[Music]
You're live.
Sorry.
Good afternoon. Uh, welcome to city
council meeting. Happy new year to
everyone. Today is Monday, January 5th,
2026. It's approximately 1 p.m. I am
Mayor Eric Enriquez. Before we start, I
want to mention that we have an ASL
American Sign Language interpreters up
front.
And if you all stand, please join me in
a moment of silence for the brave men
and women of our armed forces and also
for our local Los Cusus Police and Fire
Department, the courageous men and women
that protect our city 247, 365.
Prom, if you'll lead us in the pledge.
I aliance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the republic
for it stands one nation under God
indivisible with liberty and justice for
all.
We'll first start out with a
proclamation that will be delivered by
Mayor Pro Tim Beno and then we'll have a
presentation after that.
Hi everyone. Good afternoon.
Today's proclamation is for youth
mentoring month presented to Cassandra
Gandara and whoever else came with you.
Come on down.
Hello.
Hi everyone. Sit over here. Where are
you?
Awesome.
Love it. Come on down.
Okay.
Whereas January is National Youth
Mentoring Month, an annual campaign to
raise awareness of and celebrate the
powerful impact of mentoring
relationships, recruit new mentors, and
encouraging encourage institutions to
integrate quality mentoring into their
policies and practices. And whereas the
city of Los Cruus, New Mexico recognizes
the contributions of volunteer mentors
in the following programs. Donana
Resilience Leaders, Kids Can Community
Action Agency of Southern New Mexico,
the Boys and Girls Club of Los Cuses,
Big Brothers Big Sisters, Mountain
Region, Lvida Project, Americanore, FYI
Plus, and Success Partnership Engage,
who link youth to economic and social
opportunity while also strengthening our
community. And whereas mentoring
programs generally have a significant
positive impact on youth academic
achievement, school connectedness and
engagement and educational success
success which can lead to outcomes such
as improved attendance, academic
achievement and classroom behavior. And
whereas mentors can help young people
set career goals and can help connect
mentees to industry professionals to
train for and find jobs. And whereas
effective mentoring of underserved and
vulnerable populations of young people
help them confront challenges and enjoy
improved mental health and social
emotional well-being. And whereas young
people with men mentors are more likely
to enroll in college, to participate in
sports or extracurricular activities, to
hold a leadership position in a club or
sports team, and to volunteer regularly,
and less likely to start using drugs.
And whereas mentoring is an innovative
evident evidence-based practice and
uniquely is both a prevention and inter
intervention strategy that can support
young people of all demographics and
backgrounds in all aspects of their
lives. And whereas mentoring has long
been a staple of juvenile justice and
violence prevention efforts and can
offer comprehensive support to youth at
risk for committing violence or
victimization. And whereas despite the
benefits of mentoring, one young person
every three of every three is growing up
without a mentor. Which means a third of
youth of the United States are growing
up without someone outside of the home
to offer real life guidance and support.
And whereas this mentoring gap
demonstrates the need for collaboration
among the private, public, and nonprofit
sectors to increase resources for
relationship centric support for youth
in communities, schools, and workplaces.
Now therefore, we, the mayor and city
council of Las Cruus, New Mexico, do
hereby proclaim January 2026 as youth
mentoring month.
We have some chocolate kisses for you
all. Red
is um the identified color for youth
mentoring month. So good. Thank you um
Mayor Prom Beno and council. Um, on
behalf of our community partners and the
Donana Youth Collective, thank you for
recognizing Youth Mentoring Month and
affirming your commitment to the
well-being of our young people.
Mentoring is just not a program. It is a
relationship rooted in trust,
consistency, and care. For many youth,
especially those navigating advers
adversity, a mentor can be the
protective factor that changes the
trajectory of their lives.
Research and lived experience show us
that when young people feel seen and
supported and connected to a caring
adult, they are more likely to stay
engaged in school, develop healthy
coping skills, and remain safe and
drug-free. Through the Donana
Collective, mentors are helping build
resilience by creating spaces where
youth feel emotionally and physically
safe. Using trauma-informed approaches,
mentors meet young people where they
are, honor their experiences
and focus on strengths rather than
deficits.
The approach helps restore a sense of
agency, belonging, and hope, critical
foundations for healthy development.
Mentoring is also strengthens our
community as a whole. When we invest in
positive relationships, we reduce
isolation and interrupt cycles of trauma
and build protective factors that
prevent substance use, violence, and
disengagement.
Thank you so much for lifting up our
youth. We really appreciate you. We have
a number of agencies here that work
tirelessly on the daily with our youth
and doing some really exciting things
with our youth. So, if you have a youth
that needs a mentor, please reach out to
us so we can connect them, um, I'd love
for KidsCan and FY Plus and others to
share a little bit about what they're
doing so that you're informed. Thank
you.
[Applause]
Hello, my name is April Christensen and
I'm the founder of Kids Can. I work
alongside these amazing individuals um
to brighten the the futures of our local
youth. I wanted to say a quick thank you
for all that you do as a community to um
to put your arms around our youth and to
guide them and to mentor. I know that
there's amazing things that are already
happening in our community, but I did
want to challenge each of us to as we're
looking at our new year, uh the new year
that's that's here, um and and you're
looking at goals and trying to uh to
better your lives, your family's lives,
and the the lives of the community um
community members just to look at um do
you have a few hours? Do you have some
an expertise that you can share um with
our rising generation? Just take a look
at a few. It doesn't take much, an hour
a week. Um wanted to challenge you to do
that and to make our our neighborhood
and our community a better place. And
again, thank you for all that you do.
And let's let's level up for for our
kids and um give just a little bit more.
So, thank you.
[Applause]
Next, we'll have a presentation uh from
Relle
with Visit Los Cusus. She'll present on
the balloon fest.
Good morning. Michelle Miller Hernandez
with Visit Los Cusus. For the record,
first of all, I want to say hello mayor,
mayor prom, all the counselors, and uh
welcome councelor Munes and councelor
Harris. It's great to have you here. So,
I wanted to share a little bit on the
balloon rally coming up because this
will be the um the only council meeting
or the we won't have another council
meeting before the balloon rally. So, I
wanted to remind everyone that we're
having our second balloon rally after a
14-year hiatus. And this year, we will
be showcasing the Visit Los Cusus
balloon. So, we're excited. Thank you,
Econ, for your um
um encouragement and getting this rally
back in and running again. So, I'm going
to show you a couple photos and then
I'll give you some details. For our
balloon, we decided in tradition of our
culture to have theels attached to the
balloon. So when it's flying, they'll be
flowing in the air. And um as you can
see, we had them customized with some of
our visit Las Cusus assets that
represent um our area and our city. So
of course the Satl is very prevalent is
not a yucka, it's a Satl. And then our
Roadrunner. If you look a uh back on the
other one, it's uh chili pepper.
And then um of course we have our visit
Las Cusus, New Mexico. Those will be
flying. This is the um they had to
inflate the balloon um to test it and
then uh get the FAA certification. So
that's where these photos are from. And
then again, you can see our assets on
there.
and just uh and this is a little teaser
from the inside. Um and then we'll have
the Zia symbol on the top of of the um
the balloon. So that's all I'm going to
show you for now. But I do want to
remind everyone this was funded 100% by
lodgers tax. It is not come out of our
general fund. uh and it is in to promote
our city um to generate tourism um which
greatly impacts our economic prosperity
in the city. So just to remind you it is
a free event. It's January 16th through
January 18th. uh kicks off Friday,
January 16th with a RC radio, which is
the radiocontrolled
uh balloon glow on the plaza downtown
from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Um we say
radiocrolled, but they're about 20 ft
high, so they're pretty pretty
significant still. Um food and drink
vendors will be there. And then uh
Saturday morning at Field of Dreams, uh
the ascension will begin around sunrise
at 7:00 a.m. You'll have both the
full-size balloons and the RC balloons.
Um a balloon glow will be on Saturday
evening. They'll open the gates at 5:00
p.m. and then the glow should start
around 6:30. Again, vendors will be
there. Um
we will have attendees will have one
last uh opportunity on Sunday January
18th again with a morning as ascension.
Um the media day is Friday, January 16th
at 6:00 a.m. at Field of Dreams. So
we'll have a bunch of media coming out.
That's where we'll do the official debut
of our balloon. And um just to let you
know, last year the event generated
829,000 in PR value and had a reach of
29 million.
Um the other exciting thing is we're
bringing down the Zazobra balloon this
year. If you're not familiar with it,
it's I believe 135t tall
and they're really excited about
bringing it down because it's the first
time it's come down this south this far
south. So that'll be a great draw as
well.
And let me think I think that's about
it. I want to thank the organizers
Christine Casillas and John Grunberg and
also Liz Vega and Sergio Selenus with
Visit Los Cruus who've put in a lot of
hard work on this event. Thank you.
Thank you Michelle. Thanks for all that
information.
How many how many uh people fit in the
balloon
in our balloon? I believe it's four. We
can we have the pilot and then we can
bring up three more people.
Oh, is any counselors get selected to
go?
Um,
we'll send out we'll send out something.
Notice I said counselors.
Yes, I did. But we will also we'll have
plenty of photo opportunities.
No, sounds great. Thank you. Thank you.
Next is jobs of the week. Sarah Rainey.
Hello. Thank you. Welcome back from the
holidays.
My name is Sarah Rainey. I am the onetop
coordinator for the Southwest region of
the America's Job Center New Mexico.
For jobs of the week for January 5th, we
have wastewater collection supervisor
for the city of Los Cusus starting at
60,000 at this time. It's a continuous
posting. We also have a veterinary
assistant. That one starts at 1740 an
hour and it is a continuous posting as
well. We also have for Los Cru's Dental
a receptionist starting at $14 an hour
and that posting closes on the 16th. We
have a driver in store support for max
meetats starting at $15 an hour, closing
on the 4th. That was actually yesterday.
Sorry about that. Um, NMSU has an admin
assistant starting at 1785 an hour. That
one closes this week. And an operational
assistant at Legacy Care LLC right at
home. That one is a fairly new company
in here in Los Cusus and they have lots
of opportunity there for home healthcare
um, assistance. So, if you're interested
in that, come talk to us about that
company. Um, they start minimum wage to
15 an hour and that one that posting
closes on the 14th.
As always, if you're interested in any
sort of career changes, um, help, any
guidance at all, come see us at Alamita
Boulevard at our office or you can look
online at employee&mm.com for more
information. Thank you.
Thank you.
All right. Thank you, sir. Next is Pet
of the Weeks with Carol Nielsen.
Happy New Year. I'm Carol Nielson,
digital content specialist with the
Animal Services Center of the Messia
Valley. Our dog of the week is Spike
93137.
From the moment I arrived here, I've
been all about people. When you stop by
to check on me, I'll come right to the
front looking for attention. I also get
along well with my kennel mates and love
to play. I've got that joyful puppy
energy, but with some tasty treats in a
guiding hand, I'm learning to channel my
energy better. I'm responsive to
commands like sit, treat, and come. I
can't wait to learn even more with you.
So, if you're looking for a sweet,
lovable companion who's ready to learn,
I'm your guy.
And our cat of the week, Giorgio, has
already been adopted. So, we're super
excited for him. And currently we
actually have no adoptable cats at the
center. So the community is coming on
out for our cats. So we would love to
see them come out for our dogs as well.
Um and as always we like to highlight
our long-term residents as well. Um as
you all know the longer dogs stay in
shelter while animals in general um they
oftentimes will start to decline
behaviorally. So we really want to
encourage the community to come out and
adopt. Pulu has now been with us 337
days. Vera 292 days, Maddie 255, Lily
250. All have been previously dog of the
week. They're all really great dogs, so
please, please come out and adopt them.
And for the next two weekends, we are
going to be at the downtown farmers
market from 10 to 1 on Saturday. So,
stop by our booth, meet our adoptable
pets, bring someone who's ready to
adopt, and it'll be a good time. So, and
for more information, you can visit our
website or follow us on social media.
Thank you.
All right. Thank you, Carol. Next is a
conflict of interest. Does any member of
the city council, city manager, or any
member of city staff have any known
conflict of interest with any item on
the agenda?
None.
