Council - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call the uh regular city council meeting of March 11th to order. Miss Cassandra, Mayor David Romero here. Councelor Marvin Martinez present. Councelor Barbara Casey here. Councelor Bonito Pacheco present. Councelor David Ulivari here. Thank you Mr. Mayor. We do have a quorum. Mr. Lucas Marcus, will you lead us in the pledge? To the flag of the United States of America and to [clears throat] the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Councelor Casey, a moment of silence.

Let us take a moment of silence to remember the young persons who perished in the fire recently and their families. pray for them and help u ask the Lord to give them solace at this very difficult time. Also, I want to include in our prayer this evening the first responders who uh were the ones who uh I'm sure are still traumatized from having found young people who had perished in the fire. And so let us all pray for them, keep them in our prayers, and uh hope that we don't ever have anything like this happen again. Amen.

Do you guys have anything to add to tonight's moment of silence? Just pray for our country and all those serving uh in Iraq right now and uh on behalf of the United States. Um I bless our country. Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, moving on to approval of the agenda. Um, I do have some recommendations per city manager and mayor. Um, the first one is to remove the recognition of West Las Vegas and RHS wrestling team that will be placed on next week's council meeting. and also to table consent items 1 through 4 and 6 through 11 for next week's meeting as well. and to move consent item number five to our business items which is the ratification of addendum number three to contract 394823 with Gallatin and our last recommendation is to remove business item number one the tree ordinance and that will be need to be republished as there was a revision And that will be uh going to our regular meeting on April 8th for adoption.

Just just if I can, Mr. Marcus, can you kind of just uh for the public, I don't know if we have anybody in the audience, but on that specific item, the reasoning is to fight. Yes, sir. [clears throat] Uh, Mr. Mayor and Councel, so what we found was, uh, uh, we we had a, um, somebody reached out to us and advised us that they they had an issue with, uh, a section of the ordinance, uh, 409-10. Uh, there was a area where it says that there would be uh, possible citations up to a thou, $1,000. Uh, and, you know, after our city attorney looked at that, he reviewed it. uh that's not something that we can do through per state statute even though we are a home rule state uh city. Uh so we went ahead and made those revisions uh to be in compliance with our state statutes and that's that's the only thing that there was there. Other than that, this is a good ordinance.

Uh Mr. manager with the uh recommended uh changes that you had recommended. Uh just for the record that any of these items that we're tableling till next week uh none of them are uh you know are necessary to be approved this week at all. I mean could you elaborate on that?

Uh thank you mayor and council. Uh appreciate that and the opportunity to provide some additional information. So, uh, relative to, uh, requests we received from council, um, related to providing additional detailed information tied to contracts. Uh, we're revamping our process internally to provide some additional information upfront um, so that you're able to look through the documents and have an executive summary of not only the contract in front of you, but the background information provided. uh councelor Pacheco in particular had asked for that but other counselors have also asked for transparency and additional clarity that provides not only information to you mayor and council but the public as well and so we feel that uh it it was better to recommend tableabling to provide uh some additional executive summary and background information and uh we'll be bringing those forth uh at the next meeting. Our clerk is going to go ahead and include that uh information so it could be accessible uh by the public as well.

Thank you. And I would stand for any other questions that mayor. So So we have uh some recommended changes on the agenda as noted by uh Miss Cassandra. Uh I have a motion or second a motion or any questions. Councilman Martinez, go ahead and move to the uh approval approval of the agenda with the changes that were noted here just now. Motion by council Martinez. I have a second. Second. Second by councelor Pacheco. Discussion. See none. Roll call. Councelor Levi. Yes. Councelor Martinez. Yes. Councelor Casey. Yes. Councelor Pacheco.

Yes. I have a motion by councelor Martinez, a second by councelor Pacheco. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Motion carries. Moving on to our public input. We have no public input this evening. Um moving on to our mayor's appointments, reports, recognitions, and proclamations.

Uh this this this week's uh report just uh continued uh discussion and working with the the state. I know we've had a couple of meetings with the environment department. Uh we've also had uh and I know maybe each one of you will will say but we had the community comp uh plan uh couple days ago. Uh so this week I won't uh I know we have some other stuff so I won't go into too much detail but thank you. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Moving on to our counselor's reports. Mr. Mayor Martinez.

Uh just wanted to mention that uh myself and councelor Casey attended uh the NMD DOT meeting um couple of weeks ago and that was pretty much in reference to some of the projects the ongoing projects that are coming up through the uh the Department of Transportation. One of them being the the project on the north side of our community which is going to be from Columbia Street to just past city hall. I did mention that they there was a lot of different discussion in that meeting. Uh we had chairman chairman Adams there and uh you know all the officials from state highway department along with uh with the county chairman Harold Garcia was there. So, uh, good discussion. I think we're going to continue to have those meetings in reference to any support that we can get from the highway department or state highway department so that we can move forward on some of the items that are coming up. So, uh, for myself, I think that was that was it. Uh, we did we did just have that meeting a few days ago for the comprehensive uh, master plan. Uh, one of the other things I want to mention is that myself and councelor Yelbury and Arnold uh, our our public works director went out to King Street, looked at that project. It needs it's in the works and and uh, I think that's that's a street that needed to be completed for years. I mean, it's probably going back 40 years, but what I'm trying to get at is I'm hoping that we can continue to fund the balance of that street, which is about another just roughly I think the uh the quote was probably roughly about

200,000. I'm hoping that we could complete the entire piece rather than just piece it out. So, I just wanted to bring that to light. I think that would be a good thing to do. That's a a street that needs a lot of attention. and has been needing that attention for so many years. So anyway, I that's all I have in my report. Thank you, you Casey.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I want to thank the first responders uh again because I know that um their job is difficult to begin with and when you have uh deaths that are the result of um a you know a tragic um event, it's even more difficult for them. And so, um, I want to thank them and I've been praying for them because I know that it's such a difficult job to begin with and, uh, discovering, uh, young people, um, that have perished is a very, very difficult thing to cope with. Uh the other thing I wanted to mention also was the Department of Transportation meeting that we had last week and I'm looking forward to uh getting more input from my constituents that are going to be affected by the uh northern part of of Grand [clears throat] and make sure that um they understand why things are being done the way they are. and um hopefully everyone will be able to uh benefit from the changes that will be made. I have received uh several phone calls about the museum and there is some concern that uh I guess there are two groups the friends of the museum and then the museum board. The museum board is selected by the the mayor and voted on by the council. The friends of the museum are people who are very interested in the museum and who give of their personal time to volunteer at the museum. There are some concerns about mold in the basement area. Some items that are not being displayed adequately.

Uh the ruse the uh Teddy Roosevelt memorabilia are not all on display and some items have been thrown away and have not been able to be found anywhere. So those are some of the things that were brought uh to the forefront and they had wonderful things to say about the person that is working at the museum now saying that she is very enthusiastic and loves what she's doing and is doing a really good job um with with what she knows about, you know, what the job entails. And then uh also I wanted to mention that we were very pleased with the amount of people who showed up at Monday night's meeting, the town hall meeting at the rec center. We had a lot of really good input from people there and um I I not only enjoyed the people, I love people, [laughter] but the ideas and what people were thinking about uh I think were just outstanding. And I think um I've had some people call me up that weren't able to make the meeting and so they asked me pretty much all day yesterday and today uh what had happened and when is the next one going to take place. So I told them that we would advertise and make sure that everybody knows that they're welcome to attend and we can u move forward with the work that's being done on that situation. So [clears throat] thank you Mr. Mayor. That's all

just to add to yours councelor case. Uh Mr. Marcus, if you don't, Mr. City Manager, uh I know they were going to do something online, right, to ask some of those same questions to get that input. And is that correct? Yes, that they mentioned that night that there would be an online uh so that people can can go ahead and be interactive with it as well, Mr. Mayor. Um and yeah, we do plan on having more of these and uh we'll go after the same amount of people, if not 10 times more.

Thank you. If I could, mayor, uh to to those points as well, uh I think we all noted those that were present that um above 50s uh was well represented represented at the meeting, but the 18 to uh 50 was not as represented. And so that's one piece that that we want to work together. we've already had some dialogue internally. Uh but that also a big piece uh was making sure we have things available for people that don't have access to internet where they they're able to uh have communication. And so the senior center was another area noted that will be a good viable place to to garner input. And then with Chief and Lucas and the rest of the whole team, we're going to try and come up with some creative ways with the consultants to hit that 18 to to 50 year old uh range and get more input from them.

Thank you, Mayor Counselor. Thank you for noting that cuz us in our 40s, we weren't even in the on the slide. [laughter] Yeah, we left you out completely. Councilman Liari.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Man. I just want to thank our staff that's been working on King Street. It looks beautiful. I've been living in that area for almost 70 some years and they're working on it. It's coming out beautiful. I don't know. Thanks patching crew for our staff. They're doing a lot of patching. Thank you. And just keep your prayers for the kids that we lost. Those are very everybody's close to all of us. And the thing is that you got to keep him say a prayer, talk to the family. You know, it's awful because we it's like our own kids and it just hurts. Just keep him in your prayers and keep God in your in your heart. Thank you.

Thank you, councelor. Councilman Pacheco.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, for a war two update, um, one, I just want to say thank you to the city manager, the directors. Uh, uh, I feel our our process in terms of some of the the contracts and budgets is going to be, uh, uh, lead to more transparency for the for the public that we serve. So, I appreciate that. Uh, of course, we had the, uh, the community forum. I thought it was well attended. Got a lot of good feedback after the forum. uh as well as as uh the feedback for the uh [clears throat] in the online version and the ability to access that information there. So, good job all the way around. Uh I liked uh seeing a lot of our our team there and uh interacting and communicating with the public. Um, I think that master plan is the first step or part of the step is to how we improve and how we create outcomes for the uh, city of Las Vegas and what we want it to look like in the future. Uh, part of my other plan, I did mention this last time, I still have don't have them up and running, but I will have some some uh, social media platforms, get my uh, uh, cell phone number out there for the public. Uh part of my other plan for the uh individuals in war two is uh to start community forums, see how they go. Uh thinking maybe on a on a uh semiannual basis at least. I know, you know, people are busy and we'll see how that goes. Uh just want to develop a way to get feedback from the constituents out there. Uh things I think overall that are going well for the city. Uh, and I've received positive feedback on these are these are citywide, but they're they're constituents from all over the city. I just want to say the Riverwalk is is that new phase that's being worked on is looking nice. Uh, I took my dog through there, took my dog on a walk through

