[Music]
You're live.
Well, good afternoon, everyone. Welcome
to our city council meeting. Today is
Monday, December 15th, 2025. It's
approximately 1:00 p.m. I'm Mayor Eric
Canales. Before we start, I want to
mention that we have an ASL, American
Sign Language, interpreter available up
in the front.
If you all stand, we will join and join
me, we'll start with a moment of silence
for the brave men and women of the
United States Armed Forces as they
protect our interests around the globe,
as well as the courageous men and women
of the Las Cruces Police and Fire
Department that protect our city 24/7
365.
Councilor Curran, if you'd lead us in
the pledge.
I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America,
and to the republic for which it stands,
one nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice
for all.
So, the first thing on our agenda will
be uh presentations
or recognitions.
So, at this time we would like to
recognize our council counselors that
this is their their final meeting and uh
would like to start out with
Councilor District 6, Yvonne Flores, if
she'd come and join me.
[Applause]
So, Council Flores, again, thank you for
all your hard work, your dedication.
It's been an honor and a privilege to
serve with you. I thank you uh
personally as the mayor of Las Cruces
and when I was assistant city manager
and fire chief as well.
Uh Council Flores is always someone that
we could count on and depend on and
communicate with and she's a good
listener and I've always appreciated
that from her.
So, for the City of Las Cruces, Council
Yvonne Flores, District 6, in
recognition and appreciation of your
dedicated community service in making
Las Cruces a better place, November
13th, 2017
to December 31st,
2025.
Thank you.
[Applause]
Well, be before I turn the mic over to
Council Flores, I know there's some
individuals in the guest who would like
to recognize her with some recognition
as well from the
Southern
Central Regional Transit. Yeah, we have
Commissioner Manny uh Sanchez.
David uh
Armijo. Yeah, you can all come up.
Thank you, Mayor. Uh Council Flores,
um we just want to say on behalf of
myself as the chair of the South Central
Regional Transit District Board um and
the rest of the South Central Regional
Transit District uh team, we want to
thank you for the dedication and uh
support that you've given uh in your
time as a city councilor. Um
you know, one of the things that uh
we've been able to do and want to share
with the folks has been uh not just you
know, we we've grown our South Central
Regional Transit District service from
not just within Doña Ana County, we are
now serving into Sierra County now. We
are fair free along with the City of Las
Cruces and Roadrunner, so anywhere you
get on a bus uh here in Doña Ana County,
it is free to ride. Um and just the
growth of the network where we go all
the way to Chaparral and the I think
we've grown about four new routes since
Council Flores joined us.
Um but we wanted to give this award to
her which reads, "In recognition of
service for 5 years of dedicated
leadership and service on the South
Central South Central Regional Transit
District Board of Directors."
Thank you for your commitment to our
communities. So, thank you, Council
Flores.
[Applause]
Okay. I'll take the box.
Okay.
Well, I'm really surprised and actually
honored and quite moved. Um,
on the way over here I thought, "Gee, I
don't have to run any more red lights."
[Laughter]
And I have a big sign in the back of my
car that says, "Don't stop me, I'm a
city councilor. I rule." No. Um, but
seriously, um,
there was a definitely an element of uh
sadness.
Um,
and uh being here for a little over
eight years now,
um,
I can finally find my way around.
But, um,
uh there's a sense of community here and
family. And uh
and I really want to thank everybody up
on the up on the dais,
um, the chief, the chief,
David, Sonya,
um,
Cassie,
Bill,
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. Patty,
um,
all of you.
Um, I'm I'm really really moved. I I
didn't expect to be moved. I I felt when
I was taking my shower this morning I
thought, "Geez,
this is the last time I have to rush
out and make make it on time."
Um,
I think the the
what is uh
really amazing is that everyone on that
dais, everyone, um,
and and I
I'm not going to say especially the city
councilors, but we we do take a lot of
the brunt.
Um,
and then the CCs go to the uh city
manager and the mayor.
Um, so we let them take care of things
when it comes to being insulted and
criticized. Um,
I firmly believe in in public service. I
think I've shared with many of you that
that my father, um,
in our little town of Santa Fe Springs
in California,
served as uh
planning commissioner,
uh city councilor and mayor
for decades and I never thought I would
do it cuz I saw what he went through.
Um,
but I just want to say that Las Cruces
has been a wonderful place for me to
live.
Um, everyone I have met has become
family
and uh
and everybody here, without a doubt, I
mean, I've been around the block. It
doesn't look like it, but I've been
around the block several times, worked
in different uh situations as a college
professor, a school substitute school
teacher when my kids were little,
and as an attorney.
So, I've met a lot of people, but I've
never met so many people that are so
wonderful
in the city here at city here at city
hall who are absolutely wonderful.
Um,
I'm really moved. I I all I want to say
is that I fell in love with Las Cruces,
um,
made it my home,
and now I'll be missing all of you. I'll
be missing coming to city hall and uh
working out um,
working on making this place even a
better place. I want to say also that,
um,
my
my two areas of uh
of uh
deep commitment are the arts and
children. And I want to thank Carol Bray
for having a fantastic uh board and Ceci
Vasconcelos,
uh
who really do a fantastic job
on uh bringing the arts and the museums
to the children.
And
um and so it's a good combination with
the schools. And I also want to say that
the community schools,
um,
Becky Graham, Councilor Graham and I
have served the last four years. Before
that it was uh Councilor Gandara and
before that it was Greg Smith.
Um,
and and and it's thriving and it
continues to grow and it's going to make
uh the state of New Mexico even better
and our children are flourishing in
those schools. So, it's been an honor to
serve on that board.
Uh
became involved with that in 2017
and it was finally uh
became a reality in 2018, I believe.
Anyway, um,
before I fall down cuz I'm really I'm
really surprised at how moved I am.
Again, thank you each and every one of
you,
uh
our constituents,
uh
my colleagues on other boards. It's been
wonderful serving with all of you.
And uh
happy holidays. Thank you.
[Applause]
Next, we have Councilor Becky Graham.
Here she is.
Councilor Graham, thank you. Thank you
for your hard work, your dedication,
your commitment. Uh me personally, I can
always say that there was two things
that we always had in common, and that
was the fire department and PAL boxing.
Um I think a lot of things have
transpired over at the PAL boxing gym,
and Councilor Graham is a big part of
it. It's a big part of seeing kids from
uh a group of 10 or 15 now to 40 or 50
on a daily basis, and that's because of
your commitment to this community and to
our youth in this community. So, I thank
you for all that.
And so, we have the plaque that reads,
"In recognition and appreciation of your
dedicated community service in making
Las Cruces a better place, January 1,
2022 to December 31st, 2025."
Congratulations.
Councilor Graham.
I'm going to read off paper because I
have a lot of feelings right now, too,
so.
I really appreciate the opportunity to
share a few thoughts at my final council
session.
What I can't do is call out by name
every person who has made this
experience one of the most
I can't look you guys. Uh one of the
most impactful things I've ever done.
There are too many of you. Um so, I'm
going to take a different approach.
Since it's been clear that I'm really
actually stepping down, I've had some of
the most interesting conversations that
I've experienced in the last 4 years.
And one of the questions I'm commonly
asked is, "What have you learned?"
The most crucial thing I've learned is
that the city is worth fighting for,
but more importantly, it's worth caring
for.
It takes collective action from all of
us together to preserve what's positive
and to fix what's struggling.
Too often, I see people coming here to
fight one another rather than to fight
for our community. And I see people
limit who deserves care to those with
whom they agree, but I also see us
persevere.
That perseverance has continually
reaffirmed to me that in a cultural and
political landscape where safety nets
are shrinking or sometimes being
destroyed altogether, local government
matters more than ever.
Those of us up on the dais matter, but
even more so, it's the people who are
working for and with the city every day
in very visible ways and in spaces most
of us never see.
When we come together to advance
programs and initiatives that help
people afford and keep housing, to
offset wage stagnation, to fill gaps in
food programs, to provide spaces and
resources that create opportunities for
young people, to protect immigrant
community members,
it both lights me up inside and concerns
me to think how easily things can go
another way.
I at least get to leave office feeling
confident that the upcoming council will
continue to take the role of govern
local government as seriously as it
deserves to be taken,
to not shy away from the fight, and to
always lead with care.
Public service requires sacrifice from
those who are elected and from those who
surround and support us in our personal
lives. Every person with whom I've
served have made sacrifices of their
time, their energy, and too often, their
emotional well-being and personal
safety.
Even at the best of times, this job, if
you care about it and give it the
attention and dedication it deserves, is
exhausting.
Too often, it feels that community
members who will disagree on principle
with anything the council does, use this
space as a platform, not for productive
change, but as a stage.
I'm so glad the city live streams and
records our meetings to make sure as
many people as possible can keep up with
proceedings, but it also serves as a
social media content farm for those who
seek not to lift the community, but
instead to tear down the government. The
fallout from those actions takes a toll
on those who step forward to serve.
I've thought a lot about that in the
past months.
My dad died 1 year and 2 days ago.
His initial prognosis and response to
treatment gave us cause for optimism,
but as was his way, he was
extraordinarily strong until he couldn't
be.
I thought about his last summer and
fall,
and how many Phillies games I skipped
watching with him because I was too
tired or angry or overwhelmed by what
was happening on council to have the
energy.
That spilled over into how I'm able to
show up for my mom, who had her 50th
wedding anniversary in June 2024, and
had to let my dad go 6 months later.
I know that many of my colleagues have
found themselves in similar situations,
where the expected work and the
unanticipated adversities of this job
cut into your time with your family,
your sleep, your other work, and your
peace.
I'm so grateful for what you do,
both for the time that I've worked by
your side, and for what you'll continue
to do when I step down.
And that brings me to my final thank
you, my biggest thank you,
to the person in my life who has given
up the most to get me here and make it
possible for me to navigate my turn, and
that's my husband, Mike Graham.
Will you? Yeah. Let him see you.
Watching Mike serve our community with
Las Cruces Fire Department was one of my
primary inspirations to run for this
seat. I wanted to give Las Cruces even a
fraction of what he and his brothers and
sisters give. While I'm not capable of
answering the call as they do, I needed
to find my own way of contributing
meaningfully, and it's taken a lot.
Mike was my boxing coach when I was
fighting,
um and he knows me.
He knows how to motivate me, how to
energize me, and most importantly, how
to calm me.
When I decided to run for office, he
stepped right back into that role. He
knocked more doors and planted more yard
signs, and listened to more speech
drafts than I had any right to ask him
to.
More importantly, when I won the seat
and realized what public service truly
entails, he listened to me grapple with
policy, grieved with me during community
tragedies, and told me over and over and
over that I was working in good faith
and I was dis- succeeding, regardless of
what they were saying on Facebook. Um
A week from today will mark our 23rd
wedding anniversary.
Um that's pretty much half of each of
our lives. Um
Mike,
over all these years, you've proven so
many times and so many ways that there's
no one I'd rather have in my corner.
Thank you forever for getting me through
this and making it possible for me to
fulfill my oath.
Um
That's all I have. Um
Thanks again for giving me a chance to
speak.
[Applause]
All right. Well, again, thank you,
Counselor Flores. Thank you, Counselor
Graham.
Uh you'll be missed. And Counselor
Graham, uh
well,
one more round.
One more round.
Okay, so next is Jobs of the Week,
Sarah. Sarah Rainey.
Thank you all. Thank you, Mayor and
counselors.
For our very last Jobs of the Week of
the year 2025. Oh, I'm Sarah Rainey.
Sorry. The One Stop Coordinator for the
Southwest Region of America's Job Center
New Mexico.
For the very For the Jobs of the Week,
we have for the City of Las Cruces an HR
and Management Analyst. That one starts
at $30 an hour and closes on the 28th.
We have a Veterinary Assistant also for
the city, um starting at 1740 an hour
and at this time it's a continuous
posting.
We have an Account Manager for La Casa
Inc. Starting at 65,000 a year and
closes on the 24th.
We have an Oven Operator, second shift,
for Stampede Meat. And actually,
Stampede Meat has a lot of openings
right now. So, if you're interested in
those, um check out there check out our
website on those. But this one um closes
on the 4th of January.
We have for NMSU an Admin Assistant
starting at 1785 an hour and closing on
January 7th. And a Scheduler for
Alternative Personal Care in Las Cruces
starting at $12 an hour closes on the
25th.
Um just so you all know, we're all here.
We have no other events going on this
year. Of course, this year is drawing to
a close, but we're always there in our
office. The only day that we're going to
be closed is Christmas Day. So, we are
going to be there with anybody that
needs help with their resume, interview
skills, changing things up, looking for
a new job, anything that you're needing.
So, come by and see us at 226 South
Alameda Boulevard.
And thank you.
All right. Thank you, Sarah.
Next is Pets of the Week, Carol.
Good afternoon. I'm Carol Nelson,
Digital Content Specialist with the
Animal Services Center of the Mesilla
Valley.
This week our dog of the week is Maddie,
92713.
I found myself wandering in a field when
I was just a couple of months old and
since then I've been living at the
shelter.
Now that I'm almost a year old, I've
grown into a loving helper dog. I'm a
playful girl who's looking for a fun
home where I can run, play, and grow
even more. And oh boy, do I love belly
rubs.
But treats, that's where it's really at.
I'm also getting better at helping other
dogs feel comfortable. I recently made a
new friend with a dog who needed some
behavioral support. If you're looking
for a compassionate companion who's
bursting with love, come meet me.
And this week we don't have a cat of the
week because we have a good problem. All
of our cats are getting adopted quite
quickly, so we're happy about that.
Yeah.
Um
and then other good news, too. Um as I
was presenting at last week's meeting,
uh Finn actually went to rescue. So,
after 311 days at the shelter, he was
rescued. So, we're happy for him.
But we still have other long-term
residents who are available to adopt as
well. Hulu, who's been with us 316 days
now.
Lemon Meringue, 278.
And Farah, 271 days. So, all really good
options to adopt as well.
Our upcoming events, uh this weekend we
will be at the Farmers Market from 10:00
to 1:00. And then the Saturday after
Christmas, we will be at PetSmart from
10:00 to 1:00. So, come on by, bring a
friend who wants to adopt.
