Well, good afternoon. Welcome to city
council meeting. Today is Monday,
December 1, 2025. It's approximately 1
p.m. I'm Mayor Eric Enriquez. Before we
start, I want to mention that we have
the ASL American Sign Language
interpreters up front and available to
us at all times. We will ser we will
start with a moment of silence. If you
all please join me, stand up as we
recognize our brave men and women of the
United States Armed Forces as they
protect our interests around the globe
and our local Los Cruus Police and Fire
Department as they protect our city
24/7.
365.
Councelor Graham, you can lead us in the
pledge.
United States of America and the stands
one nation
indivisible with liberty and justice for
all.
So, presentation, certificates,
proclamations, we have none. Next is job
of the week, Sarah Rainey.
Thank you, Mayor.
There we go. My name is Sarah Rainey.
I'm the onestop coordinator for the
Southwest Region of America's Job
Center, New Mexico. For jobs of the week
for the last month of this year, we have
building inspector for the city of Los
Cusus for 2285. Job posting closes on
the 15th, so it closes very soon. We
also have a telecommunicator um for the
city. That one starts at 2339. That one
is a continuous posting at this time. We
have a payroll clerk and administrative
assistant for Southwest Sport and Spine
that starts at 16 an hour and closes on
the 14th.
We also have a warehouse person, a
loader for evening and seasonal work for
Fredo starting at 2025 an hour and
closing on the 13th. We have an HHS
division manager for court compliance
and criminal justice diversion for
Donana County starting at 70,000. That
posting closes on the 5th. That's this
Friday. Okay. So, that one closes
extreme extremely soon. We also have an
appraiser assessor at the assessor's
office, sorry, with the county um
starting at 21 an hour and that one
closes on the 12th, so next week.
Right now, we don't have many events
going on. We do have the visitors in our
office that are we have H&R Block and we
have um JobCore that come to our office
monthly. So, if you're looking for those
opportunities, please come by our
office. And if there's anything else
that anyone is needing, please reach out
to us on employee&mm.com
or any of our social medias.
And that is all. Thank you.
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 Messia
Valley. Our dog of the week is Joey
69537.
I'm a friendly and fairly well-mannered
guy, ready to bring a little sunshine
into your life. Often praised for my
sweet demeanor. I love attention and
affection. I'm all in for some quality
time with you. I love to explore new
sights and smells, turning our walks
into little adventures filled with
sniffing sniffing escapades. I'm the
type of dog who can truly enjoy a bit of
everything. You'll find me relishing
playtime with a squeaky ball, eagerly
anticipating those delightful bone
scratches and of course savory treats.
Let's create some fun memories together.
And our cat of the week is Dena 1000564.
I'm a friendly gal who adors people of
all ages, men, women, and kids. I get
along great with other animals, too. I
love lounging in my kennel, soaking up
sunlight, and keeping an eye on
everything happening around me. I've
learned that mornings are my favorite
time. I'm ready to greet you with head
nudges and soft meows, just asking for a
little attention and affection. My
previous owner says that I'm litterbox
trained and housebroken. I promise I'm
good company and will bring joy and
warmth to your home. If you think you'd
like to meet me, please come meet me.
and our long-term residents. Uh we
wanted to highlight, we are happy to
share that after 317 days at the
shelter, Cosette, our longest resident,
was adopted. So, we're super happy for
her. Um but we have other long-term
residents needing adoption. Dexter has
been with us 314 days. Finn 304 days,
Hulu, 302 days. All really good options
as well for adoption. And for our
upcoming events this weekend, we will be
at Petco from 10 to 1. So, come on by.
And then we also wanted to put it on
everyone's radar a little bit earlier
that Saturday, December 13th, we are
going to be doing a photo day with Santa
Claus. Uh so you can bring dogs only. No
cats, please. Uh so you can bring your
dogs by. Um and we just ask that you
bring a donation for Community of Hope.
Uh and you will get a picture with Santa
and your pet. So that'll be from 1 to 3
at the shelter. And as always, for more
information, you can follow us on social
media or visit our website. Thank you.
Thank you, Carol.
Next on the agenda, conflict of
interest. Does any member of the city
council, city manager, or any member of
the city staff have any known conflict
of interest with any item on the agenda?
None. None. None.
None.
Next is public participation. Uh Katrina
will be available to usher you to the
microphone. You're allowed three
minutes. No pending litigation or items
on the non-consent
Mayor, Council, those here today, those
watching online, I'm Lynn Moer. There's
no safe level of lead in drinking water.
That's why the lead and galvanized pipes
in Los Cusus need to be replaced in
compliance with the lead and copper
rule. It's a critical responsibility for
Los Cusus utilities to protect public
health and get the job done right.
Unfortunately, more instances of
falsification or rank incompetence keep
coming to light. At the November 13
utilities board meeting, an assistant
utilities director with a master's
degree in accountancy presented pipe
inspection numbers that don't add up.
Handout one shows that differences
between the numbers reported and the
actual numbers attempt to make the
department look better by claiming more
service lines have been inspected than a
close examination of the numbers appears
to reveal. The upshot is that we don't
know how many inspections the city has
actually carried out. How can we believe
Lasus utilities on any of the big issues
when they failed to get the numbers
right? This is a troubling pattern. On
October 6th, I brought to your attention
serious inconsistencies in the
department's numbers regarding funding
requests and a report to the state.
Department staffers have demonstrated
repeatedly that they don't appear to
think the lead and copper rule applies
to them. It also appears they don't
think the rules of mathematics apply to
them either. At a minimum, they need to
step up their game. Part of the problem
may be muddled presentations by muddled
staffers.
EPA requires two evidence-based
inspection techniques for each pipe and
that pipe inspection methods be verified
as accurate. The EPA guidance document
requiring this was provided in handout
one at the August 4th meeting. This goes
to the very heart of the job,
discovering the extent to which Las
Cusus has lead pipes so they can be
replaced. The utilities department
recently made a dangerous and pathetic
statement. According to handout 2, the
department doesn't have any inspection
techniques other than just looking in
the meter box. That's incredible because
EPA guidance outlines a number of
effective inspection techniques as at
least one university also has. Various
cities in the southwest use an array of
inspection techniques additional to
looking in the meter box. This helps
them comply with the rule. If El Paso,
Dallas, Lach, Houston, Amarillo,
Oklahoma City, and Tucson can use them,
surely Los Cusus can use them, too. It's
not rocket science. We citizens have
been doing our civic duty by bringing to
your attention problems over the past
year. None of you can honestly claim now
that you don't know about them. We
citizens think that at long last, it's
time for you to pull your heads out of
the sand and instruct the city manager
to direct the utilities department to
remedy these numerous deficiencies.
Direct him to hire third-party
engineering expertise so the job gets
done right. Thank you for this
opportunity to speak.
Mayor, city council, I'm Liz Rodriguez
Johnson. I'm going to explain in detail
a significant problem with Lasre's
utilities characterizations of piping
that it's using to avoid acknowledging
that a lot of piping in the city could
be led. Rather than undertaking a
goodfaith effort to comply with the lead
and copper rule, the city's inventory
reveal re reveals several tricks being
used to hide the probability of lead
pipes. Today, I'll discuss the city's
city's misuse of installation date after
lead as the basis of material
classification.
A large problem is evident in handout A,
which contains inventory records
captured before installation dates were
disappeared from the inventory. This
shows five properties with installation
dates before 1986.
1965, 1972, 74, and 84. Each falsely
saying says the piping is non-LED
on installation date after the lead ban.
Las Cruus Utilities says this piping is
non-led because it was installed after
the lead ban in 1986 when clearly it
wasn't. Each of these properties could
could well have lead pipes because they
are all installed before the lead band.
Another way the city is misusing the
basis of installation date after let ban
is using it as a justification for
saying a property's pipes are unknown.
Handout B shows five properties whose
piping the city says is unknown because
of installation after the lead ban. This
makes no sense. If in fact the
installation date is after 1986, why
would that cause the piping material to
be unknown? The city is using another
similar ploy. Handout C shows five
properties whose piping the city is
calling unknown unlikely lead. Again
using the basis installation date after
lead ban. This is even more dubious
because it provides no justification for
why it is unlikely lead. Why do they
think that? Thus, installation date
after lead ban is used by the city to
justify characterizing pipes as non-LED
or unknown or unknown unlikely lead.
It's being used as the reason for
calling pipes any one of three different
types. None is authoritative or
believable. This is especially the case
when we know that many of Lasre's
utilities characterizations of non land
based on installation after the lead ban
are false like those in handout A.
Furthermore, the classifications non
land and unknown are mutually exclusive.
They can't both be justified using the
same basis. The upshot is the city's
continued avoidance of acknowledging
that piping is or could be led. This
violates the rule. Those who drink
Lascus water deserve much better than
this.
Thanks for your time.
Thank you
and
come on up.
Thank you, Mayor Prom. Oh, Mr. Mayor and
city council. My name is Lucas Hearn and
I am resident of district 2. Um,
last time I came prepared with something
I wrote because I wanted to be sure and
um, try to say everything I could in my
three minutes. Um,
what resulted from that after I came and
spoke about my concern with um, the
police chief making a mass appeal um, to
sort of get around the city's ordinance
or not ordinance but policy of not uh,
working with the feds. um and him being
able to utilize his platform to then
have the federal government come in and
arrest somebody that uh he wanted off
the streets. Um
that has sort of sparked a conversation
in our um in the in the community uh via
news sources and and stories and opinion
pieces written.
um and my face, my speech has been put
forward by certain people attending this
um on their social media platforms.
So, I guess I just want to sort of take
responsibility for starting that
conversation and um say that I stand by
it. I still think that it's bad. I still
think that an unelected person who is an
employee of this city who reports to you
all
um and through certain state statutes
and federal statutes shouldn't have
political power went around
those things by using his uh social
media platform to make those appeals and
have the federal government um come in
under those opaces. is I don't think
that that's in the spirit of what we are
asking our chief of police to do which
is to not work with the federal
government.
Um
and as I said at the in that time and
just for the record I don't think um as
has been sort of levied at me that
nothing should be done about certain
people like in this case Mr. Garcia, who
had an extensive arrest record and has
been sort of slipping through the cracks
over and over and over again of our
quote unquote justice system. Um, but
the answer is not to just arrest him
federally and sort of take it off of our
hands. The answer is to fix the cracks.
Um, so as I think that, you know, we
will hopefully be doing later in this
session when it comes to talking about
our legislative priorities, I hope that
the city does back um actual
comprehensive changes to some of those
systems um and does continue to consider
what it is that we are asking of our
employees of the city. Thank you.
Hello, council members. Uh, my name is
Zach, District 2. Um, and I'm here to
address several several interconnected
issues that raise serious concerns about
public trust, civil liberties, and the
exercise of police authority in our
city. First, I want to highlight the
recent decision by police chief uh
Jeremy Story to use what amounts to a
Hobbs Act loophole to escalate a local
arrest into a federal case. The Hobbs
Act was enacted in 1946 to target
interstate robbery and extortion, not
local disputes, and its expanded use has
been criticized across the political
spectrum. A Brennan [snorts] Center
analysis and subsequent GAO review found
that the federal prosecution of
traditionally local crimes increased
more than 32% between 2001 and 2020
driven in part by overroad
interpretations of statutes like the
Hobbes Act. This practice consistently
undermines local oversight. And research
published through the National Institute
of Justice shows that when local
authorities bypass state systems, public
trust declines sharply, particularly
among communities already skeptical of
law enforcement.
This becomes even more troubling in the
context of a broader pattern. Multiple
incidents over the past few years have
raised questions about uh Chief Justice
Stories or Chief Justice
[snorts]
uh Chief Sto's willingness to jump to um
immediate and radical conclusions such
as when he put um armed snipers on the
roof for a peaceful protest. [snorts]
While an a an apology was issued for
that, it still is indicative of a
pattern. And when we look at these
issues together, the use of force
against peaceful peaceful demonstrators
followed by a decision to federalize a
local situation through a hobbact
workaround, we see not isolated uh
decisions, but a pattern of preferred
aggressive escalation over democratic,
local, and state level solutions. If
there are gaps in local or state law,
the appropriate path is collaboration
with the legislature and transparent
public debate, not seeking harsher
outcomes through federal channels that
remove cases from community oversight.
The [snorts] second major issue I would
like to raise is the expansion of Flock
license plate reader cameras. The data
here is consistent. Flock shares
information with over 2,000 law
enforcement agencies and investigations
by the ACLU and EFF around ICE are found
that ICE has accessed ALPR data from at
least 30 jurisdictions, sometimes
without the knowledge of the local
departments providing the data. Even if
our city does not intend to share data
with federal immigration enforcement,
once it enters regional or statewide
databases, access becomes very difficult
to control. Claims that flock flock
cameras reduce crime are mixed at best.
