City Council Meeting June 15, 2026

MINUTES

City Council

Monday, June 15, 2026 @ 1:00 PM

City Council Chambers, City Hall

PRESENT: Mayor Eric Enriquez, City Councilor Cassie McClure, City Councilor William Mattiace, City

Councilor Michael Harris, City Councilor Johana Bencomo, and City Councilor Becky

Corran

ABSENT: Mayor Pro Tem John Munoz

1. OPENING CEREMONIES 1.1 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE - COUNCILOR CORRAN. 1.2 PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES OF

APPRECIATION/PROCLAMATIONS - COUNCILOR CORRAN. Councilor Corran recognized the Mesilla Valley Christian Baseball Team for winning the District Championship.

Councilor Corran presented Jamar Cotton with a proclamation for New Mexico

Outlaws Youth Sports Day.

Councilor Corran presented Carl Pierce with a proclamation for National Waste &

Recycling Workers Week. 1.3 DEPARTMENTAL HIGHLIGHTS. Carol Brey, Quality of Life Director gave an overhead presentation.

Mandy Leatherwood, Communications Director gave an overhead presentation. 1.4 PETS OF THE WEEK. Anissa Valenzuela, Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley presented Pets of the Week.

2. CONFLICT OF INTEREST INQUIRY BY MAYOR AS REQUIRED BY LCMC

SECTION 2-27 (E)(2) 2.1 None.

3. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 3.1 Lynn Moorer, Member of the Public said we are concerned that the city’s compliance with the federal Lead and Copper Rule does not include doing the best for Las Cruces or making sure public health is safe guarded. Rather it appears that Utilities

Department is trying to get by doing the least amount possible compared to other cities the department is inadequate. The chief problem is the department’s approach to finding lead pipes. Their just check the meter box technique is deficient. I have not found any other city that relies solely on this technique like Las Cruces does probably because it is clearly not sufficient to the task. It is not capable of finding lead lined piping or lead piping further up the line. It appears Las Cruces Utilities has not done basic research on the various inspection methods available, perhaps an intentional choice to embrace ignorance. Handout 1, a 2023 study developed for EPA by

California State University describes 12 lead service line investigation methods that can be used noting 8 that are EPA approved. These are visual inspection external

CCTV inspection, internal CCTV inspection, mechanical excavation, vacuum excavation, flushed sampling, targeted service line sampling and sequential sampling.

These 8 methods are in line with the methods 6 licensed plumbers in Las Cruces I consulted recommended. None of the 6 considered mere visual inspection of the meter box adequate. Amarillo, Houston, Tucson, Denver, Chandler, Arizona, San

Antonio and Beaumont, Texas use potholing, a form of mechanical excavation. El

Paso, Tulsa, Chandler and Midland, Texas use larger mechanical excavation. Tucson and Denver use water tests. Midland uses ground penetrating radar. San Antonio uses above ground scanning. I recently checked the Lead and Copper website for

Lincoln, Nebraska where I am from. Lincoln, like Las Cruces is a university town with which historically has had a championship football team. It is a little larger than Las

Cruces, but it is not particularly wealthy. It has a sizable Hispanic population and a sizable southeast Asian population. The City of Lincoln provides one free water quality test kit per year, replaces any lead service line at no cost and provides a free two-year warranty on any new service line. In contrast Las Cruces does no water testing for those who request it, provides no warranties on new service lines and it is not clear that it will actually cover the cost of lead or galvanized line replacement for everyone who needs it because it has left half the city off the map. In defense of her decision to have the city only visually inspect the meter box the Utilities Director said that the state knows about it. Even if this is true it doesn’t mean it approves of it. Plus, the state’s opinion on the matter is largely irrelevant because it doesn’t have primacy for enforcement. It is EPA that has enforcement authority not the state.

Liz Rodriguez-Johnson, Member of the Public said it is a fundamental of good government that citizens are able to know and understand what their tax dollars are being spent on and why. We expect full and complete answers to each of the questions we posed over the past 18 months regarding the city’s implementation of

Lead and Copper Rule. On December 15, 2025, we provided you Handout A, which

listed 41 questions and 5 requests that we asked to be addressed. To date none of these questions or requests have been addressed. We reiterate these questions and requests and supplement them with more that have arisen since. See new Handout A.

It’s clear that the Utilities Director tightly controls department messaging. She publicly shut down former Assistant Utilities Director Carl Clark when he began to respond to questions at a Utilities Board meeting February. At a town hall in March 25, she controlled the microphone and decided which questions were responded to and which were ignored. No doubt it is her decision to not answer any of the questions citizens have posed within the past 18 months. There are three chief reasons why citizens’ questions are not answered by public employees regarding matters of public concern.

They can’t find the answer, they can’t be bothered to come up with the answer or the answer will cast the agency in a negative light. We suspect the latter applies here.

Whatever the reason we again request a completed responsive answers to our questions and that all of our requests for specific action be addressed. A new question is why has Las Cruces Utilities decreased its inspections to almost zero?

IPRA responses show no inspections whatsoever of water pipes for the first three weeks of April. This contrasts to an average of 36 inspections for each of the first weeks of November 25 through March 26. In light of the promises made to obtain $15 million in funding from the state this looks like another instance of the Utilities

Department failure to comply with the agreement with the state. Here are three more questions. How much of the $15 million grant has Las Cruces Utilities spent and on what specifically? What does the Utilities Department use as an inspection technique that looks exclusively at the meter box? A technique which isn’t capable of finding lead lining piping or lead or galvanized piping further up the line, both of which EPA says must be accounted for. Why did Las Cruces Utilities not provide any notice to 8 properties the city discovered had galvanized piping even though the EPA requires it.

This includes failure to notify Fairacres Elementary School, an elementary school that has galvanized piping. A very serious matter.

Marissa DeWolf, Member of the Public said I live in District 4 and I am here today with a group of trusted community experts who are committed to partnering with youth around decisions that affect them. We are here as community advocates, and we are community advocates who collaborate with young people, and we are here to a coordinating group. We truly believe that supporting young people is a shared responsibility and we represent ourselves today. Collectively we bring decades of experience serving youth and families. We know that relationships are key and our intentions are to work together for better across sector collaboration and we want to share partnerships to make good decisions with and for our young people. When I was a young person in the 90’s I remember thinking that there were adults out there who knew what was going on and had solid solutions that would continue to make everyone’s life better. Now that just about everyone in the room has reached adulthood I think we can all agree that knowing what is really going on requires many, many points of view and the points of view available to us are shrinking and the solutions can sometimes be very hard to reach. Even when we are in positions of decision making or leadership. Life is complex and the lives of our youth are undeniably complex and undeniably different from the lives of our youth, and this is why we believe that we need to work with youth as partners and also the reason why we do so in our work. You will hear from more of us today about our ideas and visions for how to engage with, and work with and be in community with young people. We

are not separate communities, after all here in Las Cruces. We are community of people of all ages and many, many viewpoints. We intend that this will be an ongoing communication and it is youth initiatives in the city come to action you keep in mind those of us who have been partnering with you for many years.

