Okay. Well, welcome back. We're going to
start our work session now and we'll
start with item number one, the annual
updates for economic development
partners, film loss cruises and missia
valley economic development alliance.
Elizabeth Teter.
Okay. Good afternoon, mayor and city
council. My name is Elizabeth Teters and
I am the economic development director
for the city. Uh, every year we ask our
economic development partners to come
present at a work session to show what
has been completed in that the previous
fiscal year and goals and objectives for
the upcoming one. Uh, this year we're
going to split it up between two
different work sessions. So today we're
going to hear Phil Mos Cusus and Mvita
and then next um work session we're
going to hear downtown Los Cusus
partnership and the farmers market. Um,
so before I turn it over to film Los
Cusus, I do just want to say you are all
invited to the film tour launch party
tonight at 5:30 at the Rio Grand
Theater. This has been a really fun
project with visit Los Cusus Film Los
Cusus in the city. So come have fun,
hear about film tourism. And with that,
I will turn it over to Andrew.
Hello, Mr. Mayor, uh, chair, counselors.
My name is Andrew Hada. I'm the film
leazison here at Film Los Cusus. And
here is our presentation. So we've added
a couple more detailed slides just
because we do know there's new members.
So we wanted to make sure you guys are
uh up to date. So this is just kind of
informative. Uh film Las Cruus. We are
the film office for Los Cruus, Donana
County, MSAI, and the city of Anthony.
We offer streamline leaison services for
film, television uh productions for
those areas. And our film leaison are
part of the association of film
commissioners international which is
ASFCI which is just kind of the
governing board of a lot of different uh
film commissioners and it is again
international.
What do we do? We offer as a lot of film
offices offer we offer permits for
Donana County Messia uh no Donana County
Sunland Park and Lo City of Los Cusus.
We do location packages and location
scouts. Some of this stuff I will talk
in more detail as we get to them, but
just kind of giving you an overview.
Location packages and location scouts
are what we use to make uh to get
productions interested in coming to Los
Cusus. Once they get here, they'll try
to use our crew, talent, vendor, and
location database. And then of course
once they get here, we assist them when
they uh when they get here until they
leave. And then we are also marketing to
lure decision makers and productions.
We have uh three member staff. It is
myself which is a film leaison, Elijah
Vopando who is our associate film
leaison and Amara Barden who is our
operations coordinator.
We are a nonprofit and we're run by a
board a of directors including state
senator Jeff Steinborn who is our
president, Pepper Gyos who's our vice
president, Christopher Stanley who's our
treasurer, Denise Lron Unjaga who is our
secretary, Matt Burns, Steven Osbborne,
Lynwood Spinx, Natalie Shreyander,
Marilyn Bindis, Ross Marks, Loris Allen
and Jerry Ponzeka and they make up
different uh parts of the film whether
it's teaching at DACC and NMSU or just
part of being in the industry.
Okay, now to get into some of the
numbers uh for inquiries. So again of a
location package is when a production is
from out of town or even from here and
they have a script and they want us they
want to see if they can make it here.
So, one of the first things we do is
called the location package where we
take that script, we break it up by
locations, and then we make them a
package. And this essentially says, you
know, if there's a school in their
script, we show them the schools that
fit the script because sometimes they're
older, sometimes they're newer. So, we
want to make sure that we have those
schools on there, gas station, something
like that. So, this way, even before
they've come to Los Cusus, they know
kind of what they're looking at and what
they're looking for. Um, and so last
year, we sent about 40 of those. And
then for crew and vendor information,
that's usually once a production is in
town, they start asking for the crew and
the vendors. A lot of times the
productions almost every time the
productions they don't really want to
hire from Albuquerque or for Santa Fe
because it's cheaper for them to hire
here. They don't have to pay for hotels.
They don't have to pay for PDM. So we
want to make sure that they know what
the crew is, the crew size, the crew uh
contacts and everything like that. And
the same thing with vendors. We want to
make sure they know who the local
vendors are so that when they start
reaching out, asking [snorts] for stuff,
they know the point of contacts and
everything like that. We'll talk a
little bit more about that, but we also
want to make sure the vendors know what
it's like to work in film because it is
a little bit different. After we send
them the location package, if they are
interested, we'll do what's called an
in-person location scout. And that's
where we take them to the different
locations all over. Um, again, it's just
kind of giving them a sampling so that
they know that they can make their film
here. We'll introduce them to the
owners. We'll take them around if a lot
of times they use city property, so
we'll show them that area just so they
can start familiarizing themselves with
the locations and they can even start
making those deals about when they want
to uh rent them. Last year, we did 13
productions altogether. uh that is since
about last July, we've had a production
in town every single month in one way or
another, whether it was filming,
pre-production, or post-production. And
that's kind of what that number
reflects.
So now we're doing the economic impact.
So for worker days, the baseline is
1,00. Last year we had 13,722.
For production days, we've broken this
up. Production days are the days of
actual production. We used to count uh
post and pre. The reason we've kind of
broken it up is because a lot of times
when they're here for post-production or
where they're here for pre-production or
before they leave in post-production,
it's not as many people. Usually, it's
one or two, maybe the producer, maybe a
location manager, but for the most part,
it's just those people. And then for the
actual production days, that's when they
bring the crew and everything. So, we
just want to give you as accurate a
number. And so we wanted to separate
them because they're not clearly
spending as much money if they're just
one or two directors here. It's mainly
hotel nights and food. Um and so again,
our baseline is 140. Last year we did
288 of actual production days. And then
pre and post was 150. So total days was
438. And then our local spend, our
baseline was $1 million. And last year
we did 12,230
and 102. So, uh, that was our local
spend.
And so, just to put that in perspective,
last year, Los Cusus and Donana County,
we did 13% of all films, uh, spending in
the state was filmed was done here. The
local spend of local film productions in
uh, last year was 41.5 million, which
had a direct local spend of 12.2 and a
total 19.5 uh, million economic impact
in the county. Again, that 14.1
is a uh is what the state reports.
Theirs is a little different because
they count the above the line actors
like the main stars because they pay
tax. We don't include them because they
don't keep their money here. So, that's
why our numbers are a little bit
different than theirs, but that I give
you that number because it's going to uh
count in a little bit. So, last year we
did 21% of the total productions made in
the state, which was 13 out of 63. Um,
and then rural spending hit an all-time
high. There was an article set out by
the state where they talked about how
rural spending hit an all-time high last
year of 58 million recorded by the
state. And that's why that 41 million is
important because that's what the state
recorded us as having, which means that
70% of that record spending of rural uh
production was spent in Los Cusus and
Donana County, which is a huge boost for
us. and it's one of the we were the main
factor in helping the state hit that
record high fiscal spending in rural
areas.
So, one of the reasons that we're going
to talk about hotel nights is because
film is not just uh one industry. It's a
lot of industries kind of coming
together. One of the big ones is uh is
hotel nights because obviously when they
bring crew in here, when they bring
actors, they're having to hire for
hotels, they're having to keep them up
somewhere. And so we just wanted to say
last year we did 9,83
room nights and that equals $1.5 million
just in hotel room nights. Um just to
kind of show you the other impacts that
we that we have. And then this is we got
this from Visit Los Cusus. Uh they use
their estimated economic impact
calculation. So that's how we got that
number. Um and then this is just to kind
of tell you it's not the most accurate.
It's just what they use to kind of
calculate their numbers when they
report.
Some of the movies that we shot last or
that came out last year uh was
Protector, which came out in January.
That was shot downtown. I don't know if
any of you remembered it, but had Mila
Jovovich. Then we had Joe's College Road
Trip by Tyler Perry. That was a Netflix
film that came out in February. And then
I'll be gone in June. It hasn't come out
officially, but it did premiere at the
Ken's Film Festival, which is one of the
biggest film festivals in the world. So
just putting it in there, we know that a
lot of the actors have already been
signed. So being part of that is a huge
deal and we got to have one of our films
there. So now we're going to talk about
the social media aspect. We are very big
on social media. Again, we saw a huge
boost. We had usually we'll have about
200,000
uh people list. Last year we did 313,000
people were checking our social medias
and our websites. We had 179 posts. And
for our web, we had 86,000 page views.
This is one of the an example of one of
the um posts that we have on our social
media.
Here's more examples. Uh a lot of times
what we're using is for casting calls.
Uh when productions come and they're
looking for actors, a lot of times
they'll reach out to us to put out these
casting calls uh so that we can get the
community involved. The second one is we
will have events and we had uh we had a
screening of the devil's mistress which
was the first movie shot in New Mexico
was actually shot here and so they
showed it. They're making a documentary
about it and so we had a special
screening about that and then of course
we'll give notice about training or
workshops. This was a DACC training uh
workshop that we just helped getting the
word out. So these are examples of how
we use our social media to reach out and
also to reach the community.
So again, uh, for film permits, last
year our baseline is 15. Last year we
had 79. Uh, very busy year and a lot of
times they're using them mainly for
roads. A lot of times they're also using
them. We have a sound ordinance here.
That's a big one that they usually use.
Uh, for the local film workforce, we do
educational institute outreach, which is
our interns. We do it through federal uh
CMT which is DACCC uh the community
college, CMI which is NMSU and of course
the public schools. Uh in our database
for crew we have a target of 280. This
year we hit 9/19. So there is a lot of
interest especially after a film we get
a lot of people who want to join our
database who want and one of the things
that we do for all this outreach is we
are reaching out to make sure they know
about our database. make sure they're
reaching out cuz productions will come
to us but after a while they might even
start checking the database. So we want
to make sure that they have as many
options to get their name out there and
for productions to know them as they
possibly can. Then we do workshops and
training. Couple of ideas is the film
tour that we're having today. Uh we also
have the RAP which is our monthly
filmmakers hangout. Uh one of the things
that we try to do is have networking
events that don't feel like networking
events and the RAP is a great one. What
it is is we show local filmmakers short
films, music videos, commercials,
anything they're really making to help
remind the whole community that the film
uh the film office doesn't exist without
the local filmmakers. So, we want to
show off their work and show people what
they're doing. And this also helps them
kind of connect because they can go and
say, "Hey, I like your film. You want to
work together?" Or, "I like that acting.
How do you know that actor?" So, it's a
good way for them to network and meet.
It's once a month at the Rio Grand uh
center and even today after the film
tour, we're going to have the wrap and
it's a school wrap. So, it's all the
high schools and middle schools kind of
putting they all have film programs and
so they're putting their films into that
so that we can show them off. Again,
it's a great way to make sure that the
filmmakers are getting their name out
and also getting um being able to
network. We also have a screenwriting
workshop every other week which is again
it's very similar. It's just a group
that meet together. They read each
other's scripts. work together. Another
way to network and we actually got a
film from there where uh one of the
producers knew about the workshop and
that was about it and so they went there
and they started recruiting crew
members. So it does also work as a
networking.
Here are just some of the uh local film
off or film people at work. The first uh
at the real grand as you can see that
was for Love on Tap which just came out
recently. The third one is at the mall.
Uh it was just a cool shot and then at a
lo at a private location but just to
show you the filmmakers work you know
these are our interns again which we
have every year uh we get them again
from federal uh we have we're part of a
skill bridge where they get veterans
from uh and the last six months of their
uh tour of duty instead of staying on
base what they can do is sign up to join
an internship and so their last six
months they're not hanging around on
base they're actually working in the
field. And so we'll do that one. And
then of course college and uh and high
schools. High school ones is always a
little difficult, but we have enough for
them to do just because since if you're
under 18, it's harder to get on set. But
one of the things that we're able to do
is because we're able to go on set and
we visit, they're able to see that side
that they might not be able to see until
they turn 18.
