Council - Regular Meeting

Well, good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the City Council meeting. Today is Monday, July 20th, 2026. It's approximately 1 p.m. I'm Mayor Eric Enriquez. Before we start, I want to mention that we have the ASL, American Sign Language, up in front if needed. We will 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 the courageous men and women of the Las Cruces Police and Las Cruces Fire Department that protect our city 24-7, 365. If you'd join me in the pledge. pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. So next, on the agenda, we'll have presentations and proclamations and presentations. So the first proclamation is for the Rio Grande Theater. Is Topher Leninger here to accept? And bring whoever else you want. This is a historic moment. It's a hundred year celebration. So whereas the Rio Grande Theater opened on July 29, 1926, providing the small but growing Las Cruces community with an entertainment venue for movies, plays, and other spectacles, with new fangled air conditioning, and whereas ongoing operations at the Rio Grande Theater supported the renewal of the downtown commercial corridor and neighboring businesses by boosting foot traffic on the main street. Whereas the Rio Grande Theater provides a setting for local filmmakers and artists to connect socially and professionally, sharing their work with one another and the wider community, encouraging the development of technical skills in Las Cruces and retaining valuable workers to support the Mesilla Valley movie industry. And whereas 100 years after it was first constructed, the Rio Grande Theater continues to serve the city and community with affordable arts, access, and entertainment, fostering connections between generations by offering a variety of programs. Now, therefore, we, the mayor and city council of Las Cruces, New Mexico, do hereby proclaim the 100th anniversary of the Rio Grande Theater on July 29th, 2026, as the Rio Grande Theater Day. and extend its gratitude to the volunteers and staff of the Rio Grande Theater and the city's Economic Development Department who work to keep the theater operating and call upon all citizens to celebrate, promote, and support this irreplaceable historic building. Congratulations. I'm gonna say a few words and then we'll get up.

Good afternoon, mayor, members of the council, and city staff. My name's Topher Leininger. I'm the current venue manager of the Rio Grande Theater. Before you today, representing the historic Rio Grande Theater, I've got two of my technicians, as well as economic development, and our historic department as well, who all help maintain the building as best as possible. I want to express our deepest gratitude to the city of Las Cruces for officially recognizing the city turning, or not the city, the theater turning 100. On July 29th, 1929, the theater opened its doors as just a movie house, and over the years, the community has kept it standing, running, and presenting the arts to the community. This centennial celebration is not just a reflection of the past, but a hope for the future and a testament to what we can continue to do. Thank you, Mayor and Council, for this wonderful recognition, and we hope to continue to serve our community.

Next, we have the 4th of July presentation by Parks and Recreation. I believe it's Robert Nunez.

Mayor, city councilors, city managers, city staff, leadership, Robert Nunez, deputy director for Parks and Recreation. I'd like to give a recap of our 4th of July celebration. Once again, the city of Las Cruces provided a wonderful celebration of our community, for our community, and in observance of America's 250th. I'd initially like to recognize Ms. Lisa Caller and Mr. Ryan Steinmetz for their amazing organization, communication, planning, and logistics to make this entire weekend a success. Again, we promote community pride and civic engagement, supporting residents, businesses, and community organizations, and we're providing a safe community opportunities and events for residents of all ages. On Friday, July 3rd, our Electric Light Parade, Stars, Stripes, and City Lights, along with the Electric 5K and One Mile Fun Run sponsored by Las Cruces Running Club. Through Placer AI, we had 24,600 in attendance throughout the 1.5 mile parade route. on Saturday, July 4th, our Fourth of July Concert and Community Picnic at Patton Lucis Borough Community Park on New Mexico State University campus with live music, food, food truck corral, kid zone, and fireworks with an estimated attendance at 14,800 to enjoy that event. I'd like to recognize Las Cruces Police Department, transit, public works, traffic and streets, utilities, for assisting in keeping the parade safe and secure throughout the entire route. Again, star stripes and city lights. Grand Marshal was Master Sergeant Melissa Gonzalez. Honorary Marshals were Richard and Jessica Orlando. and leading the parade once again was our marine corps league el perro diablo detachment number 478 so big shout out to that group best overall float this year was hernandez heating cooling and plumbing in the commercial division el paso electric and vado speedway also placed in the non-commercial we had fancy and welcome home veterans along with Todd Garrison for sheriff. We saw, we believe, an increase in attendance due to the 250th, and it takes great pride to see our community come out, enjoy this event, the activities that go along with it, and the number of organizations, both public and private, that put in floats. A number of car clubs, organizations, businesses throughout our city that were able to provide something for everyone to enjoy. City department entries, we had quality of life, transit, visit Las Cruces, utilities, of course, Las Cruces Police Department and Las Cruces Fire Department. For the 4th of July concert and picnic, we had our headliner 49 Winchester out of Virginia, a local triple jack band that opened up for them, 11 food vendors and a beer garden, kids zone for families, and fireworks. Family and friends began arriving at the Pat and Lusa Sparrow Community Park on NMSU's campus beginning at four o'clock. Music kicked off at six. The crowd responded enthusiastically to both local band Triple Jack and headliner 49 Winchester. Members of 49 Winchester shared how much they enjoyed their visit to Las Cruces and especially the hospitality they received from the community. The 11 vendors in Beer Garden described the evening as busy and enjoyed providing their offerings to the community. The KidZone was well received by families, and plans are already in the works to expand the area and activities for next year. The amazing partnership with NMSU included Justin Bannister, Chief of Staff for the President's Office, Chief of Police Justin Donovan, and the university's facilities and services, along with the many other NMSU staff providing their expertise. Also this year, Dona Ana County contributed to the event, allowing us to enhance the entertainment this year. Families came out and enjoyed an amazing night of entertainment, food, community gathering, and a celebration of our country. Thank you to all military personnel, past and present, our community's first responders, and all businesses that worked with us, which allowed these events to be safe, enjoyable, and successful. We finished the night with a spectacular firework display. We continue to evaluate and will attempt to continue to provide a level of service the community can enjoy and be proud of. And lastly, mayor, city councilors, I would like to recognize a group of individuals who day in and day out who day in and day out provide exceptional programs and services. If you're not aware, July is recognized as Parks and Recreation Month. This month we enjoy communities across the nation to celebrate the essential role that parks and recreation spaces play in our daily lives. These spaces are much more than just acreage, facility footprints, or programs. They are the true heart of our community's infrastructure. Every day our parks, trails, recreation centers, and programs give our residents an accessible place to improve their physical health, boost their mental well-being, and safely connect with nature and each other. From after school programs, youth sports leagues, life skills development programs, to fitness classes, our department and staff bridge generations and build a strong, more resilient city. None of this happens by accident. Behind every clean park, well-maintained trail and successful summer program is a team of incredible, dedicated individuals. I see their hard work firsthand every single day. I want to thank our extraordinary maintenance crews, program leaders, mentors, student interns and volunteers. If you'll all please stand. Your tireless efforts Your tireless efforts keep our community vibrant, active, and beautiful. We invite every resident to celebrate with us this month. Come out to a local park, join our upcoming summer events. We still have music in the park, movies in the park, and plenty other things, programs and activities happening, and enjoy the incredible resources right here in your own backyard. Thank you, Council, each and every one of you, for your valued partnership, your leadership, and your continued support for our community's health and happiness. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Robert. It was a great event, and thank you all to the staff and everyone that puts all the hard work into it, and it's truly appreciated. Thank you very much. Next we have an audit entrance conference presentation by Chris Gardner for FY26.

uh... good afternoon mayor counselors i'm liam beasley the accounting manager here at the finance department and i'm pleased to introduce to you today chris gardner who's the partner at petiole brown and hill there are external auditors and he'll be covering the entrance conference today thank you liam mayor and counselors what i have here is a few slides with some required communication and a couple other slides uh... that will go over at the very end but to start off with

My name is Chris Garner. I am the partner in charge of your audit. I think this is our sixth or seventh year we've done your audit, and I've been in charge all of those years. And so Heather Lucero is my right-hand person in the firm. She's also engaged. She's actually upstairs working with our team right now getting the planning phase of your audit done. So one of the required things we're supposed to discuss is audit timing. So we are completing the planning phase of the audit right now and into August where we test internal controls, we make sure that the internal controls are working as established, and then we also have some state auditor compliance testing that they require we do. And then because the city spends more than 700, actually it's now a million dollars of federal funds, you're subject to a compliance audit, what we call a single audit over those federal grants. We will get with the planning phase of that right now too. And then after we've tested internal controls, we've done interviews, we will do our risk assessment. And that's where we will come up with our audit plan and determine the audit steps that we will do. Our field work will happen in October, November. where we will test your year-end balances, and then we anticipate November having our exit conference and getting it submitted to the state auditor. Your audit is due to the state auditor December 1st so that it can be submitted to GFOA by the end of the year. The next slide talks about responsibilities, and this is one we have to talk about a lot because there's a lot of confusion of what an audit entails. As you can see on the left-hand side, what we do when we do an audit, we express an opinion on your financial statements to make sure that the numbers included in your audit report meet the standards that we have to follow. If you look on the top right box, we give what's called reasonable assurance. We cannot look at every transaction. There's just way too many that come through the city. So we pick statistical samples. We look at your internal controls. But we're definitely not looking at everything. And so when your audit report's done, there could be errors in the numbers. But those errors are not going to be big enough to change the opinion of the readers of the financial statements. And so example I always give, and most of you have heard this many times, is if you were to give your audit to a banker, those errors are not going to be big enough to change the banker's opinion on the financial status of the city. so that's what our responsibilities under auditing standards are under auditing standards technically when it comes to internal controls we only have to test one transaction from each significant cycle because of that the state auditor wants us to do what we call a yellow book audit and that's what this slide covers so I talked about significant cycles. Those are things like cash disbursements, payroll, cash receipts. So to meet auditing standards, we only have to test one transaction. But when we do a yellow book audit, we actually have to pick those samples of those significant accounting internal controls and test those transactions. In addition, the state audit rule expands that. We have to test about 20 items that really relate to state compliance, things like budgetary issues, uh... we have to look at procurement traveling per diem so again in new mexico they expand the type of testing we have to do to meet the yellow book standards and as you can see on the right what we do is we're not testing internal controls the sample big enough to give an opinion all we do at report to spell out how we're testing above regular auditing standards and then here we have to communicate significant matters well state auditor changes that threshold they basically take that significant significant matters and put it at ground level so any findings in the state have to be reported reason is transparency the state auditor wants councils to be able to know what the issues are whether they're significant or not so that you can track and how and see how your management team is dealing with those issues and so that is the two standards in new mexico that we have to follow The auditing standards probably changed about 15 years ago and really put an emphasis on the city and your responsibilities over maintaining a trial balance and numbers that we as auditors can come in and test. And so your responsibilities include that you're performing all management functions, that you're responsible for making all financial decision, and that you're implementing internal controls to safeguard your assets. So those, in essence, are your responsibilities. We get a trial balance that meets the standards, and we go in and audit those numbers to make sure that they are materially correct. The scope of the audit, and this is actually the last required communication, is we have the city, and then we have some JPAs, and we have a component unit, and then we also have a blended fund with a downtown TID. So our audit's not just covering the city, but also other areas. I wanted to bring up the New Mexico state audit rule there really was nothing this year that change that significantly affects the procedures that we have to do I talked a moment ago about those additional items that the state audit rule requires the test and there was no changes in any of those and so really this year. There was a little bit of clarification in the state audit rule regarding how they want us to present budgetary statements. But honestly, because you go after the GFOA award, all the budgetary statements are going to be included in your final financial statement. So it's just going to kind of change where a few of them are and moving them in where they're going to be presented in the financial statements. So not really a big change. So this year's audit rule changes really didn't have much of a significance. As we go throughout the audit process until that audit is accepted as a final document that's made public on the state auditor's website, if you hear of any updates or get, you know, hear some discussions about what the audit progress is, we cannot make those a public, we can't talk about them in public until the audit has been finally accepted by the state auditor. And so the auditor does take this serious. uh... and so make sure that we keep everything confidential until the final report has been accepted the last night i have here this is not the correct form to talk about this but what i'd like to do is at least bring up some items would like for you to think about Christine has my contact info so if any of you counselors or management team want to get a hold of me my cell phone she has that please contact me she also has my email so please let me know if you have any questions or concerns or specific transactions you feel that we need to look at and just know if you do contact uh... myself or any of my team that will remain confidential and will only be used in developing the audit plan in the steps that we will be completing throughout the audit process but some of the feedback and things i would like you to consider is if they're materially material related party transactions Just because there's a material related party transaction does not mean we have an issue, but we just need to be made aware of them. There's a potential we might have to disclose them in the financial statements, but as long as that conflict, the person who has that conflict abstains from any decision making and it goes through the right processes that the city has established, we don't have issues. But we just need to be made aware if there are any. If there's any concerns of fraud or if you know of any fraud, please let us know what those concerns are. If the city has been subject to any special audits, not only by any state agency but any federal agency, if you're aware of that, please let us know. And then again, as I mentioned a moment ago, if there's any certain type of transaction that you feel warrants us looking at something special, Especially, we will take that into consideration and potentially develop audit steps to look at those type of transactions. So please just get a hold of me, and we'll get that information on to our audit team as we go throughout your audit process. With that, Mayor, I'll turn it back to you.