Next is organizational ceremony. At this
point, we'll take any nominations if
there are any for Mayor Prom.
Mayor.
Yes. Council Matis.
Yeah. I'd like to nominate uh John
Munoz.
Are there any other nominations?
I'd like to nominate Mayor Prom.
No other nominations. Okay. Uh
Christine,
you want to explain?
Yeah. So, um I'll call the role for
councelor Munoz first. If he gets four
votes, then he will be the next mayor
prom. If not, then we'll go on to um
councelor Bencomo and do the roll call
for that. Okay. So, this one is for John
Munoz as mayor prom. Councelor Mccclur,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Harris,
no.
Councelor Karan,
no.
Councelor Munoz,
yes.
Councelor Benville,
no.
And mayor,
yes. Okay, so he got four votes which
makes him the next mayor promote.
[Applause]
Well, cong congratulations councelor
Munoz as the new mayor prom. I'd also
like to say to um Mayor Prom Beno,
councelor Beno, thank you. Thank you for
your your service and for assisting and
filling in all those times and we really
appreciate you and so thank you and um
onward John.
Yes sir.
Next is public participation. Uh we'll
allow up to three minutes. No pending
litigations. No items on the
non-consent. uh Katrina will be coming
up and ushering those that um wish to
speak.
Please remember to speak clearly, state
your name, and be respectful. Thanks.
Mayor, City Council, I'm Liz Rodriguez
Johnson. Here's a list of the top six
actions Las Cruises Utilities is taking
that we know of to falsely minimize the
number of lead or galvanized pipes that
should be replaced. All six maneuvers
violate the lead and copper rule. Number
one, attaching non-LED classification to
piping by falsely claiming it was
installed after the lead ban when it was
actually installed before the lead ban.
Inventing non-LED classification for
piping with no documented records to
justify it. Number three, inventing
non-LED classification for piping
without any justification whatsoever.
Number four, falsely classifying piping
as non-L plastic in the inventory report
even though the inspection report shows
that piping is actually lead and/or
galvanized which must be replaced
using an inspection technique that looks
exclusively at the meter box. A
technique which is not capable of
finding lead line piping or lead or
galvanized piping further up the line.
both of which EPA says must be accounted
for. Leaving half the city out of the
inventory and off the inventory map.
That's a really effective way of
deceptively cutting in half the number
of lead pipes that are acknowledged and
must therefore be replaced.
Every one of these actions by Lasurus's
utilities removes for all practical
purposes the affected properties from
the list of properties that need piping
replaced, which appears to be the city's
goal. This is real.
This matters.
Every one of these decisions by
Lascurus' utilities means that fewer
lead pipes are being found or
acknowledged than are likely to exist in
Lascurus,
a city which has significant portions
that were built long before the 1986
lead ban. Every one of these actions is
unacceptable and clearly violates the
rule. Every one of these decisions has
the potential to harm the health of city
residents, especially children, unborn
children, and seniors.
Why is the city manager allowing Lascus'
utilities to do this? Why is the city
council allowing the city manager to
allow Lascurus' utilities to do this?
If Lasus's utilities is going to such
lengths to cover up the true number of
lead and galvanized pipes in the city,
what else is being covered up? Thank
you.
Mayor Council folks here today and those
watching online, I'm Lyn Mo. Today, for
the start of the new year, I'm going to
spell out ways to fix the top 10 fixable
mistakes and legal deficiencies related
to the city's compliance with the lead
and copper rule. Number 10, restore to
the online inventory correct
installation dates, designations of
sensitive populations and disadvantaged
neighborhoods, and inspection dates, and
revise water hookup locations on the map
so they correctly match the property's
address. Number nine, replace the
worthless disclaimer that pops up on the
web page with a message in English and
Spanish that explains how the website
can be translated into Spanish or other
language. Number eight, send out notices
to all property owners with galvanized
piping requiring replacement, all new
customers, and all those with unknown
service lines. Number seven, apply for
more funding to competently carry out
all EPA requirements, enlisting the help
of a different city department to
doublech checkck the math in all funding
applications. Parks and recreation is
filled with friendly people. I'm sure
they'd be willing to help out the
utilities department. Number six,
correct all inventory records so they
actually match the inspection reports
and include all the connector materials
in the inventory that inspections find.
Number five, provide justifications for
the characterizations for every single
property so people can know why the city
thinks a property's piping is
galvanized, for example. Number four,
correct the characterizations for all
properties so that the justification of
installation after leadband is used only
for properties whose installation date
is actually after 1986.
Number three, include all properties on
the inventory, including all mobile
homes, so that every single property in
the city shows a water hookup if it has
one and what kind of piping the city
thinks it has. Number two, sample the
tap of everyone who requests it. And the
number one way to fix the top 10 fixable
mistakes and legal deficiencies related
to the city's compliance with the lead
and copper rule. institute several
additional inspection techniques
recommended by EPA, including but not
limited to vacuum excavation,
potholeing, snaking a camera up the
interior of the pipe, and/or digging
along the entire length of the pipe
exterior so you can actually determine
if there is lead lining and or a piece
of recycled lead piping placed somewhere
in the middle of a service line. and go
back and redo all the inspections so far
which just looked in the meter box and
didn't use one of these additional
procedures. Thank you very much for this
opportunity to speak and congratulations
mayor promos.
Welcome to the council. Same counselor
Harris.
Good afternoon and happy new year. My
name is Leavonne Hart and I'm the
director of the Spay and Neuter Action
Program, SNAP.
We are here today. I am here today.
Ma'am, can you can you bring the
microphone closer?
Sorry.
Thank you.
It's kind of intimidating.
No, you're fine. Just so they can get
recorded.
I'm here today to provide an update
on the spay and program um that we have
going on with the city. As many of you
know, we're in our second year of the
program with the city of Los Cusus, and
we continue to see significant increases
in the number of vouchers issued for
spayneuter surgeries for the pets of
lowincome residents of Los Cusus. As of
December 31st, we are seeing an over 50%
increase in the number of voucher
requests
over the same period last year.
This is wonderful
for the residents of Los Cusus and their
companion dogs and cats. I have provided
copies of data showing the results of
the first five months of the 2526
fiscal year. As you will see, almost 470
cats and dogs have been spayed or
neutered, 319 have received rabies
vaccinations, and 241 have received
microchips. We have already issued over
749 vouchers just in the last five
months. Yes, our participating bets are
very busy and the SNAP office is seldom
quiet.
While SNAP is delighted to see the
increases in the number of surgeries,
vaccinations, and microchips, these
increases have led to SNAP expending fun
expending the funds provided by the city
in just the first five months of the
fiscal year. We are aware that these are
tight budget times for everyone.
However, without additional funding from
the city, it is unlike it is likely that
SNAP will have to reinstitute co-pays
this spring. This is something that the
SNAP board doesn't want to do because we
know it will impact
residents ability to avail themselves of
our services. We are looking for grants
and increase trying to increase
donations and our goal is to reduce the
need or eliminate the need for co-pays.
If any of you have ideas, we're open to
them. We're looking at being as creative
as we can be. SNAP has received a New
Mexico state uh spay and neuter grant
for trapneuter release and to increase
our outreach to South County, but that
doesn't help the residents of Los Cusus
directly. We are truly grateful to the
city of Los Cusus for supporting our
program. It has enabled us to insist a
greater number of Los Cusus residents
and we are looking forward to more spays
and neuters and happy pets in 2026.
Thank you for your time.
Good afternoon, uh, city council mayor.
My name is Robert Williams. Uh, I'm a
business owner and a father. Uh, I'm
here today because there's a lot of, uh,
economic issues going on, uh, that I'm
concerned about. Um, and I'm glad that
we have people here still trying to get
the lead pipe uh problem fixed. I've
been coming here off and on for a few
years, and I can't believe we're still a
few years in trying to get it fixed. But
I know Las Cruises is growing and so I
appreciate them uh always showing up.
Seems like when I'm here, they're
showing up, which is good to see that.
Um, and I'm glad that it's kids month
January.
um you know, we got a lot of things
going on politically, um with
immigration, a lot of things that really
uh messes with my mental uh health. And
you know, as a student, I'm a student at
New Mexico State University getting my
uh master's degree in business. One of
the ways that I kind of keep my head
organized is through fitness. And I've
been wondering, you know, we're talking
about kids this month. What's going on
with the uh skate park? So, is this like
a project that started and we took
funding for something else? Does anybody
have any answers why we can't finish it?
Because it looks like it's like 80%
complete and it's still locked up. I
mean, I think you guys should at least
open the gate and let us start
skateboarding. So, I want to see what's
going on. Why is it taking so long? And
why does something as simple as that um
I know we got parks everywhere. It's
free. doesn't cost anything for us to
do. And even me at my 40 I'm 43 years
old. I didn't have a mentor growing up.
Uh my mom was a single parent and that
was one of the things that I did um to
meet other kids like to to have fun. And
so I just want to see if anybody can
give me any answers as to why it's
taking so long. Is it I know we got
other things going on, but like I say,
can we at least get this one part
project finished up? doesn't seem like a
big thing. And which construction
company is doing it? Is it somebody from
Los Cusus or do you need an insurance uh
a construction company to finish it?
What's the hold up on it? Does anybody
have any answers on that while I'm here?
Mayor,
city manager?
No.
Yeah. At this time, we're taking public
participation, but the city manager
during his comments will address the
issue. Okay. Because because it is a
lengthy answer.
Yeah. Okay. Okay. All right. And um
that's all I wanted to talk about. Uh
thank you guys. Happy New Year and uh
thanks.
Good afternoon, city council mayor. My
name is Nicholas Talent. Um I first time
here, so forgive me if I I don't follow
all the protocols. Uh but similar to
what he was saying, I'm here to talk a
little bit about parks and wreck. Um
we're a town of 115,000 people. Odd. How
many ADA accessible weight rooms do we
have in the city right now? Does anyone
answer want to answer that? It's zero.
We have zero weight rooms in a town of
this size. I am a passionate raetball
player. That's my That's what I really
love. As of right now, we have zero
raetball courts open to the public. NMSU
does, but they're 18 plus. So, for the
youth mentor month, they're not allowed
to use that. Um, that's my big thing.
It's I know Mir it's all because
Mirshite is under construction, but why
was there no planning with that? Why did
we close the raball courts at Mirite the
day that NMSU closed their raball courts
for Christmas break? Like, I'm not I
don't quite understand that. And then we
built the East Mesa Community Center.
Why is there Why isn't there a weight
room in there? There's a fitness outdoor
fitness facility, but I mean, if I could
do a chin-up, I would do chin-ups at my
house. I I need I need equipment. It's
it's it's I mean, we always hear about
like Doniana County is like 40% obese
and we make it so hard to even utilize
the resources that we have as parks. I I
just don't understand it. It's it it's
it's and I've been I've I've lost 140
lbs going to mirite in the last 3 years
and I've just been been slowly watching
it become more and more and more
difficult to use these facilities that
we have. I I just don't really
understand that. The other one just as I
noted while I was thinking about it um I
use pretty much a parks and rec facility
every day if I can if I can. I if we
don't use them we're going to lose them
and that's one of my beliefs. In the
last six months, the bathroom at Burn
Lake has been open for one day when the
soccer fields were being utilized. And
those port up at Porta Johns there are
like nightmares. Like that's I I don't
understand how
why this is the case. There must be some
reason for it, but I just I just don't
understand. The rackball courts at MIT
are being used for storage. Like why
don't we get storage units or portables
outside for the people to work at? like
they're being the one the one cord has
been used for storage for three years
that this is not a new thing for the
construction. It's two years before the
construction started was being used for
storage.
Um
that's all I appreciate your time. Thank
you.
The the first thing I want to say is I
am grateful
um that we are doing and I'm a big
animal advocate.
Ma'am ma'am, can you state your name?
Oh, Cindy Habber
and I'm a big animal advocate. I have
fostered dogs
for probably 20 or more years um in the
state that I used to live in and in this
state. I've done it with our shelter.
I've also done it with
um rescues
and I'm really pleased
that we're getting this spade and ne
neuter thing that that has been
enhanced. It's been improved in the last
year and I really do appreciate it.
