City Council Meeting January 2, 2024

MINUTES

City Council

Tuesday, January 2, 2024 @ 1:00 PM

City Council Chambers, City Hall

PRESENT: Councilor Becki Graham, Councilor Johana Bencomo, Councilor Becky Corran, Councilor

Cassie McClure, Mayor Eric Enriquez, and Councilor William Mattiace

ABSENT: Councilor Yvonne Flores

1. OPENING CEREMONIES 1.1 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE - MAYOR ENRIQUEZ. 1.2 PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES OF

APPRECIATION/PROCLAMATIONS - MAYOR ENRIQUEZ. None. 1.3 JOBS OF THE WEEK. Sarah Raney, New Mexico Workforce Connections 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.

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

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

3. ORGANIZATIONAL CEREMONY 3.1 SELECTION OF MAYOR PRO TEM. Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to nominate Councilor Bencomo as Mayor Pro Tem.

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RESULT: Carried

MOVER: Councilor Becki Graham

SECONDER: Councilor Becky Corran

AYES: Councilor Becki Graham, Councilor Johana Bencomo, Councilor Becky

Corran, Councilor Cassie McClure, Mayor Eric Enriquez, and Councilor

William Mattiace

4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 4.1 Paul Borunda, Member of the Public said I have been a resident of Las Cruces for 79 years. I have had the displeasure of approaching the City Council for many years with many of my colleagues who are no longer living to try to make changes for the betterment of Las Cruces and its people but this city is so political entwinned in protecting its own behinds that nothing is ever done. I remember when Mattiace was mayor and he belittled me because I was having conflict with my family members over property that my parents left me when they died. He belittled me by saying that my issue was like the Hatfield and McCoy’s war. You may not remember that I do and I am sorry to see that you won reelection for this position as City Councilman because you were nothing then and you are nothing now.

Mayor Enriquez said Mr. Borunda I will have to interrupt you if you are not going to be respectful. You don’t need to point fingers and call anybody out. Sir I am just going to ask you to just be respectful. You have your time, just be respectful with it.

Paul Borunda said the reason I came was to let you know that Sunday I called the Las

Cruces Police Department to report that someone had broken into my home and removed the window completely from the structure of the home. I called 911, it took them a while to answer. Then when they did, I told them what was going on. They said they were going to dispatch a police officer and go and investigate. No police officer ever showed up. At best I was hoping to get a police report so that I can file with my insurance company. All of these things have been happening just like what happened on August 28th of this past year when I came and approached here on issues that involved the IOS Police Report. At that time Mayor Pro Tem Kasandra

Gandara violated the City Charter and ordering two police detectives to escort me out of the building, off the property. The City Manager never opened one word on that issue, and he has not been admonished on any of it. This is what is happening to our community is that we elect you and you become dictators and you are only concerned on protecting yourselves and the Police Departments and the whole city staff.

Anthony Ray Danes, Member of the Public said I am affiliated with the area churches.

I am doing an outreach, and I am trying to help with the homeless situation. As well with a lot of the drug problems in our area through creating a Celebrate Recovery

Program. What I am asking in return with the oppressions that I have seen in the last month or so from other states, I don’t know if any of the panel are church people? But

I am asking in return respectfully I want to help the community the better so that we don’t have situations like our past speaker. At the same time, I want to reach out and

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try to help this community. I am affiliated with the Community of Christ Church on

1210 Montana as well as Dona Ana County Cowboy Church at 1600 South Valley. I am reaching out to many of the other churches. I want to create a program of outreach. Several of the states, Minnesota being one of them has kind of put a thumb on churches doing anything outside their church building. Well, if you know anything about scripture our purpose in life is to go out amongst the Gentile and spread the word to every living creature and if we are oppressed in that manner, we won’t be able to help those people who are in need of help. We ask them and invite them in all the time. Our last few community socials that we have had we have fed many no bigger than we are. Again, I want to say that I am here to help with the community not just me, it’s all him but these churches are all trying to step out into this community and be a part it. We are asking you just to allow us to do so without oppression, without ordinances that restrict us from doing this. We are not going to beat people over the head like Jesus Freaks and demand that they change their ways, but they have to willingly come to us. If they will we are there to help. Basically, that is all I have to say but you will see more of me from now on and I hope it is in good sense.

