City Council Meeting February 2, 2026

MINUTES

City Council

Monday, February 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 MCCLURE. 1.2 PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES OF

APPRECIATION/PROCLAMATIONS - COUNCILOR MCCLURE. None. 1.3 JOBS OF THE WEEK. Sarah Raney, Americas Job Centers of New Mexico presented Jobs of the Week. 1.4 PETS OF THE WEEK. Carol Nielson, 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 Councilor Bencomo said I will be recusing myself from item 7.1.

3. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 3.1 Lynn Moorer, Member of the Public said we continue our methodical process carried out over the past year of holding the city accountable regarding its noncompliance

with the federal Lead and Copper Rule. A rule that is critical to protecting public health because there is no safe level of lead in drinking water. I am hearing from an increasing number of folks whose municipal water is now undrinkable and who have invested in water filters to try to make their water drinkable. However, many folks are not able to afford water filters. As a part of its application to receive $15 million in funding the city promised to prioritize disadvantaged properties so that these are inspected first and if needed being have their lead piping replaced first, but the department has classified as disadvantaged a large number of single-family properties currently valued at $300,000 were a great deal higher. I question whether it is reasonable to conclude that any property valued at $300,000 or higher is actually disadvantaged. By contrast most of the single-family properties built in the older parts of the city like on Mesquite Street, Soledad Avenue, Tornillo Street and Griggs

Avenue, which seem to be truly disadvantaged, are currently valued at less than $200,000. Indeed, most are valued at less than $100,000. Many had customer owned piping installed in the 1900s, 1910s, and 1920s. One had piping installed in 1868 according to records. These are the properties that need to be inspected first and have piping replaced first if lead is found, $500,000 and $600,000 properties shouldn’t even be in the mix. The Utilities Department has nevertheless included them. Let’s take a look at Cortabella, as you can see from Handout 1, 13 properties are on

Cortabella. All 13 were built in 2001 or later. The current estimated valuation of these properties ranges from $374,000 to $670,000. This yields an average valuation of $536,783. Incredibly Las Cruces Utilities classify every one of these properties on

Cortabella as disadvantaged. In contrast, let’s examine some of the properties in the oldest parts of the city. We have documented information today on 10 blocks situated between South Mesquite and South Tornillo Steets. Liz Rodriguez-Johnson will enlighten you about those. As always if you are interested in reviewing more documentation just let me know.

Liz Rodriguez-Johnson, Member of the Public said I have facts for you about the 92 properties on 10 blocks situated between South Mesquite and South Tornillo Streets that we examined when assessing Las Cruces Utilities non-compliance with the Lead and Copper Rule. Handout A shows the 10 blocks. According to the city documents of the 92 properties currently present on these 10 blocks 14 have been inspected. This means that only 15% of the properties in one of the oldest areas of the city have been inspected. All of the properties are designated as disadvantaged. Like properties discussed at the last meeting for none of these 14 properties does the information regarding piping classifications match the classifications Las Cruces Utilities recorded in the inventory records or spreadsheet information submitted to the state. These documents continue to be full of inaccuracies and inconsistencies. Now for some of the estimated valuations for properties on 10 blocks between South Mesquite and

South Tornillo streets. The properties on East Griggs Avenue with the oldest recorded customer owned piping installation date of 1868 is currently valued at $110,000. The second oldest customer owned piping installation date of 1890 is for properties on

East Grigg and North Mesquite which are currently valued at $135,000 and $143,000 respectively. The median estimated evaluation for the properties in the 10 block area is $154,600, 82% are less than $200,000. At the other end of the scale of what the

Utilities Department calls disadvantaged I have new information from an IPRA request about properties on Silverado Loop. As you recall I told you at the last meeting about properties on Silverado Loop that are designated as disadvantaged. As shown in

Handout C provided to you then Las Cruces Utilities says piping was installed in 1936.

I noted that this was not believable since Silverado Loop appears to be in a newer subdivision. Recently received documents confirm this. Handout B shows that this subdivision was constructed in nearly 2020s and water and wastewater piping was installed July 1, 2021. This means that the 1936 date that the city provided to the state is entirely incorrect. In addition, Handout C shows that the estimated value for a property on Silverado Loop is more than $400,000. When Las Cruces Utilities categorizes properties on Silverado Loop as disadvantaged it makes a mockery of those that need help the most.

Juan Garcia, Member of the Public said I believe everything in our lives falls under two paths while we can control choices, risks, and consequences and what we can’t, wrong place at the wrong time. Kids were buckled up on the way to Young Park, lovely weather and follow traffic laws getting there. You arrive and suddenly there is a drive by shooting and next you are holding a dead child in your arms. Choices, risks, and consequences. Take the local incident of the individual who shoplifted, bad choices, resisted arrest, another bad choice. A string of bad decisions and now he is dead and a cop’s life is destroyed. Individual walks down Main Street, firing a gun in a commercial parking lot and flees from Police. He ends up being shot by an officer.

Bad choice, high risk actions ending in a tragic situation. Most stories and hundreds of others could have ended differently if people would make better choices and evaluated the risk of each one. We all screw up, God knows I have, and it has impacted people around me but when those screwups go public they become ammunition in the never-ending political circus we live in. The headlines keep coming.

People in the country illegally are being arrested and deported. Two people interfering with those arrests are now dead. The news cycles play images of crying children and shattered families ignoring the difficulties our law enforcement deal with while politicians argue over who is to blame. The reality is raw. Lives are being upended and there is no signs of it stopping. The large majority of this incident could have been avoided if individuals had not violated federal law 8USC1325. Illegal crossings were made knowing the consequences could affect them and their families often tragically, but they took the risk and here we are. In New Mexico progressive legislators propose the “Immigrants Safety Act” to protect those here illegally by attempting to close detention centers created for people breaking our laws. If they do close citizens in these counties, including Otero could face financial devastation. This is a blatant attempt at pandering to those here illegally. Pandering involves giving people exactly what they wanted in a way that exploits their faults rather than leading or guiding them responsively. All for political gains. This is the upside-down world we live in today.

Tommy Black, Member of the Public said the reason I wanted to come up here today is because I know that there is always a reoccurring event that happen here at the city council meeting where sooner or later someone is going to come up and talk about the displeasure and the job that Chief Story is doing as the Chief of Police. Now I as a citizen of Las Cruces, New Mexico, I refuse to beat down on the person that is actually trying to help our youth which is a lot more than I can say about a bunch of other people in town. So, to all those people who always come up here complaining about Chief Story, my question to you is, what is your plan to make the situations better for the youth in this area? And the reason I am asking that question is when I grew up, I was told it takes a village to make the village better. So that means it takes

all of us to work together. Not one time have ever looked in the dictionary and saw it takes a village and I saw Chief Story’s picture. It just doesn’t happen. So right now, we have to as adults we need to start having self-accountability. You know when we wake up in the morning and we check the mirror the reflection we see is us. We don’t see Chief Story and to be totally honest with you if I did see Chief Story, I would call the police and Chief Story because I have faith in what those guys would do but right now, we need our adults in this area to stand up. We need to work together to make the situation better for our youth. All this complaining has to go out the window because when we are standing pointing fingers at other people, we never notice that there is three fingers pointing back at us. So, every week or every day that we don’t have a plan to help our kids and we kick that can down the street at the end of the day what we are really doing is failing our kids. So now we have to ask ourselves this question, do we want to be a part of the problem or do we want to be a part of the solution? Right now, we need to stop all of this complaining. I go online we fuss about

ICE, we fuss about Republicans, we fuss about Democrats, but nobody is giving that exact same energy as to what we need to help our kids out. So, take that energy that you have, let’s all sit down as adults together and let’s not rely on the City Council and

Chief Story. As citizens we can make some stuff happen and we can bring them in later. So, if you are really serious and I am talking to the people on the cameras looking at me, if you are really serious about helping our kids let’s sit down without them and come up with a plan and then bring them in. All this fussing stuff, those jobs are occupied. Let’s do a new job and sit down as adults in this area and make the situation better. We are talking about our future leaders of America that we are failing right now, and we are coming up on the year anniversary of the Young Park shooting and we are in the exact same situation now, complaining and fussing. We don’t need no more reality TV shows. We need people who that are really going to do something to help these kids.

