We will move on to the pledge, both in English and Spanish, and a moment of moment of silence first.

Thank you so much.

Please join us in the pledge.

Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

We'll be uh on the net up, and it's not you can make a customer.

Thank you, everyone.

Vice President Champagne, Madam President.

Thank you.

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Counselors, at this time we will have administration question and answer.

Councilor Rogers.

Thank you, Mr.

Vice President.

My question is for APD.

And I see Chief of Staff coming down.

Good evening, Council.

Hello, thank you so much for being here.

Um, so of course, we all heard about three officer-involved shootings in one week, and so I'm very concerned.

Um, and so um ACS, I think you'll be next.

Um specifically for the one where we had a mental health um emergency.

I think my question is why was ACS not dispatched to that call.

Madam President, Councillor Rogers, thank you for the question.

I think what might be best is if we have a chance to do a complete dive.

These investigations, as you know, there's uh administrative investigation and criminal investigation that occurs after these incidents, and so part of that is fact gathering as to all the circumstances leading up to the incident, what happened at the incident, and also what happens afterwards.

And so there will be a complete investigation that happens where we'll be transparent and release all those findings, but I think that it might be best if we wait till the investigation's done so we know all the facts.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you for that.

Madam President, I'd like to go to ACS to find out if they've looked into that.

Thank you, Director Escobald.

Have you looked into this particular case and found out why ACS for the one that said specifically he called 911's family called 911 because he was feeling like he wanted to harm himself?

And so I'm interested in why ACS was not dispatched to that call.

Um, Madam President, Councillor Rogers, thank you so much for the question.

It is something that we hold dear and dear to our mission near and dear to our mission.

So this is something that we are looking into working directly with APD as well as the emergency communication center.

Um, our goal would be once um APD is able to finish everything that they need to, we would like to work on what was actually said during the 911 call, and because we have such a great relationship with APD, we're gonna be able to do that.

Um, so it's um really echoing what APD just said, um, letting letting the investigation play out in a way so that we can understand who and when and why everything got dispatched the way that it did, so that that we know if there was um growth for us as a department, then we we can I really just want to um take a moment and thank Albuquerque police department's communication center and the way that they triage calls for us.

Um we haven't run, and it's very important that we run everything through them, and that um safety element is important for our responders, and so we're always been thankful for them, but always understanding there's room for growth, and they've always been um really open about being able to do that.

Well, thank you, Madam President, and I I appreciate that.

I think this is something I continue to talk about is the dispatch disconnects that we sometimes have.

Luckily, knowing that this first individual had a weapon, um, we know AC APD probably would have been the right responder to begin with, but I'm interested in what happened in that call and the dispatch call, um, and what I'm hearing directly from the family about just the circumstances.

So I think that's the one I'm really um wanting us to dig in and find.

I mean, obviously, a loss of life in any case is not uh our how our desired outcome, but to see that we had three in one week, a five-day span, is absolutely concerning, and I would like to to see how we are gonna stop that from continuing to happen.

And I think that's another reason that I wanted to bring that up for public.

Also, is that there are very specific dispatch rules on when APD can be sent out and when ACS should be sent out, and even when fire is sent out.

Fire has their own dispatchers so that they make sure that they're taking the with their knowledge of fire service, they're able to help, but ACS isn't doing that.

ACS isn't dispatching their own, like in the dispatch center.

I know we have one or two folks that help, but I think that this is a place where we need to once and for all figure that out.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam President.

Oh, and sorry, last just comment not for this topic, but just from we had our international fest this weekend at Phil Chicone Park, and I just wanted to give a special thank you so much to Parks and Rec.

Um, Parks and Rec was absolutely amazing in helping and all of the staff at Parks and Rec.

It was really an amazing event.

I just wanted to shout out Parks and Rec and thank you so much for helping us activate the entire Philchicone Park this weekend with 4,500 people coming over to the international district park.

So thank you.

Or international district park, no Phil Chicone Park.

Thank you.

One second, Director.

Did you want to you came down here?

I wanted to give you a chance if you wanted to address it as well.

Madam President, Councilor.

Yes, I want to make sure that you know, especially when it comes to these investigations, we're just as concerned as everyone else because this is our community, especially when you see them back to back.

And uh I come from a place of that we're gonna go ahead and make sure that we investigate everything on both sides.

The APD and did a fantastic job.

But yes, we have additional resources that we need to make sure we're deploying.

And I did speak also to with our 911 operator, actually.

Our union president, to just find out because that's where it starts, right?

And what was said, and the tone of everything kind of sets the tone as to how we're gonna respond, and just want to make sure that you understand that we're gonna look at everything and we're gonna hold people accountable regardless, and we want to make sure the community knows that we're doing everything possible to protect them.

Thank you.

Counselor Tees and Councillor Fiborn, is it something to do with this or okay?

Go ahead, Councilor Teus.

Thank you, Mr.

Vice President.

I just um just as a follow-up, as you look into everything, as you do your fact-finding, which I wholeheartedly support.

I want to re-emphasize um, you know, dispatch protocols could could be at high risk.

Um for non-compliance due to you know, chronic understaffing, limited wellness support within the communication center, lack of first responder recognition, and the demands of the extended 16-hour shifts that are being placed on dispatch personnel right now.

So during your fact finding, as you're reviewing these, one of the things I would like you to consider and to ask yourself is do we think 911 dispatchers, if they were not so overworked, had greater access to wellness resources, um, were recognized as first responders, we're not routinely working 16-hour shifts.

Um, do you think this dispatcher disconnect volumes would decrease?

And so that's a question that I hope that you will think during your fact finding as we move forward with how we address and how we you know make sure our dispatchers have the tools and resources that they need to do their jobs.

Thank you.

Madam President Council TS, yes, we'll make sure we follow up on all these things and take into account all those factors.

Counselor Lewis.

Thank you, Mr.

Vice President.

Um, so I did want to mention real quick we had uh uh the the West Side uh new West Side YMCA that was opened up over the weekend and uh joined the mayor and in uh the ribbon cutting and uh appreciate uh the mayor and his office and uh and also to the YMCA-just a great new facility uh on the west side that'll just serve thousands of families on the west side.

So it was a great celebration.

They had a big grand opening on Saturday, so but a question for the uh uh for the administration for uh Ms.

Single.

So Ms.

Single, the uh you know, back at the mayor's last State of the Union address, um, made some some pretty strong statements about um about reducing uh fees for restaurants, you know, some some promises uh that were made.

Um, you know, the media, I think everyone of the media that's here tonight, they all reported on that.

Uh, and you know, some of them reported that the you know, you know, the mayor's statements that he uh you said he would would cut restaurant fees um recognizing that they were pretty high.

Um, uh some of the some of the stations reported that uh the mayor had said that um uh that he would reduce all fees for restaurants, and that was being reported, and then they asked you uh to give some clarification of that, and you um you know were quoted in the paper and you know other other news you know outlets and saying that uh you clarified that saying that uh the mayor's proposal uh the mayor would push to uh reduce um you know not do away with uh restaurant fees or some of those permits, permitting fees, uh, but would reduce those fees.

And so I'm just wondering, you know, why why why was that proposal not in this this in your budget proposal this year this last month?

Uh Madam President Councillor Lewis, I believe uh what I said was that the proposals that we would not uh propose increases to fees in the budget process, which um related to this specifically, we uh did not um propose increases to restaurant or health permits.

Um, if you remember when we did our previous um uh fee increase or fee proposal where we shifted how we were doing inspections for food, we worked together actually with city council to uh reduce the impact to small business, microbusinesses, and others to put that both in the ordinance as well as in the procedures, and that I think reflected our commitment to recognizing the types of businesses that have those health and restaurant, typically restaurants or other small businesses and and the impact to them.

So we did not propose any sort of shift or increase in restaurant and inspection fees, even though I think if you uh when we looked at it, the department had made the adjustment based upon the workload associated, not the workloads to uh an individual, but based upon the type of inspection that we have to do, the variety of inspections that we're doing to ensure that we're meeting the standard and inspecting businesses uniquely and differently uh based upon their needs uh but based upon the type of business they are.

Um so I think you know, I was quoted multiple times.

I think rate related to this based upon the fact that our proposal for the new budget would not propose increase to fees, and that is what we uh related to restaurants.

We did not do so.

And Madam President, so you I mean, did you change your mind?

Because no, that was clearly you weren't saying that you weren't gonna increase, you clearly said uh that the mayor was proposing to decrease to decrease fees on restaurants.

So did you all change your minds?

Did the mayor change his mind?

There's no no intention of doing that whatsoever now.

Um Madam President, Counselor Lewis, I think we are always looking at the opportunities we have to reduce fees or reduce costs to to businesses or others, and I think when you think about this perspective and the change that we had related to the fee structure for these inspections, um, I'm more than happy to go back and do more evaluation on that.

I don't think it's a change in mind.

I think it's when we look at the realities related to the budget this year.

We all know that uh the budget challenges we had this year related to very low growth in GRT and increase in pay for employees.

We are in a different budgetary position today than we have been in previous budget years.

It was a challenging year for all of us to present a balanced budget that allows us to keep all of the services we have as a city to for the residents of this community.

Madam President, so you changed your mind.

So I mean, I I mean it'd be better if you just said we changed our minds or or we couldn't do it, or we don't want to do it anymore.

Uh I think that'd be a little more honest, but I understand you got you got a boss that you work for that changed his mind, or is not it's not a priority for him anymore.

Um but uh but again I I just I I would expect that there'd be some kind of proposal, even a proposal, uh, even if you felt like hey, leave it up to this council, but some kind of a proposal after making such strong statements that every one of these media outlets uh um reported on uh spent a lot of time you know on TV and print uh and with expectations that uh restaurants would get a pretty big relief to the massive amount of cost that they have to pay for in small businesses in this city.

Um but let me uh just another question.

So tonight, I mean I understand that the uh the 25% minimum wage increase was something that you all proposed.

Um Madam President Councilor Lewis, we worked uh alongside multiple counselors related to a minimum wage bill that is before you all.

And so you're you're supportive of a 25% minimum wage.

I mean, I'm gonna I was assuming because it came from you all.

I mean, it was uh, you know, I got calls from your office, and you know, your staff called all the counselors several months ago saying, Well, this is our priority and this is what we want to do, right?

Uh Madam President, Counselor, yes, we're supportive of uh increases to minimum wage for our for our workers in our community.

Yeah, okay.

No, I appreciate that.

I mean, I I appreciate you owning it, you know, a 25% increase to a minimum wage that we're here in tonight for final action.

Um, was you know, since you all proposed it uh in that process of preparing it, giving it to you know, hoping that some counselors would uh would sponsor it and then working with them on it.

Was there an economic study done or economic impact done on uh you know how would it impact small businesses?

How would it impact the overall economy of the city and even you know uh with uh you know with that type of an increase?

Um Madam President, Councillor Lewis, you know, our staff looked into multiple um uh kind of market factors as well as looking at other um cities and and looked across the state as well as the region related to similar wage increases or or minimum wage um ordinances, so uh multiple different um analysis was done.

The city council's official uh economic impact study that is in your rules, um, uh were was not conducted at that at this time.

Okay, so I mean, real economic impact study, you know, of course, wasn't done.

How about how about any feedback from uh the business community?

This you know, the small businesses that just power our economy in the city.

Uh back when you were proposing this to the council, um, were there conversations, any conversations, any feedback during that time on uh the business community, you know, restaurants, the uh hotels, um small businesses in the city that would uh you know some of the associations on any feedback uh to the bill.

Um Madam President, Councilor Lewis, I believe we've had discussions with business.

Um I think uh official feedback um sought was not during this specific time.

Uh the previous uh minimum wage proposals that we've had in the past.

Uh we've had discussions with community and business related to this matter.

Um we've had discussions obviously with individuals um that would benefit from uh the increase um minimum wage.

Okay, yeah.

So so no economic impact study, no no feedback from any of the industry, I mean the people that would be affected by this the most no nothing received back.

So thank you.

Appreciate you being honest about it.

We're being forthcoming.

Thank you, Madam President.

Counselor Grout.

Thank you, Mr.

Vice President for CAO single.

Um, when was the decision made to close 311 on Sundays and why?

Uh Madam President, Councilor Grout, I'm happy to start uh this, but I also have um uh executive uh administrative officer um Victor Leon here as well, who did uh much of the analysis with the 311 operations that said we uh this is related to an analysis of the call volume that we have related to into 311 and demand that we have for um calls uh that are beyond the regular hours Monday through Friday or Monday through Saturday.

So they did a full analysis of call volume and the opportunity for ensuring that we can be available and have a response uh timely response uh during the hours that we receive more calls than others.

Um important to note that it anyone that has a 311 um matter, they can also continue to submit those on Sundays.

It is not necessarily uh that you cannot submit a 311 ticket, it's uh simply just by phone that you can't.

The app and the online forms still work on obviously on Sundays, and they are being triaged by um supervisor staff to make sure that those are still going to departments and ensure that they're getting out.

But this was really focused on how we can ensure that we can provide more service at the times when we have a much higher call volume.

Is this a permanent change?

Um, Madam President, Councillor Grout, it is a um we are always paying attention to call volume and feedback that we get.

So right now, this is based upon ensuring that we can serve at the times that are most needed.

Um if we see a different trend and we can see what calls come in that we are not answered if that makes sense in the off hours, we would have adjust based upon that.

Thank you.

Um the 768 helpline um now goes to 311.

So are homeless people only supposed to need help Monday through Saturday?

Um, Madam President, uh Councillor Grout, that's a good question.

It may be just a rat phone routing phone tree routing issue that we need to solve for.

We can absolutely look into that.

Not intended to be without service on Sundays.

I'm surprised that it's routed that way, so I will check into that.

Yes, it's I think that's important.

Um can people leave a message at 311?

Uh Madam President, Councillor Grout, I don't know the answer to that.

So let me I think it's preferred that folks don't do that route.

We would prefer those calls to be routed differently, so but let me check.

I actually know the answer because I called yesterday.

Oh, you can't read a message.

Uh Madam President, perhaps you could answer that.

Madam President, uh members of the council.

I I feel like you already know the answer, so uh, but I can definitely verify that if we need to have that uh route to a the ability to to uh record a message, we can certainly include that in the configuration.

So, uh, what is your typical uh call volume on Sundays?

Madam Chair, members of the council have I don't have the information in front of me, but I can provide that information.

Okay.

How much do we save by not having calls on Sundays?

Madam Chair, members of the council, it's not so much a matter of saving is being able to reallocate and optimize our resource allocation.

So by making sure that we do this analysis, we can make sure uh we can more appropriately reallocate those resources to high volume uh periods.

Thank you.

I I think we should revisit this policy because I think we need to have that available.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, Mr.

Vice President, I have just a couple more questions.

Um, this is um a this is a concern that I have heard several times.

Um, this is a scenario.

I'm gonna play a put a picture in your head.

Um somebody calls 911, there's a down and out, um, and uh 91 routes it to ACS.

ACS goes out to the bus stop where the down and out individual is, they get there and then they decide that they need to call AFR because they're not an EMT.

So now we've delayed that treatment.

Um AFR getting there on time, um, and so then AFR realizes um, okay, so this this individual needs to go to the medical sobering center, um, just needs to sober up and and get some liquid in them, good liquids and hydrate the right way, and and all the things.

Um so then they call Albuquerque ambulance, and Albuquerque ambulance shows up, and then they AFR says, Okay, I need you to take these guys over this fella to the medical sobering center, and the Albuquerque ambulance says, Well, no, I don't want to take them there because they'll turn me away.

I'll just take them to UNMH.

So I see a few problems in this whole scenario.

The scenario is real, it's happened several times.

Um, and so there's a disconnect.

We're not getting somebody that needs help.

Um, I don't know how to solve this, but I it's a problem.

So we've just now used a whole bunch of resources, and we still haven't addressed what we said we would do with the medical sobering.

So I think HHH needs to look into the provider to see why they're turning people away.

There's got to be more to the story.

Um, but I've heard this several times.

This is not the first time.

Madam Madam, and then I will just I when I reached out, um, there was an individual in um in my district that was having a mental um issue, and SWAT was called, APD was called, and I asked if ACS was called, and they said no.

So again, I'm I don't know the policies, but I thought that when somebody's having a mental issue that that's what ACS was there for to help with those calls.

The good news, nobody was hurt with this individual.

Um, but it again it was just um I'm I'm just not sure our processes I don't know what it is, and um I want I want things to work for everybody and efficiently and effectively and wisely.

Madam President, I think it um Council Grad, I think it's really important for us to get several things on the record because I think for the public to understand and know the specifics and the protocols related to medical issues as well as behavioral health issues uh at calls and how they intersect with our 911 dispatch center.

Um specifically, and I'll turn it over to our fire chief, but specifically a down and out is a medical event, and if it's a call into 911 and those were and that is what is described, it is considered a medical event and EMS would be dispatched, and I want to make sure that Chief has an opportunity to address how that works, as well as the fact that AFR um and Albuquerque Ambulance and the So Medical Sobering Center have really been working through all of that transport challenge, and I think we can speak to that as well.

Um Madam President and Councillor Grout, I'll I'll start with just the question related to uh response to a down and out call.

Down and out is kind of a uh term used for a cluster of different types of calls that AFR or ACS would respond to.

Um, one of the most important things is that if the person calling it in stops and talks to the individual and asks them questions, those questions get outlined by our dispatchers, which are all, as you know, firefighters and EMTs, they're able to determine if they have a medical emergency versus maybe just in need of shelter.

So a lot of these calls come into 911 without somebody stopping.

They just see somebody on a bench.

They may assume that they're sleeping.

Those calls would be routed through APD dispatch to ACS and they would respond.

They would be the first responder to make contact with that individual, and then at that point, because it's a third-party caller, they would either determine that that person does not have any medical needs, or if they have medical needs, the ACS responders are trained to ask enough questions to get the proper AFR response.

If to make it a little more complicated, if they are just seriously intoxicated and are in need of some medical care and transport, that's actually a call that we've worked with through with Albuquerque ambulance and our efficiency for our response that Albuquerque ambulance would respond to without AFR because they have a high transport rate.

But really, the key to determining who goes initially and to keep it efficient is for that caller to actually ask, ask, you know, stop and ask the person what services that they need.

We also know that that's not a reality when you're driving down and you see somebody laying on the street.

Most people are not going to stop.

They don't know if they're safe and they're just going to call.

But we really encourage that stop to call, sorry, that stop to question so that we can get the uh the most efficient response possible from the very start of the call.

Thank you.

Hi, Director.

Hi, Madam President, Counselor Grout, thanks for your question.

Um, and then to complicate matters even more, we do receive a list from AFR early in the beginning of each week for any of the calls or potential transports to medical sobering because it's a voluntary program, they report to us who has been transported, who denied transport, and also why a um AFR may not have thought it would be appropriate.

And then at our weekly meeting, we review that data for process improvement.

So I, along with AFR, ACS, and our provider do review transports as well as intakes over the course of the week.

So I would encourage you if there's somebody a specific time frame, if you'll let me know, we can look directly into why anyone would be denied from medical.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah, so it's the transport that said we don't want to take them there because they are denied, dropping them off.

And then we also excuse me, Madam President, Counselor Grout.

There are specific medical criteria that clients need to meet in order to come to medical sobering, and one of those is they have to be able to come to standing with without significant assistance.

And so sometimes we do see people who are not appropriate for medical sobering due to their inability to self-transport, self-ambulate.

Well, that's interesting.

I'm not sure.

I need to understand why you can't pick them up and move them.

Like, why can't you assist them?

Is there a reason why you can't help them?

Because if they're that intoxicate, do they need to go to the hospital?

