County Council - Session - Regular Meeting

Okay. I want to welcome the fairly large group of people here at the fire station for the County Council regular session of 05/19/2026. And just a couple of comments on the procedure for the meeting tonight. So it's no different than we've been doing for many months now. Tonight's meeting is going be in hybrid format. So we'll have council, presenters

in

public participate in person, as we see tonight, or on Zoom. And if you participate virtually using computers or other devices, We also have phone lines. So we're going to be accepting public comment tonight at the beginning of the meeting on topics that are not on the agenda. Comments on agenda items will be taken when the item is discussed during the meeting. During the public comment period, Ms.

Madison will look for virtual attendees to use the raise your hand feature. And that's star nine if you're on a phone line. So when we have public comment, please limit your comments to three minutes or otherwise directed. We'll ask the virtual commenters include their name on Zoom so they can be properly addressed. And comments should be addressed to the chair and focused on the topic being considered. So our goal is to complete the meeting no later than 10PM. We'll be checking our progress around 9PM with that goal in mind. So we're on to item one, which is opening and roll call. So since have one counselor on Zoom, can the clerk please call the roll?

Counselor Call. COHOLL:

Here.

JULIE Counselor Regor.

Here.

JULIET Counselor Hand. Here. JULIET Counselor Havamand. Here. JULIET Herman. Here. JULIET Counselor Neil Clinton. Here. JULIET Counselor Reiting.

I'm here.

Okay. We have six councils in chambers and one remote.

Okay. All the records show that all seven councilors are present, six are here in person, and one is remote. Okay. So we're on to item number two, which is the Pledge of Allegiance. So if you're willing and able, please join us in the pledge.

Okay. So now we're on to public comments. So do we have any members of the public that want to make comments on items that are not on tonight's agenda? Not seeing anyone present. Ms. Matsakis, can you check online?

I can. If you'd like to make public comment, please raise your hand. Chair, I'm not seeing any hands raised.

Okay. Thank you. So now we're on to item number four, which is the approval of the agenda. Is there a councilor mention of making a motion? Councilor Heaven?

I move we accept tonight's agenda as presented. Second.

Okay. So we have a motion by Councilor Heaven and second by Councilor Neil Clinton. Okay. I don't see any discussion. Can the third please call the roll?

Councilor Neil Clinton? Yes. Councilor Hand? Yes. Councilor Herman? Yes. Councilor Reidy?

Yes.

Councilor Reigor?

Yes.

Councilor Haverman? Yes. Councilor Cull?

Yes.

Motion passes, seven-zero.

Okay. Let the record show the motion passes unanimously. So now we're on to item five, which is presentations, proclamations, and recognitions. 5A is twenty one thousand one fifty five-twenty six. It's a proclamation declaring the week of May 2026 as National Public Works Week. And so we have Councilor Veers going to read that.

Thank you, Chair. Whereas public work professionals are focused on infrastructure facilities and services that are of vital importance to sustainable and resilient communities and to the public health, high quality of life and well-being of the people of Los Alamos County and whereas these could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of public works professionals, engineers, managers, and employees at all levels of government who are responsible for rebuilding, improving, and protecting our nation's transportation, roadways, solid waste systems, public buildings, and other structures and facilities essential for our citizens. And whereas it is in the public interest for the citizens, civic leaders, and children in Los Alamos County to gain knowledge of and to maintain an ongoing interest and understanding of the importance of public works and public works programs in their respective communities, and whereas the year of 2026 marks the sixty fifth annual National Public Works Week sponsored by the American Public Works Association and Canadian Public Works Association. Now, therefore, on behalf of the Council of the Incorporated County of Los Alamos, I do hereby proclaim the week of May 2026 as National Public Works Week. I urge all citizens to join with representatives of the American Public Works Association and government agencies in activities and events and ceremonies designed to pay tribute to our public works professionals and to recognize the substantial contributions they make to protecting our health, safety, and quality of life Dated 05/19/2026, Randall Reidy chair.

Thank you, councilor Reagor. Miss Martinez, miss Wilson, do have some remarks?

Thank you, mister chair and members of council and councilor Reagor for reading the proclamation. I'm joined here with Deputy Public Works Director Keith Wilson as well. On behalf of the dedicated men and women of the Public Works Department, some of which are present here today or online representing our nine divisions, Thank you for celebrating National Public Works Week and for your support and acknowledgment of the essential work that the public works team performs in support of the community each and every day. From managing the airport, managing events, and keeping our building buildings clean and tidy, to maintaining our county buildings, county vehicles and roads, manage managing projects of all sizes, collecting and managing our waste and recycling programs, to operating our award winning transit system, more on that later, our team works hard to improve the quality of life and provide excellent customer service in all that we do. Thank you and thank you again and I invite all members of the Public Works team to come forward and join Keith and I with accepting this proclamation.

Okay, thank you.

Okay. So now we're on to item 5B, twenty one thousand four and seventy six-twenty six. It's the proclamation declaring the month of May is Mental Health Awareness Month. So Counselor Hand has this one to read.

Okay. Thank you, Chair Roddy. Whereas May is nationally recognized as Mental Health Awareness Month and this year's theme, More Good Days Together, is at the heart of Los Alamos County Social Services Division and the Los Alamos County Health Council. Meeting people where they are, wholly supporting them, and understanding good is defined by their unique experience. And whereas stigma and misunderstanding continue to pose barriers to seeking help, though education and open conversations foster support and acceptance.

And whereas mental health is essential to overall health and well-being and all people experience times of difficulty and stress in their lives. And whereas Los Alamos County is home to dedicated professionals, advocates, and volunteers who promote mental wellness and provide care to those in need. And whereas local organizations and regional partners are leading the way with programs that support youth, adults, and families, including Family Strengths Network, Juvenile Justice Advisory Board, Los Alamos Family Council, Los Alamos Retired and Senior Organization, Los Alamos Family YMCA, Los Alamos Public Schools Prevention Specialists, Los Alamos Social Services Division and Health Council, Los Alamos Uniting for Community Health, and Rio Arriba and Santa Fe Counties. Now therefore, on behalf of the council of the incorporated county of Los Alamos, I do hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as Mental Health Awareness Month in Los Alamos County, and we call upon all community members to shine a light on mental health to reduce stigma, celebrate recovery, and encourage prioritizing mental well-being as much as physical health by supporting more good days together, dated this May 2026, signed by Randall Reidy, Chair, Los Alamos County Council.

Okay, thank you, Councillor Hands. We have, looks like we've mentioned the health council. So we have our social service manager, Jessica Strong, and Chair of the Health Council, Lisa Hampton, here. Some remarks to make.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Han. Thank you, Los Alamos County Council thank you county itself public for your support of all this I'm the chair of the health council this is Marna Rydell she's the vice chair Heather Muck is also here with the health council Leticia Martinez could all the health council members please come up right now maybe just stand around the table with us And then we also wanted to recognize all our partners both locally. And this is Matthew McCleary, Leticia Martinez, Heather Muck, as I said before.

We'd like to recognize all of our partners within the county and also within the region, specifically Family Strengths Network, Juvenile Justice Advisory Board, Los Alamos Family Council, Los Alamos Retired and Senior Organization, Los Alamos Family YMCA, Los Alamos Public School Prevention Specialist, Sylvia Deal and Christine Koblenz, Los Alamos Social Services Division Health Council, Los Alamos United for Community Health, as well as many regional partners in Rio Aruba County, as well as Santa Fe. Would all those members of the organizations I just mentioned come up as well? And then Jessica mentioned that we do have some training and classes this month and she wanted to go over that.

Thank you. There is one more. We've done a bunch of suicide prevention trainings. We have 25 people trained now in the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy. I wanted to give a couple of shout outs. I know the teen center is here recognizing teen mental health. I know I saw Ramon is here from Larso recognizing older adult mental health. We're providing for the entire spectrum. The only class that is still coming up is a mental health first aid class on Friday, May 29. It takes place from nine to 04:30 at Fuller Lodge and I believe there are two seats available so you can reach out to us at social services if you want to RSVP for that so thank you for this recognition

Okay, well thank you for being here. You want to get a photo

for

Okay. Thank you all for being here for that tonight. So now we're item 5C. So it's twenty one thousand five hundred six-twenty six, recognition of Atomic City Transit for earning the 2025 New Mexico Transit Association and New Mexico Department of Transportation Rural Transit System of the Year Award and Avail Transit Vanguard Award. So we can have Ms. Martinez and Mr. Varela just to say a couple words.

Thank you Mr. Chair and members of council. Fire department isn't the only department with hardware here so I just wanted to introduce our transit manager James Barela and we got a few

of our wonderful team members here behind me so without further ado James. Thank you Eric. Thank you, Chair Reidy and Council for this opportunity. First, I would like to thank God for this opportunity and the spotlight that he's given our transit team. I would also like to recognize our transit staff who are here today.

Behind me, Charles, Kelso, Ryan, Julie, and Juan, those who are currently on route, and those who are unable to attend. I had hoped we could pause service for an hour or so so they could all come, but I'm sure all of some of us in this room would be getting phone calls for the buses, right? But I wanted to sincerely thank each member of our transit team. Every one of you brings a unique talent, dedication, and strength that contributes to our success. Your teamwork, commitment, and focus on providing the best service possible to our community are what make achievements like this possible.

These awards are a direct reflection of your hard work and diligence, and I'm proud that ACT has been recognized because of the efforts of this incredible team. I would also like to thank all other county staff who in one way or another supported our mission and helped us continue serving the community each day. And with that, thank you for this recognition. Thank you.

Okay, you want to get a photo here with some folks? More photos. Okay, so now we're on to the item that probably most people have been waiting for. So it's 5D. It's 215406.

Recognition of the 2026 I voted sticker contest winners. And we have our clerk, Michael Ordono, here.

Chair Reidy, counsel, thank you so much for allowing me to take your time, know your precious time, to do this recognition. This is one of my favorite things that we do in the clerk's office, in part because we get to inspire young people to do art and also civic duty at the same time. We have some really great stickers. I encourage everyone to vote. And when you vote, pick up a sticker and wear it proudly.

This is, I think, the best advertisement we have to remind people that voting is on and to come and vote. So please, when you vote, get a sticker and wear it somewhere where people will see it. That being said, we have three categories an I voted sticker, an I voted early sticker, and a future voter sticker. We have three winners first place winners for each of those candidates categories. We also have second place winners with one category that had tied second place and then a bunch of honorable mentions.

We printed the first and second place stickers. So there are more than one sticker. If you want all of them, you have to keep voting. So you get one. We'll be using the same stickers in the general election as well as right now in the primary.

And then we'll use them again in the school board election next year. So remember to vote in every election, and you'll get all of your stickers. If we can move on to the next slide, these are our winners for the I voted sticker. When we call up your name, I will give you your prize. And if we can have the student stand over here, and we will take a picture afterwards with all of the prize winners, if that's all right.

So first, our first place winner with the I voted is Laurel Redman. Take your picture. Just so everyone knows, the prizes include so we've got some great goodies that the county provided. We also have there's a gift certificate for the Chamber of Commerce, the chamber box I can't remember what they're called and some art supplies to encourage you all to keep doing the wonderful art that you're doing.

We

have both Stevens. Brooke Schmidt. Brooke actually won two second places, so your prizes are kind of together there. Next, we've got Piper Finnegan.

