Las Cruces City Council held their first meeting of the new year. The meeting, which is the first for the new group of councilors, saw new resolutions and a new mayor pro tem.
During the first day of his term, Councilor John Muñoz was voted to be the new mayor pro tem. He won the vote 4-3 with councilors Cassie McClure, Bill Mattiace, Muñoz himself and mayor Eric Enriquez voting in favor. He will replace Johana Bencomo in the position.
During the meeting, council voted to approve a memorandum of understanding that gives Las Cruces Police Department employees raises. Commissioned employees with LCPD will see a 5% raise while noncommissioned employees will receive a 3% raise. According to Human Resources Assistant Director Jose Vargas, their salaries will still be outside of the top ten highest paid departments in the state.
"From studies that we have done back in September, that is the latest information, we are currently 15th in the state when it comes to pay," Vargas said.
The pay increase will go into effect on January 11th.
Council also voted to accept 22 different grants. These grants include funding for improvements to affordable housing, improvements to the area surrounding the Mesilla Valley Community of Hope Campus, upgrades to the Real-Time Crime Center, and funding for an integrated healthcare building to help respond to mental health crises. Grants Manager Gaby Prats says that this building will be at fire station number 3 and will house services like Project LIGHT.
"The staff there provide services not only when they go out on calls, but also provide continuing services such as counseling support to the community and it is a nice location that is easily accessible through public transportation," Prats said.
Finally, the council also voted to approve a reimbursement agreement for a new park. The park will be in the Arroyos at Settlers Pass development. The developer will be reimbursed for the construction of the park using the city's park impact fees. The reimbursement will not exceed $533,000.
The next city council meeting will be on January 20th.
