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Record of Proceedings

Las Cruces Planning and Zoning Annual OMA Training and Officer Elections – April 29, 2026

Planning & Zoning — Wednesday, April 29, 2026
BodyLas Cruces, New Mexico
SessionPlanning & Zoning
DateWednesday, April 29, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 27:38

Original source
Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it
0:12

You're live.

0:15

Good evening.

0:17

Ton is Tuesday, April 28th, 2026, 6 p.m.

0:22

This is the planning and zoning meeting tonight.

0:26

This is going to be a call to order.

0:28

I am Kent Thurston, the chair.

0:32

Really, there's no conflict of interest tonight because we're only have votes.

0:36

So no public here, so we have no public participation.

0:42

And so then we just need an acceptance of the agenda.

0:46

Mr.

0:46

Chair, I propose we accept the agenda as presented.

0:50

Second.

0:52

All in okay.

0:54

All right, this is on the motion to accept the agenda.

0:58

Commissioner Smith?

0:59

Yes.

1:00

Commissioner McCaslin?

1:01

Yes.

1:02

Commissioner Acosta.

1:04

Yes.

1:05

Commissioner Kaiser?

1:06

Yes.

1:07

And Chair.

1:07

Yes.

1:08

Thank you.

1:09

All right.

1:09

So that automatically accepts the minutes.

1:12

So now we're on to election of officers.

1:14

We're going to be electing the chair, vice chair, and secretary.

1:18

The way it's going to work is all nominations will come forward, and then in the order in which the nominations come in, we will then vote on the first individual, second individual, third individual, how it comes in.

1:32

And the first person to get four votes will take that seat.

1:39

What happens if you don't get four votes?

1:42

Then we start all over.

1:46

Can I ask a point of clarification?

1:48

So are we going by position or just yeah, we're gonna go by we're gonna go by chair.

1:54

The chair first.

1:55

So right now we will open it for it.

1:58

Uh nominations for the chair position.

2:01

I was just I was just gonna say really quick.

2:03

Um since there's only five of you here, it would be a approval of three votes.

2:08

It's only three tonight.

2:10

Yeah.

2:10

Okay.

2:10

Yeah.

2:12

Mr.

2:12

Chairman.

2:13

Yes.

2:14

I'd like to nominee, uh nominate um McComer Kaminasklin as chair.

2:26

Is there any other nominations?

2:30

Uh I'd like to um nominate Commissioner Kaiser as chair.

2:38

Is there any other nominations?

2:42

Perfect.

2:43

Okay, so the first one is Caslin.

2:46

And we will need a vote.

2:48

Yeah.

2:50

This is on the vote for Commissioner McCasslin as Chair.

2:57

Commissioner Smith.

3:02

Yes.

3:05

Commissioner McCatlan.

3:07

Yes.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procedural█████████████████████████████████████████████58%
Public Engagement█████████████████22%
Personnel Matters█████6%
Pending Litigation████5%
Public Safety████5%
Technology and Innovation███4%
Summary of Proceedings

Las Cruces Planning and Zoning Annual OMA Training and Officer Elections – April 29, 2026

This meeting of the Las Cruces Planning and Zoning Commission was called to order by Chair Kent Thurston at 6:00 PM. No members of the public were present, so no public participation occurred. The agenda was unanimously accepted, automatically approving the previous meeting's minutes. The commission then held elections for Chair, Vice Chair, and Secretary, followed by annual Open Meetings Act (OMA) training led by City Clerk Christine Rivera. Note: The transcript states the meeting occurred on Tuesday, April 28, 2026; however, the assigned date for this summary is April 29, 2026, per external instructions. This discrepancy is noted for accuracy.

Election of Officers

  • Chair: Commissioners nominated Commissioner McCasklin and Commissioner Kaiser. Voting resulted in McCasklin receiving 4 votes (Smith, McCasklin himself, Acosta, Chair Thurston) and Kaiser 1 vote (Kaiser). McCasklin was elected Chair.
  • Vice Chair: Commissioner Acosta was nominated and elected unanimously (5-0).
  • Secretary: Commissioner Kaiser was nominated and elected unanimously (5-0).
  • After elections, the new Chair and Vice Chair swapped seats.

Annual OMA Training

City Clerk Christine Rivera conducted the training, covering:

  • Board types: Standard (P&Z), non-standard, ad hoc, operational, and JPA boards.
  • Meeting requirements: Minimum quarterly meetings, 75% attendance requirement.
  • Code of Ethics: Respect, integrity, avoidance of offensive comments, and prohibition on lobbying council members regarding board decisions.
  • Open Meetings Act (OMA): Purpose (transparency), no requirement for recording or public participation (though encouraged), specific agenda requirements (72-hour posting), rolling quorum avoidance (especially via email), and minutes (verbatim for P&Z, available in draft within 10 business days).
  • Rules of Procedure: Follow Robert's Rules; clarification on tabling (date-specific) vs. postponing (indefinite, kills item); point of order.
  • Discussion on voting explanations: Commissioner Thurston questioned the previous practice of requiring commissioners to explain a

Meeting Transcript

You're live. Good evening. Ton is Tuesday, April 28th, 2026, 6 p.m. This is the planning and zoning meeting tonight. This is going to be a call to order. I am Kent Thurston, the chair. Really, there's no conflict of interest tonight because we're only have votes. So no public here, so we have no public participation. And so then we just need an acceptance of the agenda. Mr. Chair, I propose we accept the agenda as presented. Second. All in okay. All right, this is on the motion to accept the agenda. Commissioner Smith? Yes. Commissioner McCaslin? Yes. Commissioner Acosta. Yes. Commissioner Kaiser? Yes. And Chair. Yes. Thank you. All right. So that automatically accepts the minutes. So now we're on to election of officers. We're going to be electing the chair, vice chair, and secretary. The way it's going to work is all nominations will come forward, and then in the order in which the nominations come in, we will then vote on the first individual, second individual, third individual, how it comes in. And the first person to get four votes will take that seat. What happens if you don't get four votes? Then we start all over. Can I ask a point of clarification? So are we going by position or just yeah, we're gonna go by we're gonna go by chair. The chair first. So right now we will open it for it. Uh nominations for the chair position. I was just I was just gonna say really quick. Um since there's only five of you here, it would be a approval of three votes. It's only three tonight. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Mr. Chairman. Yes. I'd like to nominee, uh nominate um McComer Kaminasklin as chair. Is there any other nominations? Uh I'd like to um nominate Commissioner Kaiser as chair.

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