You're
Well, good afternoon everyone. Welcome
to the work session. Today is Monday,
June 8th, 2026. It's approximately 100
p.m. I'm Mayor Eric Enriquez. We will
start with a moment of silence for the
brave men and women of the United States
Armed Forces as they protect our
interests around the globe as well as
our courageous men and women from the
Los Cusus Police and Fire Department as
they protect our city 247 365.
If you join me in the pledge. I pledge
algiance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the republic
for its one nation
and justice for all.
Okay, so our first item on the agenda
1.1 is city strategic plan update.
Chris,
thank you, mayor. Uh, good afternoon,
mayor, city council. Chris Favor for the
record. So, as everybody knows, we've
been working on updating the city
strategic plan, which uh effectively is
up the end of this calendar year. Uh
earlier in the spring, council and the
mayor met with our consultants from uh
single space strategies to sort of
discuss what they'd like to see moving
forward. That's been incorporated into
uh landscape and needs assessment. And
so our consultants are here today to uh
facilitate the first of three work
sessions. There'll there'll be another
one in August and then I believe in
September. Unless I have the months
wrong, but so this will be the first of
three. Um like to have a good discussion
back and forth with the document that
was sent over last week. Uh and so I
will go ahead and turn it over to
Britney Poss with the consultants to
take it from here. Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, counselors.
We're super excited to be here with you.
My name is Britney Poss. I'm the vice
president of data and research at Single
Space Strategies. Uh, and I'm joined
here by my team. This is our president,
Angie Poss. Our vice president of
strategic implementation, uh, Janelle
Johnson. This is our director of data
and research, John Wagner. associate
director of research Jessica Knox and
our director of government affairs uh
Sydney Tees. And we're rolling deep
because we're all just really excited
about this project. Uh we uh got to
spend some time down here in February
spending time with some of you and some
of the uh other city leadership and ever
since we've been thinking and talking
and writing about the challenges facing
Los Cusus and sort of the opportunities
that we see and we're super excited to
report that out to you and then have a
discussion about sort of what you all
see in the next two to five years. So um
oh sorry I didn't even pull up my
presentation. I'm so excited.
Okay, so uh just to sort of back up one
step, want to uh talk about you know
what the strategic plan is. We uh you
know this today is a really pretty early
step in the process. Uh we're not
deciding anything. No one is coming here
with like here is your strategic plan.
Uh what we've done is we've put together
a a landscape analysis and needs
assessment to sort of get us all on the
same page, have a shared analysis and a
shared language to start talking about
uh what could be and should be in the
strategic plan for the next two to five
years. So what is a strategic plan? A
strategic plan is a practical
decision-making tool uh for the city.
It's going to help city council and city
management identify priorities, align
budgets, and make choices about what
realistically can be implemented in the
next two to five years. And that time
horizon is really important. So, Los
Cusus, as you all know, already has
long-term vision documents, including
Elevate Los Cusus. But the purpose of
this strategic plan is different. It's
about what should be focused on now and
what should come first and how that
progress should be communicated and
tracked. Uh a strong strategic plan is
going to help the council to stay
relevant and actionable and transparent.
Uh we're hoping that it um captures
emerging issues. It sets a roadmap for
achievable outcomes, guides resource
allocation, right? Especially in this
sort of constrained fis fiscal climate
that so many municipalities are facing.
Uh and support public reporting through
the city's dashboard.
Uh so the report that you all were sent
last week the landscape analysis and
needs assessment is a starting point for
that discussion. So it brings together
lots of data, leadership input,
information on the community uh to
identify themes, opportunities,
tradeoffs that need to be discussed
before priorities are finalized into a
strategic plan. Uh just as importantly,
again, this this report does not set
final priorities. That is not where we
are. We're still in the discussion
phase. We're going to go out to the
public and ask them what they think. I
just want to be really clear that no
decisions are being made today or even
being proposed by us. We really want to
hear uh what's on your minds. Uh but
what we're hoping for is uh that you
know this report will uh spark some
discussion and engagement. It'll sharpen
the questions that we ask to the public
later this summer. It'll clarify where
we need public input and make sure that
future priorities are grounded in both
community needs and the realities of
implementation in Los Cusus.
So, a strategic plan really matters
especially now uh because not everything
can be done all at once, right? Los
Cusus is experiencing growing needs and
growing resident expectations at the
same time that you all are navigating a
more constrained fiscal environment. And
this plan can help clarify the choices
that you'll be making within that
constrained fiscal environment in the
next several years. Uh it's an
opportunity to sort of bring all of the
great efforts that you've done in other
plans there. You all are one of the most
wellplanned cities we've ever seen. Like
there's just plans on plans on plans,
which is great. And the strategic plan
is a is an excellent opportunity to help
sort of connect those priorities to
allocate resources and staff capacity in
the sort of like near to medium term to
keep working toward those longer term
plans.
So we can think of the strategic plan as
sort of the bridge between long-term
vision and near-term action. So focusing
on where should the city focus first,
where should limited resources be
directed, and how can we track and
communicate that progress. So that's
sort of the groundwork of where we are
and sort of what we're trying to do
today and with the report. So uh we're
going to just sort of do an overview of
the report. We recognize, you know, that
that you're very busy important people
and so want to just, you know, talk
through what's in the report. I know you
all have sat with it at night and read
it really deeply. Uh but I'm going to
say some things at you. Um so for the
analysis we drew on lots of different
sort of data sources. Uh the biggest one
is when we met with you all in February.
We also at that time met with the
executive team who were great. Uh we met
with a bunch of department directors. We
combined all of that with review of
community satisfaction and staff
surveys. We also collected data on
current community conditions including
housing, economic, infrastructure,
fiscal conditions, and we reviewed all
the city plans from the comprehensive
plan down to the departmental strategic
business plans. And all of this together
helps us see not only what issues are
important, but where there may be
alignment or tension or implementation
gaps. And that's what we're trying to
get at in this report.
Uh, but I want to start with what we see
as the city doing really well. And Los
Cusus is doing really well on a lot of
things. And first and foremost, I want
to say that we heard so much about
dedicated staff and how much staff cares
about making sure that residents get the
services that they need. And I think
that that is one of your biggest assets
is this dedicated um city staff that you
have. Uh we also heard a lot about great
partnerships with schools and nonprofits
and uh you know the institutions of
higher education that are helping the
city do more with less and sort of
implement um all of these big ideas and
this great vision. Uh we were also
really struck by uh how innovative city
uh department directors are. Uh you see
a lot of times in municipal governments
a lot of folks are just like well this
is the way we've always done it. It's
the way we're always going to do it.
there was such a spirit of like
innovation and adaptability and I think
that that's a real strength. Um and also
your strong planning culture is a is a
real strength. Uh and then strong
community assets and quality of life.
You know residents reported a lot of
satisfaction with like arts and culture
placemaking in the city. For example, we
heard over and over and over again about
the downtown farmers market. You know
you're doing a lot of great uh
placemaking here. So this plan can build
on all of that great work, all of that
great infrastructure, align it, resource
it, and communicate it more clearly so
that the next two to five years just
like build on, you know, this great
foundation.
So uh one of the big sections of the
report is this community or this current
conditions where we just sort of want to
level set. We know that you know about
your community. We're not here to tell
you about your community, but just to
sort of level set what the data are
saying about sort of what's going on in
Los Cusus right now. Uh we looked at
demographics, housing and economic
conditions, infrastructure, community
well-being, um organizational climate,
fiscal conditions, things like that. So
just a couple of highlights from that.
Um obviously Los Cusus is growing. Uh
the city's grown about 5% since 2020,
which is uh higher than a lot of places
around the state. And as you know, the
city's also part of this broader growth
corridor in southern New Mexico, which
creates opportunities, but it also
changes demand in terms of housing and
infrastructure and services. Uh, Los
Cusus is younger than a lot of its peer
cities and a lot of other cities in the
state and has a lot more renters
compared to owners. And, you know, a lot
of that is like having a big uh higher
ed institution in your community, but
it's definitely something that sort of
changes again the demand um on
infrastructure and housing and services.
Um,
speaking of housing, uh, housing is one
of the clearest pressure points in our
analysis. Uh, home prices have grown
much faster than wages. I'm not telling
you anything you don't know.
Homeownership is increasingly difficult
for many residents and the city's facing
a significant shortage of rentals and
affordable housing. Uh, you know, rising
rents and less vacancy is creating
competition. Uh, that is, you know,
hurting lower income housing. lower
income households and and folks who need
more flexible housing options and there
are new developments underway like you
all are like leading the way in the
state in terms of housing. Uh but you
know scale and timing remain major
challenges around housing.
Uh in terms of economic conditions uh
this is an economy as you know really
anchored by government education and
healthcare jobs which means that there
is sort of some economic stability which
is a real strength but on the flip side
you know there's limitations to sort of
private sector growth and job diversity
happening in the city and our analysis
points to a gap between economic
stability in terms of these sort of like
stable jobs and household financial
stress that a lot of households holds in
the city are f are facing uh wages and
incomes are lagging behind state and
national averages and poverty and
unemployment in the city is too high. So
it's it's not about sort of whether the
economy is stable, but how is that
stability sort of translating into
broad-based opportunities for residents
in terms of infrastructure? Again, I'm
not telling you anything you don't know,
but much of the city's infrastructure is
aging uh and maintenance and replacement
needs are ongoing and increasing. And at
the same time, there's growth in other
areas of the city, rising costs, energy
demand, there's water constraints,
climate impacts are all adding pressure
onto that aging infrastructure system.
Um, in addition, you know, road safety
remains an ongoing issue. There's gaps
in broadband and affordability. And so
this is why, you know, we really try to
drive home the point in the report that
growth strategy and infrastructure
strategy cannot be separate. they have
to sort of go together. Uh where and how
the city grows will shape the cost of
service delivery and the need for new
infrastructure and the city's long-term
maintenance obligations.
Terms of community well-being, higher
education obviously is a major strength
and economic driver. Um but at the same
time, residents are facing barriers to
stability and opportunity. there's mixed
K12 outcomes. Uh you know some housing
instability, homelessness persists
across the city. Uh so overall
conditions are reflecting really ongoing
progress but ongoing need and a lot of
that is is about sort of systems level
thinking and I think that that's sort of
where a body like the city council can
can really have an influence is how do
we coordinate across systems because
these are really interrelated issues.
Uh in terms of health and safety, you
know, crime rates remain higher than
national average, but they're going
down. Uh behavioral health needs remain
significant. Uh limited access to health
care providers. Uh the opioid crisis
continues to impact the community and
and again you know there you all are
definitely making progress and people
are working really hard and this
strategic plan is an opportunity to sort
of strategically invest in uh you know
coordination and uh things that are
working uh across the system.
So, uh, sort of moving on from community
conditions, we wanted to highlight some
key things that we saw throughout the
analysis that we think are going to be,
um, candidates for you all to address
through the strategic plan. These are
things that continually rose to the top.
Um, obviously, housing and growth
pressures, uh, you know, one of the
clearest items that we saw in the
analysis was about housing. Um and a key
issue is that development's been
weighted towards single family homes
while the community seems to need a
broader mix of housing types. And so how
to sort of address that gap. Um and then
we heard a lot about how permitting
timelines and regulatory processes at
the city um influence development
capacity negatively that you know folks
sort of need the processes to be more
streamlined to uh get developments off
the ground more quickly.
uh economic development and workforce uh
retention also came up as a key theme.
Uh there's concern about retaining local
talent, attracting diverse
opportunities, and creating jobs that
allow residents to both stay and thrive
in Los Cusus. Um you know, there's some
skepticism about relying too heavily on
incentives to get big companies in here
versus, you know, equal attention to the
sort of local business ecosystem. and
and we'll talk about sort of the the
strategic decision points in in a
minute. Uh but this is where we really
see one is sort of like spending
resources trying to attract folks here
versus sort of like um you know what
does it look like to invest in the local
ecosystem.
Another key thing that came up is around
um you know downtown development,
placemaking, community vibrancy.
um you know down folks talked about how
great the development downtown is going
and that's you know really exciting. And
then there's a broader question around
how the city supports uh vibrancy across
a more geographically dispersed
community. You know what does that look
like to do placemaking uh throughout the
city in terms of you know parks, arts,
cultures, public spaces, things like
that.
Uh another key theme obviously
infrastructure and development capacity.
um you know utilities, transportation,
broadband, wastewater, site readiness
all affect what kind of development can
happen, where it can happen and how
quickly it can move. So this is a really
important thing to think about, you
know, as the city is developing and
wanting to develop more. Um and it can
be helpful, you know, within the
strategic plan to connect council
priorities to the capital planning
process and to those sort of
implementation decisions.
Uh, another key theme again is the
stewardship of existing infrastructure.
Uh, you know, folks talked a lot about
uh, you know, in needing to reinvest in
roads and parks and facilities and
public spaces that residents use every
day. Um, you know, and that there is
some tension between new development and
the opportunities around new
development. Um, but that that only
creates more maintenance obligations on
top of sort of infrastructure that needs
a lot of maintenance. Uh so you know the
strategic imple implication here is that
the city needs to balance sort of
investment in new development and
reinvestment in existing assets. And
this isn't an eitheror question. It's
not you know do you do one or the other.
It's a it's again about in a strategic
plan how do you do sequencing? How do
you do funding? How do you do
sustainability?
Um obviously public safety is a is a big
thing that came up. Um and again, you
know, crime rates in Los Cusus remain
higher than national averages, but you
know, crime rates are going down. The
city is getting safer. Um and at the
same time, residents are seeing and
experiencing issues that shape how safe
they feel, including homelessness,
traffic safety, visible signs of
community distress. So there's there's a
little bit of a disconnect between, you
know, what's actually happening and sort
of the perceptions of residents. And so,
you know, this is about how to define
public safety priorities in a way that,
you know, addresses both the experience
and the sort of like actual on the
ground realities and also, you know,
thinking about what does public safety
look like in a more broad holistic way,
you know, sort of across um issue areas
because it's not just about enforcement.
