[Music]
okay well good afternoon again welcome
to the special work session las cruces
city council today's Monday March 16
2020 it's approximately 4:45 p.m. before
we begin the item on the one item on the
agenda councilor I've been Como asked if
she could start some opening remarks I
also Bencomo Thank You mr. mayor I am I
come from a place of a work where we
always have some sort of grounding or
reflection before a meeting or whatever
in the city City Council's been a little
different for me in that regards but
given the situation and given the
circumstance I thought I would bring a
little piece of that today especially
given that people are scared and feel
anxious and so I just want to read this
it's by a really great author her name
is Valerie car she says what I wish for
you is stillness the cacophony of voices
the blistering pace of the news the
relentless barrage of commentary kills
the root of our own wisdom our ability
to think clearly it drives us to act on
fear and panic to hoard to ban to
isolate to self protect to act on racist
impulses but this is a time together and
that to gather the facts and then get
quiet and summon our deepest wisdom and
let that wisdom lead us for we have
difficult choices to make in the coming
days this pandemic will test we want to
be as a people we will succumb will we
succumb to fear and self-interest or
where we double double down on love will
we let social distancing isolate us or
will we find new ways to reach out deep
interconnection step up community care
and tend to the most vulnerable in our
communities I believe this is a time to
love without limit this is a time to see
no stranger in doing so we gather
information for the kind of world we
want where no one is uninsured or
disposable where our policies and public
institutions protect us
and if panic or grief or rage sees you
suddenly it's okay it means you are
alive to what is happening the work is
to breathe through it it becomes a dance
to panic then return to wisdom to
retreat then find the courage to show up
with love anyway I spent all day in fear
but tonight I got quiet enough to hear
the wise woman in me and she said
breathe my love like any long labor we
are going to get through this one breath
at a time Thank You mr. mayor Thank You
council for those really touching words
and words of wisdom
thanks okay so I'm going to turn it over
to interim city manager David my Estes
start us off Thank You mayor Thank You
councillor Bencomo for that reading
appreciate that mayor councillors a
discussion before you will be a summary
of the changes that are taking place
with into the operations in
consideration and in collaboration with
the governor's declaration of a public
health emergency city staff has been
working this last week and over the
weekend with the adjustments being
considered to be put in place with the
governor's Public Health order as the
foundation for considering the services
to modify along with maintaining
critical essential services such as
utilities fire police streets and
traffic operations and service to our
vulnerable population we have been in
close contact with the Department of
Health partnering government agencies
and the Office of Emergency Management
where we are part of a multi-agency
coordination group we are also ready
with a designated incident commander in
the event that the need arises lastly at
answer counsels questions we have
considered and again work over the
weekend with several department
directors legal and Human Resources and
we have developed several policies for
employees so that they can have leave
and remote to work assignments to limit
staff contact while still maintaining
services as necessary for our
constituents and with that I will turn
it over to miss Lynn Gallagher director
of quality of life who will go through
the presentation
for us and then we will have several
department directors and other key staff
to answer questions that you may have
Thank You mayor
thank you David thank you thank you then
mayor City Council Lynn Gallagher
quality of life director we are the
first to present and I do know that
there are a number of very important
partners from the community who will
also have things to say specific to
their response and their efforts in the
community but we thought we would start
off with a little bit of just flow for
the group
so the coronavirus summary originated in
and around China in in about December of
2019 January 30th of this year the World
Health Organization declared this to be
an outbreak because of its fast growth
on March 11th of 2020 the World Health
Organization finally declared it a
pandemic this slide that you see before
you is the New Mexico Department of
Health's emergency response page where
they put out all of their critical
information and just to give the members
of the community the impact of how
quickly this virus is spreading we
already have a change in these numbers
and I updated this slide at about one
o'clock or 1:30 but we now currently
have 22 confirmed positive cases in
addition the CDC is no longer
presumptively verifying those results so
the website has been updated on the
Department of Health so there are 22
confirmed cases in New Mexico 14 in
Bernalillo County Sandoval County two
members three in Santa Fe County and two
in Socorro County in epidemiological
terms this virus is fast spreading and
it has an upward trajectory in order to
flatten the curve you hear that a lot
you need to act swiftly and promptly and
take the Department of Health's
recommendation seriously one of the
important things is that we operate
under a central Public Health System and
under a central Emergency Preparedness
system
which gives us an advantage that
information can best be placed where it
needs to go so in order to stop this
spread there are many things that need
to take place not only at the city level
the county level the state level but in
an individual level one of the things I
see is I see a lot of people doing the
fist bump but then I see them handing
over pieces of paper that they've
touched virus spreads virus sticks to
surfaces so there are a lot of things
that we need to do coronavirus in New
Mexico continued it was made an
emergency under executive order 2000
2000 4 on March 11th the New Mexico
Department of Health also ordered a
limit on mass gatherings on March 12th
and the New Mexico Public Education
Department closed all K through 12
schools for three weeks in addition
college and universities followed suit
and currently state agency directives
have been told to limit face-to-face
contact as much as possible and in
addition the CDC has also recommended a
50-person
limit to gatherings what I am doing is
I'm going to present what the
department's within the city are doing
regarding this response and our ability
to contain the virus the public
information office I would say has done
one of the most amazing jobs that I have
seen in my tenure in working with public
health emergencies they have provided a
kovat 19 nm do H form at City Hall which
is a wonderful opportunity and that has
been replayed over and over again for
the general public it is streamed live
on March 5th they initiated a hot topics
for the Cova da 19 on website on the
website homepage on March 11th they
initiated an alert center on the website
homepage for folks to go to and get a
organized central location for city
sites and information services they have
also produced video messages from Mayor
Maya Shima on March 12th that was
published and has been since shared over
and over again and then they have
acquired a URL link as per the
recommendation kovat 19 las cruces comm
on March
the facilities in Public Works
Department they have put their placing
waste receptacles in signage over at
restrooms in City Hall staff is
assessing additional locations elsewhere
they have implemented additional
disinfecting protocols throughout all
city buildings with a focus on City Hall
and senior centers they have they have
staffed by Ark that are staffed by our
custodians they are working with our
custodial contractor to implement
changes in their processes and
procedures at contracted sites and using
state-of-the-art hospital grade
treatments for surfaces door handles
public areas etc as well as keeping
common doors open in our Parks and Rec
Department as I go through these slides
these slides were created prior to some
of the more recent changes and so at the
end I will give you what our current
recommendation is for that that would be
our what we are doing following this
work session so as of right now in Parks
and Rec all teams are on hand and on
deck the recommendation is that all
Parks and Rec services that are being
provided will be closed at the end of
this work session the current regular
hours of operation for the
administration office the parks office
keep Las Cruces beautiful and juvenile
citation programs have been taken into
consideration and those closures and
information on those closures will be
forthcoming
Parks and Recreation continued the
following have been suspended until
further notice all practice
league play and tournaments all youth
adult programming the fitness center the
land and the water facilities special
events and then rentals of the
recreation facilities also the
facilities that have closed to the
general public
East Mesa recreation center at five five
five eight nine Porter Drive the Frank
O'Brien papen Center at 304 West Bell
the facilities that currently remain
open but will be closed following this
work session our furniture swimming pool
at eight hundred Park View Drive with
their current regular business hours and
they were limiting at the
prior to this work session 250 or fewer
swim members again the another facility
is a mere shite mere site will be closed
following this work session but mere
sites current hours of operation again
limiting the number of persons that are
entering the facility and then the
regional Aquatic Centre again will be
closed following this work session Parks
and Recreation staff are maintaining
diligent efforts to supervise teams and
they meet weekly to discuss issues
concerns and to make necessary
adjustments they have created a text
messaging group to communicate daily
about developments they have safety
protocols and precautions placing
signage on all facilities and
implementing additional cleaning
protocols throughout their facilities
and in their workspaces team member
precautions are providing all necessary
cleaning supplies following up with each
other and providing reminders and tips
for health and safety they are
communicating with customers on a
regular basis by posting information on
Facebook page sending out email blasts
via eat track registration software
emailing text to rentals and facility
parks emailing and texting to league
associations and instructors and
emailing text to Parks and Recreation
Advisory Board members communication to
customers about refunds they are
providing information about how to take
refunds and how they can do that by a
phone and they work to either reschedule
an activity or to provide some sort of
credit to be used once that we are back
under regular operating hours in the
Community Development Department the
administration the one-stop shop and
planning and Community Improvement will
continue under normal business operation
but with heightened protocols in place
online communications to be emphasized
with Flex scheduled to be extended on an
as-needed basis all public meetings with
boards and commissions are being
conducted as necessary via interactive
video audio communication and then
document intake by online or in-person
single open counter at room 1150
and then the Community Development
contact for the administration office is
five seven five five to eight three
three four zero our Economic Development
Department will continue under normal
operating hours their main line of
operation is five seven five five to
eight three four seven seven
Donald Bustos is the business concierge
there and his contact information is
listed on the screen d Bustos at las
cruces org and his phone numbers five
seven five six four zero three seven
seven six
they have provided some helpful contact
information the Small Business
Development Center can be contacted for
information regarding assistance that
can be provided to the community five
seven five five to seven seven six seven
six and then the US Department of Small
Business Administration is also an area
to contact related to disaster loan
programming and then the New Mexico
Economic Development Department leader
zero percent interest rate loans and you
can contact Christine Logan and the
number is listed or Mark Roper again
information is listed and then for
business guarantee loan program through
lenders ie banks CDFIs and credit unions
you can go to go and M biz slash about
Us / Kovac - 19 - response in addition
the state's economic development
department has a wonderful link to four
amazing they have actually created a
tool kit for businesses that can be
accessed through the economic the state
of New Mexico's Economic Development
Department New Mexico Workforce
Solutions which is unemployment reduced
hours lay out a version you can access
that information at www.hsn.com OV
public health can be contacted at the at
the numbers listed the last number the
one 855 six
three four or five three is a number
that people should memorize one eight
five five six hundred thirty four fifty
three if you exhibit symptoms and have
been in an area that you may have been
affected that is the number that you
call prior to going anywhere one eighty
five five six hundred three four five
three memorize it Fire Department the
Las Cruces Fire Department is postponing
tours and events at stations daycares
and schools the next week stores and
visits have already been contacted to
inform those members who are planning to
attend safety glasses and gloves are
required on every EMS patient contact
and n95 masks shall be carried by
personnel in case needed during any
calls and guidance remains the same on
patient contact if pre arrival
information is given that the person has
covered 19 symptoms limited number of
crew members will make contact only the
number of personnel needed to do the
assessment and treat cell enter and deal
with the patient in addition if contact
is made with a patient that is
experiencing symptoms related to the
virus and may have tray or may have
traveled or contacted someone who has
traveled to an affected area BC machette
shall be notified immediately BC
Bichette is our designated infectious
control officer and document document
ation shall include who made the contact
level of PPE warned and then the patient
patient presentation er shall be
notified of any symptomatic patient when
transported and all documentation shall
be reported immediately to the
Department of Health as is their
requirement under this state of public
health emergency Police Department
uniformed patrol officers take precedent
patrols take precedent and will continue
situational response is planned a
triggering event will determine the
delivery method of services SROs are
assigned to patrol and other
reassignments and scheduled changes are
may be possible assistance from the law
enforcement partners as needed in our
utilities department the Utilities
Department is prepared for and committed
to the continued delivery of gas water
way
spotter and solid waste services without
interruption plans are in place for
utility staff to respond promptly to
utility customer needs customer central
and billing are ready to assist
customers that may be unable to pay
their utility bill due to this emergency
and affected customers should contact
customer central at five seven five five
four one two one one one for the quality
of life Department currently our
transportation our public transportation
and dialer ID services remain in
operational until further notice we have
enhanced all of our cleaning protocols
not only at the intermodal center but on
all of our buses we have instituted and
published a free fare for the duration
to reduce person-to-person exposure
anyone needing public transportation can
take it for it free of charge
our dialer ID and senior transportation
is being coordinated with clients as
necessary in addition our dial-a-ride
service is also being utilized to help
deliver meals to the seniors that you'd
a lot usually had taken the bus for
their meal site service our senior
programs we have closed and cancelled
all programs pursuant to the aging and
long term services and Department of
Health's recommendations except for the
delivery of congregate meals via
drive-thru or pickup delivery system and
we are still providing the home
delivered meals and the drivers and all
of our staff are taking those additional
protocols to mitigate any
person-to-person contact with our most
vulnerable senior members our congregate
meals started today and I took a drive
and went through all of them and people
were very orderly and I want to thank
Public Works and our partners and law
enforcement who were there to help make
sure that everybody got through there
very safely our case management work is
taking place via telephone and we are
also working and coordinating with the
fire department to utilize their mobile
integrated health if that may become
necessary
sorry our library staff has initially
committed to stay open
however we are getting more and more
information that libraries throughout
the state and throughout the country are
closing one of our concerns becomes the
vulnerable population that uses it to
get the predominance of their
information some of the strategies that
we have taken - as of two weeks ago we
changed the format of our computer
terminals so that they met the the level
of being away from each other and we
heightened cleaning protocols we are
having some issues finding replenishing
of our cleaning supplies but that's
starting to slowly come in but we have
cancelled all programming and all public
events and after work session today we
are are going to move forward to close
the library to services until further
notice we have also promoted online
ebooks books by mail and online material
and websites that are available free of
charge to the community and through our
Thomas Brannigan Memorial Library
Service online service components and we
have eliminated late fees and are
allowing online renewals for book
subscriptions as of as of the end of
this work session today for our museum
sis our museum system pursuant to the
governor's new directive we will be
closing all of our five museums and the
the cultural center so they will be
closed because we house live animals two
of our staff members will continue to to
come in to work to make sure that the
safety and security of our animals stays
high but we have also cancelled as of
last week all of our programs public
events and private meetings and we have
been putting out a lot of good
information and online resources
particularly as families are staying
home with their children with that I
would stand for questions unless you
want to hear from the community
I would point out that this is the
the very first photograph of the isolate
of the virus that was taken of the
patient zero found it interesting hmm
Thank You Lin before and when usually
how I do it I'll ask counsel if they
have any questions of you and and then
we're part of the public but I'm going
to let interim city manager David my
assistant our first and then we'll go to
the council could she put the slide up
at that head too hot mine are not hot
line but the Health Department telephone
number that we have to memorize where
was it
David Thank You mayor I appreciate the
opportunity to update council as Miss
Gallagher pointed out things have been
changing quite rapidly and we had to
work this morning on some additional
changes compared to what was on the
slide so I would like to be able to read
off to council our most recent press
release that we plan on sending out
shortly after the discussion that we
have here and it will give the updated
changes for example all public input
meetings that have been scheduled at
City Hall are now canceled that would
include general obligation bond projects
veterans advisory board meetings and
such until further notice
city operating facilities that are
changing as well Thomas Brannigan
memorial library we proposed to have
that completely closed recreation
centers closed as well to include the
regional Aquatic Center senior centers
as Miss Gallagher pointed out closed but
we will continue the meals there and
then parks will remain open restrooms
that the parks will also be open however
we will be encouraging the public not to
congregate to large groups at these
parks and then she updated you well on
the transit system and then finally for
utilities customers we are encouraging
them to use other methods to pay their
bills because we will effectively have
City Hall closed to most public access
except for those people that do have to
come in we are working on a Dropbox
potential and the same goes for the
permitting at community development we