Independent studies, including those
from the polar center, show no
statistically significant reduction in
violent crime associated with ALPR use.
and property crime solving improvements
average only 2 to 7%. Often fading after
the first year. Meanwhile, communities
of color are scanned disproportionately.
Thank you.
Hello, Liz Bennett, licensed social
worker speaking in a personal capacity.
I had originally planned to speak to the
police killing of Phil Philip Mullen on
October 9th. I wanted to remind our
community that the logic and standard
operating procedures of police,
including the Los Cusus Police
Department, is the reason that
individuals experiencing untreated
mental illness, are 16 times more likely
to be murdered by police. I wanted to
ask our community if we are okay with
how that incident played out. I wanted
to ask if we all agree that the actions
of Philip Mullen warranted the death
penalty. I wanted to ask if for all of
the effort we have invested in
successful crisis intervention
strategies like project light, can we
also acknowledge there is still
significant work to do to decrease the
likelihood that police will respond to
mental health crisis with shouting and
gunshots. I wanted to remind us all that
violence, aggression, homicidal, and
suicidal ideiation are all symptoms of
untreated mental illness and that any
one of us might suffer from such a
crisis in our lifetimes. I wanted to
remind us that with the fallout of
federal support for prevention programs,
many more will suffer from similar
situations in the near future. That is
what I wanted to talk about. And then I
read Heath Hosman's article on Chief
Story's recent cooperation with federal
agents to detain another man deemed
mentally incompetent. I then watched the
chilling video update with story flanked
by Trump administration officials,
including Pam Bondi appointee Ryan
Ellison, and learned that Neil Garcia,
who LCPD had previously advocated needed
treatment and to whom no treatment was
given, is now facing up to 20 years in
federal prison for interference in
commerce. In the video, Ellison claimed
that the US attorney's office is open
for business and is eager to detain
others. I understand that our local
judges are also implicated in failing to
pursue legal treatment options. But for
Chief Story to respond by throwing this
man away potentially for the rest of his
life and creating a commercial inviting
other law enforcement to do the same is
a clear abuse of power and demonstration
of values and alliances.
At a time when those same federal
officials are enacting the unlawful
abduction, detention, and abuse of black
and brown unhoused and mentally ill
people, his actions are deeply
disturbing and unacceptable.
In accordance with the stated values of
the city of Los Cusus, I would like to
recommend that the LCPD explore hiring a
social worker or two. As a community, we
are all accountable for how we respond
to our toughest challenges. And in these
two instances, the system collectively
collectively denied these men the real
possibility of care. It is it is all of
our failing and it is up to all of us to
decide how we move forward. Thank you.
Mayor Council Juan Garcia, during the
17th November meet, one of our friends
on the left had choice comments for the
engagement of the feds locally, police
overreach, occupation, militarization
of streets, restore local control, etc.,
etc. And my favorite, criminalization of
poverty. Let's call it what it is.
Criminalizing poverty is a smokec
screen. The real political crime were
politicians who keep people hooked on
government handouts, starving them of
real opportunities and calling it
compassion while taxpayers foot the
bill. Look at New Mexico where nearly
half the state is on food stamps. And
what about the soft on crime crowd? They
cower from passing laws with real teeth,
letting criminals roam free and
terrorize anyone trying to play by the
rules while paring crime isn't so bad.
Tell that to the victims like Patricia
from the shop on Maine who numerous
times pled for your help
but ignored until driven out of town by
the relentless repeated attacks on her
store and the lack of empathy from New
Mexico quote lawmakers. Maybe we need
someone to be set on fire by a repeat
offender like in Chicago. Look at the
latest local crime by quote kids where
they plowed through a gun store
inflicting thousands of dollars worth of
damage. But when the police chief
highlights the problem and the lack of
action by judges and politicos on repeat
offenders, our friends go into the
attack mode. How dare the feds be
allowed to come into our community and
put that criminal behind bars? political
drama and accusations of overreach with
a federal trial of a repeat offender
with 108 arrests and 15 of those
felonies, but not a peep when a Hispanic
was tried in federal court as he should
have for posting a threatening voicemail
against a city counselor. Perhaps the
counselor is more important than the
victims of the repeat offender.
political hypocrisy at its worst. And I
continue, the decision to let health
care providers walk away, leaving the
most valuable without even basic care is
a choice politicos have made.
Politicians pick favorites and turn
their backs on the people who need them
most and then point fingers anywhere but
themselves.
And in closing, people especially on the
left, love to drag Christians through
the mud. homophobes, nationalists, all
those other good things. But no one
seems to be eager to mention Islam, the
fastest growing religion in the country.
For all the noise about inclusivity,
Islam's record on that front doesn't
exactly scream open arms. Yet, no one is
concerned. Thank you.
All righty. Uh, good morning, good
afternoon, sorry, council. Um, my
comment here is delayed, but I couldn't
not show up for our community member um,
Philip Mullen who was killed by police
on November.
Ma'am, could we get your name?
Oh, Lindley Hornsby speaking um, on my
own accord.
Uh, as I was saying, I couldn't not show
up for a community member that was
killed by police. Um, his name was
Philip Mullen. This happened um last
month. And it's my understanding this
was not the first time that we've had a
community member killed by police. Uh,
not the second time either. Um, it's
happened multiple times um over the
years in our community. And I just want
to say that accepting this as business
as usual is unacceptable.
Um, police fear their own safety in um,
some of these situations. Um, because
police have been harmed by community
members in the past and community
members are defensive around police
because our police force kills community
members.
and seeing the body cam video uh the
body cam footage which was released um
it strikes me as someone that has
deescalation and crisis intervention
training that weapons don't deescalate a
person um in which the person in crisis
is carrying a weapon, it escalates the
situation. And I'm I would imagine that
you all witnessed the same thing when
you watched the footage. Um, so I just
want to call us to collaborate more with
crisis professionals. Um, understanding
that we want everyone in the community
to be safe and our police force doesn't
get a privilege of being safer um than
folks in our community, especially folks
that have unadressed mental health
needs.
And um I really want this conversation
around collaborating with crisis
professionals um you know project light
uh the countywide crisis intervention
unit that we have now. Um, I want to
continue this discussion um as our
police chief attempting social media
stardom is uh needlessly inciting
federal intervention in our community.
Um, boasting his support uh of the
trumped up charges on a community member
previously deemed incompetent to stand
trial. Um it feels like things are
really getting out of hand and not in
alignment with the welcoming city
resolution um in which we're protecting
vulnerable community members from um
federal enforcement that's that's not
necessary that's violent that's um
racist that's targeting certain
communities. We have that going on,
right? And then we also have our police
chief inviting the feds into our
community. And it's my understanding
that the police chief answers to the
city manager. Um, so I just wanted to
call that in.
Thank you.
My name is Janet Madison. I own the
Estate Cell Discovery Store on Pocacho
Street. I have been there for seven
years and I would just like to say that
I I'm 88 years old and I have worked
there alone a great deal of the time. I
have never felt myself to be at risk. If
we ever needed the police, which I
believe was only once in eight years,
they have responded immediately. I do
see a definite need for mental health
people help for the people there but I
have not felt uh that we were in a very
dangerous position and that is one of
the high crime areas of the city but we
have not had a serious problem and I
just want you to know that. Thank you.
Good evening, mayor and city council
members. My name is Gabriella Castillo
and I am an NMSU social work student and
I'm here to urge the city to take action
to bridge the gap between substance use,
stable housing, and resource services in
the city of Los Cusus. As an intern at a
behavioral health clinic, I've worked
closely with a substance use group, and
I've learned how social, economic, and
environmental factors impact recovery.
Many of the people I've met want to
rebuild their lives, but face barriers
like unstable housing or unemployment
that increase the risk of relapse. This
issue is personal to me because I
believe that every person deserves an
equal chance at stability and recovery.
New Mexico's rate of substance use
disorder is higher than the national
average, 23.6% of residents, compared to
17.8% 8% nationwide. Many individuals
with substance use disorder go untreated
and struggle with homelessness. Missia
Valley Community of Hope reported in
people were chronically homeless. That
number has since risen to 810. Research
shows that more than onethird of people
experiencing homelessness also struggled
with substance use disorder, meaning
this issue is interconnected.
Unemployment is another barrier for
people in recovery, especially those who
have been incarcerated in the past. A
statewide survey by Ideal Option found
that among 900 New Mexicans entering
treatment, about 42% were unemployed.
Here in Los Cruus, the unemployment rate
is about 4.8% which is approximately
4,900 residents that are unemployed.
Without study work, it's much harder to
maintain stability and avoid relapse,
showing how addiction and economic
insecurity are also connected. I'm here
today to ask the committee to consider
allocating opioid settlement fund toward
expanding supportive housing in Los
Cruus. Supportive housing creates safety
and security for individuals affected by
substance use and is the foundation for
long-term recovery. I also urged the
creation of a city-led coalition task
force that coordinates housing,
behavioral health, and workforce
services. By bringing these resources
together, the city can close service
gaps, support long-term recovery, and is
an easily accessible hub for individuals
who often struggle to navigate the
system on their own.
This proposal directly supports your
program goal to strengthen the continuum
of care for individuals transitioning
between treatment and recovery.
Including these proposals in upcoming
RFP reviews would help rebuild the
system of care and ensure that residents
receive support that they need to
recover. With services we can re reduce
relapse, increase stability and help
residents in recovery reintegrate into
our community successfully. Thank you
for your time and consideration to this
important investment in Los Cru's
future. Thank you.
Good afternoon. My name is Leslie
Esparsa. I'm a resident of Los Cruus and
a bachelor student of social work at
NMSU and also interned um with
attendance for success under the Los
Cruus public schools. Through my
practicum, I met students every day who
struggle struggle to attend school or
access basic resources simply because of
transportation barriers. Centennial High
School's current lack of a nearby city
bus stop makes this challenge even
harder, especially for those who already
face barriers outside of school. This
issue does not only affect traditional
Centennial High School students at the
campus. Um it also houses the student
success academy students um also known
as SSA and the 18 to 21 bridge program
which is a program that supports young
adults with developmental disabilities
as they build life and job skills. Both
programs rely heavily on public
transportation. For many of them, the
city bus is not just helpful, but is
their only way to get to school, work,
or access essential services
independently. Adding a bus stop in
front of Centennial High School would
ensure all students, regardless of
background or ability, have a fair shot
at success. It would help reduce
absentism, improve safety by eliminating
students walking along busy and
dangerous roads, and support students
and families who depend on public
transit to stay connected to our
community. Today, I respectfully urge
you to prioritize installing a city bus
stop on Sonoma Ranch Boulevard right in
front of Centennial High School. This
small change can unlock big
opportunities, advance equity,
inclusion, and accessibility for
students across Los Cruises. Thank you
for your time and consideration for this
matter.
Good afternoon, George Pearson. Over the
weekend, there was some unfortunate
news. Two pedestrian fatalities in the
community. One by a vehicle on NMSU
campus, apparently, and one by a train
over by Main Street. Um
this we need to keep track of things
like this and address see if vision zero
discussion can help address that. The
train fatalities I know of two others
that have happened over the past years.
Those essentially disappear because they
didn't happen on roadways. They don't
get added to statistics any place. So
lives are still valuable and we do need
to move towards vision zero. I hope that
we have a safe streets for all grant
that's working its way through that
should be started shortly and uh this
should be part of that discussion also.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, council mayor. Uh, I'm
Jennifer Cry and I'm here to say thank
you.
We're at the end of 2025. I appreciate
the uh support that has been given by
the council to the police department.
Far from defunding them, they've given
generously in terms of budget and
special things like the real time
center.
Thank you for the animal service center
which I visited for the first time and
took home a pet last week.
Um, thank you for the welcoming resol
city resolution
and most of all,
thank you for the pickle ball courts,
which I know is in 2024, but as a tennis
player, I sleep much better now. And I
thank your thank you for your attention
and care for the city. It really it is
reflected in the community. Thank you.
Good afternoon.
Uh, I want to talk to the issue of
separation of powers. Uh, maybe you've
had the opportunity to watch the
revolution.
Your name, please.
Oh, Jim Hurst. I'm sorry. My name is Jim
Hurst. And, uh, I want to talk about
separation of powers and the US
Constitution.
Uh, I've had the privilege of watching
Ken Burns in the Revolution over the
last week or so. I hope you get that
privilege. Um,
local law enforcement belongs in the
hands of local elected officials.