Mayor Enriquez said thank you and if you will leave your information with the Clerk.

We truly embrace and would support any kind of outreach in the community so we will definitely look at that and get back to you with some of the ways that we can organize that properly.

Jorge Aguirre, Member of the Public said like many immigrants I am a resident of the city. I have been an immigrant I am a small business owner and employer. Like many of my neighbors I am concerned about the migrant and homeless population in the city. As you probably know migrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born

Americans but are more likely to start a business and create jobs, though they are demonized for political reasons. As you also may know crime is an effect of poverty and in order to deal with crime effectively, we have to reduce or eliminate poverty and not criminalize poor people. We have seen it happen before. A desperate person may break through $3,000 worth of property to access a $2,000 object and maybe get a couple of hundred dollars from it. Everybody loses, especially the insurance company.

It is not just the money loss though. It is the trust in our community. In our ability to feel safe and to go to work and run daily errands in our daily life. I gave a $20 bill to someone the other day you should have seen the million dollar smile they gave me back. But I cannot help every single person. I don’t have a $20 bill for every person that needs it. No organization, nobody on their own can do it, only collective action can. And the thing is, we have done this the wrong way. We have brought more cops.

In order to deal with this problem, we send two or three, multiple $60,000 cops with their $100,000 vehicles, $20,000 in equipment. Best case scenario they end up in prison costing us an additional $50,000 a year to house, to feed. To be cruel to the vulnerable is a sign of weakness. What we need is strength. Someone with the courage to protect our most vulnerable citizens just because they are part of this drive even if there is nothing to gain for them or from them other than the credit of building a strong community.

Dolores Lucero, Member of the Public said I was here in July when some of you were not at the dais, and I asked for some help on getting a project finished that was designed twenty years ago and that is the street from Telshor to Sonoma Ranch

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Lohman Avenue. The reason that those medians are so large and unfinished is because twenty years ago they were developed, and we bought the land to pay for three lanes each way. The backup on that street right now is not tolerable for all times of the day not just at 8 or 4 in the afternoon. The bigger problem is when ambulances are going to MountainView Hospital, and it is slowing down traffic. It is not a safe section of road and I know that this is not a walking community especially from that part of the city. We need to complete what was designed twenty years ago which was approved by the Metropolitan Planning Organization and now all it needs is the funding to add the additional lanes, finish the landscaping or actually put in the landscaping that is not there and relieve some of the pressure. The reason it was not done twenty years ago is because the growth in the community was not there yet. The growth is there now and has been for several years. When I presented in July, I heard from none of you. No one responded and I know you can’t respond here but afterwards. Not even my own Councilor and we are struggling in that area for traffic flow. When the high school lets out at Centennial they are coming north and onto

Lohman, it’s a bottleneck. It’s dangerous and I pulled over for an ambulance the other day but no one else did. And I am sorry we cannot wait any longer on this part of the road. Just the additional planning at today’s standards is another 6 months to finish planning it and probably a year to actually build it. A year and half from now we will be able to alleviate that traffic problem. If we wait any longer now, we are waiting two years or two and half years. So, I really implore the City Manager and this council to give direction to city staff to start reviewing how this roadway can be finished and completed with the taxpayer dollars that were used to purchase that land in the first place.

William Gilman, Member of the Public said I have been a resident of Las Cruces for three years. My wife and I just had our first baby, and we are going to raising her here. I have been self-employed for the past two years and just this month I am going to be beginning renting some office space on Main Street. So, I am pretty invested in the future of our community. As we all know Las Cruces is facing a lot of challenges and we are not the only city that is facing those problems. We have high numbers of homeless people in our community where there is an increase of property crime, vandalism, and substance abuse and overdose and it is really sad to see. These issues are often interrelated and there are no easy answers. Historically at city council meetings and county meetings there is a lot of voices demanding that politicians hurry up and arrest more people and incarcerate them for longer and have stronger penalties but these as understandable as that might be these issues have been going on for decades and in our country and we have compassion fatigue. This is just a band aid, and we just can’t afford to keep band aiding the situation and kicking the can down the road. There are real solutions out there and Las Cruces has already made progress on some of them and so rather than kicking the can down the road we should investing these tax dollars in supporting people to get back on their feet and get rehabilitated. We can look at evidence from other cities. We can look at evidence from the Veteran’s Administration on what they are doing about homelessness. There are lots and lots of resources out there that this body should be drawing on and pursuing those solutions. As I said Las Cruces has already made a lot of progress in this regard. The effort to revitalize the Main Street corridor and have events there is an evidence based solution to get more people there and have the community feel like they own that space more it makes it safer, makes it more inviting and it works

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well for businesses. We need to double down and invest more on that. If we merely arrest and incarcerate a person, they are going to be just as homeless as they were whether they were released in two days or two years or five years. The point is that we can’t really afford to keep band aiding the situation. We really need real solutions and real solutions take time, they take money, and they don’t always work perfectly.

