Your City at Work
Accomplishments of 2020-21*
Dear Fellow Santa Feans,

I’m proud to showcase just some of the outstanding accomplishments of last year. Despite the challenges of COVID, the City staff who work for you every day have delivered great results, working in every department and in every neighborhood. We owe them our gratitude and our appreciation for all they do. Let’s all remember that we are blessed to live in the best place on earth!

Our thanks extend as well to the members of the City Council for their hard work. Please join me in recognizing each of them for their public service during a year that has been both challenging and rewarding: Signe Lindell, Renee Villarreal, Carol Romero-Wirth, Michael Garcia, Chris Rivera, Roman “Tiger” Abeyta, JoAnne Vigil Coppler, and Jamie Cassutt. 

Let’s celebrate the accomplishments of 2021 as we move into 2022 with hope, resilience and unbridled optimism.

– Mayor Alan Webber
Basic Services
Filled more than 1,700 potholes — an average of 60 a week — from March through September. 

Made over 5,000 traffic stops and citations to crack down on dangerous driving and nuisance vehicles.
 
Operated free summer camp for 423 children and employed 50 seasonal workers.

Pledged over $1 million to the City parks system to support improvements.
 
Lent out 271,080 books and other items despite library closures due to the pandemic.

Cooked, served, and delivered over 5,000 meals every week for seniors.
 
Converting streetlights to reliable, dark-sky protective LED fixtures to ensure road safety and save enough energy to power 300 homes per year. 
Completed three-year project of paving 60 miles of roads to eliminate potholes.

Completed $9 million worth of deferred maintenance projects over last two years, including major renovations to Salvador Perez Recreational Center and Genoveva Chavez Community Center. 

Fire Department responded to more than 17,000 emergency calls.

Hired 11 experienced police officers in Fiscal Year 21 (FY21), with a $15,000 lateral hiring incentive.

Hired 15 temporary employees in the Wildland Fire Division in anticipation of a projected high-risk fire season.
 
Filled 15 full-time vacancies in the Fire Department and budgeted hiring of 15-20 cadets.

Uninterrupted trash/recycling collection at over 36,000 locations weekly during pandemic-related increases in household waste production.
COVID-19 Response

Disbursed $17.5 million of CARES Act funding to provide fast and direct economic aid to residents and businesses who were negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic in the last three-and-a-half months of 2020.

12,462 Santa Fe households received $5.1 million CARES Act funds through participating CONNECT agencies, including $3.5 million in the form of direct cash assistance to 2,649 families and individuals.
Delivered 9,700 shots at large-scale drive-through vaccination events.

Implemented proof of vaccination or weekly testing policy for City staff; within first five weeks, proof of vaccination rate increased from 50 percent to 75 percent.

Helped administer 1,000 vaccinations to senior citizens.  
 
Housed almost 300 people safely and with intensive case management at the Midtown Shelter’s converted dormitory building, to prevent a COVID outbreak. 
Affordable Housing and Neighborhood Livability
Devoted $6 million to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund to ensure housing stability for renters, buyers, and those experiencing homelessness.

Funded an eviction hotline for tenants and a mediation service/outreach effort for tenants and landlords.
 
Adopted a new Short-Term Rental Ordinance that went into effect January 1 to preserve the character of neighborhoods.
Leveraged $2 million of CARES Act allocation for the purchase of the Santa Fe Suites, which provides homes for veterans, renters with low incomes who would otherwise be unstably housed, and people experiencing homelessness.

Approved 18 residential development projects totaling 2,048 units.
 
Issued 6,006 building permits generating over $6.5 million in permit fees.

Completed 16,965 building permit inspections.
Customer Service and Good Government
Reorganized City government to close gaps in service, reduce redundancies, increase efficiency, improve accountability, and deliver better results to residents.

Emerged from pandemic-induced recession with the City budget in the black at end of FY21.
 
Enhanced transparency and participation in government meetings by providing the public with details and materials of Governing Body meetings online. 

Launched the Culture, History, Art, Reconciliation, and Truth (CHART) project to foster mutual understanding of shared values among individuals and groups with diverse backgrounds, and recommend forward-looking solutions to historic problems, for a future of peace and justice.
Enhanced public-safety communications, cybersecurity, and transparency by creating a Project Management Office in the Information Technology and Telecommunications Department.
 
Installed extended free public Wi-Fi at schools and public libraries parking lots to provide internet access during the pandemic.

Resolved a total of 4,334 resident complaints in the first nine months of 2021, 61% more than in all of 2020.

Established the Alternative Response Unit to respond to a variety of situations that are non-violent and involve people in need of social and behavioral health services. 

Responded to more than 5,600 requests for public records in 12 months.
Jobs, Economic Opportunity, and Equity
Broke ground on $9.3 million Southside Teen Center to promote wholesome recreation, education and career opportunities, health and wellness, afterschool and childcare programs, and provide outreach services to benefit the community as a whole.
 
Rewarded the workforce and enhanced the City’s standing as regional employer-of-choice by increasing salaries and salary-dependent benefits and increasing minimum hourly pay to $15 for City employees.
 
Began to provide 100 young parents who are students at Santa Fe Community College with $400 per month through a $500,000 grant from Mayors for a Guaranteed Income so they don’t have to choose between education and employment.

Enabled restaurants with reduced capacity due to the pandemic to offer outdoor seating on streets and parklets.
Held public engagement events, created a near-term action plan for utilization of facilities, and established a timeline for planning the development of the Midtown site as a mixed-use hub in the geographic heart of Santa Fe.
 
Invested in the Santa Fe Business Incubator to nurture innovative entrepreneurs who will help shape the city’s 21st-century economy.
 
Collaborated with Santa Fe County Economic & Community Development on a regional business growth plan to increase funding opportunities for business and community development.
 
Processed nearly 6,000 renewal business licenses and over 700 new licenses from January through September to cultivate a more diverse and resilient economy.
Sustainability
Planned to spend anticipated $15-million federal grant for the San Juan-Chama Return Flow Project, a keystone of the Water Division’s 80-year sustainability plan.
 
Launched the TreeSmart Santa Fe initiative to plant the right trees in the right places all over town to cool our city, conserve energy and water, and nurture vibrant, livable neighborhoods.

Replacing 23 non-emergency vehicles with electric vehicles.
Broke ground on citywide Solar Project that will add 2.75 megawatts of renewable energy to the City's portfolio, enough to power nearly 700 homes for at least 20 years.

Replacing and retrofitting water fixtures at 15 City facilities — just the beginning of water conservation measures that are estimated to save over 2.2 million gallons of water a year.
*The time frames for reports vary. Many refer to Fiscal Year 2021 (June 30, 2020, to July 1, 2021). Others refer to roughly the period between September 2020 and September 2021. Others have the time frame indicated in the item. Those seeking specific reports are invited to inquire at the following email address: daherndon@santafenm.gov. 
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