Um, Madam President, Counselor Grout, um, the so our medical directors worked with the medical direction for med sobering to determine criteria that would um where we wouldn't be sending really sick people because a lot of times when you're detoxing, whether that's from alcohol or different types of substances, you have other medical issues going on, and so we have a list of criteria that our providers follow that we have to see vital sign parameters, and one of them is um yes, the first responders can absolutely move them onto a bed, but then once they get into med sobering, a lot of times this can create other issues when the individuals are so intoxicated that they can't walk.

It usually means there's other things going on as far as with their vital signs, which all kind of works together and is why that group of people we can't take there.

Very interesting.

It's very interesting.

I think the communication needs to be ironed out a little bit because I'm still the scenario that I mentioned, the ambulance immediately said no, we're not going to take them there because they always turn us away or they turn us away often.

So that has nothing to do with what does the ambulance not know.

Are they turning them away because of the criteria they're not meeting?

Or like is there a communication?

We don't everybody doesn't know the whole process.

I don't know.

I don't know what's missing.

Madam President, Counselor Grout, um, if we know the exact date of that incident, we can look into that specific crew because it might be I'm I'm curious what what other circumstances were going on.

They may have said they would be turned away because they knew their vital signs didn't meet the parameters to go, or if they felt if if they feel like they or if they've been turned away, that's an area that that's why we have that weekly meeting with all the services and all the service providers to work through things like that because sometimes it is a misunderstanding on the first responder side, or it could be where they are getting turned uh turned away.

I know we did have to work a couple of um communication issues out early on that our responders had some confusion on things like that.

So, I hope it gets fixed and it's much smoother for everybody for the patients and the responders and the doctors and just everybody.

So we need to make it efficient.

Thank you.

And Madam President Council Gra, if I may just add, uh we recognize some of the communication issues several months ago, and we've been doing a very focused effort on education and training with all of our first responders, all of our partner groups, the general population, the community, to really get a better understanding of what medical sobering can do and recognizing that the community of um that it will benefit is much broader than just potential down and out populations, I think even.

Um and so we have been really putting a lot of energy into that communication work, and I think there's always opportunity for it to get better.

Um, I would suspect that their weekly uh triage meetings are getting better actually in terms of how um we're being more successful.

We know we can do better all the time, and we've really focused in on that.

Thank you for that.

Yeah, um, thank you very much.

Mr.

Vice President, I just have one more um thing to say, okay.

Counselor Grout, we we do have a time limit as far as how long the directors can stay.

Um, anything after 5 30, we have to direct the CAO.

So I want to be accommodating to the other counselors that might have questions.

Can we go back to it after we're done?

Sure, I'm just going to invite an announcement.

Announcement, yes.

Thank you though.

Um Madam, let's see.

This Saturday is our fifth annual touch a truck event, and it's at the corner of Wantebo and Central, and it is um a lovely event.

All of the city departments, the big trucks and the police cars and the fire trucks and the front loaders and the aviation big shovel uh snow moving machines are there, and it's a free event for everybody.

It's from 10 to noon, and there will be uh food trucks and lots of vendors, um, and but it's free to everybody, and I'd like to invite you to um take your children and your grandchildren and enjoy it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor.

Councilor Tez, before we go to yours next, Madam CAO.

I know I can't tell your directors that they are allowed to leave if you want to have them stay, but at this point, I think the direct questions per our rules will be directed towards you.

Um then I'd like to take the moment to make an announcement.

Guys, there's a lot of people that want to get in here tonight, so please um we can't reserve seats for for people that aren't here.

Does it first come first basis?

So please accommodate for people wanting to sit and do understand that there is a uh outside in the in the waiting area.

We have it televised so that if the seat does come available, you can move in, but please accommodate for everybody coming in.

Counselor Teus.

I believe you said you had a question.

Oh, we'll go to Council Fublecorn then.

Thank you, Mr.

Vice President.

Um, really quickly, this is for the administration.

Um, we passed R23 127 back in June of 23, and uh we have yet to get one of the annual reports on that.

Um I've asked about it many times, I've asked about it on the dais.

We're now missing 23 report, 25 report, and now we're past due on the 26 report.

Um, I'm I'm just wondering what's going on.

I got an email, I got uh an advanced look at it from the director.

Um, but it's supposed to be in the goldenrod, it's supposed to be coming to council.

I think my fellow counselor would also like to see that.

Can you give me a hint on when we're gonna get a report on the R23 and 127?

Uh, Madam President, counselor feeble corn, just to make sure I'm referencing 127 is related to the it's the supporting pollinator conservation efforts and recommitment to B City USA standards.

So it's parks tomorrow.

So, uh council president and council feeble corn.

I know we have submitted one, I think last week, and we will get the rest for you, especially the 23 one as we gather that information.

Thank you, Mr.

Vice President.

It is not on the letter of introduction tonight, so it has not been submitted.

I would just I would really like to see it officially submitted.

We are three years late.

So just I will leave it at that.

It'd be great if it was on the next letter of introduction.

Uh Madam President, Council February.

It'll be uh we walked it down on it'll be on the June 15th.

Madam CAO, if you would too.

I think we're missing a couple of legal updates as well.

I think we're about a year and a half behind.

Uh Madam President, Councilor Champagne, a couple what?

Legal reports, uh legal updates.

I think they're supposed to be submitted to council by quarters, and I think we're missing like six quarters, four quarters or some two quarters.

Madam President, Councilor Champagne, um City Attorney Lauren Keith is online.

I think she has an a potential timing update on several of those.

I don't want to speak for her, but we recently spoke about it.

Uh yeah.

Um Madam President, Councilor Champagne, there's one overdue report.

Um, and they're with me.

We've had some major deadlines in the past month or so that I've had to handle, but we will be getting those out shortly.

Thank you.

Seeing no more questions, uh, we'll move on to proclamations.

Madam President, there is a presentation tonight uh from Miss Christine Berner, uh, the city economist who will provide an update on the cannabis and gross receipts tax.

Ms.

Berner.

Madam President.

Mr.

Vice President, members of council, I do have a quick presentation for you.

There we go.

That's the GRT.

So I'm happy to say it's rather positive.

Revenues are holding steady.

GRT growth uh based uh on the 1.22% was 6.2% growth over this time last year, and this is for March.

Uh and that the year to date growth is now uh at 4.7, so that's holding steady as well.

Most sectors did well.

Many were actually in double-digit growth over this time last year.

Uh we'll talk arts and entertainment, professional and scientific, uh, even retail with 6.1% growth.

Construction uh 0.7%, so very slow, but at least it was still positive.

Um I think I think we can just go ahead and go to to cannabis at this point.

And I'm happy to say cannabis was positive as well, drew eight and a half percent uh for March, and year to date is two point six percent over this time last year.

So I can stand for questions.

I didn't notice any anomalies uh in the revenues, any uh lump sums from the state, so I do believe this is actual growth.

Councilor Lewis, Mr.

Vice President.

Is this is this did these numbers change the forecast for this next year at all?

I mean we're still showing a negative growth forecast for next year, uh Madam President, um Councillor Lewis.

No, it would not.

Um we are the and that's because the FY26 revenue is still within the parameter of expectations, and the growth for FY27 is based on the expectations for FY26.

Gotcha.

So we're still showing a negative growth when it comes into the next year, correct?

Um, Madam President, uh Counselor Lewis.

I don't believe it's a negative.

I believe that growth for GRTs at just under two percent, if I'm not mistaken.

What if we were just to project, say construction?

What uh we have do we break those?

Do we break those down in that regard?

We project the next year.

Let's look at just the construction number that's up.7 percent right now.

Madam President, Councillor Lewis.

I I just misunderstood your question.

I believe you were referring to employment that was supposed to decrease.

If for FY20, yes, that is still at a decrease.

These are um these numbers reflect not employment but gross receipts for construction.

Okay, and then do you know why the why the fluctuation in the marijuana tax that we get?

Madam President, Councillor Lewis, I have no idea, it's all over the place.

Um, and I'm it it it was negative for the longest time.

I do think that um the taxation revenue department was going to try to do some compliance, and perhaps they're working on that, and it's time for me to circle back around with them.

That could be why we've seen you know some positive growth for the last couple of months.

So we we need that money because we need we need more people smoking pots so we can give you know cash out to people for the programs that we have, so you know, but I'm just wondering why it's a it fluctuates so much.

So, anyways, thank you, Madam President.

Counselor Rogers.

Thank you, Madam President.

I'm so grateful for cannabis for that exact reason.

Um, because we could reinvest it into the community, and that's a beautiful thing.

But my question is just uh remind me when the hold harmless for the medical home harmless ends.

I know that was a pretty big disbursement, but I know we're we're waiting for it to end.

When remind me when that ends, does it end?

I know there's a phase outcoming, right?

Oh, madam Madam President, um, counselor rogers.

Of course, I'm going to space that we've got it's it's I believe FY 30s the last year, if I'm not mistaken, but let me double check and get back with you if I'm in if I'm wrong about that.

Thank you.

That would be expect especially important for our budgeting coming up that we're not we're not gonna have all that to use, which is what scares me also.

So thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Vice President.

Madam President, I concludes the presentation.

Thank you, Ms.

Burger.

Thank you, Vice President Champagne.

Um, we are now on to the journal.

I move approval of the May 27th journal.

Second.

There's a motion in the second by committee whole chair um Grout.

All those in favor say yes and raise your hand and keep your hand up, please.

Yes.

Yes, that passes unanimously.

Thank you.

Um we are now on to communications and introductions.

And are there any changes to the letter of introduction?

And I have a couple, so EC 163.

I moved that the rules be suspended for the purpose of placing EC 163 on tonight's agenda for action.

EC 163 is approval of outside council for legal services agreement with North Star Legal Group LLC.

Here's a motion, a second by committee hold chair grout.

All those in favor, um, signify by raising your hand and saying yes.

Yes.

Please keep your hands up.

Yes, opposed, no.

That motion passes unanimously.

Um, next we are on to R 40.

I move the rules be suspended for um for the purpose of placing R40 on tonight's agenda for action.

R40 is approving and authorizing a request to utilize 140,000 from fund 265 FY25 rapid rehousing project to support continued housing for 31 households through heading home continuum of care permanent supportive housing program.

Okay.

There's a motion and second by committee to hold chair grout.

All those in favor, say yes and raise your hand.

Yes, yes.

Opposed, no.

Motion passes unanimously.

Um I move approval of the letter of introduction.

Second.

There's a motion and second by Vice President Champine.

Um, all those in favor say yes and raise your hand.

Yes.

Opposed, same motion.

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you.

Um I'm just trying to make sure we have a clear voting record.

I know we were told by the staff it gets a little confusing sometimes, so I'm just asking that we keep our hand um held up for a moment or two.

So um we are now on to report to the committees.

There are none.

Deferrals and withdrawals.

Counselors, are there any deferrals or withdrawals at this time?

Councillor Grout.

Madam President, um, by request 025 amending chapter 14, Article 8 of the revised ordinances of Albuquerque 1994 to create a tax increment finance board and update the powers of the Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency and City Council accordingly.

I move deferral to June 15th.

Second.

There's a motion and second by Vice President Champagne.

All those in favor of deferral of O25, please raise your hand and say yes.

Yes, yes, opposed say motion motion passes unanimously.

Is that a no?

Oh, is that a no?

No, it's a yes, but I have a question.

Oh, okay.

Let me just make sure we're okay.

Yep, go right ahead.

Thank you.

Thank you, madam president.

Um, I have a deferral on R 2635.

So if I can find it here, uh approving the um application and petition of the Pulty homes of New Mexico for formation of the Savio Ridge um PID pursuant to the PID Act move to defer.

That's fine.

It's R26.

R2635.

Yes.

R2635.

R2635.

There's a motion in the second by um Councilor February.

Are there any Vice President Champagne?

That's not on the consent agenda, that's actually on the final.

Oh, it's fine.

Okay.

I want to be sure I'm getting the right thing.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Madam President, just to confirm, are you deferring it to June 15th?

Perfect.

Thank you.

So there was a motion in the second um by um Councilor February.

If there are no questions, all those in favor say yes and raise your hand.

Yes.

Opposed, same motion.

Um that passes unanimously.

So we are now on to the consent agenda.

We have two individuals who have requested to speak on EC 95 and EC 163 listed under the consent agenda.

There is a one-minute time limit, and the bell will ring to indicate your time is up.

Mr.

Cornelius, can you please call the first speaker?

And if your comments can be germane to each item, and then we'll call you up again on the second item.

Thank you, Madam President.

Our first speaker is Brick Jonasy, followed by Let's Otto.

My apologies if I have that backwards, but this is on EC 95.

Madam President, Council members, while I understand the city's need to manage workloads using outside contractors.

Outsourcing real estate and legal services introduces major financial and constitutional risks that this council needs to heavily scrutinize.

From the fiscal standpoint, you must account for long-term scope creep.

Private firms may offer short-term staffing flexibility, but their billing rates are significantly higher than cities and city staff wages.

If project hits delays or complex lands disputes arrive, public private entities will just bill for every phone call, email, and court hour.

Then what looks like short-term savings will end up draining taxpayer dollars far faster than maintaining internal city staff.

Thank you.

Just following up on him.

Second, and probably more importantly, this is a right-of-way issue.

Uh it's not just expanding asphalt, it's about access, ingress and egress.

So when the city utilizes private contractors, it risks handing public matters over to entities that prioritize private property laws over constitutional protections.

So we see friction in the APD uh center with the family advocacy center that this private privately owned building houses vital public services, and you know, private management issues lawful unlawful trespasses, citizens engaging in First Amendment protected activities, and it triggers massive constitutional liabilities.

Private contractors routinely lack training required to navigate these legal quasi-public forums.

If an outside firm misjudges right of way stuff, then uh you're you guys are held liable.

So I urge you to uh demand explicit clarity um for what constitutional law training will this contractor receive, uh, and how that's gonna be overseen by you so that we don't waste taxpayer dollars and don't violate people's first amendment rights.

Thank you.

So we are now on EC 163 requirements Mr.

Cornelius.

Um that was our only speakers signed up, I believe.

Or do we I was not aware of any others?

Oh, same.

Okay, let's open them.

My apologies.

Madam President, council members, once again.

This item's fast track for immediate action, leaving public completely in the dark regarding what civil or labor disputes this private firm is being hired to defend.

This brings up a massive systematic issue with how the city spends our money right now at city-leased facilities like the Family Advocacy Center, we see severe friction points where private management attempts to trespass citizens engaging in First Amendment protected activity when these situations occur.

It's due to a failure of proper training, break genocide.

Thank you again.

Um, I think you guys are getting the thing here.

Uh, you know, if city employees and law enforcement were trained properly on how to navigate these quasi-public spaces, these constitutional crises wouldn't even happen in the first place.

Yet instead of investing tax dollars up front into rigorous constitutional training to prevent violations, you guys are relying on legal contingency plans.

You see, with this fast tracking of private law firms like North Star at premium corporate rates, you're asking taxpayers to basically sign a blank check to defend bad actions after the fact.

Taxpayers shouldn't be funding protection of civil rights through should actually be protecting uh proactive training, not funding a private legal shield to protect the city from accountability when things go wrong.

Civil rights violations should never be treated as just a cost of doing business.

So I'm urging you again to stop rubber stamping these outside council agreements and defer this action uh on this item until we have total transparency of what this contract is covering up.

And let's start investing in training our staff properly instead of paying private lawyers to clean up the messes.

And thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

So now we are on.

Are there any changes to the consent agenda?

Councilor Grow.

Madam President, I pull item D, EC 102 off the consent agenda.

EC 102 is transmitting third quarter update of fiscal year 26 objectives.

Thank you.

Councilor Grout, you have another one.

I do.

I pull item X, R24 off the consent agenda.

R24 is amending the adopted capital implementation program of the City of Albuquerque by supplementing current grant appropriations and approving new projects.

Thank you.

Seeing no others.

For those of individuals on tonight's consent agenda who are being appointed to serve on a board or commission, thank you for your willingness to serve if you're in the audience or if you're online.

Thank you so much.

I move approval of the consent agenda.

There's a motion and second by Vice President Champaign.

All those in favor of the consent agenda, raise your hand and say yes.

Yes.

Opposed, same motion.

Um passes unanimously.

Um now we are on to Councilor Grout.

Um, these are the items that were pulled off the consent EC 102.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um, not sure who to address these questions to.

This has to do with the third-quarter update for the fiscal year uh 26 objectives.

The reason I pulled it off is um there are this report we're supposed to get quarterly, um, but a lot of the items were not addressed.

Um, a lot of the reports, and it's similar to um counselor feeblecorn.

She was asking about a report that's been due for a while.

Um so let me let me just start with um goal in general departments responsible for feeding children, seniors, animals prioritizing providing nutritious food in their program services and facilities.

Um you didn't respond to that.

Um, let me just say a few things.

Um convert, no, let's see, move 300 unsheltered into housing.

You reported 50 people received housing, no report on how many, or you you reported 50 people received services, but no report on housing.

Um creating a tracking system for three elect 311 calls received by APD AFR and ACS.

Has the tracking system for 311 calls been created?

So these are just a few of the things there.

There are a lot of items on this objectives, um, the objectives that we should be, you know.

We we we have this objective um for a reason.

Um, and when we're supposed to be knowing how our um taxpayer dollars are spent, we need to make sure that we have that accountability, and um, and so the reporting is not just suggested, it's supposed to be done.

C A L.

Madam President, Counselor Grout, um uh Josh Anderson works with each of the departments related to all of the requirements on these reports, and I think he can speak exactly to which items were included this time versus in the quarterly.

I'm sorry, the biannual appointment report that we did recently, thank you, Madam Chair and Councillor.

Uh so as uh CAO mentioned, I I do know objectives 22 and 23 did require a quarterly report, which is included uh mid-year report, which I do believe met uh the requirements of a of a third quarter report for objectives.

We did include those.

If there's any that we missed, uh I think we can address those in our fourth quarter report because there's still a few more to come as well as our September report regarding um obstacles that were that were found within our reporting.

Uh, but we did submit second quarter mid-year reports in January.

I think they had final action in April.

Uh so we were more than happy to clarify or address any of those missed ones uh at the end of the year.

Okay, I have a long list of things that didn't get addressed, and and it's important.

We want to make sure that we're just we're we're we're accountable, and and so that's it's important.

So, we'll need to get together.

All right, thank you.

Okay, thank you.

I move approval or receiving noted for EC 102.

Okay, there's a motion and second by Councilor Brasan for receiving noted of EC 102.

All those in favor say yes and raise your hand.

Yes.

Yes.

Opposed, same sign.

Motion.

81.

A one.

That was enough.

Okay.

Um next, councilor Grout, um R24.

Thank you, Madam President.

R24.

We have a floor amendment.

We need to add a little bit to this.

This resolution.

I won't read it all, but there is an.

Oh, I need to move the bill.

That's right.

I move approval of R24.

Thank you.

There's a motion and second by Councilor Grout.

Okay.

So I would like to move a floor amendment.

And this is adding $900,000 that was authorized and approved by the state of New Mexico grants and capital projects approved by the 2024 and 2025 state legislature.

These projects are authorized to be appropriated to specific grant or capital fund upon the execution of an agreement between the parties with the provisions that the amounts will be adjusted to reflect actual federal state and/or private contribution participation.

The above senior grant appropriations were part of a larger 10 million dollar grant allocated to the New Mexico Aging and Long Term Services Department in 2025 that Bernalio County splash pad grant was a transfer from Burnley O County.

Thank you.

There's a motion and a second on floor amendment number one.

All those in favor say yes and raise your hand.

Yes.

Opposed, no.

Motion passes.

We are back on our 24 as amended.

I made the approval.

So there was a motion and a second already for approval.

Um thank you, Councilor Grout.

All those in favor say yes and raise your hand.

Yes.

Opposed, same motion.

Motion passes unanimously.

So now we are on to announcements.

Counselor Lewis.

Madam President, there'll be a Finance Government Operations Committee meeting on Monday, June 8th, 5 p.m.

Council Committee Room, 9th floor, suite 9003, City of Albuquerque government center.

