foreign thank you vanilla [Music] good morning mayor good morning this is a meeting of the El Paso city council for Tuesday January 18 2023 present and presiding inside council chambers is Mayor Lisa along with mayor Pro tem anelo representative Hernandez alternate mayor Pro tem molinar representative Salcido representative Fierro representative Rivera representative Canales has requested to be excused it is 906 am now well everyone please silence her electronic devices so as not to disturb the meeting and rise for the invocation delivered by Ministry coordinator for the El Paso County Sheriff's Office chaplain Sam Ferrone I pray I want to acknowledge the tremendous loss that our city has uh experienced as we grieve the loss of a great leader Chief Greg Allen I'm sure that all of us have a sense of tremendous loss and my condolences to his family to the police department until I see the 12 leaders for many years Greg Allen's leadership has been an inspiration and an example for all of us he lays behind a tremendous Legacy for us I want to share a scripture before I pray as well from second Corinthians chapter 1 verses 3 and 4. blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of mercies and God of All Comfort who comforts Us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in Affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves by God you care to join me by bowing your heads as I pray almighty God our heavenly father bring Comfort healing and Hope to all of us who grieve so deeply today the death of Greg Allen is a huge loss to our police officers and to the citizens of El Paso may his example of leadership continue to inspire us in the days ahead I pray today for my mayor city manager and City Representatives that you will bless them watch over them protect them and give them wisdom and directions in the decisions that must be made today and in the days ahead teach us that life is fragile and uncertain and teach us to truly value our loved ones and our fellow man may we be dedicated to the things that are truly important the things that really make a difference in the lives of those around us please watch over and bless all who protect our freedom and those who keep us safe add your grace to this meeting today God bless El Paso and God bless America I pray in the name of the Lord amen God bless you God bless you sir thank you thank you this morning to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance our students from Jack and Jill of Americas El Paso southern New Mexico chapter we have Malaya quintine golden Mariah Ward Janelle Elizabeth Ward olomiyakun adedeji Kieran Adams Jared Adam Mosley Joshua Eric Mosley Nila Thomas kalichi alozi ogana alozi imika Joshua anekwe odera neckwe Adana chiquendo ikena Tito ikam Charles Brown Carlton Brown Jr and Caitlin Brown foreign Justice [Applause] we have a certificate for y'all so now they all came to hear y'all we've never had this many people here and that's because you all are here to hear y'all today isn't that great people okay Phoenix Open Mariah Warren elevator Karen Adams you're ready mostly done Josh Josh okay okay gonna have everybody push back and for the record representative Kennedy is also president council chambers right here foreign City Hall and thanks for coming to my office and uh y'all have a wonderful wonderful beautiful day thank you [Applause] thank you guys come back when you want to now back on Saturday you know we're going to have to have them come every day we've never had this many people come here and I know they're all here to see them so thank you all for being here and have a good day before um we uh we get started um the city has lost her great leader and a great friend and it's um it's hard to believe that today I sit here and talk about our police chief the guy that's dedicated his life since 1978 to the El pasoans El Paso Police Department and became police chief in 2008 and I can tell you that uh when I was in office before and this time that the men and women of the El Paso Police Department loved respected and will continue to do the work because of Chief Allen we lost Chief Allen way too early and I can tell you that um words kind of Escape me as I sit there and think about him because there's some stories that uh the man was he always knew where you stood with them and there was no gray area and that's something that I admired now there's some stories we can't repeat but um as you all would know if you ever knew Chief Allen but he had his heart was always with his family and his dogs he loved animals in his community and he loved the men and women of the El Paso Police Department and I can tell you that the text messages and emails that we've received from law enforcement not only around El Paso but around the state tells you the respect that everyone had for him you're never prepared but and we're not prepared to lose a friend someone that I just talked to a few days ago and didn't even know he was in the hospital because he would take the phone call while he was there and he was working from there and no one even knew he was there so um I want you to keep him Roshan his family and everyone in our prayers like I said I'm I'm actually heartbroken and lost for words that um that I won't be able to pick up that phone and call them just to say hello just uh have a conversation two friends just talking on a weekend or a night and um he meant a lot to me and our family which is everyone in here which is the city of El Paso and um I just want you all to remember him for who he was just a great El Paso and a great Citizen and an incredible human being you didn't always have to agree with him but I guarantee you he did it for the right reasons and there's no ifs and butts about that and if you wanted his opinion all you had to do was ask it because he'd give it to you and um I respected it I love the man and I'll miss him forever thank you can we have a moment of silence thank you may God bless America and may God bless this wonderful city of El Paso amen yes sir representative molinar thank you very much mayor my name is Joe Molina I am a city representative for district four and yesterday I lost a great true friend back in 1984 I joined the El Paso Police Department and served my community I retired as a police Lieutenant but it's not about me today it's about our leader Gregory Allen and I can tell you that man was something else if you ever met that man have you ever talked with a man if you ever listened to that man the guidance the direction his philosophy on policing the blue flam family and I'm talking about the men and women the backbone of this Police Department for the El Paso Police Department respect that's one word that I'm going to say every day that man had respect for his officers and I hate to use his word civilian but his non-uniform people as well he treated people with respect he got the job done we're one of the safest cities in the nation under his Direction and there's other things too but I can tell you day in day out he did the job and so the highest respects my condolences to an entire family to my blue family my condolences and chief Allen ID number 646 one of the last three three digit ID numbers still serving on the El Paso Police Department may you rest in peace thank you thank you sir representative Rivera thank you mayor ladies and gentlemen everything's pretty much well said uh about Greg Chief Allen uh he was a unique individual to work for he was a unique individual to meet um I have the distinct privilege of having worked for him and met him since 1982. and the Gen the gentleman was genuine and has been said before yes you didn't always have to agree with him and he never carried a grudge against you if you didn't it was always okay that's your opinion and there are stories that that uh acts of kindness that are too many to to to relate here at this moment but uh we did suffer a huge loss we I know I was getting calls from Austin from people who knew him up there and uh he just made an impact a huge impact both locally Statewide and nationally and it's been an honor and to the people my my fellow colleagues in blue uh it's it they they walk around with heavy hearts just like uh those of us that knew him were friends with him so yes keep his family in his prayers and keep the El Paso PD Personnel in your prayers all retirees that remembered him that worked with him it's been an honor and it's been a pleasure to have known the gentleman uh known as Chief Greg Allen thank you man thank you sir and I can tell you one last thing I'm going to say at the age of 71 the chief felt that he still had a lot to give back to our community and he was not going to retire he wanted to go to work and continue to Serve and Protect thank you with that Miss Prime thank you mayor that brings us to the mayor's proclamations the first Proclamation visit z-techdate represent Hernandez hi good morning this is a proclamation of the city of El Paso we're at zetex Construction Inc was founded in 2006 and has been providing quality civil construction contributing to the growth and Improvement of the Sun City by being part of projects such as the outlet shops of El Paso The Fountains at Farah West Side Crossing Village the East Side sports complex and Street resurfacing projects and if zetex if you can make your your way to the podium please and whereas z-tec serves in our cities communities to make a difference and ensure the community's needs are met and by fostering employment opportunities within the El Paso County zetex has positively influenced the local economy and forged deeper more robust Community relationships and res through shared vision and values to improve our region zetex builds Partnerships with communities by sponsoring and participating in a variety of community events beautification efforts and contributions to honor our veterans communities and whereas the city of El Paso recognizes z-tex Construction Inc for its efforts and commitment to not only build up our area through construction and jobs but also in supporting our communities now therefore be a proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of El Paso that January 18th 2023 shall be known as zetex day and it is signed by honorable mayor Oscar liser congratulations thank you is it on um first of all thank you thank you your name for the record what was that your name for the record I apologize for the record my name is Joaquin Royo I'm the president of zetex construction first of all thank you for the proclamation it means a lot we try to as we continue striving to grow and we are a local company we currently have 384 employees again this is all local work that we do we do work for the state of El Paso which is one of our our main clients but we also try to give back so every time anything that anything that we do we try to give back to our employees but we also try to give back to the community we try to help with cleanups we try to help with anything that comes up that may be of any importance to our constituents in the area I mean I know how important it is and I know how important it is and how difficult it is to continue growing without the help of our local of our local community um again out of those 384 employees all of them are based out of El Paso working in El Paso we do not go out we try to stay we try to stay here as much as possible as far as the proclamation goes again it means a lot to us so if there's anything that we can do to help we're here for you thank you and I think you know you're talking about giving back to our community and always being there and I've known you all forever and it's you know it's appropriate that today is National mentoring day also and you know it couldn't be at a better time someone that loves and gives back and continues to support our community so thank you for that thank you [Applause] the following Proclamation is Pebble Hills High School day thank you mayor thank you Proclamation city of El Paso Texas whereas the hard work dedication sportsmanship talent and exceptional team chemistry of the Pebble Hills High School football team has enabled the team athletic trainers student managers band chair and coaches to earn a successful 2022 football season and whereas the Pebble Hills High School football team earned its first 10 win season its first district championship and its first by District championship in school history and whereas the Pebble Hills High School football team ended its football season as the number 24 team in the state of class 6A and whereas Pebble Hills High School team defeated all the top football teams in El Paso for the 2022 season and whereas Pebble Hills High School junior Gail Ochoa was selected as District 168 MBP senior Bobby deal was selected as District 168 defensive MBP senior Jacob De Ledesma was selected as District 168 athlete of the year and sophomore Dorian Jaramillo was selected as District 168 newcomer of the year and whereas Pebble Hills High School Coach T was selected as District 168 coach of the year and whereas the city of El Paso proudly honors and recognizes a significant contribution from the entire Pebble Hills High School team and family to our community now they're being proclaimed by the May mayor and Council of the city of El Paso that January the 18 2023 shall be known as Pebble Hills High School day signed by The Honorable Oscar Mayer Lisa [Applause] and if you all want to approach the podium I got a question for you guys representative Salcido was saying that um this was your first one I just want to ask a simple question do we believe this will be the first of many more absolutely congratulations I know that uh you know great coaching great players and um you know thank you for representing our city well but um also for your you know representing yourself I know you all did a great job and uh you know there's a lot of first in there but I'm very confident that there won't be the last time we get to see you all up here so thank you and congratulations please good morning my name is Mark Taurus I'm the head coach at Pebble Hills High School uh on behalf of our Administration our school district the city and all the coaches and players in town we want to thank you for this honor uh well deserved all the credit goes to the assistant coaches our school administration the parents and the players of our community it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to achieve what this what this school and these players achieved throughout this season that began somewhere between three and five years ago the commitment that they have to representing our community at a high level is unmatched in my opinion I've worked in several schools within the city of El Paso and we do have something special and I do guarantee you that this will not be the last time that we represent our fine community in this way thank you so much for the honor condolences to the the city of El Paso the blue for the loss of our chief I have one of my very best friends serves on the forest officer Corey Harrison and uh you know I dread that phone call one day should it should it ever come thank you all so much on behalf of our community uh we're glad to represent the city of El Paso's Socorro Independent School District and all of West Texas in the fine manner that we have thank you so much thank you sir and it's um coach uh very obvious that um good leaders are recognized for the job they do even though they don't want it and they don't look for it and congratulations and being named coach of the year but when you talk about your assistance they learn from the best and you were elected and awarded the best coach in the city of El Paso so thank you and congratulations thank you foreign Council will have the opportunity to take some photos after the last Proclamation is red so the next Proclamation is National mentoring day thank you Professor malinor Proclamation city of El Paso Texas whereas Big Brothers Big Sisters volunteer mentors commit to their mentee for a minimum of one year and in that year become a dedicated and trusted friend and role model who changes that child's life for the better forever and whereas children Serve by Big Brothers Big Sisters often come from families dealing with challenges such as divorce incarceration deportation and Military deployments the children themselves are often struggling with school bullying bullying low self-esteem and one-to-one mentoring model that has proven to help the children deal with and improve in all of their life situations whereas Big Brothers Big Sisters is also proud to offer unique and valuable Mental Health First Aid training to participants as well as the community as a whole along with other trainings and fun relationships strengthening activities for mentors children and parents and whereas young people match with with a Big Brothers Big Sisters Mentor are much more likely to be leaders avoid incarceration and go to college and volunteer and whereas Innovative enhancement like sports mentoring in addition to our traditional community-based mentoring create a life-changing ripple effect for the child and in turn to that child's classroom school and Community it also positively impacts the child surrounding family members and the generations that follow now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of El Paso that the month of January shall be known as National mentoring month signed the honorable mayor Oscar leaser foreign thank you so much for this honor and for having us here um we are always thrilled to be recognized by the city and by you mayor Lisa and again our condolences for the tremendous loss of Chief Greg Allen he was a staunch advocate of mentoring through our partnership with the El Paso Police Department for The Bigs in blue program and we could not be more grateful for his influence in in our program and on the Youth of El Paso we are thrilled to be able to provide these one-to-one mentoring services that we offer in addition to all of the other enhancements such as our mental health first aid and our Sports mentoring that makes it kind of a more fun Plug and Play program but we highly encourage everyone out there to get involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters be it as a volunteer as a board member as a donor as a partner as an advocate because there are so many youth in El Paso that could benefit from this type of one-to-one mentoring support and we are just honored to be able to to provide something that is so often missing in this world and that is human connection so thank you so much again and thank you for having us thank you and thank you for being here and the work you do you know it's important to our community and it's important to the youth and we talk about day in and day out that the future of our community is the young people and it's the youth and I think we had a perfect example of Pebble Hills football team that we can see that the future of our country and our city is bright just by looking over there but also by the job you do to continue to help the youth have the self-esteem and be able to move forward into the community and and it's so important to have that because everyone deserves a chance and the ability to move forward in life so thank you may God bless every one of y'all thank you that's fine we're gonna take a recess so yes is there a motion to recess second there's a motion and a second to recess the city council meeting all in favor aye anyone opposed the meeting is on recess at 9 34 a.m to allow for photos with this morning's honorary hopefully sooner than that Council if I could we're going to have fairly large groups so we're going to go ahead and um take the photograph of Z-Tech first here right behind um this pillar and then we're going to get the Pebble Hills kids if I could get you the football team if we could go outside in the entrance I'm gonna arrange you while we take the photos inside and so um boys if you can meet me outside followed by put it or the other atoms and then the national mentoring day it's gonna also we're going to do that in inside so I'll ask if we could do ztec and the national mentoring day here inside right behind this pillar foreign council is there a motion to reconvene sorry there's a motion in a second to reconvene the city council meeting all in favor yes anyone opposed the meeting is back in session at 9 48 A.M that brings us to the consent agenda all matters listed under the consent agenda will be considered by city council to be routine and will be enacted by one motion unless separate discussion is requested by council members prior to the vote members of the audience may ask questions regarding items on the consent agenda when the vote has been taken If an item has not been called out for separate discussion the item has been approved Council May however reconsider any item at any time during the meeting mayor Pro tem I make a motion to approve the consent agenda with the following revisions page 3 item two request to excuse absent city council members and that is to excuse representative Chris Canales from today's meeting page four item six delete per Environmental Services page seven item 14 delete per representative anello page 7 item 16 delete per fire department page seven item 17 delete persony manager's office and page 13 item executive one delete persony attorney's office are there any other revisions Council second thank you there's a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda as revised on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously we now turn to page seven item number 15. and this is an update only from the cross-functional team on the short term rental ordinance so um item 15 is um again as I know there's a lot of y'all signed up to speak on it and we thank you all for um for being here but this is strictly for the city manager and his team to kind of go over what's out there and then it's going to be important that every District really has a community meeting and gets the input and gives you know kind of gives you all the the background of why this item's even on the agenda and how we will or not move forward in it this is has not been determined at this point except that this is for information only and again we do plan on going to every district and talking to the community and get community input and then from then that item will be brought back on the agenda at a later date so um and I know that I've had a lot of phone calls and a lot of interest on this item from from people about what the outcome would be or would not be and like I said at this point there's no vote we'll be taking it all today thank you good morning good morning managing director Nicole Cody if you please bring the presentation and again I do thank you everyone for being here I think it's important to continue to to be informed and I and I thank you all every one of you all for your time absolutely thank you mayor and as you said this is not an action item so first I'd like to start with the cross-functional team Activation so the city manager had asked us to make sure that we pull the entire team together in order to be able to address the questions that we have regarding the sorry about that short-term rental ordinance so as you can see there was multiple departments that would be working together to be able to look at what would an ordinance look like for the city of El Paso so what we'll discuss today are the current conditions and also the comparative cities that we looked at we want to make sure that you know that we're focused on results as well as the next steps for our community outreach so the current conditions so what we've been able to find and you'll see the source at the bottom of the slide is just based on the use of the various platforms like Airbnb or VRBO we're estimating depending on the time of the year from 1500 to 1800 short-term rentals that are operating in El Paso today so what we're seeing also is the mass the vast majority of short-term rentals are listed on Airbnb but they might be on both as well so there is a possibility for duplication in numbers and we do know that they fluctuate depending on the time of year also you'll see that our estimated occupancy rate so that also changes depending on the time of year anywhere between the 58 that you're seeing all the way up to a 70 occupancy rate for El Paso and so this has changed over the past years and it continues to change and fluctuate during the year so with cities we looked at to look and see well what are they doing as far as an ordinance for their City what's right for San Antonio or Dallas or Waco or Lubbock or Albuquerque or even Austin and so each city has really looked at the short-term rental ordinance as an opportunity for thank you for their city and what's going to be right for them so as we work together we're looking at what's going to be right for El Paso so as we continue on this process we're really focusing on what that result is so we will be making a recommendation regarding the ordinance that addresses both the hosts and the neighborhood's concerns we're also looking at the safety of the guests and their neighborhoods as well as ensuring that the process is user-friendly it's simple as well as it's really addressing the needs that we have as a city to be able to know where they're at to ensure that code enforcement is involved and that Public Safety is being met also we want to make sure that we're basing these recommendations on the data it comes down to data and so while we have estimates for these permits or estimates on where the short-term rentals may be located based on these platforms we do not know for sure and until we actually have an idea of what short-term rental means for El Paso then we would come with a recommendation to you all so the initial framework that we have been building as a team to be able to provide recommendations to the community and to you all are looking at what is the definition of a short-term rental how do we Define it for El Paso do we need to have density limitations that's truly a question at this point because we don't know where the short-term rentals are located and then what are those safety requirements that need to be provided for not only the safety of the host of the short-term rental but also their guests and so what does that look like what are those requirements that we would need along with any Associated cost to cover so what we want to start with of course is a basic property definition short-term rental is a residential dwelling unit apartment condo or accessory where sleeping areas are rented to overnight guests for a period of less than 30 consecutive days so this is the basic definition that we've seen across the state this is the basic definition that is an understanding of what defines a short-term rental but the property types that we're looking at and how we Define it for El Paso is what will be the cross-functional team will be working with with you all as the city council under the direction of the city manager as well as with the community so we're starting the next phase of community feedback so we're going to be meeting with course with community members Airbnb short-term rental house our guests our hotel motel Association our Chambers of Commerce the neighborhood coalitions and of course developers as well and this is to ensure we get a true cross-section of our community okay we're good cancel for the record Laura Cruz at Costa communications director for the city this gives it provides an outline in terms of the Outreach that we're providing uh related to this item in particular we're looking at we've already started developing a website within the planning and inspections and in order to provide the information we'll be working on press releases putting out social media working with traditional media in terms of doing interviews and social and story pitches as well as working with our own City TV programming and neighborhood associations as as also Nicole mentioned related to Neighborhood associations and also different stakeholders to include as she mentioned the chambers DMD the hotel motel Association and of course Community meetings and you're will be asking and calling on you all to put this in your newsletters as you've already received an email from me related to this item in particular I have received back some feedback from at least two of you and have scheduled two meetings already with with regards to this topic the other meetings that we're proposing and these are tentative meetings they we've put a hold on all of these locations the one on Wednesday February the 8th we will be hosting with District 4. we also haven't scheduled another one on February 1st and February 2nd February 1st with District 2 hosting and February the 2nd will be hosted by the realtors association and of course we'll have a hybrid meeting as well so move I will ask the council to please remember that I would like to see if I could