ABQ council will consider fiber pause, Gateway agreements and gas cards– Rodd Cayton, nm.news
Albuquerque City Councilors will consider Mayor Tim Keller’s proposed budget Monday evening, but they will also weigh several other matters, including a possible pause in new fiber internet installation permits.
A proposed resolution would halt construction on fiber internet installations until the City Council creates new standards for the activity.
The city issued a cease-and-desist order to Ezee Fiber last week after receiving several complaints about unsafe and incomplete work.
The text of the proposed resolution says residents have complained of a lack of appropriate notice of construction, damage to utility lines, failure to restore impacted landscaping to its original condition, delayed cleanup, failure to mark potholes and unhurried efforts to repair them.
The proposed moratorium would last three months following the effective date of the resolution, or until the City Council updates the fiber rules.
The council will also consider a pair of agreements related to services at Gateway Men’s Housing. Community Bridges Inc. would be paid just over $3 million for first responder receiving area and housing navigation services.
Horizons Services Inc. is being considered for a $2.25 million agreement to provide medical sobering services.
The organizations were chosen after a request for proposals and vetted by a city committee that scored applications.
Also up for consideration is a list of privately funded projects the council could recommend be included in the Metropolitan Transportation Plan. Councilors would make the recommendation to the Mid-Region Council of Governments.
Among the projects that could be on that list are the construction of various roadways in Mesa del Sol, a new interchange at I-40 and 118th Street and the conversion of the junction of I-25 and Bobby Foster Road to a full interchange.
Another proposed resolution would establish a pilot program that would provide gas cards for police vehicles in the Northwest and Southwest area commands.
Councilor Louie Sanchez, who sponsored the resolution, said those commands are distant from city fueling stations and allowing those vehicles to be fueled closer to their beats would improve operational efficiency and reduce response times, along with allowing officers to spend more time in the field, which will improve community policing efforts.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
WHEN: 5 p.m. May 19.
WHERE: Vincent E. Griego Chambers in the Albuquerque Government Center, 1 Civic Plaza NW VIRTUAL: GOV-TV or on the city’s YouTube channel
Budget season winding down in ABQ– Rodd Cayton, nm.news
The City of Albuquerque’s next budget is headed for the home stretch and city employees could find their paychecks a little bigger.
The City Council’s Committee of the Whole voted Thursday to move the $1.5 billion financial blueprint to final adoption at Monday’s regular meeting. Councilors have been reviewing Mayor Tim Keller’s proposal since its April introduction and spent the evening debating possible amendments.
Councilor Klarissa Peña said she plans to reintroduce an amendment Monday that would approve a series of transfers to allow for $4,041,000 to go toward an additional 1% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for employees
The raises, which would apply to employees not associated with the firefighters’ union, would be on top of a 2% COLA in Keller’s proposed budget.
The committee voted down a similar amendment Peña proposed, with some councilors expressing support for her intention but wanting details of the transfers clarified.
Councilor Dan Lewis proposed an amendment that would reduce restaurant inspection permit fees by 10% (50% for mobile unit inspections) and cut daily admission fees for the aquatics program by 50 cents. Those moves would be balanced with $266,000 taken out of the Chief Administrative Office budget via the elimination of community outreach and public affairs positions.
City chief administrative officer Samantha Sengel said those positions are currently filled and passage of the amendment would result in layoffs of those employees.
Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn noted that language in the amendment says the fee reductions are contingent upon a future amendment to the food and beverage ordinance.
“I think inserting things into the budget that have not passed this body might not be the best approach to budgeting for the City of Albuquerque,” Fiebelkorn said.
Lewis countered that it happens regularly and that the move would not commit the council to any particular course of action.
“All it does is just put the money in the bank,” he said. “In the fund balance that could be later allocated right back to where it was or somewhere else.”
Fiebelkorn said she finds the prospect of layoffs very upsetting. Lewis said he wanted to lower costs for restaurant operators struggling with inflation.
Sengel said the two employees are a supervisor who helps provide the public with transparency of information related to the police department and an individual whose work involves creating engagement strategies connecting residents and volunteers in all nine City Council districts.
Council President Brook Bassan suggested the panel can’t specify which positions should be eliminated, as that would violate separation of powers rules in the City Charter.
Lewis said the council can still choose the funding level for the administrative office, which would decide how to spend its appropriation.
The amendment fell on a 7-2 vote, supported only by Lewis and Councilor Dan Champine.
Another Lewis Amendment would lower green fees at city golf courses by $1 and reallocate $258,000 from subsidies for the Transit Department. He said unfilled positions within the department would permit the savings.
Transit Director Leslie Keener said her department is actively hiring, with 18 new motorcoach operators in training. She said transit now has fewer than 100 driver vacancies.
