City Council Meeting March 2, 2026

MINUTES

City Council

Monday, March 2, 2026 @ 1:00 PM

City Council Chambers, City Hall

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

Councilor Michael Harris, City Councilor Johana Bencomo, City Councilor Becky Corran, and City Councilor John Munoz

ABSENT:

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

APPRECIATION/PROCLAMATIONS - COUNCILOR BENCOMO. None.

1.3 DEPARTMENTAL HIGHLIGHTS. Blake Davenport, Interim Airport Director gave a presentation on the Airport.

Steven Bingham, Parks & Rec Director gave an overhead presentation on Parks &

Recreation 1.4 PETS OF THE WEEK. Carol Nielson, Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley presented Pets of the

Week.

Dr. Sabine Hirschauer, NMSU Department of Government introduced her Democracy

Seminar Group from NMSU.

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

SECTION 2-27 (E)(2)

2.1 None.

3. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 3.1 Lynn Moorer, Member of the Public said at the last meeting Assistant Utilities Director

Carl Clark stated that the city’s drinking water sampling had never identified any lead level exceedances that he knew of. He also said with respect to sampling associated with the city’s 2024 Consumer Confidence Report, “Our water is at 2 parts per billions”. Handout 1 shows that in fact things are not that rosy. Our water is actually four times higher. Three homes tested in August 2024, in Las Cruces Municipal Water

System were 8,6, and 3 parts per billion, respectively. All are under the current action level of 15 parts per billion, but Mr. Clark mischaracterized this key health information.

The record shows that the city does not test drinking each year for each of the city’s five water systems, contrary to what Mr. Clark stated. This important fact becomes clear when you compare the sampling results of the CCR reports. Indeed, the city did no sampling at all in 2019 or 2022. Handout 2 shows the timing of sampling and the numerous gaps in the reports. This led to the discovery that the city published false information regarding sampling results in the Las Alturas water system. The 2024

CCR for the Las Alturas system which just repeated the numbers from 2023 because no new sampling was done in 2024, falsely claim that no samples exceeded the action level. In fact, one sample pulled in 2023 showed 24 parts per billion and another 18 parts per billion, both well above the action level of 15. See Handout 1.

The CCR also falsely claims that despite these two exceedances, 98th percentile compliance was achieved. This is saying that 90% of the samples were compliant. In reality those two exceedances brought the overall compliance below 90% thus the drinking water in the Las Alturas system was non-compliant in 2023 and 2024. This was hidden from the public. There are also falsehoods in the 2020 CCR which I don’t have time to spell out now. What Mr. Clark did not say is the action levels will decrease from 15 parts per billion to 10 parts per billion as of November 1st, 2027.

Las Cruces Utilities is now operating on a less strict standard. While this may be lawful at present it is considered inadequate. That is why the water testing standard was strengthened which does not affect the Lead and Copper Rule requirements for competent inspections, honest notices about findings, lead and galvanized pipe removal and publication of a full and accurate inventory. Lead and galvanized pipes must come out regardless of any test results and the public must be truthfully and completely informed in a timely manner. In light of copious false characterizations and huge gaps in sampling I have no real confidence in this city’s so-called Consumer

Confidence Report.

Liz Rodriguez-Johnson, Member of the Public said it looks more and more like Las

Cruces Utilities never intended to uphold its promise to put disadvantaged properties first. A promise made to obtain $15 million in funding to implement the federal Lead and Copper Rule. It appears that the department may have sought and obtained the $15 million under false pretenses. What is clear is that the Utilities Department doesn’t have its priorities straight. The first handout relates to you what should be happening. The second, third, and fourth handouts relate to what should be happening. The first week of November, city inspectors spent the majority of their time

and resources inspecting properties that are not disadvantaged. Of 1042 inspections, or 24% were for disadvantaged properties. The first week of December the end balance was much higher. Only one property of 28 inspected or 4% of the total was for disadvantaged properties. Handout A shows the estimated valuations for the non- disadvantaged properties set inspectors examined during these two weeks. Their devotion of time inspecting these genuinely higher value properties that are not designated disadvantaged violates the city’s promise made when asking for the $15 million and violates public trust. Instead of inspecting a property valued at more than $465,000 on Cheyenne Court and its neighboring $400,000 properties Utilities inspectors should be inspecting all the properties listed in Handout B. These truly disadvantaged properties have estimated values of less than $100,000. This adds to the list of less than $100,000 properties provided at the last meeting. We urge utilities management to direct inspectors to check out these obviously low-income properties posthaste. When all these inspections for these properties are completed Las Cruces

Utilities inspectors should work on the properties in disadvantaged neighborhoods with the estimated value of less than $200,000 is helpfully listed in Handout C. It is both unjust and dishonest to prioritize non-disadvantaged property inspections over the genuinely disadvantaged ones. Finally before even one more property valued at $300,000 or higher is inspected absent an overriding reason, every one of the properties in Handout D, shows a mobile home community without water hookups in which doesn’t appear in the inventory along with every single property on Handout C provided the last meeting should be inspected and added to the map and inventory.

The city continually fails to include these lower income folks on the map or in the inventory or even acknowledge their existence. This is obvious and it is also cruel. So maybe cruelty is the point.

