foreign good afternoon mayor and Council today I'm joined by Kelly Picard who's our assistant director of Park and Recreation and also by Sherry Inslee one of our district superintendents and it is very exciting for me today to recognize this team and of course the entire Fort Worth Park and Recreation Department they recently received the 2023 Girl Scouts of Texas Oklahoma Plains women of Distinction outstanding Community partner award this is part of an award program every year where a group of individuals and Business Leaders from within our community are recognized for their dedication to service and Leadership and the leaders that are selected every year as part of this Awards program serve as examples to the Girl Scouts by modeling positive changes that girls can make a difference in the world I am extremely proud of the Park and Recreation Department for the work that they do every day and receiving this outstanding Community partner award further demonstrates the Department's exceptional leadership service to our community dedication to empowering young leaders and advancement to the quality of life for girls and women within our community the park and recreation department has been working with the Girl Scouts for more than 20 years there are many examples of the history of collaboration between the two but a couple notable examples are that every year the Girl Scouts come and participate in our camp Fort Worth summer program and the Girl Scouts come and put on two weeks of programming every year where they teach our camp participants a lot of neat things including arts and crafts it's also well known that the Girl Scouts are formed and often meet at our community centers throughout the year and one of the things that I learned throughout this discussion is that the Girl Scouts you know they obviously work heavily in the sale of cookies throughout the year and they are applying all the things that they're learning throughout the Girl Scout program but they also donate cookies to our community centers to go to families that are in need which I think is a really neat program the Girl Scouts presented this award to our Park sport on March 22nd and then last week these ladies and were formally presented the award at the women of Distinction luncheon at by the Girl Scouts where they were also joined by mayor Parker as well so please join me in congratulating the Park and Recreation Department for their award as the outstanding Community partner for 2023. anything congratulations thank you both I was really just there for photo bombing that was my only purpose congratulations next up are informal reports the first and foremost reports and former report is about automatic external defibrillators I knew those could be hard aeds and the program that we have Chief Davis and Ricky Salazar available if there any questions all right guys now we got Ricky that was our property management hey thank you uh for putting this together for me is uh Chief here too okay um so that might be a better question for him than you but I noticed um that a lot of the other cities provide grant funding for their or their aeds or are paid for through grant funding and I'm concerned without knowing I appreciate that you've provided the 15 City departments and 105 locations but that doesn't really give us an idea of the saturation of these particular devices right does every city building have them where are they located in every Department do we have a policy that says we'll have one for every 100 people or a thousand people in a building so it's hard for me to make that determination and because it's Department requested we're really relying on our departments to be proactive and think about what they need instead of having some sort of policy some sort of standardization across the city and so I'd like to see that happen or additional information brought back to us on that and then Additionally the grant funding so right now departments I guess it's a budget package it's part of the decision package but it looks like other municipalities are utilizing grant funding and so I'd like to know what that grant funding is and what the availability for us to have access are to to seek some additional grant funding for that and then I think that might be all I have for property management thank you hey thank you um in just a few weeks um in Crowley ISD Cairo McBride Johnson who would have been a senior this year his mom be accepting his degree he passed away um during football practice at Summer Creek Middle School and there wasn't an AED on site my question relates to the availability of aeds particularly in recreation centers and also with a city-sponsored youth programming can you give me some more information on that if you don't have it we can come back later yeah we'll probably have to provide that at a later date okay thank you all right next is Code Compliance priority response policy and Brandon benefit gosh yes Brandon Bennett is here if there any questions Brandon again I celebrate the raise and going from five grand to a more reasonable amount of money available we can help people so Brandon when you're talking about it think about the audience at home who needs to know okay so and I'm sorry I missed the question when I was walking out tell us about the program who's eligible what's it for how does it benefit is this prior to repair no we're on Code Compliance priority response policy if Brandon if you just want to give us an overview of the IR to start with that might get us yeah so and and I I thought it was a really good question it comes up every 12 to 18 months about how we do our job uh in the field because sometimes it may appear to be um selective right uh or that we aren't basing our response based on priorities and so what happens is all complaints that come in go into or field it out to the officers and then the officers have a priority so if it is a major risk to Public Health welfare and safety that they go to first and then if it's something minor if they go to that last so a minor example would be somebody left their card out on the street a major would be that there was a fire and a a structure that is now in a state of of collapse and then in between you have just substandard buildings that are collapse hazards and and things like say just I mean it's still important but it um so what we find is that when we go out on the lower priority calls they tend to be the ones that are the least expensive to fix the least amount of work to fix and they get fixed about 70 percent of the time we just give people a little notice that says hey um this is a violation can you fix it and they just fix it right away and then they fix it if they don't fix it right away they'll fix it within a few weeks when you get into the building side of things that's where it appears that the cases are dragging on for a long period of time but the thing to remember is that a lot of times these structures get in the state that they're in because the person was lacking the finances or there was estate issues and ownership issues where they couldn't fix it or there was historic as in a recent case where it has to go through the historic commission so um at the end of the day what we always invite is is for Council and for people to have a conversation with us about a case that is taking a little bit longer than um what you think it should take to really give us an opportunity to educate you and others on what the holdup is I appreciate that and I um I appreciate I know the two examples you gave in here were uh two issues in in District nine that that I brought up my concern is and and it's the application of our code enforcement throughout our our neighborhoods um a really great example is uh about I think it was maybe 48 72 hours after a recent hard freeze here um I went to a constituents house and they had a large moving box on their very big front porch they had a large moving Box covering those plants that they have to ensure that they don't freeze they got a warning that day from their code officer and while it's certainly important to keep clutter off of our porches a two it was two because I saw them it was two large moving boxes I don't think warrant the time to go tell somebody hey you're you're breaking the rules when if you drive just a block down that same street you see someone's porch that is littered with debris and so if I'm that Resident that has a very clean but one single box that was there for a reason maybe it wasn't there for a reason who cares it was there but then I go two blocks down the street and and I see what is a much bigger problem and that goes undressed unaddressed then there's this perception of we're not applying the rules fairly and then my question is why are we worried about boxes on porches when I drive through homes in my neighborhood that have debris all over the you know the front lawn but we're we're driving past that but then we're giving a citation or a warning for for high grass and I think it also having some sort of more delineated policy also keeps us from weaponizing code where you've got a a grumpy neighbor like what happened in the Tall Grass situation that just want to complain and then call on their their neighbors and so I'd like to see some sort of prioritization and um coming from your department and and how we do that and how our code officers do that so that we have a better understanding because I get that it takes longer to process these much more complicated issues but it doesn't take much to drive down the street and see where the problems are in our neighborhood but we don't so I I and I'm gonna agree with you on all accounts um that after a freeze people cover their vegetation with boxes and blankets and everything even if we get a complaint right and so that's something that that I can go back and and take a look at um the front porch I've changed that policy a couple of times that back in the day it was a big thing in Fairmont where there was a lot more aggressive enforcement but over time what's happened is Fairmont is is has has grown into this eclectic lifestyle where people have stuff on their porch I have furniture on their porch so they actually sit in and enjoy the porch and so we've made adjustments to it so I would I would need to go back and look at each individual case because my sense is about the porch stuff is that I have a lot of new officers or have had a lot of turnover over the last 18 to 24 months that I have a lot of new officers that think they're doing the right thing right and we have to provide them some some counseling to adjust that so I I want to assure you when it comes to those minor code violations I I can tell you there are some neighborhoods where a cart being left on the street is is less important than the community than the junk vehicle in the driveway and we expect our staff to focus on those things that are the most important right just from a governance perspective clutter on the front porch might not lead to Crime but abandoned vehicles will or the deterioration and so what I would like to see is Focus really put on proactively dealing with those and unless the proactive you know small look neighbors get mad if their carts get out get left out I get the phone calls we all get the phone calls and that's important but the priority should be the house next to it that is substandard I agree and I have assistant director Shannon Elder with me and she's shaking her head she agrees also and so we'll we'll make sure that everybody is retrained on that that it it shouldn't be happening proactively on the front porch and I was trying to throw out other examples but each area is unique in the city and you all have your front porches right the things that are less and less important than other things and we agree thanks Brandon Chris Gina Carlos okay I have a couple of questions um well you know we're still getting blown up especially my district about the alleys alleys and high grass and one of the so I'm looking at this priority list uh here and basically this goes off of what um individual residents call in too cold or going to the app correct it could be things that we also see proactively so this time of year so alleys are handled by Parks I believe yeah I'm not a particular time by Alice though so this this time of year what happens is the code officers will proactively address Tall Grass throughout the city so they do that by you know particularly on a Saturday is a good example that they'll do nothing but drive up and down streets looking for Tall Grass because at this point the grass could be 18 24 36 inches in height so that is a