[Music]
You're on.
Thank
good afternoon everyone. Welcome to the
city council meeting. Today is Monday,
December 2nd, 2024. It's approximately
100 p.m. I'm Mayor Eric Henriquez. Uh
before we start, I want to say that if
we can have a moment of silence for the
brave men and women of the United States
Armed Forces as they protect our
interests around the globe, as well as
the courageous men and women of the Los
Cusus's police and Los Cusus's Fire
Department as they keep our city safe
247.
[Music]
If you join me in the pledge.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
Next on the agenda, we have a couple of
uh presentations for recognition and
then a proclamation.
[Music]
No, there's other
[Music]
First, we want to recognize the
Centennial High School boys soccer team.
So, if they want to come up and and join
us up front,
[Applause]
so on November 9th, Centennial High
School boys soccer team won the
program's first ever championship. ship
defeating Laquva High School with a 2
to1 victory for the class 5A title. It
was a hard-fought match with the Hawks
scoring the winning goal in the second
overtime period. The championship win
capped off a 22 and1 season made even
more meaningful by the fact that it
would be Coach Loyal's final game. Coach
Lyer, who has been Centennial's only
head coach since the school first
started in its season in 2012,
had let the team know this season would
be his last. This was a testament to the
program he's built and the skill and
dedicate he instills in his teams.
Congratulations, guys.
[Applause]
I just want to also add that um you
know, you've all made the community
proud. You've made your parents, your
friends, your classmates, your school
very proud. We're all proud of you. I
know right now you're living in the
present. So, it's it's great. It's a
huge accomplishment. It's a great
achievement what you've done. But mark
my words, 10 years from now, you'll go
back to that school and you'll see that
you left a mark. 20 years from now,
you'll know that you left a mark. 30
years from now, you'll be talking about
family and careers, but you got one
thing that nobody can take away from
you, and that's your state championship.
I congratulate you for that. There was
there was a famous NFL coach said that
you're not a success unless you win the
last game of the season.
You all have done that. You're a huge
success. So, congratulations again.
Let's give him a hand.
[Applause]
I can't see you.
[Applause]
around.
Awesome job.
Congratulations.
[Applause]
Well, I don't know.
This doesn't have an H. So, I'm guessing
the H is silent.
Next, we'd like to recognize Jordan
Campion, another Centennial High School
student. Jordan, are you here? You want
to come on up? her parents.
Wanted to also recognize Jordan. Jordan
is a sophomore at Centennial High School
where she demonstrates commitment to
athletics and academics. She is a member
of the swim and cross country team as
well as a member of the National Honor
Society and student government. Jordan
competes in scholarship pageantss with
her current title being Teen Miss New
Mexico Earth. She has competed on a
platform of Love Your Mother Earth for
several years. Love your mother earth
teaches people how small things can make
a big impact on the environment and how
easy it is to help the planet. This year
she completed a think global act local
project. For this project, Jordan worked
to remove illegal dump sites and and
illegal dump tires from the desert.
Through monthly cleanups, she removed
105 illegally dumped tires this year and
countless bags of trash. Jordan aspires
to become an attorney practicing in the
area of environmental law and policy.
[Applause]
I first met Jordan a few months ago. Her
and her parents came to visit me in my
office and they were telling me of all
these amazing things that she does and
what she's a member of. And I was so
inspired by her that I said we had to
give her some kind of recognition for
all her work, her attitude, and her
commitment to our earth and to our local
community. Uh I know she has more plans.
We're going to work together. We want to
keep Los Cusus clean. We want to keep
Los Cruus safe. And a person like this
is here to inspire us all. And we thank
her. I don't know if Jordan, you want to
say a couple of words. You're you're
good. You're good. Let's just get busy
cleaning.
Uh she's awesome. And we just want to
recognize her for that. Let's give her
another big hand.
I invite Kate Nixon to come up, please,
and bring your team if you if you want
to bring a team.
in rec recognition of osteopathic
medicine month. So come on up. We'll
read the proclamation and you'll have a
chance to Yeah.
Thank you. And you'll have a chance to
speak too. So all right. Whereas 2024
marks 150 years of osteopathic medicine.
And whereas the American Osteopathic
Association's history begins with the
innovative and thoughtful mind of
physician Andrew Taylor Still, MDO, who
after losing four children, re-evaluated
the existing practice of medicine and
began settling down with the tenants of
osteopathic medicine in 1874.
And whereas Andrew Taylor Still, MDDO,
changed the trajectory of modern
healthcare delivery. And whereas there
are now more than 197,000 osteopathic
physicians and osteopathic medical
students, including many here in Los
Cusus. And whereas osteopathic
physicians and medical students train at
highc caliber schools of osteopathic
medicine across the United States,
including rural communities. And whereas
the unique approach of osteopathic
medicine, which includes osteopathic
manipulative treatment, OMT, enables DOS
to provide patients the most
comprehensive level of care found in
medicine today. And whereas osteopathic
physicians have made significant
contributions to the health care system
of the United States and play a critical
role in public health preparedness and
working on the front lines treating
patients. And whereas the osteopathic
profession has grown exponentially since
since its inception to include 41
colleges in 66 locations across 35
states to include Burau College of
Osteopathic Medicine in Los Cusus, New
Mexico, Melbourne and and Melbourne,
Florida. And whereas osteopathic
medicine emphasizes a whole person
patient centric approach to healthcare
and osteopathic physicians play an
important role in the health care system
of the United States. And whereas
osteopathic physicians train and
practice in all medical specialties and
practice settings in every state and
across international boundaries. And
whereas in the state of New Mexico, 65%
of 2024 medical school graduates from
were from an osteopathic graduated from
an osteopathic medical school. And
whereas the American osteopathic
association is the only organization
representing all osteopathic physicians
regardless of specialty or practice type
at the federal and state level with the
support of its state affiliates,
specialty societies and other
stakeholders ensuring their voices heard
in public in the public understands the
distinctive approach DOS bring to the
practice of medicine. Now therefore, we
the mayor and city council of Lasus New
Mexico de do hereby proclaim the month
of December as osteopathic medicine
month.
Thank you very much. My name is Dr.
Nixon. I am the president of the New
Mexico Osteopathic Med Medical Medical
Association. I'm also the program
director of the osteopathic
neuromuscular skeletal medicine program
at Mountain View. I am adjunct faculty
at Burell College of Osteopathic
Medicine and I'm also the medical
director for Los Cru's public schools. I
am really excited for this today and I
just want to say a big thank you to the
city council and to the mayor. Um we
were I I'm very proud of Los Cusus.
We're the first in the country to make
our proclamation and we were recognized
by the president of the American
osteopathic association, Dr. Hubka. So
you guys are on the cutting edge and I
really appreciate your support and we
are um you know dedicated at NOMA. are
dedicated to doing what we can to
support osteopathic education at all
levels. So, thank you very much.
Appreciate it.
Thank you.
Next on our agenda, we have jobs of the
week, Sarah Rainey.
Good afternoon. Thank you, Mayor.
As you said, my name is Sarah Rainey. I
am the onetop coordinator for the
southwest region of New Mexico workforce
for the jobs of the week for December
2nd, 2024. We have a cook for the city.
That one starts at 1650 an hour and the
posting closes on the 9th. We also have
a utility systems crew leader. Um that
posting starts at 2379 an hour and the
posting closes on the 9th as well. We
have a deputy program manager out at
White Sands Missile Range. The posting
closes on the 23rd of December. We have
a finance manager for American Red
Cross. The buil the position starts at
92,000 a year and the posting closes
when it's filled. Dialysis registered
nurse for sure. That one's not correct.
Let me just We'll skip that one.
Freshman, we have a freshman wrestling
coach for LCPS. Um, that one will close
when the posting is filled as well.
As always, come join us at 226 South
Alama for any career needs or anything
that you're needing to help along your
career, change your career, or anything.
If you have any questions about any of
our postings or looking for something
specific, thank you all.
Thank you, Sarah. Next is pet of the
week, Carol Nielsen.
It's not populating the slides.
What? How would you like me to proceed
it? It's not populating the slides.
Yeah, I guess it's not coming on. Just
go ahead and
do
I was going to say if you can give me a
spare a few minutes, I can try to pull
it up on my phone.
Okay.
Do you want me to do it? I have Mesa and
Levi here if you'd like.
Oh, yeah. Sorry.
Do you want me to read it?
Yeah. Sorry. I just It'll take a while.
So, yes, please proceed.
Okay, that's fine. Carol, go ahead.
Counselor Karin, if you want to
I'll start with cat of the week, Levi,
who is I'll describe him to you. So, so
that since we don't have pictures, Levi
is an orange tabby, uh, with a little
bit of white mixed in, medium hair, very
beautiful. Um, looks clever than the
average orange cat, I would say. So, if
you can imagine, um, Levi's a bit shy at
first, but really he's all about the
love. He says, "I'm not aggressive. In
fact, I'm a little timid and scared
sometime. When I meet new people, I like
to take my time and assess the
situation." I feel you, buddy. Um, so
I'll need to go you'll you to glow slow
around me at first. Once I feel
comfortable, I'll start coming over to
you, rubbing up against you, and purring
away. If you're ready to give me the
space and time I need, I promise to make
a loving and gentle friend for life. So,
um, sorry. Do you want Do you want to do
the next one?
No, it's not pulling up on my So, please
continue.
I got you. Uh, I like to be in the
moment of Thank you.
of the animal pets of the week. Anyway,
um,
give me a sec. Now, my computer is slow,
which makes me wonder, is the internet
in protest right now.
Um,
well, I have a picture of Mesa, the
adorable dog. Pointy ears, soft fur.
Does this sound accurate?
Yeah, it's a medium mix breed.
Mixed breed, I think. Yeah, pretty
pretty decent in size. Um,
very joyful. Enjoys playing, I suspect.
Lots of energy. Yes. Most of our dogs
that we promote for pet of the week are
very energetic. And so, families that
love to be active are a great fit for
them. Uh Mesa is one of one of our
longerterm residents at the center. So
we would love to see her um go to a
family this week.
Um
so unfortunately we don't have the
ability to to breed specify, but she's
she's a gorgeous dog, so unfortunately
we can't see her.
Um pointy ears. I would Yeah, I she
looks like uh joy joyful mix to run
around with. Um,
all right.
Yeah, somebody go adopter here. I will
in the while I'm trying to bring up the
last of the emails. Um,
yeah, I don't see Mesa's thing. Pets of
the week are always free, right?
Adoptions are always free. And
throughout the month of December, all
adoptions from ASCMV are $50. Right.
That is correct.
Home for the holidays. Um, do you want
me to talk about some of the other
things? Absolutely.
Pets Smart. Oh, no. This was last
weekend. So, actually, I don't have
that. Those are all the things I have
right now on my email. So,
so this coming weekend, I can share with
you, we're going to be at Petco instead
of PetSmart. Um, and if I remember
correctly, it's 11 to 2 that we'll be
there. So, these events are always
really great because then you have the
opportunity to get supplies that you
need while you adopt the animals. Um,
and even if you can't adopt, we always
recommend coming by to say hi because it
also helps the animals get socialized in
new experiences. So, we love the support
where you can.
Awesome. Thank you. As usual, check out
the Facebook page. You you give that
spiel. Thanks, Carol.
Yeah. Uh, so our website is asmv.org.
Um, and then we're also on social media,
so you can check out our social media u
accounts for regular updates and
specials we have going on. So, Anything
else?
Sorry about that. Thank you.
No, that's fine, Carol. Thank you.
Next, we have the 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 by Floris.
None.
Next, we'll go to public participation.
We'll have Katrina coming down and uh
she'll assist you in coming to the
podium. We allow 3 minutes. No pending
litigation or items on non-consent to be
spoken at this time. Thank you.
Hi, I'm Beverly Hogan and
if you can speak directly into the
microphone.
Sure.
Thank you, Miss Hogan.
Yes.
Hi, I'm Beverly Hogan and I just wanted
to address two things that I'd like to
see the city council add when you
address our legislature. Um, the most
important one I think would be that we
look at what police chief's story has
regarding crime legislation that he
would like to see passed. Uh, it's the
competency restoration for violent
felonies and repeat offenders. This is
needed in order to stop the current
situation where repeat offenders are
being released over and over again
simply to commit more crimes. Also, he
wants to see that we allow law
enforcement to be petitioners for
assisted outpatient treatment. In other
words, allowing the LCPD to get more
people in to the treatment that they
need. And pre-trial detention, which
would be bail reform for violent crimes
and repeat offenses while awaiting
trial. The last is juvenile justice
reform to reduce juvenile repeat
offenders. Uh the last part is I do have
a problem with our city council en
endorsing family paid medical leave. Uh
this imposes a tax on everyone uh who's
an employee of the state at a time when
so many people are already struggling
with increased costs of living. It would
require businesses to pay into a state
managed fund to provide three months of
paid leave for any employee. This would
place a large financial burden on the
business especially small businesses.
Businesses would then have to allow
employees to take several months of
leave annually and would not be allowed
to hire anyone else to replace those on
leave. Small businesses simply can't
afford to function this way. It would be
devastating to our small businesses
which were already suffering because of
the violent crime here in Los Cusus. So,
I'd really appreciate if you would
consider those two items. I've already
sent them to Senator Le uh Ant Thornton
as well as our legislature, but I really
appreciate if you consider that when you
do direct the legislature. Thank you so
much.
Yeah, I just want to mention that we are
not allowing for public participation to
be something that's on the non-consent,
but I did grant Miss Hogan an exception
because she does have to leave for an
appointment that she has. So, if you can
wait till that item comes up for
discussion, you'll have some public
comments at that time.
Good afternoon. I'm Lynn Moore here to
talk briefly about EPA's new lead and
copper rule. Some of you know I practice
environmental law in Nebraska before
relocating to Las Cusus to take care of
my parents about 10 years ago. It is
critical that this important rule be
implemented properly and fully. With
respect, I fear its roll out is being
botched. False and misleading statements
from city councilors are not helpful, no
matter how much cheerleading you want to
do. Vague, misleading and/or
contradictory statements from staff also
undercut your efforts. In addition to
lacking clarity, the letter the city
sent was largely written in English.
Spanish speakers were merely directed to
call a number. The entire letter written
clearly and accurately should have been
sent in English and Spanish in order for
it to have a chance of being read and
understood by most affected Los Cusus
water users. The presentation at the
city council's November 18 meeting was
inadequate.