So, they are not easy to implement. It takes real leadership to implement real solutions and that is what I expect to see from this body that is assembled here.

Juan Garcia, Member of the Public said the following are concerns shared by citizens from 2024 that affect this community. “Two Saturdays ago, on December 9th a homeless man entered our property via the Burn Lake Park and got up on our roof.

He had come in on the unmaintained city fence at the east end of the park midday. He attempted entry to the house via the upper story window. I confronted him on the roof and had the trigger half pulled but stopped and had my wife call the police. When the officer arrived, he let the intruder escape.” This is a 70-year-old confronting a vagrant that could have ended tragically for him, his family, or the vagrant. Going forward the citizen will resort to “interactive security” to safeguard his family with a liability risk. I receive almost daily reports of this illegal activities in the Klein Park area. Maybe

Councilor McClure will focus on this area and help clean it up. In the meantime,

Petco, Dollar General, Dollar Store, and others are now displaying their “Las Cruces

Badge of Honor” boarded windows. This morning Albuquerque Journal headlines, “Law makers and Governor eye gun control in 2024”, not a surprise. And I quote, “It seems odd that a measure that is supposed to fight gun crime appears to affect the very people who are the least likely to commit such acts, that it is law abiding citizens that are conceal and carry holders”. This is referring to the push by the Governor’s

Health Mandate or more appropriately the crime epidemic which she help create by pushing her obedient followers, representatives, and senators to enact legislation to turn law abiding citizens into criminals. A large number of bills were proposed in 2023 that could have impacted criminals but most were left and never left committee. Dona

Ana County politicos didn’t lift a finger to support this anti-crime. The irony and political hypocrisy from CNN, “abortion providers in recent months have closed up their clinics in order for their states and move to New Mexico”, whereas the Governor and Senator Heinrich weep for the kids killed by the tools used by criminals, she pushes full steam ahead with increasing capacity in New Mexico for houses of pain or abortion clinics.

Julia Ruiz, Member of the Public said my day started out no different than everyone else’s getting ready to celebrate the new year with family and friends. I had to pick up a few things from the grocery store, so I stopped by Albertsons on Telshor where I was immediately approached by a multi-masked male knocking on my window before

I even turn off the ignition. Typically, one is approached by an unknown person asking for money at the outskirts of the parking lots where they are somewhat hidden from others’ views. However, this time I parked right in front of the store and as I got ready to get in the store I turned to grab my purse and heard someone knocking right at my front door window in the middle of the day in front of security and other shoppers. I couldn’t see his face. He was completely covered up in masks, hats, and gloves and several layers of jackets with the last layer put on backwards. There was no way for me to tell what this person looked like and no way to give a description to the police.

As I exited my vehicle I dropped my phone and my wallet went flying. I immediately

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picked it up and so did he. I grabbed my wallet and he reached for my phone at the same time. I did have a choice to not turn off the ignition and not to exit my vehicle and to leave to another store as this masked male continued to block my door. I decided to continue on my path and to enter the store even though I was frightened.

The following questions have come up. Why is it necessary for me to tailor or anybody to tailor our actions and choices around individuals that have chosen this path? What will the council do to empower law enforcement officers against panhandlers coming up and scaring unsuspecting people? How long before something is done before someone is accosted and seriously hurt by one of these individuals that may be mentally ill and/or on drugs? How long will businesses continue to be vandalized and patrons made to feel unsafe when parking or parking and entering their storefront?

What will my liability be to protect myself? Until now I have not had to concern myself with the criminal suing me for protecting or defending myself or my loved ones or my property. Will I need council to defend me defending myself? These questions don’t typically occupy one’s mind but now they do. A man in Albuquerque is now behind bars after allegedly taking matters into his own hands. He is in jail while the alleged male who stole his vehicle was released.