We elect a sheriff for the county. We
elect a county council. They oversee the
police department.
that guarantees citizens
a voice in our law enforcement.
Our police chief has no authority to
delegate law enforcement, even for the
most difficult individuals, to the feds.
If anyone can give up a citizen of this
town to the feds, it ought to be this
council.
Only elected officials should be able to
do that. If we want to start electing
our police chief, that's one thing, but
he is not elected. Only elected
officials should be able to breach that
boundary. He should not have the right
to hand over a a a citizen of this
community.
If the feds have legal cause against
him, let him come get them. But he has
no right to hand them over. It's wrong.
It's called posi commatatus.
I have the right to know everybody in
this community with a badge answers to
this community.
The feds can only come in at the
direction of the feds, not at the
direction of a local constable.
He's nothing but another policeman to
the rest of us citizens.
Thank you very much.
Okay, next is the
closed meeting statement for today. The
Los Christa City Council met in closed
meeting on December 1st at 2025 at 10:35
a.m. The following were in attendance.
Councelor Mccclure, Councelor Karan,
Councelor Graham, City Manager Econa,
City Attorney Brad Douglas,
interim assistant city manager David
Sado, parks director Steve Bingham,
outside council Alan Dah, uh Mayor Prom
Bencomo, Mayor Enriquez, uh city clerk
Christine Ria,
Also were Chris Faver, Elizabeth Teters,
and Diane Bustillos.
The Los Cusa City Council met to discuss
pending or threatened litigation as it
pertains to the Walnut skate park, which
is closed pursuant to section 1015-1H7.
We also discussed the purchase,
acquisition or disposal of real property
or water rights to the public body which
is closed pursuant to section 1015-1H8.
We also met to discuss pending or
threatened litigation as it pertained to
subregation claim number 2024
issued by State Farm Mutual Automobile
Insurance Company which is closed
pursuant to section 1015-187.
Uh the meeting adjourned at 12:06 p.m.
Next is the acceptance of agenda.
So move grant
second.
This is on the motion to accept the
agenda as presented. Councelor McClur,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Graham,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes. Councelor Fletes.
Yes.
Councelor Beno,
yes.
Mayor,
yes.
Next is item 8.1, resolution number
26-072.
Move to approve.
Second by Flutus.
Yeah, we want to go ahead and u run item
8.1 and 8.2 concurrently. So, we'll need
a motion and a second to vote and uh
discuss.
So, move by
second.
This is on the motion to suspend the
rules to listen to items 8.1 and 8.2
concurrently. Councelor Mccclure.
Yes. Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Graham,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Fletus,
yes.
Councelor Bencoml,
yes.
Mayor,
yes.
Okay, go ahead, Blair.
Awesome. Good afternoon, Mayor, City
Manager, and City Council members. For
the record, my name is Blair Flores, and
I'm with the economic development
department. Ronda Bell with Stantech
will be co-presenting with me today. We
are here to revisit the metropolitan
redevelopment plan for the West Picacho
and Motel Boulevard corridor which was
last presented at the November 10th city
council work session. We'd like to begin
with a brief recap of the key components
of the plan.
The original boundaries of the MRA were
established in March of 2023 in the MRA
designation report. However, Stantech
recommends extending the boundary west
of Motel Boulevard to the Rio Grand
River, which would allow additional
motel properties to be included within
the MRA. This expansion requires a
separate resolution and its own vote.
I'd also like to note that the vote on
the boundary extension may impact the
vote on the MRA plan as the extension is
one of the plan's key recommendations.
With that, I will now turn it over to
Rhonda Bell.
Mayor Council, good afternoon.
Rhonda Bell, I'm an urban planner and
I've been managing this MRA plan.
So, to return to the purpose of the MRA,
as with other MAS, we acknowledge that
public investment often precedes private
investment. So the purpose of this
project is to identify those public
investments in order to spur the private
investment and eventually when both of
those come together to restore and
enhance that sense of place and pride of
community. The plan looks to do those
things in a three-pronged approach which
is to identify the critical path which
are the projects that need to be done
the order that they need to be done in
what's linked what's not linked. uh
identify the champions that will lead
each of the strategies in the plan.
That's typically a city department and I
say lead the plan. No single department
is solely responsible for any of those
things. And then of course to identify
the funding sources that can be used for
each of the strategies recommended in
the plan.
We did this uh this plan took about 14
months and we did have engage public
engagement throughout. We started about
August or September of last year, 2024,
and we had listening sessions with
individuals, with small groups, a
variety of different people and
organizations. Those went from October
the whole way through July of this year.
We also had two community surveys. One
of those was for the community at large
and one of them was for business owners
within the study area. And the community
survey had over 700 responses. for an
area this size. That's an actually
really good response. Uh the business
was a much smaller response, but we had
about 12 and those were useful answers,
although as I said, smaller. We had two
community design workshops. The first
one was in September, and that was more
of an interactive push up your sleeves
and get down to work kind of a fair. The
second one was run more as a public
openhouse input and commenting on uh
boards and images that we had for folks.
And that was in July of this year. And
then finally once we had a draft plan
that plan was available for public
comment digitally and in paper format if
requested uh for a little over 30 days
from about midepptember to mid-occtober
and we closed that comment just before
we came and talked to you on November
10th at your working session.
The recommendations in the plan are
divided into six categories, six buckets
if you will, that you see on the screen
in front of you. And each of those
strategies has four or five specific
recommendations in it. And each of the
recommendations has actions that
contribute to it to realize that that
recommendation.
Do I need to read those to read them
into the public record? No. Thank you.
Uh the plan also included three
catalytic projects. The first of which
is the Shhat Tashiro mixeduse hub. This
is the single largest undeveloped part
of the study area. It's about 42 acres.
It is held by a single private owner. Uh
the second catalytic project is Kamuna's
Park uh and that abuts Valley Drive uh
just a little bit north of Picacho
Boulevard and that is a current city
park. And the objective of making that a
catalytic project was to look at how it
could be updated to to more uh more
address community trends and interests
and how they want to use that park. The
last catalytic project then was the
Blues Apartments. They are apartments
now. It's a former motel. It's right on
the corner of West Pocacho and 17th. And
the intention of this catalytic project
was to create a template of how many of
the motel the the former motel or
current motel along West Picacho
Boulevard can be redeveloped and
transitioned into various types of
housing.
And then the last part of the plan that
focuses on implementation uh deals with
incentives and funding. So we looked for
potential regional, state, and even
federal funding sources that could go
towards each of the buckets of
recommendations we had. We looked at
four different criteria to see if a
potential funding source was a good
match for the strategies in the plan.
The first question was whether the
project or the strategy that was
recommended matched the funding option
uh if they were looking to do the same
thing, the same kind of project. The
second requirement was readiness. Some
funding options look to fund initial
planning or engineering and other
options look to fund implementation or
some fund that whole gamut of
implementation. Um the third question
that we ask relative to funding
appropriateness is whether the project
and the funding were aligned in terms of
timeline. So when the city wants to do
that project compared to when the
funding application is due if it has a
specific date, the calendar for decision
and when it would be received. And then
the last question that we ask about
funding is whether or not the amount
justifies the effort the city would have
to put in both to apply for that funding
and to manage it if it's achieved. So,
for instance, uh a funding option that
has a $2,000 maximum grant might be
great if you're looking to fill in a
certain gap in the sidewalk. If you're
looking to completely redesign and the
geometry and reconstruct an
intersection, that $2,000 won't go very
far. That's just an example. Then, as
far as the incentives and
implementation, we identified 47
different funding sources, and they are
specifically matched to those six
categories of recommendations I showed
you before. Um and we gave you in the
plan a matrix that identifies the
funding agency or source uh the
acceptable uses, the maximum amount, the
schedule, the contact and the website
and that is live. It can be clicked the
plan.
Then the last part I think we want to
talk about today is we did make uh a a
small number of revisions to the plan
based on both your comment from the
council and from public comment from the
November 10th meeting when we came here.
So the first of those changes uh is the
gateways. We did recommend both primary
and secondary gateways in the plan. The
western gateway was originally
recommended to be at Roadrunner Lane. uh
a member of the public indicated that
they felt that the river and Laorona
Park was really where they felt that
they had arrived into the city and into
the district and so we made that change.
The second is safety relative to
development of that vacant undeveloped
property that we called the Tashiro
multi-use hub. a member of the public
had concerns that any development on
that property could have a negative
impact on roadway safety uh particularly
given the proximity of the Field of
Dreams and the school as well. Um, it is
still recommended that that that
property be redeveloped or developed,
but we did add text in the plan that
notes that any development on that
property, whether it's phased and
multiple projects or as a single master
planned area, will require and need a
traffic impact analysis as part of the
normal city process.
And then the last item that was
discussed at that November 10th council
meeting was the cross-section of the of
West Picacho. And there is a need to
make it more pedestrian friendly and
align more with city roadway standards
even though it is both a federal and an
NMDOT roadway. We added text to the plan
that acknowledged the need for that
future study, but also acknowledged that
given the complicated ownership and
maintenance agreement situation, uh that
there is difficulty in determining when
that street roadway section would take
place or who would be responsible and
most importantly those activities would
require essentially a roundrobin kind of
coordination between all of those
stakeholder agencies. We also did a
little bit more background research on
Picacho. Uh, and I'm going to turn it
back over to Blair to talk about that.
Thank you, Rhonda. In addition to the
revisions made since the November work
session, we'd like to revisit the
concerns surrounding the federal Picacho
roadway, provide clarity, and reiterate
how the city can work with NMDOT to
improve safety. Hazardous materials and
oversized trucks are already bypassing
Picacho by using the I 10 I25
interchange. While reclassifying Picacho
may seem like a viable option, doing so
would also restrict local delivery
trucks, making it impractical, it is our
understanding in our meetings with NMD
DOT that the installation of the median
was completed in response to public
request at that time. Moving forward,
the most effective approach is continued
collaboration with NMDOT to implement
city- funded safety improvements such as
additional pedestrian crossings,
improved lighting, upgraded sidewalks,
and safer safer intersections.
NMDOT is generally supportive of these
practical enhancements. In the short
term, progress will largely involve
updating maintenance agreements so that
the city can assume responsibility for
these improvements without needing to
address the more complex issue of
roadway ownership.
Next, we'd like to outline the upcoming
steps for internal implementation.
The adopted plan will be reviewed again
with the internal MRA committee. We will
collect and evaluate existing NCIP
projects relevant to the MRA and begin
prioritizing the projects identified in
the plan. We will also begin preparing
the resolution for the GRT baseline and
county property tax. Lastly, projects
will be entered into Invisio to support
project management and public reporting.
This concludes our presentation. City
Council, here here are your voting
options. You will be voting on two items
today. First, the boundary extension and
second, the adoption of the MRA plan.
With that, we stand for questions.
Okay. Thank you, Blair. Any questions?
Uh, councelor Grant.
Thanks, Mayor. Um, not a question so
much as a clarification um, specifically
rev uh, regarding the Toshiro hub
catalytic project. If I got that whole
thing out right. Um, I've received some
communication from um, community members
uh, regarding the zoning of that area
and and unless I'm mistaken, I'm saying
what I think is true and tell me if I'm
correct or incorrect. Um, this is that
area is already zoned. Um the MRA is a
completely different subject topic from
zoning and uh changing uh try seeking
changing of that zoning would not be
something we would do here today
regardless. Is that correct?
Uh councelor Graham and city council.
I'm going to go ahead and pass um that
over to
favor perhaps.
Yes. The infamous Chris Favor.
Mayor, Council, Chris Favor, for the
record. Uh, that is correct. Yes, it is
already zoned. [clears throat]
Uh, the MRA plan does not propose any
changes to the existing zoning on that
site.
Okay. And nor is something that that we
would tackle. That's not something we
would tackle today anyway. That would be
a completely different process.
Mayor, council, that is correct.
Thank you so much. Thank you, Blair. And
thank you, mayor.
Council Flores.
Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Miss
Flores. Docalia. [clears throat]
Um so um
on page nine you um there were some
improvements or some activity that um on
on Picacho which is also a federal uh
byway but the funds for safety would be
u provided by the city. Why wouldn't the
feds be contributing
if it's a federal road as well?
federal uh the feds not be contributing
to improvements and then um
is it the last one? Yeah. Uh best path
forward the last uh you know dot there
whatever uh work with New Mexico DOT to
add city funded safety upgrades. Why
would it only be city funded when it's
also a federal highway?
You want to answer that?
Do you know? And if you don't know, you
can look into it.