That

one. This one? That one? Aubrey Haver. July. Here we go. Did you do it? And and Evelyn Forbes. Do you want Aubrey? There we go. Those are I voted. Next slide, please. So our I voted early stickers. First place is Olivia Connett Lee. Second place is Mia Lin.

Honorable mentions are Jaden Muck. Fiona Curry. And Lane Cleveland. It looks like Lane's not here. Our next February is the future voters stickers.

Our first place was Diane Bearground. Brooke Schmidt is also our second place there. And then runners up, Elise Thackler. Astrid Forbes. And not but last, last but not least, Mikayla Lopez.

Thank you all so very much and if you can get a picture.

Okay, thank you, Mr. Rodando, and for all the students and all their efforts. Okay. For some reason everybody left. Yep.

Okay. Now on to the next item, 5E21300-twenty six. It's overview of council's strategic goal quality of life. So, Ms. Madison, are you gonna take the lead on this one?

Chair and council, I won't take offense that the room is cleared right before my presentation. That's right. They had other things to do. So I'm really glad to be before you. This is the first of several presentations that we'll be giving throughout the year to give you an update on your focus areas, your strategic goals.

We're starting with quality of life. And before I kind of dig into the slides, I just want to say that I have a lot of gratitude to all of our county staff for their dedication and hard work that they do to continually improve the quality of life of Los Alamos County. And I'm really honored to stand up here and represent them and their accomplishments. So I wanted to say that first. And I will just say that a lot of things that we've already heard tonight you're going to see again in the presentation.

So you got a little foreshadowing of some of our accomplishments. Okay. So just a real quick reminder of your 2026 strategic leadership plan with your five focus areas and your 'twenty two objectives. Tonight we'll focus on the quality of life. And here are the objectives that I'll be walking through and giving you some status and some accomplishments health and well-being and social services, inclusion, access and belonging, mobility, open space, parks and recreation, and public safety.

So starting out with health, well-being, and social services. Again, what we say in your strategic plan is that we want to expand access to behavioral, mental, and physical health and social services and amenities to address identified issues and promote well-being in the county and the region. So just again, lots and lots of accomplishments and I'll just try and highlight a few. I love this picture of these bags of groceries, emergency groceries that we put together. We launched a We Can Help campaign in November during the government shut down, which we felt was affecting a lot of people.

And so just a great partnership with lots of community organizations and just collected 2,000 plus pounds of emergency food and then were distributed very easily at various and sundry places. So a great effort by our social services division and all our partners. The next one I'll highlight, and I think Jessica noted this previously, is together with Los Alamos United for Community Health, they have been training people in the ABC suicide prevention model. And at the time that we took this data, we had trained more than 125 people. Jessica talked about the Nature Therapy Guide program.

It's been highly successful. They had lots of people apply and partake. And so far we've graduated 30 people in that. I think something that we highlighted previously but I always like to highlight it again is that social services has held weekly social services at the library. And again this is really a time when they can have social service staff in the library that it's kind of off hours.

It's kind of after hours. So if you can't get to their offices like the eight to five timeframe this allows you in a more easy place and a place you may be going in the evening anyway. So I thought that was very helpful and they're continuing to do that. The other successful program we'll continue to talk about since it is so successful is the Hawk Hangout. It was really born out of trying to have activities for that middle school age group.

I know we really eventually want a middle school center, like the teen center. But this monthly activities has really been successful with partners and activities and figuring out how to do different things. I think they have been bowling and ice skating and all kinds of things. I'll just note I'm not sure that this 1,300 that was last year's number, so I'm not sure I got that updated. But we get great participation.

And then lastly I'll just highlight the utilities assistance program. About over 32,000 was donated in 2025 and really helped with 27,000 of utility expenses. And I just I give a shout out to our utilities, especially our public information officer, Kathy Deanna she's getting ready to retire but she came up with this great about pennies because the pennies were going away and so she had a competition about who can collect the most pennies and so within the county different departments and divisions collected all those pennies that they have in jars and bowls and stuff and the winner who collected the most money got a Frito pie lunch. So again, just a creative way to continue to raise money for our utilities assistance program. I thought that was really great.

So moving on to inclusion, access, and belonging. And again just reminding that that objective is to promote inclusion, access, and belonging through events, training, facility planning, expanded opportunities, and services for diverse needs and interests. And again, just highlight this past year, that was really driven in huge part through our inclusivity task force. The nine member task force that you appointed delivered their final report and recommendations to counsel in March. And tonight we'll have another agenda item that talks about the creation of that inclusivity board.

So continued to have our government alliance on race and equity, really great resource to ask questions or get information from other communities how they do things. And then lastly I'll just note that we have an agreement in place for our ADA digital asset content. It's being finalized. We hope to kick it off in June. And this is really looking at the DOJ had a rule that indicates how we have to have accessible content on our website.

And we were working towards an April 2027 deadline. That has got extended but we are still working to that 2027 deadline so we don't get behind. But we are bringing in a professional that can look at our website, evaluate it, and then give us to help us convert the content and get the content in the right format that we need. And I'll just note this picture. If you remember that we had the Girl Scouts come and requesting the accessible swing for the parks.

So as a follow-up to that public comment, community services director Corey Styron and I believe Wendy Parker or Jessica Strong, sorry. They went to the Girl Scout troop and the follow-up was is that we did add accessible swings to some of our new playground construction. So hopefully some of you saw that at the 37th Street playground that was just opened a couple weeks ago. But they went and talked to the Girl Scouts at one of their meetings. And so I love that picture.

That's a great shot of Corey. And again, these highlights really talk about our library and how they continue to celebrate cultural months through displays and programs and activities. And hopefully you've seen some of that in our programming. And they just continue to be welcomed to all libraries. And I'll just note, you know, they average six fifty people per day between both of their locations.

Okay. Nanomobility, which talks about improve and expand access to and provide disability accommodation for alternate modes of travel, including public transit, cycling and walking amenities and services. So obviously we heard what an amazing award winning transit system we have. So I won't go into a lot of details on this page. But we will talk about the ACT My Ride.

Again, it's an app because everything's an app now. But it really allows people to kind of order a ride quickly and easily. So that's been highly successful. And the other thing I'll note on this page is that we successfully passed the NMDOT oversight review with no deficiencies. So demonstrating full compliance with safety and regulatory requirements.

So again, we care about that kind of stuff and we do really well and we continue to be awarded for completely being compliant with all those regulations. This is some more shots of that swag that ACT has won. Again, we talked about the Saturday service and I know we want more of that. But I think just even getting to the point where we could do the pilots service last year was really great. And so that kind of was the kickoff to then do this transit planning study to figure out kind of how do we get to a point where we can implement more of that.

So the next couple pages talk a little bit more about mobility, thinking about pedestrian and bikers. Again, our pedestrian master plan, that was updated and adopted by council in August 2025. And that just, again, is another guiding document for how we can work to improve our pedestrian access throughout the county. If you recall we had a big presentation about the New Mexico crossing and Multiuse Trail that's going to be just a little bit from this area. Again, that's the design is 100% complete and we anticipate advertising for construction soon.

I don't see when it was, but we're hopefully going to see that soon. And finally, the Trinity Drive Safety and ADA Improvements. Again, that's a project that we've given a lot of we've given counsel some updates on and we plan to be starting construction this summer. Lastly, I will note about the Bandelier shuttle. We are providing a seasonal service within the park, just internal to the park.

So that's from the Fry Trail head to the Bandelier Visitor Center. We're saying mid March to mid October it's actually on high demand day. So again, I think it's like sixty some days that we're providing that a lot of weekends. Oh, and I show it right here. So here's this is the days that we're providing it.

We're I think we're providing a great service. And just some more stats on ACT. Okay. I'll move on to open space parks and recreation. And again that's to manage and maintain and improve designated open spaces, parks, recreation facilities, trails, and amenities as defined by adopted plans and approved projects.

So again, highlight just a few things. This first one, the NR National Recreation and Parks Association Gold Medal Award winner in 2025. We were very recently notified that we are a finalist again this year. So we are, fingers crossed, we'll win the award. We'll be in Philadelphia later this year to find out about that.

But just lots and lots of accomplishments with the North Mesa Recreation Plan, the athletic turf feasibility study, the cemetery master plan and the open space and trails management plan. Those have been documents that will in the future really guide us and allow us to have a plan for the future and how we're going to improve our assets. The fun one is the robotic mowers. They have been deployed at North Mesa and the golf course but we recently and I don't know if they're here yet but we are ordering more that will be deployed down at Overlook and Urban Overlook. And again just continue to complete upgrading of the basketball all the courts.

So most recently the East Park Basketball Court and the Tennis And Pickleball Pickleball Courts at North Mesa. Again, we don't have any of the fun pictures from 37th Street and Pinon Park, but those were completed and our ribbon cutting was held. Hopefully you all have noticed the rose garden fence that has been installed. I think it's a really nice addition and it really works well with the space. And I'll just note there is a ribbon cutting I believe this week, the end of this week, tomorrow or something.

So again, lots and lots of projects for this department. We continue with the aquatic center being replastered. That is going really, really well. And I think what's really exciting is that we have secured a lease with Pinyon Pool to provide an alternate space for the summer. So that will open Saturday morning at 9AM.

So just continue to have lots and lots of activities, dive in movies, water volleyball, a downhill gravity race. And we're really looking forward to the Trans Rocky Mountain Bike Single Track race that's coming in September 2026. And again, this is just some of the Walnut Canyon restoration project. And then this was the pictures shown here are the resealing of Kinnickinnick Park, the accessible trail that was opened recently. And we just want to make sure that we continue to meet that ADA specs.

And before I move from that, I'll just also the other thing for this group that it's just such a regular occurrence. I don't even think it's in the accomplishments. But our summer concert series, wildly successful, such a great community event every Friday night bringing together you know, all generations of families and people. And so that kicks off this Friday night at 06:30. And finally we'll talk about public safety, which in the strategic plan talks about ensuring overall community safety through proactive and sustained implementation of police, fire, hazard mitigation, and emergency response plans.

So again, lots and lots of accomplishments. You know, one of them is that the K-nine unit was assigned to the school resource team and continues to participate in community outreach. Always got to talk about Safety Town. That's one of the pictures there and what a great addition that is for our community and just lots participation through the police department in their community outreach efforts. They also maintained their CALEA accreditation.

This is a picture from Arizona when they received their most recent accreditation. And again, this is a third reaccreditation marking twelve years of continued compliance. So congrats to them. So again, just utilizing their resources for targeted crime reduction and utilizing technology and equipment modernization to improve the safety in the community. So emergency management, they've been very active in Paris and resilient in having a wildfire.

But as our partners there from the Forest Service to LANL to the schools And so they're really valuable in kind of walking through a scenario. The one scenario we were working, one of the tabletops ones just to give you an idea was that a fire broke out. If a fire broke out in Rindia Canyon and started coming towards Bronco Mesa School. So was during rush hour, during morning rush hour and again just walking through what that meant step by step, hour by hour. So it just brings up a lot of things that you don't think about.

So they've been really great in getting those exercises accomplished. And then at the end they create an after action report that allows us to kind of work through some of the areas where we maybe were a little deficient in. The other thing that they're super excited about is that they are getting very close to kicking off a Los Alamos community preparedness team. And this is really local residents, business and partner organizations that can get some extra training and then be available during emergencies to help in any way they can. So you should be seeing more information of that I believe next month.