And then of course these are some of our
events. One of the things that we do is
at the film uh during the film festival
we will have a mixer where because
you're getting a lot of filmmakers that
are coming in from out of town. Uh last
year we had someone from Africa. So we
want to let them know again meet the
local film crew see some of our
facilities. This was at the DACC new
studio. So again so they can network
without realizing what they're doing and
just kind of get to know each other. Of
course we'll also go to produce by
conference. That's Eli at the Produce
Guy conference last year. Uh Produced by
Conference is a conference run by the
Producers Guild of America, which is
obviously the producers. One of the
things about the film office is that it
can be hard to market because you're
marketing Las Cruises, but you're really
trying to hit a very small uh number of
people because you're trying to hit the
decision makers. So going to a produced
by conference which is all producers
which is one of those decision makers is
a great way to kind of talk to them
because it puts us in front of them and
it lets us know or lets us talk to them
one-on-one especially answer any
questions that they might have which is
like the biggest one is always they
think it's a desert. They don't think we
have infrastructure. So being able to
talk to them about that kind of stuff is
is very helpful for us. And then of
course the last one we had a an asylum
film called Shark Shiver and we had a
premiere here. These are these members
are the crew members who actually worked
on it. And so not only were we able to
give a free screening of that film, but
we're able to have the crew members kind
of talk about it.
So for support services, this is our
film vendors. Our target is 121 and we
have hit 219. So again, one of the
things that we want to do when we meet
vendors is we'll talk to them about um
about what it takes to be in film. The
best example of that is catering. When
you do a catering uh business, you
usually have one event like a wedding
that you have to do. But for film, it's
two meals every day for what could be a
month. And a lot of times film crews,
they do not leave the set once they get
there. So all those requirements have to
go in there if you have an allergy or if
you have anything. So when we meet
caterers, we try to explain to them this
is what's going to be required of you.
Like just know that you can't have the
same thing every single day because the
crew members will revolt. Um, and so
things like that. Just kind of
explaining, of course, film is also a
247 business. So again, going back to
the caterer, you could start at your
breakfast could be at 6:00 p.m. and then
your lunch is at midnight and then you
start all over again the next day. So we
just want to let them know that those
kind of requirements come in handy uh
when they're starting this. some
successes is that the gold room, which
is our local prop house, they actually
expanded this year because they've been
so busy that uh they just needed more
room. They had too many props. Uh
Southwest Costume Rentals is a is they
are a big costume rental up in
Albuquerque and because they had been
renting so many different costumes and
everything down here, they opened a
branch in Los Cruus. And then of course
we had Gyro Studios in Tribion, who was
the one who came to a screenwriting
class. they made their first fulllength
feature films. So all these things are
kind of because we've been so busy,
these businesses have been able to
expand and grow. And even we have a
guest uh John Harrison who uh he was a
um he did gun safety traffic uh
businesses. And once we started talking
to him, you know, being being a veteran
and everything, he knows how to walk
like a soldier, which isn't how we walk.
You know, they're trained. And so we
started talking to him and explaining
that you can get on film because a lot
of times they're looking for those kind
of experts and they're looking for
someone who can show the actors how to
walk. And because of that, he's now been
able to work on two feature films as a
kind of consultant to help teach the
actors how to do it. So that's the other
thing that we like to do is that there
is very few businesses that can't
benefit from film. So when we need a
business, whether it's lumber, whether
it's tactical training, anything, we try
to figure out how they can be in film
because when the production comes, we
want to know who to reach out to so that
they can hire local and keep the
business and the money here.
For our location database, uh we have a
target of 650 and we our location
database right now is at 178. Again,
locations is one of the biggest things
because every film is going to need
them. So, we're constantly talking to
new uh to new businesses, to new uh
properties to talk. We want to get that
grocery store once it's made on our
database just so that we can have uh
more people because every production
will have new requests.
This is an example of our database. As
you can see, this uh the left side is
what you see when you log in, and that's
just going to show you all the different
categories so that if you want to start
looking for it, you can on your own. The
other side is what the page looks like
when you click on it. And again, like I
said, if someone has a hotel in their
script, we want to make sure that we
find the hotels that match their script.
And it could be, you know, a lot of
times it is a roadside hotel. Sometimes
they want a real nice one, but we want
to make sure that we have those on our
database so when they see it, they they
know what they're looking for. And a lot
of times they'll say, "Oh, I really like
the Big Chili Inn. Can we make sure we
go to that one?"
Here is just some examples of some uh
press that we've had. Again, this was
the film spending in rural New Mexico
which hit the all-time high. This was
the states uh reporting and again we
have the numbers there. The I'll be gone
in June that was in uh cans. The the
woman in the red hair is an actress
called Bianca Dumise. She is local and
right now she is on uh she's on the red
carpet in France being able to present a
movie that she was acting in. And then
the last one is the Shark NATO movies.
One of the things about that those
particular movies is that it's a great
example of our marketing. When I first
started, we reached out to Asylum and we
made a pitch deck that was basically
catered to them. That's what that second
picture is. Essentially, what I did was
I took all the pictures of Las Cruises
and I added their monsters to them and
said, "Look at how perfect your movies
can be." And it took them a couple of
years, but this year they finally
reached back out. And they did mention
that lookbook when they talked to us.
And so they shot fil three films here in
a row and they want to keep expanding.
So it is kind of that way where it shows
you that we're constantly trying to
market to production companies, trying
to market to them. And it's not always
right away. Sometimes it is a long game.
But the more they know about us, the
more it helps us. When we when I was
starting, we had to show people these
kind of pitch decks. When last year when
we were at AFCI week, we asked
Blumbhouse, uh, oh, I want to talk to
you about Las Cruises. And they're like,
oh, we know about it. We're just trying
to find the right project. So, it does
show that a marketing is getting out
there.
This is kind of what, uh, these are all
the numbers just uh, put into one uh,
graph. And like we've said, we've hit
all our metrics this year, which is very
good. The only one that is out of our
hands is always production days because
like I said, we had a film uh this year
that was an action film. They were here
for about three months and they spent a
lot of money. But then the asylum
movies, they were here for about six
days each. So production days can change
just depending on the budget. It's not
something that we can really fight
against. But even having said that, we
did hit that metric as well.
And then before I leave, I just want to
thank uh the members of the city that we
work with, economic development, the
police, Mr. Chief Story, the fire
department. Those people help us figure
out how we can get all this stuff done.
They're willing to have uh meetings,
especially like with Barracuda. They
were having we're having to have safety
meetings and make sure everything was on
board when they're doing these big
stunts. And we couldn't do that without
their help. So, I just wanted to give
them a thank you as we finish this
conversation. Uh, any questions?
Thank you, Andrew. Any questions? Uh,
Council Harris.
Um, sure. Thanks. This is very
interesting presentation. Um, I I like
that people like filming here in Los
Cusus. Um, it's kind of a a nice
non-extractive industry that helps
employ a lot of locals um and brings
experience and stuff here. um and kind
of gets us on the map. Um that said, uh
to be a slight downer, um I read a
article last week about Albuquerque
seeing a significant contraction in film
jobs. Um so is that like an Albuquerque
thing? Is that a nationwide trend?
So, uh Mr. mayor uh councelor it is a
nationwide threat uh nationwide trend
but it also is not it doesn't seem to be
affecting Los Cusus as much as other
parts and that is because we've kind of
lucked out in that we have a lot of uh
because of our film schools we have a
lot of new film members who haven't
joined the union one of the big problems
with uh Albuquerque is that they have
only almost all union members and so the
budgets that they have to go after are a
little bit higher because we have a good
mix of both, we're able to hit a lot of
different budgets and that's why we've
been able to stay active even as
Albuquerque and Santa Fe slowed down.
Okay, that's good to hear. Um, yeah,
overall just very positive. Thanks,
Mayor Pro.
Thank you, Mayor, uh, counselors,
Andrew. Thank you very much for putting
this presentation together and working
with our economic development team and
other other teams from the city. Uh I um
appreciate the the numbers, the
measures, and the the work that you're
doing. Great job to you and your team
and your uh other colleagues and
stakeholders.
U I also appreciate the um and I don't
know if that's the your what you're
calling your database or your
information email. I just want to make
sure people know how to get on that. Um,
I know that sometimes, um, movie makers
are looking for for props for like, you
know, specialty cars or locations, uh,
for background actors. I know, um, the
mayor frequently gets confused with Eric
Estrada,
um, councelor Matthew's weekend
[clears throat] at Bernie's. uh the um
the
um but but you know I think that as okay
today I have jokes um
um you know you mentioned major um major
uh economic development numbers but
there's also micro right so that you
know that makes a difference to
whoever's you know if you lease a car
for six months it's in the movie um and
and this is unique you know the the
situation with with Kendall Karma That
was really neat.
Um, so, um,
how do how does someone get on onto and
say, "You know what? I have a a really
cool 1960s car or or I have a really
nice scenic background." How do they get
on onto that website?
So, yes, and it is just going to our
website film loss cruises.com. There's
going to be links to even on here you
can see list your property where they
can put that. And one of the things we
have done is because of those
requirements like I'll be gone in June
took place before uh 911 is a big part
of it. So it takes place in 2001 and so
we're trying to find 2001 cars. And so
we've added a couple of sections. One of
them is picture cars especially for
unique pictures. And even like sometimes
it's just if your car is 10 years old,
put it on there because they might need
it. And another one that we've done is
that kind of separates us from a lot of
other databases. We've also done picture
art because when you're shooting a
movie, if you have a painting in the
background, if you don't have the
copyright for that painting, they the
artists might get mad and take it down.
So, what we've done is we've created a
special section called picture art so
that local artists can put their art on
there and so that filmmakers can look at
it and say, "Oh, I like this art. Now I
have the contact. I know who to reach
out to." There was a movie called In Our
Blood that came out and they started by
having uh a lot of the murals that are
in Mosquite uh as part of their opening
credits and then they called us like a
year later and they're like we don't
know any of these owners. So we were
able to get with Visit Las Cruises and
with the Donana Arts Council and find
the owners for them so they could keep
it in the movie. But that and that's
kind of what spurred that idea. So, it
is as simple as just going to our
website and clicking on the links as
part of it and then we'll always reach
out to you and say it's it's in or uh
that's been approved.
Thank you, Andrew. Thank you, Mayor.
Council Rick Cole,
thank you so much for the presentation
and yeah, I totally agree on all of the
um numbers and measures that you have
provided here. That's exactly I think
what this this presentation is for. So
really thank you for that. I am curious
though I wanted to ask you about your
budget um your total budget and then if
you know the percentage of your budget
that comes from the city of Los Cusus.
Um for total budget I know that we get
uh we get 95 uh from the city and the
county and then we get 10,000 from uh
Messiah and then we get 10,000 from uh
Anthony. So it is all that added up.
Okay. [laughter]
Thank you. I would just maybe for future
uh presentations I think that would be a
good note to to have presented to us
just for for the reference of
um the the budget portion.
Perfect.
Thank you so much though for your great
work.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you Andrew. Um, I
don't know if uh, Senator wanted to say
anything or add,
but I just want to clarify that it's by
name only. Eric Estrada, Eric Enriquez.
You know, I don't know, mayor. I see a
resemblance of it.
But I'm excited because now maybe
there's hope for my 1995 Cadillac.
There is. Go ahead.
Thank Thank you, counselor, mayor, and
thank you and Andrew, great job today.
into our crew. I just want to say kind
of to answer councelor Beno's question
because it's an important one. The film
loss cruise gets the same amount from
the city that we did when we first
started. I don't think it's ever been
increased. It's been 95,000 I think
since the beginning. Um I think once or
twice you did a supplement because we
tried to do some national advertising.
