The Albuquerque City Council held its 37th meeting of the 26th Council on September 3, 2025, at 5:00 PM in the Vincent E. Griego Chambers. All nine councilors were present. The meeting included proclamations, consent agenda approvals, public comments, and final actions on multiple items, including homeless services funding, transit corridor redesignation, and annexation. The meeting adjourned at 9:37 PM.
Welcome to the 37th meeting of the 26th Council. We will come to order on September 20 on September 3rd, 2025. All counselors are present this evening with Councillor Pena being on Zoom. We're going to begin the meeting with a moment of silence and then the Pledge of Allegiance in English and then in Spanish. Civic Plaza parking passes are provided for members of the public. You can obtain a parking pass from council staff at the table near the chamber's entrance. Members of the public, city staff, and the media have the ability to view this meeting in person and on live streams through four different platforms, Gov TV on Comcast Channel 16, the Gov TV website, YouTube, and Zoom webinar. The live streams can be accessed from most smartphones, tablets, or computers. Also, this meeting is closed captioning captioned, and you may enable the closed captioning services on your television or device at this time. The video recording of this and all past council meetings will remain available for viewing at any time on the city council's website. Council staff is available via telephone if members of the public need assistance, finding those videos online. Please call 505 768 3100 for assistance during business hours Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The council will take a break at approximately 7 o'clock p.m. this evening if needed. With regard to decorum in the chambers, we want tonight's proceedings to be as civil and respectful as possible. Please do not make any personal attacks and please no applause, snapping or other outbursts during the meeting. I will provide one warning to anyone causing a disruption upon the second or continued disruption, that individual will be asked to leave the chambers and if necessary, security will be asked to escort that person out of the chambers. Such removal from the council chambers will be effective for the remainder of the meeting. If continued disruptions occur, I may recess the meeting until order is restored and if necessary may clear the chambers of persons participating in the disturbance. The meeting will go a lot smoother if we are respectful of one another. We're going to start this evening with proclamations and presentations. Councilor Pena has the first proclamation recognizing the 10th annual celebration for National Recovery Month. Counselor Pena. Thank you, Madam Chair. Since I wasn't able to attend this evening, I would, I don't have the proclamation in front of me. So if Councilor Grau perhaps would kind of leave the charts on it, I would appreciate it. And I want to thank everyone who's here on behalf of his proclamation for recovery. Thank you. Counselor Grout. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Counselor Pena. Um this is for the we're recognizing the 10th annual celebration of National Recovery Month. Accepting this evening are Mark Garnard, he's the program manager of peer recovery and engagement with the New Mexico Health Care Authority, and long-standing ACR community commun uh committee member, Jennifer Weiss Burke, Executive Director of Serenity Mesa and one of the founding members of ACR. Teresa Chavez, she's the project manager for Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico and a longstanding ACR committee member. And Aaron Vega, he's the community art facilitator and curator, a long-standing ACR community member. So I'm glad you all are here. Whereas National Recovery Month is a national observance held every September to educate Americans that substance use treatment and mental health supports can enable those with mental health and or substance use disorders to live a healthy and rewarding life. And whereas the National Recognized Recovery Month began in 1989 as Treatment Works Month, which honored the work of substance use treatment professionals in the field. In 1988, the observance was modified as National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month, expanding to include include celebrating the accomplishments of individuals in recovery from substance use disorders. The observance evolved once again in 2011 to National Recovery Month to include all aspects of behavioral behavioral health. And whereas over the past decade, a local volunteer-driven initiative, spearheaded by representatives from a variety of local agencies and organizations called Albuquerque celebrates recovery, has hosted annual events focused on accepting, welcoming, and embracing all paths that lead to recovery while building strength in the community. And whereas Albuquerque celebrates recovery advocates, advocates and supports individuals with substance use and mental health disorders by providing an avenue to achieve and sustain long-term recovery and to reinforce the positive message that behavioral health is essentially essential to the overall health of our community. And that prevents prevention works, treatment is effective, and people can recover. And whereas the city of Albuquerque, City Council Office and Department of Health, Housing, and Homelessness, in collaboration with Albuquerque Celebrates Recovery, community-based organizations, managed care organizations, the state of New Mexico's behavioral health services division, and Bernalieu County's Behavioral Health Authority are hosting a recovery art show at Casa Cultura on September 5th, and a recovery pow-out and main event on September 12th at Civic Plaza. And whereas the 10th anniversary of Albuquerque celebrates recovery event will bring together over 1,000 attendees and more than 75 providers, and will celebrate will be celebrated throughout the month of September to increase awareness and understanding of substance use and mental health disorders and to celebrate the gains of those in recovery. Be it proclaimed that the council, the governing body of the city of Albuquerque, hereby declares September 2025 as National Recovery Month. That's a lot. You guys are doing a lot of things. Counselor Pena, I want to go back to you to start.