All right. Thank you, Chris. Sounds good. Thanks for the presentation.

Thank you.

Next on the agenda is the pets of the week, Amelia Corrales.

Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council. Alrighty, so pets of the week for July 20th, 2026. We have our first dog of the week. We have Bonnie. Bonnie is a gentle, sweet soul who has come a long way since arriving at the shelter. She's a little shy, but she enjoys spending time with other dogs in play group. She loves just being by your side, going for a lovely walk, and she's a really loyal companion. So if you're looking for just a gentle, sweet dog to go on a walk with, walking around the neighborhood, going on a hike with, Come and check out Bonnie. She's our first pet of the week there. And then we have Rook. Rook is pretty cool. He has two different color eyes as you can see there. So this fun loving adventure buddy is just so much fun and has so much energy. He's super sweet. friendly and affectionate and he just loves attention. He's been in different socials with families and just enjoys spending time with other playful dogs who can match his energetic style. He's super smart and he will be decently trained you know you got work with them all dogs need a little bit of time to settle into their new home but he will definitely thrive with an active family so come by and meet both of these amazing animals their adoption is free this week so come by do social and if you love them or if you see another animal you would love to take home with you that would be great also So our long-term residents, and I apologize that I didn't update the slide, but I want everybody to know that Dober went home. He was our longest resident in the shelter, and he went home on Saturday. He was adopted, so yay! To a wonderful family, and his new name is Rizzo. So shout out to Dover there who went home. So now our longest term resident is Francesca. She is in foster, but just because they're in foster and available doesn't mean you can't visit with them or you can't socialize with them. Just give the shelter a call. We can always schedule a social with one of our dogs in foster care. We can have the foster bring them down and you guys can get to know them. So Francesca is our longest term resident. And then we also have Ebony and Playa. So come down, meet some of our longest term residents. We have some events coming up. We will be at PetSmart July 25th. We will be at Fashion for Hearts August 1st, and there's some more information on that. Petco on August 8th, and every Wednesday in August, we will be at the Farmer's Market. Don't forget, the month of July, red, white, and cute adoptions are $25 all month long. As you can see, there's some of our animals. And for more information, you'll see all of our stuff here. ASCMV.org, you can see all of our adoptable animals there. So check out our website, Facebook, Instagram. And if you're looking to foster, reach out to our foster coordinator.

Thank you. Thanks, Amelia. All right, next up, as you can see, I have invited Naomi Morningstar-Cruz, who's here today with us, who's organizing an event for the ASCMV. Naomi is, when she comes up, I'll share a little bit more about her while she comes on up. Yes, come up. Her commitment to animals is extraordinary, and her fundraising and event coordination skills make her an extraordinary community member. We're so lucky that you sometimes call Las Cruces part of your home. She's currently taking classes to support a future work moving New Mexico forward beautifully. I'm proud to know you and be able to hear about this event and go to this event. Her fundamental kindness for humans and animals combined with her creativity provide a kind of synergy that translates to perennial success. So please tell everyone about the upcoming event.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor and council members. My name is Naomi Morningstar-Cruz. I'm the founder of the For Hearts organization and director of the Fashion for Hearts fashion show. I am Chiricahua Apache and was raised very traditionally within our ways and our stories. And I was taught most of all the connection and the importance of the connection between humans and animals and the earth around us. As part of the city of Las Cruces. I really appreciated seeing the work that was already happening here I have been a volunteer at animal shelters for about a little over six years. I've been a fashion model for about about six years sorry volunteer for about ten years and Having worked at the cat's meow and APA and Calista Animal Hospital. I Really enjoyed my time with the service with the people and the animals as well I wanted to combine what I knew about fashion shows and modeling with my work with the animals, so I began doing pageants with my animal wellness platform to spread the awareness to a diverse audience. However, I still felt like I could do more, and thus, Fashion for Hearts Fashion Show came to be. It is a fundraiser event sponsoring the Animal Services Center of the Mesilla Valley. They provide adoptable shelter dogs from their foster program to walk in the show with the models. Last year we did have a dog adopted right off the runway and we're very hopeful that this year that trend continues as well. We also aim to connect the citizens of Las Cruces and the surrounding New Mexico areas with educational materials about what services are available to them as pet owners and those who care for the environment and the community. Working as a receptionist at Calista Animal Hospital, I got to interact with so many people of the public and hear about so many different services from the spay and neuter action program or different companies that support financially the people in need of veterinary care. And I wanted to be able to connect people with the knowledge of those resources so that they know what's available to them and care for their pets as pets care for us. Those of you who have pets in your home I'm sure know how important it is to have your animals near you and support you emotionally and just be part of your family or your friends. And there are service animals that take care of those with disabilities or are veterans or in the hospitals to support those going through hard times. So as much as animals serve us, I hope that we all take care of them as well and it's a mutual love relationship between us and them. So Fashion for Hearts this year will be on August 1st. I hope to see many people there. It'll support the animal shelter with adoptions and the funds from the tickets and the silent auction will go towards their veterinary bills as well. The, let's see, sorry.

Oh yes, thank you.

It'll be taking place this year as well as last year at the Grapevine Plaza here. Beautiful ballroom, lovely lighting, amazing place. And the tickets are for sale right now on eventbrite.com starting at $15. Again, all of the proceeds from the ticket sales go towards the shelter's bills. Okay, thank you very much, thank you.

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

None.

No.

None.

No conflict.

No.

Next is public participation. We'll allow up to three minutes, no pending litigation or items on the non-consent. Please, if you could speak directly into the microphone so that that way the people online can also hear and understand better. Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Staff Sergeant Doreen White. I don't know, you guys make me nervous up here. But anyway, I presented a book to the council about how it works. I've been studying this for 10 years because I've been violated by the Department of Public Safety in Missouri. I became a hotspot, I think you read about it in the book, and the reason why, I was military, I didn't do drugs, I had financial money to support myself. Every night I'm violated because I have a gas in me, and if I was a soldier and I was 10 feet under, cement those cyber minis can bother me. Okay, I see the purpose of the science, but I'm not a robot. I have cameras, chips, I can show you where they're in my body. President Clinton said in his liberal liberties thing, four acts, no human being citizen without consent can be used as a laboratory project. When I went up against the state of New Mexico, they said there was no laws. Not that they didn't break them, but there was no laws. And my life matters, okay? Here's the whole book on human rights. There's a constitution. 10 amendments that protect me by my rights. Privacy acts, and I've been on this journey for a long time, and the side effects and consequences of their actions might stop my heart, and they'll get away with murder, okay? My journey isn't a negative encounter. I don't know when those side effects and symptoms and consequences of their actions, which is in the mail, it's like a cult at the bank. I go in there, my PIN numbers change while they're giving me a new card, okay? And I come to you as the council as a different avenue to seek support. I don't know how long. They could stop my heart tonight, and I won't be here tomorrow. So at least I got up here today. It's on record that I told you so. And I believe in God, and I believe in the law. And these people, the 14th Amendment, they're failing to protect me by my rights and my laws. So anything you can do for me, I'm grateful. Thank you and have a nice day.

mayor mayor pro tem folks here today those watching online i'm lynn moorer mayor you may want to take note this is something new today i provide an update to documented information supplied at the may 4th meeting about the data in las cruces utilities so-called consumer confidence reports for the past 10 years as john adams noted facts are stubborn things the facts are that las cruces utilities continues to lie to the public and issue false information regarding lead levels The 2025 report for University Estates water system which was just published is provably false. The New Mexico Environment Department agrees. NMED just notified me that it agrees with my assessment that Las Cruces Utilities 2025 CCR for University Estates is false in several respects. The CCR says water was sampled for lead in 2024 and the range high was eight parts per billion. In reality, lab reports show indisputably that no sampling was done in 2024 for this water system. Here's the evidence in black and white. These are the lab reports. The most recent sampling occurred in 2023, which is what the CCR should have reported. Moreover, the lead levels in 2023 were found at 24 parts per billion and 18 parts per billion, both with which exceed the action level of 15. This also should have been reported. Councilor Matisse, this is in your district. This is unequivocal evidence that residents in your district have been drinking lead in their water that is considered dangerous. moreover las cruces utilities hasn't bothered to go back and resample at the properties which showed these significant exceedances not in 2024 not in 2025. the utilities director doesn't think it's necessary to follow up and see what lead levels consumers are drinking in the years following clear evidence that they've been drinking lead at levels that are significantly above epa's action level The 2025 CCR for University of State seems to be another exercise in attempting to gaslight the public into thinking everything is fine. This follows a 10 year pattern of falsification of the CCRs from 2015 to 2024, which was documented in my May 4th presentation. Publishing knowingly false information is wrong, especially when it's about critical things that affect public health, and it's despicable. It's impossible to fathom how any of you could defend this. The utilities director's incompetence and deliberate falsification continues. Falsification which seeks to minimize the lead problem in Las Cruces' drinking water. The evidence is clear that she's not fulfilling her responsibilities to the citizens of the city. The evidence shows that it's time to bring in a competent engineer with integrity to have the utilities department. Thank you for this opportunity to speak.

