City Council Meeting June 2, 2025

MINUTES

City Council

Monday, June 2, 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 - MAYOR ENRIQUEZ. 1.2 PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES OF

APPRECIATION/PROCLAMATIONS - MAYOR ENRIQUEZ. Mayor Enriquez presented Mirabella Macias with a proclamation for Migraine and

Headache Awareness Month.

Mayor Enriquez presented Carmen Cano with a Certificate of Excellence.

1.3 JOBS OF THE WEEK. Sarah Raney, Americas Job Center 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 Councilor Corran said I don’t think I have a real conflict of interest but there is the potential of the perception of a conflict of interest for Resolution 25-146, so I will

recuse myself on that because I am employed by DACC.

3. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 3.1 Lynn Moorer, Member of the Public asked you know who I respect and admire? I respect and admire publicly elected officials who understand that it is the responsibility of citizens in a democracy to hold their elected officials accountable. I respect and admire public elected officials who don’t call their constituents names when they disagree with them. I respect and admire publicly elected officials who don’t accuse citizens of fear mongering or lying when they raise legitimate well researched concerns and provide documented facts associated with those concerns. I respect and admire publicly elected officials who don’t lash out belligerently when citizens challenge them to do a better job in carrying out their responsibilities. I respect and admire publicly elected officials who do their homework and get a basic grasp of relevant facts before launching into long monologues at a public meeting or talking to members of the news media or accepting invitations to participate in local radio or tv shows. I respect officials who make it a priority to comply fully with all legal requirements without subjective slant or political motive and expect all their employees and all of those under them to do so as well without exception. I respect and appreciate publicly elected officials who understand and accept that all those who voted for them expect them to treat everyone with decency and courtesy regardless of their point of view. I respect officials who recognize that the modicum of power and recognition they acquire when elected to public office does not give them license to exploit that power and recognition by baselessly injecting racial division or seeking to disparage by ridicule or scolding those citizens who ask them to do their job differently. I respect persons who recognize that when elected to public office they become servants of the people. I respect officials who recognize that most citizens are not that comfortable speaking publicly and who give all citizens the benefit of the doubt when they do. I respect officials who understand that many citizens who attend public meetings have to take off work in order to attend and are not interested in losing income by participating in meeting where they are scolded, bullied and called names by the officials they elected. I respect officials who have the humility to admit when they are wrong and to graciously apologize to those they disparaged, bullied, called names, and/or disrespected in other ways and make their best efforts to never repeat that behavior.

Liz Rodriguez-Johnson, Member of the Public said the city continues to fail to comply with EPAs new Lead and Copper Rule. Under the new rule water systems are required to offer to sample the tap for lead, for any consumer who request it who has a lead galvanized requiring replacement or unknown service line. A lot of people who drink Las Cruces water may not know that they have this right to ask that their tap water be sampled because Las Cruces Utilities left this important information out of the notification letter they sent to property owners last October. Nor has Las Cruces

Utilities included this important information on its website. At the town hall meeting the city hosted in March a citizen did ask how he could get on the list to have his water sampled. Despite the rules clear requirement that the city offer to test this tap water

Las Cruces Utilities personnel did not make this offer. Instead, they changed the subject and ignored the citizens inquiry. Citizens are asking you city council members

and the city staff to comply with the new Lead and Copper Rule and to protect us from the harms of lead and provide us with clean drinking water. We don’t have any special clout to allow us to call the City Manager to put things in motion to have State Police or any other state agency come to our rescue. We are ordinary citizens who are intent on right being done for everyone who drinks Las Cruces water. We have undertaken thorough research and analysis and have concluded that Las Cruces Utilities personnel are failing and are not complying with the new rule. Please use your clout for productive ends for the city as a whole. Direct the City Manager to bring in an independent engineer with management experience to assess comprehensively Las

Cruces Utilities compliance with the new rule and recommend any needed changes that would lead to a comprehensive resolution of the issue. This would be a responsible course of action, and the city as a whole would benefit.

Edward Thomas, Member of the Public said Mayor I would like to talk to you about your tyrannical overreach on the lack of integrity, the lack of intellect, and the lack of proper civil decorum with which you ran the last meeting. Right before the public comment portion began you admonished us to follow the rules and be respectful. Yet when your council members spoke, they seemed to have ignored your instructions.

So, you admonition to obey the rules of respect and proper civil decorum apply to the speaking public but not to the council. The childish and immature name calling, the desperate attempt to make this about race by calling us segregationists and church goers just proves my point. The bad faith smearing and slandering that we are racist and elitist that don’t care about the homeless was the icing on the cake that somehow, we are anti-business because we want a small restaurant or auto repair shop next door to us. Again, slanderous and untrue statements were made. Councilor

Mattiace, obviously my comments about city council don’t apply to you. You seem to be the only one with any sense of civic duty and common sense. You have both my utmost respect and my sincere sympathy. I recognize your stand-alone bravery in the face of this vote along to get along peer pressure. I am not surprised and certainly not fooled by the intentional foot-dragging and obfuscation on the part of the City Clerk, her staff and the city lawyers. They consumed our time and purposely delayed our efforts to collect signatures by not giving us clear and concise answers to our questions and in fact gave us erroneous or misleading guidance. Then when we turned in our signatures your City Clerk under your direction summarily struck out signatures for the most trivial and questionable of reasons. That is a kin to putting the fox in charge of the chicken coop. The Mayor and staff have made a mockery of the petition process and a legitimate petition has been squashed by illegitimate subversion and the willingness to deny the citizens of Las Cruces a fair and transparent redress for grievances as afforded to us by the Constitution. You previously violated the Open Meetings Act and now you are violating the right to public petition. For this reason, I have filed a complaint with the New Mexico

Department of Justice in hopes of shedding light on this travesty and make the

Attorney General aware of the events that have taken place. I included a link to the

YouTube video of the last city council meeting so that he can see and hear the ridiculous comments made by members of the council toward the citizens who signed the petition or participated in signature gathering. The name calling, ridiculing, and bizarre statements made about the citizens who signed the petition should get the

AGs attention. No one was coerced, menaced, or tricked into signing the petition.

