e e e e e e e e e e well good morning everyone and welcome to city council we have a full house today which is great we love the energy and it's going to be a great meeting great Tuesday uh except for the win that we're going to have but want to welcome everyone to City Council of Chambers and uh it's a great morning good morning everyone on city council Miss pran yes sir good morning this is a meeting of the El Paso city council for Tuesday March 18th 2025 Mayor Johnson is present and presiding along with mayor protm Chavez representative ACO representative Malon Roa representative bjo representative n alternate mayor proen Fiero representative Leon and representative Canales it is 9:01 a.m. now will everyone please silence their electronic devices so as not to disturb the meeting and rise for the invocation delivered by Ministry coordinator for the AL Paso County Sheriff's Office and chaplain Emeritus for the AL Paso Police Department Sam feroni city council officials and guests this is the day that the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it if you care to join me as I pray I invite you to Bow your heads almighty God may we have gratitude in our hearts for your gift to us of another day of life let our response to this gift be that of joy and gratitude thank you for your faithfulness and your care in our lives let let us today be aware of your presence and every day when times are good when times are difficult each day we look to you for strength guidance and wisdom to face whatever we encounter thank you for the privilege of acknowledging your presence in this meeting and asking for wisdom and compassion in every agenda item that is considered and every decision that is made I thank you for and I pray your blessing for the mayor and city council today thank you for their willingness to serve the citizens of our city I am grateful for all of the officials and guests that are here today who have a love for our city and a desire for what is best for El Paso Lord please watch over and protect all of those who keep us safe and who protect our freedoms God bless El Paso and God bless America in the name of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ I pray amen thank you and this morning to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance we have students from Mrs Riva and Mrs aneta's fourth grade classes from Lundy Elementary at the invitation of Mayor protm Alejandra Chavez we have Audrey arjent Vince Eva wimbley Luke Christopher Grady Chloe Sophia Jackson Luke K Nicholas Gabriel Amelia Ashley Jacqueline Kylie ashar Aiden Haley Lany Lauren Olivia Samuel Emily Lauren aan Micah Ezra omed Braden Evan Emmy Lauren V Giovani and Santiago PL alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation God indivisible withy andice for all the Tex flag i al to the Texas one state God indiv [Applause] they're going to take a picture I like your dress thank you oh yeah do you want to finesse the children right okay can everyone to the girl in the purple sweater can I get you to scoot just a little bit this way for me there you go perfect oh can you scoot back little little perfect awesome can everybody see me okay great big smiles you ready one two three any everybody say hi to Anna say hi Anna ready one two three all right ready one two three I don't know whose phones oning I'm sorry one two three thank you let me do one more wait wait don't move over here two and everyone say Lundy one more time all right perfect you just Miss Brian I think they set a record for the largest group saying the Pledge of Allegiance that was a that was a big group you want to take us into proclamations yes sir that brings us to the mayor's proclamations the first Proclamation is World TB day do we have representatives to accept this Proclamation for those of you receiving a proclamation this morning your group will have 6 minutes collectively to receive the proclamation at the podium and the proclamation reads whereas every year the city of Al Paso Department of Public Health recognizes World TB day on March 24th to commemorate the date in 1882 when Dr Robert cotch announc his discovery of micob bacterium tuberculosis the basilis that causes tuberculosis TB and whereas tuberculosis is an infectious disease that infects the lungs and other parts of the body causing serious illness and death if left untreated and whereas an estimated Global total of 10.8 million people fell ill with tuberculosis TB in 20123 worldwide and of those slightly over 1 million people died from TB and whereas in the United States there were 9,633 TB cases reported in 2023 an increase of nearly 16% as compared to 2022 and there were 565 TBR related deaths and whereas approximately seven out of eight TB cases in the United States are attributed to reactivation of latent TB infection ltbi rather than recent transmission and whereas people at higher risk of developing TB disease include those with uncontrolled diabetes HIV infection substance use disorder homelessness among others and whereas Texas ranked second in the nation with the most TB in 2023 with 1,245 Texans diagnosed with TB and whereas in 2024 the city of Al Paso Department of Public Health respiratory diseases program cared for and treated 42 cases of active tuberculosis and 160 latent tuberculosis infections among Al Paso Community residents now therefore be a proclaimed by the mayor and Council of city of Al Paso the March 24th 2025 shall be known as World TB day signed by our honorable mayor Berard Johnson good morning good morning uh good morning city mayor Renard Johnson and city council thank you for inviting us here today and for your support in recognizing World TV day uh the team deeply appreciates your acknowledgement of the hard work that the tuberculosis team does on a daily basis for our community um our mission is simple but crucial it's to eliminate tuberculosis as a public health threat to the op Paso Community um tuberculosis is caused by a microbacterium tuberculosis germ which spreads from person to person through close contact uh while TB most commonly affects the lungs it can also impact other parts of the body such as the brain kidneys or spine it's important to note that there is a 10% chance that individuals living with latent tuberculosis infection if left untreated could develop active disease disease as of 2025 we are actively managing five confirmed TB cases and have 32 individuals under investigation as suspects um additionally we do have 72 patients currently undergoing preventive treatment for latent tuberculosis infection we strongly encourage anyone in the community who experiences the following symptoms to reach out to us it's chest pains chills fever night sweats La a cough that lasts three weeks or more if you or someone you know is experiencing any of these symptoms we urge you to contact the respiratory clinic at 915 212 6609 or visit us at 5115 op pasel Drive Suite B or you may consult with your physician thank you again for the opportunity to speak with you today and for your continued dedication to Public Health in the El Paso Community well thank you guys for all that you're doing congratulations thank you very much you want to introduce your team yes um my name is Susan Coral I'm the office manager for the TB uh Clinic we have Anette Martinez nurse with the Department Lisa CH a PCT Melissa Vias also a PCT good morning my name is Sonia Luhan and I'm a clinical assistant good morning my name is Veronica Crow I'm a PCT and CI investigator good morning Raul Alvarez uh register nurse good morning Terry Martinez um administrative associate good morning Veronica Gregory I am a p and a contact investigator good morning my name is Susana Sano and I'm a registered nurse good morning Dr lockart community health aid well good morning again and thank you guys for all that you're doing representative fto thank you mayor I just wanted to take a moment and personally thank you for everything you're doing I mean this is really a difficult time we're we're living in when you see what's happening up around the laach area and we need to take these diseases and these situ is very serious so thank you very much for everything you're doing in keeping our community healthy thank you mayor you got it than e and the next Proclamation is min Miss Sun City USA day and the proclamation reads whereas the city of Al Paso proudly celebrates the inaugural Miss Sun City USA and Miss Sun City Teen USA pageant an official preliminary to Miss Texas USA and Miss Texas Teen USA recognizing the empowerment leadership and Excellence of young women in our community and whereas the misss Sun City USA pageant provides a transformative platform for contestants to develop confidence enhance their personal and professional growth and showcase the talent intelligence and Poise of women representing the Sun City and whereas this event under the leadership of director Katie Scott offers a once- in a-lifetime opportunity for contestants to step onto the stage State and National stage fostering ambition mentorship and Personal Achievement and whereas the contestants of Miss Sun City USA and Miss Sun City Teen USA will proudly serve as ambassadors of Al Paso representing our vibrant City with pride elgance and Grace while making a meaningful impact through community service and Civic engagement and whereas the city of Al Paso commence a dedicated organizers sponsors and volunteers who have worked tirelessly to bring this prestigious event to life ensuring that it becomes a cherished tradition in our region for years to come now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and Council of city of Al pasa so that March 15th 2025 shall be known as Miss Sun City USA day signed by our honorable mayor Renard Johnson good morning and congratulations thank you so much for having us of course um good morning Mayor Johnson esteemed members of the city council and distinguished guests thank you for bestowing this proclamation in honor of the inaugural Miss Sun City USA Miss Sun City Teen USA pageant it is an incredible privilege to stand before you today as we celebrate this Milestone event for El Paso my name is Katie Scott and I have had the honor of serving as the Director of misson City USA this past Saturday March 15 2025 we proudly hosted the very first missen city USA and missen City Teen USA pageant an event that not only highlighted the talent leadership and ambition of young women in our community but also made a significant impact on our City's economy by bringing in world-renowned judges sponsors and contestants families from across the state and Beyond we helped boost El Paso tourism industry contributing to local businesses hotels and restaurants the event helped fuel the city's Hotel occupancy tax injecting thousands of dollars directly into the economy demonstrating how events like these can serve as an economic and cultural asset for our community today I am honored to introduce uce the remarkable young women who will carry the Miss Sun City USA Legacy forward our very first title holders Miss Sun City USA 2025 Danielle Kaufman and Miss Sun City Teen USA 2025 Aspen armadas these outstanding young women will proudly represent El Paso as they advance to compete at Miss Texas USA and Miss Texas Teen USA in Houston Texas on May 2nd through the 4th showcasing the strength intelligence and grace of our community at an even larger stage on behalf of our entire organization I want to express my deepest gratitude to the mayor's office and the city council for recognizing the significance of this event your support not only uplifts these women but also reinforces the message that El Paso is a city that Champions opportunity leadership and Excellence for all we look forward to Growing this event in the years to come and continuing to make a meaningful impact in our city thank you did the Miss Teen or Miss sunity USA want to say anything I just want to say thank you so much for being able to hold this event it brings the community together so much and this is my very first pageant so it is so exciting for me um I'm absolutely so grateful to be here and I'm so thankful for all of you thank you and I just also want to say thank you so much for contributing to El Paso and I know this pageant will create opportunities for everyone and I just want to thank you great great and thank you guys for hosting the very first one here and and all the economic development that you just talked about and the hotels and what you did for the economy we're looking forward to this event growing and anything we could do to help you let us know so congratulations thank you me perect [Applause] and the next Proclamation is National Transit Employee Appreciation Day represent Leon you got this good morning everyone proclamation of the city of El Paso whereas the effic efficient functioning of public transportation systems is vital to the well-being and connectivity of our communities and where as the dedicated Sun Metro employees play an indispensable role in ensuring the safe and reliable operation of the city's fixed Rapid Transit parrot Transit and street car services and whereas Sun Metro was named the 2025 outstanding metropolitan transit system in Texas by the Texas transit Association and whereas Sun Metro's assistant superintendent of operations Augustus Elliot was recognized as outstanding agency staff member by Texas transit Association and whereas in 2024 more than 6 million and passenger trips were provided utilizing approximately 150 buses and more than 50 routes connecting all regions of El Paso and whereas Transit team members exhibit the commitment professionalism and resilience by starting their days before the sun rises and finishing them long after the sun is set including working weekends and on or around holidays and whereas in addition to meeting stringent safety requirements Transit team members must demonstrate customer service patience empathy and understanding to create a welcoming and inclusive Environ for us to express our gratitude and recognize the hard work dedication and contributions of Transit employees each year on March 18th and now therefore be it proclaimed by the mayor and Council of the city of El Paso that March 18th 2025 she'll be known as National Transit Employee Appreciation Day signed by The Honorable mayor Renard Johnson congratulations so thank you representative thank you for that mayor city council thank you thank you good morning so first i' I'd like to say again thank you and uh so in case you didn't know this is the first time Sun Metro won this award as a city ran entity as a city ran into this is the first time Sun Metro um won this award and this particular team was put together two years ago so it took us two years to win this this state award I think you need to pause there so we can so let me tell you some of the things that we were we won the reason why we won this award um we won this outstanding Transit award for adding 32 vehicles and and for 32 buses and 14 cutaways to to help better service the community we added contactless payments in all the buses and all the cutaways we upgraded tvms across the city to help with that contactless payment we set the stage to go electric with the lift Vehicles 45 lift Vehicles so we can go electric um 50% with the lift and add 25 charging stations we decreased complaints by 74% meaning our service got better for our customers our OTP or on Time Performance for fixed drought and pair Transit stays at an average above 92% our street car ridership increased 170% we got grants to the tune of 44 million $44 million we reduced our vacancies by$ 36% we reduced our overtime by $1.2 million $1.2 million we did have an accident we had a a very tragic accident so let me tell you about the resiliency of the team for 8 days we went down to Holiday service in 5 days we went back to running 92% of our routes on the 13th day all of the regular routes we were running with 100% frequency except for two circulators and we are running all the Realo routes we went from an average of 25 20 15 minutes frequency to 2 minutes frequency so we're almost back to 100% on the 13th day let me tell you I went to the the TTA Texas transit Association um seminar conference just this last week the other agencies across Texas could not believe that we did not shut down and they could not believe that we're almost back to 100% in 13 days while adjusting all of our operations in all of our divisions not just maintenance not just operations but planning HR customer service finance every division was touch Pio I could go on and on I could start telling you about the resiliency of all the people standing here be behind me not just my assistant directors not just Jerry not just Claudia not just Dwayne I can start turning around here and talk tell you I could tell you about um I could tell you about about all the people standing here behind me to include the individual that won the award Elliot and tell you how great they are I can start telling you all about their resumes and the resiliency Sun Metro team is resilient and we deserve this Proclamation we deserve these Awards because we are the outstanding Transit Agency in Texas another pause yeah and the star is going to be lit on the mountain for us tonight thank you oh can we can can my team introduce themselves course we we'll start with Jerry then we'll go CL and then we'll go to Wayne and we'll just go through the crowd good morning Jerry Deo Deputy transit officer Claudia Garcia assistant director for Planning and Development do own assistant director of Transit operations good morning Augustus Elliot assistant superintendent of operations you could just start coming up um Nancy Medina Transit operator good morning Lis Rodriguez Transit operator good morning Erica bermudes Finance accounts payable good morning Karina bu Finance accounts payable good morning Alejandro Carlos finance and cables good morning Rudy Reyes Grand project manager good morning and andos Sashu ad administrative services manager good morning Hilda Chapel Transit operator good morning joal Garcia Transit operator good morning Haria uh street car meeting second good morning uh anir saat uh Transit supervisor with the El Paso Street car good morning Hector prospal Transit operator good morning my name is Ja saski and I'm a Transit operator good morning Hector Alan Marin Transit operator and good morning my name is card Wan I am also a Transit operator good morning lazette Samano strategic initiatives coordinator good morning Rebecca Rodriguez marketing and Communications coordinator good morning W Lan project manager good morning Robert Mendes the trans of senior service planner Rudy Morales ping and porra coordinator good morning Rosina dudan Transit operator good morning Daniel Cortez Transit operator good morning Manny Martinez Transit supervisor fixed routs side good morning everyone Mario Falon Transit operator morning everybody uh Alberto Transit operator that's all of the 600 something I could get down here today yeah well well Anthony can congratulations and and and you know I I say this and I know that our hearts are heavy uh with the loss of Ruben and and hman and and your staff at you know but we're here to celebrate the great work that you guys have done and it's amazing what you have done in two years and the awards that are sitting on the display for us to see today uh I don't know where you go from here uh I mean you you've got yeah you got to keep going up so um congratulations on the great work to you and your entire team team and again our our thoughts and prayers are going to be with you through these difficult times but we are going to celebrate you today and congratulations on the the uh Transit Employee Appreciation Day well deserved thank you sir the behind this whole light me looking I'm all nervous hey I promise I'm saying only appropriate okay we're big group and so we're going to do four layers my short up front you know you know who you are my e e e e Elliot Elliot Elliot and the next Proclamation is Rise opportunity KNX oh somebody good morning mayor thank you as um as everyone's walking up mayor I need to thank uh representative Roa Maldonado I got here early this morning to practice how to pronounce rise and she in two minutes she walked in just ruined it she just so so thank you representative thank you thank you as everyone's walking up I'd like to take the opportunity to read this whereas ra Federal Credit Union has been a steadfast financial institution dedicated to empowering individuals and families with financial education resources and support whereas their commitment to the community growth and Financial Wellness is evident through Innovative programs services that uplift and strengthen indiv individuals under Financial Journey whereas raiz Federal Credit Union has earned National recognition through its participation in television show Opportunity Knocks which showcases real life Financial transformation and provides families with tools needed to achieve long-term Financial stability whereas a significant achievement highlights Institution dedication to financial literacy inclusion empowerment reinforcing its mission to help members and communities reach their financial goals whereas R Federal Credit Union's excellent dedication to financial literacy and social responsibility has been recognized through opportunity knock's multiple prestigious Awards whereas these distinguish Awards highlight R Federal Credit Union's exceptional leadership and impact on the financial education inclusion and the communities development and whereas the city of El Paso commends raiz Federal Credit Union for its continued dedication to uplifting individuals and families extended uh and extend our best wishes for ongoing success and the impact you have on our community now therefore