get those of you who want Community meetings in your constitu with your constituents to please reach out to me or should I a you for my staff um by tomorrow if possible so that we can finalize the dates and times for these meetings and put these final dates with the public and with the medium so one thing I'd like to mention thank you Laura is that we will continue to coordinate these meetings through the month of February so please let us know and we want to make sure that we're coordinating with you all with your districts and and give everyone an opportunity to be able to provide their feedback so as you'll see in the next steps we're going to continue to conduct these Community meetings and then we're looking to be able to bring a final recommendation to Council in Spring of of this year and that's that concludes the presentation sir thank you just um do you based on your timeline and I'm not sure we have because I know that I have a couple community members that would like to you know organizations like to have a presentation so that'll be you know extend the time do we have a timeline when we think that we'll be coming back we really want to make sure that we gather gather all the data and all the information from these Community meetings and once we do have that we can bring back another update with a final timeline at that point that's great that's good thank you representative thank you mayor you know I'm trying to grasp what initiated this um all I heard was we need to find out where these short-term rentals are that's question number one and question number two is you talked about this issue being data driven um and then there was you brought up safety issues do we have data that is indicating that there are safety issues or concerns with these short-term rentals so since we don't know where they're exactly at it has to if there is an incident they do have to report that it is a short-term rental at that property so it's just being able to have that communication with the property owner as well so that they're informed if something does happen at these properties so so that's what we're looking at as far as Public Safety component I do believe that there has been one incident that I'm aware of that was at a short-term rental property and when that incident was reported to law enforcement I'm sure we knew then it was a short term I I just I'm trying to grasp why this is happening where we're going with this what the end game goal is supposed to be and and that's where I'm having a little difficulty understanding so the short-term rentals I think it's and what we've seen across Texas and we're really looking at the State of Texas is they're really operating a business out of their home right it's a residential property but it is a business and so there's there's multiple multiple definitions and so that's what we're looking at for the city of El Paso but it's also being able to ensure that there's a balance between the hosts and their neighbors and so that we always want them to be friendly businesses in our neighborhoods and ensure that there is that coexistence and so helping to understand where they're located allows First Responders to have that information from the onset and then also can diffuse any situations by us being able to notify the property before it gets to property owner before it gets to that point if they're not property owner occupied well thank you but again I'm just trying to to see the difference between whether it's my home or short-term rental what that has to do with law enforcement and the responding in fact if you talk about neighborhoods some of the short-term rental neighbor homes are or establishments are better kept than some of the the neighborhoods are in thank you Mr Smith [Applause] thank you representative thank you the original premise was just simply the hotel motel tax just like other cities do I think we got we got several complaints um from residents and it came also through some Council offices and so that's where that piece of it originated from but that's the reason why we're doing this input because the uh two issues that have come up have been the issue of the 500 foot rule and then also this issue of the uh the the the crime that's been reported in some of these facilities I think that one of the questions I asked staff and that I've talked to people about is that you know you have to be able to look at the numbers if we have 1500 and there's only been two incidents even though we don't want a rape or a burglary or you know loud you know occurrences to occur in any neighborhood uh you know two out of 1500 is not a big number so you know we don't know what the actual number is but it is a low number and so what I've asked staff to do is to do this Outreach because that's some of the feedback that we had received in our office had to do with those two elements so those are the two things that we're looking at again those came in anecdotally they weren't something like do your question about data driven that's the reason why we're doing this income these input sessions because the the primary driver is the the hotel tax that's the primary driver with this issue thank you you know and I looked I look forward to the data and and absolutely it but the first thing I heard from your your comments was taxes and so Hotel taxes taxes and that's that's one thing we need to be leery of so absolutely absolutely sir but at the same time you know with the services that are provided whether it be Public Safety there'd be streets things of that nature and how these taxes are collected um that's something that we look at not only in this particular issue but across the board so that's the reason why that was that was looked at sure and we had we had put this off several years um this isn't I mean the the uh the rentals that are taking place in homes just didn't happen just this year it's been happening for several years and we just have been keeping an eye on it we didn't want to rush into it a lot of cities have been doing it for three or four years already and we haven't and and the reason why we haven't is because as you pointed out we don't want to rush into a situation um like like something like imposing attacks but this isn't a new tax it's something that's being done across Texas but as as Cody talked about just because someone else does it doesn't mean we're going to do it and so that's the reason why we've been very um uh you know deliberate with this process and have been very thoughtful with it and that's the reason why we're also having these input sessions well thank you very much just as long as we keep in mind that the these properties are also paying property tax already without Homestead exceptions let's just let's just keep all that in places thank you Mr Gonzalez thank you and I think it's um important you know be willing to listen to the community and continue to listen before we make any determination of anything we're doing and that's why today is presentation only and then you know we have quite a few but I think you'll see quite a few more presentations around the city because it's going to be very important that we do get community input and input from um our constituents so again there's no decision going to be made today and and you know I just want to run the make sure we keep an open mind as we move forward representative Kennedy uh yeah and I agree that we have to start looking at Stats I mean if we're looking at a single incident that was in a neighborhood a noise incident for example I mean my neighbor is not a short-term rental and I have noise issues with him all the time you know so yeah I think once we can take the look at that the other question I was going to have is when you talk about the definition of short-term rental in the 30 days that doesn't come out of the statute was it the 30 days is not part of the statute itself no it's it's the consistent definition that we've seen across Texas is the definition that okay the basic definition and then from there the specific property types are further defined depending on the municipality right so the overall that's not from the statute that's something that we would be imposing then yes sir so it's self-generated whatever that number is correct okay I just look forward to the stats to see to see where you know is it more or less Public Safety I would suspect it's close to the same and I agree that you know I have issues with in my neighborhood and as far as I know I don't think any of them are short-term rentals they're just bad neighbors so you know that's all I have um and representative Kennedy just to be clear I I inserted the noise of the actual complaint that we received was much serious much more serious I understand and I agree that once we start looking at you know if it's if it's a single incident or safety incident the percentage-wise how it plays against the average you know homeowner and I think you know and that was my question yeah to staff because I mean even though the gravity of the situation it was an assault on a young lady and it was very serious and even though that's not taken lightly it's the numbers versus you know the business that's taking place and obviously we don't condone any kind of crime to happen in our community but you have to look at the numbers as well in terms of how many have happened in the gravity of the situation and and the responsibility that the owner has and things of that nature and that's the reason why that piece of the of the issue was added into the mix can we also take a look when we get those numbers that the numbers broken out by the large facilities the hotels so we've got a so we've got an easier comparison in terms of crime yeah yeah call call numbers and things like that absolutely okay thank you that's all I have mayor thank you representative Kennedy and I think it's important again and I'll repeat what I said that uh we go out and listen to the community and it'll be disingenuine if we've already made up our mind when we go out and talk to you all so let's go out there with an open mind and then determine based on what the community wants because otherwise Margo talk to you so I think that's going to be really important for us to go in with an open mind and be willing to listen to the community uh representative Hernandez followed by represent anello thank you Nicole and to the city staff who put hard work into in a Statewide analysis on an issue that state legislature has failed to act on uh session after session and has shifted that burden and responsibility to Public Safety officers and to Municipal leaders like your counties and your city councils and I wanted to share just some feedback that I received from constituents both on the private property short-term rental side of the house and then because I know you all are like in the discovery mode right now getting all the information so that we can produce a an ordinance that is fair it's Equitable that is going to address all the concerns I think we can get there the the notion that all of this is is premised on Hotel taxes is is I don't believe is is really the driving Factor here because we don't even have an inventory and I believe short-term rentals are already paying their their hotel taxes to the state but have not paid to the county and to the city's portions and so that that is a question um that we hear from constituents um if folks are operating businesses what is the cost of of what is the cost of business that they're providing to the city to provide all of those resources back to them the other concern I hear from residents is the concern of preservation of neighborhoods you know certain people and certain families they buy into neighborhoods because location location matters and so when you have an entire neighborhood that's being commercialized that's problematic that is what you're seeing across the state and so it is prudent that this Council takes a position to avoid any future commercialization of of residential neighborhoods whereas a hotel has gone through that process through the city plan commission they got the permission through zoning your city council has full authority over zoning Authority because you want to put businesses where they mix and where they mesh well with the community and so that is the prerogative of the city council is to make sure that we're looking at what businesses are going where and how we can preserve neighborhoods so so the density I think is what's the concern from the community so let's take a look closer look at that because you do have situations where you have uh like my property for example my home I have a small dwelling accessory unit and the back side of it I could easily turn that into a shared rental and so how does that impact me if there's like a little Casita in my backyard and then my neighbor has a casita and they're doing the same thing so neighborhoods are unique in itself and so I think we need to take a closer look at the density component of it the preservation of neighborhoods you know I've heard time and time again from residents I don't feel safe I feel very uncomfortable having strangers coming to my homes they're harassing dogs there's nuisance there's noise there's you know everything that you would see at a commercial establishment happening in residential neighborhoods and I think residents are at a point where they're frustrated and and for the newer folks I would you know encourage you to to meet with your constituents because you're going to hear the same thing we hear day after day why is there no planning um why is there no land use requirements why is there no limitations I don't think we're there yet but this is the point with policy is that you take a policy position to avoid to learn the mistakes of other communities and to address that at the Forefront because before it becomes problematic in the future and so I think that's really a critical piece of this component here we have been talking about short-term rentals on this Council for I mean at least 18 to two years and what we have heard is that our planning documents and our zoning documents we don't have anything it's going to require a policy or an ordinance ordinance change so that folks can register them so that we can have an inventory of them that we can create a baseline so that we can understand and look at holistically what is in our inventory and and how do we collect that data you can't collect the data right now because there's no mechanism right now to point to how many applications do we have how many homes do we have what's the close proximity to them you we don't have that understanding and I think it's critical as a matter of public safety and as a matter of law that this this Council makes a position that is fair that is going to protect private property owners but also the private property owners who are experiencing a lot of nuisances sometimes crime in their neighborhoods but again we don't you you can't find the statistics until you have a registration process and I think that's key to this conversation and so I look forward to the work that you all will produce I'm confident that we can find a balanced policy that's going to protect the sinistry of el pasoans but also be fair to the business owners in their process and so I just wanted to share that feedback because I am a proponent and supporter of a short-term rental so long as that it's fair to all persons in El Paso thank you thank you thank you represent uh mayor Pro Tem you may I think my colleague said it all very well um and I I do want to say that there there this impacts a lot of other policies that we're looking at as well um those of us who have been on the infill development um CFT have looked at small dwelling units and how we can be changing our zoning but we can't do that without understanding uh how dwellings are being used across this city I will also say you know there are some bad situations that come with short-term rentals it's not every short-term rental we get a lot of complaints about parking I myself have been to many parties at short-term rentals and seen a neighborhood full of cars we can't understand that situation and regulate that situation without a system and without the data that Nicole has been talking about um you know I'm not here to tax anyone but there's nobody here who owns a business in the city that does not pay for you know uh you know business permits and business fees and and and I think really the preservation of neighborhoods is something that I've talked about a lot we've seen and and I'm not here to talk about you know I own one or two properties and have a short-term rental there are companies that are coming into the city that own 10 or more short-term rentals in one or two neighborhoods that are really impacting the structure of that neighborhood and that community and again we can't even begin to have that conversation without the data um do I think the proposal presented by staff is perfect absolutely not right and that's why we're here today and that's why we're encouraging and asking them to sit and talk to the community because I don't have every fact when it comes to short-term rentals and we need those facts to be able to put in place a policy that makes sense for everyone and Sir Nicole again I want to thank you I know you all have a lot of Outreach scheduled it's going to be a lot of work in a short amount of time I think everyone who's here I know there are a lot of people signed up to speak I'm very interested to hear what you have to say today I ask that you do come up here and understand that we are wanting to hear from you this is the beginning of that process and I I'm very interested to meeting with you all at the community meetings and getting your input and and creating a system that does help everyone in this community so thank you thank you and with that Miss Prine I do want to take a public comment and I do want to remind everybody that out who um please respect everyone's Viewpoint and opinion it may not be the same as yours but that's okay we're you know we have that right and the ability to be able to do that so let's um keep it to Quorum and be respectful of what someone may want to say even though you don't agree with it Mr Pine the first person is Tiffany Menifee followed by Sabrina Maldonado Harry SEO Paulina longenberg long enough Amanda Middleton Christian Maldonado Julio Norman Tiffany Menifee if you'll come up to the podium you'll have three minutes please good morning good morning good morning my name is Tiffany Menifee for the record El Paso is built on the backs of small businesses and that is one of the main reasons I love it here and why I've chosen to build a life here in El Paso when I'm originally from the Austin area one of my small businesses is in the short-term rental industry I own two houses here that comprise of five airbnbs the proposed regulations on the short-term rental industry was so negatively impact my short-term rental business that I would lose four out of my five airbnbs that is a 80 loss of my business yes I could convert that 80 percent of my business into a long-term rental business but y'all would have the same issues with that long-term rental business as you do as my short-term rental business but when I'm invest the investment I put into the interior of my short-term rentals I would lose all that investment it would take me up to five years to recover from that loss of income or that loss of the money I put into the interior of my short-term rentals so this proposed ruling would definitely negatively affect my short-term rental business and I would have to end or change 80 percent of it up to long-term rentals if the proposed regulations are to bring in more funds to the city then setting restrictions where we can only have one short-term rental per every 500 feet would directly go against The Wanted outcome as far as paying taxes and fees I am not against paying them as long as they are fair and reasonable the fees in the proposed regulations seem excessive to me the closest short-term rental market we can compare ourselves to is San Antonio which charges a hundred dollars every three years per short-term rental listing where El pasos per President charge 300 every single year per listing on top of requiring short-term rental owners to pay the City hotel and motel tax hotel motels receive in tax incentives and tax breaks for investing in our city short-term rental owners are also investing in El Paso but as small business owners we receive none of the tax breaks or tax incentives these large corporations do I cannot help but fill these taxes and fees are excessive and not fair and reasonable I ask each of you to please reconsider these proposed regulations and see how they would negatively affect so many small businesses here in the El Paso region thank you thank you we'll ask the audience to please refrain from outbursts please refrain from outbursts that interrupts speakers or the meeting thank you the next speaker is Sabrina Maldonado followed by Heidi seal good morning ma'am you have three minutes good morning my name is Sabrina Maldonado I am a wife a mother of two little girls and I'm also helping support my mother who lives with us I am a registered dietitian and I work at a dialysis clinic part-time because Airbnb has given me the flexibility to stay home with my daughters most of the week I came to this country when I was 12 years old when my mother who is not a U.S citizen was keeping severe domestic violence this country has been a Haven for me in many ways spiritually and emotionally and financially because of all the opportunities I have been I have to better myself and for all this I am grateful and I have made a medication to give back to my country my husband and I have three enlisted in the same property if this ordinance were to take place assistance well that means we will lose two and possibly three because they're nearby neighbor has also an Airbnb we have been Airbnb host since 2015 and Airbnb has now is part of our income that means we will lose my income and as well as my time with my daughters which is priceless to me it is very interesting that we're having this meeting the same week we're celebrating Martin Luther King Jr and how he fought for the rights of people and now at this moment we're fighting for our rights to have Airbnb in our properties on behalf of my family and my fellow short-term hosts I'm pleading with you to disregard the short-term rental assistance together today all together please do not focus on the taxes that the state is not getting from ourselves but to focus on the fact that most of the revenue from ourselves stays here in the city of El Paso as well as we we shop it here we go to Walmart uh local local Walmart local pharmacies I'm enroll at a gym here in El Paso and everything's staying here almost 100 please we're asking to allow us to have the same rights of multi-billion dollar corporations to thrive in this Hospitality business I am not the type of person to speak in public however I believe if there was an ordinance that was threatening a majority of your or a big part of your income I believe with all my heart all of you will be speaking up as well in conclusion please understand that this ordinance assistance it negatively affects the lives of thousands of families here in El Paso as a result we're asking you not to pass it thank you thank you the next speaker is Heidi seal followed by Paulina longenbaugh good morning ma'am you have three minutes good morning my name is Owens and together with my husband Juan Carlos Enriquez we're both born and raised here in El Paso we have formed our local businesses with the management of properties through Airbnb I want to ask you to take a quick look around the room all the white that you see here today is a representation of all the members of this community that were taking a stance against this ordinance we are here today to represent all of the people of the short-term Rental Community that couldn't make it but have given us the responsibility to make their voice be heard I find it disheartening right now that our own local government is the one that is hindering us from creating new sources of income and limiting new generations from exploring the real estate market in ways we might not have previously imagined thanks to these new platforms there are more people looking to settle in El Paso either because of the economic benefits that this city can have compared to the higher cost of living that other areas of the state have or because of the promising future of urban growth in which we trust that our government is as committed as we are let our community let our community put down roots in its own land let's open our possibilities and help each other grow using the resources we have already that we have already at hand because those of us who are in this know that we create different Employments to the people of El Paso and different experiences for our guests for us it's not only about the money but about the sense of belonging to a community with like-minded people those who are affected by this ordinance are not multi-million dollar businessmen who can go out buying properties in a massive way or create continuous subdivisions one after the other all with the same structure and same colors those of us that will be hurt the most are those who opted to renovate that house that previously belonged to our parents or our grandparents that decided to make this a new way of life and give life to those houses that were in a very poor condition in those neighborhoods parents who have not fought in parents who have not found in hotels all the tools they need to make their stays with their children more friendly and there are many and different cases of those who have ventured into this new industry our stance is against any ordinance or regulations for the short-term Rental Community I appreciate your attention and I hope we can continue helping our community grow offering more and better services for our small businesses thank you so much the next speaker is Paulina longenbaugh Miss longenbaugh star six please to unmute your telephone Paulina longenbaugh star six good morning you have three minutes hello good morning good morning hello my name is Paulina longenbaugh I've been a licensed realtor in El Paso for over eight years and I'm a short-term Rental specialist alongside my business partner Amanda Middleton together we run TurnKey El Paso a short-term rental coordination company we currently run about 30 spr's throughout Texas New Mexico and Arizona I'd like to address Our concern regarding the zoning restriction that is being proposed stating that strs cannot be within 500 feet of each other this is problematic for three key reasons one being that there are of course as everyone has said existing scrs that are already within 500 feet of each other this proposal alone would wipe out over 50 percent of our strs which then prompts the question of which ones are then allowed to remain in operation we have several units that are located in both multi-family complexes and duplexes purchased for the specific reason of operating as strs and they are our most economical and comfortable stay for countless medical military and other professionals that we have to offer there's simply no fair way to determine which property gets to remain an Str secondly this will cause a major disruption in the investment sector of real estate transactions here in El Paso because investors will see the Restriction as too much of a risk after covid many investors who help long-term rental properties opted to go into the short-term rental Arena given that they had little to no protection against tenants not being able to pay their rent and therefore being able to evict them causing them tremendous Financial hardships to this specific investor community it should be kept in mind as has been said that a lot of these investors are not your big hedge funds they are more of a mom-and-pop investor if you will they are the person who perhaps had a little bit of money saved up to purchase an investment property who doesn't necessarily have enough income to offset their own mortgage and their investment property or properties for long periods of time not to mention that also causes an issue for future investors not wanting to inject their money into our community because of this risk no investor wants to be told how to manage their Investments to address neighborhood preservation just the same way you can't keep investors from buying up a neighborhood and making them all long-term rentals it's not reasonable or fair to impose a 500 foot Clause solely on str's third it causes a tremendous liability issue for the realtor Community I can't in good State protect my clients as a realtor if I'm trying to sell them an investment property and there's let's say one under permit review on a house close to a