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[Music]
you're live
good afternoon welcome to the work
session today is Monday July 8th 2024
it's approximately 1 pm. I'm mayor
Enriquez we will start with a moment of
silence for the brave men and women of
the United States armed forces as well
as our police and fire department as
they keep our city safe
24/7 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
I two of
these okay first we'll start with pet of
the
weeks
Amy hello everyone my name is Amy deix I
am one of the rescue coordinators for
the Animal Services Center of the missia
valley and I pick and present the pets
of the week every week of course we
always start off with our cat of the
week this week her name is stara her
number is
77625 and she says my days are filled
with dreams of cozy laps and soothing
Strokes I've been told I'm cuddly and
sweet and I pride myself on my ability
to bring warmth and comfort to anyone
who needs it I love Quiet Moments and
tender touches and I'm an expert at
turning ordinary days into moments of
Tranquility I'm looking for a forever
home where I can share my
love and then we also have a dog of the
week this week he is is Jackson his
number is 66 338 and he says I'm a
lively Soul bursting with energy I'm
always up for a game or a puzzle and I'm
sure to keep you on your toes my playful
spirit is infectious and I promise to F
your home with laughter and joy I'm also
a great listener always ready to lend an
ear when you need someone to talk to if
you're looking for a loyal companion who
will bring endless fun and love into
your life then I'm your
guy and regarding adoption events we
will be back at the farmers market this
Saturday July 13th we'll be there from
10:00 a.m. to 1: p.m. as always our
booth is on the over by organ Mountain
Outfitter is on that side of the farmers
market so definitely come by and meet
some of the awesome dogs we have
available for
adoption and then overall events in July
we still have a red white and cute
adoption event so all of July adoptions
are only $50 the first 40 adoptions are
sponsored by doniana County human
society I'm not sure how many we have
left um but I'm sure there's a few and
if we're out of sponsored they're
they're only $50 so it's definitely we
highly encourage people to stop by and
if you're looking for a new family a
free family member July is definitely
it's a good month to do
it and then for all of our internet
links our general website is ascmv dorg
and we're all over social media our
Facebook page Instagram and Tik Tok is
where we'll post some upcoming events
and highlight some animals for adoption
and then YouTube and Spotify and apple
podcasts is where we upload episodes of
tales from the pide which is our
podcast and that is all I have thank you
thank
you next we'll go with our agenda items
2.1 annual updates from Economic
Development Partners uh first it'll be
film Los cruus and then the farmers and
Craft Market of Los
cruus good afternoon mayor city council
Chris favor with economic development
for the record so uh real quick
introduction uh every year we have all
of our department uh Partners come up
and make an annual presentation uh this
year we're breaking it into two parts so
today we're going to have film loss
Cruis and then uh the farmers and crafts
market coming back on August 12th we
will have uh msia Valley Economic
Development Alliance and the downtown
Los cruus partnership so I'm going to go
ahead and turn it over to anado with
film Los crusis he'll give you a quick
update on what's been going on with
their organization and and some of the
filming Trends in and around Los
crues all thank you Chris thank
you hello Mr Mayor uh council members I
am Andrew had on the film Le Aon here at
film last
Cruis get started so as you know film
Las cruus is the film office for Las
cruus in doniana County we also help
with Anthony and Sunland Park and we do
help a little bit with msia they also
have their own film Le a on um and we
also try to help with anyone else who's
in the area like hatch doesn't have
anyone but we'll help them if we can uh
I am the film Le aison I am the head of
the office we have uh Elijah viap who is
our associate family aison he's here
today he is also uh kind of helps me
with whatever I need whatever I can do
um and then we have Tony Lindy who's our
operations coordinator and she handles
the office and uh the accounting stuff
that I don't know about so she does
those we also have a board of directors
that is who is who runs film Las cruus
it is headed up by Jeff steinborn who is
a senator he is the president then we
have H pepper gagos who's our vice
president Christopher Stanley who's the
treasurer uh Denise lefron Onaga who is
our secretary and then the rest of the
board is made up of Matthew Burns uh
Steven Osborne Mark vascon sellos uh
Dave wit Mitch Fowler Lynwood Spinx
Stephanie strander Marilyn brindis
Christina ballow and Jerry
preka and they are all made up of
different they come from different areas
of um the industry whether it's Matt
Burns is working at DAC in the film
program uh Natalie shander is a teacher
there uh Marilyn brindis works in the
production company called camera hog she
owns it uh Christina bow is the owner of
MCO so we really try to pick from all
different uh aspects of the industry to
kind of get as broad of an idea as we
can from our
board so our deliverables to the city
are uh to promote the Las Cruses film
industry both to when Productions are in
town and also when Productions are not
in town one of our main things is we'll
reach out to Productions um if they if
we think they have a movie that might
work in Las Cruis or even sometimes if
they don't just to kind of stay in
contact we'll reach out to them see if
they can uh maybe we can get their
script and see if we can fit it here
we'll do Scouts with them and everything
just to try to get them to a know about
Lo crues and B know what we have here uh
we of course handle the film permits
which is anytime uh a film needs the
public we uh we'll have them do a permit
sometimes even when they're doing
private property one of the big ones is
if there's a crime scene you know we
don't want someone walking by and they
see a crime scene and they call the cops
and the cops show up we want the police
and the authorities to know about it
beforehand so if they do call they have
that answer and so that's one of the
reasons for film permits of course if
they need to shut down an area of the
city the same thing thing um we promote
the local film force and we help to grow
it we have our um database uh for not
only crew but also vendors and talent
and then um of course this goes into
listing of all local support systems
available for film Productions and then
site location assistance and I'll get
into a little bit more of it but those
are the main
Basics and as you can see we had a very
uh productive year uh we'll also get
into these numbers but from our um
requirements as you can see we hit all
of them we've just had a very successful
year and with film you never know we'll
have a movie that was here for uh three
months and their budget was a little bit
under a million but then we'll have a
movie that was here for 3 days and their
budget was $5 million just for Los crues
so you really never know it's a lot of
like trying to reach out to Productions
and just staying consistent on our end
so that we can make sure we're hitting
all these
numbers so we're going to go over the
economic impact first uh this is
specific to the city um under worker
days uh our Baseline is a th000 and we
hit 5,000 so worker day is every day
that the someone locally is working
whether it's cast or crew and so uh and
then just kind of adding all those
numbers up with the amount of crew they
have which is beneficial if they hire
more local uh for production days
overall that's just the number of days
that they were actually here filming our
Baseline is 140 and our production days
was 191
again those Productions that last longer
they do add to that they help us with
keeping the days longer and also helping
the crew uh our local spend was our
Baseline is 1 million and this year we
hit
6,831
656 uh
cool okay so our inquiries inquiries is
just when Productions reach out to us or
when reach out to them we kind of all
put it together a location package is
when a production sends us a script or
even some of our ideas we'll kind of
pick locations from Las Cruses just to
show that these places are here like we
just did one the other day where they
needed an abandoned prison of course we
have the abandoned Onana courthouse so
we were able to show them that it's just
to let them know like these things are
here in Las cruus uh for crew
information that's usually when they ask
for uh either for our data base or when
they're asking for a specific crew uh
position like makeup or uh first
assistant director we'll send them the
people that are in our database to them
and that's just what that is vendor
information is the same thing but with
vendors and then inperson location
Scouts one of the things that we do is
we help with uh the Productions to do
that initial Scout before we uh we give
them to the location manager so that
they can be officially hired it's just
to show them again that these things are
in law Cruis to kind of introduce them
to the city introduce them to our
vendors and to our crew it's just a good
way to a kind of get them excited about
the city and and also to show our
infrastructure has been growing and how
much it has
been social media has always been very
um popular with film L Cruis so as you
can see for social media we had uh
171k plus people reach uh that was our
reach and then we had 117 uh posts and
then we had
79,000 page views one of the things is
there isn't a dedicated casting agent
here in Los cruus uh so what we do is we