Yesterday
I saw
a petition going around and it addressed
some of the issues that I've been very
concerned about what's going on at the
Msia Valley Rescue Center for dogs,
animals, pets. Um, and it's about the
euthanasia rates.
When I first moved here, we did not have
the euthanasia rates that we have now.
And at that time, I saw posted
how many euthanasia rates, how many pets
were euthanized on a regular basis.
I'm not seeing that now. I don't know if
they're not being posted or if I'm not
looking in the right places, but I'm not
seeing them. I have heard from different
rescues. I do keep up with the rescues
that they are having difficulty
getting enough notice about the atrisisk
pets
in the in the U thing that they don't
have enough notice to try to place them.
And there were a couple that were only
there was a notice like two hours before
they were going to be euthanized.
We also need something
to change.
So, we will only euthanize
animals that have an untreatable
and are suffering condition
or if they are at a major a a huge
um behavioral risk,
but not some that have little issues
that a trainer could work with or
anybody has worked with trainers. I I'll
continue this the next week. Thank you,
Mayor Council Juan Garcia. Uh first
regional center, aquatic center as an
excellent excellent fitness center. This
is particularly good for people like my
age. Uh it can cater to younger folks
too, but it's a great place to go. Happy
new year and congratulations to our new
and returning counselors. Best of luck.
I woke up January 3rd in Switzerland
news. The American military had just
wrapped up an operation in Venezuela. No
reported US and Venezuelan casualties.
Minimal firepower used mostly to keep
hostile forces at bay. It was nothing
like the chaotic and deadly Afghanistan
withdrawal under Biden.
Now the former Venezuelan leader is in
the US to face trial. And I quote,
"Since 2019, more than 50 countries,
including the US, have refused to
recognize Maduro. Maduro leads the
cartel of the Sons, a Venezuelan drug
trafficking organization comprised of
highranking Venezuelan officials
from Pew Research. Over 650,000
illegal Venezuelan immigrants reside in
the US. And why are they coming?
Venezuelans have fled their homes due to
hyperinflation, severe shortages of
food, medicine, high poverty, and a
dramatic contraction of GDP making basic
necessities unaffordable for many.
authoritarian rule, a lack of democratic
freedoms and government repression, high
levels of insecurity and violence, all
under the regime of dictator Maduro and
a failed socialist state. Mayor Mandami
from New York and Senator Souls was a
strong admirer of Mandami might learn
from this lesson. So why are we having
protests by the left in support of this
atrocious dictator? Plenty on the left
are experts at spreading misinformation,
including the New Mexico delegation and
frankly quite a few folks in our own
twisted upside down community. Why?
Because of the hatred for the president.
On 21 June 2020, Biden stated, and I
quote, "Trump talks tough on Venezuela,
but admires thugs and dictators like
Maduro. As president, I will stand with
Venezuela and for democracy." End of
quote. I guess those were pretty empty
words. Standing by a ta dictator who has
allegedly murdered thousands and nearly
destroyed his country is despicable. But
many of our friends on the left don't
care. Their hatred for Trump supersedes.
This is the upside down world that we
live in today. Thank you.
[Applause]
Good afternoon. My name is Donna
Striker. I would like to con
congratulate Councilman Harris and
Councilman Munoz. Thank you for your
willingness to serve not only your
district but your community as a whole.
I would like to thank all of the
counselors for their willingness to
serve. Even if we don't agree, it's hard
to be an elected official. Today, I
would like to issue all of you,
including you, mayor, a challenge.
would like to ask you to ask yourself in
your heart of hearts which type of
elected official you are. There are two
kinds. The one that truly in their heart
wants to be a change in the world, wants
to help others and wants to make a
difference in the lives of their
constituents, their city, their
community through selfless service, no
agenda, no behindthe-scene deals, no but
truly service. I've met a couple of you
and I applaud you and I've listened,
learned, and grown from that
interchange. The other kind is not here
to serve the community or their district
or the city of Los Cusus. There is an
agenda. Self- serving, bigger plans. And
it's not about selfless service. It's
about the endgame, the big picture.
Regardless of which you are, my
challenge to you, each and every one of
you, is to have a town hall, each of
you. Some of you have, but all of you,
and meet with the city manager, have him
arrange for the department heads to
attend. Give plenty of notice after work
for those voter voters and constituents
that have to worry about how to attend a
meeting like this. And more importantly,
don't talk.
Listen.
Don't tell everybody how great you are,
what you've done, what you're going to
do, etc. Ask them what they want, what
they need, what are their concerns
about. If you truly wish to serve this
community instead of yourself and you
want to serve your district and this
city, don't talk. Listen. Truly listen.
You will not always hear what you want.
But unless you actually listen, actually
ask your districts, your city's concerns
and what they are, how can you serve
effectively?
Your job is not to serve special
interest groups only. Your job is to
serve the people of this city. When you
were sworn into office, the oath was
very easy to understand.
I challenge you to show me and all of us
in this community in 2026
just what kind of elected official you
really are. Thank you.
Hello all. My name is Liz Bennett. I
want to start off the new year by
welcoming the new city council members
with an urgent reminder and plea as you
face the work ahead of you to please
carry with you the charge to invest in
care not criminalization.
The militarization of civilian life and
the criminalization of the human
struggle creeps into our city through
the targeting of black and brown
communities, the criminalization of
poverty, the use of lethal force in
response to mental health crisis, and
the use of mass surveillance technology
like the unsecured AI powered flock
cameras currently placed throughout Los
Cusus. I want to acknowledge that there
are genuine concerns to respond to
around community safety, but how we
respond matters. The effectiveness of
the strategies we use matters. A take
them out and lock them up approach is
ineffective and in fact perpetuates the
cycles of poverty, trauma, and
discrimination that breed violence in
the first place.
Historical and empirical data spell out
the facts that investing in education
and employment opportunities, free
accessible public spaces and services,
opportunities to connect with peers,
diversion programs, and common sense gun
control laws are the types of
initiatives that truly prevent harm and
promote community safety, particularly
among young people. On the contrary,
incarceration often increases the
likelihood of reaffending and
recidivism. I have provided several
research articles that go into further
detail.
It is right here in our own backyards
among our elected officials and
community advocates where we have the
most power to act in accordance with our
values in the face of the dangerous
national and local trends to maximize
state aggression. Los Cruus as a
community has demonstrated our capacity
to invest in each other's well-being and
it is a part of our identity that we
must intentionally and purposefully hold
on to. Please hold this at the forefront
of discussions on how to invest the $11
million of additional annual GRT funds,
keeping in mind that the community
clearly voiced their support for funding
libraries, affordable housing, parks,
and trails over the harmful and
traumatizing expansion of carceral
infrastructure. Thank you.
Good afternoon, council. Lucas Hernand
for the record. Um,
it is a new year. It is 2026.
Um, and that gives us some statistics to
look back on for the year 2025. Um,
police killings were slightly down in
2025. Uh 2024 remains the highest uh
year in on the books for police
killings. Um unfortunately, despite that
overall national statistic, New Mexico
still led the way as the most deadly
state for citizens to be killed by the
police in 2025.
this uh city, our city um continues to
tolerate
a police chief who uses his position for
political purposes.
I have brought it up multiple times as
have others. It has been well documented
and as of last month when I spoke um you
know it was it was
unquestioned, right? The event that he
spoke at was a political rally by the
Republicans held at the the
school board. Um not a official state
business but a political rally. And um
while we all have a right to express our
personal opinions um when in uniform,
when on the clock, my understanding is
that as an employee, the chief is not in
a situation where he gets to do that.
Later today, um and I can't stay to talk
about it, and I understand that we're
normally asked to speak on these things,
but I am on my lunch break. So later
today, the city will be um affirming
anou with the the cop union um to give
the cops raises. Um
I oppose this
um on the grounds that the cops already
have the second largest line item of the
entire city budget. And when it comes to
um the percentages, uh overall they're
the only only line item that's over 20%,
which means one in five of my dollars
goes towards paying cops. That again,
statistically are the most deadly in the
country when it comes to us moving
around as supposedly free citizens.
I know that there's been constrnation at
me speaking on this issue. I just want
to reassure you, the council, and all my
fans behind me that I will be here all
year reminding you about this as long as
it remains an issue. Thank you.
Vic Filobos, happy new year to uh mayor,
manager, new counselors, chief, deputy
chief. Um, haven't been here for a
while. I assure you I've been staying
busy trying to raise money for the city
council through my taxes. And you are
more than welcome to take two of my $5
uh to pay for the police department when
you uh give them that raise. So, you're
more than happy to do that. I'm I'm here
to actually just say um
we don't always get to be here, but the
majority of us, and I say the majority
of this city is in support of law
enforcement, the way it's done. I
actually want to thank Chief Story
specifically for the latest bridging the
badge. I I was completely aware of of
youth crime in our city and and I'm
pretty hard to shock and I got to tell
you when I saw the videos of what some
of the youth are doing in our community,
I was shocked and and it really
surprised me that that you have this
underlying factor. And yes, things are
getting better in many aspects of what
we do when it comes to law enforcement.
And by the way, I completely support
veterans in law enforcement. As a
veteran, I take some offense that people
don't like the discipline and maybe the
the the support of our country that that
it created in me, but uh I think it's a
good thing and I think it's a good thing
to instill in our law enforcement and
our our fire fire department. Um, I look
back at um two years ago tomorrow, which
would be the day that that my friend and
teammate in search and rescue, Mitch
Russell, who was starting his young
life, got a new job with a forest
service where he was going to be um
maintaining a pack of wild horses, which
was his dream up in northern New Mexico
and part of Colorado. He had been
recently engaged. He came down to to
visit with me and a few other people.
And two days after that, he went to
Walmart to get some stuff for his
grandma and and he saw someone breaking
into cars and decided he should
intervene as I would have and many of us
would. That person shot Mitch three
times in the chest and killed him. That
person started out as a juvenile. His
criminal history was long. It started
with just abusing women. And I believe
he had a rape charge in there. He had
had interactions with police where he
had actually gone into a gunfight with
police. He was a known, you know,
problem. There was no incarceration for
him young. There was also no treatment
for him, which I agree we need treatment
for youth, not necessarily just
incarceration. And as he grew to an
adult, turning 18, that is when he
escalated to into what he did. that
person served less than 6 months because
of a judge here in our community who let
him go. And so what I'm saying here
today is support the chief, support what
he wants in Santa Fe, and bring change
because it has to start with our youth.
Thank you.
[Applause]
How? I am Lonnie Montgomery and I'm a
follower of Jesus Christ. And I don't
think they've done away with prayer. So
I would like to pray for you people.
Appreciate you being elected and hope
you uh take care of us constituents
better known as taxpayers. But uh I want
to pray. Dear Lord God, thank you for
these people that they have decided to
serve. And I ask blessing of discernment
and wisdom that they can uh come to good
decisions for everybody within the city
of Los in Los Cusus. This I pray in the
power of Jesus name. Amen. And since I
can speak on anything, I'm going to take
full advantage. Being a former teacher,
I'm going to come and as part of my riff
raff report, I would like to do on
different things on uh teaching that
some people may have missed out when
they were going through schools in this
area and other areas. And so I had
started with the uh constitutional
United States and uh the beginning of
the Christian Republic. The first thing
that Ben Franklin wanted to do was pray.
So they did. Were they Christians? Yes,
they were. William Penn was a Quaker.
George Washington was an Anglican.
Charles Carroll was Catholic. John Adams
a congregationist. Monroe Anglican. But
all were Christians. They believed we
were endowed according to the uh
Declaration of Independence by our
creator were certain unalienable. That's
God-given rights. Among those are life,
liberty, and pursuit of happiness. So
when and why did they break away from
Georgia third? He established tyranny
against the states. He forbad their
government from passing laws without his
ascent. He dissolved representation
repeatedly. He made judges depend on his
will alone. Established new offices to
harass the people and so on and so
forth. Kept standing armies among the
people without their consent. Cut off
trade with the rest of the world. uh and
imposed taxes without representing the
citizens
which we can learn from and uh
sent Americans to Britain to be tried,
suspended the legislature and abolished
the laws.
he uh
was.
So we got together and they said they
they
wrote the constitution and in the
constitution they have certain uh
amendments that and certain things that
people think are in there but are not.