be proclaimed by The Honorable Mayor Johnson and the city council that March 18th 2025 shall be known as raise Federal Credit Union day thank you for being here good morning mayor and city council I'll first introduce my team so I'll let them come in my name first is Alejandro Yu I am the vice president of marketing at r federal credit union hi good morning Michael Morales Executive Vice President Pro contas Community engagement officer good morning Stephanie Rodriguez Community impact manager good morning slas par marketing digital marketing specialist good morning Steve huens the vice president of real estate and business services good morning Jerry claro vice president of consumer lending good morning Carlos Rosco intern vice president for facilities and purchasing good morning Elizabeth Buck digital marketing manager hello my name is Alejandra Loa marketing manager good morning I'm aruro Wanda I'm the CEO of mam Ro capital a company of the rise family good morning Abraham R brand experience coordinator so good morning everybody we would like to express our gratitude to city council representative for district 6 art Fierro the city council and mayor Renard Johnson for supporting raise Federal Credit Union and fostering financial success within our community rise Federal Credit Union a credit union with over 88 years of History here in El Paso and more than 1 billion in assets serves over 75,000 members with a dedicated staff of 240 across multiple locations throughout El Paso in all of your dist districts and in Horizon City we have helped thousands of families throughout our history but today we're here to celebrate the work we did with two special families throughout our participation in the nationally televised PBS show opportunity KNX opportunity KNX is a transformative television series on PBS that sheds lights on the complex Financial challenges that real families Across America face it celebrates their Journeys through uh financial success and each season six families are paired with three renowned Financial experts and local credit unions who Empower them as coaches viewers witnessed the remarkable transformations of these families and the hopeful strides they make in every episode since its debut two seasons ago El Paso has been proudly featured as one of the cities in each of the Season showcasing the inspiring journeys of hardworking families overcoming financial hardship we wish to thank the opportunity Knox team for selecting op Paso for two consecutive years to participate in this life-changing show highlighting Credit Union like rise's significant role in promoting economic and Community Development we commend the two courageous families from op Paso who took part in sharing their stories and challenges while demonstrating how access to financial resources can help those in underserved areas achieve a better life last year we were thrilled to learn that opportunity Knox was nominated as the best feel-good show at the American reality television Awards it felt like a dream come true to see the show nominated along popular TV shows like Shark Tank and the voice at the award ceremony we were even more honored to hear that opportunity KNX was announced as the winner the very first PBS show to receive this award it was a proud moment for all of us to see op Paso recognized in this way Opportunity Knocks it's starting the development of a third season and if all goes well El Paso families will also be and this Vibrant Community will also be featured in that season at rise we often talk about dreaming big and what that means for our community we are deeply committed to our community's Economic Development and this collaboration has provided a fantastic opportunity to create positive changes in people people's lives and showcase the beautiful culture that makes our community special to a national audience thank you for recognizing the collaborative efforts dedicated to making the world a better place and highlighting the positive changes happening right here in op Paso we are proud of this recognition from the city of El Paso and grateful for your support in helping us uplift the lives of our community members thank you so much for your time [Applause] congratulations I mean what a a success so are we standing among any stars here that were in the in the show Pearl was actually the on here featured yes so we got to make sure we get get her autographed this is great so uh the filming of that show was it done here or did you have to fly somewhere it was all done here yeah they even filmed a lot in downtown they filmed in our facilities they went all throughout El Paso all of your districts and they highlighted the beautiful culture while they were also talking to the family members that were going through those uh through the series okay so where about Economic Development where did you take them to eat where did you go take them to eat um we did go toos one one day and then I don't know I think they might have gone downtown oh they went yeah they went also to uh Anthony Len so here downtown as well and maybe ljs I think they also went to visit it's important that they leave some money in El Paso before they go back so yeah for sure yeah congratulations representative roacha thank you mayor appreciate it and and thank you rep FOH for you know the lesson this morning I I had an opportunity to actually see Pearl do her presentation on the rebranding that you all recently went through and and I I can speak for myself when I say that when I think of Rise right it is rooted in community and you have really established yourselves as being rooted in community so I just want to thank you for all the work that you've done and the the makeover and the rebranding that you all went through it really does root you in the El Paso Community and I just I just wanted to thank you for that thank you so much thank you all and congratulations you guys well done thank you [Applause] you just making sure I stay yeah I will forever pretty decent awesome can we get you guys just kind of finesse a little bit this way perfect and then a couple steps backwards for me all right that looks good Council we can have you guys come into the middle for me please thank you that looks great all right big smiles ready one two three more ready one two three three 3,000 more one two three this Android no I'm just kidding she totally called you out awesome thank Youk okay okay Miss pry yes sir the final Proclamation this morning is purchasing month and the proclamation reads whereas purchasing and strategic sourcing plays a significant role in the efficiency and effectiveness of both government and business and whereas in addition to the purchase of goods and services procurement adds value to the organization by performing such functions as executing implementing and administering contracts developing strategic procurement strategies and cultivating working relationships with suppliers and other departments within the organization and whereas public procurement Professionals in the city of Al Paso and in other public and private organizations have tremendous influence on economic conditions in the United States with a cumulative purchasing power running into the billions of dollars and whereas a purchasing and strategic sourcing department is committed to providing higher caliber strategic logical and Operational Support of all departments within the city of Al Paso and whereas the purchasing and strategic sourcing Department in the city of Al Paso recognize support and practice the public procurement values and guiding principles of accountability ethics impartiality professionalism service and transparency established by the nigp The Institute for public procurement as fundamental tenants of the public procurement profession and whereas the nigp has proclaimed the month of March as procurement month to further expand awareness of the purchasing professionals role to governmental officials the general public business and corporate leaders now therefore be a proclaimed by the mayor and Council of city of Al Paso that the month of March 2025 shall be known as purchasing month signed by our honorable mayor Renard Johnson good morning good morning mayor and CL Garcia purchasing director so first of all I want to thank you all for uh this Proclamation my team and I are really happy for this March it is a special time for us and I want to take the opportunity to uh also recognize my team for all the work that they do on a day-to-day basis this is the team that procures all the goods and services for the city so we can continue operating and at the same time offering uh the services we offer to our community uh sometimes I understand being a procurement professional that procurement can get complex and difficult at times so I'm honored to represent this team and to lead them because it's complex so I see on a day today uh basis their commitment to operate under the highest standards of ethics and professionalism so and before I let them introduce themselves I also want to uh give thank special thanks to to other departments also support the procurement function here with the city being them uh legal it and City Clerks they also help us to be the the great team that we we are also of course leadership they all always um supporting our initiatives and special thanks to Nicole Cody she has been a key role she has played a key role for the past two years for our department so thank you so much and now I'm going to let my team in uce thems thank you good morning Veronica Gomez good morning Paula Salas morning Ardo maldon good morning Janette nades good morning christas good morning April good morning Mia Valenzuela good morning Aaron Garcia good morning hello Vanessa lages good morning dererk Russell good morning Stephanie Mones good morning John Scott good morning Jenny Sim swano good morning roio Sanchez good morning Chrystal Rico good morning Rudy Cario good morning nio wow and that is the purchasing team wow congratulations well I'm glad that they dedicated a month to procurement because we couldn't do what we do without you guys and if you just look around this room I know we're going to look at it basically but the microphone we touched the computers we touched everything that you see if it wasn't for you guys we wouldn't be able to operate so procurement is a very very important role of the city function and and we can't thank you guys enough it's it's a well-deserved Proclamation and keep up the good work and and and today I don't know if I can say this but today right this second you guys are my favorite Department because you're getting the award so yeah so all the city departments are my favorite but uh but congratulations to you guys representative Fel thank you thank you mayor in a minute has passed which is your favorite now um what a great move thank you for everything your department does and and like de mayor said keeping us moving forward U but again thank you but what a great move in mentioning legal yeah now you're going to get everything past Mr Mayor I wanted to take the opportunity to call out m Cody I I don't see her here and all the great work she does oh there she is hiding in the back there she is yes thank you Miss Cody thank [Applause] you that was it okay I just want to call this Cody try okay again thank you guys and congratulations and and you know thank you for keeping us moving but uh well deserved reward and one last thing I want to continue extending the invitation for our Expo it is going to be next month uh a uh April 2nd so you're all invited so we hope to see you there okay very good thank you guys [Applause] she me the look okay I need everybody to shift that way I think that's good when everyone get uncomfortably close I the thank you so much to the lady in the blue sweater in the front can I have you come right that's perfect all right ready big smiles ready one two three couple more ready one two three thank you [Applause] okay M Prime we're going to move on to the approval of the minutes yes sir Council per the rules of order no use of personal cellular devices nor personal communication should take place on the de while the meeting is in session once you obtain the floor from the mayor you will have up to 10 minutes for debate and may speak twice per item please speak into the microphone and refrain from any side conversations at the day while the meeting is in session for those of you joining us through teams please make sure your microphones are un muted to reduce any background noise that brings us to the consent agenda all matters listed under the consent agenda will be considered by city council to be routine and will be enacted by one motion unless separate discussion is requested by council members prior to the vote members the audience may ask questions regarding items on the consent agenda when the vote has been taken If an item has not been called out for separate discussion the item has been approved Council May however reconsider any item at any time during the meeting mayor protim thank you Miss pran I make a motion to approve the consent agenda with the following revision page 10 item 27 take item at 10:30 a.m. per City manager's office and Miss pran I just want to make sure that I'm clear we don't need to do the minutes right now that is part of the consent okay perfect just want to make sure there's a motion in a second any discussion you have represent roacha Miss PR may I pull item 14 just for recognition please yes ma'am thank you would you like to do that would you like to comment on item 14 and this is a board appointment for George Cruz to the Zoning Board of adjustment as an alternate member by representative Diana Maldonado Roa District 3 yes thank you Miss PR I appreciate it Mr Cruz is in the audience today I did see him uh where is he oh there he is I see him and I just wanted to uh publicly thank Mr Cruz for stepping up to to the plate we know this takes additional time it takes um responsibility and so I just wanted to personally thank you Mr Cruz for for putting your name in the Hat to uh to to serve on this board so thank you again I know I've told you privately but I definitely wanted to take the time to thank you publicly for that so thank you thank you Miss PR yes and we also have public comment on item 18 from Patricia Osman and item 18 is a notation of Special Projects discretionary fund expenditures and peard transactions for mayor city council representative city attorney's office and City manager's office and staff good morning Miss Osman you have three minutes the reason why I wanted to speak about this matter is in regards to um one specific item that everyone should highlight that happens to be an expense on the discretionary fund expenditures for district 7 that item is dated October of 2023 ,000 to books and gems which is a nonprofit here in El Paso don't have a problem with donations to nonprofits but I do have a problem with the fact that it is coming in front of VI and it is fin it is being reported over a year nearly a year and a half after that expenditure that shows a deep issue within our accounting within the city there have been several issues in various departments in regards to accounting and how tax dollars are spent in in this regard I hope that we can uh go ahead and do open records requests and so forth to verify what that $1,000 was for we could only presume it was a donation to that nonprofit but the mere fact that it is coming forth on an agenda a year and a half later is a huge red flag it should be a huge red flag to all citizens of El Pas Paso Especially since one of our recently elect did council members clawed back over $70,000 into their discretionary fund we are in Economic Times now that we have never been in we are a democratic City in a republican federally controlled atmosphere meaning every tax dollar that goes out is a tax dollar that's a hike for every citizen everything that every city council member spends is an issue that that expenditure I would expect that each one of you ask our uh accountant our com controller everyone who approved and didn't put it forth until this time why that was because all of these expenditures from now on need to be accounted as soon as they're expended this is ridiculous otherwise thank you Miss you've reached the three minutes thank you thank you mayor that concludes uh public comment on the consent agenda we have a little bit more discussion representative n mayor I just want to clarify on that item it was approved by city council it came to Council in the way that it should have and it was posted when the dollars were actually transferred over to to uh the the company so it it did follow our processes and it was transparency around that that allocation from the previous council member thank you Miss Matt thank you represent n yes thank you mayor Miss pran and mayor I also would like to pull out item number 12 uh we do have Miss clavia payan here who is going to be my appointee for the border of relations for District 5 Miss payan thank you so much for being here and for uh you know your commitment to serving on a board here with the city of op Paso and that is Miss clavia payan as well thank you yes item 12 is a board appointment for Claudia Loren Lorena payan loano to the committee on Border relations by representative iano district 5 okay no not yet representative leemon thank you mayor I think also um no I have not clawed back $70,000 into my discretionary fund district 7 I'm sorry oh I didn't mean so as long as it's not reflected of district 7 it was a previous dist District representative not ours thank you thank you Mr Lon any other discussion on the consent agenda hearing none Miss bran yes sir there was a motion made by mayor protim Chavez seconded by representative leemon to approve the consent agenda as revised on that motion sorry point point of clarification we have removed uh the two board appointments to the regular agenda no I believe they just wanted to comment on them is that correct you didn't you didn't want to vote on them separately correct you just wanted to comment on them yes okay thank you say we're on the consent agend on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously that brings us to page number nine the next item is item 22 item 22 is discussion and action to direct the city manager and City attorney to prepare a presentation for the mayor and city council regarding Robert's Rules of Order as it relates to making motions and amendments to city council action items in the next 30 days during an upcoming city council work session and this item was submitted by representatives boero and ASO all representative of trle okay yeah I just wanted to mention why this item was was added uh to receive training on the Roberts Rule of Order it's uh to ensure Clarity efficiency and fairness in the meetings uh in a recent motion that I made it was not accepted uh and so I feel like there's really a need to have that understanding of preliminary procedures uh it'll help us help us with our decision-making process and I look forward to having your support with this thank you representative oav thank you mayor I just kind of wanted to add a little bit to what representative boero said um at the last meeting we had a a motion for or she had a motion um during the work session on the federal legislative agenda and the amendment was not allowed to go through and I think as we were kind of looking at Robert's Rules of Order it it didn't really make a lot of sense why we couldn't add an amendment we do amendments on a lot of different um motions and so just so we're all clear I I think it would be helpful to have this presentation on motions and amendments and obviously we can't direct you miss pran because you're not our employee but I'm assuming you would have some say in this if the council does approve this to um make sure that we're we're very clear on on these things yes sir so if I could if I could uh give you just a little bit more feedback when the item was taken up we also take into account whether the language of the of the posting allows for discussion and action I don't remember it was discussion and action okay so then we could have had a different conversation about how that moves forward I'm not necessarily clear that the Rules of Order were at play there but uh I'll chime in more in the future but certainly I think that it's always important for Council to receive additional training on rules of order because it comes up quite a bit thank you thank you I moveed to approve sirry all there's a is there a second second all right um represent lion for discussion Miss nean also we do not follow uh straightforward Robert's Rules of Order correct correct so the council has adopted your Rules of Order per the resolution that are your Rules of Order the city the council can't adopt Rules of Order in its entirety because it allows for Black Box voting and blind voting which is not permitted under the Texas open meetings act so you adopt an amended version and clearly if any of you have read any of the Rules of Order books you don't establish the formality which Rules of Order requires right so I I I call it an amended version that's correct m so there's a motion in a second is there any further discussion on this item we do have public comment okay here we have Miss Osman that signed up to speak on this item Miss Osman good morning again you have three minutes again the reason can you hear me yes ma'am yes okay uh the reason I asked to speak on this matter is because you all had also had ethics training meing there was a presentation that was put forth during city council all residents who paid attention got to witnessed that and the recommendation from that individual who did the training was if any of y'all had received any contributions or