City Council Meeting May 20, 2024 MINUTES City Council Monday, May 20, 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, and Councilor Yvonne Flores ABSENT: Councilor Becky Corran 1. OPENING CEREMONIES 1.1 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE - COUNCILOR GRAHAM. 1.2 PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES OF APPRECIATION/PROCLAMATIONS - COUNCILOR GRAHAM. Councilor Graham presented Detective Kenneth Davis with a proclamation for National Police Week. Councilor Graham presented David Sedillo and Adrienne Widmer with a proclamation for National Public Works Week. Councilor Graham presented Larry Nichols, Chief Jason Smith, Chief Jeremy Story, and Adrienne Widmer with a proclamation for Building Safety Month. Councilor Graham presented Deputy Chief Mike Daniels and Kenny Lujan, AMR Operations Manager with a proclamation for Emergency Medical Services Week. 1.3 JOBS OF THE WEEK. Sarah Raney, New Mexico Workforce Connection presented Jobs of the Week. 1.4 PETS OF THE WEEK. Amy Defelix, Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley presented Pets of the Week. Page 1 of 30 2. CONFLICT OF INTEREST INQUIRY BY MAYOR AS REQUIRED BY LCMC SECTION 2-27 (E)(2) 2.1 None. 3. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 3.1 Michael Hays, Member of the Public said I live in Las Cruces. I have some questions about a secret Public Safety Select Committee. I do not know if it still exists or has been renamed or repurposed or terminated. I asked all of you many months ago but have not received an answer. Is refusing to reply to a citizen courtesy or to answer his question transparency? What is the status of this committee? If it was terminated, when and why? If not, why not? The charter of this secret committee states that its purposes are, “to provide information and advice on city charter and objectives” to city council. Is my review of many IPRA records discloses none indicating that the committee has done so. If it has not been doing what it is chartered to do, what has it been doing instead? Has it been securing council’s approval for policies, programs or funding with a rolling quorum? The charter also states that the term of the select committee shall not exceed one year or the amount of time necessary to complete the specific established goals and objectives of the committee. This secret committee has existed from late 2020 to at least early 2024. Its meetings have addressed amongst other topics cannabis, crime, domestic violence, homelessness, and excessive police force, topics suitable for public discussion. Without specific established goals and objectives, it could not solve even a part of one of these problems in a year or in a reasonable period of time implied by the charter. This committee has thus violated its charter. Has it occurred to any of you to comply with this charter? That is obey the law or has city council outsourced these responsibilities to an unaccountable illegitimate director to run the city by deciding important matters behind closed doors and then hiding those decisions from the public. Jim Hurst, Member of the Public said I want to talk about separation of church and state. Based on the comments from last meeting, many of my fellow citizens have little knowledge or the appreciation for the concept of separation of church and state. Some of my fellow citizens commented to this council that the United States should support Israel because of promises and blessings the God of the Bible made to Abraham. They believe the stories in Genesis are historical facts no matter how unlikely they may be. They have no problem with Sarah giving birth to Isaac at the age of 100 years. They accept these historical facts, the burning bush, the plagues of Egypt, the pillars of fire, the revelations to Moses, the conquest of Joshua, the strength of Samson, the sacrifice of Jepthath his daughter, Jonah and the great fish, and similar stories. Their faith tells them such stories are true, it is their faith. They have a right to their faith no matter how unlikely it may seem. We call that religious freedom, but you council members do not have the right to base public policy and law on your faith. We call that separation of church and state. You must base law on reason and facts not your religion. Not the teachings of your books of faith, not on religious traditions, not on the edicts of holy men. That is what is required by the Page 2 of 30 principle of separation of church and state. The population of Las Cruces is overwhelmingly Christian at least nominally but many who live in Las Cruces subscribe to Islam. They believe different stories. They believe Mohammad flew on the back of a winged horse. That story is not anymore unlikely than many of the stories of the Old Testament. They have the same claim and right to believe the stories and promises of the Quran that Christians have to believe the stories in the Bible. Again, we call that religious freedom. Equality under law requires freedoms given to one to be given to all. I realize that the question for support for Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians is no longer under consideration by this body. What also should not be under consideration is any compromise of the principle of separation of church and state. However, you choose to act on any policy or ordinance must be grounded in reason not religion. Fidelity to the state and federal constitutions demand no less. Juan Garcia, Member of the Public said today I want to speak about political hypocrisy. Some members of our council who recently highlighted an article in the Bulletin where they had been the subject of verbal vitriolic attacks and threats of violence. This behavior shouldn’t be tolerated and punished when appropriate and serves no purpose other than to incite a possible violence attacks against those individuals. The DA has also been subject and received threats but what happens when our elected officials are the ones, do their words promote aggression against innocent individuals or add to the national divide or those same officials call for the dissolution of organizations who are sworn to serve and protect. What happens when public officials to their distorted and biased comments incite violence against law enforcement officers and their families. In 2021 Haitians crossing the border illegally who were allegedly “whipped” by CBP. Our President stated, “I promise you those people will pay”, those being border patrol agents, but he could not utter those words. And he continues, there will be an investigation under way now and there will be consequences this is before all the facts were available and as we all know the allegations were false. Let’s continue memory lane to Las Cruces where one of our councilors stated, “good morning, woke up with an itch to abolish ICE, abolish la migra. I am absolutely livid at the pictures of border patrol agents chasing down Haitian families on horseback. The Border Patrol is a cruel, racist, and rooted in white supremacy”. Abolish ICE, La Migra, the Spanish reference for Border Patrol. What is the purpose of wanting to abolish ICE? So, folks that are here illegally can’t be deported or abolish la migra? Is that so the border can be unprotected? Why do we have a desire to normalize illegal activity. So, we have a councilor using inciteful comments, once again attempting to further racial division that was wide condemnation by the council when citizens came to present their legitimate grievances against criminal activity. Yet when the pro Palestine Militants screamed and disrupted this chamber and verbally assaulted Councilor McClure not one word was said. Political hypocrisy. Eddie Thomas, Member of the Public said first of all let me commend you on removing the agenda item that was proclaiming a ceasefire in the Middle East in the last meeting. It was prudent and wise given the divisive and possibly destructive and violent nature of the situation. The city council meetings are to discuss city matters that affect the citizens of Las Cruces not wars on the other side of the world. You have enough to deal with here in our city. Like crime, the homeless, drug addiction, Page 3 of 30 and the mental health crisis that people are experiencing currently. With that said, let me begin by saying that the current business model to house the homeless is not sustainable in its current trajectory. You are building hotels for them, and their numbers continue to increase. What are your plans going forward as they fill up? Are we going to see tax increases as you build more hotels to house them? At what point does this stop? Are there any plans to stop? Are there any plans to rehabilitate them with drug abuse programs, counseling, part time work opportunities, etcetera. Let’s save the ones that we can. The Mano y Mano program is a good start, but we need to build on that. Now let me switch to crime. I understand that we have a building delegation to go to Santa Fe and lobby on our behalf. Las Cruces seems to be red headed child that the Governor and Legislature want to ignore. So, my pitch to you is this, the Senators don’t listen to us. So, the delegation that you are planning to form and send to Santa Fe is a good idea so that we can maybe affect something in the round house. The last time that the senators paid any attention to us is when Matt Walsh a conservative voice spoke at NMSU. There was a letter written in condemnation scolding the President of NMSU at that time and some of you here on this council signed off on that letter. So that tells me a lot about where your minds are about the coming programs that will affect Las Cruces. I would be real interested to know that when this delegation goes up North what you are going to advocate for. Are you guys truly going to advocate for us or are you going to side with the Governor?I would like to know who is going and what the agenda items are. Dolores Lucero, Member of the Public said I would normally not come to you with this notice today but because of all the conversation over crime and disruption in our city my street was hit on April 23rd at 3:04 a.m. There are 24 houses on my dead-end street, I am at the top of the street and at 3:04 a.m. I am sure I was not the last street that was being affected that night. I live about a half mile from the Public Safety Building, that doesn’t deter those who want to be thieves. On the cameras of which I do not have there was two very young men dressed in black checking cars on the street, mine are safe in the garage, broke a few windows, stole a few things, did a little damage to property with a black truck, brand spanking new driving along keeping an eye on them so they can throw the merchandise into the back of the truck and then take off. I don’t normally want to complain about things that happen, but I want you to know it’s not in one location in this