A salute to Kiki Savaadra, keeping folks safe from arroyo flooding and continuing the 1/16th gross receipts tax for behavioral health initiatives all got the greenlight from the Bernalillo County Commission at its Tuesday meeting.

Pennies Add Up

A public hearing was held to approve continuing the 1/16th of one cent gross receipts tax for behavioral health initiatives. There was no public comment and it passed unanimously. According to the county documents, it is projected that it will bring in about $16.8 million in the next fiscal year. It will stay in effect until June 30, 2029 with the option to renew it in five year spans. The tax is used to support a number of programs within the Behavioral Health Initiative, which provides substance abuse and behavioral health services to the county’s indigent population. Many of the direct services are carried out at the CARE Campus, near San Mateo and Zuni SE.

Commissioners also heard a report from the Behavioral Health Initiative senior manager Pam Acosta. Some of the highlights include $21 million in recurring dollars annually, with $59 million in one time dollars already spent to date. She said some of the projects that they will be working on are expanding are school based clinics and setting up a youth detox at one of their locations.

Local Leader Honored

Henry “Kiki” Saavedra was a hometown boy who grew up to be a respected South Valley lawmaker. He now has his name on the community center he helped to fund. Commissioners unanimously approved renaming the Mountain View Community Center located at 201 Prosperity Ave. SE.

Saavedra represented his South Valley district in the New Mexico State Legislature for 38 years, serving as the chair on the powerful House Appropriation and Finance Committee. He died in 2019. During his tenure, he helped to get funding for the Mountain View Community Center along with many other recreational facilities in the area. It will now be known as the Henry “Kiki” Saavedra Community Center.

With a bit of emotion, District 2 Commissioner Steven Michael Quezada said Savaadra was a tireless advocate for the South Valley. 

“Thank you for supporting the renaming,” he said. “From being a kid from these neighborhoods it is important for us to look up to the leaders who have come from our community and the only way to see them and to remember them is to put their names up. I hope some temporary signs go up soon”

Saavadra was born in 1936 and graduated from Albuquerque High where he played baseball. He was even asked to try out for the St. Louis Cardinals. After graduation he served in the Air National Guard. Saavadra worked for the City of Albuquerque for 28 years, including a stint as the Director of Parks and Recreation.

Waterway safety

Without any significant discussion,commissioners approved an ordinance making it illegal to camp, loiter or otherwise hang out in and around the many drainage channels and arroyos around the metro area. This includes detention ponds.

The ordinance says that “with increasing levels of homelessness, the number of people loitering and camping in waterways and adjoining land has grown. The fast-moving waters conveyed by waterways pose a public safety hazard for the people in their path. Rescue efforts require the rapid mobilization of multiple agencies from both jurisdictions and, tragically, are not always successful.”

The ordinance cites an August 2020 swift water rescue on the Embudo Arroyo by the Bernalillo County Fire Department and Albuquerque’s Fire Rescue and police department. Only one of the two people swept downstream was rescued.The ordinance says the goal is to encourage compliance instead of arrest, by requiring a written warning prior to arrest absent an immediate danger. 

Even where an immediate danger exists, officers must first provide a verbal warning before moving on to a written citation or arrest. The ordinance also allows for employees of the public agencies who operate and maintain the waterways to access the facilities.

Solar Power Storage

Commissioners approved giving $205 million in Taxable Industrial Revenue Bonds to induce Delaware based solar company, Sun Lasso Energy Center, LLC, to locate a battery storage facility in the County. They will store energy and sell it back to the Public Service of New Mexico, Commissioner Quezada said. IRBs are a class of municipal bonds issued to fund public projects which then repay from the income created by the project. The land proposed for this project is near Central Ave and 98th Street on the city’s Southwest Mesa.

Bernalillo County meetings are conducted at 5pm on the first and third Tuesday of the month in the Ken Sanchez Commission Chambers at 415 Silver Ave SW or via a hybrid manner through GOV-TV, on the county’s website or on Bernalillo County’s YouTube channel. The next meeting will be on Feb. 6.