[upbeat, intro music] Hello, I'm Amanda McNew, director of media relations. This is Plano City News. First up, a major transportation update. After months of negotiations, Plano City Council has approved a new interlocal agreement with Dallas Area Rapid Transit, or DART. This agreement secures a minimum 10% return of Plano sales tax contributions, phased in over six years. That funding must be used for transportation related projects. While the agreement does not include everything the city asked for, City Council calls it a fair compromise as they continue working to improve transportation. Because of this agreement, Council also voted to rescind the withdrawal election that had been scheduled for May. Council also approved a contract with VIA for micro transit service. They will not compete with DART instead. The two will complement each other with different services and routes to be announced later. Future plans for VIA could include circulators in Legacy Business Park and downtown Plano. City leaders thanked DART leadership, regional partners, fellow member cities and Plano residents who shared their input over the past several months. You may soon notice a temporary change in the smell or taste of your tap water. Beginning March 2nd through March 30th, the North Texas Municipal Water District will perform its annual system maintenance. During this time, ammonia is removed from the disinfection process. Because of that, a chlorine smell or taste may become noticeable. The water is safe to drink if you prefer, refrigerate a pitcher overnight to let that chlorine dissipate. You can also add citrus or cucumber for taste. If you have sensitive skin, a crushed 1000 milligram vitamin C tablet can also be added to your bathwater. Both North Texas Municipal Water District and the City of Plano test water year round. Hard to believe we're already looking ahead to summer. But this year's summer camp preview is almost here. Plano Parks and Recreation is adjusting registration timelines this year so families can plan earlier. Starting March 7th, residents can view details about Camp Cimarron, Camp Connections and Sports and Adventure Camp. With registration for these year starting March 28th for Plano residents. Specialty camps will be viewable April 3rd. Resident registration for all other summer camps open to May 2nd, and all camps begin on June 1st. Last weekend, McCall Plaza was full of families, music and celebration for the year of the Fire horse Families celebrating Lunar New Year. Enjoyed. Lion dancers, Chinese calligraphy, K-pop dance Dallas, music, a balloon artist and a ju-jitsu performance. The year of the horse symbolizes strength, energy, and forward momentum. Combined with a fire element, it represents bold leadership and transformative change. Earlier this week, Plano Mayor John Muns issued a proclamation at City Council recognizing Lunar New Year. And we want to thank all of the organizations and people who came out to be recognized. Finally, neighborhood leaders, this one is for you. Registration is underway for the 2026 Neighborhood Summit. It will be held Saturday, March 14th at the Plano Event Center. Attendees will be able to connect with neighbors. Learn how to attract volunteers, manage change, create newsletters, and explore water wise irrigation techniques. Breakfast will be served. The event is free, but you must sign up in advance. Now let's meet our pet of the week, Maid Marian. This medium sized Rex mix adult rabbit is very friendly. She has the softest fur and has a very curious personality. She loves to play with cat toys, especially those with bells. Maid Marian was never claimed by her owner, and she is ready to hop into a new family. To see all the pets available for adoption. Visit Share.Plano.gov/PetsForAdoption That does it for this week's edition of Plano City News. For more from our great city, head to social media or our website Plano.gov. We'll see you again soon. should you choose to accept it. There's a lot of things that you guys can do to include us in this conversation, one of which has already been echoed by a couple of other speakers, and that is creating a commission of transit, include some of us riders in talking about how we move around the city using whether that's dart or any other alternative that y'all propose and how we move and what we use. And the other is that the GMP does give you guys an additional responsibility. According to the GMP, the funds that you receive can be used for transit related projects, and some of those projects can be to restore services that are cut for the GMP. I really want you guys to understand that should you accept this GMP, you are now going to be partially responsible for the services that your city receives, more so than you have been in the past. Those of us who have frequently used routes, like the 234 that have been consistently on the chopping block and just barely making it through with every service cut and every GMP, are going to be outspoken about keeping our routes safe. I want you to understand that should you sign this GMP, which I in some way support, but think it could still use some improvement. I want you to understand the responsibility that you're taking on beyond just receiving funds. You are now going to be partially responsible