Richard Myar, Member of the Public said I am a new resident to the city. Just short of two months. I sent an email to Councilor Graham just on Saturday and I have had a good response back from her and a couple of other parties. I am going to read the email. I am going to skip the first part which has my personal address in it and I have already said how much time I have had here. My landlord has never discussed the water/sewer subject with me. Here are the property watering and sprinkling facts for my home that I have apparently inherited from the previous tenant. I am a renter now for two months. Sprinklers run apparently for four hours every day of the week in clear violation of the mandated summer schedule of three days per week. Two relatively small areas receive water at somewhat similar rates with a back area watered during

6 a.m. and 10 p.m. and a front yard area during 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. All of these times adhere to this city’s regulation. Water consumption according to Utility’s Hawk

Software averages just over 500 gallons per day. Again, this is strictly for outside sprinklers considered by me to be far in excess of need. Even if delivered only on the mandated three days of the week. I am new to living in desert conditions having spent my entire life until now in northern or tempered states. As such I need advice appropriate for my new situation. I really desire to be a responsible citizen fully participating in the city’s guidelines for water usage. Unfortunately, I have been so far unable to learn anything useful about appropriate water usage. I participated in a lengthy telephone conversation with a courteous and patient Utilities information man where the end results being that the city provides no information to folks as much as myself. I have reluctantly come to the consideration that the city is conflicted here.

One, it presents a sobering assessment of the water supply problem confronting it with commentary for its citizens to help dealing with a serious problem. Two, it provides no practical advice. Three, this is further suggested by the city’s failure to enforce a long-standing non-compliance by my property with the days.

Linda Cox, Member of the Public said I would like to thank Councilman Bill Mattiace for his support for our right to vote as legal Las Cruces residents and citizens of

America. I was born in Carlsbad, and I was raised in Las Cruces from the age of 13, so I do know this city. I am offended by council comments that I am a racist, a church going segregationist because I want a quiet safe neighborhood. Anyone who drives through my neighborhood will see a diverse group of residents from different backgrounds, different ages, different religious beliefs. If you do come to my neighborhood, you will see a friendly group of people who get along, we respect each other, and we enjoy the freedoms of choosing safe environment places to live. We know our neighbors and we are there to help them when they need it. We celebrate new babies and mourn with those who lose loved ones. Just because we choose a quiet safe neighborhood does not mean we are racist or segregationist. I was deeply offended by these comments, and I do hope you will apologize.

Juan Garcia, Member of the Public said the following are excerpts from the Las

Cruces Bulletin, 30 May, and I start my quote, “I don’t trust the Las Cruces city government to faithfully execute this citizen’s referendum process. In 2014, a group of politically active residents headed by CAFe launched a petition drive to increase the minimum wage. When the petition was successful members of the city council were not pleased. Once again, this time some of the city council was not pleased with the

Realize petition drive. This time the city council didn’t rely on slimy lawyer’s tricks to avoid the horrors by having their decisions put to a test by a vote of the people. They

simply relied on the tried-and-true method of rejecting every petition that was not filled out perfectly. As I decide to support the new ordinance, I support democracy more and elected leaders picking and choosing which signatures are valid based on political expediency is not good for our democracy. It is unfortunate that racial division was injected into an already difficult discussion. City council member Johana

Bencomo claims that those opposed to the new ordinance have “segregationist tendencies”. “Ultimately, I don’t think these decisions by the city council about zoning or minimum wage or supporting liberal or conservative causes. I think they are about power”. Disappointed to hear Councilor Flores speak of fear mongering church going attending whatever, not clear what that means. Not what I would expect from her.

Councilor Bencomo’s remarks on the other hand were divisive and an attempt to silence those she despises. She accused others of stoking fear, twisting the truth, breaking rules and lying yet she lied in a despicable public act by stating that Tim

Jenkins had posted every council members address online. It wasn’t just false it was a calculated shameless violation of basic ethics. She loves to repeat, politics is not a spectator sport but the moment residents from her own district, a place she let rot into chaos finally demanded answers after Officer Hernandez was murdered, she played the victim. She deserved the backlash but played the poor pitiful victim and all for nothing but hollow excuses. She is quick to accuse others of “segregationist tendencies” while her closest ally who sits on the LCPS Board goes on the radio and spits out the words these people, yes, these people describing those he hates. The bigotry isn’t suttle, it must be a family team sport. In addition, apparently the guidelines you have posted above here for public participation excempt some of the council.

Lonnie Montgomery, Member of the Public said I am a follower of Jesus Christ. Dear

Lord, God I want to lift up the Mayor and Council and I want you to have them have more powers of discernment that they can make wiser decisions. And exactly who am

I? Well according to Clinton I am a deplorable and I am a Christian and I believe in the country from the beginning I was raised on Christian principles. I am a Christian nationalist and some place in the council chamber I became riffraff. But the real thing I am, I am a male and I ID as a twenty-year-old male with toxic masculinity but that has nothing to do, I am just following these wonderful people here, my colleagues. I go in here and I find out from Bencomo that I am a segregationist. No, I am not. I think that is slanderous and I think you did the same thing to Sarah Smith, and you owe her a big apology. Segregationist, those were Democrats in the south keeping people of color in their place and there is some place in the east they have a lynching museum and they have pictures of people having the picnics and things like that going to the lynchings and if you look at it and if you go back into history probably about 99.9% of lynching to color people in the south were done by Democrats. I am sorry to say, and you want to talk about diversity. I found diversity when I took those petitions around I went through my neighborhood, and I found all sorts of Christians. I found Catholic

Christians. I found Pentecostals, I found others but most of all I found diversity. You want diversity? Come to Estados Serenos. That is a quiet neighborhood like this other lady lives in. We talk to people on the trail that come around and we talk, and we love each other, and we are all sorts. I mean have Pols, we have Danish people, we have Scotch-Irish, we have Lithuanians, and we have a lot of Latinos and speaking of Latinos and stuff and I don’t know why you just don’t put this on the ballot,

59.4% of our population is Hispanic and about 33% are white. So why don’t you want

the ballot? Are you afraid it will be defeated because of the people who worked so hard to get their single-family housing? Is that what you guys are afraid of?

