Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you for rising for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Let's see.

Councilor Colbrook, would you leave, please?

Liberty and Justice Raw.

Thank you.

If you'll please remain standing for just a moment, as uh I'd like to do take a moment of silence to reflect on our first responders uh and just keeping them in our thoughts and prayers as they uh uh protect us on a day-to-day basis.

Thank you very much.

You may be seated.

As I go ahead and call this meeting to order, please silence all electronic devices while attending governing body meetings.

And for the record, I'll announce the names of the governing body members.

When I say your name, please say present.

Um Councillor Dabson, who is online.

President.

Thank you.

Councillor Linantine, present.

Councilor Tyler has been excused, Councillor Weimer.

Present.

Thank you.

Councillor Colbrece.

Present.

Thank you, and Councillor List.

Present.

Thank you.

All right.

Um we're gonna start this evening off with uh some prop a proclamation and awards of merit, uh recognition this evening.

We're joined this evening by Dr.

V.

Sue Cleveland, uh School of Super Superintendent Extraordinaire.

So we're gonna have you join us down here, Dr.

Dr.

That would be wonderful.

And so we've got a proclamation here, and then we're gonna have you say a few words if you don't mind.

And uh recognizing you here at the city, we want to make sure that uh we give you that uh appropriate recognition because we are gonna miss you.

From the Office of the Mayor City of Rio Rancho, the certificate of recognition, whereas after 31 years of service, Dr.

V Sue Cleveland, real Rancho Public Schools, superintendent of schools will retire in the spring of 2026.

And whereas Dr.

Cleveland is a native New Mexican, and after gaining experience as a teacher and administrator and superintendent in New Mexico, Texas, South in South Carolina, Dr.

Cleveland returned to New Mexico to become Rio Rancho Public Schools first and founding and up until this point only superintendent.

And whereas Dr.

Cleveland shepherded Rio Rancho Public Schools growth from 5,900 students and seven schools in 1994 to more than 16,000 students and over 20 schools in 2026.

And whereas over the years, Dr.

Cleveland and Rio Rancho Public Schools have been recognized nationally for performance and excellence, and whereas Rio Rancho Public Schools under Dr.

Cleveland has been a major force in encouraging industry, business, and families to choose Rio Rancho as a place to live, work, and raise children.

And whereas Dr.

Cleveland provided leadership to Rio Rancho schools for more than three decades, and upon her retirement is the longest serving superintendent of schools in the state of New Mexico.

So now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Gregory D.

Hull, as mayor of the City of Rio Rancho, do hereby recognize Dr.

V.

Sue Cleveland for her outstanding service as the superintendent of Rio Rancho Public Schools to the City of Rio Rancho and its children and families and citizens.

Dr.

Cleveland, thank you so much for your service to our community.

Thank you all so much.

It's such a pleasure to be here, and I'll keep my comments short because I know you have a lot of business.

I um it has just been a wonderful experience, and um not too long ago in one of our cabinet meetings.

Um the city and the school district kind of grew up together.

And that's exactly the case.

The city, of course, predates the school district by 15 years, maybe something like that.

Uh but we grew up together, especially during the really big times where everything was expanding and we were growing really fast, and there were just so many challenges for both the city and the school district.

And one of the things I think was just uh very unique was a partnership that the city and the school district had to try to work together to make this a good place to to work, as you said, uh, for our staff to teach and for our students to learn.

And as uh, you know, it it it really was an amazing thing how this community came together on several occasions to really accomplish almost the impossible.

And when we were looking at building a high school, it would have been a decade or more before we could have even come close to getting the bonding capacity to build a high school, and yet the county and the city and the school district came together.

We found a way to make that happen in three years after the start of the Dutch strike, and so it was community, it's always been community, and we have had a wonderful team in Rio Rancho Public Schools.

We have been honored and and it has just been wonderful to work with the teams of the city over many years, and so whether it was building uh Rio Rancho High originally, later building Cleveland, a lot of other kinds of partnerships.

Uh, we we made it work, and uh I I'm just so grateful that I had that opportunity.

In addition, um, I had two my two sons grew up here, and you know, it's a wonderful thing as a superintendent to be in a community where you you you want your children to grow up, and they love being in this community, and we always felt it was safe.

We always felt there were wonderful opportunities for young people and in some of the leagues that they participated in and being able to play in the parks to be able to just be part of this this community.

So I am grateful beyond words that I had a chance to keep my children here all the way through.

Um, and uh I really you know thank my my family.

My oldest son is here, uh this James, and uh he's still in the community, and and uh Jay is my new grandbaby that is here, and we're all hoping he will behave.

And uh my my younger son is uh storm baseball, and I have a feeling maybe that's where Bob Tyler is.

Uh he coaches, and uh they are playing over at Cleveland, and so I think that's where he is.

Uh James's wife uh is uh an attorney, and she is at a conference in uh in Scottsdale, and my other wonderful daughter-in-law is here.

Uh Madison is uh uh a doctor of physical therapy at the New Mexico Sandoval Regional Um Orthopedic Center of Excellence.

And so she works in this community, and uh it's nice to have them all, both my boys here and and their families here.

So thank you for honoring me this evening.

Thank you for all the wonderful years that we have had uh to work together.

Uh, this is a great place to live, and I think it will be for my my my grandchildren as it has been for my children, and uh I uh I know that the school district is going to continue to do really well.

Dr.

Dodd is here this evening, and I I appreciate him coming.

I know he's just gonna pick it up, and he's not missing a step and and moving forward.

And Lauren Hatch is also here from the school district, uh, and I uh you know want to thank him.

He's often done a lot of the work with the city, and uh it's been a liaison for us, and so I know many of you know him as well.

And then some of you I've known forever, and uh it is it's uh it's just wonderful to be able to say thank you to all of you this evening and our fire department and thank you all for making this a wonderful place to live.

We got a great council and so much.

I'm so appreciative.

I'm a council.

Can we come down for the picture?

Yes, yeah.

Yeah, you know, we'll let you know.

And she works the bus.

Yes.

Fantastic.

Are you going to do this?

Mr.

She Manager, why don't you come join us?

We might get one more picture afterwards.

Okay, all right.

Please come here.

We go.

All right, are we good?

We go.

Fantastic.

Over here.

Wait, Lauren's over here.

Fantastic.

And uh uh superintendent, Mr.

Robbie Dodd.

You want to come join us?

Yes.

Yeah, come on.

Dr.

Dott.

Jump on in here for you with Dr.

Cleveland.

Next.

The most massive shoes that anyone has ever had.

Over here.

Fantastic.

Thank you guys.

Chief Windsome Amy.

Two of your adults are directors here.

That's why I'm always recording the try.

Your students.

You can ask them questions.

Yes.

Thank you very much.

I did want to just make a couple of quick comments.

Once again, personally thanking Dr.

Cleveland for her years of service to the community.

I know Councillor Tyler wanted to be here this evening and express his gratitude for your years of service as well.

But he's a he's coaching tonight, so you know.

So he's over there still being a part of what you've helped build all all over all of these years.

And I think it's just wonderful when I look at uh uh Chief Winsl and Amy Rincone here.

Uh two individuals that grew up in this community, uh you know, went off to school, came back, and now uh leading the community as uh the fire chief and and as the director of development services.

Uh your legacy is clear, your legacy is ongoing in this community, and the things that you have imparted this community continue to leave just a very positive impact in your fingerprints and your legacy will be on this community forever.

So, Dr.

Cleveland, you are you are Rio Rancho history, and you will always go down in our books as uh the the one that started it helped us get it all started.

So I just certainly appreciate you, and uh I know on behalf of all the city staff and just really the citizens of Rio Rancho.

We are grateful to you and you have your family and the sacrifices that you've made over three decades to make Rio Rancho really, quite honestly and unarguably uh the greatest community in the state of New Mexico.

So thank you for that, and God bless you so much for all that you've done.

Okay, moving on to public forum this evening.

Uh we'll go ahead.

Uh we've got uh Cheryl Gantz, good evening, Mayor, Counselors.

My name is Cheryl Gantz.

I've lived in the Los Rios neighborhood, District 6 for over 22 years, and spent five years addressing the issues of light pollution and light pollution in Rio Rancho.

I served on the outdoor lighting task force, which ultimately resulted in an outdoor lighting ordinance being passed in 2014.

Those provisions of installing fully shielded light fixtures on new residential and commercial structures were then followed until they weren't.

I'm aware that for the last several years that ordinance is often not being complied with for residential homes.

Just in my neighborhood, nine homes have been built in recent years, and only two have outdoor light fixtures that adhere to this ordinance.

Yesterday I spoke with a delightful Samantha in the building department who did lots of investigating for me.

And I was given a link to the form for the new home residential plan review checklist.

I saw nothing about outdoor lighting.

Yet on commercial builds, such as the new Arrowhead East development, lighting is specifically addressed, and fully shielded light fixtures will be installed.