Again, emergency management, they're really doing significant community outreach. Hopefully you've seen Penny the Preparedness Pup, the advertisement at the movie theater. It's a really great way to do a kid focused preparedness program. And again, we continue to work towards having a dedicated emergency operations center as part of this building. The other parts of public safety including the fire department, again they were also successful in in their most recent accreditation.

They were in Florida. This is theirs. And they have now been accredited for over thirty years. So it's a great accomplishment. This is very, very recent, this Active Assailant Response Workshop.

And I think you may have seen some emails about that. But again, great performance and lots of good work that was done during that workshop. And finally just a little bit of stats that they've responded to over 2,500 calls for service and they provide all kinds, responses to all kinds of hazards, fires, technical rescue, vehicle extinction, and emergency medical services. The other piece of this is the mutual aid. And I think most recently with the fire down in Espanola that we responded to, it just really brought into line kind of this mutual aid and how much the regional assistance is utilized and how we really do our part to help when we can.

So again, this Wildland Division has been deployed nationally six times and conducted 40 acres of thinning. And hopefully you've seen the robotic mastication and they're really getting the word out about the Ready, Set, Go practices. And the other thing is the property assessments. Again, I think these are some before and after pictures in the bottom. But again, those have been super helpful for residents.

Okay. And with that, I'll stand for any questions.

Okay. Thank you, Ms. Madison, for lots of different updates. And so we're not taking any action on this. If there's any questions or comments, I can hand it now. Councillor Rieger?

Thinking of White Rock and are we completed? And you had your list there. Is there anything for White Rock on the list? Spio Canyon and was it? Just a whole list of things. Do we have any new rec projects or anything that's on the completed list?

Well, chair and councilor, we completed Hope Field a year ago. That field was renovated. We did Dara Jones that same year. Spiro was a problem with a late start with the contractor last year, and they're starting to work on the issues there now. So we're hoping to have it back open. Pinion Park, which we had the groundbreaking on May 5. That park has been renovated. We put in a new skate park last year there.

Oh, Grand Canyon and Ildefonce on this list. That's

Grand Canyon is we're in the design process now. That's at the corner of Grand Canyon So and that one's on there. We've been very diligent in trying to make sure that we spread our wealth with our projects here. We've really tried to do stuff.

How about Sperio Field then? What's the status of that? It went off the rails for a while or is

it The contractor is still working on it. They put the sod in very late last year. It wasn't able to knit in. There's significant gaps and there's some elevation problems that the contractor needs to address.

Are we still plagued by the Gophers anyway? I mean, they

The Gophers have been a non issue this year. Staff has been on top of them. Every time I've been out there, I have yet to find one that's obvious when I'm out there looking at

So what do you think it'll ever when is it going to reopen for kids?

We're shooting for August for the fall.

Oh, it could be this year. Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Weager. Any Councilor Hannon?

Since we have Corey up here, I thought I'd ask him a question about your new mowers. How is that going?

Chair and Councilor, it's been going great. We were a little concerned that staff might think we were trying to do away with their jobs. We've got two of them that are now very proficient at setting them up, scheduling them, and they're like they're the first ones that answer a call. So they've been able to enhance their skills using this robotic program. It allows them to focus on other task activities in our community that we know that were so needed.

We're also so short handed. So they've been a really good addition. And that's why we've chosen to invest in some more units down here at Overlook Park to kind of continue to build on that.

No wrecks, no mishaps, no everything goes as planned?

Well, we've had two. We had one. We had a young member of our community joust with one with a broom handle. I think the mower won because I think the child got tired. And then we had a deer try to play with one last year. And during meeting season, he was trying to jazzle with it. But they've held up really well. Right now, it's a common occurrence. And people haven't seemed to I'm not going to say that because that'll

jinx me.

But it worked out really well and staff has accepted them very, very good.

Okay. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, councilor. And councilor Cole?

I won't pick on you, Corey. Thank you, chair. I had a question from a neighbor about the food collection that we did. Well, it really wasn't about the the one time food collection that we did during the government closure, but it was, it was about the food collection that the post office does once a year or so. And that person was wondering if if the county could organize or have a place where food could be collected on a regular basis.

She said I mean, she recognizes that there's a need for food to be collected on a regular basis, especially now with the increasing costs. I'm not throwing that out as anything that, I would expect an answer on tonight, but it's just a a thought. And there may already be something out there that I'm not familiar with. I know you could there's a bin at Smith's, but I don't know for sure where that food goes, if it goes to the local pantry or not. But, anyway, just something, that came up.

And then, the other thing is I would kinda like to know what we're doing with this. The the plane at the airport, that that cool plane that was put back together, anybody know what we're planning to do with that?

So chair and councilor, I'll take the first question while someone from fire department comes up here to answer your second question. During the aquatic when the aquatic center is open, we have a food barrel at the aquatic center that we take donations with that goes directly to LA Cares. And then I know that randomly we've done special events throughout the county at different places throughout the year depending on needs and what's going on.

Thank you.

Chair and councilor, thanks for the question. That is a training prop. So what we plan to do with it is train our folks who have to respond to the airport for emergencies. We have also invited other departments to use it as well. As soon as we're using it for a training prop, we intend to get signs up that say such.

Okey doke. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, councilor.

That's all I have.

Okay. Thank you. Councilor Haberman?

I was like talking to my iPad. Thank you, chair. Thank you, Ms. Madison, for the nice overview and thanks to all the departments who are making a difference in the quality of life in Los Alamos. I think it's a great list of accomplishments and it really has good depth and a lot of active boards and volunteers behind some of those things and great employees, too.

So I'm actually, you know, I'm really pleased and positive about it all. I have two questions. One is probably in the social services realm. I'm curious because of a conversation I had with somebody last week who's pretty knowledgeable and has been here a long, long time just about how we're doing as a community with helping and supporting unhoused people who reside here. I don't have a sense really of how many people that might be, how many of them have consistently been in need, and what we as a county can do to be more supportive in that area.

Chair and counselors. It's a great question. We have continued to help people who are experiencing homelessness at social services. We have a part time position. It's classified as a health care specialist.

She is actually our former health council chair, Lori Padilla, who accepted a position as our mobile homeless outreach person. Every And week meets with we have a number of clients, I will say anecdotally, without having the data in front of me, 10 to 12 folks who are either currently experiencing homelessness, either rough sleeping outside in tents or living in cars or vans or RVs, working with them on long term plans for housing and getting them connected to other services, GEDs, health care, etcetera. I will share we've had a couple of great success stories. There was a couple living in a car that we were able to get housed here in the community. And another that Lori really helped get her reunited with her adult children back in Tennessee and helped her get back to Tennessee helping ensure a smooth transition with Medicaid and other services.

One of the complications I will just note well, two complications, but they are related. In the state of New Mexico, the wait list for Section eight housing has been closed, meaning

What kind of housing, I'm sorry?

To get Section eight vouchers, sorry. So people who recently have lost housing, receiving a Section eight voucher has always been kind of the safety net. And the demand for vouchers has far exceeded the ability to provide for those. So the wait list itself is closed, which makes it a very big challenge. Our regional Section eight housing is handled the office is in Espanola, but it is called the Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority, which is not at all confusing.

But they recently lost their staff and that staff person was not replaced at all. So our nearest representative is now out of the Bernalillo County office. So for filling out paperwork, signing paperwork, it's an extra burden for people to manage that. So we've been trying to connect with local landlords or those if people want to live in Espanola or Santa Fe where they can maybe find more affordable housing, helping people get connected there. Sorry, that was a long answer.

That's helpful. Thank you. But do you think that you and your staff and others you're working with have an accurate assessment of the number of people who need this help? You know, you maybe mentioned eight to 10 who you think you know of who might be living in tents or their cars. And of course there's the other category of people who are just kind of couchsurfing, right? There's that and that's hard to quantify.

So those are the number that's a great question, chair and counselors. Those are the numbers we're currently working with that we know are unhoused right now. When we last did an estimate, if you factor in people who are couchsurfing and others, estimate is obviously much higher, probably closer to 50 or 60. We know there's an increase in the summer when there may be more people coming to work at the lab just for the summer that may not be able to get a place to live, an apartment, a stable place to live. We continue to do outreach about the services we can offer and the partnerships we've built to make sure people have access to showers and food services, etcetera.

But I'll be honest, I mean, there's still a lot of stigma, especially in this community, about the perception of being homeless here in a relatively affluent, high cost of living place. So the count is probably far higher of people that lack permanent stable housing. Your name is on the lease. You have a legal right to be there. But we have a very good network of people who reach out when they have someone they are concerned about, whether that's a church or faith based organization.

The school prevention specialist and JJAB have connected with us about young adult feel the safety networks even if we don't have them on our active client roster.

Yeah, thank you. And you

kind of mentioned the stigma part but in contrast I've also heard that some people find this community really supportive and there's ways to get food and there's ways to get a shower and there's ways to find shelter, at least, know, relatively speaking, of course. I'm not trying to sugarcoat it by any stretch. So I think it's kind of both, maybe, right? It's just a challenge. But thank you for addressing it.

Absolutely, Chair and Councilor. If I can add one more note. I do want to point out we've also worked very hard with other departments for both warming stations and cooling stations, depending on the season. And so just giving a shout out Angelica Gurule and Abby Hayward, having a physical map with the locations of where people can go for cooling stations without the obligation to buy anything. Bathrooms are available. Cold water is available. So trying to build that community of support if then hopefully people could get connected to social services for those additional needs.

I'm so glad we do that. I mean heat stroke is so much more dangerous I think than people realize. Okay, well thank you for all that. My second question thank you, Jessica is the emergency operations preparedness. And I think there was talk about how there's been like 11 what do you call it? Trial runs? Or I forget the right term. Trial runs? Something like that, right?

Right. Yeah. Tabletop exercises.

Thank you. Yeah. Like, who participates in those? And is there anything that we could be doing to help to make sure that we're even more prepared? Are there any concerns, worries, gaps that we have that we should be thinking about strategically or even just tactically?

Chair, Councilor Hovindon. So these tabletop and our other exercises kind of vary. So there's the one flavor that's the county emergency management has organized it and put it together and invited people and they're creating this scenario and they're writing the action. So that's the one I talked about. One that I attended was at this wild land, this wildfire and again we had great participation.

This room was packed and it was just a diverse group of just everyone you wanted in the room. They also participate in if Lantel's having their own exercises then again they participate as they need to with those as well. So and then the last flavor that I've been a part of is more like totally internal. We had one and it may actually there may be other things but this one was community services have asked we need to look at if there's some incident that happens at the concerts. Again if something horrible, you know, a car goes into a crowd or something, like we got to walk through that circumstance.

So we did a tabletop of that. And again that one was a little bit more county, lot of, you know, lots of departments and divisions county personnel. We did have a few other people outside the county but we probably needed more when we kind of started to get through it. But all that's in the after action reports. So if counsel is interested in some of those reports we can definitely make those available because they kind of go through like what are the things we kind of found.

Like again for the circumstance at the summer concert you start to think about it it's like there's a ton of children. Their parents are probably somewhere at the pond but they're not with them the entire time right? And so how do you like you got to think through how is that going to work? Something happens and we're relocating people like how are you going to reunite these children? So again that came up and it was like oh the schools probably have a way to do this.