Michael Harris, Member of the Public said I thought I would bring up today a disturbing trend I have noticed around town of automated license plate reading cameras. Both on private and on city right-of-ways. Cameras that I have personally seen appear from a company called Flock, which is very famous in the space and maybe there are others that are less conspicuous. There are at least 10 of these,

Lohman, University, Missouri, and several at Lowe’s and Home Depot each. These cameras take photos of every car that passes day and night. They read the plate, they upload it to a national database which is owned and operated by this private company and there are no real meaningful legal restrictions on the use of that data once it is up there. All you really need to look through it is a contract with Flock. Recent leaks I have also revealed that Flock is building a people’s search tool so that these cameras that are ostensively put in place to read license plates and monitor cars are probably actually monitoring everybody’s faces as well. Maybe the data that is produced is useful to solve an occasional crime. I will add that just right before this meeting I actually heard a brief story about LCPD finding and returning some property to a friend of mine because of some private cameras that were at his place of work, so anyway it is possible. Given the coverage in this town, it seems doubtful that you can track stolen assets using these Flock cameras with any accuracy. So, it seems like mainly a way for an understaffed Police Department to appear to be doing something.

Maybe wasting a little bit of money and not spending very much effort on it. Each camera cost about $2,500 per year so it is a decent chunk of money. It is not an FTE, it is a rounding error in the overall budget, but it would buy a few ballistic windshields for cruisers which would actually help people. The real problem then is the inadvertent one which is the constant creeping surveillance of every single resident of this city and potential misuse by others other than LCPD. Recently it has been revealed that

ICE despite not having their own contract with Flock regularly accesses this database by asking local police departments for the occasional favor. These don’t even have to be the jurisdiction to whose the cameras are, and it was revealed just last Friday that a detective in Texas went searching through the national database to find a woman who had an abortion in another state, and they were concerned for her safety. The kicker there is that the search didn’t even find her, so it is not only a shocking overreach of authority but it is also a testament of how the system doesn’t really do the job that maybe it was intended to in the first place. So maybe some residents are in favor of these use cases, but I bet it is not what the people that put the cameras up signed up for. Today maybe it is used to find a stolen Kia, tomorrow maybe it is being used to see who goes to a certain Doctor’s office, or maybe El Paso Police search for everybody who has been to a dispensary or maybe you find out who goes to a certain church.

Lisa Parrott, Member of the Public said I live in District 6. This weekend I had the privilege of attending a conference in Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, California and a worship service yesterday morning before I drove back, and it was worth every mile.

The Pastor Patrick Jack Hibbs mentioned this book, When Culture Hates You

Persevering for the Common Good as Christians in a Hostile Public Square and I would like to read some passages from it. “Loving your neighbor by publicly advocating for soup kitchen and loving your neighbor by publicly advocating for

protection of life in the womb are both outworkings of biblical world view but there is a difference between how those two actions are perceived by culture. The former will likely draw ambivalence or approval, the latter serious condemnation. As Christians therefore we aren’t resented for everything we believe in and do but because we are reviled for opposing some of the values most cherished by culture we are increasingly hated as a group. The gate keepers would love nothing more for us to just keep serving soup while being silent about issues on which we are at odds with culture and that is a tempting proposition for many Christians after all if we did that culture would like us. Who wants to be hated? But when culture hates you, when you are reviled for promoting your views in the public square such as me in the rule of real estate law it takes deep conviction and courage to none the less persevere for the common good but being hated is exactly what Jesus told us to expect if we are going to follow his command. Silence in exchange for cultural respect is a deal with the devil.”

Lucas Herndon, Member of the Public said I am a resident of District 2. At the end of two weeks ago meeting Mr. Mayor took exception to my description of the police committing homicide by me calling it murder so I will try to not use that term. When the police commit homicide against the citizens and since 2005, less than 150 police have been arrested for murder charges and of those less than 5% have been convicted. New Mexico where remains the most dangerous place to live when it comes to being, having homicide committed against your body by a police officer.

Nationally police have killed 12 fewer people than they did last year in the United

States except in New Mexico they have killed three more people than they had at this point in time last year. I don’t know how to make people as afraid of the police as they should be. They are clearly a dangerous group of people. They are armed, the state sanctions them, and they basically have a freedom to execute you. In the state of

New Mexico a Federal Judge just found that a man was shot in his own home by the police but those police cannot be held accountable and when the wife of this man found her husband dead on the floor she picked up his gun and returned fire because somebody had just shot through their window and front door, murdering this man. I am sorry the police committed homicide against this man in his own home because somebody knocked on his door in the middle of the night and when his wife found his body and his gun, she picked it up and fired, the police fired at her 19 times. I don’t know how you can be so upset by the word murder when we are living in a fascist state of uniform thugs with the authority to kill you and not answer for that and all these bootlickers here that come out and support them every single week who have no risk of it because of the color of their skin, I wish your priorities were in the right place.

Marilyn Finnegan, Member of the Public said I believe I am in District 6. I vote in every election. I didn’t go out to get signatures on the petition to change the zoning, but I did sign it. Whether I signed it with my initial Marilyn J Finnegan or just Marilyn Finnegan,

I want my vote counted. That little technicality should not have been put in there. I want to go on record that I am upset that you decided for the whole city to change our zoning no matter how many signatures were on that petition. It is more than just a few of you that decided that we could change our voting.

Jim Wilcox, Member of the Public said today I am going to give you an opportunity to help protect our native plants and to protect the city from a possible claim of violation

of the protection against double jeopardy as defined in the Fifth Amendment. So, what happened was about a year ago I got a notice that said I had noxious weeds. I looked at my yard and said which one’s noxious ones and which ones are the native plants?