Linley Hornsby, Member of the Public said I am a social worker and community organizer honored to speak today, speak to you all today in solidarity with other local youth advocates. Bedrock to our commitment to advocating for youth is a shared vision for Las Cruces. We envision a Las Cruces that invests in young people. In my three minutes today I would like to invite us to dream together. What could a city that invest in young people look like? A few ideas. It could look like a city that has accessible free recreation in every neighborhood. A city with safe and supported third spaces, which are spaces outside of school and home for youth to exist and grow and explore in. It could look like a city with a transportation system that is responsive to youth, with transportation options that meet the needs of all young people across the social economic spectrum, across the geographic distribution of our community and is inclusive of all levels of ability. It could look like a city that values the time, talent, and dedication of young people such that it offers dignified and paid professional experiences for young people to gain the skills needed to sustain our workforce and serve our community. We already have some of those, right? And continuing to support those not just one off paid summer internship but a nurtured network of economic opportunities that is intentionally sustained for young people. It could look like a city that supports young people both in crisis and young people in recovery. A city that celebrates what young people have to offer and take seriously the shared responsibility of creating an environment that is safe for young people to learn in. We believe this vision is possible to obtain and we are honest that achieving these aspirations is going to be a struggle, but this is a plight that we can no longer ignore and address with false solutions. Youth are asking for real solutions to be crafted and collaboration with young people themselves. So how do we get there? Authentic collaboration and trust is a start towards achieving positive youth outcomes and we can begin that process by holding space to listen to youth and have difficult conversations and even experience the discomfort that arises when we recognize that young people have long not have a voice in the systems and policies that affect them and so inviting us to move forward together and be brave to look at where we are at and achieve progress for young people in our community together.

Summer Mitchell, Member of the Public and I am a resident of District 4. I have grown up in Las Cruces, and I have raised children of my own here. I have also been working in the nonprofit sector for about the past decade. I currently work for the

Community Action Agency of Southern New Mexico, and I am engaging in ethical storytelling and counter narrative work. I am here today with friends and colleagues who are personally and professionally committed to improving the experiences for youth and I am here today to encourage all of us to examine the stories we are telling ourselves and we are telling others about young people. Too often youth are discussed primarily as issues to be managed, controlled or fixed. When that happens, we stop seeing youth as people who are navigating challenges just like you and I.

When we start from a place of what is wrong with you, we forget that we can’t see the pain, heartbreak and pressure to perform. We reduce them to a mistake or we make assumptions about their character and their potential based on the actions of others

and what has really been resonating with me lately is that this dynamic is not unique to our youth, many people in our community also view law enforcement through a single story assuming the worst intentions, seeing officers as a problem instead of seeing the human behind the uniform navigating complex systems and pressure to perform. I don’t believe either of these stories serves our community. Young people are not inherent criminals just as police officers are not inherent villains and when we reduce any group to a stereotype we create distance and distance makes partnership impossible. What we see in our work is that relationships and not control are what drive change. If we want safer neighborhoods and better outcomes we have to start from a different place and that is why we are here today. To start a dialogue, build relationships and hopefully, eventually a shared responsibility across community and systems and institutions. Did you know that students that are connected to real opportunities like career pathways and meaningful internships and jobs graduate at rates above 95%. So, I don’t have to tell anyone here that is much lower than the national average and that is not because they are punished into success. That is because they are engaged and supported. It is because they can now see an opportunity that was not visible to them before. So, when young people struggle the question is not how do we respond? The question is what assets do they already hold and are we willing to invest in prevention, relationships and opportunity before there is a problem to fix. Thank you for your service, your time, and your willingness to engage with the community and I look forward to furthering this discussion.

Liz Bennett, Member of the Public said as my colleagues have mentioned, we are here today to remind all of us that the care, upbringing and thriving of the young people in our community is a collective responsibility. Youth and young adults are just as much an integral part of our town as are the parents, teachers, first responders, service workers and retirees and it is up to us to create the environment required for all young people to grow into kind caring and capable adults. We are here because we want to be in a serious and committed dialogue about how best cultivate those conditions. We appreciate the ongoing efforts of the city to consider an act of principles on youth engagement, the Parks & Recreation Department has been a vital point of access to positive connection in past times for youth across the city. However,

I think that we can all admit that there is a lot more work to be done to rise to the occasion of meeting the needs and fueling the dreams of young people. The Youth

Risk and Resiliency Survey demonstrates that relationships with supportive adults, positive relationships with peers, self-confidence and hope with the future in all protective factors against mental health concerns, violence, absenteeism, and substance use. In 2024, the top three needs reported by young people serving time in

New Mexico Juvenile Justice facilities were family relationships, emotional stability and education. These are all elements that can be intentionally cultivated in community spaces. Research demonstrates that programs with the greatest impact on youth wellbeing and well becoming focus on several core components including cultivating creative restoration, fostering generative connections, highlighting meaningful pathways, promoting cultural visibility and emphasizing equity. Research also supports the fact that summer youth employment programs for at risk youth reduce violent crime throughout the year. Furthermore, well run restorative justice programs have been shown to lower rates of reoffending by one third and diversion programs that foster connection and skill building result in far better outcomes overall.

On the contrary pre-trial detention has been shown to increase the likelihood of

reoffending by 1% per day spent in detention. While we know that attending school while participating in community programming are great prevention and promotion strategies, we also have to invest in the transportation infrastructure that allows young people to access these spaces, and we have to invest in the people responsible for creating and maintaining these spaces. This is a matter of choice as this is how we spend our collective resources and a matter of clear-eyed conscious decision making about the future we want to grow together. We hope you all will join us in our effort to create a sense of belonging and hope for youth in Las Cruces.

Deandra Rodriguez, Member of the Public said I first and foremost want to name and validate that this is my first public comment. I am a lifelong resident of New Mexico. I currently live in District 5. I am a lived experienced expert, community youth advocate, and most importantly a former unseen and unheard young person. I have the privilege of working alongside young people in our community. I intentionally say alongside because I believe youth are not simply participants in programs. They are partners, leaders, experts and change makers. I am honored to stand in solidarity with some of my current youth partners that couldn’t unfortunately make it here in person but they are watching and rooting for me online as I speak today and also offered me supportive, encouraging messages and I can only hope that one day that they will be standing in my shoes right now as my heart is beating in my chest and I am making my first public comment. Too often adults make decisions for young people without creating meaningful opportunities for youth to influence those decisions. In my work I strive to shift that dynamic by sharing powers, creating space for youth voices and recognizing that lived experience is expertise. Shared power means more than asking youth for their opinions. It means inviting them into decision-making processes and compensating them for their time and expertise. Trusting them with leadership responsibilities and ensuring that they have real influence over the outcomes that affect their lives. When we create environments where young people feel valued, heard and respected we see incredible things happen. Youth bring innovative ideas, challenge assumptions, identify gaps that adults may overlook and help create solutions that are more responsive to the needs of their peers and the communities.