We probably should learn from them. So again that was one of the actions, follow-up actions was let's have another exercise talking about relocation and like just talking through how that would happen. You know, pick a place where we're going to go and really develop that. So they've been very, very helpful and I think they've been able to do that now that they have that additional staff member, Lance.

So I'm curious about like what best practices are in like the Ashley Pond scenario, you know, any kind of a traumatic incident where there's maybe people undergoing duress, injuries, etcetera, is best practice that you announce right then and there where the safe place to go is or is that something that should be known ahead of time? And if it's something that should be known ahead of time, I just think the more people who know it need to know it and I can just say, I don't know. There's any number of horrible things we can imagine that could happen and you just don't want to be saying woulda, coulda, shoulda, right? And then I'm wondering, is our medical center and medical community and health care workers who might be called upon, Are they in the loop on these exercises or are neighboring trauma centers or medevac? Just all the things you think about you might need.

Everyone always says, Well, you never think that's going happen in our small town, but then it does. So I'm not just thinking wildfire, right, because we all kind of know about that. Anyway, was just kind of curious, like, just the things I wonder about.

Chair Ketza Huffman. This tabletop exercise was kind of discussion one about it. And so you're correct. As you said that I did remember that we did have a member from the medical center and they kind of told us how many trauma victims they could take and it's much lower than you would think. So again it was it's kind of like going through the exercises and that's just like the first step and then you can work on those issues and figure it out.

So we didn't figure out it all during that exercise but again there were several follow-up items that we'll be working on to try and get more clarity and more processes in place.

Great. Mean at least I as one counselor would love to kind of make sure that we stay informed on that. So maybe another update in a couple months or something before summer gets too far beyond us if possible. Thanks.

Thank you, Councillor Edmond. Any other questions? No. I had a couple. So I guess relating to unhoused people. So I was listening to the Lodgers Tax Board where they're talking about camping. So currently the it's ordinance, county ordinance that limits camping to fourteen days. Is that correct?

Chair, that's correct. Fourteen days in a thirty day period.

Okay. So do we understand the rationale for that? I mean, do we know if there's like a logic to why if somebody was there fifteen days, that's a problem, but fourteen is Okay. So I just was curious relative to the discussion we're having about people that can't find housing.

Chair and councilor, that for some reason has just been a campground standard for a number of years. They really wanted people to roll in and roll out and not use it as a housing situation. But that's typically a standard date. Other places use thirty days consecutively or within a year.

So

it kind of depends. There's not a magic button. And we don't go out and bang on the windshield and kick them out on day 15 either.

Charity, I just wanted to ask that actually the community services department has established a form. So when there is a housing need and someone is engaged with social service and actively working on a housing solution, I do have the ability to waive that and I have been waiving them.

Okay. So that can be waived on Correct. So again, you have to request it, which has some we discussed. We heard the discussion about the stigma or not stigma for that. So I was curious because I didn't know. It seems like it's just a number to prevent people from being there. But the discussion Waders Tax was having was that they were looking to solve part of the workforce problem by allowing people to be in RV parks that we would waive the limit for fourteen days.

So a couple of things I'll add to that is one is the waiver doesn't come with any identity of persons. So that is kept confidential. And the other thing that I wanted to say is that we are exploring as part of our housing, our comprehensive plan to see if there are areas where we could identify to develop a longer term camping. That is something we could look at to create that opportunity, especially for things like a seasonal worker. If you're coming up here for a construction project or something, that maybe that might be more of an opportunity. But right now, we don't have a very large camping capacity.

Right. Okay. I just thought it was interesting because of the relationship to the Okay. So that was one question I had. So another one. So and I think there's been kind of response back, but last week we heard public comment from people about the OBGYN services. And I was just curious if that's been if there's been any discussion and outreach with folks on that.

Thank you, Chair Reidy. I have spoken to a couple members of the local board to talk a little bit more about it and get some feedback. I also had some conversations with LACDC at their board meeting yesterday evening. And there has been significant outreach to the current clients and talking about the services provided that the emergency room absolutely will still address kind of anything that's critical that you can't travel as well as other resources and connecting them so that they're not without their how to meet their needs through But the the feedback I'm getting is it's really about it's just capacity. They've only had two births there this year.

And there is a standard by which if you fall below 50 plus births a year, program's not going to be viable for them.

Okay. And I think that was maybe a communication, how they presented it. They didn't explain that first, right? Okay. So another thing I was interested in, and we got one person reaching out to us about this, was the seven Oh products. Those are basically gas station drugs. There's a number of different kinds of drugs. Don't know people have come across that yet. I see somebody writing it down. So maybe we can look into that because I know we were trying to see what because the person indicated that Albuquerque was doing some regulation of them.

But I know that they're very tricky to regulate because they'll be labeled as just like seven zero eight, but it isn't seven zero eight. So I think that they're very clever about marketing similar products. And they're dangerous and sometimes they contain massive amounts of whatever they claim, much more than certain would expect. I just wondered if we've encountered anything like that yet here from people that are not yet, okay. So there's no's being

The county manager has asked us to look into that.

Okay. So we're looking into that one. So we'll see if there's anything else we we should do about that. And I guess maybe the last thing was also social services related. I guess two more things.

So I think I brought up at the I think it was the Mexico talked about the ALICE population, so asset limited income constrained employed population of people. So we heard about and there could be people that are unhoused within that population, right? But so do we and there were numbers in the report. I think it was United Way of New Mexico came up with estimates of how many people in the county were in that category. And so if somebody is requesting services, it doesn't matter.

There are some things like to get utility assistance. They do have to submit an application. So do we know whether or not the people that would be in that, that are employed in that category if they would be eligible for assistance or not.

Chair, that's a good question. Some of the programs that social services can provide assistance with do have income limits. The income limits vary by household number. So a lot of it depends when somebody comes into social services and we do an intake to capture that information, how many people are living in the household permanently, not just a student home for the summer, etcetera. So they may be low income, employed, and housed but still need assistance with utility payments, for example, or with food assistance.

There's really no income requirements for receiving assistance from LA Cares or the Santa Fe Food Depot when they come up. So it really varies based on the program. And so people absolutely don't have to be unhoused or facing other challenges. You can absolutely be housed and low income and need assistance and receive that assistance from social services or some of the other programs.

Okay. So that's good. So I was just wondering if you could take a look at the, I guess, the categories that are in that report and the number of people. And because I think one of the comments I've seen is about the increases in costs of certain things like, you know, gas and water, somewhat necessities, right? I mean, you have to have water, you have to have gas, you have gas appliances.

So I'd just be curious about that population and because I think it might be also useful in terms of a metric for the affordability than for basic utilities, So people that would be in that category. It was I think we have between 45% that are in poverty, right? And that's I think my recollection is more like 12% maybe in that ALS category. So anyway, so I thought that would be useful to look at that. And I guess the last thing I wanted to ask about, and so I looked at the county manager report, and maybe I missed it.

So the health comments. So when I think I did see a press release about some additional services being offered by is that correct or you're looking puzzled like Las Clinics I thought was offering more right so they're there more days a week or they are offering more services

chair and counselors Las Clinics has expanded from two days a week to three days a week in the Health Commons. I will have to check on whether it's additional services or just an expansion of the nurse who was Leticia from the Health Council who was here, whether they're providing additional services or just those additional day. So it expands the hours.

Okay. And then when you mentioned the eight or 10 people that aren't housed. So that's one group of people. But do you have an idea about the number of people that come in, drop in for services of the Health Commons and how the numbers have been steady or increasing or, you know, and, you know, it's still across the street from the high school. So I imagine there's students that come across for different kinds of services. So I just was curious about just the numbers of people that are using it.

Chair and counselors, that is a very good question. We get reports from all of the contractors. So I think the best thing I don't have it off the top of my head, but I can pull our latest report that would have all of the numbers broken down by age. We wouldn't necessarily know that they were from the high school, but we would be able to look at that data. And I can send that along, I'm assuming to Linda Madison to get out to everybody.

Okay. That'd be great. Okay. I'm not seeing any other questions. So do we have any public comment?

I'm not seeing anyone present here at the fire station. Can you check online for us?

I can. I can, Chair. If you'd like to make public comment, please use the raise hand function.

Are you on? No. The light's on, but it's

We switched. If you'd like to make public comment, please raise your hand. Chair, I'm not seeing any hands raised.

Okay, thank you. Thank you for the presentation and answering all the questions. Okay, so I think now we're ready to go to item number six, which is public comment for items on the consent agenda. Do we have any public comment from people here? Not seeing any public comment here. Is there any public comment online?

Chair, I'm not seeing any hands raised online either.

Okay. So I think now we're on to item seven, which is the consent agenda. So unless there's any objections to a motion on all the items, there a councilor interested in making a motion on the consent agenda? Councillor Herman?

Thank you, Chair. I move that council approve the items on the consent agenda as presented and that the motions in the staff reports be included for the record.

Second. That was Councillor Hand. I'm not sure if we heard you, but I

heard You

pressed it. I heard you. So it was motioned by Councillor Hummering and seconded by Councillor Hand. Not seeing any discussion, can you please call the roll?

Councillor Reitie?

Yes.

Councillor Riegore?

Yes.

Councillor Hand? Yes. Councilor Kull?

Yes.

Councilor Hafeman? Yes. Councilor Neil Clinton? Yes. Councilor Herman?

Yes.

Motion passes, seven-zero.

Okay, I'll let the record show the motion passes unanimously. So now we're on to item eight, which is introduction of ordinances. Have one ordinance to introduce tonight. It's 8ACO-seven 40 five-twenty six. It's incorporated County Of Los Alamos code ordinance number two thousand three and seventy nine, an ordinance amending Chapter 40 Article III, Sections forty-one 151 and forty-one 152 of the Code of the Incorporate County Of Los Alamos pertaining to gas service rates. Is there a counselor that would like to read this one into the record? Counselor? Counselor Hannon?

Thank you, Chair Reidy. I introduce without prejudice Incorporated County Of Los Alamos Code Ordinance Number two dash three seven nine, an ordinance amending chapter 40, article three, sections 40 dash one fifty one and forty dash one fifty two of the code of the incorporated county of Los Alamos pertaining to gas service rates and ask the staff to assure that it is published as provided in the county charter. Second.

Oh, you don't need to say Yeah. A So, yeah, we're actually having the public hearing on this one in a couple weeks. So, okay. So that's that for that item. So on the schedule tonight, we have nine as public hearings.

We have two items. So 9A is OR eleven twenty seven-26B. So this is incorporated county of Los Alamos code ordinance number seven fifty four, an ordinance granting a cable franchise to Comcast of Florida, Michigan, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Washington LLC to construct, operate, and maintain a cable system in the public right of way and provide cable service within the incorporating county of Los Alamos establishing the terms and conditions of the franchise agreement and establishing certain remedies for violation of the franchise. Okay. So I think people may have seen that there was a press release about this item.

So we don't have the people here tonight to answer questions about the item. So what I'd like to do is to see if there's any public that want to make comment on this before we move forward. So is there anyone in the fire station that wants to make any comment on the ordinance, franchise agreement? I'm not seeing anyone here. Ms. Madison, you check online?

I can, Chair. If you'd to provide public comment, please use the raise hand function. Chair, I'm not seeing any hands raised.

Okay. So I would like to also deviate a little bit, call on Vice Chair, Councilor Herman to make a motion so that we can move this item to a meeting where the people will be available to answer questions.

