City Council - Regular Meeting

Come on. You're running late. I'm running late. Sorry, I had I had to beg for the microphone. Okay, 601. We'll call this meeting to order. And I would ask that uh councelor Bruo, would you do the for us, please. And then let's see. Council, do you remember the flag? I Well, I haven't seen you in so long.

Oh, yeah. I did see you a couple times. All right. That's all right. And uh so if the clerk could call the role, please. Councelor Herbrand. Present. Councelor Herson, are you online? We'll count her as absent for now. Councelor Autoesa here. Councelor Gas. Yep. Councelor Moore here. Councelor Johnson here. Councelor Cavin here. Councelor Arnold here. Councelor K here. Councelor here. May have a

by the vote of nine in the affirmative and one absent. We have a quorum. Okay. If you would uh please stand me for pledge to the flag and invitation. Pledge by council and invocation by council Maru. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Dear Father God, we come before you and give you all glory and honor for allowing us to be here. Father God, we ask you to bless us and make the decisions we're supposed to make. Father God, Father God, I lift up the children that were in the accident Tuesday night. Father God, that you just watch over them, Father God, the one young lady that lost her life, Father God, we ask you to protect their family and bless them and guide them, Father God. We ask you for our police officers, city, county, statewide, our firefighters as well, Father God. Our military, Father God, as we're going through this conflict, Father God, but we give you all glory and honor for all you've done in our lives, Father God. With this, we say thank you. In your name we say amen. Amen. Amen.

In all seriousness, Councelor Corn, I'm very glad you're here and uh I think I know you've had some issues lately, but you know, I hope you're over all those and anything we can do to help you, we're all here to help. and I uh thank you for your time you spent here and time you're here. Thank you very much. Okay, if we can we uh right now I have have three individuals that have signed for public participation. James Tucker, Matthew Gonzalez, and Michaela May. Is that right?

I'm not sure I didn't get that spelled right. But anyway, they had like to address the council. So, if we can if we could have uh Councilman Korn for approval of the agenda. Thank you, Mr. President. We approve the agenda. No changes. Second. We have a motion by councelor Korn, seconded by councelor C. Was it Kevin? Yes. Kevin, any further discussion? Uh, you want to call the role? Yes, sir. Clerk call the role. Councelor Helderbrren. Hi. Councelor Odesa.

Yes. Council G. I hear two. Councelor Moore. Yes. Yes. Councelor Johnson. Yes. Councelor Kevin. Yes. Councelor Arnold. Yes. Councelor K. Yes. Councelor Marubo. Yes. By a vote of nine in affirmative and none in the negative, the agenda has been approved. Next, we ask for approval of the consent agenda. Uh, Councilman Korn.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move that we adopt the consent items listed on items 3 through 18. Second. There have a motion to adopt. U by councelor Born, second by councelor Maruo. Um is there any other discussion? We have the clerk to call the roll. Councelor Helen. Hi. Councelor Oropesa. Yes. Councelor Gas. Yes. Councelor Moore. Yes. Councelor Johnson. Yes. Councelor Caven. Yes. Councelor Arnold.

Yes. Councelor Korn. Yes. Council motor. Yes. Okay. By vote of nine in affirmative and um zero in the negative, one absent. The um the approval of consent consent agenda has been done. Next we would go um for item 19. I believe that's right. Okay. Airport updates. Uh let's see. We need Bobby.

Good evening counselors. Good to see you again on this very special Mike Matthews evening. So tonight in reporting on what's happening at the airport, I'll first report on flight operations. Uh flight operations uh for American continue to be strong. Uh they've gone to just the two flights a day uh that they've been doing for several months now, but they did go to larger aircraft. The passenger loads are still holding pretty good with driving about 4,000 passengers during the month of February. and about 4,500 in the month of March. So, aircraft parking uh is down a little bit. U American Airlines sold a bunch of the aircraft they had parked there to one of the um maintenance repair operations, the MRO's, uh that are now going to part them off and crush balance. Uh the grand stands are coming along very good. If you've been by the airport, it's kind of hard to miss them. uh they hope to be completed by next month. Far as events going on, we still have the Navy training aircraft there. They'll still be there for a few more weeks and we're very glad to have them. We've also been quite busy with the military other types of training operations. We've had NATO flights interesting the NATO flights have been a German crew. They to come in for one visit and they're now getting ready for the third and fourth visit. So, we're very glad to now have attracted them. And then we also have coming in a company that does a lot of work with Boeing. Um, similar to what Boeing does with the brake testing and they plan to be here for four days, they've now up to six weeks. So, they're going to be doing quite a bit of training on that. Although, I got to tell you, we just had to restripe the runway and they're putting down a lot of rubber to cover it up. So, also, um, unfortunately, Mr. couple

could not be here this evening so I will talk projects. So projectwise uh the terminal restrooms in the main area uh still have a couple punch list items which the contractor will be taking care of as they finish the other rest rooms u which are coming along very nicely and all that project should be done at the end of this month including the punch list items for the original month. If you haven't seen those, they're quite nice. We've been getting a number of compliments on those. And the other ones are coming along very well and they will have the same tile layout. Even though they're smaller and unisex, they'll have the same tile color schemes as the ones in the main terminal and looks very nice and it kind of upgrades the whole terminal. Uh the emergency generator for the terminal is still being speced out. They've gone to diesel. They're trying to match the one that out on the airfield so they can be similar. So if we need work done that's the same company for both of them. Uh we'll be reaching out uh for people to bid on that. The estimated cost it's a diesel generator estimated cost of 500,000 which we'll bring back to you of course. Then also uh we're looking at we had a number of water issues during the air races last year. That wonderful rainy Saturday that showed us where all the water would go to. So we'll begin doing some surveys on that work and figuring how to remediate that problem. We'll also be looking at of course the electrical work but the electrical work will be at the expense of the air races not the city but the airport uh and that's to add additional electrical boxes out there for the entrance way and for the vendors. They also uh that same contractor has been working with the New Mexico Air Museum, which is the air museum that's going to be off the southeast corner of the airport. Uh that museum is dedicated to the evolution of jet air traffic. Uh

the if you remember several months back, we brought to you the approval of their agreement, which they're building a taxi way to get aircraft to that museum. The taxi way will be for public use even though they're picking up the entire cost. And until they have transferred the aircraft they want to museum location, they will also be paying a ground lease fee underneath that taxi way of 25 cents a square foot. So also projectwise uh rehabilitation of the apron uh has now been complete and final payment to the contractor. The BLM loading ramp is complete, but we ran into some issues. U with the taxi way itself. The idea was to build that loading ramp so that two of the DCT10s could be loaded at the same time, and have more efficiency in fighting fires, which of course we all want that. Uh and then as it turns out, as they were digging very deeply, the base for that is over 2 ft thick of concrete to support that kind of aircraft. Uh they ran into some as we had before on the air center some 480 volt lines that were underground that were not marked. They were about 8 in underground. So, we had to stop work until the engineering can be done on that. And then, uh, we just did get some of the pricing back and we'll have to bring a change order to you probably next month for the putting that underground and putting in conduit of course estimated about $125,000. We'll be bringing that back to you. the taxi way C rehabilitation. This is the taxi way that borders the south side of the area for the air races, but it's probably one of the most popular taxi ways to run off our shorter runway. Uh that is going to be a bill and bill on that. Uh the bids have been let out on that. You already approved those and we

hope to start that construction and this project will also be finished this year. We're very fortunate that a number of the projects we're working on will all be done this year with just a couple carryovers for next year. And that's mostly due to the inability to get parts for what is needed. And one of those is a lighting vault. That lighting vault is to provide power and to upgrade the power out of not only the tower, but all the airfield lighting that we that project been going on for multiple years now to upgrade that lighting and go to LED. Uh and again parts regulars I understand are very difficult to find right now for that. So that will be a project carried over into next year. Then we also will be starting a rehab on taxiways alpha Juliet Gulf and hotel for pavement preservation to keep the PCI up at a level we need to for the traffic that we have. And also in regards to BLM, we met with them about a week ago to find out what their operations would be this year and what their schedule looked like. As it turns out, due to the UPS accident, as you may have seen, which is pretty awful. Uh the DCT10s are currently grounded by the FAA. So, they'll be using seats, which are single engine air tankers. If you've seen them, they're very much like a crop duster. Uh the sad thing about them is, of course, they can carry the same amount of load that DC10 can. and their range is much shorter. So the ability to fight fires from very far from here is not good. Uh and then once they get the DCT10s or a secondary aircraft available, they will have that there. We also talked to them about making this a regional hub for firefighting, which would bring in a lot more aircraft, a lot more personnel, more jobs, and as a regional hub, we could cover a lot more geography and just be a major BLM firefighting facility, which I think we would all like to see.

Can I stand for any questions? Do we have any questions of Miss Thompson, Council? Mr. Miss Thompson at our last meeting I was asking over here at our last meeting I think I was inquiring about some documents from you I haven't seen those are they forthcoming or uh yes sir and I can probably u make sure you have those by the end of the week if that's agreeable by tomorrow. Okay, that'll be good. Thank you.

Thank you. Any further comments? Uh, Council Peru.

Good evening, Miss Thompson. Got a question. I know we opened up the cafeteria out there. How are we doing on that? um that and I'm glad you asked that question because one of the things when we looked at that historically the payment from Summit Foods which was a former operator never exceeded $500 a month. Uh they were open some days some hours and you never knew when they were going to be open which of course is no way to run a business. Uh the city had invested in several hundred,000 in purchasing all the equipment for that restaurant. So, we felt it was important to at least try to make a go of it to help pay for that equipment. So, we've been open two weeks. Uh, right now we're averaging just under $500 a day. Uh, and that was with a very limited venue. Uh, to start out with to get everything done with the help of the finance department to get money allocated for purchases and stuff. We can only do four items. Uh, we've now allocated money to that. So we will be able to go to the full menu which we've already prepared as well as to open the bar side of things and bars make more money. So we're hoping that that's going to be successful. We'll certainly keep a watch on it and in six months if we're not paying the way uh and showing you a very modest profit uh then we'll reconsider whether the state went or not. Uh we had a in a meeting yesterday and talking we determined that if this restaurant does not succeed and one of the things we can do is perhaps once the convention center is operational again maybe that equipment could be transferred to there.

Thank you. Oh and I did forget to mention we've been very closely monitoring the United Denver flight. Uh it started extremely slow unfortunately. uh but uh in meeting with those folks this afternoon, the lady was supposed to be here to present and she got called elsewhere. But uh she was very happy to report that the flight outbound flight on Saturday morning has 48 out of 50 possible passengers. So we're glad that it's at least increasing. Uh it's not where it needs to be for every flight, but it's getting better. Any further comments questions? Mr. Mayor? Yes.

