Council - Regular Meeting

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Good afternoon everyone. For the City Council meeting. Today is Monday, April 20th, 2026 at approximately 1 p.m. I'm Mayor Eric Enriquez. Before we start, I want to mention that we have ASL, the American Sign Language interpreters, available up front. We'll start with the men and women of the United States Armed Forces as they protect our interests around the globe, as well as the courageous men and women of the Las Cruces Police and Las Cruces Fire Department as they keep our city safe. 24 over seven 365. If you join me in the pledge, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United.

States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay, we'll start out with some presentations and proclamations. The first thing we have is a recognition of the recognition of the Casa de Peregrinos and Days for Girls by Cinto Torres. If she wants to come up and everyone else you have with you. Oh, if you want to come up to this, to this podium.

Distinguished Mayor and Eric Enriquez and our dedicated City Council members, we are pleased to be here today presenting community donations to our local worthy nonprofit agencies. Casa de Peregrinos and Days for Girls International. Both of these agencies were chosen for their excellent service and financial responsibility. You know about Casa de Peregrinos and their great work. Have you heard of days for girls led by our local team leader, Judy Davis? Days for girls is a nonprofit organization dedicated to menstrual health management as a matter of human rights and a critical component to achieving gender equality. In addition to these personal menstrual kits, communities also receive health education to break stigmas and cultural taboos associated with menstruation. Days for girls locally is looking for more volunteers to sew the kits to send to girls around the world, and he volunteers. There will be cards available in the back, but we also want you to contact Judy Davis at (253) 653-0249 for. And I'd like to leave some information with the city clerk about our diverse work as partners with the city and to distribute as she sees fit. Greg McDonald now will explain the donation process.

Good afternoon. I'm really excited to be here today to celebrate the generosity of the citizens of Las Cruces and El Paso across the world. The 2025 Light the World Giving Machines gave people everywhere a unique and memorable way to follow Jesus Christ's invitation to love thy neighbor. Between November 2025 and January of 2026, 1 million people visited, giving machines in 126 cities, 21 countries and on six continents. Approximately 4.8 million items were purchased through the Giving Machine. More than 500 nonprofits participated, offering over 3200 different items for donation. Locally, here in the El Paso and Las Cruces area, five nonprofits participated along with two worldwide organizations the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints covered all the operational expenses, and as a result, 100% of the donated money goes directly to the nonprofits that participated so they could help those in our community that are in need. The giving Machines were in El Paso from November 22nd through December 9th, down at the Winterfest while the machines were operational. It's estimated that over 7500 people visited them on the patio of the El Paso Community Foundation. Seven nonprofits participated, offering 30 different items. Those visitors from El Paso and Las Cruces donated a total of 136,000 specifically requested items by those nonprofits, five of which were local nonprofits and two of which were worldwide charities. Because of their kind and loving contributions, countless people in our area will receive assistance to

improve their lives. The local charity was, of course, Casa de Peregrino, which had requested a variety of assistance with their meals program. I'm proud to announce that Las Cruces gave, and in conjunction with their friends and neighbors, a total of 102,300 meals. And one and one of the national nonprofit nonprofits was days for girls and the locally, The Giving Machine. During its time in El Paso, with the help of over 400 volunteers, including a big contingent from Las Cruces, donated 171 menstrual kits, 96 new mother kits and 260 school menstrual kits. What's critical about these is the people making the donations specifically asked for a donation, and these nonprofits have agreed that they're going to provide exactly what the people donated through the machine. So we're happy to recognize girls days for girls who happen to have a local chapter here in the city of Las Cruces with this award. Of course, we're all really impressed to see the numbers of meals donated. What's really impressed is impressive is what Casa de Peregrino is able to do with the limited resources they received, the meals that they are represented, that people gave 102,000. It came from a cash contribution of $18,760. Which is reflective of how efficient they are as a charitable organization in getting meals out to people and for days for girls. Locally,

it's a cash contribution of 6825 by your friends and neighbors. I was also asked to point out that after the machines left El Paso, they went to Albuquerque, where southern New Mexico continued to contribute, and they were there until the first of the year. And so as a total days for girls received from both El Paso and the Albuquerque area, over 550 menstrual kits. A total of 411 new mother kits and 1270 school menstrual kits for a total contribution from New Mexico of $21,075. Mr. mayor, if you or any members of the council would like to join us for a quick photo, we'd appreciate it. We had over 400 volunteers during the time frame. It was here. We got a few here today that would like to also be in the picture.

For another check. I'm going to ask you to squeeze real tight and if I can. I turned 20. Sure, sure. No. Just ready.

Thank you for your time. Thank you. Yes.

Thank you again for your generosity and your contributions to our community. Thank you. Can I get back to you? Next? We have a few proclamations. This one is for the Kiwanis Club. If you want to come up, join me as I read the proclamation. Good to see you all. Long time no see. How are you? Whereas the Kiwanis Club of Las Cruces was chartered in April of 1926 and has maintained an active status ever since. And whereas the Kiwanis International defining statement is. Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to improving the world, one child and one community at a time. And Whereas the Las Cruces Kiwanis Club sponsors or has sponsored the following youth service leadership clubs in schools throughout the community, K kids elementary students at the Explorer Academy, Builders Club, middle Schools, El Camino or Camino Real, Lin Z Middle School's key clubs in the high schools Las Cruces, Centennial, Mayfield and Oregon Mountain High School. And Whereas the Kiwanis Club of Las Cruces has held a number of

memorable events, including Pancake Day cars for kids, car show raft, the Rio Rat of a stick, the Renaissance Arts Fair and hosting a booth where children can swing to break a pinata at a. As part of the annual New Year's Eve Las Cruces Chili Drop. And whereas the Las Cruces Kiwanis Club signature project is. Kiwanis housing insecure student support K k. His works with Mckinney-vento Project Link operating in Las Cruces public schools. Other service projects include providing milk to needy children, constructing fences around the recreation area at youth centers, performing and coordinating one day of a service, making financial contributions to purchase school supplies, replacing stolen gift cards intended for abused and neglected children, promoting literacy by free book giveaways at various community events, and participating in the Mayor's Top Teen Pancake Breakfast. Now therefore, we, the Mayor and City Council of Las Cruces, New Mexico, do hereby proclaim the month of April 2026 as Kiwanis Club of Las Cruces 100th Anniversary Celebration. In honor of the many contributions and years of service that the Las Cruces Kiwanis Club has made during the 100 years in the city.

Congratulations. Thank you, thank you, thank you. All right.

I have to say, for a club who has been in this town for a hundred years, we are not very well known. And that's pretty much our fault. We would like to make us, well, more well known, and we keep trying to do that. We would also like to get more people to volunteer so that we can do more schools. I mean, this town has four regular high schools. Nine builders or nine nine middle schools and 24 grade schools, which is a lot. And none of them are in the same building. None of them are on the same land. So it makes it very difficult to support these schools. You need a person for every club that we have in the school, and it would be nice to get some more people. But anyway, we really like being here. We love what we do and keep an eye out for us. Maybe you might be interested in joining us. Thank you.

Yes. Right.

Take a photo. Nice to see you again.

The next proclamation is for Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. Is there anyone here for. Come on up. Thank you. Thank you.

Whereas sexual assault is a crime that affects all communities regardless of age, gender, race or sexual orientation and violates the dignity and safety of individuals. And Whereas, research shows that increasing education on consent. Bystander intervention and healthy relationships can reduce the prevalence of sexual violence. And. Whereas we must work together as a community to stand with survivors, support their healing, and challenge the attitudes and behaviors that contribute to sexual violence. And Whereas our community is dedicated to strengthening prevention efforts, ensuring accountability for perpetrators, and fostering a culture of respect, safety and dignity for all. Now therefore, we, the mayor and the City Council of Las Cruces, New Mexico, do hereby proclaim the month of April 2026 as Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month and commend its observance to all citizens, encouraging everyone to play an active role in preventing sexual violence and supporting survivors in our community. Congratulations!

A little short.