city. It is not just part of district whatever, it is across the city and I live in District 6. I am very pleased with your choice as our Chief of Police, having served under two Chief of Police during my term on council I can tell you that Chief Story is a thinker. He is a planner, and he is organized, and I feel comfortable and safe that he is leading this police force in this city. I ask you to please open your eyes, it’s not just the poor. The person driving that truck I guarantee you either gave those two kids something, whatever it could be, money, drugs, anything on a Tuesday morning at 3 o’clock in the morning and I guarantee you I was maybe the last street that night because they were probably tired by that time but I was not the only street so please give our Chief and his uniformed officers all the care that they need not just in talk but in action. Monique Romero, Member of the Public said I want to look at each one of you. Every single one of you specifically and ask how could you? Obviously, I am here with Las Cruces for Palestine and I am here to represent the people of Palestine. While you get to go home to your family, to your children, to your car, anything that you own how Page 4 of 30 can you peacefully go about your day knowing that there are innocent lives being murdered as we speak. Over six million people in the Gaza strip has been displaced, over 30,000 have been killed or badly wounded. Knowing what is going on and understanding how can you continue your day-to-day life without being frustrated, without feeling empathy for these people? How can you not see Palestinians as human beings? Do we need to go back and educate ourselves about equality? Its 2024 and why are we traveling to the past? I want to say that we do not agree with the action of Hamas. You can say we are pro-Israel or pro-Palestine, but we are not pro- Palestine we are simply anti-war, and we are not complicit in this current genocide going on. So, what I am asking is for the city of Las Cruces to demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Specifically, Las Cruces has sent $30,000 to fund this genocide so there is no denying that Las Cruces isn’t just as complicit. Vee Quevedo, Member of the Public said I am a resident of District 1 and member of Las Cruces for Palestine. A lot of folks chose not to come today out of disgust for this council’s conduct two weeks ago that denied even a conversation about genocide but you gave genocide supporters a lot of time so I thought maybe you should listen to humanitarians to. Craig Mokhiber, human rights lawyer and former UN official has said that there are 193 countries in the world, US politicians and meetup corporations say you can criticize 192 and you all proved that two weeks ago. There have been more humanitarian aid workers killed in Gaza then in all the wars in the world over the last 30 years combined. In just the first four months of this genocide more children were killed in Gaza then in the past four years in all the wars in all the world combined. In just the first three months of the genocide more journalists were killed in Gaza then in the entirety of World War II and the Vietnam War. As of May 3rd, this became the deadliest war for journalists in all of history. In case anyone still cares about international law let’s talk a little bit about international law. Israel’s occupation of the west bank in Gaza means that according to human rights law its actions are regulated by the Four Geneva Conventions and additional Protocol One. The occupying power faces specific obligations in territories it occupies. Articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention provide for civilian protections in all occupied regions, bans collective punishments, and bans for its displacement. Protocol One bans warfare that causes widespread long term and severe damage and weapons that cause various suffering like the white phosphorus that the US provides. It bans and discriminates attacks civilian populations and the destruction of food and water, bans weapon whose scope of destruction cannot be limited to the one-ton bombs that the US provides. It also defines warfare that cannot be distinguished between civilian and military targets as war crimes. Protocol One provides protection for woman, children, and medical personnel and journalist and bans attacks on places of worship. Do you not care about international law? We can talk about US law that we are breaking. The Leahy Law, the Foreign Assistance Act Arms Control Export Act conventional arms transfer policy, national security memorandum 20, a signatory to the Geneca Convention. We are violating the United States legal obligation. Apparently, we have not no moral obligation, but we do have a legal obligation to prevent genocide. There have been three court rulings both national and international that have found credible evidence that US backed Israel is committing genocide. So please tell me why two weeks ago five members of this body caved into the lies that have been used for 76 years to dehumanize Palestinian people, five votes for starving children, five votes for genocide. US weapons are being used to attack refugee camps. To murder families in Page 5 of 30 tents right now. Anyone supporting what the US and Israel are doing and anyone pretending that neutrality is an option should check their morality at the door. Elizabeth Bennett, Member of the Public said I would like to thank Councilors Corran and Bencomo for their courage, for the rest of you I have come to bring you some news. The US funded Palestinian genocide didn’t go away because you decided not to talk about it, on the contrary we are in the darkest hour. The bodies are piling up in hospitals with no supplies. The living are cut off from water and food and aid trucks are lit on fire outside of closed border crossings. Journalist and aid workers cannot enter, and desperate civilians cannot flee the relentless dropping of bombs and white phosphorus. Meanwhile half of the world just struggles to convince the powerful few that the genocide must end all while our government sends another billion dollars of taxpayer money to keep the whole thing going. Some of us who choose not to look away have been witnessing absolute hell on earth, unfiltered for seven months. For seven months we have been trying to do everything we can, follow the proper protocol and procedure to beg the people in power to stop the unchecked US sponsored slaughter of Palestinian men, women, and children and time and time again we are met with hostile aggression or cowardous silence. You, our elected officials, the leaders in our community, the people granted the power and authority to amplify our voices, the absolute very least you could do is to call for the carnage to stop but many of you, most of you chose silence. I am an alumni of NMSU and a proud public servant but you and many other leaders who watch and say nothing you all make me question who and what I am serving. I am so fed up with this facade of institutional decency. It means absolutely nothing when we systematically decide that we are ok with children being crushed in their sleep and peace advocates being beaten in the streets as long as we don’t disturb the comfort, peace and land grabbing plans of the powerful. The children and young people of the world are begging us all to wake them up from this gruesome nightmare but instead our leaders choose to sleep in comfort. For anyone still listening please do not give up the fight for the soul of humanity versus the insatiable appetite of global imperialism. Please continue to call for the boycott, divestment and sanctioning of the Israeli government. Please continue to call your elected officials demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire. John Olivi, Member of the Public said I represent the pickleball community. We would like to know why we can’t share 14 courts that are being so rarely used and we are losing pickleball people. We can’t play. We have got hundreds of players, and they are beginners and intermediates, they cannot play. We have eight courts, and we will never have enough. If you line those courts, we will come, and I guess it’s the Parks and Recreation will not listen to us. I have had meetings with them, two meetings. Lions is off the table, Young Park is being vandalized because we can’t play there. I can’t teach children, parents, handicapped, families. This is the only active family sport that they can play and there is no gender. We need your help. We need you to finally speak up to get us these courts. Lions dedicated these courts for all recreational purposes, not just tennis and no one knows about this contract because none of you were born before 71. But this was 1971 when it was dedicated for all purpose uses. I tried to show Parks and Rec all the names dates and times that use Young Park who was not accepted. I can’t prove anything to you if you don’t accept anything or you don’t line the courts. Why can’t we get these courts? We never got a great answer. Please help us. All we Page 6 of 30 are asking you is to please. I have to tell you this, Mr. Franco in my opinion, working with him he has denied us these courts. No reason whatever. I mentioned Lions Park and he looked me right in the eye and said off the table. He didn’t know I had this contract. This contract says all purposes on Lions, and we need Young Park so that it doesn’t get vandalized. Please help us out. We are hurting a lot of people and some of you people I have talked to up there, know how important pickleball is. The fasted growing sport in seven years in America. This Tennis Association will not work with us. Diane Geiber, Member of the Public said I am here today representing the local Parkinson’s community. Ten years ago, I was told by a neurologist that I had Parkinsons Disease. I frantically began researching the disease in the hope of finding something to slow the progression. What I found was while medication helps with symptoms exercise was the only thing that can slow the progression and keep the many symptoms at bay. One day in 2018 while eating at McDonalds I saw Laura Smart wearing an Ask Me About Pickleball shirt. So, I tapped her on the shoulder and said tell me about pickleball and I have been playing regularly ever since. As a former tennis player, I found the transition to pickleball fairly easy. Currently I serve on the board of Parkinsons Support Group of Southern New Mexico and have been very involved with our Parkinsons community and support group. I wanted to share my love for this sport so badly with others in the group. So, with the help of coach John Olivi who just spoke I was able to fulfill my dream. We are so grateful for Parks and Rec to allow us to use the multipurpose room at Meerscheidt for our weekly sessions at a nominal cost. We began this journey December