Work Session Meeting April 22, 2024 MINUTES Work Session Monday, April 22, 2024 @ 1:00 PM City Council Chambers, City Hall PRESENT: Councilor Johana Bencomo, Councilor Yvonne Flores, Councilor Becki Graham, Councilor Becky Corran, Mayor Eric Enriquez, Councilor Cassie McClure, and Councilor William Mattiace ABSENT: 1. JOBS OF THE WEEK 1.1 Sarah Raney, Workforce Connections presented Jobs of the Week. 2. PETS OF THE WEEK 2.1 Amy Defelix, ASCMV presented Pets of the Week. 3. AGENDA ITEM 3.1 FISCAL YEAR 2024-2025 BUDGET REVIEW & PUBLIC HEARING. Jacqueline Rubalcava, Budget and Grant Administrator gave an overhead presentation. Srijana Basnyat, City Innovation & Strategy Manager continued overhead presentation. Cynthia Campo, CIP Analyst continued overhead presentation. Councilor Bencomo said since we’re on the CIP real quick the $350,000 we received Page 1 of 26 from the State Legislature on Active Transportation that we have not decide how that will be spent yet correct or have those projects been determined already? Srijana Basnyat asked are you referring to the Cedars Appropriation? Councilor Bencomo said yes. Srijana Basnyat said ok Cynthia correct me if I’m wrong but those are going to be under the pending. So they will move over once we receive the actual amount and at that time we will bring the projects forward that would be proposed. Councilor Bencomo said thank you so those have not been determined yet? I have questions on the new positions. I’m curious about one of the biggest priorities for us this year is Municipal Court and I’m wondering if it was discussed about the position for an internal Public Defender? Brad Douglas, Interim City Attorney said yes that position has certainly been discussed and we are planning on filling it very, very soon. I don’t know if that answers your question but that will be happening eminently I believe. Councilor Bencomo asked so is that funding going in the Legal Department since I know there was still conversations about whether that person could not report to the City Attorney. Brad Douglas said to answer your question that funding will be coming to the Legal Department, but that person will not report to the City Attorney to avoid any conflict of interest or appearance of impropriety. Councilor Bencomo said so for either yourself or Chief Smith I notice there’s a new position for another MSW is this a brand new position then or is there an expansion can you talk about the request for that? Chief Jason Smith, LCFD said we are requesting a licensed clinical social worker so LCSW, we’re looking for someone to who will supplement our MIH Team as well as serve as clinical oversight or guidance for our social workers. So this is a brand new position it’s one that we originally tried to fill early on with our LIGHT Team, but we were unsuccessful in filling it. Now we feel that it’s the right time to bring that position back. Councilor Bencomo asked because right now the clinical supervision is external, right you seek out external supervision? Chief Jason Smith said that is correct. Councilor Bencomo said my last question was for City Manager or HR or Parks even. You know when Parks and Rec presented at the Budget Retreat around the idea for Park Rangers, I never imagined those Park Rangers would be Law Enforcement. I Page 2 of 26 imagined them being part of Parks and Rec staff. So I’m curious about that decision and if there’s still an opportunity for us to discuss what the responsibilities of those Park Rangers and the model that we can use for the Park Rangers? Ikani Taumoepeau, City Manager said we can definitely have the discussion. We will go into further discussion on the next agenda item on that as it will be presented. Just real quick there’s authorities if they’re not under the Police they would have the same authority that Parks and Rec staff would have, which is not much at this time. Because they’re dealing as you hear here with incidents in the bathrooms, incidents right now where it’s very difficult to put our un-sworn staff in that position. So that is a quick thought but Chief Story in the next agenda item can share more into detail or right now if you would like. Mayor Enriquez said some of the questions I have are with the increase with some of JPA’s, is that in the final agenda as well? Jacqueline Rubalcava said yes the JPA’s will be presenting their proposed increases in the next agenda item. Did you have questions on what was currently budgeted? Mona Charney, Vice President of the Friends of Thomas Branigan Memorial Library said an organization with 244 members. I’m joined today by several members of our board, and we would like to just offer our support for the Branigan and the Las Cruces Library system. I was drawn to support this library as a passionate believer in the indispensability of the libraries to our lives, our lifestyles and our community. I am here today to advocate for Las Cruces public libraries. As you know many members of our community have Las Cruces public library cards but today there are many more who are looking for more than just books. Today libraries can be the heartbeat of the community. They have classes and programs for all ages, story times for children, opportunities to develop skills in computers, crafting and many other items that are of interest to our community. The library offers maker spaces, safe spaces, work areas and recreational spaces. This year our incredible library has offered over 1300 programs serving nearly 22,000 residents. The library welcomes all who chose to use it, regardless of who they are and where they live. Successful library programs depend on two things, funding levels that are consistent with the size of the population being served and excellent staff. Our current library staff members are absolutely amazing. The City is estimated to have approximately 115,000 residents and that number is well over 200,000 when it includes residents in the County. I don’t live in the City limits, but I use the library constantly and I carry with me 17 letters of County residents like me who’ve taken the time to remind you that these resources are used by all of us. When we make a drive to the library we are likely to shop and eat downtown as well adding to the tax base of our community. But also would urge you to collaborate with County officials and remind them that these resources are available to their constituents too and to ask that they provide more support for Las Cruces Public Libraries. I represent a tremendous cross section of people. Mr. Mayor thank you very much I appreciate your time. Kathe Stark, Member of the Public said I just wanted to say how utterly disappointed I am that for what I believe is the 8th year in a row, we have not put value in our animal Page 3 of 26 control officers and increasing the size of that staff. While the population continues to grow and many which have animals we know, the staffing level for Animal Control has remained stagnant and that’s extremely disappointing. Thank you. 3.2 COMMUNITY LIVABILITY. Barbara Bencomo, Chief Administrative Officer gave an overhead presentation. David Sedillo, Public Works Director continued overhead presentation. Steven Bingham, Parks and Recreation Director continued overhead presentation. Brad Douglas, Interim City Attorney continued overhead presentation. Chief Jeremy Story, LCPD continued overhead presentation. Natalie Green, Housing & Neighborhood Revitalization Manager continued overhead presentation. Chris Faivre, Deputy Director Economic Development continued overhead presentation. Councilor Flores said so on the well replacement by the Natatorium. When we put in that request for the funds would it have been possible to ask for funds to replace the well? I mean would that be part of the project because actually it was you had to remove it in order to build so would that have been kosher for lack of a better word? David Sedillo said at the time that this project was on going EPA said that they may request that the well get re-installed. So at that point in time we didn’t think it was feasible to actually budget for a well that may not have been asked for to be re- installed. At that point we did not know however we did identify costs when we understood that they gave approval for the decommissioning. Now at this point in time we have no budget for that. We understood what the cost may be but as a matter of fact it has actually increased overtime. Councilor Corran asked how much does one block of sidewalk cost? David Sedillo said that is going to vary greatly. Whether how many drive pads are on there but I will give you somewhat of an estimate. We did have a request I would want to say maybe a month and a half ago and we went out and did that estimate. To do that stretch of block with the curb and gutter that needed to be replaced building the sidewalk and drive pads it came out to a $110,000. Councilor Corran said I will just use that number and put it in my brain as what one block of sidewalk costs. It may or may not be accurate going forward, but I like to have a number. My next question is for Natalie. I recently learned that when affordable housing projects are on the books they have the waiver of the impact fees on those projects, and I sort of came to realize that means that someone has to pay for those things like utilities hookups and perhaps park related impact fees and other Page 4 of 26 things. Do those get added into the project and would those be part of these projects in this request? Natalie Green said the way the program currently