Your Legislators; 107; William Mattiace

Welcome to your legislators. I'm Glenn Cerny and pleased to have you along with us today. As we take a break from our daily treks up to Santa Fe to tape your legislators and stay home in Las Cruces due to the incredibly heavy schedule that our legislators have but just the same it gives us great cause and great delight to welcome former mayor of Las Cruces William Matisse who is now the legislative liaison with the greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce and I called you William but Bill thank you for taking the time and always a pleasure to sit and chat and gives us a good excuse to talk for a change. Thank you. Yes nice coming back. I think we both were up in Santa Fe recently and I came back late last night so it's a pleasure to work the city of Santa Fe but to live here. I think we both been up in Santa Fe. Quite a trip and I might add this time neither of us are elected so we're still spending a lot of time up there. We're working for the city and working for the station and I always enjoy being up there and I know you can relate when I open the program by saying that our scheduled guests had to cancel at the last moment because of the incredible number of committee meetings and a number of sessions that are being called right now as it really is becoming crunch time up there isn't it. It is and I'm really proud to substitute if I use the word for Antonio representative Luhan substitute be a lifesaver for me but again he's economic developer. It goes well with the Chamber of Commerce. He's developing the downtown real well and that revitalization is going to mean economic development for the city.

Let's get to the task at hand and first of all can you kind of explain the vice president of government affairs. Pretty nice sound entitled. It is it is you know it's amazing how kind they are to former mayor but I think I've been able to bridge between private business and most people look at businesses usual or status quo and we want to prove to the government whether it's city, county or state. That we're not government you know a business is usual that we want the green jobs. We want a quality city. We want to grow but we also want the the good things in the city and that is folks to be happy and have good jobs.

Well and we've talked about it with the legislators before and and there tends to be that prevailing attitude in Santa Fe that there's Albuquerque Santa Fe, Tows, Farmington and that's it. So I know that and I think we probably make more of it than is actually up there but there kind of is that need to every now and then remind Santa Fe that Las Cruces is the second largest city in the state of New Mexico. Oh I was impressed when Jeff Steinborn representative Steinborn said let's have a rail from El Paso. You know the southern part of the state, southern New Mexico, Las Cruces having its own rail connectivity again with the rest of the rail runner. It'd be excellent for again economic development, drawing jobs to this area, develop the West Mesa. So I thought Jeff did a great job and I've often been asked because we've talked about that on the other programs that I'm going to do. It's not unusual to be asked well come on who would use it and my response is and you made the drive yesterday for those of us that drive regularly between here in Santa Fe. The thought of being able to get on a rail car here in Las Cruces and ride up to Santa Fe is a wonderful thought isn't it?

It is and you know another thing if you're going to go and maybe connect that rail and wrap it around with a tour through the spaceport area, there's an opportunity, the potential for that rail to bring tourism from southern New Mexico to the spaceport to Berlin, to Santa Fe, to Albuquerque, old town, it's a tremendous asset that I think it's worth building on now. It may take ten years but if you have to start and let me know where to buy the first ticket because I'll be in line. It would not be a your legislators program this year without talking about the budget deficit and I truly believe that the folks up in Santa Fe did their very best to make any pain that was going to be felt pretty equally. But from your perspective with the chamber in the city of Las Cruces and the county of Doniana, how have we fared in those budget cuts to balance the budget once again?

You know I think again southern New Mexico did real well because of the strong delegation or as I think you brought something with your station and bringing the legislators to the people that the people could see how strong that group is. So with that strength we did real well, we didn't get hit as hard as other areas that didn't have a cohesive group. And then the city and the county itself has a strong fiscal reserve. So with that and then with the potential of the industries, the spaceport, New Mexico State University, White Sands, missile range, the military coming in, all the things happening with the federal building, the city hall, the convention center, the Mexico State University's symphony, the recital hall and the theater arts. When you put all that together, that's already been in the pipeline. And then the stimulus bill says to these legislators, if it's not in the pipeline, you're not going to get any help finishing it.