are decreasing the access there thank
you thank you David okay we have a
councillor Bastas you have questions of
then Thank You mayor thank you miss
Gallagher a few questions here regarding
staff who get to stay home non-essential
staff how is that determined in each
department mayor Councillor Vasquez each
of the departments has been under our
city leadership has been asked to
provide a draft of a continuity of
operations plan and to strategically
identify who are essential and who are
non-essential staff who can work from
home who who can provide some of those
virtual okay so each respective
department had provides recommendations
to administration to make the approval
of that plan mayor Councillor Bosco's
that is correct all last week
directors rated apartments were
developing their plan based on the tiers
what we would call essential personnel
that means people who have to come to
work at to their worksite to do their
job those who can do their work from
home and then those who are going to be
out in the field but are essential to
have to be there in the field so we put
together those plans and with that we
also put together policies on their
ability to to remote work from home
thank you
is there consistency across departments
in terms of what is considered
non-essential because I could figure
different department heads having
perhaps different definitions of
essential mayor Councillor Vasquez what
we did with each of those was as the
department's turned them in who it was
reviewed by a committee approach to
assure and that committee was made up of
members from the office of city manager
including legal and HR to assure that we
were being as consistent as possible
with anything and any type of policy
that you have there might be some
exemptions if we do have those those
have to be documented and justified as
we move forward Thank You mr. Mathis I
appreciate that
that answered my question on that and
just wanted to make sure that we're
erring on the side of caution and making
sure that as many staff that don't have
to come into work you know aren't at
work right if it's an issue of customer
service for example I think our
customers can can perhaps if it's not an
anonymous is not an essential service an
essential question I was thinking about
economic development or some of these
other departments that can be on hold
you know staff don't have to be there
answering phones if it's not related
directly to an emergency situation that
they shouldn't be shouldn't be working
so so thank you for that consistency and
the legal review on that appreciate that
mr. Mathis in terms of the Convention
Center I know you didn't mention that
but assuming Convention Center is closed
and all events have been postponed as
well mayor Councillor buskers yes that's
correct okay thank you
and then how about visit Las Cruces are
there offices will there
offices be closed after tomorrow mayor
Councillor Vasquez their offices are
closed however their phone information
system and their online information
system is important to be able to chirp
it but it's closed to the public
okay very good are there other options
for that kind of call forwarding for
employees to be remote and be able to
have calls to official City numbers be
rerouted to their cell phones or home
phones mayor Councillor Vasquez I think
that that I would say that the city has
done a remarkable job in looking and
identifying that and already messaging
our online platforms our telephone
hotlines that they can call there's a
plethora of information that we gave
early and often that I think that that
that is was looked at quickly okay okay
hope we can maximize that that as well
in terms of the transportation system
immediately I've just become a little
wary right of keeping transportation
lines open because it's a fast way to
transmit a disease if you're going from
one side of the town to the other with
folks then spreading to different stops
but I also know how critically important
it is for people to have public
transportation especially to get to a
doctor or to get groceries so are there
any other best practices that you've
seen from other municipalities in terms
of how you limit the spread of the
disease and keep public transportation
open yes we have looked and been in
partnership and communication with our
FTA partners under the federal
transportation administration and they
are giving us guidelines for how we
interact part of the reason why we went
to a free fair system is we're not
dealing with the tokens we're not
dealing with giving out change we're not
making that that that constant contact
we are cleaning the buses more
frequently it becomes in in an emergency
you really have to think about those
critical services and if the if you look
on here says stay home mm-hmm the
website should stay home you want people
to stay home however there are people
who are dependent on public
transportation even to get medicine and
to get groceries and
I think that we need to be prudent in
staggering the approach for a public
transportation system sure seniors are
dial-a-ride
and our paratransit system our persons
living with disabilities have no other
option and if we completely say we're
closed and an emergency for them Rises
that cost to the city into the state
becomes exponentially higher by having
to call 911 to pick up a prescription so
absolutely it's weighing that and saying
when do we minimize services some of the
things we've been looking at our route
headways do we expand our route headway
and just say it's gonna take you a
little bit longer to get where you need
to go but you can go there what do we do
at our intermodal center as far as
people coming in and coming out that can
easily be an area where 50 or more
people can congregate so we look at that
every day
great thank you miss Gallagher I think
adding some context of that in the press
release that goes out to the public that
mentions our public transportation is
still open but with the caveat of you
know this is what the city is doing to
maintain the bus is sanitized and also
please only use it for essential
services would be a good good way to
communicate that I think to the public s
so you know for them to have both the
confidence but also not use public
transportation that unless they
absolutely have to
you mentioned libraries and museums
would be shut down starting tomorrow
except for the library for the computers
at the library is that right so one of
the things gives me one of the things we
were looking at is whether or not we
keep a portion of the computer lab
available on a limited basis in the
event that people needed to get it for
information that is yet to be determined
okay as of today our recommendation is
that we close it okay until at least
until April 9th based on the governor's
executive thank you thank you appreciate
you being mindful of that in terms of
the utility disconnections I'm hearing
some mixed messages because I had heard
that we were suspending all
disconnections and on the presentation I
heard that if you have a problem paying
that you should call so
which doctor Garcia weather Thank You
mr. chairman counselor affected this
morning I ask staff to suspend his
connections okay okay so let's first we
had proposed that customers call in in
in go through that effort but given the
severity of the situation I administer
ated Lee asked staff to suspend
effective this morning thank you dr.
Garcia I appreciate that so let's yeah
make sure that that information is
relayed as well so that we're not having
folks call in right as opposed to having
that peace of mind that they there will
be okay
definitely think that should be so now
with the press release or even as a
standalone
I would also advise to use the
system-wide
text message system that the utilities
has developed to send out perhaps a
similar message to customers to let them
know if that's a possibility yeah mr.
chairman comes from Abbas because the
ever bridge system is going to be very
useful in this situation yes I think
some unfortunately this is probably a
great reason to use the tree emergency
system so okay thank you and then
questions around community of hope as I
know we have several presenters here
that would represent the community but
those services to the population of
folks who get services there is any is
there anything to report on in terms of
changes that community of hope at all
mayor I would offer that as an
opportunity for them to come and present
on what they're doing if that is the
wish of the council I have just a few
more questions and then I think that
would be that'd be great
in terms of the website Kovan 19 las
cruces comm thank you so much for
getting that up and running so quickly
I think the aggressive public education
needs to needs to we really need to lead
in those efforts I think as we've been
doing pretty good do you have a timeline
of when that website might be up and
what we could expect to tell our
residents they could they could see
their mayor Councillor Bosque is I will
have u del V he'll come and address that
thank you good afternoon mayor and
council council of Oscars to be specific
when you say the website are you talking
about the URL
acquired - sure well equal to the
website that that we already have yes so
I know the website perhaps will point to
a page on the cities what existing
website but I know there's a whole bunch
of content that needs to be populated on
that existing page so I guess both of
those things one can we expect to
redirect to that page and then when can
we expect to have that comprehensive
content included in that resource okay
understood thank you yes sir so we
acquired the URL today it could take up
to a few hours so it might actually be
available now as soon as it is we'll
start redirecting people to it as far as
the populating the content that you're
referencing we're gonna have a meeting
tomorrow to plan out how we're going to
do that and how we're going to assign it
out to everybody so we can start
populating it we can do it as early as
tomorrow okay but we'll try to get a
more firm deadline as to win we'll have
everything that you're looking for done
thank you you del I really appreciate
that I think for the ease of you know
information and getting it out fast
I wouldn't advertise the website until
all the content was populated because
then you'll get folks going and saying I
didn't find the resource here but but
that information that is kind of a
compilation of both local you know what
the city is doing what the state is
doing what feds are doing what's
assistance for businesses for families
all that I would say just as easy and
simple and basic as possible bullet
points with links to avoid you know
delaying you know without any fancy
gadgets and features okay thank you good
but thank you I think our I think our
residents will appreciate that well you
you and council a bit como initiated
that so thank you for your help
not a problem Thank You Udo and then
lastly the last question I have is
related to the I've talked about this in
Prior but in terms of the 50 people per
state or per location guidelines that
the governor put out how are we
enforcing that is there anything more
that we can do to
ensure that you know people are
following that or businesses or
gathering areas is there anything that
we're doing proactively or we can do to
enforce then one of the things that I in
the governor's message was for buildings
and for general businesses is to limit
it to 50% of your occupancy and then the
CDC's recommendation is to reduce that
to less than 50 people okay so there are
a couple of ways that communities can do
that you know you see if your occupancy
is under 50 people then you can talk
about how you do that some people move
tables I've seen people put signs on the
door the council chamber is a good
example and a reflection of our being
good stewards of the public health
emergency by having notifications we are
we are a globally online community now
and so messaging through Facebook
Twitter Instagram all of those services
become a good important way to say the
first 50 people can come in some people
talk about giving out tickets some
people talk about but you also want to
be mindful of the populations that
you're serving thank you miss Gallagher
I'm particularly concerned about gyms
and churches and so the membership at
gym I go to try to go everyday and so
you know having not to go is you know I
can go run outside do something else but
you know I know especially in the early
morning hours in the afternoon I'm not
sure that those gyms are gonna be at 50%
capacity that's because folks have as
part of their routine right part of that
ritual so concerned that the gyms and
and churches are going to continue to be
over 50% capacity unless we do something
about it explicitly is that something
that you your staff is discussed or
thought about from a Parks and Rec
perspective I know speaking with the
director Sonja has indicated that their
facilities people do want to come to the
gym it's just not highly recommended
however one of the things that they're
doing proactive is saying what is
available online
I think that that's a good place to
start I know my sister lives in El Paso
and she frequents a gym and it is closed
but their gym has given them
certificates to come back once it's over
and they've also put some of their
instructors online to teach some of the
classes it's one of the things we're
doing in the museum around mental
exercise trying to record certain things
so that people have access to our
services online Mayor Custer bus if I
could also we have talked about that in
our briefings and our discussions that
is something that we have to see from a
legal standpoint what opportunities we
have because it sounds something like
you're talking about private cams up
areas you don't have jurisdiction of how
they they carry on their services but we
would have to take a look to see how if
we have potential to work on those
ordinances thank you I appreciate I mean
no other municipalities have you know
shut down for example restaurants limit
them to take out probably places that
have more higher cases of the virus in
and around them but I would want us to
explore all of those options including
looking into now if we can you know at
the city level at least shut shut down
gyms temporarily to me that's one of the
really important things we could be
doing now and thinking about that now if
it's if it's legal
mayor fighting it may address that I I
guess I would like to not dissimilar to
our conversations many months ago about
the asylum seeker issue a lot of these
decisions under this emergency are state
related and and need to stem from those
authorities I would just caution us to
make directives that fall outside of
line of what our what our state is
requiring us to do I told you get that I
will for that I will just say the state
is probably being more aggressive than
the federal government because the state
felt like the federal government wasn't
doing enough and so I would just want to
keep our options reserved with the
powers that we have of the local
government to be able to execute on a
plan that we think is best for our
community but totally agree that you
know the state obviously
as the experts the Department of Health
and a lot of in really folks making good
decisions but I want to do everything we
can to maximize the protection of our
citizens so those are the all my
questions miss Gallagher for now thank
you Thank You mayor Thank You council
roscas so very good questions I will
just say and I think kind of along the
lines of what Lynne was trying to get
and I have read the the the emergency
action that the governor put forth and
it specifically excludes businesses on
the hundred number so but I think if the
council might be able to implement the
distance so we'll look at that as well
two things real quick one and I'm sure
Rico or is a chief operating officer is
going to talk about this but along the
lines of consistency with the city of
Las Cruces utilities they're also going
to suspend any service disconnections as
such and then - if I remember correctly
when we we moved in here that our phone
systems are what they call VoIP voice
over Internet Protocol and there's Cisco
Systems so if I were if I and I'm not a
hundred percent certain about this but I
received to recall this if one of the
employees has you know has internet
service at home they could actually plug
into their onto the internet and the
phone ring because that's its own little
computer will ring at their house so
that you don't have to do too much
configuration so we can maybe have IT
look into that because that was one of
the was one of the neat features of that
phone was we were say he was worried you
know if if they would take the phone to
the house and we wouldn't know they were
there so now it might come in handy that
there at the at the house and they don't
have to do a whole lot of
reconfiguration so I just want to share
those two things okay gals have been
Coleman Thank You mr. mayor um and thank
you Miss Gallagher I think to the whole
city staff that's been thinking about
this 24 hours 24/7 I mean and you all
have been doing a really great job
seriously thank you
I know it's there's no easy decisions
right now and similarly to the schools I
think they've been doing an incredible
job acting really does
so I really appreciate all of you a
couple questions in terms of so I think
it's great that we're pushing a lot of
things on social media I think right now
that's where a lot of people get
information I want to make sure that
everything on social media is also in
Spanish I know that we're trying to send
as many things out as possible but
social media and posts have not been
necessarily in Spanish so I want to make
sure that that that we do that I don't
know if this means assigning someone
specifically in this moment to work on
translating things for the foreseeable
future like a specific person who is
translating instead of just trying to
find random folks who can translate
different things assigning someone
specifically to to the translation of
information documents etc senior meals
are being expanded are the program being
expanded to be able to serve more people
mayor Councillor Bencomo our current
senior meal program is we are taking all
those assessments online and providing
services in a broader perspective to the
seniors that are wanting that service
and then we are also traveling and
contacting additional seniors to let
them know that the service takeout
service is available and they may prefer
to just come and pick up a meal rather
than don't come yeah is there a number
for seniors to call who want to request
service yes ma'am there is and I I
remembered that number but I can't wait
to seven five two five five five two
eight three thousand five to eight three
thousand great thank you no look of
another number yes there's a number to
schedule that's the main number to the
Senior Center there is a specific
telephone number for scheduling their
meal and it has been attached to all of
our senior programs announcements which
are all produced in English and in
Spanish great and so if the number of
seniors calling in to
the cert meal service grows
exponentially are we ready for that do
they have enough we do resources okay we
do we have have ordered several some of
the meals might look more like a lunch a
Shack lunch than the full hot meal that
they're getting today but we have been
working closely with our partners at
Aging and long-term services in the
non-metro Triple A to make sure that we
have the kinds of nutritious meals that
they are allowing us to provide during
this time great that's awesome um for
those people who don't have access to
social media to computers can we send
some of these things out in utility
bills some of the information perhaps
some of these phone numbers the one 8 by
5 number that you mentioned that I think
utilities is already prepared to send
out information regarding payment
options and and that kind of stuff but
whatever we can send out to the most
amount of people possible that might not
have access to online tools mayor
council or I'll have David all hon
specifically addressed that I'm just
going to answer the question about
senior programs and the mewls number 5 7
5 5 to 8 3 0 1 to 30 12 you can't miss
it or mayor comes up in Como I think I
can start and then David can finish so
she was asking whether for those that
don't have internet access can we put
something in the utility bill that's an
easy thing I think that we can get some
fliers for the utility bills one of the
things in quality of life that we've
been doing is making fliers available in
the libraries and the museums while they
were open but we have also been putting
things giving helpful resources with the
senior meals as they are coming through
to get their senior meals
great thank you he said yes we can do
that and then I think also once though
this copa90 las cruces URL is up and
running in full of content perhaps we
can also include that in in some of
these information messages going on in
the utilities bill that's it for me mr.