I think it's because the the the
enhancements, the upgrades that we want
are entirely focused on things that are
not really within the purview of the
federal government. They're more
not what
within the purview of the federal
government. They are related.
Safety isn't within their purview.
That's fair.
Uh thank you.
You're welcome. I I we have said that it
would they would be city funded because
it is looking to bring the roadway up to
city city roadway standards as opposed
to the standards that are fed by the set
by the federal government or by NMD dot
for the road roadways that they control.
So let me see if I understand this.
Since it is in the city, it would make
sense to, as you say, use our standards.
But why would it preclude the feds or
the state
um especially the federal government
from contributing?
I mean, why should the design be the
determining factor?
Can you look into it?
We can look into it. Yes.
Yes. Because you know, we need money.
So I mean whoever you know and and um
and I think that the they would have to
also um have a say so in so far as li I
mean liabilities. Yeah.
The other thing that we can also look
into is there are various sources that
have already been uh identified in the
implementation part for those types of
improvements that relative to pedestrian
and cyclist um both experience and
safety. But we can absolutely look into
I I would appreciate that because um you
know if it is federal and there's you
know there's a possibility or maybe a
probability of getting funds from the
feds we'll be in better shape and can do
you know stretch our dollar. Thank you
ladies. Thank you very much.
Councelor Flores, just to add to that,
um, in our meetings with NMDOT, they
currently do not have any plans for some
of the, um, amenities and upgrades that
we feel would make the roadway safer.
And so, again, going back to not taking
over ownership, but the city supporting
some of these safety upgrades, that was
the recommendation that somehow the city
come up with the funding to make those
safety improvements. So, this wasn't run
by the feds or the other um
the roadway is a federal highway.
So, wouldn't they have a say? So,
as of right now, they don't have plans
for that. And so, we feel that the most
progressive way is the city kind of back
those those upgrades through the MR.
Well, I don't know. I can't, you know,
tell you what to do, but um I think it'd
be a good idea, Mr. Connie Tamopo to
have your people look into it.
I mean, there's no harm in that. All
they can say is no, and we're already at
no funds from them. So,
correct.
Yeah. So, thank you. Thank you very
much, Miss Flores.
Mayor Pro.
Thank you. Thanks so much again for um
all of the work to get us here. on this
page. Actually, I where it says the
median was added at local request. Does
that mean local request by the city or
local request by people who live and uh
have businesses in the district?
Um our understanding was that it was the
public's request at that time.
So I I will tell you that I have heard
this before from staff and from NM NMD
dot.
I will tell you that that is not what I
hear from the public today. and whether
this when this happened that was a
request. But I I I will continue to
speak about
frankly the annoyance of this median. Um
not only because
I find it annoying, but because I
consistently hear from especially
businesses in that area how much that
medium has impacted the flow of their
business and access to their businesses.
So I I will just say that I have heard
this before. Um I you know I don't know
where that comes from or if DOT is
saying well you that's what they wanted
before. It is not what people want now.
And so I will continue to advocate for
us to work with them on changing at
least that piece because I do think
it'll make a big difference for a lot of
those local businesses.
Um and then I did I did want to add just
because I have also been getting some
emails regarding the Tishiro corner. You
know, I think um traffic is always a
concern, something we should always be
mindful of. Obviously, we just had a
constituent here talk about um you know,
the how dangerous New Mexico roads are
in general for pedestrians and I think
this is an issue in many places across
the city. Um and you know, I would love
the data on Tiro Valley. Though I will
say Tiro is now one of the best complete
streets in the city and um I think it is
a model actually for what other you know
local streets should look like. So I do
want to note that for the public who
have concerns about the development that
will go here which by the way is
privately run development. Um that is
exciting and and I know that's always a
fear like if we develop at the traffic I
get it and
um I don't think we can let that hold us
back from what could potentially be very
exciting multi-use development and so
you know I think also maybe the fear is
the kind of development that will go
there. I think what I always, you know,
want to fall back on is that while we
can't tell the private industry what to
put there, right? Someone was like, we
should have an urgent care. Well, that's
not really up to the city. What we can
do is incentivize and create
opportunities for business to grow and
to flourish, which we are. That is the
MRA. What happens after really is up to
the private sector to to sort of see and
say what is needed there. And so I just
want to be able to create as much
opportunity as possible and work with as
many um developers as possible who are
interested in that area. And I think
that's exactly what the goal is with um
with this MRA. And um I do just want to
say that I think it's important for us
not to not compare like West Picata MRA
to this Alpos. They just have very
different needs and require very
different interventions. And I do feel
like um we are going in the right
pathway here um especially with the
three um catalytic projects. And so I do
just I just wanted to say that because I
um I understand that there's concerns
and fear as there always is with big
changes, but I did just want to make
those little tiny notes. I don't any
additional questions. Just wanted to
name that. Thank you. Thank you. I
appreciate that. Mayor Prote
that's not true. I did have one more
thing. I'm so sorry. Um, regarding the
traffic situation, I actually do think
though that um that I'm hoping that with
this MRA can additionally drive,
especially with the development at the
corner of Tiro is that I think it's
deeply connected with Mccclure and
Hogland and the situation with traffic
there. So I do want staff to I think as
we really invest in this MRA to
understand that like the flow of traffic
is interconnected with this within this
neighborhood and the Mccclure and
Mccclure is part of the MRA, right? That
is the line.
Yes, that is correct. And so I do just
want to note that I think that should be
potentially um we should in our minds
make that the fourth unofficial
catalytic project because um the
situation the traffic situation on
Mccclure is I think hugely problematic
and and should be addressed and Hopland.
Thanks Mayor
Council Matise.
Yes, thank you. I was just going to give
you some experience from observations on
Missouri. uh the medians uh sometimes
create uh um decrease in certain
businesses if you have busy businesses
on on each side of that median and then
you get a a tremendous amount of
increase in U-turns.
So if if traffic could just study
Missouri, uh you know, we have Napolitos
and we have a an accounting firm, we
have a a rehabilitation
uh firm on Missouri, I believe in
Travis, and they have indicated to me
that um that median really just created
a lot of um U-turns and sometimes
accidents. I don't have any accident
count, but I I think medians probably um
need to be really studied before they're
they're they're implemented, especially
by the traffic department. Thank you.
Thank you, Councelor Matise.
All right. Thank you. Is there any
members of the public that wanted to
speak to this topic? Yeah, come on up.
We'll start forming a line. You can come
up. We'll give you a couple of minutes.
Two minutes.
Uh, George Pearson, I wanted to address
the comments of councelor Flores about
possible funding. Um, there are federal
funds, the highway safety improvement
program funds uh that could be used. The
state is mandated to spend 15% of those
on pedestrian safety improvements
because of our high pedestrian fatality
rate in the state. Um, we also had a
presentation at the MOO's bicycle and
pedestrian facilities advisory committee
from somebody from NMDOT talking about
road safety audits and those were
specifically stated that they could also
apply outside of NMDOT jurisdictions,
but especially that corridor seems like
it would be uh a good candidate. And so
going through the no and contacting the
appropriate uh state officials would be
a good thing I think. Thank you.
Hello Liz Bennett. Um I live near the
area um that's being discussed and I'm
not sure if this is part of the plan but
it's definitely an observation I have
made along Mccclure particularly
uh just east of the Henry Benvitas
Center and playground there's a
pedestrian uh walkway that connects
valley to that recreation area but then
the pedestrian walkway ends east of the
playground and community center and
there are often folks walking in the
road. And it seems like an ideal place
to continue that pedestrian pathway to
improve access to the community center,
make a complete trail and also connect
to the kind of reservoir pathway that
exists, but there's that little chunk of
space where it seems particularly
hazardous and uh would make sense to
connect it all there. So, thank you.
Uh, thank you, Mayor, City Council.
Lucas Hernand for the record. Um, I just
wanted to say that this is all very
exciting and and um as a longtime
participant in the public discourse that
happens here at city council. It does my
heart good to hear uh these plans being
done and specifically the Tiro hub. Um
because I've been doing this long enough
that I remember when we were here uh in
front of the zoning commission and then
the city council when that was trying to
be reszoned for Walmart uh the Walmart
um neighborhood uh store whatever it is
wanted to build on that intersection and
um we as a community we came together
and we said you know what we have
concerns about it and there was a lot of
concerns about the traffic and and the
zoning um and as uh as a parent who uh
to a athlete who use utilizes the um
facilities down there off of Toshiro and
drives by that intersection a lot. Um
I'm excited as a person who doesn't live
in in District 4 to have reasons to go
down there and and see what kind of
things are developed. Um there are
plenty of Walmarts in town. So as a
resident as a person who doesn't live in
that area, I wouldn't ever go out of my
way to go shop at a Walmart on that
corner. but for whatever other local
development does come down there
hopefully um I'm excited to to come and
participate and so I just want to sort
of tie it all together that this is why
we do what we do this is why we have
these meetings this is why we have these
public discourses and sometimes it takes
a lot of time but it's worth it because
now 13 14 years later here we are having
a discussion about how to beautify and
and really bring this part of the
community together and I'm just about it
and I'm really excited and I know that
often times I come up and I have
complaints and I have uh negative things
to say and this is a positive one. So, I
just want to, you know, hats off to
everybody who's worked on this. Keep
doing the good work. I know it takes a
lot of it. Um, so thank you for
everybody who's been doing it.
Good afternoon, Mayor Proterm Council
members. Thank you again for taking the
time to listen to each and every one of
us. I I am excited about the uh
development
as the um I am concerned. Sir, could you
could you state your name please?
Oh, I'm sorry. Jerry Silva, I thought
you all my mistake.
I am excited about this development as
well. I do understand private you don't
have you don't know who's going to go
there. Um I do have some questions for
Rhonda as far as the um we would as a
public I would like to know um find out
what kind of test and analysis how it
comes out because it really matters what
goes there uh private I mean as me
gentleman mentioned Walmart
what I understand from many people
that's Walmart wants a they've been
frothing at the mouth to be there
would you speak directly into the
microphone home just so we can hear you.
I will. I am sorry. But like I said,
Walmart has been frothing up the mouth
to be there. Uh I would like to see a
grocery store there as well. U there's
so many other grocery stores that can be
there. U I know I just speaking to many
other individuals that live in that
area. Last thing they want to see is a
Walmart there. Um so my concerns, main
concerns is safety. And I know you
mentioned that the uh the road looks
very is good developed very well. I
don't think it's developed well enough
to handle a Walmart. I'll just be
honest. Uh there's other stores that can
go there. U and I just safety is the
biggest thing. Uh I will not go down
that road. I mean, right now it's tough
enough as it is, but parents that I've
talked to from the grocery store that I
I work at, they are concerned about
that. Not a lot of people are here. I
understand. But I just wanted to uh
thank you all again.
Good afternoon, mayor and council
members. I am interested. This is an
exciting agenda that we have here and
I'm wondering you mentioned that Oh, I'm
sorry I keep doing that. Um, Yolanda
Robas, thank you.
Communius Park is one of the areas that
you're looking at addressing in this
issue. Communius Park is just south of
Parker Road. Parker Road, which is on
the west side of Valley, that part of
town, that road, Parker Road on the
west, tends to be not in the field of
vision of anybody in the city when it
comes to taking care of the roads there.
Parker Road on the east side is always
wellmaintained and taken care of, but
West Parker isn't, and I'm wondering if
that will also be addressed in what
you're doing here.
Any idea? I mean, Communius Park is
right there. It's just south to Parker
Road. And then in addition to that, the
somebody mentioned it earlier, uh,
public transportation.
We have public transportation in areas
and we have bus stops, but in a city
where we have basically 364 days of
sunshine a year, our bus stops have
terrible, terrible protection from the
sun. You drive by, you see people
sitting there and it's I feel bad for
them. I want to stop and give them an
umbrella, but there's no protection.
There's a bus stop, but there's
absolutely no protection from the
elements. Um, so do you have any idea
about the West Parker Roadside?
Anybody?
Does Does anyone have that?
Good morning, Mayor Councelor Selene
Morales, economic development. I don't
have an answer. we can research that for
you as far as that specific road, but
there's a common um trend going on right
now. And I just want to reiterate that
it's very clear that we're going to need
um within this MRA some sort of traffic
analysis as well as pedestrian safety
and other roadway improvements. Um the
MRA is more of a highlevel plan, but
with that with money generated within
the MRA, we're able to take these issues
to the MRA committee, which then we'll
be able to fund things like a traffic
plan, pedestrian safety, things like
that, which is I think uh a priority and
something that we'll recommend to the
the council to the council as well as to
the committee as far as getting funding
to be able to do the research and to
have the data behind those decisions
that are made. We don't have that right
now. This isn't this MRA plan is not
that and we are very well aware that we
need it and we will it'll be very much a
priority for us as well as um getting
other um community input as we have
projects and things that we want to
focus on. There are going to be um a lot
of opportunities for public engagement,
public input. This isn't it for all of
the MRA. as we come across those things,
we'll have opportunities to meet with
people, also maybe even work sessions to
be able to dive deeper and get more
specific into these issues within MR.