There was no opportunity for the public
to ask questions and have them answered
by knowledgeable persons. The briefing
contained inaccurate, incomplete, and
misleading information. In reality, the
rule makes clear that testing your
drinking water is not a substitute for
replacing your lead pipes. Financial
help is supposed to be available for
property owners who don't have the funds
to bear the cost of replacing their lead
pipes. There seems to be an effort to
declare victory ridiculously early
simply because four weeks after the
notification letter in English was sent
out, the city hasn't heard from any
property owner saying they found lead
pipes. In to clarify, the rule provides
a 10-year period in which to get all the
lead out and achieve full compliance. It
also appears that there's an effort by
city representatives to shut down
inquiry and dodge providing answers to
key questions with supporting
documentation in a public meeting that
is livereamed and recorded. I request an
opportunity at a city council meeting
for a public briefing by knowledgeable
persons where the public has ample
opportunity to make comments, ask
questions, and receive answers. City
councilors need to also have an
opportunity to ask all their questions
and receive complete answers as well as
hearing the concerns and information
provided by their constituents. Shoving
us off to a utilities board meeting will
not work. There are more than technical
issues to be discussed. There's at least
one important policy and legal issue
that needs to be put before city
councilors, the city attorney and
management. Thank you very kindly. I
appreciate your time.
[Applause]
Liz Rodriguez Johnson speaking to you
today in regards to my concerns about
how the city is handling the new EPA
lead and copper rule and also to re
reiterate some of the comments that Miss
Moore just made. It was disappointing
that the city's letter was written in
English except for two sentences in
Spanish. The Spanish sentence is said
that the recipient has to call a number
to obtain important information.
That's more likely to cause the
recipient who only who only speaks
Spanish who only speaks and reads
Spanish to throw the letter away then
call the number to find out something
that might threaten their well. Most of
the people impacted by this are in the
older neighborhoods and are Hispanic.
a respectful and confident way.
We don't want to hear that they think
that there's no lead piping in the older
parts of downtown without presenting
clear evidence of that.
I therefore request a briefing at the
city council meeting which has which has
a significant opportunity for public
comments and questions.
An ample amount of time, for example, an
hour or so, needs to be reserved for
public comments after staffers have
given a thorough truthful presentation.
In response to public questions, the
public and the city councilors then need
to receive fully truth truthful non
evvasive answers from knowledgeable
people. Thank you.
Hello, council. My name is uh Trent
Scribney. Uh, I came here today to
discuss a case that kind of disturbed me
about a Joanne Malone Guadan who was
evicted from her home about a week ago.
Um, she was evicted from her home and
she ended up breaking back in. This is a
70-year-old woman to try to get out of
the cold. Uh, understandably LCBD came
and, you know, she was arrested. Then
the disturbing part is that later she
was released from the Donana County
detention center. Uh you know just
released with no ride into the cold of
winter and she's since gone missing.
And so
I I'm just curious as to what we can do
to protect these people because it's
going to keep happening. uh older people
are losing their homes here at record
rates and if we have people getting
evicted, getting arrested,
how do we avoid
releasing them to where we know they
have nowhere to go? They evicted them
last week and released her. They know
she had nowhere to go. Um
I don't know. I I'm just dumbfounded
this is allowed to happen that she was
released to the custody of no one.
people who know her are saying that she
has dementia.
So, this woman is out on the streets
confused with
no place. I I just think it's a tragedy
and it's something that the council
should seriously think about because
it's not going to get better
anytime soon.
That's about all that I had. Thank you.
[Applause]
Vic Filobos, uh, mayor, counselors,
chiefs. Uh, you know, it's been a little
while since I've, uh, come up here to
speak, and the last time I came up to
speak, we were we were voting on, I
thought, some pretty important things
when it came to the the ordinances for
the carts and for for some of the the
vagrancy type stuff we were looking at.
And and I do think we've actually made
some changes. I I think that we see less
shopping carts. I think that some
solutions came up where people were
given the the smaller carts and and we
see less of them and I think that that's
actually helped. I think we've actually
seen a lot less of the uh people, you
know, out in the streets actually, you
know, trying to solicit money from
people and I think a lot of that was
organized crime that when they saw that
the council took action that they moved
on to other places. And so I think
that's a good thing. And I know I
haven't been able to be here like many
other people. We're super busy. It's
just it's hard to get away. But I still
follow. I still watch when I can. And I
I I feel like like we think that that
was the the solution to everything that
that suddenly everything was going to
change. And I think we were clear in the
beginning that those are the baby
changes we needed to keep going. And I I
look at the things that the city is
wanting to do and the priorities that
that we are now making. And it saddens
me that that those priorities don't
include some of these things that Chief
Story is asking for going to Santa Fe
and doing things. I I don't know how
much time you guys actually spend out on
the street like where our businesses
are, but we're still having issues. We
still have these problems. And whether
you realize it or not, and I think it's
just because some of you choose to
follow an agenda that you will not will
not look away from, no matter the cost,
no matter the cost of the businesses, no
matter the cost of the citizens that are
the majority of this city, you you will
not look at any other alternatives. And
we keep all of our funding is so focused
on places like the community of hope
which I do think do good things but we
focus so much on that that we encourage
more and more people to come to our
community. These people we are
encountering that I am encountering that
people like Dr. Kyle are encountering
that my wife is encountering. They're
not from Los Cruus. They are not. They
are from other cities and they're coming
here because we are making it welcoming
for them to come here. And we we we need
to have change. You you cannot expect a
police force to to be able to handle the
situation. Look at our we can barely get
the people coming to themies. Why would
somebody want to come here and believe
be a police officer if if you can't they
don't even have the support really from
this council out there to to do things.
Was that a whole three minutes?
All right.
Yes. Again, I just want to remind
everyone if you're going to talk about
an item that's on the non-consent, such
as the legislative priorities, wait till
that item comes up and we'll open it up
for discussion.
My name is Harry Murray, uh, Mayor
Enriquez, counselors, Steve Story.
Before I get into what I had to say, I
just wanted to point out that it was so
gratifying to see a soccer team from one
of the Lasus high schools win a state
championship. Back in the mid 80s, this
was almost an impossibility.
Uh I was a member of the high soccer
league and we had to fight and struggle
to get soccer into their two high
schools at the time. One of the athletic
directors termed it to be a a communist
sport and they school board said, "Ah,
it's too expensive." But soccer's not
really expensive. You can probably
outfit a whole team by the for the cost
of a couple of football uniforms. So we
finally persuaded the the schools to put
soccer in high schools if in the high
noon soccer league paid for the first
four years of it and a graduating
decreasing degree. But it's become a
pretty successful thing now.
Several months ago, there was much
discussion on the city council related
to public safety, crime, and drug use in
Los Cusus. Several ordinances were
passed, much to the srin of several
council members. However, it's been
looked upon as a successful thing by
some in the state. Albuquerque is now
considering a grocery card ordinance.
All this seems to be forgotten as many
important crime related legislation
priorities
aren't to be discussed at the council
meeting today. What about legislation
priorities to address competency
restoration for violent felonies?
Mr. Murray, Mr. Murray, I was telling
everyone again a reminder, if you're
going to speak about the legislative
priorities, then wait till 7.1.
Thank you.
Mayor Council Juan Garcia, for nearly
three interminable years, I have been a
constant haunting presence before this
council. My voice a relentless plea I
coin through these chambers begging for
your action, your support in demanding
state legislators, many of your friends
and colleagues take decisive action.
Change that would shield the innocent,
fortify the vulnerable, and strike fear
into the hearts of those who would seek
to do them harm. I have yearned for a
champion among you, an unyielding
advocate for the downtrodden, the
brutalized, the victims left shattered
in the wake of the merciless criminal
horde that stalks our streets. For the
Patricia Himemenes, Little Shop on Maine
and others in the community who were
forced to abandon their lives work,
their dreams, their very livelihoods to
the relentless onslaught of the Lasus
criminal element.
looking for someone like Councelor Ben
Como who has been a true advocate for
the causes she believes in. Agree or
disagree with her, she stands true to
her convictions. For all those who have
been broken by the cruel hint of faith
and the callous disregard of the
predatory element that lurks in every
shadow. I have longed for a voice of
righteous indignation out of those among
our elected representatives who have
lost their way, who have forgotten the
sacred oath. They swore to protect and
serve the people, the so-called quote
progressive legislators who fawn and
cater to the criminals who cuddle and
enable them while the victims are left
to pick up the pieces of their shattered
lives. Legislators like Senator
Cervantes, who when confronted with a
request for help in addressing crime in
this community, can only muster the
pathetic, self-d delusional comfort that
quote, "At least we are not as bad as
Albuquerque." As if that were a twisted
badge of honor, a grotesque metric by
which to measure our worth as a
community. It is nothing short of
breathtaking. The audacity, the sheer
moral bankruptcy of such a statement, a
stark reminder of just how far we've
fallen, how deeply the rot of
complacency and appeasement has infected
the halls of power. I held on to hope
until I saw the cru le Cruz's favor
among others animal welfare because
clearly the welfare of animals outweighs
public safety and well-being of
hardworking citizens. So let that sink
in.
This council prioritizes the welfare of
animals over small businesses and the
citizens.
Just what you'd expect from this
council, I guess. Unbelievable. Thank
you.
[Applause]
Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, City Council.
My name is Jim Hurst.
Um, I want to start by reading New
Mexico Constitution, Article 2, Section
11. Every man shall be free to worship
God according to the dictates of his own
conscience. No person shall be required
to attend any place of worship or
support any religious sect or
denomination, nor shall any preference
be given by law to any religious
denomination or mode of worship. I want
to address Lisa Parrot's comments from
last meeting. I agree with Miss Parrot
on some things. First, everyone is
entitled to believe and worship
according to the dictates of their
conscience. Second, we both have the
same impression about the mayor and his
role
and his role in the National Day of
Prayer Service held here at city hall.
It seems we both have the impression
that the mayor authorizes, sponsors, and
participates in the event in his
official capacity. It would be nice if
the mayor would go on record state
exactly what his role in the event was.
Both Miss Parrot and I agree with the
New Mexico Constitution that all New
Mexico all New Mexicans have religious
freedom and no person is required to
participate in any religious service.
What Miss Perro doesn't acknowledge is
that no one should be required to
support any religious service. The
National Day of Prayer Service is an
unauthorized expense to the city and an
unauthorized use of public facilities,
unless of course the mayor has the
authority to use city hall and city
personnel however he wishes and does not
require the consent of city council to
hold religious services here at this
building. It also gives the appearance
of an endorsement and expressed
favoritism by the city of Los Cusus for
a particular religious group and
religious opinion. So while I agree with
Lisa on many things, I challenge her,
the CI CCIA, the mayor and the city to
do two things. First, define the event.
state by what authority it is held and
specifically what city personnel and
resources are approp appropriated to its
use. Two, justify a public service, a
public religious service using city
resources under the New Mexico
Constitution. If you can't do these two
things, you must cease holding the event
here. It's just that simple. Thank you
very much.
[Applause]
Howdy. My name is Lonnie Montgomery and
I'm a a follower of Jesus Christ and I
have good news for the council and other
people in this country. You can stop
practicing your mandarin.
And the reason is we're going to be the
US of A and not the USS
of A. That's according to the voters.
And then I just have a couple of
questions. Uh I come here at 1:00
because I can but there are other people
that can't people that work and know
when I was going to school or I was
teaching school I could not attend. So,
I would like to see if we can't meet
maybe at a little later in time, say
right around 6:00, 6:30 someplace, so
people can get off and come in and uh
get in on the voting and then make their
opinions known to the council and vice
versa. So, that that's one of my main
questions. And then I have a little
question about I think uh I saw on TV in
one of the stations in El Paso. It was
called the 15minute city. And uh the way
it explained and I thought it was passed
or maybe wasn't passed but maybe was
passed and put on the back burner that
uh the council had passed or not. I
don't know for sure because I don't
attend to but anyway that they had
certain things that could be in there
and the zones could be changed almost at
will where if the people wanted to put a
motor home behind my house they could do
so or they could bring they could uh buy
the place next door to me and they could
put in their dispensary or the bar. And
I understood under this plan that you
could have a dispensary or a bar in each
and every place, but it's called 15
minutes because you didn't have to walk
out of your particular area, your quote
and unquote city. Now, I was born and
raised in the West, and there's a lot of
stuff out there, and I don't want to be
put in one place and told I can't go out
another. And uh I'm sorry for the people
in New York that they don't have all the
beautiful spaces we have in New Mexico.
But, uh I when uh
Councelor Matise came to Los Cusus, I
asked if he could explain it to me and
uh give me a call and I gave him my
number. And the only call I received was
somebody calling me to speak to Mr.
Matis and uh I didn't know how I was
going to ver vote on the next thing. So
I I didn't answer them. So if uh I'd
like like the convenience and I'd like
more explanation or is the zoning people
or are the zoning people going to decide
what's in each and every of these parts
of the city? I'd just like to know.
Thank you very much.
Mayor Enriquez and city councilors. I'm
Patty Hughes. I'm concerned about how
Los Cusus Utilities is complying with
the now with the new federal lead and
copper rule. Both English speakers and
Spanish speakers who receive their water
from Los Cruus utilities need complete
factual information from knowledgeable
people. This includes people who know
what records actually show about exactly
where lead lines are in the city, both
publicly owned and privately owned. If
there are gaps in city records, then we
need to know that, too. If Las Cruus
Utilities is going to rely upon a
website to inform the public about
matters related to the new rule, the
website needs to be in English and
Spanish and needs to be made factually
correct, well organized, easy to
understand, and upto-date. We all need
to know with documented evidence the
extent to which lead is in the
city-owned water manes, piping, or any
other type of water conduit. There's
little point in private property owners
going to the expense of replacing their
lead pipes if water comes to them
through city-owned lead piping. It it
doesn't help to hear unsubstantiated
characterizations whether from city
staff or counselors. It was disturbing
uh to me to hear a city councelor state
on a radio show last week that if a
property was built after the 70s,
there's virtually no chance of lead
pipes. This is not true. In reality,
lead pipes used for water lines were not
banned by federal law until 1986.
In addition, plumbing fixtures
containing lead were not banned for sale
until 1998.
There must be hundreds of houses built
in Los Cusus between 1980 and 1998 that
use lead pipes and/or lead plumbing
fixtures.