Uh and as always, for more information,
feel free to visit our website or follow
us on social media.
Thank you.
All right. Thank you, Carol.
[Applause]
Next is a conflict of interest. Does any
member of the City Council, City
Manager, or member any member of the
city staff have any known conflict of
interest with any item on the agenda?
None, Flores.
None. None. None. Mayor, city clerk, I
have to recuse myself. I believe it's
item 7.5.
My daughter is employed
uh Dr. Lauren Matisse with the Amador
Clinic. So, thank you.
Next will be the public participation
and we'll allow up to 3 minutes. No
pending litigation or items that are on
the non-consent. And Katrina will help
in ushering you to the podium.
Again, please state your name and speak
directly into the microphone.
Mayor, council, those here today and
those watching online, I'm Lynn Moore.
In the spirit of doing our civic duty
and helping protect public health, we
citizens have raised issues about the
city's compliance with the lead and
copper rule, pointed out deficiencies,
always citing EPA guidance or other
authority, and asked questions. Only one
deficiency has been properly corrected
that we know of. The inventory map now
uses the appropriate symbol when at
least one service line is unknown.
However, no other deficiency or issue
has been properly addressed that we are
aware of. And none of our questions has
been answered. Nor has the utilities
director explained how she thinks we're
mistaken on any point. We've asked that
answers to our questions be posted on
the city's website. However, not one has
been answered either on the website or
by any other method.
Las Cruces Utilities says it only looks
in the meter box to determine the type
of piping and uses no other techniques
to investigate. By contrast, EPA
recognizes that some piping may be lead
lined. Lining which is not evident by
just looking at the exterior of the pipe
in the meter box. For example, EPA
requires that a lead lined galvanized
service line be defined as a lead
service line which must be replaced. See
handout one.
How can the city comply with this
requirement if it doesn't use any
technique capable of determining whether
the piping has lining, and if so, what
it's made of? The six licensed plumbers
I've consulted say there could be lead
lined piping that the city is
overlooking in its inspections because
the only technique they're using is
looking at the outside of the piping. It
appears that the city's exclusive use of
this inadequate pipe inspection
technique is itself non-compliant with
the rule. And it appears that it is
leading the city to non-compliance with
other aspects of EPA's requirements.
These non-compliances could mean that
lead that is unsafe at any level is
being left to lurk throughout the city's
piping and to harm the health of all of
us, especially our children, our unborn
children, and our seniors. This is
unacceptable.
Utility staff's troubling pattern of
failing to get the numbers right that I
outlined for you on October 6th and on
December 1st, then failing to
acknowledge their mistakes honestly,
appears to follow the city manager's
example. His use of numerous euphemisms
at the last meeting when explaining the
city's failure to get the general fund
numbers right came across as rather
mendacious. Quote, "We had an
overstatement in numbers." Close quote.
Quote, "There was a misalignment that
affected our budget reserves." Close
quote. We're not expecting anyone to
wear a hair shirt in penance, but we
deserve straightforward honesty that
mistakes were made and to hear
specifically how they will be corrected.
Evasive statements like the city
manager's do not denote honesty. Nor do
they engender trust. Thank you for this
opportunity to speak.
Mayor, city council, I'm Liz Rodriguez
Johnson. We citizens have asked numerous
questions of the city regarding our
water piping citywide and how the city
is implementing the lead and copper
rule. We have asked that answers to our
questions be posted on the city's lead
and copper website. That hasn't
happened. As I mentioned at a previous
meeting, EPA does in fact expect water
systems to engage meaningfully with the
public and provide information about all
aspects of their activities,
particularly with respect to the rule.
I have more questions today that Las
Cruces Utilities has a responsibility to
answer.
To help the Utilities Department get
get going, we prepared a list of
questions we've posed previously that
need to be answered. Handout A
also includes the new ones outlined
today. We've also included on this list
the five requests that we we've made
over the past year that are likely to
improve the Utilities Department's
customer service and its compliance with
the rule.
We again request that the department
step up to its responsibilities and
provide factual, complete answers to
each of these questions and post them on
the website. If the department doesn't
know an answer to a question, it should
just say so or research to find the
answer.
How far back do city records go in
documenting the material used for water
lines, both city-owned water pipes and
customer-owned pipes?
To what extent are Las Cruces Utilities
records for water pipes throughout the
city digitized?
Roughly what percentage of Las Cruces
Utilities water pipes records provide no
information or unclear information
regarding pipe material, including
connectors?
Roughly what percent percentage of Las
Cruces Utilities water pipe records
provide no information or unclear
information regarding installation date?
Roughly how much will replacement of a
service line that is lead or galvanized
piping at a single-family residence
cost? What is a reasonable price range?
When and how often does Las Cruces
Utilities sample drinking water in
properties to check for lead and or
copper? Where are these results
published? What happens if the action
level of 10 parts per billion for lead
or 1,300 parts per billion for copper is
exceeded for any sample? Who gets
notified and how soon? What actions are
taken in response? Thank you.
Good afternoon. I'm Dolores Lucero.
As the calendar year is wrapping up, I
wanted to come and thank Counselor
Graham
and Counselor Flores
for your service to the city of Las
Cruces.
As one who knows how difficult it is,
first of all, to put your name on a
ballot and then fill your term at this
dais, it is not at all what it looks
like from this side of the room.
It takes a lot out of you and disrupts
whatever your normal life is.
So, I thank you from me to you as I know
how you will feel come January.
I was not always the most supportive of
all of your projects, but I can honestly
say nine out of 10 were satisfactory to
me
of your decisions, but I think putting
differences aside today, I should
publicly thank you.
On a second note, I would like to give
praise and support to Chief Story for
the outstanding job he and his
department are doing to work through the
processes and lack of process that has
affected our city. I know there was a
disagreement about the presentation that
was made at the by the chief at the
ranch farm and ranch, and what I saw was
a leader wanting the best for the
majority and safety of everyone.
All of the council was invited, and I
heard the mayor himself that night give
full support of the presentation.
Let me ask, have you ever thought what
it must be like to walk into contentious
situations several times a week where
there are victims of domestic violence,
vandalism, rape, stabbing, and who knows
what else? I know that these officers
arrive at the scene, have to take it
home with them, and live it in their own
lives as if it was happening to them.
Just last week, I was able to visit with
a victim after being stabbed almost to
death while minding his own business,
and now is afraid to be out at all. But
he told me of the officers who arrived
and have cared about him, rendering aid,
and still continue to reach out every
day.
Remember, every incident, there will be
always family and friends that are
included in their
in their situation. On a third note, as
this budget is now 6 months old, I just
now and just now the city manager
announces a quote math error to the tune
of millions without a word to the public
beforehand until the media reported the
situation is not acceptable, Mr.
Manager.
Although you have capable staff, you are
the one that is responsible to know what
is happening all around and your
obligation to be transparent to the
public. The buck literally stops with
you. Today I ask the city of Las Cruces
residents to join me in a vote of no
confidence in your ability to safely and
physically lead our city into the
future. Thank you.
Mayor,
Council Juan Garcia.
First of all, I'd like to thank
Counselor Graham and Flores
for their service to our community and I
wish them the best
in their whatever comes next.
At the last Council meeting, the MPT,
Mayor Pro Tem, was clearly irritated
that Chief Story there to quote, share
his priorities with the community group.
So, borrowing her own words, let's hash
this out in the open since that's what
we should do.
I appreciate the Chief's willingness to
show up, whether it's this morning's
presentation to the legislative task
force or his regular appearances at CCIA
meetings and other public forums. He's
not just visible, he's transparent,
giving the community straight answers
about the crime problems we're up
against. Now it's up to the legislators
who have failed in the past to actually
respond. Recent headlines in the local
news, and I quote, "Las Cruces sees drop
in juvenile arrests, rise in violent
crime severity." However, he, DA
Messias, noted that the legal process is
more complex due to the offenders' ages
requiring a judge's determination that
are not amenable to juvenile treatment.
Does this really make sense? The reality
is
our political and traditional system,
along with the breakup of the
traditional family, has failed the
community. The real divide isn't between
the Council and LCPD, it's between the
Council, the community, and the victims.
The victims that are frustrated by the
lack of pursuit of real deterrents and
consequences.
I'm glad the issue of juvenile crime and
repeat offenders is now considered in
the city's legislative priorities. And I
continue, given that this is a public
matter we should discuss.
Albuquerque Journal editorial takes
issue with trial lawyers' lobbying
group. Quote from yesterday's editorial
editorial in the Albuquerque Journal.
The ABJ editorial raises concerns about
a trial lawyers' lobbying organization.
To clarify, there aren't any allegations
of wrongdoing. Still, similar articles
have called attention to the fact that a
current councilor and Mayor Pro Tem,
Johanna Bencomo, is serving as the
executive director of NMSOP. The piece
states, and I quote, "This being the
group which is funded primarily by
plaintiff attorneys speaks forcefully
against reforming the state's medical
malpractice laws.
It's not good optics. The distinction
between a public official and the head
of a lobbying group actively resisting
malpractice reform, which is a major
crisis in New Mexico, is extremely
blurry
and frankly concerning.
The Mayor Pro Tem should consider
resigning from her position as a
councilor.
Merry Christmas and have a happy New
Year.
Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council.
I, like many other citizens, sorry,
Laeticia Sanchez Freeman.
I, like many other citizens of this
community, were very concerned with
comments made by Mayor Pro Tem and
Councilor Bencomo at the end of last
week's City Council meeting.
Council Councilor Bencomo, you stated
that, quote unquote, "It felt really
concerning that Chief Story had a
meeting with citizens groups
specifically about his own legislative
priorities."
And that, quote unquote, "There appears
to be a rift between Council
and LCPD."
But yet, you also go on to say that,
quote unquote, "We need to have these
public conversations."
So,
what you're saying is that it's okay to
have these public conversations in City
Council chambers,
but it's not okay for the Chief to speak
to a group of concerned business owners
and citizens?
Last year,
Last year
the Neighborhood Watch citizens.
the neighborhood watch captains group
asked him, the chief, to address us
before the special legislative session
that occurred in July.
He educated us, so we in turn could
write our write or call our legislative
representatives and demand change.
Obviously, based on your rationale,
Councilor Binkow, you would seem to have
a problem with us.
Why would you have a problem with
concerned citizens being educated in
writing to their legislators and
demanding change to address the crime in
this community?
This makes absolutely no sense
other than maybe you want to be the one
to control things, to control the
conversation.
Next thing you know, you won't allow him
to have town halls without you.
Which actually isn't a bad idea given
that I've seen other councilors at his
town halls, but not you.
Maybe you should attend and have those
public conversations with concerned
citizens.
After the neighborhood watch captains
meeting in April,
I sent each member of the council,
including the city manager, the
briefings by each of the captains about
the crime in their area.
Did you bother to acknowledge, much less
respond and have a conversation with us
about our concerns?
No, you didn't.
If there is a rift between LCPD and city
council,
it certainly isn't because of Chief
Story.
He has sat through
countless council meetings listening to
the anti-police group
call him out for doing his job
and calling him and LCPD murderers on
top of that.
Chief Story has gone above and beyond to
do something positive to address the
crime and bring attention to this
problem that is destroying this
community. You should be grateful
instead of calling him out for it. Thank
you.
Howdy. My name is Larry Montgomery.
And I'm a follower of Jesus Christ and
uh
Mr. Mayor, I hope that
I want you to know God loves you and I
love you, too.
And if we haven't done away with prayers
in here, I would like to have one,
please.
All right.
Most gracious heavenly Father,
we thank you
for the council and we ask that you send
blessings down on them with wisdom and
discernment
that they can
uh
do their jobs to their best ability and
to the best of
for the citizens of Las Cruces. Amen.
But today,
I have a report in the riffraff and it's
on US history.
The history of the United States did not
begin
in 1619
because that was when some slaves were
born were brought to America.
Slavery had been in America long before
1619.
The Native Americans fought each other
and enslaved each other long before
Europeans came in and discovered
America and explored it.
And they
came in and they brought religion to the
people here
from Spain
and other areas and they intermarried
with the uh
Native Americans producing the plural
Chicanos,
the students that I taught in Zia in the
1980s and 1990s.
These explorers have
contributed greatly to the history of
America, but they did not create the
country.
The US was established in the eastern
part of America on the latter part of
the 18th century. They did this by
writing the Declaration of Independence,
separating the 13 colonies from England
and
with the help of God getting through the
revolution and writing the Constitution
by which we govern our government.
And
they gave set up a republic by writing
the Constitution gave us certain rights.
And
today happens to be
the
anniversary of the addition of the Bill
of Rights to the Constitution, December
15th, 1791,
they gave
them
these amendments.
They were
the number one amendment, Congress shall
not make a law respecting establishment
of religion or prohibiting free exercise
or abridging the freedom of speech or
the press or the right of the people
peacefully to assemble
and to petition the government for
redress of grievances. So, that gives us
this
free speech and that
gets us to
you know, we can speak to anyone we
want.
And that includes our
police chief. He does not have to go
before the council and get permission
to speak to his constituents about what
he wants and needs and what he's going
to help the people here in Las Cruces.
And I want to thank him for doing that.
And I want to thank the councilors that
have been here and have
contributed to
the city of Las Cruces and may you have
a happy life after that. Thank you. God
bless you. God bless us and God bless
America.
Thank you.
Ward V.
Uh, to continue on what he brought up
about slavery,
we became a nation in 1776 for our
independence.
In 1800,
every nation in the world had slavery.
Every nation in the world had slavery.
So, we didn't invent it.
That was and he had all good points
there. He knows his history.
I'm here because I watched a video
of a guy
that was
criticizing Chief Story for doing his
job.
I don't know what kind of fool
would
criticize a government employee for
doing his job.
If he brought criticism, it should have
been that there is a lack of justice
being done in this city
and a lack of support for Chief Story.
Chief Story is a Marine.
They're taught to win. They're taught to
improvise,
adapt, and overcome. And he's done that.
Well played, Chief. Thank you. Merry
Christmas.
Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council, and
I am that fool.
Um,
I am My name is Lucas. I am a resident
of District 2.
And uh I am here once again to complain
about Chief Story continuing to act in a
partisan manner under which by his job
as an employee of the city of Las
Cruces, he is not allowed to. Last time
I brought it up under the state ethics
um and I will continue to bring that up
because I do believe it violates that.
