they discovered either with their
on-site field evaluations or the data
and so since there are so many different
areas considered I would maybe suggest
that we if that's available right now to
maybe just go over them briefly for the
council so that they understand kind of
the the different things that were
looked at and how they ranked I think
that's useful I think that would be very
useful thank you mayor thank you
counselor beta
thank you mayor and thank you for the
presentation
um
looking forward I I think that it's
really important
um to make sure that we're addressing
the El Paseo South Solano area that I
think was the precipice of why we're
doing all these things and so I want to
make sure that remains a top priority in
focus and really that plan even as we
are perhaps entertaining other areas I
just think that that needs to be our
really our first Zone and with that then
I'm wondering we're about ready to go to
budget and I've said this I think at
every council meeting but if we're
looking at the next steps for the
consultant and the plan do we have cost
estimates on what that's going to need
to be for next budget cycle and to get
that all phased in because that would be
very important information for us to
know
and that may be more first step
definitely
Mr Mayor councilor beta so shujan and I
were just talking those are things that
we're looking at based on what your
designations will be that we can figure
out amounts for the budget yeah okay
great thank you
um
obviously this has been a priority
concern I know for uh councilor Ben Como
and myself and our neighborhoods have
been very active with wanting to see
some sort of movement or progress for
this and I think this is you know that
vital step so I want to make sure that
we're giving it all the considerations
and support that it needs to be
successful and that way we can start
moving maybe quicker to other zones
and so that's my comment so thank you
mayor and thank you very much you're
welcome
you're welcome councilor correct thank
you thank you and thank you for this
presentation I just have a couple quick
well maybe quick questions
um one of them is related to just the
logistics of like the the dark lines and
or the zones that you've designated I'm
not sure if those are
based on some specific data point or if
they're
blurry ish or not
um
and then the second part of that is if
we say we're designated designating a a
single MRA as you sort of recommend is
it required that it be geographically
bound or can we say this is this MRA is
is really these two Focus areas combined
into one request that we legitimize with
similar data points
yeah so the these are artificial
boundaries right so these are just these
are boundaries that you know mainly have
been grouped together due to
Neighborhood
um economic indicators
um but I'm gonna let Marin talk about
whether or not things can be
um
pieced together or how that works Marin
do you want to talk about that
yeah so you do an MRI designation who
does require a specific boundary
um but one of the ways to approach that
if
um if the proposal is to include West
Picacho in this designation you can
designate two areas so
um like for example uh
Clovis recently designated two different
districts flanking their pre-existing
downtown MRA and So within the
designation there's two distinct
boundaries
and within the MRI planning process
there's distinct strategies for each of
those areas
thank you so that's yeah that's
completely possible within this process
so a designation does not have to be
just one area it can be multiple
districts
you just want to think about whether or
not designation at this time if the if
implementation is possible in the near
future then it's it's appropriate to
designate at this time
thank you very much I appreciate it and
thank you again for that I would love to
hear the to see the some of the
additional data that's true China
alluded Joe thank you guys you
know so let me ask a question is for
regarding our infill that the city has
designated as infill areas how does that
compare with with some of the proposals
uh proposed areas have you ever put a
map over at the sea it looks like a lot
of it is the same
Mr Mayor this uh
the map in front of you right now that
is the dashed line is the current infill
District overlay boundaries so as you
can see almost all of the study areas
and blueprint areas fall within that
boundary so you could say that yes the
infill is the prime area for
redevelopment
and so my question would be is there
is there would it be harmful to have the
whole infill area designated as an MRA
that was option one uh that the
Consultants presented and and the only
downside would be just the sheer scale
of that for implementation and because I
think that way there for those who want
to develop it then it's available
instead of having to come back to the
city because what if
hypothetically I know the I'm a proximal
who's going to hopefully be used for the
for the sound movie theater a movie set
but what if that had been left out and
some investors like that area then they
got to come back whereas if we just
designate it because we're not we're
just saying it's available we're not
saying that you have to to use that I
think that would make it a little bit
easier and then second of all for those
new council members of the the infill
the city has waived a lot of fees for to
accelerate the development of that area
such as building permits and um just it
just makes it a little bit you know it's
not a huge amount but it is it could
actually it's some incentives and so
when you because you can still use those
incentives with the MRA
Mr Mayor and I'd like Marin to maybe
jump in a little bit but the one thing
that the MRA allows is the the Tiff as a
financing tool but other financing tools
like the Tit for example is independent
of whether there's an MRA or not so if
you wanted to establish financing tools
not all of them have to be contingent on
MRE designation
Marin do you want to speak to that
um so
I think it makes a lot of sense to want
to identify as many areas as possible
um the the challenges that you must go
through an MRA planning process in order
to utilize the tools that are enabled by
designation so
um and the primary ones are
public-private Partnerships getting
around the anti-donation clause
Tiff financing
and so
there are other tools available to the
city for redevelopment that are that do
not require that do not necessitate MRI
designation
um so
I think the challenge that has been laid
out with designating a lot of areas at
this time is that um
it will dramatically increase the cost
and time frame of the planning process
so that would delay the period of time
in which you can start moving towards
implementation
and a lot of cities that have worked on
designating multiple districts at one
time end up only implementing in one
District at a time
capacity so like we referenced
previously Farmington they designated
four districts
all at once and they went through an
extensive planning process I think from
the time of designation to the
completion of that plan was about three
or four years
which is lengthy and I think that there
were delays beyond the actual length of
the planning process but
they then focused on the downtown MRA
and once they completed a lot of the
projects that were laid out in the
vision and strategies of that MRI plant
they returned to the planning process
because they realized that that initial
MRI plan was no longer sufficiently
relevant so
um it
I I think it's it's okay to designate
um multiple areas but just to keep in
mind um capacity might be impacted
or could you also like for this area
here that's already shaded could you
make that phase one so that you can work
on that and then the the one that hasn't
been worked on yet may maybe make that
phase two and bring that to council if
they want us to move forward with phase
two but that way there you eventually
cover the the infill zone
yeah so I think that if you wanted to
designate multiple areas and kind of
have those in your back pocket um so
it's totally possible to designate and
pass resolutions for multiple MRE
boundaries all at one time and then
approach those based on capacity so you
know maybe choose one or two districts
to uh to invest for an MRI plan pursue
implementation in a couple districts and
ask capacity is built move on to
additional MRI Mr areas
okay well I just wanted to put that out
there for my colleagues so they had yet
another area to look at so
uh City of Albuquerque they have noted
that
um one of their challenges with having a
lot of different districts is it really
um it starts to weaken some of the the
power of the incentives so areas that
are doing a little bit better off to
begin with tend to attract reinvestment
first just the same kinds of of tools
and and Partnerships are available in
those areas so it can be
beneficial to focus on areas that have
the greatest need first and really start
um
sparking reinvestment in those areas
before moving on to areas that maybe
don't need quite as much support
okay thank you
see if there's any members of the public
who would like to comment on this please
I'm sorry there was some more additional
data
Marin are you able to pull that up
um you know I don't know if I I mean I
can look through the file but I don't
believe that I'm able to share from this
computer and so I would say that um so
the the uh spreadsheet that um the
analysis that we did uh is something
that we can share with this city
um after this and I don't know if that
would be possible srijan if we could
pass that along
um it's a very basic tool so all of
those data those indicators that we
referenced
um previously uh are included in it and
so it's not a it's not a weighted
ranking tool it's a very basic ranking
tool so
um yeah basically uh if the the presence
of any of these indicators
um earned each area points and so we
added those points we totaled them to
rank the different areas based on the
prevalence of indicators and so that's
really how El Paseo Sal Solano
um was elevated to the top
um but we can share that spreadsheet so
you can get a picture of how other areas
ranked West Picacho was definitely up
there
mayor yes yes we don't have it right in
front of us that's okay I know we have
to move on but I if you could share that
with Christine so that she could share
that with us that would be really good
um I guess this is my question for staff
for ifo or shazana
um what is the feasibility right now you
think of doing two designated areas or
like councilor corn said sort of have
these for for example these three
corridors be one area
Mr Mayor uh councilman Como that's
that's a tough question to answer just
because of all the other projects going
on so if I were to look at just the MRA
as the the soul kind of objective for
the next year or two
um I would say you could definitely
tackle one District per year
um if it's
size the way that some of those
blueprints are sized
if we were to continue at current
capacity
doing all the other planning work that
we're doing and implementation work
that would probably be a stretch in
itself so it'd probably be a two-year
estimate
but having said that capacity is
dependent on the resources that we are
provided with so and that I would say is
up to the city manager and city council
okay thank you I I will take that very
much to heart as we head into the
February budget conversation so thank
you
thank you counselor Ben Como you know I
looked to sergiana because her and I
have talked about this
and I know surajana had some opinions
about it and I think just to add on to
exactly what Susanna mentioned
so
capacity
and then also priority meaning what our
goals are for each of the areas so
if we can identify what those
action items will be then I think we can
make a better decision so if we're
talking about specific
sure yeah if we're help or assistance
with with specific businesses that we've
talked about in the past
we might be able to handle from a
capacity
side if we can identify those actions
that we can have conversations about
that but we did talk about
you know having one so that we can focus
do it right plan it out right and then
move on to the next but again we can
look at the action items as we move
forward
okay so is there any members of the
public who wish to speak on have any
comments you'd like to talk just raise
your hand first deciding to see how many
just one okay