Um, another theme that we saw coming up
through the data was organizational
coordination. So we did see and this is
not unique to Los Cusus all complex
municipalities have this issue um you
know where there's you know departments
can be in silos there's some you know
internal coordination could be more
efficient could be you know
communication could be more clear um you
know and and having these strong plans
but implementation not always keeping
pace you know there's just some um
organizational capacity that I could be
addressed through the strategic plan
because any strategic por priority is
going to depend on this implementation
capacity. And again, not because
anybody's doing anything wrong.
Everybody's working really hard, but
this is just a thing that happens in
complex organizations. And so, what are
the ways that this plan could spur some
more uh you know, cross- departmental
coordination, communication between
staff and council, things like that.
Um and then of course a key theme is the
budget right uh the you know the city
has you know a lot of vision a lot of
plans and many important priorities
um but you know implementation requires
resources and staff capacity and so
really what this is going to be about is
looking at the resources and sequencing
and aligning it to the budget. Uh this
plan needs to be very realistic. It
needs to be implementable uh even in the
current fis fiscal conditions. You know,
we have talked a lot about uh in
conversations with you all how we don't
want this to be a plan that just sits on
the shelf collecting dust. And a huge
part of that is that it's it's realistic
to the budget and to the sort of
implementation climate. And so, you
know, we're we're here to really help uh
you know, help that uh become a reality
so that this plan really can be used and
implemented uh in this climate.
And then uh another theme that came up
is community trust and coordination. And
this is really tied closely to
communication and transparency. You have
a really strong communication
department. They're so amazing. Um, and
you know, residents don't always
understand how decisions get made and
this can lead to frustration even when
the city is making progress. So, we
encourage you as you think about what
goes into this plan to think about how
you're going to communicate it and how
you're going to communicate processes or
progress and success and wins. Um, you
know, we believe that clear
communication, engagement, and progress
reporting aren't add-ons to a strategic
plan. They're part of implementation.
And so we want to encourage you to think
about that. And then um finally in terms
of themes is uh you know that you all
have just such a great community
identity. There's a lot of really you
know there's a lot of disagreement but
there's a lot of shared aspirations
around the city being a a good place to
live for everyone who lives here
thriving. And people really value the
culture, the quality of life, the
natural environment.
uh and you know there's a a shared
desire for this sort of more vibrant
active connected city with stronger
economic opportunities for residents and
so you know how do we keep what people
love about Los Cusus and just sort of
like continue to move us forward.
So out of all of that we sort of
collated all of this into what I think
is really the heart of this report and
of this discussion which is the
strategic tension and trade-offs that we
see sort of in the next two to five
years. um that you know growth and
expansion needs to be balanced with
existing assets with stewardship of
existing assets. Housing production
needs to be considered alongside
infrastructure capacity. Economic
attraction needs to be balanced with
local ecosystem development. Downtown
vibrancy being considered in the context
of broader development patterns. public
safety perception being addressed
alongside measurable safety improvements
and community expectations be getting
into alignment with organizational
capacity. So these are and you know this
is not exhaustive. This is just what we
saw and we're hoping in the discussion
that follows this presentation to you
know sort of stress test these and talk
about you know what we're missing and
what you know feels like what you all
want to tackle. But this is sort of what
we're seeing based on our analysis.
And so, you know, this is all sort of in
the same vein. Uh, you know, here's
where we think the biggest strategic
opportunities are in the next two to
five years. And again, these are not
final priorities. These are just the
things that we saw. Uh but it's things
like housing diversity and supply,
economic diversification, workforce
retention, infrastructure, development
readiness, downtown and community
vibrancy, public safety, community
well-being, organizational effectiveness
and communication, and aligning
priorities with resources.
So that is sort of the the long and
short of the uh needs assessment. Uh so
just wanted to flag what will happen
next uh in sort of a a big picture way.
So today uh Janelle is going to
facilitate a discussion where you sort
of react to what you saw and and we talk
about you know what we need to go to the
public to talk about uh later on in the
summer. Uh and you'll help us sort of
refine that today. Then, um, at the end
of July, we're going to do a bunch of
public meetings, uh, in each one of your
districts, which will be really fun.
We're really excited. Uh, a lot of what
comes out of this discussion today will
inform what those meetings look like,
but we really just want the public to be
able to weigh in on their priorities and
those trade-offs and their desired
outcomes.
uh and then we'll go away and we will
draft uh some recommendations around
what we heard and what we uh heard from
you and the public and what should be in
the uh strategic plan.
Uh we will have city staff review the
plan and tell us if we're crazy and help
us to sort of like uh make it make sense
uh in the context that you know they
know so much better than we do. Then
we'll bring it back to you and we'll
have another discussion and uh you know
you'll you'll tell us if we're on the
right track. You'll tell us if we're
missing anything. Uh and then we will
eventually we'll have one more after
that where we come back with a more
nearfal plan and we talk about like you
know performance measures and things
like that. Uh and then hopefully by the
end of the year we will have a strategic
plan that will really set you all up to
hit the ground running for the next two
to five years. Sound good? Okay. Um, so
like I said, Janelle's going to
facilitate a discussion. So no need to
uh, you know, react to me in this
moment, but if there are any sort of
clarifying questions that I can answer
before we get into that discussion, I'm
happy to stand for questions.
Okay, thank you. Any questions now or
wait for the discussion question? Go
ahead, Mark.
Um, thank you. So,
in in the report that we got, we got
surveys of community needs and stuff.
And so, I was wondering if you could
just give us a quick explainer on how
you conducted the survey, how many
results we got, where it was advertised,
stuff like that.
Yeah, absolutely. So, uh Mr. Mayor and
counselor, we did not uh we did not run
those surveys. Those are surveys that
you all had implemented uh John 20, it
was a year or two ago. 20 24 2024
um and yeah so it was I think you all
have had a presentation on that survey
already um but yeah John do you have the
number of responses that they got it's
yeah
okay yeah but it was it was a
representative sample they did you know
we we felt really good about the data
they did all the waiting and the you
know stratified sample and all of that
and so we felt really comfortable with
that data Okay, thanks. That's good
background.
Thank you. Anyone else?
Okay, we can begin with a discussion.
Thank you.
Shorter than her.
All right. Hello, Mayor Council. It's
good to see all of you again. And um as
Britney mentioned, we now want to t move
out of the findings from this report and
into like a real discussion. So again,
if we're going to take this out to the
public and write a plan that you're
going to use and won't sit on a shelf
forever, uh we want it to be like really
intentional. And so we really want to
take this time to touch base with all of
you about what you've heard in the
report, what you've read in the report,
and sort of what um Britney sort uh
covered high level. But we're going to
really anchor the discussion with this
slide, slide 27
um the emerging strategic opportunities.
So as Britney mentioned,
excuse me, one sec. Just you have to
state your name for the record.
Sorry. Yep. Janelle Johnson. Sorry. With
single space.
Thank you.
Um, okay. So, as Britney mentioned,
these are not our recommendations to you
or the priorities. Um, they're really
issue areas that we're hoping will drive
this discussion today so that we can
start to clarify what are the
priorities. Um, so today we're going to
ask, we're definitely not asking you to
finalize or give those recommendations.
We're going to just do a fun little
facilitation exercise. So to make sure
that we hear from everyone, we're going
to use a structured roundroin format. Uh
I'm going to invite each of you to
respond to a few questions and we're
going to go one by one and if you want
to pass that's totally fine. I can come
back to you. If you still are a hard
pass, that's also fine. No pressure. Um,
but we want to make sure that we capture
like the full range of council
perspectives on each of these. So,
where we want to start is uh we're
trying to think through like where do
you all believe like clear direction is
most needed again over the next two to
five years. Um, so this this part this
question is designed to like move us
beyond like the broad issue
identification and toward like the
underlying strategic question. So I'm
going to ask each of you, but I'll I'll
say which one I'm going to ask first in
just a second. But the question is
looking across these discussion areas
where do you think the city needs the
clearer direction over the next two five
two to five years across these? So
I'm going to call on councelor Mccclure
first because district one we'll go in
order.
Um I'm split a little bit. I I try to
fall back on my lane which I would say
is communication. I would say for
example like the climate action plan not
a lot of people know about it but we're
starting to implement things that people
residents should know and we don't have
any of that. Um I think housing
diversity is something we really need to
discuss to a large degree and um I think
we should be more innovative than we
have been. Okay.
Okay. Thank you counselor.
Um let's see we'll go councelor Karan
you want to answer next? Um this is all
of these are exciting and really
interesting but I think for me the fund
one of the fundamental things that I
think was called out that is has the
longest term implications is the
economic diversification and workforce
retention in particular and I noticed
thanks for calling out project Jupiter
and in your thing as like a a threat in
our community or but I think it's a
really good I think it was in this
context and in the context of
infrastructure and development readiness
but I think Um,
a lot of what you articulate in in the
report that you had is related to uh
improving the conditions of everyone
here. There there are some specific
measures about our lagging wages and our
lagging employment, both of which are
behind the state level averages. And I
think um as a city we I don't know all
the ways and I I think I think of this
because I feel like we've done a lot of
good work on housing and infrastructure
development, our zoning code. I don't
know that we've done the same kind of
like paving the way for good economic
development for good paying local jobs
here. And I think that that is a
fundamental way we can make a dramatic
shift in in thinking about it and also
understanding the greater context of
sustainable sort of businesses both in
the truly s like sustainable lasting for
a long time but also not harming the
local environment or the local community
values. And so I feel like that's the
biggest way to help us move some of
those measures that I feel like are
fundamentally important like wages and
and employment rate. Um and I don't know
how the city may or may not be
facilitating that economic
diversification especially on a local
level since it was called out as
something that we might not do as well
as um we do for other bigger
corporations or industrial sort of
partnerships. So
thank you counselor
Mayor
Yes. Thanks. Now, I I think these are
all great. I think they line up with
what we've discussed, what we've talked
about, but I would also agree that uh
when we talk about now and we talk about
first and where we're at at this current
point is budget cuts
and due to our revenues, uh well, our
expenditures exceeding our revenues and
I agree with council Karan. It's I think
we need to be stronger in economic
development. I think we need to
prioritize that. We need to look at as
you say the growth. Is it what attracts
individuals and people to Los Cusus?
What would attract businesses to Los
Cusus? And what do we need to do? What
also hinders those things? I think is
very important uh to our community
because all these strategic plans are
great but if we don't have the funding
then something's going to be lacking and
I think it starts with the economic
development.
Thank you mayor uh councelor Harris.
Um thanks. So I I think I largely agree
with um mayor and counselor Karan that
economic diversification and workforce
retention is the next thing to focus on.
um housing diversity and supply I think
will start to work itself out um with
the new zoning code. Uh it's it's
unfortunate that some of the the new
stuff that is being built today is being
built under the old code for reasons and
I think one of those reasons is timing
and and getting permits through the
process. Um, but you know, I I think
we're on the right track there and and
it's going to work itself out. But
really focusing on how we can the pie
chart that was in the report, um, how we
can take make that a lot more even than
just having the three sectors that
basically employ everybody in this town.
Um, and and that'll make us a more
resilient and economically prosperous
place to be. And then that that flows
through to all of the other things on
this chart, I think. Um, so once you're
once you're economically prosperous,
then all the other things get easier.
Thank you, Councelor Matise.
Well, the councelor Harris probably took
some words out of my mouth and that is
uh you know if you have a very safe and
a wellbeing type of community, if your
community is uh the structures and
everything is upgraded, you have the
Metropolitan Recovery Act take some of
the abandoned buildings and the
unsightly
looks of a city, then the economic grow,
you know, economic portion grows,
economic development grows, and it And
if that grows then you have some revenue
to do some of the other things without
the um without the city being attractive
to new people coming whether from
California I don't want too many people
from California sorry uh but if you have
people coming from all the states um you
know because Los Cruus uh you know the
Oregon mountains really kind of shape
our our people you know we uh and I
don't mean to be sarcastic I mean
they're high and we have a lot of
dispensaries. I I meant, you know,
they're beautiful to look at and it's a
it's a great place to live. And then I
think we have um the diversity of of the
housing. U
you know, I'd like to see maybe housing
uh spend less money on on the housing
that we're building. You know, I think
Cassie and I, Councelor Mccclure and
Council Munoz, we were talking about
tiny homes, you know, to where if you
spend less money but provide more
housing, then maybe that money could go
toward some of the other features,
public safety and community well-being,
fire department. And if you have a and
we have unbelievable number one in fire
department and crime is going down,
which is which is a good sign.
And if we um sort of model the city of
Los Cusus after the people that I've
known for 59 years that I've been here,
you know, they're very kind. They're
very generous. And I think you saw that
even with staff and very cooperative to
have a good city. I think we can build
better on on organizational
effectiveness and communication so that
the public knows this. So when you have
your summer meeting, you know, summer's
only what, a week away.
Mhm.
Yeah. And so you're going to have these
meetings in the summer, which you when's
your first meeting? A week, two weeks
from now or
our first of our public meetings? Yes.
That'll be the last week of July.
So you're going to miss all of um Okay.
The last week of July,
right? We put it a little later in the
summer so that we could account for the
folks who leave for vacation with their
kiddos and come back a little closer to
the school year.
Okay. Uh and and with those meetings, uh
they're going to be representative the
entire of the public. I mean, there'll
be uh the the real estate uh people uh
your developers, uh school teachers,
you'll have really big meetings, you
know. Yeah. And the reason I say that is
because I think that communication and
and your organizational effectiveness to
get that out there and get the word out
and what we are doing with a new
strategic plan, it's only going to be
successful if we have hundreds and
hundreds of people that will give us
some feedback. You know, I I mean, I
think the seven of seven of us could do
a good job.
Well, maybe not when you look back at
the last 10 years, but maybe we'll do a
better job. and and and have the um you
know the budget in place
and we'll have things uh that will be I
think for all the people of Los Cruus.
So, and we'll have be number one in
public safety. So, that's my priorities.
Thank you, Councelor Matise.
