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okay well welcome back if you're just
joining us we just had our tid board
meeting our tax increment development
district meeting now we're going to
start with the work session of the Las
Cruces City Council
today is Monday April 25th 2022 it's
approximately 1 42 p.m so we're going to
go start off with our pet of the week
our pets of the week and Jennifer
Martinez from our Communications office
will be introducing them
afternoon mayor and Council I am
Jennifer Martinez with the city's
Communications office
and today I have another cat and dog to
share with you and I will begin with
Patricia Patricia was raised outside
until a lady brought her into the
shelter she learned quickly to schmooze
with the staff and they all think she is
very friendly she hopes to find a family
and to move into a forever home
and then we have blue this guy is a
little bit older he's five years he's
about 60 pounds and is so full of love
he knows how to sit and he is very
respectful while taking treats blue can
get a little excited when he's put on a
leash to go outside but he is open to
getting some training in that department
and if you'd like to meet blue or
Patricia you can call the Animal
Services Center the number is
382-0018 you do have until the end of
Saturday to take advantage of the Spring
Fling promotion that's a reduced
adoption fee all adoptions are fifty
dollars until the end of April and there
is an adoption event at the NMSU alumni
Pond this Saturday from 9 A.M to 3 P.M
thank you mayor
thanks Jennifer
okay next is going to be our jobs of the
week
and Dr Paradis our deputy director of
Economic Development we'll be presenting
those
good afternoon Mr Mayor members of the
city council for today's jobs of the
week we will be having a Recreation
services coordinator and this will be
with the city of Las Cruces paying 19
with 51 cents per hour and this position
will be closing on May the 9th of 2022
there's also five positions available as
plumbers and this is with Las Cruces
plumbing and gas LLC the salary for
these positions was not disclosed and
these positions will be closing on the
7th of May of 2022 there's also a
position available as Veterinary lab
Specialists and this is what New Mexico
Department of Agriculture at New Mexico
State University paying between 1543 an
hour to 1941 an hour depending on the
experience and these positions will be
closing on May 6th of 2022. there's also
a position available with uh Southeast
Electric Incorporated and they're
looking for an experienced journeyman or
apprentice electrician they're paying
between 16 an hour to 25 an hour
depending on the experience and these
positions will be closing on the 10th of
June of 2022 there's also Las Cruces
Village is also looking for licensed
practical nurse at the position for here
is paying 22 dollars with 50 cents to 28
dollars per hour depending on your
experience and these positions will be
closing on the 18th of May of 2022.
additionally some of the workforce
events that we're going to be having the
Las Cruces job fair scheduled for
Thursday May 12th at 2 pm at the Las
Cruces convention center and again we
can make this possible thanks to our
partnership with New Mexico workforce
connections for a full list of jobs
internships and volunteer opportunities
please visit
www.employenam.com and we also have
www.governmentjobs.com forward slash
careers forward slash Las Cruces and we
pasted a picture of the Las Cruces job
fair flyer right in there so we will
also be Distributing this for you so
that you are able to attend and
distribute among your networks for
businesses that are willing to hire or
for job Seekers that are looking to find
employment in this specific job fair
we're putting special emphasis for
individuals that are transitioning out
of the military to get into a job in Las
Cruces and with some of the of the
businesses that are going to be in there
finally the information for the New
Mexico workforce Connections Office
their phone number is 524-6250 and
they're located at 226 South Alameda
Boulevard Las Cruces New Mexico and here
are downtown Las Cruces thank you Mr
Mayor
okay thank you Dr payales
okay so next we're gonna go to our three
items on the agenda
and the first one is going to be a
progress report on Realize Las Cruces
and Catherine Harrison Rogers will be
presenting good afternoon Mr Mayor
members of city council I'm going to go
ahead and open this bear with me one
second
there it is
we've been here a couple of times before
this is simply a periodic progress
report on our development code update
known as realize Las Cruces we have our
Consultants with freeze and nickels here
to give the presentation uh you may
recognize keden Perez one of our
Consultants locally with the firm we
also have Erica Craycraft on the line to
be able to answer any questions you all
might have and
um ultimately I'd just like to tell you
kind of where we are we're about a year
through we started this last spring
and we have worked through a couple of
sections we're still very much in draft
form and we anticipate that the final
draft will be available and for review
this fall sometime and then of course
we'll go through the public hearing
process and ultimately be adopted early
next year so with that I'm going to go
ahead and turn it over to Karen so she
can talk about the details about where
we've come and where we are and where
we're going thanks so much
thank you Catherine
foreign
good afternoon Mr Mayor members of the
council
I'd like to
thank you for inviting us to give you an
update on this we're excited about it we
still have a little bit of work to go
but we'll try and whiz through this a
lot of this is a repeat of what you've
heard before and what Catherine just
said so I will skip ahead as quickly as
possible
or I could not there we go
uh you've met the team before so I'm
going to go ahead and Skip through that
Erica is on the phone
um we tried to double double team on the
phone but we weren't able to do that
myself Fred Lopez and Dana Kyle who's
our local attorney
we wanted to go through really quickly
update the the code process go through
the design standards the draft
highlights go through our next steps
discussion and Q a if you have anything
when we're still done and just over
overall provide a status update on the
projects process
on the code update scope just a reminder
the major review are the items on the
left hand side zoning zoning Maps
subdivision the design standards
drainage and flood control and the signs
the ones on the right hand side had
minor updates to them they're also
included in the code that's outdoor
lighting historic preservation
cross-connection control excavations and
curb cuts
the code update process we started phase
one in March of 2021 went through
September 2021 that was primarily our
diagnostic looking at the code we are
right now in phase two it's an overall
24 month process we're about halfway
through
the planned vision and the
implementation these are based on the
elevated Elevate Las Cruces
comprehension plan so as we go through
this we did the diagnostic that was
primarily to understand the current
codes and plans hear from people who use
the code so improve and retain what
you've got and ended with the
development of that code diagnostic so
that's the game plan that updates the
the code overall our presentation in
August we went through our our
diagnostic process and the diagnostic
report got your feedback and Direction
and from staff and kept on going
so while preparing the diagnostic and
the update the the major guide is that
elevate Las Cruces Elevate had a robust
public engagement process it outline
policies recommendations and
Our intention on the code or the city's
intention of the code is intended to
implement the community's vision that
was developed during the Elevate process
the plan had over 200 recommendations
related to the code update and we refer
back to that constantly for guidelines
for the plan
these are the list of some of the people
that we determined and again this is a
little confusing but I'm going to say it
again these are the people that use the
code on a regular basis they come in
they submit things they follow the rules
so Council obviously and the the rest of
the folks there these are not the only
people that were engaged in the process
this is the code user portion
so they're the ones that understand the
the issues and with the current code and
and our kind of our guiding board on
that
we also had virtual open houses because
the Swiss during coven and so but this
open house is still open for any
additional input and we did get a lot of
input through the through the process
some people don't don't like the
electronic stuff of people of my
generation probably but
um they were good they were good about
that and everybody got better in covid
So currently we're in phase two we're
about halfway
um so we're drafting the code document
in segments working closely with staff
to prepare the drafts
um and and share for feedback from the
community and from everybody involved
code adoption is expected in the spring
of 2023 and our last phase which is the
refinement and adoption is about a
six-month process
phase two in this drafting of the
overview is revising the sections that
we talked about we presented back in
January in the general divisions in the
subdivision regulations today we wanted
to go through and highlight some of the
design standards that we've been working
on
so the design standard chapters includes
nine subset sections that are all right
here that relate to the physical
Improvement of the land so that's lot
design drainage roads parks and trails
outdoor lighting tree preservation we
were talking about trees earlier
Landscaping fencing screening and signs
so going through on the roads and right
of Rights of way we've updated the cross
sections to implement the complete
streets and this is based on the
recommendations and Elevate and also the
active Transportation plan
these are the modifications that are
also intended to implement the complete
streets
and let's see includes requirements for
shared Pike bike Lanes multi-use path is
the the all of the elements that you see
on the cross section for complete
streets this isn't the only
cross-section but it's the most complete
cross-section that we have just as an
illustration excuse me just one second
Karen I I I'm gonna have to step out for
just a moment but just in case they
hadn't hurt I don't know if I had to
state your name this is Karen Pettis in
fact she was a former County
Commissioner I think in 2006 to the 14
something like that six yeah and she's
fluent in Spanish so you can talk to her
in Spanish if you want okay so I'm gonna
turn it over to me
no one told me we were doing that but
okay thank you Mr Mayor
okay so on roads and right-of-ways um
clarifying the Tia the traffic impact
analysis triggers the timing criteria
so we have less interpretation or the
perception of interpretation or
subjective assignment of of TAA
requirements and something that's very
well defined that should take some of
the burden off of staff and people in
care
um accusing of subjectivity or or
irregularity and how those are applied
so we're doing a lot of work on that and
we've gotten great recommendations from
staff
um we're adding block links for
walkability so in the city those are
shorter in the rural areas they're a
little bit longer but that was a very
clear recommendation in in the Elevate
also we've updated the clear site
triangle requirements and if you're not
aware of what those are but the ability
to pull up to a corner and be able to
see there's a triangle that's
established we're aligning those with
the ashto requirements there were some
inconsistencies there and subdivision
access points and connectivity
added requirements for the number of
subdivision access points for a larger
larger subdivision so it's a minimum
there's a minimum for two for the fire
code and we've added additional just to
make sure that the connectivity index
requirement is met for new subdivisions
and to encourage that walkability and
the interconnectability of subdivisions
drainage flight control and erosion big
one here impact on adjacent and
downstream properties we've added some
of the annexed areas while we have very
clear guidelines of of on-site ponding
and not allowing the
area where the the water drains off the
property to impact those Downstream
properties in the city limits in the
areas that have been annexed and were
originally kind of a water on water off
and some of those discharge points were
shifted and impacted those properties
we're making sure that that is well
defined and that people are aware that
when you combine a whole bunch of
Arroyos and make a really big Arroyo it
creates a lot of damage
the maintenance of private private
Drainage Systems where we have those
Regional ponds and everyone thinks that
somebody else is going to take care of
them they fill up with sediment weeds
trash that's going to be very clearly
defined and give Provisions for codes to
be able to do enforcement on that and
update every three years to go through
and make sure that that maintenance is
being done that the structures are in
place it's a little bit of extra
tracking for staff but well worth it so
there's a clear line of responsibility
and we don't have these ponds full of
stuff that don't retain the water that
they were designed to
um looking at utilities and flood zones
and again this applies possibly to the
annexed areas more than anything else I
had a really fun time putting sewer
lines in Arroyos so you can see that the
manholes through their probably not the
best idea that that has been had and
there will be some guidelines in there
about any kind of utilities but
particularly sewer because of the
possibility of infiltration and and
overflow
and the last part is on slope and pond
vegetation making sure that the erosion
is taken care of
on the the slopes and encouraging
vegetation in lieu of things that don't
allow the water to percolate recharge
the aquifer but still maintain that
slope on the side so you don't get that
erosion and that additional sediment
that fills in ponds or is carried
Downstream by the Arroyos so that's
something that is better defined I've
also looked at Hillside development
different kinds of development standards
primarily again protecting homes from
erosion
opening up very large areas stripping
out of vegetation having dust flying
everywhere so these are all again
focused back at erosion encroachment on
floodways trying to Define I know
buffers are really sore sore topic but
trying to keep people from building
directly in floodways if they are
determined to do that that their
developer their their engineer would
file a letter of map revision so they're
acknowledging it it's in a flood flood
zone making sure that they file the the
notification with FEMA and that they've
come up with a way of protecting the
property that doesn't hurt the homeowner
or in of course city sewer systems the
buffers are based on Watershed size
so where people say well you know if I
take the a land that's right outside of
the Arroyo if it's 25 feet or 50 feet
that's very arbitrary it really isn't
and let me give you an example because I
know this is something we got a lot of
questions on the other the last
presentation so when you look at
Watershed size a watershed produces a
certain amount of water if it's a really
big area that feeds a single Arroyo or a
system of Arroyos there's a lot of water
in it
so when you take that and feed it into
the Arroyo tends to be a lot of water
bigger Watershed the deeper that Arroyo
is going to flow the deeper it flows the
more it eats that back and if any of you
are friends and Alesso Taurus was the
best example I could come up with where
we have a whole Road a row of houses
that when the high when the county took
a highway bridge and kind of tilted it a
little bit it started eating out the
size of the side of the Arroyo so when
you think about it flowing really deep
and really fast the Arroyo then does
what we call migrate so it'll move out
and it ate our backyards all the way
back up to their back patios because it
just moved that a little bit so the
buffer protects the property owner
protects the person who made the
investment it protects the county and
the city whoever owns the streets when
those Arroyos shift a little bit with
Upstream development it starts getting
deeper it will eat out so the buffers
are dependent on the amount of water
that's flowed as best as we can
anticipate how much that Arroyo would
have a tendency to migrate so that's the
rationale behind the buffer distance it
isn't arbitrary it's not oh hey 50 feet
looks good to me because people feel
like then you're taken apart a piece of
their property and I can't develop in it
no we're wanting you not to put your
house in it because there's a really
good chance that that Arroyo with a
natural slope would have a tendency to
migrate and
and we're giving you that buffer to
protect you protect your investment and
and protect the city the county anybody
else with infrastructure investment that
it doesn't erode out
um pipe and in other kinds of
infrastructure as well as roads so
that's the logic behind it I expect some
very Lively conversations on that one
but we're trying to come up with with a
guideline to at least as serve as a
basis of discussion the last one is dust
con control and if you didn't think
about dust until the last couple of
weeks now you do
um so at dust control enforcement and
planning for it there's a lot of that
anyway what one of the things though in
going back to the Elevate is trying very
hard to encourage people not to strip a
whole land bare and then put a whole
bunch of water on it
because that makes no sense to anyone so
we encourage them to develop in smaller
portions make sure things are vegetated
use alternative dust control measures
there's something called colorfully
Gorilla Snot but it keeps the dust down
and it's not a water-based formula it's
more of a glycerin base
so that is there parks and trails
I'll stop for questions and for a breath
at the end but I'll get through this
again as quick as I can
um added new Parkland dedication for
development with New Lots or dwelling
units
um
this is in accordance with the parts
master plan and the active
Transportation plan
Trail dedication for new development
where proposed trails are shown on the
active Transportation plan so trying to
follow the plans you have in place and
establishing criteria and procedures for
dedication of parks when we get to
questions if you have questions on that
I'll get Erica to answer those
landscaping and screening requirements
for perimeter and Landscaping and
interior parking Islands so what you
have right now in the current code is
the Landscaping can be virtually
anywhere on the lodge as the first half
has to be on
on the front at least half has to be on
the front so the new code is configured
to require landscaping around the
perimeter of the property and then on
interior landscape islands and that way
it breaks up those big
what they call a CEO of parking lot so
it'll break it up you'll get some
Landscaping in the parking lot itself
again consistent with the
recommendations and in best practices
honestly and and Elevate all of the
required Landscaping must be on site now
there's a provision to allow it in the
right-of-way
um which is kind of irregular and and
could be problematic if it's your site
it's your Landscaping it goes on the
site itself Street trees uh required in
the parking lot are an adjacent property
uh Park but an adjacent property if not
the parkway we're working on Street
standards for The Collector and arterial
streets
and support the city's cool corridors
initiative and again we talked about
that in the tid meeting earlier with the
with shade trees
so it would be either in the parkway or
on the back side of the sidewalk
there's another section too on tree
preservation so this is proposing to
require a replacement or a fee to remove
trees larger than two inches caliber
size
there can be a director exception if you
have a heavily treed line you can't
build and then there's an another part
of that uh re a removal permit is
required for large trees and we're
evaluating damage protection for
existing trees so this would require the
mitigation or a replacement of those
uh remove trees or a fee in lieu so that
the city can
re-vegetate or or plant trees elsewhere
large trees would require a pnz or or
city council approval for removal
so trying to add those Provisions to
protect those existing trees from damage
construction lighting other places where
where they do get damaged so those are
all major components
signs also I know are really contentious
item the Reed versus Gilbert case law
that's a 2015 U.S Supreme Court case
that prohibits cities from regulating
signs purchase
based on content
so if it's a real estate sign or if it's
a
off-premise sign
it really makes it difficult if their
content based and saying okay if it's
this then it can be this size if it's
another thing so
discouraging large Billboards they need
to meet the freestanding and dimensional
requirements for example a maximum of 50
to 200 square feet depending
on the area so
they would be regulated by the
freestanding those freestanding
Dimension requirements
um the common signage plan is required
would be required for multi-tenant Lots
um they would get a 15 sign area bonus
that would be and see there would be
common signage required for those one
development optional for adjacent light
lots and then to have a consistent look
of the signs it's kind of a bunch of
random ones so those are that the 15
sign area bonus would be based on the
maximum size of the sign
so and again specific details I'll defer
to Erica on that one
um just a FAQ code users in States
stakeholders
were working primarily with City staff
the drafts are shared on the website
when they're initially available there's
a technical Advisory Group working
committee that has been established that
will will also be working with
um and then community-wide input is
going to be requested once there's a
complete draft in the fall of 2022. so
what we're trying to do is to get the
really messy stuff out of the way get it
cleaned up get the staff input get the
the technical input and then we'll put
it out for private public comments so we
don't have public comment on things
edits and
you know the random stuff in between
we're not trying to sneak anything
through we're just trying to give
everyone a good clean copy to comment on
so
based on that
any questions I may answer or I may
defer to Erica who will be the voice in
the sky so thanks Karen counselor Ben
Cuomo counselor Flores counselor beta
thanks mayor thank you so much I thank
you for noting that too a lot I thought
you looked familiar and I was like does
she look like a celebrity pretty like
where have I seen her before so I don't
know luckily people don't come up to me
in Walmart anymore that's that's I can
I'm Incognito most places oh it's good
to see you thank you for being here
um I just have one question I'm curious
about how you all intend to work with
the advisory committee how do you hope
and plan to incorporate that into this
process I'm going to defer I think Larry
is prepared to talk about that so
excuse me can you state your name again
please
yes my name is Erica Craycraft with
priest and nickel okay
Erica
we'll get your last name and um
counselors your question was how will
work with the advisory committee yes
um that will be a staff LED committee uh
that will be meeting with them to review
the drafts
um at this time I'm not sure if the
consultant team will be meeting directly
with the advisory committee but we
understand that that will be led
primarily by City staff
foreign
thank you
I'm going to call you Miss Erica because
I can't seem to hear her last name again
oh I apologize
thank you
good afternoon mayor city council Larry
Nicholas Community Development
early on in the process of wanting to
update the zoning code we were
approached by several of the developers
and uh design professionals and asking
to have input into this update the
zoning code or Atlanta use code
has not been updated for
nearly 18 or 20 years so it's well time
that we do that but we we do recognize
that it needed input from the users that
was mentioned earlier of the code and so
the technical advisory ad hoc committee
has been formed Mr Weir has done a lot
of Outreach it'll be consisting of I
believe 15 members of different sectors
of the design community and development
Community
Architects Engineers Builders developers
real estate agents businessmen and staff
and they will they will work with the
Consulting Group thank you I'm sorry I
don't mean to interrupt you I just I we
just voted on it so I I know
you know the makeup of it and all of
that I guess I just wondered how you
know you hope to integrate it with the
consultant and so then is feedback gonna
flow from the committee to staff to the
consultant
that
uh yes my mayor and
counselor Ben Como that would be the
sequence but they will be a coordinated
meeting so that when they are completed
and the outcome of that reached a
consensus and we brought forward okay
because I want to make sure that when we
invite people to those kinds of
committees you know we're inviting them
to commit their time and and their
expertise that
that it be her that that feedback then
all the work that they do be taken
seriously and be
um implemented and you know in order to
move forward so I just want to make sure
that that's
um that it's not as superficial
committee and so I think it's important
that they do have face time with the
consultant and you know to make sure
that they feel hurt
thank you thanks mayor
thank you counselor Flores uh thank you
Mr Mayor and and thank you Miss Bettis
for your presentation
um my um you didn't go into the details
about
um the the 50 Feet the 100 feet from an
Arroyo and I know for a fact
I think it's the Custer of Royal that Mr
Nichols is very familiar with and Mr
Weir is very familiar with
and I
I don't know and of course Harrison
Rogers is very familiar with too
um I think we're all familiar with that
because
um there's the Custer Arroyo owned by
the Custer Brothers I believe and and
and I don't know if this is fact or
fiction but the lore out there is that
uh the Custer Brothers tried to sell
that Arroyo to the city of Las Cruces
for one dollar and that the city of Las
Cruces did not buy it and I think I know
why because a lot of developers own land
and if that's true or not the fact
remains that there isn't a royal there
