City Council Meeting December 1, 2025

MINUTES

City Council

Monday, December 1, 2025 @ 1:00 PM

City Council Chambers, City Hall

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

Becki Graham, Councilor Johana Bencomo, Councilor Becky Corran, and Councilor Yvonne

Flores

ABSENT:

1. OPENING CEREMONIES 1.1 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE - COUNCILOR GRAHAM. 1.2 PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES OF

APPRECIATION/PROCLAMATIONS - COUNCILOR GRAHAM None. 1.3 JOBS OF THE WEEK. Sarah Raney, Americas Job Centers of New Mexico presented Jobs of the Week.

1.4 PETS OF THE WEEK. Carol Nielson, Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley presented Pets of the

Week.

2. CONFLICT OF INTEREST INQUIRY BY MAYOR AS REQUIRED BY LCMC

SECTION 2-27 (E)(2) 2.1 None.

3. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 3.1 Lynn Moorer, Member of the Public said there is no safe level of lead in drinking

water. That is why the lead and galvanized pipes in Las Cruces need to be replaced in compliance with the Lead and Copper Rule. It is a critical responsibility for Las

Cruces Utilities to protect public health and get the job done right. Unfortunately, more instances of falsification or rank incompetence keep coming to light. At the November

13th Utilities Board meeting an Assistant Utilities Director with a master’s degree in accountancy presented pipe inspection numbers that don’t add up. Handout 1 shows that differences between the numbers reported and the actual numbers attempt to make the department look better by claiming more service lines have been inspected than a closer examination of the numbers appears to reveal. The upshot is that we don’t know how many inspections this city has actually carried out. How can we believe Las Cruces Utilities on any of the big issues when they fail to get the numbers right. This is a troubling pattern. On October 6th, I brought to your attention serious inconsistencies in the department’s numbers regarding funding requests and a report to the state. Department staffers have demonstrated repeatedly that they don’t appear to think the Lead and Copper Rule applies to them. It also appears that they don’t think the rules of mathematics apply to them either. At a minimum they need to step up their game. Part of the problem may be muddled presentations by muddled staffers. EPA requires two evidence-based inspection techniques for each pipe and that pipe inspection methods be verified as accurate. The EPA guidance document requiring this was provided in Handout 1 at the August 4th meeting. This goes to the very heart of the job, discovering the extent to which Las Cruces has lead pipes so that they can be replaced. The Utilities Department recently made a dangerous and pathetic statement. According to Handout 2 the department doesn’t have any inspections techniques other than just looking in the meter box. That is incredible because EPA guidance outlines a number of effective inspection techniques as at least one university also has. Various cities in the southwest use an array of inspection techniques additional to looking in the meter box. This helps them comply with the rule. If El Paso, Dallas, Lubbock, Houston, Amarillo, Oklahoma City and

Tucson can use them surely Las Cruces can use them too. It is not rocket science.

We citizens have been doing our civic duty by bringing to your attention problems over the past year. None of you can honestly claim now that you don’t know about them. We citizens think that at long last it is time for you to pull your heads out of the sand and instruct the City Manager to direct the Utilities Department to remedy these numerous deficiencies. Direct him to hire third party engineering expertise so the job gets done right.

Liz Rodriguez-Johnson, Member of the Public said I am going to explain in detail a significant problem with Las Cruces Utilities characterizations of piping that it is using to avoid acknowledging that a lot of piping in the city could be lead. Rather than undertaking a good faith effort to comply with the Lead and Copper Rule, the city’s inventory reveals several tricks being used to hide the probability of lead pipes. Today

I will discuss the city’s misuse of installation date after lead ban as the basis of material classification. A large problem is evident in Handout A, which contains inventory records captured before installation dates were disappeared from the inventory. This shows five properties with installation dates before 1986, 1965, 1972,

74, and 84. Each falsely says the piping is non-lead on installation date after the lead ban. Las Cruces Utilities says this piping is non-lead because it was installed after the lead ban in 1986, when clearly it wasn’t. Each of these properties could well have lead pipes because they are all installed before the lead ban. Another way the city is

misusing the basis of installation date after lead ban is using it as a justification for saying a property’s pipes are unknown. Handout B shows five properties who’s piping the city says in unknown because of installation after the lead ban. This makes no sense if in fact the installation date is after 1986, why would that cause the piping material to be unknown. The city is using another similar ploy. Handout C shows five properties who’s piping the city is calling unknown, unlikely to be lead. Again, using the basis installation date after the lead ban. This is even more dubious because it provides no justification for why it is unlikely lead. Why do they think that? Thus, installation date after lead ban is used by the city to justify characterizing pipes as non-lead or unknown or unknown unlikely lead. It is being used as a reason for calling pipes anyone of three different types. None is authoritative or believable. This is especially the case when we know many of Las Cruces Utilities characterizations of non-lead based on installation after the lead ban are false like the ones in Handout A.

Furthermore, the classifications non-lead and unknown are mutually exclusive. They can’t both be justified using the same basis. The upshot is the city’s continued avoidance of acknowledging that piping is or could be lead. This violates the rule.

Those who drink Las Cruces water deserve much better than this.

Lucas Herndon, Member of the Public said I am a resident of District 2. Last time I came prepared with something I wrote because I wanted to be sure and try to say everything I could in my three minutes. What resulted from that after I came and spoke about my concern with the Police Chief making a mass appeal to sort of get around the city’s ordinance, not ordinance but policy of not working with the feds and him being able to utilize his platform to then have the federal government come in and arrest somebody that he wanted off the streets. That has sort of sparked a conversation in the community via news sources and stories and opinion pieces written and my face, my speech has been put forward by certain people attending this on their social media platforms, so I guess I just want to sort of take responsibility for starting that conversation and say that I stand by it. I still think that it is bad. I still think that an un-elected person who is an employee of this city who reports to you all and through certain state and federal statutes shouldn’t have political power, went around those things by using his social media platform to make those appeals and have the federal government come in under those auspices. I don’t think it is in the spirit of what we are asking our Chief of Police to do, which is to not work with the federal government. As I said in that time and just for the record I don’t think as has been sort of levied at me that nothing should be done about certain people like in this case Mr.

Garcia who had an extensive arrest record has been sort of slipping through the cracks over and over and over again of our “justice system”, but the answer is not to just arrest him federally and sort of take it off our hands, the answer is to fix the cracks. So, as I think that we will hopefully be doing later in this session when it comes to talking about our legislative priorities, I hope that the city does back actual comprehensive changes to some of those systems and does continue to consider what it is we are asking of our employees of the city.

Zack, Member of the Public said I am in District 2 and I am here to address several interconnected issues that raise serious concerns about public trust, civil liberties and the exercise of police authority in our city. First, I want to highlight the recent decision by Police Chief Jeremy Story to use what amounts to Hobbs Act loophole to escalate a local arrest into a federal case. The Hobbs Act was enacted in 1946 to target

interstate robbery and extortion, not local disputes and its expanded use has been criticized across the political spectrum. A Brennan Center analysis and Subsequent

GAO review found that the federal prosecution of traditionally local crimes increased more than 32% between 2001 and 2020, driven in part by overbroad interpretations of statutes like the Hobbs Act. This practice consistently underminds local oversight and research published through the National Institute of Justice shows that when local authorities bypass state systems public trust declines sharply particularly among communities already skeptical of law enforcement. This becomes even more troubling in the context of a broader pattern. Multiple incidents over the past few years have raised questions about Chief Story’s willingness to jump to immediate and radical conclusions such as when he put armed snipers on the roof for a peaceful protest.