of 2022 with a few brave people who came out to see what all the hype was about. Since then, it has grown to approximately 10 regular players to have improved exponentially over time. In fact, we are almost outgrowing the room. While playing with others who aren’t burdened by the many challenges of Parkinsons is impossible, finding somewhere to play outside our little room was virtually impossible. We wish there were more opportunities to play as we enjoy our once-a-week sessions so much and it has helped me and others with our progressing symptoms to keep them at bay. The best part of pickleball is that when I am playing that I forget I even have Parkinsons. I would play every day if I could. Thank you for listening to my story I hope that soon we will have more courts available for all to play, people with disabilities, young children, families and seniors. This sport has literally changed my life for the better and I am sure that many others feel the same. I would like to thank Becky Corran, for her support in assistance and implementing improvements to the Rincon Hills Park pickleball court. David Pratt, Member of the Public said I am a stroke survivor and Diane’s Parkinson’s group has been kind enough to let me play with them because we have comparable limitations and I just want to say that having access to more pickleball courts would be ideal. Kathy Short, Member of the Public said I just would like to say that with the overabundance of pickleball players and the lack of courts we are running into frustrations, and I am afraid it is going to become a safety issue now because people are getting frustrated with lack of places to play. Page 7 of 30 Preston Gambardella, Member of the Public said so like most good ideas I began with my wife who decided she wanted to find something for all four of us to be able to do together so she said she wanted a pickleball set for Christmas stocking stuffers, so I said you got it. So, 20 bucks later we were out at Apodaca Park playing together as a family so the four of us hanging out doing our thing. We had no idea, watched YouTube video of even what the rules were. Some of the pickleball community connected with my kids’ school and began to teach them, they go to Mesilla Valley Leadership Academy and soon began to teach some of the kids the basics of the game. How to play you know that kind of fun stuff which spurred them on to drag my wife and I out more and more. Just last week I was able to play three times during the week with my kids. So the first night it was 5 o’clock, we got to the courts my son and I were able to play no big deal. By the time we left about 7 it started to get pretty busy so Tuesday night my daughter had her last game at Meerscheidt, basketball so we decided we would go by after that and play a few rounds and unsuccessfully though the courts were packed and we didn’t want to wait an hour to play. So we went back again Thursday night same situation. So, when we do that we started kind of driving past the tennis courts there on Picacho at most three courts were being used of whatever 12 or 14 courts that were there. I am just trying to understand how we have kind of a disparity between overflow and empty. So that is essentially what we are asking for paint the stripes, you don’t necessarily have to take the nets down, they just flip and it’s a good family activity, so it’s been great for my family and I to spend time together and we have enjoyed it. Susan Cabello, Member of the Public said I am Executive Director of Downtown Las Cruces Partnership and the Las Cruces Arts and Cultural District. This weekend we celebrated our third annual Lit Fest and fourth annual Generations Community Writing Project Reading. It was a great success. We had it at the Dona Ana Arts Council, Film Las Cruces and then finally at the Rio Grande Theatre. We rolled in as the PowerPoint was going, the chairs were set up correctly. Our event is people in the community that are paired together that read so we are all amateurs all the time and they had a really professional way of dealing with us as in answering all of our questions and anticipating our needs. Councilor McClure did our closing comments for the reading, and we appreciate that as well. She is a Generations alumn from our first cycle. Thank you for making this possible and making it happen every year. It is such a great community event. We are working on a new project which is a business fair. We are calling it a speed dating business fair as of today. Our copy is due tomorrow so it might change. It is going to be asking small businesses who are new or emerging and then we are going to pair them in groups and let them sit down at tables with community resources such as City of Las Cruces, it’s going to talk to you about your data services. We are going to have WESST SCORE , New Mexico Main Street is going to table. It is just a whole bunch of different organizations and our economic development ecosystem. So, it is not lectures, it’s not speeches, it is one on one assistance all day long. We are going to provide coffee and lunch. It is a $10 ticket. I have scholarships available. I hope that you can help us get the message out about that as well. I gave Christine some prints from our art show that is still up at the Rio Grande Theatre. It is called West of Eden. They will be there until the end of the month. It takes just a few minutes to stop by and see them. I hope that you do before they leave town. Page 8 of 30 Sarah Smith, Member of the Public said thank you for focusing on the many local issues that you were elected to work on. As you know our community is continuing to suffer under high crime and repeat offenders are responsible for a large portion of this crime. If you look at public records you can see that there are men committing dozens and dozens of crimes only to be released on to the streets because they are labeled as incompetent to stand trial. For instance, one of the top repeat offenders was charged 63 times over a year and half period with offenses including criminal trespass, possession of illegal drugs, assault, property damage, indecent exposure, shoplifting, and unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon. Another top repeat offender had 56 charges including trespassing, shoplifting, assault and battery, meaning he physically harmed someone. These and many other top repeat offenders have 999 W. Amador listed as their address which means they are homeless since that is the address for the Mesilla Valley Community of Hope. You have had numerous business owners and residents come before you to ask you to help. Their businesses and homes are being vandalized. Windows are being broken. Property is being taken. People are being threatened and harmed but we are told that there is no way out until the legislature changes the state law. The Governor’s upcoming special session in July is a prime opportunity to push for the changes we need. Several of you have expressed support for legislation that is aimed at making sure that criminals that are labeled as incompetent are not just released back to the streets of Las Cruces. Will you as a public body please sign a resolution in support of competency legislation and urge the Governor and Legislators to take action on this during the July special session? Our Dona Ana County Legislators have been largely silent on this issue, and we need your help. Will you please speak up for us and send a powerful resolution to Santa Fe that we need competency legislation now. William Gilman, Member of the Public said I wanted to comment on the shopping cart ordinance that has been proposed. It seems to me that this ordinance is treating shopping carts as a proxy for more serious crimes. We are saying that homeless people are often pushing around shopping carts. A lot of homeless people with mental illness, addiction and whatever are the ones committing a lot of these burglaries and vandalisms as that individual just said and doing something about the shopping carts will nip that in the bud and I just don’t think that is the case. This seems to be based on the broken window theory of criminal deterrence which is named that because as somebody articulated as a property is abandoned then a window gets broken, and nothing gets done about it and then people see that as a signal that they can continue to escalate their behavior. This theory was kind of widespread in the 80’s which promoted the stop and frisk program. If you nitpick on the little things the big things become less of a problem and that has pretty much been debunked. It turns out that crime goes up and down for a lot of reasons. A lot of national trends and when you control for those it doesn’t really make much of a difference but what it does do is create a lot of liabilities for police departments and cities. They can be sued for inconsistent enforcement, for civil rights violations and stuff like that. So, I feel that by not increasing the public safety it will increase the liabilities and lawsuits and be very expensive for the city. The criminal justice system is composed of two distinct and seperate parts. If police who investigate crimes and the district attorney’s office is who prosecutes them and there is a third piece which is the sentencing and each of those pieces has its flaws. There doesn’t seem to be much emphasis on investigation. People have said how the number of crimes reported no longer reflects their reality Page 9 of 30 because people have lost confidence that there will be any sort of follow up. I think that the department in my opinion need to put more resources into investigations so that people can have that confidence and if people knew that even if there is video and photos that would be followed up on and be tracked and there would be more likely be apprehensions and etcetera. Second piece as she said prosecutions, we need to find some way to prosecute those people who are deemed incompetent and clearly hold them if they are a threat to the community which requires a judge sighing something which can be done digitally. Just send them a message and say this person is a risk for this reason please hold them. The third piece is sentencing. There is no place for these people to go. Look up Code Blue, it’s a special education institution with people with severe psychiatric disorders, we can adapt for adults. What’s your legislative priority? Jorge Aguirre, Member of the Public said I am a long-time resident. I am here perhaps to tell you something that you already know. I want to remind you that a lot of the criminal problems that we have are caused by poverty and a lot of the things you are dealing with are things that you didn’t cause. You know like climate change, immigrant crisis, and war abroad, but we do have to deal with the consequences, right? Which is increased poverty and increased inequality and some of those poverty processes are caused by historic legislation that the city enacted many decades ago. Like zoning that requires minimum city parking and minimum parking, offset for buildings, right? So, I would like to request that those are removed. There is also a huge emphasis on building car centric infrastructure which forces people to spend a large portion of their income on a vehicle because it is the only way around the city. I would like us to consider making sure that this is a standard part of our city that we build alternative modes of transportation so that people can bike, use a wheelchair, and take a stroller don’t have to risk their lives to cross every street just because drivers are impatient. Largest cause of people’s poverty is housing and transportation. One large portion of housing cost is the lack of offer. So, if you can modify our city regulations so that we can facilitate building and construction of high-density housing, maybe high-rise apartment complexes and also public transportation of course but pedestrian and citizen centric infrastructure instead of car centric infrastructure so we don’t have to have a large portion of our income go to the auto industry. 