Through youth leadership development, civic engagement, and community planning efforts I have witnessed firsthand the impact of partnership. I have seen young people grow in confidence, develop leadership skills, advocate for issues they care about and recognize the power they have to create change but perhaps even more importantly I have seen systems become stronger when youth are at the table. Programs improve, policies become more responsive. Communities become more inclusive. Everyone benefits when young people are treated as partners rather than recipients. As we continue to address challenges facing our community. I encourage us all to ask us a simple question. Are we listening to our youth? Are we creating opportunities for youth to participate? Are we creating opportunities for youth to lead? The difference matters.

When we move beyond tokenism and commit to authentic partnership we are not just investing in future leaders we recognizing the leaders who already exist among us today.

Sierra Alminster, Member of the Public said I just want to take a little bit of time to highlight Lynn and Liz’s work coming up here for 18 months is asking the same questions is wild. I learned about their cause by coming up here and hearing their questions and their pleas for the past handful of months and I would just like to say

that the best way to combat misinformation is to answer your concerned neighbors’ questions, 41 questions is a lot of questions and I am sure that the matter on the elementary school could probably be solved through that and I sure like an email is just as fine rather than expecting to do the meetings and stuff. I like that I am following the people before me and I am here to complain about the 4 million that was given to the police out of the GRT. I think it is disingenuous to frame the expenditure as public safety in the way that community understands it. When we allocate so much of an improvement fund to buying police vehicles. We are prioritizing the infrastructure of enforcement over the infrastructure of the community. This decision comes at the same time as the city council reports significant budget cuts. That meeting was really depressing for you guys. You stated it and for me as a community member to hear about the library and different programs being cut. I am a musician and an artist and one of my jobs was at the museum and hearing about a program which was a job for me being cut sucks and so you have so many experts and I am glad that here is conversations as you stated earlier on the youth and their wellbeing but again putting precious funds towards something, the police have so many places that they can get money from and it was just so disappointing to hear how hard it was even to get $1 million shaved off of that and then to have these experts come up and talk about real solutions and their willingness to work together and Chief Story has his head just burrowed onto his knuckles doing whatever he is doing on his computer it is just really infuriating. It is just decades of sociological research and statistical data have proven that defunding communities is what creates unsafe environments and when you give precious, precious dollars that could be used to benefit the youth’s lives and our lives to police cars. It just feels really horrible as a community member that cares about the future of this community.

Juan Garcia, Member of the Public said when a citizen stands up here to complain about crime at a park or drugs near their home, you nod, thank them and move on.

Maybe you file their story somewhere or forget by dinner time, but the problems don’t go away because you decide not to deal with them. We have a colleague, a proud leader of the “Las Cruces We Hate the Police” organization that wants money moved out of public safety and into Parks and the Library. In theory it sounds great. In reality it is a fantasy until you address one of the biggest drivers of crime in Las Cruces. A few weeks ago, a city director stood right here before you and made it clear that she will not let her staff work without security present, “We can’t afford the security we need and I refuse to let my staff work at the Branigan Library unless security is present during open hours. The incidents we are seeing there are just too intense, our patrons and our staff deserve to feel safe”. This is one of your directors. The intense incidents she is talking about aren’t harmless. They are serious enough that her staff doesn’t feel safe doing their jobs. Did anyone in this council really stop to ask what is really going on? No. Did anyone demand specifics or did you just let that slide into the background noise? You did. The people causing trouble at the library are not teenagers tagging walls. They are mostly homeless individuals, some with clear ties to criminal activity. That is not speculation. Listen to your staff. Albuquerque figured this out and passed a camping ordinance. We floated the idea of a camping ordinance here too. Are you willing to act or just pretend the problem doesn’t exist even though it is in front of you? The solution isn’t complicated. With the ordinance designate a safe area for homeless camping. Set up dumpsters and water tanks. Those who want to sleep outdoors. It is fine. Just not in every park and library or the downtown plaza.

You will cut down on garbage, crime and constant complaints from citizens that feel that you have abandoned them. And for those who can’t follow the rules offer them a one-way ticket to wherever they want. I know I am going to hear it, you are criminalizing homelessness. No, I am not. What I am asking for is for you to do your job and take care of your community. Why aren’t you showing the same concern for the people who live and work in this city? You have the power to make real change.

Show courage and stop ignoring the obvious.

Patti Hartman, Member of the Public said I am speaking about something that is very personal to me. It may sound general. I to am a lived experience expert in mental health, suicide survivor, had issues with police abuse and deal with trauma from that. I have so much to say but I can’t really say it because things that are closest to home are so personal and so important that to have three minutes is really an insult when that is all I get from anyone in power. The main thing that I am concerned about is accountability and transparency. We have a two-class system in Las Cruces. Those in power and those who are powerless. I very much appreciate those who I think spoke for the youth. Unfortunately, I don’t think I heard any youth actually speak but they spoke to my values which is inclusion. I too am concerned about youth and the way that they are portrayed because and no offense to Chief Story, I think you are awesome because of all the outreach you do but at the same time when we only hear from the voices of those who are in power that means that you get to frame the narrative and that leaves as some of these people have spoken many perspectives out. I mentioned suicide because that should be something that I am involved in because when you have lived experience you are much more effective when working with others, but I have been pretty much dismissed, excluded because a lot of things that are going on here that I don’t agree with. I am really kind of tired of our Mickey

Mouse approaches to things. What did we just have from the Open Government

Association? Once again, we have council not following Open Meetings Act. There is just so much that I can’t go into detail but I have so much pain in me and we need to change. I would love to work with our youth groups.

Connie Chapman, Member of the Public said I am just here to give you a simple reminder to put in place the repeal of the secret Public Safety Committee on your agenda as soon as possible. We are here and it has been two weeks. I am sure these things take some time of organization but in another two weeks it will be another three weeks because we have an extra Monday this month. I would expect to see it on the agenda for a vote to repeal that.

Derrick Pacheco, Member of the Public said I say this with love, but this isn’t working.

I said it once and I will say it again. Three minutes to engage with you is not working.

