las cruces and then the contact
information for our friends at the new
mexico workforce connections office is
located at 226 south alameda boulevard
las cruces new mexico 8805 and the phone
number is
two five 575-524-6250
thank you very much mr mayor
thank you dr perry alice
okay so we have two items on the agenda
first one being the geo bond projects
the overall update
and looks like david seville will be
giving this presentation
good afternoon mayor and council david
cedillo public works director and yes i
will be going over the geo bond
quarterly update
we'll go and begin with the projects
that are under question one we do have
the hadley
reconstruction or recreational complex
that project is now at hundred percent
the estimated completion date for that
project was october 8th the actual
completion date was august 23rd that is
46 days early from the estimated
completion date
thank you
i'd like to thank our contractor that
was on staff and also
everyone involved public works parks and
rec
administration that all helped us move
these projects along very very quickly
that did include
mag
jim hardy and paws ball fields and also
ron gaia t ball fields
here we're going to show you what those
graphs you've seen these before the
other quarterly reports again this is
just the first graph is showing the
billings compared to the time for the
project and over to the right you're
going to see the actual
progress of the project to what was
planned initially
both of those showing that the project
has been completed early
we also have the park and sports carts
they were part of question one that
project cumulatively is
complete at 79 percent
the estimated completion date for that
project is november 5th
i'm not going to list every single
project that was on there
all of them are complete some of them
more recently than others
over to the right you'll see some
pictures of young park and the shade
structures there the item that needs to
be finished for this project is the
group structure over at young park we're
still waiting on materials for that but
hopefully it should be completed here
relatively soon they're estimating by
the end of
september hopefully
here in a few days
more pictures of those completed
projects that we do have here we do have
apodaca pickleball court there in the
first two photos on the bottom
and to the left
to the right bottom we have the
completion of a sports court over at
metro verde and up above we have
the sports court over at benevidez court
that was repaired
here's the project schedule
as noted the estimated
construction time
is november 5th you can see that here
based on the construction schedule for
the project
as part of this
project
the billings that we have to date are
slightly ahead of the time
there on the left and over to the right
you will see that same trend same trend
as we that graph is actually passed the
actual installations to the planned from
the beginning of of the project at that
time
we also have unilateral park
the request for proposals was advertised
june 25th
those proposals were received on the
26th of july
now
the selection advisory committee did
meet toward that on august 19th
at this time
those negotiations with the contractor
are still ongoing but we're getting very
very close
also as part of question number one we
have the east mesa public rec complex
this is phase one of the master plan
that was done as part of the project
when we first started
the request for proposal was advertised
may 7th
those proposals were received june 17th
on july 8th the selection advisory
committee was held and moved forward
with
the contractor at that time we moved
into negotiations i do want to report
that at this time negotiations failed
with the first respondent we moved on to
the second respondent
and those negotiations are getting very
very close to completion as well
also part of question number one we have
the dog parks if council remembers we
did include or incorporate
those dog parks in with the animal
services
uh center construction that contract
that
project as a whole combined started on
june 5th the estimated completion date
for that project is september 28th of
next year in 22.
at this time the earthwork at the
rinconada site is approximately 70
percent and earlier this month
the site clearing over at burn lake
began
now moving into question two for the new
animal services center
again those construction timelines are
the same that i just reported for the
dog parks
however at this point the project as a
whole is 15 complete
at the site for the service center
itself that earthwork is approximately
75 complete
some of the items that have also
happened there the perimeter footing for
the building has been completed
we also have rough-ins for underground
utilities such as electrical
and plumbing that are still ongoing
and we did have to relocate
a water and gas main
from the site to be able to do the
improvements
those mains are paralleling baton
memorial west
if you recall that's that large area
that had a lot of the soil so we had to
relocate some of those utilities
to move forward with the improvements
and that was part of the project
lastly we do have some overhead el paso
electric lines that were relocated they
used to go through the center of what
the proposed
project location was going to be
those have been relocated over to the
north boundary of the project
again for the schedule you'll see that
this and the dog parks are both included
in the same project and again that
timeline for the project to end
september 28th of next year
as far as the billing and time they're
very very closed there's a
a few percentage points there so we're
on track there
as far as what was estimated
from the beginning to be completed to
what is actually completed that's
starting off a little low
uh we're projecting that as the work
continues and moves along that we'll see
that actual line get closer to that
projected
line and hopefully in our what we're
working towards is to actually go above
that
for question three we have fire station
number three
that project is about 63 percent
complete the estimated completion date
is january 20th of 2022
and there's a lot of work going on there
as you can see from the description here
now that the shell has been built and
they're working on stuccoing the
building there's a lot of the interior
utilities such as hvac electrical
fire protection plumbing all of those
continue to be worked on and are getting
close to being completed
as you can see there's also interior
finishes that are starting to get worked
on such as the sheetrock installation
which is the gypsum board and some of
those internal painting
lastly we do have
to report that the median cut on valley
drive for this new location has been
completed at this time
so i'd like to share some of those
photos with you
the center picture there you can see the
scaffolding is up the sheathing is up
and they've started that stucco
process through there
over to the right you'll see what's
called a utility tray that'll hold a lot
of the fiber
and other communication lines
to keep those separated from some other
utilities and you can also see
the installations from some of the hvac
fire protection systems and some of that
gypsum board
as it's been installed interiorly
again the construction schedule for the
project you will notice here that that
is the completion end date of
january 20th
moving into the graphs that we've
reported on for the other projects for
this project the billings are slightly
ahead of the of the time
however if you look at the graph over to
the right
some of those
items that have been completed are just
under what was anticipated when the
project was first put out
for this project we are
recognizing that we should
catch up to that within the next quarter
and hopefully we can get that building
finished before the completion date
lastly for our last project in question
four walking jogging biking trails
that project
combined is 55 percent
some of the trails are a little bit
further along than others but combined
we're at 55 percent
the estimated completion date is april
27th of next year
so for the messiah drain
that one is one that's a little bit
further along that one the paving is
about 85 percent complete
and the contractor has started to
install some of the bollards along the
trail
if you look over to your right that's a
picture of the messiah drain closer to
bruins lane
the las cruces lateral the site clearing
and tree trimming has been completed and
some of that grading feel and compaction
as you can see on those two bottom
photos there
is about thirty percent complete
and lastly we have armijo drain
again the site clearance tree trimming
that's been completed this one's a
little bit further along in the grading
and compaction at about 95 percent we
should be anticipating some paving
moving forward here soon
again the construction schedule
outlining when that end date is for the
project
for our billing and time on this one
we're actually quite advanced with the
billing compared to time
you can see we're about close to 55
percent and about 37 percent
on time
that is depicted on the graph over to
your right with what we projected at the
beginning of the project and how far
along some of those installations have
have gone
this is a project that we're looking to
have completed
before the completion date
now moving into the project budget
this is where we're at currently with
each project
i did want to
show that here at the hadley avenue
recreation complex that has been
completed
so as you can see that has been zeroed
out down over here now i do want to
mention that council did approve
american rescue plan act funding in the
amount of 4.1 million dollars
on august 16th of this year now at this
time since we still have some contracts
that have not been awarded we're waiting
till all contracts are awarded to move
forward with identifying the needs for
all projects as we go through there
for our program schedule i do want to
point out a couple of things here that
you can see
obviously the the highlight for for this
update we do have that first project
that's completed as you can see that has
been highlighted in green for the
construction that it has been
highlighted
the other thing that i wanted to to
mention is we have those negotiations
that are going on still with those other
two projects
that we identified
and lastly
all projects
that we have
for the go bond program
are to be completed on or before
december
2022 and that's what our
our projected schedule is showing at
this time
so you've seen each and every project
with
a planned versus proposed
these are all projects combined as a
total to show the program as it moves
forward as you can see we're just
slightly under
with the actual to the proposed
and my anticipation is at the next
quarterly update
we should be either online or very very
close
lastly this is the billings versus time
for the entire program so once we
started the program
the time that's elapsed and what we've
spent
so
this is to show the entire program from
its inception
basically to its end point in december
of 2022
and with that
i will stand for any questions from