Good afternoon everyone. My name is Angelica Calderon. I'm the executive director at Las Sexual Assault Recovery Services of Southern New Mexico. We provide services in Dona Ana County, Luna County, Sierra County, and Hidalgo County. First, I want to thank Mayor Enriquez and our City Council for recognizing Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. Just a quick stat. According to the recent New Mexico Crime Data report, over 50% of New Mexicans have been affected by sexual violence. Today is a great day to believe survivors. When we bring community together, it supports survivors not only in April, but every day. We can all create a change in having safer communities. Las is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for victims and survivors via our hotline, where trained advocates are available to respond for crisis response or any questions. Thank you.

The next proclamation is National Public Safety Telecommunications Week. Anyone from here? Oh, there's Jennifer. Good to see you. I was scanning, I didn't see you. You were hidden. Whereas when an emergency occurs, the prompt response of police officers, firefighters and paramedics is critical to the protection of life and preservation of property. And whereas, the safety of our police officers, firefighters and emergency medical personnel is dependent on the quality and accuracy of information obtained from citizens who telephone the Mesilla Valley Regional Dispatch Authority Communications Center. And Whereas, professional public safety, telecommunications are a vital link between citizens and victims and are the first and most critical contact our citizens have with emergency services. And Whereas public safety telecommunicators are the single vital link for our police officers, firefighters and emergency medical personnel by monitoring their activities by radio, providing them information and ensuring their safety and whereas, public safety telecommunications locators of the Mesilla Valley Regional Dispatch Authority are the first first responders who contributed to substantially as part of the public safety community. And Whereas, each dispatcher and call taker has exhibited compassion, understanding and professionalism during the performance of their job in the past year. Now, therefore, we, the Mayor and City Council of

Las Cruces, New Mexico, do hereby proclaim the week of April 12th through the 18th, 2026 as National Public Safety Telecommunications Week. In honor of the men and women who whose diligence and professionalism keep our communities and citizens safe.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Councilors. My name is Jennifer Gorham and I'm the executive director of Mesilla Valley Regional Dispatch Authority, your 911 center here in Dona Ana County and Las Cruces. Along with me is Cory Murphy, Murphy's deputy director. On behalf of our dedicated team of Telecommunicators who are hard at work today, I would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the City Council for proclaiming the week of April 12th, 2018 2026 as National Public Safety Telecommunications Week in Las Cruces. This recognition means a great deal to the men and women who serve behind the scenes as public safety Telecommunicators. While our work is often unseen, it is always essential. Every call we answer represents someone in need, someone relying on a calm voice, quick thinking and coordinated action during what may be one of the most critical moments of their lives. Each of these emergency and non-emergency calls requires focus, professionalism, and a deep commitment to public safety. In 2025 alone, Miranda handled over 400,000 phone calls. These numbers not not I'm sorry. These numbers reflect not only the volume of our work, but the trust our community places in us each and every single day. We are especially proud of the strong and productive partnership we have built with Las Cruces Police Department and Fire Department, both through collaboration, communication and mutual respect, we've been able to provide efficient and effective emergency response services to the residents of Las Cruces. Recognition, both during this week and throughout the year, means a great deal to our team. As the first voice callers here in an emergency. Our Telecommunicators are truly the hidden first first responders. While we are not always visible visible in public safety success stories, our team provides life saving guidance and support every single day, helping ensure that the best possible outcome. Helping ensure best possible outcomes before first responders even arrive on scene. As we look ahead, we remain committed to strengthening these partnerships and continuing to provide the highest level of public safety

service to the City of Las Cruces and its residents. Thank you again to the City Council for this meaningful recognition and your continued support of public safety. Telecommunicators. It is truly an honor to serve this community. Thank you. So. Much.

Glad to hear. The next proclamation is National Volunteer Month. Anyone from the volunteers is Wendy here or Katrina? Volunteers can join us.

Yeah. Are there any volunteers in the room that want to join? Come on up. Okay. Whereas volunteerism represents one of the highest expressions of civic responsibility and community pride, embodying the values of compassion, service, and collective actions that define the city of Las Cruces. And whereas, during the month of April, communities across the nation celebrate National Volunteer Month, recognizing the invaluable contributions of individuals who dedicate their time, talent and energy to improving the lives of others and where volunteers in Las Cruces support a wide, wide range of essential services to include senior recreation and nutrition, parks and recreation, police department, museum, library, youth services, keep Las Cruces beautiful. Visit Las Cruces quality of life communications, community development, public art utilities, the Mesilla Valley Balloon Rally and other special events. And these dedicated individuals contribute countless hours to these city programs, enhancing the quality of life for all residents and strengthening the social fabric of our community. And Whereas volunteerism not only addresses critical community needs, but also builds leadership skills, fosters connection amongst residents, and promotes a shared sense of responsibility and pride in our city. And the contributions of volunteers generate significant social and economic value, and that from May 2025 to present, the City

of Las Cruces has received 10,769 hours of volunteer service, representing an estimated 334,407. I'm sorry, $334,277 in contribution value to the city programs and services that directly benefit residents, which helps to reduce costs and enhance service delivery. And the City of Las Cruces remains committed to supporting volunteerism through community engagement and incentives and opportunities that encourage residents to contribute their time and talents in meaningful ways. And whereas, it is appropriate to recognize and honor the countless volunteers who dedicate generosity and service make Las Cruces a stronger, more vibrant, and more compassionate place to live. Now. Therefore, we, the Mayor and City Council of Las Cruces, New Mexico, encourage all residents to celebrate the contributions of volunteers to express gratitude for their service and to consider volunteering their own time and talents to strengthening our community and to hereby proclaim this month as April as National Volunteer Month.

Thank you.

Good afternoon everyone. Thank you mayor, councilor, city manager and all of the staff. I'm Wendy Shipley, I am the volunteer coordinator of your volunteer Las Cruces program. I personally want to thank every volunteer in our community because volunteers help tackle society's greatest challenges and build stronger, more vibrant communities and human connections. The mayor already spoke to the quantity of individuals that are serving in our community, and the financial impact those volunteers bring to the city, but I wanted to see if anyone in this room actually volunteers. Yeah. Thank you. You are very appreciated. The other thing I wanted to make sure that you knew is the city has a bee wrangler as a volunteer. She chases swarms that maybe are out in our community, and she works with our volunteers or our program with our utilities department. We have added conversational ESL and creative writing classes as part of our library program, all based on volunteers asking what more they could do. We have a legacy project here in the city of Las Cruces, working with young adults and children to learn chess. We also work with adults in case you want to get involved. And we have something to say to all of the community members that say, there is nothing to do in Las Cruces. We think you've really missed the boat. We really think that volunteers are showing us different ways to engage and make a difference. And we invite you to join in and find something to do here in Las Cruces. Thank you.

Okay. That concludes the presentations and proclamations. Again, thank you all for your volunteering, your contributions, your service, and everything that you do for this community and the. Kiwanis of 100 years of service. Thank you. Thank you all. Next, we have a departmental highlights community development.

Good afternoon, mayor City Council, Chris Faber with Community Development for the record. So I thought I would come briefly talk to you about the East Lowman Development RFP that is officially out. Give you some highlights and some next steps. So as an overview, we do have an RFP that's out seeking a qualified master developer to lead the redevelopment efforts. It's about 84 acres of city owned property. And it's the property east of Mountain View Hospital between Road Runner and Sonoma Ranch. And so the intent is for this proposal and for this development to sort of use the East Lowman Development Plan that was adopted by council, I believe, in 2020 as a framework for redevelopment, with the idea of building a connected, walkable neighborhood with all the supporting infrastructure there. And we're looking for a mix of residential, commercial, hospitality, civic, open space uses. So really kind of a, a whole sustainable community. And there's also the opportunity to coordinate with the medical facilities that are across the street. So there's, there's lots of different options there. What we are looking for is a really well thought out, high performing public private partnership between a developer and the city to again connect with the community's vision and council's vision that was laid out in the East Development Plan, be able to bring the financial and operational capacity needs for long term success. That one is really key. As well as having some similar experience with with projects of this scale and of this type. So some real basic information. The you can find out more information on the city's website at Las cruces.gov.

There's sort of a page with overviews and links to the RFP and the East Lowman plan. The RFP does close June 11th, and we have been working with communications, economic development and a lot of our partners to help spread the word and to market the RFP. And the most important thing is all questions and communications regarding the RFP need to go through CLC purchasing. They will then redirect them to staff, and we can provide those answers and get them back out to prospective applicants. So that's it. That's my presentation. Any questions? That's good. Thank you Chris.

