City Council Meeting April 15, 2024 MINUTES City Council Monday, April 15, 2024 @ 1:00 PM City Council Chambers, City Hall PRESENT: Mayor Eric Enriquez, Councilor Cassie McClure, Councilor William Mattiace, Councilor Becki Graham, Councilor Johana Bencomo, Councilor Becky Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores ABSENT: 1. OPENING CEREMONIES 1.1 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE - MAYOR ENRIQUEZ. 1.2 PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES OF APPRECIATION/PROCLAMATIONS - MAYOR ENRIQUEZ. Mayor Enriquez recognized the winners of the Water Conservation Poster Contest. Mayor Enriquez presented Jennifer Gorham with a proclamation for National Safety Telecommunications Week. Mayor Enriquez presented Jeanne Resendez with a proclamation for Child Abuse Awareness Month. Mayor Enriquez presented Emma Stahl and Katalina Elizabeth Hadfield with a proclamation for Fair Housing Month. Mayor Enriquez presented Debra Temple and Kelce Santo with a proclamation for Donate Life Month. Mayor Enriquez presented Sarah Stegall with a proclamation for Parkinson’s Mayor Enriquez presented a proclamation to Debbi Moore, Carrie Hamblen, Richard Aguilar, and Joanne Garay for Small Business Week. Page 1 of 25 1.3 PETS OF THE WEEK. Amy Defelix, Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley presented Pets of the Week. 2. CONFLICT OF INTEREST INQUIRY BY MAYOR AS REQUIRED BY LCMC SECTION 2-27 (E)(2) 2.1 None. 3. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 3.1 Steven Conn, Member of the Public said I am a long-time resident of Las Cruces. First item is I wondered about getting increased police presence up in the Las Alturas, Quail Run, Mission Bell area. We have family property up there. There has been a couple of lootings recently in the area, some strange characters frankly around there. I think it kind of gets a little neglected with the attention of the East Mesa and I think you know with the border spill over and stuff like that I just wanted to see a little more presence out there for surveillance and the second item is and I am just wondering in addition to the Youth YMCA we are building on El Paseo is there any other kind of business that we are attracting to El Paso. A decade ago, you know we had the Video 4, we had the International Café, all those businesses and now it is just sort of a cannabis dense k slum kind of situation. I just wondered if we were getting anything more there. Jorge Aguirre, Member of the Public said I am a long-time resident. I am here for the draft for the proposed change to city codes. I just want you to consider that you are going to get a lot of opposition. I was reading the comments, and it is something that I can understand. It is like somebody in an apartment complex, they like their apartment complex and their apartment lifestyle a lot and they want to force everybody in the city to live the way they live and maybe single-family housing some people still like that. Just letting you know that some people don’t want to live the same as we did for the last several decades and that sustainability requires more density and change is inevitable and so what I see in the comments and the concerns of the citizens is that they oppose change in any way that it comes and that is okay, we are all entitled to the way we like our lifestyle however resilience in a community, in an organization, in an individual it comes from the ability to adapt to change because change is inevitable. Maybe the requirements and the density of population that we had several decades ago was appropriate for codes that required only single- family housing but that is not the case anymore. We have a large demand for housing. We have a large influx of people coming from everywhere. We have a large amount of people who have limited incomes, who have limited purchasing power in an economy that is limiting more and more people’s ability to purchase a home and so the city needs to create new legislation to adapt to the realities of our communities so that we can all prosper together. Stan Engle, Member of the Public said my son told me that on Friday that the Mayor Page 2 of 25 came to see him at Central Elementary and if he is telling the truth thank you for showing up at Central Elementary Mr. Mayor. I hope you told all our elementary kids about the importance of democracy. So, I have appeared before this council several times as an advocate for more humane infrastructure improvements around our city and several of my friends also advocate for such things and we brought up issues that we have had with traffic and cars and whatnot, and I think it is aways going to be an ongoing issue. One of the things that struck me the last time I was here a month ago was one of our community members came and said the thing with cars is that it is just about personal responsibility and just like guns she said as well. I don’t think it is as black and white as that. You know with an infrastructure that encourages our worst behaviors and with a lack of enforcement of irresponsible distracted driving and red light running, sure you know you can be driving down a street that is nice and wide and say you know what I am just going to run that red light because it just barely turned red and who is going to punish me, right? I have almost been hit several times in a crosswalk. I was walking to Sutherlands to pick up something and I was walking there because I live close by and to the man’s credit, he did apologize to me but I told him get off your phone and drive. So personal responsibility only goes so far. Somebody else can pay the price for somebody’s lack of personal responsibility. It goes the same for guns as well. I heard in my neighborhood that a gun was stolen out of a car. I don’t know if it has been recovered or not but now there is a gun out there that somebody else could pay the price because that gun is out there. My feeling is yes, we are responsible for our actions, but we also have to realize that sometimes our actions mean that other people pay the price. Sometimes saying personal responsibility means that we are trying to not take responsibility for bad policy decisions in the past. We had a great group that talked about fair housing. I am very lucky that I have a cushion, but a lot of people don’t. A lot of people have to work and if their rent goes up or if their insurance goes up what choices do they have. They have choices but maybe all of them might not be that great and we need to recognize that as a community so that we can build the social infrastructure to take care of these people and then we can finally say its personal responsibility. Juan Garcia, Member of the Public said I have been watching Yoli Diaz in this and the County chambers for a year. She has reached out to city, county, and state leaders for help in addressing catastrophic healthcare, cancer. Yoli in my opinion has bounced from one elected official to another with no official commitment for resolving this issue. For whatever reason there is no interest for providing funds for at least a pilot program to address this critical issue in our community. We have unrestricted money to give away, UBI, to those who want category, money to provide unrestricted, “free rides in the Las Cruces bus systems” but “no funds for this issue”. The optics are not good. In my opinion it appears that our elected officials prefer one segment of the community over the other. I understand some issues have a higher political return on investment like building another local abortion clinic but not a badly needed major mental health facility. The free bus ride program, “fifteen-minute city model under the guise of rezoning Las Cruces really important to some in these chambers who want to do away with cars on the road. UBI is good for the political resume as some attempt to climb the political ladder. In my opinion caring for the cancer sick is not worth the return on political investment which why it is treated like a hot potato”. This weekend I had the opportunity to drive to La Mesa on New Mexico Highway 28. I saw the relocated Little Shop on Main passed Chope’s Restaurant, front door was open, not Page 3 of 25 locked, open to the customers and citizens. No vagrants laying in front of the door or drug addicts shooting up drugs in plain sight or threatening customers. La Mesa gained that thriving small business that was located in downtown Las Cruces. Why did this occur? Because we failed to protect this and many other small businesses that have become forgotten victims and members of the Las Cruces Hall of Shame because in our politicized upside-down world the criminal is most often the victim. I understand we have two ordinances coming up for review and vote, I hope you the council make the right decision in your votes and as I watched the proclamations that just took place it would have been nice to have the chamber leaders here publicly advocating on behalf of the small businesses with Hispanic women, with folks that can barely make a dollar and make very few dollars every day, advocating