City Council Meeting January 6, 2025

MINUTES

City Council

Monday, January 6, 2025 @ 1:00 PM

City Council Chambers, City Hall

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

Becki Graham, Councilor Johana Bencomo, and Councilor Becky Corran

ABSENT: Councilor Yvonne Flores

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

APPRECIATION/PROCLAMATIONS - MAYOR ENRIQUEZ. Councilor Bencomo presented April Christensen, Zed Serna, Kasandra Gandara, Big

Brothers/Big Sisters and the Boys and Girls club with a proclamation for Youth

Mentoring Month. 1.3 JOBS OF THE WEEK. None. 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 None.

3. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 3.1

Lynn Moorer, Member of the Public said I salute Algernon D’Ammassa and the Las

Cruces Bulletin for pursuing openness in full compliance with New Mexico’s Open

Meetings Act regarding the city’s process in selecting a new City Manager in 2024. I also salute New Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office in pursuing Mr. D’Ammassa’s complaint, its thorough investigation, its clarity in explaining the city’s violations of the

Open Meetings Act and the lucidity of its directions to the city as to how to cure its violations. Through my experience as a journalist and attorney I find the city Open

Meetings Act violation remarkably dishonorable given the facts of this case. You have made it appear that the previous City Manager privately greased the skids for his protege to slide into his position, using a rolling quorum to reach a private consensus to accept only internal applications for the City Manager position, a position of significant responsibility and the only one appointed by the city council. It is particularly unacceptable in light of the 2003 lawsuit ruling against the council putting all on notice that rolling quorums are illegal. The New Mexico Open Meetings Act is not a complex law. Virtually anyone elected to a public body here reads it through can understand it. It is hard to conceive that you didn’t know that what you were doing was illegal especially in the wake of the 2003 lawsuit. In any event, ignorance of the law is no excuse. What you are attempting to do to cure your violations still doesn’t comply with option one identified by the AG. First your resolution attempts to skate over your violations. It says the City Council appears to have engaged in a presumed rolling quorum. In reality the AG definitively found on page 4 of its letter that you did indeed initiate a rolling quorum which is unlawful. The first step in curing your violation is to admit your wrongdoing. Second the AG explains that if you are not going to start the process over the cure requires summarizing all discussions and comments made outside of a public meeting about the actions you took behind closed doors. This resolution doesn’t begin to summarize all the discussions and comments by councilors. It just says the governing body wanted to consider internal candidates only because there are qualified applicants for the position in house and internal hire represents a cost saving measure and will help to prevent institutional disruption.

Regardless whether these are plausible reasons this is an inadequate summary of all discussions and comments by councilors over a whole series of private conversations and during at least two closed meetings. I recommend that the city start the entire process over for identifying candidates for the City Manager position and conduct all deliberations and votes in lawful public meetings. This is option number two identified by the AG. This will go a considerable way in demonstrating openness and regaining the public’s trust once you admit your wrongdoing and would be a first step in repairing the disrepute that you have brought to the city of Las Cruces.

Liz Rodriguez Johnson, Member of the Public said I am a resident of Dona Ana

County. President Jimmy Carter whose life we honor this week said during his presidential farewell address in 1981, “Thoughtful criticism and close scrutiny of all government officials by the press and the public are an important part of our democratic society”. I appreciate the close scrutiny the Las Cruces Bulletin paid to the process used to select with no public discussion a new City Manager. I also appreciate the thorough investigation the Attorney General’s Office undertook to ferret out the city’s violations and then to give clear direction as to how to cure those violations. I am here today to offer some thoughtful criticism. It is very troubling to see that the Las Cruces City Council has ignored the AG’s options. Despite the AG’s clear findings regarding the city’s violations the city does not acknowledge that any

violations occurred. According to the AG the City of Las Cruces clearly engaged in a rolling quorum, that is a violation. Nor is the city following the AG’s instructions as to what is necessary to cure the violations. You have not summarized all the discussions and comments made outside of a public meeting which is in violation of the act. You haven’t even told us who the other candidates for City Manager were or why you decided to select the one you did. The way the city handled the selection process makes the public wonder. If you were actually confident with the choices outstanding, you wouldn’t be working so hard to keep all the machinations and decision making under wraps. Why did you select this person and why weren’t you willing to do it in public? The fact that even today the City of Las Cruces is unwilling to acknowledge the series of violations and is unwilling to come clean about what actually happened and then fully disclose the comments and discussions amongst all parties tells us very clearly that the city is not planning to actually comply with the Open Meetings Act. If the AG were to issue a ruling that impacted any of your constituents, I am sure that the city council would not advocate that they ignore it. By the same token I am sure your constituents would want and expect the city to respect and adhere to an AG ruling.

Donna Stryker, Member of the Public said on February 11, 2024, Jonah Hernandez was murdered by responding to a trespass call by a repeat offender. Armando Silva had mental illness and a history of criminal convictions, breaking and entering, assault upon a police officer, and other charges. This weekend Marty Ruiz Garcia’s brother was beaten by Shane Jones, also mentally ill and a repeat offender, breaking and entering, assault on a police officer, and more. Catch and release, weak competency, hearing requirements, lack of support from our local and state legislators, lack of response from our councilors and other elected officials, and even state legislators who stood right here and ranted and raved about my Police Department and my Chief of Police. Does someone else have to die? Is that what has to happen in my city?

