The work session gets a date; the Young Park vote stays in September

If you read nothing else

• Public Participation: "None." The regular commenter who objected in May that the minutes are stripped of what he said did not appear, and nobody spoke.
• Young Park returned only as a scheduling item. The work session promised in May is to be held right after an August 20 regular meeting limited to electing a chair; the decision stays on September 17.
• Bingham said he expected the May item to be tabled — some of it was done last minute, and he did not want to share financials that had not been vetted.
• The action-item tracking spreadsheet Amezquita proposed in May, which staff promised to comment on "at the next meeting," is not mentioned anywhere in this record.
• The trail maps exist but cannot be published: a Supreme Court web-accessibility ruling froze the city's online maps, and Harrison-Rogers said the technology to describe maps accessibly does not exist.
• Amezquita said family may force an extended leave of absence, so he is not in a position to be Chair; the chair vote was postponed to August.

Who was in the room

Board elections: a Vice-Chair now, a Chair in August

Two seats remain vacant, Districts 1 and 3. Alana Bradley was willing to serve as Vice-Chair. Amezquita stated that due to family he may have to take an extended leave of absence, so he is not in a position to be Chair. Bingham said he had spoken with Jeremy Williams, who stated he would be willing to serve.

Harrison-Rogers suggested at least voting in a temporary Chair if the decision is to postpone elections another month. The board instead elected Bradley Vice-Chair and postponed the Chair vote to the August meeting.

July 4 wrap-up: a parade that may move

Robert Nunez reported the traditional Electric Light Parade plus concert and fireworks at NMSU; since 2016 the concert and fireworks have been at Sisbarro Park. The parade drew 87 entries and over 220 total vehicles, with commercial and noncommercial divisions. The overall winner was Hernandez Heating, Cooling, and Plumbing. A little over 26,000 community members attended, and the parade ran very smoothly overall.

Community feedback raised the possibility of identifying a new location. Staff plan to speak with the transit department, LCPD, Fire, and Parks to identify other locations — possibly an area with more commercial restaurant businesses. The current route has 90-degree turns near the beginning and end that gave semi-trucks and larger floats difficulty; another location might accommodate more crowd and a straight line.

Winners are announced at the concert and in the newspapers and receive a trophy. Many years ago Wells Fargo sponsored the parade and gave cash prizes; the city is evaluating its sponsorship policy and hopes to do sponsorships next year for the parade and possibly the entire Fourth of July weekend.

At Sisbarro Park there were 11 vendors. Doña Ana County provided $50,000 to bring in a larger act. Two bands drew an audience of about 14,300. The kid zone was very popular and will be expanded next year, and staff want more vendors after long lines. There were glitches on both days. The communications office is producing a video of the weekend to be shared online.

Beard asked what route people must take when Solano is blocked off for an extended period. Nunez said they coordinate with Traffic and Transit and that alternate back roads still allow travel north-south and east-west. Bingham said he went out and saw traffic flowing well around the parade route, and that traffic was actually worse the next night with the concert.

Beard said he would like to be involved in the discussions before the next parade and the next Fourth of July, and would like the city to make a presentation to the PRAB so the board is involved in some of the decisions. He thinks Main Street would be nice; the record notes speed bumps, roundabouts, and similar issues prohibit its use. Bingham said staff bring the information and overview to the board but generally do not ask it to approve the Fourth of July, given the complexity, and that staff are open to advice and suggestions as always. Beard, who attended last year's event, was encouraged to give his comments: his route home goes through Tortugas, he took a detour and got stuck on the university, and he was impressed with the size and organization.

Why the park maps have not been updated

Harrison-Rogers said inquiries a couple of months earlier concerned the Parks and Recreation webpage, specifically maps and updating maps. She cited a Supreme Court ruling on webpage accessibility and new rules on what organizations must post. Hard deadlines applied — April for a municipality of this size — but because issues arose and the technology is not quite there, the deadline moved to the following year.

Under the rules, a PDF or text online needs a mechanism by which people can navigate it in multiple ways: mouse, keyboard, eyes, breath, whatever it might be. Color is another issue, as is having the information read in an understandable manner. The city has developed a committee to review web content against these rules. Maps are more complicated still, as are engineering designs and construction plans: there needs to be a mechanism to explain exactly what is on the page, and the technology does not exist to do that. The maps on the city webpage are older maps because the city cannot update them unless they meet the accessibility rules.

Bradley asked specifically about the trail routes and what can be done in the meantime. Harrison-Rogers said they do have updated trail maps internally, just not published yet. A static map — no zooming, no added information, no layers — is not as hard to work with, but there are a lot of requests for interactive maps: zoom, layers, time progression.

Work session schedule — the May postponement, revisited

Bradley recalled that the board was presented in May with different variations of park plans for the Young Park Master Plan, that there was a lot of information, and that the board decided a work session was needed to go more in depth.

Harrison-Rogers said staff are bringing the Young Park Master Plan information to a work session, including the history of what has been done, the process, and associated documents. The open question she posed was whether the work session would be part of a special meeting or just a discussion item for the August meeting; the decision deadline was postponed until September. The session will be an overview of the process including all materials and reports, and an opportunity to describe the final concept plans created. Cost estimates are subject to change and hard to gauge for accuracy, but are being worked on to provide to the board.

Beard had suggestions for the pickleball court. Harrison-Rogers said there are tennis courts but no pickleball courts at Young Park, and that multiuse courts, basketball, were suggested in the plans. She said the work session is to ask questions, discuss as a group, and allow the board to make any changes it feels necessary; staff have refined three concepts for the board's consideration, small aspects could be slightly modified, and staff can interject information about phasing or priorities.