for those small businesses that were impacted by the criminal element. I didn’t see them. I hope they advocated somewhere but never saw them. Tony, Member of the Public said I understand there was a proclamation, or an ordinance proposed by the city council based on the last city council meeting to support a ceasefire in Gaza. War is hell, as a Veteran with over 30 years of public dedicated military service and multiple combat deployments including Operation Desert Shield and Storm, Operation Joint Endeavor and Guard, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Endure Freedom I understand firsthand what it is like to serve in a combat environment. Unless you have experienced war, you have no idea of the hardships, mentally, physically, and emotionally that all involved endured especially service members. But with that said let me remind you of some key statements of why you should not be supported. Today marks a grim milestone for the people of Israel. Over six months since October 7th the one-day holocaust in which so many Israeli people were brutally murdered, raped, burned alive and taken hostage. The worst slaughtered of Israelis since the holocaust in World War II where more than 6 million Jews were slaughter and killed. Let me say that number again, 6 million. Let’s not forget the thousands of Israelis that have had to leave their homes in Northern Israel due to the attacks from Hezbollah. With Passover approaching, a holiday of freedom and exodus from Egypt the citizens of Israel are in a dire fight for freedom in their nation and homeland. I expect that most of you have never been to Israel, yet you are proposing supporting the ceasefire. Thanks to the incredible courage and heroism of the brave men and women of their defense forces Israel is fighting back and with God Shloshim they will win. Let’s keep in mind who started this war, Hamas, who was designated a terrorist organization by the US and other countries. By supporting a ceasefire, you let Hamas off the hook for the atrocities they committed against Israel on October 7th. If you look who is marginalizing the people of Gaza it is Hamas not Israel. Concerning all the money and resources that Gaza has received over the number of years from the international community it is in the billions, maybe even the trillions and has been squandered supporting Hamas initiatives digging tunnels, paying terrorist and martyrs, buying and smuggling ammunition to attack Israel and enriching themselves as the leadership of Hamas are billionaires who don’t even reside in Gaze but instead live in luxury in country of Khutar. Hamas enables Palestinians by suffering, by using them as human shields, stealing aid, and employing hospitals and human facilities such as schools with military capabilities and ignoring the rule of law. Hamas is engaged in a PR campaign to magnify the criticism of Israel by failing to distinguish between civilian and combatants and casualty reports. You need to take with a grain of salt the casualty Page 4 of 25 numbers being reported by the Gaza Health Ministry as the ministry is controlled by Hamas. The US must signal to the world that it unequivocally defends Israel in its right to ensure that Hamas will no longer be a threat to Israel and all the hostages must be released and anything less will yield more death, hardship, and destruction in the near term and the foreseeable future. So if you are going to advocate for a ceasefire in Israel I would ask that you would include the resolution or proclamation for the release of all the Israeli hostages that were taken by Hamas on October 7th . I would also encourage to condemn Hamas who started this war as well as the PIG, just this weekend Iran launched an unprecedented attacks on Israel with hundreds of drones and missiles and fortunately with the grace of God Israel was able to defend itself and its citizens from the brazen attack. Let me ask you a question, what would you have done if you had been in Israel? This is what Israel, and its citizens are doing on a constant basis with Hamas and Gaza, Hezbollah and Lebanon, the Houthi and Yemen and all of Iran. I would highly encourage you all to support Israel and not support or pass the ceasefire resolution in Gaza. As it is stated in the book of Genesis, those who are blessed shall be blessed and those who curse us shall be cursed. Diane Starbuck, Member of the Public said I am a member of Animal Advocates for Change. We have been waiting for news on the city’s new Animal Welfare Ordinance other than it is being worked on. We have requested a copy, but none has been forthcoming. Dona Ana County has hired a veterinarian and is preparing for a mobile vet unit to go out into the community for spay and neuters. Why is the city so slow to share their support of companion animals and their owners. We are also waiting to hear when community members will be allowed on the board of the Animal Service Center. I encourage Ms. Barbara Bencomo to have the city lawyers write a letter to the state if she has not already done so. Las Cruces has been unable to control its companion animal population resulting in the suffering of abandoned animals and a high kill rate at our shelter. As New Mexico’s second largest city it is shameful that the city has not adopted a fully funded phased in mandatory spay and neuter ordinance. Diane Williams, Member of the Public said I am here on a little bit different vein. I wanted to express my appreciation to our Police Chief, his department. I made a terrible mistake and started to read comments on Facebook, and I am appalled at some of the emotions that are directed towards people who are trying to do their best. The one thing I would like to ask though, I tried to look at crime statistics for the city. It really stops I believe in 2020. There is not any additional at least on the portal, information as far as seeing where out crime rate actually is and where we are going. I have heard that we are going down on the violent crime side which I think is also a trend in the country as a whole and also are there statistics on crimes committed by homeless versus our local thuggery, drug dealers, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera? It seems that anger is really directed towards them, and the real problem is mental health issues and that is throughout the entire country. That and homelessness is a problem in the entire country. It is not unique to Las Cruces. It is not you guys doing a terrible job at what you are doing, it is a complex huge problem that will take a lot of resources and money to fix and then we will have people screaming about their taxes going for the mentally ill. The only other thing and this is a different topic, it is about zoning and not related to what is on the agenda but on the noon news today there was people protesting a zoning change in El Paso and I happen to see their sign and I Page 5 of 25 would recommend that the city look at the sign they post for zoning ordinances, large, bright green. You can’t miss it, big black bold letters. I think that would be a real benefit with all the zoning issues that seem to be occurring. Susan Cabello, Member of the Public said I am the new Executive Director of Downtown Las Cruces Partnership. You guys have seen me before in my role as of the Director of the Arts and Cultural District, so I am not new to the organization. I am just new to this position. I would like to take a moment to remind you that we are a state and nationally accredited organization that deals with economic development and the TIDD and Arts and Cultural District. We have new leadership as well. Our current Board Chair and Vice Chair are John Munoz and Jeffrey Stewart. John Munoz of Electronic Caregiver and Jeffrey Stewart of the Mesilla Valley Pharmacy. Our leadership is downtown as well. Downtown is growing and thriving. I want to thank you guys and our City liaison Chris Faivre for helping us on our mission to make it better every day. One new business is J&G Watch Repair. They were a kiosk in the mall if you remember that? They are now on the corner of Griggs and Water. So, it is really exciting to see a new business open up that kind of harkens up to the Main Street of old. He does not only watch repair but jewelry repair as well, just a really neat addition to our businesses downtown. When speaking with our businesses, I have talked to at least 20 businesses a month. Many of them have said that they really appreciate the security services provided by the TIDD and they would ask that those services be expanded, if possible, in the next fiscal year and finally I am going to leave my business cards with Christine, the City Clerk. I would encourage you without violating rolling quorum to contact me if you would like to learn more about downtown. I would be so happy to talk, to give you a walking or driving tour of our district and introduce you to any of our merchants that you would like to interact with. Judy Berryman, Member of the Public said I am the current chair of the Historic Preservation Commission. I am speaking in