there a couple weeks ago and it's a big improvement from what it was. I think that's a a part that we have to uh really consider as an asset for the community and and some of our planning has to go around that. It can it can become uh it could become a a major draw and just a nice recreation area for the for the region. Um specific to war two, I just want to uh uh recognize Arnold and some of the the street projects and sidewalk repair that that your crew's been taking care of. I really appreciate it. Had a lot of good feedback from from uh individuals within War. Uh in terms of the uh solid waste, I want to say that one that uh solid waste pickup is like clockwork these days. Uh which I like. I'm, you know, I'm not going to have to worry about getting up at 6:00 to put my my bin out or wait till later. I it usually comes at a standard time. Uh which either way it was getting picked up. I appreciate that. But I also want to say, David, that uh uh and I mentioned this on the radio, but I come in through the last exit in town usually when I'm coming into Las Vegas right into war 2. And you know, uh, it wasn't that that long ago that you would look over and see our solid waste center and there was just blowing debris everywhere, things scattered throughout that huge property in that yard. And as you drive in today, that is an example of what a what a what pride and hard work will will produce for a department. It's a great job. So So thank you, sir. That's that's it's a nice sight when you're coming into town. And I've had some good feedback about that. Uh I have some had some feedback on uh from constituents on the edge of the ward. We've talked about

that, Chief. Uh Arnold, we've talked about that a bit. There's that area on Dora Celeste we need to get a handle on and and figure out that road situation and figure out that public safety situation. So I'd like to talk to you a bit more about that, Mr. manager and and figure out how we develop some strategies around around that those gray gray. Well, for me, I know for me, some of that's in the ward. I know cuz people voted for me. So, we just have to uh uh own it and and serve it. And those that are in the gray area, we have to to uh collaborate with county and and uh state officials and and make sure they're served as well, too. So, that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Cassandra. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Moving on to our next item is our police chief's report. We have our police chief, Mr. Caleb Marcus. [clears throat] Mr. Mayor, as the chief's coming up, uh I did want to uh bring forward a mayor and counsel uh that I did have a conversation with our fire chief uh today, but regularly, but we're going to bring into the rotation uh you you've also discussed this as well uh having a report from the fire department as well. And so we're going to bring in a report in April, I think we agreed,

chief, and uh try and get on some kind of rotation to get updates from fire and uh to go along with what Chief Caleb provides. So I just want to note that on the record. I think to add to that, that's more of a to discuss public safety, you know, monthly, not just, you know, just one aspect. So we also hear the good things that are happening at fire. So thank you, M. Chief. Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, Mr. Manager. Thank you. This is going to be the police chief's report for the month of February. We're going to start in our uh wait for it to come up on the screen. We're going to start in our field operations division, our patrol. We had uh 30 parking citations, eight animal control, three burglary calls, 180 traffic uh citations, non-traffic citations were two, 32 arrest, four uh code enforcement uh citations assisted on and also uh responded to 1485 calls for service. Our dispatch and communication division, we had a total of 1689 calls for service come in. uh 1485 of police, 2011 of fire department, 175 for AMR, uh 69 animal control calls, 105 city uh services calls, and 677 uh 911 calls. Our animal care center, our beginning shelter count was 56 dogs, 22 cats for a total of 78. Our live intake was 40 dogs, six cats for a total of 46. We had nine adoptions of dogs, eight of cats for a total of 17. We had 19 dogs transferred out to other facilities. Uh no cats. We returned nine dogs and five cats to their owners. We had uh cats and dogs that were euthanized in shelter care. We had four dogs, no cats that were healthy, unhealthy or untreatable as one cat and lost and died in shel shelter care as one dog. Our ending shelter count is 54 dogs, 14 cats for a total of 68. Uh we currently still have um eight dog houses, eight kennels that are being used for court holds for eight dogs. Uh two cases were released from the courtold recently. Our records information division, they uh closed out 113 offensive incident reports, 22 traffic accident reports, 224 citations, attended to 115 customers, uh scanned 262 documents, and

completed 21 citys. They're also continuing with the indexing of 2018 to 2021. Now, um we're also uh our new employee uh training and our records maintenance management. Chief, just real quick, I know in the IRA, have we seen a decrease in that or is it continue to stay an increase? We we stay pretty steady, especially uh anytime that we have a big incident occur, uh something like that happened this weekend. We're we're going to get a lot of coming in for that. Uh so, you'll see that probably skyrocket within the next couple reports. Um it's very timeconuming especially when it comes to digital files and the redactions uh from our evidence tech.

We continuing to have uh I guess attorneys just randomly pick to kind of look into cases even though they're not hired as attorneys yet, but are we still having that? I know statewide that's happening. I'm just wondering if we're getting that.

We still do. And we're also getting a lot of out of state inquiries uh for requests and random cases whether they're closed or still open or pending. Um, but just uh pretty much on a daily basis it seems like. So, our street crimes division uh had 24 cases assigned to them, 65 self-initiated cases, 12 arrests, uh 12 search warrants, and closed out 20 cases. Evidence seized by the investigators was 54.28 28 gram of crack cocaine, uh, four prescription pills, six firearms, uh, 27.38 gram of heroin, uh, 15 tablets of our, um, methadone, and seized $2,482. Our evidence checked in by um, our patrol division was 35 cases in, 155 items turned in. Um, six items were released, not narcotics, releasable items to to the public. Sorry, just clarifying. One of these days I'll put something in there to clarify the items.

I catch

We had three firearms seized, 5.39 grams of methamphetamine, uh 75 fentanyl pills, 3 g of crack cocaine, and uh completed 33 CD or DVDs for requests, and digital files were 138 that were redacted. Our detectives responded to 10 calls for service during the month of February and uh executed narcotic search warrants at 911 Grant Street, which was one of our operations. So, was a joint operation with our Sigga County uh drug task force that we're working with the DA's office and sheriff's department on. Um this one was um handled by our agents uh that were assisting on that one. And the operation of course involved multiple agencies. We had uh fiveformational travels for the month of uh February. Our office manager uh Railene Gonzalez participated in online training for law enforcement academy for Arcadus in bringing us into compliance. A huge thank you to her and David Lalo for working on those. Uh February 10th, 2026, we traveled to myself and uh Deputy Chief Matias Apodaka in to Santa Fe to attend the legislative session. On February 11th, uh myself and Matias Apodaka also attended a a meeting for the DOT. It was our first meeting for the Grand Avenue concerns. Um those meetings are going to be ongoing and continuing. We're going to have anformational meeting once every 3 months and a operational meeting once every two months with the DOT and it's just a good relationship to have. There's a lot of common things that we're all working on and putting all our efforts into one is is going to be awesome. Um we had um communication personnel and mandatory training for our new uh communication system. We're about 90 98% complete with that. There's a few minor parts that uh need to be installed and that project is going to be 100% complete. That was a huge upgrade. Um we also worked on our repeater system. Spire got a new repeater. Uh we're [clears throat] seeing better improvements in our radios. Um just waiting to close that one out completely. Um two investigators

attended a live uh virtual training on background investigations. Officer King attended a roadside impairment raid right uh training in Gallup. And we also um I attended um the New Mexico Finance Authority meeting with Mr. Annayia in Santa Fe on February 26th. [cough] Excuse me.

Our recruitment is still ongoing. We have four police officer applicants. Uh we're also testing on Friday. So if anybody wants to test within that time, call us, show up Friday morning. We'll be testing. We'll be at West Las Vegas High School at 9:00 a.m. Um we have three uncertified and one certified. We have nine applicants for our communication specialist um for full-time positions. we are full in that area. We're going to try to create one extra position out of the [snorts] two part-time that we have. Um that I think that's the first time that that's happened. I talked to some past chiefs since 2012, I believe. So hopefully we could keep those going. We have five applicants interested in our animal control officer positions. Um we actually have one certified uh applicant that is pretty close to being interviewed uh completing the background process now. And these are vacancies uh continuing. The numbers have been staying the same. And that concludes my report for February.

Uh Councilman Levati. Thank you, Mayor Chief. On this report, you have a code enforcement had four. Okay. And then am control incoming calls for animal control. You got 69. How many of those animals are you keeping in the shelter or what are you doing with them? Are you giving them citations? Is the code enforcement giving citations?

So those those are two separate divisions. Um we file the citations for code enforcement. Um they're they're not within our department, but they do issue municipal citations. So just to keep the records uh keeping for them, we file and hold them uh as a courtesy for code enforcement. Mr. manager. I think we have a a warnings that that some of the residents have too many animals on their residence and they're uh they're not taking care of them and they're running around the our city or our streets and they're biting people or they're they get ran over or whatever and they're not taking care of them and and we have a not only on my guard I mean the whole poor war just have problems with that and uh just between 6:00 and 8 9:00 in the morning. You can see the dogs running around all over the place and I don't see too many personnel people taking care of that. I would like to see if uh you could do something about that, sir. Thank you.

And we are running operations especially because after 5:00 p.m. we we tend to see a large amount of animals. Uh people get home from work, they let them go. Um, that's why the citations went up to 69, but uh, we do only have one animal control officer at this time who's on call 247 365. Uh, so we are working on that and we're we're working on addressing that. I know one uh, problem area that we hit was the 2000 block of Romero Street, I believe it was, and we we came into uh, finding good compliance within that area, especially with aggressive dogs that were uh, going to having issues with the public there.

Mr. Manager, I think we the council needs to know is doing every week how many whatever they're working on dollars are working on on whatever vehicles whatever you think we can give you some report on that monthly mayor counselor uh we can and and actually we've been working internally with code enforcement as well as the police department to uh have better comprehensive data sets that are easier to access data to compile and provide you information. So, we're happy to continue to build and provide additional information to mayor and council as well as the public. Thank you, sir. That's something I can assist on. I could add it to my report.

I don't I don't oversee uh code enforcement, but I could add it in just so to help out on a monthly basis if that's okay. City manager, mayor and counselors, we'll we'll work together, community development, uh police department to come up with a acceptable means to provide additional information. Just kind of thinking, Mr. manager and clerk. Maybe what we could do in April is maybe get a presentation from code just kind of an update. Would that be sufficient time to put something together? We can do that,

Mr. Mayor and uh city council. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I I'll work with um my staff to get something put together and um I'll take direction from city manager to see if he wants us to be doing it on a monthly basis. However, however uh we could get to you guys, let you see what code enforcement, how they're functioning, all the cases they're taking on. Mayor, councel, mayor and counsel. Uh what we can do is is u provide the data sets and then come back to mayor and council and uh get feedback as to which reports you want when because I know one of the things that that I've been asked to do is also not overload the meeting agenda. So, I'll work with mayor and counsel for guidance on which reports when, but we can put them on a rotation so that it's more regular in nature and I'll and work with mayor and counsel on the timelines.

Uh, councelor Pacheco. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, thank you, Chief Marquez. I just had a question on the uh I I I have a con the same concern as uh councelor Levarei. The field operations portion and the what what does that entail because I see the the four for code enforcement is are are those four citations or is that what is exactly is the field operation? There going to be four citations. Okay. It might have been our guys assisting and it might have been what they turned in. So um I I could get better breakdowns on those as [clears throat] well.