Samantha provided me with David Matthews' contact info as a plan reviewer, and I spoke with him this afternoon.

I learned he's only been with the department for about six months, so is not that familiar with the ordinance.

He indicated he does see lighting addressed on commercial sites and said he'd look into this and talk with his superiors.

Then 15 minutes later, Brian Twiford called.

He wasn't aware the ordinance was not being adhered to, and agreed lighting probably should be added to the checklist, and we will address these issues at a meeting being held tomorrow.

Bottom line, this was not the spiel I was expecting to give.

Now it's about how impressed I am with these two gentlemen who actually listened, understood my frustration and disappointment, and are taking action.

Who wouldn't like more of these men in our lives?

The district counselors, if and when you see new residential construction occurring, please take note of the outdoor fixtures being installed before a final inspection.

And if the fixtures are not fully shielded, please let David or Brian know.

And Mayor, I wish you well in the next chapter of your life.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Mr.

Tom Dixon, Dixon.

Hello, I'm Tom Dixon.

I live in I've lived in Rio Rancho for the last 23 years.

And in the same neighborhood, I walk my dog every day, and I walk my dog down a pedestrian path that supposedly is managed by the City of Rio Rancho.

It goes from Chiote Road all the way over to Springer, where there is an iron gate.

My fear is that one day, without any vehicle barriers on this pedestrian path, one of them is going to decide to turn up this pedestrian path and at the most inopportune time drive down the pedestrian path.

Now I understand Rio Rancho manages this pedestrian path, but I want to think that there are some other governing body that actually had original jurisdiction from it.

Other than that, I'm hoping what I'm hoping that Rio Rancho can do while there is still time in the budget process for 2027 is to get your uh get your unelected officials to open up the budget and zero down hard into the microscopic area of this pedestrian path and see if some extra money can be set aside for some vehicle barriers that can be done tastefully, and it will stop a lot of shenanigans down that pedestrian path at the most inopportune time.

That's what I wanted to talk about tonight.

I don't want to ramble too much.

I won't take the whole two minutes up, but I'm hoping you can take a look at that and see if there is money that can be set aside for some vehicle barriers.

That's it.

Thanks for listening.

Thank you.

Mr.

Van Horn.

Uh this evening I didn't bring any new hand dog, but I would draw your attention to the handout I gave two City Council meetings ago.

It's one about the radar satellites record of what's up or down with water or more.

When I uh gave this out that evening, the mayor uh gave us his uh opinion and a lot of a report of his expertise and things that are in here and let us know that he had actually sat down with the person that was uh the author of this paper.

I would ask you to look at some of the information that is in this.

I don't know if you have, I would really encourage you.

Subsidence that the mayor mentioned is a very, very interesting problem.

And uh all communities that take water from aquifers have to understand these issues.

So uh I do appreciate the mayor bringing it to your attention, and I would ask you uh since the mayor is the expert seemingly on this as far as this body, I would ask you to ask him to get more information before he departs and leaves it to a new mayor.

Um the issues that are related to these types of things.

What I will tell you is I'm going to email each one of you some additional papers, some studies that are happening right now that talk about what is going on in the aquifers all over the South.

The problems with water that are about to we're just going to start seeing this year are incredible.

Um a lot of it are way beyond our control.

There is negotiations right now between the states that are taking water from the upper and lower Colorado River.

And the impact of those things is tremendous.

So I will email those to you.

But I would ask that uh for the new mayor, whoever he is, that he would actually make a concerted effort to appoint people to the public infrastructure advisory board and make that board actionable so that they can monitor the things that are happening in water and advise you all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any comments by counselors?

Mr.

Mayor.

Uh council list.

Uh I'll be very brief.

Uh, and I know that the parties have left, but I just wanted to echo the fact that um Dr.

Cleveland will be a giant loss, but it was wonderful to be able to celebrate her tonight.

Um, and also it's very exciting to have Dr.

Dodd with us.

He has been very exceptional in the transition and looking forward to seeing all the things that he's done.

He's put a great effort into immersing himself in both the community and the school district.

So um just want to welcome him on behalf of the city and and very excited to see that.

And then next, I would just like to give a shout out to our directors uh, in particular parks and rec and I think the library too.

There's so many activities that have just occurred and that are upcoming, and um these folks are putting in a lot of extra time um and effort, and I think sometimes we forget to say thank you and kudos because events are in addition to um, and then uh also uh as the summer comes, parks and rec uh has a plethora of extra folks that come under their umbrella, and we just want to say thank you.

We know that that your world shifts a little bit, and we we see you.

So thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you.

Any other comments by council.

Okay, hearing none.

Thank you.

Moving on to the consent calendar, I'll take a motion to approve the consent calendar.

I move to approve the consent calendar.

Second, I have a motion and a second on the consent calendar.

Ms.

Davis.

Thank you, sir.

Councilor Lindenstein.

Yes.

Counselor Dabson.

Yes.

Councillor List.

Yes.

Counselor Weimer.

Yes.

Counselor Colbreath.

Yes.

Mayor Hall.

Yes.

Thank you.

The consent calendar is approved.

Thank you.

Moving on to R24 resolution adopting the Orchard Park Master Plan.

Director Rincone.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the governing body.

Keep that from spinning around a little bit.

So uh item number four is R24.

It's a resolution adopting the Orchard Park Master Plan.

Um, and so I added in an additional location map just to kind of give a little bit of context that this is north of Northern Meadows.

Uh this next one uh this one actually zooms in a little bit more to show the specific boundaries that we're gonna be talking about tonight.

Uh it's approximately 46 uh I'm excuse me, 43 acres.

Um, and the application came in with 100% ownership.

And um in your agenda briefing memorandum, we actually have a copy of the master plan itself.

Um I've added in a couple of exhibits just to help kind of give some um some additional um information about um that the master plan itself.

Um and so what you have starting on the left-hand side in orange is everything that would be part of the master plan itself.

Uh the purple is the out parcels, um, and then in the middle would be the proposed roadway layout.

Um, and then that third um is going to be a breakdown of the actual um lot layouts.

Uh the orange would be uh what they would be asking for a medium density, the green would be the parks, and then the yellow would be an open space.

Um so as we come through with a lot more of these master plans, um, usually I'm I'm kind of really brief on these ones, but I wanted to start digging in a little bit since we had a lot of conversations on the DPM.

So I just wanted to highlight some of the things that are applicable from the updated DPM and the existing standards that just moved through with the DPM for this update.

Um, and so I'm gonna dig into these each with the next couple of slides.

Um so the first one again, talking about this master plan boundary again.

The application came in with 100% ownership.

Um if they had done a contiguous boundary, so including those out parcels that I showed on the first map in purple, it would have been more of a 70% ownership than the 100% that they came in with.

This one would have been under that threshold.

But again, they came in with 100% ownership for what they're showing is going to be within their boundaries, and those are the highlighted or outlined in black parcels.

Moving on to the next section, uh talking about parks.

So based on the proposed number of units that they were to come in with an R4 zoning request, which we assume would be the most applicable zoning based on the land use that they are requesting, they would need about 2.4 acres of parkland.

So that's within that 10% uh deviation that was built into the DPM and the chapter 155 uh subdivision updates.

Um and so um the other thing to note is that the parks um are not contiguous, so they do have four separate parks that they would be proposing.

Um and so that was something again built into uh the updated DPM.

Um so the the applicant actually was one of the um requesters to have non-contiguous park plan be an option, um and these would be HOA maintained parks because they would be under that three-acre um threshold.

Um the next one talking about roads and phasing.

So um one of the things uh to look at here.

Um so the subdivision um or the master plan would actually split uh progress.

So um it's going to be development on each side of progress.

Um and so progress would be on our long-range roadway system map as going to be as a future arterial.

Um the request uh we assume and and they talk about it a little bit in the master plan would be to come in for a half arterial, um, which means that instead of building four lanes, it would be building two lanes, um, which from a staff perspective makes sense because there's not currently the volume of traffic to necessitate the full build out of the road.

Um again, as we've talked about previously, we would um or the DPM does require that the roadways a butting subdivisions are paved, um, but there is always an option for the developer to come in during the process for preliminary plats to ask for a deviation to the DPM to not actually uh pave out that section of road if if it comes up that that it's um a better design if they don't do it.

Um but those are all things that we would evaluate at the preliminary plat stage.

A couple of other things I wanted to point out with this one, and so these are things that staff will keep in mind as we move forward uh with preliminary plats in the future.

We want to make sure that there is always emergency access, right?

So when we're talking about the phasing, and you have the first phase down there at the bottom, once we hit um 30 units, we want to make sure that there is a second emergency access that is that meets all of the standards of the IFC and is reviewed by the fire marshal's office.

We want to make sure that where we have the parks on this plan as they get built out, that there's access to them, right?

And and connections for the pedestrian walkways and that we don't actually drop sidewalks or end sidewalks.

