Pet of the Week Highlight of Council Efforts

City Council work session meeting held on Monday, September 27, 2010

1. The pet of the week was presented. It was a RAT. Obviously our animal shelter has something for everybody.

2. Las Cruces Film Industry Update by Bill McCamey, Las Cruces Film Liaison Office. He gave an update on Las Cruces’ efforts to attract the film industry and believes we need to have equipment on hand to rent to the film industry. He is a one-man office and currently works 20 hours per week.
· Las Cruces is a great area, especially for western themed movies and he is working to get a Western movie back lot set constructed near the west mesa by the film industry without costs to the city. No one discussed the potential negative impact the proposed Wilderness Act may have on the film industry in our area.
· The International Film Festival has been pushed back to next summer.
· The City needs to procure ads (they are expensive) to promote Las Cruces as a film location

· Discussed the need for additional tax incentives and rebates to be competitive with other cities. Councilor Thomas thinks the film industry should be part of the City’s economic plan. Councilors Thomas, Connor & Silva want a citizen’s commission to assist the CLC Film Liaison office in attracting the industry.
· Lisa Strout, Director NM State Film Office commended the City for having a film liaison office. She mentioned that Santa Fe has three western back lot sets but that they are under snow in the winter so Las Cruces could be very attractive. She also believes additional financial incentives are necessary at the local levels and are successful in other cities. New Mexico is # 3 in film production behind Los Angeles and New York. There were 145 major film projects and 563 total film projects since 2005 resulting in multi-billion dollar revenue to the State. Her department is working to keep local Film & Digital Media Technology graduates here in New Mexico. There are currently more than 250 film specific businesses in NM.

3. Wounded Warriors Film Project – John C Muir, PhD discussed the Returning Veterans Film Employment Project. He and his wife both teach film industry related subjects at DACC & NMSU and want to create a clean-green film training program that is focused on disabled and women veterans. The program would provide job qualification and certification but not job positions. They want Council support of the program. Councilor Sorg said this concept fits into his vision of a diverse economy and increases median income. Interesting comment since there were no discussions on income opportunities or levels. Councilor Pedroza thought this was a good proposal because she gets many calls from women veterans. Mayor Miyagishima will try to help through other organizations and recognized the Vietnam veterans in the audience. Councilor Small thought that Las Cruces would become a hub for veterans organizations due to the NM Veterans Museum and its proximity to the nearby military complexes.
4. Smart Growth Initiative update was presented by City Community Development Director, Dave Weir.
· Las Cruces will continue to grow and compose half of Dona County population and that there is a connection between development and quality of life.

· He discussed the 10 Smart Growth principles and strategies. #1-Mixed land uses (zoning ordinances), #2- Compact building design (increased density) #3-Housing options (affordable low-income housing), #4-Create walk able communities (MPO, design standards, walking trails, streetscapes), #5-Foster attractive communities (overlay & historical districts, parks-recreation, median landscaping), #6 Preserving natural landscapes, open spaces & agricultural lands, #7-Direct development of existing communities (El Paseo, downtown, University corridor), #8-Variety of transportation choices (MPO transportation plan, bike lanes, El Paso-Las Cruces bus, walking trails), #9-Insure process is fair & cost effective for all stakeholders (Vision 2040 plan), #10-Encourage Public Participation (steering, advisory & Ad Hoc committees, coordination meetings, El Paseo project).

· Councilor Thomas made copies of the Smart Growth book she advocates available to the council members. She doesn’t see a City integration of transportation and economic development. She believes that “transportation is the backbone of smart growth” and feels future Federal transportation dollars will be tied to this integration. She wants a presentation by the El Paso City staff on smart growth as well as one from Los Alamitos Transit Authority. She wants to establish individual neighborhood identities. Why is she so insistent on changing Las Cruces? Is she ashamed of the city or its culture?

Councilor Small wants to support neighborhoods on how they want their community to look and stressed that development needs to be streamed lined. He supports Smart Growth and is concerned that Las Cruces is not a safe bicycle community and wants this addressed.

5. Revisions to Solid Waste Ordinance presented by Klaus Cameron, Manager Solid Waste. He listed four options for revising the solid waste policy of the city to address those who wanted to be able to suspend their service. He estimated that allowing suspension of service could remove up to 5000 customers from the service area and cost the City more than $370,000 every six months.

· Option 1: Continue the existing policy of not allowing any suspension of service
· Option 2: Allow a 4-6 month suspension but require a $50 fee to remove and re-issue trash containers. It would redistribute fixed costs to the remaining customer base
· Option 3: Require a minimum suspension of 6 months and require a $50 fee to remove and re-issue trash containers. The general fund would reimburse the enterprise fund.
· Option 4: Allow suspension of service and require a $50 fee to remove and re-issue trash containers. It would redistribute fixed costs to the remaining customer base.

· Current customer service department policy defines an “occupied residence” as one that has current gas and/or water service and occupied residences cannot terminate solid waste service. Councilor Silva wanted to know why the City could not use a subscriber system to track who had service. He was informed that it was too difficult for the City to manage even though commercial services have the ability to do so. He believes that in light of the recent addition of mandatory recycle service it is too early to understand the impact on solid waste and the wrong time to be changing policy. He also asked why customers should pay for a service they did not receive and that City services should be more customer oriented. Councilor Small and Mayor Miyagashima both expressed concerns that this was an economic issue and everyone must pay because the City depends on the revenue stream. Councilor Thomas stated that “if you afford more than one home you can certainly pay for garbage service” and would not support a suspension of service..
· The Council did not support any suspension of service and choose to continue with the current policy of option #1

6. Erosion Control Ordinance update was provided by Robert Kyle. He stated that the revised draft was nearly complete and anticipates it to be ready for Council review by the end of the year. It still needs to address unpaved roads and alleys, unpaved parking lots, and define City staff responsibilities. The next step is to put the draft out for public comment. Councilor Thomas stated that she had a list of the victims of dust control problems and insisted that they be a separate focus group for public input.

She understands that Tucson, Phoenix and Albuquerque/Bernalino County all have their own Air Quality Districts and wonders why Las Cruces doesn’t. She was informed that it is based on population. Councilor Sorg stated that we have a dust problem in the City and wants to see mitigation remedies and stronger Codes enforcement because the number 1 complaint in his district is lack of codes enforcement.

Mayor Miyagishima wants provisions in all general liabilities polices of developers to include dust mitigation provisions. There will be two demonstration/evaluation areas. One in District 5 in the Settler’s Pass area and one in District 6 on the Eddie Binns Diamond Springs property along Roadrunner Parkway. This demonstration will be monitored and evaluated jointly by NMSU and the City.

Pet of the Week Highlight of Council Efforts