[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] okay folks the fifth meeting of the twenty-fourth Council will close this evening if you would join us with a moment of silence in the Pledge thank you all before we get to tonight's business I do want to give it extend a special welcome to our new city councilor land' Sinha from the first District welcome board we're so happy to have you thank you to my fellow councillors and a special thank you to the mayor for this appointment and this opportunity and for trusting me and continuing the work for District one and a special honor to the late Ken Sanchez I want to honor his memory and hope to continue his work so thank you well welcome aboard and you picked a meeting to get started with for sure folks you know tonight's City Council meeting may look a little bit different than normal every councilor is present in person doing the work of our city and for the people that we all serve this last week has really been a trying one for everybody not the least of which includes the legions of city staff including our own who've been called on to take on all kinds of new duties to find some creative solutions to unexpected problems and they've done that each and every day with exception we should never be surprised when city workers rise to that challenge but we do want to acknowledge and say thank you and so for those of you following along at home if you see a city worker out doing work whether it's a first responder or whether it's someone working in our community centers ensuring that those are clean for our kids or in the airport being sure that they're clean and available for those that do have to travel please extend a special thank you and appreciation for them who do that work oftentimes here at work while others have the opportunity to stay at home and maybe they should as well so we do want to acknowledge and say thank you to that tonight's meeting as we mentioned is going to be a little bit different I'm going to take this out of the top so that we can move through it in response to the governor's declaration of a public emergency and ban on public gatherings tonight city council meeting will be limited to in-person attendance only by the city councilors Council and administration staff and credentialed members of the media and we have several of those here with us members of the public have the opportunity like always to view our proceedings online both through Comcast channel 16 online at gov TV and now for the first time through youtube we also have been working to ensure that if you would like to review more of what happened tonight you can do so online all of our meetings are archived and available and our staff is available to assist you if you'd like to come in and make an appointment if you don't have a computer or access of your own members of the public can also follow us tonight and always online through the city's social media platforms including on twitter and instagram tonight's meeting was posted on the city council website by 5:00 p.m. on Friday as required by the state's open meetings act and although it's not required by state law that we take public comment it's been our practice for years to do so and we went out of our way to ensure and appreciate our staff in particular for finding a way to ensure that we could do that normally we would let anybody who appeared in person at the county the city council meeting sign up for comment to speak on an item on the agenda in this case we allowed anyone who emailed us who phoned our office or who use our online web form to submit public comment on any item on the agenda I know we've received hundreds of comments over the weekend on all types of issues we'll have a chance to talk about more of those but as our staff has put together we have a large packet of public comment that will be available for inspection and it's been available for counselors and their emails today in notes and also here in person if you're looking to refer to one and so we appreciate the public's participation in this process it's not any different than when you would walk in and sign up to speak it's only that we're putting your words and writing and hanging on to them for the record instead with that said and a few strange things handled we want to begin if I can find mine here we go with proclamations and presentations and first we want to invite the administration to give us an update on the issue of the day a little bit regarding the city's coronavirus response where we go what we've done so far and we have in place to help our constituents and residents Misner Thank You councillor Davis and thanks to to you and to all the councillors into your staff especially staff and crystal and Chris for working with us through all the unexpected issues that have come up over the past week that feels like a year we are we have been updating the public pretty continuously so we thought one shortcut to keeping everyone updated was to give you a packet of the recent press releases and so if you haven't already got them up there then we have them for you we also have a dedicated webpage on the city website it's WWC ABQ gov forward slash I think it's corona info but I'll get the exact one for you and so that is the place where we are keeping it constantly updated in terms of closures and any other rules that may apply since we had the public health emergency declared last year week we've taken a few steps to keep the public safe one is to change some of our operations so our senior centers have limited access they are doing meal related activities only our family and community centers we're trying to strike the balance between the fact that a lot of people don't have the luxury of staying home with their kids and their kids are not in school right now with the need to keep our staff and our folks safe so what we did was to create 7:30 to 5:30 programming in each of our community centers it had to be pre registered the registration cap was 45 people so we were staying well under the the guidelines for mass gatherings and we're actually promoting good practices with respect to infectious diseases in those in those centers as well so hopefully kids are coming out a little better equipped than they went in and so those are some of the major changes in operations the BioPark is closed we had it open over the weekend for outdoor only sort of a last hurrah for people who are getting ready to hunker down those are now closed that is now closed the museum's and other cultural facilities are in that same position so again the website is the best place and if you click actually on any page in our website they'll be a place to do the coronavirus page so today we also took actions with respect to staff in accordance with the governor's direction to limit operations we had already been working on it we basically put employees into a couple of categories if you can telework we have you teleworking if you can if you're remotely dispatched so all of our public safety personnel as well as our inspectors and carpenters and folks who are keeping our facilities safe and clean then we have you doing that remote work because you're not in that frontline of lots of people and then if you are essential you are reporting to duty your director has some flexibility about how and where you do that if your essential and you cannot telecommute and then the final category is we did have some non-essential employees who could not telecommute mostly because they have customer-facing jobs in some of our facilities and they are just at home on paid leave we've also for the last week had a policy in place that allows our employees to basically call in sick if they have symptoms or if they present at work and need to be quarantined or if they are within those travel restrictions anybody in those categories who's basically home cuz of coronavirus they're getting administrative leave paid leave as opposed to having to burn their sick leave because we know that when you know if we're putting employees in the position where they can present and their supervisor can say you better go home we couldn't also make them burn their sick leave for that so that's sort of where we landed on personnel we also got a number of questions in advance of the meeting so if you'd like we can just start to have those brief presentations from our some of our directors if it's counselor Harris I have one question I got an email from somebody who gave me some information it was about the county declaring an emergency I guess and whether or not the SBA would do some things once a declaration is made by the US the US Small Business Administration will begin offering designated states and territories low-interest federal disaster loans okay so this is this better okay so I got an email from somebody that said that the county can make a declaration and in a small business administration will offer low-interest loans or something I'm not sure if that applies to a city but could you look into that and get back to me either before the next meeting or at the next meeting yes council president Davis councillor Harris would be happy to look at that and that is really the purpose behind everyone's emergency declarations are to to get access to those resources great and madam C Terrace is that it no is it okay madam COI knows yes some counselors had some early questions if it's okay I think we'll let them ask them because I know you have some ready to go if that's okay and I think the first I know of is counselor bosons if that's right did you have a question about youth and I'm sorry council brigham she asked the same one you my children parents should be giving to their children regarding this especially these kind of sensitive times and how I guess there must be somebody that can address that from one of our departments council president Davis councilor Bota ago I'm going to invite our director of environmental health ryan mast up to the podium to answer that question and just by way of preface he joined us from emergency management and resilience in New Orleans and couldn't have come at a better time because he brings a lot of experience in disaster situations so Ryan Thank You president Davis councilor vireio thank you for that question I think it is really important right now that we consider how our young people are experiencing this as well and there are a lot of proactive steps that we can take and that parents can take as they're communicating this to the young people I'll go a few of them here but there's additional information we can provide and we'll start putting on additional information to the public as well but and for the most part one of the key things is to speak to your children or your teens in a way that they understand you simple terms that they can understand and speak to it in their language as opposed to just regurgitating what's being put out on the public you're gonna know best how they can what what words they understand what terms they understand what the concepts that they understand so start with that and make sure they keep it simple also make sure to reassure them that this that they're gonna be okay and that it's okay but but make sure to validate that it's okay to be a little scared or to be me to have some fear and this time but but just kind of provide that reassurance that there are steps that they can take make sure as you're limiting your your exposure to the public you're also limiting a little bit of that that exposure to all the barrage of information that's coming in over social media over the regular media etc because a lot of that information comes in it we got become very overwhelming and very confusing so make sure that you're also taking a break from some of the continuous coverage that we're having right now so that not everything is about this and then finally kids especially young children are very prone are very used to routine they get the routine and they're and they're doing their daily schedules they get their routine at school so now that they're not in school make sure to also start to create those routines at home that's going to help alleviate some of that stress it's going to put them back into these cycles that that are normal to them and then you can also have more of those conversations so those are some some tips to use and they've proven very effective in all sorts of emergencies but I will continue to push out additional messages on that and mr. president thank you for that I would love to see that on on the city website some of the tips for dealing with children because I you know I lived through the 60s when we had the atomic bomb threat and I mean my family still has a shelter in the bottom of one of our pump houses so I think it's important that the information that and parents you know of course they're going to be sensitive to their own children but I think it's important that we have some tips for them available on our website as to how to talk to their children if they do see it on TV or something absolutely we will do that thank you thank you ma'am next up counselor Gibson Thank You mr. president actually I have several questions so the first question I have regard is regarding planning I've heard from a couple of people over the weekend and and even today concerned about access to the services provided by planning contractors developers mr. president I'm sure these are you all hear me okay mr. president counselor Gibson and members of the council the planning department counter if you will there their permit counters and the work that are done by our folks to review plans is remains open and so work continues as as best as we can as it relates to the number of people that we have in the facility we in part of our downsizing and our of some of these buildings because of the order from the from the governor we made a special if you will consideration to ensuring that those services remained open so the counters are open for plan review and inspections we have moved all our code inspectors out of the building and put them in a field status which basically means that they report to their supervisor visibly computer or phone and then go to their respective vehicles to do their work in a remote fashion so that we can continue to have that service out in the community so it may be we may have some if you will issues where someone may not have all the information ie and that at the desk but we will work diligently to ensure that there are programs for inspections and plan checks and reviews continue stay open and operational so thank you for that so then it sounds like that there were some folks who were deemed not I hate to say non-essential they were able to stay home or work possibly work for home although and a lot of those jobs it does really require a face-to-face so the people who had been working at the counter and helping with permitting and and that type of thing with maps did how many of those are not coming to work what kind of an adjustment had to be be made there mr. president and councillor Gibson the counter employees that actually work the counter are all still there okay where we made some adjustments were on for example the HR department for if you will in the or personality in the department that can work remotely the finance folks they can do remote work some of the the planners they can do some other work remotely and that is obviously to their computer etc but for the most part all of the folks that again that deal with the public are still there today working the counters and so again we should not see a big impact on that work okay thank you and if I may one more actually this is for miss Pierce director Pierce the question I have for you is regarding the Early Head Start in the home based program the center based program how much of that continues to run what changes did you have to make great president Davison and councillor Gibson all of our child development centers were operational today so I have the numbers and in some centers zero children chose to participate and the max I think was 12 so just to give you a little picture what we've done so we had our leadership including myself visited every child development center personally today number one to thank them for their public service because some of those are located in ApS schools and they were open some of them are portables on ApS campuses which are City of Albuquerque portables but they were open some of them are in other locations what we talked about with our staff is talking about the essential service that they provide all of our community our child development centers are always following best practice from the get-go they have the red signs in the front about cough or if people have traveled we are singing the Happy Birthday song kids start the day washing their hands they're washing their hands every step of the way I think they're really the leaders in hand-washing we also then ended our day with an hour long conference call connecting all of our staff to talk about how the day went and end concerns so all of our staff know that if they have a chronic health condition or if they had symptoms you know they're working through their supervisor they're not providing providing care we had some really good problem solving about what we can do to adapt because all parents sign in at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day we're changing those procedures we've got hand wipes and working on not sharing that pen and that was a one A one example of a really great conversation at the end of the day all those child development centers they're receiving a hot meal through our contractor and that continues to be provided so overall I think we understand home visiting services have paused at the moment and that is because most parents are not really interested in having somebody come in their home at there at this time and that's where that one-on-one care happens our funders including the state and early headstart have been very flexible you know we are driven by rigorous guidelines we are still keeping children very safe following those but when it comes to our enrollment which we have kept at in tip-top shape they understand right now that there's a little bit of flexibility especially when it comes to home visiting right thank you thank you for doing all that thank you I have one more if I may or do I actually my mind actually for Carol and I just wanted to as I drove by the park and saw so many homeless people I'd like to know how because I read that you know we're trying to allow them the opportunity to if they if need be to get tested as well and I just wondered how that works so if we could maybe help they come to council president Davis and councilor Borrego yes we over the weekend I appointed a medical director for the West Side emergency housing center and her name is Laura patron that she we're very fortunate I think you've heard me say many times that over the since May we were offering on-site health services and Laura patron dr. pedrone is one of those providers from UNMH and the Medical Reserve Corps so she's very familiar with our operation so I received the advice from Department of Health on Saturday morning that if I wanted to expedite testing I would be best off having a medical person ask for that I immediately appointed her she accepted the appointment today I learned that then we the city needed to go back to Department of Health to ask for that testing equipment we have done that and our partner Department of Health is on that so we spent the weekend working with a team of people to have our process set for that testing which includes having a place for isolation it includes starting with pre-screening on the symptoms and taking a temperature and asking a series of screening questions we've got a place out at our emergency housing center where people can be isolated both a pod and separate areas right now we were able through a partnership with AFR and our emergency supplies is to secure all the protective gear that is needed for people caring for people who would ever test positive that includes being tested with the n95 mask and we're working on that with the Department of Health so the testing didn't begin today we're on this final stage of getting some of these pieces in place and that I'm optimistic that could begin as early as tomorrow and this is a voluntary program for them correct yes counselor Borrego I would say it is voluntary although while our screening procedure is for the west side we are asking that all people that are coming into our emergency housing we would screen because we are in close proximity out there and so we will handle that case-by-case if for some reason somebody did not want to but that is our policy that we would screen everybody one last question is there any outreach for people that don't come to the facility yes counselor Borrego so we fact we were having a call with our core homeless providers tomorrow morning and so there are a lot of questions about that we've got people continuing to do outreach I can give you an example there are people that may choose not to go out to the west side but we're reaching out and there will be options we've got to figure out that process as well councillor Gibson we're back to you thank you this question I have this my last question and it's for a city attorney and so you know going through some of the public comment that we have and and I've seen this before and dozens of emails I looked at today there are concerns that we are usurping constitutional rights by you know keeping the general public out of this meeting and and it it feels weird just of us here right so if you're watching we miss you anyway can you tell me can can you tell us you know how and I believe that we are within the law but can you talk about that a little bit for anybody who might be listening and I counsel president Davis councillor Gibson I will do my best to give a brief overview but feel free to ask any questions generally I the Open Meetings Act does not require public comment I think that what the Open Meetings Act requires is reasonable notice and in this situation absolutely I think that the council's actions here to close the building close the to the public and close the median public is appropriate and I don't have any concerns about the validity of this meeting or any action that may be take that the council will act on here and I think it's council's responsibility one follow-up so I get it I understand about public comment we've been through that a few years ago but this is a little bit different you know and I understand we're doing it for health reasons so it's very um yeah it was like that but this is different even though it's for health reasons and it's to protect everybody's from from getting contaminated by by a virus so is there any protection that we have for that or any anything that talks about that in in our ordinances or charter or anything council president Davis councillor Gibson I think that the the council has a sufficient flexibility to be able to broadcast its meeting to the general public particularly under circumstances like this given the public health the situation where we're at so again I don't have any concerns about the this meeting being proper it is and any action that this council takes will would be I have the full force and effect of the law as well so I'm not sure if I answered that question specifically but get the format is I don't have any concerns and I think it's a it is a responsible and a reasonable step for this council to take okay thank you next we have councillor sena and then we'll come back to the councillors who've come before thank you so I wanted to ask if the resources that are out there for children to pick up meals or for the senior population to have meals or the community centers that are staying open are those resources being translated in multiple languages so that all of the communities have access Thank You council president Davis councillor Senna that's a great question I'm calling down Michele Melendez who's the director of equity and inclusion for the city and has done a great job in ensuring that our resources are rolling out in languages that are accessible for the most of our community so Michele yes mr. president and madam or councillor Senna yes our office has been helping each department to develop its language access plans and to think proactively about what languages information needs to go out in a lot of this information is