Mayor, City Council, I'm Liz Rodriguez-Johnson. We again ask Las Cruces Utilities to prove that it acted in good faith when it applied for $15 million from the New Mexico Finance Authority to replace lead in galvanized water piping. To obtain that $15 million, the city to prioritize disadvantaged properties. Evidence shows that Utilities has not been carrying out that promise. We again ask the Utilities Director in the time she has remaining to demonstrate that rather than intending to commit fraud, that she assures that these latest list of truly disadvantaged properties valued at 200,000 or less are inspected immediately. Handouts A and B are the seventh list like this that we've provided. We also again ask the utilities director to comply with the lead and copper rule with respect to lead and galvanized piping. As Derek Pacheco described at the meeting before last, city inspectors initially just checked the meter box on his property on South Mesquite in one of the city's oldest neighborhoods. They concluded that his piping was plastic and said there was nothing else they needed to do. Derek showed them exposed metal piping farther up the line, well outside the meter box. Eventually, the inspectors came back, looked at the exposed piping, and concluded that it was galvanized. We know this because an IPRA request revealed an inspection report identifying galvanized piping on Derek's property. This demonstrated, as we've told you for 18 months, that utilities inspection method of just checking the meter box is completely inadequate. The inspection occurred on June 5th, 45 days ago. EPA guidance requires water systems to notify property owners within 30 days when galvanized piping is discovered. We brought this 30-day notice requirement to your attention on several occasions, yet Derek has not received any notice from the city. The utilities department hasn't had the decency to notify Derek as required, similar to the failure for many other properties in the city with galvanized piping. If these owners were notified, they could take steps now to replace the piping if they have financial resources. If they don't, they might start saving up for that expense. Plus, they may want to try to find a way to pay for water filters in the meantime. As Fred Miller explained last meeting, galvanized piping keeps corroding over time. No one should have to drink water with rust in it or have their galvanized piping collapse because it's so corroded. Despite this, the director has never provided an explanation as why the utilities department refuses to comply with federal requirement to notify all property owners with galvanized pipes this is cruel and disrespectful to these owners you city council and you city manager have had 18 months to do the right thing by these citizens their health is at stake and what are you doing about it is it it's a mystery but it looks like nothing and that is even more cruel thank you

Good afternoon once again, Mr. Mayor and council members. I apologize for my late adding. I had looked into city ordinance.

Excuse me, can you state your name again just for the record?

My apologies. My name is Naomi Morningstar-Cruz. I wanted to make sure that I included my address to the City Council regarding Ordinance 3091, which was passed around June of last year. The ordinance focuses on the proper ways to secure an animal in your yard, what constitutes as neglect, and proper care of animals under human supervision. I first noticed when it was passed during the publications on social media and on the websites how positively I would suspect that these changes would affect the community. And judging by the statistic page on the Animal Services Center website, I've noticed that there has been a trend after the implementation of that ordinance that intakes had gone down. Last year's total intakes were around 9,000 animals at the Animal Services Center. This year, we're a little bit past halfway through the year and we're already almost at 5,000. Following this trend, I suspect that we will have a lower amount of intakes this year and I suspect that it is probably due to the help from ordinances such as 3091, to promote helpful and healthy care of the animals in people's possession. So I wanted to say thank you for everyone's work on that, and thank you for the continued care that you do for the community on all levels that you do look into and work so hard for. So thank you again for your time. I apologize for wanting to add one more thing. I felt like my gratitude was important. Thank you.

Have a great day.

Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor and Council and all supporting attendees. My name is Betty White and I'm here with a question concerning or a request for your consideration in the information that was presented and approved on July 6th for an ordinance approving a zoning map change amending the plan for the Royal Crossing development. Unfortunately, all of us residents affected by this were not available on July 6th for that presentation, so I'm asking you for a bit of further consideration, please, concerning that Royal Crossing development. This is specifically concerning the drainage on that property. I live in the neighborhood on the east side of Royal Crossing. I have lived on Desert Drive across the street from the described open space property for over 50 years. My home is one house away from the cross point where water flows down Martha, Dorothy, and Margaret Streets through a dedicated drainage area and from those streets east of Desert Drive then flows across desert into the 0.41 acreage spot on your maps that is viewed that you viewed for your consideration in your June 6th consideration. Last summer, after a hard rain shower, not a big rainstorm, A hard rain shower. For the first time in 50 years living at that spot on Desert Drive, I was out in the street with another neighbor who lives closest to where the running water crosses Desert Drive and collects to help a motorist caught in the water there. That street had flooded. Again, this was not during a prolonged rainstorm, but was from a fairly short but hard rain shower. I find on the maps that you consider the designation on vacated to future replat on the maps that were provided. I cannot see any designated ponding area on your maps or any way for water that flows from your parcel out to the remaining ponding areas. I ask you to consider the fact that there is a lot of water that is flowing that has not been accounted for and ask you to spend more time considering this. Thank you.

Good afternoon, council, mayor, city staff, Diane Starbuck for the record. I have kind of a public service announcement that this Saturday, the 25th, Southwest Coalition for Life is having a gathering at the Acotillo Sexual and Reproductive Health Service Center to pray it away. Why they can't pray it away from El Paso, where they're based, I don't know. It will be at the building site, which now has floors and walls up. The address is 4425 East Lowman Avenue. The time is 8.30 to 10.30 AM. There will be a peaceful pro-choice rally at the same time. We need to send a message that New Mexicans stand up for women's rights. There are information papers in the back on the table for anyone who wants one. Bodily autonomy and access to reproductive healthcare are human rights. Without sovereignty over one's own body, half the population is subject to systemic inequality and cannot be considered genuinely free. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, City Council. My name's Jim Hurst. A few months ago, there was a similar protest as to the one this weekend. People gathered to protest, to oppose the Ocotillo Women's Health Care Center. Among them was our mayor, who spoke in favor of an economic boycott. By his presence in the event, he endorsed an economic boycott against suppliers and contractors for the Ocotillo Health Care Center. He has yet to retract that endorsement of the boycott. This citizen thinks that the boycott is not appropriate. Mr. Mayor, your responsibility is to the welfare of this community, of the citizens of Las Cruces. You don't have to endorse abortion. You don't have to agree to anything. but you have to stay out of our way when it comes to improving the lives of New Mexicans and in providing for women's healthcare. We have that right, Mr. Mayor, and we've passed laws, we've instituted courts, and we've voted in ways that indicate our commitment to pro-choice. You don't have to share that commitment with us. But you do have to allow us to implement, to build healthcare facilities that provide for those right. So this weekend there will be a demonstration of support for the Ocotillo Women's Healthcare Center. At the same time there will be a demonstration against the Women's Health Care Center. I hope the police and the mayor's office do not show favorites between the protesting groups. I hope all is done within the law. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor.

Good afternoon. Lost my place. My name is Leslie Woods, good afternoon mayor and city council members. My name is Leslie Woods and I would like to address the protest against the Ocotillo Sexual and Reproductive Health Center, led by the Southwest Right to Life in El Paso, Texas. A state that doesn't support a woman's right to choose, a right that New Mexico law does support. and women here have the right to seek an abortion. We realize that this is contrary to some religious beliefs, and we have no desire to change your right to believe what you will, but it has no place in New Mexico. We do instead affirm, Mr. Mayor, that your obligation to your faith, if it interferes with your obligation to your constituents, We would like to express the idea that Las Cruces has laws that support the health of Las Cruces women. As far as your personal beliefs and those of the people coming from Texas, you're invited to stay in Texas or stay home and work on the many things that pertain to Texas. Thank you.

Good afternoon, council. My name is Blaine Maurer. I'm here with my husband, Kevin Maurer. We would like to put forth a second request to look at the ordinance that Betty White just mentioned regarding the regarding the open drainage option for the area located off of south side of mercy street my home our home is directly backs this particular area and i second betty white's position in the sense that we have some serious flooding down desert drive as it currently stands we don't have enough drainage in that area as it is where so when you're talking about drainage i'd just like for you to take a closer look at this a far more extensive look as to how it impacts that neighborhood especially those homes that are backing that particular open area as we have there's that everybody knows that was like the former golf course so we kind of it looks like a uh... almost like an entry point into the golf course almost like a maintenance point to the side run one house over from us and that is where there is some serious flooding that occurs in that particular area and unfortunately it bottlenecks in that area so it can't flow down the street on either side because we're kind of on that hill on desert drive so just i would like to just ask you to take a little bit more consideration when approving any sort of like drainage area it's particularly to that We are at 2325 Desert Drive for reference, if you want to look at that closer on a map to see where that drainage or where that flooding is occurring. Thank you.

All right, thank you. And Public Works is taking note of this as you speak.

Mayor, council, Juan Garcia, thanks to the mayor and council for running a civil meeting like the circus, clowns included, at the county commission, where profanity and insults against some of the commissioners are routine. Excuse me. Moving ahead, from the Sun op-ed written by two city councilors, and I quote, DOJ's model city initiative is a Trojan horse for Las Cruces. and quote, I kept reading, sure the councilors won't try to mislead or gaslight the community. That story insists that Grant is all about quote, enforcement, policing, and control rather than any real collaborative youth leadership and action and supposedly flooding communities with surveillance technology and weapons of war that will disproportionately harm immigrants and black folks because naturally Past waves of funding led to unjust arrests and incarceration that we'll still experience today. I lost the bubble between weapons of war and black folks, considering that blacks in Las Cruces or 1.9% of the population. Excuse me. In the wake of some of the most aggressive and violent immigration enforcement our country has seen in decades, this 300 million fund target cities with more than 100,000 residents. And to quote, by this point, I was ready to barricade myself in my safe space and wait for democracy to implode. So I read the DOJ initiative, and I quote, through this initiative, two to four cities will be selected, selected to receive awards supporting the implementation of comprehensive, and innovative strategies to reduce crime, restore law and order, and enhance public safety. Investments will be made in a variety of areas, addressing public safety, behavioral health, and related staffing. and services with a goal of leveraging federal resources to build capacity, strengthen accountability, and deliver measurable reductions in crime. Applications are due by 1 September. So let's be real. Does anyone actually believe this so-called welcoming city and community, where over, in my opinion, half the officials hate the current administration, would ever jump at the chance to apply for this grant? Or is this just gaslighting and fear-mongering at its best? Thank you.