I No, no, no. that answers it for me. And and when I see that, and maybe that's not the total number, I'll just lay it out there that if we're if we're averaging one citation a month for I mean a week, that's what about it comes down to. Uh we we we probably need to reanalyze how we're how we're handling that. If if I could, uh, Mayor and Councelor Pacheco, there's a vast number of of code enforcement violations and, um, we'll work together with, uh, PD and and community development. Uh, Chief Caleb's not responsible for code enforcement, but there are components tied to vehicles on rightways, and we can get more background information on those pieces. But uh there's a high volume of code violations and citations that happen weekly and uh it's one of the highest volume of calls and concerns and issues that we deal with on a regular basis at the city.

So just to clarify, Mr. Manager, so that's the highest number of of calls that we receive, but this but but the number of citations is four. Is that is that correct? I just want to understand correct. Not necessarily cuz uh a code violation could be anything from a sanitary property to vehicles parked. So some of the parking citations, some of the traffic citations could be included in that. Um so I could get a better breakdown and then of course whatever uh

that would be as well. I I think when we look when [clears throat] when I look at the numbers like council levi and I see four code enforcement citations, I don't think that that that can be accurate. So, so I let's work on getting that data and then I think we talked about this earlier, but uh in terms of some of the information that I'd like to see within the next month or so about the number of properties that we have that are out of compliance and and uh so we can measure what what we have and then we have can establish a a uh a way a strategy to to combat that. Um, so it's it's not a negative. It's just what what we have to do to move our way forward. I know you're not responsible for court enforcement. I know it's just in your report, but uh I think we need to work on getting the accurate information into some uh uh what we're documenting. Just thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Councelor Casey or Martinez. Councelor Martinez.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, I I know that we continue to have a dog issue in our community and and and it's and it's an ongoing problem because we we can't serve everything that we have. And I I know we're we're at capacity all the time and but maybe just a way to get that information, the data that you can collect in reference to some of the areas that are more of a hot spot for those so that when eventually we're going to get a bigger facility, you know, for that doesn't mean we're going to be able to fix that problem either. Okay? All I'm all I'm trying to say is that it it continues to be a problem. But and you're right, a lot of this happens after hours or early in the morning. So, we need to we need to try to combat that kind of an issue and just kind of gather the information. I think that's a real important thing is where the calls are coming from and where the hot spots are in our community so that we can, you know, where to where to attack it. You know, where where where you got to be, I guess, is is the big problem. Uh but nevertheless, that's going to be an ongoing problem probably forever. We just need to find a more positive way to take care of it. And hopefully we can get to that. Uh I did want to mention one other thing. I um I know that people at the uh I go to the Las Vegas uh San Miguel Chamber meetings over at the railroad station and I know that that's kind of an out of the way location, but if there's a way that you can have your law enforcement kind of give and you probably have, but but give more rounds in that area. There's a couple of young ladies that work there and I want to make sure that, you know, that we're taking care of our employees

as well. And what happens a lot is you get individuals that come off the train either get kicked off the train or or or something and and that's an area just like kind of the airport would be another area that you know you got we have to continue to patrol. But safety is important. It's important to the you know to the employees. It's important to us as, you know, the governing body and I'm I'm sure everybody here at this in our community, but just a way to reinforce maybe find out when those train times are. I don't even know when they show up. You hear them, they're gone. You know what I mean? But that's it. But maybe you find out when that happens and that way you can have maybe a patrol officer in the area in case they run into that kind of an issue because there's there's people that get kicked off the train quite a bit. I guess I've been hearing about that. So I just want to make sure that the safety is is is there for them. So that's all I have. Mayor, thank you.

Thank you. And and and chief and I I do want to talk to code because thank you guys. I think it's been a long time, but you guys did hit up code violations and red stickers along Chavez Street. Well needed. I think our community needs to know that. So, thank you guys for doing that. Yes, sir. Thank you. And also with the train station, um we have been seeing an influx of of uh people getting off here, not necessarily so much of being kicked off, but we're working with the mayor and Marcelino Royal uh to put better surveillance in there as well as more periodic and frequent checks through that area. Um, so it's it's something that we are is on our radar and uh within the last I'd say month, month and a half, we we've had a huge influx of people getting off and staying in Vegas. Um, and we're working on that issue.

Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Go ahead, Mr. Marcus.

Good, Mr. Mr. Mayor. Council, uh, definitely the train station has been a little bit uh, uh, more chaotic lately as of late, but the PD has been uh, responding to all our phone calls. Uh we do have a a good camera system over there that that pings the phone whenever somebody's walking by. Uh we do have some things out there that uh that we have some concerns with, but we also share them with P&M. Uh PNM also has a little bit of a a breezeway there. Uh so they're, you know, that's where they kind of kind of tend to like assemble, but PD u is out there with us constantly on that stuff. And I do I got I gota also say that my code enforcement officers are are out there uh doing a lot of different things out there now. Red tags and uh car stickers that they don't they don't come into the citation process. Citation process is more for the people that aren't responding to our our attempts. Um so we try to handle it u in person and with the knock and talk and usually it helps us get there. Um, we do have some different things that we want to try to work out and through the direction of our city manager and the assistance of our PD, we are getting uh into those areas that have been uh uh avoided for a long time. So, I appreciate the guidance from the council and the mayor and and of course our city manager. Thank you very much.

And Chavis Street was one of them. So, thank you. That's why I mean it's a it's a big thing. I know people might not think about it, but hitting that area is big. So, thank you guys. You're right, Mr. Mayor. We do have one more house that's going to be getting a beta tomorrow. So, uh, we we've already done one over there. We'll do another one. And we we got we got some other things to do over there. Mr. Manager.

Uh, Mr. Mayor, I was just going to add that the, uh, presentation will go a long ways to helping, um, put in perspective the full scope of code enforcement, but also, uh, I'm I'm happy and glad we're getting more and more feedback and inquiry, code enforcement, animal control, uh, statewide in every municipality. Those are the uh bigger challenges that everybody's up against. But I I I think the presentation will be helpful. What I do want to note on the record that's a big piece of code enforcement is our judiciary and our judge. And so we've been lock step communicating with the judge. Uh Lucas has been rolling up his sleeves with with uh legal and other staff to be bringing some other recommendations back that are going to put a little more teeth in our ordinance associated with what we do in way of fines because a lot of times the fines don't match um the um the fault if you will, right? And so uh thank you for the feedback. We'll continue to bring additional data and information and look forward to improving and and enhancing our system together.

One last thing um just to talk about was the animal care center. Of course, um we are we are pretty far into that project. Um we got the floor plans last Friday. We had a meeting also and and uh went over them. those minor corrections that need to be made, but hopefully I wanted to try to get a um Miss B on the agenda to a presentation of where we're at with it for next meeting, but unfortunately timewise we weren't able to. So hopefully um moving forward in the next month, we'll we'll be able to come forward with the presentation to the public and uh see some floor plans going and uh hopefully a groundbreaking here pretty soon at least uh somewhat of the groundwork starting. So

thank you, Miss Cassandra. Mr. Mayor, moving on to our next item, approval of minutes for February 11th and February 18th, 2026.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I always read the the minutes very carefully and before I make my motion to approve, I want to let everybody know that the that the women that work in the uh, city clerk's office who listen to the tapes do a fabulous job of recording the minutes and typing them up for us. I had to do this when I was working with an attorney and it was the biggest nightmare of my entire life. [laughter] It is a very difficult thing to do. It's hard to listen to a tape and to really understand what's being said because when speak when people speak at a public meeting, they have a tendency to hurry their speech and sometimes they don't complete a word or they mispronounce a word. And I just want everybody to know that the minutes are pretty much always really just perfect. And if they do have errors, there are very minor errors like an apostrophe missing or a capital letter, but they do an excellent excellent job. And so I move that we approve the minutes for February 11th and February 18th, 2026.

Have a motion by councelor Casey. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Councilman Martinez. All in favor say I. I. Those opposed. Those opposed, same sign. The eyes have it. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Moving on to our presentations. Not to exceed 10 to 15 minutes. Our first presentation is by Jodie Powers with North Central Project Manager with Alliance for Local Economic Prosperity. She's speaking on the Las Vegas Regional Community Wealthb Building Coalition and sharing their community survey and wealth reports.

Chief, if you don't mind putting the timer and also just for the record that uh you know these are presentations only. There will be no discussion back and forth, just presentation on what your group does. Thank you. [snorts] Welcome. Thank you everybody. Um, thank you uh, Mayor Romero and city council members for this opportunity to speak with you tonight. My name is Jody Powers. This is Joseette Ulabati and this is David Rogers and we're with the Las Vegas Regional Economic Div Las Vegas Regional Community Wealthb Building Coalition. Um, I don't know if this goes up on your screen.

Yeah.

Okay, there we go. Um, we're here tonight to talk about community wealth building and the work that the community wealth building coalition is doing. The point of uh community wealth building is to build community resilience and to diversify economies so that your community can be resilient. Um, [snorts] we're interested in fostering economic stability and growth through asset building and wealth creation initiatives. Community wealth building is about investing in what Las Vegas already has, not necessarily bringing in outside resources to make it better. Um, it's about its people, its institutions, and local assets to generate and create durable long-term prosperity. We're interested in advancing economic development by actively engaging residents and building an economy that serves the community, strengthening local ownership and stewardship of assets, ensuring broader participation in economic opportunity, and taking a regenerative systems approach. At its core, community wealth building matters because it centers uh local people in decisions about the local economy. And we want to strengthen trust and participation. We want to support an economy that reflects Las Vegas's values, cultures, and place and moves beyond short-term fixes towards long-term community well-being.

Um so far we've held six community meetings. um formed a steering committee that conducted a survey, created a charter, and disseminated two reports, involved residents, businesses, and organizations, voted to officially form on January 13th, and adopted a charter. We currently have 15 organizations, businesses, and residents. Actually, we have 23, right? Yeah.

Yeah. Um, our vision, a Las Vegas where true wealth includes economic prosperity, vibrant local cultures, a healthy environment, and a strong community bond, empowering every resident to thrive. Our mission is to drive community-led progress by developing diverse, equitable, and inclusive initiatives that honor our environment, uplift local cultures, and create economic pathways for Las Vegas residents to make positive, self-determined choices. Our purpose and goals is to address systematic barriers to economic well-being, support small businesses and entrepreneurs, promote local ownership of assets, land, housing, food, energy, strengthen dem democratative

democratic

democratic participation um in decision-m advance social environmental justice. In addition to the community survey report, we provided you the report from January 30th, 2025 meeting that includes obstacles to community wealth building, opportunities for community wealth building, and our vision for the next two years, an organizational chart. Um, mayor, counselors, thank you for this time. I'm going to take you on a quick walk through the survey that we conducted last August at the people's fair. Um we had about 130 135 respondents and uh it was a little uh different of a demographic I think than the meeting last uh yesterday which was fantastic. Uh it's a little younger demographic probably closer to 30 to 55 that answered these and it's interesting the similarity you'll see here. Uh the first one was uh how do we see our local economy? And you can see uh quite a there's a fair amount of pessimism in the in in the survey here on that one.