have what we call a casting blast and so
Productions will send us their
requirements whatever it is for the crew
and then we'll send it out that has been
very successful we actually sometimes
get production saying you've done enough
we don't need it anymore take it down
and so our film crew here in the city
knows that social media is one thing
that we are very up to date on and we
try to help them as much as we
can for film permits our Baseline was 15
uh we had 44 these are just production
company related we don't include student
films just cuz student films are usually
just teaching so these are just
Productions and again this is one of
those things that's just based on the
Productions like some Productions just
need one location some Productions need
a bunch it's really just depending on
what that production needs for the
film for a local film uh Workforce we
have we work with educational
institution Outreach with uh CMT which
is the Creative Media technology CMI
which is creative uh media Institute at
NMSU uh Los crusis public schools for
verified uh people in our database our
Target is 280 we have
676 one of the things we do also is we
reach out to Productions to make sure um
that they are we reach out to crew
members especially when we're visiting
sets to make sure if there any people
who don't know about our database or
aren't on it we try to get them on it so
that when Productions go to our database
it's as comprehensive as possible we
also have uh workshops and trainings uh
some of the workshops we have is every
other week we have a screenwriting
workshop at our office it's open to the
public it's free it's about two hours
and anyone who's interested in either
screenwriting or wants to get theirs
work kind of workshopped it's run by a
professional screenwriter and he just
kind of reads everything and they go
over it and uh and kind of just help
with whatever the screenwriters need uh
we actually got a production from that
screenwriting Workshop someone came who
had a production that they're ready to
film and they actually just finished
filming about two weeks ago so it's it's
kind of building in terms of the public
we also have our W this is a picture of
our rap with pride where we teamed up
with uh FR frona which is a local film
um film making group that centers on uh
members of
lgbtq and uh female filmmakers to get
their words out and so the rap with
pride was a specific month for uh for
pride month to just kind of Center it on
lgbtq plus uh filmmakers and have them
showcase their work every other month we
don't have a theme except for Halloween
because it's Halloween um but it's just
a way for a to tell the public what's
going on in film and also to tell the
crew and also for the local filmmakers
because while bringing Tyler Perry and
bringing some of these other filmmakers
is great we also want to showcase our
local talent and the rap house do that
we are able to show the films have the
filmmakers meet with each other meet the
public talk to them and it's really been
very
successful uh so this is our vendor
program the F film friendly Business
program our Target again was 121 and we
hit 189 um and that's just mainly it's
just getting businesses to sign up and
explaining to them the requirements of
film sometimes with film
you're you know they might be shooting
from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. and so we
want the businesses to understand that
before they sign up just so that they
know what they're getting into we also
want to tell them because film is a lot
bigger than people think I think people
always want to kind of just think about
the actors and the directors but there's
construction there's makeup there's hair
there's coordinating there's travel and
so we want to make sure every business
that's in Los cruus has an opportunity
to work with film get on a production
because again one of our main goals is
to let people know that like oh it's not
just the actors and the directors it's
so much more of the
industry and then location assistance uh
our Target is 650 and our location
database we now have 983 again it's just
talking to filmm or talking to the
location owners whether it's a private
residence or whether it's a public
establishment we want them to know the
requirements cuz again you know know
sometimes they might just want your
house for one day they might want it for
three months and so we want you to know
who to talk to what you're kind of
expecting and not only that but like if
anything goes wrong we want them to know
hey you have someone here who can help
you with that kind of stuff although
thankfully most of our Productions are
very um respectful and we haven't really
had any big hiccups in terms of
locations and everything but there has
been a lot more interest so we're very
happy about
that and then one of the things I did
want to mention is that we have people
like uh there is a crew member named
Patrick Sanchez and he started as a PA
and he was able to work on some of our
Productions and make his way up to
location manager this year and so it was
only because we had so many Productions
this year that he was able to kind of
move up in the industry and that's kind
of an example of someone who's local who
is able to stay here but also build
their career from here so it's very
happy to be able to see these people who
are building up as they kind of um as
they get to stay in the area uh I also
um no sorry that was it I also have a
quote from Steven Graham who did who was
a producer on one of our um Productions
summer machine he said our experience
with the film uh with the Las Cruz's
film office was great Andrew Hut and his
team were very helpful from the early
stages uh and scouting to prep and ride
through production we felt welcome and
supported and will definitely be back so
that's one of the things that we're
trying to do with every production is
have them them feel welcome so that they
know that the industry is here and that
we want them to come back and usually
even we had a feature that ended on
Saturday and we did two Scouts with
their producers just because they were
so interested in continuing to work with
Los Cruses um that ends my presentation
any
questions thank you
Andrew any councelor fres thank you
mayor and thank you uh very much Mr had
um the uh film um I wish Jeff uh Jeff
sborn was here um for him to whatever
but um I was thinking he's not in Santa
Fe yet so but anyway thank you so much
and and I'm very happy to hear that
you're reaching out to the local
businesses to uh serve whatever needs
you have um and maybe Chris uh has that
information the re Revenue that's
brought in do we have a breakdown on
that and um all gets up here I just uh
oh the scouts how many Scouts do you
have
oh mayor councelor flus we don't have
any direct economic impact numbers right
now but I can certainly get that for you
oh wonderful it'd be good to know
because it sounds like it's uh really a
big I remember the struggles that uh
Jeff steinborn went through I mean it
was a long-term pregnancy there and he
finally was able to deliver and um I
just want to thank you uh as well Mr
Hara um so the employees are are they
all from uh Las Cruses or from our
little surrounding uh towns I mean we're
a little city too but um but are they
all from this local area yes Miss
council member um it depends we try to
um get them as locally as possible it's
beneficial for everyone including the
production they save more money if they
hire locally so what we've noticed is
that now they just seem to be hiring
outside of the area when they absolutely
need it and that's why again um we're
kind of focusing a lot more on getting
people like Patrick sanchz to get those
head roles because we have a lot of
below the head department and so we want
to get as many people has had so that
they can hire one another one was Loris
Allen who uh he has not only become a
production designer but he has opened
his own prop house here in Las Cruses
called the Gold Room and that's one of
those things where since he has both of
those things every production that's
been in town he's been working on it
just because again he's local and it's
easier to hire them so I would say right
now it's probably about 50 to 60%
usually is from local local meaning how
far north how far south I mean the South
isn't very far from here but in the
county in the the county okay that
that's what I was read yeah because I
hatch people and people from um Anthony
and all that um so um I was really happy
to see that Tyler Perry did a film here
because I I really follow his movies
they're always uh they're Universal you
know life and its tragedies or whatever
challenges
um that's all I have I just want to
thank you very very much for uh making
this uh happen it was a long time coming
and thank you very much thank you
Council thank you councelor uh councelor
cor I'm thank you for your presentation
it's always exciting to hear um I'm
curious how the new building uh at that
the CMI program has sort of it's about
to open I think and I don't know how
that might affect you all and I think
there's a pretty big sound stage as
that's a part of that but I'm not sure
if that will help in in the scene or uh
yes thank you Mrs uh councilman uh so it
hasn't opened yet it's planned to it
should start accepting students also
it's a dacc not CMI um but it is uh
planning to Open start accepting
students in August and it should
officially open in September uh but that
should be a great help to us they can't
let people use it yet but they have told
us like if we can fit it in the space of
their brakes we can possibly use it so
it's going to open another window I
think right now our biggest um question
our the biggest issue we have which
hopefully 8 to8 will also solve is a
sound stage and CMT will provide that
even if it's not as big as normal ones
it'll still provide especially for car