works, Affordable Housing is eligible for an Impact Waiver. We consult with the fee affected departments and then make them whole. So it comes from our budget and then we would pay for either Parks or Public Safety Impact fees. Because utilities is an enterprise that will always get paid by some source of funding. We are looking to retool that program and ask for out and out waivers, but we also recognize that has an impact to departments who rely on that to pit funds for revenue or the public safety they’re realizing on those impact fees for programming. Councilor Corran asked so that’s not part of these? Natalie Green said correct, we have not included impact fee waivers in the budgeted amounts. Councilor Graham said Chief Story just two quick questions for you. In regards to the Park Ranger Program, would deployment of those personnel be based on a floating hot spot kind of model? Chief Jeremy Story said obviously there is a lot that is still in development but that is my idea is that we concentrate the Rangers in the areas that need them the most. That would be based on kind of a rolling hotspot map or issues that come up. During the day they would go to different parks spend some time, but they may go back to a park if an issue develops. Councilor Graham said I think I’ve asked you this before, but I don’t know if I’ve said it out on the record. Would these personnel be available for our multiuse trails? I’m never quite sure where our multiuse trails are classified but is that a possibility? Chief Jeremy Story said I’m not opposed to that. I think Parks and Rec, I don’t want to speak for them, but I don’t think they would be opposed either. If the program grows and if it’s successful it would be easier to incorporate more parks and more areas. The downtown plaza is technically considered a park so they can also be used for certain events or times downtown. Councilor Graham said that’s interesting I didn’t realize that. Then finally I guess I’m still on the multiuse trail frame of mind. The non-sworn employees do they have basic first aid training? Chief Jeremy Story said we probably haven’t done the best job historically but in recent times all of our Animal Control, Codes and PSA’s do a full first aid and they also do trauma care training and that would include the Park Rangers. Councilor Flores asked do you have any idea about what the rent will be at the Peachtree Canyon and at Amador Crossing? What would be the affordability indicators for who and for what population? Page 5 of 26 Natalie Green said well so for Peachtree Canyon we have the ability to go up to 80 percent of area median income. Given the level of funding sources the rents would be based on whether they’re a one bedroom, two bedroom or three bedroom but they are typically below fair market value. I don’t have those numbers off the top of my head, but I can send that chart. A one bedroom sits at about $750. Councilor Flores said $750 for a one bedroom. Natalie Green said it’s around there but the market rate for one bedroom is typically $1200 so that’s why we’re well below that market. All Affordable Housing Projects have an affordability restrictions so they will stay affordable for anywhere to 30 or 40 years. So those rents will be restricted for that period of time. Councilor Bencomo said I just want to thank you Mayor and the staff for putting together this community livability presentation. It’s both really powerful and telling kind of exposing the tremendous needs that we have at the City. Which is why I guess I’m not surprised at the last addition to the presentation. Which I’m sure I wasn’t surprised I didn’t hear a general gasp in the audience, though I think I’m sure that it’s coming. I think it’s a really important conversation for us to continue to have given the needs that were discussed here and given that the Telshor Fund is not a fund that has a consistent revenue stream. Once that is gone, that will be gone. I think we all just need to deeply understand what that means. So just so that I’m clear, every presentation here was for a request to come out of the Telshor Fund, correct? Barbara Bencomo said no there were some items that we spoke about here that were actually budgeted out of the General Fund. The Legal Programs for example and the police Real Time Crime Center techs, those new tech positions are budgeted out of the General Fund as well so there’s kind of a mixture. Councilor Bencomo said I did want to make sure that we were being clear on that and obviously the cannabis for the MRA’s. For Municipal Court then the PD was we said the Public Defender was a re-classification so that’s covered there. Then the Case Manager was a re-classification, correct? Barbara Bencomo said correct. Councilor Bencomo said so those are covered. Then the request for the ankle monitors would that be a brand new request? Barbara Bencomo said that is a brand new request and that is budgeted out of the General Fund. Councilor Bencomo said then obviously you know I think we want to bring Judge Filosa back for a fuller presentation on Municipal Court and their needs and just wondering if they know about this request and if they’re sort of setup to handle a program for right now? Barbara Bencomo said so we reached out to the Judge and staff over at Muni Court, Page 6 of 26 and they provided us with the particulars and the estimate for the funding required to support that program. Councilor Bencomo said I talked about this during my comments a while ago about at the State level many of the court fees are going away this July. Did that come up in your conversation with the Judge and how are we planning for that? Barbara Bencomo said it has not come up in the conversation. So that I don’t have any information about that I’m not sure if City Manager or Legal has any information about that. But I have not had that conversation. Councilor Bencomo said that’s ok it’s not for today. I just wanted to put it back on everybody’s radar so that some of those fees are going away and we’ll either have to supplement or by adoption, adopt them ourselves. I’m generally not in favor of that and making it a debtors court. But I think that is an important consideration for Municipal Court and their budget. I guess for Public Works on the sidewalk gaps you know we just finished the CIP presentation where we talked about the potential $350,000 that is coming from the State Legislature this year. I know it was about $600,000 plus you mentioned was the need for that David. But I’m wondering if that it’s a pretty good chunk, right to get us started. I’m wondering if that could be something we could consider. David Sedillo said I would only state that monies coming into the Active Transportation bucket also include other installations that may or may not have a funding source and therefore that’s why we made the request. Councilor Bencomo said on Parks and Rec I really appreciated your presentation on the three parks on the three legacy parks. I think, I may get some emails on this on my brand new constituents, Pioneer Park is the newest park in District 4. I know there is a ton of advocacy that goes on for Pioneer Park and it’s a beloved park it’s a beautiful park. I definitely support the investments in infrastructure there, however just a tiny little asterisks. I think parks like Apodaca Park and Young Park are parks that are highly utilized by a lot of families, and I loved how you started this about the great equalizers and who uses parks and who they should be for, right. I guess I would ask us to honestly prioritize Apodaca and Young Park as we talk about these major renovations and the need and who the needs will impact the most. Not because I don’t like Pioneer Park and I don’t see the need for it, but I just see a much, much greater need for both of those parks. I’m wondering if you’re asking us for guidance on prioritization on it. I know the cost for both of those parks is quite tremendous so I’m just wondering if you could speak a little more about the prioritizing of those parks. Steven Bingham said I agree with you that Young Park has a greater need but the target where we were trying to come in financially and where we felt like we could get support, we felt if we prioritized Young Park we could only do one park. The other reason is, is because Pioneer has a lot of money $860,000 in a grant and as we looked. There’s three parks that we have Master Plans that we’ve gotten budgeting number on them, and they come out to about $400,000 to 460,000 an acre to do a whole renovation of a park. I checked out in the industry and that number is Page 7 of 26 something that the other Directors that I talked to are seeing. So it was important for us to hit parks where there were grants so we could get a greater impact on that park. Because we didn’t feel that it was a viable thing to put $460,000 per acre into these older parks. The other thing is the reason we chose Pioneer is we thought we could go in there with a little less money and put more toward Apodaca, it didn’t quite work out that way as the numbers came in pretty similar. But we also felt like Pioneer with it being the oldest park historic park, a park built in the 1800’s at the push of the women’s organization who saw a need for it, and we felt like with it being such a historic park there was a need for that park to be the class of the system. So I would be fully supportive and on board in moving over to Young Park. I think Young Park will take a little bit longer for planning. We’re further along in the planning stages with Pioneer