2026-11-09 - City Council Work Session

04:48Okay. Well, good afternoon and welcome to our session. Today is Monday, November 9th, 2026. It's approximately 1 p.m. I Enriquez we'll start with a moment of silence for the brave

05:21men and women of the United States Armed Forces as they protect our interests around the globe, as well as our courageous men and women of the Las Cruces Police Department

05:30and Fire Department who protect our city. 24 over seven 365 with Wednesday being Veterans Day. I'd also like to take a moment of silence for our veterans and thank them for

05:42their service. Please join me in the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God,

06:03indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The first. Okay, we'll start with our agenda. The first item is 1.1 2027 Legislative Priorities. And Christina will get it started.

06:51Good afternoon, mayor, city Council, I am Christina Rivera, your city clerk. And so today we're going to discuss proposed projects and policy for the 2027 legislative session. This

07:01was definitely a team project. So you will see a couple of us up here presenting to you today. But first, I'm going to turn it over to our awesome lobbyist, Larry Herren.

07:17Good afternoon, mayor, members of the council, Larry Horan, state lobbyist for the city of Las Cruces. It's good to be here today in front of you. I just wanted to give a

07:26little bit of a kind of a landscape of what to expect coming into this session, and also talk a little bit about the election and what that did for the New Mexico Legislature.

07:36As you know, if it's hard to miss, we have a new administration coming in with Governor Holland, governor elect Holland coming in with her administration. So and then

07:45all the House members were up for reelection this year. And so we had a we have 12 new members of the House of Representatives, and there were four incumbent Republicans who

07:56lost in the election. And so there was actually only a net three gain for the Democrats, but it puts them at 4723, which creates a supermajority in the House of Representatives.

08:06Senate was not up for election. But that doesn't mean there's not some interesting things coming from the Senate, because there's a change in leadership. So Peter Wirth, who was the

08:15Senate majority leader, has resigned. His position is not going to run again. And so we have a new leadership leader, Linda Trujillo, and then also their their other leadership

08:25changes as well. And so with a new administration, bunch of new House members, new leadership in the Senate, it's going to be a little bit of the Wild West when we start our

08:36legislative session in January. It starts the third Tuesday in January, and it's a 60 day session this year. And so the distinction between a 60 and a 30 day, a 60 day session, any

08:45legislator can introduce legislation on any topic. And so there's no limitations coming in to this session. So it'll be interesting as they try and get settled. We also

08:57have record revenue levels yet again, the price of oil because of the Iran conflict and also Russia. Ukraine is very high, which you can't help but see when you go to the gas pump.

09:09But that means we have a lot of new revenue coming into the state. So the latest projection was an additional about 1 billion in revenue from what they projected before. The next

09:21revenue estimate comes out in December. And we expect it to be actually even more. And so that has an impact on how on how they're going to spend all that money. Are they going to

09:31sock it away? Are they going to be looking at capital projects? And we'll talk a little bit about capital when we get to that. But there's, again, a lot of new a lot of new revenue

09:40coming in. What are we going to see big policy topics this year for sure. We know there's going to be a lot of discussion about data centers, which I'm sure you all are more keenly aware

09:50than anyone from down here. There's two different efforts underway. One is a moratorium, which legislators from Dona Ana County are championing. Championing are the champions

10:01of and are pushing. But there's also going to be an effort to create data form or data center guardrails. So if we're going to do data centers, here's the criteria that we're going to

10:11see as it relates to data centers. Along with that, we would anticipate seeing legislation related to microgrids because of what's happening with Project Jupiter

10:21down here and the microgrid legislation that was we saw last session. We'll see microgrid legislation again. Also, there's of interest is proposed legislation coming out

10:35of the Revenue Stabilization Committee for Industrial Revenue Bond Reform. So any IRB under this proposed legislation would have to go to the state for approval and also go to the

10:46state Board of Finance for approval. And so it would require both Legislative and Board of Finance approval. And we already have a draft of that legislation that's been

10:54introduced. So that'll be a big discussion this year. With the amount of revenue we have. Tax reform is something that we'll see at least some form of, and there likely will be another

11:06tax package introduced. There's been discussions about repeal or changes to the personal income tax. That'll be a topic of discussion. As you all know, anytime we see any tax reform

11:18discussion. Gross receipts tax will be on the table in some form or fashion. The narrative that the municipal league has adopted, and we've been speaking with legislators as it

11:28relates to elimination of gross receipts, is if you're going to eliminate the state portion, that's fine. But because local governments, municipalities in particular, are so dependent on

11:38gross receipts tax. Leave us alone. That has started to to sink in with some legislators, but we'll see how it comes in this session. Also because of what's been happening with the

11:52flooding and the fires, the municipal league is coming up with a discussion about a potential, we would call it an infrastructure fund. So currently, when you're dealing

12:03with capital outlay, the Water Trust Board gets money for water and wastewater projects. Off the top. There's an application process for local governments to obtain that

12:13funding. And they don't have to go for legislative approval. So it's more like a grant program. So the idea would be expand the scope of what the Water Trust Board can do to include

12:24infrastructure, or also mitigation for things like fire and floods. So instead of having to go back for the legislature for some of those projects, create a funding

12:32stream, put seed money in for it, and then utilize more of a grant program for infrastructure projects. And so that's something it's it's still being developed, but it's

12:42something I think that will, that we definitely will see this session. And then there will be a lot of discussion on housing. And I don't want to I'll let the expert talk about

12:51that when Natalie comes up, because she'll know about that. But there's an interest in the administration and also the legislature to continue dealing with housing and funding for

13:01housing, which the city of Las Cruces, you all have done very well in obtaining funding and and funding projects and completing projects. And so and also, when you're dealing with

13:13housing, what you have done by ordinance to make it the permitting process, the building process better and easier to deal with. It is being noticed statewide. And

13:22it's, it's a, it's a credit to what you did as a as a governing body to make housing projects easier and better to do. And then I think I'm supposed to go into the capital

13:33outlay slide. So just real quick, I'll just give the high level capital outlay what the funding is going to look like, what it is. So it's state funding for infrastructure

13:43facilities and any capital improvements. There's two ways the legislature can fund capital projects. One is they'll issue bonds based upon the severance tax permanent

13:52fund. They'll identify how much they can bond for a particular year. They'll come up with a funding amount, and then they'll be fund. They'll they'll issue bonds. And I

14:00think July and October of every year. The second way they fund it is when you have a whole bunch of excess general fund revenue or cash, which we have now, and they funded a lot of

14:10their projects the last few years with excess general fund revenue or cash. So the way it works is they'll identify how much funding they have available. The Water Trust

14:20Board, which we just talked about a little bit, gets a allocation off the top. The Colonias Infrastructure Fund gets an allocation off the top, as does the Tribal

14:29Infrastructure fund. Then with what's left, they'll fund some statewide projects and then they'll divide the rest up. A third goes to the governor's office to spend, a third goes

14:39to the House of Representatives, and the third goes to the Senate, the New Mexico Senate. The past two years, it's been about 2.2 billion in capital funding. And these last two

14:49funding cycles, which is record levels, they have not indicated yet what the level of funding would be. But based upon what we're seeing about revenue projections, I would anticipate

15:00it'll be around the same amount. So I think House members got about 2.5 million last year. Senators got about 1.1 or 1 .4.1, or 4.2 million to allocate to their projects. So

15:10I would anticipate that that's going to be around the same level, but we don't know yet. So we'll know as we get closer into the session. And then we don't know what governor elect

15:20Haaland's priorities will be, although I think it's safe to say environment, water, those type of projects is something I think that she would be interested in because that's

15:31what she's been discussing in the campaign. Also, she's very interested in housing and affordable housing. And so I think now I'm going to kick it back. Good afternoon Cynthia.

15:45LaMelo city manager. As Larry mentioned, capital outlay is one of the primary ways the state of New Mexico help entities like US fund infrastructure and large capital projects. And that

15:57could be anything from parks, streets and public facilities. So for us, a municipality, it is also a great funding opportunity that can help us fund large projects that we

16:09can't fund solely with our city funding sources. So with that, one thing we do want to note is that appropriations that happen every year are not just funding

16:21that's given to cities, they're given to municipalities for a specific project, and that we have to follow and ensure that we deliver. When an appropriation is given to our

16:31city. We also have a strong connection with legislators, because we know that legislators use capital outlay to support improvements or needs, and services are

16:41happening in their districts. So having this funding opportunity, which is capital outlay, it's a great funding source for us. However, to take advantage for that from the

16:52city side, we need to ensure that we have projects ready that we can actually go through this process for that. This is where the Capital Improvements program stand, where we

17:03identify projects, their needs, their potential funding costs and their potential prioritization in order to secure funding. The process started with the CIP that's

17:14usually gets adopted in the in May every year. From there, we follow with the state's Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan, which is in the same format of five year

17:25tool that indicates the city's infrastructure needs. From there, each December, we submit our formal request to the state where we say these are our priorities, and we're hoping to

17:37get funding to fund and secure for those projects. We also work with nonprofits, so nonprofits that currently have a fiscal agent with the city, meaning that we have that

17:51relationship in terms of fiscal fiscal elements. We have to work with them, and they also have to work with us because any type of improvement or procurement that's secured with

18:05capital funding has to be owned by the city. So we have a strong coordination with those nonprofits. So we, we, we have meetings with them, we identify their projects. And then as any

18:16other city department or follow our CIP and I. CIP process. After the legislative session, we know that the governor has to review the bill. That's where we're going to get

18:32noticed. Whether our appropriation was passed formally or get veto. So then this is where Larry and Kristen will help us ensure that if a project passed legislation, we

18:43then do have the guarantee that it's going to be moving forward during the spring and summer time. Once we have confirmation that the project that we submitted received funding or

18:53got an appropriation, we have to work in delivering the specific project details and prepare the documentation that the state requires so they can actually do the the processing

19:04on their side in the fall time. We usually that's when we expect the agreements for appropriations, and then we still have to process those agreements. Then after that,

19:16the city is ready to do the project implementations. And then it is our job to ensure that we deliver in the, in the project that we submitted. So as you can see, we have to work

19:27early on the projects that we have identified as priorities. We also have to make our best to ensure that we're ready once the funds are secured. And then once those funds have been

19:38processed, we have to make sure we stay on top of it so we can actually deliver on our project. So here's where we understand the key in not only securing capital funding, but also

19:50developing and identifying the right projects that will help us secure those funding. So it's a back and forth. It's a balancing of working with what is the city's infrastructure

20:02needs, working with potential funding sources, but then also not keeping track of how we can actually deliver on the projects within the timelines and all of the state

20:13requirements that we have to follow. So with that, I'm going to pass it to Christine for. So I just wanted to give a brief overview of municipal league policy that they are

20:31advocating and sponsoring this year. I provided you each a handout, which goes into a little bit more detail on each policy that they're proposing. Larry already kind of spoke to

20:41the water and wastewater infrastructure funding. One, I just want to know the municipal code. One is related to chapter three in the state statutes. And so they're going to be

20:52reevaluating that one. We also discussed with departments if they had any policy that they are interested in following this session. Of course, from the city clerk, you got it for

21:06reform as usual. They did bring forward some recommendations from the task force from last year. And a couple of the recommendations are things that I have already been advocating

21:19for, including abusive requests and victims rights and children's code. So hopefully, fingers crossed we can make some headway with that. Police has a couple to strengthen

21:30criminal statutes to balance rehabilitation and law enforcement training reform, which is also on the municipal league list. And then sustainability has the seed

21:41appropriations, which is the Community Energy Efficiency Development Block Grant program, which would fund energy retrofits, the I UI, and to expand accessible clean energy

21:51choice. And Jenny is here. If you have any questions regarding those at the end. So now I'm going to turn it over to Natalie, who is going to go into housing policy.