coming very very quickly so there is a little bit of a backlog in getting everything translated into the main languages that we're trying to get it into Spanish simplified Chinese Vietnamese at this time whenever possible we're using pre translated materials from the CDC or the New Mexico Department of Health in the case of the school sites we're using whatever ApS can provide and we've been in touch with the office of immigrant and Refugee affairs at APs and anything that is not yet translated we are putting it into the queue to become translated in regards to essential personnel that are continuing to keep our city safe and functioning and what support do they have in terms of staff council president Davis councillors Sena I'm not can I just ask a clarifying question so support I just mean that if they need more staff what are we doing to help the staffing it's not Thank You council president Davis councillor sent us so what most of our directors that have a critical mass of essential personnel have done is instituted or rotation policy so if for example you normally have 30 people doing an essential function we're cutting that down to maybe 10 10 and 10 so that everybody does get a chance to rest go home and then of course the option of paid leave is available to anyone who begins to experiences symptoms or has been exposed to the virus and one more question and how are we addressing the discrimination harassment and physical attacks that are occurring in the pan-asian community mr. president and councillor Senna since the beginning our mayor Keller has included very strong statements really regarding public information releases and any public statements that we've made telling people that if they experience any kind of harassment or discrimination they should call our city's Office of Civil Rights and we've also linked to that office on our city's website on the kovat 19 FAQ page as well as telling people that if they experience any threats of violence they should call APD as always and our mayor has recently written a letter to the asian-american community at large in care of the New Mexico Asian Family Services expressing our administration's strong stance against xenophobia stigma stigmatizing people of Asian descent discrimination and spelling out what members of the community can do if they experience any of these things and we've become aware of incidents in the City of Albuquerque we're also asking the public to intervene wherever possible one by sharing only reliable information and not spreading this misinformation that is going out and only sharing information from the New Mexico Department of Health and the CDC and trusted sources and the other is to speak up if they hear see or witness any kind of misinformation or harassment and again asking them to call our office of civil rights or APD if it is a threat of violence and tomorrow we are meeting with the owner of a business who was targeted and we're trying to follow up on a couple of incidents that we have been told were reported to police yeah thank you thank you ma'am next up we have counselor Benton I was wondering I think when we started out we were gonna hear from different departments and maybe so we don't have everybody having to we could kind of maybe be focused by I have I could start out here with director Pierce again since she's been up but also had questions regarding planning so however you want to conduct it mr. president but I just sort of feel like we're kind of making people jump up and jump back and jump up again with flexible but but I will start with with you miss Pierce and then however the president wants to handle the queue here is up to him I did forward and I want to thank mrs. Stotts from our constituent of mine who pointed out the CDC's interim guidelines for homeless shelters and I just I had not read it so I was appreciative that she pointed it out to me but I wanted to just be sure that you and your staff has read that and and your remembers everything I see in the media you seem to be following these these guidelines yes council president Davis and and councillor Benton yes we're aware of all the guidance that are is coming out have reviewed that we've had our medical director review that to put our policy in place as we as we move forward and that includes there certain distancing if we were needing to isolate someone it includes our cleanse cleanliness out of our Westside emergency housing center many many other things so yes and it at the Westside shelter is UNM and and health care for the homeless still staffing that clinic that's the same rate it has been our counselor president Davis and councillor Benton yes tonight will be the Medical Reserve Corps in UNM Wednesday night is First Nations and Thursday night is Albuquerque health care for the homeless we have begun conversations I mean I our community and our Westside emergency housing center needs that service seven days a week that is what my wish was and my request was in the beginning we've been working on it to do our best we do know it makes a difference when that happens 911 calls are reduced from the Westside that's important we want first responders to be doing their business and so we continue to work hard with our partners to increase that coverage so right now we're only three of seven nights a week and then would it be would it make sense or maybe you're already doing this as well that these CDC interim guidelines be distributed to our community partners and the nonprofit sectors outside of health care for the homeless who I'm sure is right on top of it president Davis and councillor Benton yes that makes sense and I will make sure I know we've done a couple things we had our first weekly call last Thursday with we invited all of our providers and the suggestion was made which we followed we took a standing hepatitis A call because as I think everybody knows I think our community did a great job keeping that it wasn't an outbreak so we ended up with about 450 people calling in to that and so we had Department of Health Director Ryan mast with us and many people to talk about all the guidelines tomorrow's call will be a little bit smaller but we will continue to do those weekly calls but we'll make sure that those guidelines are out there yeah and I think you know again you've been in the media saying the right things I mean this is a very extremely vulnerable population a lot of underlying conditions and reason to to give special attention one other quick question the community supports shuttle is still operating yes president Davis and and councillor Benton we're talking about the Vic yeah yes I'll have to say I didn't really check into any of that today but as far as I know yes the community support shuttle is operating and our other buses are operating as well just more ongoing cleaning and that kind of thing sure I mean I think those those forms of transportation are also increasingly important under this situation Thank You mr. president I'll wait until we get another director up here councilman thank you we'll take a cue from that any other councillors for director Pierce before we move on account service on good Thank You mr. president I think it's you director so and I know I've asked this question of the administration earlier this week this via miss Yara but I also realized that ApS is excuse me doing a really good job with the meals for children and whether they're just 18 and younger I just want to clarify and I think for the sake of the public here at this meeting if they haven't heard already you know what what is the city's involvement in ensuring that children are going to be getting food in addition to seniors at the senior centers even though I know that it's on the internet some people might not know that they might be watching right now so if you could please just cover that I'd appreciate it yeah president Davis and councillor Poisson yes well couple things so ApS as we know they've got their long list of where students and families are able to access food and we've made sure that our community centers and our child development centers have that those lists as well we are providing food for those coming for services at our child development centers and then what we've done in our community centers as as I think CEO Nair mentioned earlier we are open for the next three we 7:30 to 5:30 providing youth programming we are we had moved our hot meal to the noon time and so that hot meal is being provided as well as the City of Albuquerque works with ApS to fund Community Schools and our community schools are working very hard and want to say 30 some-odd sites to work on the food distribution it we worked with many partners here at the city of albuquerque to have the reusable bags to get those meals given to those parents so we're all pretty connected but even on this child development call I mentioned we made sure our own staff had the list for APS as well as our health and social service centers so those remain open that's where people do know to go get emergency boxes that staff has asked for more food and we've increased the amount of food and so we made sure all of our team knows that those are an available resource as well and council president Davison councillor Hassan one more thing we did make the busses free for youth so that they can travel to get those meals if they don't have a parent at home who can get them there or they can get to other resources as they need them wonderful thank you thank you so much and then Miss Nair maybe well while I have your attention for the senior end of that again I think that I know I've heard and had my answer which is fabulous so if you can kind of expand on that and just to also add on and mention I think director Pierce with and it's just a comment you're fine but just that it's any child 18 and under that can go to any of these locations it doesn't have to be an aunt nd of ApS schools that go there in order to get the food so I think that it's very important because there's so many people that rely on this as for some of them their only meal a day but again the senior centers please and thank you council president Davis councilor bisognano Sanchez our director of senior affairs is here to give you those specific answers and yes that is a great point the APS meals are free to every child so that's a great move on their part mr. president and councilor was on make sure you can hear me our focus really is on making sure that our seniors have the meals right they depend the lunch meal primarily and we're focusing very much on the nutrition food aspect of our services right now so we are transitioning to kind of a model to make sure that individuals have the opportunity to do the pick up and go for those that frequent our centers really as a way to be able to choose to continue to promote that social distancing ensuring that folks get the proper information see a trusted face and have that opportunity to come to our facilities and pick up and go take that meal with them just another effort to be able to keep people distant and apart from each other so we are committed to doing that thank you and then also as is it might not be you but I think it is with delivery for those that don't have the availability to pick up and go thank you I appreciate you asking about our home delivery program because it's one of the strongest things that we do we have an incredibly dedicated staff so our home delivery program still operates as usual we are receiving some calls from individuals that are calling our senior information assistant line at 764 6400 so we really want to push that because that is a gateway to all of our services our home delivery program is up and running and we are so committed to doing that and making sure that we have the personnel that is able to expand that if need be wonderful thank you thank you very much and council president my next thing will be for Public Safety when you're ready we'll come back I think before director Sanchez I think councillor Benton has a quick senior affairs question ma'am director I'm gonna stick with my Transit and mobility questions for people who really need help with their mobility we still have our thank you admittedly sometimes complaints that we don't have enough but I know that they try really hard to help people get to the centers when when they need to get to them is that still operating normally so we have there seen a decrease oh sorry mr. mr. president and councillor pop and we have seen a decrease in demand for calls from some individuals that we typically do see we are doing all also a lot of outreach and wellness checks with individuals and our experienced case managers are checking in on folks we continue to operate our service for folks that perhaps need a ride to a medical appointment those are priority for us all right thank you keeping with that theme of senior Affairs counselor cinema Thank You mr. president I had a question again about accessibility is this are these resources that you're sharing also in multiple languages and especially for those that are hard of hearing mr. president and councillor Senna yes we are very much working in tandem with the office of equity and inclusion to make sure that our information is posted in multiple languages it's been really helpful to have those stop signs right at the the front of the doors for all of our facilities that's been a very just kind of an opportunity for folks to evaluate whether or not they're feeling well and should be able to enter into that facility we are seeing that folks are taking those precautions and we're making sure we provide that information thank you ma'am senior affairs going once going twice thank you ma'am I think counselors moving on to other topics I know councillor Bassanio of Public Safety question do you want to get us started with a different department sure well Thank You mr. president so I have a question regarding Public Safety and I know that I did again ask this in advance hoping to not totally surprise you so hopefully we won't see this problem at all but with the fear that is escalating and I think that we need to really start refocusing and I think we're trying but really prioritizing redirection of thoughts so that we don't cause more fear but with depleting shelves in stores and with people fighting for supplies and everyday needs that they have my concern as what is APD planning on and how is the adjustment going to happen if crime escalates as far as something like maybe looting if we shut down more businesses and if we shut down different locations and people aren't even allowed to be in there what do we do then and what what are you doing to prepare for that so that we can comfort hopefully the the public instead of cause more to worry about sure Council President Davis councilor Poisson thank you so first of all I'd like to start out with APD is training constantly for any various unexpected event to include civil unrest so we have contingency plans in place for events such as the the events that you're describing as far as the potential increase in crime due to the Cova 19 virus we have an apparatus in place as well to track any kind of crime trends and reallocate resources as needed to accommodate for the different kind of types of crimes that are gonna spur could potentially spur as a result of the displacement of this virus so in addition we again we have we have additional protocols a place to assign officers due to rioting looting or civil unrest as they as they arise we're also working with big box stores when they receive shipments in place from their deliveries to ensure that they have an internal apparatus that kind of kind of slows the stem of just a mass of people trying to get say toilet paper which most of the stores are kind of running low on so when a when a big-box store will receive a shipment of toilet paper the stores are either creating a voucher system or they are excuse me they are limiting the number of people that they actually allow into the store so there's not just a massive pile of people on a certain article thank you very much I think that it's important that we touch on that just so that the public knows that of course we hope and believe that you're thinking about it so it's nice to have that confirmation that you're planning for us to help keep us safe thank you very much thank you Thank You councillors other APD questions council Borrego thank you for being here I'd so want to thank police and fire for the work that you guys are doing out there my question is and I'd like you for the public's sake really to talk about the memory memorandums of understanding that you have with other jurisdictions with the Sheriff's Office State Police and other surrounding communities like Rio Rancho and los lunas or other places like that just so we understand the connections that we have in place sure Council President Davis councilor Abrego thank you for the question so currently in place we have multiple mo use throughout multiple different departments so auto theft for example we have a working agreement between the State Police and our auto theft team we have what's called the multi-agency task force which is a band of state police the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department the Rio Rancho police department and APD that investigate officer-involved shootings so we already have a pretty good working relationship with most law enforcement agencies that are that are neighboring APD we are chief Dyer actually has a meeting tomorrow with all the major Chiefs of Police in the state of New Mexico to begin to kind of coordinate a statewide effort for the kovat 19 response to ensure that we are following best practices as a state and to set up working relationships as need be to ensure that the public is safe as safe as we can make them just to follow up so for example and I'm just going to give an example if I live in my district and something happens in the county the police can respond to that issue if there is an issue or if in over the boundary of Rio Rancho for example there is coordination and a network that is available council president Davis and councilor Borrego yes ma'am so currently right now in the county every APD officer is currently cross commissioned to have jurisdiction in the county of Bernalillo so even though it's not within the city limits an officer for APD can make an arrest in the county of Bernalillo and I believe one of the things that we may be talking about tomorrow with all of the Chiefs is the possibility of cross commissioning to places like San Duvall or Valencia County as needs arise for APD to assist those other jurisdictions it's one last thing with regard to what I heard on the news today about you know letting out offenders from the jail that are probably lower on the totem pole I guess of crime could you just address that as well please sure council president Davis councilor Borrego I'm not familiar with the article that you you're you're you're alluding to what what I can tell you is that we have an apparatus in place again a structure in place with the Metropolitan Detention Center for prisoners that APD arrests and they are screened both through medical through APD and then they're also screened at the Metropolitan Detention Center for the Cova 19 virus but excuse me as far as your the specific news article I'm not familiar with it counsels other departments other questions thanks counselor Ben I just want to acknowledge and part of our hey we know this this new temporary system works I got a message from Bobbi who's the director at the Vic who reached out and said I saw the questions on the community shuttle more operating a hundred percent implemented additional safety measures and educating our writers for more than 10 days and they're gonna reach out with you tomorrow and give you a full update so we know folks are paying attention and weighing in if I might I neglected to mention one person who's been really critical to this entire effort which is Roger Abner our director of the Office of Emergency Management he's here I believe you know he is the one who sends about a thousand emails telling us to do our continuity plans and keep all our numbers updated and then everybody ignores it and then we he sends this again and and he's been really effective in his job so I was on a call with other large city executives and so many of them are scrambling to do their continuity plans right now and we are not because of our office of emergency management's I just want to give him a shout out for that work Thank You mr. Eyre and I want to agree I it is like watching some of these other cities try to catch up it has been really nice in the last few weeks to be in the meetings where we're putting those programs in place and not trying to design them on the fly it sure gives us a lot more time and for our staff on the ground to work on those little issues and personal issues and help us work with individuals and not big system so and I want to acknowledge and say thank you to Roger as well on our behalf last week we were able to take some counselors out to the EOC show them how that process work let them ask questions and see for themselves how that's happening so for counselors that didn't get a chance to do that last week I know Rogers already extended that invitation we're always welcome to come visit and see how the city is operating behind the scenes and how we do that and I hope you'll take a chance to do it I think some of the counselors that got to go visit counselor Senate counselor Jones counselor Besant I think that was really informative to see how that's working first-hand accounts are been really quickly I had a couple more questions if it's all right mr. president one is with regard to ABQ ride and transit are we is I know in some places where the outbreaks are severe public transit transit is being suspended I know the governor weighed in and we suspended the Rail Runner Express service is there any anticipated reductions in regular transit or son ban type transit mr. president and and councillor Benton you are correct the the governor did suspend service on the Rail Runner beginning today all our routes are operating and we have not we don't anticipate suspending any of the routes we are however evaluating some of the routes that connect to the Rail Runner some of the regional routes that are designed specifically to connect to those stations to ensure that if the ridership is not there that we may deploy those bus drivers into other routes where we know that we might not have enough drivers or where it would make more sense to augment the service that we already are providing and as mr. Iyer said earlier we are offering free service for you know anyone 18 years and younger on the system as well as our paratransit system is ringing as normal we have seen a dramatic decrease in the use of the paratransit system just because I think a lot of folks are heating the to the concerns of basically staying home and and and not getting around as much as they would have normally but at this point all the services are there I would also just indicate to all of you that we are working with a private company that's locally owned here in Albuquerque that actually develops products to sterilize different types of equipment they are setting up a system up at the transit facility so that we can actually wash the buses they are doing this free of service as their way to contribute to the continuing cleaning in this of the that of the transit system because of the amount of just of use that it does get so we're very fortunate to have that partnership but again it's our interest is continue to have the service because we know a lot of folks that really need that service to get to meals as we've been talking about or to other services in the community and mr. president Thank You mr. el and oh I did see that maybe this is the same the same group but there was something in the paper about 15 temporary people working to maintain cleanliness and the buses mr. president and councillor Benton this is a different group but they're all partnering together and and that's what we've seen councilors really coming into the mayor's office and I'm sure you've seen it coming into your offices many Albuquerque ins Bourque NGOs wanting to help in ways that they can to to support the city and this these folks you talked about are some of those folks this is a different company but again it's all part of folks coming together the