But, I did a little bit more digging and
specifically under the Las City of Las
Cruces Employee Work Rules Procedure
Section 600
6 sub- section 603 line 24, employee
shall not engage in unapproved
soliciting or any partisan political
activity while on the job.
Um this morning, Chief Story
testified, big air quotes, um in front
of a partisan panel of Republicans from
the New Mexico House Republican Party
and New Mexico Senate Republican Party.
That is important to know. This was not
an official legislative act. The New
Mexico Legislature did not convene this
meeting. This was a meeting convened by
the Republican Party of New Mexico for
their House and Senate members of their
own volition.
And if you don't believe me, listen to
what they said over and over and over
again. I can't tell you how many times I
heard it this morning. They said, "This
may be a partisan panel,
but gun violence is not a partisan
issue."
And you know what? I happen to agree
with them. I agree with them on that
point.
On both of those points. It was a
partisan panel
and the Chief was there
speaking on behalf of our city.
So,
these people can believe whatever they
want. They can think that he's
advocating for them. He is not
advocating for me or my friends or my
family
who believe that him being a Marine and
militarizing this police and posting
things on Veteran's Day with all of the
military that have taken over our police
force is actually something pretty
terrifying.
Thank you.
Wait. Yeah, I object to that vulgarity.
That's not right. There's children that
watch this video.
Councilor Matias, yeah. Please.
It's It's noted at the beginning on our
headlines all the time. Noted.
The fact that the vulgarity of a word
potentially
uh harms certain people's ears more than
the sense of violence enacted by the
police towards the citizens of this city
that he is supposedly supposed to
represent. As I have brought up time and
time again, this state is the most
violent state for citizens when it comes
to police violence, being murdered by
the police.
That's statistics.
You don't have to agree with me. You
can't disagree with the numbers. If
you're a citizen in this state, you are
more likely to be killed by the police
than if you lived in any other state.
That is a fact.
It's also a fact that you have as a city
rules on the books prohibiting employees
from participating in partisan politics
while on the job. That happened today. I
don't know what you want to do about it.
Do something.
My name is Lisa Garrett. I'm a dis
She's been a resident of District 6.
Thank you, representative Mr. Excuse me,
counselor Flores for representing our
district. And Merry Christmas, everyone.
Um I came to talk about the two meetings
that were referred to in the work
session last week. I attended both of
those meetings.
And Chief Story did nothing but present
the criminal statistics of the city and
the areas he used to felt could be
improved by the state legislature
including competency.
I attended this morning part of the
juvenile justice uh
reform tax task force
that was so objectionable, supposedly.
And I just thought it was interesting
that the governor had her own cabinet
secretary um honorable Jason Bowie who
is the cabinet secretary for the New New
Mexico Department of Public Safety. She
allowed him to attend that meeting
today. So, most thought it'd have been
too partisan.
So, I thank you Chief Story for what you
and your department are doing. And God
bless you.
My name is Craig Chernoff. I was here a
year ago.
I want to talk on two issues. One has to
do with your rezoning meeting
and the
change of
the ordinances
uh and the decision to increase density.
It has more or less taxed the
infrastructure of this city to a degree
where it's falling apart. Look at our
streets. Look at Sonora. Look at
Roadrunner. Look at Lohman. Look at
Sonoma. The traffic that's being uh
exercised from Metroverty where the
increase in density is most impactful
is destroying things.
The East Mesa
is deteriorating.
That's one of your highest uh areas of
tax and one of the wealthiest other than
Picacho which may be out of the city
limits.
The second issue
Chief Story, you know what? He's the
best thing to happen to this city in 15
years.
You know, hands down.
The man, if he had the budget
he could have the resources
the police would have raises. We would
be a destination for police officers to
be.
It would be an improvement. We're the
second largest city in New Mexico. And
yet we act like we're number 300.
I mean, the poverty level the interest
Give the man what he needs so that he
can operate efficiently. He's doing the
best thing he can with what you give him
budget-wise.
You've hamstrung him.
Support him. Don't fight him.
The last police chief
retired inadvertently.
This guy takes an interest.
He takes a genuine want to interest in
what's happening,
where it's going. He has no control over
what our state legislature mandates
as far as punishments. The legal system
is broken in this state. They slap
hands. They The penalties are not severe
enough,
you know, to make an impression that
sticks with people, that makes them
think about it.
Crime is down.
Immense crime is up. The youth of this
county is out of control.
All we seem to be interested in are new
dispensaries,
tax money, and irrelevant facts that the
citizens really don't care about.
Help us improve this city. Don't drag it
down.
Improve upon it. Support that man.
Give him what he wants. Give him what he
needs.
[Applause]
Good afternoon, city council, mayor.
Um Diane Starbuck for the record.
I would like to address two items today.
The first one is a thank you to
councilors Scram and Flores for your
service,
especially for your support with the new
uh revised animal ordinance.
We appreciate that.
The second item is there has been a lot
of criticism of the police, usually by
the left.
I would like to say not everyone on the
left is against the police.
Every encounter I have had with the
police has been polite, professional,
considerate, even when I have been
protesting.
I encourage anyone to sign up for the
Citizens Police Academy, which uh I've
heard there's some advertisement that
they're starting a a new one,
where you will learn many things,
including the many situations that the
officers have to deal with, and the many
changes the Chief Story has made to
improve the department. Thank you, Chief
Story, for your continued leadership.
I beseech the community to tone down the
rhetoric
at a time when we really need to be
working together. Thank you.
Good afternoon, mayor, council, city
manager, and staff. My name's George
Pearson.
The United States Department of
Transportation has announced a notice of
funding opportunity for BUILD grants
with a total of 1.5 billion available.
These grants are intended for large
projects with awards of up to 25 million
for a project. I hope the city will take
advantage of this opportunity. An ideal
application would look at reconstructing
El Paseo. We've already spent over a
million dollars in planning efforts in
the El Paseo corridor. The MRA process
identifies that we
the need for safety improvements for
bicyclists and pedestrians. This looks
like
we are someplace where the city can take
some action and move towards Vision Zero
to make Las Cruces a safer community.
Uh the deadline for applying for the
BUILD grant is February 24th, so it's
something that the city will have to
move on quickly. Even if we may not be
success have a successful application,
going through the process can result in
feedback that could make a future grant
application successful. Let's not miss
this opportunity like we have missed
other opportunities such as a TAP, RTP,
and TPF. Thank you.
Mayor Enriquez, Mayor Pro Tem Bencomo,
city councilors, my name is Donald
Wilson.
I'm the current president of Velo
Cruces.
We're a bicycling and pedestrian
advocacy organization that was founded
10 years ago in Las Cruces.
Two years ago,
in October of 2023,
we sent a letter to the former mayor
asking that the city of Las Cruces adopt
a Vision Zero target
of the year 2035
and join the Vision Zero network.
In November of that year, we made this
request official during a public comment
session similar to this one today.
Since then, we have approached the city
council during public comment sessions
and renewed this request on at least
four occasions.
I'm here today once again
to request that the city of Las Cruces
join countless other government entities
in adopting a Vision Zero target and
joining the Vision Zero Network.
The city of Las Cruces owns most of the
roads within the city limits.
These roads should be safe for all road
users, those in vehicles, those on foot,
those on bicycles, and also for the many
public employees that work on the roads.
This is an equity issue for the
residents of Las Cruces.
In communities like ours, it's not uh
unlikely, it is likely that 30% of the
population
does not own or operate a motor vehicle.
In order for these residents to get
around the community they need access to
safe roadways for walking and cycling
and expanded public transportation.
A Vision Zero target becomes the
framework for driving an improvement in
road safety.
At Velo Cruces, we think the goal for
the city should be zero road user
deaths.
The city of New Mexico
Sorry, the state of New Mexico
adopted a Vision Zero target through
their Target Zero initiative
for all the roads owned in by the state
of New Mexico.
Please add this to the agenda of a
future work session and go on record
that roads in Las Cruces should be safe
for all users.
Thank you for listening and for your
continued service to the residents of
Las Cruces.
Good afternoon. My name's Jim Hurst.
Um
this city had a tradition
of a National Day of Prayer ceremony
here on the city council or the city
hall grounds.
As far as I've been able to determine,
there were no permits pulled. There was
no procedure. It was simply something we
did.
Uh
I think it was informally sponsored by
the city.
In any case
I have a group
and I meet with a group
and last year we had a Day of Reason
ceremony
on the city hall grounds.
There is no standard procedure for
reserving these grounds.
As a secular group, we should have no
more restrictions for getting permission
to use these grounds as the
uh religious group did.
Unless you want to acknowledge that the
tradition of a religious ceremony on
these grounds was unconstitutional.
If you want to say that their meetings
were unconstitutional
then you can impose a new order on other
groups that want to meet here.
But unless you want to say
their uh that the traditions were
unconstitutional, then you cannot
institute new rules that place more
burdens on secular groups for using
these grounds.
Second issue.
Chief Story is a police chief. He's a
city employee. He's not a sheriff.
He has no political office and no and he
should have no political influence.
He's not elected.
If you want to elect a police chief,
then we have a different situation. But
right now he's not elected.
He has no more
authority politically than I do. He's
simply another citizen and actually he's
even more restricted cuz he's an
employee.
Issue number three.
Our president
has made the word
part of our political parlance.
You may not like it
but he has.
We have freedom of speech when we come
here.
We can use common political parlance. It
is protected.
Thank you very much.
Good afternoon, Mayor, council members.
My name is Dan Romero. I'm a
resident of Las Cruces.
My concerns are the dialogue that Mayor
Pro Tem Bencomo Como, Bencomo stated
during the December 8th, 2025 meeting
at 2:37 p.m.
The statement that the pro
mayor pro tem discussed was slanderous
to Chief
uh Story.
She should be censored for the comments
she made about a public employee
that she has no governance over.
Mayor pro tem attempted to call out the
actions of Police Chief Story's meeting
with the citizens group. I attended that
meeting and
that was discussed by the mayor pro tem.
Chief Story gave out statistics about
crime in Las Cruces, spoke of the
increase of crime by teenagers
18 years and younger.
He never advocated for any policies. He
only gave numbers about crime and spoke
of the police department's work
uh working in the community in
neighborhoods where burglaries have
occurred.
When burglaries occurred within 48
hours, they come back.
Didn't know that.
Mayor pro tem
Bencomo has put the city in a possible
hostile work environment by her
comments.
From my understanding, not only was the
police uh Chief Story invited, but all
council members were invited to the
event. Only the police chief attended
and his comments were well received.
As a prior elected official, there there
are comments that are not allowed by any
council member, especially pro tems and
mayors
that violate the rules.
They should never publicly uh
dis comment
about a public employee.
That employee works for the city
manager.
All the public employees don't work for
the council.
There is only one person in charge of
the employees, that is the city manager
of this city.
Bro Mayor pro tem Bencomo should have
should have sensitivity training due to
her comments toward the Police Chief
Story and she should make a public
apology to to the Chief Story and the
residents of Las Cruces.
Your position as council members and the
mayor
are non-partisan positions. You didn't
get elected for your national politics.
You got elected because you serve the
community.
Please check your national politics at
the front door when you come into this
facility. You represent the all
residents,
not a small amount.
You should be talking about the budget
instead of talking about Chief Story.
Thank you very much.
Hi, my name is Daniel B and
thank you, Mayor and Council, for this
opportunity to give public comment.
A- A- As a resident of our city, I just
wanted to state publicly my support of
Chief Story for the great job he is
doing. Thank you.
Next is the acceptance of agenda.
Move to approve.
Second.
This is on the motion to accept the
agenda as presented. Counselor McKleroy?
Yes. Counselor Matias? Yes. Counselor
Graham? Yes. Counselor Curran?
Yes. Counselor Flores? Yes. Counselor
Bencomo? Yes. And Mayor? Yes.
Item 7.1 resolution number 26-078
resolution authorizing a real estate
purchase between City of Las Cruces and
Little Tumbleweed Rentals.
Move to approve, Graham. Second, Curran.
Go ahead, Bill.
Uh good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Uh
Bill Ham, uh Economic Development
Department for the record. Uh this item
pertains to
uh a sale of city-owned property to uh
Little Tumbleweed Rentals LLC.
Um
the um property in question is um
located near the intersection of Bouton
Memorial and Tornillo North.
And uh it is shown here uh
is outlined in red. That's the city
property. The potential buyer is the
adjoining property
uh highlighted in yellow. Uh that is
presently the Little Tumbleweeds daycare
facility. And you You can see how the uh
Tumbleweeds property generally kind of
wraps around the the city tract.
Uh so, the property the city property is
approximately just shy of 6,500 square
feet.
Um it was a former utilities water tank
storage facility.
Um records show that that tank uh was
decommissioned and removed from the site
um probably at least three decades ago.
And um so, it sat vacant and unused
since.
Uh and the city uh has no foreseeable uh
current or future use uh for the
property.
And so, site view uh facing north
towards you can see the daycare there to
the the right.
Uh city property is there that dirt lot.
Uh so, we did obtain a fair market value
appraisal. It came in at $23,000.
The
negotiated purchase price is 23,000. Uh
buyer uh will be responsible to re
replat the property into uh its the the
adjoining uh tumbleweed's property.
Uh buyer will also pay all closing costs
as part of the transaction as well as
surveying costs.
Uh which pertains to the replat um and
uh per res- per resolution 02125,
the city will pay a 6% commission to the
buyer's representative broker.
So, staff recommends us the sale of the
city tract uh to eliminate city
liability, uh get it into productive
use, and uh to uh put it on the tax
rolls.
And uh if you look at this thing, really
the only viable user for that parcel is
the adjoining uh property, the daycare,
so.
Um with that
ever stand stand for council options,
and I'll stand for questions. I also
have the buyer and buyer's
representatives here as well available,
so.
All right, thank you, Bill. Any
questions from council? Council Flores.
Yes, thank you. Uh would you please
explain the relationship between um
the Little Tumbleweed Rentals and the uh
the uh current uh proposed or potential
purchaser?
yes, ma'am. Um Mayor Counselor Flores.