22:03Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor. Members of Council, Natalie Green. For the record, I did print out the full documentation on housing policy. Again, as Larry mentioned, housing is going to be a

22:15priority for the state legislature. There's a number of policies coming forward. I try to synthesize them as best into a single graphic, but this graphic does not do it justice.

22:26But there's about four avenues. So we're going to see investment. So there's advocacy to do significant increase in the investment in the state housing Trust fund. There's

22:37requests for gap financing for local governments to fund projects and infrastructure related to housing. And then there's a couple requests to get funding aligned. So we know

22:49there's multiple agencies funding housing with different deadlines, application processes. So we're going to see some push to see that alignment. There is a request

23:00to increase production. So one of the big priorities is housing ready communities. Thankfully, as Larry mentioned, Las Cruces is ahead of the curve on that. So we would be

23:11one of the first housing ready communities. There is a little bit of zoning and permitting reform. We're seeing that more in northern New Mexico. I, I don't anticipate that it'll go

23:22as far as they think it'll go, but we'll see. There is some tax code, especially property tax reform. The coalition for Housing Abundance Coalition has made that their priority. It

23:36happens to be the first, I guess, second page in your packet. So we do anticipate seeing that be one of the first bills out the door. And then there's quite a bit of emphasis

23:47on workforce homeownership and housing attainability. So we'll see some bills related to that. There are some agencies pushing housing, rehabilitation, affordable housing preservation,

23:59and then mobile home reform and then coordination. The biggest thing that we'll see likely is the Office of Housing or the push to formalize the Office of Housing. As many of you

24:12probably know, the secretary who currently runs the Office of Housing will have a prominent position within Governor Haaland's administration. So again, we'll continue to see housing and

24:23hopefully Las Cruces be a spotlight for their. And then there is quite a bit of emphasis on rural housing development. So whether that's technical assistance or special

24:34set asides for rural communities. So we'll continue to track the bills. And then I'm happy to share information with any councilors as those go through. Again, the three

24:46agencies pushing housing policy will be housing New Mexico and then the Office of Housing, where it currently sits in workforce development, and then the big, larger group of

24:55housing professionals across the state is the Housing Abundance Coalition. And that's made up of both private and public folks. So they'll be pushing most of the information

25:05out. I will turn it over to the fire department. Good afternoon. Mayor Council of Mike Daniels, Fire Chief, Las Cruces Fire Department. I just wanted to talk a little about some of

25:25the items that that we had seen that really, Christine, was like, you can speak to those. So so here I am. The first one is recognize emergency medical services as an essential

25:39government service. So currently it's not. And this is kind of that first step in getting municipal EMS, the, the support it needs at a state level. They don't they don't

25:50qualify for public safety retirement systems. They're they're. So part of that is just taking this step in the right direction. It's a. It's already a legislative priority

26:01for New Mexico Association of counties. So we didn't feel the need to present that to the New Mexico Municipal League. The next is a municipal league policy item. I did reach out to

26:13them, which is fireworks legislation giving municipal municipalities greater control over fireworks restrictions. So as you're aware and we talk about every fireworks season,

26:26we have the strictest rules that are allowed by state law. We can't literally the the only thing the law allows us to do by resolution is tell people that the allowable fireworks

26:41have to be lit in, lit, in barren or paved ground, which encompasses the majority of the city. We don't have native grasslands or native forests in the heart of the city, so we

26:52can't do anything with it. It's. And it doesn't do anything about the the fact that local governments should be able to determine risk and dictate risk. And that's one of the things

27:06that we've been pushing the municipal league about is saying like, allow local communities to identify whether or not there is risk and to make those decisions as a local

27:19community versus just saying, you can ban these types, but these are always allowed regardless of anything that you pass. So I last year there was a slight attempt, which would

27:33have given the State Fire Marshal's HB 155. It did not make it anywhere. And I expect that this is going to be a continued conversation. The next one I have, I think Larry

27:45was going to speak on that because he's definitely more. Informed on all the unique things that the state has been doing, not to get this done. So thank you. Thanks, chief. And on the

28:02fireworks legislation there, there's a bill being drafted. Representative Dixon out of Albuquerque is working with the league on that legislation. So we will see definitely

28:13legislation as it relates to to fireworks this session. So the 700MHz radio user fee funding for the past several years, money has been put in the budget for the Department of

28:26Information Technology to fund this. But it wasn't an ongoing funding stream. We had to go back and keep doing it. What happened last year, and I'll and I'll make sure that this

28:35was implemented because it got a little tricky last year. They put money in the budget to pay for the radio fees, but more importantly, identified permanent funding streams,

28:44allowing the Law Enforcement Protection Fund and the Fire Protection Fund money, which they get a pot of money every year for for capital to fund these radio fees. And we just

28:55need to make sure that it actually got implemented. But the long term solution is in place with that. And so they don't we don't have to keep coming back for legislative

29:05appropriations. And before I talk a little bit about city Council policy, just an observation and a comment, and I appreciate it, is is when you identified the the priorities

29:20or legislative priorities from individual departments. It's pretty broad language, which helps me and helps us a lot because as you know, and as you come up in your visit with the

29:31legislature, things change rather quickly. So if we if we get too narrow in support of any effort or any legislation, and it's it's also pertinent to, to city council policies that I

29:43understand came from councilors, it's much better to have broader policy objectives. And so then you can make decisions as, as legislation gets introduced, I'll run through

29:53these. And then and and then as these have been identified as city Council policy priorities, some of these wouldn't normally we wouldn't haven't seen at the city level. But since they're

30:05of interest and we're tracking legislation anyway, I'll what I'll do is I'll make sure to include them in the legislative tracking reports that get sent to the city every week during

30:13the session so that at least you can see and then you can know what's happening with these with these particular types of policies, Medicaid buy in. There was a study done a

30:22couple of years ago about a Medicaid for all with the state of New Mexico. It was presented, I think, in I think 2024 was when the presentation was made. And so this would be an effort

30:33to utilize the Medicaid program to provide insurance for those who are otherwise uninsured or meet certain guidelines for federal poverty level. Representative Szczepanski is

30:44the one who introduced the legislation last time, and especially with the amount of of revenue we have coming in, I think we're going to see this coming this session, along with

30:53some other issues as it relates to health care, removing preemption and rental control. So currently, local governments cannot impose ordinance on rent control in the statute. And so

31:05there's been efforts and and legislation introduced on this issue to, to remove that restriction, which would give you as the governing body, the ability to adopt rent control

31:16ordinances. My recollection on it in the past is the, the realtors and some of the communities, the Apartment Association, etc. it's a big fight, but if it's when we're

31:27dealing with housing issues, we are now it was introduced, I believe the last time was in the last session. So we're going to see it again. So that will be that will be a topic of

31:37discussion. The New Mexico CcpA Privacy Act that that had to do with protecting privacy of particularly minors as it relates to social media, etc. I talked to the Department of

31:51Justice, the Attorney General's office, because of what's happened with meta and the meta lawsuits, they are actually going to have a piece of legislation that they're

31:59championing. So this one we're definitely going to see. They did indicate that if that if there was an the ability to support legislation like this, they would welcome the help.

32:08And so we're definitely it may not be the same act that has been introduced in the past, but we're going to see a data privacy and protection of minors legislation this session.

32:18Animal welfare is has been on our list before. Since we have an animal shelter, we've been asked many times to support animal welfare legislation. I don't know of any specific

32:28right now, but as legislation is introduced and that's that relates to these next two animal cruelty and animal welfare slot Canyon State Park designation. I believe Senator

32:40Steinborn had this in the past. And so we've seen it. So I would not be surprised if we see that again. And AI statutes, AI again is going. It will be a topic of discussion this

32:52session and what we learned when it was introduced the first time is the use of AI in different industries and probably including municipal government, healthcare, banking,

33:04mortgage lending. It's everywhere. And so it'll be a big discussion. And so this definitely, this is something that that really could pertain and have an impact on the city.

33:13So we'll add these and I'll make sure that, that we're tracking these. And, and if there's any other information or any action that I staff will advise me and then I'll, I'll,

33:24I'll do what I'm asked to do on it. Any questions maybe on this portion while I'm here or anything else you want me to cover as it relates to particularly this slide.

33:39I think we're good. We're. Okay. So now we're going to get into the projects that we're proposing for this year for funding. But before we get to that, I just wanted to do a

33:53brief recap of the amounts of funding that we got this year. As you know, and I presented to you in April, we got a total of around $21 million. So we're hoping to keep that momentum

34:05going. And so our first proposed project for 2027 is Legacy Parks. This project includes the renovation of existing park amenities and the construction of new improvements to modernize

34:19facilities, enhance efficiency, improve accessibility, increase shade, provide wayfinding and monument signage, upgrade outdated systems, and beautify and refresh our parks that are

34:3030 years or older. The parks included are pioneer, Apodaca, Young, Valley View, Frenger, Gomez, Lyons, Ponderosa, Salopek and Branigan. Improvements will also address

34:42Ada compliance, applicable building and fire code deficiencies, and National Sports Association standards. Next on our list is the East Mesa Rec complex. The East Mesa

34:55Rec Complex is a long term multi phase development spanning more than 350 acres and designed to serve as a premier regional destination for sports, recreation and

35:05community gatherings. To date, the city has completed or initiated construction on several key amenities including a community park, regional playground, skate park,

35:15basketball courts, multi-use fields, pickleball courts and baseball and softball fields. The next phase of improvements, as identified in the master plan, includes expanding

35:24existing facilities, developing a bike park and installing a ropes and skills course to support youth programing and team building activities. Additional improvements include

35:35parking enhancements, increased Ada accessibility and expanded spectator amenities such as seating shade structures, concessions and additional restrooms. The project will

35:44also include wayfinding and signage throughout the complex, a trailhead connecting to regional trail systems, and camping and RV facilities to accommodate tournaments and

35:54extended stays. Next, we have the Public Safety Training Facility, a joint effort between Lcpd and lcpd. This project will fund the planning, design, acquisition,

36:07construction, equipping and furnishing of a joint training facility in the city of Las Cruces. The current facility has limited space and does not adequately accommodate the

36:16city's growing training needs. The new facility will provide expanded training areas and larger classroom space, while reducing the need for costly off site revenue rentals.