Um, and so part of that is gonna be working with the developer in the future for those holdout lots.

So where you see uh the bigger uh rectangles on the map um or on that right hand side, the lots in white, those are the holdouts.

If there is a pedestrian path that's gonna connect from the existing houses to the parks, we want to make sure that the that there is actually that built-out sidewalk and other things, um, even though they're not necessarily part of the master plan.

We want to make sure that there is gonna be connectivity, and so that will be something that staff uh will be working towards as preliminary plats come in in the future.

So I think I've hit most of uh the big points that I wanted to hit on these.

Um so the planning and zoning board did review this at their uh March 10th meeting and did recommend uh unanimously approval to the governing body.

The applicant is here to answer any questions, and I will stand for questions.

Thank you.

Okay, uh before we get started, I'll take a motion to approve R24.

Motion to approve R24.

Second.

I have a motion and a second.

Uh let's see here.

Uh we have uh signed up to speak, uh Mr.

Mr.

Bohan.

Mr.

Mayor, uh, members of the council.

I'm going to have Sergio Lazoya with my staff do a slight presentation.

Amy did a really good job, so we're going to be a very brief job.

But before I step down, I can answer any other questions that he can't.

Um I want to thank you for being mayor of the City of Rio Rancho as well.

Thank you.

Sergio.

Yes, uh, thank you, Mary Hall.

Uh my name is Sergio Lazoya.

I work with uh Tierra West, and I am along with Ron, the agent on this uh application.

So I'll just touch briefly on the highlights.

Uh thank you, Ms.

Rincome, for your presentation.

So again, the uh the size of the proposed master plan boundary is approximately 43 acres.

Um as part of the master plan, uh we recommend in the future that the zoning be uh changed from transitional zoning to R4 so it can accommodate the medium density uh subdivision and housing type that we are proposing.

Uh ultimately at the end of the build out, uh we're looking at 278 single family lots.

Um the lots will meet the minimum lot standards of uh 40 foot width and the area of 4,000 square feet.

Um as far as parks, again, we will be meeting that requirement.

Uh there's approximately 806 residents, so we'll be providing 2.4 acres and parkland dedication.

Um as far as connectivity and the roadway build out, we will be working closely with staff as we approach uh the plating phase of this project uh to ensure that the connectivity is in place so people can drive or walk through those amenities.

Um and finally uh the master plan uh supports the uh comprehensive plan for Rio Rancho, so we think it's uh an excellent project that's going to provide infrastructure, housing, and some nice parks for residents to enjoy.

So with that with that, I stand for questions.

Okay.

Any questions by any comments by council?

Mr.

Mayor.

Councilor Lennantine.

Thank you.

Uh Ms.

Rinkone, uh a couple of questions here.

So uh if you can go back to any of the proposed land use ones, uh that'll work right there.

Um can you explain?

I I understand kind of what we're trying to play here by changing the boundary so that these lots that are on the outside there are excluded so that we're getting to 100% ownership.

I guess what I can't understand though is in that note right there on the far left of the screen says not included in master plan boundary.

Um how can those how is that not included if they're within uh within the whole boundary?

Does that make sense?

Particularly the one on the right.

If you could just kind of explain what that means for them to not be in the master plan boundary, so uh Mr.

Mayor, uh Counselor Lenantine.

So when the parcels are not included in the master plan boundary, um there are a couple of things that um are uh assumed by staff.

Um and then a couple of things that are um big picture-wise for those lot owners, right?

So for those lot owners, when they come in to um their land use is not changing.

Um so their underlying land use for TZ is still existing.

Um they would have to come in and um possibly it'd be a little bit harder for their zone map amendment to change their zoning in the future um because they don't have the underlying zoning that's or the excuse me, the underlying land use that's being discussed today for that medium density residential that is part of this master plan.

Um they also um are not under the common ownership uh with everything else in this master plan.

So um staff will assume that when an application comes in for preliminary plats, that these lots that are not part of the master plan are not gonna be part of those preliminary plats either.

So they won't um be uh split into further lots or reconfigured um in additional layouts.

Uh they also won't be under any type of the design guidelines that are currently in this master plan.

So if somebody is coming in uh to build a home, um they won't have any of the standards that that the master plan is putting in place for everybody else in the neighborhood.

Okay, so in layman's terms, are those holdout lots then?

Correct, yes.

Okay.

So like let's just pick on the one that's all by itself in the middle there besides that nice park.

Uh that would mean that as you're walking through that subdivision there, you have you know uh four houses above it, and then it's just gonna be just an open space, assuming that they don't acquire it between now and then, just an open space inside um the master plan boundary all around.

Is that correct?

Mr.

Mayor, Counselor Lenantine, that's correct.

Um and it would also be something that they are surrounded by a park that technically they don't they wouldn't have access to because they are they wouldn't be part of the HOA in the future, um depending on how the HOA comes forward.

Um not that anybody I I assume nobody's gonna be out there policing who's actually going to the park.

Um, but that would be uh a future concern for those residents that technically um because the assumption is these are not going to be public parks and they're gonna be privately maintained, that any of the holdout lot property owners would not have access.

Okay.

The other arrow that's pointing to the not included master boundary, why is though why are those lots there not in white Mr.

Mayor, Counselor Lennon Tyne, um I'm gonna leave that to the applicant.

I I assume that maybe that's more just um a graphical error on the map than um anything specific.

Okay.

Can you speak to that?

Mr.

Mayor, uh Counselor Lennantine, she's correct.

That was just the graphical error on our part.

And we can go ahead and get that updated and changed.

Okay, that's fine for the purpose of purposes of this evening.

Um so can you go back then to I kind of lost you a little bit on the development and the paving out of progress.

Can you go back to that?

There you go.

Thank you.

Um so can you talk through again?

So we're we're we're gonna pave progress to two lanes, not four.

I understand that.

I though I get that 278 houses doesn't warrant four lanes.

Um but can you walk through again uh at what point what gets paved one more time for me?

Uh so Mr.

Mayor, Counselor Lennon Tyne, so um how they have this phased, um the staff assumption would be that they would be paving Wilpit um up to that entrance point um on it's a little too tiny for me up there on the screen.

Let me see on this one.

Um can't see it on this one either.

So that first road.

Um and then when they would get to um that second, third phase um and the fourth phase is when they would actually take Wilplet all the way up to progress and then be paving progress.

So part of the standards that we have for the DPM is that any of the roads that are a boundary to a subdivision do um are required to be paved.

Um so this map shows it a little bit short, just going to that first entrance point.

Um and so there will need to be further discussions in the future on whether or not they paved the full length.

Um there is what looks to be another road that comes um the furthest to the west, that road right there.

It it only really makes sense for that to actually connect down to progress instead of being a stub street, but that will be uh a conversation that staff would have in the future um during the preliminary flat stage.

Okay, so if you were to just to test your knowledge on this, progress or will pet eventually hits what main what main road are we pushing all of this traffic to eventually?

Um so that actually if we go back to this main road.

Well pet all the way to UNSER.

Right.

So progress.

Okay, gotcha.

Right.

So uh Mr.

Mayor, Counselor Lennon Tyne.

So uh really the where this is going to go through is is most of the traffic, all of the traffic is really gonna go to Wilpit, down Wilpit to King, from King out to UNSER.

Um so yes, um if somebody wants to off-road and there's a lot of people who do that, they could take progress all the way down to UNSER if if that's um something that they decide to do.

But um if they want to do a paved road, um, it would be Willpit to King.

Will pit to King.

Okay.

Using that nice uh roundabout that we have there now.

Okay, all right.

Uh that makes sense.

And so that that satisfies um that satisfies you guys.

They don't need to there's nothing that compels them to pave progress all the way to UNSER.

Uh Mr.

Mayor, Counselor Lennantine, no, this is not um large enough of a subdivision to necessitate uh the full paving out to univers uh UNSER.

Okay.

Uh let me ask this in.

I I guess I'm just having a really hard time how and and kind of with the language of the DPM, how we can even say that there's a hundred percent ownership when we have where we'd have holdout lots in the interior of the master plan boundary.

But uh that aside, if we can go back to the map that we were just looking at to touch on parks for one second.

Um I really what what what seems to be happening, and I think that this will continue unfortunately with some master plans is it seems like we just we put in as as many houses as we could in certain places.

And then it was just okay, well, this kind of wouldn't work all right, boom, let's just throw a park right there.

And so kind of uh piecemealing parks I don't really like.

If you look at the two smallest pieces, I I can't imagine there's going to be any type of play equipment on that.

I mean, it's kind of no more than a five-foot wide stretch of of green grass that someone's gonna need to mow at some point, I guess.

And so that that is really annoying to me.

But also just kind of all of the holdouts that we have all around.

Let me ask this, Ms.

Rincon.

Have they provided any documentation of correspondence kind of with these holdout lots to kind of show you?

I know that they don't have to, but have they tried to show you we're trying, we've tried to negotiate, they're going back and forth to try to acquire more of these lots because I assume that they would want to acquire all of these lots that they could.