Chris Apodaca, Member of the Public said talent agent, Empasario, film and television. You know I was thinking, I have given you information on myself, my background. You really can’t put what I do on a resume. I just saw a movie called Air with Matt Damon and that is kind of what I do. You all know that I have been around for a long time in the industry, close to 40 years, as a professional in the big leagues, in the show, in the majors. Not many people have had the opportunities that I have had but I have been truly blessed and I am grateful for the things that I have done in my career and look forward to many years still. When I was in Hollywood fourteen years ago, I was thinking you know I would like to go to Las Cruces maybe and get something going, see what I can develop so I kind of followed you for about four years and eventually moved here to be with my mother who has since passed and I have family here and that is why I choose to live here as well as I was born here. This is home and I love the Mexican food. Can’t beat it. There are a lot of big fish in this town or actually a few big fish and a lot of little fish that think they are big fish. They need to swim upstream to the ocean, that is where the whales are, meaning the studios and the money. You need to get up there and give it a shot and see how you do. It is a whole different experience. There was somebody who spoke here a couple of weeks ago and they were talking about the competition and the city and all of this and I just don’t get that. You shouldn’t have competition here and you have 14 other states doing what you are doing plus California, and no one is working together. I had a lot of information on myself.

Juan Garcia, Member of the Public said thank you Councilor Harris for providing the

update on Flock. I recognize your concerns, yet it is important to assess questions based on facts and overall impacts to the community rather than focusing on particular “affected groups”. Credit to District Attorney Macias for the convictions of two of the killers responsible for the Young Park massacre. I hope they are done destroying lives. The question is why weren’t laws with real deterrents, real consequences not enacted that could of possibly prevented this tragedy. Look at the price of blood and potential monetary cost to the city over inaction. “Guilty under depraved mind murder”, determining that Nathan Rivas actions showed, “a total and deadly indifference to the value of human life”. I have been saying this time and time again the reason people kill is because life doesn’t matter. And I will repeat it. Total and deadly indifference to the value of human life. We see this often in Las Cruces.

The subject of using GRT revenues on quality of life or public safety was recently discussed in these chambers, nice to have parks unless families are afraid to use them due to the out of control crime. In my opinion push back against public safety isn’t about fiscal priorities it is about hostility against law enforcement. That sentiment is voiced by many of our friends on the left and members of the Las Cruces Anti-

Police Group. The leader who is a self-proclaimed anarchist claimed they were being “insinuated as part of something organized”. In public comments a speaker warned that this same leader is part of a highly organized group that coordinates efforts to stack local meetings. The leader was credited with busing in over 250 people from El

Paso, Silver City and Albuquerque to sway a public event. No doubt those bused were “unpaid concerned citizens”. This same leader tried to team up with LCPS with board member Patrick Nolan to stack a book review board while we advocated for measures of handling age inappropriate books in libraries and in our upside down world thousands of Iranians are celebrating the death of their brutal dictator who killed thousands of Iranians and hundreds of Americans while American leftist are furious that he was killed. Make some sense of this.

Yoli Diaz, Member of the Public said I have provided you Dennis Knox financial assistance file that he had sent to me which is three files and also 6.5 Section of

Indigent Care Continuation of Services from the asset purchase agreement and the

2004 MMC Policy. Memorial Medical Center is currently facing several issues.

Regarding the subject at hand, one significant problem is that Memorial Medical

Center is using Dona Ana County Resolution 2023-68 as their indigent policy. This may represent an update to their policy potentially replacing the one mentioned in

Section 6.5 Indigent Care Continuation of Services of the Asset Purchase Agreement and the similar policy revised in year 2010. As of May 2016, Memorial Medical Center began incorporating information from Dona Ana County Resolution 2014-69, a year

2014 Resolution into their 2016 policy which MMC renamed Chap, notably this policy also would exclude cancer care and outpatient dialysis. Dona Ana County Resolution included a “payer of last resort” clause. Defining it as a situation where residents eligible for health coverage for the same type of care do not qualify for the Dona Ana

County health care assistance program indigent program. This wording in effect actually excludes all residents which Memorial Medical Center did. Currently as confirmed by documents provided by Dennis Knox and available on the MMC website as of today March 2, 2026, Memorial Medical Center is directly using Resolution

2023-68, the current resolution as its Indigent Care Policy. This resolution also contains the same “pay of last resort” language. Dennis Knox also shared a flow chart used by Memorial Medical Center Admissions Department for screening residents.

This flow charts asks, do you have health care coverage? If the answer is yes, no further screening is required. One consequence is that Memorial Medical Center has no requirement for financial assistance nor cost adjustments to insure indigent resident medical bills regardless of their indigency status. The 2004 MMC policy pertains to uninsured, underinsured, the indigent and more. So, Dennis Knox has informed all of us that MMC is using Dona Ana County Resolution 2023-68 as their

MMC Indigent Care Policy, their workflow as their process and they updated the 15th policy. Was City of Las Cruces notified of the updates of both years 2023 and 2025 and did the City of Las Cruces get involved? Is City of Las Cruces involved now with

Dona Ana County now that they are revising the Dona Ana County Indigent Care resolution since city residents are affected?

Lucas Herndon, Member of the Public said I am just here again today as I said I would be two weeks ago to continue advocating on behalf of the community that has spoken loudly about the things that we want to see in our community. I was heartened to hear about the elevator and hot water pool being fixed on some of our resources here. Those are the kinds of things that make a city a city, a home. When my daughter was little, we spent a lot of time at the Aquatic Center. I have fond memories of getting to spend that time with her and take advantage of a shared resource that part of my living here I share with other community members and is provided on behalf of all of us and it is that kind of environment that we can continue to advocate for with our tax dollars with the collected revenue from the GRT to create a space in our town that is welcoming, entertaining, and family friendly. With recent world events and especially the fiscal cost of what we see the federal government doing in foreign places around the world I am reminded of a statement of a budget is a moral document. That how we choose to spend our dollars is a reflection of our values. So I think that what I want to leave here once more saying, this community asks loudly last year when the question was asked, how would you like to engage with us, the city on how we spend this revenue and you all rose to the occasion and asked us to engage with you publicly at six separate meetings and we did and you gave us a really wonderful way to participate. Speaking of democracy, direct democracy into your districts. And you spoke with us and I spoke with you there and many of my friends spoke with you there. You had representatives from all of your departments. Those water guys need a raise by the way, they were excellent advocates for their department and across this city and all six council districts what people want was clearly voted on and that information was presented to you in October of last year. So,

I know that you know that. I know that staff knows that. The question remains why that wasn’t reflected a month ago at the Work Session and the upcoming vote based on what we were presented? So, I would just ask you to keep those things in mind as you get to that place.