regard to the pending demolition of multiple historic structures at the northwest corner of University and Chaparral. We are again losing a part of Las Cruces cultural history and I believe there has been no formal documentation to protect any remaining evidence. Although the proposed demolition is well within the requirements set under Chapter 40, Historic Preservation Ordinance, under Chapter 2, under the Historic Preservation Ordinance and Planning and Zoning, my question is, why can’t we address demolition of historic buildings even if they are not in the Historic District prior to that act? My second question would be, is there any federal or state money involved in this endeavor? If there is, we are in violation of both those laws that protect historic resources. The opportunity that I see is that we have the opportunity to address this issue. The HPC is interested along with community members, city staff, and the construction industry that we can come together and create a diversified working group that can offer guidance on development rather than addressing it after the buildings have gone down. Why design such a group that would be transformative and would allow all of us to move beyond the current process. This would facilitate constructive and practical solutions. I propose the following, a Work Session regarding the property on University and Chaparral that would include city staff, the proposed developer/property owner, along with any members of the community. The goal would be to exchange ideas, share perspectives, and provide an opportunity to voice our opinion. The second ask would be to allow the Historic Preservation Specialist or Historian to actually document the Page 6 of 25 buildings before they are demolished. If we cannot save the buildings, we will at least have the history of the building. The goal would be to have a professional record to be filed with the New Mexico State University archives and special collections for any future research and finally a separate meeting with the property owners to discuss potential changes. I understand that a number of issues are going on, but I would like to ask that the HPC is not informed of demolition of historic buildings by driving by and seeing a bulldozer in front of the building. I would like to have prior information and consultation. Eddie Thomas, Member of the Public said Mayor Enriquez allow me to begin by saying that hiring an outside third party auditing firm to advise you on the City Council Meeting procedure is not only a waste of taxpayer’s money and totally unnecessary but is also a thinly veiled see through attempt to avert blame from moving the public input portion to the back of the meeting agenda in an attempt to escape public scrutiny for the policies proposed by this council. This is already something you signaled your true intentions on. This move would make it prohibitively inconvenient for most of the people that bravely come down to speak to you and the council members. May I respectfully remind you that you are all public servants, accountable to us, the taxpaying, salary paying citizens of Las Cruces and as such you should be accommodating us. To do otherwise would interfere with the democratic process afforded by the Constitution for the redress of grievances. One such policy is the proposed rezoning ordinance that would increase crime while decreasing property values. This proposal if enacted would increase neighborhood traffic and noise and destroy the peace and quiet we have come to enjoy. It is why so many of us moved here. I don’t want to live in a congested cannabis community. We already have enough of them on every corner and shopping strip mall. We like single family neighborhoods that promote family life. We like the space and serenity that our current zoning structure affords. I have spent thousands of dollars fixing up my house. I have done my part to stimulate the local economy. So, is this how you are going to reward me and other homeowners that have investing in improving the appearance and adding to the neighborhood appeal? What possible purpose could this serve? Surely it is not in the taxpaying homeowner’s interest. Instead, why aren’t you doing something about the city’s more pressing problems like crime, gang violence, drug abuse, and the homeless? Instead of building more low-income housing at the taxpayer's expense. Why don’t you focus on attracting high paying jobs that can contribute to the tax base rather than draining it. We already have one Desert Hope with another one on the way called Amador Crossing. When that one gets full are we going to build another one and what are we going to name it? 4. READ CLOSED MEETING STATEMENT 4.1 READ APRIL 8, 2024 CLOSED MEETING STATEMENT INTO THE RECORD. The Las Cruces City Council met in Closed Session and only discussed those limited items as stated in the posted notice to discuss limited personnel matters regarding Municipal Judge II, which is closed pursuant to NMSA 1978, Section 10-15-1H(2). Page 7 of 25 5. ACCEPTANCE OF AGENDA Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to accept the agenda as presented. RESULT: Carried MOVER: Councilor Johana Bencomo SECONDER: Councilor Becky Corran AYES: Mayor Eric Enriquez, Councilor Cassie McClure, Councilor William Mattiace, Councilor Becki Graham, Councilor Johana Bencomo, Councilor Becky Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores 6. CITY COUNCIL MINUTES 6.1 WORK SESSION OF MARCH 11, 2024. 6.2 REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF MARCH 18, 2024. 6.3 WORK SESSION OF MARCH 25, 2024. 7. RESOLUTION(S) AND/OR ORDINANCE(S) FOR CONSENT AGENDA 7.1 RESOLUTION NO. 24-102: A RESOLUTION APPROVING AN AMENDMENT TO THE CITY OF LAS CRUCES (CITY) TO ACCEPT THIRD QUARTER BUDGET ADJUSTMENTS FOR VARIOUS CITY DEPARTMENTS THROUGH AN AMENDMENT TO THE CITY’S ADOPTED FY2023-2024 BUDGET, AND THE FY2024 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN (CIP). 8. OLD BUSINESS 8.1 COUNCIL BILL NO. 24-023; ORDINANCE NO. 3065: AN ORDINANCE APPROVING A ZONE CHANGE FROM R-4C (MULTI-DWELLING HIGH DENSITY & LIMITED RETAIL AND OFFICE-CONDITIONAL) TO R-4 (MULTI- DWELLING HIGH DENSITY LIMITED RETAIL AND OFFICE) FOR PROPERTY ENCOMPASSING 2.908 + ACRES AND LOCATED AT 712 AND 722 HENDEE PLACE AND 725 BASHA ARCH. SUBMITTED BY M&M BUILDING SOLUTIONS, REPRESENTATIVE. (23ZO0500143). David Weir, Deputy Director Community Development gave the overhead presentation. Councilor Flores said you sent us all an email as far as the TIA and other details. The TIA was done several years ago and I am sure that traffic conditions have changed as a result even though I believe you said that maybe it didn’t. I have several concerns about the change and there are no assurances anywhere that they will not proceed with a three-story structure anywhere and I don’t know the TIA that was conducted several years ago I haven’t seen it. I don’t know what it took into account. I don’t think anybody has seen it up here. Maybe I am the only one who hasn’t. I don’t think the public has seen it. I don’t think the people who actually live there because there were several emails that I was cc’d on, and I think my colleagues were also. I think one of the problems I have here or the issue at hand for me is that it is almost like a bait and switch. It was presented as two-story structure, or it would be higher and now they have come back, and I think that the concerns that have been spoken, presented to Page 8 of 25 us here pretty much substantiate concern for over development. It was interesting how the developer said that well we need housing. Yes, we need housing, the operative word in that, the adjective would be affordable housing. In their language the rates would be market prices or market rates so it’s not really alleviating the need for affordable housing or for housing for people who would otherwise have it. So, the study that was done specifically stated that the capacity was 15,000 I guess motor vehicles going back and forth but I think our population has grown in last few years and I don’t think that it would be that low at this point and I think the TIA comes in after they have been approved or what is the process there? When is the TIA conducted, after it has been approved or before it’s been approved? David Weir said the TIA was approved as part of the construction drawings for the subdivision and the TIA basically explains the existing conditions and if there is any additional improvements that need to be made to the roadways of that time. The 15,000 content is major collector streets. That is what they are designed to, the maximum capacity, I don’t know the particular numbers of the TIA but the existing traffic flows and the build out of the development are below that 1,500 traffic count. Some of the other comments that you have made, I think those are questions that the applicant could provide to you about their intent for the property, why they came forward at this time, and could also provide details on the TIA since they are the ones that commission that and the development of the