Um Little Tumbleweed Rentals LLC is the
uh is where title is held uh to the the
the facility, the daycare facility.
That's just what's on their deed. Um
and so, that's their LLC that is
actually owner of the property, but it
is the operator of the daycare.
Yes, ma'am. So, there is a daycare
center there.
Yes, ma'am. And then
Yes, ma'am.
what is the potential use of that land
if it's sold? Uh my understanding is
they're looking at um uh expanding
parking and uh putting a a ponding
on-site ponding. Oh, I didn't putting a
what? On-site ponding, storm runoff. Oh.
Ponding. Uh-huh, ponding.
Oh. And how um so, it's not to expand
the daycare center, it's just to expand
the parking for
for the daycare center. That is my
understanding, yes, ma'am. Okay. Uh I
can ask the buyer's representative come
up here and speak if he has more
information about that if you'd like.
To the use.
So, when someone buys a parcel of land,
are they held to
um
the representation what what the
purchase uh pur- the pur- purposes for
that
land use?
Um well, once they once once they uh
Counselor Flores, uh once uh the buyer
obtains the property, uh they're they're
allowed to do uh whatever with it that
complies with uh zoning
zoning laws and uh and standards of the
long as it falls into Yes, ma'am. the
parameters of that zoning. Yes, ma'am.
Great. Thank you, Bill. Thank you. Thank
you, Mayor.
Councilor Corrin.
Um I have one specific question, and
then one
just general
st- statement. I'll start with the
general statement, which is I love us
selling off every empty lot that we have
to people who will use it, so I'm I
generally just want to say, please let
us always
be thinking about ways that we can do
that, but um the specific question is
when we purchase a property, we have to
have two appraisals.
Um but when we sell it, we only have to
have one, and I'm curious if you can
talk a little bit about what the
difference is or why that exists, or I I
I'm not questioning this
uh transaction specifically. I guess I'm
just questioning I think it might be
useful for us to always have a secondary
appraisal
from from my perspective when we sell
properties, um
or if you can talk about why that is why
that difference exists.
Um yes, ma'am. Uh Counselor Corrin, um
the um municipal code, I believe it's
section 2-1313,
uh calls for
Um it has tiers of a property values and
what water appraisals are required. So,
anything that we obtain or sell
in excess of $150,000 requires the two
appraisals.
Less than 150, then you're looking at
the one.
And then actually I think
I'm certain yes that below $10,000 no
formal appraisal is required. So, that's
yeah, this book code 2-1313.
That is extremely helpful. Thank you so
much. I really appreciate your knowing
what the deal is. So, thank you.
Anyone else?
Christine.
This is on the motion to approve
resolution 26-078.
Counselor McClare? Yes. Counselor
Mattox?
Yes. Counselor Graham? Yes. Counselor
Curran?
Yes. Counselor Flotus? Yes. Counselor
Bencomo? Yes. Mayor? Yes.
Next is item 7.2 resolution number
26-079
resolution dedicating city-owned
property located at 1701 East Nevada
Avenue.
Move to approve, Graham. Second.
When you're ready, Kevin.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mayor, council members,
and city managers. My name is Kevin
Wilson. I'm with Housing and
Neighborhood Services.
Today I bring before you a resolution in
order to dedicate a city-owned property
to the Affordable Housing Land Bank.
Little background on this is 1701
Nevada, 1700 1701 Nevada is an
approximate 33 quarter acre parcel
purchased by the city in 2019 as part of
the Nevada Cool Corridor
project. In
review of past meeting minutes, possible
uses for the land were listed. However,
no formal plans plans were ever
developed. We have some of those on the
slide there for your reference.
This picture shows the vacant land,
which is within single-family
residential neighborhood. The land has
never been developed upon.
And we've presented this picture to show
that it is approximately
under 1 quarter of an a mile
to a major city park.
The resolution asks the council dedicate
the land to the Affordable Housing Land
Bank. At this time currently
it currently does not generate any
tax-related revenue.
Staff has reached out to various
departments and learned of no identified
need or developmental plans.
And if not approved, the city will
continue to retain ownership of this
property until another use is
identified.
The Affordable Housing Land Bank is a
vehicle for the city to
to bank land for future development or
if the property is sold the proceeds can
be transferred to the Affordable Housing
Trust Fund for future projects. Our Land
Bank has several priorities.
Some examples of this are the creation
of safe and decent affordable housing
within Las Cruces, promoting home
ownership for low and moderate-income
residents,
and developing non-productive land
within the city to productive
tax-generating property.
The current zoning of the property is
NH-1U.
This designation allows the all of these
listed uses within the zone. The
potential uses of this parcel being
considered by the Affordable Housing
Land Bank Authority
is are highlighted on here and they are
all housing related.
Council has the standard options for
deciding upon this resolution and I
stand for questions at this time.
I'd also like to note that staff members
from Sustainability, Community
Development, and Parks are here to
answer any questions directly related to
their departments. Thank you.
Thank you, Kevin. Any questions?
Counselor Flotus? Thank you, Mayor, and
thank you Mr. Wilson for your
presentation. What
what is the feasibility or yeah, uh
is there a tentative plan for the
development of affordable housing?
At this time we've we've researched a
number of different options. We just
know that it would be housing related.
We would like to we would like to put
single family residences
there if approved, but we don't have any
specific designs or plans at this time.
Well, with Ms. Natalie sitting there, I
would venture to say that there are
probably some
um possibilities. We do have
possibilities, yes. Yeah.
Mr. Mayor, Counselor Flores, we are
working with community development on a
potential conceptual
plan for this property. Our goal is to
do
a pilot project of entry-level housing
where it's
small style or small format homes. Um
not quite tiny homes, but still sort of
meeting that threshold where families
can purchase it, build equity, build
wealth, and then transition or add on to
the house. Um we're we're using Strong
Towns model.
Um I don't know if it's a planning
concept firm that does best practices in
housing development and community
development.
And what is what surrounds that piece of
land?
Is it more land or is there development?
Oh.
It is surrounded Let me do the closer
one. It's surrounded on all sides by
single family residential housing.
Oh, it is residential. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you, Natalie. Thank you, Counselor
you.
Flores.
And thank you, sir.
Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you.
Uh
Counselor McClure.
Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to ask a
question if there was any community
engagement for this process right here.
Mr. Mayor, Counselor McClure, for the
specific transfer of the property to the
land bank there was no
community engagement. Very similar to
the action that Council took before with
the utility land tank. It doesn't
require community engagement. Yeah, I um
I'm disappointed by this process. I'm
curious if any any residents had made it
out to this meeting because I'm sure a
lot of them made it out to the planning
and zoning where this did not pass. This
was actually brought up. And I am a big
fan of housing, but I'm a better fan of
sticking to what we promised residents
to do, which was in that resolution,
which actually you voted on, Counselor
Flores. I think it was one of your first
meetings, and it was reaching out to the
community to ask them what they wanted
to see there, and they had came and
brought that up.
And we didn't do that.
And that's why planning and zoning to a
large degree
knocked it down.
So, I'm I'm just I'm I'm a little irked
the idea that we're bringing this up
without having any community engagement.
I think there are some other There are
plenty of different ideas we can do, and
I would very much like to see community
engagement on this one specifically. Mr.
Mayor, Counselor McClure, so I did reach
out to some of the staff that worked on
this when the initial acquisition took
place, and so there was some community
engagement around that time. I was told
that there was even a winter block
party, but I wasn't able to find
documentation of that. My understanding
from the former staff that worked on
this and some of the community members
that worked on this is that the Nevada
Cool Corridor project in its entirety
was contentious, and so they started the
community engagement process and decided
to to not do anything with the property.
Um
I think there was some engagement with
Donya Ana Communities United. There was
a lot of the conversation. I went back
and looked at the minutes for that day.
And we had some really outspoken
members. There was a quote from one of
our artists, Meg Fraermuth, who said,
"Hey,
an empty lot is does not really ensure
pride in our neighborhood. How does that
actually work?" So, there isn't there is
no engagement. So, we're trying to do
this, and I I'm just a little irritated
that it's being sold to us
as an idea to do something with it that
the community had a plan for, and that
Council past Council had a plan for, and
we're just disregarding that. So, thank
you.
Mayor Pro Tem.
Thank you both. Natalie, I'm wondering
if you can speak a little bit more to I
just I generally had questions about the
land.
Um
the land bank and trust fund. Can you
tell us the status on both of those?
Just like numbers, and do you have those
in front of you?
Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and Counselor
So, the land bank has been in in
existence 2009.
Uh don't quote me on this, but I think
there's six or seven parcels in that
land bank. Um some of the more notable
ones would be the
Sierra summary property next to Sierra
Middle School that we transferred to
Tierra del Sol's for development. Um we
also took
um
I guess it's technically not in the land
bank, but we took the the property that
was originally intended for
uh centralized kitchen for senior
programs and turned that into Paseos
Verdes. And then there's some NAT
properties that we acquired
um when the neighborhood action
uh
leaned and demoed and foreclosed on
those liens, uh those came into the the
land bank. And then there was one
um that was part of next door to Angel
Care that became the driveway for three
sisters uh
uh apartment complex. So, that was
actually used
while not directly for the housing on
that property, it helped facilitate uh
the development for housing.
And then what about um
the trust fund does have some funds in
it, right? Do you have those? Uh
correct. The trust fund is currently
sitting at about 730,000
um dollars in uh
I would call it unrestricted funding.
And then there is about 4.7
uh leftover from the general obligation
bond, but that has already been
committed to projects. Okay, thank you.
And then just a question about the
neighborhood, if you can go back to that
very zoned out one. So, I know that
there's some like immediately
single-family, but there are like this
general area does have some mixed,
right? Like there's some apartment
complexes and things like that in in
the surrounding area.
Yes, um Mayor Counselor Pacomio.
Um very familiar with the area. It's
kind of my original stomping grounds of
life. And uh while the direct the the
direct adjacent properties and streets
are all single-family housing, uh there
is some uh
multi-family housing and rental housing
in
specifically rental housing uh adjacent
to the park and as we get closer to
Solano Drive. But within the actual
neighborhood there, I'm not aware of
any. Okay, thank you. Appreciate it.
Thank you, too.
Counselor Flotas.
I actually have a question for my
colleague.
Uh
is that appropriate?
Yes, that's fine. Only if you ask. Well
Only if you drop an F-bomb. Oh.
No. So, um
Counselor McClure, what exactly is your
objection to this?
Isn't
that it was specifically given a
resolution and a council mandate to have
community benefit for this. And we could
do a couple different options. We could
do the AARP, um you know how we have
those exercise state state Those options
weren't discussed with the community.
But it was told to us to do this as a
resolution. You voted on that, too.
So, we're basically saying that that
When did I vote on that? That was in
resolution
January 22nd, 2019. Wow. Yeah.
I can't remember what I had for
breakfast. But it's on the it's in the
minutes, so. Okay. So, it it sounds to
me that um
there is something that would impede any
action. Based on what Counselor McClure
has said, it seems like it would uh
preclude us from
moving forward on this without um
Um Mr. Mayor, Counselor Flotas, the
resolution only called for the property
to be purchased. There are um this
language in uh the background language.
So, in the whereases, it did call for
some temporary tactical urbanism
projects or small-scale temporary
community spaces as part of the Nevada
Cool Corridor. Um like I mentioned, they
they had some sort of winter block party
and they were holding
um
neighborhood meetings all as part of the
Nevada Cool Corridor. And so, there was
initial discussions about what the
potential uses would be.
Um and similarly, staff also reviewed
the minutes. And so, there was
discussion about um
trees and barbecue grills, potential
uh former mayor said no basketball
courts cuz I guess the balls make noise.
Um we did reach out to our parks team um
to do an assessment on this site. And
they're also on the audience. They
determined that this site was not a
viable candidate for inclusion. It's not
a candidate for what? For inclusion in
their park inventory. Um based on their
current master plans, it doesn't meet
their minimum park sizes. So, the
recommended park size is at least 3
acres. This is um
3/4 of an acre and it's fairly small. Um
and there's already a neighborhood park
nearby.
Um but I'm happy to bring parks up if
that'll help um um
Well, I'm still um uh maybe uh
legal uh
could uh address
uh the concern that Councilwoman McCluer
has brought up.
Let me Let me add one more thing. In
this, it says once purchased, city staff
will develop a one-year contract
facilitated planning services that
engage residents in a series of
small-scale projects to create temporary
community spaces to allow residents'
ideas for various uses and refine plans.
So, if we continue doing this as it is,
they're not going to have that, but we
promised them that. And that's how you
erode trust.
Uh Mr. Mayor, uh Councilwoman McCluer,
my understanding is that staff did do
some of that work. I had trouble uh
contacting that staff.
Lisa is very much enjoying her
retirement, so I wasn't able to get a
hold of her. I was able to get a hold of
the former uh director of Doña Ana
Communities United and get some
historical
uh perspective from her.
Um again, the the sentiment or what she
shared with me was that uh the project
as a whole, all of Nevada Cool Corridor,
became too contentious, and the staff at
that time decided to proceed no further
with development. Um and and to remind
the rest of the council um at that time
sustainability lived within economic
development, and that was, you know, two
or three directors ago and two or three
city managers ago. Um so, we had trouble
piecing together um all of this
information cuz our retention schedule
is well past. Um
so, we identified this project in
September um in our conversations with
uh Mr. Ramelli and Gary Ewing,
who's also in the audience today.
Um they had initially designed some
townhome concepts for another property,
but that property is already being used
for by Salesburg list. And so, we
started looking at city-owned land for
potential development and identified
this one. Um so, we asked our land
management to reach out to the various
departments to see if there was a use or
intended use for this parcel, and um
those departments responded um that it
wasn't within any of their development
plans,
um and they weren't interested in in
moving forward with any development. So,
we um identified it as a potential
uh So, all Excuse me. Uh
So, all the steps you've taken are
consistent with uh meeting the mandate
or the conditions that uh
Councilwoman McCluer has raised or
identified?
Staff believes so.
But, community members, do they believe
that?
I'm sorry, what?
Do the community members believe that?
And I at planning and zoning, it didn't
seem so.