I think it's just a blessing that that stimulus package will come along just when they need to finish all these programs and capital improvements. Well, and I'd like to get to the recovery funding, but the Donaean legislative council. And I believe Las Cruces Chamber had some activities in getting that organized. But it's a consortium, it's a gathering of community leaders and our elected officials that represent us in Santa Fe. And my gut feeling from what I see in Santa Fe weekend and week out is that coalition has also started to serve us well. Yes, you know, Gary Carruthers, Carrie Mitchell, Patsy Durand, members on that committee, Teal Hoffman, Mike Cheney, bankers, attorneys, businessmen, Tom Hutchison, Bill Connors, the military affairs. And the Donaean legislative council, that committee has actually been able to prioritize.

And one of the things that grew out, I'm glad you brought that up, was the bridge. And that's workforce training. That came out of the initiative with Patsy Durand, Carrie Mitchell, Bill Connors, and grew to where now we're training, cutting down truancy, addressing and preventing hopefully drop out from high school. So we'll have a workforce that when all this recovery happens, I pray, when all this recovery happens, we'll have a workforce that will be 21st century prepared. We can be Obamian and say when it happens. Yes, and everything that I see happening, if you do nothing, of course, if you make decisions and do something, you may lose some voters. But decisions have to be made. And he's making decisions, our president, our commander-in-chief, that is going to help every community in the United States. So we have to get on board. And you also open the door for something that we try to do every week with your legislators.

And that's to encourage those of you watching and those of you listening right now, to understand the impact that individual citizens contacting, being in communication with elected officials, can have on what we do. And we hear this time in and time out when we talk to elected officials in Santa Fe, where they say, well, a community group contacted me, and that's how I found out about this need in this requirement. And we've been talking about the DALC, but that's a good illustration of where when citizen groups, when people come together, when voters get together, they can impact what happens in Santa Fe. And Washington, for that matter. And Glenn, it's also entities. You know, one thing we've been able to do with this governmental fairs office with the legislators, with the elected officials, is actually create coalitions. Those coalitions being farmers, ranchers, realtors, the construction industry, the developers, the home builders, professionals, architects. And we've been able to put a strong voice together so that when we get input from them, what kind of community they want to grow their business, then we can bring that voice to the legislators.

You know, you mentioned agriculture, and one of the things I always love about having Representative Nunez on the program, is he is very quick to remind us that this is an agricultural valley. And we do have some very strong economic ties to the agriculture community. And like I said, I love it when he's on the air, or when I talk to him, because he is very quick to remind us of if I could dare use that word with agriculture, our roots. And where we are. And the impact that the legislation and things that happen with the agricultural office being located in Las Cruces means to our communities. You know, we created an ag committee. There's an agriculture committee now in the chamber. And I have learned that the best stewards, you know, you talk about the environmental improvements going green and keeping things culturally environmentally quality. There is no better steward than your farmer and your rancher of the land. And so you talk about sustainability. We have it here. We have our food being grown here.

We have the food that's grown here. We eat on the downtown at the farmers and farmers market. I mean, there is a nice partnership between farming, eating the onions and the chili from hatch right here. Not too many communities can do that where you have the resources. You put it on your plate. You make again that person profitable by paying for these goods and services. And it's all local. You're right. The egg industry is yesterday I learned that we we sold 10 million pounds of pecans to China. 10 million pounds of our pecans grown in this valley went to China. So we're we're also a global community. And again, the impact that we I think it's easy for us living in Las Cruces. If I can say it's easy to overlook some of those challenges that they have, but also the advantages that we have with that group. You mentioned the federal recovery, the economic recovery funding that's going on. And I know at one point there was discussion in Santa Fe. My understanding is it never was terribly serious.

I'll tell you what, let's meet for a month. Let's meet January to the middle of February. Let's suspend the session and pick it up in June. Once we have a good idea of what kind of funding will be coming from the federal government. That did not happen because of all the other important issues that are being debated right now. Do we have any better handle right now on both on a statewide level of how is it going to affect projects in New Mexico. But also for Las Cruces in Doniana County and the Las Cruces School District, Gadson School District of how some of that recovery money that was passed with the signing in Denver going to be coming to our region. You know, we're very fortunate with the Stan rounds, Terence Moore, Mr. Haynes, the county manager, and the staff that, excuse me, we have in place because they have actually submitted proposals to finish infrastructure to improve water treatment plants. 167 million, I believe, from the city of Las Cruces. So they're already in the, I guess, in the governor's office. So when that money is released, these projects can be completed. They will save the taxpayer millions of dollars because we won't have to draw down on the general fund, but they'll create thousands of new jobs.

