Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

Well, good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the City Council meeting. Today is Monday, June 15th, 2026. It's approximately 1 p.m. I'm Mayor Eric Enriquez. Before we start, I want to mention that we have the American Sign Language interpreters up front and available if anybody needs those services. If you all join me and stand, we'll start with a moment of silence for the brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces as they protect our interests around the globe, as well as our courageous men and women of the Las Cruces Police and Las Cruces Fire Department as they keep our city safe 24-7, 365. Councilor Caran, if you'll lead us in the pledge. Okay, we'll go ahead and start out with presentations and certificates, proclamations by Counselor Curran.

Good afternoon. First, we'd like to bring up the baseball team. So come on down, everyone, coaches, team members.

If you guys want to just hang out here.

All right.

Four times the bridesmaid and now finally the bride. The 2026 Sunblazer baseball team won the state championship in a dominating fashion. Four times prior Sunblazer teams had won second place at the state tournament, 2007, which you guys might not have even been born yet, I realize. 2008, 2017, 2018, but this year they are the champions. The Mesilla Valley Christian Sun Blazers are once again district champs three years in a row and five out of the last six years and earned a number four seed going into the playoffs. The Sun Blazers beat Rehoboth Christian 11 to five in the quarterfinals and beat number one ranked Eunice Cardinals four to zero in the semifinals. They capped off a dominant season with a 22 nothing victory. Is there a mercy rule, or did they not do that in the playoffs? They did? Five innings. Okay, five innings, a 22-0 victory over Hozo Academy in the championship game. In all, the Sun Blazers outscored their opponents by a combined 37 to five. The Sun Blazers only trailed in the tournament after the top half of the first inning in the first game won zero, and that only lasted two batters when in the bottom of the first inning against Rehoboth, Zach Beasley, are you, no, not here, okay. Oh, he's still playing. Drove in Weston Marr, That's all right. Awesome. And then scored on an error, making the score 2-1. From that point on, the Sun Blazers never trailed again in the entire tournament. In the final, the Sun Blazers set a record for the most runs and scored in a single inning of championship game. They scored the third most runs in a championship game, as well as the second largest margin of victory in a championship game. In 1945, Albuquerque High School beat Santa Fe three to five, and in 1991, Loving beat Santa Rosa 27 to zero. Oh, that's really embarrassing. Only Loving's margin of victory is higher than the 2026 Sun Blazers of Las Cruces. This year's all district players include Kayden Warner, senior, Weston Marr, junior, Zach Beasley, sophomore, Ben Moorman, sophomore, and Liam Poppy, freshman. Weston Marr was also named the District Player of the Year. And at the time of this writing, all five have been nominated to the All-State Honors, with Kayden Warner being nominated for the Red-Green Senior All-Star Game. So please join me in congratulating the Mesilla Valley Christian baseball team. Congratulations. I don't know if any of you all want to say something, but we have a presentation for you. The mayor always comes down and gets in on the pictures, so he's on his way. Does anyone want to say anything? That's what you get when you get this close, you're in danger.

All right, we'll take a picture.

22-0, that's pretty amazing.

I'd also like to welcome up Jamar Cotton, who I saw here somewhere. Come on up, bring with you your team of folks for New Mexico Outlaws Youth Sports Day, please. Come on up. Come on down. This is a proclamation for New Mexico Outlaws Youth Sports Day. Whereas the New Mexico Outlaws Youth Sports Club celebrates continued growth and success in the city of Las Cruces with over nine years serving the community in basketball, tackle football, soccer, and flag football. And whereas the New Mexico Outlaws continue to provide a safe, welcoming, and supportive positive environment for youth kinder through high school for sports, mentorship, and youth leadership. And whereas since 2025, the Outlaws have won 10 championships within three divisions and across three sports while averaging 3.0 GPA among athletes. And whereas the Outlaws are your 2026 spring kinder through second division and eighth division champions of the Southwest Basketball League, also your 2026 first through third grade division and third through fifth back-to-back division champions for end zone sports. And whereas community service and youth leadership remain a vital part of the club, there will be several outlaw players representing the city of Las Cruces, Dona Una County, and this year's Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Leadership Conference in Roswell, June 12th through 14th, accompanied by Coach Jamar Cotton, Paula Johnson, Owen Johnson, and other coaches, including Casey Blumhouse, Christopher Parks, and Dr. Huynenbach. And whereas, the Outlaws continue to bring cultural values full of unity, community, education, growth, diversity, mentorship, leadership, and sportsmanship needed to keep our youth striving for excellence on the fields, on the courts, in the classrooms, at home, and within our communities. The Outlaws are here to continue to make a positive impact, and we're so glad that you are. Now, therefore, we, the Mayor and City Council of Las Cruces, New Mexico, do hereby proclaim June 15th, 2026 as New Mexico Outlaws Youth Sports Day. So, thank you.

Good morning, everybody. Oh, some of y'all still asleep. Oh, is that the one? See, see, I'm still asleep. Good afternoon, everybody. First of all, I want to say thank you for everybody that's here, the panel in front of me, everybody in the audience. Thank you all for the opportunity to come here, these young men and women. We have over 60. A lot of them are in camps and stuff today, so they couldn't be with us today. But we have a lot of kids in our community that's here to make a difference, that's making an impactful difference in our community. As it was told this past weekend, we went to Roswell to represent Las Cruces and Martin Luther King Youth Leadership Program. We took about 35 students up there and it was awesome. It was great. It was so great that we also want to announce that Las Cruces won the bid to host the 2027 Martin Luther King Youth Leadership here. So we're bringing it home. We're going to make it the best one. We hosted it a couple years ago and it was so great that they're going to bring it back to Las Cruces. These young men and women do so many great things in this community, not just within sports, but being there for their community, being a difference, going out and showing what kindness looks like, what respect looks like and responsibility. We make sure that our kids are where they need to be academically, because for us it's not just about what we do on the field or on the court, but it's about what we do in our community, what we do in our household, and what we do in our schools. So we want to continue to foster what these kids need as far as positivity, role models, and them having a space within our community, because they're not our future, they are now. So we have to embed them with the things that they need to, and we want to thank you all again for the great opportunity. Thank you.

Awesome, thank you all. Next up, I invite Carl Pierce and the solid waste recycling team. Come on up, guys, all of you. I can tell that you're thinking that you're going to blend in, but you're not. I can see you.

Do you guys want to squish in front of here or squish up here?

You're good? OK, that means we've got to bring it in. you can come over this way you're good you're good we'll just make you squish for the picture

Patrick, we're here.

Oh, we don't care.

We're happy about that.

Yeah, you're good? You're good? By family, do you mean you're ready to speak? Because that's what happens. All right. Okay. Again, it's National Waste Workers Week, and I'm so glad you all are here to celebrate with us. The City of Las Cruces will celebrate the week of June 15th through 19th as National Waste Workers Week. And National Garbage Man Day began in 2012 to show community appreciation for local workers in the garbage, sanitation, and recycling industries, and was later renamed Waste and Recycling Workers Week. Whereas solid waste workers have selflessly and tirelessly operated in all types of environments through various weather conditions and pandemics to provide essential sanitation services that protect communities, prevent disease, and keep our city clean, safe, and beautiful. Whereas the employees of the City of Las Cruces Utilities solid waste line of business contribute significantly to the safety, health, and welfare of our residents by processing thousands of tons of garbage and compost each year. And whereas the proper collection, disposal, and maintenance of waste, recyclables, and compostables is essential for preventing disease and reducing litter in our community. And whereas, the City of Las Cruces values and celebrates the unwavering commitment to its solid waste industry workers, to the city's residents, businesses, and communities. Now, therefore, we, the Mayor and City Council of Las Cruces, New Mexico, do hereby proclaim June 15th through 19th, 2026, as National Waste Recycling Workers Week, and encourage all residents to express gratitude to the hardworking men and women who keep our communities clean, safe, and healthy. And so, first a round of applause for gratitude. And while you all figure out, is someone going to talk? You're going to talk, but I just want to give one quick story about this from my family showing appreciation for waste operators. My grandmother was a... big partier, and she deeply appreciated the folks who picked up her trash. So for literally years, like maybe four times a year, she would give her garbage man a big bottle of very fancy booze. And then maybe after like 15 years, he came to her and was like, look, first of all, it's illegal for me to have this in the truck, and second of all, I'm in recovery, so it's really not that great for for me and she figured out something else. She started giving them snacks instead. But I say that to say I deeply appreciate you all and I will not inappropriately gift you anything in the future. I'll just appropriately gift you, please.

Thank you very much. I just want to take a second on behalf of Mr. Carl Pierce, our Deputy Director and Las Cruces Utilities and the Solid Waste Department. We really appreciate you taking this moment to acknowledge the men and women that work for the Solid Waste Department. It is amazing what they do day in and day out, their diligence, their safety, their professionalism. I'm proud to go to work every day as a solid waste manager. You can't find a better group of individuals that uphold an outstanding image of the City of Las Cruces. They work every day to provide service for over 40,000 homes and commercial businesses each week and it's just amazing what this group of individuals does. These ones as well as the individuals that couldn't be with us. Unfortunately, they're out there still plugging along, making sure everybody gets their services met. So thank you. Thank you very much for acknowledging this group of men and women.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Next we have the departmental highlights. We'll start with the quality of life.