mayor thank you thank you so much
Mayor Pro Tem gun tonight thank you Mary
Thank You then so much for your work and
all the staff David administration I
know you've been working tirelessly I've
been receiving emails late at night I'm
just trying to stay ahead of the curve
if you will last week I had an
opportunity several days to meet with
the administration and I just want and
and thank you to the public who's here I
sent out SOS s to a lot of you to come
out here and make sure that you're here
and listening and kind of giving input
as we move forward because for me Shawn
I'm an old CPS worker right a lot of you
two aren't aware but I I was a line
worker and then I became the read the
county office manager in the regional
and I'm used to this stuff the crisis is
what we had to deal with day in and day
out especially when children are being
abused and neglected and pretty horrific
times and a lot of our staff are just
used to being the ones to respond and
move through that really in a lot of
ways alone so I've really appreciated
councillor Bencomo sort of you know
helping us sort of of understand and
focus because I don't I don't feel so
alone I think there's a lot of community
members out there that want to help a
lot of businesses that are helping and
so I just want you to know that I'm
completely committed in helping to make
sure that our most vulnerable are are
being are being aided during this time
and so I've been talking a lot about
privilege
right this last weekend this week about
checking our privilege there all of us
in this room for the most part have
access to many of those things internet
you know a cell phone and and so what I
continue to be concerned about is our
homeless population our populate our
children that come to school for
reprieve for a safe haven and I continue
to be very very concerned and so some of
the mote the first conversations I was
having is what about our Weed and Seed
what about our GCC program because these
are the kids that for lack of better
words have a horrible some of them not
all of them have a very difficult home
environment and I know that the very
difficult decision was to cancel it
sounds like those particular
after-school program that's what we know
is the after-school programs but I do
want the the governor did come out with
the childcare resources right kind of
waiving certain things I'm not sure Lynn
that you have that but one of the things
that she asked is for people who are
providing childcare that if at all
possible that you keep open for those
kids that need that service and so for
me I'm still and I understand that and I
also understand that their staff that
was pretty upset about the decisions
because I received some calls about that
on Friday night having to go in on
Monday given the situation and so I want
us to really think about about that and
what those kids are going to do tomorrow
I don't know what the numbers look like
today because it was the first day right
that we were open and available within
the confines that the governor has
suggested right 50 and so I know that
staff was doing everything that they can
to
sure that we were meeting those strict
there's drip orders if you will and so I
am deeply concerned about how people are
going to get information when they don't
have access to Internet broadband phones
those kinds of things
I am deeply concerned about the shop you
know going to grocery stores and not
seeing the necessary products that
people are going to especially for our
families that don't have the privilege
of going and getting and purchasing
things by bulk I've offered many a times
to give toilet paper and paper towels
and food in anything that I can and so I
like the mayor's idea as we talked last
week or early this I don't remember
month today this morning about my
concern about the hoarding that's going
on that the difficulties that were
having stalking you know those necessary
things in and quite frankly my heart
breaking when seniors are out there who
are either disabled or very sick on
oxygen trying to get to the grocery
stores right to purchase these items and
so I really like that idea may your
purchasing if we can within the combines
event a donation and those things is is
making it available and really I'm not
sure that we have grocery stores or
Sam's or Walmart representation here
today and all the others target I it
would be nice to have you know an hour
to where our seniors can go and purchase
those items and know that they have
those items available to them Mayor Pro
Tem if you recall we were looking at
distributing them through the senior
centers so they would have they don't
have to have a certain time they just go
pick them up and and pay what we paid
cost yes whatever that is I'm just
agreeing with you that I like the idea
that I think we
to continue to explore that I too like
the idea of a website where all the
information is that that one can find is
is there at 140 but I also am deeply
concerned about people seeking you know
needing help and having to go online
filling something now or calling and a
message to be taken I think we need to
make sure that when people call for
information that they're speaking to a
live person I received a call from a
relative who her daughter through New
Mexico State University had arrived back
into the country via Egypt and was
trying to you know locate people and or
to just have a conversation about what
they were needing to do this was sort of
early on as things were sort of fluid
and changing so quickly and I don't know
what that what that's like for people to
be able to have a live person to be able
to talk to talk these things through if
you will and I'm thinking this one 855
number is a good one but I also want the
public to know that if we need to just
get you know set up our own number that
I think we need to look into that my
daughter is a doctor and University of
Colorado and a medical doctor yes and
she's very concerned in terms of the
ventilators the mass those items that
are being are we are required of our our
medical professionals our EMS our our
our fire and our police and I'd like to
ask pose that question what do we have
available for our medical community and
do we have enough of those tools to
protect them as they're protecting us
and making sure that if someone gets
diagnosed
Kove in nineteen that they have
everything that they need and so then
I'm not sure if that's available or not
may kind of information excuse me yeah
mayor Councillor Gandhara I would just
remind you when dr. Alexander came and
presented from the Department of Health
at the last work session the Department
of Health has prioritized and works
closely they have weekly briefings with
the hospital system in New Mexico to
check those levels of of PPEs and
ventilators and and they work with them
to provide that information I don't know
how many are available but I know that
they prioritized that specifically they
have they can access the national
stockpile during times of emergency so I
appreciate that and I think although
very important to have that connection
with the Department of Health at a state
I want to be sure that that I know that
we know what are the tools are available
for a medical personnel here and doing
everything that we can to ensure that
they have the proper you know equipment
to do the work that we're asking them to
do and really god bless them they
they're really being put in positions
especially hearing kind of staggering
percentages that counselor about the
scoobies indicated from her relative up
and I think that was Washington right
and let's see I have I'm I I noticed I
saw Colin Colin yes here from iam
emergency management and I'm hoping I
was hoping to hear from them as it
relates to a solid plan in terms of
currently we don't have any cases here
in Las Cruces but if we were to do that
what are we prepared to do and I'd like
to see you know it's a three-tiered kind
of you know where we need to go to
complete lockdown I mean I'm just
throwing these sort of suggestions out
I'm not sure that that's what would
happen but I'd like to hear from from
them
sorry land I took a lot of notes and I
just want to make sure that that we are
I thought I've answered every or asked
everything and if not I guess I can come
I can't come back but at this point
that's all mayor Thank You mr. mayor
yes so David I want to get on two points
with councilor Dondre that our utilities
are essential service all of our
utilities are essential service from
solid waste of water or gas to
wastewater we want to help reinforce to
the public our water system is safe and
you should be drinking our tap water
there is no need to rush out and buy
bottled water at all the other item is
is a reminder that paper towels and
wipes are not flushable in our sewer
system that can lead to blockages within
your internal house pipes or with our
sewer system so if there are words that
you can get out to your constituents
through your mail groups
please reinforce those two items it
would be most appreciated thanks David
Mayor Pro Tem Colin Combs was here
briefly and he just wanted to relay that
he's working with chief Enriquez and all
of our other public safety officials
they're putting together making the
outreach to the armory and just getting
the land plan prepared just the event of
emergency and then he had to take off
she want to add some yes Thank You Mara
appreciate that we actually had a
conference call this morning I've been
in contact with mr. combs throughout the
week and the weekend but we had a
conference call this morning that they
call their joint conference call and we
had several members from different
agencies throughout the community the
Dona Ana County the schools other areas
to make sure that people had resources
we're talking
what their modifications might be and
what our next steps would be if we have
to go to a different tiers you're
talking about mayor pro-tem Gandara we
will have that same phone call on a
weekly basis here moving forward so that
we can continue to update each other and
all of our collaborating agencies so
that we have the a better idea of where
we're gonna go next if we need to Thank
You mayor excuse me can also they're a
beta Stevie thank you um a follow-up
question for our utilities departments
just to clarify and make our public no
suspensions for connections that
includes commercial property the two or
just residential mr. chairman councilor
it includes any customer that is in need
of help okay thank you
that's correct and if I may it could be
a small business that falls behind on
the bills and all that and we will not
disconnect and we work with them just
like we do with individual residential
customers okay thank you
and thank you mr. Gallagher for the
presentation and for the department for
all the work that they've done another I
think helpful thing would be to know
kind of what our supply levels are as we
move forward one of the things even and
knowing what kind of our capacity levels
are so such as our senior meals how many
were serving how many we have capacity
for right now so that we can start
engaging that to know if we need to
start making those adjustments those are
numbers I would love to see to make sure
that when I am referring constituents
out that I know that we're still within
our capacity levels and then thinking
about our high streams I know even our
businesses are going to be happening
think about that later on to of where
we're getting our supplies from if
there's delays in that and if we're
making them any adjustments or if we
expect any of those delays I don't know
is that do we have any of those delays
that were expecting later on for our
supplies
I can have the facilities management or
address that piece I would just address
the senior programs portion to say that
we are tracking every meal that we serve
and the amount of services that we
provide and how many more people call in
to access meals I today was our first
day and there were quite a large number
of no-shows and we're we're thinking
about that delivery of service is that
because like good stewards people are
staying home even though they made a
schedule but we're tracking all of that
every day and today is not a great
indicator to do that but we will keep
checking those numbers and adjust and
readjust as necessary but our suppliers
for food have indicated we utilize for
suppliers for food for our senior
programs meals and they have all
indicated that they have more than
enough to provide us what they need
again even if that means that it's more
of a shack lunch thank you
and again as we move forward if we are
cataloging the grab-and-go meals to to
see how many were serving maybe they
didn't do the scheduling but they're
doing some getting their food a
different way and I think a lot of my
other questions actually have been
answered for now but thank you did I
apologize did you want the answer on the
supplies from facilities management if
they're available
good afternoon mr. mayor Councillor
too late Eric Martin facilities
management administrator we also work
with different suppliers right now we
don't have any issues versus what we
have in stock right now and what we get
ahold of in terms of toilet paper and
paper towels those kinds of things the
type of disinfectant that we use which
is in a special spray gun that you may
have seen that our different buildings
and things we can still get ahold of
those tablets and what-have-you but the
areas that we have right into our hand
sanitizer and whites but we've been in
contact with their suppliers we've
gotten ourselves at the head of the line
and so as you'll notice that we've been
installing in different locations City
Hall starting and moving out is you're
seeing in sanitizers being stopped
installed on the walls as well as we're
getting backup supplies for those but
otherwise we're making sure that we put
ourselves in line for any other
materials that we may need and then the
vendor calls us let's know here's what
we've got that we can make available to
you okay thank you very much mayor abate
that's to be peckerhead to that as Miss
Keller who pointed out with respect to
projections we don't have an accurate
projection right now and the reason for
that because of the closures and the
adjustments we've had to several the
programs were actually in good shape
with our supplies because we don't need
as many of them but as we get further
into these closures then we can work on
what the projection would be and where
we are with the supply chain thank you
thank you anybody else
Elsword Thank You mr. mayor and thank
you miss Gallagher that for all the work
you and your staffs have done which is a
lot I know I might have missed it but
this Las Cruces have its own hotline
that anybody from Las Cruces can call
for information about las cruces mayor I
know we have the website ask Las Cruces
the 3-1 number I would defer okay
I just wondered if we had one I was
gonna publicize it if they redid yeah we
don't and that's why it counts through
Bastas wanted to have that special easy
to remember no domain name okay good
it's what being worked on I suppose in
yeah I think they said I be up and
running tomorrow good um another
question I had is and I'll tell you why
after I ask the question are there test
kits for coronavirus here in las cruces
now does anybody know and speaking with
the hospitals they do have some they do
but the reason why I asked them is
because there was a request to have a
mobile venue and so the reason why it
was easier for Albuquerque to have it is
because tricor the one who actually
makes the test is located there and so
what they're doing there in
Albuquerque's or they're getting the
swab or whatever the specimen and
they're just running to the lab and they
can test it right there on the spot so
how does it get from here to Albuquerque
the test ok well the test kits here then
I guess they have to take it over their
table querque I don't know if there's I
don't they can test it here I have no
idea I'm just saying that they can they
say manufacturer and says they there
they're the headquarters for try quark
yeah it's real easy for them to do it so
the test kits have to be sent here and
and that's why we need to have our our
legislative delegation state delegation
kind of press the administration in
Santa Fe to send more tests well let me
explain why I asked that because I heard
a story just recently that a a person
from Las Cruces had just returned from
Seattle and she was not feeling well I
don't know if she had coronavirus
symptoms or not but she was not feeling
well and she was wanting to be checked
out and she called a doctor and the
doctor didn't help and she called the