But that will be continued on the next
riff raff report. Thank you so much for
your time and your patience.
Good afternoon.
My name is Derek Pacheco. For the
record,
I live at 640 South Mosquite in the
historic Mosquite neighborhood.
My family has been on the block for over
100 years.
I'm highly invested in what I'm about to
say right now to all of you.
to all of you.
On Wednesday, September 10th, at 9:28
a.m., I asked a sitting city counselor
on the bench right here. Could we
organize a community meeting regarding
the nearly 100 flock cameras coming to
Cru's? I don't feel good about it at all
to be honest.
The response, let me ask story when
there might be another town hall. We are
actually touring RTCC tomorrow, so I
should have more info then.
That never happened. None of that.
I'm here today to ask you to bring
forward a resolution to cancel the
city's contract with Flock Safety,
remove the cameras, and require deletion
of locally stored data that is not tied
to a specific lawful investigation.
Before I get into the reasons, I want to
briefly explain what Flock actually is
because many people hear the word camera
and think it's just another traffic cam.
Flock is not a normal camera. It is a
license plate surveillance system that
automatically photographs every vehicle
that passes, records the time, location,
vehicle type, color, bumper stickers,
and travel patterns, and stores that
info in a searchable database. A simple
way to think about it, especially for
those of us who grew up before
smartphones, is this. Imagine if in the
70s or 80s the city had stationed a
police officer on every major road,
writing down every license plate where
you were and when you passed, even
though you had done nothing wrong, and
then kept those notebooks for months.
That's what Flock does, except it does
it 24 hours a day automatically and at a
scale no human could ever do. Now, let's
talk about why cities across the country
are walking away from flock.
In just the past year, multiple cities
have canled or declined to renew their
flock contracts, including Flagstaff,
Arizona, Eugene, Oregon, Cambridge,
Massachusetts,
San Marcos, Texas. These cities have
cited concerns about privacy, cost,
outreach, and lack of measurable public
safety benefit.
And those concerns turned out to be
justified. Recent investigative
reporting revealed that live video feeds
and administrative panels from flock
cameras were exposed on the open
internet, meaning strangers could watch
real-time surveillance footage and
access stored data. Cities affected
included Bakersfield, California, and
Brook Haven, Georgia.
Thank you.
Uh, mayor, mayor prom council. I'm Jim
Wilcox and today I'm celebrating five
years of living in Los Cusus and I
wanted to go back and look at some of
the great things that have happened
since I've been here. Uh this is not an
exhaustive list and it's not in any
particular order, but one of the things
I want to recognize the council did was
the dog spay and neuter ordinance and we
heard about that today and I think it's
a great thing that you've done that and
I think it's going to help a lot of uh
animals uh avoid the ultimate
consequence that some of them see. Also,
the TNR trapping, neutering, and return
of cats. When I got here, there was a
cat hanging around and uh she bred and I
was like, what's going on here? you
know, and so then I noticed that she was
gone and this other black male cat was
gone for a little while and they came
back with clipped ears and the little
gray female I got enticed her after she
got kind of beat up by another cat to
come and she got inside the house and
now she's my indoor feral cat and I have
another guy outside who's got his own
kitty condo and he's got a heater. He
won't come in but he's having a good
time out there. Then I rescued another
guy who was hit on the street so that's
been a great thing. Uh, also I wanted to
point out the plastic bag ban. When I
got here, that was a discussion and this
council at that time passed it. And one
of the things we do and is not notice
what didn't happen. So, we don't notice
how few bags are now flying around
because when I got here, they were
flying around all over the place like it
was snowing. And if you go out towards
uh uh Burn Lake area, that big field out
there, it used to be just full of
plastic bags. And now you don't see
maybe one every once in a while. So try
to remember what it was like then. They
were flying around. They were in the
power lines. Now you don't see them. And
try to remember how beautiful how reme
remember that it's great now and what it
wasn't so great before. Also mirror
celebration. That is a great
celebration. Whoever is putting that on
is doing a great job. I got to see
everybody bouncing around on this out in
front of the plaza. They had great
music. They had people in these costumes
and it was like carnival and I was like,
"Wow, this is really great." And this is
something that they don't have to pay
for. The city is picks up the tab or
somebody's picking up the tab sponsors.
It's a great uh program and it's great
to see you guys smiling because you know
that that's also lots of fun. And then
not uh last but not least is the weed
ordinance, the one you recently passed.
Now people know which uh plants they
have to pull out and which ones they can
keep because they are native plants. of
course shephering that I like to call it
the Wilcox weed ordinance but uh that is
something that uh we can just leave for
another day. So those are the five top
things that you guys have done and I
want to congratulate you. It's really
great working with you and I plan I'm
going to stay even though Eugene was
brought up today my old town I'm still
staying. Thanks.
Good afternoon. My name is Jim Hurst.
Uh, happy new year and welcome to the
city council, Michael and John. Um,
congratulations.
Uh, it's good to see some new blood. Um,
I just have to defend separation of
church and state.
Some people wrap themselves in ignorance
and pretend it's knowledge. It's real
easy to read
works by George Washington and uh
Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson
and James Madison and all those guys who
we consider to be the founders of the of
this country. Uh
Franklin
and Jefferson and Madison were deists
as well as Thomas Payne,
many others and they decided to form a
government not based on religion, not
based on the divine right of kings. Our
government is instituted by the people,
not God, us. It's our government.
We each answer to God individually in
individually, if at all.
No government person has the right to
tell us what to believe, what not to
believe, where to go to worship, or any
such thing.
They're not allowed to use public
facilities
to promote religion. They are not used
they are not allowed to make religious
declarations as though they knew
something about God because they were
elected to office.
They simply serve the people and
religion is strictly the people's
business, not the governments.
Thank you very much.
Uh, good afternoon, mayor, counselors,
new city councilors, and staff. My name
is George Pearson, vice president of
Velocus, the local bicycle and
pedestrian advocacy group. About a month
ago, I was here with the sad news of two
pedestrian fatalities in our community.
Today
we have news on two more pedestrian
crashes. One resulting in a fatality and
the other in a severe injury. We need to
actively work towards vision zero with
actions to improve these transportation
to improve transportation safety in Los
Cusus. Some actions have been taken but
it's working at the speed of government.
Um the safe routes safe streets for all
grant was successfully received and the
RFP for that I believe is in process but
I haven't heard a current update on
that. Um
this will be a useful tool tool towards
vision zero. Also the city is hosting a
bicycle friendly community meeting on
January 14th at 10:00 a.m. in the
roadrunner room at Brandan Library. This
is to work towards the city's
application for a bicycle friendly
community and this also works hand in
hand in improving safety for bicyclists
and pedestrians.
All those interested should please
attend.
There are also a couple of other action
items I hope council could direct staff
to implement.
Joining the vision zero network should
be done. there's no cost to the city and
this could be done perhaps by a
resolution
um setting out city policy to accomplish
this task. There's also another
practical step for a current
construction project. The University
Avenue multimmoal project currently
under construction is designed with
12-oot travel lanes except where it is
right-of-way constrained where 11oot
travel lanes are used.
Narrower travel lanes are known to help
reduce travel speeds and improve safety.
There is a peer-reviewed academic paper
from John's Hopkins with this conclusion
and also guidance on the FHWA website
recommending narrower lanes. Most of the
12oot lane travel lane
in the project are inside city limits.
My ask is that city council direct staff
to formally contact NMDOT and ask that
11 foot travel lanes be used for the
entire length of the project. Thank you.
All
right. Next is the acceptance of agenda.
Move to approve.
Second.
This is on the motion to accept the
agenda as presented. Councelor Mccclure.
Yes.
Councelor Matise.
Yes.
Councelor Harris.
Yes.
Councelor Beno.
Yes.
Councelor Karan. Yes.
Councelor Munoz.
Yes.
And mayor.
Yes.
So the first item is 8.1. A public
hearing required for resolution number
26-083.
Move to approve.
Second.
I take it back. I take it back too.
We have to do the public hearing first.
Okay.
So public hearing is now is excuse me
public hearing is now open at 2:12 p.m.
Is there anyone here for or against the
issuance of this license?
Seeing none, public hearing is now
closed at 2:12 p.m.
Move to approve.
Second again.
Go ahead.
Thank you, Mayor Adam, Community
Development. For the record, before you,
we have another well first license of
this year. It's a proposed liquor
license for a proposed new restaurant uh
known as LA Hot Pot and Barbecue LLC,
which will be located at 840 South Terra
Boulevard, formerly the Old Genus Grill.
If everybody's aware of that,
the is to uh pursuant to uh New Mexico
state statute. Uh an application uh for
a liquor license is required to be
submitted to the state of New Mexico
first who then require the city to uh re
provide the recommendation for that
liquor license. So this is an
application uh that was submitted to the
city by the state uh for a approval of a
restaurant type A beer and wine liquor
license. It's actually uh license number
BLA 00000014270
with on premise consumption only. Uh the
ABC or alcoholic beverage control uh
division did send preliminary approval
to the city on November 3rd of 2025
which began the process for staff to
route out for review to all all uh all
interested parties including the fire
department, police department, so uh
traffic department so on and so forth
like that. Uh request was uh needed
since there is a 45day cap that we have
to get this done. uh staff did reach out
to the state to the uh ABC and they did
uh uh approve that extension of the for
a hearing. Uh like I said before, all
the application was sent out for
reviewing to all reviewing staff and
they saw no issues with the proposed
application.
Here is that proposed location for that
LA hot pot uh and barbecue. Like I said,
the old Genghask Grill uh mall here,
Telra, right here. And just to give you
an idea of where this is located at. So,
your options today, council, is one to
vote yes uh and approve the proposed
liquor license or two to vote no or
deny. Uh the ABC will be notified of the
vote and the application will continue
through the process through the state of
New Mexico where they'll finalize their
process with us for their business
license and their uh city liquor license
as well. That is the conclusion of my
presentation and I stand for questions.
Thank you, Adam. Is there any questions?
Adam, that previous uh location did
serve alcohol before, right,
Mayor? I believe it did also have the
same uh license. It was a it was an
older one. They just called it a beer
and wine only liquor license. State New
Mexico has updated their slew of liquor
licenses they provide now. Uh but yes,
sir, they did serve alcohol there as
well before.
All right. Thank you,
Christine.
This is on the motion to approve
resolution 26-083.
Councelor McClure,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Harris,
yes.
Councelor Bencoml,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Munoz,
yes.
And mayor,
yes.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next is item 8.2, 2
resolution number 26-084,
a resolution approving aou with the Los
Cusus Police Officers Association.
Move to approve.
Second.
When you're ready, Jose.
Thank you. Good afternoon, Mayor
Council. Jose Vargas, assistant director
of human resources for the record. Um,
today I'm going to be presenting to you
all the police collective bargaining
agreement, the memorandum of
understanding.
So, just to give some background
information before we get to the MOU
itself, city of council approved the
collective bargaining agreement between
the city of Los Cusus and the Los Cusus
Police Officers Association on October
3rd, 2022. The term of the CBA was
through October 3rd of 2025.
So, some preliminary information that's
going to kind of relate to the slides.
Section 47 of the CBA states, "This
agreement shall remain in full force and
effect and shall not expire until a
successor agreement is signed." Section
45 of that same CBA states, "The
employer and the association may upon
mutual agreement and negotiation place
in effect a memorandum of understanding
which may change provisions of
disagreement or address matters which
may become issues of mutual concern from
time to time. The city of Los Cusus
submitted anou to the union in
accordance with section 45 of the CBA.
So some details on theou itself. So,
theou included a 5% pay increase for all
commissioned represented staff. It also
included a 3% increase for all
non-commissioned represented staff. Um,
and a proposed revision of section 47 of
the CBA, which is on the next slide. Um,
and thisou was signed by the union on
December 2nd, 2025.
So just for some transparency and some
easy visibility here on what it is that
we are recommending to be revised. Um it
is simply just the expiration of the
contract. Uh we struck through what it's
had before and we are proposing to do
October 3rd 2026 for the expiration of
the contract. During the term of this
agreement the employer and association
may reopen any provisionous agreement
upon mutual agreement. Um and that's
just part of that section there.