Good afternoon, mayor and council and staff. Carol Bray from the quality of life department. And I'm so happy to bring you a few exciting department highlights. We have a lot going on in June that I wanted to tell you about. First of all, I'm going to start with our libraries, and I will introduce some of my team in just a minute, but they're the ones in the wonderful headgear back there. So summer reading, our summer reading program, which happens every year and it's a big highlight for us, runs May 30th, already started, through July 18th. The theme is Unearth a Story, which basically deals with all things from under the ground or unearthing from the ground, as it were. That includes dinosaurs, paleontology, archaeology, geology, and many other exciting subjects. We have some special programming that's taking place around that, but I want to say we're already having great success with this. Reading is so important in the summer. It's important anytime. I hope that you all have enjoyed reading in your lives, but for me, that was a big thing in my family. As you know, I'm a librarian by training. I particularly get excited about summer reading. This kickoff was held on May 30th. We had 264 attendees. We were very happy to welcome Rex the Dinosaur, who is here with Shuli Serrano, who you'll meet in a minute, who's our library programs, public programs manager. We also had over a dozen community partners, TheraPaws, Children's Reading Alliance, La Casa, DAVA, Las Cruces Public Schools, Las Cruces Museums, Las Cruces Public Art, New Mexico Historic Sites, and a host of others. Also, I want to thank Dion's that gave away free pizza on that day as well. To date, this number has already been updated. 777 people have registered in our summer reading program, and our goal is 1,000, which I think we're easily going to make. We may top that goal, and that'll probably be a first for us. And I also want to note that more adults have signed up than even uh... kids age six through eleven so we have uh... of that number two hundred ninety adults two hundred sixty two kids uh... hundred and ninety two kids age zero to five of the first group was ages six to eleven uh... so probably roughly close to five hundred children and then also fifty three teens have joined our summer reading program and you too can join it's very easy there's a uh... qr code on our website that will help you join so uh... We are going to have some amazing programs this summer, programs featuring snakes, crafts, actual geologists that will come and talk with us, the Ice Age and STEM learning, all wrapped up into one basically six-week program. So I want to introduce some of our wonderful team from the library. If you all would stand, please. We have Sarah Booth, Jenny Chatwin, Tina Hoege, Julie Serrano, who was there with the dinosaur. Taryn Heredia, who works with our teens. Deanna Duffy back there in the purple. And did I miss anyone? OK, that's some of our library team. So let's please thank them for all they do. Thank you all. And that is dinosaur headgear, in case you were wondering what they're wearing. So let me go to the museums. We are getting ready to celebrate our sixth annual Juneteenth Jazz Arts Festival that's running starting this week. So it's going to start on Wednesday through the 21st, which is Sunday. And this festival is a collaboration between several city departments, including Quality of Life, Parks and Recreation, Visit Las Cruces, Economic Development, And we also work with NMSU as well as the NAACP on this program. And this year, also, we have a number of local businesses that are joining with us. Jazz is a big part of this festival every year. And Derek Lee is our event founder and musical director. You may know of him. He's a great musician and wonderful to work with. He's been working with the museum since the beginning, since six years ago when we first started these programs. This year we're also going to have some great community support in the form of donations, always good, and business sponsorships. So I just wanna highlight a few things that are happening. We'll start Wednesday the 17th with a program out at NMSU, Roots, Recipes and Remembrance, a soul food demonstration and lunch. Then we have a number of events at the Rio Grande Theater. So music almost every night, starting Wednesday night with Billy Townes. I'm a big fan of his, great jazz musician. Then Thursday night, Colin McAllister's Latin Jazz. And then Friday night we're going to have, I believe that's when we have the procession from Pioneer Park to Rio Grande Theater at 5 o'clock. ending with a concert on the steps of the Rio Grande Theater, so that should be a lot of fun, with a group called Color Quorum. And then, on the 20th, which is Saturday, we'll have our Juneteenth celebration at the Brannigan Cultural Center in the morning. Buffalo Soldier presentation and concert featuring the Mark Fowler Group. Then it goes on with the banquet and double ACP banquet that night, and then more music on Sunday at the Rio Grande Theater. And there's more that I just didn't want to take your time to announce right now, but I would like to introduce a few of our wonderful museum staff.

If you'd stand up, please. Garland Quartz is here, and...

David Lundy over here, who's our head of exhibits. Garland is our deputy director for libraries. And then Mina Stafford could not be here, right? Mina is the one who puts this whole thing together, and she's our education manager for the museum. So thank you to you, museum team. And then I want to go on to senior programs. Yes, applause for our wonderful museum's team. For senior programs, I want to highlight our health fair that we're having this year. This has been an annual event for a number of years. And June 15th today is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. And you may or may not be aware that that there are many ways that seniors can be abused, neglected, and mistreated. And this day actually highlights internationally the challenges that seniors sometimes face. And it's so unfortunate, but we do what we can to raise awareness of how seniors should be treated. And so on June 18th, we'll have our annual Abuse and Later Life Awareness Health Fair. This is an amazing fair over at Munson Center. If you get a chance, come on over to see it.

It runs from 10 to 2, is that right, Sonia?

Yes. and I'll introduce our senior programs team here too in a bit. We partner with a number of community partners to build awareness about seniors and their needs and also provide resources for our seniors. So the health fair will provide resources, it will provide an opportunity to talk with partners and the purpose really is to educate not only seniors but family members about signs of senior abuse, neglect, exploitation. Seniors are often targeted with scams and other issues. To learn what to do if someone you know is in that situation and learn about resources that can aid in independence because our major goal at senior programs is that we want seniors to be able to live an independent life, a healthy independent life in their homes doing what they love to do for as long as they possibly can. And so I really appreciate what our senior programs team does. And I want to just mention that since we opened that great addition at Munson Center, we now have room for a bigger fair. So for the first time, we expect, we used to be able to have about 12 to 18 vendors. We're going to have 35 vendors this year. Since we're about doubling our vendors, we probably will double our attendance, we hope. So let me introduce first Sonia Saldana, who's our Deputy Director for Senior Programs. I know you all know her. Sonia is the brainchild behind this, by the way. because she is the one who attended training from the US Department of Justice in 2017, got this idea, right, and has been doing this ever since. And then I also want to introduce Danielle Gill. Danielle is the face of Munson Center, frankly. She's the face of Munson Center because she's at the front desk, and she's famous because I've had friends of mine tell me, who is that woman with the red hair at Munson Center? She's amazing. So thank you, Danielle, for all you do. She works for Senior Recreation, and I'm sure will be instrumental to this fair. So thank you, ladies. And last but not least, I want to talk about public art, but I have to put on my cool glasses to do this. Okay, I was told I have to put these on to talk to you about public art. I don't know if I can see my notes though, so I might have to take them off. We'll see how I do here. We're featuring a new promotion for public art, I can't read my notes, I'm sorry, I'll have to take these off, of public art, and it's called Made You Look. Did I say that right, Ceci? Yes. And the idea is to promote public art in our neighborhoods, in our public spaces, in our buildings, to create identity of our community and interest in beauty. That's what public art really does for us. This is a marketing campaign that challenges the public to take a selfie with their favorite Las Cruces public art piece and post it on social media. And you can use the hashtag Made You Look 2026. Use that in social media to feature your selfie. You can also email it to publicart at lascruces.gov. And I want to, first I'm gonna introduce the staff, and then I have a real quick video I wanna show about how you too can promote public art. So, but I'd like to, and if you also, I forgot to mention that all entries will win a special sunshade for their car, and there it is, made you look, complete with the Roadrunner. So, let me just introduce, now I can put on my glasses for that, so you can, I can identify with my team. Let me introduce my team real quick. First, Rebecca Slaughter, our Assistant Director. Monique Paez is next to her, our senior office manager. Ceci Vasconcelos, who's our public art coordinator. Ana Noyola, who's our management analyst, and then assistant management analyst, Hema Lozano. So thank you, team. I know every department probably says this, but I have the best team. I do. I really do. And I think you all would maybe agree with me. But let me show you just real quickly one last thing. This is just a highlight of our Made You Look campaign.

Hey, short one. Over here. Finally made you look. Wait, come back. I just wanted to take a photo with you.

this summer our public art needs some love find your favorite art piece and take a selfie with them tag lc public art and use hashtag made you look 2026 to be eligible to receive prizes i'm glad i made you look so i want to thank i want to thank our communications team

for helping us make that video. And I do hope you'll go take a selfie with your favorite public art and let us know about it. Thank you, Council. I appreciate your support. And that's the end of my presentation for today.

All right. Thank you, Carol. We appreciate it.

Hey, short one.

And next we have communications department.

I'm a little taller than Carol, so I'm gonna lift this up. All right, let me open up mine. All right. mayor council thank you for having me i'm andy leatherwood with the communications office and today i get to come here and do one of my absolutely favorite things in the world and that is brag on my team and so i want to talk to you about the tele awards the city of las cruces took home 18 tele awards this year that is for awards or videos made in 2025. What are the Tellys? They're recognition for excellence in video and television across all kinds of screens, so that includes TV, streaming, social media, all the above, and it's judged by leaders from video platforms, TV, streaming and production companies. There are over 13,000 submissions into the Tele Awards, and it's global, it's international, and it's not just limited to government, it's also commercial, production companies, and so I am really proud of the creative talent that we have here at the City of Las Cruces that we can compete globally and be recognized for the quality work that we do. I want to point out the team that actually had a hand in making the content that won those awards. Pictured there's Adrian Guzman, he's our technical operations manager. He runs the video team for the communications office. We've also got Nathaniel Bidding and Cherish Pena from the communications office team. not pictured we had two interns one was eduardo sandoval diaz he graduated last year he worked on the projects and another intern celso acosta who is not pictured but he's actually in the back right now running this live stream for the city council meeting and the other person in the picture is our marketing manager for visit las cruces lorena lazano visit las cruces won six of those 18 awards so i'm just really proud across the organization of the creative talents I would love to stand up here and take all of the credit, but besides the amazing team that I just pointed out to you, I also have to give credit to the departments that we work with. The work that they do every day to make the community a better place for our residents is what gives us such amazing content to work with. And so I want to actually talk about them a little bit as well. We won two golds, eight silvers, and eight bronze. And I wanted to show you a little bit of what that looks like. We won two gold awards. That's like the top percentage of the tele-award submissions. The first one was for the fire department. We did a video about workplace culture, or it went in the workplace culture category. and then we also did a recruitment video for las cruces police department i am going to play the police department one only because it's all it's just over a minute long and the fire one was six minutes long so i hope chief daniels will forgive me for that decision so let me play that for you hopefully here we go

Being a police officer is more than just a job. It's a calling. It's one of the few noble professions still left in this world. It's about serving your community, protecting those who can't protect themselves, and upholding justice with professionalism, respect, integrity, dedication, and excellence. Every day, you have the power to make a difference, whether you're responding to an emergency, mentoring a young person, or simply being a symbol of hope in times of crisis. It's not an easy path. There will be challenges, there will be tough days, but that's where your strength, teamwork, and sense of purpose come in. At LCPD, you will be part of something bigger than yourself, working alongside courageous and dedicated men and women who share your commitment to the greater good. You'll develop a bond with your fellow officers and community, creating lasting connections that will change lives, including your own. This career is not for everyone, but if you have the heart to serve, the drive to make a difference, and the resilience to face what comes your way, then being a Las Cruces police officer could be the most fulfilling career you've ever chosen. Join us in making our community a safer place. Join LCPD today.