than Young so I agree with your sentiment it’s needed more and that’s why we actually had plans to bring Young back this following year. Councilor Bencomo said thank you and then here is my additional consideration as you were talking and talking about park rangers and we’re talking about potentially about parks that see a greater threat to safety. I mean I don’t want to go out on a limb but because I don’t know for sure but maybe Chief can help us determine which of these parks perhaps sees more of that. I imagine that Young Park is one of those parks at the top of the list. I don’t want us to say we’re only going to invest in enforcement in Young Park but we’re not going to invest in the needs of Young Park in terms of infrastructure that is equally important for Public Safety, for usability and those kinds of things. For me those are a really important balance to keep in mind as we’re talking about how we look at Public Safety and how we invest in it. I think even if it takes some phases to get to the needs for Young Park as you’re coming to us for requests, that is at least my preference. My preference is that we focus on the two parks that serve the most people and have the highest needs. I love your sentiment about Pioneer Park again I love that park, love that community. I just see the needs being much, much greater for these two other parks. Steven Bingham said you’re accurate the need for Young is much greater, yes if I may add a couple things. Parks and Recreation Industry has been late to the table on research and putting things out there. But Parks not only serve to be the great equalizer, but research is showing that they’re one of the best things for reducing mental health challenges and one of the things for reducing crime. If you have safe parks, you have safe neighborhoods. But if you have dangerous parks it bleeds over into your neighborhoods. Councilor Bencomo said I have a lot of questions just about surveillance technology and how we best reduce the potential harms of surveillance technologies on communities like racial profiling and those kind of things. I believe that can be done through policy but I’m wondering if there was going to be in the future a specific work session on Real Time Crime Center and how that’s going to work, and the community can ask questions and be involved. Chief Jeremy Story said I don’t have an answer for the work session but on the town hall this Thursday one of the things we’re going to talk about the Real Time Crime Center and some of those concerns. But just quickly want to address, obviously there Page 8 of 26 is a balance to it and so some of the things we do to insure that the balance is kept in order is one limiting access to those that need it, two is auditing procedures so that we’re making sure that we’re monitoring that the data that is being retrieved for the proper purposes. That everything has an audit trail these days which is good for us, proper policy. So there is a lot of good mechanisms in place or will be in place to help make sure that stays in balance. Councilor Bencomo said I think one of my biggest in just some of my research around these kinds of tools is around data collection are some of the biggest questions I have. Like how long we keep data for. When we share it with other entities like the data sharing agreement. You know I particularly have concerns with just sharing data with entities like ICE for example. I have a ton of questions around that. I don’t want to come to the town hall and take up time myself from the community members. I guess my request would be that we do have a work session. Chief Jeremy Story said let me just mention data retention was the one that I missed. Retention periods have to be balanced so that we are able to solve crimes and hold people accountable for victims. But also not keep data longer where it becomes a concern. The retention rates that we have set now are thirty days for license plate readers. Which I think is a very reasonable amount and 7 days will be for all video. So a week is what we plan on setting it at, which is not a lot of time, it means people have to move fast if there’s a crime. But it also helps assuage those fears that we’re keeping data for a long time, or we can go back and put something together we shouldn’t. Councilor Bencomo said ok thank you Chief maybe what I’ll do to is email you some questions. But again I think it’s very important that the community understand all these, and I am glad you are having a town hall. On the MRA Chris this is for you. I think it’s really important that we start talking about future planning for the MRA’s. I always like telling people this, can you remind us how many MRA’s Albuquerque has right now? Chris Faivre said I believe they have about 21. So they have a whole office for Metropolitan Redevelopment. It is very much a part of how they move their Economic Development Strategy forward in the City of Albuquerque. Councilor Bencomo said I love that, and I think for me again when we talk about Public Safety and Community Safety revitalization of areas that have long been neglected has been such an important part of that. So Albuquerque is setup when July 1 hits this year that all of those 20 areas will begin collecting their own revenues correct? Chris Faivre said so if you’re referring to the change in the State Statute yes. I believe beginning July 1st, you can start your baseline collections. So in order to implement the potential tax increment you need to do a twelve month collection to see what that baseline is. It is very similar to what we did with the Downtown TIDD. So that baseline as you saw in the data that I provided to you on the TIDD today, anything above that up to 75 percent of those revenues go back into the MRA, 25 percent back into the Page 9 of 26 General Fund. So yeah we will be starting at a minimum our collection on the two new MRA’s that where established and then anything additional Council wants to look at. Councilor Bencomo said that’s great, and I’m really excited about that, and I think it’s so important for us for future planning of future MRA designations. I think there was like 10, 12 Chris from the report? Chris Faivre said the designation report actually identified 6 areas. So we had the El Paseo, South Solano, West Picacho, there was also an East Solano to Telshor area. There was the Apodaca Blueprint Area and then probably the two other areas that were high need were the Amador Proximo area just west of here down towards Valley and then of course the original Mesquite Town Center area. Those were the ones identified and so we pick the first two to move forward with. Councilor Bencomo said Chris can you re-circulate that report amongst Council because there’s obviously new Council members that I think it would be really good to see that. I would love for us to see City Manager and Mayor for us to move forward with, just even if we don’t have to go out to RFP’s for new MRA’s but just establishing them that way we start the baseline collections, so we are prepared for the future. I think that’s really, really smart. Thank you for bringing that forward. Chris Faivre said that could be done by Resolution, we could bring that back referencing the designation report and just have Council designate those remaining areas as an MRA. Just so we can start that baseline collection and then plan future planning initiatives in those areas as time and finances permit. Councilor Bencomo said I think if we establish those other 4 that would be great and then in that conversation we could determine which of those are priorities. Which of those we want to do 3rd, 4th and 5th etc. So we’re not tackling them all at once. Actually just on the GRT this might be for you or for Leeann. Can you talk a little bit more specifically about what it is right now, the percentage the height of it. Those are what it is right now? Chris Faivre said correct this is, I worked with Dr. Torres the City’s Economist to put together some current GRT collections from around the State. This kind of just shows you as things stand today where the GRT rests. You can see some cities above, where we are currently and couple of cities below because. Obviously this isn’t all of them, there are some regional ones. Then of course the larger cities in New Mexico. Councilor Bencomo said I wish I had this slide at my community meeting a couple of weeks ago because someone was adamant that we had the highest in the State and I was I don’t think so ma’am and now there’s the data. Can you just talk about then Council authority a little bit more and then what we would need to go out for referendum for the community to vote on? Chris Faivre said certainly so Council via ordinance has the authority to increase the GRT. That would generate approximately $9,000,000 per year. The out to referendum option would generate potentially another $11,000,000 on top of that. That’s where Page 10 of 26 you’re looking at your $20,000,000 a year generated through those two options. Councilor Bencomo said I think part of what you said on the slide was about bold options and bold can sometimes be scary. I think we’re in a time coming out of Covid that inflation is high. I think there’s important considerations to make and to have conversations with the public around just how expensive everything is right now. Those things are true but they’re also then true for the City, right. It’s much more expensive to fix a sidewalk. It’s much more expensive to fix a park now as well so I think those are all important conversations