City Council Meeting October 7, 2024 MINUTES City Council Monday, October 7, 2024 @ 1:00 PM City Council Chambers, City Hall PRESENT: Mayor Eric Enriquez, Councilor Cassie McClure, Councilor William Mattiace, Councilor Becki Graham, Councilor Johana Bencomo, Councilor Becky Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores ABSENT: 1. OPENING CEREMONIES 1.1 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE - MAYOR ENRIQUEZ. 1.2 PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES OF APPRECIATION/PROCLAMATIONS - MAYOR ENRIQUEZ. Mayor Enriquez recognized the winners of the Veteran’s Parade Poster contest. Councilor Bencomo presented Teresa Dean with a proclamation for the National 4-H Week. Councilor Bencomo presented Chantelle Yazzie-Martin with a proclamation for Public Art Month. Councilor Bencomo presented Gloria Carreras, Colleen Pullen, and Chantelle Yazzie- Martin with a proclamation for Domestic Violence Awareness Week. Councilor Bencomo presented Fire Chief Jason Smith with a proclamation for Fire Prevention Week. Councilor Bencomo presented Ellen Saige with a proclamation for Dyslexia Awareness Month. 1.3 JOBS OF THE WEEK. Sarah Raney, New Mexico Workforce Connections presented Jobs of the Week. 1.4 PETS OF THE WEEK. Carol Nielson, Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley presented Pets of the 2. CONFLICT OF INTEREST INQUIRY BY MAYOR AS REQUIRED BY LCMC SECTION 2-27 (E)(2) 2.1 None. 3. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 3.1 Donna Stryker, Member of the Pubic said the Legislative Session in Santa Fe in January 2025 is going to be another important opportunity for the City of Las Cruces. I know that this year we had new council members and new Mayor, and we weren’t quite maybe as prepared as we could be, and I would like to ask the council now if they could make a commitment to be committed to this coming Legislative Session in January 2025. It is super important. Thank you to Mayor Pro Tem Bencomo, I understand we have billions of dollars at the state level which is a little scary that they have all that money, and they are not helping us in many, many different ways. I am asking from the help of the council to have a plan of action and for the Legislative Session. I know we all have our pet projects and our passions and our stuff that makes our heart sing but if we could just be open to all of them. Businesses have continued to suffer losses due to vandalism and yet there is a program, and we have asked for the money, and we have submitted it, and we have not had that money forth coming. It is only $2,000 but that money is important to small businesses and if we could find a way to either get additional funding or an easier way to recoup the thousands of dollars that we have lost to repair businesses to our buildings. We do collect the GRT for the state and city and small businesses is the backbone of not only America but the city and the county. It still feels that somehow though we are the bad guy, and I believe that needs to change. People are leaving New Mexico due to crime, our education system, not being happy with local and state government. We need our businesses to be respected partners in the future of Las Cruces. Mental health, it’s the big white elephant in the room that we don’t want to talk about. We continue to not receive enough funding to provide facilities and staffing in New Mexico. What is the plan for Southern New Mexico to look at this? We need more police in Las Cruces. There is a current recruitment endeavor right now for the upcoming academy, but we have no permanent site for our academy. In order to attract candidates, it would be very helpful to have a safe and appropriate place for them to train. A city of our size needs an academy. All of us suffer if we do not have adequate police trained and educated. Competency is paramount to addressing the current situation in our state on the release in some case our violent offenders. There is going to be a pilot program address this week here in Las Cruces at the Courts Correction and Justice Committee this week. I am assuming and hoping that some of our councilors are able to be in attendance this week. And will any of you guys speak in January in Santa Fe? And last but not least, Bail Reform, it continues to be a roadblock to law enforcement, judges to help process those most in need of mental illness or drug addiction. It needs to be discussed at the state level. Let us know what we can do to help you for a change. I would like to know. Tell me. Gage Barnett, Member of the Public said I have been a resident in Las Cruces for roughly the past three years and today is October 7, 2024, marking the one-year anniversary of the ongoing genocide taking place in Gaza. I just wanted to remind this council that there is no crime for which the punishment is the death of your children. There is no crime in which the punishment is the death of your neighbors’ children. There is no crime in which the punishment ought to be genocide. One hundred and fifty-four days ago on May 6th, this council chose not to hear a resolution condemning the genocide in Gaza and so today I come here to speak once again and remind you that we live in New Mexico, home of the White Sands Missile Range where the weapons used to murder children across the world right now are being manufactured, where they are being tested, where drone pilots are being trained to kill children and to kill journalists who have nothing to do with any of this conflict. I want to remind this group that as we hear proclamations about domestic violence, about fire safety, about dyslexia and education that there is no recourse for the dyslexic children, for the people experiencing fire brought down from the skies upon them in their own homes across the world in Gaza and I want to remind us all that we are living through a genocide and we as New Mexicans are a part of that. We as Americans are a part of that and it is our responsibility to honor those who have been murdered for reasons that are entirely beyond their control. Trent Scribner, Member of the Public said I have been a resident here for 23 years. I have lived here my whole life. I am here today to remind you and the rest of the good people here that the issue of genocide is not beyond the scope of this council as many people like to say. It is not beyond the scope of the people of this city. In this little folder here, I have 600 pages of the names of Palestinian martyrs, most of them children, elderly people, women. The people killed and this doesn’t make up for the totalities and the casualties’ that I have got here. The people that are listed here were killed by American bombs, paid for by American money. What is going on in Gaza is not beyond our scope because it happens only with American consent. It only continues with the consent of American people and as such silence is complicit. I would like to take some time to read the names of some of the people killed. Trent read a list of names of the deceased. Vee Quevedo, Member of the Public said I am a resident of Las Cruces, and I will be continuing with this list of martyrs killed with US weapons, US diplomatic cover, our tax dollars, our complicity, our silence, our inaction. Vee proceeded to continue to read names of the deceased. Alexander Burning, Member of the Public said I will continue reading the list of some of the estimated hundreds of thousands of Palestinians killed in the past year to a council that voted to take a cease fire resolution off the agenda on May 6th. Alexander continued to read names of the deceased. Yovani Hernandez, Member of the Public said on May 6th you all voted to remove a ceasefire resolution from Las Cruces City Council’s agenda. With your vote you very clearly sided with Zionism, with the genocidal state of Israel and their ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and now an escalating war in Lebanon. Today I will take time to read some of the 40,000 names of the men, woman, and children who have been martyred over the past year of genocide. Bear witness and understand that your hands, your titles, and your hearts are stained with the blood of our siblings of Palestine. Yovani continued to read names of the deceased. Juan Garcia, Member of the Public said in a stunning display of disrespect of the democratic process the Democratic Party of Dona Ana in my opinion forted the will of the people of the 53rd House District. After Hill’s primary victory with 58% of the vote and leaving Madrid with 42%, Hill’s tragic passing on August 16th should have automatically elevated Madrid as the rightful successor. This is what respect for the voters and common sense would dictate in a true democracy but that is not what happened. Instead, a secretive group of seven unidentified party insiders orchestrated a backroom deal driven by ideological bias they rejected the centrist democrat chosen by the people and handpicked a person that never ran in the primary. This handpicked candidate who received zero votes from the community failed to submit financial disclosure forms on time yet in the eyes of this party elite this glaring lack of accountability means nothing. What matters most to them is ramming their own preferred candidate down the throats of the voter and now they have the audacity to suggest that this subversion of democracy represents “the will of the people”. This is a shameful affront. The principles of transparency, accountability, and respect for the voter’s voice. The people of the 53rd District deserve better then to have their choice callously disregarded in this manner. Early voting begins on October 8. The stakes this year could not be higher, and the choice is crystal clear. If you want to protect your family, your property, and your values you must act. Do you feel safe with the surge in violent crime? Are you comfortable with your son or daughter making a life altering decision at one of the life terminating/gender alignment centers better known as abortion clinics where babies with no names are terminated? Does the idea of your hard-earned wealth being redistributed sit well with you? Or taking your lawfully owned defensive weapon? These are the consequences of the policies supported by the incumbents. We did not get here by accident. We got here by citizens ignoring what these politicos represent. This election is your chance to make change. Vote for the candidates that will uphold the rule of law, defend your rights and preserve parental rights. Let’s secure a safer more prosperous future for ourselves and generations to come. The time to act is starting tomorrow. Lori English, Member of the Public said I live in the Dona Ana County and in Las Cruces for 24 years and I distinctly resent what just happened about the reading of the names. I am offended as a United States Marine and as a citizen of the United States of having any person or people accused of having blood on their hands for things that are totally out of our control. That statement being made, integrity. This is my statement to the council. Lack of integrity leads to hypocrisy. Lack