Yoli Diaz, Member of the Public said I am here today because some of you might have noticed that I am kind of bombarding your emails and I kind of want to give you a reason why and a way to kind of do that is I am going to read from a public input that I did here at City of Las Cruces almost two years ago, February 5, 2024. I did that because there as a new Mayor and new Mayor Pro Tem and really when I started my advocating there is only one of you that sits in the dais that is still here today. So we have a new Attorney from when I started, a new City Manager, new City Council and so what is important is the history, the history as to why I am doing what I am doing because the history is extremely pertinent and I hope that who I am speaking to sees themselves as leaders and takes that leadership to heart and understands that Yoli is bombarding my email but maybe, just maybe I should take the time and read these emails because I am going to be bombarding it more. Today I am going to read as far as I can because I know I only have a minute and forty-eight seconds just to give you an idea what I said two years ago prior to the NBC national news, prior to the Attorney

General coming in here and launching an investigation on Memorial Medical Center and prior to the City of Las Cruces sending a letter of default to Memorial Medical

Center. It is very, very important. I tend to feel that things are happening, but we don’t know what is happening, right? So, I am going read this because there is something really, really pertinent to what I said almost two years ago. My name is Yoli Diaz. I will begin with my ask, there are four. One, I ask that you put the issues of accessing hospital care at Memorial Medical Center on your next agenda since there is now a

new Mayor and a new Mayor Pro Tem. Two, I again requesting a meeting with each council member. Three, since I have continued to receive calls from residents who need access to cancer treatment, a potentially fatal disease, I am asking each of you again to please consider the health care fund proposal I provided you in October

2023. However, it needs a lot more than that. Four, create a joint powers agreement with Dona Ana County similar to the Animal Services Center to provide health and human services and oversight in health care. And I am going to repeat that. Four, create a joint powers agreement with Dona Ana County similar to the Animal Services

Center to provide health and human services and oversight in health care.

Jim Wilcox, Member of the Public said today I speak as a member of the Metropolitan

Planning Organization Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee, BPAC, representing cyclists. Much has been presented here about a global effort to reduce pedestrian and bicycle fatalities program called Vision Zero but there seems to be something that is impeding its local adoption. I have evidence as to one and reason why that is. At the

December BPAC meeting a mother of two with a special needs child spoke before the committee. She expressed concern for her children’s safety as they rode bikes on the street. She wanted to know why if other states have adopted Vision Zero practices and lowered fatalities then why hasn’t the state of New Mexico done the same. In asking this the mother of two directed her question to a staffer from the MPO leading to a back and forth between the two. This unusual exchange during a public comment period actually revealed something that I present to you today. In responding to this parent, the MPO staffer expressed that he did not speak for the state of New Mexico but speculated as to why the state was not actively pursuing Vision Zero goals. He said that the state of New Mexico sets goals to reach Vision Zero, “there are punitive sanctions in the law for failing to meet these targets and so the State of New Mexico has been concerned about the likely inevitability of failing to meet the targets, the targets if set at Vision Zero”. This distinctly describes the situation. The state will not be adopting Vision Zero targets because they could be negative consequences for failing to reach them. Meanwhile the state continues with the highest rate of pedestrian bicycle fatalities. Are we trading lives for protection against punitive sanctions because we don’t want to reach the Vision Zero goals. What do we tell a parent who has a child injured or killed in a road acts incident. Do we say, while we sympathize with your loss, but we did avoid sanctions by keeping our objectives moderate. Given this body cannot affect the state’s actions it can do something locally. I recommend this body be a model for the state and fully embrace Vision Zero goals.

Jennifer Kreie, Member of the Public said I am just here to wish you good luck and a safe trip up to the round house to get a lot of money for our city and I cannot wait to hear how much money you get toward the library expansion and improvements. I am sure you will do it, thank you.

Fred Huff, Member of the Public said at the last city council meeting I spoke with gratitude about the new Park Rangers and LCPD officers working at clearing out most of the 11 illegal encampments that were in the Burn Lake area. The trash and other litter that accumulates and blows throughout the neighborhood is incredible. Not to mention the fire danger that these encampments pose with their illegal campfires. On

December 23, 2020, we had to abandon our house for several hours because the

people living in the bottom of the lakebed set it on fire. The smoke completely hid our house at times, and we did not know if we were going to have a house to return to when the was fire was out. If the wind would have been blowing from the north that day, the smoke would have blown across I-10 and possibly caused a massive pile up with the fatalities. When Councilor Bencomo spoke at that meeting after my talk about two weeks ago, she just happened to have references to the American Planning

Association Magazine and said it talked about the cost of criminalizing homelessness through camping bans and strongly implied that encampment sweeps are a waste of taxpayer dollars. Enforcing the laws concerning trespassing on city and private property is a waste of taxpayer dollars? How many houses have burned in this city in the last few years that were set by trespassers living in them? Are the city parks open for camping 24/7? There just happens to be already a city ordinance that answers that question. Under Chapter 20 Parks and Recreation, we have Section 20-28 Operating

Policy A, City parks are to be open from 5 a.m. till 11 p.m. So, people are not supposed to be in parks 24/7. What is happening right now in Las Cruces is these people are inhumanely being kept in their situation through free handouts. What we need to is be giving them a hand up and help them break the shackles of dependency by taking responsibility for their lives. Many other cities have successfully enacted public camping ordinances to address this problem. I do not believe that camping ordinances are designed to criminalize homelessness. They just give the police and others the tools needed to help these people start changing their lives for the better if they want to and yes, a big question is where do they go? I totally believe that it is very inhumane to keep pushing these unfortunate people from one spot to another and will talk about a possible solution later.

Jim Hoerst, Member of the Public said we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights.

Among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We are human beings before we are Americans. We are human beings before we are aliens and before we are citizens. We were endowed with certain inalienable rights without countries. We established countries and governments to maintain those inalienable rights. We have one of our rights, is the pursuit of happiness. What does the pursuit of happiness mean, councilors? If it doesn’t mean the right to migrate. To travel the face of this earth to find the best home for us and our families. That is a basic human right. I’m on here because my ancestors chose America as the place, they would build their lives. They came, they had nothing as far as I know and they succeeded. They listened to America when it said give me your huddled masses yearning to breathe free and they came, they breathed free and they prospered. That is why we are the most successful nation in the world because people heard our call to come here and to prosper and they did. Why are we closing the gate? It works. Telling the world to come here to America to make your life here and to prosper here worked. It worked for 250 years and all of sudden immigrants are bad and evil and we have to treat them with scorn and the Americans that choose sympathy by standing up to ICE and their illegal activities. You can’t claim shelter from the law as law enforcement officials unless you are wearing a uniform and you are not wearing a mask and all that other crap that they are pulling. Real officers use warrants.