Thank you. And just before I move off of
that, I do want to say we're going to
have um six total public meetings, one
in each of your districts as well as a
few focus groups. Um so we are trying to
cast a very wide net. There's also going
to be a survey that goes out. We're
trying to target youth. We are trying to
get as many people out. And also, I just
need to give a thank you to city staff
who are helping us with that outreach.
It's a pretty big effort to get
everybody out and provide several
different modes where folks can
participate in this process. So, we're
tr we're really hopeful that we can do
exactly what you're talking about and
get a good sample.
Mayor, if I may.
Yes. Uh will that be continual in June,
July in like our utility bills? Will
that message be in our utility bills?
I believe so. Yeah, we have one more.
Okay.
All right. And then how will that be
distributed in the school system?
The school I think were we have folks
that were um
somebody in the community outreach team
sent stuff out to school partners to uh
let them know about it and also when we
do the uh youth focus group. And then uh
New Mexico State University students,
will they be involved?
I think so. Yeah.
Okay. All right. Thank you.
Yeah.
Okay. Last but not least on our first
question, councelor Bencomo.
Oh my gosh. Yes. Thank you. I'm so
excited for the city to be working with
your team and thank you for coming here
today and for providing this really well
thoughtout plan. Um, yes. I think all of
these you really uh I think uh were able
to encompass everything really well in
these in these key priorities.
Honestly, I think maybe I'll cheat a
little bit because I think aligning
priorities with resources to me feels a
real like a really important one because
I think it can actually go under all of
the rest of them, right? like
strategically spending resources
where one community is asking us to like
responding to community needs in a much
more strategic way. I don't always think
we do that. I think we sort of saw that
in the little bit of tension that
existed with the new GRT funds and how
we best spent those. And so I think
aligning priorities with resources can
go towards all of these. Even when we
think about like housing diversity and
supply which I agree with my colleagues
I think we've done an phenomenal job at
that even that I think there's like
tension between what the city the public
dollars that are being invested and how
the market is also responding to what
needs to be built right like that's
that's also the private market also
needs to um step up to the plate a
little bit and I think that's going to
be uh we're going to start seeing a lot
of that because of realize and our land
use and zoning code. So I'll say that
there. And then um I I agree that
economic diversification and workforce
retention is something that we have not
done at good done a a good job at in the
last 10 years or before. Um where it
what actually really caught me is um
what the takeaways that I had that was
really interesting was the age
distribution that I hadn't really
thought about. I think the narrative is
that our community is a retirement
community and then I saw the age
distribution was um highest in 20 to 29
and 30 to 39. And so I'm like what how
are we building a city that is
responsive to young working people and
perhaps young families and responding to
their needs in terms of workforce
opportunities. And then the other big
takeaway here was low wages, high
poverty rates. yet we're still seeing a
higher cost of living and like higher
home prices and things like that. Those
to me are, you know, clearly need to be
addressed. And I think within the
context of workforce opportunities,
diversification,
economic mobility is something that I've
been talking about since our budget
retreat. To me, those really I think if
we put a greater focus on that
we will start seeing uh difference in
the rest of these, right? Like community
vibrancy and community well-being and
community safety. And so I actually do
think that is needs to be more important
and we just need to get out of the
bubble of economic development that I
think we've been in and really start
talking about economic mobility and
diversification and retention. So I will
stop there. Um but thank you. These are
great.
Thank you. Thank you mayor and council
for indulging us in our first question.
We're going to move on to the next round
and this is really focused on the public
engagement phase. Um rather than like
going out there and asking Los Cruus
like a prod what do you want question we
really want our goal is to like
understand what do you need to hear from
them before drafting the priorities. So
this we're gonna this is going to be a
twofur this one. So the first question
in this round is where would public
input be most useful to you before
priorities are drafted? So for this one
I'm going to start with councelor
Harris.
Um thanks. Okay this is it's a good
question. Um I I guess following from
the economic diversity workforce
retention. Um I kind of wonder like
if you could choose a job like what
would I guess what kind of job
opportunities
are we missing? Um, and I I think that a
a big problem that I I just kind of get
the vibe I' I've lived here my whole
life. Um, so I see this, but like
you see the jobs that are around and you
kind of just assume that that's it and
that nothing can change. Um, and so so
maybe leaning
leaning towards that. Um, you know, what
kind of jobs do you think would be nice?
And and and I wonder like is it would be
nice to have here because then you're
thinking of what other people could do.
Um but like if if you were to if you
wanted to move up and or or across and
do something different um you know what
kind of opportunities would you like to
see? Um education opportunities, job
opportunities, all that kinds of stuff.
Um there is interesting kind of just a
comment based on the communication
stuff. Um it kind of goes for the
private sector too. Um we we live in an
interesting town with um where we do
actually have some high-tech industry,
but by the nature of that high-tech
industry, um we don't talk about it and
you're not supposed to. Um so there
there is some miscommunication that you
have to leave to get um some of these
higher tech jobs. Um so yeah, I guess
that would be my interest. I I have a
lot of others, but that's one.
Great. Thank you, councelor. Mayor,
where would input be most useful before
our priorities get drafted?
I think that's really a very difficult
and tough question. You know, I I I
think it's hard because even as as we've
just seen, like for example, our voter
turnout
is very limited. So even if we want that
input, it it there's always limitations.
But I guess to answer, I would say
getting the stakeholders, getting a lot
of the stakeholders and getting the
information from them. If we're talking
business, bring in some of the business
stakeholders, our youth, our students,
uh, from the university, the, uh,
community college. Uh, bringing in the
stakeholders, I think, would would get
more of what I always refer to the boots
on the ground that are actually doing it
and working with it and bringing them
and getting their information on what
the dilemmas are, what's working, what's
not working, what do we need to stop
doing. A lot of that information would
be, I think, valuable, but trying to get
that to come to the table is what I feel
is always a challenge.
Great. Thank you, Mayor.
Uh, councelor Karen,
thank you. This question, yeah, it's not
not easy, but I do think um to echo what
what the mayor is saying, but also
really thinking about the context of
this is fundamentally we have to make
decisions. This is like for six year a
six-year plan.
Does that mean that I will be able to
pave the street that the residents have
been bugging me about forever? Um, in my
district, probably not, right? Like my
district is is overresourced and and
generally if you looked geographically
and in terms of new development, that's
what my district looks like, right? It's
it's a place where we've experienced a
lot of growth and development in really
positive ways. And for me to say, oh, I
would love I hear from the residents in
my district that I should fix the street
and we should. However, th I hear from
those residents, right? So, I think
thinking about strategically the the
folks who are
least heard from, right? Some if you've
never sent me an email, then you should
be the person that fills in the survey
for for this thing, right? Like that's
that's the basic qualification of people
where people are that I would like to to
hear from. Um, and I do think also that
means looking at we've done everything
in such an incremental way. six years, a
plan here, a plan here. Um, that looking
at that in a big I think parks and wreck
were called out in in this as one of the
top three I think things that people
were were looking for that in. And we've
been having this conversation about
where we should invest in new
recreational facilities. And I think I
would like to be able to answer that
question, right? And that includes input
from people in the places where there
isn't a rec center, right? And so
however we can however you all might be
able to target the the information and
and input and coalating all the other
information that exists that is just
kind of out there would be very powerful
I think to me to to see um if you can't
just say if you've never emailed your
city councelor we want to hear from you
then maybe the the places that we know
we've strategically left behind we can
we can make sure that we think about
those and add that as a variable in in
an equitable
understanding of what we might do moving
forward, I guess.
Great. Thank you.
Uh, councelor Mccclure,
I agree. This is a more difficult one, a
little bit of a different tact on it. I
have not been born and raised here. And
one of the questions I used to get all
the time was, "What keeps you here?"
And I think one of the questions we can
ask is, "What are we doing well that
people want to see more of that we can
support as a city?" I also, you know,
it's really easy to complain, but to
have people sit and really think about
what keeps them here. Sure, we get the
land of enttrapment a lot. Of course,
we're going to get that in these
questions, but what beyond it, I would
say the people keep me here, shockingly
enough, right? I know. But it is it's
the people. It's the culture. A lot of
people who do have the ability to leave
do stay. And figuring that out would be
really interesting.
Thank you, Councelor Beno.
Um, thank you. Yeah, I think
um I think it's the balance, right,
between the folks that are like already
highly engaged. Obviously, those are
important um folks to
continue to engage and it's the folks
that aren't right. Like I think to me uh
I think the always the hardest folks to
try to get are the folks that are too
busy working working one two three jobs
right to to sustain their communities.
And so for me, I think some of the most
important voices and places to engage
would be um working people, low-income
households, um the folks that rely
mostly on public on on the function of
government and local government the most
to be able to tell us and inform us um
how we could be doing a better job.
Great. Thank you, Councelor Matise.
You know, I I I keep thinking on the
organizational effectiveness and and
communication and and I I think it's
very difficult to reach a lot of people.
You know, maybe on our strategic plan
proposal, maybe we should just put in
there as but, you know, not tell the
truth that we're going to raise their
taxes and we're going to raise the
utility bills and the place will be
packed,
you know, so people react to what's
important to them.
And so I think it's your job. You're
going to have to make this strategic
strategic plan
actually important to them. Not not to
us. I mean, play down the role we have
because if it's important to us, they're
not going to like it or they're not
going to attend. But if it's important
and and valuable to them and their
children and their home ownership and
their neighborhoods and and the safety
of of the city, I I think you'll get a
good a good turnout, not only in survey,
but I think you'll get a a good turnout
at the different uh locations that you
have. If you u do a good job trying to
reach a lot of people with something
that uh is important for them, you know,
their home values are very important
and their neighborhood safety is very
important. Their education, you know,
their children and the the safety of
their children in the schools are very
important. So if we accent an economic
development, you know, the jobs for
these kids that are in I think the mayor
said it best, you know, the the jobs of
the future for these kids that are in
elementary school and junior high.
Uh just like Council Mccclure said, they
want to stay here. You know, I I love
Los Cruisers. I really I I just love it.
and um you know they want to stay here
and they want to grow up in a city that
has good jobs whether high-tech or
whether skilled but I I think that's the
reason why people like Carol you know
the library director and others have
attended I know Sonia has our after
school program meetings because we need
to develop that you know that would be
one of the priorities that we have to
align with and that is uh training
training our young children and skills
and career paths. And so all of that I
think is important for these people when
they see a strategic plan. I mean, do
they want to see a strategic plan that
says you're going to be an all-electric
city?
I don't know. I I I wonder about that.
But if the if the plan's going to be no
choice and we're just going to decide
that our strategic plan for the next six
years is to have an all-electric city,
you're not going to get a lot of people.
Maybe you will get a lot of people
attending. Maybe maybe they want choice.
Maybe they want a choice between natural
gas or solar or electric. But but if you
if you confine it, you know, to certain
things of this strategic plan that only
align with certain people or certain
priorities, you're you're not going
you're not going to get good attendance.
And that's what I like to see. I like to
see a general request that we're helping
more people in Los Cruz just en enjoy
the rest of their life here.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councelor Matise. I'm
actually going to do the next follow-up
question uh based on some of what you
shared. Uh so we'll start with you
there. Um because before we go out to
the public to
I pass. No,
I can come back if you really don't want
to. Um, before we go out to the public
with these discussion areas,
what do you think based on your
experience with your constituents and
being a resident of Los Cusus yourself,
what would make these more usable, more
clear? like what what needs to happen to
these to make them really resonate when
we do go out to the community.
Yeah, I think I almost kind of answered
that. I'm sorry I jumped the
That's all right.
the question, but one thing you could do
is serve good food.
You know, if you have some food
available, I think you'll get a lot lot
of people attending. And if you open it
up to families, you know, if you have it
at a an hour, you know, I'm trying to
get council meetings to meet at least
one time a month in the evening, you
know, so we could have the the working
people actually attend. I think the
mayor's amunable to that. He's trying to
work on it. And um but if we we could
have it a good hour to where every
working people could come and children
could come have food
um and then h like I said have subjects
in there that are good for them like is
your neighborhood safe? Uh is your home
value increasing? Um what do you think
about our our fire department? In other
words, you know, kind of give the
questions that they really love about
Los Cusus and and you know, our our
police department, uh, our traffic
stops, you know, there's things that are
happening right now. Our Metropolitan
Recovery and how we're going to rebuild
Solano
and El Paso. We're going to make it
nicer. our ordinance, our nuisance
ordinance. I think uh you know, you've
been doing a good job trying to get some
of these abandoned buildings, Chris, is
and and and that department, some of
these abandoned buildings and unsightly
buildings condemned and and made to
where that neighborhood looks good. I
think that's what people are are
interested. I think, you know, I um you
don't know until you put it out there,
but I think that would be be something
that's personal to them. you know,
they're not interested in the big
picture. They're not interested in
what's going on in the world, what's
going on 10,000 miles away. They're
interested in what's going on between,
you know, their three three or four
neighbors and and their street,
I think. Thank you.
Thank you, Councelor Matise. Councelor
Mccclure, is there anything about these
that we should make more clear? Should
they not be combined? Should some of
them be combined uh before we go out to
the public?
I guess what I was thinking about when
when we were talking about that, not
quite answering that question, sorry. um
was we have all of these plans and with
that we can construct a future they want
to live in and giving them the example
and the buyin of here's what your future
could look like but then I I see my role
to a large degree as educational to walk
them through the process and say okay
but that is also based on funding and
this is where funding comes from and
funding is very human especially when it
comes to capital outlay so how does how
how can we educate what the process
looks like so they don't get discouraged
from that vision that we're trying to
create for them that they have buy in.
So, I don't know if that answers your
question, but that's where I'm going
with it. Thank you,
Councelor Ben Ko. Back to you.
Repeat your question, General. I'm
sorry.
Uh, before the discussion areas are
shared with the public, what would make
them more clear, more complete, more
useful for community input?
Yes, I think
you know we
all sort of travel in circles where like
this kind of jargon is very common. I'm
wondering if there is ways to make some
of these topics more relatable to people
um so that there's like a um like
capturing folks to come. Certainly hope
fear-mongering isn't one of the tactics.