Councilor Basson.

Madam President, there will be a land use planning and zoning committee meeting on Wednesday, June 10th at 5 p.m.

in the Vincent Igriego Chambers basement level of the Albuquerque government center, and this will be a hybrid meeting.

Thank you.

Um now we are on to um financial instruments.

Councilor Rogers, by request R25.

Thank you, Madam President.

R25 making findings in connection with the Mesa del Sol Public Improvement District 1 resolution authorizing the issuance of sale of Mesa del Sol public improvement district number one.

Special leverage improvement revenue bonds series 26A in an aggregate aggregate principal amount not to exceed 14 million and the Mesa del Sol public improvement district one special levy refunding revenue bonds series 2026 and an aggregate principle not to exceed six million dollars.

I move a due pass.

Second.

There's a motion and second by Councilor Grout for R25.

Councilor Rogers.

Thank you, Madam President.

And we have I think Mr.

Mirrorhead here to talk us through uh what this is all about.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayhead.

Absolutely.

Council President, Councilor Rogers, thank you.

Uh Chris Murray with the model firm.

The resolution in front of you relates to Mesa del Sol public improvement districts, which were formed in 2008, when that development was first created.

Uh this is related to one of five public improvement districts, which as you know are created to support residential development in a collaboration with the city in a master development way.

This is a debt of Mason Castle Public Improvement District, not a debt of the city.

It is paid with special levies that are currently being assessed against the property.

Under the city's PID policy.

It is required that any public improvement district bond that is issued comes back to the council for confirmation that the bonds are issued consistent with the initial formation, which was in 2008, as well as the city's PIT policy.

We have reviewed all of that and can recommend to you that all of that is in compliance.

Should you choose to approve this, the district's lined up ready to issue these bonds, subject to your approval.

Happy to answer your questions about it.

Thank you, Madam President.

The only thing I would add is just for the public and in plain speak.

What we're doing is we are adding a new development basically to it's the Savio Ridge public.

That's the name of the public improvement district, PID.

That's the one that's deferred.

Oh, that's now.

Oh, sorry.

Yeah.

So this is Mesa del Sol.

Got it.

Thank you.

I'm ahead of myself on the next one.

Well, that's all right.

That's right.

So yeah, this is out south of the airport if everybody's familiar.

Thank you, Madam President.

And so in one, this has been formed.

The Sabio Rage, subject to your approval at the next meeting.

Thank you.

And I don't see that there's anyone signed up to speak, correct?

Mr.

Cornelius.

Okay.

Well, with that, if there's not any questions from counselors, Counselor Rogers to post.

I urge your support.

Thank you.

There's a motion and a second for approval for a due pass of R25.

All those in favor say yes and raise your hand.

Yes.

Opposed, same motion.

Motion passes unanimously.

Next item is R 35.

That was deferred, so we are on to appeals.

There are none.

Now we are on general public comments.

Members of the public can provide live public comments to the council in person or virtually if they have signed up for public comment per the instructions published on the agenda and our website on Friday.

Here are the public common ground rules.

Each participant has one minute to present.

Comments are to be addressed to the counselors only through the council president.

Any disruptive conduct will result in removal from the meeting.

There is a one-minute time limit, and the bell will ring to indicate your time is up.

Mr.

Cornelius, can you please call the name of the first speaker?

Thank you, Madam President.

Our first speaker is Debbie Reynolds, followed by Jamie Gayardo.

Madam President, Counselors, thank you for your work.

I have a couple of things to say about raising the minimum wage.

It seems to me inflationary.

These business owners, if we increase their labor costs by 25%, they're just going to pass that on to us, to the consumers.

The price of your lot of burger is going up, the price of your dry cleaning, your car wash, all of those kind of entry-level jobs that serve us, will be more expensive, and they'll be more expensive for the people who are getting getting the 25% raise.

So it just leads to a domino effect of more pricing, higher pricing, and not necessarily a good thing for people at the entry level.

My first job at KFC, I learned to show up on time.

I learned to be well dressed, I learned to make change, I learned to be nice to the boss's wife, even if I didn't like her.

So I think these entry-level jobs are fine.

They're not designed to support a family.

Okay, so my name is Hyman Gallardo, and I'm a citizen here of Albuquerque, the great city of Albuquerque, and I'm also a small business owner.

There's no question that wages need to grow.

The challenge before this city council is ensuring we raise wages in a way that strengthens working families without unintentionally driving costs even higher onto the very people we are trying to help.

The proposal to increase Albuquerque's minimum wage from twelve dollars to $15 per hour deserves serious discussion.

But equally important is a proposal to permanently tie future wage increases not only to inflation, but also to HUD fair market rent increases for two-bedroom apartments.

Supporters often point to cities with 15 plus minimum wages.

Denver, which has eighteen dollars an hour minimum wage, Portland.

In comparison, we're at $12, and the rents for us only $1,600, whereas the rents for Denver is at $2300.

So I implore this council to put serious consideration into really putting a plan together to really discuss how this is going to affect not just small businesses, but all the citizens of Albuquerque.

Thank you.

Grace Dukes, followed by Sarah Towns.

Counselors, it is Pride Month.

Today we celebrate, but also mourn the lives of the trans souls lost to senseless violence.

Part of the NSPM 7 memo issued from the president last September designates radical gender extremism as domestic terrorism.

I am likely on a domestic terrorist list because of my identity as a transgender person.

A list that they do intend on using one day, whether you are ready to accept it or not.

Will you continue to stay silent while your people are executed on the streets for the crime of being ourselves?

Do more for us.

Protect transgender souls.

Shield laws are nothing without further protection, and our lives depend on your courage to act.

So on this first day of June, I say happy pride month.

And I implore you and the mayor to remember that when you raise this flag in Civic Plaza tomorrow.

Because paired with Trump's inaction, Keller's policies, Baccha's policies, too.

Raising that flag is more symbolic than anything.

Remember, there is no pride without trans people.

And when they come for us, they will come for everybody else too.

Sarah Towns, followed by Adale Rose Bennett Herrick.

Hi, can I get the camera on the uh projector?

Oh, there we go.

Thank you.

Good evening, counselors.

I'm Sarah Towns, and I'm a Christian pastor whose members come mostly from districts eight and nine.

I had a member come to me facing eviction this week.

She's a college graduate, she works full-time.

Why can't she afford rent?

Well, there's an online hourly pay-to-rent calculator, and that's what's on the screen.

At twelve dollars an hour, it says you can afford a $624 a month apartment.

On Zillow in Albuquerque, there are currently zero units at that price.

The closest one is in Portalis.

So if you're a single individual, we're not even talking about families with kids.

Unless you want to live in your car, stay in a shelter, or commute from Portalis.

You have to make more in Albuquerque.

At 15 an hour, it says you can afford $7.79.

Now, at that price, there are $146 options.

They aren't great options, but that's better than nothing.

We cannot continue criminalizing homelessness when there are zero options for housing at the current wages.

Please put a moratorium on sweeps and pass 033.

Thank you.

Adale Rose Bennett Herrick, followed by Mitchell Gibbs.

So y'all need to respect people's time.

But it's um it really hurts people every single meeting to plan for less time to speak.

Um.

Happy Pride Month again.

Um I always enjoy thinking about like um uh what kind of administration is going to uh sorry, excuse me, what kind of regime is going to scrub uh this footage um right here, right now.

Um, stop criminalizing uh human beings on stolen land.

Um, and let's uh do something nice for workers.

Mitchell Gibbs, followed by Joe Cardillo, followed by Deborah Montoya.

I was trying to figure out how to sum up my experience in New Mexico since September of last year in 60 seconds, and the best thing that I could tell you is if you've never Googled a 1934 Nazi soldier poster for prisoner insignias, I ask that you do because we can stand at Civic Plaza where Prickly Pear Park is, and there's an upside-down patch that would be black, and they called them bag bonds.

But that's the same thing as homeless people.

I live on the streets of Albuquerque, I was displaced from California.

I have no employment, access to resources are limited.

You have to be a resident to gain some access to some resources, and here we are criminalizing and adding fines to homeless people, and like they discuss the cost of living and rent, but the average landlord requires that you make three times the rent per month just to be able to reside and qualify to live in that.

So stop criminalizing homeless people.

My name is Mitchell Gibbs, I'm a transgender man.

Stop criminalize trans people.

Nazis came for the trans people first.

Okay.

That's your first warning.

Joe Cardillo, followed by Deborah Montoya, followed by Raul Hernandez.

Uh good evening, Council President, counselors.

Um, I think everybody in this room knows that costs for groceries and gas are rising.

Housing housing is increasingly hard to find.

Um, homelessness is rising, and this council frankly seems paralyzed.

Um, that includes no votes on common sense protections for renters.

Uh no on increasing voting access and saving 1.7 million dollars in taxpayer funds.

That's my money, that's our money.

Um, no on taking small, really small steps to increase housing.

Uh, but you have voted yes quite recently on criminalizing free speech and hurting our neighbors who are trying to get off the streets.

And that yes vote has sent a clear message.

I think we've also seen that.

Our police already seem to be escalating confrontations, and I'm worried about use of force, and frankly, lawsuits that we've already seen that have cost us millions of dollars in taxpayer funds as well.

Um what you're doing right now is not working.

You're not providing financial oversight on the mayor and the mayoral administrations, you're not addressing housing, you're not addressing rising costs, and you're not showing leadership, especially to the majority on this council.

This isn't gonna work for us, this is gonna work for our families.

Deborah Montoya, followed by Raul Hernandez, followed by Beatrice Caldera.

Good evening, madam president and counselors.

My name is Deborah Montoya.

I'm the author of Old Town Plaza in Albuquerque, and I'm here to oppose the old town rail trail plan for a residential zone vacant lot in our neighborhood.

The residents most affected by this project were not informed nor consulted before it advanced.

The city of Albuquerque and West Old Town Neighborhood Association with its small five-member board failed to notify residents, which will severely affect neighborhood character, residence, privacy, safety, and quality of life.

I respectfully ask Madam President and Madam President.

Hold on one second.

So it I believe this is a quasi-judicial matter, and she can't be speaking on that issue.

Okay, so let's hold on one second.

Um, Councilor Bockett.

So let's just so hi.

Just so that you know, some items that we um have in front of us are quasi-judicial, so we shouldn't be hearing comments from the public related to this.

So I we have our attorney with council services who can help explain this further.

And um, and then once she does, I will um go to you, Councillor Baka.

Actually, can I say one thing?

I just received a voice message from Joaquin Baca, and he mentioned that I could come to this meeting today.

Madam President, but so I was responding to a voicemail from Miss Montoya.

My understanding is it's city land, it's not private land.

My understanding was that doesn't qualify under the quasi-judicial.

Yes.

Madam President, Councillor Backup, unfortunately, I'm not familiar with the project that we are discussing at this moment, but there is a limitation as the Council President mentioned on public comment on quasi judicial matters outside of the formal public hearing on that matter.

Um if if this is something quasi-judicial, then we have that limitation on comment.

Um so we don't necessarily have the answer.

I think we can ask our city attorney, she's probably online.

Okay.

We just want to make sure that we can vote on it when it's time.

Uh yes, thank you, Madam President.

I was actually just texting Ms.

Kuladan.

I'm not aware of a particular hearing either.

Um that's pending on this matter.

I do see Mr.

Pedilla speaking that maybe he's getting some information on that.

Um, but I don't know if the administration is aware of a hearing connection with this particular person.

Madam President, um, I am not aware of a uh the pending hearing on the matter.

Okay, thank you.

So it doesn't um Miss Montoya, if you're where did Miss Montoya.

So, we never go to the system.

Oh, okay, she comes back in.

Okay.

So we can let Miss Montoya um complete her comments when she's done.

We just want to make sure that um some of these items are not quasi judicial um when we're having someone just no, I don't know.

Okay, okay.

Um, okay.

Thank you, madam president.

That was my understanding of the rail trail on city lion.

Um it's not quasi judicial because it's already happening.

I know the city had some public meetings and she wanted to speak, but um I just told her to go to public comment like everybody else.

So I don't have any yeah or nay or anything.

I just simply let her know.

Um thank you, Councillor Bucket.

We had a couple of counselors that were just concerned with it being quasi judicial, so I paused just so that we can ensure that um we're not um making any kind of mistakes here.

So if somebody can find Miss Montoya so that she can start her two her minute over again, um I would appreciate that we will move on.

Mr.

Cornelius to this next speaker until she comes in.

Thank you, madam president.

Up next we have Raul Hernandez, followed by Beatrice Caldera.

There's another one.

Aumentar el salario minimo para que el trabajo sea suficiente para vivir.

Un salario justo reduce la rotación, fortalece los negocios locales andas familias tengan estabilidad.

May I render Madame President of English and good evening, Council President and members of the city council.

My name is Raul Hernandez, and I am a worker in Albuquerque.

I have been contributing to the city's economy for many years.

I am also a member of El Centro.

Today I'm here to support the minimum wage ordinance because low wages in our city are no longer enough to live with dignity.

Many people like me work full time, yet we still cannot afford basic necessities such as rent, food, transportation, and utilities.

This forces us to live under constant stress, work double shifts, or take on multiple jobs just to survive.

I work as a waiter, and even with tips, my income is not enough.

So my son and I have to work additional shifts to make ends meet.

The problem is not a lack of work.

The problem is that wages do not reflect the true cost of living in Albuquerque.

This affects not only workers, but also our families, our health, and the stability of our entire community.

The solution is clear, raise the minimum wage so that work is not so that work is enough to live on.

A fair wage reduces turnover, strengthens local businesses, and helps families achieve greater stability.

That is why I support this ordinance.

A living wage is not a luxury, it is a basic necessity for living with dignity.

Thank you.

PHS Caldera, followed by Sophia Vega.

But the reality is queue de nuestra contribution, muchas familias trabajadores ya no podemos vivir con dignidad.

Yo soy cabeza de familia, trabajo in un restaurante de cocina, ya ves de diswasher cinco días a la semana, doce horas diarias.

Thank you.

Good evening, uh Council President and members of the city council.

My name is Beatrice Caldera.

I have lived in Albuquerque for more than 16 years.

I am a mother, a worker, and a member of El Centro.

Today I'm here to support the minimum wage ordinance because those of us who work in construction, child care, elder care, restaurants, hospitals, and many other essential jobs.

We are the ones who keep this city running.

But the reality is that despite our contributions, many working families can no longer live with dignity.

I am a head of household, I work in a restaurant as a cook and sometimes as a dishwasher, five days a week, twelve hours a day.

I earn $14 an hour, and because it is not enough to provide for my family on my day off, I clean houses to earn extra income.

Even so, it is still not enough to pay the rent, food, gas, and utilities.

The cost of living continues to rise, but our wages do not.

That's why today we are here asking for your support for this ordinance.

A minimum wage increase is not a gift.

It is justice for those of us who work already sustaining the cities, uh, sustaining the city every day with our work.

When workers are doing well, the entire community is doing well.

Thank you.

We'll be going back to Deborah Montoya, followed by Sophia Vega.

And you can have your entire minute back, so thank you.

Um, as I previously mentioned, um I'm here to oppose the Old Town Rail Trail Plan for residential zone vacant law in Old Town.

Um the residents affected by this project were not informed or consulted before it advanced.

The city of Albuquerque and West Old Town Neighborhood Association with its small five-member board failed to notify residents, which will severely affect neighborhood character, residences, privacy, safety, and quality of life.

It would also be located one black, one block of Reginald Chavez Elementary School, and there are so many safety concerns.

Require traffic and safety studies and work directly ask Madam Presidents in this process.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you.

That's everyone's first warning, whoever claps.

Good evening, council presidents and members of the city council.

I will be reading this in my sister's absence.

My name is Sophia, and I'm proud to contribute to our community by providing child care services.

Today I am here to support the minimum wage ordinance because given the economic challenges we are facing, many early childhood education workers need to work two jobs just to cover basic expenses such as food, rent, utilities, and other necessities.

Even though I earn a little over $15 per hour, I still struggle to make and meet.

Just like many of my co-workers, raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour would provide workers with greater economic stabilities and help my family meet their basic needs.

That is why I support this ordinance.

Thank you.

Let's upvote followed by Brick Jonasy, followed by Blake Eliason.

Can we come over here?

Madam President, Council members, I've made you all aware of what's going down at the Family Advocacy Center.

And we're also talking about how money is spent on legal services because people aren't properly trained.

Well, this is what happened to me from a police officer at the family advocacy center.

We also have a lot of processes over the city council as well.

So apparently these people cause problems over at the city council.

This is from a deputy commander at the family advocacy center on our own goddamn body camera.

Given these people that have this private building, all they think they got all the power in the world just to come up and say, hey, I don't like that guy with a camera, you know, publicly available area for ingress and egress.

They searched all over the building for us like we were dogs.

This is unacceptable.

And I strongly suggest you look into this because you've already got one suit on your ass.

And this is another one.

The overhead piece.

Yeah.

I'm trying to draw as much attention to it as possible.

You know, this guy, obviously.

But I did want to talk about something else.

Uh while this is playing that public comment thing.

I understand it.

I think it's a good idea to limit the comment when it's a lot of people like this.

Um, but when it's like 50, maybe minute 45.

When it's 60, minute 30.

70.

I'm talking to you, Pina.

Because it's your discretion.

Your discretion.

You can choose to give people more time when it's more people speaking.

Right?

It doesn't always have to be one minute.

It's one minute this time, but there are, as we were told, over a hundred people speaking.

That's understandable.

One minute when it's 50, it's kind of ridiculous, don't you think?

Arnold Martinez.

We might as well work for you.

Blake Eliason, followed by Francesco Artist, followed by Dr.

Lisa Christofferson.

Good evening, President and Counselors.

Uh, my name is Blake.

Uh I live in District 7 and I work as an economic researcher.

I'm imploring you tonight to vote in favor of raising the minimum wage.

You will hear comments tonight against doing so.

Uh, I would like to inform you that many of those comments will come from an organization called Americans for Prosperity.

Uh this is an organization funded by large companies, publicly traded on stock exchanges around the world, and that's okay.

Companies have a fiduciary legal obligation to their shareholders, and raising the minimum wage is bad for shareholders.

But as you can see, it's very good for Albuquerque, and you do have an obligation to the city of Albuquerque.

As such, I urge you to vote in favor of raising the minimum wage tonight.

Thank you.

Francesco Artist, followed by Dr.

Lisa Christofferson, followed by Kristen Cummings.

Overhead, please.

Alcune persona, pressono giuramento di difendere la Costituzione dell'Istat Unita dell'America and Nuovo Mexico.

Colamano sulla Bibbia significato.

Per altri la Bibbia, un libra sentiture.

Tanto fare begiurare, sunroutolo di carta igienica.

Le anime.

Capotesi ascendere la posizione del tuo potere.

Pray don't.

Please restart my timer for English translation.

This is my mother's prayer book.

May God rest your soul.

Some people swear the oath to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America and New Mexico, so help you God.

With hand on the Bible, and it actually means something.

To some, the Bible is just a book.

May as well be swearing the oath on a roll of toilet paper.

The eternal souls facing the constant agony of damnation for saying the rosary every day so that you could be in a position of power.

Pray that you repent and turn yourself in.

Dr.

Lisa Christofferson, followed by Kristen Cummings, followed by Audrey Mitchell.

Uh Lisa Christopher with New Mexico Stronger Together Coalition.

Two comments tonight.

One comment about APD killing three people in five days, one comment about vulnerability, homelessness, and behavioral events.

So 2014, the DOJ, their report was the basis for the Casa Agreement.

11 years Albuquerque had an agreement with the U.S.

DOJ, and I'd like to say you also had a promise with Burkenos that APD would reduce excessive force and that they would be transparent with their reporting and the processes.

Of the eight things listed on that Casa Agreement, six of them they were able to uh complete, and two of them, they DOJ identified that the problem was problematic and was the creation of that cost agreement.