All right, and now I'd like to show you some of the silver awards. One of the things I like about this slide is you'll see how many different departments that we did work with for that content, starting with quality of life and public art, another fire video. We started last year an episodic series on social media called City Jobs. Highlighted in the ones that we submitted was parks and rec, HR, IT, community development. which I think is key because it's not just our public facing programs, we're also getting to work with the departments and behind the scenes who are making the city run like IT and HR. I would like to show you one of the silver award winners and how did I pick this one? As I mentioned earlier, I like to brag on my own team and so I'm gonna show you the community engagement video.

Are you always curious about how things work? How does this function? Where does all this water go? And what does my city government do? Buddy, if you find out, will you let the rest of us know? Here's your opportunity to find out. Sign up to be in our Neighborhood Leadership Academy, a unique behind-the-scenes experience that will deepen your understanding of how your local government serves a community. Register online from now to January 16th to be a part of this 11-week program. Don't wait. Space is limited. Visit lascruces.gov slash NLA and register today.

You want to do one more take? Sure.

Two things I want to point out at the end where it says, do you want to do one more take? Our staff actually went to a conference and said, in order to keep people on social media, we don't want to end like a normal commercial with you put your logo up. Instead, we get more engagement if it loops and continues to play. So you'll see our social media for the last six months or so has done more things to continue looping and keep hopefully that engagement. The other thing I want to highlight about that video is while I love that I get to show you engaging fun content, we do things for purpose. And the Neighborhood Leadership Academy, after that campaign run, had more applicants for the most recent class than we've had in the history of the Neighborhood Leadership Academy at the city. And in January, we had 50 people start that class. So what we do, we are always measuring and making sure that we're hitting our goals. Last slide is the bronze awards. I'll highlight that first one. Southwest Spirit was a Visit Las Cruces one. That actually won two awards in two different categories. Again, want to give them credit for that. At the city, we get to work with material that is sometimes not considered as fun and engaging as you would think. On this particular slide, we were recognized for a video about gas line emergencies training and also a redevelopment project with economic development. So again, it is our pleasure and our privilege to be able to work with a variety of subjects and try to make them engaging for the audience. And so I wanna show you this last one. I picked this one, I did not know when I started, when I picked this one that Carol was gonna start with a public art video in this video review episode of City Council. But hopefully I'll be back next year when we win awards for that one. But let me show you the public art video from last year.

With the help of their map, nothing will stop an adventurer from solving the mystery of the lost art. Las Cruces Public Art invites you to the Curators of the Lost Art Scavenger Hunt. Scan, listen, discover. Collect all your discoveries and submit to win epic prizes, including the Art of the Covenant Grand Prize, now through October 31st. May the best adventurer win, and go to lascruces.gov for more information.

What I like about that one, that was our intern, Celso, and that was one of the first projects he worked on, which I think highlights the importance of bringing on creative, innovative people to keep that spark alive. I also wanna point out, again, we wanna talk about metrics. When we ran that campaign, we saw a huge jump in website visits to the public art website related to the scavenger hunt. But the thing that I also am proud of is that we had a higher number of website visits for the next few months after the scavenger hunt was over. And I think that's really important because it shows that the things that we're creating has staying power. And so I'm really proud of that metric as well. Again, I just want to thank all of the departments that we get to work with because of the work that they're actually doing on the ground, making our residents' lives better. We have amazing stories to tell. Thank you City Manager's Office and City Council because with your support, our office has the opportunity to educate, to inform, and sometimes entertain. So thank you again.

No, thank you Mandy. Both of you, thank you Mandy, thank you Carol and the organization for all the work you do. It's great to be able to present and give us some snapshots of what's going on. Thank you all. Next on the agenda we have Pets of the Week. Nisa Valenzuela.

Hello Mayor and Council, my name is Anissa. I'm with the Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley and I am here to present our Pets of the Week. Alrighty, so the first pet we have is going to be Harper. Harper is a sweet, social, and energetic dog who consistently shows friendly behavior with both people and other dogs. She has attended numerous off-site events where she loads easily into transport, which is a big thing, enjoys meeting new people, and often shines as a welcoming greeter. Harper loves car rides, enrichment activities, and play groups, where she is described as playful, gentle, and adaptable. Harper is an affectionate, active dog who thrives with companionship, engagement, and routine.

I'm so sorry. I'm just going to... She has one blue eye and one dark eye, huh? Yeah, she does.

Yeah, she's very cute. We have someone that's looking at her, so hopefully she does get adopted today, too.

Get your butt to the shelter if you are interested.

And then the next one we have is going to be Arthur. Arthur is a gentle, sweet pup who has been thriving in his loving foster home. His foster family says he's doing wonderfully. He's potty trained, enjoys sunbathing, and has the softest, kindest personality. Though he's currently in our foster care, Arthur is fully available for adoption and ready to meet his forever family. If you're interested in getting to know this sweet boy, please call us to schedule a social visit. He can't wait to brighten someone's life with his calm, loving spirit. And there's his picture right there. So what we also like to do is we also like to highlight some of our longer-term residents. The first resident we have here is Dober. He is currently our longest resident that we have at the shelter. He has been with us for 301 days. Our next resident is going to be Francesca, and she has been with us for 296 days. Next we have Ebony who has been with us for 283 days and Playa who's also been with us for 283 days as well. Some of our events that we have done recently and our upcoming events, our biggest one that we just had recently was our Vax Clinic, which we did on June 7th. In total, we gave out 1,697 vaccines, 286 microchips, which has us at 1,983 things that were administered during that clinic. Our next off-site is gonna be at PetSmart on June 27th, and we also have a special event with Cars and Coffees and Canines, which is gonna be on June 30th. I believe it is a car show that we will be showcasing some of our dogs with the cars as well. That is gonna be on 2215 South Main Street. So right now it is more important than ever that we do some outreach for our fostering. Fostering saves lives, and right now we need more fosters than ever. Every open home means one more animal gets a second chance, a chance to heal, to feel safe, and to find their forever family. When you foster, you're not just helping an animal, you're directly freeing up space in our shelter so we can rescue even more pets in need. If you've ever thought about fostering, this is the moment to step forward. We provide the supplies, the medical care, and the support. You provide the love and temporary place to land. Please consider becoming a foster today. Your willing to say yes can be the reason an animal gets to say, I made it. Reach out and sign up to foster. The impact you make will be life-changing. We have both dogs and cats available for foster. Lots of kittens right now, too. And then for more information, there's gonna be our website along with our social media handles. On the bottom there, we do have our foster email, but we also do applications through our website for all fostering. And you are more than welcome to call our front office and we will give you any information needed if interested in fostering as well. And that's gonna be our pet of the week. Thank you.

Thank you. Next is a conflict of interest. Does any member of the city council, city manager, or any member of city staff have any known conflict of interest with any item on the agenda?

None. None.

No.

No. Next, we will have public participation. Katrina will come up and usher you to the podium. We'll allow up to three minutes, no pending litigation or items on the non-consent at this time.

mayor folks here today those watching online i'm lynn moorer we're concerned that the city's compliance with the federal lead and copper rule does not include doing the best for las cruces or making sure public health is safeguarded rather it appears the utilities department is trying to get by doing the least amount possible compared to other cities the department is inadequate The chief problem is the department's approach to finding lead pipes. Their just check the meter box technique is deficient. I've not found any other city that relies solely on this technique like Las Cruces does, probably because it's clearly not sufficient to the task. It's not capable of finding lead lined piping or lead piping farther up the line. It appears Las Cruces Utilities has not done basic research on the various inspection methods available, perhaps an intentional choice to embrace ignorance. Handout one, a 2023 study developed for EPA by California State University describes 12 lead service line investigation methods that can be used, noting eight that are EPA approved. These are visual inspection, external CCTV inspection, internal CCTV inspection, mechanical excavation, vacuum excavation, flushed sampling, targeted service line sampling, and sequential sampling. These eight methods are in line with the method six licensed plumbers in Las Cruces I consulted recommended. None of the six considered mere visual inspection of the meter box adequate. Amarillo, Houston, Tucson, Denver, Chandler, Arizona, San Antonio, and Beaumont, Texas use potholing, a form of mechanical excavation. El Paso, Tulsa, Chandler, and Midland, Texas use larger mechanical excavation. Tucson and Denver use water tests. Midland uses ground-penetrating radar. San Antonio uses above-ground scanning. I recently checked the lead and copper website for Lincoln, Nebraska, where I'm from. Lincoln, like Las Cruces, is a university town which historically has had a championship football team. It's a little larger than Las Cruces, but is not particularly wealthy. It has a sizable Hispanic population and a sizable Southeast Asian population. The city of Lincoln provides one free water quality test kit per year, replaces any lead service line at no cost, and provides a free two year warranty on any new service line. In contrast, Las Cruces does no water testing for those who request it, provides no warranties on new service lines, and it's not clear that it will actually cover the cost of lead or galvanized line replacement for everyone who needs it because it's left half the city off the map. In defense of her decision to have the city only visually inspect the meter box, the utilities director said that the state knows about it. Even if this is true, it doesn't mean it approves of it. Plus, the state's opinion on the matter is largely irrelevant because it doesn't have primacy for enforcement. It's EPA that has enforcement authority, not the state. Thank you for this opportunity to speak.

Mayor, City Council, I'm Liz Rodriguez-Johnson. It's a fundamental of good government that citizens are able to know and understand what their tax dollars are being spent on and why. We expect full and complete answers to each of the questions we've posed over the past 18 months regarding the city's implementation of lead and copper rule. On December 15, 2025, we provided you handout A, which listed 41 questions and five requests that we asked to be addressed. To date, none of these questions or requests have been addressed. We reiterate these questions and requests and supplement them with more that have arisen since. Seeing you, handout A. IT'S CLEAR THAT THE UTILITIES DIRECTOR TIGHTLY CONTROLS DEPARTMENT MESSAGING. SHE PUBLICLY SHUT DOWN FORMER ASSISTANT UTILITIES DIRECTOR CARL CLARK WHEN HE BEGAN TO RESPOND TO QUESTIONS AT A UTILITIES BOARD MEETING IN FEBRUARY. AT A TOWN HALL IN MARCH 25 SHE CONTROLLED THE MICROPHONE AND DECIDED WHICH QUESTIONS WERE RESPONDED TO AND WHICH WERE IGNORED. NO DOUBT IT'S HER DECISION TO NOT ANSWER ANY OF THE QUESTIONS CITIZENS HAVE POSED DURING THE PAST 18 MONTHS. There are three chief reasons why citizens' questions are not answered by public employees regarding matters of public concern. They can't find the answer, they can't be bothered to come up with an answer, or the answer will cast the agency in a negative light. We suspect the latter applies here. Whatever the reason, we again request complete and responsive answers to our questions and that all our requests for specific action be addressed. A new question is why has Las Cruces Utilities decreased its inspections to almost zero if our responses show no inspections whatsoever of water pipes the first three weeks of April? This contrasts to an average of 36 inspections for each of the first weeks of November 25 through March 26. In light of the promises made to obtain $15 million in funding from the state, this looks like another instance of the Utilities Department failing to comply with its agreement with the state. Here are three more questions. How much of the $15 million grant has Las Cruces Utilities spent and on what specifically? What does the Utilities Department use as an inspection technique that looks exclusively at the meter box? A technique which is incapable of finding lead lining piping or lead or galvanized piping further up the line, both of which EPA says must be accounted for. Why did Las Cruces Utilities not provide any notice to eight properties the city discovered had galvanized piping, even though the EPA requires it? This includes failure to notify Fair Acres Elementary School, an elementary school, ladies and gentlemen, an elementary school that has galvanized piping. A very serious matter. Thank you.