Good afternoon, mayor, counselors, and staff. My name is Yoli Diaz. I will send each of you an email with a proposal asking the city of Las Cruces to establish medical healthcare as an essential community investment through a joint powers agreement, a JPA with Dona Ana County. Also, I access case documents of the lawsuit of city of Las Cruces and Dona Ana County versus MMC. If I interpret these correctly, the judge has dismissed Apollo Global Management from the lawsuit. Not a surprise. And I understand that the city and county have informed the federal court that the parties are attempting to resolve the MMC litigation before engaging in lengthy litigation. Whether that litigation ultimately settles or proceeds through the courts is of course a legal matter. However, I believe this moment also presents an additional opportunity. The city of Las Cruces will have two avenues to fund medically necessary healthcare. One is the Telstra Facility Fund that last week's presentation included the expectation of $1.2 to $1.5 million of yearly investment proceeds. I understand that no funding is earmarked for medically necessary health care, nor medically necessary diagnostics which are essential to the proper diagnosis of patients that are decided by medical providers, not government officials. These proceeds can continue to fund $600,000 to the nonprofit organizations that have been served yearly, and $500,000 can go to the fund Medically Necessary Health Care. I am also addressing the anti-donation clause in my email that allows state counties and municipalities to provide a provision for the care and maintenance of sick and indigent persons. Further, if the litigation results in a financial recovery for the city, I respectfully ask you to consider preserving those proceeds as a permanent investment similar to the Telstra Facility Fund written into the settlement written into the settlement that will be dedicated to funding access to medically necessary care only. This will benefit the people of our community in perpetuity by utilizing the proceeds yearly. It should also be considered through a JPA with Dona Ana County putting the monies together if legally possible. The principle can remain intact while the annual investment earnings provide a sustainable source in perpetuity funding for medical healthcare through the JPA. My proposal is not intended to revisit the past for its own sake. It is offered in the hope that the lessons of the past can help guide future decisions. I believe healthcare deserves to be recognized as one of the city's essential community investments alongside parks, housing, and economic development. I also believe the residents of Las Cruces deserve to know where each of their elected representatives stands on this proposal. One last thing, I recognize that no healthcare assistance program can meet every need. No community organization, not a food bank, not a homeless shelter, not a domestic violence program can honestly promise to help everyone. Funding is finite. What communities generally expect is something different. They will help as many people as they can with the resources available until the next funding year. Thank you. And I've got some documentation for you. Christine, this is for you and all the way up to Cassie Kennedy. Thank you.

Hello. My name is Rick Renaud. I was a candidate for City Council District 6 last November. I do have one good thing to say about ranked choice voting at a later meeting. But anyway, what I'm here today to talk about is the Model City Initiative and this op-ed. It seems to me talking about Trojan horses You know, citizens have been coming here for the last year, last four years, asking for safety. Four years ago, a friend of Mayor Ken's came up here and said, Ken, it's deplorable out here. That was four years ago. So I think the city welcomes this initiative. All the people that come here to talk about park safety, The last year, there was one big old guy who was talking about safety. He goes there with his son. He can't protect his son if his son steps on a needle or a glass pipe. So anyway, the point of what I'm here for is, is the city going to pursue this or not? Can we find out soon? Perhaps today? Is the city going to pursue this? This looks like a poison pill if the city does pursue it. So anyway, that's just what I'm asking. Is there any way a roll call? And can we find out today, is the city going to pursue this? Or do we have to come back and hammer on you guys to maybe bring some safety to our city? Anyway, thank you.

Derek Pacheco for the record. Let's bring some safety to the city. Let's maybe start with the water. Oh, hi Councilor Matisse. Remember five months ago when I told you that I had no running water inside my house? And that maybe we could make my house a star project for the 18 month long attention to the galvanized pipe matter. And what'd you do? Nothing. You did nothing for me. Instead, what you did is you gaslit me. Same thing with Councilor McClure. She likes to gaslight people as well. She doesn't like to show up to neighborhood meetings. Sad. Iconi, I saw on your resume that you brought a data center to your old town of Eagle Rock, Utah, the same township where your pal IFO was caught with a Cayman Islands bank account that reconciled overnight that wasn't disclosed to the state. There's no reason to trust you people, which is disgusting. Councilor Harris took it upon himself to squash the flock conversation because he's the tech guy and he'll take care of it. Okay. Was that funny? Do I make you laugh? The flock rep on the radio interview with Chief Story and myself said that flock cameras don't trace people. However, 404 Media just this past week has a pretty nice expose on how they track people and the different queries that are used in the system. When I was unlawfully sent to jail here down the street, I noticed there were a funnel for ice. I saw construction workers with cement on their boots fresh pulled in from Santa Teresa. These cameras are a mass surveillance system that we didn't ask for, that we're paying for, and that we have no idea what they're recording or who has access to them. We saw in Tucson with the missing person that the Google Nest camera that was not active with recording features to the owner of the camera suddenly produced footage that it was not authorized to have. We need a real discussion about real problems here, not just this FaceTime, this three minute circus that we get. Thanks.

Tim Jenkins here. I stand before you today deeply disappointed once again, not because people have different political opinions, but because I expect those elected to represent our city and to put the safety and unity of our community above ideology. Recently, two members of this council publicly criticized federal assistance being offered to our community. Rather than viewing it as an opportunity to improve public safety and the well-being of our community, they portrayed it as an attack on our community. They described federal efforts as programs rooted in fear and surveillance, while completely dismissing the fact that our nation's immigration laws exist for a reason, and that those who enter or remain in this country unlawfully have violated those laws. No one is above the law. Compassion and the rule of law are not opposite. Our nation cannot remain secure if its laws are only enforced when they are politically convenient. What troubles me most is that the article seems to show more concern for those who have broken our immigration laws than for the citizens of Las Cruces, who expect their elected officials to keep them safe. Our police officers have never been deputized to spread fear or target innocent people, as you suggest. They wear the badge to protect this community, uphold the law, and serve every resident with honor and professionalism. Leadership requires the willingness to work with others, even with whom you disagree, when it benefits the people you are elected to serve. Rejecting help before it is even considered because it comes from a federal level sends the wrong message. It suggests that your policies matter more than public safety. The Welcome City Ordinance has also become a symbol of division for many in our community. Instead of reassuring residents that public safety comes first, it has left many believing that council is more interested in protecting those who violate our immigration laws rather than addressing the concerns of law-abiding citizens. The people of Las Cruces deserve leaders who bring people together, who respect the rule of law, and who are willing to elevate every opportunity to make our city safer for all. We deserve leaders who unite rather than divide, who place the interests of our citizens first, and who remember that the oath they took was to faithfully serve this entire community, not a political ideology. I respectfully ask this council to put aside partisan narratives and work with one goal in mind, and that is to support our law enforcement and to work to restore the confidence of the citizens of this city who elected you to do that very thing. Thank you.

okay next is the acceptance of agenda moved to accept

This is on the motion to accept the agenda as presented. Councilor McClure? Yes. Councilor Matisse? Yes. Councilor Harris? Yes. Councilor Bencomo? Yes. Councilor Caran? Yes. Councilor Munoz? Yes. Mayor?

Yes. So next on the agenda is 7.1 resolution number 27-0116. And Donny.

Move to approve.

Second. Okay, you can go, Donny.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Councillors, and city staff. My name is Donny Procise, Purchasing Supervisor for the Financial Services Department. And before you is a resolution to authorize an increase in the annual spending limit for electronic payment services. A little bit of background on November 20th, 2023, the city council approved resolution 24-052, authorizing a contract for electronic payment services with Paymentus Corporation of Charlotte, North Carolina for a term of five years in an amount not to exceed $600,000 annually subject to approved budget appropriations. Services include processing city customers' debit and credit card payments, interfacing with the city's billing system through a web service application programming interface, or API, depositing payments collected each day into the city's designated bank account, providing daily electronic transaction files, and providing a client portal for city staff to view transactions and generate reports. The utilities department has seen increased use of debit and credit cards for payments of utility bills as fewer customers are paying with cash or checks. Utilities anticipates further increases in the utilization of electronic payments and is therefore requesting authorization to increase the annual expenditure limit for contract number 23-24-003 to an amount not to exceed $1 million subject to approved budget appropriations. Before you are your options, and I stand for questions.

All right, thank you, Donnie. Any questions from council? Councilor Matisse?

I guess the obvious question is why the big increase?

Mayor, Councilor Matisse, I would defer to Stephen Valdez from the Utilities Department, who I believe is here. Yes. Yes.

Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council. Steven Valdez, utility building and receivables supervisor for the record. To answer your question, Councillor, the number of transactions have increased significantly from the beginning of FY21, the end of COVID, up until FY23, probably about 64%. From FY23 to FY25, it has increased about 48%. So with everyone making their payments through an online portal, the utility app, or by phone, this has increased the number of transactions that process this fee of $2.15 per transaction.

Can I ask you, are you very satisfied with the quality that they've offered?

Mayor, Councilor, yes. So far, yes. The increase started in FY23, so there's only been one increase since that point. And that increase is just a rate of $1.95 to the $2.15. But just the number of transactions adds to that invoice, which is an average of about $52,000 a month.

Thank you. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. Anyone else? All right, Christine.

Let's send the motion to approve resolution 27-016. Councillor McClure? Yes. Councillor Matisse? Yes. Councillor Harris? Yes. Councillor Bencomo? Yes. Councillor Curran is absent. Councillor Munoz? Yes. Mayor?

Yes. Next is item 7.2, resolution number 27-017.

Move to approve.

Second.

Good afternoon again, Mayor, Councilors, city staff. I am still Donnie Procise, Purchasing Supervisor for the Financial Services Department. And before you now is a resolution authorizing a professional services agreement for Metropolitan Redevelopment Area Plan Development Services. On March 17th, 2025, the city approved the designation of four new metropolitan redevelopment areas, or MRAs, including the Apodaca and Lift Up area. This decision followed an extensive assessment of multiple focus areas within the infill development overlay district, which revealed significant blighted conditions. The city has made it a priority to address poverty, revitalize distressed neighborhoods, and strategically leverage resources to stimulate economic activity in areas where growth and development have been hindered by physical, economic, and social challenges. The Apodaca and Lift Up area is generally bounded by North Main Street to the north, Interstate 25 to the east, Spruce Avenue to the south, and North Solano Drive to the west. Current conditions within the area reflect notable signs of decline. Additionally, the area faces challenges related to lower income levels, limited access to public services, elevated crime rates, and broader economic and real estate constraints impacting both residential and commercial development. On October 31st, 2025, the city's purchasing program advertised request for proposals number 25-26-023 for MRA plan development services. The solicitation resulted in the receipt of six proposals that were evaluated and scored by the Selection Advisory Committee, or SAC, on February 11th, 2026. The two highest ranked respondents were invited to participate in interviews on April 1st, 2026. The SAC is recommending award to Morrow Reardon Wilkinson Miller Limited of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The city's economic development department is requesting authorization to contract with Morrow for a term of 18 months in an amount not to exceed $240,390.80 plus applicable taxes subject to approved budget appropriations. Before you are your options, and I stand for questions.

