Regular Governing Body Meeting - Last Wednesday Wed, May 27, 2026 · Governing Body https://santafeminutes.space/meeting/931 == Executive Summary == The Governing Body held a Regular Meeting where they approved several key contracts and adopted the fiscal year 2026-2027 operating budget. Significant discussions included the ratification of a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) grant, an agreement for the Henry Lynch Road reconstruction and roundabout project, and an amendment to the General Plan Update Contract to expedite its schedule and enhance public engagement. The meeting also saw the introduction of legislation to amend the Santa Fe Homes Program and update a resolution for a micro-community to include seniors. Public comments touched on various issues, including concerns about the city's emergency shelter provisions, the slow progress of pallet shelters for homeless seniors, and opposition to increased plutonium pit production at Los Alamos National Laboratory. A notable disruption occurred during public comment when a speaker refused to identify himself and made inflammatory remarks, leading to a discussion about decorum. The Governing Body also approved making the Wellness Leave Pilot Program permanent for city employees. Councilors widely praised the budget team, especially Budget Officer Andy Hopkins, for their work on the new operating budget. Several upcoming community events and initiatives were announced, including a health fair for city employees, the annual Pride Flag Raising, fare-free Sunday bus service, and community input sessions for the Fort Marcy expansion and a Mayor's Town Hall for the Spanish-speaking community. == Key Decisions == - Approved a grant agreement with the Federal Highway Administration for Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) operating assistance. - Approved a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Santa Fe County for the Henry Lynch Road reconstruction and roundabout project. - Approved an amendment to the General Plan Update Contract with WSP USA, Inc. to increase compensation for expediting the project schedule, enhancing public engagement, and improving the digital user platform. - Approved a general service contract with Thatcher Company, Inc. for sodium hypochlorite supply for the wastewater treatment plant ($2 million, four-year term). - Approved a general service contract with PVSDX, Inc. for sodium hypochlorite supply for the wastewater treatment plant ($2 million, four-year term). - Adopted the City of Santa Fe's fiscal year 2026-2027 operating budget. - Approved a resolution to make the Wellness Leave Pilot Program permanent, establishing Personnel Rules 13.91 and 13.92, and requiring employees to complete training for eligibility. == Motions & Votes == - Approval of Agenda — Passed unanimously. - Approval of Consent Agenda — Passed unanimously. - Ratification of MPO Grant Agreement — Passed unanimously. - Approval of MOA for Henry Lynch Road Project — Passed unanimously. - Approval of Amendment Number Two to General Plan Update Contract — Motion made and seconded, discussion pending. - Approval of the general service contract with Thatcher Company, Inc. — Passed (All Councilors present voted Yes). - Approval of the general service contract with PVSDX, Inc. — Passed (All Councilors present voted Yes). - Adoption of the City of Santa Fe's fiscal year 2026-2027 operating budget — Passed (All Councilors present voted Yes). - Motion to recess until 7:00 p.m. — Passed (All present councillors voted "Yes"). == Public Comment == The public comment period included concerns about the city's Request for Proposal (RFP) for shelter services, with a representative from the Santa Fe Housing for All Collaborative emphasizing the need for true emergency shelters that meet HUD standards. Dylan Schwiggel expressed concern about the delayed pallet shelter project for homeless seniors, noting the ending of a motel program for them. A speaker voiced strong opposition to increased plutonium pit production at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Other commenters raised issues about unrepaired sidewalks, the city's legal counsel (Cuddy McCarthy), and the closure of public pools. A significant disruption occurred when a speaker refused to identify himself and made inflammatory remarks, leading to his time being cut short. Cam Crawford offered words of encouragement to the Governing Body for their work on parks, water infrastructure, and public safety. == Topics == - Homelessness & Shelter - Henry Lynch Road Project - Plutonium Pit Production - Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) - General Plan Update - Sidewalk Repairs - City Legal Counsel - Public Pool Operations - Historic Districts Review Board (HDRB) - Community Appreciation == Full Transcript == Michael, can you get the screens on in the chambers, please? Thank you, sir. I'd like to call tonight's May 27th governing body meeting to order. We will start off with the Pledge of Allegiance led by Councilor Bamonte, a salute to the New Mexico flag by Councilor Faulkner, and an invocation of remembrances by Councilor Castro. Please stand as you're able. Let's see the lights. There you go. Those notes. Thank you all for being here. Thank you to my colleagues and to staff for taking the time out to do the important work of this city. I just want to invoke the idea of co-governance and remember that all of us have been chosen to be leaders here of our community, and we do the best we can in the capacity that we're in, but you are part of these decisions. So, the most that we can do is listen to your voices. We are here for you. Thank you very much, and we hope to have a wonderful meeting. Are there any remembrances from governing body members? I just want to take a second to remember my uncle, Dan Father, who passed away recently after a prolonged battle with cancer. I don't think he would mind me saying that he was a prime example of stubbornness. So he hung in there as long as he could, and hopefully he's found some peace. Thank you. Let's just take a moment to remember those in our community that are in need. Thank you, everybody. Madam City Clerk, can we get a roll call, please? Certainly, Mayor. Councilor Barrett. Here. Councilor Bamonte. Here. Councilor Cassett. Here. Councilor Castro. Councilor Chavez. Councilor Faulkner. Here. Councilor Fagali. Here. Councilor Garcia. Here. Mayor Garcia. Present. Mayor, you have a quorum. Thank you. Next up is approval of the agenda. Any changes from staff? Mayor, there are no changes. Governing body members. Motion to approve. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? None. Madam City Clerk. Oh. Yep. Can we get a roll call vote, please? Yes, Mayor. Councilor Barrett. Yes. Councilor Bamonte. Yes. Councilor Cassett. Yes. Councilor Castro. Yes. Councilor Chavez. Councilor Faulkner. Yes. Councilor Fagali. Yes. Councilor Garcia. Motion passed. Thank you. Next up is approval of the consent agenda. Were there any items pulled, Madam City Clerk? Mayor, no items were removed from the consent agenda. Move to approve. Okay, we've got a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, Madam City Clerk, can we get a roll call vote, please? Certainly, Mayor. Councilor Bamonte. Yes. Councilor Cassett. Yes. Councilor Castro. Yes. Councilor Chavez. Yes. Councilor Faulkner. Yes. Councilor Fagali. Yes. Councilor Garcia. Yes. Councilor Barrett. Yes. Motion passed. Okay. Thank you, Madam City Clerk. So the next item would be presentations. We do not have any scheduled for tonight. Nothing was pulled off of consent. So we will go ahead and move on to item 10. Madam City Clerk, can you please read into the record what that item is? Yes, Mayor. The action items discussion agenda 10A is a request for ratification of a grant agreement with Federal Highway Administration Section 112 via the New Mexico Department of Transportation in the total amount of $380,368, including a local match of $54,194.36 for operating assistance for the Metropolitan Planning Organization. And let me see if we have Eric online. Eric, I'm sorry. Eric, I didn't see you. Eric Anie is here to answer questions. He's the Santa Fe MPO Director. Okay, Mr. Anie, if you could just please step up to the podium and give a brief presentation if you want to give. If not, I'll stand to the governing body for questions or a motion. Mr. Mayor, members of the council, I will stand for questions. This is a very perfunctory annual thing. We, the MPO, get two federal grants. One's of a lesser value for you. This is your acceptance or ratification of those grants. It's the management of the MPO. Thank you, Mr. Anie. Move to approve. Second. We've got a motion and a second. Any discussion? Do you have a quick question? Yes, Councilor Castro. Director Anie, what does the MPO do? Mr. Mayor, members of the council, I'm in my 13th year, and I still haven't figured it out. I'm going to be giving a presentation shortly in the next month about exactly what we do to, excuse me, the Public Works and Utility Committee. And so I have it fresh in my mind. It's the elevator speech of sorts. So in 1982, the population tipped over 50,000 at the 1980 census via federal regulations that started in the 1960s, formulated the MPO across the nation. It's a requirement for urbanized areas over 50,000, or specifically for cooperative, continued, and comprehensive planning regarding regional transportation. The intent in the 60s and then all the way from to today was to have sort of the local voice be involved with federal money. In terms of public engagement, the MPO is required and very prescriptively required to do multiple planning projects, transportation improvement program monitoring of the federal funds, programming funds for with our colleagues at the city, the county, and the state. We are the result of a joint powers agreement between the city, the county, the state, and the Pueblo of Tesuque. So we're an independent governmental organization. We're hosted by the city, and I'm grateful for the support of the city. And I can go on for a long time if you'd like. No, thank you so much, Director. We did recently meet with the Governor of Tesuque, and we did offer them some information about the MPO. So I would be honored if you could reach out to them and invite them back to those meetings. Thank you so much. No further questions. Any other comments or questions from governing body members? Seeing, hearing none, Madam City Clerk, can we get a roll call vote, please? Yes, Mayor. Councilor Cassett. Yes. Councilor Castro. Yes. Councilor Chavez. Councilor Faulkner. Yes. Councilor Fagali. Yes. Councilor Garcia. Yes. Councilor Barrett. Yes. Councilor Bamonte. Yes. Motion passed. Thank you, Mr. Anie. Madam City Clerk, what's the next item? Next item is 10B. This is a request for approval of a memorandum of agreement with Santa Fe County designating the city as lead agency for funding applications, project administration, and construction of the Henry Lynch Road reconstruction and roundabout project, including portions within county jurisdiction. And here to answer questions is the Complete Streets Capital Project Manager, Romela Glorios. Hello, Miss Glorios. Did you have a presentation for us, or if not, we can defer? So if you want an overview of the memorandum of agreement. Yes. Sure. Happy to hear it. Thank you, Mayor Garcia, members of the governing body. This memorandum of agreement between Santa Fe County and the City of Santa Fe establishes a cooperative framework for the funding, construction, and administration of improvements to Henry Lynch Road from Rufina Street to Agua Fria Street. Under the agreement, the city would serve as the lead agency for the project. The city would be responsible for pursuing and administering grant funding, managing engineering and construction contracts, coordinating regulatory compliance, and overseeing construction activities across both city and county jurisdictions. The estimated construction cost is approximately $15 million. Funding would be pursued through state transportation programs such as the Local Government Road Fund, the Municipal Arterial Program, the Transportation Project Fund, legislative appropriations, and other state funding opportunities. Local match requirements may range from 5% to 25%, depending on the funding source. The agreement also clarifies that each jurisdiction would be responsible for local match requirements and maintenance of the portions of roadway within its respective jurisdictional boundaries. The county would assist with right-of-way coordination, permitting, public outreach, and future legislative funding requests through the ICIP process. Because of the scale of the project and funding availability, NMDOT advised the city that construction is divided into phases. So for Phase A, Phase A of the construction includes a roundabout, constructing a roundabout at the intersection of Henry Lynch Road and Agua Fria Road, along with roadway reconstruction from La Paz to Agua Fria Road. The estimated cost for Phase A is approximately $7 million. Santa Fe County has prioritized the roundabout project in its ICIP for next year's legislative funding requests in the amount of $4.5 million. In addition, the city and county are jointly requesting $5 million through this year's Transportation Project Fund process. The construction of Phase A is anticipated to begin mid-next year and is expected to last approximately 15 to 18 months. The city and county would coordinate closely to maintain roadway operations and public safety throughout construction. The term of the agreement is five years and becomes effective upon approval and signature by both Board of County Commissioners and City Governing Body. Staff is requesting approval of the memorandum of agreement to allow the city and county to move forward collaboratively on funding and implementation of the Henry Lynch Road reconstruction and roundabout improvement plan. Thank you. I stand for questions. Move to approve. Second. So we've got a motion and a second to question. Councilor Kesher. Thank you so much, Miss Glorios. I know that there has been some community input around this reconstruction. Could you just give us a few points? I know there were some concerns about the roundabout. Why are we going in this direction specifically? Based on the traffic study conducted around 2022, it was, the study recommended to construct a roundabout at the intersection of Agua Fria and Henry Lynch because the traffic flow is failing. The level of service at that intersection is failing. In addition, there are so many collisions at that intersection. So by constructing a roundabout, it's the best intervention that we can construct at that roundabout. Wonderful. And will there be any interruption of service to any of the businesses in the area? So we don't know the traffic control yet, but we are thinking that we will leave one lane open while we do the construction and then the other lane open. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. No further question. Anybody else? Hearing none, Madam City Clerk, can we get a roll call vote, please? I don't believe a motion was made. Yes. It was. Councilor Chavez motioned. Okay. I'm sorry. And who seconded? You did. Okay. My apologies. Councilor Castro. Councilor Chavez. Councilor Faulkner. Yes. Councilor Fagali. Councilor Garcia. Councilor Barrett. Yes. Councilor Bamonte. Yes. Councilor Cassett. Yes. Motion passed. Okay. Thank you, Miss Glorios. Madam City Clerk, what's the next item on the agenda? Next item is 10C, request for approval of Amendment Number Two to General Plan Update Contract Item Number 24-0352 with WSP USA, Inc. to increase the compensation by $649,125 for a new total amount of $2,691,225.56 to expedite the project schedule, provide additional public engagement, and enhance functionality of the digital user platform. And here to answer questions is the Long Range Strategic Planner, Janice Bolitnikov. Okay, Miss Bolitnikov, I didn't know if you had a presentation. If not, I can go to the governing body for questions or comments. Mayor, I have no presentation this evening, but I would like to mention that our consultant, Nick Fasio of WSPUSA, is online with us to answer any questions that you may have that I can't answer. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Governing body, move to approve. Second. We've got a motion and a second. Any questions, comments from the body? Seeing none, Madam City Clerk, can we get a roll call vote, please? Certainly, Mayor. Councilor Chavez? Yes. Councilor Faulkner? Yes. Councilor Fagali? Yes. Councilor Garcia? Yes. Councilor Barrett? Yes. Councilor Bamonte? Yes. Councilor Cassutt? Yes. Councilor Castro? Yes. Motion passed. Thank you. Thank you. Next item is 10D. This is a request for approval of a general service contract with Thatcher Company, Inc. for the purchase of sodium hypochlorite supply to treat microorganisms for the wastewater treatment plant in the total amount of $2 million for a four-year term. To answer questions is Engineer Supervisor Paul Herbrandt. Let me see if he's in the Zoom room. Not in the Zoom room, Mayor. Okay. No. Motion to approve. Second. And we've got a motion and a second. Any questions, comments? Hearing, seeing none. Madam City Clerk, can we get a roll call vote, please? Yes, Mayor. Councilor Faulkner. Yes. Councilor Fagali. Yes. Councilor Garcia. Yes. Councilor Barrett. Yes. Councilor Bamonte. Yes. Councilor Cassutt? Yes. Councilor Castro? Yes. Councilor Chavez, motion passed. Next item is 10E. This is a request for approval of a general services contract with PVSDX, Inc. for the purchase of sodium hypochlorite supply to treat microorganisms for the wastewater treatment plant in the total amount of $2 million for a four-year term. Move to approve. Got a motion and a second. Any discussion or none? Madam City Clerk, can we get a roll call vote, please? Yes, Mayor. Councilor Fagali? Yes. Councilor Garcia? Yes. Councilor Barrett? Yes. Councilor Bamonte? Yes. Councilor Cassutt? Yes. Councilor Castro? Yes. Councilor Chavez? Yes. Councilor Faulkner? Yes. Motion passed. Next item is 10F. This is consideration of a resolution sponsored by Mayor Michael Garcia. It's a resolution adopting the City of Santa Fe's fiscal year 2026-2027 operating budget for the City of Santa Fe. Here to answer questions is the Budget Officer, Andy Hopkins. Motion to approve. Second. We've got a motion and a second. No, no worries. My presentation, or I'm happy to turn it over to the governing body for questions, comments. Mr. Mayor, I don't have further presentation beyond what's already been given at the last council review sessions. Okay, turn to the governing body. Councilor Castro. Just a quick comment. Thank you so much, Andy, for all the work and for being here for us, for answering all the questions and being so detail-oriented. Thank you. Councilor Garcia. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I want to express my gratitude to Andy, Councilor Faulkner, Interim Director of Finance, and all the team because, sitting on finance for the last couple of years and the processes that were being used and how long it took to get through, I mean, it just seemed like even giving kudos to the Mayor in regards to beginning in January and even before that, where we started to give our input on what we'd like to see, and that really did transform into the process being a lot easier and expedited. There's always going to be maybe some disagreements up here as to where the money should be going and so on and so forth. But however, experiencing it over the previous two years and then this year, a huge difference. And I want to thank you, Andy, for your years of service to the city. I know this is your last one, my understanding. And thank you for all the years of service and the institutional knowledge that you've brought forth. You know, just coming and hearing you last evening at finance, giving that, your perspective has always been very, very beneficial. So I do appreciate that and I do thank you all for going through this process. Thank you. Councilor Faulkner. I would also like to echo my colleagues. Andy, thank you for years and years of service to the City Manager and staff. We said this on finance last night, but this was, and in credit to the Mayor as well, this was a transitional budget between one way of doing it and trying to get to another space with a very short period of time to do so. And I do think we did a good job. I think we asked some good questions, but we also from the Mayor and the administration got answers to those questions, which was huge. And you guys did it in a timely fashion. And I felt like I had whiplash sometimes with everything that was going on. But I do think we did do a good job of trying to get this bridge between one way of doing things into another way of doing things. And I do appreciate the Mayor and the staff for just rolling with the crazy council on trying to get this thing done. Councilor Cassutt. Thank you so much, Mayor. I also, again, you know, this is always such a heavy lift. So thank you so much to the staff, to the finance team, and everything you all are doing in the background, all the administrative work that comes out of the finance team. Armenia Tapia is always getting literally everything, and including snacks. So really, really just want to recognize the entire finance staff. And then of course, really thank you so much, Andy. We really, I'm going to miss, I'm going to miss experiencing budget with you. It really has been a pleasure. You have always been such a wealth of information. I really feel like I've learned a lot just from the number of years that I've had the opportunity to work with you. So, congratulations on your retirement. And we're really, we're going to miss you. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for everything. I, and I would agree, this has been a, I love that we are starting looking at how we do the budgeting process differently. I know that we've already started having discussions around some things we want to look at for next year. I think we would be quite remiss if we did not recognize the work of Deputy City Manager Andrea Phillips and former staff member Rod Gold, and then of course, former City Councilor Carol Romero Wirth, and all of the work that they put into the resolution that we passed last October that, you know, kicked off, you know, really looking at a new budgeting process. And Rod was so, so wonderful with his time, of course, at the beginning of the year and leading a lot of that community engagement process and the meetings with us. So, I also want to recognize those individuals who put so much time and energy into this, as well as the individuals that are here now. So, I appreciate that. I understand City Manager Moya that, you know, there were a couple things that we had discussed that hadn't gotten across the finish line that we still want to talk about. And Deputy City Manager Phillips, we had mentioned yesterday that I'm really excited for us to continue to explore this year is how councilors are able to bring budget amendments throughout the year and looking at that process. So that's something I look forward to. I mentioned it before. I will mention it again now because I know that, City Manager, you're wanting some marching orders, that I would really be interested in exploring getting some dollars for contracting with a grant writer for our departments that need that assistance with that capacity, looking for some other revenue sources. We have a number of individuals who have done an incredible job of going after grants, getting grants. But I've also heard from some staff that there have been grants that they just haven't had the capacity to go after. And so one thing I wanted to experiment with this year is having a grant writer on contract who would work with the grants team in finance to make sure we can manage it because that's also important and spend it, very important. And so that is one thing that I will be looking forward to working with you all on over the coming year. That's all. Thank you. Councilor, any other comments, questions? I'll just continue the echo of thank you sentiments. Thank you, Interim City Manager, Deputy City Manager, as well as Interim Finance Director Phillips back there. Andy, you and your team, all the department directors, the governing body members, you all helped with this lift as well, the public. I mean, this was a completely different way that the budget was approached this year. There's always ways we can improve, always ways we can do better. And I think what we'll do is some type of kind of after-action feedback. That way, again, we just make this process much more efficient in the future. As others had mentioned, we can't always fund everything. And so one of the things that I've directed the City Manager to begin to immediately investigate and search funding for is opening up libraries on Sundays. So City City Manager is currently working on that and that is something I think we can figure out within this budget. So that that is coming. With that, thank you, Andy. It's been amazing. It's been fun. It's sometimes been hair-pulling out crazy, but thank you for helping to guide us through this process. We truly appreciate it. Any other comments, questions? If not, Madam City Clerk, can we get a roll call vote, please? Yes, Mayor. Councilor Garcia? Yes. Councilor Barrett? Yes. Councilor Bamonte? Yes. Councilor Cassutt? Yes. Councilor Castro? Yes. Councilor Chavez? Councilor Faulkner? Yes. Councilor Fagali? Yes. Motion passed. Okay. Mr. Mayor, Andy, can you stay for a few seconds? On behalf of staff, on behalf of everybody that works for the City of Santa Fe, we want to thank you. I've been with you for at least the last eight years with Deputy and Chief, and we just have a small token from your team and the city. A small token of thank you for everything you've done for the last 25 years. I know it's not over. You got a lot of work to do. I'm not giving you a break for the next four months, but everything you've done so far is amazing and I just want to thank you. You've always been a wealth of knowledge and I think I echo everything the councilors have said and we're going to miss you. So, thank you, Andy. Yeah, it is a new contract for the City of Santa Fe, Andy. Well, thank you, Andy. Thank you. Thank you, Madam City Clerk. Next item on the agenda, please. Next item on the agenda is matters from the City Manager. Mr. Mayor, councilors, I just want to recognize what HR is doing and especially Alvin Valdez. We're going to do a thing on June 18th, a health fair for all city employees from 10 to 2 on the 18th. So more than welcome to all join us. It'll be at Fort Marcy Park. I've granted two hours of administrative leave to all employees to go see this. So I just want to put this out early. I'll remind everybody again, but that will be coming on June 18th. And other than that and what the budget team has done, I want to thank everybody back there. Thank you very much one more time for everything. I was a little stressed three weeks ago, but we've come a long way in the last two weeks. So, thank you. Next item is matters from the City Attorney. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the governing body. I'm happy to report I have no matter. Now, matters from the City Clerk. I just want to give a reminder of the annual Pride Flag Raising here at City Hall on Monday, June 1st, 2026, at 11:00 a.m., right here in front of City Hall. And that's all I have. We'll move on to communications from the governing body. Mayor: Okay, let's just go ahead and move from my right to the left. Councilor Faulkner. Councilor Faulkner: Thank you, Mayor. I'm very excited about the libraries being open Sunday. I'm glad we can get that done. And thank you, G, for mentioning the Pride Flag Raising Monday. I think that was all I had. Thank you. Councilor Barrett: Nothing from me. Thanks. Councilor Chavis: Thank you, Mayor. I want to first thank Police and Fire for just being very intentional and helpful in the conversation around ARU. That has been a hot topic with the Public Safety Committee. We will have a follow-up presentation on June 16th on that topic. But our leaders in public safety have been very intentional about coming together and making ARU what it should be to best serve the community. So, I want to thank everyone for that. I also want to thank the Parks Division. After our budget meeting, I mentioned looking into