BY JAMES ROBINSON
Vice Chair
Los Alamos County Council
Happy Thursday Los Alamos! I hope everyone is ready for the holiday weekend!
On Tuesday, the Los Alamos County Council had yet another full agenda.
The Council began the night with a proclamation for a “Year of Asset” building in Los Alamos. I was very a
happy to read this proclamation that encouraged our local entities to help the youth invest in skills they
can take into the future.
After the proclamation, the Council heard a presentation from Public Works Director Anne Laurent
about a proposed new gymnasium to be located at Los Alamos Middle School. The County was successful in obtaining $350,000 from the state to build this facility that would be shared by the schools and the community. However, due to the increases being seen across the nation, the proposed gym will require additional capital project funding. Ms. Laurent presented various options that the School Board previously reviewed for Council to consider. The Council decided on moving forward with two possible locations, and wanted to see the impact on other capital projects will be should we move forward with the gym.
The Council then introduced several ordinances including the changes to our local code for cannabis
growing and manufacturing. Additional public hearings will be held to discuss this item and the retail
regulations will come later.
We then held several public hearings for ordinances, including one on the termination of the Pebble Labs LEDA agreement for the Entrada property near the Co-Op. I was sad to see this project was not able to come together, but I have asked for a discussion item in the future for Council to discuss how we would like to disposed of the land that is returning to us from the termination of this deal.
The Council then appointed Mike Adams to the Los Alamos Racial Equity and Inclusivity Task Force and approved an extension date for completion of The Bluffs low income senior household project on DP Road to December 2022.
The next largest item was the update of fee documents for the Community Services Department. The new fee schedule for the Guaje Pines Cemetery and fees under Policy 1735, which sets out the various fees for County-owned facilities were introduced. Many of these fees have not been updated since the 1990s, and did not reflect how the County uses some the facilities. Additionally, the policy set out cost recovery targets for those operations. Council reviewed each document and voted to approve the updates as presented by staff.
The final item discussed by the Council was creating regularly scheduled town halls. I presented that I
would like to see quarterly scheduled town halls that have no specific themes. Council Sean Williams then
added to my idea to make these town halls more of a mixer format, where citizens and Council members can interact in an informal manner. The Council voted to approve this idea and asked staff to come back with a schedule for Council to consider.
As always, there was more discussion than I could capture in this column. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at james.robinson@lacnm.us.