proactive thing throughout the city that we do um sometimes people get a notice sooner because it's it's early in the Tall Grass season sometimes they get it later but but if we waited until everything was 24 inches then we wouldn't get to it till it was 36 and and 48. city property falls under this same category so city property we expect um city property that's maintained uh by various departments to fall into that same uh compliance they everybody's on a mowing schedule um inside the city and it's all based on how fast the grass is growing which is sometimes tied to the time of year and how hot and dry it's been so we would mow less sometimes during the drought right and then try to mow more during a growing season when is the last time you updated that more on schedule I don't I don't mow the alleys or the city property the high grass oh we from a code perspective it's adjusted season to season it's it's based on what we're actually seeing happening out there sometimes it's in in the inner city where we have vacant Lots sometimes there's Johnson grass that can grow I don't know if that's the the legal term but it's right everybody first with John's it can grow it can grow three feet overnight I think right yeah that schedule so yeah and so and the other thing is is based on and it's pretty it's an automated process it's really easy the officer goes out says this is the lot it's in violation a letter goes out to the owner the owner's given you know say up to 14 days to correct they don't it goes automatically to the to the contractor the contractors given a little bit of time to mow they go out mow they take a before and after picture they send it to us and we pay so it's a very it's a very fast process um and it's not it's not difficult for us to do it so if you're having concerns in your area or certain parts of your area let me know or let my staff know and and I'll look and see what the the bottleneck is we'll do one other question I'm looking at the uh the third priority uh violation and I'm looking at oversized vehicles um is there a certain size is there a certain type because I think we had an issue in Holland Hills where there was an oversized vehicle that had a trailer hooked onto it and it's just stationary as part and so we had code come out and don't quote me but they said it was nothing they can do and it was um it's worth a lot of senior citizens live it's hard to turn on that corner Sublime corner and so when you say oversized I need something more specific to what does oversized Vehicles mean yeah so um tow trucks moving trucks utility vehicles you know like the electrical and plumbing vehicles that go home those are oversized as an example but if it's like a plumbing van like just a regular half ton van um that is not a violation if it is a toy trailer where someone puts like uh ATVs in it and stuff like that typically that unless it meets a certain weight or a certain length isn't that so I think this would be a good one to bring back to you and and and provide you some pictures and some some better description yeah but we don't have like a size um a mattress yeah okay that'll work me too thank you Gina my turn hi Brandon hi I'm still here all right no no no no no no no no we should never start out that way even though we're we're talking priority response I thought it was repair but I could weigh in on this too I am very much concerned about I hadn't heard the term weaponizing of Code Compliance but in in my district we all often feel that there's selective enforcement and you might recall the Bishop George scenario where this elderly man lives on a dead end Street all the neighbors love him nobody reported him but code shows up what makes it difficult for the elderly people is the notices that they get at that time I think had read you may be subject to a fine of a thousand dollars a day an older person freaks out yeah and he kept getting these notices in his Cyclone Fence as often as you all could legally put them there and so I would ask for some some form of Grace if you will or maybe neighborhood meetings you know we did speed dating with a cop we can do speed dating with your code officer to educate people that may help but I'm going to go back even further to the sisters who lived on Jewell Street and this is one where a lady broke down and cried during a board of adjustment meeting and Charles Edmonds is the one you know we we got together and put our money together and bought a trade rented a trailer because she did have code violations but it was just the way that we communicated with the senior citizen and the lady who cried on camera it's proof of this later committed suicide and so when I tell people code can change your life it can but I really would like to see us work a better way of communicating with people who may not have our faculties in place so that nobody has to have a heart attack because they get those notes and it's we just need to be more compassionate but uh if there's any offering that you have to suggest how your team may may do better by the elderly I would be real anxious to hear about it so I I and again I'm very agreeable today right because I'm going to agree with you on all of those things right that I expect affect my staff when this is one of those it's a they have an interesting job because violations are based on the condition of the property so they don't always know who the owner or the tenant is they just see that there's a violation there and they send a notice but once they learn these circumstances right I expect my staff to work overtime if necessary to find a way to resolve whatever it is that needs to be resolved to get them into compliance and what I mean by that is writing a ticket and you'll hear the police chief say the same thing about crime and that is we're not going to cite or arrest our way into a better world we have to work towards better Solutions so I'm I'm going to agree with you and I'm going to agree you know on the Bishop George case I always have that that was part of the caval neighborhood cleanup and the officers were simply going door to door right and and they saw a mess and they gave a notice um and and they started to address it and it wasn't getting done and there should have been a shift and there wasn't right and we had a conversation about it and the neighbor neighborhood stepped in to help them out and that's we see that with churches neighborhood another that it takes a village to solve these because it's not always a church always the neighborhood but let's correct you because he's done papers and I were there the neighbors weren't coming to help they were coming to get your people yeah because they saw your people as being Predator to to Bishop George I get that and all of those notices in his he had 20 notices and so I'm not going to belabor the point but I do want the truth to be communicated into what happened and all I'm asking is we got to figure out a better way to communicate to all people but especially the seniors because a bad decision could end up them having to leave their homes if we just had a bit more compassion so I'd like to work with you absolutely I used to work with the Area Agency on Aging and I really would like to work with you on behalf of seniors and how we deal with those violations absolutely and I think one of the things we have upcoming I don't think I know is we have we have an automated system that that prints out the notices based on the violation that clicks and with the new system we'll be able to put in new notices okay and one of the things we'll be able to do is have helpful information so if it is say there's just extra garbage right that there could also be helpful information on and you can take it to the drop-off station you can right here are all the different if it's bulk you can put a little you know out and we've worked really hard with with the elderly and others um since we brought Solid Waste in with code where we'll allow them to put out extra bulk on bulk uh week right because they don't have the facilities or the equipment or otherwise maybe to take it to a drop drop off station or someplace like that so I think we can expand that program a little bit more and we've also found by doing it holistically in in some neighborhoods that we see less dumping uh and we see a faster compliance rate so we do know that you got to have the carrot in with with everything else you're doing also to get things done you got to be helpful you got to be courteous got to be kind you got to provide the carrots and everything and the citation is always the last thing I've been at this for for a long time now and I'll tell you we we get beat up more for taking too long than uh being too fast most of the time when it's too fast it's generally the newer offers that just haven't developed that way about how they do things they tell you A commercial got to give me a call Commercial okay all right and I will say I was out on Lindsay uh this week and they're still dumping at the end of the road and so I have my staff working on cleaning that up and the neighborhood president okay he can help and I do expect to hear from you hello Brennan uh a couple questions where do bandit signs and front yard parking rank I don't see them listed here in the priorities and as you and I have discussed many times before in the past there are certain code issues that are prevalent in one area of town versus another so we work collectively with the police department on uh front yard parking a lot of the complaints that come in when the car is actually there and and can be addressed are in the evening and so it's a low priority call it's like a filler call if there's nothing else going on the mpos or the beat officers uh will go on sometimes there's parking officers on at night that can address that during the day when there's other code violations there or the officers aware of it someone makes aware of it they they know it's a problem property and they see it then we'll address it front yard parking is handled through a parking citation so the car has to actually you know be there in the in the in the front yard but we will also stop and give like a notice like a to educate people and stuff bandit signs um it depends on the type of the time of year uh and how bad the bandit signs are so um we will we have we had a couple of volunteers that just did a great job cleaning these up throughout the city uh they're both retired now uh so we're looking for a couple of Replacements uh to do that we have a special truck for them to drive and everything and then second to that the officers will go out and they'll pull up bandit signs so after about 30 days after an election we'll do a sweep of the city to pick up any election signs that haven't been picked up yet by the the elections office um and then certain times a year we got to lose weight work from home sell your brick house or buy my brick house right and and those kind of ebb and flow it's almost like someone stayed up at night and watched late night TV and got this great idea how to get rich and went and put all these signs out and then we have to go and and collect them up we we do know when it comes to bandit signs that um the the the the greatest um benefit or you know to the community is the sooner we get them picked up right and that means that's the least benefit to the person that put the sign out if you if you curtail their ability to make money off putting that sign out then they're least like they're less likely to put that sign out again in the future yeah specifically if uh you could look at the Northeast 28th Street corridors right there you see a lot of prevalence of bandit signs then when you go into certain neighborhoods you will see bandit signs that aren't just stuck into the ground in the right of ways but sometimes they just uh zip tie them to uh you know as City posts as well for our signage yeah and so they they use ladders to put them up high utility poles so we have rakes that we reach up to pull them down with it uh you know it you're right they're creative and and for all of you and the people in the community band of signs are one of those we have the app it helps us right because we're sometimes busy up here with these higher priority calls just to let us know and we'll go sweep the area for them and again that's a good Saturday thing we're on Saturdays Saturday mornings that the officers can go drive the the areas and and pick those up thank you any other questions counsel thanks Brandon okay I want you know I I owe a lot of answers I did get all that written next informal report is on uh convenience fee increase for our