Eighteen months engaging with you over a single important, one would argue the most important subjects, water is un-excusable. Because of these neighbors I have followed up, and I went to Utilities and had my water line inspected. Exactly what these ladies have told you all is exactly what I experienced, negligence, incomplete inspection, making me feel dumb and worthless that I was even bringing it up. Most of the water lines and water meters have been moved or changed or both. Especially in the old neighborhood. That is just the way these things have worked. That leaves patches of different line material that we have had to fix over generations just littered across the property. When asked how many millions of dollars are in this fund to fix

the water lines the person on the phone at Utilities said I can’t tell you that. You have to come in and I will tell you that in person. That is funny because I tried to engage with city councilors and they say sorry you can’t come in and engage with me you are going to have to talk to me on the phone. So, there is no congruence here. It’s whacky. Unfortunately, I haven’t heard anything back about my request for moratorium on data centers. Absolute silence. I don’t want to see a data center go up on the mesa, the Industrial Complex, because that is who you are courting right now.

We see what mess the county has left us in because of this. We just don’t have the resources, and this is not what we want as a community and we don’t want Flock AI cameras all over the city following us to church, to work, to city government. We are done with this. This is an AI surveillance tech behemoth that has been put on us.

Small towns first, big towns later but these corporate giants are lying. It is all over the news. From these tech oligarchs being accused of raping their own sister, to META being challenged in court and sued by the state for ruining our kids. This is your city.

Kent Thurston, Member of the Public said I just wanted to update you on Park Impact

Fees just kind of the change that happened since acceptance of the Realize Las

Cruces. So, I want to just point out something that just happened so in Summer

Estates we just got that approved, it was 28 lots and there is two things here. The

Park Impact Fee in lieu is $100,000 just for that one there for 28 lots. Because of the new Park Impact Fee per house that is $5,671 because the houses in that one will be a little bit larger. When we total it all up we were trying to figure out okay how much are we going to be paying to the Park Impact Fees per house in that subdivision and we are now going to spending $9,256.75 per house in this one. We used to only pay $2,600 per house but now as the developer you have to put the park in and also you have to pay the Park Impact Fee as the builder, in this case we will be both in many of the times. So is a 256.8% increase in Park Impact Fees. I just wanted to bring that up as a source of we are trying to do some affordable housing and in this case it is not affordable housing but the Park Impact Fees still also affect the affordable housing side. The other thing I just wanted to bring up was because of fees and because of differences in building between the county and between the city there is at a minimum right now a $15,000 difference. So, I can build the same house as long as I go in the county I can build the same house now for $15,000 cheaper on the low side because of the taxes situation, because fees and because of things like that. So are now as builders starting to look outside of the city. That is not something that has been a plan in the Realize Las Cruces because we are trying to prevent the urban sprawl that we call because we don’t like that because it increases all of the infrastructure, the cost and maintenance of stuff but the codes that have been put in place and the differences for people to buy a home is now better for us to build in the county so we are pursuing trying to build in the county more than the city mostly because of fees and because of other things like that and I just thought I would bring that up just as a reality of what is happening.

Jack Eakman, Member of the Public said I live in District 4. I propose a commonsense update to how to handle citizen participation in these chambers. Right now, every citizen gets exactly 3 minutes to speak regardless of whether the meeting lasts one hour or five hours. A rigid 3-minute stopwatch makes sense when the room is packed but it actively harms local governments when we have a light agenda and complex problems to solve. I am asking this council to amend its operating rules to allow the

City Clerk’s Office the discretion to extend public comment limit past three minutes under a clear merit-based framework. Specifically this extension should be granted when a meeting’s agenda is projected to run under three hours and when a resident is presenting on highly complex issues. This includes individuals bringing forth professional expertise in financial or technical matters or those presenting concrete policy recommendations to raise city revenue or lower our local taxes. If a resident has spent hours analyzing the city budget or has a professional background that can help this council save taxpayer dollars forcing them to rush through an arbitrary 3- minute clock deprives the city of valuable expertise. By letting the City Clerk manage an expert or topic-based time extension when the agenda is light we can transform public comment from a rushed formality into a powerful data driven resource for our city. I look forward to discussing how we can bring this rule change forward. And since

I have a few extra minutes congratulations on being the 13th best run city in the

United States for 2026, Provo, Utah came in number one, San Francisco is absolutely last. Go No. 13.

Fred Huff, Member of the Public said at the last city council meeting a gentleman talked about the homeless hanging out in the city park next to his house. In his talk he mentioned the fires these people had set in the park. I also see constant post on social media about other citizens fearing for their safety in city parks because of the homeless hanging out there all day and leaving their drug paraphernalia laying on the ground. As you well know I live next to the Burn Lake City Park and have been addressing these same issues for several years since the lake dried up in 2008 and the city abandoned the lakebed area. City crews finally rediscovered the abandoned unmaintained lakebed area last month and did a phenomenal job of cleaning it up and it should no longer be a magnet for these illegal encampments but now these vagrants are hanging out 24/7 in the three big shelters on the south end of the soccer fields there on Burn Lake City Park. I talked to the Park Rangers about this and they said there was nothing they could do if they do not set up a tent. I asked about recreation rules concerning park usage and they said they were unenforced. Here is just a few lines from the City of Las Cruces Muni Code. It is in Chapter 20, Parks and

Recreation Article II, Rules for Use of Parks, Section 20-29, permits for reservation of facilities A, required anybody desiring to reserve a park portion thereof or a park facility for exclusive use must obtain a permit from the Parks and Recreation

Department. Application, a person wishing a permit shall submit a completed permit application from the Parks & Recreation Department. And it is kind of interesting because in the Muni Codes it doesn’t really go into the details on those but if you go down the rabbit hole and if you go to the Parks & Recreation, you can now find the permit fees and a permitted exclusive use of the park area or a section is $50 per area, per section for 4 hours. So, a 24-hour day of 50, that is 6 times $50 is about $300 a day that these people should be paying for the use of these parks 24/7. But if they want exclusive use of an entire park or area, they can do a flat fee if they work that out so that is out under the Parks & Rec.

Tim Jenkinds, Member of the Public said it seems we find ourselves caught in a perpetuating cycle with no resolve or end in sight despite millions and millions of dollars being spent to combat the issue of our unhoused population. Right now, where we stand is nationwide New Mexico is #1 in the nation for the most sought thought out of any state by the homeless because of the New Mexico’s free incentives and

handouts to the homeless. The policies in place are driving this problem through the roof in our state right now. The system is broken and it needs to be overhauled. The steps we are taking are not resolving anything but rather making it worse and worse and it only makes it more apparent and more frustrating that certain members on the dais suggest that we are the problem and suggest that we are living in a utopia bubble where we get everything we want. From my side of the aisle, it is very clear to see that our officers and their resources are being stretched to their limits in every effort to combat this issue. I have witnessed time and time again in these last few months that we clean up entire encampments only to see them return a few weeks later. Not only return but return bigger and larger than before. I want to make something crystal clear here. This is not about a lack of compassion. Many of us care deeply about the people who are on the street struggling but compassion also means being honest about what is happening and addressing the root cause of this problem that is plaguing our community day in and day out. Every day we witness stolen property, stolen bicycles, and items in these encampments that came from all over our city. It feels like we take one step forward and five steps backwards. The biggest issue that seems to be ignored time and time again is the mental health crisis in our very own community. This issue can never be resolved by housing alone or by simply moving these people from one location to another and it will never be resolved by repeatedly cleaning out the same areas over and over again. The homeless issue in our community is being incentivized by the policies in place right now. I ask that you please turn your focus to address the actual root cause of this issue and work on getting a public camping ordinance in place as Albuquerque did to give our officers the tools, they need to combat this crisis. It is not fair to these individuals to continue to be held in shackles out on the street when the state rakes in millions and millions of dollars to combat this crisis with no end ever in sight.