So the second one is what what did residents identify as the top five concerns? And you can see there's three that are very close to each other really four. Affordable housing, good paying jobs are the top ones. healthcare access and youth opportunities. So again, pretty similar to what we saw yesterday. What's holding people back? Almost 70% said lack of good paying jobs. 57% said lack of affordable housing. Half said lack of support for small businesses. Uh who do we trust? Local nonprofits and community development organizations were the top two. Small businesses third after that, close third. And that that seems to speak to uh the community's appetite for solutions that are rooted in local partnerships rather than outside interests coming to rescue us somehow. Do residents feel heard? They said, Yes.

Okay. Yes. Uh 28% said they weren't sure if residents had a say in the local economy and another 55% said flat out no. So that means that only 17% feel that they currently have influence or feel heard um in the community, their needs or their voice. Are they willing to get involved? Yes. Over a third, almost half said maybe. That's almost everybody. And and what would what would it take for them to be more involved? It will take more information, education, uh knowing that their voice will be heard and finding a an opportunity that matches their skills and interests as volunteers or or workers. So, that's a quick walk through that survey and use your your information. And there's more detail in there.

Um, what will the coalition do with a survey? Um, we've been sharing this with different community groups. We've been sharing it with the county. We're sharing it with the council. Um, we want to work with coalition members and organization to support projects and initiatives that fall within the categories of the surveys that people said of the of the uh, you know, levels of interest that they indicated um, which was housing, jobs and workforce, small business development, youth opportunity, and access to health care. What we'd like to be clear is what is the community coalition? What it is is a collaborative network of 15 to 25 organizations, residents, and small businesses working together to strengthen the economy of Las Vegas and surrounding communities. We want to support systems for programs, initiatives, ideas, and policies that promote localization and community wealth building. And we want to be a catalyst um for action that emerges from the ground up. And we want to be a unifying force. What we are not is we are not a standalone not for-p profofit. We're not creating a new 501c3. We're not launching new projects. Um and we are not a top- down initiative led by outside interests. And we're not a replacement for existing organizations or local efforts. Our strength lies in connection, aligning people, purpose, and action to build locally rooted economy. We thank you very much for your time and wonder if you have any questions.

Okay. Yeah. Uh so during presentations we don't but I know that uh you know in discussion with the city manager I know we met with Main Street and they brought you know talked about the organization and I think uh we do want to set up uh some type of meeting and maybe a counselor can join me and I think uh there's some opportunity for networking within the the city government and and your group and I think uh you know that next point that maybe what we could do from that meeting maybe have a business item or discussion more discussion amongst the council if that's okay. Thank you mayor and city council. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Moving on to our next presentation is by Main Street de Las Vegas. Introduction of Elizabeth Cowwell Sales, executive director and status report.

Welcome. Thank you.

[clears throat] While that's loading, I'll go ahead and start off. Uh we were able to meet this week. I know city manager and myself and and uh Elizabeth or Lisa, I don't know. We're still whichever name. Uh but I think we had a good conversation on, you know, the past of of Main Street and some of the I guess hurdles that we've encountered. But I think we've come to a better perspective and understanding that we're here to support and uh so I think uh it was very productive and I think we have a a

we have a couple of goals I think that we're we're setting and and an understanding. So uh I'm excited I think we're excited to continue the positive relationship that we've had you know the prior director to you and then now. So I'm really excited. So thank you and welcome.

Thank you Mr. mayor and uh city manager. It was it was a very nice time to sit and chat with you both and to understand uh your perspectives and your priorities and uh and work to align Main Streets with those and get my feet on the ground and uh get to work really. Um so today I'm bringing you uh a quarterly Main Street report. Uh but first I would like to introduce myself. Um so uh my name is Elizabeth. You can call me Liz. You can call me Liza. Caldwell Celas. Uh my educational background, I have a masters in urban design from Washington University in St. Louis, masters of community and regional planning from UN UNM, uh and undergraduate biology and environmental science. And just as important, I think in this situation is that I am from here. This is my home. Uh I love Vegas and I'm really glad to be home. I spent 30 years away and um I'm just ecstatic to be home and I'm really excited to be back and get to work. Um a little bit about my history uh in my schooling. I did design work in you know uh design studios from Santa Fe to Shanghai, Tokyo. um did some work with UNM School of Architecture and Planning as a urban design professor and have spent the last decade plus running the community development and community planning department at Architectural Research Consultants, which is New Mexico's largest and oldest community planning firm. And with that in that role, um I've worked on community planning projects in Las Vegas, downtown Las Vegas. I did the comprehensive plan the previous the the current uh comprehensive plan for the city that's being updated now. Um downtown MRA plan, San Miguel County plan. I've worked with Highlands, Luna.

Um plans around the region uh include Peko, Santa Rosa, Guadalupe County, Fort Sar, Debbaca, Kfax, Town of Ta, TA County. I've been doing this for a while. Um, and I'm really glad to be getting on the ground and um have an opportunity to see uh some of these projects implemented and really get my hands uh dirty and get my um yeah, get my hands dirty in in seeing projects come to life. Um I'm uh just a little reminder about who Main Street is. Main Street uh de Las Vegas, we're a nonprofit. were contracted annually by the city of Las Vegas to stimulate economic development by protecting and enhancing Las Vegas's historic and culturally significant downtown districts. The map there shows um kind of the three districts, well the two districts that uh I'm uh I'm charged with invigorating. Um the arts and culture district is the gray one. it's the larger uh and the teal um the teal is the current main street organization's geography. So I am a geographically bound organization. Um but I but I want I want you all and the rest of the city of Las Vegas to know that my interest is in bettering the whole community. Um we are affiliated with New Mexico Main Street which is a division of ne uh New Mexico economic economic development department. Um and our task is to revitalize our downtown corridors. [snorts] So our corridor my corridor the main street corridor includes the plaza Douglas and railroad. Under our contract with the city, we are tasked with certain specific projects and like I said, I'm just starting. I

just started at the beginning of January and there really was no handoff. So, uh, working to get our feet on the ground, working to get an understanding of what our projects are, what our capacity is, uh, what our goals are, what our, you know, where we're lacking, um, anything, and how to fix that. But our current projects include Great Blocks on Railroad, um, finding a home for the Buffalo sculpture, assisting with holiday events, revitalizing the arts and culture district, also Great Blocks on Douglas, data reporting, facade squad projects, uh, New Mexico Main Street, uh, revitalization, revitalization specialist services. Uh, those are the current city contract projects. Um, I can give you updates on most of those. Like I said, I'm just starting, so I I don't have quite a handle on all of them. Great Blocks on Railroad is moving along. We should be done. I You all know this, I'm sure. Um, in the spring. The Buffalo sculpture is a little bit trickier. Uh, we're trying to find a home for that one. Um, so I don't I I hope to have more for that, more on that for you all next time. Uh, holiday events. We are here to help um revitalize the ACD. We're happy to announce that we have received a $100,000 arts and culture district grant from the state and we are working with Newman uh Las Vegas first and Las Vegas Arts Council um to spend that and uh right now our focus is going to be the people's fair um and it's still under the planning phase. So uh but we're really excited about that. We're going to be pulling in New Mexico Highlands media arts students to be doing some work with us on that. Doing some facade squad. Um when I was speaking with you, Mr. Mayor and city manager, um we identified the Calit says Howdy sign as a priority. And I'm hoping to uh utilize

some of the grant money to get that fixed because that's important not only to the mayor and and uh the city, but to Main Street and to everybody that I've talked to really. I mean, that's a we care about that a lot. So, we're going to be working on that. We're also [clears throat] hosting in our railroad district this uh spring. We're hosting the University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning Deepac Studio. They had a design shet last Saturday at Charlie's that was very successful. Um we are helping with the Route 66 Centennial. Um we're working on capital outlay projects. We're working to work with the comp plan. uh consultants on the update and um developing lots of other small projects. Um and that's all I have to report today, but I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. So, council, I just wanted to kind of update uh and I know in the past as presentations or quarterly reports were given, uh I know it had been a while that we had received one, but you know, we just asked, you know, that we the presentation be based off of uh ourou with Main Street Las Vegas because I know we would go into, you know, the history of what happened 7 years ago. But I think you know in our you know our you know reporting and our financial interest in theou would be you know what have you done according to ourou and uh I think there's an understanding on that. So we're more focused instead of more instead of being all over. We're focused on that specific and here to support I think you know I could say this on behalf of the governing body to support whatever Main Street does, right? But the big part is thatou that we have in uh you know that we have with you guys that uh is the important part that we stay in audit compliance. So I think that was a big part of the meeting and again thank you for you know coming on board with your expertise. I know things are going to go well. So thank you.

Thank you as mayor. I'm very excited to to uh to be working here. Uh presentation only, but go ahead. Go ahead. That's fine. Go ahead. Sure. Thank you. You are so welcome, Mr. Luetti. Anyway, I was going to talk about the biggest part. Get it finished.

Councelor Ulady, I'm happy to report, sir, that it is done. Um the mural is finished. We were able to complete that just a couple days after I spoke to you about it. Um, I'd like to thank Tasha Martinez, my president, uh, she was able to pull that together on real short notice and our public works department, uh, Jeff was able to get scaffolding out there like at zero notice at 9 in the morning and we're very grateful and I'm happy to say, sir, that that Merurl is finally done. Thank you, Mor. Thank you, sir.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. And just a quick uh update uh council paceo. So there was aou in our one of the deliverables was murals in every ward. I know it took a couple contracts to get him but the final one was in ward four. The one at W two was at the firehouse the fire station uh and then councelor Casey's was at uh Lowe's and W four was at the train the red caboose. So thank you.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. [clears throat] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Moving on to our business items. We're going to go over our consent item number five that was moved to our business item, and that is request approval to ratify addendum number three to contract 394823 with Gallatin Operational Solutions LLC for water and wastewater plant management. We have our water director, Mr. Travis Martinez. Manager, Mr. Martinez.