So, I thought I will go to the trial. So, we had a bench trial and Brad is catching it there, so we had a bench trial and I said to the Codes Officer, who is a nice guy, I said if I gave you a list of noxious and native plants could you tell me which ones are which? And he goes, I don’t think so. So, if I showed you pictures of native plants and noxious? And he goes no I can’t, and he looked at the judge and said your Honor I have never been trained at identifying either. So, the judge heard my point and if the crime can’t be defined, I can keep getting tickets and so that is in violation of double jeopardy under the Fifth Amendment. The judge, he goes this is really hard and so then he asked for a picture and then he said I find the defendant, not guilty. So, I set precedent that you can’t go out and tell people they have noxious weeds and here is the thing, they are cutting down the good stuff. It’s scorched earth policy that people are going around just ripping all of the plants up and this means that the native birds and the insects and the native plants are being ripped out and so I thought well I will talk to the City Attorney. So, I sent him an email and he acknowledged he got my email, so I didn’t hear anything. So, I talked to the Codes Director who is really a nice guy, and he said I am glad you brought this up we were thinking about continuing our efforts to define this kind of like they do in Albuquerque so I said I will call you back.

So, I called him back in two months and he said you know government works really slowly we haven’t had a chance. So, I waited three months, and I called back, and he never called me back. I called again and he never called me back. So, I went to the

Coalition of Conservatives who are here, and they went what? I have a guy with a truck sitting in his yard and codes hasn’t done anything about it and they are worried about weeds they can’t even define? And then I went to the Progressive Voters

Alliance, and they went what? What is going on, why were they after you, you’re trying to protect things? So now I am telling you. You have a chance to protect yourself against a possible claim of a violation against double jeopardy by just defining which is which. Albuquerque list ten that you can’t have these, here is ten you can have, and you can also protect our environment and encourage the thing you want which is a native landscape within our city to make it beautiful.

Jim Hoerst, Member of the Public said I thought that since this is June you would be passing a gay rights resolution. A resolution supporting gay rights month but apparently that is not the case so I wish the agenda would include the resolutions. In any case I will make my comments as though you had supported gay rights. From

Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptist 1801, “I contemplate with sovern reverence that the act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free their exercise thereof thus building a wall of separation between church and state. Today you declared Gay Pride Month confirming the rights of the LGBTQ community.” This resolution is not without controversy. Many in this county and even in this room oppose this action. Presumably they do so for religious reasons. This commission can make declarations that are against religious opinions because we have a wall of separation of church and state. In the last few decades our society has made great strides in advancing diversity, inclusion, and equity for the LGBTQ community. Long overdue but better late than never. We have done so because reason has prevailed over religious dogma and superstition. If it were up to some of our religious

institutions, we would have never reached this point indeed much of the faith community is greatly in distress that we have reached this point. They fear the judgement of God almighty will fall on our nation and may cry out to us to repent. If it were up to them, we would reverse course and deny the right which have been so recently granted. We would cease to recognize same sex marriage, we would deny transgender or medical care, and we would censor art and entertainment that gave positive portrayals of homosexuality. If there were no wall between church and state, they might succeed. LGBTQ rights are only secure while the wall of separation of church and state stands. If that wall is breached and many rights are put in jeopardy, birth control comes to mind. So, if you wish to honor gay rights then uphold separation of church and state, maintain it and strengthen it. I want to address also the subject of

Realize Las Cruces. If those who think they have a cause against this council, they should take it to court not try it here in council meetings.

Donna Stryker, Member of the Public said disrespectful, degrading, threatening, or slanderous remarks is strictly prohibited unless you are a council member, I guess. I came here on May 19th, and I asked us as citizens to remember that this is not a legal requirement to be able to have public comment. I asked if we could try to adhere to the slides above me, those ones that we see every week before we deliver our comments. The performance of some of the council on May 19th meeting showed poor judgement, prejudice accusations and inappropriate behavior for elected officials and you did not come close to following the slides above but I guess you have different rules or no rules so you can ramble on as long as you want so you can hear yourself talk. The name calling, liars, church goers, beating our head against the sky, chicken littles, and my favorite, segregationist. The interesting thing is that is exactly what you are suggesting from your comments. You segregate me as I sit in chambers, and you judge me and my family. A person who supports the policies of enforced separation of different racial groups. When you mention brown people, you are excluding other races, are you not? Church goers versus non-church goers. Are you not supporting an enforced separation of different racial groups under the guise of having a better knowingness of what is good for all of us? You assume because I am white or because I am older? You assume I am a segregationist. One of my grandsons is brown, one of my granddaughters is black, my son is gay, my youngest son, but then you wouldn’t know that because you are to busy sitting and judging me and assuming you understand me or what I believe. You mock the citizens, and you sit up there and are completely unprofessional. Disrespectful, degrading, and threatening. You mock the oath of the office that you took, I, city councilor’s name, subscribe upon my oath that as a city councilor for the city of Las Cruces, New

Mexico for a term to end, date that would apply, I will support the Constitution of the

United States and the Constitution and Laws of the State of New Mexico and the ordinances of the city of Las Cruces and I will faithfully, interesting use of a word that you apparently don’t believe in, and impartially discharge the duties of the city council to the best of my ability. If some of your performances on May 19th are your commitment to impartibility, then we are certainly in trouble. Please take time to consider your oath of office to your citizens. I must thank you though, now people can watch your performance from the 19th and decide if it is time for a change. Your behavior was and is clearly a reflection of how you really feel about anyone who is not brown or somehow different from you or not in your select group. By using those terms, you belittle my family, my city, and you separate us once again. Watch your

words, once you speak them you cannot take them back.

Tim Jenkins, Member of the Public said I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United

States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. We recite this at every council meeting before we begin but yet certain council members refuse to abide by the very oath they swore to uphold. I can guarantee you one hundred percent that if I stood here in council chambers and called certain members on council a liar and told her that she broke rules and manipulated people and exploited them at their worst fears by her actions that I would be physically removed from council chambers and asked to never return.