one Albuquerque umbrella to help to help each other which is what community is about Thank You mr. president and mr. rally yeah this time for us to remember when Albuquerque it really is particularly a proposed slogan right now and and yeah the reason I keep asking about transportation whether it's our public transit system or our community support shuttle or the senior access is it really you know we need to be insured insurer and and I think my sense is the administration of equity and inclusion and civil rights are on the ball that these kind of situations can raise issues of equity and people do some people have no choice but to use transit and to use paratransit etc so very important to me I honestly was somewhat disappointed about about the Rail Runner Express but I know the state is our partner in that so that's the end of that discussion but but but that was the reason I was asking about it and thank you mr. president and unless I do have questions on planning and also on the water board quickly I think council Borrego has a question on transit we'll come back to those two and then we let's put that after councillor Ben's up and we'll put that after councillor Benton's other questions councillor Benton Thank You mr. president think I can get through these fairly quickly just following up on the planning discussion Planning Department is the DRB and the APC meeting as regularly scheduled mr. president and councillor Benton we've advised all of our boards and commissions that due to the issue of social separation if we well that unless they are absolutely involved in any kind of a decision that's critical that they suspend a lot of their meetings for at least the 30-day period that we're talking about the DRB and the and the EPC are both reviewing their schedules and there and what they have on their dockets if we find that they are absolutely necessary to have a meeting we will work with them to get that done but you know from the perspective of many of our other boards were simply advising that at least for a 30-day period if they can delay having to meet that they are doing so but we don't want to impact any any development that's occurring because we know that this issue of the Cobie 19 is going to affect our economy and some of the important steps and work that the RB does in particular to get our construction industry continue working is important so we'll reevaluate those as we go through the process Thank You mr. president and just but you know I was reminded of that with councilor Gibson's question and and actually had shared the same emails had been shared with me as well and yeah with some of these some of these projects you know really time is money and construction in general is probably something that can continue during the during the virus typically people are pretty far distant apart doing their different jobs on the out in the field and we do need to keep that economic ball rolling the one other one has to do with the maybe I'm not sure who here should address perhaps members who are sitting on the water authority board are they continuing to meet I'll defer to councillor Jones but good mr. president councillor Benton at this point the Water Authority has canceled their next scheduled meeting and we'll wait to see what they're planning in the future but but I will point out councillor Jones beginning in councilor but now I do want to point out that the Water Authority just before we would convene today did announce that they have they've halted the disconnection for anyone who is unable to pay their bill along with PNM as well today and so I think we're seeing our public utilities are stepping up to do their part to not add another burden to folks who may be in a financial situation and I do want to appreciate the Water Authority for doing that and PNM as well thank you you read my mind I think that's was my immediate concern thank you I think we're back to counselor Borrego for one more question I'd like to ask Roger to come up I think it's important that we talk a little bit about the Office of Emergency Management which he is the director of and I know that when I was staff I was deployed and I saw the operation and I mean we had the Taos electrical outage and I think Roger had just been hired and I was just so impressed with the way it operates but I think it's important that the public understands that this operation is available and what it does Council President Davis also members of the council yeah I think that the emergency management services are a critical asset to the city and we have a comprehensive program and a comprehensive plan that deals with all hazards we don't focus on the causation of an incident but rather the consequences so by doing that we're able to focus on meeting the needs that are presented each day to us we have an emergency operation center we have a joint information center as facilities where we can guide and direct all of the city activities that are needed for any type of threat or hazard and so with the right planning with the right facilities and all the right people that we have you know with the city agencies and other departments I think we have a very good program to help the city in all times your your Center also coordinates with police fire and the state of New Mexico and they have an emergency operation center as well is that correct Council President Davis also members of the council yes that's true at this time and as usual all of the different AOC s that are activated not with just with the state with the county and so on but all of the city healthcare entities that have operation centers so all the hospitals so we're linked up and we are you know talking about various needs and requests for example at this time over the last week we have received lots of requests from the healthcare industry and others for various protective asks and so we have distributed more than 30,000 of them over the last seven days Thank You Roger right I just wanted the public to understand what your operation does and how you know you affect the public and any kind of a crisis situation if if you know hopefully that won't be the case other than the public health issue but I know councillor Poisson asked about you know if there was an increase in crime we know that you all are there and and you're coordinating for us thank you thank you and councillor Pena did you have something um thank you madam vice president I just actually just a short kind of comment you know ApS is doing that thing on the mills for the students and they're providing that information I've been sharing Facebook and it's been pretty helpful helpful resources out in the community so I was wondering if maybe the administration's considered or is putting together kind of some short PSAs on some of the services that we have available so that we can share on social media as well somebody mentioned about the free bus rides for students and then obviously you know my concern is kind of has been reiterated here is you know our most vulnerable population and how to be able to make sure that they can access that information I've been on the city website and there's a lot of information about the corona virus and the updates and the symptoms but I think that would be an added benefit to our community council president Davis councilor Pena yes we've been doing a lot on social media on all the platforms including infographics and then I think really today we started rolling out the short 30-second videos on different features so I think the first one that went out was about helping our local businesses during this difficult time and getting takeout when you can and and all that good stuff so you'll be seeing those come out for the rest of the week Thank you Thank You counselors other topics other questions for the administration come one come all great thanks so much let me just have my piece I have a chance to talk a lot more later I think on these other legislation but mister I just want to say thank you the men it's been great to work with on this and it's been great for all of our directors as we start looking ahead into the getting out of the what change today conversation which we've been great at I think I we this conversation reminds me that we ought to start taking a look and I know councillor Benton has a budget legislation that will be introducing tonight on sort of what type of emergency needs we might need in terms of funding I know when we had the influx of asylum seekers for example we needed to dip into the till a little bit to help our community providers step up to that response I know we're hearing from some of our homeless providers that some extra stress of finding more costly options for takeout and for extra cleaning and whatever it will long-term impact their ability to provide those services I know we're working on it but it would be great I think if we could find a way with the council administration to work together to look at some of those emergency funding needs and start prioritizing those and we'd love to be a part of that Thank You council president Davis we have both short-term Tiger teams that are meeting that's meeting every day and looking at the three-day windows sort of the what what now and then we have a 30 day planning team that's looking at some of that longer stuff and then hopefully eventually 30 days become 60 days and when we'd be happy to keep you in the loop as those projects start to come out thank you ma'am councillors last call we're gonna put administration QA for other topics in here too because I know we have some directors who still have to go upstairs and do some more work to get ready for whatever happened today for tomorrow so councillors other questions for the administration seeing none thank you ma'am we'll defer to you to see who gets to go home and who has to stay but thank you all for bringing everybody and helping to update the public as well tonight we don't have any economic development discussions we have covered administration QA and so I'm gonna move to the item of the journal councillor Gibson I'll move approval for the March 2nd Journal we have a motion in a second any objection all those in favor say yes that item carries next up we have communications and introductions we have a few changes to the letter of introduction this evening mainly because we're making some accommodations for suspending our committees over the next couple of weeks I'll move first that the rules be suspended for the purpose of placing EC 55 on tonight's agenda for final action EC 55 is the appointment of Ethan Watson to the position of city clerk I have a motion in a second we need two-thirds of councilors present to vote yes all those in favor say yes that item carries unanimously next up I move that the rules be suspended for the purpose of placing oh four on tonight's agenda for final action oh of oh four is legislation updating the civil emergency power sections of the revised ordinances of Albuquerque and office of emergency preparedness section two nine two one through two nine to two of a motion in a second I'm sorry miss Ortega I want to ask do we need that emergency language in here as well or is that covered elsewhere elsewhere manuscript when we actually move and get to the bill just want to be sure thank you Thanks all those in favor say yes yes any opposed that item carries unanimously next I move that the rules be suspended for the purpose of pulling r17 out of the finance and government Operations Committee and placing it on tonight's agenda for action r17 approves and authorizes the acceptance of FY 2020 2018 geo bonds from the state of new mexico for public libraries and providing for that appropriation do I have a second I've a motion in a second all those in favor say yes that item carries unanimously councillor Benton Thank You mr. president I move that the rules be suspended for the purpose of introducing oh seven and placing it on the April sixth council council agenda for action oh seven is enacting an ordinance to provide special procedures for the City of Albuquerque fiscal year 2021 budget superseding certain provisions of the present city budget ordinance and councilors I did distribute we did distribute the the bill and apologies of course for kind of some fast moving conditions here but we do want to be able to analyze our revenues and our expenditures in a somewhat more expedited way and also with a consideration for a moving target so that's what this is really about we would have a full debate and discussion and vote on this hopefully at our next meeting thank you we have a motion in a second any discussion hearing none all those in favor say yes that item carries unanimously I move that the rules be suspended for the purpose of pulling ICI 48 out of the land-use planning and zoning committee and placing on tonight's agenda for action EC 48 is the mayor's appointment of Timothy McEachern to the environmental Planning Commission a motion and a second councillor Jones all those in favor say yes that item carries unanimously next I moved to pull EC 35 out of the finance and government Operations Committee and place it on the April 6 council agenda for action EC 35 is the approval of the Center for transportation and Environment professional technical contract I have a most in a second from councillor Benton any discussion hearing none all those in favor say yes next we move to pull our 19 out of the finance and government Operations Committee and place it on the April 6 council agenda for action our 19 amends the capital improvement program of the city by supplementing current appropriations for contributions received from Bernalillo County motion in a second all those in favor say yes that item carries next we moved to pull oh three out of the finance and government operations committee and place it on the April 6 council agenda for action oh three amends section 9 to 316 the permit fees section of the Hart ordinance and adds language regarding microchipping spaying and neutering fees removing language pertaining to the Hart ordinance fund and amending a single definition to have a second in motion in a second all those in favor say yes that item carries unanimously councillors are there other items or changes to the letter of introduction so before we move for approval I just want to clarify for folks watching at home what we're doing tonight is that normally these bills are assigned to a committee that would be heard and then come back to the City Council meeting on April 6th anyway but we're taking some extraordinary Strep steps to limit the need for those in-person meetings and so we're just gonna make our April six meeting a little longer and have those debates here instead of in committee and that's what councillors are doing tonight with their legislation mr. president I move approval of the letter of introduction we've emotion in a second all those in favor say yes yes great tonight we have no reports from committees counselors deferrals and withdrawals councillor Harris oh no 72 Thank You mr. president in a matter of a 72 amending section 1420 the dilapidated commercial building in properties ordinance to implement permanent procedures following a conclusion of a 24 month pilot project I moved to furl until April 20th we have a motion in a second all those in favor say yes yes that item carries counselor pinion 178 Thank You mr. president I move that are 178 amending the adopted capital implementation program of the City of Albuquerque by support supplementing current appropriations for the Adhan on Crestview bluff space land acquisition I move deferral until April 20th promotion in a second all those in favor say yes yes councillor pani we take that next one as well thank you this is myself in councillor Burton I move that committee sub our 179 amending the composition of the board of housing commissioners for the Albuquerque Housing Authority deferral until April 20th of a motion in a second all those in favor say yes yes all right councillors any other defers or withdrawals this evening seeing none we'll move on to our consent agenda for individuals on tonight's consent agenda who are watching and agreed to be appointed to a board and Commission we appreciate your service very much and thank you for your willingness to serve at some point we'll have an opportunity to thank you in person when we're back to normal business counselors are there any other changes to the consent agenda mr. president I move approval of the consent agenda we have a motion in several seconds all those in favor say yes and the consent agenda is approved generally at this point we would go to general public comment that as was stated earlier in person comments were available to be submitted online and by phone earlier and so counselors have those available and well I'm sure we'll reference them in our discussions this evening and so moving on we're going to move to announcements if the committee chairs are okay I'll just make the Omnibus announcements regarding our committees here the following committee meeting dates have been cancelled the March 23rd finance and government Operations Committee the March 24th Public Safety Committee the March 25th land-use planning and zoning committee and the March 26 ABC County government Commission meeting that counselor painted chairs so counselors are there any other announcements councillor Gibson Thank You mr. president this is not an announcement but actually may be a request I really appreciate these that that staff has collected them and and printed them out for us but it seems like an awful lot of paper and I was wondering if we could if we do have to do this again next time if we could just put them in the bill book would that be would that be more work for you a hopefully less work mr. president councillor Gibson unfortunately we weren't as prepared today to handle that electronically and we were taking comments up to about 4:30 today and so actually 4:45 so we will get a better process that doesn't kill as many trees going forward Thanks could I suggest maybe we download them onto a flash drive great hopefully we won't make this a normal process for too long so counselor Payne iam reminded me that the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Authority meeting for next week is also cancelled as we might have alluded to earlier councilors other announcements seeing them we have no public hearing scheduled for this evening we're going to move on to items for approval the first up would be EC 55 the appointment of mr. Ethan Watson to the position of city clerk I would move confirmation we have a second from councilor Gibson mr. Watson has been patient to sit here with us and I think most of us know him from his work for a number of years but mr. Watson would invite you down say hello introduce yourself and then put you out for questions from councillors council president members of the council I want to thank you for having me here this evening and thank the mayor and his administration for nominating me for this role I've served as the deputy city clerk for the last year and it's an honor to be nominated to lead the clerk's office and continue the work we're doing there a lot of the work we do is not super bowl exciting but it's definitely good government exciting and I think we have a lot of exciting projects going on in that office we've created a consolidated team to handle requests they're generating data about what the public wants we're using that data to drive the scanning of the city's Records Center we recently pulled a hundred and ten boxes out of the fire marshal's offices scanned them all put them online and deputy chief jean guy goes now has more room in his office to do what he needs to do so it's you know exciting stuff I think we're also trying to make public financing more accessible to candidates and the public and as of this week we've revamped telephonic hearings in the Office of Administrative Hearings because of the coronavirus issues and so you know there's a lot of great stuff going on and I look forward to continuing to serve and now as the city clerk and I'd be open to any questions the City Council has thank you sir councillors questions comments that she's a good sign anything from the administration Thank You council president Davis I'll just echo that there aren't a lot of people who attack this type of work with the enthusiasm and really joy that acting City Clerk Ethan Watson has brought you know when we interviewed him for the position he said I've got big plans for the office and he really does I mean this is where his passion is so we're lucky to have him thank you for your consideration Thanks counselors seeing no other discussion all those in favor say yes any opposed congratulations you're unanimously confirmed counselors the only other item we have on final action this evening is oh four oh four updates the civil emergency power section two nine one one through two nine one seven of the revised ordinances of Albuquerque and Office of Emergency Preparedness I would move a due pass have a motion in a second for counselor Benton before we move to I'll go ahead and ask the staff to go in and distribute the floor sub which I believe we already have is that right counselors earlier today you might have gotten seen different versions of a floor sub floating but the one we distributed to the public is the one staff distributed to us here on the dais this evening and so we're gonna be referring and working from that one to get started let me explain really briefly where we are see mr. Melendez this year has been our technical expert on this and I know we also have our emergency management director mr. Avenue here as well some of you know sort I came to this work to this moment sort of in my vow and in Public Safety and emergency management as a police officer in DC I didn't just work in the field I ended my service there working in the chief's office where I worked in our joint operation center post 9/11 I've always taken an interest in public safety and emergency management and we wanted to be sure that our city is prepared as well we know that good preparedness starts long before the crisis hits and so almost a month ago working with the administration and city legal mister Melendez and I began a review of our city laws governing emergencies and the powers that we might need what we it was clear that we needed an update the provisions that are on the books were written in 1968 at the height of the Vietnam War protests mainly for riot control and the event of earthquakes and mass looting things that we hope we never get to under this current epidemic but certainly didn't have all the tools we needed in order to implement some of the common-sense social distancing and common-sense Public Health laws that we needed we also had a chance to review other little city laws particularly ones around the budget that particularly limit the mayor's ability to reallocate staff and resources above about $100,000 plus or minus in most line items and given today's city budget in the event of an emergency we could potentially go through more than that in a single day in overtime or other expenses and clearly we needed to provide the city and the administration with some guidance and our public with some assurance on how we would respond for an outbreak these proposed powers allow the mayor to implement some very basic social distancing provisions like limiting the sale of critical critical medical items for example to personal use not hoarding limits and the ability to redeploy staff between departments say we needed to use that folks at the airport to help clean a community center and disinfect it so that we could provide more community meals as we heard earlier today yet the original legislation contained added contagious outbreaks to the list of civil emergencies that were already on the books but appropriately so I think some folks worried that some of the anti-riot provisions might be inappropriate for the use of Public Health and they're right and so we've introduced a substitute that just creates a whole new section of public health law limited with limited Authority scaled back to address the most urgent epidemic prevention needs nothing in this new legislation allows the mayor or anyone else for that matter to force a quarantine to take away any private property or to seize anyone's guns or even limit the sale of those in looking at the new public health powers we discovered that our ancient 50 year