Mr. Mayor um our [clears throat] clerk uh first and foremost I want to thank uh the clerk for being uh nimble uh to adjust to changes that occur in the interest of information and transparency. She's been helpful with her team to help us. Um but what you're being handed right now is uh in the a step in the direction of additional information, additional transparency, and additional background as we bring forth um uh contracts and agreements. The other thing u I'm going to ask Mr. Martinez to go through it uh through the memo, but I'm also going to uh just highlight that the city of Las Vegas, and it's a credit to the the mayor and the full council and the work that's been done over several years. Um we're under clean audits. Uh I think that's a really important part to note for everybody. Uh but there's always room for more information. There's always room for more transparency and a higher level of excellence. uh coining or utilizing the phrase that uh councelor Casey has used in the past but uh that that is what the information in front of you is part of and you will continue to see on a regular basis. So uh Mr. Martinez uh floor is yours [snorts] if I if I could. Uh I did want to note on the record that it was very helpful mayor and counselors to have the individual conversations that we had uh with this particular issue to provide additional background to the counselors and and that's um a method that I'm going to continue to utilize when we have very uh complex matters that require additional background and additional information that we could provide uh to our uh governing board.

And so I just want to thank the counselors for um affording us that opportunity to have those discussions. Thank you.

Uh mayor, council, this item request approval of addendum number three, contract 394823 with Gallatin Operational Solutions for continued water, wastewater treatment, and plant management service. The proposed addendum extends the agreement for an additional year, allowing the city to maintain professional operational oversight of its water wastewater treatment facilities to ensure regulatory compliance, system reliability, and public health protection. The statement of need. The city's water wastewater treatment plants require certified operators and professional management services to maintain compliance with state and federal regulations including the administration by the New Mexico Environment Department NMED and the US Environmental Protection Agency which is EPA. The services of the contract support daily operational management of water wastewater treatment facilities, regulatory compliance with drinking water and wastewater permits, certified operator oversight and supervision, operational reporting and regulatory documents, maintenance, coordination and operational planning, technical support during emergency and operational challenges. uh critical to this management of the unprecedented water quality challenges resulting of the Hermits Peak Calf Canyon fire and cascading flooding. The environment disasters have significantly complicated the treatment processes requiring specialized oversight to navigate extreme turbidity and postfire contaminants. The contract cost history. This agreement is structured as a professional service contract for plant management and operational support. In 2023, water treatment um services was $755,281.95. 2023, wastewater treatment was $344,271.74. This school year 2024, water treatment was 672,081.87.

2023, wastewater treatment facility was $317,483. $48324 and fiscal year 2025 water treatment was $1,58,14147 and sorry about that and in 2025 wastewater treatment was $28698925. I want to note the cost of the escalation of this contract due to current expenditure levels to reflect the elevated operational demands placed on the system following the 2022 wildfire and subsequent flooding. These environmental stresses required excessive manh hours and specialized technical interventions to maintain plant stability and meet straight stringent state and federal water quality mandates. Detailed expenditures are included in exhibit A funding sources and provided through the utilities department operating budgets approved through the city's annual budget processes. The strengths of this contract are experienced firm specializing in water wastewater oper operations provide certified operational expertise required for regulatory compliance familiarity with the city treatment and facilities and postfire infrastructure challenges. It supports continuity of operations and complex regulatory reporting requirements. Some considerations to take into account are the environmental impacts. The treatment processes remains highly sensitive to runoff from burns necess necessating higher than average management hours manh hours risk regulatory risk maintaining operational continuity is critical. Failure to provide certified oversight would lead to immediate NMED/ EPA violations and also market availability. There are limited numbers of qualified firms providing these specialized management services regionally. The physical impact of this contract is funding of the

agreement is to include the utilities department operating budgets approved through city annual budget processes. The recommendation is utility staff recommends approval of addendum 3 to contract 394823 with Gallatin Operational Solutions for continued water and wastewater plant management services. Continuation of this agreement ensures that the city maintains professional operation oversight of the treatment facilities and continues to meet regulatory requirements necessary to protect public health, environmental compliancy, and reliable utility services in the face of ongoing watershed recovery challenges. This agreement primarily supports operational management of the city water wastewater treatment plants and regulatory compliance requirements. I stand for any questions.

Mayor uh council, I also wanted to add on those increased costs associated with u impacts from the fire. We're uh breaking out those costs to be able to pursue funding from public assistance through FEMA as well to offset those expenditures that we made. So, I just want to note that on the record and I wanted to highlight the work of uh all staff on all departments um and note that our uh finance director assisted in the development of this u summary as well. Thank you, councilors. Any questions?

Councilman Martinez. I just to understand the document a little better. I was looking at, you know, of course, the wastewater uh in year 2025, how that that dropped, I guess, and I I don't understand part of it, of course, but maybe you could kind of explain, you know, how those numbers. So, the wastewater part did drop significantly. That's because we did bring on a level four and more staff through city. So, Gallatin has been able to pull back a little bit. They still uh help us with uh testing. Okay. And they still help us of course with the technical services. Okay.

But in that aspect, yes, we did bring on a level four through the

I know everybody looks at the the rise in dollars of course, but I'm also looking at, you know, what's what's the structure of the the dropping of of uh it's just going to cost more to treat whatever's coming down the pike. And with all the changes that you've had at the water treatment plant, it's it's understandable that these costs are going to continue to rise, okay? At least until there's a better handle on it, of course. But and you know, having those uh licensed individual individuals in those locations. So, it's good to see a drop, of course. So, I'm gonna I'm gonna always keep it on the positive side. There's a drop. So, that's a good thing. I know the other side of that equation's uh you know, it goes up. So, I won't uh I won't speak to that, [laughter]

but it's good to know that uh we we have those covered with wastewater. We were able to we were able to bring on some extra staff, including a level four, which you could see the drop there. Uh as far as water treatment, that's a totally different treatment. And we haven't been able to, of course, obtain any right employees just yet. I mean, we do get employees. We just don't have the certified employees. Right. Thank you. Thank you.

And council, if we can, I know we have Mr. Kennedy in the audience. That's the main point of contact. If you don't mind coming up and I don't know if you guys had uh just direct questions towards uh the vendor council, any other questions? I have no questions. I just saw a comment. Mr. Martinez, uh, city manager. I I really like this the way you put this together. Answers a lot of questions. This is a good, uh, uh, template for what we're moving towards. I think what's these are in the packet and we look at them before there probably won't be many questions. Mr. Madrid, thank you for your expertise and helping put this together. Really appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, Travis. That's on the higher up. We're always thinking about water working on that. Thank you.

I had one question. I guess that's probably why I called Mr. Kennedy up. But, you know, I think things have gotten better, but I just want to I know the big cost that we see here, you know, in the 2025 was the emergency we dealt basically a year long. And that was and I know this is going to be the question that I have moving forward is I know there was some issues. you know, we only had one level four that individual that we have, you know, needed time off, too, right? I mean, he had been working, I don't know how many days consistently. Just moving forward, have has that gotten I know you guys were recruiting. I was just wondering, you know, worst case scenario, has that improved if we do need another level four? I know you brought from other other communities, but I was just wondering, you know, where we're at now with that level four if need need be, so this individual gets a a break.

Yes, Mr. Mayor and council. Thank you for inviting me uh this evening. Um so yes, we've had one primary level four in the past who's been working at the facility and we have been continuing to recruit more. Um, we have some possible candidates to hopefully help ease some of that burden on one person who would be more locally um locally uh living here locally to help with as far as just availability and time so that that workload can be spread over time. All right. Thank you, Mr. Manager.

Yeah, Mr. Mayor, I just I just want to note that um Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Martinez and and I had a very lengthy uh discussion. He's in close coordination with Mr. Kennedy's team and uh we we noted clearly the escalation of cost, but we also noted the challenges associated with the fire, but Mr. Kennedy is committed to com continue to work through that and and figure out um how we can mitigate those those costs as best we can but also sustaining the uh the viability of the plant and the water that that we deliver. Thank you. So council, what's the uh

make a motion to approve contract 3948-23. Motion by councelor PCO. Do I have a second? Second, Mor. Second by councelor Casey. Roll call. Councelor Martinez, yes. Councelor Levi, yes. Councelor Pacheco, yes. Councelor Casey, yes. I have a motion by Councelor PCO, a second by Councelor Casey. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Motion carries. Thank you. Moving on to our next business item, which is business item number two, request approval of agreement between the city of Las Vegas in Novo Global for Traffic Infraction Detection and Enforcement. We have our police chief, Mr. Caleb Marcus and Commander.

Good evening again.

Thank you again. Um so we are coming to seek approval to enter into a contract with Nova Global for uh speed monitoring at this time. I know in the contract it is built in. We also have uh Heidi from uh Nova Global that is here to answer questions virtually for us as well. Um this has been something that's been a long time in the works uh that we finally got an agreement uh that we could move forward on. Um but um this system has helped monitor uh speed enforcement and red light violations. Currently we don't have the ordinance for red light but it's already built into the contract um if we want to move forward on anything uh in the future and other violations according to our city ordinances. The system will assist with traffic detection enforcement which will reduce traffic collisions, injuries or and fata fatalities. The dangerous behaviors of speeding and red light running and the automated system will improve community safety and address u hight traffic areas. There is a a cost uh depending on what we agree to um from 0 to $3,500 a month. The total cost of the contract if we on the high end would be 42,000. Um the strength of this would be monitoring safety of the roadways, reduced speeding and red light violations and aid criminal investigations. Um the weaknesses is there is a cost to it u and the penalize of low-income individuals. But we are seeking recommendation for approval for these uh camera systems. almost stand for any questions.

Thank you, Chief. And just kind of go a history. I know we passed the ordinance maybe three years ago, somewhere around there, I believe. So,

uh, and I know we ordered trailers, but uh, when they were ordered at the time, proper uh, I guess, uh, cameras, etc. weren't uh, ordered. It was more of a data collecting, I guess, instead of this type of system as was requested at the time. Uh, so I I I and and I I think you know the whole intent, you know, back then with the ordinance and then and I hope this is what it is still today, right? Is that we know we're limited on officers and we know we we as a governing body receive calls on a daily basis about speeding. And we know that no matter how many officers, we're not going to be able to catch every speeder. And I think this is I I use I I guess I'll use this term as a support tool for the police department to help alleviate some of the speeding. It's not going to be perfect. We're still going to have areas that, you know, we can't we don't have cameras in every single corner. Uh, you know, and I'm sure eventually people are going to catch on to where the cameras are. But this is just another supportive tool that we're giving the police department to help our community with the speeding the speeding issues. Am I fair in saying that, Chief?

Yes, sir. That is

and this will assist filling those gaps. Um, and I' I've said it before in presentations is utilizing technology where we lack manpower. And that's for everybody uh for every uh municipality or anybody with law enforcement agencies is there's just not enough manpower uh going around. Uh so we do utilize systems like this to to assist [clears throat] us on the enforcement. But we did also do a traffic study um in September of 2024. And during that time uh just on eastbound on Mills in one day, we had a traffic volume of around 6,200 cars. Um out of that 6,200 in 1 day, 34 28 were going speed limit or under. Um 41 to 50 mph was 26 uh 55. 51 m an hour or more uh to 60 was 107 and 61 to 70 m hour were six vehicles during that time. So we did run uh studies in certain areas of the city that we experience uh high traffic uh and high speeds at. But this also, keep in mind, does not cover state highway areas. So, Grand Avenue, parts of Seventh Street uh won't be covered uh parts of New Mexico or I believe all of New Mexico uh without special permission. But meeting with the DOT and going into these conversations, they're not opposed to us doing this in the future as long as we could present data. So, this will help us bring that data forward and show the need in our community for these cameras as well. And I had I know Hades or Heidi's online. So in the in the contract it says 40 cameras. How are those determined? Or chief maybe you have the answer to that.