We need to hear all the facts regarding
achieving compliance with the new rule,
including the facts that city personnel
may not want to talk about. It
discredits staff and counselors when
we're told not to worry, not to ask
penetrating questions or just trust the
people working on this. and it also
leaves open the possibility that
something could be um covered up. I'd
like to hear the facts from people who
know them about what the city thinks the
rule requires,
what the current situation actually is,
and what steps are being taken to
achieve full compliance with the rule.
This needs to happen in a public
briefing at a city council meeting where
citizens have plenty of time to make
comments and ask questions and then have
their questions answered by people who
know the answers. If staffers don't know
the answers, uh it would be helpful if
they said so and then find the answers
and report back as soon as possible
again within the context of a council
meeting. Thank you very much.
[Applause]
All right. Thank you. Next is the
acceptance of agenda.
So moved by Floris. Second. Gordon.
This is on a motion to accept the agenda
as presented. Councelor Mccclure.
Yes.
Councelor Matise is absent. Councelor
Graham.
Yes. Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Flores,
yes.
Councelor Bencomo,
yes.
Mayor,
yes.
Thank you.
Next, we'll go into resolutions andor
ordinances for discussion.
We'll start with uh 7.1 resolution
number 25-068,
a resolution approving the city of Los
Cusa's legislative priorities for the
2025 New Mexico legislative session.
Move to approve.
Second.
Good afternoon, mayor and counselors.
For the record, my name is Barbara Ben
Como, chief administrative officer for
the city of Los Cruus. And today, we are
here to present to you a slate of
priorities for the upcoming state
legislative session for your
consideration, many of which were
discussed at the November work session
and at earlier uh meetings. I'd like to
introduce Larry Heran to present the
capital outlay and prior and policy
priorities and then I will follow up by
um acknowledging the Messia Valley
Community of Hope uh capital outlay
priorities. So with that, I'll turn it
over to Larry.
No.
Uh good afternoon, mayor, members of
council. Larry Heran, lobbyist for the
city of Los Cusus. It's good to be back
in front of you again to talk again
about the the legislative session that's
coming in January.
Um just again for reference just so you
have an idea of timelines. Um pre-filing
of legislation begins January 2nd and
ends January 17th. That's about two
weeks shorter than what we've had in the
past. So, as we stand before you, unless
we've seen a bill that an interim
committee has endorsed for or or
presented for possible endorsement, um
there we do not know what the
legislation is going to look like for
the coming session because the first
time we're going to see these bills is
January 2nd. Uh the January 21st, the
third Tuesday in January, the session be
begins at noon and they have 30 days to
file uh legislation. So fe February 20th
is deadline for uh introduction of
legislation and then March 22nd is when
it ends
for capital outlay priorities. I won't
this is the list that was presented to
you at the November 12th um work session
as the recommended capital outlay
projects uh for adoption for for our
submission to the legislative council
service portal and the governor's portal
for um consideration of capital outlay
which the deadline for the legislature
is December 13th. So we we're getting
short on time, so we need to get them
uploaded. And then also the governor's
deadline for capital outlay priority
upload is uh December 20th, so a week
after that. And then the legislators
will consider funding for capital
outlay. Usually that doesn't come until
probably about the fifth or sixth week
of the session. So we're looking in
February when they'll they'll actually
make decisions as far as what projects
they're going to fund.
And if there's not any questions about
any of these specifics, I'll just I'll
just have them there for a second and
then let you let me know if you have any
questions.
And Barbara, I don't think we had any
changes on this list from November 12th
with the exception of maybe one
addition,
two
back.
Um, yes. Thank you, Larry Barbara Beno,
for the record. Um, there were actually
two additions to the list.
Let me see. There we go. Um, in italics,
you'll see Amodore Crossing uh was added
to the list of recommended capital
outlay priorities for some gap funding
for this housing project at the Messia
Valley Community of Hope campus. And
then we added the CAT MIH building also
in italics at the end of the list also
for gap funding to complete this
facility. So those were the two
additions and they're just denoted with
the with the italics. Thank you, Larry.
So now on to policy priorities. Um this
is a summary of the the priorities we
discussed at the November 12th um work
session. And you'll note the first
bullet is general support for
legislation regarding and then we have
the list for affordable housing, animal
welfare, paid family medical leave
legislation related to sustainability
and then also reform of the inspection
of public records act and public safety
statutes. And then the one specific for
us is the enabling legislation for sewer
system connections.
Part of the reason we've and I've been
before you before and we've had this
discussion is as we're looking at policy
priorities,
we don't know what the legislation is
going to look like. There are different
alternatives for tackling some of these
issues and legislation changes from when
it's first introduced until it makes it
through the legislature. So, it's always
been the recommendation to adopt general
pri policy priorities and direction from
the council and staff. So that way when
I'm in Santa Fe lobbying on behalf of
the city, once we see legislation, it's
sent down to the city for evaluation and
study and then a a a
city council can determine whether they
support, oppose, or would like
legislation amended. And so
as and I've heard a lot already in
public comment about public safety. For
instance, in public safety, we don't
know what the legislation's going to
look like. I can say with reasonable
certainty, we're going we're going to
see legislation that relates to
competency restoration. We're going to
see legislation that relates to the
assisted outpatient treatment act or
civil commitment for those in behavioral
health crisis. There there will be some
firearm legislation and it could be as
it relates to bump stocks or the Glock
switches as Chief Story has presented,
but there could it could come in many
different forms. And so
in meeting with city staff and also
standing before you and also having
attended several um presentations
throughout the interim where staff
members of the council, Chief Story has
presented, we have a really good sense
of what the issues are in the community
and what type of policy changes we may
be looking towards, but we don't know
what they're going to look like. A good
example would be if you remember last
year many members of the council came to
Santa Fe um and were visiting with
legislators. That's the day that we saw
the first competency legislation
introduced. There were aspects of it
that you supported. there aspects of it
that some members of the council had
issue with and we were able to have a a
significant evaluation of the
legislation and then I I was given
direction by mayor and council as far as
what position you wanted and what what
you wanted as far as support of that
legislation during the session. so
frequently when we see um policy
priorities, that's why we do it that way
because
a bill that's introduced on the first
day is going to look very different than
than how it may end up at the end of the
session. The only exception to that is
last year when we were working on the
Metropolitan Redevelopment Act or this
year for the enabling legislation for
sewer system connections. That's
something the city at the direction of
city council and staff, I've been
working with legislators for us to pass.
So, we know what that legislation is
going to look like because we're
crafting it. And if there's changes in
that, that that change is going to come
through consultation with the city. So,
we know what that's going to look like.
Anything that we're not actually trying
to to pass legislation, we just don't
know what it's going to look like and it
can change. And so, that's why we have
these general um general policy
priorities from the city. And I'm happy
to discuss any of those in more
specifics if you'd like me to. for
instance, paid family medical leave, as
we talked about on November 12th. If
you'll recall last year, there were two
pe competing pieces of legislation that
were very different. At the end, the one
that was uh that was voted on for final
passage was 12 weeks paid family medical
leave, but it failed to pass. There was
an there was an alternative piece of
legislation that required 6 weeks of
paid family medical leave and a
different funding mechanism. So things
change and um legislation often changes
and so that's why until we see
legislation we keep it pretty general as
far as what we um care carry for as
priorities. And I guess I'll pause to
see if you have any questions about any
of these specifically or if we want to
get through the list before questions.
I have a question of course.
Okay.
Apologize. We're just going to go
through we have two more slides and then
we'll get to questions. Um what I'd like
to just present now is the again the
overview of the Messia Valley Community
of Hope priorities. These are our
partners um on the facility. The purpose
of us bringing forward these items today
is just for coordination for resource
planning. These entities actually submit
their own priorities through the
legislative council services portal. Uh
but again, we we want to make sure that
we're coordinating uh with our partners
and preparing for any funding that might
come forward for these particular
projects. And these were the same
projects that were presented to you um
in November um and the amounts that will
be requested by the entities for these
projects.
So now with that, I present you with
your options and of course we stand for
any questions. Thank you.
Councelor
Fus, you have questions?
I have so many questions. The one
question I have, Larry, is on the um
sub.
How are the the bills subsidized?
Are they is it u money that the federal
government has that the state government
has received from the feds for certain
projects like state highways and all
that sort of stuff? Um, so is there a
distinction? It does is is there a
difference?
Mayor and councelor Flores, if so I make
sure I understand the question, are you
meaning funding for general fund
appropriations? So the state budget and
then there's also capital outlay
funding, which is project funding. And
then a third piece would be if the state
receives federal funds that they that
they use to supplement their budget.
Okay. Thank you for giving me that menu.
Um, so what are there any projects here
that are federally federally funded or
where um there's u money coming in from
the feds for that? Is there anything
that we're pursuing that fits that
category of appropriations?
So, Mayor Councelor Flores, uh, Barbara
Beno, for the record, there are projects
here for which we have received federal
funding. For example, the CIT MIH
building, we did receive $3 million from
Senator Heinrich as an earart. So those
are funds um coming from the federal
government. So yes, the real-time crime
center, for example, has received funds
also from Senator Heinrich for equipment
uh for that facility. So we typically
have a mix of funding for our projects.
It might be um uh capital outlay, could
be our own funds uh that we're putting
forward along with federal funds. And of
course, for some of these larger
projects, that's that's very typical for
us to to look for all uh options to fund
the projects.
Thank you. I think it's important for
the public to know that and I don't know
if the our newspapers will cover it but
it's good for them to know that uh it's
not the uh state government is not the
sole source of revenue and application.
Thank you
uh councelor Grant.
Hi. Thank you. Um, so I always try to
look and see how many slides are in a
presentation when it's brought up, so I
kind of know the scope. And it looked
like this one had 42, which means
there's like hidden gems of things that
you've prepared in case we get specific
questions or did I misread?
Uh, mayor
got some hidden gems.
Mayor and Councelor Graham, we always
like to have backup slides or what we
refer to as back pocket slides if there
are questions about the particular
projects. And you might recall that in
November when we brought this forward as
a work session item, we went into detail
on each project, the funding sources,
the scope, the community impact. And we
of course still have those available for
you if you have any questions about the
specific projects.
Okay. Thank you. Then I don't know if
these slides are I like that back pocket
slides. Um if not, if Chief Story, you
would be available. Sorry to put you on
the spot or make you talk off the cuff.
Do we have some of those Larry you cited
competency AOT a couple of other things
do we have that on the slide deck or if
not chief I'm sure you can speak
cogently on this without visual
mayor and counselor I would I will say
we do not have those on the slide deck
it's the capital outlay so for the
priorities for policy items I'm happy to
turn it over to Story
good afternoon Jeremy Story police chief
mayor councel councelor thank Thank you
for the opportunity. Um there's several
priorities that I have. We have been
speaking on them since um really before
February 11th, but especially after
February 11th when Officer Hernandez was
murdered. Um as Larry mentioned, it's
hard to commit to anything because we
don't have actual bills yet. But the the
overall theme that I'm looking for is
competency reform. Our competency
statutes, I think, I would argue are the
worst in the country. They give us no
options on how we deal um with people
who especially commit numerous crimes
and then are not found competent because
there's really no options other than
dismissing the case. I know that there's
going to be legislation that's brought
forward. I'm I'm confident that anything
that passes is going to be better than
what we have now. It's really hard to
make it worse. And so as the bills come
forward, hopefully we'll be able to look
at them and see what's um promising or
what maybe could be tweaked to make it
better. Um, some of the other items we
talked about, AOT, all that stuff, I
would like to see it actually work
together. And in some states like
Minnesota, you see their out assisted
outpatient treatment laws work with
their civil commitment laws, with their
competency laws, so that everything kind
of connects to each other. And so you
have it makes as much sense as it can.
It's complicated, but you have different
paths for different people based on
what's going on in their life. And it it
gives people options, which we do not
have right now. Um, some of the other
things I think that are important are
are pre-trial detention, which is one of
those topics that's more contentious, I
think, than competency. But right now,
we made some they made some changes this
last session, which I think are
positive. Um, but we still have more
work to do. And that's highlighted
obviously by the last officer involved
shooting where that person was in
custody for 12 hours and 2 minutes for
two violent crimes. And really, that
should not happen. That shouldn't be
able to happen. There should be time for
the district attorney to petition for a
hearing and then ultimately the judge
will decide whether that person is
released or not. They're not going to be
held indefinitely without a judge
determining that. But there should be a
a presumption in a violent crime that
the defense has to prove that they're
not a threat to the community. Right
now, the presumption is on the
prosecution and it happens so fast that
sometimes the prosecution doesn't even
have a chance to have that hearing. So
for certain violent crimes, I think
that's a reasonable tweak. So, as an
example, there's some things I would
like to see. I think New Mexico um has
too many resources and too many positive
things going for it to be number one in
crime. And so, we need to to make some
changes to hopefully not be that that
high on the list.
Thank you so much. And Larry, I think
you covered this really well, but I just
want to make clear to everyone here and
everyone listening and everyone who has
been reaching out, this is not the beall
end all. This isn't even the start. This
what we are talking about or what is on
this resolution is going to be moving
through the crazy fluid dance that is
the legislative session. And what we
advance here today or don't advance here
today is not the end of the line.
Correct,
Mayor and Councelor Graham. That's
correct. In fact, it's the broad brush.
So, we what what it signals to me
representing the city of Los Cusus in
Santa Fe is this is what council and
staff identifies as a priorities. And so
it it creates that almost I wouldn't say
guard rails but but a framework for me
to know what to watch for, what to make
sure you hear about, what to make sure
you get an opportunity to weigh in on.
But we always have access to you and and
obviously Chief Story, that's not the
last time you're going to say those
things. You will be in Santa Fe. We will
be in Santa Fe advocating. And I do want
to say that I am supportive of
everything that the chief has been
sketching out here, recognizing that we
we don't know what's going to happen.
Some things may get slotted in in other
ways, but that we have the commitment to
carry these messages, to work, to go
with the flow, and that you as our
smiling leader in all of this are are
going to be there for us, making sure
that we are kept up to date.
Mayor and Council Graham, and that's
correct. In fact, it's been already
happening in the interim, right?
Um because of those conversations we
started having last session on these
issues. legislators and interim
committees reached out to us to
participate and also make presentations.
So, legislators have been hearing about
it for the past since this since the
last session ended.