Thanks, I. Appreciate it. Thanks, Council. Next is visit us Cruces.

Good afternoon, mayor and members of City Council. I'm Liz Vega event manager with Visit Las Cruces. And I'm here to do an update on the 2026 Las Cruces event. So we are having our fourth annual Las Cruces event this Friday and Saturday, April 24th and 25th, only about 96 hours away. It's going to be a lot of fun on Friday night. We're going to be starting at 6 p.m. and going to about 930 on Saturday. We'll be out there at 2 p.m. going to 9:30 p.m. And just to note that the farmers and crafts market will be moving to Sunday this weekend. So full weekend of events means Las Cruces is a way to look at Las Cruces meta. It's a celebration of everything that makes us Las Cruces, southern New Mexico and the Borderlands. In 2025, we had about 12,000 attendees throughout the day and a PR value of $3.8 million. This year. Back again, we have our drone show, but we do have more drones this year, so we're able to do a little bit more intricate designs. We also have a more lucha Libre. We're doubling the matches. So for Lucha Libre we have matches going on from 3 to 430 and 530 to 7 p.m. We also have vendors, local food, crafts, everything will be out there, community organizations as well. And I think the Kiwanis Club will be out there this Saturday as well. So that's great. We also have a kids zone that's going to be through Parks and Recreation Department. We're grateful to them, and we do have a car show this time. We'll have North and South car show, and the North Car Show is actually city employees with their vehicles out there. Yeah. New in 2026. We do have the addition of the Friday night programing, which will be fun. We're also doing a

collaboration with New Mexico Juneteenth Jazz Arts Festival that will be in the Rio Grande Theater starting at 330. We have a mural that's going to be celebrating America. 250 we have a public safety fun zone that will be spearheaded by our own Las Cruces Fire Department, the New Mexico Tourism Department deputy Cabinet Secretary will be in attendance. And this year we have already tripled our social media pickups. The Santa Fe New Mexican has also featured us, which is fantastic. Just a little stat there. Last year, the website had about 22,700 hits. As of now. This year we're up to 118,000, so we expect a lot more people out there. And I wanted to give you a little glimpse. This is the highlight from last year. I did want to give a shout out to a lot of the city departments that are helping us this year, police and fire. Obviously, we also have Parks and Recreation. They'll be helping us do some decorating on the plaza, even down to our utilities department who helped us print some posters this year. So it's definitely a group effort. Just want to send a special thank you to them. And with that I stand for questions.

That's great. Looking forward to it. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have the mic. That's not a media.

Hello mayor city council, city manager. My name is Amelia Corrales and I am here for the pets of the week. So we are doing two pets of the week. We're kind of trying to go with some of our long term residents. So our first one, our dog of the week is Layla. She is a female. She is microchipped and spayed. She is one year and seven months old. And she was a stray picked up from our city of Las Cruces ACOs. She is a sweet, sensitive girl who is still learning about the world and building her confidence along the way. She can be soft and a bit unsure in new or busy environments, often taking time to observe before fully engaging. She's eager to connect and learn, and just waiting for someone to help her feel secure so her true personality can shine. Our next dog of the week is Playa. He is a male who is microchipped and is neutered. He is six years old. He is a joy to take on walks and truly shines when he's outside and exploring on walks. He's completely engaged with his surroundings. He's confident, curious and is fascinated by all the scents along the way. Because he's so focused on his environment, he can be a bit difficult to get his attention during walks, but once you do, he happily, happily leans in for affection and enjoys gentle scratches along his face. And then we have some of our long term residents. We have Rosa, who has been with us for 320 days, Sheila, who has been with us for 301 days. Watkins has been with us for 272 days, and Dora has been with us for 260 days. We will be attending Las Cruces on Saturday, April 25th, so if you guys can come out, check out our animals. It's an amazing event. She was just saying. So we are happy to be a part of it this year. And then for more information, you can

always go to our website, see all of our adoptable animals, our Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube as well. But we just invite the entire community come down and visit us. You never know who you might find. You might meet your new four legged best friend. So thank you for having me here. And that's all I have for you. Any questions? All right. Thank you.

Thank you. Next is a conflict of interest. Has any member of city council, city manager or a member of the city staff have any conflict of interest with any item on the agenda? None. None, none, none? No. No conflict.

Next is public participation. Will allow for three minutes. No pending litigation or items on the consent. Katrina will assist you to the podium. Please state your name and speak clearly into the microphone.

Good afternoon. My name is Jesus Fritz and I'm with the American Legion Post ten located on Madrid. We'd like to extend an invitation to the mayor and City Council for an event that we're hosting on Sunday, May 24th at 8 a.m. That event will take place at Saint Joseph's Cemetery. That is the Sunday before Memorial Day. We will be placing flags at the gravesites for the veterans, those that would like to attend. We would appreciate your participation and if you have any questions, you can reach me at (575) 649-5407. The name again is Fritz, and the organization again is American Legion Post ten. Thank you. Good afternoon.

Mayor and Councilors. My name is Michael Hayes. I am a non-Hispanic white male resident of Las Cruces. I am an American citizen born in the United States of America to parents who were American citizens born in the United States. I possess an embossed birth certificate, a passport, and a New Mexico's driver's license. I have no criminal record to serve as a pretext for an arrest, as one of the worst of the worst. So I think that I am okay. But I know that I am not okay with the military militarized police department with its hostile diploma, deployment of Lcpd officers with rifles at a Hispanic rally at Oliverjohnson Park last June, or with its new, unusual links between the Lcpd and federal law enforcement agencies. My particular concern has been Chief Story's request to City Council that it seek $500,000 in state funding to purchase five Swat vehicles. By not asking for a rationale for this request, Council failed to exercise due diligence in approving his request. I asked Chief Story for his reason or reasons for it. He did not respond. I have asked several elected officials to seek his rationale. For me. At least one has tried to get it, but I have received nothing from them since. The Lcpd has resisted nonpublic requests for his rationale. I make a public request to chief story. What was the rationale for your request? Not only for Swat vehicles, but for five of them. I reserve the remaining time of my speech for your answer, chief story. If I cannot get it

now, I ask that council. Get it and make it public. Thank you. Mr. Hayes. It's public participation. There's no discussion on any of those items. Clerk has your information and we'll get back to you. I will appreciate you getting back to me. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mayor Enriquez City Council. My name is Brandi. I'm here on behalf of South Central Solid Waste Authority. We provide recycling services and solid waste recycling and solid waste services to the area. And as our community continues to grow, we are expanding our services and our infrastructure to keep pace with the needs of a rapidly growing community. I'd like to extend in in hopes of full transparency and keeping the community involved and informed of the movements of South Central Solid Waste Authority. We'd like to invite you all to a community information meeting to be held on Thursday, April 30th at 6 p.m. at the DAC East Mesa campus in the Dasher Building. The Commons Room. We're. It's a great opportunity for people to get information on our growth, specifically our expansion into the East Mesa Area Secondary Transfer station and off of Hulman Road. The plans will be presented, questions will be received and leadership of. Will be there to answer questions in real time. I have a few fliers, informational fliers for the City clerk for all of you. All of that information is readily available on our website w w w dot w dot net. You can always call us on (575) 528-3800. And all of this information is also on our social media.

Good afternoon. My name is Staff Sergeant Doreen White. I was here a couple weeks ago. I presented a package to the council, and I learned something today that when I presented that civil restraining order should have been done and an old tarot and both got dismissed. And I'm still a victim of a cell phone 1300 miles away, being trafficked to every law enforcement agency that wants to violate me nightly, whether it be a cyber mini, that cell phone, or the chips and cameras in my body. So I presented it to the mayor for you to have a discussion or something, but the stuff inside of me is killing me and I the fact is, they can't take the chips out. They can't take the cameras out, and they can't take out what's inside of me. And I need your support. As far as a volunteer, I'd like to volunteer for the police department. I. I'm good at cold cases. And, mayor, you said that you would follow up with me and I followed up. I sent you a card recently following our last discussion that we had the follow through that to see what you were going to do. And it's crazy. I fall night because I know this cybersecurity, this stuff is in the future, and it's hard to believe that a person could get violated by a chip or a cell

phone 1300 miles away. So I, I lived in the city Cruces. I like the city of La Cruces. I got illegally evicted, a whole bunch of stuff there. It wasn't failure to pay rent or behavior or anything like that. I put 21 years in the military, 11 in civil service, and I should not be a victim of this crime. The Department of Public Safety, State of Missouri, and I call it the project. And I'd like for somebody to pass an ordinance or injunction or some kind of law on my behalf to prevent this from happening. Like they gave me a death sentence. And anything that I can do to substantiate this knowledge that it will support what I'm saying here. And eventually somebody will act on it. As a crime. And I could go through them and get a default judgment, right? But that's not going to make them responsible for their you know, they could give me money, I'm going to die, but it's not going to make these people responsible for the laws that they broke against me and continue to break against me for ten years.