we need to be having with our constituents. For this conversation to move forward I think it’s really important to do town halls and community outreach meetings. Is that something that staff has talked about? Or is that something that you all need guidance on today? Chris Faivre said probably a little bit of both so City Manager’s Office has discussed bringing this back to Council in the form of a work session specifically on this topic in early June. There is a timeline that we would need to adhere to if we’re going to get this on the ballot in November. Which means we have to have a consensus by early August. So working backwards from that timeline early June to bring this back for further discussion and then if Council wants to add additional public comment opportunities. We could certainly look to accommodate that, during that timeframe as well. Councilor Bencomo asked this might be coming out of left field, but do you have data on property taxes? Chris Faivre said I don’t have a lot of detail on that, I’m sure Leeann can. I do know there is an option via ordinance that the Council can act to increase property taxes under their taxing authority. I believe that number is somewhere in the neighborhood of $6,000,000. But I know Leeann could probably provide more details on that. Councilor Bencomo asked property taxes that differs from GRT is the split with the County correct? Chris Faivre said that is correct. I believe that would be our portion. Councilor Bencomo said I see. I guess if we do a work session on the GRT I would love to understand all of our options on the table and what that could mean. So if we go to referendum and let’s say the voters approve it. Then that’s the max that could never be increased again unless it goes back to a referendum or how does that work? Chris Faivre said I believe that will cap out our taxing authority at the local level if we go out to referendum for the full amount unless there were some changes at the State level. Councilor Bencomo said which I think is an important consideration for sure. Councilor Mattiace said Steve could I ask you some questions? Going through the PowerPoint if maybe you could tell me the revenue for the parks? I’ve only been Page 11 of 26 around for 4 months, and my memory only goes back 17 years ago. Is that developers fees for parks? Steven Bingham said Councilor Mattiace are you referring to park impact fees? Councilor Mattiace said yes. Steven Bingham said currently the park impact fee is $2600 per unit. We are currently doing a study, the park impact fees have not been raised it’s my understanding for a decade. Councilor Mattiace asked ok then in your PowerPoint you mentioned about a strategy for deferred maintenance, why was that done? Was that the lack of impact fees, lack in leadership, lack in all? Steven Bingham said impact fees can only be used to maintain the same level of service as the community grows. So if your current level of service is 3.79 acres of parks you can’t use park impact fees to increase your level of service. It has to remain the same for that vehicle. There are other vehicles, but that vehicle can’t increase it. Your next question is why our parks got the challenges they are. I think historically our parks people have worked very hard with the work they have done. But as I look at it our funding is lower than the greater portion of, people we’re in the lower quartile of funding in parks when you look at the funding per resident. Councilor Mattiace said you mentioned about pivoting from the deferred maintenance strategy. Can I get the particulars on the pivoting? Steven Bingham said I think I’ve made a bold request. I’ve been told it’s a bold request, something that I think is more than the Council historically have received and I put forward a request to try and really attack these issues in our parks where there’s deferred maintenance and let’s restore our parks, let’s try to make them look like they’re new, inviting etc. and that’s the pivot. Councilor Mattiace said I think you made a very good point in the last four or five years with the crime increases. I know Chief Story and the previous Chiefs and all the crime that’s in the parks particularly Apodaca Park and others. If the park are not safe, if they don’t have rangers, if they don’t look good, some neighborhoods with abandoned buildings. If you have that type of look you’re going to attract or have increases in crime and thank you of that statement. Ikani Taumoepeau, City Manager said Councilor Mattiace I just wanted to share a thought, you had questioning what’s happening from prior times of deferred maintenance happening at parks and rec. What I know from the short time that I have been here is our Parks and Rec previously they have been challenged with a very tight budget which they haven’t been funded with, that’s what it comes down to. They have done the best that they could but given the resources and funding resources. I just wanted to share as constituents will ask you what has happened in the past when you were previously Mayor as well. That’s why we shared the option to have that bold Page 12 of 26 challenge of additional revenues at this time which was not done prior because with additional funds there’s potential to hit some of the goals that you and Council may have for parks. I just wanted to make that comment. Councilor Flores asked could either of you explain for purposes of educating everybody especially our public, as to how the Telshor Fund works? Because it was reported that there’s $30,000,000+, the corpus is that amount. Could you please explain what the corpus is, how it has to be protected and the limitations on using the corpus? Barbara Bencomo said so the Telshor Fund corpus that we spoke about earlier. Essentially represents the funds that we received from the prepaid lease. That is the body of funds that we received that we could then invest. Those long-term investments that we have made have yielded a higher market value overall for that investment for the Telshor Fund. That’s why when we talk about what’s currently in the Fund we talk about the market value being $42.9 million currently. We started with the $30 million. Actually we started with $26 million in 2004 and received the additional funds more recently. But in total we received $30 million to invest and to utilize. Previously the Council has adopted Resolutions to identify a certain amount of money to be spent for the Health Related Public Services Programs that was $600,000 a year. That actually I believe started out at something $300,000 and it was intended to be a portion of the appreciation of the fund every year so we could retain the corpus of the funds but spend some of the investment increase on programming. So that is one particular Resolution for recurring funds from the Telshor Fund. Obviously the other things you see is approved from the Telshor Fund always come to Council for consideration. Council has the control of what is earmarked to be spent from the fund within the required usage that you have also previously designated by Resolution as well. That is something that the restriction of the fund is set by Council through Resolution and then effectively as you have designated funds to be spent they come to you by Resolution and that is what I’m showing here with previous proposals as an example of what’s been previously approved by Council from the fund. Councilor Flores asked the funds that are distributed to different organizations are the limitations on the kind of organization it is? Does it have to be a 501(c)(3) and that sort of stuff? Barbara Bencomo said so with respect to the Health Related Public Services actually I am going to ask Natalie come up and speak a little bit about that. Because there are requirements and of course there is a committee that makes recommendations to Council about what to spend the money on and who to receive those funds. Natalie Green said so the main three eligibility criteria for a nonprofit providing services under Health Related Public Services is that they need to provide direct services to the sick and indigent that meet the definition of continued physical, mental, developmental, emotional and social wellbeing. In addition to that they do need to be a registered 501(c)(3) and providing services within the City limits and they need to have a basic level of internal controls to demonstrate that they are providing those Page 13 of 26 direct services that they have you know a functioning accounting system, audited financial statements or an audit. Again in order to provide that transparency back to Council and the citizens that we’re spending their money wisely. The biggest thing again is direct services, demonstrated direct services to the sick and indigent or low income. Councilor Flores asked can you explain again why we keep the corpus? Why we don’t pierce as accountants say the corpus? Barbara Bencomo said this is certainly at the Council’s discretion, but Mayor Pro Tem mentioned earlier that there is no more revenue stream for the Telshor Funds. We received this as the prepaid 40 year lease payment for Memorial Medical Center. We don’t receive funds on a regular basis or annual basis, it was a one-time prepaid lease and then with a later addition of the escrow funds that came forward. So there’s not a regular revenue stream into the Telshor Fund. So with that I know that previous Councils have been very cognizant of maintaining the corpus of the Fund because again we don’t have something to replenish that Fund. I think Mayor Pro