mayor and council there are also other
representatives from departments here to
answer any questions
as well
thank you david
so i'll start with counselor beta stevie
and then counselor flotus
thank you mayor and thank you david so
much for this um update uh one of the
things the last time that we talked
prices were continuing to rise for a lot
of construction materials one of the
reasons that we had to look at the arpa
funding to help cover those costs how
are prices doing now with those types of
construction are we anticipating
any other changes or concerns as we move
forward
mayor councillor beta stevie at this
time we're still not seeing any relief
from costs
uh however it looks like
hopefully in the near future we're going
to start to see some of those prices
come down but currently we have not
experienced that
okay is
that one of the reasons why some of the
bid proposals you had won that failed
was that a reason for one of the
failures for that
mayor
councillor beta stevie
since that contract is still in
negotiation
uh
we couldn't reach terms with that first
respondent so we had to move on to the
second okay thank you and thank
thank you counselor flores
uh thank you
thank you mayor and thank you mr cedillo
um well it looks really good
but can you explain to me um
uh for example on a slide 13 it says
billings
and time
what is the
the billings
and
i guess it was slide it doesn't matter
it came up in different slides about
time
and billings billings versus so my
question is what are billings are they
billings that are outstanding and not
yet paid
and then that's compared with
uh prospectively with the time it's
going to take and then
what impact is that going to have on
costs so
is my question clear
yes ma'am
mayor councillor flotus and yes that's
that's an excellent question so the
first graph that you're seeing to the
left which is billings versus time
that is the amount that the contractor
has billed and been paid for on the
project
the other or the on the column graph
that is the project time that has taken
place so it's a comparison of what has
been built for the project versus the
time that the project has actually
started since its construction start
date
okay so then taking the time
the additional time is going to take to
to complete it are we going to have
sufficient funds to
make those completions especially with
that outstanding rfp
that same question that counselor beta
stevie asked
so or
each individual project council flores
has its own set time
so at this time since we haven't awarded
those other two contracts that contract
time will will be award or be set once
we have that contract in place there's
already a timeline set for that once we
establish that contract and they
actually begin the construction
that'll start that timeline for that
right column if you will for the time
basis
and in so far as
i think we're all hoping
even those of us who want some projects
around the house
for prices to come down
i mean i'm not a
an economist or anything like that but
it i wonder if those prices will come
down
and i wonder if that'll have any effect
if those do not come down
and they continue to rise
what impact will i have on our 2022
deadline to have all of our gold bonds
completed
mayor councillor flores that that is a
great question we are actually looking
at that right now and trying to
determine
how that's going to be or if that is
going to be an issue as we move forward
with that however i think there may be
some information in the next
presentation that may address to some of
that
thank you very much again mr cedillo and
and thank you uh mr mayor
council serve and cuomo thank you mayor
thank you so much david this all looks
really promising and all really exciting
um do you expect
any of the projects to give us a hard
time as we get into 2022
mayor councillor ben cuomo
i hope most definitely not obviously
we're always dealing with things that
are outside our control some of those
may be weather some of them may be the
market like we experienced nobody
anticipated that covid was going to be
something that we had to
deal with as we went through on these
projects
so to answer the question we don't
foresee anything that is under our
control
that'll
be an issue moving forward in 2022. good
let's not put it out into the universe
then
um
for the trails david
the armijo trail what was it that they
were installing right there by
the little bridge
mayor councillor ben como this is the
slide you're referring to
so the work that you're seeing right now
is a small
concrete retaining wall
and that is to help with the elevation
difference from the trail to the
existing elephant butte irrigation
system
so if you can see you have some workers
down at the bottom
on the right working on that wall
the top of where they're standing that
ledge is the top part
of the
lateral itself the drainage itself
so as the trail the existing system was
a little bit higher
to basically be able to have room to
work and install the trail for its width
that elevation difference had to be
protected and this is how it was dealt
with is that happening along the trails
quite a bit this kind of work
i believe we have
only a very small few areas i think this
is one of very very few areas that we
have i don't recall having
extensive locations for that but what i
will do is i will go back and get with
staff and let you know exactly how many
locations there were great no no worries
i just was curious and any
pending matters with ebid regarding the
trails
mayor councillor ben como at this time i
will
go ahead and let mr trevino answer that
question i see him shaking his head
good afternoon mayor
i'm councillor pencomo no at this time
for these shells projects we have all
permits in hand and we are beginning
construction and moving forward with all
of our trails as part of the geo bond
project so we are good to go great and
then um i don't know if this question is
for you or david but for the
dog park and the animal shelters center
it's the same contractor working on all
three projects is that what i understood
or
or no
mayor mayor councilman como yes we have
one contractor performing the animal
service center and both dog parks and
they have different crews or are they
working on finishing a project and then
the next one and then the next one they
are all going on simon simultaneously
and moving forward that's impressive
that's amazing okay
and then my last question and i don't
know if maybe you all were here when i
raised the question regarding the
firehouse station three and the new art
installation are regarding the trees
that are right there
on the north side of the building and if
they would be
trimmed or anything for the our
installation piece that will be on top
of the tower
mayor council bencomo that that item was
brought up to during one of our last
project meetings
in regards to the art ins installation
and also those trees there as well so
the contractor and staff is looking at
that of how we're going to install the
art when and about those trees are what
what we're going to do with them so
stafford's working on it i mean i know i
don't certainly hope they get cut down
obviously but i was just curious about
how that will be determined but thank
you those are all my questions super
excited
okay
uh mayor pro tem thank you mayor thank
you david and tony um yes i agree this
is so exciting
our first geo bonnet it feels like you
know there's we're going to finish on
time or before time so kudos to
everybody i know how difficult this has
been especially with the
rising prices and such but
david
my cup my question is around the billing
component and procurement and and and
all that
on each what would be helpful to me is
speaking to outstanding
invoices that are out there
what are the totals and and and
that would be helpful to me so that we
have an understanding when you put it
like that billing versus
it it it's confusing to people like me
who don't really have that sort of
expertise right so
i'm wondering if it could be if it looks
differently in terms of what the billing
is
maybe what's outstanding because
as you know we've we've had a couple of
of emails with concerns as it relates to
procurement and how what that process
looks like how are we
um
um putting together rfps and
um and so if you could explain that just
a little bit for the for the public i'd
be i'd be
very um
grateful number one and to just sort of
explaining drilling down a little more
about the billing component
mayor mayor pro tem gandera yes
the billing we can look at adjusting the
presentation for the next quarterly
quarterly budget we can definitely give
what's been paid out to date and what is
still outstanding to complete the
project we can definitely do that
to answer your question on the billing
portion of it if you're referring to
this portion here and how it that can be
explained
we can we can change the headings if you
will to
to put as instead of billings we could
put expenditures to date so that means
what has been spent on the project thus
far
versus
contract time to date so those are some
of those things that could probably
clarify some of those graphs a little
bit more
if that would help that would be david
to me it would be really helpful and
then lastly
sort of what invoices are outstanding
and and
i know you all are tracking that i know
your
um person and billing and finance and
accounting i know is excellent
um but but that i think that would
really be helpful to the public so that
we have an understanding
thank you thank you mayor
anyone else
counselor sorek
thank you mr mayor
um it just caught my eye and uh thank
you for this excellent presentation by
the way
um there's excellent information here
um
in your photograph of the fire station
and your talk about uh the uh tower
got my curiosity going
what's the
tower used for
mayor councillor sorg
tony's been a little bit more involved
with that i'll let him answer sure
mayor conference org and chief smith is
back there in case i get this wrong but
this is an
additional area for them to perform
several trainings they have the
stairwell they have the the open areas
so this is allows them space to do the
training for for example yes sir so they
can get a pie to
put out fires up second third fourth
floors huh yes i get it and i think
chief smith wants to hang a pinata in
there or something yeah that's okay
he's good
thank you thank you tony
and and thank you david thank you mayor
i served to stevie did you have a
question i do thank you
um
as we have finished this hadley project
so early which i think is amazing um
what type of communication are we now
going to do to kind of celebrate this
and to show the public um
you know the success of these projects
mayor comes from rebectostuvi we're
working with the pio office
mandy and jamie rickman on how we're
going to present this to the public once
they get completed
so
i'm not quite sure yet but those talks
have already started okay
do you have any sort of timeline that
you're looking to achieve with it
mayor comes to update the suvi
if you remember the schedule for the
fire station it was slated for january
i am really
