[Music]
okay good afternoon everyone Welcome to
our city council meeting today is Monday
November 6th 2023 it's approximately
1M before we have our Pledge of
Allegiance I want to ask if you please
rise for a brief moment of silence as we
reflect back on the brave men and women
of the United States armed forces as
they protect our interests around the
globe as well as the courageous Men
Women of Los crus police department and
Los crus fire department as they keep
our city safe 247 7
365 councelor Graham if you join me in
the pledge
please I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America and to
the Republic for which it stands one
nation under God indivisible with
liberty and justice for all thank
you okay so we usually start off with
our pets of the week and I believe Amy
the
Felix is on
the
zoom I hope hello yes I'm here can
everyone hear
me can't see you can't see you quite yet
Amy for your presentation oh there you
go here I am just hello my name is am
Felix I am one of the rescue
coordinators for the Animal Services
Center of the Missi Valley I'm also the
one that picks the pets of the week and
presents them every week um so I'll go
ahead and I'll stop my video for now
because I'm going to share my
screen there we go and as always um we
start out with our uh cat of the week
our cat of the week this week her name
is me her number is
69133 um and she says I'm a very
affectionate kitty who loves giving
headbutts and rubbing up against you but
I like to do it on my own terms I get
over stimulated EAS so please let me
take the lead when it comes to pting me
I am my own independent Spirit who just
wants to be respected as an as an
individual I'd love a home with space to
let me be my true self and I'll return
with my love and kind and then we also
have our dog of the week this week our
dog of the week his name is Cojo his
number is
47243 and he says I'm attentive to
attentive to my handlers and I know how
to sit for treats especially when I
first get to go outside I might have a
bunch of energy but I will eventually
calm down I'm a little breedy with my
food and toys and that's something my
future family should work on with me I
also might be a little scared and
nervous around children so an adult only
home will be perfect for me um we do
have some adoption events um because we
are closed for Veterans Day on Saturday
um we do have a couple of different
events to celebrate PetSmart National
adoption week we'll have our first one
this Wednesday November 8th from 10:00
a.m. to 1 p.m. and then we'll have
another adoption event on Sunday
November 12th again from 10:00 a.m. to
1:00 p.m. and um of course that's at the
pets Mar here in CHR at 2200 East lomman
um all month long as well we have our
fall in love adoption special so every
animal adoption is going to be $75 and
of course we do want to reiterate that
all animals will be sterilized before
going home um that is part of our
process um and I'd like to touch up a
little bit on um responsible pet
ownership I don't know if any of you
guys um listen to our our new podcast
we've been going uh presenting for a
couple of months now um the last episode
is about responsible pet ownership and
I'd like to break that down into like
little individual segments here during
the City Council meetings as well so I'd
like to start off with identification I
think that is one of the most important
parts so definitely microchip your pets
I have that capitalized I should have
underlined and bold it that is the most
important
thing what professionals want to
reiterate definitely microchip your pets
um also as a in addition to that um make
sure you know which database your chip
is registered to um each like animal sh
animal rescue can get their chips from
different manufacturers and they have
their own websites um independent of
each other although there are Universal
databases that can pull up from each of
these individual websites you can only
register them at your manufacturer's
website so if you don't know what that
is you can go ahead and you can get your
pet scanned um usually at the pet clinic
um and they can tell you um the
microchip number and the manufacturer so
you can go to that website and make sure
your microchip information is up to date
um another way to I make sure your pet
has identification is with ID Tex um so
like you can see let me have my little
laser pointer let see if this works um
the very the pretty standard um tags
that you see most commonly are the ones
that dangle they're usually in out of
metal they're engraved they have they
can have your pet's name they'll have
your U number maybe your address even um
these are kind of the standard tag
there's also these um new uh they're
marketed as being a little bit safer
than the standard sort of dangly tag um
only just because they don't dangle
they're a lot less likely to get caught
on things like a great Gres and like a
little gaps and stuff um and contains
the same information um your name maybe
your pet's name your contact information
address if possible um we also like to
mention that um if there's any sort of
special um needs that your pet has um
and if you can fit it on the tag we
encourage you to do so because if they
happen to get out um obviously a
stranger or a finder won't know any sort
of specific special needs your pet might
have um so we definitely encourage um ID
tags and of course your information
should always be kept up to date for
both your tags and your microchip
information um every time you move or
change your phone number um the ID only
works if your contact information is up
to date otherwise it's effectively
useless and it's as if your pet doesn't
have any ID at all which is unfortunate
and we do get that a lot here at the
ascmv we'll have pets that do have ID
either tags or chip but all all of the
information is out of dat so so we have
no way to contact the owner and it's
just kind of like starting at Ground
Zero all over again
essentially um definitely of course to
reiterate having an updated ID allows
your pet to be returned to you much
faster um as already stated um even with
Animal Control Officers here um when
they pick up an animal they scan them
and if they happen to have a microchip
or if they have the tags with
information the Animal control officer
will try to attempt owner contact and
return to them in the field so they
don't have to bring them here to us to
the Animal Services Center um and that
is the easiest like the most preferred
method and we're always it's always a
relief when we get to do that and the
owners are also relieved as well because
then they don't have to pay any reclaim
fees and such like that so definitely
it's um highly encouraged to have all of
your contact information updated on your
pet's identification and of course even
if you think you don't need it like if
your animal um is a home body you never
take them out indoors only like for cats
um it's definitely better to be safe
than sorry have your indoor cat
microchipped um have your lazy dog
microchipped have tags because you never
know emergencies accidents happen um
there are always like these wild
scenarios and your pet can get out um
and if that is the case you would be
definitely very grateful um for getting
your pet an ID even if they are even if
they themselves never really leave your
home um and of course we'd also like to
reiterate um pets in doniana County and
in the city of crues are required to be
microchipped um if any animal comes in
to us at the ascmv even as a reclaim we
microchip them because it is mandatory
um same with the rabes vaccine if you
get a rabes vaccine through us like a
public rabies vaccine we do have to have
your pet microchipped as well so it's
kind of like to help incentivize and
kind of push out the uh sort of um
mandatory microchipping that we uh
require here both in the city and in the
county in general so that is a short
little brief presentation but thank you
so
much okay thank you Amy okay next we're
going to have is Sarah Rainey from the
New Mexico
workforce connections Sarah are you
there man actually just Sarah's out of
the office I'll be presenting in her
behalf all right good afternoon mayor
and Council my name is jares I'm with
New Mexico Workforce Connection um for
the jobs of this week we have city of BL
crues hiring a permit technician um for
$18 an
hour at1 1877 an hour and this job
closes on November 13th of 2023 um we
also have city of Las cres hiring a
heavy equipment operator through solid
waste um they're paying $19 an hour 1951
an hour and it closes on November 13th
of this year um white sense Missile
Range is hiring a publication editor
Spectra Tech um the job closes on
January 15
2024 and we have First National Bank um
who is hiring a bilingual personal
banker and that's starting at $12 an
hour this job closes on November 15th of
2023 uh JP energy is hiring a customer
care representative which pays 25,000 to
35,000 a year depending on experience
and this closes on November 24th of this
year and Advantage sales and marketing
is is hiring an assembler and that pays
between $188 an hour to $25 an hour and
it closes on November 24th um
2023 um and as always if you would like
to connect with the New Mexico Workforce
Connection um you can always contact us
by phone at 575 524 6250 or you can
visit us in person at 226 South Alam
Boulevard and you can always follow us
online our tagline for Facebook
Instagram and Linkedin and YouTube is
inl now that's all I have thank you
okay thanks
Jazelle okay so before we get to the
proclamations I'm going to ask if
Officer Jennifer Roman is
here oh yeah if you want to come down
here
officer hopefully they they told you
what this was about if you want to stand
here to my right it would be
great so often there are you so often
times we don't get a chance
to hear a lot of things that our police
officers do on a daily basis but when
this came I don't know how I came across
this I think I saw an email coming
passing through and asked the chief it
would be okay to recognize you and said
sure absolutely so I'm going to just
read
this so with so many difficult things
lately I wanted to share something
positive Kanan K9 Officer Jennifer Roman
was headed to the range for training and
qualifications the other day she she saw
car with its hazard lights on and a man
standing on the railing of the coritos
bridge getting ready to jump this was at
519 p.m she began talking to him and
quickly learned that he was suicidal due
to some tough circumstances going on in
his life officers quickly shut down
Interstate 10 officer Roman and other
officers talked to him for over four
hours and got him to eventually
cooperate and they placed them in
protective custody at 9:28 p.m. so
really proud of your patience and
empathy and I wanted to give you this
it's called the mayor Citation for
public service presented to Officer
Jennifer Roman recognition of your
commitment and dedication to helping
make Las cruus A Better Community dated
the 6th day of November 2023 and signed
by myself kenm
aashima
okay we have a shy officer here so okay
so I'm going to ask um counselor Graham
if she will come down here and she has
like few proclamations and presentations
so councel I'm here
okay okay I have to see the font size
because I've reached this stage of life
so yeah I need the glasses um yeah yes
okay I'll get there uh Robert Palos or
anyone else who's present for Los cruus
International Mariachi
week
cool
awesome oh this is
great
it's great thank you all so much for
being
here and the proclamation reads whereas
the Los cruus International miachi
Conference has been a vibrant and
cherished tradition in our city for
three decades and whereas the Las crusis
International Mariachi conference has
showcased the rich cultural heritage and
musical Talent of miachi performers from
around the world and whereas this year
marks the 30th anniversary of the lusus
International miachi Conference a
significant milestone in its history and
whereas the Las crusis International
Mariachi conference has brought together
people of all ages and backgrounds to
celebrate the beauty of mariachi music
and Mexican culture and whereas the Las
Cruses International miachi Conference
has contributed to the cultural
enrichment of our community and fostered
a sense of unity and understanding among
our residents and whereas from November
8th 2023 to November 11th 2023 the Las
cruus International miachi Conference
will host a series of events workshops
and performances that will bring joy and
cultural enrichment to our city now
therefore we the mayor and City Council
of the city of Las crusis New Mexico do
hereby Proclaim November 8th 2023
through November 11th 2023 as Las cruus
International miachi Conference week in
celebration of its 30th anniversary and
encourage all residents to participate
in the festivities and honor the
cultural significance of mariachi music
signed by our mayor Ken D miyagishima
and attested by our city clerk Christine
Rivera thank you everybody um this is a
huge honor to even be standing in front
of you today um as a product of the
Mariachi conference it's about educating
Our Youth and sharing our traditions in
the culture um not only with the Next
Generation but with our community where
it's so interwoven in what we do in our
day-to-day lives and and represents our
Los Cruses community so as you're out
there if you see any guests please be uh
as hospitable as you can and and uh
because when I I tell all of our
students and directors that come out
when you're in Los cruus you're family
so thank you so
much
thank you so
[Applause]
much and Barbara
Toof anyone hi anyone else did you bring
anyone else you'd like to have join you
okay
cool hi it's so good to see you happy I
got lucky enough to be able to read this
one
again whereas the third Sunday of
November is observed as world day of
remembrance for road traffic victims
commemorating all who are killed or
seriously injured on the world's
roadways and acknowledging the suffering
of their families and communities and
whereas the epidemic of roadway violence
kills Millions every day in collisions
that are largely preventable and that
the state of New Mexico is particularly
deadly in this regard with 267
fatalities in
2022 and whereas a high percentage of
those losses occurred among the least
protected most vulnerable Road users
pedestrians bicyclists persons riding
motorcycles those living with limited
Mobility or disabilities and others who
are outside of a motor vehicle and
whereas in the last 10 years 67
vulnerable Road users were killed right
here in doniana County our city wishes
to provide a platform for remembering
these victims as well as recognizing The
crucial work of Emergency Services First
Responders and medical professionals and
whereas it is essential that everyone
who uses our road chooses to take the
personal responsibility for helping keep
one another safe and whereas
prioritizing enhanced Traffic Safety
will save lives and enhance quality of
life for all in our city now therefore
we the m mayor and City Council of Las
crusis New Mexico do hereby Proclaim
November 19th 2023 as Las crusis day of
remembrance for road traffic victims
signed by our mayor Kendy Ken D
miyagishima and attested by Christine
Rivera city
clerk I'm actually making a
presentation okay okay do you to do that
man well yeah we'll have you move down
so actually miss Toth is going to give a
presentation for us in a moment so would
you just like to move over toward the
podium okay hold on get our picture
though afternoon mayor and City
counselors and to those of you in our
community who are here today because
quality of life in Las crusis matters to
you let's see if I can do this Barbara I
know we mentioned your name just gave
you a present a proclamation but I need
you to for the record just state your
name absolutely I am Barbara to I am the
founder and executive director of VRU
NM vulnerable Road users New
Mexico and I'm grateful to be here to
speak with you today our organization
was founded in response to the appalling
rise in roadway fatalities and serious
injuries in recent years in 2020 that
hit very close to home because my
husband Jim was struck while riding his
bicycle what was some very disturbing
statistics was now our own
reality Jim's spinal cord was partially
severed his back was broken in five
places following a grueling surgery the
neurosurgeon
said you got your miracle today he's not
going to be in a
wheelchair but he did endure weeks in
hospitals and many months of physical
therapy he can walk although not well
but he can ride his bicycle and that is
beyond Priceless to this man of
mine it's not easy living with a spinal
cord injury he's no longer strong and
physically fit and has many physical
limitations but by the grace of God Jim
did not lose his life that
day what he did lose was an enormous
amount of his quality of
life it was stolen from
him by someone who was careless with his
life on our
roadways apparently L the driver didn't
even know Jim was there until the impact
tossed him into the
air and this is the experience that
catapulted me and our home into an all
too personal understanding of the price
that is being paid on our
roadways thousands across the US live
with the consequences of roadway
violence our own state is sixth worse in
the nation if we can do
this we're left-handed this is a little
tricky we're not only sixth worst in the
nation for overall
fatalities we are the very worst in the
nation six years in a row for pedestrian
fatalities
and I'd really like to point out to you
that pedestrians are only a portion of
that group which is at particular risk
the law refers to them as vulnerable
Road users Walkers and Runners
bicyclists those who ride
motorcycles road maintenance Crews
anyone who's not protected by being
inside a motor
vehicle right here in donana County 18
81 people have lost their lives to
roadway violence in the last 10
years
37% of them 67
people were vulnerable Road
users every one of those numbers
represents a real person someone with a
face and a name and a story that was
tragically cut
short one 18-year-old from our community
was a HomeTown
hero he was killed while riding on his
motorcycle that promising Young Life
snatched
away but the fact is every single one of
these victims is somebody's
hero and it's not just the ones who've
been killed and hurt who are the victims
every victim is at the center of a
circle of persons who care about them
persons whose lives are
impacted countless lives impacted in
profound
Ways by incidents which were most likely
preventable our organization does our
best to rehumanize the
statistics we honor these victims by
sharing their
stories and by impressing upon everyone
the import of sharing
responsibility for one another's safety
because every single person who chooses
to make safer smarter choices on our
roadways does help save lives they save
their own life and the lives of those
that they share the road
with a key part of what we're doing is
reaching out to young people students
are a very important Target group deadly
crashes occur far more more frequently
to Young Drivers than across every other
age group in fact Jim was hit by a
17-year-old it's humbling to experience
the impact of our message on the
students um many of them seem to gain a
genuine understanding of the risks and
the potential consequences of unsafe
driving most of them know and understand
that drinking and driving is deadly but
few realize that that distracted driving
is even more
deadly six times more deadly an epidemic
in our
society we're blessed and thrilled when
students tell us that what we've shared
with them will change the way they
handle themselves behind the
wheel a lot of times they laugh when I
tell them my generation and your
parents' generation have totally blown
it now you guys have to fix our mess and
they laugh but they know it's true and
I'm grateful that they do because these
are Leaders of
Tomorrow they get that we are entrusting
them with the responsibility to make
good
choices and we're expecting them to
refuse to accept a continued culture of
self centered Road
use there's not a about good or bad
right or wrong us or them this is life
and
death it's about each one of us being
respectful and accountable to use our
roadways in a way that assumes
responsibility for one another's
safety in the 90s much of the world
began to address the issue of increasing
roadway fatalities but most of the US
hasn't done
much I was shocked when a roadway
engineer explained to me the figures in
the US are just not high
enough to alarm some
people statistically it's a relatively
small percentage of losses considering
the overall
population currently less than 90 cities
around the US have made an official
commitment to a vision zero
approach this approach combines the
efforts of Road users policy makers and
those who plan and build our
infrastructure they're all working
together in these communities to build
safer
communities vulnerable Road users are
losing their lives in unprecedented
numbers they're helpless to present
themselves from being harmed cars trucks
and SUVs are infinitely heavier
faster and more
maneuverable I'm not suggesting that
vrus are without
responsibility they too have an
obligation to exercise good judgment and
to use roads
safely but the means by which they are
getting around will always put them at
far greater risk widespread distracted
driving and unsafe
speeds along with potentially
ineffective roadway design have turned
vulnerable Road users into
targets adopting and implementing A Safe
Systems approach would systematically
reduce fatalities and severe injuries
and at the same time it would increase
safe healthy and Equitable options for
everyone that uses our
roads it would be a win-win for
everyone thank you so much for your kind
attention and for allowing me to share
about our work today our organization is
fully committed to changing the
narrative roadway collisions in Las
Cruses and donana
County we're going to keep putting names
and faces and stories front and center
and we're going to continue to actively
encourage enourage drivers to make safer
smarter
choices in fact that's the focus of an
upcoming weakened of remembrance for
road traffic victims I hope we'll see
some of you
there please leaders of our community do
your part for this our organization is
in total agreement with the request that
was recently made to this group by velc
Cruses our partner in advocacy
we urge you to adopt the initiative that
they have proposed and to move forward
with the vision zero action
plan it truly is about life and
death thank
you Bara thank you very much for that
I'm glad to hear Jim is doing better I
um it just wasn't the same last year or
the year before when he wasn't there
with the the mayor's bike ride and and
he would always bring the electric bike
for me to use which was great and U but
thank you and and um I'm going to follow
up on something that I
had asked the City attorney to look at
and and maybe during my my Council
comments I'll see how that's coming
along thank you
again mayor can I sorry yes I just uh
I'm going to bring this up in counselor
comments too but I just wanted to since
folks are here and thank you Miss to for
for sharing um tomorrow morning at 8:30
the transportation sustainability and
infrastructure PRC we'll be having a
special guest representative on hubio to
talk about Mobility Justice in
particular protecting um cyclists and
other vulnerable Road users and how the
city can be a a sort of engine for that
so I would like to invite everyone to
come tomorrow morning at 8:30 in the
second floor if you're if this is
something that's really of interest to
you so hopefully folks will be able to
join us there thank you again thank you
counselor okay we have another
presentation the living
Lup is is this the the gentleman from
Gaton okay great I it
so uh representative L was telling me
about um you and your students had put
together a invention for lack of a
better term that helps keep those that
are unfortunate that that our homeless
keep them warm during the winter time
and I think you took second place or
something like that or yes that's
correct uh so if you want to talk a
little bit about it that would be great
and then you going to share with us
presentation yes well first of all thank
you for having us here today um we have
a students that were involved in
Innovation uh project at school where
they had to create um a type of
innovation so that they could um it's
part of their education and also it's
part of um competitions that are um
happening nationally um um so it all
started with a competition for the
Samsung salfer tomorrow um we got top 10
in the nation with over 3,500 schools
applying um they the idea came from them
The Innovation came from them the design
everything came from the students they
work together um and I just really
appreciate everybody for allowing us to
be here because I think that's the part
that they really want is just to be um
part of the community and they want to
be um you know they want to know that
the stakeholders out there are find this
important you know and and um so I just
really appreciate everyone here today
for allowing them to be here and I'll go
ahead and let them present if that's
okay
sir all I need is for I'm sorry did you
state your name I'm sorry my name is
Saul Nunes okay I was just gonna say
anyone who speaks if you don't mind just
stating your name
please good afterno afternoon mayor city
council first off I'd like to say thank
you for the opportunity to be here and
to be able to present our project and
what this is all about um so our project
is the living lumbre can you st your
name Jack AR Royo sorry um uh first off
with this project as Mr NES has already
told you all uh we've gotten both local
and National recognition from this via
the October weatherfest competition
hosted by ktsm and also uh Samsung Sol
for tomorrow
competition and I'm sorry did did you