This weekend Businesses for a Safer Las Cruces saw literally, literally hundreds of posts on our Facebook page in response in the attack on Marty’s brother. She appealed to a Facebook page for help. That is very sad. That is who she reached out to in my city, is Businesses for a Safer Las Cruces Facebook page. Because of the attack on her brother in broad daylight in front of her brother’s 14-year-old grandson, bleeding on the brain, still in the hospital. Shane Jones is homeless, he is mentally ill, and he has more rights than I do, and Marty’s brother did. Evidently more rights than any other law-abiding citizen in the city. It is an outrage. It is frustrating. It is a feeling of helplessness and the feeling that our elected officials don’t care or care more for repeat offenders and looking at 2025 as councilors I am asking you to Elevate, that is your word, Elevate Las Cruces to a new level of lawfulness. Look to Realize, again your word. A city with serious, serious issues that you have the ability to look at. You have the ability, you have the power to look at, the opportunity to be problem solvers but instead we have mayhem which exist on our streets. In fact, this weekend my grandchildren were at Savers because that is where we shop because we are not rich. My grandchildren got to see a naked man smoking meth, coke, I don’t know what he was smoking because I don’t understand that stuff but that is what my grandkids got to see this weekend when we were trying to get them shoes. If you do not elevate this city and you do not make some tough decisions on whom is more important to you, the voters or the criminals? You have never seen me speak to you like this before in the year that I have been coming. I am mad. I am upset and I am absolutely

aghast. Does someone have to die before some changes are made and Las Cruces decides to take back its city from criminals and elevate us out of this situation. Realize this councilors, it won’t stop or slow down until you make decisions on this dais to help our city.

Jennifer Kreie, Member of the Public said I wanted to start off the new year by saying thank you for your support, for Chief Story and the Police Department, for the approved increase in budget over the past three years and I am basing this on articles from Las Cruces Sun News and the Bulletin. I want to thank you because that included maybe over the three years it wasn’t clear in the article, 18 new officers and new vehicles. So, when people talk about defunding the police or not supporting Chief

Story, I have yet to sit here, and I am here on a regular basis at city council and not see support for what the police are asking for including the Realtime Crime Center. All the votes aren’t unanimous, but they come out in support of what Chief Story and the

Police are wanting to do about crime in our city. There was approval and marathon six and half hour meeting for the ordinances on shopping carts and soliciting and it came out in support for what Chief Story was promoting as a way to address the issue, a possible means of addressing the issue. So, I do thank you for your support and I hope you hang in there.

LaVaughn Hart, Member of the Public said I am the Director of Spay and Neuter

Action Program, SNAP. We want to express our sincere thank you to the City of Las

Cruces for entering into a contract with us to provide free spay/neuter, rabies vaccination, and microchipping for the dogs and cats of low-income city residents. We announced the program on December 31st and have already seen a big jump in the number of city residents contacting our office. Thank you for making this available to us. The SNAP Board of Directors discussed the animal ordinance and mandatory spay/neuter at our board meeting on December 17, 2024, and the following represents our position. We support mandatory spay and neuter as a step toward reducing the number of unwanted dogs and cats. We recognize that the cost of spay/neuter surgeries can be a burden for people with pets therefore we call for ongoing support for programs that assist low-income residents with low and no cost spay/neuter services. We recognize that there is a shortage of veterinarians within

Dona Ana County and that mandatory spay/neuter may increase the burden for existing veterinarians that provide these surgeries. We recognize that increasing the number of companion dogs and cats that are spayed and neutered will not fully address the issue of over population of dogs and cats. In addition to mandatory spay/neuter for companion animals funding and programs to provide spay/neuter surgeries for community animals are needed. We support efforts to educate the community on the need to have their dogs and cats spayed or neutered and the programs and resources available to assist them in having their animals fixed. We support gradual implementation of the ordinance so that the community can be made aware, and the impacts of the ordinance can be measured and monitored, and the program can be adjusted as needed to meet the needs of the community. Thank you again for your support for the animals in our community. We sincerely appreciate it.

Susan Greenwald, Member of the Public said I am the Executive Director of Las

Cruces Downtown Partnership. I would like to thank you all for your continued support of DLCP and our events such as the Chile Drop that happened on the 31st. Our

Mayor was there with us to help us ring in the New Year. We had a great crowd. It was such a wonderful community experience. Through your support we are able to do that event for the community for free. It is one of the few places that you can take your family on New Years and have a really great celebration. Thank you for supporting our program in general, our events, Zombie Walk, Chile Drop, everything that we do to revitalize and to promote downtown, you guys have been a big part of that. So again, I would like to thank you.

Juan Garcia, Member of the Public said a bad day in trusting government. On 23

November a business on Telshor was vandalized. From the police report provided by the owner and “as I police officer approached Mr. Klima, he stated that he usually breaks windows when he is upset. He stated that officers usually give him a ticket and let him go. I read Mr. Klima his Miranda Warning, which he acknowledged after which to he admitted to breaking the front door glass as well. In addition, he admitted to breaking a window at 900 Telshor”. Now let this sink in. A vagrant destroys thousands of dollars of local businesses property because he had a bad day. That’s it, that is the entire justification for vandalizing small businesses, his mood. A family saved for years to build their dream business. They pour their savings, their hopes, their future into those walls then one morning they arrive to find that they are all shattered, windows broken, inventory destroyed, their dreams lying in pieces on the floor. When they seek help from their elected officials their voice shakes with hurt not hostility.