I I think, if I may, Mr. Mayor,
and
Ms. Martinez and
Mr. Wilson,
um and Councilwoman McCluer, given that
there um
there appears to be a conflict insofar
as the steps that have to be taken um
before there's any further action on
that uh
property, perhaps uh legal can look at
um
visit this, and then we can bring it
back.
Councilwoman Flores, thank you. Let's uh
let uh our city attorney uh
speak at this time.
Thank you, Mayor. Brad Douglas for the
record, and
uh sorry about that. I was knee-deep in
the children's code while you all
started discussing this item, and then I
heard my name,
and there was a moment of panic that has
passed since then. So, and looking at
the prior resolution, uh
just real briefly, um
I don't see this uh parcel as being
encumbered or restricted at this time
based on the language of the prior
resolution.
I I think,
if I may, Mr.
Go ahead, Councilwoman Flores.
What exactly is uh your um
What exactly is your opinion on this?
It's an opinion. Well, my vote's going
to be no. I mean, I I guess that's my
opinion. So, uh my vote is going to be
no on this one, but um
my opinion is I wish we would have
spoken to and listening to them
reading the minutes, cuz I didn't listen
to them. Reading the minutes, that
wasn't engagement, the process that we
wanted to do with we being the council
in the past. So, following the spirit of
the idea that we wanted to work with the
community residents,
Well,
I you know, I I'm just try
First of all, this is not a due process
issue, but um
and that's more of a legal term.
But um,
your your opinion could I I I'm really
conflicted because
um,
I think that if it wasn't brought
forward, um,
as
as Councillor McClare has pointed out,
uh,
we would at least need a legal opinion
to move forward to uh, say that it, you
know, was okay or not okay to do so. I
think he did say it was okay. And and
you just said that it wasn't.
Okay, so
move it forward.
Okay, seeing no other questions, uh,
Christine.
This is on the motion to approve
resolution 26-079.
Councillor McClare. No.
Councillor Mattausch.
No.
Councillor Graham. Yes. Councillor
Curran. Yes. Councillor Flores.
Yes. Councillor Bencomo. Yes. Mayor.
Yes. Motion passes.
Next is the item 7.3, Council Bill
number 26-011,
Ordinance number 3103, an ordinance
adding Chapter 16 to Article
12, uh, short-term rentals to Las Cruces
Municipal Code.
I'll move to approve.
Second.
Go ahead, Chris.
Uh, good afternoon, Mayor and Council.
Trying to figure out what I did to the
There we go.
Okay. Good afternoon, everyone. Chris
Faivre, Community Development Director,
for the record. Uh, today we are looking
to approve the ordinance for short-term
rentals. Uh, and in a nutshell, what
we're trying to do is set requirements
that those who are doing short-term
rentals apply for a business license
with the city, so we can uh, have a
a better inventory of exactly how many
we have in the city and have better
communication with those uh, property
owners. So, uh, in short, what is a
short-term rental? Uh, dwelling rented
out intended to uh,
not be a permanent residence, but you
know, listed on third-party websites
such as Airbnb, Verbo, booking.com,
those types of things. And this does
exclude hotels, motels, and B&Bs.
Excuse me.
Why do we want to regulate? So, I think
there's several reason why.
Um, insures integrity and safety within
the neighborhood. Uh, we are seeing some
growth in this market. Las Cruces isn't
a huge short-term rental market like
some other uh, destinations like maybe
Santa Fe or other, you know, uh, places
like that. But there we are seeing an
uptick.
Um, also trying to balance some of the
property rights with the neighborhood
quality of life. Uh, we do get some
complaints from time time and having
this ordinance in place would help sort
of get everybody on the same page and
regulate some of those concerns.
Uh, there are several other
municipalities in New Mexico that have
gone this direction uh, and Doña Ana
County did adopt an ordinance a few
years ago.
Currently, there's 483 houses listed on
third-party websites, but only 83 of
them have taken the time to register
with Visit Las Cruces through their
process. So,
the idea here is to close the gap
between those who are using those
services and those who are following our
regulations and and ensure that we have
compliance from all short-term rental
operators.
So, what we're looking to do is require
a business registration through
Community Development,
um, and also make that available, uh,
you know, similar to when you walk into
a a business to see that they are uh,
regulated by the city.
There'd be a requirement for uh,
insurance uh, for each of them for for
liability coverage.
Uh, this would also ensure compliance
with building and fire code, and that's
the other part of this that that makes
this real important is when we get the
business registrations, we can then work
with the staff um, at the fire
department to send uh,
inspectors out to inspect the property
and make sure that they're they're safe
from a fire from fire standpoint. Uh, we
will require neighborhood uh,
notifications. Uh, and we originally had
proposed 200 ft, but we have since up
that to within 500 ft of the uh,
property.
And we would also require 24/7
owner-operator operator contact
information, so city staff codes would
have access to those who are in charge
of those properties if we need to get in
touch with somebody
in the in emergency basis or for any
reason at all.
Some basic requirements that we have
listed providing off-street parking,
fire safety such as smoke detectors,
extinguishers, egress maps, those types
of things. There are occupancy limits
regulating the number of overnight
guests as well as a cap on the number of
people that can gather for, you know,
like say a a party or something like
that. And of course must comply with all
relevant city ordinances.
As far as what it would cost, we're
looking to do the annual $35 business
registration fee through community
development and through Visit Las Cruces
there's a one-time registration fee and
a $35 annual registration fee to be part
of the system that they use to track and
regulate the short-term rentals.
And of course all applicable state,
local, and federal taxes must be paid
and they would be required to have a New
Mexico ID number, tax ID number.
From an enforcement standpoint, working
with legal on this, we actually mirrored
it
similarly to what you'll hear in the
plastic bag ordinance that's coming up.
And so
first offense $500 fines, second offense
a little bit more. The city does have
the authority to revoke somebody's
business registration if they are
habitually not complying with with the
rules or if there's offenses there that
require
to re- to revoke that for for um
a particular reason.
If there is a point where you get to say
a fifth offense
within a three-year period,
removal will be mandatory of a business
registration.
And so wrapping up next steps, we
obviously adopt if if it's adopted this
month, we would begin
education and registration
sort of outreach campaign working with
communications
making this ordinance effective in
January and then have enforcement begin
in July giving staff time to do adequate
outreach to those owners and make sure
we can get everybody in compliance. As
you can see there's several hundred who
have listed on on various third-party
websites, so they'll take some time to
you know, reach out to everybody and get
everybody
in compliance with the new rules.
And your standard options apply and I
will stand for questions. Thank you.
Thank you, Chris.
Uh Counselor Corrie?
Um
You said me, right? Okay, thank you.
I I first want to thank you, Chris, and
all the team that are working on this
that worked on this. I I have to be
honest when I was campaigning the first
time around when I ran for City Council,
people were asking for this particular
ordinance. So thank you for getting it
done. I squeaked in literally on the
last day getting of my first term
getting it done for those folks who were
asking for this ordinance. So thanks for
Thank you.
But I do have a quick question. It like
or sort of request. I think the biggest
thing is people just want their Airbnbs
to be good neighbors and this is like
fundamentally about sort of
systematizing that in a meaningful way.
But
but we kind of tried to do this before,
right? Sort of in a version of trying to
get people to register
that and that didn't seem to work. And
we kind of heard about some logistical
challenges I think last time when we
talked about this at the work session. I
guess what I'm hoping is
um
one that we have sort of made it easy
like made this as easy as we possibly
can for folks to get on the right side
of this, right? Kind of like a lot of
the folks that are currently getting
permits for their carports
after realized, right? So I hope we can
enable folks as much as possible to get
on the right side of this and then also
do a quick inventory at some point in
the next 6 months. And I'm hoping that I
know I don't know who all is going to be
involved in this work, but to see is
this
is this working or not, right? What is
the rate of That's about 400 folks that
need kind of intense probably connection
to get them on the
on the registration side. So I'm hoping
that
we can just follow back up and see where
are we in that process to make sure that
we're on track because I don't want it
to be a matter of I know that people
hear information from different channels
and I'm sure that Airbnb hosts get tons
of
random requests and demands and all of
those things. So I just want us to to
make sure that we're communicating
effectively and really just giving
people the opportunity to comply in the
best way possible. So I'm hoping we can
have a little check-in before
uh
and and if it doesn't seem like it's
going that we can postpone the
enforcement component um if required
because they're not but because we might
be struggling through that communication
part. I guess would be my kind of gentle
ask. Not an amendment, just an ask.
Sure.
Mayor Counselor Karen, we can certainly
do that. We can schedule sort of a work
session check-in in maybe June.
Um you know, we'll we'll work closely
with Visit Las Cruces to pull the data
for the current properties, do that
outreach similar way we do for other
business registrations here in town. We
have staff that works directly with them
to get everybody um you know,
registered. There's you know, they'll
register through Visit Las Cruces on
their process which hasn't it looks like
it hasn't been working from the numbers,
but registering with that process is the
staff's there to help them with that. I
think it's just more of a advocacy and
letting people know what is what is
required and that will be on staff and
working with communications department
to get that messaging out and make sure
that we keep it out there over a period
of time so that it's not just
out there when this ordinance passes and
then people kind of forget about it.
It'll be up to staff to, you know, keep
that top of mind.
Thank you very much Thank you. And
again, thank you for bringing this
forward. I really appreciate the
opportunity to have this conversation.
Counselor Floures. Uh thank you, Mayor.
And thank you, Chris, for the
presentation. Um
I um this is something that we discussed
in in a one of our um
work sessions
uh
sometime ago. So, I'm happy to see um
that there's some resolution.
Uh
not a resolution, but that the we've
come to this point. Um
my concern has always been enforcement
and um
and I and I think that there are some
property owners
um
who fly under the radar.
And I was just wondering if there's any
way of um identifying all property
owners that do use their
their their homes, their property to um
for
uh short stays.
Mayor Counselor Floures, yes, we can
pull that data through the systems that
Visit Las Cruces has access to, get that
address information, get that owner
information, reach out directly to them
about the new requirements, and that'll
sort of be the starting point. Um and
there's you know, I think there was 483
over, you know, that have have
registered uh or used the system. So, we
do have quite a number of of um property
owners to start working with. And then
from that point forward, it'll just be
continuously monitoring those to make
sure that they're staying in compliance
and continuing uh communications and
outreach so anybody new interested in a
short-term rental will know that there's
a process that they have to adhere to if
they want to um sign up. Yeah, and I
think that in my district there were or
it's not my district anymore.
My used to be district six, which is uh
now district three.
Um there were complaints
uh of uh
you know, wild parties going on and find
in the neighbors finding out that it
wasn't the owners, it was the tenants.
Um
and
I don't think there was any registration
that it was a business. So, that I think
that's my concern in so far as really
identifying
um who's doing what. But
but you think that all of that is
covered.
Mayor Counselor Floures, I do think that
having the requirement for the business
registration will allow us to identify
those problematic owners if there are
such, and the requirements for having
that contact information on staff will
make it easier for us to reach out to
them or PD if it's in the middle of the
night or codes if it's, you know, some
other issue. So, this process I think
will make it easier for staff to
communicate with those property owners
about any issues that we are seeing.
Okay, so when you have um neighbors
complaining and and they uh and the the
city goes in to talk to the complainant,
um
they'll ascertain at that point whether
they're registered or not because I'm
sure a lot of them fly under the radar.
Mayor Counselor Floures, yes, that is
correct. I mean, someone could file a
complaint and, you know, put us onto a
property we didn't know, and then at
that point in time we would work with
that property owner to get them in
compliance. So, yes, it could it could
help for both those who are registered
and for identifying potentially some
that aren't in compliance. Correct.
Good. Thank you very much, Chris. Thank
you for your work. Thank you, Mayor.
Mayor Pro Tem. Thanks, Chris. The last
time when we had a work session about
this, there was some concerns raised
with some um Airbnb
uh managers, I guess, about the system
and that it was difficult for them to
navigate it, and I know that you staff
sort of stayed back and
had that discussion with those folks.
I just felt like that what they were
saying was
very real and valid. I'm just curious if
you all have
addressed some of those, or if there was
what was the miscommunication. I'm just
curious.
Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, I I believe some
of that actually was issues with
um
compliance with with the third party,
specifically, you know, working with
Airbnb to pay some of those taxes, and
we were trying to work through ways that
if you are
say a property management company, and
you are trying to pay taxes for multiple
properties, is there a way to do that
through those systems you know, all at
one time. It's not the city system.
Again, it's working with some of those
third-party vendors, and I know that the
staff at Visit Las Cruces was trying to
work through some of those issues with
them. I'm sure it's not the first time
those things have come up, so I know
there's a couple at least one property
management company that that we were
discussing some of these issues with.
Again, cuz it's not our system, I don't
know if all those issues were resolved
or not with those third-party vendors,
but we do try to open up those
conversations to see if we can resolve
them. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, I think
that that's just really important to
continue to have that open communication
with folks who have that kind of
feedback. Thanks, Mayor.
Okay, seeing no other members of the
public, we'll give you a couple minutes.
You get 2 minutes.
Uh George Pearson, as president of the
Alameda Depot Neighborhood Association,
we've heard of issues where
properties are being converted to
short-term rentals,
and especially in the historic
neighborhood, it's the issue of density,
so
it'd be good to collect once this data
is collected to revisit this in 6 months
or a year, as was discussed, and look at
what the density issues are, and if
we're getting too many Airbnbs too close
together.
Um and maybe we need to also distinguish
between owner-occupied
places
that have casitas that they're renting
out, because if they're still
owner-occupied, that gives a different
flavor to the neighborhood than if it's
completely a rental.
So,
looking forward to this being
implemented and follow through on it.
Thank you.
Uh thank you. Is there anyone else
public?
Okay, seeing none, Christine.
This is on the motion to approve
ordinance 3103.
Counselor McKleroy? Yes. Counselor
Matias is absent. Counselor Gram? Yes.
Counselor Curran? Yes.
Counselor Flotas? Yes. Counselor
Bencomo? Yes. And Mayor? Yes.
Next is item 7.4,
Council Bill number 26-012,
Ordinance number 3104, an ordinance
amending Chapter 16, Article 11 of the
Las Cruces Municipal Code, limiting the
use of plastic single-use carryout bags
in certain retail operations.
Move to approve.
Second.
