BoomGov - Council agenda 4-8-25
Automated speed cameras, distracted driving targets of ordinance updates
Welcome to our BoomGov agenda preview for the upcoming Los Alamos County Council meeting. The Los Alamos County Council will hold its regular session on April 8, 2025, at 6 p.m. inside the Council Chambers, 1000 Central Avenue. If you can’t make it in person, the meeting will also be available via Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85448619994
Agenda overview:
Here’s a quick look at what’s on the agenda.
Public comment is available at the start of the meeting for non-agenda, non-action items, both in person and by Zoom. Submit e-comments before 11:45 a.m. on meeting day, or email CountyCouncil@lacnm.us. E-comments become part of the public record, and councilors receive them before the start of the meeting.
Presentations, proclamations, and recognitions: This opening portion of the meeting is when the council celebrates community members and learns about important initiatives.
Proclamation designating April 6-12, 2025, as “National Library Week in Los Alamos County.”
Proclamation declaring April 21-28, 2025, as “International Dark Sky Week.”
Consent agenda: The consent agenda is a group of routine items that the council can approve all at once without discussion, unless a councilor requests to talk about a specific item. There is separate public comment for the consent agenda. The consent agenda includes:
Approval to amend a services agreement with ChargePoint to add compensation of $176,766.04 for electric vehicle equipment operation and maintenance services
Approval to amend an agreement with Masek Rocky Mountain Golf Cars and Yamaha Motor Finance Corporation USA to delay delivery of the electric car fleet to no later than June 13, 2025
Approval of expenditure of Arts in Public Places funds up to $750 for the purchase, shipping, installation, and other costs associated with the purchase of an informational sign for the Flower of Flight statue at the nature center
Approval to extend by six months the contract term of the Electric Coordination Agreement (ECA) between the County of Los Alamos and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
Introduction of ordinances: An ordinance is a specific law or regulation passed by the council. These ordinances, or county codes, are organized by topic, like building regulations or traffic and vehicles.
An ordinance to amend the county’s building and building regulations and the fire prevention and protection codes and to declare the county a wildland-urban interface area (WUI). The amendment would also require adoption of portions of the International Wildland-Urban
Interface Code (IWUIC) to provide wildland fire risk mitigation in building construction.
Public hearings: Public hearings allow community members to voice their opinions on specific topics before the council decides. At this meeting, council will consider:
A code ordinance amendment related to distracted driving and the use of handheld mobile communication devices while driving
An ordinance amendment to Los Alamos County code to implement the use of automated speed cameras
You can read more about these proposed ordinances below, and participate in a reader poll on road safety in Los Alamos.
Business items: These are topics the council will discuss in detail and may consider for action. In this session, council members will review:
A presentation and possible action on the Los Alamos County Assessor’s property valuation and maintenance plan
A presentation and possible action on an evaluation of the county’s permitting requirements and processes
An update on the Metropolitan Redevelopment Area (MRA) for Downtown East Los Alamos
Initial presentation of the Los Alamos County pedestrian master plan
Council business: This section allows the council to discuss or act upon additional administrative issues. This time, council members will talk about:
2025 legislative session update and quarterly intergovernmental update
Quarterly briefing on sustainability initiatives
Appointments to the Art in Public Places board
Boards and commissions vacancy report
County manager’s report for February 2025
Preview of upcoming agenda items
More details:
Automated speed cameras: Council will discuss a proposed ordinance to add automated speed cameras as part of a program modeled after a similar program already used by the City of Albuquerque. Under the proposal, the registered owners of vehicles captured speeding by an automated camera would receive a civil citation in the mail for $100.
Recently, KRQE-TV reported that data provided by the City of Albuquerque has shown a drop in speeding since cameras were installed, but of the more than 457,000 alleged speeding violations captured by automated cameras, only about 45% of issued tickets have been paid. KRQE also reported that each camera costs the city $7,900 per month to operate. The Los Alamos proposal seeks a contracted camera vendor that would charge a flat fee of about $100,000 per camera, per year.
Chief of Police Dino Sgambellone has made a 2026 budget request to create a new traffic unit that would respond to traffic crashes, provide traffic enforcement, and operate the speed camera program, as each citation must be reviewed by an officer.
Additionally, citations are capped at $100 under state law, and Los Alamos wouldn’t be able to enforce the civil citations outside county boundaries (like Santa Fe County, San Ildefonso Pueblo, etc.), but Sgambellone said he is working to develop collaborations with the other agencies.
Distracted driving: Council will also discuss a proposed ordinance to an existing Los Alamos ordinance that would amend section 38-299 of chapter 38, traffic and vehicles, relating to the use of handheld mobile communication devices while driving, and would repeal section 38-315 in its entirety, replacing it with a new section. The existing ordinance already dictates that a driver cannot engage in any activity that interferes with “the safe operation of the vehicle.”
Specifically, the current ordinance states that a driver is not allowed to drive with an “adult or minor, or any animal” in their lap; drive while seated in the lap of another person; or drive a vehicle while “having either arm around another person.” It also addresses texting while driving, specifically forbidding someone from reading or viewing a text message or manually typing on “a handheld mobile communication device for any purpose while driving a motor vehicle, except to summon medical or other emergency help.”
The proposed ordinance more specifically defines the use of handheld mobile communication devices, forbidding any interaction with a mobile device while driving, not just texting. Violators of the new ordinance would be fined $200, instead of the $25 fine imposed under the current ordinance.
Data from the recent New Mexico Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey showed that 47% of Los Alamos teens self-report they’d texted while driving, compared to 35% statewide. Chief Sgambellone told Boomtown that these ordinances aimed at curbing distracted driving would help send “the message that we’re taking this seriously.”
Mark your calendars and stay informed!
How many speeding tickets do all the county police officers write currently? I would expect that to continue despite this initiative. So annually $100k for a camera. Then how much on an annual basis for another trained officer with benefits to review images from the camera. How much for their support (office, vehicle…)? At $100 per ticket, is this planned to be a big money maker after expenses or a hole into which the county throws money? I wonder if our nominal car insurance rates will increase because insurance companies notice an increase in speeding in Los Alamos County.
Re: speed cameras, it seems like if there's one camera, people will learn to slow down there and still drive outrageously fast everywhere else. I suspect that we'd benefit from a culture shift in this town, but it might cost more than $100,000 per year (initially) to put that in motion, and it would be much harder to design it and put numbers on potential results. But imagine if we all drove like kids lived and played here and deer crossed the street at random places and times!
This is a helpful breakdown of the council agenda, thanks.