The Las Cruces City Council will meet via video conference at 1 p.m. Monday, August 24, 2020 for a work session. Presentations and discussions of proposed shade structures for Plaza de Las Cruces and Helping Local Small Business are on the work session agenda. The Las Cruces Homebuilders Association will also make a presentation to City Council about the economic impact of home building and land development in Las Cruces. The agenda for Monday’s work session can be found online at: https://lascruces.civicweb.net/Portal/MeetingInformation.aspx?Org=Cal&Id=159. The work session will be televised live at 1 p.m. Monday on CLC-TV, Comcast Cable channel 20. It will also be available online at clctv.com and at YouTube.com/clctv20. The City’s Economic Development Department has received direction from City Council to explore shading options for the Plaza de Las Cruces. A previous work session presented fabric “sail-type” shading structures that were not appealing to a consensus of City Council at that time. The Economic Development Department then collaborated with the Public Works Department to assist with contracting an architect and design firm. The selected firm was Vigil & Associates. The architect developed conceptual studies of the potential shading structure for the Plaza. Flexibility of design has been considered because of seasonal activities and events and to encourage more events to take place at the Plaza year-round. The process has included meeting with City representatives, various community stakeholders, and conducting a public input meeting on March 12, 2020. At Monday’s work session, Vigil & Associates will present its findings from the public and stakeholder input sessions; it will also include preliminary design ideas for City Council's consideration. Regarding the topic of Helping Local Small Business, Michael Mazur, Vice President of Business Development for Colu, a smart city technology company, founded in 2014, that enables municipalities to significantly increase civic engagement by rewarding residents for taking actions that promote strategic goals for the community good. Colu's platform helps cities increase local consumption, promote diversity, and encourage civic engagement. Mazur will present unique strategies and examples that can be quickly applied in Las Cruces based on Colu’s research as well as the company’s five years of experience and work in helping cities combat the effects of COVID-19. | 
