[Music]
you're
on good afternoon uh welcome to city
council today is February 5th
2024 and um thank you for joining us for
our city council meeting it's
approximately
[Music]
one 101 101 if uh y all please join me
uh first of all for a moment uh like to
take a moment for our our men and women
that serve our military and for also all
those that men and women that serve our
community to give a
moment
now if you join me for the
pledge to the flag of the United States
of America and to the Republic for which
it stands one nation under God
indivisible with liberty and justice for
all okay the first thing on our agenda
is presentations of certific get and
proclamations and we have none
today uh pets of the week Amy De
Felix hello everyone my name is Amy D
Felix with the Animal Services Center of
the missia valley and we go ahead and
start my pet of the week presentation
starting off with our cat of the
week our cat of the week this week her
name is Barbie her number is
very playful and curious girl who really
just likes to be out in the world
checking out all the sights and sounds I
do enjoy playing with a good toy
occasionally but my heart is sit on
adventure I'd like a home that would be
dedicated to training me and making sure
I'm a well behaved well-mannered girl
I'd also love them for taking me out on
walks or jogs around
town and then some events we have going
on we'll have an adoption event at pitco
this Saturday February 10th we will be
there from 11:00 a.m to 2 p.m. and in
case you need that address it is 3050
East lman Avenue
um and then I'd also like to announce
another event that we have going on near
the end of February which is going to be
our drive-thru lowcost vaccination
clinic um we it'll be held at the
Fielder dreams parking lot that'll be
Sunday February 25th and we'll have um
will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 2 p.m.
and the first 200 microchips are
graciously sponsored by the mun
charitable foundation and then all of
the demper haros that's the puppy dog
vaccine and then the feline distemper
vaccines are all sponsored by Petco love
and the other like rbies K vaccines and
any microchips after 200 are only $10 so
it's definitely a steal we encourage
everyone to come by um we hope to see
you all there and of course links to
find us all over the Internet our
website ASC mv.org social media we have
Facebook Instagram Tik Tok YouTube and
then our Tales from the POS side the
podcast is available on Spotify and
apple podcasts I'm finishing up editing
our most recent episode so that'll be
airing hopefully within today or two um
but yeah that is everything I have thank
you okay thank you
Amy next we have the conflict of
interest does any member of the city
council city manager or any member of
the city staff have any known conflict
of interest with any item on the agenda
none
none none
none
all right thank
you next is public
participation um those individuals
wishing to come up to the podium please
uh state your name uh we'll give you up
to three minutes to speak uh I'll start
over here on my left hand side anybody
in the front row that wants to to
speak I've see none on the second
bro
ma'am it's up here in front
yes good afternoon my name is Donell
Bell and I'm a member of the pickleball
Community here in massacusetts because
of its growing popularity my colleagues
and I are here to request of our elected
officials more access to courts our
reasons are numerous in 2023 pickle ball
was named for the third year in a row
the fastest growing sport in America by
Sports and Fitness industry
Association plus cruus is no exception
we appreciate the city and voters
approval of the new course at East Mesa
still these courts are not yet available
additionally we do not want to replace
tennis we just want to share the courts
including young and Lions Park many may
think pickle ball is a game me for
retirees just recently however during a
school break the courts were filled with
teenagers enjoying a game many playing
with and demolishing their parents the
courts are often used by medical
students from the University or other
NMSU or high school students not only
can pickle ball contribute to our
community financially as it drives
tourism relocation decisions and more it
benefits physical and mental health we
recognize our requests will take some
consideration but we welcome the
opportunity to meet with Council and to
so that we can I lost my place to form a
feasibility study tennis and pickleball
are great Sports and we can coexist we
also ask you to consider supply and
demand thank you for your
time well good afternoon my name is CCE
Hunter and I'm the mother of Aon gford
who served with the US Army in the first
invasion in Iraq he went on to serve
three more deployments Aaron came back
with PTSD and it finally became too much
for him to bear and he committed suicide
January the 8th
2018 I established a
5013c the Aaron gford pickleball benefit
shortly after to raise awareness in
proceeds for
PTSD Aaron found pickle ball in 2016 and
he became passionate about it and met
many friends and formed a great
Community I truly believe that it
extended his life and gave him an outlet
for
PTSD we have held an annual pickleball
tournament here in Los crues in honor of
Aaron and other veterans who suffer from
PTSD we not only support our local
missia Valley Community of Hope veterans
program but we also support Mission 22
it's a national organization that brings
awareness that approximately 22 veterans
commit suicide every day we have donated
approximately
$60,000 to date to these organizations
through this tournament we would like to
continue to support our local veterans
in Mission 22 with the annual tournament
but we just do not have enough pickle
ball courts to accommodate this growing
Sport and tournament this year we expect
over 300 players to come across the
country I submitted an application to
the parks and wreck for the use of six
Tennis Courts at Lions Park and was
approved but I was asked to contact the
tennis Association to get their approval
as well and I was denied I was it was
stated that um since we already have
eight opaka courts and eight more at
East
Mesa coming up we shouldn't expect the
tennis players to be
misplaced we have approximately 700
pickle ball players in Las crues and
it's growing every
week there is hardly a time you can ever
go to abadaka and not see the courts
full of young families teenagers old
people um well elderly people and we
just would ask for the support to bring
more pickleball courts to our community
thank you so much
good
afternoon my name is Diane gavver I'm
here today to speak on behalf of the
Parkinson's Community I am joined by
Sarah stle and John
Roberts and they are co-leaders of the
Parkinson support group of southern New
Mexico and other members of our local
group want to
stand 10 years ago I learned learned
that I had Parkinson's a progressive
neurological disease for which there is
no cure the Michael J fox Foundation has
funded more than1 billion dollar towards
research programs and progress has been
made but there still is no cure while
medications help with symptoms there is
nothing that can slow the progression of
this disease except exercise I
discovered pickle ball in 2019 and
despite physical setbacks I have played
regularly ever since I am grateful there
is a sport that I can participate in
despite my
disabilities but the best benefit for me
and those like me is knowing I am
proactively doing the best thing that I
can do to slow the progression of the
Stabila
disease this is why with the help of
coach alevy and many others who donate
their time and talents I started pickle
ball for Parkinson's over the past year
those with Parkinson have played every
Thursday afternoon and now we are into
our second year the benefits of this
game for improving our symptoms are
endless and I believe that I speak for
the rest of our group when I say for the
few hours that we play pickle ball I
forget that I have
Parkinson's this is why pickle ball is
so important to me and I will continue
to play until I'm no longer able I will
also continue to encourage others with
or without the disease to join me
it is my hope that someday we will have
enough courts to serve the needs of our
our community thank you so much for
giving me the opportunity to speak
today thank
[Applause]
you continuing on the second
row
good afternoon mayor city council city
manager staff and public my name is Yoli
Diaz I will begin with my asks there are
four one I ask that you put the issues
of accessing healthc Care at Memorial
Medical Center on your next agenda since
there is now a new mayor and a new mayor
proem two I am again requesting a
meeting with each council member three
since I have continued to receive calls
from residents who need to access cancer
treatment a potentially fatal disease
I'm asking each of you again to please
consider the healthcare fund proposal I
provided you on October 2nd 2023 for
create a joint Powers agreement with
doniana County similar to the Animal
Service Center to provide Health and
Human Services Andor oversight in
healthcare I believe that Memorial
Medical Center SE Suite of lifeo Apollo
Global Management denying and delaying
cancer treatment of chemotherapy and
radiation and other needed healthc care
services to Residents is atrocious
barbaric and illegal according to the
lease between city of Los cruus and
doniana County and them and according to
nmsa 1978 chter 27 Article 5 as a
private Equity Firm operation they are a
profit-driven price gouging business
with aggressive Collective collection
practices predatory billing and very
high charged cost ratios known as
markups why do I say this let me explain
the severely disabled resident to the
doniana County healthcare assistance
program the County's Indigent program I
talked to you in the October 2nd 2023
council meeting recently received a bill
for $
5,966 from a collection agency I called
Memorial Medical Center I was told that
the bill was not from the hospital
Services it was from the Physicians that
read the diagnostic text of her breast
biopsy done at Memorial Medical Center
on August 9th 2023 so I then asked what
was Memorial Medical Center portion of
the services the answer was
9,696 34 which was covered by 100%
discount this means that the biopsy cost
of services for this uninsured Indigent
resident in the doniana County
healthcare assistance program was almost
$116,000 doesn't everyone agree that
almost $116,000 is a lot of money and
unaffordable to most I had requested the
CPT codes of services I compared them to
UNM it was nowhere near
$16,000 why I have helped residents at
Memorial Medical Center was asking for
payments and flat rate service amounts
upfront prior to their healthcare
service or there would be no service
amounts of over $7,000
632300 I have helped residents where
huge amounts were paid out by insurance
I helped a resident that was not
satisfied at Memorial Medical Cancer
Center she left them we compared her e
ob's explanation of benefits in the
three months she was at MMC MMC
collected over
$10,000 in five months with her new
oncologist they collected over $55,000
at the time we looked it up MMC
collected over
$440,000 from the insurance of the
resident that caused me to look into
these issues in the first place
why thank you so
um Claudia mudo is here but she needs a
translator and the city wasn't able to
find one so I'm going to have that Duty
unless you all prefer someone else so
she'll need 3 minutes and then as the
best job I can do I'll need it three
minutes to say what she said
okay yeah that that's fine go ahead
okay
okayi
in Las Cruses public
school good afternoon my name is Claudia
mudo I'm here to express my sad
experience with Memorial Medical Center
my son and I live in Las crusa since
1997 almost 27 years my son has autism
and he went to the Los crusis public
schools from the second grade to the 12
grade Insurance Pool
and with my work I've been able to
sustain my son and myself with our
Necessities for many years my son and I
have insurance coverage with New Mexico
medical Insurance
Pool Memorial Med Center in 2017 they
found a cancer stomach cancer and thanks
to the doctor that was able to give me
quick attention I'm able to be in in
front of you today to tell you about the
Absurd and inhumane experience with
Memorial Medical Center
in in May 2023 I require ired a biopsy
for my uh breast since I had an uh
suspicious mamogram and
sonogram
um she was very concerned because of her
2017th history of her cancer and the ca
the breast cancer that runs in her
family Memorial medal Center my biopsy
was scared schedu very early in the
morning so that uh her surgeon would be
able to do it at Memorial Medical
Center within hours before my procedure
my biopsy procedure I received a call
from a lady in the finance department
telling me that I needed to pay
$6,000 before my
procedure this was something that was
absurd and impossible for me and I'm
sure for many
others
she she said Claudia said to the lady at
Memorial that
$6,000 within hours before her uh biopsy
it it was impossible for her to bring so
the finance person started offering
different uh payment
plans
for the finance lady then offered me
payments of
$3,000 before her procedure and within
another week to pay the other 3,000 then
she said offered her because she
couldn't do it then she offered her $600
of week and then finally she offered her
350 every
week
I felt anguish and frustrated because
Memorial Medical
Center
was bargaining or haggling with my