subdivision. Councilor Flores said it would be wonderful for his intent to be in writing because he can say with all due respect what is convenient at this time and renege at any time. So really unless he is under oath or something I wouldn’t take his word for it, with all due respect. Troy Mitchell, Applicant said one thing I do want to make clear, one of the 100 sheets that came in the TIA. The TIA was done on 64 single family lots and a maximum density for the R-4 zoning and it shows, it projects like a 2031 year fully built projection for the Boutz and Stern subdivision intersections. It shows of the max capacity. Those are around 20% or less. Councilor Bencomo asked if granted the second story, the removal of that, do you have any idea how many units you would plan to build? Troy Mitchell said yes, we would only go two story because as precedence we saw that was allowed in the subdivision so that is why kind of why we are requesting this. Our units that we have on our conceptual are 23. Councilor Bencomo asked two weeks ago there was conversation about putting restriction of 35 feet, is that something you are comfortable with? Troy Mitchell said yes, that would match with the subdivision as it is being built, the single-family homes and we can get our two story in a 35. Councilor Bencomo asked for the 23 units you would expect to have two cars per apartment or what were you thinking in terms of parking lot? Page 9 of 25 Troy Mitchell said for the parking we are required to do 1.5 per unit and so we will have some bike racks because it is accessible to the university, that would be the plan. Councilor Bencomo said I did want to note something about because I have also had some emails about well this wouldn’t even help the housing crisis anyway because they are not affordable apartments, but I do want to say that all housing helps the housing crisis. MFA reports that there are 10 high end renters to every one unit in Las Cruces so then folks rent down taking up units for folks who cannot afford higher rent units. There is also a market report that says the city would need a minimum of 236 lots to come online in order to keep up with population increase. Here is where I am coming from with everyone. Number one, naming that traffic calming is a huge priority for me for Boutz, for McClure, for Hoagland, for Elks, for many streets in Las Cruces. It is a huge problem and it’s a huge priority for me in making sure that it is a huge priority for the council and Public Works. So, I just want to point that out. The second thing is that you know when we talk about building apartment complexes. The city and certainly myself are trying to ask developers to do their part so that the city doesn’t just rely on nonprofit developers. We want these private developers to build in the infill, to not just build out in the East Mesa, to build more apartments, multifamily units, missing middle units and then when they come to us we make it incredibly difficult. These are the balance that I am keeping as an elected official. Certainly, for this part of the area, but really all parts. It does not matter where proposals for apartments, whether it is Boutz, whether its McClure, whether its Sonoma Ranch, it is always a problem for residents in the area where they are talking about apartments. This will be my fifth year. Every time there has been a zoning request for apartments there has always been an issue for residents. It doesn’t matter what the issue is. I also do want you to note the heaviness of that when we are also facing as a city a giant housing crisis, 5,600 rental units are short in the city of Las Cruces. Twenty-three won’t fix it but I want to work with developers who are coming to the table and are saying we want to do this, and we want to do it in good faith and so now my invitation now to you, are you the developer or the owner? For you to also be a good neighbor. I think one of the biggest issues that I have heard in this neighborhood is the irrigation ditch. That it hasn’t been cleaned. There is neighbors in the area that have had to go and clean it themselves and so just some of those little pieces right then my invitation to you is to come into this neighborhood and in good faith operate so that folks are able to talk with you about some of the feedback that they have. Troy Mitchell said sorry I was not the subdivider of the original land. I am just these three parcels. Councilor Bencomo said I see you are only the parcels on the end. Troy Mitchell said I think you brought up a good point. I think economies of scale really plays into this. The intent to try to reduce the apartment rental cost is directly correlated with the cost to build the structures and so if we can build more units on a parcel, it reduces the cost and drives the cost of rentals down and that is kind of our intent in this as well as the single-family housing being allowed to go two stories as Page 10 of 25 well. Councilor Bencomo said I think that also what this has taught me is that and I can talk about it during my council comments but I think and as Realize comes to life the need for inclusionary zoning and the need for providing density bonuses for developers who want to build more multifamily housing and you know I would love to in the future ask someone like you, will you save 20% of those apartments you are building to be affordable housing apartments. So that is my note for everybody that I am hoping this is something we can get done in the future. I think for today unfortunately that might not be able to happen but that is at least where I am coming from. I guess I will continue my advocacy for the ditch elsewhere David because I think that it is a real issue and it’s a huge issue and we have to fix it and I am sorry that is not on you. Troy Mitchell said I do want everyone to know that this is locally funded. It is not some big out of town developer. That is really something that we wanted to push so I am trying to keep it local. I need to clarify, David just told me. We wouldn’t hitting our max R-4 density. I apologize, it is 23. The conceptual we have is 23 per lot so there is three lots total. They are just over one acre and two of them just under one acre. Councilor Mattiace asked on the previous agreement that was made with Ken Miyagishima and the homeowners or the stakeholders, it was to be a one story? David Weir said the structure would be one story but there was no cap on the number of units that could be built on each individual lot. Councilor Mattiace asked how many total units, 23 times 3? David Weir said yes, that would be 69 units. The maximum density for that would be approximately 113/116 units I believe. I did the math once, but it was over 110 but less than 120. Councilor Mattiace said it is important for me to recognize that a lot of the stakeholders, homeowners, and people that have moved into that subdivision halfway depended on that first agreement or some of those homebuyers that maybe we aren’t hearing from they purchased that $600,000/$800,000 home thinking that it was going to be the first agreement, you know one story. It still may be 50 people, 60 people but the stakeholders agreed to that it wouldn’t be capped, correct? David Weir said using stories as a standard is rather difficult for staff because there is variable in it. A height and feet is much easier to deal with and as we in the Community Development Department analysis the 35 feet is the same at the single family homes. New ones would be allowed to be built too and those are between existing neighborhoods and these projects. Again, just some information for council to consider. Councilor Mattiace asked in your engineering knowledge and basis if it was one story what would be the number of residents? Page 11 of 25 David Weir said I couldn’t answer that because until you put the square footage of the units that you are going to provide there are a lot of different design criteria that could go into that. Troy Mitchell said I don’t know that specific answer. I know that each lot is a different size and shape so yes, our conceptual for the first lot is 23. On other lots I don’t believe we will be able to fit that amount. If we went single story it depends on the size per unit. If we went one bedroom, we could be able to fit the same amount if they are like 500 square feet potentially. We are trying to make them a little bigger than that. Our conceptual are two bedroom and three bedrooms. Councilor Mattiace said assessment wise and value wise you probably wouldn’t build a 500-foot property next to an $800,000 home. Troy Mitchell said no that is what we don’t want. Mike Bevs, Member of the Public said I am understanding that they want to put instead of two-story apartments, four story. I don’t know if that is true or not. We have been dancing around that song since they got here. I can tell you this. I had my home built 37 years ago by John Curry. Every piece of property he has was either has a French drain, huge, this tall full of river rock. Occasionally we get standing water and these people it’s about money. These