Tem said earlier when that fund is gone there’s nothing to replace it. So that’s why there’s been quite a bit of thought with respect to the types of expenditures and the amounts of expenditures that have previously come forward and been contemplated by the Council. Councilor Flores said the Fund is growing, there’s not automatic but there is an investment growing in the corpus. Barbara Bencomo said so we have been very fortunate in our investments and again I mentioned that the Telshor Funds are designated as long-term investments. That is the only fund we have with that designation that allow us to invest through the State Investment Council. We have had good years for investing. We have had very lean years for investing just like you might have with your personal investment as well. But overall over 20 years the investments have done well and previously as I mentioned we had been spending fairly small amounts from the Telshor Fund limited to that $300k distribution up to most recently $600k and now we’ve seen some larger projects be funded out of the Telshor Fund. Councilor Mattiace said I can remember in 2004 we had a Councilor Wesley Strain he required that most of those funds, use a majority vote. Is that still in place or has that been changed? Barbara Bencomo said the use of the Funds still requires a majority vote here in Council. To approve those expenditures. We would typically bring them to you during the budget development process. However there are times during the year we have brought forward proposals for the use of the funds, but it always comes to Council and always requires a majority vote. Councilor Corran said so just to this bigger question, which is you’re asking us to spend the Telshor Fund on the, not you personally collectively. What this means is we are facing deferred maintenance that has caught up to us and a number of other Page 14 of 26 things we haven’t funded this is asking us to consider those projects as using the Telshor Fund to fund those projects. Which would result in a lower corpus that exists in the State Investment Council. Which has its own I think, I would argue we should have a different investment strategy for it in any case. But that’s not what we’re talking about here. But I think one of the things I would ask is I think this is coming to us because we’re open to this and we understand we’re at a point where Public Health and Safety are fundamentally important, and we should fund them. What I would ask is if we did head in this direction those organization that have come to rely on the funds that we have been disbursing. I know that then that would also be eating into the corpus. I’m acknowledging that historically that has been the investment profits that we used to fund that. I think that we should at a minimum if we consider using the Telshor Fund the corpus of the Telshor Fund for some of these projects I would ask that we also consider a sustainability plan for those organizations that we’ve been funding for a long time through the Telshor Fund with the investment revenue those $600,000. I think that we have been putting the cannabis revenue into the Telshor Fund? No, then in a separate fund we consider that as one place. I would just ask that we consider holding harmless in the speak of how we spend money that process and not say if we’re doing this then that will end. I guess would be my ask if we’re considering tapping into the corpus that our ongoing investment in Health and Public Services Organizations either have a plan to phase out or a different approach to those things being funded in a different way or figuring out a different way to fund that. I would as that we hold that harmless in this conversation for at least several years to figure out a way to keep funding it, so that is just my ask as we consider this which would be a different approach from what we’ve done in the past. Mayor Enriquez said I guess a lot of questions, a lot of things to digest. I would say definitely what I’m in favor of is that we spend the Telshor Fund to get caught up with a lot of things that have been neglected as our parks. Definitely in favor of the Municipal Courts and that’s already been pretty much budgeted. The Real Time Crime Center and all is I feel, I’ve seen it in another municipality it’s going on ten years already that it’s been in existence. I think we’re just behind and we need to get caught up with a lot of things, so we need to spend some money for our Public Safety and for the greater good of all our community. Chris the funding sources that we have you’ve already mentioned. The ARPA was a onetime funding source correct? Chris Faivre said Mayor that is correct yes. Mayor Enriquez said our bond is every four years. Chris Faivre said correct. Mayor Enriquez said grants is really left up to chance. Chris Faivre said yes I mean outside of Capital Outlay it’s up to the departments to work with the Grants Department to identify those funding options for those specific projects, correct. Mayor Enriquez said our impact fees, TIDD all of those are really limited and you Page 15 of 26 know for certain projects, only for limited use and the TIDD in just certain areas, correct? Chris Faivre said that is correct the TIDD is limited in project type and within the geographic bounds of the TIDD. Mayor Enriquez said you mentioned the Legislative Funding when we ask, or we request. You wrote it down as near the mile, how did you reference it? Chris Faivre said I referred to it as funding the last mile. They like to come in and get us across the finish line. Mayor Enriquez said I usually write when I’ve heard from Legislators is they want to see projects that are almost 80 percent complete is what they’re looking for when we go and request. I feel that because of timing and because certain items that are on the list for this Community Livability there are some projects that we can carve a little bit more so that we make sure we spend responsibly, and we carve out some of those things. Like anything that’s GAP funded is to me something that we move forward with it, and then we go and ask Legislators for funding then we’re at 80 percent or the last mile. The other thing is the timing of the parks. If we’re looking at doing Apodaca and Young Park if we say we’re going to put funds there which I’m all for, I think it’s a great thing. Steve thank you, but what kind of timeframe are we looking at? We can’t have both parks being worked on at the same time, can we? I mean I’ll ask Steve what his are thoughts are on the timeframe. Steven Bingham said I believe you could have both parks being worked on at the same time. I don’t believe we could move quick enough to do Young Park in the next budget. I think the planning that need to occur there precludes it from being done in this coming budget. But logistically doing both at the same time I don’t see a problem with that. Mayor Enriquez said ok, the other one is Pioneer that already has $800,000 in grant money? Steven Bingham said yes $860,000 in grant money that has been put forth for the Gazebo and there’s already a Masterplan on that and so the type of things we need to do there are things that the planning lead time is less. So we can move more quickly. Mayor Enriquez said yeah and so with that it could also be another one that 80 percent or the last mile that maybe could be an ask at the Legislative Funding at least looking at one of those projects that are almost complete and that would help. Barbara Bencomo said Mayor I wanted to add that for the last two years we’ve actually focused on what we called finish line projects and requesting those to the State Legislature in fact Fire Station 9 was on the list for this year as well because we just had a little bit more that was needed. But unfortunately we only got a $100,000 from the State towards that last bit. But that just points out with respect to that funding source we can be targeted, we can be strategic, we can try to understand the Page 16 of 26 priorities of the Legislators, but it certainly doesn’t guarantee the receipt of that funding either. Also I wanted to mention with respect to the Bond cycling for GO Bonds it’s every four years but for the rest of our Bond cycling it’s every three years. Councilor Bencomo said I just had one more thought around other funding options. This is really for anybody. But Barbara probably you might know more and Leeann perhaps around any of the recent Legislature given that we have all of this historic revenues. I know that there was certain funding pots through the Legislative Session some on like homelessness initiatives. I’m wondering if what are the options that we can tap into at the State level that can also help fund some of these projects? Like I think this homeless initiative is my understanding is very broad so could we tap into it to help support Project LIGHT for example or to help support increase Mesilla Valley Community of Hope Outreach? I know there is a ton of money that was set aside for Law Enforcement. Is that something we can tap into to then help fill whatever they’re spending is for the Real Time Crime Center? Are those like some of the strategies that we’re going to be looking at employing here as well? Barbara Bencomo said you’re absolutely right and with respect to the funding that is available at the State we have seen it go into different pots as you’re saying. The Governor has different initiatives for certain things, Affordable Housing for example, and Public Safety etc. So that is part of what we need to strategize on with respect