All right, thank you, Donnie. Any questions by council? Seeing none, proceed.

This is on the motion to approve resolution 27-017. Councillor McClure? Yes. Councillor Matisse? Yes. Councillor Harris? Yes. Councillor Bencomo? Yes. Councillor Crayon? Yes. Councillor Munoz? Yes. Mayor?

Yes. Thank you.

Next is item 7.3, resolution number 27-018. Move to approve.

Second.

Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council. My name is Cynthia Romillo. I'm the Capital Improvements Program Manager, and today we're here to discuss the next goal bond, which will be 2026. I'm gonna start by talking as to what is a GO bond. So a GO bond are border approved financial tools that allow the city to fund large capital projects. The bond is secured by property tax capacity already in place. And voters approve the project, not the tax increase. And that is as we are paying out the debt of the past bond cycles, we are creating capacity or freeing up capacity. So that freeing up of capacity allows us to introduce a new bond cycle. And lastly, each project is presented as a separate ballot question. To talk a little bit about our past accomplishments, the first cycle was in 2018, and we got approved 3.56 million, and all of these four projects were approved, approved and completed. We have those park and sport fields improvement, where we have multiple projects at Mack Field, Rangalla, we have different park courts, including Lions Park and Young Park. We also were able to complete the new animal shelter, fire station three by the Picacho area, and several trail improvements. Our second cycle was in 2022, and we got approved 23 million by the voters. At the past council work sessions, staff presented an update on these four projects, but we have that fire station nine is 95% completion. This is probably going to be completed by next month. Several parking improvements were identified too and those have been completed. The emphasis was on the Yorona Park for a new restroom and playground and they're only waiting on finalizing a couple of the permits. And then the continuation of the East Mesa Complex and several housing projects have been completed. We now have the opportunity for a new infrastructure project that will help our community. This is for the 2026 school bond. It has been determined that the bond capacity is 26 million. We also had identified discuss a framework to identify potential projects for this next cycle. The framework included that projects had to be identified in the top priorities raised by community members during the GRT community meetings. The project is a high impact investment that serves residents across all age groups and neighborhoods. And lastly, the project should be positioned for completion within the bond cycle, which is four years. Using this premise as a framework, at May we had a work session with council where we heard the direction of council to use the library renovation and expansion project as our next Go Bond project. Today, we're seeking council approval for the actual GoBundt ballot question that will be in the upcoming elections in November. The project will go to voters as a ballot question in November, and if approved, we will have the funds available in spring of 2027. Therefore, construction can start from that point. Since these are four-year cycles, in 2029, we will start discussing and planning for the next cycle. The project, the library renovation and expansion, the library was built in 1979, so it's over 45 years old. The project will be including phase one and phase two. Phase one, majority of the improvements are renovations to the first floor, and phase two will be an actual expansion of the library that will create a larger space for the children and will have another community meeting room. During that time of construction will be anywhere between 18 and 24 months, the library will continue to provide services. They're in the process of identifying a place to relocate during the construction time, but they will continue to serve our community. The library staff under the quality of life department has done their due diligence to be ready with a scope out project. In 2022 they started with their master plan, they brought it to council in 24 for adoption and that master plan identified how the facility needed improvements and it was basically a need assessment of facilities. Then they continue with construction projects using funds from the TEED, 2025 and 2026 capital outlay and library state funds. Those construction documents are the first step in order to finalize all of the schematics designed and be ready for construction. The goal bond of 26 million will be also leveraging along 2020 capital outlay appropriation and the two million that was allocated from the GRT. This will be a two minute quick video to show you a glimpse of how the library will be looking once complete.

you

With that, our question that we're proposing is, shall the City of Las Cruces be authorized to issue general obligation bonds payable from property taxes in the amount up to $26 million to acquire, plan, design, develop, construct, improve, renovate, modernize, automate, furnish, and equip the Thomas Branigan Memorial Library? With that, our next steps, if you approve this bond question, I will be working with the city clerk to ensure that we meet the August 25th deadline with the county. We will then be working directly with our communications team to ensure that we provide the appropriate education for the voters about the measure. We will then be hoping for the best on November 3rd, on election day. On election day, the county during the night usually releases preliminary results, but we will have to wait a few weeks for the formal results before, when they are certified by the state. So with that, you have your council options, and we have staff from the appropriate departments, so you have specific questions. We also have Catherine McKinney, our bond counsel.

Thank you, Cynthia. Any questions, comments from council?

Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. Honestly, I just wanted to take a little bit of time to thank the folks who have been working on this for many, many years. I think it's been a long time coming and getting us to a place where we're actually voting on this today and Obviously, opening it up to the public for the general election, I didn't really want to pass up time to thank all of you. So thank you.

Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, Mayor. Councilors, I'm enthused by the move forward. As we do move forward, again, consideration as we begin construction on keeping services going. So how to stage that at a different location or locations will be vitally important. So just a comment. But thank you for putting this together. We appreciate you. Thank you, Mayor.

No, thank you, and yes, I agree, long overdue. There are members of the public that wanted to say something. I'll give you two minutes.

Derek Pacheco for the record. I just want to make sure that this project, along with all projects, gets the due diligence it deserves. Our budget is way out of whack. The last two things that you all voted on as far as budget related have been way over inflated. The $2.15 per transaction, I mean that's crazy. We can't even keep hours at the library. You literally cut the hours because we have such a bad management problem here. So we're doing things a little bit backwards here. And if the bottom line is to provide an educational resource and a cooling center resource for the people of Las Cruces, throwing millions of dollars at a project with willy-nilly oversight, I don't support it. Thanks.

Mayor, councilors, city staff, and other attendees, I am, for the record, Linda St. Clair. I am the president of the Friends of Thomas Branding Memorial Library, and I wanted to begin by addressing the comment that was just made, which is there are two different budgets, and the cuts that have been made to the operating budget are not particularly relevant to the capital budget, and I think that's important to recognize. Also, the design plans have incorporated ideas around economic efficiency in terms of staffing because of the design of the building also uh... solar power and things so there are a lot of things in the design of the building that are actually intended to reduce the operating costs which is not what i plan to say but i felt i needed to address it uh... the friends of the library would like to thank everyone at the city who's invested time and effort to getting this decision to support and supporting the full funding of the renovation and expansion project so much of your work in identifying options reviewing alternatives and evaluating trade-offs is invisible to the public so i wanted to recognize publicly how much you all have done in determining the best way to support our community and the friends will be working to get the word out about this being on the budget and educating people about what the uh... implications of it are here is uh... if it's passed or if it is not passed. I also want to emphasize that while those of us who are able to show up at the council meetings in our purple shirts are very devoted, we are only a small fraction of the people who use and benefit from the resources of the library. So somewhat at the last minute, we collected information from some of the people who are at the library on Saturday on why they love the library. Responses are in English and in Spanish. Some are comments about books and resources. A lot about the wonderful staff. We even have a few that are sort of amazing little exuberant displays by some of our younger patrons who couldn't necessarily write the words that they said, but you could see the joy in what they were putting down as they had a chance to fill this out. We do have some other ones. We're hoping to get them hung up in the library. But thank you very much.

Can I just ask?

Councilor Curran.

Sorry. First of all, I'm too old and I cannot read any of those, which is kind of a bummer. Thank you. That would be great. And I was just going to say, I think those would be a great part of a marketing thing. So expand beyond the library where you could send them. But certainly, I would like to actually be able to read them. And I really can't at all right now. So thank you.

Mayor, I just wanted to say one more thing. I do hope our PIO team uses these. And I just want to say that you all always brought the best props, Jennifer, especially you. And so I will never forget the props you've brought to public comment. So thank you all.

We know you want entertainment.

Thank you.

Seeing no others, Christine?

This is on the motion to approve resolution 27-018. Councillor McClure? Yes. Councillor Matisse? Yes. Councillor Harris? Yes. Councillor Bencomo? Yes. Councillor Curran? Yes. Councillor Munoz? Yes. Mayor?

Yes. Next is item 7.4, council bill number 26-024, ordinance number 3116. Move to approve. Second.

Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council, staff, Adolfo Cardenas, and Treasury. The ordinance before you is to authorize the execution and delivery of the loan agreement with the New Mexico Finance Authority for the financing of the off-law control projects. New Mexico Finance Authority offers a lower cost financing. The lower cost is due to the city's credit rating. This is part of the debt cycling program and the program provides consistent funding for the projects and it is designed to have level debt payments. In other words, this The annual debt payment will be consistent year after year. The anticipated closing date will be August 28, 2026. The pledged revenue sources will be the fifth one quarter increment of the municipal gross receipt tax I wanna make a note right here that general fund will not pay this loan. The flood operating fund will be the repayment source for this loan. The last time the city obtained a loan for flood control was in 2023. The amount will not exceed $3,065,000. And it will have a maturity nullated in June 1, 2038. Interest rate will be less than 12%. Again, and I note right here, even though I'm saying it will be less than 12%, do not think it's going to be like 11.9%. If the city gets to issue this loan today, I'm anticipating, personally, I'm anticipating the interest rate will be more like 4%. And then MFA fee will be less than 1% of the loan principal. And these are your council options, and I stand for questions.

All right, thank you, Adolfo. Any questions by council? Councillor Harris?

Thank you, Mayor. And my question is, you mentioned that the general fund doesn't pay for this, the flood control fund pays for that. Where does the money from the flood control fund come from?

Mayor, Councillor Harris, when the GRTs get distributed, one portion of that, it's assigned to the flood control.

Thanks.

Okay, seeing no other comments. Christine?

This is on the motion to approve ordinance 3116. Councilor McClure? Yes. Councilor Matisse? Yes. Councilor Harris? Yes. Councilor Bencomo? Yes. Councilor Crayon? Yes. Councilor Munoz? Yes. Mayor?

Yes. Next is item 7.5, council bill number 27-001, ordinance number 3117. Move to approve. Second.