let me come forward Israel three minutes
please just teach your name
thank you Israel Chavez
um I just wanted to make a a slight
point about the Ido being used as the
overlay for this in addition to it
excluding the Picacho area which is
incredibly important and I encourage
while it may be difficult for the city
to implement for Staffing I mean I think
we just need more staff because this is
I mean you're we're leaving behind a lot
of folks I would also look at how many
folks how many applications came through
for the Main Street area but going back
to the infill the South Mesquite
historic district is excluded from
infill development using that ordinance
and so to say that well everybody gets
to use the Ido is not quite accurate
right so there's the historic districts
that have been excluded from the Ido
similar to how Picacho has been the the
West Picacho area has been excluded
that's an exclusion in the ordinance
this South Mesquite overlay ordinance
excludes it from the Ido so historic
districts like South Mesquite overlay
haven't been able to use the Ido much
and then if we say well we're also not
going to include that in the in this
process we're pushing it back further so
I think there's an analogy there for
West Picacho which definitely needs that
and I think I don't think we need to be
afraid or or I always feel like planners
are telling us well we got to do more
planning and it's sort of like the fox
Garden the hen house in that respect I
think we really needed action
um and and how many plans do we have to
do I mean counselors have said mayor
that there are plans sitting on shelves
collecting dust and so
um these the this excessive planning
doesn't put how people in housing it
doesn't get them food and in my capacity
with the anti-aged Institute my
commitment is ensuring that we're really
focused on not just really nice stuff uh
like Albuquerque's done but something
that makes
um sense for struggling communities like
West Picacho like South Mesquite
historic district like Solano I think
all three of those are really good
candidates but we can't just say oh well
sorry you're just going to have to wait
until we have enough time there's so
many people struggling so appreciate
your time thank you for your work
thank you Israel
okay so oh councilgram
thank you mayor
um I agree Mr Chavez with the spirit of
what you're saying I wish that I could
create a whole bunch more staff
positions I also agree with that but
what I think the what I think the point
is and I'm
the money side is one thing the staff
time side is the other so if we're
asking that this is way simplified I get
that if we designate five areas and tell
staff they can spend two hours a week on
each area versus designating one area
and saying staff can spend 10 hours a
week on that area I think that is the
spirit of the MRI program as as I'm
understanding it and I I also you know
these are these are gut-wrenching
decisions these make me feel literally
sick I'm not kidding to say oh well
we're gonna have to leave one part out
but I understand the theory behind it
and I also
do not want to be capricious with staff
time because
that's I I don't feel that that is
that's my domain thank you
Mr Mayor members of council so I I
wanted to come up here and just say that
in order for us to move forward with
this process where we come back to you
in March with the actual resolution for
designation
we have to come out of this meeting with
actual boundaries because we have to
move forward to advertise that so we
kind of need to
see which direction you guys are going
in terms of the boundaries that you want
to put forth for designation just wanted
to make sure that was that was made
clear to you Mr chair
yes question for Chris what's up
um
literally boundaries
Mr Mayor flood is yes literal boundaries
so
um
we would probably have to look at what's
been in the making first
right such as
El Paseo Solano I know Gabe Vasquez was
really
adamant and passionate about something
being done there yeah Mr Mayor counselor
Flores so if you go back to the
proposals that they put together they
you know they have the three options
fall away from the entire Ido to two or
three areas to just one area so we kind
of sort of need to decide which way
we're going in that direction and then
specifically if you pick options two or
three which areas in which boundaries
and they've kind of spelled that out on
this map here where they have some
there's that other map this one here so
you could see this is the one for the El
Paseo South Solano area you can see the
boundaries that this one would include
well Chris
um given your learned experience
[Music]
um what do you recommend or what do you
see as being expeditious
expeditious implementation
you know you don't have that how about
you srijana one of you has to have that
vision
or that knowledge or that hope
I think staff is leaning towards uh
number three approach but this is an
entirely city council decision to make
so wait can you imagine how difficult it
is for us because we're not doing your
job so we don't really know you know all
the nuts and bolts it takes and I really
admire and thank you for for your work
so that's why I'm asking how how would
you approach this to make it expeditious
effective and doable
if it helps I would probably look at
this in terms of how we can define a
pilot MRA first to kind of Define all of
the challenges and opportunities
um
there is a danger to going too fast too
far and I completely understand the
desire to do everything at once but when
you prioritize everything you prioritize
nothing correct so do you think that
moving with the El Paseo Solano First
would be the best way to approach it
since that's the one that's had a
community group focusing on that right
so counselor you are correct it's our
oldest blueprint I will say that in
terms of revising that blueprint is also
essential and of course it's the actual
State Statute so we do have to do an MRA
plan but when a plan is older than 10
years you do want to go out to the
public again and re-establish the need
and the voices and the projects
um so even with that it's kind of time
um but again this is this is entirely up
to you and I'm sorry I can't provide
more
um well yeah and that's quite a burden
to bear
um in terms of it being uh it you know
six seven people of seven of us up here
um it's it's really hard to
um I mean you know like get the magic
wand going but you know it doesn't
really work
so would it be helpful to um you say
that we have to go back to the drawing
board on the MRA the existing MRA
you know am I correct in hearing that Mr
mayor council Gandara no not back to the
drawing board we don't have an MRI plan
in place so we would have to establish a
new MRA plan specifically to meet State
Statute but what I'm saying is the plan
that we do have which is the blueprint
um is pretty old so it warrants an
update
um and with that in mind the MRE plan
would take care
two birds with one stone and that's well
you say the blueprint are you referring
specifically to um to the community
planning blueprint that city council
adopted in 2011 I believe that was many
years before I was born so
um
so we'd have to go back to that before
we can move forward
next America no um no the MRA plan I
should take care of the other day I was
Ben Como was Flores and today Flores is
Gandara
but it's okay I don't mind being I beg
your pardon yeah I'm quite flattered
actually Council but
[Laughter]
um
so well you know you're asking for
direction frankly I'm not speaking for
my colleagues but I am speaking for
myself it's it's very hard for me to
make a decision based on and we have
been informed along you know these past
years five years for me but um
so but at this point
um it looks like we're still at Square
One
Am I Wrong yes I hope Mr Mayor counselor
Flores so the planning that we've done
actually does provide the vision and the
framework to proceed even to say that we
want an MRA in that area that
Direction was provided by the original
plan so it was not a wasted effort the
only point that I'm trying to make here
is that all plans do need updating
anyway and so I'm kind of just trying to
um
I guess address the concern that we are
over planning and I'm saying that so if
if we were to say okay let's move with
the El Paseo Solano watch
um
and and then and then we go back and
then that gets in motion and then we go
back to the drawing board to make
another designation
I'm
sorry mayor city council Elizabeth
Teeters for the record we were just
talking back there about different
options you can always designate two
areas right now it does not mean that we
have to start the planning process for
both areas so we could designate both
Picacho and El Paseo now with the plan
to start the planning process for El
Paseo right away and then move into
Picacho that way we don't have to come
back and make another designation in
another few years
so that could be an option
because that's what we're looking for
right now is designation that's the
whole point of this whole process so uh
Chris did you say you needed a
resolution for this so you're going to
come back or Mr Mayor councilor Flores
yes we'll be coming back in March with
the actual resolution and it will be
consistent with our
um making our choices today correct okay
thank you very much and Mr Man and
councilor Flores I just want to say when
I said boundaries before specific area
so if you said El Paseo salsano that's
one area West Picacho was another one I
didn't mean specific streets or things
of that nature so oh great thank you
Chris before I get to councilman Como
the city manager wanted to jump in real
quick
thank you mayor you know I would agree
with that recommendation to have those
two designations and then we can come
back just so we can move forward
I just want to also make mention you
know the this presentation this is
actually just part of the process right
we have to come forward you define that
and then we go back the other thing I
want to make mention of is you know
there seems to be
a feeling here that uh you know once we
designate this area as an MRA we can't
do anything for any anywhere else like
we have the lift up program we have all
these other tools available to us like
the T the tid and you know at this point
there is no funding mechanism for the
MRA right and so it's really a
designation and so I I do think I I
would recommend that we have two
designations this allows us to move
forward I like that uh that thought
there and then we can come back
and then we can decide how we we plan
the other issue as well as you know
continuing further with more
designations at one time
you can only have a priority number one
right after that then you have two
priority number ones and three priority
number ones and so we have to start
somewhere but I don't think it would be
problematic to have two designations
right now
thanks mayor
boundaries
um
I'm I am really going to push for West
Picacho to be included I think it is a
critical affordable housing opportunity
that we cannot miss out on given the
other
Economic Development tools that could be
an option for us in that area
um Second Street to motel is what a mile
and a half
it doesn't even have to go further out
uh North or west it could go to Hadley
and
tashiro-ish right those streets sort of
you get my drift you get where I'm going
with this it could even be one block
North one block South
but from Second Street to motel there is
it is a small area it is not as big as
the El Paseo Salon area which is clearly
a priority
um that I think El Paseo South Solano
have very similar business a small
business sort of assistant's needs
clearly some blight some abandoned
buildings abandoned commercial buildings
and there is a very actionable item
already on West Picacho that we could
pursue with private Public Partnerships
and
ensuring that motels can be affordable
housing units so that would be my
suggestion I I agree with this obviously
El Paseo sat Solana has been a priority
for a very long time and I would
continue to fight for West picacho's
Second Street to motel
okay now mayor Pro tem and then
councilor I beta thank you Meredith I
really appreciate councilor bengomo and
you advocating for your area
um
what I like to see and we've asked is
the priority lists your how you waited
each of those indicators that would be
very important for all of the areas that
you've highlighted here before I can
make a decision for me it's yeah we've