36:26Additionally, the facility will serve as a community resource and provide opportunities to host public events. Currently, 1 million in GR funding has been allocated toward this

36:36project. Next, we have community outreach vehicles with interest expressed by at least one legislator. We are seeking funding to support the acquisition of community

36:48outreach vehicles. These vehicles will assist the community advocates at Lcpd with further engagement with community organizations and residents. To explain the Lcpd

36:58CARES program, provide education on crime related issues and connect individuals with crisis intervention counseling, legal aid and other community resources. The

37:08advocates also provide follow up and referrals following critical incidents, review crime reports to identify community needs and serve as a liaison between law enforcement

37:17and community agencies, coordinate support services. Angler road extension with 1 million secured during last year's legislative session, an additional 1 million in GR

37:31funding, as well as another 2 million recently awarded by Nmdot. We want to continue building momentum on this important project. The extension of Angler Road will

37:40improve connectivity to Metro Verde, one of the fastest growing areas of the city, while providing an alternative route to accommodate increasing traffic demand. The project

37:49will be completed in three phases phase one Angler Road from Del Rey to Roadrunner. Phase two Angler Road from Roadrunner to Rinconada and phase three Angler Road from

38:01Rinconada to Angler through the BLM property. The scope of work includes new pavement, curb and gutter sidewalks. Ada accessible features, storm drainage infrastructure, street

38:13lighting, traffic signage, pavement markings, intersection improvements and utility upgrades. Ultimately, this project will help reduce traffic congestion along US 70

38:22and its associated frontage. Roads provide an alternative transportation route serving major developments in the area, and enhance multimodal transportation options for the

38:31community. So this project is a little different. We actually submitted for $310,000 to the aging and long term services. We were one of 88 recommended projects on the list, but this

38:47has to be approved at the legislative session. And so that's why it's on the list. I just wanted to keep you guys updated. They requested five vehicles for senior programs.

38:56They requested three hotshot replacement vehicles for nutrition. These vehicles are used to deliver home delivered meals to seniors, commonly referred to as hot cold bodies.

39:06They are equipped with separate compartments to maintain hot and cold food at the appropriate temperatures. During delivery, they requested a Ford Maverick for Are there long term care

39:16roving case manager. This vehicle will be used by long term care case managers as they travel to clients homes to conduct interviews, perform wellness checks and assess

39:25their ongoing needs. And then they requested one Ford F-150 for senior recreation. This vehicle will support senior recreation staff as they travel senior centers to facilitate

39:37activities and transport the equipment and supplies necessary for programing. And so now I'm going to turn it over to Natalie, who is going to talk about affordable housing,

39:45as well as some of the nonprofit priorities. Good afternoon again for the 2026 session. I have an asterisk on ours because we did not actively pursue capital

39:57outlay for affordable housing. We knew that there was going to be other funding sources available to that note, we still were able to get $470,000 without trying. This year's

40:09request is $2 million specifically for phase two of Paseo Verde. That is the project across from Munson Senior Center. So we are focusing on the properties in green. That will be a senior

40:22complex, very similar to Pedrina Senior Apartments. So it is a catalytic project in the El Paseo, South Solano, MRA. It will expand some housing opportunities. There will also

40:35be a public benefit with added parking, which will support some of the lunchtime services happening at Munson. There a little under parked and so folks have been parking at the

40:48parking lot where phase one is. But we know with construction they will have less access to parking. So as part of phase two, we wanted to make sure we still had that public benefit.

40:58It will continue to enhance safety and security in that neighborhood and then stabilize or strengthen the local economy, especially improving that baseline or the above. The base

41:09for the MRA. Phase one is closing this week. Fingers crossed on Thursday. If not, it should close next week. But I'm really rooting for this week and it's immediately going to

41:22start construction. So we are prepping for phase two as part of the nonprofits, the Mesilla Valley Community of Hope campus agencies meet and determine what the priorities are as an

41:38alliance. And so the continuation is the gap financing for the kitchen. So they have quite a bit of funding to get started. The priority is building El Caldito

41:49soup kitchen. So this year they are requesting 2 million again. That'll expand meal service and improve meal service. It will allow them to move out of their current space and have a more

42:01up to date kitchen. And then that kitchen has been designed in a way that will support the city's emergency preparedness. So should another catastrophic event happen, we're able to

42:13both use the facility to have overnight. Occupancy. And then we have obviously full commercial kitchens to support meal service if we needed to. The other priorities, the

42:29continuation of master plan improvements. Last year, they received 434,000 to plan a third driveway on the south side of the Amador Crossing property. This year's request

42:43is 500,000 to do some planning for phase two, which I'm calling Amador Gardens, which is a partnership with Jardin de Los Ninos. And then again, some of that continued traffic

42:56improvement as we plan out the entirety of the campus. With that, I'll turn it over to Christine for the federal priorities. So I just wanted to remind everyone about the federal

43:14awards that we received this year that we were very excited about. We received for the Industrial Park Community of Hope Police Evidence Processing lab and for the Amador Crossing

43:25Apartments. For this coming year. We did submit these projects, the fire station one well, 66 septic young park and gunshot detection. And so we're awaiting to hear about the

43:39earmarks regarding these requests. But these were basically sponsored by these Heinrich and Lujan sponsored fire station 166, also by Heinrich and Lujan Septic by

43:51Lujan Young Park Heinrich, and gunshot detection by Vasquez and Lujan. I will say that Vasquez was very instrumental in getting the other legislators on board with our

44:02projects. He couldn't fund or earmark any of the other ones himself, but he was in conversations with Heinrich and Lujan, and so we were very excited and appreciate all his

44:13help on this. These projects were determined in conversations with the departments. And then we did talk to Kyriakos and John, who basically guided us to the pots

44:23of money that these would be available in. And so we came up with this list, and that was submitted. And so before I go into discussion, I just want to thank the team. They did an

44:35amazing job getting us to this place. We just are seeking direction today. On if the projects that we are proposing are good to move forward for advocacy, with the caveat that,

44:47you know, all our projects are on the list and are available for legislators to look at. And so we may receive unexpected funding for projects, which we did last year, and we are more

44:57than happy to accept those funds. Regarding policy, we recognize that most draft legislation is not introduced until after the session begins. So at this point, we're just

45:07looking for guidance on policy areas that you would like us to monitor and track. For instance, do you want us to follow housing related legislation, or do you want us to follow

45:17anything technology related, especially regarding data centers and AI? And so our goal is to ensure we are monitoring the policy areas that align with your priorities and are

45:28prepared to provide updates and information as legislation is introduced. So with that, I will open it up to discussion. Thank you, Christine and Team Councilor Harris.

45:43Thanks, Mayor and Christine and everybody. This is all pretty good. And thank you for including some of my priorities on the list. So you already know what what I will, will ask

45:54you to keep an eye on during the session. But I had a couple clarification questions for the various departments that asked for things, and I pressed them all. And then you can come up.

46:11I guess specifically, I'm curious about the outreach vehicles for PD and what what will be special about those. Or we just need vehicles. And this is an opportunity to get those

46:22for that specific department. And then some law enforcement training reform. I'm curious what what that actually entails. I know that chief story's been been working pretty hard in

46:37that area. So I'm interested to see how we can support that. Some more details on the sustainability pieces. And. What else is on my list. And the other, which was a more

46:53general question, and I kind of answered it while while doing the math, while you were discussing what we were doing, you know, last year, I think we went into the capital outlay

47:02process asking for a lot. And it sounds like we've learned maybe what's more reasonable to ask. So, you know, it seems like like we're there, but I'm curious kind of what what do

47:18you think a reasonable total is for the number of legislators that we have whose districts fully or mostly encompass Las Cruces? Obviously, we have legislators whose, you know,

47:29just have a few residences in Las Cruces, and then they have to, you know, allocate some funds for the outlying communities. So I just want to make sure we're conscious of

47:38that. And when we go into legislators offices and are like, hey, can you give us $4 million for X that they're not like, that's my entire capital outlay. What are you doing? So

47:48yeah, that's what I got for now. So I can answer that. And then I will defer to the other departments regarding the other ones. We actually did meet with a couple legislators before

47:58today. They did encourage us to not do anything more than between 2 to 4 million as our asks. So we tried to keep it reasonable this year. In the past, what I've seen us get is

48:12between 12 and 15 million, so I think that's reasonable for this year. But if we get more, we're going to take it. We're going to be really excited about it. So for the outreach

48:21vehicles and law enforcement training, I will turn that over to chief. And then, Jenny, for the sustainability part. Good afternoon, mayor, Council Councilor Jeremy Story,

48:31police chief, for the record. So both both things. The second one, we need vehicles and we're looking for funding sources that are outside the general fund to free up that money,

48:42whether it's from existing GR. We're trying to find ways to fund some of those needs from outside sources. The community, specifically those vehicles in that section. So there's still

48:55gonna be police units. So they're going to be very similar to the other units, except some of our like to have a wrap that holds our people in is a little bit more inviting,

49:04opens up conversation and assigned and dedicated specifically to the community outreach section. On the second question of training reform, this is an issue that was

49:13brought before the legislature last year with Senate Bill 50. It passed, I believe, the Senate, and it went to the House and died on the House side. If you look from, you

49:24know, let's say, the 50s onward, the legislature added requirements for law enforcement training over the decades, and they've kind of piled up. There's never been a

49:31reevaluation of what still needs to be trained, what needs to be mandated. And so in statute, there's a requirement for 40 hours over two years as a minimum. I think that's very

49:41low, but that's what it is. But there's 57 hours of requirements already, so that 40 hours is already because there's so many requirements that it's exceeded that the

49:51legislature established Standards and Training Council certification board, law enforcement, county board, and to two boards, one of them just standards and training, which

50:00was neglected because the board was spending more time on certification issues. That council does not necessarily have the power that they was intended to actually dictate

50:09what training needs to be done. And the problem with that statute is that it becomes very rigid. So it's very difficult to implement a new training that's needed, because these

50:18are based on trends that are going on in the nation, in our state. And it's very difficult to take it away when it's no longer relevant. If you put the power in the hands of the

50:28training council, they can be very flexible. They can come up with things that need to be done now because there's something going on in the also say, let's back off this one.