Okay, great. Thank you so much. Just
that's just the general point. It's not
the end. Thank you.
Thank you. Um Council K.
Thank you, Mayor. I had a little bit
more questions, too. Um, I appreciate
that we're trying to work through seven
people's different priorities here and
that's a hard battle to fight. Um, but I
I'm curious too as in when we have our
capital outlay, we we kind of tell why
tell a little bit of a story at least in
the the packet that we received. But
these legislative priorities doesn't
have a why attached to some of these
things that would set those parameters
to say this is how far we would go. This
is what our needs are for the city. So
for example, sustainability. Are we
looking to do more water conservation
here? Santa Fe might not be looking at
it in the same way we might. So, I'm I'm
just curious why we don't have more
detail in this list right now. And I I
guess things like affordable housing,
that is such a buzzword that I wish
there were a little bit more. What is
stifling us from building quickly? What
is I've heard too staff say, you know,
there's some regulations. Be very
specific to give legislators guidance.
And I feel like that's where we're kind
of losing sort of focus. And I
understand that there's a lot of stuff
happening and there's going to be a lot
of work that we're doing and that we're
going to support Chief Story, but what
does that look like to tell people a
little bit more where we're going?
Mayor and counselor Mccclure, part of
the struggle we have with that and and
I'll use the affordable housing and and
as an example, the municipal league
hosted a summit within the past I'm
looking to the mayor was with about 3
weeks ago with developers to discuss
issues as it relates to zoning, local
zoning and challenges in in building of
affordable housing and housing in
general. So, we know there's movement on
the issue. We don't know yet what that's
going to be. So, it's hard to commit to
what that unless it's a general policy
statement like efforts to improve
affordable housing or improve um zoning
and regulations to help increase um
housing access. It's hard to it's hard
to categorize some of those issues until
you know what we're actually discussing.
public safety. We have a better sense
because we know what the conversation
has been about with things specifically
like the inspection of public records,
affordable housing, sustainability. You
get a list of of this the coalition for
sustainable communities gives a laundry
list of what they're going to be looking
at, but we don't know what the specifics
are of those until we see them. That's
why it be that's difficult to go too
specific and I'm not sure that's hope
that answers your question.
I think you and I spoke when we had our
101 about competency and kind of
unraveled that idea for me. But even
things like mental health care, we know
it's a need and I'd like to see that on
a list. What is that hampering if we
don't have something like this that
calls out and says we need help down
here? We need help in these specific
ways. And I know that's our job when we
go up to the legisle, but to a certain
extent, setting those parameters again
feels like something we can do here.
Mayor Prom,
thank you. Thanks again, Larry and
Barbara. Um, just a couple comments on
the capital outlay. Um, I guess just
really a request, honestly, two small
requests. I know that
uh when you presented this in November,
there was the like general our general
request and then there was a request for
the governor's portal that if in our
materials we can sort of identify and
define those and then also in whatever
materials we staff council takes up
there that we also have which which
projects are regional projects which
projects will impact not just city
residents but really county residents
and even honestly um broader than that.
And so I think it's really important to
have those um projects noted. And then I
I want to address some of this other
um policy pieces. And excuse me, Larry,
but I have a terrible memory actually.
And so I I genuinely do not remember if
we've had something like exhibit B
before in other resolutions. I feel like
we haven't um I know that in the you
know almost five years I've been here
that sometimes we
will take positions on a specific piece
of policy but more than not we have not
because
um because like you said we could
support something at the beginning and
by the end of the 60-day session it
completely changes and we perhaps might
not want to support the final piece of
legislation. I don't know that it's that
extreme, but I feel like it's just been
a few times where a piece a specific
piece of legislation has been brought to
council for us to vote on whether we
support it or not. Um I think generally
what also ends up happening is that
individual council members will go and
advocate for things that we deeply
believe in that are true. Like um it
doesn't matter any specific piece of
legislation that doesn't necessarily
have to come to council. And I I also
and I say this because I don't remember
exhibit B being something we've done in
the past. And I say that because as an
organizer or someone who's led policy
campaigns at the legislature,
honestly, it doesn't exhibit B doesn't
feel neither powerful nor strategic in
terms of um has have city councils been
asked to provide public support for paid
family medical leave? I don't
necessarily think so. I don't think
organizers have approached me at least
organizers of that particular bill.
Right. Right. Like there's a whole
campaign behind that that are that is
being run by advocates and nonprofits
and directly impacted folks and none of
them have necessarily come to us and
that's and I think it's because I think
at the end of the day sometimes it just
doesn't really matter, right? Like I'm
not saying our voices don't matter
because they do. they especially matter
when we're talking about capital outlay
request um expertise like Chief Story
and Chief Smith and like and Natalie
Green like those kinds of expertise
matter a lot um and so I don't
necessarily think um again this is
powerful or strategic I know that the
animal welfare folks literally came here
right those advocates literally came
here last month and said we want you to
support it and I feel like those are the
things that we should be responsive to
in terms of the public safety pieces uh
of legislation. I I don't know the
specific organization. I don't I don't
know any of the bills, right? Like I I
have Chief Stories's um uh brief here.
And while he has juvenile justice
reform, for example, as a big topic,
there isn't any specific piece of
legislation tied behind that. So, it's
very hard to throw our blind support
behind anything. Who knows? Maybe
they'll say, "Put them all in jail. I
don't want to support that. We don't we
just don't know. And so I think it's
important that we are responsive to
requests that are made of local elected
officials, city councils when those when
our voices are really needed. I think in
with pieces of legislation like IRA, we
clearly have city clerks all over the
state saying this is important. Even
chiefs of police are saying this is
important. um with things like um oh my
gosh, what's the other one that we're
supporting? It's IRA and then there's
you know what it doesn't matter FMLA.
No, I I feel like FMLA hasn't
necessarily been something that has come
to us and and has said it has people
have asked us. Yeah, I don't think so.
Anyway, I'm just rambling now. What I'm
trying to say is that I I want the city
council to be powerful and strategic and
our asks at the legislature. I think
last year proved what that can look like
and it can be very effective in bringing
dollars back to our community. I think
with big broad
um
topics like housing like there could be
very good bills on housing that I
support. There could be very bad bills
on housing that I don't support. Same
thing with public safety. Honestly, same
thing with sustainability. And so I just
wanted to say that because I was
surprised to see exhibit B. It felt like
something new. And again, Barbara, I
apologize if you're looking at me like,
well, you just forgot. I just it it just
didn't feel powerful or strategic is my
ramblings to say all of that.
Mayor, Mayor Prom, uh, Barbara Veno, for
the record. Um, yes, thank you for
highlighting that. Exhibit B, which does
lay out the policy priorities, is
typically included in the packet that
you consider uh and vote on for the
state uh legislative sessions. Over the
years, some of them have been very
specific and some of them have been more
broad um in the past. For example, we've
had on the list things like support for
the establishment of a state bank.
Um so there there have been a number of
topics on that list. We typically
include them in our materials that we
prepare for the legislative session that
includes both the capital outlay
priorities and any policy initiatives.
Typically the list of policy initiatives
has been much smaller than the list of
our asks for capital outlay but we have
included both but again to varying
degrees of specificity and maybe that's
why you know this year because they are
t more broad uh than they've been in the
past um you know that's perhaps why it
doesn't you know feel like something
that we're seeing before in this form.
Uh but again that what what we're
bringing before you today is are the
topics for your consideration that would
guide uh what Larry would then uh bring
back uh for us to review weigh in on
again for support or amendment that that
sort of thing. And of course we stand um
here uh and we'll take direction if you
want those words to be changed. Uh but
that those are the general topics that
that we gleaned from previous work
sessions. But uh it's certainly up to
your discretion as to how that's brought
forward.
Thank you. Okay. So just then to clarify
um this isn't nec exhibit B isn't
necessarily saying Larry go to Santa Fe
in the 60-day and go to every committee
meeting that has an affordable housing
bill and say Los Cruz supports it.
Right? This what this list is saying is,
"Hey, Larry, anytime there's an a bill
that you feel the city would benefit
from or be hurt by and you should all be
aware and potentially take a stance, you
would come to us and say, "Hey, this is
happening." Correct.
Uh, Mayor and Mayor Pro Tim, that's
correct. Because in a 60-day session,
especially with as much money as there
is now, that first 30 days, we're going
to see
anywhere between probably 1,700 and 2500
pieces of legislation. I go literally go
through all of those, see if there's
anything on the list that may have an
impact, make sure it gets reported
through um through staff and to council
and to the mayor to weigh in on, and
then make a decision if we have a
position on any particular piece of
legislation and what that is and what
does that mean going forward? What do we
need to do with that legislation? Some
of it's just for your information. Some
of it's because it's been identified as
a priority and we really need to to
activate and know what what you want to
do with a piece of legislation.
Thank you, Larry. I mean, for members of
the public who are concerned that we
aren't paying attention to public
safety, which is not true, um I'm happy
to make an amendment to add a bullet
point on here to add public safety.
Again, I don't think exhibit B is
particularly strategic or powerful or
carries a whole ton of weight, but if
folks want to see that, I'm happy to
make that amendment. I will also just
say because it feels like folks have
sort of honed in on on particular folks
on the council. I um oh my gosh, back in
February or March after Chief Story had
a public uh press conference that
outlined some of his priorities um I
released a statement and I said actually
Chief and I are very much in alignment
with uh competency legislation and some
of these other pieces around bail
reform. I strong firmly behind uh uh
bail reform that wealth should not
determine someone's freedom though I
believe that there needs to be some
changes. Kim and I have talked about
this. So for what whoever wants to
believe that this is not something I
care about I think perhaps maybe stop
while you're ahead. It is very clearly
public that that is something I very
much have spoken about publicly and
support
if it's you know going to be impactful
and positive. Chief and I have had a
conversation about the special the very
special short session that happened in
the summertime about one of the
competency bills and I agreed with some
of it and I didn't agree with some of
the other pieces mostly because I felt
like it was a rushed piece of
legislation. One of the pieces, for
example, I know Chief says it couldn't
be worse. I don't know, Chief. I feel
like it potentially could be worse, but
maybe not. Um, one of the pieces of
legislation on competency said, I
remember very clearly it said if there
is no mental health facilities available
for someone to go
retain competency, then just put them in
jail. Be nice to them, but put them in
jail is essentially what I said. I'm
summarizing and being cheeky, of course,
but they really had that, right? and him
and I talked about this and I feel like
those kinds of things are very
problematic for me to throw my full
weight of support behind a piece of
legislation um that we haven't even seen
yet. So I just wanted to say that for
members of the public and then um again
for council I think for my colleagues I
think it's really important that we sort
of move away from like either or
thinking or like all or nothing thinking
with which I think u councelor Graham
brilliant brilliantly described earlier.
So, um I am chatty today apparently, so
I will stop now. Uh but thank you so
much, Larry and Barbara, for your work.
Councelor Flores,
thank you, Mayor, and and thank you,
Mayor Prom. Um, Larry, so yeah, I think
the uh public should know that uh you're
very careful about looking at the
legislation that we support and you've
also let everybody know that right in
the middle, you know, as you're going,
you know, maybe for the vote, you you
get a quick uh alert that there's been a
change, a horrible change to the
proposed legislation that we were
supporting or lobbying for. uh that
happened with uh what Senate Bill 16 or
17 the competency one. Um but I um just
to let people know I well not that what
I did but just for reference I was a a
state uh state of California. I was a uh
intern uh you know for legis preparing
legislation and reviewing it for the
ballot
and it was horrible. I mean there was
something about mono lakes and
preserving the mono lakes on a bill that
was titled something totally different.
you know, might have been Proposition
13, the one that, you know, uh,
eliminated taxes increase in California
on homes, but um, that's how bizarre
it's been here in New Mexico as well. So
I think people should understand that
what we ask for and even though it might
go to the legislature to either body, it
doesn't really mean that it'll um that
we'll support it if they throw in, you
know, they throw in a wrench, you know,
and they think that uh people and it's
usually people who are opposing it and
that's why the good stuff doesn't pass
or the good stuff that we propose. But I
I think I just wanted to share that uh
with with the public here uh about how
that works. It's really intense and I
recommend uh if any of you have time to
go up there, go and get roller skates
and uh
and be prepared to get real skinny as
you get through all the uh all the
people there. Thank you, Larry. Thank
you, Mayor.
Anyone else?
Good. Okay. Uh Larry, Barbara, thank
you. I know, like you said, this is a
large uh very large and broad brush
stroke at this point. Um but I thank
staff, the city manager, everyone,
because what we're trying to do, the
endgame is receiving legislative
funding. That's that's what we're
looking at. getting projects done in Los
Cusus and getting the subject matter
experts, the directors and their staff
to to help us compile that list of of
what needs to be done and what we could
use. So, uh we're aiming small. We hope
to miss small and and we get some
endgame results, some funding. Uh so,
thank you for all the work that you put
in. And I know it's difficult because
it's a moving target and it changes once
you're up there, but we'll do the best.
And when public safety comes up, you
know where we'll be and you know we all
support Chief Story and we'll be
standing there by his side to make sure
that we get these uh competency laws and
and mental health issues and things. And
uh Mccclure, you mentioned something
about like the why and more specific. It
it it'd be great. It'd be great. I think
as Larry mentioned, being at a housing
meeting three weeks ago is is kind of
like when you look at the the the state,
it's more of a catchall,
one-sizefits-all for every municipality,
and it's very difficult. So, I know
that's one of the things municipal
leagues is looking at is is trying to
hone in on what specific for
municipalities. And I I hope that in the
future changes so that we can be more
specific with with addressing the needs
for Los Cusus instead of a
one-sizefits-all or catchall for the
state. Okay. You had something council.
I did. Sorry. One more thing before we
move to the public comment. Um Larry, I
believe exhibit B pretty much in its
entirety was on one of the slides. Can
we go back?
Okay. Yeah. So, this is pretty close.
And for those who are
I you know I know not everyone is
working with a laptop but if you are
looking at the packet the resolution as
it's written um this would appear on
page 129 or 129 of 381 depending on what
format you're looking at. So this pretty
much is the entirety
this pretty much is the entirety of
exhibit B. So these are the things
specifically mentioned. The only one
that is so affordable housing, animal
welfare, paid family medical leave,
sustainability, IRA, public safety, and
the only one that is kind of specific,
Larry, you specified is because we're
pretty much spearheading it. Okay. So I
just want I just want that on the level
because I've even even during the
meeting I've gotten some emails
mentioning that public safety does not
appear in the exhibits. And I'm not
saying that I'm happy with the vagueness
of the exhibit, but this is what we are
looking at. So, thank you.