been talking about the El Paseo and the
South Solano for some time I think that
is absolutely
first priority
um
second I mean I don't know I don't know
because I don't have the import data in
front of me to be able to Advocate
um
but I I will say that that West Picacho
needs to be added
um is it a second priority I'm not sure
um and so I also think that with that
and we have over the years since I've
been here limited staff
and the ability to move forward in some
of these things because you know we're
sort of all over the place there's so
much need the need is so great so I will
be advocating for extra ftes additional
ft's to help and maybe because it's
within our scope to develop a MRI office
if you will
um and maybe that's what I'll be
suggesting at our someone please write
it down and not forget at our budget
Retreat I think those are really
important in order for us because the
need is so great
um
so
again I'd like to and and then we have
the lift up Las Cruces right in that
Amador area where we do have a blueprint
um and where we're focusing our time and
attention so I could very well argue
that that should be the next place right
but I won't
um but I like to make that point and so
if we can have that information before
and I don't think that necessarily I
don't know why we're waiting till March
is that because that's just the way the
process is in terms of what you as staff
have to do to get the resolution
together Chris Mr Mayor mayor Pro tem
yeah the state mandates a certain amount
of time where things have to be
advertised got you based on that
scheduled the soonest we could get it is
March 20th to come back for resolution
and we are trying to get the weighted
slide so there's an email to srijana
then we're going to try and get it up
here Marin's just not able to share via
the way the zoom is set up right so
we're trying to
find another way so you guys can see
that weighted information here during
this meeting thank you Chris I really
appreciate that
how will the changes in the MRA that we
are advocating for at a state level how
would that affect any of this or will it
Mr Mayor mayor Pro tem so that's an
excellent question if those changes at a
state level were to happen that would
allow Council to adopt those changes
into any existing or future mras which
means if you were to set up West Picacho
MRA you could go in and set up the
funding source so that you would be
pulling into it similar to how we do the
tid downtown and so yeah those would be
a game changer for mras because you
would have the ability to create a
funding mechanism through the actual
designated area
and we will know
when is the last day of the session oh a
few weeks after because the governor has
so much time to sign everything in okay
all right that's a good something we
should really consider
um okay thank you mayor counselor
yeah thank you
um
to put in my comments just to make sure
that
um I have the designation My First
Choice obviously is going to be the El
Paseo neighborhood and planning area and
then I will suggest the Alameda Picacho
area as the second and those will be my
recommendations with the strong
advisement to make sure that if we are
going to do this program to make sure we
do have the appropriate funding and
staff to do it right I do agree that if
we are going to do something we need to
do it well and I would rather do one
thing really well than about three
things halfway because I don't think
that's helpful to our community either
thank you
okay thank you councilor Graham yeah I
do want to weigh in but I'll wait soon
so it looks like we have the spreadsheet
up on the screen if you could come back
to me after that thank you
um so I would say that I just want to
preface this this is a an unweighted
ranking tool so we did not
um create any sort of weighted ranking
for any of the indicators it's a very
basic
tool that we use to help us in focusing
in different areas for our existing
conditions assessment
um
so you can see on the far right
um those numbers those totals
um this is not an like a precise measure
but uh El Paseo Salado uh has you know
12 that that neighborhood east of that
um has 10 uh West Picacho also has 10
and others were you know they're all
clustered you know every single area
within the Ido demonstrates a number of
of indicators that would
um support designation
oh I'm sorry I I missed both Wes Picacho
actually is
um
eight and that's you know I think that
that's one of the challenges of
reviewing census data for that area
um is that the census
um data really just doesn't doesn't
track some of the populations that live
in in that area
so it was actually the Apodaca lift up
area I think a lot of that comes from
the lift up
section in particular
there you have it
how did you I think I'm sorry how did
you identify the high level the
abandoned properties what was the
we we received vacant parcel data from
the city so we were looking at
um both vegan Parcels vacant commercial
and vacant residential there was
abandoned property data we were told to
look at that knowing that it's not
regularly updated so it might not be
completely accurate
um but we we noted where concentrations
of that is Mesquite actually had some of
the highest concentrations of abandoned
properties uh
I think that was followed by El Paseo
salano
yeah thank you I appreciate that I know
that
when we identified the lift up area and
sent numerous
correspondence to the residents
handfuls I mean large Stacks returned
back as abandoned
um
residential and so I I was really
concerned about that because I didn't
think that we had identified or had a
place to make that notation right
because and so it it it's something that
I think if we're going to continue to do
this and utilize this particular Matrix
that somewhere somehow we have to update
that and keep that updated it was
important to me and I had reached I had
let ifo know that there was a number of
abandoned Residential Properties that
are just sitting there unhabitable and
they may not look bad but they're just
sitting there in that always concerns me
and so
um
you know I I hear cancer benkomo
um just the nature of the geographic
area that
those hotels that need so much updating
right and and just seeing that it's an
entry point into our city
um the numerous complaints that we get
about the way it looks sometimes
um and and so I can I can sympathize
empathize and feel like yeah that's
something that we should probably look
at in terms of the number of tools that
we can write use to lift that that
Community up more specifically to
affordable housing so thank you thank
you mayor
okay
councilor Graham uh yeah so just to
weigh in because I think you're doing
your little tally over there mayor
um
I'm sure that we
contracted with these consultants for a
good reason and that they have a lot of
expertise so my my inclination is to go
with the recommendation of one MRA
designation however I'm definitely
willing to add the West Picacho as
priority two and on a side note I now
have a personal wager with myself of
what we get first a shade structure or
an MRA
I was actually playing sudoku so I'm
just kidding
okay so um actually even you had a you
had an idea that you wanted to move
forward you thought a couple of the
which you heard you were either going to
bring this back or you're going to move
forward with those two
the two areas you're talking about yeah
yeah just what I mentioned earlier but I
I don't see a problem with having to
Tuesday designations that's recommended
by Elizabeth but I would like the
priority
this is mentioned by a councilor Graham
to have a one and two priority
just so we're clear
so there's not more than one number one
number one priority right
did you wanna you you include you want
to include the two areas you were
talking about or
so I know I've been discussed the
opposite Solana would be our
recommendation and then Wes Picacho as
the section
I just want you to all know and I've
done this in the past that I've
abstained I won't have really any
discussion on this because of the fact
that I have a business there on South
Solano
which I've tried to have you all remove
like hunting times but don't want to do
it so I'll just I'll just stay out of
this yeah
let's go back to my puzzles okay
okay looks like that's it looks like you
have the direction
thank you okay thanks Chris
John
Elizabeth
okay next we're going to have the
Municipal Court update and we have uh
judge Choi coldbaum with us
Church
do they have access to these slides
Beyond
Beyond and today
good afternoon happy Lunar New Year
everyone I am judge Joy goldbaum
Municipal Court Judge can you speak into
the microphone please
sorry thank you is that better yes okay
um I'm judge Joy goldbaum from the Las
Cruces municipal court and assisting me
today is Don Schultz one of our court
managers I was really hoping that Miguel
Munoz would come partly because I wanted
to give him a really big shout out
he took my scrambled handwritten notes
and turned them into these slides and
did just a really good job
foreign
I hope that after my presentation today
you will agree with me that the courts
do have a role to play in the quality of
life for residents of Las Cruces
I'm also really glad I saw Mr Garcia oh
you're still here thank you I'm glad
he's here because I did want him to know
that I take his criticism seriously I
can't always act on that in a way that
he would like but I do listen
so basically I'm going to click
pretty quickly through some of these
slides they're kind of for your
reference only and I have a few
miscellaneous comments at the end
so the first slide
is what we're covering the definitions
you can look at that as at your leisure
I wasn't sure how familiar people were
with what happens at the court the
procedure the terms we use I think the
the two I would just kind of draw your
attention to are penalty assessment
that's most traffic offenses things that
people can sign the ticket when they're
stopped and agree to pay it within 30
days
and arraignment is also called first
appearance or initial appearance
we are generally doing those remotely
still but they can be done in person
and what happens at the first appearance
is the person learns the possible
penalties if they're convicted including
a plea their rights and what the pleas
are
also on criminal or charges facing jail
potential jail time they are informed
at that time that if they are convicted
of a jailable offense it could have a
negative impact on their immigration
status up to and including deportation
so the next slide again just for
reference usually a traffic stop is the
first thing that happens and then the
person can basically ask to go to court
or they can sign off that they'll pay
the ticket it's an admission of guilt
and you can look at that a little more
at your leisure but it's pretty
self-explanatory
the next one is the criminal citation
life cycle a little more complicated
because these potentially carried jail
time most of them up to 90 days and up
to a 500 dollar fine that's also true of
coats ordinance violations
yeah
and I just went ahead and did oops sorry
think I'm forgetting to move ahead I
included DWI separately just because it
really is a different animal
um
the fines are stiffer everybody's
required convicted is required to
complete a year of supervised probation
and that is done through our County
compliance office you can see there are
increasing jail time as you go up in the
number of DWI convictions anything after
a fourth could not be handled in
Municipal Court would have to be in
District Court and it's a felony
um the one thing I wanted to add
yeah under
um medical use of cannabis there is one
exception and that's if the person has a
qualified user designation card for a
medical condition and they have to
present that to the county compliance
office otherwise they cannot use
cannabis or be in cannabis
establishments
um just a general snapshot of the cases
filed between
2016 and 2022 there wasn't anything
scientific about why I picked those
dates but I didn't want to give Miguel a
full-time job creating slides so I
started with 2016 and you can see in
2020 covid hit and that's when the
number of cases being filed hit it's
very gradually creeping back up
the next slide is from 2016 a breakdown
of what was filed and I think maybe the
most important thing is to look at the
totals the ground total and if you want
to look at the police department that
total is on the right
same with 2017
2018.