health department and they couldn't help
her so I'm hoping we can get that kind
of thing straightened out because you
all know we need to know who has a
corona by us in order to
control it and that's so important and
that's why having test kits shortage in
this country in general is such a bad
thing so anyway the the director to
encourage people to stay home is so
important and I know it's hard because
I'll tell you why
for 21 days Street I had to stay in my
home and when I lived in Montana simply
because the temperature not got it never
got above zero all 21 days I I barely
got out just to get some groceries once
or twice and but otherwise I had to stay
and just to keep warm and so it's not
easy but we have to do it and that's
going to be the the key to controlling
as much as we can this disease Samara
that's all I have I think okay yes so
okay that's good anybody else I just
want to say that I agree hundred percent
with councilor Vasquez's suggestion that
we that we have something online that is
has links and just makes it very simple
I was just looking at an email from
Carrie Hamlin that was sent out and it's
the title is what your business can do
to reassure your customers but it
actually is more encompassing than that
and I just forwarded to the city manager
and udell but it has to be very easy to
access and then as far as people who
don't have computers at home I think
that we're going to have to do it the
old-fashioned way just put paper notices
up just you know as much as we can and
but then at the same time as you say you
see people passing papers then I catch
myself with my
my face I'm always touching my face I
don't know why but anyway so I just
wanted to share that and make sure that
and agree and totally concur with can't
surpass kisses comments thank you mayor
Councillor Flores and council a lot of
you have mentioned those that don't have
access to Internet and unfortunately for
most people a lot of my my background is
around emergency preparedness for a
number of reasons and during the Ebola
outbreak in Zika one of the ways that we
were able to get the state was able to
reach those populations were through
billboards and so it can be a good
mechanism to have the numbers posted on
a billboard to have that information on
the sides of the road on the side of
buses can definitely be on the side of a
bus you know they should have wrap
arounds or something that go up quickly
the billboards sound like a pretty good
idea I think buses make more sense
because they're around the city and
billboards unless you're out on highway
70 who's going to be cruising 70 when
you're worried about the virus without
people like mr. mayor okay anyone else
okay how many I know a lot of residents
are here that wish to say or have some
comments so if you could raise a raise
your hand how many you would like to
speak so I've got one two three four
five just five six you sure cuz I'm
gonna as I go by how many you're gonna
speak okay so I can let's hold up again
so one two three four five six seven
eight nine ten eleven okay so let's go
three minutes each and then if we have
any further questions we'll ask you some
more questions so let me just start on
my on my left and we'll just go from on
on down Thank You Lynn great
I'm sorry oh okay sure absolutely
was wondering why clay was here his boss
is here good afternoon mayor and council
thank you for letting me speak with you
my name is Elena ball and I'm a senior
vice president with the electric company
as you all have been doing for four
weeks we've been preparing for this
potential pandemic and wanted to provide
a few updates and then I certainly would
be happy to take questions that anyone
has that better to you're right the
tubular button push forward and raise
the podium up is that better Erica's
gonna be right behind you oh stand up
desk I will let you know that there is a
document that Rico passed out I promise
you he sanitized his hands before
handing you the paper but it really
outlines a number of the steps that the
utility is taking to ensure reliable
service for our customers and the
priorities first and foremost are the
safety and health of both our customers
as well as our employees so we're making
decisions with that first priority in
mind we also want to ensure that our
system is reliable and so we're really
taking a careful look at all of our
operations ensuring our power plant and
all of our transmission and distribution
systems can safely and reliably serve
power not only to our residences and our
businesses but of course to those
life-critical facilities like hospitals
um since I'm here in front of you I
wanted to encourage our customers to
talk with us digitally similar to a
number of the programs that you all
talked about that are going on here at
the city of Las Cruces we want to
encourage our customers to email us to
telephone us and really to help us
socially distant we do still have our
walk-in centers open but we're
re-evaluating that similar to what you
all are doing on an ongoing basis we
talked a little bit about billing
earlier last week as we were assessing
the situation as we started to see cases
show up in our service territory we did
make a decision to
in this connection for all customers we
do want our customers to work with us
reach out we'll work with them on
payment arrangements and we are going to
continue to notify our customers of not
only the other their normal billing
cycle but if they're behind and we again
encourage our customers to reach out to
us so that we can work with them a
couple of other notes something that
hasn't been covered in the work session
but I think is really important and it's
near and dear to my heart are scams
unfortunately we are here in a really
difficult situation as a nation and you
would you would think we all pull
together to try and do the right thing
and I think 99.9% of us do but there are
that small person into people who want
to take advantage and so if you all can
help us and we'll help you get the
message out that scammers will take
opportunities like this to try and take
money from people who are in a difficult
position so just know that if you get a
suspicious email a phone call someone
trying to demand payment on indicating
that they're The Electric Company we
want everyone to question that don't
respond pick up the phone and call us
and validate whether that's correct
I was over at our customer contact
center in Las Cruces this afternoon and
we've had such a situation in the front
parking lot this afternoon so be alert
they're um a couple of other items you
know as I mentioned we really want to
focus on digital and if customers do
feel like they need to walk in we've got
our centers open we're taking a lot of
precautions to ensure that we're not
spreading infection but we do really
want folks to use digital channels we
have plenty available and with that I'll
take any questions that you may have
about the electric company or what steps
we're taking this is a fluid evolving
situation so we do have this document
that you have at your at the Dyess on
our website and we'll be updating it if
there are changes and operations oh and
Rico I wanted to remind me that all of
our publications are in Spanish in
English any questions well great no it's
very well counseling I actually don't
have a question but it just been brought
to my attention that that might keep
being touched by a lot of different
people
there's wipes right here perhaps maybe
can limit the touching of the microphone
but if people want to clean it there's a
little wipes right there that's great
any other questions all right thank you
thank you very much for coming over here
and Rico does a fantastic job but we
appreciate appreciate that well he has a
new name now Rico suave thank you oh oh
you've heard about Rico suave huh
were you here earlier okay okay
Rico sounds sick not so suave
so did you did you would you want a
speaker this was just for her okay so
now we're on the second row and that
superintendent Karen Trujillo and if you
need more in three minutes I mean in
charge of all the school kids in the
city so it if you need a couple more
minutes mr. mayor members of the council
thank you so much for allowing us to
speak so today we did our first day of
dr. Elam all right can you state your
name please sorry dr. Karen Trujillo
superintendent of Las Cruces Public
Schools uh again thank you for having us
or having me here now I'm gonna need to
lower this thing because it's or I'll
stand on my tippy toes today we
partnered with fYI to do our first day
of meal distribution but what we
discovered that's good thank you
was that the capacity that they could
carry was really not quite what we need
so starting tomorrow we are expanding to
17 additional sites so we will be adding
Alameda Elementary Central Elementary
that's our Chavez last sunrise Columbia
Elementary at the old address because
that's where those families live Conley
Elementary will remain at Desert Hills
the Dona Ana site will go from the Dona
Ana community center to Dona Ana
elementary school
Hermosa height Hill rise Loma Heights
Elementary Lynn middle school McArthur
Mesa middle school Mesilla elementary
Mesilla Park Picacho middle school will
remain the same
Tombaugh elementary university hills and
valley view so we are going to be
staffing those ourselves all of the
meals are being cooked at Las Cruces
high school with our food service folks
and our administrators and security
guards will man those additional 17
sites FYI we'll be closing down like I
said Donnie on a community center and
the Frank O'Brien community center in
Mesilla because we had very few students
there and we have Elementary's nearby so
we'll pick up that traffic they will add
Presidio park at New Mexico State
University and the Public Library in the
parking lot
much like the city you know we are have
all of our schools sites closed down
completely we will be doing the deep
cleaning once we kind of figure out what
that looks like in three weeks it's
changing everyday some of the issues
with the food that maybe you can assist
us with and we have already reached out
both to our local delegation and the
national delegation but there are very
strict rules with food distribution as
your senior programs probably know and
we're trying to navigate that as best as
possible without having to turn anybody
away but there were people today because
fYI was given instructions from cYFD
that children had to be present in order
to pick up the food and that's very
difficult so we had cars driving up with
six people and said I only have six
seatbelts what am I supposed to do with
the other two so we were trying to be as
gracious as possible but there were
those situations today some of the
things that I think we could hopefully
continue to partner on we do have
students that were quarantined because
they were in Washington DC and
California they obviously are
quarantined as The Heist as a household
so we're trying to figure out that
delivery system so if we could maybe
connect with the senior delivery system
and possibly they can help pick up that
delivery capacity that would be helpful
the other thing that I would like to
offer to the city is the fact that we do
have direct contact with every single
parent via our in touch system which is
a text messaging
and all of the emails so for those of
you I know there was a lot of discussion
about how to contact parents we do have
that capacity so if you want to message
out very specific things about not
turning off you know utilities or those
in a very concise manner it has to be
four hundred and fifty characters or
less but that includes both the English
and the Spanish so really like two
hundred and twenty characters we'd be
happy to send that out to all of our
parents we do have translators so
everything we have goes out regularly in
English and Spanish and we're trying to
use our social media and again the in
touch system to communicate as
effectively as possible so with that I
stand for questions so David I guess you
have some or there's someone working
with the public schools for any type of
transportation issues or mayor members
of council we have had discussions with
the school system we had a conference
call with them when they were first
talking about how they were going to do
the food distribution as we've all
talked about throughout the day here
because things have changed so much this
is the first we've heard about the
assistance from senior programs for
those students we definitely can get
into discussions with that as well as
discussions for getting the information
out to parents that we that we are
crafting and with respect to our news
releases thank you and last but not
least if we could because we also have a
static website that we're constantly
updating we're more than happy to put
your link on ours if you would also put
our link on yours okay I think yeah
great idea on that and let me just throw
this out for for Jennifer I I think like
for example if we needed to additional
overtime and especially if we're
delivering to seniors especially in
meals on wheels I'm sure we can tap into
our our tell short fund since that's
they probably hit a certain income level
and below I would think
okay yeah that that we there we don't
have to we can we know we're get that
overtime money and we can we can run
with that and again we may not need that
it's instant assistance that would just
be for emergency purposes so let's see
if there's questions for you counselor
for this yes thank you mr. Aaron thank
you doctor to repeal for your
presentation when you said that that
some of the school sites aren't we have
been consulted did I understand
correctly if they're being consolidated
with other schools is that correct or
what exact so in order to get reimbursed
for our meals the school site has to
have over fifty percent of the students
qualify for free and reduced lunch so we
picked all of the school sites across
the city that would qualify
we added Desert Hills because we needed
coverage in that area so they were
already a site so we're picking up a
hundred percent of that cost out of our
own budget out of our operating budget
we won't be reimbursed for those so we
strategically when we were working with
FY I strategically picked you know two
sites up on the East Mesa centrally
located sites we had one in Mesilla we
were trying to be very strategic with
that but now that we're adding the 17
additional it's our 17 schools that are
above the 50% threshold so that's under
the title one program right it is
defined by free and reduced lunch you
know yes so is there any way because I'm
sure that they're well especially
because of the situation that there are
children who probably wouldn't qualify
for under Title one but it would still
need to be fed just because god knows
and some of them are probably home alone
but I guess what not guess but what
disken what I find is concerning not not
you personally but the situation is that
children have to go some of those
schools sounded as if they were the
neighborhoods were kind of far away so I
don't know how children or their parent
and you say parent children have to be
there
presumably accompanied by their parents
because so how and all of that is what
really boggles my mind
just just a logistics and I want to know
how we're addressing that you know so so
Thank You councillor Florida's just
members of the City Council and Mayor
we've been trying to deal with that for
the last five days and reaching out to
all of our legislators we reached out to
our federal legislation
legislators as well the regulations are
USDA regulations or at the state level
they can't do anything about it but I do
want you to please please please
understand that any child that shows up
at any of those sites will get food so
if we you know if they come and they say
well why go to Sonoma Ranch Elementary
and they go to Lynn it doesn't matter
any kid under the age of 18 that is
there will be fed whether they are with
their parents or not so we did have many
students that walked to the food
distribution sites and they will still
be fed thank you very much thank you
Joe sorbate does to me
Thank You Marek I just wanted to say
thank you very much superintendent I
know that I've been receiving a lot of
communication through the schools on
updates on where to feed children
resources what to do with the kids why
of their home we're on day three so
they're already crazy but I just wanted
to say thank you and then I do hope that
when we get our website up that we
definitely have all of those food
distribution sites readily available so
that people can see know where to go so
that they can get a meal for their child
but thank you so much for all the work