have high hopes it's gonna be done a lot
sooner so we're hoping
before the end of the year but i might
be thinking too much enough before i
jinx myself
but um yes so we're hoping here very
soon
okay um and my
suggestion would be
as we do finish these projects we want
to make sure that they're very visible
and very public and when we have these
successes that things are done early
that we're we're showcasing that
we need the community to really buy into
these projects as well and i'm sure
we're going to have a robust discussion
afterwards what the future looks like
for the go bonds and so it's very
important that we
are
putting these in front of the public i
think as soon as possible when they're
done
thank you
anybody else counselor vasquez
thank you mayor thank you tony and david
um yeah my question uh and again
congratulations on the progress uh today
especially with the challenges uh the
logistical and cost challenges from from
the last year
the the question i have is around the
contractors that we've worked with
i believe there was a
contractor from el paso that we used to
kind of help design and help understand
how we were going to manage these
different projects and kind of put it
together in one one package here and i'm
just wondering if you could comment on
your experience with that contractor
some of the key things that they
contributed to this project
and
maybe opportunities and challenges for a
potential next year bond round uh if you
would do anything differently or or
any lessons learned from this process uh
to date
mayor country vasquez
um in regards to it's it's ecm
international out of el paso art doodle
gonzales is one who've been our main
contact but
all i can say is i am so glad we got
them on board as early as we did they've
been so helpful
and beneficial to the city with our
scheduling our budgeting
and keeping us in track with
the staff we have here there's several
other projects going on so having them
just able to focus on the juvenile
projects kept things moving
kept everything in line
but i can't say anything bad
and for the next phase i would hope we
have the same
program manager on board that will do
the same for us so
i know there's a lot of learning
experiences on our first geo bond so i'm
not going to say there are mistakes so
we got to learn but we did learn from a
lot of stuff the way we approach
different projects the way we
align projects so it was a learning
experience but it was a good one at that
thank you that makes me happy to hear
because i know that you a staff are
juggling a lot of different priorities
cip priorities uh things that come up uh
obviously in within your departments
that are uh often on a
as needed basis right as as i know us as
counselors often ask you to to respond
quickly to things that are happening in
our district so i appreciate that and
i'm happy to hear that that you did have
a good project uh or program manager for
for this piece
um
the other question i have is just around
the uh the unidad park uh construction
and and the design um could you just
comment on kind of where you're at i
know
perhaps there were some challenges
related to the sourcing of material i
think from what i heard last time about
getting that project up up and going but
i understand that the sculpting and the
design is finished right but you're just
starting now on the on the construction
piece i believe so give a quick update
on that that'd be great
mayor country vasquez on you need that
park i really got to give a lot of
credit to staff with the rising cost of
materials at this point
we were doing some redesign based on
some nmed
requirements on the splash pad
which was
kind of
taking some time to do that but what
staff recommended with the help of the
program manager and should every
architect and a lot of the staff is
the city went ahead and procured all the
playground equipment ahead of time
so those prices will not rise so those
are procured on the side through a state
contract so we already have those in
hand so that cross of that material
wasn't gonna
just keep on escalating on us right now
what we're negotiating uh is a lot of
the site work and removal of of the
other of the
existing park and so forth so um that
one was unique in its own way but
hopefully that one should be
um breaking ground here in the near near
future we're really close with that
negotiation
thank you that's exciting i know folks
are super excited about um about that
project as well and and uh thank you for
that
um the last thing is just a comment and
i just want to echo council rebecca
stevie's comments about celebrating the
success that we have with this geo bond
i think it's going to be critical for us
to
to be able to
continue similar geo bond projects in
the in the future and having the the
confidence of people that
the city of las cruces is there for them
that we are completing these projects
and that we are showcasing these
projects i think we as counselors each
have
hopefully some wonderful things to
showcase and so
for our pio staff that's out there uh
even a video that showcases kind of the
the progress uh or even when this
project when these projects are finished
uh what we're able to do with the
investment of our community and with our
staff and with our wonderful city
council would be a great um thing to to
be able to showcase here to our
community so i want to make sure that
that we're able to do that when this is
all said and done so thank you council
beta stewie for that thank you tony and
david mayer
yes sir flotus you have another yes uh
thank you mr mayor and thank you so much
mr trevino and mr serio
[Music]
in my humble opinion you run a very
efficient department counselor do you
mind moving your microphone to you
in my humble opinion
in my opinion
you
run a very good department very
efficient things get done and i'm very
happy that you're at the helm the two of
you and i agree with councillor uh
bencomo federon
abeitas dubi and councillor vasquez as
well
on really
tooting our horn on this one
because as we all know that there was a
lot of strife a lot of
with some of the projects and continued
and there's still some criticism out
there
so i think it's it'd be good to
really
showcase it
and again thank you so very very much
thank you mr
maynard else
so i don't want to repeat a lot of
what's been said
but i have to tell you
when uh we shut down in march
and then of course david
my assist was the interim city manager
and you were interim
uh director of public works and i think
you were interim deputy and uh
you know i have to admit it was a little
bit challenging there and you guys
didn't stop he just kept on working and
you know i remember that and that to me
was really significant
um you know we didn't know exactly what
how this culvert was going to do and
then of course evil comes on in
september
but
i just want to tell you thank you for
your commitment and your dedication and
you guys just just kept on going about
it like
business as usual but from home
and
i think on behalf of the city the
residents appreciate your your diligence
and your commitment to getting this
project
moved along
mayor and all all of council thank you
very much for those
those comments the the gratitude for
that i know staff is going to be very
appreciative of that so thank you very
much
[Applause]
okay so that concludes the first part
3.1
because it looks like we have a
2022 geo bond program update looks like
ikani is going to be kicking this off
looks like you met someone who's a
little bit taller than you connie i did
yes
greetings mayor uh honorable mayor
miyagashima and distributing
distinguished members of city council my
name is ikani damo pial assistant city
manager uh for the city uh super excited
to be here with you today
we are reviewing the overview of the go
bond process and the capacity of the go
bond there'll be a few of us speaking to
you today i have
with me carla from community engagement
and also eric harrigan
one of our financial advisors for our go
bond as well that will be speaking
excuse me economy can you move that mic
a little bit closer to your yeah you got
it yeah i think i think you can't lift
it
sorry about that is this better
okay
good
all right perfect
uh so so there's a few of us who will be
speaking with
with you to help understand
the go bond process we just heard some
exciting news of the updates of the
current projects and now we're getting
ready it takes a a little over a year to
prepare for the next cycle so a lot of
this is getting rfps in place and
understanding the the capacity which
we'll get into in just a moment so just
to review here in front of you you have
a timeline
in green is where we are today on 2021
september councilwork session
before this work session uh staff has
convened meetings internally we've
convened meetings with
with the lead of community engagement
jamie and carla have been leading us to
convene
meetings and we've been meeting together
as the internal administrative committee
which comprises of directors from
different departments such as parks and
recs public works quality of life
community engagement team pio director
acms
cao
and
other departments as needed and both
chiefs from police and fire
so in these meetings we have strategized
the process and timeline rfp to get the
consultant this consultant
on board is a consultant to do community
outreach this past year a few years ago
in 2018 it was art consulting
and uh this consultant as david uh
trevino just mentioned their consultant
for the project manager is crucial and
critical to this
phase of reaching out in
community outreach also the consultant
is very important to community
engagement so last time was arc the sac
committee is actually convening
this week to select the candidate to
move forward with that once the
consultant moves forward
they are the consultant that does
several things which i'll touch on a lot
of it is community outreach but they
also do the cost estimation they do the
timelines and they do several things
to help us
understand
where we need to go
in addition
after the sac committee
occurs this week in a few weeks we'll
onboard with the selected
consultant for community outreach and
then we'll start kicking off meetings
public awareness kickoff november
december we'll have public input
opportunities and this is to mayor
miyagashima to city council you may have
one of the questions
come up from your constituents or even
yourself you may ask when can i start
sharing my projects when can i start
inputting some of my projects where in
this timeline can i do that this is the
time
between
the community input when it starts
public awareness kickoff november
december january february or march this
is a time
where we invite you to
meet with your district with members
constituents and organize we have
community engagement team carla and
jamie who are at your disposal
she's carla will come and speak on some
of the things that they can do to
benefit you in these meetings
but we really want to share with you
that these are the opportunities in
addition to the meetings that you may
you may
create in your districts in addition to
that we will have meetings that the