of truth leads to disrespect and dishonesty. Lack of rules leads to chaos. Lack of laws leads to lawlessness. Lack of standards leads to double standards and what I am getting at is very clearly written in the state concerning placement of political signs. No individual political signs shall exceed 32 square feet in sign area. Political signs may be erected no sooner than 90 days prior to an election and this is from the City Council page. Political signs must be removed within 10 days after the election which doesn’t always happen. Political signs are prohibited to be placed in clear sight of triangular, in other words obstructing traffic patterns. There is a candidate, maybe even more in this county that is putting up, in fact they are in the state, putting up signs in front of other candidates opposing signs. They are putting up them up on city property. Political signs are only permitted on private property with the permission of the private property owner. I have had to remove two signs from a politician from my personal property that were in opposition to my candidates that I support, and signs are prohibited and this is the important thing, and signs are prohibited from government property, facility roadway medians, sidewalks, telephone or electrical poles or on roadway signs period. Basically, the city needs to take a little tougher stand on this and just not let it go willy-nilly, oh well it just happened. These signs need to be enforced this close to an election which is a very, very impactful election. None of this if it is good for the goose, it is good for the gander. I don’t care what party you are if you are violating the city ordinances then you need to be called on it. Your signs need to be removed. You need to stop putting signs up in front of your opposing candidate because you just don’t like what they stand for. Any decent politician should go by these rules that the city has imposed. Let’s get back to integrity in elections. Lucas Herndon, Member of the Public said I am a resident of District 2. I have lived in Las Cruces my whole life which is longer than 24 years. I want to thank the folks who read names to remind us of our complicity in the genocide happening in Gaza. I am here today though, and I wish I could stay to speak but like many Las Crucens, I have work during the day so I can’t usually come to these things, but I wanted to speak in support of the Mesilla Valley Community of Hope and encourage the city council to continue supporting that amazing organization. A very brief story, one time I was coming back from Hobbs, from work and just outside of Artesia is a small town called Hope and there was a man with his thumb out right underneath the city sign that said Hope and I thought well you can’t pass up a man standing under a sign that says Hope. As it was, he works in carnivals and Alamogordo is home to one of the carnivals that works here in Southern New Mexico, and he is a migrant worker. He is based more or less in Colorado but was coming down to work for the season, but it was still early. He didn’t have anywhere to go. We wound up having a really wonderful conversation. He wound up asking if I would not mind bringing him all the way to Las Cruces because he had heard that there was a really amazing facility here in Las Cruces that he could potentially get help in until he could get to Alamogordo when his job was going to start, that was the Community of Hope and from beginning to end that story is about hope. I have heard a lot of messaging from folks in this community recently that I would say is about despair. People have despair at having to see other people experiencing being unhoused. People despair at broken windows or stolen items as if those things have more value than what a person’s life is or what they are experiencing. Those are principles and attitudes that are rooted in fear and when we have a resource literally called the Community of Hope that does everything in their power to bring hope to people to get people homes and food and services, that is what we should be focused on, and we have it. I don’t know the will of the city council today, I just wanted to speak in support of that because as a resident of this city it is one of the things that I am most proud of that we do for our community and I am proud of that and I have been critical of this council and I have things that I would want us to do better and we are doing a good one here so please support it. Frank Lopez, Member of the Public said I want to thank you all for the work that you do, for serving on city council and Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem I think your work is not easy. It is very difficult. The sessions that I have attended I have heard harsh comments, critical comments, insults at times. What I want to talk about very briefly today is democracy and political violence. A few weeks ago, I learned that one our own elected officials received a death threat. I don’t know all the circumstances, but I think this is very, very serious but all of us need to ask ourselves if this is happening in our community, what are we doing about it? Research says that elected officials experience all kinds of abuse including insults, threats, and physical attacks and I have seen some in this room. Here are a few statistics regarding threats to elected officials. Since the presidential election in 2016, violence and threats to elected officials has increased exponentially. On a national level 43% of state legislators experience some form of threat, 18% of local elected officials experience some form of threat. Women office holders were three to four times more likely than men to experience abuse targeting their gender. These statistics do not have to be our statistics. When it comes to our community and our city the minute one person receives a death threat, we should all be concerned regardless of our political affiliation and that threat is an affront to all of us and to our democracy. As a former law professor, I often held deep conversations about the US Constitution and what it means. The Constitution is not just a document in Washington DC, it is something we live. One thing is certain threats and violence towards our elected officials tears away at our democracy and that includes the little town of Las Cruces. We cannot let that happen. We all need to ask ourselves what type of community we want for our children. I offer three suggestions, and I specifically call on elected officials, law enforcement, and the general public to consider these three things. First, create a plan of action to prevent and respond to election and politically related violence. Two, monitor and address misinformation. It is well established that misinformation contributes to political violence and third, promote a decorum of peace, integrity, and respect. I know that you have a message up on the screen, I feel we need to do more. Jorge Aguirre, Member of the Public said the first thing that I want to say is that I had the chance to look at the new sidewalks on North Main and they are very wide, and they make the city look very serious and like we take ourselves seriously and thank you very much for that. Number two, thank you for the people who came and talked about Gaza and reminds of this important topic that be are being complicit in and I am here to request two things I came to with the investment of a car centric infrastructure and prioritize and instead of network protected pedestrian and bicycle ways in conjunction with efficient public transportation. People hate cars and once you notice it you cannot unsee it. Everything is better with cars when cars aren’t around. Even car makers only show their new cars on empty roads on adds or the mountains or the desert but not in daily traffic. The speed, the danger, and the noise of car traffic are always among the top concerns of our citizens and cited as one of the top reasons why they oppose economic and population growth of the city and everyone else. Yes, we need more housing, yes, we need more higher density, multi-use spaces, yes, we need a more efficient public transportation system. We need better parks, we need better roads for people who do drive but we also need tax revenue to pay for it and we are not going to do with GRT, and we can do it if we stop subsidizing the automobile industry. Many citizens still think that driving is the most effective, efficient form of transportation because that is only because drivers don’t pay for the full cost of driving, which includes the use of space to park a vehicle for the majority of the day. When drivers don’t pay to park their cars the cost of that parking lot doesn’t go away but it gets billed into the cost of everything else including unused parking spaces. Did you know a parking spot costs $15,000 to $25,000 each. That includes the cost of housing, development, and retail, everything. So, everyone pays more so that the drivers can have a free parking space everywhere they go at any time. In the US it is estimated that we have about 8 parking spaces per vehicle. That is seven empty parking spaces that we put full of concrete or asphalt just to have it sitting empty most of the time. My request to you is that you introduce parking meters with viable pricing based on the demand. Get rid of parking requirements so that Las Cruces entrepreneurs can expand their restaurants or their businesses without the cap for parking and turn those empty parking lots into tax producing job centers and housing developments. Keeping parking lot subsidies represent a large opportunity cost for the city and for the citizens to bring additional tax revenue through profitable new developments and prime land, businesses, housing developments, apartment complexes, even retail sales tax that could allow us to have the money to pay for better roadways for people who do drive. William Gilman, Member of the Public said I am a Las Cruces resident, a small businessman in town. I came to talk about the Realize Las Cruces zoning changes that are under proposal. If people have not heard about them, you should take a look. I understand there is a lot of fear and anxiety about that so I wanted to talk about that. The changes to the zoning are going to increase property values across the city. I live in the Copper Stone Apartments, unfortunately. Unfortunately, because of the rampant price gauging in rents that are happening all across the nation and our city. Anytime I want to go anywhere, if I need to go get groceries, if I need to go to a pharmacy, when I need to go do anything, go hang out with friends, or do anything I have to get into a car. We have to stick this baby in a car seat, and she doesn’t like it. There are no services that I can walk to in my neighborhood and so people look at this proposal and say oh my God, if businesses could open up just down the street what if a cannabis shop opens up next to me or a brothel or a heroin dispensary? There is a tendency to think about what could go wrong that is like a human nature. The worst-case scenario. Let’s talk about what could go