scenes so we're very excited for them to
open and of course with that you also
have all the students will now learn how
to work on a studio because it's it's
not the same as working on the outside
it's very controlled which you need to
learn how to do that so again that will
also help kind of add to our crew base
so we're very excited for those kind of
additions thank
you thank
you anyone else we good councelor Flores
anything else oh B no okay good no thank
you Andrew U thank you for the update
and always exciting news thanks thank
you thank you Mr Mayor and thank
you okay so next up we're going to have
Karen Bradshaw with the Los crusis
farmers and crafts
market good afternoon everyone I'm I'm
Karen Bradshaw I the market manager for
the farmers and crafts market of Los
cruus and basically I'm going to start
with let you guys know that um part of
what the market does is we provide
support for both our farmers and
families in both the county and the
state with the snap program others know
it as food stamps the state has a
special program double up food bucks
where they provide us a grant where we
can automatically double what people use
for their SNAP program for
free um women infant and children
program is available at the market
through some of our farmers and also the
senior Farmers Market nutrition program
is
available um for General market
information at the moment we have 158
permanent vendors 109 temporary vendors
though I am will be bringing in eight
new vendors this week we have 61
musicians of which 11 of them are under
the age of 18 we have over 150
nonprofits and community outreach groups
that set up at the market or have the
ability to plus city and state agencies
and of course as animal services State
they will be with us this
Saturday um advertising for the last
fiscal year we continue to utilize the
rack cards at both
hotels
uh visitor centers commun uh Chamber of
Commerce and whatnot we have social
media
two Facebook pages Instagram as well as
the markets
website um we use Adams radio for our
radio remotes and
commercials uh we do have advertising
through New Mexico
magazine and we are also joined the
Southwest contemporary magazine this
year um let's see American Farmland
trust that is a big push as everyone
recalls last year we were first place in
the state of New Mexico thanks to
everyone voting for us we wound up in
second placed in the southwest region
and 27th in the ntion now this year at
the moment
yes um this year voting is happening
right now it runs till 5:00 P p.m
Eastern Time on July
31st at the moment we are first place in
the state on unfortunately we're only
fifth in the
southwest um if I can convince everybody
to please all vote once get your spouse
to vote it would help us get our numbers
up we have 407 votes when I looked at it
about an hour
ago so uh special events some of the
special events we do at the market this
last year we had the Halloween pet
costume contest we had 10 entries and
some of the local businesses were kind
enough to provide Wiest prizes for that
it was a lot of fun the the pets were so
cute and some we even had some of the
owners dress up to match their
pets um and then of course our big
annual Easter egg hunt where we have the
Easter
Bunny and our vendors hide eggs
throughout the entire Market this last
year we had 8,000 eggs that we
distributed um this coming year we're
hoping to do at least
10,000 and that's it
questions thank you Karen councilor
foris uh thank you U Mr Mayor thank you
so much Miss Bradshaw um I'm so happy to
see that the Farmers Market has grown
exponentially uh at least since I've
been here 13 14 years now um so um the
last time uh you presented I asked the
question about the revenues in so far as
the taxes because a lot of the vendors
um have a cash you know bar they have
yes ma'am so I was wondering if there
and I haven't asked our department to
see our Economic Department to see if
there's been any Headway on that or
there's any tracking of that nothing we
have we have no ability to track and in
fact the state changed their parameters
where it's made us even more difficult
for us to even access our vendor
accounts wow well how um so the state is
the one that regulates uh public uh the
farmers markets throughout the state no
ma'am that's just as far as as far as
any access to revenues anything like
that that is all of our vendors are
individual businesses they are in charge
of their own um
finances and the only thing that we
attempt to do per our agreement with the
city is to ensure that our vendors are
at least following their growth grocy
receipt reports with the
city with the state with the state yes
ma'am grocy receipts reports must be
filed with the state of New Mexico and
per our agreement with you guys um we do
verify that the vendors do do that but
we do not have access to the reports
themselves that they
file Mr favor is there any way of
tapping into that legally or illegally
anyway
would anyway we can get our sh mayor
councelor flus um and so you're looking
for specific Revenue related to each of
the vendors I I don't know that we would
have access to those reports but maybe
we could work with the market staff to
do some sort of a a survey an unofficial
survey to kind of gauge maybe the ranges
of revenues that they're bringing in to
give us an idea of you know how
successful they are well it I I think
they've been very successful I I think
that you know uh the city should be
benefiting a little bit too I mean after
all it's we do have that agreement and
it's our blessa and our beautiful
downtown area so uh I was just wondering
if any had been any progress or any
change in that we do inform our vendors
um that the tax rate code that they are
to use is the one for the tid District
we ask them to please do that use that
that way all the grocery seats that do
get reported go directly into the tid
for the downtown area
um we
do per our agreement with nfma that's
New Mexico Farmers Market Association uh
which is part of the program for the
snap and double up program we do a
survey and it's a rough estimate of
monies that comes in through the market
um per our farmers and everything and
this last year the estimate for produce
sales and everything else was l most
between the snap program and the wick
and everything else and just regular
sales was close to a million is what's
our
estimate so um yeah so there's and then
a lot of uh the vendors are cash only
correct um actually there'd be no way of
tracking that we yeah we have a lot of
vendors that our cash we have other
vendors that yeah it's a lot of credit
card as well well maybe Mr favor is um
whatever city manager whoever uh there
could be a change in the terms or
consistent with whatever the state uh
demands and within that those parameters
thank you so much Miss Miss uh Bradshaw
and thank you Mr faor thank you
mayor thank you Council uh councelor ma
thank you EXC I'm always excited about
the the market downtown me too it draws
a lot of people I I just like a a small
request I had some friends and we did
the market this weekend um the is there
any signage that says maybe you could
spit your gum in a a gum
container um you know to just
control uh it it's a little bit
unsightly the the the sidewalks uh
everything else is is fine the vendors
were fantastic and there's a graffiti
you know by Las Cruz's furniture store
that needs to be cleaned up who who
manages it that is that the city yes sir
okay well that that's my
answer we just utilized the space for
those 4 and a half hours well actually
6:00 a.m. to 300 p.m. on Saturday
mornings okay um it is still classified
public city property um we just have the
use of it very good no I I think
everything with the vendors is is is
excellent their service the Congeniality
their products everything was real
positive you know um uh I'm also a
little
bit apprehensive sometimes about the
number of dogs you know the the dogs
that come down there I had my pug you
know he's 8 months old so he was
controllable but there was some large
very large animals and
um you know sometimes that's a little
bit uh it is annoying it is the owner's
responsibility um we are a pet friendly
Market everyone knows this um we will
not you know it's up to the owners to
ensure that their dogs controlled we do
have um poop bags available throughout
places in the market our vendors provide
water uh for the dogs to drink
throughout the market I I noticed that
and then maybe just the city maybe the
city uh is the Connie maybe the city a
little more signage for the the gums
spitting or more littering containers
Andor some signage about control your
dog and if they are going to leave a
deposit take it to your own bank so
that' be I appreciate that thank you
thank you ma'am and thank you you do a
good job thank
you anyone else no well Karen thank you
thank you for the update and uh we will
all be sure to vote thanks for the
reminder we will all vote and then
you're going to have to come back and
remind us uh so we can can challenge
Council and the city manager on uh the
costume day and dress like your pet
councelor matis just mentioned his dog
and I think uh he he'll okay there we go
yes we all right we will definitely send
a reminder out can dress like a and I
can look like a p
thanks all right thank you very much
thank you
uh agenda item 2.2 the industrial
revenue Bond IRB policy Elizabeth
teters good afternoon mayor and city
council my name is Elizabeth teters and
I am here to talk to you about a
potential industrial revenue Bond policy
that um we would like that the economic
development department would like to
bring forward in the upcoming months um
this has been just part of an effort
that we have in the past few years tried
to formalize the tools in our toolbox
for incentives for the businesses so
this is just another one that we would
like to to formally have in our policies