listing my client wants if my clients go and then close on this property and submit for their own permit come to find out that they're within 500 feet of another one and are forced to long-term rent and maybe that doesn't make sense with the mortgage that they end up having I'm going to be then left with a very unhappy client and potentially a lawsuit against me for not better protecting them in conclusion we are asking for a seat at the table to come up with a happy compromise thank you everybody here for each of the three-minute limit thank you the next speaker is Amanda Middleton Amanda Middleton star six please to unmute your microphone Amanda Middleton star six good morning you have three minutes good morning my name is Amanda Middleton and I'm also one of the owners of turkey El Paso um we are a short term rental coordination company we co-host nearly 30 properties and all of our owners care for these homes above and beyond the average homeowner simply because it is indeed an investment I seek you today on behalf of these Str owners throughout El Paso and urge you to consider the ramifications that zoning restrictions without grandfather clauses will have on the people who have chosen to invest in El Paso in the presentation prepared for review regarding this issue a list of comparable cities is given to include Dallas San Antonio and others these comparisons cannot simply be looked at as Apples to Apples with percentages of Str to housing as this is an oversimplification of this issue as was said El Paso is unique and El Paso's spr's clients are far different from those other cities for many reasons to include Fort Bliss government contacting work for the Border crisis and traveling traveling medical professionals we provide competitive sdrs to encourage traveling nurses and other professionals to choose El Paso to live in for three months or longer over bigger cities such as Dallas simply due to the cost of living that we can offer again the comparison of Statistics does not do this topic Justice in restricting days allowed to rent for example setting a minimum of 30 days it will effectively increase necessary rental price due to scheduling limitations and occupancy rates this is not only a huge financial flow to SDR owners but it's also a deterrent for many traveling professionals looking to temporarily call El Paso home in addition sdrs have provided amazing job opportunities for many locals last year just our company paid over forty five thousand dollars to locals for turnover cleaning these contractors are students stay-at-home parents that need flexible schedules and others who need supplemental income to help with the current race of inflation the mass majority of Str hosts continuously invest in their property appearance and infrastructure and in turn invest in El Paso we also provide multiple safeguards in place not only as hosts but alongside the third party booking platforms that we utilize to include event rules noise monitoring outdoor security ID verification and many more moreover the company we provide digital guidebooks to each of our guests with recommendations to local restaurants parks and shopping experiences to encourage the support of locally owned businesses we provide a service to El Paso by providing accommodations that could not compare to that of a hotel last year just our company alone hosted over 400 reservations and over 1200 people without any negative issues regarding neighborhood complaints for safety while we do not oppose safety regulations as we already maintain those high standards we do vehemently oppose the zoning restrictions in which current responsible Str owners will be negatively impacted after investing their time and money into the city of El Paso these are for the most part El pasoans that pay property taxes and continuously vet in El Paso we urge you to delve deep into the scr Community which we know will factually extinguish many it's not all negative opinions regarding strs within El Paso and we offer ourselves and our company as a source of information in the future as city council continues to research the topic for further discussion thank you very much for your time and we appreciate your consideration thank you the next speaker is Christian Maldonado followed by Julio Norman Edward Beck Timmy Timothy Hernandez good morning Mr Maldonado you have three minutes good morning before we start I just want to give my condolences to with the chief you seem like a great person to to know and stuff and it breaks my heart that I didn't know him so thank you okay oh can we restart go ahead sir your time is running please strs are not the same as hotels and should not be held to the same standards as hotels definition voltel establishment providing accommodations meals and other services for travelers and tourists Str furnished living space for short term there's no there's no food or services so we don't fall under that definition tax incentives for hotels recently Foster will invest 18.4 million dollars with the city providing 2.1 million dollars incentive primarily of a 20-year 100 top property tax rebate and a 10-year 100 sales use tax rebate Str is getting no incentives where's our instinctives City needs money why not cut these tax breaks we're talking about multi-million dollar companies that can afford this but middle fat class families like us we cannot statement Str is are a nuisance for communities absolutely false this is subject to feelings some people may not like it some people this may not like the neighbor it is subject to feelings and used hard data to go by you know when I was looking at the agenda packet there was 450 pages in that agenda packing I found at least 140 pages of nuisances of people not taking care of their yard that's a nuisance that is hard data you will not find that with strs statements airbnbs need to be 100 feet to preserve communities absolutely false where did that number come from if there were an Airbnb for every 500 within that 500 feet or of a whole neighborhood it would not be sustainable okay there could not be airbnbs for airbnbs in a block it will not be sustainable my friend bought two houses three houses in six months one wrench equipped for Airbnb there are two he couldn't do it the market will decide conclusion strs are not the same as hotels and should not be held to the same standards as hotels including the hot nuisance says our and safety points must take into Data not personal feelings emotions or dislikes let the market dictate who does and does not do airbnbs thank you so much the next speaker is Julio Norman followed by Edward Beck Timothy Hernandez good morning you have three minutes good morning Marion Council good morning sir thank you sir I I I'm an Airbnb host uh of a rental property and I'm a senior on a fixed income um I hereby uh request that you uh disregard this request for uh for um continuing on the Airbnb short-term rental regulation let me bring up some key points that I that I found the money that we get for for Airbnb stays in El Paso it's not sent to a a different company outside of El Paso whether in Texas or out of Texas uh we already have uh assumed on doubling in tax because it's not a homestead in some cases so we're paying higher tax than we did two years ago so it also makes it affordable for many tourists many Travelers with spendable incomes there's a 33 billion dollar Surplus at the state level and right now in this biennium they're deciding what to do with that money there's a projected uh 243 billion dollars in the next biennium we're a self-regulating uh entity based on ratings our customers rated and we rate our customers so if they're bad bad people we don't we give them a bad rating they usually don't appear again uh we also have a new policy instituted in 2020 by Airbnb to us based on Party Rentals people bring more spendable income than other lodging because of the lodging costs they have more spendable income to to stay here in El Paso mm-hmm um we have our standards there's smoke alarms a request requirement for smoke alarms monoxide alarms and a fire extinguisher uh so we were very self-regulating the rentals offer are offered by Airbnb to certain populations in emergencies such as weather related events including relief to River refugees from war torn areas such as the Ukraine and Afghanistan I I have already signed up about a year or two ago for uh offering that relief to to Ukraine Afghanistan was also a an option for those refugees I thank you for your time and I really can hope that you consider this in deep and also hope that you consider uh some of our members in part of your study and not just a specialized group thank you very much and uh Happy new year thank you sir the next speaker is Edward Beck followed by Timothy Hernandez Lauren hello hi good morning you have three minutes good morning guys good morning how's everybody doing today my name is Edward Beck I'm a local host I've been in a real estate investor for over 17 years here in El Paso and I can tell you a little bit of difference between traditional rentals and an Airbnb I've never gotten a complaint from my traditional rental for dust on the floor or something in the microwave the Airbnb people they go through these properties and they're super picky you know what I mean they go over every little thing and you'll get all the complaints in the world I promise you if there's not a smoke detector you'll find out within 15 seconds these guests they they see everything but on my rentals I can walk you through some of the rentals in in my area and they look nothing like my airbnbs my Airbnb is like retail ready full remodel high-end colors high-end furniture it's uh these these other hosts out here they put their heart and soul into these different units to make something unique in the city if you would imagine El Paso somebody coming to visit you and they want to stay in an Airbnb and there's none this regulation would pretty much cut out 50 60 percent of the airbnbs in El Paso and I'm not talking just about these people that are in this room but I'm talking about the future El Paso we want to get in the Next Generation which is the gig the gig economy imagine no Ubers in El Paso that's very similar to Airbnb this is the future of the economy outside you guys know where the term Airbnb came from so the two owners put an air mattress on their floor in San Francisco and rented it out that's where airbnbs came from how are you going to get a site map for an air mattress on the floor you know I can't really see it so it's really outside of the box guys I want you to just I encourage you guys not to hinder the growth and the change in our community and where we're going in the future I highly recommend you guys to come check out some of our units you know what I mean maybe the news would like us to do that but that's it I I want you guys to vote against this please thank you my next speaker is Timothy Hernandez followed by Lauren Lohi Roberto Lopez and Ralph Krause Timothy Hernandez Lauren aloha good morning you have three minutes good morning hi hello my name is Laura maluhi first of all thank you all for taking the time to listen to us the speaker has already touched on such great points so I won't take up too much time I'll just go over some other items from our perspective so um as you all know El Paso is not the same as Orlando or La who have these big companies with so many different short-term rentals the majority of us are just Mom and Pops I just bought a home and as you all know the housing rates in El Paso are getting so high and it's becoming so unaffordable on top of our mortgages property taxes I don't need to go through all of that with you all so most of us are just trying to find a way to serve give back to the community and um take use all of the expensive costs for a living home okay so um I think that El Paso has an awesome opportunity for tourism with this um the same as video and all these other cities most of um I could tell you our guests our anesthesiologists travel nurses people coming for shopping people going to visit our state parks local attractions and as well we also have guidebooks that are like oh my God go look at a Chihuahua's game go look at a locomotive game go to these restaurants we personally do local restaurants so I understand the concern absolutely I promise you we are property owners who do not want problems which is why a lot of us has noise monitors in our homes we keep them in really good condition because we don't want neighbor complaints at all so um I think we're all on the same page we're all on the same team we want to bring value to our community but we also want to find a way to bring resources to the city City so that we can all benefit as you all know the property taxes in El Paso are really high so on top of that if we do we're already paying a state Hospitality tax as you all know so this additional cost maintenance Lawn Care Pest Control security systems it all can become very costly I don't think the majority of us are getting rich from these properties we all just want to have that flexibility to spend some more time with our family and another stream of income um and that's all that I got um I also stand against the 500 feet um rule as well um for the same concern I'm also a real estate agent if I have a client who um is buying a property for the intention of renting it out and the numbers look right and they say oh there's no one 500 feet I'm good and then once we get to closing and somebody got a permit for that I'm sure you could see how that could be very problematic for everybody my condolences for officer Allen thank you all for your time today and God bless thank you the next speaker is Roberto Lopez followed by Ralph Krause Roberto Lopez Ralph Krause it will need the Elmo good morning sir you have three minutes good morning um good morning my name is Ralph Krause I recently retired and purchased a second home for the purpose of operating an Airbnb obviously my money wasn't making anything in the bank so um I can also use my primary residence as a sto rental when I travel and visit my grandkids I'm personally opposed to any another ordinance and regulations that go along with that but I also understand the purpose of the ordinance is outlined and the need to provide a safe environment for the residents of our city certain provisions of that Ordinance do make sense um sto owners pay income tax on the revenue and we pay property taxes on the property so I just want to talk about a couple issues first of all the 500 foot restriction how can you restrict the person from using their private property for whatever they want to use it for if you allow their neighbor to do the same thing you know if my neighbor beat me to it then I can't operate an Airbnb um first come first served will not pass muster in my opinion the ordinance is also attempting to require SD owners and occupants to pay Hotel occupancy pet tax if you review well not restricting hotels and motels from the same ordinance if you look at Airway Boulevard there's eight hotels four on each side of the street and one property after another zero distance between them so we need to eliminate a 500 foot restriction permits and registration fees these fees the ordinance does not require any owner or I'm sorry it does not require the city to spend any money to send people out and check what you have so the cost of a permit and registration should be held to a minimum basically just Administration costs also there's the registration by the Comptroller that requiring each person to register with a comptroller Airbnb currently collects the taxes for the state as well as several other municipalities across the state so we should allow them to connect collect the taxes if we're going to apply a tax and have the Comptroller only deal with one entity versus 1800 whatever the number came up with um you should restrict the long-term rentals to 30 days there's an occupation thank you Mr Krause thank you thank you sir mayor that concludes public comment on this item that concludes public comment on this item sir thank you I have representative Salcido thank you mayor um thank you mayor I just wanted to thank all the stakeholders that came here to speak on this ordinance today it really takes all the stakeholders to come to the table in order for us to craft a responsible policy and so I'm glad to see url's participation I know that we're going to be having public meetings we really want your public input when it comes to crafting this as the ordinance right now stands I am not in support of it I think it needs a lot of work we need to find a little bit more balance and I want to kind of definitely delve into more of a streamlined process I want to see more things about grandfathering cloths because a lot of people have invested already on these homes and you know it's something you can't go back so it's kind of looking at it more responsible wait and I just had a quick question in regards to the hot text is that a state mandate the hot tax so yes ma'am the the hotel occupancy tax currently um Airbnb actually has an agreement with the state uh so they are collecting on the state's behalf but both the city and county are currently we're not able to get current agreements with Airbnb so we're not collecting that all on the hotel occupancy tax okay and that's really my only question and I'm really glad to see the participation and looking forward to hearing from my constituents in regards to how we're going to craft a very responsible policy thank you thank you representative and I want to thank everyone for being here and um coming up and talking with us it's really important and I look forward to continuing the dialogue before even this item is considered because I think it's important to continue the dialogue with the community and make changes as as need to be or again you know let's not make a decision until we hear everything and today was very informative and I want to thank you all for taking your time to be here thank you we'll follow up also not only with those meetings that have been posted or that have been presented but we also have a list of people who spoke today we'll reach out to them as well when we have that input those input sessions yes sir thank you very much with that Miss Prine I thank you all again as mayor what council like to recess for the mass transit Department board meeting at this time second there's a motion in a second to recess a regular city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed the meeting is in recess at 10 50 A.M good morning there's a special meeting of the mass transit Department board for Wednesday January 18 2023 present and presiding as board chair Lisa along with board members Brian Kennedy Alessandra nello Cassandra Hernandez Joe molinar Israel Salcido or Fierro and Henry Rivera it is 10 51 am chair Lisa we don't have anyone signed up for public comment today would you like to move on to the consent agenda yeah and if we can please uh just wait a minute as people um do go ahead and exit the chambers will you please exit the council chambers if you're not here for the mass transit or the remaining items on the regular city council meeting would you like me to repeat that so we currently have no public comment for calls to the public would you like to move to the consent agenda for sure do I have a motion that brings us to the consent agenda all this all matters listen to the consent agenda will be considered by the mass transit Department board to be routine it will be enacted by one motion unless separate discussion is requested by board members prior to the vote members of the audience may ask questions regarding items on the consent agenda when the vote has been taken If an item has not been called out for separate discussion the item has been approved the mass transit Department board May however reconsider any item at any time during the meeting there is a revision for item two and that is to request board member Chris Canales agenda so move D again thank you there is a motion by board member Joe molinar seconded by board member Brian Kennedy to approve the consent agenda as revised on that motion call for the vote for Charlie sir yes sir yes I'm not logged in in the voting session wasn't capacity the voting passes seven to zero that brings us to item number six which is presentation discussion on the fixed route performance indicators for the first quarter fiscal year 23 period ending November 30th 2022. good morning Ellen Smythe Chief Transit and field operations officer um today I'll be presenting the quarterly fixed route statistics as well as the Paratransit statistics um so first up is the fixed route performance measures this is for the first quarter fiscal year 2023 and on this particular report I have added an additional slide because the first quarter was September October and November and you may recall we did change out our um the on the paratrans I'm kind of getting ahead of myself let me get to this one first so um on the total passengers in thousands we compared this year with last year on the first quarter so this year we're up 1 369 000 as compared to one million two hundred ninety three thousand for um last year and then our projected total for the end of the fiscal year is going to be 5 million 330 000. the passengers per hour of course is just divided by the number of hours that we actually on the streets and you can see um because they're the passengers are higher the passengers per hour is higher so we're at 14.6 for the first quarter compared to 14. and our projection is 14.4 um we may have to revise that you know depending on the as the volume continues to go up the cost per trip is a fixed route is a dollar fifty and so when you divide um the that dollar fifty never changes on the full fare but when you divide it by the number of riders the cost per trip goes down so you can see it went down from 7.38 cents to seven dollars and forty four cents so that's an actual cost that some Metro needs to be able to run the services so and we charge the dollar fifty so the fare box recovery ratio is the percentage of the money that we take in from the Riders the other Revenue we received is from sales tax and from FTA grant funding um so it did go up to 11.79 which is a very good and versus the 9.7 percent last year as their ridership continues to go up the percent of Revenue will continue to go up as well which leaves the other funding availability for other needs in the department our safety collisions are a little higher at 2.29 per 100 000 versus 1.71 um and then the workers comp claims per a hundred employees is down so that's always very good as well from 4 at 42 for this quarter versus 119 last year preventive maintenance is at 93 percent scheduled preventive maintenance when whenever previously we've reported 61 percent that means it wasn't done on time at the three to five thousand miles but it was still done so I don't want you to think that it wasn't done at all Road calls um we we only had nine versus 16 at the same time last year and then our on-time performance is a little bit lower at 83.5 percent versus the 89.6 percent um Miss service is the same which is good that means the bus did eventually get there we didn't dismiss you completely and the customer complaints per 100 000 is also down to 19 versus 28. one of our goals in the department is to continue installing shelters at our bus stops so currently we have 2270 bus stops with 554 of them having shelters and so that's a 24 versus the 20 last year are there any questions on the fixed route yes representative piano followed my representation on this there you go thank you for sharing those numbers I had a question for you you may not have the information with you but you shared numbers from last quarter and you said there was higher than the previous quarter what were these numbers compared to pre-covet numbers yes we do have all of that data but not I don't have it would you mind sharing it with my office yes and if you'd like a full briefing on all of some Metro at some point I'd be happy to arrange that as well that'd be very helpful thank you okay thank you mayor upstairs hi good morning um Ellen the this is fixed route so I'm just um can you elaborate a little bit more on the decline on the on time for quarter one um showing for the prior quarter of 2022 quarter one 89 percent um I actually uh am I looking at the wrong no the reason for the on time typically it's construction related and um rex on the freeway is the things that delay us the most um and so our highest traveled routes are the Brios Mesa Dyer Alameda and now Montana and those are also the most areas where we have accidents other than the freeway we don't run that many routes on the freeway except our Express routes but I'll find out there it is almost always construction and accident related though okay and um the goal at 85 percent I'm just curious if um that's a goal that is easily attainable um should it be higher I mean I just feel like you know if I'm a writer of Sun Metro I can expect that the department has an 85 percent on time uh goal I mean is that is that enough is that a standard across um right all mass transit organizations um because I just we get so many complaints about it and so I'm just curious if that's even the goal that we should reevaluate we can re-evaluate the fact that we hit 88 last year it lends me to believe that we should be able to achieve at least that this year so I will look at revising that number I know it's just one quarter um so that's fine but right thank you for it it still has a goal Point well taken and Sir um representative we are um we did break our ridership from 2019. we've been tracking that so I know we have surpassed we're back more than uh we were in 2019 we have changed some of our routes to address the student population more and the population of the bridges especially the Saragosa bridge where there's a lot of unmet capacity so the ridership has exceeded 2019 but it's not the same exact routes that they were good thank you so much I'm looking forward to the briefing there is no action on this item that brings us to item number seven which is presentation and discussion on the prior Transit Lyft performance indicators for the first quarter of fiscal year 23 period ending November 30th 2022. okay so this is the one I sent I've added a second slide behind this one because the quarterly numbers um were looking so um you know they were down so um this is again September October November so then seconds the next slide has I've included December and January just to be able to alleviate any concerns you might have when you see this first quarter numbers um so the total trips um for the first quarter of 2023 are slightly down from 2022 at 44 084 versus the almost 46 000 last year our collisions per 100 000 miles is up slightly to 1.99 versus the 1.5 the passenger incidents per 10 000 trips were at 0.9 versus the 0.43 preventive maintenance was down at 70 percent versus 98 percent uh the revenue miles between Road calls was also way down this means that we had to go out more often and then the on time was down customer complaints were up survey ratings surprisingly were higher but and then but the and then the cost center response time nearly tripled and so this is the time when we um we talked about it extensively at previous mass transit board meetings where the vehicles were in disrepair and the New Order hadn't come in and we were switching over the customer service software so I wanted to show this next slide to show that when you include the November and December actuals over here on the far side of this chart you can see now that the preventive maintenance has gone up to 97 we've been able to fill the mechanics positions and bring the maintenance back up the on-time performance is up to 84 percent and again that's because the vehicles are running and we partnered with project Amistad to cover any of the Overflow capacity that we weren't able to meet previously and then lastly the customer complaints are down to 6.4 so that's about one-third of the previous complaints and then we had in the fall when many of you were getting a lot of phone calls so I just want this is not part of the quarter but I didn't want to leave you with those other numbers as your memory until I come back in the next quarter so we're greatly improved and any questions on the left yeah Ellen so what months uh in the quarter too um so it's September October November and then January February March so I'll come back in April with the second quarter so you're saying that the September October is where all the complaints were yes ma'am and hopefully your phone's phone calls have diminished as well not so much um yeah I mean you know eager to see what the next few months show um I'm glad that there has been an improvement but you know it is definitely concerning when you see that first slide I'm