Um, but yeah, I think more like more of
a relatability to some of these. And I
also, you know, like Elevate, for
example, is what is it like 20-year plan
or something? Very long. 20 years. Thank
you. Um, this strategic plan is a lot
shorter term, right? So, it's like
what's the like yes in your in your
immediate future, right? like what can
you need to what's the impact you want
to make and the feedback you want to
give the city to make in in a very
immediate future that you can
potentially um see right away. But I do
think more of like a relatability
um more relatable language.
Thank you.
I don't have any I'll think about
some suggestions as well.
Thank you. Appreciate it. Mayor,
anything about these discussion areas
that we should make more clear, complete
before sharing with the public?
Yeah, I think it's hard to come up with
the proper uh verbiage or the
terminology, but uh you know, growing up
here, being raised here in Los Cruus and
being out with the public and what I
hear, so the basic needs that I hear
from them are a cleaner city, a safer
city, higher paying jobs and activities
for our youth.
Thank you,
Councelor Karan.
Thank you. So, are you sure you want me
to give you this feedback?
Yes.
So, when I when I ran for re-election, I
I recorded 40 introductory videos. Uh,
every one of them I was like, "That was
terrible. That was terrible. That was
terrible." I edited them all. Then I
showed it to two very trusted folks. Um,
and they were both like, "That was
terrible." After 40 edits, they told me
it was terrible. And one one of the many
critiques that I received in that in
that conversation was the word
infrastructure and the idea about
infrastructure. And fundamentally, I
think that they all though they were
correct and I did eventually edit that
out of the video. Um,
I got reelected despite the video. Um,
but but I think the idea of
infrastructure, even among us, you might
not hear a common sort of like idea of
what infrastructure looks like, right?
Like I mentioned, the roads, buildings,
the buildings that exist, the utility,
like I feel like utility projects often
get sort of glazed over and are a really
huge part of what we have to consider in
our bigger portfolio um of things that
we're spending money on or ways that
we're investing or or asking people to
pay more in their utility bills for
instance. So I think the idea of
infrastructure and development readiness
is really nebulous to people probably um
and it's just hard to say. So just to
save you all the 40 takes of
infrastructure and whatever that means.
I think that that language is a little
bit vague and also I think as mayor
mentioned as as councelor Beno mentioned
really putting this in in the way that
people think about their daily lives,
right? Their commutes, their um clean
water, their ability to not be burning
hot when they wait for the bus, right?
Like so I think those are things that
people are experiencing. And then the
last two things, while I think those are
fundamentally important to us to focus
on, I don't know how the public the
public will want more communication no
matter what. And considering that I just
have been like every communication thing
that I do with a city is similar, 40
takes usually, I I know that these
things take an extraordinary amount of
resources and don't necessarily
they're still not permeating the the
type of communication that I think we
would hope for. So to me, the last two
things are things that we as an
organization, we as leaders need to
reflect on that the public won't
necessarily have enough information to
be able to really articulate what that
looks like for them. So to me, those two
things I would just like to say I want
us to focus on them and work on them
collectively and I think we should keep
them, but I don't know that asking the
public about that um I think it would be
a really hard conversation for them to
say what what do you want to hear from
from the city? I think people would say
like, "Oh, where can my kids go
bowling?" And that's a thousand% not
well, we're going to tell them when we
communicate more, right? Like, um, so I
think for me, those two things are
important, but I don't know that the
public that public input generally will
change how we do those things. I think
we just need to invest more and really
think strategically about those things
for ourselves. So th those would be my
things. Don't make yourself say
infrastructure a thousand times. Um, and
maybe put some more things. I don't know
that. Sorry, just to get back to this, I
am imagining the strategic plan might
have sort of like um the outcomes
conversation and that feels like these
first five or six things and then the
process related things I think fall from
that and may be
directly related or may not be directly
related but things like how quickly we
can produce permits or turnaround plans
when someone wants to build something
new that's something that we really have
to reflect on internally. So I'm hoping
that however it's structured can have
both an outcome and then these are the
things that are associated with that
that are in internal processes and I
think that's more to those last two
things. So sorry to go on.
Thank you. and councelor Harris.
Um,
yeah, I would
I think I also agree that we want to use
more relatable language and examples
when we go out and and ask about things.
Um
because I I think that one of the one of
the reasons why we get stuck
here or entrapped in the land of
enttrapment. Um it is that we kind of
things are actually pretty stable and I
think you mentioned that in the economic
slide uh earlier is that like things are
pretty stable like it's could be better
um but
um you know everything's not on fire and
falling apart. And so if you ask
somebody like what what new job do you
want or what
what kind of more economically diverse
city or vibrant community do you want?
Um it's really hard to answer that
question without an example. Um,
and I got this question a lot, speaking
of being on the campaign trail, on the
campaign trail of like, well, what do
you mean by the word vibrant community?
Um, and and it's kind of hard to
communicate um, unless you're like
somewhere that you would, it's kind of
like a you know it when you see it
situation. Um, so I think examples are
really helpful. Um I agree that
infrastructure is a very loaded term and
can mean a wide variety of things. Um so
that might you know if we're trying to
figure out questions
if we're trying to figure out like
desires about infrastructure
that's also a hard thing to answer as a
user of it. Um, so like just as a person
who uses water and gas and electricity
um and roads, I'm like, well, I want all
those things to work,
but that's like the end of my input. Um,
I I don't since I'm not a subject matter
expert on all those things. So, you
know, my my level of interaction with
them is kind of like they should
function. Um, in my current role, like
I'm learning a lot more about that
obviously and and we have higher level
ideas. Um, but I think getting getting
input on like what you want your road
infrastructure to look like is
difficult. Um,
and and transit. Uh, I I'll mention
transit because it was in the report.
Um, and one of the reasons why I asked
the survey background is that there was
a a question that said 40% of
respondents said that transit was easy
to use, that public transit was easy to
use, and 85% of people said that they
don't use public transit at all. So,
um, you know, what does that mean? Um,
and and we don't have a good example
locally of like a functioning
I I all due respect to our transit
system which is pretty good and for for
the resources it has and I think staff
does an excellent job but like on a
global scale
we don't have a functioning like that a
European city would or or a larger North
American city would. Um and I think that
that there would be no disagreement in
city hall about that. Um, so we have a
very So, so from a public perspective,
when you go out and you say like what
would make the bus system better, nobody
knows because they don't have an example
of it. Um, so yeah, that's that's kind
of my answer.
Great. Thank you.
All right, mayor and council, we're
moving into our last round from this
facilitation portion. Um, and this is
where we're going to move back into the
strategic tensions and tradeoffs that
Britney had covered a little while ago.
Um, to be clear, this round is to help
us like surface those harder choices
that otherwise sort of stay implicit.
Um, and it's not about like forcing
either no um, choices on anyone, but if
we're going to go out into the public,
we want to make sure we have a good
sense from you all about which of these,
if any, we should really be keeping in
mind um, and and make sure that we
explore when we are out there in the
public talking about this process and
the priorities. So,
mayor, I'm going to ask if you want to
be the first to answer that question.
Which of these trade-offs, if any,
should be explored as part of the public
engagement process?
Yeah, I go back to the economic
development and u I think that that
would be the priority and then you know
I'll continue with public safety and the
community expectations like I said like
what what what are the family uh
activities what are the youth activities
uh you mentioned it from the beginning
that we're growing I I think our biggest
thing is sunshine. So, it's our outdoor
and our recreation and those type of
activities, but how can we tie those in
to benefit us with economic development?
Great. Thank you, Mayor.
Uh, councelor Kuran,
thank you. This is a great question. I I
to me I'm answering this question
because I feel like I want us to do the
most we can to address equity gaps that
exist in any of these categories. Um and
so to to me this comes in the growth and
expansion versus stewardship of existing
assets. That's like a geographic
conversation about where um there might
be inequities. Um and then the other
part of this is related to sort of
downtown vibrancy versus auto-oriented
development plans which is putting a
very specific name on it but as from
from the autoor oriented uh outlying
part. I understand that this is like
that transit bikeability those things
were mentioned among the the priorities
that people um highlighted. So I think
they they get to the tensions of where
people are safe andor commuting short
distances easily versus having to
commute a long distance um where roads
are safe where people have access to
service. So I think to me growth and
expansion versus stewardship of existing
assets. And I put that in there as like
I I'm just going to name it. I know that
we've we've talked around this, but I
think I wish we would have real
conversations around things like the
airport, which it put goes into the I
think stewardship should include how we
invest in existing assets and what why
we're investing in those assets. And I
would put I would like to put things
like the airport in a short-term real
conversation about what that means for
people's um things like trans transit or
access and and how does it fit the
priorities of in my opinion increasing
equity of transportation and in our
community.
Thank you councelor Kuran councelor Ben
Ko.
I really appreciated this part of the
report. So thank you. I it's interesting
because I think the these tensions and
trade-offs if we were to have these
conversations internally with among city
staff and city leadership and then also
like outside of the city with residents
I think those those conversations would
be really different actually. So I think
we should explore that number one.
Um but also so are you saying explored
in community conversations? Which of
these Okay. Umh
I'm gonna do three. I'm sorry. The first
one for sure. I think the first one is
very important. Um I think as the
facilitators of the meetings, I think
you should be prepared to have this
conversation about public safety versus
measurable safety improvements. I think
a big topic of conversation will be
around safety
and I think it's important for us to
continue to have the conversations about
what like what does that really mean
like when you strip it down what does it
really mean that people want how they
want to feel safer for some people it's
um pedestrian safety right for some
people it's burglaries for some people
it's like right it could be very
different and so I think you should be
prepared for these conversations to
arise anyway and to be able to provide
like these measurable safety improvement
opportunities um for people to to think
about. Then the last one I will say is
the last one community expectations
versus organiz organizational capacity
and not just capacity but like
organizational
authority even if I think about the
previous one like the city has no role
or authority over how long someone stays
in jail for example and so I just think
it that's just one tiny example I do
think it's important to talk about the
or like the bowling alley or right like
what's the what is the city's ultimate
role
responsibility and authority. And I
think those are really important and
exciting conversations to have with with
people as we think about the next few
years.
Thank you, Councelor Harris.
Um,
yeah, I I also want to know more or at
least have the conversation about
perception versus measurable
improvements. Um, and when it comes to
public safety, when it comes to traffic,
when it comes to transit, um, those were
all areas in like that were in the
report that kind of stood out to me as
that it's clear that perception did not
match the reality on the ground. Um, and
we can say that perception doesn't match
reality on the ground, but and and all
of us would say it. Um but
like that also doesn't necessarily
change people's perception and so you
know what can we dismissive
right exactly it feels dismissive um and
so like you know trying to break that
down and figure out where that lies um
and then as far as like what the city's
role in that is
one I I think there's a strong argument
to be made that the main role that the
city has is in the built environment
like that's the main thing we control.
Um, so what can we do to improve um, you
know, perceptions with that? Um, I I
noticed in there that like a huge
percentage of people said that traffic
was awful and a very small percentage
said that it was not bad. Um, that's
again kind of an example thing. You
know, I can say, well, have you driven
anywhere else? Um, but you know that
also feels kind of dismissive and so
like there there's actual like
complaints um you know and and desires
that are behind those things. Um so we
we should sus those out. Um I think um
the incentive based economic attraction
versus local development
that's that seems to me as more of a
technical discussion. Um, and I don't
know
that that's a thing that, you know, will
people care too much about if is it a
productive conversation, I guess, to
have in a public meeting of like should
we do X tax incentives or permitting
reform? Like, you know, I I don't know
how productive that is. If we had
meetings with business people, um, small
business owners, large, medium business
owners, um, something that would be very
helpful is to get to the again the
perception versus reality. Like a
statement that I hear have heard
repeatedly, you know, in in my years is
the city is anti- business. And if you
look at our general fund, which is
funded entirely by gross receipts tax,
um, and think about that statement for 5
seconds, like obviously that's not true.
The city needs businesses to function,
um, at a very basic level. And so
obviously we're not, but that perception
is there. And so what is the actual what
are the actual blockers um, that put
those perceptions there? Um, downtown
vibrancy versus autooriented development
patterns.
I think that's also a useful thing. Um,
but not necessarily like downtown as a
destination. So, you know, if you live
further away from downtown, like
I think it might be a more useful
conversation to ask like, well, what
would you what amenities would you like
in your neighborhood or nearby your
neighborhood that would make your life
better? Um, and then we can use those as
strategy for
you know, master plans and things like
that. Um, versus saying what would what
should we add downtown so that you would
drive downtown more often. Um,
so, so that's that's kind of how I see
that conversation going. Um, I I also
don't want it to, you know, we also have
to face the reality that like we live in
New Mexico and things are very far apart
and every household has at least one car
and that's an important way to get
around and so like this isn't a a war on
cars type scenario. Um, it just it
should be easier to get around with with
less less driving. Um
the community expectations versus organ
organizational capacity. I think
I think exploring like what what things
people need out of the city. Um and
again touching on our actual capacity to
do things. Um you know the city can
maybe make it faster to get a permit for
a bowling alley but the city can't
decide that there should be a bowling
alley here and thus there is a bowling
alley. Um,
so
yeah, I think those are that covers most
of it. Thanks.
Right. Thank you, Councelor Matise.
Janelle, would it be okay if I just uh
answered later by using AI
because I think I'd have great answers
for this these question. But no uh you
know I think the the tensions are the
tensions are not really there between
departments as much as um it is
sometimes where the money comes from. I
mean when you look at a city you know
you you have to maybe concentrate on
housing
because there's so much federal money.
You know, Natalie does a good job
getting money from everywhere else but
the general fund and that's millions of
dollars.
And then on on economic attractions, I I
think that has to be the a big city
role. I mean, we need to to make sure
that the stewardship of the existing
assets that the city keeps looking good
and and I don't think we've done that
real well. you know, we we're sorry
about El Paseo and some other things
that have deteriorated in the city and
that deterioration is over 10 to, you
know, 12 15 years and so now we have to
go and and fix that. So, yeah, there'll
be tradeoffs there, but you really have
to do both. You know, I don't see it
versus I I I see everything here.