Uh Mr.

Mayor, Councillor Lennon Time.

So um this did um have a pause for a little bit where they did add in a couple of lots um and expand the boundary.

Um we have heard from the applicant um that they have been trying to actively uh purchase the other lots.

We haven't received any uh type of um documentation of that.

So we have had other master plans where they've kind of given us a we sent a letter on this date, we we've done this many contact points.

We didn't have that with this specific one.

Um but uh we do from their conversations with us have an understanding that they have been trying to actively um purchase these other lots.

Okay.

There's just so much that I don't like about this at all.

Um I think that kind of the spirit of the DPO, and we knew we would get tested on this.

Um we needed to set up percentage of ownership and different things like that.

Um I I think to to claim that this is anywhere close to 100 percent is kind of preposterous.

But I'll leave it to my other counselors for right now.

But there is there's a lot that I don't like uh in the Orchard Park master plan.

And I hate that because I really do like I I like that we're building um north of Northern Meadows.

There's a lot uh out there, there's a lot of land out there that we could develop, and uh, this is in my district.

But um I'll turn it over to some of my colleagues at this point.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you, counselor.

Mr.

Mayor.

Councilor Culbroth.

Thank you.

Um thank you, Counselor Lynnantine for asking uh those very great questions.

Um I covered a lot of the the questions that I had.

Um as you know, I do I have concerns about uh master plans such as these that um where the ownership truly is not um act at the the actual 100% ownership of the area um for the master plan, in particular when there are interior lots.

And I think one of the challenges that this raises actually shows up.

Um if you can go to the pro the one of the roadway layouts.

Yeah, that that that one is fine.

So it's kind of interesting um road uh proposals.

Um I'd be curious to to know how you know if there's a uh young child that lives um just right off of Vaidal and they want to walk to the sh their friend that lives on the other side of that street, um, they would probably have to just cross over the dirt because there would be no sidewalks on that, or they'd have no road to walk on.

Is that what I'm looking at?

Uh Mr.

Mayor, Councillor Culberth, so what we are going to to have to work with the applicant on in the future as this comes in at a preliminary flat stage with those construction drawings, is to figure out um because they would be building in the right-of-way, could they get a temporary construction easement um across these properties to actually build the sidewalks until these properties themselves develop.

Um is there another option for some other type uh alternative design um so that we don't actually have those dropped sidewalks.

Um so the goal would be not to have the sidewalks end.

Um and uh the roads would be paved in front of those lots.

Um they would have to uh put connections for those those lots, those holdout lots when it comes to sewer and water.

Um so they would have to put those hookups um for them uh for those lots to develop in the future.

Um but but one of our goals is to make sure that um that we note it and that internally that we make sure that we are looking for that um and keep that in mind as as this moves forward.

And I and I certainly appreciate those efforts.

I think the fact of the matter is that there's really no guarantee into what we'll be able to do because those are independent property owners that have property rights, um, and that's why having maximal ownership is so important, so that when the developer comes in, they have control over all of the properties and can um can execute the design as best as they um they desire, um, so that we can have communic communities with you know, you know, neighbors that can play with each other and kids can ride their bikes up and down the streets without you know running into a dirt lot.

Because I don't know that we would have ever quoted Shell Silverstein where the sidewalk ends, but apparently we found it here in this in this master plan.

I guess I have another question though for the applicant on the parks.

So we see two park layouts, but I see four parks proposed.

One is just kind of like a tail off of the edge of the of phase four.

Are there any design proposals for the other two like more significant parks?

That would certainly because I share Councillor Linentine's concerns about the two supposed parks, which I would venture to say probably don't have much grass.

There probably would be zero escaped.

But I wonder if the two other parks might have grass or have some design thought.

Counselor Colbert, at this time we don't have designs for the parks that are more north of the master plan boundary.

But we will continue working with staff as those come up and see what we can uh provide in those areas.

Okay.

Well, the the one the park that's kind of like the oh yeah, those are just oh yeah, okay.

I see.

I see.

Okay.

Um then do you uh just for the applicant, yes, please.

Um Mr.

Mayor, Council Colbroth, Brian Ottagon with uh AMREP Southwest.

Um just to help answer your question, these are typical designs of some parks that we put together.

We have not received full designs on the other uh spaces that we've uh included in this.

Um the remaining other park areas would be similar to these uh park layouts.

Okay, all right.

Thank you.

And then maybe perhaps you can I don't know if there's any further information that might be available on evidence of progress towards some of these um lots, or are is this still aspirational?

So Mr.

Mayor, Councilor Colbert, yes, we are continuously um sending out letters, emails to these rollout lots.

We do this on a regular basis.

Uh typically we do this quarterly.

We send out uh letters uh and if we have email addresses, we do reach out uh via email.

Uh and to show the progress that we've made, um, we've held up this specific master plan twice coming forward because we have been able to acquire additional lots.

Um the latest one was block uh uh one or lot two within block 15.

That allowed the full completion of the uh role of residential lots there in the middle.

I think that's in phase three uh that would really help um that continuity of the subdivision.

Okay, so then the next uh so we've got three months until we try to try again.

It sounds like I said, we we are continuously doing that.

Um we I don't remember what the last date was.

I think we sent out in February, so we'll probably be sending out in during uh this month or first of May uh additional letters in correspondence to those.

Okay.

Um, these I I've not um been um at all um excited about these type of um proposals.

I think they present big challenges when we think about um the community that we are really trying to create um as well.

I think it um there's one thing to go above and beyond where I do, and I will say I do appreciate because I want to note that I do appreciate the extension of uh was it Will Pit um all the way down.

I do actually I think that is um a strong show and really um a strong effort, and so I appreciate that.

Um I would like to see that level of effort um continued and and in some ways as a developer going above and beyond continued in other areas, like not coming all the way up to the very edge of the allowable um deviation, right?

So this was this is barely the park space is literally just coming up to the bare very edge of the allowable deviation instead of going above and beyond and making sure that the people who live in this community have wonderful outdoor spaces where they can play and enjoy.

So I would really just encourage trying to push that boundary and that the DPM, while it is the minimum standard, everything coming in should not be at the bare minimum.

And as a council, we are looking for those who are going above and beyond for our community because that's what they deserve.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you.

Mr.

Mayor.

Councilor List.

Well, I have several questions, but one of them is I don't know if I heard incorrectly, but your presentation indicates that there's 2.2 acres of park space, but I do believe the applicants said there were 2.4.

So I would like to know or clarify which is accurate.

Mr.

Mayor, Counselor Lis.

I think what was included with that uh acreage was the open space to the southwest uh side.

Um it was in a different color on the plan.

Uh that area will be receiving some sort of trail um that would connect to uh across the uh transmission line easements to existing trails along the arroyo there and into the uh northern meadows uh boundary area.

Director Ring Cone, is that your understanding?

Uh Mr.

Mayor Counselor List Um off the top of my head I would have to dig into um into the plan itself.

Um so we were just pulling the numbers um straight out of um out of the document.

So um there is a chance that we might have um overlooked um a little bit of acreage.

Um but that was in our review uh what we called out as the park space.

Okay, thank you.

Um the next question I have is that um going back to these holdout lots.

Um you said that you are consistently making efforts, which is great, and I I have an appreciation for that.

Um are you actively in conversation with anyone that has a holdout lot?

Uh Mr.

Mayor, Councilor.

Uh at this time uh we are not in uh contact with anyone or in conversations with anybody, but we are always reaching out.

Um the other thing that we're trying to do is that we also are trying to negotiate with those uh holdout lots if they would want to be part of the neighborhood.

The home master plan.

Uh but we constantly are asking when we when we do get some correspondence, we do ask the question, would you like to be part of this?

Um, you know, obviously our first question is you want to sell the lot.

Next question if the answer is no, would you be would you consider uh being part of this master plan area?

Basically, what it does is it creates the uh conformity that uh director and cone has discussed already.

Uh it allows uh allows them some future flexibility with that land if they ever decide to do some sort of development or not.

Um forward.

Okay, I appreciate that.

So just to clarify, we're currently not in conversation with anybody in the school dot lots.

All right, then the next question I have um looking at these parks, um thinking about the potential families that will live there if it were me.

Uh I I don't see a single piece of park equipment.

Is that anywhere in your plans?

Um at this point in time, the parks are very preliminary, Counselor List.

Uh and I can't say yes or no to that.

Um we just have to get into the development and design of those parks.

So uh Director Rincon, can you please help me?

Because I obviously am not completely fluent in the DPM, but um, for parks, if it's a greater continuous space, then there is playground equipment required and there are different requirements versus little pieces of park.

Uh Mr.

Mayor Counselor List, so um the way that the the DPM standards for parks um is set up now.

Um is anything under uh three acres is HOA maintained.

Um and but we didn't with that update put any requirements on what needed to be in there.