mention your name again yeah Jack Royo
oh I'm sorry I apologize Jack Roy
okay good afternoon my name is Andres
lauz um so s THS I hear you ask what
exactly is you know the living lumbre
the living lumbre is a heating mat that
we developed at our school uh Santa High
School in Sant New Mexico that would
effectively turn solar power into energy
that we would then then funnel into
heating coils that would power the mat
as a whole or and heat the mat as a
whole um the the heating coils would
last up to 8 hours for both day and
night use uh for whatever situation that
they may find themselves in as well as
an LCD I think that's what it's called
yeah LCD um which is basically a heads
up display that would be a screen to
basically uh show the both the heat so
the temperature of the mat as well as
any additional information that the mat
may require
hello my name is Aubrey noo at the start
of our project we are our Focus
was the migrant crisis that affects
almost all almost all the cities on the
border of Mexico and
America however while developing the
project we
found the potential to benefit a wide
range of people including the homeless
Community the military
and animal shelters
including of course it can also be used
for recreational and emergency
purposes my name is Christian Rua and
the migrant crisis at the Mexican
American Border has reached un
unreachable levels which almost nearly
exceeding 2
million this year most immigrants are
apprehended at the border because
they're trying to flee um political and
violence in their home countries which
that was the main our Focus why we made
this mat with their with them in mind
that's why we named it living lumbre and
our and we focused on giving them hope
and basic warmth that we can try to help
them
with the homelessness crisis is another
growing and complex problem in Los Cruis
alone it is that there are about 2,000
to 3,000 homeless people um the
Department of Housing and Urban
Development estimates that there are
over half a million homeless people
living on the streets in
America with the live with the living
Lombre because of its portable nature it
can homeless people can take it and if
they need to move around anywhere in the
city they can hopefully use it and also
due to its um non- reliability on
external power sources they also don't
don't need to be in any nearby power
outlets or any of
sources good afternoon my name is
k in cold weather conditions or n based
military operations soldiers require
warmth to prevent hypothermia the living
Loom R provides a
sustainable source of heat without
requiring external
power U sources like generators which
can be difficult to trans transport um
in military areas additionally its
compact size makes it easy to Pi to pack
in combat zones it's easy to carry
around so it's easy to uh carry on in
places with rough
terrain overall the living lbre promises
crucial warmth and significant
convenience in logistics while
minimizing environmental impacts causes
by traditional heat generation
methods
uh
UMO and uh element
uh animal shelters are frequently uh
encountering
challenges um when maintain when
maintaining um comt comfortable animal
environments due to um uh uh fluctuating
climate conditions however the living
lumbre um presents a novel solution to
help with these issues um as a
self-contained a solar powered heating
mat it is um it eliminates the need for
constant electricity use and bulky um
heating systems which is ideal for small
animal in
enclosures um which um which involve uh
space uh space
constraints
um moreover since the technology is is
used with a renewable source uh it
aligns with the Animal Welfare ad
advocacy and initiatives focused on uh
reducing the carbon footprint and um
preserving a natural habitat for the
animals ultimately the living lumbre uh
represents a forward-thinking approach
uh towards creating more of a um Humane
and eco-friendly Alternatives within the
Animal Care
Institutes
all right um so beyond basic needs for
those who are a necessity like uh as we
discussed migrants military animal
shelters we also thought a great way to
for people to use this would be
recreational usage and in doing so we
believe that um camping would be a huge
thing so for Avid campers and overall
Adventures one thing they're always
looking for is the newest in best thing
and always something that can give them
more Comfort when they're they're home
away from home and in doing so the
living room lre provides uh heating
regulation that will be able to heat the
user out at night or whenever whatever
temperatures they are um and it'll be
able to consistently heat them at a
comfortable body temperature and uh in
doing so this will it if things go wrong
if something did happen which shouldn't
uh um it'll be able to on the inside we
have insulation that'll be able to
provide enough heat to keep it long
enough for emergency services to arrive
and um within this we also built in the
insulation is made out of material
that's nonflammable so it should be it
well it is safe
um and uh we also did a thing for if
offgrid is not working or is not
functional it'll be able to stay
functional for a certain amount of time
to keep you warm we decided to implement
this in case there was an emergencies so
it's not just for like your average cold
Breezy temperature it could be for
anything that is like you need to stay
warm and so we just provided extra steps
in order to make sure that you are safe
and that uh Emergency Services can be
notified in order to protect
you
muff
um we are excited about the future of
the living Lu you know when produced the
mat will include a heart rate monitor
and a way to read the uses temperature
from there if the uses temperature is
too low as previously mentioned
emergency services will be notified uh
implementing the built-in GPS feature on
the Met itself in addition to this it
would also be detecting either uh P
personal temperature or humidity
temperature for the temperature like
obviously around it in order to
effectively save lives rather than leave
people out in the
cold
uh
when we will be implementing machine
learning technology into the mat that
will be able to detect location and if a
person is in this state of emergency
which will help as as well as hikers
that may be suffering from heat strokes
and as well in the cold this could sorry
this could also be used to manage the
temperature of the mat more efficiently
saving power and making it
safer uh we hope that you found our
Innovation worth looking into uh we
worked really hard to implement that it
could be used for anyone and everything
because we really cared for the welfare
of our community in any circumstances no
matter what background they are so we
hope that this will potentially be of
some interest to you and that we can
work with you in the future bring some
support with a entities such as yourself
and thank you so
much so if you don't mind there might be
a few questions from Council but I know
I have a a couple so is there is it just
one temperature or can you turn it down
and then turn it up I was just told to
come over here and say thank you um I am
not an authority on this my name is
Valerie hola Mount um I'm a physics
teacher at Santa Teresa high school so
some of these are my students um in an
environmental science class that I teach
as well um so I don't know if you guys
understand but some of these students
don't actually say words that many and
close together um so this was a
beautiful beautiful wonderful moment for
us and we are incredibly grateful to be
here um I will turn it back over to them
now so that they can answer your
questions as the ones who like actually
do the circuit board thing so thank you
so um to answer your question we have
can you talk yeah
sorry yes to answer your question um we
are planning on implementing a way to
control the to the controling
temperature but right now we only have
three modes that would that's um warm
hot and then Auto the auto would take
the temperature of the surrounding air
and then it would kind of adjust the
temperature to make sure that you were
just hot enough in the warm it sets the
mat to go up to around 90 degrees
Fahrenheit so that it would be pretty
warm and then hot is around human body
temperature which is 98
degre so like in Shark Tank do you take
investors
or I mean I'm sure we we'd be glad to
have people who are interested in be
happy to take okay all right sounds good
uh I think councelor florus has a
question and a couple of the other
councilors yes I have a a a question you
said that uh did you say Samsung yes
Samsung solve for tomorrow it what did
it do um so the Samsung S for tomorrow I
guess some who so you presented it to
Samsung and what did Samsung say uh yes
yes ma'am so last year we were able to
go up to Washington waston DC in order
to present the living LOM in front of
Samsung's head of directory as well as
you know uh
future I don't know how to say future
investors that may be interested in our
product as well as people from the
military uh which came which was really
implemented as well but yeah I know uh
yeah we were shipped out to we were
shipped out to Washington DC in order to
present this project in front of with
with 10 other schools from the United
States in order to you know secure
funding or give them a basic Pro types
of the music but yours is unique yes
ma'am it doesn't okay yes and the reason
I'm asking is because um I think you
should copyright this I think you should
get an attorney and um really because uh
you know U uh Tesla the fellow who made
uh New York City Light Up Edison got all
the got all the uh credit for it because
he was working for Edison and he never
renewed his copyrights or his patents so
um since this is unique and it sounds
like an absolute like Geniuses at work
so I want to congratulate you for this
accomplishment and I don't want you to
get um I want you to keep that uh that
identity that you own it literally you
own it so please um get a patent
attorney and uh see what he or she can
uh recommend and I also would
say um don't share this with anybody
else until
I'm serious I'm serious I mean you know
Nicola Tesla you know the guy who
invaded uh you know electricity
basically uh hasn't gotten the credit
and and I think this is Monumental and I
mean you
know I it just makes me so happy it just
brings tears to my eyes because you've
accomplished so much this is the work of
Genius Geniuses so congratulations and
thank you thank you so much ma'am um you
know we will try to get this pinned down
to us but while we are on the topic
we're not trying to get we are while we
are trying to get money because who
doesn't love money you know no you know
what it's not about money necessarily
but the fact that you know to get that
recognition and not have somebody else
claim it and then someone like Samsung
with all due respect you know to claim
that this is theirs and then they become
multi-billionaires and then what do you
do you go back to Santa Teresa and and
pray no
anyway but please you know I'm an
attorney so uh I know about well I I
just it it's not advice I'm not advising
I'm just recommending yes ma' well thank
you so much thank
you yes so thank you for that advice and
uh yes I I think um it's a
recommendation not an not okay the
recommendation yes ma'am thank you so
much I really appreciate that and um I
think coming from the area I think we
all recognize you know the needs of our
community and and I think these kids
kids you know I'm not going to call them
kidss these young adults they're they're
ready you know to be part of the
community they're ready to invest and
they're ready to give back and um we
have some more things coming up for them
they have some more inventions in the
Pro in process right now we can't talk
about those but we have a lot of great
things coming from Southern New Mexico
and I I just really appreciate the city
of Los crus for having us here um you
guys are amazing so thank you very much
Mr Ros I I'll get with you there is a
place in wattis that will help help you
patent it and and do some more
marketing you I'll get with you on that
sir that would be much appreciated thank
you absolutely that's a fantastic it's
fantastic invention yeah when
representative L told me I said I want
to see this so yeah so so out of those
3500 schools you know there were no
schools that made it from California
other big States but there we were
little New Mexico you know representing
so um we were there with among Florida
uh we were there with New York you know
other other states that always receive
recognition and I think it was important
for them to to see that you know and
they were among them so thank you so
much and is it possible to take a photos
um with I'm sure but um get a patent
attorney in the USA not
inuus okay with all bee respect consider
my dear mayor yes thank you very much we
have councelor Graham and councelor Beta
And councel bomo yes thank you so much
um and amongst the other things that
I've done for my job in the past I
judged student Innovation and business
plan competitions so I've been through a
lot of these
presentations and you guys hit it out of
the park that was amazing um it is so
it's so interesting to see something
like this where you have to condense the
excitement and hard work and passion of
a bunch of people into 10 minutes and
make it understandable for everyone who
isn't aware of your technology and I
think that you've done a really great
job of that and what I especially want
to compliment is that everyone on the
team came up to the mic I know sometimes
there's there's the temptation to have
that one person who's like hey look at
me I like talking in public and then you
just kind of let that person be the
spokesperson but I love that every team
member came and brought their voice to
the presentation and yeah protect your
IP of course but um fantastic job and
thank you so much for sharing this with
us thank you for that thank you and also
we're we're we do have three seniors
that graduated last year that are now at
NMSU thank goodness it's a great school
and um also elsewhere so they they they
are not here with us but they were a big
part of this as well so thank you so
much guys need to apply we have
councelor AA councelor Momo thank you
mayor and thank you so much for the
presentation for all the work that
you've done on this project is quite
amazing I actually had a couple of
specific questions but given the
comments on about the patent I think
I'll hold off on the public sphere for
those um but this is amazing technology
and I can see how it would be very
helpful um not only in the public sector
but in the private sector so you really
looked at both so thank you for the
presentation you all did a wonderful job
you thanks councelor councelor bomo
thanks mayor thank you so much I um I'm
a cha so I sort of cry just about for
everything but I was sitting up here
tearing up because this was really
incredible you all this is honestly
absolutely the work of genius and you
took these really
charged um issues like migration and
homelessness and you said we're we want
to use our gifts to do really positive
things for our community and you just
like stripped all of that stuff into
just basic humanity and I can't thank
you enough for your work and for um
sharing it with us thank you so much for
the recognition thank you may P thank
you thank you so much for your
presentation it was really inspiring and
I'm saying have you got the a
yet and if not I'm recommending you get
an A I'm talking to the
teachers principal we need to write a
letter we can do that thank you thank
you
all okay so you want a quick picture yes
please if that's
possible anybody that would like to be
in the picture that would be amazing
thank
you
thank you all so
much thank you sorry my hands are very
me too that's where like we all need
tole thank you
for great
job
you don't want to see the
picture
[Music]
[Applause]
yes do
it
okay it looks like um again
congratulations U Santa Teresa high
that's fantastic good job Mr
R and looks like we have another
presentation that deals with electronics
and it's Paso Electric they want to talk
about the implementation of advanced
metering metering
system I just need you to state your
name please good afternoon mayor and
city council that is a tough act to
follow by the way they are amazing my
name is Jennifer Oris I am with um El
Paso electrics New Mexico government
Affairs Department I want to thank you
guys for allowing us to present to you
on our Advanced metering deployment in
this area with me I have our director of
corporate Communications and marketing
George dador who is actually giving out
his card at the moment to those amazing
students and a project manager with our
Advan metering systems and advanced
metering and analytics Elizabeth aagon
our main goal is to provide so much
information to the community about our
Advanced metering system that we also
would like to offer counselors or
anybody that is having district meetings
the opportunity to work with us or allow
us to present at your district meetings
to your constituents if you have any or
if you would like more information for
your your District newsletters we can
definitely provide that for you guys but
I will now turn it over to miss Awan
Thank you very your
time
that's me
sorry sorry we've missed up your your um
your view here give us a
second
how about if
you press
Escape be that
easy no well let's see
here yeah and minimize at the
top this one no no up at the up at the
top
minimize there you go F5 I
think
you want to close that
window TR again
well just roll from here thank you if
you want to do F hit F5 F5 if you want
okay there you go thank you guys um
again I Wasing out after that
presentation because I'm an engineer so
that's I love that that's really awesome
to see those kids um get to that point
and just be excited about technology so
I'm here to talk to you about the smart
meter project that we're doing um it's
Ami ad out Advanced metering
infrastructure um I'm the project
manager that's been working on this
project for over three years now in
counting uh pretty much what we want to
do is transforming the energy landscape
we want to use these meters um we are
actually the first uh City here in Las
Cruses to actually have these smart
meters in place and so we're very very
excited and this goes in line with our
uh climate goals to become carbon free
carbon neutral board 2035 and carbon
free by
2045 you know we want to start
leveraging technology Propel Propel the
the growth in our region uh lead
environmental sustainability and drive
culture of empowerment and what do I
mean by empowerment well pretty much
what we want to do is Empower our
customers with this new technology and
what would it do well it's going to
improve outage management first and
foremost the way that it helps is that
you will our meters will notify us uh of
outages faster then our customers will
so our C we won't have to wait until the
customers uh call us to let us know that
there's outages the meters are part of a
a very secure um um in Integrated
Network that we have and that Network
captures all the data from The Meters
it'll also give uh customers more
control over their energy use why
because they'll be able to see their
near real time uh usage on a daily basis
or every 15 minute intervals if you want
you won't have to wait at the end of the
of the month to receive a bill you could
actually see your consumption as it's
coming through the meter um of course
that maximizes the customer experience
and we want to make sure that you all
are able to leverage just like you have
your cell phones and you have you know
apps in your phones will be uh to
actually check let's say your bank uh
activity that's kind of the the option
here that you'll have with the smart
meters and that you'll be able to manage
uh or and to see um how much consumption
you're actually um consuming every day
or like I mentioned every 15 minute
intervals and of course this enhances
our liability and reliability on our
Network because the on our grid
specifically because we are notified
beforehand so that we're able to be
proactive versus reactive in terms of
outages uh we like I mentioned New
Mexico is is we're the first in New
Mexico to ever implement this and Los
Cruses is the first city um this
technology has been existent for over 15
years and uh but the the great thing
about that is that we're we are able to
see the lessons learned from other
utilities and other companies have used
Ami meters and now we have the latest
and greatest
technology um you'll be able to see your
power consumption in this manner uh the
graphs on the on your site will be able
to provide you more uh through the
online portal you'll be able to create
your account um and and visualize see
this visualizations through your online
portal it'll also give you customized
saving tips projected um usage and Bill
alerts you can set your bill alerts and
and actually say you know what I I am
nearing you know 100 and that's what I
want to I don't want to pay any more
than that so it'll be able to give you
some of that it'll be able through the
like online portal you'll be able to
also um notice what your consumption was
last year at the same time so that you
can make changes and saying maybe I need
to not use my my pool pump as much or
maybe I'm just uh you know using uh my
energy in in different ways this year so
maybe I need to make some changes right
um again you you will also be able to
give you will be able to give you
through that online portal um times of
of uh you know alerts for you to take
advantage of new rates that we're
creating um um that'll be available to
you particularly for your home to say
hey this is this is probably a rate that
would be beneficial for you for to save
money theand response programs to be uh
uh be part of those if you choose to
those are always voluntary so you'll
have the opportunity to do so
so and uh I just want to address some
concerns because again with new
technology there's always concerns right
everybody is worried what is this going
to do what is this going to to what what
damage can this can this possibly bring
right and of course with with everything
new there's there's that um you know
that just overall General hesitation but
pretty much what what uh we will not be
able to control your thermostats that's
that's a false uh type of um you know
feeling that that a lot of uh of this
technology puts out there in the
internet right uh we will be able to
offer those demand response programs but
again you would have to opt into those
um and those are voluntary like I
mentioned we will not share any customer
data to third parties unless it's
requested by the customer and what I
mean by that is that there's going to be
solar companies that will come to you
and they will they're able to to ask for
you your instead of your bills you'll be
able to ask can I log into can you
provide me the information of your last
year's consumption and that is up to the
customer we're providing a portal for
that for third parties where the
customer is the one that provides um
that third- party company because we
don't work directly with solar companies
of course so that would be up to the
customer to do so if they choose to um
there will be a search charger a writer
um on your monthly electric bill that
covers the cost of the meters why
because we've developed a a a network to
read a very robust Network to read these
meters right we've also uh have to right
now we're in the buy those meters uh
deploy those meters here in the next
years and um and then we had to also
improve and uh
um enhance our back office systems to
make sure that we can handle all the
data because we used to read meters
every month right we would go by do a
drive by and read your meters every
month now these meters are being read at
15 minute intervals imagine the data
that is coming through so we've had to
develop our data warehouse uh and our
back office systems to be able to handle
that also be aware of scammers there's
installers um they're taking advantage
of the fact that there's an installer
out there working for op Paso Electric
their Texas metering device and you will
you may start seeing them here shortly
um they have they on their they have a
sticker on their truck this ISS TMD um
installer for El Paso Electric and so a
lot of C aot we've seen some scammers
trying to go to customer homes and say
we're working for op Paso Electric we're
working for TMD and we they want to
request payment or they want to say I'm
here to exchange your smart meter and
they want to charge customers right then
and then we would never go ahead we
would never do that none of our uh the
TM or any or our third party that we're
working with they will never ask for any
customer information a customer account
or any payment of any sort so just be
aware of that please pass that on to
your friends and
family so what is the monthly SE charge
well for residential it'll be 38 cents
on your bill that you'll see every month
you know that and for small commercial
51 cents and so forth you'll see the
different uh monthly search charges
there and like I mentioned that covers
all the Technologies we've implemented
to to support the smart
meters there is an opt out fee and why
the opt out all our customers have the
opportunity to opt out if they choose to
um why opt out well there's a lot of
customers that say I don't want the new
technology I just don't want it um I I I
don't I don't have any interest uh and
and so you have that that right to uh
choose to opt out and uh you will be
charged $40 . 65 uh onetime fee and a
$672 monthly fee and it's so much more
expensive than the 53 cents correct but
why why is that U more costly well
because we would have to maintain our
older systems to read your meter once a
month like we usually do so we would
still need those meter readers to go um
roll a truck to read those particular
customer Smart Meters I mean not smart
