Councilor Cadigan discusses the recently adopted Water Conservation Standards for New Construction on KOB's Eye on New Mexico.

Tune into KOB's (Channel 4) Eye on New Mexico Sunday, February, 10th at 10am.

The Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority adopted new water conservation standards for new home construction. The bill, sponsored by Albuquerque City Councilor Michael Cadigan passed by a 4-2 vote with Councilor Trudy Jones and Commissioner Tim Cummins opposed.

Over the past year, a coordinated effort has been under way to acquire 420 acres of open space in the East Mountains, and next week, the City of Albuquerque is scheduled to close on the purchase of the land. The effort was led by the Turquoise Trail/Gutierrez Canyon Preservation Coalition and the Trust for Public Land and gained the support of Governor Richardson, Lt. Governor Diane Denish, and numerous State legislators. City Councilors Isaac Benton and Martin Heinrich sponsored legislation to appropriate a portion of the total land acquisition cost, which was supported by Mayor Chavez and the entire City Council.

“The City’s acquisition of these 420 acres, which will more than double the area of the Gutierrez Canyon Open Space in the East Mountains, is a great accomplishment,” said Councilor Heinrich. “We are fortunate to have had the opportunity to participate in the preservation of this open space, and the citizens of the Albuquerque metropolitan area will be the beneficiaries of our expanded open space network,” added Councilor Benton.

Andre Larroque of the Turquoise Trail/Gutierrez Canyon Preservation Coalition thanked the councilors for the role they played in the acquisition. “Councilors Heinrich and Benton stepped up and helped secure critical funding to ensure that this land acquisition could take place. We are grateful for their support, as well as that of Governor Richardson, Lt. Governor Diane Denish, state legislators Sue Wilson Beffort, Kent Cravens, Kathy McCoy and Mimi Stewart, the full City Council, and Mayor Chavez,” said Larroque. “This acquisition means that people will be able to access the Gutierrez Canyon Open Space more easily, and we will now have an opportunity to create a new trailhead, parking areas, and facilities that will educate visitors about the history and ecology of the area.”

The State provided a total of $1.7 million ($1.25 million from legislators and the governor, and $450,000 from the State Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department), and in September 2007, the City Council unanimously approved the use of up to $500,000, in Open Space Acquisition funds to acquire the 420 acres.

City Councilor Michael Cadigan said "Water conservation is easier to accomplish, both financially and practically, in the design and construction of new buildings than it is through the retrofitting of existing buildings.  That is why new construction should therefore be held to a higher conservation standard."

The Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority adopted stringent new water conservation standards for new home construction last night.  The bill, sponsored by Albuquerque City Councilor Michael Cadigan passed by a 4-2 vote with Councilor Trudy Jones and Commissioner Tim Cummins opposed. 

The following are the new water conservation requirements for new construction.  New residential construction must be designed to achieve a maximum water use of 180 gallons per household per day.  In order to meet 180 gallons per household per day standard:

• All toilets must meet the standards of being high-efficiency toilets.
• Evaporative coolers must be recirculating and have low voltage thermostats and two-speed blowers
• Non-native grasses can not be installed on slopes greater than 5:1, in areas smaller than 10 feet in any dimension where spray irrigation is used.
• All new homes under 2500 square feet must use rain barrels to supplement irrigation.
• Homes over 2500 feet must have rain collection cisterns.

Also, any new construction of multi-family dwelling units, manufactured home rental community, mobile home parks and condominiums must provide for submetering of each dwelling unit or rental unit for the measurement of the quantity of water consumed by future occupants.  This allows apartment dwellers to monitor their water use more carefully.  

City Councilors have learned that the contract negotiated with Redflex to manage the City’s Safe Traffic Operations Program was grossly inconsistent with the Recommendation of Award that the Council approved in 2005.

“While it is not appropriate for the Council to approve a Recommendation of Award and not see the final contract, it is inappropriate when the final contract bears no relationship to the Recommendation of Award Approved by the Council,” stated Council President Winter and Councilor O’Malley in their correspondence to the Mayor requesting records that might explain why such a disparity exists between the Recommendation and the actual Redflex contract.

Council staff requests for communications between the City and Redflex which could explain how the terms of the contract were so drastically different were not produced. Other requests for information were also not produced on the basis that certain information was outside the scope of the charge of the Mayor’s Automated Enforcement Study Group. The council staff member subsequently resigned from the group.

“I have a real problem with some of the changes from the Recommendation of Award we approved and the terms of the final contract,” stated Councilor O’Malley. The final contract with Redflex has no provision for termination before the end of 2009, whereas the Draft Agreement had a provision that the City could terminate the agreement with fifteen days notice (a provision which is not uncommon in many City Contracts). Further, the Draft Agreement stated that Redflex would provide “such statements, records, reports, data and information, as the City may request…” This provision was also excluded from the final contract. “This is absolutely outrageous,” said Councilor Michael Cadigan. “Clearly, Redflex had the upper hand in the negotiations. We need to get to the bottom of this, and fast,” he said.

The Council has requested all information pertinent to contract negotiations and has asked the Mayor in their letter to provide said information prior to the Council being asked to act on the Report presented by the Study Group. “As a new member of the Council, I think it is imperative that Council has access to all documents related to matters about which they are to make decisions,” stated Councilor Trudy Jones.

See attached memo

Albuquerque’s minimum wage increased to $7.15 per hour on January 1, 2008. In April 2006, the Albuquerque City Council adopted Ordinance O-06-20, sponsored by Councilor Martin Heinrich, which established new minimum wage requirements for the city. The first increase to $6.75 per hour occurred on January 1, 2007. This marks the second time in two years that Albuquerque’s minimum wage has increased, with one more increase scheduled for January 1, 2009, which will bring the local minimum wage to $7.50 per hour.

Albuquerque's minimum wage stays one step ahead of the wage floor approved by the New Mexico State Legislature, which raised the statewide minimum wage to $6.50 in January 2008 and $7.50 in 2009. It also stays ahead of the federal minimum wage raise, which was raised to $5.85 on July 24, 2007, and is scheduled to rise to $6.55 on July 24, 2008 and $7.25 on July 24, 2009.

A national Economic Policy Institute study at the time of Albuquerque's minimum wage raise estimated that those impacted by the city's minimum wage raise would be 68% adults, 43% women, 42% full-time workers, and 40% the sole bread winner in their family.