Thank you. Okay. With that, we'll go
ahead and uh Katrina, are you still
available to assist with any uh public
comments?
Anyone wishing to speak on this topic?
Katrina will assist you to come up.
You'll have three minutes at the podium.
Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council,
Chief of Police. Tim Jenkins here.
Number one, I would like to thank Becky
Graham for your continued support of
answering emails and supporting the
chief of police. You have been a
wonderful asset. Thank you very much.
My understanding was that the city
council members were elected to be a
voice for we the people, to represent
us, the citizens of Los Cusus. But yet,
we have stood before you all year long
at every city council meeting and voiced
our concerns time and time again about
the safety and well-being of our city.
And you refuse to listen. You say you
back the blue and you support Chief
Story in his efforts to make this city
safer for all, but your actions say
differently. You shall know them by
their fruits, and your fruits say you
don't support Chief Story in his
efforts. It seems to me that you all sit
here at every city council meeting and
hear our concerns, but yet nothing ever
seems to change.
You were all at the legislative meeting
a few months ago at NMSU when Chief
Story spent three to four hours
explaining to the legislators what we
needed to make Los Cusa safer for all.
And we have pleaded all year with you
all since Officer Hernandez was
murdered. But somehow there is not one
single one of those issues that you are
willing to address in the next leg
legislative session. How can that
possibly be? And on top of all that, you
all want small businesses to support
family medical leave. The small
businesses here in Los Cusus are already
drowning and barely eat barely able to
keep their doors open. We the people are
frustrated. We are angry and we are mad.
You do not support us and you do not
support the chief of police, but yet you
say you do. Something must be done
before we lose our city. This is
unacceptable in every way, shape, and
form. It feels like everything we say to
you all goes in one ear and out the
other, and nothing ever seems to change.
We the people demand actions before the
next legislative session. Thank you very
much.
[Applause]
Good afternoon. My name is Donna
Striker. I had to change everything,
Becky, because you educated me and thank
you for that. And thank you also for uh
Councelor Beno and Flores for It sure
appears that you really do want the
public to understand this process better
and I appreciate that. Thank you so
much. But the one thing that I don't see
changing is small business. Um,
small business is the one that collects
your GRT. They're a free bookkeeping
service for the state of New Mexico and
the city of Las Cusus. My husband and I
have owned small businesses for most of
our adult lives. But there's something
that I think is really missing. Except
for Council Matise, and I apologize if I
do not know all of your personal
histories, but have you ever been
self-employed? Have you ever owned a
small business? We do not have paid
vacations. We do not have state or
company or employer paid insurance. We
pay our own. We do not have a specific
number of sick days. My oldest son, who
owns Striker Shooting World, was very,
very ill last week. But he still had to
go to work. He had to cut checks to the
staff. He had to pay the vendors. And
the GRT needed to be paid. He never
misses a month.
You collect a check, you have your
insurance, and you have no idea the
stress, the responsibility, the energy,
the sleepless nights of owning and
running a business, much less one in Las
Cusus, where it's apparent that some of
our
policies and procedures don't support
us.
Paid family medical leave is a huge,
huge burden to small business owners.
We're struggling with insurance costs,
cost of goods, broken windows, canceled
insurance, theft, vandalism.
And last year, uh, Better Together New
Mexico fought the Paid Family Leave Act.
And they're going to fight it again this
year. And I'm going to fight it against
this year because unless you're a small
business owner, you really don't
understand the burden that it puts on
us. We struggle. All of us struggle.
buying groceries, paying for gas, all of
us are struggling in this community. I
just want to make sure that you
understand from the small businesses we
run America and we run this community.
Small business will continue to to the
best of our ability, but you have to
listen to us. We need your support on
this. And thank you again for the
education on some of the things that I
did not understand about the
legislature, about how you're going to
support the changes that come up. And I
did hear that from almost every one of
you. I'm going to hold you to it. Thank
you for that. I appreciate it. Thank
you.
[Applause]
Vicovos again. I'll finish what I
started. Um, you know, councelor Graham,
absolutely. Thank you for for bringing
that up and I think there was a big
misconception of what the council was
willing to support and not support and
things like that. So I think that's a
great example on uh what we see can
cannot always be what we get. And so I
think it it is important that in the
future that I get it that we don't know
what we're getting into when we get up
there. But one bullet point can make a
huge difference, right, in in the
perception of what we see coming into
something. Um, unlike Donna, um, I I
don't feel as confident about some of
these things. You know, we we all when
this all started back in the day with
with the officer being killed, I heard
from everybody how I support Chief's
story. I I back him 100%. There is
nothing We talk all the time. we are
together on this. But you know what?
When it came push to shove and we saw
the votes, we saw who supported Chief
Story. We saw who the true people that
were listening to the people of the
city. So, it's real easy for me to go, I
support Chief's story if this happens. I
support Chief's story if it doesn't
conflict with something I want to do. I
can support Chief's story if this and
that. You know what? These are these are
rules that need to be changed. And I
think some of our counselors have seen
that. And and I think if you're going to
support him, you support him and you
don't put a little asterk on everything
we do because that's what some of you do
is there's this little asterk that I
want to do what's best for the
community. But wait, let me put my
little asterk because it has to fit my
agenda. Let I want to do the best for
the businesses of this city. But we're
going to put a little asterk about what
we need to do about that. So, we will
see. I I I go with Donna. We'll see what
happens when when push comes to shove,
and we'll really see who supports not
only the things with Chief Story, but
other things that this community needs.
And I have a feeling that history will
repeat itself. Um I have come to see
that. So, um we'll see when when push
comes to shove who does what. So,
hopefully you will bravely prove me
wrong. I would love for you to prove me
wrong and I can come up here and I'll
eat crow all day long. So, um I hope you
can do that, but I'll remain optimistic.
[Applause]
Mayor, Council, Steve Kleti, resident of
District 5, proud member of the
populace, or as we like to call
ourselves, we the people. I've also had
some education today and I've kind of
rewrote some things. Hopefully, this
makes sense. But I'm here today to
address the absolutely inappropriate
list of priorities this council is
preparing to send send to Santa Fe.
This set of priorities
is in no way representative of the needs
of this community. It is merely a list
of the pet projects of a few activist
members of this body.
Sorry. I implore those of you of a more
reasonable mind, please do not allow
yourselves to be bullied by the more
vocal members of this body and reject
this absurd list of legislative
priorities and rework the list to meet
the needs of our community. One that is
strategic and forceful.
The community of hope needs to be held
accountable for the current monies they
have before we give them more. Animal
welfare is not something that the state
needs to get involved in. That's a local
matter
and we do not want to be forced into
another tax with the paid family medical
leave. My business for one will
seriously look at move to moving to
moving to El Paso if this passes. And
it's not to envoy avoid it because we
already provide as a employee benefit
short-term disability which is almost
identical to it, but it costs us about
$10 a month, not the absurd cost that
it's going to cost the state when you
add all the bureaucratic costs.
You are risking wasting an opportunity
to make real improvements in our
community. Please don't miss this
opportunity. Thank you.
[Applause]
Thank you, city councilors and mayor.
I'm Sarah Smith.
I also appreciate the discussion today
and I knew that the list of legislative
priorities is something that you don't
want to get locked in too much to but at
the same time if we don't stand for
something we're standing for nothing and
right now it's really vague the public
safety public safety that means nothing
there's no point of even having it on
there the way it's written like that I
don't think it means anything for our
community in terms of what we really
need and those of us who have been
talking to our legislators for years
about these issues and basically being
ignored. What we're hoping is that you
guys will talk to them because they
don't listen to us. I don't know why,
but they won't. Senator Cervantes holds
the keys to the kingdom in the Senate
Judiciary Committee, and he won't let
these bills move. But maybe he will
listen to you if you tell him, "We
urgently need this. Will you at least
let your committee hear it?" But he
won't listen to us.
We know that across the city, we're
seeing signs that more needs to be done
to stop the crime. Businesses and homes
are being vandalized. Windows are being
broken. People's property is being
taken. Vehicles are being stolen.
Homeless people are camping out at
businesses and homes, approaching
people, asking for money, scaring
children, threatening people, leaving
trash and feces all around. Drugged out
people are wandering the streets,
harassing people, leaving dangerous
needles lying around where children can
find them. My kids are witnessing drug
deals happen in the downtown mall in the
middle of the day. They're witnessing
people on the bus here on fentinel.
They're w seeing people doing all sorts
of things that my kids should not be
witnessing in the middle of the day in
Los Cusus.
People are being harmed while trying to
live peacefully and responsibly, such as
Rosa Ortega, who was brutally attacked
by a homeless person in broad daylight
while trying to walk to the grocery
store. And of course, you know about the
tragic end of Officer Jonah Hernandez.
You have the opportunity to send a
powerful message to our legislators that
we don't have. We don't have that
opportunity, but you do because they
might listen to you. Your voices mean a
lot more than ours do. So, please
consider adding some of these specific
items. Even if you then have to talk to
them later and say, "We don't like the
way this legislation's going. We want
the competency different." Great. Talk
to them about it. Tell them what needs
to be different. But if we don't put
anything real on paper here, this means
nothing.
The other thing is the family medical
leave which people have already talked
about. I don't know how much you guys
know about it. The fiscal impact report
from last year's version of this bill
showed that this was going to result in
a tax increase of over $1.35 billion
from 2026 to 2029.
Billion. We cannot afford this. The
businesses can't afford it. It's going
to take money out of every single
employees pocket in this state as well
as the businesses. It's going to be the
largest tax increase in the state's
history. For you to come up here and say
you support it on behalf of Los Cusus
makes no sense. Please do not do that.
Please take that off of your list. Thank
you.
[Applause]
Hi. Um Rico Gonzalez. Uh, for the
record, uh, I work with El Paso
Electric, but I'm not here for El Paso
Electric today. I just wanted to make
sure that I gave a little plug, and this
may not be exactly the appropriate time,
but a plug for the Chamber of Commerce
and the city of Los Cusus has Las Cusus
Days in Santa Fe during the legislative
session. That goes from February 1 to 3.
Uh, we'd love to see all of you there
and the public as well. Um, if you have
any uh interest, just go to the Los
Cruus public uh Los Cruus Chamber of
Commerce website. You can see that
there. And then uh lastly, uh a
shameless plug for Larry Heran. You guys
have a great guy here and um and you
should be really happy to have him
watching your back. So, okay. Thank you.
That's it.
Good afternoon, mayor and city council.
My name is Leticia Sanchez Freeman. I'm
a concerned citizen and I'm also captain
of my neighborhood watch and I'm one of
the leaders of a group of neo cru's
neighborhood watches.
I don't understand how your list of
crime related legislative policy pri
priorities simply state quote unquote
public safety statutes. In exhibit B,
you have over half a page right here.
You have half a page over
to give public safety statutes its own
bullets and specifically list some of
the legislative priorities that Chief
Story has brought forward. Legislation
to address competency restoration for
violent felonies and repeat offenders.
Pre-trial detention bail reform for
violent crimes and repeat offenses while
awaiting trial.
Juvenile justice reform to reduce
juvenile repeat offenders.
Instituting a minimal a minimum
mandatory sentence for felons in
possession.
Allowing law enforcement to be a
petitioner for assisted outpatient
treatment.
Why not list them?
Why?
It would only take a few lines and
exactly 52 words of what I just read to
you and you would still have room on
this page.
Why not make it known to the state
legislators what your city, our city,
what this state needs instead of waiting
to see what bills are passed or
introduced.
How is simply listing it as a public
safety statute being proactive?
How is that being a leader and serving
and advocating for this community?
Yet, the community of hope has a whole
page and exhibit C all to themselves.
I understand that they do their own
legislative lobbying and you're
including it in this resolution
by as a matter of being a good neighbor,
which is great, but yet you won't even
include any details from your own police
chief in this resolution. I don't
understand.
the chair of the Senate Judiciary
Committee and vice chair of the Courts
Corrections and Justice Committee,
Senator Cervantes,
basically stated,
"Hey, at least it's not as bad as
Albuquerque, right? How can you be
satisfied with that answer? Why are you
not fighting harder for legislative
priorities?" Councelor Beno, you stated
that exhibit B is not strategic or
powerful. Then let's make it strategic
and powerful. Why not? So I ask you to
vote to amend this resolution and make
it clear to our legislators what your
citizens and police department
want from you. Thank you.
[Applause]
My name is Sharon Sorenson and I thank
you for this opportunity to speak in
front of you. Um,
I tend to believe what is written as
opposed to what is said. So, sorry I
have to rewrite this as I go. I had a
list of 10 of at least 18 repeat violent
offenders on my list here, but I'm not
going to name them all. But I do see
that competency restoration and bail
reform for violent families, especially
for repeat offenders, is not one of the
type priorities. In fact, it's not even
on the list. Violent individuals should
not be allowed back in the street before
their trial, and there should be
mandatory pre-trial detention in place.
With the increase of illicit drug use in
our community, lawyers are not a
priority to allow law enforcement to
petition for individuals participate in
outpatient drug treatment. This would
provide a this would provide real help
and real drug treatment instead instead
of simply a safe place to use illegal
drugs. And then um basically I I am in
support of not agreeing with the paid
family medical leave act. Um it would
just cause more businesses uh small
businesses in Los Cusus to close down
and that of course would reduce the tax
base of uh Los Cruus. Thank you for your
time.
My name is Brad Huff and looking at this
list of legislative priorities presented
here today and being voted on, I had to
ask myself, who came up with these? Is
it some out of town staff that has never
driven around Los Cusus and seeing the
homeless encampments lining the
sidewalks or all of the boarded up
windows that have been broken during
breakins and just outright vandalism? or
the burned out buildings that were on
that were set on fire by the homeless
trespassers smoking their phenot.
These are not the priorities that I've
heard brought before you by citizens
u and business owners during this year.