um and so I'm going to start with
talking about what an IRB is so it is an
um a tool available to counties and
municipalities in the in the state of
New Mexico while it is called a bond
it's actually a tax subsidy that um you
can have for a maximum of 30 years so
this could include property tax
exemption gross receipts tax and or
compensating tax exemption exemption of
bond interest from New Mexico income tax
or from federal income
tax um so according to the state statute
statute a project can be financed which
includes land buildings equipment and
improvements but it is important to note
that according to the state statute it
prohibits municipalities from using any
of its own resources to either pay debt
Serv services or the to operate the
project by Finance um being financed
with the IRB so after the bond is issued
transaction is entirely between the
project company and the bond purchaser
so this I just wanted to point this out
so that city council knows that the the
city does not um does not impact the
bond capacity for the City by doing an
IRB so how it works um basically a
company Deeds its real and or personal
property to a um the IRB user in this
case it's a city of Los crusis the city
then leases the project back to the
company and by doing this and they'll do
it for the term of the bond and by doing
this the company acquires the state and
local tax status of the governmental
body so the city's tax exempt status um
um and then at the end of the the
bonding period the maturity date the
company purchases purchases the project
back um there's two parts to an adoption
process that includes city council so
first there's the inducement resolution
which is adopted by city council and it
indicates the intent to issue an IRB for
a project at this time if it's approved
um it also allows the company to get a
tax exempt certificate so they could
potentially start purchasing equipment
under the tax exempt status and then the
second part of the process is the actual
IRB ordinance um it is also adopted by
city council um it authorizes the
issuance of irbs and it approves the
primary Bond documents and
terms so the legal process I don't want
to get too much in In The Weeds about
this but after the IRB is the ordinance
is approved the city will issue the IRB
and it is purchased by the bond
purchaser uh the proceeds are
transferred in installments from the
purchaser to the company and in turn the
company will pay the principal and
interest back to the purchaser
throughout the life of the bond so again
the city is not involved once they sell
the bonds it just goes between the
purchaser and the company and then they
pay it
back so an example um I use an example
of a potential business that's looking
at the industrial park right now and
this is very general there's a lot more
that goes into it um but this kind of
will give you an i an idea so a company
is looking to locate at the industrial
Park and an IRB has been offered as part
of the incentive package the IRB amount
it will be in 60 for $60 million which
is the um the investment of the company
the length is 20 years so over the 20e
period the company will save
approximately $1.8 million through tax
abatement um now this is again very
general there are other considerations
when it comes to an IRB so you can do a
payment in Le of taxes so a lot of times
school districts will be held harmless
um most of their ta their revenue is
through taxes so the abatement wouldn't
be 100% abatement for 20 years say it'd
be about 75% so that way every year the
school district would still be getting
their taxes um and then also it's just
important to know that the city
currently owns this property so it's not
generating any taxes right now as it is
so um throughout and after the 20 years
is over the taxes will start coming to
the
city so now that I've kind of explained
what an IRB is why create a policy uh
it's to evaluate the potential benefits
and costs of proposed projects to assure
proposed projects are evaluated in a
reasonably objective thorough and
consistent manner to promote development
of eligible projects which provide
specific types of identified benefits to
the city and its residents to require
clawbacks and to require all costs to
the city to be paid by the
applicants some favorable projects that
are written into the proposed policy so
projects that have a substantial
increase in employment uh significantly
diversify local and Regional economy it
utilizes Goods Andor Services purchased
in the city it expands the type of job
skills in the local job market or
utility skills of locally unemployed
persons it provides or expands access to
affordable housing and it provides or
expands access to medical or
healthare the process written into the
policy is that um uh business business
will submit an application that will
include a proposed form of inducement
resolution the project plan and the
application fee and deposit staff will
review the project and if we determine
that it is something that fits within
the parameters written into our policy
we will bring it forward the IND
inducement um inducement resolution
forward to city council to vote vote on
if it's approved this the um staff will
then work with the company to put the
bond ordinance together and then bring
it back for
approval there are some additional
requirements that we would like to put
in place with multif family housing
projects um these projects need to
demonstrate that the project will
further the city's affordable housing
policies the private sector is not
meeting low or moderate income family
housing needs the private sector is not
meeting needs of the Elder elderly
persons and all multif family housing
projects must be reviewed by the
affordable housing committee before
being introduced a governing body so
that just adds an extra step before
coming to city
council some clawbacks that are written
into the policy that every business will
have to follow so 100% of the abated
property tax will be reimbursed if
operations permanently cease within 5
years and then in each um in in each
individual circumstance there will be
repayment of Abad taxes based on um if
they don't meet job creation and
retention the GRT revenues uh generation
isn't what they said it would be capital
investment isn't and then create they
didn't create the affordable housing
units that they said they would uh so
the provisions will expire beginning 10
years after issuance of
bonds and then finally fees uh we did
write fees into it because uh because we
work both parties the city and the
business will work with an IRB Council
um and as part of the state statute the
business pays for all the fees the legal
fees for both parties so we went ahead
and wrote in paying fees throughout the
process instead of write um sending them
a bill at the end so they'll pay some
fees when application is submitted 30
days prior to date of proposed
inducement resolution and then within
five 5 days after the ordinance
authorized issuance of bonds and at the
very end if they've paid too much we
will reimburse them but if they haven't
paid enough we will write we will send
them a bill for the final
amount and that is all all I have I
stand for
questions okay thank you Elizabeth
councelor current thank you um thank you
for this when we got the packet I was
like I don't know what this is so I've
been crash coursing myself and and
thinking about this um and I just have a
couple of follow-up questions and then
um specific to section two um projects
of spe specific interest I I have
something that I would ask that we might
consider um but or or that might be part
of the ation as we go through it but
just really quickly I want to kind of
use this as an opportunity to educate
folks about how we support businesses or
do not support businesses in our
community um uh on the internet which
probably not the best place to get
information folks say um the city of Las
crusis has made a special deal with
Walmart and that's why we'll never get a
Trader Joe which I know of course is not
true um so I just want to put that out
there folks that's that didn't happen
doesn't happen that's not how any of
this works but I would say
um would this be that special deal that
people are alluding to and I guess
that's sort of one of the qu not that we
would say oh Walmart we you know this is
the special deal that we've made and I'm
not saying we have not done that that's
not how business works in the city
um at all I I wanted to spell that rumor
but I do Wonder um if we're looking at
how we support economic development um
is this kind of in the normal wheelhouse
of things or is this an exceptional
practice that or like why haven't we
been doing this already I guess the sort
of why and and where does this fit into
the scope of the packages of economic
development that we use and how will
this like it sounds like you gave a
pretty good example how you know um I
don't know if there other more the
industrial park I think is a unique
situation but I don't know if there are
other applications that you could tell
us a little bit more about as well mayor
councelor Karan so this is um I don't
think this has really been used
previously because up until a few years
ago the industrial park wasn't a
priority for the city so this has just
been as we put the industrial park plan
in place the overlay District everything
that went along with it um we've been
trying to just get everything in place
to better compete with with other cities
that already are doing this like the
county and Albuquerque already has this
these policies in place so that's
basically where we are now is it's just
another step to get us at the same level
of other communities and other counties
in the in the area um this tool is
mostly used for industrial type
businesses so it wouldn't be for the
Walmarts or anything like that there is