Heidi's Heidi's the expert. She could probably help us break it down a little better.

Yeah. So hi council mayor. Thank you so much for having me tonight. Um I really appreciate the opportunity to kind of share more about how these programs work. The I want to make sure that you understand a couple things about how this law works. This is a civil infraction. It's not a criminal infraction. It doesn't go on people's driving records. It won't affect their insurance. Um, if the city decides to pursue collections, then we can assist with that. Um, but just so you have a clear understanding, the contract specifies it's $27 per violation that you would pay for us. So, it's not a flat fee. It's a portion of every paid violation that your city issues or that we issue on behalf of the city. And that's quite different because that means that you're making money um you're only paying for what you get what you in what you're enforcing. And that's a lot it's a lot different than per issued um or having a flat fee that you have to meet every month. It's it's a it's an advantage for the city. That being said, maximum fine for every one of these violations is $100, no matter if they're going 140 or 110 or or whatever their speed is over the speed limit. And this is the city of Las Vegas program. So the trigger speed and how this program is rolled out is completely at the discretion of your city. I do know and working with the city of Gallup on um implementing their system right now and we've worked with Portalis and a number of others. We're working with HOBS and a Clovis all over your state. I think agencies and cities are struggling with the exact same problem. Um, but there are payment plans there that could be enacted for through your courts for folks that um, you know, can't pay or I know that the state is

highly in favor of community service programs as an option to payment. I think that's a that's a um I think any program that the state is considering right now would would need that as a caveat and we built that out for a couple of of agencies who have wanted to do that. So I just wanted to make sure that you understood the payment structure isn't 42,000 a year. It's whatever amount of violations that are processed and paid in whatever time span is occurs. There's a that's a big distinction. So, and the school is not required to pay anything for these systems. So, the way that this these systems work is that companies like mine do all of the installation of the equipment. We do all of the signage. We do all of the backend and the sending of the initial violation. Your city does two things. You have an officer which reviews the violation online both by photographs and by a short video piece. And the other part is your court must adjudicate and offer a hearing for those violations. Those are the two things that you would be responsible for paying for. Most agencies are falist um have no problem pay covering those costs and then having a a cushion beyond that. So, I just wanted to kind of do an applesto apples comparison here and kind of explain how the state law works a bit um and and answer sort of preemptively some questions.

And I think councelor Casey, you had a question. Yeah, I do. And probably my question is uh you might laugh when I ask it but does this include um and I don't know even who to address this question to but does it include people who are speeding on uh motor scooters and I asked that because three times already there is uh one man that is always speeding on Sixth Street onto Mills and

Seventh Street onto Mills and um he's a danger because he stays in the lane and other people want to drive faster than what he's going but he's going pretty fast anyway. So I just ask so I'll tell you that the the system is capable of hand handling and capturing motorcycle license plates,

you know, and depending on what the parameters are for your city. So if you had problems with other types of wheeled vehicles or vessels on the roadways that are a safety problem, especially they're probably not illuminated at night. And so what we could do is work with the police department to to have a set aside on those and maybe identify the individual and go and have a conversation with that person. I just um

without a license plate that's generally how we would contact that registered owner nine times out of 10. But I it has been a concern for me because um once you know you think well that's just a one-time thing but it's not a one-time thing. It's almost a daily thing. And I'm concerned not only for the person's safety but for uh drivers that are in vehicles that are much larger than that scooter. And I wouldn't want anybody to um you know want to get past the scooter, drive around it and maybe accidentally hit it. and [snorts] create an even larger problem than than the person on the scooter is creating already. Thank you very much,

Councilman Martinez. Mr. Mayor, yep, thank you. Um, kind of one of the uh the questions that that I want to go back to that the mayor mentioned was the 40 up to 40 cameras. Oh, I know that wasn't answered, but I I just wanted to kind of get some information in reference to that. I How do we uh how do we determine all that?

So, the way that you can utilize an a a contract without going out to RFP is to use a competed contract um with like or better um terms. So this is a a contract with a favorable price per violation which was $27 per violation that is used by portalis. The 40 systems that is a completely arbitrary number that was used in the first initial contract. Your city right now I believe is considering two locations. The number of systems it doesn't obligate you to any number of systems. In fact, I've had a contract with the city of Espanola right now for probably 9 months, but there's been some turmoil and some trouble there. So, the contract just sits until they're ready to move forward. That doesn't obligate you to any specific number of systems at all.

So, the equipment uh based on that information, the equipment is at no cost to the city. No cost. Okay. So,

how we make our money back is over time, we we take of that $100 violation fee, we we take a portion, $27, $27, 27. We try to make that investment fee and price. That's how that's generally how it works. And it allows us to maintain the equipment. The maintenance is our responsibility. you know, the the um if any repairs were to happen, if somebody ran into the pole, it's on us to repair uh with the hope that the duration of the contract allows us to repay that investment of the construction and installation cost. So, is there a requirement as far as the equipment? What's needed for that equipment to go? I mean, to

work with your public works and engineering. So, if you had city light poles that we might be able to use and they were ideal in the locations where we wanted to install the cameras, then we would, you know, try to take the the least expensive option and and utilize those existing poles. If those poles were owned by an entity that refused to allow anyone to put anything on their poles whatsoever, then we just put in a um like a Pelco breakaway based pole and we mount our own systems. We we work with permitting and engineers and we um connect to power that way. If there's absolutely no power get location, then sometimes we've done solar.

Okay. Well, and my and my big my big thing about the cameras about any of the cameras and and and equipment would be, you know, any accident resulting in death. Of course, that's a big thing for for our community, I think. and forward and and I know a lot of questions have been brought up, but how do uh how do these cameras work with

uh one one of the things that's come up a lot is UTVs, ATVs, all of that stuff. Is there is there something that the city of Las Vegas might have to adopt to control that or I I just I don't know how that works. You know what we would do is if that became a significant issue with your city and your police department wanted to seek, you know, ways of trying to address, you know, profound use of um ATVs uh that are not suitable for a road, you know, they're not roadw worthy, then we would try to to work out a program with them to try to capture, you know, photos and times of day and and help them try to identify who these people are. without a license plate. You know, the camera takes two pictures within a within a section of the roadway and takes a a short video of that speed. So, the one of the advantages to the video is that we've often found in the state of New Mexico that guys like to race. You have wide open roadways, beautiful weather, and they open it up. I've never seen speeds like I have in New Mexico, 145 miles an hour. um just amazing. [laughter] So um we you know when you have a video then you can see that that's part of a racing culture. It doesn't change the fine amount but it's good information for the police department to maybe do some operations or you know to to try to identify these vehicles involved in in profoundly dangerous illegal street racing behaviors. Um, but as far as ATVs and scooters and things, you know, that's really a tough um it's a tough thing to try to enforce, but we could we could work on it and see just how many times that happens, how what the impact to the roadway is, and work with the police department on trying to identify where these are coming from and who they

belong to. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Did I answer your question about the 40 cameras? Yes, it's good. Thank you. No. Yes, sir. Councilmano. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, one, I think the UTV issue, I think some of them are street legal, so they have the plate. So, they theoretically get caught, I think. Right. Yes, sir. So, our our current ordinance follows state statute. As long as they're not on a public highway, uh, they're allowed to be on the city street and as long as they're street legal using hand signals or whatever they got to do to make their turns and stuff. Just making sure I wasn't out there driving illegally. Yeah.

Okay. We're good. Thank you, Chief. No, I I did have some serious questions. So, um have we discussed this with our judicial branch and and the the fee structure at this point? We have that was done uh when the ordinance was adopted. Okay.

And also, this contract has been reviewed by our legal. I forgot to mention that. And has been approved by illegal. We did go back and forth on some of the wording and some of the payments and who to answer to and stuff, but uh yes, our our attorney did approve this as well. And uh when the ordinance was adopted, this went through uh municipal court and everybody was on board as well for that. And just to add into that, as far as um even the maintenance that that Miss Heidi spoke about, um they cover the insurance costs. They they have the whole structure and it's just an awesome company. We we really just are acquiring equipment to assist for free, basically.

No, I I think it's a good option. I mean, I'm I'm in favor of more than two cameras, actually. I mean, like the contract, I think it's it's fair, more than fair. Uh, have we decided what the the amount of our fine is going to be? It's $100. We are going to go the max.

Okay. I I haven't seen the ordinance. So, thank you. I I mean, I think we should. That's, you know, I was just doing a little math here. That's what a,000 a,000 tickets. That's $73,000 for us. So, there's a there's an important thing that I want to let you all know that once we do the signage, because this isn't the goal is not to trick drivers, right? We're going to put in a lot of signage in advance. [laughter] They're going to slow down. They're going to they're they're, you know, a huge percentage of drivers will slow down. Um, and then your judge will have the um the discretion to, you know, reduce the fines. So I estimate, you know, at a at a baseline that every month each system um will bring in around between 16 to 20,000. It'll be much higher at first, but and you'll pay based on that same volume of violations. Now, this is an art. It's not a science because we don't know if they're going to start avoiding mills altogether or, you know, I don't know. I I don't I don't know. But we what we see is, you know, significant drops based on the signage and and the warnings. We do 30 days of warnings uh issued to drivers. So, you get one of those and the recidivism rate is very low. The repeat offenders is very low, which is great. Um but when you have the same road traveled by the same people, they learn fast. So, we see significant drop even. So, I don't know how these folks just keep on getting tickets, but they do. Thank you. Thank you for the uh

this other stuff. Thank you for the uh estimate on the numbers. I think that that's a that's a good idea of gives us a good indicator of what we can expect. Um I'm in favor of of more than two cameras. I you know, one of the things that that I've been concerned about is speed bumps in the city of Las Vegas. And Oh, yeah. Speed bump city USA chief. You know that.

Exactly. slows down your units, slows down the fire department, slows down the ambulance service, and I would ra much rather have a system like this in place than some of these speed bumps. So my my question is, Mr. Manager, with this type of system in place, do you foresee the uh ability to remove some of the traffic uh speed bumps that we have in town?

