Las Cruces City Council Work Session – September 8, 2025
Las Cruces City Council Work Session – September 8, 2025
Mayor Pro Tem Bencomo chaired the work session on Monday, September 8, 2025, beginning at 1:00 PM. The session included updates from the Community of Hope Alliance agencies, a semi-annual police audit report from the OIR Group, and brief mentions of jobs and pets of the week. Council discussed federal funding cuts, new lease terms, and police accountability.
Consent Calendar
- Routine opening: moment of silence for police and fire departments, pledge of allegiance, jobs of the week (presented by Sarah Rainey), and pets of the week (presented by Carol). No formal consent calendar actions were taken.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were made during the session. Mayor Pro Tem opened the floor for public comment after the police audit presentation, but no one spoke.
Discussion Items
3.1 – Community of Hope Alliance Agency Updates
- Natalie Green (city staff) gave a brief history of the Community of Hope campus (city-owned since 1994, 17 acres, approximately 1,000 people accessing services daily).
- Mesilla Valley Community of Hope (Carol Updaka, Deputy Director): served 10,894 people last year; Camp Hope sheltered 194; 1,118 new people housed; 1,857 people and 1,004 children received housing assistance. Highlighted federal cuts risk and the need for flexible housing solutions.
- Jardin de los Niños (Michelle Adamas, CEO): serves children 6 weeks to 10 years; 350 families annually; 31 children on waitlist; 20% of families homeless, 80% near homeless. Designated trauma-informed care center and behavioral health agency.
- Amador Health Center (Ron Fitzherbert, CEO): serves all without discrimination; 1,059 patients in first half of 2025, nearly 4,000 visits; substance use disorder treatment in 600 visits; restarted dental hygiene services with DACC.
- El Caldito Soup Kitchen (Steve Chapeta, Director): 41 years of operation, over 3.5 million meals served; last fiscal year served 159,490 meals (budget $546,734, city contribution $32,000); cost per meal $3.43. Announced Operation Giving Apron and Empty Bowls fundraiser.
- Casa de Peregrinos (Lorenzo Alba, Director): 46th year; served 28,000 unique individuals in 2025 (18% increase); food basket cost $20, value estimated $500; return on investment 12:1 for food program, 20:1 for food rescue. Formally requested an additional $100,000 from the city.
- Lease Update (Natalie Green): current lease ends Dec 2025; new 5-year lease with up to four renewals under development; rent value $568,000; agencies provided over $3.4 million in services in lieu last year.
- Councilor Corn asked about the percentage of city funding (<10% for each agency) and highlighted misconceptions.
- Councilor Matisse urged collaboration with federal senators for funding.
- Mayor Pro Tem Bencomo noted upcoming state special session on Oct 1 and potential impact of federal funding cuts (Medicaid, SNAP).
3.2 – Eighth Semi-Annual Police Audit Report (OIR Group)
- Stephen Connolly and Teresa Magula presented the report covering January to June 2025.
- 10 internal investigations: 8 internally initiated, 2 external citizen complaints; 40 total allegations, 32 sustained.
- 20 employees investigated (14 officers, 2 detectives, 2 sergeants, 2 non-sworn). Disciplinary outcomes: verbal reprimand to termination; one officer resigned before completion.
- Critical incidents: two officer-involved shootings (2022 and 2023) discussed; delays in administrative investigations noted; department now conducts concurrent investigations.
- Force Review Cadre expanded to review holistic incident aspects (de-escalation, duty to intercede, supervision).
- Complaint demographics: sample too small (62 complainants over 5 years) to draw conclusions about bias or disproportionality.
- New trend: use of AI software for police reports; OIR Group monitoring and will report on guardrails in next semi-annual.
- Community outreach sessions held (one in 2024, one in Feb 2025); next session scheduled for 6–8 PM in council chambers.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes were taken during the work session.
- Casa de Peregrinos formally requested an additional $100,000 from the city; discussion deferred to budget process.
- The lease for the Community of Hope campus is under development with a five-year term and up to four renewals; city staff to finalize rent value.
- The OIR Group will continue to monitor AI use in police reports and provide a report at the next semi-annual presentation.
- Council directed staff to work collaboratively with federal delegation and state legislators to address potential federal funding cuts.
Meeting Transcript
You're live. Hi everyone. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Welcome to the work session today, Monday, September 8th. It is 1 p.m. I, as you can tell, am Mayor Proten Bencomo. We will start with a brief moment of silence for the brave women and men of the Las Cruces Police Department and the Las Cruces Fire Department as they keep our city safe 24 7, 365. Please join me in the pledge. Thank you, everyone. We will start off with jobs of the week. Good afternoon. My name is Sarah Rainey. I'm the one-stop coordinator for the Southwest region of America's Job Center, New Mexico. For the jobs of the week, we have a public health coordinator for the city of Las Cruces, starting at 69,000. And it is a continuous posting at this time. We also have an engineer for the city. That one also starts at the same amount, and is a continuous posting at this time. They're needing needing individuals in those positions, so they will stay open until they find the right person. For Doniana County, we have a planner designer for community development starting at 52,000 a year, and that posting closes on the 17th of September. We have an administrative assistant in economic development for the county, starting at 1824 an hour, and the posting closes on the 12th. So really, really soon. For Stampede Meat, there's multiple positions. This is just a portion of what they have out there. Everything from wastewater, trimmers, steak cutter, packer, maintenance tech, food quality control tech. There was administrative, all sorts of positions are open out there. And then for La Clinica de Familia, we have an ACT case manager for 2222 an hour, and that position closes October 2nd. And then just as a reminder, this week we have the career essentials in Anthony. That's one-on-one employment help, where they can you can go and get program referrals, assistance, anything you're needing for your job and career path. We have HR block recruitment in our office on 226 Alameda. You can come ready for an interview, bring your resume so you can apply for those positions. Give feedback to those that are doing the having their interviews done, and we can show you all of that in between. But if anybody's interested in volunteering, come see me. Thank you so much, Sarah. Next up is Carol with our pets of the week. Once I shake off my initial shyness, you'll find me rubbing up against the glass and making adorable biscuits, eager to connect with the world around me. I I might feel uncertain around people at times, but I'm already beginning to open up and embrace affection. A gentle and patient approach really helps me come out of my shell. In a loving home, I can continue to blossom into my sweet and confident self. And as always, we like to highlight our long-term residents to adopt and some other really good news. Both are two longest term residents currently at the center, Boxer and Pickle are actually going to rescue today. So after 253 days, they get to go on. We'd love to see them get into a home sooner rather than later so they can continue to thrive. And then this coming weekend, we are going to be at the farmers market here downtown from 9 to 12. So definitely come out and bark and browse with us. And for more information, feel free to visit our website, or you can also follow us on social media. Thank you for the time. Thank you so much, Carol. Today was a good news day. Thank you.
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