Um it is reviewed by uh the parks and recreation department staff um to give feedback and to help make the best parks possible.

Um but any of the recreation elements actually only start to kick in as requirements uh for three acres and above um in our neighborhood parks.

Okay.

Um so I I want to echo in a different way what my counterparts have already said.

I I feel like last time we really gave you grace and we're like, okay, you're creative and you're trying to bring forth this thing.

And I feel like this time you went even further down the rabbit hole of how can we skirt around uh the requirements.

And I think that you are like, oh, we have empty space, what should we do with this?

Let's call it a park and let's throw some rocks in it and we're gonna zero escape it.

And um you have a significant amount of of holdout lots, and I am just afraid that we are setting a precedence for let's continue to see how far we can shrink um our responsibility to the community.

And I would love to say yes because I love this area.

I would love for there to continue to be growth, but this is really questionable if it meets criteria and uh meets our ability to be accountable and responsible to the citizens of Rio Rancho.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you.

Mr.

Mayor.

Councilor Weimer.

So I have a couple of comments and and thank you to my colleagues for their comments because they were spot on.

Um let me just point to a couple of of issues.

First of all, this is an example of what we have throughout the city and that has been created by antiquated plating.

It is challenging by any property owner or developer to purchase all of the lots when there are holdout lots.

That said, um those same holdout lots are going to benefit from infrastructure that's being built by this project.

They will have roads, they will have water, they will have sewer, they will have sidewalks, and assuming that there can be an agreement that allows those sidewalks to be built in front of those lots, that they don't have to pay for.

Their lot value will increase significantly because of that.

Um moving on to progress boulevard.

Um can we go to the slide that shows where it's that one there?

So I know that there's been still preliminary, this is early, and and there's going to be a lot more discussions by the engineering team.

This plan shows that the project will not build progress to the west boundary of the property.

Um I um I'm torn here and it's really not my place to say I think it should be.

However, there is some logic to not building it to the west boundary because it won't be used and it'll just deteriorate and so that's that's an issue that I think the engineering folks will take care of.

Um that said, if it's not built and if something does move forward to the west of that arroyo, um I uh then that puts the onus on whoever's developing that to build that piece of road.

So again, just a comment more than anything.

I think bigger picture, and I think this is what generally I'm hearing on the council tonight is Director Rincone is do you see the ability of developers to take a master plan like this and say we're not master planning those holdout lots, therefore we don't they're not a part of the project, and therefore we own 100% of the project that we are developing.

Is that a loophole is is really my question.

It seems like what I'm hearing from my colleagues is it seems like those should have been part of the master plan, but I do understand why they are not because they're not owned by the developer.

So should they be calculated in the 100 percent, 90 percent, 70 percent, whatever that number is number.

Mr.

Mayor, Councillor Weimer, um so I do think it's a loophole.

Um I think that part of our presentation as staff, um, part of my presentation when we were talking about the DPM is we used an example of um high range four and high range five showing a couple of out parcels that they didn't include in their master plan.

Um but those out parcels were on the outside um and were accessible outside of the subdivision in general.

Um and um and when we did the calculations and when we showed those um on the screen to the council, um they were they were the higher percentages still, they were still um closer to like 95% ownership, 90% ownership at the time.

Um so I I do think that um an application just showing what lots that they have yes, I do think it's a loophole.

Um I don't know a good way to um to handle that with the fact that we have um the the antiquated plating as as just one of the big problems that we have in the city for lot consolidation.

Um but I do think um yes, thank you, Director Rincrone.

Thank you, Director Rincourt.

That's exactly my point.

And I don't have a solution either.

I just want to point that out that this is an issue that I think we're going to see going forward.

I think when we tried to tackle it previously with a percentage of ownership, the development community got creative and said, okay, we just want to include them in the master plan.

There we go.

Now we're 100% owner.

Ownership.

However, it does seem like it's potentially circumventing the purpose of the updated DPM and the ownership issue that's associated with that.

Thank you.

Counselor Dabson, I see you online.

I just have a question.

I'm looking at the um I want to see which one to say the proposed phasing.

And the area that has the mistaken arrow that it's pointing to, it also looks like they're the large lots and not divided.

And I was just wondering how that was being handled because it they're not the same as the rest.

I don't know if something got missed or how that works.

So can somebody answer that for me, please?

Mr.

Mayor, Councilor Dabson, um, so on the phasing map, the lots that are in white, those larger lots, um, are the holdout lots.

Um so on um the previous map over here, um, the one that was in a circle, so the the arrow is correct, pointing out that they're not part of the master plan.

It's just that the color on the exhibit itself, um, those lots should have been uh white instead of um the orange.

Okay.

So that continues to concern me as well.

Um I I have a I have a real problem with the with the one in the interior.

The the ones that are in the interior, it doesn't feel like it's really a hundred percent owned.

So I I have to agree with my my um co-conspirators here.

Thanks.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you.

Do you want to go?

Yeah.

Okay, go ahead.

I just have a couple quick questions.

So um Director Incone, so clearly on this when we talk about the holdout lots, right?

And are the negotiations of acquiring them?

All of these holdout lots had to be notified of this plan, right?

Mr.

Mayor, um, yes.

They should they were part of the notifications.

And those were all sent out certified to these other owners, so we think we know who they are?

Yeah, yes.

Uh based on uh county assessor records, yes, they they should have received uh notice.

Okay.

So that's kind of my problem too.

Is on one hand you've got a landowner that's trying to move forward, and then on the other hand, you've got these landowners that aren't even here tonight.

Have we received any correspondence back from them?

Uh Mr.

Mayor, um, not that I'm aware of.

Um we do generally fill a lot of questions, uh phone questions, um, but unless somebody specifically um wants to tell us that they want to submit a written public comment, um, those won't make it into the packet.

So there is a chance that staff had some conversations, but um I'm not aware of any of those.

But none of them are here tonight.

And that's the that's that's the crux of this antiquated platter um that goes back so many years is that these holdout lots aren't even here at the table, they're not even having a discussion, but they have been notified, and I'm assuming from that that particular perspective, here we are.

They don't care about our community, they only hold these properties, and we're trying to move forward, and there's a a need in the community to move development forward, and it gets just very frustrating because I uh so on that side, I'm just I'm frustrated from that that particular perspective.

But knowing that they have been notified, they understand what's about to happen here, they've been given information about what's happening here.

Um I don't know if that opens the door.

I guess I'll ask the applicant does when when these notifications go out, does that open the door for you guys to say, hey, um this thing's moving forward, this might be the right time for you to go ahead and sell this lot and get it into you know get it get it going because you know because my next question is gonna come right after this, but you know, um yeah, uh Brian.

Mr.

Mayor, yes, it does open the door for us.

It does help us in that situation because they see what we're doing, they see as we get this approved, we can then go to those homeowners or those residential owners and ask them, you know, do you want to be part of this or do you want to sell?

And you know, obviously we're looking to buy.

We love to buy the property.

Um but if we can get them included, that would be great.

Right.

This comes into my next question.

Let's say that you do start to acquire these and then you come in to amend the master plan, your percentage of park space is going to diminish uh on that percentage as you acquire additional lots if you're just going to put these in as homeowner uh as as additional home lots, which I'm assuming on the ones that are running along progress there, one, two, three, four, five, six of them.

Uh you have stub out roads on each of those.

So the assumption is you're gonna if you acquire those, you're gonna go ahead and do home lots there, and that's gonna still leave this diminished park space.

Is there any plan that if these are acquired that you're gonna go ahead and add additional park space?

For example, let's say you did get hold of the one in set section two there, that's a half acre, uh, or is that a one-acre or a half acre lot there in section two that's that standalone island?

Half acre.

It's a half acre.

I mean, is it considered or contemplated that if you all did acquire that, that that would be dedicated to park space so you'd have a larger continue contiguous park?

I think it would be a portion of it could be very easily done.

You can see where it would easily uh uh follow the layout with probably continuous lots on the uh uh smaller lots on the west side of it, and then maybe some additional parks there.

Again, the the layout is kind of contingent upon what we acquire.

Um one of the things that we try to do with the layouts is we try to accommodate for future uh acquisition of those lots such as the ones that you stated up on uh that about progress.

You know, we've we identify those as stub streets, but you can see how if we acquire any of those lots, we would basically be able to continue with create a continuous loop through there, and then we could create we could utilize some of that as park space, you know.

Um there's there's all kinds of options for us that we can utilize there.

Okay.

And my final question is progress right now, it only goes to Vidal.

Um but but uh section four clearly has a street that accesses progress.

Why aren't we doing progress all the all the way to the west of the development?

Uh because there is an access point off of uh four there that's going to go on to progress, and if progress just ends down here at Vidal, you will have people coming out of that that that access point onto a dirt road to get down to uh to go down progress.

So I guess my question is is why why aren't we why why why doesn't Sect why doesn't Section 4 go ahead and complete that road all the way to the to the west side of the development?