So, we hear you. We hear everybody and
it's something that we'll definitely
work on.
Thank you.
Thank you, S.
Thank you, [snorts]
ma'am. I would also say that the whole
idea of the MRA is to lift up the areas
that have been neglected over the years
so that we can lift those up and help
the community thrive in those areas.
That's the whole thing. So having
communius park on as one of the catalogs
there is is huge for the surrounding
area. So everything will be assessed and
looked at and complement each other so
that we continue to lift up the area. So
I think it's a great u opportunity to
have communist park um revisited and
revitalized and the surrounding area
will also have that effect.
I hope so. And you know on that note
real quick I just as a comment overall I
find it very interesting and frustrating
at the same time that we tend to go back
let neighborhoods and areas deteriorate
and then years later we want to come
back and we want to revitalize them.
While we let these areas deteriorate
we're busy rede developing new areas and
we ignore part of our history in our
city. We I think this is just me and
other people that I've spoken to. I
think we as a community are very we're
horrible about holding on to our
heritage. We're we're willing to knock
things down and build new things and
then we look back and say, "Oh, let's
come back. Let's rebuild. Let's
revitalize this area." I just think
that's a shame. I think our city has a
lot to offer and and we don't see that
as a community. Thank you. Thank you
very much.
Thank you. make a comment.
Go ahead. Councelor Flores
Senora.
So, I just want to let you know that we
do have a an historic uh well
pres what's it called, Carol?
The what?
Did you hear that?
I wanted her to hear it. The historic
preservation.
and uh they work specifically on
preserving the beauty of our city, the
history, the and you know uh it's just
absolutely wonderful. Go to our website
and it's something that you can
participate in and bring up you know
parts of the city that uh or certain
buildings or structures. Uh but
everything uh moves slower than molasses
on a cold day in January. Um like the uh
Amadore Hotel.
I mean it hasn't nothing's come, you
know, it's not done. But anyway, we do
um have a very uh avid um very very
outspoken group of people who um really
want to preserve a lot of the beauty we
have here. And I appreciate you saying
that and I agree with you and I have
been involved with them and I have
spoken to them and I have spoken to them
with regards to a home that is a
historic site. It's got the plaque on
the home. It's a historic site and I've
called and spoken to them because this
historic site, this home,
it's in rambles there. It's overgrown
with weeds. It looks like it's been an
abandoned home and they can't do
anything about it as I was told.
Do you participate in their meetings? Do
you attend the meetings? I don't attend
all the meetings. No.
Okay. But you you are aware of the
organization. They have they have a lot
on their plate.
Oh yes.
Quite frankly,
but thank you for that. Thank you for
Thank you, Mayor Pro.
Thanks, Mayor. I just wanted to just
make sure I clarified something for the
public because there was a question
about zoning and while that's not on
this item, there is a big zoning
uh not big there is a zoning update in
item 8.5 and I do think there are some
changes that will impact this area just
not related to the MRA.
Go ahead Chris.
Mayor Mayor Prom Chris Favor again. Yes,
let me clarify comments from before. So
there is a proposed zoning change for
that area as part of the update to
realize not specific to the MRA plan.
And so what we're proposing for realize
is bringing that area into alignment
with the other parcels which were all
NH3 versus NH2. This allows for higher
density with housing which you know
falls in line with what we're trying to
do along that roadway. So just to
clarify from before. Thank you.
Okay. So, we need to vote on 8.1 first.
Okay.
So, this is on the motion to approve
resolution 26-072.
Councelor McClur,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Graham,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Flores,
yes.
Councelor Bencoml,
yes.
Mayor,
yes.
for 8.2. Now we need a motion and a
second to vote on 8.2.
So moved by Fletus, second by Corin.
This is on the motion to approve
resolution 26-073.
Councelor Mccclure,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Graham,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Fletes,
yes. Councelor Beno,
yes.
Mayor,
yes.
[snorts]
Next is item 8.3, resolution number
26-074,
resolution to declare extreme drought
conditions within the Los Cusus
municipal limits to restrict the use of
fireworks for 30 days from adoption.
Bring for bring it forward.
Second.
Oh, move to approve.
Colleague.
Fire Marshall Londas.
Good afternoon, Mayor Council. I'm
Division Chief Michael Landaso. I'm the
fire marshal for Cus Fire Department.
I'm here today to talk to you about the
current drought in our city and some
restrictions for fireworks.
The New Mexico state statute provides
authority to municipalities to declare
drought and enact firework restrictions.
Um, city of Los Cusus adopted ordinance
provides required proclamation language
for declaring severe or extreme drought
and outlining the restrictions imposed.
So, this proclamation would be effective
for 30 days and it may be modified or
rescended if conditions improve from now
on until um the new year. Sorry, I
didn't specify that. The reason this is
coming up is because of the new year.
[clears throat]
Uh permissible fireworks in the city of
Los Cusus. This is what our city
ordinance allows right now. And uh this
is this would not change. So no aerials
uh even if the
even if this resolution is voted no um
this is the current list of what is
available and this resolution would not
change that.
These are the current drought conditions
here in New Mexico. Uh the US drought
monitor reports weekly drought
conditions and as you can see uh the
city of Los Cusus is in severe drought
and so is most of Donana County.
Uh the state ordinance requires that I
contact the state forester. Uh I
contacted Mr. James Anzelone and he uh
confirmed that yes, the city of Las
Cusus is in a severe drought right now
and um they're not
the state is not imposing any uh
restrictions themselves, but he did
acknowledge that we are in a severe
drought.
The proposed restrictions that we're
asking for it were limit permissible
fireworks to areas within the municipal
boundaries that are paved, barren, or
areas that have a readily accessible
source of water. Um the proclamation
shall be issued no less than 20 days.
That's what uh we're we're ahead of that
timeline. Um and they would go into
effect on December 7th
for 30 days.
Uh, state law prohibits local
municipalities from prohibiting all
fireworks. Our current proposed
restrictions would be the most
restrictive that the state would allow
under these drought conditions
and I will stand for questions and those
are the council options.
Thanks. Any questions? Councelor Kar.
Um, thank you. When I got on council,
this was the most controversial topic in
my first year. So I welcome the relative
benality of it now. Um but thank you so
much for bringing this back. I just want
to sort of add to this data. This is
this the way that this is oriented is
really about uh lighting fire to our
natural resources. I think is the
context for for why we're allowed to
issue these restrictions. Um, but I will
once again as ever remind folks that our
municipal shelter receives about 30
animals per day uh around the fireworks
time at the at the worst at Fourth of
July, but also at the new year. Um, that
can go up to 50 or 60 dogs that end up
without homes that go into our shelter,
which is not a great situation. So, I
know that this is the maximum that you
all can do and that it's oriented toward
not burning stuff down, which is also
bad. But I urge folks to consider really
strongly consider whether fireworks.
Do you want do you want to be
responsible for for your neighbor's dog
getting uh sent to the shelter? And if
not, I urge you to please refrain from
using fireworks in our in our fair city.
Um, and there are myriad of other
reasons why you should. not burning
stuff down, not making hundreds of angry
neighbors, which trust me, we all hear
from the angry neighbors um all the
time, but really those dogs, I've been
to the shelter many times and I don't
want to see more there. So, I just issue
this brief public service announcement
to please don't be part of the problem,
be part of the solution. Thank you for
bringing a little bit of the solution
our way.
Thank you, Councelor Kur,
Mayor Prom.
Thank you, Mayor. Yes, thank you so much
for bringing this forward. Um, you know,
I hope we get in the pattern of doing
this as well, obviously in the
summertime. And who knew they were so
controversial, right? I don't want to
say anything because I'll end up on a
billboard.
Yanna hates fireworks, but I do. Um, for
many of the reasons stated here already.
I am curious. I know right now a lot of
the like popup uh places that sell
fireworks are selling Christmas trees,
but so if this should to pass today, is
is that the kind of outreach that you'll
be doing? um fire marshall like what
kind of fire what kind of engagement and
outreach do you do for people who are
selling fireworks?
So I believe right now we only have one
request for anybody to sell fireworks.
We may get more as the holiday gets
closer, but I believe we only have one
right now. Um we generally see less
vendors during New Year's than we do
Fourth of July. But yes, uh if they do
set up a tent, we will be involved in
inspecting to make sure that they're
safe and that they have the type of
fireworks that are legal in our city.
Thank you. I appreciate that. And
obviously, you could go somewhere else.
You go to El Paso, but you know, we just
really want you to respect Oh, never
mind. You can't do that. Just kidding.
Um, we really do just ask you to, you
know, respect the environment and the
danger it can put our our first
responders and and your fellow neighbors
and their pets as well. Thank you for
bringing this forward.
Thank you, Mayor Proin.
Thank you. Oh, I'm sorry, counselor.
I was just going to ask what what
additional educational pieces are you
going to put out about how the how
severe the drought is? I mean, whether
it be
maybe a billboard, I mean, we don't have
to put the mayor prom on it, but u maybe
something about the drought and and some
messages out there maybe in our utility
bills. I think if people understand how,
you know, how dry it is, maybe they'll
be more cautious.
Councelor Matise, um yeah, we've done
stuff like that in the past during uh
Fourth of July. We've put that in the
utility bills like you mentioned and um
we've done billboards um for the New
Year's because we don't have as much
activity. I I think we it would be a
good idea to do some uh uh education on
on our social media page. We can work
with the communications department and
get some stuff out about firework
safety. And um also one of my members uh
Lieutenant Marker Ronda recently did a a
YouTube video with the bridging the
badge with the LCPD and they talked
about holiday safety and stuff like
that. So if uh you can find that video
and maybe share it. It was shared on our
page last week but um there's a lot of
good stuff on there about holiday safety
and and fireworks and stuff.
Okay. Thanks. Um yeah, you're absolutely
right. uh the the amount of use of
fireworks in December 31st versus July
4th is is is
uh no comparison, you know, but uh I
will trade the fireworks for the
firearms anytime. So, you can let them
light the fireworks if they need to. We
need to get some public announcements
out about firearms and and and not
shooting them in the air or shooting
them at other people during uh New
Year's Eve. And um the other question I
had was uh
um the county is the county doing the
same thing?
Mayor Enriquez, I'm not sure. Um I can
reach out to uh Fire Marshall Cody
Habver and ask, but I'm not quite sure
what they're doing. Yeah, because it
generally works a lot better when we're
complimenting each other because then it
becomes the um the
right at the 4th of July. We also uh
Missia did not sell aerials for the
first time in years, but I don't know if
that helped with the decrease in illegal
fireworks, but it was nice that at least
us the county and and uh Missia were not
selling the aerials.
Yeah.
Yeah. Like I said, it it helps when the
neighbors are doing all the same thing.
So, if you could look into that just to
support what what the city is doing and
again, thank you for doing it.
I will do that. Thank you, Mayor Rick.
Terry,
this is on a motion to approve
resolution 26-074.
Councelor McClur,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Graham,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Flores,
yes.
Councelor Beno,
yes.
Mayor,
yes.
Thank you.
Next is item 8.4, a resolution approving
the recommended priorities for the 2026
New Mexico legislative session.
Move to approve.
Second.
Mayor, City Council, Christina Rivera,
your city clerk, and today we have the
resolution to approve the recommended
priorities for the 2026 state
legislative session.
So, a little background on how we got
here. First, we met with staff and
determined what their priorities were,
how they aligned with our CIP. From
there, we narrowed it down to the
priorities that we presented to you guys
at the work session. We also met with
the legislators to see if these
priorities also aligned with their
priorities and the legislators all had
things to pick from our list. So, we
were very happy. We feel like we're very
aligned with what they want this year.
We then brought this off to you at the
work session on November 10th. And in
this work session, we reminded everybody
that this is a 30-day session. So, these
are going to be limited to revenue
matters. So, not so much policy items
are at this um 30-day session.
And then we discussed advocacy. Um after
we approve this resolution, we'll hand
it over to Larry Heran who will help us
advocate in January and February. And
then some of us will be going up there
also to help advocate for these
projects.