And with that said, I will stand for any
questions.
All right. Thank you, Jose. Any
questions? Uh, our promos.
Uh, Mr. Mayor, city councilors on the U
pay. Is that And Mr. Vargas, M, this
question is for you. Is that pay going
to be retro or does is it from December
to December or is it October? I'm just
trying to understand the
Yeah, no, not a problem. So on the MOU
itself, it states that it'll take effect
the first full pay period once it's been
ratified by council. Um so if everything
goes through today, it would take effect
January 11th.
Okay. Thank you,
Council Matise.
Yeah, I just had a a ranking question.
you know, being the second largest city
in New Mexico,
where do we stand on the the pay in
comparison with the ranking, let's say,
with other cities?
Yeah. So, from studies that we we did
back in September as the latest
information, we're currently 15th in the
state when it comes to pay.
What number was that?
15th.
Okay.
Council,
thanks. And just to follow up on that
question, do you have data on like the
discrepancy between 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,
15?
Um, I I do have some data. So, as of
September, in order to break into the
top 10, we're about $150 off an hour.
And then can you just also talk about
sort of the other uh benefits that are
included in this? I don't know other
cities, right? But in terms of our
insurance and things like that.
Yeah. So, in terms of like retention
things that we have.
Yeah. Mhm. Um, so we do have some
incentives with PD as well. Um,
depending on the degree and depending on
background, we do have, um, I believe
it's up to 25,000 for some of our
incentives. Uh, and then in terms of
benefits, we do have 82% of employer
paid benefits for medical and for
dental. Um, we do have tuition
reimbursement. And then for PAR, we do
have a PAR pickup plan where we do pay a
percentage on the employees behalf for
their retirement as well. And on the 82%
just for the public to clarify, the city
for insurance benefits pays for 82% of
correct. Yes, absolutely. So when it
comes to that benefit, um out of the
100% of the pie, the city pays for 82%
of that.
Thank you so much.
Yes.
Were there any members of the public
that wanted to speak to this?
Okay, we'll give you two minutes.
One Garcia,
when I heard 15 in the state, it's
pretty sad. And yes, thanks to the
council over here for bringing up the
the benefits and everything else, and I
certainly appreciate it. But with the
high level of crime that this city has,
15. I mean, that's pretty sad.
Councilman,
hopefully you will revisit that number
to make sure that our officers are well
compensated
in order to attract them and help
address the issue that we currently have
in Las Cruises. Thank you.
Say no others. Christine,
this is on the motion to approve
resolution 26-084.
Councelor Mccclur,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Harris,
yes.
Councelor Bencoml,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Munoz,
yes.
Mayor,
yes.
Thank you.
Next is resolution number 28-085,
a resolution authorizing the city of Los
Cusus to accept grant awards for various
city departments.
Move to approve.
Second.
Good afternoon, mayor, counselors,
city staff, community members. My name
is Gabriella Prattz. I'm the city's
grant manager, and I bring before you a
resolution to approve budget adjustments
in this fiscal year for 22 grants.
So, you're bear with me today. It's
going to be long.
We are uh in addition we have a couple
of uh grants that are not capital outlay
but the remaining is most of the capital
outlay grants that we received from the
state for this fiscal year.
The first grant, excuse me, is made to
the city manager's office organizational
support and to be implemented by public
works. Um the funding is through the
capital outlay program at new uh from
the New Mexico Department of Finance and
Administration
in the amount of $297,000.
It's for planning, design, construction,
and improvement of buildings and park
facilities throughout Los Cruus with a
focus on enhancing accessibility for all
community members.
The next is a grant
made to the fire department with and to
be carried out in with assistance from
the public works department from the US
department of housing and urban
development in the amount of $3 million.
Please note that this is congressionally
directed spending. It's to plan, design,
construct, furnish, and equip the
integrated healthcare building.
Um, of course with uh this is one of of
a couple of grants for this particular
project that you'll see which aims to
improve care and outcomes for those in
crisis.
The next grant is also for the mental
health crisis station or MIH. This one
is capital outlay from the New Mexico
Department of Finance and Administration
in the amount of $5,500,000.
This is also to plan, design, construct,
and outfit a new facility to serve as a
base for the mobile uh integrated
healthc care mental health crisis
response and critical interventions
teams.
Next is a capital outlay award made by
the New Mexico Department of Finance and
Administration to the City Manager's
Office Housing and Neighborhood Services
Program in the amount of $792,000.
It's to plan, design, and construct and
expand a 50-unit housing project as part
of the Mesia Valley Resource
Campus known as Amodore Crossing.
The next grant is a capital outlay grant
from NMDFA to the city manager's office
housing and neighborhood services and
with the assistance of public works.
These are for improvements to the Messia
Valley uh valley resource campus. In
this particular case, it's to support
the design, engineering, and
construction of roadway and pedestrian
improvements at the campus.
The next grant is made to the city
manager's office airport.
It is from the New Mexico Department of
Transportation Aviation Division. This
is the third amendment to the rural air
service expansion program or as we call
it raise. It's an additional $1 million
which brings our award to a new total of
five.5
million. It requires an additional match
of $110,000.
And so the total match amount for the
project will be 605,000.
This is to support regional air service
transportation from
uh Lasus International Airport to
Albuquerque Sunport and from the Las
Cusus International Airport to Phoenix
Sky Harbor.
The next is the reauthorization of a
capital outlay grant to the city
manager's office airport department in
the amount of $22,67244.
This is to complete the planning,
design, construction and renovation
um to include outfitting of the terminal
building, infrastructure improvements,
landscaping and parking. This is uh what
remained from the grant that uh they
will allow they will allow us to um
finish off.
The next is the uh annual
excuse me it's the annual allocation of
funds from the New Mexico Department of
Transportation to the Messia Valley
Metropolitan Planning Organization or
MOO.
Um the this year's
state and planning research allocation
is for $56,000
with a match of 14,000 and this is to
implement the traffic count program to
include data collection and organiza uh
processing of that data.
The next is also to the metropolitan
planning organization but this is for
their operations also granted by the
department of transportation. The total
amount is $16,531
with a $26,633
match which is split up between the
city, Donaana County and the town of
Messia.
The purpose is to fund the operations as
required by federal transit authority
section 5303.
The next is a second amendment to the
Haida award for this fiscal year. This
is awarded to uh Metro in the police
department and it is granted directly
from the office of national drug control
policy. Um as of this fiscal year the uh
the awards coming directly from the feds
to the city instead of through New
Mexico Haida.
Um, this particular amendment reduces
the award by $318
and they're adjusting an award uh the
awarded amount for um rental rental
fees.
Our new award amount is now $62,29.
The next is a an award to the police
department from New Mexico Department of
Finance and Administration's capital
outlay program in the amount of
$1,782,000
for the real time crime crime center.
It's to support the installation of
surveillance cameras, traffic monitoring
systems, and network upgrades, as well
as any necessary infrastructure that may
be needed to properly install the
equipment.
The next is also a capital outlay grant
from NMDFA to the police department in
the amount of $620,000.
And this is to purchase and outfit
emergency response vehicles.
And the next grant is also capital
outlay to the parks and recreation
department in the amount of $100,000
to construct improvements to FARC
facilities focusing on increased
visibility uh by providing additional
lighting
focusing on safety safety of users.
The liftup project phase I'm sorry
that's a typo. The liftup project is the
next grant awarded to the public works
department by the US Department of
Health and Human Services in the amount
of $1 million. This is also
congressionally directed spending. It's
to replace, upgrade, and provide modern
public transportation and utility
infrastructure. The site is still to be
designated.
This is a capital outlay grant for the
active transportation improvements to be
completed by the public works
department. The grant is in the amount
of $400,000.
This is to acquire land and rights away
as well as to plan, design, construct,
and improve infrastructure projects
outlined in the Las Cruis's active
transportation plan.
Next is
an award to the parks and recreation
department with the that to be
implemented with the assistance of
public works for the East Mesa
Recreation Complex in the amount of
693,000
and this is to continue the improvements
that are already on underway there um to
include furnishing, equipping, and
outfitting the facility.
The next is also capital outlay for the
public works department in the amount of
$200,000 for the street lighting systems
improvements project. This is to plan to
sign, construct and install adaptive
street lighting control systems uh to
include intelligent lighting controls
and address lighting gaps to enhance
safety safety and accessibility.
The next is an award made to the quality
of life department libraries program
from the New Mexico State Library. It is
their annual um allocation of grants in
aid. The amount of the award is $20,000
and it is to supplement and foster local
efforts in providing library services.
the this particular grant gives the
library staff a pretty wide uh
allowability of expenses to support uh
the needs of the of the community and
its library users.
The next is a capital improvement, I'm
sorry, a capital outlay grant for the
quality of life department museums
program in the amount of $445,500
to improve the museum of nature and
science.
These uh renovations will include
improvements to the animal care areas,
the staff works workspaces, exhibits.
They want to improve lighting in the
museum and some drainage and AD
accessibility issues that they have as
well as to um improve some of the
signage at the facility.
Uh the next is capital outlay awarded to
the city manager's office transit
department. The New Mexico Department of
Finance Administration awarded $100,000
to plan, design, and install inductive
charging stations at the Mesia Valley
Intermodal Transit Terminal.
This will allow for buses to be able to
run longer on one charge.
Another
capital outlay grant awarded to the uh
to the quality of life department
libraries program that will be
implemented by the public works
department is the renovation of the
Branigan Memorial Library. The award of
$970,000
has two purposes. One is to plan, design
and construct the renovation and
expansion of the library itself and also
to purchase and outfit a new bookmobile
to serve Las Cruises in Dona Anana
County. So in areas where people may not
have direct access or quick access to a
library, this will allow the library and
the other quality of life programs to
come to them.
There's also an uh adjustment to the
vehicle acquisition list. So I will seed
to Merc uh Mercedes to make a for her to
address this.
Good afternoon, mayor, members of city
council. Mercedes Tomo for fleet
services.
So there um we've updated the vehicle
acquisition program to add the
bookmobile for quality of life that is
approved through this legislative
funding. Um this will be a custom build
by Matthews. Um
it'll also have areas for museums and
other uh quality of life programs so
that they can bring all their
uh all their services to the surrounding
area.
That concludes our presentation and we
stand for questions. Um, department uh,
directors and assistant directors are
here to answer any specific questions
you may have on any of the specific
projects.
All right. Thank you.
Any questions by council?
Yes, councelor Harris.
Um, thanks. I have that was a lot of
things. So, I have a handful of
questions. Um,
I guess first is a comment. Um, I had
some some people in town who are
visiting and they had very positive
things to say about the museums. So, I'm
very happy to see that we're getting um
some more grant funding for those. Um,
and uh so I I guess first question is on
the inductive chargers for the buses.
Um, if I remember correctly, we had
talked about doing that some time ago
and it was the project was kind of being
held up by um needing a battery or
something from EPE. Um, so is this like
for a first phase of the project or did
we figure out how to do get it done for
that $100,000 or is that a question for
Richard?
I think that would be a question for
Richard, sir.
Okay,
counselor. uh because there was there
was some hiccups with the funding,
right? And it was funding that was
awarded and then taken away and then
they changed the RFP. So it there there
has been
quite a bit of upheaval at FTA, not
necessarily with us.
Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I I I
understood that there was like two parts
of it and and they lost some. Okay. So
So that's that's good. I would love to
see that move forward. Um and then um
curious about the pedestrian and roadway
improvements uh related to the community
of hope. Um what does that look like? Is
that improvements on on Amadore? Is that
inside the facility? Um
it's actually on the street, but I think
that Natalie Green, our housing
administrator, would be much if better
equipped to explain that.
All right. Thanks.
Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor. uh councelor
Harris, Natalie Green for the record.
The project is on Amador. It is uh one
moving the pedestrian crossway further
west and then also adding a hawk system.
Um as you know the pedestrians cross
that street often. So um it'll add a the
hawk will be closer to the trail um army
collateral and Amadore crossing
apartments.