I think we ended up keeping that as a sub street right there.

Um we would provide for utility access in that location.

We did not uh account for the a secondary access to the lots at that location.

But what one of the things that we will be doing is we will go through a traffic study on all of these phases.

The traffic study will identify any shortcomings that are identified here, and we will definitely make sure that we meet those traffic study requirements.

That way we uh meet the city requirements as we go through the preliminary platform process.

So I'll say it again.

Um I I I want to see you see you guys be able to move forward.

It's very frustrating that these holdout lots are really standing in the way of progress.

Um uh, you know, especially in this area uh where this antiquated plating has been created and you've got these these lots that are you know in interior to the project as well.

So um okay.

I think that I think that covers uh all the questions that I had uh on this item.

Uh councilor Lenantine, did you have an additional question?

I just had a quick question for uh Ms.

Rancorn.

Um if if a park is smaller and if there's nothing in the DPM about equipment on it making it a park, then what what distinguishes a park from an open space then?

Would it just be maintenance of an area or vegetation then?

Uh Mr.

Mayor, Councilor Landenstein, yes.

Um so uh open space generally is uh passive uh recreation.

Um and so that would be more um uh a very basic trail um whereas uh parks are more um active um active areas with um uh park elements uh or recreation elements um but more likely to have like benches and uh dog waste stations and um any of those types of uh additional elements.

Okay, all right, thank you.

I think you guys have covered everything else.

Anything else from council.

All right, thank you all very much.

Um I have a motion and a second on R24.

Thank you, sir.

Counselor Weimer, yes.

Councilor Lennentine, no.

Mayor Hall.

Yes.

Councillor List Councillor Dabson.

No.

Councillor Colbreth, no.

The item has failed.

Okay, thank you all very much.

Moving on to second reading of ordinances, uh first reading.

Uh I'm sorry, but uh no, there's no second readings tonight.

Second uh first readings.

We have item number 505 ordinance amending chapter 36 finance and revenue.

Director Yara, welcome.

Um good evening, Mr.

Mayor and Counselors.

Um this is the first reading of Ordinance 05.

Um it is proposing to amend Chapter 36 of the code, which is more specifically um the procurement code, and it is proposing to add an exemption uh to the procurement code for contracts that are relating to employee insurance benefit and other cover uh retirement services or products.

The reason that we are asking for this exemption is because we need a little bit more flexibility in the procurement of these services and and um um products because you know health insurance especially um deals with a lot of sensitive um data, health data.

Um the providers of these insurances and products um usually require very real-time data that we kind of is in conflict with our normal procurement process because that is so open.

We do have um contract uh benefit um administrator or um as it were a consultant to help us fill all of these products and benefits for employees and they actually um facilitate the procurement of these uh items with of course um director Martinez and her group in HR and the insurance um committee.

So we are just asking that we add this exemption to allow for just a more seamless procurement method.

Um I want to note that other local governments in New Mexico have similar exemptions.

It is not unusual.

Um they also deal with a consultant who helps them procure um services.

Um the state of New Mexico, City of Albuquerque, Bernalio County, City of Las Cruces are just some examples who uh have the same exemption.

Um we do have um a representative from Gallagher with our consultant, John Hatz.

He's an area vice president.

Um he's available for any questions, as well as Ms.

Martinez.

Um I will stand for questions.

Thank you.

We'll take a motion to approve O5.

Move to approve O five.

Second.

All right, do we have anybody signed up to speak on this item?

No, sir, we do not.

Okay, any comments by council.

All right, hearing none, Ms.

Davis, 05, please.

Thank you.

Counselor List.

Yes.

Counselor Colbreth?

Yes.

Counselor Weimer?

Yes.

Counselor Lennantine?

Yes.

Counselor Dabson.

Yes.

Mayor Hall.

Yes.

O5 is approved.

Thank you.

Moving on to R25 resolution amending the permanent fund investment policy statement.

Director Yara.

Yes, thank you, Mr.

Mayor and Counselors.

Um, this resolution is to uh approve changes to the permanent fund investment policy statement.

Um the charter and our co and the city code allow for uh periodic review of this statement and the policy.

Um we work with our our investment advisor who is currently um government portfolio advisors and Miss Woodring and her group.

Um they along with myself reviewed the policy and brought changes, uh recommendations for change to the um investment advisory board back in February at their February 18th meeting.

Um these changes to the policy um surround a couple of things, and they're mostly um language changes within the policy.

They are not changing any of the substance of our strategic plan or are how we are investing um today.

So the first thing that these changes are doing is just um memorializing the city's um policy to allow for the investment in real return assets, and what that is is uh basically a higher yield uh investment with yields that are higher than the inflation rate.

Um but that mostly means investments like investments in real estate and other kind of commodity type investments.

Um the city is only limited, and this is only for the permanent fund uh portfolio is limited to five percent of the total investment portfolio to be in these real assets.

So we are just um updating the tables to um to reflect that.

The other changes that are being that are proposed here are to just um clarify the relationship that we have with the New Mexico State Investment Council Council, excuse me.

Um currently uh although permanent fund is invested uh through this the state investment council.

They are not at our advisor, however, they are just an investment manager that we are allowed to use under the state law.

So we are just clarifying um in a couple of places that they are not our our advisor.

GPA is actually at our our advisor and uses their data to make recommendations to us.

Um that's really the bulk of the changes here.

Um I will just also um give you a heads up that we will be looking at our normal or our regular portfolio investment policy statement um later this year.

So I will stand for questions.

Thank you.

I'll take a motion to approve R 25.

Motion to approve R25 seconds.

Second.

I have a motion and a second.

Do we have anybody signed up to speak on this item?

No, we do not.

Any comments by council.

Hearing none, Ms.

D oh, I'm sorry.

Okay, uh Ms.

Davis.

Thank you.

Counselor Dabson.

Yes.

Counselor Lynn Time?

Yes.

Mayor Hall?

Yes.

Councillor Weimer?

Yes.

Counselor Colbreth?

Yes.

Counselor List.

Yes.

R25 is approved.

Thank you.

Thank you, Director.

Moving on to R26 resolution authorizing a budget adjustment to the utilities operation fund.

Director Gallegos.

Good evening, Counselors.

Uh, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh tonight utilities is asking for a 1.5 million dollar uh budget adjustment into our uh utilities operations fund 501.

And the uh adjustment has 1 million dollars that will cover uh water infrastructure, which is our water mains, uh service lines uh and associated asphalt and another five 500,000 dollars, which will cover lift stations and any additional repairs we need for the remainder of the fiscal year at the treatment plants and uh the staff recommends the uh approval of this, and I stand for any questions you may have.

Thank you.

I'll take a motion to approve R26.

Move to approve R26.

Second.

Thank you.

I have a motion to second.

Do we have anybody signed up to speak on this item?

No, we do not.

Any questions by council?

Okay.

Ms.

Davis, R26, please.

Thank you.

Counselor Lennon Time.

Yes.

Counselor Weimer, yes.

Counselor List.

Yes.

Counselor Colbreth.

Yes.

Counselor Jabson.

Yes.

Mayor Hall.

Yes.

R26 is approved.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Moving on to D 10.

Advice and consent of the governing body toward a contract to Enterprise Builders Corporation, Chief Winslow.

Mr.

Mayor, members of the government body.

I'm Fire Chief Winslow, and today I will be talking to you and discussing the uh potential award of a contract to build Fire Station 8.

So with that, how did we get here?

Well, we were planning for the station uh back in 2020, which seems like ages ago, but uh what we did is we kind of started forecasting the need for a new fire station based on uh call data and analytics that showcased our call volume was 61% in the south part of the city.

So we started identifying we needed the next fire station would be in the south part, but where we started looking at that with the help of GIS from the public works department, and we found the optimal location would be on the UNSER corridor.

With that, we then started locating where exactly on the UNSER corridor.

Uh speaking earlier with Superintendent Cleveland, we partnered again with the Rear Ranch Public Schools and we were able to find a land acquisition, which happened August 24th, 2023, which secured 1.44 acres for fire station eight at the corner of Veranda Road and Cabezon Boulevard.

That was then added to Fire Station 8 to the Capitol Outlay for the city in December 2023.

We were able to secure uh design funding through the legislative session in 2024 and then construction funding in the legislature uh excuse me, legislative session of 2025.

That moved us to the design.

So we had a RFP request for a proposal for the design of Fire Station 8 that was awarded to V Hill and Associates December 12th, 2024 for the amount of 721,199.69 cents.

We then spent time with VHL and Associates to design the rendering on the PowerPoint there for you.

So some of the features that we'd like to discuss with Fire Station 8.

We have four apparatus bays, eight total.

We have 12 bunk rooms, a community room that can also second as a voting location.

We have 15,461 square feet on approximately 100 or 1.44 acres.

And the one kind of thing I want to talk about with Fire Station 8 is we're planning for future growth there.