Who wouldn’t tremble about watching their life’s work crumble yet somehow among our officials the victim’s pain gets labeled as anger. Their desperation as aggression.

They should be glad they don’t live in Albuquerque we hear from one of our senior state senators. It is a story that echoes through our community. Tolling the voices of countless business owners who have learned the deepest wounds come not from the initial loss but from having their suffering dismissed. This criminal vandal, like hundreds wrecks havoc on our community and still walks free. We will support our council, our state legislature and we will join the Governor in addressing this and other issues. On the subject of trust for public officials. KTSM, “the New Mexico Justice

Department said the City of Las Cruces violated the state’s Open Meetings Laws during its hiring”. This situation should not reflect poorly on Mr. Ikani who in my opinion genuinely seems to prioritize the community’s wellbeing. The real concern lies with the elected officials. If they knowingly broke the law, they should be held accountable. Every single one of them. Two important questions arise. Was the process fair to the other candidates for City Manager and what other actions might the council be taking behind closed doors that could be in violation of New Mexico laws?

So, do we trust our elected officials?

Patty Hartman, Member of the Public said I am a resident of Las Cruces. I thoroughly agree with Lynn Moorer’s comments, so I won’t even go in beyond that in beyond saying the lack of admission of wrongdoing has bothered me for the whole time I have lived in Las Cruces. My concerns overall is the failure of Las Cruces to understand things deeply enough to see beyond themselves and their own interest. The failure to recognize the big picture and the relationships to others in that big picture which in this case is our community. Like others the AG spells out the spirit and intent of the

Open Meetings Law, meaning public process which is the essence of the democratic process that speaks to our country’s values. I want to use a quote that often comes to mind, “a little bit of knowledge is dangerous, drink deep or not at all”. This speaks to

the dangers of ignorance of knowing just enough to be dangerous by believing you know more than you do and that you have nothing to learn. I beg the community including city and council to have some humility about what you do not understand deeply and your need to be interested in learning which I don’t see much of here.

While I respect Chief Story’s sincerity in responding to the community’s concerns there is a lack of understanding that is truly important and missing from the overwhelming support of both council and community for his opinions. There is no data presented and in the recent initiative there is a misuse of terms like impact on safety. What you do period and in this case in arresting people is not an indication of impact on safety. That is a loose association and an assumption that is not credible. I am going to end this by congratulating my city councilor for her bravery on the issue of the City Manager. She was brand new at that time and was the only one to vote no on the confirmation of our City Manager’s hiring and especially his salary which is completely out of line with the rest of New Mexico.

Lonnie Montgomery, Member of the Public said I am a follower of Jesus Christ. I am here to speak on the Realize Las Cruces and I got the information from Jorge Aguirre and the first thing he said was the nuclear family does not exist. I wonder what an abuelito, a tio, etcetera would think about that. That is one of the reasons he says that we should not have single family neighborhoods. They promote car traffic, crime, they are boring, they are overpriced. The house I have been in for many years he says we have to have artistic. The house I worked at for 47 years as an educator, it’s beautiful.

It is single family housing and for many generations the Montgomery family has lived in single houses from the ranches of West Texas and the farms. We are not Europe, we live in wide open spaces, and they do take up some room but as we are going through here, we are also getting affordable housing and the affordable housing he says the single things are cookie cutter. Affordable housing is and you are going to have to drive. He says we meander throughout the neighborhood, and I don’t meander, I know where I am going. And I don’t think cutting down on the traffic is going to cut down on the accidents here. I think that we can cut down on the dispensaries and cut down on the speeders who hit and run, that we can cut down on that and I think we should continue. He said the friendliest people he knows is from

Las Cruces but if you move into a neighborhood, you lose that friendliness. We are not friends anymore, yeah, we are friends. I have room to speak, I have a walking trail, and I talk to people walking that all the time and we do speak to each other. It isa very friendly neighborhood. I want to say that we need to continue to find single family housing. It won’t take care of the CO2 and what wrong with the CO2, trees breathe that and it increased the vegetation in there and gives us more oxygen. So, I say build the affordable housing but don’t tell me it’s not cookie cutter.

Stewart David, Member of the Public said I am here in part to apologize for not doing my homework. As I mentioned before I am a new resident. When I attended the Work

Session about the proposed animal ordinance, and I heard all the controversy and discussion regarding the spay/neuter requirements, I thought they were all new. As I now read it the proposed ordinance changes very little when it comes to spaying and neutering. Section 7-44 of the current ordinance requires that a person reclaiming a dog or cat six months of age or older either provide proof of sterilization or a letter from a veterinarian saying that sterilization would be an unnecessary risk for the animal. If not, they are required to leave a sterilization deposit and agree to have the

animal sterilized within 30 days or purchase an intact animal permit. That is not mandatory spay/neuter, and the exceptions remain in the proposed new ordinance.

Also, it is my understanding, again I am new here that the spay and neutering provisions of the current ordinance are not being enforced which seems to me in the

Las Cruces is not in compliance with both city and state law. Now as far as the proposed ordinance also there are a lot of misconceptions about it and the biggest one besides spay/neuter being mandatory which it is not, there are exceptions. It is also somehow that animal control officers will be enforcing the spay/neuter requirements in the field and that is simply not the case. That is just a misconception.