like um there are other incentives that
could potentially bring in
retail I wouldn't say Walmart is one of
them but there are other incentives that
we could potentially look into
formalizing as well yeah awesome thank
you so I'm just I just wanted to use
this opportunity to dispel rumors make
it clear where we are on par with
everyone else and then um some get some
clarity and then the second part that I
just just to this idea of it being
primarily focused at the industrial park
which I appreciate um under General
policy projects of specific interest to
the city for me um I do believe that
some of the things that happen um in
particular very extractive things like
server Farms
um often are built to take advantage of
incentives like this and I I would ask
that we might consider um articulating
as things that are priorities to us that
we're not looking to incentivize
businesses that will just take from our
water in particular um at the at the
industrial park but I'm sure there are
other extractive things that I can't
imagine that could but most
approximately water I don't know if it's
possible to include that as part of what
we're interested in but I would like us
to articulate that we that we're aiming
to sort of build sustainability as part
of this as well um and so I think I I
don't know if that's possible but I
would just like to say that's the one
concern that I have in in thinking about
incentivizing folks here and Ice I think
we should and I I want us to be there
and I want it I want it to to grow and
Thrive but I don't want it to be at the
expense of of things like our our water
so um mayor councelor Karan so our IRB
Council actually wrote this policy for
us um and I think sustainability is a
good word uh so I can always take it
back to them and see if they can craft
up language to put into that section so
that when I bring it back for adoption
that can be considered I would I would
very much appreciate that thank you and
that's those are all the questions I
have thank
you thank you mayor Pro thanks mayor
thank thank you um Elizabeth Miss teters
for the presentation I yeah just a
couple of questions so I'm hearing my
colleague councelor Corin talk about um
I think I maybe I just need a little bit
more clarification um so this would be
primarily the focus of the industrial
park but it would be we're not in the
policy it's not saying strictly to the
industrial park right and I asked that
because you're talking about housing and
so I don't think we're talking about
building housing at the industrial park
right yeah um mayor councelor Ben comoo
um yes so I it is mostly used for um for
industrial and anti-industrial park but
it is written into the state statute
that affordable housing is allowed which
is why I spoke with Miss Natalie Green
and we decided to write it into the
policy so that is I wanted to make sure
it's in the policy so that could be
considered in the future can you give me
an example of how this would be used for
affordable housing development oh see
she's already already gotten up MH
thanks
Natalie and I know you said beralo and
the county are using this already is is
it for housing uh Mr Mayor uh mayor
protm uh Bern Leo County does use the
conduit financing for multi family
rental housing we are actually using
this process right now with uh the
padrina senior apartments uh the
difference is the county uh doniana
county is the the conduit financer so
our program was not in place at the time
that uh they were closing on their deal
so we weren't able to be um well we were
able but we weren't prepared to be the
conduit financer for their bonding um so
the county was kind enough to step in
and they're doing it so this um as Miss
ters mentioned it just adds an extra
tool into our toolbox when we're doing
affordable housing development um it
helps make the pro uh projects more
sustainable because they're not paying
property taxes on affordable housing and
so it just gives them that extra um
financing that they need to make the
numbers work long term some projects do
have other types of exceptions we've
been able to get for property taxes um
but it's not always applied across the
board and it's really dependent on the
assessors so this gives us a guaranteed
property tax exemption for those
projects okay thank you I appreciate
that I would um I think that's helpful
to know that this just another tool in
the belt um but I did I was like wait a
minute we're talking about housing and I
don't think we're going to so make
people there Tam so when someone will
look up padrina they will actually see
that the physical property is owned by
the county and they lease it to uh
padrina LLC for the apartments remind me
the padrina one is the one on El Paso
correct by the high school right got it
got it got it oh interesting okay thank
you Natalie I appreciate it um yeah this
I think this is this helps me a little
bit more to be a little bit more
supportive of this because I think as I
first read this I thought oh well you
know we're right now having a big
conversation about GRT and increasing
the GRT in the meantime we're talking
about giving some of these big
businesses um ways out of the GRT and so
that feels a little bit tricky for me
right to sell to the public and so I I I
think it's really important that we talk
about like what are the the gains then
like what is this community gaining then
because of of this kind of Economic
Development tool um so that we can be
you know better champions of it that
that would be my only suggestion
Elizabeth just thinking about the
narrative around this thank
you Council M yes I I just had a couple
of questions you're you're saying the
industrial revenue bonds have never been
used by the city of Los cruus all the
companies out at the park right now FNA
areal last constructions they're all
none of them have received any kind of
tax abatements um mayor councelor matis
so Saputo cheese back when it was effa
Dairy they did use it years ago um when
Saputo did their expansion three years
ago now they had originally we proposed
giving them an IRB but um they pulled
out of the deal and just we just did the
the Lita instead so we haven't used it
in recent years okay so it was used
by FNA F and how many years did they did
they go to the termination of their
their Le 20 years 30
years do you
know I'm not sure off the top of my head
but I can get that information for you
okay you know when I think of irbs and I
think Mr Lopez realizes my tenure at the
New Mexico border Authority with Jerry
PCO many of the companies that come into
Santa Teresa of course in the free zones
as well as using irbs down there um it
created jobs I mean that's the I thought
that was the primary purpose of IRB so
is creating jobs is that still the the
principal use uh mayor councelor matis
so whenever we look at incentives for
any business it's really each Community
sets their own benchmark Mar s are like
their own expectations we've always
looked at jobs wages and investment
those are our three when we're
considering giving an incentive to a
business those are the three big ones
that we consider uh so if whenever a
business fills out an IRB application
they'll have to put that information in
there and then we'll decide whether it
fits what we're looking for or not and
then the ROI the return of the
investment okay excellent thank you
good thank you anyone
else no all right well thank you
Elizabeth thank you for the update and
the information and thank you as well
Natalie I think this is something I
think um just by a head knot I think
this is something an incentive that we
would want uh brought forward for our
Economic Development so thank
you next on the agenda item 2.3
accountability and government ordinance
discussion we have our City attorney
Brad
Douglas all right good afternoon mayor
mayor protim City councilors and City
staff I'm here to discuss the long
awaited proposed revisions to the
accountability and government ordinance
also known in the shorthand as the I've
heard it referred to as the oversight
ordinance and so I'll jump right in and
so some some of the key revisions that
uh we are
suggesting um are adding definitions for
things such as fraud waste and abuse it
feels almost absurd to say but during
the original or in the format that the
ordinance is currently in there are no
definitions for fraud waste or abuse so
this would add those definitions and
those definitions are consistent with
federal and state guidelines uh
whistleblower protections are also
explicitly added
uh so as to encourage cooperation and
transparency um the Inspector General
will have improved Independence no
longer will The Office of the Inspector
General be under the city attorney's
office U certainly wouldn't want me or
anyone after me uh in any way limiting
or directing the ig's investigations nor
would you want any City attorney
potentially limiting or redirecting a
city auditor activity so that's another
change that would take place um and so
really uh throughout this document the
goal was to keep true to the spirit and
the intent of the original
ordinance uh while eliminating any kind
of ambiguity while eliminating
redundancies for example uh in the
current ordinance uh a job description
is codified and so it's my position that
we really don't need to have a job
description codified when it already
exists in Human
Resources um and so as I said it was our
intent to not take any oversight away uh
to only add oversight and so one of the
new additions would be that the
inspector General will be allowed to
attend all hearings and meetings related
to fraud waste and abuse that concern
the police department or the fire
department um
and oh another thing that would be added
uh new functions of of the revisions
would include oversight for the office
of the Inspector General itself uh for
increased transparency and
accountability it kind of hearkens back