Mayor, I just, Mayor, if I may? Yes, go ahead. I just wanna note that the comment about the elementary school has been absolutely, it's really bad misinformation for us to just let it hang out in the chambers like that. I don't think it's appropriate that we allow that to continue.

Again, it's public participation, it's a freedom of speech, whether the facts are correct or incorrect. I know that the lead in pipe continues to come up and I know our city manager's office and the utility director have reached out to schedule some meetings and they're not accepted. And this continues and continues, but again, it is public participation and they do have the freedom of speech. Next.

Good afternoon, Mayor, city councilors. My name is Marissa DeWolf and I live in District 4. And I'm here today with a group of trusted community experts who are committed to partnering with youth around decisions that affect them. We're here as community advocates and we are community advocates who collaborate with young people and we're here today as a coordinated group. We truly believe that supporting young people is a shared responsibility and we represent ourselves today. Collectively we bring decades of experience serving youth and families. We know that relationships are key and our intentions are to work together for better cross-sector collaboration. And we want to share partnerships to make good decisions with and for our young people. When I was a young person in the 90s, I remember thinking that there were adults out there who knew what was going on and had solid solutions that would continually make everyone's life better. Now that just about everyone in the room has reached adulthood, I think we can all agree that knowing what's really going on requires many, many points of view, and the points of view available to us are shrinking. And the solutions can sometimes be very hard to reach, even when we're in positions of decision-making or leadership. Life is complex, and the lives of our youth are undeniably complex and undeniably different from the lives of our youth. And this is why we believe that we need to work with youth as partners and also the reason why we do so in our work. You'll hear from more of us today about our ideas and visions for how to engage with and work with and be in community with young people. We are not separate communities after all here in Las Cruces. We're a community of people of all ages and many, many viewpoints. We intend that this will be an ongoing communication, and that as youth initiatives in the city come to action, you keep in mind those of us who have been partnering with youth for many years. Thank you.

Okay, good afternoon, mayor, council. My name is Lindley Hornsby, pronouns she, her. I'm a social worker and community organizer, honored to speak today, speak to you all today in solidarity with other local youth advocates. Bedrock to our commitment to advocating for youth is a shared vision for Las Cruces. We envision a Las Cruces that invests in young people. In my three minutes today, I'd like to invite us to dream together. What could a city that invests in young people look like? A few ideas. It could look like a city that has accessible free recreation in every neighborhood, a city with safe and supported third spaces, which are spaces outside of school and home for youth to exist and grow and explore in. It could look like a city with a transportation system that is responsive to youth, with transportation options that meet the needs of all young people across the socioeconomic spectrum, across the geographic distribution of our community, and is inclusive of all levels of ability. It could look like a city that values the time, talent, and dedication of young people such that it offers dignified and paid professional experiences for young people to gain the skills needed to sustain our workforce and serve our community. We already have some of those, right, and continuing to support those. Not just one-off paid summer internships, but a nurtured network of economic opportunity that's intentionally sustained for young people. It could look like a city that supports young people both in crisis and young people in recovery. a city that celebrates what young people have to offer and take seriously the shared responsibility of creating an environment that's safe for young people to learn in. We believe this vision is possible to obtain, and we're honest that achieving these aspirations is gonna be a struggle, but this is a plight we can no longer ignore and address with false solutions. Where am I? Sorry, okay, youth are asking for real solutions to be crafted in collaboration with young people themselves. So how do we get there? Authentic collaboration and trust is a start towards achieving positive youth outcomes, and we can begin that process by holding space to listen to youth, and have difficult conversations and even experience the discomfort that arises when we recognize that young people have long not have a voice in the systems and policies that affect them. And so inviting us to move forward together and be brave to look at where we're at and achieve progress for young people in our community together. Until next time, thank you.

Good afternoon, Mayor, counselors. My name is Summer Mitchell and I'm a resident of District 4. I've grown up in Las Cruces and I've raised children of my own here. I've also been working in the nonprofit sector for about the past decade. I currently work for the Community Action Agency of Southern New Mexico and I'm engaging in ethical storytelling and counter-narrative work. I'm here today with friends and colleagues who are personally and professionally committed to improving the experiences for youth. And I'm here today to encourage all of us to examine the stories we're telling ourselves and we're telling others about our young people. Too often youth are discussed primarily as issues to be managed, controlled, or fixed. When that happens, we stop seeing youth as people who are navigating challenges just like you and I. When we start from a place of what is wrong with you, we forget that we can't see the pain, heartbreak, and pressure to perform. We reduce them to a mistake or we make assumptions about their character and their potential based on the actions of others. And what's really been resonating with me lately is that this dynamic is not unique to our youth. Many people in our community also view law enforcement through a single story. Assuming the worst intentions, seeing officers as a problem, instead of seeing the human behind the uniform navigating complex systems and pressure to perform. I don't believe either of these stories serves our community. Young people are not inherent criminals, just as police officers are not inherent villains. And when we reduce any group to a stereotype, we create distance. And distance makes partnership impossible. What we see in our work is that relationships and not control are what drive change. If we want safer neighborhoods and better outcomes, we have to start from a different place. And that's why we're here today, to start a dialogue, build relationships, and hopefully, eventually, a shared responsibility across community and systems and institutions. Did you know that students who are connected to real opportunities like career pathways and meaningful internships and jobs graduate at rates above 95%? So I don't have to tell anyone here that that's much lower than even the national average. And that's not because they're punished into success. That's because they're engaged and supported. It's because they can now see an opportunity that was not visible to them before. So when young people struggle, the question is not, I'm sorry, the question is not how do we respond, the question is what assets do they already hold and are we willing to invest in prevention, relationships, and opportunity before there's a problem to fix? Thank you for your service, your time, and your willingness to engage with the community, and I look forward to furthering this discussion.

Ms. Sommer, please, if you could leave your information with our clerk, because there's already some meetings going on with the youth and the stakeholders. You can either reach out to either Counselor Bill Matisse, he's the one that has spearheaded this, working with the public schools, working with other stakeholders. For our youth in our community. So there's some meetings already going on We'd love to have you there at those meetings giving giving your input as well I think it's very important and I appreciate you being here Thank You mayor counselors, and I look forward to reaching out to you.

Mr. Matisse. Thank you

Hello Mayor Enriquez, City Council and staff, community of Las Cruces, my name is Liz Bennett. As my colleagues have mentioned, we are here today to remind all of us that the care, upbringing, and thriving of the young people in our community is a collective responsibility. Youth and young adults are just as much an integral part of our town as are the parents, teachers, first responders, service workers, and retirees. And it is up to us to create an environment the environment required for all young people to grow into kind, caring, and capable adults. We are here because we want to be in a serious and committed dialogue about how best to cultivate those conditions. We appreciate the ongoing efforts of the city to consider and act on principles of youth engagement. The Parks and Recreations Department has been a vital point of access to positive connection and pastimes for youth across the city, However, I think we can all admit there is much more work to be done to rise to the occasion of meeting the needs and fueling the dreams of young people. The Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey demonstrates that relationships with supportive adults, positive relationships with peers, self-confidence and hope for the future are all protective factors against mental health concerns, violence, absenteeism and substance use. In 2024, the top three needs reported by young people serving time in New Mexico juvenile justice facilities were family relationships, emotional stability, and education. These are all elements that can be intentionally cultivated in community spaces. Research demonstrates that programs with the greatest impact on youth well-being and well-becoming focus on several core components, including cultivating creative restoration, fostering generative connections, highlighting meaningful pathways, promoting cultural visibility and emphasizing equity. Research also supports the fact that summer youth employment programs for at-risk youth reduce violent crime throughout the year. Furthermore, well-run restorative justice programs have been shown to lower rates of reoffending by one-third, and diversion programs that foster connection and skill building result in far better outcomes overall. On the contrary, pretrial detention has been shown to increase the likelihood of reoffending by 1% per day spent in detention. While we know that attending school and participating in community programming are great prevention and promotion strategies, we also have to invest in the transportation infrastructure that allows young people to access these spaces, and we have to invest in the people responsible for creating and maintaining these spaces. This is a matter of choice as how we spend our collective resources and a matter of clear eyed conscious decision making about the future we want to grow together. We hope you all will join us in our effort to create a sense of belonging and hope for youth in Las Cruces.

Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council. My name is Deandra Rodriguez. I first and foremost want to name and validate that this is my first public comment. I'm a lifelong resident of New Mexico. I currently live in District 5. I'm a lived experience expert, community youth advocate, and most importantly, a former unseen and unheard young person. I have the privilege of working alongside young people in our community. I intentionally say alongside because I believe youth are not simply participants in programs. They are partners, leaders, experts, and change makers. I'm honored to stand in solidarity with some of my current youth partners. They couldn't unfortunately make it here in person, but they're watching and rooting for me online as I speak today. and also offered me supportive, encouraging messages and I can only hope that one day that they will be standing in my shoes right now as my heart's beating in my chest and I'm making my first public comment. Shared power means I'm sorry, too often, adults make decisions for young people without creating meaningful opportunities for youth to influence those decisions. In my work, I strive to shift that dynamic by sharing power, creating space for authentic youth voice, and recognizing that lived experience is expertise. Shared power means more than asking youth for their opinions. It means inviting them into decision-making processes, compensating them for their time and expertise, trusting them with leadership responsibilities, and ensuring they have real influence over the outcomes that affect their lives. When we create environments where young people feel valued, heard, and respected, we see incredible things happen. Youth bring innovative ideas challenge assumptions, identify gaps that adults may overlook, and help create solutions that are more responsive to the needs of their peers and communities. Through youth leadership development, civic engagement, and community planning efforts, I have witnessed firsthand the impact of partnership. I've seen young people grow in confidence, develop leadership skills, advocate for issues they care about, and recognize the power they have to create change. But perhaps even more importantly, I have seen systems become stronger when youth are at the table. Programs improve, policies become more responsive, communities become more inclusive, everyone benefits when young people are treated as partners rather than recipients. As we continue to address challenges facing our community, I encourage us all to ask a simple question. Are we listening to our youth? Are we creating opportunities for youth to participate? Are we creating opportunities for youth to lead? The difference matters. When we move beyond tokenism and commit to authentic partnership, we are not just investing in future leaders, we are recognizing the leaders who already exist among us today. Thank each of you for all that you do.