life then all she could do was
cry and then she asked if there was a
program that would be able to help her
in one way or
another the finance person had answered
that there was no uh program and um to
be able to help
her and she needed to know because of
her
cancer did he
visit she said I have a son uh with
special needs and I can't leave him
alone if she said that she didn't say
that she skipped it then she asked her
the finance person asked her well what
can you pay and then she started
offering her $200 and then Claudia still
say I couldn't do it and then the
finance person person said that she's
sorry but she couldn't take not even
$200 so she was she was
denied the
miss when she saw that I was very
desperate that's when she gave me a
phone number number and she had to
cancel her
[Music]
procedure Yoli Yol we we've exceeded the
time we we understand it's important we
are a council that's very caring and
compassionate but we also have a meeting
that we have to address and so thank you
for coming and uh you know we we're
sorry for what has taking place we we
recognize it we understand it and and
we'll continue to see what we can do
about it thank you thank
you okay it's your turn you get three
minutes hello my name is Barbara Corral
I have lived here since I was six years
old that's about 50 something years we
won't count
um did I tell you I'm a nurse I've been
a nurse for almost 30 years and I ended
up getting sick I ended up having
vaginal cancer I had a hysterctomy
nobody ever told me that you need to
have a papsmear after that years down
the road I got sick with cancer I had
vaginal
cancer um so I'm urging everybody make
sure you take care of yourselves um I
did have insurance through the
marketplace and I was doing home health
nursing I was doing really well and then
I got diagnosed vaginal cancer is a very
rare form that only affects about 4% of
the population I wasn't in concerned
about anything I had insurance right I
should be good to go my doctor called
over to Memorial spoke to the radiation
oncologist oh we'll get her in here this
week everything was set M well then the
radiation oncologist called the medical
oncologist back and said we don't take
that
insurance we can't do anything about it
they were unable to make any kind of
memorandum agreement to provide care in
spite of the insurance being out of
network which sometimes they can do so
there I was 61 a nurse with cancer
needing radiation and chemo and I was
unable to get treatment in my own
Hometown I've been here a long time so
it was important to me to stay here I
was outraged and devastated at the same
time my hospital that I had worked for
early in my career would not treat me
the new plan was for me to go to
Albuquerque for treatment I was going to
have chemotherapy and radiation so I had
to quit my job my husband quit his job
we went to Albuquerque so we had to find
somewhere to stay we had to have food we
had to have gas we had to pay all our
bills here in Cru we had to get a dog
sitter so we went through what money we
did have really
quickly um we were able to finally get
approved for Medicaid and that was the
only bright thing through this whole
thing was that Medicaid helped us and
I'm so grateful um we needed more help
than that though with just the medical
so Yoli actually helped me pay some of
my bills which was very much appreciated
um we finally got done and we came back
and I'm a Survivor now and I'm I'm very
thankful for that but I have to tell you
I feel really betrayed by Memorial
Medical Center I mean how could they do
that to me I I've taken care of this
community for almost 30 years so I just
feel like we were raised to lend a
helping hand I want to know what
happened to that we need to try and fix
this thank
you thank you
[Applause]
I now moving to the third row anybody on
the third
row uh fourth
brow good afternoon Mr Mayor I hope you
remember me my name is Marissa Anderson
Jeff Anderson from Sunny Acres yes ma'am
yes good to see you uh we here with the
community with the pickle ball and we
are just asking to see if you can help
us with this problem we do have our
tournament for Aaron gfer and we my
friend Cece and Ken Hunter Tred to go
and see we can get Lions Club and it was
not possible so hopefully I remember you
Tommy that you're going to help us so
the thing is to me you know we are all
of us we are
taxpayers I'm sure San a lot of money we
see this courts with lights in the night
nobody's playing so we still paying for
that right so why you don't help us to
go and do this tournament and help all
these people with with the veterans and
all this we rescue s is good rescue one
time last year one of those veterans and
I am so proud that I help him he's in
Florida right now and he's doing very
well so now why is we paying for all
these lights and all these
manance why we cannot help these people
with the money that is pending with
nothing in there so we do have
Parkinson's we have cancer with people
but we have lights on when nobody
playing save that money to help these
people thank you Mr
Mayor okay thank
[Applause]
you hello folks I am Jeff Anderson and
that was my wife and she does that to me
too sir so uh anyhow I'm the president
of the organ Mountain Pall club and and
I want to tell you we've been working
with the city for years now and even
before we had the club folks were
working with the city we miss Delgado
and Steven who's in parti and Rex right
now and we appreciate the effort make
they're making but it's going to take
more than parts and rs we got to get the
other parts of our city government in
involved in this too like the courts up
at East Mesa why did we coat those
courts with that expensive wonderful
nice cushion pickle ball coating over a
year ago and just let it sit out there
in the Sun and burn up when we could be
playing on it but we're still not
playing on those courts and I think
that's a DPW thing I'm not sure or
Contracting but it seems like a waste uh
talking about our tournaments we have a
tournament also and our tournaments
we're bringing in so many players we
require a lot of pickleball courts we
only have eight pickleball courts
outdoor pickleball courts in town now we
also have the courts over at Mite that
we could play in indoors but I mean
they're book and packed all the time too
so I just want to say I appreciate what
you're doing but this is nothing new
we've been talking about this for years
pickle ball is still the fastest growing
sport we have over 800 people on our
mailing list in the pickle ball club we
have over 400 paying members uh and we
would appreciate uh you know maybe
helping us to work with the tennis folks
a little bit more in the m in the near
future so we could play maybe play some
get some more pickleball courts in town
because who knows when we're going to
get this East Mason thing and eight
courts is not going to be enough when
you open those eight courts they're
going to be packed just like ala do is
so anyhow I appreciate your time and uh
and your help and anything you can do to
help our pickle Community thank you
thank
[Applause]
you anyone on the fifth
row
good
afternoon my name is Valerie
Fernandez I arrived in Las Cruses After
experiencing the full Katrina treatment
from New
Orleans I love Los Cruses I run out
every morning and kiss the sidewalk I'm
so thankful to be here with your
beautiful weather and I have started
participating um in the past two to
three years at the Aquatic
Center now you have built this enormous
million dooll facility the natic center
whatever next door but you can't
maintain the older
facility the these people need
exercise but they can't use the channel
at the Aquatic Center hey half this
facility is down and has been down for
months and then if you go into the
showering or bathroom
facilities fully a third of the plumbing
fixtures need
repair what the heck is you can build a
million dooll nautic Center but you
can't maintain what you already have you
ought to be ashamed just this I don't
know whether it's parks and wrecks these
people want pickable but they could use
the pools certainly and it's a mess and
it's filthy too I don't know what is
going on over there but somebody ought
to address the older facility and take
care of what is in need of repair I mean
faucets really I could get a plumber to
go do it hell half of it I could do you
ought to be ashamed that's all I have to
[Applause]
say
anyone else on the fifth row if not the
sixth
row greetings mayor Enriquez and Council
my name is Julia Ru my comments are
based on the krwg interview newsmakers
1601 guaranteed basic
income most welfare programs come with
different types of conditions for
recipients however my understanding is
that Ubi is distinctive in that
recipients have no conditions as to how
how they are to spend the American
Rescue plan arpa arpa monies received
which which is not their own money as
stated in the krwg interview by
counselor Beno she states this is a
guaranteed monthly income to lwi income
families with no strings attached income
is defined as money received in exchange
for labor or products what labor or
products will be exchanged the Kellog
Foundation was mentioned in that it will
do the research component as well as the
nmsc Crimson research program what are
the data points anecdotal information
does not qualify the program as
successful and it is not scientific
evidence which can be verified
objectively in addition Las Cruses is
not a laboratory as far as I know the
people people of the community of Las
Cruses have not signed up to
be any part of an experiment when LCPD
asked for 18 officers and 18 new
vehicles the purpose was not spe the
purpose was specifically for Public
Safety Universal basing income poses
more questions than solutions to Poverty
how will the recipients be better
prepared to be successful and productive
citizens at the end of the program how
many one-time pilot programs will be
looked at before the right one is found
the question stands what happens at the
end of the program and how will the
recipients be better prepared to be
successful and productive citizens at
the end of the program will they have
learned a skill or received training in
a skill will they be employable will
Community businesses be involved with
the experts having over a hundred years
of experience together I'm genuinely
interested in understanding how they
have decided that Ubi is the best
interest of the recipients and the
community where's the accountability and
the self-efficacy thank you for your
time and
attention thank
[Applause]
you mayor council name is Juan Garcia
and I quote HHS defines public level on
household sitze and adjusts every year
based on inflation and other factors and
I quote rapidly Rising prices and high
levels of inflation aren't good for the
economy either as they often outpace
wages and make products and services
more expensive for
consumers from the fundamental policy of
redistribution the recent governments
cannot simply take money from some
people according to how able they are
and give it to others to how based on
how needy they are is because people who
were aware of that plan would not be
foolish enough to accurately reveal
their abilities and needs Actual taxes
and transfer payments distort behavior
in ways that undermine economic progress
and commonly produce results such as
trapping people in poverty that are the
opposite of their stated intent so
inless Cruis we have taxpayer funded
wealth redistribution or Universal basic
income
krwg interview guaranteed basic income
provides unconditional and unrestricted
payments to help individuals with their
basic needs there's nothing exchanged
that's
$9,000 of taxpayer funds so taxpayer
funds to recipients to do as they please
we need accountability in the same
interview New Mexico Cafe organizer and
I quote anecdotal evidence showed that
the program was a success when you ask
the definition of anecdotal it's not
necessarily true or reliable because
based on personal accounts rather than
facts or research we invested $1.7
million on an experiment the Yas back
there has been pleading for funds for
cancer treatment and other major health
issues to save lives with documented
illnesses how much has she received from
the
city
and what happens when Ubi funds run out
Senator Souls has the answer he has
proposed SB 164 which is ready to go and
evaluate the impacts of Ubi on quote
pregnant people I need to understand
what that means but okay that's in the
bill and that's $1,500 a month per
pregnant person until the 80 million is
expended $80 million you imagine what
you only could do with a tenth of that
and the social Financial addiction
continues thank
you thank
[Applause]
you anyone else on the sixth
row
Lorena is the second person that needed
the translator so if we can repeat
this yeah but if we could if we could
make it brief you'll keep it under the
three minutes I'm going to do my best in
saying what she's saying no
thanks good afternoon my name is Lorena
granados she's going to talk about her
uh diagnosis of cancer and her um
situation at an fqc uh Ben Archer
and both of
them she means Ben Archer because Clin
theia is the actual name of the other
clinic so Ben
Archer since 1995 she's been a patient
at Ben
Archer
it's been two years that she was very
very sick things happening in her
body that who was attending to her the
provider was not doing anything else for
her because she did not have health
insurance y
that she had tried in the past since
1998 I think she said trying to get
health insurance but she couldn't get it