to the funding needs we have and then the funds that are available out there. That’s part of what our lobbyist help us to do both at the State and Federal level to look at what our needs are and what the potential funding sources are, along with the timing of those funding sources. So you’re absolutely right that will not end with any new funding that we get here. I think in Natalie’s presentation she noted that even for some of her projects she’s still applying for other funding sources for some of the Affordable Housing Projects, we’re always going to continue to do that. Whether is grants at the State level or Federal Level as well. The State has become a little bit more complex with the different funding buckets that they have and the different processes for obtaining those funds. We’ve done that for years and will just expand that effort as well and continue it. Councilor Bencomo said let’s say we spent $1 million we pay for that out of Telshor and then we know there’s money at the State level for those kinds of projects. Are we able to sort of ask for that to reimburse ourselves? Barbara Bencomo said typically not. I will say that’s typically not the case the funds that we get that they can be used to reimburse us for funds we’ve already spent. We only have that situation when there’s very specific times. For example, with the Taxable Bond we just issued for Affordable Housing we can reimburse ourselves for that for example. But it’s typically not been with the funds from the State. Councilor Bencomo said I guess I would rather make sure we expend all of those options and make sure that there isn’t money already out there that we can be utilizing, instead of going this route. But if not I think it’s, we talk about this all the time about the giant permanent funds that the State has that gets tapped into rarely. I mean for like a decade advocates fought to get one percent of that to go to childhood Page 17 of 26 education right. Those are these battles, and I don’t want us to get stuck in the same cycle with our Telshor Fund that we tap this giant portion of money but then were not using it when we need it the most. So it’s definitely a tricky balance but I think an important one we have to talk about, and I think that’s what we’re doing here today. The last thing I was going to say in terms of different pots of money. I recently saw an article on the Department of the Interior also having a pot of money for parks and park improvements and those kinds of things. I don’t know if that’s old or that is still an option for us as well. Barbara Bencomo said I don’t know that certain funding source. But typically from the Federal resources for Parks they’ve been at State Parks designated parks not typically City Parks. But we will have to look at that. I think that as you mentioned, it’s tough to try to balance all the different funding sources and but that’s what we need to do is just have that strategy. At the State level I was just reading this morning and I passed on an article to our Finance Team that there’s some discussion at what level of reserves the State should hold and potentially reducing that because they have set aside so many different pots of money for so many different things, besides the main rainy day fund, if you will. So looking at it in its totality really begs the question about whether they should be requiring that higher level of reserve that they have that could potentially free up more funds as well for the local governments projects. So you know lots of things in the works and certainly because of the request that we received we wanted to be thoughtful and bring this forward to you all today our next step is to bring the budget forward for adoption May 20th. So that’s why we’re looking for guidance as whether or not we should bring this entire proposal forward on May 20th as we work our way towards adoption of the FY2025 Budget. Councilor Flores asked would you please share with us how much money is in the permanent fund? Barbara Bencomo asked at the State level? Councilor Flores said it’s ticking as we speak. It’s billions. Barbara Bencomo said I will have to send that to you. I don’t have that on, $50 billion. I don’t have that or the exact number. Councilor Flores said it’s like $50 billion. Mayor Enriquez said so I guess finalizing what I wanted to share was on the MRA using the cannabis excise tax, I definitely support that we need to kick those off and get those going. Then start looking at the future and identifying other places. I guess the questions moving forward in how to continue I think really the GRT looking at those taxes and see what the community having town hall meetings and just public input. No different then what we do with the GO Bond meetings and things. It would be good to see what direction. I’m not in favor of the property taxes because I feel that just stays here. The GRT we have the Sports Complex now coming up we have different sporting events, we can have tourism, we can have events and we can get that shared with tourism in different visitors that come to our community to help us replenish the funds that we spend. But that is something to look at and more Page 18 of 26 discussion on that. Definitely we have to do something since our funding sources are limited and how we can continue especially when we get the Capital Improvement Projects off the ground and building a safer and better community. Giving direction I would say I’m looking at yes we do spend the Telshor Fund. I’m looking at my colleagues to see if that’s some direction we’re looking at moving forward in that direction. Maybe carving out some of the items and seeing what can be funded in other ways but definitely taking a step forward and different than what Steve said with the parks is making a bold statement and we need to spend some to get a better quality of our community livability as it’s documented. Councilor Bencomo said thank you Barbara I think that’s a good point if you’re asking for feedback right now or guidance on how we should move forward with this. It’s always interesting when you’re there ready to say yes or no, it’s a little bit scarier than just talking about it every other time. When the price tag is right in front of you it’s a little bit different. I would argue though that I think given that there are potentials for other funding sources for some of these. But I do believe that there are a couple to me feel like key critical things that we can do right now. To me that is Park improvements especially Young and Apodoca Park for me feels really critical. The Real Time Crime Center and Amador Crossings. To me those are the kinds of things that I feel like people would see an immediate, like what would our constituency as immediate change, as an immediate investment, and I think those are definitely some of the pieces that I think for me feel the most critical. If we say we only have a couple weeks to decide before the May budget session and the rest can certainly we can take our time to decide on how we want to move forward with those and try to find potentially funding sources for others. That’s at least where I’m at right now. Councilor Corran said I’m going to strongly ask that we consider the Peachtree Canyon Housing Developments as well as part of our commitment to that and I think that’s a place that we can really leverage a ton of money in a public/private partnership that is really important, and I don’t want them to get lost off the list. Barbara Bencomo said I believe that those two were already adopted by Resolution by the Council, so the commitment has been made for those two projects. Beth Bardwell, League of Women Voters of Southern New Mexico said we respectfully ask the City Council to make an incremental precedent setting investment of General Funds in the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. The City supports construction of Affordable Housing through Telshor funds, more recently through GO Bonds. But has never dedicated a portion of the City’s General Funds and the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. The Trust Fund is a proactive tool to increase Affordable Housing the City Council created back in 2010. The Trust Fund is like a bank account from which money could be used for various onetime Affordable Housing needs. Trust Fund dollars are needed to help Affordable Housing Developers offset the costs of City assessed Impact Fees for City Water, Wastewater, Parks and other City infrastructure. It could be used to pay for onetime cost for necessary reports and other work products to help developers keep the Affordable Housing Projects moving expeditiously through the development pipeline. It could be used to pay for Specialized Grant Writers to secure significant public and private dollars to support Page 19 of 26 locally driven strategies to plan and provide for more housing like a HUD Choice Neighborhood Planning Grant. There’s widespread support for the City to increase Affordable Housing as evidenced by 65 percent of voters who supported the City issuing the 2022 GO Bond for Affordable Housing. We ask the City to leverage the Telshor and GO Bond Funding Investments in Affordable Housing by making a precedent setting investment of General Funds in the Trust Fund as well. Thank you. Yoli Diaz, Member of the Public said on about June 2022 I provided the City a request to use Telshor Funds and Cannabis Tax especially since many people say that Cannabis is medicine towards a Health Care Fund. I understand there are many needs believe me I understand. Prior