Jim Hoerst, Member of the Public said since everybody else is griping I will give you my gripe for the day. When the skate park was closed, I was young and handsome, look at me now. If that is not a crisis, I don’t know what is. No, our city councilors are not responsible for the homelessness in this community. Homelessness is a national problem. We have a national housing shortage. We have a national shortage of mental health workers. We have a drug problem. So, we have drug problems, housing problems, and just people problems, 330 million of us, some of us just don’t fit in. That is the reality of the situation, and our society is getting harder and harder to fit in with.

So, populations mean that some people are going to be left out, those left out end up on the street. They are society’s problem not Las Cruces’ problem. we should be getting help from the feds. We should be getting help from the state. Homeless people migrate here because of our climate. They will always migrate here because of our climate.

4. ACCEPTANCE OF AGENDA City Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by City Councilor Michael

Harris, to accept the agenda as presented.

RESULT: Carried

MOVER: City Councilor Johana Bencomo

SECONDER: City Councilor Michael Harris

AYES: Mayor Eric Enriquez, City Councilor Cassie McClure, City Councilor William

Mattiace, City Councilor Michael Harris, City Councilor Johana Bencomo, and

City Councilor Becky Corran

5. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES 5.1 WORK SESSION OF MAY 11, 2026. 5.2 REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF MAY 18, 2026.

6. RESOLUTION(S) AND/OR ORDINANCE(S) FOR CONSENT AGENDA 6.1 RESOLUTION NO. 26-150: A RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF THE BUREAU

OF LAND MANAGEMENT AND NEW MEXICO STATE LAND OFFICE LAND

EXCHANGE. 6.2 RESOLUTION NO. 26-151: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF

LAS CRUCES (CITY) TO ACCEPT GRANT AWARDS FOR VARIOUS CITY

DEPARTMENTS THROUGH AN AMENDMENT TO THE CITY’S ADOPTED

FY2026 BUDGET.

7. RESOLUTION(S) AND/OR ORDINANCE(S) FOR DISCUSSION 7.1 RESOLUTION NO. 26-153: A RESOLUTION APPROVING A REAL ESTATE

PURCHASE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF LAS CRUCES AND

JOBE MATERIALS, L.P. FOR THE PURCHASE OF 19.914 ACRES OF

LAND LOCATED EAST OF THE EAST MESA SPORTS COMPLEX FOR

THE PURCHASE PRICE OF TWO HUNDRED EIGHTY-SEVEN THOUSAND

TWO HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS ($287,250). Dianne Bustillos, Real Estate Specialist gave the overhead presentation.

Councilor Mattiace asked can anybody explain why the difference and you knew you were going to get this question on the appraisals the$140,000? Was there a timeframe involved?

Dianne Bustillos said there was a timeframe, but it wasn’t by maybe 5/6 months. An appraisal is an opinion based on the appraiser so sometimes they can vary $100,000/$500,000. I have seen them vary $200,000, it is just based on the appraiser’s opinion. So, the parties met in the middle to have a negotiated price. City Councilor Becky Corran moved, seconded by City Councilor Michael

Harris, to Approve Resolution No. 26-153.

MOVER: City Councilor Becky Corran

ABSENT: Mayor Pro Tem John Munoz 7.2 COUNCIL BILL NO. 26-018; ORDINANCE NO. 3110: AN ORDINANCE

AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE AND SALE OF THE CITY OF LAS

CRUCES, NEW MEXICO GROSS RECEIPTS TAX IMPROVEMENT

REVENUE BONDS, SERIES 2026 IN AN AGGREGATE PRINCIPAL

AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $22,150,000 FOR THE PURPOSE OF (1)

PLANNING, DESIGNING, CONSTRUCTING, PURCHASING, FURNISHING,

EQUIPPING, REHABILITATING, MAKING ADDITIONS TO OR MAKING

IMPROVEMENTS TO PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND FACILITIES, INCLUDING

THE ACQUISITION OF LAND THEREFORE; (2) CONSTRUCTING,

RECONSTRUCTING, RESURFACING, REPAIRING OR OTHERWISE

IMPROVING STREETS OR ROADWAYS AND CONSTRUCTING DRAINAGE

IMPROVEMENTS; (3) ACQUIRING AND EQUIPPING PUBLIC SAFETY

VEHICLES; (4) FUNDING THE RESERVE FUND FOR THE SERIES 2026

BONDS; AND (5) PAYING THE EXPENSES RELATED TO THE ISSUANCE

OF THE SERIES 2026 BONDS; PROVIDING THAT THE SERIES 2026

BONDS WILL BE PAYABLE AND COLLECTIBLE FROM THE REVENUES

DERIVED FROM (1) A FIRST LIEN, BUT NOT AN EXCLUSIVE FIRST LIEN,

ON THE 0.3250% MUNICIPAL GROSS RECEIPTS TAX IMPOSED

PURSUANT TO ORDINANCE NO. 3072 AND (2) A SUBORDINATE LIEN,

BUT NOT AN EXCLUSIVE SUBORDINATE LIEN, ON THE 0.50%

MUNICIPAL GROSS RECEIPTS TAX REVENUES IMPOSED PURSUANT

TO ORDINANCE NOS. 385 AND 427; DELEGATING AUTHORITY TO THE

CITY MANAGER AND CITY FINANCIAL SERVICES DIRECTOR TO

EXECUTE AND DELIVER A PRICING CERTIFICATE AND BOND

PURCHASE AGREEMENT FOR THE SALE OF THE SERIES 2026 BONDS

TO THE PURCHASER. Adolfo Cardenas, Treasurer gave the overhead presentation.

Councilor Mattiace said I received a read out of facts from Ikani, City Manager and one of the lines say, net effective interest rate not to exceed 12%. What is the interest rate?

Adolfo Cardenas said it can vary based on the last one. It cannot exceed 12%. If I am not mistaken based on the last one it was between 3% and 5%. Again, for this one I do not know but I have our financial advisor.