old civil emergency powers adopted in 1968 have not been updated since they have although they haven't been challenged I think there's some concern that even some of those old provisions have probably been superseded by state laws and constitutional changes since the 60s and if we want to revisit those I hope other councilors will take the opportunity to so by asking for a legal opinion or introducing amendments to address those provisions but that's not our focus today and it's not the issue that's before us that needs our immediate attention so to ensure that nobody's confused I proposed an amendment that makes it absolutely clear that public health emergencies are different than the ones already on the books and so are the tools we'll have to respond finally I want to point out and what I know we'll get a chance to talk about this that this legislation not only requires the mayor to publish every action that he takes under these provisions but it also gives the City Council the ability to amend or cancel any order of the mayor by a simple majority vote and under our rules any three councillors can call a special meeting for that purpose or this council president can do so in an emergency to act within hours if absolutely necessary there's some of the most robust check and balance structures in city law and ones that I think is city councilors we would all insist upon and should tonight I'm sure we're gonna have a good debate I know there are some amendments and I welcome those but to begin with I believe we have a good floor substitute and so I'd like to move the floor substitute 404 to get our conversation started if a second from councillor Benton all those in favor or the floor sub 404 say yes yes all those opposed that item carries unanimously we're back on the floor sub councillors we will open the floor for debate bouncer Busan you want to kick us off Thank You mr. president I do have a statement that I would like to read before we get started with the amendments so I find the unprecedented events it's weird talking to an almost empty room sorry I find the unprecedented events of last week to be extremely disturbing Albuquerque has in a very short period of time to send it into a state of widespread panic each year influenza kills up to 60,000 people in this country alone and has for centuries yet the flu has never before caused our economy to be destroyed our schools to be shuttered and store shelves to be emptied Albuquerque citizens are scared they're searching for anything they can hold on to to reclaim a sense of control this anxiety has led to the stockpiling of everyday items like toilet paper bottled water and hand sanitizer our city government must act now to fight the real enemy fear City Council has an obligation to calm our residents to encourage them to continue with their everyday lives cold and flu epidemics occur every winter this is a new form of virus we face and should respect it is a fact that the vast majority of us will suffer only mild symptoms before making a full recovery yes there are those of us who are more susceptible to the effects of the any infectious disease particularly the elderly and people with existing health conditions those folks deserve extra precautions such as social distancing to prevent them from being infected the best way to flatten the curve is to remain cautious and to implement common-sense practices that we should already be doing frequent hand-washing covering a cough regularly cleaning surfaces and staying home when sick as a result of the kovat 19 hysteria we are considering surrendering our freedoms our forefathers enshrined in the Constitution and our veterans have sacrificed so much to protect today's proposed legislation would give any mayor of Albuquerque the power to choose whether residents are allowed wear which residents are allowed to meet which schools are permitted to teach and which businesses are allowed to operate this update to the existing civil emergency powers ordinance would also grant any Albuquerque mayor the authority to redistribute money to whatever emergency expenditure he or she chooses just as troubling this bill will also grant any Albuquerque mayor powers to use privately owned property without following any of the usual requirements Benjamin Franklin once said those who would give up Liberty to purchase safety deserve neither those words were as true then as they are today yes infectious diseases caused harm and yes we absolutely must take precautions but at this moment in time residents in Albuquerque are being bombarded with the euphemism abundance of caution which is quickly becoming a for for loss of freedom we will survive the 20/20 cold and flu season I pray that our civil liberties will survive as well therefore I urge each city councilor to vote against tonight's proposed legislation or at least approve the several proposed amendments that shall follow come supersonic it has started you want to move your amendments I would love to move my amendments but if you will bear with me we had some miscommunication between those two drafts earlier so mm-hmm stick with me here please I move floor amendment a four floor sub o 24 on page four lines two through three strike the added language throughout the duration of the emergency including any provisions above that have not been previously invoked this amendment removes the added language as stated as it seems arbitrary and ambiguous and is not conducive to the enactment of the law so I think that we're kind of muddying the waters by adding that in there and just to kind of clear it up and tighten language I think it would be appropriate to strike that language Thanks so we have a motion in a second on what will call for amendment number one I'm gonna take a quick privilege actually I skipped over I want to be sure the administration there's an opportunity to weigh in on the floor sub or the general bill before we get to amendments tonight if that's okay if the administration wants to comment here or just as we go forward however you'd like to go short council president Davis we're happy to stand four questions as you mentioned this was really an initiative that came out of the council rather than something that we had requested and I think it was a smart proactive move so we're happy to clarify any questions that folks have thank you thank you I just want to be sure we didn't skip over that part so we're back on for amendment number one as seconded councilors discussion on this item mr. Melendez could I ask as a staff as our expert here I think you added that language as a recommendation can tell us a little more about what you think there yes mr. president I think I can provide some context here so as you mentioned with respect to the original bill as compared to the floor substitute the original bill sort of merged in the public health emergency together with the existing provisions for riot tech emergencies and that language was added because the public health emergency was proposed to last a longer duration than the mere 48 hours and so it was intended to be clear that in the event that such an emergency was declared for a set period of time that any associated orders that were necessary to protect the public health would be in existence and last throughout that duration with this floor sub it appears to me to be a remnant within that section it was not intended to relate to the riot provisions it was intended to relate only to this new new section and so I'm not sure whether whether there was an oversight and the drafting of this bill but it does appear to be an oversight with respect to trying to separate those out those provisions out so it wouldn't meet objection just doing this it wouldn't say it wouldn't change the bill just make it clean history president my understanding is that the intent is to leave the existing section completely alone and so by making this amendment to the bill it would clarify that that that's consistent with that intent great I'd support it any other questions councillor Besant close I urge your support on this one councillors all those in favor of floor amendment number 1 say yes any opposition that item carries unanimously councillor Bosson on amendment B Thank You mr. president I would like to make a motion for amendment B for the floor sub o 2004 on page four strike line 16 through 17 deleting added section B this amendment removes the added public health emergency powers of the mayor related to placing limitations on the quantities and types of items private businesses may sell during such an emergency private businesses have the right to determine what products and quantities they're sold I understand that we have a hoarding epidemic as well right now as this pandemic that our world is facing however I do think that this is you know I would hope that private businesses will enact their own limitations on what and quantity of what they're going to be selling and I really would hate to take away that right from from the private business owner so we have a motion in a second on item B which will call floor amendment number two counselors of their discussion I'm gonna make a an amendment to the amendment here here and here's why I don't necessarily have an objection to sort of taking out the the language around alcohol sales alcohol restaurants and bars privately owned businesses I think those can be covered by the state I think they have that authority already and I do think in an emergency I think the city gets that covered otherwise in other ways I want to ask the administration do you have any comments or thoughts on this Thank You council president Davis we're just seeing this for the first time but on first blush a just want to say that this was none of this store staff was contemplated and when we talked about what we needed to do for this particular issue however the state is drastically reducing capacity many many states and cities have already moved to closing restaurants for takeout only so if we were to have a violation of that state law what are we going to do if we don't have the power to then order thus the closing of that particular establishment so also with diminished public safety resources you know we don't know but if we reached that point in time we know the nexus between crimes and bars and late-night and guns that happen in the city and drive violent crime so those were the I'm imagine the reasons that those provisions were added and we supported those reasons I think that on the floor sub that came out at towards the end right before our meeting began what was formerly as BC and D with the in relation to alcohol sales cessation of alcoholic beverages restaurants bars and privately owned businesses those have all not appeared on the floor substitute as presented here if I'm correct mr. president Council is on there during the quick development of this bill there were a couple of draft versions and the floor sub that was distributed tonight does not include those provisions that are being discussed right now already and so the amendment that you made does refer correctly to the floor sub that is distributed and before the council okay Thank You mr. Melendez so just to reiterate this motion is to make an amendment for for amendment B on page 4 the only thing I'm asking to amend is striking line 16 through 17 which will in turn om delete section B which is to limit the kinds and quantities of items that a business may sell per customer per day again I think that although the intention is is seemingly very clear that we should be able to limit you know and people should limit what they do I think that we can't put that requirement on a private business owner if they want to sell six cans of chicken noodle soup to somebody that might have a family of eight people and they're still deciding to personally ration and I think this could get very extreme with that and limiting in a way that the unintended consequences can present themselves so just to clarify counsel beside the amendment that we need to think about here and I realize the the version that was provided to the public earlier and this provided on the dais tonight is a little different than some of the draft versions that went around but you're only limiting your amendment at this point to what is currently section B page 4 line 16 and 17 relating to the anti hoarding provisions is that right that is correct I think that you know this this could extend another yes you are correct mr. president I think that it's also worthy to say that this can be anything you know I mean I can be talking cans of soup but then we could be talking about ammunition or guns which I think all of us have seen in many of the emails that we've gotten today I mean retail and limiting the kinds and quantities of items that a business may sell per customer per day I think even though the intention is to make sure that people don't buy too much toilet paper or people don't buy too many you know non-perishable food items I think this could go bigger than what we we really need to be focusing on here and I think it puts us at risk Thank You counselor Gibson yes Thank You mr. president you talked a little bit sorry I'm talking with with councillor Poisson but there was you know some really clear points made really good points I think made about the anxiety and the tension in the city and certainly I think across in the entire world really and I agree that whatever we can do to kind of lower that and encourage deep breaths starting with me that's a good thing to do but what's happening is that we are seeing people buying massive quantities of XY and Z and and that scares a lot of people so just by not doing that I think that's going to bring the the anxiety level down quite a bit in the city so that said I like that language in there again we have to remember that if this is ever abused by any mayor the the council whoever sitting up here can call an emergency meeting and I guess I should guess I should form this morn of a question than a statement but this is my understanding that this body can call an emergency meeting and over rule with the proclamation that the mayor is made so may I mr. Melendez should I read can you confirm that do I have that correctly stated do you want me to repeat it Madame president councillor Gibson yes if you don't mind okay so if my point is as if this passes and some mayor down the road and few years abuses it and declares the proclamation and and shuts down a theater or or or says that people can't buy more than X number of rolls of toilet paper for example this council can call an emergency meeting and overrule that mr. president councillor Gibson that's exactly correct the bill does draft in the City Council being a check on that authority what the bill does but the mayor the authority to make the initial decision however the City Council at its earliest ability would be able to step in and make any changes or cancellations as deemed appropriate okay so we have a pretty good check there that I think is really an important part of this I am trying to say that when people go to the store and I've heard it several times this weekend already this past weekend that the certain stores shelves were empty okay that's not due to the supply chain that is due to hoarding people are you know kind of going overboard a little bit and buying everything they can see on the Shelf whatever item so that's a product of hoarding not not supply so I'm I'll be sorry but I am going to be voting against this particular amendment because of that thank you Thank You councillor Gibson councillor Johnson I do support this I think we're a free country and the stores have the right to stock the merchandise and to sell as they want and the way this is written limit the kinds and quantities of items I mean that means we could go in and tell the stores that they can't have to carry all canned chicken soup it's pretty broad and I think this is just a way to give the merchants who are the ones at risk here not us the right to stock what they want and sell what they want and how they want it's a freedom that we have in this country that I think it's being a little overreaching if we were to remove that council barega I am gonna support this because you know yesterday I went to Smith's and they didn't have any water and I went to sprouts and they had plenty of water you know I think that by limiting and when I did go to sprouts and I will say this and I'm not advertising for anyone they had a sign that said limit of two cases per customer and I thought you know it was a responsible business because they decided what their limitations were and as a as a business owner myself you know if I wanted to sell ten pair of earrings or one pair of earrings I mean I think that's part of who we are as a country and I think it's important that we not you know direct unless I mean we're dealing with the public health issue yes but you know I don't think we're gonna run out of toilet paper I really don't I think that people are going to manufacture it it's not manufactured in China it's manufactured in South America I mean we're there's going to be a supply I went just yesterday I was traveling on i-40 East and there were tons of semis with what you know I'm sure they had supplies and I'm thinking to myself we need to really work as a body to reduce fear and anxiety for people and and it's not the first time we've dealt with a public health issue in our country we will get through it we're not dealing with the apocalypse I mean I don't think we're all gonna die tomorrow so I you know I think private business that's there and we're also having a negative sort of impact on economics if we start saying well you can only sell this or you can only sell that I mean that's so that's what our country was bill Thank You counselor counselor Sena mr. president thank you I just had a question in terms of if there is not a limitation for people with working families or people on assistance or people who are forced to have to work and at the end of the day whatever their shift ends whether it's 10:00 p.m. or 8:00 p.m. by the time they get to these stores my concern is whether or not they have those resources to even purchase them and even if it's whichever store that they're going to elderly neighbor told me that he went to the local Walmart and he did it not he didn't have a lot of the resources that were there so he just got whatever he could which was you know a few bags of lima beans and he doesn't really eat that but that's for emergent cases and so he is concerned about being able to purchase these things so I have that question mr. president Thank You counselor to answer your question and to respond to another I heard I appreciate that very much and that's the intent of this piece of legislation again we have to remember these are extraordinary powers for extraordinary times and also as councilor Gibson reminded us some of the strongest checks and balances and city law are included in this new proposed ordinance precisely for that reason if we think there's someone's gone above and beyond or outside the bounds we have a provision to pull that back pretty quickly if we needed to but I think our current experience shows us that what might be rational and it might make sense according to the experts is not always what the public may do and counselor to answer your question I agree that's the reason this is here because not everybody has the the equal means to prepare themselves and to be available but I think I still yet to see the nexus between toilet paper and coronavirus but I do see the nexus between all kinds of other issues particularly supplies in the medical field and the medical area like ibuprofen for example like other things that could minimize the impact of the virus on individuals but it may not be available thanks to folks who have bought up more of those than their personal use that the fact is yes we are free we businesses a right to make their own decisions but at the end of the day we're all in this together and as a city when we get into these emergency situations people rely on us to ensure that we're responding appropriately and part of that is ensuring that our community is as healthy and able to treat themselves and prepare themselves as possible and that all the resources aren't available only to a select number of people for that reason I think it's important that we have a conversation as the city about what the appropriate availability of particular supply should be how we might limit them to personal use so that your elderly neighbor or mine or someone else who's at risk and immunise immunosuppressed it's not unavailable to find their critical medication or protocol needs because someone who's not as needy has hoarded those and might not ever use them so for that reason I would oppose this amendment I think it's something we can work through it's gonna be on a case-by-case basis and one that we can come back in and change here at this body if we so choose but counselor Bosson I want to give it back to you to respond Thank You mr. president I think it's uh so I agree with all of you which might come as somewhat of a surprise so I'm willing to say hey what if we changed the language of this to say encourage limiting the kinds and quantities of items I think that that would be a way that the city can still have their availability and their discretion and recommendation but this would be something that we can try to keep the calm we can try to encourage businesses to follow follow in this way because I agree that there are people making poor choices that are costing and sacrifice have to sacrifice that are in a higher need but again I think that this is going to to open us for risk incidents you know in other areas when it's in regard to private business and private property however if we can encourage limiting then I think that that's something that that might be something we can all agree on could be beneficial councilman yeah I appreciate the thinking there comes with Sun however this is about proclamation of emergency orders and not emergency encouragement I think any of us any leader elected leader can give encouragement however I also agree with your concern about the breadth of this language and I don't see why this it here here's where I'm coming from on Sunday there was a an extensive story in The New York Times about people who are hoarding and gouging hoarding for the for the purpose of gouging people and when gentlemen in in Tennessee had basically gone around three states and bought up every single hint sanitizer or wipes that they could find with a focus I'm going to rural what he called back waters all right where people live right and they're going to a dollar store at these places and cleaning the shelves out of every one of these products having already found them empty in the in the larger cities that is what we're dealing with I wanted to ask mister Melendez the or whoever may know about this but the state are stated Attorney General is stated in what's reporting on gouging and and this type of activity does he have the powers to do that Mister wondrous or mr. Davis councillor Benton I could you please repeat the question and then yeah just the Attorney General has kind of put out a marker about price gouging and this type of activity for for you know massive profit to take advantage of an emergency you're not following they're there yes there is there is guidance from this that is available the from the state I think that the unfair practices act covers a lot of what you're explaining if you had a nother specific question I haven't reviewed any Attorney General yeah I was just curious under what authority the Attorney General would enforce that well I mean in health emergency it's it's a different situation but ordinarily the Attorney General has has powers available attempt to to address that situation so the specific question we're happy to look into an answer it but no just if it's a part of the part of the general discussion on this item mm-hmm but what I would say is that and in that case in this case of this this guy who's got 14,000 items in his garage he was actually stopped by ebay and wherever he was selling it you know they actually finally flagged it and stopped allowing him to sell it at astronomical profit margins but this is just a another idea and and you already have a an amendment on the table councilor Poisson but I think this was really intended this was brought forward having to do with