“It really will be imperative that we continue to have those positions available,” Keener said. “Especially as we progress and implement the network plan that we’re really gearing up towards.”
Councilor Nichole Rogers said she wants to see ABQ Ride bus service return to the routes it ran before the COVID-19 pandemic. She said it’s possible the council can add the finding during a mid-year budget “cleanup.”
Fiebelkorn said it’s important to keep the money available for driver hiring as long-awaited system improvements begin.
“If I have to choose between giving golfers $1 off and providing transit for some of our most impoverished neighborhoods, I’m going to always choose transit,” she said. “I don’t think a $1 reduction in golf fees is really going to make that much of a difference for golfers, but a reduction in any type of routes or transit would make a huge difference for people who live in that community.”
Lewis said the amendment doesn’t set the reductions in stone, but rather gives Keller’s administration flexibility to move money around later, which it has sought.
That amendment failed on a 6-3 vote, with Lewis, Champine and Councilor Renee Grout voting in favor.
Other notable amendments included:
$400,000 in transfers to support tourism projects, including the USA Cycling Masters Championships, Bands of Enchantment and the New Mexico Music Festival.
A $500,000 transfer from the lodger’s tax fund to the Arts & Culture community events program to add a nonrecurring line item for Route 66 Centennial planning and improvements.
The addition of $214,000 in opioid settlement money to the Good Shepherd Center, based on the homeless shelter’s ability to double its capacity to support individuals in recovery.
Several other amendments were necessary to correct technical or other errors in the draft budget.
The full agenda for Monday’s City Council meeting will be available here.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
WHEN: 5 p.m.May 19.
WHERE: Vincent E. Griego Chambers in the Albuquerque Government Center, 1 Civic Plaza NW VIRTUAL: GOV-TV or on the city’s YouTube channel
NM courts name first-ever behavioral health reform expert– Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
The state agency that runs state courts on Monday morning named Esperanza Lucero as its first-ever behavioral health integration and reform administrator, the person tasked with implementing major parts of a new state law reforming New Mexico’s behavioral health system.
New Mexico this year enacted Senate Bill 3, which is meant to rebuild the state’s systems for addressing mental health challenges, including substance use disorder.
The law requires the Administrative Office of the Courts to divide the state into behavioral health regions, each of which will identify five behavioral health priorities over the next four years.
“I see the Judiciary as uniquely suited to providing the leadership to bring together local stakeholders and providers in a meaningful way,” Esperanza said in a statement.
Esperanza’s first task in her new position is to assess the initiatives already underway in New Mexico under what is called Sequential Intercept Mapping (SIM), Supreme Court Chief Justice David Thomson said in a statement.
SIM is a commonly used conceptual model developed in the early 2000s that outlines points of “intercept” where people with mental health or substance use disorders can receive treatment and support.
AOC completed mapping for Santa Fe County in January; for Rio Arriba County in December; and for the Eighth Judicial District in northeastern New Mexico in October, according to reports published on its website.
A mapping workshop for the Fourth Judicial District in Mora, San Miguel and Guadalupe counties is scheduled for June 10 and 11, and a workshop for Los Alamos County is scheduled for June 23 and 24.
By June 1, the state Health Care Authority’s Behavioral Health Services Division will provide AOC with behavioral health standards and service evaluation guidelines, and by the end of this year, the state’s Medicaid program will establish a group of licensing boards to help streamline mental health providers’ credentialing, according to a timeline presented by New Mexico’s top adult mental health services official earlier this month.
Lucero previously served as director of the state Department of Health’s Center for Health Protection, and led the Aging and Long-Term Services Department’s Adult Protective Services Division.
“Her experience working extensively with state and local agencies to implement policy, strategies and initiatives will help in laying the groundwork for behavioral health system improvements required by state law,” AOC Director Karl W. Reifsteck said in a statement.
NM’s largest utility could be sold to Blackstone Infrastructure– Hannah Grover, nm.news
The parent company of New Mexico’s largest electric utility announced on Monday that it has reached an agreement to be acquired by Blackstone Infrastructure.
Under the agreement, Blackstone will acquire TXNM Energy, which owns the Public Service Company of New Mexico, for about $11.5 billion. Under the agreement, Blackstone will acquire TXNM Energy’s net debt, with the exclusion of securitized debt.
The securitized debt includes low-interest bonds PNM used to refinance past investments into the now-shuttered San Juan Generating Station as part of the Energy Transition Act. The Energy Transition Act allows utilities to use securitized bonds when closing qualifying coal-fired power plants. Some of the funds from the securitization were set aside to assist the impacted workers and communities.
State regulators in both New Mexico and Texas will need to approve the sale for it to go through.