donations you should refrain from voting on a matter but I have seen that that has not been the case and I would hope that this training on Rules of Order and the Motions is actually adhered to I would also ask that there's an emphasis on the fact that when something comes forth to city council that employees or other individuals paid by our tax dollars are not allowed to lie to city council they should be some sort of reprimand within that I understand most of y'all are new have not gone through this I would have I would have thought most of y'all would have gone through all of this information prior read it it's online to actually being elected I'm glad you're going to do the training but I hope it doesn't not fall on on deaf ears as it appears that ethics training and presentation has done by witnessing the various City Council meetings that I have since that was it thank you very much for your time May that concludes public comment on this item okay he no other discussion Miss Prime the motion was made by representative ASO seconded by representative Malon Roa to approve item 22 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously the next item is number 23 and this is discussion and action on a resolution to appoint a member to the AL Paso water utilities Public Service Board of Trustees in the area of expertise of financial management as recommended by the AL Paso water utilities Public Service Board selection committee motion approve second need to ation okay I'd like to make a motion I'm sorry I was on the I was on the que thank you oh thank you I'd like to make a motion that we um appoint eki mun atui to the position on the El Paso water utilities Public Service Board of Trustees I had an opportunity to read um extensively his resume um incredibly impressive and I think that he would be an excellent appointee to the board thank you okay representa CTO thank you mayor I really um enjoy the the PSB appointments and I got a chance to meet all candidates for both positions and I think after going through it it was it was a very very tough decision but I I think for me Lane Gaddy does stand out and I'd like to make a motion to Point Lane Gaddy to the PSB we have a motion on the floor there was no second second your Motion in Robert's Rules of Order the minute that the representative spoke it would have been a second but we're not following Robert's Rules of Order thank you no you didn't get a second though get a second the minute you speak miss nean you want to help us out on this one in Robert's Rules of Order there should have been a second once there make a motion anybody can second that motion the floor was then granted to another representative who made okay a so we'll take this one first no no no no what mayor what I was trying to say is that under Robert's Rules of Order the clear Robert's Rules of Order there has to be a certain amount of time of silence and if someone speaks on anything during that time it becomes a second that it they have to clearly state that they second your motion now and and the mayor actually called on me to speak so I was following the process as I requested and that's fine that's fine that's okay and you were actually number one in the queue but I went here first so to him cuz he jumped in right no to him to you he was first representative Canalis you want to speak I'm okay at the moment thank you mayor good all right so we have a motion in a second from represent asto actually I if I may mayor I will okay go ahead I just want to say as well I I had the opportunity to uh interview both of the applicants um and both are excellent it's uh you know unfortunate that they both can't be appointed to this position um but uh to be honest personally it's it's difficult to choose between them um I think I I have to defer to the committee we we appoint a selection committee to uh make recommendations to us on this decision uh Mr Gaddy ranked first uh in in the evaluation by the committee and so I I think it's prudent for us to in a case like this where we have multiple excellent applicants to uh follow the recommendation of the committee okay thanks mayor yeah and being a part of the selection committee it was vetted and we had a number of very qualified because I'm on that selection committee we had a number of very qualified candidates that U Were qualified for this position and again we ranked him Lang Gaddy uh being number one and I I know Lang gadd's here in the audience as well uh but they were all very qualified so we have a motion in a second Miss Prime yes sir and there were three applicants listed on this item and just for the record applicant John HST with yes correct sir so there was a motion made by representative oo seconded by alternate mayor proem Fiero and this is to to select eai no I'm sorry to select Lan Gaddy as a member to the op Paso water utilities Public Service Board of Trustees in the area of expertise of financial management so this is for Lane Gaddy on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and the motion passes 721 with representative Leon voting nay the remainder of council voting I the motion carries number 24 item 24 is discussion and action on a resolution to appoint a member to the El Paso water utilities Public Service Board of Trustees in the area of expertise of General business management as recommended by the AL Paso water utilities Public Service Board selection committee okay uh we have ranked him again I was on the selection committee and again very qualified candidates and Charlie came to the top with the selection kemy is there represented leemon no no sir okay Canalis okay thank you mayor um yeah very similar comment to last time I had the opportunity to interview all three of the applicants here um obviously Mr Gaddy was appointed in the other position so he's no longer uh in consideration for this this position um but uh you know Charlie and TBB ranked first uh in the evaluation of the committee uh he's he's already done one term on the uh on the board and uh I follow the activity of the PSB I feel like he's done a very good job in in the role uh it would be very uh difficult to say that you know as someone who who has been dedicated to the board and has performed well that that they should be replaced so M Ross I see you here today thank thank you uh for for your interest as well and like the mayor said we have multiple great candidates which has not always been the case for the public service board so it's so great to see so many community members interested in serving um but uh I I think again it would be prudent for us to uh consider the recommendation of the committee and with that I move to appoint Charlie and Tebby okay there's a motion in a second uh represent oo thank you mayor I just was having a really hard time with all of the people that we were interviewing for this and you know Miss Russ I really appreciate your service to our community everything you've done for the Children's Hospital the Children's Hospital is very dear to my heart and it just makes it really difficult when you have so many great people here and I think for me I'm supporting Charlie getting back on um for that continuity for the breath of knowledge that he brings to it so just wanted to put that out there but you the selection committee really made it heart this time thank you so much for your s St Community all right there's a motion and a second any further discussion on this item hearing none Miss pran yes sir the motion was made by representative Canales seconded by representative leemon and this is to appoint Charlie and TBB to the Public Service Board of Trustees in the area of expertise of General business management on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously we continue with item number 25 and this is discussion and action to direct the city manager to coordinate and AR arrange federal legislative meetings inclusive of City staff and each of the city council districts and mayor in Washington DC with Federal lawmakers and federal agencies to meet the city of Al Paso strategic agenda identify key stakeholders and secure necessary resources to ensure effective representation of our City's needs in Washington DC it is further requested that the city manager prepare a presentation in the next 30 days on establishing a travel fund dedicated toward advocating for the city state and federal agendas during the upcoming budget workshops for fiscal year 2026 this item was submitted by Representatives B Treo and ACO okay representative tro so I I mve to approve this item uh days and DC is about prioritizing advocacy for City at a federal level the federal landscape is changing and yesterday we had a presentation on the 2026 budget we had discussions about having to make hard decisions and this is one of them it's about Forward Thinking and being proactive versus reactive and looking what we can do collectively as a council and staff and work together towards goal when advocating for El Paso advocating to secure Federal funding and resources for essential items like infrastructure improvements Economic Development Public Safety that will directly benefit our city going to DC is about building relationships and strengthening ties with Congressional representatives and federal agencies to ensure that public that uh that the a Paso remains on the radar when important decisions are being made it's about learning about opportunities and engaging with federal leaders to stay informed about upcoming funding opportunities policy changes and initiatives that could benefit our community this item is about being proactive collectively and taking steps towards shaping Al Paso's future thank you representative asto thank you mayor and just to add to everything that miss um B just said and I'd like to Second her motion um as we were going to El Paso days in Austin and we've kind of seen what has happened at the federal level at the state level I think it's really important that we are part of that conversation you know there the the state legislative session has just end at the filing period And there's going to be a lot of bills that are affecting the city and right now the way things are set up if we want to go to um the state we we have to use our discretionary fund for all of the but if we are in a situation where maybe staff is asking one of the council members to go testify on behalf of the legislative agenda that the city has put together from one day to the next it's not going to be sustainable in the long run and so as we're looking into what the budget um season is going to look like I think it would be really adequate for us to have a fund for state and federal advocacy and that's what the second part of this item is where we can use that fund for us to go work on our legislative agendas and I think that Council needs to have a front seat to this legislative agenda I think the staff does a great job in putting it together but I think we as elected officials have those relationships with elected officials and we can pass something a lot stronger if we are out there front and center so as this um item is written this would be for the the next fiscal year looking at doing uh a federal uh agenda kind of similar to Al Paso days but at the federal level in 2026 and I know we've already worked with staff to identify something in March of next year but in addition to that what also happened during Al Pas days we were trying to scramble to see how we were going to pay for this whether it was going to be discretionary fund whether it was going to be the the places that we had gotten um because of the sponsorship that the city paid for and so now I think this would make it very easy and clear to everybody that we do have a fund dedicated to toward this type of advocacy work and we don't have to be worried about our discretionary fund for these specific purposes right and so I think we could work on getting the state and and federal legislative agenda moving forward through this action so happy to answer any questions that anyone might have thank you represent Canales thank you mayor um I have a difference of opinion here and it's it's no disrespect to my colleagues who propos this it's simply a difference of opinion um but I I just feel uh that uh the city hires a strategic and legislative affairs team uh we have tasked them with with carrying out the policy direction that we provide them uh through our our legislative agendas and I'm very grateful to them for this this year for the first time bringing BR forward a federal legislative agenda um I think that's very important that the that the city takes a role in in advocating for the things uh that we need from the federal government um I don't know that uh a specific travel fund for members of the city council to travel to Washington DC is the best way to carry that out um you know we the council authorized this year uh $36,000 to send members to El Paso days in Austin um that's a significant amount of of Public Funding for for travel and uh you know travel to Washington DC is going to be even more expensive than travel to Austin um I just don't know that this is a a uh particularly uh priority use of of taxpayer money for for sending elected officials to Advocate um in in Washington DC so again I have no problem with um the the city manager and City staff helping our offices to arrange any advocacy related travel to Austin or Washington DC or anywhere else um but I I think that you know we we each uh receive uh discretionary funds into an account that we can spend for this kind of travel um and if it is the priority of a particular council member to to travel for advocacy I think that's the appropriate uh funding source for for that travel um you know we each have different priorities for our discretionary fund funds um you know I I elected not to go to Al Paso days in Austin this year um that doesn't mean that I don't see the value in doing so sometimes but I I think uh it's it's up to each individual office to decide whether or not we want to fund that travel for ourselves out of our own discretionary funds so I I wanted to explain why you know I I plan not to support this today and it's for that specific reason um it doesn't mean that I don't think the city should be advocating for for our priorities in uh Washington I just think we've set up mechanisms for that to happen already and uh this isn't necessarily the best way to go about it thank you representative lion thank you mayor for some of the same reasons that representative Gales has proposed today I too unfortunately cannot support this um District 7's discretionary fund is extremely limited um and so while this is called calling for setting a budget a line item on the budget I worry because we have so many so many priorities right now and as we see Utility Services increasing it it just doesn't make sense I would like to offer perhaps an option so in my first term I had the opportunity to travel to Washington DC twice and once it was is part of my training through nalo the National Association of Latino elected officials and they funded my trip to Washington DC I went a second time and we went and actually visited with um members of Congress again nalo paid for it I also went to Washington DC uh through participation through the Catholic relief services and once again they they provided the funding so all of these were things that I got to go to Washington DC participate with members from Congress and there was no cost to me other than personal purchases that I might have made but look out for organizations that you might be able to join uh to participate that provide the funding for that and so I offer this as a as a commentary to you thank you represent trol yes I I did want to mention that I had asked Omar if he could come up and and speak a little bit on on the experience of being uh there in Washington with the city uh that you just recently went to so if you can share a little bit about your experience uh we we like to bring the item back once Council has approv it please okay okay thank you representative Chavez thank you mayor I just I want want to clarify something that representative gal said it was up to $6,000 per District so it wasn't a fact that each district spent the $66,000 um and I just want to clarify that because there's a lot of misinformation floating around about how much was actually spent but the agenda item is still posted from that day and people are more than welcome to look at the backup to see exactly what each district spent and I also want to recognize representative Lon I mean I'm sure those experien in Austin I mean sorry in Washington were great uh I think I think the the point here is when you when you go under uh a different organization then you represent their agenda and not the cities um unless unless they're paying for you to represent a different agenda I'm not sure but there could be possibly a conflict there in just my opinion respectfully as an elected official represent n thank you thank you mayor I was say you know I was was able to take part of op Paso days and was able to be part of so many fruitful conversations where I was able to Advocate on behalf of the city and the legislative agenda I sat in the office of the governor's office with his senior policy advisor and ured that uh the city's legislative agenda was also shared with them but where I'm getting to is I wouldn't have had the opportunity otherwise if we wouldn't have you know gotten the opportunity to go on behalf of the city so I am grateful for this item that's moving forward because I know that we've had different conversations with different members of the community or other elected officials at the state level um that have often said hey op Paso needs to come more you guys you know we are over 500 miles away but the more presence we have in ensuring that we Advocate the priorities of this Council I feel that we'll be able to essentially Advocate even further um advocacy for funding for programming that our cities and our constituents have been asking for for a very long time um and that's where where I I'm thankful for you know represent and for bringing this item forward thank you thank you so M Prime we have a motion in a second on this any further discussion we do have public comments to miss Osman sir good morning Miss Osman you have three minutes uh good morning Council I'm in full agreement with uh representative Leon in representative geles the mere fact that our Federal um Administration in our in this current environment Democrats do not hold any power whatsoever under the legislation as we can tell by what has already occurred in Washington it is not nothing is going to happen to benefit the Democrats which our city is a democratic city until after after the midterms so to do any type of funding or budgeting for 2025 or 2026 prior to the midterms seems rather a waste of tax dollars quite frankly Mr cortinez yesterday as Mr mentioned mentioned uh some dire Cuts in fact he bought up the exemptions for senior citizens and the disabled and Veterans and so forth this is an item that should not be part of the budget it wasn't part of the Budget prior it wasn't on budget discussions prior and quite frankly if we have no say so in Washington until after the midterms quite frankly any travel to Washington is a moot point yes our tax dollarars are are ping for a legislative group to do the work for our citizens and our Representatives anything other than that becomes some travel slush fund and should not be approved because that is all it's going to look like to the citizens of El Pas Paso is that you don't care to you whether you use our tax dollars to take trips when our our city finance officer is saying you know what we we may have to Calla back exemptions for the most vulnerable in Al Paso I I think that the poor timing in this especially knowing that quite frankly there is no representation in Washington on the Democratic side nothing can be pushed through No Agenda can be pushed through until after the midterms this is just a wasted fund slush fund that you all would approve and that is not something that should be on the backs of taxpayers when we are already incurring all sorts of other increases 25% thank you Miss electric thank you ma'am you've reached the three minute limit mayor that concludes public comment on this item all right he no other discussion Miss Prime will you call for the vote Yes sir the motion was made by represent ative Boer thre seconded by representative ACO to approve the item as posted on the agenda for item 25 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes 5 to2 Representatives Chavez ASO madon Roa boo noo voting I Representatives Leon Canales voting n and representative Fiero not present yeah I I just want to say on on this that um you know as representative Nino mentioned we are in Far West Texas and if you're not present in the state capital it it does affect El Paso so I think it was important that uh the El Paso uh group that went there to to Advocate on behalf of our community there's significant dollars that not only come from the state level but the Federal level and we need to develop those relationships to make sure that El Paso is represented and has a seat at the table and often times you will see me go to Austin and that is the exact reason why I go to Austin to make sure we have funding for this community so um I appreciate the the the discussion today I think it's healthy that we we have those discussions and we'll move forward and and and and continue on but thank you Mr pran do we need to move item uh 27 7 up yes sir we now go to item number 27 and this is a presentation from staff of the office of congresswoman Veronica Escobar providing an update on a midyear Federal programs Pro proposed legislation constituent services