50:37Do it every two years or not do it at all because it's no longer relevant. That's really the broad picture when it comes to reform. That covers a lot of different. There's nuance to it.

50:55Mayor Councilor Councilor Harris, Jenny Hernandez sustainability Officer I'm going to go back to this slide so you can see the exact wording. One of the asks that

51:07we brought forward is the inclusive utility investment, which is also commonly known as tariff Bill. And so we had had a conversation about that, but just tying the two because it

51:20was named something different before, this is really just we are part of the coalition for Sustainable Communities of New Mexico, and they are leading the work on inclusive utility

51:33investment, which is essentially a work. They're going to ask for an appropriation to help set up this program. This is where our investor owned utility, which is EPE, offers a financing

51:49mechanism to help subsidize high cost, energy efficient technology. So think of heat pump water heaters, heat pumps. And the way that this works is it gets tied to the meter. And

52:02that's how the payment for the resident gets paid down is over the time of 20 to 25 years. The key here is though that it's paid. They can only use it for equipment that produces savings.

52:21And so think of a home that has an old electric resistance heater sorry water heater. Those are really inefficient. And so by transitioning to a heat pump water heater there is

52:38guaranteed savings. So say that, you know, the projections show that you'll save $12 a month now with this more efficient piece of equipment on your utility bill, you cannot be

52:50charged more than $12. Again, the key here is really that it produces savings. Some things don't produce savings. And so they would not be eligible. And so this is just another tool in

53:01the tool kit that we're advocating for because of the our plugged in for good program, we've seen, you know, how hard and expensive that equipment can be. And so this is just

53:11another way to help us put all our money together to help reduce those costs. So that's what the inclusive utility investment is. Specifically our seed appropriations. Currently,

53:24we have seed funding, which is through the Ecam office, through energy Resources and natural minerals. I hope I didn't mess that up for short. And our funding runs out next

53:38year in September 2027. And so we are Ecam is bringing forward to just put more money into that bucket. And so we are advocating to support that so that hopefully we can apply

53:52again and get some additional funding. And this is the funding that pays for our plugged in for good program. And then the last portion there, the expand accessible clean

54:03energy choice that is the umbrella to which a lot of these live under, that the coalition is packaging and bringing forward to their municipality, to their local

54:15governments who are interested. I will say that that does include some of the language that Larry mentioned on on data centers as well. Cool. Yeah. Thanks, everybody for clarifications.

54:28That's great. Thanks. Thanks, team, for that presentation. I a couple of things I wanted to lift up. Yes, for sure. Anything housing related I think is important.

54:44Definitely the data center and the IRB policy. I think we should track and follow anything related to police surveillance technology that may affect us. I know that last

54:59year there was some talk about an MRA legislation that I think we should also be tracking if that is to come back. And then I am on the municipal league policy. I mean, these are all

55:11really interesting, but the one that I thought was most interesting was the local Government stabilization fund. I think, you know, the mayor and county did a really great

55:19job at presenting at LFC when they were here, about the deficit issues that we're having, but not just us, many other cities across the state. And so I think that's I would

55:31like to learn more about that and certainly know how we can best advocate for that. I wanted to just name the how tricky it feels. I would love to see the preemption on rent

55:43control go away. And at the same time, it feels tricky to also then advocate for zoning legislation because that feels like preemption. So I think for us, for us, we should be more

55:57thoughtful about how we encounter Larry, unless you feel like I'm misreading that, but it does feel a little preemptive to tell municipalities how to zone. So that's tricky. I acknowledge

56:11that, but I want I just wanted to note that I also wanted to note that we have at least one, but maybe two new representatives in. I don't know if rep elect Mooney is in

56:24the city at all. I'm not entirely sure. I don't think so, but certainly at least one other new representative. That icon, I think if you haven't already, certainly reach out,

56:34Christine, and build a relationship with rep elect Martinez. And then Larry, I would love to. I am certain the governor elect s calendar will be. Everyone is trying to get a

56:47piece of it. I would love to have her come here, or at least know the challenges we're facing. I especially want to lift up the utilities. I think for us, projects come, they

57:03tend to be the most expensive and the ones that we need to really plan for a long time in the future. And so any chance I get, I want to lift up our public utility and how

57:13important it is for us to protect it, to invest in it, to expand it. So any chance you may get, even if we want to make it a very specific ask for her and her team to come to our

57:23some of our facilities. So I know I threw a lot at you, but it seems like you wanted to add something. Thank you, Mayor and Councilor Bencomo. I will say, when I saw you, Connie, before

57:32the meeting, one of the very first things he asked me is can we get something set up with our new representative elect, Martinez? So he's definitely thinking along those lines as

57:42it relates to preemption. What I would say, unless unless I get different direction, traditionally, anything that looks like preemption or diminishing of your authority

57:52as the governing body, we typically oppose it unless there's some specific issue and the municipal league takes that same approach is to to preserve the local authority as much as

58:03we can. I'm happy to, I will. I am in conversations with the members, some members of of governor elect Haaland's team. So I'm happy to put that request in. It is. It'll be

58:14tough, but I know she's going to probably want to get different views from different parts of the state. So I think it's an easy pitch to make. And so I think I hit all of the

58:24ones that I wanted to make sure and hit on. Yes. Thank you. And then the last thing I was this for you and Natalie, you know, in the last couple of years, we've

58:34gone sort of outside capital outlay funds to get really strong investments in housing from another pot. And I know that I'm assuming, I'm assuming I don't know that Albuquerque

58:46is going to go back and ask for another giant set of dollars, and I think we should do the same. Natalie. I feel like every the last two years, it's been sort of not an

58:57afterthought, certainly, but not something we've planned on. And so if perhaps we can reach back out to Chairman Small about this, but I would I would like us to think about asking

59:09for a nice cushy, historic investment in housing outside of the capital outlay dollars. Mr. Mayor. Councilor Bencomo I've already made the ask. So I did speak with Chairman Small

59:23to make that ask. I'm also working. The housing person at Bernalillo County has moved to the Middle Rio Grande Cog. So he did reach out to me. For those who don't know,

59:35Bernalillo is probably the other more advanced affordable housing program. And so I did give them our list of projects. And so we're working on a statewide ask not just for Las

59:47Cruces and Bernalillo County, but all the others for that gap financing tool. So we are in talks. And then my reason for putting this specifically on the capital outlay is because I

59:59do anticipate that the governor will have her letter out, and they typically fund those projects at a higher amount if they're in our top, you know, ten priorities or top three

60:11priorities. And I, I have a feeling housing will be on that list. So thank you for clarifying that there. Thank you for can I just ask you, Natalie, how much you

60:21asked for to. Chairman Small. 10 to 15, but I told them we could spend as much as 20. Yeah, I, I say we go for the. I say we don't negotiate down with ourselves and ask for the

60:35larger amount. I'm sure they'll negotiate down on our behalf. And I think given the reception that we received at LFC, frankly, not just LFC, every committee that was down here,

60:50there were representatives, senators that were very impressed with their work. I know our our own people are much harder to impress, but I, I take a lot of pride in the

61:00fact that representatives from all over and senators from all over the state were very impressed with our work. And so if they want to help fund our work, we should we should ask

61:09for it. So I, I, I think we should ask for 20 million because I know we can spend it. Thank you, thank you. Thank you, mayor and Councilor Bencomo, just briefly,

61:19and one thing of note is Sarita Nair has been named as as governor elect Haaland's chief of staff. And Natalie and the city did a really good job of establishing rapport and trust

61:31with her because she was dealing with the housing issues. So I think that helps. And the Holland, even before the the campaign, before the election, was working hard on affordable

61:42housing. City of Albuquerque does have a huge ask, Damien. Eli has taken Damien Eli, a former state representative from Corrales, has taken it upon himself to try and help

61:52the city of Albuquerque with the the unhoused population and housing. So he's working on it. Met with the Municipal League last week. And also another idea on that infrastructure

62:02fund, because it's one reason to love AJ 40, from the league, is he saw another opportunity that maybe you could even do housing if they get enough money in that fund. So there's

62:11going to be lots of kind of interesting, innovative efforts. Question is the infrastructure fund, how do you navigate the anti donation clause? Is it it will it be only public.

62:30Mayor and council. Correct. It would be local governments like as we can with the Water Trust Board. It would be the same type of requirements. And so it would have to fit in one

62:39of those exemptions. But housing is is one of them we can spend public dollars on. Yes. I was thinking for something else, Larry, but thank you, I appreciate it.

62:53Councilor. Thank you. Chris. Take further questions and then I'll flip back to you when you're presenting on our wish list, we make it a priority. We've been working on

63:09developing tiny homes. Are you familiar with that strategic plan? If not some access and roads to build tiny homes. You know, if you take $20 million and you build tiny, I think you

63:27have about 400. On the other side of about 50. So I think that what the the parties up in Santa Fe and. Also I think, I think I have consensus. We have the. Council members, myself

63:45and Cassie will get consensus to. Develop tiny home or some some type of strategic plan on it. So I appreciate that on the other items on on septic tanks, can someone tell me the other

64:07was sent to my request? We'll have the the areas that were declined, I think the governor looked at the. Again, a pocket of money for septic tanks to be efficient. So other than Sinopec.

64:28Mayor Councilor Mattis, I actually have a map that I can send you. I don't have them all off the top of my head. But I can send that to you. I know utilities is really interested

64:39in doing a feasibility study, and that's why we didn't ask for that as part of the capital, because it can't be funded by that. But they're interested in doing a feasibility study first

64:47before we get into the reconstruction. Yeah. Again, I think that's very important. I just a little bit about that and I want to tackle to, to protect our in, in the city on, on the other

65:02item, I just wanted to know for the 12:00, I'm not a proponent of building control. You know, but I think if we're going to go down that path, we want to help the public engage them.

65:16You know, it has to be some work sessions as well as public meetings. If. We need to confront stuff, but I failures and and Santa Fe, I, I think the city allows customers needs

65:34to be the same process. We seem to be at whatever Santa Fe does. It seems like they do it from Albuquerque. You know, I like to have a Cruces to explain the value. And I think that's why

65:47those public meetings. And that's a priority for our financial planning and public safety. And the number one priority is on my opinion. And I have some. Obligations and

66:03some requests for for public self-improvement. Thank you, Mayor and Councilor Mattis, as it relates to to rent control, the statute currently reads that local

66:14governments are prohibited from enacting rent control ordinances. So essentially, what would happen is it if they repealed that section or that part of the statute, it then

66:24would allow local government to consider whether they wanted to impose rent control? So it wouldn't it wouldn't be a mandate. It would be the ability for you to consider it.