people didn’t put a French drain on the back corner of that property, there is a pit half as big as this room where all the water from that is supposed to run down into this place and sit. I haven’t figured out who is going to build a house next to that mosquito pit. I have been to the back two houses that Red Cliff built. I talked to a little girl that is sitting there. They are $340 apiece and they are the smallest ones on the property. The property that they built across the street on Boutz, there are no sidewalks whatsoever. You dump that many people into that small an area you are all going to have a dog or two and how in the world do you get parking for 1.5 people? I see a lot of song and dance here. This is pretty cut and dry. The last city council approved something and the whole bump has nothing to do with housing for the poor or any of that. It has to do with money. If you don’t understand anything in this country go back to the money. We agreed and the whole group kind of went for the first agenda, but the council sat down and they are back for what’s called a bump in the car business. Patricia Nevue, Member of the Public said I live on Marilissa Lane. We have no sidewalks. Our children stand next to the street to catch the school bus. My issue was traffic. I know one member of the city council told one of the other neighbors they would come and look at the situation. We have no shoulders. We have a dirt strip where people have put in traffic lights. We have had traffic lights put in. That means that you can’t walk down that dirt strip you must then walk into the street. Our children get off the school but and where are they going to walk. People don’t drive 25 miles an hour. I have heard it said that this is an arterial roadway, that it is a straight going in and out of the city with two lanes and no shoulders. Where are people supposed to walk? I am concerned with traffic that by adding the apartments we are adding more traffic, and it means that it is unsafe for our children who have no sidewalks to walk. For people who are going into Old Mesilla, they drive 35/30 miles an hour, I realize Page 12 of 25 that is a personal issue for those people, but we just want our children to be safe. We want to walk down our streets and there is nowhere to walk. Please drive by our neighborhood. You will see what I am talking about. Building the apartments is great, we need that kind of housing. We just don’t need the traffic. Joe LaRocque, Member of Public said I live on Marilissa also. We have already mentioned that the original zoning was a compromise between what the residents wanted, and the subdivision developer wanted, and he wanted like six houses per lot and all of this stuff, and they changed all that and he wanted the two story apartments. The Mayor at the time and the city council agreed that that was stressing the neighborhood too much, the six lots per acre and all the rest of it. At the same time that all of this was going on it was brought up in city council that Boutz is an arterial collector street, that it does not meet any of the definitions of a collector street that are set by regulation. It was designated that because it comes from Mesilla to Las Cruces, and it doesn’t meet the standards to be that but it is designated that so that is what the TIA said it was. My main objective to the whole thing is that I think this is just trying to do an inrun around what was originally agreed on and I don’t think that is appropriate and I don’t think the city council should allow it. Diane Williams, Member of the Public said I hear reference to traffic calming and I wonder how you calm traffic on a two-lane road where you are adding over 100 with the houses and the apartments vehicles just them alone will be using that road as well as people that come visit. When you have two lanes crumbling little asphalt shoulder, I believe it is 8 inches on one side and maybe a foot/foot and half on the other side and then you have people’s walls, people’s driveways. Are you going to take over people’s properties? There is no place to put in sidewalks and curbs and so what do we do, just wait for a kid to get hit? If I have to dodge around garbage cans or light poles while I am walking, I am walking sideways on a drainage ditch. How do you calm traffic in that situation? Please consider that, thank you. Henry Wilson, Member of the Public said Marilissa Lane. I don’t know how we got up to this point after 4 years of discussing that project and still don’t know the number of apartments that were planned, are planned, or want to be planned. I heard 63/64, I don’t know. After four years they are still not sure the number of apartments, sounds like something is trying to be changed to call it something else. Raymond Bernstein Jr., Member of the Public said I am part of the housing area, and I was very involved in the original request for keeping things down. I am going to be very, very brief. Most of the things that I wanted to say today have been said. There is one thing though I would like specifically the council to take note of. We have a practice, it is institutionalized the way we do business in the city, we have the developer do the TIA. Who in the world is going to get a developer to fund a TIA that is not going to suit their purpose. It is like the fox with the hen house. They are always going to say that things are great and what was said about the size of the roads, and I took pictures the first time around. The roads are radically smaller than the template in the specification for the arterial routes. So, I would ask you to strongly consider rejecting this proposal. Page 13 of 25 Robert McCorkle, Member of the Public said I live at 1130 Marilissa Lane and I spoke to you last time. Some of the questions that we are finally getting answers to were prompted by an email I sent to every councilor and the Mayor. Looks like they are trying to pull the old bait and switch on us here and I don’t appreciate it and it disturbs me that Mr. Weir says we can come back in a year, and we can do some more amendments to it. No, that’s it. You had your chance, you made a promise to us. You are in the process of maybe breaking that promise and I’ll agree we need more housing. There is no question, Councilor Bencomo but let’s make sure it is the right housing that will serve the most people who need it. This doesn’t seem like affordable housing to me. The average rent in this city depending on what website you look at, $800 to $1,000 for a single 500 square feet, whatever it might be. There is going to be students, it is not far from NMSU. You know as well as I do that is not just going to be one student in that apartment it is going to be two, three, or four, all of them probably have their own vehicle. We are talking of adding who knows how many more vehicles, 1,000 over time and the TIA is four years old. The city of Las Cruces has grown by about 4,000 people since then. A lot of them use Boutz to go to Mesilla and that is going to increase that traffic coming through there. The bigger problem I think is going to be at El Paseo and Boutz because it is going to stack up there. It already does so I urge you to vote this down it’s not time and it’s not the place. Mayor Enriquez asked so this was agreed upon four years ago and after a denial of one year then they can come back and make some changes but in that time, there hasn't been any other changes, correct? David Weir said there has been no other request to change the zoning since 2020. Mayor Enriquez asked and everything that was agreed upon at that time has been adhered to? David Weir said correct. Councilor Bencomo said I want to make the amendment on 35 feet just to end the misinformation around four feet, four story apartment complex and those kinds of things. Is that something that staff would recommend? David Weir said yes, staff would be comfortable with a recommendation of 35 feet. That is what the maximum height is for the adjacent properties that are with the R-1 zoning. Councilor Bencomo said I would like to now make a motion to amend this to include a 35-foot height limit. Mr. Weir can you please talk about 35 feet and what that means? David Weir said 35 feet is from the ground floor of where the dirt is to the maximum peak of the structure. That is not an arbitrary number. Stories can vary from 10 to 20 feet in height, so it is an exact number. The neighborhood knows, city staff knows what they are getting with 35 feet. Councilor Bencomo asked realistically in 35 feet could you build three floors? Page 14 of 25 David Weir said it would probably be difficult to do that. Twelve feet is where you have your floor, your mechanicals where you have your air ducts for your heating and cooling and running your mechanicals and then you would have another floor on that if it were the same in between floor and then you would only have nine feet left which would be rather difficult. You could not get another 12-foot story in. Councilor Bencomo asked what if I say 30 instead of 35? You’re saying that 35 is not an arbitrary number is