that you've done definitely isn't alone
it takes all of the team that are here
and those that are off-site especially
the food were froude our nutrition
services folks have been amazing and I
have to say that this weekend I did send
a message
mayor about asking if we did
grab-and-go meals as well for and kind
of mimicking our senior programs
something somewhere because it's a
really great system to get them in and
out and the limit that contagion so
thank you Trujillo can you expand on
I've heard you just say something but
you're picking it up on your own what
what was that that I guess it was a cost
of the cost of the meals so all of the
meals that are picked up at Desert Hills
Elementary we would have to work we have
to cover that cost from our operation
funds we will not be reimbursed from
USDA unless they ease up on their
regulations so we have to keep track of
those and how much was it is that well
today at Desert Hills we distributed
about 200 lunches and how many
breakfasts about a hundred and those
rates I don't know they're about two 250
for the lunches and like a dollar ten
for breakfast or something like that so
about four dollars a day per meal I mean
I don't know whatever that works out to
you but it's been a long day so about
eight hundred a day yeah Willie so could
be I mean and those numbers will
fluctuate go party go up they're
probably gonna go because today was the
first day I mean today was I mean the
the numbers from breakfast to lunch
tripled so there were some sites where
we would serve like a hundred breakfast
and at Picacho middle school we did 350
lunches and so these children
theoretically did you say or they
certain hit a certain income threshold
so they do it by school site so they
don't judge in our view we were thinking
even desert hills might have a 38%
student population that qualifies for
free and reduced lunch but it doesn't
matter you either meet the 50 or you
don't and we called I mean I all the
secretaries and
that's the guidance they've received but
I do know that the state of New Mexico
has submitted a waiver to USDA to waive
those but the guidance we've received
from the federal government are the 50%
reason why I ask is perhaps let's just
say we were to go 10,000 a week and and
if you can have your staff maybe reach
out to ours and see if they can qualify
and perhaps we can through our art
elsewhere fun maybe give $30,000 for
those three weeks that you schools gonna
be out that would be great and I think
the other pieces that we are honestly
looking at it going beyond that three
weeks I mean it's very very possible
that this is gonna happen and go on
beyond that three weeks you know exactly
and if they need you know whatever we
need to do to help because of course if
that's money that you won't be able to
have and I know the schools is already
tight as it is and we appreciate the
extra security that you guys have been
doing to because I know that that when
we had that discussion last year there
was something you guys had to find the
money for so yeah okay so you can
communicate with we will most definitely
thank you okay
all right thank you very much I think I
have a question sorry dr. through here
okay you didn't get away with it no is
there any other services or resources
that you feel the city could help with
that you're kind of anticipating or have
been you know at this time I think we
are we're okay I mean we messaged out
for our student based health centers
yeah provided information for those
off-site locations because our school
buildings are closed but we do have the
been archer health center behind
Mayfield we do have one up on the East
Mesa and luckily Nica is also covering
their patients and they've messaged out
those that I've been receiving regular
behavioral health counseling we are
checking in with those students
specifically so we had a list and our
counselors are making sure that they're
okay because again three days and kids
are already kind of those that are have
issues with behavioral health and mental
health it's it's a much
more serious situation right so we're
making sure that we're in communication
with them as well the other things that
we're working on are looking at
providing additional online resources
for parents none of this is quote
unquote for credit so it really is for
parents to have a resource for their
children to have something for them to
do I started doing a video this morning
I did one in English and in Spanish for
parents and kids and we'll do that as
much as needed but at least weekly to
provide information because in this day
and age a lot of times video is a little
bit more an easier way to communicate
with larger amounts of people okay
what's good by the way in my room at 11
o'clock last night so along those lines
dr. through you I do have a number for
the crisis line for any mental health
issues that people may be having and I'd
like to realize that at this point it's
eight five five six six to seven four
seven four and it's one eight five five
n/m crisis CR is is so please I know I'm
really concerned with our our you know
our folks that might be suffering from
mental illness and you can't get to
their counselors and or I think this is
really posing a lot of anxiety and
depression especially for social
isolation and and you know those are all
the things that I've been concerned
about with stopping our our services
because many people are going just to
you know to the facilities that we have
museums and librarian you know our Parks
and Rec that kind of thing so I'm hoping
that we can work with Kerry Bachmann I
think you were here when I mentioned
that her time banking program I think
it's probably going to be essential as
we move forward and I would encourage
you to reach out to her
especially for those parents that you're
now starting to figure out
a little more resource a little a little
more support so thank you Mary thank you
doctor through you thank you and we are
also working with our early childhood
providers and providing them with
anything that they might need for as
long as they are able to stay open
thank you sir Florida's a doctor through
yet we're not letting you go
we're gonna bench you I know
so my biggest concern with all of this
is well I'm concerned about everyone all
of us on the planet but the children are
what where are they going and who's
watching them parents have to work
unless their job gets cut back because
we know that parents were adults in the
household each have about two jobs piece
so children at least when they go to
school it's it's it's a respite when
they go to school and his counselor or
mayor pro-tem
gun that I pointed out earlier that some
of these is going to school is like
their oasis and it's a refuge so what's
happened what's what what are our
children doing and what who know sure I
mean at this point we yeah I mean with
the schools being closed we're doing as
much as we can in communicating by
telephone teachers making sure that they
are communicating but they're students
on a weekly basis just doing kind of
check-in that's good to know
tomorrow we meet with our unions so NEA
and CSEC so we're gonna try with them to
navigate what it is that we are able to
do so much like the state telling the
school districts well you have to I mean
you can suggest and recommend and hope
that people do certain things but
there's very few things that we can make
quote-unquote make people do so tomorrow
worse we'll sit down with our
and our seasick and try and navigate
through what this what this is going to
look like at least for the next three
weeks but really doing that touch
touching base with our students touching
base with our parents with all of the
communication that we're able to and
hopefully we're only going to be
navigating for this three-week this
three-week period but if it extends past
that then we're also having those were
talking through those plans and what
that might look like through the rest of
the school year so you do have personnel
teachers or whatever in touch with
children I mean I see how your day one
so if it goes beyond that then yes we're
working on those contingency plans as
well thank you very much secretary do
you think anyone else and I'm very happy
to see dr. Nelson on dr. raucous here
yes I've got one thank you so I know
this is gonna sound silly but you know I
go to the third graders and one of the
things and we were right in the middle
of all the fitness and nutrition and so
one of the things is that they can't
spend more than two hours playing video
games watching TV or playing on the
computer so you can you communicate the
3rd graders that I will lift the ban and
they can we're not gonna lift it quite
yet they can even in my message that
we're good
that way they're they don't you know
drive their parents crazy totally crazy
they can just sit there and even in the
message this morning it was like you
make sure you go outside and you're
getting exercise and you're doing those
things including reading and doing math
and writing stories so okay well tell
them I lift I I'll double it to four
hours and is it a two all right
okay thank you okay thank you Gabe you
had something no okay Marcy
if you will in my name is Marci
Dickerson owner of the game if you will
indulge me in just a few seconds I have
a Christ just to bring to you but I
think a solution to the possible crisis
was just presented so we are facing one
of the largest economic crises in the
hospitality and tourism agency or
industry ever in the history of mankind
right now in Las Cruces your restaurants
are getting ready to be shut down we
have already suffered Dickerson's
catering alone has lost two hundred and
twenty-five thousand dollars between
9:00 a.m. Wednesday and 5:00 p.m.
Thursday and cancellations the reason I
was bringing this to you and I know many
of my fellow people behind me who are in
the same business we're coming because
we were coming to ask you for help we
were coming to ask you for relief and
maybe some type of help in what do we do
what do we do with those hundred and
forty employees that I have that can't
come to work if I don't have any
customers to serve them what do we all
do with all of our people and I'm going
to take a time out from that and go to a
solution that my brain just came up with
doctor Trujillo has a major problem on
her hands as you pointed out we have
children who are staying at home we have
children who don't have transportation
we have children and poor families
because not only is this just about the
child some of these parents can no
longer go to work some of these parents
can afford to feed those children she's
talking about the group of population
that's on free and reduced lunches we
have a lot of people in our community
that don't quite qualify for that but
now that they must feed their children
three times a day we have got a crisis
on our hands all the way around I think
we might have a really creative
wonderful solution that I asked you to
indulge me in to contemplate this and
certainly thank you dr. Trujillo for
staying I sent a message and said we may
have a solution for you we've got a
hospitality industry that has cooks they
have kitchens they have access to food
and their doors are empty what if we as
a community especially with you all
leading could come up with a way that we
can utilize some of those funds from the
telephone because certainly we utilize
those funds to help
we had the asylum seekers crisis what if
we came up with a way for the city to
utilize the funds for the telethon the
Telstra fund to provide food for these
people for these students that may not
be exactly under the free and entitle
lunch for these families and the way
that we do that is we put the
restaurants to work we put the
restaurants to work handling takeout and
all of those services that we will
probably be allowed to do you know what
if we're able to get creative and help
our community we talked about limited
funding with USDA we talked about with
requirements from the USDA that these
students must be present we got together
yesterday and put out a community
challenge I came up with enough money
for three thousand meals in 24 hours
those meals have no restrictions those
meals don't have to have children
present people are at my restaurant
right now picking up meals for their
family and as long as they order off the
kid meal there we go we've got some
senior citizens and they said we don't
have anything to eat said you want to
eat off the kid meal they said yes I do
I said there you go do we have a
creative way to solve this yes my
intention today and when I called all
these people behind me was to come to
you and say we're looking at a serious
economic collapse here I have 140
employees that I have to figure out how
to pay that I have to not let them
starve that I have to make sure they can
pay their rent thank you to El Paso
Electric and the city utilities because
they don't have to pay those right now
but we have a serious crisis and our
city has an opportunity as well as to
now work with our school board that
maybe this could be an option that you
all could come instead of just providing
you know us begging for relief money and
help maybe we can come up with a way
that we can solve all these problems
together you know certainly these kids
we wouldn't charge you what we charge
normal people but maybe we can come up
with something to where we can create
food for all of these children and these
poor families and these people who are
having to take off work because they
don't have childcare we have children in
our restaurant right now of my employees
children because they don't have
childcare because they don't have
anybody and I said you bring them
we hired somebody else's kid to come in
and watch those kids you know the fact I
ordered 20 cases of bleach makes me feel
better but you know we have them so we
all have to get creative together but I
will tell you some real stats at the
moment the catering company in the next
45 days has lost two hundred and
twenty-five thousand dollars the games
are operational we are already down
since this crisis started and in our
world it started about Wednesday because
that's when the governor started issuing
things since Wednesday the games have
lost just about $75,000 this is a crisis
we have a lot of employees all of us
across the board we put out to the
public that my catering crew was
available to do any type of community
service today they spent the day
chopping weeds for people you know we're
trying to keep everybody employed we're
trying not to lay them off we're trying
to help them make sure their bills are
paid and their kids when they're taking
care of and that kind of stuff but we
need some help from you I know we've
access to tells our funds for things
before and I feel like we should be able
to access them and we ask you we implore
you to please access them again and
maybe instead of just giving handouts we
figure out a way that we can let all of
us come together to truly provide a
solution I asked dr. Trujillo to wait
for me because guess what I happen to
have I haven't have 35 drivers and eight
vehicles and guess what they're doing
nothing because they're unemployed well
not really
I've they're just not earning any money
for me I'm still paying them but I have
drivers that can help solve this problem
with getting these meals to children we
had a father call the game today
and he said my family lives up on the
hill they have no transportation other
than myself and I have to go to work so
may I pick up meals for my family for
today and tomorrow these are because I
can only get there one time a day and I
said absolutely sir I said I told my
staff I said when he gets here you get
his phone number and I will call him and
I will personally make sure that those
people are delivered meals every day
because we will not have any children
nor any individuals who live in this
community who need food to starve
that is not what I do personally and I
don't believe that's what anybody else
does so thank you for indulging me I
know it's a little longer than three
minutes but
the idea came as we were sitting here
listening I just asked you let us all
get together let us be creative in the
ways she's already a few doctors who
heals very overburden her staff is
overburden you know what we're about to
have a whole lot of really high-quality
cooks sitting around this town without
much to do
let us employ people temporarily to do
things that we need them to do so that
we can all survive together so thank you
I do appreciate your intolerance of that
I'm sure I have more friends behind me
what things to say but thank you very
much do you have any questions for me no
no sound so Florida yes thank you mr.