Thank you for that support. Now we just
worked with a state economist. What the
city got in return just last year. It's
been making money for the city as terms
of tax money coming back. I believe was
I want to say over $200,000 in tax
revenue that came back directly through
GRT alone. In addition to that, there
were another 45 thou 40 to 50,000 in
lodgers taxes. So, just to keep it in
perspective. And since that time, I when
we started, we had one employee. Now, as
you can see, we have two employees and a
part-time operations coordinator. Um, we
just punch way above our weight. We um
were very frugal with the money, as Cruz
will attest to. He's been every single
board member since the beginning and uh
that way we can be strategic and make
investments when we have to and we have
opportunities. So um I think we have an
awesome team. Anyway, I just want to
give you that economic snapshot back
though. It's been very uh
um positive for everybody. Thank you,
ma'am. Thank you.
Can I can I just give a quick shout out
to Senator Steinborn? I know that that
rural
I just want to reelevate that it was
your advocacy that brought that rural
uh thing to us. So, thank you for
helping us be the leaders that that we'd
like to be in this area.
We changed the law twice and it's not
called rural that someone nicknamed it
that one. It's really for underserved
film communities to help compete with
the established centers who built up all
the union crew and that's because the
state created preferential track tax
treatment early on to benefit filming in
studios, which is all done by insiders.
And once we kind of figured out the
economics, we said, "Hey, we got to
level the playing field." And that's the
origin story of that. But ultimately, we
needed to change the law twice to really
work. And now it is working. And that's
part of why councelor Harris's question
why we're doing so well. It's because of
the independent films that really
benefit by coming to underserved areas.
Whereas the big union films, it's kind
of different math, but that's what we're
working towards. And hopefully when we
construct our film studio, we'll take us
into that next level. Thank you so much.
Well, thank you. Thank you, Andrea. and
we'll see you in a couple of hours.
All right.
So, go ahead, Elizabeth. Next is the
Missou Valley Economic Development
Alliance.
Yeah, Mayor. Uh, and now once I get this
open, I will turn it over to Davin and
his team.
Thank you, Elizabeth, and mayor and
counselors. Thank you for having us
today. Um we always wish we could have
more of these conversations because
there's a lot going on in economic
development and as you get into the new
strategic planning uh we'd like to
participate with you in terms of how we
can uh benefit and enhance economic
development going forward for uh for the
city and the region. Um I wanted to um
say this is going to be a little bit of
a different presentation today than I've
given in the past. Uh in the past a lot
of times we show the numbers and the
outcome but we don't really talk about
the process. And one of the reasons why
this came up uh in terms of our
conversations um internally is because
you know we look at the contract and and
this is basically what we're asked to
accomplish. 90% of that as you can see
is based in business attraction and
marketing and there's a lot that goes
into that just to get to the outcome and
I don't think we talk to you enough
about that. So, part of what we want to
do is a as a as a presentation today is
a little bit of a tag team with staff.
Uh we're I'm going to ask uh Carlos Par,
our marketing director, to come up and
talk about our marketing initiatives and
how we get to some of these outcomes. Uh
then I'm going to ask uh Brian Garcia,
our VP of business development, to talk
about the actual job creation projects
this past fiscal year. Uh and then I'm
going to be asking Jessica Robas to talk
about all the other capacity building
features that we do uh on a regular
basis. And if you would indulge us, if
we could have some maybe collaborative
partner testimonials built into this,
that would be very much appreciative.
And we'll we'll try to make it quick.
Uh how we're measured, we're measured
based on that marketing outcome. Um in
terms of what it means in terms of jobs,
payroll, capital investment, qualified
prospects, site visits, and completed
projects. And I might want to turn this
around a little bit because uh all of
this is kind of measurements in terms of
the trajectory of where a marketing
effort starts and then how we move the
projects forward to the final outcome.
So really if you look at it we would
start at we use our marketing and the
hope is to identify what we call a
qualified prospect.
A qualified prospect is is a company uh
that has defined a project within the
next 12 to 18 months. uh they have
parameters set against the site and they
have basically said that we want to
consider they want to consider loss
cruises for a potential opportunity for
that. So what happens at that point is
that's when we get past marketing and we
get really into project management and
that project management entails not only
the site identification but everything
that goes into that site. So for example
it could be the infrastructure if it's a
vacant land it could be uh making sure
we're hunting down any phase one
environmentals if they exist. uh it it
gets into even sometimes the land soil
type and everything else and that's
where we work with your team on a
regular basis especially at the Los
Cusus Industrial Park uh to pull that
information so we can be uh readily
available to give that to a client.
Other things are labor analysis. A lot
of times it's a workforce and skill set
analysis. Lots of times it's pulling
information from our partners at Donana
Community College or New Mexico State
University to prove out we have the
workforce and the skill sets available
for it. uh all the way down to we run
incentive analysis and much more. Um so
it's a lot of work that gets to that
point and then at that stage what we're
hoping to do is now convince the company
to put feet on the ground.
They come out here, conduct a site visit
and that's really when we like to bring
in it's our first time to really touch
the client directly and really get to
understand their project one-on-one in
terms of that relationship building for
that specific project. A lot of times
we'll bring in the mayor, we'll ask the
mayor, the city manager, uh the economic
development team to join us in that. And
at that time of a site visit, we're
bringing in all our partners, whether
it's workforce related, site related,
infrastructure related, trying to get
everyone around the room at the table so
that we can basically not only answer
their questions, but put our best uh
foot forward that we are the location of
choice that they would make a decision
upon. A lot of times that bring that's
entailing bringing down the state uh to
talk about specific incentives they
bring out uh bring to the table as well
as some incentives that we bring in as
well locally. And the whole idea is then
to get the completed projects uh which
in turn creates the jobs
job creation that we're trying to aspire
to the payroll that comes with that uh
those jobs on an annual basis and then
the capital investment associated with
the investment they're making in uh Los
Cusus which is all you know part of the
tax base. It's all part of not just
growing GRT but growing in the overall
economy. Um what we don't measure and we
don't talk about is everything that goes
into what we call kind of setting the
table, setting the stage so that we are
attractive in the first place. So for
example, we don't talk much about in
terms of this contract the retention and
expansion program. Uh that's where we go
out and meet with local businesses uh
trying to make sure that we can
hopefully retain their business,
understand the challenges they're
they're coming across. uh but but
preferably even try to convert them into
some form of a job expansion uh as as we
go about it. Uh along the along the
years over the years we've been doing
this you know we've had to develop
programs so that we could bring to the
table when we meet with local companies
to talk about what would help you grow.
Uh as a result of that uh our automate
up program was established that's to
meet the skill sets that are needed uh
for um upcoming needs and and skills. It
started with advanced manufacturing
certificates
uh but since then it's grown to a
variety of different uh types of careers
whether it's coding robotics uh
teleaalth uh and this past year we
started really tackling the trades as
well um and we built an incentive
toolbox on a local level I've talked
about this in the past we found private
sector funding uh to create a localized
incentive we call it the NM borderlex
closing fund we do this in in in
collaboration with the community
foundation of southern New ago. As you
know, we've been working with your
economic development team over the over
the last several years to create a
prespec development program. Uh that
basically means trying to um invite and
be enticing to uh uh development capital
coming to the area getting past their
conrict construction risk so that they
would want to put speculative
development in the ground. We lose most
of our projects because we don't have
available facilities and we win projects
when we have available facilities. uh we
have not we've not found the winner
quite yet. We uh had have we are now at
least being associated with three
national development companies that we
do talk to on a regular basis and we are
going through the process with one
company right now going through an NMFA
program loan to hopefully encourage uh
that spec development to take place at
the Los Cusus Innovation and Industrial
Park. Along that lines, I want to say
the lab bottom three NMFA enterprise
opportunity funding, that exact program
that they're looking uh to utilize to
build here, as well as um well, let me
stop there. That is a program that we
were at the drawing board with five, six
years ago, wearing the other hats we
wear in terms of uh board membership of
advocacy agencies like New Mexico Idea
where we were at the table talking to
the cabinet secretary and their staff um
as well as legislators about the need
for not only spec development here but
making sure we were getting the word
from other places around the state that
said, "Yeah, we need the same thing so
that we could bring a program to
fruition.
The same thing with site readiness
funding and New Mexico tradeport
funding. These are both programs that we
were at the at the uh at the table with
at the ground level kind of formatting
what this would look like. Site
readiness is preparing future commercial
and industrial sites for growth. Uh
we've been able to tap into now state
dollars that have been awarded for that.
That has now is now helping one site on
the east side of town kind of
distributing commercial and light
industrial. Uh and then the new me New
Mexico traport funding is actually $70
million now coming to the state overall.
We worked with Representative
Lundststrom on pushing that program
forward and those dollars forward which
now uh the city is applying to become a
New Mexico tradeport district which then
opens up to projects for economic
development related to the the goals of
that. I say this because these are
multi-year strategies. They take time to
build. their programs. We spend and I I
kid you not over the past few years
thousands of hours in developing these
and we spend time on them every day. I
can tell you retention and expansion and
our automated pro program alone, that's
Jessica Lynn's full-time job. So, she's
probably put in 2,000 hours of that
alone this this this past year. But
again, it's trying to
set the table per se so that we can be
inviting to these companies to get their
capital investment here and their job
creation here in the region.
Um when we when we matchmake this
against the existing strategic plan um
we try to match up where we help support
your vision. Uh and you can see in in
these four areas uh they they align
themselves very well. In fact we tried
to do a procedure where we went kind of
more diverse into the 1.1 1 2.2 3.3 type
of categories and subsections. I stopped
here. I think you get the idea. I think
between not only what we're measured
upon and what we're not measured upon,
we are a collective partnership with you
in your strategic plan. And as you go
forward, I just want to make sure that
uh you know, we are available to you as
partners in that endeavor. We are here
to serve uh Los Cusus and Dana County
and our private sector membership. Uh
that's that's what they want to see
accomplished as well. So, we are aligned
and I'm going to now pass this over to
Carlos to talk about what really goes
into marketing.
Mayor, chair, city council, thank you
for this opportunity.
Um, so we first start off and we've
we've shown this before in the past
where how we take a regional approach,
how we look at the assets and really we
look at this part as really our
foundation promoting our geographical
advantages, consistent messaging, but
really the connected marketing where
everything that we produce leads to our
foundation, which is really the website.
Um, and we want to be able to make sure
that it's everything from every print
advertising to social media campaign,
press releases, emails, uh, nurture
campaigns,
trade shows, QR codes. Um, they all work
in unison to tell one complete story.
So, but and everything points back to
the foundation. So, and one of the
bigger points too is that we're not
looking for one singular uh target. We
want to be able to meet the decision
makers where they're at. And so part of
this is um our multi-year campaigns. So
and kind of like film loss cruises spoke
about it took years to get uh Shark NATO
here. It's the same with economic
development. We're not we're not that
instant gratification where you place
your order and now you can track it.
This is over years of of looking at our
branding, look at the region, and how
can we better secure and inform our
messaging. So we started off with your
site as ready and then the following
year we started with our bullseye
campaign which is looking at the assets
that they hit the epicenter of North
American trade and going forward we've
actually combined the two into your site
is ready but showcasing again all of the
all of the strategic placement for our
industrial parks but really delivering
that message and again you'll notice
that every one of these have a QR code
they all go back to the website
promoting uh the inmortex
So, and Devon kind of alluded to this
where our site is ready. Um, we actually
developed when we started producing this
ad, it attracted three developers to the
area. And so with that, they were able
to we got their attention and they met
with the city, they met with us and out
of this though, Mvita and the city
created a partnership where we were able
to create the prespec uh site readiness
blueprint and that was actually
recognized by the state of New Mexico.