because she didn't have a soci security
[Music]
number that she kept trying to get of
course diagnostic testing whatever test
to find out what was wrong with her but
they didn't help her uh because she
didn't have the health
[Music]
insurance that they diagnosed her a year
and a half ago with
cancer stage
two
so she's saying that I helped her get
her health insurance which was with the
New Mexico medical insurance pool
because people who don't have a Social
Security number that is the only
insurance that they can get and so I
helped her back
then she says thank you that I helped
her and that she does not want to see
other women go through what she went
through and how she wasn't being
listened
to so she's giving me Kudos again and
I'll be real quick uh she saying that
that if it wasn't for me and helping her
with the insurance she wouldn't have
been here to be able to tell you what
happened to her
thank you thank you thank you
[Applause]
gracias uh row
seven anyone on row
seven row
eight
City councilors and mayor I'm Sarah
Smith from the New Mexico freedoms
Alliance I am concerned about your
continued focus on housing first as a
solution to homelessness in Los cruus
including your recent $7 million request
from the legislature we have already
seen with the desert hope homeless
housing project on the corner of posos
and Foster that housing first can harm
our overall Community many people from
the neighborhood near desert hope have
had their homes broken into have had
their cars stolen there are drug needles
left around families are scared to let
their children play outside or walk to
school women are reported being sexually
harassed in their front yards according
to the San Antonio Haven for Hope which
serves 7,000 homeless people yearly
housing first only works for 15% of
people 85% of people need different
kinds of stability before they move into
housing here in Los crusis residents at
Desert hope have reported that there is
chaos and fighting there all day and
night these people are trying to turn
their lives around trying to break free
from addiction and they have people
coming back over and over again offering
them drugs several drug dealers have
even been housed there we can look
around and see what that what is being
done in Los crusis is not working the
city is looking at the number of people
being housed as the measure of success
but this is not enough it is not
compassionate to enable people to
continue to destroy their lives and
their health with drugs we need to look
at whether the people we are supposedly
helping are actually reforming their
lives becoming free of their drug
addiction and moving towards
independence will you invest in other
approaches instead of putting all of our
resources towards housing first one
example is the work first model being
used at Boulder Bridge House in Colorado
I want to tell you some more details
about this
program it has the following three
pillars number one they provide job
Readiness training and paid work number
two they utilize a drug and alcohol-free
dormatory style shelter number three
they have ongoing supportive services
including money money management
training and long-term after
care according to Dustin from this
program who was formerly homeless and
addicted to drugs ready to work quote
teaches you how to be responsible and
accountable for your behavior the work
first part build self-efficacy through
actually doing something for yourself
that's what works in that program people
start by working in an outdoor crew
similar to our mono imano program here
but that is just a stepping stone
towards learning the skills need needed
to work at a community table kitchen the
people also pay rent up to onethird of
their income for their Supportive
Housing after one year people graduate
from this ready to work program ready
for employment and permanent housing
this program has a 74% success rate in
having people maintain employment and
Independence we should be aiming for
improved rehabilitated lives for the
homeless people so they can become
responsible members of our community
will you please take a more balanced
approach instead of investing only in
housing first thank
you thank
[Applause]
you I believe that's row eight anybody
else on
eight now then row
nine last
row
good afternoon uh Council my name is uh
Stanley Engel e ngle for the record um
like the Tumblers that everybody's going
crazy over as well um so I'm here to
actually congratulate the uh uh the
former city council body for um making
our transit system uh zero Fair uh I'm I
would say probably a typical middle-aged
guy middle inome um access to cars
access to bicycles when I uh ride my
bike to work and because of the zero
fair I have been enjoying using the bus
and it is actually um it's actually been
quite Pleasant I've gone to see uh
friends at BOS using the bus I've gone
to work at NMSU using the bus I have
taken my uh six-year-old then at the
time son to uh aaka Park to Young Park
to his swim lessons at gym magic and
during that whole time I have seen a
mini culture on the bus of uh writers
who uh I recognize over and over now and
who uh recognize each other and um
they're very friendly and uh it's quite
a uh quite a good experience and I am
just uh glad for that opportunity to be
able to pay my taxes and get a service
in return and even if I didn't use it I
am glad to pay my taxes So Others May uh
may use that service and uh since I am
talking about uh buses I'd just like to
acknowledge that uh Rosa Park's birthday
was uh yesterday I believe um she is an
American hero and she helped affect
change without aggression the threat of
violence or violence I think we need
more of that in our society thank
you thank
you afternoon Council and mayor uh my
name is Israel Chavez I'm an attorney uh
here in Southern New Mexico um but um
arguably more importantly I'm an
advocate for public trans it uh I want
to thank Council for continuing the zero
fars program uh as you've heard from
your own Department uh zero fars is
wildly successful uh it would not be
cost-effective to collect fairs again uh
and you know I I just want to Advocate
that that program continue because it
makes a huge difference in the lives of
so many um I understand that a lot of
people like pickle ball but uh the buses
really get folks to work to healthcare
appointments and so it's one of the most
unique areas where Council can and does
affect daily change uh as uh my friend
said just a minute ago Sunday it was uh
the birthday of Rosa Parks it also marks
Transit Equity day um buses are
literally about movements uh they've
moved people uh the Freedom Riders in
through the South to do protests they've
moved baseto workers in this community
my grandfather of whom was one of them
to their jobs and when the strikes were
happening they often used the buses to
get to where the strikes were because
many of our our our ancestors many of
our Community uh did not have access to
to to vehicles and today we often punish
folks who ride the bus uh we make it
difficult we make it uncomfortable we
don't put Shades despite the fact that
uh and and you know I do personal injury
cases so this is kind of against my
practice but they're safer they cause
less car crashes they're safer for
pedestrians and so hopefully I go out of
business because so many people want to
ride buses because of how safe they are
in our community and not only that
there's an environmental element El that
can keep our communities cleaner if we
truly believe in our bus system like
we've shown uh in recent history um we
should reduce the parking requirements
for businesses promote busing it'll
reduce DWI is a different part of my
practice um it would be my hope and wish
that Council would promote buses to such
a level that would put me entirely out
of business maybe I'll do something
entirely different um but for now
business is quite good and I would hope
that Council would take that and heed
that as a as a uh an inspiration to
invest further in public transit because
what we've seen based on the recent
investment what we've seen across the
state and across the country is that
when you invest in buses you're
investing in people you're investing in
people's ability to get where they need
to go and often that is related to
health that is related to employment
that is related to advocacy it's related
to everything that Council says they
care about in the resolutions that often
don't do much and so this is is an area
where Council and the mayor and the
administration can really make an
incredible difference in people's lives
and I thank you for uh having that
program and I encourage its uh continued
support thank
you thank
[Applause]
you good afternoon
Council my name is cor air and I'm a
citizen of Las Cruses small business
owner and employer and I come here today
because I would like to request
increased funding for public
transportation over the last several I
mean thank you for doing the zero Fair
too
but over the last several decades we
have developed a city with car Centric
mentality of the previous Century which
is to build everything for cars and
assume a car for every situation this
has made our roads wide and our
sidewalks tiny symbolic even resulting
in a city that is alarmingly difficult
to navigate without a car even the most
menial tasks like buying groceries and
trip to the doctor or to the bank may
take more hours than necessary without a
vehicle the city paves and maintains
roads to anyone who drives a car even if
they don't live here at no additional
cost to them we would like that same
benefit for people who don't drive like
those who navigate the city on a
wheelchair or by foot pushing a stroller
or riding electric scooters or bicycles
or a myriad of other personal
Transportation devices that in
combination with buses that thank you
are fair free uh that this Con approved
could provide true practical
transportation for our citizens at very
low cost to our people this is important
because C cars are expensive $122,000
costed last year to own a new
car and the unfortunate gist of the
matter is that oh and they're also
expensive for the city to uh build and
maintain those routs and the and and the
unfortunate G of the matter is that car
Centric development does does not
generate enough tax revenue to pay for
itself in fact cars are the most
expensive way not to solve the problem
they are dangerous for our elders
expensive for a young and very often
lethal for pedestrians of all ages I
encourage you to find ways to increase
bus frequency and add bus service on
Sundays even if it means reducing the
budget for traditional car Centric
infrastructure or reducing space for
cars to a dedicated bus lanes I
encourage you to find ways to install
ballards on all of our streets to
protect pedestrians and Riders on our
bike Lanes especially near bus stops yes
cars may be damaged but it makes more
sense to risk potential repairable
damage to property than expose The
Fragile Irreplaceable human bodies of
our citizens to being molded by a
vehicle just to round their daily
errands anyway we need to fully fund our
public transportation to unburden our
citizens from having to buy a vehicle to
navigate life in our city
and lastly I'm also to pick a bank of my
friend Israel I'm also a business owner
I sell insurance and it's very expensive
increasingly so and people of every
income uh bracket have to buy insurance
it is insanely expensive for us to
demand of our citizens to have a car
just to exist thank
you well thank
you
hello greetings to the council and the
other Representatives oh let me adjust
this there we go uh my name is William
Gilman g i l m an one L on the last name
but two in the first name if we're uh
taking notes uh I'm also lusus resident
a small business owner and a recent
father I have my daughter with me here
today and she's super cute um I'm also
going to comment on the need for
improved Transit access in the city and
the common counterargument is well it's
so expensive but we need to also think
about the cost of lack of action the
cost of lack of investment the
opportunity cost that we are losing out
on by only investing in a single boode
of
Transportation uh you know for the last
few decades and really a hundred years
we as a nation and localities have
invested in car Centric infrastructure
and once a road is built the city is on
the hook for the maintenance of that
road it builds perpetually forever it is
a endless expense and in addition the
city has to fund expensive emergency
services to respond to crashes and so
I'm going to kind of just talk about the
cost of just the crashes that happen on
our roads the national highway traffic
safety administration release report in
2019 that in one year motor accidents
caused uh what was it $340 billion do uh
of expenses to the American people uh
that's a lot of money uh that's about
$1,000 per person and for perspective
according to the Dona Ana County website
uh if you own a piece of property that's
valued at $100,000 you can expect to pay
about $8 $50 in taxes so this is
comparable to the tax payments that we
pay it's basically an invisible tax and
so with the population of Las crusis at
about 115,000 our share of that National
cost is about $119 million a year that's
quite a
lot uh crashes uh what do we got what do
we got um now this figure also includes
medical cost legal and court fees
emergency services and other things uh
so it's not all coming directly from the
city but it is all being paid by us the
American people um and so crashes due to