[Music]
Mayor, counselors, Jenni Hernandez, the
sustainability officer for the city of
Las Cruces.
Um today, I'm going to be talking about
amending the plastic bag ordinance
to use the funds, some of the reserve
fundings to support um other initiatives
in our office.
And so, first, I'll give us some
background context just to refresh our
memory, and then go into the very
specifics of what we're proposing to
amend, so you can see them side to side,
and see what we're exactly changing in
the ordinance, and then just refresh
your memory on how we currently use the
fees, and how we're proposing to use the
fees if there is an amendment to the
ordinance.
So, the plastic bag ordinance was
in effect in January 1st, 2020, and we
were here on November 10th as a work
session, where we gave you an update.
It's been about 5 years now since we've
launched, and so we gave we gave an
update on how much funds we've
collected, what we've done with those
funds, and so,
um here, we're going to tell you in
detail exactly what we're proposing to
change. But, as a reminder, when you go
to the store, you can no longer buy
plastic bags. You can buy paper bags,
and if you purchase a paper bag, it's 10
cents, 5 cents of which comes back to
our office, and the other 5 cents the um
grocery store or business keeps the 5
cents to help pay for those paper bags.
And so, as I mentioned, we're going to
go over first exactly side by side the
revisions that we're making.
Historically, the way that the fees
could be used is specifically in the
ordinance reads as dedicated to promote
sustainability, public education, and
the purchasing of reusable bags. So,
basically, education around the
ordinance and then helping to um
provide reusable bags and education on
the ordinance in general in terms of how
it's related to plastic bag use and
plastic bag, sorry, and the environment.
And so, what we are proposing today is
to revise the wording that specifically
will read to support a wide range of
initiatives that advance the goals of
the city's climate action plan,
including to, but not limited to,
climate mitigation and adaptation,
energy conservation, public education,
and community engagement. Basically, to
help us use the funds to help meet goals
in our climate action plan. And later on
down the slides, um
I will give you some very specific
examples of what we envision to use
those fees for. I do want to clarify,
though, that we will still continue to
use these some of this funding to still
promote the plastic bag ordinance and
the purchase of reusable bags because we
have seen from the data that I provided
um in our work session in November that
it is helpful for the residents to get a
reminder that the bag ban still exist
and the education around it, and also to
support education around our businesses
as we get new businesses or new owners
who come in and are not familiar with
the ordinance.
Another major change that we're
proposing is in the current ordinance,
the wording for revisiting the ordinance
says 2 years after execution. And so, it
was executed in January 2020. We came
back in January 2022 to provide an
update specifically on how things were
going in on the ordinance. However, it
doesn't have any wording that says we
ever had to come back every again to
council. So, in the revised um
ordinance, we are suggesting that
because we're changing it, we want to
come back a year from now to give
council an update on how the changes
went after we've made those changes, and
then given everything went okay and
there's no other amendments that need to
be made that we would come back every 3
years to revisit the ordinance.
Um and so, again, this just provides
wording on us being able to provide
updates more consecutively versus the
current wording.
The other small change that we made is
streamlining the enforcement. So, we
want to preface by saying we have not
had any major enforcement issues. The
biggest
issues, if you will, that we're seeing
around enforcement is simply just
education-wise. So, we've had a lot of
businesses either come in for the first
time or the ownership change, and
they're just they weren't aware about
the ordinance. And so, once we've
educated, told them where to get signed
up, and gave them educational materials,
the enforcement issue resolved itself.
And so, we're just adding wording in the
ordinance that makes our office the
first stop if there's any ever issue any
issues to just make sure everyone has
adequate education on the steps that
they need to follow to get signed up.
And then, second after that is just the
natural and typical code enforcement
that the city uses with all of the other
ordinances. So, mainly, the thing that
we're saying is we're adding
sustainability as a first stop for
education if there are any issues with
enforcement.
And so, those not a lot of changes we're
making, um but those are the big major
changes that you'll see reflected in the
ordinance. And so, now I'm going to talk
about what we've used, more
specifically, the bag fee for up to this
date, and then what we are proposing to
use it if the amendments go through. And
so, again, we were here in um
in November as a work session where I
shared in great detail some of these um
of how we used the fee before. And so,
the first thing is when we launched the
um plastic bag ordinance um
ban, we used it for educational purposes
to let the public know that this was
happening, and then we used it for um
education to the businesses on how to
get signed up and registered to make
sure that they
could submit fees to us. And then we
used it at the time we were only a staff
of two, so we used it to pay for
temporary services to help us register
the several businesses that we have
across the city to get signed up to
submit fees.
And then when we if you remember a month
ago um we saw that when we launched the
bag fee, of course we had that first
year revenue and then it started to
decrease the second year. But then it
started we saw a huge spike the third
year. So we relaunched a second
educational campaign which are the
photos on the right and the ads that I
showed you the video of that montage of
don't forget about me bag and that's
what we used these funds to pay for. So
it was a second kind of reminder of the
campaign that we launched. And then
we've done educational events with
partners across the city like
Cruces Creatives and other partners to
just remind folks that the there that we
still have a plastic bag ban.
And so this is how we've used the funds
up to date because of the very specific
wording that the ordinance allows us to
use the funds for.
And so with the amendments that we're
proposing again to basically support
meeting helping to meet some of the
goals in our climate action plan, here
are some very specific things that we
know we need support on especially as
we've lost funding through some of our
federal grants this past year. And so
the first one is an analysis for
alternative financing.
We're currently working on our plugged
in for good project which helps
retrofits
homes to be more energy efficient and
we've learned in this process that yes,
while we have some grant funds, we won't
have grant funds forever. And so at some
point residents, if they want to
participate in the program, will have to
provide some kind of matching funds to
our funds. However, we've learned that
that is really difficult especially in
traditional ways like loans especially
right now the interest rate is really
high and so it's just not something
that's feasible for some of our
residents. So we'd use some of this
funding to really research and maybe
even create alternative financing that
would make this more accessible to some
of our residents. In addition to that,
we have
we are conducting some energy audits
through a partnership with DACC that is
wrapping up and we would just like to be
able to continue those services later
on. And then some another fun project
that we did not get to do this year but
had funding to do it last year is called
our fix it fairs. This is our
partnership with Cruces Creative where
last year they came out to three
different
areas in the infill neighborhood and
basically you could bring your household
items to get fixed or mended so that you
could get a little bit more life out of
them instead of buying them new all over
again. So perfect example is lamps, that
was the most popular one. A lot of folks
brought their lamps over and Cruces
Creatives had some folks could help
re-circuit those and get those working.
Another great example is sewing. So if
one of your coats was missing a button,
you could bring it in and get it
repaired or you know, some minor
alterations to help you give another use
out of that piece of clothing. These
were really popular. We saw that
we had residents who didn't even live in
these areas that were coming to every
single one and bringing new items to
repair. And so we got a lot of great
feedback that said, you know, we would
love to continue having something like
this
but unfortunately this year we didn't
have funds to do that and so we're
proposing to use some of the plastic bag
funds to be able to provide those on a
continue basis. And then last but not
least our co-op support. Currently the
ordinance allows us to pay a portion of
the co-op salary for any time that is
related specifically to the plastic bag
ban. And so as I showed on the other
side, we had co-ops help us well, one
our co-op tracks the the revenue fee
from this and is making sure that our
businesses are submitting payments and
things of that nature. And so we're just
asking to continue to use it for those
purposes and also some additional work
that supports these other projects that
are included here. And as a reminder, we
will continue to use the bag fee for
plastic bag education. We're just asking
to use some of it for additional
supportive services that are on this
page.
And last not but not least, when we were
here in November at the working session,
Council had a lot of great suggestions.
And so we will continue to use the fees
to explore the suggestions that council
pointed up. The first one is exploring
partnerships with the schools. Um that
was a great suggestion to just make sure
that we're hitting as much touch points
in terms of educational purposes
um with a lot of the partnerships that
we have with our schools. And then
exploring restaurant plastic bag usage
so we can revisit on how we can
um reduce plastic bag use in
restaurants. And then exploring produce
bags, again related to the one above,
exploring how we can reduce the plastic
use of those produce bags. And then
exploring cleanup support with city and
city partnerships for cleaning up um
some of the litter across the city. And
then exploring partnerships with um
energy audits in the future if the
amendment goes through. Um and I believe
that is the last one. So, here are your
standard council options and happy to
answer any questions or clarifications.
Thank you, Jenny. Uh Counselor Flores.
Uh thank you, Mayor. And thank you very
much for the presentation. Can you go
back one slide? Okay. So,
um
education,
exploring restaurant No,
maybe it was
Hm.
Well, maybe it was uh
Oh, I don't know what it was. But at any
rate, um
office you know, I
I um
I grew up I think maybe other people in
the
in the audience grew up with uh no
plastic bags. I mean, there weren't any
plastic bags.
You know, if you bought some celery, you
threw it into a paper bag or just put it
into your shopping cart and then it got
thrown into a paper bag that you carried
out.
Um
And so, you know, it seems to me that we
really don't need uh any kind of plastic
bag. Um I know I mean, you buy you know,
you go to the store and you're going to
buy something that you're going to use
uh to the market, excuse me. I'm talking
about produce.
And that uh you know, some of that
produce like cilantro and um
parsley, some of that just gets chopped
and put into a glass and then it's you
know, okay.
So, um
I think maybe there can be some
education as to how we really don't need
plastic bags. You get home with your
little paper bag
and you take your celery or your
whatever um
put it in the refrigerator
wrap it in a paper towel to keep it from
getting other stuff wet. Easy acabado.
It's that simple. So, um
or maybe I'm simplifying it, but I I you
know, I think some education on how to
avoid using plastic bags. I think that
um one area too is uh you know, the
hefty bags for garbage. Again, I grew up
with uh
you know, I grew up with paper bags
serving as as the trash can.
Um
And I I don't know unless there were
some studies that showed that all of
that was detrimental, but it seems to me
it would be good uh you know, some of
that you know, like banana peelings and
all that sort of stuff. Um could
actually be good for soil. But anyway,
those That's my two cents and thank you
for your presentation. Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you, Counselor Flores. Anyone
else?
Seeing none, uh Christine.
This is on the motion to approve
ordinance 3104.
Counselor McLaren. Yes. Counselor Matias
is absent. Counselor Graham. Yes.
Counselor Curran. Yes. Counselor Flores.
Yes. Counselor Bencomo.
Yes. And Mayor. Yes.
Next is item 7.5,
Council Bill number 26-013,
Ordinance number 3105,
an ordinance approving a five-year lease
agreement with the
operations management city-owned
Community of Hope campus located at 999
West Amador.
Move to approve. Second, Graham.
Sorry.
I'm a little bit taller than Jenny. Good
afternoon, Mr. Mayor, members of
council. Natalie Green for the record.
Uh the ordinance before you is approval
of a lease agreement between the City of
Las Cruces and the Mesilla Valley
Community of Hope.
Uh some background information. The city
has owned the Mesilla Valley Community
of Hope since December 1994. It started
as a seven-acre uh parcel that was uh
for those of you have been here a long
time, it was a foreclosure of Woodward
Lumber Yard.
Um, we've also had an operations and
management agreement since 1994, and the
campus was established for the delivery
of uh, homeless and indigent services.
The last lease was approved in 2015. It
was a 5-year lease with at least one
5-year extension, and it expires, um, in
a couple days or weeks, um, December
30th, 2025. So, we've worked with
independent, uh, legal counsel to handle
negotiations between the city and the
nonprofits and developed a lease over
the last year or so.
Um,
in terms of the campus, it is a s- now
has grown to a 17-acre city-owned site.
Only 12.35 acres are covered by this
lease. The other 5 acres are, uh,
the city is retaining ownership for the
use of affordable housing.
It is made up of two parcels. It has
five active buildings, um, and it's just
under 56,000,
uh, square feet of active space that's
used by the agencies.
Um, it is, uh, made up of five alliance
agencies. Um, that includes Casa de
Peregrinos, Jardin de los Niños, Mesilla
Valley Community of Hope the
Organization, Amador Health Center, and
El Caldito Soup Kitchen.
Um, again, um, some more background
information. Community of Hope, the
17-acre campus is a city-owned facility.
Today's action is a master lease with
the Mesilla Valley Community of Hope the
Agency, who will then in turn sublease
to the rest of the alliance, which again
is, um, Amador Health, Casa de
Peregrinos, El Caldito, and Jardin de
los Niños. Each of those organizations
are independently operated. They have
their own, uh, Board of Directors and
Executive Directors and Board of, uh,
Boards.
The ordinance approved today uh, would
approve a 5-year lease, and then it has
four optional 5-year renewals. The city
does have to, uh, review those leases
every 5 years to adjust for fair market
value. Uh, we did conduct an appraisal
of the property. The market rent for the
facility is $690,000.
And so, um, that will be paid to the
city through services in lieu. Um, so
the organizations provide, um,
free services to the community in that
amount or more in order to, uh,
lease the facility.
The lease does cover maintenance items,
so Community of Hope and the alliance
organizations will handle day-to-day and
minor maintenance, day-to-day operations
and minor maintenance, and then the city
is responsible for all major systems and
capital improvements.
It also calls for the city to set some,
uh, to take reasonable efforts to budget
for annual maintenance. Um, as we know,
deferred maintenance can be an issue uh,
at all our city facilities, so, uh, this
would just be that that minor
maintenance that needs to happen
annually.
Um, the lease also, uh, Council may
remember as part of last budget cycle,
they approved, uh, an FTE for the
campus. Again, 56,000 square feet, uh,
takes quite a bit of oversight, and so,
um, the lease also solidifies that.
Um, it does, uh, mandate that the
agencies and the city continue to meet
bi-monthly. And then, uh, all the
alliance agencies have to provide
quarterly reporting, uh, to document
those services in lieu.
And with that, you have your standard
Council options, and we'll stand for
questions. And I believe the alliance
agencies are in the audience do have any
questions.
Thank you, Natalie.
Councilor Greg.
Uh, not a question, but just, uh, this
is the last time that Nicole, that you
and I will share this space, and all
others who are here, um, the the last
time we'll share this space in this way.