consultant will have in addition to
those community outreach meetings where
you can also participate obviously with
uh with some of your thoughts as well
but this is the time
uh between uh
november december january february march
to come and meet at those meetings to to
really get with your constituents and
share those ideas
april may will have council work
sessions so at the end of the community
input
this community outreach consultants will
get together they'll produce a report an
analysis and they will present to you in
work sessions you'll have some questions
we may go to a few work sessions but
that is a hope to really help you
understand have discussions after all
community input is done and then we'll
go into city council for a resolution
between may and july
we plan to have a final council
resolution with
with the wording with the language to
the ballot and then we'll give it to our
city clerk we'll then send it to the
county clerk and then we'll be ready
to move on
hopefully by mid-august through november
promote awareness of the ballot
initiatives
and that is the timeline
so go bond outreach this is really the
scope of service that the consultant
will answer what they will do is really
push and initiate the initiatives for
public engagement to gauge support of
identified projects determine other
projects of interest
and
the bread and butter is
working with capital project scoping
cost estimation construction time
estimation
then also in addition they created the
website
so some of those constituents that you
may have may have questions where can i
go there'll be a website that should be
created there was also a survey done uh
analysis and reporting summary
so i'll go into detail what actually
happened in 2018 to give you a overview
so there were about six meetings that
happened before we expect the same we
can even do more if you notice the first
meetings for community input started in
february
of 15 2018 we are actually in front
thanks to jamie and her community
engagement team they really um
and and part of the staff who initiated
the rfp we are now in october we can
essentially have a consultant by the end
of uh next month
and so october we could october december
we could start initiating these
community
community engagement opportunities so
the date that says february we could
actually start it this year starting
november december
and as you can see city of la cruces
actually initiated the first three
meetings because we're ahead of the game
we could actually just keep it clean and
just have a consultant lead this is
actually our preferred method it keeps
it clean so that there's a consultant
someone who's neutral
unbiased that is leading these
discussions and then we as staff and
especially community engagement and pio
they would fill in the gaps so whatever
communication
isn't met they can come and again carla
will share to that some of the things
that they can do for you and your
districts
and then after the city initiated the
first three meetings arc then came and
did meetings at sage cafe thomas
branigan memorial library and frank
o'brien vaping community center
after these six community meetings there
was a work session that was convened at
frank o'brien center
on may 14th and this is where the
results of public input process came
and potential projects for voter
consideration
was shared
and
this is what happened
in addition there was a web-based
citizen survey out for one month
between april 14th and may 14th
and this was
really where
before april
there were six projects that rose to the
top and a lot of them are the projects
that
david and tony just shared with you
there were about 824 responses
in that survey
and of that 824 responses there were
questions the really basic two questions
one was how do you feel where
geo bond funding should go to for the
city and they asked six of the projects
trails trail improvements park
improvements a new fire station new
animal shelter and other in addition i
think pool enclosures was one of them
the only unpopular one that had no
support was pulling closure all the rest
that had interest and support actually
were all funded so there was success
that we saw with that survey
in the citizens 824 was a sample size
that represented really uh what ended up
happening in the vote so
it's pretty pretty accurate
in addition
i wanted to share
something small about the logo this logo
is a new logo in 2018
we said general obligation bond
building your future the internal staff
met together
and we just did a slight tweak of the
words so instead of your future building
our future so that's something that you
could quiz anybody if they see a
difference i'm sure most people won't
notice that but that is something that
we felt was super important to put in
there and this time i'll invite carla to
come up to share
[Music]
community engagement opportunities carl
hello mayor and council my name is carla
walton with the community engagement
office and even though the effort is
going to be led by the consultant the
job the community engagement office is
going to be supplement we want to fill
the gaps
and one of the things that we are
thinking about doing is targeting
meetings one of the meetings will be for
spanish speakers and the other one will
be for people with disabilities and the
idea is to engage groups
that we know haven't been targeted as
much as we want to and to increase
community participation
because again this is our future the
future for everyone and we want to
engage and give a voice to those groups
the other thing that we're thinking
about doing is
of course we're gonna issue press
releases to keep the community informed
about the progress of the projects the
process and to try to leverage press
coverage
we also want to do a social media push
and we're going to produce social media
packages that we'll be able to share
with you
so you can share with your following and
keep people updated about what is going
on and how they can be involved and
participate
we also plan to do live streams we
understand that especially the young
generation they are changing the way
that they are receiving the news they
are changing the way that they receive
information so one of the things that we
are going to do is live streams and of
course hangouts when people can submit
information and answer questions
we're also planning to do an a bilingual
episode of our podcast las cruces
responde and some of you have already
been guests in the podcast and of course
the podcast is available in itunes
google podcast apple podcast spotify and
other popular popular
podcast platforms
we also planning to do a newsletter and
right now newsletter is available in 50
languages and for example to touch a
little bit about what counselor stewie
was mentioning before
in the upcoming edition that we have for
district 2 and for district 4 we're
going to talk about the update for the
current geo bomb projects and we
understand that we need to create
momentum you cannot expect to create
momentum you know when the projects are
coming up so we are starting right now
to keep the community informed about
this is you trust in us this is what we
accomplished and this is what we plan to
do
and of course anyone in the community
members who are watching they can
subscribe to the newsletter they can
just send us an email to clc engage
at lasthivencruises.org
clc engage at last hyphen cruises.org
thank you
thank you carla
and uh before we end uh just wanted to
mention in in the 2018 cycle there was a
blue ribbon committee uh as well that
was made just wanted to share that that
is something that happened a u.s council
mayor have the opportunity to discuss
that if that's something that you wish
of course that's something that happened
in 2018
i just wanted to mention that as an
option
as well
and
again carla mentioned the the go bond
signage all the goban projects right now
have this sign out in front and if it
doesn't please let us know should be
there and as you mentioned there are
thank you signs so once these signs are
taken away
when they're completed we will have
thank you signs that remain there on
site at the project that look nice that
planning approves so that people know
that this is uh part of the message that
we're trying to
really show uh work getting done
mayor miyagashima and city council if
there's any further questions be happy
to answer
all right thanks ikani looks like we
have councillor bin komo
first
thank you ikani and staff for doing all
of this i'm super excited about getting
into the community and some community
engagement and
um
last week counselor with stevie is
getting back out there and doing uh
constituent meetings and i'll be so i'll
be sending you an email soon about that
and i figured
this may be in november and this would
be a great topic to begin discussing um
so thank you and i'm looking forward to
being on the podcast again carol i think
it's an excellent idea the
communications team is excellent i just
have to say so thank you
um
so
thanks for this i am so excited we're so
much ahead of the game can you remind me
because i feel like last time
it was a special election and they came
in the mail is that our ballots came in
the mail is that right
are we thinking now this time they'll be
on the november
that is correct
of 2022 of 2020 2022. okay with
governors midterms all of that
with
everything that's on the november ballot
wow okay that's that's what we're
planning yes that's good
i'm curious about the kind of
once that august through november
timeline hits next year connie i'm
curious about
i don't know how to say this other than
call it lobbying
from the part of the council
like what is what
i'm new at this right so what are those
limitations what are those sort of
guidelines that once you know we've
identified some projects
on our end and what we can and cannot do
great question uh councillor como are
you talking about when you identify as
yeah once they're on once the projects
are on
we've identified the projects that are
going to be on the ballot
once that's happened
so um
oh you okay so you're talking about
between
once it's on on the ballot august
between august november yes um so really
we're not we're not pushing uh we as
uh as staff and as representatives of
the city are not pushing any of the
projects we're just pushing them we can
promote uh the polls go out um you know
let your voice be heard that's
essentially it and what's going to
happen is
our pio
then
community engagement continues to push
even before august continues to push
come to the meetings come to
uh come to
uh the community outreach meetings and
then when it gets to the be you know
when it gets to the promised time here's
november you know have your voice be
heard that's essentially what's
happening there
that's super helpful so and i get that
as far as as
as far as the city goes as an
institution i'm wondering
ikani do you know in terms of our roles
as city councilors as well like you know
if we i have a project in district four
how much can i
push and encourage people
yeah great question i'll i'd like to
defer to uh
oh efo
yeah mayor and council just a quick