speeding account for 14% of that uh yet
we build huge roads with wide lanes that
encourage people to drive 50 miles an
hour down Road Runner Parkway even
though the speed limit is 35 miles it's
kind of a joke uh another 20 I think
it's 20% is from uh uh alcohol use and
another 30% is from distracted driving
which is a new epidemic that we have and
uh all of these things can be mitigated
by public transit you can spend all your
time on your phone or reading a book
without being in danger to the public on
a bus and uh buses are a permanent
designated driver on nights out and
holidays so I think it's uh about time
to get real with our accounting on what
the actual cost of lack of investment in
transit is for our people I was run off
the road November 2022 my car was total
I was going to have this long story
about how much I love that truck and how
much work I put into it myself and all
the sweat and blah blah blah long story
short it was total we had to buy a new
car that's money that we could have put
for a down payment on a house which is a
real asset that actually acrs value over
time instead we had to buy a car which
is a liability and always takes more
money and depreciates like crazy thank
you all thank
[Applause]
you I think that covers everyone on the
left side now on my right side uh the
second
row
Diane Starbuck for the record with
Animal Advocates for change did you know
that February is Bay and neuter
month well if you were here last year
you should know that because I believe I
came up here and said the same thing
last
year um but what has really changed in
that
year well the new service Animal Service
Center did open that's something
positive but we need to follow up on
that with a new uh Animal Welfare
ordinance the old one is
outdated um it's it's not the best thing
attitudes about animals have changed we
need a new weal Animal Welfare
ordinance Animal Advocates for change
we're waiting for a reply live from the
mayor to see what happened to an animal
welfare ordinance that was discussed
last October and was supposed to be a
compromise between all
stakeholders um but something else
that's happened in the last year for
2023 there was
2,740 animals put
down all right I I hope it just doesn't
become a number to people that we need a
fully
funded um
mandated spay and neuter law with
exceptions and I'm requesting that the
city council the mayor and the city
manager please think very seriously
about uh the budget this time with money
for animals in the animal service center
so they can hire people at a re
reasonable salary um we saw the study of
the last board meeting that the salaries
were way below what they should be the
county has given money to snap they've
hired a vet I hear they're revamping
their mobile unit I think the city
really needs to step up thank
you thank
you uh third r
good afternoon my name is Fred Huff also
know known as the burn Lake guy um and
what I want to talk about today is the
big homeless camp that was right behind
khich he over here on Valley
Drive uh last Saturday I was at my house
I live right on the edge of burnt Lake
and I looked over towards kiches and saw
a massive amount of smoke coming up um
being a camera guy I grabbed my camera
headed over there as quick as I could
and by then the fire department had the
fire out uh it was a looked like a a
pile of clothing probably as big as this
Podium if not bigger that had been
burned it was right there at the back of
kichi the smoke had filled that area and
everything also real close to the Farm
Bureau building and a
daycare so anyway I walked
around and saw all the just absolute
junk um it was herocious of what I saw
over there and of course taking a lot of
pictures as I typically always
do and finally I decided Well I'm going
to walk through this camp and take
pictures and because I'm sure most of
you may
realize when you see something in in
real life and then you go back and look
at pictures your eyes mess a lot of
stuff and I figured okay I'm going to
snap a lot of pictures and see what was
there that I messed with with my eyes
live and I I was snapping those pictures
I decided if anybody was hostile or
threatening to me I would make my way
over towards a fire firemen that were
still there and I got about 3/4 of the
way through the camp and a guy about 100
ft away to the north came out at me he
was quite a bit bigger than me um and he
was shouting at me every other word was
a cuss word and I ignored him until
basically he got right in my face and in
this these moments I had migrated over
towards the fire department guys they
interviewed
they basically saved my rear end and um
allowed me to make a safe exit uh today
the police are cleaning out that camp so
by the time I get done with the city
council that should be all cleaned up
and I do want to express a heartfelt
deep gratitude to our firefighters and
our police force for the job that they
do my question is where do these people
go we need some sort of solution and I
would sure like to work with the city on
that thank you very
much thank
[Applause]
you next
row good
afternoon uh mayor and City councilors
my name is relle
on my name is relle Pew sford I'm a
native l Cru I was born on Alam Street
60 years ago tomorrow so you have a day
left to buy me a birthday present um
Saturday afternoon about 3 o'l in the
afternoon a young man was shot in the
street across the street from my home a
home I bought as a single mom by myself
on my own income I'm very proud of that
home and I'm very proud of my
neighborhood but across the street from
me is some apartments where a well-known
drug dealer conducts business every
single day and on Saturday I believe I
don't know all the details but I believe
it was a drug deal gone bad a young man
lost his life in front of my
home the neighborhood and some of my
neighbors are here with me today we've
been complaining about the situation
across the street from my house for
years and nothing has happened the
police have arrested people over there
the next day they're back out and I know
you guys are not judges and you're not
um
the district attorney but something's
got to be done about the catch and
release program it's not working the
crime statistics on your website they
look great but when you're not arresting
people and you're not charging people
and they're there is no
convictions the crime statistics look
really good but the reality is really
bad so I'm going to ask
respectfully the mayor and the city
council and the police chief to increase
the uh Patrols in the Alam neighborhood
specifically on arm Miho Street
yesterday afternoon after the the smoke
had cleared and all of the police had
left the neighborhood once again it was
business as usual for the drug dealer
across the street from my home so I
would ask that we increase the the
Patrols in the neighborhood and clean up
the mess that is across the street with
the drug dealer he owns the apartments
where he's conducting his business
um so that's one of the things I would
like to ask that is done and also in
that neighborhood just a couple of
blocks down the street is the alma art
day uh High School charter high school
and the um J Paul Taylor Charter
Elementary School so this is a
neighborhood where there is school kids
walking in the neighborhood elderly
people me and uh I'd like to be able to
sit on my front porch in the afternoons
and on a Saturday afternoon and not fear
being shot by a stray bullet by a drug
dealer thank
you thank
you anyone else on that row not the next
row good afternoon mayor city council I
wasn't going to speak I come uh try to
come once a month just to see what's
happening in the city but I am a tennis
player so I just have to get up and
speak at how excited I was when I
interviewed for my job at NMSU wait if
you could state your name for the record
oh I'm sorry Jennifer cry sorry um so
when I came and interviewed and I saw
Lions Park 12 courts
I said yes this is my kind of community
I'm a member of the Las cruus tennis
Association I'm not a spokesman for them
uh but that those 12 courts are critical
to the to the activities that we have
when we have Community scrambles when we
have summer programs for children to
learn how to play tennis we are involved
in the community so
we don't want to give up any
courts to pickle ball pickle Ball's
great I'm sure but we are tennis players
as my counselor Karan will know because
I've sent her emails just protect that
what we have because it's we're a great
organization and it's an important
Community activity
thanks right thank
you
uh next row anyone on that
row good afternoon uh welcome to the new
mayor our new counselor McClure even
though your sign says William matis I
know you're not William
matis um my name is Donald Wilson um
since the last time I came before the
Council I have now become the president
of El cruus but I want to assure you
George Pearson is still around he's just
freed up from some of the administrative
duties of the
organization um at the last time I came
to the council uh the mayor the outgoing
mayor encouraged us to come back when
the new council is seated and bring up
some of the issues we uh had brought up
before because since the election's over
now maybe we can get to the business of
governing the city I just wanted to
reiterate the two requests from Bel
cruus the first is to
expedite and prioritize the hiring of an
active transportation coordinator for
the city so that we can um work together
with the city and the county and and
improve The Pedestrian and bicycle
facilities and then the second request
is for the city council to adopt a
vision zero uh commitment um it's a long
long-term commitment to eliminate Road
user deaths of all kinds so that's not
just bicyclists but it's pedestrians and
motorcyclists and the uh baby carriage
pushers so we had some people here
talking about the importance of making
the roads safe and Equitable for all
users so those requests are out there V
chrisis is uh standing ready to assist
the city in this effort will make sure
we mobilize the groups to to staff the
various committees so that we can um
take a safe system's approach to
improving traffic safety and Road use
safety in Los crues thank
you thank
you yes on that same
row
hi um my name is Eden
luche and I am uh referring to the same
incident that relle
did um if I don't keep eye contacts
because I've got to read this um on
satary satary Saturday February 3rd
ma'am could you speak directly into the
microphone so you get recorded thank you
did you hear my
name you got it yeah Eden T lé yeah
thank you on Saturday February 3rd at
approximately uh 3:16 p.m. I witnessed a
man being shot dead at approximately 316
with a shotgun on the Army host side of
335 Van Patton
this property is located exactly 200
yards from the J Paul Taylor school
where I am the contract school nurse
I've also been at Alma since
2018 Alma and J Paul Taylor are right
behind each other there are 200 yards
between the corner of their lot and
exactly where the blood pile is still
left from
Saturday um
there's 75 yards from my house my corner
house and I have a direct view of this
property um to the white the armo side
of 335 Van
Patton I was on the phone I I was
working on my computer and I looked to
the right and the shooter was there the
gentleman was there um he shot him with
a shotgun it was hard to miss the sound
it was very
loud um the victim stood for a minute
and then he dropped and it was confirmed
yesterday he is
deceased um and I was on 911 the whole
time I had reported that there was a
white and slide gold tint uh on the
bottom of either an Explorer or an
Expedition uh the gentleman driving that
car with short white sleeves got out of
his car spoke with the
shooter um they both kind of used their
feet to touch and see if he was alive
and then the guy the with the white
short surf got back in his car and then
the guy that with the shotgun wrapped
back in the
property
um he this has happened so many times
this exact same scenario
happened August 17th of
23 we were we were out of town but our
tenant that lives at 71 armo called and
said there's a shooting at 335 andamp
Patton what happens at 335 Van Patton is
it's a
247 drug dealing issue they've been
raided by the DEA LCPD State Police I
know I'm out of town but we have called
and called and called we call every time
and the problem is the response has
become less and less and less yesterday
or Saturday the only reason that the
response was so quick which I
appreciate was because there was a dead
person in front of my
house um ma'am your the time is up thank
you
okay I just wanted to make sure that you
guys are well aware that we have a major
problem in the historic district yes
thank
[Applause]
you anyone else on that
row next
row eighth
row last
row I think that concludes everybody on
the right out
side that everybody okay thank you thank
you all for your public
participation uh next on the agenda is a
closed meeting
statement
the Los crus city council met in Clos
session at 10:38 a.m. on January 22nd
2024 the following members were in
attendance uh myself mayor Eric hriz uh
councelor Cassie McClure councelor
William mati and he left at 11:30 a.m.
councelor Becky Graham uh mayor protm
bomo uh councelor Karan arrived at
10:59 and councelor Flores was absent
City staff city manager eoy ACM Sonia
dogado Eon T Paya Barbara bomo uh police
chief Jeremy story uh Assistant Attorney
Brad Douglas and City attorney Linda
samples external were attorneys Haley
Grant Luis robless and Bonnie
DT the meeting adjourned at 12:48 p.m.