pay by phone parking app and Martin Phillips is available if there any questions all right the next informal report is on the expansion of our city of Fort Worth internship program in Diana Giordano is available if there are any questions Elizabeth yeah I have some questions first of all thank you for putting this together um in preparation for uh the onslaught of Summer interns that hopefully we will all get to experience here at the city of Fort Worth um and thank you for making sure that they get paid I think that that's a big distinction in um and how we treat those folks looking for you know resume building and experience opportunities throughout the city I mean it opens that pathway up to so many folks my one question is is it still dependent on the Departments to fund uh these positions or is it part of the program that will we have X number of interns and they kind of go to each department how can you walk me through that yep so it's kind of a um there were two responses to that one there are some City sponsored programs one being kind of the next gen which targets high school students all the way up to college age individuals and that is a paid internship that the city sponsors and so we encourage all of the Departments to participate in this year we have 39 participants that will be participating in this time next month you'll see around the city for the other internships that departments are exploring those are paid at the department level are dependent on the department funding there's many opportunities where schools still require that internship as part of their curriculum credit and so those may or may not have paid internships associated with them but we are encouraging that we've created a job description that lends itself to creating more flexibility as well as a pay range for individuals maybe High School interns 15 an hour and graduate level students in upwards of 20 to 25 so we've created some flexibility for departments we're also looking at programs so we have a program that we're implementing with Tarrant County Workforce Solutions that will create paid internships that they will sponsor on the part of Tarrant County it's up to 12 weeks it's a program that we are advocating for and we're also working also not listed in the IR is a skill bridge program through the Department of Defense we're hoping to get that solidified in the next month or so which will also extend paid opportunities paid by the Department of Defense for individuals that are transitioning out of the military looking for employment opportunities they actually sought out code as a department to participate in so we're working with them to finalize that okay you also set them up with PD as well and fire if they're coming out and looking for jobs absolutely do that we've got two positions awesome thank you I appreciate that uh one more question um in this internship um you said departments is Marion Council included in those departments for uh internships that are um have either curriculum as part of their curriculum program or paid internships those are facilitated through the Human Resources office there's a number of individuals that are seeking just volunteering volunteer opportunities that are unpaid and so those actually go through the community and public engagement Department as they're considered volunteer opportunities and not internships so there's a distinguishing factor between those two but yes Marion Council are included because I had individuals reach out to me so do they need to reach out to to the HR departments what you're saying if they are going to be paid or if it's for curriculum credit then yes they would coordinate back through our HR department okay thank you thank you our next informal report is on random drug and alcohol testing program and once again Diana giordana is available if there's any questions I was trying to give you the signal not to go too far I appreciate you putting this together um and I appreciate you adjusting how we operate to um to better serve our employees the one question that I have is in regards to the CBD policy and I guess the warning that it gives our uh our employees about the use of CBD and how THC could potentially be included in in that drug test and so my question is and I don't know the answer can we adjust the levels at which we would consider what a positive test is so that it accounts for that minute levels of THC that might be included in a um a CBD product yeah so it's one of the criteria that we did evaluate and so when you look at the random drug and alcohol testing through our third party vendor there were two testing criteria that are utilized one is 20 nanograms per milliliter of urine the other is 50. we use the higher threshold as part of that consideration to just working through our third party vendor so if they reach that threshold or exceed that threshold then it would be considered a positive drug test and so are there other cities that use that that there are other cities that use the lower threshold or other entities I shouldn't say cities I know that there are other entities because it's one of the thresholds thresholds that's available we use the higher threshold and does dot set a threshold they do and I'm going to look to my team on the dot threshold do you happen to have that Kelly 50 50. okay so um so we mirror the random to the dot testing threshold and so if we and so dropping it to 20 would make it more sensitive less correct more sensitive okay so we're already at the less sensitive level correct okay um and is there any distinction that can be made so that we can open that CBD up so that people feel comfortable taking those yeah we explored it and I think the one factor that creates some issue is that the THC you can't distinguish the product that it was derived from so if it's showing up in the in the urine sample then it's going to show up as a positive test result the other piece is that we also receive federal funding through grants and as part of that Federal funding we have to comply with the federal drug free workplace act which recognizes THC as a positive marijuana positive test results so we comply with that to ensure that we can continue to receive federal funding okay thank you any other questions all right next is our monthly development activity report and DJ Harrell is available if there any questions I'm giving you more time just in case you want to talk to DJ all right DJ you're off the the next informal report is the proposed formation of historic Fort Worth Stockyards Inc and Dana Bergdorf and Robert Stearns are available if there any questions Dana I'd like for you to come up and kind of brief the Council on where we're at with that please thank you councilmember Flores Dana bergdoff assistant city manager so um for a number of years maybe even decades there's been talk of having a non-profit advocacy and planning and management organization for the the historic Stockyards similar to organizations that we have for other Geographic areas of the city like downtown Fort Worth Inc near South Side Inc and so on and so earlier this year mayor and councilman Flores asked staff to work with Stockyard stakeholders and help support the creation of a non-profit basically a 501c6 membership organization so just so you're aware there's already an existing Business Association we also have the advisory PID board public Improvement District board and so in working with Robert Stearns our recommendation was that we use available funds within the pit 11 Stockyards budget of about fifty thousand dollars to help bring on uh someone who's got experience uh creating these inks and so as staff we recommended looking at Paul Payne who some of you may know was uh prior executive director for near South Side Inc uh former military commanding officer at the joint reserve base and anyway great great management history but also someone who doesn't really have a dog in the hunt if you will uh for the or a horse in the race or a something for the Stockyards and so um Paul's been graciously talking with us and and agreed to take this on as a part-time activity to serve as a interim staff if you will to help get this non-profit created to get the board formed and then have that board go ahead and select its own you know permanent executive director and so we will have action before you next Tuesday for the pit 11 board to to allocate those to amend their budget to allocate those dollars um so he can he can get that conversation started thank you thank you and the final informal report is on renaming the training room at the Hazel Harvey Peace Center for neighborhoods after Lucille Bishop Smith and Victor Turner is available if there are any questions aye Victor good afternoon mayor council yes as part of a historic overlay District several years ago we bought some properties uh with the hfc dollars and part of that we had to honor Lucille Bishop Smith we had a marker in Evans Rosedale Plaza and we're also renaming a room on the second floor of Hazel Harvey peace after her so we have a very nice design and and marker and tribute wall uh that hfc dollars have paid for honoring her her uh Legacy I just want you to know that a lot of people are probably Dead who bought chili biscuits I was one of them and you know I'm not dead yet but she even had a billboard and served the White House with with her unique recipes and so I think people like uh Sarah Walker you know can round up the team and make sure all of those around are around for your celebration and I believe she was the first African-American female member of the Fort Worth chamber that's right congratulations Pastor Nettles no thank you this is a a great thing to see the Fort Worth is doing I remember we was trying to rename uh Hillside I think Dave was at one of the meetings and they talked about Miss Smith and all things she did in the community center and in the kitchen and so uh showing her love here at hazy Harford peace it's a great honor so thank you thank you thanks Victor mayor that concludes my report thanks David I think our first presentation well first any questions on the upcoming MNC log from Council okay let's move into the tenure review of tax rates property values assessed net taxable values and exemptions Mark McDaniel no lab coat today I see no lab coat it's in the office but I can bring it back uh so um Marion Council good afternoon I want to take just a moment to introduce you to a couple of new folks that have just joined our team uh the team is really coming on strong in terms of new people uh but not um new faces I think some of these individuals you'll recognize so if I if I could just quickly introduce first of all Christians Simmons uh Christian is returning home to a city of Fort Worth after being the assistant director in the police department she has her MPA from UNT And a ba and Bs from Texas Women's University so Christian you want to come up to the podium there and just say hello hello so everybody knows who you are good afternoon mayor and Council yes I'm super happy to be back with City Fort Worth um it's super meaningful to be serving in my hometown I graduated from Southwest High School like a number of people here um and yeah that's what's up uh yeah so really excited to help Implement your priorities uh through the Fort Worth lab thank you thank you Christian and then secondly Ashley Clement who has been with the city almost 10 years now both in financial management management services and in budget she has served as interim assistant director in the lab for since March and has done a fantastic job so she is taking on an assistant director as well while Christiane will be over operating budget we'll have Ashley to take the lead with the capital budget so Ashley you want to step up to the podium real quick so everybody can see who you are good afternoon mayor council Ashley Clement I'm just really excited to be offered this opportunity to collaborate with City departments and move us forward and work with everybody on the team thank you Ashley okay um so um Mr city manager did you want to make any opening remarks on this one the opportunity so the purpose of this presentation this afternoon is really background information and can and to provide some context this is the time of year where all the appraisal districts like the turn Appraisal District the Denton Appraisal District the park Parker Appraisal District have sent mail out to all the property owners in those respective counties and for us that's the city of Fort Worth and so that value of property creates a lot of conversation as you can expect and a property owner is now having to