So the projects we presented to you at
the work session were affordable housing
for 6 million, the legacy parks,
specifically Young Park for 6 million,
East Mesa public wreck complex for 1
million, Klein Park improvements for
500,000, fire station improvements for
500,000, the regional driving track for
1.5 million, the real-time crime center
bandwidth upgrades for three million,
the Bangan Library renovation and
expansion for 10 million,
the east side purchase and renovations
for $775,000.
The wastewater septic systems for 1
million, Mesa Grande Drive extension for
15 million. If you remember, this is the
match that we need for the $60 million
grant that we received. We did add the
WI8 building for 700,000 after
discussion at the work session. And then
the last two are for our nonprofits. The
kitchens at the Messia Valley Community
of Hope for 4 million and the master
plan implementation for 2 million.
At the work session, we also presented
some policy items. All these policy
items are related to funding and budget.
Um the first four policy items were
items that were brought forward by the
New Mexico Municipal League that we'll
be supporting and then the last two were
brought forward at the work session
related to animal care. So the creation
of the land bank is for funding for
vacant and blighted properties and
communities. The water and wastewater
funding is for an appropriation to the
water project fund. The streamlining of
the water project fund projects is
directly approving eligible projects and
speeding up the funding for those. Law
enforcement recruitment and retention.
This is an evaluation of the barriers to
recruitment and retention. um that's
working with the police chiefs um
division of the New Mexico Municipal
League, the affordable spay and neuter
law. This funding is actually in place
right now, but it ends in June 2026. And
so this would be for an a funding
extension past that time. And then the
last one is the care funding, and this
is funding to help domestic violence
shelters, co-shelter families, and pets.
And these are your standard council
options. I have the departments here to
discuss any of the projects if you have
questions and also Cynthia and Larry are
here.
Thank you Christine. Any questions by
council?
Seeing none
see anybody. Oh go ahead T.
This is on a motion to approve
resolution 26-075.
Councelor McClair.
Yes. Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Graham,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Flores,
yes.
Councelor Beno,
yes.
Mayor,
yes.
Thank you. Motion carries.
Next is item 8.5, Council Bill Number
26-010,
Ordinance number 3102, an ordinance
amending chapters 34 through 38 of the
Los Cuses Municipal Code with
corresponding zoning map as presented.
Move to approve. Graham.
Second.
When you're ready, sir.
Good afternoon. Sarah Gonzalez with
Community Development. Before you are
the minor amendments for chapters 34
through 38 of the Los Cruus Municipal
Code, which is also known as Realize Los
Cruuses along with the zoning map as
presented.
Just a reminder of currently what the
chapters went to in February when we
adopted the new code. Um, we do have
general provisions, historic
preservation, our zoning regulations,
subdivision regulations, development
standards, and then we are updating our
zoning map today.
So, some of the minor ones that are
going to be more impactful to the
community are the ones that we're
presenting today. There are other areas
in which the code was modified, but it
was to either clarify if it was shall or
how it was. if um we had to say who was
going to be responsible. They were minor
adjustments of mins and max and so
they're not going to impact the
development but we clarified a lot of
the information throughout the code once
we started to implement them. These are
going to be the primary ones that are
going to stand out and actually impact
the development as it moves forward. So
under general provisions, this is where
you see roles and responsibilities. Um
we did revise for vacation plats as you
can see today there was one on the
agenda where it does just go to city
council. Prior, we have only ever had it
go to city council after DRC. We noticed
that we added in the planning and zoning
commission. That's an additional step
that was unnecessary within that
process. So, we revoted back to our
original standards of city council being
final authority. With DRC, we did add in
road waiverss and improvements because
we are now utilizing the DRC to provide
modifications to road improvements. And
so, you may come in with an alternative
cross-section. That means if we're
utilizing that step, it can be appealed
to city council, but they are the final
authority. So that way we can continue
developments moving forward following
what we have as far as our complete
streets and our crosssections we
adopted.
We also expanded some of our definitions
as they were not all put into the code.
So we do have erosion control. There
were several measures that are followed
by the EPA standards. So, we added them
in, verified what their definitions are
so that when we're using them in the
field during our windy seasons, it makes
sense as to what you're referring to.
Um, we've also done fencing and rock
wall structures. There is a limitation
as far as what is retaining rock walls.
What are our yard walls? And so, we
clarified that information and further
defined them. Last was our sober living
homes. There was no definition as far as
how many persons within a home could be
there. So, we've updated the definitions
as well as the land use table to reflect
that. It' be 10 persons per home. That's
currently what is allowed and that's
what we have to meet our fire and
building code standards.
When we look at the historic
preservation chapter, we only had one
one minor modification. When we tend to
see design review coming in, we are
looking at buildings that either may
need window replacement, it could be
roof repairs, it could be an addition or
it could be something new. With us
having the historic preservation
committee on board, essentially they
review these plans. What takes place
right now is you have to do a 15-day
notice. So, say someone comes in right
now in our winter months and has to
change out windows. Depending on when
they submit, you have to get on to the
next agenda for the next meeting and
then wait your 15 days. This could take
up to two months for someone just to
replace a window where they may need to
actually do that for safety or cold
within their home. And so, we're
modifying it to essentially reflect the
72-hour notice that we do for city
council as well, just because this is a
design review where we're just saying it
meets our standards. Now, come in and
get your building permits. We don't want
them to wait in that process. Um, this
will help streamline it for HPC, but
this does not change anything as far as
our demolitions. Those are still
required to have their noticing days.
Um, and they do not change also whenever
we're listing new cultural properties.
So, those have not been changed. This is
only for the review of an existing or
new proposed buildings coming in to the
historic district.
On chapter 36, we made a few
modifications as far as we did have a
regulation that said height would have
to be at 16 feet if you were doing the
first floor multi-story. We started to
notice as accessory dwelling units were
coming into the backyards, their homes
are at 9 ft. So a 16ft story does not
match the area or is very consistent.
And so now we've made it to where it
conforms to your area. So you're trying
to do it to where it is feasible for
that residence or that homeowner to
actually build these accessory dwelling
units whenever they do have a twotory
because sometimes you have a backyard
that may be smaller. So you have to go
up. We don't want to regulate what those
stories may be. So we're looking at
anything from when it's three stories or
higher then we want to put in those
limitations as to different floors of
what they should look like. That's how
you create essentially your design
elements.
We also added secondary front yards. um
we did not have these prior and so we
noticed when we were getting questions
or development on corner lots this is
where you see a secondary front um all
of them are listed as our residential
districts NH1 2 and three and then you
have our rural suburban and urban areas
as you can see it's reduced in our urban
areas just because our lots are a lot
smaller and so we have to accommodate
knowing that that sideyard setback is
probably going to be very similar to
your sideyard setback. We've also added
the garage setbacks to the front of an
NH3 because we did not have them prior
because we have so many areas that are
zoned in that residential in nature. You
still may get a single family home that
comes in. And so you'll see in the rural
areas, we've maintained the 20 ft as
well as suburban just because you have
larger lots. We have reduced it down to
15 in urban areas knowing that you can
still bring your home forward and the
garages are pushed back.
It's continued onto our land use table.
Some of the modifications we made are
temporary construction yards. When we're
looking at temporary construction yards,
we've allowed them in all of our
districts except for OS1 and OS2. That's
going to be considered your park and
your or your drainage infrastructure
areas. The reason we allow them in any
district is you're not sure where you're
going to need a temporary construction
yard when you are building. That
includes the city of Los Cruises
whenever we build. And so you're going
to have different zoning designations
that are there. But we still have
regulations and rules that we follow as
far as what time we can start work when
you can actually break up pieces onto a
property. But you're usually going to
somewhere where it's going to be
convenient for you. You're not going to
create a construction yard on Valley if
you are building in Sonoma Ranch. That
doesn't actually make it feasible for a
construction yard to work. So living
facilities, as explained earlier, we did
add in the home group allowances that
allow for 10 persons per basically a
residence. So, we're living homes are
where it's a volunteer base. And so,
you're going in and you're getting help
assisted from others who are basically
in the same concerns or issues that you
may have. When you have indoor and
outdoor entertainment venues, we've now
allowed them in LI and HI, which is our
light industrial and heavy industrial.
What we see this to be is this could be
your amphitheaters. This could be your
go-kart tracks. They're areas that are
larger parcels in industrial zone where
you can have higher noise elements that
are not going to affect single family
residential. We currently only have them
allowed right now in our CRS, which is
our commercial retail, which is very
limited in what we changed in our code.
The other portion is professional
offices. We've already had them limited
in our NH1. They were listed, but we
didn't put the restriction like we did
on all of our other professional
offices. So, we went back and made the
modification to reflect that this would
be under 3,000 square feet. So that way
it maintains the similarity of those
residential homes.
We continue on as we've had additional
questions for animal raising. So animal
raising used to be allowed in our REMM,
which is our residential estate mobile
zoning designations. They were generally
half an acre or larger in size because
you needed the space in order to do
animal raising. We've add that condition
in just to ensure that it would not be
taking place and following the standards
underneath chapter 7, which is our
animal control and basically guidelines
as to what you can do on your property.
If it gets too small, it's very hard to
say that you can bring in 60 chickens
and 50 dogs and a cow and a horse and
put it in your backyard when you're
looking at your standard NH1 zoning
designation. And so having half an acre
just allows us to have a little bit more
space to give you separation for the
animal raising.
We've also done home occupation. We did
not have a vehicle limitation. And so
we've gone back to what we had before,
which is you are limited to one vehicle
for your business as this is a home
occupation. They should primarily be ran
out of appointment based, but sometimes
you will have your vehicle that you use
for work. And so we don't want to exceed
one ton. That's essentially what that
vehicle would be to run your business or
your operation. You generally will still
see these in your front yards and your
driveways. Um, but we also know that
some of these vehicles cannot be parked
along the street. So that's why it has
to be maintained on your private
property.
We've simplified the requirements for
carports and accessory structures. We
have had an increase which is great for
staff because we are now getting
compliance and finding that structures
are coming in and being bolted and
anchored down and not blowing away in
the wind. With that, we've also learned
that we do need to put a we've come up
with an agreement essentially because we
always have the question of how does an
exerty owner know what's allowed and
what's been okay by right. By creating
this agreement, we can now basically do
that as part of our title search. It
gets filed at the county so the next
person who comes in knows they purchased
a home with a carport that's attached
that cannot be enclosed. They understand
what those requirements are. It's the
only way to say when you sell a property
that there's some kind of trigger to
where they're at least notified and that
way it eliminates those ideas of we
didn't know we couldn't do certain
things. So, we're trying to find ways to
make sure the public is informed in the
same process.
We've also changed the non-conforming
section. It did not have change in land
use. What we tend to see is some
properties may increase as far as
intensity. Increasing intensity could be
a drive-through, right? You're going
from a tax office to a drive-thru.
You've increased your intensity by the
number of vehicles that have actually
entered onto your property. And so
that's where we want to see compliance
come into the sites. We want to make
sure that it's going to be safe. If
there's any traffic mitigations, we
implement those.
Halfway there. Going to chapter 37.
We're now on to subdivisions. So minor
platting process we have modified to
allow these to go through administrative
process if the improvements already
existing. This would be saying any of
our subdivisions that are located in a
previously filed subdivision where the
utility infrastructures are existing,
road improvements are existing and the
sidewalks would be coming in with the
development. You would go through an
administrative plat process instead of
coming through the planning and zoning
commission. Over the course of the last
year, we've had several
non-administrative replats coming in and
it's really that formality of just going
through that process. However, the
infrastructure was already there. They
weren't doing any new improvements. They
weren't asking for any waiverss. They
met the code standards and so now this
will allow them just to continue and
move on to build. If the improvements
are required, then they have to go
through our master planning process.
They would not be allowed to go
administrative. That means they've got
to put in some type of infrastructure to
meet the city's requirement.
From master plans, we did find a
difference within the code that modified
um development from if you had two
phases or 40 acres or less. And so we've
changed that to say or essentially we've
modified master plans to reflect this
because we had it prior as 20 acres. A
20 acre development can be done in one
phase, but it doesn't require a master
platting process. And so to eliminate
the two steps, they're still coming
through with a preliminary plot which
still goes through the planning and
zoning commission process. It's just
following the rest of our zoning
ordinance that says you have to have 40
acres if you're going to zone it a
certain zone or a master plan. So it
basically is alignment with our zoning
map amendment process.