Um and so this this actually created a
form when developers do come and they
continue to look at the area that we're
able to act quickly, we're able to
present quickly um and and be able to
gather their attention.
So next we have the bullseye campaign.
And so really what that came about was
we were opening up new markets. So when
we started advertising this particular
campaign, we went into 10% of Canada.
And with that, we actually are able to
track two companies that came in and one
was Endurance Technologies and the other
one is Patriot Pouches. So, and again,
these are all coordinated efforts that
help position New Mexico Borderlex as a
regional location for foreign direct
investors.
And our biggest pull here is where I
want to kind of talk about this is the
relationships that get built here. So, a
lot of these times when we're doing the
marketing, the marketing opens the door,
but it's really the relationships is why
these companies are staying here. So
during the Los Cru City of Los Cusus
announcement and you'll notice that your
logos in the background here this was
televised where the president of
Endurance Technologies and these are his
quotes. It was Mvita was instrumental
into getting us that right comfort
feeling.
We had several meetings with them and it
became clear that they get it for them
to be successful. We needed to be
successful and that was the relationship
we were looking for. And so for us it's
we go beyond marketing. It is building
that relationship.
Oops.
And through those communications when we
when we talked to the president, we
talked to their their manu their uh
their head of manufacturing. One of the
words was they got us that right comfort
feeling. We're on the same frequency. Um
we really had the right feeling. They
became the right. It was like feeling
like home. And so with that, we're going
to start expanding our uh foreign direct
investment into Canada. These are this
is the largest publication in Canada. So
one is plant and the other one um is
Canadian manufacturing.
Now I want to kind of point out to the
right on the right hand side where it
says New Mexico Border Plex or business
feels like home. But this is this red
here is Canadian red. Now Canada has a
marketing that's they've grown and
they've used for generations. It's
similar to made in America. But there's
this look for the leaf. And so here
we're able to integrate that actual leaf
that will go into all of the marketing
that goes into Canada. So again, we're
looking at the psychology that they've
grown up with that they're living with
is looking for the leaf. So now they can
find that leaf actually in New Mexico.
And so with that relationship marketing,
that brings us to our trade shows. So we
focus on aerospace and FDI and food
processing. really the industries that
we're looking for within our region
here. And so here we actually hit 27
trade shows and conferences. Um and this
is from up from 24 last year. So and for
really for an organization our size,
it's a pretty big lift to carry, but
we're there and we carry it. We're able
to market. We're able to whether we're
walking these and whether we're we're
actually showcasing. But again, this is
more building those relationships
because at at these specific pla uh
these specific trade shows and
conferences, we're still talking to site
selectors. We're still talking to
decision makers and and really starting
to build those relationships.
Now, you'll notice here that um this is
our traditional marketing here.
Um and again we're able to expand and
and so here we were
through these relationships and we are
able to negotiate uh advtorials we're
able to negotiate better ad placement um
and so here we're we've actually
increased our publications and so um
when we last year we were able to reach
301,000 readers and decision makers this
year we were able to reach 850,000
seuite executives and decision makers
And again, this is consistent branding
across the board. So when they're
recognized as the Border Plex, this is
being showcased from them in print, in
digital, and so on.
This also brings us to our paid media,
our digital marketing. Um, and so we we
looked at um and and again, these are
specific um we use a lot more LinkedIn
than we would other social medias
because you're able to pinpoint specific
decision makers. You're able to target
specific companies. Um but the messaging
will remain the same whether it's the
bullseye campaign, whether it is um
saying talking about your site is ready.
Uh you'll notice here that we had where
the where the Los Cusus Innovation
Industrial Park, they received the the
platinum award for ready sites. And with
that, we were able to take what would
normally be a post and specifically
target site selectors themselves. And so
with that, we actually grew from 561,000
impressions last year to over to over to
645 this year. And again, every campaign
is strategically focused and marketed.
Organic marketing, the difference
between organic and uh and paid is that
or organically means on social media,
you're posting comments uh content,
you're posting campaigns that gain
visibility, traffic, you want engagement
without paid advertising. So through
social media again, we're able to be
consistent. We market upcoming events,
the trade shows we're going to. I tag a
lot of these companies and some of you
actually might know when I when I'm
posting our press releases, I tag you as
well. So that way you're getting
notifications saying, "Hey, something's
going on with Mvita. We're hosting
something." And so and we also post a
lot of the partner uh uh post as well.
So like you'll see something with RT
Electric where they're promoting the
workforce. Um, and so last year we had
an organic reach of 54,000 and this year
we had an outreach of n of 397,000
uh organic uh impressions.
And as I stated, everything comes back
to the website. So when we specifically
target in Canada, when we specifically
target in Taiwan, everything within
these within the web page, we all have
landing pages. So we're able to
efficiently track these landing pages.
we give them the relevant information,
but we're also able to capture uh these
form fills and that now enters our
database. Um, but with that and the one
thing I kind of want to pull out here is
that these are new visits. These are not
returning site selectors. We these are
brand new visits. So, we had uh 5 and uh
or I'm sorry 53 uh.8,000 new visits. But
what I want to point out here is that
the visits stay. So, we had an
additional three 33,700
page views. So, that means once these
new visitors are visiting the website,
they're staying, they're engaging,
they're looking for the research,
they're looking for the content, they're
look downloading our flyers.
And then next, that really brings us to
the nurture campaign. So, and nurture
campaigns is continuing the the the
communication and building those
relationships. So, we have a database
for site selectors. A lot of the a lot
of these nurture campaigns is after
Jessica Lynn and Brian, they've actually
uh met with them at these trade shows.
All of these emails come back to us and
we continue to tell the story about the
Border Plex. We continue to tell the
story about about Los Cusus here in
specific. I have uh examples showcasing
how we reached out to these site
selectors, the announcements that we're
doing. Um and so again, these are
personal connections and we sent out
over,484
emails. Uh again, building those
relationships and making sure that we're
New Mexico Border Plex is really the top
of mind.
So Earn Media, this one's been
interesting. So over the years, we've
developed a relationship with several
industry uh magazines. And so earn media
is difficult to track. It is it is being
shared content. So every time we do a
press release, we send it to everybody.
We send it to local newspapers. We send
it to uh our local uh well local to us
in El Paso, the the news organizations
and whether or not they run our
information. Usually locally they don't.
But the industry magazines, they
understand search engine optimization.
They understand when somebody's going to
search for the Border Plex, they want to
show up in front page. And so a lot of
the times when I send them press
releases, we're front and center on
their web page until we get knocked down
usually 12 stories deep. And so with
that though, they've been able to share
with us, it's never been done in their
in their industry when I've when I've
asked for these is saying how many times
were these articles read. Now they call
them impressions here, but this is
actually clicked and read articles. They
just happen to call theirs impressions.
Uh so this is how many times it was
actually looked at for and these are for
the keywords New Mexico borderlex. We
have 715,000 impressions. So and again
these are over relationships that we
built with a lot of these publications.
So there are many times that they
receive the same press release from the
state of New Mexico. We add more
information. We talk about the a little
more in depth about the jobs that are
created. We talk a little bit more about
the region itself. And so they're
actually promoting our press releases
over the states. So it's a it's and
again these were all built through those
actual relationships.
And that brings us to our foreign direct
investment. So a lot of the efforts go
beyond the traditional marketing and so
we participated and this is something I
just want to highlight in inviteonly
meetings and though those were two this
year. One was the with the Canadian
consulates where we were one of two e
regional economic development
organizations invited. Uh Brian uh was
was at that one and then uh Davin was at
the US uh Mexico trade and tourism
office. So these were invite only only
that we were able to to have with these
uh w with our foreign direct investors.
Now the unique thing about specifically
about Dav I mean about Brian's is that
two weeks later there was uh I believe
it's called Select USA and Jessica Lynn
was able to attend that and so that when
the conversation started in in Canada
with the with the Canadian consulates
that conversation continued two weeks
later with the New Mexico partnership at
our booth at Select USA. So again, these
relationships are continuing to build.
There's longevity with them. U but now
when we host these these foreign direct
investment uh tours and when they're
when they're coming to the Mvita
offices, uh everybody's invited, right?
So we we send out invitations to the
mayor of Los Cusus, Elizabeth uh
management team and as well as with the
county. So this year we had nine
prospecting uh missions in Famtors, but
there were 91 companies involved. And so
we had Canadian companies, G uh
companies from Ghana, India, Mexico, and
Taiwan that we were able to host and
show them all of the and show them the
Los Cusus Innovation Industrial Park.
Oops.
And so with that, we did create Looks
like we're missing a slide, but um we
did create a new I I guess a new a new
uh marketing platform. So we actually
had a conference this year where we were
able to attract uh and establish uh New
Mexico as a southern New Mexico as a
region to come to. We had regional
speakers. We had um we had engaged
leaders and really it really positioned
us as a center of uh to really look at
to come and uh and and rather than just
going to the events we actually created
one. So that was something we wanted to
look at. So from the first pain point
because that's what a lot of our
marketing is. What are the pain points
that the site selectors are looking at?
Do they do they need land? Do they need
power? Do they need the workforce? And
we're able to look at those painoint
marketings, adjust the branding, adjust
the message. We're able to pinpoint
those. And then we develop AB campaigns,
look for the stronger campaigns. We've
developed strategies. We're gathering
data. We're building the Border Plex
regional brand. Um, so really I I I I
know the mayor at one point asked me
like, "This is wild. How do you do it?"
It's like we're an entire production
company. I look at us as an advertising
company as well, uh, more like an agency
where we're able to develop these
campaigns. we're able to look at
marketing that's going on across the
world, especially with FDI, and how do
we adjust our marketing to match theirs,
but really, we're really building those
relationships and how do we have these
companies that it's taking two to three
years from the point of marketing and
how do we build those relationships to
have them choose us. So, at that, I
think it's up for Brian.
Thank you, Mayor Counselors.
Carlos talked a lot about our marketing
efforts and the relationships that it
takes to build to get somebody to even
just take a look at us. I want to go
into a few of the projects that we had
who actually chose Los Cruus as their
new home. Endurance Technologies is a
Canadian company that has chosen the Los
Cusus Innovation Industrial Park for
their new manufacturing facility. This
will be their first US-based
manufacturing facility. Mvita was there
from the beginning with them. They were
initially working with their site
selector to look at over 70 different US
metros across the US. We were able to
become a finalist with one community
over in Texas and ultimately win this
project here in Los Cruus because as
Carlos said, we were able to build that
sense of home here. That ability was uh
allowed us to create 41 jobs out at the
industrial park.
the community, Mavita, the city of Los
Cruus, we were able to put up an
attractive package for them to where
they felt like Los Cruus should be their
home over the Texas community that
frankly has a lot more resources than we
do. It's closer to their supply chain
and their end customer. But we had that
sense of home. Our organization was able
to help bring some additional closing
fund dollars, $100,000 out of the New
Mexico closing fund. And then the city
of Los Cusus was able to pass an
industrial revenue bond. Thank you to
all of you for passing that for them.
We also got a second Canadian company to
locate into Los Cusus. Patriot Pouches.