Okay. Thank you ma'am. Thank you. We'll get back to you. Thank you. Have a good day.

Mayor. Mayor pro tem Council folks here today, those watching online. I'm Lynn Maurer. Last meeting, I provided clear evidence of the city's lack of proper notice to property owners with galvanized piping notice required by the federal lead and copper rule. I characterized it as one way the city is attempting to neutralize its findings after the fact that the city has galvanized pipes. Today, I'm providing evidence of a second method, which shows the utilities department has betrayed all trust. There's strong evidence that a significant number of inspection reports have been fabricated. The city recently provided inspection reports for 36 properties that now say galvanized pipes do not exist there. Hand out one, which includes two examples of false inspection reports, shows that in each case, several months after an inspection report documented galvanized piping, another inspection report was generated, most bearing a different inspector's name that records no presence of galvanized piping. I'll provide copies of both reports for all 36 properties to anyone who's interested. No galvanized piping at all at any of the 83 properties has been replaced, according to responses to several requests. No documents have been produced showing replacement of any galvanized piping and inventory. Records say the piping is galvanized. It's unbelievable that 36 inspections, or 43% by nine different inspectors, would have misidentified galvanized piping. Las Cruces utilities must explain why the new reports don't constitute falsification of records. That one inspector came up with. Most of the falsified inspection reports is suspicious, especially since his name is on 11 of the original reports. Strange that he would precipitously change his mind about what the pipe material is. It smells like someone higher in the department instructed him to

create dozens of bogus reports, which now claim that none of the properties has galvanized piping, including 11 he previously found conclusively to have galvanized pipes. Most of the changes in the bogus inspection reports make no sense. In addition to galvanized turning into plastic, copper turns into plastic. The second inspection report for Fair Acres Elementary magically turns galvanized into plain steel, which virtually never exists in Las Cruces without galvanization. According to plumbers. A motive may be that denying the existence of galvanized pipes preserves more of the $15 million fund to spend on things other than pipe replacement, which was touted as the core reason for needing the money. Handout two records the utilities director's statement that all the money could be spent on projects that have nothing to do with pipe replacement, she said they wouldn't do that, but it appears she changed her mind. For those troubled by children drinking water from galvanized piping at a public school or troubled by falsification of records, now is the time for you to come off the bench. Thank you for this opportunity to speak.

Mayor, city Council, I'm Liz Rodriguez Johnson at the October 6th, 2025 meeting, the council ratified an application for $15 million to the New Mexico Finance Authority prepared by utility staff. A key part of that funding application was the city's commitment to prioritize disadvantaged folks in the city's inspection and replacement of lead and galvanized piping, which is hazardous to public health. This is an update on what city records reveal about whether utilities personnel are carrying out that promise. Our assessment used two measures which yielded similar results. The first examined all inspections carried out citywide during the first week of each month, occurring after the City Council's ratification of the funding application beginning the week of November 2nd through eighth, 2025 and continuing the first week of each succeeding month through March 2026. We examined the inspection reports and the estimated property valuations for each property inspected during those five weeks. Analysis showed that of the 183 inspections conducted, only 31 or 17% were for disadvantaged properties. Public records indicate that the median estimated value for the 152 non disadvantaged properties the city inspected is roughly $40,000 higher than for the disadvantaged properties. The second measure examined 20 blocks in the downtown area in the vicinity of Mesquite and San Pedro streets, where the oldest properties in Las Cruces are located. All of the 194 properties in this 20 block area are classified as disadvantaged. Inspection reports show that utilities

personnel have inspected only 40 properties, or 21%. This occurred from January through September 2025. City records did not show that any of the remaining 154 disadvantaged properties have been inspected. Taken together, these measures clearly show that utilities personnel are not, in fact, prioritizing disadvantaged properties. Despite their commitment to the state. Made to receive $15 million in funding, of which the city must repay only a quarter. Instead, utilities personnel are prioritizing the other 80% of properties across the city which are not disadvantaged and which generally have much higher estimated values. The city must carry out its promise to actually prioritize disadvantaged properties. It's the only moral and legal option. Handouts A and B document more properties with estimated values of less than $200,000. Handout C shows another 300 mobile homes that utilities personnel have ignored and left off the map. They should all be inspected immediately. Those interested in documentation regarding any of these issues need only to ask. Thank you.

Good afternoon mayor. Mayor Pro tem Council everyone. My name is Yoli Diaz. I came before you at the last council meeting, and I thanked you for filing the lawsuit against Memorial Medical Center. When I think about Memorial Medical Center's Year 2014 cost cutting decisions, I think about the people harmed. I think about lives put at risk, lives forever changed and lives that were lost. I think about the woman who died because she was not treated when she needed care. I think about her eight year old son crying in the background. When his father called me from a hospice, La Posada, to say that this young mother died, I heard her young eight year old son crying, no, no, no. Unable to be comforted. I think about the woman who had so much faith, who truly believed she would beat cancer, but she did not get the treatment she needed when she needed it. At Memorial Medical Center, she died and her only teenage daughter was left without her. I think about the young mother of two school aged children who said she went at least a year without the treatment she needed when we spoke, when a doctor warned that her untreated condition could leave her blind, I did everything I could to get her to UNM because Memorial Medical Center did not give her an appointment. I could not accept the reality of those children facing a future with a mother who was blind or worse. I think about the people. Memorial Medical Center has stated they do not have the ability to treat at all, like the 32 year old single mother with a 13 year old son that now continues to have barriers for her needed treatment. I pray the solutions I've helped her with work because the last thing, last thing I want to learn is that 13 year old boy is left without his mother. I think about the residents who were required to

make substantial upfront or full payments just to receive care. Others were told they needed to obtain health insurance before they could even schedule an appointment. You've heard some of these stories in the national news, but many others like these never made headlines. I know them, I help them. What about the people I didn't know about? Memorial Medical Center's policies did not protect access. They were barriers that denied access. Do not be distracted by Memorial Medical Center's polished statements that obtain attempt to obscure these truths. The path forward is clear. First, the lawsuit. Second termination of life point. Third, securing a new operator, one that is genuinely committed to the health, safety, and dignity of this community. You have taken this path before. You can take it again, but this time you must stand firm with greater clarity, stronger evidence and unwavering commitment to accountability and transparency. Thank you.

Mayor, mayor, pro tem, city manager, councilors, chiefs, everybody else. I feel like I can't miss this. It's been crazy busy work, but I just kind of talked about something that I think has been kind of top of mind for everybody around here lately. Here are my 30 years, nearly 30 years of being part of the search and rescue team. You know, I've had the opportunity to work with local law enforcement, federal agents, state agencies. I work with fire departments. I worked with all kinds of different agencies. And the one thing we all agree upon, it's better that you never hear us not say is we need less training. We need less training opportunities, and we need less places to train. The only way we can become better at what we do is through training and training facilities and things that offer that to us. I'm not sure if the narrative for some of the City council became to defund the police, I get that we need more parks, we need housing, we need things, but not at the cost of public safety. And I also want to tell you a little problem that, you know, we heard briefly here a few minutes back, talked about the story over here. It was for public safety, which were agreed upon. But now it seems like public safety just everybody keeps adding in their own idea of public safety is and I think that you're forgetting that the core of that is surely fire and police. So I know that some things were removed from the police department, and fire department. Coming up, I don't think there's a lot of talk about police cars and things like that, you know, to walk in their shoes, you really have no idea of what they need. And all the things that they're doing is to make it better. It's a response time. It's training those officers, it's getting

people to you quicker. And I think we can help 100% agree that our police department, from the upper management on down, is doing a tremendous job with what they have here. I don't I, I think we still see a lot of crime. If you're on in that area. But we also see the responsibility there. I think having qualified officers that are training and have that kind of qualification ability to get better, I think that that money needs to be going. So I hope that we have really take that to heart because it it really in the end, training makes us all better. It really does. Thank you.