It it has to be both. It can't be versus
it. It has to be equally both happening.
You know the downtown vi vibrancy has to
continue but so does
development have to continue as well
with private with private enterprise and
and then public safety perception and
and we we have to always and again
that's federal money that comes in on on
the public safety both the fire
department and and the police
department. So you have uh grants, you
have federal money, then you have to put
a lot of city money if you want to keep
a very safe and and and and clean city
and and have excellent fire department,
of course. And you want that ISO to be
as low as possible. So that that's good
for the the community and they don't
know that. You know, there's a lot of
good things that we do that save the
public a lot of money both in their
insurance, but they don't know. And so
maybe that might be part of the
strategic plan too is that as as we
develop a department and and we put more
money into that department. We're not
just building, you know, we're not just
creating jobs just for the sake of
creating jobs. We're we're actually
creating um patterns that help the
public pay lower costs like for their
ISO, for their insurance pre and the
public needs to know that. and and the
light program and other programs and and
everything with public safety. So I I
see public safety perception and
measurable safety improvements that has
to be con that has to be concurrent that
that has to run together. And then again
back to community expectations. Um,
you know, we we live by example.
You know, what what the what the council
does and how they act and how they
behave is exactly uh what the city
expects from us.
And so if if we're good leaders, believe
it or not, I think community members
will be good leaders both in in the
school systems and and in the
neighborhoods. So, thank you.
Thank you, councelor Mccclure.
Truth be told, I'm I'm a little all over
in this one, so I don't Let's see how it
goes. Um, so I guess the first one I'll
go with is the downtown vibrancy versus
autooriented development. Um,
I don't know if this is something that
came up in our conversations that was
sort of one-on-one, but it was always
interesting to me and and go piping down
to perception is the idea that you would
talk to people, especially in in the
Mosquite District where they'd say, "Oh
my goodness, I I remember walking to the
Sunshine Bakery with my Abua and that is
just treasured memory that I have." And
then they say, "But there's a commercial
walk going in like two doors down from
me. How dare they?" I'm like, "Boy." I
mean, I I understand the concern, but I
think the Bean on Mosquets's doing
pretty well. So, I it's interesting to
me that people have a sense of where
they want to go and what they love, but
they don't understand what growth looks
like in sort of meaningful ways. And
when we talk about growth and expansion,
I think of how we can do that internally
in the city. I very much worry about us
growing, expanding as a city into the
desert. We can't do it. It's not
sustainable. It's not practical.
And and also how I mean especially since
we don't feel I don't feel like we have
leadership on the development level on
the private side to say what is it going
to look like to have a walkable um area
that has the needs that meet you right
there. If you think of Metro Verde, you
have to drive to leave to get anywhere.
So if we're thinking about Mesa Grande
expansion and there's going to be if we
can't incentivize that there's going to
be a grocery store then then North
Main's going to be even more of a mess.
So things like that where we're actually
thinking about what this future will
look like that goes back to what I said
earlier is that idea of that future is
something they can help control when
they demand it when they ask for it when
they say I don't want to move into that
area but I wanted to move into this area
and that's starting to happen the MSU
District too. Um, I do think that we
have a very powerful local ecosystem. I
think I don't know if uh, Councelor
Harris was kind of
um, touching on that subject, but we
have a lot of people who could be
entrepreneurs if we gave them the chance
to be that. And what that what would
that support look like? Um, but we have
no safety nets for people who want to
take those risks. To a large degree,
that's that's our society's fault. Um,
but the idea that you want to take a
chance and you want to build a
restaurant, you want to build a
bookstore, you want to build something
that's makes a community, um, we don't
have any ability to give that safety net
and we should maybe think about what
that looks like for us. Um, housing
production, I think we need to think of
different ways. I am a tiny home person.
I see that what it could look like. I I
mean, I have to say that I went up to
Albuquerque and they had one of those
there and I was just not down for it
because it looks like a prison. That's
not what it's supposed to be. It's
supposed to be a community. It's
supposed to be looking in different ways
for what your needs are. You know, I was
explaining to someone the I think to
Connie the other day where and I have
not found it again where it was a bunch
of homes where the backyards were facing
each other and I thought um like I would
hate that so much. But you know what?
Maybe when I'm 80 and I want to, you
know, stick my head out and say, "Does
anybody want to play particy?" Maybe
that would be more interesting to me.
It's kind of about life stages and we
don't give a lot of, you know,
examination of what that looks like
here. So, it can't all be single family
homes forever. So, that's where I'm at
with that. Um,
let me think. Did I hit pretty much
everything?
Public safety and perception. I think
it's it's real to say what does it look
like to to be safe in our areas? How are
we using public spaces? Right? I think
that's one thing we didn't really talk
about here, but is how is public spaces
something that we need and that we value
and that it's I don't necessarily just
want to have all my conversations of,
you know, the Walmart market with
somebody, but I want to be able to walk
around somewhere and say, "Hey, Betty, I
haven't seen you in forever." Again, how
do we make, you know, community in
viable ways with our with our parks,
with our community centers? Um, do you
have to be 55 plus to actually gain that
entrance? No. We're starting with some
of our quality life programs. We have
ways for our youth to use these spaces,
but what does that look like
meaningfully? So, all right. I'm not a
pontificator, so that's all you get for
me.
Thank you.
Thank you, mayor and counselors, all of
you for participating in our
facilitation round. I'm going to hand it
over to my partner, Angie.
Mayor Enriquez, counselors, I'm Angie
Poss, president of Single Space
Strategies. I just want to say thank you
for such a great conversation. We know
we're asking a lot of you as we uh go
through this process, but we're super
excited to get into the next phase and
address a lot of what you've brought up
here and take this to the residents of
Los Cusus to get their input. Um, and so
I my job is to prove to you that we were
listening uh and just reflect back to
you uh that what we heard and give you
an opportunity to say like, "Oh, I've
thought of something in the process of
sitting here and listening. If you want
to add to it, uh we're here to um just
make sure that we capture every thought
that you have on this process and on the
needs assessment." And so um I'm going
to just do a quick synthesis of what we
heard sort of high level. Um, I'm going
to call some folks out sometimes and not
others. It's just because of how I took
notes. No offense. Uh, so on the
question Janelle asked of where does the
city need clearer direction. Uh, we
heard that we need broader communication
about this the really good things that
the city is doing so that residents know
that those things are happening. Uh it
sounded like we had pretty like clear
alignment from all of you that there's a
need for economic diversification
and especially in this budget restraint
time. Um we have solid alignment from
you all on needing to address housing
diversity. Um councelor Ben Como uh how
do asked how do we align priorities with
the resources that we have. So within
this plan, uh strategically spending
resources where communities are asking
them to be um within the the sort of
emerging opportunities that we placed
into the needs assessment. Um and then
aligning the plan with the age
distribution skewing lower then I think
it there's a perception that Los Cusus
that you mentioned um might be a
retirement community but within the
demographics uh within the analysis we
see that that is not the case. So, how
do we uh look for young folks to
participate greater in in the city and
um and be a part of this plan? Uh,
councelor Beno also mentioned uh uh how
do we have a greater focus on economic
mobility um so that we can be raising
revenues in the economic diversification
piece of this so that uh when we have
budget restraints maybe they're a little
bit less if people are making more money
if people are rising up like it uh
what's the saying rising tides rises all
and I'm not going to try um and then
councelor cran mentioned um you
a clear direction on sustainability in
all of these things that we're doing.
And so, how do we make them lasting and
also not causing harm as we go? I'm
going to pause on that one. That was the
question. Where does the city need
clearer direction from us in this
process? Anything new coming up that we
should take note of?
All good.
All good. All right. Uh the second
facilitation question was where would
public input be most useful? We heard
that uh we need to engage stakeholders
really intentionally NMSU students. We
need to really talk dive into talking to
the business community. Um councelor
Mccclure like we also got some really
great great questions to ask in in some
of the public meetings. So ask what
keeps you here? Um what can we do more
of as a city in the public meetings or
in the the survey that we're going to
do? And so appreciate uh those
recommendations. Um
councelor Matise uh pointed out it is
our job to make this strategic plan
important enough to for people to
actually show up uh and to like make
this a plan that is also engaging the
residents. Um and it's it's a plan that
the city has to implement, but how do we
make the residents feel some sort of
ownership over the process and what
we're doing?
Um, councelor Harris gave us a
recommendation to ask what kind of job
opportunities folks and educational
opportunities would uh people would want
to see in Los Cusus. Uh, councilors Ben
Ko and Karan emphasized the need to like
really make sure that we're not just
engaging people who always participate.
um how do we reach people that um who
who are not um always at the table,
having a balance of folks who are really
engaged, continuing to engage them, and
reaching new people, especially those
who rely on the government. Um and
making sure that they are heard. Um how
do we strategically reach folks who are
least Oh, that's yeah,
my notes are just messed up. I I was
going to repeat what I just said. Um and
then uh addressing the fact that parks
and recreation rose to the top uh in
some of the needs assessment. How can
the public become part of the process to
like determine where those things go
like where new parks are built or
community centers? Um and yeah, that was
my synthesis on that question. Anything
to add?
Great. Uh we also got some great
feedback on the public process and uh
how to engage how to utilize the
strategic opportunities slide. Uh so
what to do at public meetings to make
them good. Um we're going to provide
really great food. Already thinking
about it. If you have recommendations,
email us. We will uh we will get get the
food ordered. Um make sure that folks
are educated on the process so that they
have a base level of education.
um make the topics and wording more
relatable and less sort of like
strategic planning focused. Um how to
and use examples throughout um to make
um not in all of the communications
about the meetings um and opportunities
that we're inviting folks to
participate. Just make sure it's uh it
is relatable and um
and not jargony. Um
we should make the meetings about the
immediate future. Elevate is a plan that
folks I think in the city know about,
but that's a 20-year plan. This is sort
of like come to this meeting now and we
are determining like things that we're
going to do now. And so making sure that
we're emphasizing that this is an
immediate near-term future plan.
Um
the mayor uh mayor Enriquez uh
emphasized what uh what you hear people
say on the campaign trail and uh out in
your daily life. Folks want a cleaner
city, safer city, higher paying jobs and
activities for youth. So, how can we
incorporate that into the communications
around the public meetings? Um, several
folks mentioned uh that there's not a
shared language around infrastructure. I
agree. Um, so how do we like make sure
that we are saying that in a way that
makes sense to folks and like using
examples of of what the infrastructure
is that we are talking about?
Um, and then I think it was a different
slide that's no longer up, but um,
somebody mentioned that the last two
slides seemed more like outcomebased. I
think it was uh, you councelor Cran. Um,
and so making those sort of like maybe
not something we take to the public, but
that become action items in the plan.
Anything I missed?
Um, thanks Angie Mayor. I just wanted to
add a couple things. Um, an opportunity
for meetings to be bilingual. I think
are really important. And then the other
piece I was going to say that it a great
connector has been our community
schools. It connects the city, the
schools. I know that I have really like
pretty good turnout when I do my
district meetings at community schools.
So, I think that could be a really great
opportunity to explore that we're like
going to people as opposed to asking
them to come to city hall or whatever.
Absolutely. And I believe um that's the
only one we're waiting on a date for,
but we are doing one at a community
school. Yeah. Anything
else?
Mayor, if I may, u,
you're thinking, you know, uh, Los Cusus
loves pets. I mean, everybody loves
their pets. Would you consider an
outdoor one, maybe at Young Park or one
of the parks and maybe Stephen can, you
know, provide a we can get a tent and I
mean, and they can bring their pet, you
know, they can bring their their pets.
Yeah, I don't I I don't think that these
are all baked. Uh but I don't see why we
couldn't um explore that with the folks
that we're working with at the city to
make the plan.
Good. I'd love to bring my pug. I mean,
he's he's very hospitable.
Okay. Are animals allowed in the
chambers?
Pardon me.
Great.
Are animals allowed in the chambers?
Uh no. Uh not in the chamber. I was
thinking maybe at a park.
Well, I was going to ask you to bring
your pug to the next work.
To the chamber. I could
I sorry just to really quickly actually
follow up on that. Yes, I I'm here for
us bringing the pets to all the things
all the time. Let's action that. Uh but
I I do I will probably be having
actually a community microchip event
that's like animal focused I think at
the end of June. Um, and so I say that
if you all have some materials that are
a available before you start having the
community meetings, if you can get them
to us, we can if we have other potential
avenues for distribution like there,
that would be a great place for me to at
least like have a QR code for people to
to be able to weigh in. So, as soon as
you have that material, that would be
really useful. And there will be dogs
there. And if you want to bring your
pug, you can.
Um,
I will.
Awesome. Okay. Yeah, we would love to
get everybody collateral that they can
take to any meetings outside of the ones
that are a part of this process that
you're hosting in your districts or
wherever like at if you just want to
like have a stack of business cards in
your in your purse to take out in your
life. We want as many people as we can
possibly get to take part in the survey
that will be a part of the public
engagement.
All right, last but not least, uh
question was asked, what trade-offs
should be explored through public
engagement? I'm going to read sort of
the ones that had multiple votes across.
Uh we had um public safety perception
needs to be addressed alongside
measurable safety improvements. uh that
had was sort of public safety rose to
the top with everyone identifying that
as something that we should uh should
should look into uh as we have these
public conversations. Downtown vibrancy
needs to be considered in the context of
broader development plans. Economic
attraction has been a theme throughout
the discussion. Uh we're not taking that
for granted. Um along with uh growth and
expansion need to be balanced with
stewardship of existing assets. and then
a few specifics that were mentioned. Um
there were votes for others of these. Um
but in the
uh the essence of time, I'm going to
just go to sort of some of the uh the
notes that you all mentioned uh that
were important for us to consider as we
go forward. Um councelor Matise, you
said that you know these shouldn't have
to be always like a ver this versus
that. Um is there possibility that these
things can be done together in tandem
and they don't have to edge each other
out? Um that's something we'll keep in
mind as we go through through this
process. Um councelor Harris um
just you mentioned the importance of
like breaking down the perception piece
both in um public safety and in traffic.