decide of whether they protest that value that they've been sent in the mail or do whatever we're just wanting to provide some background and context and so we're going to look historically at what we've done here in Fort Worth no decisions are pending related to the information that you'll see today so it's just for background and context how about that thank you very much so just uh to go recap on who's involved a lot of different players here from the city of course to the state to the Tarrant County and of course all of our appraisal districts that we work with in the surrounding counties so this is how everybody works together throughout the process the state obviously you know they established the law um truth and Taxation laws and other laws related to taxing um then we also have the appraisal districts which are independent and we work with all of them um not just Tarrant um to and they all report a little bit differently so it can be challenging but this process is fairly smooth so and we'll talk about what they do exactly in a moment and then we've got Fort Worth who's the actual taxing unit you all set the tax rate and have a couple at least one other lever that you might consider in the process we'll talk about that in a moment and then of course your assessor and collector who actually collects and distributes the levy so this is the calendar it's a little busy but you can see at the bottom there that just the full year what happens and the different phases we are in the highlighted area that says Equalization as the city manager just mentioned this is the period where um the protests are heard through July and then the certified role is provided July 25th so the manager has to have a budget to you all as a recommended spending plan in August so it's a really tight window once we get that certified role and finalize the numbers for your consideration so the departments at this point have submitted their budgets and we're in that process of looking at funding requests but at the same time we've got this significant Revenue source that is won't be settled until much later but right now is the time for appraisals and then you can see tax rates are adopted and and levied in the September July through September time frame and under the assessment and then collection begins so in general this isn't the case with every city but it has been with Fort Worth particularly in recent years as property values increase the tax rate typically has gone down especially again in recent years so this is kind of the mindset that we have as we're putting the budget together um as you look at those folks that assess um taxes are not assessed but um adopt a tax rate because the appraisal district actually does the assessment but you can see here Fort Worth makes up the majority it's actually been fairly stable went up to 50 of the total Now 49 uh Fort Worth at the bottom there in red has gone down from 29 to 27 percent uh in large part due to dropping the tax rate even though values have gone up this is a busy slide but I just want to focus primarily on the the tail end here with the yellows bars on the caps this is the yellow is adoption of the rollback rate on the the pay as you go rate um which was new for Fort Worth and trying to pay cash for improvements um and then um you can just see overall a 17 rate reduction between 2010 and 23 which is you don't see this very often in in the municipal world and it's really quite an accomplishment especially when you look all the way back to the 90s when it was up at 96 cents total this is a graph showing you some of that information in more recent years uh the line that's uh vertical they're in the middle of gray is when sb2 was adopted and adjusted the cap you can see others were already going down at the same time and Fort Worth has gone from the highest among the top 10 cities now to you know middle of the pack and heading further down so this again is quite an accomplishment now this is appraised value over time in terms of the types of properties so the darker gray at the top is residential then you have personal property in the in this the smaller light gray and then commercial is your beige color so definitely are seeing this is tax year so this would be fiscal year 23 on the last bar uh and so you can see obviously that we've we've had value grow over time particularly for residential but also for commercial as well and these are just the counts so that you can get idea about you know how many Parcels not not the total value but just the count of parcels so we use that to to do a lot of assessment in terms of what's Happening okay so it all ends with this when you look at the top bar that's going to be your total appraised value and then the kind of orange color there that's going to be your taxable value so in between are all your exemptions which will go into more detail in a moment and then if you use the axis on the right where it says millions that refers to the green area at the bottom which is the actual Revenue that's collected and so you see a red little chip there on the right it's there's a it's a range because it's to be determined we don't know where that roll is going to come in and we certainly don't know exactly what tax rate you all will adopt at this point yeah this is by County so we're seeing um Denton County is coming on a little stronger the six percent of the total now Parker is around one percent but by and large it's all tarant as you see here orange would be um Denton County and then this is New Growth blue is residential orange is commercial so year by year what we're seeing in terms of new growth um and the estimate is uh for 24 again because values haven't been completely determined the role's not been certified uh this is just another way of looking at new growth as a percent of existing value so it's a little hard to see at the top of the each of those bars you there's a green color and that's the percent or the yeah the the value that's new and then on the right is was what percent that represents at the total so roughly two and a half percent of the total all right so let's talk a little bit about exemptions now so the city does um have a role in this in terms of the exemptions you all um have adopted the maximum homestead exemption of 20 percent um with a minimum of five thousand and also back in the 80s uh you increased your over 65 disabled persons exemptions to forty thousand dollars um and then there's also a tax ceiling in place so this would be the tax amount on the house not the rate or the value but what they're paying is frozen and if it goes down then it can go down but it can never go up so this is some of the trends in Tarrant County um out of all the jurisdictions the 41 municipalities um 50 56 percent have the homestead exemption the average is 15 and Fort Worth is higher at the max of 20 percent 93 have the over 65 exemption the average is a little over 40 000 uh and Fort Worth is right at forty thousand so there's a little bit of room here on this one that I'll go into in more detail in a moment and then um same for the disabled person's exemption um Fort Worth is actually well above the average on that okay so this just gives you an idea about how many individuals take advantage of these exemptions um when it comes to the homestead 55 percent of your residential inventory um and then the over 65 16 and then the disabled person's exemption uh one percent this is a picture of the exemptions so the the bottom part of the bar there the lighter blue that's the value after all the exemptions the darker gray piece right above it is going to be other types of exemptions primarily um those properties that are 100 tax exempt absolute this would be non-profit property that sort of thing uh University that's that sort of thing then um but you do see at the very top there in Orange over 65 and disabled and the uh Homestead is the bigger piece at the very top so it has grown incrementally uh it's just harder to see because of the the way this is uh displayed but if we were to break those out you'd be able to see the bigger distinction as it has grown uh the next one is the residential cab so there is a 10 cap on appraisals right so if even if the praise District comes out and says well this house is now worth 15 more 20 more um it can only be taxed ten percent more each year uh and so you can see the estimate right now with the preliminary role for 24. it it's uh pretty high um and so but this so this is not taxed it's it's kind of reserved it's kind of pulled out of the equation so they'll see it on the bill as far as the total value but the bill would not include this amount and so um and it but it can catch up to them the following year so I want to talk a little bit about some of those levers that the council has you don't have any control over the appraisal it's an independent totally independent exercise that the appraisal districts conduct once they're through here in their protests and UE get that certified role in July the managers budgets presented um you'll see all that detail but one option that you would have in the process is you could increase that over 65 exemption and just to give you the value of that exemption for each five thousand dollars on an individual home that'd be reduced 36 dollars um and we have again 45 000 accounts um for the over 65 exemptions so that equates to 1.6 million dollars loss but that might be an option for you to consider in terms of that population there are cities in Texas that have have larger than 40 000 um which is what you all have and uh but you are um you're just a little bit below the average for Tarrant County so something to think about this was again 1984 when it was last increased Mark what's the maximum increase you can create for a cap for 65 and older I don't think there is one mayor um Dennis was helpful in helping us research that further there's one city in Texas that's got one at 162 000. okay so yeah that's awful thank you yeah um okay now um the other option of course that the council would have is to reduce the property tax rate just like the council has done for the last several years so on the left there's a snip of the graph you saw earlier where the tax rate was coming down since 2014. it's dropped 14.25 cents so on the new estimated tax roll again it's still not finalized because people are protesting and it's not certified but one penny would be worth 12 million versus 10 million in the current year so a little bit higher obviously for for one penny and then of course if we had the kid the city still had that 14.25 or cents on its rate that's 172 million dollars that you've made sure that the residents kept um and and weren't taxing so um but that's an option for you in the process as you look at the final roll as it comes out if you want to play with those levers of the exemptions and the tax rate uh that would be the the council uh your discretion uh just a little bit more information about the average home value in the current year is 186 000 and then the average home value uh for at least an estimate for the coming years 221 or 22. one thing I might mention here is that appraisals are done in January so we all know the Market's changing right and so that's something to be thinking about too as we go through the process and you all establish policy around spending in the budget plan oh so just to recap again where we are in the process we'll finish up this Equalization component and then receive that assessed or certified role in July and then proceed through the the balance of the process and then just in closing before taking questions I do want to mention that Renee and his group have been putting information out to our residents about how to protest if that's what they want to do and what's their what their rights are and so that period is still open and um we've been making sure that people know about that there's also a historic tax exemption that's available that Renee has shared with folks as well and that's the presentation so be happy to ask answer any questions questions from Council go ahead Carlos good morning thank you for the presentation as you know the council has prioritized us trying to shift the tax burden more so on Commercial properties versus Residential Properties however we're in a situation where the evaluation you know of properties keeps going up you know and residents are hard hit so that that higher rate you know evaluation is what I'm after just by scanning the bar graphs that you had right there you know I can't extract you know a quantitative number you know from from that uh from that increase but can you give us