Sarah Smith, Member of the Public said I am from the New Mexico Freedoms

Alliance. At your last meeting you approved a list of legislative priorities for the upcoming session in Santa Fe. I was glad to see that you were asking for funds to expand behavioral health services in Southern New Mexico. Hopefully this will help with the increased drug abuse and mental health problems that we are all seeing.

However, I was surprised to see that there was no item requesting that the legislature help with the crime situation. All across the city we are seeing signs that more needs to be done to stop the crime. We are seeing businesses and homes being vandalized, windows being broken, people’s property being taken, and vehicles being stolen, including my neighbor. We are seeing more homeless people camping out at businesses and homes. Approaching people asking for money, scaring children, threatening people and leaving trash and feces all around. We are seeing drugged out people wandering the streets, harassing people and leaving dangerous needles lying around where children can find them. We are seeing people being harmed while trying to live peacefully and responsibly such as Patricia from the Little Shop on Main who has been stalked and sexually harassed by homeless men. Another example is

Carlos who asked you for help after suffering repeated attacks at his business and being threatened with physical harm by a homeless man trying to hit him with a belt buckle. There is also Rosa Ortega who was brutally attacked by a homeless person in broad daylight while trying to walk to the grocery store. In last year’s legislative session there were several bills proposed that were aimed at reducing crime and yet they all failed. Will you please ask the legislature to help us with this issue this session, this year? Additionally, I continue to be concerned about the huge amount of funding going towards housing first initiatives in Las Cruces. Such as the $7 million line item for Community of Hope. We have already seen what the Desert Hope

Homeless Housing Project that giving homeless people housing with no requirements for sobriety or accountability creates many problems. The Desert Hope Housing

Project devastated the nearby neighborhood with increased crime and drugs. At least two drug dealers have been housed there. Housing first doesn’t meet the needs of the homeless who are trying to actually reform their lives and change their live paths either. Will you invest in other approaches instead of putting all of our resources

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towards housing first? One example is the work first model being used in Boulder

Bridge House in Colorado. They utilize a drug and alcohol-free shelter combined with job readiness training. After one year people graduate from their program ready for employment and permanent housing. This program has a 74% success rate in having people maintain employment and independence. We should be aiming for improved rehabilitated lives for the homeless people so that they can become responsible members of our community. Will you please take a more balanced approach instead of investing only in housing first. Our community is counting on you to make Las

Cruces a safe place to live, work, and thrive.

Jeffrey Field, Member of the Public said I am here again to speak about Gaza but before I start, I would like to say that you folks have your work cut out for you and I sympathize with everyone here. Our inclination to extend a helping hand to others is a testament to our inherent goodness. This is a fundamental truth about human nature.

It is also important to recognize our cognitive limitations in truly perceiving the vast tapestry of humanity that surrounds us. Restricted by nature our mental scope often limits our ability to see more than a select few as fully human beings. Centuries ago,

Hellil the Elder, a revered Jewish scholar tackled this very issue. He succinctly captured the essence of moral conduct in this noteworthy maxim, that which is hateful to you do not do unto your fellow. That is the whole Torah, the rest is explanation, go and learn. In a similar vein Jesus offered a compelling perspective to his followers.

His message was clear and profound. Truly as you treat the least amount you, so you treat me. In essence Jesus was challenging his followers to expand their circle of empathy. He urged them to understand that every person regardless of status or proximity to us is as human as those we hold dear. To truly grasp the reality that every individual is a person just like ourselves requires a powerful imagination. It is through this imaginative empathy that we can begin to understand the lessons imparted by Hillel and Jesus. As we reflect on the events in Gaza it is imperative that we challenge ourselves to see beyond our cogitative limitations. Let us strive to recognize that humanity in every person regardless of the distance or differences that separate us. Only by doing so can we hope to foster a world where peace and understanding prevail over conflict and division. I again urge our city council to pass a resolution in support of a general ceasefire in the ongoing hostilities between Israel,

Palestine, and the Palestinian people.

5. ACCEPTANCE OF AGENDA Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to accept the agenda as presented.

6. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES 6.1 SPECIAL WORK SESSION OF DECEMBER 4, 2023.