Okay, Jan. Good afternoon, Mayor, members of council, Jan Lauterbach with Housing and Neighborhood Services. The ordinance before you approves an annual disposition of parcels to our non-profit housing partners, Mesilla Valley Habitat for Humanity and Tierra Del Sol Housing Corporation for the construction of single family owner occupied homes. The limited availability of land and the increasing cost of construction have made it challenging for income-restricted households to purchase a home. Many of the homes on the market right now are not affordable to these households. Through Resolution 26-022, City Council approved the purchase of a 52-lot subdivision in the Metro Arcadia Phase 4, it's actually the Metro Arcadia Phase 4 subdivision for single-family home development. The disposition of land for affordable housing is allowed under the State of New Mexico's Affordable Housing Act, or the Act, and also under the city's, excuse me, Affordable Housing General Oversight Ordinance to qualified grantee agencies. Both Sierra del Sol and Mesilla Valley Habitat are certified as qualified grantee agencies. And this action supports objectives of several city plans. Liens will be filed against the properties to ensure that the housing remains affordable. The Metro Arcadia, or for our partnering agency's capacity purposes, the ordinance would allow for disposition of a limited number of parcels on an annual basis without having to return to council each year for approval. The proposal would provide for allocations of 10 lots to Tierra del Sol and five lots to Habitat for completion each year. And if either agencies warrant an adjustment, if their capacity warrants an adjustment to the number of lots given or allocated each year, the annual disposition totals may be modified administratively without requiring further council approval. Here's an aerial map of the subdivision. On the left-hand side, just getting started, and on the right-hand side, we have the infrastructure put in with houses ready to build on it. With that, I have your standard council options, and I stand for questions.

Mayor stepped away. I'll open it up for discussion. Councilor Matisse?

Thank you Mayor Pro Temp. In your comment where you're assuring the house stays affordable, what's the scenario like someone comes in and they purchase this home, it's affordable to them. and then they live in it for five years, 10 years, 15 years, do you have like an index of how much it can increase so that they make some profit from it? Are they allowed? In other words, it's their equity, correct?

Yes, Mayor and Councillor Matisse, you're correct in that.

Yeah, so how do you, if they do really great improvements, will it come out of the affordability range, or how do you assure that? I know, I was just thinking.

Mayor and Councilor Matisse, affordability period will be a certain set period, say 15, 20 years. And then the amount, if they're making any improvements in that property, they will of course have to document it. But the amount of any subsidy they will get out of it will also be income-based. Because in this, if we're not using any federal funds for construction, they can go up to 120% AMI. So we're looking at higher incomes. In that case, we wouldn't allow them to get the subsidy as much as lower income folks, but any capital improvements, if they went to sell that property after the affordability period, they could get a portion of those capital improvements at the sale.

So they share in a portion of, okay, thank you. Sure.

Councilor Harris.

Thanks, so kind of a follow on to that question. I guess maybe a more general description of how that affordability restriction actually looks in practice. So obviously, the point is we want these homes to be affordable for a certain percentage of AMI. And we don't want somebody to come in and get it and then turn around and sell it in five years when they want to move and then sell it to somebody who's going to now rent it out for $3,000 a month or something. So do you have a better description of how that

Those restrictions look- Yes, Mayor and Councillor Harris, we do that affordability period now with our homes that are for sale through Tierra del Sol and Habitat. We do have the purchase service of the home sign an agreement saying that they will occupy the home as their primary residence. And those occupancy checks are done on an annual basis. So we're checking utility records, we're having them provide a statement saying that they own or occupy the homes. for a certain period of time. So we're monitoring that affordability and making sure that they're not out there renting it to someone else.

And then that, so if I read in the packet correctly, that owner-occupied limit, that's really the primary limit is for 15 years, these are supposed to be owner-occupied and we're giving some sort of income-based subsidy.

Mayor and Councilor Harris, excuse me, that is correct. Okay, thanks.

Okay, seeing no other comments, Christine.

This on the motion to approve ordinance 3117, Councilor McClure? Yes. Councilor Matisse? Yes. Councilor Harris? Yes. Councilor Bencomo? Yes. Councilor Curran? Yes. Councilor Munoz?

Yes.

Mayor?

Yes. Next is item 7.6, council bill number 27-003, ordinance number 3119. Move to approve.

Move to second.

Okay, good afternoon, Mayor and City Council. My name is Elizabeth Teeters, and I'm here to talk to you about Alita for a Jim Magic's Child Development Center, which will be an expansion of their current operations. So just to start, LIDA means the Local Economic Development Act. Its purpose is it assists expanding or relocating businesses that stimulate economic growth, have significant community impact and support, increases wages and provides job creation, promotes significant new private investment. Some use of the LIDA funds is for purchase, lease, construct, improve or acquire land, buildings or infrastructure. LIDA funds can also be used for public works improvements essential to the location or expansion of any kind of project and it's always on a reimbursement basis. Some background information. So you have to have a LIDA plan adopted in order to implement LIDA. We updated ours back in 2023 and added what we call a local model category. So what's required with this is a capital investment of at least $250,000. investment in the form of in-kind services, jobs, expanded tax base, property and or other things or services of value for the expansion of the economy. And in these kind of projects, it does not necessarily need to include the State Economic Development Department, which was recently rebranded to Economic Development New Mexico. And so we haven't had the opportunity to use our local LIDA yet, but then Nancy Bates from Gym Magic came to us like four or five months ago and she had the perfect project we felt was the perfect project with the adoption of universal child care one of the biggest needs in our community right now is additional child care and so she came to the table with everything planned out and she was The lady was very understanding. She was our guinea pig with our application process and our new PPA that we created just to do LIDAs at the local level. So I am very thankful for her partnership and support to get us to this point today. So just Jim Magic's Child Development Center is the way they currently operate. So there's Ashley's Garden, which has offered childcare services since 2004 and has two classrooms. There's the Villages at Jim Magic. It opened in 2020 and offers pre-K and early pre-K. The new proposed project will be 10 new classrooms that will care for 120 children when it has full enrollment and will be located off of Delray, so just north of Highway 70 off Venus Street. The expected capital investment is $4.3 million with 37 full-time jobs added. The wages are $19 an hour for beginning untrained teachers, but the starting wage for a BA degree is $55,000 a year. And so the LIDA offer we would like to make for Gym Magic for this expansion is to employ at least 35 full-time persons by December 31st of 2032, and it would be a $50,000 LIDA on a reimbursement based on performance milestones, and we set up the milestones as follows. So it's $20,000 with the certificate of occupancy and have at least eight employees, $10,000 additional for maintaining 12... Employees for six consecutive months and then the last twenty thousand dollars will be maintaining thirty employees for six consecutive months Nancy is here in the audience if there any questions for her and with that I stand for your questions Thank You Elizabeth counselor current

Thank you so much, Elizabeth. This is really exciting. This is like literally my neighborhood. I'll be walking by. So I just want to say I'm really grateful that you have thought about this and worked with the folks to do it. And I can't wait to come visit when it's happening. And very, very close to my house. I walk there every day. So I really appreciate you leveraging these funds in this way to support really cool business in our community and meet a need. So thank you. And if... If folks want to talk I would love to hear a little bit more about the model But no pressure that might be too stressful for you, but I'm excited that you all will be in the neighborhood.

So, thank you Thanks mayor, thank you so much Elizabeth this is really exciting I just the expansion of Lita for something like this is felt so powerful and it had such big potential. So I'm excited to see the first project come through the door. So thank you to the folks. Sorry, I imagine it's you ladies right here. You're sort of the only folks left. So thank you very much. I don't want to put the horse before the cart. What is it? You know what I meant. But I do wonder if this can be turned into some sort of marketing model, right? Remind me, did you say the folks at Gem Magic came to you with this proposal?

Is that right? Mayor Councilor Bencomo, it was actually SBDC got in touch with us. We have a great partnership with them. Can you remind me what that is, SBDC? The Small Business Development Center, yes. She actually got in touch with staff and introduced us to Nancy and we all sat down.

And the reason I say that is because I'm wondering if there is a potential to go out and make some proposals to some small business owners. I'm particularly thinking about some local grocery store owners that we could take to food deserts even in newer parts of the city. But this is, I think, opening a really important door. So thank you for being the very important guinea pigs. And obviously we want to make sure we pay attention to this and we watch it carefully and we support it so that it can be everything it is. And I just feel like given that it's the first, it could really serve as a model for other small business owners to potentially tap into this kind of project. So thank you. You're welcome.

Councillor Matisse.

Can you tell, how is that fund, your LIDA fund? Is it well funded?

Mayor, Councillor Matisse, we actually do not have a designated LIDA fund. The Economic Development Department has a fund that has been Kind of gathering money over years through land sales and like leaders that fell through and whatnot So we have some funds in there to offer leaders in this case.

So I was reading some of the history of the Your funds used to come. I think you used to get 50% from the land sales. Do you still get that? I

Mayor, Councillor Matisse, yes. Well, the 50% goes to the affordable housing trust fund, and then 50% isn't designated to a specific location. Generally, if we sell land at the industrial park, the other 50% will go into the economic development fund, but it really depends on the land that's being sold.

Okay, so that could feed into the lead of funds? Mm-hm. Okay, thank you.

Councillor Harris.

Thanks, Mayor and Elizabeth, and I just wanted to echo everyone else's excitement. This seems like a really great bang for the buck as far as economic development goes, and it would be very interesting to see how it works out and how we can expand it to other businesses in town. Thanks.

Okay. Did anyone want to share anything? from the audience.

Mayor and councillors. Oh, thank you. We started in gymnastics. We're short people. I wanted to specifically thank Jennifer.

You can state your name.

Oh, Nancy Bates. Bates. Jennifer was really working with us when we opened the village in 2020 for pre-K and early pre-K. So when we started looking into the universal child care and opening up a new facility specifically for infants and one and two year olds because that appears to be where the greatest need is. Jennifer came to our side and and I was unaware of the leader project and she brought it forward So I want to really thank her and the small business development center from Dona Ana community branch and Elizabeth, you can tell how much work she put into this project, putting it all together. So thank you very much. And we look forward to, I think they're getting ready to submit the permit this week, and the land appears ready to go. And, oh, now better have babies, people. We need to have more babies. Thank you.

Thank you, Elizabeth. Terry.

This is on a motion to approve ordinance 03-119. Councillor McClure? Yes. Councillor Matisse?

Yes, for more babies.

Councillor Harris? Yes. Councillor Bencomo? Yes. Councillor Curran? Yes. Councillor Munoz? Yes. Mayor? Yes. Thank you. Motion carries.

Next is item 7.7, council bill number 27-004, ordinance number 3120. Move to approve. Second. Okay, Christine.