We use the term perception and just
making sure that we're um being clear
about what we mean there. Um, you
mentioned that the incentive based
economic attraction versus local
ecosystem might be too technical and
maybe um
maybe a a good place for a focus group
with business owners. Um, you also
mentioned in the conversations around
downtown vibrancy versus the auto oh my
god auto oriented development patterns
uh ask the public what sort of amenities
they want and I think that's a great
question uh to get a conversation
started with people in these spaces.
Uh, Council Brin Como, uh, the
conversations you noted between that
we're having right here in these
chambers and when we get out to
residents are going to be very different
and don't want to lose sight of that.
Um,
and then councelor Karan, uh, just like
making these are it's a list of things,
but like how do we make sure that we
don't lose sight of like the equity gaps
within each and every one of these
areas. And so we'll um
we're always thinking about that and
we'll um
make sure that we build the public
meetings accordingly to address those
things.
And then you also mentioned uh as we're
talking about stewardship and place and
growth um like how to include existing
assets like the airport um in transit
conversations in space-based
conversations.
And that is what I had. Did I miss
anything or do folks want to share
anything else?
Um thank you mayor. I just had one other
thing to add which is um I think we me I
think several people have mentioned
working closely with the schools. Um and
including
when I said like what amenities would
you like in your neighborhood? I think
including schools in that um you know
city of Los Cusus and Los Cruus public
schools are separate governing bodies um
but the school district has to build
schools in the city on land that the
city kind of decides how it's going to
be developed um and and part of our
strategy I think going forward
um you know should definitely involve
the schools and how do these schools fit
into their local communities, into their
neighborhood. How do kids get there um
safely and all of that? So, I just like
to see some collaboration with LCPS.
That's great.
Well, thank you so much for having us.
That was our the last that we had. Um,
if you get into the needs assessment and
you have questions, uh, because you just
got it last week, were available. I
think everybody has a way to reach us
and just really appreciate your time and
attention.
All right. Thank you. I appreciate it.
Thanks.
Next on the agenda is item 1.2 vacant
and abandoned property ordinance. Chris
Favor
Good afternoon, mayor, council. Again,
Chris Faver with Community Development
here to do a work session on vacant and
abandoned property maintenance ordinance
in advance of bringing this to adoption
later this summer.
So before we get too far into it, I just
want to say thank you to the NAT team
which has been helping us facilitate a
lot of this and to legal who has helped
us. Uh and the NAT team is sitting back
there all close together. So very
tight-knit group, but a lot of as you'll
see through this presentation, a lot of
a lot of um hard work has gone into it.
There's a lot of overlap between what
the NAT team does and what this
ordinance does. And so you'll see that
throughout and we'll kind of talk about
where things come together and where
things are a little separate. So
um all right. So desired outcomes for
what we're trying to do with this
particular ordinance. Um it is not
intended to penalize responsible
property owners um is intended to create
accountability um that remains
accountability for properties that
remain vacant for extended periods of
time. Um, and we are trying to encourage
action before they become an actual NAT
property. And so, as we've discussed
previously and in other meetings, you
know, there's a real effort to help
revitalize all parts of the city, some
more than others. This ordinance in
connection with what we do through the
NAT team can really facilitate that and
hopefully head off issues before they
become uh a real problem. And the goal
is simple. get properties maintained,
reactivated, and contributing to the
community again.
So, just to sort of clarify a few things
that this ordinance does not do. Uh, it
is not the intent to punish properties
simply because they are temporarily
vacant. There is a normal course of
turnover. um when you're dealing with
commercial and residential property, uh
we understand that we have exemptions
for that and and process to to processes
to deal with that. Um it does not apply
during the first 24 months of a
certificate of occupancy and we'll talk
a little bit more about uh some of that
information as we go on. It does not
replace the existing NAT or building
safety enforcement. These will work
together. you can be vacant and not be
on theNAT. And so there's a distinction
there, but ideally they work together
and it does not remove due process uh or
anyone's right to appeal decisions.
So I thought I would start off by just
kind of sharing uh some of these
numbers, kind of talk a little bit about
what staff has been doing over the last
several months. We broken this down into
uh properties with a vacant structure
versus parcels that do not have a
structure. And so we're looking at, you
know, just a little shy of 900
properties that identified with a
structure on them. Uh pro appro
approximately
uh about 425 of them would qualify for
some type of exemption. And we'll
discuss the exemptions a little later
on. Several have also been identified as
NAT properties.
And then we've identified, you know, 768
or so properties that are just vacant
parcels with no structure. Uh and again,
some of those may qualify for exemptions
if they are listed for sale, for
example. So, you can see we're dealing
with very large numbers. Um staff has
spent considerable amount of time um
identifying these. We've been using
utility data, which has been a really
useful tool. We take that data and they
actually go out and on days where, for
example, you put your trash cans out.
We're driving the streets. We're
checking the addresses. We're looking to
see if there is, you know, a trash can
out front. That sort of helps us narrow
down where properties really are vacant.
So, there's been a lot of leg work put
in over the last several months to kind
of get us to this number. We started
with thousands and thousands of
potential properties.
So, just a real quick overview of the
ordinance. It would be under chapter 18.
Uh, it would establish a process for
identifying, registering, and monitoring
long-term vacant properties. Um,
designed to support revitalization
efforts. Uh, help with redevelopment and
neighborhood stability. And, as I said
before, work alongside the existing NAT
process, not replace it.
you know, again, supporting
revitalization efforts within the city.
Um, encouraging property owners to
return vacant properties to productive
use, prevent long-term vacant buildings
from contributing to deterioration or
neighborhood blight. Um, trying to
protect surrounding property values,
redevelopment opportunities, and again,
economic development efforts, and create
a clear administrative process for
tracking and addressing long-term
vacancies, which has definitely been an
area that we didn't have anything
before. And I think through this
process, we've actually created
something that can really can really
work and and kind of keep keep tabs on
this as we move it forward.
So, how will this work with the NAT? So,
NAT addresses nuisance unsafe
properties. This ordinance will create a
separate but complimentary tool for
long-term vacancies. As I said before, a
property can be vacant without
immediately being a nuisance property.
Um and if a property uh creates a
health, safety or nuisance concern, then
then the NAT can kind of step in and
sort of deal with it from that capacity.
Um and again, the intent is to identify
properties earlier before they become a
larger enforcement problem.
I also want to say too that codes has
been really really helpful the last
several months on on imple uh
researching some of this stuff, going
out dealing with stuff on the ground.
So, we've been working really closely
with codes on a lot of these issues and
have actually um had some real some real
progress through some of their
enforcement efforts.
So, what is a vacant property? So, a a
building structure or portion of a
property that is not lawfully occupied
or in operation uh must remain in that
condition for a continuous period of two
years or more. It applies to both
residential and commercial. Um, and new
properties are not considered vacant
during the first 24 months. It's
important to note that typical turnover
for residential home sales is between 60
and 90 days. So, this shouldn't create
any sort of additional barriers or
restrictions for um vacant, you know,
homes that are for sale. And again,
there is a process through um exemptions
where we can sort of deal with that
where we have to. So, by and large, I
think that that opportunity is is a is a
set is a good amount of time for what
we're trying to accomplish.
Multi-tenant commercial properties are
treated differently than single tenant.
Uh, a multi-tenant non-residential
property qualifies only if 50% or more
of the gross leasable area is vacant for
two years or more. And a multi-tenant
residential property qualify if 50% or
more of the dwelling units or spaces are
vacant for two years or more.
um you know, one vacant storefront or
tenant space or apartment buil building
doesn't really trigger the ordinance by
itself. So again, we're not really
trying to enforce areas where there's
typical turnover and that's just part of
the natural residential or commercial
cycles.
So we've identified some properties that
we would recommend would would not be
covered by this ordinance. uh I would
say governmentowned properties, um
lawfully establish and maintain parking
lots, utilities, drainage, storm water
or flood control property, and then
landscaping, open space, parks, trails,
or recreational properties. Um and then
actively used agricultural properties.
Those are all things that we would
recommend not uh having the ordinance uh
be applicable to.
So through this process, we have created
an assessment process. We've kind of
gone out and done a lot of this leg work
so we have an idea of which properties
kind of fall into what, but we have an
an official assessment process. There's
a form that'll be on the website uh so
everybody can understand what the
criteria is that's been built into the
ordinance and how that will be utilized
to assess the properties. Um so evidence
may include leases, utility records,
mail, property inspections, business
registrations or other relevant
information. Uh the standards are not
intended to provide public notice but do
limit the city to only listed only the
listed examples. Um and assessments may
not be based on a may be based on
available information or inspection or
both. So you know they'll be they'll be
working with the um the the property
owners to determine um if it is actually
qualified for vacant and all this stuff
will be available on the city's web
website.
So registration requirements. So once
your property has been identified as
vacant, um the uh responsible party may
apply to register the property as vacant
through the city's website. Um
applications may include basic
ownership, contact and property
information. Um property responsible
property parties must identify measures
being taken to keep the property in
compliance with the international
property maintenance code which is a
standard that we use uh through the NAT
process to make sure all buildings um
are not a public safety uh nuisance and
also similar to what we do with the
short-term rentals to provide a 24-hour
emergency contact information. So if we
need to get in touch with someone
regarding a property we do have contact.
That's been one of the biggest
challenges both for the NAD and for this
is just identifying contact information
for current legal property owners. So
having that on file will definitely be
useful as we move this process forward.
Uh the registry will be maintained
through the community development
department. Um the registry will include
final assessments, prior assessments uh
and objections if there are any. Um the
registry will include properties granted
exemptions. Um and registry will be
available online through the city's
website. And so we're kind of working to
build out that internal infrastructure
right now for for the city to engage
with the property owners to get
properties registered.
Uh there's an inspection process and
proof of occupancy to determine uh
whether they're being uh utilized. Uh
and so we, you know, community
development may inspect the building or
properties to determine whether it does
qualify. Um they may be the property
owner may be asked uh to provide proof
of occupancy. And again, there's a
variety of things that they can provide
to us to show that the property is
legally occupied.
And again, if there's some sort of an
objection, um there is that process
there to um to work through that with
the with the property owner.
um objections and final assessment. So
written assessment is provided to the
responsible party. If known, they have
30 days to respond. If the objection
materially changes the assessment, the
city may reassess the property. Uh a
reassessment becomes the final
assessment. Um and if no objection is
submitted within 30-day period, the
original assessment becomes final. So
just trying to work with them to say
we've determined this property to be
vacant. There's an assessment pro
process to make that determination. uh
and work directly with the property
owner to finalize that uh determination.
So, here's where we get into some of the
proposed fees for vacant property and
and these are, you know, we've discussed
this with our team. We kind of looked at
some other places, what we thought would
be an applicable fee, not something
that's going to make it difficult for
people, but something that may provide a
little incentive to move forward with
with actual redevelopment. Uh, and of
course, these are just recommendations.
So, that's part of today's discussion is
to to see if these are amounts that
we're all comfortable with. So, uh, on
the residential side of things, we're
looking at starting off at $500. Year
two would raise to $1,000 and then year
three and beyond would be a $2,000 fee
to be to be registered as a vacant
building that is um not other otherwise
being utilized.
Similarly, on the commercial side of
things, um we proposed a little bit
higher fee under the assumption that
commercial property might have a little
bit more capacity to to take those extra
costs on um and to try and turn over
some of this property to help with some
of the re redevelopment efforts that
we're really pushing. So, we recommended
year 1 2000, doubling in year two, and
then year three and beyond, uh, $8,000.
Uh, basic information about when the
fees would be due, 30 days, uh, of the
earliest applicable date, when the
property is first registered, when an
exemption ends, uh, May 31st of the
current fiscal year. Uh, no fee is due
for the first full fiscal year if the
property is registered or an exemption
ends within four months of the start of
the first fiscal year on July 1. Uh, and
the fees may be collected from any
responsible party involved with the
property.
So we have provided um examples of some
proposed exemptions because there are
several properties out there that are
making a good faith effort to to re you
know either sell the property or
revitalize the property. So we were
recommending um an active building
permit or permit application tied to
rehabilitation or renovation on an
approved timeline. And that's basically
a situation where someone has a permit
and, you know, they're they're they're
they're making good a good faith effort
to make good on that permit and and move
through that process in in a in a timely
manner, not sort of dragging it along.
Um, properties purchased through a
foreclosure or redemption period has not
expired. So allowing some leniency for
properties that may still be going
through a legal a legal process. um
property secure and subject to probate
or litigation. One of the biggest
challenges that we deal with is when we
do identify a property that is um you
know say a NAT property right now there
may not be an identified legal owner.
Maybe the owner is deceased. Um and so
sometimes we'll see a relative trying to
go through probate to take legal
ownership and that that does take time.
And so we appreciate someone trying to
take responsibility and there's uh
allowances to allow that process to
happen
if a property is actively listed or
marketed for sale at no more than 130%
of fair market value. Uh so we don't
want to incentivize a situation where
someone just lists the property for sale
at an unreasonable amount of money just
to say they qualify for an exemption.
Has to be a good faith effort to to
actually try and sell that property. and
then working with uh historic
preservation specialists to find a way
to make sure that we're helping historic
properties um and encourage them to go
through the process. Uh so where there
is an active owner working with uh the
historic preservation specialist uh and
participating in the applicable design
review uh historic preservation
committee does have a design review
process for properties within um the
mosquite area and then the Alama Depot
has their own process as well and so if
they're going through that process they
would also qualify for uh an exemption
and then a change in property status
would reset the clock. So, let's just
say you had a residential property, it
was in bad shape. You go in, you demo
that process that restarts that that
time clock so that you now have time to
either get permits or put it for sale or
do something so you're not being
penalized for having now a vacant lot
when you dealt with a vacant, you know,
a public safety issue in the structure.
You took care of that. We don't, you
know, we don't want to sort of like
disincentivize somebody from from taking
that first step.