what you said? David Weir said the reason that staff provides that number is because that is what the single-family homes adjacent to the lot are allowed already so you are not allowing a height greater than what the adjacent zoning has. Joe LaRocque said I am not talking about what we did before, this is about the amendment and I think if you take a show of hands of the people from our neighborhood we are not concerned with 20 feet or 35 feet or whatever we were concerned with one story or two stories and how that effects the traffic that the apartment complex will create and 35 foot two story is basically giving them exactly what they want and I am saying we want one story to restrict the traffic instead of doubling the number of apartments. So, I don’t think the foot has anything to do with whether it is one story or two story. Councilor McClure asked perhaps David Sedillo could speak a little bit to traffic calming? I know that they were working on collector and arterial calming. I know that there is a way of slowing traffic down manually and what would that look like for Boutz and what would that look like for Stern? David Sedillo, Public Works Director said you are correct Public Works is working on a traffic calming mitigation policy for both arterials and collectors. As far as what can be done on Boutz and Stern, those are going to be site specific and based on many things as we go through so we will take a look at what those items are and see which applications will work best based on configuration, existing conditions, traffic itself because again some of these streets are not comparable. Some are built out and some are not so it would take all of those items into consideration. Councilor McClure asked just kind of give some examples of what does that look like when we say traffic calming and I know that it varies depending on the road and the conditions and the amount of people but what are some ideas so that people can walk away and say these are some ideas of what might happen in the future when we do integrate more housing in this area. David Sedillo said some things that can be done are narrowing of travel lanes. Those are an option again depending on the number of lanes that are out there, what the traffic is doing there. That is one way to look at it. In residential streets we do have speed tables although these roadways are classified with a little bit higher speeds, we would really not recommend those types of things. Again, look at different ways of how to slow traffic, we could do planting of trees, there are other factors that we can install in the right-of-way that we have available to us to do that. Page 15 of 25 Councilor Flores said I know there is a lot of development in District 6 and every time something is built my understanding is that the developer or the builder or someone is responsible for putting in the drainage, the sidewalks, that sort of stuff. Would that be happening with this new development? David Weir said the developer of the Banmor Subdivision and any outstanding public improvements with these three lots when they came in would be responsible for putting that infrastructure in. The sidewalks along Stern and Boutz are already in place. They were built with the initial single-family zoning. All the roads are paved. The individual lots interior of the subdivision will be built with the construction of each individual lots. So, the internal sidewalk system will be built out when all the homes are built, and apartments are placed on these three lots. Councilor Flores asked why is that we have a woman who came up to speak, I think a couple of times now at least that there aren’t any sidewalks, that children have to cross those streets and I know, and I have been down that street several times and it always looks very rural to me. It looks very undeveloped, but you are saying that there are sidewalks there, where exactly would that be? David Weir said the Banmor Subdivision was built under the time when all sidewalks were required, and they have done that. The residential areas to the west do not have any sidewalks in front of their lots. Evidently at the time that was built it was either outside of the city limits and they weren’t required or when they were approved by the city or there was some type of waiver for those so those are existing development that took place prior to the sidewalk requirements being mitted. Those lots are a little bit larger. There are certain conditions that sidewalks aren’t required in a residential development but those have been all the rights-of-way and streets have been within the city system and our responsibility for some time. Councilor Flores asked so those units if they are built if its approved will have a sidewalk? David Weir said yes. Councilor Flores asked so you would have a patch of sidewalk? David Weir said yes. Councilor Becky Corran moved, seconded by Councilor Becki Graham, to remove Ordinance No. 3065 from the table for discussion. MOVER: Councilor Becky Corran SECONDER: Councilor Becki Graham Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to amend Ordinance 3065 to add the 35-foot height limit. Page 16 of 25 AYES: Mayor Eric Enriquez, Councilor Cassie McClure, Councilor Becki Graham, Councilor Johana Bencomo, and Councilor Becky Corran NAYS: Councilor William Mattiace and Councilor Yvonne Flores Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to Approve Ordinance No. 3065 as amended. MOVER: Councilor Becki Graham NAYS: Councilor William Mattiace and Councilor Yvonne Flores 9. RESOLUTION(S) AND/OR ORDINANCE(S) FOR DISCUSSION 9.1 COUNCIL BILL NO. 24-024; ORDINANCE NO. 3066: AN ORDINANCE CONFIRMING THE SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THE LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ACT (LEDA) PROJECT WITH X2NSAT, INC., AND AUTHORIZING ITS TERMINATION, TO INCLUDE THE PROJECT PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT, INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT AND THE RELEASE OF THE $150,000 GUARANTY THAT HAS SERVED AS SECURITY FOR THE PROJECT. Elizabeth Teeters, Director Community Development gave the overhead presentation. Councilor Corran said I just wanted to follow up and say this super interesting especially given that and on our agenda that we also had another LEDA project that was approved in the consent agenda. It is cool to see that we have we had our return on our investment sooner than the state did. Can you just tell me what the dynamics of that are? Is that typical? Do we get paid first and how does that work? And can you tell me what the average time to return on investment in most LEDA’s is, approximately? Louise Marquez, New Mexico Economic Development said what I can tell you is that there is no such thing as an average simply because every project is going to be a different size. What I can say is because the city’s investment was $150,000 and the states investment was $300,000 as money returns it is easier to reach $150,000 on return on investment. I would also like to congratulate city council because it is a pretty exciting time when you get to where you have completed the actual project, and you are seeing the benefits of it. Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Johana Bencomo, to Approve Ordinance No. 3066. SECONDER: Councilor Johana Bencomo Page 17 of 25 10. BOARD APPOINTMENTS 10.1 PATRICIA GALLEGOS Councilor Mattiace appoints Patrica Gallegos to the Library Board. 10.2 MARNIE NIXON Councilor Becky Corran moved, seconded by Councilor Becki Graham, to reappoint Marnie to the Health and Human Services Advisory Committee. Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores 10.3 TED LINNERT Councilor Becky Corran moved, seconded by Councilor William Mattiace, to reappoint to the Airport Advisory Board. SECONDER: Councilor William Mattiace Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores 10.4 MIRCHAEL RADKE Councilor Yvonne Flores moved, seconded by Councilor Johana Bencomo, to reappoint Michael Radke to the Airport Advisory Board. MOVER: Councilor Yvonne Flores Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores 10.5 STEPHANIE HAWKINS Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to appoint Stephanie Hawkins to the Lodger’s Tax Advisory Board. Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores 10.6 KEVIN VAL PEREZ Councilor Yvonne Flores moved, seconded by Councilor Johana Bencomo, to appoint Kevin Val Perez to the Lodger’s Tax Advisory Board. Page 18 of 25 Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores 10.7 TROY MITCHELL Councilor Yvonne Flores moved, seconded by Councilor Becki Graham, to appoint Troy Mitchell to the Capital Improvement Advisory Committee. 11. NOTICE OF PROPOSED ORDINANCE(S) 1) There will be no public discussion. 2) A Councilor may ask staff for clarification on the proposed ordinance(s). 11.1 COUNCIL BILL NO. 24-025; ORDINANCE NO. 3067: AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 3054, UPDATING THE PROJECT PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY AND 828 PRODUCTIONS, LLC., TO ADD CLARIFYING LANGUAGE FOR THE USE OF THE $2,800,000 IN LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ACT (LEDA) FUNDS DEDICATED TO THE RENOVATIONS OF MULTIPLE FACILITIES. Council agreed to bring it forward. 