4. ACCEPTANCE OF AGENDA Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor Yvonne Flores, to accept the agenda as presented. RESULT: Carried MOVER: Councilor Johana Bencomo SECONDER: Councilor Yvonne Flores AYES: Mayor Eric Enriquez, Councilor Cassie McClure, Councilor William Mattiace, Councilor Becki Graham, Councilor Johana Bencomo, and Councilor Yvonne Flores 5. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES 5.1 REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF APRIL 15, 2024. Page 10 of 30 5.2 WORK SESSION OF APRIL 22, 2024. 6. RESOLUTION(S) AND/OR ORDINANCE(S) FOR CONSENT AGENDA 6.1 RESOLUTION NO. 24-115: A RESOLUTION TO AWARD PROFESSIONAL SERVICE AGREEMENTS FOR CIVIL ENGINEERING SERVICES ON AN AS- NEEDED BASIS TO A&E ENGINEERING, LLC; BOHANNAN HUSTON, INC.; COBB, FENDLEY & ASSOCIATES, INC.; FRANK X. SPENCER & ASSOCIATES, INC.; HORROCKS ENGINEERS, INC.; JOHNSON, MIRMIRAN, & THOMPSON, INC.; KIMLEY-HORN AND ASSOCIATES, INC.; MOLZEN CORBIN AND ASSOCIATES; SMITH ENGINEERING COMPANY; MILLER ENGINEERS, INC. DBA SOUDER, MILLER & ASSOCIATES; STANTEC CONSULTING SERVICES, INC.; AND WILSON & COMPANY, INC., ENGINEERS & ARCHITECTS, IN AN ANNUAL NOT-TO-EXCEED AMOUNT OF $2,000,000.00 EACH, FOR A PERIOD OF FIVE (5) YEARS, SUBJECT TO APPROVED BUDGET APPROPRIATIONS (PROCUREMENT NO. 23-24-050). 6.2 RESOLUTION NO. 24-116: A RESOLUTION TO AWARD PROFESSIONAL SERVICES CONTRACTS FOR GENERAL ENGINEERING SERVICES ON AN AS-NEEDED BASIS TO BOHANNAN HUSTON, INC.; COBB, FENDLEY & ASSOCIATES, INC.; DANIEL B. STEPHENS & ASSOCIATES, INC.; HDR ENGINEERING, INC.; JOHNSON, MIRMIRAN, & THOMPSON, INC.; KIMLEY-HORN AND ASSOCIATES, INC.; MOLZEN CORBIN AND ASSOCIATES; PARKHILL, SMITH & COOPER, INC.; MILLER ENGINEERS, INC. DBA SOUDER, MILLER & ASSOCIATES; STANTEC CONSULTING SERVICES, INC.; TERRACON CONSULTANTS, INC.; WATER WORKS ENGINEERS, LLC; WILSON & COMPANY, INC., ENGINEERS & ARCHITECTS; AND ZIA ENGINEERING & ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANTS, INC., IN AN ANNUAL NOT-TO-EXCEED AMOUNT OF $2,000,000 EACH, FOR A PERIOD OF FIVE (5) YEARS, SUBJECT TO APPROVED BUDGET APPROPRIATIONS (PROCUREMENT NO. 23-24- 051). 6.3 RESOLUTION NO. 24-117: 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 FY2024 BUDGET AND THE FY2024 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROGRAM (CIP). 6.4 RESOLUTION NO. 24-118: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING AN AMENDMENT TO THE FY2024 BUDGET AND CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROGRAM (CIP) FOR THE BONDS DESIGNATED AS TAXABLE GENERAL OBLIGATION IMPROVEMENT BONDS, SERIES 2024 (2024 GO BONDS). 7. RESOLUTION(S) AND/OR ORDINANCE(S) FOR DISCUSSION 7.1 RESOLUTION NO. 24-119: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING A CONTRACT FOR ONLINE MARKETPLACE PURCHASES WITH AMAZON.COM SERVICES, LLC OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, VIA OMNIA PARTNERS / PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS CONTRACT NO. R-TC- Page 11 of 30 17006, FOR A TERM THROUGH JANUARY 18, 2028, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $500,000.00 ANNUALLY, SUBJECT TO APPROVED BUDGET APPROPRIATIONS (PROCUREMENT NO. 23-24-091). Suri Molina, Buyer gave the overhead presentation. Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Johana Bencomo, to Approve Resolution No. 24-119. MOVER: Councilor Becki Graham SECONDER: Councilor Johana Bencomo ABSENT: Councilor Becky Corran 7.2 RESOLUTION NO. 24-120: A RESOLUTION TO AWARD PROFESSIONAL SERVICE CONTRACTS FOR UTILITIES ENGINEERING SERVICES ON AN AS-NEEDED BASIS TO A&E ENGINEERING, LLC; BOHANNAN HUSTON, INC.; COBB, FENDLEY & ASSOCIATES, INC.; DANIEL B. STEPHENS & ASSOCIATES, INC.; HDR ENGINEERING, INC.; JACOBS ENGINEERING GROUP, INC.; JOHNSON, MIRMIRAN & THOMPSON, INC.; KIMLEY-HORN AND ASSOCIATES, INC.; MAGNOLIA RIVER SERVICES, INC.; MOLZEN CORBIN AND ASSOCIATES; MILLER ENGINEERS, INC. DBA SOUDER, MILLER & ASSOCIATES; STANTEC CONSULTING SERVICES, INC.; WATER WORKS ENGINEERS, LLC; AND WILSON & COMPANY, INC., ENGINEERS & ARCHITECTS, IN AN ANNUAL NOT-TO-EXCEED AMOUNT OF $2,000,000 EACH FOR A PERIOD OF FIVE (5) YEARS, SUBJECT TO 052). Virginia Barela, Buyer II gave the overhead presentation. Councilor Flores said our script says it’s for a five-year period not a four-year period. Virginia Barela said I will need to check to verify if that was error on my end. It does say in the title for a five-year term. Councilor Flores asked it is an allocation of $2 million for each contract entity? Virginia Barela said yes that is correct. So, it would be $2 million per vendor per year. Councilor Flores asked is that $8 million? Virginia Barela said there are 14 vendors total. Councilor Flores asked that is going to be allocated? What happens if say Molzen Corbin makes more of a request, more than $2 million but it’s the best buy? Virginia Barela said the $2 million is going to be set by you today. If there were an event that were to happen that we were potentially to exceed $2 million with any Page 12 of 30 vendor, we would bring that again before council for you to review it for you to approve it. Should you approve it we would move forward. If you did not then we would be kept at that limit and we would have to entertain other options. Councilor Flores said this is over a five-year period and so we are allocating money henceforth in advance, $2 million per entity, five years in advance. So, happens if rates go up? What happens if the money isn’t expended on that particular provider? Virginia Barela said this is just allowing us to spend up to $2 million with each vendor on an annual basis for any projects that are brought to council and approved by council through each budgeted fiscal year. As part of the proposals that each of the individual vendors did submit to us, they did give us hourly rates and rates for the services that they did provide. Should they want to amend those rates their hourly rates that they charge us for this contract again that would be something that we would have to bring forward to council to make that amendment to that contract. Councilor Flores asked the allocation of $2 million for each vendor is set aside just for the use of those vendors and it is done to do it expeditiously? Virginia Barela said yes. Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor Becki Graham, to Approve Resolution No. 24-120. SECONDER: Councilor Becki Graham ABSENT: Councilor Becky Corran 7.3 RESOLUTION NO. 24-121: A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE MUNICIPAL ADOPTED BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2024-2025 FOR THE CITY OF LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO ON MAY 20, 2024. Jacqueline Rubalcava, Budget and Grand Administrator gave the overhead presentation. Leslie Vaquera, Member of the Public said I am a freelance graphic designer and photographer. I am just very grateful to be here. I won a grand prize from Visit Las Cruces, and they reached out to me saying that they want to use my photo on the cover which is really such a wow experience for me. I am just really grateful to be here and meet everyone. Everyone has been really nice so thank you. Jacqueline Rubalcava continued the presentation. Councilor Flores asked the NAT, I thought the NAT provided money for homes that could be restored, do you know if the city is still doing that? Page 13 of 30 Larry Nichols said yes, the Community Development is a leader for this program and basically, we have discovered over the last couple of years there are a number of properties that have become vacant, unoccupied and they on occasion deteriorate to a point of being unsafe for occupancy. Our first effort is to get voluntary compliance from the property owner. If we cannot achieve that then we take a program to abate the property primarily to anticipate to secure and board it but not to do remodeling or renovation. If we cannot get the abatement through board and secure, then we go to a procedure of demolition but that is our last effort. Councilor Flores asked money isn’t given to the owner or the city doesn’t provide services or money for the owner to restore the property? Larry Nichols said the only time that the city would be funding, providing funds for abatement of the property if the owner was not able to do that or declined to do that then we would do the abatement or the demolition and then we would file lien on the property for recovery of the cost that the city may have provided. Councilor Flores asked you put a lien on the property and then the city would expect to be reimbursed at what point? Larry Nichols said yes, the lien is placed, and it resides there until the property changes ownership or is otherwise refunded. Councilor Flores asked there was money allocated for police officers, does that include raises? Virginia Barela said yes. These are some increased for police, and we also have new positions for police. So, we have the Park Rangers and the Real Time Crime Center techs. Three Park Rangers and three Real Crime Center techs. Councilor Flores asked when your department works on allocating monies to increase services in departments or salaries, how do you establish that need? For example, my opinion is that our police officers are under paid. I mean they put their lives on the line day to day, minute to minute and my understanding of their pay and I hate to use the word it’s criminal. Do you do that kind of budgeting in terms of say when the contract comes up with the union and these discussions, are allocations made beforehand to see if there is some negotiation that goes on? Jacqueline Rubalcava said as far as new positions the department determines priority on how to budget and then it goes