meters their regular am R meters or
older meters so that is the reason why
the the costs are what they
are um and we've already started to
install uh meters here in New Mexico in
September of this year we were already
at about 13,500 MERS that we've
installed uh thus far out of 125
expected meters that we need to um you
know replace here in this area uh you
have the option to go and check when
will be in your ZIP code you put your
ZIP code in to this area and you search
it and it'll tell you approximately when
we be in your area you could also create
um my account manage my account um uh
uh online at our website at
epelectric.com smart meters and there
you'll be able to also manage your
account by the app if you choose to
download it on your phone or just go
directly through or Google uh Apple
store or Google Play
so we'll be able to also we'll also be
sending you a postcard shown right here
in the corner that postcard will tell
you when we will be in your area it'll
give you it'll be approximately 60 days
prior to when we'll be in your area
it'll give you some FAQs some some quick
little points about the smart meters and
uh you know there's a QR code that'll
take you directly to our website for you
to sign on as well for the ma U manage
my account portal
we started an optimization area six and
these are the zip codes that we begun in
88008 and so forth like I mentioned uh
once we finish optimization area there's
a six there's 67,000 meters in this area
like uh we're about
13,500 we are expected to finish this
area in June of
2024 and then there's an optimization
area seven which includes
these zip codes and those are 54,000 M
uh totaling to
about 15 or so th000 meters plus growth
that we're expecting and we're expecting
to finish deployment alog together in
New Mexico February
2025 what to expect from the
installation process like I mentioned
you get a six uh notification 30 to 60
days prior to inform you we're going to
be in your area you don't need to be in
the area or at your home in order for us
to to uh exchange your meter uh if the
meter is accessible we will just
exchange it you will see a 5 to 15
minute uh power outage um it's usually
not that long it's pretty quick but we
just want to just give you that that um
you know that statement there there's no
payment uh or information account
information that will be requested
whatsoever um our contractor is TMD like
I mentioned their name is Texas meter
and device they're a company in Texas
and um we have a warehouse develop uh
set up here in in New Mexico so that
they can disperse through every morning
to install the meters if you by any
chance are is your meter not accessible
you have a lock gate you have a dog we
will leave a door hanger and say sorry
we missed you um please give us a call
to make an appointment you call that
number and we will make an appointment
and revisit your home so we could
exchange that
meter and pretty much that is my
presentation any
questions coun Momo thank you yes I have
a couple of questions for you I
appreciate the presentation um will you
be having scam information in Spanish as
well yes all the all the data we have
any information to customers is always
in English and Spanish yes okay what is
your process for commercial users
especially on the um potential outages
for commercial users we always make sure
that we notify them uh we call them
first and let them know we're going to
be in their area um or we're going to be
there that day and we we coordinate with
them if outage isn't uh something that
they could afford that day um we will
event we will uh accommodate to when
they're ready so then you are
coordinating with good amount of time so
you know their food is
yes ruined um and then lastly um for
customers who have now solar does this
still apply to them what is yeah solar
customers will also be uh converted to
the smart meter as well and uh they will
feel no uh pretty much it will won't be
any different as their meter before
their their meters will still be
exchanged and uh they'll be able to see
more uh data on on also their their
solar system if possible and the charge
the charge is still the same the for
every all our customers the 53 cents a
month okay okay so so let's say solar
clients are sort of self- sustaining at
that point you will be
sending
uh a bill for 58 cents a month well for
the solar customers usually the self
sustaining ones would have uh so uh
battery storage right those are the full
self- sustaining for those that that are
solar customers without the battery then
they they still get a bill right um but
yes we will be providing them a bill for
those for that cost okay thank
you thank you any other
questions okay well thank you very much
Liz is that thank you very much for your
time we appreciate it thank
you okay I think
that's I think that's oh no there was um
yeah let me get get to the conflict of
interest statement this where I ask if
any member of city council city manager
any staff city manager staff has any
known conflict of interest on any item
on the agenda none none n none AA none
voters counselor um Karan motion none so
okay and before we get to public
participation there was a gentleman who
took the pictures of us and I believe
he's one of the your newest member of
your staff so you want him to kind of
just introduce himself
and understand you are the new Inspector
General yes good afternoon mayor my name
is Charles Tucker good afternoon Council
I've talked to you all before and um but
before when I did talk to you the first
time I was a employee of White Sands
muscle range now I'm an employee of the
city of Los crues so I just wanted to
introduce myself and let you know I'm on
on the job now now I know Miss karan's
not here but I I guess you can tell her
when she gets back okay so does anybody
have any questions they'd like to ask
me thank you yeah good good to see
you oh councelor FLOTUS wants a full bio
of what of
you this
man so when you were born where did you
grow up no no oh okay no I mean what
exactly do you do I'm sorry I okay I was
I Was An Inspector General for the
federal government so oh yes I've met
you before yes ma'am you sat in on the
oversight committee with me yes yes yes
I'm sorry it's been a tough day really
tough day okay I have to tell you you do
look younger in person then on the on
the oh on the zoom on Zoom right so
that's why she's probably confused okay
thank
you yes may I just wanted to to say
we're really excited to have uh uh Mr
Tucker here he comes with 20 years of
experience as an inspector General yes
and we we just kep couldn't find that
type of experience anywhere else and so
we're really lucky to have him but one
of the reasons we wanted him to
introduce himself to the council
formally I know I think he's had
opportunity to talk to most of you but
also to the public let the public know
who our new Inspector General is and
he's not only only you know my Inspector
General or the council Inspector General
he's the insector general for the city
of Las cuses that's correct and so um
he's available his
numbers um if it's not displayed already
um the hotline's displayed plastered all
over our website it is um yes and we
just want to make him more and more uh
available to the public make it more
visible to the public and that's one of
the reasons we wanted to have him
introduce himself
today so like if Council florus was to
spend like $250,000 to renovate her
office that's what you would be looking
at definitely
okay all right well good to see you and
congratulations Charles well thank you
sir thank
you and before we get to public
participation although we are going to
start it U Miss Dora Luchini Lucero
asked if she could have five minutes so
I'm going to let you speak first and
then I'll start with
the I just need you state your name
please that
okay I'm a little nervous because I
don't want to start crying so I'm going
to get through
it my name is Dora Luchini lucett and I
than Mr story and Robert B I came to
them after um my dad passed away and I
told him the story of how the officers
were awesome that day so here's my story
I'm speaking on behalf of Jim luchini's
family and recognizing Sergeant
Christopher
Baker officer Christopher vital Gabriel
agira and David Vega my dad was a Korean
vet and he fought for us to be able to
be here to speak to you all so I hope
that you truly truly listen to what me
and my family have to say because he
fought hard for the hatch Valley where
we lived and this
community on July 7th at around 7:30 in
the in the morning my dad passed
away I had been spending a lot of time
with my my parents to help help them out
my dad was doing pretty good after
getting a new p
maker
so this is
hard that morning he fell and we didn't
realize what was going on we called 911
and the paramedics and I wanted also
thank the fire chief the paramedics and
the firemen were awesome I don't I
didn't get their names because they left
um they came within minutes I want you
to know that
we were informed that my dad had did not
make it to my dismay I sat there and saw
these officers pull up we didn't
understand what was going on all we knew
is that they were
coming why were they there we were told
thank
you
okay I'm short I'm
sorry okay thank you
we were told that it was protocol for if
there's a death in the home that the
officers had to come we did not know so
in our grief we were freaking
out we were told that the officers had
to be there till the coroner got there
they were there for three hours okay
three hours those officers stayed with
with my
dad
I'm
sorry we had just lost my brother two
months
prior and the officers had to interview
me because it was just me and my mom
when we found my my
dad I'm sorry I didn't think I was going
to
cry they had to interview me they
interviewed me but before they
interviewed me to see what
happened they told me and my mom my
family was already there my brother came
my other brother was in San
Antonio they said we're so sorry for
your loss for your brother and now
you're
dad they kept they didn't love let us go
in the
home we were outside and finally they
said it's too hot it was July 10 and
something degree this summer they said
we you guys can go inside it's too hot
but we couldn't go in the room where
they were at finally the core nerd
came my brother had told me cuz I had
left I couldn't stay there with my dad
there so finally my brother when I went
back
my brother told me that two of the
officers and I'm not sure which officers
asked father Marine Gordo to
bless them why would they do that why
because unlike you guys here you can go
home your lives aren't threatened they
don't know when they walked out that
door from my parents home they don't
know what situation they're going to be
in they asked the father for their
blessing to protect
them
okay we were so touched by that I was
touched because my dad his faith was
everything and the mayor knows my family
the Luchini family are very Catholics
and it touched me and and my
family and I just want you guys to
realize that some of your Ric like
dismantle defund um reimagine re
relocate your funds to these officers
who go out in the streets every day to
protect us to be at my dad's side and a
Deb that we hit from natural causes but
that's their job and they didn't you
know they didn't they were there and
they were so touching and compassionate
and they they kept saying we are so
sorry for both your losses you know we
don't want to be here but we have to and
the if you could have seen their faces
of of disbelief that we just lost my
brother now my father and I want you
guys to truly understand what I'm saying
because you're reic is really getting to
a lot of us you're reic about how the
police are this and that it's not
true and I called Mr story and I said
your officers were just and my mom
couldn't be here today because she was
sick she's got
bronchitis so and I also wish that one
that all of you who do this R would
would walk in the shoes of the officers
and see what they go through on a daily
basis because it's not fun getting shot
up and stabed and whatever else they
spit on called pigs and whatever else
they're called I have the highest
respect for these four officers that
were my parents and I was asking Mr
story if they could come and he said he
didn't know but if anybody deserves an
award these four in my opinion deserve
an award for being there that day and
and and just the love I got off track
sorry I just
hope that you tone down your rhetoric
and that you honor some of these
officers they're doing the best they can
with what they have and they're short
and so for them to be there for three
hours and I said to the officers don't
you have something else to do and they
said no it's protocol we have to be here
that's taking Tak their time from doing
real crime in the city and I wish you
would show them respect and dignity the
way you guys show illegals and the
homeless you should take you should
really start respecting what they do
because they don't know if they're going
to go home to their families
either so I am speaking on my on behalf
of my family I'm speaking on behalf of
LA law enforcement border patrol
ice and and vets the military for what
they do my dad was a vet and I'm
speaking on behalf of for them so I hope
that my message today is that when you
go home you think about what I've just
said and you we we pray that their
family they get to go home to their
families the way you guys get to go home
to your families thank you thank you Mr
lini okay so we're going to go ahead and
excuse me start with public
participation uh this is where members
of the public can speak to council for
up to seven minutes three minutes uh any
item topic you wish four minutes on an
item on the agenda we just ask if uh you
want to speak to something that's on the
agenda that you wait until that agenda
item comes up for discussion and so um
and on the general items we just ask if
it not be pertaining to anything of
pending litigation okay so I usually
start on my left and I usually start on
the first row but nobody's there or
second
row third row third
row oh also I I spotted one candidate
there may be more than one um but I'm
going to ask that there be no please
don't disclose that you're a candidate
for a particular office just state your
name because there's no campaigning here
in city hall or city property okay so
that's third row anyone on third row
fourth
row fifth row one one fifth row
yeah mayor council ju
Garcia a recent incumbent indicated
crime is going down and other stated
candidates concerned with Public Safety
were
fear-mongering the following is an
anonymous letter that I received from a
terrorized citizen in D1 District 1
quote gunshot tonight at midnight right
in front of my door I called 911 they
said many calls coming in it took 10
minutes till a cop to arrive just one
cop car drove in slowly I guess they
don't want to be shot at gang was
arguing then shot then left in car took
place at Klein Park on San Pedro near
Griggs now it's become a shooting
gallery end of
quote it is refreshing to see municipal
candidates Democrats GOP and
Independence prioritize Public Safety
and crime yes I did say
Democrats except one focused on moving
quote L crues away from fossil fuels as
fast as possible if elective we know her
priorities ironically she is running for
district one Council we con crime
politicians live in a different reality
I am speaking of the progressive faction
that Champions the criminals and wealth
redistribution as a solution to crime
and has no issue with pedophilia in
Educational Learning material quote in
our schools city council meeting on 15
June 2020 one of the incumbents appeared
shocked that LCPD was asking for more
resources this is the type of vision our
Council had and here we
are recent ABC7 report 110 plus violent
crimes in the county using guns with 10
of being miners recent 16-year-old went
to our residence and shot 10 times drive
by shooting at a party irresponsible gun
ownership affects innocent victims and
gives weak on crime politicians like the
governor and donana state delegation
recents to disarm legal gun
owners k sfr on 1027 quote after the
main shooting donana committee chair
Senator Cervantes says quote an assault
weapons ban including the legal
definition of such a weapon age
restrictions magazine capacity
regulations and waiting periods are
expected as if possible legislation we
recall Senator souls steinborn and
Hamlin try to disarm lawful
citizens in January 2023 legislation and
they will try again they were publicly
stating this what's left citizens who
can lawfully own a weapon should obtain
a concealed carry license while they
still can to defend themselves and their
families and finally a very tragic and
unfortunate incident occurred involving
LCPD tragic because a death occurred and
based on the circumstances those wanting
to weaken LCPD will once again attempt
or those who take pride throwing bricks
at the police will rise again our faith
in LCPD will not waver as we stand
firmly behind the men in blue thank you
thank
you okay so that was a fifth row anyone
else on the fifth
row okay sixth row yes
ma'am just need you to state your name
please
hi good afternoon this is the first time
I've ever done this um my name is Nancy
abar Shamir zadi I'll be testing you on
your pronunciation of that at the end
I'm here to oppose the um demolition
which was scheduled for today to be
reviewed of I believe it is
643 excuse me for interrupting but can
you wait until that item it comes on the
agenda yes I'm sorry yeah it's I'll it's
scheduled to let me see what number it
is it's 8.2 So yeah thank
you anyone else on the sixth row yes
ma'am hello my name is Lori Meeks
uh I am addressing that resolution as
well and a general uh commentary about
what's going on in the B historic
district U Miss Meeks so you said you
want to address that same item I I will
it is a general part of my discussion
but there's a
wider picture going on so you can decide
well can you wait until that item comes
up I guess I can yeah if you don't mind
all right okay thank
you so anyone else on the sixth row
seventh row yes
sir oh retired deputy chief
bomo thought bomo was in the room yeah
good afternoon mayor council members and
staff um I'm here to address uh one of I
just need you to state your name I'm
sorry Andrew Beno uh bar presentation
earlier such a powerful and moving
presentation so important for people to
hear uh what I wanted to to link to that
was there was a work session I think
early September on speed cameras uh so
as we know speed kills um for
presentation talked about that also some
statistics I'll make it quick 20 miles
per hour uh 90 90% of people survive of
vulner vulnerable Road users at 20 m
miles an hour 30 m an hour 50% survive
at 40 m an hour 10% survive so 90% of
people die when they're hit at 40 miles
an hour and then it Progressive so what
I would like to do is is um just say
that when that presentation occurred at
the the work session there seemed to be
some hesitancy from the council members
there were some good questions and there
are some details to be worked out as far
as uh how it would be implemented if it
were to be implemented which that's
still be for discussion um but every one
of you said that you had been contacted
by your constituents multiple
constituents multiple times about
speeding so it seems like a no-brainer
to me but maybe I'm wrong maybe there's
more to it than I know I won't say that
I know everything um there also pieces
that were brought up was the engineering
and education piece along with the
enforcement which it is a combined
system that needs to be taken care of uh
not just the enforcement piece but the
engineering education there seems to be
a a disconnect between the engineering
piece when there's the at the policy
level you all you all talking about um
safer roads and systems like that and
designing roadways more safely complete
streets and then at the implementation
level where it doesn't happen um so
there just seems to be a disconnect
still I know a while back I had brought
that up and there was a discussion about
the complete streets was uh not an
ordinance at the time I believe it has
been adopted now but I just don't see
any happening with that maybe I'm
missing that and I don't know everything
but I am on the bicycle pedestrian
advisory committee so I hear a few
things I'm not completely ignorant to it
U but I won't say that I know everything
about it
um I would just like to encourage you to
take that on the LCPD is is going to be
the one that that is going to have to
put that into place probably I know they
talked about it maybe being in Community
Development but whoever it is uh that
enforcement piece probably will fall on
them um there was a question asked
during that work session is this the
best use of our officers I don't know
that keeping our streets safe there's
any better use for that um also I think
it will reduce the amount of offic
officers needed because there will be
systems thank you very much thank you
mringo okay um that was I think the
seventh row that was the seventh row
anyone else on the seventh row yes yes
sir hello
everyone my name is Derek beo for the
record can you speak up a little bit
please Derek Peko for the record
okay you can learn a lot by what's being
said and by what's not being
said thank
you you can learn a lot by who has the
respect to show up on
time counselor 21 minutes late
today you can learn a lot by who
respects parliamentary rules and
procedure by getting
up right before a disclosure statement
and answering
this you can learn a lot by listening to
Mrs Luchini describe a lack of
respect
you can learn a
lot by what these young kids from the
county not even from the Los Cruses
Public School District are
inventing they're inventing solutions
for their future which is filled with
homelessness
battle and being
suggested that this isn't about money
every everything is about
money sending IP to wz
Meo that's about
money and that's about disrespect to
this
community to these Future
Leaders and to these
inventors I'd like to propose that we
change our name from Los
crues to Milton Bradley because we love
playing
games the most dangerous people in this
room actually belong to boards and
commissions that are no longer
televised they tell lies about
constituents they tell lies to
Representatives Representatives keep
things from
us like the secret public select
committee that no one knows anything
about but now we have a pending IA
lawsuit as a
city what happened to our City
attorney Miss Vega
Brown was she
fired did she
quit no one
knows why does our city manager get paid
more in salary than the
governor thank you
thank you so in all fairness to Mayor
proam gandera she did text me well
before the meeting started that uh she
had uh something come up and that she
was going to be a little bit late so I
just wanted to say that okay so that was
the seventh row anyone on the eighth
row last row I see May Meritus Greg
Smith back there good to see you so no
one on my left okay um first row George
did you want to say something second row
yes sir
yes
please just need you to state your name
please hello my name is Lino
busos and I'm a bicyclist here in Las
cruus U I've cycled thousands of miles
know all the streets very
well um I'm I'm the type of person who
follows all the rules of the road but
two years ago I was riding in a group of
of cyclist and was hit head on at 50 m
hour you heard the statistic just a
little bit ago that chances the fatality
rate is over 90% being hit that that at
that
speed um Barbara gave you all the
statistics about uh vulnerable Road
users I have a couple more here in New
Mexico
2,130 people have been
fatally fatalities and seriously injured
here in New Mexico all but a few of them
are vru's vulnerable Road
users here in Las crues if you look at
the statistics if you're crossing the
street you have 10 time a chance of
being hit your chance of being hit is 10
times greater by a distracted driver
than it is a drunk
driver I've biked all over the city um
and I can honestly tell you I don't feel
there's not there's very few places in
this in this city that I feel safe they
sometimes they have there's no shoulders
there's no room for even two cars to
pass and there's a sign with a bike it
says share the road that does not make
me feel safer after what I've been
through um the New Mexico Department of
Transportation has set up a vulnerable
Road user team they've they have map
interact mapping mapping online where
they they know where a lot of the
crashes in New Mexico are occurring they
have they've designated 1.1% of the
roads for work for for for
redesigning um you here as I look around
the room you have a unique position of
making a difference in people's lives
putting Public Safety First I I can't
think of a higher priority than than
putting the people's
safety um we've had several
organizations I think last month and we
had an organiz an organization speak uh
we had Barbara speak with VRU NMU we
have a lot of uh Community backing um
thank you uh councelor Corin for the the
meeting tomorrow I I didn't know about
it so that's that's a to start but I
think they're the the what they proposed
about this Vision thank you thank you Mr
buos let's see third row anyone looks
like staff fourth
row fifth
row
six like no one's in the seventh last
row anyone on my right okay that will
conclude public participation so thank
you for
that and
oh I have a closed meeting statement to
read
here that's okay it's all right so the
Los Chris city council met in close
session on the 10:30 a.m. October 30th
2023 the following members were in
attendance counselors Kuran
bomo
ABA
gandera Florida slep at 10:36
a.m. oh came in at 10:36 a.m. okay
sorry
apologize
okay yeah we don't we're gonna get all
right so looks like Chris favor left at
a.m. Bill ham land manager left at 10:45
a.m. Stephen Bingham the parks and
recreations director left at 10:45
a.m.