[Music]
totals again 2019.
and then 2019 the filings by month just
to kind of give you an idea that it's up
and down generally
2020 there's our ground total and the
police department total
and the number of filings by month
so you can see in 2020 if you look at
March obviously when the pandemic hit at
the very beginning things really started
shutting down courts were not permitted
to close in New Mexico and we never
closed we did have to transition to
doing a number of things remotely and we
learned that some things work really
well remotely and some things are really
difficult to do remotely so we've gone
back almost entirely to doing things in
person there are still a few exceptions
sorry I keep forgetting to go forward
but hopefully you were able to see that
total number of cases filed and then by
month
and 2022 through December
our totals
number of filings by month you can see
that it's just up and down no real Rhyme
or Reason
office Chief may have an idea and we
want to weigh in on that in a minute but
the next case is dismissals in 2022 by
agency and I only broke this down for
2022 because it was really time
intensive for Miguel to go back and try
to collect this data we don't really
keep track of it in this nice neat way
to my knowledge these agencies don't so
he basically just had to go through and
look at every docket but he did a nice
job coordinating that for 2022
and you can see the totals on the right
anole price is a dismissal by a
prosecutor
um
if you have any questions about any of
those certainly come back to that it's
I've marked it as slide 19.
and then here's just a nice picture
snapshot of those dismissals
and a little nice graph that he did
by agency
all right this slide police hours by
month
we don't actually collect this data I'm
going to come back to this slide in a
little bit so I asked Miguel to try and
come up with something and he and I
together sort of decided from just being
in court we would calculate it this way
it's not going to be exact but no agency
including the court keeps this
information so basically what we did is
if an officer has to come to court
usually it's for a pre-trial hearing
there are other things they come to
court for but
um we just assume it's going to be 30
minutes give or take because about 10
minutes of their time to get there about
10 minutes to take care of the pre-trial
hearing if they're able to about another
10 minutes roughly to go back to
whatever they were doing on their shift
so you can see it's it's probably pretty
conservative
if an officer is appearing in court on
the same day and time for multiple
defendants we just went ahead and added
10 minutes so again it's not scientific
but I wanted to try to give you some
idea of the amount of time that officers
actually spend in court I've marked this
as slide 22 and I will be coming back to
that
all right this is a slide I think I've
presented or a sheet I've presented
previously it's the um cost per year
that we have paid out for alternate
judges
and on the bottom line 2023
that's the city year that starts July 1
so that's only July 1 through December
31st that's not the full year we haven't
received their invoices yet
all right the next slide
is another one that I'll come back to
and harp on a bit this is what we spend
since 2016 for the panel attorneys that
represent Indigent defendants so if
somebody can't afford an attorney and
they're facing jail time they can apply
for an attorney through the court we do
not use the public defender we have
these right now five attorneys and we
round Rob in them they're all bilingual
so you can see 2016 it was pretty
minimal
2017 shot up 2018
hovered a little below that and then
since then we are spending well over a
hundred and ten thousand dollars a year
on Indigent attorney representation and
there's a number of reasons I would like
to get rid of this system and it is one
thing that I'll talk about at the end if
you look at 2023 the 81 000 that's
because it's only July July 1 through
November 30th
so if you double it roughly and add a
little to it you'll see that we're going
to be a lot really close to that hundred
and eighty thousand again
all right so the handful of things that
I wanted to say about covid just for you
to see what happened when it hit my
staff did a amazing job getting us set
up to try to do everything virtually
it wasn't easy but we kept the court
open
[Music]
all courts in New Mexico
it doesn't matter if they're a city
court State Court all courts in New
Mexico fall under the New Mexico Supreme
Court and the New Mexico Supreme Court
in March of 2020 issued the first of I'm
going to say maybe 24 orders detailing
exactly what courts could and couldn't
do
the masking the distancing the what do
you call the Plexiglas it was a lot that
we had to do and we did it and they
would revise it maybe every two months
send us out a new order
um even though the city and state both
had different
covid protocols and some of them were
fairly strict but the courts are
stricter and they're still in place
so even though the city and pretty much
the governor don't really care if you
wear a mask when you are in a court you
do have to wear a mask that's from the
New Mexico Supreme Court
it cannot be
a neck Gator a bandana or a mask with an
exhaust valve
and that's in courtrooms and in jury
rooms we don't have juries so we don't
have jury rooms but we are still doing
three foot distancing and masking at the
court every Court in New Mexico is
supposed to be
and we take it pretty seriously we
provide a mask at the door to people if
they
understandably show up without a mask
because most people aren't masking
anymore
there was a really interesting
legal issue that came up during covet
and I don't know if Miss Garrison would
like to weigh in on this but what
happened was at the beginning we
couldn't have in-person trials we had to
have them
virtually we were using go to meeting
so some defendants and attorneys were
okay with that fine we would do them
virtually we did a number of Trials
virtually
um
we are required to complete a case
within 182 days from that initial
appearance the arraignment to its
conclusion that was obviously not going
to be possible with some cases unless
people agreed that we could do them
virtually and some defendants and
attorneys refused they said
defendant has an absolute right and they
do a constitutional right to confront
the witness against them and we demand
our in-person trial even though the
courts weren't letting us do that so
from the period of like mid-march 2020
until early June 2021 we didn't have any
in person
DWI trials
or other trials but DWI was the real
issue and there is a rule in the New
Mexico
Municipal Court rules that allows a
judge to make a finding that due to
um
what's the word Jocelyn circumstances
it would be exceptional circles the
exceptional thank you circumstances
um the the court could simply say we
cannot do it within 182 days and so it's
continued indefinitely until we can a
number of these cases went up on appeal
appeal from my court is to district
court and but there's no single judge at
District Court that hears them I think
they round robin them
so some judges said
the Municipal Court absolutely should
have had these in-person trials
during the 182 days even though we
didn't have permission to do them yet
um I think at least one judge agreed
with our exceptional circumstance order
that I was doing and said no that's
reasonable Miss Garrison do you know if
any of these have gone up Beyond
District Court to the court of appeals
uh no judge Gold Bond we did not appeal
them and as far as I know the defense
attorneys didn't either and it was the
chief judge that agreed with you
actually okay thank you so it
it was kind of scrambled all over the
state and I don't know how it was in
other places but those District judges
that said you absolutely had to have
given them an in-person trial within 182
days and now it's dismissed so we lost
some of those on those grounds and I
don't know another part of the state may
send one of those up on appeal so to be
interesting to see how that comes down
oh here's the language from the rule
Upon A determination by the court that
exceptional circumstances exist that
were beyond the control of the
prosecution or the court that prevented
the case from being heard within the
time period and a written finding that
defendant would not be unfairly
prejudiced the court May Grant further
extension extensions that are necessary
in the interests of justice so I felt
that covid was an exceptional
circumstance and wrote gosh
probably 30 or more of those orders and
a few of them did go up on appeal
to competency and then Mental Health
our state statute regarding competency
and I'm sorry I don't have this on slide
but I can get it to you if you would
like it's the state statute 31-9-1
determination of Competency raising the
issue
whenever it appears that there is a
question as to the defendant's
competency to proceed in a criminal case
any further proceeding in the cause
shall be suspended until the issue is
determined unless the case is dismissed
upon motion of a party when the question
is raised in a court other than the
district court
the proceeding shall be suspended and
the cause transferred to the district
court so
I frequently have people come in front
of me that I know have previously maybe
within the last month been determined to
be not competent to stand trial so in
that situation I am required to make a
referral to District Court it doesn't
have to come through me it can come
through the jail a defense attorney a
prosecutor but once that referral is
made and it's usually made when the
person is seen frequently at the jail
it goes to district court and I lose
jurisdiction now I I recall a few months
ago Sarah Smith raised the issue
correctly that I was dismissing a lot of
cases of people that were cited for
trespass and shoplifting primarily
those were those names were were people
who had been recently found not
competent and I if the District Court
decides they're not competent it gets
sent back to me and I am ordered to
dismiss the charges and release the
person so it is not my decision
municipal courts have no authority to
make that decision
um but there are probably about a dozen
people in our community mostly men a
couple of women
who frequently get referred for
competency I transfer it to District
Court
the district court has to order an
evaluation by a psychologist
unless one was done recently and that's
frequently the case
and then
the person's found not competent again
I'm ordered to dismiss the case and
release them yes they do sometimes go
out the same day and shoplift and
trespass again
so here's what's required for that
determination
this is
39-9-1.1 the defendant's competency
shall be professionally evaluated by a
psychologist or psychiatrist or other
qualified professional recognized by The
District Court as an expert and a report
shall be submitted as ordered by the