What they do is they create the oral
pouches that go into your your mouths
for uh caffeine, vitamins, neutrautical
blends. They're located in a facility
off of Builttech here, 15,000 square
foot facility that they're having to
retrofit. That's going to bring 67 new
jobs to the area. But this project was
another one where we were able to go in
there, show them what Las Cruises has to
offer, be able to provide not only the
the right site, the right incentive
package, but also additional support on
workforce uh US banking and financial
support as they are a Canadian company.
they needed some assistance in how to
connect and do business down here in in
the US. And then we were able to bring
an additional $30,000 from our own local
closing fund uh to help get that project
across the finish line.
The Gold Room prop house is our local
film prop house that we have here. They
were looking to expand here uh into Los
in Los Cruus. They have a 20,000 square
foot facility that they're building out
um with tenant improvements and creating
some a couple additional jobs out there.
They needed some help and paying for
those tenant improvements and paying for
uh some specialized prop uh building
equipment that they needed to purchase.
through our local BR& program, we were
able to get them introduced to the New
Mexico closing initiative through the
community foundation where they were
able to secure $30,000 to help them grow
their facility here in Los Cruus and
grow the film industry that we have
here.
And then this is our newest
announcement, equipment share. As Carlos
mentioned, economic development is a
long-term process. It's not an instant
gratification. Equipment shares a
project that I have been working with
for over two years to try and get to Los
Cusus.
Uh we recently had them announce a
facility off of Amador there where they
are going to be uh going into and
creating 26 well-paying jobs. We were
able to bring $75,000 from our own
closing initi or closing incentive
program to help offset that purchase
down there. And we have an actual
announcement that uh formal announcement
with the company on August 27th that I
want to invite all of you out to uh to
where we will be talking about not only
this project but some additional uh
future plans that they have for the
region here in Los Cusus.
Equipment share what they do is they are
a an equipment rental company that works
with all of the major construction
projects around the region. Uh this will
be their core solution site which will
house uh the construction equipment out
of it and rentals um supporting projects
like the the data centers that are going
up around here as well as just the local
developments that are happening out at
our industrial park.
And then I'm going to turn it over to
Jessica Lynn to talk a little bit about
our capacity building and our BR
programs that we're doing here locally.
Thank you Brian. Thank you, chair, city
councilors. How are you all doing?
So, our business and retention program,
it's actually it's a really incremental
program in fostering growth by
supporting already existing businesses.
Our impact stems from direct support to
local businesses where we identify the
opportunity to expand or retain their
business and through through the
consultations that we hold with them.
Um, Mvita's program,
it it really stands out in this factor
of it not just being a business and
retention expansion program, but even
within the community. Um, Mvita makes a
concerted targeted effort at approaching
and supporting the existing businesses
in our region. While there's multiple
business support efforts throughout the
county, Mvita actively connects with
economic based companies and helps
identifies opportunities to support
them. Of the 62 visits or consultations
that we conducted this year, 33 of those
were within the city of Los Cusus and
almost half of those are new companies.
So what that means is they're companies
within the city of Los Cusus that we
haven't worked with in the past and that
may not have had support um directly
approach them before. So almost half of
those were people that had never had
that support or have been sourced to see
what kind of um resources can be
provided to them.
The BE program uh converted and
sustained engagement into measurable
businesses, measurable business outcomes
this fiscal year. Of the 33 um city
consultations, we actually identified
four that became projects. And what I
mean by projects for me is that
identifying the opportunity for
expansion or the opportunity to assist
them in sustaining growth or in growth
or strengthening.
Um
six of those
have progressed or have progressed into
actual expansion projects meaning they
are expanding in jobs or their footprint
or in the investment. So nearly one in
three engagement actively tra one one in
three engagements actively translates
relationship building into investment
opportunity here in the city of Los
Cusus. The continuous relationships that
we foster with our existing businesses
is key as it builds rapport and provides
them with known resource so when they
enter that phase where they're ready to
explore expansion they have a contact
and someone they can call. Um in this
slide I'm just depicting PSL. PSL has
been around uh for over 15 years in our
community. They recently received an
award providing them uh $5 million for
anote equipment. It's a it's a testing
equipment. And we were the first people
they reached out to because they don't
just now that they have the equipment,
they need a place to house the
equipment. And as they're exploring um
access to capital and opportunities for
funding for them to do that, Mvita was
the first person that they reached out
to for help.
Um the most rewarding part of my job um
is Mvita being able to support and
provide direct resources to companies.
Uh one of the greatest challenges for
both incoming new businesses and
expanding local existing businesses is
capital restraints that hinder growth.
By connecting them with the proper
resources and funding opportunities, a
majority of the time that means access
to capital. Um, and outside of state
incentives, which are often not an
option for a lot of the small existing
businesses here because of either the
size of their expansion, um, or the lack
of investment into infrastructure, um,
Mida does still provide them with a
resource. We've talked a few times about
the New Mexico Borderlex closing fund.
Um, these are some of the companies that
we've helped support over the years with
the New Mexico borderlex closing fund,
and this is one of our BRE visits.
You've actually seen the gold room three
times um, today. the uh film ostrius
mentioned their expansion and how
incremental incremental it was with our
working with them and visiting them at
their site. We were able to help connect
them to a grant which also gave them the
funding for them to incorporate
expansion and now made them a
manufacturer in our region. So we're not
just expanding the um one certain
industry, we're helping these businesses
become more economic based and pursue
additional revenues for sustaining their
business.
Another
very valuable resource and um has become
has been MVita's ability to directly
impact them with programs like Automate
Up. Um so Automate Up is a program if
you're not familiar with it created by
Mvita and funded through the state leads
city ARPA and El Paso Electric El Paso
Electric Charitable Foundation. Um, it's
provided us with a key resource,
providing employers and companies with
funding to help certify their employees,
to help certify individuals and students
to train and to fill workforce gaps. Um,
this program has a huge impact to
employers, educators, and individuals.
And with constant exposure, we can
utilize the program to really identify
and address training opportunities for
in our region.
uh have some examples of what those are.
This has with the funding that we
received through ARPA, we were able to
be very generous and I think the impact
you'll see here with the city ARPA
funding and then even the program
funding that we have here, the impact is
very wide. Um southern so the Southern
New Mexico IEC, we actually supported
two different training courses for them.
um directly impacting 24 residents. And
we're providing these 24 residents with
opportunities to now go out and place
bids on contracts, get better jobs, um
and increase their household income and
spend more money. But most importantly,
uh of those 24 residents, those students
are now looking at opening their own
businesses and creating their own
businesses, which is really impactful.
uh AI for small business through the
outreach that we have and with coming
trends and in our our role for um for
capacity building. It really was trying
to answer a question um and a need.
Businesses wanted to know how do they
how do they leverage and utilize AI to
optimize their business and business
production. So we answered that call by
actually addressing the need for it by
helping create a certification. So
working with NMSU Global and working
with local professionals and experts
here within our region, we actually
helped develop and funded the
development of an AI for small business
certification course which we are now
offering to small businesses. So far
we've had 10 small businesses impacted
by this grant and by the program that
we've created.
STEM education. So STEM Mavericks was
another program with ARPA. we were
allowed to be really creative in making
sure that all audiences are receiving
the funding from this. So with this 22
residents were impacted, 20 students and
individuals and then two educators. We
actually were able to help with
professional development for two
educators who now are taking the skill
sets that 20 students actually uh chief
story your son was one of the students
that received uh the stipens that we
were able to provide for them. So 20
students ended up with a certificate in
STEM education which provided ever them
everything from AI to cyber security to
building m um to building equipment and
then two educators are now taking those
skill sets back into their classrooms
within our region.
One of the most uh resounding effects of
the programs like automate up program
has been the collaboration
Mvita has influenced and helped shape um
project equipment. This slide is
resembling project equipment. Um, which
is it's a huge success story and a
really perfect example of how Mavvita
and the automato program contribute to
capacity building and I would say this
is probably my my hero song from my last
years of work. I'm really proud of of
this project and the way that it worked
and so it's a little bit of a story. Um,
you know, within the program I'm not
just reaching companies and and giving
them resources that we already have. I'm
constantly having to network and find
these opportunities. And so that means
putting myself where the people and the
opportunities are. So in attending Los
Cru's public schools build my future
event, I had the opportunity to converse
with city utilities, utility programs,
trades programs, and then the students.
And it was really easy to identify that
there's the interest in students
pursuing trade skills and construction
skill sets
right out of school. them not
necessarily wanting to go the
traditional education route of going to
Donana Community College and MSU or
additional schools, but they're miss
that opportunity for them to enter the
industry because even the industry
utilities, they're looking for that
existing experience
and that isn't always met by the CTE
programs through the public schools.
Fortunately, a few weeks later, after
having identified the gap, attending
another networking opportunity, actually
it was a mayor meetup um with uh Mayor
Enriquez and um mayor um the mayor of
Messia. I actually ran into an
individual who was working on workforce
development and pre-apprenticeship
program which we identifi what had
identified as the possibility of that.
And after meeting with them, we
identified another gap that there are
people skilled to create the
needed training for pre-apprenticeship
program. But the gap was
funding it. You know, students want to
learn, but really the reason why they
don't want a school is because they want
to be paid to learn. And that being a
huge gap, we actually had that answer
within Mvita. With the funding that we
were provided with ARPA for Automate Up
program, we were actually able to fund
individuals for the pre-apprenticeship
hours.
That was the first gap. As it turned
out, it ended up being a very complex
program and we were Mvita was able to
bring additional partners to the table
and work with them. The Bridge of
Southern New Mexico being a a big
contributor to that program. I can say
now that the program is underway and the
program is certifying over 10 people in
pre-apprenticeship
certification for equipment and
construction trades and at the end of
this it'll actually d it'll actually
result in direct employment to an
employer Famco construction.
So really I think it's um really
profound on what the efforts of capacity
building our collaboration how it has a
direct impact in our economy. Um, I
could show you pictures and I could tell
you stories all the time, but I think
one of the most impactful way to
understand how Mvita reaches our
community, impacts our communities to
hear from some of them. And I did have
of businesses who have um offered and
and asked to come and speak on our
behalf. I I have lost a few because they
are small small business owners and so
they've had to get back to work. But if
you don't mind, I'd like to have a
Rachel Ryan with Backyard Farms come up
and say something.
Mayor, chair, and city council. Um,
thank you. My name is Rachel Ryan. I'm
backyard farms. We started off as a
regenerative agriculture farm and have
gotten into freeze-dried food
manufacturing. And in our journey, we
began during COVID during one of the
worst times to start manufacturing part
of a business. But MVIA has been there
to help us out along the way. We have
been a recipient of the Border Plex
grant as well that helped us gear up and
get more staff. And with that, we also
were a recipient of of the Automate Up
Grant, which helped us train some of our
staff um for part of our freeze dry food
manufacturing to in order to get USDA
harmonized GAP plus certified, which is
a mouthful. It's a form of food safety
certification that is national food
safety and many of our purchasers
require that and so to train our staff
for that. Uh the automate up program
allowed us to cover the cost for that
sort of training. Um and through some
programs with that it covered a
significant amount of that. In fact, the
total cost for that training for our
staff that not only affords us that
certification for our company, we are
the only freeze dry food manufacturing
in the state of New Mexico to have that
certification, but that allows us and
our food products to have that, but also
for our co-packing. So, we get food from
all over New Mexico from farmers who
can't sell food because it is wonky.
It's ugly. It has some kind of misshapen
misformation.