Mr. Miss Thompson, thank you, Mayor. Miss Thompson, I just want to say thank you. The stuff that you've done since you've come on board uh out of the airport has been phenomenal and uh I we have a bright future ahead of us and that has been our diamond in the rough and it's coming to fruition and I think you played a big part in that. So, thank you very much. Well, certainly thank you for that. But I've got I've got an amazing staff out there that just always meets the call.

Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. I would uh I did we I know we have the Thunderbirds coming in our next air show and I I did meet with uh uh talk with Miss uh Baldwin from from the paint Baldwin painting and and uh they they've been very offered to be very helpful with us in uh providing space for the Thunderbirds and I mean there's real nice very very cordial agreement and wanting us to succeed. And so I I think it's good. We have a lot of buy in from the tenants as well and on improving our airport. And I think that's great. I I would just uh I don't know how we can find these 480 volt lines that are buried in the ground with no markings, no anything. You don't even know it's there. 480 volts is enough to feed in and uh so and when they're I think the last one was 4 in underground these are at least eight so at least some things look a little better but uh uh that's some kind of safety mechanis mechanisms we need to ensure that we teach anyone out at the airport about the possibility of those lines existing Uh I mean you you don't really want to be h digging with a steel shovel when you hit one of those. So I mean it's it's something that we are going to have to seriously figure out how to address and how to identify where those lines are. Uh and I don't know how you do that. But that that is something that is

extremely dangerous for individuals

and and sir I think you make an excellent point. We're talking to a number of folks uh existing in new tenants that are interested in putting private equity and structures at the airport. Uh and that will become critical going forward. And then along those same, if I may, on the same lines for the air races, I mentioned to the mayor earlier this evening that we also for 27 uh have gotten some positive feedback from the Canadian snowbird jet team that would like to perform here in 27. Uh and the only thing they asked for that was out of the ordinary is they'd like to do a low passover downtown

and they fly 11 aircraft in their formation. That would be cool. Okay. Well, just as long as they stay beneath the traffic lights, we'll be all right. Uh, you know, one thing I I Mr. Talons was here also. Uh, uh, he went he went to the symphony, which he's the head of the air show, and he's, uh, it was nice to see him. He's had some health issues, and it's nice to see how well he'd uh, he's gone through those and everything. So, it's kind of just been a just a strange time of year, but we're glad everybody's healthy now. We can keep we can keep everything moving in a positive manner. Thank you very much.

So, thank you, council members. Thank you very much. It was the Sky West Tanya Tania, is that the one who was going to be here to speak? Yes, she's Sky West of course operates United flight and she was the one who's going to be here to speak. got called elsewhere but she got called elsewhere next month. Item 20 take that off our list. Next we go. Thank you very much, Miss Bobby. Uh employee out of fate travel item 22.

Good evening, mayor. Good evening uh city counselors. Uh this month's uh out of out of state travel is going to be the first one is Christina Lovato. She is our crime scene tech. She will be going to uh ride training. That's the software and hardware that we use to uh download films at the end of this month. And then the other one is that in May 12th to the 16th that is the uh Washington DC police uh national police uh national police week. It's in DC. um that they're a part of the uh undergard. So they will be traveling over there and honoring those who have lost their lives for any questions.

Are there any questions of Chief Al? Any questions? Seeing none. Thank you very much. Chief, I would just like to I happen to go by that terrible accident that you, you know, I really have to tell you and commend you and and and your officers for their activities. I mean, they I mean that that's a pretty emotional thing for anybody to go by and see an accident that's that tragic. But you know, our police and firemen, uh, they do a good job for our community and they're very well trained. And, uh, if you just couldn't know them, we'd thank them for their care and compassion in dealing with that horrible accident. And but to firemen and everybody who's there, you know, we have a really good team here. And our officers are our fire officers are extremely well trained in in first aid and everything else. So, we really have we're very very fortunate uh to have the the teams that we have and all our city employees and when you look about the things and how well everybody worked on the air show and every race on the races, we have really a very strong team. So, thank you all very much and all our city employees. Thank you.

Appreciate it, man. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we had uh do we have anyone else on the travel? Are you

Good evening, Mayor and counselors. I'm Dustin Farm from the museum filling in for Caroline. She's got um a trip planned in May to go to the um national uh museum conference, the AM conference, uh to get networking and they're the ones that accredited the museums and to talk to people about the flood we've had. So, this will be the first outreach that she's done for that on a professional level besides the history conference here. Okay, thank you very much for notifying us. And you know, the accreditation is a very important part of our museum. There not many that are accredited like we we are and and so we have to do everything we can to maintain that accreditation and uh and what we do if we can't go back, which we know we can't go back in the same spot. So, we're going to have to do something. whatever we build into the museum. Uh it means we're going to I'm sure we're going to have to come up to national standards for accreditation. Um and so it's really vital that Caroline go to that. So I'm really glad she's going. It's very be a good deal.

And um just a little plug, we do have an event this weekend that I'd like to invite everybody to. It's our Goddard Centennial Celebration which we'll be having at Gddard High School from 10 to 3. So, it's going to be kind of like our science festival that we've done in past. Um, we'll have rocket launches and STEM activities and it's a free event for venues. It's from 10 to 3. Yes, sir. On which day? Saturday. Yes, sir. On Saturday. Mhm. Uh, that's the 14th. 14th. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you.

Next, we have Uh we have a small proclamation here for item 23.

Madame clerk if you want me. I will be glad instruction. Somebody can do without.

All right, everybody saw me come down. I want you to know this thing I'm wearing on my foot. It's not an ankle bracelet. That's a story.

Well, for years, many years ago, not many years ago, I don't know, 67 or eight, I started being involved in fire department. And I had a I've had a long time doing that. One of the best things that ever happened to us was Chief Lewis Jones and and as a volunteer he and brought his staff out, which is one of the times when I really got to to meet Mr. Matthews uh and to know to work with them. But what they did when they came out and came to the out into the all the outlying areas of our county was teach us all to get how to get together and be trained by local firemen on how to do pump tests and everything else that a weekend warrior has to do. And uh you know the thing about it was they all generally I mean they all really cared about what we knew and what we learned uh there together as volunteer firemen and and later on as we went through some tragic things and times in our you know it was it was really a honor for the volunteer firemen to step up so uh some of our so our firemen could go to the services for one of their members. And and I just have to tell you that kind of compassion and uh support coming from a community like for all the volunteer fighters uh was something was greatly appreciated by one and all. And so with that uh Mike's had 40 years of 41 years of service to our community. And uh Mike, I have this proclamation to read to you. Uh whereas Mike Matthews has devoted 40 almost 41 years of service to the city

of Roswell and its residents, giving much of his professional life to protecting and supporting the community. And whereas he began his career as a firefighter in which he quickly quickly gained the respect of his fellow firefighters through hard work, good judgment, and a willingness to step forward when the situation called for it. And whereas during this time with the Ronald Fire Department, he rose through the ranks, served as a driver, a fire lieutenant, deputy fire chief, and eventually fire chief, helping lead the department while guiding and encouraging the firefighters who have served alongside him. And whereas even after retiring from service, Mike Matthews continued his commitment to the city by returning to serve as director of special services, then as director of public safety, and finally as deputy city manager, offering his experience and steady leadership to help support our city operations. Whereas across more than four decades of public service, Mike Matthews has earned the respect of the city staff, elected officials, and the people of Rosville. And his dedication to the community has left long lasting a long-lasting mark that will be remembered long and appreciated. I therefore, Timothy Z. Jennings, the mayor of the city of Raleigh will do hereby uh issue this proclamation on Thursday, March 12th, 2026 to recognize Mike Matthews. With gratitude, the city of Roswell thanks Mike Matthews for over 40 years of service to our community. Signed, myself, Timothy Z. Jennings, and Amaya Martinez and Chief Cart. Be blessed. Thank you.

And now this is something. Oh gosh. And now And it's my honor to present you with a key to the city of Rville on behalf of the residents of our community and your staff and friends and fellow employees. Thank you. Thank you, mayor, and council and co fellow employees and and citizens. I appreciate it. I asked my wife to come join me up here because I feel good. I couldn't do this alone. July, the 41 years we've been married. She's been with me the entire time. My daughters who are here with me tonight, one of my son-in-laws, they've missed me. so many Christmas dinners, Thanksgiving, birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, uh because I just put things I prioritize prioritize things a little differently and I made a commitment to the city and I honored that commitment or I hope I've honored that commitment. Uh I can tell you uh without a doubt in my mind that we have the best almost 41 years working with a lot of great people over the years. Uh but I believe our administrative staff, our directors, our supervisors that we currently have to date, probably the strongest we've ever had in the city. I mean, they're dedicated people. Many of them sitting back here that you see tonight that are here at every meeting.

They're dedicated to our city. They want to do the right thing. They want to help our citizens and they just want to make B a better place to live. And I wish I could recognize every one of them tonight, but they're they're the reasons uh we have uh such a wonderful city is because the work that they do and their employees do on every day. I see them out at 2:00 in the morning. I know when they're out there doing that. And uh they're just good, faithful employees. And I appreciate every one of them. Uh so, Mayor, thank you. has truly been my honor uh to uh work for the city. You know, all I wanted when I was a kid was to be a fireman and uh 11 days after my 20th birthday, a dream come true and I got to be a fireman and I lived that dream. But when I left there, I knew it was time for me to leave there and and move on. Uh that they called me and said, "Come back." So I came back and not ever expecting to be doing the holding the position that I hold today, but things just worked out and I just kept getting asked to do more and more and more and it has truly been my honor and I appreciate everything. Thank you so much for caring enough for our city that you'll put your time and effort out here and and not always good people is not always happy with us, but you folks are always here volunteering basically volunteering your time uh cuz we don't pay you much uh but volunteering your time to come and serve our communities just to make it better. So, thank you so much you and past uh councils that I've been able to work with over the last 40 years. So, thank you very much.

Get kicked out of here. Where do we go?

Mighty Mike. He's a gold star.

Very good. I don't know where to look. Oh no. You know, you you don't know always what happens when they call me to tell me about the flood at 1212. It was one of the restaurant boys uh before he retired and he said, "Can you help me? Please call and get me help because I'm floating in my on my son and I are floating on the roof of my truck. Can you call and get me help?" I called 911. I was number 262 in Eddie County because that they had that so many calls in Roswell that I they transferred it all to Eddie County and I was number 262. So what did I do? I called Mike Matthews. Why? Because Mike Matthews knows every fireman's phone number and his cell phone. And you know that that gentleman was picked up. His truck was stuck down on Virginia in the in the in the river. He had his son was on a tree and he was hanging to a post in front of Arby's. But our fire people saved him. But it's all because you we can get through to that man because of his ability, knowledge, and the respect that he has for every man that works under him. and what they had for being able to work under Mike. They all knew it. And we all we all owe you a gold

star and thank you. Thank you from the bottom of for all our citizens and for all our councils from all the ones before and now. Thank you very much, Mike and your family for what they the dedication they gave and allowed you to serve. Thank you.

