Good afternoon, everybody.

Thank you for I'm gonna go ahead and call this meeting into order.

Thank you for joining us.

Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Counselor Culbreth, would you lead us, please?

I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

You may be seated.

Let's see here.

Fire.

Okay.

So we're gonna go ahead and this work session.

We've got a couple of agenda items.

Uh Jake, we're gonna go ahead and call you up for the uh fire update.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Yes, we need to do that first.

No, you can come on up.

Um but could you we'll go ahead and call attendance?

I don't have an agenda.

I I'm I'm flying, I'm flying without an agenda here.

So uh we'll go ahead and call roll.

Counselor Dabson.

President Councillor Lynnentine is not with us, Counselor Tyler is not here.

Counselor Weimer.

Present.

Councilor Culbright.

Present.

Counselor List.

Present.

Thank you.

Um so uh we do have a quorum, uh, but uh with this is a governing body work session.

Uh no comments will be taken from the public and nothing discussed here.

There are no action items on the agenda items, so there will be uh no agenda items voted on today.

So thank you, Chief.

Uh if you would give us uh your uh update on the uh fire department.

Okay, thank you.

Mr.

Mayor, members of the governing body, my name is Jake Bailey.

I'm the one of the deputy chiefs for re-rancho fire, and I'm here to give uh some updates on recent and forthcoming happenings for re-rancho fire rescue.

Uh the first few are uh advancements we've made in our capabilities to provide EMS services to re-rancho.

Uh the first of which is liquid plasma administration.

Uh liquid plasma is a blood product uh that allows us to um treat uh patients with severe bleeding or who are significantly hypotensive before they reach the hospital.

Normally we would use normal saline, but using a blood product means that we're providing patients with oxygen carrying uh fluid that has oxygen carrying capacity, uh which dramatically improves outcomes for these types of patients.

It also places rearanchofire among only one or two percent of ground ambulances uh nationwide who have the ability to deliver plasma in the field.

So it means that we're getting definitive care to patients well ahead of when they would normally expect it in the hospital.

Uh the second is uh what's called finger thortomy or emergency chest decompression.

Uh this allows our paramedics to rapidly relieve life-threatening pressure in the chest caused by severe trauma, restoring the ability for the lungs to function effectively.

We find this in uh trauma cases where the lungs have been damaged, and so inspired breasts begin to occupy the space outside of the lungs but in the thoracic cavity, which compresses uh the lungs and reduces a patient's ability to oxygenate their brain and the rest of their body.

Uh so this is a reliable and less uh ironically, less um invasive or traumatic way to uh expel that error and allow the uh the lungs to expand again uh and improve the patient outcomes.

Um this is another hospital uh intervention.

They typically will rush people to the hospital so that they can get this intervention.

So re-arancho fire rescue medics being able to do it in the field means that again that they're getting to definitive care much earlier than we might other expect uh might otherwise expect they could.

Next is what's called medication facilitated airway management or MFAM.

Um when I was coming up, it used to be called RSI, but uh it allows uh specially trained paramedics to secure patients' airway uh using medications when they cannot uh when airways cannot otherwise be safely managed.

Uh it allows us a degree of control in what can sometimes be a chaotic environment to make sure that we get airways uh armored airways every time.

Uh this has a dramatic uh effect on neurological outcomes in patients who are either seriously ill or injured.

Um and again that brings hospital level uh airway management directly to uh the people on the scenes on the streets in the backs of ambulances.

Um and I should take a second to say that uh these are all special skills, they aren't in the normal scope of practice uh for New Mexico paramedics, and um the process for achieving or getting awarded a special skill is uh rigorous and it should be a rigorous process.

And so it is uh with the help of our medical director, Dr.

Brody and the uh diligent and dedicated work of our EMS division uh that we're able to get these skills.

Sometimes it takes as much as nine months to show that um we have the patient population and call type to merit the skill and to prove that we are able to do it.

So kudos to them.

Next is an update on Fire Station 8.

Um the bid will close on March 26th, and we're expecting that the contract award uh will happen on the April 9th council meeting, which will be a nice birthday gift for me.

And uh the soon after the groundbreaking ceremony will come in mid to late April.

Uh, believe the expected construction period is 12 to 18 months.

Uh this is a large modern station, it'll be a huge improvement for our overall response.

It'll reduce our response times as well as um uh just provide more coverage to the community members at large.

Uh it also has an election space as part of the uh facility itself for election season.

And the final update is uh station fire station three apparatus bay addition.

Uh the bid is expected to go out in the coming weeks.

The design engineering construction is expected to be about a million dollars.