Hello, my name is Sierra Edmister. I just wanna take a little bit of time to highlight Lynn and Liz's work. Coming up here for 18 months is, you know, asking the same questions is wild. I learned about it, about their cause by coming up here and hearing their questions and their pleas for the past handful of months. And I would just like to say that the best way to combat misinformation is to answer your concerned neighbor's questions. 41 questions is a lot of questions, and I'm sure the matter on the elementary school could probably be solved through that. And I'm sure an email is probably just as fine as rather than expecting them to do the meetings and stuff. Anyways. I like that I'm following the people before me because I'm here to complain again about the four million that was given to the police out of the GRT. I think it's disingenuous to frame the expenditure as public safety in the way that the community understands it. When we allocate so much of an improvement fund to buying police vehicles, we are prioritizing the infrastructure of enforcement over the infrastructure of the community. This decision comes at the same time as the city council reports significant budget cuts. That meeting was really depressing for you guys. I know you stated it and for me as well as a community member to hear. about the library and different programs being cut. I'm a musician, I'm an artist, and one of my jobs was at the museum, and hearing about a program that is a job for me being cut sucks. And so you have so many experts, and I'm glad that there's conversations, as you stated earlier, on the youth and their well-being. But again, putting precious funds towards something, you know, the police have so many, so many places that they can get money from, and it just was so disappointing to hear how hard it was even to just get $1 million shaved off of that. And yeah, then to have these experts come up and talk about like real solutions and their willingness to work together and Chief Story has his head just like burrowed onto his knuckles doing whatever he's doing on his computer, it's just really infuriating. Yeah, it is just decades of sociological research and statistical data have proven that defunding communities is what creates unsafe environments and when you give precious, precious dollars that could be used to benefit the youth's lives and our lives to police cars. It just feels, it feels really horrible as a community member that cares about the future of this community. Thank you for listening.

Mayor, Council, Juan Garcia, when a citizen stands up here to complain about crime at a park or drugs near their home, you nod, thank them, and move on. Maybe you file the store somewhere or forget by dinner time. But the problems don't go away because you decide not to deal with them. We have a colleague, a proud leader of the quote, Las Cruces, we hate the police organization, who wants money moved out of public safety and into parks and the library. In theory, It sounds great. In reality, it's a fantasy until you address one of the biggest drivers of crime in Las Cruces. A few weeks ago, a city director stood right here before you and made it clear that she will not let her staff work without security present. And I quote, we can't afford the security we need. And I refuse to let my staff work at the Branigan Library unless security is present during open hours. The incidents we're seeing there are just too intense. Our patrons and our staff deserve to feel safe. End of quote. This is one of your directors. The intense incidents she's talking about aren't harmless. They're serious enough that her staff doesn't feel safe doing their jobs. Did anyone on this council stop to ask what's really going on? No. Did anyone demand specifics, or did you just let that slide into the background noise? You did. The people causing trouble at the library were not teenagers tagging walls. They're mostly homeless individuals, some with clear ties to criminal activity. That's not speculation. Listen to your staff. Albuquerque figured this out and passed a campaign ordinance. We floated the idea of a campaign ordinance here too. are you willing to act or just pretend the problem doesn't exist even though it's in front of you the solution isn't complicated with the ordinance designate a safe area for homeless camping set up dumpsters and water tanks those who want to sleep outdoors it's fine just not in every park library or the downtown plaza you'll cut down on garbage crime and constant complaints from citizens that feel that you have abandoned them And for those who can't follow the rules, offer them a one-way ticket to wherever they want. I know, I'm going to hear it. You're criminalizing homelessness. No, I'm not. What I'm asking for is for you to do your job and take care of your community. Why aren't you showing the same concern for the people who live and work in this city? You have the power to make real change, show courage, and stop ignoring the obvious. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Council, Chief Story, clerks. I'm really nervous today. I'm gonna ask for an extra minute if that's possible.

No, ma'am, if you can get it within three minutes, but please state your name for the record.

Okay, my name is Patty Hartman. I'm speaking about something that's very personal to me. It may sound general. I too am a lived experience expert in mental health. Suicide survivor. Had issues with police abuse and deal with trauma from that. I have so much to say, but I can't really say it because things that are closest to home for me are so personal and so important that to have three minutes is really an insult when that's all I get from anyone in power. The main thing that I'm concerned about is accountability and transparency. We have a two class system in Las Cruces, those in power and those who are powerless. I very much appreciate those who I think spoke for the youth. Unfortunately, I don't think I heard any youth actually speak, but they spoke to my values, which is inclusion. I too am concerned about youth and the way that they're portrayed because, and no offense to Chief Story, I think you're awesome because of all the outreach you do, but at the same time, when we only hear from the voices of those who are in power, that means you get to frame the narrative. And that leaves, as some of these people have spoken, many perspectives out. I mentioned suicide because that should be something I am involved in because when you have lived experience, you are much more effective in working with others. But I've been pretty much dismissed, excluded, because a lot of the things that are going on here i don't agree with uh... i'm really kind of tired of our mickey mouse approaches to things what we just have from n m uh... uh... uh... uh... the open government association out once again we have council not following open meetings act uh... it there's just so much that i can't I can't go into detail but I have so much pain in me and we need to change. I would love to work with our youth groups. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Connie Chapman and I'm just here to give you a simple reminder to put in place the repeal of the subject excuse me, the Secret Public Safety Committee on your agenda as soon as possible. We're here to spend two weeks, and I'm sure these things take some time of organization, but in another two weeks, or it'll be three weeks because we have an extra Monday this month, I would expect to see it on the agenda for the vote to repeal that. Thank you.

Derek Pacheco for the record, and I would like everyone's undivided attention. Please, no cell phones or looking down. I don't want my time wasted just like you don't want yours. I say this with love, but this isn't working. I've said it once, I'll say it again. Three minutes to engage with you is not working. 18 months engaging with you over a single important, one would argue the most important subjects, water, is unexcusable. Because of these neighbors, I followed up and I went to utilities and had my water line inspected. Exactly what these ladies have told you all is exactly what I experienced. Negligence, incomplete inspection, making me feel dumb and worthless that I was even bringing it up. Most of the water lines and water meters have been moved or changed or both, especially in the old neighborhood. That's just the way that these things have worked. That leaves patches of different line material that we've had to fix over generations just littered across the property. When asked how many millions of dollars are in this fund to fix the water lines, the person on the phone in utility says, I can't tell you that. You have to come in and I'll tell you to you in person. That's funny because I try to engage with my city counselors and they say, sorry, you can't come in and engage with me. You're going to have to talk to me on the phone. So there's no congruence here. There's no It's wacky, it's just wacky, unfortunately. I haven't heard anything back about my request for a moratorium on data centers. Absolute silence. I don't want to see a data center go up on the mesa at the industrial complex because that's who you're courting right now. We see what mess the county has left us in because of this. We just don't have the resources and this is not what we want as a community. And we don't want flock AI cameras all over the city following us to church, to work, to city government. We're done with this. This is an AI surveillance tech behemoth that's been put on us. Small towns first, big towns later. But these corporate giants are lying. It's all over the news. from these tech oligarchs being accused of raping their own sister to Meta being challenged in court and sued by the state for ruining our kids. This is your city.

Hi, my name is Kent Thurston. I don't come with as much passion, but I just wanted to update you guys on park impact fees. Just kind of the change that happened since the acceptance of the, I can't even think of the plan, what it's called now. Realize Las Cruces. So I want to just point out something that just happened. So in summer estates, we just got that approved. It was 28 lots. And there's two things here is the park fee in the park impact fee in lieu. No. Yeah. It's the fee in lieu is $100,000 just for that one for 28 lots. Because of the new park impact fee per house, that's $5,671 because the houses in that one will be a little bit larger. When we total it all up, we were trying to figure out, okay, how much are we going to be paying to the park impact fees per house in that subdivision? And we are now going to be spending $9,256.75 per house in this one we used to only pay twenty six hundred dollars per house uh... but now because of we have to as the builder as the developer you have to put park in and also you have to pay a park impact fee as the builder in this case we will be both in many of the times so it's a two hundred fifty six point eight percent increase in uh... park impact fees uh... just wanted to bring that up as a source of we're trying to some affordable housing and in this case it's not affordable housing but the park impact these still also affect affordable housing side uh... the other thing i just wanted to bring up is because of fees and because of differences in building between the county and between the uh... city there's at a minimum right now a fifteen thousand dollar difference so i can build the same house as long as i go in the county i can build the same house now for fifteen thousand dollars cheaper on them on the low side because of the taxes situation because of fees and because of other things like that so we are now as builders starting to look outside of the city that is not something that has been a plan in the in the realize us cruises because we're trying to work trying to prevent the urban sprawl that we call because we don't like that because it increases all the infrastructure the cost and maintenance of all that stuff but the codes that have been put in place and the differences for people to buy a home is now better for us to build in the county so we're pursuing trying to build in counties more than the city currently because of fees and because of other things like that. And I just thought I would bring that up just as a reality of what's happening. Thanks.

Good afternoon, my name is Jack Eckman, Mr. Mayor and Councilors. I live in District 4. I propose a common sense update to how to handle citizen participation in these chambers. Right now, every citizen gets exactly three minutes to speak, regardless of whether the meeting lasts one hour or five hours. A rigid three-minute stopwatch makes sense when the room is packed, but it actively harms local governance when we have a light agenda and complex problems to solve. I am asking this council to amend its operating rules to allow the city clerk's office the discretion to extend the public comment limit past three minutes under a clear merit-based framework. Specifically, this extension should be granted when a meeting's agenda is projected to run under three hours and when a resident is presenting on highly complex issues. This includes individuals bringing forth professional expertise in financial or technical matters or those presenting concrete policy recommendations to raise city revenue or lower our local taxes. If a resident has spent hours analyzing the city budget or has a professional background that can help this council save taxpayer dollars, forcing them to rush through an arbitrary three-minute clock deprives the city of valuable expertise. By letting the city clerk manage an expert or topic-based time extension when the agenda is light, we can transform public comment from a rushed formality into a powerful data-driven resource for our city. I look forward to discussing how we can bring this rule change forward. And since I have a few extra minutes, congratulations on being the 13th best-run city in the United States for 2026. Provo, Utah came in number one, San Francisco absolutely last. Go number 13.