With that being said, Today we're excited to recognize someone whose dedication and hard work truly shine. This is more than a symbol. It represents consistent excellence, a positive attitude, and a willingness to go above and beyond. Mike, your commitment has made a real difference. You stepped up, delivered exceptional results and shown what it means to lead by example. We appreciate your reliability, your initiative, and the energy you bring to our team every day. Thank you for your outstanding performance. Congratulations. You finally earned your gold star.

I have to explain the gold star. So, I keep gold stars on my desk and so when people get their reports turned in a timely manner and I give them their gold star and I've made it harder and harder over the years to receive, but apparently they're pretty covenant. Uh Karen keeps hers in her books and she shows them off to the fire chief all the time. I think over four years she's got four or five gold stars and Chief Chavis only has a couple. That's the little star story.

All right. Thank you all very much. Okay, mayor. We just have a couple of pictures to come through if that's okay.

Yeah, that's fine. Uh oh. Nice car. That's a nice car. Okay. Oh my god, there's a weather queen. This is good. Stay there. I forgot about this.

You know, uh, one of those slides in there bothers me a lot. That was Louis Jones. You made Lewis proud and there's no other greater honor in the world than for that it because the two of you passed on all your knowledge to everybody else. And thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And anybody else makes a comment about him shaving his head for a place to put that star. We've got You've got a star now. You got to wear it proud up there on the top. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, rocking and rolling. We have a presentation from our uh internal city auditor. Ma'am, welcome. Thank you. Well, all I have to say is wow. Thank you so much for all of your your service and being a a public servant. And I have to say I'm a little upset that I have to follow this and be the Debbie Downer that an internal auditor has to do because I got to point out mistakes. And so anyway, um be gentle.

Thank you.

Just be gentle. Well, so uh Mr. Mayor, counselors, this is my first internal audit report and I have four findings and I will just briefly go ahead and and go over them. And um basically the findings just say that the city's not perfect, but you know, I think all of you are and certainly Mr. Matthews. So, um, anyway, I'll go ahead and just get right to the findings. And if you happen to have the internal audit report with you, I'm going to start on page seven with our first finding. And the first finding is titled improper use of capital outlay funds and insufficient controls over grant submitt and reimbursement monitoring. So in a nutshell, what exactly happened? Well, in 2022, the city was awarded 500,000 to construct aircraft uh rescue and firefighting training facility. Um, but then subsequent to that, the the city determined there was no way that we were going to be able to spend or uh only spend 500,000

uh on a training facility. That was just insufficient money that would be able to to do that. So this the city came up with an idea because um after several years um the the money would actually have to be reverted back to the the state if not used. So the city came up with an idea and the timing was perfect that they could purchase 10,000 linear feet of fencing and then they could also use it for the the air race at the same time. The problem becomes is that um while dualpurpose use of the fencing is acceptable for the air race and then also for the for the training what the problem was was that half of the bill which was 460 460,000 half of that was for services for setup and take down of the fencing. So $27,000 was going to be used just in a temporary nature of setting the fence up and then taking it down. So I brought this to the attention of management and luckily they were able to basically put the brakes on and they had only received from the state 107,000 and then the the um finance team and and the the city manager contacted DFA and said we made a mistake. We actually got reimbursed for 7,000. That was outside the scope of of what the um original capital out um outlay

appropriation was intended for. But DFA said, "Don't worry about it. You don't have to pay it back." However, um because the the city wants to to make things right, they did not request the remaining amount of of that funding and they were able to actually utilize it to purchase um or going to be purchasing of some equipment that will be able to um enable the fire department to be able to set up and take down the fencing as needed. and so and also some some radios for for that particular training. So it was corrected. However, the point of it is is that there's lacking the internal control to be able to catch those particular items. And so we're going to be working on um developing those internal controls to make sure that there is a review process. And um and then um I I'm even thinking that maybe the the grant language could be added to the abstract on uh when it's presented to the council to say this item is going to be funded by a grant and here's the grant language that then identifies and says you know what it exactly is. And that way the the council will have the um transparency of what that grant really is is intended for. Um the other part of that particular finding is that the notice of obligation that was sent to DFA um to to say here's the amount that we're going to get reimbursed or we're going to use for the um for that grant.

that was actually done before it was approved by the finance committee and the city council. So, so that in itself is also part of the component of this finding. Um, but the the good news is is that you know we have corrected it and we're moving forward. The um the next finding it is entitled inadequate construction. Oh, I'm sorry. I turn I turned the page. Um item the finding number two premature start of taxc extension phase earth work. Basically what happened is that the the contractor the the vendor started their job started construction um constructing taxi seaway extension almost a month and a half before that project was approved by the city uh by the finance committee and then by the the city council. So um that is um actually without a purchase order and without approval makes the the event basically not not legal because there was no legal authority given to to um to start that work. Uh but um the the city manager and the the finance team are are very committed to um really tightening up those controls and and I do believe that um there has been issued an administrative uh announcement and and I can let um the

city manager speak more to it, but basically says if work begins before a purchase order andor these particular um required um approvals there will be disciplinary action um can can happen. So we're going to put some teeth behind the policies the um the third finding that I have this one. May I continue? Yeah, go ahead. I'm sorry.

The third finding actually still relates to the taxi seaway project. Inadequate construction documentation and approval controls. So what does that mean? Basically what happened is that we got two invoices. Keep in mind this is a $4.4 million project. I got two invo I see I'm such a team player. So anyway, um the city received two invoices and it had one line item. It said the first invoice was a million and some change and it said payment for taxi way C project. No detail involved or backup re that related at all to that million dollars. So we have no idea and it's not good business practice to accept that huge of a of a invoice without the proper documentation. And the in other words, in in construction, it's referred to as a schedule of values. And the bid that was given did have a breakout and a line item detail of of that 4.4. So the invoice should be um showing the the same thing. And lastly, um, and this is this is, you know, not not not a big deal, but it is, um, I audit to the policies. And the policy says, and I and I think we had some actually this evening that said that out ofstate travel has to be pre-approved by the city council.

Okay. And in my testing, there were five instances of travel without the prior communication to the city council. So, um, my recommendation is that I think that that policy could be too stringent and I think that the the the city personnel, managers and department heads should be able to authorize those travel and but I do think it's necessary and very important then for the city council to actually know where the individuals are going, but I don't think it needs to be a pre-approval process. That would be a recommendation from from from me, but you know, um anyway, um that is all of the uh findings and I would stand for questions.

Okay, maybe Mr. would you like to respond first and then we'll go to questions if that's all right?

Yes, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. I did have a couple of uh updates for you as far as the management response. So, we did call we did reach out to on finding number one. We did reach out to DFA. Uh they told us that their determination of the NOLO was the determination uh and they encourage us to uh put in the rest of the money. we declined politely in like the auditor has commented, we've actually been able to do something better with that money in my opinion. The second finding and and this kind of goes to general HR policies or lack thereof uh in training. So as you know we have a merit system and when I get a finding I issue paper on people's way of saying discipline but part of the issue within the merit system is when and Mr. Matthew's going to tell you about it because he administers preliminary part is if there's zero training or policy in place you you're not really able to do a whole lot and so anybody who's worked in state government is kind of familiar with that. So significant amounts of paper have been issued because of a number of findings and from findings from the audit that hopefully will be published for 24. But in a way to jump ahead of it for the next cycle, uh I issued a couple administrative instructions and the first one was pretty clear and everybody who has PO uh authority to request it has to return a sheet understanding that if if work begins ahead of the PO being issued on their account, unless it's an emergency circumstance, they will be getting at minimum a day on the beach. Now uh what I put in addition to that though is something that previous public employers I've seen is that it the boss will try not the boss but you know another supervisor will protect them by giving a slap on the wrist and then we can't double discipline. Uh so if a if a supervisor supervis or a manager or

director doesn't issue the appropriate discipline they will be getting the same or twice as much. Um, I think that kind of makes the point clear to staff that we're going to be doing the POS properly moving forward. But the other side of it too is that within the city of Roswell for really long time, we've not actually done any significant employee training or required it for management positions. So, I've tasked HR to work with the legal department, the um finance department, and procurement to create an 8 to 16 hour course that will be required for any manager or supervisor to complete during their probationary period. It's going to include basic things like purchasing, budgeting. For those of you who sat in budget meetings before, you know that sometimes if a department doesn't know the meaning of a line item, then they're not really going to be able to fill it in correctly. So it's a comprehensive course that again if it's not passed will equal not being a manager or supervisor within the organization. So those are kind of the two instructions that we're moving forward to address this internally. Now specific case by case policies still need to be developed and my view is that haste makes waste with those and so we want to get them right. Work with the auditor. We'll present them to you as they as they appear. Any questions from members of the council?

Any questions? Council, go ahead.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Sh, I appreciate your report. I think it's very thorough and that these items have been incurred under prior administration. So, our current city treasurer, city manager were not on watch when this took place, but I would hope that you would uh your development of your next audit objectives. I've read those and that you would communicate with the audit committee maybe in depth of what your I'm sorry that was a mayor so I'm not using a mayor. So I would hope you communicate somehow to that audit committee in a very timely fashion because I know we had to ask for this to be put on this council meeting when this report was already done. I assume I don't believe you printed the report up. Uh but that is the objective of your employment with the city is to report findings or non-findings that when you when they occur and I don't think are there's no written when you're supposed to report and maybe that needs to be strengthened or tightened up or something to the effect so that there is a systematic way that reporting will take place and systematically you report to the council. So, I would ask our city attorney to take a look at, it's in chapter 2 of somehow how this reporting mechanism is going to take place. Um because you're supposed to work through the treasurer, not the city manager,

not the city attorney. You're supposed to work through the treasur. Correct. You understand that? That is correct. That's that's who you work through and you work for the council. Yes. And the mayor and report to city administration as well. So I just want to make sure that we all understand how this works. So Josh, if you could take a shot at so we can see that maybe the next legal committee some redefinition on the reporting mechanisms for the city auditor how that's supposed to occur. So thank you MH. Sure. Thank you, M council.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You know, I'm disappointed. I'm not shocked of some of these findings. Takes me back to the special audit that we did. And I'm seeing the same stuff, very similar stuff, not the same stuff, but different things are kind of crossing the line here. And and I recall that that that Mr. Mayor, you made a promise to the state auditor we weren't going to make these mistakes anymore. But yet I see them right here. And I don't know what it's going to take to get all that tightened up. But I need to go to work on it and get it all figured out and get this thing running like a like a fine piece of equipment. Um, and so we don't have these these findings. I'd love it if she didn't have anything to report for a year because we're doing our job because once the horse is out of the barn, it's too late. And and part of what I see here is we're not doing an adequate job of planning our work and we get caught and we scramble and make up and we just start grabbing money here, moving it over there. and it wasn't as well thought out as it probably could have been. So that's my two cent.