Erik Harrigan, RBC Capital Markets said based upon current interest rates as of today the rate would be 3.2%. That is subject to fluctuation given the amount of the borrowing this requires a simultaneous financing with the New Mexico Finance

Authority. The New Mexico Finance Authority goes into the market, they sell their bonds and those rates get directly passed onto the City of Las Cruces. That sale is expected to occur on August 27 and at that point in time we will have locked in the interest rate and those interest rates will be locked in for the life of the borrowing.

Councilor Mattiace asked okay so basically in August when they go to market that will determine the rate? Do you have any idea?

Erik Harrigan said very challenging to tell obviously with the news over the weekend about a potential truce peace deal between the United States and Iran that can have a significant impact on where inflation goes and what happens with rates. The new

federal reserve chair is meeting this week and will obviously have sort of the first announcement of what the federal reserve does with interest rates. The anticipation is that the rates will be held steady, but what investors will be looking for is what is the commentary associated with after the meeting. Whether they anticipate rates to be cut later this year, increased later this year or remain the same. There is a lot of variables that will go into it. I think probably last week we were probably looking at generally looking at higher rates over the longer term that might have maybe stabilized a little bit but very challenging.

Councilor Mattiace asked when you say longer term, I noticed that this particular loan goes till 2041?

Erik Harrigan said I believe that is correct.

Councilor Mattiace asked so that interest rate when it is decided in August will that be changed on an annual basis? Can that come down or will that be for the entire term of the loan?

Erik Harrigan said that will be for the entire term of the loan. Now each maturity within the loan will have its own interest rate. That 3.2% is the average of all of the maturities for that borrowing. Similar to on a yield curve you are going to have slightly lower rates on a short end, you are going to have higher rates on the long end. Just the same with your bonds you know the bonds that are going to mature in 2027 are going to have going to have a lower interest rate than the bonds that are going to mature in

2041 but on average over the life of the borrowing based upon today’s interest rates it would be 3.2%.

Councilor Bencomo asked can you go over to the previous page? I didn’t see any of the specific numbers in the actual language of the resolution. Is that not necessary? I just also want to make sure that they are locked in.

Adolfo Cardenas asked are you referring to this split of 40% and 60%?

Councilor Bencomo said these specific numbers and their correlation of their projects.

I didn’t see them in the resolution.

Christine Rivera, City Clerk said those numbers were actually in the application which you guys already approved. City Councilor Becky Corran moved, seconded by City Councilor Michael

Harris, to amend Ordinance No. 3110 to change Section 17E and 20A3 to 200%.

City Councilor Becky Corran moved, seconded by City Councilor Michael

Harris, to Approve Ordinance No. 3110 as amended.

ABSENT: Mayor Pro Tem John Munoz 7.3 COUNCIL BILL NO. 26-023; ORDINANCE NO. 3115: AN ORDINANCE

AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION AND DELIVERY OF A WATER PROJECT

FUND SUBORDINATE LIEN LOAN/GRANT AGREEMENT BY AND

BETWEEN THE NEW MEXICO FINANCE AUTHORITY (“NMFA”) AND THE

CITY OF LAS CRUCES (THE “BORROWER/GRANTEE”), IN THE TOTAL

AMOUNT OF $1,969,331, INCLUDING A GRANT IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,772,398, AND A LOAN IN THE AMOUNT OF $196,933 EVIDENCING AN

OBLIGATION OF THE BORROWER/GRANTEE TO UTILIZE THE

LOAN/GRANT AMOUNT SOLELY FOR THE PURPOSE OF FINANCING

THE COSTS OF DESIGNING, CONSTRUCTING AND REPAIRING LAS

ALTURAS DEL SOL WATER STORAGE TANK AND BOOSTER STATION,

AND SOLELY IN THE MANNER DESCRIBED IN THE LOAN/GRANT

AGREEMENT; PROVIDING FOR THE SUPER SUBORDINATE LIEN

PLEDGE AND PAYMENT OF THE LOAN AMOUNT AND AN

ADMINISTRATIVE FEE SOLELY FROM THE NET SYSTEM REVENUES OF

THE JOINT WATER, WASTEWATER, AND GAS UTILITY SYSTEM OF THE

BORROWER/GRANTEE; CERTIFYING THAT THE LOAN/GRANT AMOUNT,

TOGETHER WITH OTHER FUNDS AVAILABLE TO THE

BORROWER/GRANTEE, IS SUFFICIENT TO COMPLETE THE PROJECT;

APPROVING THE FORM OF AND OTHER DETAILS CONCERNING THE

LOAN/GRANT AGREEMENT; RATIFYING ACTIONS HERETOFORE

TAKEN; REPEALING ALL ACTION INCONSISTENT WITH THIS

ORDINANCE; AND AUTHORIZING THE TAKING OF OTHER ACTIONS IN

CONNECTION WITH THE EXECUTION AND DELIVERY OF THE

LOAN/GRANT AGREEMENT. Adolfo Cardenas, Treasurer gave the overhead presentation.

Councilor Corran said I think is super interesting to me because I think where we get money given our prior conversation or immediate recent conversation. This is like the cheapest money we can possibly get to do work. I am wondering if you can talk a little bit about how we are eligible for this or where this money is coming from because it is an extraordinary resource and I would love to hear more .25% is as cheap as money can possibly get without being free. Thank you for pointing that out and if you wanted to share just a little bit that would be awesome.

Adolfo Cardenas said it is my understanding that the Water Trust Board is a board that helps decide which projects need funding. So, it is a board and they work together with NMFA to decide and yes it is basically this is principal payment only. It is

25%, just .25%.

Domonique Rodriguez, Assistant Director Utilities said when we are doing larger projects we like to go out for Water Trust Board. It is annual submission of applications. They do water conveyance, water storage that has moved recently to include waste water type projects that are also conveyance and the majority of it is grant more than the loan. We have gone out for other funding because it comes from the state like the drinking water state revolving fund. It is similar to this where it also has a 25% interest rate. So, we are going out yearly for these to see what we are able to secu.re and then come back with.

Councilor Corran asked is that a competitive granting process or is it like municipalities in New Mexico?

Domonique Rodriguez said it is from what I understand semi competitive. It is other municipalities through the state I believe that it does sometimes have colonias, everything kind of water systems that provide water throughout the state that then goes through a Water Trust Board, they then decide which ones, which projects move forward which ones don’t. Our application process includes, we do project scoping reports where we show everything that is needed for it in hopes that helps them make the decision to move our projects forward.

Councilor Corran asked tell us about how water towers as such, like this one address our system reliability and why that is fundamentally important? I just thought my water out of my tap was coming from this sometimes and sometimes not, it wasn’t until you all educated us really intensely that I learned about our systems pressurization and all of the things to how we use these tanks and they systems around them to make our system work.