Um, Mr. Mayor, uh, Councelor Pacheco, I think, uh, data data data. I think once um we've had the opportunity to assess the data with our contractor with uh our police department and others then we can assess moving forward. One word of caution that that I did here and uh had a have a little bit of experience in other jurisdictions is is you utilizing the data and the traffic analysis to make sure you put appropriate cameras but that you don't overdo it if you will. That's I don't know how else to say it, but I would defer to the expert. But that

you definitely don't want to blister your city with with cameras. You know, just on the heels of your economic development efforts there, you know, you you don't want to discourage visitors by issuing, you know, citations and such. There's a there's a good balance between, you know, I could see leaving it open and as new, we can study any location again within the city. I know. I think Grand is probably going to be a a great one to study next. Anywhere where you have, you know, where residents and pedestrians are conflicting with traffic and having to play Frogger to get across the road and it's, you know, they're they're terrified. But yeah, there there's no there's no limit, but at the same time, I would I really discourage over uh you know, blistering your city with cameras. It just it's not a good idea. It's not a good idea. You want to, you know, I could see um other jurisdictions your size do between four and six units and they're judiciously selected. And as engineering changes are made perhaps using some of the funds and you know projects that were completely unattainable because of cost now some of this money can go towards those projects can be completed and perhaps they too um would reduce speeding in those areas. So you know there's there's a lot to consider. Um, it's a it's not a o it's not an overnight thing, but I think the best thing to do is as council becomes concerned and constituents bring forward, you know, new concerns of locations, we just do studies more and more and see see how they pan out, see, you know, let the let the data speak. The nice thing about a system like this versus a speed bump is when you go over the speed bump, you end up having a lot of um noise pollution. And if it's a residential area, that's problematic because as soon as they get over the

bump, they gun it, right? And here, they just kind of try to quietly sneak through the zone. So, nothing's perfect, but it is a force multiplier for sure for the police department.

And if I could, some of these um locations that were identified um those trailers that we purchased, they did not issue citations, but they weren't completely worthless at the end of the day as well. we were able to at least pull some data from certain areas as well as uh looking at our traffic crashes uh and locations and that's how we're able to identify these initial locations of where we wanted to look at. Of course, we couldn't get onto the the state highway portions but within the city street portions that we wanted to look at. These were the the highest rates of speeding just from the data from our trailers as well as um traffic crashes within those areas. And of course, you know, it's something to build upon. uh we don't want to overdo it, but we want to make sure that we're uh where we need to be and and this would just be a preliminary um first step to kind of get the program going for us for sure.

And so so the other question I had is I see obviously we're going to be uh there data involved and I see I see it reference uh the invoices for seven years but there's personal data involved here, right? How is that secured and how is that uh how long is it secured for and how is it disposed of? So we encrypt everything. We take we deal in completely personal identifying information, right? So we are CIS compliant. We work which is a DOJ compliance. We're SOCK 2 compliant. We're really really locked down. Knock on wood. We've never been hacked. We've never been tried. Um we have a 70digit um uh user ID and PIN code. So to try to crack our code would you'd have to be a mad scientist with alien brain skills. But but we take security extremely seriously. We have an IT security um director who oversees all of our all of our security. We maintain the records um and the imagery based on whatever the state or city's requirements are. So when when you say, you know, it's a 90-day purge or it's an it's a three-year purge, then that is what we do. This is so just keep in mind that this is your data and we are collecting your data. This doesn't belong to us. It belongs to you. So when you get an Eper request, we will help you to furnish that data in a um the most painless way possible. But if the um if the request is punitive in terms of trying to cause the city extra work

just as a punitive wants to having getting you know a violation or if it and or if it's excessive like I want the 10,000 records that were you know I want every single record. First of all we don't release anyone's personal identifying information ever. Um, so every record would be redacted and we would likely charge the requesttor a um processing [clears throat] fee of be 10 cents a page or whatever it is and that gets cumbersome for them and usually they stop. A reasonable request is, you know, something that we comply with all day long. Um but for the top one purging of records um we will we'll work with your court on what that exactly is and then comply with that. We undergo routine and annual um security training all of us um and we go through rigorous assessments um from uh from endlets which is how we uh access driver's records. So with that, let me if I could add on to that. Now that Senate Bill 40 just passed through the state and it takes effect July 1, any LPR within the state of New Mexico is noniperable. So the public will not get any kind of data out of us on the on these cameras as well. Um that's one benefit to the to this system. Um nobody will be able to IRA on their end on our end. It's going to be it's secured right now. So on the IRA part, that's kind of where we're at with it.

And this is not a shared program. I know that a lot of people have there's a lot of talk about flock right now. That is a different type of platform. Ours is not a platform meant for sharing. License recognition companies like Flock generally um I think it's [clears throat] a great tool. Um unfortunately it sounds like they had some trouble um you know with sharing up but the but we do not share data that that's a completely that's opposite of what we do. That platform is meant to share regionally. So if somebody was coming down from Santa Fe and it was a hot stolen car or they had kidnapped someone that LPR camera catches them and that when they come through and say you had flood everyone is aware that that car is coming. [clears throat] We don't operate that way. Ours is the opposite. You know we're talking about a a a violation for a specific citizen and that is absolutely private information. It's not shared ever. All right. Thank you. Thank you for the more on that, but I know that there's a lot of concern around, you know, ICE and the requests. And I just want folks to just be completely confident that that does not occur here.

Heidi, just to add to that, pretty much the only time these are triggered is at that speed point, right? That are determined when you set them up. Yeah. Yep. By your police department. It's when it's tripped. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. So you all of these roadways that we studied were 40 miles an hour. At 40 miles an hour, you know, I I assessed your u violations at 11 miles an hour over the speed limit. So all of those things that we counted as a violation, those drivers were going 11 miles or greater over the speed limit. That's pretty significant. Um but you can choose it could be eight, it could be 11. You can decide what you want it to be, Mr. Mayor. [clears throat] Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Finish up and then I'll

Yeah. So, no further questions. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Anybody? It's a great project there. So, we're going to slow down some of our speeders. You know, I like it. You guys are doing a good job. Thank you. We'll go back to Councilman Martinez. Mr. Mayor and uh Heidi, correct?

Yes, sir. could just I I know you answered this question, but I I want to touch a little bit on it because and I did talk to our chief about this. This is in reference to CDL drivers, but you touched on these citations does not go go against their record. Is am I going back to the right information on that? That's right. This is a New Mexico state statute. It's under the nuisance ordinance. Okay. Oddly, but that is what it Well, and I I think about, you know, of course the city of Las Vegas has CDL drivers and there's a lot of other companies in our community that have that same

how does it affect them if they receive a ticket? It does not. According to what you're telling us, it basically generates a fine, right? It's like a parking violation. Okay. I appreciate the uh the information and I I think it's a good a good system to move forward with and I think it'll be a tool a great tool for our community and for our police department. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

I'll just close it out. Uh you know, just one last thing, the public education campaign. Couple things there. Uh how soon would we implement and put them up? number one. And then number two, I'm sure we'll have a grace period or, you know, by the time everything's set up. What's How long are we looking at? Chief, do you want me to do that or do you want to do it?

Oh, I Yes. Sorry. So, they they'll put them up uh I can't remember the exact time frame, but we will give 30 days of just warnings uh for that area. So they will have 30 days prior to. So if it's your route to work every day and you're traveling that and you're speeding every day, you will get warnings every day for 30 days until that 30 days is up, then we'll start issuing citations. And we also have that ability to set the speeds uh like what Heidi was saying. So if we want to do it at 8 miles an hour, 10 miles an hour, uh just, you know, deeming what's appropriate for that area. And also during our busy times of the year, we could get the top 15% of speeders, we could do the top five, we could do the top 10. It just whatever we want to set it to. I think it's going to be a trial and error for us for sure. Uh making sure that um it's going to fit the community and it's going to work at the most efficient way we could make it work.

So, we'll help you with things like, you know, you you're going to want to have information on your website, you know, that shares the locations and the intent and purpose behind the um program and why those locations were selected and perhaps, you know, a little bit about that. That's generally what cities will do. And then there will be we will work with your courts on links to point to um you know in a in a violation if they need a Spanish translation, we can do that. If there's we have um about half of our staff are native Spanish speakers. So um the there's that we help with if you have a Facebook page as a city then we can help with posts. We have some some material that you can use there and then press releases as well. But I think the main that most folks will see and put them up uh are the the signage warning them that there's a a photo enforced speed zone ahead. Uh I think that's the main thing. But the other part I'll say is at first we don't it's great to think about all of these violations and the police department will be able to really go through a lot of them but the court is where it really starts to bottleneck and so when we do the warnings with your city we'll see what the total volume is on the violations even with the signage up that will be a really good indicator to what we will see in the courts because the court has to touch them all right um whether they're processing a payment or somebody's requesting a hearing. And so we want to make sure that the court can handle the volume. And if it, you know, they can say, you know, well, of this 7,000 violations a month right now, you know, or this 5,000, we can only handle 2500. Okay, then we'll work with the police department on giving them and capturing

the 25 most egregious speeders from each one of those systems. And then as your coer, you know, is able to get used to the system or they hire another halftime FTE if that's something that's needed or, you know, as this sort of levels out, um, we can, you know, open it back up to being fully enforced. But there's a there's a lot of moving parts that we want to be sensitive to, and one of those is courts for sure. And you answered my question. [clears throat] My next question was the uh the uh marketing material. So, thank you. So, with that uh being said, uh what's the pleasure of the council? Mr. Mayor, Councilman Martinez,

I will move to approve the agreement between the city of Las Vegas and Novo Global for traffic infraction detection and enforcement. Motion by Councilman Martinez, second by councelor Casey. Roll call. Councelor Pacheco. Yes. Councelor Casey, yes. Councelor Lee Buddy, yes. Councelor Martinez, yes. I have a motion by councelor Martinez, second by councelor Casey. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Motion carries. And thank you, chief, and thank you uh both of you gentlemen for for this. This has been a long time coming, and I know it's going to help our department. I think it's going to alleviate. I mean, not every area is going to have a camera, but uh you know, it's one step in the in the right direction. So, thank you guys. Thank you. I look forward to meeting you all. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Pleasure meeting you. Thank you, Heidi. Okay. Bye, Mayor. Moving on to our next item. Request approval to open negotiations for the Las Vegas Police Officers Association, the LVPOA, Financial Order of Police, FOP, for one economic article and two non-economic articles. Chief,

good evening, Mayor, Council, Mr. Manager. Thank you again. Um, this is just seeking approvals for the open negotiations and again our our negotiating process to try to get through this uh as soon as we could. We did move it up a little bit uh from the typical uh time that we open to January. We want to try to beat that budget uh so that way we could build it into our next year's budget as we negotiate. I I think Morris is going to double my budget if I'm not mistaken next year, but we'll see. So, it'll be it'll be good. But yeah, so um this is for uh one one economic and two non-economic items for our union.

