Governing Body Regular Meeting Wed, Dec 11, 2024 · Governing Body https://santafeminutes.space/meeting/143 == Executive Summary == The City Council meeting covered a wide range of topics, with significant discussion and decisions made regarding the Midtown Campus redevelopment project. After extensive public comment and council deliberation, the Development and Disposition Agreement (DDA) for the Midtown project, which includes a film studio and substantial affordable housing commitments, was approved. This project is seen as a major catalyst for economic growth, job creation, and community development in Santa Fe. Other key decisions included the unanimous approval of funding for an emergency manhole repair, the scheduling of a special meeting in January for land use cases, and the adoption of an ordinance to amend the process for nominating members to the Ethics and Campaign Review Board. The council also heard updates on city operations, including the Municipal Court, police recruitment, and upcoming holiday events, and discussed amendments to the muffler noise ordinance and fireworks regulations. == Key Decisions == - Approved the amended agenda (9-0). - Approved the consent agenda, with item 9G referred back to committee (9-0). - Approved a motion to move item 18D (Midtown conversation) to immediately after 'petitions from the floor,' including public comment and a subsequent executive session (9-0). - Approved a motion to schedule a special meeting on January 9th for land use cases (9-0). - Approved a motion to table the Budget Amendment Resolution (BAR) request due to the absence of a presenter and attachments (8-0). - Approved the project implementation for the BRAIN energy information tool (9-0). - Approved the resolution for a public fireworks display during the Santa Fe Plaza 2024-2025 New Year's Eve event (9-0). - Approved funding for an emergency repair of a failing manhole (9-0). - Approved four appointments/reappointments to the Santa Fe Women's Commission (9-0). - Approved a motion to remove Item 10A from the table (7-0). - Approved the Development and Disposition Agreement (DDA) for the Midtown Campus redevelopment project, including an amendment to explicitly state the total community benefit value (over $12 million total) (Vote count not explicitly stated for final DDA approval, but prior amendment passed). - Approved an affordable housing proposal (8-0). - Approved Bill 2024-16, amending Section 6-16.1 of SFCC 1987 related to ethics and campaign review board nominations (7-0). == Motions & Votes == - Motion to approve the amended agenda — Passed (9-0) - Motion to approve the consent agenda (with item 9G referred back to committee) — Passed (9-0) - Motion to move item 18D (Midtown conversation) to immediately after 'petitions from the floor' — Passed (9-0) - Motion to schedule a special meeting on January 9th for land use cases — Passed (9-0) - Motion to table the Budget Amendment Resolution (BAR) request — Passed (8-0) - Motion to approve the project implementation for the BRAIN energy information tool — Passed (9-0) - Motion to approve the resolution for a public fireworks display — Passed (9-0) - Motion to approve funding for an emergency manhole repair — Passed (9-0) - Motion to move to Item 20A (Appointments) — Passed (9-0) - Motion to approve appointments to the Santa Fe Women's Commission — Passed (9-0) - Motion to recess until 7:00 PM — Passed (9-0) - Motion to remove Item 10A from the table — Passed (7-0) - Motion to enter executive session — Passed (Roll call vote) - Motion to reconvene in open session — Passed (Roll call vote) - Motion to approve the amendment to the DDA (Midtown project) — Passed (Roll call vote) - Motion to approve an affordable housing proposal — Passed (8-0) - Motion to approve Bill 2024-16 (ethics and campaign review board nominations) — Passed (7-0) == Public Comment == The public comment period was dominated by extensive discussion on the Midtown Campus redevelopment project. Many speakers, including film industry professionals, educators, and community leaders, expressed strong support for the Aspect Media Village proposal, highlighting its potential for job creation, economic growth, and educational partnerships. They emphasized the need for studio space in Santa Fe and the long-term community benefits over a simple sale price. Concerns were raised by some residents regarding the proposed sale price being too low, the adequacy of affordable housing commitments, and the perceived lack of ongoing public input in the development process. Additionally, public comments were received on the proposed muffler noise ordinance amendments, with speakers generally supporting stricter penalties for loud vehicles. == Topics == - Muffler Noise Violations - Agenda Reorganization - Midtown Campus Development - Holiday Season Remembrances - Nick Potter Remembrance - Ethics and Campaign Review Board - Land Use Cases - Public Display of Fireworks - Easy Fiber Texas LLC Franchise - Meeting Procedures == Full Transcript == Whoever is running the Zoom, Councilor Chavez is waiting to be promoted. Are we streaming live? Are we live? Make sure we are live. Very good. Thank you very much for that notification. In that case, I will call the meeting to order. My clock says 5:06 PM for a regular meeting of the governing body, December 11. We'll begin with a Pledge of Allegiance led by Councilor Michael Garcia to my right, salute to the New Mexico flag, Councilor Faulkner to my left, and then invocation and remembrances from Councilor Cassett to my left. So please stand as you are able and join us. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Good evening, everybody. So I've been thinking a lot about the holiday season. As we know, it's often a time that a lot of people have joy and love, but it's also a really challenging time for many people. And I was in a yoga class today and they were talking about being kind. And how important it is to be kind right now as everybody's juggling a lot of things. But it made me also think about, you know, what is actually being kind and how it's really easy to be kind when you're just opening a door for somebody, you're giving them a smile. But kindness is a lot harder or more difficult when you are having challenges with somebody, when you are having arguments or disagreements, when you are faced with somebody who, you know, you don't always get along with. And so I really wanted to put that out to our community, to ourselves, as we get ready for a night where we know we're going to have a lot of good discussion. And how we think about being kind as we continue to move forward, as we continue to discuss our different ideas and disagreements or places that we find common ground. And so I will end with one of my favorite quotes from a show that makes me think of our former city manager, John Blair, Ted Lasso, where he says, "Be curious, not judgmental." So tonight, I challenge all of us that as we are asking our questions, as we are looking for answers, we make sure that we remain with our curiosity to get us to a place of decision as opposed to a place of judgment. Thank you, Mayor. Mayor: Thank you, Councilor. Are there remembrances of folks we lost? Councilor: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to remember Nick Potter. For those that knew Nick, he definitely was a giant among giants in our community. He operated a bookstore for the greater part of 40 years here downtown Santa Fe called Nicholas Potter Bookseller. And for anybody that visited his shop, whether you were local or a visitor, he definitely made you feel special. And even more so for those folks that had the opportunity to not only become friends with him or his family, you became a part of his family. And so Nick was just somebody that is definitely going to leave a large void in our community. My condolences definitely go out to the Potter family, his daughter Ariana. And I think he definitely found a passion for himself as he even stated himself to the Princeton Review that, you know, when he opened his bookstore, he said, "From day one, I realized it was exactly what I should be doing with my life, the interactions with people and exposure to ideas and concepts." So rest well, Nick. You'll definitely be missed. And I just want to wish sincere condolences. Thank you, Councilor. Mayor: Others? Councilor Faulkner: So since it's been the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, literally every day, my friend group, people have passed away. And I just want to send a shout out to their families and just remember that this is a time of year that's full of blessings, but it's also full of challenges. And I just want to recognize, I can't name them all because it's been like a lot. But I just want to send love to those families for every day someone passing. Mayor: Others? I would extend my condolences as well, but also just keep in mind the people in our community that Councilor Cassett was speaking of, people who are struggling, people who are cold at night and unsheltered, people who are hungry, people who don't have the joy of the holiday season because life is hard. And they may be ill, they may be simply having a more difficult financial time. But whatever it is, they're part of our family and they're part of our community. And at this time of year, all times of year, but as we take in the holiday spirit, let's extend it to those who are most in need, hearts, and also extend our hand and help all of them. Let's take a moment and think on all those in our community who are struggling and those who we thought about who we've lost recently. Thank you, everybody. Mayor: Madam Clerk, could you please call the roll? Clerk: Mayor, Councilor Cassett? Councilor Cassett: Here. Clerk: Councilor Castro? Councilor Castro: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Chavez? Councilor Chavez: Here. Clerk: Councilor Faulkner? Councilor Faulkner: Here. Clerk: Councilor Lee Garcia? Councilor Lee Garcia: Here. Clerk: Councilor Michael Garcia? Councilor Michael Garcia: Present. Clerk: Councilor Lindell? Councilor Lindell: Here. Clerk: Councilor Romero Worth? Councilor Romero Worth: Here. Clerk: Mayor Weber? Mayor Weber: Present. Everyone is here. Thank you very much. And now, we get a... Are there changes to the agenda before we try to vote on approving the agenda? Are there things we need to be cognizant of? Clerk: Mayor, there are two changes to the agenda. Removal of items 10D and 10E. Mayor: All right. 10D and 10E have both been simply removed from the agenda. Yes, sir. All right. Anything else we need to know about at this time? Clerk: No, Mayor. Councilor Cassett: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. I did have a suggestion for how we rearrange our agenda this evening, given the high interest in item 18D, which would be the Midtown conversation. Can I make a suggestion? Can we adopt our agenda and then we'll move forward with a... Mayor: Isn't this part of adopting the agenda? I've checked with our City Attorney and the interpretation is, let's get what's on it adopted and then we can reorganize it as a separate matter. Councilor Cassett: Okay. That's okay with you? Sure. Not to preempt the idea, which I agree with in general, but let's go for approving the agenda, having things taken off, and then we'll figure out the schedule of the items. Go ahead. Councilor: I have a question. Is, are we removing 19A as well? Clerk: 19A. So, Mayor, Councilors, it's in relation to 19A that I do want us to have an agenda approved first before we move it, just because it's been noticed for tonight. So I want it to be approved on the agenda before we move it. If you're speaking to executive session, I think you can do that at any time. Councilor: Okay. It's really in relation to the land use case that I wanted to have an approved agenda. Got it. Mayor: For the motion, let's do it. Councilor: Motion to approve. Councilor: Second. Mayor: So, as the agenda has now been adjusted with several things removed, and we have a motion to approve it with those items taken on. We have a motion and a second. Could you call the roll? Clerk: Yes, Mayor. Councilor Castro? Councilor Castro: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Chavez? Councilor Chavez: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Faulkner? Councilor Faulkner: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Lee Garcia? Councilor Lee Garcia: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Michael Garcia? Councilor Michael Garcia: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Lindell? Councilor Lindell: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Romero Worth? Councilor Romero Worth: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Cassett? Councilor Cassett: Yes. Clerk: Mayor Weber? Mayor Weber: Yes. Motion is approved. And I'm going to try to get us through the consent agenda, Councilor Cassett, and then I'll come back to you. Are there changes to... Was anything taken off of consent? Clerk: Mayor, nothing has been taken off of consent, but 9G has been referred back to the Quality of Life. So we need a motion to approve it as amended. Councilor: So moved. Councilor: Second. Mayor: Discussion. Madam Clerk, could you call the roll on that? Clerk: Yes, Mayor. Councilor Chavez? Councilor Chavez: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Faulkner? Councilor Faulkner: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Lee Garcia? Councilor Lee Garcia: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Michael Garcia? Councilor Michael Garcia: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Lindell? Councilor Lindell: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Romero Worth? Councilor Romero Worth: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Cassett? Councilor Cassett: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Castro? Councilor Castro: Yes. Clerk: Mayor Weber? Mayor Weber: Yes. Motion passed. Mayor: Now, Councilor Cassett, I'm going to turn to you for your suggestion about a little rearranging of the agenda. Councilor Cassett: All right. So, my recommendation is to move item 18D to right after petitions from the floor. And to have the public comments, and City Attorney, Mayor, I'm going to need your assistance here. But essentially, you know, having public comment on the item, then executive session, so that we do have the benefit of having that public comment during you before that executive session to discuss that. And then coming back for the remainder of that public hearing discussion and vote. As you mentioned, we can go into executive session at any time. So I don't know if we actually have to specify that now or if that's something that we can dictate at that moment when we decide it is relevant. City Attorney: Mayor, Councilors, as long as there's an item on the agenda that has is eligible for executive session, you can do an executive session about it at any time before you vote. And my mic is without a... without a fuzzy. Yes. Um, so... Mayor: That's correct, though. So then I would recommend that we move item 18D to after petitions from the floor. Councilor: Second. Mayor: All right. If I understand, we're going to take the item involving Aspect Studios and we're going to move it to immediately after petitions from the floor, which we always try to have as close to 7:00 as possible. After we've had petitions from the floor, we'll proceed with the first part of that, which would take us through public comment from, because it is a public hearing, and then go into executive session as noticed, then come back out for the remainder of that item. Correct? Okay. It's there's been a motion and a second. Need more discussion. Madam Clerk, do you want to call the roll on amending the agenda so that happens in that sequence? Clerk: Yes, Mayor. Councilor Faulkner? Councilor Faulkner: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Lee Garcia? Councilor Lee Garcia: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Michael Garcia? Councilor Michael Garcia: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Lindell? Councilor Lindell: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Romero Worth? Councilor Romero Worth: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Cassett? Councilor Cassett: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Castro? Councilor Castro: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Chavez? Councilor Chavez: Yes. Clerk: Mayor Weber? Mayor Weber: Yes. Motion that has happened. And now I believe Councilor Lindell, you've got a second adjustment to the agenda you would like to speak to. Councilor Lindell: Thank you. Item 19A. I'd like to move that land use case to a date certain. And I'm going to ask City Clerk Salazar, what the date certain is that we've been looking at. Clerk: Yes, Councilor. Currently, we are looking at January 9th as a date certain for another land use case as well. So we could move this to that date. Councilor Lindell: So is that a special meeting? Clerk: Yes, Councilor. It would be a special meeting. So we're looking moving this to a date certain of the 9th of January to be heard along with other land use cases. Is that proper, City Attorney? City Attorney: Mayor, Councilor Lindell, that's correct. There's a relatively large land use case that also needs to be scheduled for January, in addition to an H-board appeal that is already scheduled on January 16th. Councilor Lindell: Okay. So that's my motion that we move that to date certain, January 9th. Councilor: Second. Mayor: Okay. Is there a discussion? I hope this is convenient for all of the parties and that doesn't put anybody out. But I do think it will lend having a special meeting where we can consolidate a number of land use cases that are very likely to take up their own amount of time and deserve it is better than trying to rush through things in a very crowded agenda. So if there are no other comments at this time, Madam Clerk, could you please call the roll? Clerk: Yes. Councilor Lee Garcia? Councilor Lee Garcia: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Michael Garcia? Councilor Michael Garcia: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Lindell? Councilor Lindell: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Romero Worth? Councilor Romero Worth: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Cassett? Councilor Cassett: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Castro? Councilor Castro: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Chavez? Councilor Chavez: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Faulkner? Councilor Faulkner: Yes. Clerk: Mayor Weber? Mayor Weber: Yes. Motion is approved. Very good. So we're getting our agenda ordered and I think it's going to work for everybody's benefit at the end. With that, Madam Clerk, could you take us to the first item for us to take up tonight, which I believe is 8A, spare item 8A, Municipal Court by annual update. And presenting is Judge Chad Chidam from the Municipal Court. Your Honor. Judge Chidam: Good evening, everyone. Mr. Mayor, Councilors, thank you for having me. I'm here to give you an update on the Municipal Court. I have four bullet points that I'd like to go over with you today. First of all, new on our stats sheet, everyone should have gotten the stats today from the Municipal Court. And what you may notice new on there is number one, our first-time offenders class. That was started in August and you may re... From our presentation in July, we were going to focus on four things: defensive driving, anger management, mindfulness, and information regarding Santa Fe Connect. As of today, we've had 22 participants so far, which is a class that they can take that helps resolve their court requirements through this class versus having to go pay for something on their own. The second thing I want to note on the stats, in addition, at the very bottom, "Officers Initiated Quashes." This is something that's been going on at the Municipal Court, but we haven't put it on this form. What that is, is if an officer encounters someone out in the public who has a warrant out for their arrest for the Municipal Court on a traffic event, something that's minor, they have the discretion instead of taking that person to the county jail, having them booked, they can bring them to the Municipal Court, have them come in front of me. A couple of things that that helps is, it's justice for somebody possibly that had just forgotten about this speeding ticket, and instead of them having to go spend the weekend in jail, or for the officer to get off the streets for three or four hours booking, if you opt for the booking process, it's a quicker process. We can handle that quash, that warrant, etc. So there have been, like I said, it's been going on for a bit, but in November, we had five officers bring in five defendants, and two of those were from the New Mexico State Police, who are not only keeping the Santa Fe police officers on the streets doing what they need to do, but the New Mexico State Police as well. The second bullet point that I want to talk about is court staff training. All staff attended in September the Administrative Offices of the Court active shooter training, courtroom safety training, difficult customers training, and Narcan training. All court staff have gone through that. The Administrative Offices of the Courts are what advises all the courts around the state, etc. So we had the head of the security come to our courts specifically to train our staff. In addition, 80% of the court staff are CPR, first aid, and AED certified. We want to get that number up higher. My third bullet point, and this is I'm very excited about this, as of a couple of weeks ago, Mesta Vista is now the court's treatment provider for our DWI Drug Court program. What that means is individual and group therapy sessions are now free to the participants in our DWI Drug Court program. And this was the last step into getting the Santa Fe Municipal Court Drug Court, excuse me, DWI Drug Court program certified. My talking with AOC is we will be certified once they've had a chance to finally review the fact that we have Mesta Vista on board. And the reason why I'm really excited about that is because there are very few courts in the state that are certified DWI Drug Court programs. In addition, there are none, or no municipal courts. We will be the first. I'm very, and that should happen in the next couple of weeks. Lastly, I always plan on presenting to the governing body here in July and or July and December of every year. I want you to reach out to me prior if you have any specific information you would like to present, or don't wait for just these resentments for me to talk to you. Come on by the court, reach out. I'd love to hear from you. But other than that, that's what I have. I'll stand for questions. Mayor: Thank you, Your Honor. It's a great, it's a pleasure to have you here. Questions for Reg, or comments about his presentation? Yeah, go ahead, Counselor. Councilor: Sorry, thank you so much, Judge. Would you talk to us a little bit more about the benefits of being certified and what that's going to change for our program? Judge: Great. Certification, what that changes is it's going to, it gives us all the best practices that we're supposed to do. One of the things with a DWI Drug Court program is you don't want to do any more, right? You always want to make sure you're doing, benefiting the participants and whatnot. So being certified means that we've had all the training, the city prosecutor, the public defender, myself as judge, and law enforcement that participates in our program. And that certification is, I believe, it's key to assisting the public and making sure there's not as much recidivism. Mayor: Thank you. Other questions or comments? I, I want to, I have been the pleasant visitor to your court, watching you preside over officers and cadets. And I just want to thank you for the way you do that. It makes it a special occasion for them and their families. It is a good combination of a very solemn occasion where people are taking serious oaths to do very, very important community service, and at the same time, there's a celebration of their commitment and their family. So I want to extend my appreciation to you for the way you conduct those occasions and the way you're always there to make it happen. So thank you very much. Mayor, anything else? We will call on you as needed, but welcome you when you're scheduled. Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Back to you for our next item. Clerk: Next item is 10A, discussion agenda, request for approval of a budget amendment resolution, BAR, in the total amount of $17,420 from Public Utilities cash balance to repair and maintenance fund, sorry, to repair and maintenance to fund a construction contract with AAC Construction. This is presented by P Fred Per Brandt. Perhaps, is there anybody here to present on this item for us? Apparently not. Mayor: There's, yes, there's also no attachments in here. Well, why don't we, we motion to table? I think that's, I think let's table it and we'll put out a text message to whoever could come and speak to this item. So, Councilor Garcia, did I take that as a motion? Councilor Garcia: Yes, sir. Mayor: Oh, and we have a second. Very good. A motion is to table this. Is there any discussion? Madam Clerk, why don't you call the roll on tabling of this item, please? Clerk: Councilor Michael Garcia? Councilor Michael Garcia: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Lindell? Councilor Lindell: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Romero Worth? Councilor Romero Worth: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Cassett? Councilor Cassett: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Castro? Councilor Chavez? Councilor Chavez: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Faulkner? Councilor Lee Garcia? Councilor Lee Garcia: Yes. Clerk: Mayor Weber? Mayor: Yes. Clerk: Motion passes. Mayor: Thank you. We'll see if we can get some information on that, or someone to come speak to us about it this evening. Next item, Madam Clerk. We're waiting. Clerk: Item 10B, request for approval of a general services contract with Paradise Power Company Inc. in the total amount of $589,950, including NMGRT, for implementation of the Balanced Resources Acquisition and Information Network, BRAIN, a consolidated energy information tool, with a term ending June 30th, 2025. And here to present is Karen Gross, Public Works Project Manager. Mayor: I knew we could count on you. Before we get to the, any presentation and questions, can we just entertain a motion to approve? Councilor: Motion to approve. Mayor: And there's a second. But I do think for the benefit of people who are watching, listening, or in the room, who aren't familiar with this item, maybe you could give us the nuts and bolts of it. Karen Gross: Thank you and good evening, Mr. Mayor and members of the governing body. This item was inadvertently left off of Public Works agenda last week, which is why we are presenting it as a discussion item tonight. But I'm actually very excited that I get a chance to tell you a little bit about this project. The Balanced Resource Acquisition and Information Network is an energy management system which allows the users to see energy usage in real time, to shift resources in conjunction with demand and production, as well as to see where building systems are in need of attention and to send a maintenance team to assess and make repairs. The BRAIN provides an integrated data repository with machine learning, neural network-based predictive models in both internal and public-facing dashboards. City of Albuquerque has been promoting this system and as outcome-oriented, scalable, and easily adopted by the New Mexico public entities. Santa Fe County also applied for and received a grant to implement a BRAIN. When ARD put out the request for applications for grid modernization projects back in the spring, the City of Albuquerque knew we were interested in implementing a BRAIN and encouraged us to apply for the funds to do this. They kindly provided information from their grant application as well as connecting us with their software vendor and developer, a Paradise Power Company and Gridwatch, who assisted us with preparing the budget for our application. So the BRAIN is basically a dashboard on steroids. It integrates all of our distributed energy resources, including all of the renewable energy production that we've just added, in addition to connecting with billing data from the public utilities. The project will also install EEG gauge systems at various city facilities to monitor the utility usage and verify it in real time. With the BRAIN, we can measure building system performance and efficiency, engage decision-making based on usage, improve interoperability between the grid and our building controls, energy resources, and our future storage resources in order to provide greater resiliency. And as we upgrade our buildings and put in more energy-efficient and smart systems, we'll be able to integrate all of that additional information into, into the dashboard and into the decision-making process. Working with City of Albuquerque, Paradise Power, and Gridwatch, we had come up with an initial budget of $650,000 for this project, and that is what we submitted the grant application based on. As we've been further refining the scope and deliverables for this project, we now have a resulting contract of $589,950, including NMGRT, to implement the project. The grant funding of $550,000 covers the majority of the cost, with facilities division providing the balance, $39,950, to complete implementation. As you probably noted in the proposal, annual maintenance of the software will is expected to cost $69,000 per year, including NMGRT. We're already in discussion with PPC and Gridwatch regarding a three-year agreement, which would bring the average cost per year down to $63,750 a year. And so we'll be moving forward with that in the near future. I will now stand for any questions. Thank you. Mayor: Thank you for a clear and very knowledgeable overview. Any questions? Yes, Councilor Mayor Worth. Councilor Mayor Worth: Thank you, Mayor, and thank you for being here tonight. Always exciting to see what you're working on. Wondering, so is the maintenance part of the grant, or that's something we have to cover? Karen Gross: The maintenance will be covered out of facilities division operating funds. Councilor Mayor Worth: Okay, that's all I had. Thank you. Mayor: Okay, questions, comments? Very good. We, we have a motion and we have a second. Can you please call the roll? Clerk: Councilor Lindell? Councilor Lindell: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Romero Worth? Councilor Romero Worth: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Cassett? Councilor Cassett: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Castro? Councilor Castro: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Chavez? Councilor Chavez: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Faulkner? Councilor Faulkner: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Lee Garcia? Councilor Lee Garcia: Yes. Clerk: Councilor Michael Garcia? Councilor Michael Garcia: Yes. Clerk: Mayor Weber? Mayor: Yes. Clerk: Motion passes. Mayor: Thank you. Thank you. My compliments to whoever came up with the acronym. Madam Clerk, can you take us to the next item, please? Clerk: Item 10C, consideration of a resolution sponsored by Councilor Signe Lindell, resolution approving a public fireworks display during the Santa Fe Plaza 2024-2025 New Year's Eve event. Here to present should be Fire Marshal J. Mo Greg. Councilor: Move to approve. Mayor: We have a motion and we have a second. I don't know if we have a, an expert in the audience, but Councilor Lindell, I know you've been working on this and you could speak to it. Councilor Lindell: We like having our event on the Plaza on New Year's Eve, and this allows us to have fireworks with it. So, pretty, it's not very controversial, I don't think. I think, thank you for allowing me to address it, Mayor. I think you did an okay job, but I think the city manager has some additional information. City Manager: Mr. Mayor, I just, thank you. I'd like to add that this will be, I think, the ninth or tenth celebration of the public celebration on the Plaza and the fireworks display for all but one. year of that, I think, have been done from the roof of La Fonda Hotel. Having been in the hotel business before, we haven't burned it down yet. It's going very fine, sir. But it's very safe, it's insured, and these are a different type of fireworks that are used to allow them to be launched from the rooftop so that it's a safe situation. I would recommend this be approved. It's been an annual event. Oh, thank you. Thank you, Mr. City Manager. Other questions and comments? I think Councilor Lindell has informed me in a sidebar conversation that the fireworks are scheduled to go off at midnight on New Year's. Yes, Councilor, in that case, I do have a question. My constituents are very concerned with the sound ordinance. Is there an exception for the sound ordinance? I assume you're equipped to answer that question. Does it have a noise issue? Is there an exception for the noise ordinance of making loud noises with fireworks? Mr. Mayor, I'd mentioned that this type of fireworks, again, it's not as noisy, it doesn't go as high, it's a low profile, and we've never had any complaints about it in the past. Well, I think I might follow up with the City Manager offline just in case. I am a dog owner, so I have to be prepared for any possible concerns. I think it's a good, legitimate question. We also have a great turnout that night on the Plaza, and we have great public safety people who are serving that night. So council members and all of us will be present to witness this. Any other comments or questions or witty repartee? No. In that case, could you please call the roll? Councilor Romero Worth? Yes. Councilor Cassid? Yes. Councilor Castro? Councilor Chavez? Yes. Councilor Faulkner? Yes. Councilor Lee Garcia? Yes. Councilor Michael Garcia? Yes. Councilor Lindell? Mayor Weber? Yes. Motion passes. Thank you. Where do we go now, Madam Clerk? Next item is number 11, Matters from the City Manager. Mr. Randall, you have the floor, sir. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just a few items. First, we had a really great meeting yesterday, a breakfast meeting, I think, with our members of our Santa Fe legislature to review the city priorities on capital improvements and other needs that the city has with the upcoming 60-day session. I thank our members of our governing body who were all present. It was kind of a hail and farewell, as we used to say in the Navy. A farewell to Senator Nancy Rodriguez, who has served for 24 years, I think, or maybe 29. I can't remember, but no, 24 years, I think it is. 29. It is 29. Okay. And has served Santa Fe so well, and in some very important roles, particularly with the LFC, and has helped us a lot with our funding. And a hail to her replacement, who's Linda, Senator Linda Trujillo, who's a former representative, and I think will do a great job filling in. So that was a wonderful event yesterday. Following that, we had 10 police cadets sworn in at the Municipal Court. And so, when we have fewer retirees and more folks coming on our police force, that will certainly help our whole situation here in Santa Fe. The retention incentives for our team with all members of the city staff, except for AFSCME, because there's a pending contract with them, there will be a retention incentive of $1,000 for all of our employees who go ahead and sign an agreement to stick with us until June 30th. And we hope that's just a short time that we reward them for, but it's a very future-looking program. And I'm pleased to announce that the parking gates at the airport are now operational as of this evening. We've had some issues with payment programs, but we've got them. And I do want to wish everyone happy holidays. This will be our one and only meeting before the holidays are here, and I wish everyone a very, very wonderful holiday season. Thank you very much. We're not going to immediately go into executive session, so we can take up Matters from the City Clerk next. Yes, that's you. We have other things. You have anything else, Madam City Attorney? I mean, to preempt, Mayor, Councilor, I can cover the other two things right now. One of which is that we are loading all the crash reports online now. There is a link to them from the IA website and from the Police website. So that's in somewhat of a beta form, but I do want to extend thanks to the GPS team for helping us with kind of version one of this platform. Hopefully, we'll be able to come out with version two next. So that's a new service in terms of records being accessible online. So no longer does an IR need to be posted for that. So the last couple weeks, I think, are up right now. And I also want to wish everyone happy holidays and happy New Year. Thank you. Back to you, Madam Clerk. I'd like to give you two updates. So the first is that we have posted for two job positions in constituent services and have had applicants. So we will be doing those interviews over the next two weeks. We hope to get that team staffed up. We're also looking into a constituent services management system that will be easily accessible and usable. So that's something we're taking a deep dive into and are excited to be working on that. Other than that, no other matters. Great. Moving to item 14, Communications from the Governing Body. Why don't we start my right, and then don't let me forget, we have a Zoom member coming up next. Sure. And I'm actually going to be tag-teaming with Councilor Faulkner, because my big announcement is that on the 19th of December, we have a Posada on the South Side. So I'd like to invite everyone. There will be a parade from Kohl's to the Teen Center, and music and food and toys and events. That's super exciting. But we want to thank some of the sponsors for that. So I will kick it over to Councilor Faulkner, and I will fill in any ones that she forgets. Yes, of course. Okay, so we've been able to raise around $20,000 so far in the last week and a half. I want to thank Enorm, Home Wise, the Housing Trust, Cyto Cod Architects, JD Bullington, our lobbyist, Pitch In for this, Ford Capital Ford. There's a whole, there's so many, there's so many people. And the cool thing about this is, like, this is a hard time of year, but the amazing thing is our community has pulled together and has really raised funds for the toy drive. And I do have to thank Chief Moya, Aiden Lopez, and Roland Jones for all the work they put in. And Topia, he actually shuttled me around to pick up checks the other day. So there's so many people just who have... I met. Yeah, no worries. And this event is put on every year in collaboration with Exit Realty and Santa Fe Fire. So thank you, Bell College of Osteopathic Medicine. We have the Canes, of course, Hispanic Chamber, and of course, Miss Councilor Fulmer's parents, the Higgston. So thank you. It's been a big lift, and I, the La Posada is going to be amazing. We have about 25 cars that are going to do a parade from Kohl's, and they're going to deliver toys. There's going to be Santa Claus and the lead fire truck. We have 500 toys that we can give out in our district. We're also doing as many food baskets as we can for families who are in need of Christmas dinner supplies. Councilor Garcia and I, Lee Garcia and I, have given $2,000 each towards this event and to provide food for the event, but also to provide food for the food baskets. And so we've worked with Sam's Club, which has been amazing. They're providing a lot. Albertson's is providing a lot. So we're really kind of thrilled that this has taken off and that this toy drive is serving all of Northern New Mexico. And I'm kind of proud as a city councilor that Santa Fe has done a huge, huge lift to serve all of Northern New Mexico when we're the capital of the state. And so I just want to commend everyone who's been a part of this. It's been a long push. We're kind of exhausted, but I think we're going to get to the finish line. Thank you all. Good. I will go then to our Zoom councilor next. You have the floor. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to, I know Councilor Faulkner mentioned everybody, fire and all the important people for the toy drive, but I think she failed to give a lot of emphasis to herself. She's put in countless hours to raise money for the toy drive. I think that with her connections and the love that people have for her, she was able to help the fire department raise a lot of money for this cause. So she too has put in countless hours and has really put her name and self and heart out there to get that money. So I want to just acknowledge Councilor Faulkner for that. I think she was a big shining light in that process. And I just want to wish everyone happy holidays. I hope everyone enjoys the holiday and gets some rest and relaxation and spends time with people that they love. And with that, that's all I have for tonight. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Councilor. Councilor Michael Garcia, sir, you have the floor. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just one request for the City Manager, given that there's tons of events taking place over the holiday season, whether it's the Posada on the South Side that our colleagues just spoke about, but there's also Chain Breakers Posada, there's also the Minerva lighting on the Plaza, and there's so many events that I want to make sure that everybody in our community is well aware of when things are taking place, where they're taking place, et cetera. So I don't know if we can do a news blast out saying these events are taking place at these times. I think we should be doing everything we can to promote these type of community engagement events. So if possible, so just a request out there. And with that, just happy holidays, everybody. It's been a long, tiring year. It seems like post-COVID years seem longer for some reason. And we've made it through another one. So just wishing everybody the best and have fun with your families, friends, and we'll see you all in 2025. Thank you. Councilor Lindell. Thank you, Mayor. It's the time of year where I hope everyone has their Christmas lights out and they have some hope of untangling them from the way they took care of them last year. That'll be the big activity at my house this weekend. I just want to wish everyone a restful and a festive holiday season. It'll be a new year before we know it, and a lot to look forward to. And we can look back on many, many, many things that happened this year. I always say it's okay to look back, just don't stare. And I'm very hopeful for next year, personally and for the city. We have a, we have a lot to be happy about. We have a lot to look forward to. And I wish each and every one of you genuinely a very happy holiday season. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Councilor. Councilor Faulkner. I do have to do a shout-out to JP and Gina Cruz, who have been like the most amazing help with the La Posada and the toy drive. They're incredible constituents. Anytime I need them, they are there, and they do a hard, they do a hard job and they do a fast job, and they, they get the work done. I think we need to shout out to that as well. And then happy holidays to everybody. Just give, give, give. Some of us are more fortunate than others. Mayor. Thank you, Mayor. Just want to echo what the City Manager said about the police swearing in. I did have an opportunity to attend that, and I'm impressed. We had nine men and one woman sworn in, and they will be attending the academy for about five months before they are ready to graduate and be integrated into our police force. But I think that's very good news for the city. I haven't seen a class that big in a bit. And so I just want to let the community know that that's a big deal, and they look like a great group, and it, I was pleased to be a part of that swearing in. So, on another note, I would just say happy holidays to everyone and echo my colleagues in wishing everyone well and doing what we can to help those in the community who may be struggling or needing a little additional help. whatever it is in this season. Happy holidays, everyone, and happy New Year, too. Thank you, Mayor. Mr. Cassutt: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. I don't know if I spoke of this at a previous meeting, but we did have the ribbon cutting for the Pablo Doyal Park on, I believe, November 22nd. It is amazing. The kids love it. There is more to come, but I really wanted to recognize Scott Overly and Melissa McDonald and their entire team for how quickly they got this done and really just the community engagement that they had. The Pueblo Alto HOA and a lot of members of District 4 came out to really provide feedback on what they wanted with this park. So, it is open, and please go use it. It has a very tall slide that my son likes to talk about all the time and how he can go faster on it if he puts his jacket down, which terrifies me because it's already pretty fast. But definitely, please, please go enjoy. Other than that, again, happy holidays, everybody. It really has been quite a year, and I am looking forward to 2025. I think that there is a lot of good that we can do and that this governing body will continue to work hard for this community. I do want to thank my colleagues who have worked so hard on the post-loan and on the toy drive, and of course, the Fire Department, Chief Moya, and Roland Jones have always really spearheaded this and do such an incredible job. To see the way that the community comes around, and then also, really with Councilor Faulkner, the work that you have done in promoting this, and Councilor Castro, I really, really do appreciate you both taking that on so passionately. With that, I am done. Thank you. Mayor: And Councilor Lee Garcia, sir, you have the floor. Councilor Lee Garcia: Thank you, Mayor. Kudos to all those involved with the Southside event. Come on down and visit and enjoy each other's company. It's not that often that we get to get together and learn a little bit more about each other. So, kudos to my counterpart, Councilor Faulkner, all of those that were involved, all the community partners that were involved with kind of getting this going, the toy drive. I mean, there's been a countless amount of hours that have been put into this, I can see. So, thank you all for your hard work. I did want to give a shout-out. I think tomorrow is, for Catholic Christians, the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, tomorrow the 12th. It also is the day that my father was born in 1946. So, a big inspiration in my life, and happy birthday to him. And I do want to also celebrate my daughter's graduation from college, Northern Arizona University, on Friday. So, she's worked very hard for her degree, and I'm excited for that. Happy holidays to everyone, and we'll be seeing everyone in the new year. Thank you, sir. Mayor: And congratulations. I have in other sports news from our sports desk, congratulations to the St. Mike's football team for a thrilling victory in the last minute in the championship game, winning its second straight title in Class 3A. Those who watched the game tell me, I did not get to watch the game, but those who were there say it was one of the most amazing football games they've seen at any level and a really memorable performance, a great victory. St. Mike's volleyball team won its third straight title, Class 3A, and the Santa Fe Prep girls cross country team dominated the Class 3A meet. So, we've got some terrific athletic accomplishments which have not gone unnoticed, as well as what we've heard already. And I think you're right, Councilor Faulkner is unduly modest about her role in really championing the idea that there isn't a kid in any part of our community who shouldn't have a happy celebration with a toy or a recognition that they need something to unwrap and something to play with and something to learn from. And it's really, you really set a high standard, Councilor, just being out there and carrying that torch, and I'm grateful and very, very admiring of your great work. Councilor Garcia is right about all the celebrations that are going on, already have gone on. Some we've had a terrific tree lighting that was fabulous, and now we'll have, we'll move to the menorah on the Plaza. An ice menorah will be carved separately, and then we'll have the traditional menorah will also have its lighting for the celebration of Hanukkah, moving into the new year and the New Year celebration. All of this happens because people make it happen. None of it happens either without volunteers who put out all the hard work or our city staff who are amazing in what they get done. The stringing of the lights, the public safety, everything that goes into each one of these events is significant. Putting on the breakfast that the city manager mentioned took an enormous amount of behind-the-scenes work to get all the invitations scheduled and the work done by Regina Wheeler to produce the agenda, the document, the book, the work that City Council members put in getting the resolution adopted and really filling out our priorities for the upcoming year. The City Clerk's office did an amazing job in coordinating all of the outreach, and Angie Brown and Bernice did a great job in the City Manager's office of coordinating all of the work that took place. And so, I think we always at the holiday season, we wish everybody a happy and healthy and safe holiday with joy, but we also say thank you to people for all the work that they do, often behind the scenes, often simply because they want to contribute and make a difference. And so, not just over the past month, but year-round, thank you to everybody who is often the real hands and heart that make these things happen, and then we get to enjoy their hard work, and we need to stop a moment and say thank you as we reach the end of this calendar year. Thank you to all the city employees day in and day out. Thank you to my colleagues on the governing body day in and day out, working really hard to respond to constituent requests for help and shepherding the city forward through times that are not easy, with great challenges and complex issues. It takes a great deal of work and a great deal of collaboration and cooperation, and I'm grateful to everybody on our team who make that happen. And welcome to our new City Clerk who is sitting over there smiling. It's good to have you in the seat. Your interim replacement did a phenomenal job for a whole year and ought not to go unrecognized either. And then somebody left these beautiful Christmas cards around this morning, this evening, and you never get a thank you or you don't get enough thanks. So, not just this year, but all the time, you are a stalwart and irreplaceable. Thank you for everything you contribute without even raising your hand or any request for acknowledgment. You just do it all the time. And so, thank you. You're here, and you're phenomenal, and thank you for everything you do. Councilor Faulkner, you have more, please. Councilor Faulkner: Just real quickly, I do have to say, Councilor Castro has been my partner on the toy drive, and I've raised a lot of money, but Councilor Castro has been doing a lot of things behind the scenes to get the La Casa event done well, and she's been an excellent partner, and I've enjoyed working with her. So, I feel like she needs at least as much praise as I got. Thank you. I appreciate you. You guys are always awesome, and it might be the holiday season, but I feel like we're getting along particularly well this meeting. Thank you, Councilor. Mayor: Thank you. We'll take it and go with it, and that's a good recognition. We're, it's still early. It's 6:00. We're not really in. We can go through as much of the rest of the agenda as we possibly can. Absolutely. Madam Clerk, do you want to take us through? City Clerk: Mayor, I believe John D is on, let's see, on Zoom, and he can present for item 10A if we can promote him to a panelist, please. Mayor: Mayor, I move to remove item 10A off the table. Councilor: Second. Mayor: Okay, there's a motion to bring back the tabled item. Is there any discussion? Madam Clerk, can you call the roll on getting this item back in front of us? City Clerk: Councilor Cassutt? Councilor Cassutt: Yes. City Clerk: Councilor Castro? Councilor Castro: Yes. City Clerk: Councilor Chavez? Councilor Chavez: Yes. City Clerk: Councilor Faulkner? She stepped out for one minute. She's excused. Councilor Lee Garcia? Councilor Lee Garcia: Yes. City Clerk: Councilor Michael Garcia? Councilor Michael Garcia: Yes. City Clerk: Councilor Lindell? Councilor Lindell: Yes. City Clerk: Councilor Romero-Wirth? Councilor Romero-Wirth: Yes. City Clerk: Mayor Weber? Mayor: Yes. Motion is approved. Very good. So, it's back in front of us. Why don't we entertain a motion? Then we'll ask Mr. D to give us the particulars. Councilor: Move to approve. Mayor: We have a motion to approve, and we have a second. And if Mr. D is able to Zoom in for us, Director D, maybe you can give everyone of us and the people who are watching and listening at home or in the chambers the background on this item so that we have more information at our command. Director D: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The item is for a manhole that was failing, and we needed to conduct some emergency repair for that and needed funding to cover that expense. So, this item is to enable that for the governing body to approve. Mayor: Okay, so it is a very specific problem that you're going to be able to solve with this bar. Director D: That's correct, Mr. Mayor. Mayor: Any questions about the specifics? We all good? We're good. Madam Clerk, could you call the roll then? City Clerk: Councilor Castro? Councilor Castro: Yes. City Clerk: Councilor Chavez? Councilor Chavez: Yes. City Clerk: Councilor Faulkner? Councilor Faulkner: Yes. City Clerk: Councilor Lee Garcia? Councilor Lee Garcia: Yes. City Clerk: Councilor Michael Garcia? Councilor Michael Garcia: Yes. City Clerk: Councilor Lindell? Councilor Lindell: Yes. City Clerk: Councilor Romero-Wirth? Councilor Romero-Wirth: Yes. City Clerk: Councilor Cassutt? Councilor Cassutt: Yes. City Clerk: Mayor Weber? Mayor: Yes. Thank you for Zooming in, Mr. Director D. It's just nice to know from the point of view of the team, the team, what we're actually getting the backstory on it is really helpful. So, thank you. Yes, sir. Okay, Madam Clerk, item 15, introduction of legislation. 15A, consideration of resolution sponsored by Mayor Alan Weber, a resolution adopting annual Open Meetings Act notice requirements for 2025. And I am the staff member on this. Yeah, and just the title explains why we're doing this. We are keeping up our responsibilities by bringing this legislation forward and making sure we comply with all of the requirements. Next item, Madam Clerk. City Clerk: Item 15B, consideration of a bill number by Councilor Amanda Chavez and Councilor Pilar Faulkner and Councilor Lee Garcia, a bill relating to City Administration, amending Section 2-8 SFCC 1987 to change the title from Community Health and Safety Department to Health and Human Services Department, remove the Police Department and the Fire Department from that section, and to create two sections, 2-8.8 and 2-8.9, for the Police Department and Fire Department, respectively. And you have, I don't know, three sponsors. Anybody want to give us the quick overview? This is your opportunity to take a minute to just speak to it as it gets introduced. Councilor Chavez: Do you want me to start? Mayor: Please go ahead. Councilor Chavez: All right. And I apologize, I have little kids over here if you hear something in the background. So, we had Fire and Police under Health and Safety. Our Fire Departments and our Police Department really run under really strong structure and leadership, and although they collaborate with multiple departments, they really should function as their own. With what they deal with in just maintaining public safety and having to deal with situations very quickly, having a straight report to the City Manager is most appropriate. So, that structure is what this creates. It also renames Health and Safety to Health and Human Services, which we believe is a more appropriate name with the work that that department does, especially with Fire and Police being removed from underneath that. We believe that this will... create more organization, more structure, just quicker communication and quicker action. And so that is kind of where this originated. I don't know if the other sponsors want to contribute to that at all. Thank you. Others? You're all co-sponsored. Anybody? Yeah, Councilor Falk. So I would just offer that I feel like with the homeless crisis, I think that creating a new Department of Health and Human Services and taking police and fire out from under that department will allow that department to focus on the homeless issue. And it will also allow police and fire to focus on the things they need to focus on. I do have to give the mayor credit. He did try to make this happen, but I feel like this piece of legislation will support his decision to allow police and fire to deal directly with the city manager. And so, in part, this piece of legislation is in support of the mayor's initiative to allow them to communicate directly. And so I feel like it's, unfortunately, the mayor can't make this decision without the council. So I just want to offer that we're trying to support that initiative. And I do think that it will help police and fire with budget issues. It also, one of my concerns is that if police and fire and the homeless issue are all under one department, then it gets complicated around budget. And I feel like to solve the homeless issue and to solve some of the major issues we have as a city, we need to allow police and fire to have set their own budgets and allow, hopefully, the Health and Human Services Department to focus on the homeless issue. And so we don't have competing departments under one umbrella. We can kind of separate them and help them all get what they need to do the jobs they need to do. Thank you. And any other? I'll just, as a sponsor, co-sponsor of this, Mayor, if I may. Yes, please. You know, I think that some of the concerns in public safety in regards to events that are mission-critical and time-sensitive, I think some of the concerns have been that when something has happened in our community, that both the fire chief and both the police chief, when they have to, they obviously are sworn officers, and they, instead of having to go through a person above them to another person above them, gives them the autonomy to work directly with the city manager. And obviously, they are the professionals in their departments. And so I think that when it comes to saving lives, I think it's very important that they go through the channels as quickly as possible to get, obviously, they are in charge of their department, and they go directly to the city manager. And I think that's what this addresses. That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. That completes the introduction of those of that measure. What's next, Madam Clerk? Next would be item 16, petitions from the floor, but we want to wait till closer to 7:00 to get to that. Mayor: Yeah, I'd like to make a motion to move directly to item 20A, appointments discussion. Madam Clerk, let's vote on moving item 20A. Councilor Chavez: Yes. Councilor Faulkner: Yes. Councilor Lee Garcia: Yes. Councilor Michael Garcia: Yes. Councilor Lindell: Yes. Councilor Romero Worth: Yes. Councilor Cassett: Yes. Councilor Castro: Yes. Mayor Weber: Yes. Item, sorry, 20A, appointments, Santa Fe Women's Commission. So four people have been are listed. Elena Banner, appointment as alternate, term ending 11/2026. Anna Ruth Brunson, appointment, District 1, term ending 11/2026. Melinda Garcia, reappointment, District 3, term ending 11/2026. Gabrielle Schwier, reappointment at large, District 2, term ending, apparently there's an omission of the date for when that runs out. I will have to look at that, but most of, I think these have all come through from the commission and the staff. So I don't know if there are any questions about any of these candidates. There's a motion. Motion to approve. Second. A motion to approve, and we'll correct that typo to get the exact termination date of that last point. So motion has been made to approve it and seconded. Is there any comment? Madam Clerk, could you call the roll? Councilor Faulkner: Yes. Councilor Lee Garcia: Yes. Councilor Michael Garcia: Yes. Councilor Lindell: Yes. Councilor Romero Worth: Yes. Councilor Cassett: Yes. Councilor Castro: Yes. Councilor Chavez: Yes. Mayor Weber: Yes. Motion is approved. Good. Yes, it is about 6:15. We really don't want to go to petitions from the floor until 7:00 because that's how we advertise the public's awareness of when to come here before us. Is there a sense that we want to break and come back close to 7:00? What would the council? There's a few things where there's public comment on bills, but people may have had the feeling that those comments would come later in the evening than this early at 6:15. So I'm open to suggestions. I know it's going to be a longer evening. We may want to take a break now and see if anybody wants to take some nourishment before we go into the next part of the meeting. Mr. Mayor, I make a motion to recess until 7:00 p.m. Second. There's a motion and a second to recess till 7:00. Is there any discussion? I know it will mean that folks who are here will have to wait a little bit. Maybe you'll want to grab a bite to eat as well. When we come back at 7:00, we'll go back into petitions from the floor, and then we'll take up the item that Councilor Cassett had moved forward, which was item 18D, I believe. Could you call the roll on the motion? Councilor Lee Garcia: Yes. Councilor Michael Garcia: Yes. Councilor Lindell: Yes. Councilor Romero Worth: Yes. Councilor Cassett: Yes. Councilor Castro: Yes. Councilor Chavez: Yes. Councilor Faulkner: Yes. Mayor Weber: Yes. We are in, so we will come back at 7:00. We will take up petitions from the floor and then go forward from there. Thank you, everybody. We'll be back shortly. If we could all take a seat and get ready to resume. Everybody could take a seat. Let's get ready to resume with our agenda. Andrea, is Councilor Chavez on board? That you look good. All right. I think we're about ready, right? All right. Councilor Castro. Thank you, everybody. You could, everybody take a seat. We had a, we had a recess till 7:00. It's 7:06 p.m. So we're ready to resume if everybody will sit down. Please take a seat. Thank you. Thanks, everybody, for sitting down. Madam Clerk, what's the next item on our agenda? The next item is 16, petitions from the floor. Okay. Petitions from the floor. This is not the public hearing that probably, I'm guessing, many of you are here for or other items where you'll be commenting on a first, a public comment on a bill. This is anything other than public hearing. So if you have an item you'd like to speak to the governing body about that is not the public hearing that we'll be moving to after petitions from the floor, if you want to speak about anything for two minutes, this is an opportunity to do that. Again, not about the bill, but about any items you want to call to the governing body's attention. That includes people who may be on Zoom. Madam Clerk, if we have anybody on Zoom, if anybody is in the room who wants to use the time for petitions from the floor, of course, please come to the podium, and you will be given two minutes. Everyone will get a two-minute opportunity, and there may be people with a hand up on the Zoom. Again, this is not for the public hearing. This is petitions. We do have one hand up in the Zoom room, Stephanie Beninato. She can be promoted to panelists so we can hear her. And you will be the timekeeper, Madam Clerk, please. Okay, very good. Ms. Beninato, if you can hear me, you have the floor for two minutes. Thank you very much. I want to talk about case D101CB 20231743, which is a tort claim. And I have sent you some material on that in petitions from the floor. It was should be included in your packet, including a contract with the Fitness Superstore. And I understand from the main lawyer from C and McCarthy that even after 15 months, he says he's not really up to speed when we went to a motion's hearing the other day. And he seems to think that service contracts, third-party service contracts, contain confidential or privileged information, and same with resumes or job applications, which I'm sure all of you know, there are some material that can be redacted, but not all. He even suggested that even though they've been stonewalling on discovery for a year, that I should ask for them through public records instead because I told them that they were in fact public records. I understood from him, however, that Miss McCur will not give him authority to settle or whatever it is, provisional authority, I would imagine, because I'm assuming City Council has to agree. But I think that that's what you need because really the city has no documentation, according to the discovery, to prove any kind of reasonable care in any different way that I've asked for. And I also have to say, from an auditing point of view, if you're hiring somebody to do a plan or make recommendations or install equipment, and you don't have a purchase order, a contract, an invoice, or anything to show that you paid for it, and you don't have the recommendations, and you don't have the plan, I'm wondering what kind of reasonable care that even begins to be. So this is why I'm asking you to stop wasting taxpayer money and what I consider malfeasance and ask the City Attorney to give this attorney settlement authority. Thank you. Thank you very much. Anyone else in the Zoom room with a hand up, Madam Clerk? I do not see anyone else in the Zoom room with their hand up. And again, if anyone is here for calling attention to something on your agenda that's not the public hearing, please, please do come forward now and take the opportunity. Otherwise, we'll move on to the next item. Okay. Madam Clerk, what's the next item then? Next item is 17 public, oh, I'm sorry, 18D. We have moved that up. It is final action on legislation, public hearing, consideration of a bill 2024-25, D119 SP, sponsored by Mayor Alan Weber, a bill approving the sale of city-owned buildings, improvements, and six parcels located at 1600 St. Michael's Drive within the City and County of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Aspect QZB LLC, in three phases for a total of $5 million. And here to speak about it is Daniel Hernandez, Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency Director. I think it's 18D for the record. Yes, 18D. Okay. Mr. Hernandez, you have the floor after, no, we'll do that after we get back. But Mr. Hernandez, you have the floor to make a presentation, and then we'll go to public comment, and then I believe after that, we'll go into an executive session. Go ahead. Thank you. Good evening. Is working on your behalf yet, not speaking directly into it like I should be. What I'm presenting tonight is more than just a Midtown Redevelopment proposal. It is a cornerstone project that completely captures the vision, aspiration, and goals desired and demanded by the voices of Santa Fe communities. As a reminder, the redevelopment of the city's master plan at the city's Midtown site is regulated by the Midtown Master Plan, meaning it tells us what can get built there and the Community Development Plan, what happens there, what is community life like there, and what are the public programs that facilitate economic and community development. The second reminder is that the Midtown Community Development Plan was informed by the planning report authored by the community organizations that formed and called themselves the Midtown Engagement Partners, whose inclusive planning process engaged the voices of communities that do not typically participate in public policy and planning. It was primarily because of their participation, as well as the engagement of so many diverse civic groups that the Midtown Redevelopment plans were unanimously approved by the governing body. These Redevelopment plans have and will continue to direct all Redevelopment at Midtown. This proposal before you starts the implementation of those plans. So what area of the site does this development encompass? This development is part of the Phase One Redevelopment of the Midtown site and will serve as one important gateway and anchor for the Redevelopment area. The proposed development will be completed in three phases. The first phase is the renovation and reuse of existing buildings along with significant landscaping and wayfinding to improve the property. The second phase is a residential development that includes affordable housing, and the third phase is the development of new production and soundstage facilities. This is a long list, I realize, but it is the foundation for evaluating the merits of this Redevelopment proposal. So let's simply check off the boxes of everything that people of Santa Fe wanted and were documented in the approved Redevelopment plans. Most importantly, they are now included as