Now at the Work Session you asked Mr. Douglas if there was a public education plan, and he hilariously responded that there was a concept of a plan. I have no doubt though that if it is passed that the new changes will quickly spread via NextDoor,

Facebook, other social media platforms, as well as local media stories. But along with that I would like to point out that it would be great if the city would take a very active role. Some avenues that I would suggest would be perhaps adding inserts to utility bills providing the new provisions, maybe send email announcements to everyone who receives an electronic utility bill or who are signed up for various city alerts. It would seem like it would be pretty easy to get the word out pretty quickly and maybe we wouldn’t need a real long period of time to implement it. Again, really what I wanted to do was apologize because I thought this was something new and it’s on the books already. It really is pretty much the same thing with just a little more clarity and actually with a little more room for people and it is great to hear that there is money available for people that need it. That is an important piece of the puzzle. I am glad to hear that is in place. So, I ask that you put those proposed ordinance on the agenda for a first read at the next meeting.

Fred Huff, Member of the Public said I would really like to thank the city council for what they did last year in passing the grocery cart ordinance, which was previously mentioned, this afternoon. Is it a cure all? No. But has it made a big difference? It sure has in my opinion. I don’t see that litter all over the city anymore and I have seen a really big change. Thank you so much for stepping up and passing that ordinance and also thank you for removing item 7.1 from the agenda today. I was real concerned about what I read in the agenda was going to meet the state law and I am not the sharpest tool in the shed and I didn’t see how it was going to do it so maybe on the

13th you can. What a great opportunity this is for you. You have had almost a year, three quarters of a year to see how Mr. Ikani does as City Manager and as a private citizen I have seen us spending like a drunken sailor and just raiding the Telshor Fund and doing all these other things and it might give you a chance to take a second thought and say is this the type of City Manager we really want? I don’t know it’s your choice. That is one of the prerogatives that you all have. Thank you for pushing it off until the 13th and hopefully you will do it in such a way that meets the AG’s desires and requirements.

Lucas Herndon, Member of the Public said I am a resident in District 2. I just wanted to report back. I had a wonderful vacation over the holidays as many of us are privileged to get to do and I went to the great foreboding terrifying city of San

Francisco, California. I have heard a lot in this room and on social media and in this town of people comparing what is happening in Las Cruces as to what is happening in

San Francisco. I grew up getting to visit family in the bay area. I have been going to

San Francisco for almost once a year or so for most of my life and I am not really sure what people are scared of. I had a really wonderful time walking around city parks, using public facilities, eating at really nice bakeries and restaurants, interacting with folks of all different cultural backgrounds and ethnic backgrounds, participating in their local economy. It was easy to get around. They have really nice sidewalks, public transportation. Were there folks that looked like they might have been unhoused?

Yup, there sure were but just like here they are just people. They are just human beings. They are just looking for a place to stay warm at night, a place to lay their head down, a little help dealing with whatever they are dealing with in life and so I just wanted to make sure everybody knew that things are fine in San Francisco, California and things are fine here. We have problems. I am not saying that we don’t have problems. I had a bicycle stolen off my front porch in the last couple of months. I didn’t lock it up. I could have locked it up. I hope that whoever took that bike needs it more than I do. I am in a position where if I really need to or want to, I can get another bike.

All of this to be said I am not sure what vision some folks have for Las Cruces but what I hear espoused is often exclusionary rather than inclusionary. The Las Cruces that I grew up in much like the San Francisco that I love going to visit and still do is the same thing. It is a place that people share space, and we have good food, and you have good conversations and people are just nice to each other and that hasn’t changed, and I am not sure what people think is so dire here that they have to come here and complain about it every week.

George Pearson, Member of the Public said I am Vice President of VeloCruces, a local bicycle and pedestrian advocacy group. On today’s consent agenda is acceptance of the Safe Streets for All Grant. I want to thank city staff for the successful grant application and council for accepting the grant and providing matching funds. The grant is to update the active transportation plan and to implement demonstration projects to improve safety for active transportation. The update to the active transportation plan is sure to focus on the safe systems approach and look at engineering solutions to safety problems. We need to leverage these Safe

Streets for All Grant with other Vision Zero ideas that have been discussed. A Vision

Zero Work Session for city council has been promised. Let’s look at all modes of transportation as the update of the active transportation plan is being worked on. For example, speed is known as a threat to traffic safety. What about reducing the default local roads speed limit from 30 miles an hour to 25 miles an hour. Speed safety cameras have been talked about. What about requiring intelligent speed assistants in government vehicles. Doesn’t it make sense to have government employees driving government vehicles not exceed the government set speed limit. I am looking forward to the next steps in implementing the Safe Streets for All Grant to help reduce the approximately 40,000 vehicle deaths nationally and help New Mexico to get out of the number one spot per capita for pedestrian fatalities. Traffic safety is everyone’s responsibility but what can I do you might ask yourself? How about simply driving no faster than the speed limit and make an effort to go no faster than 20 miles an hour when you are in your own neighborhood.

Jim Hoerst, Member of the Public said it has come to my attention that there was a

National Day of Prayer proclamation last year. It was voted on by email and did not pass. I would like to know what the proclamation said and who voted for and against it and I hope I can get this information without filing a Freedom of Information Request. I

am not surprised to hear that this commission has been cited by the DA for breaching the Open Meetings Act. Witnessing how you have handled the separation of church and state, I am not surprised. You guys don’t care about what the Constitution says so why should you care about what state law says. If you can get away with it, you do it. Take the Constitution seriously. Take separation of church and state seriously.

Don’t call public religious services private meetings. That’s dishonest.

Dolores Lucero, Member of the Public said all but one of you at this dais have been through plenty of closed meetings and the Open Meetings Act is basic politics 101.