My name is Fred Huff. At the last city council meeting, a gentleman talked about the homeless hanging out in a city park next to his house. In his talk, he mentioned the fires these people had set in the park. I also see constant posts on social media about other citizens fearing for their safety in city parks because of the homeless hanging out there all day and leaving their drug paraphernalia laying on the ground. As you well know, I live next to the Burn Lake City Park and have been addressing these same issues for several years since the lake dried up in 2008 and the city abandoned the lake bed area. City crews finally rediscovered the abandoned, unmaintained lake bed area last month and did a phenomenal job of cleaning it up and it should no longer be a magnet for these illegal encampments. But now these vagrants are hanging out 24-7 in the three big shelters on the south end of the soccer fields here in Burn Lake City Park. I talked to the park rangers about this and they said there was nothing they could do if they do not set up a tent. I asked about the park and recreation rules concerning park usage and they said they were unenforced. Here's just a few lines from the city of Las Cruces, Munich codes. It's in chapter 20, Parks and Recreation, article two, rules for use of parks. Section 20-29, permit for reservation of facilities. A, required, anybody desiring to reserve a park portion thereof or a park facility for exclusive use must obtain a permit. from the Parks and Recreation Department. Application, a person wishing a permit shall submit a completed permit application from the Parks and Recreation Department. And it's kind of interesting because in the Munich codes it doesn't really go into the details on those, but if you go down the rabbit hole and find the Parks and Recreation, you can now find the permit fees. And a permitted exclusive use of the park area or a section is $50 per area per section per four hours. So a 24 hour day at 50, that's six times 50, about $300 a day is what these people should be paying for the use of these parks 24 seven. But if they want exclusive use of an entire park or area, they can do a flat fee if they work that out, and that's out there on the Parks and Rec. So, thanks.

Tim Jenkins here. It seems we find ourselves caught in a perpetuating cycle with no resolve or end in sight, despite millions and millions of dollars being spent to combat the issue of our unhoused population. Right now, where we stand is that nationwide, New Mexico is number one in the nation for the most sought out of any state by the homeless because of the New Mexico's free incentives and handouts to the homeless. The policies in place are driving this problem through the roof in our state right now. The system is broken and needs to be overhauled. The steps we are taking are not resolving anything, but rather making it worse and worse. And it only makes it more apparent and more frustrating that certain members on the dais suggest that we are the problem, and suggest that we are living in a utopia bubble where we get everything we want. From my side of the aisle, it's very clear to see that our officers and their resources are being stretched to their limits in every effort to combat this issue with no resolve in sight. I've witnessed time and time again in these last few months that we clean up entire encampments only to see them return a few weeks later. And not only return, but return bigger and larger than before. I want to make something crystal clear here. This is not about a lack of compassion. Many of us care deeply about the people who are on the streets struggling. But compassion also means being honest about what is happening and addressing the root cause of this problem that is plaguing our community day in and day out. Every day we witness stolen property, stolen bicycles, and items in these encampments that came from all over our city. It feels like we take one step forward and five steps backwards. The biggest issue that seems to be ignored time and time again is the mental health crisis in our very own community. This issue can never be resolved by housing alone or by simply moving these people from one location to another. And it will never be resolved by repeatedly cleaning up the same areas over and over again. The homeless issue in our community is being incentivized by the policies in place right now. I ask that you all please turn your focus to address the actual root cause of this issue and work on getting a public camping ordinance in place as Albuquerque did to give our officers the tools they need to combat this crisis. It's not fair to these individuals to continue to be held in shackles out on the streets with the state rakes in millions and millions of dollars to combat this crisis with no end ever in sight thank you very much good afternoon my name is jim hurst whoever's moderating go ahead thank you becky um

Since everybody else is griping, I'll give you my gripe for today. When the skate park was closed, I was young and handsome. Look at me now. If that's not a crisis, I don't know what is. No, our county or our city counselors are not responsible for the homelessness in this community. Homelessness is a national problem. We have a national housing shortage. We have a national shortage of mental health workers. We have a drug problem. So we have drug problems, housing problems, and just people problems. It's 310, or excuse me, 330 million of us. Some of us just don't fit in. That's the reality of the situation, and our society is getting harder and harder to fit in with. So populations mean some people are gonna be left out. Those left out end up on the street. They are society's problem, not Las Cruces' problem. We should be getting states for the feds, or we should be getting help from the feds. We should be getting help from the state. Homeless people migrate here because of our climate. They will always migrate here because of our climate. Anyway, I just want to thank you all. I know you're doing the best you can. Take care.

Thank you. That's the end of public comment. I would entertain a motion to approve the agenda.

Move to approve.

Second.

Any discussion?

Seeing none. This is on the motion to approve the agenda as presented. Councillor McClure? Yes. Councillor Matisse?

Yes.

Councillor Harris? Yes. Councillor Bencomo?

Yes.

Councillor Curran? Yes. Councillor Munoz is absent and Mayor.

Yes.

First on the agenda is item 7.1, resolution number 26-153.

Move to approve.

Second.

Okay, Diane.

Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council, staff. My name is Diane Bustillos. I'm with the City's Economic Development. My name is Diane Bustillos. I'm with the City's Economic Development Department. And I bring before you a resolution to purchase a 9.914 acre tract of land east of the East Mesa Sports Complex. And it is currently owned by Job Materials right now. A portion of the property was previously used as a gravel pit. I told you where it was located, sorry. Here's a vicinity map. The property is outlined in red. The East Mesa Sports Complex is labeled there. And what you see in green is a leased area. It's approximately 350 acres of land that we lease from BLM. So you can see where it's located. The city ordered two appraisals. The first appraisal came in at $217,000. The second appraisal came in at 357,500. The parties met in the middle and negotiated the price at 287,250. The parties will split the closing costs. Some of the benefits in purchasing this property would be to expand and enhance the East Mesa Sports Complex. It would support long-term recreation and community development goals and support growth in sports, tourism, and community recreation. Some potential uses would be trails, pickleball courts, multi-use fields, or an urban fishing pond, and additional parking to support regional tournament events and or alternate access to improve traffic flow. With that, these are your standard council options. I stand for any questions. We do have somebody here from Drogue Materials if you have any questions, and of course we have somebody here from Parks and Rec.

Any questions? Councilor Matisse?

I was wondering, can anybody explain why the difference between, you knew you were going to get this question, right? Of course. The appraisals, I think it's like 140,000. Was there a time frame involved or?

Mayor, Councilor Matisse, there was a timeframe, but it wasn't by, maybe by five, six months. An appraisal is an opinion. It's an opinion based on the appraiser. So sometimes they can vary 100,000, 500,000. I've seen them vary 200,000. It's just based on the appraiser's opinion. So the parties met in the middle to have a negotiated price.

Okay, thank you.

You're welcome. Anyone else?

Christine? This is on the motion to approve resolution 26-153. Councillor McClure? Yes. Councillor Matisse? Yes. Councillor Harris? Yes. Councillor Bencomo? Yes. Councillor Curran? Yes. Councillor Munoz is absent, and Mayor?

Yes. Next is item 7.2, Council Bill number 26-0118, ordinance number 3110. Move to approve. Second.

Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council, and staff. I'm Adolfo Cardenas with Treasury. The ordinance before you is to authorize the issuance and sale of the Las Cruces, New Mexico gross receipt tax improvement revenue bonds. The issue amount cannot exceed 22.15 million with a maturity date not to exceed 20 years. The pledge revenue sources will be the first lien 0.325% of the municipal gross receipt tax and a subordinate lien of 0.5% of the municipal gross receipt tax. The proceeds will be used for construction, equipping, making additions, or improvements to public facilities. For construction, maintaining, or otherwise improving streets or roadways. To acquire and to equip public safety vehicles. and for capital improvements and maintenance for public safety, streets, parks, and critical infrastructure. So the amount of these bonds can exceed 22.15 million. The goal is to get 20 million just for the projects. So we're hoping that we get enough above the 20 million to cover the cost of that. So we're hoping to get 20 million and per the feedback that we received from council in the council meeting from April 6th, 2026, the projects will be 60% for maintenance for current projects and the 60% is about 12 million and It will be used like this 5 million for fire station improvements 4 million for street maintenance and traffic helmet 2.4 million for public safety fleet upkeep and 600,000 for facility maintenance and ADA compliance The 40% which is eight million, will be one million for joint public safety training facility, two million for the recreation center design and construction, two million for library improvements and renovations, two million for funding gaps of current CIP projects, and one million for the Anglia Road extension. Due to a recent conversation with NMFA, this ordinance needs to be changed. The section that needs to be changed is 17E and section 20A3. If you look at the ordinance, you can find those sections on page 40. On page 40, you'll find section 17E. And then on page 49, you'll find section 28.3. What it's doing is, if you look at section 17E, where it says no deposit shall be required in the reserve fund so long as the pledged revenues in each fiscal year equal or exceed on the original ordinance, it says 150%. It needs to be added to say 200%. of the maximum annual principal and interest coming due in any subsequent year, fiscal year. What that means is, let's say we have our debt service schedule, and let's say the payments are 200,000, 300,000, and 500,000. So what we're gonna do, we're gonna pick the highest amount, which is 500,000, And with the original requirement, it was only 150%. So what we did, as long as that pledge revenue met that requirement, so we multiply 500,000 times 150%, that pledge revenue needed to be 750,000. Now with the new requirement, it has to be 200%. So what we need to do, the pledge revenue now, with that example, it needs to be $1 million. Again, this is due to a recent conversation with NMFA. It's NMFA policy. Now they require that. And it's not only affecting the city of Las Cruces, it's affecting everybody. based on their recent projections on pledge revenue on uh... revenues we we work that we need that requirement unit we meet that new requirement which is two hundred percent and they suffer thank you little any questions on the twenty two million discussion first companies

Thank you. I have received a readout, some facts from the county city manager. And one of the lines say net effective interest rate not to exceed 12%. What is the interest rate?