through city management. As far as how much they are paid I am going to defer to HR. We don’t in budget determine how employees are paid. Councilor Flores asked how do you budget for new positions then? Jacqueline Rubalcava said it is determined by job descriptions created and at that time set rates and the departments do provide that information along with HR and then we put them into the budget. Page 14 of 30 Jeremy Story, Police Chief said I will probably say what Jo is probably going to say. All of our non-represented position members that are not part of the union which are all of our sergeants, our lieutenants, our civilian employees have the same 3-4% wage increase budgeted for this year. The majority of our officers fall under a union contract and that come open for full negotiation next year. So, any increases have to be negotiated as part of the contract and next year they will do a full negotiation. Councilor Flores asked does that exceed the 4% or is that unknown? Chief Jeremy Story said it is unknown right now, but any salary or wage increase would come during that contract negotiation next year. Councilor Flores asked how is that allocated prospectively? Jo Richards, Human Resources Director said typically it is not a specific set amount with the unions. We determine an amount that is projected in the budget overall if it is not already set in the contract so we try to prepare for that and allocate the monies as we can with the amounts that are negotiated. Councilor Flores asked say for example the city does negotiate and does approve a 6% will the money be there to give the 6% or 10% increase? Jo Richards said yes. We try to prepare for that. Councilor McClure said we had a couple of slides where we had asterisks. So, if we seek to amend it with these increases and I think these increases hinge some things we want to support in the future how would this get budgeted then? How does this get added in? Leeann DeMouche, Finance Director said to add this to the budget, so there is funding in the fund balance that we have. Think of this as a checkbook. You have an available balance and so what we would do is you have to bring forward to this an amendment and I think when talking to Christine it would probably be two amendments. So, if council wants to do this, they would bring two amendments forward, we would just take those funds from the fund balance and go into as Councilor Flores says go into our magic and add it to our ERP system Munis and it would be there for the departments in this case Mesilla Valley Community of Hope to spend it. Councilor McClure asked tell me why this was not just included? Why is there an asterisk? Leeann DeMouche said the reason that there is an asterisk is as you know in all things there has to be a point in time where we have to advertise this to the public. We have to get information out to the public and so this was sort of something that Page 15 of 30 was brought forward to the budget after we had already put this out for the public and so we apologize for that but it was just something that we had not anticipated that was not brought forward to our attention but then it was and that is why we put it on the slides as pending. Councilor Bencomo said I was looking at my notes from our Budget Retreat back in February and for me it was really important that we funded the Nuisance Abatement Team with hopes in the future we include funding for rehousing of folks while locations are being rehabbed which by the way there is a home rehab program underneath our Housing and Neighborhood Services. I did want to thank staff for taking that seriously and moving that forward to fund. I know that it is a collaboration between Community Development, Fire, Police, and several other departments. I think that is really important. I also want to thank for including the two Legacy Parks as priority, Young and Apodaca Park. I know we had a long conversation about that and figuring out which parks, so I really do want to thank staff for listening to feedback. I will be making two amendments today which feels really odd. This is my fifth budget session that I have done since I have been on the council and by this time in May we get here and there is no need for amendments because we have talked it to death almost. We have had a Budget Retreat. We have had Work Sessions but I do want to say while I understand that on this particular one that came, my proposals came very late I do want to note that I felt slightly disappointed that the $200,000 for SOS Court was not included as we have been talking about that for quite some time. I have been talking about that since last September. We have been talking about it as a priority at the Budget Retreat and I really feel like it is such a critical piece in how we prioritize community safety and for us to not have that included feels well it just doesn’t feel right to me. So, I will be making both of those amendments instead of asking staff to come back in the near future I will be doing that today, but Mayor I will wait until we hear from everybody. Councilor Mattiace asked what if you didn’t have the Telshor Fund where would you find the $28 million? Leeann DeMouche said that is a tough question. It would be that we would probably go after grants. There is a possibility of going after grants which our grant team is very robust. We have actually increased our grants tremendously in the last couple of years, but we would probably either have to look at the possibility of loans, bonds as well and just looking within sometimes I like to say the cushions of our couch. Just looking at our General Fund as well. Ikani Taumoepeau, City Manager said if it is not in the Telshor Fund as Leeann expressed eloquently, we would have to find room created through some kind of referendum of tax measure or look in the cushions of the couch. Councilor Mattiace said the reason I bring that up is because we have 25/26 budget that will be coming up in a year. We have the 26/27 so basically, we are going to zero out the Telshor Fund eventually. Leeann DeMouche said yes if that is what the Mayor and council agree upon for Page 16 of 30 26/27 moving forward yes. Councilor Flores asked the Telshor Fund, the corpus doesn’t get touched is that correct? The corpus is constantly rejuvenating its funds, its own funds correct? Leeann DeMouche said as you can see our current market value is 42.4, the corpus would be around 30 million. There was 26 million and then later on we received another 4 million so that would be what we actually received for the Telshor. So, we have been as you know for every year we do tap into the Telshor for the definition for the sick the indigent. We have been financing a program, Housing and Neighborhood Housing put together the 600k so they are using the interest that we have received on the annual basis but as you can see our market value since the market is doing so well right now, we have been able to take the corpus and invest it and now our fair market value is about 42.4 million. Hopefully with this proposed budget is 28.3 so we are down with the remaining market value of 14.1 which is below the corpus. Councilor Flores said correct and that is my concern because that will evaporate in a heartbeat. Our budget is demanding. So, would we be in a position in the future to continue with that kind of funding? I don’t think so. Next year at this time that 14,000 or whatever that remains as a corpus won’t generate 40,000 or even enough to sustain a budget as we are proposing right now. Leeann DeMouche said working with our new City Manager we probably would need to work with maybe a financial advisor to try to build that, whatever the Mayor and council want to lead us towards but we can build that back up if that is something after this year that they want to do. Whatever the council guides us. Councilor Flores said I am in quandary because I would love to have that money to assure that we provide those services without a doubt. Leeann DeMouche said we take direction from the council and from the City Manager, so I am really not sure that I can answer your question. This is what we have been directed to bring forward to you in the budget and there is a big need for all of these that has been shown to us and that is why it is in the budget. I don’t know if the City Manager wants to add to that? Ikani Taumoepeau said I serve at the behest of you, Mayor, and Mayor Pro Tem and city council. As Leeann mentioned everything that we have presented with some exception that came later in the work session in budget we presented in Budget Retreat so those are things that we felt that were a desire of council to kind of bring and so we are bringing everything which we felt at the time of Budget Retreat was presented to come forth at the Work Session prior. If there were any changes at all again, I serve at the behest of you and the rest of the council and Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem we are here to receive direction from you all and I just wanted to share that and reiterate what Leeann said. Barbara Bencomo, Chief Administrative Officer said with respect to the initiatives that we need to fund in the future really part of what we would do based on your guidance Page 17 of 30 for what you want to support is to lay out a funding or financial strategy for the various revenue streams that might be out there. Leeann mentioned grants. We have bond cycling. We have loans. We have appropriations from our state legislators and federal legislators as well. Mostly we are looking for steady streams of revenue in order to fund ongoing programs which is one of the reasons why a lot of what you see in the proposal today from the Telshor Funds is not for operations, it is generally for capital projects because it is not a recurring funding source, it is not an ongoing funding source, really from a financial standpoint that is what we are looking for to fund ongoing city initiatives and programs and that is what we would need to do in order to meet any spending request that the council lays out for us. Leeann DeMouche said if you could look at most of what the list is made up for of the Telshor this is all mostly all capital expenditures. Councilor Bencomo said I just wanted to add that sometimes I look at the Telshor Fund much unlike the New Mexico Permanent Fund ours is a lot smaller, but the New Mexico Permanent Fund grew to $43 billion and I believe that it is shameful because of how the state of our community is in New Mexico, poverty, crime, mental illness. It is shameful that we don’t tap into those funds, and I don’t want us to do the same thing with a fund that we have that is able to invest in housing, to invest in our parks, to invest in many of these proposals that will help our community directly and I think it is an important, it’s a hard consideration. There is no making this