for the citizens lines, how we move and how we operate in your city and in the metroplex beyond. Thank you. Mayor. Council members. I'm Connor Chadwick. I've got a couple of buildings in downtown Plano, and I've been here long enough when this thing started, and dart has yet to deliver, we saw some initial increase in ridership. And if we look at the last decade or so, it's flatlined. But we've also seen some other things that have, what are alternative problems with people coming into downtown and adjacent areas? They're not paying, but they're turning out to be problems for the downtown owners and businesses. And now businesses are talking about leaving. So one of the things that. Concerns me is their overhead keeps going up. And I'm told in the last four years it's increased 100%, but we haven't seen a 100% increase in ridership in the four years in corporate America. We wouldn't stand for it. That would be gone. Now, I understand that there's talk about reducing our contributions from $0.01 and cutting it to 2525, cutting it 25% 2.75. Well, I'm sorry I'm not for that. Okay. We asked for a half a point and now they've come back. Now their hands caught in the cookie jar and it's getting slammed. So what I would like to say is I want to see this on the agenda for the population. I don't want it, Paul. I don't know everything, but I want more people to vote on it rather than council. If it does move forward. I want you all to request cutting it from 0.75 or 3 quarters of a 1% to a half, okay. And I want there to be criterias that it says it's scaling. It's going to do this. Mr. Shattuck. Yes, sir. Time's up. Okay. All right. Thank you. The next speaker is William Cravens, followed by Joel Washington. Lisa, you may have me for a couple more. I'll just cover it all the. I'm William Cravens, 3838, Oakland. Dallas, Texas. I'm very much in favor of the, interlocal agreement. I think it'll help Plano. I think it will help the region and as a whole. It's important that in my mind, for this council who was sent here by the voters to make the hard decisions. And the hard decision here is whether to continue this, election or not. I hope you will agree to the Inter Local Agreement and that the council will decide to cancel the election as it set forth at this time. Thank you. Thank you. You're watching. I'd like to start, first of all, by thanking this council dart, the RTC, Michael Morris, NCT cog, for the work that you've done to come to the place that we are. This can be a positive step in the right direction. And, you know, it's it may not be exactly what all of us wants. But if if it's done. Well, it might be the best solution. Secondly, I wanted to to call attention to the fact that this has to be a regional solution. On our website, the city of Plano says that we're a leader, and being a leader involves thinking about more than just our parochial interests, but about thinking about the region and how we can play our part in the region. We're no longer the fastest growing city, but arguably we occupy a more important role as, as a connector city that links, you know, Frisco McKinney, Allen Wylie, to the heart of the metroplex. And I hope that's a responsibility that you'll take seriously. And finally, as others have mentioned, I'm really pleased that they have, I hope that you will take advantage of the resource that you have here of citizens of Plano, writers of dart, who are more than willing to help provide a better transit help to help make our transit solutions better. And, you know, just finally, Yes or. Yes. Start, keep dart in Plano. I'm not sure which which is the, the organization. But I saw the letter that, that they put together. It does an excellent job. I hope you'll take their counsel. And, and again, assuming that you move forward with this, I really thank you. Nathaniel. Adam. Hello. Good evening, city council. Like the other speakers. I want to say that if you're going to take the Ila funds, I want them to be used for public public transit projects which increase mobility for all. I agree with Brett, and that a website to track and comment on Ila projects would be a great idea. City Micro Transit is a beneficial cover solution, ensuring everyone gets some access, but it should not be relied upon as the city's primary, form of public transit. It works better when combined with busses. Even the vendors who spoke to the C40 notice. I want to see this money go into more local bus service, which are the unsung heroes of, public transit. My fear is that the Ila will be used to justify cuts next year, or that we fail to secure replacement funding and will be forced to endure more service cuts. My hope is that we are able to use the La Ila money to restore services which get cut. I also hope that to 250 for the bus on legacy can come back with this money, and that maybe we can get a bus in Spring Creek or up to McKinney so that we can access to court and other county services. Thank you. Thank you. The next speaker will be joining us via zoom. Mike. Keith. Sorry, I. Yeah. You're good. Hey. Good evening. I'm Mike. Thank you. I'm mike an issue, and I'm a family medicine physician in the DFW area. First of all, thank you for this opportunity to speak. Should the GMP GMP early be approved? I want to stress why those funds