Tim Jenkins, Member of the Public said I would like to thank the City Council and the

Chief of Police for the collaboration for getting the Park Rangers not only hired on but

also trained and out in the field in a timely manner. I would like to address a major concern in our city right now concerning the homeless population and before any member on city council even thinks about suggesting that we are trying to criminalize poverty I would like to say that it is as far from the truth that could possibly be. We are actually dedicated to the safety of our city and to the well-being of all. I would like to bring to your attention a situation this week that unfolded with a homeless encampment at the dirt lot just between Red Lobster and Farley’s. There was an extra-large tent set up on the private property with massive amounts of trash and garbage and mattresses, etcetera covering the whole lot. It was called in and LCPD trespassed the seven individuals that were in the tent doing drugs and gave them 24 hours to vacate or they would be criminally trespassed. Twelve hours later another officer in charge of that area for the day was out assessing the situation. While we were out talking in the Red Lobster parking lot the individual that owned the tent began yelling at the officer that the officer had no business being there and not only did he need more than 24 hours to vacate but also that he had been in this city for three years now and should be allowed to set up camp wherever he wanted to in the city and should be left alone and not be bothered by anyone. I am not trying to be rude or insensitive in any way here, but the mentality of these individuals is that they own this place. They refuse to follow the laws of the land and to use crosswalks and exercise proper street crossing, especially all the way up down Lohman. They cross whenever and wherever they want at any given time and we are just supposed to slam on our brakes in the middle of oncoming traffic to let them do as they please and it has been suggested here in council chambers that we are going to change the crosswalk there by the Gospel Rescue Mission for their safety but they don’t even use crosswalks as is, what is the point? After spending a day with Gregg Hull, the Mayor of Rio Rancho, which is by the way the safest city in New Mexico I highly suggest to council that we consider adopting practices that will actually make our city safe again.

I have major concerns about the direction we are going here in Las Cruces. It seems to only get worse and worse with no actual real resolve. We need to be giving these folks a hand up not a handout. By the policies in place, it seems we are willing to keep these individuals shackled in poverty and not provide them with a resource they truly need to able to contribute to society and to provide them with the resources to be able to help themselves. These individuals seriously need mental health resources to help them rehabilitate to life.

Chris Apodaca, Member of the Public said I am from Las Cruces, born here, big family. I moved to Los Angeles when I was 11 years old, became a child actor. I worked in television and film until I was 20 years old. I became a talent agent when I was 22. I had to withdraw from college because I had a dream job that came my way.

Unfortunately, the job positions require a college degree. I worked as an agent for 25 years and worked in production for 15 years. A list actors, A list directors and I have been trying to get connected here for probably 12 years now and I know Senator

Steinborn and he is very nice and I consider him a friend. The only types of jobs that I can get are non-paying jobs and I don’t work for free. I have been doing this my whole life. If you want production to come here if you are really serious you have to get people that are connected. I know a lot of things have happened over the last few years. I know that in the time all of this has happened I would have had at least three or four tv shows filming here in Las Cruces. Studio or not studio, it doesn’t matter. I would like to give my number to anybody at any point intime in this. I have a proposal.

Coming from me and who I know in Hollywood, I could give you a list of probably 100 stars and 50 big-time directors that I have worked with. I am working with 824 in Los

Angeles. I am working with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s company, Artist Equity.

Mark Wahlberg in Las Vegas, Summerland Studios in Las Vegas. I don’t have any trouble getting work out of town and I would like to bring it here. I like living here. Any day if something opens up for me in another state I will move on, but I am very interested in making things happen here.

4. 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

5. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES 5.1 REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF JANUARY 5, 2026. 5.2 WORK SESSION OF JANUARY 12, 2026.

6. RESOLUTION(S) AND/OR ORDINANCE(S) FOR CONSENT AGENDA

7. RESOLUTION(S) AND/OR ORDINANCE(S) FOR DISCUSSION 7.1 RESOLUTION NO. 26-099: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING A CONTRACT

WITH SINGLE SPACE STRATEGIES OF ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO

FOR THE CITY STRATEGIC PLAN UPDATE FOR A TERM OF ONE (1)

YEAR, IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $145,000 SUBJECT TO

APPROVED BUDGET APPROPRIATIONS (PROCUREMENT NO. 25-26-

025). Donny Prosise, Purchasing Supervisor gave the overhead presentation.

Councilor Corran said I just have quick question related to this being a CD proposal.

My sense is this is citywide strategic planning since like 244 of the 500 whatever goals that were outlined in that Elevate were part of Realize, that is partly why it is in this domain or can you tell me what the sort of the relationship is or is this just related to things that have to do with CD?

Chris Faivre, Community Development Director said it is part of CD because strategic planning was reorganized back into Community Development this past year, so all of those operations now are part of the planning team of Community Development.

Councilor Corran said I asked in part because we like to talk about how we actually have achieved some goals and I am happy that we are updating our conversations to talk about that.

City Councilor Becky Corran moved, seconded by City Councilor Michael

Harris, to Approve Resolution No. 26-099.

MOVER: City Councilor Becky Corran

SECONDER: City Councilor Michael Harris

Mattiace, City Councilor Michael Harris, City Councilor Becky Corran, and City

Councilor John Munoz

ABSTAINED: City Councilor Johana Bencomo 7.2 RESOLUTION NO. 26-100: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF

LAS CRUCES (CITY) TO ACCEPT GRANT AWARDS FOR VARIOUS CITY

DEPARTMENTS THROUGH AN AMENDMENT TO THE CITY’S ADOPTED

FY2026 BUDGET. Gaby Prats, Grants Manager gave the overhead presentation.

Harris, to Approve Resolution No. 26-100.

Councilor Becky Corran, and City Councilor John Munoz 7.3 RESOLUTION NO. 26-101: A RESOLUTION AMENDING THE FY2026-2031

CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROGRAM. Cynthia Alamillo, CIP Manager gave the overhead presentation.

Garland Courts, Deputy Director Museums continued the overhead presentation.

Councilor Mattiace asked page 4 and maybe the Utilities Director or you could explain on the gas development what is being implemented with that? What is actually developing?

Domonique Rodriguez, Assistant Utilities Director said the $1 million is for Del Rey

High Pressure Project and so we have in the winter time have had low pressure in this line so we need to rehabilitate it and I think they are also going to connect it and loop it and so it is really about the pressure dropping to where our customers are not able to receive gas during the winter months.

Councilor Harris asked if you could give some background as to what these projects are since they are new?

Domonique Rodriguez said the Drinking Water Revolving State Fund Loan is a money that we received for lead and copper. That includes design, replacement, construction, and so that is the $15 million one. The one below it is the Water Project

Fund, which we asked for from the Water Trust Board and that is for Telshor Tank

rehabilitation.

City Councilor Becky Corran moved, seconded by City Councilor John Munoz, to Approve Resolution No. 26-101.

SECONDER: City Councilor John Munoz

Councilor Becky Corran, and City Councilor John Munoz 7.4 COUNCIL BILL NO. 26-014; ORDINANCE NO. 3106: AN ORDINANCE

AMENDING CHAPTER 23, SECTION 23-36. POLICE SERVICE AIDES OF

THE LAS CRUCES MUNICIPAL CODE. Brad Douglas, City Attorney gave the overhead presentation.

Councilor Corran said I have just been thinking about when we had our budget discussions and one of the traffic solutions and something that is being discussed in the legislature is related to speed cameras and I know part of our historic conversation about this is we would have to have a specific officer who validates every data point from something like a speed camera to issue those things. Will this be something that a PSA could fulfil or not? If not that is fine, but it is something I would ask if we could venture to consider.

Jeremy Story, Police Chief said I believe under state statute it has to be a commissioned officer that reviews and issues that citation.

Councilor Corran said I thought perhaps it was a state law but if it was possible for us to do that I would want us to do that too.

Councilor Munoz asked what is the head count for the Police Service Aides? Do you have a rough estimate?