okay I think okay and then uh also
present for the whole time was Sonia
Delgado assistant city
manager Barbara bomo chief
administrative officer entered at 10:46
a.m. and left at 11:19
a.m. looks like Adrien Whitmer was there
the entire time eoy city manager was
there the entire time as was Brad
Douglas and Linda
samples Chief story came in at 11:32
a.m. the reason why sometimes come in
and some come out is because there's
certain you're going to watch there's
going to be three different cases and so
they're not they don't have to be there
um Jessica phell outside City attorney
left came in at 10:45 a.m. and left at
11:18
a.m.
Luis robless one of our outside
attorneys came in at 11:24
a.m. okay and for the record oh okay the
meeting adjourned at 105 p.m. and for
the record Los Cru city council men en
closed session and only discussed those
limited items as stated in the posted
notice purpose of the closed meeting is
one to discuss Penny litigation
regarding aquaus film forming
foam multi-district litigation
which is closed pursuant to nmsa 1978
section
10-5-1 number
seven second one was to discuss pening
litigation regarding Aaron Spalding
versus Johnny
Estrada etal case number
22-23 cv- 391 which is closed pursuant
to nmsa 1978 section
10-5-1 number
seven number three was to discuss pening
litig versus Mark Price versus Francis
Wht Thaddius Allen city of Los
cruus DBA Los C's police department
number 20- cv-10 199 which is closed
pursuant to nmsa 1978 section
10-5-1 H number
seven and last to discuss Penny
litigation regarding berla Baka as a
personal representative of Amelia Baka
versus Jared cosper ET cv-2 2
00552 which is closed pursuant to nmsa
1978 section
10-5-1 number
seven
okay and
next we go to the agenda looks I'm G to
guess okay so we've got uh Council bomo
asked to
remove
item 7.2 a couple questions on
that
and anything else if not I need a motion
and a second to accept the agenda as
presented removing item 7.2 for
discussion so moved Corin second Graham
motion made by councelor Corin second by
councelor Graham to accept the agenda as
presenting with presented with item 7.2
remove for discussion
Christine this is on the motion to
accept the agenda as presented with
removal of item 7.2 for disc discussion
councelor AA yes councelor Graham yes
councelor benl yes councelor cran yes
councelor
fles yes councelor Ganda yes mayor yes
okay so 7.2 resolution 24- 046 need a
motion and a
second move to approve second cor motion
made by councelor Momo second by
councelor Corin and Crystal Silva will
be making the
presentation
if I was to say is this your first time
they're going to say no no she's been
here before I guess you've been here
before and mayor I just have a question
I don't need a full presentation
okay easy easy peasy yes do you if you
want to pull it up so everyone knows
what we're talking about yeah definitely
let me go ahead and find that I don't uh
in the meantime I we quickly want to
introduce ourselves my name is Cynthia
Lao I'm the interim grants manager and
I'm here to introduce Crystal Silva the
interim grants specialist as well and
this is her first Council presentation
or at least first round of questions and
she's going to take the lead in this
presentation okay thank you for that
introduction okay I'm ready thank you
I'm sure the next time you give a full
presentation it'll be great we'll be
good yeah um so in reading the packet it
says the purpose of the of funds is to
hire law law enforcement can't read
today is to hire law enforcement and
support positions over three-year period
honestly as I was reading this I just
wondered if some of these funds could
also be used to support project light as
it is to me technically support
positions for law enforcement that was
my big
question
um mayor uh councel bomo I am um un
unfortunately not too familiar with
project light I would like to see if
maybe LCPD has a little bit to shed some
light on Project light prr either Chiefs
could actually
okay thank you Jeremy story inter and
police chief mayor council councelor
bomo so the technically is specific to
police departments so that would
probably be hard the initial application
had to outline what the positions were
for already so it it'd be be impossible
to go back now at this point and apply
it to that oh my apologies Chief I
didn't realize there was an initial um
application process yes and it was um to
support obviously hiring commission
officers but also um positions support
positions that would free up commission
time so in theory that makes sense um
but they made it specific to police
departments and Sheriff's departments
got it okay that's it thank you appr
thank
you if I may Council Momo uh along the
lines that you so Chief if if could you
hire uh or would you be allowed to maybe
incentivize those that have maybe a
background in in
um whether it's psychology sociology one
of the social um degrees is that
possible and then and then use that for
this mayor right now we already
incentivize those with a bachelor's
degree and we incentivize those with a
bachelor's degree in those areas more
than a general bachelor's degree so we
already use um existing Grant funds to
do that
currently okay thank you okay so does um
any other questions from Council about
members of the
public saying none
Christine this is on the motion to
approve resolution 24- 046 councelor
beta yes councelor Graham yes councelor
bomo yes councelor cran yes
councelor flutes yes councelor Ganda yes
mayor
yes okay next item is 8.1 resolution 24
049 move to approve
Graham second okay motion made by
councel Graham second by councelor vomo
Larry Nichols director of Community
Development will be
presenting
good afternoon mayor makak Kashima city
council city manager members of the
staff Larry Nichols community
development director for the
record uh the resolution uh being
considered this afternoon we have two
but this is the first is a an abatement
of a nuisance property uh located at 375
Karen
Avenue uh make a few General comments
before I get into the rest of the
presentation the city has recognized
over over about a year or so ago to we
had a number of of blighted properties
uh within the city and the city council
along with the city manager uh needed we
needed to address those Source
properties and we have a team that we
call our nuisance abatement team it's
comprised of community
development uh the police department
code enforcement the fire department the
legal department and we're addressing
the properties uh that we have on what
we call our U our urgent or emergency
list to aate or in this case when a
batement is not um forthcoming by the
owner then the city will take whatever
action is required to cause that
abatement up to and including the
I the side information on Karan Avenue
is this is a fire damag property uh it
has had um I think three uh fire calls
for service uh most recently one this
this past
week um it's dilapidated it's an unsafe
structure uh obviously it's not
occupied it's a in zone
R2 the historical pression preservation
uh specialist of the city reviewed and
determined that it was a
non-contributing structure and there
therefore subject for
demolition when we demolish a building
we have to we work with the owner to ask
them to Abate the property uh when they
are unable or unwilling to do so then we
have to use our statutory authority to
to do that and those are established in
the new Mexico Administrative Code uh in
the lusus municipal code and in our
building and our fire codes basically
what those uh statutes say that if a
city is U has an unsafe
uh structure that is either a public
health or a nuisance that they are
enabled through this statuto authority
to uh Abate the
project uh the recommendations for the
this particular property or the facility
is a substandard it is unfit for
habitation its use is a h Hazard of
Public Safety or welfare in its present
condition uh the condition is both uh
exemplified in the exterior and the
interior of the structure and it's not
in substantial compliance with our
municipal code and building
codes so we say that there responsible
party shall oate by permitting
requirements to obate the structure or
proper
premises however upon failure to do so
of the owner to comply with the city the
city May uh the compliance the city may
take whatever action is necessary to
bring the property into compliance
including
demolition uh this is an example of the
bliding condition uh it's an aerial view
uh you see the exterior walls are
partially collapsed but the interior of
the structure is completely um
deteriorated by fire
damage and those uh concludes my
presentation on
375 Heron Avenue and your options are to
approve uh the resolution to vote no to
deny vote to amend or to table I stand
for questions you may
have thanks Larry questions Council
mayor proen thank you thank you Larry
for the presentation Larry I'm
interested in knowing if there's a
dollar amount that has been attached
with the number of resources the city
has used thus far to reduce the the the
nuisance of this property of this EXC a
mayor mayor protim Gand of this
particular property yes U well we had um
several uh complaints from Neighbors
and we was inspected by our code
enforcement and upon those and then the
fire calls for service on a number of
occations and that's what brought this
one to to its present condition do you
have the numbers the number of calls the
number of times that codes has come out
the number of times that fire has had to
be out
there mayor and councelor vomo excuse me
councelor gandra we have um the three
fire calls that I'm aware of including
one last week uh Cod enforcement has
been out about seven
times um I don't know if fire chief uh
Smith has additional information on the
most recent one but I think it was last
week mayor mayor protim if I might
there's been 28 calls for service since
January 1st of
2021 um and that's not including the
latest fire uh so 26 of those 28 are
codes calls and the other two are the
fires that don't include the most recent
one thank you Chief story Chief and what
does it take to Red Flag a a building I
guess I'm I understand because we've
been talking about this for some time
but I think it's important that the
public be aware of how much resource how
many resources are really put into these
buildings to Abate the issue and work
with the property owner um and and I
know it's um numerous times I mean
sometimes upwards of a hundred calls for
one many year you know many times before
this but um I I I think that there's a
pro people need to be aware there's a
process it takes a long time before it
gets to this space meanwhile Council
gets numerous calls about these things
um it is such a nuisance it's a safety
hazard sometimes it's in front of
schools and um you know just creates a
real problem for a community and
particularly fire they were just out
there I think over the weekend um and
and so Chief what is that processor
Larry when you read tag it what what
happens mayor mayor approach
gandra uh when a complaint comes to us
uh and it tells us that this property is
um uh has a a more than a nuisance it's
an unsafe structure uh we begin to do
our investigations we visit the site uh
we take our uh our investigation notes
and we determine and if it is um uh what
sense of urgency it is to remove those
those blighted conditions because what
happens U many times that are those
properties uh are vacant are
unoccupied and then there is U
unauthorized or unwanted entrance and so
we declare the the building unsafe
structure
we contact the owner U we list the uh
investigation
findings and uh ask the owner to uh oate
the property bring it into compliance
bring it into where it can be
habitable uh if that does not occur then
we post a notice of
condemnation uh we give a period of 30
days for the owner to
reply uh when the owner replies and uh
they say they will not be taking on
abatement process uh and we informed
them that they have due process rights
which is uh the right to appeal the
condemnation order uh after 15 days of
the notice to appeal expires then we
begin to take our get bids for for
abatement so Larry does does have to go
to a judge when you you put a when you
red tag it sorry excuse so when you red
taged so I'm assuming this building has
been red tagged right and that before
that happens it goes to a judge or does
that's a question does it go to a judge
mayor and mayor protim gandra uh what
happens many times um uh you heard of
all the service calls that the uh uh
Chief story mentioned to
you uh that would mean that the Code
Compliance officers have been there and
they have um uh given a
citation uh if the uh owner does not
reply to the citation then a court date
is established a municipal court date
and they go before the Municipal Court
okay Larry now is all this information
somewhere um where um one can find it
the con
constituent specifically to each address
that you're working on yes
mayor mayor PM gandra uh they are all
listed on our in our Municipal Code uh
they're also listed in our on our
building codes uh those are available
online or they can come to the Community
Development Department and uh we'll be a
review with them but also the code
enforcement officer uh engages with the
owner uh when they issue a citation to
explain what the uh
what the violations are thank you Larry
I guess I'm interested in knowing the
leg work that has happened thus far is
it a is it available to the public like
here's this property this is the stuff
we've done this is where it's at so it
shouldn't come to surprise to anybody
that this is
happening mayor and mayor proam Ganda uh
there are several uh points of
information provided uh on our website U
uh and as I mentioned they also can uh
when they give the citation they are
where you U we available to answer their
questions that the public come the
owners can come or other interest of
party and we do have several people come
to to our department to ask about uh
code enforcement issues okay thank you
Larry thank you those are all my
questions thank you any other other
comments members of the public okay
seeing none
Christine this then the motion to
approve resolution 24- 049 councelor
abeda yes councelor Graham yes councelor
bomo yes councelor cran yes councelor
flotes yes councelor Ganda yes mayor
yes okay next item 8.2 resolution
24-50
I need a motion in a second move to
approve second motion made by councelor
Momo second by councelor AA and Larry
this one's yours
also thank you mayor I'll just get my
power point
up and Nancy and Lori this will be after
they finished presentation
okay and once again good afternoon mayor
city council city manager and City staff
Larry Nichols community development
director for the
record uh resolution
8.2 uh is a resolution approving the
abatement and nuisance or s a substat
structure uh location of this structure
is at 643 East Picacho
Street and again I I I uh we just
briefly touch on some of the comments I
made previously about the abatement and
the um uh efforts being made by the city
to remove uh nuisance and substandard
structures and in particular ones that
are
unsafe uh we have um identified 11 of
those
properties and we have abated uh and
through demolition uh uh seven of those
some of the more notable ones are the uh
Kilby Motel on South Main uh
430 uh South Maine and then um we have
uh
1245 uh East Van Patton Avenue those are
some of the ones that we're the next
items for our abatement we have issued a
demolition permit to the owner uh for a
um
roale and then we will be approaching
1010 brownley and another property on
Van
Paton getting back to the 643 East
Picacho
Street uh the side
information it is a another dilapidated
unsafe structure the zone is
r1a it's in an infield District location
uh also in the mosquet historical
district uh whenever we uh bring a
project into condemnation and for
demolition uh the
demolition permit requires a review by
the building
department uh by the utility department
and by the historical preservation
specialist to to find out if the
property is a non-conforming or
otherwise this this site is was declared
a non-conforming uh proper
again our statutory authority to uh
carry out a demolition uh through
statutory and Regulatory uh
means um a couple of U of the oidy
condition the uh one is of an electrical
box where a lot of the electrical wiring
is either
disconnected or is um exposed wiring uh
the pro over there of a ceiling
structure the most dangerous uh
condition of the this structure is the
roof structure is
collapsing uh the uh this is a
city-owned
building and we are applying the same
abatement process that we would to any
other property in the city um but the uh
it is uh where the weed and seed
facility
is and the Park and Recreation had
occupi that building for quite some time
but as they contined to deteriorate
Beyond repair the uh most favorable uh
option there was to uh pursue Demolition
and put it into another
use a few more of the blighty conditions
some of the separation of the of the
roof structure at the end there this is
a water heater closet that still has
exposed gas piping it is capped but it
is vulnerable to to being tampered
with a
recommendation is facility substandard
it's unfit for either occupation or use
and a facility is in its present
condition in both interior and
exterior uh the structure is not in
substantial compliance with our
municipal building codes and responsible
party shall Abate by per
requirements to Abate the structure and
the property
premises and speaking with the uh parks
department there's was question was well
what might be a future use for this site
once it be is Demolition and uh
available for other type of development
and uh there is a CH an opportunity
there for a community Gathering
space uh we have those uh in other parts
of the city uh the photo there is an
example of that but basically it's a a
location for interact to play and
learning family sitze gathering
barbecues birthday parties items of that
nature uh that my presentation your
options are to vote Yes to approve vote
no to deny vote to amend or vote to
table and I stand for
questions all right thanks Larry we have
H Council Corin and mayor from
okay thank you thanks Larry I I I have a
few questions uh in part related to you
know we've heard from a lot of the
historic preservation folks and actually
what you presented today is different
from the partial sentence that is
attributed to Historic preservation in
the packet on a page
153 um which says that this is a
contributing and then the sentence ends
there um so I'm not sure what those
staff comments are exactly related to
Historic preservation but that seems in
contrast with what you're suggesting
today and then also um there have been
assertions from folks within the
community that the historic preservation
this didn't go through any historic
preservation process so I'm hoping you
can reconcile those conversations what's
happened uh what input has been gathered
and if we've checked all the boxes and
then I would also say um I I do have
questions about how this happened
because we were the owners in this case
so that also seems worrying to me um
because this is often about
miscommunicate or non-compliant
ownership and then this case we're the
non-compliant party um so I'm just
curious if you can help with those two
points
please yes mayor councelor
Karan when it was brought to our
attention that the uh structure was U
deemed by the users of being unsafe
uh we we took it to the um went through
the condemnation process which was part
of that and then to the
demolition uh at the uh request of the
city the um as I mentioned a moment ago
the uh demolition permit any demolition
it goes through a review process with
the building
department the utility department and
the historical preservation specialist
uh when those were reviewed they all
came uh came back to uh to issue a
demolition permit that there were no
Provisions that would cause it uh not to
be not to be
issued okay and uh let's see we have
mayor proam and then possibly councelor
Graham and then councelor
FLOTUS you're done no go
ahead oh I'm
sorry I think councelor Flo has cut the
line I thought I saw her messing with it
back
there thank you so
um so this was reviewed by the historic
the city's historic preservation
um specialist and they agreed that this
is non-conforming and therefore subject
to demolition mayor and counselor corand
the the term that they uh use is an
nonconforming excuse me yes
non-conforming okay and then the other
question is when did the communication
happened that the folks who were
occupying the space talked about it
being um not usable from then to now I
guess is what how long has how much time
has passed that's the last of my
questions and then I'll be cut off for
real okay mayor and counselor Karan uh I
believe it was about six or seven months
ago that it was brought to my attention
to uh have the code enforcement officers
go inspect the building uh I inspected
the building myself with them uh to
determine the structural safety and and
kind of deficiencies that were there in
addition to the uh uh the plumbing the
mechanical system which I found to be uh
substandard and collapsing the the roof
collapsing and the U the other uh
plumbing and the other items electrical
items to be deficient for
functioning okay thank you so mayor
protm councelor Graham councelor flus
thank you mayor thank you um Larry for
the presentation Larry how long has this
structure been owned by the
city mayor and coun um councelor gandra
I'm sorry the second part of the
question how long has the structure been
owned by the
city um mayor uh councelor Gand I am not
certain I I know about how old the
structure is it's over 50 years old I
think it was called the U I believe it
was Chester Fielder's house at one time
Mr Fielder's house Mr Fielder was my
Social Security uh teacher back in when
Alam junior high was over there social
studies is someone from Parks and Rec
here e
or somebody I mean I think it'd be
helpful to hear the the history I think
it
was bestow beet whatever to us
uh Robert Nunes deputy director Parks
and Recreation Youth Services uh mayor
mayor proam uh
the the structure itself uh was provided
to the city approximately 20 years ago
21 years
ago through an agreement with
cipex they they own that facility they
gave it to the city of Los cruus an
agreement for it to be utilized for
youth programs okay and what have you
used it for p um up to about uh mayor
mayor protm up to about uh 2013 2014 it
was being utilized through the through
the wheed and Seed program uh they were