right. What if down the street there was the coffee shop. So, you walk down the street to the coffee shop and as you walking you see your neighbors doing the same thing or just being all out and about. You stop to talk to them. It also promotes a sense of community and a sense of neighborliness that makes neighborhoods safer and more valuable. Zillow, if you look on Zillow ever has a thing called walkability rating and bike ability rating and low and behold properties that have higher numbers are generally more valuable. So, I think that is what we should do is think about what goes right with this proposal. What if every time you got out of your car you thought what if I could just walk there. What if I could just put this baby in the stroller and just have a nice leisurely walk instead of having to circumnavigate the globe. So, I encourage people to look into that and think about what could go right with this proposal. I have a little time left which is uncommon. Let me say thank you to the people who came to talk about Gaza. I hear people talking about the babies without names being murdered in abortion clinics but what about the babies with names. This baby is not yet one and I should not have to ask people to imagine a bomb going off, but the bombs don’t care how cute the baby is. Dana Hopkins, Member of the Public said I am a resident of District 4. I want to thank our remarkable young folks who spoke out about the genocide in Gaza and I support everything that they had to say but I came here in support and appreciation of Community of Hope and to ask our city council to continue to do as much as we can to support Community of Hope. These are our neighbors and there is so much work to be done. Community of Hope is doing a remarkable job. I am a healthcare client at Amador, so I am around there relatively frequently. I can see how busy they are. I can see how much good work they are doing. It can be seen all over our community. Why anybody would not support this I find it hard to comprehend but I just wanted to be here to speak out and say thank you and please continue to support Community of Hope. Rick Reynaud, Member of the Public said I am a lifelong Las Cruces resident. I am here to talk about NMSU. There is an article in the News Break, entitled Las Cruces Parents Call for End to NMSU President Search, 19th of September 2024. It is still valid because selected President Ferme and now this is his problem. There is a curious and uneasy dance ongoing today between NMSU and the Las Cruces Parent’s Group who fought the Las Cruces Public School Equity Policy JBC in 2021. NMSU has continuously refused to apologize to the parents for their own equity professor’s racist tinged email characterizations discovered during this time frame. It was an attack on Las Cruces parents. A racial attack on whites and Hispanics who wouldn’t go along with cultural proficiency and the anti-white nonsense. Background on this, in the spring of 2021 Las Cruces parents fought the eventual passage of LCPS policies of JBC Equity. We had successfully stopped policy JBC after it was initially signed in April 2021. The board had to unceremoniously unsign it and start over. What we did find in 2021 was an active civil rights violation factory. Urgently needed help the LCPS administration called in NMSU equity professors department personnel for backup as the restart of the policy process. It is during this time frame in 2021 that we requested email communications of key NMSU personnel including the president provost and regents. Startling emails driven with disdain toward Las Cruces parents were found. We were called racist both Hispanic and Anglo because we wouldn’t go along with the cultural proficiency and anti-white nonsense. We sent NMSU regents and leadership an acknowledgement email September 30, 2023, a year ago and again on July 30, 2024, about two months ago. No reaction, no answer. We are asking NMSU for written apology to the Las Cruces parents and specific corrective actions. Acts must include the best institute must revert back to an unbiased history institute instead of a fighting offenses in history institute. Back to the borderland institute, no more best. No DEI, no Agenda 25, no Office of Institutional Equity and all actions done by that office since July 19th to be relitigated. We have letter to be sent to LCPS to be sent soon asking them to rescind policy JBC and all race identity talk forever. Jim Hurst, Member of the Public said lots of things have been said today and I feel I need to address. First off, Palestine and Israel as far as I can tell if there is a God he gave the same piece of land to two different people groups. It has not worked out well and I don’t know if it ever will. Apparently, God was trying to teach them how to live together in peace and the whole lesson failed. As far as the best I can tell. I don’t know how to solve it. They are going to have to figure it out or they are going to have to go on doing whatever it is they are doing, and I don’t know when they will stop. As far as the election nearing talk, we heard from the CCIA. I have tried not to do election hearing talk here, but the democrats are free to choose their own candidate. We had a primary process. The candidate died. The party selected the person or the persons who would make a decision like that in an emergency. This was an emergency. We couldn’t plan on the death of our candidate. So, we chose, and I was not one of those who chose but we chose the person we felt John would want and we knew who John would want because John said who he would want and that is our candidate and that is who we are running, and we are going to win. George Pearson, Member of the Public said I am Vice President of VeloCruces a local bike/ped advocacy organization and also Chair of the MPO Bicycle and Pedestrian Facility Advisory Committee. NMDOT has told us that they will be opening grant applications for the transportation alternative program and recreational trails program in November. The TAP in our RTP Grants have less than a 15% match requirement making this almost free money. Grant applications are open on a two- year cycle. To the best of my knowledge the city has not applied for TAP or RTP monies since before the pandemic. TAP has previously helped fund bicycle facilities on Madrid and Walnut and RTP was awarded to create a trail between the Convention Center and the Main/Idaho intersection. However, with the huge increase in construction costs after the pandemic this trail was cut back to about half. A November call for projects means that the city must move quickly to make grant applications. I am here today to ask that the city take advantage of these almost free monies to help improve active transportation in Las Cruces and a couple of other people that have already spoken about the need for active transportation. Maybe an RTP application to complete the original trail idea from the convention center from Main and Idaho. Maybe a big idea like solving the railroad crossing at the outfall channel. Solve some connecting problems like the Mesilla drain trail through Burn Lake so that you can safely get to Lake Side Drive. I would like to leave it to council and staff to select the projects but please don’t let this grant cycle pass by without making an application. These are competitive grants so it is not assured that the city would receive these fundings but without making an application failure is guaranteed. Other speakers are talking about the need for this. Just a general idea, ownership of a car is recognized as costing about $10,000 a year. Imagine if you have a two-car family. If you could remove one of those cars and then that money could go to the family instead of supporting that car and everything involved with that mode of transportation. Veteran Chavez, Member of the Public said I am going to talk about what is happening in Gaza. It is unfortunate what is happening there and as I have told you guys before war is hell and I have been in that part of the world serving this great country and I will continue to serve this great country, and I will continue to defend the citizens of Israel and the IDF. Now let’s talk about what happened. Who invaded Israel on October 7th? Why did they invade them? What did Israel do to them? It was Hamas, a terrorist organization. They don’t talk about the 101 hostages that are still in Gaza right now. They don’t talk about the 26,000 missiles, drones and rockets that have been fired at Israel from Hamas, from Hezbollah and from Iran. So, they talk about the US funding rockets for Israel and ammunitions, but they don’t talk about who is funding Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthi, Iraq. It’s Iran. So that is where the buck needs to stop is with Iran. Twenty-five hundred innocent Israelis were killed on October 7th. Six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust. Let’s not forget that. That was a genocide. My uncle who died serving in World War II, I had two other uncles that served in World War II, one served in Korea, not to mention other relatives, his unit was one of three units that liberated the Dachau which was one of the Israeli concentration camps in Munich in 1945. So, my family has a long history of serving our country and serving in the military. They read the names of apparently innocent Palestinians that were killed but they don’t read the names of the terrorist that attacked the Israelis. Why don’t they read those names? And there is no such place as Palestine. It is called Judea Samaria and it is called Gaza. As it says in Genesis, those who bless Isreal will be blessed, those who curse Israel will be cursed. Stephen Conn, Member of the Public said I am a 40-year resident of Las Cruces on and off. I have been here a while. Just three local points I would like to make. One I address this to the council and all attendees here that burglaries are up in the city. My old family house in Las Alturas was hit in late July. The Deputy who took my report said they get calls out there all the time, please I urge you, I put this on Facebook Community Watch. Leave lights on at night, even when you are on vacation leave a vehicle in front of your homes until we get police recruitment up around here. We really have to look out for each other. Tell your neighbors, your kids eyes open for strange vehicles. I don’t know what the cause is, the cannabis increase, who knows but it is serious. Point two, I like that I see a sign out there for the youth YMCA, where the old Video 4 use to be. I am glad it is finally going to happen. I am just wondering what other businesses can we get out there to turn El Paseo around? Like a dozen years ago it was kind of a nice main drag and now it’s mostly kind of a rundown closing cannabis slum. It is kind of dark and dangerous at night. Is there any way we can just get more anchor businesses there, especially on upper El Paseo towards downtown. It just looks kind of awful. Third point is that sort of speaking to the gentleman talking about walkability in the city. If anyone is interested in approaching me, I am really interested in getting kind of a tree growing initiative in Las Cruces because anyone knows these summers around here, it’s not like ten years ago we are getting 103 degree four month straight summers. It is really hard. If we had more trees to eat some carbon, we would be in really good shape. Seriously by Foster, by the Family Clinic you could put up plenty of trees there. If anyone would like to speak to me interested in just planting of trees initiative, we could get something together that would be great. 