It can vary based on the last one. It cannot exceed 12%, and if I'm not mistaken, based on the last one, it was between 3% and 5%. Again, for this one, I do not know, but I have our financial advisor. I don't know if he wants to give some feedback on that.

Good afternoon, mayors and councillors. So based upon current interest rates- Sir, could you state your name? Yes, sorry, excuse me. Eric Harrigan with RBC Capital Markets. We're the city's municipal advisor. So based upon interest rates as of today, the rate would be 3.2%. That is subject to fluctuation. given the amount of the borrowing this requires a simultaneous financing with the New Mexico Finance Authority the New Mexico Finance Authority goes into the market they sell their bonds those rates get directly passed on to the city of Las Cruces that sale is expected to occur on August 27th and at that point in time we will have locked in the interest rates and those interest rates will be locked in for the life of the borrowing

Okay, so basically in August when they go to market, that will determine the rate. It could be, do you have any idea what, do you have any future ?

Very, very challenging to tell. Obviously with the news over the weekend about a potential truce, peace deal between the United States and Iran, that can have a significant impact on where inflation goes and what happens with rates. The new Federal Reserve Chair is meeting this week and will obviously have the first sort of announcement of what the Federal Reserve does with interest rates. The anticipation is that rates will be held steady, but what investors will be really looking for is what's the commentary associated with after the meeting, whether they anticipate rates to be cut later this year, increase later this year, remain the same. So there's a lot of variables that will go into it. I think probably last week we were probably looking at generally high

higher rates over the longer term that might have maybe stabilized a little bit but very challenging okay when you say along the term i noticed that this particular loan goes through like 2041 is that i can't remember the date i believe that is correct yes okay um so with that interest rate When it's decided in August, will that be changed on an annual basis? Could that come down or that will be for the entire term of the loan?

So that'll be for the entire, now each maturity within the loan will have its own interest rate. That 3.2% is the average of all of the maturities for that borrowing. Similar to like on a yield curve, you're gonna have slightly lower rates on the short end, you're gonna have higher rates on the long end. Just the same with your bonds. The bonds that are going to mature in 2027 are going to have a lower interest rate than the bonds that are going to mature in 2041. But on average, over the life of the borrowing, based upon today's interest rates, it would be 3.2%. Oh, okay.

Thank you.

Okay, any questions on the amendment, Councilor Benko? No. No, if you have a question on this? Yeah. Yeah, go ahead.

Hi, can you go to the previous page? Yes. Thank you. I didn't see any of these specific numbers in the actual language of the resolution. Is that not necessary? I just want to make sure that they're also locked in. I just could be missing them.

The mayor, Councilor Brincomo, are you referring to this split, the 40% and the 60%?

Like these specific numbers and their correlation to their projects. I didn't see them in the resolution, but did the city clerk want to?

Mayor Councilman Como, those numbers were actually in the application, which you guys already approved. Great. Yeah, so you're good.

Thank you, Christine. Thank you.

Any other questions as far as the amendment?

I move to amend section 17E and section 20A3 to align with what MFA's current expectations are that you mentioned earlier. 200% and a million dollars, what was it? Just the 200% and the respective parts. So thank you, take that last part off, please.

Second.

This is on the motion to amend ordinance 3110 to change section 17E and 20A3 to 200%. Councillor McClure. Yes. Councillor Matisse.

Yes.

Councillor Harris. Yes. Councillor Bencomo. Yes. Councillor Curran. Yes. Councillor Munoz is absent and Mayor.

Yes.

Go ahead.

So this is on the motion to approve ordinance 3110 as amended. Councillor McClure? Yes. Councillor Matisse?

Yes.

Councillor Harris? Yes. Councillor Bencomo? Yes. Councillor Curran? Yes. Councillor Munoz is absent, and Mayor?

Yes. Next is item 7.3, council bill number 26-023, ordinance number 3115.

Move to approve.

Second.

Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council and staff. Adolfo Cardenas for the record. The ordinance before you is for the authorization of the New Mexico Finance Authority grant loan agreement through the Water Project Fund administered by the Water Trust Board. The Water Project Fund administered through the Water Trust Board offers a variety of water projects based upon the financial capacity of the applicants. Resolution 25-26 authorizes the city to submit an application for financial assistance. The anticipated closing date for this loan will be July 24, 2026. The loan will be repaid from the net revenues of the joint utility system. The maximum repayable principal amount will be $196,933 with the maturity annulated in June 1st, 2048. This loan will be principal payment only with an administrative fee of 0.25%. The proceeds of this loan grant will be used to design, construct, and repair Las Alturas del Sol water storage tank and booster station, and shall include other related works and revisions necessary to complete the project. I've included some photos for you to view. And those are your council options, and I stand for question.

Thank you, Aldolfo. Any questions from council?

Sorry, I just want to clarify. This is super interesting to me. This is because I think where we get money, given our prior conversation, our immediate recent conversation, this is like the cheapest money we can possibly get to do work, no? And so I just think, I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about how we are eligible for this or where this money is coming from because it is, an extraordinary resource, and I would love to hear more. 0.25% is as cheap as money can possibly get without being free, so thank you for pointing that out, and if you could share just a little bit, that would be awesome.

Mayor, Councilor Caran, it is my understanding that Water Trust Board is a board that helps decide which projects should need funding. So it's a board, and they work together with NMFA to decide, and yes, it's, basically this is, It's principal payment only, it's just at 25%, which is right, it's just at .25%. I don't know if someone from utilities wants to add more on this.

Good afternoon, Mayor. Counselors, Dominique Rodriguez, Assistant Utilities Director. Yes, so when we are doing larger projects, we like to go out for Water Trust Board. It is an annual submission of applications. They do water conveyance, water storage. That has moved recently to include wastewater type projects that are also conveyance. And the majority of it is grant more than the loan. We have gone out for other funding because it comes from the state, like the drinking water state revolving fund is similar to this where it also has a .25% interest rate. So we are going out yearly for these to see what we are able to secure and then come back with.

It's awesome, thank you. Now that you're here, I'm gonna ask you a bunch more questions, sorry. One is, is that a competitive granting process? Or is it kind of like municipalities in New Mexico are pretty good to?

uh... mayor counselor karen it it is uh... for my inner sense in my competitive so it uh... it is other municipalities through the state i believe that it does sometime have colonia's right so it it's everything kind of water systems uh... that uh... provide water throughout the state that then goes to the water trust board and they then decide which ones which projects move forward which ones don't that our application process includes we do project scope reports where we show everything that is needed for it in hopes that that helps them make the decision to move our projects forward awesome thank you can i ask one other random question now that everyone's wanting it to get out here i know tell us a little bit about

how water towers as such, like this one, address our system reliability and why that's fundamentally important. I think, I don't know that folks realize, like I just thought, like my water coming out of my tap is coming from this sometimes and sometimes not, and it wasn't until you all educated us really intensely that I learned about our system pressurization and all of the things that are related to how we use these tanks and the systems around them to make our system work. Are you up for a tiny explainer? Please.

Mayor, Councilor Krantz, I'm going to try to answer this. Adrian is in the audience, so she will come and save me if I need to be saved. So our water system is, one, a loop system, and so we are connected in different ways. We have different zones. There are different wells located in different areas of our system. Some wells... pump water directly from groundwater into tanks and then that is then the tank holds the water and then it distributes to the different zones and that's important because we have different pressures because our system can start very low in the valley and then move up to the east mesa so because a well is geographically located right next to a tank doesn't always mean that that is where that water is going it depends on how our system is how it's piped and then where the water from that tank then gets distributed to our customers so it is um it is fun it's a great system i enjoy learning and going through all of it and so yes it's All of it to provide water to every customer, every meter everywhere in our system that we want to make sure it's reliable and capacity is always met.

Awesome. Thank you. I just wanted the chance for you to talk on about our water system. Thank you. So I appreciate you doing so. Thanks again. You're welcome.

Thank you.

Any other questions? Losing my voice. Before we take a vote, I just wanted to recognize Adolfo Cardenas as our new treasurer for the finance department. Congratulations to you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Okay.

This is on the motion to approve ordinance 3-1-1-5. Councillor McClure? Yes. Councillor Matisse? Yes. Councillor Harris? Yes. Councillor Bencomo? Yes. Councillor Curran? Yes. Councillor Munoz is absent and mayor.

Yes. Next is board appointments, and there are none. So next is notice of proposed ordinance. We have one. That's Council Bill Number 26-024, Ordinance Number 3116. Bring it forward. Next, we'll go to the City Council Member Board Reports and Comments. Councilman McClelland.

Thank you, Mayor. I think, I'm not sure if I have one or two things. We'll find out as we go. The first one is super handy given the light of public comment today. It may make my job actually a little bit easier, which I kind of like. Let me give you a little bit of background. So the juvenile justice continuum has been kind of seeing, you know, what can we do? What practical things can the board do? What can we do with the outreach of the different organizations that attend? And so we've been having some sort of Discovery meetings I would say figuring out if you know whether or not the city should do an RFP for the gun violence initiative if we should work with NMSU because an agency agency thing might be a little bit easier we've reached out to School of Social Work who had a really exciting offer for peer support programming that they're doing and it would be my request right now from the dais here, is to see whether or not we, much like what was said over and over by the gal who spoke for the first time, kudos to her, she did a really good job, and I always, when somebody says, man, I'm nervous, I get you, like that's absolutely how I feel most of the time doing this, but when people are brave enough to come share that information I just want to give them the respect of yes we're working on it and I would love to see this is my my request for officially for all my colleagues up here is that we have one evening work session possibly in September and I'll kind of clarify that here in a second at City Hall sorry mayor Pro Tem that's While I like the idea of having a traveling City Hall, I think it does make it way harder for staff. I would like to see this advertised very heavily. I would like to see youth families here tell us what they need, what they want to see, what we can support, what initiatives might be valuable for us to do here. So I guess that's the four things, evening meeting at City Hall, advertise heavily, in September, partially because I was kind of excited to see the, Las Cruces Police Department is asking for the youth intervention, I'm gonna get it wrong, prevention, intervention coordinator, and that person probably will have a huge role to play in this as well, but we want to invite all of these people who came to speak today, families, I would love to see this packed. with people who are really interested. We can throw some pizzas in. I know a budget's tight. I'll pitch in a couple of bucks for that myself. But I think if we can get that going, I know that one of the things when I was a younger mom, I would drag my kids to meetings like this. And that's how we build communities. We build spaces like that in the ways that we can. So I'd very much like to ask my fellow counselors to see if they would agree to a meeting like that um probably in september i think other counselors may have a couple of thoughts on that and i think i'll keep it at that for today thank you

Thank you, Council McClure. I'll just add that I've already talked to the clerk about having an evening meeting. We'll try it. Definitely wanted to wait after July for the fiscal period, but we can wait till September. I think that'll be good. Christine, we can shoot for an evening one and advertise it appropriately. So thank you. Council Matisse.