So how is it perfectly fine coming from council members that swore an oath to uphold the law that yet seem to refuse to? And how is it possible for certain council members to treat Sarah Smith with such disregard and vile hatred? And how is it possible for certain council members to attack my reputation and say that I posted all their addresses on the internet when in fact I have no clue of their addresses? And how is it possible for certain council members to say that she can spot us from a mile away and call us chicken littles and say we are a bunch of fear mongering church attending people and should go beat our heads against the sky? The rhetoric and behavior coming from certain council members is unfathomable. You are an elected official that was elected to be our voice and to fight for us but yet it seems that certain council members fight for their own agenda and could care less about making this city safer for all. And I would like to make something crystal clear for the record that we do not have segregationist tendencies as certain council members suggest, we are fighting for justice for all and not just for a certain demographic of people. As for me and my family we back the blue and we will continue to support them and thank them for their service every day.

4. READ CLOSED MEETING STATEMENT 4.1 READ JUNE 2, 2025 CLOSED MEETING STATEMENT INTO THE RECORD. The Las Cruces City Council met in closed session and only discussed those limited items stated in the posted notice:

1.To discuss pending litigation regarding Mario Gomez v. City of Las Cruces Et al.,

Cause No. D-307-cv-2024-01022, which is closed pursuant to NMSA 1978, Section

10-15-1H(7).

2.To discuss pending litigation regarding Ana Obregon v. City of Las Cruces, Cause

No. D-307-cv-2025-01168, which is closed pursuant to NMSA 1978, Section 10-15-

1H(7).

3. To discuss pending or threatening litigation regarding Texas v. New Mexico,

Colorado, Original No. 141, which is closed pursuant to NMSA 1978, Section 10-15-

5. ACCEPTANCE OF AGENDA Councilor Yvonne Flores moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to

accept the agenda as presented.

RESULT: Carried

MOVER: Councilor Yvonne Flores

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 REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF MAY 5, 2025. 6.2 WORK SESSION OF MAY 12, 2025.

7. RESOLUTION(S) AND/OR ORDINANCE(S) FOR CONSENT AGENDA 7.1 RESOLUTION NO. 25-143: A RESOLUTION TO AWARD CONTRACTS FOR

THE PURCHASE OF FLEET PARTS AND SUPPLIES FOR FLEET

VEHICLES AND EQUIPMENT TO CASA FORD, CRAIG ENTAGGERT

SUPPLIES, INC., CT RUSH INC. DBA MIGHTY OF EL PASO, TROUBILLON

ENTERPRISES, LLC, DOGGETT FREIGHTLINER OF SOUTH TEXAS, LLC,

NEOPART TRANSIT, LLC, O'REILLY AUTOMOTIVE STORES, INC. DBA

O'REILLY AUTO PARTS, SISBARRO BUICK GMC, QUALITY BUICK GMC

BY DI LORENZO, SAFETY-KLEEN SYSTEMS, INC., AND SIDDONS

MARTIN EMERGENCY GROUP, LLC IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $190,000 PER VENDOR ANNUALLY, FOR A TERM OF FIVE (5) YEARS

THROUGH APRIL 30, 2030, SUBJECT TO APPROVED BUDGET

APPROPRIATIONS (PROCUREMENT NO. 24-25-055). 7.2 RESOLUTION NO. 25-144: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING AND

APPROVING SUBMISSION OF A COMPLETED APPLICATION FOR

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE AND PROJECT APPROVAL TO THE NEW

MEXICO FINANCE AUTHORITY. 7.3 RESOLUTION NO. 25-145: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF

LAS CRUCES (CITY) TO ACCEPT A REAUTHORIZED GRANT AWARD

FROM THE NEW MEXICO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (NMDOT).

8. RESOLUTION(S) AND/OR ORDINANCE(S) FOR DISCUSSION 8.1 PUBLIC HEARING REQUIRED. RESOLUTION NO. 25-146: A

RESOLUTION APPROVING THE REQUEST FOR A GOVERNMENTAL

LIQUOR LICENSE WITH ON PREMISES CONSUMPTION TO NEW MEXICO

STATE UNIVERSITY, D/B/A DONA ANA COMMUNITY COLLEGE

LOCATED AT 2800 N. SONOMA RANCH BOULEVARD, LAS CRUCES, NM.

88011. Public hearing began at 2:08 p.m. There was no one for or against. Public hearing ended at 2:08 p.m.

Adam Ochoa, Senior Urban Planner gave the overhead presentation.

Councilor Flores asked is this something new on college campuses nor is it just for special events?

Adam Ochoa said liquor licenses are seen throughout universities and colleges in

New Mexico. NMSU has one I believe for whatever events they have. I believe UNM has them as well. This is a governmental one where basically if you are a government entity aka like a college. You could apply for this with the state. I think that is something that the city could possibly look at as well since it is governmental liquor license.

Councilor Flores asked is it for special events in the evening or is there going to be a vending machine with beer or bottles of wine? How does that work?

Adam Ochoa said this is associated with the Culinary Arts section more than anything and for any type of special events they might have where they would be serving wine or whatever it is with meals and so forth like that. Councilor Becki Graham moved, seconded by Councilor Johana Bencomo, to

Approve Resolution No. 25-146.

MOVER: Councilor Becki Graham

SECONDER: Councilor Johana Bencomo

Councilor Becki Graham, Councilor Johana Bencomo, and Councilor Yvonne

Flores 8.2 PUBLIC HEARING REQUIRED. RESOLUTION NO. 25-147: A

RESOLUTION APPROVING THE REQUEST FOR A TRANSFER OF

OWNERSHIP AND CHANGE OF LOCATION OF DISPENSER LIQUOR

LICENSE NO. DIS-000137 WITH PACKAGE SALES ONLY TO BW GAS &

CONVENIENCE RETAIL, LLC., D/B/A ALLSUP’S #102489 LOCATED AT

4202 ENGLER ROAD, LAS CRUCES, NM. 88012. Public hearing began at 2:12 p.m. There was no one for or against. Public hearing ended at 2:13 p.m.

Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor Yvonne Flores, to

Approve Resolution No. 25-147.