While an apology was issued for that it is still indicative of a pattern and when we look at these issues together the use of force against people, peaceful demonstrators followed by a decision to federalize a local situation through a Hobbs Act workaround we see not isolated decisions but a pattern of preferred aggressive escalation over democratic local and state level solutions. If there are gaps in local or state level state law the appropriate path is collaboration with legislature and transparent public debate not seeking harsher outcomes through federal channels that remove cases from community oversight. The second major issue I would like to raise is the expansion of

Flock license plate reader cameras. The data here is consistent. Flock shares information with over 2,000 law enforcement agencies and investigations by the

ACLU and EFF around ICE are found that ICE accessed ALPR data from at least 30 jurisdictions, sometimes without the knowledge of the local departments providing the data. Even if our city does not intend to share data with federal immigration enforcement once it enters regional or statrewide data bases access becomes very difficult to control. Claims that Flock cameras reduce crime are mixed at best.

Independent studies including those from the Polling Center show no statistical reduction in violent crime associated with ALPR use and property crime solving improvements average only 2 to 7%, often fading after the first year. Meanwhile communities, the color are scanned disproportionately.

Liz Bennett, Member of the Public said I am a licensed social worker speaking in a personal capacity. I had originally planned on speaking of the police killing of Phillip

Mullin on October 9th. I wanted to remind our community of the logic and standard operating procedures of police including the Las Cruces Police Department is the reason that individuals experiencing untreated mental illness are sixteen times more likely to be murdered by police. I wanted to ask our community if we are okay with how that incident played out. I wanted to ask if we all agree that the actions of Phillip

Mullin warranted the death penalty. I wanted to ask if for all of the effort we have invested in successful crisis intervention strategies like Project LIGHT, can we also acknowledge there is still significant work to do to decrease the likihood police will respond to mental health crisis with shouting and gun shots. I wanted to remind us all that violence, aggression, homicidal and suicidal ideation are all symptoms of untreated mental illness and that anyone of us might suffer from such a crisis in our lifetimes. I wanted to remind us that with the fall out of federal support for prevention programs many more will suffer from similar situations in the near future. That is what

I wanted to talk about and then I read Heath Hausmann’s article on Chief Story’s recent cooperation with federal agents to detain another man deemed mentally incompetent. I then watched the chilling video update with Story flanked by Trump

Administration Officials including Pam Bondi appointee, Ryan Ellison, and learned that Neal Garcia who LCPD had previously advocated needed the treatment and to whom no treatment was given is now facing up to twenty years in federal prison for interference in commerce. In the video Ellison claims that the US Attorney’s Office is open for business and is eager to detain others. I understand that our local judges are also implicated in failing to pursue legal treatment options but for Chief Story to respond by throwing this man away potentially for the rest of his life and creating a commercial inviting other law enforcement to do the same is a clear abuse of power and demonstration of values and alliances. At a time when the same federal officials are enacting the unlawful abduction, detention, and abuse of black and brown unhoused and mentally ill people his actions are deeply disturbing and unacceptable.

In accordance with the stated values of the City of Las Cruces I would like to recommend that the LCPD explore hiring a social worker or two. As a community we are all accountable for how we respond to our toughest challenges and in these two instances the system collectively denied these men the real possibility of care. It is all of our failing and it is up to all of us to decide how we move forward.

Juan Garcia, Members of the Public said during the 17 November meeting one of our friends from the left had choice comments for the engagement of the feds locally.

Police overreach, occupation, militarization of streets, restore local control, etcetera, etcetera, and my favorite, criminalization of poverty. Let’s call it what it is.

Criminalizing poverty is a smoke screen. The real political crime are politicians who keep people hooked on government handouts, starving them of real opportunities and calling it compassion while taxpayers’ foot the bill. Like in New Mexico where nearly half of the state is on food stamps and what about the soft on crime crowd? They cower from passing laws with real teeth letting criminals roam free and terrorize anyone trying to play by the rules by parroting crime isn’t so bad. Tell that to the victims like Patricia from the Shop on Main who numerous times pled for your help but endured until driven out of town by the relentless repeated attacks on her store and the lack of empathy from New Mexico “law makers”. Maybe we need someone to be set on fire by a repeat offender, like in Chicago. Look at the latest local crime by “kids” where they plowed through a gun store inflicting thousands of dollars’ worth of damage. But when the Police Chief highlights the problem and the lack of action by judges and politicos on repeat offenders our friends go into the attack mode. How dare the feds be allowed to come into our community and put that criminal behind bars. Political drama and accusations of overreach with the federal trial of a repeat offender with 108 arrests and fifteen of those felonies. But not a peep when a

Hispanic was tried in federal court as he should have for posting a threatening voicemail against a city councilor. Perhaps the councilor is more important than the victims of the repeat offenders. Political hypocrisy at its worst and I continue. The decision to let health care providers walk away, leaving the most valuable without even basic care is a choice politicos have made politicians pick favorites and turn their backs on the people who need them most and then point fingers anywhere but themselves. People especially on the left love to drag Christians through the mud.

Homophobes, nationalist, and all these other good things but no one seems to be eager to mention Islam, the fastest growing religion in the country. For all the noise about inclusivity, Islam’s record on that front doesn’t exactly scream open arms. Yet no one is concerned.

Linley Hornsby, Member of the Public said speaking on my own accord. I couldn’t not show up for our community member that was killed by police. His name was Phillip

Mullin. This happened last month, and it is my understanding it is not the first time we have had a community member killed by police. Not the second time either. It has happened multiple times over the years in our community and I just want to say that accepting this as business as usual is unacceptable. Police fear their own safety in some of these situations because police have been harmed by community members in the past and community members are defensive around police because our police force kills community members and seeing the body cam footage which was released it strikes me as someone who has de-escalation and crisis intervention training that weapons don’t deescalate a person in which a person in crisis is carrying a weapon. It escalates the situation, and I would imagine that you all witness the same thing when you watch the footage. So, I just want to call us to collaborate more with crisis professionals. Understanding that we want everyone in the community to be safe and our police force doesn’t get a privilege of being safer than folks in our community especially folks that have unaddressed mental health needs. I really want this conversation around collaborating with crisis professionals, you know Project LIGHT, the countywide Crisis Intervention Unit that we have now, I want to continue this discussion as our Police Chief attempting social media stardom is needlessly in sighting federal intervention in our community boasting his support of the trumped up charges of a community member previously deemed incompetent to stand trial. It feels like things are really getting out of hand and not in alignment with the welcoming city resolution in which we are protecting vulnerable community members from federal enforcement that is not necessary. That is violent, that is racist, that is targeting certain communities. We have that going on, right? We also have a Police Chief inviting the feds into our community and it is my understanding that the Police Chief answers to the City Manager. So, I just wanted to call that in.