We've modified our TIA standards to
reflect that trip generations with a
possibility of a TIA. And so right now
there's three tier there's three tiers
for a TIA. Basically if you have zero to
50 trips then you essentially would have
certain measures you do once you get to
tier two then it's 50 to 100. After that
it's anything more than 100. And each
one aligns as to what implementations
you'd have to put in for traffic calming
or for basically to mitigate whether
that's a del lane that's traffic light a
hawk system just determining. What we've
noticed though is we want to see these
coming in with these developments at
before the final platting process is
completed. Um, a lot of times we're
still working with the applicant to see
what traffic measures come in. We want
to see that this is coming in before we
actually approve these construction
plans so we know exactly what kind of
implementation is going to be taking
place for that neighborhood. We've also
updated the flood zone documentation
requirements which is our letter of map
revision and our condition conditional
letter of map revision. As we know, we
do have several properties located
within the flood zone. So to ensure
development is coming in, we want those
submitted to FEMA prior to us getting
the subdivisions. We want to see that
they've already taken the first step in
the process to taking these properties
out of the flood zone or finding out
what flood mitigations need to take
place as opposed to in the end when
we're trying to figure out where we go
from here. And so we're doing these
steps in the very beginning.
When we look at the outdoor lighting
ordinance, um, we started to see that a
lot of the information was repetitive
and so we simplified it and still kept
the same context but made it easier for
someone to actually read and implement
on their properties. Um, we did leave
the exemptions in for historic
structures and recreational facilities
as you do need different types of
lighting for recreational facilities
because of their size. Historic
structures, of course, they come with
historic lights. We can't go in there
and just expect them to change because
it can change the integrity of their
home. We also added um development ID
signage that was not within our code.
This means if you're driving into a
subdivision and they're putting on the
name of it. Right now we have, you know,
Royal Crossing is coming in on the
corner of three crosses in Solano. We
have Metro Verde that has different
development ID signs because it's based
on the subdivision name. So we wanted to
make sure we had regulations for when
these signages were coming in to let
people know what area they were actually
driving through.
On roadways, we clarified some of the
language just so that way when we would
receive any of our cross-section, we
would have no questions moving forward.
So, the curb is included in the
parkways, multi-use path, sidewalks, and
medians. The question was, where is the
curb located? Is it part of that 16 ft?
Is it not? And so, we did clarifying
language. Um, cross-sections are
illustrative. If you look at our
cross-sections within the code, you can
see that the light is closer to the
actual road as opposed to the landscaped
area. Those are modified. That's why
they're images of saying these are the
elements we want to put into the
cross-section. However, they can be
modified based on the area and the
change going through DRC.
Traffic instruments essentially what we
consider lights, um, fire hydrants, stop
signs. We have a 12oot utility easement
that runs along all new properties that
are developed and that's essentially
where they are going. So that way we can
actually meet the standards which is
later mentioned for our five and six
foot wide sidewalks as we're trying to
meet PROAG. ADA does require us to have
a five- foot clear path. In order to do
that, we do have to put the street
lights within those easements because
otherwise they take up almost two feet
of that cross-section, which means we've
defeated the purpose of having our
sidewalks at six feet if we've
eliminated the path.
Last, we do have our stacking lanes for
basically any drive-throughs. Um, we are
requesting that they either meet 85 to
100t in length, and that's from the time
that you pick up at a service window.
Right now, we currently have it at 100
ft. It does work. It shows that you can
basically have five cars in your
stacking lane and then some are doing
the double circulation and so that's
impactful.
Moving on to parkland dedication and
improvements. We did bring these forward
in October as a discussion and November.
However, they were not put into code.
So, we are correcting our mistake of not
including it as we know these will come
in handy. specialty parks less than
three continuous acres and so if a
developer comes in they can request any
of these alternatives that they may not
be able to have if they can develop
something different. So if you can
develop a specialty park that is less
than three acres but it wows the
community that can be accepted by the
parks department. Um if you can do
parkland that's adjacent to other land
that we can actually combine then that
means we can also go ahead and develop
that into three acres. Not every
property will be able to dedicate three
acres, but if we have a h an acre and a
half somewhere else and an acre and a
half next to each other, we can now
combine and make a 3acre park. There's
also the provision of if you build a
larger park than the minimum 3acre or
your minimum standard, then the city can
come back and reimburse for those parks.
And so it's if you're going to do more,
then we have the ability to reimburse.
Lastly, as discussed earlier, we do have
our draft zony map as we continue to
work with property owners. Um, we did
get 30 different property owners we
discussed and we went through and
verified that their properties were
updated. We needed to update them
because they were in different spaces.
They had current zoning. We gave them
either a lower class or something that
wasn't compatible to the neighborhood.
And so, we modified those zonings to
reflect what was going to actually be in
alignment with the neighborhood. Each
year, we will probably bring this back
at least for one more year just because
we're going to see as people start to
develop these properties, they're going
to ask those questions. Oh, wait. This
isn't here. The part we haven't ga, you
know, gathered is we went through the
transitional months, which is our eight
months that we've had. Those eight
months, we had either developers already
doing the 2001 zoning code. They weren't
going to modify or we've had new
development come in and use the new
code. But until January when we actually
go with fullon realize Los Cruuses, we
will start to see those implications and
the changes. That's where we'll start to
really identify where things were either
right or wrong and come back with more
amendments. We expect to do this every
year so that way we don't get behind on
the circle. We want to make sure that
we're actually changing the community
the way we should be.
We did take this to the planning and
zoning commission on October 28th. They
did vote to approve with two
recommendations and this was to adjust
the garage setback to 15 ft in the urban
area and to allow botanical gardens in
our open space and recreational. Those
two modifications are presented and we
did update the code based on those
recommendations. They weren't something
we didn't see was going to be impactful.
We can see in the urban core that you
want to see the house coming first. You
don't want to see the first thing as the
garage. And so we made those
modifications.
With that, these are council's options
and I stand for any questions.
Thank you, Sarah. Any questions? Council
Fus.
Thank you. And thank you, Sarah. Miss
Gonzalez,
um, you went through that like a for
real champ. You stayed up all night
rehearsing, right? all weakened.
Anyway, great. Thank you so much for the
presentation. Um I have a question um
regarding flooding. I think
page nine.
Um, this has always um
um flooding has always bothered me
because my district has um there are a
lot of homes
right next to the flood zone.
You've heard this before a million
times. So, um
my does this I mean you can't control
mother nature. Sorry.
Oh, you can't control mother talking
with my hands. Anyway, you can't control
mother nature and you can't control you
just can't. But my uh concern is that
why would
anybody allow a contractor to build a
home adjacent to an aoyo?
and everybody, you know, everybody in
town when when the subject comes up,
everybody says, "Oh, you're talking
about the hundredyear uh flood."
Well, when does that hundred years start
ticking? I mean, the city of Lasus has
been here more than a hundred years.
Have we ever had a flood situation in a
a neighborhood? And I and and the only
the only places I've seen where there
that potential or that danger could
occur is in district 6.
So,
I'm just wondering
um the updated flood zone documentation
requirements, letter of map revision
because there there were uh I think I've
shared this with you before um and maybe
with some of my colleagues, but um
there uh when I was running for city
council, I sat in on a meeting that the
previous uh the incumbent had a
community meeting at DACC
and um David Dollahan was then there. I
Yeah. And I think you might have been
there too, Sarah.
Yes. Um and and there was a Mrs. White,
I believe, sitting next to Seal Levatino
up in the front row. and she
um her property
uh was right next to I know you've heard
this before, Chris. Do you want to tell
the story? [laughter] No. Uh so anyway,
there was a flood and their house was I
mean because I went and looked at it and
all that, you know, how it was located
and and they were way way I mean, you
think how could a you know, water rise
that high? Well, it did. it flooded
their house and because of that Mr.
quite the you know the fear the whatever
died of a heart attack. He had a heart
attack and he died. So, uh my question
is um
when these uh
when all when you look at this this this
threat,
do you stay away from a royals now or h
how does that work with developers and
whatever homebuilders?
Mayor and councelor Flores, a lot of the
process and that's where we're seeing
the same concerns. I think a lot of our
process has moved towards when we're
seeing master plans that are coming in
that either have a royos or flood
control that are affected. We're asking
the applicant to already start working
with FEMA. One that's going to help us
raise the elevations of where these
properties are. It's going to tell us
where we would have to adjust or maybe
the development when it comes in as far
as if the aoyo is moving. So the hardest
part is when we first did realize Los
Cruus, some of the comments were let's
add in 100 ft from the center line. But
the AOYO moves, you can't measure that
anymore. And so you can't put a number
on those things. And so each development
as it comes in has to find a way to say
this is how far we need to be from this
development at this point in time when
we're actually developing. And that's
why we use those resources through FEMA
to use their maps to say, okay, if we
elevate this property this high, add two
feet, it's going to change what the
development may be through the process.
We asked them to do this prior to
submitting to us so that we already know
that they're going to be making those
changes so it doesn't impact the
developments that are coming in. This
was something we were doing at the end.
We're now requesting it first because we
see the same concerns you have.
Well, thank you,
Mayor Councelor Flores, Chris Favor for
the record. If I could just make one
more comment, too. So, a lot of those
concerns have been realized by
developers over the years. And what
we're starting to see, and I noticed
this specifically with one of the
reszones we did for one of Mscato's
properties a few months ago, they're
they're developing and not impacting the
Aoyos. They're leaving them to their
sort of natural flow. So, they're not
trying to to move that water to fit the
development. So, we are seeing more of a
trend to just kind of leave them and
develop in areas where they're not going
to impact the the flow of that AOY. So,
it is an issue that both the city and
the developers are aware of and we kind
of work together to make sure that we're
mitigating that as we move forward.
But we have Royo. Well, I'm I'm speaking
of district six because that's the one
I'm you know, I'm always there of
course, but um but we had an issue um
when Mr. Sadillo was still the uh public
works director. again my district uh
where there's some there was an issue
with the royal being too close uh to the
house and
um what Mr. Sadillo did was he took out
his magic wand and took care of
everything. Do you remember that Mr.
Sado with Mr. Lynch, David Lynch,
the water thing. But anyway, um you
know, they they were very concerned and
somehow um it was taken care of. But
when that happened, that wasn't too long
ago. That was just a few months ago. The
other incident happened like about nine
years ago, at least nine years ago,
maybe 10. Um and and I'm really
concerned about that because um heaven
forbid, you know, we and then there's
also south, it's not my district
anymore, it's district three. Um,
but south of Lman um there's a there's a
I have a friend who um lives on one of
those streets and there's an aoyo not
very far from her house and I when I
first
visited her when I first went to her
house I said are aren't you afraid of
the the a royal you know whatever
flooding your home and she said oh no
it's way out there and I said we can
walk that in about two minutes and the
water, you know, would come up even
faster than that. But at any rate, um I
I just I know that you're very
conscientious. Um but I think I want to
assure our people, our residents,
um that they're taken care of. So I want
to thank you,
Mayor Councelor Fus. Last thing I'll add
to is that, you know, community
development and public works, you know,
we work closely together on these
things. And one of the things that we
are looking at extensively is grant
funding for flood mitigation so that we
can long-term move some of these areas
out of a flood zone to sort of address
these problems in advance. So those are
things that, you know, we're working
with other uh departments to sort of
mitigate.
Wonderful. So when you uh take you take
the people out of the flood zone or you
take the flood possibility out of it.
I'm sorry
mayor councelor photo. So it it would be
flood mitigation to take those parcels
to take that land out of the flood zone.
So
oh before building
correct or if it's already there to
mitigate the flooding and then reduce
the yeah to reduce the the potential
future flooding uh potential of those
parcels. Um would you please invite me
to those uh ceremonies when you
[laughter]
cut the ribbon on that that uh step?
Seriously, thank you very much, Chris.
Thank you so much,
Sarah.
Thank you, Mayor.
Council,
uh not to throw a wrench in. I know we
were going to do this a while with
realize, but there's a lot of error
reference or not found in the packet
under chapter 34. They're just links.
You just got to put them in there just
to give you the heads up to make sure
that nothing is bad.
Mayor, thank you, councelor. Appreciate
that.
Council me.
Okay, this is a tough one to admit.
Right. I'll have Sarah come up. you uh
you know where I was on the on the
original vote and I wasn't
trusting that there would be so many
right and wrong amendments uh to the
realized Los Cusus. So I'm really
pleased to see like on page five where
you actually address height conformity
to the existing neighborhood. You know
that was one of my concerns. So I um and
there's many other amendments that uh
have made things uh better for me to
swallow. I just want to appreciate your
hard work on that and listening to I
don't know if it was DRC or or or
homeowners, but you you you have
listened quite well and I know there'll
be more amendments coming. That's even
uh comforting for me to know. So, thank
you very much for the the amendments and
the hard work on on realized Los
Cruises. Thank you.