thought jennifer has a can respond to
the legal i think maybe you're asking
about what you can legally do and not do
it really has really comes down to you
can we cannot use taxpayer dollars to
promote this and so but i'll let
jennifer respond to
thank you mayor and council um actually
we we do have i'm trying to pull up the
cmp we do have a cmp um that addresses
this for political activity once the
city has identified a position for
a geo bond or any other position as long
as it's the official
message of the entire city council
you you can determine what your message
will be as a city council and you can
promote that however you would like um
it has to be a determined position that
the city is going to take
and then you can all promote that that
there's no conflict there the city is
allowed to promote things that are in
the best interest of the city and that
have been
um authorized by the council
okay okay gotcha thank you and then
remind me what cnp means the city
manager policy i will as soon as i find
that i will send it to everybody okay
great thank you so much
and excuse me counselor i think what
you're trying to get at is
you if you have a particular project how
can you just put that on to the ballot
and and really that really probably
needs to be done more in a work session
so that we can see exactly what it is
how much it's going to cost and then if
we need to
then we'll have to vote to determine if
that's going to be the majority of the
council wants it on on the balance so is
that what you were asking about sort of
mayor but that's really helpful right in
terms of how advocating i guess i'm
talking talking about advocating right
yes there's a certain level of
advocating that goes before
right through work sessions and that the
entire council has to approve and vote
or you know contest as majority to move
forward with the project but i was
mostly saying once
um
once they're on the ballot what kind if
there was any limitations for us
no you you can use your social media all
that account
you can screen from the rooftops
yeah great
i can do that probably
and then just in terms of
projects
sorry
in terms of
[Music]
a project list is that something that's
already ongoing
or are we starting from scratch yes uh
great question thank you councillor
brancomo we have a list
that is is shared and
i can share some of the lists from the
old 2018 um what we've identified we met
as an internal at administrative
committee there were some that were
mentioned that
such as ice skating rink city zoo
community event center crime lab pro
baseball park
some of these
uh came in and just
were were discussing them internally to
see which ones when the consultant comes
we can discuss there's other ones that
you've already discussed in the cip
process and the budget process of
certain fundings those are ones as well
we want to connect and align as much as
we can with elevate and our comp plan so
there's a lot of um
there's a lot of things that were
identified in 2018 but i think more
importantly is what's in elevate what's
in compliance what's not funded and and
let's speak to that absolutely yes
that's helpful and i think i'm also
thinking about the strategic plan right
given that it's a two-year timeline and
it sort of fits the frame of the go bond
timeline as well right and i don't know
if this is an appropriate time to bring
up specific issues but i'm already going
to start pushing for affordable housing
projects in this next go bond cycle just
because i think it's it's key it's
priority we know that our neighbors in
albuquerque have done this and
um and so i just want to to me that's
more important than
an ice skating rink
personally right and i wonder if we can
certainly we can approach this
this gobind cycle
in order to meet the biggest challenges
facing the city so those are all my
questions and statements mayor thank you
and thank you connie
thank you
thank you mayor thank you mr tamateo i
appreciate you and your staff
i would agree that it's exciting to be
ahead of the game ahead of schedule yes
so
and thank you to carla jamie and all the
staff that participates in your internal
committee
my question is around
so we have a geo bond now we
there was a increase in property taxes
what does that look like for the second
time around
and will it be
mason menos
the same
amount
or more
great great question we have eric
harrigan here and that'll be the next
presentation so i don't want to steal
his thunder yet but he's he's ready to
answer your questions and thank you for
introducing that topic okay all right
i'll i think i can hold off and wait for
that i just think there's some
misinformation
out there in the public related to this
i think people think their
taxes will be raised yet again um but i
understand it but i won't steal your
thunder either so my next question is
are you all internally speaking this
list right and then identifying
sources of funding that are the most
appropriate and then how do the ones
that you feel are geo bond worthy if you
will get to the get to the top
great great question um
that is what we're working towards right
now as the consultant comes on
we've identified
some
projects which we feel may pull some
some some way that may be something to
bring to you as council
in in the session as well as bringing
towards the community but those are
things that once the consultant comes on
we'll pose that question with
the few that we feel would be worthy to
present in front of
you but i think the most important thing
is what we're always trying to do is
they're not we don't there there's
projects
that it's not necessarily from staff
but they're really from the community
because they were set from the strategic
and elevate and comp plan right so these
are actually a lot of the really the
only projects that we're juggling right
now were projects that were identified
but unfunded that were identified in the
icip cip process and the budget process
that's what we're doing so
we'll get once the consultant comes on
board we will recommunicate that
to to you at a at a meeting that we feel
makes sense thank you akane i appreciate
the clarification and then
you i think you're wanting some feedback
about the blue ribbon
committee i think
having a blue ribbon committee is an
important thing because it sort of
because of of the parameters we have to
we have to work on
i thought having a committee
to
be sort of the cheerleaders writing and
they're usually
closer to the community members i think
is an important aspect that we should
that we should really consider
um and just being clear to this
committee
you know what they can and cannot do is
is an important item for me
and then um lastly i would agree i'm
going to pitch i like the um councilor
mikkoma thank you affordable housing but
i also
want us to
speak to
of course
no stranger to mental health and
substance abuse addiction i mean there
are there are not enough
bricks and mortar
services
specifically for that area so i
most definitely
think that's something we should really
consider
library i know brannigan library sort of
was a part of that um
and i think that's a very important
component updating our library building
on it or a whole new
library that has
state-of-the-art technology because that
library is used by so many that don't
have access to technology and so those
are things that i'm thinking of and then
um road roads or streets i think
those are things that are important to
me and important um i think to our
public
um
so that that we can continue to maintain
them and
um um
i think i think ifo and i have been
talking a lot about our pavement
management program
and
i'm i i think it's a great program but i
also think there's a lot of other
factors that we need to
as it relates to
sort of the kind of conditions to some
of the
issues with crime and
some of those um the infrastructure that
really needs sort of an infusion if you
will around town in our more
marginalized communities so with that
thank you um
ikani um and i look forward to hearing
the next presentation
thank you mayor
thank you mayor pretend councillor
flotus and counselor peter stewart
thank you mr mayor and thank you ikani
mr tamapeo for your
for your presentation
i have a question about
[Music]
well
specifically district six as you all
know i'm up for re-election
so
um based on on city
policy i can't meet with my constituents
and i met on a regular basis
before kovid and i spoke with jamie
about oh there was an event on the same
day that the declaration day
it was the same day of the declaration
uh that you declare your candidacy
and jamie said that because
uh
because it
because i was a declared candidate i
therefore could not meet with uh people
in the east mesa sage
sage cafe
for something that was
you know something that i've been
promoting
and working on
so um given that it isn't so much me
that i'm concerned about i'm concerned
about district six is someone going to
be there is district six going to be
there and um
is there in fact that
there's a cmp
is there a ccp city councilor policy
that doesn't allow us
or could this uh district six be set
after november second let's determine
whether i'm elected or not
if i'm not elected
i would still be the city council until
the end of the year
so um
anyway
and i i don't know if it's just uh
policy or
there's the appearance of uh impropriety
using tax dollars of a sitting city
councillor to be at anything that
concerns my district kind of worried
about that
but it you know
so i i just beg
you carla and jamie
to be sure that district six isn't left
out i won't be able to until after
november 2nd
the other is
you mentioned a survey that went out
last time
and you weren't yet with the city
but
does that survey fully explain
what a gold bond is and you mentioned
that there were 800 uh responses during
that uh period that it went out massive
more or less yeah
you know it seems to me that a poppy we
have a population of about a hundred
thousand people
over a hundred thousand
and so that survey
uh
it somehow isn't reaching people
and um so and
for the but just in terms of the content
of the survey does it fully explain what
a gold bond is and and it touches on
what mayor pro tem gandara asked about
oh my taxes are going up again
and
you may not know that the east mesa
um there was a big brew well there was a
big brouhaha all over the city the
pickleballers versus you know this and
that and then the soccer fields and
they're not good enough or big enough or
right enough
uh you know it's just add infinitum um
but um
so when people are being asked this
survey is the survey set up so that
they're given a menu to choose from
or is it a um you know
a survey that allows input as to what
they would like to really see because
there is a difference between what a
gold bond uh what go bond money can be
used for
and uh pie in the sky type stuff where
you know if all my dreams would come
true
you know i would like x
so does that information go out in the
survey as to what a gold bond covers and
um what the tax uh
implement
and the reason i'm asking is because
mr mayor i if i'm correct we hadn't had
a goal bond in years before the one we
had in 2018.