Lieutenant Cody Austin, Police Department said currently we have 9 PSAs full time. City Councilor Becky Corran moved, seconded by City Councilor Michael

Harris, to Approve Ordinance No. 3106.

Councilor Becky Corran, and City Councilor John Munoz 7.5 COUNCIL BILL NO. 26-015; ORDINANCE NO. 3107: AN ORDINANCE

TERMINATING THE PROJECT PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT (PPA) WITH

828 PRODUCTIONS, LLC, RELIEVING THE CITY OF AN OBLIGATION IN

THE AMOUNT OF APPROXIMATELY $1,858,015.22, CONDITIONALLY

AUTHORIZING THE FULL TERMINATION OF THE PPA AND ORDINANCES

3028, 3054, AND 3067, AUTHORIZING CLAWBACKS OF FUNDING

EXPENDED UNDER THE PPA, AND AUTHORIZING REPAYMENT TO THE

NEW MEXICO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT. Elizabeth Teeters, Economic Development Director gave the overhead presentation.

Councilor Harris asked I was wanting a clarification on how much money we are asking to actually clawback? I see that we are relieving ourselves of future obligations and there is this 10% clawback and so do you have a number?

Elizabeth Teeters said so we have given approximately $1.8 million. We are asking for two clawbacks, which is the 10% for the economic impact analysis and 100% for the facility closure that the funds that went to for that facility and so the total is about $1.3 million.

Councilor Harris asked just to emphasize the point we are continuing to be fiscal agents for the state side of this? This is just the city’s portion?

Elizabeth Teeters said that is correct.

Councilor Munoz said the state and the city provided monies on what seemed to be a good proposal from 828 Productions. The state committed $3 million and the city dispersed $1.8 million. As I understood as well 828 promised to develop a studio complex investing $75 million of their own money. Have you seen that investment and where are we with that?

Elizabeth Teeters said according to the data and the economic impact analysis submitted by 828 last year they have invested a little over $3.5 million.

Councilor Munoz said 828 also promised hundreds of jobs for Las Crucens and that number you are proposing to change to go down. How many have they hired?

Elizabeth Teeters said in the economic impact analysis 828 put in their documentation that they had 15 jobs. I asked the state’s Economic Development Department in quarter 3 this past year they had 10, in quarter 4 they had 9.

Councilor Munoz asked 9 employees from Las Cruces or is that determined?

Elizabeth Teeters said I will have to get back to you on that I am not sure.

Councilor Munoz said 828 was also supposed to bring about $350 million in production revenue. I know that number has also been adjusted. On that amount what have you seen there? What is the trajectory?

Elizabeth Teeters said again this goes back to the economic impact. The document they did which was almost a year ago at this point but direct spend was $1.2 million which means that from the way I understand it, it’s productions specifically with 828 and indirect is $104 million which is them partnering or giving their facility to other

production companies.

Councilor Munoz said as an entrepreneur and a businessperson I understand the weight of having employees and driving an enterprise, whether it is three or thirty or three thousand employees that weight is heavy because not only are we supporting those employees we are supporting the families that those employees have. How is the communication back and forth because results obviously are critical, communication is important and obviously making sure that there are results is also important not just to the enterprise, not just to that corporation or to that business but to the families of those employees?

Elizabeth Teeters said when this started early on I started keeping a log of all the communications back and forth, whether it be email, phone call, meetings itself, and this doesn’t include all of Mr. Henry Becker’s communications. I have a document of over 50 communications between us since March.

Councilor Munoz said it sounds like in just transparency that you are doing a debrief and we are going back and doing forensics of any gaps that we had on our side as a city so I appreciate your team making us aware of your concerns.

Elizabeth Teeters said I meant to bring this up. Just to discuss the steps that I have taken with my department. So, we now have a designated employee to go through all agreements and so this person, whether it be partner agreements, LEDA, ARPA agreements, before we pay out any reimbursements, they are the person that is going to be looking through all the documents. We are also going to be working with Legal to come up with our own PPA template. We have done it with the state for majority of years but through this process we have learned that while we have goals that are similar, we have goals that are different as well. So, we want to put that into the document and put what our expectations are and the last step we are taking is the annual performance review we are formalizing it. We are going to make sure that the company knows exactly what their expectations are every year to move forward.

Councilor Bencomo said first of all I just want to acknowledge that I can tell this feels heavy for you and I know that it is. I am sure it wasn’t easy to get here, and I really do want to acknowledge that from your point and staff’s point. Since I have been on the council I have been through several LEDA’s and I think since I have been here only one other one has had to be, and I don’t even think it was a clawback at that point. It was just like cancelled and so I know that the private/public partnerships are hard.

They take a lot of work and the expectations, that standard is very high and it should go both ways, right from what the other person should expect from us in terms of communication and responsiveness and all of that and the other way around as well because this is public dollars, right? And due diligence must be met so I just want to acknowledge that, and I think that is sort of the way I am approaching this because I promise I will land the plane on this in a second. I often think about how much in public dollars a project for example like Spaceport America, has received, millions of dollars in public dollars that could have been used for anything else, and we are just sort of waiting and waiting to get back some sort of benefit that was promised to our community. Meanwhile we are giving millions of dollars away. Quite frankly to me that

is very frustrating and I expect that when we go into these kinds of agreements that the person receiving these funds will understand the impact and the heaviness of that.

That these are public dollars and often I have come to find that it is lose-lose for the city. Whether we are incredibly strict and tight and little flexibility then we are not business friendly. If we are a little bit flexible, if we maybe say okay, we will extend it, we will extend it then we end up in audit trouble, right? So it is often lose-lose and it is difficult to make decisions out of that place and it is difficult to arrive at places like this so I want to acknowledge all of those things because it then makes conversations like this honestly to me a little bit easier because what I see out in the public isn’t what I thought we were promised and it’s just not hard to see. The tangible pieces are there.

So anyway, I just wanted caveat that before I ask you a couple of questions. On page

12, were you given a reasoning behind job creation from 100 to 45 yet the production spend increasing like this, were you given, what was the reason behind that?

Henry Becker, Deputy City Attorney said the PPA amendments were sent back and forth between myself and counsel for 828. At the time we had agreed to a second 30- day extension. I want to say we were within five days of that second extension ending when I received this counter proposal and at the time looking at it, it is was so far below our own expectations that I think I responded and this is just my memory and I think I responded to counsel for 828 that this is not going to work. So, there was an investigation as to why they proposed those terms.

Councilor Bencomo asked on the state letter that you read, when did you receive that?

Elizabeth Teeters said I received that on Friday, but I was in communication with them daily all week.

Councilor Bencomo said I assume there is going to be some public comment about the impact about the film industry and what this could mean and the sky is falling kind of conversations. I am curious if you could speak to film Las Cruces and the impact that Film Las Cruces has had in our partnership with them?

Elizabeth Teeters said while we have been in contact with NMEDD and the State Film

Office we have been keeping Film Las Cruces apprised of this situation, but we have purposely kept them at arm’s length because this is their job. They have to be able to do it on a daily basis. They have provided some data points that I will just share. In

2023, there were 10 productions, 4 of them feature films. In 2024, 14 productions in

Las Cruces, 7 of which were featured films and in 2025 there were 17 productions and 9 of them featured films and they did tell me that only 2 of those films were 828.

Councilor Bencomo asked those are all Film Las Cruces led by?

Elizabeth Teeters said yes, they are part of the process.

Councilor Bencomo said anecdotally I appreciate that because anecdotally I could say

I get emails from Film Las Cruces all the time about this is happening and this is happening and this production is happening, so I just wanted to get some real

numbers out there.

Councilor Mattiace asked is it a new hire or a new position, sounds like compliance type?