Eyre it's not a question but I did see a
video with Bill McCann we the Secretary
of work solutions for the state of New
Mexico and he was saying that people who
are unemployed can collect for
unemployment insurance and they won't be
required to show that they're looking
for other work because it's a temporary
unemployment situation and he asked
employers to meet them to meet the state
one like one third of the way or
something like that so it wouldn't be a
burden on the state and there'd be more
funds to accommodate other unemployed
workers so I just wanted to share that
perhaps you were already aware of that
may I answer that yes ma'am we are thank
you very much one of the things that we
are aware of is that unemployment only
pays a percentage of what their paycheck
was right the max is 441 yeah and those
ones that have you know tipped wages
there's this even less because they are
not I'll tell you what I'm doing
personally when this happens if this
happens yeah we're sure it's going to
but when we get to that point what I
have told my staff was that you know we
will work through the unemployment thing
and then any bills they're not able to
pay I will personally borrow you know
we've set it up so we have a good
borrowing ability that we will be able
to help with that but the problem is a
lot of people aren't in that same
situation and for a lot of these servers
you know the percentage of it is not
because truthfully they haven't been
reporting their actual to
for years right okay but now that's one
of the crisis's of this yes but thank
you and thank you thank you so Marcy
your ideas are very creative and if you
let staff see what we can do but and and
we have to determine whether or not the
the threshold for the the state puts on
the anti donation clause if if this
temporary would would qualify for that
but nonetheless I think you've given us
some ideas to think about if I may give
a suggestion I think this could be very
similar to the catering contracts you
have now you know because you are
purchasing food you're not making a
donation you are purchasing food much
like all the other event contracts that
you guys put out for RFPs much like the
meetings that you pay for through your
pee cards those types of things this is
very similar to the same thing it's just
not the employees aren't eating it
unless your employees need to you know
we have other people so absolutely and
that's where our legal department will
do ice and just check back with us in a
couple days mm-hmm
not a problem I'm sure all there's other
ones you know it's like this is a mess I
just thought of something creative to
maybe help us out a bit thank you for
your time thank you
okay anyone see was it oh you know what
I get a message at Lorenzo alibi would
like to speak carried before you come up
he's gonna have to run so Lorenzo just
me just state your name please
I'm springing over here that's like top
speed for me my name is Lorenzo Alba on
the executive director of Casa
peregrinos and thank you for allowing me
to speak a little bit here I just want
to assure all of you that our operation
is open and continues to serve the
public we've made a lot of adjustments
to our operation to take precautions on
how we're serving them and we're still
getting them through it a little bit
slower process but it allows us to
continue to feed the hungry we also have
all our third
in rural pantries that are still open in
the county as well and at the colleges
as well we've been working with das CC
on a procedure I also received a phone
call from the city and we'll be working
with them on a procedure for the senior
pantries that we have as well I think
it'll take a similar route as what
they're doing currently we're absolutely
we're willing to do anything to just
continue to feed the public especially
those in need in this time today was our
first day also to kind of gauge what's
going on and it was a very slow day a
lot of people stayed home they stayed
home and some people showed up and they
had their own gloves and their own masks
which was interesting I did not expect
that to happen
above and beyond taking those extra
precautions our clients have been very
very patient with us and understanding
all the changes that were making
currently we're only allowing a 15
clients at a time into our lobby that
way they can all be separated into in
the night space and then when we're done
serving those 15 we disinfect the lobby
again let another 15 in so it's again
it's a slower process but we're still
able to serve everybody and take care of
everybody we're gonna be here until you
guys tell me that I have to close the
building so we're going to continue to
do the services that provide the
services that we provide for everyone
we want to continue to do this if you
guys have ideas that might help us you
know get this out a little faster please
reach out to me you know come take a
look at what we're doing because you may
have ideas that help us you know help
the process speed up a little bit to get
people out I wish that we could do the
drive the drive up service at the
community of Hope but the way that it's
designed there's absolutely no way that
we could absolutely do that I've looked
and thought about it I thought my
goodness then we have a bottleneck on
Amador Avenue for a long time and we've
already got a bottleneck at Valley so we
don't we don't
but anyways I just wanted to make sure
you guys knew what we were doing if
there's anything more than you need us
to do just a phone call will absolutely
work you know there's nothing like
having a partnership like the one we
have with you guys and then our partners
at the commedia hope are also very
understanding about what we're doing
there we keep it keep them informed as
well there probably be something on our
website later on today just letting
people know that we're still open we've
got a few messages out in the social
networks I you know today I wasn't no
password a funeral early this morning
and I picked up a brochure that the city
of El Paso put up about the virus it was
at a church so I think what they did is
they got informative brochures made in
both languages and put him out
throughout the community it was in
partnership with their emergency
management office have both of their
logos on it I'm not gonna bring him to
you I'm just gonna leave him right there
and you guys can pick him up the ones
that I picked up were in Spanish but
that might be an idea for those folks
that don't have access to the Internet
and actually might help with the
situation that Gabe Vasquez Council gave
Oscars was talking about about the
church's entire right now I went to Mass
on Sunday with a fraction of the people
there anyways I think they get it the
bishops message has been strong but a
brochure in a church or in large
facilities or in businesses letting
people know what the what what
precautions you're taking I think would
be huge I think it would be a great
service for our community because they'd
be able to pick something up
take it home read through it share it
with their family and let everybody know
what this community is actually doing to
take precautions we have to take this
serious no matter what no matter what it
takes or what people may think or what
they're you know which way they're
leaning on this bottom line in it is
that we're putting ourselves at risk if
we don't take it serious so that's what
we're doing that gossip a degree knows
and at this point I'll entertain any
questions you have for me
thanks Lorenz oh I was just going to say
keep us informed with how things are
going with you all I know that we have
in the past funded or given some funding
to your organization if you guys do a
fantastic job and if need be I think
where I think counsel will step it up to
help out again I think thank you so much
I think it's just one of those times
where we just need to pull our resources
together and do good things you know I
saw this happen before in this community
I'm calling this crisis 2.0 because this
community came together and it can come
together again to get through it we got
through the migrant crisis together and
we can get through this together and I
just strongly show you that we will be
there with you okay thank you thank you
okay Kerry Hamblin thanks for yeah your
indulgence so if you'll give me a minute
so that I can do this this has been
driving me nuts how many people thank
you
yeah the microphone - all right so my
name is Carrie Hamlin I'm the CEO and
president of the Las Cruces spring
Chamber of Commerce and thank you very
much for having this meeting tonight you
know we've had some incredible ideas and
one of the things that seems the thread
that is carried throughout is that we
have a very passionate giving and
concerning community and I'm grateful
that we have our City Council all of you
who are also just as committed to making
sure that our community members are safe
you know the the email that councillor
Florida's referenced earlier that's
really in part as part of a collective
effort from my colleagues at the Small
Business Development Center Joanne
Cateye and Debbie Moore at the Greater
Los Cruces Chamber of Commerce Devin
Davin at misty Valley Economic
Development Alliance all of us are
coming together and sharing this
information so that our businesses can
be informed on relief efforts disaster
application that we have through the
Small Business Administration a number
Dalida funds a number of things that can
help them and I know one of the things
that they're incredibly concerned about
is how they can take care of their
employees nobody wants to layoff their
employees nobody wants to lose anybody
because they they can't make ends meet
and and I think that one of the things
that the website that you're developing
is to really look at like different
categories and I feel sorry for the web
designer who's going to build this but
the different categories of that the
issues that we've talked about today
that they can gather all of that
information so under business that our
business community can go ahead and look
at that website and look at all the
resources that are available to them
also look at you know we're terrified
for our businesses right now we know
that they're coming up with creative
things to help keep people going to
their business I'm encouraging people
buy gift cards ask them call them and
ask them if they do delivery call them
and ask them if they do curbside service
they want to help keep their customers
you know taken care of and they're
coming up with creative ideas to do it
so let's give them a chance to help
publicize that so we've asked that
through the green chamber and I know my
colleagues are doing the same thing but
one of the things that came up when
Lorenzo was up here was you know there
are pockets all throughout our community
of people who are doing things to help
take care of each other I'm babysitting
my neighbor kid tomorrow while her mom
goes to the recycling center you know
and so we have those things and so may
be an opportunity on that website would
be what are you doing to help your
community not like what are you doing
but what are you doing share with us
because I think there are creative ideas
that people are in a position that they
have to come up with to help do things
to make their lives a little bit more
bearable so I would encourage that on
the website the other thing is is that
when we start talking about different
funds and like you know ways to provide
resources even though the Small Business
Administration is providing this
disaster relief funding that we need to
go through the state in order to justify
that there is a need there's a time when
we're going to have to have that
conversation locally and that's gonna be
something that I would encourage getting
a task force of my colleagues who are
here in the audience and businessmen
because we need to come up with creative
ways to help our businesses I'm grateful
that utilities will not be shut down I'm
grateful that there are resources
available but I worry and I'm not
usually a doomsday person but I worry
that there will be places where our
businesses will go to a point where they
cannot recover and so I know I have the
opportunity to reach out to you and I
appreciate all of you being approachable
and open to those conversations I would
just like to have that something as a as
a back burner idea as to how we can help
our businesses because I do feel that
they are going to they're hurting
already and I worry about some of them
may not be able to return back to
business in Las Cruces so thank you for
your time I don't know if there's any
questions Gabe I'm watching you mister
man can also sword don't serve us cos I
just would like to add you brought to my
mind there is in my district these
neighborhood next door organizations and
I noticed one of the postings was a
person that said if anybody needs
somebody to get some groceries or some
supplies of any kind let me know I'll
get him for them just what you were say
sure next door Las Cruces community
watch which is you know rampant on this
right now and you know I think you can
you can find those things and I think
it's really promoting those and maybe
having those as links as well want to
know what's going on in your
neighborhood go to next door you just I
mean a number of resources that can be
available and I'm glad that you have the
website that we can do that Cervantes
Thank You mayor thank you Carrie yeah so
I'm thinking about that kind of
hierarchy of need in the community right
in terms of what city resources should
be prioritized and especially financial
resources and dedicated to and I keep
thinking about the most impacted
potential population right children and
seniors certainly folks who for you know
for through economic reasons right if
they are let go from their employer
obviously that creates an economic
hardship for potentially an entire
family that we should also prioritize
because if there's no income coming in
through the you know through the door
then how do you pay for
all the necessities of a household so
businesses I think are part of that
solution right we want to make sure that
folks aren't letting go of employees
because that provides direct income to
the families who are so worried about
and so thinking through this task force
idea that you brought up is is how do we
prioritize in an equal in an equitable
way right what type of business
assistance the city can deliver so that
we're not just saying hey we're picking
one business because they came up with a
great idea or hey you know they have
demonstrated that they need something
but actually kind of through I don't
know what kind of way we could verify or
what kind of system when we have to put
in place to offer assistance the
businesses that that need it the most
right maybe it's those mom-and-pop shops
with two employees or with three
employees versus other ones with liners
lines of credit that could get loans
right and so that would be something
really interesting to explore maybe
through this task force but you know
actually being direct in the in the
assistance that we provide to those
businesses that are that would be an in
danger of failure or some other you know
horrible thing that happens as a result
of this so something I think would love
that to continue talking with you about
in terms of equitable distribution of
resources with a hierarchy of need of
like how can city resources best address
the needs of our community knowing that
businesses are a part of that right mr.