medical health and sanitation products and I think you know that would be how I would try to define this and and limit the items that we're talking about under this provision but that's just putting that out there for the council's discussion I'm well it would be council council brisson has an amendment on the floor councilman you can always make an amendment to the amendment if it's okay let's finish the discussion and see if we want to come back to that if that's okay councillor Gibson is next and I think maybe council break Thank You mr. president I heard that same story and it was really sad somebody was taking advantage of people who you know didn't have easy access to to some of the products that he was trying to gouge them for and that is a problem but that's not the only motivation for over buying at the store you know every time somebody goes in and you know takes massive quantities away that means that someone who's going to be coming in later on is not going to have the same options so III think that the the wording that we have in the floor sub is is good I don't think it's too restrictive I think it's clear and I think it's enforceable so I won't be supporting the amendment thank you Thanks next time I have the administration and mr. Aguilera whoever wants to take this question I think would you want to weigh in a minute on what you think the usefulness of this would be for the city administration in terms of our emergency planning and responsible sure council president and Davis and councillors first I just want to agree with both councilor Gibson and councilor Poisson that this is not a good time to encourage panic we all already have a duty to encourage public responsibility and private responsibility we have a duty already to encourage all types of behavior that makes life easier for each other and helps us take care of each other that's not what this bill is about we also have a duty to encourage people not to panic about this bill or the emergency declarations by the feds the state and the city of Rio Rancho and many other cities across New Mexico to come with respect to this particular provision I just remind the council that this is not just about coronavirus so you want to draft this as I believe not to be a mind-reader but that probably the idea behind this drafting was to provide for a wide set of possible public health emergencies and while cleaning supplies and medical supplies may be what is up right now that may not always be the issue at hand so we do consider these emergency powers to be extreme and extraordinary but I understand that you're providing for future mayors and future councils and you have to you have to think about that as well we do support the language that it exists already and not the amendment Thank You councillor Center Thank You mr. president I just wanted to kind of touch back on the medical supplies you know being immunocompromised being a cancer patient having gone through a bone-marrow transplant this is a pertinent issue that we should address and talk about because it's not just the healthcare needs it's not just the sanitation wipes that we'll be needing personally as patients but also the people that are responsible for me being here today is my health care providers you know making sure that they have the resources that they need and ensuring that the stocks are there for them we have to focus that this is an unusual time this is an emergency time to act and to really be there to protect our most vulnerable population that is our elderly that's our grandparents that's our parents that's people who have lupus it's the people who are immunocompromised so I think that the limitation there it's just something to consider I just wanted to have a clarity about what was said earlier by Ms Mayer in terms of closing privately owned businesses can you kind of tell me more about what the states are doing and limiting those businesses thank you so council president Davis councillor Sinha first just by way of clarification I think that the amendment on the floor only relates to it's not everything that's on this piece of paper anymore is that correct it's only limit the kinds and quantities of items that a business may sell but to answer the question my understanding and it does change from sort of hour to hour is that right now in the state of New Mexico in addition to the ban on mass gatherings which is currently defined by the state or was before I got here at a hundred people there's also in order to restrict occupancy of restaurants and bars to fifty percent of capacity and fifty percent of seating so those are what I know of now I can tell you that in places from Paris to Pittsburgh they're looking at closing restaurants for anything but takeout so I believe that is sort of like the next step that that folks are taking and we do not know what else might happen beyond that thank you I'm gonna go to councillor Jones because she hasn't spoken recently and then we'll go to councillor pasanda close councillor Johnson my mic doesn't work I appreciate all the comments that have been made here but I want to point out one practical thing which we seem to forget here is the practical way that things happen it says what we're trying to strike is order retailers to limit the kinds and quantities of items that as a business may sell per customer per day remember if someone thinks that they have to hoard toilet paper or sinus pills they can go to every retailer in the city and get it so what we're doing is not preventing hoarding and causing use we are simply making a more difficult to hoard and I believe it's very difficult for me as a governmental entity to tell people how much of something that they can sell because I really don't think I it's very difficult for me to do that and I really would like to see this be stricken I understand it's a matter of number of votes but it just we are in interfering and private business and we're also interfering in people maybe it's someone who can only get to the store once every two months and we're telling them that their family can only have eight rolls of toilet paper when they go to the store you do there are a lot of what-ifs and unintended consequences that we're putting into this kind of legislation so I will support the removal of be because they think we need to stop and think what we're really doing here thank you Thank You council pasanda close Thank You mr. president I have a few things that I'd like to ask and also clarify as well so I think that in regards to the extreme amount of hoarding that we're talking about I think that it's it's really oversimplifying the concerns of a lot of the councillors here when we say toilet paper right we're talking medical-supply as we're talking cleanliness issues we're talking food let's face it there's plenty of memes that are gonna teach us what to do if we run out of toilet paper but at the same time we're talking about life needs and they're very important so I think what councillors and what councilor Senna was saying it's proving my point though if we put a limit on the kinds and quantities of items that a business may sell per customer per day that's also potentially going to limit what doctors offices and what visit their businesses some of these are private businesses we could be leaving that door open for you know for the conversation and for the lack of clarity and I realize that that's not the intention that's here but that's exactly what could happen should we leave it so vague which is which is what I think it is I would like to ask mr. Melendez a question please specifically would this leave and open and available would it allow the mayor to be able to limit the control of this end sale of guns and ammunition mr. president councilor Busan I will repeat the language that's it within that provision order retailers to limit the kinds and quantities of items that a business may sell per customer per day so what's implied here is that the when the city declares a state of emergency related to the public health issue that the orders that result from that declaration have to have bare irrational Nexus to the issues at hand so I mean the in the instance that we're seeing before us the issues at hand ben has it been described by the counselor and is witnessed by many of us the hoarding of food goods the hoarding of paper goods and the like and so it's it's hard to to make that link that you're suggesting however it's not explicitly prohibited and that would be part of the problem I have with it councillor Poisson I think the attorney wants to respond as well I think about statutory construction I bet no action counselor the council president Davis can throw us on I would also like to remind the council that the State Constitution explicitly prohibits municipalities from from enacting any regulating any incident to the bearing of arms and so that would the hypothetical D posed would would fall in that category so that that's not what again I would agree with mr. Melendez that's not what this language says and if that action were to be taken that would be problematic and so thank you thank you mr. president as well I think that that I hope for all of the people that are watching and I believe there are probably many please let that put your mind at ease because we are not trying to enact any kind of new legislation that will take law or guns or ammunition away from anybody and I think that is a big concern for a lot of what we've heard today so I hope if we do nothing else tonight that at least we can calm people down in that fashion I do have a couple more comments and then I still will urge you to help me pass this amendment to omit and strike through Section B you know I think that it's important to recognize that the the governor is what miss Mayer was saying the governor's enacting all of this so many of these things that we're talking about the governor's already doing for us and I really think that we should be very extremely cautious on what we're going to be doing on a municipal level and especially with the vague language as we've discussed here tonight I think that that is something that's incredibly important and I would like to ask you know hopefully there's an answer for it particularly the administration though you know with the passing of this and I think we've talked generally about it but what are we hoping that the mayor gets to do immediate if we pass this floor sub as presented so so that we can know exactly what we're trying to to really nail down for the completely immediate future to help out with the City Council President Davis councillor pass on the first and foremost thing we want to do is make the city eligible for any type of emergency funding regardless of the source whether it's the state or the federal government or any agency within that and you know there's just too many variations to know for sure that we can rely on someone else's declaration our number one goal with this work is to be able to have access to as many resources as our city might need to withstand what's happening thank you miss naira and I just want to say that this is coming up in one of the other amendments to address exactly exactly what you said the immediate need is so being that there's no immediate need I know that it has been discussed amongst other counselors that we really review this once once this peak of panic and and all of the emergency pressing needs that we have we want to go back and look at this ordinance as a whole to update it since it was created in 1968 and I feel like this particular line we can really discuss and fine-tune a little bit at later times but for the time being I still want to urge your support to strike limit the kinds and quantities of items that a business may sell per customer per day Thank You councillor Vasant for that close seeing no other debate all those in favor of the amendment to strike item b subsection b say yes and raise your hand I see four all right all those opposed say no and raise your hand no five that item fails counselor pass on item C is next and I think it's needs a tweet line item tweak if that's if we're gonna move that is it page 4 line 20 now that is correct Thank You mr. president so I make a motion to pass amendment sea floor sub o 20-4 on page 4 now vine 20 after the term venues insert the language controlled by the city so that this would read ordering the closing of places of mass assembly including but not limited to theatres clubs places of worship live or telecast performances intended for a public audience and athletic venues controlled by the city this amendment adds language to clarify that the mayor only has authority to order the closing of city-owned facilities during a proclaimed public health emergency the city does and should not have the right to take control of privately owned property and businesses I think that this is another thing that the governor is doing just a fine job of exercising her authority that we don't need to bring it down to a more specific level telling residents what they can and can't do with their businesses or their private properties in regard to this Thank You counsel for Sahn so that will be floor amendment number three is there a second I figured second councilors other discussion on these items council been so unless mr. Aguilar and/or mr. Melendez again having to do with state authority and councilor person's argument that the governor the governor's authority has a lot of overlap with this bill the previous bill I would imagine and this amended version of emergency powers for the mayor to what extent are we filling a gap that is necessary and to what extent are we confusing who's in charge in an emergency in the state of New Mexico council president counts president Davis councilor Benton just to remind the council this is of the local ordinance and this allows regardless of any of the orders that the governor issues of statewide this allows the city the flexibility and the ability to be able to address state city specific incidents that that frankly may or may not affect the still the entire state and so that's that's why that language is in there and that's I think it's it's appropriate thank you if I could follow up the kind of in Fisher but to what extent I you know I doubt we've done this analysis which what-what does concern me somewhat is I realized that some of these are strictly of local concern a municipal city concern as opposed to a statewide emergency powers of the governor but isn't there some overlap in this with the governor's authority counts President Davis councillor Benton I would assume that there might be some overlap however this is critically important for the city to be able to be able and have the flexibility during a health emergency to address these areas that that this amendment spells out I understand that that's the reason we're home rule municipality thank you I'm gonna take the privileges of responding to the question really quickly and following that up I just want to give the example I think Council baton you're absolutely right on a large scale the Department of Health in the state have the authority to do this and I we presume they could do this at a very micro level as well but we are unique in the city and that we do most of those functions of the state health inspections building inspections fire inspections that the state takes on in smaller communities and so we do also need that flexibility the reason I see this as being important not that the Secretary of the Department of Health could not pay attention to every sort of minor outbreak in the city through the reporting system but quite frankly in a man a large-scale emergent outbreak there's a lot of stress on the state system that's not designed to work mostly for Albuquerque because we take on those responsibilities but more importantly if there were a small outbreak I say hepatitis at a club on Central for example I think the city needs the ability to step in and take the appropriate public health action to present to prevent folks from being there the next night until we can employ all of the public health infrastructure that might be available from the state so I think we have to think large and small in big scale like we're dealing with now I agree that the State Department of Health has a good grasp now but if we continue to see community outbreaks as other cities might have not continued if we ever see community outbreaks like other communities have seen that have been hotspots in a particular church congregation for example or a particular grocery store for example I certainly want our city to be able to step in when we identify that and not wait on the larger infrastructure that might be dealing with other parts of New Mexico and so for that reason I think it's important but I want to go back to councilor Bosson who wanted to comment on our ordinance and not seeing any other question or debate this might be a close I'm sorry counselor Center will go next but didn't Council pass on to respond Thank You mr. president I just want to say and clarify is this the examples of hotspots that you were just talking about and the hepatitis outbreak at a club on Central would that qualify under emergency public health emergency because that seems like it's probably not going to be an actual or even a mass place at a church I think that there's a massive distinction that we're starting across boundaries between church and state at this point if we're saying we're gonna close places of worship on a city and a municipal level in addition to the fact that we're talking about a public health emergency which I don't see if there's an outbreak at a singular location if that's going is that what the mayor could enact if we pass this let me try a council person I think the the language is written says that when it's an infectious outbreak and two that it presents an unusual as to get the language right unreasonably to and reasonably strained the met emergency service resources in the city again I think you'd have to go to a pretty extraordinary level to meet that but again I think us trying to think of all the who what when where and why's that might bring this up is another one of those problematic places and so I do appreciate your concern around say houses of worship or other things I think those are important questions but at the end of the day I think if we treat every location equally we can defer to the experts in the public health field to tell us which ones are appropriate and how to develop mitigation plans with them that would be my response I want to go to yours because I interrupted you and then we go to counsellor Center thank you mr. president I think that it's very important that we clarify that I do not believe that an outbreak at one club or in a hot spot of sorts will constitute a public health emergency and because of the United States Constitution and our freedom of rights in certain degrees we cannot be taking people's ability to have their private businesses again places of worship that's church and state that's another federal law that we're looking at crossing even though it's an emergency and I think this is just very extreme and I I mean if we don't keep it at controlled by the city I think that we're crossing another boundary that is opening a massive door for unintended consequences to come and bite us even though the intention here is really really well done and and strong but I absolutely think that this is this is far too extreme Thank You counselor I want to go to counselor Sena then we have staff comments for mr. Melendez and director masse from environmental health and then we'll try to bring this one to a close and see where we land counselor Center Thank You mr. president well you know I appreciate the concerns of our liberties and the Constitution we all we all swore that oath but you know for us in thinking about the city's unique needs Albuquerque and the reason why we love it so much right is that we are unique to any other city in New Mexico and so being the epicenter of health care services for our entire state having hospitals that treat trauma and also having an International Airport that a public health crisis infectious diseases I think that is what we're concerned about is because we are this epicenter of health care and many of the other cities rely on Albuquerque being the epicenter so I think that for us in evaluating our city's unique needs and I think that the the administration can also address this is that that's our concern is that the city needs to be able to respond fast enough if we are the epicenter of a disease because we are the epicenter of healthcare as well so I just wanted to point that thank you Thank You councillor mr. Melendez I know you were the drafter for this legislation I think there was some some analysis that was determined on why this provision was included could you give us some of that and then I want to invite director masa talk just a little bit about the difference between sort of the regular flu and the the current epidemics and the things that we're discussing here mr. president as I think we've seen and witnessed through the state level and through the national level a focus has been placed on the size of gatherings that are considered safe at this time in order to I won't characterize because I'm not the health expert but we have seen that that trend about the importance of doing that within our city so that was the the basis for that provision and going into that provision I don't think that the ordinance contemplates just sort of thinking through a rational way to look at this question that you presented the ordinance doesn't contemplate that the mayor or you know this mayor or subsequent mayor as I know we're considering all of those possibilities would be able to sort of with the wave of a wand make this happen it requires a consultation with the emergency management department and the Emergency Management Division sort of holds a place that stands in the middle of a number of agencies that are coordinating with one another including the Department of Health at the state level in our environmental health department here at the city and so determination that's made would have to come from a source a factual source that has identified a threat that is significant enough to exercise these types of powers that that's one check is that that there has to be a basis for it that is articulable and and factual and in the second is that to the extent that a determination were made that this council for example were to disagree with because it was too small scale or the the facts would not support it and the ordinance does reserve the ability for the council to step in and do something about it at that point I don't think that the language as drafted does contemplate a small-scale outbreak the language is drafted talks about something that threatens the health and safety of the residents of the city cumulatively or that threatens the availability of emergency services within the city cumulatively and so likely a singular event would not be sufficient to trigger that I think our system probably plans for those singular events it's the large-scale widespread event that is not expected or planned for that these orders and and proclamations would be geared toward thank you sir and the administration had asked if we would ask director mass to come up and just tell us a little bit about sort of there's been some discussion about whether the corona virus is a is sort of more analogous to the traditional flu or some of these other pandemics and could you tell us a little bit about the difference in sort of how we're addressing this compared to the normal flu is it the same is it different how should we be responding sure Davis thank you for that question I'll start with that that I'm not an epidemiologist on this but we do have some of my team and we've been working to monitor this this outbreak for for several months now along with our partners at the State Department of Health along with the CDC so I'll give my best answer in terms of all the discussions that we've had the common flu as we know it is actually a series of different viruses and so they are similar to the corona virus and that they are both respiratory illnesses so the symptoms of that are very same the very very much the same in terms of how they exhibit also the way that they're trans also very similar there's two key differences in the corona virus in the common flu the first one