Mayor. This is the Las Cruces Sun Sunday. Yesterday it was written by Cliffstone and I think it's worth sharing. And I think technology has rapidly evolved in the past 19 years of my policing career. As technology has advanced, law enforcement is leveraging new tools to keep communities safe. Criminals are very effective at using technology to victimize people and defeat our efforts to catch them. Police departments must keep pace. License plate readers LPR specifically have been a hot topic recently. These cameras capture and read license plates, enabling law enforcement to quickly search for further study linked to human trafficking or involved in other criminal activity. Our technology also integrates with amber or silver lines under the law enforcement in real time. When a vehicle associated with an alert camera endless Cruces. We have used this technology to help for everything from homicides to victim to missing person cases. Our ability to locate and recover stolen vehicles has improved significantly since we implemented LPR in 2021. Just recently, the first clue of an attempted kidnaping was on campus came from an LPN. Because of this technology, the MSU Police Department arrested the suspect the following day, while LPR. Select the right continuous tracking identified from behind the wheel. They are one of the few tools available that can quickly surface actionable information in the moments it's needed most. This tool is just one piece of the puzzle, but is a critical one.

Guardrails are important, and they exist in both department policy and state law, but the. Following raise reasonable privacy concerns. Allow law enforcement to obtain justice for victims and, in some cases, prevent them from becoming victims in the first place and the court, and now simply for football listening. When residents push back against real life Las Cruces. If you. Council and burst open your mouth, the worries about safety, toss them around. Quote, not in my backyard. Like now. Fast forward to last night, CBP announces he might open a new station in Las Cruces. And suddenly, on April 3rd, Council call tells the Journal, you'll never have any say. Not in my backyard, ever. Except today. Thank you.

Good afternoon Council.

Thank you. My name is Steve Montanez. The last time I addressed this Council, my focus was on the 2025 capital outlay. Some of the priorities that were listed, and I just wanted to kind of follow up. And on the 2026 capital outlay projects that were that were granted to Las Cruces, I say this because one of these days somebody's going to have to really sit me down and explain to me the the rhetoric or the narrative behind the and the hostility behind the the hostility towards the Las Cruces Police Department. So here we go, 1.7 million to Branigan Library improvements, 72,000 for the Las Cruces Fire Station. Improvement, 100,000 for the real time Crime center upgrade, 200,000 for Las Cruces. Affordable housing 434. This is for community of Hope. Three mil. Rio Grande Prep 900,000 to Las Cruces Woman's Improvement Association building million to stormwater retention. 3 million to Las Cruces. Apodaca Park improvements and the 2 million to to dedicate to the to the to the track for officer training cars that are proposed today. I'd really like anybody just to talk to a police officer. One of the officers that I talked to recently did business with. When I met with him in his car, he explained to me that his air conditioner was not working. He does not complain about it. He does not, you know, he doesn't take it anywhere else. He has a he has a fan that he plugs in to, you know, just try and assist. Just imagine in this temperature, sitting in a vehicle without an air conditioner that's working properly. These are the things that these officers, they, they put themselves through. They

don't really, they don't really talk about, but they really do rely on this body and our state officials to really, you know, come through with the funds necessary for them to do their jobs, do their jobs effectively, and, God forbid, do their jobs comfortably every once in a while. Councilor Harris pulling one, pulling $1 million away from the Las Cruces police. It's not going to really be that effective. This track is going to get finished, whether it's done through capital outlay, whether it's done through federal grants or whether it is done through this city budget process. However, I believe that that was really a way for you to report back to the progressive, special, special interest groups that you somehow won, that you said that this was somehow a win, and this isn't just towards you. This is, you know, towards the three of you that you somehow felt that you that you want something by taking that away. I do guarantee you the way this city comes together, these officers will get the support that they need. And once again, 1.7 million is being taken care of. I assure you that. And it will continue to be. Thank you all very much.

Good afternoon. Mayor and City Council members.

My name is Leslie Woods. Thursday, May 7th, 2026. Is designated by the American Humanist Association as a National Day of Reason. A group of us hold a ceremony to celebrate and commemorate reason and the separation of church and state. At noon that day, here in front of City Hall, I quote Jamie Raskin. Reason provides vital hope today for confronting the environmental crisis of today, including civil civilization, emergency of climate change for advancing civil liberties for all, including the rights of the elderly. T q I a individuals access to all reproductive health care, such as in vitro fertilization, contraception and abortion, and for cultivating the rule of law, democratic institutions, justice and peace among nations. Americans founders insisted upon the primacy of reason and the knowledge in public health, and drafted the Constitution to prevent official establishment of religion and to protect freedom of speech and inquiry into civil society. James Madison, author of the First Amendment and fourth president of the United States, stated, the advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty, and knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives. I am here today to invite everyone to. Please join us on Thursday, May 7th at 12 noon here in front of Seville Hall to celebrate reason and its foundational role in the creation and development of our

nation. We will have speakers, snacks, drinks and of course, fun and friendship. Thank you.

Okay. Good afternoon, City Council. Mr. Mayor, my name is Haley Walker. I'm an organizer for Pro Choice, Las Cruces. Mr. mayor, we do not agree on the subject of abortion. I think a woman has a right to decide what is best for herself, to control her body and her reproduction. You don't agree? You think a woman does not have the right to decide to get an abortion? We both have equal rights to our opinion. We have the right to agree. I'm a citizen of Las Cruces. You are the mayor of Las Cruces. I speak for only myself. You, Mr. Mayor, are recognized as the head of our city government and for all ceremonial purposes. You speak for our city. Like it or not, your voice has weight because of your office. That trust comes with responsibilities. Mr. mayor, I understand your participation in the Southwest Right to Life event on March 14th at the site of the Women's Health Center, now under construction, was an endorsement of their boycott against contractors and suppliers building the center. But for the fact that you are the mayor and appear to support the boycott, you would not have been invited as speaker. Mr. mayor, you have no right to use your office to obstruct the construction of this facility. We, the people of this community, have a constitution, laws, elected officials who make laws and courts that interpret them. They have all affirmed a woman's right to choose. Your religion does not authorize you to forbid our lawful rights. Obstructing the construction of abortion facility is obstructing the woman's right to an abortion. Your support of the boycott is a slap in the face of any woman seeking an abortion in Las Cruces. Your religion grants you no privilege. Your religion, your religion is not our law. If you cannot reconcile your religion to your duties, to the people who elected you, then

you should resign. I am alarmed that the city is not concerned about the harassment of medical patients at the facilities in your city, and instead you are supporting those groups. We have to have volunteers of an army of women that are retired and have been fighting this fight for too long, just to walk these patients, medical patients from their cars to the door because of the tactics, tactics of intimidation and. That should be more of a concern than supporting these people. They are medical patients. Mr. mayor, renounce this boycott. Tell us your religion does not define our rights. Please, Mr. Mayor, tell us that you do not support the boycott. Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Jim Hurst. I'm here to speak on behalf of the Day of Reason. Coming up May May 7th, a few weeks from now. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal by their creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Our founders identified religion as a threat to liberty. That is why they drafted the First Amendment. That is why they separated church from state, because they had centuries of experience with religion interfering with liberty. So our founders sought to take away political. Power from. Friends and from church and from.

Religion.

And by subjecting or by designating religion as separate from government. What they wanted to do is institute reason as the basis of government. We have freedom because we applied our reason. To our experience. Our founders listened to enlightened men like John Locke and many others. Who identified natural rights. Rights given to them by their nature. We don't need a government to tell us we have freedom of speech. We know we have freedom of speech. All we need is governments that recognize it. We don't need a government to tell us we have the right to believe whatever we want or don't want to believe about God. We don't need a government to tell us that we know that from birth. So the government doesn't give us our freedom, or give our government the authority to enforce our freedoms. The problem is. When we don't all understand the words separation of church and state the same. For many, the words separation of church and state just means that the church gets to do

whatever it wants to do. That's not the case. Thank you for your time. Interesting. Good afternoon mayor.