Um, thank you so much for what you do
every day. Um,
I'm encouraged to see that, you know,
hopefully, pending this vote, obviously,
that we'll continue to support you to do
this vital work in the future. And, uh,
I won't miss this part of it, but we'll
we'll see each other
in, uh, better circumstances.
Thanks.
Councilor Flores. Oh.
Um, thank you. And thank you, I too want
to thank you, Natalie. Um, and, uh,
and I see some people in the audience
who head up some of the, uh, providers
there, uh, for the wonderful work you
provide, um, for people, uh, in our
community, and, uh,
and, you know, and I
I think the work that a lot of people
focus on at Community of Hope is, um,
destigmatizing,
destigmatizing
uh,
um people who are you know without a
people is um
roof over their head and and uh not
making it okay not to but um
not objectifying uh that population you
know people in those conditions. But I
do want to thank you for your work and I
hope that uh
you continue to be
well
we as a city continue to be successful
in that endeavor. Thank you.
Mayor Pro Tem. I just have one question
and then a couple comments. Thank you.
I know that there's been lots of
internal conversations about maintenance
and upkeep of the asset if you will.
Um curious Natalie if
you know like I I really think it's
important that we come to
uh
um a place that works for everybody
right for nonprofit the nonprofit the
nonprofits on the campus for the city
and I know that that's been you know an
uh sort of an issue. So I know that we
now have that one uh FTE that's assigned
to the campus but I'm curious if you can
just speak to this particular issue
Natalie and if you feel like it's
um or city manager and if we feel like
it's come to a good
um
sort of I don't know resolution
agreement uh for everybody.
Uh Mr. Mayor Mayor Pro Tem uh we did
that was quite the negotiating point
both with city staff and with the
agencies and so uh we were able to come
to um
uh
a good place I think but I won't I'll
let the agency speak for themselves but
um definitely the FTE helps mitigate
again um like I mentioned it's 56,000
square feet made up of five different
buildings and it's very heavily used. I
didn't mention that the campus sees over
a thousand people a day
um and so all of the facilities get
heavily used whether it's bathroom,
showers, uh laundry facilities, the food
in the soup kitchen. Um the city a
couple years ago did master plan for
that growth so that also uh was
solidified within the the lease. Um and
so that'll help outline uh some of the
some of those issues and then the the
agencies themselves have been really
proactive about going after capital
outlay or other funding sources. Um
Community of Hope uh just assisted the
city in putting in a grant for a re-roof
of their facility. Um so they take an
active role in helping ensure that the
the campus is maintained and um improved
over the years. And then of course we've
seen things like the new
food pantry right that was a a very
significant investment that this council
made um to help serve the public. Um and
then uh as part of the legislative
priorities uh you also adopted
um the kitchens which will be a new soup
kitchen. Um but but all the facilities
again the earliest one was built in 1995
some of them were built in 2000 so
they're all 20 plus years old. Thanks
Natalie. Yeah I think I just you know
what I say this because I I want the
city to
be good landlords if you will. I want us
to be um
like good take care caretakers of this
asset that is the city's ultimately and
and just want us to be good partners in
that way.
And then I think really just my general
statements I think um you know I'm
obviously glad we're doing this and
recommitting to being in partnership
with these organizations that provide an
incredible service and a necessary
service to the community.
I think now more than ever unfortunately
I
think it's important that we are good
partners and that we remain in good
partnership and supportive partnership.
The current national administration is
about to make some pretty serious and
damaging changes to housing policy and
it's going to impact a lot of people.
It's going to impact a lot of funding
and so I think
um now more than ever and honestly
Council Graham spoke to this at the
beginning how important it is for local
government to step up and and to support
um in areas where it's it's going to be
a lot more difficult. So I just wanted
to reiterate that and um hopefully
everyone on this dais and on our side
can can recommit to to that partnership
and that support. Thank you.
Okay sir.
Anyway was there any of the members of
the public wanted to speak or say
anything?
No? Christine?
This is on the motion to approve
ordinance 3105.
Council McLerran? Yes. Council Mathes is
absent. Council Graham? Yes. Council
Councilor Graham? Yes. Councilor Curran?
Cranney?
Yes. Council Councilor Matisses absent,
Yes. Councilor Flodden? Yes. Councilor
Bencomo? Yes. Mayor? Yes.
Are we good?
All right, next is board appointments.
So, to read into the record, Councilor
Curran appoints Dr. Stephanie
Oufacquet.
I don't know how to pronounce it.
What What's their name?
To the parks and rec board, Dr.
Stephanie
Dr. Stephanie, yes. Okay. I've only read
it, so I'm not going to embarrass myself
and say it incorrectly.
Okay, so next I will need a motion and a
second for these appointments. Denise
Sanchez, new appointment to the CIAC.
So moved. Second.
This is on the motion to appoint Denise
Sanchez to the CIAC.
Councilor McClure? Yes. Councilor
Matisses absent, Councilor Graham? Yes.
Councilor Curran? Yes. Councilor
Flodden? Yes. Councilor Bencomo?
Yes. Mayor? Yes.
Next is Larry Goodwin, uh new
appointment to the lodgers tax advisory
board. We need a motion and a second.
Move to approve. Second.
This is on the motion to appoint Larry
Goodwin to the lodgers tax advisory
board. Councilor McClure? Yes. Councilor
Matisses absent, Councilor Graham? Yes.
Councilor Curran? Yes. Councilor
Flodden? Yes. Councilor Bencomo? Yes.
Mayor?
Yes. Okay.
Next is uh proposed ordinances, there
are none. Uh now we'll turn to city
council board members reports and
comments. Councilor McClure?
Thank you, Mayor. Um I have a couple of
things on to talk about. One being um
if you're interested in me being a
contrarian, check out the MPO from last
week. I was a little bit um having a
hard time with um one of the more
routine things we had to do, where it
was to say we have 400 our goal target
goal is to just have 445 deaths
across the state this year. And that's a
hard one to say a you know, yes to. Oh
yeah, that's that's the target that
we're going for.
Um I agree that we haven't done much on
Vision Zero and I'd like to change that
specifically. Um because the road should
be safe for all users. Um
I
we do want to work with the state. I
mean, this was a state uh request and a
state target. They actually came to um
ask if we wanted to do a Vision Zero
initiative and they had a whole plan for
us. We would get a rep from
transportation, from public works, a rep
from economic development, a rep for
health and human services, from
community Main Street, from law
enforcement, from emergency response,
from schools, and an elected official to
champion the work and I can um arm
wrestle the mayor for that if if he
wants, but we also agreed on the MPO
that we wanted to see that change. So,
I'm hoping we can work forward on that
in the new year and what that would look
like and I'll send that email out again
to staff that might actually push that
forward.
Um the next thing I wanted to talk about
a little bit was um the budget. And I
think it is um valuable that we talk
about it in a little bit more
transparent way and I'm hoping that we
talk about it more at the budget
retreat, which is open to the public.
Usually it is the media there kind of
skirting on the sidelines and drinking
bad coffee with us.
Y'all can come, too. And I think you
should. Um you know, I've had the
friends of the library reach out and
say, "Hey, you know, what about the
bookmobile? We're worried about it."
Valid valid, but then I could say, "Hey,
you know, we've encumbered that money,
that already means it's fixed." But
yeah, they were understandably worried.
So, let's talk about it a little bit
more.
Uh I would also like to think that we as
council should be
um asked a little bit much much more
about what our priorities were. Mayor
Pro Tem at one point had said, you know,
the budget reflects our values. For
example, we're still missing an active
transportation planner and I don't want
that to get swept up by a hiring freeze.
So, I'd like to see what that would look
like, too.
And lastly,
I'm not sure I can look at you, either.
To I have to say bye. So, I have to It's
I'm going to date us, too, because I've
known Becky Graham
for
a long time. It's been
decades, I have to say. She was This is
going to embarrass both of us.
My philosophy 101
teaching assistant. That's how long.
True story, yeah.
And um
she has con- continued to teach me in
many ways. She actually taught me to
ride horses, strangely enough. Um
but more importantly, you taught me to
lead.
And not to be swallowed by the fear.
And you taught me to draw on our inner
strength.
Because this job is incredibly hard.
And I'm going to miss you. And
thank you for being here for me
specifically.
That's all. Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you, Counselor Counselor Graham.
Ooh, yeah. I'm going to
I mean, luckily I got to say it all at
the start. Um, so I can just kind of
swallow my feelings right now. Um,
I I do want to point out that this was
the
F-bomb heaviest
meeting I've ever attended. F-bombs were
up 6,000%
over previous meetings, and I'm glad
that I got to be here for that in
person.
Oh, should I Should I make that 7,000%?
No, I'm just kidding. I won't. Um,
no.
Uh, a lot of you're going to be hearing
from me via thank you card and stuff.
Um, cuz yeah, I I just I I I can't I
can't
do this here now. But, um, thank you.
Um, just thank you.
Counselor Graham.
Thank you. I will do an official thing
first and then the sentimental thing
similarly. Um,
uh, thank you to Becky Graham who really
led the Animal Services Center
executive. Do you want to talk about
this?
Okay. Executive Director search, which
has been lengthy. And thank you to all
the folks who stepped up and had been
have been covering there at the Animal
Services Center. Um,
but as of this morning, the candidate
Stephanie Lewis agreed to take the take
on the position. And And I attribute
that I I think that I give that example
both because I'm happy and we're really
excited to have someone coming in, but
also
to
um, speak directly to Counselor Graham's
specific strengths um, that I have so
appreciated and and been
so lucky to work with. Um,
uh,
what we what we do up here is a tiny
fraction,
1/10 of all of the things that we can do
as city councilors. And I will tell you
that the other 90% is a logistical
nightmare of getting people together,
talking to people, hearing feedback,
giving people,
um, answers they don't want to hear,
making things happen as much as you
possibly can, and then quietly
advocating for um, quietly or loudly,
but in both cases both you see our our
outside advocacy, but you don't
necessarily see our our other advocacy
and other avenues. And And,
um, Counselor Graham has done this with
with consistency and aplomb and really
made sure that, uh, we're all thinking
extremely critically about what we're
doing. And And she always comes with a
with a
uh, reference sheet.
Um, but but also with with the
extraordinary heart that that it takes
to make things happen. Um, like the like
the boxing gym, which was closed when we
got up, right?
Or sort of closed. Open.
But not city funded when we started on
council and now is a thriving
extraordinary place that that is, uh,
serving community needs in ways that
that are
accreditable to you, uh, Counselor
Graham. So, thank you for And Mike, he's
not here anymore, but
for his
for his background support on that front
as well. So, thank you and also welcome
to our new ED at the ASCMV again.
Graham shepherded this process, which
has been lengthy and and complicated.
And as she does, uh, was wildly
successful at it. So, thank you. I can't
wait to see your next wildly successful
endeavors.
Um,
and also you aren't allowed to come to
council for at least 6 months. That's
I'm putting that two You agreed to two?
We can negotiate that. Okay.
Um,
Counselor Flores, thank you for, uh,
shepherding me onto council as you did.
I think you were one of the first
councilors who met with me and onboarded
me and helped me feel confident here.
Also for, um,
your advocacy for people in your
district who really have, you know, you
were affected by their experiences and
you brought that all the time to
council. And I I think that's really
meaningful and important in what we all
hope for in our in our public leaders.
Um, so thank you for that. Also, I'm a
little nervous because you kept me from
being the worst driver on council.
And now you're leaving, so I'm worried.
I'm worried. Driver, yeah.
So, okay. I can step into a new role
if that's called for. I hope one of the
new guys is a terrible driver. Um, but
thank you for your leadership and and
showing showing us the way to do this.
So, thank you.
Well, uh thank you very much, uh
Counselor Karen. Um
Yeah, I think I said what I
what I said earlier today. Um I um
you know, I I
This is a place that everybody should
experience. It's easy to be out there
and say,
"What is this counselor talking about?"
or "Who do these counselors think they
are?"
Um and we're faced uh you know,
every day with decisions that we are
well aware of um
that will impact people's lives. That's
what we do.
Um I've been really impressed and
honored to serve on this board with
every single person.
Um
even the one that's always absent,
whatever his name is. Um
Hey, Bill. I'm just joking.
Uh
but Cassie I've known for a few years
and
I met uh the two um
the two the two Beckys, Becky I and
Becky Y
uh here on council. And um
and I've known uh Joana for at least a
decade, I think.
Um even though she doesn't look like
she's, you know,
a decade older.
But um
and uh
And Mayor Mayor Enriquez
uh will always have a very special place
in my heart.
And um
When my mother passed away on
uh
January 19,
my friend uh one of my dear friends,
Shannon Reynolds, Commissioner Shannon
Reynolds, and his then wife, who is
since deceased, Maggie, we drove back
from Santa Fe after spend spending a day
in Santa Fe lobbying our our um
our representatives for our needs.
And uh
lo and behold, when I arrived at home, I
found that my mother had died.
Uh
and uh and it was probably
the most traumatic experience I've ever
had in my life.
Um
the most difficult uh event in my life
I've ever had to uh
live with.
Um my friend uh Shannon is a good friend
of our mayor's
and called Eric, uh Chief Eric at the
time.
And he stood in front of the house from
my our house, my house,
from about 9:00 p.m. till about
2:00 a.m. or maybe 3:00 a.m.
uh to keep people from coming into the
house.
Uh and that included
relatives, you know, who just want to
come in and and and do nothing. Uh
everything was cordoned off. It you
know, it becomes a crime scene.
But um Mayor Enriquez
stayed there the whole time.
And uh
and it's something I'll always be
grateful for.
Um and as did Shannon and Maggie, may
she rest in peace. They stayed there,
too. Um
Las Cruces has become um
you know, I I
grew up in Los Angeles pretty much.
Um
And you know, and then lived in the city
of LA.
Uh
and you know, it's it's uh it's busy and
you hardly know your neighbors. Well, we
did our little community there, but um
But Las Cruces is really um
Las Cruces just has such a feel for
community. And everybody I have met,
I've been blessed to see that he, she,
they
um
uh really care about the city.
And and that extends to everyone here
who works at the city,
um
the people in our community such as our
audience who comes in and uh sometimes,
you know, says may say things that might
um hurt us.