MOVER: Councilor Johana Bencomo

SECONDER: Councilor Yvonne Flores

Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores 8.3 RESOLUTION NO. 25-148: 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

FY2025 BUDGET. Gaby Prats, Grants Manager gave the overhead presentation.

Councilor Mattiace asked if you could bring up page 3 and Steven you could maybe answer? I think you had an extension till 2027 to use the funding, but will you run into the same problem or are you considering getting this done in 2025?

Steve Bingham, Parks & Rec Director said no, we are ready to go back out and rebid this week. We actually put this out to bid for five times and three of those times there was no responses. The last time we had a one response that came in on time and two just after the deadline but there was issue in the language with the New Mexico State

DOT, and their procurement and our procurement and it needed to get aligned and they made the decision that it was best that we rebid it and so we are ready to rebid it and they have given us some additional money and we want to move forward quickly.

Mayor Enriquez asked can you go to the next slide? So, we are getting the project?

Gaby Prats said yes.

Steve Bingham said this project is probably the most ecstatic, I am of anything I have done since I have come here with Las Cruces. I am really excited about what we are doing with the Legacy Parks and the construction that is about to start at Apodaca but one of the things that I really felt that we needed to do was to diversify our park system and this will significantly diversify our park system. The other thing is it will bring in a facility that will have an economic draw, an economic impact to our economy here in Las Cruces. People will come from hundreds of miles away to ride our local trails but also participate in this bike park and so we have got a really great project planned and the state when we presented it to them was really excited when they saw the vision of it.

Mayor Enriquez asked this is at the East Mesa Sports Complex?

Steve Bingham said yes.

Mayor Enriquez said I know I have talked to a lot of the BMX participants, the kids, the adults, everyone else. Was this something that came from them? Who initiated this?

Steve Bingham said there was a citizen that asked me about what we could do to improve biking. Probably about three months after I had got here but I actually in my career did a bike park that had a regional draw, got some national recognition and I felt like there was a lot of similarities to our outdoor recreation opportunities here that we were not capitalizing on that we could if I brought in something similar so this has plans for a pump track, NICA course, which is a national high school type course. It is something that when I did it previously it took and helped get people into the outdoors and it is really a cross between there is some entry level features that will help beginnering bikers learn to deal with the type of courses that will naturally in the park system.

Councilor Graham said I will jump in as a representative of the biking community.

There is huge support and demand for this kind of facility. Especially as Director

Bingham said we are a mountain biking paradise down here, but it can be tough to break in on the kind of trails we have. They kind of say if you learn to ride around here you can ride anywhere besides Moab, but it can be a high barrier to get out and learn safely so I think this will be great. As mentioned, we do have an organized youth team going now and also when I have gone on some bike alongs with LCPD they have also expressed support for this. It is also a great place where our bicycle patrol officers can meet in community with cyclist especially younger folks so I just think across the board this would be a great addition.

Councilor Mattiace said I just want to thank the Director and everyone for getting this into the Las Cruces area. We hear so often that the youth don’t have anything to do, that they are bored, and I think I guess a well spent $2 million and thank you.

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

Approve Resolution No. 25-148.

Corran, and Councilor Yvonne Flores 8.4 RESOLUTION NO. 25-149: A RESOLUTION APPROVING UPDATES TO

THE PARK DEVELOPMENT FEES, LAND USE ASSUMPTIONS, AND PARK

CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PLAN AND REPEALING RESOLUTION 20-002. Katherine Harrison-Rogers, Parks Planning and Construction Administrator gave the overhead presentation.

Julie Herlands, Vice President TischlerBise continued the overhead presentation.

Councilor Graham asked can we jump back one slide? Thank you for clarifying that we were doing the excluding neighborhood parks option, but can you clarify if we are doing the unit type or residential unit by size option?

Katherine Harrison-Rogers said as was discussed during our Work Session and seemed to be the most preferred option, the recommendation is to do by unit size.

That was also the recommendation by CIAC. That is in keeping with how we assess our public safety impact fees and so there is some consistency across the board doing that.

Councilor Bencomo said I know I said this last time, but I want to say it again because we have been having this conversation for a very, very long time. The need to improve our Park Impact Fee structure, has existed for a very long time and so I just really want to appreciate you leading on this Katherine and all of you doing the math and all of it and the conversations we used to have at TSI PRC. That doesn’t even

exist anymore and so I just really wanted to express my gratitude for having this very courageous conversation and for getting us here. I don’t think necessarily we need to add it, I look at our City Clerk but part of the conversation we had at the Work Session was around coming back a year in to see if there was any indication of potential change on the smaller end of the unit if the current structure was kind of yielding us the multifamily development that we were hoping to see. I don’t think this is the language in here and I don’t necessarily think we need to add it but I do want to just make sure that that doesn’t get lost in the sauce Katherine.

Katherine Harrison-Rogers said I think that we could of course add that as a Work

Session item sort of a tickler if you will. In the future I can work of course with the

Clerk to make sure that we have it on our calendars so that we can revisit it and see what is happening over time. I think it is a good discussion to have and if not a Work

Session item certainly we can at least produce some data for you in a report.

Approve Resolution No. 25-149.

9. BOARD APPOINTMENTS 9.1 None.

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. 25-021; ORDINANCE NO. 3092: AN ORDINANCE

APPROVING VARIOUS ZONE CHANGES TO CORRESPOND TO THE

SONOMA RANCH NORTH MASTER PLAN AMENDMENT #4. THE MASTER

PLANNED AREA AFFECTED BY THE PROPOSED ZONE CHANGE

ENCOMPASSES APPROXIMATELY 5.75 ACRES AND IS LOCATED ON

THE EAST SIDE OF SONOMA RANCH BOULEVARD AND SOUTH OF ITS

INTERSECTION WITH NORTHRISE DRIVE. SUBMITTED BY SOUDER

MILLER AND ASSOCIATES, ON BEHALF OF SIERRA NORTE

DEVELOPMENT INC., PROPERTY OWNER (CASE 24ZO0500089). Council agreed to bring it forward.