glad that you did break it down um but would just like that if you can keep us up to date and monitoring that on that progress because yeah I mean you know you saw it that's why you were prepared those numbers aren't great but they are getting better and so we just would like to be on the lookout for that representative Hernandez um on the survey um who is responsible to collect surveys um we have an Outreach team and they collect um by riding on the buses they ask the questions that's one area and then we also if they call in with a you know question or we'll ask them can would you be willing to take a survey right there and then there on the phone and so both those methodologies okay so it's it's our team who's doing this yes okay and um the slide mentions Future Vans I know there was a backlog so did we get those um those units on in December we did not but there's expected any moment again it's the the where the factories just aren't delivering but because we have the partners in place now with the taxis and project Amazon the taxis are able to assist us for those who don't have accessory equipment if they're ambulatory and they can get into regular taxi and then of course project Amistad said just having our partners in place and since this time we've also been able to hire additional drivers and additional mechanics so we have more units that are ready to go and we have more drivers who are ready to go so all all three of those areas are greatly improved what about um you know the significant drop um on on time I know there the goal is 90 I know that um in November in December they were still short either by 20 points or um 10 points and or six points rather and so um what is the concern and why are are they still not operating at um at the expected goals the on that would it would be the delivery of the new units so um but you know we can only do so much with the equipment that we have and even with the partners so as soon as these units now they're supposed to come in January which were already in the middle um then that number will be greatly improved as well okay and um so but if they're not able to you're saying you have all these other partners so so if they're not able to meet um so I'm trying to understand like the the data itself like if they're not able to meet do they get dinged on the on time or does someone else sent to go pick up um whoever needs to Transit the the current contractor Envy gets monetary Financial um penalties if they don't meet these targets when you say dinged and um we are trying to combine instead of having individual trip for just one one passenger at a time to combo to if possible or maybe even three people into the same vehicle and when you do that with the the on-time pickup that is where we see the most slippage because instead of just having one address to deal with on time now you've got two it's more efficient to take two people in the minivan than just one but the reality is when you do that you have to either somebody's going to get picked up earlier than they want or somebody's going to be late and the window is five minutes before in 30 minutes you know it's a 30 minute window so we're going to pick you up between 8 and 8 30. if we get there five minutes early that's considered not on time because it's not in the window and if we get there five minutes late that's considered not a time so even if we're ahead of our schedule we still get the way that the formula Works um by the FTA we still get considered not on time even if we're early and did we survey those other partners that we had as well from their customers if they're surveying them yeah like from Project Amistad I don't know the answer to that it's only been in place for the last four months so let me find out okay yeah and and my my statements from the last meeting still stand I think these numbers are headed in the right direction but for too long for several months we've had persons with all abilities in our Chambers complaining about the lack of dignity the lack of support that they're receiving from their transportation how unreliable it is and so um you know I'm happy that management has partnered with other groups but we should not be having to partner with other groups because we have a contractor who's asked to meet those contractual obligations as well as provide a service to all persons with all abilities and um and I'm just concerned that it's kind of the same you know we're waiting for the vehicles we're waiting for the vehicles and so I'm I'm hoping that we have a new set of Baseline to understand if the vehicles were really an issue or if it's a management issue but again I'm going to continue to voice the concerns of the public about on time it's in the data it's in distributable indisputable that they are not meeting metrics and my hope is that once the supply chain issues are addressed that we can see an upward Trend if not you know I plan to continue to hold them accountable to make sure that they're meeting these goals and needs now just the just to understand the contractor itself how long is our contract and when does it end it was signed in the fall of 2019 and it's a five-year contract so through the fall of 2024 next year okay thank you Ellen you're welcome representative Fierro thank you may airport Tim last question um during our briefing will you bring the um the times and then the amount of monetary dinging the the other provider has has gotten meeting or not meeting their goals right yes we can get that but also can we can you tie it because you said there was a monetary um um yeah reduction and reduction yes yes I'd like to see that number okay thank you include that there's no action on this item that brings us to item number eight which is a management update Sun Metro project update presentation from Nelson Nygaard so this is a city-wide transit routing study that Nelson Nygaard has been providing for us um as you may recall they were here earlier and presented the state of the system this update today is going to talk about the information they received during the Outreach phase and then of course in a few months we'll bring back the final recommendations so I'd like to introduce James Gomez good morning council members my name is James Gomez I'm with Nelson Nygaard and I'm happy to present to you the second update for Sun Metro Rising which is the comprehensive evaluation of the entire Sun Metro System all right here's a look at the agenda for today we're going to spend a lot of time recapping the project timeline talk about where we're at and what's coming up next and some of the tasks we've completed and we also want to spend a good amount of time recapping some of the community outreach that we conducted as well as the feedback we received from the public and the adjustments that we made to the service Concepts based on that Community feedback so we kicked off the project on January 13th of last year so it's been just over a year since we initiated this effort in the first phase of the project really focused on Discovery and Analysis we initially con conducted an analysis of the ridership both historically as well as recent so pre-coded conditions how ridership has been evolving through that we took a very close look at the route Network the route design all the schedules and on-time performance as well in addition to it's a study in the system we also took a very comprehensive look at the population demographics socioeconomics of El Paso as well as the different travel patterns and employment trends we conducted a writer survey on board buses as well as street cars and we received just under 3 000 responses this is the the second survey within the last couple of years the first the one that was conducted in 2021 was was done by staff so we learned a lot about the different writer characteristics as well as some of their levels of satisfaction on different attributes of service all of that information went into our state of the system report which was finalized in in July of last year that's on our project website sunmetrorizing.com it's a pretty lengthy document tells tells the community a lot about their system and we presented to or I presented to it to mass transit board here and the first week of August last year the second phase of the study is includes a peer review so we looked at some of those comparable cities that the city typically look at looks at including Albuquerque Tucson San Antonio we also looked at some aspirational transit systems those have that have a more robust system such as Phoenix UTA and Salt Lake City RTD and Denver and we also looked at several transit systems in Texas because of the similarities with with funding that includes Dart in Dallas Metro and Austin and ccrta and Corpus Christi after learning about some of these best practices what some of your your peer cities are doing we start to develop service Concepts and that also built upon the the findings from the state of the system report those service Concepts Focus largely on changes modifications to routes trying to deliver a a more intuitive system for the community as well as schedule improvements and working collaboratively with with staff we developed a series of maps that we took out to the community in November and I'll continue on about community outreach in just a moment but right now um we are also going to be sharing with you some of the initial recommendations from the study and then over the next couple of months we'll be also looking at other Capital Investments and finalizing the report early this spring so before we get into the community outreach and feedback I just wanted to recap for those of you who are new members some of the challenges that Sun Metro faces currently the largest ones are that this many of the routes have been modified several times over the course of of years if not decades and they're not as easy to understand as they could be so that results in many routes that are indirect requiring long travel times and and just confusing to Riders whether it's a new writer or somebody taking a different trip throughout the city the Brio services are very frequent and convenient they offer great stations and they connect to the transit centers which are among some of the best in the country but many of the local routes don't operate quite as conveniently they don't operate as frequently they don't run as as late or on Sundays as they potentially could Sunday service was discontinued or permanently or I'm sorry temporarily suspended in December of 2020 and it was restored in June of last year but it has not been fully restored so that's something that staff is looking to expand as more operators become available so some of the potential improvements to those challenges that we looked at in developing the service Concepts was an easier route Network routes that are easier to understand simpler get people where they need to go faster make for better connections at the different Transit centers as well as just at Key intersections and and by reducing the number of streets in which Sun Metro operates on it allows the routes to run more frequently and thereby reduce the wait times we also looked at improving the consistency between the Brio routes which is really the the foundation of Sun Metro and the local routes that operate on those same corridors but make the stops in between those larger Brio stations and finally we want to look at on-demand service so this would be an alternative to the regular fixed route Big Bus but a vehicle similar to the the lift Paratransit vehicles that would serve some of these areas that are difficult to operate in with with a larger bus so when we went out to the community we broke down the different service Concepts into four different areas west side Central Downtown North side and east side and this just made it easier to zoom in on some of the areas we had maps that showed both the current route Network as well as the proposed changes and some descriptions everything was was bilingual and we went out to the six different Transit centers all of the major Transit centers uh not just the consultant staff but but also members of Sun Metro Outreach team as well as Sun Metro management planning staff and we talked to nearly uh 500 different writers we got feedback from them both in conversation as well as some some interactive surveys we also held public meetings both virtually as well as in person at Sun Metro headquarters to hear from people that that couldn't make it to some of those those pop-up sessions at the different Transit centers we also have a community survey that's on our project website so that people can consume information on their own time and convenience and provide feedback online and then we also have discussions with several invited stakeholders so these are representatives of different organizations that can tell us a lot about some of their clients and constituents and had some good conversations with with those Representatives we also presented the proposed changes the potential changes to the citizens Advisory Board back in November here are a couple of shots from the community outreach that was at the different Transit centers again we had the poster boards Sun Metro Outreach staff was present at every single meeting they had they shared giveaways and and they helped uh us get feedback from the community you'll see on the bottom center there's a poster board with sticker dots where we ask people to prioritize how service should be expanded into the future so that was something that we had over 450 responses from from writers so we have a really good indication of what they would like to see in the future to summarize the writer feedback at a high level writers are glad that Sunday service is back but they'd like to see more routes operating on Sunday Brio service is something that writers have been shifting to over the past couple of years they see the benefits of it with the more frequent service the faster service and more seating capacity and so they had nothing but compliments to say about the Brio service and those stations um most of the feedback we received both in person as well as online through the survey was positive about the route changes they like that it's just easier to understand there are some people that mentioned that you know they would have to walk a longer distance to get to a stop to or from a stop um the idea of having more consistency between the the Brio routes and the local routes that run on those same corridors is something that that the community also liked and they also mentioned specific locations where they would like to see more shelters installed at bus stops uh the poster board that I showed the photo just a moment ago with the different stickers these are the results of that uh interactive survey so the different service expansion uh options that people value most would be more frequent service earlier bus service and later bus service and we asked them to prioritize what's your first choice second choice and third choice and those results are indicated by the the different colors and having conversations with the various stakeholders they had pretty similar feedback to share they also think that freak more frequent service is really the key to both attracting new writers and retaining existing writers they also think that Sunday Services is something that that should be restored as soon as possible and they also supported the the extension of service later into the night to help get people from from work back home or school and there was also a good understanding from the stakeholders about the microtransit or on-demand service they already have experienced that in other cities and they think that that's something that might work well in select parts of the community and then there were some mixed opinions both support um and and also uh not support for the streetcar service for expanding that So based on all the feedback we received from the community from stakeholders we made some adjustments to to some of the routes uh most notably on in the the Far West Northwest portion of the community so North and and west of the West Side Transit Center we also looked at making some improvements within the El Paso Community College Via Verde campus the the Medical Center area Fox Plaza and we also made a couple of revisions to where we think on demand would be most suitable and there are three different locations where we think that would work the the next map shows how service looks today not on a route by Route basis but more so where service is concentrated so where you have darker colors the Reds the oranges that indicates where there is more frequent service 15 minutes or better and generally this is on the the Brio corridors the mess of the dyer the Montana and the Alameda corridors the other major corridors that have a high level of service such as Gateway where there's a express route that runs from downtown to the east side or Cielo Vista Transit Center and a couple of other major corridors such as muttonwood and George Dieter with the proposed changes it would look more concentrated on on fewer corridors service would would move away from some of the the smaller collector streets and shift towards more arterials so you would have more service on these primary streets that would operate more frequently and be less impactful for some of those those neighborhood neighborhood streets that would also result in a more simple route Network that's easier to understand easier to make connections because there's a shorter wait time and and also as I mentioned earlier more consistency between the Brio and the local routes on those primary corridors routes would be more direct more intuitive and what this does is creates a strong Foundation to build upon in the future kind of resets the network begins with a fresh clean slate and from this service can be enhanced by frequency by later service which is really what people want to see more so than growing outwards so more of a frequency quality of service based system rather than the current coverage based system there are a couple of areas three that we think fixture out bus service May uh might not be the best option but instead on-demand service or micro Transit one of those is in the uh the the mission I'm sorry not the Mission Valley but the area south of Alameda Hidden Valley and Lakeside area where currently the the streets are are not ideal for a larger bus another is in the North Hills area so far north extent of the city north of North Gate Transit Center and then also on the far east east of Zaragoza these are areas that for different reasons either because they're they're disconnected they're very far outline or the streets just don't work quite well for for larger buses we think that instead focusing on a different mode might be a good alternative and to Pilot that service and see how it does the next steps will be to continue to to refine the recommendations detail those out on what the different schedules should look like not just in the short term but also over the next several years and identify what those different service expansion priorities should be we'll also make some different Capital recommendations those will include new Transit centers they're going to be smaller and scale than the current ones that are present throughout the city but they would enhance connectivity and enhance just the overall writer experience and in locations where there's there's gaps in those types of facilities and finally we'll be looking at different funding and partnership opportunities and uh hope to conclude the report within the next couple of months and we'll be back for another update at that time happy to revisit any of the slides or answer any questions that you might have thank you for your presentation we have representative nandis followed by mayor Pro Tem I yeah I I pushed mine after hers mayor so you can okay thank you so much for the presentation um there's a lot of information here that I'm really interested in getting a little bit more into the weeds right so um the slides and the maps are really helpful um but it's hard to like determine the exact detail right and so at glance it seems like we're cutting a lot of those routes that are more neighborhood related and I understand those we've had a conversation I think for about a year now about how those large buses are harder and there's neighborhoods but my kind of understanding on well how is that actually impacted by the plan that Ellen has talked about about putting in kind of some of those smaller Vans and circulating those also would just love so what I would love to see from this is understanding what routes are impacted and Consolidated and the data that supported that and why I'm really understanding what we mean by on-demand service so is that calling in for transportation is that what you're referring to as those Consolidated routes I don't know if you can answer that part right now like how what your what Your defining on-demand services sure sure happy to answer both those questions so the first one about the the more details on on the specific routes so so in our our final report similar to the state of the system report we'll have summary sheets for every single route that details what are the specific route alignment changes how the the schedule will will be expanded and and also what are some of the benefits as well as some of the impacts of those changes so so that'll be detailed it'll be a couple of pages for every single route and that also support staff as they look to implement those changes in the future for the on-demand service the the three different areas that we identified are shown in this the pink color on the map and those would require people to either call in but the most common way to request those trips would be through an app and that could be built into the Sun Metro app or it might be a separate one and from there there would be a response time usually about 20 minutes and it would be those same lift type vehicles and people can make trips within those particular zones for example the one down in the Hidden Valley area the most the majority because that's a more mostly residential area folks that probably want to get out to the Alameda Brio Corridor and and so those smaller Vehicles could get them to those stations where then they can connect to the to the greater Network the North Hills one is is another area that's very hard to serve by bus because the uh neighborhoods there are just not that contiguous and and they're very far out from the station so that would also tie into some of the other major destinations like the Walmart for example in that area or some of the other routes in that vicinity but it would be similar to like uber and Lyft where you would request the trip you'd have a little bit of time it wouldn't be five minutes but usually about 20 minutes and then it would be a shared trip so kind of like a uber pool and people could also call in for that type of service as well and and some of the conversations that we had with with peer cities um there have been they have been doing this for a long time so they've were able to tell us what were some of the the challenges uh some of the um just best practices um Dallas and Austin have expanded um so there was a lot to to learn from from those two different communities about what works and what doesn't work and what are the the policies that make make the most sense sure um and I understand that I'm just I'm very concerned about this right and I'm gonna just kind of hone in on a specific area that I'm very familiar with and remembering that we we haven't caught a lot of these kind of uh bus routes that already go through neighborhoods so if you're looking north of the Five Points area you've taken out all of those routes that go through those neighborhoods and remembering I think what is important is that some of those streets are almost at like a 90 degree angle down and so you're asking and it's a predominantly senior citizen neighborhood and so asking seniors in 100 degree weather to walk uphill to get to a bus with absolutely no circulator through those neighborhoods is where I'm wondering if you're taking in the actual the geography and temperatures of El Paso when you're looking at cities like Austin right I took the bus in Austin often it's very flat the humidity is bad but it's it's different um and and again we've already we've already cut a lot of those circulators in the neighborhoods and and so I'm know that you're just presenting kind of the the overarching findings but I really am eager to kind of see those details my next question I think you touched on it a little bit but is wondering what the benefit of this is right because I see on your survey with the community that they are asking for more Sunday service they're asking for later bus times which many of us have been asking for for years and so by transitioning into the recommendations are we getting any of those you know what are we getting from making it harder for the average Rider to get to a bus that's not presented in this presentation at all I'm sure that it is there again I know this is preliminary but if you could get us and let us know um exactly or let us know when that final is available because I I I'm going to have a lot of questions on it so I I appreciate the presentation I think I'm happy that you're presenting it prior to finalizing uh would love to see a draft before that finalization is brought to us thank you so much yeah absolutely if I could uh follow up on some of the the benefits I think that the greatest benefits would be the the frequency of service so we would be asking people to walk a longer distance for the neighborhood you mentioned there's the Alabama copia there's three routes that currently serve that area between Dyer and Alabama and they kind of staircase through the neighborhood so we would look at uh more more direct service within that zone but the biggest changes are going from today the average frequency for the entire system and this is even including Brio is 60 Minutes there are some routes that run every 75 every 90 even 120 minutes so under the the proposed Network the average frequency would be improved from every 60 Minutes to every 40 minutes system-wide and no route would have worse than hourly service so I think that's really the biggest benefit and again there are some instances where people might have to walk an extra block or two but going back to the feedback we received from the public aside from Sunday service frequency is the thing that for sure well you would assume that frequency would increase since you have less buses but but that so that's an autumn Autumn if this is in the study so it would be a recommendation is if we are asking you know if this is going to be our new routes of Transportation what are the safety improvements we're putting to make this actually accessible because you can't cross Alabama right now it's there's no crosswalks it's extremely unsafe I mean we've got accident reports at least five accidents a week if not a day sometimes so what are how are we improving those extremely heavily trafficked arterials if we're now expecting individuals to get there because I can tell you with our burritos we didn't necessarily make every intersection between bus stops Ada accessible and we get calls about that all the time so again just something to think about don't know if that's something that's been looked at in the study but that is a question I'm going to have right when it comes out so I would love to have data on that yeah absolutely that's something we don't have just yet but it will be included our final report recommendations for new crosswalks signalized intersections spot improvements Q jumps also at strategic locations to both enhance service but but also pedestrian safety okay thank you and I don't know how much time I have left but I think my next question would be for Miss Smythe in regards to the smaller vehicles that we were told that we were purchasing um really how is that a did we purchase those did we lease them I'm not I'm not sure exactly what came out of them but I believe we were told we were purchasing them correct we did purchase them and I've deployed them to the lift for now until their vehicles come in okay so I felt like that was the more immediate need than the like sure yeah and so those I mean again it's we're I just got to be honest I'm not comfortable with this this the way that we're cutting routes from neighborhoods and and again we don't have any safety aspects and and we were told we were purchasingly smaller vehicles for these neighborhood routes but now we don't have any neighborhood routes except more on the east side I mean I I love the expanding the lift especially for people like south of Alameda and in the Northeast I think that's great but there are large pockets of the city that aren't receiving