66:34But having said that, a a piece of legislation like this, although it may seem simple in its implementation, is really difficult to pass because you have a lot of interested

66:46parties on both sides. It's pretty controversial. So it's a it's a tough road to pass a piece of legislation like that, even in a 60 day session. Yeah. And I, in the

66:57controversial issue of some yet to be avoided. But to me that some type of distraction, you know, we have things that we need to accomplish, like housing and providing that 5300

67:13units and things like that, that I think in public safety. So all of the document that was created by those systems, I, I approve it, I just want like some things not to be behind

67:29what I believe is the city Council wishes the residents that we're up here just representing, I think, 3000 people. Thank you. Councilmember Clark. I just want to voice my

67:50support specifically for IPRA requests, and that we look to see how we can support you in making sure that you're not drowning in a workload that is unreasonable and actually

68:02affecting, to a large degree, journalists who are doing their job. And this is one of those conversations I'd like to have at the roundhouse, if we can. Thank you.

68:13Okay. Thank. I just want to mention that, like, I also feel like the city of Las Cruces. Kudos to Natalie. Her team have done tremendous things with with housing. And we've been

68:28very fortunate. I just want to make sure when we're looking at that housing, I think Councilman Como mentioned utilities. I want to say, like all those other things that

68:37come with it is to make sure that we're advocating for those as well. The resources when it comes to the infrastructure, whether it can help public works, community development,

68:46when we have to review plans and we have to do inspections, that all of that is tied in as well. That because we continue to get these housing funds, then we're left with some other

68:59resources that the city needs to provide. So if we can tie that in as well and, and support that in any way possible. I also agree with councilor McClure on the anything that we can do to

69:13advocate and help out in changing that because it is overwhelming. It it is it is bombarding and taxing our system. And then I saw the council policy, city Council.

69:24One of the things that I will be an advocate for is public safety. So if there's any things that are for police and fire, we would like to make a safer Las Cruces and advocate

69:36for public safety as well. All right. Okay. Thank you. Next is item 9.2, the American Rescue Plan Act financial update. Liam Beasley. All right. Good afternoon

70:13mayor. Members of City council. I'm Liam Beasley, the accounting manager. And as we're getting towards the end of the Arpa grant period, I want to give a financial update

70:22and let you know where we're at with all of the spending. Just to review some of the background information again. The American Rescue Plan Act was a $1.9 trillion federal

70:34stimulus package passed in 2020. And out of that amount, 350 billion went to various state, local and tribal governments in order to help them deal with the negative impacts from the

70:45Covid 19 pandemic. The city received two payments of $12.4 million each, for a total of 24.8 million, and the requirements are that the funds needed to have been obligated

70:58by December 31st, 2024. And we did meet that deadline, and all the funds need to be spent by the end of this year on December 31st. Anything not spent by the deadline needs to

71:08be paid back to the US Treasury Department. Here's an overview of all the funds. Again, we see that we received $24.8 million, and as of a week ago, on November 2nd, we spent $24.2

71:24million giving us an unspent balance of 560,000. And so we spent about 98% of the total. And then going into the specifics, starting with Visit Las Cruces, they got an

71:39allocation of 1,061,000, and they're fully spent premium pay for city employees. That went out in October of 2021, received 958,000. And that's fully spent. And then there are

71:54the water and sewer projects, which got $3.5 million, which are all fully spent as well. That includes the sewer connect program for utilities, about $900,000 spent on the cost of

72:06Linda Acres reconstruction project. And then a few months ago, in early July, we took another resolution to council and got it approved in order to reallocate the remaining water

72:17and sewer funds to the Cortez Drive Improvements project. Because there were some issues with the contractor on the Casa Linda one, and we were able to successfully do that. So we've

72:27spent that bucket down. For the capital projects. The allocation was 6.9 million and that's fully spent. This was supplemental funding for the East Mesa Public Recreation

72:42Complex, the new animal shelter, the Unidad Park renovations, as well as the new transit facility. Public health and safety was $2 million for various police and fire

72:54department projects. We spent everything except about $58,000. And then the administrative category got 410,000, and that has been fully spent. And then to go into a few more details

73:11about the public safety, the one project that hasn't been finished is the fire department, CPR, and EMT training. This is for overtime, as well as classes provided by a vendor

73:24for the firefighters that received 368,000. We've spent 310,000 and the unspent is 58,000. And I know there are some more training classes scheduled this month, so we'll

73:38be able to spend some more of that funding down. The storefront grants receive 400,000. We spent 231,000 giving us a balance of 169,000. There's about $10,000 in the

73:55queue in order to get paid out soon. And this includes the small business grants for storefront repairs and improvements as well. The city also awarded nine sub grants to

74:11various nonprofit organizations. The Boys and Girls Club got 1,388,000, and they're fully spent. Catholic Charities received 550,000, and they were able to spend down 378,000. And

74:26the unspent amount of 172,000 will need to be paid back to the US Treasury Department for the Community Action Agency. They received 1.7 million, and they were able to spend down

74:40everything except about $300. The next three Cruces creatives got $1 million, Jardin de Los Ninos, 350,000 and Lift Fund received a million. And all three of those are fully spent.

74:58The See Valley Community of Hope got 300,000. They're fully spent. And then through the Mesilla Valley, Mesilla Valley Public Housing Authority, which received 306,000. And the New

75:10Mexico Housing and Community Development Corporation, which received $2 million. Those are fully spent, and those were for the Oak Street Apartments and Peach Tree Canyon apartment.

75:20Affordable housing projects. There were also five workforce grants. The Valley Economic Development Alliance got 100,000. They spent everything except 7800. And so that'll be

75:37reverted to Treasury. The Southern New Mexico Independent electrical contractors got 200,000 and they're fully spent. The New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions got 100,000.

75:50And they have $4,000 left, which will be reverted. And then engage. Their child care program got 300,000. They were able to spend about half of it. And the unspent amount of

76:06149,000 will be reverted to the US Treasury. And then finally, the Dona Ana Community College job training program was fully spent. And that was 240,000. And then just to go over the

76:23reverting the unspent money, we're going to be receiving directions from US Treasury when we do our final quarterly reports for Arpa. And at this point, we're anticipating

76:32somewhere between 400 to 550,000 to pay back to them. The breakdown for that is 333,000 for non-profits and the workforce grants. And then the storefront grants 169,000, but

76:48we'll be able to spend at least $10,000 more for that. And then the fire, CPR, and EMT training, there was the balance of 58,000. And again, we're going to be able to spend a little more

77:01this month with the additional training. And the final note is that engage and the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance, they received their grants as upfront payments. And

77:13so the city will need to get that funding back from those organizations in order to pay that back to the US Treasury. Our grants team is working with these organizations, and I

77:24believe next week, Macy Valley Economic Development Alliance is going to be sending that money back to us, and they're going to be working with engage as well. And that's the

77:37financial update. And I can try to answer any questions. All right. Thank you, Councilor Curren. Thank you. Thank you Liam. That's a good presentation. And I appreciate all those folks

77:50who work to get their money out the door. I do have a question about the logistics of this, which I, I was here when we did these awards, and I'm not sure if I understood who was being

78:02paid up front and who wasn't and how that would come out in the end. If I could go back in time, I probably would have had a different perspective given this situation, because my

78:12understanding is we are on the hook to revert all of this money, right? Because it hasn't been spent. And so that feels like our bad. And I know this was like a totally novel thing

78:27that we never have done before or have done since. And I know that there are lots of things that we had to work through to figure that out, but. I, I think that some of these were

78:38paid sort of on a, on an invoicing basis. And I would like for us to just make sure that we, in the future don't end up in this type of situation where we pay out up

78:48front and, and then are in are on the hook in a way that I think is I'm not I'm not particularly comfortable with us being in this type of position with the community

78:56organizations that we funded. So I'm curious if you can talk any more about that, or if there were conversations along the way? I just seems like a bit of a miss from our

79:09accounting perspective. So yes, mayor Councilor Kron, that is correct. All of the nine nonprofit grants are billed on a reimbursable basis. So we do whatever they haven't

79:22spent down. We do have that money to then pay back to Treasury, and the city is ultimately the one on the hook to pay back any unspent funds to the federal government for

79:32the five workforce grants. I believe all but one are were paid up front. And I believe it was. The Department of Workforce Solutions that wasn't paid up front, but all the

79:48other workforce grants were. And so, yeah, we'll need to get that money back from the organizations. But I can't speak to the decisions that were made when, when the

80:00contracts and the grants were being negotiated because I wasn't involved with that. But yeah, that is something that we've talked about internally, that redoing the doing them on

80:12a reimbursable basis is the better move. Thank you. Yes, I just, I know it's a pain to everyone who has to do it. And I think if we're going to put that pain

80:23on one group of folks, I would appreciate if we make sure that the city is is doing that equitably and we don't. Whatever happens in the future, we have a model that allows us

80:32to do reimbursable expenses more than upfront payments. So thanks. Councilmember. Could you could you explain how do you get quarterly reports, monthly reports, and who is it on the

80:50nonprofits and knowing their balances and what they've spent was that on a monthly basis? Mayor Councilor Mattis? So the nonprofits and workforce grants, they are supposed to be

81:02submitting invoices to the city on a monthly basis. And that's how they bill us. And there are also quarterly reports due from them, if I recall correctly. And so they are sending us that

81:13information. But that's mostly handled through our grants team. And so I don't know if somebody else can speak to that because I don't deal directly with the

81:24all these nonprofits. But yes, they do. They are required to do reporting both, both, both monthly for their invoicing as well as quarterly for just general programmatic reporting.

81:38Okay. Because there are some different process. And some of them, some of them are paid the same. And so I know for one, I get a little time to play out with what they have asked about.

81:50They just got an email front and then the others don't really. Come in. And, and they fill out the money. Why the two different processes? Councilor. So yes, that's

82:06correct. Some of them did get all the money up front, but they had they still had reporting requirements to the city in order to, you know, give us updates on what on what

82:16was done. As to your question about why the two different methods were selected, again, I'm not I wasn't involved with the negotiating and writing of the grant contracts. They.

82:28Paying up front is allowable from the federal guidelines for all the Arpa funds. But as to why certain organizations were given funds up front and others weren't, I can't speak to that.

82:46Sorry. Councilor Bencomo. Thank you. I. What is the approximate total for that's being reverted back. At this point? It's looking like somewhere between $400,000 and 550,000.