mayor council asked us if I may I think
our business community they're not
greedy they're not selfish they
recognize this is what I need right now
you know I don't need anything beyond
that they're very resourceful they're
creative they're also very patient and
but I think that when it comes down to
shutting their doors they're not just
looking at their pockets in their
households but they're looking at those
of their employees thanks thank you she
cares too much for being proactive on
that and I think the idea of local
community resources is a great idea I
think it's going to be hard to kind of
put everything that everyone is doing on
a website but perhaps like those those
linkages like next door social media
places where people can evolve places
where people can connect I think that's
doable
absolutely so thank you Carrie Thank You
mayor
err pretend Thank You mayor um Thank You
Kerry for getting here I know we had
been communicating back and forth that I
appreciate your support for sure and
your commitment to the business
community and I
I too have a commitment to our business
community and along the lines of comm
services questioning or comments and
whatnot Mabhida have been circulating I
think I thought from Greater chamber
maybe from you the economic development
department putting out the 2 million
dollar appropriation right missus
Development Center as well okay so can
you talk to me about what are the
positives to that and maybe some
negatives because I'm thinking along
those lines around if the city were to
do something like that and I don't know
that we can based on the yet the anti
donation but with this task force right
kind of coming together looking at ways
by which we can help these mom-and-pop
shops versus these other larger
businesses still probably within the
small business definition but that have
access and so equity is very important
to me as well and so I'm looking to I
haven't because it's not in my
wheelhouse I haven't really looked at
the application then those kinds of
things to really assess if there is any
kind of barriers or anything like that
that we might encounter by offering
something like that well I think also I
don't know if my colleagues want to come
up to the podium or not to help out with
that I mean we can I think we're all
here for the same reason and maybe
talking about that kind of answering
those questions
the as they're coming up it's right now
it's to determine a need with the small
business authority at the state level
and so I think in you've got the
information right there so I don't know
I know how much you love public speaking
so I don't know do you want she can do
it she's great hi I'm Joan good I am the
director of the Small Business
Development Center here at Oneonta
Community College so we there was a
conference call on Friday within your
development and I hurriedly put together
some information that would help our
small businesses who are facing the
potential of losing their businesses and
and losing jobs for their employees and
so forth and so right now with the SBA
as Carrie mentioned we're waiting to get
that the declaration of disaster for the
New Mexico and right now from what I
understand it's already been sent to
Washington and now it's just for final
review and hopefully we'll get that that
declaration soon and we can start the
SBA on process for those businesses
there are also with the New Mexico
economic development because all of this
was put together so quickly there are
some things that that they're having to
iron out as well and so we me and my
staff we are on the internet we're on
conference calls were on anything that
we can find so that we can continue to
update the information for small
businesses and we know that there's a
lot of panic and so where our offices
are still open we are following the
governor recommendation of the six-foot
social distancing but we are capable of
doing zoom meetings and phone
conferencing so we do have that
available and as I am obtaining more
information and I like the idea of
having the task force because we're
going to have to do this together and
there is I am a panicking for mice for
the small businesses because it really
does affect all of us sure and so if we
can you know again work together and we
can get this information and I'm just
trying to distribute it as much as I can
and we are also putting it together in
Spanish okay oh and that being said the
SBDC as well as our SBA Resource
Partners West and score disaster
preparedness response guide was put
together for our client and a lot of
times what happens is they have all
their information in their in their
heads right in their minds but they need
to put it on paper and they're not
really sure where to start and so this
guide will help them to determine okay
my employees am I going to reduce the
hours am I going to have to layoff but
they can actually put it on paper
and just like Kari said our small
businesses are not greedy they're trying
to see what they can do and get their
resources together and this guide will
help them to determine what how much
operating expenses do they need for the
nest for the next three to six months
how much do they need to borrow from the
federal and the state assistance and so
what that said the SBC is is there to
help and again as a task force we can
help our small businesses together
because we're all basically seeing the
same businesses and so that right now
like I said our office hours we are
going to be open from 8 to 5 we're not
going to do person-to-person
consultations we are going to do zoom
and phone and and councillor Vasquez you
mentioned about the tier like how where
are they we had that discussion my team
and I had that discussion like which
which kinds do we see first cuz we're
gonna get inundated with cause and so
it's really difficult cuz we go back to
how do you determine what's most
important or what's more at risk and so
it's also find out ok are they how much
at risk are they at closing the business
and which declines do we see first and
if it's the ones that are just in crying
about starting a business right now is
not the time for that we really want to
try and help those businesses that are
that are at risk at at closing
Debbie Moore president and CEO the
greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce I
guess I can say a big ditto to
everything my colleagues is that I think
one thing I wanted to address there was
many much conversation about what the
children are doing our businesses are so
great I know some of the small
businesses have created a playroom for
their kids and for their clients kids
they're hiring they're taking in one
employee to take the rest and to take
care of them and doing all these very
creative things I think to the point
that the first thing councilor about
cause I think is the health and safety
of all of our employees and all the
business and that's where I see this
great community
talk to the mayor many times about how I
just love to be in Las Cruces the family
and that feeling that you get that we
can do this together this is a great
community and I see this every day we
have on the dreamers website our cocoa
bed 19 website just went live it's our
front page so whoever does the link and
link to that page - I think it's asked
for us I think there are moments in the
life of a small business when you hit
this crisis point and something inside
that entrepreneur says I'm gonna make it
and I'm gonna make it because I have a
great community I have a great customer
base and I have great employees and so I
think we're going to see this tenacity
of the entrepreneur and how we can help
them in times like these both
financially I'm already putting out all
kinds of things to buy locally we are
encouraging on our face but if you're
doing something creative post it online
and I don't know if you all realized
that there was a whole bunch of baton
walkers that walked and we put out a
thank you for them and respect for our
our history and things that we represent
so I'm open to a task force the mayor
and I've had conversations about helping
the small business whether it's $50 or
$100 some of them just need that little
boost and I think we're all in this
together but I want you to know that our
businesses are very resourceful and how
they're helping them and I am taking
everything dr. Trujillo puts on the
school's website we're putting on it out
all kinds of ideas for them to entertain
their kids and we're just just sending
it out constantly if you if you're on
our Facebook page you saw all my posts
yesterday just to get the parents ideas
which gave businesses ideas so thank you
and I also part of the test for a stand
for questions I thank you to all of you
I appreciate that I think I'm looking to
you as the business gurus to cipher that
information right
and give us and really looking I'm
really interested in hearing from you
that application process what barriers
are that idea of coming up and you're
gonna it's like all of us making
decisions right I mean I heard the word
greedy and I don't think we use the word
greedy up here but please understand
that you're asking us to use taxpayer
dollars right for lots of different
things and we're having to right now
very quickly assess what our most
vulnerable populations are and I'm
asking you to assess what those most
vulnerable businesses are so if you can
help by typing through all the
information that you're getting both at
a local state and federal level and
making sure that I am aware of it and I
would like to know that so that I can
continue to advocate here on the diets
but also with my state legislators if if
something different needs to happen and
as far as the childcare I'm just going
to take this opportunity I very much
appreciate the businesses because that
was one of the things that governor
michelle lujan-grisham had really hoped
that childcare companies don't write
shut down and whatnot and and being able
to access the resources for themselves
so some of the temporary changes that
they have an effect are expanding
childcare for first responders and
health providers enabling family friends
and neighbors have been to deliver paid
childcare services
expanding childcare access for families
rotating cYFD assistant benefits for
families and and I'd like to go in a
little more detail as those families
that choose to not use the childcare
services at this point but that they
have a secure spot when hopefully when
this stuff sort of levels out and then
the ensuring children have access to
mills which we've all sort of talked
about here quite a bit today and so I
just I just want to make sure and and
there's some other things temporary
changes affecting childcare and
providers allowing c-webb defunded pre-k
providers to expand playtime for
children ensuring continued the
continuing of payments to providers pain
licensed providers of premium partnering
with public ed Department to provide
child care its expediting background
checks to help providers cover staffing
shortages coordinating food and cleaning
supply delivery providing daily
technical assistance and support and so
with that I hope that I know that I went
through those pretty quickly but I'm
happy to send that out so you can get
that on your website I know at least
Debbie and Kerry's email and I'll send
it out so that they can forward it on to
you but to all your other resource I
think those are going to be really
important mr. mayor and council I just
will take a stab at one of your the
questions that the complication that
through the application I think any
application to a business person is
overwhelming you know especially in a
crisis mode they do have to go join they
have to go through a local bank first so
I've been having conversations with some
of our local lenders because it's
basically a fast-track system of the
current SVA but I'm already prepping our
businesses in the community that this is
coming down the pipe and they need to be
prepared and I also want to say some of
our in community banks actually have
their own programs and so I'm starting
to collect that and put that out to our
businesses too
and so there are several pieces of that
but any application and can come
sometimes be overwhelming but they need
to go through their local bank and then
that's the process that makes it a
little easier in that regard great
that's good to know
Thank You Debbie if I may um you know
one of the things that I want to make
sure that that I did not imply in terms
of greedy whatwhat was popping through
my head was a lot of the social media if
you see people hoarding toilet paper and
sanitizer our businesses are not that
they also recognize that that I think
the conversation that we're having right
now is to see what's coming kind of down
the road because we know that we have
vulnerable people here people who are at
risk who really need that care first
you know we recognize that I think our
businesses recognize that it's just what
we're seeing when we look at profit and
losses and businesses being able to keep
the door we see that that's an
inevitable conversation yeah and so I'm
grateful that we're able to have that
now knowing that you as the City Council
are being responsible and taking care of
those citizens that need the most right
now but also just to keep us in mind and
understanding it and and really valuing
the impact of local businesses here I
think like you all of you I think said
it's going to take all of us together to
really you know talk about what I just
said it's not really in my wheelhouse
I'm learning as quickly as I can with
some of the other things that I'm
involved with but I'm I'm here to listen
and I'm committed to at least having
those conversations with our state
legislators right and I have some some
relationships with the governor's office
that I can you know on a first-name
basis and a enough cell phone right to
say which I did over the weekend when I
said what are you guys talking you I
haven't seen anything out there around
child care right for those we're closing
down schools we're closing down several
you're limiting right and then and some
of those places are where kids have you
know a safe haven basically and I get
concerned about that and and we think
this is what's happening but our child
abuse or neglect are it's gonna it's
kind of skyrocket if we don't find some
really innovative ways of handling this
and so I appreciate appreciate you all
being here and giving me your your
commentary Thank You mayor I'll serve
Athens TV Thank You mayor thank you all
very much for everything that you're
doing to advocate for your communities I
live in a very different district that
has a lot of businesses and a lot of
small businesses too as we move forward
and we're looking for these partnerships
and they're asking resources when I
direct them to the
different resources I do want to make
sure that I'm confident that they're
getting accurate information that
they're getting that help that they need
whether or not if they're a member or
not of the chamber so is that something
that you guys can commit to to make sure
to help all businesses whether or not to
that high level of degree that they need
whether or not they're involved okay so
thank you just making sure that they
know whether or not if they have that
membership or not they can go to you
guys for help and that's something I
want to make sure to communicate to them
as well that we are all working together
for that day I think he goes back to
counselor a beta Sevilla mayor he goes
back to Bill sin and and the mayor says
it quite often and I use it some but
quite often it takes a village and it
doesn't matter we're standing up for all
business all employees everyone to make
sure that this is our home this is our
community so that that is just it helps
financially for me but it is not a
priority right now it's we're all in
this together to get to this this crisis
thank you thank you
and a commentary on the childcare
situation I am very excited to see
services and expanded services the one
item that I think we should be aware of
is that even though we may have daycares
open a lot of people don't have that
money in their budget for daycare and
for that sort of providing so has we see
a lot of people rely on school for
basically that care because they do not
have that in their budget so as we move
forward we I think should just be
mindful that those services aren't even
an option for a lot of our lower-income
families that rely on and if they are
having job insecurity now too
they're not going to be accessing those
types of services just something to be
mindful of and I'll say last one when
you have kids all together they are
petri dishes and so we are the thing is
we're supposed to treat it this is not a
snow day but if you can keep the kids
home if you can keep them isolated that
is what we're trying to do just to make
sure that we are not spreading
infection and that we can stop it if it
happens in a household with that
household thank you yes counselor Fortis
I Thank You mr. mayor and thank you
countless ain't me or mayor abate the
Stewie apropos of what what counselor
said I was at Sam's this morning and
there was one woman and I counted the
kids nine kids and it was they were all
about the same age group so it looked
like a quote playdate unquote and I
think it's wonderful under normal
circumstances to take the kids to a
store to take them to a bank to take
them but but as a councillor abate the
steuby said it's not a snow day it's not
the time to have playdates and the whole
idea is to have isolation so I just want
to let you and your small businesses
know all that I just wanted to put it
out there just as a anecdotal experience
that I had this morning that yes people
should and and that's why my heart goes
out to the children and the parents
because I've been there done that you
know a working mom and but I had the
yeah single working mom but I had the
fortune to be able to afford it and it
was very expensive and so oh yeah well
no no no no no I I'm not I'm not I'm not
doing a judgemental thing and I'm not
blaming I'm just saying I'm just saying
that we should keep that in mind thank
you
any other questions okay so thank you
for your comments and between your
comments and the comments that Marcy
said got me thinking and I'll convey to
our management team but if I could sum
it up like this the city spends
approximately a million dollars a day on
all of our goods and services that we do
our budgets total budgets four hundred
million three hundred and sixty-five
days we spent about a million a day so
if we take a look at our projects that
we are gonna need to be doing soon or in
the future that's what I think we need
to look at and see how that can be
transitioned as possible and if we have
to if there are certain rules that when
of course is all legal we have to go
through that that that we can change
that would allow to keep loss crewson's
working whether it's from the food
industry to the construction of a road
or even just doing some other things
that that normally we're going to hold
off on maybe we need to accelerate it
does that make sense okay all right
thank you max
max Bauer CEO of Amador hospitality LLC
thank you for all your hard work today
and through the last few the last few
weeks I know it's been a lot of late
nights and a lot of a lot of phone calls
I guess I'll just take the opportunity
to give I guess an autograph on the
ground update of what's going on
downtown as far as businesses are
concerned and and in particular
hospitality and tourism businesses we
made the decision to go ahead and close
yesterday is when we put the
announcement out and we typically are
closed Mondays anyway so we took
yesterday's afternoon to have a staff
meeting and go ahead and let the staff
know that we wouldn't be open all week
we're taking it on a week-by-week basis
given the the speed at which things are
coming out and so at this moment we're
closed for the week and that's being
reflected in our social media and in
some of the interviews and stuff like
that our main concern obviously is that
like a lot of the businesses downtown
it's you know it's obviously a new thing
that's going on down there a lot of we
get a lot of bodies in close proximity
especially later at night and we don't
want to add any fuel to the fire on the
massing if you will of people obviously
we're a full-service restaurant and all
that as well and we're one of the you
know we I guess we have the the benefit
in this case of having a big open space
in the back but at this time just this
week we think that it's it's prudent to
hold off but I've been listening all day
I've been here for a while and I think
you all are just y'all are on the right