so we're having one almost back to back
and
and and believe me i mean i
there are people who weren't happy with
with
the projects or the way they were set up
and and tessa and i know that very well
because she was very much involved with
that
before she was a city councilor with a
soccer people in the east mesa
so i just want to make sure that
that that information is very clear as
to what the survey i mean is it a
limited menu is it a pre
it's already a
a pre what do you say
thank you
that's what not getting enough sleep
does to you so yeah is it a
predetermined menu and it's kind of like
you know why should i even bother they
already know what they want to do
and i and you know so
um
that's uh
yeah
so yeah we need to the constituents need
to know what kind of projects uh what
kind of projects
uh gold bonds cover
and uh
and do they really have a choice or are
they just choosing from a predetermined
list that the city wants to do and and
and that was a perception so
just sharing that with you councillor
flores carla welton with the community
engagement office
we see the geo bond as a multi-step
process right now we need to re-educate
the community about what the geo bond is
you know that is a form of debt that is
supported by the taxes so we need to
also tell them you know depending let
them choose the projects and then
determine what will be the impact in the
property tax taxes that that they will
be paying if they approve the projects
we are going to be transparent and we're
going to be sending all the information
and that is the main reason because we
learned about what happened in 2018 so
that's the reason why we decided to
expand the outreach efforts and make
sure that everyone has a voice and we
will take consideration any comments and
any suggestions that we receive from you
and community members to make sure that
everyone feels that they have a seat in
the table
thank you carla and it isn't so much
that
you know from our perspective
we're providing a seat at the table
you know
from our perspective maybe providing a
seated table is this room full
but then
10 000 people wouldn't be able to fit in
this room so i so i i really appreciate
what you've said carla and i know it's
heartfelt and
and honest and i i hope that we're
consistent with that in our practice
thank you so much carla and thank you uh
mr uh ikani tamo thank you thank you
mayor
thank you counselor so let me just kind
of
clear up a couple things real quick so
i think it's important to know for the
members of the public are listening and
and i'm sure you've seen this both from
the public schools and also from the
university
a lot of times it says hey vote for
bond c and it won't increase your taxes
and so
in essence
once we've made it to this level
anything if we keep the amount the same
then
after one gets paid off then the other
one kicks in so you won't see any
increase in taxes
so one we have to be transparent about
that technically if we didn't do a bond
then the taxes would go back down to
what it was before but i
i just i think that's important to know
and second i think it's also
when we have
this public campaign that the city is
planning to do
we'll hear from them what what it is
that they want to see and might be
lacking and then that the staff will
come back with the price tag and see
okay is this something there that we're
going to move in that direction
so i think that there's still plenty of
time to discuss it but i wanted to kind
of just chat a little bit about what you
were saying which i didn't quite
understand about not campaigning can you
expand on that
um because i
let me tell you where this came up
several years ago
there wasn't there was a
council member who was running for a
different office
and was having
literally every month it seemed like a
town hall meeting
and so they were using that
in my opinion
and so i i had
come up with the suggestion that
60 days before the general election
everything stops
now i'm looking at
these guidelines here which is the first
time i've really seen this
i don't recall us um
like if you read this kind of kind of
carefully i don't see where it says that
you can what you can't do
is use city
buildings facilities
for campaigning
whether it's fundraising or just just
you know campaigning you can't do that
and and then also i agree with also the
logo you really shouldn't be using the
logo
in your literature or when you're out
campaigning however
there was a time when
the previous city administration bought
council members
polo shirts that had the city of las
cruces on it
if you happen to be in an event and you
just happen to be but you're there in
your official capacity as a city
councilor and you're not you don't have
your button on you're not handing out
cards you don't have anyone in the
in the um
the area handy campaign for you
i don't see why
where that would be prohibited so can
you expand on what you said earlier
about how you can't campaign or
something like that i really didn't
quite get it i just like i've learned to
just let you finish and then i'll come
back
i was told
that i could not attend
a meeting in my community
on the day because i was a declared
candidate it coincided with that day
so
and that was because it would give the
appearance
of the city
and i wasn't going to go there
with banners and my
campaign i didn't have any campaign
literature at that time
but uh or to talk about that but
but i was told that it was anyone
running for office
cannot appear at
district meetings
that was my that was my understanding
and if if i'm wrong i apologize to the
person who said that to me
but yeah it was made clear because my
cam
campaign manager also looked into it
well did they bring out an ordinance
well i didn't
because i don't i don't recall that i do
recall 60 days before an election which
we are well within 60 days no more
a uh i'm having a district 6
meeting
you know i mean that that's not good
i remember us doing something about that
but you're not having that right and
that one wasn't a district six meeting
it had to do with a a a community me the
city set it up i mean i i wasn't even
aware of the date i mean until after but
if you show up and it's a there's a
groundbreaking in your district and you
show up i don't see why you can't do
that in fact i'd go i mean that's the
power of the incumbency you go there
you're you're the representative i mean
i went i went there on tragedy i mean oh
there you go so i show up anyway
brothers evil did you have something
uh yes mayor council just so just a
comment so
if some if i'm going off of the cmp i
mean you know this is a city manager
policy obviously doesn't govern the
council
right so this is this is something that
addresses the use of staff resources and
time
uh during this blackout period and the
way i interpret it is that
uh you can attend whatever event you
want but you you cannot
organize an event
so as to
miss you know visit miss uh
so people misperceive that as something
of a campaign of sorts and can't ask
city staff or the use of city resources
during this
blackout period because you do have
you know all of you have your own
district meetings but as the way the way
i'm reading this is that during this
blackout period
you can't hold a district meeting i
don't see anything in here that talks
about not being being able to attend
city
city initiated meetings
of counselors or any other and then
again this is a cmp
a city manager policy that governs staff
time staff resources
uh and certain facilities that
that are being used and so if this is
coming from this cfp
i'm reading it differently mayor and
council
i don't know what other
document or if anyone is aware of
anything else that
that that governs that i agree with you
efo and
and councillor i think what i was
getting at is
city resources like setting up a
district meeting right now that probably
would be ill advice and i know you're
not i'm just and so that's what this is
saying the city staff isn't to be doing
this
and
during this particular time now if you
choose to go to a park and you pay for
the permit and you do your thing okay
you're
you're you're doing that i mean you're
paying for that you're not having the
city pay for that permit you're not
having the city say hey i want an event
here
and i just show up no you need to pay
for that of your campaign
that's the way i look at it and i don't
recall us ever passing anything that
prohibited
incumbents or can't or city council
members from
you just can't use city resources at all
really at any time for that matter right
in that part i totally totally
understand but but when the city is
setting it up and i'm a sitting
counselor or serving on the city council
that's part i didn't understand and i
just didn't want to
have to
deal with that issue again
and so it's i'm glad that it was
incidental to this presentation
um to get that clarification that
clarity
what does this city a man city attorney
do you have any opinion on that or any
mayor and council this is jennifer vega
your city attorney
this cmp was created in 2019 it was
researched we i did a lot of research
for it to make sure that we were
complying with first amendment
and um this as
mr pealey has said this refers to the
use of city resources for
non-city initiatives if you are
attending a function and it is a city
initiative
that has
been authorized by the council by the
city manager you can attend and speak to
it
as necessary and requested
if it is a political situation where you
are running for political office it's a
blackout period where you cannot use
city resources to do that
thank you very much for the
clarification attorney vega brown uh mr
pealey and mr mayor thank you very much
sure no problem
um councillor
beta stewie it looks like you're looking
for your button okay thank you
thank you mayor um
going to go back to a bit what we talked
about with city staff
interacting during this process
i do want to thank chief smith
for his advocacy during the first go
bond meeting i know you were kind of a
city face to a lot of the projects
happening