83:06Okay. I personally didn't want to give back a single cent. Curious last time you presented would have been last quarter, right. Were you presenting on this quarterly? I can't

83:17remember, I know when was the last time you presented. A Councilor? Bencomo. So we took the resolution for the Casa Linda money in July, but before that, I believe the last

83:28time that an update was presented was last October, a year ago was correct. That was mostly focused on the nonprofits and workforce. Grants a year ago. Regardless, what I do remember

83:41was that I, I don't remember there being any red flags about us not being able to spend down the money. I'm curious if you or somebody else can speak to the internal levers, what

83:57happened that we got to this point and now we have to revert back almost $500,000. Good afternoon, grants manager, mayor. Councilor Bencomo. A year ago, we thought

84:21we were in much better place than we were towards the end. Not only has the. What's the word I'm looking for the role of Covid kind of taken a back seat and people aren't really

84:36conscious of it, even though it's still very much in our community. Part of the the slowdown in spending was that people were not as likely to request aid. I'll give you an

84:49example. Catholic Charities Catholic Charities was awarded $550,000. They really didn't have the infrastructure in the capacity to build that large of a program. They had some

85:04trouble starting, and therefore, because they were already behind a year before they got to actually cutting checks to landlords or to utilities or the electric company that

85:18slowed down their spend rate. They also had some challenges, challenges in keeping staff. They also encountered folks who could not provide the the type of documentation that was

85:34needed to be able to make payments on backed up rent. One of the things we learned is that a lot of people don't have leases. If you don't have a lease, how do we know who we're

85:47supposed to make a payment to and how do I know? Or how do I show the government really is that that money went to the the reason that it needed to be. So a lot of folks wouldn't even

85:59meet the requirements of the project. So they, they, they couldn't be recipients of funding, which after three years snowballs into $172,000 that they were not able to give away.

86:16Yeah. Thank you for providing greater context. I, I understand right, that not everything was either. We could have been able to predict it or I understand some of those

86:28things, I think. And, you know, hopefully we never have to be in a position where the government is giving us $24 million because there was a global pandemic ever again.

86:41However, I do hope that this can the outcomes of some of this can provide learnings for us about how to navigate with non-profits that don't have capacity like that. Maybe we

86:58should have we should have been able to catch right, some of those kinds of things. So and then for the ones that do have capacity, what happened? I, I understand that this is a lot

87:07more like 2020 hindsight type of thing. And I guess my other thing is you weren't necessarily suggesting this as a recommendation. So I'm just going to ask why not? It seems

87:19like we still have two months left. Is there not a responsible way to try to spend down this money that can go direct? I know people are hurting in our community,

87:34whether it was from Covid or not. I know they're hurting. So I'm curious about if there is a responsible way for us to be able to keep this money and, and give it to the folks that

87:46need it the most. Mayor Councilor Bencomo, we did look at that when Catholic Charities came to us back in. What did we say? It was in July, either late June or early July,

87:58and said, we're not going to be able to spend this down. We tried finding another one of our already existing subrecipients that would be able to take on that money and

88:10be able to do with it what what was meant for those dollars. And unfortunately, nobody had the capacity to be able to turn something around that quickly. For example, I know I think

88:23the community of hope, the money they received was for landlord mitigation. Correct. You're telling me that they were not able to take this money for that kind of

88:34continued work, even though they spent it down pretty quickly? Yes, ma'am. They were my first phone call. Okay. And unfortunately, the executive

88:44director, was not in a position to be able to take that on at that time. Okay, okay. We tried. There's no more phone calls we can make. There's still two sort of two months left.

88:55Well, by the time we get a contract put together and out the door, it's going to be December. So we tried. We really did. We I trust me, we're not happy to have to do

89:07this. Okay. We are still waiting for one of the nonprofits under the workforce group who still has some outstanding invoices that were not fully that were not fully

89:21submitted. So our grant specialist who is working on that is in our account, our accountant who is working on Arpa, are both working with that individual to get that.

89:34Paid up so that we can or rather documented they were paid up front so that we would not be liable for returning that high of a number. Okay, okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you. I just

89:58want to say I, I remember at the beginning of the process. And there was applications and submittals and people saying what they were going to do, but we got to recall that

90:07it was a time of the unknown and we didn't know. Where and what we were going to do and where we were going. I live at 98%. I think that's pretty good. It's pretty good. So thank

90:21you to the grants to the finance department. Everyone that was involved in the whole process. There's some things that are just beyond our control. I understand that I

90:31look at this as like, well, it's kind of a good thing that we're not having any more open windows and doors. And I'm not advocating that we spend the money by having that take place.

90:44But but those are those are some of the things that are beyond my control. But when I look back and reflect on all the process and everything that we went through for this, and

90:55to be at 90%, 98%, I think everyone did very good. So kudos to you all and thank you for your hard work, I appreciate it. So the 1.3 Recreation Center options, Katherine Harris Rogers.

91:27Good afternoon, members of City Council Mayor Katherine Harrison Rogers for staff. Today, we are bringing forward a discussion just about recreation, recreation center

91:43types, potential locations, and seeking direction from Council on how we want to move forward. This council was gracious enough to a lot about $2 million towards recreation

91:55centers as part of the GR increase, and this is an effort to receive feedback to understand how we move forward with that. So right now, we do have some pretty intense need

92:09for indoor recreation space. Mierscheid is currently at capacity. Oftentimes, there are waitlists to participate in certain activities. There are generally three ways to add

92:22this space. You can see those really large centers. Hobbs has a great example. The core mierscheid is more of our traditional sort of midsize recreation center. And then

92:34there's a new trend in recreation centers whereby steel span buildings are developed to provide recreational opportunities indoors at a, at a, at a fraction of the cost, frankly.

92:46And so today, we're looking towards Council to find out what type of facility you might be interested in and then ultimately where you might want to see these facilities. So we

92:58have about 74,000ft of recreation center space today. This includes Mierscheid, our senior centers, as well as East Side Recreation Center. That's a really small center off of

93:09Bataan Memorial. We have a need listed in our master plan for approximately 127,000ft of space by by 2045, and that gap is about 53,000ft. So we also have some level of service

93:28needs in our master plan, specifically basketball courts and volleyball courts. We are shy of meeting those needs. I actually think that the numbers you're seeing here are actually

93:37higher. Our master plan is from 2019, and just based on the type of input and requests that we get from the public, I actually think this is much higher. Mierscheid today was

93:49built in 1973. We did a lovely facelift to that and just had a grand opening related to that just about a week or two ago. That facility is a little over 30,000ft. Something to note

94:01about the east side of town. We actually don't have anything but a very small center. That's the East Mesa Recreation Center off of Bataan, has an undersized court, not exactly a

94:11half court, but an undersized court and a little indoor space. And then ultimately on the west side of town or south of town. We actually don't have anything either. Mierscheid Mierscheid

94:20is really it in the central part of the city, and with the heat and the wind that we experience year after year, that's getting more intense. We really do need those indoor

94:30facilities. So I'm going to go over our options again. We've got that midsize traditional, the large size traditional and the steel span. Here is some examples of one large

94:42traditional center you can see in the photos. This is actually a collegiate recreation center with some climbing and some fitness facilities. This is the core in Hobbs. And this

94:53interior is actually the corn Hobbs as well of their aquatics facility, the Hobbs. And there's a Provo model as well. They're pretty large facilities exceeding 100,000ft,

95:06particularly in Hobbs. That's 158,000ft. Everything is under one roof. There's a lot of different amenities, including all sorts of services, childcare R and a number of other

95:16options. In these scenarios, these are regional destination centers. They are. Signature building requires an architect. It's a traditional construction. These really do have higher

95:27costs. This was approximately $63.5 million in 2018. We estimate that to be closer to 94 to $134 million in today's dollars, which is sounds kind of insane. It's about $5.3

95:42million to run per year, and it takes anywhere from about 24 to 60 months to design build a really large center such as this. Option B this is more of your mierscheid type model.

95:58This is a mid-size traditional center. Generally, these are about 45 to 65,000ft. These run pretty costly, about the same cost per square foot as that larger center that I just

96:09showed you. Between 600 and $850 a square foot. That's really based on sort of how specialized the amenities are. It's a pretty familiar model. Usually see some indoor gyms,

96:20fitness, indoor track, some flex rooms, some classrooms. These are lower cost just by the nature of the size being smaller. And again, we're looking at about a 30 to $43

96:32million cost for only about 1 or 2 indoor courts. These are approximately $2.5 million a year to run. And again, these are quite lengthy to build. Again, just because of the

96:44nature of the specialized custom build associated with these. Option C these are the steel span buildings I referred to. These typically consist of multiple multi-use gyms. You

96:58can do pickleball, basketball, indoor volleyball. A number of other court sports. Generally, these provide oftentimes indoor tracks. They do provide the hardwood floors. And often you

97:12see you're seeing actually turf in a lot of these models. The hive in Nephi, Utah is a really good example. And the NoCo in Windsor, Colorado is another one. Now, Silver City just

97:23built something very similar to this. You can see that sort of in this lower corner right here. And then ultimately, this is the interior of NoCo in Windsor, Colorado. These are a little

97:34less expensive to build. They're easier because they're essentially prefab model anywhere between 200 and $350 a square foot, usually around 35,000ft to get a number of

97:46courts. So again, a lot less expensive between 10 and $25 million each. And multiple courts. In my research in the state of New Mexico, the the largest facility with multiple

97:59courts is one that is in Albuquerque. It has four courts but doesn't go beyond that. These are really great for tournaments and and bringing people to town and really

98:10bolstering some some economic activity. There are two centers in this scenario at a lesser cost, could serve two areas of town. Ultimately, the design build is a little less in terms

98:21of the timing between 18 and 24 months and then cost recovery because of the tournament capacity or ability at these locations is around a 75%. I'm going to talk about funding and

98:33not funding, excuse me, but operational costs and the ability to to regain some some monies associated with these facilities. The trade offs is there's less architectural

98:43flexibility, but you can make them attractive. And then if we are able to do two buildings, you can you can provide more options. But that does mean duplicating staffing. So that

98:54can be more costly. Now operating costs. This is just a snapshot. You can see the large traditional centers are typically much more expensive just again by the size. And

99:05their staffing needs a little over $5 million. Midsize is the mirror shot model around $2.5 million. Those smaller buildings, a little shy of $1 million for one, and a little

99:18shy of $2 million for two. And here's a breakdown, ultimately, of the types of operating costs you might see in these scenarios. Staffing is really important for these. It does

99:34require additional full time staff and part time staff. For those smaller models that I discussed, those those steel span buildings, just because of the nature of the type of

99:44building that it is, it's less staffing around four and a half full time equivalents plus part time. Oftentimes if you're doing tournaments at those sites or leagues at those sites,

99:53you have assistance from members of those leagues in the tournaments. Staffing for one center would be about $545,000, or for two centers, a little more than $1 million. The Hobbs

100:08 | model actually reached out to Hobbs to find out what their staffing needs were and how much it costs them per year. They have about 24 full time employees, 60 part time

100:17 | employees and 15 seasonal employees. Their staffing is $2.4 million a year. Those large centers and those midsize size centers do require a little bit more staffing.