court and then a hearing on the issue of
Competency of an incarcerated defendant
charged with well that's a felony we
don't have felonies in my court so then
it starts getting into the time limits
that we have but basically if the
person's incarcerated they have to be
evaluated within 30 days if they're not
there's a little more time we have a
couple of psychologists on contract with
District Court that can perform these
evaluations
um but the court doesn't always order a
new one because they cost in excess of a
thousand dollars each and understandably
The District Court's not likely to order
another evaluation if just three months
ago one was done and the person found
not competent
what is competency the the crudest sort
of test for it is what's called the
Georgia Court competency test which is
whether the defendant has sufficient
present ability to consult with their
lawyer with a reasonable degree of
rational understanding and whether he
has a rational as well as factual
understanding of the proceedings against
him again I don't make that
determination
pretty much it's in the report that's
done by the psychologist and then the
district court makes a ruling on that I
think right now they're all being heard
by Judge Martin
all right here is what the Municipal
Court rule says about insanity or
incompetency it's rural Municipal Court
rule 8-507 if a defendant pleads Not
Guilty by reason of insanity or if an
issue is raised as to the mental
competency of the defendant to stand
trial the action shall be transferred to
the district court for further
proceedings pursuant to the rules of
criminal procedure for the district
courts the Municipal Court shall retain
jurisdiction over the defendant and
commission conditions of release until
the action is filed in District Court
which is usually the same day as the
referral is made
so that's a kind of quick summary of how
competency works and unfortunately
whether I agree with it or not but a
number of defendants do spiral
constantly through that system
all right now I'd like to talk to you a
little bit about
mental health issues and the court
because the municipal court is a
misdemeanor Court
um we we get a lot of people that have a
variety of mental health challenges
coming through
and so
I included with my presentation I hope
some of you got a chance to glance at it
some information about the Miami model
for treating mental health concerns it's
kind of the gold standard but it's also
it's been in place for a while and
it was expensive you know to get there
so what do communities that don't have
that kind of money by the way if you
haven't read it it's really
inspirational
because I mean it's just phenomenal how
well it works but like a lot of
treatment courts and other programs it's
not a quick fix you know it takes a
while and sometimes people have to go
through it more than once but
um
what we are doing here in doniana county
is just trying to fill the gaps from the
initial
interaction with the person in crisis
probably it's through law enforcement
all the way through to the end of a case
if it results in criminal case so often
it does
and what we are doing locally actually
let me back up and say that a few years
ago Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
Nakamura and a district judge Angie
Schneider and Otero and Lincoln County
got together to try and address this
issue of the Mental Health crisis going
through the courts and the jails
and so what they came up with is to use
a program
that's been tried and true in other
places it's got kind of a weird name
it's called the sequential intercept
model or Sim and it's used to assess
available
opportunities determine gaps in service
and plan for Community change these
activities are best accomplished by a
team of stakeholders that cross over
multiple systems including mental health
substance abuse law enforcement
pre-trial Services courts jails
Community Corrections housing Health
social services peers family members and
many others you can see that's a lot so
at the criminal justice coordinating
Council which is a group that meets once
a month to talk about things that affect
the courts and others in law enforcement
it was determined that we should attend
or Create a Sim sequential intercept
model workshop and we did that last June
there were probably 40 or so
participants
and it was a full day I think it was a
day and a half actually
and somebody from samsa came to talk to
us about it samsa is Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration
it's a department of our federal health
and human services so they publish
materials and present programs on
anything and everything to do with
mental health
um so a number of us attended this
workshop and after that Workshop a
smaller group of us decided we wanted to
be a task force to try and really focus
on filling these gaps so I'm on that
task force judge arietta is we have
probation and parole lots of law
enforcement people from the University
are working with us I see that Jamie
Michael's here today thank you Jamie for
being here
um I may have you filled some questions
okay and
um anyways a number of us we meet every
two weeks for two hours and what we're
trying to do is come up with
evidence-based
systems to fill in these gaps so that
means really collecting a lot of data at
the beginning
and we have some really great number
crunchers working with us from the
University and other places so Jamie is
one of the co-chairs of our task force
and the other is Kristen Drake who is
from the peak and so I'm just going to
very quickly go through what the
intercepts are
it goes zero to five intercept zero is
Community Services which is probably
crisis lines
and Crisis Care Continuum intercept one
is law enforcement so 911 and local law
enforcement oftentimes leads to an
arrest
intercept two is initial initial
detention and initial Court hearings
first appearances
so that involves the courts intercept
three also involves the courts and jails
specialty courts jails dispositional
courts intercept four is Prince prison
and jail reentry and intercept five is
parole and probation and one of the
really big themes behind Sims is not
just to give somebody short-term help
and then boot them out and say you're
good now
um because it doesn't work and it can't
work so we don't have the kind of
building the kind of facility that judge
Lightner had in in that article that I
attached but we are still working like
crazy to fill these gaps and I think it
was counselor or mayor Pro tem Gandara
last week who referred to
um
the Z team was that you somebody
referred to the ZD the Z team is that
group that initially started with judge
Justice Nakamura and judge Schneider and
a few others some people from the
administrative office of the courts and
the team Z is to represent the zero
intercept because that is the very
beginning where most of the contact
occurs and the goal of this is to keep
people from having to go through the
jail and the court systems because
when you're suffering a mental health
crisis it doesn't get better if that's
all you get is charged and sentenced and
so on
so
if you if you looked at that article on
Judge Lightner it's a law review article
and it really did a great job
identifying how well that Miami model
works but we think locally here on the
task force that we can fill a lot of
these gaps with local services
and in October a number of us went to a
I guess it was a convention
what was it
a symposium thank you do you want to
come up Jamie come on uh and had a
number of really good presenters they
showed some videos from Judge Lightner
and it turns out doniana County every
county in the state is trying to do
something with Sims
but we are way ahead of the curve and we
still have very far to go but other
counties are contacting us regularly and
saying how do you do this where can we
get this and doniana County's lucky to
not be a super rural County yes we do
have some outlying areas and we
understand it's much harder to provide
services sometimes there
so I mean we're looking at including
Transportation anything and everything
anybody would need to fill these gaps
what did I leave out
okay
um
so we're having a summary meeting this
Friday with everybody that was at that
June Workshop to bring them up to date
on what we're doing what we've done how
far we've come we've done a lot
it is such a big problem it's it's not a
quick fix but we are working steadfastly
on it
um
all right
I'm gonna sort of segue into
expungement unless you want to add
anything Jamie
okay
um I was really hoping Miguel would be
here for this because he and Don and our
other records department people are
spending hours and hours and hours every
week on this project so
um what happened was about a year and a
half ago the Supreme Court said when
marijuana becomes legal in the state
every Court must Purge everything to do
with the marijuana convention which is
reasonable
um the directive from the admit
Administrative Office of the courts was
all your convictions should be expunged
the defendants do not apply or ask for
expungements and we have two years from
when we got this directive to complete
this so that will be the end of this
June we're supposed to have it done I
don't think any Court anywhere in the
state is going to meet that deadline it
is such a big project so because if you
think about it sometimes people were
convicted of possession of a marijuana
pipe
that's got to go too
so it's just very time intensive
we've got to crush all those warrants
since Dawn is a bit of an expert on this
I'm going to turn it over to her I'm
just going to say that last January
based on what the administrative office
of the courts told us to do I created a
fairly lengthy order but essentially
said Court staff shall review every
previous citation in its records for
possession delivery manufacturing of
paraphernalia and determined by the text
of the citation whether the
paraphernalia was used with any illegal
substance other than cannabis and that's
got to be completed by June 28th every
citation going back to the creation of
the earth we have to look at and you
can't do it with a computer program we
have to pull everything because
sometimes there's a conviction on a
docket number for possession of cannabis
and resisting evading obstructing an
officer we can't eliminate the whole
docket only that one about cannabis
our records people are just killing
themselves trying to meet that deadline
so kudos to you Don take it away
judge golden you have covered everything
that I was going to talk about well let
me bring up Miguel's beautiful slide
because they are lovely what he did oops
I'm going backwards
okay so I think you can read these with
me
[Applause]
I don't want to read them to you I did
want to mention one other tangential
thing which is that in 2012 the
Municipal Court went through a
conversion process when it went from
software called Full Court to the Tyler
encode system that conversion project