Yeah. So, council, uh, I know this is pretty pretty simple, but I'll take a motion on this one and then we'll get to on the discussion. I'll ask I know probably been councelor Pacheco has a question. So, what's the pleasure of the council? I move approval u to open negotiations for the Las Vegas Police Officer Association, Fraternal Order of Police for one economic article and two non-economic articles. Motion by councelor Casey, second by councilman Lewari. Discussion. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh Chief, does uh the current CBA specify the three open [clears throat] uh so it's per the CBA that we're going to that we are going to negotiate three.

Yes, sir. So on our uh even years it's our three and our off years it's a full contract specified in the CBA. Yes, sir. And who uh negotiates on behalf of the city? Uh this year it's going to be myself, Miss Consuel, uh Deputy Chief Matias Apalaka and finance. Finance finance representative. Okay, those are my questions. Thank you. Any other discussion? Roll call. Councelor Casey. Yes. Councelor Martinez. Yes. Councelor Lee. Yes. Councelor Pacheco. Yes. Have a motion by councelor Casey. A second by councelor Lee. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Moving on to our next item. Request approval of resolution number 2613. a resolution creating the finance advisory committee. Mr. Mayor, uh yes. So, uh council, I know this is taking I mean a lot longer than I had anticipated. I was hoping for uh December, but here we are. Uh I know what's kind of transpired since is uh we had to do individual uh resolutions per committee that we're working on. Uh, Miss Cassandra, thank you and and your staff for I know it was given to to legal and it's taken we got a template and from there was fill in the blanks. So, thank you for taking on that task. I really appreciate you for what you've done. So, the first one is uh this committee.

I don't know if you want to add anything, Miss Cassandra. Other discussions? [cough and clears throat] Um, no, pretty much Mayor and I went through the template that our uh legal council sent over Mr. um Gino and uh we made a couple changes to it and uh pretty much they're all going to be the same template with a few changes. Mr. Mayor, uh how many members will be on this committee? I didn't see that anywhere.

So, in the resolution, it allows the mayor to make changes to the members. So from time to time if he feels that there needs to be additional members because they fluctuate depending on how many we can actually um appoint

and most of them I'm looking at uh of course an odd number right just in case. And then uh again I've uh spoken to the manager and also to the the clerk and the PIO to see if we could put some announcements out here. Hopefully next week something comes out uh requesting for individuals to put their letters of interest for these committees and I guess hopefully I mean I'm hopefully we get to a lot of individuals uh put in and then from there you know I could kind of determine I mean if we only get you know five then five it is you know what I mean? So I think that's how we left it open. So,

the other thing I have, and I'm sorry to be so nitpicky, but on the first page of the resolution, item number four, the first line reads at its initial meeting and least, it should have an at least. And then the the next uh the third sentence uh after the capitalized word committee, it says vice chair of the committee. It needs a period. And then under number five A line one it says at its initial meeting and you need another at least annually thereafter.

We'll make those changes. Thank you council. Thank you Mr. Mayor. I just had I have a question in reference to the committees moving forward. Uh and I know we've talked about this. I just I wanted to just get your direction again in reference to any members of this council being part of those committees. Is that permissible?

Yes. And that's actually uh one of the items that was included in the in the uh new charter change. So yes. So, you know, as I'm getting these individuals, uh, you know, I'm sure, uh, I'll I'll be getting with you guys and kind of see, you know, where you guys are interested in in best, uh, serving or giving, you know, giving your your That answers my question. Thank you.

I uh, make a motion to approve resolution number 26-13. Motion second. Councilman Pacheco second by councelor Casey. Roll call. Councelor Lee Buddy. Yes. Councelor Pacheco. Yes. Councelor Casey. Yes. Councelor Martinez. Yes. Have a motion by councelor PCO, a second by councelor Casey. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Motion carries. [clears throat] Moving on to our next item. Item number five, request approval of the second amendment to the communication site option and land lease agreement between the city of Las Vegas and Altal Corporation doing business as Verizon Wireless. Good evening, Chief. Mayor,

council how you

uh this second with the agreement for lease that we have with American Tower. This has been placed since 2018 along with resolution adopted by [clears throat] governing body to law lease and identify property them. Uh American Tower is the owner of the tower. They subleasas out to different cell phone companies. In communication with them due to financial changes last few years they have one occupant on that tower right now. So, one of the changes that they they've asked our annual pay they give us to go down, which roughly is around 18 to 19,000, I believe, Mr. Morris, per year, it'll go down to,7100. Uh, with [clears throat] an understanding that anytime they add a new client to that tower, it'll increase by 250 a month. Right now all they have is Verizon which is actually Al now but DBA Verizon that's yet to change the names. The 2018 lease says Verizon doesn't include auto at all. Um with that it'll also increase the rental price by 10% of the the rental price at that time beginning on November 17, 2028 and anytime the lease comes up for renewal. This lease itself is good till 2058 is when it actually expires. So we're just looking to change the amendment on there. It has been reviewed by C legal as well as CA manager and his office as well. [clears throat] So I stand for any questions you may have.

So I just chief just one question. Who verifies uh when those are put up that there's only one? Like are we reviewing that ourselves internally? we were notifying and they're also have to do the FCC as well to put those additional sunsh Mr. Mayor, Councilman Martinez, does uh Chief Span Mayor, I I just wanted to ask if uh does the city of Las Vegas have any use for adding anything to that tower?

We've thought about it. Uh we've had discussions slightly with Chief Marquez about the repeater system within our city for communications. Uh that's something we're get into closer more depth of a discussion with uh American Tower on and see what it change and we come back to you at that time as well. Okay. Well, I'm thinking about emergency, you know, radio equipment, anything like that is what I'm getting at. not necessarily a speed camera, but what I'm trying to say is, you know, just something that would uh benefit the city moving forward in reference to use of that tower. Yeah. Okay.

That's one of the things brought up in putting a repeater out there at that tower to help our coverage of our area. Okay. Well, just keep that in mind. Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Any other questions or what's the pleasure of the council? Mr. Mayor move approval of the uh lease for the communication site option. Motion council [clears throat] Casey, second by Councilman Levari. Local. Councelor Pacheo. Yes. Councelor Martinez. Yes. Councelor Casey. Yes. Councelor Levi. Yes. I have a motion by councelor Casey. A second by councelor Levi. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Motion carries. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Thank you, Chief. Thank you, Chief.

Thank you. Moving on to our last item. Request approval of the City of Las Vegas Lodgers Tax Board's recommendation for funding New Mexico Supreme Sports Northern Supreme Showdown in the amount of $7,000. We have our community development director, Mr. Lucas Marcus. [clears throat]

Mr. Marcus. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Council, Mr. City Manager. Um, [clears throat and snorts] at this time, I'd like to go ahead and call Mr. Nick Mononttoya up. he uh will be representing uh Supreme Sports uh for in case there's any other questions that that we'll be going through. But uh just to give a little brief uh overlook of uh um of the item we have in front of us, uh there was a special loggger tax held on uh meeting held on on March 4th. Uh it was discussed and I also got to thank Mr. Morris Madrid. even though he was uh he was sick, he was still able to provide us the information needed for uh the board to make an educated uh decision on this uh item and then they went ahead and uh and approved it uh for um the amount of $7,000. Um and I'll stand for any questions. And so, Mr. Mononttoya,

Mr. Mononttoya, thank you, Mr. Mayor. U council, everyone in attendance, thank you for giving me this opportunity to be here today. Um you know, we we're going to have an event here in Las Vegas. uh uh here at the rec center a basketball tournament.

It's it's it's offers an awesome opportunity for the kids that um come out and work [clears throat] hard every day to showcase their talent. And you know, we we're going to have uh about 45 teams from uh local teams and from other areas that are going to be participating. And uh we we um we think it's an it's an opportunity for the kids to to be involved with something that they're going to remember forever. You know, some of these funds will be used for uh stuff such as t-shirts that are that uh you know, if if you've ever played in sports, I don't know. I I I carry stuff with me. I carried stuff with me to my college dorm. I mean, where I lived when I was in college, I brought it back with me. You know, trophies, t-shirts, and you know, this provides those kids that same opportunity to have some of this stuff that they'll carry with them forever. Um, so, uh, that that fund will be used for, uh, stuff like t-shirts that will be provided to the players and and the coaches that attend the the the event. So, uh, yes, it's the funds are. So,

thank you. Uh, questions if not, what's the pleasure of the council? I just have a quick one. Um, [snorts] what's the age for the the players? Uh, it's there's different ages. Uh, it's going to it's going to start with with with the with the younger divisions, third grade, second grade. Uh can you pretty similar to the city league? Okay. Yeah. Thank you. There's also different uh uh gender divisions. So there's male and female and I I believe he said there was going to be mixed as well. So um that's it's the first of its kind over here. Uh but our rec center is being used a lot more for these types of events. Uh heads and beds is the is the big thing. Am I correct, Mr. Morris? When when we say that this is a three-day tournament or I believe three days or four days, Mr. Three days.

It's a three-day tournament. So, um, you know, we have a lot of teams that have already signed up. Uh, we're shooting, I think, for 100 teams. Uh, that's a lot of people here in Las Vegas. So, um, you know, we're hoping our hotels are ready and even our Airbnbs are ready. Thank you. Thank you for the information. Sorry. Sorry, mayor. Thank you, mayor. Uh I see it here that that the uh the revenue sharing 10% of the team entry 10 20% of concession and 20% of door entry. What's the entry fee per team? So the entry team um [snorts]

unless I missed it. I don't I didn't see it. Um, so the the entry fees uh is $275 per team, but there's also a group rate uh where it'll drop to $250, I believe, or and it might be a little bit lower. Uh if they come with uh let's say it's a it's a traveling club and they come with three different teams, they'll go ahead and get a little bit less of a of a of a fee. Uh is what was what was explained at the at the uh meeting, sir. And the door entry fee, I believe that's going to be $10 per entry fee, sir. And that's per person. So, is that per day or per the weekend?

It's going to probably be per per day. You'll probably get a ring um you know, a wristband for the day and then the next day you'll have to purchase another one and and so on, sir. Okay. Just to get an idea. I mean, I I think it's a it's great uh uh uh way to invest in our community. Great great way to uh use some of the larger tax, create some some tourism here, fill up some hotels, have some people at restaurants, have some people visit our city facilities. So, I appreciate it. Council, mayor, I move that we approve the city of Las Vegas tax board's recommendation for funding for the Mexico Supreme Sports Northern Supreme Showdown in the amount of $7,000.

Motion by councelor Casey. Do I have a second? Second. Second by council member Pacheco. Roll call. Councelor Martinez. Yes. Councelor Leari. Yes. Councelor PCO. Yes. Councelor Casey. Yes. Have a motion by councelor Casey. A second by councelor Pacheco. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you mayor and council. Appreciate you guys and thank you. Thank you. I move we adjourn. Motion by second by council.