It's still perfectly nutritious and
delicious, but it just doesn't look
pretty. And everybody wants pretty
fruits and vegetables at farmers
markets. So, all of this food ends up
going to food waste. And so we have a
tremendous amount of food that winds up
in compost piles, landfills, or feeding
pigs in the state of New Mexico while at
the same time we have some really great
food insecurity needs. Which is why we
stepped up and started doing this freeze
drying in the first place. To reclaim
this food, to reduce food waste, and to
return this delicious, nutritious food
back to our food system and remove the
obstacles of perishability,
transportation issues, refrigeration,
and all of these things. So this food
can get across the state to more people
who need it without these food losses.
and to help these small farmers who
can't necessarily obtain more land, get
more water, and grow more food, reduce
their waste so they can reduce their
losses and maintain more profitability
across the state of New Mexico. Many
other states have uh seconds a whole
processing grade fruits and vegetables
that if something's damaged with it,
tomatoes, it can get turned into tomato
soup or tomato sauce. We don't have a
processing grade industry in the state
of New Mexico for any of our fruits and
vegetables. So when farmers get these
losses, they take a total loss on this.
And this is a huge problem in our food
system. So freeze drying is one of the
ways that we can we can overcome these
challenges. So we started freeze drying
in order to do that and then to return
this food to our food system and to get
it out to the people who need it the
most. So, we're using this food to go to
senior centers, daycare centers, schools
where kids are on the lunch programs,
and things like that to the populations
that need it the most through this New
Mexico grown program that the state
offers. And so, we're getting out to
tribal centers and things like that.
Here in the city of Los Cruises, we
provide a tremendous amount of
freeze-dried to the Mson Center to the
East Side Center to um Adilante Senior
Center in Messia to uh meals on wheels.
We serve all of these centers several
meals several times a month receive our
freeze dry. We've gotten some wonderful
feedback from the seniors who've called
us and said that they absolutely love
the freeze dry and they wanted every
single lunch uh to be provided. It it's
a wonderful way for some of them who may
be food insecure to be able to take food
home and stockpile it and save it for
later. It it keeps freeze dry can keep
up to 25 years. So it offers that
wonderful and freeze dry maintains 98%
of the nutritional value of fresh
because all we've done is remove water.
There's no salts, sugars or anything's
added to it and it often concentrates
the flavors of these fruits and
vegetables so they taste even sweeter
and more delicious. And when things like
melons get overripened on the vine, this
is when farmers can't sell them. Um,
store grocery stores won't purchase it.
They want underwrite melons, but this is
when it tastes the best. So, we can
freeze dry them at their peak. And then
we can provide it to these programs over
winter when a lot of the fresh fruits
and vegetables are not available on the
market. We can provide these. So,
daycare centers and things like that. We
had a daycare center in Clovis that was
able to make a fruit salad with New
Mexico grown watermelons, apples,
peaches, and pears in the middle of
winter. And so, for instance, we got um
two 12,000 pounds of peaches that came
from the Messia Valley just two weeks
ago. We had apples that came in just
this morning from Shalom Colony, a
farmer here locally. We're going to be
getting some more this afternoon from
the Meim Valley from two different
farmers, apples and pears. I think there
may even be more. Things just show up.
We had a farmer with melons who said he
was going to send us one truckload and
we ended up getting 44 pallets of
watermelons showing up. So, I was
calling all kinds of of uh places with
refrigeration all over the city of Los
Cusus. So we reach out to places like
Mvita and so forth when we struggle in
these sorts of situations where can we
find refrigeration space because these
fruits and vegetables give off ethylene
gas. We can't put them in most of the
refrigeration facilities that house
things like pecans and so forth because
it'll overripen and set them off and
cause them to rot. So um places like
Mvita have helped us out so much. Every
time we run into a jam, we contact them
and they are when we're in a corner,
they've helped us out with advice,
resources, hooking us up with other
businesses, things like that that you
can't find anywhere else. That sort of
information, the knowledge, the wealth
of resources of businesses in this area.
and the economics helping us out with
those grants to help us grow our little
business put us in the position where we
could then get a grant from the NMDA for
all the work we've been doing for these
farmers and how we've helped them out so
much to get the RFSI grant and we got
$668,000
now to expand our facility because we've
helped farmers so much they want us to
help even more farmers across New Mexico
with this issue of these seconds and how
to help these farmers that every time
there's a hail storm, some type of
weather event, things like that, and
something goes wrong with their crops,
we're the ones who can help them out
with recovering these sorts of things.
And other small businesses that want to
do value added, so we can do co-packing
for them, freeze dry their fruits and
vegetables, package it under their
label, and get it back to them. and it's
become such a valuable resource for the
state of New Mexico that they want to
help us grow. But we had to grow to a
certain point to be able to show our
value and show what we were doing, how
much we could do to demonstrate that to
be able to get even more economic
development so we could grow even more.
And that was all because of Mvita and
and partners like that. Thank you.
Thank you, Rachel. I we have each other
on speed dial now. Um but but I even
leverage Rachel and a lot of dealing
with companies that are smaller than
hers and and that peer-to-p peer
resource is a very valuable resource
that Mita also offers. Um I'd like to
also ask Frankie Torres with Famco
Construction to come out and speak.
Hi Mayor Council. Uh my name is Frankie
Torres. I'm the owner and founder of
Famco Inc. Um, proud to say we have the
first ever heavy equipment
apprenticeship program in the state of
New Mexico trying to remove the barrier
to bring people into the heavy equipment
world. Um, really really thankful for
the bridge and MVITA to, you know, help
support our program. Uh, pay people
while while they learn is is a really
big thing. Uh, a lot of our apprentices
and pre-apprentices have had had the
opportunity to work on some really neat
projects. uh Leburg State Park uh
repaying project down with the New
Mexico Border Authority uh projects kind
of all over the region, but uh it it's
because of the fact that we've partnered
with MVITA and with the bridge uh to
help bring this uh success to the
students. I also heard some thoughts
about doing some preconstruction uh
utility surveys for the city uh in the
parking lot. So, that may be something
we can link up on. Thank you.
Just one more community partner, if you
will indulge me, please. I'd like to ask
uh Beth Williams with the Bridge of
Southern New Mexico to come up and
speak.
Hello, Mayor Council. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Jessica, Lynn, and Davin, and
the whole Avita team for having us here
today. Um, many of you may know what the
bridge was all about prior to me coming
on and being very instrumental with the
early college high school and dual
credit and whatnot. And I've been here
going on three years and realized we
needed to be more than just a research
um 501c3.
And I am very proud that Jessica
actually serves on my board for the
bridge and I also serve on the MVIA
board. So we do have an advantage to
collaborate often. Um, we're always
looking for ways that we can also assist
one another, but this particular project
was kind of a no-brainer for me. My
board was like, well, that's kind of out
of our wheelhouse. But for us, we were
like, no, not really. It's exactly what
we're doing. We're trying to bring more
jobs uh for really young people to our
community. Like, let's get them some
training uh maybe training, maybe
education, but let's get more
opportunities for our young people so
they have more opportunities to stay and
work here in our community. So that's
really all that we're doing here with
the bridge, but um very thankful for the
collaboration that we have with Mavita
on a regular basis.
Thank you.
Thank you chair and counselors for that.
Um I I do want to say that our you know
capacity building also reaches beyond
just the independent businesses and and
helping those businesses here but also
towards the project and in um supporting
promotional regional in uh initiatives
within our region. Uh here's a few that
we have supported along uh throughout
the year either by provid pro providing
information or providing connections,
resources or even support. Um these are
all initiatives that individuals
throughout the county are trying to
bring to our region and Mvita has
supported it has supported them. Thank
you for your time.
Thank you Jessica Lynn and Brian and
Carlos for all of that. Appreciate the
time you've given us. I know we've taken
some time but we only get this once a
year to to have this chat. So um uh but
I want to on the spirit of collaboration
I want to say uh that uh we have um any
first value in the room. This is a
unique partnership we work on in terms
of elab in terms of expanding our
ability to market the region to
different types of sources. We work with
them on a regular basis. uh in the
spirit of like the marketing
collaboration, we're working with the
Mexico Chile Association as they
leverage our marketing into Canada to
promote our Chile industry as well. So,
we're always thinking about
collaboration. We're always thinking
about how we leverage each other in
terms of what do we have, you know,
limited resources amongst us all. Um,
finally, I'm going to get the results.
So in terms of uh our qualified
prospects, we did very well this year in
bringing companies to the region,
getting a look and providing them the
information on on real projects they
were looking at. You know, like
everything else in sales, you you start
with a a quantity and it it kind of
trickles down to the numbers. Uh that
led to 26 site visits, four completed
projects.
We fell short on jobs and payroll. 136
jobs and $7.9 million in total payroll
because of this year's efforts, but we
exceeded in capital investment 26.45
million versus 17.5 million. The four
completed projects just came in smaller
than you know what we were expecting
given uh some industry factors that
we're seeing out there. Uh as always, we
do run a fiscal impact analysis. Um we
do this because it's contracted to. So
it it is provided to the economic
development team every year and as a
result you um we look 10 years down at
potentially $2.1 million in new local
tax base. So when we talk about GRT
creation and property tax creation, $2.1
million in local tax creation over the
next 10 years, $264,000
uh go going to DACC and 1.2 million to
the schools. Uh and as we evaluate
ourselves, we look at what does that
mean to you to the taxpayer dollars. Uh
we look at uh your investment in us over
the 10 years discounted back is about a
576% return on investment. Uh as I leave
you here, um I'll let you read that. I
won't read it, but as you get into
strategic planning, we want to be there
for you. We want to be there to support
the vision uh any way we can. And so uh
again, thank you for the letting us do
the longer presentation today. And I'm
happy to answer any questions you have.
Thank you. All
right. Thank you, Davin. Any question?
Councelor Harris.
Thanks, Mayor. Thanks, Davin. Jessica,
um, everyone else who presented, um, I
have a few comments or few questions and
a comment. And um I guess uh first I'm
very glad to hear about Automate Up and
the retention and expansion efforts that
we're doing um in order to support the
existing local businesses and not just
be trying to attract uh outside
investment while local businesses close
and then therefore we get no real net
gains. Um as an aspiring heavy equipment
operator, maybe I'll come hit you up at
some point. Um
I guess uh
these are kind of of random in random
order but um I saw rail served on a lot
of your uh advertising campaigns. Um Los
Cusus is also rail served and so I
wonder how that uh has has factored into
anybody we've talked to in Los Cusus. Um
we don't have like a huge rail yard but
every once in a while I see people
receiving shipments down here. Um, and
obviously I would, as I say all the
time, I would love to see more rail
service here in Los Cusus. So, um, I
guess that's a small question. Have is
that does that impact any of Los Cusus
advertising or mainly Santa?
Well, so I I think when we talk about
regional advertising or regional
marketing, yeah,
it's really to cap it's a big umbrella
to capture a lot of different things,
right? And where that gives us the
opportunity is then to really drill down
and understand what does a company
really need? I would say probably
of maybe 10 companies that say they need
rail probably one of them can actually
utilize it uh rail serve sites. So what
we look at is then how can um rail
served offloading uh capacity take place
that might serve them. So when we talk
about the industrial park here um you
know we're always talking about what can
be done on the tracks here at Odor in
terms of getting the shipments here and
then just push putting it on the truck
and and taking it up the hill. Uh and
usually that satisfies most of the uh
the conversations in terms of rail uh
because when you really need a rail
serve site, you're talking about,
you know, hundreds of car loads per day.
Otherwise, BNSF or Union Pacific don't
even talk to you. So, so we have these
conversations allow it allows us to
capture a big bucket of leads and then
drill down into into what sites actually
make sense for them. And because of
that, I think we've been able to see a
lot more interest in Los Cruus's
innovation in industrial park for a
variety of reasons, not just, you know,
not just what we could serve them in
rail, but other factors that make it
competitive.