What I have heard is stop the crime,
stop the catch and release by requiring
bail reform so that these criminals are
at least kept locked up longer than it
takes the officers to fill out their
paperwork on the arrest. The competency
issue for catch and release is nothing
but an excuse for lawlessness. If they
are truly incompetent and committing
crimes, they need to be placed in a
situation where they can be helped or at
least where they are no longer harming
themselves or society through assisted
outpatient treatment or other effective
means. Now, let's look at your specific
priorities. Affordable housing. If this
was a businessfriendly city with less
crime and lower taxes, there would be
more business and more opportunities for
jobs and then people could afford
housing. My big question is why is the
city involved in real estate and the
housing market? In my opinion, it is not
the government's job in using my tax
dollars. Animal welfare, give us a
break. I see more pharaoh humans
blocking the sidewalks, trespassing in
the city parks with their encampments,
damaging and destroying properties than
I see other pharaoh animals. Paid mam
paid family medical leave. Yes, this is
a great idea. Let's do more to destroy
small businesses in our stra state.
Thanks to the tyrannical COVID mandates
by our governor the last few years, New
Mexico has already lost 60% of the small
mom and pop businesses, let's do our
best to destroy the rest of them with
paid family medical leave. Great idea to
create more joblessness and
homelessness. Sustainability.
I have no idea what this is. However, in
my opinion, a city with high crime and
low job opportunities sounds
unsustainable to me. So much for
campaign promises of making Los Cusus a
safe city with opportunities for
employment and growth. Job well done for
not representing the interests and needs
of the citizens of Los Cusus. Thank you.
[Applause]
Good afternoon, Mayor, Council, and
Chief Story. My name is Dan Parrot. I'm
addressing each of you today to formally
express my concerns regarding resolution
and request that it not be approved
without including all of Chief Sto's
request for funding and support of the
Los Cruis's Police Department to address
the city issues for the 2025 legislative
session in Santa Fe.
It is also imperative to address the
question of responsibility when it comes
to providing lowcost housing. Why should
the city and its residents shoulder this
burden while the majority of citizens
are already managing their mortgage,
their payments, insurance, taxes, and
other essential expenses. This situation
raises a significant concern about
fairness and sustainability.
Furthermore, I strongly opposed to the
paid family leave section of the
resolution. Small business owners who
are already navigating challenging
economic conditions cannot afford the
additional financial burdens that this
mandate would impose. The added
bureaucracy could potentially drive many
of these businesses into closure,
resulting in vacant properties, job
losses for their employees, and an
overall detriment to our community and
its economy. I emailed a summary of the
above items to each of the counselors
and the mayor. I would ask it that you
read it carefully if you haven't already
and reconsider the implications of this
resolution and its effect on our city's
small businesses and residences. It is
my recommendation that resolution 2568
not be approved as written based on the
above considerations. Thank you for your
attention to this critical matter and
its stated reasoning. Thank you.
[Applause]
Hello, my name is Lisa Parrot. I'm a
little bit scratchy with voice today, so
bear with me. Um, I'm a resident of
District 6 and I'm active in CCIA, as
you can tell, and also businesses for
safer loss cruises. I have two questions
which by your actions today will show
your intent. At this point, I hope I am
wrong. Why do you feel it is necessary
to force New Mexico businesses, the bulk
of which is small, family-owned
businesses, into losing so much money
that they will not be able to keep their
doors open, their lights on, and employ
many of New Mexico's families? Do you
feel you can run their businesses better
than they can? If these same New Mexico
businesses somehow manage to survive the
paid family leave act, which as Sarah
said will be the largest single tax hike
in the history of our state, why then do
you want to have a second go at
shuttering them, doing nothing
meaningful or specific with regard to
competency laws, bail reform, and police
officer recruitment, which would give
Chief Story and his department the tools
necessary to maintain law and order so
that your residents, your constituents
could once again feel safe to venture
out into the streets of Los Cusus. I can
only surmise if resolution 2568
passes today that you will not stop
until each and every resident of this
city and state is standing in a bread
line. But with no jobs, no economy, and
no tax base, who will buy the bread?
Please vote no on resolution 2568
as it is written today. If chief stories
initiatives are not included, how will
anything productive happen? Thank you.
[Applause]
Good afternoon, city council mayor. I'm
Jennifer Cry and I support the
resolution.
It's a list of items that we want to
support and promote at the legislature
and to get mired in detail right now
just doesn't seem it seems
counterproductive.
Um,
but I'm here really
because I'm here to say what you already
know. There are a handful of us wearing
purple today uh to show our support for
the library.
And I can't think of anything. I'm
telling you what you already know and I
believe you support. There's I don't
think there's any other
uh service in the city that has such a
widespread impact on our community.
So, Linda Stlair is going to talk in a
minute and I agree with everything she's
going to say. Thank you.
Good afternoon, mayor, city council
chiefs, uh, Ann Sanchez with Miss Valley
Community of Hope. I would just like to
thank you all for your careful
consideration of the needs of our
community. We appreciate you very much.
[Applause]
Good afternoon, mayor, um, city
councilors, and other officials of the
city. For the record, my name is Linda
Stlair. Um, the fact that Jennifer
supports everything I says and doesn't
know what I'm going to say is
impressive. Um I am the president of the
friends of the Thomas Branding Memorial
Library and I am here specifically to
thank you for the support that you've
shown for Los Cusus Public Libraries by
approving the master plan in October and
committing preliminary funding for from
the TID for the initial design phase.
You've demonstrated your commitment to a
long-term vision for strengthening and
expanding services that the library
provides to the Los Cusus's community,
and we deeply appreciate your support
for that vision. Today, by including
funding of $5.6 6 million for design and
construction costs related to the
renovation and expansion of Branigan
Library in the city's legislative
capital outlay priorities. You've taken
another critical step in making that
vision a reality. We know that there are
many competing projects seeking funding
and we thank you for prioritizing the
library in that process. Going forward,
we hope that you'll continue to build on
this initial momentum and we'll work to
find effective and efficient ways to
fund the remaining costs to fulfill the
vision of the Los Cruus Libraryies
master plan. Strong libraries do really
make strong communities and we thank you
for investing in our library and for
strengthening the Los Cru's community
that way. Thank you.
Good afternoon, mayor, city council. My
name is Lucas H. Hearnden, resident in
district 2, and um I am also here uh
because I am deeply concerned by some of
the things listed on our priorities. Um,
I very much support affordable housing,
animal welfare, paid family medical
leave, and sustainability. Um, but it
may surprise you that I too am worried
about uh public safety. Um, it's a major
concern of mine. Um, because we live in
the most dangerous state in the country
if you uh pay attention to who kills
people here, and that is cops.
This is the most dangerous state you can
live in when it comes to cops murdering
citizens.
Um, and so when I see things like public
safety and I hear people say that it's
too vague, I actually agree because uh,
according to the city budget, 44% the
largest single amount on the pyraphph
goes to quote unquote public safety.
Um,
and I'm curious how much of that is goes
to the $20 million that the city just
agreed to pay out to the family of
Terresa Gomez, who was murdered by cops.
or the $6.5 million that was awarded to
Aaron Valenuela's family who was
murdered by cops or the $2.7 million
awarded to Ameilia Baka's family who was
murdered by cops
or even just for fun the $225,000
awarded to the cop who murdered Erin's
Valenuela after the city violated his
agreement with the cop union.
So yeah, let's maybe uh dial in a little
bit by what we mean by public safety
because to me as a member of the public,
I'm not worried about any of this stuff
that people are talking about. I'm
worried about what I see on paper. I'm
worried about what I see in
international journals, including The
Independent reporting last Wednesday,
$20 million settlement highlights
nationleading police violence problem in
New Mexico. From that article, while
police prosecutions are rare in New
Mexico and everywhere else in America,
officer involved shootings are not. For
years, New Mexico has been one of the
places with the highest per capita rate
of police shooting people. In 2024, the
state had been the single deadliest
place in the country for fatal police
shootings, according to the mapping
police violence database. The violence
disproportionately came down to people
of color, with black people 3.4 times
more likely to get killed by police than
white people, and Hispanic people 1.5
times more likely, according to that
database.
What do we mean by public safety?
Who are we giving money to?
Why? Why are we giving people money who
are here killing us
every year and then we have to pay them
out?
Somebody explain it.
[Applause]
Council, any other comments?
Christine,
this is on the motion to approve
resolution 25-068.
Councelor McClur,
yes.
Councelor Matise is absent. Councelor
Graham,
yes. Councelor Karan.
Yes.
Councelor Flores,
yes.
Councelor Beno,
yes.
Mayor,
yes.
Next, we'll move to 7.2, resolution
number 25-069,
a resolution approving a pre-commitment
of city funding for a federal low-income
housing tax credit project for an
affordable multi-family housing
development.
Move to approve grant. Second court.
Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, members of
council. Natalie Green, your housing
administrator for the record. Uh the
resolution before you is a
pre-commitment of city funding for a
low-income housing tax credit. Just a
little background on this issue is that
we do have a 56 uh00 unit shortage based
on our last housing needs assessments.
Uh over 14,000 uh of our residents are
cost burden in the city of Los Cusus and
renters in particular have a higher cost
burden. Um, city council as part of
their strategic plan set a goal for
staff to uh build, finance or subsidize
30 300 multif family affordable housing
units. We're set to um not only to meet
that but exceed that. Uh this project in
particular would would work towards that
goal. It's a two-phase project for a
total of 196 units. Uh it if approved,
it would be located at uh the corner of
Sonoma Ranch and Central. It's a 9.8 8
acre site and it's approximate to the
fire station and I'll have a map for you
shortly. Again, the resolution if
approved today uh would support a
affordable housing project to be
developed by the New Mexico Housing and
Community Development Corporation and
Thomas Development Group. It would be
subject to uh the approval of a 4%
low-income housing tax credit through
the Housing New Mexico application
process. Um why we ask for city funding
is that it strengthens low-income
housing tax credit applications. This
resolution would approve up to $4
million um not to exceed 15% of the
total development costs. It would be
provided in the form of a loan. Um we
typically do them at 3% interest um over
the life of the affordability period.
And so your funding returns back to the
city. um those final loan terms would be
subject to a future resolution and then
um we don't actually need the funding
today. The funding would be contingent
on a tax credit and we would bring back
um budget adjustments at a later date
and at that time we would ask council to
identify the potential funding source.
Um this funding would support phase one.
It's approximately 96 units. It would be
restricted to seniors 55 and older. um
at or below 60% area median income. Um
so uh seniors are our fastest growing
population that's becoming homeless. Uh
baby boomers are are struggling with the
rising housing costs and their pensions
and social securityities are not keeping
up. So we want to be responsive to the
needs of our seniors.
Um this uh
facility would be a three-story L-shaped
building southwest design. And it would
also include a clubhouse, dog park,
shaded walkways, gazeos, and I have some
pictures for you, including uh a
swimming pool, and some recreational
courts.
Uh this is the elevation of what this
would look like. Uh there's more than
one. I I I believe they were passed out
to you. Um I just included um two of the
elevations.
Uh this is the vicinity map. And again,
you see it's adjacent to the new fire
station 9. And then there's uh a site
plan of phase one and then how phase one
two would interact with phase one.
And then major roadways you'll see uh
North Sonoma Ranch, Central Avenue,
McGuffy.
Um just for reference, we wanted to
include uh the potential income limits
and maximum rents. This is based on
2024. Obviously, when this goes into
service, they'll have different rents,
but they'll be fairly similar. Um, so
the 60% rents are for one-bedroom are
7.95 and then the two bedrooms would be
rent restricted to 954. And we also uh
pulled some area market rents from the
Sonoma Ranch area um that are just
private developments. And so you can see
the spread of onebedrooms and two
bedrooms uh depending on the complexes.
Um some of them are as low as,00
um and as high as 15. And then we saw a
few that were at 1,700 that I didn't
include,
but just to give you a comparison
between market and subsidized rents.
Um, for transparency, we did receive
additional requests for the 2025
low-income housing tax credits. We
wanted to give you a full picture of
those. We also received a request from
Poses. They are going after the 9% uh
competitive application as is Royal
Crossing, which would be a uh
development for families. uh where the
old country club is on the corner of
North Main and
North Main Solano.
Um and they are requesting 4.25. So we
wanted to bring all of those um to your
attention. We did ask our affordable
housing committee to preliminarily
evaluate all of these applications. Um
they ranked them in this order. So their
first uh choice was Posses. Their second
choice was the residents at Soma Ranch
and the third choice was Royal Crossing.
Um, and Royal Poses is with the public
housing authority and Royal Crossing is
a tier dosal application. Um,
and with that, you have your standard
council options and we'll stand for
questions. And then the developer for
this particular project is in the
audience should you have questions of
them.
Thank you, Natalie. Mayor Proip.
Thanks, Mayor. Thank you, Natalie. Just
going back one slide, Natalie. Um,
so just so I understand correctly the
Can you just talk a little bit more
about really what this means in terms of
are then these projects in competition
with each other? Um, have we done a
resolution for Poses for this yet? Can
you just talk about that?
Mr. Mr. Mayor, mayor prom Beno, we have
not brought a resolution for POS veres
or roll crossing. Uh we would ask for
some direction if that's something the
council would like to see. Um we did
adopt Pos Veres as part of the
legislative priorities. So I'm fairly
confident that we can um cover the 1.3
through that process. Um we would have
to identify funding sources for the 4%
and the 9%.
um the 4% the residences is not
competing with FAO Veres or Royal
Crossing in the application process but
obviously it's competing with here
locally for city resources. Um and so
the 9%s will compete against each other
and the rest of the applications at the
state level. So it's very likely that
only one of those um would be successful
in the application process. So the 9%s I
would anticipate one will knock the
other out.
Um unless we're really lucky and Los
Cusus is very competitive, which we are.
Um and so it's it's possible that all of
them could be funded and then but we
would really um defer to council's
direction on on what projects to fund
and how you want to fund them.
Yeah, that's honestly that's super
unfortunate that we're sort of fighting
for this little tiny piece of the pie.
Maybe everybody's sick of pie already,
but you know, we are it's a tiny piece
of the pie, and that's really
unfortunate because they're all so
important. Um, can you talk about why
Pas Veres was by the committee was um
marked as the number one priority?
U Mr. Mayor, councelor, Mayor Porteno,
Pas Veres has been an ongoing project.
Um, you'll see a full presentation on
that later in today's uh council
meeting. Uh it is in the MRA area. It's
located uh as part of the El Paso MRA.