You learn that the day you walk into office even if you are the Attorney or City

Manager. I haven’t been here in months because when 2024 began I thought 2024 would have been a more productive council. A council that not only has their own projects and concerns but a council that listens and interacts even with those citizens that don’t hold the same viewpoints. I myself see a councilor weekly at an event that we participate in who chooses to not even make eye contact much less offer a simple good morning in which I do each time. There is absolutely no concern to the citizens as a whole group of many ideas and thoughts that are maybe different from yours but an Attorney General review of how you acted to fill the Manager position shows your lack of your connection to the staff that should be guiding you. In a written response to the press City Attorney Brad Douglas did not indicate which option the city would choose. “We will take immediate action to remedy the deficiencies the Attorney

General identified. We will take this as a learning opportunity and make improvements in the future”. Learning opportunity? Are you kidding me? The Open Meetings Act needs a learning opportunity? You took office to not hide behind closed doors and make decisions. Remind yourself to listen to staff as staff can lead councilors through activities such as this. I used to have a great City Manager that said that is not the way we are going to do that, we need to rethink this. As staff can lead councilors through activities, listen to what they have to say especially wait, we need to do this in a different way to keep everyone on track with the public. Well, that didn’t happen, and I am going to guess there is probably more than one violation in this council. Well, my understanding is that it was a prior manager that led you down this violation.

Please hire attorneys that guide and protect you and the public from any misconceptions. With the dismissal of all other applicants that did not get their time to an interview or to the public to ask questions and the opportunity for everyone to be upfront will there be a lawsuit because they were mistreated and denied a fair application? What is it going to cost the citizens to go through that process? As councilors you are not be hangout buddies. You are to be independent thinkers looking out for all persons, not only those of your beliefs or those of your district but a city as a whole. Stop your texts, your emails amongst each other, quite hanging out, do your role and stop the rolling polls but I am thinking you won’t do that.

4. ACCEPTANCE OF AGENDA Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor Becki Graham, to accept the agenda as presented with removal of item 7.1 in its entirety and to listen to item 7.4 first.

RESULT: Carried

MOVER: Councilor Johana Bencomo

SECONDER: Councilor Becki Graham

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

Councilor Becki Graham, Councilor Johana Bencomo, and Councilor Becky

Corran

5. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES 5.1 REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF DECEMBER 2, 2024. 5.2 WORK SESSION OF DECEMBER 9, 2024.

6. RESOLUTION(S) AND/OR ORDINANCE(S) FOR CONSENT AGENDA 6.1 RESOLUTION NO. 25-073: A RESOLUTION AMENDING THE SERVICE

AGREEMENT WITH CENTER FOR TRANSPORTATION AND THE

ENVIRONMENT OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA, TO AMEND THE SCOPE OF

WORK AND INCREASE THE CONTRACT AMOUNT, TO A TOTAL

AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $501,247.02, PLUS APPLICABLE TAXES,

SUBJECT TO APPROVED BUDGET APPROPRIATIONS (PROCUREMENT

NO. 23-24-088). 6.2 RESOLUTION NO. 25-074: A RESOLUTION TO AWARD CONTRACTS FOR

FOOD AND SUPPLIES FOR THE SENIOR NUTRITION PROGRAM ON AN

AS-NEEDED BASIS TO BEN E. KEITH FOODS OF ALBUQUERQUE, NEW

MEXICO, DAIRY FARMERS OF AMERICA, INC. DBA PRICES

CREAMERIES, AND LABATT FOOD SERVICE, BOTH OF EL PASO,

TEXAS, IN AN ANNUAL NOT-TO-EXCEED AMOUNT OF $1,000,000 PER

VENDOR FOR A PERIOD OF FIVE (5) YEARS, SUBJECT TO APPROVED

BUDGET APPROPRIATIONS (PROCUREMENT NO. 24-25-021). 6.3 RESOLUTION NO. 25-075: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING AN INCREASE

IN THE NOT-TO-EXCEED AMOUNT OF ELECTRONIC FUEL CARD

SERVICES PURCHASES FROM WEX BANK DBA WRIGHT EXPRESS FSC (WEX) OF CAROL STREAM, ILLINOIS, VIA NEW MEXICO STATE

PURCHASING DIVISION (NMSPD) AGREEMENT NO. 20-00000-22-00058,

TO AN AMOUNT NOT-TO-EXCEED $1,000,000, SUBJECT TO APPROVED

BUDGET APPROPRIATIONS. 6.4 RESOLUTION NO. 25-076: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING AN INCREASE

IN THE ANNUAL NOT-TO-EXCEED AMOUNT OF PRICE AGREEMENT 23-

24-032 WITH GCC SUN MATERIALS OF LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO TO $1,500,000, PLUS APPLICABLE TAXES, SUBJECT TO APPROVED

BUDGET APPROPRIATIONS. 6.5 RESOLUTION NO. 25-077: 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

FISCAL YEAR (FY) 2025 BUDGET.