PNM spokesman Jeff Buell told NM Political Report in an email that the utility plans to file the merger application with the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission this fall.
This is not the first time TXNM Energy has courted buyers. In 2020, the company announced plans to merge with the utility giant AVANGRID, but that ultimately fell through after the PRC denied the terms of the merger agreement.
The PRC process will give stakeholders, including local governments and advocacy groups, a chance to intervene.
Blackstone Infrastructure manages $60 billion of assets, including Invenergy Renewables. If that name sounds familiar to New Mexicans, it’s because Invenergy is behind the North Path Transmission Project, which could result in a 400-mile transmission line moving electricity from northeastern New Mexico to the Four Corners region. Invenergy entered into a joint development agreement with the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority in 2023 to develop the transmission line.
According to PNM, the acquisition will keep the utility headquartered in New Mexico and Blackstone has agreed to retain local management and employees.
PNM states the acquisition will provide the financial strength needed as the utility transitions to carbon-free sources of generation and works to meet growing electricity demands.
“This agreement will provide the financial resources necessary to thrive in this rapidly changing energy environment,” PNM President and CEO Don Tarry said in a statement. “Our focus has been and will continue to be on serving our customers with safe, reliable energy. This investment will help us meet the considerable growth in demand while supporting the transition to a clean energy future and unlocking New Mexico’s potential for economic growth.”
PNM and Blackstone hope the merger will be finalized during the second half of 2026.
“PNM has done an excellent job of transitioning its generation portfolio to clean energy and supporting the communities it serves,” Sean Klimczak, Blackstone’s Global Head of Infrastructure, said in a statement. “We will utilize our long-term investment approach to support PNM’s economic development efforts during New Mexico’s sustainable generation transition. We share PNM’s deep commitment to the customers and communities they serve and we look forward to meaningfully engaging with PNM’s stakeholders.”
By the #s: Where measles has made it in New Mexico — Patrick Lohmann and Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
A measles case was confirmed last week in the sixth New Mexico county, populous Sandoval County — much farther north than previous cases.
State health officials alerted the public that they could have been exposed to the virus at a Trader Joe’s in Albuquerque, along with a big medical center in Rio Rancho.
As of Friday, there are 74 confirmed cases across New Mexico, state health officials told Source New Mexico.
In addition to providing daily updates on the virus’ spread, health officials also provide dates, times and locations where people may have been exposed, along with a list of places where people can walk in to receive vaccines.
Infected people have been in a Denny’s in Hobbs, a school gym in Lovington, a preschool in Las Cruces and various medical clinics in southern and northern New Mexico in recent months.
Measles symptoms begin with a cough, runny nose and eye redness, before progressing to fever and rash that starts at the head before moving down the body. Health officials advise that people who have measles can infect others from four days before the rash appears and remain contagious four days after the rash is gone.
In addition to Sandoval County, New Mexico has now seen confirmed cases in Chaves, Curry, Doña Ana, Eddy and Lea counties. Currently, more than 1,000 measles cases have been reported nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The health department encourages people with symptoms who have been exposed to measles to call NMDOH Helpline at 1-833-SWNURSE (1-833-796-8773) for guidance in English and Spanish. If planning to see a doctor or visit an emergency room, call first so health care providers can plan for a visit by someone who may have measles.
See a map below showing statewide exposure sites, along with vaccine clinic sites and other information at Source New Mexico.
Records: New Mexico governor has OK’d more than $2M for National Guard deployment to Albuquerque — Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
Executive orders from the governor’s office show New Mexico has so far authorized over $2 million to be spent on the emergency deployment of National Guard troops to the state’s largest city, even before most people might notice their presence on the streets.
As many as 70 soldiers are expected to deploy to the city imminently, according to an April news release from the governor’s office. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham previously told Source NM troops have already started training for their new roles with the New Mexico departments of Homeland Security, Public Safety, State Police and the Albuquerque Police Department.
Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina on March 31 asked Lujan Grisham to send in “immediate reinforcement” to help his officers deal with fentanyl use and violent crimes allegedly committed by children.
Lujan Grisham on April 7 declared an emergency in the city of Albuquerque and authorized the New Mexico National Guard to spend $750,000 in order to help the Albuquerque Police Department.
The executive order states that National Guard troops would help APD with “non-law enforcement” activities including traffic control, administrative duties, transporting incarcerated people, court security, emergency response and “other critical functions that allow local law enforcement to focus on crime reduction efforts.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico denounced the move, saying that “militarizing civilian law enforcement will lead to civil rights violations and further criminalize homelessness rather than address the root causes of public safety issues.”
The military operation is expected to cost $750,000 per month, the New York Times reported.
Lt. Gov. Howie Morales on April 17 renewed the emergency declaration and authorized another $750,000. Morales was acting governor while Lujan Grisham was traveling to Asia.