so if we can you know get someone to dig
out you know where the truth is but the
truth in fact does exist that the Arroyo
is there and there were homes that have
been built in off of Calle Abuelo and
that gated area there
and um and I learned about that area
when I campaigned uh five years ago for
this seat and I learned that there I met
Miss I think her name was Mrs White
um whose house was impacted by a migrant
Arroyo
I mean that that's really a beautiful
name a migrant Arroyo but what Arroyo
stays the way it's supposed to stay I
mean it's water for crying out loud so
what happened to Mr and Mrs White
um was that it flooded their house and
they were told well if you build a 10
foot high wall or whatever
you won't have that problem so they went
out and spent I don't know twenty
thousand dollars
well anyway a long story short it
flooded again and again and it affected
their health and Mr White eventually
passed away from complications that were
definitely
um whatever stress related yes it was uh
and her when I met her
she was beside herself
my concern is that whether I I and you
mentioned that there and your words and
I don't misconstrue what you said but
you did say that those that setback or
whatever it's called 30 feet 50 feet
make a difference well of course they're
going to make a difference especially if
they're that small but I don't under I
don't think that there's any engineer in
the world any uh hydrologist in the
world any kind of
schooled person in the world who can
predict how water is going to run
so all that being said
what you've presented today
does that really address that issue we
have arroyals right and left here in Las
Cruces and um and
um and and the question that councilor
Ben Como asked was a very well I agree
with the question was very good because
we just don't want lip service we don't
want oh we're having this community
meeting and everyone's going to be there
to answer questions
who's going to be there to ask them
I mean who
the only real the only real stake that
the community the people who buy a home
are stakeholders but if the homes
haven't been built yet
the stakeholders don't exist at that
point so
we are we are here to make sure that we
don't have that happen so we have all
this open land and all a lot of that
land is already owned by Developers
so how do we really regulate how do we
really make sure that we don't have
another Mr and Mrs White situation if we
haven't had one already or had it more
before that and not aware of it
I mean what do we do is it true that the
Custer Brothers offered to to sell it I
want to know David David might have
David David
let me take a stab at the technical part
of it so there is a science in hydrology
that's called geomorphology so what
geomorphology does is it looks at the
type of soil that you have out there the
dart and it looks at the amount of water
that's coming down and it can it's a
predictive thing they do a predictive
model on how much that Arroyo will
migrate over time it's it's pricey it's
a little time consuming but it is
something that can can be predicted and
there's nothing saying that the buffers
that are generally regulated are
recommended are going if you do 25 feet
then your house will never flood that's
absolutely
impossible to predict the hard part that
we have though and what we're trying to
address in the drainage standards as a
whole is when developers build Upstream
so if you've got something like the
county one that I or your example any
place where you have an Arroyo and you
do that predictive model or you put in a
wall or gabians or something to protect
that slope and you've left your buffer
and then somebody approves a subdivision
Upstream that completely changes there's
one Upstream of my house for example
that put in 85 homes they approved it
they took eight Arroyos and they
combined it into one big Arroyo that
happens to be the one that's in my front
yard now I'm paying flood insurance
but it was approved and we told them at
the time and I'm an engineer so I got to
go in and testify and say if they do
that it's going to wipe out the front of
my house
I've got vegetation all over the front
so the vegetation does work but in my
house is 20 feet above that but that's
the only reason and I still pay flood
insurance
but the fact of the matter is is as long
as we're approving subdivisions and we
have not dealt with the water on water
off making sure that on-site ponds are
working and develop properly all these
other things that we've put into the
drainage code it's a it's a work it's a
whole work in process you can do the
buffers and you can do those drainage
regulations and you can do the
maintenance part of it
and you'll be closer is it a guarantee
no but I know a lot of people that come
from out of town I'm originally from
Massachusetts but I've been here for 30
years and I know that people come down
and say well I don't know what the big
deal is about the Arroyos that thing
looks dry as a bone until it's not and
it only takes once so again trying to
get ahead of that and and and do that in
advance it's going to take a lot of
steps and we've done we've done the best
we can staff you have a very robust
storm water but apropology
Bettis where exactly
are the ponds what I mean you you have
these ponds and so you have all this
land out there and then some of it is
developer owned already or you know
whatever
um I mean or is it might be state land
it might be BLM land
how do you get those ponds out there and
how and and you may be an engineer
um and with all due respect I I don't
think that anyone can predict where
water goes I mean I think you can have a
probability
like the law of probability but there's
no crystal ball on that and and
um and the hundred year flood thing is
also a myth so I just uh I I just want
to make sure that
it's true that elevate Las Cruces I
think is pretty comprehensive
and so
um the the realize you know what we're
discussing today
um is is hopefully consistent with that
but somehow some of this just doesn't
ring right with me and I I and and I I
just don't feel I mean I use I I you
know I I mean it was heartbreaking when
you come and when you meet people and
then you know that they're having health
issues related to stress and
um and they you know eventually lost
their home or move they sold their saw
they sold their their home for a song
they probably sold it for about 50 or 80
I don't know how much they sold it for
but it was a song I mean relative to
what that property was worth when they
bought it
um and I I just have to go on the record
you know I just I just can't imagine
that happening to anybody and I can't
imagine being on a city council that
would that would approve anything that
would be that there's no safeguards
frankly right right now there are there
the safeguards are limited and we're we
are doing staff is doing their best to
come up with a comprehensive plan that
again looks at the drainage plan for any
proposed development that locates the
ponds that may or may not change Arroyos
anything that comes in those are
addressed the depth of the pond who's
going to maintain it is it is it in the
right place does it collect sediment and
things and then it doesn't hold the
water anymore all of those go into the
development plan and that's one whole
set of drainage stuff and Miss benefits
are another another small portion of it
but who owns the property where these
ponds might be located who waited I mean
would it be on developers land and
they'd say no it's my land you can't
tell me what to do
okay thank you
did where the Community Development
Department um mayor and
councilor Flores
I think your comments and statements
really encapsulate why we're reviewing
these ordinances and why you do it
periodically and
nothing that you've said isn't it
something that the city staff that
reviews these developments isn't aware
of or that goes and does maintenance on
the record Mr weird
there's nothing you don't know okay no
no
I said that we're not aware of of these
situations so
um
but I think the development Community is
aware of those also that's taking place
and so by going through this process we
know what the issue is that's what one
of the reasons we did the Diagnostics to
see what where areas we could improve
our current ordinances the ad hoc or the
technical committee that that you formed
you'd ask a question about how that will
be used it's another
opportunity to everyone to share their
experiences also share experiences how
what would be a way to address these
issues and so um it all needs to work
together
as far as going forward with the
ordinance
and it even goes back to elevate Las
Cruces Las Cruces has always taken a
stance of trying to keep their Arroyos
As Natural as possible everybody uses
the example if you go up to Albuquerque
you see all the concrete channels I'm
assuming that one of the reasons they do
that is because then the channel doesn't
move it's there forever but you then you
lose that natural component that
aesthetic those Open Spaces in your
community and so through this process
through the updating of the codes that
technical committee staff's experience
we're trying to find something that
provides a compromise creates you know
livable neighborhoods yet also makes
safe neighborhoods so I I think those
are all in the docket they're all on
things that we're looking at improving
and addressing that in fact I think two
weeks ago we had a we've overused the
word robust today but we had quite a
robust discussion about
arroyals and how to go about treating
those so um it's on the books we're
trying to get everybody in here and come
up with a way that's reasonable for the
community
and the community will be when you're
talking about communities of potential
homeowner in an area like that I think
it's the homeowners it's the folks that
do business here it's visitors I mean
and that's the whole reason that you
have design elements is for the public
safety general welfare and stability of
the community and and again that's kind
of why we want to review these on a
regular basis thank you Mr weird it
sounds sounds good I hope it's good
thank you I do have a question about the
right of ways I don't know if that would
be you miss Bettis or
maybe Mr Weir again I don't know or Miss
or maybe Miss Craig craft but Kevin I
need you to talk on that Mike please
let's why don't you go ahead and pose
the question and we'll okay so
um the right-of-way
um
the right-of-way is anticipated what you
presented was that would be accepted
from required landscaping and these
right-of-ways are the ones that are
adjacent
say to a public road and
a private property owner a home is that
the right of way you're speaking of or
maybe Miss
Catherine knows
Mr Mayor members of city council
counselor Flores are you speaking to the
the changes in our Landscaping
requirements for private property
well I'm just referring to the use of
right-of-way right-of-way my
understanding is that the city owns it
but the way it is now the the property
owner that lives adjacent to that
right-of-way is responsible for the
maintenance is that correct that's
correct yes yeah okay so
um why is the right of way going to be
accepted from required Landscaping is it
because it's
I mean that the city owns it so why why
is the city being accepted from
Landscaping so I think there are a
couple of a couple of answers to your
question so currently the way the
Landscaping ordinances are written is
that the required landscaping for a
private development they can actually
put some of their required Landscaping
in our right-of-way what the changes are
requesting or whatever what they're
proposing currently is to make sure that
all of the required Landscaping is
entirely on the private development as
opposed to putting some of it in our
right-of-way that does not exempt them
from having to place Street trees in in
the the right-of-way or the Parkways
that may be adjacent to them that's a
separate provision in addition to that
if a developer were to be constructing
rights of way rather than just improving
private properties for a business for
example they would also be required to
landscape those rights of way but then
ultimately the city
um you know as we are now any of those
medians are our responsibility to to
maintain it's not that's not the
responsibility of a private landowner so
there are a couple of components I think
that we're talking about
so the right-of-way would accept the
exception would be
it would be the city
the city is the owner of the right of
ways
correct yes ma'am the city is the owner
of the right of ways but under today's
ordinance
um having to do with Landscaping let's
let's say I'm going to give you an
example let's say I want to open a
bakery and I'm going to to build a
structure on the property and as part of
that construction that site development
I need to put in landscaping the way the
current code reads is that a portion of
that Landscaping I can actually put in
the city's right-of-way what happens is
if the city had to come do and that come
to a street project and widen those
roads that particular individual
development then loses that landscaping
and under the requested changes the
entire the entirety of their required
Landscaping would be on their property
as opposed to putting it in the city's
property now again that doesn't exempt
them from having to put in any required
Street trees as part of a proposed
Street treat ordinance
well I want to thank you very much and
thank you Miss Bettis and thank you Mr
Weir and um these are all very
I I hope we get enough people from the
public the quote Community unquote to
attendees because uh I think everybody
in Las Cruces is subject to
um flooding and Arroyos and all that I
have friends who live in in
I think councilor Ben Como's district
and they have to carry flood insurance
but I don't and I live on the east side
where there are floods so go figure
thank you thank you
thank you thank you counselor and I will
tell you in the past before councilman
Como took office the city was able to I
think it was the El Molino project when
when we were able to complete that
probably help three or four hundred
residents eliminate their flood
insurance which is pretty expensive so
that was good and look forward probably
to some other projects in the future to
do that as well so councilor beta and
then mayor Pro Tem
thank you Marin thank you Miss Perez I
had a clarifying question
um Justin with regards to parks on the
dedication and if they were looking at
what types of I guess plots are being
dedicated in my district we do have a
very specific problem with having
Retention Ponds as our Parks only and so
our usage is very very limited because
of that
can I defer that to you Erica
do I still have her you can but I'm also
going to defer it to Dawn
oh is she hello everyone this is Dawn
Warwick can you all hear me yes we can
perfect okay
um so as I understand the question it
has to do with uh if whether any areas
that are subject to flooding or other uh
have other environmental constraints are
being considered as areas for Parkland
um there are criteria that will be
written into the Parkland dedication
ordinance that establish that the
Parkland needs to be usable it needs to
be areas that are accessible and ideally
areas that connect to other amenities or
the trail Network
so we are looking for areas that become
usable park space as opposed to just the
unbuildable part of the property that
may not really be useful for the purpose
of recreation
thank you very much thank you and thank
you mayor
yes thank you thank you Miss Perez
as far as the codes and the map that
develop the development and the general
provisions
I had a situation
um related to the historic district and
I know Mr Nichols is familiar with this
we as it relates to noise and the
railroad and
um and and and sort of a a sort of a
copulation of some ordinances and such
how are you connecting those and and
making them better or trying to align
them
I know that's okay Catherine Harrison
Rogers with staff again
um
mayor Pro tem members of city council
the consultant is currently working on
the zoning portion of that unfortunately
part of what we're reviewing doesn't
include necessarily noise ordinances
that's something that's elsewhere in the
municipal code I'm familiar with some of
the issues that you're speaking of
but as we look forward to rezoning the
city looking at those Maps looking at
some of our zoning districts we're
trying to align what types of uses are
most compatible what types of Aesthetics
are most compatible but we're not quite
there yet they are actively working on
that I haven't even seen a copy because
it's still in in draft form but
hopefully we'll mitigate those conflicts
between neighbors as that's something we
strive to do always absolutely okay
thank you and then the triangle
requirements I wasn't familiar with the
definition or the concept of until a few
days ago and then had a pretty
interesting conversation with the
individual about that now can you talk
to me about what the concept is is is
gearing up for is that you said so I'm
thinking it's for cars you have all of
it but is it also for pedestrians and
bicyclists as well because it feel like
that triangle requirement really
encourages more cars on the road so I'm
super concerned about it but how you all
are the experts talk to me about what
that is and if it includes also
bicyclists and pedestrians so as I'm not
an engineer and Clear Sight Triangle
really is an engineering term I'm going
to maybe defer to Karen but we do have
Clear Sight triangle requirements now
and it really is about safety so Can Can
a driver see the pedestrians or the
cyclists coming when they're at an
intersection but I'm going to look to
Karen to maybe provide a little bit more
information about that
she did a really good job with that a
clear site trying and she gave me a real
visual too yeah I wish I had a picture
of it so if you pull up to a corner if
you don't do not have a clear sight
triangle have you ever pulled up to a
corner and there's a tree there yeah or
the wall goes to a 90 degree angle and
you have to literally pull into the
street to be able to see right and left
and by that time you've killed whatever
bicycle is crossing I had one
um the folks in the motorized wheelchair
I used to drive a Honda Ridgeline and I
had somebody on Picacho could not see
them they didn't have the flag or the
the um or anything right there and I
could not see down the road so I pulled
out just enough and I was going to make
my right turn and luckily they hit my
door and and I avoided running them over
but that's the kind of thing we're
trying to avoid so I try it's a Clear
Sight triangle exactly what it says so
if you come up it should be far enough
back from the intersection that from
where you stop with the little white bar
if you're lucky enough to have one you
should be able to see all the way right
and all the way left and it should be
well Back From That Sidewalk so if you
have a bicycle bicyclist or somebody in
a motorized wheelchair or a woman
walking with a stroller anybody you
don't want to be you don't want to run
over anybody but it really gives you
that Clear Sight all the way back
several feet on either side to be able
to see so if you have a wall by St
Genevieve the electric company put in
some some walls there see how they have
those weird diagonals on the corner
that's exactly what they were trying to
prevent was not having a big old wall
blocking on either side so you can see
so it's so you don't have to pull out on
the intersection to be able to get okay
to get through so the only thing we're
doing with that ashto does Highway
standards short version and I don't even
know if I could tell you what all that
the acronym means what we're doing is
we're matching their standards so nobody
can come in and say well that isn't
exactly like ashto apparently there are
some discrepancies so we'll refer back
to the ashto version of it which is the
same thing it's just a National Standard
we want to make sure that we're in line
with that thank you thank you Miss Perez
and then on slide 19 you talked about
something that piqued my interest
related to and if Will you how do I turn
it back
um
move it back
it's sad that I don't know how to run
that so Engineers have their limitations
to me okay no it wasn't
what did it pertain to okay I'm trying
to think why I wrote this and
this isn't quite
um where I was going but I where does
the piece where the utility like similar
to Alleyways were
um
back several a couple of years ago parks
and I think through David dalahan did a
whole assessment about those areas
specific to
um
City Maintenance and
um there were some that that was they
they identified all of them and they
said okay this is no longer we are no
longer going to maintain this area and
it I I have several where I live where
they sort of picked up the sign end of
City Maintenance so
um then I said well this is interesting
because you didn't let anybody know and
so are the neighbors aware that they're
required to maintain so what happens is
trash
um sometimes water right
collects there I'm I'm imagining there's
some drainage issues there and so where
are you at with that discussion if it's
come up in terms of how to maintain
those those specifically yeah Alleyways
are their own I'm going to have to defer
to staff on that that is not something
that's come up in our our review that
I'm aware of but you're correct they do
have City Utilities in them electric
some of them are flood ways and they do
back up on properties but I am not sure
where we are in Alleyways well you put
an asterisk on that and just make sure
that that's being addressed I think it's
an important one because when you make
decisions like we're no longer going to
maintain them that really puts the
burden on the several neighbors that
aren't even aware right like they're not
aware that they should be maintaining
their Parkway so it's those kinds of
things that I think are important for
the city to take under consideration and
maybe this technical group to really
look at and and put forth some
some good provisions and then how we
communicate that out with with the
public and I think I can give you a
specific example of that my son bought a
house on Willow and Ash and that area
between those long skinny funny looking
houses that he bought one of
um has somebody's built their property
right into the alleyway literally right
up on in blocking City Utilities so when
he had to get his City utilities turned
on there you have this Alleyway and this
person who's blocking the entrance and
that is definitely something that I've
noticed right right okay but we'll we'll
make a mark of that thank you I really
appreciate that and then I was
interested in in the tree that whole
um pain and
um for removal and such and and you know
I'm I'm not I'm only familiar with the
trees in the Parks and certain areas
that
um become a real problem that the city
has to take down right
um and so I I know that I see Sonia in
the back there I know we were going to
have a trius assessment and a plan and
making sure that we is
do you get folks that come and want to
remove large more mature trees I I
didn't know that that was an issue
mayor Pro tem members of city council
I'd like to give you a really good
example of where this tree ordinance may
have helped the city it's a little too
late the downtown and the Amador for one
um I was gonna say the Old Las Cruces
Country Club oh yes so if this ordinance
had been in place yeah
um prior to basically uh you know where
we are today those trees could have been
at least replaced or maintained yes okay
good good point Catherine and then
um I'm thinking about those
um places where
um where you talk about medians and
especially those that that the state
has overseas and they put the cement
medians and how I think it probably
doesn't do well as it relates to you
know the heat the heat element and such
how are you working with entities like
that and I mean it I often get lots of
criticism about some of the things that
we've done on Picacho and and you know
we often say that's the state plan but
how would how are you taking that under
consideration as it relates to State
projects and what they have to follow
very specifically I don't think we
should put cement I think we should put
vegetation and trees and those things
just given
climate change and and what we're trying
to do to reduce the the heat quarters
cancer Gandara members of city council I
think those are all really excellent
points we do try to work closely with
the D.O.T when they do their projects
and perhaps this is maybe another point
of of discussion with them as we move
forward and try to collaborate on
projects
in terms of our own roadways and private
roadways these these new draft codes are
considering more robust
Landscaping Street trees things of that
nature hopefully we'll be able to add
some trees to the city with the
implementation of these codes yeah I
love the way you know Telshor by the
hospital of what that looks like and why
can't we mimic that and scale it out
throughout this city and when I think
about what how beautiful it could have
looked down on Pikachu and sort of just
cement right medians I think we really
need to and I don't know what the
parameters are Catherine so I'm I'm I'm
recommending that we put something like
that forward and they have to adhere to
that it never really made sense to me
you know their answers to why they did
what they did but anyhow those are all
my questions thank you mayor thank you
anybody else
I have one quick question Karen can you
go back or if you recall what it was
regarding the Billboards
it seemed like you
had is this for new Billboards or
existing billboards
I believe this this is for new
Billboards and I'm going to defer to my
colleagues on that one
Erica thank you
okay so what we currently have
is uh sufficient
I mean we're not looking to remove or do
anything with those
the existing Billboards that's correct
we would not be requiring those to be
removed
oh thank you
so is that it for their presentation
is there members of the public who wish
to ask any questions on on this
okay all right well thanks Karen thank
you very much
okay next item is going to be the fiscal
year 2022
2023 proposed budget and CIP
and Matthew signs is
scheduled to discuss
how did you get that cursor so big or
your pointer and yellow I'm not sure it
was like that
maybe it's got more
so good afternoon mayor members of
council Administration for the record my
name is Matthew signs interim Chief
budget officer I want to welcome you to
our second budget work session for
fiscal year 2023.