7. RESOLUTION(S) AND/OR ORDINANCE(S) FOR DISCUSSION

7.1 RESOLUTION NO. 25-078: A RESOLUTION TO CURE AND RATIFY THE

LAS CRUCES CITY COUNCIL’S PRIOR INVALID DECISION AND

DECISION TO SEEK CANDIDATES FOR THE VACANCY OF THE

POSITION OF CITY MANAGER FROM AN INTERNAL POOL OF

CANDIDATES, AND TO APPOINT IKANI TAUMOEPEAU TO THE OFFICE

OF CITY MANAGER, THEREBY APPROVING AND RATIFYING BOTH HIS

SELECTION AND EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT. Removed. 7.2 PUBLIC HEARING REQUIRED. RESOLUTION NO. 25-079: A

RESOLUTION APPROVING THE REQUEST FOR A TRANSFER OF

LOCATION OF DISPENSER LIQUOR LICENSE NO. DIS-001021 WITH ON-

PREMISES CONSUMPTION TO BIG TOASTED MON 4, LLC., D/B/A

CRUCES TOTAL GOLF LOCATED AT 170 W. PICACHO AVENUE, LAS

CRUCES, NM. 88005. Public hearing began at 2:12 p.m. There was no one for or against. Public hearing ended at 2:12 p.m.

Adam Ochoa, Senior Urban Planner gave the overhead presentation.

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

Approve Resolution No. 25-079.

MOVER: Councilor Becky Corran

ABSENT: Councilor Yvonne Flores 7.3 RESOLUTION NO. 25-080: A RESOLUTION AMENDING THE FY2025-2030

CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROGRAM. Cynthia Campo, CIP Analyst gave the overhead presentation.

Steve Marcum, Member of the Public said I noticed on the changes that there was a decision to slash a significant amount of money from public transit. Why was that decision made and how is that money reallocated?

Cynthia Campo said that amendment is actually a budget to actual amendment. So, it is not slashing any funds. It is just bringing the budget to what it currently is.

Steve Marcum asked Municipal Service Center Transit $1.6 million, negative change?

Cynthia Campo said it is just a budget to actuals amendment, so it is not removing budget it is just adjusting the initial budget to match what is in the current budget, not the CIP Project budget.

George Pearson, Member of the Public asked if I could hear an explanation for the

changes in Active Transportation and the Las Cruces Lateral RTP Project?

Katherine Harrison Rogers, Parks Plan & Construction Administrator said the RTP

Lateral Project we have asked for reallocation of those funds. We have yet to hear from the New Mexico Department of Transportation whether or not those are finally approved and so until we actually get that final approval, we are removing it but once we do get final approval you will see it back on the CIP.

Dolores Lucero, Member of the Public said I am waiting to hear, the Assistant City

Manager and I have spoken with seven staff people out of Public Works took a year and half to get a traffic study at Telshor and Lohman. I am waiting to see when that project is going to get on to the CIP. I told Mr. Borrego when we met that once it makes it on the CIP, I will go help you go find the $2 million that it takes to build it and trust me I can do that, but I want you to consider that it is time to complete that road. It needs to be CIP before any funding can be allocated towards it and I have been waiting now ten years. But in that case, I am asking you to look at this now and when you start to do your budgeting and please look at Lohman to Roadrunner Lane, to complete the road, finish the additional lanes and complete the landscaping that was promised 20 years ago.

Lynn Moorer, Member of the Public said just following on the theme of compliance with the Open Meetings Act. This PowerPoint presentation as you can say it looks like there is at least six pages to it. You said it was brand new. This was a part of the agenda that was posted online. This should have been there too. You see you sprung it on the public. We do not have an opportunity to ask questions that are based upon really any analysis at all because you have failed to provide this. So that goes along, should go along with all the meeting materials and that is part of your compliance with adequately noticing a meeting and providing the agenda and I would say that you have failed with respect to suddenly springing all of these CIP amendments which are obviously important upon us. So that is a noncompliance with the Open Meetings Act.

Councilor Mattiace said with that said and I agree that there might be a motion to entertain for this to be tabled to a later date specifically.

Councilor Corran said I think that it does behoove us to have a conversation as to how we can communicate on how to read the CIP and what is included in it but I do read the entire agenda packet which included each of these in detail outlined within this CIP so for us admittedly it is something that we read all the time and we are accustomed to seeing what it looks like, a change from budget to actuals in terms of what the CIP offers but I don’t disagree that we could communicate more clearly about that in the summary form but these weren’t surprises to me having read the packet so I think I would just speak to the idea of either having a future time where we talk about how to understand the CIP process and/or documents but this is something that we have done many times. So, I am not supporting a motion to table. Councilor Becky Corran moved, seconded by Councilor Becki Graham, to

Approve Resolution No. 25-080.

AYES: Mayor Eric Enriquez, Councilor Cassie McClure, Councilor Becki Graham,

Councilor Johana Bencomo, and Councilor Becky Corran

NAYS: Councilor William Mattiace

ABSENT: Councilor Yvonne Flores 7.4 COUNCIL BILL NO. 25-018; ORDINANCE NO. 3089: AN ORDINANCE

AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE AND SALE OF THE CITY OF LAS