There was a culture of aggression in APD and an unconstitutional pattern of excessive force with disproportionately affected vulnerable people.

And here we are again, 11 years later.

Thank you very much for the questions that you asked.

We had a um a meeting uh yesterday.

Thank you, Councillor February, for attending.

That's the number one thing that we found that was the problem.

Thank you.

Kristen Cummings, followed by Audrey Mitchell, followed by Trevor Selby.

Last Monday I injured my shoulder while hiking.

If you've never worked a minimum wage job, such an injury might be a nuisance.

It's annoying, but you have the benefit of health care, paid leave, and savings from a comfortable salary.

But what does an injury like this mean to someone making minimum wage?

Without the use of my dominant hand, it'd be pretty difficult to fold clothes or weight tables or cook.

I can lift 50 pounds one-handed, but it better be pretty compact and not cumbersome.

So we've just ruled out most retail, food service, a good deal of logistics and warehouse work.

What is missing a week of work mean to someone on minimum wage?

It won't necessarily put them on the street right away, but it will probably cause them to miss payments on some bills.

Late fees add up, and those late fees will compound.

Needing to pay late fees means continuing to pay bills late in order to afford last month's late fees, which means more late fees.

It means skipping meals because you can't afford groceries.

It means going back to work before you're fully healed, risking permanent disability.

If it gets bad enough, you start alternating.

Paying rent one month and bills the next.

Make enough late rent payments, and your landlord might just terminate your lease.

Then you better hope your car holds out so you have someplace to live.

This is how it happens.

When the cost of living exceeds or just matches minimum wage, then one accident means falling into a hole you can't climb out of.

Standing up for the working class means voting for policies that improve their situation at every opportunity.

Not watching them fall into a hole and then judging them for being there.

Audrey Mitchell, followed by Trevor Selby, followed by Marcelyn Costiner.

Good evening, Council President, members of the city council.

My name is Audrey Mitchell.

I serve as the corporate director of people and culture for total management systems, a family-owned hotel management company that owns and operates hotels here in Albuquerque and Threatening for New Mexico.

As an employer here in Albuquerque, I want to be clear that we are already paying $15 an hour for most of our positions.

Um our tipped employees are paid $10 an hour.

We provide healthcare benefits.

Um we provide a 401k with a match.

The concern before us is not whether employees deserve fair wages.

The concern is whether this ordinance creates a sustainable framework for employers and employees in the years ahead.

The most troubling part of this proposal is the tie to the HUD fair market rent calculations.

Um if we can work together on this, maybe we can come up with something that's a little more staggered, a little more um easy for us to sustain going forward.

We can't have these increases be unknown.

We need to be able to plan for these.

Trevor Selby followed by Marcelyn Costner, followed by Leandra Schuler.

Good evening.

I'm here to support ordinance 33.

I think the minimum wage needs to be increased.

I am one of the few constituents who's fortunate enough to already make more than $15 an hour, make $15.50, and I work full time.

And I ride my bike to get around.

I do not have a car payment, I do not pay for insurance or gas.

And even then, even with a fortunate living circumstances, I was very lucky with the rental that I found.

Even then I am paying a majority of my paycheck on the bare essentials that is food, rent, electricity, phone bill, internet, etc.

This is not negotiable.

We need higher wages.

People are suffering.

People are making sacrifices that they don't need to make.

I know this is probably gonna be a close vote, but it only takes the four core sponsors plus one to get this passed and make sure that working families are represented in the city of Albuquerque.

Thank you and happy pride.

Marcelyn Costner, followed by Leonja Schuler, followed by Jess Lannon.

Um I think you're gonna hear plenty of people that make the economic argument to why we need to be raising minimum wage tonight.

Um I think you should consider that all of these people have gotten off work, they've worked in the morning, and they're here to let you know how much this means to them and how much this affects their lives.

I think this is really important.

I think you should listen to them.

Um, I think you shouldn't just sway towards one side.

I think you should really think about this.

Um, additionally, I think we should think about like, I don't think this needs to be an anti-small business thing.

I really care about small businesses.

I love small businesses, and I think if we could figure out a way to tax incentivize at the end of the year so the small businesses can get something back for to compensate for the loss that they're gonna have for having to pay employees more.

I think it's all around win because if we bolster that for them, those employees can come back around and the next year have more money to spend at local businesses.

I know when I have more money in my pocket, I'm way more likely to go to a smaller business.

I think this is really important.

And APD should really stop killing people.

LeAndra Schuler, followed by Jess Lennon, followed by Marina Herrera.

Hello, counselors.

Um, so I support uh raising minimum wage, and I love that we have uh universal child care.

Those have both will.

Um my concern is have we um with the universal child care with the pay um pay raises?

Can we help the schools if for some reason that um early child care gets pulled away, like a different governor who's already like, for example, they're trying to sue it already.

What will parents do if we have to pay more if that service gets pulled away?

Um it's made a difference in me being able to go back to school.

And some people couldn't afford child care at all.

So you had to pick, are you going to be at home or are you gonna work?

And that's not a decision that we should have to make.

So I'm hoping that we could talk to um our senators as well and see if we can help fund that cut um or the extra fee, because they they do deserve to be paid more.

But what will happen if we lose um early child care?

Thank you all.

I appreciate it.

Jess Lannon, followed by Marina Herrera, followed by Patrick Gallegos.

Marina Herrera, followed by Patrick Gallegos, followed by James Freeman.

Hi, my name is Marina Arada, and I'm here on behalf of the Rio Grand Foundation and economic think tank.

I urge you to oppose the plan to raise Albuquerque's minimum wage from twelve to fifteen dollars an hour and index that rate to inflation.

The problem is that in economics, nothing is free.

Arbitrary mandated wage increases are borne by businesses.

Between the ever-increasing taxes, the crime prices, and the expensive costs of security and insurance, small and family businesses cannot survive a 25% increase in wages.

This will leave small and family businesses with the losing proposition of either cutting hours, automating, increasing prices, or closing their doors.

This is the opposite of affordability.

Instead of breaking the backs of local businesses, the city should be lobbying and pushing the legislature and governor to reduce taxes with the massive oil and gas surpluses available.

That would actually reduce the cost of living and increase affordability in Albuquerque.

Thank you.

Patrick Gaygos, followed by James Freeman, followed by Tad Maminski.

Hello, city counselors, my name is Patrick.

I'm an Albuquerque resident here to speak in support of 033 for the raising of Albuquerque's minimum wage.

There's a cost of living crisis happening across the country, housing costs, food costs, and rising gas prices are forcing many working people to decide between feeding their families, paying rent, and paying off their medical debt.

Albuquerque faces extreme poverty below the national average, making us particular vo particularly vulnerable to further economic crises.

The duty of the city is to protect its workers and provide for all its people, not just the interests of corporations or businesses.

Workers are the drivers of all economic development.

And if workers can't afford to live, there is no economy.

We make the world run, and we deserve the bare minimum to be able to exist and take care of our communities.

This minimum wage increase is an essential reform, but also one that is frankly a drop in the ocean of what is truly needed to protect the interests of workers, the poor, and the marginalized.

Our social safety net from wages, social security, and health care access is constantly being rolled back in favor of contracted private outsourcing of public wealth welfare.

Our task is working people to continue to demand the city to work for us and build a future that serves people first, not profit, so that Albuquerque can be the city was always meant to be, a city made for the working class.

I'd like to tell you about someone I met several months ago.

Brittany Means was assigned to one of my nine pitch shifts during the last count.

Right away, I could tell something was different about this young lady.

She approached the survey taking with complete fearlessness.

Later I discovered she was an award-winning author.

I picked up her book and couldn't put it down.

Just say it touched me profoundly would be an understatement.

Miss Means was born dead and then lived for a while in a car and later in a huge black barn out in the cornfields of rural Indiana.

A graduate of Ball State University and the University of Iowa with nonfiction writing program.

Her debut memoir, Hell If We Don't Change Our Ways, earned a Kirk-starred review and picked as best book of fall 2023 by People Magazine.

Currently, Miss Means lives in Albuquerque and keeps chickens, edits, and watches many horror movies.

Brittany's childhood was a blur of highways and traumas and collapsed any effort to track time.

Riding shotgun as her mother struggled to escape abusive relationships.

Brittany didn't care where they were going to a roadside midwestern motel, a shelter, or the barn in Indiana.

The clutter mansion, her Pentecostal grandparents called home as long as they were together, but every so often her mom would surprise her and leave.

Thank you.

As Brittany grew older and questioned her own complicated relationships and the poverty abuse of abuse and instability that enveloped her.

She began to recognize that hell wasn't only the place she read about in the Bible, it was a cycle of violence that entrapped her family.

Through foothills, footholds such as horror movies, neuropsychology, and strong bonds.

Brittany made sense of this cycle and finds a way to leave it.

While untangling the web of her most painful memories, Britney crafts a tale of self-perservation, resilience, and hope with a unique narrative style, a sparkling example of the humanity, human ability to withstand the most horrific experiences and still thrive.

That was written by the Indian Indiana Book Society before they gave her the 2024 Book of the Year Award.

If I didn't know Brittany and how successful and well adjusted she is, I can say I wouldn't have made it, I wouldn't have made it 10 pages into this incredible book.

We're having an event at Hope Works next Friday.

That's what the flyer that she's got right there is.

And I'd like to invite you all to attend.

She's going to be the speaker and she's going to be signing her books, and she will melt your heart.

Thank you.

Tad Numitsky, followed by Megan Yosis, followed by Aurora Silva.

Would you give me an overhead?

That's good, you know.

Yes.

My dad Nemisky.

And I am really tired.

Here is after meeting.

Uh Miss Lopez or Mrs.

Lopez at City Council office spending above the outlining issue.

What if we have problems sitting with City Council?

Above five or more points.

Violation of Silver Dice, including racism, sexies by Clarissa Pena.

That is everything.

That's criminal.

But it's going to the Department of Justice.

And then silly.

And lots more be the post city castle at.

I don't know if that's done.

Megan Yosis, followed by Aurora Silva, followed by Sally Duradkey.

Um good evening, Council President, uh, counselors.

I am here to speak um in favor of the uh minimum wage increase to $15 an hour.

Um so there's all kinds of evidence that people are struggling with increased prices and stagnant wages, especially the price of housing.

Um, only 5% of apartments that cost less than $800 a month are vacant on average compared to 26% of rentals costing more than $2,000 a month.

So people are snapping up affordable apartments, but there are few buyers for anything higher end.

Um there's been a lot of discourse with this council on ordinances to require pooling um and to make some more keep apartments safe and livable.

Um an increase in the minimum wage will increase people's purchasing power and cause living conditions to improve.

People's mental and physical health will improve.

Um, when working class people make more money, that movie um money moves through the community and generates additional economic activity.

Um, and also people are um more likely to have extra space, which prevents their friends and family from falling in homelessness.

So I do strongly support this, but I also think it isn't enough.

Um, the minimum wage should be more like $22 an hour for a single adult according to the MIT living wage calculator.

Um thank you so much.

Aurora Silva, followed by Sally Duratki.

Hello, my name is Aurora Silva.

This month is Pride Month and I want to wish everyone here a happy pride, especially all of a queer and trans people from our share community with.

So all of you are queer, trans or ethnocope, remember that our continued existence enjoy our existence.

I moved to Albuquerque three years ago because of worsening political pressure in Texas where I grew up in transition.

I'm very great for our community that is welcomely, and we'll have adopted.

Albuquerque has shown itself to be a place that believes in queering trans rights.

But queering trans rights are more than just the explicit rights that acts as the gender of family care or the ability to marry and raise a family.

They include implicit rights too, the right to be free of exploitation, the right to a living wage, the right to housing and food and health care.

Both are queer and trans rights too.

That's a beseech the city council to support all queer and trans rights, both explicit and implicit to raise the minimum wage and make existing in Albuquerque more possible for those on the margins.

After all, human rights are both queer and trans rights.

Thank you very much.

Sally Duradke.

Hi, my name is Sally Duradke.

Uh, I'm a parent of three little kids.

My husband is a health care provider.

Um, I have to say that I have trouble listening to the city council meetings.

I'm disheartened often by votes that seem to go against what would be best for the people of Albuquerque, talking about things like ranked choice voting, criminalizing homelessness, fees.

Um but I am very encouraged tonight to see my counselor.

I'm in district two with counselor Baca, um, co-sponsoring the rental unit habitability ordinance and raising minimum wage.

Uh I support both of those really strongly.

I think that when we are in a room that has a lot of power in it, we should consider the people that are not able to be in that room that we are affecting.

And the people that are being affected a lot by this are working class people of Albuquerque that can't be here tonight because they are working their minimum wage jobs.

So please consider those individuals as you are making your vote tonight.

Thanks.

Up next, we have Harold Pope Jr.

I believe.

Senator Harold Pope Jr.

Counselors, uh Harold Pope Jr.

State Senator from District 23 on the west side.

I'm here to support O 2633 and this effort to raise the minimum wage and also look at cost of living adjustment.

I want to first thank the sponsors and commend you for this work, because it recognizes a simple truth that the cost of living does not stand still, and neither should the wages of people who keep our city running.

Everyday Albuquerque residents are working hard, serving our food, caring for our loved ones, stalking shelves, cleaning buildings, and keeping businesses operating.

Yet too many people are struggling to find affordable housing, groceries, and pay for utilities, transportation, and health care.

So I just want to thank you once again.

Um I know it's a short time limit.

I feel like when we have you guys up in the Senate and we limit that.

So I just want to continue to work with all of you because it's a responsibility of the state as well to do what we can do and bring the resources here to the city.

Thank you.

And thank you for allowing me to speak.

Madam President, I could not find Gary Lucero in Zoom, so that concludes general public comment.

Thank you very much.

So much, Mr.

Cornelius, and thank all the public speakers.

It is the clock up there is wrong, so it is actually 6.55 now.

So we're gonna take a break and we'll return at 725.

Welcome back, everyone.

We are now on item 14, final actions.

Thank you, everyone.

So this is 03.

Thank you.

We are in 033.

This is Counselors People Corn Backer, Rogers, and Thais by request.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um, 33 amending ROA 1994, Chapter 13, Article 12, the Albuquerque Minimum Wage Ordinance to increase the minimum wage rate, change the calculation method for annual cost of living adjustments and remove obsolete provisions.

I move a due pass.

Second.

There is a motion and a second by Councilor Teas for a due pass of 033.

Um, someone to open.

Thank you, Madam President.

So I think everybody knows that the minimum wage has been very low in the city of Albuquerque for quite some time.

We have not seen a real increase.

And right now, if there are two people living together in our city, both working full-time minimum wage jobs, they cannot afford a two-bedroom apartment.

And I think that that says that there is a definite disparity between what it actually costs to live in our community and what our minimum wage is.

And so we are just bringing it up to a reasonable amount.

Um with that, I I will stand for any questions.

And open by um Councilor Feblecorn.

Um we have now we'll go on to, unless there's any other comments by sponsors, if not, we'll go on to amendments.

And we have a floor amendment number A.

Councilor Backa.

Thank you, Madam President.

I won't be introducing that.

Okay, thank you so much.

So then we have floor amendment number um labeled B, and you guys don't have those in your packet.

I think those are gonna be distributed, and I don't know where Sharice is at.

Ms.

Kuladon.

Madam President, in the meantime, um I can um get the amendment shared up on the screen if you'd like.

Okay, why don't we do that?

It's thank you, Madam President.

I just had a quick question.

Are these also on the iPads for us to look for them?

Oh Madam President, we'll um we can add those.

We'll just go ahead and go to public comment first.

Why don't we do that?

Mr.

Cornelius, can you call the first speaker?

Thank you, Madam President.

Our first speaker is Grace Dukes, followed by Sarah Towns, followed by Carol White.

No business, which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers, has any right to continue.

That is not radical.

That is basic human decency.

FDR said it in 1933.

It is still true today.

My roommate and I don't know if we can afford to renew our lease when rent goes up in December.

The only way that we can afford rent is because we live in subpar class C housing that isn't up to standards.

I'm lucky I have parents I can call.

Most people don't.

And over half of renters are cost-burdened right now.

That is exploitation.

Raising the minimum wage does not hurt honest businesses.

The opposition to this is coming from corporate bad actors who decided that their profit margins matter more than whether their workers can feed their families.

This council has a choice.

Stand with working people or stand with the people getting rich off them and show that once again you stand to do private equities bidding.

And I'll be talking later about how you do NAOPS bidding.

Sarah Towns, followed by Carol White, followed by Adale Rose Bennett Herrick.

Hi, I'm a Christian pastor whose members are mostly in districts eight and nine.

I oversee the operations of a church.

We have a staff of 10 people.

We raised our minimum wage to $15 an hour over four years ago.

And we're doing great.

We didn't have to cut hours.

We didn't have to cut staff.

Paying people enough to live has consistently strengthened our organization.

No one is loyal to a $12 an hour job.

Recruiting, training, lost productivity, cost businesses thousands.

In the three years after Denver raised its minimum wage, the city outpaced the rest of Colorado in job growth, wage growth, and sales tax revenue.

Beyond economics, my faith teaches us that we are all created in the image of God, and work should not trap people in poverty.

The only businesses hurt by this will be the ones who survive by paying people less than they can live on.

That's not a business model worth defending morally or economically.

Thank you.

Carol White, followed by Adale Rose Bennett Herrick, followed by Mitchell Gibbs.

There we go.

Madam President, members of the council, my name is Carol White.

I'm the CEO of the New Mexico Restaurant Association and represent the majority of restaurants in Albuquerque.

70% of which are small independent restaurants.

I ask you to consider the reality restaurants face when the council considers a 25% increase in the minimum wage, a $3 increase in base wage raises, all wages.

So a small restaurant with 25 full-time employees would pay an additional 156,000 per year in payroll.

That's on top of what they're already paying, and that does not include FICA and all the other taxes.

Our restaurant operators are already facing higher costs for food, labor, insurance, and security.

We are not talking about a healthy industry that can easily absorb sudden wage increases.

We're talking about businesses that are already making painful choices just to stay open.

Across the city, we've all seen restaurants shrink hours, close for lunch, close early, cut dinner services because they cannot afford to stay open.

That matters to workers too.

When restaurants reduce hours, employees lose shifts, lose income, and sometimes lose the stability they need to keep making ends meet.

Adale Rose Bennett Herrick, followed by Mitchell Gibbs, followed by Paloma Para.

I worked in those kind of restaurants, and let me tell you, there's no such thing as sub-minimum work.

So I don't think there should be any such thing as subminimum wages.

Now, it is uh frankly ridiculous that uh restaurants and many other businesses operate on such razor thin margins, and then uh additionally uh create uh extra cost to the consumer, and call that tips and then make uh acronyms about it.

Um a dignified uh wage is um the uh it's the real solution here.

Um, and this will separate the good restaurants from the bad restaurants.

Um this will separate uh workers from um.

Mitchell Gibbs, followed by Paloma Para, followed by Joe Cardillo.

So in a former life, I was a property manager, and it's relevant to the topic of raising the minimum wage.

The average landlord requires three times rent per month.

So that means if your rent is 1250, you require three times that income per month.

And when you're looking at the minimum wage being twelve dollars and fifty cents, you're not even making one and a half times that to be able to qualify to even rent an apartment or a house.

And there's also that age gap of generational wealth is not evenly distributed.

So some of us have had barriers to access, especially if you're a person of the local majority.

Um earlier public commentary, like it's human dignity, like to not be able to make enough money to afford even your rent.

Rent across the United States is 75% of the average American's income.

That gives them 25% for basic daily living.

Paloma para followed by Joe Cardillo, followed by Aroseli.

I noticed that I'm paying two dollars more for a bottle of salsa currently in the last couple of months.

Really just kind of paying a lot more for any uh pretty much everything, and I kind of wonder you don't have to put your hand up in the room, but if your costs have gone down in Albuquerque, go ahead and raise your hand.