attempting to try to make it into a teen
facility but when they went in to try to
take down some walls and some other uh
the the structure was unable was was
done incorrectly and so there we have
been not in that facility since
approximately 2013
2014 and what is it used for now so so
currently we don't we are unable to use
any of that facility due to the the risk
okay and has someone come in and done an
assessment about what the cost would be
to um rehab the
facility uh mayor mayor proam
approximately five years ago um previous
City management and uh Public Works went
in and it was identified that it would
be the cost and the requirements to
um to fix and or um be able to occupy
that again would was a substantial
amount that amount I am not aware of
does anybody know Evo Larry some
um
Sonia so I think it important when we
have these things come to us eil that
you have all the information in front of
us
that that I'm asking for an assessment
the price what have we done I mean it's
a it's
a it's a building that the city has
owned for many many years right and I
don't know I've been talking a lot about
having a a specific space where we kind
of like a service project that we work
with um the university dacc the kids
it'd be a great service project for the
wheat and Seed program right to
rehabilitate in a way so you know to
take pride in their neighborhood and
understand the history and we've talked
a lot about that over the years um I I
guess I Phil I I see it and I hear you
loud and CLA I remember this coming um
to my attention um at different at
different moments um and and I Evo you
and I have talked about when these
things come to counsel or if staff have
problems and concerns you know the
person that oversee the the counselor
should know right what's happening when
it's going to happen and why it's
happening um um I I'm I'm really
concerned about this I I feel like
um I know it's a structure that's un
unsafe and un Nuance probably and we
should do something about it but um you
know when we ask questions I want to I
want to know and be sure that the city
has done their due diligence which also
means that they go to Historic
preservation committee they've had this
discussion what the historic
preservations report and recommend
recommendations would be I mean to me
that's really important there I feel
like some of the information is lacking
thus far and so um I'm I'm concerned I
am concerned about a building like this
in that area um that is not used and
what happens especially in this area um
and and I know um given some of the
people out in the audience are concerned
about this as well um but I I'm in good
faith can't um I would ask that we table
this until this information be brought
back to us um and because I'm not sure
that we have all the current information
thank you
mayor okay so we have
counselor Graham and then councelor
FLOTUS right thank you so much um I'm
stepping us back to the questions on the
requirement the historic preservation
requirements and I understand that and
internal assessment was done but does
this is this required to also go to the
state historic preservation office for
their comment and if so has that step
been
completed mayor and counselor Graham um
I'm going to I have of my historical
reservation specialist speak about that
because okay great we um it is it does
have a special designation that may not
require what you're addressing there
okay great and I think I think this is a
good conversation to have because as you
noted there are several buildings
potentially on this so I want to make
sure that I am crystal clear on the
process so hi good afternoon mayor mayor
proton members of uh City Council Troy
anworth uh historic preservation
specialist uh counselor your question is
regarding State review correct so given
given its placement in a designated
historic district does it need to go to
shpo or can this obviously it's been
handled internally and I get that does
it need to go to the state we have a uh
mayor uh mayor proam counsel we have a
complete discrepancy of of U recordation
is how I'm going to describe it when the
building in Tory was done in 1979 and in
1980 for a potential historic district
that is the district that becomes on the
state level the South mosquite historic
district this this building at 643 East
Picacho appears in that building
inventory however on our zoning layers
it is in the north mosquite overlay Zone
District as the statutes are written the
historic preservation commission has
purview over the South mosquito overlay
District but not the north mosite
overlay Zone that's where we have a a
conflict and so the review process is
internal and and right or wrong the
language in chapter 40 of the city's
ordinance specifies a review by a by a
chief building official by the fire
marshal to determine if a building is a
if it presents a hazard to public safety
and
health language in there specifies that
the decision the review process need not
go towards the historic preservation
commission that is the language in the
statute and so in our review we
certainly followed the letter of the
law I'm going to ask that if you could
please refrain your comments from the
audience please okay thank you thank you
mayor mayor mayor proam members of
council at the present uh as you are
aware Community Development Department
is working with an outside consultant on
the rewrite of ordinances for our our
zoning
ordinances there are
discrepancies and so those discrepancies
are being corrected and this is a very
important
step as
is the language that appears in a
chapter of a city ordinance is what we
have to work with not what I think it
should
say or what others think it should say
but what are the
words and that's what we have to work
with
um the loss of a building is a terrible
thing I will say that that is something
that I predicated my career upon but
preventing irrevocable
loss but I also have to abide by what
the rules are no understood um thank you
for that explanation
and
um you know to me I would I would be
happy to consider tbling this till we
could get not again and I'm not talking
simply about 643 is Picacho we have a
lot of buildings that are in or
potentially in this um and I personally
would like a deeper and clearer
understanding of overlays and state and
city um so just voicing my
recommendation thank you thank you mayor
thank you before I get to councelor flus
I just want to in case you were to do a
motion let me just
say so okay every so
often someone will email me or report
something to me that uh you know maybe a
sidewalk is broken or something of some
nature so when I get that I immediately
have to send it to the to the city
manager and our risk manager because
when they email me I'm I'm put on notice
and if we don't do anything to it and
somebody gets hurt it it really shows
that we didn't act
quickly in the previous uh one we didn't
own it and most likely we're probably
going to put a lean on that property for
the cost that it cost the city I'm going
to
guess but this has been ramped up so
it's now this is the city's prop
property and there are times where
organizations or individuals will give a
property like that to us that's how we
got the Amadore the um County Manager
complex you know nobody wanted it but
and even the city didn't want it but you
know they kind of they kind of uh but
you know as it turns out it's going to
be a good good addition what I'm trying
to say is if the council should choose
to table this I'm going to have to vote
no because I have to we're if somebody
gets h on this tomorrow
the next week the next day it shows that
we're not taking it serious so I just
want to say that so councelor
FLOTUS thank you Mr Mayor
um the part I don't understand is
consistent with what uh uh counselor
Graham uh
stated have we looked at what the state
says about
preservation
um have we reconciled what we have here
in the city with that and how diligent
have we been um I'm really concerned
about the fact that we're slum Lords
there's no other word for it and the
fact that it's beyond repair at this
point is um is
regrettable
um
so
how how can and the
city and we as city councilors are the
ones with egg on our face but um but in
terms of the administrative part of the
city I I now wonder how many other
buildings the city owns are in this in
this condition and
um and then uh Troy and Mr answorth you
did mention that um this particular
property falls out outside of the
purview of whatever um all that being
said it's still within the city it's
still City owned and it seems to me that
there has to be with all our properties
that are in the historic district and
all of the properties that are owned by
the city um independent of the historic
aspect have to be uh looked at and we
can't I mean that is um it's just
appalling to me and um so I I think uh I
definitely uh believe that um that we
have to uh table this and I agree with
the mayor in part uh that um there's a
lot of liability there I mean a lot I
think someone can walk by and sneeze and
it'll fall on them but um uh I think
then that um if it's going to be a
condemned property a a step should be
taken immediately to fence it in and put
up signs and yada yada so um I would
definitely want to table this and also
um in the future it'd be great to um
especially because I I've attended one
or two meetings of the historic uh
preservation committee here in the city
um it'd be great to have a
identification of of you know all
historic well they're in the historic
district but anything that needs
attention should be identified and
presented to the uh that committee um
but anyway um do I make my motion now or
what I was going to hope for is the rest
of the council to talk and then also the
public wants to
speak that that's why I want I was
afraid of that that's why I jumped in
before you because I I can read your
mind yeah yeah yeah you're very exactly
councel AA then Council
bomo thank you mayor and thank you for
the presentation I do have a couple
questions and um some of my concerns
have already been addressed obviously if
this is a nuisance area having it uh
fenced in for safety seems to be
Paramount um especially if this gets
tabled um but my question is how many
calls of service have we had on this
property for fire police how many times
has it been
deped mayor and counselor of I'm not
certain the number of calls for service
for this building because the park was
on the Park and
Recreation property and I don't know if
they called for it or if U others did I
don't have that number for you ma'am I
has thank you and I see Chief mayor
counselor AA from fire chief Jason Smith
we haven't had any resp responses to
this location in the past 12 months okay
thank you um so the neighbors
haven't um set in any calls okay um the
second item and it's more of a comment
but it is that of properties that we own
and what I've seen during my time here
is especially when it goes to his
historic properties they are very costly
to maintenance and take care of and
there's a responsibility when we do
acquire that it does give me a bit of
concern that we've had this building for
so long and you know maybe that hasn't
and if it's in this shape why we haven't
seen it maybe in the icip or any sort of
list on making sure that we are getting
it up to codes and standards or having a
second plan for it too because for me
that's that's really is a public safety
issue and so um that that causes me high
concern to see what else do we have on
that is in this type of condition that
needs to be addressed because that to me
is more of an
not it's like more of an emergent issue
really and so uh I for an EO to stepped
out but I really would like to see that
sort of thing and sort of a listing of
any types of properties that we do own
um I I don't want to be a slart and I
don't want to have uh buildings that are
in this type of condition if they are
especially a public Hazard thank
you thanks counselor so Ean I I presume
you go ahead and get with the EO on the
concerns counselor ABA okay thank you
councelor abom thank you yes similar
concerns to my colleagues honestly um
just real quick on the current as it is
right now is this a current picture like
recent
picture mayor and councelor bomo yes
picture photos were taking about a month
or month and a half ago okay um you know
I think just on the issue of being good
neighbors and the property just sort of
upkeep in
maintaining um the area while it's in
this process I think is really important
so making sure that the weeds are
cleaned that there's not debris or trash
like those kinds of things I think are
really important and then is is it
boarded
up mayor and Council B Como uh the
building is secured okay the it's
secured but it's
uh people are very invented on how to
get into a building from and that's what
the mayor is trying to say we can't
control what other people do but we can
control what we do to secure the
facility right and I think that's really
important yeah so that would be my
request that if if this does get Ted
that immediately this week there are
steps taken to really secure the
facility put signs up all of those kinds
of things and you know working with our
legal on how to avoid liability now that
we have been talking about that quite a
bit here um um but I do just on that
matter I think it's really important
that we move to secure the facility as
best we can um and then honestly similar
to councelor a that I was going to ask I
would really love to know how many
properties the city owns that could be
considered historic and um
if if there are plans for rehabilitation
um I mean I think this probably should
have come to City Council in 2013 right
with some of those big concerns would it
should have Coulda it didn't and now
we're here um but I
do I would be very I just would be very
curious to to know that and understand
that and then the other thing is I so
we've had a couple of emails from folks
and please know that um if we don't
answer it's because we're talking about
it here today and we could have to
recuse ourselves if we email back to you
um in any way shape or form so um I hope
folks understand that but we do receive
them and read them
um I just so I know a couple of
questions have been asked around this
but I really just have to know and under
just for my own purpose and Clarity has
the historic preservation commission
heard this case for this property to be
demolished mayor uh councelor bomo the
answer is no it has not and again it
gets back to the language as written
in the ordinance okay of where decision
Mak Authority lies and and that's the
Crux of the argument okay so if the
commission is can the commission request
to hear something and yes they could yes
okay so I if there I mean I think if
there is because I I also want I think
Advocates and the members of the public
to understand the very delicate position
that we are now in right because 10
years ago this was not
addressed um in District 4 there are
many many houses that have been blighted
and Abandoned and not taken care of and
so this is sort of huge for me that we
address properties that cause a serious
public Hazard to people I mean 1212
brandley over and over again we let the
property owner know please take care of
this property is literally right next to
the playground at MacArthur Elementary
School and so it is a huge Hazard has
been caught on fire people are living in
it um I and you know we just um when we
were talking about Skeletor on Main
Street we heard a lot of from fire
department about how dangerous these
facilities can be um and and so I think
there's a fine balance though when we're
talking about potential historic
preservation and those facilities and
the safety of The Wider Community right
like those are that's a fine balance so
in the meantime I'm okay if we table if
if the historic preservation commission
wants wants to hear this and if we want
to ask the state about it with hopefully
a commitment from Advocates that um if
for whatever reason they come with the
same consensus that that's so that
that's sort of then what we're working
with right
um yeah anyway that's just really what I
wanted to say because I I understand the
the importance of
protecting um historic properties like
this and I also so very much I'm aware
of the public safety issue that comes
along with such properties so thank you
so that would just be my request right
that in the in if this is tabled in the
meantime that we please do everything we
can as soon as possible this week to
make sure that this property is
secured thank you counselor before I get
to the public I want to just kind of go
on the the tail end of what councel bomo
said I'm going to ask our City attorney
a question so
so there's what they refer to as strict
liability and that's regarding nuisances
you're familiar with that counselor yeah
yeah and so like swimming pool a
refrigerator what I'm trying to say is
when you have these nuisances no matter
what you do you can put all the signs in
the world you can lock it up and if
somebody still gets hurt we're going to
lose we get sued and we will lose so the
question to our City attorney is is is
this considered a public nuisance and
would strict liability apply to
this being new to the state of New
Mexico I would is it not on okay being
new to the practice in the state of New
Mexico in Li of answering you off the
fly I would like to research that
question for
you yeah we have a few people who some
members of the public who want to speak
about this so can you get it done by
then okay so let's let's go yeah let's
let's uh let's um start with oh we had n
let's see I had Nancy and Lori so those
two ladies if you want to come forward
first and then we'll see who else wants
to speak okay I I just need you to state
your name please and you have four
minutes on this
issue four minutes on each of my points
no I'm kidding okay that's pretty good
but no um I am glad that you put me off
because in view of the presentation I
have completely changed what I want to
say can I can you state your name please
oh again okay yeah Nancy AB Barry Shamir
zadi I am a resident of the historic
district and I am also a retired
attorney a Pennsylvania attorney I'm not
a and never have been a New Mexico
attorney
I'm not giving obviously legal
advice but I think as an attorney I can
be S be considered somewhat of an expert
in the reading of a statute and the
identification of legal issues the most
important legal issue is
jurisdiction it is only at the very end
of your
questions that you learned that the
commission the historic preservation
commission was in fact not
utilized the reason that was given for
that I
question the the whatever was cited by
I'm sorry I'm not good at names with all
due respect needs to be reviewed by a
City attorney and I would put in an
amicus curious whatever brief or
whatever so that is the Le leading
question because that does I shouldn't
say
does that may make the difference of the
process that it has to go through so
that that is number one number two I do
think that the issue of Public Safety
excuse me Mr Mayor is
disingenuine this property belongs to
the city the statute makes clear or the
ordinance makes clear here that any
owner has the obligation to maintain the
property
period third of all a and there
are well okay when I first came here I
came here 20 years
ago there were so many properties that
were disheveled in the historic district
which was still being debated at the
time that we had Community meetings of
about what was the city going to do to
start to improve them my point is this
was 20 years ago this property has been
owned by the city for approximately 10
years and it as somebody said five years
ago was the first time some something
came up of bringing attention to it so I
do believe that that issue is is
disingenuine um I don't know how much
time a little bit less than a minute oh
less than a minute okay when I came here
we were the only property that we were
on a block where not a single property
was good my friend said we had moved
into a slum now for blocks on each
Direction every property has been
rebuilt one of them was in shambles you
will not know which one it is now way up
on MOS SK my husband redid a property
which could not get insurance it was
such a
mess so the point about repair is also
disingenuine also the statute itself
says if you can't put it back to its
original condition you can put in a new
one so I guess I will leave with that I
love lot cruus and I love the historic
district and I wouldn't wa live anywhere
else thank you very much
Nancy yeah I do eat sleep and breathe
insurance and risk management in fact I
have a t-shirt that has an insurance
policy on it I'm just kiding but uh uh
Lori you're welcome to come
forward yeah I can listen to hours
insurance and risk management and not
get bored so
sorry um I'm Lori Meeks uh hello city
council mayor
staff um as you some of you know I own a
house in the mosquit street historic
district a number of you came to the
Cinco Deo celebration there and other
people have been there so we bought that
house about 19 years ago no one had
lived there for three or four years when
we bought it we had put a lot of money
into it and restored four three or four
buildings in that in that
area um I also served on the board of
Los esparanzas for a number of years
published a newsletter for four years on
the neighborhood and I know that the
mosquit street historic district is a
very special place with structures in
history that should be celebrated and
preserved for future
Generations I'm beginning to feel
there's a campaign against the
preservation of the mosqu street
historic area by the city the mosqu
street overlay and review board was
created to preserve this historic part
of the city and was a Prelude to the
city's historic preservation commission
the city approved funds appointed
Commissioners and hired a preservation
officer only a few years ago and now it
seems the city is intent on ignoring the
commission ignoring that it exists and
running Rush shot over the ordinance and
guidance provided by
Law changes or demolition permits for
structures in the MOs Street historic
district are supposed to be reviewed by
the historic preservation commission I
think the controversy about whether this
is in the South mosqu or not it's about
Picacho the line goes up Picacho this
street is on the North side or this
house we're talking about is on the
north side of Pacho the line is at
Picacho it does not
specify if it's AO the holes both sides
of the street or not that's part of the
problem anyhow uh changes for are