But um it's like water off my back. You
know, when
you go through life for several decades
and have teenage boys that grow into men
and
uh all that sort of stuff. But um
but I feel that it is a community and
people who do come and complain um maybe
not very nicely sometimes, uh do point
out where we can improve. Um
There's just so many other things I can
say, but I feel an affinity and a
closeness to each and every one of you.
The staff here, the directors of the
departments are beyond words,
um,
quite talented, quite skilled. It's
been, um, a pleasure,
uh, and an honor to have served with my
fellow elected officials up here. And I
have to say that Ikanni, our city
manager,
uh, by the way, we're his boss. So, if
if you need to complain about anything,
well, don't call me anymore. I'm not his
boss after today. Um,
but, um, he he is uh, par excellence, as
the French would say. And, um,
and we've been blessed with our city
attorney,
and our, uh,
city clerk, who's number one in the
nation, number one in New Mexico. I have
to say that.
And, uh,
and then our attorney, he's he's number
one in our hearts.
But anyway, um, and each and every one
of you, I'm going to miss George
especially. And,
um, and then, uh, you know, uh, I'll be
in Las Cruces for maybe another 6
months, and then,
um, I'll be moving on to, um,
to Europe, where my sons live. Um, but
it's been an honor,
a definitely an honor to have served,
uh,
to serve on the city council with my
colleagues and for the city, for you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Counselor Flores. Uh,
Mayor Pro Tem. Thanks, Mayor.
That was really beautiful, Counselor
Flores.
Yes, thank you. Um, I have a some
comments I want to make for both of you,
but, uh, first want to, uh, say two
additional things. One just one joyful
one. I went to the staff luncheon last
week, and just was First of all, really
impressed by your cooking skills. The
food was delicious. The si- city
manager, the assistant city managers
behind the grill, they just looked like
they were in the zone, and the everyone
in the city manager's office, from our
executive assistants that were helping,
and
um, it was just really beautiful. So, I
I know that things aren't always perfect
and difficult. Uh,
but that was just really little nice
little glimpse, and I was very very
surprised by your cooking skills. So,
good job, everybody. Grilling skills.
God knows I don't go in front of a
grill. Um,
I also wanted to address some of the,
um, feedback that was received here
today.
You know, last week when I
said what I said, I I debated saying it
because I knew this would happen. Like,
I knew this is what was going to happen
today.
And I said it anyway because it felt
important to me to voice the the very
real concerns that I have.
And I it's not just me that has them,
right? So, I know that sometimes when
we're here, this very much is an echo
chamber, and so you hear it here, and so
it must be the truth all over the city.
And that's not necessarily true, right?
Like, I have conversations with people
outside of this This isn't really a
conversation, right? But I have
conversations with people outside of
this chamber all the time, and I have to
tell you that a lot of people have
voiced these concerns to me as well. And
I I think particularly the concerns that
were voiced to me by many folks after
the video of, um,
our chief with the US attorney,
that a lot of people felt very concerned
about. And
I think it's important that we talk
about those things, and that I voice
those concerns.
And I know that what I'm about to say
will create even more ripples of
controversy, but again, it's important,
since that was the big topic of
conversation today.
Chief Story is, you know, I think he has
chosen to act in a very public role, in
a kind of a political role, and with
that does come
feedback and criticism, like we
experience it. And I
I think it's okay for people to voice
it. I understand it's uncomfortable. I
understand that tension is
uncomfortable. I will continue to build
and and cultivate a relationship with
all of our staff, with our city manager
especially, not in spite of, especially
when there is tension and concern.
My biggest fear is that these kinds of
things continue to feed this story of
misinformation that says this council,
and particularly me, is not supportive
of a police department. When you can go
back 6 years and look at my track record
of voting, and you can say very much
know that that's not true. And if you
look at our budget as a whole, the
majority of revenues that coming to the
city, a giant majority of those go
toward the police department. I think we
can all agree here that the police
department is well-funded.
And when we continue to have these kinds
of like they have priorities and there's
these priorities different it feeds into
that narrative that frankly isn't true.
Also, I just want to say that
you know, somebody here said that, you
know, you feel safe with the police.
There's people in our community who
don't.
There's people who young people who look
more like me
that protested over the summer at an
immigrant rights rally and protest where
they saw what felt like snipers on a
roof.
They don't feel safe.
And it's okay to acknowledge that. It's
important to acknowledge those stories,
too. Just today I had an elderly woman
who wanted to share with me some
concerns that she's having in her
neighborhood and a very unsavory
interaction she had with a neighbor and
she said as an older woman, I don't feel
comfortable calling the police.
Those things exist in our community. I
understand we don't want to acknowledge
them and I understand it's uncomfortable
when I do, but it is important to have
those conversations.
Okay.
Moving on.
I just wanted to say to Council Flores
that I I'm just so grateful to know you.
I've known you since I was a little baby
community organizer when I when I was
on the other side, so maybe it's some
karmic retribution.
Um but I've known you much longer when I
was back there and um working with you
to actually build the very first
welcoming city resolution back in 2017
and um people like you and Olga Pedrosa,
may she rest in peace, are I think our
trailblazers in our community and I just
want you to know that I hold you in that
kind of esteem as well.
Um you know, Council Graham and I've
known each other for a very long time.
We were on a very terrible soccer team
together many years ago
and we had a lot of fun, but honestly
there's a lot of parallels because we
had a 1-11 record. We won one game.
But we had so much fun and it kind of
felt like that sometimes the last 4
years where our record felt like it was
just lose, lose all the time. It just
felt like there was no winning.
But I want to reframe that for you today
before you leave because
there was a lot of winning in the last 4
years and you've made a very big impact.
You know, you've been part of a historic
all-women city council. You helped make
historic investments in housing. You
helped create Realize and I think and I
hope that one of your proudest
achievements is helping the entire
council understand the importance of PAL
and I want you to know that that will
continue to be something that at least I
champion and I know other people on this
council will champion because you have
shown us the
power that it has and why it should be
preserved and protected. So, thank you
both very much. Council Corrin, welcome
back.
Two more years together. So,
um thank you very much. I every part of
me right now wants to drop an F-bomb,
but as I I do every council meeting,
we'll hold back. Thank you, Mayor.
Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. And again
to Council Graham and Council Flores,
thank you for all that you've done.
Truly going to be missed. I'll miss you
both. Thank you uh for all your work and
your support.
Yeah, there's a few things that I want
to mention. Um want to look back at uh
we had our tree lighting on December 6th
and I just want to thank Parks and Rec
and all the city staff that were out
there and put it together. There was
over 5,000 people there. It was a great
event, a great turnout, a great way to
gather and start the holiday
celebrations. So, uh thank you all for
that. Yesterday uh there was a Hanukkah
celebration as well. It was
well-attended and you know, um with
things going on throughout the world,
they felt like this is a place where you
can be safe and celebrate your faith and
your beliefs and so that was a good
event as well.
Um
On Friday there was uh I was invited to
the awards uh ceremony for the 4-H Club
and they have over 360 students that are
participants in the 4-H Club. I know
that uh we are always looking and
thinking and being creative with with
our Parks and Rec and and how to do
things uh
to better our community, get our youth
involved and do those type of things and
you know, the 4-H HS it stands for the
head, the heart, the hands and and
health. And they do so many different
activities and I know from farm animals
to leathering to sewing to artwork to
crafts. But keeping these kids involved
and helping them learn leadership and
critical thinking is of such value to
our community. So I mentioned this
because I want our parks and rec to take
note when we're looking at activities,
we don't have to reinvent the wheel.
There's already a process, there's
already a system and there's so many
volunteers in our community that are
willing to give back and share with the
community. So I look forward to doing
things like that
for our community.
Uh last week we had our first uh
strategic coalition meeting uh that was
held. We had two meetings, one internal,
one external with stakeholders. This is
the grant money that the governor gave
us for
uh
uh coalition to build on homelessness,
mental health and substance abuse. So it
was very productive. We had about 30
individuals show up to that meeting and
we will continue to move forward. I
think the next steps is NMSU is going to
put three of their departments together
and see which one can help with the
survey. We'll go out in the streets,
come back and start putting a strategic
plan on how we're going to combat this.
And that's something that I look at and
uh something that I advocated for with
our government governor to get this kind
of funding and grant so that we can
really address the situation that is
hindering our community uh because I'm
going to say it I I I disagree somewhat
with Mayor Pro Tem when we talk about
public safety. I was a firefighter, I
took an oath, I went through a police
academy, I took an oath to protect and
to serve and I know that Chief Story and
his department feel the same way. When
Chief Story gets criticized for what I
believe is doing his job, I I have to
take a stance as well and say um thank
you for protecting and serving our
community. And if it's an issue of being
an employee or an elected official, I
will say it right now for the record, I
will be that elected official that will
speak on behalf of public safety.
So thank you. I'll turn it over to our
city manager.
Thank you, Mayor Enriquez, Mayor Pro Tem
McCollum and City Council. Daniel I'm
Daniel Bael, City Manager. Thank you for
your time. Just wanted to share uh a
quick uh update on on on Velo. I
appreciate Velo coming out to to share
um their support for
target Vision Zero. Uh which for for
those that may not be following what
that uh is is essentially um a
commitment and a plan
uh for municipalities to buy into
um which which is eliminating uh any
uh eliminating any traffic fatalities or
serious injuries.
And I I just want to share from staff
perspective and from council um it is
um it is a very important
uh it it is a very important goal to
have. Uh where we are as as staff is
we've asked um
we were talking with council and asking
them that um what we don't want to do is
have an unfunded mandate.
Um
because what this means to eliminate uh
zero fatalities, although it is our
desire and our goals to have that
always, there is infrastructure needs
that has to happen and we have to make
sure our infrastructure needs are there
first.
Um which we're making steps to to get
there and we'll present back to council.
Uh before we do, uh we appreciate staff.
There was a goal
uh of setting out towards a grant which
was
uh funded about half a million for a
safe streets for all plan. This is the
first step for us uh before we come to
council
uh to see your appetite for our Vision
Zero. We just went to RFP um that was
concluded just a few weeks ago and now
we're looking to wrap that up so that we
can uh complete the safe streets for
all. So first we'll do the safe streets
for all grant uh which will incorporate
uh many of the elements that Vision Zero
will have and then
um
phasing uh the next phase will be coming
to you as council for target
uh Vision Zero. Just wanted to give you
all an update. Thank you.
Update for utilities. Uh congratulations
to our utilities department as the
awards committee of the New Mexico Water
and Wastewater Association has selected
the East Mesa Water Reclamation Facility
to receive a distinguishing award. The
Good Housekeeping Award for activated
sludge sludge wastewater treatment plant
for 20 years and under. This has been
the award
uh for them. So
there will be a banquet at Hotel
Encanto, Wednesday, January 28th, uh, at
7:00 p.m. So, congratulations to the
Utilities Department. Parks and Recs,
registration is currently ongoing for
the city's winter break camp, open to
students K through fifth grade.
Scheduled to coincide with the upcoming
school break, the camp will run from
December 22nd through January 2nd,
operating 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Program
sites include Jornada Elementary and
East Mesa Rec Center.
Participants will enjoy a variety of
activities and social events with
breakfast and lunch provided, and this
only costs $20. So, if you're
interested, please jump on our website
or call, uh, our Mershad Rec Center, um,
and we can get you all that information.
So, thank you to our Parks and Rec team
running that.
The city is excited to also announce
that the start of public input process
for the future of bike park to be
located at the East Mesa Recreation
Complex,
uh, is upcoming. This new facility is
currently slated to feature a skills
course, pump track, and mountain biking
course,
among other elements. To kick off this
process, city representatives will be
present at the Farmers' Market on
Saturday, December 20th. We invite all
residents to attend and provide valuable
feedback regarding the design
and, uh, utilization of this exciting
project.
And last for Parks and Rec, our
recreation facilities will close early
at 5:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve and New
Year's Eve, and will remain closed on
Christmas Day and New Year's Day. We'll
reopen Friday, December 26th with
shortened operating hours at the
Regional Aquatic Center Natatorium in
Mershad.
We encourage all residents to check the
website and social media.
Economic Development Safety Improvement
Program kicked off in the beginning of
Novem- November as the first pilot
program created specifically for the
Metropolitan MRA,
um, area. This program allows for a
grant of up to 5,000 for security
upgrades, and is focused on El Paso
Solano MRA. In just over a month, we
have received 14 eligible applications,
which will approximately be about 70% of
the funds set aside for the fiscal year.
And communications, one of the
priorities, uh, exciting news has been,
uh, to,
uh,
to,
uh, include our Spanish speakers.
So, we are happy to announce that
residents can now watch city council
meetings with live Spanish closed
captioning as an option. The
Communications team tested some software
as a pilot project earlier this year,
and have now installed this feature
permanently. Residents can turn on live
Spanish closed captioning on Comcast or
watch Spanish captions on YouTube after
meeting has ended. A quick how-to video
was released on social media at the end
of last week to share with residents how
to turn this feature on.
And last, I would like to, uh,
turn my attention to Counselor Graham
and Counselor Flores,
um, as as
the audience and the public, uh,
and elected officials can understand,
it's very difficult to have seven
bosses.
Um,
and
you, Counselor Graham and Counselor
Flores, has made it very easy, um,
and so, I am going to miss your your
guidance and your relentless,
um,
zeal
to represent your districts, and, uh, to
all those who live in in their
districts, I can can attest that they
were always, uh, doing everything they
could to support, uh, residents
throughout the city, but also in their
districts, um,
and I can confirm that through emails
and phone calls and texts that they have
reached out to me. So, um, we are going
to miss your support from the dais, and
I'm going to personally miss, uh, your
support as well, but we'll continue to,
um, we'll obviously continue to be here
in town if you need us, and if you, uh,
move abroad internationally, stay in
touch,
um, as well, but thank you so much.
Appreciate you.
That is all.
Okay, so, Counselor Graham, Counselor
Flores, can we get a motion and a second
to adjourn?
So moved.
Second.
This is on the motion to adjourn the
meeting. Counselor McClare? Yes.
Counselor Matias? Is absent. Counselor
Graham? Yes.
Counselor Cran?
Yes. Counselor Flores?
No.
For the record, forever.
Counselor Van Commack? Yes. And Mayor?
Yes.
Mhm.