was huge it took many many months to try
and scan all those dockets a few things
were lost
and some things before that period we
have no idea what those citations say we
can't
unnecessarily pull up those citations so
we are trying to be as diligent as we
can it is a huge and rotten job to pull
every single case in Municipal Court
ever and look for those dockets or
convictions and then
we're altering a public document so what
we have to do is make a note we can't
give this information out it's expunged
except we can expunge it because the
computer won't let us and because that
would be altering a public docket but
we're making notes so that if we get a
phone call from a potential employer we
can say with a clear conscience there
are no marijuana convictions
okay and obviously you can see that
something like a pipe that you smoke
could be used for cannabis but it could
also be used for a number of other
illegal things and we are trying to
parse those out
so
um Don you don't want to say anything
you can speak from there
so my staff and I have broken this down
into excuse me excuse me Don can you
just state your name and your position
please hide yeah thanks
Don Schultz Court manager for Las Cruces
Municipal Court
and we've broken down this project into
four phases
the first one consisting of identifying
the cases with outstanding warrants and
washing those
two uh prevent someone from being
wrongfully arrested or detained
and then we have phase two which is the
phase that we're currently in and is the
most time consuming this consists of
researching all paraphernalia cases to
determine if it was related to the use
of cannabis like judge Goldblum said it
also consists of researching all related
dockets having multiple charges and
identifying which cases will require
redactions
um
we currently have two full-time
employees in our records department and
we're in the process of bringing on two
additional employees
phase three will consist of expunging
the records in our computer system and
then the physical reduction of the
information in the Court's records
phase four will involve the securing or
destruction of the records in accordance
with state and local policy
that's all I have
so regardless of how you feel about the
legalization of cannabis I'm guessing
you never thought about what would go
into trying to get it off someone's
record I certainly never did until this
thing slammed us and it's so huge but
we're doing our best I'm a little bit
counting on the fact that the Supreme
Court is going to hit June 28th and say
huh nobody's done maybe we need to give
them more time and maybe we need to give
them more Direction but that is what
that is
all right
something is missing
you want to take a quick break so
Council can ask you some questions
ah it's that are important
um
oh well yeah I'll try and answer
questions and if I don't have the answer
um at hand I will try to get it to you
and if you have questions that I don't
include in my presentation I'll try to
get those to you too you can email me so
okay
the councilman Como thanks mayor and
thanks for the pause to ask some
questions
um thank you judge Goldman for joining
us we've been
um wanting to have you in front of us
for quite some time I appreciate the
full length of your presentation
um though I mostly have questions
regarding competency in mental health
cases that come in front of you but
before I go to those questions maybe my
easier one was just on this last one
so you go into this expungement process
as soon as someone comes in front of you
for any new charge and then then you
identify that they have previous charges
and that's how you start identifying
expungement ah not really uh no we're
not waiting also you're doing
researching literally proactive on every
single case okay that's that's great to
hear thank you I appreciate that
um
so you talked about the potentially 12
folks who I would characterize it's just
had a conversation that Jamie as
familiar faces
um who are coming into their court
system
that have charges brought against them
for
trespassing for vandalism and may also
have some sort of Mental Health
um
situation happening what are
so and then I'm hearing you say which is
really helpful because I did not know
that it is then you refer someone to
district court and then it's in their
jurisdiction and I did not know that
that could have solved many
um heartache conversations to be honest
with you so once that has been
determined what options are the Court's
disposal whether it's you or whether
it's District Court right now oh Jamie
and I have tried to talk about this too
and right now when somebody's found
incompetent my option dismiss release
that's it and what about District Court
what about what about district court
options like do they have any more
options
um The District Court does have a mental
health
it's what does it administer what's
up
right okay assisted Outpatient Treatment
um it's voluntary right
oh it's civil okay so yeah they they do
have a court a try it's a treatment
Court basically for people
um with mental health challenges
behavioral health challenges
they don't currently accept misdemeanor
defendants which is all I have
so I don't have options but we're trying
to fill that Gap
right so let me mention that New Mexico
is with the majority of states that when
somebody's found not competent if it's a
felony if it's a violent felony
especially the district court will order
the person to be what's called treated
to competency you try to get them
competent enough to stand trial if that
doesn't happen they can face that amount
of time that the conviction would hold
in the state hospital but you also have
to understand our state hospital in Las
Vegas has a very limited number of beds
of course everybody in the states trying
to get those beds and it makes sense
that they're for violent felons so
nobody tries to treat people to
competency for misdemeanors okay and
that's almost Nationwide
yeah and so I also appreciate you
talking about the criminal justice
coordinating council did I get that
right yeah
um and some of so some of the things you
mentioned are first time I'm hearing of
them right and I'm wondering how you
what can you do take back to that group
because right now council is saying we
want to work on options we want to
increase the options that are available
for folks who are vulnerable who keep
unfortunately I mean chief can tell you
the how
quickly property crime has increased and
I've said this before it's not just
about a broken window it's not just
about a cash register it's about
people's peace of mind right that is not
something we can
um
just magically make go away and so this
keeps happening many times it's I'm
assuming some of the same folks right
and so right now we have a council
that's saying we really want to come up
with some options right
at what point I would like also like for
you or for this Continuum to come to us
and say these are some ideas that we
have because this is priority for us
right now sure the The Sims task force
we're not just working we're trying to
come up with a solution for the entire
County and I think that is where the
solution lies for filling the gaps all
the gaps identifying them and trying to
fill them
I wanted to sort of Veer off for a
second and correct a misconception I
know that Sarah Smith and and Juan
Garcia and many others are very
concerned about the property crime at
businesses and so as am I but
when I get criminal damage to property
charges it is almost never a vandalism
of a business I can't remember the last
time I saw one when I get criminal
damage to Pros property citations and
it's rare it's almost always
ex-romantic Partners one of them throws
a brick at the other's windshield or
throws a brick or a rock through the
window
that's what I see I'm not getting these
things where people do things okay and
so are you now they may be filed in
Magistrate Courts but I think it's
really hard because what I primarily see
are shoplifting and trespass and it's
easy for easier for law enforcement to
catch those people right they're
generally Witnesses who perceive them
because they often trust pass over and
over again at the same place where
they've gotten a trespass card so it's
much easier to catch those people inside
them it's very hard to catch the people
I think that are doing the vandalism to
the businesses sure you know maybe so if
those folks are caught let's say the
officer determined where to file that
case yes they can file it in city court
or state court correct and so they would
go to magistrate court is what you're
saying
um some of them may but I'd be pretty
surprised if they were getting a lot of
criminal damage to business properties
for the same reason it's just much more
difficult I think to cite people for
that
okay
um
okay I may have more questions later oh
no I do have more questions just one
more what specialty chords do we have
right now in donana County
um the magistrate court has a DWI drug
court and they let me participate in it
for a while and I did it's a good
program one problem we had is the
statute the amount of time to resolve a
misdemeanor in magistrate court is 18
months or I'm sorry the the maximum
probation is 18 months and in city court
it's
um
one year
from beginning to end so that's a
limitation
and then it was just also a little
difficult when they met because that
Court it meets for several hours and
then there's several in District Court
there's a veterans treatment Court we
sometimes refer people to that there's
the Outpatient Treatment
um what am I missing
they also have drug court at district
court for felonies judges they're a
model where Municipal Court would have
specialty courts oh sure what would be
needed for that
well you have to really have a
prosecutor and this is something I was
going to talk about later in my present
presentation but a prosecutor and like a
single defense attorney
and a court
and that's it and the director of
community of hopes already opened her
conference room to us it's got Wi-Fi we
could use it once twice a month
I would probably need the support of the
Council of the city attorney's office I
would love to see a proposed I
um I met with judge ariata a while ago
and he mentioned to me that drug core is
significantly less expensive than
putting someone in jail jail is very
expensive for taxpayers and I would love
to see a proposal on what a specialty
Corps could look like for Las Cruces and
if that's coming from you or from legal
whoever I I would be very open to having
that discussion because I think those
are the kind of spaces that we are
missing for some of the folks who are
like familiar faces of the Criminal
Justice System I may have more questions
later but that's it for me right now I
think my name cover an awful lot of what
you're asking me about if you'll let me
continue and just jot down your
questions well judge I don't know how
much longer you have but we kind of need
to speed up what it is you requested but