Uh currently station three is a two-base station with a small living space in Captain's office, and the addition of the bay and uh perhaps an additional office space uh allows us to do a few things.

One is house another apparatus or house um some of the HDR equipment that is there that is housed outside, and also it might uh increase our response architecture capabilities.

Uh it might uh give us the opportunity to put uh specialty position, whether it be a wild end coordinator or North Medcom, uh just gives us some options uh in the north.

Um and that's it.

I stand for any questions.

Fantastic.

Any questions from council?

Um I'll go.

I just want to say thank you so much to you and your team.

I think this is so impressive.

This is so much work.

Um, and thank you all for admin for holding down the fort while chief's out of town getting chiefier.

Um so I appreciate you guys.

I don't I want you to not go unnoticed that you guys are holding down the fort and doing an amazing job, but I think this is so impressive to have this many things come forward.

Um I think it should also be acknowledged that you know, in the last 10 years, the council, the mayor have really been able to work collaboratively with the fire department to get us to where we are today.

So thank you for my predecessors and the leadership that has gotten us to this place, and thank you guys for being so innovative and creative to continue to um up the expectations of what this department is going to provide for the citizens of Rio Rancho.

You are so so very appreciated.

Thank you.

Thank you, Counselor.

Mr.

Mayor.

Yes, Councilor Culbreth.

Thank you.

Um very much, you know, kudos and similar to the things that Counselor List has shared.

Um, one of the things that um that I've learned uh so much um over these years has been um the fact that most of the calls that are received and responded to out of our fire department are are mostly medical calls, um sometimes accidents and sometimes rescue, but there are so many medical calls um that go out, and that comprises a very large uh segment of the work that that is done, um, but also that we are training and developing our our local um citizens, our we've got young people that are coming up through the ranks, and so when people think about healthcare jobs, they don't immediately think about the work that's happening in fire and rescue, but that is absolutely a place where um health care is happening in our community, and we're doing the work here you know through the council and the staff supporting that.

Um, and so these innovations that are coming in, um, I think it's important to just restate that only one to two percent of departments in the country, not in the state, not it in the country are able to do some of these services, um, and that means that you're bringing the best possible care to the citizens that we can.

Um, and I'm very appreciative and look forward to continue to supporting uh this very, very important health care work.

When we have a health care crisis in the state, um our city is responding in the way that we can, um, and I'm very proud of the work that you all have done.

So thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr.

Mayor.

Counselor Dabson.

Um, well, I I really I'm just gonna kind of go off of everything they said.

I agree with everything that they said, and I think um probably one of the most important things well for my district is the fact that station eight is coming up.

Um we have a lot of people moving in, the big districts getting bigger and bigger and more and more full.

So I'm really happy that's happening.

But I think what really excites me is the idea that um our fire and rescue is going to be able to do proactive medical care for patients as they're heading on the way to the hospital, so maybe they won't be stuck in the hallway waiting for a doctor.

And so that just that's I think that's awesome.

I thank you so much for doing that.

What whoever set that up.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kilton.

Mr.

Mayor.

Counselor Weimer.

I just want to echo what my colleagues have said up here about the hard work that you guys are doing.

And it's not just recognized by us here on the council.

I hear it day in and day out from the public, and that's impressive to know that you've got not just us on your side, but members of the public, and now you're gonna bring to them a whole nother level of service.

That's as fantastic.

Thank you for your hard work.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you, Council.

So I'll tell you what, I'm excited, especially about this new firehouse.

But over the last 12 years, we've seen just in incredible progress in this department.

I remember when I first came on in 2014, we had just completed a comprehensive fire study.

And one of the things when you run for office, you don't say, hey, uh, when I get in office, I'm gonna shut down a firehouse, right?

So that was a hard thing for us to deal with.

Uh, but it was it was one of those tough moves.

It was one of those tough situations where we had to step forward to maximize the resources that we had available at the time.

And I have to go back and just once again thank our our fire staff for the hard work that they've done over the years as we've really grown this fire department, uh, this public safety department over the years.

So it was a huge milestone when we got to reopen the uh firehouse up in the Mariposa area, and now we're getting to add one uh in an area that has been overwhelmingly uh hit with high call volume, you know.

And I know when we closed down Mariposa, we moved a lot of those assets down to station one so that we could respond in the area where the highest call volume was, and we've seen this really great growth.

And at that time when all that shifting and and moving around was done, um I believe we were upgraded to an ISO two.

Um I correct in that, uh Mr.

Geisel, it was ISO two, which puts us in the top seven percent of all fire departments in the nation.

So it shows that when you make data-driven decisions and that you take a very methodical strategic approach to you know building an organization like Rear Rancho Fire and Rescue, uh, you come away with these really amazing results, low, low call times.