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6.2 REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF DECEMBER 4, 2023. 6.3 WORK SESSION OF DECEMBER 11, 2023.

7. RESOLUTION(S) AND/OR ORDINANCE(S) FOR CONSENT AGENDA 7.1 RESOLUTION NO. 24-071: A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE PURCHASE

OF 211 SQUARE FEET PORTION OF LAND OWNED BY ROGER

CISNEROS AT 1108 W. PICACHO AVENUE IN THE AMOUNT OF THREE

THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($3,900.00). AS PART OF 4TH

STREET/US 70 (PICACHO AVENUE) PEDESTRIAN CROSSING H.A.W.K

SIGNAL CONTROL NO. HW2L100518 PROJECT.

8. RESOLUTION(S) AND/OR ORDINANCE(S) FOR DISCUSSION 8.1 RESOLUTION NO. 24-072: A RESOLUTION COMMITTING THE LAS

CRUCES UTILITIES DEPARTMENT TO THE DEVELOPMENT AND

IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ASSET MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR WATER

AND WASTEWATER INFRASTRUCTURE. Abner Gomez, Rate and Economic Analysis Manager gave the overhead presentation.

Councilor Corran asked does this include abstract assets, assets that are kind of influx and to me I think about the bigger climate plan and our access to water and the water that exists in our aquifers and I wondered if part of this assessment or if this is more physical assets that we have in place?

Abner Gomez said this specific asset management plan is specific to a type of asset.

So, the Water Trust Board most of their projects are for storage and conveyance so a water tank is one of those perfect examples. So, this asset management plan will look only at water storage tanks that we have right now. It looks at certain things such as level of service, financing it, providing budget for maintenance for the current and future. It looks at very specific key roles but it will only be for water storage tanks at this time.

Councilor Corran asked you also mentioned conveyance, does that include the infrastructure, all of that infrastructure as well?

Abner Gomez said yes it does, it can include but we are not requesting any for conveyance at this time being that most of the water storage tanks are the ones because of cost we do require some assistance when possible so for now we are only focusing on storage tanks.

Councilor Corran asked with this also be used for potential other types of capital planning that we might do that Utilities might be doing and could that be integrated into a bigger conversation about bonds and capital improvement projects related to

Utilities?

Abner Gomez said yes and that is part of the reason we have broadened the scope to

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include all storage tanks. We could have just one tank but we do see a benefit.

Regardless if we move forward with their loan terms we do see a big benefit by looking at all of our storage tanks, what their life is and their condition is and whether it is through our regular CIP process or bonds or other loans we do see a great benefit by having this in place already or at least committing to develop one.

Councilor McClure asked what is the timeline that you are aiming to get this done?

Abner Gomez said the timeline for this will be a couple of months. We are not quite sure. It will be the first one that we develop so it is a bit of uncharted territory. We are hoping that depending on the consultants and how many consultants are available within for sure this next fiscal year we will already have some money budgeted for this plan and so rough ballpark maybe three to six months from start to finish once we get this going.

Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Johana Bencomo, to

Approve Resolution No. 24-072.

SECONDER: Councilor Johana Bencomo

ABSENT: Councilor Yvonne Flores 8.2 COUNCIL BILL NO. 24-013; ORDINANCE NO. 3055: AN ORDINANCE

APPROVING A ZONE CHANGE FROM EE (EQUESTRIAN ESTATE AND

AGRICULTURE) TO C-3 (COMMERCIAL HIGH INTENSITY) FOR

PROPERTY LOCATED AT 780 STERN DRIVE. SUBMITTED BY TED

SCANLON, BORDERLAND ENGINEERS AND SURVEYORS. Adam Ochoa, Senior Urban Planner gave the overhead presentation.

Councilor Mattiace asked as of today there has not been one complaint?

Adam Ochoa said no Sir, as of today we have not received any phone calls, mail, anything from the public in the area Sir.

George Pearson, Member of the Public said this is near the intersection of Boutz and

Stern which currently is a two way stop and they made kind of mess there after they put in that development. What should have been done probably is a roundabout. I was wondering if there was any consideration of the impact of this zone change on that intersection and how we can make sure that we keep that intersection safe for a large number of bicyclists that use the intersection.

Councilor Corran asked I would assume that a traffic impact study would have to be done if there is going to be something built there?