Mayor, city council, Christine Rivera, your city clerk. The ordinance before you today is to repeal the select and policy review committees out of the municipal code. So the select committees were adopted via ordinance 2908 in January 2020, and the code stated that the select committees may be established by the mayor or city council to provide the mayor and city council with information and advice on the goals and objectives stated in the city charter or the city's strategic plan. And at the time there were two of them, there was a public safety select committee and the finance select committee. The policy review committees were adopted by two separate ordinances, 2910 and 2913 in January and March of 2020. And again, the code stated the purpose of the PRC is to formulate recommendations to the city council on specific issues or subject areas that have direct community-wide impact on the health, safety, living conditions, and general quality of life for people in the city. And we had several more of those. We had economic development, health, housing, quality of life, and TSI, which was the Transportation, Sustainability, and Infrastructure Committee. And so, these are options. We're asking to repeal them entirely from the code.

Thank you, Christine. Any questions or comments? Councilman Craig.

Sorry to keep commenting. I don't want to keep us here forever, I know. Everyone's like, ooh, record time. But I just want to thank you for, I want to thank Christine and Brad and Mayor Enriquez for bringing this forward. Some of us, a small number of us were on the city council when these committees existed and i think we were we especially the safety select committee public safety select committee in the finance committee which we didn't actually hear very much about that these committees were not things that we necessarily were uh... enthusiastic about their their secrecy and i think that people folks heard a lot of protest and recently then the foundation for open government sent a letter to prior city counselors no one no one on this council today was among the folks that were the subject of the letter that came from the foundation for open government and kudos to mayor enriquez for making sure that as soon as he came in we address this historic sort of the existence of these committees and um i'm really i really appreciate that proactive sort of making it clear that together we're not going to be doing this and i think also it's a testament the prcs which we some of us have served on at different times i think we have found that we can work as a committee of the whole, and I think as Santa Fe is also redoing their charter and they're trying to figure out if their committees work, it's a very interesting conversation. I think we're really, again, providing a model for having conversations in public at work sessions and doing things more proactively. So just to give some context to all of these things and what it means going forward, that means we're gonna do things like we've been doing them now, emphasizing public conversations in work sessions, and I just really appreciate everyone who worked on addressing the issues brought up by the Foundation for Open Government and really addressing these in the very initial stage. Mayor Enriquez, I really appreciate you being proactive in that. And thank you for moving the council forward. And also, just so you know, none of us were actually participated in that. and the objected to committees. So not that I'm trying to absolve us, I just want to tell you, we're voting on something that wasn't really our initiation, so just to be clear. So thank you again. Councillor Ingram.

Thank you, I wasn't initially gonna say anything, but given your comments, I think it's important that I do. Thank you, Christine and Mayor, for bringing this forward. For a matter of transparency and accountability, I was on the council when these committees were enacted. If it wasn't my very first meeting in 2020, it was certainly in the first month that I was on the council in January 2020. Not that that's an excuse, but it is context to provide to folks. I was part of the finance committee and part of what I always thought about the finance select committee that everything we discussed in the select committee for finance always came to council eventually. So those weren't conversations that were kept private. Those were conversations that always came to council. which is almost why I never understood why they existed anyway. And I think there is... historical evidence, if you will, of my criticism for this public select committee that often shut out fellow counselors and members of the public. And so I am glad we're having this, but I just wanted to make sure that I was fully transparent with folks about that. my position since I am the most veteran person on the council. That was part of that. So thank you and I'm happy to support this.

Councilor Matisse.

You know, Christine, I just want to comment. I was very pleased. I asked for an email on all the meetings that they had, the agenda, and you were very quick to respond, very transparent. You know, I was looking through, I was interested in who attended these, you know, I guess it was Gabe Vasquez, Miyagi Shima, and as, I really appreciate Councilor Karam bringing that up. Because, you know, when I received it, it actually said violations. And so, you know, it kind of triggered me to, what violations were they? But then I later found out that I believe the Department of Justice Said these committee meetings were okay to have but I just want to again Thank the mayor They are Enriquez Erica. Thank you for bringing this forward and repealing what had some kind of You know, it wasn't totally transparent and totally the right thing to do So really proud of the sitting on this City Council and thank you for your your honesty. I appreciate it.

I

Thank you, Mayor, City Councilors. Just want to echo just a little bit differently. I appreciate the mayor and my colleagues on the dais here. This was an active ordinance. And whether some people partook in it or didn't, your leadership and you chose not to participate in something like this. So I appreciate you and I appreciate the mayor for their leadership. in even though again this was an active ordinance ordinance i think you had a sense of what was right and what was wrong and you chose the higher path thank you thank you mayor all right well thank you christine and

Yeah, thank you all for the comments, but it was something that we all agreed on from the beginning. When I took office, I said one of the things to Christine was, we're not doing the PRCs anymore. And we all agreed that let's use the work session as a tool that we can be open and discuss the items that we need to move forward. So thank you all for being supportive. And the select committees was something we just weren't going to get into as well. If I say anything that we lagged on was getting it off the books as an ordinance. So that's what we're doing today. But our actions were that we were not going to participate in those and bring it to work sessions for more context and more transparency so that we can move forward on the things we really need to discuss. So thank you all for supporting it as well. And with that, Derek.

This is on a motion to approve ordinance 03-120. Councillor McClure? Yes. Councillor Matisse?

Yes.

Councillor Harris? Yes. Councillor Bencomo? Yes. Councillor Curran? Yes. Councillor Munoz? Yes. Mayor? Yes. Thank you. Motion carries. Thank you.

Next on the agenda is board appointments, and we have one, so I'll need a motion and a second. It's for Terpin, new appointment to Planning and Zoning Commission. So moved.

Second. Also, I would just like to say Toby's a great human being, just as a note. He gives a lot of money to animal causes, and I'm so excited to say yes, even though this is an extremely mundane thing, sorry.

This is on a motion to appoint Toby Turpin to the Planning and Zoning Commission. Councillor McClure? Yes. Councillor Matisse? Yes. Councillor Harris? Yes. Councillor Bencomo? Yes. Councillor Curran? Yes. Councillor Munoz? Yes. Mayor? Yes. He's your appointee.

There are no proposed ordinances and we'll move to city council member board reports and comments. Councilor McClure.

Nothing today, thank you.

Councilor Matisse.

Mayor, I have a few things. I would like some type of consensus if it's allowable. I was looking at the public meetings. This is the city is updating a strategic plan and we have some meetings. I need to know if there'll be more meetings or if this is it with six meetings. I don't see how we're going to get a lot of the working people at these meetings when they're held from 3.30 to 5. They're held 3.30 to 5 at the Papen Center, 3.30 to 5 at the Brannigan Library, 3.30 to 5 at Lynn Middle School, 3.30 to 5 at East Mesa Public Safety Complex, 3.30 to 5 at Sage Cafe. And then we have a later one at the WIA building from 6 to 7.30. I really think we need additional meetings, and if I could just get some kind of consensus. I think we need additional meetings from 6 to 7.30, 8 o'clock. I think we need more of the business owners and the working voter to have an opportunity to attend the meetings.

I'll tell you, Councilor Matisse, from what I understand is this is the first phase and then there'll be some specific stakeholder meetings as well, but I'll let the city manager address some of those. Okay.

Maybe I was looking on the fly that it would say more meetings to come.

Yeah, I think there are more meetings. Did you want to add anything to that, city manager?

Thank you, Mayor Enriquez. Councillor Matisse, thank you. There's been some sentiment amongst other councillors as well on this, so working with Mandy, and then we'll come back and give you an update to the point that you've brought up, if that's okay.

Okay, thank you. Mayor, I have a few more items. Yeah, go ahead. You know, I've received some emails about our public comments, and what happens is someone gets up and they insinuate or they imply that, for example, like the lead in copper. Or maybe Mr. Akani, or maybe we could respond at the same meeting you know what happens is they say something we don't know i know ben como has an excellent idea you know fact checking things and maybe maybe we could say something that there is not lead in district two you know that people are not drinking uh water with lead in it in district two maybe miss widmer can get up and And say that in the same meeting, because the same people watching the meeting on website or streaming it, they need to see a reply right away. Or else we're just going to get more people commenting knowing that there's no answer to anything that they say. So I'd like to see an immediate response if that's possible.

Yeah, we can always look at that. The thing is that it's public participation. It's there three minutes. It's not for open discussion, because we could continue going back and forth. We try to address those issues at our comments, and we have, I know several times, a city manager, assistant city manager, and utilities director have reached out. We've done presentations. We've done a lot of things. I think the next thing is to get our public health coordinator to come up and address the issues of health issues. But every time we combat that, they come back with more and more. But I know nobody has been hospitalized in the last 18 months. Nobody has died in the last 18 months. And those are some of the things that we can look at. It's that individual that keeps coming and keeps coming. And yeah, there are times when somebody brings an issue and one of the ACMs will get their name and number and follow up with it. And that's been the normal practice. I don't want to get into open discussions, but we've tried with certain individuals and it just seems to just entice them to come more.

Thank you, Mayor. Maybe, Director Widmer, maybe you could contact me and reassure me that the water quality in District 2 is excellent for everyone drinking it. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Matisse. And we'll have Anthony as well let you know on the data on health issues with the drinking of water in all of Las Cruces. Councilor Harris.

Thanks, Mayor. I have a couple things. I guess we have one fewer board vacancy now, but we do have several board vacancies that I just wanted to point out in case people are wanting to get involved. Transit, Health and Human Services, I think there's a District 3 specific one for there. A District 3 spot is open in Parks and Rec and senior programs, and ADA also has a, I think, vacancy, so if you're interested in getting involved, contact me, contact Christine or your counselor. There are some other district-specific seats, and hopefully we can get those filled. Next thing is I just wanted to give a kudos to Community Development. I went and had a very brief meeting with a new business that just moved to town, and I asked how was their experience, and they said that it was pretty smooth. They came in, they had a bunch of back and forth on getting their permits and things, and it took a little while because they were coming in from out of state, but overall they were pretty satisfied. And so I think that's a pretty good endorsement of the direction that the department is heading and how we're actually able to maybe start moving some projects forward and being a more, not necessarily more business friendly, but eliminating some of the friction that used to be there and caused a lot of frustration. So very happy to see that business here. They said lots of great things about the community and hope we can continue that economic development. Thanks, Mayor.

Thank you. Councilor Binkle.