Thank you.
Anyone?
Okay, Christine.
This is on a motion to approve ordinance
3102. Councelor McCclar,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes. This time, yes.
Councelor Graham,
yes. Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Flores,
yes.
Councelor Bencoml,
yes.
Mayor,
yes.
Okay, next is board appointments. We do
have one. I need a motion and a second.
This is for Cynthia Enriquez. Uh, new
appointment to utility board.
Move to approve.
Second, Graham.
This is on a motion to appoint Cynthia
Enriquez to the utilities board.
Councelor McClure,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Graham,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Flores,
yes.
Councelor Bencoml,
yes.
Mayor,
yes.
Next is a notice of proposed ordinances
and we have three. The first one is city
council bill number 26-011
ordinance number 3103 an ordinance
adding chapter 16 article 12 short-term
rentals to Los cus municipal code
bring it forward
the second one is council bill number
26-012
ordinance number 3104 an ordinance
amending chapter 16 article 11 of the
Los Cusus Municipal Code limiting the
use of plastic singleuse carry out bags
in certain retail operations.
Bring it forward.
The third one is council bill number
26-013,
ordinance number 3105,
an ordinance approving a 5-year lease
agreement with options to renew for up
to four additional 5-year terms between
the city of Los Cruises
and the Messia Valley Community of Hope
for the operations and management of the
city-owned Community of Hope campus
located at 90 999 West Amador Avenue.
Bring it forward.
With that, we'll go to city council
member board reports and comments. Uh,
Council Mccclure.
Thank you, Mayor. I um want to address
something that this was already kind of
on my um list that George Pearson had
brought up um that we discussed a little
bit more about what vision zero looks
like for Los Cruus. I think that the
will is there, but I think the
definitions are a little foggy. I asked
about it not too long ago and it was
there was a sort of a conversation about
the safe streets uh for all that that
would wrap in a lot but I think when we
think about funding sources versus
setting the goal and being bold about
that goal we should do that. So maybe we
need to have a little bit more
discussion on what road safety looks
like for different users. And I had also
been given the the request, let's do
some of these road audits because the
Metropolitan Planning Organization has
that data. And we've been sitting
through lots of presentations where they
say at 5:00 on a Tuesday is the worst
day for Telshore and Lman. What do we do
with that data specifically? And they
say go back to your organizations and do
a project. Awesome. What does that mean?
So here is where we need to talk a
little bit more about what that means
concretely for us and I'd like to do
that much like George said. So I know
there's a desire for us to be bold about
not losing more people in our streets.
Thank you.
Thank you, Council Mets.
Thank you, Mayor. Uh
my comment is on a more serious note. I'
I'd like some answers. I received an
email about an overstatement of the
budget. I'd like to know the amount. I'd
like to know when it occurred and I'd
like to know if the uh maybe the city
manager can explain it today if the
auditors have been uh notified and just
more detail on it. I I've asked for
detail and I haven't received it and as
a public service
I feel it's my uh duty to to to get it
out there and be transparent. So, I
appreciate that, city manager, mayor.
Grac.
Thank you. I um just want to give a
quick shout out of appreciation to
councelor Graham who already left um for
her leadership in the animal services
center of the missia valley executive
director search. We did um include
community input, staff input and a lot
of things and we did come to come up
with a really great candidate. Um she is
uh
a person from uh who has a rescue
background who has been an acco who uh
has also worked in in sort of crisis
animal rescue and with municipal shel
shelters and that capacity. So um the
the candidate is is really outstanding.
I really appreciate everyone who
participated in the process, including
the folks who who led that process and
the staff for their input and the staff
who have been um carrying the weight in
in the absence of having an executive
director. So, more to come on that soon.
I hope we can give her a warm welcome
when she arrives um to Los Cusus. But I
just wanted to express my gratitude to
everyone who participated in that really
um great process that had a bunch of
great candidates as who who came
forward. So, Otherwise, um that's it.
Thank you, Councelor Flores.
Uh thank you, mayor. Um I wanted to just
say that it's been wonderful being on
city council these past eight years. Um
I have one more meeting and then I'm out
of here. [laughter]
In fact, I already have my running shoes
on. Seriously, no. um not um but it it's
really interesting how um how everything
has evolved. I remember back in 2016 or
2017 before I was on city council
um the u community schools issue was
being uh discussed being with the League
of Women uh voters and being an
educator.
Um
I uh I became involved with that and now
the community schools are thriving. um
they continue to grow and I thank Carol
Bray for being at those meetings because
it the the museums are have been an
integral part of um children's
education. So, thank you Carol and your
staff for that and for being at our
meetings. Um, I think that of all the um
boards that I've served on, um, that one
probably has been the most um uh not
necessarily fruitful, but um the um
results have all been positive and um in
in terms of um the attendance, in terms
of the teachers that um are so involved,
the princip principles who are so
involved and um there there are
principles who actually
um several I know of who will if a child
hasn't showed up after a day or two uh
uh maybe two days um they'll go to the
home to make sure to find out why that
child wasn't at school. So attendance
has gone up and I think we all know from
being in school that um
that uh missing out not being in class
uh is a horrible feeling like if you
come down with a measles and you just
can't go and then you get back there and
you're like in La La Land like you're
you know you missed a lot in those days
that you were away from school. So, um,
the community schools, um, has been
wonderful and, um, we're very fortunate
that we have the superintendent. I think
he finally attended one meeting after I
told him, "Hey, haven't seen you at our
community schools board meetings." Um,
and councelor counselor Graham has
served on that uh, this past year or so.
At any rate, um I think that of the many
wonderful things the city does for our
community,
um in my book, um the best thing has
been the community schools and um and
some of you are all of you are welcome
to to attend our meetings. um they they
vary because of calendars and all that
but um so anyway I just wanted to share
that bit of um information with you and
it's been wonderful uh serving with um
well for a while there it was all women.
Oh anyway it's okay to have two men
[laughter] on the city council. It kind
of balances out the power but um it's
been a pleasure serving the city. It's
been a pleasure um having the colleagues
I have u on this board and um and
ciao.
Thank you, Mayor Prom.
Thanks, Mayor. Um recognizing that next
week's meeting
um
just kidding. December 15th, never mind.
I was going to say um it's their last
meeting and she's gone, but that's not
true. December 15th will be her last
meeting. You're right. Okay, great. Then
I'll save my comments for then. Um
Mayor, I just the only thing I wanted to
add on my list is well actually one to
ditto councelor Mccclure on um
pedestrian safety. I do think we need to
revisit that conversation more seriously
um around vision zero. And then
secondly, I wanted to ask for
presentation from municipal court. I
know that there's been issues um just
regarding their location. Beyond that,
I'm, you know, curious about, you know,
we had implemented that case manager
there for the SOS program. I'd love an
update on how that's going, if it's
working, if they need support, like
what's going on at municipal court and
some of the interventions we had there.
And we really love to hear from Judge
Pelosa. Thanks, Mayor.
No, that's great. We've often talked
about a presentation when you gathered
enough data. I think now it's been it's
going to be a year since it was
implemented, but by the time it all the
hiring and everything took place. So, I
think he's accumulated enough data and
research to to provide a presentation.
We'll we'll get with Christine on
scheduling that for him maybe in January
or something. Sounds good. Um just want
to mention a couple of things. One of
the as as the public comments took
place, some a couple of individuals
talked about
um
homelessness, mental health, and uh
substance abuse and what are we doing
about that and what's going on? and and
I'm I'm excited to say that we now have
on staff uh through a grant the public
health coordinator and that survey
evaluation on mental health and um
substance abuse and homelessness is
going to be a coalition of stakeholders
from the community coming together and
they should have their first meeting
coming up December 11th. So that's going
to take place. I know fire, police, uh
the hospitals, the schools, uh housing,
a lot of internal departments and then a
lot of external and community members
will be part of that so that we can get
to uh what what is the problem in our
city and how can we start strategically
coming up with better results to help
our community and those individuals
involved. Uh so, so that's coming up.
So, I wanted to address that. I know
they come up and ask what's going on.
that's what's going on and that's what
we're going to be doing. Another uh just
want to give a shout out to uh NMSU
theater. Uh Saturday night was their
opening night for a Christmas Carol. So
it's the NMSU uh students with some
community actors putting on the play. I
think it's going to run for a couple of
weeks uh there at NMSU uh Mark Meadow
Theater. U it's really neat. a good way
to kick off the holiday spirit with uh
such a classic tale of of giving and and
hope. And so if you all get a chance to
go out and support some of our student
actors and some of the local
communities, by all means go. And uh
it's a great show.
And with that, I'll turn it over to the
city manager.
Thank you, Mayor Enriquez, Mayor Present
Mano, and city council dam city manager.
And uh I I appreciate Councelor Matise.
Appreciate your comments. Uh for those
who don't know, Councelor Matise is
bringing up um a comment about an
overstatement in in a a budget which was
discovered by our finance director. Um
and I I appreciate our finance director
as she's uh come in and become
comfortable in her position. She's been
able to with a budget team look into
look into our coffers and see that um
there is misalignment in numbers. And
so, Council Matise is referring to um an
overstatement that affected our our
budget uh reserves. Uh essentially, the
most important thing, Council Matise,
and and to council and mayor, as I've
shared before to you, and you received
um correspondence a few weeks ago, and
to staff, that uh the budget will be
balanced by um by the end of this fiscal
year. um over years um for the past few
years um our our expenditures
have been increasing and our revenues
haven't been climbing at the rate of our
um of our expenditures. So we've had to
grab uh and go deeper into our our our
our budget reserves.
essentially what what we're doing with
the overstatement uh that we requested
and unfortunately council Matise um as
as we may have shared with you and
council that the official numbers um we
I'm not able to make public at this time
because we just barely sent that to our
state auditor today and that typically
comes uh in front of you and council in
February and that happens annually after
the state auditor has finalized those
numbers after he gives us approval then
we can public publicly share share those
numbers and so um but we can share some
draft numbers with you offline um as
mentioned but I just wanted to share
with you there is no deficit um in this
budget. We have the reserves and we have
um an approach that our finance
department is working um thoroughly on
that will get us to balance this budget.
We have and just to take a few feet and
and back off uh and give us eagle's eye
view for the public. We have about 170
$180 million general fund. In addition
to that, we have about $30 in transfers
that go out to our airport as an
enterprise that pays our debt service
that pays in transfers in our road fund
about 5 million at times. We have JU
transfer joint utilities um um in there
and then we also have other funding
sources. all that accumulates about um
30 million. Um and so we have we have a
math problem at the end of the day that
again as I shared we have a awesome
finance team that is uh working to
figure this out. Um, the great thing
about this that the city has been very
uh methodical and they've been very
prudent and so we have a uh uh we have a
fund balance that is has been helping us
uh through these past years and so we
will be able to get through this year.
Uh, and of course we're making
um we we have an approach that we shared
with you and staff uh that we're looking
into personnel. Uh, and really what
we're doing is uh we're we're not hiring
more personnel at this time. Um, we're
we're freezing. we're we're we're
looking in other approaches as well to
get control of this um to to really
understand what we're doing with this
budget so that as we go into this budget
year together with departments we can
work with you and council to ensure that
we have a sustainable budget moving
forward. But the word of the day that I
want to ensure that is very clear that
uh there isn't a deficit. um this was an
overstatement, but we've had uh reserves
that have been able to pay for these
dips and these eps that we find in our
budget years. So, just want to make sure
that's clear with you, council batis.
And as always, I'm happy to meet offline
and we can discuss further. Okay. Thank
you. Uh last announcement, we have Visit
Las Cusus um and its partners
were nominated and made the finals in
six categories at the New Mexico
Hospitality Association annual top hats
award which recognizes excellence in
their industry. They won in two
categories. Best print campaign for
visit las crucus 2025 visitors guide and
the friends of Oregon mountains desert
peaks for outstanding event. Can we give
a round of applause, please, to Michelle
and her fantastic team? Always bringing
back prizes. We appreciate that. And
mayor, that's it. Thank you.
All right. Thank you, Connie. I also
want to mention that Saturday is the
Christmas tree lighting at the plaza. I
believe that's at 6:00 p.m. Is it 6?
No, it's 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
At 700 p.m. we'll light it.
We'll turn the bulbs on, the lights on.
Yes, I believe so. Looking for a motion
to adjurnn.
Move to move to adjourn.
Second.
This is on the motion to adjourn the
meeting. Councelor McClur,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Graham is absent. Councelor
Karan,
yes.
Councelor Flores,
yes.
Councelor Bencom,
yes.
And Mayor,
yes.