11. CITY COUNCIL MEMBER BOARD REPORTS AND COMMENT 11.1 COUNCILOR MCCLURE

I just wanted report back on the Dona Ana Juvenile Justice Continuum. We are kind

of looking at overlapping services from the city, FYI, different agencies are coming literally to the table. Also we have some presence from the new media so I am hoping that maybe they will talk about it that we are working on some efforts with that specifically we also as Pat Acosta and I went to the Criminal Justice Coordinating

Council which had to write down because I will say that wrong as well and Pat was able to say hey if you are working on a strategic plan please make sure to keep the youth in mind when they are facing sort of issues with the carceral system and make sure that they have the best opportunities for diversion. So, I am just excited that is coming together and I appreciate everyone who comes out for that. Our next meeting is July 30th, it is at noon, and it is here at City Council if you would like to attend.

11.2 COUNCILOR MATTIACE

I just wanted to say thank you Catrina. I just want to say thank you Scott and the organization that makes district meetings really great. We had a great turn out, great questions but I just want to share with city council, maybe it is coming forward, I don’t know how quick, but it is the Climate Act, the transition to natural gas was one of the biggest concerns and questions that I had. I think it was about 90 residents. Going to natural gas was quite a concern from them and so with that said I would like to have a

Work Session, ASAP to get that particular item out front before we make any decisions that effect the public. I think it would be good to have a Work Session on the transition act and what we are planning to do with natural gas and electricity. We had some comments that if you are paying a $25 gas bill and if you go all electric it is $100. Anywhere from three to four times greater going to all electric and that is a concern for me, so I don’t want any independent thinking or what we call dictatorship thinking that we have to go to all electric city. I would like to have the public maybe vote on this in the future. If they want electric or if they want gas or if they want wind, if they want solar and not move the city to an all electric city. It is quite expensive for those that are working class. With that said if Mr. Ikani if you could maybe put a Work

Session in place ASAP and then we could just bring this out to the public and really make it an educational and public awareness. 11.3 COUNCILOR GRAHAM I am just going to follow on from a public commenter and say thank you as always to

Adrienne Widmer, Director of Utilities because while the commenter thanked me for a quick response it was actually Adrienne who came in with pertinent information and made a connection to a member of her team who has already set a meeting to get the new resident the information he needs. So as always incredible response and I appreciate you and your team very much, thank you.

11.4 COUNCILOR CORRAN Highland Park, park opening, so fun. Thank you to Parks & Rec, Public Works, LCPD, the community folks were out there, the Highland Park Elementary School kids who were out there and made it really fun. It was a really fabulous day. I feel really bad because the city, there were snow cones and I think the teachers had to go back to school with the kids after these enormous really sugary snow cones but you know the park time was amazing and the kids really enjoyed it and I think it was a great opportunity for us to partner up and I really felt lucky to be invited and to be there and

to have that facility in District 5.

I also wanted to shout out the ASCMV did their drive through clinic yesterday at the

Field of Dreams. Overall, they did a total of 2,056 vaccinations and microchips of various animals out the windows of cars in the heat and so I just want to thank the

ASCMV staff. I think it was about maybe 600 total animals, some of them got two or three treatments but I just want to thank the staff for doing that and making that impact in the community and making that a really affordable way to bring community health and microchipping to everyone.

The last part I want to shout out Ashleigh Curry who is always looking for ways for the city to collaborate. Last week we did a walk through or don’t get hit by a car through at

Peachtree and Jornada which is a really interesting intersection with several schools nearby, housing, desert that people drive their ATVs through to pick up their kids. It is an intersection of city and county. It is a really complicated school in and out situation with traffic as I think all school comings and goings are complicated traffic situations that I know are constantly working through and trying to figure out. In this case she brought together a team of folks from the school, from our Public Works Department, from the county and we are going to have a follow up conversation this week, but I just really want to appreciate that and thinking about alternative transportation, thinking about making getting to and from school easier for kids in the area. I really appreciate Ashleigh and all that she does in those ways so thank you for that and more to come. I know that we can do something to make it safer. Literally I think us just standing there in neon vests just helped a little bit but it was still very harrowing.

People on ATVs driving through the desert, grabbing their kids, driving. It was quite something. I think we can do some things to make it structurally safer for everyone involved. 11.5 COUNCILOR FLORES None. 11.6 COUNCILOR BENCOMO I do just want to address the energy transition plan because I think it is incredibly important to provide accurate information to our residents and to our customers. The plan to do an energy transition plan has been in the works for over five years. A consultant was finally hired, E3, which is one of the best in the game to evaluate our technologies and to reduce our environmental impacts. The reality is that the energy transition plan is focused specifically on low income and middle-income families as more and more wealthier folks are able to move towards electric uses of energy natural gas will get more and more expensive for lower income folks and those are the folks or customers that are going to get stranded with an asset that is written in the stars, we must move away from natural gas given the climate crisis that we currently find ourselves in and so I do hope that you engage in the conversation that we have been having for five years and I think that certainly a Work Session would be good. I hope that our Sustainability Officer sends you information. This couldn’t be furthest from a dictatorship decision and so I think it is a very important conversation we have given who is proportionally impacted by the effects of climate change, but it is a really exciting time for the city to be having these kinds of conversations because as we are definitely leading the state in what this can look like.

11.7 MAYOR ENRIQUEZ I do have few comments but before I do I want to ask Brad to share on one of the comments, it was asked earlier by Mr. Wilcox about the weeds and that ordinance so that Brad can give an update.

Brad Douglas, City Attorney said I appreciate Mr. Wilcox coming in. I hate that he left but maybe he will see this later, or someone call tell him about it. I received some information from Mr. Wilcox regarding a negative experience he had at our Municipal

Court and as you all know our Municipal Code, it’s pretty comprehensive. It is pretty long for a local code and from time-to-time sections of it need to be updated and so with regard to the problem that Mr. Wilcox ran into I am working on an update to part of our nuisance chapter, and we are hoping to bring that to you all within the next few weeks for your consideration and vote.

