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Residents urge independent review of Las Cruces Utilities' lead-and-copper compliance
Summary
Multiple residents told the City Council the Utilities Department has undercounted disadvantaged properties and mishandled lead-and-copper compliance work, and called for an outside engineering audit tied to a $15 million state funding agreement.
Multiple residents used the public-comment portion of the Las Cruces City Council meeting on June 1 to press officials for an independent review of the city’s compliance with the federal lead-and-copper rule. "The dearth of professionalism, competence and honesty with respect to the utilities director and her staff regarding compliance with the federal lead and copper rule is negatively affecting thousands of people in Las Cruces," said Lynn Moore, who urged the council to hire an independent engineer with no New Mexico ties to review inspections and priorities.
Moore alleged that the department has allowed "falsified inspection reports regarding galvanized piping" and consumer confidence reports that understate problems, and that large numbers of mobile homes and low-value properties were left off the city’s inventory. "These dishonorable actions include allowing or facilitating falsified inspection reports regarding galvanized piping," she said.
Liz Rodriguez Johnson, who said the city must meet conditions tied to a $15 million award from the New Mexico Finance Authority, told the council she provided multiple handouts and maps showing low-value properties that she says were not inspected. "So far the department has inspected only three of the 208 low-value properties" listed on earlier submissions, she said, and pressed staff to include every mobile home in the inventory and to prioritize disadvantaged properties as required by the funding agreement.
Both speakers asked the city to demonstrate through inspections and mapping that it intends to meet the state funding conditions and to avoid the appearance of having obtained money without following through on promised work.
Council members did not make a formal response on the record to the allegations during the public-comment segment recorded in the meeting transcript. No city staffer provided a contradictory account within the same meeting. The comments, and the materials referenced by Rodriguez Johnson, were entered into the record during the public comment period.
What happens next: the city is scheduled to begin enforcement of its short-term rental ordinance in July, and council and staff will continue other ongoing work; the record shows residents pressing for an immediate, independent technical review specifically focused on lead-and-copper compliance and the inventory of disadvantaged properties.