decision lightly and we are faced with some tough challenges and with a bank account that is right there for us to use, and I would hate to follow the lead of New Mexico, having $43 billion available to use and invest in our communities and they don’t. Councilor Mattiace said I was bringing it up because I was thinking about a long-term investment of that $42 million fund. It could bring in anywhere from $4 to $5 if interest rates go up $6 to $7 million every year let’s say for the next 10 years. That is $60 million. That is $60 million that we could have recurring over 10 years that we could put into things that we need in the city of Las Cruces. So that was my concern that if there was another strategy, if there was another way for the capital needs either through loans, through bonds that might have been wiser because then we have our cake and eat it too. We would still have the $60 million over 10 years. In the last eight years things need to be fixed, the parks are a mess, crime is up, unhoused is up, mental illness is up. Everything needs an immediate band aid and so that is what we have done here. We have taken a fund that would have given us $60 million over the next 10 years and now that will give us maybe $900 to $1 million a year if it is down to $14 million and interest rates are what they are now so if you take $1 million a year for 10 years, we just threw out $50 million that the city could have actually used, utilized. That is my only concern, and I will just vote the way I feel. Dolores Lucero, Member of the Public said two things that concern me, and I am disappointed that you would allocate $500,000 to go to Amazon.com instead of buying from our local residents and businesses here in Las Cruces. Number two, the nuisance abatement. I know that last year there was a hotel, an old motel removed from Main Street by the city through the abatement program. When are you going to abate the old bowling alley? There is no one that is going to move into that building Page 18 of 30 with the history that it has of murder there. The building is nothing but for vagrants and for illegal activity and sexual things that are happening at the business that I work at next door. That building needs to be abated. If you want to put a tax lien on it, go for it but I think you need to do something like that on that building which is on a main street of our city. That is what our new residents see every single day. Thirdly I am doing to say about the Telshor Fund and I was here when it was first initiated and the money was given from Life Point to the City of Las Cruces and it is sad that you haven’t thought over the last four and a half years to start looking for grants and other funding for the projects that you are looking to fund. The last four and a half years you have not looked at how to do this differently so now you are going to the easy fund to take the money out of there and Councilor Mattiace is very right, you are never going to make that money back up and once you invest in building buildings you will never have enough money to maintain them about ten years later when they are dilapidated just like the Veteran building in my old district, in District 2 that the city invested in and now is boarded up and the Veterans cannot go there. Tell me how that happened? There is too much of this in this budget that is not right and $110,000 for wellness for police that might have PTSD, $110,000 is one person in one year. That is not enough to help someone who is dealing with domestic violence, is dealing with murder, rape, and every other serious condition here in Las Cruces. Shauna Pfeiffer, Member of the Public said I downloaded the proposed budget, and I did not see anything on the vote today with regard to the Telshor Fund in any capacity whatsoever. I watched the budget work session on the 22nd of April, and this was all explained. I get it but I don’t see anything in the agenda, nor do I see anything written in the budget as published that we were voting on the Telshor Fund. Why do we have to roll all of this up into one vote? Why shouldn’t we pull from the Telshor Fund item by item, vote by vote, resolution by resolution? We are lumping everything together like Congress. This is ridiculous. You cannot deplete your only source of emergency funding. What if we have another pandemic that you guys have to fund to build Las Cruces back up again. You cannot vote yes for this. I don’t believe this was published that you all were voting on the Telshor Fund today. I thought you were voting on the budget as was written. The next resolution on the book is CIP. I was ready to speak on that, not the Telshor Fund. Where did it come from and why? And why does it have to be all at one time? For our legacy, one vote for our legacy. You continue to amaze me in all the wrong ways. George Pearson, Member of the Public said thank you for highlighting the efforts that are going to go towards the sidewalk gaps. That is an important aspect of active transportation. I think that maybe in the capital program I think you separated out active transportation projects to highlight them better but that is anything that we do emphasize active transportation helps safety for all vehicle mode users and even today NPR had a radio program report that bicyclist have less knee pain, are healthier, and live longer and so anything that we do to support active transportation would be helpful. I know we have a Safe Streets for All grant in the works and so I am hoping the budget will reflect things that will work with that. At the Budget Retreat there was a presentation on painting of bike lanes, and I didn’t go through the budget so I hope that allocation is still in there some place. Quinn Cooper, Member of the Public said I was thinking that the $500,000 for Page 19 of 30 Amazon could probably cover some things for pickleball. That was one thing I wanted to talk about. I was a little bit disappointed that you rushed through and didn’t get public comment on the Amazon budget, the $500,000 going to. I am assuming that it is going into the full budget. I was kind of hoping there would be a little bit of transparency in those processes. What needs to be purchased by the city from Amazon and exactly why a third party provides a better deal. I think with extra steps should come extra transparency. If there is a measure that you can do to amend that that is all I am really asking. Wayne Allgood, Member of the Public asked why weren’t the grants for the Telshor Fund and other ways of earning money or retaining money from other sources not taken into consideration before? I would have spent my money at home, you would not spend your money unwisely. You would go over your accounts. Is it cheaper to get money this way or this way and use your own money? If I am earing a lot of money with interest, why should I not save my money? Councilor Mattiace is correct if we spend our money now how can we get it back? It is going to hurt and all of you at home, you manage your checkbooks, and you manage them well because you don’t want to be someone who is going to die so why hasn’t the city took that in advance at the time and said hey let’s find other ways first. The money is for free sometimes but to spend our money you would not do it yourself you would do it for the city. Think about that. It’s not your money it is our money. You are spending our money that we pay you with our taxes. Find other ways to get that money and use that money and not like you are doing it today. Councilor Mattiace asked on the Telshor Fund, I know that it is packaged as one instead of resolution by resolution, does it still need a majority vote to spend the Telshor Fund? Barbara Bencomo said always a majority vote is required whether with respect to packaging it all together here as part of the budget proposal or bringing in one resolution at a time, either could be accomplished. Councilor Bencomo said I would like to make some amendments to the budget. Before I do just a little education on how we start this process. The individual departments ask us for certain programs, budget allocations for example the Officer Wellness budget, that came from Chief Story when he presented his entire budget and that is what he presented to us. So that is kind of how that happens. Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor Becki Graham, to amend Resolution No. 24-121 to include $200,000 from the Telshor Fund for the Safety Opportunities Support and Community Court Program. AYES: Mayor Eric Enriquez, Councilor Cassie McClure, Councilor Becki Graham, and Councilor Johana Bencomo NAYS: Councilor William Mattiace and Councilor Yvonne Flores Page 20 of 30 Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor Becki Graham, to amend Resolution No. 24-121 to include $300,000 from the Telshor Fund for Mesilla Valley Community of Hope for expansion of services for workforce and community outreach. Councilor Becki Graham, and Councilor Johana Bencomo NAYS: Councilor Yvonne Flores ABSENT: Councilor Becky Corran Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Johana Bencomo, to Approve Resolution No. 24-121 as amended. ABSENT: Councilor Becky Corran 7.4 RESOLUTION NO. 24-122: A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROGRAM (CIP) FOR FISCAL YEAR 2025 THROUGH FISCAL YEAR 2030. Cynthia Campo, CIP Analyst gave the overhead presentation. Ashleigh Curry, Member of the Public said I am the Safey Coordinator for the school district. I just wanted to say first and foremost thank you for all the hard work that everyone has done in particular in the acts of transportation. Our department I know we have some really excellent background long range plans, the Elevate Las Cruces, the active transportation plan, and I am just here to say please follow the design process. I know that sometimes things can get rushed along as we even heard in public comment today things that people weren’t anticipating. I know we have some really great plans in place, and I just want to see that they are implemented the way that the planner has designed them so that we can have safe streets for everybody. You may be aware that we are number one in the nation for pedestrian deaths. I think that is six or more years running. It is a serious, serious issue and also speaking of unhoused people, this is how people get along. I think there was a public comment much earlier about prioritizing active transportation because it is the means by which our unhoused community gets around. We can design streets I am sure many of you have traveled to other communities that they have very robust and beautiful biking and safe infrastructure and I think New York City may be one of the prime examples of a place that would have said we would never be able to do in in New York City and yet they have done it and made it one of the most bikeable communities in the nation. I think