counselor beta has a question I have a
question uh you know you open yourself
up here to allow us to ask you some
comments so I think we'd like to do that
um I really only have one other thing to
talk about the major thing do you want
me to come back and do it another time I
think that's the really important part
of my presentation
I do have a couple questions then I'd
like to ask yeah I think judge it's
important that us asks these questions
because you're going to come in with an
ask and if we don't have this
information on this basic information
down I think that's going to Cloud our
you know at least my my opinion of what
what your ask would be councilor Ben
Como I just wanted to say it's a we
spend we're billed by the county for our
people that are in jail it's about a
hundred and two dollars a day treatment
courts less than 30 dollars a day but
sorry to interrupt thank you um you had
thank you judge for your presentation so
far you have said that the time between
kind of entering the system and exiting
that whole process is around 182 days
for resolution for most cases correct
okay and with that um
what is usually the reason for that day
does that look pretty average for a
court system especially like New Mexico
how has you seen that time frame during
your tenure we haven't really had
difficulty meeting it is that your
question well I'm wondering for
efficiency's sake and I know everybody
wants to to see resolution when things
happen and when if a crime does occur
I'm sure it's you know peace of mind for
those that have been effective on either
side that these things are done with
that efficient manner and so I'm curious
on where we range as far as you know is
that does this look like a good time
have you been able to kind of become
more efficient with that process what
does that look like when you have the
use of alternative judges does it help
alleviate time frame and now we have an
alternate judge as well and so I'm
curious to see if that's all working
together to make a more efficient system
we don't have any trouble meeting the
182 days other than that period of the
first 15 months where we were doing
things virtually and people were who
were demanding in-person trials what do
you say is the average
um
gosh I don't know
I mean
if you look at the life cycle of a case
most cases settle at pre-trial hearing
and that is usually within maybe the two
months of arraignment
and so that's a plea bargain basically
and the person knows what they're
getting the prosecutor knows what
they're getting nobody gets a hundred
percent but they get certainty and
there's a lot of benefits to settling at
pre-trial and we generally do
uh thank you for that and then the next
question is to follow up with that of
use of alternates versus use of your
other judge how is that going so far and
what does that caseload look like
to see you know that process to my
knowledge judge streeter's planning to
resign I thought it was going to be
because she was going back to district
court but when we had the conversations
she said I really want to be home with
my kids she has a
three-month-old infant and three other
children and I totally understand it but
um
she also has very fixed times during the
day 10 o'clock and two o'clock when she
has to pump breast milk and that is just
not conducive with the schedule we set
up for hearings it takes her about 30
minutes and she said it's absolutely
inflexible so I'm just covering
everything for now man that seems like a
nature issue
issue a what uh
an HR issue
is counselor
I mean
so I had set up I'm going to move on to
a different line of questioning okay
thank you
um
um with that in mind
um what modernization have you taken
during your tenure for changes with the
Municipal Court including
perhaps computer systems that might be
needed
I would say probably the best thing is
after conversation with the director of
the Dona Ana County Detention Center
we started sending out texts to
defendants to remind them of their
hearings and due dates for payments it
costs us 20 cents per text but we've
only been doing it for about six months
so we don't really have the data and the
other problem is like homeless folks
often don't have a phone
um regarding the building obviously we
saw some Statewide issues
that had significant security
you know not only with any elected
officials things like that may you talk
about the security that you have within
the facility any changes that have been
made including things like parking lot
structures
well we always have a security guard in
the courtroom with anybody who is
hearing cases in the courtroom and we
have a security guard at the door
occasionally The Firm that provides them
will provide additional guards if we
request them
at the USA cameras
I'm sorry the use of cameras within the
system if you have them around the
parking lot structure I was lit I knew
that they were there in the past that
the city has paid for that
um we have some cameras that are in the
parking lot we're looking into getting
them
assumed that I was told that there were
some are they not there anymore no they
are in the parking lot but not where
people come into the building or the
sides of the building and we're a little
concerned about that okay
um and then also uh with a follow-up for
a question about specialty courts I'm
curious if we were to look into that
would we need to make suggestions to our
ordinance it does have here under
Section 17-32 section A that the
municipal judge won shall be present and
shall preside at municipal court for at
least 40 hours per week unless absent
for annual leave sick leave or an
attendance at a municipal judges
conference and so I know you've been a
frequent attendee here at all of our
Council meetings I'm sure that eats up
at the 40 hours and I'm curious to see
if there's other times because I know
like the time here doesn't count as
because you're not presiding over the
court so I'm curious to see how all that
stuff would be integrated together
not sure I understand your question
um we don't have dockets on Monday
afternoons
so and if I have like a doctor's
appointment or something we have in a
minute an alternate but I guess I'm not
understanding your question you know I'm
just curious to see if there would be an
amendment that is needed for specialty
courts so that you can bird side over
there because our ordinance is pretty
specific of just presiding over the
Municipal Court it would be helpful
and then when it does say this item
about shall be present and preside at
municipal court for at least 40 hours a
week does that mean present in the
building for that amount of time
I take it to be when the court hours are
I mean our Courts open from 7 30 to 4 30
Monday through Thursday and we close at
12 30 on Fridays
and you're able to adhere to the 40
hours
I also have to work on Sunday mornings
for probable cause hearing so yeah okay
um mayor that's all my questions for the
moment thank you yeah okay so I've got a
few questions judge let me kind of go
back to earlier when you talked about
incompetent
and you said that after so many times
it's it's uh remanded to District Court
I believe
every time every time every time okay so
is it I'm looking at one particular
individual
who from January 25th 2021 to March 11th
he was on a payment plan
because he was arrested for criminal
trespassing and some other things
interestingly on seven nine of 2021
through 7-3 of 2022 arrested 60
different times
and was let go for dismissed or
incompetent he was charged with criminal
trespass assault and decent exposure
resisting obstructing arrest and
shoplifting
how can you
if I was to go to District Court will I
find his name on
um
what will I find
it sounds like it it sounds like he's
been found incompetent or excuse me not
competent multiple times and that's not
unusual
and you know somebody can be competent
and then become not competent and be not
competent and become competent so it
does happen occasionally
but and remember the referral doesn't
have to come from me it can come from
someone at the jail defense attorney the
officer City attorney
okay so I just want to clarify that so
whether or not that's in um district
court or not so about how many people do
you think you saw in 2022
approximately are you talking about no
no just everybody that you see from
traffic tickets the criminal trespass I
mean just approximately again it's not
doesn't have to be exact no it's it's
actually on one of my slides
um
let's see slide 18.
okay the total that was filed in 2022
was
[Music]
6486. and of those how many were put in
jail
just give me a rough estimate I don't
know because I mean it could have been
before they were convicted it could have
been that they were arrested on a
warrant from another court so there's no
way for me to isolate that
how many did you put in jail last week
you don't know how many you put in jail
or last week
one ten no
no in jail that I saw prison
arraignments well not a prison
Arrangements I'm talking that you they
they came before you and put in jail
include a sentence from the prosecutor
okay so let me ask you this so let's say
they don't plead in competency and
someone comes and they're arrested for
uh criminal trespass
and then they show up they're released
on their own recognizance do you tell
them anything like hey if I see you here
again I'm going to have to just like the
DWIs have they have increased penalties
as they do more do you do you tell them
that do you talk with them and say if I
see you again you're gonna something
else is gonna happen to you
so you can't make that a condition that
if they if you're you're letting them
out on their own recognizance and if
they I thought you were talking about
send saying no I do it frequently as
conditions of release okay so new
charges failing to attend court okay
right right because I remember one time
you telling me that
um and now I'm going to just switch for
this brief time to homeless uh you were
telling me that the homeless the reason
why a lot of these are really are
dismissed is because they won't show up
they don't come back for the second
hearing
I don't dismiss them if they don't come
back I issue a warrant okay all right so
in in a warrant for their arrest correct
okay
so in
um March 21st 2022 City passed a
resolution allowing Municipal Court to
to squash the failure to pay warrants
that dated back like from 1900 to 2017
amounted to some three million dollars
after that date 2017 to today
have you cleared
or got rid of any failure to pay
warrants
we set ability to pay hearings on every
case where somebody owes fines and
they're not paying if they show up we
put them on a payment plan if they don't
and it's the first time we issue a
summons and then if they don't it's a
warrant
okay but my question is since since
after March 2022 because we identified
these failure to pay warrants but it
dated to sometime in 2017. let's just
say since 2018 because you started
serving in 2017.