and updates on the federal fiscal year 2026 good morning mayor council Omar Martinez with strategic and legislative affairs today we have Benjamin Harrison who is the legislative director for the office of congresswoman Veronica Escobar presenting an update thank you Omar thank you uh Council um thank you for having us here today good morning uh good morning um wanted to start um our discussion here so Ben Harrison the congressman's legislative director was with the congressman from 2019 to 2022 and back now in this capacity um and later in the second half of the presentation we'll turn it over to our district director Emily Loya to talk about our district officer um but wanted to provide an update on where we are in the 119th Congress uh from the congresswoman's office there we go um so as some of you may know the congressman um was on for the for tenure in Congress has been on the armed services committee and the Judiciary Committee uh and the Ethics Committee uh that is no longer the case uh she is now on the House Appropriations Committee uh which is uh an incredible opportunity for the community in for El Paso she's the first um representative for this District to be on the Appropriations Committee since uh 1997 since Ron Coleman um and has the following subcommittee assignments military construction Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security and will dive more into that later on in the presentation she's also serving on the budget committee uh which is playing a key role role in this uh budget reconciliation process that you all are hearing a little bit about with regards to uh uh these tax cuts that could be coming down the line uh for the wealthy um so wanted to start with a update on budget reconciliation and to begin want to clarify that budget reconciliation is separate from the Appropriations process this is how this reconciliation process is how items like the inflation reduction act were passed into law um so I want to make sure it's clear to folks that this is separate and aside from the typical uh Appropriations process the Congress does every year every fiscal year um early uh in late February the house passed a budget resolution that would uh cut critical services for El pasin in favor of providing tax cuts to the uh to the wealthy um cuts to Medicaid cuts to snap uh cuts that you know are uh will be incredibly devastating to the community I provided an example there uh they are likely going to be cutting $880 billion from Medicaid there was a third party uh the Congressional budget office analysis last week verified that in order to make make up for where um they are trying to uh get these tax cuts from that they'll have to cut into traditional Medicaid uh uh Services um and we'll see that impact here locally um I think one of the arguments that you'll hear from the other side is um that a lot of this Revenue will be made up through tariffs um we just don't see how that's the case we don't see that the revenue from tariffs will how that will make up for all the cuts that that uh all the all the uh tax cuts that they're looking to provide for uh for the wealthy so um wanted to make sure that the council was uh apprise of that um the next slide here I just wanted to again I focused it on Medicaid in my fir in the previous slide but the budget res resolution covers a whole host of different programs uh that are important El passin so uh you know under the ACA um 95 uh 95,000 L passin um are going to could see uh their average premium go up by 100% um Medicaid you know the 130,000 uh ELP pasin on uh Medicaid um and I should note that this this information is just for Texas uh not for the Texas 23 portion of El Paso County so those numbers um are uh included uh on a website that we're happy to provide um to folks if they are interested as well uh La last week um you may have heard about uh a uh item called A continuing resolution um that we were debating in Congress uh for the past couple weeks or so uh just to uh uh to introduce to be clear on whether a continuing resolution is on our end uh continuing resolution uh just essentially says you know we'll keep funding the government at uh the same levels as we did the previous year previous fiscal year until we can come together on a full funding package uh we had been running on a contending resolution uh since December this year and up until uh last week or two weeks ago um our position was uh Democrats house Democrats position was uh we should be you know trying to get together this full this full funding package so we don't have to uh run under continuing resolution for a full fiscal year uh however uh the majority did push forward with this continuing resolution through the end of fiscal year 25 which will guarant which guarantees that there's going to be no action taken from f for fiscal year 25 and to be clear the continuing resolution that was put forward was not a normal continuing resolution and did contain a host of cuts um to programs um and other items that uh we'll see um we'll see devastating effects from um not only did were were there certain Cuts in the program in the continu resolution the continuing resolution allows the president um and Elon Musk and the department of government efficiency to continue their attack on uh federal employees and the programs that they administer um we've all seen the news how their dramatic reductions in Workforce whether it's Department of Education uh Social Security Agency items like that you know when you cut and you fire you know these these folks who are working day in day out on these programs we're bound to see effects down the line especially on these programs like Medicaid Social Security snap again um so this continuing resolution allows them to continue doing that um without any congressional oversight so we're very concerned about that the other item and I'll talk about it later on is the Contin resolution did not include funding for Community projects um which I know the city has two uh of from our from our process from last year so those projects are not going to be funded for fiscal year 25 um so we'll talk about that later on but that was another consequence of this continuing resolution so wanted to uh quickly discuss uh the Appropriations uh context of around Appropriations especially now that the congressman's on the Appropriations Committee um every year if we follow the process as it should Congress needs to pass 12 Appropriations bills uh in order to fund the federal government typically you know in typical uh in typical fashion we do uh uh kind of put them all together um but the Appropriations Committee is the committee that helps craft and uh build these bills to direct where uh Federal funding is going so these are all these are all the subcommittees and the bills that the Appropriations has jurisdiction over every Federal agency is somehow connected to this committee and we have the Appropriations Committee has oversight over it even if she's not on the subcommittee for these uh for one of these bills uh she still has jurisdiction or oversight over those bills via the market process via um um uh the actual crafting of the bill so it's very exciting opportunity for us to hone in on El Paso priorities and get them into the these uh these various bills uh wanted to provide a quick jurisdiction example for just how broad these jurisdictions are I just wanted uh the example I put up here is the labor and Health and Human Services subcommittee uh the health that subcommittee in particular covers this whole host of agencies Department of Education Department of Health and Human Services all the way down to Social Security Administration so just to give you an example of how broad these subcommittees are and how what exactly it is that we're uh um uh touching when we're when we are uh putting these bills together congressman's uh subcommittee assignments military construction and Veterans Affairs so important for us uh as a veterans community as well as having for Bliss and uh right here in the community as well um this will be really important the congressman fought to be on the subcommittee uh for those reasons um so we're excited to be on it and uh use it to better our uh relationship with Fort Bliss and to uh improve our services for our V our local veterans uh the other item that she is uh the other subcommittee she's on is Department of Homeland Security uh is the homeland security subcommittee uh and these are all the agencies that that fall under that jurisdiction uh again a lot of the so many of these are important to El Paso and um uh locally uh USCIS FEMA uh cyber security infrastructure Security Agency ice TSA CBP is in here as well so we're excited about um having that opportunity uh quickly um just to give a quick explainer as to the different types of requests we see um when we're crafting these bills um the first type of request we will get or we are getting um our programmatic requests these are specific uh requests to fund agencies at certain levels um so typically when we were off committee we were usually uh signing on to letters for these large programs that affect ELP passs um but now that we're on committee we're also able to advocate for smaller agencies that um really bring home uh bring a huge impact to the community the the example I like to use usually is the uh poison control program uh because it is a it's a program that not necessarily a lot of folks think of um so and a request for that would be allocate $50 million for the uh poison control program uh and then uh the reason need reasoning that could be important for uh El Paso is because UMC hosts the west Texas regional Poison Control Center or poison Center so an example of one of those smaller agencies the item that is just is was important when we were off committee but is just as is just as important if not more important now is being able to insert report language into these bills and this is how you know when when we pass these Appropriations bills we have the bill Tex which just you know has the line items has the you know which funding goes where and it has it comes with a report and generally that report contains uh Congressional intent of how that funding should be spent what the what the committee is thinking of reports that they were that we're requesting um and how to gu help guide these These funds this is going to be how um we really take advantage of this process um so report language can be a lot of things um I include an example on there of um ing the department uh I believe this is of Education to develop pilot programs uh facilitating education and training programs for advanced in addtive manufacturing just an example um the thing I I've been telling uh stakeholders is it's not on you all to develop this report language it's on us as an office to develop it and work with committee what we are looking for are good ideas um so if you see a pilot Pro uh pilot program in your uh in your uh in your District that you think could use a little extra attention maybe from the federal from the federal uh government or from you know fed uh a boost to maybe some you know a little bit of extra money to keep going or to see where it could go this is kind of those are the ideas that we're looking for um as an office Community project um uh for the new members of of of council um Community projects are the way they were brought back in fiscal year 22 uh um and they're a way for the congressman to direct funds funds specifically to specific projects federal dollars um and we've been very successful working with the city and with the county and other stakeholders in Texas 16 of bringing home uh dollars through this process like I mentioned before the continuing resolution from last week does not contain money for or funding for these projects for fiscal year 25 so the 15 projects that we select or that the congressman selected last year are not going to be funded for fiscal year 25 the next slide so up on the slide here I have you know the projects that were selected for uh fiscal year 25 and uh I've highlighted uh for you all the the two from the city um that are not going to be funded for fiscal year 25 but you can see all these other projects that are throughout the community that unfortunately because the majority decided to go down this route and to be clear they could have put fun they could have put these projects in there there was nothing stopping them from from doing it um these are not going to be funed funded for this fiscal year again a continuation of the projects that we we had hoped we had hoped to fund this time around so what does this mean for fiscal year 26 we are still expecting that our majority that the majority will continue these uh this community project process you know they haven't said it explicitly um we've been kind of reading tea leaves but we believe we believe is still moving forward so we are still going to be selecting 15 projects for fiscal year 26 however because you know it not on it wasn't on the city it wasn't on the county that these projects were not included in the continuing resolution we want to try to roll over as many projects from fiscal year 25 to fiscal year 26 is possible um so right now yesterday I sent an email to um to stakeholders who received projects last year asking them if they would like to roll over their projects um to this upcoming fiscal year uh because of this again normally we select 15 projects but because of this there may be very few slots for new projects in this cycle so we may see a a reiteration of last year's list we may see a reiteration with some new projects but want to be transparent that that is what we're doing this time around because again it wasn't on stakeholders that this didn't happen um so not all projects going to be rolled over and really the reason why we're asking folks if they' like to roll it over is because we understand these projects run on certain timelines you know this project may have made these project may have made sense last year may not make sense this year just based on timing um so want to make sure folks have that opportunity to consider that um as they move forward and just an example again for for the new for for the newer folks on on Council of you know who's eligible for this funding State local and tribal governments nonprofit organizations that's very limited now unfortunately under this majority uh for-profit entities are not eligible the thing I I always stress for folks is Community Support we need to have Community Support on these projects whether it's resolutions uh letters of support from local officials letters of support from you all um it is incredibly important that these uh projects have it so they have a best chance of uh passing muster when we we present them to the committee um at this time we don't have a deadline however I should back up we do have a deadline for folks who have who submitted projects at fiscal year 25 to tell us if they would like to roll over their projects that deadline is uh this Thursday uh close a business um the reason why it's so fast uh is because we didn't again we didn't know about the what the result of the continuing resolution was going to be until this weekend um and we are expecting an incredibly fast turnaround in general for the Appropriations process so uh once the committee does release snoob guidance we'll update our forms and ask folks to um provide details of their projects but um this is going to be a very fast turnaround and now is the time to work with City staff to uh think about these projects um for the for the coming fiscal year uh again you know the Comm project process is just one uh Avenue for federal funding however you know given the uncertainty of a lot of items of a lot of these programs these days um we want to make sure that this this is still an Avenue that we provide uh that we're able to provide to uh to stakeholders uh if you have any questions feel free to email that email it goes to me um but really encourage you all to uh take take advantage of this opportunity um to either roll over those projects from last year take a look and see if there are new projects you might want to submit this time around with that I'll turn it over to Emily Lo our district director for this part of the presentation hi Council and mayor good to see you all good morning um Emily Loya District director for congresswoman Escobar just um you can go to the slides as well um so I will be brief because I think that we've had a chance to meet with each of your offices individually are pending that for a few of you as well um but wanted to make sure that you're aware of what the district office on this side does um and and ways we can collaborate and um um generally serve our constituents together so um our office one of the biggest parts of what a district office does is case work and it's helping um connect constituents to get responses from federal agencies um if everything worked perfectly they'd get the answers but sometimes there are complications and or people do not hear from them or their address changed and they never got a a response from an agency in the mail so our office can assist um by getting um connecting to federal agencies leveraging the power of the congresswoman's office to make sure the your constituents and our constituents get a response there are some of you that have constituents that are also in Texas 23 so just flagging that um we do have to check addresses because out of courtesy we have to only serve those that are in our district um in Texas 16 um but wanted to highlight the the agencies that we cover um there are more but these are usually the the top ones between State Homeland Security treasury small business defense VA lots of va work Social Security um doj Department of Labor post office often um and others um so we do have a digital form and that's usually the easiest way for our shared constituents to get service from our office and we do need the permission from that constituent so even if they reached out to you guys we know there you have relationships with certain constituents that they like no matter what the issue is they're going to come to your office and vice versa on our end and we refer folks over to you all many times and very frequently um but we just want to make it smooth for folks so but we do need the form completed and it can be a digital signature if they're not able to do that they're welcome to come to the office or we can mail them a paper form as well it's just fastest that way um but to give you a sense of scope um in last year and last calendar year we did over 1400 cases and that's just ones that we actually submitted inquiries a lot of times we just helped kind of guide some questions or get some um give some guidance to folks that we didn't even submit anything directly to an agency so touching even more constituents than that and over $4.2 million returned um through the casework process um so one of the ways that we extend our casework beyond our office um downtown is we want to make sure that it's accessible we're accessible and the agencies are accessible to the community so every month we um we have mobile office hours and this next one is actually on Thursday we'll be doing a mobile office hours with the Social Security Administration um and answering questions there and connecting folks directly with Social Security and our office and that's in the Chamisa Rec Center um from 10: to 12 um these are always on our social on our on our website and also um sent out via our email system to anybody any of our subscribers and we have another one with the passport agency again in partnership with the city we thank the city for being such a great partner for hosting so many of our mobile office we work with the county too but you guys have a lot of great facilities for us to be able to make this possible and um whenever we're in your District we try to connect with the rep that's in that District if they'd like to be part of the event I know um rep boy artra who came out to a mobile office ours we had um just a couple weeks ago and when the congresswoman's in town we try to she um is at most of those this upcoming one she won't be but most of the time she is um with us at these events as well um but they're a great opportunity to connect and um connect our constituents directly to agencies on specific topics but if they come and they have question questions off topic we always feel those as well too and help connect them um a couple of other kind of fun and light things we do and I really want to give take a give a little more time to this one only because we are so thankful for the partnership with the city and your um and your museums and cultural Affairs Department because we do a culture a congressional art competition all congressional um offices are invited to do it most of them do participate but we are one of the offices that does the biggest and most participation in our city and um I am as far as I can tell from all of our work um and connecting with other offices and what's shared across other um District directors is that we're the only office that gets to put up the students artwork for an entire summer and celebrate these high school students artwork um because of the partnership with our city um Museum and and through you guys so thank you for allowing your staff and your teams to do that and for their willingness to be a partner so we're really excited that we'll be on May 2nd we'll be back um celebrating this next round of Arts where're our deadline for the competition is coming up so if you um are subscribed to our stuff or or want information that you can share with your constituents too we go directly to the schools but it's always great to get the word out and all the ways possible to get um the top 100 