I don't really have to turn around to get an answer to that.

Um so if the costs have gone up and the cost of housing has gone up, we can't put we can't wages can't go up.

Where's that two dollars for that salsa bottle going?

Where's that extra buck fifty on my plate of huevos going?

I mean, I'm not mad at our small businesses and local businesses.

I understand.

You know, I've run a business, not a restaurant, but I've I've run a business.

I understand there's a business model to be to be had and to pay attention to.

But raising the minimum wage is pretty much common sense, and I'm glad to see some counselors put it forward.

I'd like to see it passed as written, because it's very well written.

Um this ordinance puts responsibility back onto employers where it belongs.

If you can't pay a living wage, there's a problem with the business model.

Uh workers and taxpayers, like all the folks in this room, shouldn't be subsidizing companies that pay poverty wages.

Full stat.

Pass the bill, pass it as is.

Thank you very much.

Araceli Monje, followed by Rosalio Hernandez.

When I started, President and Members del Consejo municipal.

My name is Araceli Monjecido in this formas of 25 anos y soy member del centro.

But aunasi, con mi sueldo and the sposo, la realidad sigue siendo difficile.

El pago de automobilis, la gasolina, los servicios, la comida, and la renta de casa de dos mil 300 dollars.

The English transition is good afternoon, Mr.

Madame President and members of the City Council.

My name is Araceli Monge, and I have lived in the city for more than 25 years, and I am a member of El Centro.

Today I'm here to support the minimum wage ordinance because I have worked even two jobs in a restaurant where I was paid $14 per hour.

And even then, together with my husband's income, it was not enough to cover the rent or make ends meet.

Later, through great effort and academic achievement, I was able to secure a job as a special education assistant at APS, where I now earn $23 per hour.

But even then, with my salary and that of my husband's, the reality remains difficult.

The car payment needed to be able to it's hard to make the car payment to be able to go to work, pay the gas, utilities, food, as well as pay the $2,300 rent.

Make uh makes it really uh makes it a constant struggle to survive every month.

That is why I ask for the approval of this ordinance due to the economic situation that affects us day by day because of the high cost of living and the low wages we are currently experiencing.

Thank you.

Rosalio Hernandez, followed by Nora Navarez.

Okay, good afternoon, President and members of the council.

My name is Shelsey and I will be reading my uncle's testimony.

When wages are too low, workers not only struggle to cover their basic needs, but they also live under constant stress, which affects their stability and their performance to work.

This results in high turnover, frequent absences, and constant need to train new staff.

A restaurant depends on its people.

Customers don't just come back for the place.

They come back for the flavor, the seasoning, and the consistent quality that is provided by the people in the kitchen.

If cooks and staff are not paid well, they leave, and the business loses experience, consistency, and even customers.

In my case, I pay my co-workers fifteen dollars an hour, and I have seen the difference.

Thank you.

Nora Navarez, followed by Olga Santana, followed by Christy Martinez.

Olga Santana, followed by Christy Martinez, followed by Bobby Curtis.

Oh, I'm my mistake.

Thank you.

It causes a disruption in the emotional stability of the children.

Many young children spend up to nine hours a day in child care.

This is their second home.

They need consistency, familiar faces, and trusted caregivers.

Constant turnover creates stress and insecurity for children.

In my child care center, I pay $20 per hour, and I have seen less turnover, fewer absences, and more and a more stable team.

This improves the quality of care and also strengthens my business.

That is why I'm supporting the ordinance and I respectfully ask by you vote yes.

Thank you.

Olga Santana, followed by Christy Martinez, followed by Bobby Curtis.

Good evening, Consul members.

My name is Olga Santana, NIMA workers' rights organizer with El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos.

An organization with more than 6,000 workers and immigrant members.

We are proud that in our city, immigrant workers represent an essential part of the workforce in sectors such as construction, agriculture services, caregiving, and energy.

However, today we are here to support the minimum wage ordinance because we are facing a clear reality.

Wages in Albuquerque are no longer a no-to-life on.

Working families are being forced to choose between paying rent, buying foot, paying for gas, or purchasing medication, while the cost of living continues to rise.

In addition, many workers face wage death and other workplace abuses.

That is why we support the ordinance to raise the minimum wage to 15 per hour.

This measure is a concrete solution that will help thousands of workers meet their basic needs and strengthen to local economy because when workers earn more, they invest in our communities.

Thank you.

Christy Martinez, followed by Bobby Curtis, followed by Dennis Curtis.

Hello, Madam President and Counselors.

My name is Christy Martinez, and I am with the Libra Initiative, and I respectfully urge you to vote against increasing the minimum wage through resolution 2633.

While the intention behind raising wages is understandable, we must also consider the unintended consequences for workers, families, and small businesses in Albuquerque.

Many local businesses are already facing higher costs for rent, utilities, insurance, and supplies.

When government mandates additional labor costs, businesses often have to raise prices, reduce employee hours, delay hiring, or automate jobs, or in some cases, even close their doors.

The people most affected are often the very individuals we seek to help.

Entry-level workers, immigrants like myself, young people seeking their first job at small businesses, business owners trying to create opportunities in our community.

When labor costs raise faster than productivity or revenue, fewer opportunities become available for those seeking to enter the workforce.

Thank you.

Bobby Curtis, followed by Dennis Curtis, followed by Alison Riley.

Good evening, Madam President.

My name is Bobby Curtis, and I am from Americans for Prosperity.

I urge you to oppose the proposed minimum wage increase.

At Americans for Prosperity, we believe everyone deserves the opportunity to succeed and to earn higher wages.

The question is whether a government mandate is the best way to make that happen.

A 25% increase in labor costs will be especially difficult for small businesses, local restaurants, and family-owned employers that are already struggling with inflation and rising operating expenses.

Many will be forced to raise prices, reduce employee hours, delay hiring, or cut back on expansion.

Many employees will also be terminated.

When hiring becomes more expensive, employers often become more selective, reducing opportunities for those who need them most.

Higher wages are important, but lasting wage growth comes from a strong economy, thriving businesses, and more opportunities for workers to develop skills and advance.

I ask you to consider the unintended consequences of this proposal and vote no on increasing the minimum wage to $15.

Thank you so much for your time and for your consideration.

Dennis Curtis, followed by Alison Riley, followed by Paul Gessing.

Madam President, counselors, thank you for your service.

This is a huge responsibility for you, but I must remind you that your responsibility is to your voters and the true taxpayers.

Raising the minimum wage will destroy small businesses, it will eliminate jobs, it will eliminate full-time jobs, it will even eliminate some people who have health care, and it will inflate our local economy.

I encourage you to enforce gathering taxes that are not paid properly and maybe make CNM more affordable so that people can raise their skill level and their education and go get a better job.

At one time I worked as a minimum wage earner, and that forced me to get a better job to get more education.

I encourage you not to raise the minimum wage.

Thank you.

Alison Riley, followed by Paul Gessing, followed by Angie Thurman.

Good evening, members of the council.

My name is Alison Riley, representing the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce.

We respect the intent of this ordinance, but ask you to consider industries where reimbursement rates or contracts limit the ability to adjust prices.

For example, home health and hospice care.

The true cost of paying $15 an hour when you factor in payroll taxes and administrative costs is about $23 an hour.

Currently, the recommended reimbursement rate is at most $20.40 an hour, leaving operators operating at a $3 an hour per or $3 deficit per hour.

This results in essential services becoming financially unsustainable in Albuquerque.

Our biggest concern is the automatic escalator.

A predictable one-time increase is different from creating a formula that raises costs every year, regardless of economic conditions.

Economists in the bluest areas of the country have also backed up these propositions, claiming that businesses will cut positions, hire two people for one role, hire one person for two roles, or invest in automation.

So we urge you to consider alternatives that support both employers and businesses.

Thank you.

Paul Gessing, followed by Angie Thurman, followed by Kieran Hill.

Angie Thurman, followed by, oh I'm sorry.

Yes, Angie Thurman, followed by Kieran Hill, followed by Blake Eliason.

Kieran Hill followed by Blake Eliason, followed by Denise Ford.

Hello, my name is Kieran Hill, and I'm here to argue against raising the minimum wage.

I understand why people want it, and I understand a lot of that, but realistically, it doesn't do it doesn't do very much good.

There's a small percentage of the population that gets minimum wage.

When minimum wage is raised, a percentage of those people will do better and they'll make a little bit more money for a short period of time until inflation makes it null.

But what we won't see is we won't see the people who can't get a job.

The immigrants, a homeless person trying to not be homeless anymore, trying to get a job, and won't get hired because they've raised the standard above where he can begin to participate in the economy.

Minimum wage shouldn't be a career and it shouldn't be a living wage.

It should be a starting job and it should be something to help you to get somewhere better.

Thank you.

Blake Eliason, followed by Denise Ford, followed by Joseph Ford.

Denise Ford, followed by Joseph Ford, followed by Tina Poncho.

Madam President and City Councillors, I oppose the ordinance as presented.

We are not a city like Santa Fe, Phoenix, or Denver.

A couple of years ago, I drove over the state line into California.

I stopped at a fast food restaurant to get breakfast while I was at the counter.

A gentleman came in to get a senior coffee.

He was told that he didn't give the cashier enough money.

He questioned why he had to pay more than what he had been.

He was told the minimum wage went up.

In studies done at the University of California, it has shown that an increase in minimum wage will reduce employee hours, increase prices, and possibly eliminate jobs, even using automation.

There are many factors in this ordinance which are confusing and difficult to understand, such as the two $2,500 benefit payments for insurance or child care.

Making it tied to average cost of rent and cost of living index is confusing and requires additional paperwork and problems for small business owners.

Employees should be passed.

Raises should be based on performance, and we need to give incentives to employees to get a promotion, work to get better educated, or reduction in taxes.

Thank you.

Joseph Ford followed by Tina Pancho, followed by Jonah Beardin.

Madam President, Counselors, my name is Joseph Ford, and I am speaking in opposition to the minimum wage increase.

I believe what we're dealing with here, based upon some of the earlier comments that an exhaustive study has not been done, research hasn't been done, businesses haven't been consulted.

What we're looking at is a new term that I learned recently.

It's something called suicidal empathy.

And that is when compassion becomes the highest good, trumping truth, boundaries and survival, it stops being compassion.

It becomes suicide for the society that is trying to bring this forward.

If we don't do enough study, if we don't look at this properly, we are actually doing more damage to the people that we are pretending to help because we are so empathetic in their cause.

Thank you very much.

Tina Poncho, followed by Jonah Beardens.

I think that when people are making public when people are making public comment, I think that everybody has their due in front of this council, and I don't think that we should be ridiculing anyone.

Yes.

I'm not rich, I'll leave it.

Thank you.

It was actually um a Dale Rose.

So I'll just be the one speaking.

Mr.

Adale Rose, can you please leave?

This will just prolong the evening.

We'll end up having to clear the chambers.

We're gonna take a five minute recess.

Thank you very much.

Okay, thank you.

We're back in session.

So I'm gonna start with I don't I'm not as familiar with the terms, the pronouns I'm so um to Mr.

Adale Rose, next time he comes in, I just want to make sure that you know I miss to Miss, that I want to make sure that um you know that I apologize for for not knowing the pronouns um I'm not real familiar with that so that was not intended.

Thank you so much.

Okay, Mr.

Cornelius.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Next speaker is Tina Pancho, followed by Jonah Beardon, followed by Justin Rogers.

Jonah Beardon, followed by Justin Rogers, followed by Moda Mona, excuse me, Madison Botter.

Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the council.

My name is Jonah Beardon.

I'm a business poly scientist service student at the University of New Mexico, where it is against policy to miss pronouns someone just wanted to say that.

I support the minimum wage increase with a huge but the narrative is two sided.

One supports minimum wage increase to match the living wage and the other does not support it for business concerns.

Raising minimum wage has the potential to support both sides if and only if the cost of living decreases in hand this is a great ordinance for the majority ofños if you balance it with providing equal equitable and no barrier to entry public services like making housing affordable transit rehabilitation health care etc.

The concerns raised are valid because these local small businesses do not have to trust in you all yet to know that their investments into their employees is going to the correct place.

They would be satisfied in the end because their operating expenses would decrease because of it please increase the minimum wage and decrease the living wage with your future actions like not criminalizing marginalized groups who have been failed by our current systems that are wasting tax dollars.

Happy Pride Month and thank you all Mr Cornelius I think that um it is muted on Zoom we're being told so we've got we did okay great thank you so much.

Thank you Madam President and to the last speaker I'm sorry was trying to figure out the zoom on mute.

I agree with you I think we should learn that you know um that was a that was an error so apologize.

Good evening Madam President of council happy Pride Month and um thank you for modeling how when we do make a small mistake we can own it and apologize to the person and try to learn and do do get that so I appreciate that and I also appreciate this council bringing up some things that can help renters and workers tonight.

Yeah I know lots of us are not always here to say oh we're so happy with this council in fact you hear a lot more of the negative but I want to say thank you for bringing up these ordinances tonight.

To the minimum wage I spoke on Friday at lunch with a small business owner was asking her what she thought of it because I've never been an employer she says we already pay our workers more than $15 an hour so that's that's great.

I'm glad to hear that the difficulty is when you are a good business owner like that you have to compete with bad business owners who pay poverty wages and can lower their prices and then one other thing I do agree that a 25% increase all at once is a big jump because prices didn't say stagnant until this year.

So I think these businesses should have always been paying people more the minimum wage will not 2023 they could have gone up a dollar a year each of the last three years if someone done that they would owe their minimum wage employees about nine thousand dollars of back wages for that gradual increase so that would be my proposal please pass this ordinance Mona Madison Bonner followed by Mara Jams followed by Kristen Cummings.

Good evening, Madam President and council members.

My name is Mona Madison Botter.

I am a local business owner, but I'm gonna speak about a good personal friend of mine that could not be here tonight that demonstrates how this will impact the whole community.

She owns two restaurants, one on the west side in Albuquerque, one in Santa Fe.

Minimum wage in Santa Fe is higher.

Her expenses are higher, cost of food is higher.

She said if you guys pass this, her prices absolutely have to go up, or she has to lay off people, or cut new hires.

I think that's a great example of why we need a study, an economic study, why we need the small business input, and I think it'd be I'm trying to think of the right word.

I it would, it would be who of you to do those studies before you make this vote.

Therefore, I encourage you to defeat this at this point.

There's no doubt there's a crisis with the cost of living.

There's no doubt everybody would like a $3 an hour raise.

I think this is short-sighted in trying to fix a problem that's bigger than a $3 wage increase.

Thank you.

Mara Jans, followed by Kristen Cummings, followed by Justina Galloway.

Good evening, Madam President and counselors.

Please vote no on increasing the minimum wage from $12 an hour to $15 an hour.

I am a retired APS school teacher.

When I was getting my education degree, I also had three part-time jobs.

We need minimum wage jobs for people to get their foot in the door, but they are entry-level jobs.

And that's why I had three of them.

I proved myself as a dependable good worker and received pay increases based on merit.

We need more entry-level jobs to create the opportunities that I like I had.

I also had two roommates back then.

So that's how you afford a good apartment.

You have roommates.

So please suppose the government imposed minimum wage increase.

And June is the month of the sacred heart of Jesus.

Thank you.

Eva, all right.

Kristen Cummings, followed by Justina Galloway, followed by Matthew Stackpole.

Minimum wage carries a stigma in this country.

If you earn a minimum wage, you're seen as lazy, even if you work double shifts.

If you earn minimum wage, you're seen as stupid, even if you graduated during a recession and had to compete with veterans with 15 plus years experience in your field.

And as the cost of living rises when your wages fail to support you, you're accused of wanting a handout.

Working people don't want a handout.

We want to hand up.

We want agency to provide for ourselves without begging.

That is precisely what a minimum wage increase enables.

Every job should be able to provide a life with dignity.

If not, then what are we working for?

Responsible business owners are already paying $15 an hour, but they have to compete with businesses that undercut by underpaying their workers.

How can we justify a business owner making a living when the employees whose labor that business is built upon cannot make a living with their wages?

Voting against a minimum wage increase in this economy is not supporting small businesses, is supporting exploitation.

And quite frankly, I don't want to support a business that isn't gonna pay its workers and living wage.

So I'm gonna do my own audit of all the businesses I support.

And anyone, if this does not pass, who does not pay a minimum wage to their employees, I will be personally boycotting.

Let's see how good that is for business.

Justina Galloway, followed by Matthew Stackpole, followed by Prakash Sundowns.

Madam President and Council, my name is Justina Galloway.

My first job taught me responsibility, communication, and work ethic, as well as I was raised in on small businesses.

Entry-level jobs are often stepping stones that will help people gain experience and move up.

I'm concerned that raising the minimum wage to $15 could make it harder for young people and those entering the workforce to get that first opportunity.

When labor costs rise significantly significantly, employers may hire fewer inexperienced workers or expect more experience for jobs that were once entry level, as well as creating major challenges for small business owners or young people that desire to own a business and could deter them from pursuing that option.

I encourage the council to protect opportunities for future workers by voting no on this proposal.

Thank you.

Matthew Stackpole, followed by Krakash Sandarum, followed by Nathan Manning.

Madam President, members of the Council, my name is Matthew Stackpoint, and government affairs executive president, executive vice president for the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce.

The Chamber recognizes the rising costs are a serious concern for Albuquerque families, workers, and employers.

However, 2633 is not a targeted housing policy or carefully measured economic development proposal.

Has drafted it as a significant new wage mandate on local employers who are already facing higher rent insurance, utilities, supply cost taxes, and other operating pressures.

The chamber opposes this ordinance as drafted.

At a minimum, we cannot even begin to consider support unless three major changes are made.

First, the increase to $15 an hour must be phased in over three years.

Albuquerque's effective minimum wage is currently $12 an hour, so moving into $15 at once is a 25% increase in the wage floor.

And that affects payroll, taxes, overtime pricing, staffing, and ultimately the cost paid by customers.

Second, the fair market rent component must be removed by the annual adjustment for and must be removed from the annual adjustment formula.

Local businesses should not be held responsible for rising housing costs that are driven by many factors outside their control.

Housing affordability is important, but it should be addressed through housing policy, not by tying payroll obligations to two-bedroom rent estimate.

Third, this ordinance should be referred to a standing committee for stakeholder input and economics analysis for action.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for your time.

Followed by Nathan Manning, followed by Marcelin Costa.

Madam President, Councillors, thank you.

Our company has been headquartered in Albuquerque since 1995.

We own and operate six properties in the city of Albuquerque and employ more than 200 employees.

We are job creators in this community.

We already pay $15 per hour for our entry level positions, plus health care, dental vision and 401k.

For employees who participate with our benefit programs, the additional employer cost is approximately $2.95 per hour, bringing the effective entry level compensation cost of $17.95 per hour.

That's before payroll taxes, workers can't pay leave, training, and other employment costs.

Our concern is subsection C, which places future wage policy on autopilot through an automatic formula tied to CPI and fair market rents.

We don't want to be put in a position of cutting benefits to pay for future increases tied to CPI.

The Albuquerque City Council is elected to evaluate facts, hear public testimony, and exercise good judgment.

Minimum wage policy should remain within the authority of elected officials rather than being delegated to an automatic formula without consideration to other factors specific to Albuquerque.

Nathan Manning, followed by Marcelin Costner, followed by George Gundry.

Good evening.

Uh good evening, counselors and members of the community.

Uh my name is Nate Manning.

I own and operate assisted living communities in Albuquerque's northeast and southeast neighborhoods.

First, I want to express that we value our caregivers and staff.

They provide compassionate care to seniors every day, and they deserve fair wages and respect for the important work they do.

However, I'm concerned about the consequences the proposed minimum wage increase will have on our seniors.

Labor is by far our largest operating expense, accounting for nearly 50% of our entire budget.