Liz Bennett, Member of the Public said I am a public health social worker. We just came out of a legislative session that failed to pass gun safety regulation and failed to pass meaningful reform for juvenile justice. During a media tour by our Police Chief seeming calling for harsher punishments for young people, we also heard sound bites mentioning the importance of evidence-based strategies like youth development and diversion, cognitive behavioral therapy, and early intervention in school settings. So where then is our city’s commitment to investing in those evidence-based prevention strategies for the young people who have been put on blast for the last year. It is my

understanding that the proposed police training facility could cost somewhere between $40 to $60 million but we don’t know exactly how much or what for because there isn’t an official plan or detailed proposal in place. With this in combination with millions spent on the Real Time Crime Center and the millions allocated from the state capital outlay for the police racetrack I would be interested to see the comparison in the amounts of dollars spent on community-based prevention versus police-initiated response. The $60 million for a police training facility alone is three times the annual budget for all Parks and Recreation Department. I understand that the city has made an effort to invest in community. The progress towards affordable housing development, outreach to the unhoused, feeding seniors and providing afterschool programs is key and that effort is appreciated. However, business as usual feels like pennies on the dollar and is not enough to meet the moment we are in particularly with our young people. If there is one thing that the Police Chief and I agree on is that collectively we are failing the next generation. We must invest in the expansion of services that meet young people where they are and offer hope for who they can become. I have often heard Chief Story describe to someone who prioritizes evidence-based interventions and the evidence is clear. Investing in the criminalization and incarceration of youth is investing in systems of harm that perpetuate crime and incarceration. Investing in culturally relevant real world, multi systemic support and mentorship is what leads to recovery. The challenges our young people are facing require meaningful and long-term planning and long-term investment. For those of you interested in continuing this conversation I would like to invite you to an event hosted by dream.org and Unlock Civics NM, happening this

Friday, from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Hood. The Public Health is Public Safety event is a community center gathering focused on connection, healing and practical solutions that strengthen safety through care. This event brings together youth, families, organizers and those directly impacted to explore how harm reduction, empathy and shared responsibility can create safer, healthier neighborhoods.

George Pearson, Member of the Public said I am Vice President of VeloCruces, a bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organization. At the last P&Z meeting a master plan and preliminary plat was approved for the Soaring Eagle Heights Subdivision. The proposed subdivision is located on the northern part of the city limits on the little carve out of the west side of Elks Drive in Council District 5. It is next to the Vista Middle

School and not far from Columbia Elementary School. The county supported with state funding built a multi-use trail that extends from Dona Ana to Columbia

Elementary. There is still a small gap up to the city limits and will hopefully be filled in in the not too distant future. At the P&Z meeting there was some discussion about the cross-section design for Elks Drive in front of the subdivision. It was pointed out that the county multi-use trail is nearby and with the middle and elementary schools nearby there is an expectation of school age pedestrians along Elks. Revisiting the

Elks cross section was voted down by the P&Z iwth reasoning by commission members that the proposed section meets design standards. This may be true, but it does not meet improving quality of life of Las Cruces citizens. Realize has recommended cross sections for various roadways but these are minimum standards.

Turns out that Elks cross section was decided at the DRC with minutes showing only that the wider turn lane was recommended by staff. To me this design promotes vehicle travel over pedestrian safety. New Mexico is the number in per capita of pedestrian fatalities and getting us off the top of the horrible list is the duty not just of

NMDOT but also of all of the local governments including and especially Las Cruces.

The city talks the talk about traffic safety and Vision Zero, but they do not seem to be walking the walk. Looks like the design is just creating an enforcement problem and not helping with the design elements that would increase safety. What can we do to revisit the decision and improve a design that involves the multi-use trail along Elks

Drive in front of the subdivision? This is a problematic area in solving the connectivity problem for the bicyclists along Elks but this is an opportunity that should be grabbed to help with traffic safety. Let’s build a 21st century road that prioritizes safety over moving vehicles. Since I have a moment left, there was a grand opening of the Elks trail by the County and Safe Routes to School and there is a great video that the

County put together and you can find it either on the County’s Facebook page or Safe

Routes to School’s Facebook page or the VeloCruces Facebook page. So, I was hoping you would take a look at that also.

Jim Hoerst, Member of the Public said I heard one of the speakers say that the protest and the participation of citizens in public comment opportunities were somehow inauthentic and that we were paid and all of that sort of rot. It is simply not so. The protests in this town are authentic, our appearance at school board is authentic, our appearance at County Commission and this body are authentic.

Nobody is paid, nobody is bused in. They want to pretend that all societies’ ills are the result of liberal intervention and that our policies created the world as it is. It’s simply not the case, liberals in local government have generally been the minority until recently. That is a matter of historical fact. We didn’t bring segregation and all of the social ills associated with that. We didn’t create homelessness, we don’t control the capital of this country. The wealth of this country is generally controlled by conservatives. Everybody knows that. Social policy is generally controlled by conservatives. The media is controlled by conservatives. Everybody knows that. The news is controlled by conservatives. Everybody knows that. Get over blaming liberals for the problems. We are just trying to correct them. As Billy Joel said, “We didn’t start the fire”. Just because we are trying to fight it, we didn’t light it. So, stop this crap about us causing all the problems.