12. CITY COUNCIL MEMBER BOARD REPORTS AND COMMENT 12.1 COUNCILOR MCCLURE I was pretty conflicted about the ordinance that we approved. I think the clarity was a little hard for them to understand but I think Mayor Pro Tem Bencomo’s explanation is partially how I feel as well, and I also think that ask is going to be especially once we look at Realize be innovative with our developments and rethinking how we actually build and how we can be good neighbors is going to be crucial. For example, if we don’t want to have a community built that has any parking at all and it becomes a cycling only and they know that when they move in. Those are novel ideas that are working in other areas especially if we consider infill in at least in District 1 specifically. I was conflicted and I wish we would have talked a little bit more on how to relay some of their concerns in terms of traffic because as I think what the crux is that people worry about traffic not necessarily about people even though I know sometimes I get conflicted when I hear ugh, the apartment dwellers. I was an apartment dweller for ten years and I was also very interested in my city so I wonder about that, and I think it is a strange narrative to have because not everyone wants to live in a single-family home or can frankly. 12.2 COUNCILOR MATTIACE None. Page 19 of 25 12.3 COUNCILOR GRAHAM I just want to give a quick thanks to Justin Garcia with the Las Cruces Bulletin. A story that he worked on recently posted a couple of hours ago entitled, Public Officials Grapple with Threats Raising Questions about Local Democracy. Covering some disturbing yet definitely needing to be covered issues about these kind of threats. Justin looked, he brought in some of the national statistics but also looked at the state and local level and I was pleased to participate in the story. Shoutout as always to local journalism and give it a look. 12.4 COUNCILOR CORRAN I wanted to give a few quick notes and shoutouts but also to the question earlier I also think Mayor Pro Tem Bencomo’s thinking about this really speaks to it but I would also say as we continue this conversation with Realize there is a lot of fearmongering happening about what your neighborhoods are going to look like and I just want to say when you come to us about folks who live in apartments or folks who like me live in a townhouse down the street from an apartment in a vibrant beautiful neighborhood that I wouldn’t give up for anything and truly love realize that the folks you are talking to might actually live in the types of space that we are talking about increase density and I will encourage anyone who is sort of thinking critically about Realize to consider both the housing situation that we exist in and the environmental situation that we live in and understanding that denser housing is better for the environment and know that we are also working on the traffic calming discussions very briefly and we have been having those discussions and I have a list of the streets in my district and folks are crying out for traffic calming. We can’t do all of those things at the same time, address the sustainability, address the housing crisis, address safety in our neighborhoods meaningfully and also just as a note, don’t let internet fearmongering and misinformation dully inform of what you perceive of reforms of zoning that really give homeowners a lot more power to build granny flats and other things amongst many things that are a part of that but please know that when you are yelling about duplexes you are talking to someone who lives in one so what you say subsequently might be viewed with some skepticism from my part although I can understand why you might not want me in your neighborhood. I do want to give a couple of shoutouts of experiences this week. I planted a tree in my front yard, and this is not a story necessarily about planting a tree but by the way I got it on what I call is the death row of plants at one of the big stores. First, I called before I dug, I want to give a shoutout to this infrastructure. Two notes, one you don’t have to actually call for people like me who hate talking on the phone you can do this online, you can request someone to come and put the markers where the things that are in the ground, utilities in particular that you shouldn’t dig into and again many people don’t think this applies to them because maybe you don’t dig holes so deep but in fact in my case I did. The hole was that deep and I had called and there were markers, and I did not cause a gas explosion in my neighborhood. You can call 811 or do it online if anyone hates talking on the phone and the City of Las Cruces, Darrell in particular, thank you to Las Cruces Utilities Darrell who came out and marked the water and gas in my front yard and Century Link and Xfinity joined in, and El Paso Electric joined in on that but I also wanted to give a shoutout to Darrell who did that in particular in the city. Page 20 of 25 I want to also mention that I met with Marshall Martinez the Executive Director of Equality New Mexico about the City of Las Cruces and Mayor Pro Tem Bencomo and City Manager Taumoepeau was there and we were talking about the Municipal League Quality Index of Las Cruces which I mentioned before but I really want to highlight this because they came into this meeting with Gail Estell who is the City’s ADA Coordinator but who also works on our Municipal Quality Index and since she has been working at the city we started out with score of 47 and our score is now 89 out of 100 so special shoutout to Gail who has been working extraordinarily diligently on this during her time at the city and I am really proud of the work that she has done and the work that the city has done to think about this score card and I appreciate Marshall and EQNM for giving us some food for thought to move forward so thanks to everyone who came to that and it holds an exciting future. I serve on the board of the Roadrunner Food Bank and I think that they are looking at expanding their operations in Las Cruces and so this week I will be meeting with those folks on how they will be supporting their local food banks and to the community to the south and the southern part of the district and also partnering with manufacturers in particular in Juarez to build a local supply of food that can be distributed to folks who need it. So, I am very excited about the potential expansion and growth of Roadrunner Food Bank here in southern New Mexico. 12.5 COUNCILOR FLORES The City Art Board is going to be participating in the Mira event on April 27th,it’s going to be at the Plaza and again this is the second annual Chalk the Plaza. It invites all artists who want to proceed with the plan. The theme is Postcards from Las Cruces which I understand to be things that are very Las Cruces. Everyone is invited to participate. 12.6 COUNCILOR BENCOMO Thank you, Councilor Graham, for the shoutout to the Bulletin for the article by Justin Garcia. I also participated in that article and I made public comment about it on my social media but I wanted to here from the dais publicly thank Ikani, Chief Story, and Detective Wilbur for the way that they handled my situation and for taking it so seriously, especially Detective Wilbur for being such an advocate for when I didn’t know what to do so I just really wanted to thank you all for holding space for my fear and anxious rants at times because it was a very hard situation. So, thank you very much. I also want to thank Community of Hope, Nicole Martinez and her staff for hosting a meeting last week with some of the neighboring small businesses of Community of Hope and soon to be Amador Crossings Housing Project and Natalie was there as well and I just want to thank everyone who came for engaging in that meaningful conversation and for continuing to engage in that conversation and an additional shoutout to Dr. Schumacher who has experienced significant amount of grief in her location. It doesn’t go unnoticed and very much seen, but additionally she hosted a free vet clinic there at Community of Hope where people came in and brought their pets and she took care of them and it was really beautiful and I think it is such an Page 21 of 25 important bridge building practice for us to have these kinds of conversations and engagements beyond the three minute podium talks here and so I really just want to thank everybody. I had two district open houses, and I can’t thank Catrina and Grace for all of the work that they did to put them together. I don’t know if this is public yet, but we are losing Grace back to the LCPD. Grace you are wonderful, and you have been wonderful in this office, and I am excited that you will continue the work. But Catrina and Grace helped tremendously with setting this up. I wanted to just thank some people who just specifically came because the model that we did involve