uh statement for the record the Los crus
city council met in close session and
only discussed those items as stated in
the posted notice the purpose of the
closed meeting was to discuss pending
litigation regarding Mark Anthony
Montoya versus Alonso El Vasquez
Jr which is closed persistent to New
Mexico State Statute 1978 section
10-15-17 we also discussed pending
litigation regarding Yasmine gutieres
versus city of Los Cruses which is
closed puring to New Mexico State statue
105-17 we also discussed pending
litigation regarding Brandon Baron
versus city of L cruus which again
closed pursuant to New Mexico State
statue 1978
10-15-17 we also discussed pending
litigation regard regarding the estate
of Theresa Gomez versus city of Los
Cruses case number
2 23
00952 which is closed pursuant to New
Mexico State Statute
1978 section
105-17 also discussed pending litigation
regarding Robert Lewis Ramsey versus
city of Los Cruses which also closed
pursuant to 1978 section 1015
d8
H7 long closed
session next we'll need the acceptance
of
agenda so move by flut second
Graham this is on the motion to accept
the agenda as presented councilor
McClure yes councelor matis is absent
councelor Graham yes councelor Cran yes
councel fles yes councel bomo yes and
mayor
yes next we have old business and
um I believe do we have a motion or a
second to remove from the table for
discussion the old
business so moved Graham
seconded
Corin so we have a first and
second this is on the motion to remove
resolution 24-50 from the table for
discussion councelor McClure yes
councelor matisa is absent councelor
Graham yes councelor Karan yes councelor
flutes yes councelor bomo yes
mayor
yes
I make a motion to table indefinitely
this item second
Graham this is on a motion to table
resolution
24-50 indefinitely councelor McClure yes
councelor matis is absent councelor
Graham yes councelor Karan yes councelor
fles yes councelor bomo yes and mayor
yes next we have resolution
um number 24- 080 a resolution adopting
the northrise blue plant Blue Print plan
uh David
we mayor and city council move to
approve
Graham second
B
go good afternoon mayor and city council
this is David we the Community
Development Department I'm here to um
present to you for approval of blueprint
that was initiated by the city of Los
cruus and its purpose was to ensure
future um access and coordinated
development of a vagrant parcel on the
northeast side of town um the city
contracted
with it's been a Monday to say the
least
um EXC me the city contracted with the
site Southwest to assist us with the
preparation of the plan um next slide
just want to give you a couple of
reasons that we started the blueprint
plan development in particular wanted to
call out that it provides policy
guidance for development uh not only to
the city council but the planing zoning
commission and City staff and uh the
General
Public um in this particular case the
purpose of the plan was one to um
promote the policies of elevate Los
cruus in particular uh growth management
and the physical development of the city
we wanted to make sure that there was um
adequate public facilities as land
develops and the biggest issue in this
particular um property was to make sure
that no properties were landlock and
there was a rational Transportation
Network to serve the property um and
then all that follows into making sure
that we plan and have rational
development within the
city um the property itself is located
um generally south of northrise Drive uh
east of Roadrunner Parkway and um north
of the Alam excuse me Alam Royo it
contains approximately um 62 acres and
there are 18 individual Parcels within
that tract it has a variety of zoning A2
which is like an agricultural open space
R4 which is a multifam which has some
limited office and commercial use in
equestrian state which again is more of
a royal rural zoning
District um the area outlined in black
is the 63 Acres um Alam Royal goes
through the property in this general
direction um there's just a very small
corner of it that has access to
northrise drive and then the rest of it
is um easements to be able to locate the
property um this shows you some of the
topography again you can see the flood
plane where they Royo goes through uh
some of the comments show that there's
quite a bit of relief or uh as a high
point here it drops down another high
point in this area and again it drops
down to the Ayo so it's it's it's a
unique property within the
city um this is just some of the other
background showing that it is served or
has access to all utilities so it is
potentially U that it could be
developed um again this shows you uh the
existing condition of the property so
it's basically uh desert uh vacant
desert land U but there has have been uh
some access to it as you can see uh
there's some utilities that Traverse the
property as the plan was developed it
kind up excuse
me it came up with um four goals for it
one was to make sure that there was an
interconnected roadway so that all
properties would have access um the
second was that those roadways were
developed that it would make sure um
that there was safe access and that it
would uh follow uh the complete Street
guidance of the city uh the third goal
was that we would
um um respect the Royal and make sure
development is in um keeping with the
area in that area and then again just to
make sure that uh we had uh planned
growth in that area uh going
forward the graphic represent
representation of this plan is what you
have on this slide so the solid green
are the uh potential roadways and access
points there are some Dash green areas
that are other areas that could be
explored for that as development takes
place we would look at that and it also
has um uh the trail system how that
would go into the the city's adopted uh
plans their pedestrian Anda active
Transportation
goals uh the plan was developed uh one
thing the city did and site Southwest
did was reach out to the property owners
um they had a couple of opportunities to
um provide their input one was on SE in
September of last year and then there
was also one in October uh that could be
done remotely uh we also reached out to
adjacent property owners and also some
of the uh governmental entities uh we
spoke with the principal of commun real
middle school we spoke with the state
land office and U then also our in
office departments um one other entity
we spoke with was New Mexico State
University they own one of the tracks
adjacent to the
property um the plan was put together
again based on the that Outreach and
engagement and U participation of the
proper owners it was presented to the
Planning and Zoning commission they made
a recommendation of approval at their
December meeting um there was no
opposition at that meeting in fact uh
there were two property owners that came
in support of it and also um got
together to start discussing if they
wanted to uh jointly look at how they
could develop their
property um the findings that were made
by the plan zoning commission was one it
was in in keeping with um Elevate Los
crues uh the road sections provided for
multiple uh multimodal
Transportation uh the blueprint provides
a means for property owners to uh work
with one another and also make sure that
they had access to their property when
they chose to develop it and then also
um it kept in with the guidelines for
developing of
blueprint uh so with that you have your
normal options uh to Pro approve deny or
modify with conditions and I'd be happy
to answer any questions anyone has
any questions by Council councelor
Grant thank you mayor uh thanks so much
David uh just one comment and one
question I want to agree with the
Planning and Zoning commission comments
on how nice this blueprint plan looked
so shout out to you Sarah Gonzalez and
the consultant um I found this very
palatable very easy to read so
appreciated that um and based on that
blueprint I know that this is well
making sure this is part of the Suburban
Neighborhood Place type which does allow
for both low and moderate density
housing and I just want to ensure that
we are going to uphold our commitment to
housing density to multif family housing
and if you could give just a little idea
of how that might look in this
particular area um certainly mayor and
counselor Graham um first I want to give
a shout out to Sarah Gonzalez um she was
was the one that really championed and
shephered this this plan through and uh
Danny Wilson was sight sight Southwest
so I just have the pleasure of
presenting it to you but they they both
did all the the hard work um in regards
to the area there is an area the inside
the plan that's already zoned R4 and so
that has the multif family component uh
the Suburban neighborhood as called out
in um Elevate Los cruus has that mixed
use that has the full ranges of houses
has appropriate commercial development
in it um because a couple of the zoning
categories that on here are uh ones that
we asked that they rezone and is going
forward so any person that would come
forward would develop would have to
rezone Those portions and then we'd ALS
staff would make recommendations they
follow Elevate Los crues uh the other
thing um that will take place is as a
part of the realiz L cruus adoption
there's a whole rezoning of the City's
map and at that point in time we would
re recommended um that Suburban
neighborhood designation be placed on
this property and again it would have
those list of of land uses including U
multifam and other housing types and I I
forget if there was another question in
there no just a shout out to how pretty
the planet itself was and yeah thank you
so much thank you mayor that's
all councelor
fres thank you mayor and thank you Dave
uh Mr Mr we um my
concern um is
manyfold um looking just at uh page 10
um did you say that the development
would be above the sort of uh horseshoe
the
upside all the development so it's
adjacent to the a royal is that correct
um mayor councelor Florence yes the the
Royo is adjacent to this you see the
light
um yeah the light lines those are
individual parcels and so what the green
reflects is a way for all of them to
have uh a roadway so that they could be
accessed um
development in uh flood planes is very
limited and so they either couldn't
develop in that area or they would have
to come up with um a way to
engineer uh change the flood plane area
and and go forward but um the property
has been purchased and had has had those
designations on it for quite some time
for quite some time my concern is um the
I think there's a development just south
of that um and that's uh where there has
been some flooding due to the a Royo I
don't know the years it was before I um
sat on city council but became aware of
it and going to community meetings when
seal livatino was our coun in that
district and uh there was an outcry by
residents who Liv there who had
experience that flooding and um and
everybody seems to think that oh these
floods they only happen once in a blue
moon but if that blue moon happens to be
me I'm going to care about it if it's
going to affect a woman uh a couple an
elderly couple who um I think it was Mr
and Mrs White I think Mr White passed
away from a heart condition that he
attributed was attributed to the stress
of having that flood and having paid um
a number I don't know 10,000
$20,000 uh to um prevent their uh
flooding to happen I think it happened a
couple of times again I don't remember
the years but um so my concern always is
for the well-being of people and the
safety um have there been any studies in
so far as the proximity of the
development and the homes that would be
built there uh to the ayal and
um and I I you know I I know that no one
can predict when that ayal would right
now it's just like a Dry Gulch a huge
Dry Gulch but it does happen so has the
city taken all necessary steps to assure
that in the event there is a um Deluge
if there's
um that uh the homes there the roads
would be safe um mayor and councel
Flores I think um what you're expressing
is one of the reasons we wanted to be
sure and and uh go forward with this
blueprint plan um there are there is no
development proposed for this property
at all right now the plan just uh calls
out that the the city recognizes that
future development those things would be
looked at so in the development process
um that if any flood area or any
development take place would have to be
reviewed and U the desire is the plan
could be utilized to U not only make
sure there's quality development here
but um we would advance or we would
learn uh from other past development I
think the area you're talking about was
the Royo on this side no is this near
Los Amigo or Los uh no uh this is the
Walmart the the east side Walmart oh yes
was on the other side and and and U but
the but the Royal still a buts with with
that side so correct um but those more
detailed uh flood analysis take place
when there's actual either a subdivision
or if there's a um building permit for a
property in that area and at that time
they would have to address the way that
they would either stay out of that flood
area or um take measures to make sure
that uh there wouldn't be additional
damage but you know Mr we with all due
respect seems to me that a lay person
such as myself who isn't familiar with
this yes it's wonderful that it's
consistent with realized Las crusis yada
yada blah blah but it's still very close
to the aroyo there the road you said
that the green lines um are
proposed proposed or potential roadways
that's still very
close um mayor mayor and you can call me
mayor I said that's it apparently has
been a Monday all day um again I think
that's the reason that we wanted to do
These Blueprints if those type of issues
come up um before development is even uh
proposed to you it they're aware of what
they're going to have to deal with it
puts not only the property owner uh
makes them aware of that but also City
staff uh we have a public meeting here
where you've expressed that uh you have
have concern that they develop that and
stay out of the aroya or take every
measure possible to ensure that there's
no damage to properties where future
development would take place to me
that's the essence of why we do these
plans well to address your concerns and
then um how much weight does my word um
Carry how much
how I mean I can sit here and cry um you
know boohoo and this doesn't really
sound good to me but um I'm here just
for a short period of time as I said I
first learned of this one um in my my
worst dream I never thought I would be a
city counselor but um but that
particular that particular event has
been etched in my in my brain my heart
um and I and and this is troublesome to
me Mr we to see that I understand what
you just said very clearly that in the
in the event well actually upon the
event that um there is development there
that all measures will be taken to
assure that the flooding uh doesn't uh
in any way reach the homes but as we all
know we don't control water we don't
control um you know uh an outburst and
that's why that on the other side that
happened to um to several people but it
was the ones that were uh I met that
that particular day um and it had a
horrible impact on them and they put
their life savings into something that
was recommended and it still didn't work
and their house flooded not once but
twice so um so this sort of stuff just
really Pro is problematic to me I don't
know if um I you know I I don't know
exactly I I with all due respect to the
department um and to the Planning and
Zoning commission I don't know if
they're aware of the history of that
aroyal I think we take it for granted
that you or not granted but we think oh
it's just dry just to know you know
it'll never whatever there'll never be a
deluge so but I just hope that when the