that but are losing routes and so I have a lot of of concern and so one of those is that we've purchased these smaller vehicles and we were told that it would be for the understanding of neighborhood routes and now they're being proposed to be removed so um definitely want to continue the conversation with you about that I'm just letting you know where I'm coming from seeing this right we will remove it because we never got them in there but um so his microtransit those three pink areas that he showed are so the initial recommendation but as the you know time goes on and the resources increase that same app and that same technology could certainly be deployed in any neighborhood and in a perfect world all neighborhoods right well especially we have to start somewhere I guess that's what Mr gamas was recommending and on this presentation is these are his initial recommendations and certainly we could you know add a page of okay going forward replicate the microtransit service into the Central Area into the you know syllabista area it well in like I said it can in a perfect world it would be replicated in throughout the city yeah and I mean I I don't have a great knowledge of Transportation on the west side I know representative Schwartzman had been very vocal about it before but I would say West Central and Northeast there are no routes in neighborhoods um and there's you know from Alabama to Piedras tocopia are not as large as I'm seeing from like Mesa to some of these neighborhoods um and so yeah I again I just want to continue having the conversation before that finalized plan is brought to us right but as soon as we can see a draft I would really appreciate it for everyone if you do have a constituent who is in need of a Transit if you would just have them call me directly so that we can understand what their needs are because we've made a commitment that nobody would be left stranded and you know we've evidenced that by the routes that we did put to the new Beaumont hospital and the data on that is showing we have three regular passengers that's um for and so we are that would be an area that a on demand would make probably more sense than running an entire fixed route but the the beauty of these things is that as the time goes on you collect data and then you realize you know we can do this differently we can do it more effectively more efficiently and then use our resources in another area but the reality is we can't do them all at the same time and so when we bring forth our recommendations as James stated it's a new slate a new backbone own of how to rebuild the system and there will be some changes that are difficult I understand that well what I'd also like to see an option of is a phasing right if we can't be doing all of it why are we cutting one area before we're ready to phase in additional Services thank you thank you mayor thank you representative Hernandez I see two extra slides I was just curious are you done with your presentation because I wanted to ask about those yeah these are these are additional slides in case there were questions that have arise about the the peer review or the writer survey I shared that writer survey results during the the past the August briefing but for for the new members so um I'm happy to share those walk through no sure um I I just had a I'm sure they can take a look at it in the graphics um but what's really important is if you can go to this is it the slide after a prior yeah there so there's that piece there uh you mentioned that some Metro what I would consider to be severely underfunded because we are operating with a fraction of mass transit sales tax dollars than other communities and metropolitan areas across Texas operate with and as unattended consequence of not having that and sharing that sales tax with with the county it limits what we can provide locally so I understand that the demands here um are high right we have a lot of ridership here that are that are demanding more ridership but then we are severely underfunded locally so we're we're in this really bad position and when folks say hey let's let's increase our mass transit let's increase routes I say show me the money where I can do that because I'm already in the city's already operating with a fraction of what other large metropolitan areas across Texas are operating with and so as part of your findings have you been able to find any additional opportunities for partnership more funding sources what is available to to this Council and to Sun Metro so that we can find ways to increase our funding there are some opportunities and but they're they're relatively small compared to the overall budget the biggest ones are going to have to be tied to a tax increase that's just reality you know like a rate a rate increase to the to the half cent to three quarters of a cent or one cent you know Austin Dallas they went out to their communities years past and they have a higher tax rate that's collected for Transit El Paso is on the same rate as as Corpus Christi and so they they also uh you might consider to be underfunded so it really comes down to that that's the way to get this system expanded over time is to to go out to the community if that's something that the council would be um can I interject for a second um you said go back out to the voters right so voters can self-impose a mass transit fee is that what I'm understanding increasing the mass transit the fee the sales tax the sales tax okay so um do you know by what percentages is allowable a full scent and I believe is that half cent Ellen might correct me on that but well I mean we there currently is a penny right there's a penny and then if I'm not if I'm not mistaken Mr Gonzalez is this the same penny that we're talking about that's already been allocated there's there's a penny and a half that the city receives penny for operations and a half penny uh for Transit um but we don't have the other half penny that's the other half that he's referring to and I I think that there would that would require a legislative change because then we'd go over the two cent uh amount which every Community has but we're one of the communities where the county has half of that a half of a penny and uh so we're we're very unique in that respect so I think that he's correct you could go out for a vote but I think you'd have to address the legislative fix first the city manager touched it so the state law caps that sales tax at two percent for the local entities and so we're currently at the two cent the county does receive their half cent and then they remaining one and a half cents does come to the city one penny for to the general fund the other half opinion for the mass transit but we're currently at the cap so unless there was a legislative change to increase that two cent then increasing that currently is not an option okay so we couldn't ask the voters unless there were State Legislative changes to increase the cap but for the most part we're going to continue to operate that's increasing the sales tax which we've had in the past and city managers talked about that in the past of looking at that and that's obviously with the state and some of the things that have been passed in the last few sessions increasing any type of fees or anything like that going to be a hard stretch and then if I may digress for a moment First Transit didn't have the ability or did not want to like be realistic with Council and couldn't say no and so that's the reason why we were 27 million dollars in the hole and we're not in a hole anymore I went out at a deficit and now we have money set aside to buy these new vehicles that Ellen was referring to so we have a a full Capital Improvement plan so that we replace our buses and we're able to stay ahead of the curve and not have to do bonds which I know are concern to many uh that we can do it with dollars that we've set aside with with the system paying for it okay I better understand now what you were referencing twos but it would occur it would require some type of State action um and then on the next slide I think this is such an important piece and I don't know why I just didn't catch it before it's a quarter a quarter of Sun Metro Riders live in Cedar Juarez are there any restrictions um for if if we know 25 of our ridership is in Savar Juarez are there any restrictions for us to do marketing or have a kiosk so that they can purchase easily their their tickets and in a different in another country because I know we're regulated with all these other Transportation agencies I'm just wondering if if we if we can expand that messaging and the services that we provide to our sister city that's a great question I don't have the answers to that we can look at some of the the border cities some some of the peer cities to see if that's something that they currently do but I don't have an answer for you and if not let's make uh El Paso the first to provide that service because we're talking about a whole segment of our population utilizing the service and I think that's just a really important factor and the other one is that nearly one in three Riders work late one out of three writers are in college in high school and so um you know make want to make sure that they understand that there's um prorated or excuse me like discounted rates for them as well and so there's a lot that came out of the survey and I really appreciate the work that your firm has has conducted for our community I think we have a really good Baseline and then just the only thing I'll say about streetcar in honor of our fellow Representatives short fighting is no longer with us here at city council um he's still living he's just not here against the streetcar service is I know that because of the years long of you know just shutting down not having reliable Services I really think is the qualitative response to the survey findings because of course they're going to consider that a third or fourth option when there's inconsistent service reliability and so just to say that I think there's a lot of opportunity with the streetcar but it has to be consistent and then would love to see any post analysis of these survey findings and how once we've increased that that connectivity and routes what does that mean to our ridership and how do they see our system differently with great really good bass lines and I'm looking forward to the continuing conversation and thank you for your help thank you thank you and with that we thank you Mr Prime uh that brings us to the end of the agenda do we have a motion to adjourn we have a motion and a second to adjourn the special meeting for the mass transit Department board um all in favor any opposed and until noon we have public commented nutritional research till noon and the mass transit Department board a special meeting is adjourned at 11 46 am at known for call to the public there's a motion and a second to reconvene the regular city council meeting in favor anyone opposed the meeting is back in session at 1203 PM we now go to call to the public the El Paso city council is a local government body charged with serving all of the citizens and the meetings must be focused on the meeting at charge the City Council meetings are public meetings under the Texas open meetings ACT public comment is an accommodation and not a requirement of city council all persons and attendants are expected to displace Civility and decorum that is respectful to other persons without the use of insulting profane threatening or abusive language public comment will not be used for personal attacks against a person or group's character or Integrity that is not pertinent to City business nor May any member of the public uses foreign for political statements or campaigning please note that during call to the public the city councilman are deliberate or decide any subject that is not on the agenda however Council May propose that a topic brought forward be posted on a future agenda this afternoon we have seven members of the public that signed up for a call to the public we'll begin with Miss Wally check followed by Elaine Prickett Albert Rivera Ron Cuomo Loretta Hyde Karen Washington and Aurelio Valdez Jr yes it will need the Elmo good afternoon Michelle you'll have three minutes an I.T if you'll bring up the Elmo please my check has something to display good afternoon Michelle and please help us bring back those boxes those boxes that you see is my gift to Apostle Mr Mayor you represent us the good people and I want you to be in charge of it I cannot bring 500 boxes to for your house so you have a wall here and you can have the police department pick it up one by one they can put it in their trunk and bring it here for the people do this in honor of Mr Allen and this is my down payment okay those packs represents eighty thousand dollar and I know from mayor's experience going every month to the open door meeting with Mr cook that I can only get few personally a gift of 75 stop the green timing hmm please won't you wait and get your three minutes and then I'll come down don't lose your three minutes this is for your life thank you right because the grief that you feel today cannot be quenched with pills or a doctor or anybody else but your wife can hold you tight and this is a light to shine because this is what you bring to El Paso ignored that and this is the book I can't listen to them for the governor but he gonna have to earn it for two years and try to bring that cross to Austin I made contact and I would like for him to come to El Paso and we'll talk about that later because forget that Green pack and uh I want you thank you thank you ma'am you've reached the three minutes of please thank you my check we'll see you in two weeks the next speaker is Elaine Prickett Miss prickett's topic is expressing gratitude to the city of El Paso request continued support for veterans good morning um I was here in September with Denise LaBeouf one of our board members and I today I brought my father-in-law Kirby Prickett who's a Korean war vet and David signs who is a Vietnam veteran both of them have been on an honor flight trip we came requesting that we have a beautiful homecoming for our veterans and you did that for us and I want to thank you very much on October 1st you did an amazing job and a lot of our veterans were in tears one veteran said unreal people really really click here and this has given me closure he's on the way to closure we still have 175 veterans on our waiting list because of kovid it has increased they were slowly passing away two passed away before they could go on this trip we would like to have continued support to give them the amazing homecoming they deserve that they never got and so we're asking for that in April the 29th we will be coming back from another trip from Washington we are are trying to do two trips this year and the next few years but we're also asking if you could get us in front of people that could get us some support financially from El Paso because most of our support has come out of Las Cruces we need to do that so that we can do these two trips before these amazing veterans pass away and they don't have this opportunity I also want to let you know that we are very committed to serving El Paso veterans usually a third to a half of our veterans are from El Paso and I know we gave you a brochure last time but we'd like to give you another brochure if some of you are new and then we also have a pin with our new logo to show you how committed we are to serving El Paso I'd like to give the remainder of my time to David signs our Vietnam veteran that went on Mission 14. thank you thank you first of all I'd like to express our profound Sympathy for the loss of Chief Greg Allen to the city of El Paso his family and the police department and among from All Veterans but anyway uh when we got off the plane uh and were received by El Paso mayor yours was the first hand I shook getting off the plane I haven't washed my hands since but it was a welcoming that none of us had ever received back in the day and uh it was overwhelming and it was very emotional for all of us it was uh this is a program that is worthwhile and uh and it's so rewarding to all of us that went to war thank you very much thank you the next speaker so we would like to give you each a pin with our new logo on it and a brochure is that okay maybe you can add it to me and okay thank you again I want to thank you for the amazing homecoming it brought me to tears and it meant a lot to me to be up there with you all and I thank you the next speaker is Albert Rivera Mr Rivera's topic is noise emissions hello good afternoon sir you have three minutes hello my name is I live in San Francisco Heights good afternoon sir at 5 37 West Franklin first I'd like to give my condolences to the chief honors family and to El Paso and to everyone here she's sudden loss uh since I've been here since I was here last a couple of things I'm concerned about and I have issues with and frustrated with is the noise it's not so much the noise now but the response I'm getting from the police department when the noise is happening and I'm having a couple of problems with when the police show up some of them don't have the instrument to do the measurement of the decimals and that doesn't help my issue when they show up without the instrument to do it so we're under staffed in that particular department for officers to have the instrument to be able to come out to do it because it doesn't work for the problem if they can't measure it so I need that to be addressed through the city council to the police department or through however we where we can support the given the given the instrument to do their job the other thing too is that I've been given some numbers to call Parr is one of the agencies that have been given a number two and and and they don't regulate sound at night the only really sound during the day we need to develop some type of way without using 911 and having the police come with their cars and all that there's got to be another way because they're doing other important problems at night that we can get some type of better response when the noise is happening between 10 30 and 11 30 when the volume is getting up there and I call sometimes they don't even show up and when they do show up they show up at 1 30 30 minutes before the bars are supposed to close I'm three feet from the bar and I don't know how long they're going to be there I know they're going to be there probably as long as I'm alive right now and I'm going to be there just as long as they are and we're going to have this continuous problem over and over again the city the permit department needs to stop allowing barge and abnormal studies such as the neighborhood if these birds don't want to cooperate then we need to do rezoning something needs to be done my mental health is at stake and there it is for profit something's got to give and I need the city's help in taking care of this issue the city caused the problem the city needs to have to fix the problem they've allowed a permit for a bar thank you Mr Rivera in an abnormal system thank you thank you sir the next speaker is Ron Como followed by Loretta Hyde Karen Washington and Aurelio Valdez Jr Mr Cuomo's topic is ACLU of Texas good afternoon sir you'll have three minutes I'd like to start out by reading a section from 1983 to the rescue complaining about inhumane conditions of uses or violations of the law at the shelter as a constitutionally protected right a volunteer a rescuer or any other member of the public not only has the First Amendment right to speak out against abuses and violations of Law and committed by the government shelter he or she also has a constitutionally protected right to demand that the government correct the wrongs that are identified Now ladies and gentlemen we all know we are putting the shelter on the agenda every two weeks and we all know because people have bragged that you did this to shut us up this is a is a conspiracy to violate our constitutional rights of freedom of speech the city of El Paso is guilty of conspiracy we are not going away quietly we will be here every two weeks until this problem is resolved you all carried on with the last mayor's failed programs which are still in effect the Haas program we still have unaltered Strays unvaccinated Strays running our streets creating more Strays that we don't have room for we had over a thousand more Strays attached to our shelter in November and let me just bring out something that the ASAC committee the gentleman talked about how many Strays they got transported out of town in November it shows a total number of Strays of 77 were released to rescues of transports Mr Mayor that is so much less than what I used to do with the group I worked with just me alone that doesn't include Diane that doesn't include Mandy that doesn't include Loretta doesn't include caring it doesn't include Half the rescues in El Paso they're in a panic mode trying to clean up your mess I'm asking again get a school let's get this wound up let's collect these Strays let's get them spayed and neutered so we can nip this problem in the butt it's gone on long enough I'm tired of the lost and found pages I lost my dog I found my dog we have no help we need a qualified director we need to get the problems resolved you've had two years Mr Mayor you said you're going to get the shelter back on track when you ran for re-election the Animal Advocates of El Paso are still waiting we voted for you because of everything you did in your first round everybody thought you were a hero what do you want to leave the city as when you leave the mayor this time the next speaker is Loretta Hyde Ms Hyde's topic is also ACLU of Texas and Mrs Prine if we could just remind that you can't use the podium for political statements that's correct Mr Coleman I'm sorry this is not a platform for political statements or campaigns okay go ahead ma'am you have three minutes good afternoon everybody um as a rescuer I'm here because we keep having the same problems and I want to to let you know as a rescuer I got an estimate of how many transports we did at the for the last six months and it was over four thousand animals that we transported out of here to different places that would accept the the Strays and the puppies and so forth I personally have treated over 26 puppies that have come down with parvo in the last two months I've done two with distemper it's going to get worse because there's so many more animals out there especially with Summer coming I'm also building another facility at my shelter to house more Mama cats and kittens because it's so overwhelming every kitten season so the rescues are doing their part but we need help and I was just thinking on your discretionary funds if anybody wanted to help us with transports we pay for that out of our own Pockets we have to get three sets of puppy shots we have to get a health certificate they have to be dewormed and quarantined before they'll even accept the puppies that all comes out of our pocket as well as the gas money I just spent 750 dollars to send a busload of babies out to Colorado and that's just for the gas and the food for the people that are doing the transports at no charge we have to do something there's no place to put these animals and the rescues can't house thousands and thousands of them and we can't transport them out of here fast enough so please listen to us when we're asking for help and that we want to help you as well figure out a problem because it's it's just sad that we have to say no when the they keep dropping off puppies and crates and totes and everything out front and I can't house every one of them so I have to send them to Animal Services when they showed that video at Animal Services they had rows and rows of puppies it's going to get worse before it gets better and we can't do all the work without everybody working together please listen to us we don't want to be down here every two weeks begging for help but that's the only way things are going to get done if we do it together thank you you know and I agree with you not working against each other so much better working together we'll get a lot more accomplished yes ma'am the next speaker is Karen Washington and I'll remind the public to please stay on topic that you signed up for Miss Washington signed up for acluf Texas good afternoon everyone first I'd like to express my condolences as well for our entire city of El Paso the police department in Roseanne Allen yesterday we lost an exceptional leader we lost a compassionate animal lover and chief Allen was a compassionate animal lover and we he was a great man all around so my condolences to to all um you know I stopped attending these meetings once I learned that Council was attempting to quiet Us by putting Animal Services on the agenda for every meeting if any of us were intended in attendance to speak animal services was pushed to the back of the meetings to discourage us from staying here all day well I'm back because it is My First Amendment right to be here and to have my voice heard complaining about inhumane conditions abuses or violations of law at shelters is a constitutionally protected right a volunteer a rescuer or any other member of the public not only has the First Amendment right to speak out against abuses and violations of law committed by a government shelter he or she also has a constitutionally protected right to demand that the government right the wrongs that are identified um we're aware of the shelter issues but my point also is Animal Control is also run by by the City January 4th a man suffered serious injuries after being attacked by multiple dogs in central El Paso the incident happened at around 1pm at the 2400 block of Wyoming we're not picking up the healthy dogs we're still picking up the sick and the injured because they can go into animal services and be euthanized immediately this keeps their numbers of intake down we've got to start picking up all the dogs you all have not seen this lady because this just occurred this past weekend she was walking her own dog in her own neighborhood and was attacked by a stray dog she was knocked down to the ground bitten and her nose has been broken she went to work like this the next day because she had just started a new job okay she didn't deserve that and her dog didn't deserve it we've got to start picking up all of the dogs on the streets of El Paso please we need change something's got to give before somebody's mauled to death thank you thank you the final speaker is Aurelio Valdez Jr Aurelio Valdez Jr I don't believe he's in Chambers that concludes call to the public thank you and thank you everyone for coming and taking your time to be here thank you sir remember that we'll go to item number 18. yes sir item 18 is presentation and discussion on community cats good afternoon Council uh it if you can bring up the presentation I just want to make sure anyone can sign up for any item you put on the agenda correct yes sir just verifying it no they for example they could have signed up to talk for this item and then talk for call the public something different but but this one like Community cats no that's what I'm saying so forth and then they can sign for call to the public and talk about whatever they want to talk about sure but I think it's not on the agenda this this item has been so I think what their issue was is that this has been the third time it's been postponed by Council for this item fourth item first time but there are other items that we would push it to the end of the meeting the meetings would go till five or six and then it would get postponed or deleted so I think that's what their concern was but that was us not Terry I want to be very clear but they can still talk about something different and today was totally different than it had nothing to do with animal shelters which was uh civil rights law okay yes so today's uh presentation is going to be on our community cap program uh on the agenda here we have uh we're going to talk a little bit about what a community cat is some of the terminologies a quick snapshot of the data on a number of uh tnrs that we do and access to the community cap program there so the community cap program is a Humane non-lethal approach to control the cat populations here in El Paso uh it's usually done with semi-friendly or unfriendly cats mainly these are cats that are not suitable for adoption Community cats they go through the TNR process so with the TNR process the T is for a trap and we do this trapping humanely uh then we once they're they're trapped they are taken for to be neutered spayed vaccinated ear tipped and then returned back to the location where they were trapped so prior to the community cats animal or cat populations were controlled primarily through trap and euthanizing so this was done for decades and very ineffective