Bingham stated he expected the item to be tabled at the last meeting, as some of it was done last minute, and that he did not want to share the financials as they had not been vetted.

Amezquita said he would like to propose a work session before next month's formal meeting. Hofacket said she thinks a work session moving into a regular scheduled meeting is not advised, but likes the idea of a separate work session. Bingham suggested August be a work session with information provided beforehand for review, and September put the vote on the regular meeting; they could hold a regular August meeting with the election as the only agenda item. He then suggested the August regular session be limited to the election of the chair only — there is no other business currently anticipated — with the work session on Young Park right afterward, and at its conclusion the board could identify whether another work session is needed.

Bradley said there seems to be lots of discussion and hoped they can complete it. The next meeting is August 20th, followed by September 17th. Harrison-Rogers said she is on leave the first two weeks of September but will coordinate with staff if another work session is needed. All materials previously provided for the Young Park Master Plan will be provided again prior to the next meeting, including financials. Bradley suggested board members review the materials and bring questions to the work session.

No motion was made on the work session or on the meeting structure. The record carries the plan as staff and board discussion only.

Staff comments: programs, grants, and construction

Josh Clevenger said volleyball is finishing up, soccer has started, and flag football as well; the last few months of summer complete next week. Swim lessons have grown 254% to about 360 people — he noted it was very small before — and the goal is 2,500 swim lessons.

Joey Dominguez said they are cleaning up after the Fourth of July and continuing their specials.

Robert Nunez said tomorrow is the final day of summer programs across six locations, K through teenagers, followed by staff trainings and returning supplies and equipment to the schools on Friday before the school year starts. Grant programs are winding down; Keep Las Cruces Beautiful closed this week, as did the Youth Development and Divergent programs. Music in the Park runs through August, every Sunday evening, weather permitting. The city was awarded $180,000 to expand team programming, working with Las Cruces Public Schools for space and with nonprofits to expand middle and high school age programming; they anticipate receiving the grant late fall and then have two years to set the programs up. Movies in the Park has two more in August and one in September.

Bingham said they are putting in a Trails Plus grant request that needs final approvals; they got $1 million this past session and have to match it with a million. Phase 1 designs finish in September, and they will ask for money to do phase 2 and try to have it all done by spring/early summer 2027 — a total of about a $4 million facility at the East Mesa Sports Complex. Meerscheidt Recreation Center has been under remodel for about a year and is almost complete, with a ribbon cutting anticipated in August or September; staff would like to take board members on a tour beforehand. Beard asked about the skateboard arena; Bingham said it is progressing and positive.

Harrison-Rogers said they are excited about the bike park, with designs under development and, as it is design-build, it will be quick. Construction starts in October; the first phase is a pump track and multiuse trails including a NICA (National Interscholastic Cycling Association) track for middle and high school mountain bike racing, at the East Mesa Recreational Center. They are edging closer to the Apodaca Park aquatic playground and trail, under negotiations with a contractor to construct the base with some add alternates. They received $3 million from capital outlay; until that money comes in they are focusing on the initial parts, and once received will finish the rest — four to six months of construction. A ribbon cutting is due for the Tortugas/DA Move Trail now that it is paved, with a few lingering items.

Beard asked about signage for the East Mesa Recreational Center. Bingham said they would talk about it off-line, and that they are moving forward on an official naming for that park. Beard asked if there are going to be signs and when; Bingham said the naming process needs to be completed first.

Board member comments

Hofacket said she is excited about the swim lessons and the increased numbers, and noted that nationwide there are swim lessons for children with disabilities — she wondered whether that should be implemented here. No staff response is recorded.

Amezquita asked the source of the $1 million trails grant; the answer was Trails Plus through the state. He asked about Apodaca Park starting construction. Harrison-Rogers said Apodaca is a larger, legacy park with a master planning process that identified the location of a trail, a plaza area, an aquatic playground — not a splash pad, a more naturalistic water play feature — and natural play areas for older and younger children, plus improvements around the pickleball courts, improved lighting, walkways, the large pavilion and plaza area, and improvements to some of the parking area. Funding sources include the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the ORLP Grant (Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program), legacy park monies from the Telshor fund, and playground renovation monies set aside specifically for this.

Amezquita asked about the naming process. Bingham said there is a formal process and this board will be part of it. Harrison-Rogers said there is an old process she is working on updating to present to upper management before it can move forward. The bike park has been named the Chupacabra Chase Bike Park.

Bradley said she was excited to hear about vendors for Movies in the Park; she has a connection to La Casa, which was very grateful for donations it received from one of the Movies in the Park, and she was encouraged to encourage more donations at other Movies in the Park. She said people reached out again to remind her about the slippery areas in the downtown plaza splash pad area. She asked whether the park at the end of Madrid, past Apodaca, is still on the radar for this year or in the future, and asked about the WIA building and its renovations/remodel.

Harrison-Rogers said on the WIA they have been working closely with Public Works, the project manager, and the design consultant to make adjustments and refine the plans; as the plans are a year old some changes were needed and have been passed to the local architect. They are moving forward, but there is no schedule for construction and they have not received capital outlay monies yet. The park at the end of Madrid has no funds right now but will be kept on the radar. On the downtown splash pad she said it is up to code on grittiness and similar measures, but sometimes people spill things.

Recorded votes

Left open at the gavel