Elizabeth Teeters said it is an existing employee. We recently went through a little bit of a reorg within the department and with that we moved one person while they have other tasks, they will be doing this compliance work. Councilor Mattiace asked. And just to tag on with the City Manager I believe we hired a Compliance Officer position, is that correct?

Ikani Taumoepeau, City Manager said that is in discussion. We currently do not have that position.

Joseph Dworak, Attorney for 828 Productions said I want to start off by just quoting your last City Council meeting, which was on January 20th, last month. The City

Manager shared, “Film Las Cruces announced that Las Cruces has been named one of the best places to live and work as a movie maker in 2026. This marks the fourth year in a row that the city has been listed in the top ten film towns in America. Great

Job to our film makers and our economic development for assisting with that”. Earlier in August of 2025, Film Las Cruces report provides stellar reviews of the film industry in Las Cruces. For example, worker days, which had a goal of 1,000, was exceeded by 350% with 3,655 days. Local spending exceeded by over1,000%. The expectation was $1 million in local spending and there was over $10 million, and this is from 2024.

The number that was provided by your Economic Development team, I want to highlight that the $10 million and the number of productions is important because in just one year and it was a production that went from over two years, it started in

December of 2024 and went through January of 2025 which was done by 828 had over $15 million in production spend. So, this number that all of these other production companies, they are all important but 828 in terms of size, in terms of dollar amount blows these numbers out of the water and that context is important and we are able to provide a lot more detail of that to paint a more full picture for City

Council. The local economic impact of 828 which is the whole purpose of the Local

Economic Development Act and the PPA agreement in a single year, and this was the first true year of production by 828, 828 Productions brought in over $100 million dollars in production. It is true that not all of that was spent in Las Cruces city limits but Netflix does not use all of their productions within Bernalillo County or the city of

Albuquerque either and while of course I know it would be better as policy makers to have that spending consolidated to the city that is just not realistic and that won’t happen with any production company. In addition to the $100 million of production spending in 2024, there was approximately $50 million in the last year so in the $350 million that was set as an expectation benchmark in the PPA in two years of production alone 828 met almost half of that number. There have been delays in 828 getting off the ground primarily in a letter that I shared to the council that I hope you have and I have copies if it would be helpful to share as well production was stalled for an entire year after the PPA was created because of national actor strikes and film writer strikes that affected the entire industry across the country. So, there was a whole year where there was nothing happening that was completely outside of the

control of the company and that is also something that has not been addressed.

There has been over a dozen productions since 828 started in Las Cruces. Some very large ones that include Eddington, which was filmed in Truth or Consequences but it was handled in partnership with 828 here in Las Cruces and Protector which was filmed entirely in Las Cruces and it has been the largest film production project in the history of the city and I think it just wrapped up post production yesterday and I believe it is coming out in the next month. During this time over the past two years

828 has employed as cast and crew over 1,200 New Mexicans. Mostly local in and around Las Cruces. I am happy to explain the numbers that were provided and answer any other questions, but I want to get through a couple of points because I understand that I am short on time. A few points to correct is that 828 did not close its facility. It made a business decision to focus and consolidate its resources on its remaining properties. It has multiple properties, we can get into those, I am happy to provide those details in response to questions or in writing to the council this delayed report, this Economic Development report, it doesn’t require clawback. It is discretional so we would ask that the council use its discretion if it chooses to seek

10% clawback of that money. The state has not demanded a clawback of that and I can’t find an example of that clawback being imposed for a delayed report in the past either. There is also no intention by 828 and a lot of these issues 828 acknowledges they have made mistakes, but it also acknowledges just as the city has repeatedly stated that the agreement itself is vague, there has been practices by the city, lack of communication by the city and it goes both ways. 828 acknowledges that it could have done better in the past, but these are partners and partners can take responsibility for their own actions with each other and again we recognize that there were mistakes on both sides of this and we want to move forward. My last point if I may, what is missing in the documents that were provided to the public in your agenda packet and provided to the council for the first read of this proposed ordinance two weeks ago is over 350 pages. There is not a single page of this 350 pages that include correspondence, proposals, memos, or even references to the justification and rationale provided by 828 for the concerns, proposals on how to address the concerns and request to meet simply with the city council, a working group or city leadership to address the problems. What is also missing and I would direct the city council to the letters that were provided dated January 30th and

January 26th just in this past week from our firm on behalf of 828, there is no analysis of economic impact. There just simply isn’t. This information is gathered and analyzed by a paid economist at the New Mexico Economic Development Department. There is not a reference to that. There is not a reference to the indirect spending impact that

828 and its work, which is all documented has on the local economy and the local industry. There is no analysis of what company would fill the void if this were to change the business trajectory or caused 828 to relocate elsewhere. All incredibly important things that I think as policy makers have to be considered not only when saying additional funding is available but clawing back so much money, almost a million and half dollars from a start-up company that has been in operation for two years and has ten years to meet its goal.

Councilor Harris said the facility hasn’t closed but there are several facilities. I was wondering if you or our Economic Development could talk to the actual disposition of those facilities? The purpose of this LEDA is that the city wanted to have a film studio built in Las Cruces and that was the purpose. So, what is going on at these facilities?

Joseph Dworak said I am not trying to be evasive, it’s complicated the question. In part, the economies surrounding the film industry across the country is changed since

2022 when 828 was enticed to come to New Mexico from California with the promise of tax incentives which are there and any film company in New Mexico will admit that is often the primary reason why film has a strong presence in the state but also coordination with state and local government and available economic development funding. There was a level of urgency by policy makers. There was an announcement by the Governor. There were plans shown with drawings of a film studio like something you would see in California with a water tower with names on it, large studios, and beautiful landscaping. Something that is still a dream of 828 and I can say that but not something that would happen in two years with any company. There is not the industry to support that here yet and so the disposition of the property, many of the properties were purchased in short order, millions of dollars in properties. 828 has made a business decision to focus on properties over others because the long- term planning of a large film campus is not in the short-term business plans of the company at this time so that property is no longer being used. We are in conversations/discussions with the seller. It was a seller finance real estate deal and on behalf of the company we are in communication with the seller to determine if 828 can take title back to the property because that is one of the issues that is going on, it was never owned right out by 828 and they didn’t take the property and then sell it for an investment or anything like that. It was a seller finance property.

Councilor Harris asked to clarify in your last point the city put LEDA money toward a property with the expectation it would be developed. You no longer own said property and might not get it back to actually do that development?

Joseph Dworak said that is correct and that was never the plan of 828 to lose possession of a property of their purchase. I also didn’t expect a writer’s strike. It also didn’t expect a 30% downturn in film industry across the country and that property is still useful. It can still be used even if it is not immediately developed and so that is what we are in conversation about but they currently do not have title to the property.

Councilor Bencomo asked can you talk about which properties 828 is focusing on and which you are not?

Joseph Dworak said I can answer that, but I can also allow the CEO of 828, Todd

Lundbaum to speak to you more about that. I am aware of the plans, and it is the hub.

It’s the one that was always identified in the PPA as the facility. The PPA mentions the property downtown as the facility, the qualified production facility and additional locations around the city so that property where I was at this morning is the focus of their current business model now.

Councilor Bencomo asked just to clarify that property is the South Miranda property?

Joseph Dworak said correct.

Councilor Bencomo said the old Baptist Church. So, can you talk about the other

properties? The one on Amador, the old bowling alley, the one right here next to the plaza? Can you just give us and how many other properties 828 owns?