so we are in compliance with this
meeting according to our city Charter
and we are required to provide counsel
with the budget 60 days prior to the
start of the beginning of the fiscal
year
so for today I will provide a financial
snapshot of what our budget looks like
at this time then I'll turn it over to
Miss Sarah kundiff management analyst to
discuss the capital Improvement program
and we also have I.T director Mr Scott
Mark to discuss the technology
Improvement plan but first we'll start
off our discussion with Dr Monica Torres
and the economic Outlook thank you mayor
thank you Mr Mayor and members of city
council my name is Monica Torres with
economic development I will be
presenting the economic Outlook
um
labor force and employment been
recording gains since their lowest
levels in April 2020
labor force as February 2022 preliminary
data gain about two percent as compared
to pre-pandemic levels in February 2018
and about one percent as compared to
February 2021
on the other hand employment
February 2022 gained about three percent
as compared to February 2018 and about
four percent as compared to February
on regards to preliminary data on
unemployment there's an unemployment
rate of about 3.8 percent
which is significantly lower than the
level seen in 2020
and while most sectors recorded gains
during March 2022 as compared to March
2021 Leisure and hospitality
grew about 33 percent there was an
increase of about
2 200 workers in March 22 as compared to
March 2021
and we've seen levels
higher than pre-pandemic in March 2018.
I'm gonna send
[Music]
thank you Monica
so this year's theme is continuity and
growth and this is a sneak peek at our
budget book I just want to give a
special shout out to our very own Carla
Walton who has provided our budget book
covers over the last several years as
always this year's photo is phenomenal
so our proposed budget summary for this
year our budget is fairly conservative
as you heard earlier today
excuse me our revenues are moderately
aggressive on our Revenue projections we
have seen some changes in our revenues
to destination-based sourcing as well as
we're receiving cannabis excise tax on
that and currently we are 10 above our
projections for the current year
so do you want to mention real quick
that we did not increase gross receipts
tax or property tax we also took into
consideration some of the council
priorities that we got some feedback on
at our budget Retreat and we're also
tying those two Elevate in our strategic
plan
so just as a recap
for our budget considerations for the
year salaries and benefits we provided a
3.5 percent Merit increase we budgeted
negotiated contracts we also budgeted
for the health insurance an increase
from 60 percent to 80 percent on the
employer with the potential increase of
four percent at mid-year
we're also budgeting open positions at
six months and providing the parent
increase at half of a percent
just want to also point out that we did
have 37.5 requests for new positions and
we're also budgeting half a million
dollars for cannabis tax
so taking another look at Council
priorities from our budget Retreat are
top Boats were for affordable and
obtainable housing pavement condition
index and Health Complex but we want to
give you a full list of all our
priorities and estimated budget amounts
to show you that we are moving on a lot
of these items so the first category is
for Community Prosperity under the
category Business Development we have
cannabis business zoning and training at
5000 under community service we have
continued continuation of community
events we have several departments with
the events in here including police
department and visit Las Cruces at 321
000 under Equity we have guaranteed
basic income this amount is still to be
determined pending the arpa second
tranche funding process
housing diversity affordable and
obtainable housing also housing for
seniors and disabled we have 1.2 million
budgeted in the affordable housing trust
and HUD programs and we're still looking
for additional opportunities to address
these needs through grants and bond
funding
under Redevelopment we have the El Paseo
Corridor and Solano MRA which is the
Metropolitan Redevelopment area
and we have 150 000 allocated for each
so total of 300 000.
under transportation we're still looking
for opportunities for uh to provide free
public transportation on that
Parks and Recreation we have specific
projects that were named for that we
have burn Lake which is a carryover to
complete the project at 228 000. we have
the Tony Gomez Park master plan which
includes franger park at forty thousand
and the vmora dam at 623 000 for a Park
City so our total for Community
Prosperity is at 2.7 million
under education and Community Services
we have community service for the Animal
Service Community Education low-cost
spay and neuter we're still trying to
determine some funds for that
under Senior Services we are planning
for an aging population
we have two million dollars allocated to
that this includes several events from
quality of life also renovations to the
Munson Center and expansion of sage Cafe
youth programming we're looking to
address education alienation and
bullying disperse youth services and
scale those two impoverished areas and
then also provide some funding for the
Police Athletic League our total is 601
thousand
total for education and Community
Services is 2.5 million
under the theme environmental
sustainability Business Development the
request was to use to provide State
funding to assist low and moderate
income households for residential solar
with this our grant team is looking at
funding opportunities at the federal
level with our state anti donation
clause on that it might be a little bit
difficult on that so we're looking for
alternatives on this one
Business Development
we're looking for state fund I'm sorry
that's I just went over that so total
for environmental sustainability is to
be determined
next we have Capital infrastructure
there were several projects requested
here some of these projects such as the
Lowman and Roadrunner prod project will
be completed in this fiscal year others
such as the flyover bridge on Elks we
recently submitted a raised Grant
application of 25 million on that and
some of these we're just jumping on our
radar such as the angler and Madrid
underpass so total dedicated to the
capital Improvement infrastructure at
this point is 17.8 million
Public Safety health related Services we
had the Health Complex mental health
issues and mobile crisis program
budgeted at 1.8 million for 200
000 for the Health Complex feasibility
study and 1.6 for the mih and Cit
so this is a look at the whole city
budget
our first column is our original budget
that's the budget that was adopted for
the fiscal year 22. our I'm sorry and
then we have our FY 23 proposed budget
from there so our general fund increased
16 percent I'll go a little more into
that here in a second we have other
operating funds it looks like it's down
21 at this point I just want to remind
you that we're still in the process of
entering some of our budget at the time
of the budget preparation we still
hadn't entered our vehicle acquisition
fund expenditures and we do have that
for you here today a list for you but
for our final budget we'll have that
number for you so it won't be down 21
special revenues fund is where we keep
the operating grants for federal and
state anything that's Bound by state
statutes things of that nature increase
of 29 percent over the last year we did
receive arpa funding for that so that
will justify the increase on that
Debt Service funds are down four percent
we're paying down on our debt uh capital
projects fund is also down five percent
Public Works is making progress on a lot
of their projects
and Enterprise fund is increased seven
percent which is more of our business
type related
departments such as airport Transit and
utilities
internal service fund looks like it's
down 46 percent with our change to the
state insurance we are moving those
expenditures to the general fund
and trust and agency funds is down 19
again as I mentioned this is just due to
the timing we are waiting on a lot of
the jpas to finish up their board
adoption for their budget so this number
will will be different for our final
adoption overall so far our FY 23
proposed budget is over half a billion
dollars 505 million
which is a one percent increase over the
year
so this is a look at the city budget
so we have general fund at 26 percent
other operating funds at one percent
special Revenue funds at five percent
Debt Service funds at four percent
Capital project funds at 22 percent
Enterprise funds at 34 percent internal
service funds at four percent and agency
funds at four percent
so just another look at our cool covers
for the budget book
you can see FY 21 to 22 our revised
budget was 118.1 Million for FY 23 we
are proposing
129.2 million this is a 9 increase in
the general fund
so general fund summary our beginning
balance is uh six percent lower revenues
that is two percent higher again we went
into the the change in distribution to
Source distribution for the state we're
receiving internet sales tax on a local
level
also with the Cannabis tax we expect
about half a million for that at this
point and we'll look at uh
adjusting that at mid-year expenditures
have increased nine percent I'll go into
that here in a little bit
transfers out and in
have decreased 50 percent
we did
so we did
um
we took a look at a lot of these
expenditures that were requested from
Council and we tied them to the Telstra
fund and we were making sure that they
fall within the scope and within the
language for eligible uses so we're
using some of the Telstra fund to fund
some of these projects and we'll also
discuss that here in a second ending
balance is down seven percent our
required reserve of course which is
based on our expenditures so as our
expenditures increase so does our
required Reserve so that increased 10
percent
unreserved balance overall is down 59
percent down to 2.5 million
in comparison to last year
so the general fund increase just to
explain some of the increases on here we
have Personnel we have the new Henry
class position and benefits at 3 million
we have the 80 20 health and dental at 2
million of course minimum wage we got
hit with the five million dollars on
that
new operating requests from the
Departments we have Economic Development
177 000 for appraisal service and for
their Ready Las Cruces pilot program
human resources for the class and comp
study neogov and minor equipment of 202
000 we have fire for the mih and CIT at
456 000 quality of life for volunteer
onboarding and for their art and
structure instructors at 18 000. we have
Finance with the grant consultant at 125
000 and information technology which is
looking to replace their phones
and then also provide Wi-Fi upgrades and
maintenance at 139 000.
so taking a look at where your money
comes from
we have gross receipts at 96 000 which
is 78 percent
property tax which is 13.4 million at
close to 11 percent excise tax for the
Cannabis half a million which is 0.41
percent we also have franchise free fees
at 3.9 million which is three percent
investment income a hundred thousand
dollars point zero eight percent and our
other Revenue sources for permits
licensings and fees at 8.8 million total
estimated revenue revenue is
122.9 million
so where your money goes
we you can see that Personnel takes out
the biggest chunk of our budget at 87.5
million that's 67 percent operating at
36.4 million at 28 and we also have
Capital at 5.2 percent which is uh four
percent of our budget
okay so taking a look at our budget by
Department
I'm just going to highlight a few for
you here today so city manager it's a
little bit more than the administrative
staff so this includes Community
engagement
Council support Facilities Management
Learning and Development organizational
support Peak Performance and
sustainability at 10.4 million
Community Development is 5.8 million
they had about a 25 increase over last
year economic development is 5 million
they had a big increase of 59 but that's
mainly due to the land acquisition that
was budgeted budgeted under Economic
Development fire increased 18.8 percent
with a which is a nine I'm sorry 18.8
million within nine percent increase for
their CIT and mih
information technology is 6 million with
four percent decrease for some capital
projects that were completed Parks and
Recreation is 17.6 mil million with the
36 percent increase I do want to point
out that they do have the community pool
and East Mesa Rec Center that will be
coming online halfway through the year
so police they have 27.5 million uh D
with a decrease of one percent from last
year and that's due to a capital project
that was completed
Public Works is 10.2 million which is a
seven percent increase and we have
quality of life with 8.2 million with a
five percent increase
so I just want to point out that this
budget might look disproportionate
however as you remember the previous
slide
67 percent of our budget is allocated to
Personnel so just to give you a
comparison police department has 338
ftes well it may have about 30.
so taking a look at the general fund
transfers we have vehicle acquisition
funds a transfer budgeted of 1.5 million
44 915
is for Debt Service on that we'll budget
the expenditures of 1.5 million
facilities maintenance is 96 000. we
have the Griggs Walnut plume remediation
at 400 000. Debt Service for principal
and interest payments at 4 million GRT
Street Maintenance is 4.5 million we
have the Waste Water Reclamation project
Debt Service of 1.1 million Transit
operating at 1.3 million workers
compensation at 890 000 liabilities
claims at 4.3 million in airport
operations at seven hundred and thirteen
thousand
so our vehicle acquisition fund we are
taking council's recommendation to
move towards a more economical
a more sustainable way environmental
friendly way how do I put this
environmental friendly
a way to uh for our Fleet Service so we
have everything that's being purchased
is either an EcoBoost a hybrid or
electric so for next year we have the
airport with the electric F-150 at 60
000 Community Development also an F-150
a 60 000 fire for their mih program 150
F-150 electric for 50 000. Parks and
Recreation has a couple a few mowers and
two F-150s that they're looking at for
178 000 quality of life they're
requesting two hot shot vehicles and
we're still looking for a different
Alternatives Forum on that for 112 000.
police we are going to test out the
electric vehicle Mach e two vehicles and
also we're going to order a 14 hybrid
interceptors for over a million dollars
our total vaf is 1.5 million
so I'm just going to recap some of the
new positions that were requested from
the Departments we have the
communications program with the digital
content specialist at 67 000 Community
Development building official at 445
000 an engineer associate at 84 000 and
two permit technicians at a hundred and
ten thousand
economic development is requesting a
management analyst they are going to
fund that with 50 of the general fund
and 50 that is Grant funded so the
impact to the general fund is 33 000.
on the Housing Development coordinator I
do want to point out that it has an
asterisk by it so if it has an asterisk
by it that means that we are funding
those through the Telstra fund with the
transfer
so Housing Development coordinator at 78
000.
fire two crisis team paramedics at 178
000 to licensed health professionals at
196 000 and we also have a crisis team
Health coordinator at 109 000 crisis
team case manager at seventy three
thousand
information technology is requesting a
Windows systems administrator at 96 000.
legal is requesting a records Clerk at
41 000 and a claims adjuster at 74.
Parks and Recreation as I mentioned is
coming online with their community pool
they have a lifeguard request at 65 000
full-time cashier fifty four thousand uh
part-time cashier forty three thousand
two certified poll operators at 115 000.
part 10 Parks maintenance workers at 465
000 irrigation worker at 57 000
equipment operator at 61 000 and Parks
operation district manager at 79 000.
police is requesting to administrative
assistance for a hundred and thirty four
thousand
Public Works we have a management
analyst for salaries and benefits at 96
000 and a project manager at 85 000.