supposed the process have been bypassed
for two houses already all and a third
one is on the agenda for today I don't
understand how the city has the right to
ignore legal protocols there is no
posting of signs
no 60-day waiting period no efforts to
advertise or save the property or
discussion with the historic
preservation commissions on Solutions
beside demolition does this reflect a
city dedicated to preservation is
someone making decisions about our
historic district that is destroying our
district as opposed to saving it there
are other events which have caused me to
feel the neighborhood is being
discriminated against there's no more
music in the park at Klein Park the
banga was forced to move to Young Park
we have to get funds from the state for
lighting and improvements in our
Parks money's for historic Ser money for
historic
survey for the neighborhood was obtained
and then cut in half it's still not been
done
uh the Arts and Cultural District
programs and projects disappeared from
the
neighborhood the neighborhood action
team which was designed to help Property
Owners with abandoned properties now has
been renamed nuis nuisance abatement
team the definition of nuisance
abatement is defined as a removal or
termination or destruction of
something a house in the city 600 block
of North mosqu owned for years by the
city continues to deteriorate uhoh is
there a plan for just is there a plan or
is there just extreme neglect the city
appears to be completely dis
disregarding thank you
Lor we we get the we get your you get
the gist yes ma'am all right thank you
for your
time so just out of curiosity how many
other people want to speak on this issue
so we've got one two three four five six
so I'm going to give you two minutes
each okay so if you want to make your
way down and come here to the podium
state your name
please
I'm Greg Smith I'm not shy I'll start it
off this uh is a very modest building
and it's in bad shape but I would like
to put before you the question of
symbolism and me uh messaging so thank
you Mr Mayor thank you Madame mayor
proam thank you members of the council
for
listening this is a home that was in the
Fielder family and I'm not sure exactly
who Avon or Lawrence Fielder were uh I'm
not sure if Clarence Fielder ever spent
much time in this particular home but
this is part of the history and part of
the fabric of our community the fielders
were important in this
community in
2012 uh mayor proa merus Archuleta was
in charge of putting together a parade
celebrating or actually commemorating
100 Years of statehood for New
Mexico and we went by decades talking
about the different things that happened
in Los Cruses those 100
years my wife was part of the parade she
was driving a car and in that car she
was very honored to have Clarence
Fielder as her
writer that meant a lot to her she
understood and that was one of those
features of the parade which is well
remembered so I will put it to you it's
not so much a question of some of the
other things that you've got going on
but what is the message that you're
sending to our community about this and
perhaps the front part of the building
can be saved if the rest of it cannot
and can be included in something for
Weeden seed that is productive but
somehow I think that needs to be thought
about thank
you
thank you
next good afternoon I want to thank
everyone for the opportunity and I have
two minutes so I will do this quickly
the people that have talked before me
have made some major points but oh I
apologize my name is Judy barryman I am
the current chairperson for the HPC and
I would like to directly address a
couple of questions that have been
brought up one the city is
currently in non-compliance with the
state of New
Mexico chipo State historic preservation
officer has not been consulted in terms
of this action it is a requirement under
New Mexico law whether we are in the
South or the North mosquite it has no
bearing I am requesting that the city
council vote no against his resolution
until additional data is
acquired currently the city is also in
violation of chapter 40 I would like to
invite everyone to attend a meeting with
us so that we could go over what the
nuances and what exactly chapter 40 says
because I don't want to go into it right
now however approval of demolition does
not align with any of the ordinances
including Elevate L cruises including
chapter 40 including the state mandates
it does not align with any of that as
people have talked before this is a
historically significant building it has
not been brought up to the council to
the commission we do want to have a
hearing on this the building was
evaluated more than um in the 1970s or
1980s contrary to what have been told
there has not been an update so the
building currently is
contributing to the histor historic
significance of the
property we are in an awkward
situation a lot of the information that
we are now getting regarding this
property I am getting right here today
rather than when we should be getting it
in a normal commission meeting so I
thank you for your attention thank you
thank you
Judy
hello I'm Jackie
miniki I served on the historic
preservation task commission that task
committee that created section 40 or at
least worked on section
40 that was the whole reason I joined
the commission and the committee was
because I was around for when we tore
down the Pink House on University and
overnight and the house was gone and
that's what motivates people I I still
hear about Loretta Chapel how long ago
was that long time ago so that's my
background um I worked on the force I
worked on demolition didn't get exactly
all I wanted I wanted 180 days I'm happy
with 60 if we would get it so I am here
to say table or say no because the whole
idea of what we spent three years trying
to create was to PR vent this very
argument occurring over and over and
over at Great expense and great
aggravation for both the community and
the council thank
you thank you
Jackie I think the laretto chapel was
like at least 60 years ago maybe longer
70 so none of us were here at the time
just want to clarify
that good afternoon
mayor
uh City councilors my name is Deborah
Denis I'm the executive director of
human systems research we are the oldest
private nonprofit research in the state
of New Mexico conducting historical uh
preservation and archaeological research
and February will turn 52 years old I
also serve as the vice president of the
Amador Hotel Foundation and was one of
the original founders of that
nonprofit I'm not here today to tell you
about the importance of this particular
building but to add to Greg Smith's
comments it was Clarence fielders father
and grandfather's home just so that we
know what I want to talk to you about is
a very interesting conversation I had
only today with the nextd door neighbor
our neighbors Mr and Mrs
Holloway who shared a great deal of
information one of the things that they
told me was that in fact the house has
uh been secured it has a security system
and the city has the keys and it was
only yesterday that they found out that
the house was slated for demolition what
I can tell you in visiting the property
today is there's absolutely no signs no
evidence and there's not any garbage and
if you were to see an aerial overview of
how the property actually sits what you
would see is that the entire backyard is
a green AST Turf and part of the
basketball court for uh the park and Rex
uh weed and seed facility what they told
me was a very interesting picture and it
was only very briefly mentioned by um Mr
Nicholls as to what they wanted do with
the property but I think it's important
to know that they told me a story about
having lived there they lived next door
in the house they rent since 2005 they
came in on Section 8 it was affordable
housing their landl was being pressured
by the city I'm sorry you've you've uh
exceeded your time unless one of these
that want that are sitting here want to
donate their time to you I'm sorry one
of the things so you you got you got two
more minutes is what they want to do
with the property you've got two more
minutes
M because the city has been pressuring
their landlord to sell the property
along with the owner of the property on
the other side of
643 and the reason being is that the
city wants to own all the property
demolish all three houses and have a
parking lot is what they have been told
so that Park and Rex has a parking lot
for the daycare center that is in the
weed and and Seed
facility when the um when their landlord
would not sell they suddenly lost
Section 8 status and no longer had that
support and their landlord came to them
telling them that they were being
pressured that he was being pressured by
the city to raise the rent to help them
get out of the property he refused and
they have worked with the landlord and
have continued to live there likewise
the woman and owners of the property on
the other side have adamantly refused
the city's offers to purchase the land
so here we had affordable housing we had
a Hispanic neighborhood and I think we
have to look at what does the city want
to be doing with this property that they
are pressuring and doing demolition by
neglect thank
you okay that uh leaves well you you you
donated your time ma'am
iated okay well we okay you had you have
okay okay okay okay I'll give you 30
seconds after this gentleman hello Derek
Peko for the record my family has lived
in the mosquite historic neighborhood
before was called that my grandma is 97
years old and picks cotton for the
salapek family to pay for the Adobe
house that she still lives in this
neighborhood is absolutely going to be
like Durango in El Paso do you know why
because you hired people from El Paso to
run this program you have the Wizard of
Oz here you have another gentleman from
Texas who has no perview of what's going
on in this town which is absolutely
apparent here excuse me Mr I'm going to
ask you a favor yes sir you know we're
elected officials here we're used to
being called names we're used to being
ridiculed but to do that to our staff
well but to do that to our staff is not
right I'm sorry I used the wrong
descriptor but I wanted to use an
example of what's going on there's a
person behind a shield you have all put
up a big Shield at Community Development
you cannot get a hold of Dr answorth he
will not return emails or phone calls
what you get instead is a really nice Dr
pittz who's an amazing gentleman who
will always give me time but he is
blocking access to Dr Nichols and Dr
answorth this is dangerous you have now
locked out the youth out of the
community who grew up here who want to
come back here and who want to invest
here you all used HPC and Dr anworth
here and Dr Nichols to shut down a
community garden project that I was
behind and part of of out of my own
pocket and you use the HBC and section
40 and 38 and mosquite and all this
overlay to cut me
out and you will you won't even come to
a site meeting
Johanna thank you for your
attention because you cited that your
life was in danger if you were to show
up it's on record thank
you
I will be brief Mr Mayor I appreciate
the seconds uh Mr Mayor City councilors
I wanted to respond Mr Mayor to your
comments about security my name is Joe
rpra I'm a resident of district one
currently the comments that you made
about the security and the risk involved
in this building I was there this
morning I took photos I thoroughly
looked at the front of the property and
at the back this is B founded on either
side by residences that are fully
occupied that show evidence of
occupation and where the residents are
actively looking after this
property also the property itself does
have the windows in front boarded up it
does have bar bars of security on the
front windows there's no evidence of
breakage as far as the front door and on
the back side it's bounded entirely by a
trailer park and by fencing the fencing
on either side of the front of the
building is intact it's not broken down
there's no evidence of fire damage or of
incursion I gave you an extra 30 seconds
so the risk is minimal sir did did you
imply that there's someone there no I'm
saying that the the property on either
side is single family residents and that
those residents are actively monitoring
this city building and they say that the
city is actively monitoring too by a
security system okay thank
you
um gentleman here or whoever whoever
is hello my name is Daniel bug and I am
a resident of the M historic district
like many others 3 years ago before I
moved into my home which will be
celebrating his 100th birthday it was
considered dilapidated and
unlivable Lori and Nancy and Robert and
countless others have spoken invested in
the mosquite historic district have
played a part in the renewal of cultural
heritage and the preservation of Los
Cruz's most unique historical facet
which is that of the remaining portion
of the AL Camino RI which is intact and
preserved my home is celebrated west of
me by residents more than eight who once
called my home their home as a child a
family of 12 when I bought my home 3
years ago there was no roof in the Cita
there was no internal infrastructure for
heating and cooling there was not even
operational plumbing and there was
somebody living there and to think that
the property before you that is up for
possible demolition or resolution I
might state has gone before without
fully being examined and rectified for
the historic preservation commission is
a shame while countless others in our
neighborhood have burned over the last
year because of drug use and squatting
those homes have not had any action
taken by the city to mediate the crime
that has been a growing concern for the
residents of District 1 I'm a proud
sponsor of the horse trolley I've never
seen a single counselor join us in the
past 14 months on the horse trolley that
runs up and down mosquit every first
Friday which sponsors the unique
economic tapestry of the historic
district sponsoring local art galleries
restaurants and coffee shops which make
it our home these fine gentlemen and
ladies who spoke today we have had
cocktail hours convened as a community
we enjoy each other's company and we
fight for the Revival Los cruus is one
of the only communities I have seen that
does not have economic tourism from its
historic value in the mosquite historic
district it's one and only truly
recognized area of district one for
history thank you thank
you I think you're last
one oh okay yes
Mike thank you mayor and counselors May
Pro protm my name is John T PL and I'm
here largely speaking on behalf of my
wife Faith Hudson who couldn't come here
but I know you're in receipt of a
two-page letter that I hold right here
in my hand that she uh crafted took yet
another day to talk about another house
that's owned by the city that's been Dem
demolished um without um undertaking the
proper reviews so um I want to just take
a chance to take to bring up a couple of
these um points in here and the first
being that you know this is a a city
owned property and so in this instance
to to cite the nmsa code
38185 you know for failure to comply or
to have an unsafe residence just is an
absurdity really to me I can't believe
that we're quoting State Statute which
is for um you know disregard of the
residence for recetan owners you know
you can't make comply with your own
ordinances or just scoff flas from the
law well it turns out it's us okay
that's just a shame I think um what we
find here you know the electrical is off
the gas is off the suspended ceiling is
falling but you know that's largely due
to the fact that the loadbearing walls
were taken out apparently by by City
people um there can be no other reason
why the why the structure is failing at
this point um I have to say that the
city is really guilty of demolition by
neglect on this property they had it
since 2011 um given by the fielders you
honor a Fielder just down the block
where he contributed his own house to to
be weed and seed and yet we turn right
around and just throw away what was what
was given through the salapek foundation
for a year but then went to the city um
for these years that it's been
completely unusable or deemed hazardous
is can can only be our fault I mean I'm
part of this city as well I live in the
old in the old
townsite um secondly that um you know
that the word is not is not conforming
but contributing that's the question
that you have to ask yourself and so
this is in fact a contributing uh
structure it was found to be so uh in
2004 and it has to it has to follow the
uh regulations of being reviewed by the
historic preservation
commission okay thank
you all right so you're the last one
okay my name is Mike taes my family
dates back to the 17 1900s in this area
right here if you were to go to the new
L cruises up in Sona area you would
never know that there was a culture in
this city that there is right now in the
old Lo cruises we're at risk at losing
our back our history our culture art and
the preservation of this property I'd
like to just plead to put a stop to any
demolation and give time to come up with
a plan I believe that that mosqu
historical district is as important as
the Downtown Plaza is we need to get on
that mosquite District finish phase two
and get something that tourists would
can go through that is who we are right
there that is us that is L crues that's
our heritage the art represents who we
are where we came from our family and
Our Roots thank you very
much okay thank you thank you for your
comments
everyone so Linda did you have a chance
to find out if that was if if not if not
no worries then then the reason why I
ask is I always believe that it was but
if you and and respectfully you need
more time than if that's the will of the
council wants the table I'm okay with it
as well I just thought that you know we
needed to but you know in light of that
so and mayor I'll just say in light of
my my prior comments attorney client
privileged information I'm not inclined
to give publicly but I'm happy to
research matters and advise the council
in advance and that was not a question
posed to me in advance okay good okay so
with that um Larry did you have anything
in
closing Mr Mayor no I'm ready for the
counselor to express their
opinion move to table second okay motion
made by councelor Flores second by
councelor bomo B you have a question you
um I'm sorry is it a motion a second
there are no questions on on on the
motion to table although it would be
nice to know to table till
when um next council meeting next next
year what next year well can you give me
a little
bit little bit more time well okay but
the January February you there's a big
mess here oh yeah I understand you know
60 days 60 days maybe well 60 days takes
us into next year well yeah okay so
tabled it for the that's why I said next
year first meeting in February okay that
sounds good Valentine's Day
okay and is that okay with the second uh
Council it was me oh was it it was coun
are you okay with that okay so it's been
moved in second table to the first
council meeting in February that would
be February 5th February 5th okay okay
there's no okay so
Christine this on the motion to table
resolution
24-50 to the February 5th 2024 council
meeting councelor beta yes councelor
Graham yes councelor Beno yes councelor
Karan yes councelor flutes yes councelor
Ganda yes mayor
yes okay next item 8.3 resolution 24
z51 move to approve Graham
seconda motion be by councelor Graham
second by councelor AA Le DEH will be
presenting
well good afternoon mayor counselor
councelor Graham I have to pull down
mine
also I'm getting there as well this is a
uh resolution uh from a couple of
departments that I'm bringing forward to
you one of them is mine also and added a
couple of other resolutions along with
it that are much needed right now so I'm
going to jump into these um most of
these are in the general fund and then
they're
excuse me I've been trying to fight a
cold um most of these are in the general
fund and then um one is from the uh
employee health fund and then also one
for utilities uh for the general fund
the human resources department is
requesting a budget adjustment of for
expenses of
$150,000 this is for actually the
workforce compliance program they're
wanting to conduct an ADA
self-evaluation surve survey of our
facilities services and programs and
then they want also want to use some of
the funding to buy headsets and to also
provide translation services during the
council meetings so that they need
$150,000 for all of
that uh for Parks and Recreation they're
requesting
$114,000 this also is adjusting the CIP
which is also attached to your packet
this is actually for
um the project called in the CIP idaka
Park Aquatic playground and multi-use
Pad path and we did get a grant for this
and we had a match with the grant but um
with you know with the cost of
construction they just need a little bit
more 114,000 so they can begin
construction and begin moving on this
project yes I I figured yes councelor
Gonda would be happy with this um for
for Community Development they are
requesting
$150,000 and this is to assist them with
throughout the rest of the fiscal year
for any of the demolitions and
substandard structures that we have um
Coming forward to council during the
rest of the fiscal year uh for Public
Works um they are requesting
$285,000 this is for repair of a a storm
storm drain um this happened to be on
the corner of lman and telshore uh it
was damaged during some construction and
Public Works needs to go in there and
fix the storm drain uh especially you
know with the upcoming weather that
we're going to be having so they need to
get that taken care of and they've
estimated the construction cost has come
in on a quote of
$285,000 and then the next two that you
see the employee health fund for
$400,000 um you also see the uh it's
actually coming into the general fund
you know that our budget season is going
to be taken off in a few weeks few
months and so I'm trying to do some
cleaning up of some of the funds and
6320 which is our employee health fund
is no longer needed and so what I want
to do is is I'm requesting that these
funds be moved into the general fund and
that way I can make that fund inactive
and it will not show up during the
budget process we use to be self-insured
for health insurance we're no longer
self-insured we're actually on the state
so that fund is no longer needed for
health
insurance and then the last one is uh
back in August um the treasury
Department brought forward to you a um
nmfa sorry