Janet Madison, Member of the Public said I own the Estate Sale Discovery Store on

Picacho Street. I have been there for seven years, and I would just like to say that I am 88 years old and I have worked there alone a great deal of the time, and I have never felt myself to be at risk. If we have ever needed the police, which I believe was only once in 8 years, they have responded immediately. I do see a definite need for mental health for the people there, but I have not felt that we were in a very dangerous position and that is one of the high crime areas of the city, but we have not had a serious problem, I just want you to know that.

Gabriela Castillo, Member of the Public said I am a NMSU social work student and I am here to urge the city to take action to bridge the gap between substance use, stable housing, and resource services in the city of Las Cruces. As an intern of a behavioral health clinic, I have worked closely with the substance use group and I have learned how social, economic, and environmental factors impact recovery. Many of the people I have met want to rebuild their lives but face barriers like unstable housing or unemployment that increase the risk of relapse. This issue is personal to me because I believe that every person deserves an equal chance at stability and recovery. New Mexico’s rate of substance use disorder is higher than the national average, 23.6% of residents compared to 17.8% nationwide. Many individuals of substance use disorders go untreated and they struggle with homelessness. Mesilla

Valley Community of Hope reported in 2022, 231 people were chronically homeless.

That number has since risen to 810. Research shows that more than one third of people experiencing homelessness also struggle from substance use disorder meaning this issue is interconnected. Unemployment is another barrier for people in recovery, especially those who have been incarcerated in the past. A statewide survey by Ideal Options found that among 900 New Mexicans entering treatment about 42% were unemployed. Here in Las Cruces the unemployment rate is about

4.8%, which is approximately 4,900 residents that are unemployed. Without steady work it is much harder to maintain stability and avoid relapse showing how addiction and economic insecurity are also connected. I am here today to ask the committee to consider allocating Opioid Settlement Fund toward expanding its supportive housing in Las Cruces. Supportive housing creates safety and security for victims affected by substance use and is the foundation for long term recovery. I also urge the creation of a city led coalition taskforce that coordinates housing, behavior health and workforce services. By bringing these resources together the city can close service gaps, support long-term recovery and is an easy and accessible hub for individuals who often struggle to navigate the system on their own. This proposal directly supports your program goal to strengthen the continuum of care of individuals transitioning between treatment and recovery. Including these proposals of upcoming RFP reviews would help rebuild the system of care and ensures that residents receive the support that they need to recover. With services we can reduce relapse and create stability and help residents in recovery and reintegrate into our community successfully. Thank you for your time and consideration in this important investment in Las Cruces’ future.

Leslie Esparza, Member of the Public said I am a resident of Las Cruces and a bachelor student of social work at NMSU and also intern with Attendance for Success in the Las Cruces Public Schools. Through my practicum I met students everyday who struggle to attend school or access basic resources simply because of transportation barriers. Centennial High School’s current lack of a nearby city bus stop makes this challenge even harder. Especially for those who already face barriers outside of school. This issue does not only affect traditional Centennial High School students at the campus it also houses students at Success Academy students also known as SSA in the 18 to 21 Bridge program, which is a program that supports young adults with developmental disabilities as they build life and job skills. Both programs rely heavily on public transportation. For many of them the city bus is not just helpful but is their only way to get to school or work or access essential services independently. Adding a bus stop in front of Centennial High School would ensure all students regardless of background or ability have a fair shot at success. It would help reduce absenteeism, improve safety by eliminating students walking along busy and dangerous roads and support students and families who depend on public transit to stay connected to our community. Today I respectively urge you to prioritize installing a city bus stop on Sonoma Ranch Boulevard right in front of Centennial High School.

This small change can unlock big opportunities, advance equity, inclusion, and accessibility for students across Las Cruces.

George Pearson, Member of the Public said over the weekend there was some unfortunate news, two pedestrian fatalities in the community. One by a vehicle on the

NMSU Campus apparently and one by train over by Main Street. We need to keep track of things like this and address and see if Vision Zero discussion can help address that. The train fatalities I know of two others that have happened over the

past years. Those essentially disappear because they didn’t happen on roadways and don’t get added to statistics anyplace. So, lives are still valuable, and we do need to move towards Vision Zero. I hope that we have a Safe Streets for All grant that is working its way through and should be started shortly, and this should be part of that discussion also.

Jennifer Kreie, Member of the Public said I am here to say thank you. We are at the end of 2025. I appreciate the support that has been given by the council to the Police

Department, far from defunding them. They have given generously in terms of budget and special things like the Real Time Center. Thank you for the Animal Service

Center which I visited for the first time and took home a pet last week. Thank you for the welcoming city resolution and most of all thank you for the pickleball courts which I know was in 2024 but as a tennis player I sleep much better now and thank you for your attention and care for the city. It is reflected in the community.

Jim Hoerst, Member of the Public said I want to talk about separation of powers and the US Constitution. I had the privilege of watching Ken Burns in the Revolution over the last week or so. I hope you get that privilege. Local law enforcement belongs in the hands of local elected officials. We elected the Sheriff for the County, we elect a

County Council. They oversee the Police Department. That guarantees citizens a voice in our law enforcement. Our Police Chief has no authority to delegate law enforcement even for the most difficult individuals to the feds. If anyone can give up a citizen of this town to the feds it ought to be this council. Only elected officials should be able to do that. If we want to start electing the Police Chief that is one thing, but he is not elected. Only elected officials should be able to breach that boundary. He should not have the right to hand over a citizen of this community. If the feds have legal cause against them, let them come get them. But he has no right to hand them over. It’s wrong. It is called a posse comitatus. I have a right to know that everybody in this community with a badge answers to this community. The feds can only come in at the direction of the feds. Not at the direction of a local constable. He is nothing but another policeman to the rest of us citizens.

4. READ CLOSED MEETING STATEMENT 4.1 READ DECEMBER 1, 2025 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:

1.To discuss pending or threatened litigation as it pertains to the Walnut Skate Park, which is closed pursuant to Section 10-15-1H(7).

2. To discuss the purchase, acquisition or disposal of real property or water rights by the public body, which is closed pursuant to Section 10-15-1H(8).

3. To discuss pending or threatened litigation as it pertains to subrogation claim number 2024AL0401, issued by State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, which is closed pursuant to Section 10-15-1H(7).

5. ACCEPTANCE OF AGENDA Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to accept the agenda as presented.

RESULT: Carried

MOVER: Councilor Becki Graham

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 OCTOBER 27, 2025. 6.2 REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF NOVEMBER 3, 2025.

7. RESOLUTION(S) AND/OR ORDINANCE(S) FOR CONSENT AGENDA 7.1 RESOLUTION NO. 26-069: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF

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

DEPARTMENTS THROUGH AN AMENDMENT TO THE CITY’S ADOPTED

FY2026 BUDGET. 7.2 RESOLUTION NO. 26-070: A RESOLUTION AMENDING THE FY2026 -2031

CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROGRAM. 7.3 RESOLUTION NO. 26-071: A RESOLUTION APPROVING A VACATION

PLAT KNOWN AS THE SONOMA RANCH BOULEVARD RIGHT-OF-WAY

VACATION PLAT FOR PORTIONS OF RIGHT-OF-WAY THAT

ENCOMPASS APPROXIMATELY 1.750 ACRES AND LOCATED

GENERALLY WEST AND EAST OF SONOMA RANCH BOULEVARD

BETWEEN ENGLER ROAD AND ARROYO ROAD. SUBMITTED BY

SIERRA NORTE DEVELOPMENT, INC.