ways to involve the community to help keep up our parks since they use them and they utilize them for sports, and we want to teach our youth about community. And they just jumped on it and immediately wanted to collaborate on how to build something around that community work. So, I wanted to shout them out. I feel like our staff is always innovative and open to just how to make Santa Fe better, and that's really exciting. And lastly, my mom turned 73 yesterday. And I get to say her age because she looks 20 years younger. I tell her, "When you look like you look, your age doesn't matter." She doesn't age. And she is the most beautiful human being on Earth. She takes care of all of us. We are all 40 and older. And she shows up for us. She shows up for our kids. I think she's more obsessed with my kids than I am. I've never seen somebody with so much energy and dedication and willingness to just take care of people they care about. And she's been an excellent example to me. She's an excellent example to my kids about what love looks like. So, happy birthday, Mom. Thank you for everything you do. Thank you for being you. Councilor Garcia: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to thank the city staff, all the construction projects that are happening out there. It is one thing that people ask for roads to be fixed, and then they're getting fixed. So, patience out there. Again, all the projects that are happening. Thank you to the administration, city manager, and everyone involved with moving these things forward. There's never going to not be something that needs to be done in this city. And so, doing the work of the people and for the people is very important. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Councilor Faulkner: A couple of things. On June 8th, the Finance Committee will be doing a lessons learned on the budget. I invite everyone who wants to attend to attend. I think this is a good opportunity for us as councilors to follow up on some things about what we could have done better, what we needed more of. And then on August 1st, we are having our second annual Back to School Bash. And in District 3, it is growing significantly. St. Vincent's Hospital is doing their regional healthcare fair at our event. Girls Incorporated has joined our event, and so has Lens 360. So, it's going to be a big event. And I'd like to thank the city manager and the mayor for supporting this. It's going to be a little bit of a heavy lift compared to what we're used to, but I know that our team has it, and I expect all of you will be volunteering. I signed you up already. So, enjoy everyone. You too. You guys in the back, you're signed up also. So, it's going to be an awesome event, and it's really focusing on getting young people off of devices and setting up scenarios where young people can find mentorship, like mentors that can get them in the right spaces with mental health and with their future. And so it's going to be awesome. I'm so excited about it. And I just want to thank the mayor and the city manager for digging in and supporting us on this because this is going to be a big lift. Councilor Castro: Thank you so much, Mayor. Thank you to everyone for an amazing budget session that a lot of questions were answered. We have some really great projects. I just want to plug the Baca Block Party. So, the Railyard on Baca Street, May 30th, this Saturday, from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. It's going to have live music. It's going to be awesome. Not everybody realizes we have two railyards, so we got to celebrate the other one. And then I do want to ease some tensions around Fort Marcy and the expansion. We are going to have a community input session on July 1st. So, hold tight, and we are going to have more information on some of those updates. So, thank you very much. Councilor: Thank you, Mayor. Just wanted to announce, so Councilors Faulkner, Castro, and myself have been working with the city manager and our Transit Division to get, so starting June 7th through Labor Day, there will be no fares on our buses on Sundays, and I believe a bit of expanded service because we don't generally offer certain services on Sundays. So, just wanted to make that announcement so people could start spreading awareness of it. And then, also, earlier this month, there was a huge event at NDI that involved school children from across the city, including my daughter. So, a lot of recognition of all the fourth and fifth graders that put a lot of hard work into making that happen. But also, there were several of our public safety officers out there. So, we had several members from Fire and Police. I just want to name them now. A little shout out: Alexander Outwell, James Benson, Joshua Gonzalez, Brandy Herta, Erica Montoya, Britney Snyder, William Squib, and Andros Rodriguez. I think it's always great because all of these, as first responders, they're out, you know, on the front line, our forward-facing departments. And so they took the time to not only support their community but get involved with it. And so I just wanted to recognize their efforts, and I'm still hearing from my daughter about the cool stunts they did on stage. So, that's it. Thank you, Mayor. Councilor Cassett: Thank you, Mayor. I don't have much today. I just wanted to recognize the Recreation Department, who are prepping to start and kick off the summer program next week. So, I know my kiddos that are going are very excited to get started. They get to do such wonderful things. They go to the Travis Center every single week for swimming and ice skating. They get to go to Albuquerque on wonderful field trips. And I know the staff that my son was with last year, who they get to be with again this year, are just absolutely incredibly dedicated to our kiddos and the community and really creating a safe and fun environment for summer. So, I'm just so incredibly grateful for all of them. Very excited to see them again this summer. And yeah, it's a really important service that we provide. I don't think people realize it's so incredibly affordable. And as I've mentioned before, it's something that I hope that we can continue to expand because we fill up in half a second. So, thank you to everybody who has done everything for that. Of course, Melissa and all her work all year with our kids. So, I really wanted to recognize all that work. Thanks, Mayor. Councilor Faulkner: I forgot a really big thing around the Summer Bash, Back to School Bash. The Santa Fe Fire Department is doing so much to get this done, and I'm so embarrassed that I forgot them because they are one of our biggest partners. Roland Jones, Chief Adakirk, Deputy Chief Rizzo, they are rock stars, and they are really, really doing a lot of lift. So, I'm sorry, gentlemen, I forgot. Councilor Barrett: I forgot something, too. Councilor Bamonte and I are going to do Coffee with Your Councilor on June 12th at Iconic Lena. So, if you live in District 2 and you want to have coffee, cafecito with your councilor, please come and have a coffee and say hi and meet us. You don't even have to live in District 2. You can live anywhere and come hang out too. So, I don't want to cut anybody out. Mayor: Okay. Any other, make sure I didn't miss anybody. Just one quick announcement from me. On June 9th, I will be hosting a town hall, and I invite all of my colleagues on the governing body to attend. It's going to be a town hall focused on our Spanish-speaking community. There will be translating services. And this is the opportunity for folks to be engaged. It will be held at the Anova Chavez Community Center. So, Tuesday night, June 9th, and I'm looking up the start time. Looks like 5:30 p.m. So, hopefully, I'll see folks there. And I again, to have all governing body members attend. It's not solely a mayoral. This is a town hall and an opportunity for our Spanish-speaking community to have access to their representatives. Thank you, everybody. Next item on the agenda, please. City Clerk: Next item on the agenda is item 16, Introduction of Legislation. 