Thank you, Chair. I move to continue item OR1127-26B, a public hearing on ordinance number seven fifty four, an ordinance granting a cable franchise to Comcast of Florida, Michigan, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Washington LLC to the 06/09/2026 County Council meeting which will be held at six p. M. In Council Chambers, 1000 Central Avenue, Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Okay. Thank you, Councillor Neumann. Is there a second?

Second.

Okay. That was Councilor Heidelman, I think, had the second. So any questions? We'll be having this item back at the next meeting. Councillor Rieger, do you have a question?

Oh, thank you, Chair. Well, what is this about? Because they've been here a long time. Why are they getting a franchise agreement now? They've been here for decades now.

Chair Reidy, it just needs to be renewed when they expire. You have to negotiate a new franchise

When did it expire? I didn't or it's about to expire? Is that the idea?

No. This one's been expired for a while. However, they continue payments under their previous franchise agreement until a new one's in place. That's how the law works. So they've been paying continually.

They've been paying a franchise fee and the debt is out in a valid agreement? It's just been floating?

No, the way it says is that when you negotiate a new one, you can continue to operate under the expired one. So that's what we've been doing and they've been making payments.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, thank you. So, other questions? Okay, can you please call the roll?

Councillor Reagor.

We are voting on moving it to the next meeting? Yes, that's

correct. Yes.

Councilor Cull?

Yes.

Councilor Hafferman? Yes. Councilor Herman? Yes. Councilor Reiting?

Yes.

Councilor Neil Clinton? Yes. Councilor Hand? Yes. Motion passes, seven-zero.

Okay. I'll let the record show the motion passes unanimously. So now we're on to item 9B, which is RE0680-twenty six. It's the incorporated county Of Los Alamos resolution number 2,604, Resolution Removing the Unsecured and Uncollectible Ambulance Billing Accounts from the Accounts Receivable List for the Incorporated County Of Los Alamos. So we have Mrs. Datsy here.

Good evening chair and counselors. I'm here to present resolution 2,604 which requests the removal of unsecured and uncollectible ambulance billing accounts. This is an off cycle request as we typically do bring this bring a resolution to counsel in October for all county write offs. However, the county recently did transition to a new third party ambulance billing system. And as part of that transition, our previous billing vendor did provide us with a final listing of accounts billed and uncollectible under their agreement terms.

These accounts have remained unpaid for more than four years. And based on a thorough review, it is my professional opinion that these receivables are no longer collectible and should be removed from the county's accounts receivable ledger. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions.

Okay, thank you. Are there any technical or clarifying questions? I'm not seeing any. Councillor Rieger, did you have a question?

Yeah, I can't really, in that long list, what was the total? What is the budget adjustment?

Chair and counselors the total is $878,000 and $98,878,800,078 and $92.800000?

I think that there is a list of all the different charges and then some of them did have partial payments too. So that's the net that was not paid. So there's a lot of charges. So that's probably been I don't know. Is it a typical amount that we're seeing for this four year period?

Chair and counselors, this is actually going to be a one time write off and it's not typical. It happened in the event that we switched billing systems. And so this was the final closeout of that previous billing system.

But the 200,000 per year is not atypical?

No, that's not atypical.

Okay. So sorry for going out of order, just to clarify. Okay, I'm not seeing any other questions. So let's see if there's any public comment. Is there anyone present here who wants to make public comment? Ms. Masten can check online.

I can, Chair. If you'd to make public comment, please use the raise hand function. Chair, I'm not seeing any hands raised.

Okay. Thank you. Or is there a counselor interested in making a motion? Councillor Pavlov.

Thank you, Chair. I move that counsel approve the Incorporated County Of Los Alamos Resolution No. 20 six-four, a resolution removing the unsecured and uncollectible ambulance billing accounts from the accounts receivable list of the incorporated county Of Los Alamos. Second.

Okay. So we have a motion by Counselor Hefman, second by Counselor Naylor Hutton. Is there any discussion on the motion? Okay, not seeing any, can the clerk please call the roll?

Counselor Hand? Yes. Counselor Reidy?

Yes.

Counselor Cole?

Yes.

Councilor Neil Clinton? Yes. Councilor Rigor?

Yes.

Councilor Havamand? Yes. Councilor Herman? Yes. Motion passes, seven zero.

Okay, I'll let the record show the motion passes unanimously. So now we're on to item 10, business. 10A is AGR 12 seventeen-twenty six. It's consideration and possible approval of task order 31 under service agreement number AGR 20 with All Right Construction Incorporated in the amount of $578,117.43 plus gross proceeds tax for demolition of three buildings on county owned land on Longview Drive. Established project budget amount of 750,000.

So we have Mr. Martinez, Mr. Jimenez.

Mr. Chair and members of council, thank you. We have a few slides to share with you regarding this topic. I think you mentioned, joined with me here is Miguel Jimenez and Russell Naranjo with our capital projects team. And we also have our county engineer, Eric Ulubari here, who's working on the Longview Drive realignment.

So got all the right team members here to talk about this one if you have any questions. Next slide. So I won't go into this slide in very much detail, but it just outlines all the plans that have been formulated for the White Rock Town Center. And that formulates the vision and guides the goals of the redevelopment of White Rock. The figure, the picture to your left represents the metropolitan redevelopment area boundaries.

So that's another part of the process that White Rock has seen over the course of time. Next slide. So as part of the metropolitan redevelopment plan, a target area was identified around the Longview Drive area, which is outlined in that figure that you see there. And the purpose of that was to identify an area for various housing options, including creating a safe and efficient transportation infrastructure that accommodates all users within that Longview Drive corridor. Next slide.

So let's talk about the Longview Drive realignment. So as part of all these plans that were mentioned on the earlier slide, it mentions the realignment of Longview Drive. Right now you're aware that it's a little bit unorthodox in its alignment. We don't see roads like that very often. So the vision is to realign the road where it's a much straighter alignment so that it enhances the redevelopment potential of the area, improves the street connectivity and layout, including safety.

But in order to do this, there are currently three vacant buildings that encroach on that proposed alignment. So removal of these buildings will be necessary. That's the subject of the approval that we're requesting for you today. So next slide. So a little bit about the Longview Drive realignment, the tentative schedule for this.

We're currently in the conceptual design phase. We've established a preliminary alignment. We've worked with the developer on the South, Mr. Phil Gursky, to ensure that whatever we're planning in this area is in keeping and flows with the proposed development and doesn't encroach on any of the plans that he's proposing in this site. So eventually, we're looking to roll out some public engagement and get some thoughts on the alignment and the features.

We're also going to be working on acquiring a few small pieces of land or acquire easements that will be required to complete the realignment of Longview Drive. And then eventually we'll move into the final design and construction documents and hope to have the bid advertised and start up construction sometime next year. Next slide. So back to the item at hand. This outlines the process that leads us up to today.

All the work that's been done regarding the buildings that the county acquired back in 2025, The figure on the left outlines those three buildings. There's a number of things that have happened, hazardous materials assessment and abatement, disconnection of utilities. So with this task order that's presented for you today, we're looking to begin demolition in June and complete demolition in August. Next slide. And this figure shows the same aerial photo that the previous slide did, but also some current pictures of the buildings as they stand today.

Roughly, it's about 13,000 square feet comprised of all three buildings that we're looking to go ahead and demo. Next slide. And that's it on the presentation, Mr. Chair. So if your council have any questions, we got the whole team here to help answer any.

Okay, thank you Mr. Martinez. Do we have any technical clarifying questions from counsel? Councillor Herman?

Thank you, Chair. Thanks for that presentation. So how do you approach this? Do you do all three of them at the same time? Do you do them one at a time when you take these down?

Mr. Chair, Councillor Herman, I'm not sure exactly what the contractor's approach will be. I assume they will probably likely do one at a time. I'm not sure if they've specified that. No. Okay. So we're a little nervous. We have a you know, once we award the task order and have a pre construction or in this case pre demolition meeting with the contractor. But that's that's what I foresee is that they may begin one building, go to the next, and then complete the third and start loading debris to take to the landfill.

Thank you.

Okay. I'm not seeing any other questions. So we're approving tonight as the demolition and then the other steps are following, right?

Mr. Chair, yes, that is

That's right. Okay. Not seeing any other questions. Is there any public comment on this item? Ms. Madsen, can you check online and see if there's any public comment?

I can, chair. If you'd like to make public comment, please use the raise hand function. Chair, I'm not seeing any hands raised.

Okay. So now we're ready to see. Is there a councilor wanting to make a motion? Councillor Gannon?

Thank you, Chair. I move that council approve task order number 31 under Services Agreement number AGR22Dash18 a with Allwright Construction Incorporated in the amount of $578,117.43 plus applicable gross receipts tax for the demolition of three buildings on county owned land at 112124, And 126 Longview Drive and establish a project budget in the amount of $750,000

Second. Second. Okay, thank you. So we have motion by Councillor Hand, second by Councillor Heffman. Are there any comments?

Well, I just wanted to say that we've been just commenting on it now. I just want to say we've been waiting a long time for this. I'm happy to see it. Yeah, those buildings have been in a degraded state and probably could eventually be a higher hazard or an attracted even for animals or something else. You very much for getting this moving.

Thank you, Counselor Rieger. So I was looking at your slide and seeing 2008. It seems like it might have been before that that people were talking about this issue. But I appreciate this is happening. And I'll look forward to seeing the next steps in the coming years. So can the clerk please call the roll?

Councilor Haberman? Yes. Councilor Reidy?

Yes.

Councilor Hand? Yes. Councilor Cole?

Yes.

Councilor Rigor?

Yes.

Councilor Herman? Yes. Councilor Neil Clinton? Yes. Motion passes, seven-zero.

Okay, let the record show the motion passes unanimously. So thank you for being here and presenting on that topic. So I think we'll just keep going here. So the next item is 10B21367-twenty6. It's award of bid number IFB26-twenty1 for the purpose of the Jemez Mountain Fire Protection Phase III project with double L E E, LLC in the amount of $3,904,195.98 plus a 15% contingency in applicable gross receipts tax.

So we have Mr. Martinez here.

Yes. Chair and council members, I'm bringing before you a recommendation to award IFB 2,621 for the final phase of the Jemez Mountain Fire Protection Project. Just a little quick summary of where we're at with the current project. Phase one, we have completed as well as phase two and phase four. I'll summarize fairly quickly.

Phase one was to excavate roughly about 5,500 linear feet of trench, rock trench. So we had specialized mechanical trenching equipment. The trench was primarily to place 10 inch high pressure, high density polyethylene pipe, high pressure water transmission line up to the ski hill. Phase one would essentially get us midway up the hill. Also, we were to incorporate a six inch electrical conduit and then also a four inch fiber optic conduit.

Staff recognized that we would keep if it was to construct the four booster stations that will pump the water up the ski hill, install the pumps and controls, pull fiber for the communication through the conduits that we placed all the way up the hill, and that would allow us for remote monitoring and the simultaneous start and stop of all the pumps at one at one time. And then in booster four, we're planning to incorporate a chemical chlorination system right before it gets to the Paraito Ski Hill.

Let's

see. There is a portion of the project that we're gonna do a potability conversion. Up at the top of the ski hill, they have a non potable water tank, which we're gonna convert for potable water use. We will have the contractor do a deep cleaning, chemical disinfection, and stringent laboratory testing in order to make sure that they meet the compliance before we put it in operation.