Um, we're proposing that uh exemptions
require an application from one of the
responsible parties uh every 12 months.
That way they can check in with us and
we can make sure that they're moving
through this process. Um, written
determination must explain the reason
for granting the exemption. So again,
working with them through the process to
document why an exemption is being
requested.
Uh and exemptions do not prevent the
city from taking nuisance or health or
safety enforcement action. So they could
be working through the process. Um but
if the property is still a public safety
issue that they would still be uh
required to mitigate those while they
are going through either building
permits or trying to sell it or or
whatever it is they might be doing.
Uh, and there is an appeals process um
if if they don't um agree with with the
determination um and that can take them
all the way up to um district court.
Lot of information so open for
discussion, suggestions,
recommendations.
Um so I stand for questions. Thank you.
All right. Thank you, Chris. Councelor
Korean,
thank you for this. This is really
exciting. I think this has been a thing
that I've been bugging you about, I feel
like, forever. So, I really appreciate
you. You're really work. This is very
detailed and takes a lot of effort. So,
I I appreciate the work that you've put
into thinking about this and considering
it um and all of the different
um issues related to it. So I have a few
specific questions and then also a more
general kind of hope that you can guide
us through what a timeline would look
like at the end. Um but my more specific
questions are related directly to
um the fair market value the in
particular I'm thinking about commercial
properties where I think fair market
value or or the rent
um it's very I think it's pretty hard
for folks to determine that and I expect
that this might cause a slight
calibration in that market over time
like if this conversation is happening
and folks are starting to feel like they
need to actually get their spaces
filled. It might change where fair
market rent is. I I guess my question
related to that is one um
I would like to see that percentage go
down a little bit. I would say 120%. And
that's in part because I think the the
market I I don't I'm I don't know, but I
I'm curious what the market is right
now. I do think that having many empty
commercial spaces that have some of
which have been neglected has led to an
an inflated market. I would argue um
that commercial folks are struggling
through but but that's uh that's not a
requirement. But I do wonder do you have
folks who are assessing this? How is
this done? And also I acknowledge that
all of these things take money and time
that it sounds like you have already
invested a lot of money and time into
this seems like an extra layer of
expertise and time that that might be
required of of city staff. So, I'm
curious if um the expected fees are
going to go back into the nuisance
abatement program or how the the staff
how we're going to upstaff to make sure
that we can do be doing these int. It
seems like very labor intensive work all
of these things together. Um and this
seems like a type of work that we've I
don't know that we're necessarily doing
actively now. So, I'm curious if you can
talk about that. uh what made you decide
on this and what that will mean for
staff who are working in these areas
like in terms of extra labor and and
inputs that you might need as a
department.
Sorry.
Nope. Mayor Councelor Cran. Yeah, really
good question. It is going to be labor
intensive for sure, especially to get
this off the ground. Um you know, some
of this was just kind of looking at what
other communities have done and sort of
coming up with something that we thought
would be um fair. I I think certainly
going from 130 to 120 would would be a
reasonable amount. I think we were you
know we do have resources through
through um the land management
department and economic development. We
do work closely with uh commercial
brokers. So we we do have access to some
of this data. And so a lot of this would
sort of be a determination of what the
local market based on what we're seeing
already out there is is sort of so if
we're seeing, you know, for an example,
you know, a vacant commercial property
that's listed for a million dollars and
then another one comes on board and it's
very similar and they're trying to list
it for $2 million. There's comparables
out there to say, okay, based on what
we're seeing, this is probably not, you
know, a fair amount. So, so we could
definitely look at making that
adjustment. Um, off the top of my head,
and I'll put Henry on the spot because
he looks like he's really d diving in on
this. I think we proposed the money to
go back into NAT. I don't know that it's
specifically in the ordinance, but the
idea was that over a period of time that
potentially, you know, NAT and this or
through these funds, it could sort of
become self-sufficient. And I don't know
that it would ever pay for the staff and
all that side of things, but maybe some
of the other ancillary costs that go
along with it. It could ultimately
offset some of those. Um, but I think
that would be the recommendation at
those funds. In theory, that amount
could sort of be the budget for NAT
moving forward. You know, we we have
money coming out of the TShore fund this
year. My hope was that as we ramp up
efforts on this, the amount of money
that we actually need will go down over
a period of time. Um, and so that as we
get a handle on it, it's it's not such a
huge amount right now. We've been doing
a lot of boarding and securing
properties. We've been doing some actual
property cleanup that's really been
needed, but again, over time, we're
hoping that the amount of money that the
city has to put into that would would be
going down instead of, you know, staying
at the same level or increasing.
Thank you. And that's that's part of why
I am very excited about this because the
reality is these these vacant properties
are taxing us, right? like we we are
being um depleted as a community for a
myriad of reasons that these properties
are sitting empty, creating hazards, not
productively contributing to our GRT or
our housing needs or our economic
development, our neighborhood vibrancy
that we just spent a bunch of time
talking to. And so we are as a city,
we've been steadily working harder and
harder to try to address that kind of
blight in in the way that many of these
represent or you know um just in terms
of securing properties that might that
might not that might otherwise not
require securing um or visiting or or
sort of that kind of input from the
city. So, I think I'm really excited
about this because I do want I do want
this to be something that we have the
staff and resources to to be working on
and that we're investing in this as as
we understand it to be and and if that
means investing the money that's coming
in back into that like to support it. I
I want to make sure that it's well
supported and not something that we're
uh adding to the plates of a bunch of
folks without some amount of kind of
thinking about the staff and and income
and recognizing that the reason that
we're doing this is because on the
balance sheet these are debits to our
city's coffers if we think about it in a
in a holistic way. So I I really
appreciate this model for shifting that
to a to a credit to our coffers or
potentially doing that. So then the last
part of my question is I imagine that
there's kind of an educa like all of our
like all of these there's like a year of
hey just so you know your property will
be listed as this and I think this
sounds like something that you all have
already been doing. So I'm wondering if
you can just give a timeline of if we
pass this at a certain time uh the
assessments it sounds like in May is
when those would go out. What would that
look like in terms of the time when
we're actually seeing a change roughly
again in in how um landlords of of
vacant spaces are viewing that as you
know if they have to account for the
carrying costs or if they have to change
and and
have something happening in their space.
Mayor, councelor Cran, that's a great
question and you know if if we move
forward from here I would like to you
know to bring this forward uh you know
for adoption you know this summer with
the idea that we could spend a good
portion of this year building out that
that online infrastructure and have that
in place before we go live and then
doing all that outreach to all of the
actual you know property owners. Um it
similar to the short-term rental there's
going to be a heavy lift up front. A lot
of them were still struggling to
identify who that legal property owner
is. So, there's going to be a portion of
that that we have to deal with. But, I
would guess that once we get stuff built
out so that the website's ready to go,
so that we have those tools that people
can start, you know, registering or
applying for exemptions with, you know,
it's going to take a good part of the
rest of this calendar year and probably
well, let's probably say fiscal year to
get all that notification out there and
that and that education. The good thing
that um I've been really impressed with
with the staff that's been out there
doing this is that I didn't think when
we came to this work session that we
were going to have a handle on exactly
how many properties we were having to I
figured from here forward we'd have to
really start digging into it. But we,
you know, we have identified a lot of
that. So we know exactly kind of similar
to the short-term rental where we have
that that early database. Now we can
reach out to them and start that
engagement. So we're not having to do so
much research just to identify someone
and then send them a letter. So it's
again there's going to be a lot of work
there, but I feel like we've done a lot
more than I thought we were going to
have accomplished at this point in time,
but it's probably going to take several
months, you know, until we can reach
everybody and there's going to be a time
where they don't respond. And so then we
have to kind of follow up with them and
and you know, make sure they're aware of
what's going on and some of that public
education. So it it is going to take
time for sure, but I think it's
important for us to get this ordinance
passed so we can get that process
started sooner rather than later. So,
you know, within a couple years we have
a firm sense of accountability for all
these properties.
I hope that was what you were looking
for an answer on.
Thank you. It is. And really, I think
like the timeline starts now, right?
Folks are hearing that we are paying
attention to that you all have done this
work to identify those places. I think
I'm hopeful that even that initiation of
the timeline and I would urge us to move
forward as quickly as we can and passing
this um and and keeping moving I hope um
that that we're able to I I so I'll say
next January of 2028 maybe we'll start
to see some movement and that's no
that's like couple weeks away.
So, so I'm going to put that in my mind
to come back and sort of have this
conversation again. So, I I hope that we
can um plan a future conversation to see
where this is going, what folks are
hearing, what what kinds of things are
coming up. But, um thank you. I
appreciate that.
And I think I think u Henry, did you
have something you were going to weigh
in with?
Sure. Come on down.
Councelor Corin, mayor, I just wanted to
add two things to I think I wanted to
make sure I answered a couple of your
questions. one, you asked whether or not
the funding that comes out of this for
the registration fees would go back into
the program. Uh Chris is correct. They
would. I thought that was in the in the
ordinance, but apparently went unstated.
So, we can add that to make it explicit.
So, we will do that. That was the first
thing I wanted to respond to you about.
The second thing I wanted to respond to
you about was about how fast we can move
on this program. And so, I want to reset
the the the view. Remember that uh a
property doesn't get in any way um
adversely affected by this ordinance
until it's already been vacant for 2
years. And you can determine that based
on information available on day one that
this is effective. But for many
properties, it will be difficult to
assess until over time we've collected
evidence. So I don't expect necessarily
that this will be something like a
pelmel all the city all the time type of
thing. We're going to be slowly looking
at all the buildings in city and to see
which ones need the most help first. And
I just want to echo Chris and say that
staff has been really exemplary in
taking a a lead and trying to identify
the right properties.
Councilor McCo,
thank you Chris and team. I'm very
excited for us to be here. I feel like
last time we talked I was like June
that's so far away and now it's June. So
um sometimes time moves very fast and
sometimes it doesn't because
I have deeply cared about this issue
since uh
2021 when then codes officer who's here
in the back now works in community
development
um
had just been recently elected took me
around the neighborhood around district
4. Uh, we walked into a house that I
probably should not have walked into. I
felt like I as best as in my nose for a
week. Um,
and so sometimes good things take a long
time. Uh, but I really am glad that we
are here and I feel like since we've
been since we've started having public
conversations about this, I've already
seen movement out in the community like
people kind of really stepping up to the
plate and and um figuring things out
before this gets enacted. So, I've
already started seeing signs, Chris, and
I really just want to commend you and
your team for for getting us here and
all the work in the past few months. I'm
curious. I'm just going to go down north
of the way I took notes. Um,
I'm not trying to like be pessimistic or
not trust the process, but I am curious
what is going to prevent someone just
putting up a for sale sign and saying,
"See, I'm I'm I'm doing it." and not
actually
answering the phone if somebody's
interested or cleaning up the property
in order to make it um you know actually
ready for sale or um you know make it so
that somebody wants to buy the property.
I'm curious if you've given thought to
that and how we'll navigate that. Mayor,
councelor Bencomo. Yeah, that is a a
great question. And again, that's
something that is going to, you know, be
the responsibility of staff to stay on
it. So, in your example, let's just say
it's not a nuisance property. It's just
a property that's been vacant, could
potentially become a nuisance if it
continues to go that route, and they do
just put a for sale sign in the yard for
the sake of it. They would need to, and
again, it'd be on staff to make sure
we're following up, but they would need
to apply for the exemption portion of
it. If they don't apply, it's up to us
to make sure that we've it's a property
that's been identified that we go out
and say, "Hey, we notice that you're not
on our registry, but your house is
vacant. You're saying it's, you know,
for sale. It's a you can apply for this
exemption." Get them through that
process. Then it's going to be up to
staff to follow up and after 12 months,
if nothing's happened, we go back out
and find out what's going on. If we get
a sense that that's what they're doing,
we don't have to honor that exemption
anymore. So again, we're we're creating
a lot of processes that do put a lot of
work on city staff, but I I do believe
that's what we're here to do. So it's
just a matter of keeping all this
documentation in line and being
proactive when we when we go out there
and take care of it. So I'm sure there
will be times when stuff like that
happens, and there'll probably be times
where it slips through the cracks, but
until we get a good handle on it, and it
will take time because as you saw,
there's so many properties right now.
Um, yeah, it's it's going to be a lot of
a lot of work for staff, but that that's
how we would try and make sure things
like that are not um happening
frequently.
I'm Yes, I'm glad to hear you, you know,
say that there is a process for all of
that. And I think maybe just at first
it'll feel like a lot, but once I think
um you all get in the groove, I think
it'll it'll be good. Um, can you walk me
through how you landed on 24 months of I
think it was commercial properties from
cert from certificate of occupancy?
Sure. So I think the 24 months we were
probably that's probably well the
commercial
I think it would apply to both really
and what we were trying to do was make
sure that we didn't put something in
place that was going to make say a new
home in Metro Verde become uh you know a
problem or have to be on this registry
and that's why we were looking some of
the the data to see how quickly real
estate property sells. There's a lot
more of that information specific to
residential. So, we felt comfortable
with the 24 months.
When it comes to residential, I'll be
honest on the commercial, that is going
to be a challenge because I frequently
talk with um property owners or the, you
know, the responsible um brokers for the
commercial properties and a lot of them
have stayed on the market for a lot
longer than that. Some of those are
factors that are that are sort of out of
their control and that's where we're
going to have to kind of work with them
to find out if there's circumstances
just really beyond what they can do. So,
it just felt like a good place to start
for both commercial and residential and
giving us the flexibility of every 12
months applying for an exemption if they
are in good faith trying to sell it or
if there's other reasons why it can't.
That that seemed like a good opportunity
uh for us. there there's a particular
commercial property that I've been a
little passionate about seeing it get
redeveloped and I'm constantly emailing
the owner and the contractor to make
sure in this example I would say your
exemption is up because I know you're
just kind of not operating in good
faith. So, I think just having those
communications
um and and I've been trying to stay
personally on a lot of the commercial
stuff just because it ties so closely to
the MASS and it's so important and
anything that we can do from the NAT
side that's going to help Elizabeth's
team doing the MRA stuff. I feel like
that's a good place for us to work
together. But a lot of it's just going
to be knowing those properties and
knowing the circumstances on which they
are still vacant.