Adam Ochoa said that is correct. Essentially what it is when a development does

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come to the property it does go for review throughout staff including a traffic engineering section and Transportation Department. So, we will take a look at that and take a look at the impact the property might bring into that area and if any improvements are required to the right-of-way they are required to do so at the time during development essentially. Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to

Approve Ordinance No. 3055.

ABSENT: Councilor Yvonne Flores 8.3 COUNCIL BILL NO. 24-014; ORDINANCE NO. 3056: AN ORDINANCE

APPROVING A ZONE CHANGE FROM R-2/C-2 (MULTI-DWELLING LOW

DENSITY/COMMERCIAL MEDIUM INTENSITY) TO C-2 (COMMERCIAL

MEDIUM INTENSITY) FOR PROPERTY LOCATED AT 806 EAST BOWMAN

AVENUE. SUBMITTED BY NICOLE E. AND PHILIP EHRGOTT, PROPERTY

OWNER. Adam Ochoa, Senior Urban Planner gave the overhead presentation.

Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to

Approve Ordinance No. 3056.

ABSENT: Councilor Yvonne Flores 8.4 COUNCIL BILL NO. 24-015; ORDINANCE NO. 3057: AN ORDINANCE

APPROVING A ZONE CHANGE FROM C-1 (COMMERCIAL LOW

INTENSITY) AND R-3 (MULTI-DWELLING MEDIUM DENSITY) TO C-3 (COMMERCIAL HIGH INTENSITY) ON A PROPERTY ENCOMPASSING

1.436 ± ACRES. THE ZONE CHANGE REQUEST SEEKS TO BRING THE

PROPERTY INTO COMPLIANCE WITH THE 2001 LAS CRUCES

MUNICIPAL CODE, AS AMENDED, ALLOWING FOR THE CURRENT

BUSINESS EXPANSION AS WELL AS ENCOURAGING FUTURE

DEVELOPMENT ON THE PROPERTY. THE SUBJECT PROPERTY IS

LOCATED AT 2460 MISSOURI AVENUE. Adam Ochoa, Senior Urban Planner gave the overhead presentation.

Councilor Corran asked how is our Realize process going and is this the type of thing that will be fixed because when I hear about nonconforming, I wince and will it be fixed when we pass Realize and when can we look forward to that?

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Adam Ochoa said this will essentially because it will take into effect not only use, it’s not only more of an euclidean, a change of our original zoning code. So, the uses would be allowed and then there would just be additional development standards and designs standards would be required. It is still under staff review I believe as of now.

We are reviewing the zoning section which is what we are talking about today as well as some of the design standards which include streets and so forth like that.

Larry Nichols, Community Development Director said the Realize Las Cruces update from 2001 we realize that is some twenty years old and very much in need of an update. The consultant Freese and Nichols and the TAC Committee have completed the review of all sections, it has been sent back to the consultant comprise the draft for review. It will be coming forward to the TAC Committee for one more review of all the changes that were adopted and then we will begin to start our public outreach notification for the public and for all agencies in the city. Timeline, I am thinking early to mid-spring when we begin to bring it back to you for your consideration for adoption. Councilor Becky Corran moved, seconded by Councilor Johana Bencomo, to

Approve Ordinance No. 3057.

MOVER: Councilor Becky Corran

9. BOARD APPOINTMENTS 9.1 THE FOLLOWING CITY COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS MADE BY THE

MAYOR: MVEDA- Mayor Enriquez

MPO Policy Board- Mayor Enriquez and Councilor McClure

SCSWA- Mayor Enriquez as ex-officio and Councilor Bencomo

Juvenile Justice- Mayor Enriquez and Councilor Graham

Oversight Committee- Councilor Mattiace and Councilor Bencomo as the Mayor’s designee

ASCMV- Councilor Graham

University District Committee- Councilor Mattiace

LCU- Councilor McClure

MVRDA- Councilor McClure and Councilor Corran as alternate

10. NOTICE OF PROPOSED ORDINANCE(S)

1) There will be no public discussion.

2) A Councilor may ask staff for clarification on the proposed ordinance(s). 10.1 COUNCIL BILL NO. 24-016; ORDINANCE NO. 3058: AN ORDINANCE

APPROVING A ZONE CHANGE FROM M-1/M-2 (INDUSTRIAL STANDARD)

TO C-3 (COMMERCIAL HIGH INTENSITY) FOR A PROPERTY

ENCOMPASSING 8.25 + ACRES AND LOCATED AT 4201 DEL REY

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BOULEVARD. SUBMITTED BY NEW REPUBLIC DESIGN CO.,

REPRESENTATIVE. (23ZO0500140). Council agreed to bring it forward.