some detail I mean are we losing ground to the rate of increase you know when you look at Residential Properties versus what's going on with commercial properties I'm trying to see you know comparatively are we gaining ground losing ground in in that pursuit of trying to shift that burden because of the way that existing property has been being revalued I don't think you are gaining but in terms of inventory and in commercial growth you know I think the city's doing a great job overall but you know because it's not really new growth on the residential so much as it is on existing property and that's why you know I I don't want to speak for the city manager but I'll bet he's looking at a tax rate decrease for next year uh for that reason and um and and then also you all might want to look closer at that exemption on the residential at least for the elderly understood thank you so just adding to that to councilmember Flores I do think if you look at existing properties uh residential is appreciating at a faster rate than commercial so we are losing ground when it's it when it's existing values we've done pretty good over the last number of years of New Growth the proportion being commercial as opposed to residential but we lose ground once it's an existing value and it's growing at a faster rate just from a conceptual standpoint too right we talk about the state and we do have Revenue caps right that got imposed a number of years ago and essentially what the state has said is you can capture three and a half percent of that existing growth right the idea is that's going to get kept at three and a half percent and then you get a hundred percent of the new growth right so what's going on right now is you're having protests of the new growth and you're having protests of the existing values the idea is the revenue cap is the three and a half plus all 100 percent of the new growth so we'll have a better feel in July what those numbers look like too questions Council thank you Mark thank you okay mayor I do have one thing I'd like to say as part of this I do think we should explore the the raising the exemptions for over 65 and disabled you kind of lump them together but probably as part of budget process we can assess that out a little bit but I do think that at least in that sense if we aren't keeping up with what other cities and I think you look you average cost of a home or I just wrote down some numbers quickly 186 versus 221 the appraised values are going up so I I know I hear it I'm sure my colleagues here too from their constituents of the pressures they're seeing but I would like to see that as part of the package and then options too I'm hopeful that the state does something in the next couple weeks or in a special session or whatever that looks like but what are the options across the board for us as we go through the budget process to give property tax relief thanks thanks thank you next step is an overview of credit rating agency meetings with Reggie Zeno good afternoon mayor and Council today this afternoon I'll just take take us through uh really brief overview of the credit rating agency process that we've utilized this year uh basically um we have we started out with you know we work within an annual business cycle and of course we started out at the beginning of the year with the adopted budget that went through uh the the various processes to arrive at the annual operating in capital budgets we Then followed that up with an assessment and an evaluation of the prior fiscal year where we ultimately uh produce an annual financial report we completed the external audit with the third party auditor CPA outside auditing firm internally we provide and review some monthly Financial reports and then of course there's an ongoing fiscal analysis and budget monitoring that takes place within the Fort Worth lab operation we then begin to look at some long-term financial planning within the treasury division within Finance We Begin developing the debt capacity model which lays the foundation for any future debt obligations that we would present to council for action uh and then of course we we did uh complete and present the council a debt plan uh that incorporated all of the various components of the recent uh Bond issuance and of course we're we're now in the fourth leg of this cycle uh and that would be the debt issuance uh process that I'll briefly review this afternoon and uh most of the data that I'll be reviewing had previously been sent to council members I think David Cook sent an email providing most of this data uh probably a week ago but we wanted to provide a brief overview at the work session currently the city is within the high investment grade we're at the Double A within the double a category and it straddles uh that category but uh just really proud to indicate that we are at a very high investment grade which affords US an opportunity for the lowest possible rates as it relates when we do issue bonds uh for uh the 23 Bond issuance process we secured uh ratings from three rating agencies uh s p Moody's and Crow we have in the past used the fourth agency Fitch and we rotate the ratings among the four rating agencies and this is obviously a requirement prior to issuing uh bonds into the marketplace this is just a brief overview of the various matters that we covered with the rating agencies we met back on April 21st uh we had a day-long session with the three agencies where City departments presented uh various items for anything from the economic development plan to plans uh for the culture and tourism we did review some pension and opep plans and funding issues and of course we reviewed any FY 23 updated budget analysis as well as a brief overview of FY 22 results and then of course we had an excellent presentation from the water and sewer group Department in an overview of the key financial and operational metrics as well as additionally an outstanding presentation from within the drainage storm water operation because those two groups were actually issuing bonds as well ultimately the rating agencies maintain the city's current rating which is you know we're really proud of that achievement but basically the ratings were consistent with prior years and we receive those ratings actually last week uh just some brief commentary uh from within you know we we tried to summarize the rating comments uh from the three agencies and they were pretty consistent across the board uh within the general obligation uh Bond issuances the city was credited with strong financial management policies uh really within North Texas a really robust economic growth and a very strong financial reserves and liquidity which actually is really a strong point of the city's financial credit rating some concerns related to pension contributions Council heard a little bit about that earlier this morning from the Retirement Board but there is a concern if you will with the current unfunded uh pension liability which is a concern for from that many other cities have if they are actually managing a pension system but but generally excellent comments from the rating agencies relative to the city's General obligation Water and Sewer again consistent positive comments regarding strong financial management and capital uh planning you know probably the the one area that was suggested as a potential concern would be some of the financial margins that are currently healthy but we are anticipating to issue some future debt for plans that are underway for various components of the water system and drainage also um presented uh a brief discussion with the rating agencies and again consistent uh comments strong financial management favorable debt service coverage ratios on gross and net revenues and a manageable debt profile there were some concerns about enhancing some of the debt service reserves there were some also some concerns over liquidity levels that were somewhat below the peer group but overall excellent ratings from the credit rating agencies uh just to look forward actually I'm gonna discuss the pricing that we did actually receive on the general obligation bonds and actually water and water and sewer and storm water pricing of bonds will actually take place tomorrow and then closing on both of those a little shy of a month later as it relates to the pricing results on the general obligation we did receive we had three separate series within the general obligation category uh the Morgan Stanley submitted to Lois uh true interest costs at 3.47 percent for the general purpose bonds that rate was actually slightly less than the rate we received last year which was somewhat of a surprise to us but it again speaks to the really strong uh rating that we currently are receiving from the rating agencies but we were a little somewhat surprised that that rate is slightly lower than last year the certificates of obligation came in at 3.67 and the winning bidder was Wells Fargo we don't really have a comparable there we have an issue uh COs in several years and with text notes the rate came in at 2.67 percent the winning bidder J.P Morgan and that rate was slightly higher than uh in Prior use uh all of the various credit rating agency reports are available on the city's investor relations webpage along with the actual ratings presentation that was provided to the rating agencies back in April as well as the debt financing plan overview that was actually presented to council and all of those reports are available as I indicated on the Fort Worth Texas bonds.com webpage questions questions for Reggie no thank you very much Reggie for all your hard work and David too okay next we have a presentation on a proposed economic development program agreement with Casco Land Company I think Michael Henning is going to lead us through this economic development manager uh so the purpose of this presentation is to discuss a proposed economic development program agreement supporting the proposed next phase of development for Clear Fork so just to orient you to the area that we're talking about here it's really about a 25 acre portion of the broader 50 Acre Site that you see outlined and right here which of course is Northeast and adjacent to the existing first phase development for Clear Fork and just to refresh everybody's memory on that initial phase that was about a 300 million mixed use development and it was first proposed back in 2014 and was completed in 2018 and that first phase was made possible by a 15-year chapter 380 economic development program agreement that grants up to 80 percent of all the new property taxes and sales taxes generated by that project um that initial incentive agreement was capped at 48 million dollars and so far to date uh about 7.7 million dollars of that has been paid out to the developer in that time the city is netted uh approximately two million dollars of net new tax revenue from this project um there had always been plans really from the beginning for eventual phases to uh to come down the road it's really a question of uh the scope and uh the the timing of those subsequent phases uh and of course ultimately it's a business decision that's made by the property owners by the development team uh that is driven by a question of uh just the broader economic environment as well as uh pretty critically the opportunity to secure anchor tenants that are necessary for these kinds of developments to really be able to be in position to move forward um and so that's really what brings us here today is an ability it's an opportunity to be able to discuss a this uh new phase of development that is being prompted by an ability to um to secure the key to make this broader proposed phase two work so just to go into a little more detail about what is being proposed for phase two it amounts of being approximately a 400 million mixed use development on as I mentioned about 25 acres and the uh overall plan is to deliver a mix of office and Retail uses as well as multifamily and then here's where things get begin to get a little bit interesting uh a mixed-use automobile showroom a set of showrooms and in garage service centers now I mentioned the the critical importance of anchor tenants to mix YouTube mixed-use developments like this that are highly dependent on uh retail functioning um the way that that has typically happened in the past is you go out as a developer and you secure a major retailer to be able to serve that that component somebody that will drive foot traffic and drive activity to the site and then use that activity to be able to support the surrounding tenants um that's a little more difficult in recent