to the old saying who watches the
Watchman um and so that is something
that we contemplated and added to the
revised ordinance or proposed revised
ordinance I should
say as I've already stated our goal was
to remove ambiguity by adding
definitions and deleting redundant
language to increase oversight of LCPD
and lcfd where no IG function previously
existed uh increasing transparency and
accountability for the office of the
Inspector General itself to help clarify
the overall oversight committee function
and to increase transparency and
accountability for All City contractors
subcontractors and lower tier
contractors
another thing that we wanted to do was
to clarify the oversight committee
membership qualifications because we
felt that we might be losing out on some
otherwise really qualified potential
committee members for example the way
that the ordinance is written right now
you have to arguably be AC CPA someone
who is currently a certified public
accountant doesn't matter if that person
had accounting background of 30 or 40
years if they weren't currently a CPA
uh they arguably would not be qualified
to serve on this advisory committee well
we've made those changes if you have an
accounting background uh you would now
be eligible for an audit background you
would be eligible we didn't want to
limit
ourselves
um something that I also recommend
changing is uh toward the end of the
ordinance um there is a section that
states that any violation of the
ordinance
anywhere is a petty
misdemeanor and so that doesn't really
encourage truthfulness cooperation and
transparency uh I know for example that
if the IG or the city auditor wanted to
speak to me uh you know Brad we think
you might have violated some tiny
section of this ordinance the natural
reaction would be uh I'm not going to
speak with you until I have an attorney
because this is criminal in nature it's
really unnecessary in my opinion it does
not Foster transparency and if the IG or
the city auditor find actual criminal
activity uh throughout their
investigations they refer those matters
to law enforcement anyway and so I would
recommend removing that any and all
violations of the ordinance uh are
criminal in
nature and I will stand for questions
okay thank you Brad U councelor Kent
thank you Brad thanks for um following
up on this I have a couple of questions
or things I'm hoping that you can
describe I have some specifics and then
I'll I have a general question um one
specific component is I appreciate you
opening the the language to allow for
other folks to be appointed because I
think it's really hard to get people who
are functioning as Professionals in any
field to give up a lot of time um to to
be on a an unpaid volunteer committee
for the city which is across the board
but also specific to this um so thank
you but in that same paragraph there is
a clarification about I I do Wonder at
the very last sentence so not to form a
quorum uh no more than three council
members shall be in attendance um does
that when you say council members does
that include the mayor and I asked this
because I don't know if we should make
that more explicit and
say uh yes counselor Corin would be uh
Our intention that the three council
members that would include the mayor um
but we can clarify that language if
you'd like just to be more
specific just so that it's clear across
the board and um I mean yeah so I I
think for everyone's yeah sorry thank
you that was the G more specific thing
that I wanted to add to that
um and then the last the sort of more
general question that I have is I'm
hoping that you can really talk
about how what the flow of report
reporting concerns is and how the IG
relates to the oversight committee
relates to audit and just sort of paint
a picture of what that looks like when
someone complains about something or
when someone has a concern internal or
external where does it go how is it
triaged is it independent is it
simultaneous how do those reviews work
with those three sets of sort of
different overseers and how do they
relate to each other sure
um I will defer to miss Pere I can tell
that she wants to say something and by
the way uh I worked extensively with our
city auditor Miss perea and also our
Inspector General Mr Tucker uh who is
also a former member of the oversight
committee so it's been uh very helpful
and I'll turn it over to
you right thank you Mr Mayor councelor
Corin uh as far as internal audits are
concerned every year we develop an audit
plan and we bring that plan forward
forward for audit uh excuse me the
council's approval um should there be an
issue that arises where a special audit
needs to incur something that we didn't
anticipate initially that we need to add
to the plan we'll bring that forward to
the city manager uh also report that to
the oversight committee to let folks
know that we're going to substitute
something on our plan for that
additional issue that that has arisen
without you know prior knowledge and
we'll be able to conduct that audit um
as far as investigations are concerned
and I don't want to speak for the IG but
I'll give you just a quick um background
and then I'll let Charles uh inform you
a little additionally uh when a
complaint comes through it has various
Avenues where it may um come to our
attention whether it's in person
verbally in person we have our hotline
um whether it's a PD complaint that goes
through the the police department's
hotline there are various Avenues where
a complaint can be raised if it does
come through um either internally or
through our hotline process all of those
complaints will get directed to the
Inspector General and he will be able to
determine whether or not there's Merit
to move forward he can do some
additional or initial inquiries to
determine the validity to move forward
if they go through the PD that is under
the purview of um Internal Affairs
however if with this revision that we're
proposing if there's a complaint related
to fraud waste or abuse the IG now will
be able to assist with that process by
being present during those processes and
I'll defer to Charles to explain a
little bit further
good after good afternoon mayor council
Charles Tucker the Inspector General for
the city when a complaint comes in like
Viola said if it comes in through our
hotline I I review them all um if it's
something that has to do with fraud
waste and abuse then I'll let the
hotline
committee um know my recommendation is
that I'll I'll take care of that
investigation if it's not then I'll make
a recommendation that
it it'd be looked at either through one
of the assistant city managers and their
subordinates do the investigation if
it's not something that's fraud waste or
abuse and then we handle it that way um
if it's something that I'll can you go
back to your original question so I make
sure I answer everything just sort of
how uh you relate to the oversight
committee I I sort of understand how
audits fit in there but but and then if
they're sequential if they're subsequent
if there's feedback loop if there are
feedback loops from between them okay
when uh um when I sat on the oversight
committee the intent was for us to
review the ig's products so once the IG
is done with his investigation the fraud
was or abuse it would go to the city
manager city manager signs off on it I
can't hang it for public distribution or
I can't redact it and and uh or I'll Rea
redact it take it to the um oversight
committee for review they'll look at my
product they'll make recommendations on
whether I should look at something a
little bit more or but again they make
recommendations they can't change my
product they can't um tell me that I'm
not doing uh the right thing or they'll
make recommendations and I prefer
written uh on my product and then it has
to be posted for transparency reasons
now because we don't have an an
oversight committee right now I've got a
lot of packets once we actually have one
we're going to be going through a lot of
investigations that have been done so
that we can actually put these out for
public but um that's something that'll
happen once we stand up an oversight
committee thank you so the triage
happens at your level generally speaking
okay that's what I was curious about
because often people write and say um
you know this city staff member should
be fired and I say that because probably
I get 10 emails a week saying things
like that and I I hope that someone is
triaging those in some capacity or look
you know I I'm not to not to dismiss it
but I want there to be a layer of like
ma'am I've gotten complaints from people
not flushing toilets in City Hall to um
you know cars being driven crazily so
okay I I see the Gambit of it all so I
do the initial assessment and then we'll
determine where what route that goes too
not flushing huh oh that's that's ugly I
would like that no
I'm going to make a public health
argument against that one um thank you
so that helps me understand better where
where things are going and how the
feedback comes so thank you thank you
very much and thank you all for your
work on this those are all my questions
thanks uh councelor Flores
sorry me now go ahead councelor Flores
gracias um so um th this question is a
general question um and I know that um
Biola did an excellent job when we had
that snafu I don't think I want to go
into the details but I think we we all
know what I'm talking about
um is would it avoid that kind of a
scenario mayor uh it doesn't seem that
that this would come that uh would come
under the opes of that oversight
committee who and who oh and very
importantly who oversees the IG with all
due respect Mr Tucker right thank you
councelor Flores uh it's my hope that
with a more robust oversight system
which I do believe that we have maybe
incidents like that could be avoided
because of um the Inspector General
monitoring the uh the hotline complaints
