City Council

Minutes of the Joint Work Session of the Gallup City Council and the McKinley County Board of Commissioners held in the Commission Chambers, Third Floor of the Mckinley County Courthouse, 207 West Hill, City of Gallup, New Mexico at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday October 20, 2015. The meeting was called to order by Carol Bowman Muskett, County Commission Chairperson. Upon roll call, the following were present, constituting a quorum of both bodies: MCKINLEY COUNTY Chairperson Carol Bowman Muskeff COMMISSION Commissioner Genevieve Jackson Absent: Commissioner Anthony Tanner Also present: Bill Lee, County Manager GALLUP CITY Mayor Jackie McKinney COUNCIL Councilor Linda Garcia Councilor Allan Landavazo Councilor Fran Palochak Arrived late: Councilor Yogash Kumar Also Present: Maryann Ustick, City Manager Mayor McKinney introduced City Manager Maryann Ustick and City staff in the audience: City Attorney George Kozeliski, Patty Holland, Stan Henderson, and Deputy Police Chief John Allen. City Lobbyist Mark Fleisher and Evan Williams, Deputy Director of Northwest NM Council of Government (NWNMCOG) were also in attendance. Chairperson Bowman-Muskeft introduced Mckinley County Manager Bill Lee and staff members Sara Keeler, Finance Director, Anthony Dimas, Office Emergency Management/Grants Director, and Mario Gomez, Construction Director. Commissioner Jackson also welcomed everyone in attendance. Mayor McKinney recognized Councilor Kumar who joined the meeting and paid respects to past City Councilor Cecil Garcia who had recently passed. He said Mr. Garcia will be remembered as a champion for the people in our community. Mayor McKinney and Chairperson Bowman-Muskett made opening comments and welcomed the State legislative delegation in attendance: Senators John Pinto and George Munoz, and State Representatives Patty Lundstrom and D. Wonda Johnson. Mayor McKinney asked that the Legislators listen and take serious consideration to the City and Mckinley County priority projects and asked for their full support. MINUTES City/County Joint Work Session — 10/20/2015 Page 2 Presented to the Mayor, Councilors and Commissioners was a brief overview of the City and County’s priorities by the City and County Managers: a.) Increased and sustained funding for the Behavioral Health Investment Zone b.) Carbon Coal Road design and construction funding c.) Implement full funding from the State for housing State prisoners in jails (NMAC) d.) Protect and preserve existing capital outlay funding. City Manager Maryann Ustick addressed Item (a.); Increase and sustained funding for the Behavioral Health Investment Zone. Ms. Ustick said House Bill 108 would have funded the alcohol and substance abuse programs to counties with the biggest need but was vetoed by Governor Martinez for reasons being, that HB 108 sought to mandate the creation of behavioral health investment zones in New Mexico and put in place various restrictions on how and where they should be constructed, thus micro-managing the expenditures of behavioral health resources. The Governor budgeted $1 million for Fiscal Year 2016 through the Human Service Department (HSD) for this effort. The City and County are actively working on the application for funding this program. However, other counties are also competing for this funding so that less than half would probably be available, which leaves insufficient funding for this program. Ms. Ustick said the $1 million dollar funding needs to be reauthorized each year from the state budget and in order for this program to be sustainable, the funding needs to be sustainable also. The City and County are requesting for increased funding for the Investment Zone Program to make progress and to end the revolving doors that our community has experienced for too long. There was some discussion on having the Senators and Representatives lobbying for the needs of Mckinley County to increase the funding for Behavioral Health Services. Senator Munoz said the best way to request funding would probably be to insert it as a line item earmarked for Gallup in the budget and hope that it would not get a vetoed through the budget process. County Manager Bill Lee introduced Item (b): Carbon Coal Road Design and Construction Funding. Carbon Coal Road currently exists but is not in the best condition for the increase in traffic. Carbon Coal Road is to be used as a springboard for future improvement to Highway 491 and the Ninth Street intersection, but that was dependent on being completed. Mr. Lee said that $375,000 is needed to complete the design and make the road ready for construction. Mr. Lee also presented Item (c): Implement full funding from the State for Housing State prisoner in Jails (NMAC). He said in 2007 the State passed the County Detention MINUTES City/County Joint Work Session — 10/20/2015 Page 3 Facility Reimbursement Act and was funded $5 million. The funding was to cover reimbursements for three specific items: 1) parole violators, 2) inmates sentenced and awaiting transport, and 3) offenders under supervision and probation for parole violations. The cost to cover these expenses under the Act was $5,545,453 and the funding was reduced to $2,960,900 for Fiscal Year 2016; a 21% reduction from $3.3 million in Fiscal Year 2015. The County and City are asking that this funding be completely restored so that the jails can be more viable. He said last year the jail seen a deficit of $1 million and asked the legislators to look into the reason why the funding had been reduced. Mr. Lee said by law these are state prisoners and fall under the responsibility of the state to pay for these prisoners but it had fallen on the County and City shoulders. Senator Munoz said he would look at the 2007 Act and see if there is a provision in place to reduce funding since he was not in office when the Act was passed. Ms. Ustick presented Item (d): Protect and preserve existing capital outlay funding. Ms. Ustick said the County and City had heard that there was going to be a claw back on capital outlay funds. She explained that sometimes it takes time to accumulate funds to get these projects shovel ready and sometimes there are non-preventable issues such as environmental or right-of-way clearances that are beyond the City and County’s control. These issues often prevent important projects from progressing and asked for continued support from our local legislators. State Representative Patty Lundstrom thanked the City and County Managers for providing regular updates on the progress of existing and ongoing capital projects. Ms. Ustick presented the top six projects for the City: 1) Concrete skate board park construction with a legislative funding request for $400,000 with contributions from the Southwest Indian Foundation in the amount of $50,000 and $5,000 from Councilor Kumar. The existing skateboard park is planned for demolition with the reconstruction of Lincoln Elementary School. The new skateboard park is planned for construction on the east side of the Multi Cultural Center. 