we can do that to for Las Cruces, so I am just asking please just follow the plans that we have within the CIP. I know we have prioritized certain projects. Let’s just follow that prioritization so that we can have a beautiful and safe community for all of our residents. Page 21 of 30 Shauna Pfeiffer, Member of the Public said I am mostly going to do this for the people watching at home that don’t have time to watch three and half hours of a budget work session. As part of the CIPs the city is asking for $68 million total for over the next five years for the airport. Amador Crossing is already receiving $7.3 million including $6 million from the state. A master plan implementation at Community of Hope is receiving $2 million per year for the next five years. Paseos Verdes is receiving $2 million per year for the next five years, I challenge anyone to find that on a Google search. It is an apartment complex on Campo Street. City Hall, this City Hall that is relatively new is being expanded in FY25 for $7.5 million, Jardin de los Ninos, which is for the children in our community is only getting $600,000 total in the next three years. La Casa, which is a domestic violence shelter is only getting $580,000 but that is coming from the state. No city funds were allocated for La Casa. Community of Hope has a new project called the Kitchens, it is $11 million in 25 and $2 million this year. Solar projects at Community Hope total $1.4 million, Apodaca Park is getting an aquatic playground and multi-use path for $1.6 million per year for the next five years. A multi-use rec center is planned in 26 for $60 million, the Amador Hotel is receiving $16 million over the next five years for renovations. Security upgrades at City Hall will get an average of $250,000 per year for the next five years. The Branigan Library will get $16 million in 26 for an expansion. The Municipal Court will be rehabilitated to the tune of $6.6 million per year for the next five years. Public Safety, GO Bonds total in FY24 is $10.6 million, $9.3 was for the new fire station and in 25 they will get $12.8 million. In 26 they only get $1.3 million, in 27 they will get $15 million but that is predominantly for a training facility and a fire station build, critical requirements. In FY28 $57 million in full will go to a new downtown public safety complex, $8.5 million for public transit as it specifically pertains to batteries, storage and inductive charging. Roadrunner Transit in 24 got $16.4 million for a municipal service center and the wastewater treatment plant will be upgraded to the tune of $46 million. Also $80k for the City Hall furnishings in the next six years. I hope you guys like your sofas and your chairs. Srijana Basnyat, Innovations and Strategy Manager said I just want to make one point of clarification for future years are unfunded, for the future five years in the CIP as departments request projects they are placed on the CIP and while we are in the process of improving our current annual process of funding with prioritization, matching up to planning alignments, and operational impacts, etcetera that amount of review and evaluation has not been done for future requests and projects and that would be the next step to tackle for CIP reform. Councilor Mattiace said I am only hoping and wishing that the CIP program five years, ten years, actually reaches the vision that the Mayor put forth through his campaign. That Las Cruces would become the safest city in America. I just hope that all of this planning and all of these improvements actually do that for our city and that the priorities continues to make it the safest city and that the Police Department and the Fire Department get their priorities and not everything else. Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor Becki Graham, to Approve Resolution No. 24-122. Page 22 of 30 ABSENT: Councilor Becky Corran 7.5 COUNCIL BILL NO. 24-026; ORDINANCE NO. 3068: AN ORDINANCE APPROVING A ZONE CHANGE FROM UR (URBAN RANCH) TO REM (SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL ESTATE MOBILE) FOR TWO PROPERTIES ENCOMPASSING 1.15 + ACRES EACH AND LOCATED AT 6820 AND 6860 SHANNON DRIVE. SUBMITTED BY ALBERTO GUILLEN, PROPERTY OWNER. (24ZO0500024). Adam Ochoa, Senior Urban Planner gave the overhead presentation. Councilor Flores asked when did the notices to the surrounding residents, when were those sent? Adam Ochoa said there are actually two separate mailouts for this zone change. It happens 15 days before the public meeting itself so that they have 15 days before the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting happens and 15 days before this meeting as well. Councilor Flores asked I believe that it is east of this particular lot there is a community of people that want to keep that area very rustic and they have their horses and maybe cows and pigs. So that is the part that I think that they are east of Shannon, and this is West of Shannon, right? Do you know which area I am talking about? Adam Ochoa said I know which area you are talking about. That is called the East Mesa area. They actually have a blueprint in place kind of like a neighborhood master plan if you will as to how they want to be developed or not developed in this case. This proposed zone change is still in keeping with what that policy says it is zoned for large lots, single family only which allow of keeping of animals as well on the properties so it definitely fits within that master plan and just to let you know per the 2001 zoning code we are required to provide letters within five hundred feet of the subject property at minimum as well as certified letters as well so we did send out those letters and had them going out to everyone in that area. Councilor Flores asked there wasn’t one response to all of that? Adam Ochoa said no responses at all. Councilor Flores said you only gave 15 days’ notice. You say it is consistent with the rest of that area? Didn’t you say that the owner wants to have, what kind of housing is it going to be? Adam Ochoa said it is just for the development of the two lots in the future. All they can do is single family homes on the property and whatever ancillary uses accessory structures. Like I said keeping of large and small animals is permitted as well so that Page 23 of 30 is essentially what is going to happen. Councilor Flores asked the housing would be houses that are actually built on the property or would it be mobile homes? Adam Ochoa said the REM zoning district does allow for a multitude of homes including site build free standing homes, manufactured homes are allowed. That actually seems as the exact same by the State of New Mexico, a manufactured home as a site-built home. Mobile homes are allowed as well but just one per property as well. Councilor Flores asked when you send out the notice do you include all that information to the people for the notices that are sent to the residents in the area? Is all that information included as to the type of housing that would be permitted? Adam Ochoa said not all of that information is put out there but we do highlight the bullet points with the zonings being requested and we also have our contact information. This case was actually so I have my direct contact information that states if you have any additional questions, please don’t hesitate to give us a call or email us. They have various ways to contact us. Councilor Flores asked if we vote yes today it is a done deal, right? Adam Ochoa said if somebody is affected, they can always appeal this to court. Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Johana Bencomo, to Approve Ordinance No. 3068. ABSENT: Councilor Becky Corran 7.6 COUNCIL BILL NO. 24-027; ORDINANCE NO. 3069: AN ORDINANCE APPROVING A ZONE CHANGE FROM C-2 (COMMERCIAL MEDIUM INTENSITY) TO C-3 (COMMERCIAL HIGH INTENSITY) FOR A PROPERTY ENCOMPASSING 9.37 + ACRES AND LOCATED AT 1900 BATAAN MEMORIAL EAST. SUBMITTED BY UPWARD ARCHITECTS LLC, REPRESENTATIVE. (24ZO0500001). Adam Ochoa, Senior Urban Planner gave the overhead presentation. Councilor Graham said just delighted to see as what I think of as the other old K-Mart is hopefully going to get new life. I also wanted to point out since these details are always included in our packets which are put together with great effort by staff and City Clerk. I did want to point out also point out that the same individual who had expressed concerns about traffic I believe at the P&Z, the minutes that I read is also Page 24 of 30 very happy. He is a local business owner if I am thinking of the right individual, and he said he was really happy to see that the vacant building is going to be reoccupied and I believe also that those minutes clarified that a traffic study would be conducted before. Right now, we are just approving the zoning to allow potential development, but a traffic study would be conducted before actual development went on, is that correct? Adam Ochoa said I believe that is already underway because there is a project currently already, the first phase of a project is currently being done for the building on the property. That is something that our traffic engineering department did state that they needed some type of study done to ensure what existing entrances and exits are existing on the property suffice for what the proposed uses will be. Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Johana Bencomo, to Approve Ordinance No. 3069. 8. BOARD APPOINTMENTS 8.1 CAROL GURULE Councilor Graham appointed Carol Gurule to the Senior Programs Advisory Board. 8.2 CECILIA VARGAS Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor Yvonne Flores, to appoint Cecilia Vargas to the City Art Board. ABSENT: Councilor Becky Corran 8.3 JOHN MCELROY Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Johana Bencomo, to appoint John McElroy to the Utilities Board. ABSENT: Councilor Becky Corran 8.4 HARRY T JOHNSON Page 25 of 30 Councilor Yvonne Flores moved, seconded by Councilor Cassie McClure, to reappoint Harry T Johnson to the Utilities Board. MOVER: Councilor Yvonne Flores SECONDER: Councilor Cassie McClure ABSENT: Councilor Becky Corran 8.5 KENT THURSTON Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Yvonne Flores, to appoint Kent Thurston to the Planning and Zoning Commission. ABSENT: Councilor Becky Corran 8.6 BRANDON ROBINSON Councilor Yvonne Flores moved, seconded by Councilor Becki Graham, to appoint Brandon Robinson to the Veteran’s Advisory Board. 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 None. 10. CITY COUNCIL MEMBER BOARD REPORTS AND COMMENT 10.1 COUNCILOR MCCLURE I really want to thank staff for their ability to strategize and I think that is what we lose a lot of time. There is strategy behind how we are trying to do budget and I think everybody who is intimately aware of that is aware of it and if people want more information and I think that everyone on this dais is happy to engage in that conversation and I like Mayor Pro Tem feel a responsibility when I do get emails to hear to do something. This is something. 