uh and
having I don't want to say cart blanch
Authority but very wide latitude uh to
do invest investigations throughout the
city including uh investigating City
contractors subcontractors or lower tier
contractors that's something that has
not always existed and in the event that
any of those parties uh do not cooperate
it's uh it's anticipated and built into
the revisions that for example we have
an allegation of wrongdoing an
allegation of fraud on behalf of one of
our city
contractors and the or employee or
employee um and let's say that the
contractor refuses to cooperate with the
IG
investigation at our discretion at the
city's discretion that contractor may be
barred or rather
disbarred uh uh from doing business with
the city for a prescribed amount of time
at our discretion and so this has some
real teeth in it uh to encourage
transparency and cooperation it's kind
of like the inverse of what I was
speaking about earlier if we have a city
employee who may be accused of some
wrongdoing
um at some point during the
investigation if it truly does turn
criminal uh then our IG will turn the
matter over to law
enforcement um but if it's not criminal
in nature we don't want to make every
possible infraction criminal in nature
because then nobody's going to talk to
you they're going to invoke uh their
rights they're going to want an attorney
present but what we really want is that
cooperation and so the uh the carrot
would be taking away the criminal
penalty for each and every possible
imaginal imaginable violation of the
ordinance the stick would be if you're a
contractor who's doing business with us
and you're not cooperating with our
investigation you may not be allowed uh
to do business with the city in the
future uh with regard to your second
question uh who oversees the office of
the Inspector General under our proposed
revisions uh if there is a complaint
concerning fraud was abuse and I'm not
picking on Mr Tucker it could be anybody
um but in the ig's office uh external
review Council will take over that
investigation themselves the city
manager and the City attorney will be
notified immediately so there will be
people tracking that and at the who are
the people that would be tracking that
well the city manager and the City
attorney would be at least apprised of
the investigation but what would prompt
what would prompt
the
investigation any and I and with all due
respect to the person sitting as the IG
I just want to know about the how it all
functions and how that person sitting in
that position would be checked right um
and so probably the most common way that
would come about would be through our
hotline system but it could also come
about through internal complaints or
external complaints uh from anyone in
the in the community
okay and there's enough of an oversight
internal oversight administratively
speaking I believe that there will be um
right now there's there's very little
and like I
said yeah we know there's very little
that's why we had that big snafu a few
years ago and so um at the conclusion of
external review council's investigation
they would generate a report for uh for
the city manager to review and then the
city manager would take additional steps
if appropriate great thank you so much
Brad before Mr Douglas before we jump
out of that ma'am um it's Charles Tucker
with the IG City Inspector General can
you call me counselor ma'am sounds so
old I'm I spent 22 years in the Army
it's hard not to dress somebody like
that so I mean I would call Miss Ben
Como ma'am and she's like 12 so Madam
but um
when we get a hotline complaint that
comes in I'm not the only one that
reviews it I do the initial review but
it has to go out to the rest of the
hotline committee for their suggestions
and for how we process those so every
hotline if if there's a complaint
against me I don't have a choice I have
to send it out to both acms to look at
um the HR Director and um the City
attorney so all four of those folks
review every single hotline Comm uh
complaint that comes in not not just me
so if what about the auditor does the
auditor get that also no did you say no
no not no we wanted to do that so she
could focus on her
audits she does a very good job if it
went to her we'd anyway okay are you
saying I'm not I don't know you well
enough Mr Tucker we only sat on the
hotline committee for a while well I
went whenever the mayor didn't go or
Cassandra did or Tessa cuz at that time
I think there only two yeah missa and
and the mayor and he hardly ever went
with all due respect to Ken um so uh
Cassandra would go and if she couldn't
make it she'd tell me and I I would go
but I really wasn't a member but that
same question you brought up was brought
up by Chief story when we initially sat
down and we were talking he said who
watches you I mean if um cuz right now
we don't have anybody watching me
there's the way the ordinance is written
if I was to go Rogue we wouldn't know
the difference no exactly so we're
trying to write in those safeguards cuz
I'm not going to always be that IG so
it'll be it could be somebody else that
doesn't want to follow those rules or
wants to paint outside the lines and you
never know where that could go if you
give somebody this much power or the
office grows in some cases and um it it
it got got real ugly with the IG up in
Albuquerque where she ended up having to
completely separate her office from the
city wow um it got real political so I I
don't I we didn't want to do that and we
wanted to make sure that we had somebody
who could keep the IG um under a
microscope if needed so okay and so you
participated in of course the City
attorney Mr um Brad Douglas and then uh
Viola P participated ALS o in the
framing of it okay then correct I'm very
happy thank you thank you mayam thank
you
mayor thank you thank you FL is
counselor no no okay thank you councelor
Flor councelor
Grant thank you um just one question in
I'm looking at section 2- 176 and of the
proposed definitions for abuse fraud and
waste only abuse refers specifically to
government resources the other two do
not and I'm just wondering why there is
a distinction
there hold this down a little bit uh
mayor counselor gram uh these
definitions I wish I could take credit
for crafting them uh on my own but they
were pulled directly from the federal
government's office of uh government
accountability um with regard to to
fraud and
waste we could certainly make edits to
those definitions to clarify that uh
they do apply to government resources so
um we'll take a look at that okay great
just wondering why there was a
difference thank you thank
you mayor Pro thanks mayor thank you
Brad and all and all of you all for the
questions I have many many thoughts so
bear with me as I um try to get them out
so just top of my list I think I ALS I
continued to have some concern about the
oversight of the um IG I think um
everybody has a boss right and so I
think with this um revision we should
really consider like are we really
changing the character of the hierarchy
map of the city right I mean the top
bosses are our bosses which is the
public and then the city council mayor
are the bosses of the the city manager
right and then the city manager the
bosses of literally everyone else um I
think even when we think about Municipal
Court which is sort of like over here
right um even municipal court has a boss
which is the public as well right and so
I I do feel like there's some concern
just regarding who then the IG is
reporting to feel like that needs to be
clarified and I would you know strongly
dis discourage us to from thinking about
like the committee the oversight
committee right like those are volunteer
folks I feel like that would be highly
inappropriate as well and I mean I think
this is where we also want to avoid
saying well I guess the ig's office
should be an elected position because
then that becomes deeply political and I
don't think that's the point of this
kind of office and so um I understand
the like messiness of having the igb
under the city manager but I I just you
know feel like
there's I just for me there's still a
big concern around how we navigate that
brat so good luck to you no I'm just
kidding I but I do feel like that's are
you okay I'm not okay of course I'm not
okay I am so sorry I don't need to laugh
at you um I think there's there's still
room to grow this conversation around
the oversight of the IG um just so that
we're cognizant of again the makeup of
the hierarchy of the city as it is um so
that's one sort of a little bit of a
concern for me um I also I you know I
did go back in um in preparation for
today I did go back and read the Mard
report and I think this is obviously
that this huge like the enormity of what
triggered us to be talking about
oversite and obviously is I think is
important for us to remember like what's
at the core of what we're doing this and
a promises has a point because I think I
just keep thinking about how do we
ensure that in this revision we keep the
Integrity of effective oversight versus
what could spiral into the petty like
the toilet situation right like how do
we keep um and I'm not saying to whoever
made that complaint that there's not
validity in that but I guess I just want
to make sure that at the core of this
office and this committee is that
Integrity like we are talking about
fraud waste and abuse and so how do we
put that into language Brad like I think
because in some ways that's sort of
subjective right and so
um I do you understand what I'm trying
to get at mayor mayor protim um I
certainly do um I'll be very candid with
with all of you
uh this has been a hard ordinance to
revise um something that I have to and
I'm not very good at following this
advice but something I try to tell
myself specifically with this ordinance
is don't let the perfect be the enemy of