is that all the statistics and the studies and the information that we have currently is that the corona virus is a little more infectious than the common flu in other words it's the way that it's transmitted is happening at a faster rate and it's a little more a little more aggressive the second one which is probably a little more important to that is because it's the novel coronavirus because there's other coronal corona virus strains out there because this is a new strain there is no natural human immunity to that right now in other words we don't have a vaccine to it and because there's no natural human immunity to it our bodies aren't able to fight it off as quickly so as such that makes this much more of a even though I would also remind the council that this year we also saw a rather extreme flu season with pretty significant numbers but this is is different in that it the way that it's aggressive and the fact that there's no natural immunity the consequences the potential consequences of ongoing spread are much more severe thank you sir counsellors other questions on this item if not we'll go to council Borrego and then we'll go to council basanta closer I'm not sure who needs to answer this but I do have a concern about the places of worship and I'd like to hear some more discussion about that because I understand a lot of the places of worship the Catholic Church the Jewish synagogue other places are closed and they there that the directive of you know the archdiocese or whatever affiliation they have so I'd like to hear some more about that kind of crossing that line and whether or not we are doing in fact doing that I'm looking at one of our lawyers mr. president councillor boo so you know there's there's been focus on on that particular provision places of worship but that's that's grouped within a type of use that all have characteristics characteristics in common and that type of use is is grouped within this provision to include any places of mass assembly and then the bill goes on to list you know the types of places of mass assembly that that are possible and that would include theatres clubs has it been as has been discussed places of worship performances athletic venues and so the the bill paints with a brush that is blind relative to the nature of the activity happening at the site it pains with the brush that focuses on the nature of a large gathering and so in that sense it's neutral and so there's not any targeting of any particular type of use or activity only in order to address the health safety issue that could result from the gather so you're telling me that the language that's on page four number C is basically it's neutral enough that once this is over we're not gonna get sued I mean the city is not has not crossed that line are you telling me that mr. president counselor but I go I would never make a promise that we're not going to get sued but but what I can't say is that that we've given this our best shot to think through that issue and at this point are comfortable with that grouping counselor council president Davis and in counselor row Diego I'm not a practicing lawyer anymore but maybe because of that I happen to recall the case that we all learned in law school or at least the older lawyers like Dada me learned in law school about this particular issue so the Supreme Court has got your back on this there was a case where a city tried to interfere with the sensitive religion and they used the public health language to try to say because there was slaughtering happening inside the place of worship that it was unsafe for sanitary reasons and what the Supreme Court came back and said was exactly what mr. Melendez just said which is there is there are laws that are facially neutral and that those are acceptable but if they're ever found to be used in a way that is targeting a religion they are not valid and so the Supreme Court has sort of carved that out we all learned that in the first-year law school and so I think you know if there that were to ever if an a mayor or a council were to ever try to do that you would be able to respond very quickly with your power to come back and revisit and take away that power you would be able to do that with no question other questions seeing none okay counselor Ben quick question for for yourself mr. president as sponsor why do we have the words or telecast in this provision a live performance anything with an audience I understand but it seems that telecasting would be important to go forward under this I'm gonna defer that to mr. Aguilera traffic yeah council president Davis councillor Benton the reason that was included was to address not only venues that were that are actually having live performances with a band or a person playing a guitar as well as to address any situation where folks might just like it of a sports bar display movies or videos or any other type of broadcasts intended to disseminate that to the general public where the general public would understand that and then congregate at that at that location so that that is why that that language was clarified thank you I think but mr. Aguilar I wouldn't that be covered by the number of people in an assemblage that whether it's a telecast or a live performance we would control the number of people were in there by the way this is written council president Davis counselor counselor Jones I mean it would depend on the circumstance and or the situation for sure but not that that's the the examples I just gave were hypotheticals so I mean there's any number of situations and other circumstances where you know we we would see that type or have seen that type of practice so and I might point out I think as I read this a straggler just correct me if I'm wrong but including but not limited to starts to enumerate a list of sort of examples but may not necessarily be inclusive so they could be duplicated as with mass gatherings is that right president Davis that's right that's correct councillors other questions other discussion councillor pasanda close thank you mr. president I have a few notes that I've been taking in response to some of the comments I think that it's important to recognize that the airport is controlled by the federal government if it's an international airport and I am concerned with with and I could be wrong but its Federal Aviation so I think that they're doing a pretty good job of maintaining control as best they can while still trying to get folks home I'm I am well aware that this is not the same as the flu but this is still a virus and we need to still make sure to account that 60,000 people died last year in our nation from the flu and we need to take precautions but I don't know if that should comment at expense of our liberties in our Constitution I'm really not okay with that and I have a question at some point let's say we didn't didn't have this verbiage in here can the mayor go to the governor and ask for assistance in closing certain properties or getting some of the things that we were talking about here they're a method of communication where you know the municipality can reach out to the governor and say hey we have an extreme circumstance here we have a public health emergency even though the rest of the state might not have one yet and can you please help us can you enact that and and support us or is that not an option if I might respond counselor don't let staff respond on about the mayor but I think you're right about that and I think we're in a good place right now with a good administration in Santa Fe and cooperative ones here but just two years ago I would have said no we would not be able to pick up the phone and call Santa Fe and ask for assistance or rely on their help they very much were not interested in helping the City of Albuquerque with many of our issues and we were left alone it's a reason they asked us to rely on our Home Rule powers more often I think than we should have but that's one reason I think we need these local ordinances because although we have the right people in Santa Fe right now I think we've been in situations in the past where we haven't but since it's a question about whether the mayor could or could not I wanted to offer to the administration president Davis councilor son absolutely I mean the mayor could do that whether or not the governor would then in turn act is another question and that's why it's important that the city retains the authority to be able to take action as needed without having to go through any extra hurdles if you know or having to delay a potential response I think that's also something that's that's important to keep in mind keep in mind with this legislation so thank you mr. Howe I think that the same can be argued respectfully I'm not necessarily talking about this administration but the same can be argued for any administration that perhaps we shouldn't be giving these authorities to the mayor because we never know who might be elected in the future taking that breath that councilor Gibson had talked about earlier I think that I would really like to take a moment to say that the administration specifically said the number one thing they're looking for tonight at the very minimum is to be able to allocate and redirect funds so I say let's strike this let's revisit this when we revisit the rest of this ordinance so that we can actually move on to proving getting what the administration is really looking for in order to get business done for the safety of our community I urge your support thank you ma'am hearing nor the discussion and that item having that sponsor having closed all those in favor of floor amendment number three say yes raise your hand one two three four four all those opposed say no and raise your hand so that amendment fails counselor pass on item D I'm sorry amendment D which would be floor amendment number four okay Thank You mr. president so I make a motion to amend make a floor amendment D to floor floor substitute Oh 2004 on page four strike lines 21 through 22 deleting section D this would delete the section saying order the closing of places of institutional childcare or education such as daycares preschools and private or educational institutions I'm making a motion to strike this because this is an amendment that it removes added public health emergency powers for the mayor related to the ordered closure because education is when within the purview of the state government and not this is not the authority of our local municipality and I realize that this is this is for extreme circumstances but again we are granting privileges to a municipality when we are crossing over jurisdictions that I do not think I do not think we should be doing I think that we should allow for for the state entity and for the the school district the school board the governor again this is this is crossing jurisdictions that I don't think is appropriate thank you so council person has for minute number one do we have a second I have a second from I'm sorry number for a second for councillor Harris councillors or any other discussion on this item seeing none counselor Basanta close I hope I'm not continuing to beat a dead horse here but I really think that we're starting to just take back our liberties more and more and more we're really we're really getting restrictive when the administration is asking for more money at this point that's what they want tonight and I really urge your support I'm sorry counselor before you I appreciate that councillor Sinha wants to ask a quick question of administration if that's okay before we vote councillor sir Thank You mr. president I guess this questions more to the director Ryan masse you know in thinking about the reasoning to close schools can you kind of talk more about what the reasoning was in a public health perspective because you know we closed all of our the Albuquerque public schools so can we you give me some rationale as to why those they had those closures yeah mr. president saying thank you for that question the the rationale behind this is the similar to the rationale that was put forward by the governor for the closing of the public schools in the state of New Mexico what a lot of the actions that have been occurring over the last several days is is to to take action to what they call flatten the curve and when they talk about flattening the curve infectious disease spreads as an exponential rate and what you do is you take measures to create additional separation between individuals so that there's not as much spread especially for an infectious disease such as coronavirus that we don't have the natural immunity to yet we don't have vaccines developed for yet so more people are susceptible to it so the closing of school is just like the closing of large mass gatherings etc and as you've seen over time additional and more restrictive measures are all a meant to keep flattening that curve in other words trying to to curb how how many people ultimately are going to get infected by by this virus mr. president thank you for that director and I just want to clarify that this is under extraordinary times that you know such an outbreak would occur that this does not ordinarily happen mr. president Senya that is that is absolutely correct the a lot of the concern right now from an infectious disease component is the fact that because we haven't had time to develop a vaccine to this folks who are most vulnerable to the consequences of of infection for this will have worse consequences and so to take these drastic measures is to actually try and curb that and reduce those number of people who are going to get infected in the first place because there's no there's no medical treatment to it Thanks Thank You councillor Center I know councillor Jones went away and I just want to say just to point out though although this current epidemic doesn't seem to be impacting children as much as it is seniors that's the inverse of so many of these others and so I think it's important that we protect this provision for the the outbreak that may require that type of work councillor Jones Thank You mr. president I'm so pleased that you just made that statement so when we're seeing here we can order the closing of places in institutional childcare because of this specific virus or spreading disease but you're saying that might not be the way it is in the future but it's still in here which means that if the mayor were to declare that this is a an issue that falls within this legislation they could still close the city still could close places of institutional child care or I mean work which one are we going to do are we gonna give the mayor the ability to do this or we're gonna give this state the ability to do this I think we kind of just mix that up with this one right here and some of our comments so I I think we're I think we're over reaching for the future if this were to apply only to this specific incident maybe we need to do all of this but that's not what we're saying we're seeing this will continue just like the things that we're trying to change in the past history in this legislation we have to take things out because they're no long relevant but will anyone go back and take this one out or is it there to be abused in the future I don't know I'm not saying it will be but it certainly if it's in there it will be so I think we have some legislation here that's probably a little difficult to deal with in the future thank you okay so we have councillor Borrego Thank You director we appreciate it I've counseled Borrego and then back to councillor Bosson to reclose and then we'll hit the next one council Perego jurisdictional I mean we have elected officials that are board members for APS they are elected by the public to do the best thing for the the youth the children of ours of our city and in this particular instance it seems like we're overstepping our bounds jurisdictionally and we're we're without I mean I could see it if we were saying in consultation with the board you know or if we were also with the State Board of Education but we're not we're saying that the mayor has the authority to do this and it it concerns me because it seems to me like we think it goes back to the issue of church and state which I you know see that also as an issue that really concerns me because again I go back to the archdiocese who made some in just in this week decided to close all of the church the Catholic churches or last week I guess it was so you know I these things are very uncomfortable to me because I feel like I'm sticking my toe into a different pond that and yes we are trying to prevent the spread of this disease yes that's very important I understand that from a public health perspective but if this saying something in consultation with these jurisdictions then I would I would be feeling a lot more comfortable right now mr. Iyer Thank You council president Davis councillor Perico just to take a couple steps back on a couple of things first of all the while the state does have primary jurisdiction over the public schools there are a whole lot of other day care facilities and I believe that's what this is really intended to cover and even that's what it says so that would be more within the province of the city also you know we we do this kind of thing all the time if if a business doesn't pass inspection if the fire marshal goes in and finds that the conditions are unsafe for a childcare those type of closures occur under city jurisdiction and have since the city was around also you know while I did say that they're our primary purpose is to get funds I never said it was our only purpose and it's not we need and we also need to act more quickly given what's going on then this council is able to do and that's not a not a knock on council it's just that's the way it's designed and finally just want to say it is a novel idea that a government that is bigger and farther away from understanding our local circumstances should have more control over a local emergency than we do but it's just not one that we espouse thank you thank you councillors anything else councillor Hassan close again Thank You mr. president my apologies if I did say only I realized that that is not what the intention was so I'm sorry if that is what came out if we but so that being said to if we do it all the time with fire marshals and we close unsafe locations then I think that this is kind of getting counterintuitive again and we're kind of going in circles we have elected officials we have specialists we have organizations we have different jurisdictions I think all of that has been made extremely clear what I think we need to remember is that the point of what all of this discussion has been up to this point and we still have more to go is that there's a lot of questions and we are now and I realize this is time-sensitive I realize this is a fast spreading virus I realize that we need to make decisions quickly but we're making them so quickly when we all feel unwell some of us feel uncomfortable making these decisions there's so many amendments there's a lot going on and in addition to that we have no in-person public comment to actually hear from our constituents their concerns that we're really here to represent them we're not here to make a decision just with our own opinion but this is a lot that is happening right now with these decisions and with what we're doing and I realize it's emergency circumstances and I realized that we also have the authority and responsibility to be able to represent and make decisions on behalf of our constituents but I really think that with these questions as massive as they are constitutionally and the fact that this time maybe not next time but this time all of these have already happened because the governor has shut it down because the archdiocese has made adjustments because the Department of Education has closed schools these have already happened this time so let's step back let's not approve this part let's approve this amendment and let's revisit it for next time and let's revisit it soon but right now we're already it's already happening and where some of us are uncomfortable so I really urge your support in taking a step back and keeping our public safe representing our constituents as they expect us to do while still also being fair and cautious of creating law that we haven't really allowed the opportunity to set in all the way I urge your support thank you all those in favor of amendment number four say yes raise your hand one two three four all those opposed say no and five against that amendment number four fails counselor pass on on what would be floor amendment number five okay so I make a motion to approve floor amendment number five or II floor substitute Oh 2004 on ph4 strike line 23 through 27 deleting added section e so this section is States order that places of private employment take reasonable measures as determined by each employer to minimize any exposures to infectious diseases or health risks to employees and customers by for example partial or full closures or authorizing non-essential employees to work from home or take leave or deploying social distancing protocols I really think we should strike this because it is you know it's ordering places of private employment to take reasonable measures to minimize health exposures which is important but this is so broad and so ambiguous who's gonna enforce this are we gonna go around to all of these different public places and are we gonna make sure is somebody gonna take the time to do we have the budget counselor persona I'm sorry just to keep us processed together first let's move the amendment we come back to debate I'm sorry so on the floor we have women number 5 do we have a second seeing none I'm sorry counselor does councillor Harris will second it so we're back on the amendment I'm sorry council person I wanted to be sure we get that on the record the right way explain your I think I just said it all but I mean again this is this is ambiguous and I think this is really going to be very hard to enforce so again why put this forward when even though the intentions there I don't think that the the actual legality should be Thank You councillor Johnson Thank You mr. president councilor vasana I agree that this is a little ambiguous and probably can't be anything be done to it but most especially because the clause is still in place in parentheses as determined by me each employer which means we have no right to do it anyway because we've given to the employer so this is just language that gets printed and I'm not going to fight on this one counselors take note of that strategy all those any other discussion on this item seeing none counselor beside the question I heard your support thank you all those in favor of for minute number five say yes and raise your hand that's to all those opposed say no one raise your hand that's seven you get that mr. Ortega thanks counselor Poussin for number six you might get another bottle of water I make no I was just using thank you so I make a motion for floor amendment number six or F to for substitute o - 28 - for thank you on page 4 line 31 after the term appropriations insert the following not to exceed 1 million dollars unless otherwise approved by the City Council so for the clarity and purposes of the public I want to make sure to read this it says this clause is F canceled city sponsored events and gatherings canceled or impose limitations or special protocols for the provision of city services and the use of city facilities and authorize the redistribution or rededication of city resources and budgetary appropriations not to exceed 1 million dollars unless otherwise approved by the City Council as necessary to help address or combat the proclaimed emergency you know I realize that we need more funding as we've discussed or oh yeah I'll second that Thank You councillor John for the second go ahead and to explain your bill thank you so this amendment requires any redistribution by the mayor of the city budget appropriations to respond to a proclaimed public health emergency it'll be limited to a maximum of 1 million dollars without approval of the City Council the intended budget check and balance authority of the City Council should continue during an emergency situation so as discussed earlier with some of the other councillors I think that you know we do need to have some emergency funding available and what's currently in legislation is $100,000 is the