Let's see.

So what we're bringing before you is phase three work recommending award, like mentioned, of IFP 26 dash 21 for the Jemez Mountain Fire Protection phase three project in the amount of $3,000,904.01 $195.98 plus any applicable GRT. Lastly, I would just like to mention that the phase three electrical portion of the work, that is not going to be completed as part of this phase three that we're awarding right now. We're actually separating that portion because we're we've applied for FEMA grant funding. So our crews will be doing the the pulling of the wire and any of the remaining electrical distribution connections at the ski hill itself. So we've asked for 2,600,000 in FEMA money, and there's a local match of about 25%, which is $880,000 That'll be a total of 3,500,000.

A total project that we anticipate is about 18,000,000, and 5,500,000 will be paid by the ski hill. And I stand for any questions.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Martinez. I think you provided a lot of answers to your remarks. I appreciate that. Are there still some technical or clarifying questions? Councilman Newell, did you have questions?

Yes. Thank you. Quick question regarding the deviation on the third part where it says you're going to be separating part three out. So did I understand correctly that the county then is going to do that work?

The electrical portion, pulling the wire, purchasing of the wire, that is all part of the county's portion. And that's strictly because FEMA will pay for that portion of the work.

So FEMA, what's the likelihood do you think will actually be approved?

So we've had been waiting some time. And actually, now with the change of people in Washington, we've heard we've gotten word that the award is moving through. So I don't know if Dennis Astley's in the room, but from what I understood is that it was looking promising.

Okay. And do we know when we can anticipate the actual award?

That, wouldn't be able to answer to that one.

Okay. Thank you. Thank

you, Councilor Nicklin. Any other question? Councilor Han.

Hi. Thank you, chair. The only question I had is you talked about constructing a 500 gallon water tank, 500,000 gallon water then you also talked about non potable water tank that you're converting to a potable water tank. Are those two different tanks?

They're two different tanks. One's at the bottom, and then the non potable the current existing tank is up at the top of the scale.

So I've seen one of those tanks. Is it the tank that's already at the bottom of the hill kind of by the ski lodge building?

So there's two tanks at that site right past the ice rink. The tank closest to the road is Tank 4A, which was the existing tank. And then the new tank further from the road to the back of the existing tank is the 500 gallon Okay.

So you're talking about by the ice rink is where that tank is. Okay.

The the non potable currently exists up at the top of the hill. It's in between the trees near the ski lot, further past from the Thank Ski Lot.

You.

Okay, thank you, Councillor Hand. Councillor Cole?

Thank you, chair. Curious, will any of phase three involve road closure?

For phase three, we do not anticipate any road closure. All of the asphalt work, paving has been complete, all trenching. So from here on out, all work will be off to the side of the road to construct the new booster buildings. So no road closures. Great.

That's good to hear. Thank you.

I do have one additional question. For the phase that the county is going to pull, that was already included in the budget that we've already approved?

Correct.

Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Councilor Milklin. So I guess I was a little bit confused about the amounts of money. The Mountain Capital is contributing $5,500,000 Is the county contributing $5,500,000 or some other number? So we've

I don't have the breakout, but we applied for SAP funding. There was portions of a local match towards that funding. Part of it was grant. And so I know that 2.5 was to be reimbursed from the ski hill for phase one and phase two. And then 1.5 was to be reimbursed as part of the grant portions for phase three and phase four.

Okay. And then I thought I had heard that the FEMA application was signed. Was it actually not signed?

Chair Reidy, I believe the award amount was negotiated because we received an award notice and then some of the work that we because it had been so long, some of the work had already been done. So Mr. Shelton, utility manager Shelton worked to kind of negotiate what actually had to be done in a new amount, what the actual status of a final agreement or signing in order to receive grant funds or submit for reimbursement. That I do not know at this point.

Okay. Yeah, it just might be good to have. It is, I think, lot of people have been waiting for this. We did get some significant funds from the federal government, but also from our legislators, right? So they had their that's what you mentioned about the state. I say you used a different acronym So with but that's the I think State appropriate. Yeah, state appropriate funding was from both senators. Was that correct? I believe. I believe.

Believe. Sir Gonzales. So they had very detailed information. It might be nice when it's like to get it out loud. It's like here's all the information on because I think that was the idea originally when we had the it sounds like it's good that the price is coming in at the originally estimated number, which was a little while ago.

Right.

But that's great that you had the savings that I'm sure helps with some other parts of the project. So just to clarify where the source of funds for everything, because I think there was supposed to be certain things were being paid for first, and just to clarify that FEMA grant also. So that doesn't have to happen in life. It would be good to get that information out just to the press. I'm sure they'd be interested in the story.

Any other questions? Okay. So is there any public comment on this item? I'm not seeing anyone here in the fire station. Is there anybody on the line, Ms. Madsen?

If you'd like to make public comment, please raise your hand. Chair, I'm not seeing any hands raised.

Okay, thank you. So is there a counselor interested in making a motion? Yes, Chair.

I move that council approve the award of bid number IFB26Hyphen21 for the purpose of the Jemez Mountain Fire Protection Phase three project with the base bid amount of $3,904,195.98 from the lowest responsive bidder, Double LLE, LLC, and a 15% contingency in the amount of $585,629.4 for a total project amount of $4,489,825.38 plus applicable gross receipts tax.

Okay, thank you. Is there a second?

Second.

Okay, so we have motion by Councillor Nyung Clinton and second by Councillor Havamand. Is there any discussion? I'll just thank you for all this really detailed information. I appreciate that all the information provided. So can the clerk please call the roll? Thank you.

Councilor Cole.

Yes.

Councilor Reagor.

Yes.

Councilor Hand. Yes. Councilor Havamand.

Yes.

Councilor Herman? Yes. Councilor Neil Clinton? Yes. Councilor Reidy?

Yes.

Motion passes seven-zero.

Okay, I'll let the record show the motion passes unanimously. And I think even though it's in the middle of 10, I think there are several other items that will take a little bit of time. And seeing that it's eight zero five, think I'd like to have us take about a ten minute break. So, we'll be back, yeah, about 08:15. Thank you.

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We're back. So we're on item 10C. So it's item twenty one thousand six hundred forty one-twenty six. It's award of bid 20 six-thirty in the amount of $7,120,655.79 plus applicable gross receipts tax to PASA Contracting Company, Inc. For the Trinity Drive, Mexico 502 Safety and Safety Safety Improvement Projects. Established project budget in the amount of $8,172,067.28 for roadway and utility work. So we have Mr. Hilberry and Ms. Morrow here.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We do have Mr. Ehrlichberg here, and Ms. Morrow will be sharing a

few I words as have Mr. Martinez first, but sorry.

The other Eric. Another Eric. Thank you Mr. Chair. Hopefully you're not getting public works fatigue tonight so try to keep this one short. You know this project well. This has been in front of council several times already. It's been in in discussion and development for for quite a few years, and we're finally with this approval, we'll be at a point to move this on to construction and eventual completion. One and I hope not to still miss Morrow's thunder here, but one of the great things about this project is it's fully grant funded. Utilities is participating on on their part, But for the roadway part, it's fully grant funded.

We're appreciative of that. So thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll hand it over to Ms. Morrow.

Okay.

Chair counselors, thank you for allowing me to present. But Eric already presented what I was going to say, so we're done. No. I'm here to request the award of IFB 2630 with HASI Contracting Company for $7,120,655.79 As Eric had said, this project's been a long time coming. An RSA, a road safety audit, was done in 2016.

That led to a study done by Wilson and Company. And in 2024, we came before the council with, I believe it was four options of having a multi use trail, having raised bike lanes. And of all the options we proposed, the council chose the hybrid road diet that we proceeded with. And then in September 2024, that was followed up with a resolution by council. That's resolution number 20 four-twenty nine supporting that hybrid road that was selected in August 2024.

In inclusion to that hybrid road diet, we also the project also includes pedestrian improvements, ADA ramps, such. It has bike lanes, as stated. A new bus stop will be placed in front of Ashley Pond. And an RRFB, rapid rectangular flashing beacon will be placed at 20th Street. So I think a lot of the community is excited about that.

We've had multiple requests that there's a safe crossing for Trinity. So we're excited to get that in. And then in addition, utilities is also gonna do mostly water line work, but a little bit of gas and a little bit of electrical. There were two bids received from Mahassey and from TLC. As Eric had stated before, this is 100% grant funded.

It's HSIP funding 90% of it, the match is provided by NMDOT's road fund for the remaining. And this project's also involved a very extensive outreach. We hired CWA strategic communications. And we have gone around to every business. We've given them a survey for them to find out when they get deliveries, when the most convenient time for water shutdowns, and to give them a point of contact as well for all of the businesses.

And then we've also set up on our website a QR code or it's actually we've been giving them a QR code that sends them to our website. And on that website we have a place where you can click for regular updates and you can fill in your email, your information. And then we'll once the construction starts we'll blast out regularly to those people that keep them regularly informed. And with that I'll take any questions you have.

Okay thank you. Are there any technical or clarifying questions from counsel?

I don't have a question. Just have a comment. You didn't let him steal your thunder. You jumped back in there. You did good. You did really good.

So I was curious about the I think at the 20th Street in the future, there might be a warrant for a traffic signal. That's what we're anticipating, right? So the flasher would just be in the interim.

Chair, that's a great point. The flasher has been set up on traffic signal mass storms. So it is designed to be converted to a traffic signal.

Okay, great. That's great to hear. Okay, I'm not seeing any other questions. Can we see if there's any public comment on this item?

If you'd like to make public comment, please raise your hand. Chair, I'm not seeing any hands raised.

Okay. Is there a counselor interested in making a motion?

Yes, Chair.

Yeah. Council Minklum, who goes ahead.

I move that council award bid number 20 in the amount of $7,120,655.79 plus applicable gross receipts tax to Hassi Contracting Company, Inc. For the Trinity DriveNM502 Safety and ADA Improvement Project and establish a project budget in the amount of $8,172,067.28 for roadway and utility work.

Okay. Thank you. There a second?

Second.

So I think we have a motion by Councilor Neuclin and second by Councilor Hand. Is there any further discussion? Councilor Weir.

Well, I think this kind of project is we need a place, a better place for the bicycles that's separate from the traffic. So I think it's like the design I voted against before, I still want to vote against. We should have something more thoughtful to include the bike traffic in with in a safe space of reach of the cars.

You. Okay. Thank you, Councilor Rieger. Any other comments? I guess I would prefer separated bike lanes, but I'm going to vote for this tonight to have some improvements made to Trinity in the meantime. Can we please call the roll?

Councilor Herman? Yes. Councilor Haberman? Yes. Councilor Cole?

Yes.

Councilor Reagor? No. Councilor Neil Clinton? Yes. Councilor Reidy?

Yes.

Councilor Hand? Yes. Motion passes, six-one, with Councilor Rigor voting against.

Okay, I'll let the record show a motion passes six-one with Councilor Rigor in opposition. Okay, so thank you for the presentation and for being here. So, now we're on to council business. And we have a few items here that will take a little bit of time tonight. So, item 11, council business. 11A is general council business. 11A1 is item 215,852.6. Possible action to give direction on draft ordinance regarding the formation of the inclusivity board. Ms. Madison, would you have something to present?

