By DENISE DERKACS
Chair
Los Alamos County Council

Mr. Schmiedicke:

On behalf of Council, I thank you for sharing your comments on the Metropolitan Redevelopment Area (MRA) public commission proposed in the petition presented by Lisa Shin (link).

In addition to the information shared by County Manager Laurent (link), let me add the following:

First, Council values and always seeks public input in its decision-making. All decisions on collaborative developments within either MRA will be made in public meetings with ample opportunities for public input and deliberative consideration.

Second, as elected officials accountable to the public, Councilors are ultimately responsible for allocating taxpayer dollars for community projects. Millions of taxpayer dollars potentially could be involved in collaborative developments within the MRAs.

Third, there were only 10 signatures (nine registered voters) on the petition submitted to Council, out of 15,000-plus registered voters in the County, and minimal public support for an MRA commission.