Action Archive: Council Regular Session 9/5/23

Agenda packets here

Attend in person at 6pm on Tuesday, 9/5/23, in Municipal Building Council Chambers (1000 Central Ave) or join on Zoom at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82683176848

Lots to review this week!

Highlight in the CONSENT AGENDA. Please note there is a separate public comment for items on the consent agenda. Unless a Councilor “pulls” an item from the consent agenda, it will be voted on as a whole with a variety of other items.

—Authorize ~$450,000 for purchase of body cams for Los Alamos Police Department.

—Salary schedule update to add a Recruitment Manager FTE

Highlights in remaining agenda:

—Update on the Los Alamos County Short-term Rental Program Process. This is part of the discussion about what we will do about Air BnBs and similar. Common support is that it’s a good side gig and we should be able to do what we want with our property; common opposition is examples of communities such as Santa Fe where property management companies purchase homes that could be residences to use for short-term rental. Like many municipalities, Los Alamos is not banning the practice but creating some guardrails. This agenda item is an update, not a final vote.

—Discussion and Possible Action on Los Alamos County Support for the Amendment of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA)

IMPORTANT: the RECA is NOT a County program. It is a federal program, and this agenda item would allow Council to send a letter to Senator Ben Ray Lujan’s office supporting the extension and expansion of the RECA.

—Council Rules Committee Update

Long awaited, as we were told this was where Thursday release of agendas would be reviewed (spoiler, it is not addressed)

In the redline, we see some really good streamlining of the language without changing content. “Council Committees” are changed to Working Groups,” and the appointment of members of the Board of Public Utilities is changed from a public hearing comparable to filling a Council vacancy to align with other boards and commissions. There are minor changes to the written process for hiring a County Manager, Utilities Manager, or County Attorney. The hiring of a County Manager will be among the most pressing issues facing our current Council, so the public should be familiar with Attachment B to the Council Rules.

What we do not see is

—follow up on “earlier agenda items,” which was referred to this group in March 2023, and

— clarity on the process of filling a Council vacancy. This issue caused much difficulty in 2022, when two positions were filled. In short, there is no standard for Councilors to use when making such an appointment, so there is no accountability in the process. Councilor Derkacs justified one appointment by citing the number of supportive emails received, but ignored the volume of emails for a particular candidate in filling a later vacancy. Councilor Hand rationalized her decision by stating she had created her own evaluation matrix, which was not available to the public in advance, and complained about the lack of guidance.

Members of the public can put forward the best candidate to represent their interests only when they know the criteria that will be used and when Council is accountable. Council rules govern this process.

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Updated tickler (preview of upcoming items): here

If you want to comment on something not on the agenda, be there in person or online right at 6!