So I think we're going to fare real well because we reacted very promptly to their position papers to say, what do you need from the recovery money? And it was submitted. We're chatting with Bill Matisse on your legislators and pleased to have you with us as things are getting rather busy up in Santa Fe. We pretty much knew that would be happening about this time during the session. And indeed, it has come to fruition. And I'm very pleased that the former mayor of Las Cruces and now the vice president of government affairs with the greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce has willingly taken some time from his busy schedule to join us. And can I go back briefly to the recovery funding? You mentioned our ability to be ready when the call came of, do you have projects? And again, there can be some grousing, there can be some complaining about what's happening in our region. And I do mean region because it includes Deming and Silver City and TRC and Alamogordo.

But the organization that we have in place served us well at that moment, hasn't it? It has. And it looked at the grid, both from utilities of viewpoint. It looked at it from infrastructure and from roads. And then the Chamber of Commerce was real happy because all these improvements will create jobs and new businesses and ultimately new members. So I think what's going to happen is you're going to see a recovery that may be slow over time, but it will be improving every month. And then within maybe 18 months or two years, America's spirit and the spirit of this community, by the way, you know, just Southern New Mexico. When you have a space industry happening in TRC, you have white sands, grabbing new military, you have New Mexico State University. I believe your enrollment has been the greatest ever. I mean, when you are already things improving and the community college enrollment is just improving.

So you have all these already growing, you know, they're not on the downturn. They're growing without the recovery money. So you put this recovery money and all this new infrastructure and jobs on top of that, I think the Southern region is going to do real well. Can we talk a little bit about tax districts? And I know it has been a little controversy all up in Santa Fe. Tax districts are not the favorite thing of some of our representatives. However, I think the city of Las Cruces was just given the green light on creating a tax district that I believe is going to serve the entire region in the way that that legislation was originally intended when we started creating tax districts. Can you talk a little bit about what happened? You know, I think, again, I'm really proud of the Southern legislators because they put conditions and a public TID, you know, versus your private TID with OVA site. And private tax is good enough districts are what I think the biggest thorn in the side of many legislators is.

Yeah, and it can be because if it's not properly retired, correct? You know, nobody, you know, the public never gets stuck with it, but what happens is the bonding and the effort and the completion of the projects are not done. So with the public oversight and public TIDs, you're going to see probably a much better success ratio. And I like the way they conditioned it. It's going to be good for Santa Teresa, like you said, Doniana County can be excellent for the downtown. But I think the growth will show that these TIDs are the way to go rather than what we call increment financing and putting the city on there a lot of bonding debt. Do you have some of the details of what we did get approved by the legislature? No, I don't. Okay, because my understanding is the downtown mall development is one of the things that was included. Yes, the downtown revitalization, the TID was a yes, yes. So it's working well. You know, it took 30 years to get that started. And it finally started about three or four years ago. And it's improving. I don't know if you see in the federal building, but every time I go by there, it's just going to be a, you know, it's going to be a gorgeous sass set for the downtown.

And speaking of building for the first time, I got up on the north side of Main Street in the mall. And I was shocked at how far the city hall has passed. Like it has just suddenly blossomed. And I'm not sure when it rained enough to make it grow that way, but it's coming along real well. Another area we want to talk about. And I know that you all are involved. And that's wilderness designation. And I know it's something that the entire state. There's more regions than just the Oregon Mountains in Doniana. But obviously those are the ones we are probably most concerned about. And it does impact our future. It does impact where we are. And how do we go about protecting while still balancing that development and make that balance happen to create communities that we all would like to see? Well, the chamber took a position on the wilderness bill to favor the position of the ranchers and the farmers as the stewards with multiple use of that land.

The home builders took a more of a total federal designation of the wilderness with no multiple use allowed on the land. Where is one better than the other? I can't tell you. All I know is that as long as there's good stewardship in force, either from the BLM or from the state land office, that that land is not developed where this pristine or like the Oregon Mountains, no one once homes up on the Oregon Mountains or even on the foothills. So I think if that protection is done, I think it could be a nice compromise between the ranchers and the farmers having access to their land. I think that's very important. It's a 1500 year culture ranching. You know, you just don't want to slam dunk them and say, hey, you know, we're just going to let you use this particular road. And so I think there'll be a fine mediation with Harry Teague, our new representative congressman, Harry Teague, Jeff Binghamon, and of course we have now, I think Tom Udall, who has always appreciated ranching.