requirements in the DDA, indicating to the people that these are no longer choices; these are requirements with default repercussions if they are not implemented by the developer. So, check: a mixed-use development district with neighborhood amenities, which is the central strategy for the urban design and land uses that are regulated by the Midtown plan. Check: affordable housing. The master plan did not anticipate residential development in this mixed-use film district, so this is a huge and welcome addition. Pursuant to pages 15 and 16 of the Community Development Plan, the city successfully negotiated the inclusion of affordable housing consistent with the requirements of Santa Fe Homes Inclusionary Program. Economic Development: There's a long checklist for local residents and businesses pursuant to page 19 of the Community Development Plan. Strengthen industries that are unique to exist in or are burgeoning in Santa Fe, particularly those jobs related to film production, entertainment, and community arts and culture. Focus disposition of property for commercial development on industries that establish a creative culture in the center of Santa Fe, including film and multimedia production. Establish a strong and sustainable film production workforce in Santa Fe to decrease the reliance on imported skilled labor forces. Create and relocate job training, internship, and career education programs. Host opportunities to increase job access for local residents. Facilitate entrepreneurialism with local businesses. Facilitate the development and placement of small and local businesses on the Midtown site. Check, check, check. The other checkmarks are: relocate existing outdoor sculpture pursuant to page 23 of the Community Development Plan. Reuse the existing movie theater in the Garson Studio Complex, formerly known as The Screen, with community program check. Include environmental and energy requirements stated in the Community Development Plan on page 12, including decommissioning of gas usage and other green building measures such as installation of photovoltaic panels and EV charging stations. Check. And of great importance, and I quote from page seven of the Community Development Plan under Sustainable Development: "Adopt a triple bottom line approach to development that seeks to balance and improve social, environmental, and economic impacts and benefits of developing the Midtown site." Big checkmark. These would not be included in a standard market-driven transaction. This project meets and in many ways exceeds the requirements and vision articulated by the many voices that created the Midtown Redevelopment Plan, and it wholeheartedly responds to all those voices that participated in it. Yet some people have been confused without a more fully painted picture of what this development proposal actually includes. So let's examine more closely what exactly is a triple bottom line approach as a way to calculate a total transaction price. What does it include? How does it affect property valuation? How is this different from a single bottom line market-driven approach that only accounts for a cash appraised value? A triple bottom line approach is often used when there are bigger issues at stake than a single perspective informed by a third-party appraisal. It considers social and environmental factors. It is often used by social impact investors like government agencies, foundations, even for-profit commercial investment institutions that recognize a stabilized return of a rate of return by investing in long-term public benefits. For example, Goldman Sachs has a huge triple bottom line social impact investment department. Cities typically use it in developing public-private partnerships as a way of accounting for and calculating returns on investment of public resources such as land that we have as an investment tool. It is highly important to note that standard appraisals do not consider public benefit packages. So with the directive from the approved Redevelopment plans to use triple bottom line accounting, let's start with a total DDA transaction value of $12.4 million. There's a purchase price for $5 million, lease payments of $300,000, and a community benefits package of $7.1 million for a total transaction in this DDA of $12.4 million. Let's break that down a little bit further. So here is the total community packages. So now you may see that the chart items have fluctuated since we started these public discussions around the total transaction price, and yes, they have, specifically at the direction of City Council Committee comments. Some items have either been removed and/or recategorized from the community benefits columns and placed within the overall calculation so that the city can track them as DDA requirements that ultimately do affect price consideration. So I will summarize the triple bottom line accounting and how the $12.4 million for this DDA transaction was derived. But before I start, it's important to note that there will be differing opinions on how to categorize the DDA requirements as community benefits or renovation and adaptive reuse requirements. Like an appraisal, this is not a science, but they all affect the appraisal valuation that were used as a starting point for developing a triple bottom line public-private partnership agreement between the developer and the city. This slide shows line cost accounting. Some items have been removed resulting from the City Council commitment totaling $7.1 million. So you see them itemized here, and that shows how the different amounts were calculated to get to the $7.1 million. This shows the renovation and reuse items requested in the Community Development Plan and are now required in the DDA. Note the cafeteria renovation and theater renovation costs are itemized here and not in the community package, again, as an outcome of the City Council Committee process. This shows the triple bottom line cost accounting of those renovations. Again, note that the cafeteria and theater renovations are not included in the community benefits category. They are included here as the required renovations and cost expenditures in the DDA, meaning they are no longer a choice by the developer like it would be in a market-driven transaction. These are now site and economic development requirements in the overall development program totaling $3 million. While these significant expenditures that you see on this slide total $180 million, they are not included in the property valuation, but they are required of the developer. That $180 million will be expended over the course of 15 years. Yes, there are differences in the appraisals commissioned by the city and developers. You see in this slide, I will say though that after more than 35 years in the real estate development profession, I understand that these types of appraisals are vastly different, more complex than the residential appraisals used to purchase homes. As we all reviewed the two appraisals and the single analysis, one can see that those approaches can yield very different values. These differences were the topic of a memo issued to the governing body called the "Appraisal Overview" that was authored by my office and Strategic Economics. Although appraisals appear to be derived by an objective calculation-driven process, the art of assumptions can significantly impact the science of the actual calculations. Any professional in the real estate industry recognizes that as part of the property evaluation process. So an appraisal is usually the starting point in negotiating a deal. The actual value is determined by the parties reaching an arm's length agreement on the price and conditions of the sale. In this case, the arm's length agreement was to create a public-private partnership in which the interest of both parties extended many years into the future, meaning this DDA represents not a one-time transaction price, but an investment projecting long-term triple bottom line returns. As you see here, there were multiple references in evaluating the DDA price terms, including a review of the two appraisals as well as an analysis generated during the master planning process in 2022 by our own planning and land economics team. So let's start by looking at the price. If we only use renovations on top of what was already considered in the formal valuation during DDA negotiations, the city included these as requirements. As you may recall, the $3 million in renovation costs were shown to you previously. So we have a total of $8.4 million, but it does not consider the $7.1 million in community cost benefits. Now let's look at the effect of the appraised value based on the cost of only the community benefits that, as I said previously, were not included in the third-party appraisal process. A total of $4 million is the after subtracting $7.4 from $11.4, leaves us a total of $4 million value, but does not consider the $3 million required in economic development renovations. And as you see here, and while not affecting the property valuation of DDA transaction pricing, the longer-term return here are the longer-term return on investments to the city, which are significant in the hundreds of millions of dollars with job creation, salaries, and tax revenues generated. This analysis was based on the specifics of this specific project. Basically, the master plan precludes typical highest and best use development, which would yield the highest profit margins and more market-driven price considerations. As stated by a local Redevelopment professional who is a member of my MRA commission, he says, "My opinion is that a marginally higher price sale today is a poor bargain versus the value of a long-term community benefits, physical renovations to existing buildings to create a mixed-use district, and the value of actual progress at the Midtown site as a catalyst for future development and investment." Phil Jezu, the developer and founder of Aspect Studio Village, submitted and agreed to a Redevelopment proposal that captures the vision, aspiration, and requirements provided in the Midtown Redevelopment plans. What's more, he and his spouse have become part of the film network here in Santa Fe, as demonstrated by his sponsorship of the Santa Fe International Film Festival, the many emails and letters of support from community organizations whose mission focuses on filmmaking and production, film commissioners from the city, county, and state, Native American filmmakers, community advocates, and other residents who do not simply want to see Redevelopment Midtown, but more specifically, they support it because of Phil's proposal and what happens there that will attract them, that's there for them, and creates boundless economic. economic and community opportunities for them, their communities, and the City of Santa Fe into the future. That's going to conclude my presentation, but I do want to make sure that everyone recognizes Phil, wherever he is seated. Please stand. Stand up, Phil. That's Phil Gaze, the developer. Hold on, everybody. I know you're being polite. We don't clap, we don't boo. We can just say thank you for being here, but we don't really do outbursts like that because somebody might feel the other way, and we don't want to engage in back and forth. So thank you for recognizing that he's here tonight and with us. I have one more introduction too. I want to recognize Rich Brown, who was the previous director of Community Development here, who had a huge footprint in the way that these negotiations unfolded. And more importantly, or as important, I should say, Karen Iverson, my predecessor as director of the Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency, who I picked up from where she left off in an amazing partnership agreement with Phil and the city. So I want to recognize them and thank them for their efforts here. Thank you. You completed your presentation, and I'm sure you'll get questions after we come back from an executive session. We'll have questions during that, of course. At this time, before we go into an executive session, we'd like to hear from the people who are present or on the Zoom room. The city clerk will keep a two-minute time clock. Everybody gets treated equally. Please don't clap or boo or anything. If you agree with somebody, that's fine. If you don't agree with them, that's fine too, but we respect everybody's right to speak and be heard equally. You can air clap if you like, or air boo if there's such a thing, but let's keep it respectful and civil. So everybody who would like to speak, who's here, will go to the chambers first, and then we'll entertain people who are in the Zoom room. Please come forward. You can form a line if you'd like, or you can wait until there is no line and then come forward. But in whatever order you would like to speak, we'll give everyone equal time and equal respect. So the clerk will keep the clock. If we can put up the timer on the screen, please. Hi, I'm James Granthis. Wait one sec. Are we getting the clock up and running? Yes. So if you're curious about how you're doing on the time, or you may not be curious, but it'll go off in two minutes one way or the other. And yeah, please speak into the mic as clearly as you can. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Counselors. I'm James Granthis, ASC, GSC, American Society of Cinematographers. I'm a 40-year veteran of shooting as a cinematographer, director, producer. I've shot all over North America, all over the world. In New Mexico, I've shot on Roswell and on documentaries here locally, and currently on our project with Michael Hansel and Vince Rose here. We're sitting, my colleagues. I'm enthusiastically supporting the Aspic Media Village. This is a development, it's crucial infrastructure that will help Santa Fe for decades to come. We all know great movies have been shot in New Mexico. You don't know how many you've missed that were not shot in New Mexico. There's a lack of studio stage space in Northern New Mexico. We all know Albuquerque has a lot of stage space, but not every movie looks like Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul. I think Santa Fe has missed out on a lot. It's just economically not feasible to bring a big production here if there's no stage space. Movies are generally a mix of exterior and interior. Thelma and Louise would be an exception, but what if you had Thelma and Louise and you needed interior flashbacks of what happened in New York in 1920? You might have to build that, and there's no stage space to build it in except at this Aspic Village Studio. Santa Fe Studios are great. I've shot there, but there's only two stages. There's not enough capacity, and the capacity of having stage space to base your production is a critical decision that a producer would make. And so a lot of productions have not come here because they've gone to Calgary, Vancouver, Salt Lake City, etc. It's the reason why sometimes in California so many things are shot in Southern California and not in Northern California. There are no stages up there. There's a tax break, no stages that support the production. It's show business. There are many positive aspects that were just, just by our previous speaker. I think aesthetically that's one of the important aspects of this project. I've worked in many soulless industrial parks, and this is not one of them. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Counselors. My name is Ray Landy. I'm a citizen of Santa Fe, and I'm also a trustee of the Santa Fe Art Institute. And your decisions tonight will have a secondary impact on Midtown in terms of raising capital for the Midtown Arts and Design Alliance. And we appreciate your approval of the extension of the ENA. We heard from so many donors, over 45, that there was a concern about investment in Midtown when nothing was happening in Midtown. So your decision tonight will have significant impact on our ability to raise funds, and we hear that over and over again. And they know that the city is going to support something, not requiring renegotiations, and approve something that is so significant for Midtown and for the city will be important to them. Secondly, as someone who spends a lot of time in Los Angeles, and as I drive around Burbank Studios, as I drive around Hollywood, the parking lots are empty. The film industry is really having a tough time now, and the fact that this developer has sustained the course here to benefit us, it'll come back someday. The fact that he stayed the course when the industry is so, so in such upheaval right now, is really a benefit to us. So I wholeheartedly support this approval of the DDA. Thank you. Thank you. No, no, we're not clapping, we're not booing, we're just listening. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Counselors. I'm David Petes. I'm appearing here today as the Vice Chair of the Economic Development Advisory Committee. We have discussed this matter on several occasions at meetings. Mr. Hernandez presented last week, gave us a robust analysis, as I'm sure you've seen. The committee voted unanimously to approve the project. I ask the counselors to think strategically and 10 to 25 years in the future about what your decision means here tonight, and to help really create a vibrant Midtown campus that goes far beyond Midtown, but has impacts beyond Santa Fe, the state, and truly the world. I've studied the details of this project and walked the site several times with Mr. Gaze. We're fortunate to have him leading this project. He's smart, professional, creative, very community-minded, and able to perform financially. He's researched our city and engaged with members of the film and business community, and he's committed to Santa Fe for the long term. I'm very concerned about the negative message a no vote sends to the business world and the future of development in Santa Fe. I respectfully ask, Mr. Mayor and the counselors, on behalf of EDA, to vote yes for this measure. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, clap. I'm asking you. Yes, sir. Mr. Mayor, I'm not able to hear him. Okay, you need to get right up into the microphone. Thank you for flagging that. Let's try this. All right. Oh, good technology. Unfortunately, few initiatives over the nearly last decade have made any progress in building the fundamentals for such developments. I engaged with the community open house event on Midtown campus several years ago to provide community input, and as a Santa Fe Community College Governing Board member, have long had an interest in developments adjacent to the college's higher education center. And recently, I heard a presentation of the Aspic proposal as a member of the city Economic Development Advisory Committee. The current Aspic proposal, the only response to the city's search for an interested developer, has now been in the works for over a year, and it presents us with a long, long-term vision: the development of the film and digital entertainment center, as well as housing and community, cultural, and educational places. It's a good deal for the city. There are concerns that we are selling the property at too low a price, and the community benefits are inadequate. Not easy things to measure, weigh, and compare, but they have been discussed. City staff have done due diligence, and there are no competitors in the wings. Not sure what a perfect deal would look like, but this one surely looks to be a pretty good one, thoughtfully, carefully reviewed, and with a proposal in hand, ready to go. Midtown campus is a long-awaited development, and it's time to move ahead. Let's approve this deal and then monitor its implementation carefully to get the best from it. Thank you. Thank you. Gave you a little bit of extra time because you had to wait for the mic to work. Yes, you have the floor. Mr. Mayor, Counselors, good evening. I'm Dr. Jim Weong, Academic Dean, Santa Fe Community College. I oversee the College of, or the School of Arts and Design at the college, which encompasses our film program. And I'm here to testify to you about our relationship with Philip and his team and the work that we've been doing since the fall of 2022. I think each of you are in receipt of a letter of support from my boss, President Dr. Becky Rowley. I'm going to echo some of those comments and expand upon them. So when we first began discussing educational plans with Philip and his team, we were very impressed right out of the gates with his understanding of the education process, his deep commitment to it being part of this integrated plan of a film village, and the fact that he was willing to bring in our other partners, the Stagecoach Foundation and IATSE Local 480. And the partnership that we have will be an opportunity to train people for good-paying jobs, citizens of Santa Fe, citizens of Santa Fe County, and serve the economic interest of Northern New Mexico. This is a unique project. The opportunity here is once in a lifetime. This is an incredible opportunity to benefit people and benefit this industry. Our interest at the college certainly is to help educate our students, and our partnerships also extend to the public schools, Santa Fe High School, Capital High School, and the New Mexico School for the Arts. But we stand ready to partner with him and move things forward here in Santa Fe. If you have questions, I'll answer them. If not, thank you for your time. Thank you for being here. Yes, you have the floor. Mr. Mayor, Counselors, my name is Desha, and I come before you as a concerned community member of Santa Fe. I'm born in Santa Fe, and I live in Santa Fe, and I'm concerned about this development moving forward. A little bit about me, I am in the service industry as a licensed massage therapist. I also am a former government worker for the Navajo Nation, so I'm very familiar with the process of trying to get something moved and pushed ahead. I am also an educator, trained as a Montessori Early Education teacher, and I've also taught at the college level. The reason why I'm concerned with what's going on here is for the future of myself and my family, for the future of my community. What I gained from entering into the film industry on a whim was I found my actual chosen family. I found a great plethora of people who are there at the ready, who know what the commitment to getting a project done and on time is like. The artistic endeavors that has made there, I didn't grow up with a role model like I am trying to create for myself, for my community, for my daughter. I go to different elementaries, I go to the junior highs, I go to the high schools, and I tell them of the opportunities that the film industry has created for me. I not only started as a background actor, I'm a principal actor, I'm a screenwriter, I'm a director, I'm a producer. and one of these days I would love to be able to walk or bike into the studio that I hope you approve because what my hope is to be able to create the stories and to help greenlight the stories from this community, to be able to bring in the people who are from maybe LA so that we have the proximity of that creative artistic talent and skill so that our children, our future, is able to see what it looks like. I did not grow up with that opportunity. My father worked for Lanel for 40 years and retired. My mom was a homemaker and I value the lessons and the sacrifices that my mom gave, but my brother told me to leave and I did leave because there were no opportunities here. So by moving forward and finding the yes to say yes and approve this is saying yes to the community, is saying yes to the children, and saying yes to the future storytellers and future filmmakers here in New Mexico. Thank you very much. Yes, you have the floor. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, counselors. My name is Kevin Bowen. I've spoken with you before. I'm the executive director of the Human Rights Alliance here in Santa Fe and I want to offer a little bit of a different perspective on this project. We have been watching Midtown for quite some time and we were actually excited to see that some movement was happening. One of our concerns is that if this project is not approved, it may then cause other issues to happen, namely perhaps the Santa Fe Art Institute project that will be supporting the community and the not-for-profits that are in the community. And if we can't find someone else to invest in Midtown to start to make that place vibrant, then we have a lot of wasted space. And our concern is as we move forward through January 20th with the new administration, the city is going to need a lot of help from its community and creating a community safe space. So we hope that you move forward with the project because of what it will mean to other members of the community and the potential for creating a community space. In addition, we're not in the business of film, we're in the business of people, but in addition to supporting the community, it's really an important thing and we view it that way. So thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing what the outcome will be. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Dr. Elizeth Hiana Ster. Thank you for having me, Mayor, counselors. I wrote a letter to you all last week regarding the impacts of production on a community using the Game of Thrones as an example of an impact making deep socioeconomic changes. And we are farther along in that process here in our state, but we are at a place where we need to move from contraction and expand opportunities for New Mexicans, for Santa Feans, to be able to make a living, not just to survive, but to thrive. It comes from this industry, a green industry. I want to turn to this group and say, look at how many people that are just the teeny tiny tip of the iceberg of how many people are impacted by the film industry in our state and in our city. And I would almost say if you're from Santa Fe, raise your hand that this really affects you. Union jobs, just those certain jobs can change the impact three generations of one family. They can take care of themselves, their children, and their parents. But I want to take that hat off and I want to talk as a citizen because I've been watching this process for now many, many years. And I want to say that there are folks that are on this council that were here in the first rendition from when I was here in 2020 and then it's changed. And in that time, how many people, Master Builders, submitted in 2020 and then this time after many, many years, only one. This is also a vote of confidence for you guys and for our citizens to believe that you really hear what the citizens want. Those Master Builders, every single one of them, put their hearts into listening and responding and developing beautiful ideas and they haven't had the opportunity to share that with anyone because of the process. Now those folks and those ideas have manifested in the expectations of what happens on this campus and this gentleman and his incredible endeavor is to actually answer all of those. I encourage you to think about the real human beings that are affected, not a bank account line. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, sir. My name is Vic Martinez. There's a couple of things I would, I participated in this from the beginning of this process and there's a couple of issues that I really have. I want to thank the counselors who brought up the issue that maybe we're not getting a fair deal on this and I think they're right. I think the price is still too low. There's a lot of other issues in this. I mean, there's issues of, if this is approved, this is our last public meeting we have on this issue. There is no more. There's not an ENN process coming up. There is, there is no follow-up on affordable housing since you guys killed the, the, uh, killed the affordable housing that everyone has to build because it's a fee. This developer can say, well, it doesn't price out right. We can't do any affordable housing. We can lose the affordable housing that's in the deal there and through the rest of the campus. So it's, this is, I think it was a really bad deal by, by getting rid of, uh, by using, letting them use the fee of, of, uh, also the, you guys don't get to see this. This is probably your last time you get to see this because you don't make decisions anymore because it's all falls to, to the hands of the land use director. Land use director makes the decision and architectural, the affordable units, they make the decision on, on the way the, the project is going to look. But as far as the council's concerned, all you guys are just salespersons to, to, you know, purchase the land, let them buy it, but you don't have nothing, no other stuff in the front. So it just really disappoints me that, uh, we are rushing this and without giving any point, you know, I try to tell the truth. Some of you guys like to listen to the truth. Some of you don't even care about the truth. It's really, that's another thing that disappoints me about this council. But I really, really just think that, uh, the deal that, uh, this guy is getting is, is really too low and the way the process works that we should be giving the, the public more input on this because I don't think the public got enough input on this to make this a real viable deal. I support the, the film industry a lot and I support the whole idea of this, but the way the, the process was drawn up by giving the, the land use director full authority for everything in this on this that goes on in the campus is a wrong way to do it. The public should have a lot more comment on this. So that's why I'm really disappointed. Thank you. Yes, sir. Mayor, counselors, thanks for having us. I'm Steve Graham. I'm the director of the New Mexico State Film Office. I'm also just prior to that, was a producer for the last 25 years and the last eight of that here in New Mexico in television and film. I'm here in support of the, uh, the Aspect Media Village for a number of reasons. First of all, when I, when I first, first moved here, when I moved back, by the way, I'm native New Mexican, and I wanted to bring a TV series here so I could work where I was about to live. We looked at Santa Fe and there are a couple of nice stages here. They at the time were filled, which was fantastic for the community, but we did not have enough stage space here in New Mexico in general and Santa Fe in particular. And we've missed a lot of productions because of that. And these are productions that bring high-paying union jobs with benefits. The average job in the film industry and the union positions last year was about $36. And that is on top of all of the benefits that are also part of that. So I've watched people in my employ grow from a PA up through the camera department, for instance, and be able to buy a house, to buy a truck, to raise a family, and to build a life here. And it's, I've been part of the RFP process, the early developments of this project. I've watched it pass us by in Li fellow. I think that Philip has brought a project and has shown that he has staying power with the circumstances that we've been dealing with and I support the project wholeheartedly and think it would be a great benefit to New Mexico and to Santa Fe. Thank you. Let's reset the clock. Okay, you have the floor. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Jamie Blosser and represent the Santa Fe Art Institute and the Midtown Arts and Design Alliance. And we are very excited to move forward. Thank you very much. My board member, Ray Landy, already spoke very eloquently about the impact that a no vote tonight for Aspect Studios would have on our ability to continue raising the necessary money for the Midtown Arts and Design Alliance project. Not only that, but as we've heard multiple times with other speakers, this is a critical creative engine for our economy and a very important first project. We really need this in this community to see that something can happen at Midtown. I actually want to speak also as one of the Midtown engagement partners that Daniel Hernandez had referenced. SFAI was one of nine partners, very different nonprofits all around the community with very different missions, but all looking at equitable development in Midtown. And we did an amazing public engagement process based on consensus amongst our organizations. And I just want to remind the council that that was predominantly Spanish speakers, youth, and low-income households. And we really heard the voices of the people. As Daniel said, our report is what turned into the community development plan. And I think it's really critical, especially with a first project like this, that we aren't only looking at the bottom line, that we set the tone for community development benefits as part of, of course, the bottom line that we all need to also look at. So really, thank you for voting yes for Aspect Studios. Thank you. Thank you. May have to lift the mic a little bit. There you go. You can even pick it up, I think. All right. I come from lighting, not sound. Okay. My name is Steph Mullen. I'm the International Alliance Theatrical Stage Employee Business Representative for Camera Local 600. And next year I'll be taking over the Local 480, which represents all the other crafts. I've been a member and original member of Local 480 last 35 years, part of the film industry here for 40 years. First show was Silverado. And when we first filmed in the Garson Studios was City Slickers. Right after we did the birth of the calf scene, we had to come in and find a cover and used the cover set because we started getting snowed on. That really changed the industry here in New Mexico once we got the G, which was the first sound studio in New Mexico. As a result of that, we were able to bring shows here. As I can go through the litany, but it would take too much time. And it allowed my colleagues and fellow Santa Feans who are artists, craftsmen, were starting to struggle finding a hard time to stay here. It's getting more expensive. This allowed a lot of them were artists and so it wasn't just that they were only film work. They were artisans, they were craftsmen, they were cosmetologists, estheticians, electricians, carpenters. It, it, it, it really enhanced the value of Santa Fe and it, and it fit perfectly with the art community that we have established here years. I think the, the development of this Aspect Studios will only increase. We've heard people say a lot of these companies, they want to come here, they just can't. We don't have the space. Two stages by the prisons, not enough. This, this will increase our viability and it also, it enhances the incentive for our students to stay here. I've now seen third generations of people that used to have to leave, go other places, be able to stay here. I don't think we can. really quantify the value that this studio will bring, nor really the amount of money that they're going to have to put in. The development is well worth the investment. I think Santa Fe will benefit, all of Northern New Mexico will benefit as a result. So thank you for your consideration. Hope you approve this. Thank you. Yes, sir. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, councilors. My name is Richard Czoski. For 17 years, I was the executive director of the nonprofit that built the commercial portion of the railyard. I was also recently appointed as a commissioner on the MRA Midtown. Today is reminiscent of where the railyard was in 2006. It was a visionary project that could be great but needed a catalyst to convince the private sector that the project was actually going to happen, that the city was going to make the investments it had offered. Midtown's catalyst is the Aspect Studios DDA that is before you tonight. I ask you to look forward a few years. You want to see the infrastructure completed. You want to see a center for employment and housing, or more of what exists today. I have a unique perspective because I started with a project that looks very much like what Midtown looks like today. For the first time tonight, you have a project before you that is achievable with a willing and well-financed partner. Activity begets activity, and investment begets investment. I think it's critical that this particular project move forward because it will hugely impact how the private sector, the investment community, and everybody in Santa Fe sees the viability of Midtown. So tonight, I would ask you to, one more point, if at the railyard we had yielded to the critics and the naysayers, the railyard wouldn't be done today. We had to overcome a tremendous amount of opposition in the community, and fortunately, we had the support of the city and the support of the business community. Please have the vision and courage tonight to approve the project. I think it's the best thing for the citizens of Santa Fe. Thank you. Thank you. One second, reset the clock. Okay, sir, you have the floor. Hi, everybody. I read Richard's letter. We need your name for the record, sir. Earl. Thank you. I, like many of you, I read Richard's letter that circulated earlier this week. I thought about myself, what should I talk about? He really covered the waterfront. His experiences, 18 years with the railyard, will resonate with all. I'm sorry to interrupt, but I just want to remind everybody to just try to be close to the mic consistently because some are going in and out. Okay. All right. So, I wanted to let you know I've got a new career. It's perking along, and it has to do with the film world. I've made a short film about my dad. I made a film about our five and dime company, and Potter Pictures is currently completing principal photography on a documentary about the School for the Arts. And I am thrilled that we're at this point and that all of you, everybody sitting around this table and in the audience that has supported this idea and stuck with it for such a long period of time. And thank you so much for staying with it. Thank you, sir. We do have a city council member who is operating on Zoom, and sometimes the microphone doesn't always pick up what folks are saying. So be mindful, get it positioned so what you say is audible for not only folks in this room but people who are watching or listening or on Zoom. So, good reminder. You have the floor. Thank you, Mayor Weber. Thank you, City Council, for allowing us the time to speak. My name is Anna Dara, and I do work in film, but I am talking today as a resident of Santa Fe. I've lived here for 30 years, and I consider this my home in every possible way. Raised my family here. And I want to talk to the council members who really feel as though they are representing the people and wanting to make sure you're getting the value out of this piece of land and the potential out of this piece of land. What I want you to do is consider shifting your perspective a little bit. This has been an enormously long process. There's been ample time for public comment before this moment for people who have had issues with whether or not it's going to be developed and what the value should be. We gave Philip a value. He built a plan based on that, spent a lot of time and money doing that, and now we want to renegotiate because we think it might be worth more. That's like a really strange way to do business across the board, I would suggest. But the thing I want to look at is the amount of money that is being wasted every single day that this is not being activated. We taught on this campus, and when it closed in 2018, and we filmed a zombie film on the campus and needed no set decoration because the place had honestly already disintegrated to the point where the upkeep was so beyond what could be done. At this point, it's years and years later. We're talking six solid years later where there's been no rent, no action, nothing being created. Think about the jobs if you had said yes a year ago and moved forward. Where would we be today? I just really want to encourage you to take the steps to make this happen and start activating what can come from this. Thank you. Thank you. You may need to adjust the microphone like that. Does that work much better? Okay, I'm in the business. I know how we're supposed to do this. Okay. Yeah, my name is Michael Donnelly, and I wrote a letter earlier in support of the Aspect Studios. I sent it all into you. Thank you all for replying in the positive that you even read it. And I'm just here to, you know, get myself down here in person so you can see I'm going to do more than that. I've been a professional in the motion picture industry for more than 50 years. I have created innovative advances in programming, community programming, outreach to education. I've curated collections of film for UCLA, and I've done most of this in Los Angeles, and we, I've created an international reputation for myself and for my works. And I just want to come here and say that this is a community group, and I want to discuss community because it's by building community, it's by inspiring people in the community that all of these ends come together. I was a 24-year-old kid from Mexico City. I didn't know anything when I went to LA, and all of a sudden, I find myself at the helm of one of the most important art theaters in the United States. How did we do this? This because we didn't know what we were doing. Fundamentally, we started, we got into it, we made it happen. We looked at the bottom line. We made money. It was profitable, and we took that into the creation of independent filmmaking that took it out of the studio system, which is an arcane system. We have a studio here. We have a community here. We have young kids here who want to learn, who want to work. Other people have addressed the union and the triple bottom line component of this entire operation. I thank you for your curatorial work on this plot of land that just sits fallow in the middle of our community. But I do think of the kid who's going to live in that house, who one day is going to walk by a movie studio, see some guy do something amazing, go to the movie theater, see that movie, and walk away and do something great for our community that's going to resonate not only here but around the world. Thank you very much for your time and your work. Thank you. Yes, we need to, yeah, the mic is movable, so make it fit you. I'm not, so that's a good thing. Okay. Thank you, Mayor Weber. Thank you, councilors, for allowing us this opportunity to provide you with some community input. You've heard from crew, you've heard. We need your name. Sorry. I am Talia Pura, and I thought it was important that I attend here today in person because I represent one more set of stakeholders in this project. I am the president of the local for actors, SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents the actors. So we've heard from various crew. We've heard from other above-the-line filmmakers. You need to know that there are over 1,500 actors in this state that stand in strong support of building another studio. There is never enough work, but there are people that are making a living at this, and many more that would like to, and having more opportunities to do so is very, very much valued and welcomed. This union began with a very small handful of actors not that many years ago, and now we're more than 1,500 strong, and there's always room for more growth. The more projects that are brought here, the more work there is for actors, and actors that live here are getting ever bigger roles, and that's an important aspect of it. And as has already been pointed out by Steve Graham so eloquently from the film office, we need more studios. We have been turning away projects because there aren't enough. Now, I am, as well as being an actor for many years, I'm also a filmmaker. I've made 10 shorts, and I'm about to embark on my first feature, and seeing the opportunity for more studios and some opportunities for filmmakers, for local filmmakers, is personally very, very important to me as well. And the more studios there are, the more projects will come. It really is a case of if you build it, they will come. And so I strongly support this. And finally, as a community member, my God, let's make something happen at this campus. Let's not let any more zombie movies be filmed without set deck. It's time. And once you start, others will come. More investment will follow. Wow, that was a fast two minutes. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Yes, sir, you have the floor. Can you hear me okay? Try a little bit, get a little lower. Sorry. You can put it up on the edge. There you go. Perfect. Awesome. My name is Claudio Ruben. I'm the director of Garson Studios. Thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening, Mayor and councilors. So I've been living at Midtown campus quite literally for the last six and a half years, probably the one person who knows it intimately inside and out. I think as Daniel Hernandez said, this is a cornerstone project, the launching of Aspect Media Village. It's very important for the growth of the industry here. Garson Studios is really more than just Garson Studios. It's an economic development portal. The shows that we bring in bring a tremendous amount of income to Santa Fe, to Northern New Mexico, to Española, to Las Vegas, to Santa Fe County. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent because we've stayed open since July 1st, 2018, when I took over Garson Studios. So I'm the one that's been making the deals, generating millions of dollars for the city along with other city employees. We work in tandem, obviously, in this private-public partnership, but I'm the one that makes the deals with Netflix, with Amazon, with Apple. I'm the one that turns away the deals because we can't, we don't have the space to accept larger shows, as someone else here said. So the work that Mr. Jesse is, the opportunity he's creating by buying Garson Studios is tremendous for the growth of the industry, for the growth of the economy here in Northern New Mexico. And Philip and I have already been working on this in the last couple years, in an unofficial capacity, bring the strengths of our relative properties together to bring in shows from Apple TV, from Amazon, from Netflix. So I just wanted to encourage you to vote yes for this. I also wanted to point out that as someone else here mentioned, that the industry nationally is going through a delicate time and a transition. So we've been very fortunate to book show after show after show after show for four years. Now we've been empty for five months, probably go on seven or eight months with no business. I experienced this in 2019 as well, kept the doors open to Garson Studios when we were having no business. It's an up and down industry, so you can't take for granted the income of the past. project that always into the future. Thank you. Hi, Mr. Mayor, counselors. My name is Lizette Bailey. I'm executive director of the Santa Fe International Film Festival, born and raised in Santa Fe. And I just want to take the time to tell you guys about the community impact Aspect Media Village will have on Santa Fe and what it's had on us. I think a lot of times you read the dreaded New York developer, right? But Mr. Jez isn't quite like that. With the festival, he's been extremely supportive even prior to the deal with possibly happening with the city. He came into Santa Fe and saw the potential of the film festival. And when everybody got a little starstruck with Sundance maybe coming here, Mr. Jez stayed with us and said, "Why would you do that when you have a great homegrown film festival here? Why would you go and try and bring something from out of state when you have it right here?" And so that doesn't seem like your typical New York developer, does it? It's somebody who really has been part of this community and has wanted to be part of this community. And I think that that can really show with what he wants to do with the screen and give it to community partners and open it up again, which has been shut for about six years. And for us, that's been major. That's stopped the festival from being able to grow into Midtown, be able to grow further from the theaters that are primarily downtown. So as we look to what is possible here, I think that it's really looking at what's been happening for community partners like the Santa Fe International Film Festival and our nonprofit, the Santa Fe Film Institute, the Santa Fe Art Institute, and how this developer has really looked to engross himself in the community rather than just being a developer that builds and leaves. Thank you. Hello, Mayor and counselors. Thank you very much for having us tonight. My name is Gay Dillingham. I have lived in Santa Fe and loved Santa Fe, this community, for 38 years. I echo much of what many of my colleagues have said, and it's beautiful to see how cohesive we are around this human being that is a developer. Lizette also said some of what I was going to relative to, I was involved with the selection committee as well, and I didn't know Philip at that point. So on paper, I voted yes, and then I got to know him, and I started introducing him to Santa Fe Community College, Stagecoach Foundation, everybody, and he embraced genuinely and brought them in and wanted to learn. And this, my concern is that if we somehow let this opportunity go, it would be tragic because this is someone that is very community-minded, and it's not your average developer. So I just want to echo most of my colleagues and say thank you all for being cohesive around this vision for our city. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Hello, Mayor and Council. My name is Scott Garen. I moved back here two years ago. I lived here 30 years ago. I'm a longtime filmmaker, writer, producer, director, mostly in Los Angeles, working with all the broadcast networks, with Columbia Studios, Warner Brothers, with Peter Guber, with Steve Wynn. I've made films with Dick Clark and series with Dick Clark and even Johnny Carson. All is to just say that I have a deep knowledge of the film industry acquired over a 40-year career. Now, we've all heard the benefits of Aspect Studios and the Aspect Media Village in terms of the community, in terms of education, in terms of culture. So I just want to address what's come up with respect to this purchase price and the appraisal and the issues surrounding that. One, in the considerable time that has passed since Mr. Jez bought the tennis center and initiated the larger project of Aspect Studios, the film industry has declined close to 30%. So if you do not approve of this endeavor, the likelihood of another studio or production company coming in to develop the Midtown complex is zero. It's not going to happen. You will end up with a Midtown 10 years from now, 15 years from now, with nothing on it. If you open this Midtown project up to developers to develop other kinds of real estate or other ventures, of what benefit to the community is that beyond the nominal price difference of the purchase? If you're able to obtain it, it certainly in the long run doesn't pay off. It doesn't offset that difference. And third, much has recently been said about the purchase price not being high enough. So to quote a famous line, so to quote a famous line from a film, "Show me the money." Where are the offers? Where have the offers been? This project benefits the community and is a bird in the hand with a developer who cares about this community with a project that is truly visionary. I've been around a lot of productions and a lot of studios. This one's unique. And so I strongly urge you to vote in favor of this rather than letting the Midtown complex just debilitate. Thank you. Thank you. Hang on a second. Okay, sir, you have the floor. Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, Council members. I'm Joseph Kunkel. The mic real close to yourself. There you go. Yes, I'm Joseph Kunkel, citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Nation and proud citizen of Santa Fe. I'm a principal of MASS Design Group's Santa Fe studio, an international nonprofit design firm working with communities that haven't historically had access to design and the arts community. I'm a former board member of the Santa Fe Art Institute and current board member of Homewise. MASS is an organization that has been fortunate enough to be part of the Midtown Arts and Design Alliance and proud to be supported by organizations like the National Endowment for the Arts and the Rosenberg Foundation. We cannot underestimate the power of the arts to drive our economy. The decisions that you will make this evening will set the tone for what development looks like for the coming future for Midtown. This is an exciting moment not only for Aspect Studios but for the entire Midtown campus development. I hope you all will consider pushing forward this work this evening. So I appreciate the time and I look forward to seeing how this work moves forward. Thank you. Yes, you have the floor. Yes, good evening, Mayor and Council members. I'm coming at the 11th hour before the strike of midnight instead of Z and Mr. Gloom, but I am Dr. Gene O'Brien. I am representing Mr. James Dugan, who is currently traveling internationally on behalf of the Biden Administration, the Pentagon, and the US Treasury. He's been in service since in Vietnam as a Marine sniper. He is originally, and then is working with the Pentagon saving our, he's a hero for our country right now. He grew up in Flagstaff, Arizona, and he is an elder of the Chiricahua Tribe of Gila River. And his uncle is the chief, 106-year-old chief. The Chiricahua had this land before the Spanish-American War. Mr. Dugan is investing in property in the Santa Fe area. I've made him aware of the Midtown District because he was so busy with other things, so he's just now getting to it. He's a master builder. He has the financial means to purchase the whole 64-acre campus. He could be a competitor to Aspect Studios or a collaborator. As a master builder, he's done infrastructures for countries such as Indonesia, Africa, South America. He's built homes as well as airports, a Pentagon Museum that will rival the Louvre. So he is very interested. I've met briefly with Daniel Hernandez. We've set up a conference call with him tomorrow with Mr. Dugan. He would be more than willing to align with the master plan that the city has lined up from all the needs for affordable economic development. He's currently building 1500 schools in Uganda. So looking forward to your consideration and possibly table a decision until we have an opportunity to finalize a proposal. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Is there anybody else in the chamber who would like to speak tonight? If not, we'll go to the Zoom room. Anybody else before we go to the Zoom room? If you're here to speak, you should step up now. Okay, very good. Madame Clerk, we have people with hands up in the Zoom room. Yes, we have three attendees if we could promote them to panelists. Who's first? We can start with Aaron Rego. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, and see you. Oh, wonderful. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and the City Council for allowing me to speak tonight on this topic. I'm Aaron Greg. I'm coming to you as a worker in film and television. I think it's important that you hear the perspective of a blue-collar worker, and that's what I do. And I'm here to speak in favor of the Aspect Film Project. And I would like to emphasize that in order to have a robust film industry, we need three things. We need a film incentive, which the state has. You need a trained workforce, experienced, trained workforce that production companies can depend on. That's what I'm representing tonight, and that's what we have here in New Mexico. And we need film space, studio space, and that's your job tonight is to help bring that studio space. Now, in order to fully maximize the effects of this film studio that you guys are going to hopefully, hopefully approve, is I want to emphasize the importance of securing commitments from production companies to be New Mexico film partners. These partnerships are crucial for our long-term sustainability and growth, as well as for maintaining a highly trained and experienced workforce here in our state. Okay, California is currently introducing legislation to increase their film incentive in order to stop the film jobs from leaving their state. Okay, to remain competitive and retain our talent and workforce, your economic development team should be focused on recruiting long-term partnerships directly with production companies. When production companies commit to being the metal film partners, they can bring consistent work opportunities for local film professionals. This stability allows us to retain our talented workforce and ensure that they can continue to develop and apply their skills right here in our state, in New Mexico. Moreover, the presence of a reliable and thriving film industry attracts new talent and investments, which further strengthens our local economies by fostering long-term partnerships directly with production companies. We can depend on a vibrant film industry that provides substantial economic benefits, enhances our state's reputation. Sorry, we got drowning you out, sir. We, there we go. If you want to finish up real quick. Well, I got one more sentence. Enhances our state's reputation as a premier filming destination and creates lasting, good-paying blue-collar trades and craftsmanship career opportunities. And I thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you for being here. Are there others in the Zoom room? Next, Aurora Martinez, if you will unmute. Oh, we have a few more. Thank you, Mayor, City Council members. My name is Aurora Martinez. I do believe I sent you all an email. I am not opposed to the redevelopment of Midtown. I am not opposed to the growth of Santa Fe. What I am opposed to is the price range and the discrepancies in the appraisals. I understand as a small business owner the financial aspects of this sale. What I have an issue with is the affordable housing. What this neighborhood is, I live in this neighborhood. I grew up in this neighborhood. I'm from Santa Fe. Is affordable housing. This is something that I believe should also be a huge part. I heard every testimony of everyone that was there tonight, and I appreciate all of their perspectives on the arts. I am so for this. However, the appraisals does not signify the same amount of money that it should and be worth. It's not worth just $5 million. Everyone's talking about this in a big financial, multi-million dollar aspect, then that proposal should reflect that price. And I think all of this to our community done right would be a wonderful thing for our community. However, I do feel that we need to postpone and renegotiate. We do need to have a little bit more input from the community, and not just from the arts community, but from people who actually live, who need affordable housing, who day in and day out are doing their best to survive. Like I said, I'm not opposed to the redevelopment. I am opposed to the price range that is proposed. I do believe that it could be higher, and that's what it should be. I do believe that there is a debt of $2.2 million every year, and it should reflect that debt as well as the proposed what they are going to make this into. So thank you for your time, everyone, and I do appreciate everyone speaking this evening. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next is Stephanie Beninato. If you'll please unmute yourself. Yeah, can you hear me, please? Yes, yes. Okay, great. I'm not going to repeat a lot of what Ms. Martinez said, but I'm in agreement with most of her statements. It's about the actual price. I know this is the only bidder, and I am tired of seeing nothing happening at the Midtown campus. But I am really concerned or interested in several things, which is the percentage of this development compared to the total. I understand it's 11 acres to 65 acres, but how much of that is going to be devoted to affordable housing? And does that mean it's really open to the community, not just to people in the film industry who, according to everything said, will be earning a good wage, higher than many other people perhaps in town? And how much of the total development, that is, of the whole campus, is going to be affordable housing compared to what is being offered here? I'm also concerned, as Rick Martinez is, that this will not come back to the council, and there'll be no other public hearing about particularly the physical or the architectural development of this project, and particularly the apartments, which if the conceptual drawings are at all close, I would say are not a benefit in terms of the style to our, you know, core development of Midtown. And I'm wondering how the public can get input on that, and why Council would give away that authority of seeing through, shepherding through this development. And I would appreciate if one or some of you would ask some of these questions. Thank you. Thank you. Madam Clerk, is there anyone else who would like to raise their hand? I see Alexandra Ladd. If she could be promoted to a panelist, please. Alexander, if you can unmute, and you can speak. Thank you, and hello, Mr. Mayor and members of the council. Nice to see all of you. For the folks who don't recognize my name, I am the former director for the city's Office of Affordable Housing. I'm one of the staff members who was part of the original RFP team to seek a developer for the Midtown site. And as everyone knows, that initial developer fell through, but we carried on as staff, working hand in hand with the council, and most importantly, working hand in hand with the community. We innovated a very unique, I think, to Santa Fe at least, a process of community engagement where the community members themselves led the engagement. And what we heard and what we participated in, we all came to an understanding that what our community wants for this site is a place where everyone feels welcome, where everyone, no matter their income, no matter who they are, no matter what language they speak, they can come to this place. They can have opportunity, they can get jobs, they can get training, they can recreate, they can enjoy the outdoors, they can be entertained, they can eat at a restaurant, they can enjoy cultural events, they can just be there. And I think this project knocks it out of the park, checks all of those boxes. I encourage the council to embrace this as the catalytic project for Midtown. All of the, and I understand the concern that somehow we're, the city's not getting its worth out of this, but I want to assure you that from a developer's perspective, there's so much risk involved, and this project will show, sort of, pave the way for everyone else to show how the affordability component here can be subsidized by the market component. I just, I urge you to approve this project so that we can all see the fruits of our many, many hours of past labors. And I am speaking for my experience as a city staff person, but I'm also very excited as a member of the public, like to have an asset in the heart of our city that is a place where I can go to play, work, and enjoy myself. So thank you. Thank you. Others in the Zoom room, would anyone else like to raise their hand? Seeing no one, no one in the Zoom room wants to raise their hand, so I assume that completes that segment. Is there a last opportunity? If you're here in the chambers and you haven't had a chance to speak, take two minutes to speak to address this issue before we break and go into executive session. Please do come forward and have your opportunity to have your voice heard. Please step up. I'm Alexandra D. I am just starting in the industry, but I have lived in Santa Fe for about four years now, and I came here to change my life, and I did. But I have never been in so much debt in my entire life. Coming here from the East Coast, there are no jobs available for the working class. I just took a job for $16 an hour, and I have, I have a psychology degree, an English degree. I was a professional ballerina, and I cannot make enough to survive in this city. This gives so much hope for people who are struggling. Someone wants to hear about someone who's struggling. I am shaking talking about this. We need hope in Santa Fe, not just for the industry, for people who are trying to survive. And the industry is giving me hope for that. It may be my only opportunity. Thank you. Others? Now's the time. Hello, my name is Michael Hansel. May, Hil, Michael Hansel. I want to reiterate what she had just said. I have a floral company here in town, and we've had numerous employees come in and out over years. I think, I think what this project does, two things. One, it will send a clear sign of hope and belief across all demographics here. There is a place you can learn, you can, you can grow, and you can thrive. That's a solid tangible, and this is a clear opportunity to take that step forward, and I support that. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? This is a chance before we close the public comment part. Okay, thank you, everybody, for taking the time to come down and be here, we on Zoom, and for abiding by our, our efforts to keep to the two-minute timeframe. Everybody was very, very thoughtful and considerate of each other, and I'm grateful for that, and civil toward each other, and I'm grateful for that as well. With that, Counselor, Mayor, do you want to, we are, I guess, we first should speak to the City Attorney about what an executive session would be about. Mayor Weber, counselors, I do recommend we go into an executive session to discuss property disposition under Part H, Subpart 8 of the Open Meetings Act, Section 10-15-1, specifically the sale and development of six parcels on the Midtown property located at 1600 St. Michael's Drive, including the buildings known as Garson Studios, resulting from the city's request for proposals for the disposition and development of those parcels and buildings that was issued on December 1st, 2022, and the city's exclusive negotiations agreement that it entered with Aspect Studios for the disposition and development of those parcels and buildings on July 26th, 2023. Mayor, Counselor Mayward, I move that we enter into executive session pursuant to the Open Meetings Act, Section 10-15-1H, Subpart 8, for discussion of the purchase, acquisition, or disposal of real property or water rights by the governing body. Is there a second? Second. We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Very well. Madam Clerk, if you would call the roll. Councilor Michael Garcia? Yes. Councilor Lindo? Councilor Romero Worth? Yes. Councilor Cassett? Yes. Councilor Castro? Councilor Chavez? Yes. Councilor Faulkner? Councilor Lee Garcia? Yes. Mayor Weber? Yes. Very well. I, I can't tell you how long we will be in these discussions. I hope we'll be straightforward and to the point, and when we come back, we will then have discussion among the members of the governing body before we arrive at a vote. If you are able to stick around, I would encourage it, but we will be back as soon as we can complete these conversations. Alright, I know Councilor Faulkner will be right back. I'm going to bang the gavel one time just to bring everybody to order, and Councilor Mayward, I believe you have a motion, and we also have to make sure, and there's Councilor on the Zoom, so we're back all together. Mayor, yes, pursuant to the Open Meetings Act, Section 10-15-1J, I move that the governing body reconvene in open session and state for the record that the matters discussed in the closed session were limited to those specified in the motion for closure. Second. A motion, and there is a second. Is there any discussion? No hands are raised. Madam Clerk, I know Councilor Faulkner will be back, but in the meantime, why don't you call the roll among those of us who are here? We have a quorum. Councilor Lindell? Councilor Romero Worth? Yes. Councilor Cassett? Yes. Councilor Castro? Yes. Councilor Chavez? Yes. Councilor Faulkner? Yes. Councilor Lee Garcia? Yes. Councilor Michael Garcia? Yes. Mayor Weber? Yes. Motion passed. Thank you. I would, we, we've been very, very, you all have been very patient. I appreciate you taking, the taking, being willing to stay while we went into executive session. We did have a presentation from Mr. Hernandez, and he is still here, and some other staff are still here if the, as the council begins to ask questions. But at this time, I'd entertain a motion. I'd like to move to approve. Second. There's a motion, then there's a second. There also is in our packet an amendment. I would like to move that amendment if possible. I would need a second. There's a, go ahead. There's a motion, second, and there's a second. I'd like you to explain the amendment, Councilor, please. So there is an amendment in the packet. It doesn't actually change anything in the DDA or agreement, but I did feel that we needed better clarification of exactly what it was that we were getting into agreement with. So once we take into account the $5 million in cash and the $7.1 million in community benefit, there's actually a little bit over $12 million in total benefit, and that this amendment will reflect that. Okay, so the, the amendment, I'm not sure it, I know the governing body members have it. I don't know if the public has it. It's in the packet. Okay, fair enough. So is there a, I think we should vote on the amendment, and then we'll have discussion about the, the motion or the, the main motion as amended. So is there discussion of this