Okay. Um, and then I actually got a
comment from a um from a resident about
the area. I don't know if it's related
to that, but since I'm thinking about
it, wanted to pass it on that the
signals on compress are not uh ADA
accessible, the the the buttons. Um, so
I don't know if that can be fixed also
or added to this this kind of thing
since it sounds like it's pedestrian
improvements. Um
um that would definitely be something
that we'll pass on to public works.
Cool. Um okay, third question.
Integrated healthcare building. Um I'm
new so I' I'd love some more details
about that. Um and what what the plan
for that is and
Okay. So the the fire department has
identified station number three as the
location where they would like to build
the MIH building. The NIH building is a
central location for two projects.
Project light and oh my god, I always
forget the name of the other one.
My
NIH.
MIH. Thank you. My brain's not working
yet. Still on vacation.
Um, and the staffs there provide
services not only when they go out on
calls, but also they provide continuing
services such as uh counseling support
to the community and it's a nice
location that's easily accessible
through um public transportation. So,
that's partly why they chose that
particular site.
The building needs quite a bit of work.
It's been
a state of not great repair. And so the
the funding for all of this is not only
to just uh
uh improve the building, bring it up to
code, but also to furnish it, equip it,
so that staff will have a a a central
location from where to operate. Um not
sure if you're aware, but the fire
department's administrative offices are
pretty much at capacity. So this is a
very needed project.
Okay. So this is both for staff and for
members of the public to go and receive
those services.
Um that's specifically for people who
are in crisis and usually that is folks
that have been affected by um crime that
may have been serviced by police or
fire.
Right. Sure.
Okay. Um and then
two more questions. Um what kind of
improvements are required to the airport
if any to support the Phoenix route? I
since that's interstate um
that seems like I don't know do we need
like TSA to set up with something or
um councelor no but I think David Sido
may be better a able to answer those
questions
mayor councelor Harris David Sado
interim assist assistant city manager so
there are not other requirements the
grant itself provides the funding for
that is the rural service error
uh air
flight that is going to be provided.
We're just changing the route.
Okay.
All right. Um and then the the final
question I have is maybe if there were
some more specifics on what the
real-time crime center upgrades were
proposed to be. Um you know, in terms of
bandwidth, are we running bunch of new
fiber out to traffic cameras? You know
what are what are we talking about for
that that project?
Councelor mayor I think chief would be
much better equipped and to answer the
details.
Jeremy Story please chief. Good
afternoon mayor and councelor Harris.
Welcome. Right now we're still figuring
that out. We're we're working with IT
and public works to figure out what
infrastructure we have and what we need
to do to improve that. So there is a
possibility that we lay additional fiber
although that money will not go very far
if we do that. So, we're looking at
broadband um options and how we can make
the most of that money that we have. But
there's a few different things at play
right now. The goal is to actually
increase the infrastructure that we have
in the city, which right now is kind of
a hodgepodge, and to plan out for the
future a little better.
Okay, thanks for that clarification. Um
that's all I had written down. Thanks,
Council M.
Thank you so much for the presentation.
and you did great given that was so
long.
Um especially your first day back from
vacation.
On page 15, you had mentioned the liftup
site uh that the site was not identified
yet. I'm curious if you could explain
that a little bit more. Is it are the is
that funding going towards changes in
the current liftup site that has been
identified or are they set for a new
identified liftup? Councelor
Natalie's better at that one.
Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor. Uh, councelor
Beno. Uh, the lift site has been
identified. It's actually Sacramento.
So, it's the original uh liftup
neighborhood one. Um, and it's for
planning and design for improvements to
Sacramento Road.
For what? To Sacramento Road. I'm sorry.
Sacramento Road. Um, near the Apadaka
Park. So, it's a district one.
Um, and then what is it going to be uh
Natalie? Like lighting updates? I don't
think infrastructure I'm going to defer
to public works see if they I think it's
road resurfacing and possibly street
lighting but it's been a while since
I've looked at that. In fact, I'm trying
to pull it up.
Good afternoon. Jimmy Moreno, public
works for the record. Uh Bayer councelor
Benumo Sacramento currently is in 90%
design. Um, so it'll be uh improvements,
roadway improvements, street lighting
improvements, uh other ADA improvements
uh throughout that corridor. So we're
looking to bid that uh near near
summertime for that one. So it's it's
coming up pretty quick.
Yes. Thank you so much for that update.
I just wanted to say over the holiday
break, I saw a great article in New York
Times about Philadelphia and how they've
used similar programs like this to
reduce crime by beautifying
neighborhoods. And it seems so simple,
but it is so effective. And they talk
about how effective it has been in
Philadelphia. And so I just want to lift
up that our lift up program is um
evidence-based and that it's it's just a
good idea to to continue to do this. So
thank you staff for continuing to make
that a priority. Um I given the
information you had on the active
transportation plan, mayor, I would love
to request a work session on that. I'd
love to know updates on the active
transportation. And I'd love to know how
that this kind of funding is being spent
and where there are gaps still. Um I
think that's um a really important um
conversation we need to be having right
now. So that would be my request. And
then just lastly for city manager, I I
feel like there has been quite a shift
in the way that legislators are talking
about capital outlay in terms of um
accountability. And I think just the
like uncertainty there is at the state
level with, you know, funding and
revenues and things like that. And I
think they're going to start looking at
capital outlay much differently. And so
I just want us to have that at the back
of our minds and perhaps even have, you
know, I don't want to add a lot more on
staff. I don't want to say quarterly
updates, but I would love, I think, more
consistent updates just so that we are
also better stewards of that message
with our legislators in terms of how we
are good stewards of that money and are
and are spending it wisely. Thank you,
Councilor Matise.
Thank you, Mayor. If I could go to page
I believe for 14 14
and then if I could have maybe it would
be the parks director
that could uh prioritize something for
me.
Uh representative
I just wanted to get it on the record.
I've had residents of U and I think I
discussed this with you already,
Stephen, on Solipc Park. You know, we
had that uh homicide there in that park
and there's about 15 20 neighbors that
have been asking for increased lighting.
Is there something maybe
you could do with this money and and
go over and say yes to them?
Um, Mayor, um, councelor Matise,
we we had a purpose for this money
identified.
Could you repurpose it?
What's that?
Repurpose that. I let me get with my
staff and um see
okay
what we can do. But um we are aware of
your request
and um have been trying to discuss it
internally and weigh it against um a lot
of different requests and we will put
something forward in the budget proposal
for city council to um consider among
numerous parks projects for this coming
budget year.
Okay. Thank you. Whatever support from
uh the mayor and council, I'd appreciate
it as well and city manager. Thank you
very much, Stephen.
Thank you,
Mayor Enriquez. Uh councelor Matis
County, just wanted to share quickly and
then I'll turn it back to Gabby. At the
budget retreat, we'll talk about GRT uh
allocations. And so if this is something
that you'd like to bring up as well, uh
this can be a a priority from you and if
there's consensus, we can move that way
as well. Just wanted to share that
avenue. Thank you.
Appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you.
Seeing no other questions, uh,
Christine,
this is on the motion to approve
resolution 26-085.
Councelor Mccclur,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Harris,
yes.
Councelor Bencoml,
yes. Councelor Cran.
Yes.
Councelor Munoz,
yes.
And mayor,
yes.
Next is item 8.4, resolution number
26-086,
resolution authorizing an update to the
vehicle acquisition program.
Move to approve.
Second.
There's a stupid thing.
Good afternoon, mayor and members of
city council. Mercedes to makeover for
fleet services. I am here to present a
resolution requesting approval of
updates to the vehicle acquisition
program for the fiscal year 2026.
Fleet Services has received updated
quotes for two vehicles previously
approved during the fiscal year 2026
budget process and both updated quotes
exceed the originally approved amounts.
In addition, one new vehicle has been
requested for inclusion in the vehicle
acquisition program. All departments
have sufficient funds within their
current budgets to cover the updated
costs as well as the requested addition
to comply with city procurement
requirements for rolling stock
acquisitions. City uh council approval
is needed before these purchases can
move forward.
The public works department was
originally approved to purchase two
Elgen Broom Bear Street sweepers to
replace existing Johnson sweepers. The
approved amount for these replacements
was $416,331.
Updated quotes now reflect a total of
$421,667.
Updating the vehicle acquis acquisition
list to this new amount will allow the
purchase to proceed replacing the ex
existing sweepers will improve street
maintenance and reduce ongoing repair
costs. The additional funding required
is available within the current public
works budget.
The fire department was originally
approved for 36,000 to replace a Ford
Taurus with a Ford Maverick. The
department is now requesting to update
the replacement vehicle to a Ford F-150
Lightning, which more effectively meets
operational requirements and moves the
city forward in its electric vehicle
goal. To move forward with this order,
the vehicle acquisition list must be
updated to reflect the new cost of
$61,460.
The additional funding is available
within the fire department's current
budget.
Housing
and Neighborhood Services is requesting
approval to purchase a new Ford cargo
van for the Mono Mano program. This
vehicle will support the out street
outreach team by retrieving donations
and assisting with relocating
individuals from illegal encampments.
Funding for this purchase is already
available within the department's
existing budget.
In summary, this resolution updates the
vehicle acquisition list to reflect
current pricing and departmental needs,
ensuring compliance with procurement
requirements, and allowing these
essential vehicles purchase vehicle
purchases to proceed. Standard council
options apply. And I will stand for
questions.
Mayor Pro Tim Munoz.
Uh Mr. Mr. Mayor, city councilors, um,
electrification uh is of interest to to
me, whether it's buildings or vehicles.
I was wondering if you have, if not, if
you can get that to me later. Um, what
percentage where are we to go or what
percentage of of uh vehicles are are in
the mix as far as electric?
So, currently we're about 6% um that's
um electric and hybrid. Uh we are in the
process of trying to move forward um in
purchasing manufacturer uh
manufacturer availability has been one
of our issues. Um so we are looking at
different manufacturers currently so
that we can bring in more electric
vehicles.
Thank you.
See no other questions. Christine,
this is on the motion to approve
resolution 26-086.
Councelor McClur,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Harris,
yes.
Councelor Bencoml,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Munoz,
yes.
And mayor,
yes.
Next is item 8.5, resolution number
26-087,
a resolution approving a reimbursement
agreement between the city of Los Cruus
and New Mexico Valencio.
Good afternoon, mayor, uh, members of
city council. Let me open this
presentation.
Hold on.
Move to approve.
Second.
Okay, when you're ready.
I apologize. I have the worst vision on
Earth. So, give me a second.
There we go.
Uh, today I am bringing forward a
reimbursement for a neighborhood park.
Um, as many of you know, uh,
reimbursements for neighborhood parks
are going to become, uh, less
commonplace because of the adoption of
realized Los Cusus's. However, today,
what we're talking about is something,
uh, that was approved, uh, in advance of
the adoption of that code. And I'll
speak a little bit more in detail
regarding that. Uh, first off, I think
everyone knows the, uh, value that parks
bring to our communities.
um they create gathering places, they
improve health, uh they also improve um
property values as well as improve
safety.
This particular reimbursement um is for
the aoyos at settller's pass uh which is
an ongoing development. um with the
previous land use code not realized Los
Cruus's there wasn't a particular
requirement for park dedication and
construction and so generally parks
neighborhood parks in particular were
negotiated as part of the master plan
process or PUD developments and the
owner uh of these would build these
parks they would dedicate the land and
then staff and the city uh would
ultimately reimburse the developer for
the cost of building that park using the
park impact fees. Um, this particular
subdivision is the Royals at Settler's
Pass does have a master plan. Um, and
phases one and two were all adopted and
approved under the old code standards.
Uh, making this particular process in
terms of reimbursement a viable option
for this particular development. Um, the
park uh that is uh being developed
currently was negotiated during the
master plan. Uh this master plan was
actually approved in 2022. Uh phase one
was also approved in 2022 and then that
plat was recorded in 2024 and then phase
two of this particular subdivision was
approved in 2024. Um has yet to be
recorded. However, again uh the park
that's being developed as part of this
is subject to reimbursement.
um to provide a little bit more
information about the location of the
subdivision. Uh if you all are familiar
with Rinkanatada Boulevard as well as
Settler's Pass, this is sort of
sandwiched in between and is north of
the Ring Cone Hills um subdivision. And
you can see uh that this is in district
5 and uh the park in question is sort of
located right here.