total new position requests is 2.5
million
as I mentioned we are trying to fund
some of the council's requests with the
Telshor fund so here's a look at what we
are funding with those funds so fire
mihcit and their Explorer program is 1.6
million we have Transit seven electric
bus matches at 870 000. we also have a
Health Complex feasibility study at 200
000 lift up Las Cruces which is the new
program to address poverty at 708 I'm
sorry 278
000 and we have the Police Athletic
League which includes equipment
also a coordinator and supplies at a
hundred and four thousand so with that
I'll turn it over to Missouri Cundiff
thank you mayor
oh Matthew can we take a couple
questions real quick
sure if you like so um let me just start
off with the the GRT I think the state
or the governor was wanting to reduce
that a little bit that's not going to
affect I mean that'll affect our overall
GRT if she if she's successful in doing
that
we can't remember the council I'm not so
sure that it it impacts our GRT
specifically I don't know that it was at
the state level I'm not sure that it
impacts the local level
thank you Matt
um mayor it didn't affect this uh it was
only on the state only my understanding
was it didn't pass uh in this last
legislation she may try again but it was
only going to be on the state portion so
yes the GRT if it would have passed
would have gone down but what we receive
on the local level no sir it did not
affect us
okay the second one is and I I know I
left the budget Retreat early but I
noticed you had the gbi there so you had
the majority of council that supported
that
well let me go back to that slide real
quick
right oh you just passed oops
thank you mayor
did I pass it again yeah one more go
back
that was one of the requests our top
request was for affordable and
obtainable housing also for the pavement
condition index and
um
what was the last one
well those were the top two on that this
was just one of the ones that was
brought to our attention
so I'd have to go back and look at the
results on that and I can get back to
you on that okay well you have to be
determined so to be determined this was
originally
requested from the first
round of the second tranche of arpa
funding so just depending on what is
determined through that whole process
um it could potentially be funded
okay and then also on the on the um
proceeds
from the Paso Electric I know I keep
bringing it up I sound like a broken
record on the franchise fee that one
percent increase
does that include that in the budget
going into the sustainability office
at this point mayor it does not we have
our currently we currently went off of
our agreements that we have in place
so I'll defer to Leanne if she has
further information
so mayor we are working with our lawyers
talking to their lawyers on that
agreement right now so
um I know legal might have more but I
think we're still working on it and
they're talking with each individual
department so at this time we have it's
still just a two percent sir okay thanks
and then last I take it you got with um
as I noticed all the and thank you for
the different electric vehicles I'm
surprised that you you're pretty
confident you can get in that F Ford 150
electric all-electric because those are
hard to get
mayor I will defer to assistant city
manager e Connie and and has the chief
seen those police interceptors
they're nice looking cars I mean that
that Ford F-150 is really hard to get if
you can get it
it is uh that is an incredible truck
mayor mayor miyagashima mayor Pro tem
Gandara and city council assistant city
manager I'm working with the fleet team
Luis Vela
and he's working with the vendors to
answer your question no uh EV cars are
very hard to to get by but what we've
done is we know that it's a
it's a priority and so that's why it's
it's on here we have a creative way
where Luis is working with with a
rotational program where I mean in the
meantime we don't have too many cars in
the rotation but we're looking at the
Departments that this is assigned to and
while they're getting billed because
they won't get built for a few months
and it takes a few months to get built
in addition to that so we have a plan to
to take care of our needs while we're
here but again we uh part of this is we
have we have priorities from Council in
a in the form of a resolution and we
just wanted to put this on here and the
team is and the Departments are willing
to work with us and so we'll we'll see
how we do
okay well thanks I I know Chevy just
came out with theirs although I really
like that Ford I've seen so much on that
the torque the speed is incredible so
I don't know we'll get you one mayor
we'll get you a shot okay thanks
all right thank you Matthew
oh uh counselor
photos thank you Mr Mayor and and thank
you Matt I have questions about those
EVS yes there is a resolution that was
passed not very long ago but it does
look like based on the presentation we
had last week I believe that we weren't
getting EVs and now this looks like we
are getting EVs and then you say Mr Tamo
peo no yes it's not quite right I mean
which is it and and it's not it's not a
recommendation from the city council
it's a directive
so and as you say because of our
directive
we expect those EVS any future purchase
to be an EV and my understanding is that
there are works that there are some
purchases in in
um in the making that are not EV so what
are we getting I mean you know when you
know we we get information here there
wherever it trickles down or whatever
and um
and it makes us you know frankly
um it makes us look like a you know Ship
of Fools I mean us up here as City
councilors you out there is City
Administration
um and it just it's almost a slap in the
face I mean we passed a resolution I
think Gill and I worked on you know some
of it and
and uh and so what is it I mean which is
it Mr Tomo peo I mean you're an
assistant city manager and Mr city
manager you're up here so do we pass
resolutions and then and then people and
Fleet or wherever go ahead and do
whatever they want and if that's the
point why do you have a city council
I mean frankly I mean I think all of us
have had successful and some of us still
have very successful careers in other
places and I think all of us are here
because we're really committed to a
better Community a better City a better
world
so and I don't mean to in any way be
insulting but I am being frank and if
it's you know
if it's coming off harsh I apologize for
that but I don't apologize for my words
so I want to know what's going on Mr
peely apropos of the EVS
and are there going to be purchases that
are not EVs and then because there's oh
they're waiting for more EVs and and uh
and then it's going to take two years to
get those but then in two years the cars
we buy now won't be broken down and
rattled so therefore we're not going to
replace those for another 10 years I
mean which is it what's the story Mr
peely Mr Cameron Council let me see if I
can break down your questions wow so
maybe your first question is why did we
have
why do we have resolutions why do we
have resolutions that don't really
matter
I mean what's the point answer that one
counselor but let me let me try and
answer your questions that you
you post first so
you asked why we had other vehicles in
the last meeting
that weren't EV and now we have EV one
of the reasons counselors that was for
this fiscal year
and they have been in recent they've
been researching ways to get EVS as you
know as you mentioned they are difficult
to get
this is for next fiscal year and so our
hope is that we're able to and we do
want to I mean as you can see my hope is
that when we brought this forward that
you would appreciate the fact that we're
taking uh what you're saying but uh I
mean it's showing all electric vehicles
we're going to do the very best we can
to be able to get them but they are
difficult I mean you may look at the the
Marquis I don't even think they're
you can order them right now but we're
going to do everything we can possible
as uh I Connie mentioned we have a
rotation that we're going to keep
rotating them through until we can get
them available
but uh
I mean I I don't know how to answer the
rest of those questions well the
question I'm asking and and it's apropos
of talking about Acquisitions and
electric vehicles I I'm asking for an
answer regarding because you know I sat
up here I think councilor mayor Pro tem
gone that I said last week oh we should
pass a resolution I said we have a
resolution and we do have a resolution
and yes you're talking about last year's
fiscal year
but um but that resolution was passed
last year
I don't know the exact date
but the directive was that by a date
certain everything would be electric and
that date certain has come and passed I
believe
and if I'm wrong about that okay I'm
wrong but I don't think I am about the
dates and I don't know if our city clerk
could bring that resolution up
but I think the date has has come and I
I think then that
um
uh you know I know we have general fund
reserves I know we have this that and
the other but
um I I think all of us up here as a city
council feel very strongly about
you know we just don't celebrate Earth
Day once a year I mean so well that's
that's a different thing I just want to
know what the story is Mr peely and who
makes those decisions does does someone
who's doing purchasing
say we just can't do it you know we just
can't irrespective of what city council
said and and that's something that I
don't want to be privy to but
um it's not that that conversation is
between you and that employee
but it but again I mean you know we come
back to the same thing it's like
you know we I I know that each one of us
up here works very hard to
um really carry out policies and
um that that affect everyone so
yeah and I if and if you want me to
clarify another question I will but I
know I said a lot and kind of run on and
on
uh that's fine counselor so we are
planning to come back with our
sustainability officer we'll talk about
what has been done uh when it was
mentioned in last in council meeting it
wasn't prepared and I'm not prepared to
tell you what has been done to history
but our sustainability officer will be
able to tell you what has been that what
hasn't
but all we can say is that
we know that in this fiscal year
uh this is it this is our all the
vehicles we're purchasing and as you can
see
they're all hype they're either they
have one hybrid or you have one hybrids
and you have electric vehicles and this
is a
this is what we're trying to do to make
sure that resolution is being
implemented and I appreciate that Mr
peely and and I hope we don't come back
a year from now saying oh we're still
trying to get those and in the meantime
we buy non-evies or whatever well I
think I think what Mr uh what the
Connie's trying to say is that
that's out of our control I mean we're
going to try what we can but there are
some things that are still on backup you
can't even order some of these things
yet but we're going to do everything we
can possible but I don't know if it kind
of has anything to talk about uh on some
of the efforts but we will come back
with our sustainability officer give you
a presentation on what our plan is well
then we we need to know what the
feasibility is of purchasing these cards
and then we have to also assess whether
the um the you know the the uh the cards
we have now can exist for that projected
period of time and I know that we know
very well that our police officers and
probably our our firefighters are
probably aching to get better Vehicles
all around
so but I'm just wondering and this isn't
anything new I know that when Nathan
small is a city councilor he was you
know and that was I think before you
were born Mr peely no I'm just kidding
before someone you were born no I I mean
it's been uh you know and and counselor
sorg always pushing for this so
um I you know I just don't know how long
it's going to take for us to really bite
the bullet on this and and really uh get
serious what they're doing and again it
I think I've said this before and it's
it's you know I I don't want to feel
the way I feel right now I mean it's not
a good feeling to think that we're doing
all this for naught and so and I don't
and and it's not like putting you know
economy on the spot or Matt for
presenting or you for being city manager
because all this has been in the making
but I do you know really have to pipe up
so do you want me to rephrase a question
or is there anything else I can do for
you
hey Connie may I clarify something for
you I
uh mayor miyagashima and counselor
Flores and city council thank you so
much counselor Flores I hear you loud
and clear and I just wanted to share uh
some some information maybe it will
highlight uh what what the staff has
been doing one thing that I can
understand is
uh two two weeks ago or last week was it
last week when it was presented I should
have I should have come up to the
microphone
um and I didn't because essentially this
plan that you had here was already
planned but this was for FY 23 which was
presented to you was the current uh
was an adjustment made in in this this
current year but I just wanted to share
with you wasn't that uh that was done uh
that happened and then we we started uh
rushing to to changes I just share that
as a point to let you know that this is
on the top of our minds when we're
talking in budget meetings and we're
talking and Fleet and we're talking with
our vendors
um but also before these are purchased
we have FY 22 in FY 22 we actually have
our first EV Vehicles right now that are
getting purchased in PD this is for
Community Advocates and
um and victim advocacy for Ev Vehicles
these are Hyundai's Kona these are
sub-packed SUVs and these are being
ordered and purchased
um and also for clarification so we we
have some in this budget getting
purchased and ordered uh I I want to
clarify
the only reason why I shared the
rotational schedule that we're looking
into a creative rotational schedule is
because
the EV vehicles are not ready right now
they won't be ready to be built what
they're saying as early as later this
year
um
one idea is to wait until they are ready
and then make the order which probably
won't be till FY 24 but we didn't want
to do that so what I was just sharing
was we made these purchases so that we
can already be in the queue to order so
that we're not pushing and making
excuses to to you counselor floors and
to the rest of city council but in the
meantime while they're getting built we
have a rotational program of cars to
meet the needs of these new employees
who are coming in that need these cars
and that was the only point of it we
didn't want to delay and make excuses
when they're when they're ready but
that's that side on what I was trying
not to confuse you on the rotational
schedule of cars additionally to that I
I also wanted to
to share that there's infrastructure
needs that we have to be ready as well
so even if all the EV Vehicles were
ready today the other side of things
that were really working hard to to get
is ensuring that our facilities are
ready to charge and now we have
electrical power at all our buildings
and City Hall is just one of many and we
have outdated buildings and we have to
make sure that electrical infrastructure
is there so there are other things in
addition to other cars ready we have to
get our facility site to that end and
we're we're really doing our best to to
get there we have our team coming on
board and we're going to do a facility
assessment but I hear you councilor
Flores and I appreciate your directness
because we have staff are ready for the
task and Challenge and we've been we've
been doing our best to step up to uh to
this Challenge and and find a good a
good way to test these these EVS because
what what we hear is that you have these
1.0 models Let's test them if they work
in PD these electric Mach e Mustangs
then maybe we'll get a little bit more
but um that's that's we're really in
this testing phase but we in addition to
testing we want to execute we want to
implement what you and Council have
directed us
can you explain uh maybe give some more
background or if others
can give them some more background as to
why we haven't purchased police vehicles
till now because I know we've been
looking at that for you know at least
since I've been here we've been looking
uh at different types of vehicles but
you give some background as to why we we
don't have them today and maybe kind of
go through some of the I didn't I wasn't
prepared last time but if some of you
are can talk about the process and chief
come up Chief if you want to
come up I'll let them speak to it
good afternoon police chiefing at
letting us for the record uh mayor Mr
pili uh the the
Ford sends out their test vehicles to
two different uh agencies it's a
Michigan State Police and la so they get
all of the test Vehicles the uh EVS that
we're talking about right now is the
mock e
um really nice vehicles but they were
custom made for those agencies of the
testing process still is incomplete with
them so in checking with the folks that
get our vehicles we look to see if if
they're even available right now there
isn't a police vehicle that's already
made by Ford as a police vehicle so if
we were to purchase those two electric
Marquis we would have to customize them
in Albuquerque with our upfitter which
would be even more expensive so we're
looking at about 90 90
000 until they start Mass producing uh
the the upfit the cages the lights
everything else that goes on those
monkeys but there's also police
interceptors to the mayor's point that
are still in the testing process they
have produced those but like I said they
go to the test agencies first so they're
not actually available right now for us
to order
all right thank you and then the other
thing is I know we looked at Mustangs I
want to give some more explanation
Mustangs I mean as a
far back as maybe a year like I said
when I first got here I got the material
on my desk from my understanding is
those Mustangs weren't big are not big
enough
to carry all the equipment and to be
equipped for for Police Service I mean
it looks good on magazines and stuff but
can you speak to that or if there's
anybody else that can mayor Mr pili the
mock e is the Mustang The Mach 1 is a
Mustang actual Mustang Machi is the
electric answer to that they are very
compact but like I said they're in the
test process in Michigan and LA to try
to get them uh equipped with cages
everything else that goes with them
those tests are still in the process
they're still not available but if we
were to be able to get them we could
customize them I also like to point out
that there is no reluctance on our on
our from our department or from a fleet
to get electric vehicles it's just that
they're not available right now
[Music]
thank you
okay well we have counselor Graham who
has a a question and then I wanted to
ask you a couple questions
Council Graham thanks mayor um so I'm
looking at resolution
21-152 that Christine kindly shared with
us after the last session and I think
we're all looking at Roman numeral 3
here that the city adopts an EV First
Fleet policy based on availability and
life cycle costs to accelerate the
transition of the municipal Fleet to
zero emission Vehicles as quickly as
possible with a minimum goal of 50
percent zero emission Vehicles by 2030.
so sorry the punctuation in these is
terrible so it's kind of hard to read
so I'm obviously this resolution is
before my time but I have to say it can
be lonely to be a pragmatist I think I'm
happy to see it worded like this there
isn't a hard date on it because it's
based on the exact sort of things that I
think we're speaking to here and I'm in
no way downplaying the importance of
moving to an electric Fleet I'm fully
supportive of that but in a way that is
not going to disrupt our major
operations I see Luis waiting to speak
here and he's probably going to speak to
the same thing that I'm thinking I don't
know that we have EV texts in the fleet
so Louise just shook his shook his head
no
um
I we we do we do have to get ready and
I'm I'm proud and honored to be up here
to be in a position to make these kind
of resolutions but I'm also looking at
the day-to-day lives of the people who
are
who are need who you know use our Fleet
every day need our Fleet to be online
compatible with what they need able to
be repaired and and at the moment I
think we're all talking
we can't resolve greater manufacturer
and availability of electric vehicles
right now so I'm just
coming here to say I I understand the
importance but
I'm not going to turn down
a request from police fire Parks saying
we need a vehicle now and I'm going to
say oh yeah sorry wait two years
so
I'll stop there thank you thank you
mayor Pro tem thank you counselor Graham
thank you all um I'm next so kind of
weird to do this but yeah
um will you allow
um the gentleman in the blue to speak it
just Luis I think yes
please we'd love to hear from you and
get an idea of your day-to-day and
welcome and hello hello uh
um members of the city council my name
is Louise Vella for the record I am your
city fleet manager and I'm here to
answer any questions you would like
about the EV initiative but I hope
everybody's having a wonderful beautiful
Las Cruces day
okay
so
right now I'm working with Ford Hyundai
and Chevy on the vehicle initiative it
was under my understanding after
speaking to uh retired uh
mayor Pro tem sorg that the resolution
was for 2030 for 50 percent of the
eligible vehicles to be Electric
what that means is if a department asks
me for an F250 with a utility bed that
is not available in electric
so right now we have as my boss said we
have the four Hyundai
konas coming in and then for next year
everything that's eligible to be
electric is electric so what Ford did is
they shut down the order Bank
nobody can order
but my guy was able to order six F-150
lightnings before they shut down the
order Main so he put my name on them
when are they coming in I do not know
because the order bank is shut down
until November which means they're not
going to start getting built until
November with the parts shortage that we
have with the chip shortage that we have
battery shipping container stuck in in
uh uh overseas so we're not getting the
materials I'm having a hard time getting
materials just for the existing Fleet
that we already have to give you an
example I have a solid waste truck done
it's been down for probably about six
months because we can't get an axle for
it uh well my boss was saying about the
rotational vehicle as people order
Vehicles instead of ordering the
vehicles what I want to do is I want to
rotate existing vehicles to those
departments so I want to take low
mileage vehicles and then rotate them to
those high mileage vehicles and put
those high mileage vehicles on the low
low mileage use for example where I have
no four f-250s in the bank well not in
the bank I'm sorry I have ready for uh
LTI for disposition so what I'm going to
do is I'm going to ltim to bring them
back into the fleet and then distribute
them with other departments that need
trucks instead of ordering brand new
trucks this will buy me the time for
when Ford says boom you guys can order
I'm going to start ordering them so like
I said I have this six with my name on
them I have the my keys are a little
tricky as Chief was saying the test
phase Michigan State Police is testing
but they have not released all the data
so they've released two points of data
they released speed per lap and then
charge per lap so they do five lap runs
each lap is about an hour and 40 minutes
and then they give us a charge time on
that they didn't give us temperatures
they didn't give us handling they didn't
give us acceleration stopping any of
that stuff
so it's kind of in the test phase so to
give you an example of where we're at
New York NYPD ordered 185 maches to be
delivered in July so they're not
actually fielded yet they're supposed to
be delivered in July now with this part
shortage and the order Bank shorted or
stop I don't know if they're going to
get it or not
so as far as training goes we uh since
we're not a dealership we cannot get GM
Ford specific training you have to be a
dealership to send your text so right
now what we're doing is we have a
company from Chicago coming out for a
four day class next next month they're
going to do hybrid training for four
days here on site and they're also
putting together a four-day electrical
it's only familiarization though it's
not the courses are about 16 to 18 weeks
long
four days a week so these these test
centers are in California Chicago
Colorado so my text would have to go
to these sites TDY for for this this
period of time I found another company
that does two days online but every
Saturday seven to five in California
so as far as training I am trying to get
people come down here at least for the
familiarization part of it because it is
dangerous it is high voltage it is high
wattage we need special equipment
so you gotta my texts are mostly Diesel
and gas techs and some motorcycle takes
electric vehicles are completely
different platform
completely different we do have the
buses coming in I don't know when
they're estimated to to be uh delivered
so my Transit techs are going to the
seminars they are going to the
conferences just to get familiarized
with them I have reached out to San
Antonio the city of San Antonio I've
reached out to Phoenix Arizona and I've
reached out to Tucson Arizona to see uh
how are they combating these challenges
of EVs and training and how they're
procuring their vehicles I'm waiting for
uh the gentleman in San Antonio but as
you know San Antonio's got probably
about five thousand dollar vehicle Fleet
so that gentleman is pretty busy so I
reached out to his Deputy so I'm waiting
on her to send to to get back to me uh I
try to reach out to NY New York City but
as you know thirty thousand vehicle
Fleet they probably got about 10
different Fleet managers in 10 different
sections so uh with that being said we
are
we are like I said it was my
understanding that we were we were gonna
so I got till 2030. now I'm not pumping
the brakes on it obviously we're a full
court press on this as these vehicles
are coming out my vendors are putting my
name on them
because they know it's a priority for us
so that's
kind of where I'm at right now Luis
thank you so much this has been so
helpful to just know that there's a plan
that you're visioning forecasting this
is helpful and what I would recommend Mr
peely is having someone come quarterly
and and you know Luis and others come
and and update us on where you're at I
think we're all pretty reasonable I
don't think we're saying sorry you know
I mean what exactly will happen to you
all if you don't order
um you know electric vehicles I don't
think anything unless Mr peely you know
has a one-on-one with you and docks your
pet I don't know what that might be but
I think we're pretty reasonable I think
we just want to plan I think it was hard
last week to have this conversation see
what we saw and then no dialogue about
it and I was feeling there's no plan and
that doesn't make sense to me we've been
talking about it for some time so it's
good to know that there's a plan that
you're that you're you're on it and I
feel much more comfortable about about
this but coming back to us regularly and
updating us would be helpful especially
knowing what we know now and then I'm
concerned about the training and
um and and the retraining right that is
going to need to happen with your techs
and I'm wondering uh Mr peely if there
is some
some coronation collaboration that might
we might need to have with New Mexico
State University and our dacc right that
just some large maybe even the I know
last a few before coved I sat on
sustainability
that was four years ago maybe five years
ago and we had some folks from the um
from Chevy and Ford come and sit and
dialogue with us about the training that
was going to need to happen so I'm
thinking that probably me and you it
sounds like you have these relationships
already but I'm I'm wondering if if
maybe with these larger organizations
that we partner
um I I would think everybody's at the
same place in terms of the retraining
and feeling like well you can only be a
dealership and we'll afford you that
opportunity and that just seems
backwards to me
and and maybe that dialogue needs to
happen with Miss Torres and Dr Torres
and arvisu
and with the state because it sounds
like we're sort of moving all of us in
that direction some faster than others
so I appreciate the the communication
and the plan and seeing it in a policy
probably would be helpful to all of us
and then just an update okay thank you
Louise no problem
um
members of the council I did uh reach
out to Borman Ford this morning they do
have two EV Techs on site here in town
that way when they do come in I can
exhaust that warranty yeah which is
36.36 and while during that warranty
period it'll give me time to get my
technicians ready whether I'm going to
have to retrain or rehire sure or hire
some new ones so that's kind of where
I'm at with that I just wrote a paper on
doniana Community College for my CTE
review and they do not have an EV
program yet they only have the regular