4. READ CLOSED MEETING STATEMENT 4.1 READ SEPTEMBER 30, 2024 CLOSED MEETING STATEMENT INTO THE RECORD. The Las Cruces City Council met in closed session and only discussed those limited items as stated in the posted notice: 1. To discuss pending litigation regarding Lopez, Erik v. City of Las Cruces, ET AL.- D-307-CV-2023-00780, which is closed pursuant to NMSA 1978, Section 10-15-1H(7). 2. To discuss pending litigation regarding the City of Las Cruces ET Al v. United States of America, American Linen ET AL, Case 2:17-CV-00809-JCH-GBW, which is closed pursuant to NMSA 1978. Section 10-15-1H(7). 3. To discuss pending litigation regarding the Estate of Teresa Gomez, ET AL. v. City of Las Cruces, ET AL 23CV952, which is closed pursuant to NMSA 1978, Section 10-15-1H(7). 4.2 READ OCTOBER 7, 2024 CLOSED MEETING STATEMENT INTO THE RECORD. The Las Cruces City Council met in closed session and only discussed those limited items as stated in the posted notice to discuss bargaining strategy preliminary to collective bargaining negotiations between the policymaking body and a bargaining unit, which is closed pursuant to NMSA 1978, Section 10-15-1H(5). 5. ACCEPTANCE OF AGENDA Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to accept the agenda as presented with the removal of item 7.1 for discussion. RESULT: Carried MOVER: Councilor Johana Bencomo SECONDER: Councilor Becky Corran AYES: Mayor Eric Enriquez, Councilor Cassie McClure, Councilor William Mattiace, Councilor Becki Graham, Councilor Johana Bencomo, Councilor Becky Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores 6. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES 6.1 REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 3, 2024. 6.2 WORK SESSION OF SEPTEMBER 9, 2024. 6.3 REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 16, 2024. 7. RESOLUTION(S) AND/OR ORDINANCE(S) FOR CONSENT AGENDA 7.1 RESOLUTION NO. 25-039: A RESOLUTION APPROVING A COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF LAS CRUCES AND JARDIN DE LOS NINOS (JARDIN) FOR THE JARDIN DE LOS NINOS ROOF REPLACEMENT PROJECT AND AMEND THE FY2025 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROGRAM (CIP). Councilor Bencomo asked as I was reading through this, I saw that the total for the project is $800,000 and correct me if I am wrong from what I read it seems like the project right now has $528,000? Raymond Burchfield, Housing and Neighborhood Services Program Specialist said at that time when I did the initial PowerPoint the estimate that I had was $800,000. We have since got an updated estimate of $650,000 that I got. That is a rough estimate at this point. With this resolution we will provide $278,500 in Community Development Block Grant money in conjunction with $250,000 of State Capital Outlay that they have already procured, and they have request in for further State Capital Outlay. It is a city owned building and that is where we are right now. Councilor Bencomo asked for the remainder of the cost then what is the plan? Raymond Burchfield said other than requesting further state funding, so far, the city has not thrown any money in it. It is a city owned building. That is at your discretion but past that I do not know where. Councilor Bencomo said I appreciate you saying that. I think that it really important. Jardin de Los Ninos is an organization that provides really critical and important work in our community and as you said they are currently in a city owned building. I would hate to put any of that responsibility on their tight budget already, so I hope that is not the plan. I don’t know Ikani, our City Manager what the plan is for that, but I think because it is a city owned building. You know that if Jardin de Los Ninos ever left that is still our building so what is the care that we are putting towards it. Especially at a place that cares for children. I know that obviously things are tight, but I would like for us to take some responsibility for the remainder of that. I don’t know if we need to do that today, but I just at least wanted to name that. Councilor Flores asked the amount that is remaining, what is it that this resolution would do if it had remained on the consent agenda? Raymond Burchfield said this resolution is just to approve the Community Development Block Grant Agreement to approve the CDBG money for this particular project. Councilor Flores asked this amount is how much? Raymond Burchfield said $278,500. Councilor Flores asked how much is needed to complete the project? Raymond Burchfield said right now the estimate is $650,000 total. Councilor Flores asked what would you do with that $250,000? Would you invest it? Would you start on the project? Natalie Green, Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization Administrator said we will work with Jardin to help find the additional resources. CDBG does have a long expenditure period. Our agreement is up to two years. We are working with Public Works right now. So, the project is in design so that we can finalize that total cost and so once we know that we can start to look at some gap financing. I will note that under the lease agreement the replacement and maintenance of the roof is the responsibility of the city. Jardin has done their piece, right? They have secured almost 81% of the funding. So, we will continue to work with them to design the existing budget or look for additional resources. Should we need to reprogram funds we would come back for an action plan. We don’t like to reprogram money but that is potential should we not be able to expend these funds within the compliance period required by HUD. Councilor Flores asked how long will it take for the $300,000 that would have to be found somewhere? Natalie Green said depending if the additional source in Capital Outlay it could take anywhere from one to two years, but we would defer to Public Works on their timeline. Councilor Flores said I think Jardin de Los Ninos is something that we really have to protect and make sure that it continues for those services. I would hate to see it close down because there is a flaw in the building which could be a safety issue. It is the first childcare center that provides holistic services for the entire family, and it is absolutely fabulous. Other childcare centers for profit would institutionalize that we would have very happy children and probably a happy world. Councilor Mattiace asked when was this roof to be done? Are we behind on the maintenance of this building? Raymond Burchfield said I know that we have been patching it. The building is over 20 years old. Thing was built late in the 1990’s and as far as the schedule for a scheduled replacement I would have to defer to Public Works for that. Councilor Mattiace said my point is that I come back into the government, and I see a lot of things not maintained. I see our parks not maintained. The recreational fields not maintained. I see buildings not maintained and now another building not maintained. As a city I don’t know where we are throwing all the money, but we really should maintain what we have and we should take care of this program and this building. Somehow maybe Ikani, the City Manager, Mayor, and the council could just fast track this and get the roof fixed. Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to Approve Resolution No. 25-039. 8. RESOLUTION(S) AND/OR ORDINANCE(S) FOR DISCUSSION 8.1 RESOLUTION NO. 25-040: A RESOLUTION APPROVING AN AMENDED SERVICE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF LAS CRUCES (CITY) AND MESILLA VALLEY COMMUNITY OF HOPE (MVCH) FOR THE EXPANSION OF THE HOMELESS OUTREACH PROGRAM AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SIGN SAID AGREEMENT ON CITY'S BEHALF. Isaac Holguin, Housing Development Specialist gave the overhead presentation. Councilor McClure asked can we get a detail on long term outcomes by some of the people who are going to be engaged in these services and also what the team is going to look like when this kind of comes into fruition? Nicole Martinez, Director of Mesilla Valley Community of Hope said the outcomes in the city grant started and we were already doing this with the program, we already have the team. So, it is four people, they are all here. The goals that we have for this program are basic street outreach like if you look it up in terms of where it is being practiced throughout the US it is to provide referrals, option for shelter, ties to housing, hygiene, safety, education and so that is what the goal is. Our team is going out and engaging with at least 100 people. You can tell that just within this first quarter that we have already engaged with 128. Last year was two-hundred and something because we had 2 people going out partnering with law enforcement. This really was spurred collaboratively between the City of Las Cruces and Community of Hope. We would often get calls from city councilors saying hey there is somebody off of Telshor can you please go up and outreach to them? Do they know about Community of Hope? Do they know how to get food? The people who are working at Community of Hope are not just expendable like that. Like if someone were tied to a certain program, are they Veteran? Are they enrolled in this housing program? Like we had said we would really love to be able to just respond to a flexible service provider and so it was built in in tandem with Mano y Mano as well and also to go out and do outreach with people so also part of the goals is to offer those referrals and education and hopefully into tenancy of Camp Hope until they can get housing as we are trying to go from unsanctioned encampments around the community. We feel like those outcomes are still to provide a service to a certain number of people and to make sure we are letting people know about the resources at Community of Hope. Many of them we do bring over to Community of Hope. Some may not be appropriate during that particular time, but we continue to provide outreach in terms of staff is doing coordinated assessments there. Getting them enrolled and on to that housing waiting list out in the field as well. Right now, during the summer it is just some basic safety life and death things. We were handing out waters and things like that so in really inclement weather and we will continue to do that into the winter as well. Councilor McClure asked in terms of the day shelter what it looks like, is there in a way if somebody comes to you as an emergency need, what flexibility do you have in being able to offer something for that evening or something that meets that kind of immediate? Nicole