City Council members, first Chief Daniels and police chief story and police chief story, Semper Fidelis, I am the chair to the advisory board. I wanted to take this opportunity to come up and introduce myself formally to all of you, and look forward to working with all of you in the future. I hope, mostly on park and whatnot, but then also what our veteran organizations are doing, we're doing a lot for the community. I think it's great, and that's why I do what I do. I'm a member of VFW. 3242 Mesquite, and just little things that we've done for some people, it's been a way to fill my glass. So that's why I like doing it. I look forward to working with all of you. Thank you.

Good afternoon, City Council Lucas Harding. For the record, I came here today with a simple question what kind of process do we want to build together? You'll be voting today to approve the amended budget. Some has been settled already, but I'm not here to say that public safety doesn't matter, because it does. I am here to ask when one department already commands the largest share of our resources, are we investing wisely in anything else that. Makes community safe, strong, and whole? Because safety isn't about policing. Safety is about well-lit parks where families can gather. Safety is about libraries where young people have somewhere to go. Safety is about streets that don't flood, recreation centers that keep our youth engaged, and community spaces where neighbors become family. In November 2024, voters approved the gross receipts tax because they said yes to investing in our shared future. They wanted their dollars going to parks, streets, infrastructure and vital community improvements. And just two weeks ago, the council approved most of those missions. But let me be clear we cannot continue to grow police budgets while our shared spaces crumble. We cannot claim to prioritize community well-being by the largest portion of our general fund goes to one department year after year. When we fund parks, we fund mental health. When we fund libraries, we fund education. When we fund recreation centers, we fund crime prevention. These aren't alternatives to public safety. They are the foundation of it. I am asking this council to commit to a different path forward cap and reduce the police budget, redirect future increases to shared community infrastructure, parks, libraries, recreation centers and streets, and measure success not by how much we spend on policing, but how many

families have access to safe, vibrant community spaces. Today, the council will also vote to delay road projects while also voting to approve purchasing more police vehicles. Please ask yourselves what kind of message does that send to Las Cruces across the city? Let's build a city where every dollar reflects our commitment to family, community and fairness. Let's invest in the shared spaces that bring us together. Instead of continuing to grow budgets that separate us. Thank you for your time, and I look forward to working with all of you on this vision.

Acceptance of agenda. Move to accept. Second. This is a motion to accept the agenda as presented. Councilor McClure. Yes, Councilor Mattis is absent. Councilor Harris. Yes. Councilor Bencomo yes, councilor Koran. Yes. Councilor Munoz yes, mayor. Yes. First item on the agenda.

7.1, resolution number 20 6-1 32, a resolution authorizing an update to the vehicle acquisition program. Move to approve. Second.

Good afternoon, mayor and members of City Council, Mercedes Tamoko for fleet services. I'm here to present a resolution requesting approval of updates to the Vehicle Acquisition Program for fiscal year 2026. Fleet service has received several department requests to amend the current Fiscal year 2026 Vehicle Acquisition Program to include additional units for purchase. All departments have funds available in their existing budget to comply with city procurement requirements for rolling stock acquisitions. City Council approval is required before these purchases can move forward. The fire department is requesting the purchase of a new trailer to support the technical rescue team, with transportation of essential equipment. The Ford F-150 currently in use does not provide the storage capacity required. The trailer purchase is estimated at 50,000 and funding is available in the fire department's current budget. The police department has requested the purchase of 18 Ford Explorer interceptors to replace aging patrol vehicles, with manufacturer dates ranging from 2012 through 2014. GR funding will be utilized for these replacements. The airport is requesting four pieces of four new pieces of equipment for proper air. Oh my god, sorry, I apologize. So these are the for public safety, the police department fire department and equipment trailer and then the 18 Ford Explorer interceptors is 1.5 million airport. I apologize again is requesting four new pieces of equipment for proper airfield maintenance. Two are John Deere zero turn mowers and equipment, trailer and a vibratory drum compactor

attachment. They are also requesting two replacement trucks for assets three, two, three, four two and 33242 purchases. Purchases will be made with the funds from the reauthorized runway 422 grant. The Quality of Life Department is requesting two Ford F-150 Hotshots to replace assets three, two, 363 and 32364 for the Meals on Wheels program and four Ford Mavericks to replace assets. 3028 308183 1021 and 31029. For the long term care program, funding is available in the department's current budget. The transit department is requesting two transit vans to replace assets two, three, 218 and 32321, which are 2016 StarCraft All Star Shuttles for the Dial-a-ride program or vamonos program. The funding is available in transit and the Transit Department's current budget. In summary, this resolution updates the vehicle acquisition list to reflect department needs, ensuring compliance with procurement requirements and allowing these essential vehicle proceed. Standard Council options apply and I will stand for questions.

Thank you. Councilmember. Thank you.

Mayor, and this was a good presentation. This all seems relatively needed. I was at the airport last week. And yeah, I think that that equipment is going to go for that maintaining the field. I have two questions on the police vehicles specifically that one, two, three, and I have talked about just kind of in general. And another that's somewhat related. So the first one I have noticed a trend not in CBD, fortunately. So I gave them.

That spike. In surrounding departments are. Like making a. Regular patrol vehicles are technically marked, but it's like black on logos. And the other things we talked about is a big thing that helps to find ways to have this visible presence and be out in the streets, and everybody. Knows that we're there. So when we're getting these. Vehicles, I'm hoping. That trend and, and keep what we've been doing with our visible vehicles.

Mayor councilor Harris, Jeremy Stewart police chief, I'm glad you asked that. Allow me to address two things. One, all these vehicles that we're talking about right now are marked police cars. However, there are some vehicles that have the more subdued marking, which are the Swat vehicles that were mentioned earlier. Those are f-150s that are marked police cars, but they have kind of the lighter decals as opposed to other Swat tactical units tend to have no decals. We still wanted them to be marked, but the vast majority of our fleet will be marked, and we're using better decals now that are much higher visibility and don't fade with the sun exposure. Nice, nice. That's good to know. And then the other question is, I remember a few years ago. Maybe not a few.

But a lot of that, there was some discussion about. And the funding to get. Ballistic windshield retrofits on a number. Of units. And are. Those new units and a couple others. Going to. Come across the windshields? I know we had a problem in district three specifically. Where an officer was shot through his windshield. So I want to see if we're addressing that.

Yeah. Mayor and councilors, thank you for that question. Do you work with the ballistic windshields? We were able to actually switch outfitters to to save a lot of money. We're able to get the windshields and still have a savings. I will say we've got three officers shot or shot at very, very near being shot through windshields in the last five years or so or six years. So it's not a one time thing. Great. That's it. Thanks. Pro tem. Thank you. Thank you.

The vehicle age again. Could you share that with me. And that's is that within standards or have we kind of stretched that number a little bit? The age on the vehicles, they're ranging from manufacturer years of 2012 through 2014. A lot of these will be the, the Dodge Chargers. So we'll be moving them out. And for the amount of wear that these vehicles get, I think this is stretching them out a little bit. And this will also help us save money on maintenance costs because these vehicles are in a lot. Okay. Thank you. Thank you mayor. Council Bencomo.

Thank you for your presentation. Just quick clarification. Last week, Municipal court was here. Judge Veloso was here and they had a vehicle in their presentation, their budget request. Is that going to live separately from this program? They sorry, Mayor Councilor Bencomo, they haven't alerted me to a purchase. So at this time, I do have one vehicle actually approved for 2027 for municipal court. Court. Yeah, but it's an actual 2027. Not in the 2026.

Okay. City manager, is that sound right? Just want to make sure from last week's presentation that we have all the bases covered. Yes, everybody. He's nodding his head. Yes. Thank you Mercedes. Appreciate it. Okay. Seeing no names. Christine. This is on the motion to approve resolution 20 6-132 Councilor. McClure. Yes, counselor. Mathis. Yes. Councilor Harris. Yes.

Councilor Bencomo. Yes, councilor Karen. Yes. Councilor Munoz. Yes, mayor. Yes.

Next as. Item 7.2, resolution number 20 6-133, a resolution to authorize the city's participating participation in housing new Mexico rehab to. Move to approve. Second.