8. RESOLUTION(S) AND/OR ORDINANCE(S) FOR DISCUSSION 8.1 RESOLUTION NO. 26-072: A RESOLUTION AMENDING THE BOUNDARY

OF THE WEST PICACHO AND MOTEL BOULEVARD METROPOLITAN

REDEVELOPMENT AREA TO DESIGNATE AN ADDITIONAL AREA FOR

INCLUSION WITHIN THE MRA, MAKING CERTAIN FINDINGS AND

DETERMINATIONS PURSUANT TO THE METROPOLITAN

REDEVELOPMENT CODE. Blairre Flores, Economic Development Coordinator gave the overhead presentation.

Rhonda Bell, Stantec continued the overhead presentation.

Blairre Flores continued the overhead presentation.

Councilor Graham said I don’t have a question, just some clarification regarding the

Tashiro hub catalytic project. I have received some communication from community members regarding the zoning of that area and unless I am mistaken, I am saying what I think is true and tell me if I am correct or incorrect. That area is already zoned.

The MRA is a completely different subject topic from zoning and seeking changing of that zoning would not be something we would do here today regardless is that correct?

Chris Faivre, Community Development Director said that is correct. It is already zoned. The MRA plan does not propose any changes to the existing zoning on that site.

Councilor Graham asked nor is that something that we would tackle today? That would be something completely different process?

Chris Faivre said that is correct.

Councilor Flores said on page 9 there was some improvements or some activity on

Picacho which is also a federal highway but the funds for safety would be provided by the city. Why wouldn’t the feds be contributing if it is a federal road as well?

Rhonda Bell asked do you mean why would the feds not be contributing to improvements?

Councilor Flores said if you go to page 9 and then, best path forward then the last dot there, work with New Mexico DOT to add City-funded safety upgrades. Why would it only be City-funded when it is also a federal highway? Do you know?

Rhonda Bell said I think it is because the enhancements, the upgrades that we want are entirely focused on things that are not really within the purview of the federal government.

Councilor Flores asked safety isn’t within their purview?

Rhonda Bell said we had said that they would be City-funded because it was looking to bring the roadway up to city roadway standards as opposed to the standards set by the federal government or by NMDOT of the roadways they control.

Councilor Flores asked since it is in the city it would make sense as you say to use our standards but why would it preclude the feds or the state, especially the federal government from contributing? Why should the design be the determining factor? Can you look into it?

Rhonda Bell said we can look into it, yes.

Councilor Flores said we need money, wherever, and I think they would also have to a say so in liabilities.

Rhonda Bell said the other thing that we can look into is that there have been various sources that have already been identified in the implementation in part for those types of improvements. That is relative to pedestrian and cyclists, both experience in safety.

Councilor Flores said I would appreciate that because if it is federal and there is a possibility or maybe a probability of getting funds from the feds we would be in better shape. We can do, you know stretch our dollar.

Blairre Flores said just to add to that, in our meetings with NMDOT they currently do not have any plans for some of the amenities and upgrades that we feel would make the roadway safer and so again going back to not taking over ownership but the city supporting some of these safety upgrades that was the recommendation that somehow the city come up with the funding to make those safety improvements.

Councilor Flores asked so this wasn’t run by the feds or the other?

Blairre Flores said the roadway is a federal highway.

Councilor Flores asked wouldn’t they have a say so?

Blairre Flores said as of right now they don’t have plans for that so we feel like the most progressive way is the city kind of back those upgrades through the MRA.

Councilor Flores said I don’t know, I can’t tell you what to do but I think it would be a good idea Mr. Ikani Taumoepeau, to have your people look into it. There is no harm in that, all they can say is no and we are at already no funds from them.

Councilor Bencomo said on this page actually where it says the median was added at local request. Does that mean local request by the city or local request by people who live or have businesses in the district or the area?

Blairre Flores said our understanding was it was the public’s request at that time.

Councilor Bencomo said I will tell you that I have heard this before from staff and

NMDOT. I will tell you that this is not what I hear from the public today. When this happened, this was a request but I will continue to speak about, frankly the annoyance of this median not only because I find it annoying but because I consistently hear from especially businesses in that area of how much that median has impacted the flow of their business and access to their businesses. I will just say that I have heard this before. I don’t know where that comes from. DOT is saying, that is what they wanted before. It is not what people want now and so I will continue to advocate for us to work with them on changing at least that piece because I do think it will make a big difference for a lot of those local businesses. I did want to add just because I also have been getting some emails regarding the Tashiro corner. You know I think traffic is always a concern, something we should always be mindful of.

Obviously, we just had a constituent here to talk about how dangerous New Mexico roads are in general for pedestrians and I think this is an issue in many places across the city and I would love the data on Tashiro/Valley. Though I will say that Tashiro is

now one of the best complete streets in the city and I think it is a model actually for what other local streets should look like. So, I do want to note that for the public who have concerns about the development that will go here which by the way is privately run development that is exciting and I know that is always a fear. If we develop at the traffic, I get it and I don’t think we can let that hold us back from what could potentially be very exciting multi use development. So, I think maybe the fear is the kind of development that will go there. What I always want to fall back on is that while we can’t tell the private industry what to put there, like someone said we should have an urgent care. Well, that is not really up to the city. What we can do is incentivize and create opportunities for business to grow and to flourish which that is the MRA. What happens after really is up to the private sector to sort of see and say what is needed there and so I just want to be able to create as much opportunity as possible and work with as many developers as possible who are interested in that area and I think that is exactly what the goal is with this MRA and I do just want to say that I think it is important for us not to compare West Picacho MRA to El Paseo/South Solano. They just have very different needs and require very different interventions, and I do feel like we are going on the right pathway here, especially with the three catalytic projects. I just wanted to say that because I understand that there is concerns and fear as there always is with big changes but I did just want to make those very tiny notes. Regarding the traffic situation I really do think though that I am hoping that what this MRA can additionally drive especially with the development at the corner of

Tashiro is that I think it is deeply connected with McClure and Hoagland and the situation with traffic there. So, I do want staff to as we really invest in this MRA that to understand that the flow of traffic is intraconnected within this neighborhood and

McClure is part of the MRA, right? It is a line and so I do just want to note that I think that should be potentially, we should in our minds make that the fourth unofficial catalytic project because the traffic situation on McClure is I think hugely problematic and should be addressed and Hoagland too.

Councilor Mattiace said I was just going to give you some experience from observations on Missouri. The medians sometimes create decreases in certain businesses. If you have busy businesses on each side of that median and then you get a tremendous amount of increase in U-turns so if traffic could just study Missouri, we have Napalitos and we have an accounting firm, we have a rehabilitation firm on

Missouri I believe and Triviz and they have indicated to me that the median really just created a lot of U-turns and sometimes accidents. I don’t have any accident count, but

I think medians probably really need to be studied before they are implemented, especially by the Traffic Department.