Lujan Grisham last Friday renewed the emergency again, and authorized an additional $750,000. Her executive order states that it will remain in effect until the money is spent or no longer needed.
Federal judge dismisses more than 100 border trespassing charges related to military zone - Colleen Heild, Albuquerque Journal
In a blow to the Trump administration’s new military mission on the southern U.S. border, New Mexico’s top federal magistrate judge has ruled the government had no probable cause to charge hundreds of migrants with trespassing onto newly designated military property.
The decision by U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Gregory Wormuth of Las Cruces resulted in the dismissal of the misdemeanor trespassing charges in nearly two dozen illegal entry cases in federal court in Las Cruces on Thursday. The night before, nearly 100 such dismissals were filed, based on earlier requests by defense attorneys at their clients’ initial court appearances.
And while more dismissals of the trespassing charges are expected, most, if not all, defendants are still facing illegal entry charges and remain in federal custody at jails across southern New Mexico.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Albuquerque on Thursday had no immediate response to Journal questions about the ruling, including whether U.S. Attorney for New Mexico Ryan Ellison will appeal Wormuth’s dismissals to the U.S. District Court.
More than 300 people have been charged with entering restricted U.S. Army property and violating security regulations and orders since late April, when federal property was transferred to the Fort Huachuca Army Garrison as a way to add a military presence on the New Mexico border. The additional misdemeanors carry a total maximum sentence of 18 months in prison.
“All these clients have been in this holding pattern waiting for the judge’s decision,” El Paso attorney James Granberg said Thursday afternoon. The prosecutions have filled southern New Mexico jails, and during hearings in U.S. District Court in Las Cruces, defendants have spilled into a second courtroom awaiting their appearances.
In his order, Wormuth found that defendants had to have knowledge they entered what is called the New Mexico National Defense Area, which is the 60-foot-wide strip adjacent to the U.S. border in southern New Mexico. Defense attorneys have argued that their clients had no idea they were stepping onto military land when they crossed the border, and the judge stated that the United States, in filing the charges, provided no facts from which one could “reasonably conclude” that a defendant knew he or she was entering the restricted area.
“...The mere fact that some ‘signs’ were posted in the (zone) provides no basis on which to conclude that the Defendant could have seen, let alone did see, the signs. Relevant facts on the matter would include, the words on the signs, the size of the signs, the height, the density of the signage, evidence regarding how close Defendant was to a sign at any time prior to the apprehension, and the lighting conditions at the relevant time and whether the signs were lighted or otherwise visible,” wrote the judge in dismissing the charges.
Criminal complaints reviewed by the Journal don’t mention how close to any warning signs a defendant was when discovered by the U.S. Border Patrol in the 180-mile long military zone, but Border Patrol agents do specify the distance to the nearest U.S. port of entry.
Wormuth wrote that the factual allegations in the criminal complaints “are virtually identical with respect to the two ‘military trespass’ charges across hundreds of cases. The government’s ‘cut and paste approach’ to factual allegations in the complaints allows this Court to apply the legal analysis contained herein across every criminal complaint charging these crimes filed thus far and still pending.”
Wormuth on May 1 had asked both prosecutors and defense attorneys to weigh in on the legal questions spurred by the new prosecution practice related to the defense zone, citing in part the scarcity of case law on the topic.
In response, Ellison’s office argued that those charged with the trespassing on military property knew they were crossing illegally into the U.S., and that knowledge was enough under the law for someone to be prosecuted on the military trespassing charges.
But Ellison on Sunday filed an unusual objection to Wormuth ruling at all on the issue, going so far as to criticize the judge.
In a footnote to his 16-page order on Wednesday, Wormuth responded, describing Ellison’s objection as “remarkable” in its tone and content. “Incredibly, this histrionic filing is in response to the Court’s order for the United States Attorney’s Office to file a brief on a legal question about a criminal charge it had brought.”
Wormuth added, “Notably, the United States made no timely objection to the briefing order. In fact, the United States filed its brief before apparently realizing days later that the mere request for briefing was ‘an improper exercise of the Court’s authority’ and an ‘extraordinary departure from...foundational principles.’”
Wormuth, a former federal prosecutor, has served as a U.S. Magistrate judge in New Mexico since 2009 and just recently was appointed to another eight-year term.
Granberg told the Journal that the government may have a “stronger case” for prosecuting the trespassing related violations if more warning signs are posted and efforts are made to raise public awareness about the restricted military property.
At the same time, he said, there are people crossing into the U.S. who are from South America “and have very little education.”
Federal authorities “presume they (the migrants) know how to read, but some folks don’t. Some folks are from the mountains of Mexico and Guatemala and they speak in different dialects.”