to the lease of the Hospital there were no issues in accessing Health Care at MMC that I’m aware of. As a non-profit or government hospital my understanding is that they are required to provide charity care that is a tradeoff for not paying taxes. Now I understand MMC was losing millions after MountainView opened and the result was the City and County voting to lease the Hospital. I would like to add that I am concerned for the residents of Doña Ana County who have had denials and delays to needed hospital care at Memorial Medical Center. This is nothing new because I’ve been officially advocating for residents and had a joint meetings with both City and County leaders Mayor Miyagishima and County Manager Macias since October of 2021. When I checked my recollection of October 2021 there was $46 million in the Telshor Fund through today April 22, 2024, there has been no solution. It is unknown how many residents have had issues, but I will say whether it is 5, 10, 100 or 1,000 more per year 1 is one too many. The Telshor Fund was derived from the receipts of a prepaid lease of Memorial Medical Center, the lease involved an asset purchase which basically means that MMC folks own visible items that at a minimum the City of Las Cruces still owns the land for whatever reason there is a quit claim deed on file at Doña Ana County. It’s on a 40 year lease and a little more than 21 years to go. The original intention to use the appreciation of the Fund was to fund programs but to not touch the corpus thus it would have allowed the Fund to exist in perpetuity. I am disappointed that you’re considering extinguishing this Fund from what I heard earlier, this very important Fund. I’m disappointed that access to needed Health Care does not seem to be a priority. Thank you. Donna Stryker, Member of the Public said I just want some clarification on something I just heard. Did I hear that a Resolution had already been passed to provide the funding for two projects Amador Crossing or Three Sisters, which one? I just want to try an understand before I say something. Barbara Bencomo said it was Peachtree Canyon. Donna Stryker said I have one thing I’d like to say. I’ve been to meetings on Amador Crossing and they want $10 million for the project total a little less than $6 million is coming from Capital Outlay, $4 million from Telshor Fund. I was in the construction and lending industry for many, many years. In the industry for 49 years, 25 of it was construction lending $10 million dollars for 50 units is over $200,000 a unit. I would like to know where that number came from. I have no problem with Low to Moderate Income Housing, what I have a problem with is a $10 million project where I have seen no numbers. You don’t have numbers because there’s no RFP and you can’t Page 20 of 26 issue the RFP because you don’t have plans and specs. So I would like to see the plans and specs and I like to know where $10 million for 50 units. It’s a beautiful project, I saw the renderings it’s beautiful, it’s brilliant. I loved what I saw but I do not support $10 million for 50 units, it’s not acceptable. I need to understand the numbers and I think you guys should like to understand the numbers as well. Thank you. Jennifer Kreie, Member of the Branigan Library Board said so I’m not here for the Telshor Fund, but I am here for livability, quality of life. I started my day playing tennis at Lions Park thank you very much. Parks are so important, but the Library is on the frontline over 50,000 people have library cards. You want a bang for your buck you’ve got to enable the Library to expand and just reach out to more citizens. I can’t think of anything as much as I like Lions, I think Apodaca has so much potential, but you’ve got to support the Library. So I don’t know where that funding comes from because the agenda items are a little obscure, but please support the Library. You have supported them, but they need to grow, they need to expand, it’s another case of an old building that’s gradually declining. So please support the Library. Thank you. Denali Wilson, ACLU of New Mexico said I’m here to express some concerns regarding the proposed Real Time Crime Center and its potential impact on Civil Liberties. Unchecked Government surveillance has throughout history encroached on the privacy rights of ordinary citizens and any discussion surrounding the acquisition or utilization of new surveillance technology must explicitly address the potential to erode Civil Liberties. We’re seeing that the indiscriminate use of surveillance technology in policing are turning our communities and particularly poor communities and communities of colors into human fish tanks and virtual prisons where residents are treated as perspective criminals and monitored and scrutinized and stigmatized 24/7. These conditions exacerbate the very problems that they’re purported to solve by further eroding the trust between law enforcement and the community and by worsening societal inequities by disproportionally targeting people of color, poor people, politically unpopular groups and other historically marginalized groups. We urge the City Council to consider the profound Civil Liberties implications of this proposed Real Time Crime Center, despite the very catchy name and hard to say. It is imperative that any decision regarding surveillance technology prioritizes transparency, community involvement and safeguards against the unjust targeting of marginalized communities. Thank you for your attention. Jamie Barsodie, Regional Chair of the United States Tennis Association for Southern New Mexico said I am here today to express on behalf of the tennis community strong support for the addition of the three Park Rangers at our Parks. I have played at Lions Park for many years, I’ve participated and put on both youth events and adult events and I have personally experienced extreme safety conditions for both myself and the youth. So I support the addition and I really appreciate the addition of Security Guards that have been added when we have activities at Lions it has already made a difference in people feeling comfortable coming out and using the park. Thank you very much. 3.3 FISCAL YEAR 2024-2025 BUDGET REVIEW FOR JOINT POWER AGREEMENTS AGENCIES. Sergeant Gabriel Arenibas, Las Cruces/Doña Ana Metro Narcotics gave an overhead Page 21 of 26 presentation. Councilor McClure asked just out of curiosity where does that $600,000 go that you seized, I’m just curious? Sergeant Gabriel Arenibas said so our Federal partners because we are a task force FBI they take the seizure, and it goes to them, they go through the process. Mayor Enriquez asked with the DASO vacancies so did you say two or three? Sergeant Gabriel Arenibas said they have three at this time. Mayor Enriquez said three vacancies so when they’re doing their contributions, their funding is based on what they expend or with that $300,000 plus or is it based on how much they spend? Sergeant Gabriel Arenibas said no we get it regardless. So what we don’t use goes into a funding expense that we can dip into if we have to for other expenses down the road. Mayor Enriquez said ok so is it just a shortage, understaffed or overall? Sergeant Gabriel Arenibas said I don’t know to be exact, I know they have some promotional things going and then they have to test for the position, and I know from what I understand they will be testing in May. I’m not 100 percent sure on that but as soon as they get the process and get Deputies lined up to come over they’ll possibly give me some agents. Councilor Bencomo said the list on your seizures on the marijuana seizures given that cannabis is now legal obviously I know there’s still folks operating outside of that in the black market. Can you talk a little bit more about that? How much time do you think you all are sort of spending addressing that? Sergeant Gabriel Arenibas said those seizures that are listed for 2023 are majority of it are from two cases where other narcotics were found, and those subjects were charged Federally. Marijuana is still illegal under the Federal Law, so those cases were not charged at the State level. Councilor Bencomo asked but they’re not like random people in Las Cruces necessarily these were two big cases? Sergeant Gabriel Arenibas said the bigger cases where their selling cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana they’re pretty much open for one stop shop. Councilor Bencomo said thank you for clarification and then I just had recently somebody recently ask us you know we don’t hear anything about Metro Narcotics, did you defund them and like all these things. Can you just talk a little bit about why Page 22 of 26 you’re why your operations aren’t you know overtly public? Sergeant Gabriel Arenibas said well were officers and deputies in the community we work in, and a lot of the guys do undercover operations. Due to that fact a lot of our investigations are continuing and ongoing. A good example is we have an investigation that has been going on for three years. It’s an international drug trafficking organization. I don’t want to get to far into it but because of the safety of the agents and the safety of the people that work at Metro Narcotics we try to keep low key for those reasons. Councilor Mattiace said yeah eight and a half years at the New Mexico Border Authority down in Santa Teresa I noticed you’re not getting much Federal Funding and most of the fentanyl that’s coming across is coming from the open Borders. Why isn’t there more participation funding