Martinez said if someone shows up at the shelter, they can access the basic services there. If they need to take a shower, use the restroom, get water, do laundry. They can do those immediately. Accessing housing takes quite some time. Our housing list is really long and also there is a waiting list for Camp Hope. It just depends on what our tenancy looks like at the time, but it can be quite some time until they can get overnight shelter. In those cases, we are referring to our partner across the street, the Mission to see if they have vacancies there but it can be in terms of overnight that can take some time. Again, it depends on the grants. Certain grants allow us to do certain things for certain populations. Overall, the emergency overnight is limited. Councilor McClure asked primarily when you have to address sort of detox situation, where do you kind of send them right now? Nicole Martinez said if somebody is asking for detox, in fact we had that happen recently and somebody on the labor team approached the supervisor and asked for help and wanted to get some assistance. I can’t remember the name of the referral we made but we got him in there. So, we will immediately start calling around and figure out where we can place somebody. Looking at things like do they need to go the ER first, can they go straight into services? Is Amador Health Services an appropriate place for them? They are a recovery team. We will just start calling around and access those resources and I just heard, and I had just heard the after of that they were so proud that they got somebody into detox today and that was great. So, making sure that is also an extension of that referral process. Councilor Mattiace asked how much of the funding will go to Mano y Mano of what you are receiving today? Nicole Martinez said from my understanding this is just for the outreach team. So, it does not go to Mano y Mano. Councilor Mattiace asked you had mentioned it but it will not help the Mano y Mano program? Nicole Martinez said financially no but they do go out together. Mano y Mano has its own funding budget from the City of Las Cruces. So, they do receive their own funding. This is just for the outreach team. So, if Mano y Mano is picking up an encampment, then we have outreach team working with the people there. Councilor Mattiace asked I hear that you are participating/collaborating with the LIGHT Program with the Fire Department? Nicole Martinez said, when necessary, we do that. Often times the LIGHT Team is initiated if it is through 911 calls or sometimes our staff is just responding to people. Maybe it has not escalated to that point and if it does and then yes, we are actually or definitely relying on our partners at the Fire Department, LIGHT Team. A lot of times we work with the LCPD Community Outreach Safety Officers and the Codes Officers as well if we are going around town to provide outreach to people. Councilor Mattiace asked maybe you could share with me, I noticed the numbers they seem to be increasing, an increase in the unhoused? Are you finding that to be true or is it decreasing? Nicole Martinez said we have seen an increase in numbers. I think that there a quite a few things happening. Data shows that when you have places where you have rents rising and you have low vacancy rates which the city of Las Cruces does you are going to have more unhoused people. Also, we have been providing a lot more services than we did before. We have had some funding boosts. Like we didn’t have an outreach team before, now we have an outreach team. We didn’t have certain grants that were part of Opioid Settlement Funding, rental assistance. We also really expanded our Mano y Mano outreach team and so we have way more people coming to Community of Hope asking for help. Before we were saying no way more times than we were able to say yes now. Helping people with income, helping people get housing, helping people get shelter and so we are absorbing those numbers as to before we weren’t because we didn’t have the services necessary, we didn’t have them at the capacity that we needed. Councilor Mattiace said I know that I have requested that you have a full day with me on a tour to go through everything you do, Camp Hope, and I hope that comes up pretty soon. I am waiting for your call but are you happy and satisfied with Camp Hope? There is acreage right next to Community of Hope, the city owns it, five or six acres. Why don’t we jump to a better idea you know with private enterprise? I have seen it in different cities where they have mobile units, small little 800/1000 square foot homes. Have we even put that out there that we could make it look better, kinder and have better control over it? Or are we just going to continue year after year of just being satisfied with Camp Hope? Nicole Martinez said I wish we didn’t have to have Camp Hope. I wish everyone had housing, but I think that it has been successful in sheltering people, keeping people safe, keeping people close to infrastructure, to bathrooms, to trashcans, to housing, to all the services that they need, and we have done it in a way that has been compassionate and affordable. It has also been a model, I don’t know if you have picked up a paper lately and orderly and cleanliness. Again, I would really like for you to come visit Camp Hope. Councilor Mattiace said I spend a lot of time down there because my daughter works at the clinic, Lauren Mattiace, she is at the Amador Clinic. Her opinion is important to me being a nurse practitioner, she thinks it could be better and so maybe we can make it better. I am willing to make things as to where there is results. Councilor Cassie had a good point, in other words we are missing some things like emergency shelters. Maybe a triage center. Maybe we need shelters to be open to take care of the ones who have mental issues. It seems we just keep doing things half fast and I would just like to do it fully. Nicole Martinez said if I could just finish the housing piece. We are doing just 50 units of affordable housing, so we do feel that Camp Hope is one piece of the continuum of caring for people who are living outside. Housing is our goal. So, if we could get Amador Crossing built. It is 50 units that will go right there. There is still room to even add more. Maybe mobile units would be something applicable in the future but we know that it won’t house as many people as an apartment complex will and right now we have a real shortage as we all know so we would love to get the biggest bang for our buck and so we do have plans to do more but again Camp Hope has been a shining star I think and like I said it has kept people really safe and that is what we will continue to do until we have enough housing to absorb everyone. Councilor Mattiace asked I know you serve on a board, correct? You were in Dallas, Texas, I believe with Mr. Curry? Nicole Martinez said I do. I serve on the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas Affordable Housing Advisory Committee and New Mexico Housing Trust Fund Committee which I just missed my meeting today. Councilor Mattiace said I was just thinking if we could spend some time with private enterprise people like Steve Lohman who is building some shelters for the Mescalero’s at the reservation and it seems that he got 40 or 50 units done at a cost of a million dollars, $1.4 million and $4 million I think was the total amount. Are there any opportunities that we could get more bang for the bucks? Nicole Martinez said I think there is always opportunity, and we will continue to look for that. Councilor Bencomo said I just want to read a little bit, something from the Santa Fe New Mexican and I am happy to send you some links to everybody but it is important to get news from lots of places not just Facebook Community Watch and so I wanted to just read this from the Santa Fe New Mexican. This says, Becky Guiterrez lived on the streets for several months before a spot opened up at Camp Hope more than a year ago. She said she became homeless when, “everything went wrong with my finances all at once”. She appreciates the camp for the sense of security it gives her. She is one of several residents who said they prefer being in the camp to being on the streets. It is safer here than out there Guiterrez said. It can get scary, said Diana Torino. You don’t want to be on the street at all, Torino and her dog Tesha were at Camp Hope for the second time after she left the rental property amid disputes with her landlord. She didn’t mind being back. It is pleasant she said. It is a good steppingstone to moving forward again. They got rules and that is fine. Follow the rules and everything is okay. I just wanted to read that because I think it is so important that we sort of zoom out from the misinformation and the disinformation that often exists on social media and sometimes we get emails and we like oh this must be true. Some of the real data comes from asking people who get services at Community of Hope and who live at Camp Hope. That kind of qualitative data also matters. It matters deeply actually for how then we come here and invest in these kinds of resources like Jardin de Los Ninos who also supports homeless and nearly homeless children and families and so I just want to express the gratitude to all of you. I am proud to continue to support programs like the outreach team so thank you. Veteran Chavez, Member of the Public said as Mr. Mattiace was saying, he makes a good point about these mobile units. We have plenty of those units in Iraq and we lived in those units, and they were actually pretty good. The only problem with that is that they weren’t good when missiles and rockets came in and it affected us. We had community showers and so it worked pretty good. In Afghanistan we had connexes. We had two story connexes. So, you had the bottom floor, we had two people per connex and then up on the second level we had like two people. We had like 30 connexes and that was what, 60 people? And we used AC units, heating and cooling units that they used on top, and they worked good. So, if there is an issue with space in those five acres you can put some mobile units and stuff there. Now it is going to cost. I don’t know if it is better to use permanent housing versus this but for temporary it would work pretty good. I don’t know how much those mobile units cost but you go to Cosco and I think they sell these little homes for $4,000 t0 $5,000 so it is something to think about. Gage Barnett, Member of the Public said I live here in Las Cruces. I want to speak in support of Community of Hope and the work that they do, and I think the outreach program is one of the most important things that this organization does and I think the more staff they have on it the better and the reason for that is that Las Cruces being here in Southern New Mexico we have incredibly unpredictable weather, we have incredibly strong heat waves. It is a dangerous place to not have access to shelter and what the outreach team does is they go to places where people may not have access to those services