City Council

MINUTES OF CITY COUNCIL MEETING ARTESIA, NEW MEXICO October 11, 2022 The City Council of the City of Artesia, New Mexico met in the City Council Chambers at City Hall on Tuesday, October 11, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. in regular session with Mayor Jonathan Henry presiding, and the following present to wit: Jeffrey Youtsey Wade Nelson Ignacio Mariscal Sam Hagelstein George Mullen Richard Townley Jarrod Moreau Raul Rodriguez Also present: Summer Valverde, City Clerk/Treasurer Cass Tabor, City Attorney It was determined that a quorum was present. The invocation was given by Councilor Rodriguez with all joining in the Pledge of Allegiance. New Requests for City Facilities: None City Departments and Employees None Special Reports None Consent Agenda HR Director Jerry Conde gave announcement of promotions, no hires this time. Councilor Rodriguez made a motion to approve the consent agenda as written. Motion was seconded by Councilor Mariscal, and upon vote, the motion carried 7-0. CONSENT AGENDA October 11, 2022 1. Approval of Minutes *September 27, 2022 2. Consideration of Bids:  Minutes, October 11, 2022 Page 2 3. Contracts, Leases and Agreements: A. *Consideration and approval for the Chase Foundation to assume the Habitat for Humanity of Artesia lease. B. *Consideration and approval of grant agreement between the New Mexico Department of Transportation and the City of Artesia for ENDWI, BKLUP, and STEP projects. 4. Appointments: 5. Personnel Resignations, Hirings, Promotions, and Transfers: Upon recommendation of the Mayor, subject to successful completion of required pre- employment testing, permission to: A. *Hire: Name Department Position Rate of Pay B. *Promote: 1. Enrique Hernandez Wastewater WW Assistant $2507 per month CA22 2. Dakota Corbell Fire Battalion Chief/ $5913.92 per month Paramedic CA37 3. William Guin Fire Lieutenant/ $5525.78 per month Paramedic CA33 4. Gustav Quinn Fire Lieutenant/ $5525.78 per month Paramedic 6. Dates of Hearing: 7. *Travel and Training: A. Police – Permission for one (2) to attend Using MS Office, Access and Excel for Law Enforcement Institute for Law Enforcement Administration in Plano, TX 8. Routine Requests for City Facilities: 9. Routine Resolutions (to be assigned a number by staff): 10. Budgeted Items: 11. Quarterly Journal Entries: 12. Non-budgeted Items: 13. *Payment of Bills Public Hearings – including consideration of final passage of any ordinance as to which proper notice has been published. A. *Consideration and approval of Ordinance 1104, an ordinance amending sections 5-2A-1, 5- 2A-7 of Ordinance 846 – Provisions for the keeping and maintenance of animals within the city limits. City Attorney Cass Tabor gave a brief explanation of what was changed in the ordinance and how it changes can be made by resolution in the future, if needed. Councilor Rodriguez made a motion to approve Ordinance 1104. Seconded by Councilor Hagelstein. Upon roll call vote, with the following votes recorded:  Minutes, October 11, 2022 Page 3 Aye: Nelson, Townley, Youtsey, Mullen, Moreau, Rodriguez, Hagelstein, Mariscal Nay: None The motion passed 8-0. ORDINANCE 1104 Period for Hearing Visitors None Comments from Public Officials and Contracted Services None Committee Reports: A. Budget and Finance – Councilor Moreau reported meeting set for next Thursday. B. Personnel – Councilor Mullen reported committee has not met. C. Police and Fire – Councilor Nelson reported committee has not met but may have to call for a special meeting. D. Planning (Project Management, Code Enforcement, Permits and Inspections) – Councilor Rodriguez reported it was on the consent agenda. E. Recreation – Councilor Rodriguez reported they have a meeting set for next week Monday, October 17, 2022, 5:30 pm. F. Infrastructure (Streets, Garage, Cemetery, Parks, Water, Wastewater, Solid Waste, Facility Maintenance) – Mayor Pro Tem Youtsey reported they met about two weeks ago and discussed housekeeping items and utility billing. Also discussed vandalism of trees off Hwy 285 and Richey. The infrastructure committee agreed to construct a 6ft fence around them to help with foot traffic from going between them and push them to go around. Mayor Pro Tem Youtsey also reported the fence will cost about 20K. G. Government – Mayor Pro Tem Youtsey reported they will be meeting a week from this Thursday. Personnel A. *Stats HR Director Jerry Conde reported no reportable workers comp incidents and no reportable vehicle accidents for the month of September 2022. B. *Consideration and approval of Resolution 1807 Amending the Cell Phone and Personal Device Use Policy. Councilor Moreau questioned what the changes to this Resolution were. HR Director Jerry responded issuing phones to new positions and other departments and issuing stipends as well.  Minutes, October 11, 2022 Page 4 Councilmen had several questions on this Resolution and wanted to have this revisited on next meeting. Councilor Rodriguez made a motion to postponed until next council meeting to get some issues worked out. The motion was seconded by Councilor Hagelstein and upon vote, motion carried. 