diesel Automotive but I will reach out
to them to see if they have something in
the works where we can it's going to be
you know we're trying to send them
probably modules online and then all day
Saturday kind of like the way California
does it but I don't even think they have
instructors yet either at doniana
Community College I know they do have
diesel instructions they do Head
Automotive and they do have automotive
performance too but as ours as far as
EVS it's kind of tough and then for
example as a GM employee they'll do
modules for about eight weeks online
while they're working they have their
modules there I just got I was I used to
run a Chevy dealership and then we send
them to let's say Dallas Fort Worth
with something Denver for their five-day
on Hands-On training yes so that was but
that was paid through the dealership so
with that being said I will uh like I
said I reached out to Borman they do
have two EV techs who work
we're trending in the right direction as
far as support from our downtown vendors
and things like that so we will exhaust
that warranty while I get my my tech
well some of my technicians trained me
because I think there's going to be some
of them that are going to be like not so
much voltage right yeah yeah I think as
a matter of fact it's part of the safety
tools they have gloves they have aprons
and they actually have a fiberglass hook
to where you have to grab the technician
if for some reason they get uh
electrocuted you have to pull them off
wow
it's good to know we we need to know
what we're we're working with right
um I appreciate you so much in my former
life I was an administrator and had to
oversee Fleet and there's so much there
and I appreciate knowing that you again
that your visioning forecasting and
there's a plan
um maybe there's somebody here on
Council that knows Dr Torres I'm just
saying
and I bet she can help coordinate the
efforts
um
and she's the chair of sustainability
right
yeah
dacc Dr Torres
cancer in case you haven't figured out
counselor um
um Becky Karen sorry yeah I work I work
there yeah I know you do I know you do
so see got connections already uh I will
reach out to dacc uh one more time
hopefully by the end of the week right
now they still have they're under covet
protocols so it's all email and phone
call but I will reach out to them by the
end of the week and uh ask them what
their plans are for that thank you my
dad was a diesel mechanic so I have a
lot of love for you guys I know what
this is like and I appreciate you and
and then having to uptrain reskill
upskill those are all really tough
things in this in this environment so
thank you I really appreciate you
especially with my older my old school
my heavy equipment mechanics say you
know they love heavy equipment they love
diesel my dad did he right yeah we just
had a conversation the other day about
it so yeah can appreciate that thank you
thank you um those are all my questions
around the fleet and
the electric side of things I had more
questions about the salary benefits the
Merit pay questions about is that for
all folks
um that the Merit pay was given
everybody
mayor mayor Pro tem the 3.5 is for
unrepresented positions at this point
um of course the negotiated contracts
were are going to budget for those
contract agreements
so so that means we're still in budget
or negotiations with PD I'm assuming yes
okay gotcha and then the 80 20 increase
for health care
what is the total number of employees
that you have
um
that have
accepted Health Care through the
organization
mayor mayor Pro tem I'm going to defer
the question to Joe Richards if she's
available thank you she might have that
number for us you knew it was coming
Joel huh hi
good afternoon mayor counselors Joe
Richards HR Director we have
approximately 1100 employees enrolled in
the health care right now
okay and then
um talk to me about the the on the slide
I don't know if it was six or eight but
the open positions budgeted for six
months can you explain that to me
foreign
okay
so open positions it doesn't mean that
it takes us six months to fill a
position it just means that that's the
cycle of attrition that occurs so as one
position becomes open another one we
might have to fill so we're budgeting
um
those positions at six months a half a
year so typically throughout the year
all our positions aren't filled we'll
have a lot of vacancies at that time
it's just the cycle and the average of
what we are seeing at this time
does that help you out so where does it
come up where can I see that and how
many of those positions like where so
what I'm hearing you when you say this
to me I I'm thinking there's
15 vacancies and in these 15 vacancies
you're budgeting it for six months where
does it go vacancy where is the the the
yeah where are they is it which which um
code or line item is it if you will
how do I know what the amount mayor
mayor Pro tem are you talking
specifically to like a line item like
what department are you asking more of a
department or I guess I'm interested and
and to counselor flores's Point
um probably every year she talks about
the the budget and I don't mean it
disrespectfully what I mean is she talks
about the budget
um specific to the vacancies and it's
padded in some way I hate to use even
that word but I want to know what it
what that means and if we have vacancies
where is it in the budget
how are you telling me that there's this
money left there
so and what is that total does that make
sense I'm sorry I'm not a budget person
so I'm having difficulty explaining this
we typically see about five million um
in salary savings if you want to call it
that
um so
we budget our positions
um let me think of how to explain this
to you
so
we have salary savings which is about 5
million over a year
so with this what we're saying is we're
going to budget these positions at six
months which will give us about that
amount
towards that because we're not going to
fill those
throughout the year you're not going to
fill them you've already decided you're
not that's not what I mean okay you said
it I'm just I'm now I'm I'm questioning
sorry I'm just talking about the cycle
in which uh okay yes attrition and yes
Peaks and valleys I get it uh-huh
okay so it's 5 million and I'll be able
to find that somewhere in the budget
not necessarily we don't have it taken
out as a negative
if that's what you're asking is that
what you're asking if I can if I can
maybe add up go ahead maybe add on to
Matt so
you have to budget typically you have to
budget for
the full amount of your staff right and
so
essentially that's what we do and so
when he talks about not being able to
see that in there typically here though
we have had a salary savings line item
if that's what you're asking about
but that was a concern
uh when I first came about having that
so we've pulled that so we've gone back
to putting it back into our where it's
normally uh budgeted but knowing the
historical trend of vacancies this is
actually really conservative so I think
we're on on par right now to hit well
over 7 million in salary savings and so
we took that and we
we cut it down to be conservative with
that but because of attrition
um and this is not just we're just going
to pick a number this is historical
trend
uh We've shown that and that's where
Rihanna has shown in the past has shown
salary savings but we have to budget for
all those positions whether they're
vacant or not but the new positions
these open these positions instead of
going to that full amount because we
know we're not going to get there
we cut it down to six months to be more
conservative in that accounting okay is
that it does think it does help a lot
thank you Matt sorry no no no thank you
I wish I had the words in the budgetary
way to ask it and you were like oh I get
what you're saying councilor Gandara and
this is what it is so sorry about that I
just wanted to make sure that I
understood as I'm looking through the
budget and then on slide 10 the TNR it
has continued to say to be determined
um I I feel very strongly and I think I
said this last time that we need to find
some money to put that into
um a fund it be it a TNR coordinator
with the animal with them
codes
and how we're going to address TNR in
this community and so can you tell me
what
your thinking is and and maybe this is
really for Mr peely
um around this or Mr Enriquez and you
know we're getting a lot of a lot of
pushback on this
we have here we have a TNR policy which
I knew would happen if we didn't or an
excuse me if we didn't assign funding to
this and it comes back to us yet again
without an amount and so what is it
going to take to put fifty thousand
seventy five thousand a hundred thousand
to start
um and and and where do we find that
money
I'm looking to somebody to tell me to be
honest I'm sorry man I don't remember
why what what the amount what's Eric can
you speak to that
I'm sure there's a good explanation for
that thank you
uh good afternoon mayor and Council Eric
Enriquez assistant city manager uh mayor
program Gandara yes absolutely we are
looking to fund that we just had a
finance committee uh meeting with the
Animal Service Center and then they'll
propose the budget uh on Thursday uh
we're also waiting for the county to see
what their input is going to be we've
been uh talking with Jonathan Macias the
assistant there so we want to finalize
and put things together to see where
their fund balance will be and
everything and then definitely the city
will put the amount needed for that the
first projections were about 300 000 for
the veterinarian the coordinator and all
and we just need to kind of uh hone in
those numbers and see exactly where
we're at and then the city will
definitely fund that account so the
actual number is still to be determined
but we will fund that okay all right
thank you that's helpful
um
I think those are all my questions
oh wait hold on
um I know that it's
um I don't recall this slide maybe 11 or
12.
and Public Safety the health related
Services the Health Complex
the mental health issues mobile crisis
you know we talked about a health unit
or a health department this is well
within our purview as Council to put
together you know the kinds of
departments and units if we if you will
I know it scored very high in our
Retreat it was it it was
worded in such a way last time that I
made reference to it and so I just want
to make sure I I feel like if we're
going to have these types of programming
and we're working on with poverty and
homelessness and those things you need a
place
where it lands where we can
um
do project development quickly pivot if
there are issues and concerns I don't
see that as as a place
anywhere in this and I know ifo and I
have had some conversations about about
that and I don't want it to get lost and
and so if it needs to come in a form of
a resolution I will do that we'll have
that conversation at the health policy
Review Committee but I I know it was a
very high priority for for um
um Council and I don't want it to get
lost I I think that the public is really
looking to the municipality the city to
to handle these issues
um with others and I just don't see a
place where that might happen
easily
Matt so I know you you know
I'm not I'm just saying that I'm just
saying that you don't have to answer I'm
just saying thank you very much I'm just
saying we'll work with management to to
address that okay and then the
Enterprise fund would be helpful to me
did you want to hear from me oh sure
absolutely
are you referring to the Health Complex
oh no it
time in such a way the wording was out
the
is it what what we meant I think was a
health department or a unit of sorts and
I'm seeing Leanne and others nodding
their head yes and then I'm thinking
Health Complex which is I Know Chief
Smith has asked for Health Complex if
you will so I don't want us to lose
sight of what it our intent was at re at
the retreat
yeah um I think there will to be honest
there was some confusion at The Retreat
because it said complex and then later
on so some some felt like I think the
mayor mentioned he felt that it was an
actual you know improving on the
conflicts that we have and then I know
you mentioned that a full-out health
department and so so that we don't lose
sight of it we put a feasibility study
on there we that 200 000 is something
that we we put uh as a budgeted item you
want to go back to that slide Matt I'm
not sure
um I want to make sure that it is the
200 000 but that was for that we can
analyze we can study
um
because I I don't know if
to be honest I don't know even with the
consensus of the council if everybody
believes that the health department or
the health conflict yet well that's a
discussion we can certainly bring back
and get more Direction but I do think
the 200 000 in the budget will help us
not lose sight of that so it is a
budgeted item uh if it's going to be a
health department it's going to be maybe
10 times more than that
so oh no no no I I'm not I'm not saying
per se a department but a unit that has
a couple of social workers a director
someone that can help direct these
things so when people come to us and we
say ifo make it happen it's easily right
and so I didn't see the feasibility
study did I miss it yeah it's the Health
Complex here that's listed at the end of
the council priorities we have another
slide here somewhere um
pan through them
and see if I can find it
mayor Pro tem while Matthew's looking
for that perhaps the Cannabis facility
seats can be used for something like
that yes yes
thank you Matt I I appreciate that and
then on the Enterprise funds on slide 12
what would be really helpful to me is
um identify like separating them out and
telling and and describing right where
each of those
um
the changes where it's going to just
because that's
so I know is it airport is it utilities
you know and and we know
um very specific at the amounts Matt if
you would yeah mayor Pro tem we can
bring that back to you for the final
budget adoption I know utilities I think
they're increased about one percent but
yeah we'll provide that breakdown for
you thank you thank you May 16th thank
you so much Matt those are all my
questions mayor thank you everybody for
answering my questions
yourself yes thank mayor and I have a
lot of general questions and I know we
haven't finished with the presentation
yet but I'm just going to ask them
because everyone else has
um
I did thank you first of all Matt
um you're an excellent budget officer
thank you
um in terms of the council priorities
that we discussed at the budget Retreat
like you said it was very evident that
affordable housing was the
top priority for the entire Council that
the entire Council agreed on I'm curious
where we are seeing that in the budget
because I'm not necessarily seeing it
and you know I think we and it you know
perhaps that happens in a lot of ways
but I don't just want to say well it's
just through Telstra fund or whatever
right I think it's important that our
general budget reflects this current
Challenge and the fact that it was also
the number one priority for council at
the moment
mayor
councilor Ben coma so yes as I mentioned
we are looking for other opportunities
currently that's what we do have
budgeted I know Natalie Green's in the
somewhere I don't know if she wants to
provide some additional information for
that but we the funds that we have
budgeted here are for the
HUD program and also for affordable
trust fund
anything additional
Mr Mayor members of council Natalie
Green for the record so in terms of
housing initiatives we are getting a
Housing Development coordinator out of
the Telshor fund the 1.2 million does
not represent any new initiatives it is
our existing funding both out of our
home investment partnership program and
the funding that already exists within
the trust fund the 700 000. we will be
coming back to you to formalize the
commitment that you made to the three
sisters apartment since we were
successful at the light tech so you can
anticipate a request to finalize that
2.4 million and as Matt mentioned we are
looking at other sources we do have our
home allocation plan that will be coming
forward in October to allocate the 1.7
from the federal government for homeless
assistance but again those are all
existing initiatives
right so then what I'm hearing you say
Natalie is that there was there is no
increase in housing
um
projects the housing department
um
for fiscal year 2023.
correct uh how housing staff would
operate moving forward is if we have a
project we'll come to council and ask
but there is no
um
consistent or regular funding that funds
the affordable housing trust fund it's
only at the discretion of council to
transfer that funding there
and the every time we sell real estate
basically right
mayor council
depending on how the deals are
negotiated through our Land Management
office if there is a sale that's
unrestricted the affordable housing
trust fund would get 50 of the proceeds
in the last year I can only
um what remember one sale two months ago
a month ago and I think we can
anticipate maybe forty thousand dollars
of Revenue
so when you're talking about million
dollar development projects it doesn't
go very far and even for single family
even if we were going to just purchase a
land that's still a forty thousand
dollar transaction yep I mean thank you
Natalie
um you know I I really feel strongly
about this ifo because
we can find
a million dollars for 16 police cars I
think we can find some money for the
biggest challenge facing Las Cruces and
also the number one priority in the city
for the city council in this year and so
to me when I hear that right that that
1.2 million dollars is already allocated
is already moving and there is no
increase and there is no direct
funding source to grow our Housing Trust
Fund that to me is a gap and that to me
continues to be a problem that I would
hope we address that I would like to see
addressed in this fiscal year
um
Matt in the next 60 days
um but that is something
you know that I want to discuss
thank you mayor councilman Como so it's
Project based I mean for us it's not
about uh
whether or not I mean we were finally we
got a 40 million dollars that says we
could find money right in our Telstra
fund as well and so it really isn't
about a funding for us I mean we we can
that's what that Telstra fund was made
for and so it's just a matter of
the projects and so we're still trying
to formulate the projects their projects
as Natalie mentioned it's not because
they've been denied or we're just saying
we can't find it it's that we don't have
the project to to support that we
don't want to come to you and ask for
five million dollars if we don't have
anything that it's attached to yet as
Natalie is mentioning they are going to
be attached and at that point we'll come
back so within our trust fund and in the
the Telstra fund we can we can tap those
funds at any time throughout the year
and so it's just a matter of getting
those projects there and you know we're
also talking about other ways to to use
that fund to address homelessness but uh
just just to make very clear it's not
because we're using that amount not
because we don't want to increase it we
don't have projects attached to do it at
this point no I get 34 and I I certainly
know that that I know you this that you
know this is a priority I know that
um I just do think it's
um
not I mean it's problematic that I that
the Housing Trust Fund doesn't have its
own funding source right a line
dedicated to Growing it I think is
important
no Natalie just said there is not one
I know we have a trust fund
so what I'm saying is a a budget line
item dedicated to Growing the trust fund
that isn't just based on requests that
come to council and the potential sale
of property but that it is consistent
and dedicated and committed to Growing
it
so the trust fund while it exists it is
an unfunded process so it the current
funding that is in there now is one-time
allocations from our current our from
past councils in very small dollar
amounts you know 100 000 here 200 000
there this Council has been very uh
supportive of affordable housing so
staff feels confident that we can ask
you for funding however without a
regular Revenue Source if there is a
change in management or there is a
change of counsel
are those future councils and management
supportive of affordable housing I I
don't know
thanks Natalie
so that's I think that's something to
think about ifo and I I would like to
see it addressed this year because of
the challenge
in front of us
mayor council bencomo if I may Barbara
DeLeon for the record I also wanted to
point out that Although our public input
process for the next Geo bond is not
complete we certainly have seen support
for the community as well for allocating
part of the next Bond proceeds to go
towards affordable housing so as you
said if there is a gap there and that
will be coming to you of course all of
the input from the the meetings that
have been occurring and I think the time
frame is the end of May work session so
that you can mull over what the input
has been from the public consider what
you
um have brought forward as potential
gaps and then of appropriate uses for
the bonding funds that's certainly one
additional Source that's available thank
you thank you thank you Barbara that is
right on I think that's I'm glad you
mentioned that so maybe you have a Yuri
film
so 60 days versus a year
um no thank you I appreciate it and of
course we did just have a conversation
and finance committee about cannabis
excise tax and how and finding ways to
use that appropriately and strategically
and I think this very much is one of
those
um
you know I in moving off this subject uh
but similar to the question mayor Pro
tem had earlier about the TBD on TNR
um
I have a similar concern in question
regarding zero Fair Transportation
um which Matt it's zero fair not free
just kidding
um thank you but I'm learning
um you know I think that's something
that we keep hearing is and we know what
the concerns are and um with public
transportation versus the
um
Dial-A-Ride thank you and but we keep
seeing that TBD and what needs to happen
to
say yes it's moving forward I think for
a long time I was the only one really
speaking about it but a couple weeks ago
I think the rest of this Council and the
mayor endorsed that idea and so I would
like to
um really begin to see
that number and on it I think that
number exists actually we just need to
figure out the dialeride process so
maybe that question might not be for you
but I would like to have a timeline for
when that TBD is going to be turned into
a for sure sure mayor councilor being
Como I'll defer the question to Mike
Bartholomew
foreign
Transit with uh the issue your question
was about the fair correct so the again
the issue is with the dial right side so
in fiscal year 23 we're looking at
having seeing if we can relieve some of
the pressure right A demonstr through a
demonstration project with microtransit
to to do some of that so that's our plan
for fiscal year 23 to experiment with it
and see how it it works and how we can
move forward how we can move forward
from that
part of the issue with Fair free too is
is not just with Dial-A-Ride it's with
this whole concept of microtransit that
we're we're moving forward uh to doing
the demonstration project on
so technically uh under the ADA rules we
only have to charge a fare on our demand
response side for the for the ADA
Paratransit we technically don't have to
do it for seniors and we technically
don't have to do it for microtransit
however most of our seniors on
Dial-A-Ride uh would qualify anyway for
for Paratransit so they would become
Fair become Fair free the other issue
with the microtransit is an equity issue
so the whole idea but behind
microtransit is that we're trying to be
more efficient about serving the the
populations that where we're not serving
very well efficiently with the larger
buses by using smaller Vehicles so we're
looking at doing that initially on the
east side of town where we have the
least amount of Route concentration
there so the difficulty with with that
is
the question is then do we have Fair
free on microtransit too so if if that
were the case then we're going to get a
lot of people that would never use a
fixed route whether or not we put it
into that area of town because the
microtransit would be more uh convenient
but then that's going to put an
increased Demand on the microtransit as
well and so that that creates a dilemma
there so say we charge for microtransit
well then then you're going to have the
equity issue if you have a large area of
town that doesn't have good route
service into that area so okay you're
charging me for accessing public transit
uh but through microtransit but you
don't give me an option of fixed route
because there's a lot of dilemmas with
that so what we're going to be looking
at with staff and we discuss this with
the transit Advisory board meeting to uh
last week is is maybe some options to
perhaps Target
where we can get reduced fares or free
fares for low-income individuals we
currently don't have that in our in our
Fair structure right now our we only
have reduced fares for based on age or
disability at this point in time so
we'll kind of look at things like that
to see if we can work work that
direction as well of course if we start
going with
qualifying People based on income then
we would have to have some sort of a
process in place to just how do you
qualify and what under what conditions
would they qualify how would you qualify
like youth or family well children are
already reduced fair but how would you
qualify certain family members into that
process so that's what we're our plans
are for looking over the next year so if
someone is working on answering all
those questions that you raised yes
that's what we're going to be looking at
next year and we're going to be looking
at it especially once we get that
microtransit demonstration project going
looking at it and how well that's
helping us have you reached out to your
peers in Albuquerque
I'm not about how their their programs I
have not but I've been trying to find
who the best contact for that and I do
plan on contacting them in Albuquerque
because as you comment in Albuquerque
they're doing a year long uh and they
think they have a similar counterpart to
Dial A Ride in Albuquerque as well so
correct and one of the differences I
believe in Albuquerque too is while they
have a senior there is a fair for
seniors that is a little higher in their
system their system is primarily a just
a uh Ada eligible Paratransit system
there's other forms of transportation
available yeah I mean I just I don't
necessarily think we have to reinvent
any Wheels zero fare is taking off all
over the country and I think we can find
answers to those questions and I think
this is the best year to do it because
we just came off zero Fair
um from covet and so
um you know I and I do I get concerned
when I see TBD because I know that you
have talked about a number I think you
mentioned 1.3 million dollars for to to
fill the capacity for additional buses
or whatever that might be and so
um for I just I get concerned that it
continues to be TBD when we know there
are some numbers there are some metrics
that we can work towards meeting correct
yeah that 1.3 million would excuse me
primarily for additional staff and then
we'd also have to get additional
vehicles to meet the demand and you know
microtransit I think it's fantastic I
feel like people would be willing to pay
a little bit more for it because it's so
special it's basically my own chauffeur
I mean right it's like a uber a public
Uber and so I feel like people would be
willing to pay a little bit more for
that kind of service if that's the kind
of service that I want to get today to
go x-place
um I just I I would yeah I would like to
see more answers and questions continue
to be raised because I think we're in a
good place to be able to do this yes and
I I think that as we go into like I say
that that demonstration project next
year we're gonna
get a little better sense of what's
going to work and not work as we move
forward thank you I appreciate it and I
have a question
um my last question on Council
priorities I have lots of other
questions
um but I'm just to make sure um it's
kind of this one's for you and you can
address it when your presentation but I
you know pavement management was the
second highest Council priority and so I
if you can talk about doing your
presentation if you want
um
I didn't feel like there was I didn't
see like there was any committed
increase to that but I want to know if
there is
councilman Como there is not an
additional increase so
the way I was explaining last time which
I hope to re-explan it this time
hopefully to answer a question is that
the PCI is budgeted for I think we're at
9.6 am I doing my math right I'm not
mapping very well today we have six
million of that budgeted in our roadway
fund two million of that is the increase
you gave us last year which we have
maintained so additional 2 million last
year additional 2 million this year the
point I'm trying to clarify is that 2
million is the same
amount from last year so you we were
increased 2 million last year we're
increased 2 million for FY 23.