a lot more staff than it usually does and they came twice and stayed two hours and talked to so many community members in District 4 who had real concerns, who had questions and they were all there to answer them graciously. A ton of city staff, we have Animal Control, Gino Jimenez came to both meetings. Economic Development staff also came to both meetings, Chris, Celina, and Blaire. LCPD Codes, Officer Roach and Officer Ellis. Partners like NMDOT were there as well. Our Project LIGHT Team #1 was there and even as they were getting calls, they were in and out. Public Works, David Sedillo was the only one there the first meeting and I want to note that so if Tony is hearing we can guilt him a little bit because David had the longest line ever. Partners like Mesilla Valley Community of Hope were there for both meetings as well as Legal Aid who you had met here today. We had our LCPD Community Advocates, David, Charlie Velasco, Belina, and Alicia and then this last meeting a couple of members from the School Board also came. School Board members Nolan and Tenorio and then of course we had Utilities Adrienne Widmer who came to the second one and then Community Development who also came to our second one as we were adjusting from the first one. So, there was a ton of folks and I just want to express my sincerest gratitude to everybody. Really quickly I did mention earlier that I Mayor and Ikani, I would love for us to talk with Community Development about inclusionary zoning unless that is something that is in Realize. I don’t know if it is, but I think it is important to talk about having a tool for us to be able to offer developers a density bonus with a commitment that they save some of those apartment units that they make them affordable housing units. It feels like a really important tool for private/public partnerships to continue as we build apartments and multifamily dwellings within the infill. The last thing I wanted to talk about, I know we contract with a third party with security for the downtown and sometimes for our partners like at Community of Hope or at least hope to provide that service for them in the near future but I am hoping that in that contract we can request additional training for those security guards who are in fact very much at the forefront of navigating with folks who may have mental illness, folks who may have substance use issues and may not have the training to sort of deal and have those appropriate conversations with folks. You know my step daughter was dog sitting and she was walking a dog in the downtown plaza and one of the security guards barked at her and so I just want that if we are contracting with these folks that they are providing important and good customer service and I am hoping that we can talk about how we can build into that contract like mental health first aid training or things like that that I think are an important piece of customer service like what Chief Story has talked about with PD. Page 22 of 25 12.7 MAYOR ENRIQUEZ I just wanted to note for the record a couple of the public comments. The evaluator that we are going to use to evaluate our city council meetings is not a cost to the city. It is something that is provided from the Municipal League and that is why I want to take advantage of that and then also with that there are a lot of things that the city is working on. We have a couple of Work Sessions that are coming up with the budget and with also some ordinances to come. So, we are looking at public safety. We are looking at social wellbeing. We are looking at the homelessness situation and we are looking at petty crime. So those are the things that we are working on, and we are going to move forward. I just wanted to mention the evaluator is no cost. That is something that is provided and also, I did attend Central Elementary Career Day, so I did go there on Friday, but I also attended this weekend was the first Annual Pecan Festival at Young Park. I was very pleased because that is something that is in our backyard. That is our culture, that is our agriculture, that is staple in our community, and it was the first one there is a lot of vendors there, music and fun and I think it is just going to get bigger and bigger and will represent the city of Las Cruces and the Mesilla Valley all together. Last night we had our banquet for the Mayor’s Top Teens. It is a great program, a great event. Our future is bright to see these young students that are taking the initiative to set a higher standard for themselves is just going to represent our community in the future, so with that I just want to give a special shoutout to our Councilor Mattiace. When he was Mayor, he was the founder. This is actually number 17 that came through so thank you very much. Councilor Mattiace said thank you very much for the recognition. So, you said such great future when you see these kids and you meet them. They have a lot going for them and I think we speak of a lot of negative but there is so much positive out there when you spend time with these top teens. Mayor Enriquez said thank you Councilor Mattiace. It is a great event, and we are just going to continue to go and I even mentioned that we are always looking for sponsors. We are always looking for sponsors to help us with this event so we are going to start reaching out to those students from 17 years ago who are now are really successful that they can pay it forward. 13. CITY MANAGER REPORT 13.1 IKANI TAUMEOPEAU I just have a few announcements. Number one regarding the Taxable General Obligation, our GO/Bonds for 2024. This is one that our City Treasurer said to share as information just to keep you apprised. Bonds were sold by competitive sale on March 14th, 2024. Robert W. Bayard & Company was the best bidder for the bonds. The sale amount was at par $6 million as directed with a premium of $32,483.50. That effective interest rate of 4.79% less than 10%. Purchase discounts of 0.52% less than 4%. Bonds closed on April 11, 2024, city receives the bond proceeds, final payment on bonds specified as August 1, 2032, which meets ordinance parameters. Page 23 of 25 This presentation fulfils the final requirements of the ordinance to report to you, council, and Mayor on the details of the pricing certificate and awards certificate at a regularly scheduled public meeting of council. There was a public comment on animal control ordinance and just an update. I appreciate Barbara who is on Teams right now following us. She was able to get an update on the 11th of April. Talking with PD and Gino and Joy Wiitala, they are working on the Animal Welfare Ordinance. So, I just want to give everyone a heads up. They have a solid draft, and they are working through that and what they are saying is that they can approach many of the concerns that have been posted by groups. So please stay tuned on that and more to come from Chief and their team, I am sure. I appreciate Sonya getting with many of the department, one being JU. They are reviewing the new EPA Regulations for PFAS, which is a chemical that is manmade found in many of the products including foam that trickles down into the cells that is bad for humans and causing cancer. The good news is that we believe our wells are within regulated compliance and so that is a great thing. We appreciate Adrienne and her team in testing the water and making sure they are safe for our residents. Also, a press release is planned to be released later this week, so I just wanted to give you all a heads up on that. Congratulations to our Sustainability Team. They have been awarded $500,000 from the Department of Energy for the of Plugged in for Good Alliance. This essentially means what they will do with the funds along with its sustainability partners within the community will develop a market-based home retro fit program and skilled workforce to increase energy efficiency, affordability and assure residents comfort and safety during extreme heat events. Last but not least we have our museum team. They have two big exhibit openers that drew 390 attendees, High School Senior Art Show and artist Roberto Salas. Additionally, there was an eclipse party that drew about 500 attendees. The Parks and Rec Department in collaboration with Keep Las Cruces Beautiful will host its first Art Recycling Show. The Art Recycle Show will be part of an Earth Day event Friday from 5 to 8 p.m., April 19, 2024, at Plaza de Las Cruces. For any questions, please reach out to KLCB. Great American Clean Up, this is a call for volunteers so if you know anyone who is interested in the community, please reach out to KLCB. They will have a clean-up from 8 a.m. to noon on April 27th. A lunch will be provided for all volunteers from 12 to 2 on April 27th at Walmart Super Centers within the city of Las Cruces individual volunteer groups and civic organizations are invited to register for this year’s Great American Clean-up event. 14. ADJOURNMENT 14.1 Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Johana Bencomo, to adjourned at 3:35 p.m. Page 24 of 25 Mayor City Clerk Page 25 of 25