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Space fever
The City Council unanimously approved $3 million in funding for a space infrastructure startup.
That startup, Mantis Space, is attempting to develop the first space-based power grid to fuel future space stations, satellites and settlements on the moon.
To persuade the company to set up shop in Albuquerque, the state and city combined funds to sweeten the deal.
Most of the money awarded to Mantis Space is from the State Economic Development Department at $2.5 million, while the city contributed $500,000 of its own funds.
The ordinance requires the company to hire locally and operate in Albuquerque for the next ten years. If the company violates this agreement, the city can claw back funding.
Firefighters honored
While many of us work at desks, behind cash registers or in front of computer screens, for some, a day鈥檚 work is hurtling into burning buildings.
Over the past three months, a dozen Albuquerque Fire Rescue instructors went into 145 simulated burning buildings to train other firefighters. To run more than 700 firefighters through a live firefighting course, some instructors headed into two burning buildings each day.
鈥淲hat they did was not really humanly possible, but somehow they made it and they're still all smiling back here,鈥� said Fire Chief Emily Jaramillo.
The City Council honored those fire-tested instructors during Monday's meeting.
鈥淲e really need heroes in this community and that's you,鈥� said Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn.
Albuquerque Fire Rescue firefighters were honored Monday for conducting 145 live fire trainings for more than 700 firefighters over the past three months. From right to left, Battalion Chief Will McMullen, Capt. Nikolaus Gallagher, Capt. Josh Cisneros, Lt. Mateo Martinez and driver Patrick Ryan. Courtesy of Albuquerque Fire Rescue On the agenda: ranked choice voting and more
Tonight, Albuquerque city councilors will debate whether to adopt ranked choice voting.
If passed, ranked choice voting would replace the city鈥檚 current runoff system for municipal elections. Instead of voting for one candidate, citizens would rank their favorite candidates numerically. If their preferred candidate is eliminated, their vote is then added to the tally of their second-choice candidate.
This continues until one candidate receives a decisive majority vote, effectively eliminating the need for a runoff election.
Most councilors, however, are against the measure. Five of the nine councilors voted against reviving the bill at last month鈥檚 council meeting.
Councilors Dan Champine, Dan Lewis, Brooke Bassan and Ren茅e Grout, as well as Council President Klarissa Pe帽a voted against reviving the bill.
However, with just a slim majority of 5-4, the bill was revived and will be discussed at the council meeting tonight.
If approved, Albuquerque wouldn鈥檛 be the first municipality in New Mexico to test out ranked choice voting. Currently, both Santa Fe and Las Cruces use this system.
Other topics on the agenda for tonight include a ballot question that would ask the public to vote on whether the director of Albuquerque Public Safety should be confirmed by the city council, similar to the process for a police or fire chief.