George Pearson, Member of the Public said I wanted to address the comments of

Councilor Flores about the funding. There are federal funds, the Highway Safety

Improvement Funds that could be used. The state is mandated to spend 15% of those on pedestrian safety improvements because of our high pedestrian fatality rate in this state. We also had a presentation at the MPO Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities

Advisory Committee from somebody from NMDOT talking about road safety audits and those were specifically stated that they could also apply outside of NMDOT jurisdictions but especially that corridor seems like it would be a good candidate and so going through the MPO and contacting the appropriate state officials would be a good thing I think.

Liz Bennett, Member of the Public said I live near the area that is being discussed and

I am not sure if this is part of the plan but it is observation I have definitely made along

McClure particularly just east of the Henry Benavidez Center and playground, there is a pedestrian walkway that connects Valley to that recreation area but then the pedestrian walkway ends east of the playground and community center and there are often folks walking in the road and it seems like an ideal place to continue that pedestrian pathway to improve access to the community center, make a complete trail and also connect to the sort of reservoir pathway that exists. But there is that little chunk of space where it seems particularly hazardous and would make sense to connect it all there.

Lucas Herndon, Member of the Public said I just wanted to say this is all very exciting and as a long-time participant in the public discourse that happens here at city council, it does my heart good and hear these plans being done and specifically the

Tashiro hub because I have been doing this long enough that I remember when we were here in front of the Zoning Commission and then the city council when that was trying to be rezoned for Walmart. The Walmart Neighborhood Store or whatever it is wanted to build on that intersection and we as a community we came together and we said you know what we have concerns about it and there was a lot of concerns about the traffic and the zoning and as a parent to an athlete who utilizes the facilities down there off of Tashiro and drives by that intersection a lot I am excited as a person who doesn’t live in District 4 to have reasons to go down there and see what kinds of things are developed. There are plenty of Walmart’s in town so as a person who doesn’t live in that area I wouldn’t go out of my way to go shop at a Walmart on that corner but for whatever local development does come down there hopefully I am excited to come and participate and so I just want to tie it all together. This is why we do what we do. This is why we have these meetings, why we have these public discourses and sometimes it takes a lot of time, but it is worth it because now 13, 14 years later here we are having a discussion on how to beautify and really bring this part of the community together and I am just about it. I am really excited, and I know that often times I come up and I have complaints and I have negative things to say, and this is a positive one and so hats off to everyone who has worked on this. Keep doing the good work, I know it takes a lot of it so thank you to everyone that has been doing it.

Jerry Silva, Member of the Public said thank you for taking the time to listen to each and everyone of us. I am excited about this development as well I do understand private, you don’t know who is going to go there. I do have some questions for

Rhonda as far as we the public would like to know and find out what kind of test analysis, and how it comes out because it really matters what goes there. Private as that gentleman mentioned Walmart. What I understand from many people is that they have been frothing at the mouth to be there. I would like to see a grocery store there as well. There is so many other grocery stores that can be there and I know just speaking to many other individuals that live in that area the last thing they want to see is Walmart there. So, my main concern is safety. I know you mentioned that the road looks good, developed very well. I don’t think it is developed well enough to handle a

Walmart. There is other stores that can go there and safety is the biggest thing. I will not go down that road and right now it is tough enough as it is. Parents that I have

talked to from the grocery store that I work at they are concerned about that. Not a lot of people are here, I understand but I want to thank you all again.

Yolanda Robles, Member of the Public said this is an exciting agenda we have and

Camunez Park is one of the areas that you are looking at addressing in this issue.

Camunez Park is just south of Parker Road. Parker Road which is on the westside of

Valley. That part of town, that road on the west tends to be not in the field of the vision of anybody in the city when it comes to taking care of the roads there. Parker Road on the east side is always well maintained and taken care of but West Parker isn’t and I am wondering if that will also be addressed in what you are doing here? Any idea?

Camunez Park is right there. It is just south to Parker Road and in addition to that somebody mentioned it earlier, public transportation. We have public transportation in areas, and we have bus stops but in a city where we have basically 364 days of sunshine a year our bus stops have terrible, terrible protection from the sun. You drive by and you see people sitting there, I feel bad for them. I want to stop and give them an umbrella. There is a bus stop but there is absolutely no protection from the elements. So, do you have any idea about the West Parker Road side?

Celina Morales, Economic Development Deputy Director said we don’t have an answer for you. We can research that for you as far as that specific road. There is a common trend going on right now. I just want to reiterate that it is very clear that we are going to need within this MRA some sort of traffic analysis, as well as pedestrian safety and other roadway improvements. The MRA is more of a high level plan but with that with money generated within the MRA we are able to take these issues to the MRA Committee which then will be able to fund things like a traffic plan, pedestrian safety, things like that which I think is a priority and something we will recommend to the council as well as to the committee as far as getting funding to be able to do the research and to have the data behind those decisions that are made.

We don’t have that right now. This MRA plan is not that. We are very well aware that we need it. It will be very much a priority for us as well as getting other community input. As we have projects and things that we want to focus on, there are going to be a lot of opportunities for public engagement, public input. This isn’t it for all of the

MRA. As we come across those things we will have opportunities to meet with people, also maybe even in Work Sessions to be able to dive deeper and get more specific into these issues within the MRA. So, we hear you, we hear everybody and that is something that we will definitely work on.

Mayor Enriquez said I would also say that the whole idea of the MRA is to lift up the areas that have been neglected over the years so that we can lift those up and help the community thrive in those areas. So having Camunez Park as one of the catalyst there is huge for the surrounding areas. Everything will be assessed and looked at and complement each other so that we continue to lift up the areas. So, I think it is a great opportunity to have Camunez Park revisited and revitalized and the surrounding area will also have that effect.

Yolanda Robles said this is a comment overall. I find it very interesting and frustrating at the same time that we tend to let neighborhoods and areas deteriorate and then years later we want to come back, and we want to revitalize them. While we let this

areas deteriorate, we are busy redeveloping new areas and we ignore part of our history in our city. This is just me and other people that I have spoken to. I think we as a community we are horrible about holding on to our heritage. We are willing to knock things down and build new things and then we look back and say let’s rebuild, let’s revitalize this area. I just think that is a shame. I think our city has a lot to offer and we don’t see that as a community.

Councilor Flores said I just want to let you know that we do have a Historic

Preservation. I wanted her to hear it. The Historic Preservation and they work specifically on preserving the beauty of our city, the history, you know it is absolutely wonderful. Go to our website and it is something that you can participate in and bring up parts of the city that or certain building structures, but everything moves slower than molasses on a cold day in January, like the Amador Hotel. It is not done but anyway we do have a very avid, outspoken group of people who really want to preserve a lot of the beauty that we have here.

Yolanda Robles said I appreciate you saying that and I agree with you and I have been involved with them and I have spoken to them, and I have spoken to them with regard to Ace Home. That is a historic site. It has got the plaque on the home, it’s a historic rambles. It is overgrown with weeds. It looks like it has been an abandoned house, and they can’t do anything about it as I was told.

Councilor Flores asked do you participate in their meetings? Do you attend the meetings?

Yolanda Robles said I don’t attend all the meetings, no.

Councilor Flores said you are aware of the organization. They have a lot on their plate quite frankly but thank you for that and thank you for participating.