nmda um resolution and also an ordinance
for a a grant and a loan this was from
the clean water State revolving fund it
was for various Wastewater projects and
it was a total of 17.1 million and what
we're doing here is we're just expensing
it bringing in the revenue bringing in
the expense and also putting these
projects in the
CIP and as always these are your Council
options and I'm here to answer any
questions and I've also got lots of
Staff behind me that can come up and
answer direct questions if you have
about these
projects thank you may May thanks lean
councelor Flores thank you Mr Mayor and
thank you Miss de um I have a question
about uh the money for human resources
to hire
someone um did you say that was is that
the line item for to hire a you said
translator yes ma'am yeah a mayor
councel Flores yes it's a $100,000 they
want to do a self- evaluation survey of
their Ada for for Ada for their facility
services and programs and then they want
to use $50,000 to buy headsets and to
also provide translation services for
Spanish for Council so you're talking
about printed materials for the
public or for
in-house I think it's only during the
council time if somebody you know how
we've had um public come up to the
podium and they need translation
services think it's for them to have his
headset so that way they can be
translated from Spanish to English or
English to Spanish okay that doesn't
include um printed materials I am not
sure I'll actually ask um uh Gail Estus
who is our Ada and eeo coordinator and
also siron McGee who's new to the city
and she is our ADA compliance
coordinator well I have a question why
is it under Ada it's not a disability
not to speak English it is is under the
program called Workforce compliance
program and they are in charge of that
well who knew but I do want to uh bring
bring if if you're going to Prov the
reason I asked whether there's going to
be printed materials is I I've said this
before and it's very important because
translation services are for the written
word and interpret interpreters are a
totally different breed of people so and
and that's the and those they're
simultaneous interpreters who are
amazing so if you're going to send out a
um you know call
for uh to submit U their resumés you may
get the wrong uh person for for either
one of those jobs so that has to really
be specific interpreting at a council
meetings or and and and writing about
the the printed material are two
different animals Al together so mayor
council Flores I apologize I might have
used the wrong word but I'm going to go
ahead and let the experts back here uh
pipe
in good afternoon mayor um councelor
Flores my name is Gil Estel I'm the
compliance um administrator in human
resources and this is a fairly um newst
section of Human Resources now I've been
at the city since 2018 2018 I guess and
I was hired as the EO Ada coordinator
and so as part of that ADA compliance
was part of my job um it became more
than what one person could do and so we
came back to uh the council with this
new budget year last or the one we're in
now and we were able to hire an ADA
compliance coordinator which is Saron
mcke and so so with that being said with
our transition plan and you'll notice
that we haven't brought our transition
plan to the council for final approval
we were able to do the um the Public
rways Public Works had the funding for a
consultant to come in with that but we
haven't been able to do our facilities
services and and and programs and so we
would like to use $100,000 of that money
that we're in the process of an RFP if
this is if this is approved in order to
hire a consultant to come in and do the
same Ada assessment compliance and siron
can probably speak better to that uh so
that we would then identify any barriers
that exist the consultant would then
prioritize those barriers into low
medium and high high risk for for
non-compliance with um kind of an
estimated budget of what those would
cost to to complete and then we would
prioritize those and then each year we
would be able to budget for you know
whatever we thought we could uh you know
get for that that budget year to start
removing some of those barriers that
have existed within the city then with
the other you know uh the rest of the
funds we would like to um I know the
city council has been asking for a
Spanish interpreter at the City Council
meetings also for ASL interpreter at the
meetings and so we would also use these
funds to hire those two uh uh ASL and
Spanish language interpreters to be at
each city council meeting we would have
uh both of those here all the time so
nobody would have to recommend or or ask
for an accomodation they would just be
here so if we for if we were to get this
from December till the end of the fiscal
year it cost about
$15,000 we do currently have vendors
that already do ASL interpreting for uh
the city and has worked with other
agencies and other
municipalities um to they're already
vendors and we've already got estimates
and they're all willing to start in fact
the Spanish speaking one if everything's
approved and we could get everything in
process as willing to come to the
December uh you know next next meeting
and so um then with with some of that so
that take about uh between now and the
end of the fiscal year that take about5
$16,000 of that then also for the
Spanish interpreter are the headsets for
the interpreters and so uh we don't have
an estimate on that what that would cost
yet but then also uh you're talking
about the written language we have a a
vendor that we haven't started using yet
certified language International that
has the capacity to do uh not only you
know interpretation in 256 different
languages and we can do it virtually but
will also has the ability to do
translations and so one of the the
issues or concerns that some of the
folks had was you know we have in the
Spanish is um you know a certain dialect
in this community and so we would work
with certified language
International um and kind of let them
know what the dialect is and what we
would expect with Spanish interpreting
or translation and then we would use
that entity that program to be the
city's U you know translator so that
everything would come from the same
place and and they would be familiar
with the city and our culture and and
you know with that so s do you have you
were great
question I just want to say that um your
that per that service is really going to
have to hone in on really U how uh the
Spanish-speaking people here speak
Spanish so thank you so much for that
information I hope they're able to do
that because the Spanish Spoken Here is
not the Spanish that spoke in in Los
Angeles or New York or or Miami or Spain
or Argentina so thank you very much for
the explanation I appreciate it very
much and thank you Miss Leanne
de thank you anyone
else members of the public
look okay see none
Christine this on the motion to approve
resolution 24- 051 councelor ARA yes
councelor Graham yes councelor bomo yes
councelor Karan yes councelor flutes yes
councelor Ganda is absent mayor
yes all
right last one item 8.4 Council bill
number
24-6 ordinance number 30 48 move to
approve beta second Graham motion made
by councelor Beta second by councelor
Graham Erica Erica hakus will be
presenting good afternoon mayor and
council members Erica hawkis treasure
the ordinance before you is to authorize
the issuance and sale of $4.6
million of State shared gross receipts
tax
bonds the bond proceeds will be used to
acquire fire trucks fire engines fire
equipment and other fire and emergency
vehicles and to pay for the debt
issuance cost the issue amount cannot
exceed $5.6 million with interest rate
of 12% or less per year the interest
rate is estimated at U between 3.4 to
3.6% the bond maturity does not does not
exceed the bond maturity cannot exceed
15 years from the date of issuance and
the underwriting and or purchaser
discount cannot exceed
1% the bonds are pledged with a
subordinate lean on the city state St
girl receipts
taxes the fire department will be
replacing a fire engine for fire station
6 with an estimated cost of $950,000
fire station 6 will also get a technical
rescue response vehicle with an
estimated cost of
$300,000 they will also be replacing an
aircraft rescue and firefighting unit
for fire station 7 which is located at
the airport and it's estimated at $1.3
million uh the fire department will also
be getting a new fire engine a new
aerial truck aerial fire truck and an
ambulance unit the total estimate cost
for these three items is $2.95
million and these are needed for new
capacity and some of them are going to
be in uh use for fire station
9 and like always fire station provides
pictures so here we have a picture of a
aircraft rescue and firefighting unit U
which is at the airport that's the green
one and then a fire engine which is to
the
right and we also have on the left we
have an aerial fire truck and on the
right we have a rescue response
vehicle here are your regular Council
options and I stand for any
questions thanks Erica
questions I know you drove all the way
here from Albuquerque did you all want
to say something no just just pass it
hurry up and get on the road okay that's
our bond Council they work they're the
ones work for us okay um members of the
public have any questions
George George Pearson uh as a member of
the technical advisory committee to
realize L crues we were talking about
Street designs and part of the street
design discussion is Lane width and the
Consultants say we need to have 12T wide
Lane widths and one of the reasons was
to be able to have room for fire trucks
to go down the streets well with wider
Lanes we have higher speeds and instead
of fighting fires the fire response ends
up being crash response crash response
caused by wider Lanes so what I'm asking
is as we look at this equipment that
we're about to purchase that we purchase
equipment that's appropriate for the
area that they're going to serve if
they're mostly serving residential areas
if fire station is serving a residential
area part of town get a fire equipment
that fits that need um the aerial
truck is probably I'm not familiar with
firefighting of course um but the aerial
truck might be something that isn't
really needed in a residential area
aerial truck sounds like a downtown area
a quick piece of equipment so just look
at a purchasing equipment that's
appropriate to the the needs that will
serve the community well let's let's put
the chief on the hot seat and see what
he
says mayor members of city council fire
chief Jason Smith uh we are purchasing
equipment that is necessary to provide
adequate fire protection and maintain
our ISO rating for those areas of
development we have looked extensively
at our street designs of how we could
minimize kind of our footprint and move
in ways that will actually uh enhance
our population density and decrease our
our street widths but some areas yes a
12ft lane is necessary for a fire truck
and some residential homes do need an
aerial ladder to provide fire protection
to
them and so one of the things that we
get to brag about with the lcfd is that
there are one of only maybe a 100 fire
departments in the nation that have an
ISO of a one which from an insurance
standpoint makes the rates the cheapest
as possible I mean uh when they went to
a one if they were say a five or six and
they dropped to a to a one and that
saves the residents 30 30 to $40 a month
in their insurance cost so um the chief
is confident that they need it and I
think it's good I'm good right I'm just
going to go back to some previous
comment that was made at a 20 M an hour
rate of speed a collision with
pedestrian or bicyclist has a 90% chance
of survival at 40 miles an hour they
have a 10% chance of survival and Street
design widths play directly into
that thank you yeah thanks George I I
I'm pretty certain that today's um
streets the city requirements allow for
the fire uh trucks the only ones that
came into question were the Los ginas
area those streets were really narrow of
course those took place before I even
came on city council but they were
really narrow and that was where the
biggest problem was so what you were
addressing definitely applied to that
area but I I'm pretty sure that the that
um Public Works and Community
Development require make sure certain
you know streets are are wide enough
that can handle almost anything but
those are great great questions so thank
you for bringing those up George Mr M
yes counselor um appr propo of what Mr
Pearson brought up I brought this up
before and I hope that uh well Dr Pitts
and Mr Nichols are here um Cana Arc or
Cana Street that's the one that is
bizarre that's the one where that big
truck would fit no way so and and it's
densely populated too I mean it's
there's a lot of Housing and double
whatever but at any rate I really hope
that our planning department excuse me
Community Development Department stays
on top of that sort of stuff and not
cave in the developer thank
you okay thank you any other
comments okay no one seeing from the
public okay Christine
this on the motion to approve ordinance
3048 councelor AA yes councelor Graham
yes councelor Momo yes councelor cran
yes councelor flotes yes councelor Ganda
yes mayor
yes okay thank you
Erica so now go to board
appointments I don't think there's
there's none notice of proposed
ordinances there will be no public
discussion counselor may ask staff for
clarification on the proposed
ordinances first one 10.1 Council bill
number
24-7 ordinance number
3049 Bring It Forward bring it forward
next one 10.2 Council bill number
24-8 ordinance number
3050 bring it forward forward next one
is 10.3 Council bill number
24-9 ordinance number 3051 Bring It
Forward Bring It
Forward okay now we're going to go to
council member board reports I have a
couple things the first one is
um so a couple weeks
ago Mr Wilson brought to or emailed me
and I think he also discussed a little
bit in Council about he was able to
receive some vest from the highway
department and he ask if the city could
match that so about I think it was 150
vests and if we could do 150 then give
those out to the bicyclist and I had
emailed I told them I said well I don't
know I got to check and see if the City
attorney to see if that violates the
anti-d donation clause and um so that's
basically I was wondering if you had a
chance to look into
that now mayor and you know when I first
started here one of the first things I
said was I thanked Joselyn Garrison and
Brad Douglas for all the work they did
as a mighty team of two we're still a
mighty team of two it's just Brad
Douglas and I and so we are working our
best and so direct to directly answer
your question I've submitted your
question to outside Council I have not
yet received a
response I I I don't I know there's
certain
exceptions Economic Development certain
income level certain Health thing but I
don't know that's that's why I asked um
yeah I received this um email from the
University it says I would like to
express my gratitude to you and Las CR
city council for allowing the Mexico
State University the opportunity to
discuss the proposed tax increment
development District or tid during the
lasu city council work session on
October 24 2023 given the complexities
of the proposed tid New Mexico State
University believes that additional
discussions between NSU and the city of
Las Cruses are warranted before formal
consideration by the Las city council
therefore New Mexico State University
respectfully requests that the
resolution approving a memorandum of
understanding between adman and the city
of Los cruus to establish a tid be
pulled from the November 20th city
council meeting agenda the Mexico State
appreciates your close connection to the
university and values the productive
relationship the two institutions have
had under your leadership sincerely
Scott iik brener Special Assistant to
the president this you know this of
course was addressed to me so just want
to let you know that won't be on the
agenda on the 20th
okay so next mayor proen thank you thank
you mayor
um I want to extend my deep condolences
to my colleague and friend um Shannon
Reynolds Maggie Reynolds passed away
over um the
weekend and it
um let me just get myself together here
um Maggie and I go back a very long way
we went to school together we we Gra
graduated with our
undergrad um but that family took a
number of college students in um when at
a time when none of us had uh computers
and Shannon had the only computer you
know because he worked through IBM and
so all of us um youngers would would go
would Pile in a car and go over to
Maggie and Shannon's house and Maggie
has always just been a Beacon of Hope
and Light
um what you see saw of her over the
years is truly what she was um and will
always be um very very special so I'm
I'm deeply deeply sorry that um that we
lost her over the weekend I'm so sorry
counc flotes I thought you knew um and
and um so um our our deepest condolences
and maybe we should send a card and
maybe um a tree in her name I I'm not
sure council members if you're
interested in doing that um but I know
that Shannon will need a lot of support
um through this I don't think there is
any
um um plans as of yet um for
a a memorial service of sorts but it
sounded like he would notify us via via
Facebook um so yeah um
as far as the vision zero um we had a
number we you know we've been talking
about this for some time I'm very
supportive of the vision zero action
plan I'm wanting to see if how it
coalesces with the a with the plan that
we put together councelor abea um a few
years back um and that pass with the
complete streets um but um I know EO
we've come we've had some discussions um
more specifically about an area near the
baseball fields the parks um and I
thought I saw some flashing lights did
they put those on or that was that
always something that they were going to
do I didn't think that they had that was
one of the recommendations the other was
um using the green paint to identify
right um the bike paths especially in
that area um particularly around the
school Sierra Middle School for kids it
gets really congested and kids are um
walking and biking and um along with um
when there's activities but I I've also
have asked about doing a
study around um the hawk systems and
where we would like to see more of them
I think that is a piece of that of of
the puzzle and um you know I'm convinced
that we need the the um
the speed what are we calling it the
speed um cameras I think it's something
that is a part of also the long um um
vision for um addressing speeding and um
fatality C the crashes and um that
result in fat
fatalities um and so I would really like
for I just don't know where this would
I'm I'm thinking the heal policy Review
Committee we can start thinking about
looking at talking and really moving and
there needs to probably be I think
there's just a number of plans and a
number of groups um that that we need to
probably condense into one um to look at
this and and really U Move It Forward
and then I I'd like to see
where
um our active transportation coordinator
positioned is and if if they're any
closer to hiring this
individual um okay
and you know C I was so impressed with
the living lumbre um presentation and
the kids those really are our future and
it was amazing to see them stand up here
and well first and
foremost um to actually think this
through and develop um sort of
yeah it's it is genius um councelor
Flores and if there is anything that the
city of Las Cruses could do and as they
were presenting it I thought a lot about
our kids can um programming here in in
Las crues through Community Action
Agency April Christen and we have
something similar right they they
develop their business plan and their
projects and they sell um um their their
um
their inventory if you will at um our
farmers market and a number of places um
at the mall and so I I I wonder if there
is something evil that we could do I'm
not sure mayor having them here was it
just to present or how we might um
afford them through the city opportunity
to sort of um ensure that they're a part
of the solution um particularly around
homelessness right and and and being um
that we're in our our cold season um it
sure is um at night the temperatures dip
pretty pretty low and we're we're just
starting with um our winter or fall and
winter weather um so this I'm interested
in looking at how we can help you know
facilitate the you know Mass producing
um Andor um how we get these into the
hands of our home homeless our homeless
folks um let's see I'm looking through
my notes um I was appreciative having
Jennifer and Company from El Paso
Electric do the presentation on Advanced
metering they have come a couple or
three times to um our doniana County
resilience leaders and we've actually
done a couple of focus groups specific
to this um
and because of of the equities sort of
issue about ensuring that um loow income
folks have a say in this how are they
going to be educated um we had a number
of great um meetings specific to
providing information to Al Paso
Electric in terms of how they're
educating the public related to Advanced
sming so I was glad that they were here
I think our PI and um the city of Las
Cruses can be real Partners as they move
through this and I would recommend that
we have a section on our website
specific to this and do what we can to
inform the public that this is happening
um and and then
um um I'm continued to be astonished
about this whole defunding police um um
accusation we haven't done it and nice
to know I've been here for eight years
and I have a record so people can look
and see that not only me but this
Council has never defunded police um um
in fact we gave them 18 more positions
to um to help um and and so I I don't
know and but I'm hearing that um
conservative in action is is putting out
misinformation and I I'll call that out
um and um we'll continue to be open to
miss Luchini and others that want to
speak regarding um this idea that this
Council has defunded police because we
just have not it's far from the truth so
that mayor I turn that over back over to
you thanks May protim uh regarding the
the uh students that came with the so I
was with uh representative Ray L and we
were talking we were talking about the
engineers um the university and and one
thing leads to another and then he said
hey have you seen because he represents
that area have you seen the invention
that the kids at Santa Teresa high did I
go no and he told me about it it sounded