and i'm curious to see if we're going to
have something similar and i say that
because when we have a project like the
fire station if you don't see
one of our firefighters or a chief out
there advocating for this type of
project as well it's hard for the public
to have the same type of buy-in and so
as we identify what projects are going
to be
sent i'm wondering what type of
interactions we're going to pair with
staff
it's a great question uh counselor beta
stevie
we wish
chief smith had twin brothers because
if we could clone
uh hands down everybody on the internal
administrative committee i wasn't here
but they say
um when we talk about the reasons why it
was success successful um that's one of
that's one of the reasons that is uh
mentioned out in the front and so i just
wanted to share that about uh about uh
and agree with everything that you're
saying we that is our goal right now
until projects are identified um eric
and i as the acms were acting in that
position until projects are identified
that someone can speak to it
but it's one of the things that we we we
talked about because there isn't a fire
station uh could chief smith still be
that person we would love it but again
now he's chief before he was deputy so
part of it is resources part of it is
identifying the right person parks and
rec sonia would be a great one but again
she's a director um and and and just the
the resources so trying to find how the
pieces fit resources uh but we're trying
to figure that out as as we move forward
okay thank you and as we look at new
meeting locations um to have these
public meetings i would suggest that we
host them at sites that are go bond
funded and so that they can see those
completed projects while they're there
and kind of feel that effect as they're
choosing new ones
thanks mayor
thank you anyone else
counselor sword
good idea counselor aveda stevie
they won't be done though until near the
end though
but that's okay we can meet outside
that's good we already have one project
done yeah i'm sure we can get some more
um
does staff have
a general idea of types of projects that
they think the city
needs now
you do yes
when can we get a little information on
that
um
we
we can get them to you um as as
we can send an email out i think part of
it too is
we want to wait for the consultant to
get on
and we want to share that uh share it
with you at the appropriate time um so
just
uh if if you can give us some time and
and once we get the consultant on board
which may be a few weeks away then we'd
like to present
uh
we'd like to present with with you some
of what we have okay in front of you
help me understand
uh will the consultants be deciding what
projects are going to be on it no um
we um
they're they're not going to be deciding
the project they're just facilitating
the process
they're facilitating a process for us to
to get really what the community is
looking for
and from what i understand when this
came out to the community
community identified projects and there
were projects identified
as well that staff brought to the
consultant that knew that the community
had a good chance of getting behind as
well so it was kind of a mixture of both
that's what happened
okay
but you have a general idea of what
areas
we need to invest in the future
i would like to know what those areas
are
okay okay i mean it wouldn't be the only
ones we will we'll all have our own
ideas for this too as well as what we
get from
our constituents too
but i just wanted to know if there's a
starting point so to speak
that
you know
i think street maintenance was mentioned
here as one
um that's a good area
as an example
but i'd like to know what other areas
that
staff is looking at from each department
okay you got a counselor okay thank you
thank you thank you mr mayor
okay what else
okay well it looks good
looking forward to seeing what which
what the staff has for some ideas and
also hearing what the public wants to
see if what we can do to add to the
the betterment of this okay okay perfect
uh and mayor miyagashima before we uh do
this presentation i don't know if
there's any the discussion on on blue
ribbon committee if that's something of
interest i know mayor pro tem hadn't
mentioned that i didn't hear any others
but just something to think about as we
move forward
i don't have a problem with that maybe
perhaps each one appoint someone if they
want
and
i think that's always good it's a nice
it'd be a good cross-section of the of
the city and
also let us not forget
maybe one seat from the
members of the of the county
you know a lot of times we forget that
but we get half of our revenue i'm going
to guess half from county residents
because they shop here and they provide
that income to the city
and it's always also also possible that
they own property in the city so they
theoretically pay taxes and this is
their few times that they get to
have some representation even though
they live outside the city so if we do
an ad hoc committee we might be able to
put them on
mr mayor on the
committee yes counselor don't forget
there's going to be an online survey
that anybody can take so they can put
input there for one place
yeah
thank you
thank you counselor yeah so okay
i think the majority wants to would mind
a
committee and
if that's the case then just move
forward with a resolution some of some
sort
okay yeah okay perfect um
then uh mayor and with that resolution
then we'll work with the city clerk mrs
christine
rivera as well on that as we'll get the
process and present that to you and city
council at a
time in the near future
moving on to our next one uh honorable
mayor miyagashima and distinguished
members of the city council i'd like to
introduce the tallest man in the room uh
today his name is eric harrigan he is
our consultant uh and financial advisor
for go bond and touching on that topic
mayor pro tem had mentioned how much
will it cost residents moving forward
there are options to keep the tax the
same and
[Music]
and i don't want to steal his thunder so
there are options so with no further ado
eric please
well good afternoon mayor's counselor um
it's nice not having to raise the podium
so
but uh um i'm gonna talk a little bit
about uh the capacity that the city has
within its general obligation bond
program
and uh hopefully i
get this
right here
so i'm going to start start off talking
first about your tax base your tax base
is a critical component
of
your overall general obligation bond
program
for two reasons one the constitution
sets out how much debt that any city can
have outstanding on its general
obligation bonds at four percent of your
assessed valuation
and the city's assessed valuation is
just over
two and a half billion
which results in the total capacity that
the city can have outstanding is about
102 million
now because the city has gone out for
general obligation bonds already and it
has
some of those bonds are still
outstanding the total net capacity of
the city is about 80 million
the other component of it is how quickly
your tax base grows
or
declines if you will impacts
how much debt you can retire which helps
create future capacity the faster your
tax base grows the more capacity you can
generate the slower your tax base grows
the lower the capacity that
you can generate over time
the other important component is that
obviously the city of las cruces is not
the only governmental entity that levies
a property tax
on residential or any property owner
within the city
and the the city's the city's total tax
rate
is 8.79
pretty much and 80 cents and that
compares to a total tax rate for all
governmental entities
of about 31
and 42 cents so the state has
a debt service
tax rate the city has an operating and
debt service tax rate
the county has an operating mill levy
and in the schools they have an
operating they have a debt service and
they also have a capital mill levy but
the city represents about 26
of the total tax rate and the debt
service component represents only about
six percent of what a a residential
property a property owner would pay
on on their tax bill
and if you want to know how to calculate
you know what your taxes are
you basically
effectively take a third of your home
value
you divide that by a thousand and you
multiply by the tax rate so if you
wanted to calculate how much you pay in
taxes that's how you that's that's
effectively the
the calculation that you would run
so
as we all know the city did go out to
voters in 2018
and asked voters
in various forms of questions up to a
total of 35.6 million
and all of those questions were approved
and the projected tax rate at the time
was about two dollars and 10 cents for
that for that program
and the actual rate ended up being uh
closer to 2.06 mills
so in 2019 is when the city issued its
first series in the amount of 18 million
and then the final um the final amount
that was authorized by voters was issued
last year in the amount of 19.6 million
so the geo bond program
is a cycling program it does allow it
does have declining debt service to
allow
future bonds to be issued and and to
maintain a certain level of of tax rate
and based upon the current rate of two
dollars and six cents
the city can go back out for an election
for a total amount of 23 million without
a rate increase in perpetuity so that
would allow every four years for the
city to go back to voters
ask them for 23 million and maintain
that
2.06 tax rate
and so we provide sort of a graphical
depiction of how that works and you'll
see that the existing debt service falls
off it allows for the next election to
be layered in
uh again 23 million at that 2.6 cent and
then again
in uh in 2020 um and then 2026 and
you'll notice that in
2030 between 2030 and 2031
the debt drops off and that allows for
the city again to go back out to
go back out to voters
we looked at targeting a 27 million
dollar election every four years again
you know what is what would be the rate
you know to sustain that type of a
program every four years for the city to
go back to voters
and that would
that would require a long-term rate of