Joseph Dworak said I can answer some of those questions in part because I am an attorney and representing them with real estate matters as well. I want to make sure that what I state is not anything that is privileged also in how we are trying to assist with the company and trying to utilize its money in the best way possible so that it can grow the film industry here in Las Cruces. The use of those properties and the planned use of the properties is dynamic and in part of what is happening today with the city. If this company has an immediate $1.4 million liability that changes its business model too. I respectively would like to be able to talk to my client and see what answers we can provide in writing, and I want to be as clear as possible. There are legal reasons why we might want not disclose. We want to be as transparent as possible and I wouldn’t expect that we wouldn’t be able to but if you wanted specific,

Todd. Which properties?

Todd Lundbaum, CEO 828 Productions said I am just addressing you questions about the properties. As my attorney stated, 106 South Miranda has always been our headquarters, and it continues to be our headquarters. As it pertains directly to 300

Compress, 1053 Hayner, which was meant to be a much larger studio complex. In 18 to 24 months employees called LCPD over 100 times because of incursions to the property. One of my employees was charged by a local with a machete.

Councilor Bencomo said I assumed this is exactly where this would be going. I am asking about the condition of the properties that you own and what you plan to do with them?

Todd Lundbaum said I was just giving some context of why those properties became too dangerous and untenable to currently continue to develop. So, we sort of shrunk ranks to focus on 106. So that is where we want to focus on our energy.

Councilor Bencomo asked what about the bowling alley?

Todd Lundbaum said the bowling alley also had break-ins almost daily and it is just so difficult to keep secure that whenever I want to show it to an actor or an agent or a director or producer we are always running the risk of being surprised by somebody who is camped out somewhere inside the building. So for the time being we are focusing on 106 because we seem to be able to keep that safe and it doesn’t reflect negatively on the area when we are bringing outside investment or for producing partners. I would also just like to say that over the past couple of years the number one, number two, and number three request that we get is for more office space. It is not for hey we need dozens of sound stages and in this same period of time that we are trying to develop these properties there has been these tax dollars that have been allocated to build another facility, $15 to $20 million are being spent to build a sound stage over at Arrowhead. So, all of this landscape is dynamic. It is changing all the time, and we are focused on bringing outside productions into New Mexico. We have a large film that we are trying to bring it here in April and all of this is going on right now is threatening that, so we are just asking for more time and more attention and

more communication with you all to try to figure out what is best for the city moving forward.

Councilor Bencomo said to that point I just want to say that I have been working really hard with Community Development Department to try to address neglected and blighted buildings and the reality is that when a property owner deflects the responsibility for any particular building and it deteriorates and it is neglected and it becomes blighted and it invites more blight and it is a bit of a circular situation and I know what we can do is go to the responsible land owner who can take some responsibility for those buildings and from what I see there has been some lack in that as well and I understand that it is a bit easier to say well, it is all of these problems that the city hasn’t dealt with and that is why the condition of the building remains the same. I would argue that the owner of the building also has responsibility to upkeep and maintain their buildings.

Councilor Mattiace asked you had mentioned and maybe you could repeat, what is the association with Arrowhead and the studio as New Mexico States University’s plans, correct?

Todd Lundbaum said when the talks first began about using tax money to build a sound stage, initially the state had looked at placing that sound stage on one of my properties and then that conversation changed because I don’t understand the full picture but itlanded underneath Academia and so then it was placed at Arrowhead because it is an academic facility and so my understanding is that they have raised $20 million of tax money to build just a single sound stage. That is not to acquire any property or any of the other infrastructure where if you look at what I was doing basically from scratch. I was having to do the utilities, the land acquisition, the design, the build. So, we are getting an academic facility. I don’t know yet, I have heard so many different versions of how it is going to be split up public/private, but it is my understanding that they have broken ground on that and it is happening at

Arrowhead.

Councilor Mattiace asked just to be clear 828 Productions has no association with that facility?

Todd Lundbaum said no. It is competition, it is tax funded competition. And Councilor,

I did not mean to shuck our responsibility in this. It is a partnership. That is what I tried to say.

Councilor Munoz said I just want to stress that Las Cruces, we are open for business and that is what we want to move forward with. We don’t want to bring concerns and scare off the film industry. Ithink we all had or have high hopes for 828 Productions.

No investment is guaranteed. There is always risk. Those who invested in Amazon early on did very well. They were very savvy and sophisticated investors and organizations that invested in ENRON and that did not end up very. I want to reconcile some of the things that you said. You talked about hiring 1,200 New

Mexicans but Elizabeth mentioned 9 employees. We are not sure how many of those were from Las Cruces. I would like to reconcile that and then the communications

piece you mentioned 350 pages and I get it. We are partners, we are in business, we are moving along. All partners have the issues. I have been married for 26 years, and

I still have communication issues with my wife and we don’t always agree. Can you reconcile those two things for me?

Joseph Dworak said I think that goes to the point that I made with 828 interest in discussing the changes to the economic climate and so one of those when this first began the idea was that 828 would be a company in which could employ a large number of people and many of the services that go along with the production would be done by full time employees of the company itself. For a number of reasons and we can get into those if you would like. That business model isn’t sustainable at this moment but what 828 has shown is that it can exceed the production spending amount, which is why that $4.5 million, it was added to account for $1 million for per every fulltime employee reduction. So, it is a 55 employee reduction with a $55 million production spend adjustment to that. There are still many, many jobs. I know crew jobs that come in and they have to jump from project to project are not always the most desirable position but that is how much of the industry works particularly when a new production company is building in a new area and in a new city and so that is the reconciliation. We are talking about the number of full-time employees, and I think someone may be making a comment about this but 828 has maintained those employees and even with the writers’ strike they kept all of those employees, didn’t lose any. Paid full benefits and paid their competitive wages and so that promise has been kept it is just the type of jobs it has shifted with the business strategy.

Candice Nanco, Member of the Public said I handle the corporate operational side of

828 Productions. I am also a native New Mexican so to me this role isn’t just about business logistics. It is about building a sustainable world class industry right here in my own backyard. 828 launched with big plans and a lot of momentum ready to change the landscape of film production in this state. As many of you know and we have talked about it here today, the writers’ strike happened and between that we effectively lost nearly a year of production time. To give you an idea of the macro picture nationwide production spend plummeted by 40% while sound stage utilization across the country sat at a staggering 63%. For a company with big growth plans and the kind of industry wide freeze that is the ultimate stress test. This is where I get incredibly proud of where I work. Despite the 40% drop in industry spend 828

Productions did not lay off a single employee and for that I am forever grateful.

Fred Huff, Member of the Public asked why did this thing fail or in the process of failing? The CEO mentioned it pretty good and it was also in what he said here was in a January 28th Albuquerque Journal article and to quote him he said, “Progress on developing industrial properties near Amador Avenue in the middle of town has slowed because of trespassing, property crime and security concerns at the location”.

Well, that is what we are having over at Burn Lake, Valley Drive. If you drive down there you see a lot of businesses closed or boarded up or huge fences, put in. All of this is the same, trespassing. Councilor Bencomo just a few minutes ago if I understood her correct said, “Oh it is the property owner’s responsibility to keep trespassing out”. But also, two weeks ago she said it was a waste of taxpayer money for the police to be removing trespassers from city property. So where are we at? The bottom line is this property on Amador when I fly over with my drone, I see people

going in and out of that big building that has 828 on it. I see them going in and out like

Walmart. So why? Well, the attraction is Community of Hope across the street giving out all of the freebies. So maybe if this thing fails and you do your clawback maybe you can get that property right across from Community of Hope and use it as a place to go for these homeless and maybe get an ordinance passed because that is a big objection on getting a public camping ordinance passed is where do they go? That could be it.