part of the shelter reform this was one of the items that was brought to light it was we needed a more robust and TNR process for the cats here here in El Paso um it was presented back then in 2016 and approved by Council to have a community cat DNR process here in our community to help with the cat populations here in El Paso so the benefits are numerous of the TNR process Community cap program here it provides healthier cats in neighborhoods they're seen by a veterinarian they're spayed neutered and vaccinated so to help prevent that disease transmission out in the community it also minimizes nuisance behaviors those nuisance behaviors include spraying fighting howling and roaming the neighborhood this is uh and it it's also provides a humane way of controlling those cat populations so some of the terminologies ear tip that's defined in Title VII uh basically it's a universal accepted method to identify a spade or neutered and vaccinated Community cat so that's a quick way to see if a if that cat has been through that TNR process and part of that community we also have feral uh more of a technical term is animal that is escaped from domestication and become wild basically they're just under socialized and and they also tend to be fearful to people so they don't usually don't they're not going to come and attack anybody they stay away and stay in their in their in their areas some more terminology as you'll hear is colonies and colony is simply just a group of free roaming cats living together and then you also have your Colony manager or caregiver we use those terms universally um and they're the ones they're the eyes and ears of that Colony there they provide uh they watch over them they have their feeding times and another very important aspect that they do is they they know that Colony they know who belongs so if they see a new intact cat they can take it in and get it part of that go through the TNR process so they don't reproduce as well another term that's used with communicat advocacy here is a vacuum effect um so back in the day when we just used to do the euthanizing it creates this vacuum effect so when you euthanize an area you just gather up all the cats there it creates a void where other cats are just going to move right back into and as they move back in there their tendency to reproduce is greater so they're going to come back in in high populations a quick look at the data so since 2016 the orange bar there that shows how many cats we took in overall and then the purple there shows how many of those cats were went through that TNR process so we've been doing it quite often so you could see those are those numbers there's no number that says if we take in x amount of cats then x amount are going to be TNR because they come in for various reasons but you can see that that a large population of of our cats that we do through that TNR process at the shelter they're done at other places as well so our strategic partners that we have is our community Sun City Cats El Paso TNR the animal services ourselves Humane Society and local veterinarians our number one partner is the community community Works uh with other partners there they ID areas provide information on new intact cats in the area and provide that Humane treatment for the the cats some of the local community cat resources so we have animal services we do have a community cat coordinator that works with us if they're not readily available anybody in Animal Services can help out with that process Sun City Cats El Paso TNR those are non-profit groups that are very experienced in the in the methods of Humane trapping and getting these colonies created and well maintained and now we also have the Humane Society right next door to El Paso Animal Services who also participate in the tnring of community cats some of the national Community Resources for more information is the Alley Cat allies they were here at the onset with El Paso when we first created the community cat program so they're instrumental Across the Nation we have best friends and also the Animal Humane Society with that too they provide other information as well on again it's that Humane trapping no traps that are going to injure the cats as they're being caught and also other information as far as like like feeding the cats making sure people know not to go on to properties you can feed on your own property but make sure you don't go on any other properties that aren't don't belong to you or you don't have permission and also not leaving traps unattended I always have a plan for that process so you have somebody that knows they can they're going to trap and then have that next steps for the cat to get them to an art so they can be quickly returned back to that colony you know with that I'd like to leave you with the this letter from Amir Zavala she's an eight-year-old she helps with Community cats by participating in a community cat program with their parents she understands the community cap program is better than euthanizing and wants to help one cat at a time so with that take any questions we don't have any questions but we do have quite a few letters that were submitted we do have 16. seven people that submitted statements are would like to address Council this afternoon the first person is Jeddah Goodman Jetta Goodman if you're on in the Q star six to unmute your telephone good afternoon you'll have three minutes go ahead your microphone is unmuted you'll have three minutes we can't hear you Ms Goodman go ahead we can't hear her in council chambers I.T can you hear me yes ma'am go ahead okay all right my name is Santa Goodman and I've been with the DNR program um since 2018 I approved totally of the program and um I got my one of my neighbors involved in uh trapping a royalty and orange at the cats and uh we since 2018 my neighbor and I we caught about uh well over 40 cats just in our street alone the problem started out when we seen kittens that showed up half dead at our doorsteps and then I've tried to figure out what can we do so this problem won't consist and we keep like that that cats on our property so I had um another neighbor that informed me about some City cats who helped with trapping cats and so I got involved with them and also my neighbor and we started the program so it's a really good I was three testing free from dead kittens thank God and my neighbor and I we take care of one colony of the cats at 12 of them eat and we feed them we keep them healthy and any new cats that wander in we can quickly call get a trap and bring him to animal services or the Humane Society and get them fixed and uh that way uh that those problems that were talked about India agenda before it's taken care of it odds back on the people itself again if people have animals they need to take care of them they can just throw them out in the street and let them go or a lot of people are moving away and leaving their kids Behind so um somebody's got to take care of them and so that's the reason why I'm for the program and I hope you keep it up thank you very much thank you the next speaker is Laura Pino Laura Pino if you're in the Q star six two and major telephone Laura bino I don't see her phone number in the queue Elizabeth Ramirez star six to unmute your telephone Elizabeth Ramirez I don't see that phone number in the queue either Jessica Watson star six please Jessica good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon mayor and city council my name is Jessica Watson and I come to you as a military veteran and an advocate for all animals my personal experience with the TNR program specifically Sun City Cats has been very positive and it's apparent that this program works we have TNR caps in my neighborhood however thanks to the TNR program they are not reproducing multiple litters a year thus leading to an increase in homeless unaltered cats I live in North Hills District 4. and my neighborhood has really embraced at participating in the TNR program the program gives people a sense of community and participation affords people the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of defenseless cats if I'm being perfectly honest today those that have a problem with the feral cat population should be the number one supporters due to the objective of the TNR program the TNR program is a Priceless commodity into El Paso thank you thank you the next speaker is Marcia margario Marsha magario star six to unmute your telephone Marcia Mark Ariel good afternoon you have three minutes can Council hear me yes ma'am okay uh thank you um good afternoon mayor Lisa and council members I'd like to begin with this statement if we keep them in a cage in the shelter at least they will be safe how many of you would agree with this statement in my observations multitudes of people want to believe just that if we put cats and dogs in cages go ahead ma'am you're back on mute star six please star six to unmute your microphone is Mark Ariel star sixth place she may be having technical difficulties go ahead ma'am if can Council hear me yes ma'am okay I'd like to begin with this statement if we keep them in a cage after at least they will be safe how many of you would agree with this statement in my observations multitudes of people want to believe just that if we put cats and dogs in cages in the public shelter they will be safe except for that looming existential threat of euthanasia if your count was lost and ended up in Animal Services would you worry about its safety a little or a lot per national animal organization experts why did that happen we can hear you man we can hear you please continue okay um national animal organization experts um the number one they they say the number one leading cause of death for cats is euthanasia the most comprehensive study to date indicates that 72 percent of all cats entering public shelters are killed just 23 percent are adopted and less than two percent are reunited with owner TNR is a community-based community-backed means of addressing a prolific domestic species any reduction in the number of cats is a win for both Felines and Community any thoughts to curtail to you and are will not bode well for the quality of life of community cash or the quantity of caring community members who interact with them on a daily basis TNR must be the choice because killing can never give you a choice thank you ma'am thank you requiematerram thank you melon the next speaker is Michael Bean Michael Bean star six please to unmute your microphone good afternoon you have three minutes yes Council uh good afternoon uh can you hear me yes sir okay um I have a GNR uh Colony on my street and it has uh stabilized the the feral population on my block we haven't had a increase of cats there in over three years now uh there's no problem with the program it serves a good purpose and anything we can do to alleviate um the shelter overcrowding and euthanasia is a positive thing uh I think you guys should keep the program as it serves the community well that's all I have to say thank you thank you the next statement was submitted and it reads my name is Norma selig I want to thank you for providing the opportunity to address the council I commend the city for the support of the TNR program of El Paso because of your commitment to provide a human Humane and effective solution to control the city's feral cat population feral cats are vaccinated against rabies which is so important to all of us research has proven that these programs are an effective solution to controlling the population by relieving cats of continuous mating this breeding cycle is reduced and stabilized the mating behavior such as roaming yelling spraying and fighting are also diminished for the citizens of El Paso there is an added bonus of rodent control her particular note is that the taxpayer receives a break when TNR is implemented because the average cost for TNR is less than euthanasia this also helps the city reach the no kill shelter status which we are all hoping for TNR allows these cats to live out a healthy life thank you to Sun City cats as well in these financially difficult times far too many families have little to no funds to have these cats altered at their expense kudos to the city of El Paso and Sun City casts for your support of TNR the next statement was submitted by Charles armendariz in support of the community cap program to whom it may concern thank you for allowing me the time to offer my favorable support and agreement for the community cat program within our city My Hope for the new year 2023 is that as leaders and representatives within our community you will be empowered to make strong favorable choices for the good of our free roaming cats I have free roaming cats that I care for regularly and I can tell you their lives have been improved tremendously thanks to the Sun City Cats volunteer organization that use their own time and resources to trap spay and neuter the work they do is exhausting and not in the least bit Glamorous by any means these community volunteers true these Community volunteer Troopers deal with the extreme conditions the cats are living in the volunteers many of which have full-time jobs are out in the trenches doing the hard right simply because they care the program works but only with a partnership between the community cats program and caring volunteers I urge you to keep the program alive so that the community cats can Thrive I wish you all a very happy New Year respectfully Charles armendariz the next statement was submitted by Mary Berg and it reads I have personally benefited as well as city of El Paso by the help of Sun City Cuts TNR program the volunteers are so helpful and kind one young lady stayed in my yard trapping cats till 11 pm even spending her money to go buy more cat food in order to trap all kittens in a litter my two daughters have also had the same help with Mom and four kittens all were trapped fixed and ear clipped then returned to my daughter's house for care between the three of us 25 cats have been fixed and being cared for without any future possible litters thank you for all your help Sun City Cats the program works for individuals and city of El Paso the next speaker is Manuel Padilla Manuel Padilla if you're in the queue star six to unmute your telephone Manuel Padilla I don't see his phone number in the queue Mrs Wagoner star six please to unmute your telephone Mrs Wagner good afternoon ma'am you have three minutes can you hear me yes ma'am good day I'm a resident of El Paso and deeply involved with Sun City Cats I'm calling in to State my support for El Paso's Community cap program aka the trout neuter return program and to thank you for ensuring that community that that this community uses the only effective approach to reducing our community cap population under TNR cats are you mainly trapped spayed or neutered vaccinated ear tipped the universal symbol of a neutered and vaccinated cat and return to the trapping location their outdoor home stop near to return makes the free roaming caps healthier and ends the breeding cycle which means no more kitten it also reduces mating behaviors such as yelling spraying fighting and groaning the colonies population stabilizes and over time the population will decrease while some people criticize TNR no one has come up with viable Alternatives basically there are three options one trap remove kill at the shelter two do nothing or three DNR for years El Paso trapped and killed Community caps tens of thousands of cats were euthanized but the population did not decrease this is because of the phenomenon known as the vacuum effect when cats are removed from an area the remaining caps either breed back to its capacity or neighboring pickups will move into the territory and breed cities that attempt to catch and kill their way out of a community caps are fighting a losing battle against nature and costing taxpayers a lot of money the former president of the national animal Control Association Mark comps has called the Trap and euthanize approach like quote bailing the ocean with a thimble end quote while passing El Paso's program has room to grow and needs more resources the city has come far the biggest struggle we face is lack of veterinarian but we continue to work together to provide as many TNR resources as we can thank you to the to the city council to El Paso city council and to City management for supporting TNR the common sense approach to the community caps our local animal welfare Community is united in its support for TNR thank you for helping our community by supporting TNR and allowing the cats to be returned to their original outdoor homes thank you the next statement was submitted by Vicky dye dear city council I'm a huge supporter of the community cap program using TNR procedures the procedure of trapping neutering and returning a feral stray or abandoned cat back to their colony or home area it's a human strategy that reduces the number of cats in the environment over the years in the myth Northeast section of town I have witnessed been a part of and supported TNR in my neighborhood by trapping cats both true feral and friendly abandoned pets with the help of Sun City Cats Sun City Cats helped educate train about setting traps and steering me in the right direction with my first cat who showed up unwanted at my doorstep the process was not difficult as I was given a TNR time slot at Animal Services first then trapped the cat and dropped it at Animal Services where it was sterilized given rabies vaccination and ear tipped as an indication that they are in the TNR program quite simple don't you think but the best part is it saved the lives of cats the majority that were won someone's pets it helped free up shelter space and saved Animal Services a significant amount of money for placing one cat in the TNR program it's cheaper than euthanizing the same cat and when the same cat is returned to its Colony or home and lives out its life with a caregiver no cost to the city or survives on its own and it's a and it is a win-win situation for everyone in closing TNR works as it is humanly reduces the birth of more B babies and controls the cat population police city council continue to support this amazing program and again a huge kudos to Sun City cats who do so much with so little sincerely Vicky die the next speaker is Maria Garcia Maria Garcia if you're in the Q star six to unmute your telephone Maria Garcia I don't see Miss Garcia's phone number in the queue the next statement was submitted by Marcia Carl and it reads deer city council has an avid supporter of the Community Care Program using TNR procedures I am sending this plea to ask you for your assistance in protecting it the Trap neuter and return strategy has not only accomplished saving feral stray and abandoned cats from reproducing unwanted cats in our city but has also improved the quality of their lives which they deserve only that the vast majority were most likely someone's pet at one time or another in addition from a financial perspective TNR has also proven to cost less than euthanasia and Precast from unnecessarily taking space in the city shelter that could be allotted to other animals in need I can personally attest to the Animal Services progress with the TNR program over the last several years and in particular the assistance of the Sun City cats to educate and train volunteers throughout the city in learning how to set up traps and trap them for the neutering and vaccination program sponsored events the living in the Northeast Sun City Cats helped me on many occasions save cats by educating me and providing traps so I could utilize the TNR program in closing I would like to again acknowledge the Sun City cats for all their work and advocacy of the TNR program and ask you the city council to continue to support this program sincerely Marshall L Carl the next statement was submitted by Lindsay Alvarez I'm a lower Valley resident in the 79915 area code I am in complete support of the community cap program I reached out to Sun City cats two years ago to for help for my neighbors and myself since then we have not seen any new kittens in our neighborhood I am now a volunteer Trapper the biggest trouble that we have is that we don't have enough vets the more vets we have the more cats we can help I want to thank the city council for taking the time to hear my comments Lindsay Alvarez the next statement is from Jane Nicholson and it reads I am a Westside resident of El Paso I support the city's TNR program this program works to control the city's cat population responsibly without euthanasia I want to thank animal services and the veterinarians who donate their services and I want to especially thank Sun City cats who have advocated for the welfare of our cat population for many years sincerely Jane Nicholson the next statement is from Robert Collins I think this program is great it helps keep the cat population from growing and protects the cats I just wish more people would take a stand for cats Robert Collins the next statement is from Kara Knutson and it reads I live on the west side of El Paso I'm writing in support of the wonderful Community cap program this program has been great for our city and the cats Kara Knutson next statement is from Linda Wick my name is Linda Wick I'm a very passionate I'm very passionate about the TNR program and pray that all of you on city council will continue to support this program there is some very dedicated volunteers that love cats and use their their time and money to trap the cats to keep the cap population down thank you for reading my email next statement is from sochil Torres it says hello my name is Sochi and I reside in District 7. I just wanted to quickly explain why I'm in favor of the community cat program I moved to El Paso a little over five years ago and it is here that I learned about TNR what it is how to use it and how it can benefit the cats in the community I have seen the program work in keeping the cat population down in my neighborhood since I've been working with Sun City Cats it has also allowed me to educate people on options that are available if they see feral cats within their neighborhood and I had found that most people do want to get involved in helping keep the cat population down in a humane way as long as a program like this one exists thank you for supporting the Community Care Program and for your time Sochi the next statement is from Rosie Mata in 2020. in 2021 when my small family and I were living in North copia I had an extraordinary experience trapping cat trapping Strays with the help of a volunteer with Sun City cats who had been doing TNR for 10 years I am so thankful that there are a small group like Sun City cats who do tnring during our short stay in North copia I noticed that there were many Strays and I a cat lover fed about eight and sometimes 10 Strays I got concerned because the car sped the speed up along the long road of North copia I was very lucky to have communicated with Sun City Cats a volunteer taught me how to trap and what to do with those cats while they were recovering I wish there are more TNR groups in the city and they have they will have more traps to accommodate requests of people to do the trapping in their neighborhoods personally I think and feel that TNR is the best way to control the cat population TNR is a Humane thing to do because the cat population will be controlled there will be a lesser to know there will be lesser to no more roadkills I wish tnring should be made active through social media and TV people need to get involved and this and as the saying goes it takes a village to make things happen I believe that with the help of people tnring will be possible kittens who are abandoned by their moms are pitiful either they get run over or killed by mean straight dogs if garbage bins are picked up during the designated days I wish that the traps will be dropped off too and picked up on certain days as well volunteers are needed to make things happen Rosie Rose the next statement reads my name is Norma Elias I'm in favor of TNR and volunteer for TNR what ice can see We Heroes helping so many lost victims of society we take charge and try week in and week out to help organizations and leaders that are volunteers with big hearts when I heard of TNR programs I was so glad that someone cared there are hundreds of cats each month that are saved and given a chance at a better life when I meet a new person that we are helping with the cap population it is so gratifying when they are grateful to find out of such programs we help the cat population and at the same time help other caring people it is unimaginable what will happen if we stop helping our community I wish there could be a way to voice our commitment to community on the advantages of TNR the next statement is from Tammy Wick I'm writing in support of the city TNR program I have personally seen the benefits of the program and how it works I have had several straight kitties show up at my house with the help of Sun City Cats I was able to get them vaccinated and fixed I am also an employee of episd my campus at Community cats there again with the help of Sun City all the all the cats are now fixed and vaccinated these cats are not are no longer reproducing and living happily for the remainder of their lives I'm glad that El Paso participates in TNR and demonstrates compassion for the fellow animals that live amongst our community Tommy Wick the next statement is from Lucinda Noyes and it reads city council and fellow El pestilence I am registered nurse and West Side Community member and I I'd like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt support for our community TNR programs I began taking care of community cats a couple of years ago during the onset of the pandemic because I am severely allergic to cats I could have never done this without the support of the community namely Sun City Cats this group has helped me TNR 17 cats over the last couple of years the volunteers brought me traps picked up cats after I trapped them took care of them before and after surgery and then delivered them to me for release after the surgery and vaccination was completed I couldn't have done this on my own and I am so grateful for their help my neighborhood is a great example of how well TNR works for the community we have a number of free roaming ear tipped cats that peacefully coexist with us people feed water and shelter them and they pretty much leave us alone noticeably we don't have kittens these programs work they are ethical and effective way to to reduce the number of feral cats in our community EL pasoans support this program we give of our own time and money to take care of these animals please continue to support us and keep these programs thank you for your time and hard work on our behalf Miss noise west side El Paso the next statement is from scene Crabtree my neighbor is a part of the Trap and release and this problem has helped our community we have less cats dying in the streets which I don't want myself or my kids to see we have less cats having babies creating more cats for the neighborhood I'm really disappointed a program that is actually helping us up for debate for cut the answer isn't to cut a program that's helping our community the answer is more funding and support for the organizations and volunteers doing it this Earth isn't just ours and the answer isn't to kill God's creatures who are innocent it's an a Crabtree the next statement is from Sadie Charles it says good morning I want to State my opinion for item 18 reference the feral cat situation it's my opinion and hope that the city will continue supporting the efforts to humanely control the federal population via the TNR program I am aware of all the good work these caring individuals do to care medically and feed these different colonies throughout our city they care for the health and well-being of these animals to the point of incurring personal expenses to do so the program is a success due to these individuals and the City's community who would not be able to afford to fix even their own cats please confirm your continued assistance for the Trap and release program thank you for your time and consideration Mississippi Charles the final statement is from anamolina it says good afternoon my name is Anna Molina and I'm in favor of the program I have had the opportunity of working with it and see the Improvement that it does not only the life of cats are much better conditions but even some neighbors that used to complain about the overpopulation of cats are now helping with the feeding and care of the control colonies you can see how cats are healthier and beautiful once the stress of continuous reproduction is removed I would like to point out how being a city that supports a program has given us good publicity as El Paso has been mentioned on several Nationwide Publications given price to