CITY COUNCIL MEETING

OCTOBER 17, 2005

 The meeting was called to order somewhat late, due to a closed meeting being held just prior to 1:00 p.m. All councilors were present when the meeting was called to order. Mayor Mattiace announced that the closed meeting, at which no action was taken, was regarding a lawsuit having to do with the fireworks ban.

 The City Manager, Terrence Moore, introduced Bill Hamm, the newly appointed Land Manager. Mr. Hamm is a certified land appraiser.

 This regular meeting's agenda showed that all but one item was on the consent agenda, and therefore would not have any discussion. Several individuals from the audience and one of the Councilors asked for a number of those items to be taken off the consent agenda.

 The first of those items was a resolution authorizing the Diocese of Las Cruces Foundation, Inc., to continue with the permitting process which final approval would allow for the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages within a restricted and secured area at Young Park for the annual Las Cruces International Mariachi Conference to be held in November. Discussion revolved around whether this was legal under state law, even with local exemptions.. The City Attorney said that it was. However, after further discussion about the appropriateness of the issue, the resolution failed, six to one, with only Councilor Archuleta voting in favor it.

 All other items, both those discussed and those on the consent agenda, were passed unanimously. However, the discussions brought out some details not included in the public agenda, such as whether the item was budgeted, had been discussed prior to this vote, or might have been more clearly defined in the public agenda. City Manager Moore promised that some changes in the brief public agendas might be made at a department meeting in the near future.

Marnie Leverett

LWV of Greater Las Cruces