Thank you, Mayor. Yes, I agree about the strategic planning meetings and that they need to be more accessible times. So hopefully we can see either more added or some of those changed. But thank you staff and our consultants for acting on those so quickly. I just wanted to share a couple things that I learned in Baltimore. I was there last week. at a local progress conference with almost 500 municipally elected officials from across the country just learning from each other of challenges and successes. And one of the reasons we were in Baltimore is because of the incredible and powerful story that Baltimore has right now around reducing gun violence in their city. Baltimore historically was plagued by gun violence and had extremely high rates of homicide. In the last several years, Baltimore cut its homicide rate by 60% from 2021 to 2025, largely through public health approach to gun violence. And this is from one of the articles I got to read while I was there. The city and its partners started treating gun violence as a public health issue that can bring that can be greatly reduced by stable housing, quality employment, access to transportation, and other opportunities for kids specifically, and they were all connected through Baltimore's group violence reduction strategy. Baltimore's first comprehensive violence prevention plan takes public safety beyond police, prosecution, and prison by working closely with community groups to focus on prevention and support for those most affected by the violence. I heard often from city councilors from Baltimore that there used to be a palpable culture of violence in their city and that that has just drastically changed, that people feel like there's opportunity and hope and potential. And one of the great quotes that I read was, The same way that violence is a contagion, peace can also be contagious. And Baltimore is just such an example and a reminder for me that these kinds of strategies to community safety are real, they're effective, they're successful, and we should always be attempting to use them. So while there are folks here who believe that that is not my hope, it is absolutely my hope in how I approach these conversations and I think taking a public health approach to hear from our public health professor, but to gun violence and to violence in general is successful. And one of the other pieces that I wanted to share from Baltimore because I just left so deeply inspired was that of, and look it up if you so desire, if you want to feel a little bit of inspiration as well, It's called the Edmondson Village Shopping Center in West Baltimore. This shopping center was at one point a great economic driver for this part of the city, and through years of violence and deterioration and divestment, it really became a really dangerous place. It was plagued by decades of decline, neglect, and crime, even having been the site of a mass shooting in 2023 where five youth were injured and one sadly passed away. So this shopping center was really this Area where the community saw as once a place of hope and now this like tragic place but through committed there's a committed developer a City councilor mayor with political imagination and political will there was nonprofit support there was funding from 200 community investors who put in maybe $2,000 into this project and really turned this tragic place back into a place of hope and There was, in combination with a multi-family complex that was being built nearby that provided home ownership opportunities and affordable housing opportunities, this neighborhood really has come alive and felt like they had been seen and respected. So if you want to feel some inspiration, and I already shared this with our community development staff and our economic development staff because I just was so deeply inspired, and a reminder to all of us that while our We've been so keenly focused on redevelopment in Las Cruces with our MRA areas, with our MRAs, that while the work is slow, it is important and we have to continue paying attention to it because you pay attention to grows. The work of redevelopment is community safety and it is important and we must continue investing in it. And we have a great example here of why and how those kinds of projects are successful and important for communities. So if you wanna look into a little bit of hope and inspiration, look into Baltimore and the Edmondson Village Shopping Center. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Councilor Curran.

Thank you, and I also went to Local Progress where we visited another part of the city, the middle branch of several rivers that I don't remember that was historically an industrial area that was basically a dumping ground for a lot of industrial waste and industries that were incredibly polluting, and we found number of sort of sustainability efforts that were that they were pioneering there and then also they built the largest rec center in all of Baltimore City that has some of the most extraordinary programs and and ability abilities integrations they it's actually the main gym that the Baltimore police and and fire work out at so they they've worked out a connection there and they built a with that in mind to be a tool for public safety to be integrated within community and so it was a really interesting place to visit and some sustainability items that I think made me think of our landfill that's out for, former landfill, not a landfill anymore, out for community development right now which is across from Mountain View. I think that they're seeking a developer right now. I'm not sure if that call is still open but it made me think a lot about how we can take spaces that have historically been neglected or experienced tragedy or polluted in some way or another, as the city has with the Griggs Walnut Superfund site, which is now our Hadley Sports Complex and drinkable water site. So it just gave me a lot of optimism about transformations that we have the potential to do here in Las Cruces as well, among other powerful lessons. So it was very hopeful. And I do want to point to one quick thing coming up. Councilor Harris mentioned committees. I think that we are also looking for at least one Animal Services Center board member. So when folks are thinking about how they fit in, that might be another place to fit in. And I will point out that we have an Animal Services board meeting coming up on Thursday morning. It's important because in addition to doing all the usual board meeting things, The new leadership at the Animal Services Center has come up with a new mission and they're really hoping to move us into a new chapter of conversation around animal care in our community. And I think that folks can see and feel that happening. So I hope that if people are interested in animal welfare in particular, you can come and participate in the Animal Services Board meeting here at nine on Thursday morning. So that's the last of my announcements.

Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, Mayor, Councillors. I just want to say thank you to my colleagues who have gone out and gathered some best practices and bring them back to the city and to our staff. It's always good to see what's working across our country and bring it back home. And so speaking of that, I had an experience at the store, and it gives me great hope for our future. I know that there's so many challenges, so many things going on. But as I was in line ready to pay, there was this young lady in front of me struggling to pay, and something was going on. I actually didn't know, but she was struggling for a while. So I was about to take out my visa card, which is so 90s, I know. Another young lady behind me, very unpretentiously, just a huge heart, says, oh, I can pay with my app. And she wanted to pay. She kind of cut in front of me, wanted to pay for that young lady that was struggling. She says, no, no, it's my app that's actually not working right. Anyway, bottom line was, somehow, Somehow she figured it out, but this is, again, unpretentious, just a very kind-hearted young lady who was fast in the draw, wanted to skip in line, just said excuse me to me and wanted to pay. And so there is hope for a better tomorrow. With that, I want to recognize also Chris and community development team for helping out a birthing center recently. It's a beautiful facility and it kind of takes comforts of home and modernization And it kind of merges them together to give the baby and the birthing mother a great experience. All those, the permits and whatever, they were approved. And two days later, the facility sent me a video of the first baby crying as he or she or the baby was born. So right in the nick of time. Thank you, Chris. And there's 16 more babies on the way. So the work that you all do is very important. Yes, exactly. At least 16, I think.

So yes, wow.

So that's encouraging, though I'm beyond that. The other thing is I do want to also agree with Councilman Coleman, Councilman Matisse, I would encourage as much as we can to have a variety of strategy listing district sessions throughout the city and throughout various parts of, you know, during the day, whether it's during the day or during the evening. I know that puts a burden, but it does increase our availability and access to residents out there. So if we can have other meetings, City Manager Tampeo, that would be fantastic. And I also wanted to recognize and appreciate the invitation. Chief Jeremy Story was recognized nationally as a hometown hero. Congratulations, Chief. Appreciate the work that you do and lastly i also want to appreciate and say thank you to the parks and rec team and every partner in every other city staff that was involved in the fourth of july just heard excellent feedback it's a wonderful wonderful event i know there were many hours early during the day and late into the evening so thank you thank you mayor

Thank you, Mayor Bertram. And also, I just want to say congratulations to Chief Story on his National Hometown Hero Award. Well-earned, well-deserved, thank you for your service. I want to also say thank you to Bohanna Houston who is an engineer firm here in Las Cruces for 12, 13 years, but now built a beautiful building on North Rise, had their ribbon cutting a couple weeks ago, and really laid down roots and say they want to invest and help Las Cruces with the infrastructure and engineering, surveying, and just become a part of Las Cruces. So want to welcome them and thank you for the beautiful building that they put up on North Rise. And also, yesterday, for the first time in 13 years, a group got together and brought back the City Golf Championship. It was in hiatus for 13 years, and they had the rounds this weekend with NMSU Golf Course and also with... with Red Hawk and had other multiple sponsors come out to make this activity come to the city again and recognize some city champions as golfers. So it was good to see, reminds me the Gus Macker had been gone for years and has come back to Las Cruces. So these activities, these events, bring tourism, bring in other people from our city and help our city to grow and develop. And with that, I'll let you know that October of 2027, we will be bringing back the whole Enchilada Fiesta. We'll partner with NMSU and just what we saw, glimpses of the Fourth of July, we'll do that in October, partnering with NMSU and bring back the whole Enchilada. No, the vaqueros will come after that. Once we get the enchilada, that's going to bring them. It's going to bring a lot more. But we're looking to bring that gathering, bring the community together. This is still a great place to live. This is a great place, and we just need to continue. We'll have the strategic plans. We'll have other things coming up, and we'll put it all together. It's very exciting. I'm looking forward to it. And with that, I'll turn it over to our city manager for his report.

Thank you, Mayor Enriquez and City Council. City Manager, I appreciate your input, Council, to you all. I've heard from various council members and also today at the dais. Thank you, Matisse and Bencomo, for bringing this up as well, as well as Councilor McClure and Mayor Pro Tem Munoz. meetings, community input, we'll pivot. I'll get with staff and see what that pivot looks like, and then we'll present that to you, if that sounds okay, coming up. And then I just have two more announcements, and then I'll be on my way. So for fire on Saturday, July 25th, Lieutenant Robert Pedersen is retiring after 20 years of service to the city council from the city of Las Cruces. Robert has held many roles in his tenure since graduating from the Academy 24 in July 2006. Promoting through the ranks, he led our small engine maintenance program ensuring the essential equipment was maintained and ready to use. We wish him the best in the next chapter. So thank you to our LT, Robert Patterson. We can get a round of applause for LT. Of course our mayor knows him. And just more of a FYI, it's been mentioned a few times in, there was a comment made about Paymentus, which is the software that we use to pay for the point of sale transaction that occurs on our utilities for residents. I do want to mention just a point that city council had made an approach and the reason why it is a burden on the budget is because council years ago did not want that transaction to be on the backs of residents. And so when there is a 2.5% charge on the credit card transaction or debit card transaction, in addition to a flat fee of $2.15, Council didn't want that put on the backs of residents and normally in other cities that is put on the backs of residents to charge. So that is something that has happened and so I just wanted to share last year it's been trending at 566,000 so the reason why that, came, again, just a reminder to the audience and to those who are watching, is even though the threshold contractually was at 600,000, last year it was at 566,000, we are asking for a bump in the contractual agreement to go up to a million, but that, we may not even hit a million, it depends if anyone wants to WANTS TO BE A NEW TRANSACTION THAT WANTS TO TAKE AUTOMATIC PAYMENTS. SO IT'S NOT NECESSARILY SOMETHING THAT HAPPENS NEXT FISCAL YEAR THAT I DON'T FORESEE THAT HAPPENING UNTIL, YOU KNOW, MORE THAN FIVE YEARS DOWN THE ROAD WHERE WE START HITTING THAT. BUT THAT'S BASED ON ANY TRANSACTION THAT TURNS OVER TO AUTOMATIC. SO I JUST WANTED TO MENTION THAT. AND THAT'S IT FOR ME. MAYOR AND COUNCIL, THANK YOU.

THANK YOU, CITY MANAGER. WITH THAT, I'LL LOOK FOR A MOTION TO ADJOURN.

Move to adjourn. Second.

This is on motion to adjourn the meeting. Councillor McClure? Yes. Councillor Matisse? Yes. Councillor Harris? Yes. Councillor Bencomo? Yes. Councillor Curran? Yes. Councillor Munoz? Yes. And Mayer?

Yes.