Tim Jenkins, Member of the Public said I would like to start by giving you some heartbreaking statistics. We are just barely 60 days into 2026, and 8 police officers were killed in one week alone. Two incidences here in New Mexico last week, 16 officers killed since January 1st, 67 officers ambushed, 22 officers shot in the line of duty, 19 officers stabbed. We are two months into the year and there is a 65% increase nationwide in juvenile crime. This is not federal agents or immigration officials. This is local police fighting to protect our own communities. Behind every uniformed officer is a human being who has chosen a profession rooted in service, sacrifice and responsibility. Supporting our officers is not and I repeat is not a political statement but rather a community responsibility. Modern policing is more complex than ever, and our officers are held to the highest standard humanly possible. Officers don’t only serve as law enforcers but also as counselors, mediators, first responders, and crisis intervention specialists. They respond to mental health crisis, domestic disputes, traffic accidents, violent crimes, and community concerns, often all on the same shift. If we expect professionalism and compassion from our officers, then we must ensure that they receive the resources and support necessary to perform at their best. Police safety is not solely the responsibility of law enforcement but rather a

partnership between city leadership, police departments and community. When city council invests in its officers it is investing in a safer and stronger city. Our officers deserve support and our community deserves excellence. Many times in the last two weeks while dealing with our officers I have witnessed time and time again our officers choosing compassion over the rule of law and that is what needs to be celebrated, encouraged, and strengthened. So, let’s help each other invest in what brings our community together rather than the things that divide us. We live in a world that feels so angry and divided, in a world where bad news travels at the speed of outrage. Can we please come together as a community and let each one of us be the change that we want to see and remember that our officers are husbands and wives and parents and children of our very own community that deserve a safe place, peaceful place just as much as we do.

4. READ CLOSED MEETING STATEMENT 4.1 READ MARCH 2, 2026 CLOSED MEETING STATEMENT INTO THE

RECORD. The Las Cruces City Council met in closed session and only discussed those items limited to as stated in the posted notice:

1.To discuss pending litigation regarding Paulette Eze and Pamela Eze Sylvestre, as

Personal Representatives of the Estate of Presley Eze v. City of Las Cruces, et al,

Cause No. D-307-cv-2023-699 (Consolidated with D-307-2023-1137), which is closed pursuant to NMSA 1978, Section 10-15-1H(7).

2.To discuss the purchase, acquisition or disposal of real property or water rights by the public body, which is closed pursuant to NMSA 1978, Section 10-15-1H(8).

5. ACCEPTANCE OF AGENDA City Councilor John Munoz moved, seconded by City Councilor Becky Corran, to accept the agenda as presented.

RESULT: Carried

MOVER: City Councilor John Munoz

SECONDER: City Councilor Becky Corran

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

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

Councilor Becky Corran, and City Councilor John Munoz

6. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES 6.1 SPECIAL WORK SESSION (BUDGET/CIP RETREAT) OF JANUARY 28,

2026. 6.2 REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF FEBRUARY 2, 2026.

7. RESOLUTION(S) AND/OR ORDINANCE(S) FOR CONSENT AGENDA 7.1 RESOLUTION NO. 26-104: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING AND

APPROVING SUBMISSION OF A COMPLETED APPLICATION FOR

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE AND PROJECT APPROVAL TO THE NEW

MEXICO FINANCE AUTHORITY. 7.2 RESOLUTION NO. 26-105: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF

LAS CRUCES (CITY) TO ACCEPT VARIOUS BUDGET ADJUSTMENTS

FOR VARIOUS CITY DEPARTMENTS THROUGH AN AMENDMENT TO

THE CITY’S ADOPTED FISCAL YEAR (FY) 2025-26 BUDGET. 7.3 RESOLUTION NO. 26-106: A RESOLUTION AMENDING THE FY2026 - 2031

CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROGRAM.

8. RESOLUTION(S) AND/OR ORDINANCE(S) FOR DISCUSSION 8.1 PUBLIC HEARING REQUIRED. RESOLUTION NO. 26-107: A

RESOLUTION APPROVING THE REQUEST FOR A TRANSFER OF

LOCATION OF CANOPY LIQUOR LICENSE, NO. DIS-000868 WITH

PACKAGE SALES ONLY TO BW GAS & CONVENIENCE RETAIL, LLC.,

D/B/A ALLSUP’S 102507 LOCATED AT 4805 MESA GRANDE DRIVE, LAS

CRUCES, NM. 88012. Public hearing began at 1:51 p.m. There was no one for or against. Public hearing ended at 1:51 p.m.

Adam Ochoa, Urban Planner gave the overhead presentation.

Councilor Harris asked does the Maverik that is on the other corner have a liquor license or are they trying to get one?

Adam Ochoa said no they do not have one. They do not have a liquor license. City Councilor Becky Corran moved, seconded by City Councilor John Munoz, to Approve Resolution No. 26-107.

MOVER: City Councilor Becky Corran

SECONDER: City Councilor John Munoz

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

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

Councilor John Munoz

NAYS: City Councilor William Mattiace 8.2 RESOLUTION NO. 26-108: A RESOLUTION TO APPROVE THE

SUBMISSION OF A GRANT APPLICATION TO THE NEW MEXICO

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, MUNICIPAL ARTERIAL

PROGRAM, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2027, FOR THE AMADOR CROSSING

HAWK SIGNAL PROJECT IN THE AMOUNT OF $300,000, REQUIRING A

CITY MATCH IN THE AMOUNT OF $100,000, FOR A TOTAL APPLICATION

AMOUNT OF $400,000. Crystal Silva, Grant Development and Compliance Specialist gave the overhead presentation.