Um and so staff has been working on that
for quite a bit of time. It's a
redevelopment project. So it would
replace some um older public housing and
then it would uh upsize that total
development. So, it's currently 38 units
and it would um redevelop into
tenatively 200 units um give or take a
couple.
Um and then it would also uh work well
with the redevelopment efforts that are
occurring with the Boys and Girls Club.
Um some of the work we're doing at
Valley View Park, Lift Up Los Cusus, um
and then FYI also has some adjacent
property that they're looking to develop
in conjunction with us. Yeah, Pas truly
is such an incredible opportunity for
our community, especially for it being
in the infill and the MRA. So, I don't
necessarily know how this works,
Natalie, but I guess I would love to see
staff take steps towards bringing that
to council. I hope my colleagues agree.
I mean, I think um given the highly
competitive nature of these types of
applications, I you know, would love to
make sure that this gets in there. And
then Royal Crossing, you said that
that's a p that's a private
uh venture. That's a private
application. And then one and two are
sort of public.
They are all public private
partnerships. Royal Crossing is an
application with Terra del Soul and
Enrichment Communities. Um that's also
intended to be a two-phase project. Um
council may remember that as part of the
Apadaka blueprint, we adopted some
priorities for affordable housing in
that um overall development. Um that one
is located um just north of Apadaka Park
adjacent to Three Crosses Hospital and
some of the other um development. And
they initially looked at a senior
application uh but currently family is
scoring uh more competitively. So,
they'll likely lean towards families um
especially given the adjacency to um the
park,
grocery stores, banks, and those other
things.
Okay. Thanks, Natalie. Yeah, mayor. I
would love to, you know, have staff
bring that pio ver uh next as well.
Thanks, Natalie.
Councelor K.
Thank you. And Natalie, thank you for
getting this together and bringing it
forward. Um I I also just want to add
thank you for clarifying the four and 9%
so that they're really separate kind of
um things and you said pie but we like
burgers here actually in this housing
conversation and so in this case the the
the 4% burger um I think this is really
interesting to see the the way that it
um sort of breaks down and I I guess I
would kind of so these are the same
developers who were doing peach tree who
were su our first 4% % project, I think.
Um, I'm not 100% sure. I look to you to
nod or say no. Um, but this is the same
these are the same folks. uh slightly
different area, but but um I I would
kind of like to hear from them just
because investing in this area I think
is really um part of a vision and I I
really appreciate your work bringing
this up as 4% and I understand that
there's there's kind of a time related
sort of issue with with the 4%
qualification and so I think that's why
it's it jumped in this priority list to
predate Pose Veres I think before we
have that conversation. So um I if it's
okay and if I misstated anything Natalie
please tell me right now um
um our first 4% project was just to
complicate the picture was Thomas
Development company sorry continuously
make this mistake.
Uh Thomas Development Group is also
helping with both Peach Tree phase one
and Peach Tree phase 2. Um, and I'll let
them speak to uh the deadline and the
basis boost um if they they want to. Um,
but this area while he walks up there is
a difficult to develop census track and
so it's it has that designation. Um, and
then there's it's set to expire. Um, and
so once that goes away, it sort of
changes the amount of tax credit equity
that you can get um for the hamburger
at December 31st, right, is when it's
set to expire. So anyway, sorry.
Thank you, Natalie. Um, Mr. Mayor, Mayor
Protemp, and council members, pleased to
present to you this afternoon about our
proposed the residence.
It is um
as Matt Natalie has mentioned it's in
the metroverty.
Sir, can you state your name again?
Excuse me. Thomas Andrews with Thomas
Development Group and I have been
actively developing multif family in the
Los Cusus Donana County area for over 20
years. Um, Metro Verdie is in a census
track that is identified by uh housing
and urban development as a difficulty
development area and that's a
calculation of construction costs and
also income limits and they come out
once a year to identify these census
tracks that qualify in this DDA
and then that travels over to the
Internal Revenue Service which um has
pretty much put the federal low-inccome
housing tax credit program into play
over 30 years ago. And with the tax
credits that allows us to attract
private equity investment into these
projects, which lowers the amount of
debt that the project carries, which
brings the rent down. And what's
significant about the metrovery uh
zip code is
for 2024
it's identifi it has remained to be in a
DDDA but it falls out in 2025 and we
just heard about this back I think in
late September early October. So, we're
kind of scrambling and we're scrambling
because the significance is if we get an
application into MFA for the residents
by the end of the year, that DDA U
qualification stands for phase one,
which gives us a 30% boost in tax
credits, which I hope my kind of simple
calculation here kind of explains that
30% in tax credits brings another three
plus million dollars into our sources
for the project. Without that 30% tax
boost, our project becomes not feasible.
And the other significance of getting an
application in before the end of this
year is the IRS has a clause that allows
us to grandfather in a subsequent phase
of the same project uh which is directly
adjacent to the first project. So we can
come back a year from now and also get
that 30% boost and we would also have
the benefit of that extra $3 million in
our development bud budget. So that's
the significance of where we are today
and kind of a short thumb sketch of what
a BDA and a 30% boost is. U we're very
excited about the location of the
project. Metro Verie is a excellent area
for this type of a 55 plus community. We
think we have an outstanding development
team that we've carried over from the
Peach Street project and um
I'll stand for questions.
Oh, I just want to point to pickle ball
courts and dog parks just to to
highlight, you know, in case y'all are
worrying about who's going to come and
be mad at us. They they've got that
covered. they've got that one covered.
Uh those two, those two. So, no, I I
just want to thank you again for your
commitment and I know that you being in
Las Cruises every time I see you, it's
it's I feel really grateful that you're
you're here investing with us and and
thank you, Natalie, for the work that I
know that this represents because it's
not that easy to make it's a lot easier
to make hamburgers out of hamburger meat
than it is to make it out of this crazy
public funding. So, thank you. Ju just
maybe one other ted tidbit and that was
the competitive versus non-competitive
and we I've developed 20 plus 9%
projects in New Mexico and it is very
competitive. They it's usually 3 to one.
They can get between 16 and 19 20
applications and we'll pick five or six.
Uh we've chosen to go to the 4% round
because it's non-competitive.
We've already met with New Mexico MFA.
They know we're coming in with this and
there is room for them to support this
project in 2024 and beyond and 2025 and
beyond. And we just feel we can put more
units on the ground quicker with uh
pretty much the comparable amount of
subsidy per unit.
Uh, councelor Flores.
Thank you, Mayor. Uh, thank you. May I
have your name again, please?
Tom Andrews.
Tom Andrews. Do you own the property in
that area?
Who Who's the the land?
Uh, the land.
Who's the owner?
The owner of Metro Verie is Sierra Norte
Development.
Sierra Norte. We have an option on the 9
acre site at this point and that's
typical of these type of transactions.
We we option the property until we have
all of our financing put together
and then we would purchase the property
at construction start.
Great. Thank you so much. Thank you,
Mayor.
Thank you. Anyone else?
Christine.
This is on the motion to approve
resolution 25-069.
Council mcclur.
Yes.
Councelor Matise is absent. Councelor
Graham.
Yes.
Councelor Craran.
Yes.
Councelor Fletus.
Yes.
Councelor Mano.
Yes.
Mayor,
yes.
Next is item 7.3, resolution number
25-070,
a resolution authorizing the city of Los
Cusus to accept grant awards for various
city departments.
Move to approve grant.
I know. I'm sorry. I I didn't recognize
that anybody was going to speak on that
one. Um,
yeah. Unfortunately, we've already voted
on it. My
and remove the motion.
I remove the motion to remove.
No, it has I think it has to be me
because I move right. So I move to
remove the motion of moving Graham.
Okay. Sorry, Joe. Okay. Give us a minute
and ma'am, you can come up now. Sorry.
Thank you. Uh, mayor, city councilors.
Um, so thank you so much for just taking
a minute for me to provide public
comment for the record on this
resolution. Um, my name is Beth Bardwell
and I truly appreciate the city's
commitment, ongoing commitment to
affordable housing. Um, it is tremendous
and I really appreciate your hard work
to make that happen. Um the city council
created an advisory uh affordable
housing committee to advise council on
how best to fill the city's affordable
housing gap um whether by serving
different populations
um workforce senior multifamily or
multiple areas uh within the city
looking at parody of investment across
the districts. Um, I understand the
committee has met recently uh to
consider this project and at least two
other projects and ranked them. And I
appreciate that the council considered
um
as you were considering the commitment
of these funds that you consider those
rankings um and any other relevant
housing data available to you. Um, I'm
here today to ask that the city also
consider making a pre-commitment of
funds to those two other additional
projects. Uh, those two other affordable
housing developments by Tiara Deloul and
Messia Valley Public Housing Authority
that would serve workforce housing uh,
and multifamily populations benefiting
the El Po corridor and Royal Crossing
uh, neighborhoods near Apadaka. Um, both
of these projects, Paso Veres and Royal
Crossing are competing for that 9%
federal tax credit. And a city
pre-commmitment of funds is is needed to
make them competitive. And if the city
doesn't provide matching funds for them,
they will not be competitive in a
statewide um application for those tax
credits. Um, and I believe the deadline
for making a pre-commitment uh for those
projects is January 21st. So, there is
an opportunity for the city to to
address that in a separate resolution.
And um that's all I have to say and I
thank you very much and I apologize for
the inconvenience.
No, thank you.
I apologize.
Go back to 7.3 resolution number 25-070.
[Music]
Remotioning to approve.
Thank you,
Grant. Seconding for the first time.
Secondy for the second time. Thank you.
And where's Joe?
There he is.
I didn't look far left. All right,
you're on. All right.
Good afternoon, Mayor, Councelor, City 7
Public. My name is Joe Padilla, budget
analyst with the city of Los Cusus.
Today, I'm bringing forth the resolution
to accept various grants for the city.
The New Mexico Environment Department
has awarded a $50,000 grant to the Los
Cusus Utilities Department. This funding
will support the implementation of the
growing green composting in public
schools initiative. This initiative will
promote food waste recycling at a local
elementary school within the Los Cusus
School District.
The grant will enable the purchase of
food waste recycling bins and the
development of educational materials for
student and staff engagement. The food
waste collected at the local school will
be redirected to the city's green yard
waste recycling and composting facility.
The Department of Justice Office of
Community Oriented Policing Services or
COPS for short has awarded a $194,000
grant to the police department. This
funding will be allocated toward the
acquisition of narcotic analyzers and
the expansion of the department's
narcotics awareness program.
The state of New Mexico's Crime Victims
reparation commission has awarded
approximately $36,000 to the police
department supplemented by a local match
of about $9,000 which has already been
budgeted. This grant covers
approximately 50% of the salaries and
fringe benefits for the department's
victim advocates. These staff members
provide essential services and resources
to crime victims within the city of Los
Cusus.
The US Department of Housing and Urban
Development through the Messia Valley
Community of Hope has awarded a $600,000
grant to the public works department.
This funding will facilitate renovations
at Messia Valley's Community of Hope to
support the organization's growth. This
includes the construction of offices,
bathrooms, HVAC systems, storage, and
the purchase of equipment and furniture
in the currently unoccupied portion of
the building.
I'll now hand it over to Cynthia Campo
to discuss the CIP amendment.
Good afternoon, mayor and counselors.
Cynthia Campo, uh, CIP analyst. And, um,
as for these grant acceptance, there's
only one CIP amendment for the Messiah
Valley Community of Hope expansion
remodel project for the $600,000.
And here are your options.
Council options. We stand for questions.
Any
members of the public?
Just checking.
Christine,
this is on the motion to approve
resolution 25-070.
Councelor Mccclure.
Yes.
Councelor Matise is absent. Councelor
Graham.
Yes.
Councelor Karan.
Yes.
Councelor Flores.
Yes.
Councelor Bencoml.
Yes. Mayor.
Yes.
Next is item 7.4, council bill number
25-016,
ordinance number 3087, an ordinance
authorizing the real estate purchase
agreement between the city of Los Cusus
and the industrial acquisitions.
Move to approve.
Second, Graham.
Good afternoon, city council. Sarah
Gonzalez with economic development.
Before you is going to be the purchase
for city-owned property located within
the Los Cru's Industrial or Innovation
Industrial Park for CH Industrial
Acquisitions LLC.
The request is for two properties. They
each encompass 11.2 acres, which would
total the 22.4 acres in size. They are
known as lot four and five, the West
Mesa Industrial Park 26 replat number
one. So they are platted lots. Their
addresses are 341 and 371 Alliance
Drive. And currently all the utilities
are connected.
Here's a vicinity map of the subject
properties. To give you some bearings,
this is where Loves is. This is going to
be on the south side of I 10. These two
properties are located essentially near
Premier Distributing and Alaska
structures up here on the north side.
And then we have Seroplast at the
bottom. Here's
a lovely view of our desert landscape
out there in which we'd like to see
additional buildings um going out and so
this would just be the view from
basically the properties on which they'd
be purchasing.
Essentially, whenever the city does go
and sell land, there are two appraisals
that are required. Um one came back at
795,200,
the other came back at 798,000.
With that, the offer was made as well as
a negotiated price to cover the 795,200.
Um, with that, we also do split the
closing cost whenever we do sell land.
The proposed use for the property is to
build and construct about two, it's
going to be two different buildings, one
on each parcel for about 230,000 square
feet of storage space. And so that's
going to be considered cold storage.
This will bring in a capital investment
construction project of over 60 million
for each site. to give you kind of a
reference. Um, this was one of the
developments they had finished.
[Music]
Hey,
[Music]
So essentially this is what you would
see. Those buildings are about 180,000
square feet. We would be looking at an
additional 50,000 square feet per
building on each lot. This would be
essentially the layout for each side of
the buildings and then you would have
all of your driving and parking stalls
through here. So, it's going to provide
at least access in and out of those
properties. Because there's three
frontages, it also helps the actual
development for access. And so, it's
going to be able to remove and get that
in andout truck traffic for the 18
wheelers a lot easier.
This does align with the strategic plan
or economic development goals as well as
elevate lo cruises. And then 50% of the
sales does go to the affordable housing
trust fund as well.
And so here are council options. Um we
do actually have the applicants
available via Zoom. Um so they are aware
and can answer any questions you may
have as well.
Council Flores.
Thank you. And and thank you Sarah. Um
where exactly is the location? where
where it's off of uh I 10.
So the location's going to be within um
the industrial park. Oh yeah. It's going
to be on the south side. So if you were
to come down and travel through the Lo's
area or you can actually access it
through Robert Larson which would be
your frontage road.