um and I'm just trying to clarify that
it's not moving to three or four or five
million the increase that Public Works
will be receiving is staying
consistently at the 2 million granted
last year as well as FY 23. okay did
that answer yes and I think Tony's right
behind you
the additional two million dollars for
payment management was given to us last
year in addition to our 4.3 million that
we're getting annually for the past uh
several years so that brought us up to 6
million which is occurring
um
thank God it was returning this year
again so you can continue our efforts to
increase that PCI so hopefully it's not
an increase it's just consistent from
last year and keeping that same Budget
moving forward
that I
it's from Council as a priority or
is this going to meet the need that the
council is saying we'd like to see
priority on
mayor councilman Cuomo it is a huge
stretch and kind of not a stretch but a
huge jump to achieve the goal of a 67
PCI level the additional money is
helping us add about 17 more streets to
our budget to our cycle to increase
those so it is helping greatly okay okay
thank you I would use a lot more I know
you could
give them all
um thank you that answers my question
thank you both
um
Matt I know that you know we I'm curious
I know that you mentioned uh
oh I wrote it down a 3.5 Merit increase
in salaries
um I know that legal has been struggling
to bring folks on it's really hard to
compete with
you know private
attorneys
um you know I I guess I I'm curious if
the legal department attorneys in legal
department saw an increase and if we're
using that to also recruit because I
know that office is incredibly
overwhelmed and busy and and it affects
literally everything and so I'm curious
if that is being addressed
foreign
I'll defer the question to Joe Richards
thanks
good afternoon mayor counselors uh yes
ma'am actually one of the
recommendations we've made for this
coming year is a class in comp study and
so we will be evaluating all positions
to include of course the the legal
department
we have struggled of course as you've
seen with filling those positions and we
have made some adjustments lately okay
in the cleansing comp study when do you
expect that to be completed we're
actually anticipating bringing it
forward to council for review in the
next couple of weeks oh yeah
and we'll thank you and will then those
adjustments we made for this cycle or
are you going to have to bring a budget
adjustment
um I'm Leanne
Lori
so mayor council Ben Como so what you're
asking is if after the class and comp
study if we show that our Personnel is
higher than we anticipate from the 3.5
then yes we would have to come to
council with a budget adjustment at that
time okay yes ma'am okay thank you
Leanne and Joe
um
I'm curious Chief
um Dominguez
um
on the police vehicles the 16
particularly
or the Dodge Chargers being retired or
is this an additional 16.
mayor councilor Ben Cuomo we're on a
five-year rotation plan we're trying to
get on a five-year rotation plan we have
charges right now that we purchased in
2010 through 2014 and they're one of uh
they're they're constantly going to get
rotated out but we're trying to get to
where we can get 15 16 Vehicles every
year so we can get them out eventually
every you're going to be asking for 15
16 every year until we get caught up but
we we put a lot of wear and tear on our
vehicles in the neighborhood of about 16
000 miles a year 16 to 20 depending on
the on the usage and the shifts and
everything else so we're constantly
having vehicles if we get on that
five-year replacement we'll constantly
have vehicles that need to be replaced
okay
the hybrid ones they're significant
savings and
um
gas mileage
mayor councilman come on yes yes there
is but it's the availability no no I
know we are yes
but I'm just saying they're great
thank you
um they're gonna be great I should
preface
um the
emergency response Vehicles Chief Smith
I'm curious can you tell us where those
um I think there's four
um
where those will be stationed
Pierce engine Pierce Aerials
mayor councilman come out which part of
the budget are you referring to
um Vehicles the vehicle acquisition fund
this is our request just to be yes the
request
where would those go so those would go
to replace
um
the most highly used vehicles I believe
we are up for engine three possibly
engine four as well as replacing truck
four that's a 2002 American the France
it's a collector's item now
so that's that's where we'd be deploying
to and we would we'd be rotating our
Fleet there's four American and France
vehicles that we have currently
two trucks two engines and we'd be
replacing kind of Frontline apparatus
which are different manufacturer and
rotating our Reserve Fleet the American
of France Vehicles you can't get spare
parts for and uh very hard to find
anything to repair those engines Chief
can you speak into the microphone a
little bit more
if I'm I mostly heard you I don't know
if do you need him to repeat it it's
just for the recording I don't know if
they can did you need him
she said it's fine you're good thank you
chief
um
yeah
[Music]
mayor councilman just for clarification
please I want to make sure because
you're looking at the vehicle
acquisition list the funding list so if
you'll notice those Vehicles you don't
see a dollar amount in that blue column
there so that means that there is no
funding available for those Vehicles
however the chief and I I think have
been talking with Mr peely with the
probability of a
a a loan for those Vehicles we do we do
the vaf does pay some debt for vehicle
acquisition typically only for fire and
so that's one of the things that we
might be looking at is for a loan for
those those apparatuses thanks Liam okay
I did not notice that the blue column
was not filled in thank you for pointing
that out
um on the liability claims what does
that number look like compared to other
years
mayor councilman coma it's the same as
last year
yes thank you and then my last sort of
combined question are around prisoner
care in the muni court simply because I
think
um it seems like
um just giving some of the emails we've
gotten around Municipal Court
you know
these both of these two
pieces we don't interface a lot with
them and I would like to I've requested
this before a work session certainly on
Munich for a lot of things the
um
the debt collection part that we talked
about a few weeks ago but just in
general understanding their budget needs
I think is important for us
um to have those public conversations
with unicorn to better understand and
the other one similarly prisoner care
you know I've been asking for a work
session on this from them for a while
and they offered a tour which I said yes
both because we give significant amount
of money to the detention center for
prisoner care and I don't always see the
best prisoner care and so I would like
to have a public accountability
conversation with the folks that run in
Horizon specifically and so I didn't
have any specific questions on budget
about that I just think it's it's you
know we see it every year in the budget
and to me there's a lot of just
questions that I would like to address
with them directly
so mayor councilor Ben Cuomo are
actually all the council I just sent Mr
peely an email a few weeks ago I had a
conversation with
um
with Don that was here that day with us
and we apologize to Karen not remember
her last name she's going to shoot me
anyway
um so she and I discussed
um the uh her and the judge are working
on a plan
um so she has put together a team that
will be looking at those uh persons that
I guess come into mini court and are
unable to pay or are you know have this
debt that most of what we just recently
written off and so they do have a action
team I'm going to call them action team
that they're putting together they
anticipate that this team will probably
have some results and some and try to
finish up within one year so I think
what they're hoping is and I was telling
Mr pilian this email that hopefully a
year from now they will be coming
forward at a work session and be
discussing
their program and what they've found in
the results of this study or this
resource analysis that they're doing
okay that's great to hear thank you so
much and those are all my questions
mayor I really appreciate all the work
folks have put into this and I
appreciate having this conversation you
know I appreciate that counselor and I'm
gonna I'm gonna ask I was just informed
that our consultant from item number
three the public safety impact fee is
going to have to be leaving soon for his
flight so could we would you mind if we
go ahead and pause here and go to number
three get that out of the way and then
return
I have just one short question don't
smirk president president Gandara
there's a lot of people that have been
on the line then to speak
and so if we start with the questions
then it might everybody may want to
start asking this question so I move
that we move to the consultant yeah
right away I just wanted to ask one
quick question what's your quick
question my quick question is this if we
don't write something into like our TNR
ordinance if we don't write some certain
as to the amount it's going to take to
fund it does it mean we don't get the
money or what do we do so that's the
question you can ponder on it everybody
out there I think that it's false
entirely on the city since it's our
ordinance
um but yeah we're getting a lot of flack
on that especially Becky because she's
the chair of the Animal Service Center
and she had nothing to do with it but at
any rate
um that's all thank you
okay so Matthew if we can just put a
pause on this I appreciate your
Indulgence
so let's go ahead and move to Public
Safety impact fee progress report Chief
Smith and um
Mr Villarreal from or I guess from
willidan Financial
what time is your flight back to Hawaii
I'm just kidding I'm just messing with
you I'm just I'm just joking with you
just checking to see if they were awake
mayor mayor Pro tem members of council
and City staff thank you for the
adjustment in the schedule appreciate
that
I appreciate you guys
helps if I click on the right one sorry
with them can do F5
um
all right well good afternoon mayor
mayor Pro tem members of council fire
chief Jason Smith today we'll be
providing you the update on the public
safety impact fee James Edison from
Wilden financial services will be here
to give the majority the update I'm
going to start off with a little bit of
historical information as we do have
some new counselors who have not been
part of the public safety impact fee
so some history of it what is a public
safety impact fee it's a charge that we
have for all new construction as new
Services need to be provided to meet
that demand we need some sort of Revenue
source to meet part of that that change
it's a city-wide fee it's used for
construction of our Public Safety
buildings or essential equipment ten
thousand dollars or more or any with the
life expectancy of 10 years or more the
objective is to provide new capacity so
as we have more residential or
non-residential buildings more occupants
more citizens living here our services
get stretched and in order to maintain
the level of service we currently
provide we need capital investment
our current Public Safety impact fee
began January 1st of 2012.
here's the list of resolutions that took
place getting us to where we're at today
starting in actually in 2006 I believe
that is when we were directed to
actually formulate a public safety
impact fee and started bringing on
Consultants to form the fee and policy
most recently last may we came to city
council for a extension the evaluation
of the impact fee was delayed due to
covid
currently our expenditures are for fire
engine 8. this was bought and I believe
in 2016 when it was ordered around 2017
delivered
we also have
4.1 million principle remaining on our
East Mesa public safety building
287 000 of Interest
the bonds for repaying that debt go all
the way through 2026 and our bond
payment a large portion of it does come
from the impact fee but we also use
other funds to make that debt payment
here's this fiscal Year's revenues and
expenditures the revenues and the light
blue the red is the expenditures
as you can see um
they match pretty well I like this table
right here that shows it a little bit
more detail you can see year to date
revenues 512 000 expenditures 520
basically we've overspent uh eight
thousand dollars
our fund balance
you can see how it's increased over the
years peaking in fiscal year 18 before
we move to making payments for the East
Mesa public safety building
and currently I believe we're at just
over 554 000.
so current update on the process that
resolution 21157 in May given us the
extension we've moved forward with
hiring a firm through the RFP process
that's where we're able to have world
and financial come in they've been
working on our land use assumption our
Capital needs and our impact fee
schedule
along the way we've been providing
updates to the capital Improvement
advisory committee I started letting
them know about the process and the
consultant that we're bringing on in
December of last year in February we
proposed some land use assumptions March
17th we received a recommendation from
ciac April 21st we started discussing
our Capital needs and a possible fee
schedule
and we prevailing on going back May 19th
uh for the update recommendation
and for city council action April 25th
today we're here for the work session
we're going to give you an update on the
process
April through May we'll be having our
public input and also our public
hearings right now we have a total of
seven meetings and one virtual uh in
there will also be two public hearings
hopefully May 16th we'll be bringing a
land use assumption resolution to
council followed by a May 23rd work
session which will have the entire fee
update and then June 6 asking Council to
take action on a public safety impact
fee update
and with that I'll turn it over to James
who will give you the the details that
we're at with the process
thank you Chief Smith and I'm James
Edison from Wildland financial services
so
mayor vice mayor and counselors I want
to say first thank you very much for
changing your schedule I think I mean
I've been Consulting for
probably 30 years now I think it's the
first time I've had a schedule change
that allows me to go home I've spent the
night places before and this is I mean I
really appreciate it I'm thank you very
much my kids will appreciate it I get to
be home instead of trying to figure out
how to get home tomorrow
um so uh let me see if I can operate
this so
um
as Chief Smith said we're sort of in
process right now this man is an update
to give you kind of a snapshot you know
we actually have some draft calculations
but it's important to note those are
draft calculations we're not finished
yet we have actually just last week got
some input from the CIA sees some
adjustments we're making
um the intent of this this time is to
give you a briefing on sort of what the
process is going forward where things
look and also give you sort of a first
shot a snapshot of the methodology the
assumptions we use so you can ask your
initial questions give us any guidance
you have but you'll have lots of other
opportunities to ask questions this
isn't this is just sort of the maybe the
introduction if you will
so just a little bit more about the
process
um
at the moment as as I mentioned we we
actually have we've got most of our
assumptions in place already although
we're making revisions the model's built
we've met with the ciac now several
times they've given us input on changes
to make
um and uh we will Circle back with them
again they will make a formal
recommendation of the land use
assumptions and other things will be
brought to you in a few weeks
um and in the meantime the other piece
will be stakeholder Outreach as you can
see they're number five where we'll get
input from the public in addition to of
course public commented at public
hearings we actually have formal
meetings that are stakeholder input in a
variety of for a variety of stakeholder
groups in different parts of the city
um and then as a chief Smith gave you
the dates there will be some dates for
individual meetings and adoption
basically in June
so in terms of basic methodology
um an impact fee if you will is really
it's really quotient essentially it's
the it's it it's the stuff that you need
to build to accommodate your development
divided by the new development that's
going to happen
um the devil really is in the details of
you know what development what
facilities what qualifies there's lots
of rules around that
um but really the key thing is to
understand you know limit it's a
mitigation in many in many states it's
called a mitigation fee act or a
mitigation fee because you're mitigating
the impacts you're sort of essentially
keeping the the city or the municipality
even saying look when new development
comes along there's additional needs for
in this case Public Safety Services but
other things other facilities like Parks
whatever you know whatever you provide
that are impacted by the new development
and new development pays its fair share
in order to sort of keep you know to
keep the city even so that you have the
facilities you need to serve that new
development at the same level of service
so in terms of our our process as you
can see there first we estimate existing
development and future growth those are
the what are called the land use
assumptions under New Mexico state law
we identify the facility standards in
this case it's a sort of rough it's a
rough ratio of sort of the fire
facilities and and police facilities you
have compared to the population the
service population which is a
combination of of residents and uh and
employees which I'll get into a little
bit later in the next couple of slides
um we determine new facilities needs and
costs that's in your CIP which is
already in place I think actually you're
going to update it you update it every
year
um and we use one of several
methodologies to allocate the the
responsibility you know the facilities
to New Growth we identify alternative
funding other alternative funding needs
or sources if there are I mean there
could be for example development
agreements federal funds there's
different things especially for Public
Safety often there's Federal sources of
funds for Public Safety needs
and then finally we calculate the fee on
some kind of unit basis and as here
typically it's per residential unit and
per square foot of a commercial
development of various types
and uh and by the way if you have any
questions while I'm talking I'm happy to
answer them but of course then also we
will have a session or a section for
questions at the end
so first the land use assumptions
um here you can see our estimate of
existing growth existing development and
existing existing development we call it
but it's basically residents and
employees along with new development
existing is based on the census the new
development is taking those census
numbers and increasing them by a
percentage that's in your in your comp
plan
points I believe point seven percent for
uh employees and uh 1.2 percent for for
residents um to come up with an estimate
of the total development in 2030 and
that's our sort of development Horizon
that's a typical number of 20 years is
about what we usually look forward
um it doesn't necessarily have to be
that amount that's sort of a sort of a
happy medium between far enough out that
you really can account for sort of
capital needs but not so far out that
it's getting speculative you know at
some point here if you know if you try
to look at 100 years you start to lose
a focus on what you're actually going to
need
um
I'll go on to the next one I'm sure
we'll get back to these tables um so the
second the second element is occupancy
or density assumptions and that's
basically because
um and the thing actually maybe I'll
Circle back for just a minute in terms
of our uh the unit we use to measure
what the impact is of of of services in
this case is what we call a service
population I think I mentioned it's
resident residence and um and employees
but the thing is that the the fee you're
charging is actually not on residents
and employees the fee you're charging is
on development so if someone builds a
house or someone builds a commercial
center you have to calculate what the
impact of that what that commercial
center is or what that residence or that
apartment building or that series of
buildings is going to be on on fire
services and so we have to find a way to
convert the people which is how we
figure out what the capacities are to
this thing that's getting built because
it's the people really that generate the
service calls um especially because you
know folks often think especially fire
Services being about responding to fires
but actually I mean you all know a lot
of what fire services do is respond to
Medical calls which is people right it's
not buildings
um so for that reason in the case of
residential we use the American
Community survey which is a uh was from
the U.S census to estimate the sort of
how many people in different sizes of
units because
in general bigger units have more people
in them not absolutely there's some
variation but sort of as an average are
there more people in bigger units
um and then for non-residential we
estimated the employees based on a sort
of a nationwide document that's usually
used for traffic studies published by
The Institute for Traffic Engineers but
that also provides a sort of a Baseline
and I should say for all the data we use
um we always prefer to use third-party
data from a source either something you
have locally or a third-party data
source that's outside this Regional or
national depending on what what the best
source is as opposed to trying to
calculate something for every study
um we think that provides a level of
impartiality and neutrality where for
someone who who is unhappy with the
Assumption can say well what did you
just make this up you say no it's from
this book right it's from some somebody
calculated for some other purpose and
we're using it for for this purpose as a
way to come up with something that's
sort of neutral and objective
this is a list of your existing
facilities um
and uh
the purpose of this actually is because
the way we're going to calculate this
particular study or particular fee is
we're looking at the ratio between the
the facilities you have that that
provide the service both police and fire
compared to the service population which
is this combination of employees and
residents and the idea is that up to now
you've got a certain level of service
which is you know how many police
officers you have and the equipment they
have and how many fire stations you have
and the response times that's all a
system that you've invested in and that
system can be measured as sort of an
investment per per capita per employee
and the idea is that it's because it's
an integrated system it's very difficult
to say when a new house comes along or
when a new shopping center comes along
exactly how many how much more fire
service you need especially because fire
services are kind of lumpy right they
come in engine companies and truck
companies and stations you know you
can't really add a little more fire
service in the same way in the way you
could say with a park where you could
add an anchor of Park fire services are
lumpier than that as our police and so
we look at it more systemically in order
to understand the impact
and what that does is then you calculate
a sort of a need in dollars and that
dollar and that dollar amount that's uh
that's collected can then be used in
conjunction with their CIP to figure out
how to spend the money to expand the
fire services but you don't have that to
have to have that link where you say you
know this house what fire service does
this house need
um the exception to that is you have a
large master plan communities sometimes
you know or you have a section of the
city sometimes you know you need to do
fire station that that can be clear but
with a with an existing place um usually
it's easier to do it this way so that
you you have a fine you have a way to
get to the granularity of individual
houses without having determined the
exact Services you need for that house
because you can look longer you know
we're looking at 20 years
um so here you can see this calculation
I mentioned you've got the public safety
facilities divided by our calculation of
the service population to come up with
that facility standard per capita
um
and you notice that the resident and
worker numbers are different now the
reason for that is because
you know our basic measure is uh is
resonance we say residents and then we
say well in terms of providing police
and fire Services how does a worker
compare to a resident like a worker
working here in an office I mean they
will call the police sometimes they will
call the fire services or a customer in
a business mate
um so what we did is we looked back at
actual call data we look at call data
from police and fire
um to businesses and two residences and
saw the difference in the sort of ratio