Councilor Corran said I just want to give a shout out, when we have all of these infrastructure conversations I do feel like sometimes we are not necessarily paying attention of how much things cost but this is a HAWK signal which I think I was like

kind of and I don’t want to say it is not very much but it is not like we are redesigning this road. This road is what it is. It will change pedestrian safety and cost about a million dollars. I think from the initial thing it looks like it cost half a million dollars but there is a lot of money behind it. What I am going to spend some time in conversation since there is a bunch of students here from NMSU is sort of talking about like how much things cost in the world today and so that really bear with me while I point out this is a million dollars for one pedestrian crossing. We wish that we had 400 of these, right in the city. Probably we would all ask for some kind of pedestrian intervention in a number of places and I say this because my district is getting a new traffic signal that is $1.5 million so I say all of this to say just as a note, stuff cost a lot of money if you didn’t know and we are trying to figure out constantly how to balance things like people’s safety, different types of city income like grants, DOT, state capital outlay and our own GRT money or tax money that we use to match all of this. Of course more of a comment than a question, like all politicians do all the time but I just think it is really telling that this cost $1 million-ish and in my mind it should be cheap is what I say and that I wish.

Councilor Harris asked on slide 2, what does HAWK stand for?

Jimmy Moreno, Interim Assistant Public Works Director said HAWK is a high intensity crosswalk activation signal. It is a signal that is activated by pedestrians that way it is only in use in times of high pedestrian activity and can be activated to stop traffic.

Councilor Harris said my comment is that I drive that road everyday and having a signal for that crossing would be amazing.

Councilor Bencomo asked can you give us a timeline for this project?

Jimmy Moreno said this project just started design so this will finish late winter, the design and hopefully the construction in the beginning of the calendar year.

Councilor Mattiace asked do we have a HAWK pedestrian crossing in Las Cruces already? Is there one as a sample?

Jimmy Moreno said currently University has a HAWK system in place currently activated and in use.

Councilor Bencomo said West Picacho.

Mayor Enriquez asked isn’t there one on Roadrunner across from Veteran’s?

Jimmy Moreno said that one is not. That is a beacon however, that is not a HAWK system. You cannot activate it by pedestrians.

George Pearson, Member of the Public said these are questions that might be addressed later during the design, but I will ask them now. Is the location of the

HAWK system going to be aligned with the multi-use trail that exists in that general

area and also if a pedestrian refuge would be part of the process? My final question not directly related to this but the roadway segment if speed limit change reductions is being considered for this segment of roadway because the posted speed I believe is

40 miles an hour which is really not conducive to pedestrian travel.

Tim Jenkins, Member of the Public said I travel this road hundreds of times a week.

The supply house that I use sits on Amador, Winnelson and when I travel that road I am going to say that there is probably 1% of the people crossing that road use the crosswalk that is there. To me it is hard to justify $1 million for what we have doesn’t ever get used as is right now. Just so you guys know. It is hard for me. We have to slam on our brakes all the time because the crosswalk isn’t used so it is hard to justify spending $1 million on what we have doesn’t get used already. City Councilor Becky Corran moved, seconded by City Councilor Michael

Harris, to Approve Resolution No. 26-108.

SECONDER: City Councilor Michael Harris

Councilor Becky Corran, and City Councilor John Munoz 8.3 RESOLUTION NO. 26-109: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING AN

AMENDMENT ADDING $10,000 TO THE CONTRACT FOR FILM

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SERVICES WITH FILM LAS CRUCES, TO

AMEND THE SPENDING LIMIT FROM $95,000 TO $105,000 FOR THE

FINAL YEAR OF THE CONTRACT, SUBJECT TO APPROVED BUDGET

APPROPRIATIONS (PROCUREMENT NO. 23-24-098). Alicia Hernandez, Purchasing Manager gave the overhead presentation.

Councilor Harris asked do you have an estimate on the return that you expect to see from this advertising campaign?

Andrew Jara said the returns that we are trying to get is we are trying to bring more productions here. We have already had success at similar events. We went to an

Albuquerque media event and we were able to bring two productions and so it is similar to the AFM event that we wanted to attend is a collection of producers and industry makers that can make those decisions to come to Las Cruces and so we are just trying to make sure we could be in those meetings and have those conversations.

Councilor Mattiace said I just wanted to thank Councilor Harris for considering ROI. I think it is very important that everything we do has some type of good return of investments but this is more on recruiting. Is this recruiting advisors and special people that actually will get more production here, is that what this is for?

Andrew Jara said yes, in a way. What we are trying to do is not necessarily advisors but the people who are bringing productions. Those are the producers, so a lot of times I am like for example, when we have a production in town, they are trying to hire locals as much as possible but the productions that are bringing in are usually from out of town and the producers, directors and everything like that. So, what we do is

we try to make sure that they are steering their eyes towards Las Cruces so that they know that we are viable for filming. That we are film friendly and so giving them that information and so they can make those decisions to come here.

Councilor Mattiace asked what kind of process or show or how do you do that? How do you present what we do as Film Las Cruces for these folks that come, do they come individually or do you have a joint meeting of many of them?

Andrew Jara said it is mostly individual meetings. Sometimes there are group meetings. For example sometimes we will reach out to production companies and try to pitch the whole company. A lot of times we are trying to reach out to individual producers with individual projects and get them to come here. The thing about film is that it kind of works in projects like for example there is a movie in town, they will work that movie, they will open offices, they will bring in some of their crew, they will hire others and then once they are done filming they usually go back to wherever they are and finish the film. And so, what we are trying to do is let them know that they can come here. The way we do that is A, we have meetings, we let them know we are film friendly. We talk about how we can do permits, we talk about how we have the infrastructure, but another thing is that we will create location packages for them. So, a location package is when you write a script, you are going to have where the script takes place and so a lot of times, we had a film that took place, right now we have a film that might take place overseas or in a different country. Mexico is a big popular one and we kind of find those locations in Las Cruces that could fit those locations. If it is a gas station, we show them all the gas stations we have here so this way once they come here they have all the locations that they are looking for are available in

Las Cruces and that kind of gives them a head start as to where they can begin.

