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City manager outlines cannabis reserve, Casa grant, auditor delays, lighting plans and cleanup efforts
Summary
During his report the city manager said cannabis-related receipts are held in a public safety reserve (about $180,000), the Casa Connection grant has paid about $300,000 with remaining funds to be used for transitional housing, auditors are behind on 2022–23 audits, PNM will fund parts of a lighting project and Allsup's is negotiating cleanup for petroleum contamination.
City Manager Aaron Sera used his manager’s report to address several operational and financial updates for Deming. He said cannabis-related receipts are placed in a public safety reserve for police and fire equipment and that fund currently totals "approximately $180,000." He described the reserve as created three years ago to make equipment dollars available to public safety departments.
Sera said the Casa Connection grant has paid out about $300,000 and that the county is working with the city on transitional housing; remaining grant funds are intended to be used to acquire a subdivision for housing and must be spent by June 2026. He also said auditors remain behind on fiscal years 2022 and 2023; the State Auditor will contact the contracted audit firm and the city may need to hire a different auditor to complete those audits.
On infrastructure, Sera said additional downtown cameras are being purchased as interim measures until permanent cameras are installed. He said the state will fund lighting work along Railroad Boulevard and that a grant agreement will permit underground wiring. Project Manager Jeremy Gervais told council that PNM owns about 50% of the lights in town and that PNM will not install new poles (the city will install aluminum poles while PNM poles are generally wooden). The city intends to continue its own lighting work after PNM completes its portion.
Sera also said negotiations with Allsup's are ongoing over petroleum contamination at a site and that the business will pay for cleanup, but that the process is continuing. He reported Marshall's grand opening exceeded expectations, generating about 53% more revenue than expected. Sera said Corre Caminos (a business/service referenced in the report) will begin extended weekend hours, with Councilor Monjaras reporting scheduled hours are 6 p.m. to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.
Taken together, the manager framed these items as near-term operational matters that the council can monitor; several items (audit completion and the Casa grant spending deadline) have concrete near-term deadlines and next-step administrative actions.
