Editor’s note: This column is the transcript of the online speech from Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull last week. We’re printing it here for anyone who may not have seen the video.
“Good morning Rio Rancho. I am Mayor Gregg Hull and I want to talk to you about the coronavirus concerns in our community.
As everyone is embracing the new, hopefully short-term, normal of working from home, with our schools closed and new regulations, I want everyone remember that we are all in this together. The city, state and nation are doing everything possible to stop the spread of this potentially life-threatening virus.
If you feel sick, the New Mexico Department of Health is urging you to stay home to not spread the virus and call the coronavirus hotline at 1-855-600-3453 or visit one of the drive-thru testing locations.
As of now, the closest one to Rio Rancho is the PresNow location at Coors Boulevard and Western Trails in Albuquerque.
As many of you know, either through visiting or from pictures on social media, grocery stores across the country are being overrun with people hoarding food, canned goods and paper products. This has led to drastic shortages that are affecting the most vulnerable people in our community.
As your mayor, I am asking people to stop this practice and consider the most vulnerable in our community: the elderly in our community that live week to week on a fixed income that cannot afford to hoard or bulk purchase, medical shut-ins that must remain isolated for fear of contracting the virus that could realistically end their lives. And many others on minimal or low incomes that shop weekly as their incomes allow.
We are a community, a family, here in Rio Rancho, and we must not only look out for our immediate family, but we must work to assure that everyone in our community is cared for during this time of uncertainty.
Hoarding and over buying places these members of our community at greater risk, not only fearing the COVID-19 virus, but also fearing where their next meal will come from or how they will feed their children.
If you have stocked up, I ask you to please consider your fellow Rio Ranchoans and not buy more than you have or more than you need, as to allow others to purchase the items that they need to get through the week, and I encourage you to please only purchase the supplies that are necessary.
I also encourage you to be kind and helpful to one another as we all work together, as a community, to make sure we all make it through this present time together.
I encourage each of you to take all the prescribed precautions to avoid contracting or spreading the COVID-19 virus and to visit the city’s website (rrnm.gov) for more information on closures, restrictions and precautions.
Thank you for your cooperation and God Bless!”
Gregg Hull was elected to his second term as mayor in 2018.