100:28 | Typically, what you see in these centers are recreation supervisor, program and recreation coordinators, maintenance and custodial staff. And then of course, the part

100:37 | time staff. Something to think about is the hours really do drive the staffing in the Hobbs model. Their hours are actually quite early morning to quite late at night. I think they

100:49 | open at 5 a.m. if I recall. And they, they closed shop very late in the evening. And so of course that does require a lot more staff and will ultimately be more expensive. So I'd like

101:01 | to talk about cost recovery. Generally you will see subsidies for all centers. You just can't get away from that. But you can see anywhere between 15% to 80% cost

101:13 | recovery depending upon the type of programing, depending upon if it's more self-supported so, i.e. leagues and tournaments or whether or not it's open access use and

101:24 | it's just drop in fees. And so typically in those larger facilities, you could try to get as much as, as much recovery as possible. But there's a lot of drop ins,

101:36 | there's a lot of aquatics and things that typically cost a lot more and require more subsidies. And so if you create something where you can build in the ability to, to get more

101:48 | recovery, of course it costs us less in the end. Typically what we like to see is courts, turf, track, fitness classes, rooms, and event space classes, the ability to do workshops and

101:59 | programing for youth. One of the the big trends today is actually multigenerational programing to get everybody of all ages in together and really have families participate as a

102:10 | group. Regional tournaments, of course, are growing and growing, and then classes, camps and open gyms are always really popular, especially during the summertime and and after school

102:21 | programs. We are proposing a fee structure that would include include market based pricing, tiered memberships, and then sponsorship and naming rights that can also lower

102:32 | costs for the city. Ultimately, one thing that we do need to decide is how much should these centers pay for themselves, or are we going to subsidize the. This is a nice snapshot to show

102:45 | you just sort of the trade offs at a glance in terms of what the large traditional facility might cost. Midsize and of course, steel stand span buildings. Staff is asking

102:56 | Council for direction on whether you would prefer the large traditional, the midsize traditional, such as mierscheid or steel span buildings. And staff's recommendation is

103:04 | actually two steel span buildings so that we can cover two sides of the city. So I'm going to talk about locations at this juncture on the east side, we've identified several

103:18 | locations. Metro Verde area is one, Rinconada, North Rise, Mesa Grundy and the Telshor North Rise area i.e. tea time. We own that. So something to note about this map. All the

103:30 | pink stars are private properties, and the blue star is a property that the city already owns. This is the fastest growing area and this is one where the needs.

103:39 | Although there's a lot of new stuff going in this area, the need is great and will be growing as this gets built out. The other location area that we sort of highlighted is the west

103:50 | side or the MRA areas. You can see that the East Picacho, MRA is in the gray, the El Paseo and Solano, MRA area is in the pink, and we have highlighted several locations. There's a

104:06 | location over at Bruins and Motel that we own, Tashiro and Varley. There's an ideal location that's privately owned at this. This time another one near La Llorona, also privately

104:17 | owned Burn Lake. I apologize, that should have been in blue rather than pink. We do own that location as well. And then we identified several potential sites in the El Paseo, MRA that

104:31 | could fit a recreation center. But of course, we would have to work with private developers. So staff at this time is recommending a narrowing down those sites. And this is really

104:42 | based on accessibility in terms of how many offsite improvements that we need to do, the distancing locations from Mierscheid. So we want to make sure that it's not in a place

104:57 | that is that is too close to Mierscheid, but something that's spread out throughout the city. And also we also want to look at areas whereby the turnaround may be faster. So do

105:10 | we have the potential to do a public private partnership with a willing participant? Is it something that we already own and we can just get after it right away? Those are the those

105:19 | are the ideal locations. And I want to point out just some geographic spacing. So you kind of understand what we're recommending. Something to note, although there are some really

105:29 | key locations that we did identify earlier, the future recreation center location that has been highlighted by Dona Ana County. I don't think this is a final, but one of the

105:41 | prime locations that they identified is really close to the metro area. So I do want to point that out. You can see Mierscheid right here. And then ultimately the distance between

105:51 | tea time property and Burn Lake, which we own, and then ultimately the El Paso, MRA. And then the Rinconada North Rise property that we've identified. Next, I want to

106:02 | talk about financing. We are not recommending necessarily one way or another today, but this is just an open discussion. We'll bring back maybe some options at a later date, but

106:13 | what we've identified are potentially municipal bonds. So that would be like the GR revenue bonds that we've recently passed go bond. Of course, the the library is

106:22 | going to be a recipient of that thanks to our voters, public private partnerships are also another option. A couple of scenarios where the developer builds and then the city leases.

106:33 | Another scenario where developer builds, we buy and potentially maybe having a partnership whereby there's a housing and a facility that are developed simultaneously just

106:43 | for cost savings and a return to the city. Some other tools that we did identify are MRA and tax increment financing tools, bond anticipation notes. This was something new to me,

106:55 | and I think for a couple of people, this is basically like gap financing before bonds are passed. There is some risk on the city, but it helps bridge the gap until we actually

107:05 | receive those bonds. And then some other sources of course, are park impact fees, state capital outlay grants, and then naming and sponsorship rights. As I had highlighted earlier.

107:16 | Now we are seeking your guidance so that we can move forward and do a little bit more analysis. Question one is related to the facility type. Again, staff is recommending

107:27 | the steel span building option at two locations. And then question two is the location is there a preference to just one location, two locations? And ultimately where out of those

107:40 | that I highlighted, of course, we narrowed those down for you based on a number of factors. But we are we are absolutely happy to have a fuller discussion if there's some

107:49 | other ideas out there. And so once we provide some guidance, some guidance or direction from council, we're going to evaluate the sites a little bit more closely to ensure that

107:59 | these. There isn't a gotcha in terms of having some some offsite infrastructure improvement or otherwise. We will bring some conceptual renderings to you and then also

108:10 | discuss some funding options in a little bit more detail so that we can maybe be strategic about how we get there. So with that, we are happy to take questions, maybe give some

108:22 | answers and look forward to those. All right. Well, thank you, Catherine, I appreciate this and I'm very excited about this. You had me at indoor recreation

108:33 | centers, but we'll go with the rest of Council Council, please. Thank you, I appreciate it. You also had me at Indoor recreation Center, so I'm here for it. And and with I will

108:45 | play basketball with the mayor. Even though last time he beat me at it when it opens, I guess, I guess I was also beaten by a child. So you know, it's not don't be don't get too high on

108:57 | the horse, buddy. But whenever, whenever these open, I will look forward to getting my butt whipped again. I, I. Really appreciate you narrowing it down. I came here today because

109:10 | I really wanted to say the biggest thing that we hear from young people is that they can't get transport to places. And that's why I was afraid that Metro Verde, as much as I'm

109:19 | sure district five, would love to have more space, although we already have 36 parks in district five, it's not particularly accessible to young, young people, which I

109:29 | assume is a big portion of what we're coming here to is for. So I support all of those, which are, I think, pretty well supported by transit options and are accessible to more

109:40 | folks in the community. I, I'm with you in option C for two centers. The more affordable ones I. I'll let you protest, but the location. I would like us to start with a west side

109:58 | thinking because I believe that it is historically underserved and has been for, for, well, historically underserved. And so I would ask that we prioritize that at the top. And

110:09 | then I would also say, I know that you just alluded to this a little bit, but I really I think we can figure out how to fund this. I, I want these spaces to remain at least half

110:19 | publicly oriented. That is, I, I know we have heard from countless folks who say, my kids can't afford to participate in team sports. It's very expensive endeavor.

110:28 | They need public space where they can play together. So I would just ask that whatever we do, we keep in mind that it's going to have an orientation to regular people, not rich kids

110:39 | in, in leagues. And I'm not saying I, I put air quotes around rich, they're all varying degrees, but leagues are extremely expensive private leagues that folks might be

110:50 | renting it. So I understand that offsets the cost, but that also excludes a lot of people. So I hope when we have that conversation, we can make sure that there is a significant

110:58 | amount of time that these spaces are available for folks. So I'm with you. Thank you for doing this work and thinking about it. I know you guys have been thinking about this for a

111:08 | long time, and I'm confident that we can figure out ways to fund fund them. And it's a significant community need. And I think if we really are committed to youth, I we need

111:22 | more indoor rec facilities to support them. And so I think that's incumbent on us. So thank you for doing the research. And so see, yes, I'm with you. West side then East side please.

111:36 | Councilmember. Thank you. Can I just follow up? How many have you done? Numbers. How many people will be using this facility? Or I really feel that. Two meeting

111:50 | facilities and I particularly want to use the white House and also keep a way of life, but I really prefer the the meeting to 2002 times a great location. And I think we're like another

112:05 | good location, you know, just because of the parking, I think the parking and traffic is, is a big indication whether or not the center will succeed. If people can, can and will have a

112:19 | benefit. Did you come up with any numbers of usage? Councilor Mattis The numbers would vary greatly depending on the amenities that we put in there. Also the options that we

112:36 | had. And so, yes, we looked at numbers, but what we would give you is this really wide range. And so my answer is no, we didn't bring numbers today. No. But not that you brought

112:49 | numbers. But and the reason I bring this up is because again, I write my own list for most of the event. We'll be spending the money that impacts more people and also as Cruces. So a

113:03 | big ask I think. Council Bencomo. I did ask to the to the to the government would be how about $25 million for. Outside recreation center. Maybe Mayor Michael Scott and I

113:17 | but but how many more people are impact. I mean, I think Councilor. Brought that out. So we're impacting 25. How many children are financially after 2025? 30,000. Yes. And then you

113:38 | have a balance right now. Typekit. Basketball and recreation. And the adults, that may be where you get those 15 to 30%. Pay. You be induced by that point. Yeah. So that

113:56 | combination you're probably looking at 35, 40,000 people out of each center. You know, we could possibly have 75 to 80,000 people that would come out and move it.

114:11 | I would go lower on that number. No, I don't, But. Just stay high. I, I can be that positive. Okay. Thank you. Councilmember. Thank you. I'm also in favor of the the open span, partially

114:34 | because I thought about this. I had my son and his bestie. They went to go. They just needed an open space to play soccer that wasn't regulated by anybody. They just needed that timing.

114:46 | And I'm wondering to this led to something that's maybe way down the road, but using those spaces, we can use technology to say it is low and we look online and say, this would be a

114:55 | good time for you to go. But I also want to very much stress that that bus transit system should be something that's happening in tandem, too. I do prefer that we use land we

115:06 | already have and make it productive. I really like there was one question in here where it says use city land and have housing. Love me that I don't know, tiny housing. I don't

115:19 | know, things like that would be interesting to explore in these areas that we already own that might have infrastructure in it. So I would say the two span version, using technology to

115:30 | give us a little bit more options, which kids are going to have in their hands to say, let's go do this, but in tandem, have transit that gets them there when they don't have cars

115:39 | yet. So that's all I got. Thank you. Councilmember. Thank you. Where do I start? I. I think I also prefer an option B, I could support the steel span if I were able to

116:09 | see some renderings that looked more attractive. I at this point, they just look unwelcoming and a little bit half baked to say politely. I think if and I, I trust you.