really interesting and I said hey well
bring him here at the city council so we
can see it and that's how it came up so
I was actually emailing him and I
apologize I was calling Mr Ramos I don't
know where I came up with that so I like
stting to be like counselor florus here
but but no I'm not seeing I yet in fact
I even reference referenced that
but so anyways I have nothing to say
after that really I'm indant no
seriously I'm exhausted so but I do want
to thank everybody who's still here and
I want to thank our
fans or not or not anyway I don't think
night everybody I think it's a little
bit less voluntary than that but no just
kidding counselor
Karan thank you mayor um thanks for your
you all's comments I just just wanted to
give a couple of notes or or sort of
shoutouts or things that have gone great
in the last few weeks also first again I
will re
reassert the reminder to come to the PRC
meeting tomorrow at 8:30 on the second
floor I hope you all can join us and I
think um representative Rubio is really
going to be talking about Mobility
Justice and that includes making sure
that all people are safe on our streets
and I do think that that's a really
fundamentally um important conversation
and I think that there are a lot of City
staff who are that this committee has a
lot of City staff who represent a lot of
the things that we've talked about
engineering and sustainability and
design and all of those conversations so
I'm really looking forward to that
tomorrow morning at 8:30 um I do want to
say that we had thank you again to um
Katrina who's really been organizing and
Grace for organizing um a lot of
community outreach events last week with
um the new America students and they did
a mock city council meeting here and and
councelor Beno and councelor FLOTUS were
with me and um councelor Beno might have
more to say but to be perfectly honest
it's really hopeful to see St people who
are thinking so critically about our
future and so hopefully about everything
in our world um and I hope that they do
actually run for city council someday
and and replace us that would be great
um uh so thank you to for organizing
that and making it so successful and
also thank you for bringing back the
neighborhood Leadership Academy which I
know had gone away and I I think is
going to be really exciting for people
to learn what the city does um and that
those applications are open now right
people can apply now for the
neighborhood Leadership Academy and um
if you ever wonder you know what does
the city do or if you want to think
about how you can become engaged with
the city and city services and better
understand all of those things I highly
recommend that you par consider applying
for the neighborhood Leadership Academy
through our community engagement office
so thank you for making that happen um
I also want to give a shout out to
Connie and Transit and all of the folks
in transportation Mike and and Richard
and everyone who was there yesterday for
the um Transit Rodeo where our the best
of our um drivers or the ones who had
the most confidence I understand that
there are more drivers um who will
hopefully have more confidence next year
came and did a lot of really
extraordinarily challenging Feats while
driving buses city buses um and our
Paratransit service um that included
backing into I was a judge of the uh
leftand backend where people had to back
into a space that was smaller than my to
smaller than my garage which I'm too
scared to back into so let me just give
a shout out to the transit drivers who
are out there doing things um and many
of them are really extraordinary at
their jobs uh the winners I think
qualify to go to States and potentially
Nationals so I'm really excited for for
that um we will be representing well and
I I just really want to say that the
transit folks showed their best and um I
was really proud of both their abilities
in the job and their commitment to sort
of each other and creating a great
climate for people who use transit in
the city of Las crusa so it was a really
fun day all around so thank you to
everyone who made that super successful
I can't wait to hear about the future
triumphs of the drivers who did a really
good job uh and then the last note which
uh be this will happen before our next
city council meeting but I will be
having my community meeting celebration
on November 18th at the ascmv um so it's
a little bit different than a
traditional community meeting um it will
be there will be
lowcost people have said like oh I'm not
going to come because I might walk away
with an animal and frankly that's my
covert goal so I'm tricking you all who
come um there will be discounted animal
adoptions but also folks representatives
from city services that I get a lot of
questions about in my district including
public Works parks and wreck um and so
there there will be folks there 11: to1
in the parking lot you can take a tour
of the new Animal Services Center there
will be animals in it and they will be
cheap or free probably if you ask me I
might sponsor sponsor your um Fall From
Grace if that happens so please uh join
us November 18th at the ascmv from 11:
to 1 and again thank you krina for
setting that up and and putting the word
out so I hope I hope to see folks there
that's the last of my notes thank
you okay thank you Council Momo
councelor Corin that's such a good idea
I love that please sign me up I would be
happy to sponsor someone okay as well so
sign me up thank you um I just have a
couple of comments I did want to also
know um the new America students um that
day was really fun really thanks a lot
to Katrina and her team and um our
amazing City Clerk and everyone else
that was involved because um that was
honestly really fun and really
incredible they took part in a mock city
council which councelor Corin helped
them run and then they participated in a
Q&A session with me and with councelor
Flores and honestly they had incredible
questions right like we talk about we
talk about young people being the
leaders of tomorrow but they're the
leaders of right now and they just asked
such thoughtful questions about I mean
they're downtown right and so we often
talk about what's you know some of the
struggles downtown is going to but they
just had such thoughtful questions about
about uh the unhoused community about um
drug use about policing about
immigration Economic Development like
they just had incredible questions and
so it was really fun to be part of that
and I know that Katrina is working on
doing more things like that with young
young people and having that opportunity
to come here and and really like you
know experience local government which I
really love so thank you everyone that
was involved in that including the the
teachers that brought them over
um I also met with LA Clin Familia last
week I unfortunately missed her um
ribbon cutting a couple of weeks ago due
to some unfortunate car troubles but um
that were completely my fault we won't
talk about that though um and so I got
to visit with them and their new
Behavioral Health wing on Motel this
last week and just learned about
honestly there's a ton of services that
they have that I just didn't know about
and um I did talk to them about you know
sitting down with ueo and um Chief story
just about how we can be better partners
and um in in treating folks who um and
connecting people to resources who might
really need it and so um that was really
great one of the things though that I
that did come out of that meeting was
that they have a there's a lot of folks
using that facility now a lot of
families kids adults um and there is a
bus stop right in front right on motel
and they're H that is a very busy street
and so they're requesting that um if we
can work on a way to I know that Hawk
systems are incredibly hard to come by
um but you know Tony I'm looking at you
if there is a way to work with the
county on how to um provide some sort of
walking um pathway from the bus stop to
across the street to their new facility
um because it is a quite a significant
set of folks who do not have have
transportation who are using public
transportation or walking there who
would really need that
um that safety to cross that very busy
street um and then lastly I met with
Lorenzo Alba recently who uh Casa Perros
who um is really concerned about the
cost of food currently impacting their
budget and um they really would like us
to consider an amendment
for their
um for their budget currently because
they are being very very much affected
by the rising cost of food um and then
as part of that conversation I think um
if we are able to do that um to think
about the additional um utilities
assistance that we provide through them
and if that I don't I haven't asked
Adrien um what the what the budget looks
like on that right now but it is
obviously getting colder maybe it's not
cold today it wasn't cold yesterday but
it is getting colder um and people's um
gas bills will start to rise and so I
just want to check in with them that we
have those funds but I figured if uh we
consider an amendment for Cas pigos to
support their food costs that we might
as well include um the utilities budget
as well that is it for me thank you
thanks counselor if if they have a
chance to kind of put it down how much
they need and why and that would be good
okay councelor Graham thank you um I
just have a quick thank you um Chief
story and um others in LCPD for
welcoming councelor Corin and myself to
uh training last Friday it was
incredible to see what uh what your
instructors are engaging in and engaging
with and and um I'd be remiss if I
didn't mention that we got to meet
Ranger the new I'm not sure if Ranger's
technical title but emotional support
[Music]
genius therapy dog yeah so we um and I I
was extremely distracted when I realized
Ranger was on premises so missed that
portion of the training and I apologize
but it's really um it's enlightening to
see the training and also to see I mean
I'm I'm laughing I'm excited to pet a
dog but it's really great to see the
department opening up to New New Paths
of thought new methodology and uh go
ranger thank you thanks councelor
councelor
baa thank you I have just a few quick
updates the first is on October 25th we
did have a quality of life um meeting we
looked at the library master plan the
initial um portion um it's still being
um crafted at the moment and kind of
talked about different items uh there is
a look at the I believe the Brenan um
sustainability fund where they used to
buy books I think that's um and how it's
being used in the past uh means that it
the endowment fund is going down quite a
bit and so I think that's something for
us to look at in the future and then um
there was a thought about looking into
how we utilize the website and Market
ourselves as well through the library so
those were very interesting items uh we
took a look at the uh America 250 um
celebration and what that could mean for
us here in Las Cruses and we do have on
Deck um in January we will look at um
the oh no what is it called the founders
day and so we'll have a conversation of
that in January the second item last
week I was in Santa Fe where I helped
chair um the meeting between the
association of counties and the
municipalities as we did our
pre-legislative meeting um and
prioritization um and I'm happy to share
EO later on with you a few of those
items that we will be working with a lot
of it does look at um Public Safety uh
funding for water infrastructure
projects and of course uh Taxation and
how that might impact municip
alties those are my quick updates thank
you okay thank you all right EO City
manager's report thank you mayor council
just a couple of updates first and then
some some well a few updates first uh
from
BLC just an announcement last chras is
won the bid to host the 2024 New Mexico
outdoor economics
conference it's to be held October 2nd
through the 4th so October 20 um 24 and
that will be the 10th year anniversary
of the designation of the Oregon
mountains desert Peaks National Monument
so it' be really timely um appreciate
all the work with Viet Los Cruses all
that they did to get that bid also
appreciate the support from the county I
know they've asked the county to support
as well and this is something um county
is committed to to support and and help
help get so thank the county and and
visit Los Cruses for that and then just
update from Parks and R out of school
parks and wreck sorry out of school time
camp registration begins Wednesday
November 8th and Camp takes place
Monday November
20th uh Wednesday November 22nd 7:30 to
8 uh 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at two City
locations I guess to be
determined um and then really just a
real quick I just got a a text about the
active transportation coordinator
they're in their final interviews right
now so we should have some some update
here soon and then I'd like to turn some
time over to Chief story um Chiefs fness
team have been really Innovative in a
lot of different projects they've been
working really hard um bunch of
different things but this is one that um
I want him to to give an update on I
know coun I think May prend been vocal
about this uh homeless court and um I
know the judges as well so Chief story
is taking that and run with it and he's
been meeting with the judges and um so
just quick update on where we are
chief thank you sir um yeah to be fair
this is obviously something that
councilman com's brought up several
times both judge gold bom and judge
phosa also um approached me as we were
discussing some other things um we've
had several meetings including Natalie
um from the city uh manager's office as
well as um Nicole at The Community of
Hope and Amador health clinic so I'm
confident to say we're about 75% there
to establishing a program that we can
start at the beginning of the year um
the program the name has been agreed
upon as SOS which is for um Solutions
opportunities and support and really the
goal is to the ultimate goal is to
reduce the total amount of involvement
in the criminal justice system which is
a win-win so if there's less citations
that means there's less crime being
committed by those that are homeless um
and hopefully that means because they're
getting services and they're being
successful and success is going to look
different for each individual but
realistically if we're 10% or 20%
successful that's going to make an
impact overall in the community so it's
a win-win for I think everyone the
businesses the residents um those that
are homeless and suffering from either
substance use disorder and or mental
illness which is kind of the focus of
this but it will apply to anyone who is
uh currently
homeless can I just say something thank
you chief for just being so open to
these kinds of solutions I really
appreciate it I got a chance to meet
Folks at veterans court recently and
Veterans Court here is like one of the
most successful across the state and so
these kinds of Courts these kinds of
Outreach courts just have tremendous
success and so I really appreciate our
willingness to jump in and try something
new um you know that goes beyond
criminalization of folks so I really app
want to just appreciate the staff and
the community and I think La Clinica
would actually be a great partner um as
well thank you thank you Chief and and
then one one item um mayor council if I
if I can take a little liberty uh just
just had a couple of comments regarding
our discussion earlier with with our
nuisance abatement uh um I I just want
to clarify from from staff behalf of
Staff we we do feel that we followed
protocol um we do feel that we followed
everything that we had to follow um but
I I do think it's good for us to come
back and talk and discuss but one of the
things I I really you know I've observed
when it comes to Historic preservation
here it really isn't a matter of of
whether or not we follow protocol where
we've gone to um whether or not we've
gone to Historic preservation committee
or not at the end of the day it's it's
what resources are we going to put
toward that if we're willing to do
something about it because we can go to
the historic preservation
committee and talk and of course they're
going to disagree but really it comes
down to funding and so it comes down to
is this a priority um I know there's
been accusations emails sent back and
forth you know toward my staff um I can
assure you that there's nothing
nefarious um even the previous house
that was demolished I mean the city
purchased that for affordable housing
and there's no way we can spend the
millions of dollars that it's going to
take to preserve that building and do
affordable do affordable housing at the
same time so there's there's certain
priorities that the city
has uh that aren't aligned and so we
need to f figure that one out if
anything I think this is a good I'm glad
that it was table so that we can have
that opportunity to discuss the real
issue real issue was isn't whether or
not staff has done the right steps it's
what is there what's our priority going
to be how much resources do we want to
allocate toward this um because it's if
if we don't then it's going to sit just
like it did for since
um most of the the people in the
district knew that house was sitting
since 2013 but there was nothing done
there's no Solutions there's nothing
until we bring it forward and then the
outcry so if there's a silver lining
from this outcry is that there's ATT
tension now there's attention to this
issue of whether or not we want to make
this a priority if not then I think we
move forward how we move forward but if
if we want to make this a priority
there's millions of dollars that needs
to be put toward this and so I I I think
that's what I I want to just State
because as staff we we'll go back we'll
prepare to come back and not much is
going to change I mean we we could
probably go
to uh the historic preservation
committee and and I don't think there's
anybody's fault they they're wanting
something they just don't have funds um
Troy is kind of stuck in the middle
because he's he's basically has an
unfunded
mandate and then the truth is is do we
really want to I don't know that's
that's the council to decide at some
point but um we certainly can't use
these we can't use these properties for
affordable housing if we're going to
invest money in historic preservation
because they don't go together and then
um I've given I've given our community
development team a strong directive to
go after these dilapitated
homes we started with a Kilby we're
we're going and uh we're just going to
keep ramping up up and so um we need to
make sure that the properties we own
first are in order if we're going to
hold everybody else to this standard
that's that's the other issue we need to
consider but I I've given them that
direction from the very beginers I'll
take that um we need to clean up we need
to take um make a list and uh do
something about it and not just let it
sit as it's been for decades and so uh
um good time good space for us to have
more discussion but I think it's timely
because we're coming up into our budget
budget year where we talk about
priorities um I'm not I'm not giving you
one priority or another um what I prefer
but I I'm hoping that we can get
something so that we're all on the same
page they're not pointing fingers at
staff um and we're able to do our jobs
um and follow the directive that I've
been given and what I've given to
staff thank you Mar c thanks EO and that
that
actually um remind me of something and
hopefully you'll give me a personal
privilege to kind of share with you it
was funny I was telling someone the
other day as I'm coming down the
mountain I think of things that that uh
um come up and mention so I going to
share with you something happened to me
in 1993 I just got elected got on the
County Commission one of the first votes
was to that judicial Courthouse you know
the old high school Old Las Cruz High
School and I remember saying why do you
want to use this it's old you know and
it but it's historic and when I found
out you can't replace the windows
everything has stay the same and I had
asked back then what the cost of the
electricity was going to be 20,000 a
month 250,000 a year to just to operate
just electricity forget about the
maintenance of
it you know 200 that's you know they
could have bonded a brand new facility
like like this like our our city hall is
cost neutral so when we took the Old
City Hall the constant things we had to
do to renovate it and then the different
places we've placed the staff put all
the savings together this thing really
didn't cost us a whole lot more than
what we were used to spending and it's
lead certified and it it holds um it's
here for another 75 years before they
build a yeah so what I'm trying to say
is you know as I leave what e was saying
is is that absolutely right I don't know
if you've noticed but in the past I
would say okay what if we go half and
you P you your organization pays for
half to renovate it and you know we'll
give it to you I think we just give it
to them but so it's one thing to to want
to keep something which I think is
important to have that history but
there's other ways to keep that history
instead of have the whole building you
know like I'm talking about the
courthouse that was huge it still huge
and I asked someone the other day what
the electricity costs are and it's just
a little bit more than the quarter of a
million a year just electricity that's a
lot that's amazing and and when you said
unfunded mandates the county has
unfunded mandates to take care of
district court and the DA's office they
don't get any money from the state they
just say you take care of it and you
figure it out and so you know those just
some things that as as the city council
moves forward the new city councils and
subsequent ones you always have to keep
in mind um a balance of the money that
we we have so we have the services so
that we have for all of our the staff
and and the services that that many of
you rightfully have educated me on to
have um so that's all I just wanted to
say that so thanks again for letting me
share that with you okay if there's
nothing further entertain a motion to
adjourn so move to
Beta second okay motion B by councelor
Beta second by councelor Graham that
we're adjourned Christine is on the
motion to adjourn the meeting councelor
beta yes councelor Graham yes councelor
Beno yes councelor
cran yes councelor flus yes counc
Ganda yes mayor yes okay we are
adjourned it's 5:9 p.m. thank
you