years particularly as traditional anchors have been quite a bit less Dependable uh when it comes to expansion so your your large anchor soft goods retailers your department stores haven't exactly been in expansion mode uh for for many years now so that's LED developers to get a little creative on on where they might go to to secure an anchor tenant to serve that role in this particular case what is being proposed is to bring in several auto dealerships effectively but to incorporate them into a mixed-use urban walkable form that you typically find more in much larger Urban settings like Chicago or New York versus Fort Worth Texas the the challenge of doing so of course is that that kind of development requires quite a bit more investment to be able to make that a compelling option versus a more Suburban location for that kind of a auto dealership ordinarily again with anchor tenants the development developer is usually looking to provide those anchors with the most favorable terms either within their lease or if they're participating in the construction of the broader project they're really looking for terms that um that can that just make the numbers work for that development for that particular tenant to come in as I said to be able to really generate value on the surrounding development that that would produce and so being able to find a way of delivering those entertainments on terms that are competitive with alternative sites is really critical to that entertainment making a decision to move forward as part of this proposed development now of course there's additional value that that uh in our dealership uh would have by being located in this kind of environment uh namely people are more likely to drop in and take a look by chance at a a vehicle showroom if they are eating dinner next door or if they're shopping at a retailer nearby then pulling off the freeway to be able to take a look at um you know what what happens to be in the auto dealership without declare time so there is there's value to the dealerships by being there but to make it compatible with a mixed use development of the kind that would be expected for Clear Fork that that's a more intense level of development and of course a higher level of investment and so what that has produced in this particular case is approximately a 22.4 million dollar gap between what would be typically expected for these anchor tenants to be able to locate in this phase of development versus an alternative now just to give you a little bit of a sense of exactly how all this would lay out and how you fit uh Auto showrooms and auto service centers into a walkable walkable mixed use environment uh you can see here the portion that we're talking about is really this area that is outlined in red here as being what is being proposed for this phase two of development and you'll notice kind of splatter throughout our uh several actually five logos related to Premium Auto Dealerships that are currently founded here in Fort Worth and we'll go into a little more detail about exactly that here in a moment zooming in here a little bit closer you can see exactly how the layout would relate to the surrounding retail that um that fits in between them as well as the location of the service centers within the parking garage uh behind the the showrooms and the retail centers themselves now question as to who these dealerships are we actually turn north of the site up to uh effectively the area around White Settlement and University to the collection of auto dealerships known as the Audubon group now what is being proposed is the relocation of this of this existing set of dealerships from this site to either the proposed next phase of development at Clear Fork or an alternative site that is located outside of the city of Fort Worth um that is in a more traditional Suburban type of arrangement in all this for a business about 17 Acres of property that with this relocation would then be made available for redevelopment to give you a sense of the look and feel of this development and how the auto showrooms interact with the pedestrian Realms it's going to give you a sense of how this plays out as a mixing development you can see here that it really breathes more like a retail shopping experience more so than your traditional Autos dealership I'll just fly through these a little bit just to give you a sense it's it's largely consistent with what is there on the ground today in the first phase of development the idea is to create a a generally seamless pedestrian experience from a mixed-use urban standpoint now just to drill in a little bit more on the impact of relocating uh this particular set of properties and this particular set of businesses from their existing location near White Settlement today the appraisal approximately just under 13 million dollars in property value the city is collecting approximately ninety two thousand dollars of uh new uh ninety two thousand dollars of property taxes and approximately one hundred thirty two thousand dollars in sales taxes and so ultimately this is not necessarily um a major tax generator for the city so much as it is being viewed as being a a way of accelerating this proposed new phase of development for this broader uh approximately 400 million dollar development so just to go through some of the broader terms of uh what what does spring propose for this second phase of development um the expectation would be the delivery of a minimum 350 million dollars of uh new mixed use development on 25 acres uh 275 million dollars of which must be hard construction costs now that's really going to be delivered into two kind of sub phases uh the first of which we're calling phase 2A which would be delivered by no later than the end of 2026 in which would consist of approximately 150 of a minimum rather uh 150 000 square feet of new commercial space uh 200 000 square feet of new automobile showroom space and service space uh so a minimum 1750 space parking garage and collectively between those uses a minimum of 225 million dollars in new uh and total development costs must be delivered to the site as part of that initial phase 2A by two years later an additional 150 000 square feet of commercial would need to be developed as well as delivery of a pro of a minimum 350 new multi-family units and the total combined value of the development must hit a minimum 350 million dollars of new of total development costs to be able to achieve the maximum incentive that it's being proposed if the developer does not deliver phase two then the right of the proposed incentive would be produced by 20 we'll we'll go through the break out of that here in just a moment uh the developer would also be committing to a minimum 15 of all hard and soft costs going to business Equity firms in return for the developer Meeting those commitments uh Steph is proposing a 15-year 380 that's based on up to 80 percent of the incremental mno uh avalorum says just the maintenance and operations portion of the city's tax rate so unlike the first phase of development we're not talking about the entire Avalon taxes that the city received so effectively we're talking about a 60 rate if you compare it to the overall um tax property taxes the city would be collecting and this staff is proposing to cap that at 22 million dollars which based on forecasts of um of this value being delivered would amount to approximately 14.2 million dollars on that present value basis now the proposed grants would exclude any of the portion of the development that would be delivered that would be associated with the multi-family portions of the project and as I just mentioned if the developer delivers the first phase two a then they would be eligible for receiving the maximum proposed rate of 80 percent of that mno taxes if the developer this if the developer meets the minimum requirements for phase 2B then they're able to maintain that 80 right but of course if they do not then it would be reduced down to a 60 rate applicable only to the value that was delivered for phase one right and so really what you're seeing here is a performance-based incentive that's being proposed that is ultimately a function of what are they delivering are they meeting the minimum uh commitments and then how much value is ultimately being generated by the investment the only way that they get to the cap of 22 million dollars is by delivering the the new taxes that would be necessary to actually generate that amount and so it's combined in coming out on the developer to be able to produce a value that they're ultimately relying on to be able to make their numbers work so to summarize the overall terms of The Proposal the development which consists of a minimum 350 million dollars in Real Property improvements to be able to earn the maximum rate of incentive uh which as I mentioned would be delivered in really kind of two sub-phases um the first consisting of a minimum 225 million dollars in total development costs followed by the second which gets them up to 350 million dollars until development costs the proposed incentive would would result in a maximum uh Grant paid to the developer over 15-year period of 22 million dollars which again is approximately 14.2 on a Net Present Value basis which based on the proposed investment would be result in a city participation rate of approximately 5.1 percent or a 17 to 1 private to public ratio net of the incentives that are being proposed and based on the programming that is being proposed by the developer in terms of new retail and new investment uh Steph's is Staff has estimated that the city will receive over this 15-year period just under 15 million dollars in new uh property taxes from this new phase of development again this is completely excluding any of phase one this is completely excluding any value that's being received now so we're only talking about net new taxes that this proposed incentive would be facilitating but then on top of that um an estimated 10 million dollars in net new sales taxes generated for the combined 25 million dollars in net new taxes to the city over that time period um the payback period based off of those estimates well would be right at about five years so a way of looking at this is that the the city is effectively made whole five years into this 15-year agreement and everything above that is net profit to the city and so staff is recommending this as a way to accelerate the investment that is being proposed by the developer and to be able to make this make it possible for this development to happen now as opposed to uh some years further down the road and based on the proposed uses that the developer would be committing to as part of the proposed agreement so staff is recommending that the city enter into the economic development program agreement with Casco Land Company the proposed timeline would be the places either on the May 23rd or on the June 13th Council agenda for consideration and so with that I'm happy to answer any questions any questions for Michael Council no thanks for the hard work oh go ahead Elizabeth hey Michael I just have a couple of questions um specific to you mentioned that traditional anchors aren't expanding right now sorry Chris's hair is in the way exactly uh you said that uh your hair was in the way Chris traditional anchors aren't really expanding right now and so my question is should is the response to that finding different non-traditional anchors which we're doing here or is it a more appropriated response to really look at how we're developing these types of locations to not have these large-scale anchors but to to be you know built differently and that really dovetails into the next one is so we build these dealerships in this facility let's say one of them was at their VW I think that was on the list wasn't it yes okay so save BW decides to go out of business for whatever reason now we have what do we do with that space that we built to be a car dealership and I don't I don't want another empty we've seen them around the city and we certainly don't want them there in what is a very new um development and so I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on that sure that's a great question so um I'll take those in turn so the first question about um well does does the old model really work right when it comes to relying on uh larger footprint anchors to be able to be the solution to make these projects work um and and I don't want to get too focused on on the overall size necessarily because well yeah this does collectively um represent a large portion of the overall footprint of the development um I I