Councilor Bencomo said I just wanted to make sure that I clarified something for the public because there was a question about zoning and while that is not on this item there is a big zoning update on item 8.5, and I do think there are some changes that will impact this area just not related to the MRA.

Chris Faivre said let me clarify comments from before. There is a proposed zoning change for that area as part of the update to Realize not specific to the MRA plan and so what we are proposing for Realize is bringing that area into alignment with the other parcels which are all in NH-3 versus NH-2. This allows for higher density with housing which falls in line with what we are trying to do along that roadway so just to clarify from before. Councilor Yvonne Flores moved, seconded by Councilor Johana Bencomo, to suspend the rules to listen item 8.1 and 8.2 concurrently.

MOVER: Councilor Yvonne Flores

SECONDER: Councilor Johana Bencomo

Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores Councilor Becky Corran moved, seconded by Councilor Yvonne Flores, to

Approve Resolution No. 26-072.

MOVER: Councilor Becky Corran

SECONDER: Councilor Yvonne Flores

Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores 8.2 RESOLUTION NO. 26-073: A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE WEST

PICACHO AND MOTEL BOULEVARD METROPOLITAN REDEVELOPMENT

AREA PLAN. Councilor Yvonne Flores moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to

Approve Resolution No. 26-073.

Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores 8.3 RESOLUTION NO. 26-074: A RESOLUTION TO DECLARE EXTREME

DROUGHT CONDITIONS WITHIN LAS CRUCES MUNICIPAL LIMITS AND

TO RESTRICT THE USE OF FIREWORKS FOR 30 DAYS FROM

ADOPTION. Michael Landavazo, Fire Department Division Chief gave the overhead presentation.

Councilor Corran said I just sort of want to add to this data. The way that this is oriented it is really about lighting fire to our natural resources I think is the context for why we are allowed to issue these restrictions, but I will once again as ever remind folks that our municipal shelter receives about thirty animals per day around the fireworks time. At the worst at Fourth of July but also at the new year. That can go up to 50 or 60 dogs that end up without homes that go into our shelter which is not a great situation so I know that this is the maximum that you all can do and it is oriented not burning stuff down which is also bad but I urge folks to consider really strongly consider whether fireworks, do you want to be responsible for your neighbor’s dog getting sent to the shelter and if not I urge you to please refrain from using fireworks in our fair city and there are a myriad of other reasons as why you should, not burning stuff down, not making hundreds of angry neighbors which trust me we all hear from the angry neighbors all the time but really those dogs. I have been to the shelter many times and I don’t want to see more there so I just issue this brief public service announcement to please don’t be part of the problem be part of the solution. Thank you for bringing a little bit of the solution our way.

Councilor Bencomo said thank you so much for bringing this forward. I hope we get in the pattern of doing this well obviously in the summer time and who knew they were so controversial, right? I don’t want to say anything because I will end up on a billboard, Johanna hates fireworks. Which I do for many of the reasons stated here. I

am curious, I know right now a lot of the pop-up places that sell fireworks are selling

Christmas trees so if this was to pass today is that the kind of outreach you will doing?

What kind of engagement and outreach do you do for people who are selling fireworks?

DC Michael Landavazo said right now we only have one request for anybody to sell fireworks. We may get more as the holiday gets closer, but I believe we only have one right now. We generally see less vendors for New Years than we do Fourth of July but yes if they do set up a tent we will be involved in inspecting to make sure that they are safe and that they have that type of fireworks that are legal in our city.

Councilor Bencomo said thank you, I appreciate that. Obviously, you can go somewhere else, you can go to El Paso, you know we just really want you to respect.

We really do just ask you to respect the environment and the dangers it can put our first responders and your fellow neighbors and their pets as well.

Councilor Mattiace asked what additional educational pieces are you going to put out about how severe the drought is? Will there be maybe a billboard maybe? Maybe something about the drought and some messages out there. I think maybe in our

Utility bills. I think of people understand how dry it is, maybe they will be more cautious.

DC Michael Landavazo said we have done stuff like that in the past during Fourth of

July. We have put that in the utility bills that you mentioned, and we have done billboards for the New Years because we don’t have as much activity, I think it would be a good idea to do some education on our social media page. We can work with the

Communications Department and get some stuff out about firework safety and also one of my members, Lt. Mark Aranda, recently did a YouTube video with Bridging the

Badge with LCPD and they talked about holiday safety and stuff like that so if you could find that video and maybe share it. It was shared on our page last week but there is a lot of good stuff on there about holiday safety and fireworks and stuff.

Mayor Enriquez said you are absolutely right. The amount of use of fireworks in

December 31st versus July 4th is no comparison but I would trade the fireworks for the firearms any time. So, you can let them light the fireworks if they need to. We need to get some public announcements out about firearms and not shooting them in the air or shooting them at other people during New Year’s Eve. The other question I had was the County. Is the County doing the same thing?

DC Michael Landavazo said I am not sure. I can reach out to Fire Marshall Cody

Haver and ask but I am not sure what they are doing.

Mayor Enriquez said it generally works a lot better when we are complimenting each other.

DC Michael Landavazo said at the Fourth of July Mesilla did not sell aerials for the first time in years, but I don’t know if that helped with the decrease of illegal fireworks, but it was nice that at least us, the County and Mesilla were not selling the aerials.

Mayor Enriquez said it helps when the neighbors are doing the same thing so if you could look into it to support what the city is doing and thank you for doing it.

Councilor Yvonne Flores moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to

Approve Resolution No. 26-074.

Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores 8.4 RESOLUTION NO. 26-075: A RESOLUTION APPROVING RECOMMENDED

PRIORITIES FOR THE 2026 NEW MEXICO LEGISLATIVE SESSION. Christine Rivera, City Clerk gave the overhead presentation. Councilor Becky Corran moved, seconded by Councilor Johana Bencomo, to

Approve Resolution No. 26-075.

Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores 8.5 COUNCIL BILL NO. 26-010; ORDINANCE NO. 3102: AN ORDINANCE

AMENDING CHAPTERS 34-38 OF THE LAS CRUCES MUNICIPAL CODE

WITH THE CORRESPONDING ZONING MAP AS PRESENTED. (CASE NO.

ZCA-25-01) Sara Gonzales, Community Development Interim Deputy Director gave the overhead presentation.

Councilor Flores said I have a question regarding flooding. I think page 9. Flooding has always bothered me because of my district, there are a lot of homes right next to the flood zone. You can’t control mother nature but my concern is that why would anybody allow a contractor to build a home adjacent to an arroyo? When the subject comes up everybody says you are talking about the 100-year flood. Well, when does that 100 years start ticking? I mean the city of Las Cruces has been here more than

100 years. Have we ever had a flood situation in a neighborhood and the only places I have seen where that potential or that danger could occur is in District 6. The updated flood zone documentation requirements, letter of map revision because there were and I think I shared this with you before and maybe some of my colleagues when I was running for city council I sat in on a meeting that the previous incumbent had, a community meeting at DACC and David Dollahon was there and I think you may have been there to Sara and there was a Mrs. White I believe sitting next to Ceil Levatino up in the front row and there was a flood and their house was right next to because I went and looked at it and all that and they were way and you think how can water rise that high? Well, it did and it flooded their house and because of that Mr. White, the fear and whatever died of a heart attack. So, my question is when you look at this

threat, do you stay away from arroyos now? How does that work with developers and whatever, home builders?