Thank you, chair, counsel. I just wanted to remind counsel, we talked about back in March, the inclusivity task force presented their final report and recommendations. That final report was an attachment to this agenda item. And council asked for, they accepted, not only did they accept the final report, but they, directed the county staff to draft an ordinance, and cost estimate for ongoing board and commission to address inclusivity issues. So with that, staff has worked with our county attorneys and presented the draft, ordinance in attachment a, that would create that inclusivity board.

So obviously there's lots of things we could have put in the ordinance. This is just a draft for discussion. So in addition to discussing the draft language for the scope of the board, I would also ask counsel to contemplate the number of board members which was set at seven. So that's that's, you know, kind of we have some boards that have less and some boards that have more so that would be a discussion topic and then also we designated a term length of two years so again that could be information as well and so with that we hope after this discussion and action from council we would have some direction on how to move forward with or drafting the final ordinance for introduction and public hearing in the future.

Okay, so thank you. So this would lead to an ordinance the way we can produce and have public hearing on later dates. So it would take some weeks.

Correct. Okay.

Just to give schedule. Okay. Do we have any technical or clarifying questions on what we have in the package and what the options are? I didn't

quite hear what you said.

Oh, this would lead to drafting of an ordinance, then we'd have to have like we had the reading of the introduction of the ordinance and then at a later date, usually it's at least two weeks later, we would have a public hearing. And then if there's any changes made to the ordinance, then it has to come back after that. So depending on what discussion so it's better to have probably good discussion tonight about what we'd like to see so that we don't have to go ahead and go through the process of revising an ordinance. Chair,

if I may, the only thing I'd add is the ordinance would be introduced and again a public hearing. Then remember that the ordinance then would not be in effect until thirty days after we publish the ordinance. So you know that'd be another month and then we would at that time be able to start to recruit members to bring for your appointment.

Yeah. So it's a couple three month process to

get

this. Okay. So, Councilor Heavenman, did you have some input?

Well, you were asking for technical questions, but what if we wanted to have a comment or question about the number

of I think given the nature of this item, I mean, we'll ask for public comment. Let's try to have the discussion we need to have on the ordinance itself, not just questions.

So if I have a thought about the number of board members, this is an Okay time?

Yeah.

Okay. Thank you.

So I

have a thought about the number of board members. I think the recommendation in the draft is seven, if I read that right. And would it make sense on something like this to maybe say we want a minimum of five but maybe a maximum of nine or a maximum of 11? I mean, maybe, you know, so that because if it's we're talking about inclusivity, we want to include as many people to participate in this as possible. But I would hate it to be sabotaged from the get go because we can't get enough people or enough of a quorum to make decisions and recommendations.

So that's why I was kind of thinking five minimum, but heck, if 11 people wanna step up, we would take 11. Is that a feasible thing to do?

Chair Council Heberman while Ms. Tweets looks up what the charter says about forums I know this much and that is that aside from council, PNC, and maybe BPU, it's generally a quorum of the appointed members. So for some of the boards and commissions, if there's only five members, you just need to get a quorum of those five even though there might be seven available positions. I don't know the direct answer to you on whether we can put in the ordinance a floating potential membership.

I guess I can just speak from experience being on a transportation board when we only had three members appointed. So I think you can state a number and you just can have not as many appointed. And that's the yeah, there's the exceptions with some of the quasi judicial part, but this is not that doesn't affect the sport. So I think you could just have nine. If you want up to nine, you could say nine, and then you could appoint as many people up to nine.

But the problem is if you appoint nine, then and if they can't really make meetings, then you have an issue with quorum. But So be careful what you wish for, to increase the number beyond whatever number you pick, you'd have to go through the process of amending the ordinance. So which as we just discussed is not we don't typically we don't do that a lot for boards, but we have. So it's not like you could so if you wanted to have more, you could say if you put more in, I think that's a substantive change. If we saw nine in what was drafted and then introduced, then we would have to come back and we changed it to seven.

And that would slow things down just a tiny bit if we changed our mind later. Councilor Cole's got her hand raised. Councilor Cole?

Yeah. Was gonna say, you know, the board does not have to have someone who represents every aspect of diversity in the county, but they have to recognize that there are a a variety of issues around inclusivity, and they need to be able to reach out to people. So, you know, I think seven is plenty, and that's what was proposed. Right? Seven?

And, I I I wouldn't think you'd need to add more. I also heard from the task force members that many of them were overwhelmed with all the things that they already do in the community, and I don't know how many of them would actually step forward to be part of the the ongoing board. So just an FYI.

So I think we did have nine people on the task force. Right? And there were some issues maybe with quorum occasionally? Yes. They did. They did met like every three weeks. So that was the other part. Okay. Did you have something else, Councilor Cole?

No, I think the rest of it looks good.

Okay.

Or the draft looks good.

Councillor McLennan?

So I think I'm aware that there were issues having everybody meet because everybody else has things to do. And just for grins and giggles, I pulled up the demographics for Los Alamos. So if you've got like nine people, is that the proposition for nine people or seven?

I think what's in the draft is seven. So that's what's in the Okay.

Okay. So when I looked at the breakdown of race and ethnicity, it was white, non Hispanic at 69.6, Hispanic or Latino, 18.5, Asian at 17.62 or more races, 2.9 black, 1.8 American Indian and Alaskan native, 1.6. So if you just look at those groups, that's just with race and ethnicity. That's not everything else that involves diversity and inclusion and all that. I think seven would make sense, not to mention the time constraints that people are having to invest in doing the work. That's my 2¢.

I guess the other thing to note was that they did have working groups. They tried to get some more people engaged that way. So any other thoughts, I guess, on the number of members? Councilor Rieger, did you have some thoughts?

Yeah. The bigger number you go, the harder it is to meet and have quorum. I mean, the health council struggles all the time because they have so many people. There's empty spots all the time. We can even go to five, but I'm not going to make the motion. If anybody agrees, they can go to a smaller number.

Okay. Did you want

to follow-up? Yeah, really was just kind of thinking out loud and throwing it out for conversation. I'm happy with I'm fine with five. I even was with Councilor Rieger even thinking maybe five. I mean, I'm happy with seven, but I was also thinking even five might be a good way to start this off.

I'm not married to nine or 11 or any bigger number really. Just wanted to throw it out.

Okay. So I did have something that might be a technical question. So I was just curious about the word advisory in the title. Since most of the boards don't have that in the title, they are advisory boards. So I just wondered where that because I remember when we had the Community Development Advisory Board, an advisory was in the title there.

But it doesn't like the Transportation Advisory Board or the Environmental Sustainability Advisory Board or the Library Advisory Board. So I'm not going list all of them, but I think they're because it is an advisory board, that's what the language states. I just wonder why we had to it seemed like it was not particularly inclusive to single out the inclusivity advisory board as being advisory when pretty much all the boards are advisory except for planning and zoning. And BPU are not really advisory. I mean, personnel board is different too, but they have So I was just curious, is there a reason why the word advisory has to be in the title?

No. Chair, if my recollection serves me, I think the lodgers tax has advisory in Yeah,

they're an advisory board.

And the, I think APP also does, if I'm not mistaken.

Arts and Puckle Places Advisory Board.

I think. But again, I don't think we're consistent, obviously.

Yeah, it's not. So I'd rather on the side of being inclusive with inclusivity board and not say it's clear from the description, I believe. I just curious about that. And I guess the other thing that so the work plan would be where, like, the departments and things like that are assigned. So when we so I remember I was there at the council meetings when the community development advisory board was created.

I think that the council just voted on the ordinance for creating the board, right? And aware of the requirements were for the members. But they had not discussed the work plan. The work plan was created by the board with the staff liaison and the council liaison, right? The initial one. Correct. Is that correct?

It would be right. It would be similar to how other boards do that manually. Would

just Well, be would happen still if the timing works out and we do go ahead, which we haven't even crafted. We haven't in the interest in ordinance yet, but that would still happen probably this year, most likely.

I believe it could happen.

It could happen.

This year.

Any other questions or comments about the ordinance? I'm not seeing any other hands. Is there public comment? Please. Yeah, come up and you just have to state your name for the record, for the clerk.

Hi, Lisa Hampton, White Rock. So this is my third year on the Health Council. And as Chair Reidy and as Councilor Reiger mentioned, it's huge. We have 15 members. We've never had a full board.

We've really tried hard. We got up to 13. Now we're down to 10. I'm not sure where the requirement for 15 came from originally because we were established as part of SB 137, state mandate, a state law or part of the legislature in 2019 but for some reason there are 15 members and we do fall under the county ordinance. We have a problem.

This is my third year and my second year as chair. We have a problem because partly because of political affiliations but we actually have shifted. We've had majorities of certain parties and not been able to appoint more of that party and it's kind of shifted but I also was a liaison to the inclusivity task force and I was a member of the economic equity working group. And they really struggled to meet quorum. We've never had a problem meeting quorum with health council, but we've had a problem filling the board.

So I know a couple of economic equity meetings were canceled because they didn't have enough members. It's a heavy lift. My recommendation is five to seven members. Five would probably be enough because you could actually establish a couple of working groups to deal with very specific issues and challenges that they have. And also I'm assuming this is two two year terms. That would be optimal. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you, Ms. Hapnett. Okay, do we have any public comment online?

Chair, I'm not seeing any hands online.

Okay. I guess, So rare point, is there a counselor in line to make a motion about requesting the ordinance be actually drafted officially?

I can chair.

Okay. Thank you. Councillor Cravenman.

I move that council direct the county manager to move forward with the development of a code ordinance to form the inclusivity board as shown in attachment A.

Okay. Is there a second on that motion?

Second.

Okay. So is there any discussion on the motion, in particular, I guess, the number of

people? Chair, if I may just get I'm over here. Clarification on the motion, Because the exhibit A, as drafted, says Inclusivity Advisory Board. But the motion said Inclusivity Board. So I just want clarification on what the title should be.

Okay. Councilor Hepburn, are you going ask the advisory be included or not?

Good point. And without the word advisory, thank you for catching that. Yeah, that's all. Thank you. And I'm really debating in my head five or seven, but I'm just going with what was recommended in the draft, seven.

Okay. Okay. So I think then

also support that.

Okay? Yes. So you support that. Okay. So I think the motion's been fairly amended. Okay, Council Reagers, you have a comment on this?

Just exactly what you said. We're deleting the word advisory then? Is that part of the motion? Yes. Thank you.

Yeah, okay. Yeah. Okay. I don't think there's any more discussion needed. I'm not seeing any. Can you please call the roll?

Councilor Neil Clinton? Yes. Councilor Hunt? Yes. Councilor Herman? Yes. Councilor Reiting?

Yes.

Councilor Riegor?

Yes.

Councilor Haverman? Yes. Councilor Cole?

Yes.

Motion passes, seven-zero.

Okay, I'll let the record show the motion passes unanimously. So thank you to Ms. Madison and staff for working on this. Okay. So now we're on to 11B appointments. 11B1 is 20 ten-fifty-twenty six. It's Board of Commission appointments. So it's the Board of Public Utilities. And so we have our counselors that were on the interview panel and were responsible for the recommendation of the package. So we have the Vice Chair Herman and Counselor Hand.

So did you want to add any information? So we just have two options. I think a third one dropped out. So did you have anything to add to what was in the package?