all right so since 2018 up until today
have you uh unilaterally squashed these
failure to pay warrants
we did we crushed the warrants and set
everything for a failure to pay hearing
if they owed and weren't paying okay so
if if they had not updated their address
with us and we got return mail that
would trigger a warrant okay I
understand about the warrant I'm talking
about
what I'm trying to get at is
you you have to that that City money
that's taxpayers money that's owned
right that's why the city council has to
sign off on that resolution that we did
in March of last year okay
so I don't know how more clear to ask
you this judge is since 2018 I'll just
make it since 2018 so 2018 2019 2020 21
22 to today
these failure to pay warrants have you
just squashed them and basically said oh
you need to pay that anymore
if we didn't have information like in
order to show cause or returned mail I
had to give them an ability to pay
hearing
and if they don't show up
it's the summons and then the warrant
so you're saying you did not you have
not squashed or get rid of get rid of
any feed or pair warrants since 2018
other than the time that we gave
permission the Court's permission to do
that in March 21 of 2022 that's the only
time those failure appear warrants those
are the only ones that that you were
allowed to just squash to let those go
away no know I we did void some warrants
because I didn't want the court to
become like Ferguson Missouri where you
just incarcerate people because they're
poor so yes I did that's why I wanted to
have ability to pay earrings okay so
when when did the city council pay
approve those
because again
even though we're we keep separate we
are theoretically the executive branch
of the city and that's the money and
that's why it has to there's a there's a
city code Las Cruces Municipal Code that
requires and that's why we did it in
March of 2022 and that's why I wanted to
find out
if you did squash failure repair
warrants from 2018 on up to now and you
said you think you did yes okay
okay yes
it might have a copy but can you get me
that copy or a copy of those warrants
that you squashed the failure to pay
because that has to have city council
approval judge
that's why we did the resolution in in
March of 2022 March 21st I'm not giving
them Amnesty on paying
they still owed the money
I agree and they stole the money but
again it has to be the approval for for
that to happen is for the city like for
example when the city gets rid of a
utility bills that doesn't mean uh that
they don't owe us that just means that
we don't carry it on the books we've
we've we've got rid of them and I think
much like this is the same thing here so
I think that
the court has discretion to quash
warrants and try to get the money other
way then why did we or do the resolution
to do this in March of 2022 right I'm
unfamiliar with it I was not involved
and I wasn't here so right
okay well I think that's that's really
the only questions that that I have
and um
okay if you want to go ahead and proceed
with your
I'm sorry this didn't
hide I thought it did but
so if you'll go back and look at the
slide for
police hours and also
Indigent representation costs what I
want to present to you is something
that's being done in the Santa Fe
Municipal Court it's simul similarly
situated they have a full-time judge an
attorney that occasionally hears cases
everything else is pretty similar but
they have a single defense attorney
and a single prosecutor so that the
officers don't have to come in and spend
thousands of hours at pre-trial hearings
which is probably one of the least
favorite parts of their job I'm guessing
and what it does is
it eliminates invoices for multiple
attorneys there aren't lawsuits from
panel attorneys suing us for payment
there's no need for auditing and
accounting of attorney appointments no
need to create contracts for attorneys
you stop having no shows by panel
attorneys it saves thousands of dollars
even after hiring a full-time defense
attorney and a full-time prosecutor
appeals by Indigent defendant will
always have the same attorney as the
underlying matter
and by the way the public defender
presentation that was incorrect we do
appear in District Court on appeals
it saves officer hours officers only
have to appear as Witnesses in Trials
not for pre-trials they don't have to
present their cases cases don't get
dismissed at pre-trial for officer
failure to appear make scheduling
hearings easier decreases the likelihood
of dismissal due to the violation of the
six-month rule and trials are conducted
by professionals not people who have
almost no training in how to present a
case and it makes it much easier to have
that partnership between the court and
the city for a specialty projects
treatment courts and so on
so I think if you looked at what we're
spending on panel attorneys that would
more than cover a full-time defense
attorney the only cons that I came up
with were needing space to house the
prosecutor and the defense attorney
needing ample notice from them for time
off requests
unplanned day offs would likely require
some scheduling issues and the city
might have to produce more Discovery I
know the city attorney's office is
short-handed right now and I think that
hiring assistant City attorneys that
have to have a breadth of knowledge in
multiple areas has proved really
difficult but I think that hiring a
single prosecutor and a single defense
attorney would not be problematic there
are many many attorneys in this
community that have been prosecutors and
defense attorneys and I think that those
would really appeal to people those jobs
so that's something that I am asking you
to consider doing to make that change
I'm seeing puzzlement
I will tell you this judge that ifo and
I we had we were we met with the D.A
ironically at a breakfast and we were
talking about how
um I believe there would be some changes
I think I've heard Council talk about
they want to be able to prosecute
domestic violence or some other DWI
other things and he's open to working
with the city so please allow us to kind
of work with with him and and um and see
what we can do that might also benefit
what you're talking about work with Mr
buyer is that what you're saying yes
correct
I'm not sure how that would affect the
City Attorney office well it would be a
City attorney would work with the DA's
office as well so Joseline do you want
to talk about
yes well I just have one follow-up
question actually on that
on the numbers that you presented
um the two
the total numbers for 2022
um 4 869 cases are you proposing that a
prosecutor and defense attorney handle
all of those cases yes okay I think it
could be done
I think it would be expedited and I
think it could be done
and I think maybe we can have a
discussion about this later I'd
appreciate it one of my concerns is just
that according to ethical standards both
parties the prosecutor and the defense
attorney have to be able to ethically
handle that caseload
and although the American Bar
Association hasn't I don't believe
established an exact number of how many
cases you can handle the suggestions are
around 200 or 300 per year for
misdemeanors
and that would call for about 24
Attorneys at that number
well remember a lot of cases get
dismissed for a variety of reasons but
let's have this conversation I think
it's important
yeah it's difficult though
um my last slide actually that I think
did not make it on here oh it did okay
it's it's how Miguel collated the
sources so I mean I was kind of
interested in hearing what Chief
Dominguez thought about not having to
have his attorneys in court all that
time and if I may on that topic as well
one of the issues I'm sorry
one of the issues that presents on that
topic as well judge goldbaum is just
that the prosecutors when they are
officer prosecute cases they are
Prosecuting and so if they were not
present who would be the person
Prosecuting and would that be you no for
trials they would be there as Witnesses
and then who would be the prosecutor in
that case the prosecutor who hopefully
the city would hire to prosecute so this
is only in the event that we that there
is a system established where there is
an assigned prosecutor and defense
attorney
yeah I don't really see how it would
work otherwise okay because that was my
concern and then one thing that I would
propose to you as far as if you're
concerned about officer time is just to
allow pre um telephonic appearance
so that they don't you take out that
driving time and it can appear while
they're in their vehicle the
resignature nurtures
from defendants but also from officers
and it was tricky if you can approve
anything like an e-sign type program
even Adobe has you can send for
signatures if you accept that we would I
think that everyone would be okay with
that as well let's talk yesterday
judge I'm going to ask you if you would
address whatever questions you have to
the city council and then the city
manager sorry excuse me
you had some questions I have a comments
oh okay yes uh counselor yeah
um I um I'm very disturbed by your
presentation I don't think it's totally
appropriate for you to be
discussing this with directly with our
City attorney I don't know what has
given you the um Authority on what
Authority do you believe you have the
right to come to address questions
directly to our City attorney to presume
that
this this body is going to in any way
um go outside of the scope of whatever
we have in the municipal code and so far
as the structure of the municipal court
so I don't understand
your your some of your presentation
frankly with all due respect is rambling
I don't know if that's your demeanor I
don't know if that's just a tactic to
wear us down
but my patience has really run out so I
I don't know
uh what conversations you've had with
the mayor or our city attorneys or our
city manager or anybody else on the
states or the rest of the world but all
I know is that it seems highly
inappropriate for you to come before
this body and then to be speaking
directly to our City attorney and
suggesting that you have meetings based
on what you believe will come to a good
end
you haven't showed us the model of how
this works you rambled something about
some City somewhere in the world that
has something going
and I I don't really understand
I don't understand why you're here
I don't know
what your means are what what your
intent is and frankly I'm frustrated and
um I I you know I'd like to go home at
five o'clock the way you go home at five
o'clock
usually we have pressing matters that
keep us here till close to 10 o'clock at
times at night starting at one o'clock
in the afternoon when we've had our
community meetings we don't have those
anymore we'd be there till about 10
o'clock at night right now I don't have
any patience to be here any longer and
I'm very sorry to express that to you
judge goldbaum but that's really what I
have to express to you I'm exasperated
and I can and I don't understand any of
there's no Rhyme or Reason to what you
are proposing you give us all these
statistics but there I mean all these
numbers but there's there's no reference
to the importance or reference to so
support your whatever it is you're
asking for and I would ask our city
manager to direct I don't know if this
is appropriate but as our
he's under our Direction I don't think
it's appropriate for our City attorney
to be having a discussion with uh judge
goldbaum regarding any potential changes
in the Municipal Court especially if
they're outside the scope of the
of the municipal code and and I I don't
want a place any blame on on attorney
Garrison but I um in any way shape or
form but I don't I just don't understand
what's going on and why it's going on
and the information presented doesn't
support the request thank you
I've concluded but if I um was out of
line with the city attorney I apologize
I wasn't trying to put her on the spot
um
so
I was concluded unless there are other
questions counselor Grant I I just
wanted to say
um I
counselor Flores I part of this was my
request to to learn more about municipal
court and I do think that I have learned
a number of things today that I didn't
know before and so
um I appreciate judge goldbaum's sort of
coming and sharing these with us I but I
would ask that those linked Excel files
that are included there and the one that
you sent us there are only two linked so
I think it might not be the most updated
one so if if we could also have that
most updated file that would be
excellent you mean for the slides yeah
this this slide that shows these four
data sources on our on the one that you
sent us only has two so
um and I appreciate you sharing the data
that you've shared
and I I look forward to us thinking
about alternative ways of of addressing
crime uh in whatever aspect we're
considering it but just to your point
counselor Flores this is in part because
I I felt like I needed to know more so
thank you
okay to email that info to
to the city clerk
so judge you're done with your
presentation thank you okay okay well if
there's no further questions entertain a
motion to adjourners
I'm sorry counselor beta made a motion
second bite second by councilor Flores
that we adjourn Christine
this is on the motion to during the work
session councilor beta yes councilor
Graham yes councilor Ben Como yes
councilor cram yes counselor Flores yes
councilor Gandara yes mayor yes
okay we are adjourned it's 4 29 PM all
right thank you
foreign
thank you
yes