16A is consideration of Bill Number 2026-11, an adoption of an ordinance. This is sponsored by Mayor Michael Garcia, Councilor Alma Castro, and Councilor Pilar Faulkner. It's a bill relating to the Santa Fe Homes Program and requirements for rental units, amending Section 26-1.22 to make certain technical changes to clarify the calculation of fees paid in lieu of providing on-site affordable units, to amend the fee in lieu of calculation to use 30% of the area median income instead of 65% when determining base fee amount. Mayor: Okay. As a sponsor, I'll just take a quick moment. This is bringing forward. I know we all want to work on amending our Santa Fe Homes Program, but there is a technical correction that needs to be done ASAP. So, that's what this is primarily focused on, but I'm also using it as an opportunity to begin to increase the fee because I think we can all agree it's extremely low. And this will begin the process of us examining how we can improve and strengthen our Santa Fe Homes Program. So, with that, Councilor Castro. Councilor Castro: Nothing further, Mayor. Thank you for this technical amendment. Thank you to staff for working on it. Councilor Faulkner: I am really excited about this. Anyone who has followed me, which is probably like two people since I've been on the Planning Commission, and in lieu formula has been one of the banes of my existence. I can't stand it. And so I'm really happy that we're taking a step to address it because I think one of the problems we have with affordability is our fee in lieu formula is way off. And so I'm excited that we're taking a step towards adjusting that formula and, quite frankly, the city getting more resources to help with our housing issues. Right now, we are getting the short end of the deal horribly. So, I'm super excited about this. Mayor: Thank you, Madam City Clerk. Next item. City Clerk: Next item is consideration of a resolution. This is sponsored by Mayor Michael Garcia, Councilor Amanda Chavez, and Councilor Jamie Cassett. It's a resolution updating Resolution Number 2025-38 to include seniors in the scope of service at the micro community to be located at 2395 Richards Avenue. I'll go ahead and turn to my colleagues. Councillor Chavez: Thank you, Mayor. I am very excited about this opportunity. Everyone that has been following Age Friendly knows that I have been behind the Age Friendly work, and I feel like this micro community can actually be the example of what Age Friendly can be citywide. So, we're bringing multiple ages together who are in need and need support and building a community around them. So, really applying accessibility measures to everyone of all ages. I really think that this could be a pilot of programming, of community, of services that we can take and spread further throughout the city. So, I want to thank Mayor Garcia for bringing this forward to me and having the opportunity to be a part of this and really measure our progress through the Age Friendly perspective on how to best serve this community, but also best serve all ages of Santa Fe. Thank you. Mayor: Thank you, Councillor. Councillor Cassett. Councillor Cassett: Thank you, Mayor. I think Councillor Chavez described beautifully what an opportunity this is in terms of being able to look at some of the Age Friendly work that she's really been spearheading, as well as the importance of intergenerational programs and community, and we've really seen such benefit there. Part of why this came forward, or a large part of why this came forward, is that we have a number of seniors who have been being housed in hotels as part of a bridge program, and that bridge program is ending. And so, it was very important. I know that we had really focused on Richards as being families with children, but we do have this other population that is in very dire need. So, I am very pleased that we are able to quickly change course, and it is going to take some changes with the plans and with the design of the community. So, I really want to thank Leah and her entire team, and Kristen Woods and the entire team in Community Services that is working very hard on this to quickly pivot and make sure that we are serving many individuals in our community that are in need. And as Councillor Chavez pointed out, it's also a really wonderful time to look at the full spectrum of Age Friendly and how that can be incorporated into different projects, but that we don't always have to be separating seniors and then kids over here. And really, it's if you look to build at these two extremes of the age spectrum, you create a pretty wonderful community for everybody. So, very excited to move this forward. Thank you, Mayor. Mayor: Thank you, Councillor. And I think my colleagues covered it exceptionally well. So, next item, please. City Clerk: Next item is consideration of a resolution. This is sponsored by Councillor Amanda Chavez. It's a resolution removing pilot status from the Wellness Leave Pilot Program, establishing Personnel Rules 13.91 and 13.92 as permanent, and adding a requirement that employees complete all required trainings to remain eligible to receive wellness day leave. Mayor: Councillor Chavez. Councillor Chavez: Thank you. Yeah, this is exciting. It's not a pilot anymore, so it's permanent. So, this comes with a wellness day a year. It comes with leave weekly so that our Santa Fe staff is taking care of themselves, because that's the only way that they can serve us. So, I am so proud of this program. The state has had it implemented for a while, and we have it now, but we also have the wellness day leave, which I think is just an extra in really being aware of behavioral health issues right now and the stress that comes with just living in the world that we're currently living in, and also the high demand of this work itself. So, public service in and of itself is heavy. And I think that as leaders, if we don't acknowledge that and create space for our team members to take care of themselves, we're not doing our job. So, we have this permanently in place for staff, and I'm super excited. Thank you. Well, hopefully soon to be permanently part of our city personnel rules. Mayor: Thank you, Councillor. With that, I