11. CITY COUNCIL MEMBER BOARD REPORTS AND COMMENT 11.1 COUNCILOR CORRAN I missed the last meeting so I would like to give a quick thank you to Chief and congratulations to Chief and for your appointment and for inviting us to the graduation for the new academy graduates. It was a great experience, and I definitely took your words to heart as a former valedictorian and now I am getting to talk more I can’t believe you signed up for that. Other than that, I am really excited to work with you all in the new year and thank you for a great meeting. 11.2 COUNCILOR GRAHAM Welcome new colleagues. I am really excited to be serving on this body and looking forward to what 2024 has in store for all of us. 11.3 COUNCILOR MATTIACE I would like to tell everyone that I am glad to be here, and I am happy to serve with the present council and the new councilors. I would like to thank all the constituents that voted in

District 2 but my concerns are about District 2 so I would like to ask the Mayor a timeframe when we could address the issues that are very important to the District 2 voters and that is the public safety issues. 11.4 COUNCILOR MCCLURE I am going to echo the sentiments of the Mayor and hope that we do good work in the next four years and I am really honored and humbled to be here and look forward to serving as the voice for District 1. In that affect for those who voted for me thank you and for those who didn’t I will work to earn your trust over the next four years. I really want you to reach out and contact me. I look forward to talking to more people because that is the only way that I will be able to do the will of the people. 11.5 COUNCILOR BENCOMO I am very happy to be here. I first want to thank my colleagues for your trust in me in this position as Mayor Pro Tem. I really appreciate it and I promise to do well. I of course want to welcome Mayor Enriquez. It is an exciting time for Las Cruces. I think we have had one Mayor for a really long time and this just feels like a door opener of opportunity so welcome and I am really excited and welcome to our two new councilors as well, looking forward to working with both of you on the important issues facing Las Cruces.

I do have a couple of things on my list that I wanted to address really quickly. There is a need for a water conservation plan improvement and update. I don’t know if you would allow Adrienne, Mayor Enriquez to come up and briefly give an update on that.

Adrienne Widmer, Utilities Director said we have a 40-year Water Development Plan and so that is getting close to needing updating which we will be working on shortly.

We also have our Water Conservation Plan. That one is still in a draft format that we need to kind of go back and take a look at. We are waiting for a couple of things to

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occur first which seems kind of counterintuitive but based on what could potentially be happening hopefully, possibly in April with Texas v. New Mexico and the potential for a decent decree will have a lot to do with how we move forward with the planning and moving forward with water and we work very closely with our Utility Board and really appreciate all of their comments coming in. At this point everything is fine. We are using those documents that we currently have. They are still applicable at this moment.

Councilor Bencomo said I do want to say that I feel very confident in our water management expertise. I think Adrienne, that is her whole background as our Utility

Director I think we are really lucky to have her and then our Chair for our Utilities

Committee is Commissioner Archuleta, and he is also has a depth of experience in water management. So, I think we are in really good hands.

I did want to say for transparency I was invited to a meeting last month with now

Municipal Judge Filosa, Chief Story was there, Natalie Green was there, Brad from

Legal was there as we were talking about building out an outreach court as an extension of Municipal Court. I am really excited about that process. Obviously, I think we need to give Judge Filosa an opportunity to settle in and create that transition for him and his team there but I am excited for the conversation that we had a few weeks ago about this. We really have to begin addressing a lot of the concerns raised by the community. Certainly, a lot of concerns that we have heard in District 4 around folks who keep getting stuck in the criminal justice system with low level misdemeanors and don’t have a way to interrupt it. The outreach court I have talked about it many times to you all but I do just want to say that as soon as Judge Filosa is ready that we invite him to Work Session with us. I think that would be really important to hear from him, his thoughts and ideas and while I am on this topic I know that in the past

Christine and Mayor that the Mayor gets to appoint a second Judge to Municipal

Court. I did however want to ask if you would be open to a conversation to creating a different process for appointing that person. I think given the last year and given some of the conflicts that we had in that area with some appointments and it’s not just any appointment it is a paid salary position, right? It’s a big position that perhaps there should be an interview committee or something like that. Not just a flat-out appointment and I was wondering if you were open to that process and how to come up with that and I think with Judge Filosa’s input in addition to that.