I'm not shocked. I'm disappointed in in what I see. And if this is for finding how many more of them are out there, this is the end. We just haven't found them all yet. Okay. Any further comments? Mr.

We uh I I understand it's disappointing finding these things and although I do think uh you know having that special audit was a proactive move by the city of Rosel. Hiring an internal auditor was a proactive move by the city of Rosel. There's been a number of of things that we've done. I I haven't been here a long time, but you know, we were in a mess there. There's no doubt about it. And we recognized it, accepted the fact, and moved forward. And so, um, I do think it's very important, uh, councelor Elder Brad's comments about, you know, telling us exactly how we're going to do that reporting mechanism so we can so we know how it's going to go forward. And we're going to find more findings. There's no doubt in my mind. But I do know that they're making more proactive steps to get things tightened up in the accounting system, internal controls, and whatever. And uh so I do think, you know, even though we're going to have more finance in the future, we are taking positive steps and I think we're really moving forward from where we were, which was a mess. I think we only had one way to go, but I do think we're really making positive taking positive steps. So, we're going to correct these things in the future. So, thanks to everybody for for requesting that special audit, for hiring an internal auditor, for the accounting staff that I know works long hours right now and is taking steps to to take things done. And I know that they're looking working hard on the budget. the new management team has worked hard on the budget and we'll have it maybe tomorrow and and we'll start working on we'll have a good budget for next year. So, we really are moving in the right direction. So, thank thank you to everybody.

Councilman Hilder, uh you know, being an internal auditor, everybody just, oh my god, here you go. But it's not a gotcha. That's not what you're what you're out trying to do. People need to understand that when when M. Sharper comes around and starts asking questions, it's not a gotcha to get you fired.

It's to improve the way we do business. That's what it's all about. And when she brings these to people's attention and we don't change, then it is a gotcha. But don't be afraid of us having an internal auditor. is to improve our systems and making sure that we're doing things the procurements are proper by because we have to follow the state procurement laws. We can't set up our own. And so I would hope that everybody welcomes you when you show up and are truthful with you. Um and we're trying to help and improve the city's finances and our systems and operations that we take place. So, I've been around this business for ages and everybody always thought the internal auditor was a bad person, but they're not a bad person. They're just trying to help. So, thank you for that.

Thank you. Any further comments?

Thank you for your report. It was very informative. Uh I was part of the committee, uh the audit committee. Um I know we had a lot of dialogue. We went into depth about a lot of information on there and uh you know uh council brand's exactly right. This is an opportunity for us to get better. I like the initiative brought forth about you know uh discipline. You know we're not out to barbecue people but it's at at the same time we're looking at everybody getting better. the initiative also uh city manager training you know uh procurement is a is a very important component of what we do here at the city and there's a lot of I mean my gosh we spend a lot of money and there's a lot of different vehicles that we go through to get where we want to go as far as making these procurements and u finding bindings are you know it's it of course you know We we should also look we it's a black eye but we should also look at it as a opportunity to get better at what we do and what we're going to do going down the road to fix these problems and uh I mean there's a lot of money to be spent uh emergency procurements you know looked at more uh I mean I think you know we me and the city manager were talking about a contract that we probably should had in here today that we could probably look at things a little better but the transparency of what we do here as city councilors and what we approve is uh going to take us far in the long run and uh I really appreciate this executive summary. It it's very informative. I know there's a lot of procurements out there. Uh you found a few of the big ones. Uh, you know, there's probably more, but my gosh, uh,

part of, uh, having a good purchasing section is everybody auditing everybody and not worry about getting caught, but worry about getting better. And that's, you know, that's just a big step forward in the right direction. Thank you, mayor.

Thank you. Any further comments? Seeing none, I would uh would just like to say being one of the ones that went to the state to ask them to do a special audit, we knew we had a problem. We have had a number of issues. If you look at the problems that our staff has had to address, we we ran out of finance people. I mean, you look, we down, we got down to one lady in finance, and you know, that was tough, but you look at, you know, who could commit all their time to finance when you had to run to the water department to fix it? There were places you had to go all the time. And then on top of all that, we we we got the air show. The work had to be done quickly. And I that's that's I don't mean that as an excuse. Yes, we had problems and it was very difficult in my opinion to correct all the other things that we had found in in such a short amount of time. Uh that's no excuse. I don't anticipate this happening again. I am looking forward that we have clean audits and uh but you know I I think when you look at it there were a lot of strange things that happened on uh on all the things everybody was stretched so far in trying to get things bought and paid for and the air show in and everything else. But that's no excuse. We have to have the ability more training to make sure that all our facts are facts and figures and expenditures are done according to the law from day one. And it's probably a good reason now if we look at the item

we have here, if we don't have it proper documentation, we shouldn't do it. I'm okay with that. And we'll have a special meeting to do it when the documentation doc documentation gets here. I have no problem with that. That'll cost us a little more time, but you know, it's it's how you're supposed to do it. And we need to follow the rules that we put out for people. We need to follow all of us. And that's the way it should be. I thank you, Charmer, for your audit. Uh, and I think if whether our audits how often they need to be and whether we have a quarterly or half or you use a half a year at a time or whatever, I'm not opposed to that. We need to do what's acceptable and and do things. We need to do some special things to make sure our staff is trained well in the procedures and everybody knows how to do it properly. And so I would hope you would help with that. And I'm sure uh Mr. Ayatmo will and will get you make sure all the staff follows all the rules from here on out. And uh I do I thank everybody who were there. I thank the audit committee and look at we have we have made huge strides in this town in turning it around. And you know, I mean, you just have to look, we had almost every lease at the airport on month to month. That shouldn't be, you know, and and you know, Miss Bobby's got that all turned around now where we have people are on contracts. That's the way we need to do business. And and uh and not that that's that's just one area. We need to do it all that way. We need to do it according to the rules. And uh thank you and I

look forward to you keeping an eye on all of us to make sure that it's done properly and rightly. And between you and Mr. Iuma, you got to keep busy. Get your rules out there. Make sure we have training. All right. Thank you. And more to follow.

Thank you. Yeah. Okay. Next, we have public participation. We have three individuals who signed up. Uh they have uh given their names and addresses. I have first I have Mr. Tucker. I have his name and address. If anyone cares to see it, I'm not going to announce it, you know, just because if you want it, you can get it from the city park. Mr. Tucker, thank you for being so patient. So, I thank you for hearing me. Now, my name is James Tucker. neighborhood watch block captain for the 1500 of West Alama that area in the neighborhood and I was told that I'm sorry I didn't make copies of these for everybody in expensive but I was told that I can help out on that at some point if I just have to kind of remember what I'm talking about here but anyway the the subject covers a property at uh 1512 West Alamita that's on the southeast corner of Alama Wyoming And if you can picture at at that particular intersection, Alama jogs and west of Wyoming, the stretch of Alama is about a mile and a half between traffic controls from Sycamore to Wyoming. There's no traffic control except for uh school zone signage crossing. So, we've been living there a long time. And um anyway, I know I don't have much time, so I'll get right to the point. Well, April 2014, I don't want to refer to the 12 to 1512 West. I'm refer to that as the target house. West Alamita, that strip I just referred to, I'm going to refer to it as the runway because in 2014, an eastbound vehicle failed to stop at the uh stop sign for a

while at an extremely high rate of speed and went through the d at the target house, through the two fences bordering the next property, went across the next property, clipping off the patio supports, breaching the next two fences. to the next property and came to rest finally by pushing in the exterior wall of the third house. Okay, that was the start of it. Uh, and I've got a picture I'll show you when you get around here of my grandson's bassinet that my family hadn't lived in that house and I took a picture of this bassinet, had a room set up because my daughter was real proud of it. Right now, another family lives in there and the grandmother is in a lot of u anxiety just not wondering what it's going to happen next because fast forward to about 3 weeks ago, a vehicle once again eastbound Alamita I rate of speed on the runway failed to negotiate that stop sign and hit couple barriers that have been put in there as an attempt. I know Mr. Helder brand. Uh we were on talked about that installation of ballards there with the thick cable. We thought that would pretty much stop traffic that didn't do it. The car went right through there, laid down the steel fence and it acted as a ramp. The vehicle landed inside the den again, same place. And the driver of that vehicle fled the scene on foot because he had purchased that vehicle uh several years ago, I think, and never got the tra the title registration transfer over his name. And of course, the one that does own the title and transfer, I understand, isn't talking. So, there we go. And in between those two dates, and you'll see in the pictures, I've got

numerous numerous incidences of vehicles hitting the fence. They come at a high rate of speed. They try to negotiate that turn on to go south on Wyoming. They can't do it. So, they take out that steel fence again. And one time, they went across the alley and took out the chain fence of the next residence across the Go ahead. I'm sorry. No, it's fine.

Okay. Well, anyway, so you know, I realize we all can't live in a plastic bubble, but due to the history here, the configuration of that street. Um, and and not to mention who's happens to be traveling north and south on Wyoming at the time the next errant vehicle comes at a high rate of speed on Alama, somebody's going to get killed. Well, if any of you know what the safety pyramid is, eventually there's going to be a fatality here, I'm afraid. I don't want to see it, but we've had not only near misses, we've had incidents, major incidents, and every time I don't put the financial cost on it. The house insurance covers the house repairs, but it doesn't cover. So, and then I also know that there's certain restrictions and guidelines that the city has to stay. so we don't hurt somebody that happens to be driving an errant vehicle and hit a solid concrete wall or something. Unfortunately, I care a lot more about the house than I do anybody that's lacking responsibility to safely operate a motor vehicle, especially at high speed. Um, but I know you've got laws and rules you got to abide by and um I appreciate the efforts of Mr. Matthews, Mr. Helder Graham and um Mr. McCormack I remember and also Hugo Gonzalez of the uh Rosel Police Department. He's our neighborhood watch coordinator. most of you probably know and they've really tried to do what they can here and I was assured that we'd do everything we could within the law to make this stretch this runway safer for not only the residents of that house but um people traveling over the south there on on Wyoming there was a lot of options discussed

so um I implore the the powers of please do all you can to make this a safer intersection section cuz it's um I don't want to see anything else happen and there are like I said a family there are now with grandkids.