10.2 COUNCILOR MATTIACE Page 26 of 30 I am glad it was done, and I like to see shovel ready, and projects completed as quick as possible. I would like to see the water fountain get fixed in Buena Vida Park. 10.3 COUNCILOR GRAHAM I am going to speak for Councilor McClure because of her voice, I am sure you enjoyed the Lift Up Las Cruces Block Party as much as I did, Mayor, Ikani, if I am missing anyone else on the dais who attended. Just incredible city team, city staff. Sometimes I think we get lost in the negative, the challenges that Las Cruces is facing and that is completely valid, but I also want to be here to point out the amazing things that we are doing every day, and the Lift Up Block Party was just an amazing multi- generational event. People that had lived on Esperanza since the mid 1940’s right up to people who were getting to know new neighbors. Absolutely great event, I really appreciate it. We are doing these budgets, and we are looking at dollar amounts and I am so grateful for the continued support of the PAL Boxing program. Shout out again to Mayor and Ikani. Yea we teach boxing, we teach fighting but this weekend we gathered at the gym to celebrate a whole different kind of win as we had five of our fighters graduating, four from high school, one from NMSU and to see them in their caps and gowns and gloves for photos and I think, these are the investments when I look at $150,000 to PAL. That is so important. We are buying heavy bags, we are investing in our facility, but we are also investing in empowering our young people to succeed in the ring and out of the ring so Eli, T, Alvaro, Reyes, and Anthony I am so proud of you. 10.4 COUNCILOR FLORES None. 10.5 COUNCILOR BENCOMO I just want to give a couple of shoutouts. I know that I got to thank the LIGHT Team last week when they were here for a Work Session, but I wanted to reiterate just my gratitude for the Fire Department to allowing me to hang out with Allison and Mike, DC Hiles, and Paul Ford for a whole afternoon. I learned so much and just feel so deeply grateful for their work. I wanted to officially congratulate Judge DeRossit who was sworn in this morning. I did want to make a request officially for cooling stations. I think this weekend was pretty warm outside and just for us to start thinking about that. I happen to be the MC this weekend at the Friends of the Organ Mountains hosted Public Lands Prom Celebrating ten years of protected lands national monument and I think this is just such a huge accomplishment for our community. I don’t know if you all remember but it was surreal getting to hear President Obama talk about Las Cruces when they designated the monument. That was really a special moment for me as someone who was new to politics and here we are ten years later celebrating protected public lands and our national monument and everything it has done for our beautiful city. Chief Story sent an unfortunate article about Forbes naming New Mexico a dangerous state, but Forbes also named Las Cruces one of the top ten cities to retire. I think in the large part because of the national monument and the Friends of the Organ Mountains got to thank the Fire Department’s Tactical Rescue Team and the other three rescue teams in Dona Ana County for their service in the last ten years because as Chief Smith said during the Budget Retreat because of the Page 27 of 30 national monument designation we have a lot of tourists who come who underestimate the desert. So, the Friends of the Organ Mountains awarded the rescue teams their Public Lands Champion Designation and I was very happy to be there and of course to have Ikani and Sonya receive that. Lastly, I am grateful for the support today for the SOS court and for the expansion of Mano y Mano. I think this is for our community but for our staff I think often we think about safety in terms of very narrow terms, in terms of just fire and just police but it is deeply unfair to put that burden on the Fire Department or the Police Department alone. Safety is all encompassing, and I think sometimes it is really easy for us to go towards the incarceral system and invest there but it is important to invest in evidence-based models that put people at the center. Safety truly does take all departments at the city. I look at our neighbors down south in Santa Teresa and Sunland Park and they are having this massive tragedy with their water. Unsafe drinking water, how unsafe is that? It takes money and it takes investment to ensure that we have a good team to make sure that we have good safe drinking water, that we have safe roads, that we have safe buildings, that we have good clean parks. Safety is all encompassing when we think about our community and even though I was a little taken back but by one item not being included I do just want to express my sincerest gratitude to staff for the months and months of work you all put into passing a budget which I have always said that budgets are moral documents and they should reflect our values as a city and I think this year we passed a bold budget that is reflective of our challenges and the people we love most. 10.6 MAYOR ENRIQUEZ The public comments, one of the questions was asked about the Public Safety Select Committee. I had a hard time hearing the individual I thought he said a secret committee but it is a Select Committee, and I will definitely have to have the City Attorney answer to that individual and answer to the rest of the Select Committees that we have publicly so it is well informed. The other thing is that I did attend the Lift Up Block Party, it was great and kudos to the staff and for everyone for putting that together. It was a great event. The only comment I got from locals in the area is that we should have called it the Chiva Town Party. Overall, it was a great event. The work I also want to recognize and say thank you to all the staff for the work they put in. Not only to the Lift Up but to the budget as well and everything they do. I think Public Works Director David Sedillo said it best when he spoke he said everybody works with Cariño and that is the model, its Adelante con Cariño and we see it whether it is in budget or whether it is at a Lift Up or in our day to day operation so thank you to staff. Also, as Mayor Pro Tem mentioned, tourism and everything else that goes on I was asked to welcome the Lion’s Club State Conference this weekend. So, we are having individuals come to attend state conferences and get togethers from engineers to pecan growers to the Lion’s Club, the Rotary, they are all hosting these events here in Las Cruces because it is a nice place to visit and to come and that is what we are working on. That is the public safety that we want to invest in and that is a lot of what we are trying to do is invest in our parks and the MRAs with El Paseo and Solano. These are all the things that we are doing so that we can make Las Cruces better Page 28 of 30 looking and to thrive. That is a big part of what we are doing so again thank you for all the work that everybody is doing. 11. CITY MANAGER REPORT 11.1 IKANI TAUMOEPEAU Economic Development Director you may have heard Elizabeth Teeters was highlighted in the Albuquerque Business First for being a New Mexican to know. This is one from Natalie, this past Saturday the Lift Up Block Party for the Valley View Neighborhood Park was held Saturday. We would like to thank all of the departments and nonprofits who participated. Special thanks to Isaac Holguin with Housing for leading the Lift Up efforts. Casa de Peregrinos and Roadrunner Food Bank teamed up to distribute 15,965 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables including watermelons, honeydews, apples, potatoes, tomatoes, and squash. Three hundred and six families were served at the Lift Up event, Amador Health conducted over 100 glucose and health checks and distributed 988 information packets. The staff cooked 240 hotdogs and Kona Ice distributed 440 cups of Kona Ice. In addition, Lift Up Las Cruces has been selected as a finalist for the Neighborhood USA Best Neighborhood Program of the Year Award. Isaac Holguin, Catrina Godinez, and Grace Tellez will be representing the city in Lubbock, Texas. Isaac Holguin, Housing Development Coordinator will present the Lift Up initiatives to judges this Friday morning so more to come. Quality of Life Museum team is being interviewed this week by an Albuquerque radio station K-KOB. I want to give kudos to our Fire Department. This past Saturday Friends of Organ Mountain Desert Peaks presented our Las Cruces Fire Technical Rescue Team received the Public Lands Champion Award. They also presented an award to Vist Las Cruces called the Public Lands Champion Award for their tireless work on advocacy on behalf of our public lands and community. For Parks and Rec, outdoor pools and splash pads open this Saturday, May 25th. Outdoor pools are open from noon to 6:30 p.m. and splash pads are open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Additionally, the 2024 Mayor Jazz Fest concert is scheduled for Sunday, May 26th, 6 p.m. at Plaza de Las Cruces. Headliner will be Wayne Bergeron, trumpet player. Apparently, this individual has a list of recording credits that includes music played with Ray Charles, to Green Day, Katy Perry, Beyonce, Barbara Streisand, Michael Buble, and Idina Menzel. This Thursday, Baile Las Cruces is hosted by Visit Las Cruces. For those who don’t know these are free dance lessons. We will have a teacher who will come who will share different genres of dance and it is all free from 7-8:30. Come and share your time with the community, with your family and friends. I would be remiss if I didn’t share kudos along with Councilor Flores echoing with all of you who have expressed appreciation to our staff. I would be remiss if I did not thank of budget staff, Jacqueline, Leeann, Josie, and all budget team, Human Resources, especially Jo, JC, and the HR team working through personnel related cost and projections, all department heads and their staff that went through several exercises to help balance the budget by reducing their critical budget request. Thank you to Barbara Bencomo and Sonya Delgado for your guidance and support through this budget process. We started this budget process with a different City Manager and to go through transition. I appreciate the budget team and staff having their patience with Page 29 of 30 me. We appreciate you council going internal and hopefully it was a seamless transition internally but again I thank the patience of staff doing a great job. 12. ADJOURNMENT 12.1 Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor Yvonne Flores, to adjourn at 4:13 p.m. Mayor City Clerk Page 30 of 30