think we've been pretty efficient with our agenda. I was looking it over and there's nothing else we can cover. So, with that, I'll entertain a motion to recess until 7:00 p.m. Councillor: So moved. Councillor: Second. Mayor: We've got a motion and a second. Any discussion there? None. Madam City Clerk, can we get a roll call vote, please? City Clerk: Yes, Mayor. Councillor Barrett? Councillor Barrett: Yes. City Clerk: Councillor Bamonte? Councillor Bamonte: Yes. City Clerk: Councillor Cassett? Councillor Cassett: Yes. City Clerk: Councillor Castro? Councillor Castro: Yes. City Clerk: Councillor Chavez? Councillor Chavez: Yes. City Clerk: Councillor Faulkner? Councillor Fagaley? Councillor Fagaley: Yes. City Clerk: Councillor Garcia. Motion passed. Mayor: With that, we will reconvene at 7:00 p.m. City Clerk: Reconvene. Mayor: Okay. So, I've got 7:00 p.m. Let's go ahead and reconvene. City Clerk: We will move to petitions from the floor. Mayor: Thank you, Madam City Clerk. Now is the time for any members of the public to provide any public comment to the governing body. Just as a reminder, members have, or community members have two minutes. There is a sound chime that will go off once time is expired, and we ask folks once you hear that sound chime to respectfully wrap up your comments. With that, first member of the public, please. Speaker: Sir, can you please identify yourself? Speaker: I do want to identify you already. Mayor: It is a requirement. Speaker: Mayor, I think this is a decorum issue. Maybe we can restart the public comment. Mayor: Sir, I am going to respectfully ask you to not break the decorum, or else I will have you escorted from the chambers. Please identify yourself per the whole town hall that I speak nothing but Spanish. We do not do that. This is America. English. America First. We got to take care of ourselves before we take care of anybody else. You can't even take care of your own citizens, but yet you want to hold a town hall for people who can't even vote for you. Are you holding a town hall for people that are voting illegally in our elections? Is that how you guys got on this board? Because we do not. Mayor: Sir, I'm going to politely ask for you to honor the decorum. I will have you escorted from the chamber. Speaker: I can speak my mind. It's called freedom of speech. Mayor: It is called... Speaker: My First Amendment right. This is my time. Stop taking my time. You may not want to hear this. You may not like it. You may think I'm a piece of... You may think I'm fascist. You may think I'm racist. I think that of all of you. You want to stop my free speech. You want to shut my free speech down. What's that called? Fascism. So, stop being a fascist. I'm going to speak my mind and you're going to hear me. You may hate it. You may not want to hear it, but it's going to be heard. Mayor: Your time is expired. Speaker: All of you. Mayor: Next speaker, please. Go ahead, sir. Speaker: You've heard me though so far. It's all right. I was loud. So, that is partly why this is rough. I didn't ask anybody else to come with me this evening. And I wanted to say, we don't think this is a very complex matter. It's a simple matter. The previous resolutions, of which there were several, did not take much council time. What I've sent you is complex, but most of it is background. Some say the council has no formal power in the matters of federal policy, which is largely true, but the council has significant informal power. Some of us will be going to Washington in a couple of weeks. It's too soon, I know, to digest and act, but it'd be wonderful to be able to say that the City of Santa Fe does not support the manufacture of plutonium pits at Los Alamos National Laboratory, because decisions are being made there. This is not a cut and dried situation at all. It is not necessarily something that involves the congressional delegation, and the influence of the council does not necessarily pass through the congressional delegation. And this is not Civics 101. This is our current president's largest program initiative in New Mexico. And there's somewhat incongruous that Santa Fe, which is a very blue town, would be passively highly supportive of Trump's largest program. Just doesn't quite gel for me. Pit production program in Trump's budget submitted to Congress just a couple weeks ago, a month ago, increases the pit production budget at Los Alamos National Laboratory by 90% year-on-year. The number of nuclear weapon cores that are to be developed at Los Alamos is required now to be more than doubled over what it was just a few months ago. And the goal is to put as many nuclear weapons in the hands of the president as possible, as fast as possible, while diminishing the safety regulations that have been in place at Los Alamos National Laboratory for decades. That's it really. We'd love to work with anyone on the council, and we will make time to do so. Call on us and we'll help however we can. Look forward to working with you. Thank you so much. Speaker: My name is Elizabeth West, and I'm glad to be here. And other people's strong emotions are sometimes inadvertently contagious. But I would say you all handled yourselves very well, and luckily I don't speak French, so I didn't understand some of those words. Okay. I first want to begin saying thank you to the Mayor and Councillor Castro and Councillor Faulkner's comment in relation to the fee in lieu of. It's just definitely something that needs work. Thank you. Thank you all of you. Thank you. And secondly, as an old granny, I mean, on what is it going to be? All Saints Day, I'll turn 82, so I qualify. I am really pleased that seniors are going to be included with young people at the same time. I happen to adore my grandchildren, and they're younger than I am. It would be kind of fun actually to come back as an old, old, old person and see my children as old people. It would be cool, but that's not going to happen. So, what I'm here for actually is because I had an interesting experience last night at the HDRB, the Historic Districts Review Board. And it really doesn't matter who or what project this kind of thing. I have 26 seconds left. Oh dear. Anyway, I was very pleased to see that a group came back after being denied. They came back and worked with staff. They worked with the HDRB, and they came up with a really good solution. And I went from saying no to saying yes, and that is a good thing. I'm kind of hoping that you'll consider a stipend for people who work on the H board. I think that happens in other communities. Thank you. Speaker: Stephanie Beninato. I wanted to point out that one of the things that people regard highly when they were responding to the budget was sidewalks. I have to wonder why it is that the 1100 block on the even side of the street has yet to be repaired 10 years later. There is no curb left. It's just the dirt. There's pebbles, if that, for the sidewalk. I've asked for a notice of violations over six months ago. I'm getting nothing. This can't be that burdensome to give me these notice of violations. And Mayor, I am again going to ask you to step in and direct whoever it