Mr. Tucker will we will make a copy of all this and place it and the clerk will make a copy and give it one day every counselor and uh here and any other person person who wants to see it in Colorado. Uh I would you're right as rain and we will we're going to have to sit down and figure out what we should do. We and uh if people are using alam meter for that highest speed going that high speed to this high street. I mean it's crazy. And we had another speed accident. And I'm just saying, you know, we we we're going to have to put some maybe we might have to get some of those speed cameras or something up just to get people's attention.

Sure. I never been a fan of those, but all I'm going to tell you is you turn them back around. Uh we have several areas where speed is excessive speed is very high and we need to address that. And I think uh you don't exchange the same thing. No, no, I no speeding in Roswell is a problem. And u you know it's Alamita Sunset. Um it's just out of control. And uh we had the terrible accident we had on Union. I mean it's just uh been here.

Fatalities usually open our eyes but uh we can't close them after a few months. You got to keep them open. You know, you had an accident there, they fix it. Boom. Here it happens again. You know, we got to we got to stay proactive and and Mr. Tucker, I appreciate this. Thank you. Thank you for doing this. And if I can help in any way, Mr. Matthew, thank you for for your work you've already done. Thank you for any further comments, Mr. Tucker. Thank

I just want to say I I appreciate Mr. Toky bringing this to our attention. Uh if there was a good news in the thing, four years ago that fence got hit and demolished. They didn't fix the fence, so they uh didn't have to do a repair twice. But you know, we met last week uh with Mr. Matthews and Mr. Cornak and M. McCor's going to come up with some resolution that we can do there. Um that will try to mediate this issue. In the meantime, PD, you know where to go work. Well, I also understand too that, you know, the the the main burden of any fortification is going to have to be built footed by the residents and

yeah, you know, so we're kind of looking working for trying to get some. But I thank you for being active in that neighborhood. Yeah. Thank you, Dr. Thank you. Next we have Matthew uh Gonzalez and uh the item is the resolution. I don't know we're going to hear it but Mr. Gonzalez.

Thank you mayor and members of the council. My name is Matthew Gonzalez. I am the vice president of state affairs for the consumer energy alliance. We are a national nonprofit focused on affordable, reliable, all the above energy options for working families and small businesses. Something that we specialize in though is coming into rural communities particularly and helping them have a seat at the table in important policy discussions that are happening that impact them. Right now, if you take some time to go to Santa Fe, you can see that we are outnumbered and we are outdone. We continue to lose on issues that are important to our communities. Um, so couple things I want to raise for you. one there is an the Excel Energy has brought a portfolio forward and and has filed it with the public regulation commission. Their goal is to bring more power to this region. So what that's one of the issues that we'll be focused on supporting this region to get more power here. You have certain buildings, certain communities that haven't been able to get more power online which is stifling local economic development. Um it's also a public it's also a public hazard. It's a public safety hazard. So it's important that we see more power for this region. The other thing that we're focused on specifically is the produced water filing that was just put forward by the water access treatment and reuse alliance. Um their goal is that we as a state will look at the issue of produced water. Back in 2019 when I worked at the farm bureau, we worked agriculture and industry work together to pass the produced water act. You had the most progressive legislator in Brian Eigoff, the most conservative Republican and Rod Mononttoya worked together to pass that legislation. environmental community and industry came together and said this is going to be really important for the state of New Mexico because we don't have new waterways. Since that time, the water quality control commission has taken no action to get us further there. So, there's been a new filing and we have a resolution that I've drafted. I'll make sure to send it to the to the city. We're in the process of sharing this with local communities. I've already shared it with the Lee County. I've already shared it with Bloomfield. Both of those uh the commission and the

city council in Bloomfield have both passed this resolution. But the resolution calls for three things. It says one, we support the continued study and understanding of treated produced water so that it can be used for beneficial use. Now what does that mean? Doesn't mean we want it for drinking water. No one is proposing that. But right now we've got freshwater resources that are that are um stressed because of just development, just growing. And so if we can take that treated produced water, which right now is either being deep injected underground and nothing beneficial coming from it, or it's being shipped to Texas. And I don't know about y'all, but I hate giving stuff to Texas for free. So let's figure out a way to put that that water to beneficial use. Um the that so it calls for again the study of that. The second part to that is it says that you as a commission, if you decided to pass it, would join the produced water filing as a co-etitioner and it wouldn't be of any cost to the municipality. All we're asking is that you join it. Right now, we have heard from the water quality control commission. They've loud loud and clear said we have meetings in Santa Fe. This is where the meetings happen at. This is where we'll talk about these issues. We believe that if communities will join us as a co-etitioner, it will force their hand to come to our regions, hear from our communities about this important topic, we can't continue to listen to Santa Fe and Albuquerque about issues that produce water when they don't have the produce water. They need to come to our communities or our communities are impacted and care about it and let's find solutions for how we can put this water to beneficial use. So, I know I'm over my three minutes, but I will bring that resolution forward. Um, I want to thank you. I live up in Simone. I'm a rural New Mexican. I'm taking this resolution to about 14 counties. All of them are rural counties. I want us all to be able to stand together, support the southeast because if the southeast does not continue to remain vibrant, every other community in the state is going to be impacted. Every time I built a project, when I was mayor of Simron, every time we built a project, we knew that 97% of those funds came from the seance tax permanent fund, which is created by our vibrant oil and gas industry.

Your time is up.

Thank you. of all just one one more thing I'd like to add. We don't build a project without a driver in southeast New Mexico. So I want to thank you on behalf because I know y'all probably don't hear this enough on behalf of every community. We're grateful for the southeast. We're grateful for the contributions that you make because we don't fund teachers. We don't fund firefighters. We don't build these inst these the infrastructure that we need without a vibrant southeast. So anyway, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I'll bring that resolution forward and would love for you all to consider. Happy to drive back down here so that we can have a conversation about it. just hope that we can be partners in these two really important issues because more power and and finding things to do with our treated water is going to be really important. So anyway, I thank you for your time this evening and the opportunity to comment.

Thank you very much. I Simon, I I've always been intrigued if they ever caught the kids for a graduation prank that put in all kinds of tang or something in the city water supply. They did not catch it. still miss you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, council. You know, we're in a beautiful state. Thank you for caring enough to go around the whole state and look out for all of us. Thank you.

Okay. Next, we had Michaela May for Life House. I'm always in awe if I see people speaking, you know, without the papers. I have worked almost all day on what I want to say today. Be careful. Your clock's running.

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, my name is Michaela MS. I serve as a director of PA public services, a stateliciced volunteer community medical emergency service and registered overdose prevention provider. A few weeks ago, I spoke here about the proposed Lighthouse calls back contract. At that time, I pointed out that several local nonprofit art groups and also profit corporations are already helping people in this community who struggle with mental health challenges and substance abuse. I suggested bringing those organizations together with Life House before a contract is finalized so everybody understands how services might connect and where gaps in the city actually exist. Some of you indicated that this approach may make sense. We welcome any additional help addressing addiction and mental health concerns in our city. At the same time, it is important to recognize that a number of organizations already provide services like crisis response and services that fall within the states approved use of settlement funds such as naring training and distribution, preventing and education as examples. Speaking of crisis response,

what kind of crisis will Lighthouse respond to?

We don't know. The homeless woman exposing herself on Pin Plaza. The elderly woman in a serial emotional distress after somebody stole a satellite receiver. The man at Walgreens breaking down in tears because he was forced out of his home and is nowhere to go. The elderly veteran confused who crashes his car into another vehicle in Albertton. A mentally ill person bleeding and holding a knife in an alley on Main Street. I ask because these are only a few of the crisis situations that we have responded to in recent month at no cost to the city and no cost to the individuals involved. and none of these incidents invol opioid use. What happens after the immediate crisis is resolved? Will the homeless woman get a bed in the community behavioral health clinic? Will the elderly woman get a new satellite receiver? Will the man at Walgreens get a place to stay? If the answer is no, then there's pretty much no difference to the situations we have today. If we as a community really want to solve the behavioral health problems in a holistic comprehensive way, we need cooperation, partnerships and bridges that connect different service providers in the city.

Your time is done. For that reason, I would help the I it would help the community to understand how the proposed crisis response and operate, what situation will respond to and how its role with the fair differ from the work that local business, organizations and volunteers already carry out every day. For that reason, Michael, your time is up. Yeah, I just want to say for this reason I would like to response respectfully renew my request to bring the local service providers together with Life House before the contract is finalized.

Well, since my time is up, that's it. Thank you. Did anyone have any comments? Some questions for Mr. quickly if you want one side or the other whatever if you have any questions of it. Okay. Excuse me. Thank you, ma'am.

Okay. Next, we have item uh 25, ordinance 26-02, hold a public hearing to consider adopting a proposed ordinance 26 02, an ordinance to the sale of real property and the approval of the city into a purchase agreement for the sale uh with equipment share per cabin.

I apologize, Mr. Mayor. It's on point. Orders 26-02 hold a public hearing to consider adopting proposed ordinance 26-02 an ordinance with the sale of real property and approval for the city of Rosal to enter into a purchase the sale agreement with equipmentshare.com incororated. Second. Okay. We have a motion for uh item 25 by council cabin and a second by councelor gas. Is there any further discussion on ordinance 26-02 for the sale of real property uh and it's approved for city ros sale agreement with equipmentshare.com. Yes, ma'am. Would you care? Are you gonna comment on it?

If you'd like, you want to make the presentation, go right ahead.

Thank you, mayor and counselors. Um, as mentioned, what the ordinance is for, this is a city-owned property that's been unused and vacant since 1988. The property is located on Monsdale, just inside the city limits. It's right next to the property we sold to Amazon that you saw recently. Um, this is a 12.47 acres left of that parcel. Um the total purchase price is $99,760 which is the price that it appraised for. Uh management has reviewed the site and the city has no plans to develop the site. The city attorney has reviewed the purchase and sale contract from equipment share and this item has been submitted to legal for review. it. Um, legal committee also sent this to full council in January and the right to advertise for the public hearing was approved at the last council meeting. So, this is the public hearing to pass the ordinance ordinance for the sale of real property and approval for the city of Brazil to enter into that purchase and sale contract with equipment shares.com. And I stand for questions.

Any questions? Seeing none, ma'am, I would just ask that if we buy before we sell you this property, we make sure that we keep out an easement for the extension of Union Avenue all the way towards the base. Uh Union Avenue, it's the only four-lane street. I I don't think it goes that far.

Uh so I think we're all right, but I I just we need to look about Sunset only goes to second. Union is the only through street. on on Roville that in the widest street that we can have to have a thoroughfare all the way across town in a north south direction correction that would be desperately need so I just ask that you make sure that that's there before this is completed okay any further comments any questions any questions okay if we on a motion by council cabin, second by council gas uh for ordinance 26-02, consider adopting a proposed ordinance that for the sale of real property and the approval of enter into a purchase sale agreement with equipmentshare.com if uh the clerk could call the role.