time comes for development
that you know I I just hope that the
city does keep an eye on that and that
there's the safety concern thank you Mr
we thank you Mr
May
anyone else no we're good I
Pro this is on the motion to approve
resolution
24-8 councelor McClure yes councelor
matis is absent councelor Graham yes
councelor Karan yes councelor
flotes no councelor bomo yes mayor yes
motion
passes thank
you
next is 9.2 resolution number 24- 081 a
resolution approving an amendment to
professional service agreement
19-20
d77 a police auditor
Services uh the oir group of pla Del re
California adding up to four community
outreach meetings per fiscal
year motion move to approve Graham
second Cor
okay we have uh Virginia
barela good afternoon mayor counselor
City staff Virginia barela with the
financial services department and before
you today is a resolution to approve the
amendment to the police auditing
Services uh
agreement the city of Los crusis
required proposals for police auditing
services which was advertised on
November 2nd 2020 three proposals were
received and were brought before the
selection advisory committee for
evaluation on December 17th 2020 it was
the recommendation of sack to award the
Professional Services agreement to the
oir group and a professional service
agreement was executed on March 4th
2021 um the original agreement was for
one year with four options to renew and
currently we are in year three three of
the contract the city and oir mutually
desire to modify the terms of this
agreement oh I'm sorry I forgot
to the city and oir mutually desire to
modify the terms of this agreement and
add up to four community outreach
meetings per fiscal year which will
increase
um the uh meetings that are provided as
part of the contract and at this time
the amendment will not alter the overall
cost of the
contract and before you are your
options uh councelor Flores thank you Mr
Mayor and thank you so much for your
presentation can you go back to page
three
oops so those
um the um the first dotted uh Amendment
up to four community outreach meetings
per fiscal year um where would those
community outreach meetings be held I
will have to revert to either U Miss
violaa for answers or miss or Chief
story for
that Chief story Chief story go ahead
good afternoon mayor councelor Flores
the the language is fairly um open so
that we could be flexible but they would
be held in Los cruus um it may be in
council chambers or at another location
around the
city okay so um it could be in different
uh districts council districts or just a
place where anyway different locations
and that who would make that decision
city manager or you or city council or
we just trying to see who how per the
contract they could be anywhere in the
city of Las cruus I'll defer to the city
major great yeah thank you may Council
yeah we we wanted to be in an area that
would be accessible to to be able to um
have a setup like this so our preference
would be council
chambers um but of course like you said
we haven't talked about where around the
city if we can there's an area in the
city where we can get more participation
we'll certainly go there but at this
point we've contemplated council
chambers um there are
four um two of them coordinate with the
with the time they come here and visit
and and give their reports I see so it
be like two no there'd be four four so
in addition to the two when they present
to council yeah oh great okay thank you
thank you um Chief storian thank you Mr
peely and as far as
um can you go to page four or was that
the can't questions yeah never mind
thank you thank you Mr
Mayor thank you uh
mayor thank you for the presentation I
just reading on the packet on exhibit B
there does there is a list of um the
kind of meetings that will be held I
imagine this came from the contractor
this came from o yes the original list
was part of the original contract of the
type of meetings okay so under where say
meetings is a c c c wow City leadership
where's David we
he yeah it's Monday police it says
police chief and Command Staff Community
leaders and other stakeholders goal is
to gain perspective
on status of the police department and
identify its specific concerns and then
gather input from the Department so
these four meetings could be Community
meetings they could be meetings with
City staff with the Department that's
what these four meeting up to four
meetings would
include
no no um mayor Pro mayor May Pro this
this is really in response to the
community wanting an opportunity to
address this group with you know in
light of transparency and being able to
have have that communication directly
with the oir group so this is
specifically Community opportunity for
the community to be able to address them
directly with any questions that they
have regarding the report perfect that's
my whole question thank you for the
clarification I appreciate
that thank you anyone else go ahe C mlar
just quickly would these be recorded
could these be
recorded you know I we haven't
even I don't know if we talked about
that if we were going to record them or
not I um I don't know anybody have any
thoughts on it if is that a is that a
wish of the council to have these
recorded I think it's a good idea I
that's a yeah it's a perfect read I
think um just to that point I think for
feedback I think if it's a public
meeting then it then it should be
recorded Chief story did you have
anything to
add uh thank you mayor the we did
discuss it and so there's pros and cons
of course everything uh one thing that
did come up if if we record the meetings
it might discourage certain residents
from from coming and voicing their
concerns um if they felt like there is a
recorded record so it's just something
to consider I'm I'm neutral the awake
because there's pros and
cons thank
you any
other go ahead Ken thank you I I just
wanted to um thank you for reupping this
and and revisiting it and adding the the
trans parency component I I just sort of
want to speak back to the idea of why we
were working with O and what it's meant
um I
think as far as Community engagement
goes I think that the you you all have
seen the LCPD has been doing
extraordinary work on this front I think
that um I'm really optimistic about the
ways that uh Chief story and and his
leadership have been uh working on
thinking about um Community sort of
Engagement and and proactive sort of
understanding of how um policing happens
in our community and so I just want to
appreciate you all and that the way that
you have worked with oir to make changes
I think has has been something really
interesting and powerful and so I just
want to thank you for being uh
reflective in that way and in the way
that you all are are leading um so I
think I I guess I'm all of us to say I
think this is a productive relationship
that we have um and I I um appreciate
the the chief's willingness to sort of
continue on and expand that in this way
so that's I just wanted to put in
context like we are reupping a contract
for to work with an organization and
there's a reason and it's been really
productive so far I believe so thank
you
is that everyone good go ahead
Chine this is on the motion to approve
resolution 24- 081 councelor McClure yes
councelor matis is absent councelor
Graham yes councelor cran yes councelor
flutes yes councelor bomo yes mayor
yes
next 9.3 resolution number 24- 082 a
resolution to award a professional
service agreement for Metropolitan
Redevelopment area plan development
services to places Southwest Inc doing
business as site Southwest LTC of
Albuquerque New Mexico in the amount not
to exceed
$220,400 plus gross receipt tax as
applicable move to approve Corin second
fles again good afternoon mayor
counselor City staff for the record
again my name is Virginia barela and
before you today is a resolution to
approve the service agreement for the
MRA plan development um
with site
Southwest the city of Los crusis has
designated two areas as Metropolitan
Redevelopment areas to address issues of
blight and poverty the city has
prioritized efforts to alleviate poverty
in the community and will provide local
and state resources to assist efforts um
in the alleviation of property providing
support to local businesses options of
quality of life and affordable
housing the city requires Professional
Services agreements for the creation of
an MRA plan for the designated ELO South
Solano Corridor the plan will Define the
city's vision and identify
revitalization projects for the
designated areas examine existing
conditions and assets develop a physical
land use plan with livable guidelines
designate specific specific
Redevelopment sites and projects
identify sustainable implementation
strategies and specific funding sources
for each priority project and be in
alignment with the city's Elevate loss
cruus
plan the requests for proposals for
these Services were advertised on June
9th 2023 three proposals were received
and brought before the selection
advisory committee for evaluation on
September 13th
2023 it was the recommendation of sack
to award the professional service
agreement to site Southwest of
Albuquerque New Mexico in an amount not
to exceed
$220,400
and before you are your
options May pro thank you uh thanks
again I have just a couple questions on
the process and I really it's not to
place blame or anything on any specific
person but I do just want to name for my
end just my concerns about how long it
took for us to get here and I I know
that revitalization I know that we have
a new Council but I do know that it has
been a big priority for the city because
I think we all know that what happens on
El Paso South Solano West Picacho
impacts the what happens or doesn't
happen impacts the rest of the city and
so um you know just really want to make
a point about um
um somebody said the other day at a
meeting moving at the speed of
government and often I'm like well you
know it's not our money like we have to
do our due diligence right as we move
through these processes because it's not
my money to spend we have to be careful
and sometimes I do get frustrated about
just some of these pieces and how how
slower they're moving especially because
even last year during the legislative
session we had a huge win around the MRA
and um and how it could really make an
even bigger impact and so I just do want
to reiterate at least my um that this
revitalization is key priority for me um
now that being said I know that this was
just for the elpo South Solano Corridor
can you talk about West Picacho I mean
I'm you know I don't want to have I
don't want to be leaving at the end of
my term and just then West Picacho is
sort of coming um coming up to an RFP
can you provide a because I know that
when we last um approved both of these
areas we said we would stagger them one
with just given all the data that it was
presented from the MRA the initial
assessment we said ELO salano would be a
priority and begrudging Le I was like
okay West Picacho can be the second one
um but I do just I I wanted to ask City
publicly if you had an aads around when
the West Picacho RFP would be moving
forward so I don't have a timeline for
that do you
Chris oh my gosh
good afternoon mayor councel Chris favor
with economic development for the record
I had a feeling you'd have some
questions so uh I came prepared so today
we are approving the contract for El
Paso South Solano on the 7th actually we
are going to sack for uh the start to
procurement process for the West Picacho
MRA My Hope Is that we can go through
the process through the springtime and
by the summertime we'll be back here
with another contract with the uh
Consultants to begin that process
sometime later in the summer or early in
the fall thank you Chris I appreciate I
appreciate it I think even especially
and I know you've mentioned this before
in a public meeting around the Cannabis
dollars and there's just such a big
opportunity there to really get these
going before they start making their own
money essentially and um I think the
staggered process works well so I I
appreciate the update um and this
probably is a question for you too but I
I also wanted to ask around um or maybe
our city manager if there are dedicated
staff that are sort of leading the MRA
projects forward and if there is not I
would like to make a advocacy for that
right
now and know Krist is sorry mayor and
mayor BR I know Chris and his team have
been essentially leading leading the way
or um Elizabeth uh the economic
development department I don't know if
we have anybody say an MRA
you know staff member that's been
designated as the MRA person but
um I mean I don't know if there's
anybody else within the within your
Economic Development Department that
have been helpful or I guess sign
assigned
specifically but as as of now we don't
have a MRA designated person okay and I
really EO I just asked because I look I
I don't know what it what why it for me
took this long to get here on this but I
don't want it to fall through through
the cracks and so um I really do hope
that um we can designate some folks to
to lead the project sure mayor mayor
proam if I could have a moment here so I
do have with me Blair flotes she's the
newest member of our Economic
Development Department she is an
economic development coordinator who
will be working specifically within the
MRA so while it'll be a coordinated
effort among staff she will be the point
person between Business Development the
Consultants the community and then
ultimately back to city council so right
now she's in the process of going out
meeting with all the businesses
establishing that database and those
connections so that when the public
input does begin early in the process
and continues throughout she will be a
good point person to liaison between the
consultants and the community and and
get the businesses engaged so she's not
an official title as MRA she's a
Economic Development coordinator but
she'll be leading those efforts and then
as we move from one one one MRA to
another she will also move around and
and and rep prioritize the areas that
she is working with in so what was the
name again her name is Blair flutes
she's been with us for my new favorite
person Blair um okay thank you and I
will just make an Ask Blair that if
you're so as you see on the resolution
it covers District 1 2 3 4 that you
invite any of us to anything you might
feel um is relevant because I think this
is a big priority for all of us so
welcome and welcome Elizabeth welcome
back um thank you mayor those are all my
questions anyone
else no well thank you Chris and welcome
thank
you thank you vir
jinia this on the motion to approve
resolution 24- 082 councelor McClure yes
councelor matis is absent councelor
Graham yes councelor Karan yes councelor
fles yes councelor bomo yes and
mayor
yes next we have
9.4 Council bill number 24- 019
ordinance number
3061 and ordin ordinance amending
chapter 27 traffic Article 1 and article
6 of the Los cruus Municipal Code uh
1997 by adding new definitions and
regulations of electric vehicle
charging parking spaces
move to approve
Graham second
Corin okay
Lisa hello mayor council and City
management um my name is Lisa lck I'm
the sustainability officer for the city
of Las Cruses and today I have a quick
presentation that has to do with
electric vehicle parking so every time
we have a new technology or approach it
has lots of extra bells and whistles to
it in this is this one so right now we
have 40 public Chargers around the city
there's um eight of them uh in seven
different locations that belong to the
city and the rest are um in other parts
of the City by other uh public or
private entities and we just got a the
donana county just got a grant for a
large amount of money to be putting in
all sorts of EV Chargers uh both within