2) Police Department Vehicle Replacement Program with a legislative funding request of $350,000. For ten new police vehicles at 35,000 per vehicle, the City fleet of police cruisers has over 100,000 miles on them and the cost of repairs is exceeding the cost of new vehicles. 3) Coal Avenue Alley Reconstruction Project Phase 1 with a legislative funding request of $400,000 for construction. The alleys downtown has been built up over the years and is now a storm drainage issue for the adjoining properties. MINUTES City/County Joint Work Session — 10/20/2015 Page 4 The existing surface is worn and a trip hazard for pedestrians. The water and sewer main date back before World War II and are now in poor shape and require replacing. Representative Lundstrom asked if the Business Improvement District (BID) could contribute to this project. Ms. Ustick said that the BID’s revenues were about $110,000 per assessment period and the BID was currently working on other projects. The BID could probably contribute, but it would be a minimal amount and not enough to fund this project. 4) West Jefferson Avenue Reconstruction with a legislative funding request of $55,000 for the design. The concrete pavement behind Castle Furniture on West Jefferson Avenue suffers from poor shoulder drainage and poor soil underneath and as a result, the pavement has severely heaved and shattered. 5) Indian Hills Park Lighting Improvement Project with a legislative funding request of $85,000 for Phase 1 design and construction. The existing lights at Indian Hills Park are old and energy inefficient. It has limited lighting on the ball field parking lot and the power distribution needs to be upgraded for current electrical loads, including the replacement of the existing lights with LEDs 6) Sky City Park Improvements Project with a legislative funding request of $70,000 for construction. The existing retaining wall bordering Strong Drive has exceeded its life expectancy. It is starting to shift from the soil pressure behind it and its movements mote pronounced each year. In addition, the existing park lighting is energy inefficient and needs upgrading with LED lights. County Manager Bill Lee said the Mckinley County’s top priority list came directly from their Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan list (ICIP), which included nine of the fifteen projects that have been either encumbered or closed out. Anthony Dimas OEM/Grant Manager went over the County’s number one priority, the Manuelito Canyon Bridge and Road. There is $1.8 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) available for the project but the project is on hold until the rights-of-ways have been obtained. With the help of the Chapter houses and the Bureau of Indian Affairs it took about four months to obtain signatures from the allotment land owners. By obtaining the signatures, the survey work is ready to be completed. The survey work will cost $75,000 with a 25% match from the County. The $1.8 million will be used for construction but the bridge alone will cost $8 million dollars. Unfortunately, since it is a county bridge it does not qualify for federal funds. The County has applied for FEMA funds but will need matching funds to complete this project. MINUTES City/County Joint Work Session — 10/20/2015 Page 5 The second project is the County Road 19 improvements. The survey work is underway, and being prepared for construction. The County is seeking funds for the construction of 7.1 miles of roadway. The third priority is the Deer Springs Road in the Mexican Springs Chapter area, requesting funds to plan, design and construct improvements. $150,000 is available that was previously awarded by the State and has been encumbered for rights- of-way acquisitions, surveys and assessment. The County is requesting additional funds for the construction of the Deer Springs Road. The fourth priority is for bridges County Wide. Mckinley County is requesting $200,000 to utilize the study that the State had done to look at the bridges that need to be upgraded. Mr. Lee concluded the list for McKinley County with requested funds of $100,000 to fund the Blue Medicine Well Road to design and construct Phase 1 road improvements. $200,000 was also requested for Superman Canyon to construct phased road improvements including right- of-way acquisition and to purchase and install materials to Superman Canyon Road. Councilor Landavazo encouraged the legislators to invite the committee members who make the decisions on funding these projects so that they can get an idea of what the projects look like and see how important the City and County requests are. Mayor Mckinney thanked the legislative delegation for coming and listening to and supporting the City and County. Chairperson Bowman-Muskeft also thanked everyone for coming to the meeting because they are very productive. Senators Munoz and Pinto and Representatives Lundstrom and Johnson made their closing comments regarding claw backs on appropriated funds. They encouraged the City and County to get projects shovel ready and thanked the City and County for their feedback on current and ongoing projects. There being no further business, Councilor Palochak put forth the motion to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Councilor Garcia: Roll Call: Councilors Palochak, Garcia, Landavazo, Kumar and Mayor Mckinney all voted aye. Jackie McRinney, Masor c4;? Brenda Romero, Deputy City Clerk Approved 11/10/2015