Did Julian ever come back? Yes. M counselor Mo, sorry, councelor Halverson, are you still online? She's probably shining gold stars. She is online. So for the record, she joined the meeting at 6 at 6:15. Thank you. She's online. Okay. Madam clerk, would you please call the role? Councelor Henbrand. Hi. Councelor Halverson.

Councelor Odesa. Yes. Councelor Gas. Yes. Councelor Moore. Yes. Councelor Johnson. Yes. Councelor Caven. Yes. Councelor Arnold. Yes. Councelor K. Yes. Councelor Maruo. Yes. Motion passes. Nine. You want to ask her again? Okay. Okay. Next. You asked about the having the ease and ends and all that. Did we include that? I'm not mentioning about that. We did not. We did not include that.

Yeah. We wanted to make sure cuz I'm looking at this little map right here. Where they're going to be is probably where the eing would have to be. you talk about, you know, may take the union further. That's probably where they might really want to look into it if you're serious about it. So,

well, that's fine. I hope that they do look at that before. We might have to reconsider if you choose to do it. Um, okay. Next we have item 26 approval of a contract for one for one or substanti summer between light lighthouse car and the city of Roswell and for the uh provision of opioid abatement and treatment/treatment councelor cabin.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. Uh, I'd make a motion on agenda item 26 for the approval of contract or one substantially similar between Life House Carl Life House Carl's bed and the city of Rosal for the provision of opioid uh abate de abatement slash treatment services. Have a motion by councelor cabin. Is there a second? Second. Councor of gas seconds. Okay, Mr. Mayor. Yes, ma'am.

Uh, I would like to recuse myself as a government official and um note that I'll be um speaking as a member of the public if necessary. Is there we've had a request to recuse uh council Arnold to recuse herself uh from this vote? Is there is there an objection by any member of the council? Is there an objection? Seeing none, uh, SR will be recused from voting. Okay. Now, uh, who is going to present this particular item? Mr. Mr. Mayor, we went in uh members of the council, even we went in depth with this, but uh to to sum up the Eddie County a couple years ago issued an RFP for the use of their opioid funding. Uh we took their contract is pretty much mimicked in the contract you see, which is still active and the clerk will be showing you for those who are worried about it. Uh in effect what Carl'sb did or well Eddie County is they took a provider promised that uh gave reimbursement for services to provide opioid treatments and the and reimbursement for a facility. If you see the contract here that's exactly the same thing that we were doing. Uh the core of it is that in will be providing money for planning, design, and occupation of a building that will be down at the airport. Uh and they've

agreed to a 10-year lease with a $1.3 million value of that lease. Additionally, for the next fiscal year, we would be providing we would kind of underwrite a number of positions that are described in detail on contract. Uh this is the current Eddie County extension. So, and our procurement officer did make a determination that this was sufficient. Uh, to worth noting for those of you who aren't familiar with the procurement statutes at Nauseium like some of us have had to be, the procurement officer actually is the non-trupable determiner of the lawfulness of the procurement. The manager doesn't have the authority and in terms of internal control. She consults with the city attorney, but it's her ultimate decision. She does have to be trained specifically in Santa Fe. By law, there can only be one procurement officer in municipality. In any case, uh I'm really excited about this contract. We've been sitting on this opioid money for years and when we complain in Roswell about not having enough medical services, one thing we can do is put our money where our mouth is. So, we're going to be helping stand up a facility that long-term should be able to help itself through various federal and state funds afterward. Um, we're looking at about 200 people being treated monthly and about 40 new jobs in the area in addition to a vacant building being uh in um to briefly touch upon some of the concerns that were brought up in public comment. uh as a a matter. So, this is going to be a certified care facility and part of what the federal government imposes upon that for Medicaid and Medicare uh money is to actually coordinate with all the other service providers in the area meaningfully. So, they will be having to do that as part of this contract. It doesn't spell it out, but we we write in that type of business. Uh in any case, I'm happy to answer some questions for you, but um I'm really happy about this one. This is

a big win for the community. help and brand or you just said that that wasn't in the contract. No, no, that is in the So that the contract says that they have to they will operate a fully certified community behavioral health clinic and in order to that's there's a specific federal provision that governs what that is and and that tells them they have to work with other Yeah. They have to meaningly work with stakeholders. Okay. Yep. So it doesn't have to be in this contract, but it is implied because they have to follow right by by the fact that this is the exact thing that they approve. Yeah. Thank you for that clarification. Don't say anymore.

It's just a contract that we discussed that we know with a young man that was discussing. Uh and it's also the same contract that that lady missa was speaking of that that these people should work together with the other agencies of our city that are trying to do the same things. Yes. Also the same contract. uh she had a suggestion how are we able to facilitate that suggestion about having those people work together with the other are we able to I don't think we have to but who would facil who will facilitate that you know MR or do you know

yes so so the the contract as a matter of so what we've put in is a federal standard for how they will run their facility and part of that standard includes having to work with these groups meaningfully is the the kind of federal jargon. And so as we we get reports as a result of this contract and we expect to see that they are otherwise compliant with the federal law. So we would see reports of this meaningful engagement and if we don't we question them about completion of the contract terms and this is a place going into where the health department was out of out of the base.

Yes. Uh, Miss Michaela, do you know of the people that you're talking about meeting with, Miss Michaela? You do know that they are as part of the contract going to meet with y'all? Yes. Okay. Um, all we asking for is is a delay for a month so that we can facilitate a meeting. Can you step back up to the mic, please? So you're asking for a delay for a month so that meeting can be held before the contract is signed. Yes. What difference does that make? Let him get to the microphone, please. Is there other Yes. Go to the microphone, please.

What difference does that month make?

Well, first of all, we have a vibrant community of volunteers who support all that. And we want to know how where's the gaps? What are those people providing that we do not provide? And maybe uh what we hope comes out is either that we say the contract is great or that we say well no we have to provide more in this area or more in that area so that we can you know I'll see how it fits in. We have no idea how that works. And we're a little bit afraid that uh that there's a multi-million dollar company coming in. Even it's a not for profofit. They make $10 million revenues. And they're going to try to tell us how it's supposed to be. But we know our clientele. We know the city. We know the areas. We know how everything's working. And I think that we can provide input to them as well to make them feel more welcome and in return get the feeling that we are not the ones who are going to be pushed aside. So we're partner with with life house. That's what we want to want to want to achieve.

Miss go ahead. Okay. Go ahead. She's going to answer my other question.

Yeah, I'm going to answer. Um it the final task that I set up myself was making sure introductions were made um in working with um the White House. We're looking at the 1st of April. There will be an official there will be a meeting with officials in to kind of lay out the plan and then a meeting with community in the afternoon of all resources. We want them introduced into our community and um we have already they were initially introduced to officials as they um because of their credentials and because of the 1.8 million we're paying we want them to work with officials on a professional capacity and then um work to engage with the community and create what's needed. Now life house is very structured. It functions in several different areas. There may be holes, but they're not they're not really paid to cover everything there. You know, we need a lot more resources for that. So, there's plenty of opportunity for community organizations to expand, to grow, to, you know, start. This is just a precipice of us getting something organized at a higher level in our communities. Thank you. So you have no concern with them the White House people working with this organization and other organization that provide services?

No, not at all. And and actually the idea of utilizing um or asking an organization that already has a very formidable blueprint to um we're asking them to bring what they do already somewhere else. and then um because we haven't really found that level um for taxpayers to fund here. So um it's just the beginning of growth in this area. And yeah, so uh and also I do want to say in postponing a month, it creates a huge issue because there's a deadline for Life House as far as that's why they they they have to operate for a specific year. So delaying any longer can create serious issues dispersed for certification because there's a lot of standards that are required and have to be met in order for any organization to operate at this level the CCPHC.

Okay. And I I see I don't see the waiting being a problem because I feel even if they're going to meet with those people things the gap gaps are not going to change you know. So, I can see I don't see even if you struggle, if you feel like y'all be put out, I don't think that would be an issue because I think there's enough mental health issues in our town for everybody to go around for for all agencies going around. But I just want you to make sure that these groups and the other groups get the invitation to discuss and meet with White House. I'm so excited about this. you know, I remember from the starting from the beginning when we talked about this and I'm really really proud of you on for following through and um I think the mental health issues in Roswell as you know is ser is a serious concern and so I'm really really happy that this is about to get started. I know we have people working but the more people we have you know many hands make the work light as B says um so you know people coming in the dealers only thing I wish is that we can get to a place where there's some temporary housing or temporary placement for the people that are struggling and I hope that maybe later on as the funings get better or they get working that there can be a place for temporary you know it don't have to be 48 hour holds or something like that 72 whatever where the holes are and so that you know so that they can get the help that they need. Uh thank you so very much.

Thank you. Any further comments? Any further comment? Council aggressive. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You know, I I noticed that the uh contract runs is will be running through June the 30th of 2027. So my question to whoever I I guess counselor Arnold maybe is uh how long has Carl's bed lighthouse been in existence? Oh I'm going to this is a guesstimate but I believe it's over 10 years. What 10 years? Yes.

Okay. So once we reached the $1.8 8 million or $2 million. Is there something in place, a plan that will continue here in

So the beautiful thing about Life House is that they um and they are selfunding. This is the initial start and that's what they need help with. But they once it's kind of like our ambulance service, they have they have a certification with the state to do Medicaid billing. So they are They are selfunded. So yes, it will continue. We're just giving them basically the little startup to get established here because it takes a lot to get established. It took them 10 years to get established and now they're employing 300 people and um helping actually a good majority of our um entities here already use them. the detention center, the municipal courts, Sunrise, they're already using Life House in Carl's pad.

Okay. cuz I I you know my personal opinion I would hate for it to just be here for a near maybe two years and then kind of go by the wayside uh because there there's there's a big need in this community for you for for people to get the help that they need. So, thank you, Councilman Ora. I I just learned that um the director of White House, Phil Houston, is on the line. Phil, can you hear us? Yes. Go ahead.

Can you answer any questions? Okay. Can you did you happen to hear um Councilman Orbes's last question about ensuring um you know the the actual contract goes to 2027 and just he wanted you know some in insurance about your stability and and moving past that?