amendment? I, there's a Councilor Faulkner, it's the amendment you're a co-sponsor of. I don't know if you want to speak to it before we go to a vote. Just, I, I came co-sponsor because I think this clarifies some things that using for the community. Okay, other discussion among members of the governing body. So we have a motion and a second to vote on this amendment. Could you please call the roll on the amendment, not on the main motion? Councilor Romero Worth? Yes. Councilor Cassett? Yes. Councilor Castro? Yes. Councilor Chavez? Yes. Councilor Faulkner? Yes. Councilor Lee Garcia? Yes. Councilor Michael Garcia? Yes. Councilor Lindo? Yes. Mayor Weber? Yes. So we have a main motion as amended, and now I am going to, what we've done in the past is go along the line of members. Can we call for the 10-minute? I think we can adopt the policy that everybody who wants to ask questions or make a comment will try to keep an eye on the clock. Respectfully, everybody will get 10 minutes, and if we need to go around again, we will. So with that, I think, Counselor, in the Zoom room, if you want to kick us off, because I have a bad habit of not seeing you raise your hand because it's not immediately in front of me. Why don't you take the first opportunity to either ask questions? Mr. Hernandez, you want to come forward and be available? I'm going to anticipate the possibility that you would be asked a question by one of the members of the governing body. You might as well make your way forward. But in the meantime, Counselor, why don't you begin with any either questions or comments framing this discussion? Thank you, Mayor. I don't have any questions. I feel like we've had a lot of information provided to us and an opportunity to have our questions answered either privately or through committee. So I don't have any questions. I do thank Mr. Hernandez for his involvement and digging for more information as it's been requested throughout the committee process. So thank you for that. And I know that you've worked with the developer during this process, so thank you to them as well, because I know that we've had long conversations throughout the committee process. So I just want to say that first. With this project, to me, I become very excited. I know the public has seen a lot of conversation in regards to the gap in the appraisals. I happen to think that any gap gets filled pretty quickly with the community benefit. And what I talk about the big picture, I'm a single mom, I'm an educator. It is hard for me not to look at the center of Santa Fe through a big picture lens. And I want to see the center of Santa Fe a place where our youth could look to with excitement because of opportunity, where families can go and build a life for themselves that they never saw before. We are starting like that first paint stroke on an empty canvas in Midtown right now, and I think it's a good one. So that beauty comes and is built off of that pretty quickly and in a very exciting fashion. So I think the opportunity is exciting. I mentioned earlier, I said I'm excited that Midtown is surrounded by schools and how these students are going to see that movies are being made in the middle of their town and that they could easily become that. And we've seen a gap. We've been last in education for so long, but there's opportunities, even education-wise, that haven't even been talked about necessarily. We've talked about internships, but I think it's going to go above. I think partnerships are going to build, and I think seeing something so integrated in a community is going to bring developers in to do something really innovative. So big picture, I think that we're getting an amazing opportunity as a city. I am in support. I'm excited to see what occurs with this development specifically, but then how the rest of the picture gets painted, because I really think that this is a great start. So thank you for making that big picture view so very clear. And I want to thank you for our city staff for really holding this project to the community development plan, which to me is the most important piece of Midtown, is the community development plan. It is the most valuable piece for Santa Fe when it comes to Midtown, and I just want to stress that that's where we get the benefit, the sustainable benefit for the City of Santa Fe. So staff, everyone that's worked on this, I know it's been a lot, a lot of long conversations. Thank you for your patience, and I think let's get to this opportunity so we start building that center of Santa Fe. So thank you. Mayor: Thank you, Counselor. Counselor Gasteau, you want to speak, ask a question, make a statement? Councilor Gasteau: No. We had some amazing conversation. Thank you all for your commitment. Thank you, Councilor Garcia, for allowing us to really dive deep into this contract. Mayor: Councilor Garcia, you, sir, have the floor. Councilor Garcia: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you to staff and public, everybody that's come out. This has been a really invigorating process. The way I look at it is, and I've got to split up this process into two different components. We've got the opportunity of bringing in the film studio and then business that comes a part of it, right? I am 100% supporting the film studio industry, but it's also my responsibility as counselor to ensure that the city is getting the best benefit it can for its resources, that we are fighting for residents. That's where I've really dived into the details, and I apologize, Mr. Hernandez, for the litany of questions over the last couple committee meetings, but that's my job. I've been tasked with it. Unfortunately, I do have a couple more questions just because I want to make sure we're making the right decision. I know that throughout this process, there is a plan to develop this property over a number of years, and the city will retain ownership until that is fully developed, the plan is fully implemented. And if it doesn't, then the city takes back the property. What happens in the instance if the developer fully develops the property, but yet we haven't met that 15-year mark where there are certain caveats that must be met to cover the costs that are part of this proposal? Would that follow with a new purchaser, or does that have to be paid out by the proposed buyer? What happens in that scenario, because I want to make sure that the city is covered? Mr. Hernandez: The requirements of the DDA carry with the property. Whatever the requirements are within the DDA, they carry with the property no matter what the ownership is. Councilor Garcia: Okay. I just want to again make sure that these community benefits just don't go away if there was a new purchaser. And I think that that is important because that is half of the deal here, is this community benefit. And I think some of the community benefit you can easily attach monetary value to it. Some of it is you just, it's one of those things where you see it and you feel it, but you can't put a value to it. And I think that is where that is the hardest part to really encompass, but I think it's one of the most important parts given the lack of presence on that campus, the lack of activity due to the absence of a school in that area. And I think that is one big reason why I would support a major project such as this moving to Midtown. But again, I'm tasked with the job of ensuring that we are protecting the resident. The last question I got is because there are certain community benefits that did not have the monetary breakdown, such as barring buildings, the demo of buildings, solar installation, and the EV charging stations. No, that one's got a breakdown. More so the demo and solar panel. How do we arrive at those numbers, and can we guarantee that that is an actual cost? Because if it's less, I'd like that to be reflected, but if it's more, I would also like that to be reflected as well. So how do we arrive at those numbers, and can they be justified? Mr. Hernandez: The numbers were cost estimates that were provided by engineers. The demolition of the building similarly, but the demolition of Oñate Hall was not part of any of the costs that were associated with either community benefits or the required renovations. That just was not included in there. Part of the DDA requirements, though, is part of phase one development. Councilor Garcia: But there was an analysis that led to these numbers. It just wasn't, "Hey, we think it's going to cost 1.1 million to demo these buildings." I don't think we actually calculated on that. And any or gas, sorry, gas, gas. The gas, yes. Mr. Hernandez: No, that was also engineer-generated cost estimate as well. Councilor Garcia: Okay. I think those are all the questions I have, Mr. Mayor. Mayor: Thank you, Councilor. I think it's your turn, Councilor Lindell. Councilor Lindell: Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Hernandez. I've been tough on you over the last few years. I was fearful they were going to throw dirt on me before we moved dirt on the campus, so I had an urgency about this, and I certainly took that out on you numerous times. But I also have been concerned at what that campus costs us every day. Everyone's heard me say it, it's $10,000 a day, and this is a move in the right direction. Jobs, jobs, jobs. We also heard very, very clearly from our state delegation the other day that the movie industry is important not just to Santa Fe, but to the entire state of New Mexico. And it's important for us to hear that. This has taken a while. I love the project. It's got housing, it's got jobs. Did I mention jobs? And it's just plain good for us. Just plain good for us. And I'm really, really excited that we're moving forward and that we have the opportunity right now to enter into this agreement, to watch it grow and to see how much it does for this little city of ours. Very excited about it. Thank you to all of staff for your work. It's been a mammoth push, and I know it, and I think you did a very, very good job for us. Thank you, Mayor. Mayor: Thank you, Councilor. Councilor Funari. Councilor Funari: So I want to start by thanking staff because I know I've had many conversations with staff about this project, and I know I've drilled you guys a little bit on a lot of things. And so I just want to appreciate the work you guys put into this. I know that in weighing the long-term benefits, this property needs an anchor project that's going to bring more business in, bring more developers in. We have to start somewhere, and the position I'm taking is that I'm not going to be afraid of the risk of some of the things that might be challenges moving forward, but we have to move. We cannot not do anything because we're waiting for some other thing to happen. We have to move on this property. Primarily, I have to concur with Councilor Lindell, we're paying a fortune for this property. And then you put in the, I'm very concerned about affordable housing. The developers agreed to do affordable housing. I feel like there's a lot of positives here, and it is definitely difficult to put a number on some of these intangible benefits, but do know that if we don't make a decision and get something happening on Midtown, it's going to continue to cost the city and the taxpayers of the city more and more and more money. And so I think this is a good anchor project, and that's all I have here. Thank you. Mayor: Thank you, Councilor. Councilor Mayworth, questions, comments? Councilor Mayworth: Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Hernandez, for being here again. I just want to emphasize the housing piece on this. So tell me what our plans say about housing for the whole Midtown campus. Mr. Hernandez: In the community development plan, there's a requirement, well, it's, yes, that of all of the units developed at Midtown, 30% of them will be affordable. And the way that we will be achieving that is we will be setting aside at least four parcels for the development of a 100% affordable housing project. Councilor Mayworth: How many units is that? Mr. Hernandez: 1,100. The total units projected in the community development plan is 1,100 units. Mayor: Mr. Hernandez, if I can interject, the 30% is a floor, it's not a ceiling. Mr. Hernandez: That's correct. I was getting there, Mayor. Mayor: I'm sorry. I just, I think it's important as we make these mathematical calculations, we're not, we're not saying that's the limit, we're saying it can't be less than that. So back to you guys, Councilor Mayworth, you still have the floor. Mr. Hernandez: I have a breakdown of the amount of units that will, that we projected to be built on the affordable housing sites themselves. So we projected that on the four affordable housing sites, there would be 195 affordable units, and on the market rate residential, there would be 135 inclusionary housing units. So out of that was, out of that, was out of the 1,100 units. But with this project, we're adding an additional anywhere from 100 to 150 units, which will increase again the number of affordable units overall. We will always maintain as a floor 30% of all units built at Midtown will be affordable. Yeah, and that's exactly where I was going, is that, and I've always said this, Midtown represents our biggest and best opportunity for adding affordable units. And Councilor Cassid always chimes in and says, "Yeah, well, well, somebody just stole mine." So we're just, we're just playing it down the road. So she, she'll say also, "Midtown's not going to solve all our problems," but she can say that when it's her turn. But I, I, I will say that I, that when we, when we first set out, we have been talking about this, this floor, that, you know, we would look for other opportunities. And here, in fact, proof of concept, we have a development proposal that is adding housing, affordable housing, and a portion of it, affordable housing that wasn't in our sights. And so this is an, this is, and I've gotten, the reason I'm emphasizing this is I have gotten emails from people who are very worried that we're not doing enough around affordable housing. And I just want people to know, we are very cognizant of the opportunities and the need for affordable housing with this property. And in fact, this particular project is going to prove that the 30% is that, that we initially outlined, is just a floor, because this actually is adding to what, what we had outlined as the floor. This is additional. So, I do think that's, that's an important piece of this. And I, I just want to make sure that the community understands what this project is bringing in, in an area that we've prioritized, which is again, affordable housing. There has been a lot of work in this proposal. I think it, it was an RFP. Can you take me through that just quickly? I think it's important that the community knows that how hard you all as staff have been working on this. We had an RFP for two years. Yes. The RFP was released within a day or two after the master plan was approved in December of 2022. We got responses on March 2nd of 2023. By July of that same year, 2023, we entered into the exclusive negotiation agreement, the developer. And we're here today. Well, the bill was introduced in October and the vote comes today in December. So it's been since December 22 that RFP was issued, right? And you've been in an exclusive negotiating agreement. We approved that. We said, "Yeah, you work only with this developer and see if you can come to an agreement about these parcels." And in fact, that, that's been going on for a year and a half. Yes, it's July of 2023. Okay. So I, I, you know, a lot of work, a lot of staff work. And I think that's why my colleagues are all pointing to the staff and thanking all of you, because this has been an ongoing project. There have been a couple different folks who've circulated through. So thank you to Director Brown and Karen Iverson for, for being here tonight. Their, their work in this should also be noted, as well as of course, yours and the city attorney's office. Pat Fagali and Aaron McCur and I'm sure there are others that I don't even know about. But these kinds of things aren't done lightly. And I think you have been going back and forth for a year and a half to make sure that the city is getting a project that aligns with the vision that's in the community development plan, that's in the master plan. And that is something that, you know, you all have worked really hard to make sure that we are, you know, we're, we're not getting taken in any way, that, that, that there's, there's a mutual benefit to this deal. Otherwise, we wouldn't be entering into it. And that, you know, there's assurances for non-performance. And you all have really worked hard. I believe I saw the, the, I, I, you know, it, you lose on the electronic version, it's like something like 250 pages. I saw it printed out, it's this thick. Three, it's probably three inches thick. So about what happens, we have a memo dated in all my papers here. I didn't print out the 250 pages, but December 4th from the city attorney's office about what happens with defaults and remedies under the development and disposition agreement, that three-inch thick document about all the things that have been negotiated to make sure that the developer performs and what happens if things don't work out quite the way and how, how we get compensated or how we, what happens to make sure that our interests are well represented if, if something goes wrong. So I think that, that, I just again, want to acknowledge the amount of work that's gone into this. I think there have been a lot of assurances that this, and then, and then just there's a lot of excitement about what this is and what it'll do. And I, I, I agree. I think anchor project has been used. I think you used cornerstone project. This is going to be really important in creating excitement and and starting to get a kind of a snowball rolling about the things that, that can be done in creating the vision that has been outlined. And I just want to thank everybody who's been involved in this, because I think we're at, we're at a really important inflection point. So thank you all. And I think that's really all I have. Thank you, Councilor Cassid. Thank you so much, Mayor. Next time I want to go before Carol. She took like half of my things. It's fine. We've all spoken about this so much that I feel like you could ask us to roleplay any one of us and we'd be able to, you know, put on those hats and and come with those points and come up with our own catchphrases. Anyhow, thank you, Daniel. Thank you, Mr. Hernandez. Thank you so much for being here. And thank you, Phil, wherever you are, for also sticking in with us, as I know this was a really long process. I do also want to underscore what Councilor Marworth just started with, how long of a negotiation this was. And really recognizing our staff. And I think that's really important when we start to talk about, you know, this conversation around what was agreed upon, what price was agreed upon with the dollars, what community benefits were agreed upon, that this was not something that was just thrown out one day and was like, "Yeah, sure, why not? That's fine." This, this was the result of a lot of conversation. We have incredible staff that work incredibly hard for this city. They are public servants. They care about this community. And they are doing everything they can to do right by us. And so, Ms. Fagali is here, as mentioned. Director Brown, it's so lovely to see you. I miss you a lot. And Ms. Iverson is here. We had Alexandra Lad on earlier. Yeah, well, thanks. But, but really all these individuals who I just have the utmost respect for. And I just, I'm so excited to see, see you all in Chambers on the screen today. I'm very excited about this project. I've been excited about Midtown. I don't think that is a surprise to anybody who has watched any of these. As the other district for counselor, you know, I'm there with Councilor Travis is around how, how much of an investment I see for this as the community. When I say investment, I really mean social investment. Again, one of the many lines that I'm sure somebody else would say about things I've said is, you know, that we look at the financials, we look at the dollars. But for me, Midtown has always been about what are we going to build for this community? I know we had a lot of conversation around community benefit. What does that mean? As one of the counselors representing this area, I know that things like a restaurant that they could walk to was really important. I heard that a lot. As the chair of Economic Development, and two of the members were here today. Thank you so much for coming to speak to that. We've, we've had a lot of discussions around what Midtown is going to do for the opportunities for our community, for keeping young people here, and for getting, getting some of us, I, I think I'm still considered young. I don't know. I turned 40 in, you know, 14 days, 15 days. So, maybe not. But, but, you know, getting, you know, my peers back, the people I went to high school with. And so much comes back to, you know, there's no jobs, there's nowhere to live. But the other piece that we discussed so much, and again, Director Brown, having you here, just so many wonderful memories about this discussion around the vitality of Santa Fe, that jobs and houses are important, but entertainment's important, but, but life is important. And having places that people can go and socialize and have community, that, that is also this crucial kind of immeasurable piece that Midtown needs to be a part of. And Councilor Marworth is right. I always say Midtown cannot be the solution to all of our problems, but it does need to be part of the solution for, for most of them. And I would say this about this project as well. Housing has come up. And a lot of people saying that this, this property, wouldn't it be better utilized for housing? The answer to that is actually no, in my opinion. Our community development plan is very clear that there are multiple goals for Midtown. This parcel has been dedicated to film. So that is the best use for this parcel, because that is what we said we wanted at the Garson Studios. We wanted them to remain film studios. We wanted to build the film community. However, there are still 64 minus 11 acres, 53, yeah, 53 acres of Midtown that we will be continuing to build. So this is one piece of this project. It's providing a lot of what we asked for in the community development plan. And it cannot fulfill the entire community development plan, but it, it really is doing an incredible job getting there. I think I have, I've probably said everything I want to say for this. I am very excited about this project. I'm extremely excited to see Midtown start to take off. I really do think that this is the beginning of, of something very exciting. And I look forward to when, you know, similar to the Rail Yard, we're able to reminisce on, you know, when this was a pile of dirt that zombie films were filmed on, without any sets needed, and turning it into a really vibrant community center where we are, you know, able to live, work, and play. So, thank you all so much for the work. Thank you to staff. Thank you to Phil. Thank you for everybody who's been involved. And I'm, I'm very excited to get started on this. Thank you, Councilor. Councilor Lee Garcia, sir, you have the floor. Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to maybe just address one, one, one thing that I think was brought, brought forth by someone in the community that gave testimony earlier. And it was in regards to, how is the development process after, you know, obviously we're here to discuss and approve a sale of property, but there's going to be a development process of this property over time. Can you go through the step process that's going to happen in regards to how buildings or things are being built out, how they're approved? Obviously, they're not, they're not coming back to this governing body. And what kind of guarantees do we have? Obviously, the public is comfortable and aware of, you know, we, we approve the sale tonight. Are we going to get what we really, that's in this contract? Just go through that. Thank you for that question. It's actually a really good, important question, particularly since the Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency is a fairly new agency in the city, and its role is to actually monitor the redevelopment projects that they are stewards of and oversee. So regarding performance, that will be a main role, or that is, will continue to be a main role of the, of the MRA. But specifically on the process, the developer is required to submit conceptual plans to the MRA prior to even getting the, the, the planning approval. The, well, once they get Through the MRA, we will make comment and they'll make sure that it's consistent with the Master Plan, the Community Development Plan, and the DDA. Once we make a decision about that and exchange comments with the developer, they can then submit their plans to the Planning and Land Use. Planning and Land Use will look at it specifically from the perspective of whether the Master Plan, the regulated land uses, setback heights, everything that is required in the Master Plan, is complying with the Master Plan itself. So they'll be responsible for that. Then they can submit their development plans to the Building Department for construction. So again, we'll be monitoring all of that along the way until the project is open. Thank you. So all construction plans will go through the City Land Use Department as well? Yes, to ensure that all criteria are met that are to code and so on. Correct. Thank you. I think that ultimately it is up to the governing body here to approve or disapprove this sale. And I think that it's very important that we have gone through this process. It went through committee. Obviously, there's a tremendous amount of work that's happened between your department and the potential buyer of this property to get us to this point, or even to get us to the point where we're discussing it in committee. And so some of my reservations in committee, obviously, and I made it clear, was that I feel that we were not getting what I think we could potentially get, I mean, in a fair market value, so to speak. And so throughout this process, I think we do owe it to our constituency to make sure that the city is getting the best bang for their buck, so to speak. Now, what does that mean for today and today only, while it's just the dollar amount that we are discussing here? What is the reinvestment or return on investment over years? Well, that'll be seen over time, given the fact that the movie industry continues to grow, continues to invest in our community. And I think that's what we're really looking forward to here. I wasn't a supporter of this in committee, and I've come to the realization that I think that this is going to be something that will be a benefit to our community, as long as we continue to keep our eyes on it. We continue to make sure that it's contributing back to us. And I think that you're right. I mean, I can't sit here and continue to not do anything with this property because the biggest heartburn that I have is the liability that it is bringing to us on a daily basis. And so, is there a better offer out there? Maybe. But tonight, we have to vote on whether we want to go forward with this proposal or not. So I'll leave it at that, and those are my comments. Thank you, sir. I'm going to take the floor for a minute, and then if we want to go back around, I'll open it back up. But I'd just like to make a few comments. We talk about the agreement, the proposal, and we've got numbers in front of us. We had a great slide presentation by Director Hernandez. For anybody who wonders, this is what a proposal looks like. This is the amount of work, the amount of detail, the amount of substance, the amount of careful consideration that went into crafting this proposal. A year and a half work, a year and a half worth of hard work and good faith bargaining, negotiation, and serious back and forth. And I think what we've arrived at tonight is a cornerstone project. It's a real anchor, but more than that, for me, it's a visionary project. It's a visionary project because it conforms to the Midtown Community Development Plan that we adopted January 25, 2023, and that Councilor Cassid has very articulately called a highly aspirational document. It is. It comes from community outreach and community meetings over a period of two years almost. And if you look at this document, and for anyone who hasn't read it, it's on our website, and it lays out our community's aspirations for Midtown. And I'll just take a minute to talk about some of them. The first and most significant one is on page seven, which says, "We need to adopt a triple bottom line approach that seeks to balance and improve social, environmental, and economic impacts." And as soon as we adopt that frame, we change our valuation of what we're trying to achieve at Midtown from simply a market transaction with the highest and best use of the land to a community aspiration that meets what our people are telling us in Santa Fe they want to see at Midtown for the good of the community. Page nine, "During the public engagement process, residents expressed a desire to access new jobs created at Midtown." As Councilor Lindell has said, "Public engagement process recognized arts and culture as a fundamental economic and community development activity." Check. The intent, a key intent of this plan that we all voted for, is to increase industry and job development that are unique to, existing, or burgeoning in Santa Fe, particularly those jobs related to technology, design, film production, entertainment, and community arts and culture. Job creation focus disposition for commercial development on industries that establish a creative technology, entertainment, arts, and culture center in Santa Fe, including film and multimedia. I mean, it is verbatim in this plan what this proposal is delivering. And that's why I say it's not just a plan or a proposal, it is a visionary opportunity for Santa Fe to realize so many of our aspirations. We were named again today, this week, the best small city in America. We're filmmakers, second year in a row. Voting for and approving this project will continue that amazing standard for Santa Fe to be a national example, a beacon for film and digital entertainment to happen in this community, and for people who live and work here to participate in those industries that are absolutely essential to our economy, but also to the nation's economy and to all of the platforms that are producing content today. That's why I think it has enormous potential, not just for our own community, but as an example for other cities to learn from how to go beyond just renovating studios to producing a village dedicated to all of the aspirational elements in our community development plan. I want to thank everybody who came out tonight to speak. It's already late, but your comments were heard loud and clear. People who sent emails on either or any side, raising questions or supporting this proposal, this is the best of Santa Fe is when we talk to each other and with each other to arrive at an understanding about something as critical as the future of Midtown. To our partner, thank you for hanging in with us over a two-year journey. Tonight is a red-letter night. It's a real moment for us to make a big difference at Midtown, but beyond Midtown. And it's taken a lot of hard work and a lot of persistence and willingness to come together to meet what is a win-win proposal in my mind. And also to the staff, everyone who has participated, it's to produce this level of detail and this kind of specificity, this kind of carefully crafted agreement takes not just hours, but months, and indeed a year and a half of hard labor to get this done. So I am not just voting in favor of this proposal, I am enthusiastic about what this represents for our community and for what happens next at Midtown and in other parts of the city. We just had an announcement earlier last week that Tiara Content to Phase Three as a new master developer. That's another affordable housing development on the horizon. I think these back-to-back accomplishments really acknowledge that the city is moving and moving in the right direction to meet the needs of the people who live and work here and want to continue to have that opportunity for generations to come. So I appreciate everybody speaking up, speaking out, asking hard questions, and coming to a vote. If we want to go back around, I open the floor again to anyone else who wants to make a comment. Councilor Cassid, we won't necessarily go in order, we'll just raise hands. Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. I just also wanted to recognize Jennifer Labart Tapia, who is the Director of our Santa Fe Film Office. Not only is she now going to have more work to do, so thank you for that, but also the work that she has done that has created the environment for this to be such an exciting project. And I know it's been a lot of work, and she is a consummate champion of our city and of the film industry here. So I just wanted to make sure that we recognized all of that that is coming to fruition for her and that will build into some larger projects as we continue to grow. Thank you, Mayor. Other comments at this time? We have a motion as amended on the floor. Madam Clerk, do you want to call the roll? Yes. Councilor Cassid? Yes. Councilor Castro? Yes. Councilor Chavez? Yes. Councilor Faulkner? Yes. Councilor Lee Garcia? Yes. Councilor Michael Garcia? Yes. And I'd like to explain my vote. Councilor Lindell? Councilor Romero Worth? Yes. Mayor Weber? Yes. Councilor Garcia, you have the floor to explain your vote, sir. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As noted earlier, I think with proposals like this, it's prudent that the governing body really ensures that we're moving forward with the public's interest at best heart. At face value, you look at this and we can get lost in the numbers. But I think what really pushed me is looking long-term, and I'm not thinking long-term five years, not 10 years, I'm thinking long-term 20, 30, 40, 50. And this opportunity brings forward those benefits that might not be there in that initial bill monetary value. But when you do look at the value, there is that long-term value, whether you look at the value it brings to not only to the city of Santa Fe, to partners such as Santa Fe County, this public school system, the state of New Mexico. So the revenue generated is not only going to be impacting the city, it's wide fold. You know, and then you look at jobs. Councilor Garcia mentioned he's got a daughter going into the film industry. How great would it be to have our young folks to stay here versus having to go to the good old West Coast or some other place? But I think ultimately what means most to me is ensuring that we have 15 folks that can ultimately continue to live in the city of Santa Fe with these 15 affordable housing units. It's no, it's no question to some, we need housing. And I think now that we've got this project in the books, Mr. Hernandez, I'm going to ask you, please, please, please bring some affordable housing projects forward because that is what is dearly needed in our school. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Counselor. Madam, thank you all for being here. We have more business to do. Madam Clerk, do you want to take us to the next item on the agenda? Next item is 17, public comments on bills. First public comment, no action. Okay, everybody, I know, I know you want to visit on the way out the door. If you want to visit, could you do it outside so we can continue our work? Thank you for being here. Madam Clerk, you're going to have to speak over the buzz. Item 17A, consideration of a bill 2024 D12, sponsored by Councilor Lindell and Councilor Faulkner, a bill making a technical correction relocating subparagraphs A through G of Section 12-1-23.1 of Article 1, definitions of Exhibit A, Chapter 24. If you all could please quietly exit, please, as much as possible. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. SFRC 1987 to Section 12-10-10 of Article 10, vehicle regulations of same exhibit. And here is Kyle Hibner, Assistant City Attorney, City Prosecutor. This is a first public comment opportunity. So I think what we'll do is ask if there's anyone from the public who is here or on Zoom to make a Mayor Weber: The sponsors want a staff presentation on these two bills. So, I think, Mr. Hibner, that's the first part, and then the public comments after the brief presentation. Very good. You have the floor. Mr. Hibner: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the governing body. I do have a brief PowerPoint presentation. I'm not sure how to get it to where you can see it. Let me see if I can help us. Oh, there. Excellent. Mayor Weber: I think that's the one we just voted on. No, it's not. Is that both of these? Mr. Hibner: It's both. Mayor Weber: Okay, if you want to take them together, be my guest. Mr. Hibner: Absolutely. So, two muffler bills: 2024-12 and 2024-13. 2024-12 is technical corrections. In early 2023, the governing body made some changes to the muffler bill of the Uniform Traffic Ordinance. Unfortunately, when it was codified, there were some issues with that, namely that the changes that the governing body made ended up in the definition section of the UTO instead of the substantive portion of the UTO. So, this is a cleanup bill for that. The other one, 2024-13, is changing the fee structure for muffler violations. The proposal is to change the muffler violation to a fine of $500, and it eliminates the graduated penalty scale. Currently, a first offense is fined differently than a second offense and a third offense. So, this would eliminate that, and every violation would be a $500 fine. One other thing that this bill would do is it would put in the penalty assessment section of the Uniform Traffic Ordinance specifically that community service can be imposed by the judge, which is already allowed based on the general penalty. But this puts that ability for the judge to order community service instead of the fine. Mayor Weber: Very good. Let's turn to, are we going to, do you want to read the, are we going to take public comment on both of them at the same time? City Attorney, is that? City Attorney: Mayor, I would request public comment on each of them separately. I'm not anticipating a lot. Mayor Weber: Okay. So, item A is the technical correction. Is there anybody either on Zoom or here in the chambers who wants to speak to the technical correction? Okay. Now, we're going to read item B. City Clerk: Item 17B: Consideration of Bill Number 2024-13, sponsored by Councilor Lindell and Councilor Faulkner, a bill amending Schedule A of the Uniform Traffic Ordinance to increase penalties for muffler noise violations, eliminate a distinction between the categories, second offense and subsequent violations, recognizing community service as an alternative to all traffic violation penalties under the city's general penalty, and establish an effective date. Mayor Weber: And you had that in your slide deck. So, is there any further you want to comment on that, or should we open it up to public comment? Mr. Hibner: Mr. Mayor, that's all I have. Mayor Weber: In that case, anyone here who'd like to come speak to this, now is the time. Thank you for being patient. I apologize for having your item bumped for other issues, but please step forward and speak to the governing body. Bly Langley: My address, name, Bly Langley. It's late. Normally, I'm in bed by now. I bet you guys are too. Some nights, many nights in the summer, I am not sleeping because we still hear the mufflers roaring. So, yes, we are in support of raising the fine to $500. I know it's a boring, bread-and-butter issue. People will say sarcastic things about the fact that nobody enforces it. I was delighted to hear apparently we're getting more police. Hopefully, we'll get some noise cameras. We'll have some other enforcement. Maybe we'll get some support from the film people because they can't do their jobs with people breaking the law outside of their filming. So, yeah, we just, it has to stop. I realize it's not your fault and you're not doing it, but we have many, many people that complain about it. Thank you. Yun Hong: Yes, please step up and adjust the mic. My name is Yun Hong, and thank you very much, Mr. Mayor and councilors. I support the increase of the fine. It may not be the ultimate answer to the problems we have related to the traffic noise and aggressive driving in general. However, in light of the positive plan that you all are entertaining through St. Michael's Drive with the Midtown campus and the prospective prosperity it would bring, housing, etc., but imagine loud muffler noise running through at a high speed through St. Michael's Drive, where that occurs, St. Francis, Cerrillos, these main arteries that will detract from this vision that you all hold for a significant improvement in the city of Santa Fe. Thank you for being here. John Paul Gonzalez: Yes, you have the floor. Mr. Mayor, councilors, nice to see you. My name is John Paul Gonzalez. I am the organizer of our local Santa Fe Cars and Coffee, as well as the director of the Santa Fe 500 Auto Tour. So, you might say I'm an auto enthusiast. This past summer, we had a number of our Cars and Coffee events absolutely spoiled by cars rolling through with loud mufflers. Our event has about 120 cars that show up. We're at the PR building parking lot. And just by cars, these loud muffler cars passing through, we had police called on my event, which is a peaceful, quiet collector car meet-up that likes to get together once a month. And I just want you to know that making a car that loud, it's not an accident. It's a choice to install a very expensive muffler system. Often, these things cost a thousand dollars to make loud exhaust or put a loud exhaust in your car or more. And so, there's kind of two ways to approach this. The way the EPA does it is they impose quite hefty fines for violations of the Clean Air Act. For a manufacturer, for instance, who violates the Clean Air Act, they start at a thousand, you know, they start with thousands of dollars, and then every single day that the manufacturer is in violation, they are penalized every single day. So, the other way is enforcement, which, you know, I'm glad to hear that we might have more police, but they will probably get occupied with emergency calls, things like that. So, to give this ordinance real teeth, I mean, I would say $500 is not enough. You really have to consider making these things, making the fines that people won't want to mess with it, or else, I would say, anyway, I think noise pollution deserves as much attention as air pollution. So, don't be afraid to put the hammer down on these people. Thank you. Mayor Weber: Thank you. Anyone else on Zoom or who wants to speak on this bill? City Clerk: There are no attendees in the Zoom room. Mayor Weber: Okay. Next item on the agenda, Madam Clerk. City Clerk: Next item is 18A: Final action on legislation, consideration of Bill 2024-14, adoption of an ordinance number 2024-TBA, sponsored by Councilor Lindell, a bill amending SFCC 1987, Section 12-3, pertaining to the public display of fireworks, recognizing the Fire Department will apply the International Fire Code to the public display of fireworks, making other terms consistent with the International Fire Code, and providing for governing body approval of public fireworks display permits without legislation. And this is a public hearing, so let me first entertain a motion. Mayor Weber: There's a motion and there's a second. Anyone in the council chambers or on Zoom who wishes to speak to this bill? Any questions from members of the governing body regarding this bill? It's been through the committee process, but there may be additional questions. Seeing no hands. May councilors, I think this has been delayed to January 15th. City Clerk: Oh, really? That's what the agenda says. I think there was a notice issue. I missed that. Oh, yes. So, it says at the bottom. Mayor Weber: All right. So, we will carry it over to the 15th. Madam Clerk, do you want to take us to the next item? City Clerk: Yes, item 18B: Consideration of Bill Number 2024-15, adoption of Ordinance Number 2024-A, sponsored by Mayor Alan Weber, a bill granting Easy Fiber Texas LLC a non-exclusive... Sorry, it looks like this has also been postponed to 1/15 due to a noticing issue. Mayor Weber: Yep, same situation. And I see a similar thing. Well, where are we with item C? City Clerk: Item C can move forward. So, 10, sorry, item 18C. Okay, consideration of Bill 2024-16, adoption of Ordinance Number 2024-TBA, sponsored by Mayor Ellen Weber, a bill related to ethics and campaign review board nominations, amending Section 6-16.1 as of SFCC 1987 to remove the requirement that the First Judicial Bar Association submit at least eight nominees for which the four attorney members must be appointed, and requiring that the City Clerk solicit nominations for board members from a variety of local sources. Mayor Weber: Let me get a motion, and then we'll see if anyone wants to speak to this. Okay, there's a motion to approve and there's a second. I again wonder whether anyone is in Zoom or in the chamber who wants to testify on this. It's a public hearing. Seeing no hands either in Zoom or in the chambers, is there a member of the governing body who wants to ask a question or speak to this item? I see no hands going up. Madam Clerk, could you call the roll? City Clerk: Yes. Councilor Castro? Councilor Castro: Yes. City Clerk: Councilor Chavez? Councilor Chavez: Yes. City Clerk: Thank you. Councilor Faulkner? Councilor Lee Garcia? Councilor Lee Garcia: Yes. City Clerk: Councilor Michael Garcia? Councilor Michael Garcia: Yes. City Clerk: Councilor Lindell? Councilor Romero Worth? Councilor Romero Worth: Yes. City Clerk: Councilor Cassidy? Councilor Cassidy: Yes. City Clerk: Mayor Weber? Mayor Weber: Yes. Motion passes. Carries. And I think that completes the agenda for tonight. So, happy holidays. Thank you, everybody, for a productive evening, and we are adjourned. Happy, happy Wupa Day in like an hour.