CRUCES, NEW MEXICO TAXABLE MUNICIPAL GROSS RECEIPTS TAX (ONE-HALF PERCENT) REVENUE BONDS, SERIES 2025 IN AN

AGGREGATE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $21,000,000 FOR

THE PURPOSE OF PAYING, DISCHARGING, AND SATISFYING THE

CITY’S RISK MANAGEMENT MEASURES ENTERED INTO IN THE FULL

AND FINAL RELEASE OF ALL CLAIMS AND INDEMNITY AGREEMENT IN

CONNECTION WITH ESTATE OF TERESA GOMEZ, ET AL. V. CITY OF

LAS CRUCES, ET AL., CIV-23-00952 AND PAYING THE COSTS OF

ISSUANCE OF THE BONDS; PROVIDING FOR THE METHOD OF SALE OF

THE BONDS PURSUANT TO A NEGOTIATED PUBLIC SALE WITH AN

UNDERWRITER; PROVIDING FOR THE MATURITY DATES AND

AMOUNTS, INTEREST RATES, PRICES, REDEMPTION FEATURES AND

OTHER FINAL TERMS OF THE BONDS TO BE ESTABLISHED IN A

PRICING CERTIFICATE; DELEGATING AUTHORITY TO THE CITY

MANAGER AND CITY FINANCIAL SERVICES DIRECTOR TO EXECUTE

AND DELIVER A PRICING CERTIFICATE AND BOND PURCHASE

AGREEMENT FOR THE SALE OF THE SERIES 2025 BONDS; AND

PROVIDING FOR OTHER DETAILS CONCERNING THE BONDS. Erika Jaquez, Treasurer gave the overhead presentation.

Councilor Bencomo said first of all to the family of Teresa Gomez I want to offer my sincerest condolences and genuine apology. I will never forget her name and I will continue to say her name. According to the Mapping Police, a data collection site about the lives lost in police violence. New Mexico has one of the highest rates of police killings in the country relative to our population and in recent years a few of those killings have occurred in Las Cruces. At the July town hall with the Governor there were some statements made that felt particularly concerning, like police shootings are statistically uncommon and that the goal is not to eliminate rather reduce police killings. This is not the spirit in which we should be having these conversations. Perhaps the spirit should be how we talk about crime in general. We talk about the devastation that crime is having on community through a policy lens by trying to address things like bail reform, criminal competency, juvenile wellness and even shopping carts. We should cultivate that same spirit when we talk about police violence because not doing so is costing us more than dollars. It is costing us lives in more than one way. The ripples of this case are wide. The life of Teresa Gomez tragically ended, her children and loved ones are forever impacted, ex-officer

Hernandez made a choice that will impact his life and the life of his children and loved ones also forever. The ripples are wide. I will continue to be at the table with possible solutions that work and aren’t just a political fodder. I don’t believe a Citizen Oversight will serve to yield better outcomes that we desire just like I don’t believe a costly training facility will either. What I know will work are at least these two strategies,

reducing police interactions especially with vulnerable populations while investing in more infrastructure to support those vulnerable populations and better support our police officers experiencing PTSD, depression, burnout, and/or compassion fatigue and it is not until we cultivate this spirit and fight off any narrative that immediately says I am anti-police for speaking about the realities of police violence that will continue to get us to a more just way of policing. If a $20 million settlement doesn’t shake us out of this place, I am not sure what will. I will keep this conversation alive with our City Manager, our Chief, advocates and directly impacted folks, I hope you all join me in good faith.

Lucas Herndon, Member of the Public said I am a resident of District 2. I spoke a few weeks ago about police violence in this city and in this state and I think that there is such a conflict here between the tragedy and loss of life as a result of state sanctioned violence and now this extremely policy wonk response of how we collectively as a city, all of us who are citizens, represented by you all there are having to face those consequences. The burden of further taxing citizens and issuing these bonds is so ironic given the general sets of people who come here and support the cops and say a lot of negative things online about the city which is to say the “small business community” who complained about the GRT all the time. I am just blown away at the continued ask on behalf of some of the public, a very loud vocal minority for more funding for the police when here we are having to raise GRT taxes and issue bonds to pay for a fatal mistake by the police. I just want people to think about that.

Patty Hartman, Member of the Public said this has been my main concern for the whole eight years that I have lived here and first brought it to the city council. I have been bringing this to city council since 2017, I think. This is a huge concern and even when I read the details of calling it Project 2025, which I am not sure I understand. Is this borrowing money to pay off the settlement for a Las Cruces police officer who killed this woman, and it seems obvious to me that the solution is accountability which none of you, no one in the community seems to find important. I think accountability measures that are meaningful and that are enforced and that no one is above the law would totally satisfy me, but I have never seen justice here. I have seen people speak about Citizen Oversight who have nothing to do with the issue who have never been affected by it. While I have not been able to speak about it. I have data on our local situation here that no one wants to look at. I think it is important like I said before that we need to get educated about this and really pinpoint the problems and hold people accountable. The democratic process doesn’t give people unlimited power, and I am just appalled at like we are borrowing money rather than holding people accountable so that we can improve. I don’t feel safe in this city with police. I have had mental health issues and have had them used wrongly against me. So, consider the people who are impacted.

Andrew Bencomo, Member of the Public said first let me say that being a police officer is a tough job. I would not want to do that job. Having worked in public safety somewhat myself I hear what Chief Story is saying and I like what he is saying whether that carries forward and changes things I hope it does but one of the things that I would like to say is that you can have a training facility, you can have training programs, you can do all kinds of things like that but unless you change the culture of

an organization it doesn’t matter. You can train all day long and if the culture stays the same it makes no difference at all. So, I hope the culture changes. Two things that can help with that is a City Manager that is engaged with the Police Chief to make sure that they are being held accountable. My personal opinion, I don’t think the last

Police Chief was held accountable to make things change. They continued as they were. I believe Chief Story is trying to make changes and what he is saying but we will have to see what happens, but I think that cultural shift is really the big piece that really needs to happen with that. Nothing will change if you don’t change the culture of an organization. Again, super tough job, I would never want to do it. You have to deal with somebody angry at you all the time. Somebody happy to see you all the time but culture is the big deal.