Councilor Munoz asked the net that you are going to cast is at local, regional, national, you kind of walked through the process but what is your target audience?

Andrew Jara said that is one of the things about film is that it is kind of hard to figure out how to market it because we are marketing Las Cruces, but we are not marketing

Las Cruces to Las Crucens. We are marketing to people in LA, people in New York, all over the country and all over the world. Last year we even had a production from

Finland come in and we helped them. Really it is about trying to let as many people who are making films or in the film industry know about Las Cruces and know that not only do we have the locations, not only do we have the infrastructure but we can help them with permits, we can help them with crew and so it is just, making them aware and of course our state incentives which is very competitive but it is letting them know all about that.

Mayor Enriquez said we are very supportive of the film industry, the excitement, the tourism, the economic value. We talk about ROI. We talked about our students at

NMSU and all of that and it is very promising. What is it that you have going on right now in Las Cruces that is taking place with film?

Andrew Jara said it has been a very exciting honestly last two years. Since last year from about January, we have had production every month in one way or another

whether it is preproduction or actual production so there has been a film in town the entire year. That was one of our first goals to make here at Film Las Cruces. It is very good to have that. Since then like I said the calls have grown and increased of people wanting to bring in and we have also had production raised obviously. Even right now we have three productions in town right now that are trying to film and another one that is on the way within a month. Like I said we are very busy right now and on top of that we also have infrastructure growth. We have had a prop house that opened up in the last few years and this year they have decided they needed more room because we are so busy and they have expanded so just those kind of infrastructures, the crew base has grown exponentially and even like being able to use some of the different buildings and stuff here. City Councilor Becky Corran moved, seconded by City Councilor John Munoz, to Approve Resolution No. 26-109.

Councilor Becky Corran, and City Councilor John Munoz 8.4 RESOLUTION NO. 26-110: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING A PURCHASE

AGREEMENT FOR MEDICAID AMBULANCE REPORTING WITH PUBLIC

CONSULTING GROUP, LLC OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS IN AN

ANNUAL AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $600,000, PLUS APPLICABLE

TAXES, SUBJECT TO APPROVED BUDGET APPROPRIATIONS (PROCUREMENT NO. 25-26-081). Virginia Barela, Buyer II gave the overhead presentation.

Councilor Corran asked can you go back to the slide that talks about the cost that is $13 million-ish? This for one year?

Virginia Barela said I believe those reportings were just for calendar year 2024.

Michael Daniels, Fire Chief said that is correct. That is what would be the estimated cost of the calendar year associated with transports at full rate. That takes into account salaries, benefits, depreciation of apparatus, the cost of fuel, every aspect of that transport is what that is taking a look at.

Councilor Corran asked we are hoping to go after 71% reimbursement of that which is like I guess $9 million-ish?

Chief Michael Daniels said not quite. What this program does is we share in essence through the State Health Care Authority there is a cost associated at the state. The stateis takes their portion first and then at that point the MCO distributes the remainder to us. This year it has been just over $2.2 million for calendar year 24, it is right around $2.3 million for calendar year 24. When we get our funds and then we pay 15% off of our net collected revenue so $13 million, we have been able to collect about $2 million. That is what we receive there. A lot of it is based on what is reimbursed by Medicaid. That is what the consultant really hired for is to look and to

try to maximize our collectable revenue under the program. This is when we had Work

Session in July we talked about the Medicaid Reimbursement Program. That is this program so as our transport volumes increase we could in a couple of years expect to see those numbers increase significantly because we transported 3,852, last calendar year just over 4,000 times we transported. We are expecting to see about 12,000 transport this year, between 11 to 12,000 this year but these are generally calculated a year to two back.

Councilor Corran said you are segueing perfectly into the question that I had which is $600,000 doesn’t seem, that seems like we are putting a cap on it like I don’t want them to be like we aren’t doing the paperwork anymore and then we leave money on the table I guess. The thing that I would worry about that. That is why I was asking and getting at that question. It sounds like enough for now given that reimbursable rate, but we might need to change it in the future.

Chief Michael Daniels said I would guess that in three years we will be seeing different determination of this contract. This is enough to get us through the combined calendar year 24 and 25 which we expect to see potentially the latter part of this fiscal year and then calendar year 26 should align well with this but in 2028, you are correct,

I would believe that this could be lower than what we would need.

Virginia Barela said if we do get into a situation where we are still in the term of the agreement and we see that we are coming close to that capping limit and we feel that we are going to exceed it we would come back to council to request an amendment and give the justification for that for approval.

Councilor Harris asked are there any plans to be able to bring in staff to submit these reports in-house in the far future or is it something that is really best left to the consultants who help with this nationwide?

Chief Michael Daniels said right now I don’t know that we have the staff or in New

Mexico we just started collecting this year, so we don’t entirely know the entire framework as well. I don’t think anybody in this state does. So, every one of the providers currently in New Mexico is contracting with PCG. I think we are up to 13 providers now. This is what they specialize in, NME gas and rural health care transformation funding opportunities. So right now, I would say no, I am not entirely sure what it would look like for us to build that capacity and also it is a small portion. It is not all the time so I am not sure we would justify an FTE through this. It is somewhat cleaner just to continue that. At least for now that is my recommendation until we understand more about the system.

Councilor Harris said that sounds fair and I am glad to hear that we are kind of pooling with the other municipalities and other providers throughout the state to get value out of this service. City Councilor Becky Corran moved, seconded by City Councilor Michael

Harris, to Approve Resolution No. 26-110.

9. BOARD APPOINTMENTS 9.1 None.

10. NOTICE OF PROPOSED ORDINANCE(S)

1) There will be no public discussion.

2) A Councilor may ask staff for clarification on the proposed ordinance(s). 10.1 None.