Good afternoon, mayor, City Council and my esteemed colleagues. My name is Kevin Wilson. I'm with Housing and Neighborhood Services. Before you is resolution 20 6-1 33 requesting City Council's permission to participate in the rehab rental program? The city has recognized a shortage of affordable rentals available to people using housing, housing subsidized vouchers. Many of these affordable units are also in such a state of decay and disrepair that they're unable to pass the required inspections to allow these people to reside in their and use their vouchers. The new state of New Mexico developed a rental rehab to rental program, and this is in place to increase the number of available units that are affordable and compel voucher holder residency. It was originally funded by DFA, the Department of Finance and Administration.

And it.

Is administered through Housing New Mexico. This provides forgivable loans to landlords up to $25,000 per unit to bring conditions into into compliance for the required inspire inspections that will take place. And it also compels the the unit that's being assisted, it compels the landlord to only rent to voucher holders in that unit for a period of five years. If the if the terms of the restrictive land use agreement are are violated in any way, then a prorated payback by the landlord will then be required. And that money comes back to the city of Las Cruces for use towards affordable housing projects. We have been approved by Housing New Mexico to participate and receive and administer these funds. I'd like to point out that rehab to rental is consistent with Elevate Las Cruces. It establishes a rental rehabilitation program and supports property owners to make healthy and and safety improvements to all of their affordable units. The participating units. And at this time, the current funding for the program has been exhausted. But should City Council approve the participation of the city in this, that when the funding becomes available again, then we can step in and and address some of the properties here in Las Cruces. And before you are the normal options and I stand for questions.

I thank you, Kevin Councilor correct. Thank you for this presentation and good, great program. I was just wondering if you could talk a little bit about single unit redevelopment versus multi-unit, and if there are limits on people who have multiple units or like what are the, are the, is it per unit or is it per individual or landlord? Or can you talk a little bit more about that? Sorry, maybe you, maybe you alluded to it, but I didn't. I just want to make sure I understand.

The correct. Thank you for the question. Mayor Councilor. Correct. There is a limit of $25,000 per unit. Each landlord per property is limited to $50,000 per unit. But the housing new Mexico housing has also indicated to us their flexibility in unique situations to look at specific properties that might need more investment than that. So. So they are open to the possibility, but also limiting the amount of debt that they put the landlords in.

Great. Thank you. That's what I wondered because I imagine buying five of whatever the thing is, is probably a little bit easier. So it's good to hear that there's some of that flexibility for folks who have small quadplexes and stuff like that. So thank you very much, I appreciate it. You're very welcome. Do you have. Specific addresses on anything that need the rehabilitation? So when the funds become available?

Thank you. Councilor. Missy. Mayors, city Councilor Matisse. There are a number of properties that have been considered at this point in time. We have three distributors here in the city of Las Cruces being the housing Authority, La Casa and Mesilla Valley Community of Hope. They are the ones who are most witness to the the needs and the conditions in specific units. So we are taking advisement to them while also targeting our properties for specific MRI areas.

Okay. Natalie, consider some recommendations from city council. You know, I have some properties in district two and they are occupied and they they're in pretty bad shape.

Again, mayor, city city council, we're certainly open to any suggestions along the way. And when when funding does get released again from the state, if it does, then there's there's already a number of number of properties and landlord owners who are very interested in, in hopefully meeting with us and seeing what we can do. There are quite limited funds per per each city. It's been a kind of a pilot program for the state at this point in time.

Can I kind of a technical question, you know, if the landlord doesn't comply and keep up with whatever policies and rules are, then they can be clawed back. Some of the funds, if if it if it comes to that on the participant, is there any system in place responsibility and requirements for those that are in the facilities and. And who manages the participants with the vouchers? How. How are they any control of the destruction of the property for the landlords? Okay.

Thank you councilor, mayor. City council. Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor. Natalie Green, for the record. So voucher holders, when they rent a facility, they usually have a lease or most programs mandate at least a one year lease. And those lease agreements will have the rules and requirements. So the onus is on the landlord to enforce their lease agreements with their tenants. Thank you. Natalie, would you be so kind to send me a copy? Sure. I can send some sample leases from. Samples from.

Where I am, but I'd appreciate a copy. Thanks. Councilor. Thanks. So I have two quick questions. These inspections and standards, do they by chance, require a certain level of air conditioning in units? It is very hot here. This has been a subject.

There is. In Mayor Councilor. If there is indeed a air conditioning unit on the property, then the state of New Mexico's renter laws does require that that remain operational and it is included as one of the one of the appliances of the lease. Does rental to rehab. Consider that we. The program uses the inspire, which is the new real estate inspection. It replaced HQ's housing quality standards. And again, if if there were an air conditioner in the unit, it would have to be functional. However, at this point in time in the state of New Mexico, there is no requirement for an air conditioning unit in any home.

Okay. Are there requirements in other cities? I don't want to get off topic. Just a quick question, mayor. Councilor. I am sure there are, but I could not answer that with confidence. All right. Second question, unrelated just for public benefit, when we participate in this program, the city doesn't assume any liability for these loans. These aren't city funds, Expendables, or state funds that are being routed through the city. And then if anything goes wrong, the city stands. To benefit. Mayor.

City councilor, you are exactly correct in that we we do not have collectibles obligations, nor are we liable for any kind of default along the way. However, if the landlords do default, then the remainder of the balance that they have to pay back does revert back to the city for affordable housing uses. All right. Great. That's all. Thanks. Thank you very much. Okay. Seeing no other questions, Christine.

This is on the motion to approve resolution 20 6-133 Councilor. McClure. Yes, councilor Mathis. Yes. Councilor Harris. Yes, councilor Bencomo. Yes, councilor Karen. Yes. Okay. Councilor Munoz. Yes, mayor. Yes. Thank you. Next is resolution number 20 6-134A resolution to approve the real estate purchase agreement between the City of Las Cruces and Anthony and Sylvia Smith.

Move to approve. Second.

Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor. Members of council Natalie green for the record, the resolution before you is to purchase a property using grant funds from the State of New Mexico. The city was notified earlier early last month that we are eligible to receive 850,000. The purpose of that funding would be to purchase the property at 911 West Amador. The purchase price has been negotiated to 720,000. The sellers are. Mr. and Mrs. Smith. We did go out for two appraisals. The first appraisal was approximately 140,000 and the second appraisal 100 and 680,000. So the purchase price is below the average of those two. As part of the agreement, the seller is also requesting a 20 by 20 easement for a cell phone tower. In discussion with the agencies on the campus and looking at the site, the city is not opposed to that easement. This is a vicinity map. The property is located on the north end of the driveway for Mesilla Valley Community of Hope. The city is the surrounding owners to the west and the south. And then you can see Casa de Peregrinos, our warehouse, and then the Amador Health and Caldito. And then further down is Mesilla Valley Community of Hope. This is a picture of the facade from the front end. It was vacated early in December and so it's been vacant since it's been put up for sale. These are some of the interior photos on the property. It's just under an acre, and it also comes with an 8500 square foot metal building with both office bathrooms and storage

space. Potential uses is to support our daytime outreach staff. It could be used with some modifications for potential cooling and heating stations, and act as a safe indoor space. It will increase support for coordinated entry and case management. Offers the opportunity for daytime rest and respite. It'll also allow us to store personal belongings of individuals experiencing homelessness. It'll also provide some space for supply, storage and the distribution of supplies to people experiencing homelessness. So things like water bottle. A whole host of stuff. Sorry. We can also use some of the office space for visiting providers. So should other organizations want to offer services on the campus, they can set up temporarily and people can access those. And then the unused land in the rear of the building will support some of the other campus needs. So with the construction of soup kitchen, we may need some additional parking and that can support some of those uses. With that, do you have your standard Council options? And I will stand for questions. And I will note that Nicole Martinez with Maisaya Valley is available for additional questions as well.

Thank you. Natalie. Any questions by council? Okay. Seeing none. Christine. This is on the motion to approve resolution 20 6-134 Councilor. McClure yes, councilor. Yes, councilor Harris yes. Councilor Bencomo yes, councilor Koran. Yes. Councilor Munoz. Yes, mayor. Yes. Next on board accounts. The first one.