No, I thank you for that support, Mayor. I'd like to see some evening programs in September. If that's the earliest, that's fine. I'd like to have a kudos or a compliment to Parks and Rec. I don't think Steven's here. I think he left, but anyway, thank you for these laminated sheets on the city manager. I think they were on my desk. It gives the parks and recreational locations of District 2. And I guess there's one for each district. It's really helpful. I actually used it. Someone called me and wanted to know if we had a rec center, and they just moved in Las Cruces, so I just went down there and read them about the Franco Papen Community Center. I had the street and everything else, and they thought I was, wow, this guy's really on top of things. The other thing I'd like to share with the people, I got an article, and maybe the public doesn't know this, but I found out that the oil and gas industry provides 13.1 billion in state and local revenue. And over 1.9 billion of this funding goes directly to capital outlay projects. And we're going through all these capital outlay projects, so it's nice to know that the gas and natural gas and oil industry provide so much money. These local projects, by the way, if anybody's watching this, Council meeting, I hear we have about five or six people that watch it on the website. But it includes roads, playgrounds, public records, libraries, fire stations, health clinics, and more. So that was a nice piece of information. I just want to mention to Katrina, if you could do marketing, I don't know if you, have attract young people to, and is there an age limit on the leadership program, the Leadership Las Cruces, or is it any age? Can it be high school or young people can? Katrina, if you want to just give me an idea of how you recruit, because you got the biggest, I think, class ever. Someone mentioned that, I think it was Mandy Leatherwood mentioned, and congratulations on the gold, the silver, and the bronze awards. That's pretty exciting. So if you could just tell me how you recruit, and if you get a lot of young people joining that, or is it all adults?

Good afternoon, Mayor and City Councilors, Councilor Matisse. Normally for the Neighborhood Leadership Academy, it is adults, but we are not against taking maybe 14 to 18 year olds with a parent's permission. I think that would be okay. We do have another program, Developing Youth Leaders, where we have it during fall break, and we want to bring in high school students to, it's modeled against the Neighborhood Leadership Academy, but it's basically a week-long class where the students come in for Monday through Friday. And we're going to do that this fall in October.

Okay, thank you. You're welcome. Thanks for sharing that. Mayor, that's it.

Thank you. Councillor Harris.

Thank you, Mayor. So I have just a couple things. One, I want to remind everyone watching and listening that we're going to have, over the rest of the summer, lots of listening sessions, one in every district, for the strategic plan. I know we talked about it at the last work session, so I wanted to put out that reminder to keep an eye out for those dates and to please participate. make your voice heard. Another thing, speaking of strategic plan, I think we were talking a lot about economic development, and that was part of the report that we were presented last week, and so I just wanted to remind everyone and maybe make an ask that as we're looking at economic development opportunities, that we're trying to court industries that are productive and complimentary to our community and not strictly extractive and here to just take all the resources they can from us and then send it elsewhere. um and then finally i i'm also in favor of an act for hours work session i think that's well in the works um and uh september seems fine although katrina i think is going to try and plan a district 3 community meeting in september too so september might be getting full but that should be interesting to see thanks mayor thank you councillor bencomo

Thank you, Mayor. Yes, certainly agree on the September meeting. I think that's a great idea. And then I just think generally in regards to that youth conversation, obviously we've been talking a lot about this since the budget retreat. I'm really looking forward to hearing back from staff on how we plan out the $100,000 that was allocated for a gun violence intervention program. And I think with a lot of these things, I think it's important that we meet people where they are. I think it's important that we invite them here, especially not at one o'clock and especially in the evenings to hear from folks. And I think meaningful engagement means meeting people where they are. Back when I was doing community organizing, there's this principle that says, The further you are from the issue, the easier it is to philosophize about it. And I think for what it's worth, I think a lot of us on this dais are removed from the realities of young people involved in the justice system. And we should be absolutely engaging with the folks who are on the ground directly working with justice-involved youth. And I always hesitate to say at-risk youth because I think all youth are at risk of any particular thing, but for those that are already sort of involved in the justice system, I think it's important that we engage with folks like the experts that came here today to really allow us to, one, collaborate, work together, and be able to form programs that will actually work at improving the lives of young people in our community. Just want to say that and then yes mayor apologize for interrupting public comment I I absolutely know that that's public comment is for the public for three minutes to come here and say whatever they'd like Whatever they'd like is true, and I do think there's sometimes information that gets shared here that crosses a line. I think spreading lies about the health pipes at elementary school is dangerous and irresponsible, and it should get called out as that, whether it happens immediately or not. I guess that's up for debate. It is particularly irresponsible and dangerous to allow that kind of information to leave with people here and if they're not tuning in for it to be corrected later on in the meeting. And just for this particular conversation about Fair Acres, I had a direct conversation with Steve Rodriguez, the chief operations person at Las Cruces Public Schools, and he sent me an email, this was a while ago in April, that said, The most recent field investigation conducted on December 18th, 2025, including an inspection at the meter pit and documented the materials present on both the public water system and customer service lines. The findings confirm that no galvanized materials were identified on either the city service line or the customer service line. Okay, you don't wanna trust our very competent utilities team, this coming directly from the school. And I just wanna make sure, again, I don't know how we navigate that kind of thing, but it is just very dangerous information for people to leave here believing may be true. So just wanted to correct the record on that specific issue, thank you.

Thank You councillor current thank you first I wanted to thank Daniela and Kyle from public work Daniela from communications and Cal from Public Works for helping me out and addressing a question that a lot of residents have related to speed bumps, traffic calming, neighborhood traffic speeds, so thank you to both of you for helping us navigate that media inquiry, and really an inquiry about how are we funding things, which I think these conversations are really ongoing, so it's really an interesting question to keep asking ourselves, what are we doing, how are we responding to constituents, and how are we addressing needs of things like roads, neighborhood traffic calming, et cetera, so thanks to both both Kyle and Daniela for that. I also want to thank Katrina and Stephanie from the ASCMV for helping me do something that I've wanted to do for a long time which is plan a microchipping event in lieu of in the past we've done a check your microchip event but this time in lieu of a Community meeting or trying to figure out a way to make an impact on the community We're gonna have a an event where we can give people microchips and check your microchips on your pet before 4th of July since everyone shoots off illegal fireworks and their dogs are and even with the big fireworks show their dogs become loose and we see an enormous uptick in loose and unrestrained dogs around 4th of July. So to try to address that issue at the root cause level since only about 15% of the animals that ACOs pick up actually have any identification. We'll be having a microchip event June 27th here at City Hall from 9 to 12. It will be really fun. I promise that there will be chips both Microchips, and I plan to bring a lot of chips my favorite snack so seems convenient to have both happening I Hope folks will consider checking in on their animals status to make sure that they find their way home to them when they run away because of fireworks And then the other thing, animal related, that's not city sponsored, but I do want to tell all of my colleagues about it. Last year, one of the coolest events that I've ever attended in the city of Las Cruces, and I go to a lot of events and visit with a lot of people, was a fashion show. The fashion was for the people. Just to clarify, I was confused when I first went. The fashion is by local designers with local models and they all have animals from the ASCMV and it's a fundraiser for the ASCMV. That's happening August 1st. It's called Fashion for Hearts and it's organized by an extraordinary woman named Naomi Morningstar-Cruz, who is a model herself and also does jewelry design. So I hope that folks will consider coming. It's a really cool event, and I'm happy to share more information if you'd like. But August 1st, I hope to see you there. So that's it.

All right, thank you. Just a few things, but first just wanted to mention again with the public participation, yeah, we all know that it's their right to come and speak, but I recall when the issue first came up, we did a presentation where Steve came in and explained the situation. And the testing and the regulations and everything that goes through, some people just want to ignore the credibility and the work that our utilities department do to keep us safe. And so, I mean, we can bring it back if we have to. I don't know the answer when these individuals just want to come over and over and repeat the same thing. But I know that we as a city have done our part to bring in the subject matter experts to come in and explain what's going on. We recognize our baseball team here locally, the Mesilla Valley that won the state championship. and we also recognized a youth group with Jamar Cotton and all the things they're doing. Just wanted to give a kudos for this past weekend. We had the 49th, that's been for 49 years, the 49th annual Bob Ogas baseball all-star game that took place this weekend. So thank you for the Optimist Club. We brought in the all-stars or seniors in baseball throughout New Mexico. They came and played three games, a baseball series. And the Optimist Club is the one that puts this event together. And also Las Cruces Public Schools for their partnership in allowing the Field of Dreams baseball field to be used. So there are some youth activities that are going on. You know, we've been doing it for years. We just need to find where those gaps are and continue to work because we can do better. But there are some things that are taking place. Also, a shout out to our Parks and Rec Department, the East Mesa Public Recreation. Ribbon cutting was Friday. New playground equipment, a skate park. Artwork and basketball courts were all presented on Friday as a ribbon cutting and it was great to see and something that we're moving forward. We thank the voters during the GO bond session that allowed that sport complex to take place. So some good things happening and taking place for our youth in the community and also the pickleball courts, the baseball fields, the soccer fields, just for adults of all ages to partake and exercise and enjoy our outdoors. But now we have a challenge and I look at city managers, staff, and even the colleagues here on council is East Mesa Public Recreation Center is really the project name. That has been the project name, so maybe we need to start looking at how we name that complex. And that's always a challenge, you know, but it's something we look for the creativity and we look for input and ideas and thoughts, but I think that's our little challenge that we have with such a great place to go and enjoy is what are we going to call it? So something to think about. Okay, yeah. Names are always tough, but there's a lot of things in our desert, in our community, from animals to plants to the views to, yeah, there's so much that we can choose from. But it's still a challenge, so let's start thinking about it. And with that, I'll turn it over to the city manager. Maybe he's got a name.

Thank you, Mayor Enriquez and City Council. No name updates today, and no updates, thank you.

Okay, thank you. With that, look for a motion to adjourn.

Move to adjourn.

Second. This is a motion to adjourn the meeting. Councilor McClure? Yes. Councilor Matisse?

Yes.

Councillor Harris? Yes. Councillor Bencomo? Yes. Councillor Crayon? Yes. Councillor Munoz is absent and Mayor.

Yes.