the city for the progressing caring work I think it is an excellent way to show everybody how El pasoans care for our community and of course part of it are Community cats thank you that concludes public comment on this item thank you you did a very nice job thank you and with that we have representative Molina thank you very much mayor Mr Capshaw do you have an approximate number how many cat colonies there are here in El Paso in our city I do not have that um okay thank you thank you remember that Mr Pine thank you sir thank you we'll go to the next item yes sir that brings us to the first reading of ordinances these are items 19 to 22. moved your proof there's a motion made by mayor potemonello seconded by representative Rivera to approve the first reading of ordinances items 19-22 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and the motion passes unanimously the next item is 23. and this is discussion in action on the award of solicitation 2023-0199 El Paso International Airport Terminal ceiling and lighting improvements to Hansel Phelps Construction Company second there's a motion made by representative Rivera seconded by representative Molina to approve item 23. on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously item number 24 is discussion in action on the award of solicitation number 2023-0054 Security Guard Services Municipal Court to tri-core security Inc there's a motion made by representative molinar seconded by representative Fierro yeah you're better I have a question on this one okay go ahead sir um it's not the it's not the ordering of the bid but in the last right before at the end of 24 it says that city manager designee is authored authorized exercise the future options and I was going to say I'd actually like to see this come back to city council so we can get some analysis of the effectiveness over the first three years before we extended another two good afternoon Claudia Garcia with purchasing and strategic sorting so some years ago city council approved the execution of options to extend administratively I understand we can I'm just don't I just don't think we should on this one yeah I'd like to make an amendment to it but I've got a they've got to amend their emotions there's an additional motion making Amendment well I would just I'd just like to have the amendment that it comes back in front of city council before the extension on this thing I'll second that point s It's a Wonderful next yes are there I'm sorry mayor I did have a question no I just um I am just curious on the process um that the purchasing department has and so certainly don't want to deviate from any of our standard protocols and so I'm just curious on uh any if there's any ramifications of doing that any contractual violations and and I would just need more guidance before um moving forward with that Amendment okay so I Can't Describe the process we follow internally when we are getting ready to extend the life of the contract so we have several steps that we follow uh first confirming that the department is willing to extend uh they like the contract also we conduct some Duty allegiances uh meaning that we uh some of one of them it is checking that the vendor is not in that to the city that they have not been devoured uh under uh uh the federal government also that they have performed uh in accordance to the contract so those are some of the diligences we conduct before extending the leg of the contract and as I indicated before city council had approved the administrative execution of these options without having to go back to to city council and so you said administrative is that language in the contract yes it is part of the contract as it is part of their posting language when we are uh also requesting uh approval to move forward as is uh when city manager designee are authorized to exercise the option offered by the vendor so a vendor could could potentially say you know hey this is a contract with the city um we're going to bid knowing that there could be administrative support so long as they meet these required metrics and they're in good standing and they're responsible and they've met the intent of the contract and then you all have the administrative support through the designee or the city manager to say let's just go ahead and move forward and and so if that's what I'm understanding a vendor is under those under that understanding as they're applying for the bid are you submitting their bid yes correct so once they submit a response to uh asylstation we have a section where they Mark if they're offering an option to extend the contract so that gets uh that is included as part of the contract after awarded okay now just based on the additional information I I would feel more comfortable um not not doing an amendment at this time however I would urge City management to and I've kind of already had this conversation because when I first came into office we had a really great purchasing presentation of all the contractual requirements with the state losses about purchasing and I think it's such an important uh presentation to share even as for me as a refresher because there's so much work that we do with the purchasing requirements and so um thank you for that explanation I won't support the amendment today but I certainly understand the concern but would be open to having conversations in the future about what the what the purchasing standards are for the Department thank you thank you represent um Kennedy so I want to make sure I understand we put rfps out or rfqs that lock city council out of the approval the approval of extensions correct this item had been approved by city council as stated before so the bid itself prevents us from being the deciding body on an extension so they uh their award recommendation it is as indicating the post language including the uh option for the city to extend the life of the contract for the additional time indicating the solicitation without having to go back to city council for approval and that's not the statute that's just what we chose to do right I think if you have a question like on this one that you want it brought back prior to extension we can we can easily do that I I have a feeling that we'd end up using the same parameters that you would use I just I mean this was one that I know we talked about if you know because they're probably going to be using local personnel and everything right so I think I think as far as insofar as you know you have a question on this specific one so like if you want this brought back or you want that Amendment amend it rather I think we can amend it up until it's awarded by the council so you haven't officially approved it yet so you could probably make that adjustment and I think it's you know if you if any council member has a question about whatever I mean we're happy to to put whatever information in front of you before making a decision yeah and I don't want to fall in a trap or we end up losing a bidder because of a absolutely caveat I just yeah correct so representative Kennedy the the bidders who are bidding on the award know that up until the time of council obeyed terms or processes can be changed so at this point before you award if the councils considering this type of motion you all can vote on it okay then I misunderstood because we're not really locked out it was just this was right the standard way to do it so we can still make some adjustments correct okay so then the bidder is being placed on notice that before an option will be awarded it'll be brought to the council and I'm sure we're going to look at the same sheet you would look at so and overall I think that you're making a good observation but overall with respect to some of the streamlining that's taking place Council had wanted a lot of projects to get done faster in this particular case this is a um one of the fixed costs you know security so this wouldn't fall under like some of the changes that we did make for Capital Improvements so we could speed the process up so there's questions and as Miss Neiman pointed out if there's adjustments that need to be made we're happy to hear those and make any adjustments okay necessary I saw to make sure I didn't blow the bid by asking yes sir yes Mr pardon yes so there is an amendment made by representative Kennedy seconded by mayor Pro Tem anello to amend the item to direct staff to return to city council prior to the expiration of the contract is that correct yes that's correct thank you Laura can I ask for some clarification the current language at the end that representative K was talking about is in accordance with this award the city manager designee is authorized to exercise future options if needed so traditionally we don't wait till the contract expires before bringing forward an option so just for purposes of clarity the staff will bring back the the contract status prior to the expiration to whether or not Council wants to exercise the option correct and what the normal time frame would be for the review before the extension that's what they're moving is clear what the action was thank you yeah what she said yeah prior to the expiration yes sir oh no I was just going to ask okay thank you it's all laid out there correct if if I'm not mistaken all this time it's laid out there what the option would be and how what the cost would be and it will go past that cost correct yes so that's that's correct just exactly what you are passing but it's just uh as we have done before we brought some things to the council just a matter of just efficiency but again we're happy to consider I mean whatever Council wants to do on different items uh but yeah and even understand the question even if it goes up a dime or more than five dollar whatever well there's a I think there's I think there's a limit but I think what gets approved uh is is the only thing that is in the area unless there's uh parameters beyond that and that's all specified in the documents thank you yes sir thank you mayor thank you Mr Price yes sir on that Amendment call for the vote in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously now there is a motion made by representative molinar seconded by representative Rivera and this is to award as Amendment as amended foreign motion call for the vote in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously item number 25 is discussion in action on the request that the managing director of purchasing in strategic sourcing Department be authorized to issue a purchase order to zal Medical Corporation second there is a motion made by representative Rivera seconded by representative Salcido to approve item 25 on that motion call for the vote voting insertion is open your vote representative Salcido thank you in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously Council we've reached the final item I just wanted to remind you that the work session from yesterday needs to be reconvened no later than two o'clock please sure we'll have to come back and call them this item has not been concluded by then sir yes that's right item 26 is discussion in action on a resolution approving Capital Improvement totally Capital Improvements updating the document known as a five-year Capital maintenance Improvement plan for the ballpark for FY 2023 through FY 2027. good afternoon good afternoon members of council so this presentation is the presentation that was given back in December December 13th by Mr Rodriguez and myself this is to provide an update to City Council on how the ball performed so given to the Downtown Development Corporation and the district is part of that the review and the adoption of the five-year account recruitment plan for the ballpark as well so I'm going to cover the first half of the presentation and Mr Rodriguez will cover the second half covering the capital Improvement projects for the ballpark for the next five years so looking again at the Ballpark and the financing that was done on this project going back to 2012 when the ballpark was actually financed and what we've done since then identifying the revenue sources the hotel occupancy tax artists that had been in place since 2016 has provided the additional Revenue that's helped to fund not only the tourism and marketing for the city of El Paso but also a portion of that the two percent that was approved by the voters goes to the ballpark financing as well the refinancing the previous members of councils are very familiar with this we've done two refinancings on the ballpark debt uh portions of it at a time in 2021 May of that year we did a refinancing of a portion of those bonds ended up saving we went from a seven and a quarter percent interest rate down to a two and a half percent interest rate on those bonds that ended up saving about eight million dollars on the cost of those bonds which is proven significant really helping to bring down the overall financing cost for the project on the debt side but then also freeing up additional Revenue as you'll see here in a minute to go to work some of the capital Improvement projects that have been done in the last few years and then again just with our increase what we've seen in the hotel like pencil has played a key role obviously that is the primary source of Revenue that dedicated two percent venue project Revenue to actually fund the financing for the project and then the capital Improvement projects as well so when we finished our fifth year 2022 which ended August 31 of 2022 this was the first year since the ballpark has been in play that the city has had not had to make a general fund subsidy to make the debt payment for the ballpark so this is a very very good new story and again it's all of those things that I just talked about of increasing our hotel occupancy tax revenue doing those refinancing to bring the cost of the financing down in 2016 and 2021 getting the lower interest rates on those bonds has played a significant role in getting us to this point of having no General FunCity so again the revenue that's dedicated from the hotel occupancy tax the two percent venue project it's what it's referred to as restricted for the ballpark combined with the team Revenue that we collect through the sales tax from the ballpark goes towards the debt payment the parking Revenue received at rental Revenue we receive um and the ticket Revenue as well that we receive as well goes towards making The Debt Service payment so this was the overall Revenue so not only the two percent venue project Revenue but also the team Revenue as well restricted for the ballpark just under five million dollars you'll see The Debt Service there amount was 3.6 so there's actually a surplus of just under 1.4 million and again just to be clear that that Surplus there is restricted for the ballpark so the two percent venue project the ordinance that was approved in December of 2012 outlines the restrictions on how those funds can be used there's three different things that it talks about one is to essentially cover the cost of the construction of the project Renovations of the projects paying the bonds associated with the project and that also could be used with the operator maintenance of the project however Samurai rigs will cover here in a little bit that's not a responsibility of the city on the operating and maintenance that's the responsibility of the long-term lease tenant that we have currently Mount our Sports Group so this Surplus here this 1.4 million did go back into the ballpark in the form of covering a portion of the capital Improvement projects that Mr Rodriguez will present here in just a minute so looking at the performance and this is a really really good encouraging slide again that shows that we bounced back from covid pretty nicely this is the again the dedicated two percent Hotel occupancy tax revenue that is restricted for the ballpark and you'll see that from 2014 all the way up to 2019 but pretty gradual increase in growth 2018 and 2019 we saw really strong growth in our hotel occupancy really helped uh get us to the point where we were very very close to having no General fun subsidy unfortunately as we're all well aware we did enter the covet in March of 2020 which impacted this Revenue source for those two fiscal years and you'll see on the far right hand side there again uh 2022 which ended in August of this past year just under four million dollars of two percent venue project Revenue dedicated again for the ballpark and then this site here is just a comparison to show how the revenue sources have performed again that two percent hot that first line there going from 3.4 prior to covet and then obviously the decrease and then where we are with fiscal year 2022 3.9 million the bottom row there so is the general fund subsidy so again if you look at fifth grader 2019 the general fund subsidy was just under 90 000 and so we had actually projected again prior to covid that in political 2020 we had anticipated no General from subsidy unfortunately reverse severely impacted the hotel advocacy tax revenue is one of the sources where we did see a pretty dramatic decrease in that Revenue source and so we did have the general fund subsidy of 500 000 roughly in 2020 and 2021 and then again it's mentioned in 22 by 2022 no general fund substitute was needed so then we project it out because this is what as we developed a five-year CIP that's a requirement through the agreement that we have construction obligated to develop this present this to the council for approval I work very closely in providing this information to Sam so that he knows as he's developing out that five-year CIP what are the available resources as far as the revenue and so you see in 2023 through 2027 right now we're projecting just under 26 million dollars of Revenue just over 20 million dollars of expenditures related to The Debt Service and so bringing that overall Surplus over the next five years to approximately 5.8 million dollars and again that 5.8 million dollars of surplus there again is restricted for the ballpark and so it's again uh going back to the adornance that was approved by the council in December of 2012 there's restrictions on how those funds can be used renovating and taking care of the ballpark to those Capital Improvement projects is one of the allowable uses and so this 5.8 million dollars would go towards a large portion of the five-year CIP that Sam's going to present here can you before you go can you go back to the slide with the revenue right ticket Revenue per so the ticket revenue is flooded in 19. to 22 because you know obviously we had covet so 2020 there was no no season in 2021 there was a partial season there were was the elite start to the season there was also a restriction as far as capacity that they had at the at the games that they did have and so that did impact the ticket Revenue that year as well no I see a big increase in parking from 19 to 22 that we have an increase in parking rate some of it there is an increase every five years in the parking the rent and the ticket Revenue as well so there's a 10 increase in those every five years uh the parking increase again it's just a timing issue that we have and so when the Milestone Sports Group provides that uh Revenue source to us but no there was not an increase in the overall rate or fee that the Milestone Sports Group pays us in 2022. okay so we had a so I know we had a increase while back so we did have an increase in parking rate correct and if they get the parking rate on certain hours during game time right okay and so every five years again and that's built into the model on the five-year forecast that I did present and so every five years we do see the 10 increase in those three sources the ticket the rent and the parking as well so that does provide additional Revenue combined with the incremental increase we've seen historically on the hotel occupancy Revenue we do see a anywhere from a one and a half to three percent increase in that Revenue as well and So that obviously helps the available but just to be clear on this slide again these are forecasts and estimates obviously there's a lot of assumptions that are built into developing assumptions assuming again that we're not impacted with the another pandemic or some of the things Dr okrans has been presenting on that would impact potentially this Revenue Source but just looking in the next five years conservatively what we're looking at again continue to generate a surplus which is again a really really good news story about not having to rely upon the general fund to help subsidize this debt payment or you know any of the capital Improvement projects do we have any revenue from the concessions and souvenir sales none okay no sir just I still see that on there just the sales tax so your forecast should basically increase in hot tax and every five years right with the rent Revenue that we collect okay and the that that's the next biggest largest source is the team Revenue that we receive currently 440 000 a year of that four hundred and forty thousand dollars one hundred and fifty thousand of that is restricted into the capital Improvement fund which is again outlined in the agreement that we have and the remaining 290 000 goes towards either The Debt Service payment or Capital Improvement projects in this case Debt Service okay thank you Sam Rodriguez chief operations officer I'm going to take you through the five-year CIP in the selection of process projects and the recommendation timeline of the agreement again we're coming up on the 10-year anniversary here which has passed it with the ballpark being a city facility it was built by the city in East out to Mountain Star Sports Group there have been two amendments over the years the last one was associated with the soccer the soccer functions when the EP locomotive came into town the team paid for modifications to the law government to the field to accommodate the soccer functions there part of the agreement requires that we bring us a capital Improvement program to the city council for approval on a yearly basis the last one that was approved was in August of 2021 where we received direction from city council that there was going to be no general fund associated with funding the capital plan and to date we have completed 33 projects as part of the agreement on the capital side the agreement does call for the city to cover the capital expenditures we the process that we go through we receive a list from the team of the various improvements that they want to see covered by the the capital plan we use generally accepted accounting principles as our criteria as to whether it ends up on the capital plan or it becomes a maintenance cost and that is covered by the the team mountainstart Sports Group mountainstar supports group is also responsible for your ongoing operations so they pay for our utility bills they pay for all the operation the water utilities and obviously the Staffing and everything that happens at the Ballpark for the events this is the list of projects that were completed in 2017 through 2020. and then this is the follow-up list of from 21 to 22. this slide provides you the fiscal years 23 to 25 these are projects that were previously approved in August of 21. they included fiscal years through 25 and what we want to show here is the impact of covid we've shared with you in the community how construction costs inflation have really increased construction costs across the industry and this is no different so back in August of 21 we had an estimated cost of 3.1 for these projects now we're on 4.5 million dollars and then running out and including the next two years was before you today is the approval of updating the cost for fiscal years 23 24 and 25 and then adding the projects for fiscal years 26 and 27 that brings the total cost of 7.9 million dollars Mr Roberts stated um when you look at the capital plan over the years this is the the breakout the biggest cost here over the next couple years is the video replacement that was allocated for fiscal year 2030. the funding for this program 5.8 million dollars as Robert stated is from the ballpark revenues and then two million dollars is associated with a sale of capital assets that can only be used for capital projects and brings the total funding of 7.9 million dollars without be happy to answer any questions so everything that you just presented that you went by is part of the agreement and the contract that we've agreed to do because I know in the contract when I read it it says the maintained and the facility and to keep it in operating conditions and but getting a new scoreboard and where does that fall under in the contract so the the capital expenditures again we use under the contract the General accepted counting principles we look at the useful life of the various components of the facility and that's our starting point as well we also do the inspection we have discussions I can certainly tell you that not everything that they request makes it to the list there are certain things that get pushed out over the years because we see that there's good life still remaining on some of those elements and so that's that's the Criterium here the the video video is part of the structure the overall function of the facility it's not a maintenance or an operation it's it's part of the structure itself and that's why it's included in this part of capital plan because the currently the contract we have is an operation and it is one of the state-of-the-art scoreboards Within minor league baseball so this would so it's not inferior to other ballparks and it is an operating condition correct Mary the the video was uh 10 years old already the infrastructure to support the parts the infrastructure again was pretty much at the end of the useful life when you look at video boards jumbotrons those kinds of things that's typically the the life expectancy of of a facility of something like that is about 10 years 10 years you have some backup to show us the lifetime of those I can certainly follow up and send that to you absolutely mayor okay thank you uh representative molinar thank you very much mayor I'm not sure which gentleman want to answer this quick question so I know there was a slide reference the hot tax and it shows increasing numbers post covet which is a good thing but uh in theory should the short-term rentals ordinances pass uh would that be a positive for the hot tax increase yes it would and so overall Hotel like committee tax revenue nine percent is total what the city collects uh seven percent of that goes towards the marketing tourism promoting the city and then there's the two percent which the voters approved in November of 2012. again it's the venue project that I just talked about so two percent is dedicated to the ballpark and so if there was yes the short-term rental where we were collect additional Hotel occupancy tax revenue a portion of that would go towards the ballpark okay thank you sir a representative pharaoh thank you Mr Mayor Mr Rodriguez um can you give me some examples of things you denied examples that weren't approved for us to approve today in that eight billion dollars yeah um off top of my head um I have the list in in our files um but typically things like um for example they've requested certain uh Furniture Furnishings um chairs that have seen weathering those are the kinds of things we pushed out we asked them to extend those as well other things that they've requested are things like concrete replacement in certain areas we asked them you know just let's push that some of that stuff out you could you know even though it doesn't look great in some of the concrete areas especially in the splash pad area uh close to Santa Fe we asked those to put get pushed out so there's various elements that they come through in the request again ultimately we're looking at the functionality of the facility the MLB requirements that get passed down to the AAA teams as well as say any safety issues that are associated with it and you and I had a conversation during the training with the city manager there and I brought up the point on trash cans and and you mentioned to me that it was part of the contract um that that we had to replace them my question to you is how long is the life of this contract the life of the contract um I don't know off top of my head Robert do you know 30 years 30 years 30 years and and every five years we Revisited for what was the last Improvement number this one is going to be is projected to be five the next five years but next year you will see the capital plan again what was what was the past one the first five years how much was that Improvement the the total on the previous the last uh the last time it was approved right um don't know off top of my head but I can look it up please do that um the other issue I had is um is there I guess this would be a question for legal counsel but um is there an opportunity to