City Council talks trash at recent meeting

Rio Rancho residents look to rectify dumping, litter lying in desert dirt

Jeep Fay presses hard on the gas as the back wheels of his F350 and the steel open-air attac…

RIO RANCHO — The Rio Rancho City Council met Thursday, Oct. 10, to handle city business and recognize the winners of the annual Rally in the Desert 2024 Fall Community Cleanup.

Hosted by the city of Rio Rancho, Toss No Mas, Keep America Beautiful and Keep Rio Rancho Beautiful, the Rally in the Desert took place on Sept. 14 and saw 588 volunteers turn out for the trash pickup project aimed at city beautification, environmental cleanup and educating the public about illegal dumping.

“The Fall Community Cleanup, known as Rally in the Desert, is where we address the illegal dumping sites,” said Mayor Gregg Hull. “The illegal dump sites are absolutely hideous, and it’s a practice we can stop.”

The volunteers removed more than 9.5 tons of trash from 20 different open spaces around Rio Rancho.

Prize money, thanks to the Kiwanis Club of Rio Rancho and Waste Management Inc., who provided $1,000 for the prize pool, was offered to the three groups who removed the most trash.

First place: HP Inc received $500 and removed 3.5 tons of trash. This was the team’s third consecutive year taking the top prize. As in past years, HP opted to donate their prize to the New Mexico Forest Relief Program.

Second place: AMREP Southwest received $300 and removed 1.84 tons of trash.

Third place: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints received $200 and removed 1.39 tons of trash.

“Taking your garbage to the desert does severe damage to the environment,” said Hull. “Some of the stuff being dumped out there is chemicals. Some of it requires HAZMAT suits to clean up, and it’s very expensive to the taxpayers. So, we really appreciate all the volunteers and the sponsors for all their hard work.”

Hull spoke briefly after the awards presentation to remind people that Rio Rancho is uniquely positioned to deal with this issue.

“We, not proudly, but uniquely, have two landfills in the middle of our city,” said Hull. “So illegal dumping just doesn’t make sense, really.”

He also pointed out that any Rio Rancho resident with a Rio Rancho trash account can use the local landfills once a month for free, with no blackout periods.

OTHER BUSINESS...

More trash talk

The Rally in the Desert wasn’t the only order of business the Governing Body had with Waste Management Inc. (WMI).

The council heard the first reading of Ordinance 23 (O23), which would renegotiate the city’s recycling contract with Waste Management, Inc., the private contractor tasked with handling Rio Rancho’s trash. The WMI request would equate to 75 cents per resident to address future recycling costs.

O23 was read by Deputy City Manager Peter Wells, and Councilman Bob Tyler was the dissenting voice.

“I’m not in favor of this,” he said. “At the end of the day, we need to research options other than recycling.”

The council approved no increase in 2025 but did approve a 25-cent increase in 2026 and another one in 2027, totaling 50 cents added to monthly bills over two years.

“The city will use existing revenue sources to account for recycling cost increases not accounted for in the rates in future years,” Wells said in an email.

O22 gets OK

Ordinance 22, which concerns regulations around Short-Term Rentals (STR), such as Airbnb and Vrbo, passed unanimously. The new ordinance restricts STR owners to one rental every seven days and contains restrictions on parking and noise levels.

Councilor Tyler thanked the staff for their hard work on the bill.

Councilor Lenentine requested a six-month check-in to reevaluate O22.

Mayor Hull asked Councilor Tyler and Councilor Dapson to join him for a “working group” to form a series of roundtable community discussions to help tailor O22 to Rio Rancho going forward.

Tyler and Dapson both enthusiastically agreed. The working group is set to meet within the next week.

CNM says GO for

Bond 3

Angelo Gonzalez from the President’s Office at Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) spoke at the end of the meeting about General Obligation Bond 3, which would grant bonds to CNM for improvement and construction of new facilities.

This was a chance for the Council to ask questions. There was not a vote on GO Bond 3, which will go to voters in November.

THE BLOCK gets ready for drinks

The Council unanimously approved the transfer of a liquor license to The Block. The license will cover several establishments inside the food hall and gathering space, including Tavern on the Green, the Mini-Bar and Top of The Block.