Sara Gonzales said a lot of the process and that is where we are seeing the same concerns. I think a lot of our process has moved towards when we are seeing master plans that are coming in that either have arroyos or flood control that are affected we are asking the applicant to already start working with FEMA. One it is going to help us raise the elevations of where these properties are. It is going to tell us where we would have to adjust or maybe the development where it comes in as far as if the arroyo is moving. The hardest part is when we first did Realize Las Cruces some of the comments were, let’s add in 100 feet from the center line but the arroyo moves.

You can’t measure that anymore so you can’t put a number on those things and so each development as it comes in has to find a way to say this is how far we need to be from this development at this point of time we were actually developing and that is why we use those resources through FEMA to use their maps to say okay, if we elevate this property this high, add two feet it is going to change what the development may be. Through the process we ask them to do this prior to submitting to us that way we already know that they are going to be making those changes, so it doesn’t impact the developments that are coming in. This was something that we were doing at the end and we are now requesting it first because we see the same concerns that you have.

Chris Faivre, Community Development Director said if I can just make one more comment too. So, a lot of those concerns have been realized by developers over the years and what we are starting to see and I noticed this specifically with one of the rezones we did for one of Moscato’s properties a few months ago. They are developing and not impacting the arroyos. They are leaving them to their natural flow so they are not trying to move that water to fit the development. So, we are seeing more of a trend to kind of leave them and develop in areas where they are not going to impact the flow of that arroyo. So, it is an issue that both the city and developers are aware of and we can kind work together to make sure we are mitigating that as we move forward.

Councilor Flores said I am speaking of District 6 because that is the one I am always there of course but we had an issue when Mr. Sedillo was still the Public Works

Director. Again, my district where there was an issue with the arroyo being too close to the house and what Mr. Sedillo did is he took out his magic wand and took care of everything. They were very concerned and somehow it was taken care of but when that happened, that wasn’t too long ago. That was just a few months ago. The other incident happened like about nine years ago. At least nine years ago maybe 10. I am really concerned about that because heaven forbid and then there is also south, its not my district anymore but it is District 3 but south of Lohman I have a friend that lives on one of those streets and there is an arroyo not very far from her house. When

I first visited her, when I first went to her house I said aren’t you afraid of the arroyo flooding your home? And she said no its way out there. I said we can walk that in about two minutes and the water would come up even faster than that. But at any rate

I know that you are very conscientious, but I think I want to assure our people, our residents that they are taken care of.

Chris Faivre said one last thing I will add too it is that Community Development and

Public Works we work closely together on these things and one of the things that we are looking at extensively is grant funding for flood mitigation and so we can long term move some of these areas out of flood zones to sort of address these problems in advance. So those are things that we are working with other departments to sort of mitigate.

Councilor Flores asked you take the people out of the flood zone or you take the flood possibility out it?

Chris Faivre said it would be flood mitigation to take those parcels, to take that land out of the flood zone.

Councilor Flores asked before building?

Chris Faivre said correct, or if it is already there to mitigate the flooding and to reduce the potential future flooding potential of those parcels.

Councilor McClure said I know we were going to do this awhile with Realize but there is a lot of error reference source not found in the packet under Chapter 34. They are just links, you just have to put them in there. Just to give you the heads up that nothing is bad.

Councilor Mattiace said you know where I was on the original vote and I wasn’t trusting that there would be so many right and wrong amendments to the Realize Las

Cruces, so I am really pleased to see on page 5 where you actually address height conformity to the existing neighborhood. You know that was one of my concerns and there is many other amendments that have made things better for me to swallow and I just want to appreciate your hard work on that, listening to I don’t know if it was DRC or homeowners, but you have listened quite well. I know there will be more amendments coming. I know that is comforting for me to know. So, thank you very much for the amendments and the hard work on Realize Las Cruces. Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Johana Bencomo, to

Approve Ordinance No. 3102.

9. BOARD APPOINTMENTS 9.1 CYNTHIA ENRIQUEZ Councilor Becky Corran moved, seconded by Councilor Becki Graham, to appoint Cynthia Enriquez to the Utilities Board.

SECONDER: Councilor Becki Graham

10. 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). 10.1 COUNCIL BILL NO. 26-011; ORDINANCE NO. 3103: AN ORDINANCE

ADDING CHAPTER 16, ARTICLE XII - SHORT TERM RENTALS TO THE

LAS CRUCES MUNICIPAL CODE. Council agreed to bring it forward. 10.2 COUNCIL BILL NO. 26-012; ORDINANCE NO. 3104: AN ORDINANCE

AMENDING CHAPTER 16, ARTICLE XI OF THE LAS CRUCES MUNICIPAL

CODE-LIMITING THE USE OF PLASTIC SINGLE-USE CARRYOUT BAGS

IN CERTAIN RETAIL OPERATIONS. Council agreed to bring it forward. 10.3 COUNCIL BILL NO. 26-013; ORDINANCE NO. 3105: AN ORDINANCE

APPROVING A FIVE-YEAR LEASE AGREEMENT (WITH OPTIONS TO

RENEW FOR UP TO FOUR ADDITIONAL FIVE-YEAR TERMS) BETWEEN

THE CITY OF LAS CRUCES (CITY) AND THE MESILLA VALLEY

COMMUNITY OF HOPE (MVCH) FOR THE OPERATION AND

MANAGEMENT OF THE CITY-OWNED COMMUNITY OF HOPE CAMPUS

LOCATED AT 999 WEST AMADOR AVENUE. Council agreed to bring it forward.

11. CITY COUNCIL MEMBER BOARD REPORTS AND COMMENT 11.1 COUNCILOR MCCLURE I want to address something, and this was already kind on my list that George

Pearson had brought up that we discuss a little bit more of what Vision Zero looks like for Las Cruces. I think that the will is there, but I think the definitions are a little foggy. I asked about it not too long ago through a conversation about Safe Streets for All. That would wrap in a lot, but I think that when we think about funding sources versus setting the goal and being bold about that goal, we should do that. So maybe we need to have a little bit more discussion on what road safety looks like for different users and I had also been given the request of let’s do some of these road audits because the Metropolitan Planning Organization has that data and we have been sitting through lots of presentations where they say at five o’clock on a Tuesday is the worst day for Telshor and Lohman, what do we do with that data, specifically? They say go back to your organization and do a project. What does that mean? So here is where we need to talk a little bit about what that means concretely for us, and I would like to do that much like George said. I know there is desire for us to be bold about not losing more people on our streets.