and outside of the city limits
so that new the presence of EV Chargers
is important to to um incorporate in our
ordinances because they're just little
stands and people don't understand them
quite well enough and so they Park in
them as if they would park in any
parking spot because a parking lot is a
convenient place to put them because
takes a a couple hours to charge so
we've just piggybacked on some uh
language that already exists in the
ordinances about stopping standing and
parking and um added another line that
has to do with don't park in an EV
chargings parking lot and we've been
very sensitive to um the fact that we
don't put Chargers in places where
there's only a few spots
and that we always accommodate Ada so
there's opportunities to be able to use
it for everyone and the charge if you do
Park um and and uh codes finds you is
$56 which is comparable to lots of other
cities and is the going rate for parking
in the wrong place one thing I did want
to uh share with you uh it's off the
Record but I wanted you to have the swag
that's necessary now that we're in the
EV world what happens when some other
vehicle that's not an electric vehicle
parks in a charging station is that
internal combustible engine IC has iced
the spot so there you go that is my
contribution for your swag today and
that is what I have to present so I
stand for questions and your vote
Cel gr thank you mayor um so admittedly
I'm someone who is really easily annoyed
and something that super annoys me is if
I am okay great I'm part of the problem
so I'm up at the gas station and
somebody has used the gas pump but then
they're going to go you know like
they're going to go hang out in the gas
station maybe get a soda and I'm sitting
there waiting and waiting and waiting if
you are in good faith charging your
electric vehicle but then you're like
huh I'm just going to stay parked here
is that what the standing part refers to
so if you flip back a slide like what
happens if you are an EV and you have
Faithfully charged your EV but then
you're just not coming back and you're
technically you're not icing the spot
you're easing the spot I don't know
eving yeah you're eving the spot is that
what the standing part refers to um
mayor councelor grah uh not in this case
it would just mean that you were ing
what is what standing is but I feel your
pain and there is um something that we
do as a city and since this is recorded
I hope others learn from this but the
common practice
is you can if you're still plugged in
which you would be because you haven't
returned you get a parking charge so
let's say it cost you
$2 um in electricity for each hour that
you're there while you're charging
you'll still pay another $2 so they're
not getting a free ride they're paying
for
parking I agree with you though that
that's still inappropriate because
they're not leaving it open for other EV
uh folks but um the other thing is is
that most um apps that you use will tell
you hey your charge is up and there is a
fine or there is an additional fee so
that is the The Prompt that's there and
um there's a lot of times that you can
even reserve the uh an upcoming spot so
the nasty grams are
even more encouraging to move so we're
saying that passive aggressive Tesla
owners are going to police themselves on
this uh one would hope okay great thank
you thank you
mayor councelor Karan um I I just want
to thank you for presenting this and I
am C so um first of all $56 sounds like
a great number I just got a $35 ticket
at NMSU and I am 100% going to park
illegally again there I'm sure I'll take
my chances bring it $35 is not enough to
change my behavior but 56 sounds sounds
like something I should uh rethink but I
did want to just sort of talk about this
just to make sure folks understand the
context while we're happy that many of
these businesses have EV charging
stations
folks it can folks
call codes on on like at Chick-fil-A if
someone is parked in like is that this
is really for our city parking spots
right that's Cor to clarify so the
private businesses were happy for them
but they're going to have to regulate
this on their own I might recommend a
$100 tickets for them you know at
Chick-fil-A give the person a $100
ticket um but that's correct right I
believe so yes okay so the so well it's
good to know where those are at the
businesses this ordinance does not does
not go into that domain please don't
call the police on an electric car at
chick-fil mayor counselor Karan you have
yes you it is that private property is
just that okay thank you I just wanted
to clarify so that um they don't get
those calls of passive aggressive Tesla
drivers or straight up aggressive Tesla
drivers I don't know or cooperative
ones thank you councelor Flores thank
you mayor and thank you thank you so
much Lisa and um can you go back to page
three okay so
um so the fee is uh $56 for uh being
there uh beyond the time of charging is
that correct mayor councelor Flores yes
okay
um so if you're excuse me I'm if you are
not actively charging correct so you can
leave your car there if it takes uh
couple of hours you can go to the you
know to the Saturday market or whatever
if it's downtown and um so is there a
way I don't have an EV so I don't know
this so how um how would you determine
or how would the uh enforcement uh
person uh what would they look at would
it just shows that it's being charged
and there's a little thing that shows
that it's not charged yet mayor uh
councelor Flores you're right that's
what you can see the the
charging I'm a thinker
but um so um I would I think this is
great I think it's a fair thing to do um
but the only thing I would ask for is
that there's a lot of um you know that
the word really gets out because you're
absolutely correct there are people who
are parked in those you know especially
that little grig between Griggs and you
little alley like
between Griggs and Main Street a park
people are parked there and it's not
even an EV not even close um so I think
it'd be good uh since this is this is a
new okay so it when would it go into
effect do you know if we say yes you
know say it passes today when does it
become um law how long does it
take mayor council Flores I'm
embarrassed to say I don't know the
answer to that question I can certainly
find out for you maybe maybe it should
be part of this uh proposal or part of
the statute part of the uh
ordinance as to when it goes into
effect mayor and Council of Florida is
one thing that I was going to do was to
put out a press to get signage that that
identifies that this will be a um a fee
if you do get uh if you do Park
illegally and um you mean a fine find
find yes thank you you'll be fed if you
park incorrectly if you ice The Parking
Spot yeah so that's good that you want
to get and then we'll we'll send a press
release out for that I don't yes I don't
know if there should be a
time
uh uh leg for this it it is a pretty
common sense
um uh practice but but I thinker to
yeah but I think proposed ordinances or
you know local laws um do have a a date
that H it is I didn't see it here no
it's in the it's in the packet April 1
it goes into effect April one April fo I
don't know if that's April Fool's Day
but April April one thank you mayor
thank you may it's so nice to have you
here and thank you uh so much Lisa for
everything you do I'm
sorry okay
any what else
Christine oh you have this is on the
motion to approve ordinance 3061
councelor McClure yes councelor matis is
absent councelor Graham yes councelor
cran yes councelor fles yes councelor
bomo yes mayor
yes uh next we go into board
appointments I'm going to go ahead and
need a motion in a second this is for
bever Beverly drum to the veterans
Advisory
Board I move to
approve
second this is on the motion to appoint
Beverly drum to the veterans Advisory
Board councelor McClure yes councelor
matis is absent councelor Graham yes
councelor cran yes councelor flutes
abstain you can only abstain if you left
the room you can only abstain if you
leave the room well pretend I left the
room
no councelor Pomo yes mayor
yes next we have the notice of proposed
ordinance uh this is Council bill number
24-20 ordinance number
3062 an ordinance authorizing the
issuance of the sale of the city of Los
Cruses New Mexico taxable General
obligation Improvement bond series 2024
in the principal amount of $6
million payable from ad valerium taxes
levied on all taxable property within
the city levied without limit as a rate
or amount providing for the form certain
terms and conditions of the bonds the
manner of their execution
and the method of and security for
payment thereof providing for the method
of sale in bonds pursuant to a public
competitive sale providing for the
maturity dates and the amounts interest
rates prices Redemption features and
other final terms of the bond to be
established in an award certificate
delegating authority to the city manager
and City Financial Services director to
award the bonds to the purchaser and
providing for other details concerning
the bonds
Bring It
Forward okay next we're at city council
member board reports and comments I'll
start at the end with uh councelor
McLure I don't have much this week but
uh I I wish people would stay partially
because I um really value that everyone
feels the need to advocate for different
issues and I feel like um if the United
States had uh universal healthcare a lot
of these issues these frankly
heartbreaking issues would get resolved
and helped thank
you thank you
grant well yeah I'll second that as
somebody who voted for Bernie Sanders
every single time I had the opportunity
to uh yeah no for real um I'd like to
thank um amazing Community Advocate
Athena hakabe um you know we're having
some great meetings about really hard
problems that we are all facing as a
community and it's refreshing to see
people working so hard on also hard
Solutions um I'm not a pickle ball
expert but I have been in pickle ball
meetings and one thing that was kind of
revelatory to me so from what I
understand the deal with pickle ball
versus tennis is the line the line conf
configuration on the courts
so they have different areas and that
would require different lines and
obviously painting a lot of different
lines is kind of a nogo because it gets
really confusing taping different lines
is problematic I'm looking towards Sonia
because I think you told me this um when
you take the tape up and then all the
sticky Gunk is left over then dirt
collects on said sticky Gunk and makes a
cleaning problem however there are I'm
going to say vinyl but I don't know if
it's actually vinyl there are plastic
overlays that you can bring to any area
put down and you have like this insta
pickle ball court I know this is
probably not up to pickle ball Olympic
standards or whatever but it is a nice
temporary solution where we could
dedicate a different sporting Court to
say a pickle ball tournament again I'm
sure there are problems with the vinyl
overlays but that was something that I
feel like was presented to me an hour
into a pickle ball meeting that I'm like
wow bury the lead there that was a
pretty easy solution so anyway look into
look into these things with pickle ball
um and then finally just a a shout out
and a plug um I'm sure a lot of people
who follow local boxing and fighting uh
know that Austin Trout are former former
WBA champion who started his career at
the Las crus PAL boxing gym come out any
night I'm there I'm volunteering I'm
happy to throw punches with you for you
at you um Austin got his start there and
he uh won a belt over the weekend in
bare knuckle fighting championship I
believe welterweight class which is just
an incred incredible move up in a new uh
you know in a new form of fighting for
him
and I was delighted to see um still
rapping Los cruus even though he's not
living here full-time anymore so shout
out atin no doubt trout still our champ
and just wanted to acknowledge that and
see where you can go when you start off
and uh Los cusis PAL boxing thank
you thank you councelor Grim councelor
Karen thank you um thank you councilor
Graham and I will third the universal
healthcare so we pretty much pretty much
we're on our way to making it happen
um uh uh just a really quick note
tomorrow we don't have a TSI PRC and I
would just I know that uh the our PRC
members are really um excited and and
some folks who are here today actually
often come to our TSI PRC so I just want
to say that we're on a Hiatus um with
the planned future to be determined but
we don't have a meeting tomorrow morning
at 8:30 so I didn't want folks to show
up um who often
do uh so a quick note the other thing
that I wanted to highlight is I wanted
to thank um lety and Deb who are two
folks organizing a a neighborhood watch
in Metro verde in my district and
they've been working with uh officer
Velasco to sort of set that up and uh
that it's really sweet to see folks
caring about their neighborhood and and
um to see how well LCPD can support them
and and just watch this magic happen
because it's also a really interesting
my district is kind of different from
from other folks districts I I think in
that the average age might be a little
bit older than than other places but for
me one of the more exciting things is to
see people of different Generations
coming together to look out for their
neighborhood and in different ways so
it's really cool to see um that
neighborhood watch coming along and so
um I really just wanted to show
gratitude to LCPD for for helping that
happen and giving that space and to the
community organizers that are really
thinking about how to support their
neighborhood and support their neighbors
and build community so um otherwise I
think that's it for
today thank you councelor Karan
councelor Flores thank you Mr Mayor um
first uh just following up on what
councelor Graham said about Universal
Health Care I totally agree with that I
think that um there there's so many
there's so many uh countries in the
world that are and I'm not going to name
them um that are less fortunate than we
are in so far as
our whatever our standing is but well
that's a different story there
notwithstanding um I don't understand
why we don't have Universal Health Care
um it would be you would think that it
would be a um you know would be a moral
duty to uh provide it especially since
we tout ourselves as being one of the
most advanced uh nations in the world
and when I hear that I think well pity
the rest of the world because when it
comes to health care you know we're it's
terrible it's dismal and um and I think
Yoli um has made it uh very clear to us
and I really want to applaud her for not
letting up and and uh for those of you
who don't know she started up C A R E I
don't know uh what the acronym it's
cancer related and helping people
actually it comes out of her own pocket
and um and I don't know if she's a we
you know we encouraged her to get a um
what do you call it a
uh nonprofit status so that she can yeah
yeah um so that she can uh get some
money I think she might have done that
nonetheless I uh for Mr peely our city
manager I know that um he us it on the
board at Memorial Medical and I think
some of the concerns that she's brought
up um have been it's not the first time
we hear that and since we uh you sit on
the board I think it's advisory though
right you don't it's not a board of
directors but it's advisory but um but
they got set up because of the telshore
fund or they that was part of the deal
and um and I don't know if Yoli had um
Yoli if she had uh a proposal or if she
mentioned a jpa with a county because a
county also has an advisory seat on that
board um but I I think that's something
we can look in uh look into Mr peely um
because uh you know it's just pitiful to
hear and it was interesting that that I