Domonique Rodriguez said the water system is one a loop system and so we are connected in different ways we have different zones, there are different wells located in different areas of our system. Some wells pump water directly from ground water into tanks and then that in the tank holds the water and distributes to the different zones and that is important because we have different pressures because our system can start very low in the valley and then move up to the East Mesa. So, because a well is geographically located right next to a tank doesn’t always mean that is where that water is going. It depends on how our system is, how it is piped and where the water from that tank gets distributed to our customers. So, it is fun. It is a great system. I enjoy learning and going through all of it and so yes, all of it to provide water to every customer, every meter everywhere in our system that we want to make sure it is reliable and capacity is always met. City Councilor Becky Corran moved, seconded by City Councilor Michael

Harris, to Approve Ordinance No. 3115.

8. BOARD APPOINTMENTS 8.1 None.

9. NOTICE OF PROPOSED ORDINANCE(S)

1) There will be no public discussion.

2) A Councilor may ask staff for clarification on the proposed ordinance(s). 9.1 COUNCIL BILL NO. 26-024; ORDINANCE NO. 3116: AN ORDINANCE

AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION AND DELIVERY OF A $3,065,000 LOAN

AGREEMENT FOR FLOOD CONTROL INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENT

PROJECTS AND PAYING THE COSTS OF EXECUTION OF THE LOAN

AGREEMENT WITH SUCH LOAN AGREEMENT TO BE SECURED BY A

LIEN ON THE FIFTH QUARTER PERCENT INCREMENT OF MUNICIPAL

GROSS RECEIPTS TAX AND THE HOLD HARMLESS DISTRIBUTIONS

ASSOCIATED WITH THE FIFTH QUARTER PERCENT INCREMENT OF

MUNICIPAL GROSS RECEIPTS TAX. Council agreed to bring it forward.

10. CITY COUNCIL MEMBER BOARD REPORTS AND COMMENT 10.1 COUNCILOR MCCLURE I am not sure if I have one or two things. The first one is super handy given the light of public comment today makes my job just a little bit easier which I kind of like. Let me give you a little bit of background. So, the Juvenile Justice Continuum has been kind of seeing you know what, what can we do? What practical things can the board do?

What can we do with the outreach of the different organizations that attend and so we have been having some sort of discovery meetings I would say figuring out if whether or not the city should do RFP for the gun violence initiative, if we should work with

NMSU because agency to agency thing might it would be a little bit easier. We have reached out to the school of social workers. We had a really exciting offer for peer support of programing that they are doing, and it would be my request right now from the dais here is to see whether or not much like what was said over and over by the gal who spoke the first time. Kudos to her and she did a really good job and when somebody says oh man, I am nervous, I get you that is absolutely how I feel most of the time doing this. When people are brave enough to come and share that information I just want to give them their respect of yes we are working on it and I would love to see and this is my request officially for all of my colleagues up here is that we have one evening Work Session possibly in September and I will clarify that in a second at City Hall, sorry Mayor Pro Tem while I like the idea of having traveling

City Hall I think it does make it way harder for staff. I would like to see this advertised pretty heavily. I would like to see youth families here and tell us what they need, what they want to see, what they can support, what initiatives might be valuable for us to do here and so I guess that is the four things, evening meeting at City Hall, advertise heavily, in September partially because I was kind of excited to see the Las Cruces

Police Department is asking for the youth intervention, Prevention Intervention

Coordinator and that person will probably have a huge role to play in this as well but we want to invite all of these people who came to speak today, families, I would love to see this packed with people who are really interested. We could throw some pizzas in, I know our budget is tight. I will pitch in a couple of bucks for that myself, but I think if we can get that going, I know that one of the things when I was a younger mom, I would drag my kids to meetings like this and that is how we build communities. We build spaces like that in the ways that we can. So, I would very much like to ask my fellow councilors to see if they would agree to a meeting like that probably in

September. I think other councilors may have a couple of thoughts on that.

Mayor Enriquez said I will just add that I have already talked to the Clerk about having an evening meeting. We will try it. Definitely want it to wait till after July for the fiscal period but we can wait till September I think that would be good, Christine. We can shoot for an evening one and advertise it appropriately. 10.2 COUNCILOR MATTIACE Thank you for that support, Mayor. I would like to see some evening programs in

September if that is your earliest that is fine. Kudos for a compliment to Parks & Rec, I don’t think Steven is here, I think he left but anyway thank you for these laminated sheets, I think City Manager there were on my desk that gives the parks and recreational locations of District 2 and I guess there is one for each district. It is really helpful. I actually used it. Someone called me and wanted to know if we had a rec center and they just moved into Las Cruces, so I just went down there and read to them about the Frank O’Papen Community Center. I had the street and everything else and they thought I was, wow this guy is really on top of things.

The other thing I would like to share with the people, I got an article and maybe the public doesn’t know this, but I found out that the oil and gas industry provides 13.1 billion in state and local revenue and over 1.9 billion of this funding goes directly to capital outlay projects. You know we are going through all of these capital outlay projects so it is nice to know that the gas and natural gas and oil industry provide so much money. These local projects by the way if anybody is watching this council meeting, I hear that we have about 5 or 6 people on the website, but it includes roads, playgrounds, public records, libraries, fire stations, health clinics, and more. So that was a nice piece of information.

I just want to mention to Catrina if you could do marketing, I don’t know if you attract young people. Is there an age limit on the Leadership Program, Leadership Las

Cruces? Or is it any age? Can it be high school or young people? You have got the biggest class ever.

Catrina Godinez, Community Outreach Manager said normally for the Neighborhood

Leadership Academy it is adults, but we are not against taking 14- to 18-year-olds with the parents’ permission. I think that would be okay. We do have another program developing youth leaders where we have it during fall break and we want to bring in high school students. It is modeled against the Neighborhood Leadership Academy, but it is basically a weeklong class where the students come in Monday through

Friday and we are going to do that this fall in October.

10.3 COUNCILOR HARRIS I have a couple of things, one I want to remind everyone watching and listening that we are going to have over the rest of the summer lots of listening sessions for the strategic plan. We talked about it the last Work Session, so I wanted to put out that reminder to keep an eye out for those dates and to please participate and make your voice heard. Another thing speaking of strategic plan I think we were talking a lot about economic development and that was part of the report that we were presented last week and so I just want to remind everyone and maybe make an ask that as we are looking at economic development opportunities that we are trying to court industries that are productive and complimentary to our community and not strictly extractive and here to just take all the resources they can from us and then send it elsewhere.