track on everything I just wanted to
encourage yalta to continue to to follow
very closely as it relates to some of
the ideas of of keeping people working I
agree with a lot of that at the however
in this particular case that's like the
last thing you want to do is is get
people back close together again and so
then you have people criss crossing this
the town
you know taking things upon themselves
to to help and and that's fine but
without there being some sort of a check
in place on how that's going to get done
you could be defeating the purpose
especially the kids I mean it's it's a
it's a tough one but in this case you
know from what I've been reading and
researching and I've been on the phone
with some people in Santa Fe and myself
and stuff and you know the feds cut the
rates basically to zero that's all in
preparation of making sure that we're
able to monetize out some of the needs
for this for this crisis across the
country and we're lucky out here in in
southern New Mexico because we are kind
of spread out a little bit and we're not
living all up on top of each other like
they're in some of these big cities my
wife and I were just looking I think
they just put San Francisco on a
three-week mandatory lockdown like in
the last hour or so so we just don't we
don't quite have that problem we have
our own challenges I do like the idea of
figuring out a way to utilize the
restaurants as food centers we do have
fully inspected commercial-grade ready
to roll kitchens that can do a lot of
things and we do have staff that can
only sit there and watch their kids play
video games for so long and I think it's
appropriate time that's something that
we could look at but as the mayor
indicated and as you all have indicated
there's gotta be a trade-off
you know things aren't for free it's
public money maybe that's why I always
got to be the guinea pig for these kind
of things but you know maybe I'll pick
on dr. Garcia over there for a little
bit you know for example if a business
is having a hardship issue as it relates
to say the utilities and I'll throw El
Paso Electric in there as well I was
doing some quick math on any given month
now that we've been in operation for
about a year our utility costs as it
relates to solid waste gas water and
electricity runs about forty five
hundred a month so forty five hundred a
month times 12 we're at fifty nine
thousand you could take that in a
short-term basis and convert that into
some sort of a shift wage to bring in
the back of the house in this example
the cooks and they get a little bit of
extra work because as was indicated
your your your unemployment benefits
only gonna cover so much this gives you
that little bit extra that you might
need in the short term keeps them busy
and also helps get the the food out to
those that need it the trade-off is is
that we're basically getting some sort
of a credit from the utility departments
or companies in lieu of that labor so
it's a labor problem it's not just
throwing money at it but it's how do you
get something out to take care of people
that need the food and also keep the
workforce working and I think that you
know this thing's up you know it's
moving awfully fast I don't know that by
the time some of this stuff got put in
place that we might not already at least
feel a little bit more stabilized I feel
like people are starting to take it
seriously however that doesn't mean we
got to give up on taking a look at this
and definitely putting together a task
force figuring out where those weak
points are that in this case maybe it's
just fortuitous or whatever but to have
the the hospitality industry taking a
hit right now in a way is a good thing
to go through this process of figuring
out how to put this together because the
next crisis might not be this nationwide
thing it could be a more of a localized
natural disaster that affects a
different a different segment of the
workforce but we're in that weird spot
where we we tend to know everybody
because everybody comes in to sees us
and we know what's going on socially so
our contact point out to other types of
business owners and stuff like that is
pretty high you know we're not just out
focusing on construction we're talking
to everybody as they're coming in and
out of the door so from a social
perspective we have a we have a big
reach and I think it's something where
if we work together that we could maybe
come up with a model that at least can
be put into play and a short-term basis
and figure out a way to to partner up
with with the city or one of the city's
funds in order to to get that trade-off
of labor and need and make sure that
those funds are being spent
they're supposed to be spent because
that's that's my main concern is you
can't just throw money at everything you
know that's really a do you have any
questions for me I'm so sorry
max did you see you were gonna close all
week
we're closed all week that's correct
okay yeah the the yeah it's okay yeah I
understand
hey the thing is is that for we didn't
want to push it works three weeks out
because that's yeah that can really have
an effect on the business even more than
it already has
I mean not much of a different boat than
then miss Dickerson is but I think if we
just take it week by week you know it's
possible that you know maybe next week
the the 50/50 percent or the fifty
person table will hold and that will
allow us to begin to try things a little
more flexibly sure come up with some
ideas and to do things yeah yeah but at
this point you know most of the
workforce okay yeah and I understand
yeah and just to add to it is as this
was happening so fast a lot of our
workforce like everybody else is in town
have small children they're single
mothers there's nobody there
so frankly they need the time they gotta
figure out what they're gonna do next
so I wanted to say to our management
staff of the city here I hope we can
keep our city projects going as best or
as fast as we can so that money is
pumped into the economy here that's
important I think to the city as a whole
thank you Mary discount so that that's
what I was trying to get at if we can
look at the projects that we have that
you know for whatever reason if we can
expedite it and we may want to within
legal means change some of the
requirements as far as whether we you
know make sure it's it's local if we
have to pay a little bit more you know
certain thing projects we can do on that
and some we can't but we'll start
working on that you think thanks max
okay all right thank you
yeah as soon as possible anybody else
yeah the coal or oh you're gonna come
together okay okay
no-oh-oh what we can here we go ahead
it's going just state your name please
we're young I'm the director of the Las
Cruces gospel rescue mission we've heard
a lot of information today to boil it
down into a workable situation is going
to be a big task but I think we have a
good start some of the things that we
have been doing at the mission and I
have spoken to Nicole earlier today so
we're working in conjunction with each
other so that we can be as diligent as
possible and help not only the city as a
whole but our homeless community what we
have done at the mission I've changed a
few things because I used to let my
women and staff eat at a separate time
and then my men I have combined those
with someone who is watching over them
during meal times that affords me the
time then in between those people eating
to clean the entire dining room again
sanitize it and then we always allow
three meals a day for the general public
which means anyone who is at the
community of Hope or homeless on the
street who does not have another place
to go we open that for our dining we
serve three meals a day 365 days a year
this past year I can brag here for a
minute we got one of the highest grades
from the Health Department in the entire
city so we have a clean establishment
and so then after they come in and eat
and we take that meal count every meal
and we can publicize that for our donors
as well as for the city to see
we also then have other services that we
provide for those who are not our
residents at a separate time we provide
showers and give out things to them that
they may need for instance hygiene packs
and sometimes we do run low on things so
we constantly need hygiene items brought
in but we are trying to help mitigate
any problems that would be caused by
having too many people in in the place
at one time plus we are separating our
core people from the general public and
this is something that we did in the
migrant crisis also and managed to keep
two or three balls in the air at one
time another thing that I would like to
point out and ask for the city's help on
and I've brought it kind of brought it
up to the mayor previously but I would
like to see some of the indigent funding
that the city provides each year to
third-party groups such as home health
care nursing units I will provide a room
if the city would like to provide the
salary for two shifts of those nurses
and they don't have to be registered
nurses they can all they have to do is
look at a patient and determine whether
they can be triaged at the mission or
transported to the hospital it would be
maybe even more prevalent at this time
but if that was done now they're only I
think the only reason the mayor doesn't
like that I'd be saving the county money
money as well as the city but when the
fire department has to come out with the
paramedics and then the ambulance is
right behind them that's a lot of money
that is being spent of public funds if
we had those two shifts every day
it would be a lower cost to the public
entities than what we are putting out
right now any questions for me Mapleton
thank you thank you mr. young for your
commentary and for your work I'm
interested in and you've made mention
about this idea before about the two
nurses and that it didn't doesn't really
necessarily have to be our ends but you
have the Amador health clinic down the
street that is true why are you not
using it we do our people go over there
all the time but if they're very sick
why should they have to walk across the
street plus and maybe at hours when
Hamma door is not open and many times
they are booked and the people can't get
in even after they go over there I think
it would just be better than having a
sick person walk across the street to
have the availability right there mm-hmm
okay all right thank you
anyone else thank you Mary all right
Thank You Henry okay Nicole good evening
mr. mayor council my name is Nicole
Martinez I'm the director of the Mesilla
Valley community of Hope and I just
wanted to bring you up to date on what
we're doing over at the hope we are
maintaining the same hours
same services same staff we've
implemented you new cleaning regimen
much as everyone else has but I think
two of the things that are that I really
wanted to focus on even though we are
maintaining same hours and services we
have bare-bones staff right now you know
all of the interns that we've had have
all been pulled all of the volunteers
are staying home which is you know what
what they need to be doing so it's been
really interesting
but obviously same amount of people that
we are serving the to the two ways I
think that we're going to be really
impacted
is if if this does hit our homeless
population that we're looking at a group
of people who are incredibly vulnerable
vulnerable to different types of
diseases malnutrition food insecurity
mental health issues and so I think when
we think about what are we going to do
how are we going to quarantine obviously
it's a different question and quarantine
for people who are housed so we're you
know trying to think about solutions
that we would have obviously we would
bring city management office of
emergency management into that to talk
about what that kind of quarantine would
look like in a safe way for either
campers or people experiencing
homelessness coming into the community
of hope and then most of all of course
whatever we do making sure that we're
doing it in a manner that's not
demeaning to people that are
experiencing homelessness that it's very
low barrier and compassionate so those
are you know harm reduction models that
we're trying to figure out when we do a
quarantine like this for people who are
typically stigmatized anyway the other
area as many of you know I've sent out
several emails about my concern when
this immediately happened was all the
people that aren't going to be able to
pay their rent
so people with low income that are
struggling median income you know that's
going to affect a lot of people and
their ability to stay housed and we have
very limited resources for homeless
prevention funds and so I anticipate
that that's going to be something that
we we may need to really look at at this
time you know I'm really putting my
efforts toward federal stimulus packages
and trying to put forth effort for that
as well as state but I do anticipate
that I may need to come to a council
should it become a bigger issue than
those entities can assist with so I
think that you're all aware of that
though that that's a possibility that we
may need to talk about how we can meet
those needs in the emergency term but
other than that any questions that you
might have that's really sort of how
we're addressing the issues I think the
same goes to you as well Nicole thanks
for all that you do and keep us
informed if there's something that's
needed I know we've helped fund in the
past and I'm sure we'll be there again
needed counselor been home
thanks so much Nicole for being here for
possibly being the last person to speak
I'm not sure thank you um mayor I wanted
to just you know at this point I'm just
like just gonna say what I'm thinking
you had mentioned potentially going back
to the brown armory Center trying to
figure out a negotiation there I'm
wondering if I think I didn't go in to
that building to be honest with you but
I'm wondering if that could be a place
for so NMSU when they were talking about
quarantine students they were thinking
about opening up a bunch of the little
homes that they have that are that are
currently vacant and sticking students
in there who needed to be quarantined
I'm wondering if that location could be
used similarly for a specific population
like those experiencing homelessness I'm
not sure right like where can we figure
out how can we figure out where to place
start thinking about it now like where
are we gonna place folks who are
experiencing homelessness who need to be
perhaps quarantined thank you I think it
was more so just having it available and
ready you never know if there were
people who regardless that needed to be
separated other than you know obviously
at their home I mean it's kind of hard
to make them get out of their house but
let's say they had no other place to go
or whatever may be the situation I think
that was the main reason for having this
available or at least having it ready or
as a distribution point you know I think
that I don't want to say garage but that
area in the back that's kind of open
could be used as a distribution point if
we needed to get goods and services and
supplies to our elderly and the for the
children as well the babies and you know
again things could settle down in a
couple weeks I mean as far as settle
down I mean as far as they the
manufacturers they may step it up and
you
send it more baby formula more toilet
paper all that stuff so I don't know
see also not doesn't helpful now but I
think in the long run what's happening
right now is going to expose how
government can actually be helping
people who are in vulnerable situations
much easier than we currently say
weekend okay we have council Florida
State Council Vasquez yes I just want to
comment on quote housing unquote people
who have been infected I I mean I I
think it's a I think it's a dilemma or
an enigma because when you're putting a
lot of people who are and you know and
then I don't know I still haven't gotten
a read or gotten a clarification on what
a presumptive positive is as opposed to
a positive that the CDC issues but my
concern is that say you do have
presumptive positives and then people
you know the homeless or whatever people
who have nowhere else to go they go
there and perhaps you know the
presumptive positive proves to not be
positive and also having people in and
there is that open space that the mayor
mentioned but the rest of it actually is
just like any other structure it's it's
it's indoors it's so III don't know I'm
just I'm just putting that out there is
just the thought of food for thought and
so far as what we what we do in terms of
confining it it just might because I
agree with counsel Bencomo this is
exponential and we saw what happened in
Italy and what happened in Iran and what
happened in Spain where there was just
and then here already - and New Mexico
fortunately not here here
and locally but still not very far away
I think we had 17 reported in the
morning and by afternoon now I think we
have 22 presumptive so I think it's
going to grow exponentially and I think
we're we heard that definitely but I
don't know if I don't know what the
answer is I'm just putting it out there
and so far as to think about confining
people and then and then what happens
you know I mean it doesn't cure them so
that's just out there that's my thought
and thank you Nicole for everything you
do thank you how's Jo Jo probably
mommy's not home thank you no sir
Vasquez Thank You mayor Thank You Nicole
again for sticking through the whole
meeting and for thinking through this
and letting a lot of your staff go home
some been thinking more about the
situation with especially rent payers
right there's lots of folks who are
barely making ends meet or have a very
calculated budget to get what they need
to get to live independently as an
individual or as a single mother or a
head of household and so you know
thinking about connecting that with what
Mac said right about what if I have to
let go of people what if other
businesses not just restaurants have to
let go of people in the middle of the
week or in the middle of the month right
and so now you're one paycheck off from
meeting your budget requirements for
your household and depending on who your
landlord is right depending on whether
you live in an apartment complex you
live in a single family household that's
owned by a property owner it's managed
by a real estate company those levels of
compassion right or those levels of like
a negotiation negotiation will be
drastically different depending on who
owns that property and so I could
definitely envision some property owner
saying not coronavirus not my problem
right you pay the rent
or you're out and so I think in
addressing this situation of how do we
stop that from happy
in the moratorium on evictions that that
councilor Bencomo brought up earlier
today I think that's something we really
need to be prepared for because if we do
see a significant population of the
workforce especially in the service
industry or in the hospital hospitality
industry missing even one paycheck you
know I don't want to make assumptions
but I think a lot of those folks are
gonna have to decide what they pay right
Brent or thankfully utilities is not
going to be hopefully something they
have to deal with in the immediate
future but but I think legally we should
be looking at you know what what are we
doing in three weeks or four weeks when
folks potentially are getting eviction
notices posted to their doors and so I'm
sure that it's not problem unique to Las
Cruces is gonna happen in other cities
and other places all around the country
what municipalities do to address that
issue I think is going to be really
important for that population of
hard-working people who potentially will
start getting eviction notices and and
what can we do to make sure that people
don't take advantage of that situation I
could even imagine it in property owner
or landlord saying oh I've wanted that
person out for a long time anyway here's
my chance right and so we don't we don't
want that to happen we don't want people
to be discriminated against so any ideas
that you have you know or what you're
seeing across the country in terms of
policies that that we can do to stem
that would be appreciated so thank you
Nicole thank you any other questions
okay Nicole well thank you very much for
your presentation I think that you think
that's it okay well thank you very much
for showing up and sharing with us your
comments and there's nothing further
entertain a motion to adjourn motion
made by Council Florida second by
councillors sorg that we adjourn all
those in favor signify by saying aye I
am as opposed we're adjourned at 7:34
p.m. thank you