from the Federal Government for your program? Sergeant Gabriel Arenibas said we do get Federal Funding. We do have a supplemental funding that comes from HIDTA. Councilor Mattiace said I’m just looking at that $30,000. Sergeant Gabriel Arenibas said that is particularly for our Operation Safe Streets with the FBI for violent crime. Narcotics is usually connected to violent crimes, so we do get HIDTA supplemental funding. I don’t go over that because I believe they present theirs when they come in front of you. But I only present what we get from the local from Las Cruces Police Department and the Sheriff’s Office. Councilor Mattiace asked do you have sufficient funding? Sergeant Gabriel Arenibas said we do have sufficient funding but that’s something I’ve been monitoring from the people I presented to last year because of the cost of things rising because of the increase in pay. I would anticipate the next three years or so we will have to ask for more money. But I continually monitor that and right now we’re good, but I would anticipate in the next 3-5 years it’s a possibility that I’ll have to present to the board if I’m still here to increase the budget. So we will see when that time comes. Councilor Mattiace said thank you for your efficiency and your honesty. I have never seen anyone come and not ask for a budget increase every year. Jennifer Gorham, Interim Executive Director of MVRDA, gave an overhead presentation. Andrew Wray, MPO Officer gave an overhead presentation. Councilor Flores said I am somewhat mystified about the and you did mention about the SCRTD we have less of a “match share” I don’t understand exactly. But what is it that we are funding with your organization? We had the Roadrunner so do you have Page 23 of 26 jurisdiction over that, is that it? Is it a jurisdictional thing or what? Andrew Wray said basically we’re here to provide the Federally Mandated Transportation Planning function. So while we work with Mr. Bartholomew in Transit we don’t oversee or engage with it in that manner. We provide the Federally Mandated Planning function for Roadrunner. Councilor Flores said in thinking about this, it seems to me that the statutory requirement for a certain criteria to be reported to the feds it would be accomplished by the information the Mr. Bartholomew has and why is that we’re linked up with Texas and with El Paso probably? Andrew Wray said with regard to Mr. Bartholomew there is a different category of reporting that Mr. Bartholomew has to do versus what the MPO does. Mr. Bartholomew is on the operations side and obviously there’s planning activities that go along with that. But there is a different category of regulatory response in Section 5303 that the MPO is specifically tasked with doing that Mr. Bartholomew is not. Specific planning documents such as Metropolitan Transportation Plan which we’re working on right now, the Unified Planning Work Program which is the task list that most MPO’s are required to work on, on a biannual basis and documents of that nature are the specific purview of the MPO. Mr. Bartholomew and Roadrunner do not work on that. Councilor Flores said ok so you’re an oversight agency. Andrew Wray said no we’re planning. We don’t oversee the activities, we just receive the inputs from the member jurisdictions as far as the activities and do the planning and reporting to the Federal Government on the basis of that. Councilor Flores asked so do you actually submit plans to Mr. Bartholomew or other municipalities? Andrew Wray said it’s rather the reverse. Mr. Bartholomew and member jurisdictions they give their information to the MPO, and we consolidate that into our various planning documents then that’s both distributed to the public and also sent to the State and the Federal Government as well. Councilor Flores asked why wouldn’t the FTA have that function? I just don’t understand the function of the MPO just because there is the FTA to report to. Andrew Wray said well it’s because again the different categories of work product that Congress has created and versus the distinction of what the operator itself in this case what Roadrunner performs versus the work that the MPO performs. Again MTP, EPWP, the transportation improvement program, etc., those are the activities that the MPO engages in as opposed to the activities that Mr. Bartholomew engages in actually providing the transit service. Councilor Flores asked so it’s a Federally Mandated function? Page 24 of 26 Andrew Wray said yes they are all Federally Mandated functions the MPO performs yes. I guess just to answer your second question with regard to El Paso. It’s because of the travel shed. Most of the traffic from Sunland Park, Anthony, New Mexico. Those go into El Paso, for that reason it’s part of the El Paso urban area as opposed to ours. Because most of that traffic does not come to the North. That’s why El Paso MPO is in the New Mexico MPO as well. Councilor Flores asked did you compare that travel data with the SCRTD? Andrew Wray said we work with the SCRTD and the SCRTD also straddles both States so yes we do, we do. Patrick Peck, Executive Director of South Central Solid Waste gave an overhead presentation. Clint Thacker, Director of ASCMV gave an overhead presentation. Ikani Taumoepeau, City Manager said I would just be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to share a few things that will tie into this agenda item. Thank you to your staff Leeann, Jacqueline and the Budget Team that’s here today. I have come during this time of transition, Ifo was here last year and now he’s gone about a month, 3 days and 30 seconds but who’s counting, not I. I’ve been adopted into the family especially the Budget family so there’s been a lot of great things that I’ve learned from them. Thank you to Barbara and Sonya for your direction and your budget guidance. Thank you to HR, Jo and JC to the team running numbers at the last minute when we need them and thank you to all the departments and we have the department heads they’re all not here today but I’m sure they’re watching. This is how it loops into the JPA’s and the discussion. I have asked our Executive Team to squeeze their budgets because weren’t balancing our budgets. When it’s presented to you there’s been late nights, there’s been early mornings, staff is coming in for 4-5, trying to make this work. What has been presented is a balanced budget but it’s because I’ve asked them not just once but because we’ve had some surprises which typically happens during budget, come up and the budget wasn’t balancing. So not once but twice we have come within this past month to department heads to squeeze again, and we’ve asked them to come down 3 percent of their budget. We’ve asked them to look at critical needs on level twos and level threes. We’ve asked them to defer if they have anything that wasn’t critical and only put the critical on there. So we’ve went from $30 million requested to about a little under $5 million requests and we’ve had departments who’ve had millions of requests coming in for a small percentage of that. I just wanted to share that with you Council because I would be remiss if I didn’t share that we are forecasting revenues, flattening as well. We have a forecaster saying it will dip by two percent next year. Again it’s just like forecasting the weather we don’t know but that’s what we’re paid to do is be conservative and so we haven’t included this from my understanding what you’re seeing in the JPA the additional request especially for the Animal Shelter it’s not in the budget, we haven’t asked them to decrease. That’s why I’m commenting, we’ve asked all the departments to squeeze by 3 percent. We’ve asked everyone look once, look twice and then come here and present to you. We do Page 25 of 26 understand Clint’s doing a great job, but I just wanted to present to you all that typically what we ask them to come to Council to present it first and then you share your thoughts, and they go back to the board. I believe they went to the board and came to you, but we’ve asked them to come to you first, present it. Because what we’re asking your guidance, what would you like us to do? We’ve done all that we could to balance the Budget. We know that there’s needs in the Animal Shelter but right now it’s the same balancing we’re trying to do, and we can only balance so much because we need your desires. We need to hear from you. You tell us, but if you tell us to fully fund what some of the JPA’s are asking then we’re going to have to squeeze somewhere else. We’re going to have to balance levers. This is something that happens as you know but I had to share that there’s been a lot of work put into this budget. It’s a balanced budget right now but there’s levers that have to move as I mentioned before. I just wanted to bring that to your attention. Mayor Enriquez said thank you for that Ikani, I feel that if that’s what the City organizations are going to do it’s the same for the JPA’s. If you’re asking for a three percent reduction then everybody should be looking at that to try reduce and try to have cuts wherever they can. So thank you for that information. I appreciate that. 4. ADJOURNMENT 4.1 Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to Adjourn at 4:33 p.m. RESULT: Carried MOVER: Councilor Johana Bencomo SECONDER: Councilor Becky Corran AYES: Councilor Johana Bencomo, Councilor Yvonne Flores, Councilor Becki Graham, Councilor Becky Corran, Mayor Eric Enriquez, Councilor Cassie McClure, and Councilor William Mattiace Mayor City Clerk Page 26 of 26