limit for the mayor and I can recognize that especially in extreme circumstances that that is really I probably can venture to guess not even a drop in the bucket with what we're going to need so I think that to be able to have some kind of cap it will allow counsel enough time to convene in order to make some amendments or approve more funding if necessary Thank You counselor have Vice President Gibson and then the administration and then we'll see where else we go Thank You mr. mr. president so councilor Poisson I just want to make sure the placement of this this is letter I and it's going to be inserted at line 9 is that correct okay all right all right so let me just say I like this one I'm gonna vote for this one so I I think it's easily defendable and I thank you for bringing this amendment thank you hearing that any comment from the administration Thank You council president Davis again seeing this for the first time do you just want to clarify since we do have so many counselors that the contract approval Authority is limited to $100,000 but our ability to move lines within the budget and things like that or under different rules that I won't go into in great detail and certainly it's within your purview to put a cap on it I do want to point out that in a circumstance like this a million dollars isn't that much either so for example if we wanted to move money from my office but I don't have a million dollars in my budget that's a bad example and if we wanted to if we wanted to remove money from a program that we considered non-essential to buy to rescues we couldn't do that with under a million dollars so just wanted to make sure everybody had those two bits of information let me respond then I go to council Jones as well yeah I think you're right about that I think this is not contemplated it would be buying emergency equipment without some type of public conversation and again I want to go back to the fact that the council can call an emergency meeting if it's life-threatening and in three counselors or more could call a special meeting which I think we could do city ordinance two 1116 prohibits the mayor from changing the city budget by more than a hundred thousand or five percent of any line item without the approval of the council I realize there's a lot of flexibility in that in terms of some of those line items like police overtime and payroll neighbourhood policing for example are huge and would allow more than that but I think the the interest concern being that I see the councillors point here I think I probably support this as well at least that it gives the mayor some early flexibility to get started and as we get into a large-scale piece certainly to be sure that we're including the City Council so that we can all be on the same team in the same direction and don't end up in a in a budget quagmire later particularly if we're going to start losing GRT or other things but I want to go to councillor Jones and then perhaps back to the sponsor for a close councilor Thank You mr. president and I I just wanted to assure the CEO that of course the City Council can call a meeting at any time if it becomes an emergency and we can if necessary reissue or issue more money but I think to leave it open-ended would be rather foolhardy on our part because we are the ones who are ultimately responsible for appropriations of money thank you other discussion councillor Busan to close Thank You mr. president I think that those comments say it all and I urge your support all those in favor say yes raise your hand yes any opposed so that's 9 0 that item carries unanimously you got one congratulations council person for amendment number 7 Thank You mr. president for amendment I would like to make a motion and this time I'm gonna get it right so floor amendment number 7 or H 4 floor substitute Oh 2004 on page 5 strike line 6 through 8 no I'm gonna skip one okay let's start over I think it's five line one what's that good okay so we're gonna do are making a motion for floor amendment 7 7 4 G thank you for a floor substitute Oh 2004 on page 5 lines 1 through 5 strike the language or agreements for the city's use of non city-owned property outside the usual requirements for city real property transactions prescribed ROA 1994 five to one as necessary to help address or combat the proclaimed emergency I'm hoping that this would in the end say enter any agreements authorizing the use of city-owned property by third parties and we have a four-minute number seven is there a second from councillor Harris could I ask a clarifying question of the sponsor before we move further and debate if that's okay is it your intent to only limit this to the mayor's ability to authorize the use of city property say by the hospital or by some other or the county or somebody but not to allow the city to say engage in a lease to take over say a warehouse that we need for staffing supplies for example so mr. president my concern with this with the way I read it and several others have interpreted it is the key part that really concerns me is outside of the usual requirements what does that mean I mean and to me that's that's extremely vague and we're in here it talks about private property and due to that vague nature I think that it's again highly concerning I'm gonna go to councillor Jones our real estate expert Thank You mr. president yeah having participated with real property on real estate transactions before we won't live long enough to get anything done it has to go through property therefore I'm a little uncomfortable with ambiguity but absolutely comfortable with the justification for this one so kennel service on I have no problem giving it a try and again we have the power to come back and take it away if it turns out to be misused I think I agree with councillor Jones councillor barriga New Year's thoughts and I have had successful encounters with Real Property Council I'm gonna let mr. Riley mr. president and members of the council the process that's required by the City Council as it relates to entering into agreements to use third party property or to use private property requires not only a negotiations with a property owner but if we're going to acquire the property it would require an appraisal which requires up to 45 days of review and counter appraisals within between the property owners and the city according to state law so that in and of itself may quite frankly surpassed the emergency that's at hand at the moment the other issue is quite frankly that if we're leasing property that we need to at least immediately right now the the requirements are we have to come to the council and I that the numbers are less than $10,000 so at the end of the day ul would go through your processes again it might the the issue at hand may may be over by the time the council acts so this is a wait and this is not again not an issue as a council but just the way the cumbersome nature of the way the the real property ordinance is written right now that we don't have that authority to do that so this would give the mayor the opportunity to use a warehouse that is available on an emergency basis to house whatever might be needed at the moment and yes we could come back to the council when that least was done to review and to explain to the council whatever what occurred so this is just giving us another tool if you will so that we can address any emergency they may come up councilperson Thank You mr. president mr. Rao so please do me a favor do me a favor with the beginning of everything you said it was all about all of the requirements that are necessary there's a requirement for negotiations a requirement for a contract and this particularly says outside of the usual requirements so aside from all of that I agree that in this emergency situation warehouses might be needed we might need more facilities we you know I agree that that that is I mean there but all of the safe things that you just said you know I'm concerned will there still be negotiations with private property owners since we're now going outside of the usual requirements is a big concern I have mr. president and councilor unless the city attorney tells me differently the mayor can't simply just go in and take someone's property as a property right there would always have to be a negotiations with the process the process with the property owner the process I'm referring to is the process by which we normally operate whenever we're you trying to get private property and what is required by you all through the ordinances for real for real property acquisition or real property leases which is again can take anywhere from two weeks at the very best to three or four months at the very worst good Kathryn Thank You mr. president so for all the people watching mr. Aguilar will you please confirm that because this is another big concern that has come in through a lot of emails is is the seizure and and I have never used eminent domain but I've heard it and people are talking about it so again adding to some of that calm that we need to do can you please confirm for the public that the mayor would not even under this circumstances be able to go to private property and demand without any negotiations with that property owner use of that property prep president Davis counselor Bosson this language does not provide the mayor the authority to take or dispose of property I think this this language specifically addresses the use of city-owned property to provide the city with flexibility to be able to use that in as the situation develops and as the situation requires so yes you know in this again to ease the folks at home this is no similar most similar to like an easement or a right-of-way where you might have access I mean this is not in any way disposing of any property this is would not implicate the takings clause so this this is not problematic Thank You mr. Aguilar with that I would like to withdraw this amendment Thank You counsel force on form in number 7 is withdrawn moving on to council Busan for for amendment number 8 which is item H in your packet Thank You mr. president I would like to make a motion for floor amendment number 8 or H floor substitute Oh 2004 on page 5 strike line 6 through 8 and on page 5 delete added section H so this would delete this section that says issues such other orders as are imminently necessary for the protection of life and property throughout the duration of the emergency including any provisions above that have not been previously invoked we have a second we have a second from councillor Jones Thank You council Persaud to explain your amendment and then we'll go I think to I'd like to go to the staff or the administration or the mystery regular to sort of explain the legal backing here the councillor bosun Thank You mr. president so this amendment this amendment would removed the added public health emergency powers for the mayor related to General Orders necessary for the protection of life and property in in and of itself General Orders is extremely vague and this seems like a catch-all that if any of the above were unchecked could give potential blanket authority to the mayor during this study emergency I see mr. Aguilar wants to respond I think or perhaps mr. Mahendra since he was a drafter either one yeah I mean a deferred a crit thank you mr. president council Busan so the intent behind this particular provision is that it's it's hard to contemplate all of the types of emergent needs that would happen it could potentially happen in any given scenario so a lot of ordinances will and to catch all that gives that level of flexibility and so that's what this provision does it proposes that that additional measures may be taken that are not enumerated within the list in order to combat whatever emergency has been declared and also clarifies that to the extent that those orders are taken that they would last throughout the declaration of that particular emergency council mr. Aguilar uncommon in prison Davis counselors on just to clarify this language already exists in the emergency powers ordinance that is in place right now what this does is this is essentially this this paragraph G or whatever it is now was was taken and copied and transferred over to the new enumerated Public Health order so it's it's exactly the same I completely agree with mr. Melendez and I'm happy to answer any other questions but again I think this this is not problematic to our office at all and think is necessary and it already exists in the current ordinance and as the sponsor let me just say I think thank you both for for clarifying that I think I also want to remind us that the provision that allows us to come back and sort of make those emergency changes is important but it's pretty standard I know that's not always the best answer but it is kind of standard to have this provision when you're dealing with emergencies because you never know what comes up the ability to God knows what at least on a short-term basis until you have a chance to present it to the public or the City Council can mean the difference between life and death and a critical emergency and we certainly don't want someone to having a solution in front of them and not be able to do it because of some arcane provision and city law that we've heard about tonight so other discussion councillor Besant closed mr. Aguilar is it page four that's what we're talking about right no page four Section G that you're saying is where it already exists just to clarify yes counselor president Davis comes whips on yes correct I still think it's very vague I really I think that this is super vague and I urge your support thanks councilors all those in favor of amendment number eight say yes and raise your hand two three all those opposed say no raise your hand no that amendment fails counselor pass on item I which I believe will be floor amendment number nine Thank You mr. president I would like to make a motion for a floor amendment number nine - or I - floor substitute Oh 2004 we have a motion in a second any other discussion I think this makes sense but council are you gonna explain your amendment I'm sorry no that's okay for the record I wanted to just read it those that aren't here so on page 5 line 15 strike the term president of the City Council and replace with city councilors I think that it's fairly obvious I mean we should have a majority vote like we always do Thank You councillor councillors any other discussion seeing none all those in favor say yes yes any opposed that item carries unanimously nine zero and councilor person I think we're on the last of your packet which is a packet J item number now 10 floor amendment number 10 councillor basan Thank You mr. president I will also confirm it's the last one thank you so I make a motion to approve floor amendment number 10 or J of floor substitute when to4 on page 6 line 18 replaced the term shall be with maybe but something that wasn't added in here that I did did request is also a pandu process and I do think that that's important that we get in there so if I may read this and then go for a second or Shh every person every person remaining present at the place of any riot or unlawful assembly after they have been ordered to disperse by the police or any other lawful authority or who fails to comply with any order or set forth pursuant to this ordinance except those public officers and persons assisting them in attempting to disperse the same or comply with an order or directive or administer emergency services may be deemed guilty of a violation upon due process we have a second from councillor Jones councillor Vasant can I ask the staff to a technical question mr. Melendez clarify for me the difference in when we talk about criminal law for example the the necessity of the shalt Clause and who the determiner of facts is there mr. president if you look throughout the city ordinances the enforcement provision would without exception say language that is exact to this that a person who violates whatever provision it is shall be deemed guilty and the reason for that is that a criminal law needs to be written with sufficient specificity to ultimately be enforced and with a change from a shell to a may that could potentially eliminate the ability enforceability of the ordinance because it's no longer expressed as to what action is punishable and whether or not you would be punished and mr. Melendez to follow I'm sorry I'm sorry maybe finish that really quickly and so using the shell language allow says this it is a crime to to violate this rule or this law a police officer site to arrest a person for that the determiner of fact or the Trier of fact is a judge or jury who determines whether that person actually did so right but the shell creates the the crime itself so that the officer can take those accidents for probable cause mr. president that's that's correct subject to the prosecutorial discretion of the the officer thank you I'm sorry counselor person I wanted to clarify those two technical points mhm thank you so much mr. president so if we were to leave shall be but still add on to the very end of that upon due process still not apply because it's civil versus criminal mr. Presiden calaboose on due process would absolutely apply and that applies whether or not we stated here or not that's a constitutional requirement and again the ordinance is that we have on the books would not testify that due process is followed because if we don't follow the process as a city that tendency to get the city in a lot of trouble so the constitutional requirement is the due process would be followed from the time that the any person is encountered by an enforcement officer of the city throughout the entire prosecutorial process up to adjudication by a court so really it doesn't matter I mean it matters I don't mean to say it like that represented people will get due process does matter and I understand the the kind of impulse to want to put it there I would suggest not because if we start putting it in some places and not in others it could create a strange implication and when it's it's the law of the land regardless I think it's safe to leave out and I think your concern will be satisfied Thank You mr. Melendez and Thank You mr. president with that I will withdraw my amendment thank accounts are so for amendment number ten is withdrawn counselors that puts us back on the floor substitute as amended as there other debate I know we've had a lot but we've just gotten started counselor vice president Gibbs Thank You mr. president so I and I'm sure every everyone else got an extraordinary amount of email not all of which was you know I can almost remember the subject line but we got a lot of lot of other email and I haven't even been able to look at all of it because it was lost in the hundreds of others that all had the same subject line but I guess my point is this that this is a big step forward and I do support this however I I would I would feel better about this if we were able to better communicate what we're doing here there's a lot of misinformation besides that one email that came out in hundreds there's a lot of misinformation out there I posted something today earlier on Facebook but that's just like a drop in the ocean really so I am respectfully going to move deferral on this so that we can have some conversations about that you know we're looking at sort of the first wave of this with the all the closings that have what has happened so far I you know the governor has certainly proven to be very decisive on this going forward I think that we can probably put this off until our next meeting and have a chance particularly since we have not had people here in the in the audience so I'm moving for a deferral councillor Gibson do a deferral until our next meeting which will be April 6 is that right mr. president I want to just to clarify I'm sorry counselor Gibson is at April 6 that you're moving at after all - yes regular scheduled meeting yes I have councilor Sinha and then councillor Benton the councillors in his past council been when I asked staff we're not going to have public in that meeting neither mr. president councillor Benton there are a lot of factors that go into that question including the declaration by the governor about the public health emergency and federal declarations the determinations by the city as to whether or not this building should be occupied in that manner the termination of the president of the City Council so I mean it's that's three weeks away and and so it's there's a good chance I guess just based on the history and the facts that we know that that the the scenario will continue and that may continue to be the case but there would be some determinations that would need to be made if I can really quickly councillor Gibson with respect to your motion you've deferred it to April 6 and so that presents the the absolute that that the council will hear the bill on April 6th and so if you for consideration it may be more appropriate for your purposes of your motion to defer to the next meeting of the City Council and in that event if if your motion does pass it would give the opportunity for the council to call a special meeting if necessary without having to wait the three weeks as would be required under your present motion so mr. president if I may I'm willing to do that yes and there's a meeting before that I my whole point really is just this so that that councillors up here will have more of an opportunity to answer emails and have the conversations that we just haven't been able to do and hopefully you know bring everything down a couple of notches thank you Thank You councillor Gibson I want to respond to that the first councillor Center was first and then oh I think this question is more for the administration say if this deferral were to happen would the emergency operation center or the emergency management services have the resources to address the infectious disease if it were to become very critical thank you Thank You council president Davis councillor Senna the issue is we just don't know two weeks ago we were sitting here and our biggest problem was that getting the little league like leases approved now those little leagues aren't even allowed to play because of how quickly this public health emergency has evolved so I can't say for sure no I can't say for sure yes and everything points to that as director Mast said this sort of curve and we are still on the upswing of the curve so there's no reason to believe things are going to be better on April 6 councillor Harris yes Thank You mr. president I I was actually gonna vote against the bill so don't think it's narrowly tailored enough I think that's or the constitutional language that we use I do not believe that the mayor is acting in bad faith or was trying to exceed his powers I don't believe there's any motivations for this bill other than Public Safety I just thought it was too broadly done and we had an opportunity to narrow it I think I'm gonna put against the deferral because I think we need something in place between now and three weeks because three weeks and the course of this this pandemic could be a lot of time because I've heard some people have said we're only a couple weeks behind Italy and if we have an Italy situation in two weeks and we're gonna wish we've done something so what I was hoping that we do is actually hold a special meeting within a week and come back and then come up with something that has a little bit more consensus to us but I don't think we should wait three weeks to have something on the books Thank You counselor and I appreciate that and councillor Gibson I appreciate yours as I was just mentioning view I understand the desire to sort of wait a minute and see if we can get more community consensus I think and I'll take responsibility for that I think some of the early drafting of this legislation was lumping in as the Journal sort of said today the new public health sort of definition into the existing law and I think we found that people were concerned about that I did not share the concerns that as mr. Melendez has articulated a number of times tonight the one could find a nexus between some of the for lack of a better word like a riot control provisions for the need to clean a community center but I understand that some folks could see that and that with the wrong people in office that would be the case and so we've we've tailored a legislation that specifically