Increased labor expenses will result in higher monthly rates for residents, many of whom live on fixed incomes such as social security or retirement savings.

Families already struggle to afford quality senior care, and additional cost increases will place assisted living out of reach for many more Albuquerque seniors.

A citywide range, a citywide wage mandate will have unintended consequences for seniors.

Reducing affordability and access at a time when Albuquerque's aging population needs more care options, not fewer.

I respectfully ask the council to carefully evaluate this impact on seniors in Albuquerque.

Thank you.

Marcelin Costner, followed by George Gundry, followed by Thomas Abeta.

Um I've heard a lot of mention of rising costs tonight.

And I think the understandable end to that for all of us is that our costs are going up.

It's getting more and more expensive no matter where you're at.

We're in the same damn boat, you know, and it's crazy to have us fighting each other and tearing each other apart over this stuff, whether you know I can't survive as a business, and I can't survive as a human being working at this business.

You know, it's pitting each other against each other, and there really needs to be something.

I don't think it needs to be this crazy.

But I think when we don't address things or pass rental protections or do other things to make costs go down in other ways, it just becomes more and more of a factor.

If my rent will not stop going up, keeping me at the same wage.

Which, you know, it'd be great if we lived in the world where fit minimum wage was just entry-level jobs and high schoolers, but it's not.

I also want to mention great to see the Koch founded Americans for Prosperity here.

And that I heard business owners earlier talking about automation, talking about seething at when when will I be able to have automated dishwashers?

When will I be able to do that?

Like, that's not a point.

We're George Gundry, followed by Thomas Abeta, followed by Rihanna and Samuel.

Uh thank you, counselors, for having us speak.

I own Tomasita's Albuquerque, employing more than 80 people.

We're a full service restaurant here in Albuquerque.

I'm speaking specifically against the tipped rate increase in this proposal.

If the goal is to help workers with the lowest earnings, a high tipped hourly rate misses the mark.

It requires restaurants to give raises to employees who are already among the highest paid hourly workers in the building while leaving fewer resources available for employees who earn less.

I analyzed a full year of my payroll data from my restaurant.

The average income of all tipped employees, including busers, servers, food runners, was 27.44 cents per hour.

The average pay of the kitchen employees was $20.66 an hour.

The servers averaged well over $35 per hour with tips.

Those are annual averages across all shifts, not just busy nights.

Restaurants operate on a finite labor budget.

Every additional dollar mandated for tipped employees is a dollar that we cannot use for raises, staffing, and career opportunities for our cooks, dishwashers, etc.

So no matter how much you increase prices, dollars remain limited.

The proposal forces me to give a raise to employees that are already making $30 an hour, so I don't have the money to give a raise to the people in the kitchen, like many of the folks in blue shirts here who are only making 16 or 17.

That is against the spirit of minimum wage, and I ask you to not pass this proposal.

Thank you.

Thomas Abeta, followed by Rihanna and Samuel, followed by Keith Murray, excuse me.

Hello, my name is Thomas Abeda, and today my comment is not just directed at uh President Pinya or the council, but to you, the audience at home.

Uh if you're watching at home, you might be wondering: is city council gonna pass a $15 minimum wage?

Are my politicians bribed by all of the restaurants in this room right now?

And why are so many balding men and botoxed women here to support anti-minimum wage efforts?

It's a good question, and I think I have some answers for you.

Let's read a little story I call Dan Lewis' emails.

Uh, could I have the top, please?

One second.

If I could have like five seconds back so I could show this.

The the top.

Oh, I just called it.

There we go.

All right.

Well, uh, I advise those of you at home to pause your screen and read this email.

It's from Dan Lewis.

Uh, hold on, let me get into character.

Uh Steve.

Would you make a specific list of me of lines in the bill that you would delete out?

I realize that you would like to delete the entire bill, but this is one strategy that I can use to kill it.

Just make a specific line.

So just make a specific lines that you would like to delete or change and just send it to me.

Uh that's to uh our folks over at the apartment association of New Mexico, Steve Grant.

Uh so if you're wondering, uh, thanks for the top, I appreciate that.

Are my politicians collaborating with the lobbyists in this room to make their bills happen or to kill the ones they don't like?

The answer is yes.

Here it is.

Dan Lewis sends the information he wants to his uh lobbyists.

They say, here's the language I want.

Delete this, write this, put this amendment in, and I'll do it for you.

That's what Dan Lewis's game is.

But that's not all.

Because on his own campaigns, he says he's funded by the Realtors Association.

Well, I was looking at Councillor Pena's campaign materials, and it says of that association of that fund, who's funding it?

The restaurant association.

We've heard from them tonight.

Well, here's my question to you, Dan.

Since that those folks over at the restaurant association, comments from me.

For you and your campaign, are you going to do what they say the way that we want the other workers?

You represent your exact or your votes.

This is your second warning.

So my warning?

Yes.

Oh, I'm sorry.

You got a warning earlier, and then you have to honestly.

So if you can escort him out, yes, please.

Thank you so much.

Escort it out?

Yes.

Or second warning.

For my second warning, I'm being escorted out.

Yes.

Could I at least have a little bit of understanding of why I'm being removed?

Those are the rules.

Um, I don't know if the director wants to mention the rules.

Am I alone here?

Is by chance.

My phone representative.

I think I'm you know, scheduled to speak warning.

I haven't really consulted anyone else.

I haven't gone out of my.

This was your second warning, so and this is gonna be your third warning, so you're ex escorted out.

Because those are the rules.

I don't believe they are though.

Okay, well, they are my rights right now.

Miss Colodon, can you um refer to the rules?

But you're still being escorted out.

Thank you.

That's fine, but I'd still like uh my own post to speak up.

Madam Chair, I just I'm confused also if you gave him a warning, which means it's a warning.

Earlier, earlier, and this is the second slide.

How many warnings do people get?

And we just did a third.

We're now at the almost fourth.

Yeah, yeah.

But all my, so the warnings are the second.

Are we gonna have to recess again?

We might have to.

I'm just asking a question.

Is there any chance that you could just give me the first warning and I can walk off?

Because I'm just asking for verification.

We are gonna recess for another five minutes.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

We're back in session.

I don't know where.

Um councilor Teis, um, if she can come in, and then I think we're missing a couple of counselors, but while they're coming back, I am going to go ahead and have um uh Vice President Champagne read the rules again.

Thank you, Madam President.

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 applauding, snap or snapping or other outbursts during the meeting.

The president will provide one warning to anyone causing a disruption.

Upon a second or continued disruption, that individual will be asked to leave the chambers.

If necessary, security will be asked to escort that person out of the chambers.

Such removal from the chambers will be effective for the remainder of the meeting.

If the continued disruption, if continued disruptions occur, the president may recess the meeting until order is restored, and if necessary, may clear the chambers of persons participating in that disturbance.

The meeting will go a lot smoother if we are respectful of one another.

Madam President.

Thank you, Vice President Champagne.

Mr.

Cornelius, can you please call the next speaker?

Thank you, Madam President.

Rihanna and Samuel, followed by Keith Murray, followed by Vanessa Spinazov.

Thank you.

Good evening, counselors.

Uh thank you for your patience tonight, hearing from so many people with a lot of passion and differing opinions.

Policies that increase labor costs, particularly when combined with rising taxes, insurance costs, regulatory environments, and construction costs, it makes it more difficult for employers to grow, hire and invest in our community.

A strong economy is ultimately what drives wage growth.

We should focus on policies that attract employers, expand housing supply, and create pathways to higher paying careers rather than adopting measures that may have unintended consequences for job creation and economic competitiveness.

For those reasons, NAOP stands in solidarity with our industry partners, and we respectfully urge you to vote no.

Thank you.

Keith Murray, followed by Vanessa Spinozola, followed by Tiffany Cunningham.

Good evening, Madam President, Council members.

Her whole family's been here for over 300 years.

We thought this is a good place to set up operations.

Like many of these people here, I was a minimum wage worker.

Uh I worked really hard.

I was a private in the army.

For 45 years I struggled and did things and things start coming into play with my business and everything like that.

So we work really hard.

We have one slide on the west side and one right over here in Winrock area.

But I think that uh you have a very tough decision tonight uh to make, and I I'm in opposition of the minimum wage.

I feel that uh there's a lot of things that can come into play for those things, but I uh I truly believe that some of the focus has been um mentioned tonight, and I think that we should look at some of the things that could help uh first-time workers with education, uh, employability skills, high school graduations and stuff like that.

And I was wondering, Madam Um President, could somebody translate this in Spanish for me?

Because I noticed a couple other people were able to do that.

I was wondering if someone could read this statement for me in Spanish.

Um yes, we have a translator here.

Is that possible?

I'm sorry.

Yes, it is.

If you just read this in Spanish for me, please.

What do you want for English to Spanish?

English to Spanish, please.

Uh I'm sorry.

I urge the the I urge the I urge the committee.

Sorry, I'm going into English.

Ganar salarios mas altos de una manera duradera.

Yo pienso que un mejor enfoque seria in focarnos in educación, entrenamiento laboral y asegurarnos de que los estudiantes se graduen de la escuela preparatoria or high school, para que están listos para travar.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And I just wanted to say, Mr.

Murray, that I think they're already translating as you speak.

It's my understanding.

But as a courtesy, yes.

As a courtesy, I just allowed that to happen.

But just so everyone knows moving forward, it is already being translated.

So thank you for doing that.

I appreciate it.

You went above and beyond.

Thank you.

Mr.

Cornelius.

Thank you, Madam President.

Vanessa Spinozola, followed by Tiffany Cunningham, followed by Gary Skidmore.

Good evening, Madam President and Counselors.

Thank you for your patience this evening.

My name is Vanessa Spinozola.

I'm the director of Southwest Campaign Strategy for the National Employment Law Project, and I'm a resident of Albuquerque.

While the new Albuquerque minimum wage won't be as high as Santa Fe's, which recently increased the minimum wage to 1750, Nelp is glad to see the proposals following one of the important new features of Santa Fe's law, which is the provision that ties future annual increases to a combination of rising inflation and housing costs.

Should Albuquerque's minimum wage stay the way it is right now, tied to inflation, it would basically continue to increase the affordability gap because uh housing costs are not keeping up with inflation.

Raising the minimum wage is an effective way to reduce poverty.

A 10% increase in minimum wage reduces non-elderly poverty by two to four percent.

A stronger wage floor generates savings in safety net programs like SNAP and the child tax credit, with fewer workers needing these programs.

Additionally, the increased minimum wage permits more workers to access health care.

Researchers in California estimated that after they pass their twenty-dollar minimum fast food wage, about 60% of Medi-Cal workers transferred off Medi-Cal and onto alternative health insurance.

And as I've been stated before, the economic benefits for low-wage workers increases to all businesses because they're able to spend more.

This is true that studies have shown even when businesses have to reduce hours in order to pass costs on to consumers.

Thank you.

Tiffany Cunningham, followed by Gary Skidmore, followed by Tristan Kumar.

Good evening, Madam President and Council members, thank you for your time this evening.

Please vote yes on raising the minimum wage a mere $15.

Um, that is peanuts, it's peanuts, nobody can live off of that.

Um, and we heard tonight several people do work minimum wage jobs and try to support a family.

It's it's not livable, but it's a step.

So let's do it.

Um I'm I'm a teacher, and I am being squeezed by this disaster of an economy, which I think we all know where it's coming from, top down.

Uh I think we can say it for with certainty at this point that trickle down economics does not work.

It turns millionaires into billionaires and the working class into the working poor.

We are getting squeezed and stepped on every single minute of the day, it feels like I have a 17-year-old son, he works at Taco Bell, they can afford that.

Okay, I was in Panda Express today.

They start their workers at sixteen dollars, so if they can afford it, why on earth can't our small local businesses who are part of our tradition and culture not get the support they need from you.

Give them something so they can pay.

Gary Skidmore, followed by Tristan Kumar, followed by Angelina Crowley.

Madam President, uh City Council.

Gary Skidmore, the owner of Holiday Bowl.

Uh we've owned it for four years.

Uh March 1st of 86 is when I purchased the business.

The business has been here since 1958.

One of the oldest businesses in the city of Albuquerque.

Um, we did a quick analysis.

Um, the 25% increase in one hit is going to hit our payroll at about $300,000 in additional payroll cost.

Our payroll last year was $1.2 million that we pay to our employees.

We have 55 employees.

Your $12 employee goes to $15, but the person that's been with me for a year and a half, who is at $15, now needs to go to $18.

The person's been with three years is at 18, has to go to 21.

And the effect throughout my entire payroll.

To be able to replace this amount of money, I have two options.

I can raise prices, which is what most people would have to do, or I can try to see if I can't generate in essence an extra thousand dollars a day to be able to cover what this increase is going to do.

I would rather see a staggered uh pay increase if we're going to do a pay increase, and I promised Mr.

Lewis I will not do any impersonations.

Have a great night.

Thank you.

Tristan Kumar, followed by Angelina Crowley, followed by Jake Rivera.

Madam President, Council members, and everyone who's attending here, my name is Tristan Kumar.

I'm running for governor for the state of New Mexico as an independent candidate.

I'm here to go against the bill until you guys actually do research on the data and seeing if raising minimum wage will actually affect our economy in a positive way.

I feel like you guys should do the research behind that.

What I know is if you increase it by 25%, that the rest of the wages and cost of everything from grocery store, gasoline will increase by 25% because the local business owners, especially the smaller business owners, cannot pitch that bill without making that money somewhere else.

If they are getting cut and they're getting their costs to rise, they have to implement that cost to the consumer.

So instead of raising it, I feel like uh I was speaking with Macy, and I think she was for the bill.

I think a tax incentive for employee taxes should be reduced, and I think you guys should look at something along those uh lines in order to see what the city can do in order to prevent the friction between the two communities.

I think the communities need to work together, and I feel like the city could do more to reduce this deficit by finding other incentives than rather raising minimum wage, and you should also phase it out, not just instantly increase it.

Thank you for your time, everyone.

My name is Tristan Kumar.

Have a wonderful day to everyone in this room.

Thank you.

Angelina Crowley, followed by Jake Rivera, followed by Dr.

Sonia Romero Autri.

Jake Rivera, followed by Dr.

Sonia Romero Autri, followed by Audrey Mitchell.

Evening, council.

Happy pride.

My name is Jake Rivera.

I'm a constituent in the Northeast Heights.

For too long, rampant inflation and corruption have been forms of violence against the working class, telling us don't complain, just work harder or die.

According to MIT's living wage calculator, minimum wage in New Mexico that could actually deliver on the promise of the American dream, the family of four with one breadwinner, like it was originally intended to do, would be just shy of $40 an hour.

Instead, we're here fighting for crumbs at a mere 15.

I and my partner are forced to take time away from our daughter to work longer hours at multiple jobs, not even reaping the benefits of overtime pay, simply to keep food on the table.

75% of working Americans living paycheck to paycheck, and over half of our unhoused neighbors are already employed as well.

We will constantly suffer the heartbreak of having to deny our children the time and dedication they deserve from parents who love them.

And the reason I keep having to give my daughter is I'm so sorry, kiddo.

I've got to work longer hours to pay the bills.

So consider after you've extracted everything from us and created a population with nothing left to lose.

What then?

Will you feel safe and happy?

Knowing you've created you've made a desperate population increasingly angry with you, the decision makers.

Tread carefully.

Dr.

Sonia Romero Autry, followed by Audrey Mitchell, followed by Tucker Richards.

Good evening, Madam President and City Council members.

My name is Dr.

Sonia Romero Autry, and I am the Albuquerque Teachers Federation elementary vice president.

I have spent nearly three decades teaching in Albuquerque Public Schools alongside students, families, and educators.

Every day we ask our children to come to school ready to learn, but learning becomes harder when families are struggling to pay rent, buy groceries, afford medication, or keep gas in the car.

The reality is that many of our parents and caregivers who support our students work multiple jobs and still cannot make ends meet.

As educators, we know that student success is deeply connected to family stability.

When families have access to fair wages and dignified working conditions, children come to school better able to focus, engage, and thrive.

Stronger wages means stronger families, stronger families means stronger schools.

Many of the workers who make Albuquerque function, including our immigrant workers, care for our children, build our homes, harvest our food, and contribute significantly to our economy and tax base.

They deserve the opportunity to support their own families with dignity.

Thank you for your time.

Audrey Mitchell, followed by Tucker Richards, followed by Joseph Greenwood.

Tucker Richards, followed by Joseph Greenwood, followed by Tad Niemitsky.

Joseph Greenwood, followed by Tad Numinsky, followed by Caroline Stanzak.

Madam President, Counselors, I'm a resident of District Two.

I wanted to speak in support of this ordinance tonight to raise the minimum wage.

And I appreciate that this ordinance mentions housing costs because the way they've spiked has been pretty intense.

And so just analyzing why that is, the city is currently 20,000 units short of where it needs to be.

And we have an artificial constraint on that housing supply through outdated zoning rules, making it more expensive than it needs to be.

So when it comes to the supply of housing, the IDO amendments in February could have been a significant step forward in hoping to deal with that, allowing more multifamily housing throughout the city, which would have required no financing investment, just changes to the wording of zoning codes.

This missed opportunity affects the situation.

When we artificially constrain the supply of housing, we increase the cost of it through demand.

Please support this minimum wage raise to compensate for this restriction on supply.

Thank you.

Excuse me, just a second.

My name is Ted Niemiski.

Raising minimum wages, that's elimination small to medium size businesses.

And it is not encouragement, raising, meaning of wages for these people.

To see succeed.

Now look at here, what's going on?

I haven't not seen it.

Homeless Mexican illegal.

That's number one.

Then, seniors, living on the 1,000 least hundred in the curky residents.

Living of Social Security.

One thousand.

How you expected that?

Then prices gonna go up on everything, especially both and other necessity.

Thank you.

Caroline Stanzack, followed by Dan Garcia, followed by Emily A.

Sanders on Zoom.

Thank you, Madame President, and counselors for the chance to speak.

My name is Caroline Stanzik.

I am a resident of District 8.

I'm here today in support of 026.33 for a minimum wage increase from twelve to fifteen dollars an hour.

After finishing at UNM, I had to take a full-time job in Santa Fe in order to afford to live in Albuquerque.

After taking a job over an hour away from where I live, I still struggle with affordability.

Rental prices have skyrocketed due to demand.

Even with roommates, my rent is still over half of what I make.

If you want to keep you young UNM graduates in the city, we need to be able to afford to live in it.

Based on a UNM study, minimum wage worker in Albuquerque has to work over 73 hours a week in order to afford a standard apartment.

Thank you, counselors, for letting me speak.

Uh I did give everybody a sheet.

Hopefully they have them up here on what are our prices have.

I mean, what are the wages get?

I'll just mention two of them.

The first server up on the top, Stephanie Jones.

She works 40 hours a week, she gets 720 an hour plus tips.

Said that she made 1,068 in tips.

So her girls pay without the tips was two eighty-eight.

So she ended up making almost $34 an hour.

Okay, that's for the server.

We go down to a busser.

Um over here it's um, I want to do the Adina.

Oh, no, I don't know why I circled the butt.

Okay, on the next page, it's uh Jesus Corona.

Madam President, point of order.

I don't I personally have a problem with an employer by name with giving us a list by name of their employees by name.

Because you gave this to us, it's now a part of the public record.

Okay, I I'm I have an HR background and I'm extremely extremely uncomfortable with the fact that we're releasing his employees' information in a public meeting.

Did you sir?

Did you get consent from your employees to do this?

To release their names and their titles.

This is the gentleman's public comment.

I'm asking the ability to be able to say what he wants.

I asked for a point of order.

I have the floor, sir.

Yes.

Um, Councilor Rogers has the floor.

Counselor Lewis.

I'm I would like an answer to my question.

Did your employee consent to this information?

Can I answer your question?

Honestly, I didn't ask the employees.

I did.

I didn't think there was some anything wrong with this, honestly.

Thank you, Mr.