if you will of sort of calls per capita
calls per resident calls per employee to
get a relationship between the two it's
the number is 0.29 so there's a sort of
you know a given on average a given
employee in the city will generate 29 as
many calls as a resident in the city as
a sort of an average and that's and the
reason for that is because we have to
find some sort of single metric to
calculate the relationship between the
facilities and the and you know we can't
we can't separate the workers in the
residents we have to combine them
together so we have one sort of way to
calculate all the costs and divide it by
all the future development to come up
with what the what the average is and
that's that uh 790 798 dollars per
capita
um it is important to note though that
um in the case of call data we have
actually just either today or the end of
last week received some new call data
from the police so this number will
change so and the thing that's important
here is these are all draft numbers what
I'm going through here is to sort of
explain the methodology the logic of it
um not fixed fixate too much on the
numbers I mean these numbers are all
correct to an order of magnitude
absolutely but in terms of exactly how
much they are you know we're not quite
there yet we're still in process
um
so here you can see this is a another
thing we do which is in in our report we
will also say you know given the
timeline in exact in expected
development how much revenue are you
going to collect given this fee so here
you can see the service population
growth which is from that initial table
I showed you which is the the growth
that's based on the 0.7 and 1.2 percent
growth rates on the 2020 population
employees times that per capita facility
standard and you come up with in the
next 20 years you'll have about or I'm
sorry 10 years next 20 in 10 years
you'll have 12 million dollars in in
Revenue to spend on Capital facilities
Capital facilities that expand so I'm
not replacing things but new things
which could be going from an engine to a
ladder truck could be going from a
ladder truck to a quince could be a new
station could be adding a bay you know
or new communication equipment things
that expand your service capacity
um so here are the plant and so the next
piece is looking at sort of future you
know things you could spend your money
on um these are planned Public Safety
facilities that are from your CIP
so they should be familiar although I
mean they may change and we'll change
them as a as needed
so
then finally uh taking all of these
elements together we get to the
what some people call the punch line
right what's the fee
um so in this case uh looking at
residential units divided on a per
dwelling unit basis and and graded by by
size as well as non-residential which
you see there's a variety of categories
there I mean you can see um
and the first actually I can use my
mouse here you see the that cost per
capita at 798 and then 231 the 231 is
the 29 of 798 because of that
relationship between employees
and residents
um and there you come up with the the
density the base fee we um add an admin
charge which is a percentage of the
total which is basically the cost of
both preparing the study but then also
the cost of administering the fee
because you know someone at the at the
counter has to spend time calculating it
someone's got to do the accounting
treasury has to your accounting
department has to keep these things in
separate funds to to account for their
expenditure
um so that covers that and then you end
up with a
my total view both on a resident a per
unit basis and on a per square foot
basis
um and um one of the pieces of input we
got from the CIA AC was they thought
that this um the residential fee and the
mini warehouse versus Warehouse were a
little too fine-grained and so there
actually is a second set of fees which
just take out
those categories especially because um
man I won't get too too far into the
weeds but in order to in order to
estimate the number of people in the
various sizes of units we actually used
a regression analysis because we had
data that was by bedroom but we didn't
have data it was by square foot and
running that regression analysis we
ended up with a result where it showed
less than an average of one person in
the smallest kind of unit which
doesn't make a lot of sense although it
can be accounted for by vacancy
potentially but it
the ciac didn't they didn't like that
very much they thought it made more
sense to have something that's seen more
intuitive so by removing that lower
category and averaging those two
together you end up with that 1.02
um
and there you can see basically that's
how the feed you know the total fees for
residential range from 830 more or less
to almost two thousand dollars and then
per square foot range from 75 to five uh
I guess the highest one 768 per square
foot
um
just depending on the employee density
and the residential density
so finally another thing that the ciac
was interested in and usually lots of
folks are interested in is how do the
fees compare to the current fees
um you can see here that the residential
fees all go up by significant margin
some of the commercial fees go down
we've been asked why is this the case
um so the the the simple answer to that
is that the last study done by tissue
laborers Bice used a different
methodology that honestly we're having a
little trouble understanding they they
um they they did the commercial fees
based on inbound visitors
like inbound visitors I guess from a
traffic study I mean we sort of delved
into and got a little lost honestly I
mean it's we and I don't want to it was
an unfamiliar methodology to us um this
is the methodology we use all over the
country it's you know it's been
tested in lots of places it's con we
just used it in
up north and we've used it before in
Rancho Santa Fe and in other states as
well
um but that being said though it's
important to note that we do think that
the um the the new call data from the
police is going to change us because
because the call data I mean the call
data for police actually is is more
heavily weighted towards commercial than
versus residential more so than fire
um which might make intuitive sense but
um I think that's going to mean that
some of this will change and that's why
it's important to say that you know
these don't Focus too much on these
numbers because these are not the final
calculations really the point of my my
presentation is to walk you through the
logic and the data sources so that we
can sort of get that discussion started
and the actual numbers you know we'll
come back to you with with the numbers
themselves and uh and we can have that
discussion then although if you have any
guidance I mean of course you know tell
me whatever you need to tell me or ask
any questions you have
so that's the end of my presentation
Smith and I are here to answer any
questions you have thank you Mr Edison
we have uh councilor Koran counselor
Flores
I just have a quick question and I think
this is sort of more this is somewhat
semi-ratorical thank you this seems
completely logical to me but it's
semi-ratorical toward our thinking and
that is
um we are also going through a Geo Bond
funding process and we have historically
funded a number of public service
related interests through the
geo-bunding process in my mind I'm
thinking about who pays for these things
and in that way the payment is
distributed across everyone in the city
even though it might be going to serve a
very particular place and I think about
my district which is the source of where
probably many of the impact fees come
from and also has a demand for new
infrastructure it seems more logical to
me to leverage impact fees than
something like a Geo bonding process and
in terms of funding infrastructure
especially that goes to Public Safety
to do that on The Leverage that on the
people who are creating the demand I
would say and seems more Equitable to me
in that in that framework and so I'm
curious one how how does how does our
offsetting of certain
large chunks of money into into bonds
municipal bonds affect this if at all
and then the other part is
um
I guess more for us like what makes the
most sense
well um an answer to your second
question you know as since I'm not a
resident of Las Cruces it's not really
for me to say
um I can tell you though I mean I work
in a lot of jurisdictions and you know
typically the approach is to use things
like Geo bonds or revenue bonds or other
kinds of sources to fund what we call
existing deficiencies like often um when
you're putting together an impact fee
program typically it reflects in some
cases a sort of aspirational service
standard sometimes it's especially this
happens with Parks but not just that
um where you you're actually not because
you know we're charging based on your
existing standard we call your existing
level facilities but you may say no we
want in the case of Public Safety we
want better Police Services we want
better fire Services some of those
things cost more money and so we will we
will charge new development it's fair
share but that's not enough to fund that
and so we have another funding source
that will make up that Gap I mean that's
the most typical in the case of say
roads for example where you've got a
very low pavement pavement index
um you may say well we're going to build
new roads up do a standard but we have
some existing revs that also are
deficient and we will use
things like other revenue of the revenue
sources to fund that
um I personally I agree with you that
that uh you know I'm from California
right um that development should pay
it's fair share but
that you know when I work in South
Carolina and Florida it's not that clear
it's I mean ultimately it's a political
and policy discussion right that's what
it comes down to and how resources are
used and certainly
um certain kinds of development great
jobs and they have other ancillary
benefits
none of that's for me to say honestly
but but in terms of sort of my
experience on the place is typically
that's the dividing line is it new
development pays its fair share and
especially here where we're using an
existing standard now it can be a little
more complicated if you're using your
CIP or some or some set of future
facilities as the basis of calculating
the fee then typically if we have an
identified funding source that is paying
for something we usually take that out
of the of the calculation because it's
it's paid for from some other source
um that being said I mean sometimes we
do get a little more complicated where
we'll say yes there is a geo Bond or
some other kind of financing but a
portion of that is the responsibility of
new development and we will then
calculate The Debt Service the
proportional Debt Service attributable
to new development and include that in a
sort of a present value I mean this is
now getting you know there's a lot of
ways to do this but I mean that's
another way if that makes sense to to to
to to accommodate the fact that this Geo
bond is funding both existing sort of
existing developments responsibility but
also some some things that will benefit
new development and new development
should pay for that even though you're
doing it now right there's a and this is
why you know when I say that you know a
calculation of an impact fee is fairly
simple
um you can really get into the weeds
figuring out which things you pay for
and which development to you know
there's that's what I like it you know
just as a personal note
does that answer your question it does
thank you very much I appreciate it
counselor Flores and then mayor Pro tem
thank you Mr Mayor um well I'm so happy
that my colleague understood it clearly
because I didn't I find it very
complicated and I don't really
understand how an analysis on impact
fees
um
takes care of the deficiencies
in another part of town
I mean I just don't did I totally
misunderstand what you presented well I
think I I'm it's very abstract for me
and I'm not
um I just wasn't able to understand
what your presentation really means in
so far as the distribution of money and
warehouses or you know large buildings
only counting for 0.23 of a person you
know or in residences maybe having up to
nine I I don't understand what that
means can you explain that to me
um like I'm a two-year-old
um sure um
so the the base you base unit of
analysis is residents and employees okay
before we get to houses and retail
stores and warehouses and the rest okay
because those are the
you know it's people who who have a
demand for Public Safety Services okay
either by calling the fire department
calling the police department
so
then if you're looking at new
development so new development is a
building but it also brings either
residents or employees yes but the way
but our impact fees come from the from
the new areas that are being developed
and so then how does that help the
deficiency in another part of town
strictly speaking of impact fees should
not fund a deficiency it's it's funding
I mean it's funding a future deficiency
right it's funding because like you know
take the example of a sort of large
development I mean the clearest example
is we have a large section of town that
needs a new fire station and you build a
thousand houses and they need a new fire
station they pay the impact fees and
those impact fees pay for their fire
station so it's not funding anywhere
else now what's a little more
complicated so you're projecting and you
said yes developers should pay but in
fact I don't think they do I mean I just
don't see how developers are the impact
fees that are derived are really
especially since they're building around
existing facilities such as fire
stations
so I'm just trying to understand what
you mean it doesn't create a need for
for facilities because they're close to
an existing facility yeah well because I
think it has been said that we need we
probably need a facility
um you know in a certain part of town
where there's a lot of a lot of homes
are being built but
um there's been no real concrete
discussion as to how that would happen
with impact fees so where do we do well
yes chief
thank you councilor mayor counselor
Flores uh I'm gonna try to take two
steps back so when we talk about our
response and for the fire department
I'll speak specifically
before we had station eight uh we didn't
have anything we didn't have I'm sorry
you had station what before we had
station eight
we had all of Sonoma Ranch with long
delayed response times
and I'm gonna go back here by president
station
so station six would end up responding
down Sonoma Ranch or station four out of
their primary area
a long delayed response
so now station six would be gone long
longer so if another call came in their
area
Engine 5 with uh councilor Koran from
your District would have to respond down
to that area so we end up filling these
gaps with other stations to to meet that
need so we had station eight and from
this slide here you can see Station 8
right now is being paid for from the
impact fees
but we know that station nine is needed
we continue to have have growth there in
that area and more impact
I'm sorry where is Station nine so what
we talked about at the
the census presentation and we had the
video we talked about a potential fire
station 9 North Sonoma Ranch in in
angler area where all the growth is and
and Council karan's area and where is
station eight station eight right now is
North Sonoma Ranch just past the
neighborhood Walmart just north of there
okay
so this discussion helps us see where
the need is and then the impact fees pay
for that because of the areas that are
being developed
yes that's that's the hope is that as we
get more growth and more population okay
we know we need more resources
especially in areas where our our lumpy
fire station fire department so so then
the impact fees are determined based on
the need that that development is uh
creating is that the purpose of this
presentation or somebody Wilton has done
it if I if I could summarize the way I
take this we have a certain service
level right now this is the level of
service we provide for Public Safety and
they look at that and they break it down
on a per person unit whether that's a
resident or a worker and they say okay
to to meet the growth we're going to
need on this example 12 million dollars
of investment and then they say okay
well residents for new residents it's
going to be X and for new commercial
where they have employees based on the
number of employees they project it's
going to be why and then we start
collecting those fees thank you I do
understand that the part I don't
understand is how we get developers what
do we do do we assess a higher impact
fee
uh I mean you've told us that much Mr
Edison so but then what happens I mean
we see where the need is created how the
need is created and and who should fund
the impact these so impact fees are
Universal in the United States not just
in Las Cruces and how do we uh and then
how what are the impact fees that are
assessed for new developments I don't
know right um so empathies are not
Universal but they're quite common in
the southwest uh and in southern states
um other places they're almost unheard
of in the Northeast they're mostly in
sort of newer States I would say um in
California yeah there are a lot of them
in California a lot in Florida
um and in Arizona New Mexico Texas
those are the sort of the hot spots but
then they're all over the place as well
but then how are they collected from the
um
how are they assessed and how are they
collected from the developer right okay
I'll get that let me just show you the
fees again
so
the uh what's the taxation fee so these
are collected typically at building
permit so what happens is someone comes
and says I want to build a house or 10
houses and you've got a permit counter
and they come up to the counter and the
permit text says to them okay you've got
to pay for this inspection fee and I
mean they've got a list of fees and one
of the fees is the impact fee
um then you know then what happens is
the finance department knows what's been
collected right against reported it's
all tracked man okay and that goes into
a fund in the case of the fire
department the fire department has a
fund of impact fees which are collected
over time you know as things get built
and the reason for this this whole
system is because it's very difficult to
say for any one house getting built in
any one place to say exactly how much is
needed because the fact is you could say
well if someone builds one house does it
really make a difference probably not
but once you build 100 houses it does
make a difference and if you get to the
100th house and you need a new fire
truck you can't go back to the first
house and say oh by the way that house
was built five years ago we want you to
pay won't happen right so Mr Edison does
this facilitate the process of impact
fees being collected equitably
does it just does it facilitate the
collection
uh it does because it makes it all quite
clear I mean maybe as a I don't know how
much history you want to go into but
sort of this whole system came about
from a couple of court cases in the late
80s called Nolan and Dolan which were
Federal lawsuits suit and basically
municipalities got sued for exactions
where some municipality said oh that's a
nice project be terrible if something
happened to it how about you give us a
bunch of land or how about you they
would make sort of case-by-case
exactions from development sort of and
basically what the Supreme Court said
was
you can't do that that's a taking it's a
regulatory taking and what's come out of
that is the system of impact fees which
are they're they're calculated in
general way they apply to all
development equally it's not Case by
case it's not the wealthy developer pays
more and the poor developer pays less or
the the project the city wants pays less
and the project the city doesn't want
pays more
um which you know happened in some
places
um so the ideas is to have a is to have
a A system that is Equitable as you say
because everyone gets treated the same
and also I think very importantly the
development Community is predictable
because this is a public document it's
you know it's adopted in advance of
anybody applying for any fees and so
when someone comes along and wants to do
a project here they know
along with this along with all the other
fees they know exactly what they're in
for right right we know we have a
responsibility to contribute to the
capital facilities of the city and this
is how much we have to pay and I have
one more question for you are you
related to Thomas Alva Edison I don't
know that grandparent was an orphan
because my grandparents are we do have a
Hemingway living in Las Cruces and she
is related to the Ernest Hemingway I
mean I'd like to think I am but I don't
actually know but thank you Mr Edison
thank you very much it's very clear now
thank you good
did you have your councilman Como thanks
mayor
the presentation and the information and
thank you counselor Quran for that
question that was excellent
um my I guess I only just have one
request really I know that part of the
process is to go back to stakeholders
developers which I you know I assume
what they might say and so I would like
that when you come back to us that you
present
um if you go to stakeholders and then
change potentially what that fee will
look like I would like to see
both before and after just because I
know there's been you know we've had
issues with Park impact fees and the
fact that we went on much lower end of
the park impact fee than needed to be
and I just I don't want to see that
happen and so I would like to see
um the entirety of The Proposal with and
without changes before and after the
stakeholder conversation to do that I
mean we work with staff usually because
that's always a balancing act right I
mean they're one of the stakeholders
right um right and I've never had
developers tell me that these are too
low
right and so I yeah I'm glad I'm glad we
changed we changed it sir I like you
very much thank you thanks mayor
so thank you Mr Edison so um I was I'm
kind of touch base on or kind of go with
where councilman Cuomo was going
so earlier when you had the impact fees
that you were showing how much was
collected
as you can tell it was like 50 60 000 a
month and I
and and I thought councilor Quran was
going to say this because I'm going to
say yes okay I I see this
what I'm trying to get at is
unless we raise those impact fees
extremely high it's going to take a
while for us to really build any
infrastructure so
and when we had fire stations rebuilt
with a Geo Bond
it was not a problem at all what I'm
trying to get at is
when it comes to police and fire I think
this is something that the public
recognizes they need they want they
support and I would be I would be
interested if my colleagues give their
consensus to also in addition to what
you're doing take a look at see if we
were to have just a special election for
whatever is needed that way there it's
spread out among all the the residents
because you know we have residents that
move you know they may live in District
three or four and then eventually they
live in District Six where they move all
over the city so it's kind of you know
they benefit one way or the other and it
spreads it out
and because earlier when someone said I
don't know when the counselors that the
developer pays for it the developer
just passes it through when we go and do
our affordable housing that they're
gonna have to pay that fee too this way
here I think it'd be a little bit more
it would be spread out and I think it
it'd be a minuscule amount because we
have the capacity for one
and and second I think it would probably
be such a small amount that it really
wouldn't uh be affecting a whole lot
you know at least just take a look at it
is what I'm suggesting
I'm I'm not sure what like you mean I
mean different from a Geo Bond different
from Impact fees but not they they can
present their their impact fee in
addition to what it would look like if
we were just do a special election and
what would cost if we were to do an
increase in property tax
okay I got you an overall property tax I
I just want to say that I don't actually
believe that we should spread it around
I believe we should make developers and
the individuals buying those houses pay
their fair share
and and I understand where we're going
from that's why when you were starting
off I thought you were going to go with
what I'm just saying but then you turn
around and and said that and when you
say pay their fair share what if
um
you know they they may be transitory
they may just be in an apartment and
then and then they go to a house they
never paid it then
so if they do resale so this way here I
think that's all I'm just saying at
least take a look at it just take you
know that way there it's because if we
go this route it's going to be a while
before we build anything or we raise the
the fees so so high so I mean I'm not
saying committing to anything other than
maybe adding yet another
um method that's all
mayor yes Council
um two things to note on that just one
quick though I think it's it sounds yes