And so I think you'll find a nice compromise in protecting the Oregon Mountains, but still getting that wilderness for our children and children's children. So we were just in Washington, and if Senator Udall can ever find a big enough office to fill out his staff, he may be real helpful to us as well. He is in temporary offices right now is what we're referring to in the heart building. There's a lot of boxes and a lot of things that are not quite completely organized as of yet as being a new senator as well. We've talked a couple times about spaceport in a roundabout way. Let's talk a little bit about where it is. Groundbreaking should be taking place. There is some development going on. And where does the chamber in the city kind of fit into what is happening there right now? And I know one of the complaints has been, well, the construction went to an albuquerque company. So where are we at with spaceport and what's happening with those tax dollars and state dollars?

Yeah, basically yes, the big contractor is albuquerque, but the smaller contractors are some local contractors, some Sierra County contractors. But I think the industries that are coming in because of it, you know, the study that New Mexico State University did with Kevin Boberg and Governor Carruthers has shown that when you eventually are at the end of that spaceport and Richard Branson has put in his $200 million terminal and it's just the state of the art space station. You're looking anywhere from three to 4,000 new jobs. Good paying jobs, arrow again, arrow space jobs that are coming. Education, a million and a half dollars that is taken out of that tax increment for education and mathematics and space features. And arrow space industry and aviation. And so you're going to have a plus plus in education happening as well as new jobs coming to the area. The construction has started and we have an end of April ribbon cutting planned from the Chamber of Commerce with Virgin Galactic and I think it will be exciting.

Can we shift gears again and a lot of activity, a lot of things going on here with green industry and the region I think making a much, much more than just a good faith effort in trying to see what's going on both in creating industry and in some of the progress in the programs that I know the university in particular has been involved with in research. Can we talk a little bit about the impact of that on our communities and our economy? You know, I've been in Las Cruces going on 40 years and you're much older than I am. Much older. But we have not really seen an industry that has come into Las Cruces clan and has ruined the ambiance and the quality, both either air wise or contaminating our water. We have seen really clean industry and we have been more professional collar and white collar and we have some blue collar but we're moving a green collar.

I mean, we're moving a green collar with the new Sapphire company and what an area for solar, solar energy, wind energy. Those of us that moved here from Minnesota are very aware of the possibilities of solar. And you are a new mayor, Mayor Miyagashima. He understands that. He understands about the new jobs coming, the new alternative energies. His state of the city address was on sustainability and I think we all understand that. You know, it's just that some of us are rooted in what I call the older ways of doing business. Is it going to work? And then some of us are real super technologically good dreamers and we can see the vision. So I enjoy these green industries coming because again, they become members like Sapphire and the other companies. We have a solar company that just joined the chamber and so it's going to be a nice future as that industry grows so will the business sector and the town.

And again, truly appreciate you taking the time. First of all, to bail me out today on getting this program on the air. But our guests today filling in for Representative Luhan has been Bill Matisse. And I'd like to remind everyone that KRWG TV has started their spring membership drive and want to encourage you to call. If you find this program to be a valuable part of what we do at KRWG to make sure you call into 6462075 during the drive or 888-922-5794 or log on to our website. Well, as KRWG.org, KRWG FM will get things started at the end of the month. And again, is a very, very important time for us to make sure that we can continue to bring you programs like your legislators, like minding your business, like Aegean Almanac and like news 22. Your support means a great deal to us. And since this is your legislators, let me once again remind you as we do every week.

Be sure to make sure that you are in touch with your legislators during the session, letting them know what you think, letting them know what you think is important because it does positively impact what happens to us in southwestern New Mexico. Next week, our scheduled guest is from Doniana District 32, Representative Donna Irwin. It will be her first time on the program and we look forward to chatting with her. Again, Bill Matisse, thank you so much for joining us. I'm Glenn Cerney and thank you for tuning in to your legislators this week on KRWG. Thank you very much.

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