A quick night for Rio Rancho City Council

RIO RANCHO — The Rio Rancho City Council Governing Body usually packs its meetings with items. They handle a lot of business at their twice-monthly public meetings, so, it was a nice break for the councilors and Mayor Gregg Hull when the agenda ended up being relatively light for the March 13 meeting.

That doesn’t mean there wasn’t plenty to take care of, as there was little debate during the meeting, and all ordinances and resolutions passed unanimously.

Adding to the relatively “light” meeting, the city councilors’ bench was half empty. Councilor Bob Tyler was sick, and Councilor Karissa Culbreath was traveling. Councilor Deborah Dapson was also traveling, but not en route at the time and attended remotely.

Proceedings began with public comment, of which there were two.

First up, David Starr returned to address the council. At the Feb. 27 RRCC meeting, Starr proposed setting up a meeting with city officials to discuss his plans for sustainable living on the Navajo Reservation.

“I haven’t heard back from anyone at the Department of the Interior, so I wanted to check with you all,” he said. “A lot of time and energy went into this.”

Starr also addressed the council specifically about water issues.

“Since we last spoke, water issues are coming up again,” said Starr. “We have to get sustainable living going. Global warming is killing us.”

Mayor Gregg Hull took the chance to address Starr’s concerns, saying the city has recently done several water studies and had positive findings. He lambasted recent television coverage of water issues in Rio Rancho and directed curious parties to visit the city’s website, where an archive of water reports is publicly available.

Before moving to the consent calendar, which was approved unanimously, Councilmember Jeremy Lenentine congratulated the most recent graduating class from Rio Rancho Fire and Rescue academy.

“There was a graduating class on Friday night, and I just want to take a second to recognize them,” said Lenentine. “So, shout out to the local fire department, and congratulations to the new team embers.”

The RRCC then moved on to the second reading of Ordinance 5 (O5).

O5 concerns short-term rental properties (STRs), a hot topic in the council recently. But, this was not one of the more controversial elements of the STR debate. O5 simply updates the language around the Lodger’s Tax to include STRs as taxable premises.”

The RRCC then moved to first readings.

O6 was up next and was presented by Carole Jaramillo, Rio Rancho Financial Services Department director.

This ordinance is to update the parameters for $32 million in bonds for infrastructure improvements, specifically for the Unser Boulevard improvement project and the expansion of Fire Station No. 8.

According to Jaramillo, the new parameters concern items such as the maximum interest rate and the maximum maturity for these bonds.

If issued, Jaramillo said the department is expecting to close the bonds by mid-May.

Next up, water was back on the table.

O7 is a proposed rate increase for several water-related services. Specifically, it calls for a 3% rate increase on water, wastewater and water rights issuances, and a 5% increase to the bulk fill water station fee.

There was a public comment on this issue. Steve Van Horn warned the council that the current Aquifer Reinjection System is expensive and water will become scarcer in the future.

Rolling right along, the RRCC addressed the oft-misunderstood O8, which handles pay raises for judges and compensation for the Rio Rancho City Council Governing Body.

O8 calls for a 15% pay raise for municipal court judges (from $70,000 to $80,500) and for alternate municipal court judges by 14% ($175 per day to $200 per day), which was last increased in 2006. These salaries are lower in comparison to Santa Fe and Las Cruces; however, those cities have educational and professional requirements for the position while Rio Rancho has none, according to Deputy City Manager Peter Wells.

It also establishes new parameters for paying future council members and mayors.

Ordinance 8 passed unanimously, but not before Councilmember Paul Wymer took the opportunity to remind everyone that this is not a vote to give themselves raises. Any new ordinance passed would only apply to future council members and mayors and would not affect anyone currently in those positions.

Deputy City Manager Peter Wells pointed out that, according to ordinance, public officials can’t legally vote to give themselves raises.

Wells went on to say that not much will actually change with this ordinance.

“This is mostly a technical cleanup,” said Wells. “We are just taking out state law language and inserting numeric values for that change.”

Next were two very similar ordinances. O9 and O10 are requesting permission to change the rates and language around Industrial Revenue Bonds that are about to be issued by the Quail Ranch Solar Storage Project.

Both passed unanimously, and though O9 and O10 come with eye-popping numbers attached ($140 million and $110 million, respectively) it’s important to note those are just the bond amounts, not money that is being paid by the city of Rio Rancho.

Last on the regular meeting agenda was discussion and deliberation on Resolution 27 (R27), which would move $720,000 from the Capital Outlay General Fund to the Maintenance Fund for upgrades to the Rio Rancho Emergency Communications Center (RRECC).

RRECC manager Jolene Madrid presented R27 to the council and said services will remain operational during the renovations.

“911 services will not be affected during the remodel,” Madrid reassured the council.

Before adjourning for the evening, Matt Geisel gave the City Manager’s Report.

The City Manager’s Report included:

The Parks and Recreation Department is now hiring teenagers for summer jobs.

The first “Shop Local” event is taking place on April 5 at Cabezon Park, and the city is now taking vendor registrations.

The library secured another Smithsonian Exhibit, “Why We Serve: Native Americans in the U.S. Armed Forces,” which will be open to the public March 22 to June 1.

All told, the meeting lasted just over 30 minutes.