otherwise and they can bring them in. They can get them water, they can get them those showers. I moved here about three years ago in the fall of 2021 and when I first moved here, I was coming in as a student and was having a hard time securing housing. I was a young person. I didn’t have much of a credit history. I ended up spending my first week in New Mexico living in a tent with everything I owned in the back of my car up at Leasburg Dam State Park and that was terrifying. I had a pretty good tent, and I was a camper, an avid outdoorsman at the time. I knew my way around navigating the environment and I still really struggled and that was for week and that was a week knowing that I would have a place to go at the end and so what the outreach team does is they take people who don’t have access to that kind of hope, and they give them that security. They bring them in. They get them the resources that they need. I volunteer for an overdose prevention hotline and one of the things that we really struggle with when we communicate with people is that they want to get services, and they can’t because they don’t know where they are. They don’t know where those services are. They don’t have access to internet. Las Cruces is a place that doesn’t have 24/7 facilities that are open to the public right? If you are stuck in the middle of the night and you don’t have a place to go you don’t have a way to get access to Wi-Fi, you don’t have a way to access to a place to charge your phone. Las Cruces is a place where you need to have these services, and I think what Community of Hope is doing is they are providing exactly that. They are providing that hope for people. They are bringing people in. They are helping them do the things they need. Get access to the services they need, that they want. The most important thing that we as a community can do for our unhoused folks is no matter what the circumstances are that led them to the position that they are in, it is our responsibility to bring them back to let them know that they are part of our family, no matter what their situation is, no matter what their story is and Community of Hope is doing that. This increase in funding will help us bring our community back together. It will help bring those folks who we need to wrap our arms around them, and it breaks my heart to know that there are people who don’t have access to these services when they are right there. It breaks my heart to know that there are services that we know how to provide but we don’t have the funding for them. I strongly support this resolution because it will help our community, and it will help the people that we love. Trent Scribner, Member of the Public said I come here in part to support the resolution for the Community of Hope. As someone who works with the elderly people. I am a caregiver now. I work with elderly people, VA clients especially who are bordering homeless. Las Cruces has had the highest rise percentage wise in the country of rent in 2023 and so a lot of people are going to be removed from their homes and the outreach is especially important because older people don’t know where to go for these services and so I think it is a really good place to put the money. A lot of the time with my older clients I will spend time trying to help them find services I know are available because I have the benefit of being out here and talking to people but they don’t and so giving them the funds that they need to meet people where they are at and tell them what is good is critical, I think. Yvette Guiterrez, Member of the Public said I have been working at the Community of Hope for almost a full three years now doing outreach. I think the work we do is really important, and I love that I get to advocate for a lot of clients and I kind of wanted to share one of my client’s stories who I have not talked about in a while, but he was experiencing homelessness and all he really needed was an advocate. He had social security, he was able to get a place, but he didn’t have the money because he needed an advocate to go with him to the social security office. That is really all he needed and once we figured out all of his financial situation, we were able to then get him housed and he passed away shortly because he had a lot of health problems. So, I definitely believe in the work that we do because he is the first client I have lost. He was in a very vulnerable state and had that not happened before he passed away where we can get him housed it would have broke my heart way more and knowing that this is just one person it is kind of a lot of all of our clients. Whether they have money or income or not. I think it is important work that we get to do, and I really love this job. Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to Approve Resolution No. 25-040. MOVER: Councilor Becki Graham Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores 8.2 RESOLUTION NO. 25-041: A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE EAST MESA PUBLIC RECREATION COMPLEX PUBLIC ART PROJECT. Ceci Vasconcellos, Public Art Coordinator gave the overhead presentation. Councilor Flores asked in terms of the location of this artwork, did you specify exactly where that would be? Ceci Vasconcellos said this is a proposed art sculpture area here. It is in the 10-acre park that is part of the complex. Councilor Flores asked it is on the northwest if you are looking are looking at the complex? Ceci Vasconcellos said yes. This is one of the ball fields right here, Camino Coyote. Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to Approve Resolution No. 25-041. Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores 8.3 RESOLUTION NO. 25-042: A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE FIRE STATION 1 AND 6 PUBLIC ART PROJECTS. Ceci Vasconcellos, Public Art Coordinator gave the overhead presentation. Councilor Corran said I really loved these presentations by these artists and especially Trevor, he was the last one, I think. We all really liked him, and he was super nervous in his presentation so I am really glad that he got called back for this and I am happy that I will be driving by this everyday so thank you for carrying that through and the committee’s work. I didn’t even know that was the plan so that is fabulous, so I am excited about it. Councilor Flores asked did you mention where the money comes from just in case? I don’t think you did, how the money is received by the Art Board and all that sort of stuff. Ceci Vasconcellos said I touched on it. So, per the 2% ordinance anytime we have a GO Bond cycle and the community votes for GO Bonds we do get an automatic 2% that is allocated to public art for those projects or the ones that qualify. So that is how these projects are being funded through the generosity of the community really because they voted on them. Councilor Flores said I think that art is very important to our lives but given the economic situation our country sees, especially our state, our city, I don’t want people to think that we are spending money on things that aren’t important and frankly I think it was art that made a lot of people survive the Holocaust. I want to thank the City Art Board, the Quality of Life Director, Carol Brey and Rebecca Slaughter back there who is always hiding but anyways I want to thank you all for your work and your dedication and your expertise. Ceci Vasconcellos said we do have one GO Bond project that will be coming up. I believe we will be doing that in Councilor Mattiace’s district so stay tuned for that. Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor Becki Graham, to Approve Resolution No. 25-042. SECONDER: Councilor Becki Graham Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores 8.4 RESOLUTION NO. 25-043: A RESOLUTION THAT THE CITY OF LAS CRUCES STANDS IN OPPOSITION TO THE LITIGATION POSITION OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE CASE OF TEXAS V. NEW MEXICO & COLORADO, ORIGINAL, NO. 141. Adrienne Widmer, Utilities Director gave the overhead presentation. Councilor Bencomo said I don’t have any questions and honestly quite frankly reassure my colleagues up here and the community that we have an incredible leader in Adrienne. She has been a really fierce advocate for our water and for the city of Las Cruces. Try every which way to schedule a one to one with the Attorney General until he said yes and I really do want everyone to know that we have a really fierce advocate on our side and I just wanted to say that publicly Adrienne because I am just in awe of you about just how you are handling this whole situation which frankly is really scary and really thinking about like our future, water is everything and I am excited that we are working closely with the Attorney General. I am excited that we have someone like Secretary Deb Holland in that kind position to really listen to our needs as a state. Councilor Flores asked this is consistent with our attorneys when they met with us right? Adrienne Widmer said correct. I worked closely with Legal to go over this to make sure I am capturing all of the information that we wanted to make sure that the Attorney General knows about us so that we can pass that on to the Secretary for the Department of the Interior to actually say this is how this is actually going to affect us. We are only using 7% of all the ground water and we return 45% of water that we pump back to the Rio Grande so our effect to the system is minimal. Councilor Flores asked the proposal is horrible in that regard? Not the opposition, the thing that was presented at that meeting? At the presentation in terms of what the court held we were definitely short sided. We weren’t getting our fair share and that is very clear. Adrienne Widmer said to the Supreme Court we had gone, and New Mexico, Texas, and Colorado had agreed upon a consent decree, the Special Master concurred with that. He took it to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court took that, the United States were in opposition of that because they want to get in the middle of it and the Supreme Court sided with the United States to get in the middle of it. So as part of that the United States is professing that everything needs to go back to 1938. Councilor Flores asked what do you think the outcome will be given the United States is a litigant in this? Adrienne Widmer said I have no idea, but we are going to continue to move forward to try to do the best we can for the citizens, the businesses, and industry of Las Cruces. We will fight to the end. Councilor Flores said I want to thank you for all of your work. I can’t recall exactly what the problems were. How the US got involved. This is the Rio Grande water that flows and provides water for New Mexico and Texas and Mexico I think too. I agree with Mayor Pro Tem Bencomo that you have done a heck of a job here and I really, really appreciate it. Councilor Mattiace asked who else is joining us in the litigation, New Mexico State University, Dona Ana County? Adrienne Widmer said there are other amici. We have the State of New Mexico, the City of Las Cruces, other amici include the city of Albuquerque, NMSU, CRUA, and New Mexico Power, they are the ones that has like the affton plant, I can’t remember the name of them, but they are the ones who have the electric plant down there. They use water for cooling. Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to Approve Resolution No. 25-043. Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores 8.5 RESOLUTION NO. 25-044: A RESOLUTION DETERMINING THE CONDEMNATION OF A PORTION OF THAT PARCEL KNOWN AS 2240 EAST LOHMAN, LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO WILL SERVE THE PUBLIC INTEREST; AUTHORIZING THE EXERCISE OF THE POWER OF EMINENT DOMAIN TO CONDEMN SUCH PROPERTY FOR A PUBLIC PURPOSE; AUTHORIZING CITY STAFF TO ACCOMPLISH ALL DEEDS NECESSARY TO CARRY OUT THE PURPOSE OF THIS RESOLUTION. Adrienne Widmer, Utilities Director gave the overhead presentation. Councilor Corran said New Mexico heavily restricts eminent domain. We cannot take land unless it is directly necessary for distribution of utilities is the only really place that I think we can claim eminent domain with any kind of sort of reasoning behind it. So, I just say this for the public. We have never used eminent domain in any of the times that I have been here. This is something that is extraordinarily unusual circumstances and related to something that we have to remediate in our city so I just wanted to put that out there. This is not something that any of us take lightly or without seriousness and it does sound like we have made pretty serious efforts to try to remediate this in any other way possible so but just as a note eminent domain is not something that we are liberally using in any context I don’t think on city council or as a city so I appreciate the judiciousness in which you are approaching this. Councilor Flores asked the eminent domain issue will be contested in court? Adrienne Widmer said if we need to, we will go to court. We are really hoping that if something gets filed, they will just say okay, okay just pay us and get in there and do your work. Obviously if they do not then the paperwork will be filed, and we have to do it within a certain time frame so that we can get right of entry in order to meet schedules related to the sampling schedule. Councilor Flores asked in terms of our attorneys who are representing us in this case they would hopefully set forth how the power of eminent domain would probably serve our purpose? It would be favorable to us and hopefully we can omit or skip going to trial on this and there would be a settlement. It is a privately owned business that has control for that water well? Adrienne Widmer said that is correct. It is privately owned by a corporation in California. Councilor Mattiace said I just want to take this time to thank Councilor Corran. I am not an advocate of eminent domain either. I really appreciated that explanation and see if you have to go forward. Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to Approve Resolution No. 25-044. 9. BOARD APPOINTMENTS 9.1 None. 10. 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). 10.1 COUNCIL BILL NO. 25-014; ORDINANCE NO. 3085: AN ORDINANCE REPEALING AND REPLACING CHAPTER 38, ARTICLE V, SECTION 38-46, LAS CRUCES INNOVATION AND INDUSTRIAL PARK OVERLAY ZONE DISTRICT, OF THE CITY OF LAS CRUCES MUNICIPAL CODE (LCMC) IN ITS ENTIRETY. SUBMITTED BY THE CITY OF LAS CRUCES (CASE ZCA- 24-01). Council agreed to bring it forward. 11. CITY COUNCIL MEMBER BOARD REPORTS AND COMMENT 11.1 COUNCILOR MCCLURE I am actually really glad that we pulled the Jardin de Los Ninos off the consent agenda. I just want to share that was one of the best tours I have taken probably a couple of months ago because I had seen my role in trying to find as much information about what I feel is our holistic system of different services that the city provides, nonprofits provide, what are we doing? They graciously took me in. They showed me the kiddos that they are working with and waved to me. On one hand broke my heart and on the other hand making me feel that we actually do a lot for some of the most vulnerable populations, and we can’t do it without the partners we have already. There are a lot of things that are hindered due to state regulations there. There are a lot of things we have gaps in and so looking at some of the things last week Councilor Graham and I went to Gospel Rescue Mission, and we had asked them, what are your challenges? That is always something I am always curious about. They said well we have detox when we have when people are in active substance abuse it is hard for us to work with that and so I am hopeful that there is a Las Cruces Recovery Center that is starting and having an open house this week, PEAK is getting back on board with critical care and I am curious to see how we can do an emergency shelter. Where can we put people? Especially with some of the Supreme Court challenges that we are going to face at some point. I have spoken to other council members to see what that would look like for us but I am also not a big fan of reworking the wheel and Gospel Rescue is working on a kitchen/cold weather shelter and I would like to propose we look at helping fund that because we could work on reinventing the wheel but also we can continue to support or back our partners we have today with Mesilla Valley Community of Hope. I agree to that we have to be advocates in larger ways and a lot of people can’t do it alone and it is our partnerships that make this happen. I am hoping we can look at that. I had some information that I passed to the Mayor but I think I sent it to Christine and I will see if we can pass it to the entire board then too. 11.2 COUNCILOR MATTIACE I would like to again support Councilor Cassie on that support for Gospel Rescue Mission. I think that would be a great partner to support. 11.3 COUNCILOR GRAHAM As noted, a couple of times during public comment earlier, early voting starts tomorrow. So, I want to encourage everyone. I think a great first stop is NMVote.org, download your sample ballot because even as someone who is perhaps almost too plugged in politically when I look at my sample ballot something surprises me. As you are doing your research I just want to continue to suggest some of our local resources, KRWG, the Las Cruces Bulletin, and the League of Women Voters of Southern New Mexico are three great places that have some in depth coverage on local candidates, their positions, KRWG Candidate Forums have started and they also have a series of recordings on their election center space on their website where it is kind of recorded statements from candidates who may not be close enough in the region to come in for candidate forums but you can still get some more information. 11.4 COUNCILOR CORRAN Last week I met someone who is new to Las Cruces, and she talked about going to I think the Museum of Science. I just wanted to give a shout out to the Quality of Life and museum folks, but she really talked about the bilingual information cards at our museums and was basically shocked. She said that her mom was monolingual Spanish speaker and was coming to town and so she couldn’t wait to take her to the City of Las Cruces museums. She has never lived anywhere where that was the case so thank you for that. It is seen and appreciated by community folks. I also wanted to thank all of the city folks who showed up for Southern New Mexico Pride. Visit Las Cruces who we had the lucky fortune to walk with, the Fire Department, LCPD giving out popcorn and making it a really safe environment for folks including Lieutenant Wiitala who I know has really worked hard to make sure that PRIDE is a great event. ASCMV had dogs. I hope they all got adopted. PRIDE was a really fun event. It was bigger than it has ever been in the past and I expected it will keep growing thanks to all of the city departments and folks. Everyone that was there it was a really great event. So, thank you for doing that. I also wanted to give a quick update I went to Lincoln, Nebraska for the EPA Local Government Advisory Council a few weeks ago which I am appointed to as a function of my work here and representing Southern New Mexico and all of New Mexico. First, New Mexico was represented by Secretary of Agriculture Jeff Witte who had been the longest serving local government advisory council member in the committee’s history and he just cycled off this last time, so I just wanted to give a little shout of gratitude for him because he really helped our state’s needs be presented about as part of conversation about PFOS. Gratitude to Secretary Witte for also helping orient me to the committee and I will be sharing all of these things with the city departments primarily, Utilities, Adrienne gets a lot of these from me, but we gave inputs on the EPA’s Community Action Road Map to address accumulative impacts in overburdened communities. Basically, the environmental justice framework that helps communities engage in a process to understand how they can remediate environmental injustices of the past. We also gave input to the water system restructuring assessment rule which sounds really bureaucratic but actually what happens when a small rural water system goes awry and how bigger water systems might be influenced by that and might be engaged in some restructuring as it relates to that. I am not saying that that is necessarily a thing that is happening here, but we did give inputs to what the hopes would be if the EPA created the rules around, or when the EPA creates the rules around that restructuring. And we also found out about a whole bunch of funding resources, loans, grants, other technical support resources for Brownfield as we have here, outdoor recreation, a whole bunch of really cool funding resources that I will also be sharing with city staff as I go through all the materials that I have and can share that back to folks. I am really grateful to be able to participate in those conversations. I do think that the EPA administration listens, I hope they listen to our inputs when we give them and to these upcoming rules. I also wanted to just mention that we are having the Peachtree Canyon Affordable Housing Complex groundbreaking on Thursday morning. I am really excited, 144 units in District 5. It will be beautiful, so I am really looking forward to that happening on Thursday morning. Thank you to Natalie and the team for really making that which is a public/private partnership. A lot of different funding mechanisms were used as a part of that. The county is chipping in, the state is chipping in, and it is going to be 144 units that will be affordable for 40 years. So, something that we can all be very proud of as it comes to fruition and the last part is the big slides which everyone is really sad about. I have been hearing a lot about the big slides which are gone because they were hazardous apparently. I will just say that people my size apparently were just shooting out the bottom and being injured. The Parks & Rec have been working really hard on fixing up the Pacific Loop Park and there will be something to replace those slides that is probably a little safer. I think it will have a pretty fun value for most people who aren’t willing to risk life and limb in a very steep and speedy slide. It is up and coming and you will see new things coming up in there. I do want to thank Parks & Rec. They did put up fencing around the pickleball/other things courts and that really helps for folks playing there to not be constantly losing their balls. The park is a work in progress, and I hope folks will bear with me, but it is coming along, and I appreciate Parks & Rec on working on making that park the best it can be for everyone. 