renegotiate this at some point so that certainly wanted to okay um the provisions of the of the document don't specify that type of language but based on the length of it if Council wanted to direct the stop to do that we would certainly go back and talk to them about that okay the two more questions and that's it mayor one is um I guess this is for the city manager what happens if this contract is not approved today than the items as presented would would not be paid for they we would have to meet with the um with the tenant and talk to them about you know looking at the contract because I think by not approving it um we're not staying within the contract and we would have to negotiate with them or talk to them about you know what what the options are for both sides thank you and it's the last question for I'm not sure who but let's take out the two years of covet 2021 where there were one no season and we still subsidized 500 000 and the other season which we I think was four hundred thousand um you take out those two years how much has has a city the taxpayers subsidized the the ballpark so the total of the first eight years so up until fiscal year 2021 was 4.2 million year 2022 we did have the 1.4 million surplus and so it brings I'm gonna look at the net so 0.1 million right correct 4.2 million for the first two years but we we just made a hundred thousand so 4.1 okay that's fine no the Surplus for physical 22 is 1.4 million okay so we take out a million all right thank you I think it's important also to note Tim mentioned it is that this is the city's asset so the ballpark does Belong To The City we're required to make The Debt Service payment on it that service goes all the way through the year 2043. so to have a long-term tenant with the agreement that we currently have the team did actually extend the agreement that they have with the San Diego Padres AAA affiliate they have I believe a 10-year agreement with that team so that's really really good encouraging news as well so we know we have a tenant there with the team that's going to be in place for the next several years again to make sure that we're generating that Revenue that's being funded to pay the the debt payment for the ballpark yeah representative fair I was not able to find it but I can tell you it's around probably about 4.5 million dollars is what was presented to the city council and I'll follow up and send that to you after please thank you thank you sir representative thank you mayor um so it says that we can only spend the Surplus on maintenance and debt at any listed other things Robert but that's generally it and then there's language that we are responsible for certain maintenance well not maintenance but upkeep does the language state that we have to do all maintenance or just what is covered by the revenue does that make sense yeah I mean we're not capped by the revenue under the agreement if there's Capital things that come up that exceed the revenue that we have available under the contract you know we we evaluate it and we make recommendations to council ultimately city councils is the approval okay and I mean I don't love the agreement but that's the one that's in place right now and if Council wants to have that conversation fine but this is what the agreement of understand how logistically we're going to do this and I do want to apologize to you Sam that I was not able to make our briefing um we had like a family situation that had happened right before so um those may have been these questions I'm about to ask may have been answered um and that is my fault but so you're so if I'm looking between slides 8 and 17. So based on what is being asked um the revenue and what needs to be done we are about a million dollars short in 23 a million dollars short and 24 700 000 roughly in 25 and then you know we're 600 kind of more and all of that will change right because revenues and things will change but I mean right now we have a two million dollar Surplus for 23 but the total repairs are 2.6 so where is that 0.6 coming from so as Robert presented there's a surplus this year I think it was 1.6 million and then the cap the capital assets um uh is a two million dollars uh representative so those are different I'm sorry so those are different the capital assets okay that was my misunderstanding so we are all the only money that are covering these um requests are coming from the ballpark the ballpark and the two million dollars that from the capital assets and where what are the capital assets um those yeah those were um from the sale of real estate uh transactions that were previously briefed to council um in executive session so we are essentially I mean it might not be general fund money but it is City Revenue that is not ballpark related is going into this correct and it is capital uh asset money uh and it is restricted only for Capital expenditures and do you have I'm shirts in the other document in the backup the exact list of what I mean I see you have oh I see okay I'm sorry I'm like talking to myself right now so slide 14 is everything that's being done slide 16 is the approval um representative that I have on on the screen um that's a total list of projects by fiscal year and um the total of 7.9 million and this is determined by who like who does uh an overhaul and says the floor is bad the the TVs need to be replaced the security cameras have issues who does that so um the team requests the list as I mentioned uh myself and CID staff go through and do the inspections and evaluate the different components and we either agree or don't agree that it's a capital expenditure and then looking at the cash flow we work with them on when we when we allocate the funding for those particular projects and then also again not everything on the list gets approved but we ultimately make a recommend recommendation to City Council on the on the list of projects that we believe are eligible for Capital expenditures that have exceeded their useful life yeah I mean it's just like the sweet upgrades it's eighty thousand dollars and like what what is being upgraded in the Suites so it's upgrading for flooring um just to remodel those of those uh spaces again the ballpark is is our Ballpark and it's coming up on 10 years um they do a great job gorgeous yeah they do a great job of maintaining them uh for sure um and it certainly when you look at remodels and opportunities for upgrades um it's certainly something that um working with with the the ballpark and and keep it in a great looking facility I would believe the the capital expenditure should be there well and they did just get an upgrade right because the city Suite has new artwork in it that I think wasn't there until post covids there have been some upgrades so this I mean this is what I'm talking about like I can understand security cameras are a necessity um I don't know what two hundred thousand dollars for bird mitigation is but I know that you know I'm keeping birds off the field is very important but like the Suites are beautiful and sure they can be upgraded but is that a complaint City because eighty thousand dollars can go a long way to City funds right and so um I just I don't really understand why we're spending eighty thousand dollars on sweet upgrades I don't understand eleven thousand dollars to locker room upgrades because I don't know what eleven thousand dollars can really get I'm sure you have a more defined list I don't know if you know what that is um so if from from the area that we looked at there's specific equipment planning plenty of fixtures that need to be upgraded that are starting to malfunction uh in the locker room areas so that's what will be uh the eleven thousand dollars representative yeah I mean it's nominal right but again the stadium signage is there something wrong with the signs just on on again upgrading the fading of those of those uh of the signage um when you look at them um are they in terrible horrible condition no but they have exceeded the useful life and they're due for replacement I don't want to say that's wrong but I think when we are just looking at the projection of Revenue and so again these will all change because we're hoping that Revenue will go up but in 2026 you're looking at like six hundred thousand dollars in a six hundred thousand dollar Surplus so when you're looking at things like Suite upgrades when the sweets I mean I I we go in them Council gets to go twice a year they're beautiful um and and things like cyan age like yes it's not a problem right now but it can be I'm I don't understand why we're not pushing those certain things to a year where we're already knowing we're going to have a surplus does that make sense I understand and so um I would like to revisit I think you know if there's a two million dollars from assets I think it's a fair I mean I don't know how you would cut this out but I I just think that there are some things in here that I'm not super comfortable with and I don't think they're an absolute necessity um and and it's not general fund dollars because those dollars didn't make it to the general fund yet but that is revenue for our community thank you well I know that I know that this contract was put in place in 2012 and there's been several changes that we have made in order to make it less costly for the city to include the refinancing of the bonds which has saved upwards to 20 plus million dollars I think if if the direction from the council is to use the dollars that are in the pipeline with regard to the revenues that are generated from hotel Moto tax and look at those numbers again maybe push out some of these projects and have a sit down with the uh with the team we can do that and then possibly bring it back if that's amenable to the council that's good plan thank you for that and I did look up um scoreboards they lost a hundred thousand hours roughly 10 years so that'd be 27 hours a day for 10 years so we don't they're not on 27 hours today for 365 days a year so they it's so you're right what you said is correct I did find that but that's if it was used a hundred thousand hours over a 10-year period but so mayor of that and it all depends on the brightness right there's so many consistencies to it so the brightness and the weather I mean our weather here at all that um and the equipment area software uh equipment behind the scenes all that yeah this shed usually is about 15 years but it's so many things depend on it too so mayor and I think you and the council know that Sam and his team do an incredible job there uh they set the standard you know with regard to a lot of the things that they've done in Capital Improvements department so I do understand the the Genesis of this has to do with council's heartburn with respect to the contract itself so if you want again we can go back and look at the revenues that are generated which it looks like here we'd have to look at pushing out a couple of million dollars and we can get with the team and then make those adjustments if that's amenable to them as well because we do have a contract with them and then perhaps bring that back to the council for consideration if if that's the guidance and direction that I believe we're hearing we can possibly take a crack at that and bring bring that back to the city council thank you for that yes sir representative Salcido followed by representative thank you mayor and I know this contract was done in done in 2012 and a lot of the things that were passed were approved by previous councils but I from my understanding and I'm not a lawyer I've read a few of those contracts and in it it reads we're contractually obligated and I know that some of these things and I'm agreeing with some of my colleagues that they're not really or they don't feel comfortable with so I do think that it'd be good if you know we send it back and you all re-look at some of the the ask because the last thing we want to do this is a city facility we don't want to not take care of it right and end up with a you know a thing where we don't take care of it today it's going to cost more money later so I guess take a look at Deep dive more at these stock uh these items that are being asked for and uh see a more reasonable list that makes sense and um so that we can be able to make sure we're taking care of the maintenance for this facility thank you ma'am thank you is that your emotion representative Hernandez yeah that's a motion I'll second yes ma'am he had already spoken um thank you for that I just I had a question about the the hot tax um is there a since it was voter approved correct the two percent and I'm not sure we're in the ordinance it says or if it's in that contract but is it also in the ordinance that called for the election um is stipulating that Council must upgrade and do the the Capital Improvements that that's in the agreement the master lease agreement we have with the team with the Milestone Sports Group do we know if there was any ordinance language tied to that in the hot tax so the ordinance that was passed was December 18th of 2012. I have a copy we can pull up and send it to you all no it just outlines the references the local government code statute related to the two percent venue project finding how those funds can be used but it does a reference anything as far as Capital Improvements or anything related to the actual ball part is focused on the collection and the use of the two percent Hotel occupancy tax funds regarding the capital asset funds from other cells of City inventory is in my understanding that can only be used for capital or can it be used to transfer to other accounts section 7.6 of the city Charter outlines that any sale of city capital assets has to be used for the capital assets can be used for reoccurring operational okay expenses and you all came forward with this proposal in the past and we asked you all to I think at the time the proposal was to use general fund dollars if I'm not mistaken I don't think the direction was to find other something else other than general fund dollars right but the initial yeah the initial request to counsel is hey don't utilize general fund subsidies look for other ways and so is this the response to that action that we took to meet that response and it's also going to continue the investment in the ballpark and meeting what town presented but yes so the recommendation is to accomplish exactly what the council asked us to do was to not to utilize general fund dollars okay and I was one of those who were concerned about using general fund subsidies since the public has already paid their their fair share for that respect but I think this is certainly an eloquent way to address the concern about general fund subsidy when it could be used for other critical department and necessary needs and so I I am supportive of utilizing the capital assets utilizing projections of the hotel tax but but also I wouldn't want to abandon what has been approved and what I consider to be critical infrastructure and necessary upgrades for recruitment of new tourism and more attendance that's also very important you know people make upgrades to facilities the city should be no different and so I really think that this more refined list that you already presented over I think it's been over 18 months that we've been having this discussion we should give some commitment to our contractor our vendor so that they can do the necessary upgrades to align with their Seasons right because they have to make these Investments That align with their seasons and so I'm concerned about more delays and what that means for opening day I know some people here has experienced opening day and even throwing the first pitch and so we we're all part of it this is our asset I think this is an eloquent response and I appreciate the work that you've done thus far I'm supportive of it as is because those upgrades are necessary thank you you know the challenges those first couple years and it's a couple of the large expenditures that Sam talked about and the reason why we have that recommendation to not only utilize the hotel like capacity tax but also the sales as capital assets because we need those funds if we were to prove the way it is today those fines those first two years 2023 and 2024 to be able to fully fund those capital projects in that list and so I've already worked with Sam over the last several months to try to smooth out those costs as much as possible exactly what the council is asking you know can we do this in your three four five so that we don't have these because the 2023 and 24 when you look at those costs those are the big years so what can we do to try to smooth those out so we don't have big hits in one year and I know that he's done a really good job at trying to work with the team to do that thank you sir representative um Rivera followed by representative Pierre thank you mayor uh question um if we go back and and uh talk to this team about this contract is there any legal issues that the city will be bound to as you know penalties or or you know maybe a breach of a contract or whatever uh Mr dribeta I wouldn't jump to that conclusion immediately there are Provisions in in the agreement that allow for the parties to have a discussion about what what you all are addressing with with Sam and Robert uh also the the team has other options in terms of how to fund that and then come back and ask the city for reimbursement so that's included as part of the disc of the agreement with the the team okay so uh if you if you go back and you do the study if Council votes that way um is there any chance of is there any chance of MLB just coming over and saying no they they need to have those things those items fixed or we're Bound by that rule that you explained earlier even before another presentations that they were the ones that would um representative I mean this is part of the ongoing dialogue um so I mean my intention is to you know be back here within a couple weeks uh with a revised list um if that's what council directs us to to go do um but certainly there's some timing issues the turf replacement I know it's one that's been pressing uh the the video screen replacement I mean and and just to remind Council these projects were already approved fiscal year 23 was already approved in 21. so some of those already are going just because the funding is already there what we're presented to you is updated costs and the inclusion of fiscal Year's 20 26 and 27 but my intention is to be right back and and share something in a revised list with city council looking at things like the remodels um again they do a great job maintaining the facility that's part of their responsibility but we certainly don't want to get to the point where something is failing we got to look at the useful life good facility engineering principles to be able to address the components I need to get at an ongoing basis okay all right thank you man thank you sir thank you representative um Pharaoh thank you Mr Mayor thank you sir uh first and foremost Mr Rodriguez thank you very much for the work you did on this presentation um but having said that you can see that most of us up here feel that um that we need to be responsive to our constituents and who um well anyway thank you very much for that um Mr Gonzalez thank you for coming up with that so uh solution or attempt solution it's going to at least move us forward and and and let us move forward in making this a better community so thank you yes sir thank you sir uh represent um Kenny that uh you take yourself off or did I take you off okay your next sir followed by representative um a couple of questions you can help us we're not I'm not we're not uh tied in any way with the MLB contract right I mean nothing with our contract with mountainstar says we've got to do whatever improvements the MLB says we got to do I mean we're not a party of that contract correct we are not a part of the contract however we look at the contract we are required to provide the facility for them to be able to host a triple A team and again those even though we're not a party to the contract with MLB themselves specific requirements like netting those those requirements do come down to the ballpark team and those get translated back to to the to the city so your translation is no no okay we are selling land that's restricted to Capital expenditures but it does not have to be this capital expenditure correct correct it can be other Capital expenditures um I had an injury how long do we amortize the board when we put the board up is that why we thought it was a 10-year useful life 10-year amortization is that what we did with it under the gap so the the original this new board will go under a capital asset for 10 years uh with the new board that gets replaced the original board goes on as part of the original building construction so the total cost when you build a new facility all the assets that go into the facility get capitalized over the life of the facility itself individual components as you replace them you cap you amortize them uh depending on the life expectancy of those Replacements but once you replace it you remove it from the asset structure right if you replace an old board with a new board the amortization is 10 years correct correct okay so that would be worth it the 1.369 from the that's overage and I use overage even though it's not overage from the hotel tax um has to be used for Capital on this this project correct but it's but it's the capital overall for the length of the project could it be used to cover any shortfalls that were in previous years if they were capital shortfalls from previous years could that 1369 be used to help defray those previous losses yeah we've had that discussion with Bond Council it'd be a little bit complicated we have to go back and demand some things possible but not probable right potential yes but obviously with the need at the Ballpark not only on on the debt side but the capital Improvement side as well what we did there representative Kennedy is we uh we did a lot of refinancing that I mentioned earlier but uh yeah you're on to the same kind of logic and pragmatism that we work this issue from as well I mean my concern is the projected ballpark Debt Service in the 23 to 27 goes from three four to four four and there's a I mean that million dollars is a pretty good job my question is though you can't use the the hotel tax because of the Restriction with the hot tax and what was put out you could use sales tax revenue rent parking to defray shortfalls from previous years and that might not necessarily be I'm sorry required the other Revenue besides the hot tax is not restricted correct it is the team of Revenue that we collected is restricted to the ballpark everything you collect is restricted to the ball yes sir but because it wasn't a bond to build it does the sales tax can that be it was actually bonded to build everything Bonds were issued to construct the facility oh no I know that but what I'm saying is is under the restrictions from the hot tax I know that it's required is it also all revenue is required to go on an annual basis you can't even use any of it to defray losses from previous years team revenue is pledge to the debt and so an actual your question about the team Revenue the series 2013 B which was uh because there was multiple issuances done right that is it specifically States in there that that team Revenue cannot be used for anything other than the debt and so the recommendation that excess Revenue that excess Surplus is all the hotel activity tax revenue none of that is the team right but it also includes sales tax and everything else the sales tax the parking right correct could that be used for the the soft expenditures like security outside the facility which is also contracted because that would be under the contract with the same issue not for the operator that that's not a cost of the operation of the actual ballpark that would be uh it's not but it's been part of the contract correct that we provide security outside the facility on Game Nights correct yes but it's not considered a part of the contract we got we got one minute left oh we got one minute and then we're going to come back and then we'll have to research the meeting to go to the next meeting because we have to be there because of the 24-hour period it's considered part of the contract because I know the distinction you're trying to make but we need to go back and look at that okay this meeting but I also going to ask you all I know we're going to walk upstairs and I'm going to ask you all not to discuss this item while we're upstairs or walking up the stairs so we can come down and finish the item as soon as we get done with executive session I think Steph 's already said that they're going to going to adjourn it's up to you yeah so I will make a motion to postpone there's a motion made by mayor potominello about two weeks two weeks representative Yeah seconded by representative Fierro to postpone the item for two weeks and just to be clear just what I said is what we're going to go do yeah okay I think that'd be correct all right call for the vote I don't think you need action on that you postponed the item for two weeks representative Fierro thank you and the voting session the motion passes unanimously promotion to adjourn there's a motion and a second to adjourn the regular city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed the regular city council meeting for Wednesday January 18 2023 is adjourned at 201 p.m motion to reconvene work session Council will need about five minutes so that it can switch over to yesterday's link and everybody in teams needs to exit this link and rejoin yesterday's link before we can reconvene please we need about five minutes yes of course recording they have to have different things foreign yeah Council we need at least a quorum in order to reconvene police we need a quorum to reconvene it it will let us know as soon as they're ready okay i t i t is ready is there a motion to reconvene the work session second there's a motion and a second to reconvene the work session from January 17th on January 18th at 203 PM all in favor yes anyone opposed the work session from January 17th is back in session on January 18th at 203 PM is there a motion to return to Executive session second there's a motion and a second to return to Executive session all in favor anyone opposed the city council of the city of El Paso May return to Executive session pursuant to section 3.5 a of the El Paso City Charter and the Texas government code chapter 551 sub chapter D to discuss executive session item 7 application of El Paso Electric Company for a 10 megawatt Community solar expansion and authority to modify schedule number CS Community solar rate Public Utility Commission of Texas docket number 54403 matter number 22-108-205 under 551.071 consultation with attorney it is 204 pm or I think they went there today good afternoon please note that executive session item 3 will also be taken into closed session this is Texas Gas Company a division of one gas Inc application to increase gas utility rates matter number 22-1008-198 under 551.071 consultation with attorney put their pins up there please note that city council will also be discussing executive session item 4 application of El Paso Electric Company to change rates for rate schedule number 11 time of day Municipal pumping service to correct an error Public Utility Commission of Texas docket number 54476 matter number 22-1008-203 under 551 consultation with attorney so executive sessions item 3 4 and 7 will be discussed today January 18 2023. thank you there's a motion and a second to come out of executive session all in favor anyone opposed and the work session is back in session at 2 57 pm we're Pro Temp EX3 um motion made secondary and carried the City attorney in consultation with the city manager be authorized as determined by the City attorney to file a motion for re-hearing and if necessary if necessary an appeal of the railroad commission's decision in the Texas Gas Service Company a division of one gas Inc application to increase gas utility rates filed on June 30th 2022 under the Railroad Commission of Texas docket number 9893 to hire and retain outside counsel and any other necessary consultants and to take steps necessary including the execution of any required documents in order to effectuate this Authority there's a motion made and read into the record by mayor Pro tem anello seconded by representative Rivera on EX3 on that motion call for the vote representative Fierro thank you in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously EX4 no action thank you ex-7 no action thank you there's a motion and a second Twitter in the work session all in favor anyone opposed and the work session for Tuesday January 17 2023 is adjourned on Wednesday January 18 2023 at 2 58 pm thank you Council