11.2 COUNCILOR MATTIACE My comment is on a more serious note. I would like some answers. I received an email about an overstatement in the budget. I would like to know the amount. I would like to know when it occurred, and I would like to know if the City Manager can explain it today. If the auditors have been notified. Just more detail on it. I have asked for details, and I have not received it and as a public service I feel it is my duty to get it out there and be transparent. 11.3 COUNCILOR CORRAN I just want to give a quick shoutout of appreciation to Councilor Graham who already left for her leadership in the Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley Executive

Director search. We did include community input, staff input and a lot of things and we did come up with a really great candidate. She is person who has a rescue background, who has been an ACO, who has also worked in sort of crisis animal rescue and with municipal shelters and the capacity so the candidate is really outstanding and I really appreciate everyone who participated in the process including the folks who lead that process and the staff for their input and the staff who have been carrying the weight in the absence of having an Executive Director. So more to come on that soon. I hope we can give her a warm welcome when she arrives to Las

Cruces but I just wanted to express my gratitude to everyone who participated in that really great process that. We had a bunch of great candidates who came forward.

11.4 COUNCILOR FLORES I wanted to just say that is has just been wonderful being on City Council these past eight years. I have one more meeting and then I am out of here. It is really interesting how everything has evolved. I remember back in 2016 or 2017, before I was on City

Council the Community Schools issue was being discussed, being with the League of

Women Voters, being an educator I became involved with that and now the

Community Schools are thriving and they continue to grow and I thank Carol Brey for being at those meetings because the museums have been an integral part of children’s education. Thank you, Carol and your staff, for that and for being at our meetings. I think that of all the boards that I have served on that one has probably been the most not necessarily fruitful but the results have all been positive in terms of the attendance, in terms of the teachers that are so involved, the principals who are so involved and there are principals who actually, several I know of who if a child has not shown up after a day or two, maybe two days they will go to the home to find out why that child was not at school. So, attendance has gone up, and I think we all know from being in school that missing out, not being in class is a horrible feeling. The

Community Schools have been wonderful, and we are very fortunate that we have the

Superintendent. I think that he finally attended one meeting, after I told him, hey I haven’t seen you at our Community Schools Board meeting. Councilor Graham has served on that this past year or so. At any rate I think that of the many wonderful things the city does for our community in my book the best thing has been the

Community Schools and all of you are welcome to attend our meetings. They vary because of calendars and all of that. It has been a pleasure serving this city. It has been a pleasure having the colleagues I have on this board and arrivederci, ciao. 11.5 COUNCILOR BENCOMO

The only thing I had on my list was one to ditto Councilor McClure on pedestrian safety. I do think that we need to revisit that conversation more seriously on Vision

Zero and then secondly, I wanted to ask for a presentation for Municipal Court. I know there has been issues just regarding their location, beyond that I am curious about, we had implemented that case manager there for the SOS Program. I would love an update on how that is going, if its working? If they need support. What is going on in that Municipal Court in some of the interventions we have there and we would really love to hear from Judge Filosa.

11.6 MAYOR ENRIQUEZ That is great. We often talked about a presentation and when you gathered enough data I think now is been a year since it was implemented but by the time the hiring and everything took place so I think he has accumulated enough data and research to provide a presentation. We will get with Christine on scheduling that for him. Maybe in January or something.

I just wanted to mention a couple of things. As the public comments took place a couple of individuals talked about homelessness, mental health and substance abuse and what are we doing about that? And what is going on? I am excited to say that we now have on staff through a grant the Public Health Coordinator and that survey evaluation on mental health and substance abuse and homelessness is going to be a coalition of stakeholders from the community coming together and they should have their first meeting coming up December 11th. So that is going to take place. I know

Fire, Police, the hospitals, the schools, housing, a lot of internal departments and a lot of external and community members will be part of this so that we can get to what is the problem in our city and how can we start strategically coming up with better results to help our community and those individuals involved. So that is coming up so

I wanted to address that. I know they come up and asked what is going on and that is what is going and that is what we are going to be doing.

I just want to give a shoutout to NMSU Theatre. Saturday night was their opening night for a Christmas Carol. So, it is the NMSU students with some community actors putting on the play. I think it is going to run for a couple of weeks there at NMSU. It is really neat. A good way to kick off the holiday spirit with such a classic tale of giving and hope. So, if you all get a chance to go out and support some of our student actors and some of the local communities by all means go and it’s a great show.

12. CITY MANAGER REPORT 12.1 IKANI TAUMOEPEAU I appreciate Councilor Mattiace, I appreciate your comment. For those who don’t know Councilor Mattiace is bringing up a comment about an overstatement in budget which was discovered by our Finance Director and I appreciate our Finance Director as she has become comfortable in her position she has been able to with the budget team look into our coffers and see that there is misalignment in numbers and so what

Councilor Mattiace is referring to an overstatement that affected our budget reserves.

Essentially the most important thing Councilor Mattiace and to council that you have

received of correspondence a few weeks ago and to staff that the budget will be balanced by the end of this fiscal year. Over years, for the past few years our expenditures have been increasing, and our revenues haven’t been climbing at the rate of our expenditures. So, we have had to grab and go deeper into our budget reserves. Essentially what we are doing with the overstatement that we requested unfortunately Councilor Mattiace as we may have shared with you and council that the officials numbers I am not able to make public at this time because we just barely sent that to our state auditor today and that typically comes before you and council in

February and that happens annually after the state auditor has finalized those numbers after he gives his approval then we can publicly share those numbers and so but we can share some draft numbers with you offline as mentioned. But I just wanted to share with you that there is no deficit in this budget. We have the reserves, and we have an approach that our Finance Department is working thoroughly on that will get us to balance this budget. Just to take a few feet and back off and give us an Eagle’s eye view for the public. We have a $180 million general fund. In addition to that we have about $30 in transfers that go out to our airport as an enterprise that pays their debt service that pays in transfers our road fund about $5 million at times. We have

JU transfer, Joint Utilities, and then we also have other funding sources that all equals about $30 million and so we have a math problem at the end of the day that again as I shared we have an awesome finance team that is working to figure this out and the great thing about this is that the city has been very methodical and they have been very prudent and we have a fund balance that has been helping us through these past years and so we will be able to get through this year and of course we are making, we have an approach that we shared with you and staff that we are looking into personnel and really what we are doing is we are not hiring more personnel at this time, we are freezing. We are looking at other approaches as well to get control of this. To really understand what we are doing with this budget so that as we go into this budget year together with departments, we can work with you and council to ensure that we have a sustainable budget moving forward but the word of the day that

I want to ensure that it is very clear that there isn’t a deficit. This was an overstatement, but we have reserves that have been able to pay for these dips and these ebbs that we find in our budget years. I just want to make sure that is clear with you Councilor Mattiace and as always, I am happy to meet offline, and we can discuss it further.

We have Visit Las Cruces and its partners were nominated and made the finals in six categories at the New Mexico Hospitality Association Annual Top Hats Award which recognizes excellence in their industry. They won two categories, Best Print

Campaign for Visit Las Cruces 2025 Visitors Guide and Friends of Organ Mountains

Desert Peaks for Outstanding Event. Can we get a round of applause please to

Rochelle and her fantastic team?

Mayor Enriquez said I also want to mention that Saturday is the Christmas Tree

Lighting at the Plaza. I believe that is at 6 p.m.

13. ADJOURNMENT 13.1

Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor William Mattiace, to adjourn at 3:28 p.m.

MOVER: Councilor Johana Bencomo

SECONDER: Councilor William Mattiace

Councilor Johana Bencomo, Councilor Becky Corran, and Councilor Yvonne

ABSENT: Councilor Becki Graham

Mayor

City Clerk