Okay. Um,
second question is, we're expanding a
lot of marketing into Canada. I think
that's great to get that foreign direct
investment. Um, have you seen
big problems trying to attract that with
tariffs and people finding out that it's
actually really expensive to move
equipment down here? Um,
so mayor counselor, it it's a
double-edged sword. I'm just going to be
honest with you. I think most of the
tariff discussions we have are with
existing customers and supply chain and
especially we hear that, you know, cross
border with because of where we're
located. Um, and you know, the the the
common denominator I keep hearing is
it's not the amount of the tariff, it's
just create certainty behind it.
Yeah.
You know, just tell us what the rules of
the game are and then we can live with
it and work around that. Um, and it's
going to be challenging the next few
years with these conversations because
now that they're talking about NEO
negotiations happening every single year
being open, you know, I I I don't know
what, you know, I don't know how long
that uncertainty is going to impact us
because of it. Now, on the other hand,
in companies like Endurance,
um there is something to be said about
tariffs where companies al already have
existing business in the United States
and they've been thinking about getting
closer to that existing business to
service their customers. So, these
tariff conversations have opened up
calls to us. Uh a lot of it was from the
Taiwanese companies a couple of years
ago where they're saying, "We've been
thinking about this move for a while
now. uh and now this might be what
pushes us to get closer to our North
American client. Now the other final
side of that is we are then competing
quite heavily against Wades as well for
for those businesses and you've seen
over the years that the Taiwanese have
made a ton of investment into the Wattis
marketplace not necessarily the US
marketplace because
it fits their needs of serving their
customer base in North America. So we're
we're we're trying to understand all
these trends, but what was interesting
about the Canadian discussion is it was
something that we had not been focused
on. And because of that, I think it does
allow us to, for lack of a better word,
fish in a new pond that we we didn't
recognize that really might have some
great attributes and let them know we're
here, right? So
cool. Um, I guess to to dovetail on
that, um, you mentioned certainty and
that the rules of the game being certain
and known and navigable and predictable
are more important than perhaps what
they absolutely are. Um, and so I guess
my comment for the city and and our
economic development and our staff would
be like um, you know, let's try and make
things as predictable and streamlined as
possible. And I think I've heard um,
good things in that direction. Um, my my
final comment is related to that. Um
there was a relatively small business
that moved into Los Cusus recently and
um I went and stopped by their their
place. It's an automotive shop and you
know they're not super big but they
hired a handful of people and
they are kind of a service business.
people come from the area to come in.
So, you know, it's um it's a nice little
business. And they had amazing things to
say about Los Cruises and their
experience.
Um opening their business. Um they're
they were pretty satisfied with the
process going through. Um and one of the
things that struck me is the way I found
out that this business was opening is on
YouTube. They have a very popular
YouTube channel. Um, and
at the time I watched it, the video
announcing that they were moving to Los
Cusus and it's 20 minutes long of here's
all the great things about Las Cusus and
here's our plans. Um, and amazing sales
pitch for the town. One of the best
sales pitches for the town I've heard.
Had 6,000 views in the first hour or so
after I watched it. Uh, I just checked
today. It has 800,000.
So 800,000 people have spent 20 minutes
watching an advertisement for our town.
Um, another 600,000 have watched a
follow-up video. Um, and and many more.
And and granted, these are not like exe
necessarily 800,000 executives of
companies that are watching this stuff.
Um, but it's an example of the kind of
reach I think we can have if we partner
with businesses who are telling their
story. um and and can maybe have more
reach and impact than stuff that we're
trying to manufacture ourselves. Um
so anyway, food for thought. Um overall
very interesting. So thanks for the
presentation.
Thank you counselor. And I I'll comment.
I mean you're you're right. If we could
replicate that 10, 20, 30 times over,
the reach the reach is incredible.
Absolutely.
Mayor Promp.
Thank you, Mayor, counselors,
um,
Davin, Jessica, Lynn, uh, team, thank
you very much for putting this together
and Elizabeth, Selena, and your team,
thanks for coordinating. Uh, really
enjoyed the testimonials today from the
businesses or partnership partners that
you're working with. I mean, when you
when you think about, you know, what the
contract is and what the process is, um,
really it's it's the end result. Uh, and
and I could definitely tell that there
is a strong partnership and, um, you all
are making a big difference in our
community.
You know, when you look at growth, I
think, uh, we've grown GDP, you know,
maybe year over year. And um Elizabeth,
your your economists can check my
numbers, but I think uh we've grown
about 1.6
uh% in GDP year-over-year. Um jobs are
probably increase of 2.8 or 2.6% 2.6%.
Um
and that's that that's that's good
progress and I obviously I would like to
see more. One of the things that we do
hear is that uh the jobs that that have
been created or the jobs that we have
are low wage or low salary. So, we've
got to figure figure that out. Um even
with that, you know, you hear uh current
employees saying we we don't have enough
of a labor market, but at the same time,
job seekers say there's not enough jobs
here in Los Cruus. So, there's a
disconnect somewhere um that we we have
to figure out. Um, in addition, even
though I hear it less, we still hear
we're not as user friendly or as
business friendly. Um, and so we're
addressing that progress. I hear that
less. And so there's been, you know,
tremendous improvement. And I just want
to continue um down that that path. So,
uh, maybe this is a question both for
for you Davin and for you Elizabeth.
What else can we do or what can we do to
work together to address some of those
gaps and continue the growth? Again,
that the GDP growth pretty um it it's
pretty good. How can we get that one dot
or 1.6% to a 2% or 2.2%.
Well, mayor I mean I may and counselor,
I mean prom, you're you're asking the
right question. Um, and I'm not sure I
have the exact answer for you. And I
think that's where the strategic
planning comes into place. Um, economic
development is just not one avenue. We
we try to do something well in our area
of economic based job creation and
industry attraction. Uh, you heard from
Phil Mos Cruus, that's another area that
helps create the economic base and bring
in new revenues. Um and and so I think
we have to in your planning process look
at the different types of theaters and
assets we have that create employment
and really talk about focusing on
leveraging that. you know, how do we how
we how do we leverage that for more? And
then um and as as a councelor Harris
said, we yeah, certainty and
predictability do go a long way. Um and
so I think we need to know how we're
going to build that in to whether we are
trying to attract industry here or
whether we're trying to where the the
film oscrus is trying to grow the film
industry here. that certainty and
predictability goes a long way in many
ways more so than a direct incentive.
Now, those matter. I'm I'm not going to
lie to you. They matter because it it
helps, you know, pencil in where we can
be competitive at compared to it was
mentioned earlier, uh Texas. You know,
we we compete with these Texas towns
that just they have enormous amounts of
uh of of dollars to invest in economic
development. But I think that's part of
the planning process and and should be
discussed. Uh I agree with you. Um I do
hear more and more companies talking
positively about the process here. Uh
but as we both know we we we we will
share circles where memories last a long
time. um you know they go back a long
time and I think it gets more to those
testimonials that we need to be talking
about so that much like councelor Harris
said where they need those testimonials
of positive uh permitting positive
positive uh interactions with the city
they go a long way and we need more of
those as well but I will say like with
Jessica Lynn's work in terms of
retention and expansion
every company we touch we try to be an
extension of your voice. And so every
when we're talking about solutions we're
trying to bring to them, we're trying to
say we're not here just because we're
MVITA. We're here because the city of
Los Cruus wants to see you grow. So I I
just think the coordinated voice,
coordinated effort helps us get there.
Uh but I think part of the planning
process is kind of understanding where
do we want to grow, what rate, um what
do we what obstacles we have to
overcome, what certainty we can put into
the process and and uh how aggressive we
want to be towards that.
Thank you.
Well, thank you all and I thank you
Elizabeth and thank you for your
partnership.
Hold on. I think councelor
and I still had
question.
All right. Anyway, um [laughter]
uh Mayor um Mayor Prom. So, I'll just
build on that. I think we're in a very
important time with the strategic plan
update. I was fortunate enough to get to
attend a few of the meetings. Um, and
one item that keeps coming up is small
business support and seeing the work
that Jess does specifically really helps
with that. Um, something else that I
just want to point out is that Mafita,
Mvita is really like with the the trade
shows I go to, the marketing they do,
they stay ahead of the trends. like they
were the one that came to me four or
five years ago and said, "Everybody's
looking for existing buildings. We need
to start looking for developers and not
trying to like we need to shift our
focus." Um, we are on the fourth year of
a four-year contract with Mvita. And I
can't believe I've been in this role
that long, but last time we did this, we
sat down for like six months prior and
we talked about for the next four years,
what should our priorities be with
MVita? Um that's when we kind of took
BRE's business retention and expansion
out as like a specific metric but made
it more as like part of the whole
picture. Um we also put more focus on
marketing. So I can already tell you Dav
and I have already had conversations
about how can Mvita help in MAS? How can
there are industrial areas in MRAAS? How
can they help us in that aspect? So
between the strategic plan and the next
year starting to craft what their
agreement is going to look like I think
we'll get a better picture of what this
[snorts] may look like. Thank you,
Elizabeth. And and in looking at the
contract and looking at at some of the
in looking at your presentation and the
work that you're doing, um some of that
is out of scope.
It's and uh we're not necessarily
funding that. That's appreciated. But I
mean, again, in all fairness to you and
your organization, we really got to look
at that. It's it it's a I think it's an
organic thing probably that has happened
and it's totally appreciated. Um, so as
as we look at this strategic plan and
the contract, city manager, I would like
to make sure that we are are funding
this reasonably and if we need to look
at increases um just to show more
results, I would like to see that. As
I've said in the in the past, if we fund
things anemically like youth or housing
or whatever and it's an anemic approach,
we will get anemic results. Um, so I
think we need to look at the funding,
look at it appropriately, and see where
we need to make some tweaks along with,
uh, you know, spelling out some of some
of the, uh, uh, items that we want to
see within scope. So, thank you, mayor.
Thank you, Deon. Thank you, Elizabeth.
Thank you, Councilman Com.
Thank you. Thank you, Devin, and um, the
folks that came to you've sat here for a
long time, so appreciate you coming and
sharing with us. Um just in the matter
of this question on the budget um same
question for you. What percentage of our
funds make up your total budget at MVIA?
Mayor counselor I'm going to say around
21 22%.
Okay.
Uh our budget this past year was I
believe is 1.25 total u with all the
different commitments where the dollars
come from uh of which yours was 250,000
contribution. And so it's um the city,
the county,
what other commitments?
So the city and the county uh make up
about um 40ome percent. Uh then we also
our our our biggest largest partner
after that is the uh New Mexico Economic
Development Fund that is funded through
the El Paso Electric Grant to the
Community Foundation of Southern New
Mexico. That's our next biggest one. And
then pretty much everything else is
through the private sector. Uh um that's
probably
I'm going to say probably about 40%. But
give or take.
Okay. Thank you,
Council Matis.
Dav and I just want to say thank you for
the expansion of Avita. I can remember I
don't know if we go back 20 25 years,
but you're doing quite a lot more than
what you started out doing. And I really
appreciate working with the and
supporting the businesses, not only the
ones that have been here that could be
struggling, but also new businesses. Uh
uh economic development, I think, is um
you know, really the key. It's the
success whether a city survives or not.
You know, if you don't grow,
you you die. And so I I think it's very
important what you're doing with uh
emphasizing growth not only in older
businesses but trying to attract new
businesses. I have a another question
for you. What's the movement on the West
Mesa corridor? Uh is that still alive?
Is that still going to be developed?
That the road that comes up to our
industrial park
mayor
High Mesa Road.