7-0 Public Safety Police Department: 1) *Stats Commander Pete Quinones stood in for Chief Roberts. He greeted the mayor and council. He stood for questions. There were none. Fire Department: A. *Stats Deputy Chief Mason stood in for Fire Chief Hope. Deputy Chief Mason greeted the mayor and council. He stood for question. There were none. Community Development A. *Stats Community Development Director Jim McGuire stated he only had stats on the agenda and stood for questions. There were none. Jim commented he has been talking to individuals of some of the houses that have burned. He did update on a house that had burned off of JJ Clark and how its going to be a process to get a hold of an owner to the house. Several councilmen were questioning how to go about condemning the house. Jim responded with there are steps we have to follow. And if we will have it in the budget or need to meet to see which houses will be tackled first. Jim commented on how he is looking to see if someone else would like to buy these properties. Councilor Mullen question how the process of the new code enforcer coming along. Jim responded with the candidate selected had a commitment to finish up a project and so she was not able to begin like we had hope for. We still have the position available. Infrastructure Assistant Infrastructure Director John Anguiano greeted the mayor and council. Mr. Anguiano reported updates on all city projects, everything coming along good. Also reported Xcell has completed the two-day project in one day with the streetlights. Mr. Anguiano also updated on traffic lights we have in the city. He explained the city has 12 traffic lights and only 3 are owned by the city but still programmed by the state. The remaining 9 are owned by the state. The city would still have to get permission from the state for programming. The lights owned by the city would be the one on 13th Street and Grand, 13th Street and Richey, and 26th Street and Main. He continued with updates to Eagledraw’s walkway being completed and moving on to Central Park then onto Davis Park.  Minutes, October 11, 2022 Page 5 Councilor Moreau asked how the water repair went by Tate Branch. Mr. Anguiano responded it has been repaired. Councilor Rodriguez and Councilor Mariscal discussed the turning area off HWY 82 and Centennial Drive. Mr. Anguiano responded he would get with Byron about that and see what needs or can be done about it. It seems that it may be a state issue. Mr. Anguiano gave recognition to Richard Acosta on the hard work he has been doing on John’s behalf. He also gave recognition to John Sopher and the rest of the crew. City Attorney None City Clerk City Clerk Summer Valverde greeted the mayor and council and presented: A. *Consideration and approval of Resolution 1808, Internal Procedure for Acceptance of Credit Cards and Electronic Transfers. City Clerk Summer Valverde explained this resolution/policy is for credit card and electronic transfers so that we are not being charged for the processing fee and all information is safe guarded as required. Councilor Hagelstein made a motion to approve the Resolution 1808. The motion was seconded by Councilor Mullen and upon vote, motion carried. 7-0 City Clerk Summer gave updates on the comp study, Red Rocket, and the investments. Comp study is going well. A presentation was given by Gallagher to finance and budget committee. Mrs. Valverde explained they sent out evaluations to the comparators and hope to have those back in soon. Next step would be to send out employee evaluations. This will ensure the accuracy of job description to what our jobs are. And these will be look through by supervisors and department heads. We hope to be completed with the comp study in January 2023. Mrs. Valverde continued with letting council know they met with Red Rocket and they have met with several departments to begin marketing. Also, they are on their way in getting PSA’s so the public can know what departments are doing in a positive way. Lastly Mrs. Valverde updated the council on the cities investments and commented that in a year we hope to have made 1.5 million off of these investments. Mrs. Valverde gave appreciation to mayor and council. Mayor Mayor Henry spoke of trying to get a light put up on HWY 285 and Mill Road and HWY 285 and 13th. He stated they met with the county and state trying to explain how we are needing a signal light in these areas. So, there is going to be a study being done to see if there is a need for a light there. We may see a DECEL light before a stop light.  Minutes, October 11, 2022 Page 6 Mayor Henry gave appreciation to Chamber of Commerce for putting together fantastic projects at such a small-time frame. They do such wonderful work, and they work hard at it. Mayor Henry gave acknowledgement and appreciation to John Anguiano on his updates to the council. New or other business from Councilors Councilor Hagelstein Congratulated William Quinn on his promotion. Councilor Mariscal commented and showed appreciation on this weather we have been having. Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:59 p.m. October 11, 2022. ___________________________________ Jonathan Henry, Mayor ATTEST: __________________________________ Summer Valverde - City Clerk/Treasurer