Okay. Thank you. So that actually helps
address another question because I saw
that you had an appeal every 12 months,
but then you had also said that for
example, residential homes are selling
it's about 6 to9 months, but that's
helpful. I feel like I do feel like
you've baked in a lot of Oh, 60 to 90
days.
Oh, I thought you said 6 to9 months. No,
no, it's the some of the data and even
through the local uh brokers, it's
they're
that's actually on the high end. Houses
are kind of moving a little quicker than
that, but we felt quite honestly if
things start getting to where they're
sitting on the market for over a year.
There's sort of larger systemic issues
that are at play there, but by and large
it looks like houses are turning over,
you know, pretty pretty quickly. So, I
put that 60 to 90day window is kind of
with the far end of what we're seeing
currently. Um, which still gives you,
you know, almost two full years really
to to move that house. Yeah.
I Okay. Um, I mean, I think I genuinely
I feel like this is so well thought out,
like this is so intentional and well
thought out. And I'm also wondering if
it does lean a lot more on the leniency
side. And the only reason I have I I
want to be able to be good actors in
this. I also feel like there are some
neighborhoods who quite frankly have
wanted
um resolution on some of these
properties for much longer for a long
time for two a year two years more than
that in some neighborhoods like in
around MacArthur much longer than that
and so I think for me you know I
I don't know Chris I don't again I feel
like this is so well thought out I also
just keep thinking like okay we have to
wait two more years now for folks in the
MacArthur neighborhood even though
they've been waiting for
5 10 years for resolution. So I I'm
curious if you have any thoughts around
that.
I mayor councelor Ben Como I I do and
this is one that I kind of struggled
with from when we sort of first
discussed this probably almost two years
ago.
What I was trying to guard against doing
was unintentionally creating like a I
want to say a poor tax, right? I didn't
want to create a situation where
somebody knows they have a vacant
property but they don't have the
resources to actually deal with it. So
trying to balance those situations from
those where we just know the property
owner is just not being responsible. So
in that context, I probably did lean a
little bit more towards the leniency
side of things to make sure that we're
not creating conditions where somebody,
you know, one of the first phone calls I
made last summer just going through some
of the early NAP properties. There was a
lady who who I called and they had a
house that her grandfather had owned and
doesn't have a roof or any windows and
she I actually I think she ended up
calling the city manager's office
because she thought I was threatening to
like come take her home and it's and I
don't want those situations out there
where somebody wants to do something but
they legitimately don't have the
resources to do it. So airing on the
side where we're we're giving as much
flexibility in those situations while
still holding the other, you know,
property owners responsible. So that
that's kind of my thought process. That
was sort of what went into the amounts
we recommended. Um I' I'd be open to,
you know, if you thought those were fair
amounts if they
It's not the amounts actually, Chris. I
think the amounts are super fair for
both of these. It for me it was more
about the timing and the clock.
So
One of the things that's interesting is
that we do have really good data. So,
while we wouldn't have to go out right
away, you know, and say the clock starts
two years from now, we can go back in
and find out if they've had utilities on
in that place anytime in the last few
years. So, if we find out that you
haven't had any active utilities for
three years, technically you're in
violation of this ordinance. And so, you
would have time to sort of get that
property up to speed. So, we can start
holding property owners accountable as
soon as this ordinance is in place,
which is one of the reasons why I didn't
do similar to the short-term rental
where it was like it goes in effect in
January, but you have six months to kind
of sort it out. We have the data to go
in and say, "Your property has been
vacant for a long time." It would be
incumbent on that owner to come back and
prove to us that that information isn't
accurate. So,
that's helpful.
I don't think we really have to wait the
two years. I think we can start moving
the needle rather quickly.
That's very helpful, Chris. Thank you. I
appreciate that. I think I for me, this
was never about profit. This was never
about a revenue stream. This was never
about punishing people. It's about
accountability and and ensuring people
are taking some initiative in their
situation, right? Whether it's they're
trying to and they don't have the
resources or they're not trying at all.
um creating some incentive and some
initiative for resolution in a
neighborhood that you know all
neighborhoods deserve it. So and then
also trying to prevent future properties
from becoming nuisances. So I appreciate
that. Thank you. The last thing I will
say is um I just I do think it's
important I think on 10 Chris you had
the what is not uh
covered governmentowned properties. I do
feel like there's a little bit of like
rules for the but not for me situation.
So I'm curious about at least for us and
then obviously other government entities
like if the county owns property in the
city or the schools that we also have a
very clear plan for any properties we
may own that are old dilapitated or or
lots. Um have you had conversations
about this with the team or or internal
folks? I had this conversation with
David Sado right before this meeting
started about our properties that would
qualify as NAT properties. And so I
would say
similarly to what we did in real life
regarding historic preservation and
properties that the city owns
now having to follow that process. I
would have no problem saying that as far
as city properties go, we should, you
know,
lead by example.
Yeah. Yeah. I will I don't know about
the rest of those. I'll leave that to
Henry if county and federal properties
and state properties how that would
work. But in terms of city-owned
properties, like I said, we did it with
historic preservation. I I we could
certainly make that change for
city-owned properties.
Yeah, I just don't necessarily agree
that none like are not covered owned
properties. um Henry. So I think maybe
we should try to think about how we
approach our part our other partners and
the government sector on on being good
leaders on this. So thank you. I
appreciate it.
Councelor Harris.
Um thanks mayor and thanks Chris and
Henry. I also think that this is great.
I'm very excited to see it. Um there's a
lot of aband there's a lot of vacant
commercial properties especially in
district 3 that have been vacant for a
long time and I think you can probably
hit the ground running on those. Um I I
also agree that government buildings we
need to do something about. There's a
certain government building close
proximity to this one um which is is a
NAT problem. Um and uh
um and and also on the for sale amount,
the market rates, um I would also be in
favor of dropping it to 120% or even
lower than that. Um I I have personal
experience looking at the commercial
market and some landlords were like we
want X and we'll accept no less and the
landlords whose spaces were actually
full um were like we will take 50% of
that and uh so so determining the market
rate I think
that's a harder thing. I I acknowledge
that that's a harder thing to get data
on in commercial and I hope that by
doing this and kind of the city actually
being serious and finding those rates
that we do see a recalibration. Um, so
and and 130%
I also don't want it to become like an
inflationary
thing like well in order to not have uh
this fee we're all you know I'm just
going to post it for the market rate
plus 130% and then everyone does that
and then that you know has this
inflationary cycle. So be be hap I'd be
happy to see that be lower. Um,
and otherwise, yeah, I think all my my
other questions were answered. So,
thanks,
Council Matise.
Thank you, Bo. Uh, this ordinance is a
long time coming. Uh, you know, I I've
seen the abandoned buildings and the
blight, you know, has grown over the
last uh 15, 17 years. And and so when
you build a new city like Northrise, you
know, I call that the other city because
what happens is in the older part of the
city, the this happens. You know,
businesses go out of business and they
just leave a an abandoned building and
they they don't do the weeds grow. I've
seen that on El Paso. So, with that
said, I you know, I I think you ought to
remove the exemption for government
buildings. I I think you're too lenient.
In other words, just put the government
buildings back in there. Um because um
you know, there's some buildings uh that
our our gracious county owns that uh
you know, they need some wakeup calls on
on taking care of it and the grounds and
the weeds and and the and the way it
looks. Uh I I would just remove that
exemption for government buildings. Um,
I think the the market value I think
that's a good point that maybe it's uh
should be at 110 120%. I I don't think
you want to go too low but maybe a
little bit lower. Um, the other thing
have you worked you Henry worked with
the county assessor at all? Have you met
with them and sat with the county
assessor?
Mayor, Councelor Matise, no, other than
just we rely on their data for
everything that we do, but in terms of
actually sitting down with them to this
point, we have not. But again, their
data is kind of the backbone to all the
stuff that we do. So, we're very
familiar with with all the information
they make available to us.
Okay. I I spent some time talking to
Karen and and and they you know, they
have their professional appraisers and
and we have private appraisers as well.
Um
I I think what might be happening too is
that you know when when you maybe you
could work with them. I don't know if
you have any authority or what we could
suggest it but a lot of property owners
and and and I sometimes was guilty of
this. If you don't take care of your
property, you know, the value goes down
and therefore your property tax goes
down. And so, you know, we have a lot of
that because, you know, if you if you
can only pay 3,000 a year on a piece of
property instead of four and five, it
really helps to let it depreciate. So,
you know, maybe we could work with the
county assessor and with the
collaboration, you know, collaborate
with our fines and maybe they need to do
something as well that these properties
need to be kept up. You know, we we have
businesses come in uh whether it's a
chicken place or other and then when a
big franchise and you know that Chris,
when they leave it, they don't care. I
mean, that building just becomes,
you know, they're done with their
appreciation. They just let it fall
apart. They let the weeds grow. And
maybe we could do something at the
beginning. You know, it's good to get a
a child when they're in first and second
grade and vocabulary and train them well
and teach them well. Same thing with
these business owners coming in. Maybe
we need to get them at the beginning.
Maybe we need to tell them that uh you
know if you're in business for five
years, 10 years, 15 that when you sell
the business, uh maybe somehow link this
ordinance with the sale of their
business so that they they take care of
it at the at the very when they when
they abandon it. And maybe that'd be
less work for you and staff. Uh because
then you don't have to go in that, you
know, they'll know right from the
beginning. Yeah, we're going to build a
business here, but we want to bring back
that landscaping and that property the
original way that it was uh when when we
built this building. Uh and you know,
your numbers just shock me. Uh this is a
this is a this is quite a number of
buildings uh that you have to handle and
and and address. So, uh, thank you for
your effort and thank you for bringing
this ordinance up and it it's well it's
well needed. Thank you. Thank you both
and the staff.
Mr. Mayor, council ment I I would just
add that I I do agree that this
information could be a relevant data
point for the county as they move
forward and do property tax assessment.
That could be something that factored
in. So once this is up and running, we
can certainly meet with them and find
out a way that we can share this
information with them for their ongoing
efforts.
All right. Thanks, Chris. Um,
not only to you, but to the team. Thank
you. We're looking at cleaning up the
city. We're looking at uh
revitalization, and this is a step
forward. I know it's a long time coming
because ZNAT I believe originated maybe
under a different name but still the
same acronym um back in 2018.
So, what I can say, we're we're great at
identifying,
but now it's time and I thank you and
the team for taking the action and the
process to to get through and and I'm
sure there's going to be some other
things that come up and probably some
funding requirements and maybe we can
look at some incentives to help
individuals due to hardships and cases
like that. So, no, this is good. I also
agree that government owned property, we
need to lead by example. And so I would
say that if if we're going to call out
our residents, we better call out
ourselves as well. And um I guess the
other thing is the is like I'm glad
there's a due process and there's an
appeal process. That's that's very
important. We're dealing with people's
properties and there's a lot of
exceptions. Who makes the call on the
exceptions?
Mr. Mayor, um, council, I would that's
probably going to be a collaboration
between Kevin Doyle, who's the building
official for the NAT, and myself. Uh, we
would probably evaluate all those. Some
of them will be probably pretty simple
to determine, but there may be some that
are going to require a little bit more
um evaluation. So I think at least
initially, you know, and and ultimately
it'll probably be something that we
bring up to our weekly NAT meeting and
have those conversations, but I think
ultimately it'll be our decision as to
what really truly qualifies as an
exemption and what does not. So that
that's how I envision it to start
anyway.
Okay. the So, a recommendation, just a
thought, something that you can think
about would um if if it comes to those
appeals on the process or the fees and
before it gets to any courts is is maybe
maybe utilizing the planning and zoning
commission as maybe an option um to for
property owners to go before them and
plead their case in the event uh you
can't come to an agreement with them at
first. You would be the first line, but
then that could be another if they want
to continue to appeal. You you've got
that commission as maybe something that
you could utilize.
And the other thing is the uh
because of time is there a is there a
fasttrack process like uh a house uh a
property that's maybe damaged due to
fire and then becomes an unsafe uh
property in the in the city that's maybe
ruined and dilapitated that we don't
have to go through the whole process
that it be deemed unsafe and go through
what I would call a fasttrack process.
Mr. Mayor, council. Yeah. And and we've
had a few of those um that fire
department has the fire chief has, you
know, red tagged and used the facility
or the the processes under the the the
fire code to to help us condemn and move
those processes. So So we work together
on some of those and unfortunately most
of the fires we've seen recently have
been that properties. Um uh so we
definitely see the the issue there
between the the properties that are
identified as public safety and the need
to get them dealt with uh expeditiously.
So definitely I mean that's the process
that I would rely on if we had to go to
sort of an emergency expedited route for
a situation like that. We would we would
use those tools that are in some of the
code already.
Yeah. And I would think that's something
that maybe in the ordinance that
language could be there so that it's all
combined and and all together in the
event that something like that happens.
It's part of the NAT program and you
already have a system and a process in
place that if a situation like that
comes up that's a facility that's not
not only damaged by fire but deemed
ruined and dilapitated that could be uh
unsafe to the community. We'd want to
address that as soon as possible.
Certainly. Thank you, mayor.
But again, I just want to say thank you.
There's long time coming and and this is
where we get started. We'll see where
the momentum goes, but I can guarantee
you there's going to be some there's
going to be some funding and there's
going to be some incentives and there's
going to be some other things that are
going to come in the future if we if we
really want to do this uh and and be
effective and efficient with where we're
headed. So, thank you all.
Thank you everyone.
All right. Thanks again and I think
that's it. Looking for a motion to
adjurnn. Move to adjourn.
Second.
On the motion to adjourn the meeting.
Councelor Mccclur.
Yes.
Councelor Matise.
Yes.
Councelor Harris.
Yes.
Councelor Bencoml.
Yes.
Councelor Karan.
Yes.
Councelor Munoz is absent. and mayor.
Yes.