I mean, I mean fast time uh response times, I should say.

And when I say low, I mean you guys are getting there fast.

And uh I know uh when there's an emergency and some somebody's having an emergency, there's no sound more sweet than the sound of a siren that they know is coming your direction, right?

That they're coming, you guys are coming to help.

And um, you all show up on somebody's worst day.

Uh and uh that cannot go unnoticed.

And so I just want to say how absolutely proud I am of the Rear Rancho Fire and Rescue Department for all the hard work that they've done over the years and how you represent our community and stand out nationally as one of the best uh one of the best organizations in the country.

So congratulations on that.

Once again, looking forward to putting a shovel in the ground on on Fire Station Eight.

So uh it's very exciting to see this happening, and it's exciting that we're gonna get it done, right?

And I saw the billboard go up and very excited about that.

I saw the chief's video on that, and very exciting.

So, once again, to you and the team, Chief, and all of the the uh you know the members that came before you that really helped kind of tee this up to where it is.

I think about all the different services that you guys have added and the different things that you've taken on and uh the this latest initiative uh and I'm gonna get the the uh the acronym wrong.

Uh if you want to back up one slide, where was that?

The uh the breathing.

Let's go back.

Yeah, liquid plaza, and then the medication facilitated airway management.

Yeah, M FAM.

M FAM.

You know, adding these types of services just really show that you're in step with the community and that you're wanting to make sure that they get the the greatest the the individuals that are in distress get the greatest immediate care uh and give them the greatest opportunity for survival.

So this type of stuff uh being added to our department is is uh incredibly wonderful.

So congratulations, thank you, appreciate all that you're doing.

Uh and uh look forward to seeing this department grow and grow and grow.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Mr.

Mayor, if I may, before you uh we transition to the next topic.

Um I forget the the the previous treatment, the pork rib treatment.

You know, so the way they the firefighters train on um the finger trust of me.

Yeah, they use pork ribs.

And I tried to convince them to bring in pork ribs so you guys could actually learn it, but I finished I failed.

So I can tell if you're being serious, and so I decided not to go.

And that's what happens when the real reason I want to grab the microphone is because folks decide to retire and they usually sneak out under the cloak of darkness.

And uh I think you guys will see Deputy Chief Bailey a few more times, but uh he's gonna be uh leaving us in the early summer.

Uh um, and he's been uh an amazing addition to this fire department um and uh a fantastic deputy chief and a good portion of my time as city manager.

He's been one of the deputy chiefs and um a real steady force that uh has made Jimmy Senior and Jimmy Jr.

both look good.

Um so we want to I want to thank him for that.

And I don't mean to put you on the spot, but you can uh show this to Molly and your and your children later today.

Um so I want to thank Deputy Chief Bailey because when he's getting to those final days, we'll be busy with the budget and other things, and next thing you know, we'll look out the you know the door and he'll be gone.

Um and uh also want to thank uh Deputy Chief Bailey and several other folks and um for what they've done in the paramedicine.

It's not just these three new special services, um, but the journey they've taken us on with paramedicine.

I would say in about the last eight years or so.

Um when I came back to the city and then got re-engaged with the fire department and then and then became become city manager, we're at a uh pretty much getting to a very low point in paramedics and um with Deputy Chief Bailey, uh Battalion Chief Mandeval, with uh you know, former Chief Wentzel, excuse me, for former Deputy Chief Wensell and former uh Chief uh D Filippo.

Now I'm saying names we start to talk about let's get let's get folks to paramedic school, and we've been uh with your funding support as a governing body, have been sending um eight to ten folks to paramedic school for the last several years.

Um they were fast and nimble and told the paramedic school in Santa Fe and told the paramedic school at UNM if you have no shows, if you have dropouts, if you have vacancies, we will send people.

Um and uh we're getting to a point um where we're seeing I think it's gonna be about 40 paramedics at the City of Rio Rancho once uh the graduating class comes out in May.

And that's great for our response.

As Counselor Colbert mentioned, about 70% of our calls are EMS.

Um so the geeks on the paramedicine side have made paramedicine the cool part of the fire department.

Um, and uh we're you know, there's there's departments, you know, we're we're talking a lot, continue about these hopefully we get more folks to go to become paramedics because just makes us an overall better fire department um and continue to grow those numbers in those ranks, and uh um you know, a lot of folks and uh you know a lot of things we talked about here.

Chief De Filippo was a part of, but also want to thank you, Jake, for everything you've done and other members of the the command staff and the frontline rank and file, the captains, the medics um who are out there doing it as well.

So thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr.

Manager.

All right.

Thank you very much.