two dollars and forty-five cents that's
uh effectively a 39-cent increase over
what your current mill levy is
and just to give you an idea of what
that would translate into a hundred
thousand dollar of home value would be
about thirteen dollars a year
again we provided the the
uh graphical depiction of what this
would look like what what happens to the
debt service and and the tax rate at a
27 million dollar uh election every four
years
one of the benefits of the cycling
program is that
the city has flexibility if at some
point in the future the city chose not
to continue its geo bond program
i think as the mayor actually mentioned
um a little bit earlier is that that tax
rate would fall with with you know as
the debt service falls and eventually
the tax rate would would eventually go
would eventually go to zero
and then
for a 35 million election effectively
maintaining what voters authorized
in 2018
the debt service tax rate would need to
be three mills
two or three dollars per thousand of
assessed value to maintain a 35 million
dollar
election every four years
effectively in perpetuity and that would
result in about a 94
increase over the current rate of two
dollars and six cents
and that would translate to about thirty
one dollars for every hundred thousand
of of home value
and again a graphical depiction of of
how that would work but again this the
under these various scenarios scenarios
and tax rates
these programs are sustainable into the
future
uh one of the things that they did want
to talk about is that you're you know we
have assumed that your tax base grows at
three percent
so if you look at what the tax base for
the city has done over the last five
years
the tax base has grown at about three
and a half percent
on average if you look over the last
uh ten years it's been about two and
three quarters now
that does take into consideration the
great recession the impact that the
housing crisis did have on home values
and really
the only time
that i'm aware of over the last 20 years
that that the city of las cruces ever
saw dip in its in its uh
in its tax base was because of that of
the great recession if you will
now again as i mentioned at the
beginning of the presentation
if your actual tax base grows
faster than um three percent a year
that capacity in the future may go up uh
depending on what that growth is
conversely if if that if the if the uh
if your tax base declines or go or
um
doesn't grow at three percent a year
that capacity in the future might be a
little bit less
interest rates play a very important
role in
what your overall program is
we do when we look at your finance plan
we do project very conservative interest
rates
for for planning purposes we have
assumed
uh four percent to five percent
borrowing rates on your geo bonds
right now
because where interest rates are
you know you're looking at almost
all-time historical lows the the lowest
point where tax-exempt interest rates
were
was last
august when the economy was uh
feeling the effects of the pandemic and
a lot of the economies were shut down
interest rates fell very very low
we do expect interest rates to rise we
are seeing
you know some inflationary numbers in
the economy and the federal reserve
they've talked about starting to taper
back their purchases of u.s treasuries
and
the odds of a an increase
in the overnight lending rate have moved
up from 2023 to 2022 now so interest
rates have ticked up a bit but we we do
anticipate rates will be a little bit
higher so we want to be conservative in
our assumptions as we project out the
city's
general obligation
finance plan
and capacity
with that i'd be happy to answer any
questions one of the things that i did
want to mention
mayor did mention about the school
district there they are going out for an
election uh this november
they're continuing their program they'll
be going to voters and asking i believe
for 50 million and that will continue
their their tax rate uh and their
program that they've had in place for a
very very long time now
thanks eric let me just clarify
something so if we kept it at 23 million
there would be no tax increase
and you're saying for 27 it would be
approximately ten dollars per hundred
thousand
yeah i
me myself i would probably
keep it at 23. i mean is it worth that
you know because there's a lot to say
when vote for
this geo bond it's not going to increase
your taxes i mean that that's a
tremendous
opportunity to explain to the residents
and let them know that
we're not going to increase it and yet
we still get the benefit of 23 million
is that that additional 4
million worth you know because a lot of
times
you know it doesn't sound like much but
you know there are some that are really
on on
limited budgets and and we're fortunate
that we were able to do it once and i
just don't want to take advantage of it
again
that's just my that's just my thoughts
so let me just go to counsel counselor
beta stewie
thank you mayor i actually agree with
you um given the last two years and the
climate and the
way that people have struggled in this
last time
i don't necessarily think it's a wise
plan
to increase anything even though i know
we could definitely use it and there's
so many projects that we want to see
perhaps
after this other cycle
it would be something to think about and
maybe think about increasing it into the
35 million zone but for right now we
we need to show that we've delivered on
the first set of go bonds
well and then as we're asking to reissue
um having us say it's not going to raise
your taxes at all i think that is
something that we can really bank on and
so i i do agree that i don't think we
should be raising
thank you counselor anyone else
counselor sword yeah i would add to that
we got to be thinking about our senior
citizens that are living on a fixed
income especially a lot of poor people
yeah so it's important not to increase
their taxes on their houses thank you
mayor
thank you councillor
councillor flores yes i i
concur with my um
with you and uh with you mayor
councillor beta stevie and councillor
sorek
we wish we should stay with the 23
million
thank you
okay
okay it looks like the rest are for
raising taxes so i'm just kidding i'm
just joking
sorry
i think her mayor
depends on who
i'll do
[Music]
okay so um
anything else eric
that's uh that concludes my presentation
uh mr mayor
if i could ask a question on a slide
i'll give you the slide here i was
following along um
wrong
yeah
number 16.
um
it's a little hard for me to understand
can you talk into your mind oh i'm sorry
i got it let me put this over here it's
hard oh there we go you got it right in
front of me um
hard to understand each one of those
colors represents another geo bond right
mayor and counselor that is correct
i was under the assumption that the 2018
bond
this is what we're paying on but we're
going to be getting all of the taxes for
that
ending next year
so but we're going to still have to pay
off the bond up until 2032.
so
i don't understand how that works
mayor and and counselor
so the
the the geo bond program so it's
when the city issues its bonds it's it
issues over a 12-year period
the bonds are designed to have the vast
majority of the debt to mature within
that four-year period it then declines
now it doesn't go all the way to zero
but that allows the city to go back to
voters you know as i mentioned for 23
million to maintain that that tax rate
if
if voters didn't either approve the
bonds or the city chose not to go send a
question to voters
then the tax rate would drop
fairly substantially but it would stay
at a you know at a level
probably in the you know 50 cent level
or or so until 2020 2032
and it would decline a little bit you
know thereafter until it would go to
zero but
it would there would still be a small
amount of of you know of property tax
being paid to service the debt
associated with
those geo bonds so they they are a
long-term bond but it is designed to
have that debt service drop off very
rapidly can we get a four-year bond or
are they
really expensive or something
so mayor councillor so you can get a
four-year bond the
it really comes down to how much
capacity do you have within that tax
rate to
uh you know to
service that debt so for example
you know you know i'm gonna roughly your
capacity would have been about
18 million
at the dollar and six cent rate to to
retire all of that debt within that
within that period of time
versus the 35 and a half million that
voters authorize so
to to
you know to be able to retire all of
that 35 and a half million within that
four-year period
the rate it would have had to have been
much higher
the tax rate correct the tax rate that's
that's correct to be able to fit all of
that debt within a much shorter uh much
shorter time period
that's not the way i understood it at
first i wonder if that needs to be
understood
oh well maybe not
um
yeah that's yeah it's that's different
than i thought
so we're still going to be collecting
taxes on this bond all the way to on
this one all the way up till 20 20 32.
albeit small
that is correct okay thank you mayor
that answers my question i understand it
now thank you
any other questions
okay eric um
looks good okay
thank you very much
all right i believe that uh that's it
yes uh tony david
you phone
that's it
all right well if there's nothing
further entertain a motion to a journal
so moved by flores i'll second it motion
made by councillor florida second by
councillor sorg that we journal um
christine
this is on the motion to adjourn the
work session counselor beta stevie yes
counselor vasquez yes councillor bancomo
yes
counselor sword yes
cancer flores
yes cancer candida yes mayor yes
okay we're adjourned it's 2 50 p.m
i'll see you later
then we have an agenda setting meeting
here in just a second
it'll be the shortest one in history
i'm sorry
oh okay sure
okay this is the agenda setting meeting
for the october 4th 2021 city council
meeting
number one non-consent one non-consent
two non-consent two non-consent and
three non-consent three non-consent
thank you
you