So we will be opening the station with an engine company as well as a fire rescue uh ambulance, but we're also going to be looking to add additional units in there as the the time and need call for it.

Moving on to construction.

We finished our planning and design at the end of uh last year, November, and then we started with the IFB, which was sent out in 2026, January.

We closed that just recently, March 26th, and that is where we're at tonight, which is the awarding of the contract to enterprise builders pending your approval tonight for the amount of 13,666,323.97 cents, which also includes the GRT.

So our funding sources.

We were actually uh able to secure those funding uh for the design in the 2024 legislative session, which totaled 1,034,250.

That came from both the governor as well as 534,250 from Representative Joshua Hernandez.

The actual amount that took to design was 784,000 to V Hill and Associates, with any leftover being rolled into the construction cost.

Um we do currently have a revenue bond, which is $8,438,408.52 cents, as well as multiple sources for from Capitol LA.

So we have 1.5 million from the governor, we have 1.7 from Senator Correct Blant Brandt, excuse me.

We have 813 from again Representative Josh Hernandez, 500,000 from Senator J.

Block, and then 487 from a combination of the House and Senate Capital funds.

We also have a leftover of 277 and state grants, 277,915 dollars and forty-five cents to be specific.

So with that, we do recommend approval of the contract.

Um and if approved, on our next slide, you guys will want to uh write down the dates.

We are hoping to do our groundbreaking ceremony on May 4th at 1130 at the actual location, which is 1930, 14th Avenue Southeast.

With that, I'd like to say thank you to all of you for your continued support of not only public safety, but uh the fire department, police department.

This is a very, very important milestone for our department.

We're very excited about that.

I'd also like to say thank you to the state legislators who have graciously given us funds to help us complete the the design and construction process, as well as the governor, and uh their continued support of public safety.

Uh with that, I do have some renderings for you to kind of show you what the station will look like.

So that's the front of it.

On the opposite end would be Maggie Cordov Elementary.

We then have kind of the back patio area.

Moving interior.

That'll be the kitchen.

And then finally the rear of the station where all the members will be parking and pulling the apparatus through.

I will now stand for any questions that you may have.

Thank you.

Okay, before we get started, I'll take a motion to approve D 10.

Motion to approve D10.

Second.

Okay.

I have a motion and a second.

Do we have anybody signed up to speak on this item?

No, sir.

Great.

Okay.

Counselors.

Mr.

Mayor.

Counselor Weimer.

Chief Runzel, this is super exciting.

I'm so happy that this is moving forward.

And I want to applaud all the efforts of so many people that have worked together with our legislators and others to secure the funding.

It's so important to know and to understand that this type of of collaboration with our partners is so important to a project like this.

And I want to personally or publicly thank Senator Craig Brant, Representative Hernandez and Senator Block for their efforts, as well as all of the legislature legislatures.

So legislators, there we go.

That pitch that pitched in and helped out with this.

So thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Mr.

Mayor.

Councilor Debson in your district.

I in my district.

And I'm also grateful to my representative, Josh Hernandez, and to the and my and my Senator Brandt, as well as my constituent, Jay Block, for the contributions that they put into this project, as well as the rest of the legislature.

Or legislators, however that goes.

Thank you so much for working on this, and I can't wait to break ground on May 4th.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you, Counselor.

Counselor List.

I just want to say that yes, this is a very exciting opportunity.

I know that this is not something that happens overnight.

This is actually started proceeding, you know, you into this space and you have come in and just run with it and done exceptional, you and your team, and so kudos to you.

Uh this has actually moved along faster than uh a project of this size, you know, might on any other terms.

So you guys have have worked really hard.

Um I know in looking at the renderings pieces of it are just absolutely gorgeous and phenomenal.

And I think that um it is fair to put it into perspective for anyone who's sitting at home or who looks at these pictures about oh gosh, it's too lavish, it's just a fire station.

I think um we need to remember that the men and women that are serving in this capacity are on for 48 hour shift, and that the fact that they may only have one or two hours to sit in peace or have a meal or do something that it's very important that it's um adequate and a safe space and a clean and a durable space.

Um I also think that they need to remember that uh the men and women are serving over holidays and different times, and so sometimes that means your kids have to come on Christmas Day to see you, and they need a space that is safe and accommodating.

Um, and then I think that there's also the built-in opportunities for community space is extraordinary.

So I just I hope anybody that looks at this um doesn't think that it's too lavish.

I think that they need to realize and appreciate the men and women that serve and that the overall picture of what this facility will do for our community.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Mr.

Mayor, Councillor Lennon Time.

Um I want to thank you probably I don't know, eight or nine months ago, you took the time to meet with me at Starbucks and walk me through all the plans and what it looked like and everything, and just to echo off of what Councillor Liss said, I think it's so apropos because when I first came on the council seven years ago, previous chief and uh someone else, we we went around and toured all of the uh facilities because I had asked the question, hey, with some nonprofits and charitable groups, they're asking is there anything that we could do or provide, you know, to put into these stations or to help in some way or whatever.

And I was thinking it was gonna be you know energy drinks or gatories or whatever else.

And so on the tour of that um of the different stations, you know, it's like hey, you know, if we could maybe replace this couch, we picked it up at a garage sale or out of savers, you know, or this this kitchen where the roof is leaking, you know, and how small it was.

And so I mean, people, if you haven't gone through and toured, you know, the spaces of yeah, it's hard to spend a night there.

It's hard to you know make food there, you know, that type of stuff.

And so I know that one of the things you were excited about showing me there was you know, look at how great this is designed, you know, and this is going to be uh for future designs model as well, right, going forward.

Going forward.

And so I just echo what Counselor Liss said.

I I love the design.

I thought great job by the architect.

Um I know you guys give a lot of input, and so I know this is kind of your you've been thinking about this for a long time, right?

And so this is a big night for you, and groundbreaking will be big for you.

It's that's awesome and exciting as well.

And so um thank you guys for taking the time to do it right.

Thank you for um putting together a model that we should be able to use several more times across the city.

I think other um cities are going to come and want to to steal your plans for it.

It's it's laid out well, it's great, and uh I really appreciate what you guys are doing for all of our firefighters uh in the city, and I'm really excited about this groundbreaking coming up.

So great job all around.

Thank you so much for walking the project all the way through.

Uh as you're still getting your feet wet in this new role as well.

We're really proud of you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor, Councillor Landon.

Uh, if other places want to borrow a design, they're more than welcome to.

They will have to pay for those.

We do need a cost there.

But uh we're very proud of our stations, uh, our current stations, as all of our members are.

Uh it's a proud moment, not just for me, it's a proud moment for the entire department.

All every single one of our members.

So uh as well as our previous members, Chief DeFlippo, who really led the charge in getting Station 8 off the ground.

It was our job to take it across the finish line, which we're hopeful to do.

Uh it it's yeah, Councilor List, you you kind of echoed a lot of it.

We love our fire stations, it's where we spend the majority of our time when we're away from our families, about a quarter of our time.

So having them built specifically to uh industry standards uh and FPA standards is is important for us, and that's exactly what Station 8 does.

So thank you.

Mr.

Mayor.

Councilor Culbreth.

See you May 4th.

Thank you.

Oh, there we go.

Right on.

Okay.

All right.

Well, let me just kind of echo a lot of things.

Can you go back to the slide that shows all the partners on this, the where the money came from?

There we go.

There we go.

So what a monumentous step forward for the city of Rio Rancho and Rio Rancho uh Fire and Rescue.

We certainly appreciate all that you all do.

It's incredible.

And um I was here when this the council had the undaunting task of actually closing a firehouse.

Uh was the the one located up in the Mariposa area, right?

Uh you know, as we allocated resources and pulled them down into Fire Station One and uh until we could see some some growth and development and budgetary ability to actually reopen that facility.

And so um it was a difficult it was a difficult decision uh to do that at that particular time.

But it was it turned out to be the right decision because it gave us the opportunity to really structure uh a plan going forward, and so then it was a great day when we were able to reopen Mariposa, and then now we're adding additional facilities, especially down on the southern end of the city where we're seeing huge amount of population growth and huge amount of demand and you know uh the volume, the higher volume of calls that that the departments are saying is seeing uh throughout the city.

And so this is a huge step forward, you know, meeting the growth of Rio Rancho, making sure that we're uh maintaining high levels of public safety and also maintaining this ISO rating that we've worked hard so hard that the Rio Rancho Fire has worked so hard to get us to the top, what is it, uh six percent, four percent of stations in the country.

Mr.

Mayor, uh members of government body, yes, we are currently at ISO two, but puts puts us at uh top ten percent of the nation in terms of uh response capabilities uh as well as water supply.

Director Gay.

So um yes, very very impressive, and we're still looking to improve on that each and every day.

So maintaining that, and you have to you have to address growth in order to maintain that.

If you fall behind the improvements when you have the growth that we're seeing here in the City of Rio Rancho, you risk lowering that ISO rating, which is so very, very important to the to the uh standard that we've set.