I did want to address the traffic management concerns brought up here today. I think we have David since you are up here, I don’t know how we could begin having this conversation and our Budget Retreat is coming up but I would love to talk about I think there is a couple of intersections currently in discussion. The one that was brought up today, Elks, Hoagland. There is a couple of big intersections that the people have talked about traffic management, and I am wondering if we are able to do that in a Work Session or some way to get a conversation started about budgetary needs, a list of priorities. How are we prioritizing those kinds of projects and again our budgetary needs? I would love to see that conversation move forward.

Lastly on homelessness, given that it is the new year and there were several folks speaking on this issue I just want to say that if it was easy we would be doing it

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already and the reality is that it takes an incredible amount of political will, an incredible amount of investment and time in order to address these issues and I think there is a lot of moving pieces that will come into fruition here. There is not just one magic solution to this. It is multiple and I think we have the expertise in our community and I am excited to work with our new Mayor and our new colleagues and community advocates to find even more solutions and figure out how to invest in them. 11.6 MAYOR ENRIQUEZ I would like to say Happy New Year to everyone. I did get a chance to attend the Chile

Drop, it was green. Congratulations to Chief Story. The public comments, the input, I do take to heart. Especially when the gentleman said you all have your work cut out for you. He is absolutely right but that is what we signed up for. I am very proud and honored to be the Mayor of the City of Las Cruces. Mayor Ken Miyagishima was here for 16 years. It is not going to be an overnight change, but it is a lot of work and I look forward to it. I thank all of those who elected me to be here and as Councilor McClure mentioned those who didn’t I hope that I earn your trust and move forward. When I campaigned it was team Eric Enriquez for Mayor and now, I can say as Mayor with my colleagues here and the organization and the community it is now Team Las

Cruces that I look forward to. I look forward to a very productive, hard-working council that we can get things done and address the petty crime, the homelessness, the traffic, everything that we have to do for our community to make it safe and to help it thrive.

12. CITY MANAGER REPORT 12.1 IFO PILI I want to welcome our newly elected officials. We are here for you. We look forward to tours that you want to take and anything else that you need from staff but I think that we have with Community Engagement and Barbara Bencomo had planned some good onboarding for you all if you are interested in that but welcome and I look forward to working with you as well.

Our Citizens Academy, we are accepting applications. Maybe I can turn some time over to Chief to give a little plug for that.

Jeremy Story, Police Chief said we have a Citizens Academy scheduled for here next month. It will start of February 20th and end on March 14th. It is Tuesdays and

Thursdays from 6 to 9 p.m. and we are taking applications right now. So, applications will close on Friday, January 19th. Those applications can be dropped off at the East

Mesa Complex which is 550 North Sonoma Ranch. If you go to our Facebook there is a link there but on the Police Department website for the city website there is a link to the application and more information about it.

Ifo Pili said I want to mention our Neighborhood Leadership Academy from our

Community Engagement. It begins on January 10th. The Neighborhood Leadership

Academy aims to develop community leaders, provide an understanding of the city services, engage constituents in city decisions, projects, future of the city, and increase community pride. Neighborhood Leadership Academy classes will be two hour, once a week for ten weeks mostly on Wednesdays. Graduation for those

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completing seven of the ten classes would be April 1, 2024. Participants will meet in various locations throughout the city to receive firsthand information directly from city departments. The academy is free, bilingual, and has a maximum of 35 participants and is currently being held once a year. The application process closed on December

29th.

Just a reminder, I know we sent out press releases about our minimum wage increase as of January 1st in accordance with an ordinance enacted in 2014 to align our minimum wage with the CPI index as of 2020. It goes from $12 to $12.36, and I believe tip wages go from $4.78 to $4.95.

Just an FYI coming from our Utilities, kudos to our Utility, Victor for bill collection. He is up to $2.1 million for year to date for fiscal year 24. He is really good at his job and his team. I just wanted to mention that.

13. ADJOURNMENT 13.1 Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Johana Bencomo, to

Adjourned at 2:33 p.m.

Mayor

City Clerk

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