Garcia.

I would just ask that you don't read their names publicly.

If we have them here, that's one thing, but please do not read their names publicly.

Thank you.

Okay, no problem.

I apologize for that.

Thank you, Councilor Rogers.

Uh Mr.

Garcia.

What we're gonna do though, once um your comment is over, I think we're gonna have our staff collect these and then we they can shred them.

Okay, appreciate it.

I hadn't had an opportunity to look at it until I just grabbed it, and I thought it was a sample, but so we go down to a busser that's uh working say 19 hours at uh 720 an hour.

He made 137 dollars of tips, he ended up at sixteen dollars an hour average.

So the busers and and the service.

What I'm trying to encourage is at least if you're gonna raise the wages.

I'm not opposed to it, and I'm gonna make that clear.

I would just like to raise them, if possible, at least a dollar an hour a year.

And I because of that, I don't know if I had enough time to talk.

I mean, I don't know if that I couldn't finish that.

You can um you can go ahead.

Um, give them another 30 seconds.

Okay, so we're just asking if they can, we're raise the minimum wage to 15.

You know, I I got that.

I mean, everybody probably deserves that.

Uh, if they could raise it at least a dollar an hour a year or even a dollar seventy-five, whatever it takes, you know, to to get to get to the $350 uh to get to the other three dollars an hour.

The servers, the servers make very good money.

The waitresses, if they didn't get, if they don't, if this doesn't pass, it helps us raise the cooks.

And just on the last page, annual cost.

Uh, if this all goes through, it costs us $615,000 a year.

And we've already cut down hours from our locations, and you know, we've cut down quite a bit.

Does anybody have any questions?

Hopefully.

Thank you, Mr.

Garcia.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

But our fixed income.

Yeah.

If we can just all kind of pass them over to the president, I will um make sure that they get disposed of.

Thank you so much.

Anyone who has a copy.

Any of our staff.

Any of our staff?

No.

This is it.

Okay, thank you so much.

We're not sure if we can trade them.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

Um, we are um next speaker.

Thank you, Madam President.

We're now switching to Zoom.

Emily A.

Sanders, followed by Aurora Silva.

Do I wait for the timer to begin?

Okay, great.

Um, thank you guys so much for having the public comment tonight.

I just wanted to come up before you guys to let you know that I do support raising the minimum wage, allowing it.

Our citizens here in Albuquerque to make at least $15 an hour, which quite honestly isn't really enough, but starts to move that point, allowing people to have better purchasing powers, um, helps reduce the poverty level, and helps raise overall um quality of life and well-being, being able to purchase ingredients, groceries, and uh essential items that they may need for their families.

I do also recognize that sometimes it can be hard for business owners to make that transition, but it's one that has to be done in order to uplift our community, and with that sometimes comes to us.

So thank you for being here and listening.

Have a good night, Aurora Silva, followed by Dr.

Rialdo Sionello.

Hello, my name is Aurora Silva.

I'm speaking supporting ordinance to raise the minimum wage of annual cost of living adjustments.

The cost of a little bit of these are rising in many factors outside of control, but there are still many things we can do to help provide relief to everyone who lives here.

One of the biggest things we can do is to provide everyone with a living wage, passing this ordinance.

Doing so, won't be enough, but it will help tremendously in fighting poverty and homelessness.

I want to talk about things that haven't been spoken about much yet.

Highlighting that raising the minimum wage will could lead to general improvements in physical and mental health.

Minimum wage increases of insurance associated with reducing the suicide rate with positive improvements in family dynamics and shut up development, especially those who work lower income jobs.

There's recent evidence as well from analysis here in the States and in the UK that raising the minimum wage will not substantially maybe affect the number of jobs available.

We've also been there's significant evidence to support raising the minimum wage, a cost of living.

But it's also a position of the Albuquerque Teachers Federation, which I represent as a federal.

Thank you.

Have a great day.

Dr.

Toraldo Sionello, followed by Gennaro Calderon Aviva.

Good evening, Madam President and members of the city council.

I'm an alternative health doctor and minister.

Please vote no and propose minimum wage increase.

Why?

No small business owners, no workers.

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, but they are struggling, 40% of them closed permanently during the pandemic, creating an increased cycle of poverty when wages cause prices to increase, hurting the bare people you want to help.

But don't surviving inflation, have sent food and energy prices soaring, dragging up costs for all consumers who need support from city council, not more costly mandates.

How are small businesses going to afford this hike without raising prices on consumers who are already hurting?

It is a self-defeating cycle.

New Mexico and Albuquerque already have a similar or higher minimum wage than our neighboring states.

Yet we have worse economic outcomes.

We cannot regulate our economy into prosperity.

Solutions lower the taxes on food, mortgages, rent utilities, or tax rate, etc.

Thank you, and may God give you wisdom and discernment.

Gennaro Calderon Avila, followed by Teresa Storch.

Gennaro, if you must if you'd like to speak, you must accept promotion to panelists, please.

There we go.

Everything good?

Good to go.

All right.

Good evening, everyone.

I am Hernaro Calderon Avila.

I am also a member of Olay.

As a neighbor, I care about our families.

I came to speak not only as a neighbor, but as a laborer as well.

I understand very well the value each of us bring day in and day out.

I work with a variety of voters, neighbors, family men and women, and I feel pride.

Pride for what we do, but shame for what we all have to endure.

Trips canceled due to rising costs, deciding between children's sports or medication, and so much more.

I've seen it from my household, my siblings, and my parents' households as well.

I'm asking the Albuquerque City Council to pass ordinance twenty-six thirty-three because it will create a path to a more dignified wage, better opportunities, and financial security for all of us.

I'm not just speaking for myself, I'm asking you to listen to the voices of hard-working Mexican families, your constituents who deserve a seat and a meal at the table.

And just a reminder, even if we don't enact anything, prices will continue to rise even if we don't enact anything.

Thank you.

Teresa Storch followed by Brittany Means.

Um Madam President, Counselors, Terry Storch, I ask you to support the rise in minimum wage.

Uh, the reasons given by a lot of the speakers um in front of me in support of it, um, are um articulate and um you know very, very moving.

I appreciate some of the small business owners who came in who are paying their um their employees above minimum wage, and thank you for doing that.

All costs to a small business are passed on to consumers, whether it's um rent, whether it's uh utilities, whether it's the cost of of shipping things with tariffs, you know, and um the high cost of of oil.

So I would like to say that um Albuquerque has um gone through paid um stick leave, has gone through um increases in minimum wage before, and we ha are still going strong.

Um the small businesses are still employing people.

Uh so thank you very much, and please pass us, Brittany Means, followed by Sean Kinney.

Hi, Brittany Means, uh local author.

I am here to support the increase in minimum wage.

Uh we keep hearing this argument that if we increase minimum wage, the cost of living will go up.

Uh, and I can understand the argument if you were born literally this very evening and you've never been outside the chambers of this room.

But if you go outside and look at the price of gas and the price of groceries and the cost of rent and the cost of basically everything, the cost of living is already going up and has been going up like consistently for years and years, and wages have not matched those increases.

And so this is kind of a no-nonsense measure to give people at least the image of a fighting chance in an increasingly unlivable world.

Uh and this idea that restaurants can't play pay a livable wage because they can't afford to operate, people can't afford to eat.

I'm sorry that I don't feel too sad about a bowling alley not doing as well as they could while there are people dying on the streets because they can't afford their rent.

Uh and if you're upset that people keep having outbursts in the chambers, it's because decorum means nothing when people realize that they're desperate and all of the avenues for recourse have been compromised by people who do not actually represent them.

So this is the logical conclusion of a governing body not representing their constituents.

You're gonna see outbursts in the chambers, you're gonna see more people dying in the streets, you're gonna see things like this.

This is what happens when you don't listen to your voters.

Thank you.

Sean Kinney, followed by Jim Copeland.

I yes, hi, I'd like to speak in support of this bill, and specifically in addition to raising it $15 an hour now, also tying it to the cost of rent.

Uh these organizations like Americans for Prosperity, uh in the Chamber of Commerce, we can't actually see what happens when you raise the minimum wage.

They said in places like California or Santa Fe, everyone's gonna be unemployed.

It's gonna be the end of the world.

And that did not happen.

Uh if what they're saying is true, then states with a very low minimum wage like Louisiana and Mississippi would be the richest states in the country, but they're not, they're the poorest.

And people don't have money to buy anything that's not good for the economy.

Uh and and yeah, uh for reducing the wage increases in the future.

If the government could have better regulations on allowing more housing construction, we're building more public housing, that would be something that would prevent these businesses from having to pay even more in the future.

Uh thank you.

Jim Copeland, followed by Dawal, Carl Rodwalla.

Good evening, Madam President, members of the committee.

My name is Jim Copeland, and I'm the executive director of the association of developmental disabilities community providers.

I speak tonight to the impact the increase in minimum wage will have on these providers.

Rates are set by state and federal governments.

These providers, contracted with the New Mexico Healthcare Authority, cannot raise their rates to cover this increase.

Most of these providers are already paying at least $15 to be able to recruit the necessary workforce.

What this ordinance will do is force these providers to increase their current wages to compete for the limited wick workforce with no opportunity to cover that increase.

This ordinance needs more time and more discussion.

Thank you for your time this evening.

Good evening, everyone.

Um, behalf of the greater uh Albuquerque Hotel and Lodging Association, who I'm representing here tonight.

Uh, you know, in this current form, we do not support this bill.

And uh, and really I'll use my own personal example, uh, as a hotel owner and operator here in this town.

Uh we've seen uh, yeah, you know, the last three years our revenue, our gross revenue has been flat.

Our industry standards says uh about 30% of your cost should go to payroll.

Uh we've already been uh we're and again we pay uh fifteen or more uh we're you know at our uh our locations, and so when we're looking at this number, we're already at about 35% last year.

Uh we're revenue still flat, and this increase because of the the increase that would be caused by uh some of the lower uh wages going from 12 to 15.

We'd go to maybe 1819 as our starting page.

And we're looking at about 45 percent.

Um, sorry, 44 percent would be uh of our gross revenue go would go towards payroll.

That's great, but we have mortgages, we have a lot of other expenses, property taxes, insurance premiums soaring.

So with all those considerations, I think an economic impact study does need to be conducted.

Um that will give us a better idea of of what businesses can, especially small businesses like ours can afford.

We lost money last year, and this would be devastating to us as well.

So uh I do support uh, you know, increasing in in a responsible manner once studies are there, but uh because we care about our employees, uh, but again, it has to be done um in a more methodical uh manner and and not in a in a way that's uh such a uh huge shock to business owners with such a uh one time increase.

So uh thank you again for your time and uh again I appreciate um being able to express my thoughts.

Charlie Marquez, followed by Eric Contreras.

Madam Council President, Council members, members of the audience.

My name's Charlie Marcus.

I'm here representing a large food manufacturer and uh New Mexico Healthcare Association, which represents all of the nursing homes in New Mexico.

Uh this proposal has been stated is too much all at once.

25% increase would automatically put Albuquerque businesses at a disadvantage to all of the businesses in the state, and would likely uh and likely across state borders.

As you all know, this increase would be passed on to consumers, since these types of increases would not be able to be borne by the business.

A manufacturing plant typically has about 300 employees.

This equates to 1.872 million dollars per year.

A nursing home employs 50 to 100 employees depending on their census, most make above the may the minimum wage, however, the upward pressure on the employees, they will all expect a similar increase in wage.

This could have implications of six hundred and twenty-four thousand dollars.

All these costs presented are in the first year, these costs would likely double within five years.

I urge you not to pass this piece of legislation.

Thank you for your time.

Eric Contreras.

Good evening, counselors, madam president.

My name is Eric Contreras, and I'm the director of business and community development with the Albuquerque Espano Chamber, and we do support fair wages and recognize the importance of helping working families succeed.

However, we have concerns about moving forward with a 25% minimum wage increase without sufficient input from the small business community.

Many small and Hispanic-owned businesses operate with limited margins and do not have the financial flexibility of larger corporations.

Certain industries, such as home health care, personal care service providers, face additional challenges because they depend on fixed Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement rates and cannot simply raise prices to offset to increase labor costs.

We're also concerned about the long-term wage escalation formula that ties future increases to both inflation and the housing costs, potentially creating significant cost increases over time.

It's Albuquerque's minimum wage, if it's at $15 now in 2027.

By 2037, it'll be 2686.

At the very least, the city should consider amendments that delay or gradually increase the minimum wage over a set period and reduce the removed index.

So we ask the council to pursue a balanced solution that supports workers while preserving the small businesses that creates jobs, invests in our neighborhoods, and strengthen Albuquerque's economy.

Let's make the right decision, not just a quick decision.

Thank you.

Madam President, that concludes comment.

Thank you.

Thank you.

It is 9 10 and we are in our first bill this evening.

So we are gonna go to the sponsors.

We're gonna go to the sponsors, and then um we'll ask, um, I know you already opened, but I just wanted to make sure that I went to you to ask you if you guys had any and other comments because there are additional sponsors, seeing none.

Any of the counselors have any questions.

Okay, no, okay.

So then we will go to the amendments.

So um we have I have a few amendments.

Okay, for the closing.

Okay.

So I have a few amendments, and I'm gonna go ahead if you guys can put it up on the um screen.

And I'm gonna start with floor amendment number D.

And that'll be labeled floor amendment number one.

And what this is is beginning on page 8 line one, insert a new section 1312-7 as follows.

Additional wage increase for certain city employees, city employees earning 80,000 per year or less in any year in which the annual cost of living adjustment results in an increase to the Albuquerque minimum wage, the city um city employees earning 80,000 or less in annual base salary shall receive an increase equal to the same percentage increase applied applied to the Albuquerque minimum wage.

This increase shall apply to all eligible city employees, regardless of whether their compensation is at or above the Albuquerque minimum wage.

The mayor shall include these wage increases in the proposed operating budget presented to the city council each year.

Any wage increases required by this section shall become effective on the first day of the fiscal year immediately following the annual cost of living adjustment to the Albuquerque minimum wage.

The wage increases required by this section shall constitute a minimum required adjustment and shall not be construed to limit the city's authority to provide greater wage increases.

So what this amendment does is this would require the city to provide annual wage increases to city employees earning 80,000 or less when cost of living adjustment is made to the Albuquerque minimum wage.

The increase would be equal to the same percentage increase applied to the Albuquerque minimum wage.

The mayor would be required to include the wage adjustment in the proposed operating budget submitted to city council each year, the wage increases would take effect at the beginning of fiscal year immediately following the minimum wage adjustment.

For example, if January 1, 2027 annual cost of living adjustment increases Albuquerque minimum wage by one percent from $12 to $1212.

Then city employees earning $80,000 or less would also receive that 1% um wage increase effective July 1.

And the reason for this amendment is is that if we're gonna ask small small businesses to follow uh the standard within this ordinance, then we're gonna do this at the city of Albuquerque as well.

So I would move it to pass the floor amendment number one.

There's uh a motion and a second by um Councilor Fablecorn for floor amendment number one.

Is there any discussion questions?

Councilor Bassan.

Uh Madam President, I I want to also just take a minute to point out Mr.

Mr.

Minominsky keeps talking to many of the people behind him, and I don't know if you want to just put your eye on that, but I also do have a question for the administration and how this would affect uh the budget moving forward.

Uh Madam President, Counselor Bassan, um, well, first just reading this.

I'm trying to think about how this intersects with collective bargaining because a majority of our employees are um their wages are bargained through the collective bargaining process.

Um, we would have to adjust obviously the wages in the proposed budget uh based upon this amendment when we send down a proposed budget annually to make this adjust make the adjustment that would be projected in that annual CPI adjustment.

Um I think we would still remain um subject to collective bargaining um for all of the final wage agreements or uh adjustments that we would make with each of those bargaining units, madam president.

I would like to make a motion for an amendment number one to amendment D slash one.

One.

Thank you.

Can we please add in the standard language that says not subject to collective bargaining that we normally have in kind of the standard verbiage?

Before we add that amendment in, I just want to, I would just want a clarification.

Part of the budget ordinance that we're still working on.

I think we have some counselors that are gonna be participating in that.

I just want to say that um, you know, we really have been working to striving to actually eliminate um the difference between wages and cost of living.

So if we're talking about cost of living, that shouldn't be a wage um negotiation tool.

I mean, that's just cost of living, kind of what we're saying that we should ask small businesses to do throughout the city.

So for that reason, I might not be able to I will not be able to support that amendment.

But um and so, madam president, I guess I I support this.

I just want to make sure that we are circling back to prevent some of that.

But if this is if you're saying that this would be something that, regardless of negotiation, how would that work legally if we have negotiations and yet we're still requiring the city?

I I support this because we should absolutely practice what we're trying to preach, if that's going to be the case.

So I get that part.

I just don't want us to legally find ourselves in a bind with it.

So I don't know, Miss Coolidon, is there would collective bargaining not apply to this amendment?

Madam President, Councilor Passon, collective bargaining procedures would still apply to these increases and would need to be negotiated as referenced by the CAO.

Okay, so Madam President, I'm gonna, I mean, we'll see what the council says, but I'll still want to make an amendment to this to try to include that in there.

Okay, um, so for clarifying purposes, Ms.

Kool-Don, it is currently, but if we do pass the budget ordinance that separates the two, then it would not.

Madam President, unfortunately, I'm I'm not familiar with what's in the proposed budget ordinance amendment that's a differentiation between cost of living adjustments and wage increases.

Is that accurate?

Correct.

Madam President, I think it'd be important to ask our city attorney who is on right now to see, but it's I think what I've learned in the past is any type of wage increase would be subject to collective bargaining, but I'm not a lawyer, so I don't necessarily feel qualified to answer that.

Thank you.

So Miss Keith, before you answer, I just want to clarify the question.

So the question is is that we have a budget ordinance that we're still working on, and we have a committee I think put together now to try to address it.

It didn't um it didn't pass um this past year, but it distinguished, and I just want to be very clear and careful that it distinguished the difference between a wage increase and a cost of living, and so when we're talking about if that were to pass and this passes, then it isn't subject to negotiations because it's just a cost of living, because then in essence we are asking small business owners that they should be able to negotiate the cost of living, but we're not allowing them to negotiate that.

So, um, so madam president, I believe the way that this would work would be uh the amount in this amendment would be the minimum that would be received no matter what, and the unions could bargain for additional increases.

Um I don't I don't think they could bargain for lower increases because this would be uh we established through ordinance.

Um I don't know if that answers your question specifically.

I I don't um I think this would be I don't I don't know if this would be either a wage increase, I mean I guess this would be a wage increase and not a cost of living increase because it would take effect no matter what the cost of living adjustment would be.

Madam President, may I ask a question?

Yes, yes, Madam President, uh Ms.

Keefe.

So if we don't change this amendment and it just continues and passes as proposed right now.

Then are you saying that there will be no legal issue with collective bargaining?

Because it can still be bargained, even if we don't put in the traditional language that normally it seems from my recollection that we always include that if there's going to be something when it comes to any kind of wages, and it's not subject to collective bargaining.

Um, Madam President, Councilor Bassan, I believe we do include that language.

Um I don't necessarily think this would affect bargaining because we would um still be able to bargain for higher increases, which is generally what would take place.

Okay, so is the amendment prepared.

Uh Madam President, Councilor Passan, um, and Mr.

Cornelius, I'm on uh page three of this proposed amendment on OneDrive, and I added the highlighted language at the end, uh, which reads um any increase increases pursuant to this sections shall be subject to any applicable collective bargaining procedures.

So what I would like to do is I think I would like to um vote on this amendment and have that as a standalone amendment because I cannot support that amendment.

If that's the desire of the president, this is the this is an offer to an amend an amendment, and so that's allowed if there's a second, but you're allowed to amend an amendment two times.

Correct, but we there would there has not been a second as far as I know.

So that's fine.

Okay.

Okay, so then um we'll just proceed with the amendment as is.