11.5 COUNCILOR FLORES None. 11.6 COUNCILOR BENCOMO Before we move forward exploring any conversation regarding Gospel Rescue to note for me anyway that I think it is important that we talk about anti-discriminatory policies that the city has and believes in. You know the city does not discriminate against folks in our community before they receive any services based on immigration status, English proficiency, religious affiliation, disability and Gospel Rescue Mission would have to come to the table around following those policies. I think that is an important note to make. Additionally, we just have to remain steadfast as to what we truly need is more permanent supportive housing. I think that if we continue to explore temporary shelters, the goal is never to expand temporary shelters really it is to minimize them. Minimize them because we have permanent supportive housing, and I just want us to remain focused on the goal ultimately. If staff begins to explore any of those suggestions. I also wanted to thank anybody who had anything to do with organizing the PRIDE event this last weekend. It was a lot of fun. I really love that event and participating in it and really standing with folks in the LGBTQ+ community and everything that PRIDE stands for. I also wanted to thank Catrina and Andres my intern for the event they helped organize in the Branding Iron Circle neighborhood, the trash clean up. Thank you, Catrina, I don’t know what I would do without you. Lastly, I hope I am not stealing this from Ikani but I do think it is important that I note that the Legislative Committee Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee with all of its legislators is here this week October 9th and 10th at Stan Fulton Athletic Center, Villa Nueva Victory Club. On Wednesday they will be discussing a lot of criminal justice reform things. Our very own Chief Story will be on a panel at noon on Wednesday and later that afternoon at three there is a Housing and Public Safety Solutions panel with Nicole Martinez and other folks. Then on Thursday actually the agenda includes a lot of health care equity conversations including closed executive session update on Memorial Medical Center to the legislature from the AG staff. Then later that afternoon there is a lot of conversation around private equity and health care that I think is pertinent to the conversation we are currently having around our hospital. 11.7 MAYOR ENRIQUEZ Thank you, Councilor McClure, for bringing that up. As we heard today from the outreach team it is evident that there are more needs and services and issues that we need address. We will explore all of those and look at in every aspect for the betterment of the community. I just wanted to share and thank Visit Las Cruces and also Senator Steinborn. They brought the Outdoor Economic Conference here to Las Cruces. It was a great event. A lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm. People from all over the state and other states came to participate. With that I also want to thank Parks & Rec, a shout out. We just had the Whole Enchilada Softball Tournament this past weekend, 252 teams came in, represented by 17 states. Even the umpires from all over states, the players, the teams bring a lot of GRT to our community. It is actually the largest softball tournament in the nation, so it is great that we still have that here in Las Cruces and it is still going. A shout out to our homebuilders. I also participated in the groundbreaking of the Casa for a Cause. This is where home builders build a house and then donate all the proceeds from the sale of that house to our nonprofit organizations and with that, they are also sponsoring the Build my Future which will be this Thursday at Field of Dreams and that will be taking place from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. What took place this week with healthcare, I was asked to speak at the Burrell College for National Latino Physician Day. It was pretty impressive to see the future and what Burrell College is doing as a whole but what it does for our health care in this community and to see the youth and the energy and enthusiasm in their health care and what they want to do for this community. It is great to see. MountainView held a ribbon cutting for a brand-new MRI machine that they have just purchased. It was twenty years old, and they came up with a new one and so that is great for our health care and our community as far as early diagnosis and things that can help with the future for health care. That is great that our hospitals are moving in that direction to better our community with health care. For me, I will share this news with council that have been elected as a Chair for the Mayor’s Caucus through the New Mexico Municipal League so that will be starting out a lot of conversations with mayors throughout New Mexico so we can start moving that as far as legislative needs. Whether there is laws or policies or Capital Outlay as a whole for New Mexico to go to the New Mexico Municipal League. So, I think somebody made a comment earlier on will we be there in Santa Fe, yes and I personally am participating by being elected the new Chair for the Mayor’s Caucus. 12. CITY MANAGER REPORT 12.1 IKANI TAUMOEPEAU We had a comment of whether we were being intentional with our legislative session that is upcoming and I just wanted to share with the public that it has always been our goal as a city to be as intentional and strategic as possible for preparation of legislative sessions. Last year and the previous years we have had several meetings with legislators and representatives of those who can make it similar to this year. We have initiated especially in a very tough year there is elections happening for our representatives and senators, but we are grateful for those who have accepted our meeting this year to meet with them. We had several representatives and senators make the time to meet with us and we actually had one just a few days ago. They came here to City Hall and talked about strategy, and so I just wanted to share that with the public and make it known that we are being international to this year in being strategic in build those relationships. Just a timeline for you all here at city council, October 24th we will have a meeting internally. Where right now we have our P&I group looking at all the projects right now. They will present it to us internally before it comes to you in a Work Session. It will come to you in a Work Session November 12th and there not only the projects but you will also hear policy items, policy items. Policy item that will come to you are the septic system. The septic system, they are funded but it is the connection to the septic system and there is a tweak that we are requesting of the anti-donation tweak and that is one of the things we are requesting and will bring forward to you on November 12th Work Session. Additionally, IPRA legislation which touches the heart of our City Clerk, Christine and all the clerks around and many of us. That is one of the things that we will be taking and if there is anything else that you would like to bring up at the Work Session that is when you will receive the projects that we have ranked and prioritized internally and that is when you can also make tweaks and modify what you would really like to see there and then December 3rd is the council resolution and legislative priorities, that is when it is solidified there. Again, the dates are October 24th is when we see it internally, November 12th is a Work Session, December 3rd you will finalize everything that you see there. And then there was a discussion for the roof project, appreciate council sharing sentiment for Jardin de Los Ninos roof project. There is a gap funding of about $125,000 to $150,000. It looks like there is consensus here to bring it forward to a budget adjustment. I just want to let you know we will bring that at the next appropriate budget adjustment to get that funded so thank you for sharing in that and then you can approve it in the next council meeting that that is presented to you. The 2024 Las Cruces Air Expo is October 19th, October 20th at the Las Cruces International Airport. Activities are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on both days. There will be aerial performers, air racing, STEM activities, food vendors and more. Last year we had about 7,000 throughout the event. This is a huge event, there is a lot so plan on it and again the addition of air racing that is a big one. There is an expansion of aerial events and there is an expansion into air racing. Last year for those who don’t know there was just a demonstration for air racing but there wasn’t an actual air racing event. This year the air racers are coming in. About twenty pilots or so are coming in for this multi day event. Visit Las Cruces is teaming up with NMSU Land American Programs to celebrate Latinx Heritage month with two events. Cumbia lessons on October 10th and Baila Las Cruces on the Plaza and then an opportunity to show off your new dance moves on October 16th with Sonido Cachumbo live at the Corbett Outdoor Stage. Both events are free and open to everyone. Parks & Rec’s Spooky Splash Night movie at Las Cruces Natatorium on Friday, October 11th at 7 p.m., The Addams Family, rated PG. The cost of admission is one nonperishable food item per person. All ages are welcome. Proper swim wear is required. In Community Development the Veteran’s Day Parade will be held November 9th, 2024, 11 a.m. beginning at Lohman and Main Street. The Veteran's Day Parade Poster Contest winner was announced. We appreciate all the students at LCPS and those that participated. This year’s parade grand marshals have been selected from the city and county first responders, they are Veterans. The Grand Marshal will be presented to the Mayor and City Council at your meeting October 21st at proclamations and recognitions. There is one grand marshal from each branch of the military service, Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard. Last announcement is that the city’s development has surpassed 2023, last year’s activity level and there are three months remaining for the 2024. Projections are that 2024 development permit valuations will exceed 2023 permit valuations by approximately 15%. 13. ADJOURNMENT 13.1 Councilor Yvonne Flores moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to adjourn at 4:11 p.m. MOVER: Councilor Yvonne Flores Mayor City Clerk