I am also in favor of an afterhours Work Session. I think that is well in the works and

September seems fine although Catrina is going to try and plan a District 3 community meeting in September too. So, September might be getting full, that will be interesting to see. 10.4 COUNCILOR BENCOMO I certainly agree on the September meeting. I think that is a great idea and I just think generally in regard to that youth conversation, obviously we have been talking a lot about this since the Budget Retreat. I am really looking forward to hearing back from staff on how we plan out the $100,000 that was allocated for gun violence intervention program, and I think with a lot of these things I think it is important that we meet people where they are. I think it is important that we invite them here, especially not at

1 o’clock, especially in the evenings, to hear from folks and I think that meaningful engagement means meeting people where they are. Back when I was doing community organizing there is this principle that says the further you are from the issue the easier it is to philosophize about it and I think for what it is worth I think a lot of us on this dais are removed from the realities of young people involved in the justice system and we should be absolutely engaging with the folks who are on the ground directly working with justice involved youth. I always hesitate to say at risk youth because I believe all youth are at risk of any particular thing but for those who are already involved in the justice system I think it is important that we engage with folks like the experts that came here today to really allow us to one collaborate, work together and to be able to form programs that will actually work at improving the lives of young people in our community. I just want to say that and then yes Mayor I apologize for interrupting public comment. I absolutely know that that public comment is for the public for 3 minutes to come here and say whatever they would like, whatever they like is true and I do think that sometimes there is information that gets shared here that crosses the line. I think that spreading lies about the health pipes of an elementary school is dangerous and irresponsible and it should get called out as that. Whether it happens immediately or not I think that is up for debate. I just think it is particularly irresponsible and dangerous to allow that kind of information to leave with people here and if they are not tuning in for it to be corrected later on in the meeting and just for this particular conversation about Fairacres I had a direct conversation with Steve Rodriguez, the Chief Operations person at Las Cruces Public

Schools and he sent me an email, this was a while ago in April that said the most recent field investigation conducted on December 18, 2025 including an inspection at

the meter pit and documented the materials present on both the public water system and customer service lines. The findings confirm that no galvanized materials were identified on either the city service line or the customer service line. Okay you don’t want to trust our very competent Utilities’ team, this coming directly from the school and I just want to make sure again I don’t know how we navigate that kind of saying but it is just very dangerous information for people to leave here believing maybe true.

I just wanted to correct the record on that specific issue. 10.5 COUNCILOR CORRAN First, I wanted to thank Daniela from Communications and Kyle from Public Works for helping me out in addressing a question that a lot of residents have related to speed bumps, traffic calming, neighborhood traffic speeds. So thank you to both of you for helping us navigate that media inquiry and really an inquiry about how are we funding things but I think these conversations are really ongoing so it is really an interesting question to keep asking ourselves like what are we doing, how are we responding to constituents and how are we addressing needs of things like roads, neighborhood traffic calming, etcetera. So, thanks to both Kyle and Daniela for that. I also want to thank Catrina and Stephanie from the ASCMV for helping me do something that I have wanted to do for a long time which is plan a microchipping event in lieu of. In the past we have done a check your microchip event but this time in lieu of a community meeting or trying to figure out a way to make an impact on the community we are going to have an event where we can give people microchips and check your microchips on your pet before 4th of July since everyone shoots off illegal fireworks and their dogs even with their big fireworks show their dogs become loose and we see an enormous uptake of loose and unrestrained dogs around 4th of July so to try to address that issue at the root cause level since only about 15% of the animals that

ACOs actually have any identification we will be having a microchip event June 27th here at City Hall from 9 to 12. It will be really fun I promise that there will be chips, both microchips and I plan to bring a lot of chips, my favorite snack so it seems convenient to have both happening. I hope folks will consider checking in on their animals’ status to make sure they find their way home to them when they run away because of fireworks and then the other thing animal related that is not city sponsored but I do want to tell of my colleagues about it last year at one of the coolest events that I have ever attended in the city of Las Cruces and I go a lot of events and visit a lot of people, was a fashion show, the fashion was for the people just to clarify, I was confused when I first went. The fashion was by local designers with local models, and they all have animals from the ASCMV and it is a fundraiser for the ASCMV. That is happening August 1st, it is called Fashion for Hearts, and it is organized by an extraordinary woman named Naomi Morningstar Cruz, who is a model herself and who does jewelry design. So, I hope that folks will consider coming. It is a really cool event, and I am happy to share more information if you would like but on August 1st, I hope to see you there. 10.6 MAYOR ENRIQUEZ I just want to mention again with the public participation, ya we all know that it is their right to come and speak and I recall when the issue first came up we did a presentation where Steve came in and explained the situation and the testing and the regulations and everything that goes through. Some people just want to ignore the credibility and the work that our Utilities Department do to keep us safe and so we can bring it back if we have to. I don’t know the answer when these individuals that want

to come over and over and repeat the same thing, but I know that we as a city we have done our part to bring in the subject matter experts to come in and explain what is going on.

We recognize our baseball team here locally, the Mesilla Valley that won the State

Championship and we also recognized the youth group with Jamar Cotton and all of the things they are doing. I just wanted to give a kudos for this past weekend we had the 49th Annual Bob Ogaz Baseball All Star Game that took place this weekend. So, thank you for the Optimist Club. We brought in the all stars that are seniors in baseball throughout New Mexico that came and played three games, a baseball series and the Optimist Club is the one who puts this event together and also Las

Cruces Public Schools for their partnership and allowing the Field of Dreams baseball field to be used. So, there are some youth things that are going on and you know we have been doing it for years. We just need to find where those gaps are and continue to work because we can do better but there are some things that are taking place.

Also a shout out to our Parks & Rec Department, the East Mesa Public Recreation ribbon cutting was Friday, new playground equipment, a skate park, artwork, and basketball courts were all presented on Friday as the ribbon cutting and it was great to see and something that we are moving forward that we thank the voters during the

GO Bond session that allowed that sports complex to take place. So some good things happening and taking place for our youth in the community and also the pickleball courts, the baseball fields, the soccer fields, just for adults of all ages to partake and exercise and enjoy our outdoors but now we have a challenge and I look at City Manager, staff and even colleagues here on council is East Mesa Public

Recreation Center is really the project name. That has been the project name so maybe we need to start looking at how we name that complex and that is always a challenge but it is something that we look for the creativity and we look for input and ideas and thoughts and I think that is our little challenge that we have such a great place to go and enjoy in and what are we going to call it. Names are always tough but there is a lot of things in our desert and in our community, from animals to plants to the views too and there is so much that we can choose from, but it is still a challenge.

Let’s start thinking about it.

11. CITY MANAGER REPORT 11.1 IKANI TAUMOEPEAU None.

12. ADJOURNMENT 12.1 City Councilor Michael Harris moved, seconded by City Councilor Becky

Corran, to adjourn at 3:26 p.m.

MOVER: City Councilor Michael Harris

SECONDER: City Councilor Becky Corran

Mayor

City Clerk