I know it'll get passed down to the
consumer ultimately but
um even when I think about the last year
the last two years the one industry that
did not struggle in fact quite the
opposite actually was developers
developers had an excellent last two
years and so
um I think it's so it's not necessarily
about the individual people and where
they live it's about the impact that
it's being created on our community it's
not in the infill right that's not where
development is happening developers are
developing in the outer parts of our
city creating a bigger impact and a
bigger need and so I think that's to me
where that conversation on fair share
comes in but I do agree with you
particularly because I know on the other
end in terms of a special what that
would look like special Gold Bond
because I know that utilities is going
to have to go out for Bond a huge one
for the Jacob hands facility in the
future sure I mean that is a giant knee
that is a very old facility for a
growing city and that really does impact
everybody and so
um and I don't know if you specifically
focus on Public Safety but I you know
mayor I think if we're going to start
looking at Consultants who can look at
these kinds of special elections we
might want to pull in utilities as well
just because I know that that's a big
need sure I would have no problem with
that and councilor Florida's I'll be
more than happy to explain to you what
I'm talking about and you'll see once I
get done showing you why uh overall
increase in in a Geo Bond or or a
property tax increase versus uh versus
um
impact fee Mr Mayor I understood what
you said I still disagree with you yeah
I know but thank you you haven't you
haven't had a chance to
um you know so and then I'm sorry mayor
just lastly I do want to say that there
are waivers for affordable housing
developers that can potentially waive
empathy and that's true I thought of
that but then you're gonna have to that
waiver that amount is needed is going to
have to be passed on so it's going to be
yet even more expensive yeah I mean the
bottom line is where's where's Michael
he's not here
this is a sound bite there is no free
lunch
really and and contrary to
um popular belief it's going to be
passed one way or the other this way
here I think if it's just spread I think
it's better and it's quicker and we
because the quicker we build it the
cheaper it is because the longer we wait
it's just but so you're I mean I'm just
saying take a look at uh in addition to
I'm not saying not to I mean that's just
saying I'm not saying uh not to have it
or to go to this one route only but I'm
just asking to have that included in
addition to what they're being presented
and I think overall it may it might be
something there the council might be
supportive of
yeah
okay so I three I see three nods over
there and I think mayor Pro tems seems
like she seems to be okay with it okay
all right good
Chief uh you have uh anything else you
wanted the
share with us
members of counselor I'm sure I do but
uh
I'll hold those comments for later so
okay okay all right
okay so there you go we knocked off what
a thousand dollars off your consulting
fee uh getting you out here a little bit
early I'm just kidding I don't know how
much you charge thank you very much Mr
Edison
and to have a safe flight and safe trip
home
thanks Chief so we'll do both uh or I
don't know if you even do that but if
you can work with someone to get us
in addition to this and you never know
uh what it would look like if we were to
do another a special G on Geo bond for
utilities and and uh
fire
what you need
thank you sir
okay thanks
so where's matthew
did you have your dinner break because
as long as counselor Flores is here
you're going to need it
I I understand are going to be leaving
here shortly for a birthday party so
well you're going to have to be late
because I'm going to keep talking right
yeah you're right
mayor members of council Sarah Cundiff
manager analyst for Public Works
I will be going into my portion of the
slides
thankfully it is one
the first item I would like to review
with you is a change to the CIP in
comparison to last in comparison this
work session versus last work session we
only have three they're all very minor
the first one is the removal of South
Central Solid Waste Authority as
determined to be a special district by
nmdfa and will need to be on their own
icip CIP
the second change you will see in
comparison to last Council work session
would be that the non-profit
organizations are actually in their own
organizational unit on the CIP as
referenced on page three
and the last is going to be just General
corrections formatting cleanup spelling
callasitas correctly to make my mother
proud and those are the only three
changes that you should see to the CIP
in comparison between this work session
and last work session with that I will
turn it over to Scott Marr director of
it before we get to Scott we had
counselors Koran Flores and abeta who
had some questions so and I think
Matthew if you're still available for
them because I appreciated their
Indulgence because they still have these
questions that
I think councilor Koran and Abita I
think councilor Flores she's
she's used up all her time we can wait
until the very end if that's better sure
yeah you're good Sarah's up here and
we're ready we can wait as well yeah I
think I can wait we're gonna we're gonna
we're gonna equip you with a power
operated
I'm just kidding go ahead
um Scott yeah
you're being very mean
you're being very mean you're being very
mean
good afternoon mayor and Council I'm
Scott Maher the I.T director and today
I'm going to present to you some
information on the FY 23 technology
Improvement plan
and just uh kind of to inform you what
this is about
the technology Improvement plan is the
budgeting component of the city's
technology governance program and so
what we try and do is identify those
projects those technology projects that
are going to use server-based Computing
that are over a certain dollar amount of
typically we target five thousand dollar
amount to identify what we consider
larger technology projects
and those are uh those can be on premise
or hosted Solutions and when I say
server based what I'm talking about is
typically there's a website component or
a database component associated with
that application
so just to kind of give you an overview
of how this process works is the
Department's complete
technology project request form and they
submit that uh to their business systems
analysts that gets reviewed by our
technology Review Committee which then
gets passed on to the steering committee
which prioritizes those those requests
and then they get folded into the city
manager's budget
um as part of the budgeting plan and
then it's brought to you Council as part
of the budget
so this year or actually for FY 23 we
have a series of projects that were gone
have gone through review and were
approved the first two are actually
carryovers from this year they were not
able to be implemented or started in
this year the first one is the clever
devices upgrade this project for 277 000
is to upgrade the GPS systems and the
real-time Bus tracking system that that
gives us scheduling information
for Transit the other one is the demand
response improvements and that is
associated with the Dial-A-Ride program
and micro Transit programs and those are
both upgrades uh for for Transit the uh
museums has a request in for an
attendance database tracking system
it is currently working with museums to
develop this application this is just a
plan B in case for some reason we're not
able to complete it in time we are on
track with this project so I don't think
we'll have to go and buy a third-party
Pro product
at this time the next item for training
and development is the Silk Road slash
agile upgrade the city is currently
using silk road as its performance
review system for employees and this is
an upgrade to that system for twenty
three thousand dollars
library has a request to switch to a new
library integrated system this is based
on
this the state of New Mexico getting a
pricing agreement with a different
vendor than the library is currently
using and they would like to switch to
that vendor to save money year over year
uh utilities is looking for a new work
order and asset management system
they are going to start this process
with an RFI their current system does
not have the regulatory reporting
necessary for gas and so they would like
to investigate and then procure a new
work order system
fire station is looking at a fire is
looking for a station alerting system
currently they use loud alarms to wake
everyone up which is not good for the
for the staff so they're looking at a
system that has a ramping audible alarm
along with light flashing lights and so
forth and then last HR is looking at
re-implementing their neogov application
which is what they use for posting and
hiring online
and with that I'm going to turn it over
to Matt and answer any questions
thanks Scott so mayor members of council
just for just our final steps we will
take recommendations from today to
finalize our budget we'll come back with
our public hearing on May 4th for the
public and also our Council City budget
adoption on May 16th just to note that
our city Charter as well as nmdfa
requires us to submit the budget by June
1st
so with that we'll open it up to
discussion thank you mayor
okay so we have Council Quran Flores and
abeta
that's correct my my questions have been
gaining interest Matt so just so you
know yeah yeah
um high yield uh I I guess my questions
have to do with a couple of things that
you sort of alluded to that are kind of
externalities and and councilor Ben
Cuomo mentioned one of them but one of
them is the para increase I don't know
if that's been decided yet or not has it
from the state
mayor of councilor Quran uh yes that has
been decided back in 2020 the state of
New Mexico increased the state the
contributions for Pera on both the
employee and employer by two percent so
they broke out that two percent Over a
four-year period so we're seeing it at
two percent increase over a year thank
you that's good that's pretty I just
wanted to know that it was predictable
because sometimes the state kind of
changes those things like abruptly and I
didn't want it to be a a volatile point
in people's paycheck and then the other
one is also an externality that I
understand is really difficult to
predict that councilor Ben Cuomo alluded
to there's about 4.3 million in the
liability claims column
um that you said was was the same from
from last year but I understand there
are a number of
factors related to
increase civil rights liability in
particular on municipalities and I
wonder how does that factor into our
budgeting process do we have I know that
there are different types of insurances
for that I just I'm curious uh what if
we've done a risk assessment related to
that liability and where that might come
from in our in our planning or where
what might account for that
so mayor councilor cut on we do assess
that through our Actuarial report
so we take a look at that I don't know
man do you have anything additional you
would like to add to that
Samir Council Gran we budget what's in
our Actuarial real report that's
actually an audit that we do with our
actor so to meet what is Our obligation
we use the Actuarial report to budget
that every year and of course if we have
let's hope that we won't have any higher
settlements than the budget will remain
the same because that's in the Actuarial
but if needed we would have to increase
that amount that's budgeted for
settlement okay
thank you
um and I think those are that's all my
questions thank you
and before I get to counselor Flores so
Council Quran we're self-insured the
city is self-insured so as far as
insurance the reason why you're seeing
premiums go up Statewide is because of a
bill that was passed last year that went
from a million to 2 million and so it's
getting very expensive so the city like
I said is self-insured and so that's
what what um
Leanne was talking about is something
there that won't maybe in the future
have to have some hard conversations as
to if we're going to be having to fund
it
so next counselor Flores so mayor I was
just going to point out also to you that
we did have some insurance premiums that
are paid in the liability however I
think in the last year probably a year
and a half we've been unable to get
a liability premium for police for that
type of coverage so just wanted to point
that out sir
thank you
counselor Flores thank you Mr Mayor well
the question I had wasn't uh I I don't
know uh if Matt would be able to answer
it maybe Mr envicus maybe Mr Cabello or
attorney Cabello
um because my question was about
the TNR
that we passed
and
there wasn't because there's like tbds
on the presentation that that you made
um Mr science so I um I was just
wondering when we when we pass a
resolution excuse me an ordinance such
as TNR which
necessarily
requires funding
do we write in the amount that it should
be funded for and if we don't do that
what happens because right now
um there's just there's no real
enforcement or app whatever
it has it doesn't really do anything we
have an ordinance that says yada yada
but we don't have the money to assure
that
um
the animals being
picked up are getting keynard so I don't
know if that's a question for Mr Cabello
or for Mr Enriquez and Mr Enriquez you
did say something about the county but
it's a city ordinance
yes again good afternoon mayor and
Council Eric Enriquez assistant city
manager
um it's not recommended that when we do
the ordinance that we put an actual
dollar amount to it we did state that we
would fund it and we will do that you
are corrected it is a city ordinance
that we're dealing with but the Animal
Service Center is a jpa and the county
provides uh funding for that as well we
want to see what the big picture looks
like for the funding as they also have
ordinance in the county that they have
to fund and support as well so being
that it's a jpa we want to get a better
look at what that funding looks like but
the city will will fund that TNR as as
needed well it's needed now Mr Enriquez
apparently and um and there's the Uproar
in in the community
and we've had people at the Animal
Service Center board meetings we've had
people
um you know at Council meetings in their
public input so
is there any indicate does anybody know
when it will be funded when we will be
able to do the TNR right that's correct
councilor Flores um so we do have a
meeting this Thursday where the uh
Animal Service Center will present their
budget and that's what we're waiting on
on that number to be determined is based
on what their budget is going to look
like their requests their vacancies a
number of items that go into their
budget and then we could get a better
idea of what we need to provide for that
funding and then how soon say the
meeting we have on Thursday morning say
there is a some certain that's necessary
then then what does it get funded
automatically well at that point we'll
uh go back to
oh well I'll I'll lean on Leanne for
that and and the budgeting team and Matt
well to see what to see what fundings
are available that we we can do that but
we're also uh waiting on the county as
well to see uh they're actually behind
so there will be some discussions they
do their budgeting I don't remember the
dates do you remember so are you talking
about the cats that really are brought
in from the county but they have their
own holding facilities so that's a part
that confuses me about the funding when
it's a city ordinance yes your your
right counselor Flores it is a city
ordinance but the budget is through a
jpa so we also need the County's input
on what they're going to provide as well
so that we can get a better number on
um on the TNR like I said it's it's to
be determined but it's a dollar amount
it's not whether we'll fund it or not we
will fund it it's just the amount that
we're going to be looking for okay then
you have to be at the next meeting and
say that exactly to people who show up
and scream at us
yes ma'am
thank you thank you Mr Enriquez did you
want to add to that Mr peely Mr peely
had his light on no then why'd you turn
your light on I was gonna probably just
say the same thing he said but I think
you you got I was going to confirm that
short answer is we are going to fund it
the TBD has to do with an uncertain
amount of uncertainty of what that's
going to cost at this point okay is that
true Leah
is it true Matt
okay you're on the record thank you
thank you I was going to add to it oh
yes go ahead oh no I was just going to
add really quickly the ascmv is also
trying to respond to folks so this even
this Wednesday they're actually having a
giant Community cat
being a neutering event so just as an
aside as part of the conversation is
ongoing they they're working to to scale
that up so just sorry go ahead excuse me
mayor that's okay all I was going to say
was this is why I think we need to have
that discussion about just taking it
over because once it's under the city's
purview everything then
um we can fund it and it just runs a
little bit easier yeah well I'm just
telling you you're gonna have to talk to
your friend Fernando about that and then
you can send evil to go talk to him
all right so with that next is councilor
beta
pickup is usually at six o'clock so I'm
gonna make this really fast
um so I had uh one of the questions was
about liability but we've already
covered most of that I think
um I I am a little concerned as well
that we need to evaluate heavily on what
we've placed in if that's going to be
enough
um the second one was on slide 28 about
the non-profits I was going to see if I
um organizations like mevita were
already included within this round
yeah
councilor beta the organizations that
are included are organizations which
already have a Fiscal Agent agreement
approved and in place with us the two I
can think of off the top of my head are
going to be in the Messiah Valley
Community of Hope and La Clinica de
Familia am I missing any Leon
so mayor councilor
um
sorry beta
I'm used to looking over here I
apologize I got moved straight over here
I'm just a habit
so the one that you're mavita so just
recently we've talked with Mr peely and
we are they've asked for requests I
think for an additional fifty thousand
dollars and you will notice that that
will be coming to you that's not a
capital that's for their operating and
that will be coming to you in the May
resolution as an adult as a a change
from the the budget okay thank you very
much and then my last one was about
um I guess just
kind of crafting out the differences
um
with items that are put in the budget
that are
items that do not have increases I think
we kind of talked about this before that
some items are in there and they're
they're not really a true increase from
how it's labeled as a priority uh what
I'm looking at within the parks we did
have like Tony Gomez Park we know that
there was already forty thousand dollars
in this year to fund that but
it was there anything else put on and
how do we catalog that because that was
already money that was kind of budgeted
out for this fiscal so yes it is for
next year but it's a carryover then not
any sort of true funding or increase for
that and so I'm looking at that in terms
of equity for those areas that need
significant improvements
mayor counselor abeta uh yes it was a
carryover we just wanted to show what
was actually being funded or in the
process for those Council priorities
Sarah do you have something else you
want to add
counselor beta the project on the CIP
listed for Tony Gomez Park is for the
master plan so additional funds cannot
be allocated until the master master
plan is finalized to determine the
infrastructure needs required okay and
friendger was also listed on there and
so is there any designation for funding
for furniture then so frencher is part
of the Tony Gomez master plan so it's
not called out specifically in the title
but it is part of that master plan and
so then both
Parks then they share the master plan
but when we look for budgeting then can
it still go within one item or will we
be having to designate per Park
counselor beta we will address that once
the master plan is completed that way
once we have identified the
infrastructure needs we will have a
clear and concise plan as to those we
may lump them together or we may
separate them and that will be left up
to the determination of the parks and
rec department at the time of their next
CIP submission Post Master Plan
completion okay thank you and thank you
mayor
thank you mayor I just have a couple
follow-ups for you Sarah
um can you give us first of all I
appreciate I was like gonna ask you
about legislative Appropriations and
then I realized you have it in the tiny
little italics which is perfect thank
you
um
so all of those 2022 legislative
Appropriations I see them on the fy24
that's when they go into effect
counselor Ben Cuomo
almost
we cannot move them into that green
column the FY 23 column until they're
actually funded so right now because
they are pending we have them listed in
the next outer year but we will move
them inward during the acceptance so Amy
Johnson password or grants administrator
will bring forth the acceptance of the
Grant and you will see the amount in the
green column increase and you will see
the amount in the fy24 column completely
go away okay thank you so
um in terms of the Amador Hotel
funded for 2023 it's about 2.14
million is that can you remember where
that's from
the Amador Hotel Current funding or fy23
funding of 2.1 million is both from
Grants as well as a portion from tid
okay that's right and then um can you
just give us a quick update on the skate
park
and in terms of like this funding and if
we think it's going to get completed and
finished
um
councilman Como do you mean specifically
to
um the funding itself or are you asking
about a project status report as to
whether it's in plan design no honestly
I just do you think this amount of
funding is going to cover the entirety
of the project I would like to defer to
a member of parks and rec if there is
one
Sonia Delgado is on her way thank you
and then yes eventually mayor I would
like to get a project
status report doesn't have to be today
good afternoon mayor members of council
Sony Delgado director of Parks and
Recreation councilman Kumar are you
talking about the current project right
now with the new there's two of them or
we want information on both new ones the
new one we do have funding that's coming
in so that we can do design for the new
one and that will be it's been in the
master plan for the new East Mesa public
rec complex so it'll go there and then
we currently have funding that we're
moving forward with right now we're
finishing up negotiations with the
contractor to renovate the current
existing Park and that should be
happening that's going to carry over
into the next fiscal year but it should
get completed this calendar year and so
you think this funding will be enough
for both of those projects each for the
rent we have two Renovations we have
enough money for the renovation and then
we'll have enough money for the design
great okay thank you so much
Sonia don't leave yet just quick
question so are you still working with
the University or that didn't work out
that one didn't work out no okay
okay
um
you have anything else Matthew
no thank you all for your time we really
appreciate it and we look forward to
seeing you here on May 16th okay there's
no more questions entertain a motion no
Mr Mayor look I think srijana uh wanted
to address something she was just moving
from one channel to the other no she did
she and when she shot it when she speaks
you listen she's better than EF Hutton
I think you and I are the only ones in
this room who know who EF Hutton is
yeah yeah because you're you know you're
not 20.
there's mayor councilor thank you for
that
advisation and just to let you all know
that that is something we will be
looking at in the new CIP process of how
we look at projects through an equity
lens and all the priorities that city
council may have so I was just gonna
give you a heads up on that
thank you that's great thank you thank
you Mr Mayor
or any other questions
entertain a motion to adjourn
second motion made by councilor Ben
Cuomo second by counselor Graham we
adjourn Christine
this is on the motion to adjourn the
work session counselor beta yes
councilor Graham yes councilor Ben Cuomo
yes councilor Koran yes counselor Flores
no
do you want to change that Vote or
does it have to be unanimous
within all the reasons more reason to
say no go ahead yes yes okay
yes mayor yes okay it's 5 41 p.m we're
adjourned and then we have our work our
agenda setting meeting here
okay this is the agenda setting meeting
for the May 2nd 2022 city council
meeting number one non-consent one none
consent two non-consent two
non-conscious three consent three
consents four non-consent for
non-consent five non-consent five
non-consent six consent six consent
seven non-consent seven non-consent
eight consent eight consent nine consent
nine consent ten non-consent ten
non-consent
that's it yeah thank you