Okay, thank you.

Um just for the record, uh, Councillor Lynnantine has joined us.

And um moving on to the 2026 municipal officer election update, Miss Davis.

So good afternoon, everybody.

I never stand up here.

This is kind of exciting.

So um, as all of you know, we are in the middle of an election.

Early voting actually started on February 3rd with um just at one location at the Clerks Annex, which is the Broadmore Senior Center.

Um in the 10 nine days that we were open, we had 692 voters, which is actually an increase over the 2022 mayoral election.

Um we've ex on Saturday, Valentine's Day, we expanded out and opened additional early polling locations.

We added four locations.

Um city facilities, and then we do have one commercial location, which is on Southern Boulevard and Larriott Square.

Um so this is just kind of an interesting slide as to what's happened over the last couple of weeks.

So back um in 2022, in the first week of early voting, we had 154 voters at the clerks annex versus this last week.

We've had 343.

And then this Saturday was the expanded.

And so that's the 285 versus the 404.

One of the biggest noted changes is in absentee voting for the period.

So we have had fewer absentee ballots.

Um in discussing this with City Manager Geisel and Deputy Manager Wells.

We were still coming down off of COVID at that point.

So just some basic data percentages of our voters.

This is the percentages for the full election.

None of this includes uh runoffs.

This is just specific to the elections.

But today is our last day for absentee voting.

So if you have constituents that are interested in voting by absentee, they do need to request their ballot today.

I would recommend that they go on directly to the Secretary of State's website in order to request it.

We do receive those automatically into our portal, and then we pull them out and process them.

I think one of the reasons, another reason for our low absentee turnout has been that the state went to a permanent absentee list.

The permanent absentee list only applies to statewide elections.

As ours is a specific municipal election, we are not subject to the permanent absentee list.

And so we have had some voter confusion.

So the regular local election in November will have the election, the primary in June, and then again the election in November.

And those elections fall under the permanent absentee list.

So today I pulled some data just as a reference point.

Our second spot is Loma, Colorado.

And Bradmore's actually still sneaking along.

Sabana hasn't been as busy, but that's because they don't have that automatic traffic within the MVD individuals.

So we've had um I believe it was 1,465 voters before I stepped up here today.

Does anyone have questions?

What was I what was the total voters as of today?

The total voters, um, 1,645.

Okay.

I believe.

Um we have just over 83,000 registered voters in Bernalio, or I'm sorry, in Sandoval County, we have two in Bernalio County.

Because remember, we have a little teeny finger of Bernalio County in Rio Rancho behind Perfection Honda.

And um there's about a hundred and thirty registered voters in Sandoval County.

So again, we make up the bulk of that at 83,000.

And we're offering same-day voter registration as well at all of our polling sites.

Noelle, and that data is since the doors open this morning at Yes.

Yes, that's just for today.

That's the turnout for today at the five early polling locations.

So I can go in and pull it.

Um it's fluctuated a little bit since I pulled it before I came in here.

All right.

Well, um it's unfortunately municipal elections uh tend to not get the turnout that you see in the big federal elections and so on and so forth or statewide.

Uh but that being said, uh uh can you go back to the year year to year comparison?

Just real quick here.

There we go.

So we're trending uh a little bit behind.

No, no, we're trending ahead.

I'm sorry, we're trending ahead.

I'm I'm inverting those.

We're trending ahead in week one, which looks good, 404, and then um I was trying to do the fast math because 285, there's an extra 115 there.

Um 154, 200 there.

So yeah, about down by 148.

Um and once again, um he's fast math.

He's got to be able to do that.

We're uh by 148.

I was in there trying to do it by hand.

He did he he had his notepad ready to go.

Anyway, um, which is not too bad.

It's not not too bad, but I think we can boost that up.

So and uh I got my vote in today, so did my civic duty.

Um anyway, uh we'll continue to uh push it out, push out the information and try to get people to the polls.

Um the uh the polling location on Southern Boulevard was pretty easy to get in and out of.

So I just think it's since it's kind of a new location, people don't know where it's at.

Yeah, it's really hard to actually find commercial locations that are willing to work with the city that are also reasonable.

I could have found some great locations, but unfortunately I didn't think that it was in the best interest to spend 30,000 a month for a polling location for a year lease.

Right.

Right.

No, and that one the the one thing I like about the one on Southern is it's really easy to remember the address is two three four five.

So just two three four five.

Can't uh can't mistake that address.

Okay, any questions by council?

Mr.

City Manager, anything?

Mr.

Mayor, members of the government body?

No.

Thank you.

All right, that concludes our agenda for the day.

Thank you all very much, and we are adjourned.