student artworks get get hung in the museum for the summer and a lot of Youth um younger kids come from the elementary schools and get to see that student artwork and I just love the beauty of like inspiring our young people and um I think our theme this year is like Spirit of a Paso or something along those lines like talking about the beauty of our community and being on on the on the on the border so so um it's our first year doing a theme so thank you guys again for that partnership and um help helping share out that info we also do a stem challenge which is the app Challenge and um we have some students that are going to be heading to Washington the two that um have the winning app and um it's a great way to promote that this one's middle school and high school and then we I love our Congressional youth advisory Council so if there's young people in your districts um encourage them to to get involved and apply it is competitive it's been so popular that we now do this not only in the school year we're launching a summer program as well for and so this is for 10th through 12th graders and um and we really enjoy working with them to help them understand how government works and we don't just talk about federal government we talk about all levels of government and um explaining how important it is to be civically engaged but also to under to share their voices so um more info there also we have internships we get a lot of great interns some of um sometimes staff come over to the city or city offices because they've interned with ours offices and vice versa because you guys have amazing internship programs to their internships in El Paso and also in DC so we have them spring summer and fall and our summer deadlines coming up pretty soon and then we also do service Academy nominations so as you can tell lots of things with youth because it's it's our future right and um the service Academy nominations process really rigorous it's kind of like getting into an Ivy League school right but you also have to pass all these physical tests and all these other things too so um that's kind of a yearr round process for us but every every December is when our deadline is so that we can pick our slate that the congresswoman nominates and then they still have to get into the academy too but um just wanted you guys to be aware of that we also have a Library of Congress book Surplus program we've done this a few times you can see some pictures there with um city and I think Miss Leon has a request in and we'll be working on that one too for um we can get not like hundreds and hundreds of book at a time but we can get like 50 60 books at a time from the Library of Congress that were donated as Surplus and um bring them to libraries in your District or other um nonprofits or Community entities in your District not like direct distribution to individual judgments but um in places where they can be like a library or service or um books being used so um Daniel from our team can help coordinate that but there's a forum on our website too and also I mean grants have been an interesting space recently just going to be honest like there's we're much more worried about protecting the grants that exist um then um there are some um notices of funding opportunity rpes out but not as many as normal um but we do have a grants newsletter and we do have a process for letters of support as well as Research Services for any grants so we work really closely with City staff but also anybody um from a district level or if you want to um send any constituents you connect with that might be interested in Grant Services we do have that with our office and finally just a kind of a laundry list we do lots of commendations and recognitions for different things and when when you or your constituents are in DC Capital Tour White House Tour Library of Congress and um helping um helping um make sure people have a great visit to DC if they can just reach out early so that's the end of my slides and Ben and I are available for any questions if you need them very good well thank you we have a few uh comments uh represent leemon thank you mayor Emily it's always good to see you um you just did a a list of all these wonderful things it's great to be in Washington DC and see the artwork as you're d as you're in the Halls um in the tunnel um I did want to point out to you you may already know that a former intern is working in our office Miguel we're very very proud I didn't want to be so singular but yes we well with pride I mention it it it's it's really good also um I do have a young man that we're working on a nomination for a service Academy and so we're looking at that not we're starting early enough that we're working on it this year for next year um our students our young people have been uh receiving the the book Surplus that we received under uh Congressman oror in the past and hopefully from uh congresswoman Escobar it'll continue as well but um lots of great Services an incredible person to know and a great contact I have a question for you Ben are tribal governments targeted under the elimination of Dei a I think that's a great question um I can't speak to the specifics of the Dynamics between tribal governments and Dei what I can say is that we've seen a lot of cuts to uh or potential cuts to items like the in Health Service uh cuts to uh or attacks on uh self-recognition items like that um so again I can't speak to that specific question but I can say that we've also our office has been making sure that we're in contact with uh with the tigas and making sure that we're uh in conversations with them and they we have a very strong relationship with them and they are great at flagging items that they think um uh could be in danger and we're looking forward to continuing that uh relationship with them good I'll reach out to your office as well to have a an alert on that appreciate it absolutely thank you thank you mayor you got represent FAL thank you mayor Emily Daniel thank you all very much for this great presentation I I need to share that that one of our community meetings the congresswoman made a special appearance um but she didn't come empty-handed uh in fact Miss Mack was there and uh she brought books for the library the Irving shorts Library so when you see her thank her for that and thank you all for being here I know that that's I failed to mention but we we do love to try to offer the congresswoman and coordinate schedules which are never easy but um really have your staff reach out I think some have already but as you're planning for um for this year's community meeting she does love to join each of your um your community meetings as well as we can make it a Make Her available thank you thank you m y and thank you guys for that wonderful presentation we know you have your hands full right now but uh thank you for taking the time to come to do this thank you thank you Miss bran I believe that takes us to item 26 we do we do have public comment on this item from Miss Osman Miss Osman you have three minutes ma'am yes I really do wish that this presentation had occurred prior to the vote on um number agenda item 25 so that we could realize how much funding would be lost and how moot the point would be to have any of our elected officials fly up to Washington unfortunately it appears as though you in our Council are still running under the pretense that we are business as us ual now under this new federal Administration we are not grants have been have been cut they're going to continue to be cut Department of Education firing usdi uh USA rather completely dismantled that affects some of the farms in in our surrounding areas Linda McMahon stated that the goal is to kill the Department of Education I would hope that my representative AO truly appreciates what that is going to mean in our community but we are no longer business as usual nor should all of y'all enact any votes put forth any procurements as if it's business as usual it is not all of the grant funds that you all had to scramble to figure out what was going to happen that is still up in the air that those are lost funds that taxpayers are then going to have to fund because our city ran on so many grants I've had the opportunity to speak to M Miss esar she lives in the area not far from me I've spoken to her in person and I've showed her documents of misappropriation of federal funds in our local government she has seen that I've gone to her offices it appears as though you all don't really understand the gravity of the situation we are currently in in this Democratic city under this Federal Administration it is not business as usual putting forth any more thank you thank you ma'am you've reached the three minute limit thank you mayor that concludes public comment on this item if we may return to we're still on page 10 to item 26 sure thank you item 26 is discussion and action on a resolution to authorize the expenditure of District 8 discretionary funds in an amount not to exceed $3500 for Capital costs related to the new pet pantries at Al Paso public libraries including storage containers mobile microchip scanners Hardware locks and related recruitments which serve a municipal Purpose By nurturing and promoting a healthy sustainable Community for Al Paso pets and pet owners and further that the city manager or designate be authorized to effectuate any budget transfers and execute any contracts or related documents necessary to ensure that the funds are properly expended for the municipal purpose this item was submitted by representative caralis represent Canales thank you mayor um I just wanted to share a tiny bit about this new initiative um the the Pet Pantry initiative is a new project of the El Pasa public libraries um it's it's an effort that uh I proposed together with with some other people uh in order to help pet owners in need and make sure that we provide people the supplies that they need to hopefully keep their pets out of the shelter if they're uh you know Finding difficulty providing for for their animals um so like I said it's a collaboration between the city of Al Paso in particular the the public libraries uh and also the the new Borderland Animal Welfare Collective uh collaborative which is a project of the El Paso Community Foundation um to to get these pet pantries up and running uh I I hope to be able to use District a discretionary funds again in an amount not to exceed $3,500 um and this again will be to cover setup costs for the pantries themselves so what we're planning is to have physical uh like metal storage lockers outside of the libraries they'll be self-service so members of the community can come leave their donations uh at the at the pantries uh and anybody who is in need of pet food or supplies can come uh pick up what they need uh they'll be monitored by the library staff but um you know otherwise they are they're self-service to the community uh this is something that we we've thought about doing uh and looked at many different ways that we could do this for for the last several years and I think finally we've we've arrived at a very elegant solution uh thanks to the libraries who you know they're already out in the community doing community focused work and we thought this was a perfect Landing place for for a program like this um we are also going planning to have at each of these Pet Pantry locations at each of the library branches a microchip scanner um to offer additional options for people who find a lost animal they can go uh there'll be a microchip scanner tethered there and they can scan the animal and see uh if if the animal is microchipped facilitates a return to the owner without the animal having to go to the shelter uh saves a lot of effort and and time and you know prevents a stressful situation for a pet who then you know can can avoid having to go to the shelter so uh super excited about this program again no pressure to my colleagues but um you know we're looking to roll this out across the entire city uh at at all of the library branches um I know there's a lot of pressures on people's discretionary funds if anybody has something available uh then I think it would be a welcomed addition to maybe fund some of the uh the just The Upfront setup costs the storage locker costs uh within your within your own districts um you know we're talking about $11,000 per per Library location um and I I want to give a couple special thanks um to number one I'll start with uh Mayor Johnson who you know uh I think campaigned on on the idea that he was going to donate his his salary to different organizations um and has followed through and his first uh his first paycheck went to the board land animal welfare collaborative to help seed this this effort so thank you mayor I think that deserves a round of [Applause] applause um and then also to to a few people Tess pasero from the a Paso Community Foundation who has you know really spearheaded this on on their end and and Eric Pearson as well uh they've already started fundraising uh and will be doing a a campaign to help sustain this into the future and you know supplement donated pet food and supplies um with with purchased supplies if needed um and then thank you to Norma martinz from the AL Pasa public libraries and everybody who's been involved there it's very easy to roll out a program when the answer is immediately yes we would love to do this and it's a great you know ancillary service for our libraries to offer so thank you to all of them and then finally to the members of the animal shelter advisory committee who have provided guidance on on the roll out of this program and specifically the members of the ASAC mobile microchip uh scanner subcommittee who really informed the decision to to place microchip scanners at at these Library locations I think it'll be a big help um reduces the burden on our firefighters who I know have microchip scanners at the fire stations and are often uh you know they're woken up or uh Disturbed at times when they might be tired coming back from a call to to help the public they're happy to do it but this will be a nice self-service location for the public to have an alternative so uh just wanted to say all of I think I got in everything I needed to say um and Council I hope you'll uh approve this today for my discretionary funds and if you have the capacity in your discretionary funds to consider uh helping us with this program and I'd be happy to connect with you about it so thank you mayor thank you represent Canal representative Chavez thank you mayor um representative Canalis I think this is a great initiative I I'm very interested in the microchip scanners just to get clarity are they going to be available 247 like outside of the library so can people can go up to them and scan pet we're still working on how exactly it'll work the the lockers themselves with the supplies will not be open 24/7 so we'll have the library staff is planning to close those at the end of their business hours um if we can if it's feasible we want the scanners to be Tethered to the the locker outside but available 24 hours we're just not sure if that's totally feasible yet so we're still working on that but most likely yes accessibility I think to finding these microchips is important so thank you absolutely represent Ria thank you mayor again again r farell i I've had several discussions with rep Canales or a couple of discussions particularly about this uh this situation that I feel right now is um we're at the Tipping Point if we're not over already and so I think this is a wonderful initiative and rep Canalis you have my commitment to look at my discretionary fund to uh um to be able to assist with the libraries in my district so thank you for for that I really appreciate it I like the sound to that thank you representative FAL oh thank you mayor I didn't think you saw me um I deleted you a couple times sorry about that story of my life U representative Canales I'd be honored to Second your motion and to commit from discretionary funds If U Miss Neiman allows $1,000 we'll get it on we'll get it on a future agenda thank you represent leemon thank you very much mayor and yes um I think it's um an incredibly good project and as always you do some really deep thinking um in the process of everything that you do um I'm not sure how much money um is available um I have two libraries the judge Marquez library and the Sergio troncoso library but certainly we'll be looking to that um I will be looking at personal contribution to make it happen as well thank you not to match the mayor but just to kind represent roacha thank you mayor and repon I I we share what not we share but you have the judge Marcus library but I'd be happy to to help contribute to a portion of that to offset the cost because I believe uh District 3 only has the one Library which is at um oh my goodness it's off of Hawkins and sorry District 3 but I do have um the CE netos thank you uh library and so I'd be happy to partner with you for for the other one thank you very much yes ma'am representative Canalis has done get any better than this go ahead oh I know thank you just a closing comment I don't want anybody to think that if you don't if you're not able to contribute your discretionary funds that you won't have a pantry at your library we're making it work with the Community Foundation it will be a big help um you know so we we welcome uh any any contributions from discretionary funds that come in but don't think that that's your only Pathway to receiving uh pantries at the libraries in your districts uh you know we we've already started fundraising like I said through the Community Foundation um and and very confident we'll the funding will will come through for us to be able to set up at every Library if not immediately as this rolls out then then over a short period of time so thank you for all the support very good and uh before we call the vote on this one you know it was important for me you know when I was campaigning I heard a lot about our our furry friends and all of the work that we needed to do in in in animal services and uh when representative Canalis told me about the pet pantries it was important for me to do what I could to support our our our animals in in El Paso I will also like to uh extend to the El Paso Community uh any help that you can give to our fur friends with pet pantries and in the public libraries and dropping off the food uh please re reach out to District at Chris Canal's office and and see what you can do to help because there's there's a lot of need in this community and it keeps growing so anything you could do in that area we'd appreciate it so representative Canalis thank you for putting this on the agenda and I think it's a worthy cause thank you all right Miss BR we do have public comment from Miss Osman on this item Miss Osman you have three minutes ma'am Council I'm going to say that this is the first time I agree with the majority and quite frankly Mr canandes I would like to thank you for utilizing funds for the benefit of the citizens of El Paso which is what I believe discretionary funds should be utilized for to further help the communities that you serve uh I have spoken about pet matters in the past and as we know there are issues with strains and so forth lost pets if you follow any the social medias whether that be Facebook or next door we see much of the issues that are going on yes you can some people could go to Firefighters um I know the the added ability to go to a library if it is Tethered that would be a fantastic idea so that hours are not limited because as I had spoken in the past before in regards to Str and pet issues in our city these Strays in the mutilations and murders of some of these pets that we have still continuing across our city is a canary in the cold mine all that does is show the citizens how many dangerous individuals we have in this city any study on serial killers we know they started by killing pets get on social media in the within the last few weeks it is still going on I am hoping that the addition of these pet pantries and accessibility outside will help a Good Samaritan find a pet and get them back to their owner before something occurs because quite frankly as it is anytime any anybody sees another post about a mutilated animal mainly the cat and so forth it just brings back memories of whether it's Richard Ramirez or lately who's been in the news Woods our city in fact I think one of our local media um on local media did a whole expose about passo serial killers so attending to the straight pet issue like I said it is a canaran the coal mine and it's something that we deeply deeply have needed to focus on so I do thank representative Canalis for this I hope you do approve all all right M Miss priman we have a motion in a second yes sir the motion was made by representative Canales second by alternate mayor proin Fiero to approve item 26 on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and that motion passes unanimously that brings us to items 28 and 29 on the agenda this is a first reading of ordinances mayor I move to approve the introduction of the first reading of ordinances there's a motion is there a second second second there's a motion in a second any discussion Miss Prime call for the vote Yes sir the motion was made by representative leemon seconded by representative Canales and this is to approve the first reading of ordinances on items 28 and 29 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously we now go to item 30 and this is discussion and action on the award of solicitation 2025-the DBA Mid America Sports construction for a total estimated amount of 3,468 74239 this project will replace the existing irrigation system in the lonar golf Club to address the aging and