11. CITY COUNCIL MEMBER BOARD REPORTS AND COMMENT 11.1 COUNCILOR MCCLURE I wanted to give a quick shoutout to specifically Ikani who when I asked him, hey is there a way for us to be innovative with active transportation. To find a solution that might work especially given the situation at the city and now we have an active transportation team. I am hoping not to steal his thunder by announcing this but I also hope that they could be willing to present much like in the department news that we had today that would be great, see where they are going and get there as they are going it would be really interesting to see how that is happening.

I was also going to say for the Juvenile Justice Board, our continuum, we need board members and I am going to be sending a whole lot of emails to people to poke them into wanting to be a board member because we can’t exist as a continuum without board members. So, we are looking for a social service agency representative, youth serving agencies, business community, so people out in the business community, you might get an email from me. Religious organizations, youth and families, people who want to actually do some investigation. So, what does the board do? Analyze local transit, youth at risk, assess community resource gaps. So, if you have any curiosity, we are going to be moving to once-a-month meetings to talk about what kind of gaps in the local community. Please reach out to me. I am the Chair of the board, continuum and we are going to be getting a coordinator here soon and that is going to propel us to kind of make some changes and do some programing that should be really helpful for the future. 11.2 COUNCILOR MATTIACE I just want to start by saying I really enjoyed spending Saturday in the tree planting. I want to thank Cassie for reminding me and making sure I go but it was Hillrise in

District 2 and we did a neighborhood I think 100 trees were donated and 71 trees were planted. At my young age I was able to do about 4 to 5 plantings in the heat and then I said thank you very much and went home but it is quite a program and all the neighbors that received the trees were very complimentary of the program and the city and the volunteers that showed up from I believe the 4H Club. I just want to thank

everyone.

The other thing I want to mention is that I received some information from the French

Brothers and maybe Natalie Green would like to and she might have it already, but they are building new homes costing $190,000. That is quite what we are building for affordable housing, sometimes cost 350 to $380,000, maybe we should get together with the French Brothers and consider purchasing some of these homes that are $190,000. That would be two for one advantage.

I would like to say thank you to Johnny Amenzola, the malpractice reform passed and it was really great to watch common sense intelligence overcome stupidity. Kudos to so many legislators and the Patient Primero and the Dona Ana Medical Society. What an accomplishment in Santa Fe this year. The NMDA is National FFA Week. I just wanted to mention that. These are growing future of agriculture. There is also a

Tortugas Pueblo that is having an enchilada sale. They are 200 years old. They are in my district. Tickets are $12 but if you have time March 8th, the event will be held at our Lady of Guadalupe Parish Hall so if you could attend that, eat some enchiladas and you will be helping the Tortugas Pueblo.

Last but not least, I have to mention it. I received I believe a 77-page FY24 Amador

Hospitality lease agreement and all of that went on to not get the payment and utilities bills and things like that from the Amador Hospitality lease. I just would like to know from the City Manager, I have a lot of questions. Who do I refer those to, to get some answers? I received this late last week. I did have time to go through the 77 pages, and I had a lot of questions. I just need to know who do I direct them to?

Ikani Taumoepeau, City Manager said you can refer those questions to me, Brad

Douglas or Viola and we will get them to the appropriate parties. 11.3 COUNCILOR HARRIS I have a hand full of things too. I would also like to thank our legislators for this last session. We got a lot of the things that we asked for as a city in terms of capital outlay and other programs and a lot of those have fully funded or partially funded. A lot of the items that we wanted to do with GRT money and GO Bond money so when some of those things disappear from the list sometimes it is for a good reason because they have been funded other ways. Looking forward to the next Work Session that we have on the GRT priorities to really kind of flush that out and make sure that we are getting what the community wants and the other thing that I wanted to bring up is I was glad that somebody brought up Elks. When we are looking at funding these projects and doing roadworks to really look carefully at the cross sections that we are building and make sure that we are prioritizing safety over speed and throughput. Elks isn’t in my district, but I grew up in the area and that street is awful for anybody who looks at it from the outside, from the people who live on it, it is not safe for pedestrians. It is not safe for drivers. It is a racetrack and it is like that because it was designed like that. There is two school crossings and lots of kids live down that street and we just need to think very carefully about the kinds of infrastructure that we are building and try and prioritize safety of people. 11.4 COUNCILOR BENCOMO

I just briefly want to thank the students from NMSU for coming and spending the afternoon with us. I am also an alumni of the Government Department at NMSU so I love to see other young folks engaged and involved. Certainly, professor, you talked about how you were coming here to see people do democracy in a different way, perhaps you didn’t necessarily get that fully, but we certainly try our best here. I think local politics and local government frankly is my kind of government because it feels like a laboratory for positive change and for us to really try things that lift up the most vulnerable in the community. So, it is great to have you all here. I hope you come back and certainly stay in touch with us.

I did want to request that thankfully we have folks like Mr. George Pearson who remind us of this often but there was a couple of months ago that we had asked for a

Work Session on active transportation. We have not gotten that yet and I do think it is an important conversation for us as you kindly said not just to talk the talk but walk the walk and have a serious conversation about the pedestrian safety crisis that we have in the city. So, thank you for the reminder, George and I would like us to continue thinking about having that Work Session come to council soon. 11.5 COUNCILOR CORRAN Thank you for coming and sitting it out. Again, please if you need anything please reach out. We are here to help and love to hear from people in our community, so I also don’t have a lot except my community meeting is coming next Tuesday evening and it is going to be for District 5 it is going to be at Highland Elementary which is just off of the frontage road on Emerald. It is focused on safe streets in particular. It starts at 6 p.m., departments that will be there include Public Works, Community

Development, Police Traffic speed and safety folks, and MPO and their latest hot off the presses for safety and accident-related traffic data. So there will also be an opportunity for people who are there and in particular aimed at residents in District 5 but I am sure everyone is always welcome to engage with those departments and see what the plans are for the future of safe streets and all of the things that everyone highlighted and I think is really important to us to keep moving forward in that way so

Highland Elementary, March 10th at 6 p.m. 11.6 COUNCILOR MUNOZ I want to thank Chief Daniels and the Fire Department, Councilor Harris and I did a tour and visited all the fire houses. Got to meet the incredible men and women of the

Fire Department. Got to see some of our facilities, some of the work we need to do with them so definitely that was important as well. The Fire Chief does have openings so if you have friends and family or you yourself are interested, please apply.