Mayor Enriquez said a couple of things that took place was the Mayor’s Jazz Fest and thank you to Parks & Rec and Visit Las Cruces and all the work they do to get that going. It is a kickoff for summer Music in the Park and so I think this past weekend was at the Amador Live and so that facility was utilized and great experience so that will continue. That got kicked off and I know Ikani will share other dates and some other information on that.

Another thing that took place last week was with economic development, the County had reached out to the Mayor of Juarez to talk about maybe doing some things at the border and expanding on economic development with Border Alliance and Borderplex and so that took place Friday. It is a huge thing for the Mayor of the Cuidad de Juarez to come down and visit our community. So that was great and establishing those relationships for economic development and would benefit Dona Ana County and the

City of Las Cruces.

Coming up we have a couple of things. This Saturday at the Young Park, Fish with a

Cop, June 7th. It is from 8 to 12. That is for a lot of kids and anyone that doesn’t have a fishing pole or rod that will be provided so for all the kids out there to come in and join in and fish with a cop. The other event we have is Becki Graham Invitational. It is a boxing event at the PAL Gym. It will be this Saturday afternoon on 700 North

Solano. I do have to give her kudos and a shout out for, she talked about the bike family and group and she is an avid bike rider but she is also a boxer that volunteers and coaches and gives time and has put a lot of work into the PAL Gym and to help those kids to stay off the street and put them in the right direction and it is really appreciated and the PAL Gym is going to honor this invitational with a boxing event that is going to take place.

12. CITY MANAGER REPORT 12.1 IKANI TAUMOEPEAU I just want to thank and echo the appreciation from this dais to the staff as Park

Impact Fees was passed. This was something that has started years ago from staff in

2013 and tried to convince previous council to pass Park Impact Fees for parks that

was essential and so finally it has occurred, and I appreciate the courage from council to have their approval. That is transformational, something that our community needed for years so just wanted to say thank you for that and great things happening.

We will continue to see the positive impact from Realize and definitely from Park

Impact Fees occurring as this plan is put into place so thank you.

Regarding Communications, shout out and kudos to our Communication Office who won seven Telly Awards. The Telly Awards are nationally recognized awards, and we earn several bronze and silver awards and one gold. Gold is only earned by the top

3% of entries. Kudos to Adrian, Nate, and Cherish, an incredible talented and skilled individuals on the team and we are very lucky to have them all on our city’s team.

Telly Awards is the gold standard for communications in the nation so that is very prestigious for us to be very competitive with seven awards. Last year and previous years we really haven’t, and we have submitted and had no nominations, but we never took home any of the awards until this year. Under Mandy, but you are right, under the previous Director, I stand corrected.

Parks & Recreation will be holding special programing for teens in a safe supportive environment starting June 3rd, which is tomorrow. Tuesdays and Thursdays open gym at Sierra and Lynn Middle Schools from 5 to 9 p.m., free event. Wednesday,

Teen Hangout Night at the A. Fielder Memorial Safe Haven on 906 North Tornillo from

5 to 9 p.m., also a free event. Friday’s Summer Teen Takeover 7 to 11 p.m. Sports tournaments including sand volleyball, basketball, and glow pickleball as well as open gym. Teen registrations will be $1. Registration required open gym is free. Saturday teen Splashes will occur from 7 to 10 p.m., all Saturdays in June as well as July 12th and 28th, $1 per participant. There is additional information on the website. What this is, is really creativity from our staff. I want to give kudos to our Parks & Rec staff, especially our Recreation Department. Kudos to Ryan Steinmetz, Robert Nunez,

Amelia and also all Parks, Steve Bingham and JC and all the staff for making this happen. This was something from the dais that actually was requested for more programs for our youth and our Parks & Rec Department stood up to the challenge and this is something they have come up with. They were able to brainstorm some ideas, and they have extended opportunities in open gyms. We appreciate the collaboration with LCPS and Superintendent there being so gracious with our staff to brainstorm and open two gyms, two middle schools so that we can have a summer and extend the hours for our youth. I just wanted to give kudos of what this is so if you didn’t catch this information our social media will continue to push this out. I believe emails are going out to all the participants that we have stored on our directory and so feel free to pass along this information, so I wanted to give kudos to P&R.

Additionally, kudos to our Parks & Rec team in addition to our facilities team who has activated the Amador Live facility. So just yesterday some of you may have been in attendance at and may have been aware Music in the Park started and was initiated at the Amador Live and so that was a great turnout. We have had Daniel Sanchez and Fungi Mungles played yesterday but we continue to have weekly activities happening that will be spread throughout either to Amador Live or Young Park and other facilities, but we will continue to be hosting as well the movie series that will start

June 14th with Wicked. Eight movies in total will be shown from June to September all outside at the venue.

Last, I will end with a few bullet points from Quality of Life. We appreciate Senator

Ben Ray Lujan’s round table discussion at Munson Center. I along with various staff from the CMO and Quality of Life were able to attend along with panel from the community. We appreciate Sonia from the Quality of Life who led the panel discussion. Great information was shared and that occurred on May 27th which covered many important topics regarding he impact on seniors and the potential cuts in federal government programs. Program received excellent coverage on social media, via Facebook and Yahoo News. It was also covered online via New Mexico

Source, in print via Albuquerque Journal and the West Virginia News. We are grateful for the attention to this important topic. Additionally, the Abuse in Later Life

Awareness Health Fair is scheduled for June 6th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the

Munson Center. Representatives from local agencies including Adult Protective

Services, New Mexico Department of Health, and area law enforcement will be in attendance. Also, Quality of Life public art successfully implemented community mural event that took place last Saturday, May 31st at 814 North Tornillo. This design was developed by muralist Jesus Cimi Alvarado from El Paso. More than 50 people turned out to help paint the mural on parking lot wall and it looks great.

Last but not least Moonlight at the Museums was also a success. Last Saturday evening with 267 adults visiting the museum which featured an opportunity to visit the exhibits and enjoy adult beverages and food trucks offering for purchase.

13. ADJOURNMENT 13.1 Councilor Johana Bencomo moved, seconded by Councilor Becky Corran, to adjourn at 3:03 p.m.

Mayor

City Clerk