Recently the Canadian manufacturing facility Endurance Technologies chose Las Cruces as the location for its first facility in the U.S. Scott Brocato recently spoke with Las Cruces Mayor Eric Enriquez about that and other recent developments, such as the city voting to end their part in a project participation agreement with 828 Productions.
Scott Brocato:
First of all, remind audiences what Endurance Technologies is. What do they manufacture?
Mayor Eric Enriquez:
Endurance Technologies is a steel piping manufacturer. They're based out of Canada. What they specialize in is the hardening of steel. They receive the pipes already, as I would say raw materials, and then they, through heat, they harden the steel so that it's durable enough to last longer when they're looking at the Permian Basin for oil and gas industry as their number one market for durability, long-lasting pipes. That's what they do. That's what they specialize in.
Scott Brocato:
How will this impact the city?
Mayor Eric Enriquez:
Well, it's an honor to be selected when a company such as Endurance Technologies does their due diligence to shop around as a company that's been in business, family-owned and operated for many years in Canada and looking for a place to operate in the United States. They narrowed it down--I believe they started with 25 cities in the US--and started narrowing it down, and we got to be one of the finalists, and then we were selected. It was a huge honor.
Scott Brocato:
What do you think gave us the edge?
Mayor Eric Enriquez:
A lot of it is, the facility was already there in existence. It used to be the old Ray Wiring, which had, the way it's constructed...I forget the square footage, but it's a very large warehouse, very large building. But it has a height there that pipes of 30 feet can be extended and utilized. I think also the access to the highways, the climate, and in the industrial park we have a lot of gas that they need to heat the pipes with their gas furnaces.
Scott Brocato:
So what are the next steps for readying the facility to open? And when is it expected to be?
Mayor Eric Enriquez:
Yeah, I think they said sometime in June, I
think early summer. They're looking at starting to really get the facility ready and going. It's still a process, but they're way ahead of the game with the facility already built and available there. It's looking good. They passed all the tests they need to for the environmental emission test through the state.
They're going to start out with one furnace and hope to grow to four and expand. So the other part that was attractive was the land and the acreage around the building that it gives them enough to expand in the future if they want to.
Scott Brocato:
And about how many jobs will this create?
Mayor Eric Enriquez:
It's going to start out with about 40 jobs that are going to be a little higher than the average pay in Las Cruces. You know, they will bring some of their specialists and technicians, but what they're looking for is new jobs, about 40.
Scott Brocato:
All right, let's move on to other topics. So at the last city council meeting, the city voted to end their part in a project participation agreement between the city and 828 Productions. What's the story behind that?
Mayor Eric Enriquez:
Well, the story behind 828 is there's a lot of issues and...I would say complications that took place throughout. But the bottom line is there was a contract from the beginning, a contract with the state, with the city, and it was not being fulfilled. And so we had to take action on that due to the lack of performance, the lack of movies, the lack of jobs that were promised and were signed upon at the contract. They were starting to scale back little by little on the things, and so we as the mayor and council, our economic development did all the research, presented all the information and the evidence, and it was time to take action based on the lack of performance in the contract.
Scott Brocato:
What will happen with the buildings that were assigned to be the studios on Amador?
Mayor Eric Enriquez:
They had several properties that they purchased. A couple of them were with the LEDA program with the state. Those the state may look at.
As far as the city, we don't really have any interest--I would say financial interest in the buildings that 828 purchased. So it's up to 828 to either sell or do on their own. It's their property. It's not the city's property. What we're looking at is scaling back on some of the money. And I think it comes to about $1.3 million that we're over five years that we're invested in to help out. And that's what we're looking at being reimbursed.
Scott Brocato:
Also at Monday's meeting, the council approved police service aides issuing citations at crash sites. So how will this help police?
Mayor Eric Enriquez:
Oh, this is another way for us to have ,as I always say, more boots on the ground. We have a shortage of police officers. It's not only in Las Cruces; it's statewide, it's nationwide. We're always looking for recruitment and retention. Having PSAs come in with some of the training, they geta good idea of what it's like to be a police officer, the life of a police officer. So this is a great recruiting opportunity.
But what it does more is, our officers are not tied up at a motor vehicle crash. And we have several fender benders that take place. And you're waiting on a tow truck, you're waiting on things to take place. If there's no criminal issues, it's not a DUI, it's not anything of fatality or severe injury, police can be reporting to what we say like, you know, either true crimes that are happening in our city and patrolling and being out there, And the PSAs can be there at the crash site taking the reports that they need to. So it's a balance. I know in other parts of the state and even in the country, they're looking at alternative policing. This is another way of having alternative policing, not being tied up with something or an offense, a traffic citation that our police officers can be about patrolling and keeping our city safe.
Scott Brocato:
All right, that's all the questions I have. Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Mayor Eric Enriquez:
Well, thank you, Scott. Since we were talking about the PSAs, we also have an addition of park rangers that have come on with the Las Cruces Police Department and our parks and recreation. And these individuals, there were four that graduated and are now certified and will be out patrolling our parks to create a safe place for our community. And we're looking forward to that too. Just like the PSAs, this is another way of providing safeness for our community. And also engagement: you know, when we have music in the parks and things like that, It's great to have park rangers there to communicate and share some of the information that's coming in the park so people will know that there's events taking place and we can enjoy it in a safe manner.