failing irrigation system in the golf course motion approved second there's a motion and a second any discussion on this item hearing then miss Prime call for the vote Yes sir the motion was made by alternate mayor proen F second by representative leemon to award the solicitation on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously that brings us to item 31 item 31 is discussion and action on a resolution authorizing the city manager to sign an agreement for Professional Services buying between the city of Al Paso and Park Hill Smith and Cooper Inc a domestic for-profit Corporation for a project known as construction management and inspection services for the El Paso International Airport 5 node intersection remediation for an amount not to exceed 1,487 123 move to approve second there's a motion in this second uh represent asto thank you mayor I just had a question on this one it seems like good work on this but has any of this work started yet no sir none of it has okay so this is just awarding the contract and then they're going to get to work and how long do you think that they will work the last contract that we need to award to start the project so we'll issue ntp at the end of this month early next month we're still coordinating the schedules okay thank you we have a motion and a second any further discussion on this item hearing none Miss Prime the motion was made by representative Leon seconded by alternate mayor proen F to approve the resolution on item 31 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously that brings us to item 32 item 32 is discussion and action on the request that the director of purchasing and strategic sourcing Department be authorized to issue purchase orders for solicitation 2025-the of peers proprietary Parts repair maintenance and training service per fire apparatus move to approve mayor this is a One Source only one source all right there's a motion and a second by representative Chavez any further discussion on this item hearing none Miss bran call for the vote Yes sir the motion was made by representative leemon seconded by mayor proam Chavez to approve the request on item 32 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item 33 as discussion and action on the request that the director of purchasing and strategic sourcing be authorized to issue purchase orders for solicitation 2025-the BS Bank in DBA the Pitney B's Reserve account the soul Source provider for postage for the male sorder equipment for a term of three years an estimated amount of $1,129 5656 this contract will be used for postage to support the Daily Mail Room activities and operations represent leemon this is um this is also a One Source but I really liked the fact that you will be receiving a letter every year from the company indicating that they are still the one One Source I think that's a great idea because things could change over a three or 5year contract move to approve okay there's a motion to is there a second second there's a motion a second representative uh verier yes U how is this a sole source so P Pitney BS is the only um authorized I'm sorry good morning Jenny s from purchasing and strategic sing um Pitney balls is the only approved um male sorder Equipment Plus postage provider that USPS approves okay so it's not so sourc it's just the only approved they're the only ones that can provide the same service and equipment together okay thank you all right there was a motion in a second any further discussion on this item hearing none Miss BR yes sir the motion was made by representatively seconded by representative Malon Roa to approve item 33 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item 34 is discussion and action on the award of solicitation 2025-the amount of 1,279 193.50 and Martinez Brothers Contractors LLC for an estimated amount of $1,193 1820 for a term of two years this contract will be used for the construction installation of various types of concrete City rightaway preparation and Earth work at various City locations Citywide repes leemon thank you mayor once again um I noted on here that there were 50 views on this particular item and I was very pleased that all six bids came in from local contractors doing business locally thank you very much move to approve there's a motion and a second any further discussion on this item hearing none Miss pran yes sir the motion was made by representative Leon seconded by mayor proam Chavez to award the solicitation and this is for item 34 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item 35 is discussion and action on the award of solicitation 2024 - 0474 Automotive fuel unlet to the following suppliers number one Rio Valley biofuels LLC two Tartan oil DBA Saratoga rack marketing LLC three Synergy Petroleum LLC for a total estimated amount of $9,600 th000 this contract will provide unlet Automotive fuel to ensure the continual Supply to City owned vehicles that require fuel for daily operations move to approve there's a motion to approve is there a second second motion and a second any discussion on this item hearing none Miss PR yes sir the motion was made by representative leemon seconded by representative Canales to award the solicitation on item 35 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item 36 is discussion and action on the award of solicitation 2025 d008 connected bike Lanes to Martinez Brothers Contractors LLC for a to Total estimated amount of 1,237 125.77 this project will consist of new offered Bike Link signage and shared youth path to enhance the existing bicycle Network approv second there's a motion in the second any discussion on this item I hearing none call for the vote Miss Brian yes sir the motion was made by alternate mayor proen fedo seconded by representative noo to award the solicitation on item 36 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item 37 is discussion and action on the award of solicitation 2025-the desert rock company for group three for an estimated amount of $523,500 for a term of 3 years for a total estimated amount of $ 4,645 65 this contract will allow the purchase of construction materials used to maintain City owned right of weight represent Leon before taking a vote mayor I would like to report that I received two contributions campaign contributions from Stanley job representative ASO thank you mayor I just also wanted to notate that I have received $1,000 from Stanley job since he's linked on this um item represent Roa thank you mayor I also have received a campaign contribution from Stanley job representative Pier thank you mayor I just wanted to make a note that I received the campaign contribution from the Joe Concrete Company represent Nino oh Stanley sorry thank you mayor I also would like for notation to report that I have also received a contribution from Stanley Joe for $1,000 thank you I wish I could just say ditto so I received a campaign contribution from Stanley job as well move to approve there's a motion to approve is there a second motion and a second any further discussion on this item hearing none Miss pran yes sir the motion was made by representatively mon seconded by mayor protim to award the solicitation on item 37 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously Council I'll remind you to refrain from side conversations please that brings us to item 3 and this is discussion and action on the request that the director of purchasing and strategic sourcing be authorized to issue purchase orders for solicitation 2025-the of a posy shell sprayer to assist on the daily operations at the landfill for environment compliance with Texas commission on Environmental Quality tcq motion approve second there's a motion in a second any discussion on this item hearing then miss bran yes sir the motion was made by alternate mayor Pro P seconded by representative Gales to approve the request on item 38 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item 39 is a public hearing of a nnin granting a special permit to allow for a clinic and sidey setback reduction at 4893 Maxwell Avenue is there a motion to approve a motion to approve there's a motion in a second any discussion on this item hearing none Miss Brian yes sir the motion was made by representative Boo seconded by representative ASO and this is to adopt the ordinance on item 39 there is no public comment on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and that motion passes unanimously that brings us to item number 40 and item 40 is a public hearing of an ordinance granting a special permit to allow for an orphanage shelter and sidey yard setback reduction at 1100 East Cliff Drive represent Canalis thank you mayor um I just wanted to uh give a quick shout out to the uh the Liam bua Mo uh children's home they uh have multiple cottages at that location where they uh you know have residential services for uh for children and this will allow them to expand with two additional cottages and more space for children so uh it's a something I'm happy to support and I move to approve there's a motion in a second any further discussion on this item hearing none Miss pran yes sir the motion was made by representative Canales seconded by representative Leon to adopt the ordinance on item 40 there's no public comment on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item 41 is a public hearing of an ordinance changing the zoning from R5 residential to C1 commercial and this is at 3505 Gateway West Boulevard move to approve second there's a motion in a second any discussion on this item hearing none Miss Bryan yes sir the motion was made by representative ACO seconded by representative Maldonado Roa represent I'm sorry mayor protim Chavez to adopt the ordinance on item 41 there's no public comment on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item 42 is a public hearing of an ordinance changing the zoning from C2 commercial to C3 commercial and this is at north of pibble Hills Drive and east of John Hay Street motion to approve second there's a motion in a second any discussion on this hearing none Miss Prime yes sir the motion was made by representative n seconded by alternate mayor proen Fiero and this is to adopt the ordinance on item 42 there's no public comment on this item on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously next item is 4 3 and this is a public hearing of an ordinance changing the zoning from RF Ranch and farm to C4 commercial and this is north of America's Avenue and west of Southside Road represent leemon thank you mayor this is this is a really really good project that's going to be going up I had an opportunity to meet with the company that is building a logistic um location in district 7 um and they are taking a step further um the the buildings will resemble a Southwest architecture and with a right coloring and so I'm very very happy move to approve on this motion wonderful there's a motion to approve is there a second second motion and a second any discussion hearing none Miss Brian yes sir the motion was made by representative Leon seconded by representative n to adopt the ordinance on item 43 on that motion call for the vote there was no public comment on this item and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously representative AO not present item 44 is discussion and action on a resolution that the city manager be authorized to sign a consent and subordination by lesis by in between city of Al Paso the United States of America through through the general Services Administration GSA and the AL Paso infrastructure collaborative whereby the parties consent to the recording of utility easements by respective eastment granters and agree that certain leases between the parties shall be subordinate to such utility easements represent Canalis thank you mayor and just for the clarification of the public this is the area around the the Sentry lanes and uh kind of underneath the the bridge infrastructure there um and this is a it's a cleanup that I'm glad we're finally getting around to because it's uh it's been a difficult property situation there so uh happily supporting and move to approve second there's a motion in a second to approve any discussion on this item hearing none Miss pre yes sir the motion was made by representative Canal seconded by representative leemon to approve the resolution on item 44 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item 45 is a public hearing of an ordinance vac vacating a portion of 9th Avenue and Alley rway block 47 this is east of Mesa Street and North of Cesar Chavez Memorial is there a motion to approve move to approve second there's a motion and a second any discussion on this item Miss Prime call for the vote Yes heard the motion was made by representative Canales seconded by representative leemon and this is to adopt the ordinance on item 45 on that motion there's no public comment on this item call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously next item is 46 and this is discussion and action on a resolution that the city council ratify contract change order number three to contract number 20234 th0 for the ELP relocation of taxiway Mike with Jordan Foster Construction in an amount of $251,900 40 for the additional cost related to Greater construction efficiency increase safety and reduce impacts to our airport operations this notice provides for the additional scope of work which allows for additional capacity to be to the awarded contract is there a presentation on this one represent you want to see do you mind show on that to us sure um good good morning still good morning uh Shane Brooks assistant director with the airport assistant director of development with the airport so this is a presentation for the change order under taxiway mik it's a $17 million project it is supported by two FAA grants and Airport Enterprise funds the original con Construction contract was awarded for 14.7 million uh the change order is in a total amount of 251,000 it is eligible for reimbursement so 226 is covered under the Grant and 25 is the required airport match going into some history on the projects uh we have a lot of work going on in the area on the screen that's a location known as the five node which is the most dangerous area in the Airfield because of its geometry and configuration and if you remember towards the end of last year we were awarded 26.8 million to reconfigure that area because it is um a concern so uh under taxiway mic uh we had Runway eight right closed and it's hard to see on your screen but the turquoise going north south is taxiway Mike and underneath it is Runway 8 right while construction under taxiway Mike was going on we had Runway 8 right closed June through November which causes a Back Taxi situation on our main Runway 422 which is just North of that orange area at a diagonal and back taxing is a dangerous situation it's where you've got aircraft Landing one way and other airplanes taxing against Landing traffic so it's something that you really want to avoid an Airfield safety I mentioned that we were awarded the Grant in July for a five node and so we knew that that work was coming and our construction management team started strategizing for a safer future looking at the work that needed to be done we saw that we could pull some of the electrical work forward into mic and reduce that Runway closure time for 24 days almost a month so they were able to get it done get it completed and get out of there so it's just a much safer situation going forward again this kind of highlights the Strategic advantages again reducing the runway closure by 24 days and then because because we reduced the rework that we were going to have to do Under the five node it's a cost Savings of $999,000 that's it our recommended action is the city council ratify contract change order number three to the contract thank you represento thank you mayor the the reason I wanted to speak about this item I I do want to start by saying if any of my my colleagues on city council got this presentation a few weeks ago think back to what that presentation was like in our offices and when this came to me I said wow this is an incredible project we really need to do it I mean a lot safety concerns are addressed and stuff and as we got to a similar slide with different text on it with the recommended Council action I said well I'm excited about this so how long will it be until until we finished this work with that question I was met with the work's already complete and to me that was a real slap in the face it was $250,000 that they were asking for this project that has already been spent and so I was very clear during that meeting that I was going to pull this item at the last council meeting which was two weeks ago and I pulled the item and when I pulled the item during our work session I I asked Shane if um when the work was completed like I I told you this is for transparency the public needs to know when was the work completed you set November 2024 so the next day at 8:30 in the morning um City staff had pulled the item and deleted it and then I went and spoke to Miss Mack about this item said that she told me that the item was coming for this meeting and now we're here and it was coming as a ratification and this item was not a ratification at the time of meeting with me and I think for me this is a huge slap in the face because I think I don't know if any other council members were told that the work had already been completed and I feel like it was trying to be slipped under the rug just to kind of move forward because the work had already been completed had I not asked that question if the the work was already complete we wouldn't have been told and I don't appreciate that at all it is making me lose faith in the airport because of this and I worry that where we go with this because now we have a ratification forward but we're if we would have been there and had that hard conversation and saying we didn't bring this to you because of X Y and Z instead of just slipping it past us it would have been a different story that's surprising to hear you say that so Shane please let your director and the DCM address it please yeah good morning Tony n is director for the airport U yeah and and I do want to apologize because we went through this this isn't something we normally done we we didn't know the process um the CM that went through this process um was under the impression that it was a 25% and so we got it wrong and we brought it to you wrong uh legal advis us that this was a ratification process um and and so I I do apologize it was um not something that we we were we knew how to do so the approach was wrong and uh we weren't trying to you know uh deceive any of you we just didn't know the process and so we did speak to Legal we spoke to Miss Mack and and and miss hernandz and and we you know that's why we pulled everything and we want sent out the letter and wanted to let everybody know hey we we messed up uh we want to make it right we want to go through the right process process but we didn't know um because we had never done this before we didn't know the process so you know it's not an excuse but that's we weren't trying to deceive anybody so so to be clear what you didn't know is what a change order is the definition of a change order or what what did you not know that's we didn't know the process to go through the the change order because the change order was um the way it was done we didn't know that the that it was the amount to trigger the the process so we had to go back and and and you know I don't know you bet if you want to kind of good morning on this uh city engineer uh Deputy city manager um so thank you representative for bringing this and so that it's a topic that we can all um have the same conversation because I know each one of the districts were briefed although I did not sit in on all of those uh briefings one we do acknowledge that the city policy um was not followed therefore you saw the item being deleted and coming back as being ratified so that's one of the city procedures that are needed when we moved forward and did the work without having the approval from city council and one of the things that instead of being feeling slapped in the face that city council takes that the item was du done correctly once we consulted with legal we have training um scheduled tomorrow for the airport it's not a knee-jerk reaction that it's happening after this I wanted to ensure that everyone was back from vacation so that we had all parties there so that we can reinforce and go over the change order um procedures one of the things that you might remember two weeks ago is that I did provide a memo to council explaining that one of the things that we we've noticed with our policy and procedures at the airport is that it is specialized construction we have six new members that we are training up and teaching them hence the training tomorrow and we have solely relied on construction management which what you've seen was an item that was just recently approved given that the construction at airport is specialty so the focus of that construction management team was getting the reimbursement as you see the significant amount of that 251 is the Federal Aviation dollars and so they were focused on one reducing the time so as Miss Shane um gave the definition of what taxi weigh we don't want that to Cur occur on the runway which is one of the main ones that all commercial flights utilize so the focus was to remove the 24 days to expedite that and then secondly to get get the reimbursement from and the approval from Fe Federal Aviation that was the focus and we acknowledge that the city procedure was not followed to the letter of the T of being here and getting that approval back in November once all the negotiations um had