Yeah. Counselor. Um,
thank you for that question. Uh, over,
you know, we've been hearing about this
for a long time. I want to say longer
than I've been here, so that's 17 plus
years. Uh, what I, what I do appreciate
is the conversation of its need has
spread beyond uh, just the NPOS or the
COGS that were looking at it or talking
about it at, you know, way back when. um
that I I've heard positive conversations
from the county wanting to take a vested
interest in moving that forward. I've
heard that here from the city that they
think it's a good idea connecting that
and I'm hearing it from legislators. Uh
has that turned into actual, you know,
uh the funding I I think there's a
there's a funding study taking place
now. Um but uh so I guess what I'm
saying there's momentum there there
seems to be momentum. Uh but we we've
had that before.
Um, and so I I can't guarantee like I
you know it's going to happen tomorrow,
but uh I'm I'm
cautiously optimistic. Let me put it
that way.
Council Harris,
thanks. Um, a couple more things that
came up with all these great questions
and comments. Um, one, uh, the High Mesa
Road, if for anybody listening who's
involved in that, uh, if we obtain right
ofway for it, we should definitely make
sure to obtain enough right of way to
put rail in it as well as the road. Um,
cuz if we can get the land now, even if
we don't put it in for 20 years, we got
it. Um the second thing is um
kind of piggybacking on what councelor
Munoz said. I'm very interested to know
more information going forward and and
looking into the past about why
companies did not choose. So
we made x amount of contacts did x
amount of recruitment
only four projects got completed. Um,
fine. We got four. But in order to know
how to move forward, I think talking to
the other 122 that did not move forward
and saying, "What was it about Los Cusus
that made you not choose us? Was it the
incentives? Was it long memory and
remembering our approvals process from
the past? Was it something else?" Um,
knowing that I think will will help us
shape things and and could help shape
the strategic plan going forward also.
Um, and I think that's where the the
interaction with the community that that
you all have can be very valuable. Um
the last thing which I'm saving for last
for a reason is uh you mentioned being
an extension of our voice and that the
voice of of us and your other funding
agencies and I just want to make clear
that this voice at least and you kind of
danced around in the presentation is
extremely anti-hypers scale data centers
do not want them here. We do not want to
recruit them. So, that said, I'll turn
it over to the mayor. Thank you.
Thank you.
Actually, mayor, I wanted to add
something.
Go ahead.
Um, thank you for making that point,
Councilor Harris. I as you were talking
about the strategic plan, I did also I
also wanted to highlight that I think
that process um we actually talked a lot
about economic development but also
economic mobility and ensuring that
people in our community are experiencing
um breaking cycles of poverty and
getting jobs that are investing in like
really investing in them and their
well-being and and in long term. I think
those are the kinds of values at least I
hold when we talk about economic
development and I do feel like there's a
bit of a elephant in the room as we're
talking about some of these things and I
also wanted to highlight some of the
values that at least I hope that we
continue to highlight as we think about
um recruiting people to come to our
community. Um and for me those values
are um again
paying folks with dignity um and not
extractive of our resources like our
water uh our land and our people. And so
I I do also want to um just u make that
note that I think as as we go out into
the world and try to recruit um folks to
come here that they're respectful of um
our values and our resources.
Thank you.
Okay. Well, thank you Devin. We
appreciate it. Um good presentation. we
could see the
what I would call the upscale in
results. Uh I know it's very difficult.
It's very challenging.
Uh it takes time, effort, money. Uh the
the things like for example, we just had
the TID
presentation and it starts with with uh
a small area, but the first thing they
talk about is cleanliness.
you know, and and so there's so many
layers. There's so many factors involved
with economic development. We talked
about the film industry. We talked about
other trainings and and um
opportunities, higher paying jobs, but
you're doing a great job in advertising
and marketing. You're doing a great job
in the relationship building, creating
partnerships, the engagement that's
taking place. And you've just got to
continue as a city. We've got to do our
part to help fund. We've got to help
making it a cleaner city, a safer city
because we talk about a small area in
downtown and now we're saying how about
the rest of the city. And so, um, kudos
to you all and all your work and
everything that you've done because it
is paying dividends. It's it's going to
take a while. I go back to the TID. It's
like if you see the pictures of downtown
and where it's gone up and down and up
and down and changes and everything
else, it's taken years. It's taken years
and I think we're finally moving in a
direction. But it goes back to your last
slide is we need a strategic plan. We
need to work together, come up with a
strategy, ask those difficult questions,
and move in a direction that's going to
help us all thrive and you're able to do
your job better. So, I just I just say I
support you and I just want to keep on
working with you. Also, uh entertaining,
engaging, getting involved, and helping
Los Cruus thrive. So, thank you for all
that you do.
Thank you, mayor, and thank you,
counselors. We definitely appreciate the
partnership and really we want to figure
out how we assist you in your vision
going forward. So, uh the more
conversation is is healthy for all of
us. And thank you, Elizabeth, for you
and your team. Thanks.
Yeah. Thank you. Thanks.
[snorts] So, next is item 1.2,
Metropolitan Redevelopment Area Property
Reinvestment Program. Is that you,
Elizabeth? Yeah.
All right. Good afternoon again, Mayor
and Council. Um, today I want to just go
over the MRA property reinvestment
program, previously called MRIP. that
was not going very well. So we re So now
it is just the reinvestment program. Um
I wanted to bring it forward in front of
you before bringing like an official
policy because um just to go to the the
detail of what's gone into this program,
but also because city council has the
final say on any tax baitment we give.
So I I feel like it's important that um
you all understand
um the whole process so you can make an
informed decision when we do want bring
one forward.
Uh so just an overview of the program.
So it does encourage private investment
within designated MRAs that have adopted
plans. Uh it supports projects that
eliminate or prevent slum and blight.
We're prioritizing housing, mixeduse
development, adapted reuse,
redevelopment of vacant or blighted
properties and catalytic pro uh
projects. Um the abatement is property
tax incremental abatement and it's for 7
to 14 years. There was a state statute
change this year. it was just seven, but
now we have the expansion on to 14 years
for specific projects. Um, so with this
since it's incremental, the property
owners will continue to pay the
pre-development property tax throughout
the the life of the program.
Uh, so eligibility for this program, uh,
so it must be in an MRA with an adopted
plan. Uh, it needs to further the goals
and objectives of the applicable MRA
plan. Um, the applicant must have site
control. So, it's either owning it or
with a 10-year lease, at least a 10-year
lease. Um, it has to meet the minimum
requirements and the requirements for
the community benefit matrix, well,
which I'll go into more detail. Um, and
it also needs to apply um comply with
all of our design standards.
Um, so looking at these minimum project
sizes, uh, for housing, we're looking at
a minimum of a million dollars in hard
construction costs and at least adding
eight additional residential units. Uh,
NAP properties can be included. Uh, so
it's with an invest investment of at
least 25,000 and it has to bring the
property up to compliance. And then
commercial and mixed use, we're looking
for at least 4,000 square feet of space.
So going into the community benefit
matrix, um I do want to say before I get
into the detail that is this matrix, I
am very appreciative of all the staff in
the different [snorts] departments that
have helped bring this forward. Um we
didn't economic development did not do
this alone. It at least went to it went
to the MRA internal committee multiple
times. the whole process did we talked
to neighborhood services,
sustainability, community development,
public works, like the the detail and
the input we got got us to where we are
today with this matrix. Um, so just
breaking down a little bit of each
section. So the economic impact, what
we're do looking for is just like what
the minimum qualifications for the
program are, but then you get extra
points if you build from there. If
you're going to put more housing units,
if you're going to do more commercial
square footage, you're going to get more
points. But there's also supplemental.
Um, so if you're activating a vacant or
under utilized property, that will give
you some extra points. If it's one of
our catalytic projects, that'll give you
extra points. So there are a few extra
supplemental um categories and you can
get a total of 50 points. Supporting for
local business is really simple. Um, are
is it already in a local business in Los
Cruus with a business license? And is
your general contractor or design
professional also local? Um
sustainability is we're looking for
energy efficiency and brownfields
program which the my department has
recently launched. Um placemaking is a
little bit more detailed. Um are we
preserving historic structures? Are are
they enhancing streetscape improvements?
Are they putting any kind of public art
or murals? Um SEPTED which is the crime
prevention through environmental design
is are they putting any design in that
has to do with that? Um which is 25
points. And then for the housing
projects, there is an extra 20 points
and it's um different based on the
percentage of affordable or workforce
housing. So to meet the minimum score
for commercial or mixed use, it has to
be at least 50 points and for housing it
has to be 60.
So breaking down the abatement terms, uh
we didn't want to lock into lake
specifics. So if you meet the mount
minimum qualifications with the between
the matrix and the project sizes, you
get at least seven years. If you also if
you get 90 points or 110 points in the
housing you get 14 years. And so
anything in that middle the eight to 13
years the internal MRA committee will
discuss do the matrix the scoring and
bring a recommendation to council. But
at the end of the day city council is
the final decision m maker. But what
we're looking for which the matrix does
a good job spelling out um is does it
fit within the MRA? Does it fit within
that specific area? um just give looking
at Pocacho and El Paso, they're two
completely different MRAs, so you
wouldn't necessarily look for the same
project between with those projects.
Um so the process, so like most of our
programs, you do an intake form. It'll
be electronic through our website. Um
after that, we'll set up a
pre-application meeting based on the
needs of the program. So it'll always be
economic development and community
development. If there's a sustainability
component, if there's any kind of public
safety concern, we will bring in extra
departments as necessary that we need to
be able to paint a picture of what this
project should look like and how to get
it to the finish line. Um, after that,
they'll submit their full application
and supporting documents and my staff
will review for completeness. After all
that is put together, it'll go to the
internal MRA committee for scoring and
make a recommendation where it then
comes to city council for approval. And
it the whole process should take about
three to four months.
Uh this is actually a property lease
structure. So it's similar to an IRB
where the city actually takes the title
of the property during the duration of
the abatement period. Um and then it is
leased back to the owner. Uh we can
subordinate its title position to
project lenders and um this lease which
is the only piece missing in the
attachments you all received because I'm
still working with legal on it. But it
can include performance requirements and
clawback provisions similar that what we
do for our LITAS. Um no transfers or
assignments can be happen without city
approval. And then at the end of the
abatement period the title goes back to
the owner and then they will start
paying property tax again.
Uh risk and responsibilities for the
anybody that wants to apply is what we
tell anybody with any incentive. So it
is based on council approval. So, it is
not guaranteed. Um, they need to pay
attention to pre-development and
construction costs incurred before
approval or at the applicant's risk
because if you do work before it's
approved and the um increment is set at
a higher amount than you want. So, you
want you don't want to start any work
until we can set that increment and then
that way you're that's more savings for
the business. Um, the applicant is
responsible for coordinating the lender,
the title and subordination
requirements. uh the applicant must
deliver the project and community
benefit um represented in the
application and any kind of loan
default, unpaid pilots, unpaid fees or
failure to meet project commitments may
result in termination of the abatement.
Um I know that's a really quick
overview, but that's just this program
in a nutshell and I'm here to take any
questions.
Thank you, Elizabeth. Councelor Harris,
of course I have a question. Um actually
not not so much a question because you
answered it. Um but uh this sounds
pretty good. Um it also sounds like we
incorporated a lot of lessons learned
from previous leaders and other previous
projects. So um good to see that.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Okay. Thank you, Lisa. Thank you.
Okay, with that I'll I'll
[clears throat] take a motion to
adjurnn.
Move to adjourn. Second.
This is on the motion to adjourn the
work session. Councelor McClur,
yes.
Councelor Matise,
yes.
Councelor Harris,
yes.
Councelor Beno,
yes.
Councelor Karan is absent. Councelor
Munoz,
yes.
Mayor,
yes.