Yeah, absolutely. Um once we're certified as the CCPHC, which would happen January 1st, 2027, uh it's perpetual sustainable funding through Medicaid. Um that gives us no reason to be concerned about the long-term viability. Um we're running a similarly certified program where one of the coordinate in Carl'sbad and it's gone really well. Uh been very sustainable. and I yield, Mr. Mayor. Okay. Thank you, Councelor Cav. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, let me let me just make a a a comment real quick uh that in in conversations with Sheriff Cage from Eddie County and talking with commissioners from Eddie County, they've been very pleased uh with this organization and they've done great work over there. So, I I have no problem in putting them to work here in Chavis County and in Roswell to try and uh solve the problems that we have here. And they're big problems obviously as we've all talked about. And so, I'm I'm totally for uh this contract with with Lighthouse and I think it's going to be a great deal for for Chavis County and for the city of Brazil. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you. Any further comments? Any further comments? Seeing none of the uh for item uh 26 uh approval of a contract one substantially summer between Lighthouse Charle the provision of opioid treatment and vape services. If the clerk uh if the clerk would on or a motion by councelor cabin and a second by councelor gas uh for approval of this contract the clerk would call the role. We can do a voice vote. Mayor and do a voice vote. Well, it wasn't chosen.

All those in All those in favor signify by saying I. I oppose. Oh, there she is. Oh my gosh. By vote of 10. Any any opposition? I voted 10 in the affirmative and none in the negative. Mr. Mayor 9 to zero counselor. Oh, she I'm sorry. I forgot that nine. I just was so glad we get to 10 to nothing.

You know that then we could go home. You got a 10 run rule. Okay. All right. By vote nine in affirmative, none to negative, one recruused. Item 26 is duly passed. Next we have resolution uh 2726-16. Councelor Cavin. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I make a motion on agenda item 27, resolution 26- excuse me-16, adoption of resolution 26-16 relating to the industrial revenue bonds. We have a motion by council second for industrial revenue bonds. Is there a second for item 26-16, item 27? Is there a second?

Second. Council lady more seconded. Thank you, ma'am. Okay, council. Uh, Mr. Manager, I would you care enlighten us?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You should you should speak to somebody more theological than me for enlightenment. Regarding solar panels, what we're here today, um, as discussed in the legal committee, uh, a group, Galler Energy is, uh, currently renting approved two, uh, pieces of two properties, well, one property owner, but two pieces of land between Alamita and Second Street at the very edge of the corporate living. Page 398 of your packet has a location. This group is asking for an industrial revenue bond which is a form of tax abatement in exchange. They will be paying a something in lie of tax. If you go to page 399, you can see that the current payment tax payment is $1,98.76 perom. The proposed pilot that they would be paying is $7,883.20 for the first year, decreasing to $2,239.77 thereafter. So, um unlike many pilots when you're dealing with industrial revenue bonds, this one actually is increasing the property tax that would be paid and it is only a 15-year term. Um the the project is part of the community development solar development. So it's a special uh thing under the state law. When it comes to the pilot, half would go to the schools and half would go to the city. In any case, uh management's position is that they're rather skeptical of IRBs generally because they are just tax breaks for companies. But in this instance, even though we're not going to be making money head over foot, this land has been vacant for decades. And this seems to be some type of use that will increase economic value of the property.

Is that all? That's it. There any questions of uh manager? Now, I believe this the way this works, any private citizen can sign up for this and receive a portion of the benefits of this. They just have to write pay one check to the utility and one check to the solar or get that's correct. Make two payments on the amount of electricity they use. So, it's allowing uh there's another one of these programs, I think, uh north of town and maybe one south of town as well. Maybe on just there's this will be the second one

just just two. Okay. The other one is north of town and uh and anybody can participate. You don't necessarily have to live with one of these in this group, I don't believe, to participate. So any further comments? Okay. Then on we have on a item 27 uh resolution 26-ain on a motion by council cabinet second by councelor Moore for the adoption of resolution 26-16 relating to industrial revenue bonds. Would you like a voice vote or would you like to have a roll call on industrial rambling advisor?

Roll call. Roll call. Yeah. And uh if the clerk would call the role. Councelor Helen. Hi. Councelor Halerson. Yes. Councelor Odessa. Yes. Councelor Gas. Yes. Councelor Moore. Yes. Councelor Johnson. Yes. Councelor Cavin, yes. Councelor Arnold, yes. Councelor Porn, yes. Councelor Maru, yes.

Wow. By a vote obtaining affirming none in the negative, which means we would make the 10 run rule. Item 27 resolution 26-16 is duly passed the council. So, so next we have item ordinance. 10 and affirming and none of the thing. No, it has to be five to five for them. But it says six majority members have the majority members government. So don't encourage. You're always complaining you don't get to vote. If you want us to go 55 on something, so you can. It's all right. Yeah, we can do that.

Yeah, let's wait. Let's, you know, we've already got the 10 run. We're already ready to to go home early. So, if we just finish this up, we've got two things in the council comments only for information and then we have city manager report. It'll go real quick. Item 28, ordinance 26-04, authorizing advertisement for public hearing on a proposed ordinance 26-04, an ordinance amending the city of council purchasing procedures act on council cabin.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, on agenda item 28, uh, I move to authorize to advertise for a public hearing on proposed ordinance 26-04, an ordinance amending the city purchasing procedures and I'll add back and I'm almost at work, so let's get over. Second by council lady Arnold. Okay. Mr. Sher, are you I'm just standing for questions in regards to the the purchasing counselor. Uh yeah, Mr.

Mr. Mayor, what's being hand the uh councelor Gas pointed out earlier tonight that a part of the ordinance had been cut out uh sub paragraph D. So you're just getting the the full version of legally approved. And then a friendly reminder, this is just to advertise. This is not an actual vote on the matter. Okay. So you say an item D is there or is not there? It's in your draft in your Yeah. And what was handed out item D which is the reporting requirement. So and also item D was incomplete on the original. Oh, that is complete on this one as well.

Okay. So, so this is merely to bring the ordinance forward for discussion so we can pass something whatever still plenty of time. So, is there any further comments?

Council lady council said that pretty good. You know, when we had this drafted up last October, go ahead. and we drafted this ordinance up last October. These items are on there and they came, we were going to vote on this last council meeting. City manager had asked for a recess on that to bring it forward and somehow our city internal auditors are going to vote. I don't know how that happened. I just don't know how that happened because I don't see that in your scope. um of what you're supposed to be doing. Um and it bothers me somewhat that I don't know where that was in your scope to I know you part of your scope is to create efficiencies in these things.

That's correct.

But the other thing and we can talk about in the next meeting uh when this comes forward is this doesn't address line item movements which we discussed at legal committee. So what this allows is for council not to know of expenditures if it's in a budgetable but we will not know expenditures of 200 unless they're over $250,000. Correct. That that's what this is saying that it will not go forward for approval by a council. But it doesn't address the fact that if line items are moved, items are moved from one line item to the next line item that would create budget authority that the council would never know. It's never reported to us. Line item adjustments are never reported to this council. And so therefore, we need to have some kind of reporting mechanism that is disclosure to the council and the community when these line item adjustments are made and we don't have them and this does not address it. And I asked for that to happen at legal committee and it didn't go anywhere. I was the only descending vote and I will be the descending vote today and I'll be the descending vote next month because it does address everything that needs to be addressed in this spending authority. So thank you Mr. Mayor.

Thank you m Mr. Well I didn't ask any questions. Okay for corn you'll get a chance and yes just to to clarify something. Yeah. So that the what was discussed at finance committee was placing the line item budget language in the budget which is traditional for other municipalities. So what you will see tomorrow is a description of what a line item is, what a budget adjustment is within the line items and the restrictions therein subject to your approval with the budget resolution.

Okay, Cal, you are on.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, we've had several discussions at tonight's meeting of changes we need to make in our procurement code. Um, I'm not in favor of this. The this is not the way I would propose this kind of change. All I see this as is give the city manager more authority over the dollar amounts without any reporting as Councilman Hillbrand pointed out to the city council to the governor's body and I think we need to instead of peace meal our purchasing procedures I think we need to tackle the whole It all done use some of the guidance that's in the special audit. Use some of the expertise for a general auditor and get this thing put together. get put together right peacefully like we're seeing and you know we we've been through years of deficit spending in this city not as bad as it was when we got here but I kept telling everybody can't be changed overnight whole process and so I'm not in favor of the way we're doing it certainly on the table for the dollar amounts listed here. So, I'm going to join my colleague and vote no on this item because I think there's a whole lot more work that needs to be done.

You brought some things to our attention. Thank you. And I think we need to sit down and work collectively to come up with a chairman policy that covers suits and one one section at a time just not going to get us there the quicker we need to get there in my opinion. Thank you.

Thank you. for comments. Pastor Pressa. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I a little confused. Um because this is just for a reading. And if if it's just for a reading, does it have to be the way it's written right now or can there be changes when the reading occurs? So the uh the concerns that some of the counselors have can be addressed at the at the next meeting even if this passes and then it it's different than what it is at that point in time. Is that correct?

Absolutely. Okay. Thank you. Question. Thank you, Council Gas. And then Council Moore. Um, so why did you uh why did you bring this forward? What happened that you brought this forward? I didn't get an answer. I think you were asking that again. Thank you. You, Mr. Mayor. May May I respond to the question? Yes. The question was from you. Yeah, I'm just trying to do the Okay, go ahead.

Excuse me. So um how it all started is that um I had been doing testing on the procurement and and as such you know I I had um discovered the findings that that I presented this evening. But also as I was doing my testing, I noted that it takes approximately sometimes 90 days to 120 days, sometimes 4 months to get um a contract through the from the from the beginning all the way to the the city council. And it goes through various committees beforehand such as the infrastructure committee or the um or the finance committee or the legal committee and and then by the time it gets to to the city council, sometimes you guys put it on the on the consent agenda and and pass it through. Um and and so through my prior experience um in in my pre in in my previous job 500,000 was the threshold to take items to contracts to the board of regents. So my thought process is for efficiency and efficiency is a part of the internal auditing scope is to identify those particular items. I first identified it when I read in the Rosal Daily record that this purchasing revision was going to be brought forward and the threshold was going to be um identified as any contract that is over 60,000

and and being in those being a a CFO at NMI I can understand how difficult that would be to bring every single contract through this entire process all all the way to the governing board. And to me, it was it was somewhat inefficient. And the other key thing that in the proposed language is that I said if it's not budgeted then yes it definitely does need to be brought forward because of the appropriation um authority. So um that is how it came and then I said oh my goodness 60,000 that is going to be such a hardship on management to be and and the departments and very frustrating to get things through the process and and as you may know sometimes a quote comes forward from the vendor and the quote says this quote is good for 30 And then what happens the going through this entire process seems you know your typical governmental inefficient procedure and so my proposal does not take away your transparency or your visibility of these particular items. I also put in the proposal that there would be a reporting function and that the committee that the all the way to the counselors would be reported on here are the items over a certain amount over 60,000 that um have been purchased

or or have been entered into. And so it simply is just trying to um create um an taking the handcuffs so to speak off of management and putting the materiality then in perspective of of a multi-million dollar budget. But again, it's key that budget needs to be um I mean items need to be approved and in the budget. And that's that's the one of the key items that has to happen. And if there's no budget, then they then those items have to come before. That's how in a long worded way apologize. Um how it came about.