believe it was all women who came up to
talk about their plights and um and it's
interesting that they shared that you
know they work they have kids they have
this they have that and um and also
getting um you know
uh well I want to use a certain word but
it's not appropriate um but inadequate
uh medical care because I think there
were one or two women who came up and
said that they actually had a different
kind of cancer or something or a
consequent I don't know but at any rate
um I think that the city of Las Cruses
has been um in the Forefront of um
caring for its residents its people and
I think this is another way that we can
make sure that um at least people who
live in the in the
area and uh you know in the county uh
can at least get a modum of medical uh
care um the other um event is that I
think most of us were up in Santa Fe uh
trying to get money for the things that
we want to have improv here in our city
and um in my humble opinion our meeting
with the governor's office uh was that
Monday or Tuesday Tuesday it seems so
long ago but um but that was a very good
meeting the it was was scheduled with
the governor but um we didn't meet with
her it was her one of her top AIDS uh
Jesse guen who um was very accepting and
was very receptive to um what we were
asking for um Chief story was there
Chief um um Smith was there city um or
our mayor was there our city manager was
there and uh councelor McClair and I I
think that was it right right but at any
rate he was very receptive and he asked
a lot of questions because when we're
asking for money they want to know well
what have you done I mean what are you
doing and how can uh we augment that
because they don't want like you know
these Pie in the Sky type of proposals
that don't have any track record um so I
think all of us contributed to um
because we were asking for the uh Amador
Crossing money and uh we all spoke to
the existing facilities there and I
think he was genuinely impressed with
the fact that um that we have you know
harinda Lo ninos we have the clinic
there I forgot to mention the soup uh
kitchen but at any rate um he didn't
know what part of the city it was in so
he he re he asked a lot of questions so
I I'm hoping that we do get our money uh
the money that we've asked uh for from
from uh the governor's office and uh and
it wasn't that cold in Santa Fe it had
snowed like a week or so ago and so we
were spared and in fact it really became
warm in our warm jackets but um I have
to say that it was really a pleasure
being up there with our with our troop
and uh with our troops with our troop uh
and the members there so thank you Mr
Mayor thank you councelor fraud is Mayor
protm thank you also did on universal
healthcare so what does that mean
there's con consensus do that mean oh
yeah
done um I do I actually also wanted to
speak to that because I think um these
stories are incredibly heartbreaking and
a lot more common than we realize I'm
currently reading a book called poverty
by America by Matthew Desmond that I
highly highly recommend a lot of it is
not anything new it's things that we
already knew about this country in our
welfare system and how deeply broken it
is but it is a really Stark revelation
on how in this country it is incredibly
difficult to escape poverty yet we have
made it incredibly easy to remain very
very wealthy and and I really resent
some folks attempt to P poor folks
against each other in this room around
not having Health Care providing gbi
like there is this attempt to pit poor
folks against each other when the
reality is the systems that keep people
in poverty are the same systems that
keep people uninsured or having to go
bankrupt
because because they're not insured and
the for-profit Healthcare System frankly
doesn't care about anybody actually
whether you're wealthy or not and I I
especially resent that pitting poor
folks against each other because just
this morning the Senate passed a giant
bill that included $60 billion do to
military aid to Ukraine 14 billion to
Israel in20 billion for border security
so the fact that so we have money to
take care of people it just depends on
where where you want to use it and I
always say that budgets are moral
documents and so maybe we can keep this
in mind as we go into our very own
budget Retreat next week um that budgets
are moral documents and they should
represent what you care about in your
community anyway I will step off my soap
boox now um I just wanted to say that
because I the yeah that's why um I also
really wanted to thank mayor Enriquez
um shoot Melissa who's our court manager
at Municipal Court I don't remember her
name last name
apologies called well and our new
municipal judge Anthony fosa who um I'm
just really really impressed by them
both of them obviously meliss has been
there for a really long time and the
judge is fairly new as a official judge
but has been there a short time um they
have incredible ideas for how to
streamline the court system for how to
to make it more effective um for
everyone involved right people who are
facing the justice system our officers
um attorneys everybody involved and so
I'm really excited for the things that
we discussed on Friday and to bring
those ideas forward to the council I
hope we get an opportunity to talk about
them at the municipal I'm sorry at the
budget Retreat um because I think
they're definitely a priority that can
you know it's a piece of the puzzle for
solving some of the issues that people
have brought here today gun violence is
very scary in our neighborhoods and so
um not that that would even go to
Municipal Court but I do think it's an
important place to intervene early with
many folks um so I'm very excited about
that I did want to take thank Chief
story and his staff for the town hall
event they had a couple of weeks ago I
was not present personally but I watched
online and just really wanted to um
convey my gratitude for that kind of
event and looking forward for more now
that we've amended this oir contract um
I went to the lcu banqu with councelor
McClair and um the rest of the lcu
commission um last Wednesday and we
celebrated people who have been in the
department for 5 years for 10 years 15
years 20 25 years and it was really
beautiful to see even some of the folks
there that had recently um retired from
the department and so I think that's
just really beautiful um a really
beautiful show um in morale boost to see
how long our staff are willing to stay
at the um at the not willing but are
happy to stay and do really good
important work for the city um I also
wanted to just give a quick shout out to
our legislators for their incredible
hard work in this 30-day session but I
especially and I have told him many
times I just really want to commend
Larry our lobbyist because without him I
would literally be walking around lost
in a circle and so last Friday I was
there and he took Natalie Green and I
around in Nicole Martinez and um we talk
to so many legislators and it really
only because of him and the
relationships that he has so I think he
is a good choice for us he's very
hardworking and then my last request was
just that we um soon put the PRC
discussion on a work session um so that
we can begin talking about um how we
move forward with with prc's and all of
that so I would I would just request
that we put that in a work session
pretty soon anyway thank you
thank you mayor protim um again I just
want to State like we we do value the
public input you know a lot of these
things the issues that are brought up we
do value I think we need to really look
at how we structure uh public
participation and we'll continue to work
on that but the feedback that we get is
no is no different than um I'll Echo as
councelor Flores and and mayor protim
said we were all in in Santa Fe uh last
week for the Los cruus days and a lot of
the issues that we're advocating for are
a lot of these issues whether it's a
realtime crime lab whether it's a mobile
integrated and the mental uh crisis
treatment all of these issues that they
bring forward affordable housing the
East Mesa Sports Complex we're we're
we're advocating for these for our
legislators to get that external funding
so we can help finish these projects for
all these issues that are brought up and
so I want to thank staff and the city
manager those that went out there also
and uh the Chiefs that were out there
advocating and lobbying for our our our
community to get the things that we need
that we hear from the public that we
want to address so thank you and a shout
out to uh Mandy Gus and her
Communications Department as we
delivered those they did a video of all
the requests and it was uh well done uh
mayor proam yeah you did a great job uh
English and Spanish and uh it it it was
really good that when the schools and
NMSU the Las cr's uh Public School
Superintendent went up there he he said
we need to step up our game so Mandy
thank you for uh making us look good and
and setting the bar um I also want to
say kudos to officer uh from Los Cruses
Police Department uh Del Garza for uh
coordinating the run yesterday they had
a run they had a large participation for
the Fallen officer NMSU uh I mean New
Mexico State Police Jared so that was
well done I I hope that I can attend
next year they make it an annual
function uh it was it was H in his honor
and the larza was there uh even got
wounded during that scene and said how
it changed his life and I appreciate him
stepping up and showing the commitment
to this community that we really do care
for our police police officers and
they're out there really fighting the
crime so thank you for that if you could
pass that on to him Chief I'd appreciate
it now with that I'll turn it over to
our city
manager thank you mayor and and Council
uh if I may um just address a couple
things that I've been doing this a lot
lately with my reports just some things
that are that I can address quickly from
earlier comments either by Council or
the public um I want to talk about the
active Transportation planner because I
also want to advertise that as well as
we're publicly uh that we're constantly
looking for for this position to be
filled I know we had an individual
earlier on when I first got here and
then it's been a hard hard position to
to fill but two individuals were offered
and rejected the offer and so we're
we're going back I want to let you know
about that I know it suggested that we
actually go and use uh uh a firm to go
out and and actually recruit and use
some of the other positions that we were
had I think I think it was Council
McLure that gave me that idea um and so
I think we if we do that uh we may have
a little bit more success but I do want
the public to know that we are looking
uh to let you know we're looking but
also to let you know if there's interest
out there it seems that we have a lot of
a lot of Advocates and maybe maybe we
can hire some of them or one of them um
so I wanted to mention that we're still
in in process and then I know there's
been conversation about the Aquatic
Center and I know last time I mentioned
that we're hoping that we get the park
uh part in by the 22nd of January uh
latest update that has not come in yet
and they're still we're still waiting
and working with the manufacturer so
that's been the delay that's been the
delay this whole time is the part U it
may be parts to to fix this uh fix our
equipment but that's the excuse I mean
that's really where we're at we're
sitting at we there's really nothing
else we can do but uh wait that uh wait
for the part to to come
in and then
um I know u m Das has come several times
with uh concerns regarding
Memorial uh we've talked to to Memorial
talked to John uh Mr Harris to come to
city council and have a work session at
a work session to to report and be able
to address the uh these issues himself
and um and so he's agreed to do that
just when they are ready um we have a
board meeting coming up soon and we'll
get a date to where he could come in a
come to the the council it is an
Advisory board that we we sit on which
really doesn't mean a whole whole lot
but um we can certainly have these
conversations and have them come and
address some of the
issues
um and then just just the this was fresh
off hot off the press it was I was
reminded when uh councelor Graham talked
about uh our hometown hero Mr trout um
there's nothing you this wasn't even
sent as an update it was just an FYI
that U the they're looking
to to Las cusis to be to to be his uh
first title def def um first match to
defend his title they're looking to
bring it to Los Cruses so um that's not
anything solid yet but they're looking
somewhere in August and so he'll be
defending his title in Los cruus it'll
be I think a big can throw a big parade
for him if that happens here so um just
stuff that came up briefly and then just
just some uh
announcements from VC and parks in R Vis
Los crusis has led it launched its
annual Scenic Southern social media
photo contest the campaign runs from
February 1st to 29th and encourages
visitors and locals to take photos of
their Outdoor Experience then post with
hashtag Scenic Southern NM 2024 for a
chance to win
prizes um more information can be found
on visit lrsus.com also save the date
for Mid Las crusis Fest
2024 uh this is our second second year
to be held April 27th at the plaza de la
Cruses um and downtown areas this year's
headline is groupal control a nationally
recognized Neno group with roots in the
Borderland more details to come on visit
lc.com
and then from our parks and R uh youth
basketball registration opens online
February
8th uh uh from 9:00 to 400 p.m. Youth
Cheer reg uh Youth Cheer registration
opens February 22nd noon to 8:00 p.m.
and then the annual father daughter
dance will take place on February 9th a
night for at princess at Frank O'Brien
Community
Center um and
then shifting gears just wanted to to
share some
highlights uh you know as you know Larry
Horan sends reports just wanted to to
share some highlights from from this I
guess since this last report but um
appreciate the opportunity to go as well
and I think we I guess it we'll see how
productive our our visits were but um
appreciate everybody that went up as
well just a couple things uh that he
sent over to
us uh the session has passed it it's
halfway point so um January 31st was was
the last day of Bill introductions and
so
uh there was a total of 658 bills and 97
memorials and
resolutions uh the budget has passed the
house and is now in the Senate where be
CH were to be changed all the
legislators have funded their capital
outlay or PK
projects and now they H uh will begin
hearing bills in Earnest the house
considered uh some gun bills and clean
fuel clean fuels on Saturday night
apparently they didn't adjourn until
3:20
a.m. uh um couple
of of um items we asked them to to watch
as well you know Paid Family Medical
Leave passed its second committee
yesterday in the Senate uh now heads to
the state senate to the senate floor for
a vote and then uh Senate Bill 16 the
criminal
competency um and the house version were
both heard in committee the house
version moved on with a no
recommendation and the Senate Bill
received a due pass out of committee
however there was a lot of discussion
there seems to be technical drafting
issues with the bills of be uphill climb
to pass this year apparently and
additionally Senate
Bill uh 236 to fix of the MRA statute
passed uh its first committee and we'll
likely have a second hearing on
Thursday he says it's unlikely to pass
this
year
no but thank you mayor
council thank you city manager um
looking for motion to
adjourn second
by this on the motion to adjourn the
regular meeting councelor McClure yes
councelor matis is absent councelor
Graham
yes councelor Karan yes councelor flutes
yes councelor Beno yes mayor
yes