And so I do want to take a moment to to say thank you to all of the individuals that have uh contributed uh to this uh to this uh project to help the City of Rio Rancho bring this forward and to help us meet the need.

And uh obviously uh we've got Governor Grisham that's uh been a partner in this, and we want to thank the governor uh for for her assistance in this.

And then uh looking at the various different uh individuals, Senator Brandt uh that's helped with this, Senator Block that's helped with this, and then of course the continuing support of Representative Hernandez uh to uh to fund not only the the design, but to move on and to help design uh help the uh the actual build out.

Uh because it I know typically you get legislators that are like, no, I want to give money to I want to give money to the actual build.

Design is not, you know, it's not glamorous, right?

And so the fact that uh Representative Hernandez stepped forward uh with a half a million dollars of capital outlay resources to help us get the design done because without the design we couldn't have done the build, right?

And so uh looking at that early partnership, I just want to make sure that we're recognizing the commitment uh from all the legislators to help us maintain the high levels of quality and the high levels of safety that the citizens of Rio Rancho have come to enjoy over the last uh many, many, many years.

So um on behalf of myself, I just want to say uh thank you to uh Rio Rancho Fire.

And I'd be remiss if I didn't say this too, because I had to have a long discussion with our former chief to make sure that we had a lot of these plans in place.

Chief DeFilippo uh played a huge role in all of this, and I wanna just say thank you to him and his commitment because he was gonna retire a year earlier.

And I said, Chief, you got a fire station that that needs to be planned.

We need you to smooth all these uh legislators.

We need you to work with city staff to get the funding.

And so he extend he he delayed his retirement by a year to help bring this to fruition, and I want to recognize that he did that for the city uh the citizens of Rio Rancho and for because of how much he's loves and is dedicated to Rio Rancho Fire.

And so uh to Chief Def De Filippo, we're gonna say thank you, and then of course, to city management, our city manager, deputy city manager, everybody, all finance department, all of the individuals that played a role in bringing this forward and and helping to bring this online.

So I'm excited for May 4th uh to uh to bring that fire station online.

And since it's May 4th, are we are we gonna have the 501st there?

Uh May the fourth be with you, you know.

Just want to know if we're gonna we're gonna do a Star Wars theme on this uh uh on this uh groundbreaking, you know, maybe have Darth Bader and Luke Skywalker out there with a shovel.

Peter Wells.

Mr.

Mayor, members of the governing body, God willing, we will try.

Um we will do our very best.

Uh and in in relation to Chief De Flippo, we are internally grateful for all that he's done for us, um, without a doubt, him and and uh one thing I have realized in this process is it does take the entire city.

It's uh my my fellow directors who have helped me along the way, city administration.

Without them, uh we are not here.

So we are internally grateful for all of our our legislators, our elected officials, all of you and everybody that we work with, because it will be uh by far one of the best fire stations the city and the state have ever seen.

That's great.

That's great.

All right.

Anything else from council?

All right.

Hearing none, I have a motion and I have a second.

Ms.

Davis.

I don't even know who to cough first because you're all so darn excited.

We'll go with List.

Yes.

Stabbson.

Yes.

Lynn Time?

Yes.

Mayor Ho.

Yes.

And Councillor Weimer.

Yes.

It's approved.

Thank you.

Thanks, Chief.

Appreciate you.

Mr.

City Manager, we're prepared for your update.

Mr.

Mayor, members of the governing body, um, it's real fast on the fire station eight item.

Uh first and foremost.

Um indeed, Councilor Tyler was coaching a baseball game.

And uh had to, I think, fill an elevated role uh in today's game because maybe the head coach was not available for today's game is my understanding, even though I don't closely follow baseball.

But Pittsburgh Pirates, I follow the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Um, but Councilor Tyler wanted to be sure that uh to echo and convey his support.

Um I think uh couldn't get betting odds in Vegas at uh against him not voting uh uh yes on that item on today.

But also, if I may, um I would like to put back on elevate to the top of the heap of the gratitude uh for Fire Station A, and that's the citizens, the taxpayers and the citizens.

Ultimately the money that is funding this project is taxpayer money, whatever the sources, whether it's oil and gas revenue, personal income tax, gross receipts tax, corporate income tax, that six-ish million dollars come from the state is uh taxpayers from the across the state of New Mexico, money coming to us.

It is nice to see a sizable chunk of Capital Outlay come to Rio Rancho, because we usually don't see sizable chunks of uh capital outlay coming to Rio Rancho.

Um in that I would highlight that uh um depending on how you slice this, um, from you know, getting earnest uh about the land swap to putting this on our capital outlay request.

We're talking 30 somewhere between 30 and 36 months from converting an idea into a you know I'll call it a firm project or a firm idea into a project um and putting a shuffle on the ground.

And um there's not a lot of people moving projects that fast, and so my plug there on Capital Outlays there's seven billion dollars in capital outlay that's not moving.

We move the money when the money comes to us in Rio Rancho, we move it and we will get it done.

Um but not just the uh those I mentioned the the the statewide taxpayers, but the citizens of Rio Rancho who show great support um for all our uh bonds, quality of life, road, uh, and public safety.

While the public safety bond isn't particularly supporting uh this project directly, uh it's the the those citizens who we serve in every day in every way in many ways want to thank them uh for the support um and their dollars as well.

Um and uh and that's ultimately who will benefit and be served by this project.

Um and uh there is a rumor that maybe uh Chief Default will show up in Hawaiian shirt.

Um trying hard.

But we look forward to seeing everyone on um May 4th.

Uh just a couple quick uh highlights.

Uh early voting uh runs at five locations through Saturday Saturday at 6 p.m.

And then we have election day at 14 voting convenience centers on Tuesday, April 14th.

Um please visit RNM.gov forward slash R R votes with an S at the end.

If you just hit Google, make sure you are going into a website that has RNM.gov in it.

Um and um not spelled weird or any of those other things that we see out there.

A couple other uh city events, uh tree seabling giveaway this Saturday.

Um at it's here at the City Hall parking lot.

Uh that's uh uh Saturday the 11th from 10 a.m.

to 12 noon uh uh tree seabling.

Um also this Saturday at uh Cabazon Park, we have the Rummage Sale.

So for those of you who like garage sales, think of lots of garage sales in one location.

Um so uh great opportunity uh there to um support your your neighbors and uh maybe pick up some great finds.

Uh uh uh Alberto Solis and our economic development uh manager and Eric Vasio are uh facilities and uh fleet uh uh program manager are working on a vendor event on two uh Thursday the 16th, also in partnership with Rio Tech and Rio Rio Rancho Public Schools to help encourage uh doing business opportunities, shall we call it, but also not just doing business opportunities, but uh additional resources there, what we call technical support, technical assistance for folks who are looking to grow their business.

They want to grow into being a place where they can be a government contractor, maybe they're not there yet, but there's some support services.

So that will be on uh Thursday the 16th from uh pretty much all day, 8 30 to 3 30 taking place at Rio Tech.

Um and a couple other things also wrap up on uh the 17th of the 17th, we have um Sabinar Grande uh uh uh basically uh it's parents night, so think of date night with babysitting covered by the city.

Um contact the uh parks and rec department uh to register and uh and so you can make arrangements to um drop your child off for uh a fun evening and and make uh evening plans uh and dinner reservations, and on Saturday, uh the 25th, correct?

Star Wars Fest, the 25th, make sure I got my dates right.

We have two of the uh um two of the best events that the City of Rio Rancho hosts and puts on, technically, um, and they happen on the same day.

Maybe we'll have to move that someday.

But uh the 24th annual park in the park, which I think that makes this the longest running uh event uh in the city's history uh featuring uh classic cars, 1991 or older.

Hard hard to believe that cars that I drove growing up are now considered in the classic range.

Um my word.

Yes.

These cars are younger than me in some cases potentially, and then Star Wars Fest at Loma Colorado Library.

Um, Mr.

Mayor, members of the government body, thank you very much for your support with uh Fire Station 8 um bringing that full circle because you also had to vote to issue a revenue bond to fund that project and to fund the Unsemble of art um widening that will be that will start later this year.

Two big projects for the city uh that took uh your vote and thank you for that as well.

And uh I would I would remind you that there is time to go to Star Wars Fest first, because that's from 10 to 1, I think, right?

And you see go there first and then shoot right on over to Park in the park, which is from 10 to 4.

So there's plenty of time to do both events.

Uh and and I do want to make a quick apology because uh Counselor Tyler did ask me to um uh extend his gratitude and and appreciation for Rio Rancho fire as well and and all of the legislators that were involved in this.

And um I got hung up on May the fourth, so I've been forgot Councilor Tyler, so uh but but I do extend his his gratitude as well and thank you for reminding me in that uh and taking care of that for us, Mr.

City Manager.

So but uh that being said, if there's nothing further, then we are adjourned.

Thank you all, and