Secondly, I want to go back to the legislature short session but there was some productive things that came out of the session. There is still some more work to do.

Again, I go back to thanking the department heads, our City Manager, Christine our

City Clerk, for organizing our advocacy or lobbying efforts in Santa Fe where I think as a city, we did well in this session. Also thank you to the city team as well for supporting me in my community district meeting. Very positive feedback from our residents, some good action items and I appreciate your attending that with me and taking time away from your family.

Also, a shoutout to the students that are here. I appreciate you all. I think this next week, or two Councilor Bencomo and Councilor Corran and I will listen to the New

America students to have a read out. They spent some time with us, actually spent three or four hours, maybe five with us in our special session and so we are very curious to hear from their perspective what they thought of the session, what they have input on. And my final piece on that with segues, I am working with some councilors here, Councilor McClure on the Youth Advisory Council. We would like to eventually launch a youth congress and so I would like to plant that seed with those students here from NMSU as well. We would like to expose our young adults who are not our future, but our now to how civics and how government works and would love to hear your input. 11.7 MAYOR ENRIQUEZ Dr. Sabine Hirschauer, students, thank you for being here. Thank you all for being here. Shoutout to Carol, the Munson Center, Quality of Life, the addition that took place last week, Public Works for all of their work and input so that the seniors can have a place for physical fitness, and other activities that will take place long awaited and they were so happy, thrilled and excited, it was great to show up Councilor

McClure, thank you for being there and just wanted to give a shoutout for the Munson

Center and their addition.

Also today was Dr. Seuss Day, Read Across America at 9 a.m., everyone was to read in school, stop everything they were doing and start reading. I got to go to a charter school and read to the third grade and fourth grade and fifth grade, so you know those are some of the things that can do for our community and instill that for our kids to be active and to read and to get educated.

12. CITY MANAGER REPORT 12.1 IKANI TAUMOEPEAU On the Active Transportation Coordinator, I must say that it was all staff. Kudos to

David Sedillo and to staff for being creative and strategic. They stepped up to the challenge and figured it out. Oscar Guerrero is a PE and will be the prime point of contact. And all this to say that on May 11th we will have a Work Session and have more information and we will work on having this before May announced with the appropriate staff before May. But Oscar Guerrero is a PE and a POC supervised by

Vanessa Morales-Romero who is also a PE and supported by additional engineering staff Geremy Barela and he has an EI, and he is a previous rep to the BPAC.

Natashia Billy is a PE, who is also supporting Kyle Arend, another PE so there is a lot of PEs helping out with the Active Transportation Coordinator so that is always great news. A lot of experience. The combined team will work directly with partners in the community and especially our departments as well to ensure that all active transportation matters are considered and we are moving forward with those.

Also, City Clerk, this is kudos, Christine received her Masters of Municipal Clerk

Certification two weeks ago. That took her ten years to do. This isn’t easy and honestly if you ask any other clerk in the nation who has their MMC, which stands for

Master Municipal Clerk, most will say they don’t because it is hard to get. This took

Christine ten years. It is a ten-year endeavor, there is a lot of requirements needed so

for all you government students if you are looking to be City Clerk and you want to be

MMC, come and talk to Christine. She knows it took her ten years to do and that is because she wasn’t just sitting around doing agenda packets all day, she is active doing other stuff and so we appreciate that. Again, she needed to go to conferences, there are classes that she needed to be enrolled in, she needed to teach, she needed to be on panels. There is a lot to go into, so we appreciate your work and it is reflected amongst that, so we appreciate you.

I appreciate the work that Richard Hanway, Sonya working closely with Transit.

Transit has six new EV buses that are adding to the circulation which makes it a total of 11 EV fleet and out of 20 in total, but we just wanted to say thank you to our Transit

Department. Thank you, city council, for your support. We get grants to get these EV buses but there is always a match. We appreciate the purchase and then maintain to keep these going and then drive themselves into to fix them, so we appreciate the transit for making that happen. Look for that later in March for the six new arrivals to come and you will see them in circulation.

The timeline for GRT for who are interested to come and be heard, opportunity will and obviously you can use public comment but we will have the first resolution on

March 16th and then really the main discussion for GRT projects if you are interested will happen on the April 6th and the second read and approval of the ordinance will happen on April 20th so April 6th is really hoping to have a lot of the discussion and decisions made by then but again for anyone new to our government who are looking for a great discussion this is a $28 million that has to be spent and city council is going to decide and listen to public comments and that decision hopefully will be made on April 6th so come and see what happens with those appropriations.

Last but not least, I just echo some of the councilors. Legislative session went well.

We had about $14 million from legislators and about $19 million when you include the grants. It was a great session, and I don’t want to take too much from the Work

Session that will happen at the end of April, but Christine will give a Work Session and give an update. The Governor has all the appropriations on her desk now and she has about 30 days to approve them and then we will come bring them to you council and make sure that you understand what makes it on the list and answer any questions then and we can pivot if we need to talk about and assess and review.

13. ADJOURNMENT 13.1 City Councilor John Munoz moved, seconded by City Councilor Michael Harris, to adjourn at 2:47 p.m.

Mayor

City Clerk