Dolores Lucero, Member of the Public said a life is valuable to all of us, right? We never want to lose a loved one in any circumstance but the business side of this all of you sat in some closed meeting to discuss the negotiations of this settlement and in that closed meeting I am going to guess because I have been there and done that this started out a lot higher and I am going to tell you again you probably hired outside attorneys to handle this settlement and I think you are hiring the wrong people. My life, your life, they are all valuable. Can I put a price on it? Absolutely not but I am going to tell you that whatever you are negotiating in that closed room is not working in your favor. We sat in negotiations. We never went to the highest dollar and if you did in this condition, you have put the citizens paying for it on top of the tax this interest payment that comes with borrowing $21 million. I am embarrassed for you. Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to

Approve Ordinance No. 3089.

MOVER: Councilor Becki Graham

SECONDER: Councilor Becky Corran

8. BOARD APPOINTMENTS 8.1 JOE DEARING Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to appoint Joe Dearing to the Capital Improvement Advisory Committee.

9. NOTICE OF PROPOSED ORDINANCE(S)

1) There will be no public discussion.

2) A Councilor may ask staff for clarification on the proposed ordinance(s).

9.1 None.

10. CITY COUNCIL MEMBER BOARD REPORTS AND COMMENT 10.1 COUNCILOR MCCLURE None. 10.2 COUNCILOR MATTIACE I think I just want to share with the City Clerk that I think I kept asking when I took this job again in January. Maybe I am not the fastest reader in town, but I was asking for the presentations and even earlier. It is very important that I get those so that I have information to be able to vote. I would appreciate that so if you could continue that in the future.

I don’t know if everyone got a copy of this ACCESS, but I just want to comment on the

Quality of Life and Ms. Brey what this document, booklet its fantastic. There are so many things youth can do, adults in the city of Las Cruces. You probably worked a lot of hours, your staff in putting this together, putting all the programs together so I would like to see if you can get some great attendance so that is the reason why I bring it up. Excellent job, well done, thank you. 10.3 COUNCILOR GRAHAM I am just going to take a personal moment again, not to remind people of our humanity but I want to extend my really sincere gratitude to everyone on the city staff, folks from the public for condolences for the death of my dad last month. It is really hard to know what to say in moments like that and I understand that as someone who is often found myself without words but no matter what you say or how awkward it may feel it is very appreciated, and I also have been thinking a lot about connections in the community in the time since my dad passed. A fully cooked ham showed up on my parents door step with a card from a neighbor who we didn’t even know he was friends with because he had a complex web of his own world and these are little bright points that I am getting to find out now unfortunately that he is gone but I suppose that again I am all up in my feelings that these connections are vital. I remain committed to being one of those connections in our community and just again my sincere thanks to everyone up here because you have all been tremendously helpful.

10.4 COUNCILOR CORRAN

None. 10.5 COUNCILOR BENCOMO None. 10.6 MAYOR ENRIQUEZ I just want to say to the Downtown Partnership and the City of Las Cruces, thank you for the Chile Drop. It was a great event. There was a lot of community that came together. There was over 5,000 people. It was a great event. Thank you to police and everyone else that partook in that.

I just want to say that we will continue to move forward on January 13th. We will have the meeting to ratify the issues that have been addressed. I will tell you personally that I own it, and I will move forward with it for the greater good of this community.

11. CITY MANAGER REPORT 11.1 JC BORREGO, ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER Parks & Rec Department, Keep Las Cruces Beautiful Program will host a neighborhood dumpster day from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, January 11th. The open container locations are at the East Mesa Recreation Center at 5589 Porter

Drive, Young Park at 850 South Walnut Street, and the intersection of Motel

Boulevard and Westway Avenue, 674 North Motel Boulevard.

I want to give a shoutout to our Utilities Department on a job well done over the weekend. There were a couple of waterline breaks that were remedied quickly. So, thanks to Adrienne and her team for taking care of those quickly.

Public Works, we have got some road improvements happening beginning here in

January. The first one is part of the East Mesa roads and drainage, the Cortez Drive improvements, that will begin on January 6th and go till November 7, 2025. The

Pavement Replacement Program is kicking off January 6th as well. There are ten streets that will be impacted and then we have the Madrid Avenue extension between

Evelyn Street to Triviz Drive, that will begin on January 21, 2025.

The Las Cruces Police Department is currently accepting applications for their upcoming Citizens Academy that begins February 18th. Applications can be found online and are due by January 17th. More information can be found on LCPD

Facebook page.

From our Quality of Life Team, this years mitten trees was very successful with the community generously donating items to share with local organizations. This year the community donated 10 tote bag size bags of adult knit wear including gloves, hats, scarves. Four additional bags of adult coats and one medium bag of scarves and then also there was four bag size kids outwear as well.

January 1, 2025, kicks off the 90thAnniversay of Thomas Branigan Memorial Library.

We are celebrating all year with a variety of events to commemorate this anniversary.

We are distributing special library cards all year long.

As far as museums are concerned the Moonlight at Museums event held on

December 20th drew almost 200 visitors. It was a great event and finally we do have a bit of sad news. One of our Senior Programs cooks passed away on December

26th. So, we just want to give our sincere condolences to Jennifer Regalado and her family and her young children.

12. ADJOURNMENT

12.1 Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor Becki Graham, to adjourn at 2:35 p.m.

Mayor

City Clerk