Um so if there's any additional questions, I would urge your support.

Council Rogers.

Thank you, Madam President.

I just had a couple questions.

Just looking at the breakdown, we've definitely studied the income of our city employees during the budget, and so just wondering where we got the 80,000 per year.

Because when I calculate that by hourly, that's 34 something dollars per hour.

So I'm just wondering what the threshold for 80,000 um, given most of our employees are definitely not at 80,000, more than 5,000 employees.

I think are under that.

So I just wondered where the 80,000 came from.

Correct.

So this is one of the um one of the items that I wasn't sure about is the amount.

I mean, I'm open to reducing that amount, but um, that was something that you know, just going through the salaries and and just trying to establish where that threshold is.

So if anyone has an amendment to the amount, I'm open to that.

Thank you, Madam President.

No, I just was wondering where just your thought process of where it was, just looking at the information.

I think at 80,000, which is way more than a counselor's salary, um, would be awesome for a lot of our employees, but I think financially that worries me.

If if I just don't I just want to pull out a number um without being able to um be thoughtful about it.

So um I just wanted to know your thought process, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So, with that, um, I'll close and I order support.

All those in favor of floor amendment number one, say yes and raise your hand.

Yes, oppose, no, no.

I didn't get that number.

Passed.

Passed on the six three.

I saw three.

I think it was five four.

I had it by four.

Can I see the no hands one?

Okay, let's do it again.

The no hand?

Yes, no's.

Thank you.

So that passed.

Okay, so that one passes.

Okay, so now we are on floor amendment number uh labeled B, which will be now floor amendment number two, and this one is um the minimum wage rate without me reading the entire thing.

I will read the explanation.

This amendment proposes to implement the proposed three dollar increase to the Albuquerque minimum wage over a three-year period.

In 2027, the minimum wage rate would increase from twelve dollars to thirteen, in 2028, the minimum wage rate would increase from 13 to 14, and in 2029, the minimum wage would increase from 14 to 15.

The full three dollar increase would be in effect as of 2029.

In 2030, the annual cost of living adjustments would begin.

So I m I move floor amendment number two.

There's a motion in the second for floor amendment number two by Councillor Bassan.

Yes.

Madam President, I have a question in C here.

In the underlying deal, it says the average of the annual increase of the following two factors in rounded to the newest multiple of five cents.

Yes, you what are the two factors?

Where did you read again?

I'm so sorry.

On C.

Uh-huh.

On the back page of it, it says that the underlined it says the average of the annual increase of the following two factors.

Rounded to the multiple.

So Ms.

Kuladon, can you explain that?

Yeah.

Madam President, Counselor Champagne.

Uh the text is cut off there because that's the end of the section that's being amended via this amendment, but the remainder of that section, if you turn to the bill itself, is on page five line 28.

The two factors that are uh proposed to uh go into the annual cost of living adjustments would be the increase in the CPI and the increase in fair market rent for a two-bedroom housing unit in Albuquerque as published by HUD.

Okay, thank you, Ms.

Kula Dawn.

Okay.

So are there any additional questions?

No one signed up to speak on this.

Okay, so I will close.

I heard your support on floor amendment number two.

All those in favor, raise your hand and say yes.

Yes, I don't see the.

What was the number?

If you keep your hand up for yes, those opposed, no.

Fails on a four-five.

So then we are on to floor amendment um labeled C.

Yeah, there you go.

And this is floor amendment number three, and it is the explanation for this one is this amendment proposes to strike the proposal to use two factors to calculate the annual cost of living increase increases to the Albuquerque minimum wage.

The increase in fair market rent for a two-bedroom housing unit in Albuquerque published by HUD, would not be considered instead the increase in the consumer price at the CPI would be the only factor in consideration of the calculation consistent with the calculation method utilized under the current ordinance.

Um I move floor amendment number three.

There's a motion and second for floor amendment number three.

Are there any questions?

Councilor Teus.

Thank you, Madam President.

I just want to ask what why we're not utilizing or what's the reason for not wanting to utilize CPI and HUD.

And the reason I'm asking is because one of the things we heard repeatedly throughout the evening from everyone who came forward, particularly from our um business industry leaders is we need to do more studies, we need to have more information.

Well, the UNM Bureau of Business and Economic Research, um, Cornell, Northwestern Affiliated research, all of that exists, particularly the UNM Bureau of Business and Economic Research actually conducted a study just last year on this, in particular, led by um Dr.

Riley White at UNM Anderson, um, that actually he developed the this calculation specifically for New Mexico.

And he did it comparing Santa Fe to other cities within New Mexico.

So the study and the economic research does exist, it has been done.

The Bieber research exists, it has been done.

In fact, an entire calculation was developed by a UNM Anderson professor who does this research for a living.

I would say, former US labor um secretary supported it.

So that's why we utilized it because it was developed specifically for New Mexico, specifically by doctors of economic policy for New Mexico.

So I don't know why we wouldn't want to use that.

Was the question for someone?

Well, it commented.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

So do you have a question on this one as well?

Yeah, because we're thank you, Madam President.

We're talking about HUD and the fair market rent report that helps to determine this.

And what I found on HUD was that it's that specifically for the fair market rent, it helps determine voucher payment standards, initial or rental renewal rates for section eight, and rent ceilings for rental assistant programs.

So is that the intent is we're linking it to another program that gives out vouchers?

And just one point of clarification if somebody knows.

This is both based on the current the current CPI.

This just goes back to what it was.

This just takes out the rental part of it.

That is it.

Okay.

Um, thank you, Madam President.

I did want to just speak to why the HUD language was included in the bill.

Um, we have uh Albuquerque minimum wage ordinance on the books right now.

It increased the minimum wage in 2014, and it has an automatic um index so that it grows up every year.

And what we found is that it doesn't go up enough to cover the actual cost of living in Albuquerque, and so as looking around at other um uh jurisdictions that have done this, uh, we saw that one of the things that would make the most sense to keep minimum wage moving at the pace it needs to move so that people can actually afford to live in our community, was averaging the consumer price index and the HUD fair market rate for rent.

Now it's not tying it to anything that is um you know a voucher or anything, but it is a documented number that is calculated by the federal government uh every year to tell us how much it costs to actually rent a place to live in our community, and so by averaging those two together, you get a more accurate representation of what it actually costs to live here.

And I'll just quickly say that you know, it the CPI increase um over the last 10 years has gone from you know 0.66 all the way up to 8.13 in one year, and similar increases for the HUD fair market rent went from a negative 6.7 in 2017 up to a 14% in 2023.

So if you do that average over the next the last 10 years, um the actual answer for our minimum wage, had we had this mechanism in place, would have shown lower um increases in our minimum wage over four of those years and slightly higher in six of those years.

And so that's the rationale for including that.

Really just trying to get at what the major cost of living is in our city, and it is by far rent.

Thank you.

Any additional comments?

No.

Um counselor Tiss.

Thank you, Madam President.

I just want to quickly, and I'll do this very, very fast, but with regard to this Vieber study and the review that was conducted by UNM Bureau of Business and Economic Research.

Let me find it here for you.

Apologize, apologize.

I just had it and then I clicked the button.

So their research analyzed 410 fast food restaurants in following minimum wage increases found that the rise in minimum wage actually had a positive employment effect, attributed the finding to possible explanation that unobserved demand shocks outweighed the negative employment effect of the minimum wage.

Employers face direct costs when hiring new workers, including recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and training.

And with respect to that, you know, I teach payroll accounting at CNM, and one of the things that I calculated by the payroll information that was provided to me by our great business leaders here.

One example I can I calculated was based off of this model.

FICA taxes are 7.65 of wages federally, a three dollar hour raise for full-time worker increased FICA by only $318 a year.

Um, whereas the churn, the annual pay for um lower wage jobs where there is turnover, such as in the restaurant industries, other service industries actually cost between $3,500 and $5,000 a year.

So to raise it by three dollars an hour actually saves thousands of dollars for our service industry employers.

So thank you for providing that payroll um information.

It actually helped me calculate how much money you'd be saving with an increase.

So I appreciate that.

Thank you.

On floor amendment number three, seeing none, I will close.

All those in favor of floor amendment number three, raise your hand and say yes, yes, that motion fails on a six-three.

Oh, all those opposed, sorry.

Nope, not me.

What was that?

That fails on a four-five.

Madam President.

Um, we'll move to reconsider uh floor amendment number two.

There's a motion and a second to reconsider floor amendment number two.

All those in favor, say yes and raise your hand.

Yes.

Opposed no.

One two, seven, two.

That passes on to seven two.

So counselor Lewis.

Uh move approval.

Is there any discussion?

Madam President, can we for the record make sure to clarify what and for the people here to clarify what we're voting on again?

Just read it.

We voted on the motion to reconsider is what we're on, right?

We finished that.

We're back on the bill.

Oh, we're back on the bill.

I'm so sorry.

Okay.

So we're back on the bill.

Sorry about that.

So counselor Lewis, too close.

Madam President.

Yes.

I'm sorry.

I'm not sure if the people here know what we're talking about going to vote on right now.

Oh, I'm so sorry.

So there was a motion to reconsider floor amendment number two.

Floor amendment number two is the amendment that proposes to implement the proposed three dollar increase to the Albuquerque minimum wage over a three year period.

And so there was a motion in the second.

And counselor, Vice President Champagne.

Thank you, Madam President.

Ms.

Coolidon.

Section C number one that I asked about before when it said the two factors.

It was just passed that we removed HUD as one of the factors.

Does this need to be adjusted to say one factor?

It did not pass.

Madam President, Councilor Champagne, amendments build upon each other, and so the prior approved amendment would still be in effect.

And the amendment that you're consider reconsidering now would only affect the red text as highlighted on your amendment.

Okay, thank you.

So any other discussion?

We're gonna close on this.

So this is a reconsidered amendment, floor amendment number two.

There was a motion and a second.

All those in favor say yes and raise your hand.

Yes.

Yes.

Opposed, no.

That motion passes on an eight to one.

Madam President, we consider amendment number three.

There's a motion in a second by Vice President Champagne to reconsider floor amendment number three.

Is there any discussion?

So floor amendment number three.

I apologize again.

Um floor amendment number three is um there's a recommendation a motion to reconsider floor amendment number three.

This amendment is proposes to strike the proposal to use two factors to calculate annual cost of living increases to the Albuquerque minimum wage.

The increase in fair market rent for a two-bedroom housing in Albuquerque published by HUD would not be considered instead.

Consistent with the calculation method utilized today under the current ordinance, and there was a motion and a second by Vice President Champagne.

Is there any discussion for reconsideration?

So with that, um all those in favor say yes and raise your hand.

Yes, opposed no.

Motion passes on an eight to one.

So now we're back on yes.

So there's uh a motion and a second by um counselor Baca for approval of floor amendment number three.

All those in favor say yes and raise your hand.

Yes, opposed, say motion.

I don't know what the can you please raise your seven.

Can you raise your hand if you were no?

No.

Thank you so much.

Did you get that?

Yes, okay.

So counselor Lewis, you were in favor, yeah.

Thank you.

Okay, so um I think we have one more amendment, and I do not have do not have a copy of that, so counselor grout has an amendment.

Madam President, I'd like to offer floor amendment number four.

Um Rachel will pass it out.

This amendment, let's see, on page four line 21, amend 13-12-3 minimum wage as follows, January 11, 2027, and each year thereafter shall be 40 percent of the Albuquerque minimum wage.

This is um, this amendment changes the amount of the tipped minimum wage from 60 percent of the Albuquerque minimum wage to 40 percent of the Albuquerque minimum wage.

So I got you.

There's a motion and a second by Counselor Basson for floor amendment number five.

Hold on one second.

Madam President, um, just to um jump in before we get into the discussion.

This amendment would also require a change to the title of the bill.

Um, a change to the um tipped minimum wage reduction is not um currently reflected in the title that we have for the bill.

Um, and so I would recommend adding that into this amendment.

Okay.

Title change require a deferral.

So um counselor grout, would you consider just putting this amendment in at a later time for the ordinance so that we can get this?

Um sure.

Okay, so um she's gonna withdraw the amendment and then um look at um bringing it back via the ordinance at a later date.

Counselor People Corn.

Madam President, there's not a need for deferral unless this amendment passes.

So I don't okay.

No one would need to defer.

And and you know what?

I've decided I don't want to defer it.

So I don't I don't want to withdraw it.

I would like to see if we can get it passed.

Okay.

There's a motion and a second.

Counselor Teas.

Um, I'd like to move a secondary amendment to the amendment to change from 40% to 55%.

So there's a motion a second by counselor um Rogers to change the motion from 40 to 55 percent.

Is there any discussion on the amendment to the amendment?

Counselor February, thank you, madam president.

Um, so I I just I have to say I can't support this.

This actually gets people less money than they would be making today.

Um, and that is not the intent of this bill.

Um I would be open to um another number that is less than the current, but certainly do not believe that this body should be reducing anyone's pay.

So counselor grout, it's my understanding that this does not reduce, so does it um if this cooled on?

Ms.

Coolidon, in the proposed um ordinance that's before us.

What does it say about tipped wages right now?

What does it say?

Madam President, Councilor Grout, um the uh current version of the ordinance itself does not uh make any changes to the tipped minimum wage calculation.

It is it would remain um calculated at 60 percent of the Albuquerque minimum wage.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, yeah, okay, right now, all right.

I'm gonna go ahead and withdraw this.

So do we need a vote to withdraw since it's already been moved and seconded?

So there's um a motion by counselor grout to withdraw.

Is there a second?

Okay, there's a set there's a second by um counselor Davis for a withdrawal.

All those in favor say yes and raise your hand.

I know I blew it, but okay.

Now I'm gonna offer it again.

Okay, you're gonna offer it again, yes.

So okay, wait a second, wait a second.

Let me let me slow down.

Let me slow down.

So all those in favor of um the withdrawal, raise your hand and say yes.

Yes, opposed.

No.

No.

Okay.

So that was an eight to one?

Yes.

Okay, so that was withdrawn.

Okay.

So Councilor Grub.

Okay, thank you.

All right, we're going to offer floor amendment five.

We're just gonna change it to 50 percent.

Second.

There's a motion and a second by Councilor Fib Feeble corn to change the floor amendment number five that was withdrawn, and she's in reintroducing the same amendment with the amount of 50% instead of the um instead of the 60.

So, um, Councilor Grout, I heard your support.

Any discussion?

Madam President, we would need to amend the title as well.

So we would have to change this amendment to amend the title because it's changing the tip wages, and that wasn't in the current title.

If it does pass, we'll have to publish the bill.

So just want to republish, we wouldn't be able to act on it today.

Councilor Feblecorn.

Madam President, um, uh it was my understanding that a reduction in this percentage still changes the wage, and that is covered in the title as is, and so I just want to clarify that.

In fact, Madam President, if I can just keep going here, the title right now says to increase the minimum wage rate, and this does still increase the minimum wage rate, and so it just changes the calculation.

Therefore, it should be fine under the current title.

Madam President, Counselor People Corn, um, while the uh amendment proposes to reduce the percentage calculation of tipped minimum wage, it would have the functional effect of raising um the rate for tipped uh minimum minimum wage, and so um that could uh be captured within the current title.

Thank you.

Thank you, madam president.

So it's my understanding that it's still a raise, it's just a very small one, which is within the title, and I just want to quickly thank counselor grout for uh working to find a middle ground here.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

So with that, Councilor Grout to close.

Okay, all those in favor of floor amendment number five, raise your hand and say yes.

Yes, opposed, same motion that passes unanimously.

Oh, what you were yes, so just to clarify that vote was eight one.

Yes, this is no, no, is he saying a yes?

Okay, and just for decorum and and and council um clarity.

If we can please raise your hand and keep your hand up.

The the staff is having, you know, this is something that they had asked me to make sure that we do that.

So when I ask if you can raise your hand, say yes and pause, and then for the um no, same same act, same action.

So, okay, so with that, we are back on the bill, and before we go to um the sponsors to close.

Are there any additional questions from counselors?

Seeing none, um, counselors to close.

Thank you, Madam President.

I think counselor feeblecorn will do our official close, but I just wanted to add some um comments.

Um, surprisingly, this weekend I had some time to actually watch some Netflix, which doesn't happen.

And there was a new uh documentary about Franklin D.

Roosevelt that I watched.

Just randomly came up on my thing and I watched it.

What was really interesting in that documentary is they were talking about minimum wage, and uh it was passed in 1938 under Franklin D.

Roosevelt, and it was so interesting tonight to hear the comments from people.

These were the same opposition comments in 1938, and I'll read some of them that I read about and learned about in this documentary.

1938, they were recovering from the Great Depression.

I would submit we are in a depression right now.

Um, low employment rates but high cost pressures is what we're dealing with now.

1938, the concern was wages were falling too low.

Here, 2026 concerns is wages are not keeping up the pace with costs.

1938, housing was relatively affordable compared to income.

Right now, housing affordability is near historic lows in many markets.

Child labor and excessive hours were a common concern in 1938, and contrasting to now in 2026, housing, health care, child care insurance costs dominate housing budgets.

The federal minimum wage in 1938, after it was passed, was adjusted regularly in subsequent decades.

But the federal minimum wage has remained $7.25 since 2009, the longest period without an increase.

Did the false sky fall down?

No.

Actually, what happened was it was quite the opposite.

There were businesses that were thriving, and employment drastically declined.

Employers uh said that they were able to hire pay higher skilled workers, which helped their actual revenues and their profits.

Um, and so I would just submit that this sky is not going to fall if we do it again here.

Um we are facing the same type of economic crisis that we were in 1938, but with a very different landscape in this country when it comes to housing, which is why we tied it to housing.

So I just wanted to remind us that you know the question tonight is not pitting workers against owners.

The question Franklin D.

Roosevelt asked in 1938 is the same question today.

This is about fairness, this is about a living wage.

That was the purpose of why this country began uh minimum wage in the first place, is because we wanted to make sure that people were given a living wage.

That's all I have to say.

Thank you, Madam President.

Counselor Chase.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um, I am, you know, I'm not going to talk about um sort of the labor costs associated with this, but I do want to say I want to thank all of the people who came and and spoke either in support or against the bill this evening.

Thank you so much.

I also want to really highlight, you know, all the business owners who came today.

Um, I'm a business owner, I know what it's like, and I appreciate you are supposed to protect your margins.

That's your job.

That's what you need to do, and I absolutely respect that.

I am in my role here.

I am not a business owner, I'm not a you know, any day, I am a policymaker.

Um, and so my job is to protect the conditions that allow sort of the broader economy to function, and I am not here to speak on an industry or one you know, you know, um category of people.

I'm here to speak on the common good.

Um, and we had this great conversation earlier.

Uh, George and I did about the common good versus the greater good, and appreciated that conversation.

So I'm here to speak on behalf of everybody and the common good.

Um, but what I really want to talk about is there is another issue that businesses and policymakers very rarely discuss in the context of wages, um, and that is occupational fraud, and it is internal fraud, it is um the fact that small businesses uh lose billions of dollars every year to um internal financial misconduct.

And one thing that I want to point out is when you wait raise a wage, especially like this, when you raise a minimum wage, it's not just labor policy, but it is internal fraud mitigation strategy.

Um, it is uh in New Mexico, it's not theoretical.

Um, incidentally, I do this research every day, so fraud risk is not limited to outside scammers, it includes insiders, and when we talk about fraud risks in terms of wages, there's a thing called this getting a little technical, but it's the fraud triangle.

Okay.

If there's fraud gonna happen internally at your business, there's three things that have to be present: pressure, rationalization, and opportunity.

When we address those issues in a working environment, raising wages, better paid employees are more likely to stay, understand procedures, protect their jobs, report misconduct, lower turnover reduces onboarding churn, it it weak you know that weakens segregation of duties, and it makes supervision harder.

What raising a minimum wage does it it low wages increase financial stress, higher wages take that stress away.