I don't have anything to add to what's

Okay, in the okay, counselor. Okay. So with this, because there are two people that are to be nominated are not so we'll have the motion to nominate the two people, but it's fairly straightforward because there's two people. So just the person with, I guess, four votes or more would be appointed. So is there a Councillor Parmen, do want to make the motion on the part? Or did you have it ready? Okay, Councillor HAM. Okay. Councilor Hannon, please go ahead and make your motion.

Okay. Thank you, Chair. I nominate Matt Hevner and Richard Neville to fill one vacancy on the Board of Public Utilities for position UT one and move that council appoint one nominee to the vacant position as follows. By roll call vote, councilors vote for one nominee and the nominee with the highest total of four or more votes will be appointed to fill the term for position UT1 beginning 07/01/2026 and ending 06/30/2031.

Okay. Is there a second? Second. Okay. So we have a motion by Councillor and second by Councillor Herman. Okay. So I think we can just ready for the roll

call vote. Can I have a comment?

Yeah. Would you like my comment? Sure. We can make So comments

I think the BPU is going a little bit the wrong direction. And this making a change here to the Mr. DeBell is the best thing we could do for the county. And if we continue the direction we're on, we're going to have severe problems with the whole utility department based on just the things that are in the climate action plan. Thank you.

Okay, thank you, Councilor Berger. Any other comments? Okay, I'm not seeing any. Can you please call the roll?

Councilor Reidy.

Hevner.

Councillor Neeble. I'm sorry. Councillor Hand. Oh, Hevner. Councillor Herman. Hevner. Councilor Havamand. Matt Hevner. Councilor Ray Gore.

Mr. Devil.

Councilor Neil Clinton.

Mr. Hevner.

Councilor Cole.

Hebner.

With six votes, Mr. Hebner is appointed.

Okay. So I want to thank Mr. Nibel and Mr. Ebner for both applying, and encourage Mr. Nebel to apply again in the future or consider another board.

I listened to both interviews and I found both candidates to be qualified and appreciate the service Mr. Hebinger's been having on the board. Anyway, so thank you. Okay, I think we're on to item 10. So we're on to item 11C, Board and Commission Vacancy Report, is not attached to this meeting. Then we have 11D are the Board and Commission reports. Do we have any counselor reports for the Mayor of their liaisons? Councilor Edmond.

Thank you, chair. The Planning and Zoning Commission met on May 13 last Wednesday night. There were four public hearings on the agenda. And the first one was for a variance request, for a front setback at a home on 35th Street. The second was for a variance request for installing a carport that abuts the front property line on 40th Street.

And I apologize and both of those were passed. All conditions were deemed to have been met by the planning and zoning commissioners. The third item was a request for a site plan adoption for the commercial use development just almost across the street here. Some of us know it. It's called the ROC, a request from Janet Lovato and her architect.

And this also was passed by the Planning and Zoning Commission eight to zero with, a condition that the applicant must meet permit requirements for encroachment, into the county right of way. Just to refresh everyone, this project redevelops the existing property into retail or restaurant bar, personal services like a laundromat, and food truck locations. The fourth item was a request for a conditional use permit for a private school called Zephyrh Ridge Academy that will be, if it comes to fruition, will be housed inside the Bethlehem Lutheran Church on North Road near a mountain school. And it was deemed that conditions were met for that, and it passed seven to zero. And that was the four hour Planning and Zoning Commission meeting that you all missed.

Thank you for

Katie was there. Thank

you. Okay. Thank you. So any other reports? Okay. I don't see any other liaison reports. So now we're on to 11E, county manager's report, 11E1.21.116-twenty six, county manager's report for April 2026. So Ms. Rinne, did you have any things you wanted to highlight on the report and any other information you wanted to provide tonight?

Thank you, chair. Before I go, Ms. Madison wanted to mention something she intended to mention during the quality of life report. Don't want to forget that.

Thank you. I meant to mention during the public safety portion of my update that you should be anticipating in June 9 there will be an introduction for an amendment to chapter six for it's the biting section of that ordinance for dog biting. So the plan is for that to be introduced June 9 with a public hearing June 30.

Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, chair. So I wanted to highlight the attachment B first. It's a statutory requirement for the bond sales that we recently did, the gross receipts tax revenue bonds, the $40,000,000 largely funding the community broadband project that we did a groundbreaking for last week. And the report just talks a little bit just confirming that the bond rate was very favorable.

We were very fortunate with the timing. We received a 4.28789% bond rate, which was really good, better than expected. And if you look on page three of attachment B, you'll see that under number seven, there's a really nice breakdown of how the sources of funds and the uses of funds. Par amount just means the nominal or face value. Premium when received a $4,100,000 premium because the bond interest was higher than the market value.

And then the uses of funds, there's cost of insurance issuance, which includes the underwriter legal finance advisory insurance miscellaneous fees. There was also a discount associated with those fees and then some additional premium that we received. So if you have any questions, I'm certainly happy to answer. But you don't have take a motion on it, but I do need to formally present that to you to meet that requirement. And then you might have noticed that there wasn't an attachment for LEDA or MRA application updates.

That's just primarily because the last update was only two weeks ago because at the end of April was the budget hearings. And so there really weren't any updates on those. I kind of focused on those last time. I will be sure to include them again next time. And if there's any questions on the report itself, I'd be happy to answer some of the events you heard during quality of life or some of the presentations earlier. I won't repeat myself due to the hour. I stand for questions. Thank you.

Okay. Do we have any questions or comments for Malaren? Not seeing any. Okay. So let's see. I think we're now on to council chair report. So I was checking my notes. I don't think that I remember we got the information out. I mentioned that I was interviewed by key RQE at the first meeting in the month. And they actually didn't have a story on air, but there was basically an online story that was published.

And I don't know that that link went out. I'm not sure if everybody saw that. So I think we maybe need to send that out to make sure everyone sees that. So there's, I think, no other story on that one. So you can read that.

Then I also wanted to note that I think also in all the numerous emails I guess I got, I neglected to notice until I saw the report at the board of commission luncheon that there was an email from Rogers Tech's advisory board, so that's one of the ones that's got the exception, where they had a number of items that they had requested. And they had forwarded that to me, but it's also in the report that they provided to the Board and Commission luncheon. So and I think all the counselors received a copy of the reports. So you can see what they've requested for their three items for counsel to work on this year. So and I think we have an update that probably would relate to lodgers tax next month, right?

Is that correct? I think we do maybe because I thought economic development for some reason I saw showing up. Is that maybe true? So anyway, so we can make sure that that loop is closed because I got the email and then I think they didn't have one meeting. But they are supposed to be meeting. They met today, I think. So maybe we can follow-up on that. So I wanted to make sure that we didn't lose track of that.

Chair, you are correct.

The next

work session's strategic goal is economic vitality.

Okay. So we'll have an opportunity to look at that request from lodgers tax. Okay. Then with other items just pretty quickly. So May 6, I attended the losalamos.com launch event. So this is a somewhat parallel effort to some of the other things we've got going on, but I just thought I'd mention that. And they're all looking to have people tag items with LosAlamos NM. I attended the May 7 ECA executive board meeting. Big item, there was the audit that was done. Augusta meetings with the new nuclear recap.

May 12, we had the groundbreaking next door for atomic fiber. May 13, there was the congressional delegation meeting. Then May 14, we all received the reports. But I don't know. I think my understanding is that Councilor Hand actually attended. Did you attend that one? Is there anything you wanted to say about the reports?

Yes, I did. Well, you had mentioned LTAP. And so I do have their report here. It's in a table format that talks about the action items. It's kind of lengthy. I don't know if you want me to go into this

Yeah, we don't. I think they have it so they can look at it and we'll make sure that we have some discussion. So was there anything else you wanted that was notable?

All I'd like to say is that we had some great discussions. Everybody was highly engaged. And I noticed that we had some opportunities for the different boards to talk about opportunities to work together and gather information for other things that their board was doing. So that was very encouraging to see that communication between the boards. I also noticed that at that particular meeting, we had a conflict with having a lot of the chairs and vice chairs attend.

So it was heavily attended by county staff. But it still was a very interesting meeting.

Okay. Well, we try to de conflict the meetings, but sometimes they're not successful. So appreciate you being there to represent us since I was out of town. Appreciate you being there, Counselor Ian. Okay. Let's see. Then I was at this conference. It's National League of Cities Risk Information Sharing Consortium. And I'll have a little bit of a report on that coming. Lots of good presentations there.

And also, if anyone's interested in being one of the trustees, I guess that's one of the things that towards the end of the year, I can provide a letter to recommend somebody if you're interested in knowing. Just you can talk to me about what all that does. It's we're I'm attending as a member of the MISFEL League Self Insurers Fund trustee member. So just reach out to me if you're interested. Then tomorrow, there's Fire Station 4 Groundbreaking. I guess there's other lots of other events coming up in the next few days, too. And then there's a couple other things that gotten so I mentioned the 40H or 70H,

right? 70H.

70H, yeah. Compound, and that was one request we got. And then uranium mining, I believe, in the Pecos, if I'm remembering that one right, Santa Fe County sent me a copy of the letter they submitted, kind of asking for more due diligence by the federal government. And we also got a few weeks ago a request to become a dark sky community. So these are things I guess we can think about.

But I just want to make sure remind the counselors that these are requests that come in. So, okay, not seeing anyone with any questions on any of that. Chair? Yeah. Chair?

Yeah, that was the Chama River Valley.

Okay, the Chama

River River Okay, Valley. Yeah, not Pig.

Okay, thank you for the clarification. So, yeah, appreciate that. Okay. So we'll look at that. I think I sent it to the federal working group for their information. And we might be coming back with something for the full council. So item 11 gs is approval of counselor expenses. I believe we're caught up on counselor expenses. Okay, 11H is preview of upcoming agenda items. So we have 11H one two one zero nine three dash two six, particular report of upcoming agenda items.

Are there any items that counselors would like to highlight? Councilor Ioann?

I think the public hearing for changes to our gas rates is our next meeting, June 9.

Yeah. We're also going to have a discussion about the School of Gymnastics purchase at that meeting. Yeah. And then the charter working group is going to be presenting. And the description in the package indicated we'd be looking at partial terms for board and commission appointments, but the item I was interested in discussing was partial terms for elected officials.

So I just want to make that correction to what's in the tickler, so that hopefully the working group is discussing the correct thing. Something else that we've done in the past, I'm not sure if we have any new NACO resolutions, but so National Association of Counties and Environment, Energy, and Land Use Policy Committee. We have submitted policy resolutions to the annual meeting. And we have probably another the one that we've had about the grant program we would resubmit. So that's already been so I'm not sure we have to bring that one back since we've already voted on that one last year.

But I was going to talk to Ms. Duran about the policy resolutions and see if we need to get those on. I think that she wants to get the ESEP list straightened out for the next meeting also, right? I believe that that was was that correct?

My impression is staff is meeting this week. So I don't know if she was anticipating to bring it back June 9.

Yeah. Okay. I thought she requested a meeting with us, like with the state and local group, working group. So, anyway, so that's another thing that may be added to an agenda. Maybe not the ninth, but so those are the things I saw. So, okay. Anything else that councilors would like to see in the future agenda? Okay. Item 12 is councilor comments. Do we have any councilor comments? This is actually a bit out of order. So we have counselor comments and then we'll have our report. Okay. So any comments? I'm not seeing any comments.