think you could argue it's still smaller than probably what you would see from a a large department store or at least back if this were say uh Circa 2000 or something on on that order so I think really the way of looking at it is more about the the intensity of activity that that anchor draws to the area and then the compatibility of that foot traffic with surrounding uses and so you know I I'm not sophisticated enough uh as a when it comes to real estate finance and real estate development to be able to offer up a a game-changing model when it comes to um you know where where large footprint uh mixed use retail might be able to go today versus uh some of what's being looked at nationally but uh I think the general idea is to um accept as a developer of kind of this broader set of acreage that you're not going to make a whole lot of money off of key retailers or key draws to the uh to the property um but you rely on them to be able to to make the rest of it work and so whether that is a department store or whether that is a cultural asset or an entertainment center there's been a lot of developers I've taken kind of an increasingly creative approach to trying to find a new model that works because the old one just you know can't be relied on as I had been in the past um this is something we really haven't seen in Texas um as I said you you would typically find this kind of of Highly Urban oriented auto dealership in an area like down like Chicago or or Manhattan it's not to find this in Texas you see a few smaller scale one-offs and Tesla showrooms for instance they've got a good example of that they were kind of an early tenant in the domain in Austin which is very comparable mixed use development is this but I I would kind of Point more to the the anchor as being a draw more so than it just taking up a lot of space Michael I think one way to say it is they're building this is a retail box that can be used for example if if a car dealership does go away it could be used as other for other retail uses correct and it never gets to your second question which is just the adaptability of the space itself and I think that's part of the added expense of an auto dealership building into a location like this is that once you're building it to function as it makes you space it just so happens to be being filled and being used as an auto showroom um but to to your example if you know this auto dealership or Auto showroom were to um were to fail for whatever reason then how do you backfill that space and in a lot of ways it really the answer to that question is it it's much like you would approach it if it were any other major tenant within that particular property so you you build the space so that it could evolve and be able to be adaptable to multiple tenants um and so this is not so uniquely designed that it can only ever be an auto dealership or an auto service station um I think if anything it actually gives us kind of some creative examples to be able to point to for how we can bring what has traditionally been very Suburban forms of development into a more urban excuse walkable form and also to be able to make more creative use of of garages which depending on on how things go in the future you know perhaps we won't see them being used as much for for you know individual storage of people's cars uh we might be needing to find some creative ways of uh putting garages to use and this could be able to serve in a as a good example for exactly that right it's not on the idea is that that these anchors will drive additional development so that's why we want to put this agreement in place because we're going to build these car dealerships and then it's going to attract the retail to come later because that's exactly right so is there any other place that you can point us to where car dealerships have spurred retailed development um I I really can't because as I mentioned there really is not um a good example within a comparable Market that I would point to I'm not gonna I love Fort Worth but I'm not gonna go so far as to comparison to Chicago or Manhattan right we're not there yet um but um I I think in terms of the volume of um of business that they do it's it's reasonable to expect that that would bring the kind of foot traffic that a developer would rely on I think for anybody who is taking their car to get repairs done and how to sit in the waiting room for an hour two hours three hours depending on on how talented the mechanic is you can understand that um uh there are many more things that people would rather do than just sit there waiting for their never to be called and I think that the development team here is expecting that exactly having that kind of a captive Market serves well for the type of of retailers that they would expect to go out and recruit to fill the remaining spaces so there'll be Maintenance and Service on site which is while they're not just showrooms that's exactly right so Maintenance and Service is what would be and I can go ahead and go back to the site plan and make it a little bit easier to see here you can see here in the garage is where uh within a portion of the garage is where the service would be located and so it's not it's not going to be be a situation to where uh somebody's going from a restaurant down to a soft goods retailer and passing by somebody who's doing an oil change right that's all really happening behind the scenes how does that environmentally impact the future use of that if we weren't using them as car dealerships I can't really speak to the environmental impact of this um I mean it's currently AG land right now and so I think based on the proposed commercial use uh you know I think it's reasonable to expect that we continue to be used for as a commercial use um whether or not that has any kind of implications for whether or not that would be um maintain as as residential ready I might sweep it in here and save you Michael for a minute I think one important piece here is the developer partner we have here with Casco and Edwards family have been some of the most environmentally sensitive in this particular property and in my conversations with them they would never put anything here that would put the rest of their development at Jeopardy especially near the banks of the Trinity River so I know that that's one consideration and then also the due diligence that they've created here and making sure that this is the future of retail an outdoor mall space that has completely changed across the country and I think their partnership not just with Casco but with Simon and others to make this development possible in phase two and ultimately to phase three I know they're quite excited about that and in these situations I think our important position is really the public policy decision of whether or not we think as a partner we should be there in the second and third phase which I do believe we should be but leaning on our private sector Partners who've done the research due diligence over the last really 10 years to get us to this place and very important questions that councilman Beck has raised but I think some of these are really outside the scope and what this body should be considering in terms of what Market looks like in Phase One and phase two and this really I'm calling it phase two and phase three because it's a continuation of our Casco development um project and how this partnership has continued over the last 10 years me yes Gina I have been waiting with baited breath when you look at I don't know how the numbers are going to True up but I like the idea of us being made whole in five years you know I I can anticipate living that long uh what all right my stuff don't get near my drink but what I'm just real proud of Staff because what they've done is stretch and we've been telling them be creative do something different now I can visualize this on Rodeo Drive okay I I can I can see this now whether or not the passive customer is going to just drop in and buy a beamer I don't know but the idea that staff is moving us in a direction that takes us away from the traditional development and it excites me to see them being creative now I do believe every question that councilmember Beck asked and you had to say well I don't know well you got to find out and not that you're doing research but at least have something to compare to give a level of comfort I've I like the idea I think it's very exciting I think it's pushing us into a whole new era for Fort Worth and we're now going Beyond Cowboys and culture I think it rocks it takes me back to to La when I would go to the jewelry district or you know the fur District so I I commence that for just being not so waiting for that phone call what a deal they're making a deal so I'm I'm in I think councilmember crane had a question he already talked he talked when I had my hand up any other questions thank you Michael thank you okay our next presentation is going to be led by Diana and Val Washington continuation or discussion on the office of police oversight monitor director Recruitment and communication plan okay I'm going to provide an update on the office of police oversight monitor executive Search recruitment the process associated with it and just some timeline for next steps and so first we'll kind of just talk some some about the background in the history of the office of the police oversight monitor it was established in February of 2020 um by city code in the office actually employed not only the monitor but there was a dish seven staff to support that function as well as a million dollar budget the whole vision for the office of police oversight monitor office was to provide oversight and accountability respectively of the Fort Worth Police Department in addition it was to also serve as a proactive leader in law enforcement specifically for the residents that this office would serve and then some of the tasks also included kind of looking at ways to enhance our relationships with the community in in different residents throughout to ensure that there was engagement in conversation and dialogue and discussions around any concerns that they may have had amongst a number a host of other responsibilities so as you know um Kim nil Departed the city of Fort Worth in December of 2022 and immediately following we engaged the services of ref Telus as the executive Search firm to look for the replacement for Kim nail between the months of January through April there was a number series of discussions that took place with ref Telus in the recruiter Pamela Weidman who serves as the executive search for the position to look at candidate profile just with the recruitment methodology would look like where we would advertise the positions in how we would select candidates that process took place and we received over 114 applications of Interest so a very diverse candidate pool and I think that speaks a lot that's a testament to the work that Kim Neal performed as well as the staff that continues to be a valuable contributor to the city of Fort Worth with just that volume of candidates that applied in expressed interest and just that you know those 114 applicants that came from across 20 different states and majority of them came from the state of Texas but a very large population of candidates to consider across a large population of the the United States in a very diverse makeup of individuals part of the effort to kind of dwindle down that 114 candidates was to look at identifying semi-finalists and so we've identified six individuals to meet with uh panel interviews on the 19th which is Friday of this week and that will be to identify final lists to put before the community Marin Council other department heads and City management as well as just interested residents and so I'm going to talk about all of those steps that will be involved to identify a candidate that can fill the big shoes that Kim nil left so one of the first things that you'll see that's going to be part of the community effort is going to be a meet and greet with open staff so we want to make sure that any of the finalists that are identified that they have an opportunity to meet with the seven staff members that have continued to carry the torch while that position has been vacant on May the 31st is when the finalists will come in from 2 30 to 3 30 at future city hall they'll have an opportunity to meet with open staff following from four to five we'll have a meet and greet with mayor and Council invitation should have been sent and should be on your calendars now in addition we'll also extend or have extended that invite to department heads and