Kathleen Ruiz, Member of the Public said I work for 828 Productions as a bookkeeper. I want to start by saying I moved to Las Cruces in June of 2024, my daughter and I moved here from El Paso with the hopes of being able to earn more money and be in a peaceful community. I was really excited to find that within a month of moving here a posting with a film production company in what I do. I love movies.

We are always at the movie theater. So, to be able to merge my two worlds was so exciting for me and became even more realistic through this time. This was the most exciting cover letter I have ever written in my life and then to be able to be granted this opportunity to work with them. So, I have been with them a year and half now and

I will say a year ago when Protector was here filming, I had the opportunity to go to my first movie set and actually meet Milla Jovovich face to face. No other opportunity would have come my way like that. Also, during this time, I want to say as a resident of Las Cruces I have seen three pay increases during this time. It is not something that I needed to disclose but I wanted to say there has been growth opportunity during this time for me that may not have been found anywhere else. During these reporting periods that were mentioned in the presentation we were going through staffing transitions and the reporting to the state EDD fell into my world. So, I will take responsibility in that those reports did go in late for that reason. I was still trying to get my head wrapped around those reports and what was needed but there was no intention of delay or especially no disregard for the reporting requirements. Honest oversight on my part and it was corrected immediately once I pulled our CEO Todd in to assist me with that.

Derrick Pacheco, Member of the Public said Double Strikes Studio Las Cruces, New

Mexico. To quote my director friend that I was texting right now that I sent a link to this meeting. He said that was hilarious to watch. I don’t think it is hilarious. I think it is absolutely disgusting. I think we learned all we needed to know about the situation by

Mr. Apodaca here earlier here during public comment. He is a long-time film professional. He is a former child actor. He has seen it all and done it all. When a professional comes in to represent our hometown and say essentially that it is not working out and I am ready to bounce, that should concern each and every one of you. 828 has been absolutely the worst neighbors that I could possibly have experienced coming into my neighborhood. Absolutely garbage. Will not return phone calls. Will not uphold meetings. Just buying real estate to throw into a portfolio to see that portfolio rise. Nine jobs, of course you didn’t have to lay anyone off. You didn’t hire anyone. It is a scam. It’s a sham and it is heartbreaking because I was one of the most excited people for this project. I was like wow, film. My profession. I am going to see some work out of this. I am going to see a film community be built. Do you remember the fanfare that we had? With the Governor here and the council members on stage at the Rio Grande Theatre and wow, Warner Bros., watch out. They can’t even keep the landscape up at Miranda. You can’t walk down the sidewalk without

having the Mexican Fan Palms hit you in the face. You can’t have a nice walk down the street in Mesilla Street without hearing that stupid alarm, back away from the building. These people have to go.

Gerard Munoz, Member of the Public said I am a Production Executive here with 828.

I grew up in Las Cruces. I attended CMI. I have got 20 years in the industry mostly in

New Mexico and as well as in other states here. When I first graduated from CMI, iot was exciting because I was there from the very beginning of the Career Media

Institute and it gave me a great opportunity to learn film making and whatnot but what is heartbreaking is that I had a daughter here and at that point in time you really just had to move to Albuquerque to get an opportunity to work in this industry so when 828 reached out to me to come back here, just very excited to be able to create something here in Las Cruces and create an upward trajectory for the creative community here.

So even though everything has been rough going it has been a great opportunity and it still can be a great opportunity. I really hope that we can come to some agreements here and work everything out. The better part of this morning was spent interviewing a business owner that had their business renovated and fixed up by a production we brought here. So, I know that we are making progress, and I know we are making practice. 828 has always been there trying to make Las Cruces production ready and trying to build up infrastructure and I think with some teamwork between our partnership this can still be the case. I appreciate the council’s time and just want to finally just say that you know it really is the partnership that can make this opportunity turn around.

Chris Apodaca, Member of the Public said it is nice to meet Todd. I have never met him. Probably about four years ago when there was a write up in the paper I got in contact with head of business affairs. I never talked to her. It was all texting and emails. It has been four years, and I never have spoken to anybody which I was very disappointed. This is the first time I saw Todd. I am very connected from Las Cruces,

Ross Marks, I was very close with Mark Medoff. They were trying to get me as an

Adjunct Professor at New Mexico State, unfortunately the funds were not there.

Mayor, I gave the City Clerk my phone number to give to you. I plan on attending.

This has been quite interesting. I am glad I showed up. If you want, I have everything that you would possibly want to look at but I am very open for any questions. You will know that I know my business. Ask me anything that you want to know and you can think about it and I will be here at the next meeting and you can go ask me anything about the business. Mayor, I hope I hear from you, and I will be back and I hope you consider what my proposal is.

Councilor Harris asked to clarify our council options, if we vote yes, we are voting to terminate the project participation agreement with all of it?

Elizabeth Teeters said yes, we will continue to be the fiscal agents the $3 million of the state money. City Councilor John Munoz moved, seconded by City Councilor Becky Corran, to Approve Ordinance No. 3107.

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

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

NAYS: City Councilor William Mattiace

8. BOARD APPOINTMENTS 8.1 JAMES BENTLEY City Councilor Becky Corran moved, seconded by City Councilor John Munoz, to appoint James Bentley to the Veterans Advisory Board.

9. NOTICE OF PROPOSED ORDINANCE(S)

1) There will be no public discussion.

2) A Councilor may ask staff for clarification on the proposed ordinance(s). 9.1 COUNCIL BILL NO. 26-016; ORDINANCE NO. 3108: AN ORDINANCE

AMENDING CHAPTER 2, ARTICLE IV, DIVISION 3, SUBDIVISION XIV.

VETERANS ADVISORY BOARD OF THE LAS CRUCES MUNICIPAL CODE (LCMC) REGARDING MEMBERSHIP. Council agreed to bring it forward.

10. CITY COUNCIL MEMBER BOARD REPORTS AND COMMENT 10.1 COUNCILOR MCCLURE I just wanted to give a shoutout to staff for the Budget Retreat. I think it was a great opportunity to kind of merge some of our ideas. One of which is the Youth Advisory

Council that nearly every one of us spoke to be able to reach out and build opportunities for youth in our city to be able to have direct access to what they want to see or what they want to grow here in the city. I also like the idea that we are all pretty much unanimous for supporting the library and I hope that the legislators feel the same way. 10.2 COUNCILOR MATTIACE I just wanted to say thank you to Mandy. It was a great show. We had artwork at the

La Buena Vida Park in District 2. Blendell is a great artist, and we had a nice turn out and your production was done real well.

On the second item I believe we had Mr. Black asking, what are we doing? What are we doing for teen programs and what is our future? Well, we have had some meetings Cassie attended, I believe the Mayor. We had a teacher from Fairacres, we had the Parks Director where we are trying to expand and upgrade afterschool programs, and I think we are going to get that done. We are going to make after- school programs more career oriented, maybe skill building and we will have more of