is, streets or public works, to really do something about it. It is considered an amenity by a majority of citizens. The other thing I want to point out is that I think you really need to reconsider having Cuddy McCarthy as a law firm that you contract with. I just settled with the city somewhat reluctantly because I was really unhappy that they wouldn't actually sit down and talk to me directly and do a mediation, like a real mediation. But the mediator spent two days talking to Scott Hatcher that I did not need a medical expert because it was not a medical malpractice case. This is standard. It's in the case law, it's everywhere. But Scott Hatcher insisted to me, and then for two days, I don't know how much time with the mediator, who has 20 years of personal injury experience and knows that you don't need one. This is a waste of city resources, and that's only just one example. He also wants to make lawyers, the lawyer that is himself, a party to the settlement or to the release, which again, he's not a party, he's the lawyer, and I'm not going to agree to that. And then I just want to just a couple more quick things. I appreciate that there's going to be some meeting about Fort Marcy Pool and trying to get that open because yesterday the outdoor pool was unusable, especially in the morning. And I'm also going to urge you strongly to reconsider your decision not to open Salvador Perez. It is one of the best pools, or one of the best pools in town. And if you're pouring money into Chavez, you can actually do that for Salvador Perez. It is the only one that actually is disability accessible with the ramp close to the locker room, for example. And so I'm hoping again that you will reach— Mayor: Please, your time. I'm done. I'm done. Thank you very much. Marcia Emerton, District 4. I'm going to read something instead of babble, as I usually do. These are notes from the Santa Fe Housing for All Collaborative advocacy group. The city needs an emergency shelter. The RFP, for which responses are being evaluated now—my glasses are on, there we go—is unclear as to whether the provider must provide emergency shelter or just shelter. There is a difference. As councilors and staff review and evaluate those responses, we encourage you to carefully examine whether the applicant is proposing to provide undefined shelter or specifically an emergency shelter. If it isn't providing emergency shelter, then what are we going to do to ensure that emergency shelter is up and running as soon as possible, and certainly not any later than next fall when we start coming in for Code Blue nights? There are standards that HUD has for emergency shelters. One of them is that at Agape, you have to sign in and out. It's for three days, and if you're missing, you lose your bed, but the rest of the time those beds can be empty. That's not an emergency shelter. Emergency shelter, according to HUD, there are no parameters about signing in and out or behavior norms or anything. You just can get shelter. That comes from Michael Mike Anders of Urban Alchemy. During a February presentation to the Santa Fe Housing for All Collaborative that happened in February, at that meeting, he specifically stated that Agape House is not an emergency shelter. Also, Agape only has supportive staff there once per week. Pete's Place had it three days a week. Oh, pallet homes. Do something. And also, don't do the hotel at the corner of Cerrillos and St. Francis. Good evening, City Council. My name is Dylan Schwiggel. I work here in the city. I wanted to come out tonight after I read the article about the program ending for homeless seniors at the motel. And I was glad to see just the quick turnaround in terms of the resolution that was brought up tonight to identify an alternative for those people to keep them sheltered. The concern that I still have, though, is that my understanding is that the program at the motel is going to be ending at the end of June, and at this rate, the pallet shelter site will not be there as an alternative place for them to keep shelter. And I just thought, in light of—I came to the last governing body meeting and I spoke on this too about the urgency, the crisis of the city's shelters and shelter programs are at capacity. We're falling behind in terms of shelter beds. And I think that this article just really clearly emphasizes that that is the case because now we are going backwards in terms of programs that keep people sheltered. In this case, some of the most vulnerable people who could be out on the street, seniors, right? It puts a real face to what this crisis is doing, who it's impacting. And I again just want to come here to urge you guys that in whatever capacity for the city and for the mayor's office, to find some way to push forward these pallet shelter sites in a much more quickly, a much more urgent way, because it is, it's a growing crisis. It's getting worse. I think that that article really does highlight that. And I think there's a lot of frustration too over it. It's just very unclear right now at this point what even is the holdup with the pallet shelters. I ask around, I can't get a clear answer of why. And if we can't get these sort of readymade, quick-to-set-up shelter alternatives, how are we going to create any meaningful plan to address homelessness and create shelter in the city? Thank you. I don't see any other members of the public here in the chamber. Madam City Clerk, is there anybody? Madam City Clerk: Yes, Mayor. One hand is raised in the Zoom room. Cameron Crawford. All right. Can everybody hear me? Okay. Yes. Okay. This is Cam Crawford here in District 4, currently watching you guys from the fire station at work. Just wanted to give you some words of encouragement. I have seen some of those members of the public before in chambers, and I just wanted to thank you guys for all the work that you're doing on behalf of our community. Thank you for investing in our parks, making sure that we have adequate staffing at our parks department so that people can go and visit and spend some time outside. Thank you for investing in our water infrastructure so that that way when people need to turn on their tap, it's safe to use. Thank you for investing in our police and fire departments. Thank you for doing the work of the community. I know that oftentimes it is such a thankless job. But I know all of you for the most part pretty decently, and I know that your hearts are in the right place. And so I think it's important that we thank the people who are doing the work on behalf of our community instead of just constantly criticizing. So, hope you guys have a good night. This has been a great meeting. Thanks for giving me some time to speak. Appreciate it. Is there anybody else online? Madam City Clerk? Madam City Clerk: There are no other attendees in the Zoom room with their hand up. Okay, with that being said, I do want to state for the record, Councilor Cassid did reach out saying that she was under the weather and could not rejoin. So, I just want to state that for the record for the public, and she will watch public comment online. Without our agenda is complete.