the good uh but it is very very
difficult and I I can promise you that
these are conversations that we've had
internally between myself miss perea Mr
Tucker um as it stands now there's
really no oversight for the office of
the Inspector General and we welcome we
welcome ideas uh but the way that the
revisions read um if there is an
allegation against the office of the IG
at least now um city manager and City
attorney would be immediately made aware
of it and we would be made aware of it
anyway because we get those hotline
complaints uh and then we would
coordinate with external review Council
and um if something very untoward had
taken place than the city manager at his
or her U discretion could take
corrective
action um but that's a balancing act
because we also don't want to live in a
world where the city manager whoever
that might be could be directing IG
investigations or stopping them in in
some scenario uh but I do I do welcome
your thoughts and is something that I do
consider that is tricky I hear you Brad
I definitely don't envy you any of you
as you do these revisions but I know
that um I read in here somewhere that
you are definitely looking at Best
Practices from all over the country on
and so I know that you'll find the right
answer um just to clarify the IG is very
much like the City attorney in terms of
who appoints and fires that person
correct right now the way the ordinance
is written the Inspector General reports
to me okay um that doesn't feel
appropriate to me okay um I would like
for the IG to be more independent than
that but who hires the
IG the city manager right yes may Pro
that's tricky okay um that's really
interesting that feels super muddy um
still so I I I know that there's been
some push back from even members of the
oversight committee like why aren't we
meeting what's going on but I appreciate
the thoughtfulness behind
the this ordinance I think again it came
out of a moment of Crisis and then it
was put in place and it was necessary in
in all of that and I think now I think
it's important that we are thoughtful
about how this is written and the way
that we are effectively looking at fraud
waste and
abuse um and then I think I also wanted
to talk
about the role of the IG regarding any
complaints
towards volunteer board positions like
how do is that right like there's a we
have a ton of boards that we ask people
to be on is
that is oversight
included
there I had not considered whether the
actual oversight committee would fall
under the purview of the IG do you want
to speak on that Charles
um and yeah I mean that includes the
oversight committee but any other any
any of them and I've had to um I've had
to sit in because I've gotten complaints
on different commissions and boards and
I've gone down to watch and a lot of
it's how people act how they treat city
employees and you know so I go in and I
observe um what would end up happening
is if something was founded it would end
up going to Christine who would stand up
the ethics board and then we'd go that
route to have somebody removed that's
the case okay I don't have authority
over a civilian I have authority over a
city employee right authority over um um
contractors somebody that has a
financial um um contract with the city
they're subcontractors and even the
third tier down subcontractors yeah so
um but a volunteer is another thing so
we would do it through an Ethics to
remove somebody that way okay that's
helpful I I think
it's I think this is important because
while oh my gosh I obviously appreciate
every single person who volunteers their
time to sit on any board oversight parks
and wreck the utilities any board right
like that's people are volunteering
their time it also the fact that you
don't have any oversight doesn't also
give anybody the right to treat City
staff um to abuse or treat poor poorly
of any City staff right I think that
that's important and it's in our and
it's in our ordinance that you know the
members of the boards commissions have
to treat people with respect and you
know that so that it can be founded if
that does happen Okay so and again it
would go through the ethics board for
removal of that person if that's the
case okay and that you make that call or
who makes that I don't make the call I I
would observe it okay and then I would
refer it and are you the only one that
can refer that no anybody can refer to
to the ethics board that's correct okay
that's helpful is that written somewhere
like where is that language it's in our
ordinance it's in the code thank you
Christine and all of you um and then I
guess just my last sort of Mor murkiness
to give you I apologize I don't mean to
throw more um unclarity towards you all
but like back to the like complaints of
fraud waste and abuse versus like
Personnel matters right which even the
city council does not have any to do
with Personnel matters as the city
manager is our only employee how does
how are you navigating that like are you
then taking it to the city manager like
what is
the process there uh mayor mayor protim
that's an excellent question um her law
the IG uh doesn't have authority to
investigate matters that are purely
Personnel based okay in in nature that
would be more appropriately handled by
um or redirected to our director of
Human Services is that language
differenti is that language
differentiated here Brad I feel like I
didn't necessarily see it
so yes mayor
protim okay yeah right what we were
trying to do and maybe we didn't do a
good enough job we'll go back and look
at it again is to make sure that the
only thing that the IG looks into are
matters concerning fraud waste Andor
abuse okay okay thank you maybe that
maybe that was my bad but if there is a
way to I think just clarify that a
little bit more I think that'd be
helpful and then I think those are all
my questions for now um you know I do
apologize for sort of making this a
little bit Messier if anything um I'll
continue to do some of my own research
but gosh I have full faith that you all
are looking at Best Practices and
finding the best ways to to move this
forward um and then I guess I I would
just my last question would be around
the oversight committee and when that
would be brought brought back to
life and I know that there's only one
member right now um and then so there's
two vacancies right and then I think and
then the mayor and Council appointed two
members of the council already so just a
timeline on that mayor protim um our
goal was to have
this perfect Miss Pera always comes
through um
I'm not seeing it
via
right why am I missing it where is
it that's okay um so are our goal is to
have this hopefully there we go uh first
read August 19th and second read
September 3rd and then hopefully see
that thank very very shortly after that
okay got it thank you I appreciate it
say one more thing on your question real
quick you mentioned HR part of the
hotline committee that reviews the the
hotline cases that we send out is the HR
Director so she's on the hotline
committee so if anything comes up that's
personnel and matters she'll end up
we'll either refer it down to one of the
acms for them to look at it or it will
go through her um as well and she'll
appoint somebody to investigate it so
hr's in the in the whole Pro process
where Personnel matters should be okay
thank you yes and actually apologize
Council K I just have one more question
regarding the oversight committee um
also by the way I'm 36 and the trick is
sunscreen so everybody wear your
sunscreen
um um I on oversight I'm curious
about I think I wanted there to be more
clarity as well on the role of oversight
and that they play an ad an advisory
role correct the oversight committee AR
necessarily making any decisions
regarding um what happens after any
complaints are found true uh mayor protm
uh that is correct uh the oversight
committee uh will act in a purely
advisory role and I I want to say we
added that language it might not hurt to
emphasize that language throughout
though yes thank you thank you for
that all right thank you Council correct
I'm also 36 but I don't wear sunscreen
so that's the no I'm just kidding I'm
not I don't wear sunscreen though so
yeah it is that is a secret trick um
just really quickly though I my sense is
not that any of us are objecting to the
loosening of the requirements for the
oversite committee I don't I don't think
I'm hearing that from folks so I would
say if the September date is the planned
date people could could be applying
through the boards and Committee website
now I would think um it's already open
so knowing and having heard these
revised
kind of open things I would suggest that
if there are folks who are like oh now I
can apply that you can actually apply
right now through our boards and
Committee website and so just to clarify
like I think we could get it up and
running pretty quickly if if folks want
to apply now I don't think anyone's
going to object to the change I don't
see any objections to those changes so
it feels like softly we can say please
apply um and consider that you might be
the person for the oversight committee
now thank you Council Karan uh good
point and yeah please anybody interested
please apply um anyone
else nothing no just want to say again
thank you Brad and violo for bringing
this forward you know this has been
anticipated and we do want people we do
want the oversight committee it's all
about accountability in government and
we do want to see that we support it we
encourage it and again thank you all for
bringing it forward thanks thank you
mayor mayor protm counselors
that's that's all of the agenda items
I'll look for a motion to adjourn move
to adjourn second by
Flores just send the motion to adjourn
the work session councelor McClure yes
councelor matis yes councelor Graham yes
councelor cran yes councelor flutes yes
councel Beno yes and mayor
yes e