that. I am just not satisfied with five programs, seven programs. I would like to see the after-school programs implemented in all the schools and to make them career oriented. So, we are doing something, Mr. Black, we are not just sitting up here, not doing anything. 10.3 COUNCILOR HARRIS I would also like to echo the thanks for the Budget Retreat. I think it was a very productive discussion. It was great to hear from staff and really be able to really discuss things in that open way and having a handful of the people from the public there and so appreciate that. I think we heard some hard truths about the budget that we have got to look at, and I think we are going to make it work. 10.4 COUNCILOR BENCOMO I also had it on my list today to thank the staff for making the Budget Retreat happen and of course to almost most of my colleagues for showing up and having those conversations. I thought it was a really fruitful and meaningful day so thank you and I also wanted to lift up two things about the youth conversations that we had quite a bit at the Budget Retreat which were really powerful. One is again that I wanted to lift up the importance of having a gun diversion program. You know it is funny that Mr. Black talked about it takes a village and I think in two ways it takes a village. It takes a village to raise strong children that become the leaders of our community. It also takes a village to fail the children in our community, and I think way too often we put especially young people into boxes and then we kind of leave them there and we fail to ask the hard questions of how they ended up there in the first place. I also believe that everybody deserves multiple chances but especially our young people and so I would love to really put a motion in plan of how we bolster the current youth diversion and development program that we already have at the city. Certainly not supplant it but bolster it with the support of other folks in our community who are doing this kind of work and really hope that we get to put some money behind a pilot project for specifically gun diversion programing that can help young people find ways out of the criminal justice system. Speaking of youth and wanting to hear from them and perhaps creating something that can help us better connect with them. I also realized on Thursday that there was this huge school walkout in Las Cruces, and some people might say young people just want to skip school but honestly what I saw was kids who are very attuned to what is happening in our community. Kids who are seeing what is happening across the country and they are seeing themselves in that. They are seeing their families reflected in that and they are experiencing heartache and anger and they express that and it was really beautiful and so for all of us who want to say we want to hear from youth and I hope we are prepared to hear from the youth and what they have to say especially when they have to say it so loudly and I was very proud of those young people. Our own high schooler said she walked ten miles total that day from Centennial High School. So, I am just really proud of those young folks, and I really do think it takes a village to both support them and to fail them. So, I was very happy to see that we had a lot of conversation about that at the Budget Retreat, and I think something more powerful than what already exist is going to flourish out of that. 10.5 COUNCILOR CORRAN I also just want to thank staff, especially our facilitators and the folks who came and shared and everyone who participated in the Budget Retreat. It was great

conversations and great context. I do feel like understanding the budget, I really appreciate Lesley Doyles’ really clear picture that she painted for us using graphs, so

I always appreciate that and the conversations we had about what ways we have forward to be thoughtful and good stewards of our money. So, thank you to everyone who helped organize and do that.

I also just want to give a quick shoutout, I wasn’t able to attend the ribbon cutting for the Fire Station 6 statue but I think Councilor Harris was there but I know that the Art

Committee when I was on the Art Committee at one point we had a conversation with the artist and I drive by that every single day so I am really excited to see it come to fruition so drive by at the corner of Roadrunner and Northrise if you want to see a very cool statue.

10.6 COUNCILOR MUNOZ I want to thank the Museum staff for allowing me to come in and talk to some of their middle school students. It was I wouldn’t say a tough crowd but a crowd you had to manage because it was me in between pizza or whatever the team bought them. So that was a little rough, but they were very inquisitive and so I enjoyed my time there. I also wanted to thank the staff and our City Manager for putting together the Budget

Retreat. Very robust, very well thought out. I love the flow and what I picked up from that session. I wanted to also thank Ms. Kyla Avila’s class, Economics Class from

New Americas School. They were there for two hours. They absolutely loved the information. So, I need to get with the City Attorney and City Clerk to see how I can disperse that information. They actually sent me readouts and information of what they liked, what they didn’t like and some suggestions. These youngsters from high school and I was so tickled by that so a lot of good feedback, some constructive feedback which is fine and we grow from that but I was terribly impressed just amazingly impressed by Ms. Avila’s class and their thoughtfulness of just spending two hours with us and so I am very hopeful in our future and our future leaders. 10.7 MAYOR ENRIQUEZ I just want to thank our Las Cruces Police Department and our Parks & Rec for our newly certified Park Rangers that were introduced on Friday afternoon. We are always looking for public safety in our community, and this is a good way to offer safety in public spaces especially in our parks. Again, thank you to the City Manager and staff for the Budget Retreat. I think it was done very well, and it had a lot of good insight from everyone and looking forward to the Work Session. Also on this week,

Wednesday, we will be going up to Santa Fe for City Day. It will be hosted by the City of Las Cruces, we will have a breakfast there. A lot of us will be attending so that we can discuss with our legislators a lot of our priorities, such as the library

11. CITY MANAGER REPORT 11.1 IKANI TAUMOEPEAU I echo everyone on the dais. We are so appreciative of you attending and to staff and especially the public. It is not an easy meeting to attend. It was a full day on the agenda, and I am so sorry for council. I kept you from lunch and break time to squeeze in all the agenda items. Thank you for your patience and understanding. I

echo your appreciation for staff, and I just want to give some kudos to Lesley and her budget team, always working behind the scenes. Thank you to Cynthia Alamillo and our CIP team for making it happen and all of her team, Strategic Planning, I appreciate Chris and Sara Gonzales for helping to plan the GRT and all the departments who are working on all the projects and have submitted the projects for budget and GRT. I appreciate Public Works being there. Our Assistant City Managers is always there for support and Christine Rivera, thank you. We have a great budget team this year, so I am glad and hopefully budget and our staff heard all the appreciations and kudos that council has given them. That means a lot to staff so thank you so much.

Parks & Rec, I have a few announcements. Pioneer Women’s Park enhancements. I am pleased to announce the next phase of master plan improvements at Pioneer

Women’s Park is officially underway. As of this month occurs crews have begun working on new walkways, the installation of pergolas and modernized irrigation systems to ensure the park remains vibrant and sustainable. We expect construction to wrap up in due time to ensure the park is ready for our residents to enjoy the summer season.

Neighborhood Dumpster Days, finally a reminder for our residents. Keep Las Cruces

Beautiful will host the monthly Neighborhood Dumpster Day this Saturday February

7th from 8 a.m. to noon. Disposal sites will be available at Apodaca Park, East Mesa

Recreation Center and Young Park. We encourage everyone to take advantage of this opportunity. Last for Parks & Rec, Triviz Trail reforestation in our ongoing effort to expand the city’s canopy. Our community forestry staff recently completed the planting of 60 new trees along the Triviz Trail between Kohls and University Avenue.

While these trees are currently in their early growth stage this is a vital investment in our city’s future.

Public Works, Municipal Court HVAC, our renovation is happening currently at

Municipal Court, and I just want to announce to our neighbors at Muni Court, they have been on the second floor for a few months, and we appreciate their staff for their patience an also our staff accommodating them. The transition will happen on March

2nd, and they will go back to their building at 135 East Griggs.

Construction improvements on Cortez Drive from Porter to Dunn are complete. New roadways, sidewalks, multi-use trails, utility storm drainage systems and street lighting installed. Caliper Construction Inc. of Las Cruces completed the contract for $6 million.

Next new street light installations began in the North Mesquite Historic District. Work on North Mesquite, Pinon Avenue and San Pedro Street, East Picacho Avenue and

North Tornillo Street. Work is expected through June 26th with a contract value of $500,000 by Highland Enterprise. Last for Public Works, South Walnut/East Lohman signal improvements is scheduled to start on February 17th and continue through

June. Improvements include traffic efficiency and safety signal upgrades, crosswalks and enhanced pedestrian ramps, intersection project is 1.5 with A Mountain

Construction of Las Cruces.

Last I wanted to end with a cool surprise. Visit Las Cruces and that was our Tourism

Director, Las Cruces very own Rochelle Hernandez, they have put on this Visitor

Guide. It is out and has been receiving quite a few compliments. Last year they received an award for Best Print Campaign, and we are hoping to win it again. So, we appreciate Rochelle. We appreciate her and her staff. Also post cards that look very similar. There are probably other postcards as well. She is saying this is free but they are funded by Lodger’s Tax so this is actually paid by tourism so we appreciate all the work that is happening

12. ADJOURNMENT 12.1 City Councilor John Munoz moved, seconded by City Councilor Michael Harris, to adjourn at 3:25 p.m.

Mayor

City Clerk