Is yes to be read into the record. Council appoints him to the library board. The next will require a motion and a second. Jay Becerra to the new appointment to the Seniors Program Advisory Board. Second. This is a motion to appoint Jay Becerra to the Senior Programs Advisory Board. Councilor McClure. Yes, councilor Mattice. Yes. Councilor Harris. Yes. Councilor Bencomo yes, councilor Koran. Yes. Councilor Munoz. Yes, mayor.

Yes. The next is Adrian Nelson, new appointment to Veterans Advisory Board. Approved. Second. This is on the motion to appoint Adrian Nelson to the Veterans Advisory Board. Councilor McClure? Yes, councilor Mattice. Yes. Councilor Harris. Yes. Councilor Bencomo. Yes, councilor Koran. Yes, councilor Munoz. Yes, mayor. Yes. The next one is Thomas Chapman. New appointment to Veterans Advisory Board.

Move to approve second. This is on the motion to appoint Thomas Chapman to the Veterans Advisory Board. Councilor McClure. Yes, councilor Mattice. Yes. Councilor Harris. Yes. Councilor Bencomo. Yes, councilor Koran. Yes. Councilor Munoz. Yes, mayor. Yes.

Next is a notice of proposed proposed ordinances. And we have three. The first one is Council bill number 20 6-020. Ordinance number 3112. Move to bring it forward. The next one is council bill number 20 6-021. Ordinance number 30 113. Bring forward.

Did I miss one. Okay. And the last one. Council bill number 20 6-021. 020. Actually O020. Ordinance number 3112. Bring it forward please. I skipped one. Next is City Council member board reports and comments. Councilor McClure.

Nothing today. Thank you mayor. Council matters. Thank you, councilor. Councilor.

Bummer. I do have stuff. Sorry everyone, but actually just one request. I have one. Thank you. I wanted to thank Transit and Community of Hope actually for getting together and participating in a de-escalation training. And I just thought that was really great. And I'd love to see that kind of collaboration. So thank you to both both of you for doing that. My other request is for City Manager and P I o. I think they're two things in this. I, I given the budget conversation last week, I think it's important that we have a coordinated message out there for our community and be really transparent about what is happening, why and the path moving forward. And then two, also, I think also I want to request some sort of coordinated messaging on the new GR funds. I think, you know, last week I did a media interview to sort of counter some, you know, really disappointing misinformation that a local state senator, a conservative state senator, was providing the community. And, and I think it's important to counter those kinds of things. I think when there is a vacuum of information, things get misinterpreted and worse, misrepresented. So I think it's important that we talk about the new GR funds, how they're going to be spent and why talk about, you know, the the new GR funds were they belong to the public, not to any particular department. So there was truly no diverting of any funds. It was a vision that we all it was a blank slate that sort of. We all came up together to make

recommendations. I think for most of us on the Council certainly came that day ready to make compromises on the visions that we saw for the GR. Some of us walked away, you know, perhaps disappointed in some of the things. But I think, again, that's what happens when you compromise. The whole thing was truly a win. The GR, the new GR funds that the community gave us and approved, and we owe it to people to do right by them and to provide accurate information and to ensure that we aren't just allowing misinformation to go abundant. I think the city has a responsibility to put out a message that is coordinated, and that gets to as many folks as possible. Whether people choose to accept it or not is a different story, but at least we're putting out factual and correct information for the public to absorb and respond to. And, you know, ask us questions about and hold us accountable for. So thank you and Pio for my listening to my recommendation. And that's all I have.

Councilor.

Thank you. I wanted to give a quick shout out and point of reflection. We some of us went to the museums after After Dark, the adults night at museums on Friday night, which was really fun and interesting. And next month is 9090s night, so I hope to see some of you all out there in your best 90s garb. But they asked us. There are also. The museums are also part of a pilot project with the Smithsonian as part of the network for Understanding Culture, I guess. And they asked us a lot of interesting and critical questions about our cell phone use. And I just wanted to really shout out that that was a really fun exercise and great to reflect on and community on Friday night. So gratitude to the Quality of Life Museums team for making that a fun and interesting evening and causing me to reflect on my cell phone use very critically. The second thing that I wanted to note was the Mesa Vista public meeting that will be happening tonight from 5 to 7 p.m. at Dona Ana Community College, East Mesa, 2800 Sonoma Ranch Boulevard. I think in the auditorium. The same place the South Central Solid waste meeting will be happening next week. I hope that folks will be able to join this. This is a huge transformational project that I think it's really important that the community understand where where we're headed in the Mesa Vista conversation. So I hope that folks will join that meeting tonight if they can. And that's it. Thank you.

Mayor Pro tem. Thank you, mayor. I along with the council, Karen will will be your. Encourage folks to also attend the session at the DAC campus tonight should be very interesting. I know residents it is transformational. There'll be a lot of questions and I appreciate the staff that will be there to answer those questions to ensure that we are completely educated on as to what's what's happening. I've been reflecting on the world that passed away, and I know that. That wonderful.

Thing about that, it's it's very difficult, I cannot imagine do not want to imagine being the family of that 13 year old. It's affected our entire community and it continues to affect our community. So challenging. Myself, I. Would like to. Challenge others. To to do what we can to, to make a difference, you know? The starfish. After a really bad storm, they were. Stranded on on beach and. There's a generator. That kept picking up the starfish and throwing them back in the sea. A man. Just kind of showed. Some said she continues to throw the starfish. Into the sea.

Man comes up. And says, what are you doing is wrong? He's back in the seat. You know, they're stranded, he says, but. You know, I. Can't possibly make a difference. I mean, what does this change? She pauses. For a while. She thinks. She stops. She picks up a starfish, throws it on the. So whatever we can do. And when we. Vote for. You know, it's not. Maybe it's all just come together to prevent tragedies like this from happening in our community. Thank you.

Thank you. Mayor Pro tem. And you know, to to all the things going on. And so I just want to say this this week, this week on. Saturday, We.

Have our breakfast brunch for all the volunteers. So thank you, Katrina and Wendy for putting that breakfast to show our appreciation to all, all our volunteers. And we did the proclamation earlier, but there was a breakfast for them to show their appreciation. We as a city have for them and. For the mayor's plan for students. They excel in sporting activities, building their character and have some kind of adversity that they've overcome. And all of this is great for the community because there's limited city involvement with volunteers and books and sponsors that come together, and that's what it takes its community to come together. And I appreciate the. Council Councilor ten years ago and number 19 last night. So thank you. Thanks for that. And and with that, we got to the.

Thank you, mayor and Mayor Pro Tem Munoz and city councilors, incoming city manager, just two announcements and I'll let you on your way. There was a public comment that that had a question regarding our. Our vehicles in PD and. I just wanted to read that and share a response. The I believe the question was why why the city was buying militarized Swat vehicles. And here's, here's the response. Council if you can remember, two years ago, there were legislators in our region, not necessarily in Las Cruces, but in the region that supported regional response. They we have a contract with cities adjacent to us or in in our area because we have a bigger police department. They respond regionally. And so we have regional response, and we have Swat teams that will go out to other communities. And this is why Senator Brant Lee, Senator Cervantes and Representative Dao pitched in $620,000 to this to support the acquisition of vehicles for regional response. And this alleviates the burden on our on our funding mechanism. We had our fleet, our our fleet administrator, Mercedes, who does a fantastic job, who's in that right now as an interim. And we appreciate all her help. But our vaf is is limited in funding. And so this was at a time when GR was not identified and and we didn't have

allocations for that. So we do appreciate our legislators always being willing to help. But the purpose of it, it went to 8F1 50 trucks. And that's it was assigned and is assigned to members of Swat teams for the purpose of regional response and call outs. So I just wanted to make that clear again, 8F1 50 trucks. The last announcement that I have is there was another question that dealt with questions on the appropriations and legislative update for 2026. That is perfect timing, because next Monday we have Christine updating U. Council and the public on 2026 legislative update. We received about $20 million. Again, we appreciate our local legislators and our governor for for that, but more to come from our amazing city clerk. And that is all that I have. Thank you.

Thank you. And with that, I'll look for a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. This is a motion to adjourn the meeting. Councilor McClure. Yes. Councilor Mattice yes, councilor Harris. Yes. Councilor Bencomo. Yes. Councilor Koran. Yes. Councilor Munoz. Yes, mayor. Yes.