creates a new section of law with the specific tools we need to address this but the fact is this crisis is quite frankly imminent perhaps here I don't want us to wake up tomorrow morning with the community testing that's going on the drive-through testing we've seen the emergent cases that have come have been mostly clustered here in Bernalillo County and we've done a good job so far with the tools at hand but if tomorrow morning we wake up and the number of cases has accelerated either because of testing or because of unintentional community spread because somebody didn't wash their hands or didn't pay attention to the rules we will have an emergency meeting and we will be back here to decide how it is that the city is gonna respond outside of the limits of the sort of the limits that are put on it by current law that said I think this this law is good we've gone through now ten amendments two and a half hours of discussion and debate lots of look and comment on this it's important this is something our city needs we need to lead on this we have never relied waited to rely on the federal government particularly not lately and certainly not anytime soon as far as I'm concerned and we've had disparate relationships with the state in terms of their ability to respond their ability to pay attention to our issues in the level that we attend ssin that we think they need and quite frankly we should not have to wait on someone else to take action to take care of our community when we have that charge I do think we can pass this tonight I think if this council finds that if the mayor chooses to use this and wants to pull it back we can have a special meeting and if councillors want to come forward as this this crisis evolves and offer other amendments both for the other part of the the non implicated civil emergencies law or for this one we have that option and we can always call a meeting for that as well but we are in the upswing of this there no one believes that tomorrow will be easier than today and I think we ought to be in a place to give the administration and our community the tools it is that we need to respond and so I would oppose any amendment to defer I think we should pass what we have tonight it's a good one we've worked through those details and that we should exercise our oversight authority relentlessly and deliberately in this regard and that includes the ability to amend this ordinance at any time subject to our rules and so I would urge or not to support the deferral at this time is there a other discussion on the deferral councillor Jones Thank You mr. president I think one of the things that the people at home need to know and everyone here is that again the City Council is the ultimate decision-maker on this and we can call an emergency meeting at any time let's make that real clear and we see that we don't have enough money or some of the things that we have legislated here are not right aren't working and need to be changed or something needs to be added we do have the ability to do that so I think that's the name this is a this is a piece of legislation that is probably a living piece of legislation and it will be changed I am confident before we're finished with this even in the next 30 days so just have patience with us we're doing the best we can there are things out there that we don't even know about yet that we might have to change legislation or add legislation so I think I think this is the best that we can do at this point in time but I don't think it's probably the final piece that we can do thank you well said ma'am thank you councilor forego well I think the issue here is that there is a public health crisis and we are there is an urgency to do something and I think that the City Council has the responsibility and the duty to you know ensure the health safety and welfare general welfare of the public that's our responsibility and there while I have some questions and I I stayed in with those some of those things are we've sort of taken the elephant off the table in terms of the second amendment I mean so that's not an issue anymore and I think that's important that the public understands that that's not part of this bill any longer because I think that's what that stack of emails was that we got which I think I had like a thousand at last count and that was at five o'clock so I think it's within our our power to you know adopt this at this point in time so that we have something in place as councillor Jones indicated we could always come back we can amend it if there's I mean this is a moving target and yesterday I saw a graph of the spread of this particular disease and you know if if you had three people then they infected three people and they infected three people I mean it can it can get very very complicated and I think we're already seeing the results of our community just by what we discussed here tonight in terms of people you know hoarding and doing things that are probably not ordinary they're not normal to our everyday life and I think part of our responsibility is to minimize that you know activity in our community so by putting it in place tonight that doesn't mean that we can't come back at a later date if it means and however time much time it takes to advertise a public meeting if that's three days or whatever it is and advertise it in the newspaper we can always come back and amend it if it's not working for us so I think we have a responsibility and so for that reason I'm gonna support not support the deferral and recommend that we hear this or act on this tonight Thank You councillor Borrego I next up I have councillor basan Thank You mr. president I I do realize that the trend is very rapid with this virus so I don't I think every day we wait is something that has the potential to escalate massively potentially that being said I support councillor Gibson's motion for deferral but I hope that she would consider changing it to the special meeting of one week from now because really even though we need to have these measures in place even though we need to be able to you know be capable of enacting these laws to protect our society and keep them at guess what we're doing it already the governor's doing it we're we're already closing up businesses early we're already mandating that they that they do things certain ways we're already shuttering schools I believe we do have time we have one week that I think that this is something that we should really offer safety and security to our constituents who aren't here in person and give them the opportunity to still contact us give us the opportunity to chew on it so that we can feel comfortable voting when really I mean all the emails that came in all say vote no so instead of risk just voting know if we're gonna represent our constituents let's actually give the opportunity for us to all combine and be united and figuring out a way to tell our constituents this is why we really want to go ahead and support this this is why we think this would be better so I think that even though time is of the essence we're already shuttering down I believe and I choose to believe that we are getting ahead of that curve because of already the things that are being enacted by the again by the governor by the Secretary of Health by the Department of Education by all of these other entities then I realize that this needs to be in place for the future but I think that we're kind of already doing it now to where we can at least have one week Thank You councillor pinyon Thank You mr. president um I actually just want to thank you councillor Davis for bringing this forward you know we have a public health crisis on our hand and I think as leaders of the of the City of Albuquerque that we have a responsibility to act and I agree with councillor Jones and others who have said that you know there's maybe some flawed legislation within this that we need to come back later on to look at but for now I think that we have a responsibility to the citizens of Albuquerque and just to assure that we're doing everything we can to make sure that everybody's safe and that we have things in place that will ensure that we look after our most vulnerable in our community especially thank you Thank You councillor p.m. we go back to councillor Gibson for a clarification on her motion and then we'll go to councillor Jones and vote on the motion for deferral Thank You mr. president so I would like to modify my motion I'd like to move deferral until the next meeting period whenever that might be thank you and just to clarify we had a second on that Thank You counselor Jones Thank You mr. president and and interestingly I appreciate what everyone has said about the mass number of emails that we got which incidentally all said the same thing so I can speak very clearly here and say that the major opposition to the ones away they didn't all say the same thing but a good number of them the major opposition was that we were going to take away their guns or not allow them to buy guns or ammunition that is absolutely not in this because I wouldn't I wouldn't vote for that either and the fact that we are granting to the mayor emergency powers that perhaps he shouldn't have when in fact the emergency powers that we are granting are absolutely under control of the City Council we have absolute control under the actions that are going on here and so far I haven't seen well I have seen but I don't think we're going to allow anything that is extraordinary or shouldn't happen that would be harmful to our citizens and we just need to understand that we can't this isn't one that we should play politics on we need to do what we think is right for the city each one of us has to vote what we think is right and that's what I plan to do Thank You counselor councillor gives any of you think further on the clothes for the deferral remove oh so all those in favor of the deferral until our next meeting say yes and raise your hand to all those opposed say no raise your hand that motion fails so we're back on the bill as amended is there any other discussion I kind of did my clothes already but councillor Ben I have two amendments based upon councillor Hassan's amendment so amendments so going back to page 4 line 16 to 17 this would be number 10 this was your amendment number two councillor Vasant just mine or the record this will be commitment number 11 this would be number 11 yes yes right sorry this will be number 11 and this would be on line 19 to delete the words places of worship , live or telecast so we have a motion in a second for councillor Benton's amendment that would delete places of worship live or telecast performances councillor Benton you want explain your minute yes I agree that at least at this time that places of worship should be exempt for for reasons of constitutional protections and that understanding that that there there are ways to slice and dice that I think it sends the wrong message this is included but including but not limited to so why should we put places of worship in here and the same thing I do have a concern about whether something is telecast or not if it's telecast an Intendant for a public audience then that's freedom of speech so that's my thinking on this Thank You councillor Ben can I ask a clarifying question of maybe of the little one of the lawyers as the councillor bintang mentioned the including but not limited to list sort of enumerate some but not all of the potential places removing these would still allow the mayor to have that authority but not explicitly to list those places is that what I understand and then I want to ask if councillor Benton is that what you mean or do you mean to exempt okay even without this specific language if yeah and councillor Benton it it would have that flexibility so great councillor Besant I'm sorry burger I want to thank councillor Benson for looking into that and amending that because that is a huge concern of mine Thank You great councillors other discussion counterpane councillor Benton can you read the amendment again yes just on page 4 line 19 to remove the words places of worship keep the comma and delete the words live or telecast I guess we could leave live performances and maybe just take out or telecast that that's sort of the I think the intention okay so mr. president can ask a question from our city attorney what if we just removed that entire thing that said just order the closing of places of mass assembly intended for public audience and no this is period yeah controlled by the city no that was her language that was added for public no just for public audience okay so what if we just said order the closing of places of mass assembly is that a question for the sponsor is it for the Attorney chart councillor Davis Kim councilor opinion could you clarify the questions you're asking specifically I'm it's just that we're listing places so it just seems as though if we said the order the closing of places of mass assembly Oh period mr. president I would accept that as a friendly amendment mr. Aguilar I think what the councilors asking if I could clear yeah that that would have the same effect but it would be cleaner is that right mr. president mr. Melendez yeah just some context so when we did not define what a place of mass assembly is in the bill and so the reason for a list like that is to give a cue to the types of places that are that the city would have in mind in exercising that authority toward its not intended to be exhaustive but those examples would help interpret what was intended by that language closing places of mass assembly and so if you were to put a period after places of mass assembly you would still be granting the authority to to to have those types of closures but by eliminating the list there there wouldn't be as much context for what for what the City Council intended when it passed the bill that's not fatal that's not an issue that you know would preclude you from from doing what you're proposing to do but I wanted to just point that out is the reason for why and some instances we would have a list of four examples so mr. president so but if you took out places of worship and live or telecast performances then you would and you just used other examples like theatres clubs athletic venues rather than the place of worship or could you put a number to it mr. president I think councillor Pena I think those are all options you know you proposed the option of putting the period after assembly and that's that's pretty clear it's a clear amendment I think that you have discretion as to whether to do that or to just take out the places of worship it's live or telecast her councillor Benton's amendment and so my only point was was just to kind of explain why we would have a list in some instances but the list is not required I think as part of my point as well councillor paying you have a preference um you know I would defer to councillor Benton in terms of what he's more comfortable with I just I think that maybe I was specifically concerned about live broadcast which is not necessarily a place of mass assembly and and the protection of the Constitution so that's what I was really aiming at so I agree that that I agreed that your friendly amendment would would simplify it but but I think mr. Melendez makes a point so maybe I if I write with you we'll go back to the original my original motion I would still support councilor Benton's amendment and councillor Pena with all due respect I think it makes it too broad if we leave it open and I think we should give some examples my particular issue again was places of worship and I think that you know we're overstepping our bounds so the motion on the floor to clarify is councillor Ben's original amendment that would remove places of worship and live and telecast performances or live our telecast we're keeping performances intended for a public audience correct counts or any other discussion on that hearing none all those in favor of the councilors amendment say yes yes any opposed I have one no right that's eight one councillor you have a second amendment yes mr. president well this would be amendment number 12 this will be an amendment number 12 and this is actually line 16 and 17 2 on page 4 line 16 and 17 this is item subparagraph B to add the words between the the words quantities of and the word item to add medical health and sanitation okay so mr. Tager you got that sure I think you have a motion in two seconds counselor counselor Ben you want explain and than any other discussion yeah I mean this is strictly having to do with health and this this public health emergency these are typically the kind of things that we've had a run on and we need to avoid hoarding thank you other discussion on this item I see councillor Gibson councillor Senna and then I might ask director Mastiffs or I guess our emerging manager folks director Master you have any comment on whether that could be appropriate or if there's other things that we might want to consider rationing given your emergency management experience councillor Gibson Thank You mr. president and we're taught not talking about about rationing here and there's been a empty shelves not just for paper products and our medical medical items and sanitation but canned goods and other things as well so so I probably won't be able to support that I you know I just think that we it would be so useful to have a mayor who would if necessary in times when you know things are flying off the shelf and maybe somebody doesn't get off work until 8 o'clock at night by the time they go there's not what they're looking for so so I'm sorry I won't be able to to support this amendment Thank You councillor Senate Thank You mr. president I shared the same sentiments of councillor Jones I won't be able to support it thank you other comments councillor Busan Thank You mr. president I think that I if at first you do not succeed try try again but I do support councillor Benton's amendment in addition to the fact that this will make it very clear to those that are paying attention and very concerned that we can't use this to push any gun control measures which I realize we clarified earlier but this is one step further in helping with that Council's other discussion seeing none all those in favor of the councilors amendment number 12 say yes and raise your hand I see three four five six all opposed three that item carries so we're counselors at your last amendment yes great so we are back on four sub o four as amended I kind of did my clothes earlier so any other last-minute issues we haven't discussed seeing none I'm sorry okay and just before we vote I just wanted to say that these are for extraordinary times this is four times that we actually have a public health crisis which does not often happen but when it does we have to respond and respond quickly and take that leadership we are trying our best to stay ahead as we have stated before to flatten the curve and for me I truly believe that we are being a leader in addressing these issues for the city for our state and for the nation because we are staying ahead of that because we are taking this leadership and being bold and willing to take although these measures may be uncomfortable for us to think about and talk about but we are taking this we are being the leaders in it and in the end it is about addressing and protecting the most vulnerable it's the elderly it's the immunocompromised its cancer patients it's your grandparents it's our parents and so I think it's critical to think about this and at the same time we under and I think I could say for our counselors that a lot of people are taking a lot of sacrifices and doing what they can to help one another and that is really the spirit of Albuquerque and you know we are doing all that we can and broken nose are doing what they can as well I know that some counselors and other policy makers are also stepping up to fill these gaps you know buying groceries for our neighbors that are immunocompromised or elderly that can't or aren't mobile so I just want to say that although we are taking these steps and it may seem you know uncertain but we are there for one each one another we're there for each other neighbors are there for each other and we hope to be that support for for our community as well and I know and understand all the sacrifices that everyone's making but at the same time we see the real spirit of each other when we come in moments of crisis so I do want to thank councilor Davis for bringing this and I will be supporting thank you I couldn't have said it better myself councillor Harris I thank you mr. president and and times like this what we have with due process in general and constitutional rights there's often tension between public safety as well as what processes do and and and civil rights so we have public safety civil rights and that's always a balance and we're trying to find that balance and I think the bill frankly went a little bit too far I think it just sweeps in too much and it creates a risk that perhaps our government could could overstep however I want to be clear that I don't think there's any intention to do that I don't think there's any malicious intent by any mayor certainly not this mayor to actually you know try to take more power for himself in order to harm people that's just not happening however people do have a legitimate interest in making sure that our government stays within its within the lines and colors within the lines and I would rather see a bill that would started out much narrower and if we needed to come back an emergency basis and expand it do that rather than sort of the will of the council which seems to be well we it might be too broad but we can always come back and cut it back I'd rather go the opposite way so for that reason I'm not going to support this Thank You councillor Harris councillor Perego for closing comment having grown up in New Mexico you know we've always been good neighbors to each other and I think that in times like this which are really unprecedented we need to continue to be good neighbors with each other and remember that we all live in neighborhoods there are people out there that are less vulnerable than us and there are seniors there are children who are all having to live through these difficult times and I think the one thing about growing up in a Hispanic family is if someone was then probably many other families that are not Hispanic if one group when uncle when aunt somebody was having a difficult time everybody pitched in to help them and this is the time that we need to take to remember that we need to land that helping hand and really be the New Mexico that we are so you know we also need to help to calm fears and I think it's really important and it's it's something that all of us as counselors we all have networks out there and we need to remind our neighbors that those networks are in place I think we saw that tonight with our different city agencies and I want to command them for for being here tonight so let's just all step up and and get through this together and and be the New Mexico that we are Thank You councillor Payne you think counselor Bosson so I think I closed a little earlier but I just wanted to say just sitting here next to councilor Senna that she brought to light about councilor Sanchez she just said I truly believe I didn't even notice but you're right councilor beside Thank You mr. president I agree with councilor Borrego that we do need to be good neighbors and we do need to come together as a society we do need to be there for each other we do need to be kind we do need to be calm we do need to be rational we were elected to represent our constituents and at this point in time the majority of what I have been able to go through in my contact in my emails my text messages my facebook messenger posts my facebook posts the majority of constituents are telling me to vote no on this and because I was elected and made a promise to them to represent them and what they want I will be voting no for this Thank You counselors seeing none seeing no other debate or discussion on this item all those in favor of floor sub o 4 as amended as an emergency ordinance say yes and raise your hand one two three four five six all those opposed say no three that matter having passed and there being no further business this City Council meeting is adjourned counselors watch your emails I'm sure we'll have some new meetings coming [Music] [Music]