116:29 | And so if you're telling me like we can make them look good and we can build these kind of rec centers in an affordable way, and there can be two instead of one. I like all of

116:40 | those things, but I just in a quick Google search. You know, they just don't feel super attractive or welcoming to me. And I want to be able to build something that we can feel

116:53 | proud of, that people want to go, that people feel like they are welcomed. So those. That's definitely not a that's what I'll say to me, the most important conversation to have,

117:09 | honestly, is location. And I'm, I'm a little bit disappointed in the conversation about the East Side, given the kind of investment that the East side gets already, especially with

117:25 | realize and thinking about how if that's where the growth is going, we know that that's what's going to, people are going to have more option for parks and those kinds of things

117:35 | because of the laws. We've recently changed. The reason we talk about MRAs is because there were decisions that were made at City Hall for decades that allowed for neglect of.

117:51 | Established communities. And now we are in this situation where we're trying to invest dollars and love and care back into these areas. And yet here we are again talking about not

118:03 | doing that. And, you know, for folks who are going to go, yes, that's the part that's growing, certainly. But there are people who can't afford $340,000 homes,

118:14 | people that maybe don't want to leave their communities, people that maybe don't want to leave their 3% mortgage interest rate, whatever the choice or lack thereof. We are now telling

118:26 | people in the established parts of Las Cruces that yet again, we are not that interested in investing in them. And I know that's not what you're saying. I just hope that. We can

118:41 | seriously think about focusing on the west side of Las Cruces, which is the one that needs the most attention, and. And I think people will support it, whether it's go bonds or

118:56 | whatever other way. And I think we can ask the governor for both. I don't think we have to pick community against community. The state is touting historic revenues. So let's go

119:04 | ask for them to invest in their communities in a meaningful way. And I think we can do both housing and rec facilities for community. And we should be bold and ask for both. So

119:19 | that's what I'll say. I, I would I would love to see renderings of other of the steel span facilities that feel a little bit more attractive. Those are my thoughts. Thank you.

119:37 | Councilor Harris. Thanks, mayor. And Steve and Catherine, I, I got to say, I'm on Team steel span. I'm partial to steel span buildings. I think we do get a lot of bang

119:49 | for the buck out of them. You know, we're talking about how we can what the conversation around like how can we make housing faster? Well, this is how we make commercial

120:01 | properties faster, right? I think that they they can be made nice. There are some commercial properties that are along Lohman that if you look at it from the front, you

120:14 | probably wouldn't notice that it's a steel span building until you look at it from the back and you notice it's, it's a facade over it. So I think it can be done. There are also,

120:24 | you know, expandable. You can easily remake what's inside of them. You know, it really is kind of I mean, you guys know this. I'm the Michelle and and we can use it for other stuff

120:40 | later. As far as, you know, location goes. I also think probably two building a giant like destination center is, is also really antithetical to like what we're trying to do

120:58 | with real lives and build things that are closer to the communities that they serve and not have to have people like drive out of their way to go all the way to America every

121:10 | day, but be able to go something that's a little closer to where they live. So location. Wise, you know, east side of town in the infill near housing, near transit. Although one of

121:25 | my other big things is I would like to see transit done better in the town so that we, we service more of these areas. Like just because something is out on the street does not mean

121:36 | that it cannot be near transit. We could expand transit out there, but, you know, nonetheless, I think starting, you know, in the El Paso, MRA or around that area is, is also

121:48 | useful, but likes an attractive location because we do already have some facilities there getting more activity in that area, you know, at all hours of the day and some more uses for

122:00 | that would be nice. But also it's kind of far away from stuff, right? Nobody lives out there. It's an industrial area. So. So yeah, those are let's see, housing facility access.

122:20 | Yeah. And also just indoors. I think this is great. And it's going to get hotter and windier and rainier. And it's going to be harder to use our outdoor facilities just in the future.

122:34 | So I think this is a good, good direction to go. That's all I got. Councilor I had one more thing that I wrote down and I totally forgot. So if we're talking about the MRA area and

122:48 | the private public partnerships, the Boys and Girls Club could be another option. That is a catalyst opportunity. They're going to be building a gym. If we can help with some sort of

122:59 | design, some sort of option there. I know we wanted to help with that and that's where the youth already are. We could probably work with their system, some sort of idea of that. I

123:09 | still lack after these, this time a clarity of how public private. But I think if we're considering a church or Boys and girls club, let's have that conversation. So thank you.

123:24 | One more thing. Thanks. Sorry. I have a question to staffing costs slide. So it kind of seemed here that like so we're talking about. Okay, so for two centers, which is

123:45 | like nine FTEs and some part times we were looking at a million bucks, Hobbs has 24 FTEs and they're looking at 2.4. So, you know, that's not a straight multiple. So I guess

124:01 | is our I know our staffing costs are quite high. That goes to some of our legislative priorities. But, you know, I guess is that is that true? Our staffing costs are just that

124:12 | much higher than Hobbs. Mayor councilor Harris, the staffing for the still span centers would be significantly lower, because you're looking at a large portion of the

124:28 | facilities being big open gyms, whereas like the Hobbs Course Center, it has an aquatics facility that's very staff intense. And so you have quite a few things that way.

124:46 | Yeah. So I get that the centers are are like. On the whole cheaper. So we're talking about half, but it's half for less than half the staff. So I'm wondering if the per the,

125:04 | our per FTE amount seems to be higher. That was my question. That was kind of a weird question. But. So you have a lot of facility that's like a mini city and you have various

125:22 | levels of staffing that result in some levels of staffing, getting paid quite high. A center that we're talking about would have, as facility manager, and then the rest of the staff

125:39 | would be program level and part time. And so their pay is significantly lower per hour. You don't have the overhead administrative impacts that you have in Hobbs. When you're

125:54 | running a facility of 150, you know, 8000ft with a lot of diversity, this these still span centers are going to have lower diversity. Thanks. Okay. Thank you. Catherine.

126:14 | Steve. Yeah. My, my preference. My. What I'm looking at, I would say the, the c the still spend and get two of them, one on the further west and one because I. Feel like that has always

126:31 | been serving the west as long as I've been around here and having two gives us that opportunity. And even if there are still construction, is that the. The needs can still be at

126:48 | the spectator, be at the center of town, and those revenues that it can bring in these facilities from basketball tournaments, volleyball tournaments, cheerleading

127:00 | clinics, wrestling, karate, all of those things are good for our GRT. It's not as long as we are having to generate revenues and. And this is a catalyst to our community and especially

127:15 | those that come in and say, what are we doing for the youth? What are we doing for the youth? This is an opportunity. So I would be in favor to my. My question is. Moving forward,

127:27 | like with with funding, if we go with the P three, do we have parties in the community that are willing to come forward? That's my big question, mayor. Members of City Council,

127:39 | Catherine Harrison Rogers with staff. The answer is yes. We've actually had three independent developers approach us about partnering on something like this. Two were on the east side.

127:51 | I know that that wasn't necessarily the top pick for many of of the councilors. And then one was in particular partnering with us on one of our own properties on the west

128:00 | side. We're still trying to navigate some of the legal requirements associated with that, that that's sort of complicated. We're trying to figure that one out.

128:09 | Okay. I would be totally in favor in support of that because I can tell you I was in Hobbs when the court was designed and it's a partnership. It was not just the city, it

128:20 | was the city, it was the county, it was the universities. And it was a matter of foundation that put a lot of money into that. But what's draining it today is

128:30 | the staffing, the maintenance and the repairs. And that's no different than Santa Fe. Santa Fe has the Chavez Center that has the swimming has the ice rink. And one of their biggest

128:44 | dilemmas is staffing and the maintenance of the facility. So that's why I started with the smaller ones. We can staff it, we can maintain it, we can create the lives of recreation

128:58 | can be administered and the open gym for practice and, and just open rec for our public would remain on the east side and the west side. This this I think is, is, is good for our

129:10 | community. I mean, we just saw last week how our residents voted yes for our library. And that's a tremendous thing for our community. And this is something that I believe the

129:23 | community would also support and back up if we move in that direction. So thanks for bringing this, and I really appreciate it. I think, Councilor Ortiz, did you have

129:32 | something that you wanted to add? No, I think you got you covered it. And I think again, I think the the the voters out there, the people of Las Cruces, I think they want a recreation

129:47 | center. They want more homes for youth. And that's a big wish list right now. We have to concentrate on that. So I would like to see this council actually move forward on that

130:00 | and maybe things will get better. Thanks. Yeah. As with. With the MRI, with our lift up programs. So the Boys and Girls Club will be on the for sale. That's a good thing for

130:12 | our youth. We're looking at Bryan County maybe on on Mesa Verde and on that side. So we can look more at at. I would particularly like to see something around Utah or the

130:26 | Field of Dreams and everything. Is it just it just complements the outdoor activities with the indoor activities. I think the strategic planning, I think with the county and with the,

130:38 | the, the organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club is we're filling all the areas around to do something that would be great for our youth and our community. Councilor

130:50 | Harris, thanks. Yeah. I just wanted to add that when it comes to like asking for financing and stuff for this going to the state, I think that we should definitely

131:05 | up our game in in asking for stuff. You know, last session, Albuquerque got half $1 billion for single projects. And like we're, we're asking for for ten, $20 million, you know, we can

131:22 | if the state wants to spend money, I think we can we can go after it and do some do some great things with it. So. Okay. Thanks. So what what do you need now? Do you need a

131:36 | show of hands for a show of hands for B? A show of hands for C or what? Give you better direction and clarity here. I think we're all in favor. I think the favor for two. Are we

131:50 | all in favor for two? Thumbs up for two? Okay, so now the type type C. Type C, type B. Okay, so two C's. Yeah. Anything else? Catherine. No that's all. Unless

132:17 | there's some other questions. Thank you. All right. Well thank you. We really appreciate it. This is this is really looking good. And I'm very optimistic on what

132:26 | you can bring back in the future with more details on how we're going to specifically the type and funding and everything else on the location. Exactly. So thank you. Thank you.

132:53 | Motion to adjourn. Two basketball courts. You guys can. Motion to adjourn. Move to. Second. This is on the motion to adjourn the work session. Counselor McClure. Yes. Counselor. Mattis.

133:14 | Yes. Counselor. Harris. Yes. Counselor. Bencomo. Yes. Counselor. Koran. Yes. Counselor Munoz is absent. And. Mayor. Yes. On the agend