This is a neighborhood park. Um, this
particular park, uh, we worked with the
the designer and the developer, uh, to
come up with a design for this. It's a
little over two acres. Turf, playground
swings, landscaping, site furnishing.
Um, just a lovely place for people to
recreate. Um, the park impact fees
collected as part of this particular
park um, are interesting. Uh, we have in
phase one a collection of $2,600 because
of course that's recorded and is subject
to the old park impact fees. Um,
however, phase two, having not yet been
recorded in the in the county clerk's
office, is subject to new park impact
fees. So, if you recall, these are on a
sliding scale depending upon the size of
the unit. Um, ranging anywhere from the
the low $2,000 to $5,600
depending upon the size of that unit.
Again, um based on my calculations,
looking at the total PIFF that could
possibly be collected for this
particular park, it's between uh 481,000
um and $812,000.
Um this subdivision, both phases, is 205
residential lots and that's what the
park will serve. And the reimbursement
calculated as part of this agreement um
again uh before realize Los Cruus was
adopted was $533,000.
Now this particular number, we cannot
exceed that number and of course it's
going to be based on um
real costs that were incurred as part of
the development of this park and then we
receive those and ultimately that's how
we reimburse this. Just so that you all
have some visuals on what this park
might look like. Uh you can see an
overall concept um of this park with a
turfed area, the landscaped area. You
can see uh right here um that is where
the playground is located in that circle
and then of course swing sets and then
um just a nice layout of what that
playground and swing sets might um look
like as it's being developed.
Now, I know this was somewhat confusing,
especially with the difference between
um how we're proceeding uh with new park
developments, and of course, this is
sort of one of these um these um
holdovers from our previous code. Again,
it's probably going to be one of the
last ones that you see. Um but your
options today are to vote yes to
approve, vote no to deny, vote to amend,
or vote to table. And I'm happy to
answer any questions. And the
representative for the developer is also
here, Marty Pillar, uh to stand for any
questions.
Thank you, Katherine. Any questions? Uh,
councelor Kren,
thank you. Thank you. Um, and I'm sure
you knew that I would have some
questions, which you've already sort of
gotten to in some of your your
discussion, but um, I was just
wondering, I had a couple of just
clarifications or sort of things that I
was curious about. One, it was this the
size of the park, which is under what I
think we expect for neighborhood parks.
Um, but I did also notice on the in the
documents that there were a bunch of
other sort of swaths of of parkland that
might be related to this. And I guess
both from my own sort of interest, I
understand the context of why we expect
neighborhood parks to be larger, but why
smaller parks are sort of problematic in
in the scope of sort of taking care of
them as the city takes over. And and the
other swaths on that image are very
small. Um, so I was curious if you could
talk a little bit about that overall
picture of of where those green I would
call them green I assume that they're
just green space kind of things are. Um,
and then also
I know that there are new there's a new
development that's happening right now
and you alluded to the park impact fee
structure that that will be um part of
but I just wanted to double check on the
the future parks that are coming. I know
the neighborhood is really worried about
a number of things, traffic, but I think
they're also hoping for um robust sort
of trails and and spaces for folks to be
outside. So I I hope you can talk about
the bigger context for future
developments and then why this is sort
of in this odd space and just generally
from my new colleagues on on council. It
it is I think we do we did have a
serious conversation about this idea of
two versus three acre parks and I think
we were really intentional in setting
that that bar a little bit higher. I
understand the context of this, but I
just want to sort of reassert that um I
would really like us to make sure that
we're make putting things at the at the
three or higher realm. So that's it.
Thanks,
councelor, members of of city council.
Hopefully I can answer all of your
questions. I am going to go to another
visual so you have a clear idea of what
we're talking about. I would like to
point out again only phases one, which
is down here, and phases two um have
been adopted as part of a master plan.
uh any of these other phases that you
see sort of on the left hand side of the
screen have yet to be approved but they
are conceptual in nature. Um in the
long-term discussions there was a
discussion to actually add an additional
acre to this 2acre park to have a three
acre park. Um, additionally, we've had a
lot of discussions again with the design
professional and and the developers
about making sure that all of the other
park spaces are connected in some sort
of way to a trail system. Uh, one of the
exceptions that we have in realized Los
Cusus for future park development is
that we can consider um sites that are
less than three acres in size in so long
as all of their parts that are
connected, i.e. a trail system and maybe
some parklets and a larger park um are
at least three acres serving a
neighborhood if that makes any sense.
And in in this particular context,
that's ultimately what we've discussed
and what we envision. Again, um it's up
to the developer to move forward with an
amendment to the master plan to add
those additional lands and then of
course add those parks. But even if they
weren't to proceed today, um as we move
forward and let's say 10 years from now
they decide to move forward, um the
premise of those would still stand and
we would still want to consider some um
connections and additions to existing
parks that may stand alone. And
hopefully that that answers your
questions. It does. Thank you. This was
actually the very confusing and like I
was like, "Oh, that looks like a whole
bunch of tiny places that we would have
to be worrying about discontiguous,
which is I think part of what we really
hope um and what the neighborhood really
doesn't I think the neighborhood is
looking for that trail system that you
alluded to. So, thank you for
articulating that and sharing this
picture and and helps me and the
neighborhood I think understand the
future plans as well." So, um thank you
councelor Harris. Um, thanks. So, I I
just had a question about how the impact
fees work. Um, so
if we don't collect
the $533,000
and the developer spends that whole
amount, um, are we still reimbursing for
that or is it only up to the amount
that's actually collected based on the
size of the lots? Um,
that's a really excellent question. Um,
Councelor Harris, uh, members of
council, um, ultimately because the city
is, um, under one park district, if you
will, uh, we can actually utilize any,
uh, unencumbered collected fees that
preceded this to pay or reimburse the
developer back. in so long as as all of
the documentation um suses out um they
are not obl we are not obligated to
collect $533,000 if you will in this
particular neighborhood. It it could
have come from from elsewhere uh or and
collected in the past.
Hopefully that answers your question.
Yep, that does. Thanks,
Council Rick.
Thanks, Katherine. I feel like you've
gotten very good at reading our minds
already because you knew exactly what we
were going to ask and that's why you
started your presentation the way you
did. So, thank you for that.
You're welcome.
Um, I am curious about because you said
there'll be less and less like this, but
I am curious how many agreements like
this are still in the docket.
So, excellent question uh councelor uh
members of city council. uh at at this
time because of the approval dates on
this particular project. Uh this this is
really one of the the last ones that you
will see like this. Um I'm trying to
think in my brain if there any that I am
forgetting. Um but I don't believe so.
You may in the future see community
parks or if a developer goes above and
beyond the minimum requirements, uh we
may want to uh develop an agreement with
them to reimburse them for going above
and beyond the minimums. Um, so that is
a possibility in the future. Um, but
we're not quite there yet.
Okay. Thank you.
You're welcome.
Okay, Chrissy.
This is on the motion to approve
resolution 26-087.
Councelor McClur,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Harris,
yes.
Councelor Bencoml,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Munoz,
yes. and mayor.
Yes.
Next is board appointments to be read
into the record.
Councelor Harris appointed to the ASCMV
airport and city art board.
Councelor Munoz appointed to South
Central Solid Waste Authority and South
Central Regional Transit.
Mayor Enriquez appointed to oversight
committee.
Councelor Mccclure appointed to
community schools.
On this next one, uh I'll need a second.
I need a motion and a second. Dwight
Edgars to the utility board. Move
to approve.
Second.
This is on the motion to appoint Dw
Dwight Edgars to the utilities board.
Councelor McClur,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Harris,
yes.
Councelor Beno,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Munoz,
yes.
And mayor,
yes.
There are no pro notice of proposed
ordinances. Uh we'll go to city council
member board reports and comments. I'll
start with councelor Mccclure.
Thank you, mayor. Just a happy new year
to everybody. I'll go quick um welcome
to the new counselors on board and I'd
like to second a call for the active
transportation presentation just to see
where we are on vision zero efforts. Um,
I'll just give a quick story that I got
stuck behind the water tank on Travis
and I thought to myself, I can go down
Griggs. I could not. Um, it was kind of
scary. Um, so things like that. I would
and I'd like to do a challenge too to
some of the people out there watching.
Email me some of the desire paths you
see when you're biking. Those things
where you wish that was there. If that'd
be something that we can integrate, if
we can do small quick fixes to make our
lives better on bicycles, let us know.
We're not going to know unless we're
riding that route. Like I didn't know
that I could get stuck behind the water
tank. So that's all I have. Thank you.
Thank you. Uh councelor Matise.
Yeah, I just I just have some inquiry or
question. Maybe Director Whitmer, maybe
you could help answer it. It's on the um
the notice that we got in with our water
bills. I just maybe like a more of an
explanation on if that's a new process,
is it an old process to where you have
three months to not take any showers and
save on water and then your rate
decreases or is that something that is
uh new to the utilities department? I
guess just having a absence for 17
years, I don't know if it's something
new.
Mayor, Council Matis, Adrian Woodmer,
utilities director. Um, this is a normal
process has been for decades is that uh
the three winter months essentially
December, January, February depending on
where you are within your um your
billing cycle. We take those three
months, we average them out and that is
how you are build for your sewer. Uh we
always do send out notices. Hey, we're
in the three months. Make sure that if
you don't want a high wastewater bill to
go ahead and not use a lot of water. So,
um we've ever since I've been around, so
it's been at least 20 years
about right. I've been out 20 years. um
on on the notification and the education
to the public. It's just in the uh the
bills and and it's also when you're
paying electronically then the
notification is in the electronic as
well. Is there a you know a lot of
people have mentioned to me that they
didn't know about this because they just
uh do on online billing and they just
you know they just pay their bill and
they're not really getting notification
like you do with your 8 8 by3 flyer.
Uh Mr. Mayor, uh, Councelor Matise, I
will double check with my staff because
I'm not familiar with the actual when
you get your electronic and you just
bill it, uh, or pay it. Um, I will
double check with that. So, I would
assume that there would be some kind of
notice along with it. It's not like
they're just sending something that
says, "Oh, and by the way, you owe X
amount." But I'll double check on that
and I can inform uh the city manager to
pass it along to you all.
Yeah. And I I think it's a a good
program. It's a consumptive type. In
other words, if they consume a lot of
water for three months, then their rate
will be higher. If they can save on on
the waste water consumption of water,
then their bill could be lower. So, it'
be great that if if more notification,
education could get out to our How many
users do we have? How many people are
hooked up to our water system?
Mr. Chairman,
Councelor Matise, we have close to
40,000.
Okay.
And so, um, it's very typical and the
reason why we do that is because
typically these winter months, not a lot
of people are going outside and
irrigating for their plants. So that's
going to be your lowest use months
relatively. And so obviously the
wastewater is for water that you you're
using indoors. And so that's why it's an
average. So that's averaged out and
that's how it gets build. So that you're
not getting build on like 12 months of
average or um the summer months are not
included. So it minimizes the amount
that actually each of us pay for waste
water.
No, that's quite generous of you. So
you're you're talking about December,
January, February usage or
it depends on where your billing cycle
is. Like for instance, yours is mid
November to midFebruary.
Okay.
So and and you can you can tell that by
looking on your bill and it says when
your meter read date is will kind of
give you that idea.
Oh, that's good information.
Yes, sir. Yes.
Thank you. Thanks very much.
You're welcome. Thank you. Councelor
Harris. Um, thanks. I don't have a lot
to report, but uh, happy new year and
glad to be here and looking forward to
to doing some cool stuff on council.
Thanks,
Council Rick.