occurred once we approved got the approval from the Federal Aviation and so it was a mistake and we're taking procedures to do better to not be in front of you again and it was not I do apologize that the sentiment is that you feel we wanted to slip one through um processing that's one of the reasons if you'll remember this was on consent that um airport made the um briefings with each of the members so I do apologize that that's your takeaway but please know that um as the city engineer as having the airport under my portfolio when one of my responsibilities is that we do follow City policy with regards to all change orders that the approval is done first prior to any work commencing yeah and I I appreciate you showing face for this Evette yes sir and I think overall I think a change order is a very basic term when you're doing any of this and and it's not um something that is a very complex thing and so to not know what a change order is and to do all the work and then bring it back to us four months later I mean it it's not very clear in in that sense that I'm I'm fully buying it in that sense because I also learned that there's another change order that's going to be coming to us at some point that with the work that's completely completed already as well correct and we'll go into more detail and we can brief you as well it's um that scenario is a bit different from construction um but yes you are correct there will be another one com but I think if you look at if you're putting this presentation in front of me and you're coming to me asking for $250,000 and it wasn't until I asked when will the work be completed that I was told that the work was already done I feel like that is a really disingenuous thought right and I don't know if for the people that got briefings up here in Council if you were told a different story but um I I'm trying to think that it was because of the question that I asked that I got that information but I'll I'll leave it there for now represent Fier thank you mayor um first and foremost thank you very much for bring this to our attention and we're talking about a safety issue here and so it was of the utmost importance to resolve the issue quickly the 25% I I understand that you had to jump through hoops with the FAA and to get for reimbursement I don't I don't see this as anybody trying to pull the wool over my eyes during the briefing it was it was a very great briefing the emphasis was on safety and how it affected the rest of the traffic at the airport so I if if it Fells through through the tracks through the cracks and this is money that the FAA is going to reimburse us for um I want to thank you for for Expediting it and and moving forward and getting this done for the this is not a good time for for not taking uh Airline safety um serious so thank you very much and thank you for the presentation represent Alto again this has nothing to do with the project and it has nothing to do with the safety and I think that I am concerned more about the process and had we known about this this is a no-brainer to do it right to do safety stuff so I am not here to get in the way of safety but also if you finished it in November you could have come in November so again let me reiterate so it's very very clear that this has nothing to do with the scope of the project it has to do with the change order and $250,000 that were spent without authorization and now they're asking for that authorization 4 months later May so it's very very clear mayor miss Ma all the staff reports to me I've heard the concern I will ensure that we improve that process the other thing that I brought forward was we had the um Auditors who audit the external Auditors who are out at the airport multiple times a year including the FAA speak with the foak I will ask them to look at these process processes when they began their new audit in a few months but I take ownership of the process I take ownership of what's presented to council and I will ensure that we do our due diligence to make sure the processes and the folks are trained the way they need to to follow policy thank you m m representative Leon thank you Miss Mack for what you just said I think that we really need to follow some sort of chain of command in here there was a mistake you will certainly take care of it I'm just glad that we're going to be able to move on this and clear it off of our off of our FES and get this motion approved today um I appreciate the time you spent with me um informing me of this project um I did know perhaps some of the details but I am still in support of the project and fully will approve it make a motion I'm not sure where we are it's been so long we need a motion to approve this so move is there there's a motion in the second any further discussion on this item Miss Brian call for the vote Yes yes sir the motion was made by representative leemon seconded by alternate mayor proen Fiero to approve item 46 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes 7 to1 representative as voting n the remainder of council voting I the motion carries let me just say that you know I appreciate and and respect you guys for for coming here and and owning this and saying it was it was it was a mistake that means a lot and msmc I'm glad that you're putting procedures in place to to make sure that we can prevent this going forward but uh it means a lot that you showed up and and and owned it and you know we're a city with a lot of moving pieces and and I'm sure there's more that we're going to we're going to find out but when something like this does occur uh just own it and and and come up and and just tell the truth but this is good and thank you guys for your honesty and and your hard work that you do and uh on a daily basis so thank you guys and thank you miss m thank you mayor and councel mayor it's noon would you like to go to call to the public yes thank you sir that brings us to call to the public the AL Paso city council is a local government body charged with serving the citizens and the meetings must be focused on the meeting at charge the City Council meetings are public meetings under the Texas open meetings ACT public comment is an accommodation and not a requirement of city council all persons in attendance are expected to display cility in decorum that is respectful to other persons without the use of insulting profane threatening or abusive language public comment will not be used for personal attacks against a person or group's character or Integrity which are not pertinent to City business nor May any member of the public use this form for political statements or campaigning please note that during call to the public the city council may not deliberate or decide any subject that is not on the agenda however Council May propose that a topic brought forth be posted on a future agenda this afternoon we have 12 members of the public that signed up to speak the first person is Claudia Patricia contas her topic is animal cruelty against cats good afternoon you have three minutes good morning good afternoon hi good afternoon thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to come and talk here I know it's not our requirement and that's why I urge everybody to be respectful because I am aware that some people come here to disrespect I want to give thanks to the AL Paso Police Department and every single law enforcement agency that takes care of the city and also the families of the victims that made the ultimate sacrifice the police officers and everybody um I have been feeding straight cats and I have been working under the Trap Neer return program for eight years and I have seen cruelty cases almost every single week uh at this point um whenever I have to go feed it's very hard for me because I never know what I'm going to encounter I have to go during the nights feed the hungry animals and all of us can agree that it's not against the law to feed a a hungry animal I care for the dogs too I love cats I love dogs and I think um um Integrity starts when everybody start taking care of the most vulnerable of the city the TNR program is based on volunteers that's why I'm here to ask for a solution um we need an organization City funded to go to the streets with the batch and take care of the animals Animal Services works until 11: so I think we need money for animal services to work during the night and for the animal cruelty unit um I want to motivate the people that are currently going to take care of the animals to come here and use this platform and take advantage that we have this privilege and um please think of a solution for the cats and dogs um there's a lot going on um just last week someone was chasing my car I have to call that 911 and people who harm animals pretty much are cowards that are mad at life and the batch from Animal Services or the police department being present at the animal cruelty scene can change the entire the entire scenario for the animals so I want to encourage the people that love the animals to always report animal cruelty 915 21208 to call 911 and for everybody as a city to start uh rising up for the animals because there's a lot going on that I cannot say it in public but I have evidence and I want to ask for a public a private meeting with the mayor thank you so much thank you graas the next speaker is Ronald KO Mr Ko's topic is exercising his constitutional rights to 1983 Animal Services he will be followed by Karen Washington Barbara Valencia and Christian Orby good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon ma'am good afternoon good good afternoon R okay you came to me during election time and recognized that well actually came to us and recognized that we had a big problem with animal services that needed to be fixed we have been begging for help since Animal Services started leaving Strays in the streets after implementing the hos program which they're still on uh the best friends Reckless programs in order to fund raise their fake no kill 2025 but in order to fix something you have to make changes and to date since since you have been in office I have not seen any changes to fix the horrendous animal Public Safety problem we now have in El Paso and because of this we now have the newest victim of your failures a little boy was attacked in mold and is in the hospital fighting for his life gentlemen mlim I got to thank you for all you did for the original no kill plan thank you and the rest of you I think you need to take notice of the original no kill plan which I was told by Carrie Weston that they were going to put it back in place and Oscar ler but they also said they were going to replace the director so anyways what are we going to do people are being injured people are being put in the hospital you have been warned by an expert that this is going to happen what has to happen before we get a qualified director tell me something folks do you want somebody going to meetings and and having conversations with people and they lie through their teeth representing you is that what you want I don't I want somebody that's collected a paycheck for the city of El Paso to be honest and transparent and as long as we have the shelter director we have that is never going to happen I don't know what's changed with people I had we had confidence things were going to get handled and then one meeting with our director and it's gone I don't think 15 hours on online justifies a a degree in shelter management I figure it's probably 10 hours to hos and 5 hours how to give you you guys excuses on make it sound like it's good you need to talk to us we're boots on the ground we're the ones that have been fighting this we're the ones that have been keeping the city from being overrun by Strays because Mr Kell doesn't want to house a bunch of Strays it's got nothing to do with cap capacity of care it's got nothing to do with space his comment to me after three months was I don't want to house a bunch of stays he's in the wrong chair I'm sure Mario can find another place that he's not qualified for to go and I would greatly appreciate that that be done thank you the next speaker is Karen Washington topic is also Animal Services followed by Barbara Valencia it's not funny Mario good afternoon you have three minutes thank you good afternoon mayor city council my name is Karen Washington I'm the president of positive Rescuers of El Paso I've been rescuing stray abandoned and neglected dogs in and around El Paso for just over 20 years and became a certified 501c3 in 2019 um there's only so much that I can tell you in 3 minutes but what I'm going to say to you needs to be heard and in case you all are not aware we have a problem El Paso has a huge problem and personally as someone who sees this mess daily this is a crisis we're in crisis mode we have loose dogs abandoned dogs dogs dumped in our deserts pack of dogs roaming the streets I for one am a boots on the ground rescuer I the only rescuer in El Paso who goes and sets traps to get these dogs that animal control cannot get I've been at this for a long time and this is the absolute worst I have ever seen El Paso I could pick up 10 dogs per day but where do they go I don't have a facility I'm Foster based and honestly I spend hundreds of dollars monthly to board the dogs that I rescue as a rescuer I'm going to mention a few aggravations that I face daily I receive numerous texts and calls every day from people with found dogs I direct them to Animal Services since Animal Services is an open intake shelter I hear often that people are told Animal Services cannot take the dogs because the shelter is at capacity well so are we rescues and may I remind you we are all volunteers if our shelter is so overc capacity perhaps we should do away with the no kill and as a rescuer I don't say that lightly but I don't see any other way of getting out of this this dark hole that we're in I mean we just have too many dogs and nowhere for them to go County Animal Welfare Once Upon a Time animal Ser Animal Services accepted dogs from the county areas for a fee per dog which by the way as a boots on the ground rescuer I see most loose loose and dumped dogs are in our County areas what happened to that working relationship now County Animal Welfare is allowed to take only sick or injured dogs and one dog per day two Animal Services is is this so that the dogs can be euthanized and not added to the number of dogs inside our shelter and the county is still charged for those dog dogs regardless today I invite each of you to scroll through the lost and found pet pages of El Paso if you have not yet done so this poster that I put together that's one day that's one day of pet Pages yesterday and I had to stop at 6:00 so that I could print the pictures out and get this to you today so Mr Mayor before you were elected you promised us that you would work on these issues well and here we are I am and we are holding you accountable for implementing changes thank you so much here are some of my cards if anybody like to meet with me the next speaker is Barbara Valencia Miss Valencia's topic is animal services and the story of annab Beth and I will warn the participants that please refrain from any personal attacks First St thank you we have three minutes thank you good afternoon good afternoon everybody I'm Barbara Valencia with Huckleberry Hound Dog Rescue the director of Animal Services claims EP average length of stay is 33 days going through the epas website there are hundreds of dogs and puppies in foster care for 90 days or more that's three times or greater than the losos of 33 days of dog of the dogs and puppies more than half of them have not been spayed or neutered Stanley has been in foster care for 579 days Nigel has been in foster care for 412 days and it shows he has not been neutered yet and then there is this dog I apologize my ink was running out but just so you see it shows she has been in Foster for 192 days and is not spay this dog was astray living at the downtown bus station scrounging in the trash cans for food when she was taken to animal services and the next day according to Animal Services she was put into foster so what is the current status of this dog Animal Services doesn't know but I do not once in the last 190 days has an animal services made contact to check on this dog her whereabouts how she is doing or if she's still in the foster home which she isn't purposely putting an unspa female dog B back out in the community with no followup being done thank thank goodness for the parties involved who named her Annabeth getting her spay and finding her a loving home as animal services washed their hands of her the day she went into foster what the director is doing is called warehousing putting dogs and puppies into foster homes without proper or even any followup being done when animal services failure to follow up up on Foster animals was addressed in 2023 there were over 1,000 annabe their status unknown to this day with the February 2025 shelter report showing 1,661 dogs and puppies in foster care how many of these puppies and and dogs are like Annabeth because to the director it's out of sight out of mind there needs to be a complete and thorough independent audit of animal services and the director should embrace having an audit if animal Services is operating correctly as elected officials it is your duty to pass policies and issue directives the city manager's job is to take care of day-to-day operations implement the policies enacted by city council and to follow through with City council's directives the last time a complete and thorough audit was done on Animal Services representative Lon was on city council for her first time how long ago was that 10 years ago it's time to take the first step in improving Animal Services by issuing a directive for a complete and thorough independent audit of animal services you can't move forward without a concrete starting point Thank you thank you the next speaker is Christian otber Christian otterberg star six please to unmute your telephone his topic is Animal Services good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon thank you everyone thank you council members thank you mayor good afternoon my name is Christian atob I'm a Animal Services volunteer um I've also been volunteering with other welfare groups in the region I do want to go slightly against the grain of this uh conversation so far and just give a little bit of praise to the folks that have been putting forth uh tremendous efforts in such a difficult task uh the group at volunte at Animal Services has been uh tirelessly uh working to uh put in place uh new procedures and also to solve some of the issues taking those first concrete steps uh have been uh actually in process already um the current the recent spay and neuter uh spay Aon that they just did where they spay and neuter over 430 animals over the weekend couple weekends ago um that was no small feat and to execute that is a huge undertaking uh it involved external parties it involved internal parties Logistics um I work in logistics so I know how much work goes into getting those things lined up and I do think there have been tremendous strid toward getting some of these issues that have been noted today uh addressed yes it is going to be difficult and yes it is not going to be a nice clean Edge um there are going to be pickups along the way but I do think those numbers speak for themselves and I I I can't speak enough how uh how much work goes into those those efforts the uh the the other uh strength I believe of working with animal services as well is that they're working with the various networks to uh sort of uh comprehensively understand the issues and also put together action plans with a network of people that are involved and I don't want to say this is everything's perfect I understand there's there's a long history of things that's been going on but um the span neuter uh free microchipping events uh discounted vaccinations expansion into sort of pet pantries these things are all in place and up and running and yes the intake is always going to outpace the outtake but as of right now they're making tremendous efforts to uh curve the uh the numbers that are coming into and so I do fully believe that these the the spay and neuter events are going to be make a huge difference we all know that there's an exponential output to every dog that goes unspayed and neutered so this is one of those efforts that we can say is a concrete effort towards uh moving things into the right direction um I really want to express my gratitude for their hard work I know it goes unrecognized very often uh they consistently dedicate themselves to creating better outcomes for these animals and for families in our thank you you reach the three minute limit the next speaker is Alisia Lopez followed by Tony robbles Miss Lopez's topic is enforcement on service dog policies good afternoon you have three minutes good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon Mayor Johnson council members and City staff good afterno IA Lopez I am the vice president of Sun City service dogs and I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today I'm here to discuss the growing concern of pets being brought into not pet friendly establishments and why it's so crucial to enforce and protect these po policies that protect the public business Integrity public health and service stock handlers as a whole many businesses such as Walmart Sams Costco and Food King are grocery stores meaning that they do not allow pets it's a service dog only establishment since emotional support animals are not required to be trained they are not allowed in service dog only establishments with that being said allowing these pets into these establishments not only violates Health codes but it