Are you through? Yes, sir. There's more. Next, do I have uh Council Gas and then Council Johnson? Councelor Gas,

I uh if if we get our budget what again, we're making great strides in finance and and everything else. And if and if we get our budget right and something is budgeted, um this B says governing body approval is required for any unbudgeted or unappropriated item. So if we budget the things from 60 to 250,000 or 60 to 500,000, they're in the budget, then you don't have to come back.

So I'm okay with that. I I would like to have the line item issue addressed. I in the audit committee meeting I I gave you my reservations about you know the deal but we are making strides and and I understand that if it's not in the budget is and it's 60,000 or more we still have to come before the finance committee or city council at least to do that. If we could I I would suggest we have something they're more clear about line item changing more than 60,000. It would have to go there too to help clarify that just because you know we were way back here and we're moving here but we might not be there but it would help resolve some of the situations that you're talking about. I understand we're trying to make it easier to get uh to get forward. So um But anyway, I I just would make that suggestion that we clarify that a little bit more and and that would help. And then um may I continue? So um I have been thinking about the budget adjustment question and similarly the city of Santa Fe has has this that budget adjustments over 60,000 should be brought forward to the council. And to me that makes sense. and and then even further thinking I I'm thinking not just like a one line item of 60 but if there is multiple adjustments that equal to 60 I think that they should be brought forward and then that gives you that ability that people can't be playing these games within their their

budget within their budget to take a little bit here and a little bit here and a little bit here. But if it's you know in order to purchase something over 60,000 then without the transparency and visualization of the counselors um you know so so that is something that I've been thinking about then is that to me a 60,000 threshold for budget adjustments in by line item andor by total adjustments within somebody's budget.

Okay. Okay. Thank you, Mr.

Yeah. Um, you know, I think it's interesting that we go to uh our budget meetings and we go line item by line item by line item and then, you know, then it gets adjusted. So, you know, I I would like to be brought aware of any adjustment. I mean, I can see small adjustments that are made, but um it's kind of heartbreaking when we go through it and we approve it and then it all gets adjusted. Um that's just my my take on it. And then the 60,000 threshold, um you know, you made a comment, well, the the quotes expired by then. Anything over 60,000 doesn't require a quote. It should be on contract price agreement pro an RFP ITB. So I don't know where that goes into play in that comment but um I don't know I I'm not a fan of going over 60,000. I think it's a good rule and I think it would you know if we need to sharpen up our planning you know we need to look at best practices on planning getting this out in front of our counselors so we can understand all of our expenditures. Uh, I mean that's what we're I felt I was elected for was to manage budget to look at finances, see how they're structured, see how the money spent for the citizens of Roswell. So I would like the 60,000. Thank you, ma'am.

Okay. Any further comments? They none uh in in looking at this and my opinion I think it's imperative I think that we look at that we eliminate things that drag on for months and months on on this stuff. I I think that I think the council needs to know what's going on and I think uh but this is just requesting something for us to sit down and put our best brains to it to come up with the best ideas we can to have a representative government and have people with the with some flexibility to where we can uh proceed uh without audit findings and everything else. I don't I don't like audit findings, but sometimes things get delayed so long and things get so confused you forget about who's doing what. And uh I think if we can just all this does is ask us to have a meeting on procurement to come up with the the best plan we can come up with that would improve the plan we have now. And that can conclude in conclude uh with parts from each and every person on this council and not just a few. It's we all get together and sit down and come up with the best procurement plan we can that's easily and understandable and works u better than our last procurement uh items have been working and we have something that everybody can understand and work with. uh you know that for the executive branch of our government and then for us as the legislative branch or whatever financial branch whatever you want to call it uh we can just come up with a good workable plan that's simple and people understand how to use it. So I would hope that we can go and get this

bill before uh whatever committee needs to see it legal finance everybody and come up with an agreement. So, you're saying send it back to me? Well, I'm just saying that we can pass this and all it does is get us together to a point to bring up the best bill we have and put all the ideas together from everybody and come up with the best thing we have. Mr. City Manager, you want to address that? Yeah. Yeah. So, M I guess it's this if we pass this, we're going to hear it next month, right? Pass it. We're going to hear it next month at public hearing, but you won't have time. to work on it prior to it. It is is what it is. Correct.

Well, look, it can always be amended at the public hearing, right? But that's not what the mayor's saying, but public hearing and work on it. I mean, I everybody that that's not what I heard you say. I heard you say, "Let's get this send it back and get it taken care of." But let's get it back to committee. I'm not going to I don't know that we can demand the committee come back and have it uh it might take two or three months to put something together. I mean to me that's possible whatever goes in there the committee has you have to get the votes to get it out of committee and so I find it just I just you was interpreting what you were saying was send it back and we've already sent it back once. So

well well the counselors need need to be satisfied with it. You're the ones that took the vote to the people. I mean, you're the ones that took the oath to the to the citizens of Roswell and you have to be happy with the procurement policy. That is a huge very important policy. And so I mean you you know you are as the govern as the governing board are in charge of policy. So make sure it is right and that you are satisfied with it.

Yeah. I don't see any issue with I mean forgive me for saying I don't see an issue with throwing it back uh to committees then and really digging deep into it and discussing it further until you are satisfied. Yeah. I just don't I mean my my recommendation is simply that it's a recommendation. I mean sure. Yeah. Respected. Respected. Okay. Any further comments? Mr. No, no. I was going to call for a question.

Okay. Well, seeing none, uh on a motion by uh councelor Kevin, seconded by council Arnold. Question. Huh? I know you saw a motion. You vote on this is the motion.

The motion was for a first to approve item 28 resolution 26-4. It was made by councelor cabin second by councelor arm is way and that's the question on the floor now is that we are at that point there was no further discussion and so we would go forth and vote this matter this this proposed ordinance we would vote in favor of it passes and goes on to committee goes to hearing the public hearing yeah Well, goes to public hearing next month.

Yeah. And we go to public hearing and we can make all the changes there. We can committees can get together and come up with ideas, whatever. Now question. So we have a we have a we have a motion by councelor Kevin, second by councelor Arnold for item 28, ordinance 26-04. have a public hearing on proposed ordinance 26-04, an ordinance amending the city's purchasing procedures act. If the clerk will call the role. Councelor Helder Brown. No. Councelor Halverson. Yes. Councelor Besa,

yes. Councelor Gas, no. Councelor Moore, yes. Councelor Johnson, no. Councelor Cavin, yes. Councelor Arnold, yes. Councelor Korn, no. Councelor Maro,

am I going to get my way? Yeah, he's right. No. There you go. There you go, Barrett. All right. By vote, mayor votes yes by a vote of six in the infirmity, five in the negative item 28 ordinance 2604 will be held in public hearing for the city of Raleigh. Okay. Next. explains he doesn't get to Oh, yeah. I've never You guys have never given me that kind of No, we've done support. Yeah. One other time. That's probably the second time I've ever done that. But, you know, you always get to vote with the winning side.

I know. I'm gifted. Councilor comments for information only. Uh, you know, I would think that something is happening and I think we have a counselor that uh might like to tell the council about an upcoming event that might happen uh sometime in the very near future. And I don't know if council cabin wants to tell anybody of any of the events that might be coming up that might in the future. Uh that is really a wonderful event for one of the departments in our city. Councelor Kevin, would you like to say anything?

Well, thank you, Mr. Mayor. just for everybody that uh my son is is finally back on US soil from uh Somalia where he's been for over the last nine months and uh he's probably going to have to spend another 10 days, two weeks at Fort Bliss before he gets released and but he's chopping it to bit to get back to go back to work with these guys at the Rosal Police Department and he's really really excited to get back here and excited. I mean, you love Chief David, but I know he really loves our new Chief Aldono. So, he's excited to come back and we're excited that he is back in America and uh it's going to be a great event to have him back and I know his wife and son will be happy to have back. Thank you to know when he flies in. We could we could be out there. Well, I'll find out when we drive him then because I'll probably pick him up at Fort Bliss to drive him home. So, but I will let everybody know when that day's coming. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you. Okay. Any further comments from any counselors? Okay. City manager, ladies and gentlemen. Excuse me. Councelor Corn, chairman of finance. Yes, sir. What's your plan on ratifying all these plans that we've been working? Well, we're supposed to be getting them with the budget. So, we'll schedule a workshop or something as soon as we get that information. I'm not going to let you sleep till I get it done.

Okay. Any further council comments? Uh, seeing none, Mr. manager, would you please make your reports been knocked down?

Yes. And for the sake of getting us out here quicker, I just want to cover two other things uh of these uh administrative instructions that went out. Uh there will be a hiring freeze beginning May 1st so that we can close the books. There will also be a PO freeze that I'll be issuing June 1st so that we can close the books. Uh and finally, uh there have been significant changes to employee healthcare coverage. You only received that today. Um they will be moving away from multiple plans and they're just doing kind of a three tier thing. Uh this is going to have an effect on the budget. It looks like it'll be about uh well it's going up about 16%. Last year it was 20%. So we feel good about it being 4% less. You can I think you can hear that. In any case, it's partly to mitigate this and partly to make ourselves uniform with other municipalities. Beginning July 1, all new employees will be doing an 8020 match from the city. This is what our competitors are doing. And I say competitor, people poach our employees. Right now, we do this weird thing where we pay 75% of the highest plan that exists. Uh that is puts in this particular instance, it would the highest plan that exists only went up 14%. So, it actually saves us money of the cycle, but it really puts us in an awkward position, especially because as these things move over time, 3% at 2,000 is going to become a much bigger figure than 3% at 1,000. And so, you can as inflation hits these plans over time, it functionally means that the city would be paying 100% off employment coverage based on how we've been operating. So, in any case, um there will be some small savings in the short term. Longer term, it leads to a more stable curve in terms of what we can anticipate paying for public health coverage. Uh, please expect an email tomorrow for your budgets. Uh, Tony, can I still say we're balanced?

Uh, yes, we're balanced. Um, question. So, you mentioned uh June 1st would be uh you'll stop halt spending June 1st. Yeah. No new POS, but no new. Yeah, we'll allow existing PO. It's good construction time. So, we're definitely not going to just stop work, but no new work starting June one. And we we're instructing everybody to start closing out now. Closing POS or encumbering them to get set for no spending in June. Yep. Well, I wasn't going to give them that clue. Oh, thinking thinking like a government employee, aren't we?

I think so. Okay. Is there anything else coming before the council? Thank you all very much.