Thanks, Mayor. Um, hi everyone. Happy
New Year, Felico. I'm so excited to
welcome our two new colleagues on to the
council. Uh congratulations to Mayor
Prom Munos and um of course feel deeply
grateful for the two years I got to
serve um this council and the city as
mayor prom though I do have to raise
some equity issues. Um we're way
squished over here. I want I had a lot
of room over there. So I'm just curious
why everyone's so squished. That feels
like a serious equity issue we must
address. So, um,
thank you. Um, I, you know, I think one
of the things I really have been
thinking about lately that I that I
wanted to make sure to talk about today
was the tragic pedestrian deaths that
occurred in um, December. And I just
feel like those messages are more and
more frequent. and um really feel like
it's a urgent matter for us to start
thinking more um seriously about how we
address how we address that and you know
I I will I'm planning on talking about
this at our budget retreat which I'm
very excited about and of course the
public is invited to that the media is
invited to that come come see how the
sausage gets made um and you know who
who is you know shows up ready to do the
work so that's a very exciting time for
all of us and and hope that some of you
can tune in or or stop by. Um, but I did
want to just lift that lift that up uh
about the pedestrian deaths. That's very
concerning. And you know, just a
reminder for some uh I am still here
just a couple chairs down. Thank you,
Council Cor.
Thank you. Um, thank you. Happy new
year. Happy new year to my new new and
old colleagues. Um uh and I mean that in
the approximate to getting elected, not
age related. Um I'm so glad that you all
are here and looking forward to working
with you. Uh I
did want to just really quick I I also
support the idea of an act active
transportation pedestrian safety um
cyclist safety discussion. I I would
love and I will include this in my
budget priorities. I know that residents
really want to feel safe on our streets
and I I really want would like for us to
think systematically about that. Um, and
I I I think whatever kind of
conversation we might have, if it's
active transportation discussion,
pedestrian safety, neighborhood traffic
calming, all of that I think is really
are really connected together um and
thinking about engineering our way into
a safer city um for for those aspects.
my residents are very that that was the
single biggest thing that people talked
about on the campaign trail was their
streets and the safety of of their
neighbors within their their
neighborhoods and and the risk to
pedestrians. So, I support my colleagues
in in requesting that uh follow-up
action. And um
I also just want to follow up really
quickly. There was someone who and I did
miss the chance that who was here to
talk about the ASMV. do understand that
there's a that there's a petition going
that will come to the next ASMV meeting,
but I just wanted to sort of
talk about a few specific things related
to that. Um the ASCMV spay and neuter as
you heard earlier uh is a is one part of
our big picture. Uh the spay and neuter
action program is a community
organization that works very tirelessly
on on building that capacity. Um the
ASCMV is something different and um it
is our
uh municipal shelter that does not that
just takes in every animal that that
individuals drop off or that are found
by by animal control. The two largest
portions of of how animals arrive there.
First coming strays from animal control
and second um people dropping off strays
or or abandoning their animals. um and
they do have an enormous intake for for
any community. Uh there are a lot of
statistics on ASMV website specifically.
She asked about things like euthanasia
rate, live release rate, um what happens
to animals when they go in the shelter.
And I did just want to bring up a few
things. Um, when I first came to Los
Cusus, um,
the animal services center was putting
to sleep about 8,000 animals per year.
Um, which is, uh, well, that was that
was 2009. So, 9,345
animals were put to sleep at the ASCMV
in in 2009. And, uh, in 2024 2000 I said
9,345,
right? 2,609 animals were put to sleep
at the shelter. And I'm not saying that
that's an acceptable number. I'm not
saying that any number is an acceptable
number, but just to put some context on
the ways that the shelter is trying to
solve the problem of huge numbers of
animals arriving there. Um they have
have worked really dynamically and tried
to address this issue in community and
in as many ways as they possibly can.
Um, so I just sort of wanted to speak to
the fact that the folks at the shelter
are working extraordinarily hard to get
animals out of there alive and we've we
had an executive director who left and
we've been with an interim executive
director and we have a new person coming
on hopefully within about a month. Um,
Stephanie Lewis who I know will get to
make some of these decisions. She's
really wellversed in a lot of the um
sort of best practices from across the
nation. She's coming to us from with an
experience in both municipal sheltering
and rescue um background and and an
accounting uh degree or business degree.
So she knows a lot of the aspects of the
ASCMV inside and out and will be making
a lot of decisions related to that. So,
all of that to say, uh, folks who are
here thinking about the ASCMV, first of
all, I hope that you would check out the
website under
um or who are anywhere thinking about
the ASMV, not here. The one individual
that was here isn't isn't here anymore.
I meant to go talk to her before she
left. But under who we are on the
ASCMV's website at the very bottom there
are two things annual reports and
statistics that um are updated in
different degrees of of timeliness uh
including a very up-to-date statistics
page with that includes youth in Asia
rates that come at our quarterly
meeting. Our next quarterly meeting will
be next Thursday at June January 16th.
So folks are welcome to come to that.
But I do just sort of want to speak to
the idea that one, this the ASMV is
working really hard to address these
issues in our community and two that we
have a new executive director coming on
who's going to take us to the next
level, I believe, of of humane
sheltering and taking care of animals in
our community. So, um, we I I understand
all the issues that go into that and I
appreciate the passion of the community,
but I just want to direct folks to to a
few resources that might they might not
be able to see otherwise. So, I hope to
see uh anyone who's concerned about that
to come to the meeting next week.
Um,
and I think that's all I'll have to say
for today. Thank you.
Thank you, Mayor Pro Tim Munoz.
Well, usually I'm not at a loss for
words, but um you got me today. Um so,
thank you all. I want to say uh first um
happy new year Felis Novo and Aguri
Bonano Atuti. So from my Italian
speakers as well. Um so I also want to
thank the voters who went out and voted
in the last election. I know it's been a
while, but I I wanted to do so. I wanted
to also thank you uh those that
supported and and voted for me. Um it's
my honor and I will I will do my best.
Uh and also wanted to thank the the uh
council for their vote. I can tell you
that um
u promis
um those are big shoes to fill and
you've been a force uh on council and I
look forward to working with you and the
counselors as well. So thank you.
Gracias. Um
and with that I want to say you know
working together is is difficult. It's
not easy. It's easier to destroy. It's
easier to to criticize. Um it's easier
to fight. Um the approach that I that I
see with with council here and the mix
of our new council, uh I know we have
different paths, but I know we all want
to get there together um for Los Cruus
and we'll have our our discussions.
We'll have our different paths, but I
know that that um we will come together.
There's several things I'd like to work
on next year in the next four years as
well is a a holistic approach to
community safety from behavioral health
to structured programs, housing,
wraparound services, and tools for law
enforcement in our first responders. I
want residents to be and to feel safe. I
want our youth in our community to
thrive. Um, I'd also want to look at a
comprehensive platform on collecting
resident concerns, uh, questions and
ideas like lighting and parks, like
potholes,
um, so that we can get them all in in
one comprehensive platform so we can
make databased decisions. you know, very
simply explained, you know, if
contractor A reports 10 potholes at the
end of the year and contractor B reports
a thousand at the end of the year, maybe
we should not do business with
contractor B. Simple as that. Uh, but
definitely a way for us to be um more
open, more transparent uh with
governance and add accountability just
for trends. And this is something that I
want to work with the city uh city
manager. I know he's doing a a great job
with he and his team and and subject
matter experts. Um but this just adds a
layer of operational um visibility and
of course I mentioned electrification.
Um I'm supportive of that and want to
make sure that as a council and from my
perspective that we're also being
supportive. Uh I want to work with
economic development and our in-house
economic uh economists.
um I want to work with, you know, he,
she or they to help create jobs, uh and
to bring needed revenue to the city as
well. So, uh I'm I'm excited about that
piece. Uh overall, you know, I think
that um we're we're we're a good
community. We have our issues and
there's issues that we can work out
together. We see each other at the mall,
at movies, um you know, at the gym, at
Roberto's, more so for me at Roberto's.
But, um, you know, we're we're about
1,700 miles away from Washington DC.
This is our community. What we do or
don't do affects each and one of our
families, our spouses, our friends. And
so, I'm looking for brighter days ahead
in Las Cruises. And thank you.
Thank you, Mayor Roam Munos. Um, just a
couple of things. I just want to again
wish everyone a happy new year. Um,
kicked it off this year at the Chile
Drop, which was a great event. Uh,
some 2 3,000 people that that were there
to participate in the chili drop. And uh
want to thank Mayor Prom Munoz for being
a partner with Main Street Los Cusus who
helped coordinate that event. Also the
sponsors Ninda Bank. But more
importantly just you know the
partnership and the working together
with NMSU the NMSU engineering program
after 12 years. This was the 12th year
of the chili drop. Uh it was a new Chile
and it was uh redone, re-engineered,
uh lit up with LED lights and uh was
really a crowd, excuse me, was really a
crowdleaser and we want to thank the
students from NMSU and the engineering
staff that that allowed that to happen.
It was a it was a great event. So just
looking forward to as everybody
mentioned, you know, looking to work
together to uh have a prosperous and
thriving Los Cusus in 2026.
Thank you. I'll turn it over to the city
manager now.
Thank you, Mayor Enriquez. Um and city
council Damopia, city manager, and just
a few announcements and we'll let you on
your way. regarding the Walnut skatepark
situation. Uh, city of Las Cusus is very
aware of the frustration in the
community regarding the skate park and
uh the update is that um we set our
standards uh super high as a community
and as a city organization providing the
community with a skate park that meets
in industry standards for safety and
longevity. Our legal team has been in
communication with the vendor Spawn
Ranch and continues to seek solutions to
these issues. Due to the possibility of
litigation, the city cannot comment
further at this time
regarding the East Mesa Rec Complex. Um,
I I did want to share that uh with the
public comment that came uh although we
do have the closure of of this
skatepark. We do have a new skatepark
that opened and I want to let all the
community uh know that it is at the East
Mesa Rec Complex. It has been recently
constructed and it is um currently open
although we haven't promoted it because
there's construction with other other
amen amenities surrounding this
skatepark. So it's very difficult to
access safely. Um and so it is something
that is open if anyone does want to get
some uh skating in. Um we hope to have a
ribbon cutting uh late spring, April uh
time frame, but we'll keep you posted.
uh mayor and counsel.
Additionally, uh there was a public
comment uh regarding the safety for all
RFP update. It is currently under
negotiation with a vendor and
anticipating completion and award uh at
the end of this month and project will
commence shortly after that. Regarding
Mersite Recreation Center, uh it is true
it is u sad wreck ball courts are
closed. Um, full disclosure, I use the
raetball courts, but not for raetball.
$5 an hour you can pay for volleyball
and so that's what I do um there, but it
is closed. I am also disappointed too,
but for great reason, Mersite is
undergoing renovation. So, storage um is
being utilized for our recreation center
which is um from the 1960s. And um to
the next note, um it's about 8 weeks, 2
to 3 months wait for the weight room and
the RAL courts to reopen. I I did want
to um uh use that as a diving board into
the next um topic that council is
considering various capital improvement
projects including rec centers and
upgrading rec centers and new rec
centers and that'll come at the budget
retreat later this month. So, just
wanted to share there's a lot of
projects that council is considering at
at this time. Um, two more uh economic
development. We are happy to announce
that Endurance Technology has chosen Las
Cusus Innovation and Industrial Park for
their expansion. They are a Canadian
company that did a nationwide search and
chose us, Las Cusus, to expand into
their US and will bring 41 new jobs and
17.5 million in capital investment. So,
great job to Liz, Selena, and the
economic development team. Thank you so
much. Last but not least, I echo uh the
excitement from uh Visit Las Cusus and
Michelle and the enthusiasm to if you
haven't been January 16th to 18th,
please join the Messia Valley Balloon
Rally. Bring your photos. It is a
marvelous site. Um and want to say thank
you to Michelle, Liz, and Serio and the
team on bringing this back to Cusus. It
is what I have heard several times and
I'll say that uh it is a fact. Uh might
be a myth but I don't know. Uh the
Messiah they're they're saying that the
balloon rally actually started here and
then went up north. Do you know if
that's true?
Yeah.
I'll say it's true. Okay. So it started
here and then we said, you know, go up
north, but now we're bringing it back
and we appreciate uh Visa Lasis doing a
great job. So, thank you to our team on
that. And with that, back to you, mayor.
Thank you.
Thank you, city manager. Uh, with that,
I'll look for a motion to adjurnn.
So, moved. Second.
This is on the motion to adjourn the
meeting. Councelor McClair,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Harris,
yes.
Councelor Bencoml,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes. Yes. Sorry, I was I was sitting
there just just earlier today. Sorry.
Councelor Munoz.
Yes.
And mayor.
Yes.