also poses a risk to Public Safety and safety of service stock handlers excuse me this also puts business owners in uncomfortable positions when trying to enforce noed policies business risk legal challenges and C or customer confrontations when trying to deny illegitimate service animals people falsifying emotional support animals and service animal is service very disrespectful to the service dog Community we spend hours training our dogs to help in a variety of ways making it easier so we can live our lives as independently as possible according to the FDA and the CDC Health codes life animals are not allowed in food establishments with the exception of service dogs untrained pets have been known to bark lunge and bite at legitimate service dogs even a little interaction can end a service dog's career because the Handler refuses to take accountability the American with Disabilities Act does not recognize emotional support animals as service animals because emotional support is not a task individuals can purchase certificates and certifications online trying to gain access into notay friendly establishments employees and businesses don't tell them anything because they're afraid of the legal repercussions for denying a legit an illegitimate surfice animal ways we would enforce these laws is by implementing fines for individuals who knowingly misrepresent their pet as a service animal creating clear guidelines on how to legally verify service animal legitimacy by asking the two questions is that service animal required because of a disability and if yes what tasks is it train to perform and educating the community I urge city council to consider implementing stronger policies against service animal misrepresentation including penalties for those who choose to violate the laws by taking action we can protect Public Health uphold the right of legitimate service Dog Handlers and provide businesses with necessary tools to enforce no pet policies thank you the next speaker is Tony robbles also speaking on enforcement of service dog policy sorry get over little man okay I'm just a little good afternoon good afternoon hi my name is Tony Ras I'm the president of Sun City service dogs um I just wanted to give you some real life examples of why we are fighting against fake service dogs um my first service dog was born a while ago he passed away in 2022 he was attacked almost every other week in Walmart and in Sam's um dogs lunging with the service dog vest we have emotional support off to the side they would branish their little IDs that they got off of the scam website saying well I'm allowed to bring my dog here my second service dog no longer works he is forced to stay at home because he got attacked three times and he is deathly terrified of being in any grocery store I try to take him every now and again to doctor's appointments to see if he will still be willing to work after month months of rest and he still shakes and pisses himself in fear it is depressing knowing that I spent almost $5,000 on this dog surfice dogs can easily go from $5,000 to as high as even $75,000 they are not inexpensive they are very expensive dogs they are medical equipment my current one my big white dog here he is my cardiac alert dog mainly because I have a heart condition if something goes on I can easily pass out and hit my head just recently we had a husky in Walmart that was barking gping howling and lunging towards my dog granted it was a very friendly lunge it just wanted to play but it was enough to distract my dog and make me end up having issues with pulling my wheelchair which I'm currently training him how to help me pull um I also had dogs come over and nip him on his heels as we are passing by and I didn't even know there was a dog over there easily any tooth can go through a tendon or a ligament and end up putting him out of months of work the these dogs are medical equipment that help save our lives there is diabetic alert dogs that help with low or high blood sugars there's seizure alert dogs one of my friend had a dog that was trained to the point where he can alert to a seizure 15 minutes before it happens so she can get somewhere safe uh I have another friend who suffers from severe anxiety and PTSD and when she dissociates he will guide her out of a building to take her to a safe space these dogs yes they are our pets they are our loved ones they are our family members but they are the most important things in a disabled person's life when I can't take medications because my cardiologist says that the medications can kill me he is my last resort if I can take meds to avoid having these attacks I will if I can use an equipment besides a service dog I would but I can't I need him so having these pets coming out randomly with a service dog vest and they're saying that I'm in the wrong because my dog looks aggressive because their little Doodle or poodle or Chihuahua is the one that's trying to attack him because it scared their dog it's just depressing I also seen dogs in shopping carts to spread disease we don't want that for our kids thank you m Ro thank you the next speaker is China Arad China Arad um Sam Aro Mr ad mol's topic is full compliance with us Federal and Texas state laws good afternoon you have three minutes R good afternoon Mayor Johnson and members of the council good afternoon unfortunately I prepared a five minute presentation but I'll cut it to three minutes as best I can and get right to the issues uh I'm a native of El Paso I'm a veteran and I have a solid education from Texas Western College University of Arizona and a doctorate degree from Stanford University in Material Science I've had jobs at General Electric Company managing large Enterprises uh and I've also been a regulator regulator with the federal government uh at chairman of the advisory committee on Reactor safeguards my issue today has nothing is to apply the lessons I've learned to issues that I think facing uh El Paso and the three big issues I've learned in my career is don't pick fights with powerful organizations recognize reality when the situation changes adjust accordingly and make friends not enemies and so let me tell you how what I why I I want to discuss this at a recent meeting uh uh district one community meeting uh set up by representative Chavez Mayor Johnson was a speaker uh and I attended that was a February 27th meeting at the meeting the mayor uh raised the issue of immigration and stated that he El Pas would comply fully with the federal laws and state laws on immigration I asked the question whether the um that would include informing uh Ice uh or boorder of Patrol or FBI if a a person who is an illegal alien in the uh was arrested by the El Paso Police Department and held in custody whether those organizations would be informed and if they requested would El Pas police hold them for U uh for pickup and the mayor said no that that would not happen and so that that gave me a lot of concern and and the reason is there's a lot of downside with that policy and I don't think there's a lot of upside first of all already we know that Sanctuary cities are being sued by the federal government justice department for non-cooperation with immigration law uh El Paso is not a sanctuary City but if it behaves like a sanctuary City it could face very expensive uh lawsuits from the from the justice department there other downsides that I think you should consider City the if El Paso is sued it'd be a very negative imp uh image for the city of El Paso with businesses that are considering relocating people who are considering moving to El Paso andk you Dr Ado you've reached the three minute limit I would just like to ask I urge you to reconsider this policy and I will be sending you a letter with a with more more information thank you very much and so I can be clear on what I said was that El Paso Police Department is not going to enforce IM imigration and we're going to make sure that we can take care of the El Pas ones with Public Safety we don't have enough Public Safety officers in eppd to enforce immigration our chief of police has said the same thing what you're asking us to do is enforce a federal issue we are El Paso Police Department and we will always protect the El pasoans first and mayor I understand that's what we're going to do so your time's up but thank you I just want to be clear on what I said no I didn't ask you to federal law with those that have to enforce federal law Miss Crawford's topic is women's history month and pum holiday good afternoon Miss Crawford you have three minutes good afternoon thank you this month Jewish people around the world and in El Paso celebrate porum it's an account in the Hebrew scriptures of God's Deliverance of the people of Israel the Persian king ahasuerus had Esther and his his Queen hmon rose up in an attempt to make the Jewish people bow down to him when morai refused hon set out a plot for the destruction of the Jewish people as happened numerous times in scripture and throughout subsequent ages God delivered his people God raised up a young lady Esther To Boldly speak up God prevented the elimination of the Jews once again he raised her up for such a time as this this month is called women's History Month in our day God is raising up young women to speak out against another uh genocide abortion in 2018 I had the privilege of meeting a young lady and a boy then she was 12 years old and at that age she had already saved about 10 babies by this point she's probably saved about 30 babies her father is an emergency room surgeon and they have a large family me many of their own children and they've adopted many children I watched as these children on this on the street in Jackson Mississippi would speak to the ladies before they went into the Abortion Center and plead for the lives of those babies when the babies were saved when the moms changed their mind they would get the ladies the help that they need groups of people are gathering this month and into next month outside the abortion centers of New Mexico planed Parenthood Castle to say no this is not right we need to save the babies as we think as these days as we move toward Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday we're reminded of the good news of the Gospel the Lord Jesus Christ for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ Our Lord I'm thankful that in our day God is still raising up young ladies whose lives he's transformed to be used and Sav saving other little lives thank you so much and hope you have a good day thank you thank you the next speaker is bisa Regal Miss Regal's topic is lgbtqia protection Miss Regal star six please to unmute your telephone good afternoon you have three minutes hello thank you so much for your time um I was calling in to see um what the city El Paso plans to do to protect the trans Community here go ahead Mr Regal this is not a a two-way discussion since it's not posted on the agenda oh sorry go ahead you have yes some time left um I was going to see what the El Paso Community intended to do to protect the trans Community since Trump has come into office 500 bills against the lgbtq plus Community have come in and introduced since November 2024 and that's an alarming thing for myself I identify in the community I am not a transwoman but I do identify um my concern is that in 2017 Texas had the T the highest trans murder rate of the country and 78% of those victims were people of color 56 were black women that's an astonishing rate um 350 trans people were murdered between between October 1st 2023 to September 30th 2024 I just hope that you guys have something in place to protect a community I have friends and family that are also transs and it's a big concern of mine um I know the state is kind of it seems to be a little more conservative but I'm hoping that since El Pasa seems to be a little more uh I guess liberal as the term I'm just kind of concerned about what we would you guys have in place if there's anything that you guys plan to put in place to protect the trans Community again thank you so much for your time thank you the final speaker is Patricia Osman Miss osman's topic is ethics misleading comments and misappropriation of funds and fiduciary duty to all citizens good afternoon Miss Osman you have three minutes mayor and Council the reason that I began speaking at city council is because I applied for a grant to the community human development department one which I was approved for but in the course of that Grant illegality or I should say ethics violations were discovered one in particular a city employe of that department was re was bidding on and receiving bids from his own Department grants okay okay our city has a huge issue within not only that department but also inspections and purchasing you have citizens and you have had citizens in this community go into city council crying because of the damage tax paying in city employees have done to these individuals lives now I have reported issues I have filed ethics complaints I have filed HR complaints with the city of Al Paso I have as I told Congress person escar filed FBI complaints I will continue to move forward now with this next next Administration to send everything that I have to ensure that our City stops these same violations because it appears as though those working as officials and those elected want to do business as usual we are no longer in that environment you have cortinas yesterday stating hey exemptions complaining about the exemptions for senior citizens veterans and the disabled yet at no time was it brought up that maybe incentives and tax rebates to the corporations and the wealthiest in this city need to be cut and looked into you have an agenda item coming up that they want to revise from the same Department that violated ethics Code Veronica Escolar saw those documents and looked shocked at my representative and asked if this was being investigated and quite frankly as I say it's being swept under the rug because I was retaliated against and I'm going to say this those same people that were in charge are still in charge they just got a promotion and thank you missman you've reached the three minutes ma'am thank you mayor that concludes U call to the public this afternoon I we on item 47 now that's correct sir item 47 is discussion and action that the city manager or designate be authorized to effectuate the budget transfer to transfer 443,000 a second any discussion on this item hearing none Miss bran yes sir the motion was made by representative Gales seconded by representative leemon to approve item 47 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously the final item on the agenda is 48 and this is discussion and action to approve an amendment to the city of El Paso's 2021 2022 annual action plan in order to revise a home investment partnership program American Rescue plan allocation plan to approve there's a motion to approve is there a second second there's a motion and a second I know we have public uh comment on this one yes sir we do have Miss Osman that signed up to speak on item 48 miss hosman good afternoon you have three minutes ladies and gentlemen I have spoken nearly two years in regards to that department a department that are one of our current officials was overseen and has all the emails in regards to what was occurring within that department and yet you want to go ahead and let them raise funds they mismanaged federal dollars as I told esal's office perhaps reporting on a federal level and now in this environment stopping these federal funds from coming into our city maybe the only way to clean up the issues within our city so that you don't go ahead and just sign off because it appears as though people in certain departments for for example Community human development that document is just signed Abraham Mr gutieres had an Ethics complaint in fact a human resources complaint against him he was part of all of the retaliation but this is the thing it just say Abraham it's not even the director or the interim director you all keep rubber stamping what is going on in the back of the house like our my representative bought out $251,000 that wasn't brought forward before in this agenda item seems to be giving a cart block to make sure things do slip through that is that that right there makes each and every one of you accountable from now on you all are responsible for anything that happens in these departments with these funds it is your faith we voted for you all to represent us and I understand that per the code in the the oath you took you are supposed to represent the city no longer they citizens but there is a change coming in this country and actions that have already happened in that department and if you all missman I'll I'll remind Miss Miss hosman please stay on topic this is a plan if you have a comments about the plan you may you may make comments but please stay on topic please stay on topic you have 30 seconds well if you all approve this and allow those same actions to keep occurring you're doing nothing but killing our city are allowing this same ethics violations to go through these apartments grants will be killed that department runs off of them but for you all to approve anything more than what was approved Osman you've reached the three minutes represent Canalis thank you mayor I think uh given that it's important that we just hear very briefly I think they have the briefest presentation I'd like to see what they're recommending in terms of the allocation of of the home ARP funds sure ni uh so today we're recommending to amend our homar investment Partnerships allocation plan this is also known as homar okay so the total home marp amount is a little over 9.5 million which comes from federal funding as as a recipient of these funds the city has the ability to allocate them to address our most pressing housing and homelessness challenges we're amending this plan so we can continue services for our Al Paso helps initiative Al Paso helps is a collaboration between the city and several nonprofits to provide services for people in crisis the key changes to the plan include increasing the funding for the development of affordable multif family units and adding Administration for our subrecipients so what we're currently seeing is significant need for additional Housing Solutions from our last published point in time count it's estimated that there are approximately 913 individuals experiencing homelessness our shelter bed capacity is currently at 588 so there's a gap of 325 shelter beds at any given time Additionally the de the demand of rental units is outpacing the supply HUD projects a need for 2,300 more units in 3 years worsening the shortage and limiting options for affordable housing so through this amendment we aim to increase the supply of rental units to help alleviate the burden on the shelters and provide tenant based rental assistance with case management to support housing stability and so here's the proposed funding allocations for our home marp activities this amendment will help us continue to support services for Al Paso helps for an additional 3 years additionally we want to allocate over 4.2 million for the development for the development of affordable rental housing units so our next steps are we're going to submit the plan to HUD for approval um once they approve we'll release the notices of funding availability and then we look to award the sub recipience in the fall of 2025 ensuring that there's no lapse in services for Al Paso helps with that I'll take your questions and I just want to add that El Paso helps was previously funded through our arpa funding um so we're really trying to make sure as we're looking at these Key Programs that we can find some transition to particularly keep things that have been so impactful in our community very good good presentation represent Canalis thank you mayor um yes very excited to see a way to hopefully sustain El Paso helps for at least uh a little bit longer yes um I I'll say again as I said during the the state of the city we currently have zero doar for these programs in our general fund um and I'm very concerned about uh the future of Home funds of the emergency Solutions grant funding of hwa the housing opportunities for persons with AIDS uh program uh and and none of that funding is is a sure thing into the future and so I hope that this year as we look to uh start the conversations about budget development we we look at you know it doesn't have to be funding the entirety of these programs these these Federal grant programs are still in existence for now but uh you know smaller smaller allocations that we can start to supplement with locally so super happy that we're continuing Al Passa helps I'm always out singing its praises and uh using it heavily and and I know the community is as well so I'm glad we can sustain it thank you mayor move to approve there's a motion to approve is there a second wasn't yeah yes there was already a motion yeah any further discussion on this item hearing none Miss pran yes sir the motion was made by representative lemon seconded by Representatives Canales and loo to approve item 48 on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously before we adjourn Mr PR I just want to say thank you to uh the city staff I wanted to say thank you to the public public for coming out and speaking it was a long day uh we had a lot of energy this morning and then it kind of faded uh uh this afternoon but I I want to thank everyone for coming out and being a part of city council go ahead M Ryan move to adjourn second there's a motion in a second to adjourn the city council meeting all in favor I anyone opposed and the regular city council meeting for Tuesday March 18th 2025 is adjourned at 12:48 p.m. thank you Council