members of City management to include City manager's office in the assistant city managers as well as the department heads across the city following that we'll have a dinner engagement with those finalists and this is kind of just an informal opportunity for individuals to interact with the individuals and the and the candidates that are make it to that round this is hosted by the greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church and the north Texas Community Foundation that'll be immediately following the city manager mayor and Council engagement so we'll have the staff we'll have a staff member shuttle candidates between the locations but that'll be May 31st 5 30 to 6 30 2001 Bonnie Brie Avenue participants include members of the police executive team so members of their Command Staff will be included as well as City manager's office and then the Coalition of unity and Justice members we've included on the next slide just who those individuals are and you'll see a number of representatives from different organizations to include arborlawn United Methodist Church Broadway Baptist Church bread Fellowship of Fort fourth Community Front Line invites were sent out as well as the Como First Missionary Baptist Church Dei Consultants enough is enough for St John Cathedral a number of other organizations and these are just Representatives that we sent specific invites to but there was an opportunity for them to extend invites to other members of their organizations they felt would be critical in including in the dinner and the informal opportunity to meet with the candidates following that event we'll have from 7 to 9 pm at the Como Community Center a public engagement Forum this is open to all members of the public so anyone that has an interest in participating or being public or present has an opportunity to attend that's from seven to nine PM their Como Community Center we will have a moderator prior to this event there will be an opportunity for the public to submit questions in advance so that the moderator has the list of questions from the public and opportunities to evaluate and submit those to the candidates and ask them in a public forum where others can if they're not able to participate in person can watch online it will be broadcast live on cable Fort Worth television Facebook and YouTube so that others that can't be there in person can at least hear the activities of the day short biographies of the candidates will be made available the day of the event and then also we'll have q comment cards and QR codes so that we can get feedback from the public on the panelist's response how they handle the questions that will be provided to them and just the feedback um on just the potential selection of the next office of police oversight monitor position community outreach that we are working with Renee's team and the public and the community and public engagement to make sure that we can reach a wide audience of individuals throughout the city of Fort Worth so they'll be on the office of Fleet oversight monitor Department website they'll be the finalist biographies will be listed there as well as the button to submit questions we also will be communicating through the Facebook as well as the different social media that we have available to us to the neighborhood associations homeowner associations Community organizations and then communicating through the media so that all that we can reach a large audience of individuals that may have an interest in this position and who selected in addition um promotions Republic forums including City News next door Facebook Twitter Community engagement face-based bulletins a whole host of activities we have a schedule of when those Communications will go out some of them will be simultaneously so that we can again just reach a large audience to ensure that we get public feedback and comment on the candidate that will be selected for the position so um you may be wondering why that information are candidates that have expressed interest isn't being released now and that's just to protect the Integrity of the process but it's also to ensure you know by virtue of of the selection process only one candidate will get the job right it's a competition and so we want to make sure that we reserve their privacy and then as we get to the point where we have identified finalists we will make that information public and we want to make sure that those candidates are note are noticed as you know we are dealing with a very tight labor market and so individuals that have expressed interest are currently employed and want to make sure that we preserve that privacy as well on June 1st that will actually begin the engagement of the formal panel interview so following the community engagement Forum Fort Worth willing panel two interview groups and those individuals will provide feedback to the city manager along with all of the public feedback that we get from citizens that provide us with that information since this is a direct report to the city manager the city manager will make the ultimate hiring decision for the candidate that fills that role um before we transition to Valerie I do have one remark and observation scanning that list of organizations that we're going to make Outreach to my understanding is that's from the unity Community work that was done in a quick scan I didn't see any Hispanic groups whether they be faith-based or Community Based you should include that and she may not reach to them I can give you some suggestions on how to go about doing that okay yeah I'd say definitely and I really just came up to um really solidify the fact that we were really looking for ways to reach out to the public and we know that police oversight is Community Driven um and it really reflects what a community looks like what a community needs where they feel with trust with police in their communities so we really want to ask here today if there's gaps or there's things that we're missing let us know um we didn't specifically call out the Rachel racing culture task force members but we will invite them as well but any gaps please let us know we want to make sure we reach out to everyone we can questions from Council Jared um thank you all for listening schedule in the same vein of communications um would y'all please include us on all the communications that way our offices can help Amplified on social media in our newsletters Etc I want to make sure at least that the district 6 office is helping do our part to get the word out and I know probably my colleagues feel the same way so um please include us on the materials before they're scheduled to be posted that way we can also schedule and prepare to post those as well council member Nettles yeah just uh the question on May 19th is semi-finals panel I have that panel being discovered who's going to be on that panel yes we were working through that today um right now we have staff members from Neighborhood Services Victor um you've been selected so we're kind of real time working through this you don't have to call the names out but yes we do we do okay I'll just get with you offline uh to get that list and we also have Kim Neal has offered to participate and help guide us through the process and look at candidates so she's going to be participating in the semi-finalist interview as well as the finals thank you we've mentioned that to her so is our recruiter other questions Council no thank you very much appreciate it Council that's the last of our presentations today for work session or do we have any future agenda items yes I do I want to go first I have a three o'clock appointment and if y'all want me back by a certain time I need to leave I was looking I'm well he's going to be texting me I do uh so number one um I want to on the police guy watch box that I want to know how many we have the City Fort Worth and where they're currently located uh I have a couple of neighborhoods that I need to see if we can get one at um so um in the election cycle and in the meeting I had with the Realtors the other day there is a real uh uh voice about the no new tax revenue I want to see if we get an IR on the impacts that it would affect our budget and what that looks like so that we can speak boldly to the community and give them um what that how that really affects our budget and I know we're going to talk about that in the budget cycle but I want to kind of get an IR on that going into the budget cycle um also I would like I know MedStar did do a presentation on a new product prioritization system but I want to uh get an IR on how it affects dispatching our fire department a lot of those some of those uh MedStar calls have been downgraded and fire was actually told not to go on those calls so I want to know uh how that system is working and how many are being downgraded and asked fire not to go and what type of um what type of Mercy was happening um let's see also um I do want to uh as we move forward in the next month I know we're off on July so I want to go ahead and give this one out as well uh I want to update on uh proposed changes on the uh Community review board that was voted down in November I think we have some proposed changes from City and council members to see what that looks like in the next couple of months as we got our new councils coming online I believe those are uh uh our minds councilmember Bivens I just have a couple I'd like to get a report from Code Compliance on let's just say from January to the middle of the year the types of calls they've had to make whether they were proactively reported are citizen complaints filed in at like a district breakdown and just to see what they're doing and how they're doing it they they heard that before so it'll be okay the other requests that I have when Chief Krauss was here and we introduced the neighborhood Improvement strategy council members were very involved in the application of cameras I'd like to get a report on where my 36 cameras are for stop six to see if they're still in that geographic area or have they been absorbed in the city as a whole just to know what's happening because we continue to have shootings in stop six and last week when the shooting occurred four doors down from my mother it made me wonder where where are the cameras I do know that with the monk back in town the temple they've had a lot of unreported crimes and I was asked about getting a camera there at the temple so just where are the 36 cameras ever designated for stop six are they still being used in stop six or just what those are the other two thank you Gina councilmer Beck I have two uh with Summer upon us and recent really tragic events I've had several constituents reach out and want to know what security we're providing at our community centers that are also acting as child care facilities both during the summer and throughout the course of the year and so I'd like an IR on on what we can do to enhance security specifically buzzers I know it's something we looked at ccpd funding for our um our daycares but we didn't look at our city facilities and so to the extent that we can have those that are something to enhance safety would be beneficial and then I also like an IR on what the city's take-home car policy is and if that's different by department and then generally a breakdown of by Department how many take-home cars we have um and then what the distance of those residents the residents are that they are driving these and who pays for the fuel and maintenance of those cars and what enforcement do we have to ensure that there's compliance with that policy councilmember Williams yes um earlier during the aed's discussion I brought up the community center piece thank you Kelly I reached out to her to follow up on that question so no need for that um Dave Lewis will give back to us on youth programming especially Sports League activities I know this year we've seen a number of incidents related to that so it'll be sufficient to just follow up by email on that one and then the second piece last work session I asked for a traffic division Staffing levels of needs I'd also like to do something similar with mpos and we had a beloved mpo be Rios or take another position in PD and she was well known for how many neighborhoods were in her beat and so I'd like to take a look at you know the beat sizes and what we can do in this upcoming budget cycle to especially on the fringes of the city to manage that expectations and beat sizes of some of our larger mpo beads any other council members age of items no okay with that meeting adjourn see you all briefly [Music] [Music] foreign foreign