This is going to be Crawford and you can
access it either through the southside
or you can actually come off of Robert
Larson and access it through here. So
it's all going to be on the southside
within our industrial manufacturing
zones.
Great. And um have you done a projection
as to how many jobs this uh it would
devel how many would be available or
excuse me not available create? How many
jobs would this create? Do you know?
Uh mayor and councelor Flores I would
defer to the purchasers. Um they are
currently working to see if they can go
ahead and bring in tenants and they
would be able to provide you additional
information based on the actual
development of jobs within this kind of
um land use.
Okay. But um at this point we really
don't know if they will come. Well, if
you build it, they will come.
So, let's uh keep our fingers crossed.
Thank you very much, Miss Gonzalez. And
thank you, Mayor.
Anyone else?
Any members of the public?
Just come on up, Deb.
Mayor, city councilors, my name is Davin
Lopez, president and CEO of MS Valley
Economic Development Alliance. And of
course, I'm here toh show our support
for this project. Couple of things I
want to mention is number one is uh what
this company will bring to the area is
first of all, we have non-revenue
generating land over there. uh the new
tax base that would be created from so
from an investment like this $60 million
in phase one potentially 60 million in
phase two talking about significant
construction GRT coming back to the city
of Los Cusus and also uh long-term
property tax when none is being received
today. Uh but most importantly I think
many of you know we've been trying to
attract uh cold storage to the region
for quite a while now. Um reasons why is
because number one it is critical
infrastructure to support our
agricultural community but also uh
creates phases for food processing and
value added egg to grow with it uh
because we're able to now store
commodities in this area. uh it's part
of a growing change in terms of food
security across the US and given our al
our position on the uh the US Mexico
border. We know there's demand for it
not only from from our existing
agricultural base but a lot of the
produce and commodities that are coming
across the border right now uh on their
way to a US consumer. So uh we hope you
will find support for this project as
well and will we successfully bring this
company uh to Los Cruz. Thank you very
much.
All right. Thank you, Devin. And great
news. Thanks, Christine.
This is on the motion to approve
ordinance 3087. Councelor McClur,
yes.
Councelor Matise is absent. Councelor
Graham,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Flores,
yes.
Councelor Beno,
yes.
Mayor,
yes.
Next is item 7.5, council bill number
25-017,
ordinance number 3088, an ordinance to
authorize the convenience of a
city-owned vacant partial known as
partial number
four
on Compost Street.
It's a mouthful.
Good afternoon, mayor, members of
move to approve.
Hold up.
Second.
Good way to jump in, though.
All right, Isaac, you're up. You're up.
You're up at the plate.
Ahead on my horses there. All right.
Good afternoon, mayor, members of city
council. My name is Isaac Keen with the
Housing and Neighborhood Services, and
the ordinance before you is a land
disposition for an affordable housing
development.
Here's some background about the subject
property. The city of Los Cusus acquired
905 compo back in 2011 and the parcel
currently remains vacant. The Messia
Valley Public Housing Authority is
applying to the Housing New Mexico,
previously known as New Mexico Mortgage
Finance Authority, for a 9% uh
low-income housing tax credit. The 9%
low-income housing tax credit is a more
competitive process rather than the 4%
low-income housing tax application.
Phase one will be developed on this
parcel and will be comprised of two
buildings for a total of 80 units. The
first building will have 20 units
designated for veterans. The second
building will have 60 units available
for workforce housing. And then here is
a vicinity map of the subject property
on the corner of Arizona and Compo. And
then a little bit to the east side is
the Mson Center.
The city of uh the city of Los Cusus
affordable housing committee reviewed
and consented the donation of the land
to Msia Valley Public Housing Authority
for an affordable housing development in
accordance with the state's affordable
housing act and the city's affordable
housing general oversight ordinance. The
donation of property to a qualified
grantee is allowed. City staff
recommends donating the remnant parcel
to MS Valley Public Housing Authority
contingent of the award of the
low-income housing tax credit.
And with that, there are your standard
council options and Juano Vera, the
director of the M Valley Public Housing
Authorities in attendance. If you guys
have any additional questions for him,
any questions by council?
See? None. Any members of the public?
Seeing none. Christine,
this is on the motion to approve
ordinance 3088. Councelor McClure.
Yes.
Councelor Matis is absent. Councelor
Graham.
Yes.
Councelor Karan.
Councelor Footus.
Yes.
Councelor Ben Como.
Yes.
Mayor,
yes.
Next, we go to board appointments. We
have John Norman. New appointment to the
Historic Preservation Commission.
Move to approve.
Second.
This is on a motion to appoint John
Norman to the Historic Preservation
Commission. Councelor McClur,
yes.
Councelor Matise is absent. Councelor
Graham,
yes.
Councelor Karan,
yes.
Councelor Footus,
yes.
Councelor Beno,
yes.
Mayor,
yes.
Next is notice of proposed ordinances.
None. Uh, city council member board
reports and comments. I'll start with
councelor Mccclure.
None today. Thank you.
Councelor K, I mean Graham.
Uh, just a quick double doubleside shout
out. Um, on
Friday, Black Friday after, so day after
Thanksgiving, uh, Las Cusus Utilities
had a really busy day with a water mane
break. Um, so I know they were already
out in force, so but I'll I'll get to
you in a second. Las Cruis's Fire
Department, well done on structure fire
at Solano in Kansas. Um, amazing work,
but you turned all of our water super
brown from your use of the fire hydrant,
which you are forgiven because that's
your purpose in life. Back to you,
utilities, despite water mane break and
other madness. Um, really great service
in getting someone out on what's
essentially a city holiday to uh flush
out the hydrant and allowing me to wash
light colored clothes later in the day.
So, no, just to say with humor, but
great uh great appreciation. Thank you,
LCFD. Thank you, Las Cruises Utilities.
Um, go team. Thanks.
Thank you. I I also want to give a brief
shout out to um fire and PD dealing with
an oil spill that happened last week. I
was
uh also by Graham's house. Um uh but
there were a lot of holiday shoppers and
people running rushing around and
panicked um and you all did an
extraordinarily good job of both
addressing the issue in the short term
and and
clearing it um but also directing
traffic. So I just want to everyone that
was that sprung into that action um
which honestly I I didn't have oil spill
on my uh things I'll have to worry about
on council bingo card so now I have to
expand the bingo card. Um, so thank you
for for your prompt and really great
followup on on that and helping helping
every on a major major thoroughare on a
big day where people were traveling
around and being a little bit crazy
driving. It was extraordinary. So, thank
you um
for that. I also have one second sort of
update related to uh the animal services
center. you know, we've we've um learned
that the animal services center
executive director will be um getting
another job and so we will be initiating
sort of conversations about uh interim
appointments and um the search and all
of those things. Next Friday, um next
Friday morning, we will have public
meetings and those will be announced
shortly. Um but just to tell folks
that's on our radar and and in progress.
Um you'll be hearing soon about more
details coming up, but I think um I do
just want to take a minute to thank uh
Director Thecker for all the work that
he's done. If if we don't have another
chance, I think we will at at least at
an ASCMV meeting, but really for for
moving the ASCMV into a new era of of
work with community um thinking about uh
our animal populations in a different
way. And so I just really want to thank
director Thector and and let the public
know that we're working on a plan and
there will be um ample public input as
that as that conversation goes on. So
that's all for me. Thanks.
Well, thank you um Miss Corin, Counselor
Corin for sharing that information. Um I
think that I wish uh Clint uh happy
happy trails. Um he was our director at
Venicia from the very beginning I
believe. At any rate um
it was I enjoyed working with him uh
being on the board for about seven years
and uh
well I just wish him well. Um, on
another note, um, you know, we just
celebrated Thanksgiving and we, you
know, think about all the things we're
thankful for and, uh, in spite of people
coming up here and criticizing
everything probably from the color of
our clothes to the color of our eyes to
I mean, I just, I mean, everything. It
makes it sound as if the city of Lasus
is um is not uh anything but um a place
for um the downtrodden. And um and
frankly with all due respect to those
who have come to say that um I think you
know therefore the grace of God go I and
I you know I just I just don't see any
uh solution to people I mean I just
don't see any benefit in people coming
up and hearing the same thing over and
over and over and the conditions the
financial the economic conditions
haven't changed. The population hasn't
changed uh except for people who are
looking for maybe a warmer place to be.
And I just want to make that comment. Um
you know, it's we should be happy and do
whatever we can happy for what we have
and do whatever we can to help those who
have not. Thank you.
Thanks, Mayor.
Um, just want to quickly uh apologize
for being late. I was at NMSU where um
the Latin American
programs were hosting their Latinx
graduation for all for Latino students.
There was about 40 students who received
those their stoalls and um they invited
me to be their keynote and I was very
honored to be with um my community today
and to have given the keynote speech and
part of what I said there today was that
it's really weird being asked to do a
keynote speech when sometimes I feel
like I just graduated like last year I
didn't of course uh I re I got my
bachelor's 14 years ago and my masters
10 years ago so u what do you I think,
you know, I just graduated. Um, and so I
was just very honored to be there with
students and families. And I don't know,
it just served as a really good reminder
that, you know, a lot of those a lot of
the students there today and their
families are also constituents and their
families also live in our districts and
they also live in our city. And um, you
know, what happens here for one hour at
public comment, you know, isn't end all
beall. there are other people, many
other people in our community watching
and listening and paying attention and
um just I was just very honored and
excited to be with them during this
celebration. Um which is why I was late
and I'm only sorry a little bit for
that. Um I do want to note that the
oversight committee is officially
starting this week. We have our first
meeting this Wednesday. Um I will be
there as mayor's appointee and I think
councelor Matise will be there as well.
Of course, we are non- voting members,
but that is this Wednesday. And then um
that's really it. I did just want to
just speak a little bit on like the
either or thinking and um that often we
hear today, but especially here in
general, but especially today. And um
you know, it's this there's a lot of
limitations to either or thinking,
right? Either you're for Chief Story or
you're against Chief Story. either you
know if you support animal welfare then
you don't support public safety
um if uh if everything isn't on the list
then it must not matter right so like
this either or thinking has a lot of
limitations and um I want to push um
gently challenge us as leaders not bully
just gently challenge us as leaders of
the city to not fall into that trap I
know that I have right like I know that
I have fallen into that before either if
you support shopping cart ban then you
must not support homeless programs right
I have fallen into that trap asp well
and so um either our thinking has a lot
of limitations and as leaders I think
it's important that um that is not
something we fall into especially as we
head into something as important as the
legislative session where we are
fighting again for a little bit a piece
of the pie to bring to our communities
um and then just lastly I don't never
used a point of privilege but I want to
just in a personal matter um just I
have this platform and um
I just my grandfather was lead to rest
on Sunday and
I just wanted to say his name here today
because um I'm sure that when he was a
brasero uh many years ago he would have
never imagined
having a granddaughter in this position
and so um his name is Raul Figo Armenta
and I just wanted to memorialize that
here today and take a little bit of
privilege to do so. And um thank you.
Thank you, Mayor Pro Tim. And again, our
condolences to you and your family, the
passing of your grandfather. I just want
to say thank you to all the staff for
all that they do day in and day out.
Last Monday, um Kasa Perrenos was
handing out turkeys right before
Thanksgiving. I just want to say thank
you to all the city uh departments that
were there volunteering. We had public
works and housing, police department and
I forget who else but they were all
there and I appreciate them. Uh as I
said all all the city employees for all
that you do and of course police and
fire public safety but I just want to
let the public know it's not just about
the responders when we talk about public
safety. We're talking about streets, our
roads, our sidewalks, our lighting, our
our uh drinking water, our animals,
everything that involves our community,
our public safe spaces. We want to make
Los Cusus safe. And that's what public
safety is all about. And when we talk
about public safety, that's the main
thing. It's not just about police and
fire as a responders, but in general,
that's what we're working towards. Those
are our legislative priorities. Those
are the things that we're going to seek
our next budget retreat on how do we
make Los Cusus safe as a community and
we'll continue to work on that. Thank
you. And I'll turn it over to our city
manager.
Thank you, Mayor Enriquez, Mayor Prom
Beno, and city council,
city manager. And uh as well,
condolences uh to you, Mayor Pro Tim
Beno, for your grandfather. I'm sure he
was a great man and proud of you.
Um just a few announcements. Internal
Audit Oversight Committee is reconvening
their meetings and will resume this
Wednesday, December 4th. A reoccurring
oversight committee meetings has been
scheduled for the first Wednesday of
each month, beginning with December and
moving forward.
Regarding quality of life announcements,
we have Frost Fair will take place on
Saturday, December 14th from 10:00 a.m.
to 1000 p.m. at the Thomas Brandan
Memorial Library. This is an interactive
experience with multiple organizations
highlighting activities from libraries,
museums, and partner organizations.
There will also be signups for the
library winter reading program.
Additionally, Holiday at the depot will
take place at the Railroad Museum on
Friday, December 13th from 5
5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on the Railroad
Museum.
It will be decked out in lights for a
special holiday celebration in a
historic building.
Then for parks and wreck, uh we have the
annual tree lighting event. Come one,
come all this Saturday. Will be held
Saturday, this Saturday, December 7th
from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the
downtown plaza. There will be music,
photo opportunities, refreshments,
giveaways, and much, much more. The tree
will be lit at officially 7 pm, so you
won't want to miss out. And then we'll
have a a special speech by Mayor
Enriquez there as well. The park and
recreation department keeps uh keep
Lasreus's beautiful program, KLCB, will
host a neighborhood dumpster day from
8:00 a.m. to noon on Saturday. This
Saturday, December 7th, KLCB will
provide open top trash containers for
the community to dump yard waste,
household trash, and other permittable
items for free. Open top container
locations will be held at three spots.
Tony Gomez Park on Espina Street, Henry
Benvidas Community Center on Mccclure
Road, and last but not least, Lasus
Escape Park on Walnut Street. Thank you,
Mayor. That is all.
Thank you, Connie. And I think that's
it. Looking for a motion to adjurnn.
Move to adjourn.
Second, Graham.
This is on the motion to adjourn the
meeting. Councelor McClur,
yes.
Councelor Matise is absent. Councelor
Graham,
yes.
Councelor Craran,
yes.
Councelor Fletus,
yes.
Councelor Beno,
yes.
And mayor,
yes.